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First edition 1998

Thumb index edition first published 1999

Reissued 2001

Second edition 2003

Second edition (revised) 2005

Reprinted 2006

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ISBN 0-19-861057-2

ISBN 978-0-19-861057-1

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

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Contents

Title page

About the Book

The Definitions A-Z

Editorial Staff

Preface to the first edition

Preface to the second edition

Key to Abbreviations

Key to the Pronunciations

Editorial staff

For the first edition

Editors
Judy Pearsall
Patrick Hanks

Chief Science Editor
Bill Trumble

Associate Editors
Georgia Hole
Helen Liebeck
Jeremy Marshall
Catherine Soanes
Angus Stevenson
Maurice Waite

Editors, Word Histories
Senior Editor: Glynnis Chantrell
Consultant Editor: Edmund
Weiner

Senior Editor, Animals and Plants
David Shirt

Senior & Senior Assistant Editors
Catherine Bailey
Katrina Campbell
Martin Coleman
Lucinda Coventry
Chris Cowley
Julia Elliott
Sara Hawker
Martin Nixon

Assistant Editors
Louise Jones
Michael Lacewing
Alyson McGaw
Rachel Unsworth
Sandy Vaughan

Pronunciations
Susan Wilkin

For the second edition

Editors
Catherine Soanes
Angus Stevenson

Editorial Staff
Julia Elliott
Sara Hawker
Della Thompson
Maurice Waite

Corpus Development and Text Processing
James McCracken

Corpus Collection
Infogistics

Pronunciations
Susan Wilkin

Editorial Assistants
Jonathan Blaney
Simon Charles
Richard Jones
Kate Kelly
Rachel Ware

Specialist Subject Consultants

Aeronautics
Ron Wingrove

American Football, Baseball, Basketball
Frank Abate

American Indian Terms
Frank Abate

Ancient Near East
Jeremy Black

Architecture & Building
Harold Morgan

Australian Rules Football
Bruce Moore
Hilary Kent

Ballet
Katherine Barber

Business
BSDG group, OUP

Chess
Gerard O'Reilly

Computing
Katrina Campbell
Alan Gay

Costume & Textiles
Caroline Imlah

Finance & Commerce
Philip Nixon

Genetics
David Hopwood

Geography
David Munro
Alisdair Rogers

Ice Hockey
Eric Sinkins

Islam
Jonathan Birt
Fozia Bora
Kenneth Cragg

Languages & Peoples
Patrick Hanks

Law
Folla Christie
Bryan Garner

Linguistics & Grammar
Patrick Hanks

Mathematics
Mark Dunn

Medicine
David Mant

Military Terms
Charles Kirke

Nautical Terms
Moke Wall

Philosophy
Simon Blackburn

Statistics
Ken Church

World English Consultants

US English
Frank Abate
Orin Hargraves
Elizabeth Jewell
Erin McKean
Paul Betz
Hannah Borgeson
Claude Conyers
Mary Jacobi
Katherine Kane
Karen Murphy
Laura Phipps
Daniel Radosh
Ellen Satrom
Liz Sonneborn
Michael Stern
Christine Stevens
Emile Thomas
Anita Vanca

Australian English
Bruce Moore
Hilary Kent

Canadian English
Katherine Barber

Caribbean English
Lise Winer

Indian English
Sumanta Banerjee
Indira Chowdhury Sengupta
Satarupa Chaudhuri
Sukanta Chaudhuri
Pam Marjara
Harsh Sethi
Jameela Siddiqi
Deeba Zafir

Irish English
Gearóid Cronin

New Zealand English
Tony Deverson
Graeme Kennedy

Scottish English
Christopher Bailey
Wylie Horn
Fiona McPherson
Michael Proffitt

South African English
Mary Reynolds
Penny Silva
Jill Wolvaardt

Preface to the first edition

The New Oxford Dictionary of English is a completely new dictionary, written on new principles. It builds on the excellence of the lexicographical traditions of scholarship and analysis of evidence as set down by the Oxford English Dictionary over a century ago, but it is also very much a new departure. The New Oxford Dictionary of English is a dictionary of current English and it is informed by currently available evidence and current thinking about language and cognition. It is an inventory of the words and meanings of present-day English, both those in actual use and those found in the literature of the past. The compilers have gone to the heart of the traditional practices of dictionary making and reappraised the principles on which lexicography is based. In particular, the focus has been on a different approach to an understanding of ‘meaning’ and how this relates to the structure, organization, and selection of material for the dictionary.

Linguists, cognitive scientists, and others have been developing new techniques for analysing usage and meaning, and the New Oxford Dictionary of English has taken full advantage of these developments. Foremost among them is an emphasis on identifying what is ‘central and typical', as distinct from the time-honoured search for ‘necessary conditions’ of meaning (i.e. a statement of the conditions that would enable someone to pick out all and only the cases of the term being defined). Past attempts to cover the meaning of all possible uses of a word have tended to lead to a blurred, unfocused result, in which the core of the meaning is obscured by many minor uses. In the New Oxford Dictionary of English, meanings are linked to central norms of usage as observed in the language. The result is fewer meanings, with sharper, crisper definitions.

The style of definition adopted for the New Oxford Dictionary of English aims in part to account for the dynamism, imaginativeness, and flexibility of ordinary usage. The New Oxford Dictionary of English records and explains all normal meanings and uses of all well-attested words, but also illustrates transferred, figurative, and derivative meanings, in so far as these are conventional within the language.

The layout and organization of each entry in the dictionary reflect this new approach to meaning. Each entry has at least one core meaning, to which a number of subsenses, logically connected to it, may be attached. The text design is open and accessible, making it easy to find the core meanings and so to navigate the entry as a whole.

At the heart of the dictionary lies the evidence. This evidence forms the basis for everything which we, as lexicographers, are able to say about the language and the words within it. In particular, the large body of texts collected together on line as the British National Corpus gives, with its 100 million words, a selection of real, modern, and everyday language, equivalent to an ordinary person's reading over ten years or more. Using computational tools to analyse the data in the British National Corpus and other corpora, the editors have been able to look at the behaviour of each word in detail in its natural contexts, and so to build up a picture for every word in the dictionary.

Corpus analysis has been complemented by analysis of other types of evidence: the New Oxford Dictionary of English makes extensive use of the database of the Oxford Reading Programme, a collection of citations taken from a variety of sources from all the English-speaking countries of the world. In addition, a specially commissioned reading programme has targeted previously neglected specialist fields as diverse as computing, complementary medicine, antique collecting, and winter sports. Other research includes a detailed and comprehensive survey of plants and animals throughout the world, resulting in the inclusion of hundreds of entries not in any other one-volume dictionary.

The general approach to defining in the New Oxford Dictionary of English has particular application for specialist vocabulary. Here, in the context of dealing with highly technical information which may be unfamiliar to the non-specialist reader, the focus on clarity of expression is of great importance. Avoidance of over-technical terminology and an emphasis on explaining and describing as well as defining are balanced by the need to maintain a high level of technical information and accuracy. In many cases, additional technical information is presented separately in an easily recognizable alternative format.

The New Oxford Dictionary of English views the language from the perspective that English is a world language. A network of consultants throughout the English-speaking world has enabled us to ensure excellent coverage of world English, from Canada and the US to the Caribbean, India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. We have benefited from the opportunities provided for communication by the Internet; lively discussions by email across the oceans have formed an everyday part of the dictionary-making process.

Many people have been involved in the preparation of this dictionary, and thanks are due to them all. Those not listed on the separate credits page who deserve special mention include: Valerie Grundy, for her contribution as managing editor during the early stages of the project; Nigel Clifford, for research in special subjects; Fred McDonald, for work on word histories; Sue Atkins, Bob Allen, and Rosamund Moon, for their contributions during the early development of the project; Judith Scott, for assistance with foreign pronunciations; and David Munro, for assistance in updating place-name entries.

Preface to the second edition

The first edition of the groundbreaking New Oxford Dictionary of English was published in 1998. For this second edition, now called simply the Oxford Dictionary of English, the text has been completely revised, a major part of that revision being the addition of over 3,000 new words, senses, and phrases to ensure that the dictionary continues to be the most accurate and up-to-date description of the language available. The source for this new material has been the Oxford English Corpus, a database which provides an extensive picture of current English as an international language. In compiling this new edition we have been able to draw on a new 100 million word corpus incorporating real English of the 21st century and made up of a balanced selection of texts from all subject fields, and have continued to monitor the language via the database of the Oxford Reading Programme, which now consists of around 77 million words. These databases have provided much of the evidence for around sixty new usage notes, covering points of grammar, spelling, usage, and pronunciation. We have also undertaken or commissioned work in adding new vocabulary in specialist subject areas such as genetics, health, medicine, and business, and in varieties of English from around the world.

The second edition also includes a new section of appendices providing useful factual information on subjects such as countries of the world and weights and measures, a discussion of English in electronic communication, and a guide to good English.

Apart from the contributors listed on the separate credits page, the editors would like to thank Michael Proffitt and his team for help with drafting new words, Glynnis Chantrell and Adam Kilgarriff for their work in developing the database, Edmund Weiner, Joanna Tulloch, and Anthony Grant for work on etymologies, and Bill Trumble for advice on scientific entries.

A^1 (also a) n. (pl. As or A's) 1 the first letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the first in a set of items, categories, sizes, etc.

- denoting the first of two or more hypothetical people or things: suppose A had killed B.

- the highest class of academic mark.

- (in the UK) denoting the most important category of road, other than a motorway: the A34 | busy A-roads.

- denoting the highest-earning socio-economic category for marketing purposes, including top management and senior professional personnel.

- (a) [CHESS] denoting the first file from the left, as viewed from White's side of the board.

- (usually a) the first constant to appear in an algebraic expression.

- [GEOLOGY] denoting the uppermost soil horizon, especially the topsoil.

- the human blood type (in the ABO system) containing the A antigen and lacking the B.

- (with numeral) denoting a series of international standard paper sizes each twice the area of the next, as A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, etc., A4 being 210 × 297 mm.

2 a shape like that of a capital A: [in combination] an A-shape.

3 [MUSIC] the sixth note of the diatonic scale of C major. The A above middle C is usually used as the basis for tuning and in modern music has a standard frequency of 440 Hz.

- a key based on a scale with A as its keynote.

<PHRASES>

□ from A to B from one's starting point to one's destination: most road atlases will get you from A to B.

□ from A to Z over the entire range; completely.

A^2 abbr.

- (in card games) ace: you cash ♥AK.

- against (heading the column in a table of sports results which shows the goals or points scored against each club).

- INFORMAL A level.

- ampere(s).

- (å) ångstrom(s).

- answer: Q: What is a hung parliament? A: One in which no single party has an overall majority.

- (in names of sports clubs) Athletic: Dunfermline A.

- attack (in designations of US aircraft types).

- Austria (international vehicle registration).

a^1 (an before a vowel sound) [called the indefinite article] determiner 1 used when mentioning someone or something for the first time in a text or conversation: a man came out of the room | it has been an honour to meet you. Compare with THE.

- used with units of measurement to mean one such unit: a hundred | a quarter of an hour.

- [with negative] one single; any: I simply haven't a thing to wear.

- used when mentioning the name of someone not known to the speaker: a Mr Smith telephoned.

- someone like (the name specified): you're no better than a Hitler.

2 used to indicate membership of a class of people or things: he is a lawyer | this car is a BMW.

3 in, to, or for each; per (used when expressing rates or ratios): typing 60 words a minute | a move to raise petrol prices by 3p a litre.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: weak form of Old English ān ‘one’.

<USAGE> On the question of using a or an before words beginning with h see usage at an.

a^2 abbr.

- (in travel timetables) arrives: Penzance a 0915.

- [in combination] (in units of measurement) atto- (10−18).

- BRITISH (with reference to sporting fixtures) away: March 15 Sheffield United (a).

- (used before a date) before: a1200. [<ORIGIN> from Latin ante.]

■ symbol (a) [PHYSICS] acceleration.

a-1 (often an- before a vowel) prefix not; without: atheistic | acephalous.

<ORIGIN> from Greek.

a-2 prefix to; towards: aside | ashore.

- in the process of (an activity): a-hunting.

- in a specified state: aflutter.

- on: afoot.

- in: nowadays.

<ORIGIN> Old English, unstressed form of ON.

a-3 prefix variant spelling of AD-. assimilated before sc, sp, and st (as in ascend, aspire and astringent).

a-4 prefix 1 of: anew.

2 utterly: abash.

<ORIGIN> sense 1 is an unstressed form of OF; sense 2 is from Anglo-Norman French a- (Old French e-, es-), from Latin ex.

-a^1 suffix forming: 1 ancient or Latinized modern names of animals and plants: primula.

2 names of oxides: baryta.

3 geographical names: Africa.

4 ancient or Latinized modern feminine forenames: Lydia.

5 nouns from Italian, Portuguese and Spanish: duenna | stanza.

<ORIGIN> representing a Greek, Latin, or Romance feminine singular.

-a^2 suffix forming plural nouns: 1 from Greek or Latin neuter plurals corresponding to a singular in -um or -on (such as addenda, phenomena).

2 in names (often from modern Latin) of zoological groups: Insectivora.

-a^3 suffix INFORMAL 1 of: coupla.

2 have: mighta.

3 to: oughta.

<ORIGIN> representing a casual pronunciation.

A1 adj. INFORMAL very good or well; excellent: guitar, A1 condition.

A3 n. [mass noun] a standard European size of paper, 420 × 297 mm: [as modifier] A3 posters.

A4 n. [mass noun] a standard European size of paper, 297 × 210 mm: [as modifier] an A4 page.

A5 n. [mass noun] a standard European size of paper, 210 × 148 mm: [as modifier] a little A5 booklet.

AA abbr.

- Alcoholics Anonymous.

- anti-aircraft.

- (in the UK and South Africa) Automobile Association.

aa /αα/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] basaltic lava forming very rough, jagged masses with a light frothy texture. Often contrasted with PAHOEHOE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Hawaiian 'a-'a.

AAA abbr.

- (in the UK) Amateur Athletic Association.

- American Automobile Association.

- Australian Automobile Association.

AAAS abbr. American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Aachen /αx(ə)n αk(ə)n/ German /axn/ an industrial city and spa in western Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia; pop. 240,300 (est. 2002). French name AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.

AAD abbr. analogue analogue digital, indicating that a musical recording was made and mastered in analogue form before being stored digitally.

Aalborg /lb/ (also ålborg) an industrial city and port in north Jutland, Denmark; pop. 119,157 (1998).

Aalto /αltə/ (Hugo) Alvar (Henrik) (1898–1976), Finnish architect and designer. He often used materials such as brick, copper, and timber in his building designs to blend with the landscape. As a designer he is known as the inventor of bent plywood furniture.

AAM abbr. air-to-air missile.

A & E abbr. accident and emergency.

A & M abbr. Hymns Ancient and Modern.

A & R abbr. artist(s) and repertoire (or recording), used to denote employees of a record company who select and sign new artists.

aapa /αpə/ n. INDIAN an elder sister.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu āpa.

aardvark /αdvαk/ n. a nocturnal badger-sized burrowing mammal of Africa, with long ears, a tubular snout, and a long extensible tongue, feeding on ants and termites. Also called ANTBEAR.

<INFO> Orycteropus afer, the only member of the family Orycteropidae and order Tubulidentata.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from South African Dutch, from aarde ‘earth’ + vark ‘pig’.

aardwolf /αdwlf/ n. (pl. aardwolves) a black-striped nocturnal African mammal that feeds mainly on termites.

<INFO> Proteles cristatus, family Hyaenidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from South African Dutch, from aarde ‘earth’ + wolf ‘wolf’.

aargh /α/ exclam. used as an expression of anguish, horror, rage, or other strong emotion, often with humorous intent.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: lengthened form of AH, expressing a prolonged cry.

Aarhus /hus/ (also århus) a city on the coast of east Jutland, Denmark; pop. 215,587 (1998).

Aaron /εrən/ (in the Bible) brother of Moses and traditional founder of the Jewish priesthood (see Exod. 28:1).

Aaron's beard n. a name given to the rose of Sharon and some other plants.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: alluding to AARON, whose beard ‘went down to the skirts of his garments’ (Ps. 133:2), because of the prominent hairy stamens or the long runners which some of these plants put out.

Aaron's rod n. the common or great mullein.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: alluding to AARON, whose staff was said to have flowered (Num. 17:8).

AARP abbr. American Association of Retired Persons.

A'asia abbr. Australasia.

AB^1 n. a human blood type (in the ABO system) containing both the A and B antigens. In blood transfusion, a person with blood of this group is a potential universal recipient.

AB^2 abbr.

- able seaman.

- Alberta (in official postal use).

- US Bachelor of Arts. [<ORIGIN> from Latin Artium Baccalaureus.]

Ab^1 (also Av) n. (in the Jewish calendar) the eleventh month of the civil and fifth of the religious year, usually coinciding with parts of July and August.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew 'ā.

Ab^2 abbr. [BIOLOGY] antibody.

ab n. (usually abs) INFORMAL an abdominal muscle.

ab- (also abs-) prefix away; from: abaxial | abdicate.

<ORIGIN> from Latin.

ABA abbr.

- (in the UK) Amateur Boxing Association.

- (in the US) American Bar Association.

- (in the US) American Booksellers' Association.

abaca /abəkə/ n. a large herbaceous Asian plant of the banana family, yielding Manila hemp.

<INFO> Musa textilis, family Musaceae.

- [mass noun] Manila hemp.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: via Spanish from Tagalog abaká.

aback adv. 1 ARCHAIC towards or situated to the rear; back.

2 [SAILING] with the sail pressed backwards against the mast by a headwind.

<PHRASES>

□ take someone aback shock or surprise someone: he was taken aback by her directness.

<ORIGIN> Old English on bæc (see A-2, BACK). The term came to be treated as a single word in nautical use.

abacus /abəkəs/ n. (pl. abacuses) 1 a simple device for calculating, consisting of a frame with rows of wires or grooves along which beads are slid.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] the flat slab on top of a capital, supporting the architrave.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a board strewn with sand on which to draw figures): from Latin, from Greek abax, abak- ‘slab, drawing board’, of Semitic origin; probably related to Hebrew 'āāq ‘dust’.

Abadan /abədαn/ a major port and oil-refining centre on an island of the same name on the Shatt al-Arab waterway in western Iran; pop. 206,073 (1996).

Abaddon /əbad(ə)n/ a name for the Devil (Rev. 9:11) or for hell.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Greek from Hebrew 'ăaddōn ‘destruction’. Its use for ‘hell’ arose in the late 17th cent.

abaft /əbαft/ [NAUTICAL] adv. in or behind the stern of a ship.

■ prep. nearer the stern than; behind.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘backwards’): from A-2 (expressing motion) + archaic baft ‘in the rear’.

Abakan /abəkαn/ an industrial city in south central Russia, capital of the republic of Khakassia; pop. 171,000 (est. 2002). Former name (until 1931) UST-ABAKANSKOE.

abalone /abələni/ n. an edible mollusc of warm seas, with a shallow ear-shaped shell lined with mother-of-pearl and pierced with a line of respiratory holes. Also called ORMER, EAR SHELL.

<INFO> Genus Haliotis, family Haliotidae, class Gastropoda.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally North American): from American Spanish abulones, plural of abulón, from aulón, the name in an American Indian language of Monterey Bay, California.

abandon v. [with obj.] 1 cease to support or look after (someone); desert: her natural mother had abandoned her at an early age.

- leave (a place or vehicle) empty or uninhabited, without intending to return: derelict houses were abandoned.

- (abandon someone/thing to) condemn someone or something to (a specified fate) by ceasing to take an interest in them: an attempt to persuade businesses not to abandon the area to inner-city deprivation.

2 give up completely (a practice or a course of action): he had clearly abandoned all pretence of trying to succeed.

- discontinue (a scheduled event) before completion: fans invaded the pitch and the match was abandoned.

3 (abandon oneself to) allow oneself to indulge in (a desire or impulse): she abandoned herself to his kiss.

■ n. [mass noun] complete lack of inhibition or restraint: she sings and sways with total abandon.

<PHRASES>

□ abandon ship leave a ship because it is sinking.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French abandoner, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + bandon ‘control’ (related to ban^1). The original sense was ‘bring under control’, later ‘give in to the control of, surrender to’ (sense 3 of the verb).

abandoned adj. 1 having been deserted or left: an abandoned car | abandoned pets.

2 unrestrained; uninhibited: a wild, abandoned dance.

abandonment n. [mass noun] the action or fact of abandoning or being abandoned: she had a feeling of utter abandonment and loneliness.

abase /əbes/ v. [with obj.] (usually abase oneself) behave in a way that belittles or degrades (someone): I watched my colleagues abasing themselves before the board of trustees.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French abaissier, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + baissier ‘to lower’, based on late Latin bassus ‘short of stature’. The spelling has been influenced by base^2.

abasement /əbesm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] the action or fact of abasing or being abased; humiliation or degradation.

abash v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. abashed) make (someone) feel embarrassed, disconcerted, or ashamed: Harriet looked slightly abashed.

<DERIVATIVES> abashment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French abaiss-; compare with Old French esbaiss-, lengthened stem of esbair, from es- ‘utterly’ + bair ‘astound’.

abate /əbet/ v. [no obj.] (of something unpleasant or severe) become less intense or widespread: the storm suddenly abated.

- [with obj.] make (something) less intense: nothing abated his crusading zeal.

- [with obj.] [LAW] reduce or remove (a nuisance).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the legal sense): from Old French abatre ‘to fell’, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + batre ‘to beat’ (from Latin battere, battuere ‘to beat’).

abatement /əbetm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] 1 the action of abating or being abated; ending or subsiding: this trend shows no sign of abatement.

2 [LAW] the reduction or removal of a nuisance: [as modifier] it was resolved to serve an abatement notice.

abatis /abəts/ n. (pl. abatises) HISTORICAL a defence made of felled trees placed lengthwise over each other with the boughs pointing outwards.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, literally ‘felled (trees)’, from Old French abatre ‘to fell’ (see ABATE).

abattoir /abətwα/ n. BRITISH a slaughterhouse.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from abattre ‘to fell’.

abaxial /abaksəl/ adj. [BOTANY] facing away from the stem of a plant (in particular denoting the lower surface of a leaf). The opposite of ADAXIAL.

abaya /əbejə/ n. a full-length, sleeveless outer garment worn by Arabs.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Arabic ‘abāya.

Abba^1 /abə/ n. 1 (in the New Testament) God as father.

- (in the Syrian Orthodox and Coptic Churches) a title given to bishops and patriarchs.

2 (abba) INDIAN father (often as a familiar form of address in Muslim families).

<ORIGIN> via Greek from Aramaic 'abbā ‘father’; sense 2 is from Hindi abbā, from Arabic ab.

Abba^2 /abə/ a Swedish pop group which became popular in the 1970s with catchy, well-crafted songs such as ‘Waterloo’ (1974) and ‘Knowing Me Knowing You’ (1977).

abbacy /abəsi/ n. (pl. abbacies) the office or period of office of an abbot or abbess.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin abbacia, from abbas, abbat- (see ABBOT).

Abbas^1 /əbas/ Ferhat (1899–1989), Algerian nationalist leader. President of the provisional government of the Algerian republic from 1958, he was appointed first President of independent Algeria in 1962 but fell from favour the following year.

Abbas^2 /əbαs/ Mahmoud (b.1935), Palestinian statesman; also known as Abu Mazen. He was appointed first Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority in 2003 and in 2005 was elected President, following the death of Yasser Arafat.

Abbasid /əbasd abəsd/ adj. relating to a dynasty of caliphs who ruled in Baghdad from 750 to 1258.

■ n. a member of the Abbasid dynasty.

<ORIGIN> named after Abbas (566–652), the prophet Muhammad's uncle and founder of the dynasty.

abbatial /əbe(ə)l/ adj. relating to an abbey, abbot, or abbess.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin abbatialis, from abbas, abbat- (see ABBOT).

Abbe /abə abi/ Ernst (1840–1905), German physicist, inventor of the apochromatic lens.

abbé /abe/ French /abe/ n. (in France) an abbot or other cleric.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: French, from ecclesiastical Latin abbas, abbat- (see ABBOT).

abbess /abεs/ n. a woman who is the head of an abbey of nuns.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French abbesse ‘female abbot’, from ecclesiastical Latin abbatissa, from abbas, abbat- (see ABBOT).

Abbevillian /abvlən/ adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY], DATED relating to or denoting the first Palaeolithic culture in Europe, now usually referred to as the Lower Acheulian.

- (as n. the Abbevillian) the Abbevillian culture or period.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from French Abbevillien ‘from Abbeville’, a town in northern France where tools from this culture were discovered.

abbey n. (pl. abbeys) the building or buildings occupied by a community of monks or nuns.

- a church that was formerly an abbey.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French abbeie, from medieval Latin abbatia ‘abbacy’, from abbas, abbat- (see ABBOT).

abbot n. a man who is the head of an abbey of monks.

<ORIGIN> Old English abbod, from ecclesiastical Latin abbas, abbat-, from Greek abbas ‘father’, from Aramaic 'abbā (see ABBA^1).

abbreviate /əbrivet/ v. [with obj.] shorten (a word, phrase, or text): ‘network’ is often abbreviated to ‘net’.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin abbreviat- ‘shortened’, from the verb abbreviare, from Latin brevis ‘short’.

abbreviated /əbrivetd/ adj. shortened; cut short: an abbreviated version of the earlier work | we intended to run an abbreviated event.

abbreviation n. a shortened form of a word or phrase.

- [mass noun] the process of abbreviating something.

ABC^1 n. 1 the alphabet.

2 an alphabetical guide: an ABC of British locomotives.

- the rudiments of a subject: the business had been learning the ABC of its trade.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) easy (or simple) as ABC extremely easy.

ABC^2 abbr.

- American Broadcasting Company.

- Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

ABC Islands an acronym for the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao.

ABD abbr. NORTH AMERICAN all but dissertation, used to denote a student who has completed all other parts of a doctorate.

abdabs (also habdabs) pl. n. BRITISH INFORMAL nervous anxiety or irritation: that idea gives most lawyers the screaming abdabs.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: of unknown origin.

abdicate /abdket/ v. 1 [no obj.] (of a monarch) renounce one's throne: in 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated as German emperor | [with obj.] Ferdinand abdicated the throne in favour of the emperor's brother.

2 [with obj.] fail to fulfil or undertake (a responsibility or duty): the government was accused of abdicating its responsibility.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin abdicat- ‘renounced’, from the verb abdicare, from ab- ‘away, from’ + dicare ‘declare’.

abdication /abdke(ə)n/ n. 1 an act of abdicating or renouncing the throne: Edward VIII did not marry until after his abdication.

2 failure to fulfil a responsibility or duty: we are witnessing an abdication of responsibility on the part of European governments.

abdomen /abdəmən abdəmən/ n. the part of the body of a vertebrate containing the digestive and reproductive organs; the belly.

- [ZOOLOGY] the hinder part of the body of an arthropod, especially the segments of an insect's body behind the thorax.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin.

abdominal adj. relating to the abdomen: abdominal pain.

■ n. (usually abdominals) an abdominal muscle.

<DERIVATIVES> abdominally adv.

abdominoplasty /abdmnə()plasti/ n. (pl. abdominoplasties) MEDICINE a surgical operation involving the removal of excess flesh from the abdomen.

abducens nerve /abdjus(ə)nz/ n. [ANATOMY] each of the sixth pair of cranial nerves, supplying the muscles concerned with the lateral movement of the eyeballs.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: abducens (modern Latin, ‘leading away’), from the Latin verb abducere.

abduct v. [with obj.] 1 take (someone) away illegally by force or deception; kidnap: the millionaire who disappeared may have been abducted.

2 [PHYSIOLOGY] (of a muscle) move (a limb or part) away from the midline of the body or from another part. The opposite of adduct^1.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin abduct- ‘led away’, from the verb abducere, from ab- ‘away, from’ + ducere ‘to lead’.

abductee n. a person who has been abducted.

abduction n. [mass noun] 1 the action of forcibly taking someone away against their will: they organized the abduction of Mr Cordes on his way to the airport | [count noun] abductions by armed men in plain clothes.

- (in legal use) the illegal removal of a child from its parents or guardians.

2 [PHYSIOLOGY] the movement of a limb or other part away from the midline of the body, or from another part. The opposite of ADDUCTION (see ADDUCT^1).

abductor n. 1 a person who abducts another person.

2 (also abductor muscle) [ANATOMY] a muscle whose contraction moves a limb or part away from the midline of the body, or from another part. Compare with ADDUCTOR.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a term in anatomy): modern Latin (see ABDUCT).

Abduh /abdu/ Muhammad (1849–1905), Egyptian Islamic scholar, jurist, and liberal reformer.

Abdul Hamid II /abdl hamd/ (1842–1918), Ottoman sultan 1876–1909. An autocratic ruler, he was deposed after the revolt of the Young Turks.

Abdullah ibn Hussein /abdlə b(ə)n hsen/ (1882–1951), king of Jordan 1946–51. He served as emir of Transjordan from 1921, becoming king of Jordan on its independence.

Abdul Rahman /abdl rαmən/ Tunku (1903–90), Malayan statesman, first Prime Minister of independent Malaya 1957–63 and of Malaysia 1963–70.

abeam adv. on a line at right angles to a ship's or an aircraft's length.

- (abeam of) opposite the middle of (a ship or aircraft): she was lying almost abeam of us.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from A-2 (expressing general direction) + BEAM.

abecedarian /ebisidεrən/ adj. arranged alphabetically: in abecedarian sequence.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin abecedarius ‘alphabetical’ (from the names of the letters a, b, c, d) + -AN.

abed adv. ARCHAIC in bed.

Abel^1 /eb(ə)l/ (in the Bible) the second son of Adam and Eve, murdered by his brother Cain.

Abel^2 /αb(ə)l/ Niels Henrik (1802–29), Norwegian mathematician. He proved that equations of the fifth degree cannot be solved by conventional algebraic methods, and made advances in the fields of power series and elliptic functions.

Abelard /abəlα(d)/ Peter (1079–1142), French scholar, theologian, and philosopher. He is famous for his tragic love affair with his pupil Héloïse (see HéLOïSE).

abele /əbil eb(ə)l/ n. the white poplar.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin albellus, diminutive of albus ‘white’. The term was reintroduced in the late 16th century from Dutch abeel (from Old French abel), when specimens were imported from the Netherlands.

abelia /əbilə/ n. an East Asian shrub of the honeysuckle family, typically having small tubular pink or white flowers.

<INFO> Genus Abelia, family Caprifoliaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin; named after Clarke Abel (1780–1826), English botanist.

abelian /əbilən/ adj. [MATHEMATICS] (of a group) having members related by a commutative operation (i.e. a*b = b*a).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from N. H. Abel (see ABEL^2) + -IAN.

Abeokuta /abəkutə/ a city in SW Nigeria, capital of the state of Ogun; pop. 529,700 (est. 2002).

Aberdeen^1 a city and seaport in NE Scotland; pop. 188,300 (est. 2002). It is a centre of the offshore North Sea oil industry.

Aberdeen^2 George Hamilton Gordon, 4th Earl of (1784–1860), British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1852–5.

Aberdeen Angus n. an animal of a Scottish breed of hornless black beef cattle.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ABERDEENSHIRE and Angus^1, where the breed originated.

Aberdeenshire a council area and former county of NE Scotland. Between 1975 and 1996 it was part of Grampian region.

Aberdonian /abədənən/ adj. of Aberdeen.

■ n. a person from Aberdeen.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin Aberdonia ‘Aberdeen’ + -AN.

Aberfan /abəvan/ a village in South Wales where, in 1966, a slag heap collapsed, overwhelming houses and a school and killing 28 adults and 116 children.

aberrant /əbεr(ə)nt/ adj. departing from an accepted standard.

- chiefly [BIOLOGY] diverging from the normal type: aberrant chromosomes.

<DERIVATIVES> aberrance n. aberrancy n. aberrantly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin aberrant- ‘wandering away’, from the verb aberrare, from ab- ‘away, from’ + errare ‘to stray’.

aberration /abəre(ə)n/ n. a departure from what is normal, usual, or expected, typically an unwelcome one: they described the outbreak of violence in the area as an aberration. | I see these activities as some kind of mental aberration.

- [BIOLOGY] a characteristic that deviates from the normal type: colour aberrations.

- [OPTICS] the failure of rays to converge at one focus because of a defect in a lens or mirror.

- [ASTRONOMY] the apparent displacement of a celestial object from its true position, caused by the relative motion of the observer and the object.

<DERIVATIVES> aberrational adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin aberratio(n-), from aberrare ‘to stray’ (see ABERRANT).

Abertawe /abertawe/ Welsh name for SWANSEA.

abet /əbεt/ v. (abets, abetting, abetted) [with obj.] encourage or assist (someone) to do something wrong, in particular to commit a crime: he was not guilty of murder, but guilty of aiding and abetting others.

- encourage or assist someone to commit (a crime): we are aiding and abetting this illegal traffic.

<DERIVATIVES> abetment n. abettor (also abetter) n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘urge to do something good or bad’): from Old French abeter, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + beter ‘hound, urge on’.

abeyance /əbeəns/ n. [mass noun] a state of temporary disuse or suspension: matters were held in abeyance pending further enquiries.

- [LAW] the position of being without, or of waiting for, an owner or claimant.

<DERIVATIVES> abeyant adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the legal sense): from Old French abeance ‘aspiration to a title’, from abeer ‘aspire after’, from a- ‘towards’ + beer ‘to gape’.

ABH abbr. actual bodily harm.

abhor /əbh/ v. (abhors, abhorring, abhorred) [with obj.] regard with disgust and hatred: he abhorred sexism in every form.

<DERIVATIVES> abhorrer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin abhorrere, from ab- ‘away from’ + horrere ‘to shudder’.

abhorrence /əbhr(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] a feeling of revulsion; disgusted loathing: the thought of marrying him filled her with abhorrence.

abhorrent adj. inspiring disgust and loathing; repugnant: racism was abhorrent to us all.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin abhorrent- ‘shuddering away from in horror’, from the verb abhorrere (see ABHOR).

abide v. 1 [no obj.] (abide by) accept or act in accordance with (a rule, decision, or recommendation).

2 [with obj.] (can/could not abide) INFORMAL be unable to tolerate: if there is one thing I cannot abide it is a lack of discipline.

3 [no obj.] (of a feeling or memory) continue without fading or being lost.

- ARCHAIC live; dwell.

<DERIVATIVES> abidance n. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> Old English ābīdan ‘wait’, from ā- ‘onwards’ + bīdan (see BIDE).

abiding adj. (of a feeling or memory) lasting a long time; enduring: he had an abiding respect for her.

<DERIVATIVES> abidingly adv.

Abidjan /abdαn/ the chief port of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), the capital 1935–83; pop. 3,310,400 (est. 2002).

abigail n. ARCHAIC a lady's maid.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from the name of a character in The Scornful Lady by Beaumont and Fletcher, possibly in allusion to 1 Sam. 25: 23–24: ‘And when Abigail saw David, she … fell at his feet, and said, “… hear the words of thine handmaid”.’.

ability n. (pl. abilities) 1 [in sing., with infinitive] possession of the means or skill to do something: the manager had lost his ability to motivate the players.

2 [mass noun] talent, skill, or proficiency in a particular area: a man of exceptional ability | [count noun] pupils of all abilities.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ablete, from Latin habilitas, from habilis ‘able’.

-ability suffix forming nouns of quality corresponding to adjectives ending in -able (such as suitability corresponding to suitable).

<ORIGIN> from French -abilité or Latin -abilitas.

ab initio /ab nə/ adv. & adj. FORMAL or [LAW] from the beginning: [as adv.] the agreement should be declared void ab initio.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

abiogenesis /ebə()dεnss/ n. technical term for SPONTANEOUS GENERATION.

<DERIVATIVES> abiogenic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from A-1 ‘not’ + Greek bios ‘life’ + GENESIS.

abiotic /ebtk/ adj. physical rather than biological; not derived from living organisms.

- devoid of life; sterile.

Abitur /abtə/ German /abitu/ n. (in Germany) a set of examinations taken in the final year of secondary school.

<ORIGIN> from German, abbreviation of Abiturientenexamen ‘leavers' examination’.

abject /abdεkt/ adj. 1 (of something bad) experienced or present to the maximum degree: his letter plunged her into abject misery | abject poverty.

- (of a situation or condition) extremely unpleasant and degrading: the abject condition of the peasants.

2 (of a person or their behaviour) completely without pride or dignity; self-abasing: an abject apology.

<DERIVATIVES> abjection n. abjectly adv. abjectness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘rejected’): from Latin abjectus, past participle of abicere ‘reject’, from ab- ‘away’ + jacere ‘to throw’.

abjure /əbdə əbd/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL solemnly renounce (a belief, cause, or claim): MPs were urged to abjure their Jacobite allegiance.

<PHRASES>

□ abjure the realm HISTORICAL swear an oath to leave a country forever.

<DERIVATIVES> abjuration n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin abjurare, from ab- ‘away’ + jurare ‘swear’.

Abkhaz /abkαz/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people living mainly in Abkhazia.

2 [mass noun] the North Caucasian language of the Abkhaz.

■ adj. relating to Abkhazia, its people, or their language.

Abkhazia /abkαzə/ an autonomous territory in NW Georgia, west of the Caucasus mountains on the Black Sea; pop. 517,500 (est. 2002); capital, Sokhumi. In 1992 Abkhazia unilaterally declared itself independent, sparking armed conflict with Georgia, and the following year drove Georgian forces from its territory.

<DERIVATIVES> Abkhazian /abkαzən abkezjən/ adj. & n.

ablation /əble(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the surgical removal of body tissue.

2 the removal of snow and ice from a glacier or iceberg by melting or evaporation.

- the erosion of rock, typically by wind action.

- the loss of surface material from a spacecraft or meteorite through evaporation or melting caused by friction with the atmosphere.

<DERIVATIVES> ablate v.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘taking away, removal’): from late Latin ablatio(n-), from Latin ablat- ‘taken away’, from ab- ‘away’ + lat- ‘carried’ (from the verb ferre).

ablative /ablətv/ adj. 1 [GRAMMAR] denoting a case (especially in Latin) of nouns and pronouns and words in grammatical agreement with them indicating an agent, instrument, or source, expressed by ‘by’, ‘with’, or ‘from’ in English.

2 (of surgical treatment) involving ablation.

3 relating to or subject to ablation through melting or evaporation: the spacecraft's ablative heat shield.

■ n. [GRAMMAR] a word in the ablative case.

- (the ablative) the ablative case.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ablative (feminine of ablatif), Latin ablativus, from ablat- ‘taken away’ (see ABLATION).

ablative absolute n. a construction in Latin which consists of a noun and participle or adjective in the ablative case and functions as a sentence adverb, for example Deo volente ‘God willing’.

ablaut /ablat/ n. [mass noun] alternation in the vowels of related word forms, especially in Germanic strong verbs (e.g. in sing, sang, sung).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, from ab ‘off’ + Laut ‘sound’.

ablaze adj. [predic.] burning fiercely: his clothes were ablaze | [as complement] farm buildings were set ablaze.

- very brightly coloured or lighted: New England is ablaze with color in autumn | FIGURATIVE his eyes were ablaze with anger.

able adj. (abler, ablest) 1 [with infinitive] having the power, skill, means, or opportunity to do something: he was able to read Greek at the age of eight | they would never be able to afford such a big house.

2 having considerable skill, proficiency, or intelligence: the dancers were technically very able.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘easy to use, suitable’): from Old French hable, from Latin habilis ‘handy’, from habere ‘to hold’.

-able suffix forming adjectives meaning: 1 able to be: calculable.

2 due to be: payable.

3 subject to: taxable.

4 relevant to or in accordance with: fashionable.

5 having the quality to: suitable | comfortable.

<ORIGIN> from French -able or Latin -abilis; originally found in words only from these forms but later used to form adjectives directly from English verbs ending in -ate, e.g. educable from educate; subsequently used to form adjectives from verbs of all types (influenced by the unrelated word ABLE), e.g. bearable, saleable.

able-bodied adj. fit and healthy; not physically disabled.

abled adj. having a full range of physical or mental abilities; not disabled. See also DIFFERENTLY ABLED.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: back-formation from DISABLED.

ableism /eblz(ə)m/ (also ablism) n. [mass noun] discrimination in favour of able-bodied people.

<DERIVATIVES> ableist adj.

able seaman n. a rank of sailor in the Royal Navy above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

abloom adj. [predic.] covered in flowers.

ablush adj. [predic.] LITERARY blushing.

ablution /əblu(ə)n/ n. (usually ablutions) FORMAL or HUMOROUS an act of washing oneself: the women performed their ablutions.

- a ceremonial act of washing parts of the body or sacred containers.

- (the ablutions) BRITISH (in army slang) a building or room containing washing facilities and toilets.

<DERIVATIVES> ablutionary adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin ablutio(n-), from abluere, from ab- ‘away’ + luere ‘wash’. The original use was as a term in chemistry and alchemy meaning ‘purification by using liquids’, hence ‘purification of the body by washing’ (mid 16th century).

ably adv. skilfully; competently: Steven has summed up our concerns very ably.

-ably suffix forming adverbs corresponding to adjectives ending in -able (such as suitably corresponding to suitable).

ABM abbr. anti-ballistic-missile.

Abnaki /abnaki/ (also Abenaki /abənaki/) n. (pl. same or Abnakis) 1 a member of an American Indian people of Maine and southern Quebec.

2 [mass noun] either or both of the two extinct Algonquian languages (Eastern Abnaki and Western Abnaki) of the Abnaki.

■ adj. relating to the Abnaki or their language.

<ORIGIN> from French Abénaqui, from Montagnais ouabanăkionek ‘people of the eastern land’.

abnegate /abnet/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL renounce or reject (something desired or valuable): he attempts to abnegate personal responsibility.

<DERIVATIVES> abnegator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin abnegat- ‘renounced’, from the verb abnegare, from ab- ‘away, off’ + negare ‘deny’.

abnegation n. [mass noun] the action of renouncing or rejecting something: abnegation of political law-making power.

- self-denial.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin abnegatio(n-), from the verb abnegare (see ABNEGATE).

Abney level /abni/ n. [SURVEYING] a kind of clinometer consisting of a sighting tube, spirit level, and graduated scale.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Sir William Abney (1844–1920), English scientist.

abnormal adj. deviating from what is normal or usual, typically in a way that is undesirable or worrying: the illness is recognizable from the patient's abnormal behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> abnormally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: alteration (by association with Latin abnormis ‘monstrous’) of 16th-cent. anormal, from French, variant of anomal, via Latin from Greek anōmalos (see ANOMALOUS).

abnormality n. (pl. abnormalities) an abnormal feature, characteristic, or occurrence: babies with congenital abnormalities.

- [mass noun] the quality or state of being abnormal.

Abo /abə/ AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE n. (pl. Abos) an Aborigine.

■ adj. Aboriginal.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

Åbo /bu/ Swedish name for TURKU.

aboard adv. & preposition on or into (a ship, aircraft, train, or other vehicle): [as adv.] the plane crashed, killing all 158 people aboard | FIGURATIVE coming aboard as IBM's new chairman | [as prep.] I climbed aboard the yacht.

- on or on to (a horse): [as adv.] with Richard Migliore aboard, he won the cup at a gallop.

- [BASEBALL] on base: [as adv.] putting their first batter aboard.

<PHRASES>

□ all aboard! a call warning passengers to get on a ship, train, or bus that is about to depart.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from A-2 (expressing motion) + BOARD, reinforced by Old French à bord.

abode^1 n. FORMAL or LITERARY a place of residence; a house or home: both defendants were said to be of no fixed abode | my humble abode.

- [mass noun] residence: their right of abode in Britain.

- ARCHAIC a stay; a sojourn.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘act of waiting’): verbal noun from ABIDE.

abode^2 v. archaic past of ABIDE.

abolish v. [with obj.] formally put an end to (a system, practice, or institution): the tax was abolished in 1977.

<DERIVATIVES> abolishable adj. abolisher n. abolishment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French aboliss-, lengthened stem of abolir, from Latin abolere ‘destroy’.

abolition n. [mass noun] the action of abolishing a system, practice, or institution: the abolition of the death penalty.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin abolitio(n-), from abolere ‘destroy’.

abolitionist n. a person who favours the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery.

<DERIVATIVES> abolitionism n.

abomasum /abəmesəm/ n. (pl. abomasa /-sə/) [ZOOLOGY] the fourth stomach of a ruminant, which receives food from the omasum and passes it to the small intestine.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from ab- ‘away, from’ + omasum (see OMASUM).

A-bomb n. short for ATOM BOMB.

Abomey /əbəme abə()me/ a town in southern Benin, capital of the former kingdom of Dahomey; pop. 114,800 (est. 2002).

abominable adj. causing moral revulsion: the uprising was suppressed with abominable cruelty.

- INFORMAL very bad; terrible: what an abominable mess!

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin abominabilis, from abominari (see ABOMINATE). The term was once widely believed to be from AB- ‘away from’ + Latin homine (from homo ‘human being’), thus ‘inhuman, beastly’, and frequently spelled abhominable until the 17th cent.

Abominable Snowman n. (pl. Abominable Snowmen)

■ another term for YETI.

abominably adv. very unpleasantly or unfairly: he had treated her abominably.

- INFORMAL very badly: his head hurt abominably.

abominate /əbmnet/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL detest; loathe: they abominated the very idea of monarchy.

<DERIVATIVES> abominator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin abominat- ‘deprecated’, from the verb abominari, from ab- ‘away, from’ + omen, omin- ‘omen’.

abomination n. a thing that causes disgust or loathing: concrete abominations masquerading as hotels.

- a feeling of hatred: a Calvinist abomination of indulgence.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin abominatio(n-), from the verb abominari (see ABOMINATE).

aboral /abr(ə)l/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] relating to or denoting the side or end that is furthest from the mouth, especially in animals that lack clear upper and lower sides such as echinoderms.

- moving or leading away from the mouth.

<DERIVATIVES> aborally adv.

aboriginal adj. inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times or from before the arrival of colonists; indigenous.

- (Aboriginal) relating to the Australian Aborigines or their languages.

■ n. 1 an aboriginal inhabitant of a place.

- (Aboriginal) a person belonging to one of the indigenous peoples of Australia.

2 (Aboriginal) [mass noun] any of the numerous Australian Aboriginal languages.

<DERIVATIVES> Aboriginality n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin aborigines ‘original inhabitants’ (see ABORIGINE) + -AL.

aborigine /abərdni/ n. a person, animal, or plant that has been in a country or region from earliest times.

- (Aborigine) an aboriginal inhabitant of Australia.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: back-formation from the 16th-cent. plural aborigines ‘original inhabitants’ (in classical times referring to those of Italy and Greece), from the Latin phrase ab origine ‘from the beginning’.

<USAGE> Both Aboriginal and Aborigine may be used as nouns referring to a member of an Australian Aboriginal people, but Aborigine is the commoner and is often preferred, especially in the plural.

aborning /əbn/ adv. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN while being born or produced: the idea died aborning.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from a- ‘in the process of’ + borning, verbal noun from born (North American dialect usage) ‘to be born’.

abort v. [with obj.] 1 carry out or undergo the abortion of (a fetus).

- [no obj.] (of a pregnant woman or female animal) have a miscarriage, with loss of the fetus.

- [no obj.] [BIOLOGY] (of an embryonic organ or organism) remain undeveloped; fail to mature.

2 bring to a premature end because of a problem or fault: the flight crew aborted the take-off.

■ n. INFORMAL or TECHNICAL an act of aborting a flight, space mission, or other enterprise: an abort because of bad weather.

- an aborted enterprise.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin aboriri ‘miscarry’, from ab- ‘away, from’ + oriri ‘be born’.

abortifacient /əbtfe(ə)nt/ MEDICINE adj. (chiefly of a drug) causing abortion.

■ n. an abortifacient drug.

abortion n. 1 [mass noun] the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks: concerns such as abortion and euthanasia | [count noun] illegal abortions.

- the expulsion of a fetus from the womb by natural causes before it is able to survive independently.

- [BIOLOGY] the arrest of the development of a seed, fruit, or other organ.

2 an object or undertaking that is unpleasant or badly made or carried out.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin abortio(n-), from aboriri ‘miscarry’ (see ABORT).

abortionist n. DEROGATORY a person who carries out abortions.

abortion mill n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used pejoratively by opponents of abortion to refer to an abortion clinic.

abortive adj. 1 failing to produce the intended result: the rebel officers who led the abortive coup were shot.

2 [BIOLOGY], DATED (of an organ or organism) rudimentary; arrested in development: abortive medusae.

3 RARE causing or resulting in abortion.

<DERIVATIVES> abortively adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun denoting a stillborn child or animal): via Old French from Latin abortivus, from aboriri ‘miscarry’ (see ABORT).

abortus fever /əbtəs/ n. [mass noun] the commonest form of undulant fever in humans.

<INFO> This disease is caused by the bacterium Brucella abortus, which is also the chief cause of brucellosis in cattle.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Latin abortus ‘miscarriage’.

ABO system n. a system of four basic types (A, AB, B, and O) into which human blood may be classified, based on the presence or absence of certain inherited antigens.

Aboukir Bay, Battle of /abukə/ (also Abukir Bay) a naval battle in 1798 off Aboukir Bay at the mouth of the Nile, in which the British under Nelson defeated the French fleet. Also called NILE, BATTLE OF THE.

abound v. [no obj.] exist in large numbers or amounts: rumours of a further scandal abound.

- (abound in/with) have in large numbers or amounts: this area abounds with caravan sites.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘overflow, be abundant’): from Old French abunder, from Latin abundare ‘overflow’, from ab- ‘from’ + undare ‘surge’ (from unda ‘a wave’).

abounding adj. very plentiful; abundant: his abounding creative talent.

about prep. 1 on the subject of; concerning: I was thinking about you | a book about ancient Greece | it's all about having fun.

- so as to affect: there's nothing we can do about it.

2 chiefly BRITISH used to indicate movement within a particular area: she looked about the room.

3 chiefly BRITISH used to express location in a particular place: rugs were strewn about the hall | he produced a knife from somewhere about his person.

- used to describe a quality apparent in a person: there was a look about her that said everything.

■ adv. 1 chiefly BRITISH used to indicate movement within an area: men were floundering about | finding my way about.

2 chiefly BRITISH used to express location in a particular place: there was a lot of flu about.

3 (used with a number or quantity) approximately: reduced by about 5 per cent | he's about 35.

<PHRASES>

□ be about to do something intend to do something, or be close to doing something, very soon: the ceremony was about to begin.

□ be not about to do something be unwilling to do something: he is not about to step down after so long.

□ be on about see ON.

□ know what one is about INFORMAL be sensible, self-possessed, and aware of how to deal with difficult situations.

<ORIGIN> Old English onbūtan, from on ‘in, on’ + būtan ‘outside of’ (see BUT^2).

about-turn (also chiefly NORTH AMERICAN about-face) BRITISH n. (chiefly in military contexts) a turn made so as to face the opposite direction: he did an about-turn and marched out of the tent.

- INFORMAL a complete change of opinion or policy: the government made an about-turn over the bill.

■ v. [no obj.] turn so as to face the opposite direction.

■ exclam. (about turn!) a military command to make an about-turn.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally as a military command): shortening of right about turn.

above prep. 1 in extended space over and not touching: a display of fireworks above the town | a cable runs above the duct.

- extending upwards over: she held her arms above her head.

- higher than and to one side of; overlooking: in the hills above the capital | on the wall above the altar.

2 at a higher level or layer than: from his flat above the corner shop | bruises above both eyes.

- higher in grade or rank than: at a level above the common people.

- considered of higher status or worth than; too good for: she married above her.

- in preference to: the firm cynically chose profit above car safety.

- at a higher volume or pitch than: he seldom spoke above a whisper | the doorbell went unheard above the din.

3 higher than (a specified amount, rate, or norm): the food was well above average | above sea level.

■ adv. at a higher level or layer: place a quantity of mud in a jar with water above.

- higher in grade or rank: an officer of the rank of superintendent or above.

- higher than a specified amount, rate, or norm: boats of 31 ft or above.

- (in printed text) mentioned earlier or further up on the same page: the two cases described above | see above left | [as adj.] at the above address | [as n.] since writing the above, I have reconsidered.

<PHRASES>

□ above all (else) more so than anything else: he was concerned above all to speak the truth.

□ above oneself conceited; arrogant.

□ from above from overhead: branches rained from above.

- from a position of higher rank or authority: mass culture is imposed from above.

□ not be above be capable of stooping to (an unworthy act): he was not above practical jokes.

<ORIGIN> Old English abufan (as an adverb), from a- ‘on’ + bufan (from bi ‘by’ + ufan ‘above’).

above board adj. & adv. legitimate, honest, and open: [as adj.] certain transactions were not totally above board | [as adv.] the accountants acted completely above board.

ab ovo /ab əvə/ adv. from the very beginning.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘from the egg’.

Abp abbr. Archbishop.

abracadabra exclam. a word said by conjurors when performing a magic trick.

■ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL language used to give the impression of arcane knowledge or power: I get so fed up with all the mumbo-jumbo and abracadabra.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as a mystical word engraved and used as a charm to ward off illness): from Latin, first recorded in a 2nd-cent. poem by Q. Serenus Sammonicus, from a Greek base.

abrade /əbred/ v. [with obj.] scrape or wear away by friction or erosion: it was a landscape slowly abraded by a fine, stinging dust.

<DERIVATIVES> abrader n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin abradere, from ab- ‘away, from’ + radere ‘to scrape’.

Abraham /ebrəham/ (in the Bible) the Hebrew patriarch from whom all Jews trace their descent (Gen. 11:27–25:10). In Gen. 22 he is ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac as a test of faith, a command later revoked.

Abraham, Plains of see PLAINS OF ABRAHAM.

Abrahams /ebrəhamz/ Harold (Maurice) (1899–1978), English athlete. In 1924 he became the first Englishman to win the 100 metres in the Olympic Games. His story was the subject of the film Chariots of Fire (1981).

abrasion /əbre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the process of scraping or wearing something away: the metal is resistant to abrasion.

- [count noun] an area damaged by scraping or wearing away: there were cuts and abrasions to the lips and jaw.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin abrasio(n-), from the verb abradere (see ABRADE).

abrasive /əbresv/ adj. 1 (of a substance or material) capable of polishing or cleaning a hard surface by rubbing or grinding.

- tending to rub or graze the skin: the trees were abrasive to the touch.

- FIGURATIVE (of sounds or music) rough to the ear; harsh: fast abrasive rhythms.

2 showing little concern for the feelings of others; harsh: her abrasive and arrogant personal style won her few friends.

■ n. a substance used for grinding, polishing, or cleaning a hard surface.

<DERIVATIVES> abrasively adv. abrasiveness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (as a noun): from Latin abras- ‘abraded’, from the verb abradere (see ABRADE), + -IVE.

abrazo /əbrαzə əbrasə/ n. (pl. abrazos) US an embrace.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

abreact /abrakt/ v. [with obj.] [PSYCHIATRY] release (an emotion) by abreaction.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: back-formation from ABREACTION.

abreaction n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] the expression and consequent release of a previously repressed emotion, achieved through reliving the experience that caused it (typically through hypnosis or suggestion).

<DERIVATIVES> abreactive adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from AB- ‘away from’ + REACTION, translating German Abreagierung.

abreast adv. 1 side by side and facing the same way: the path was wide enough for two people to walk abreast | they were riding three abreast.

2 (usually abreast of) alongside or level with something: the cart came abreast of the Americans in their rickshaw.

- up to date with the latest news, ideas, or information: keeping abreast of developments.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from A-2 ‘in’ + BREAST.

abridge v. [with obj.] 1 (often as adj. abridged) shorten (a book, film, speech, etc.) without losing the sense: an abridged text of his speech.

2 [LAW] curtail (a right or privilege).

<DERIVATIVES> abridgeable adj. abridger n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘deprive of’): from Old French abregier, from late Latin abbreviare ‘cut short’ (see ABBREVIATE).

abridgement (also chiefly US abridgment) n. [mass noun] 1 the action of abridging a text.

- [count noun] a shortened version of a larger work.

2 [LAW] curtailment of rights.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French abregement, from the verb abreg(i)er (see ABRIDGE).

abroad chiefly BRITISH adv. 1 in or to a foreign country or countries: we usually go abroad for a week in May | competition from companies at home and abroad.

2 in different directions; over a wide area: millions of seeds are annually scattered abroad.

- (of a feeling or rumour) widely current: there is a new buccaneering spirit abroad.

- freely moving about: hospital inmates abroad on the streets of the town.

3 ARCHAIC out of doors: few people ventured abroad from their warm houses.

4 ARCHAIC wide of the mark; in error.

■ n. [mass noun] foreign countries considered collectively: servicemen returning from abroad.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from A-2 ‘on’ + BROAD.

abrogate /abrəet/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL repeal or do away with (a law, right, or formal agreement): a proposal to abrogate temporarily the right to strike.

<DERIVATIVES> abrogator n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin abrogat- ‘repealed’, from the verb abrogare, from ab- ‘away, from’ + rogare ‘propose a law’.

abrogation /abrəe(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL the repeal or abolition of a law, right, or agreement.

abrupt adj. 1 sudden and unexpected: I was surprised by the abrupt change of subject | the match came to an abrupt end.

2 brief to the point of rudeness; curt: you were rather abrupt with that young man.

- (of a style of speech or writing) not flowing smoothly; disjointed.

3 steep; precipitous: the abrupt double peak.

<DERIVATIVES> abruptly adv. abruptness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin abruptus ‘broken off, steep’, past participle of abrumpere, from ab- ‘away, from’ + rumpere ‘break’.

abruption n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL the sudden breaking away of a portion from a mass.

- (also placental abruption) MEDICINE separation of the placenta from the wall of the womb during pregnancy, especially when it occurs prematurely.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin abruptio(n)-, from abrumpere ‘break off’ (see ABRUPT).

Abruzzi /abrtsi/ (also Abruzzo /-tsə/) a mountainous region of east central Italy; capital, Aquila.

<DERIVATIVES> Abruzzian n. & adj.

ABS abbr.

- acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, a hard composite plastic used to make car bodies and cases for computers and other appliances.

- anti-lock braking system (for motor vehicles).

abs- prefix variant spelling of AB- before c, q, and t (as in abscond, abstain).

abscess n. a swollen area within body tissue, containing an accumulation of pus.

<DERIVATIVES> abscessed adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin abscessus ‘a going away’, from the verb abscedere, from ab- ‘away from’ + cedere ‘go’, referring to the elimination of infected matter via the pus.

abscisic acid /abssk/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a plant hormone which promotes leaf detachment, induces seed and bud dormancy, and inhibits germination.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: abscisic from abscisin (the earlier name for the hormone), from ABSCISSION.

abscissa /abssə/ n. (pl. abscissae /-si/ or abscissas) [MATHEMATICS] (in a system of coordinates) the distance from a point to the vertical or y-axis, measured parallel to the horizontal or x-axis; the x-coordinate. Compare with ORDINATE.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting the part of a line between a point on it and the point of intersection with an ordinate): from modern Latin abscissa (linea) ‘cut-off (line)’, feminine past participle of abscindere (see ABSCISSION).

abscission /əbs(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the natural detachment of parts of a plant, typically dead leaves and ripe fruit.

<DERIVATIVES> abscise /əbsz/ v.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin abscissio(n-), from abscindere, from ab- ‘off’ + scindere ‘to cut’.

abscond /əbsknd ab-/ v. [no obj.] leave hurriedly and secretly, typically to escape from custody or avoid arrest: the barman absconded with a week's takings | 176 detainees absconded.

- (of a person on bail) fail to surrender oneself for custody at the appointed time.

<DERIVATIVES> absconder n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘hide, conceal oneself’): from Latin abscondere ‘hide’, from ab- ‘away, from’ + condere ‘stow’.

abseil /absel -zl/ British v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] descend a rock face or other near-vertical surface by using a doubled rope coiled round the body and fixed at a higher point: (as n. abseiling) facilities for abseiling and rock climbing.

■ n. a descent made by abseiling.

<DERIVATIVES> abseiler n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from German abseilen, from ab ‘down’ + Seil ‘rope’.

absence n. [mass noun] the state of being away from a place or person: the letter had arrived during his absence | I supervised the rehearsal in the absence of the director.

- [count noun] an occasion or period of being away from a place or person: repeated absences from school.

- (absence of) the non-existence or lack of: she found his total absence of facial expression disconcerting.

<PHRASES>

□ absence makes the heart grow fonder PROVERB you feel more affection for those you love when parted from them.

□ absence of mind failure to concentrate on or remember what one is doing.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin absentia, from absens, absent- (see ABSENT).

absent adj. /abs(ə)nt/ 1 not present in a place, at an occasion, or as part of something: most pupils were absent from school at least once | absent colleagues | wings are absent in several species of crane flies.

2 (of an expression or manner) showing that someone is not paying attention to what is being said or done: she looked up with an absent smile.

■ v. /absεnt/ [with obj.] (absent oneself) stay or go away: halfway through the meal, he absented himself from the table.

■ prep. FORMAL, NORTH AMERICAN without: absent a willingness to negotiate, you can't have collective bargaining.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin absens, absent- ‘being absent’, present participle of abesse, from ab- ‘from, away’ + esse ‘to be’.

absentee n. a person who is expected or required to be present at a place or event but is not.

absentee ballot n. North American term for POSTAL VOTE.

absenteeism n. [mass noun] the practice of regularly staying away from work or school without good reason.

absentee landlord n. a landlord who does not live at and rarely visits the property they let.

absently /abs(ə)ntli/ adv. in an absent-minded way; vaguely: Keira toyed absently with her fork.

absent-minded adj. having or showing a forgetful or inattentive disposition: an absent-minded smile.

<DERIVATIVES> absent-mindedly adv. absent-mindedness n.

absinth /absnθ/ n. 1 the shrub wormwood.

- [mass noun] an essence made from wormwood.

2 (usually absinthe) [mass noun] a potent green aniseed-flavoured liqueur, originally made with wormwood (which is now banned because of its toxicity).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French absinthe, via Latin from Greek apsinthion ‘wormwood’.

absit omen /abst əmən/ exclam. used when referring to something undesirable, in the hope that the thing mentioned will not occur.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘may this (evil) omen be absent’.

absolute /absəlut/ adj. 1 not qualified or diminished in any way; total: absolute secrecy | absolute silence.

- used for emphasis when expressing an opinion: the policy is absolute folly.

- (of powers or rights) not subject to any limitation; unconditional: no one dare challenge her absolute authority | the right to life is absolute.

- (of a ruler) having unrestricted power: Dom Miguel proclaimed himself absolute monarch.

- [LAW] (of a decree) final: the decree of nullity was made absolute. See also DECREE ABSOLUTE.

2 viewed or existing independently and not in relation to other things; not relative or comparative: absolute moral standards.

3 [GRAMMAR] (of a construction) syntactically independent of the rest of the sentence, as in dinner being over, we left the table.

- (of a transitive verb) used without an expressed object (e.g. guns kill).

- (of an adjective) used without an expressed noun (e.g. the brave).

■ n. [PHILOSOPHY] a value or principle which is regarded as universally valid or which may be viewed without relation to other things: good and evil are presented as absolutes.

- (the absolute) that which exists without being dependent on anything else.

- (the Absolute) ultimate reality; God.

<DERIVATIVES> absoluteness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin absolutus ‘freed, unrestricted’, past participle of absolvere (see ABSOLVE).

absolute alcohol n. [mass noun] ethanol containing less than one per cent of water by weight.

absolutely adv. 1 with no qualification, restriction, or limitation; totally: she trusted him absolutely | [as submodifier] you're absolutely right.

- used to emphasize a strong or exaggerated statement: he absolutely adores that car | [as submodifier] Dad was absolutely furious.

- [with negative] none whatsoever: she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

- [as exclamation] INFORMAL used to express and emphasize one's assent or agreement: ‘Did they give you a free hand when you joined the band?’ ‘Absolutely!’.

2 not viewed in relation to other things: white-collar crime increased both absolutely and in comparison with other categories.

3 [GRAMMAR] (of a verb) without a stated object.

absolute magnitude n. [ASTRONOMY] the magnitude (brightness) of a celestial object as it would be seen at a standard distance of 10 parsecs. Compare with APPARENT MAGNITUDE.

absolute majority n. a majority over all rivals combined; more than half.

absolute music n. [mass noun] instrumental music not intended to represent or illustrate something else. Compare with PROGRAMME MUSIC.

absolute pitch n. [mass noun] [MUSIC] another term for PERFECT PITCH.

- pitch according to a fixed standard defined by the frequency of the sound vibration.

absolute temperature n. a temperature measured from absolute zero in kelvins. (Symbol: T)

absolute title n. [mass noun] [LAW] the guarantee of title to the ownership of a property or lease.

absolute unit n. a unit of measurement which is defined in terms of the fundamental units of a system (mass, length, and time), and is not based on arbitrary definitions.

absolute value n. 1 [MATHEMATICS] the magnitude of a real number without regard to its sign. Also called MODULUS.

<INFO> The absolute value of a complex number a + ib is the positive square root of a^2 + b^2.

2 TECHNICAL the actual magnitude of a numerical value or measurement, irrespective of its relation to other values.

absolute zero n. the lowest temperature that is theoretically possible, at which the motion of particles which constitutes heat would be minimal. It is zero on the Kelvin scale, equivalent to −273.15°C.

absolution n. [mass noun] formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment.

- ecclesiastical declaration that a person's sins have been forgiven: she had been granted absolution for her sins.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin absolutio(n-), from the verb absolvere (see ABSOLVE).

absolutism n. [mass noun] the holding of absolute principles in political, philosophical, or theological matters.

<DERIVATIVES> absolutist n. & adj.

absolutize (also absolutise) v. [with obj.] chiefly [PHILOSOPHY] & [THEOLOGY] make or treat (something) as absolute.

<DERIVATIVES> absolutization n.

absolve /əbzlv/ v. [with obj.] declare (someone) free from guilt, obligation, or punishment: the pardon absolved them of any crimes.

- (in church use) give absolution for (a sin).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin absolvere ‘set free, acquit’, from ab- ‘from’ + solvere ‘loosen’.

absonant /abs(ə)nənt/ adj. ARCHAIC discordant or unreasonable.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin ab- ‘away, from’ + sonant- ‘sounding’ (from the verb sonare), on the pattern of words such as dissonant.

absorb /əbzb -sb/ v. [with obj.] 1 take in or soak up (energy or a liquid or other substance) by chemical or physical action: buildings can be designed to absorb and retain heat | steroids are absorbed into the bloodstream.

- take in and understand fully (information, ideas, or experience): she absorbed the information in silence.

- take control of (a smaller or less powerful entity) and make it a part of a larger one: the family firm was absorbed into a larger group.

- use or take up (time or resources): arms spending absorbs roughly two per cent of the national income.

- take up and reduce the effect or intensity of (sound or an impact): deep-pile carpets absorbed all sound of the outside world.

2 (often be absorbed in) take up the attention of (someone); interest greatly: she sat in an armchair, absorbed in a book | the work absorbed him and continued to make him happy.

<DERIVATIVES> absorbability n. absorbable adj. absorbedly adv. absorber n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin absorbere, from ab- ‘from’ + sorbere ‘suck in’.

absorbance n. [PHYSICS] a measure of the capacity of a substance to absorb light of a specified wavelength. It is equal to the logarithm of the reciprocal of the transmittance.

absorbed dose n. [PHYSICS] the quantity of ionizing radiation absorbed by a body, measured (usually in grays) as the energy absorbed per unit mass.

absorbent adj. (of a material) able to soak up liquid easily: absorbent kitchen paper.

■ n. a substance that soaks up liquid easily.

<DERIVATIVES> absorbency n.

absorbent cotton n. North American term for COTTON WOOL.

absorbing adj. intensely interesting; engrossing: an absorbing account of their marriage.

<DERIVATIVES> absorbingly adv.

absorptiometer /əbzpmtə -sp-/ n. [PHYSICS] an instrument for measuring the absorption of light or other radiation.

<DERIVATIVES> absorptiometric adj. absorptiometry n.

absorption /əbzp(ə)n -sp-/ n. [mass noun] 1 the process by which one thing absorbs or is absorbed by another: the country's absorption into the Ottoman Empire | shock absorption.

2 the state of being engrossed in something: her absorption in the problems of the Third World.

<DERIVATIVES> absorptive adj. absorptivity n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘the swallowing up of something’): from Latin absorptio(n-), from absorbere ‘swallow up’ (see ABSORB).

absorption costing n. [mass noun] a method of calculating the cost of a product or enterprise by taking into account indirect expenses (overheads) as well as direct costs.

absorption nebula n. [ASTRONOMY] another term for DARK NEBULA.

absorption spectrum n. [PHYSICS] a spectrum of electromagnetic radiation transmitted through a substance, showing dark lines or bands due to absorption at specific wavelengths. Compare with EMISSION SPECTRUM.

absquatulate /əbskwtjlet/ v. [no obj., with adverbial] HUMOROUS, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN leave abruptly: some overthrown dictator who had absquatulated to the USA.

<DERIVATIVES> absquatulation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: blend (simulating a Latin form) of ABSCOND, squattle ‘squat down’, and PERAMBULATE.

abstain v. [no obj.] 1 restrain oneself from doing or enjoying something: she intends to abstain from sex before marriage.

- refrain from drinking alcohol: most pregnant women abstain or drink very little.

2 formally decline to vote either for or against a proposal or motion: forty-one voted with the Opposition, and some sixty more abstained.

<DERIVATIVES> abstainer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French abstenir, from Latin abstinere, from ab- ‘from’ + tenere ‘hold’.

abstemious /əbstiməs/ adj. indulging only very moderately in something, especially food and drink: ‘We only had a bottle.’ ‘Very abstemious of you.’.

<DERIVATIVES> abstemiously adv. abstemiousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin abstemius, (from ab- ‘from’ + a word related to temetum ‘alcoholic liquor’) + -OUS.

abstention /əbstεn(ə)n/ n. 1 an instance of declining to vote for or against a proposal or motion: a resolution passed by 126 votes to none, with six abstentions.

2 [mass noun] restraint in one's consumption; abstinence.

<DERIVATIVES> abstentionism n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting the action of keeping back or restraining): from late Latin abstentio(n-), from the verb abstinere (see ABSTAIN).

abstinence /abstnəns/ n. [mass noun] the practice of restraining oneself from indulging in something, typically alcohol or sex: I started drinking again after six years of abstinence | abstinence from premarital intercourse.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin abstinentia, from the verb abstinere (see ABSTAIN).

abstinent adj. refraining from an activity or from the consumption of something, especially alcohol: the patients are best advised to be totally abstinent from alcohol.

<DERIVATIVES> abstinently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin abstinent- ‘abstaining’, from the verb abstinere (see ABSTAIN).

abstract adj. /abstrakt/ 1 existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence: abstract concepts such as love or beauty.

- dealing with ideas rather than events: the novel was too abstract and esoteric to sustain much attention.

- not based on a particular instance; theoretical: we have been discussing the problem in a very abstract manner.

- (of a noun) denoting an idea, quality, or state rather than a concrete object.

2 relating to or denoting art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but rather seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, colours, and textures.

■ v. /əbstrakt/ [with obj.] 1 (abstract something from) consider something theoretically or separately from (something else): to abstract science and religion from their historical context can lead to anachronism.

2 (usually abstract something from) extract or remove (something): applications to abstract more water from streams.

- (abstract oneself) withdraw: as our relationship deepened you seemed to abstract yourself.

3 make a written summary of (an article or book): staff who abstract material for an online database.

■ n. /abstrakt/ 1 a summary of the contents of a book, article, or speech: an abstract of her speech.

2 an abstract work of art: a big unframed abstract.

<PHRASES>

□ in the abstract in a general way; without reference to specific instances.

<DERIVATIVES> abstractly adv. abstractor n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin abstractus, literally ‘drawn away’, past participle of abstrahere, from ab- ‘from’ + trahere ‘draw off’.

abstracted adj. lacking concentration on what is happening around one: she seemed abstracted and unaware of her surroundings | an abstracted smile.

<DERIVATIVES> abstractedly adv.

abstract expressionism n. [mass noun] a development of abstract art which originated in New York in the 1940s and 1950s and aimed at subjective emotional expression with particular emphasis on the spontaneous creative act (e.g. action painting). Leading figures were Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

<DERIVATIVES> abstract expressionist n. & adj.

abstraction n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of dealing with ideas rather than events: topics will vary in degrees of abstraction.

- [count noun] something which exists only as an idea: the question can no longer be treated as an academic abstraction.

2 freedom from representational qualities in art: geometric abstraction has been a mainstay in her work.

- [count noun] an abstract work of art.

3 a state of preoccupation: she sensed his momentary abstraction.

4 the process of considering something independently of its associations or attributes: the question cannot be considered in abstraction from the historical context in which it was raised.

5 the process of removing something, especially water from a river or other source.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin abstractio(n-), from the verb abstrahere ‘draw away’ (see ABSTRACT).

abstractionism n. [mass noun] the principles and practice of abstract art.

- the presentation of ideas in abstract terms.

<DERIVATIVES> abstractionist n. & adj.

abstract of title n. [LAW] a summary giving details of the title deeds and documents that prove an owner's right to dispose of land, together with any encumbrances that relate to the property.

abstruse /əbstrus/ adj. difficult to understand; obscure: an abstruse philosophical inquiry.

<DERIVATIVES> abstrusely adv. abstruseness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin abstrusus ‘put away, hidden’, from abstrudere ‘conceal’, from ab- ‘from’ + trudere ‘to push’.

absurd adj. wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate: the allegations are patently absurd.

- arousing amusement or derision; ridiculous: gym tunics and knee socks looked absurd on such a tall girl.

■ n. (the absurd) an absurd state of affairs: the incidents that followed bordered on the absurd.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin absurdus ‘out of tune’, hence ‘irrational’; related to surdus ‘deaf, dull’.

absurdism n. [mass noun] the belief that human beings exist in a purposeless, chaotic universe.

<DERIVATIVES> absurdist adj. & n.

absurdity n. (pl. absurdities) [mass noun] the quality or state of being ridiculous or wildly unreasonable: Duncan laughed at the absurdity of the situation | [count noun] the absurdities of haute cuisine.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘dissonance’): from Latin absurditas, from absurdus (see ABSURD).

absurdly adv. in an absurd way; ridiculously: he brags absurdly about his horse.

- [as submodifier] to a very surprising extent: the share price is absurdly low.

ABTA abbr. (in the UK) Association of British Travel Agents.

abubble adj. [predic.] full of excitement and enthusiasm: he was abubble with the news.

Abu Dhabi /abu dαbi/ the largest of the seven member states of the United Arab Emirates, lying between Oman and the Gulf coast; pop. 928,360 (1995). The former sheikhdom joined the federation of the United Arab Emirates in 1971.

- the capital of this state; pop. 539,800 (est. 2002). It is also the federal capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Abuja /əbudə/ a newly built city in central Nigeria, replacing Lagos as the national capital in 1991; pop. 565,100 (est. 2002).

Abukir Bay, Battle of see ABOUKIR BAY, BATTLE OF.

abulia /əbulə/ (also aboulia) n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] an absence of willpower or an inability to act decisively, a symptom of schizophrenia or other mental illness.

<DERIVATIVES> abulic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: coined from A-1 ‘without’ + Greek boulē ‘the will’.

Abu Musa /abu musə/ a small island in the Persian Gulf. Formerly held by the emirate of Sharjah, it has been occupied by Iran since 1971.

Abuna /əbunə/ n. a title given to the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

<ORIGIN> Amharic, from Arabic 'abūnā ‘our father’.

abundance /əbnd(ə)ns/ n. 1 a very large quantity of something: the tropical island boasts an abundance of wildlife.

- [mass noun] the state or condition of having a copious quantity of something; plentifulness: vines and figs grew in abundance | she was blessed with talent and charm in abundance.

- [mass noun] plentifulness of the good things of life; prosperity: the growth of industry promised wealth and abundance.

- the quantity or amount of something present in a particular area, volume, or sample: estimates of the abundance of harp seals.

2 (in solo whist) a bid by which a player undertakes to make nine or more tricks.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin abundantia, from abundant- ‘overflowing’, from the verb abundare (see ABOUND).

abundant adj. existing or available in large quantities; plentiful: there was abundant evidence to support the theory.

- (abundant in) having plenty of: the riverbanks were abundant in beautiful wild plants.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin abundant- ‘abounding’, from the verb abundare (see ABOUND).

abundantly adv. in large quantities; plentifully: the plant grows abundantly in the wild.

- [as submodifier] extremely: my boss made it abundantly clear that if I didn't like it, I should look for another job.

abura /əbjurə/ n. a West African tree which yields soft pale timber, and leaves that are used in herbal medicine.

<INFO> Mitragyna stipulosa, family Rubiaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Yoruba.

abuse v. /əbjuz/ [with obj.] 1 use (something) to bad effect or for a bad purpose; misuse: the judge abused his power by imposing the fines.

- make excessive and habitual use of (alcohol or drugs, especially illegal ones).

2 treat with cruelty or violence, especially regularly or repeatedly: riders who abuse their horses should be prosecuted.

- assault (someone, especially a woman or child) sexually: he was a depraved man who had abused his two young daughters | (as adj. abused) abused children.

- use or treat in such a way as to cause damage or harm: he had been abusing his body for years.

3 speak to (someone) in an insulting and offensive way: the referee was abused by players from both teams.

■ n. /əbjus/ [mass noun] 1 the improper use of something: alcohol abuse | [count noun] an abuse of public funds.

- unjust or corrupt practice: protection against fraud and abuse | [count noun] human rights abuses.

2 cruel and violent treatment of a person or animal: a black eye and other signs of physical abuse.

- violent treatment involving sexual assault, especially on a regular basis.

3 insulting and offensive language: waving his fists and hurling abuse at the driver.

<DERIVATIVES> abuser n. drug abusers

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin abus- ‘misused’, from the verb abuti, from ab- ‘away’ (i.e. ‘wrongly’) + uti ‘to use’.

Abu Simbel /abu smb(ə)l/ the site of two huge rock-cut temples in southern Egypt, built during the reign of Ramses II in the 13th century BC and commemorating him and his first wife Nefertari. Following the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the monument was rebuilt higher up the hillside.

abusive adj. 1 extremely offensive and insulting: the goalkeeper was sent off for using abusive language | he became quite abusive and swore at her.

2 engaging in or characterized by habitual violence and cruelty: abusive parents | an abusive relationship.

3 involving injustice or illegality: the abusive and predatory practices of businesses.

<DERIVATIVES> abusively adv. abusiveness n.

abustle adj. [predic.] bustling; busy: the pier was abustle with voyagers and well-wishers.

abut /əbt/ v. (abuts, abutting, abutted) [with obj.] (of a building or an area of land) be next to or have a common boundary with: gardens abutting Great Prescott Street | [no obj.] a park abutting on an area of waste land.

- touch or lean on: masonry may crumble where a roof abuts it.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: the sense ‘have a common boundary’ from Anglo-Latin abuttare, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + Old French but ‘end’; the sense ‘lean upon’ (late 16th century) from Old French abouter, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + bouter ‘strike, butt’, of Germanic origin.

abutilon /əbjutln/ n. a herbaceous plant or shrub of warm climates, typically bearing showy yellow, red, or mauve flowers and sometimes used for fibre.

<INFO> Genus Abutilon, family Malvaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Arabic ūbūīlūn ‘Indian mallow’.

abutment n. a structure built to support the lateral pressure of an arch or span, e.g. at the ends of a bridge.

- [mass noun] the process of supporting something with an abutment.

- a point at which something abuts against something else.

abutter n. chiefly US the owner of an adjoining property.

abuzz adj. [predic.] filled with a continuous humming sound: the room was abuzz with mosquitoes | FIGURATIVE the city was abuzz with rumours.

ABV abbr. alcohol by volume.

abysm /əbz(ə)m/ n. LITERARY an abyss: the abysm from which nightmares crawl.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French abisme, medieval Latin abysmus, alteration of late Latin abyssus ‘bottomless pit’, the ending being assimilated to the Greek ending -ismos.

abysmal adj. 1 INFORMAL extremely bad; appalling: the quality of her work is abysmal.

2 LITERARY very deep.

<DERIVATIVES> abysmally adv. [as submodifier] a boy who is abysmally lazy

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (used literally as in sense 2): from ABYSM.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 19th cent.

abyss /əbs/ n. a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm: a rope led down into the dark abyss.

- a wide or profound difference between people; a gulf: the abyss between the two nations.

- the regions of hell conceived of as a bottomless pit: Satan's dark abyss.

- (the abyss) a catastrophic situation seen as likely to occur: teetering on the edge of the abyss of a total political wipeout.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘infernal pit’): via late Latin from Greek abussos ‘bottomless’, from a- ‘without’ + bussos ‘depth’.

abyssal adj. chiefly TECHNICAL relating to or denoting the depths or bed of the ocean, especially between about 3000 and 6000 metres down.

- [GEOLOGY] another term for plutonic (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin abyssalis ‘belonging to an abyss’ (see ABYSS).

Abyssinia /absnə/ former name for ETHIOPIA.

Abyssinian adj. HISTORICAL relating to Abyssinia or its people.

■ n. 1 HISTORICAL a native of Abyssinia.

2 (also Abyssinian cat) a cat of a breed having long ears and short brown hair flecked with grey.

AC abbr.

- (also a.c.) alternating current.

- (also ac) air conditioning: a sedan with power steering and AC.

- Aircraftman.

- appellation contrôlée: AC Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

- athletic club.

- (ac.) NORTH AMERICAN acre: a 22-ac. site.

- before Christ. [<ORIGIN> from Latin ante Christum.]

- Companion of the Order of Australia.

Ac symbol the chemical element actinium.

a/c abbr.

- account. [<ORIGIN> from the obsolete phrase account current, denoting a continuous account detailing sums paid and received.]

- (also A/C) air conditioning.

ac- prefix variant spelling of AD-. assimilated before c, k, and q (as in accept, acquit, and acquiesce).

-ac suffix forming adjectives which are often also (or only) used as nouns, such as maniac. Compare with -ACAL.

<ORIGIN> via Latin -acus or French -aque from Greek -akos.

acacia /əkeə -sə/ (also acacia tree) n. a tree or shrub of warm climates which bears spikes or clusters of yellow or white flowers and is typically thorny. Also called WATTLE^1, especially in Australia.

<INFO> Genus Acacia, family Leguminosae: numerous species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek akakia.

academe /akədim/ n. [mass noun] the academic environment or community; academia: bridging the gap between industry and academe | a lifetime in the groves of academe.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘academy’): from Latin academia, reinforced by Greek Akadēmos (see ACADEMY).

academia /akədimə/ n. [mass noun] the environment or community concerned with the pursuit of research, education, and scholarship: he spent his working life in academia.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Latin (see ACADEMY).

academic adj. 1 relating to education and scholarship: academic achievement | he had no academic qualifications.

- relating to an educational or scholarly institution or environment: students resplendent in academic dress.

- (of an institution or a course of study) placing a greater emphasis on reading and study than on technical or practical work: a very academic school aiming to get pupils into Oxford or Cambridge.

- (of a person) interested in or excelling at scholarly pursuits and activities: Ben is not an academic child but he tries hard.

- (of an art form) conventional, especially in an idealized or excessively formal way: academic painting.

2 not of practical relevance; of only theoretical interest: the debate has been largely academic.

■ n. a teacher or scholar in a university or other institute of higher education.

<DERIVATIVES> academically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French académique or medieval Latin academicus, from academia (see ACADEMY).

academical adj. relating to a college or university: the academical year.

■ n. (academicals) BRITISH DATED formal university attire.

academician /əkadəm(ə)n/ n. 1 a member of an academy, especially the Royal Academy of Arts or the Académie française.

2 NORTH AMERICAN an academic or intellectual.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French académicien, from medieval Latin academicus (see ACADEMIC).

academicism /akədεmsz(ə)m/ (also academism) n. [mass noun] adherence to formal or conventional rules and traditions in art or literature.

academic year n. the period of the year during which students attend school or university, usually reckoned from the beginning of the autumn term to the end of the summer term.

Académie française /əkadəmi frsez/ French /akademi fRαsεz/ a French literary academy responsible for the standard form of the French language and for compiling and revising a definitive dictionary of the French language.

academy n. (pl. academies) 1 a place of study or training in a special field: a police academy.

- BRITISH an inner-city school which is funded partly by the government and partly by a private individual or organization.

- US & SCOTTISH a secondary school, in the US typically a private one.

- (the Academy) the teaching school founded by Plato.

2 a society or institution of distinguished scholars and artists or scientists that aims to promote and maintain standards in its particular field: the Royal Academy of Arts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the garden where Plato taught): from French académie or Latin academia, from Greek akadēmeia, from Akadēmos, the hero after whom Plato's garden was named.

Academy award n. an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Hollywood, US) presented annually since 1928 for achievement in the film industry in various categories; an Oscar.

Acadia /əkedə/ a former French colony established in 1604 in the territory now forming Nova Scotia in Canada. It was contested by France and Britain until it was eventually ceded to Britain in 1763; French-speaking Acadians were deported to other parts of North America, especially Louisiana.

<ORIGIN> from Acadie, the French name for Nova Scotia.

Acadian chiefly HISTORICAL n. a native or inhabitant of Acadia.

- chiefly CANADIAN a French-speaking descendant of the early French settlers in Acadia.

- US a descendant of the Acadians deported to Louisiana in the 18th century; a Cajun.

■ adj. relating to Acadia or its people.

açai /asi asi/ n. (pl. same) a South American palm tree producing small edible blackish-purple berries.

<INFO> Genus Euterpe.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Portuguese açaí, from Tupi-Guarani asaí.

acajou /akəu/ n. another term for CASHEW.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, via Portuguese from Tupi acajú.

-acal suffix forming adjectives such as maniacal, often from nouns ending in -ac (as in maniacal from maniac).

acalculia /ekalkjulə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE loss of the ability to perform simple calculations, typically resulting from disease or injury of the parietal lobe of the brain.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from A-1 ‘not’ + Latin calculare ‘calculate’ + -IA^1.

acanthamoeba /əkanθəmibə/ n. (pl. acanthamoebae /-mibi/) an amoeba of a genus which includes a number that can cause opportunistic infections in humans.

<INFO> Genus Acanthamoeba, phylum Rhizopoda.

acantho- /əkanθə/ (also acanth- before a vowel) combining form having thorn-like characteristics.

<ORIGIN> from Greek akantha ‘thorn’.

Acanthocephala /əkanθə()sεfələ -kεf-/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small phylum of parasitic invertebrates that comprises the thorny-headed worms.

<DERIVATIVES> acanthocephalan adj. & n. acanthocephalid adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from ACANTHO- ‘thornlike’ + Greek kephalē ‘head’.

acanthodian /əkanθədən/ n. a small spiny-finned fossil fish of a group found chiefly in the Devonian period.

<INFO> Class (or subclass) Acanthodii.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Acanthodii (from ACANTHO-) + -AN.

acanthus /əkanθəs/ n. a herbaceous plant or shrub with bold flower spikes and spiny decorative leaves, found in warm regions of the Old World.

<INFO> Genus Acanthus, family Acanthaceae: many species, including bear's breeches.

- [ARCHITECTURE] a conventionalized representation of an acanthus leaf, used especially as a decoration for Corinthian column capitals.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek akanthos, from akantha ‘thorn’, from akē ‘sharp point’; the architectural term dates from the mid 18th cent.

a cappella /a kəpεlə α/ adj. & adv. (with reference to choral music) sung without instrumental accompaniment: [as adj.] an a cappella Mass | [as adv.] the consorts usually perform a cappella.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘in chapel style’.

Acapulco /akəplkə/ a port and resort in southern Mexico, on the Pacific coast; pop. 620,700 (2000). Full name Acapulco de Juárez /de hwαrεz/ Spanish /e xwares -reθ/.

acara /əkαrə/ n. a small deep-bodied freshwater fish native to Central and South America, having elongated dorsal and anal fins.

<INFO> Genera Aequidens and Cichlisoma, family Cichlidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> from Portuguese acaré, from Tupi.

Acari /əkαri/ (also Acarina /akərnə/) plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large order (or subclass) of small arachnids which comprises the mites and ticks. They are distinguished by an apparent lack of body divisions.

<DERIVATIVES> acarid /akərd/ n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from acarus, from Greek akari ‘mite’.

acaricide /akərsd/ n. a substance poisonous to mites or ticks.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek akari ‘mite, tick’ + -CIDE.

acarine /akərn/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a small arachnid of the order Acari; a mite or tick.

■ adj. relating to or denoting acarines.

acaroid /akərd/ (also acaroid resin) n. [mass noun] a resin obtained in Australia from some kinds of grass tree, used in making varnish.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

acarology /akərlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of mites and ticks.

<DERIVATIVES> acarologist n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek akari ‘mite, tick’ + -LOGY.

ACAS /ekas/ abbr. (in the UK) Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service.

acatalectic /əkatəlεktk/ [PROSODY] adj. (of a line of verse) having the full number of syllables.

■ n. a line of verse of such a type.

acausal adj. not governed or operating by the laws of cause and effect.

accede /əksid/ v. [no obj.] (usually accede to) FORMAL 1 agree to a demand, request, or treaty: the authorities did not accede to the strikers' demands.

2 assume an office or position: Elizabeth I acceded to the throne in 1558.

- become a member of an organization: Albania acceded to the IMF in 1990.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘come forward, approach’): from Latin accedere, from ad- ‘to’ + cedere ‘give way, yield’.

accelerando /əksεlərandə ətεl-/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) with a gradual increase of speed.

■ n. (pl. accelerandos or accelerandi /-di/) an accelerando passage.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

accelerant n. a substance used to aid the spread of fire.

■ adj. TECHNICAL accelerating or causing acceleration.

accelerate /əksεləret/ v. [no obj.] (especially of a vehicle) begin to move more quickly: the car accelerated towards her.

- increase in rate, amount, or extent: inflation started to accelerate | [with obj.] the key question is whether stress accelerates ageing.

- [PHYSICS] undergo a change in velocity.

<DERIVATIVES> accelerative adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘hasten the occurrence of’): from Latin accelerat- ‘hastened’, from the verb accelerare, from ad- ‘towards’ + celer ‘swift’.

accelerated learning n. [mass noun] 1 an intensive method of study which enables material to be learnt in a relatively short time.

2 a programme of learning which allows academically able children to progress through school more rapidly than others.

acceleration n. [mass noun] a vehicle's capacity to gain speed: the three-litre model has spectacular acceleration.

- increase in speed or rate: the acceleration of the industrialization process.

- [PHYSICS] the rate of change of velocity per unit of time.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin acceleratio(n-), from accelerare ‘hasten’ (see ACCELERATE).

accelerator n. something which brings about acceleration, in particular:

- BRITISH a device, typically a foot pedal, which controls the speed of a vehicle's engine.

- [PHYSICS] an apparatus for accelerating charged particles to high velocities.

- a substance that speeds up a chemical process, typically the vulcanization of rubber or the curing of a plastic.

accelerator board (also accelerator card) n. an accessory circuit board which can be plugged into a small computer to increase the speed of its processor or input/output operations.

accelerometer /əksεlərmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring the acceleration of a moving or vibrating body.

accent n. /aks(ə)nt -sεnt/ 1 a distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially one associated with a particular country, area, or social class: a strong American accent. | she never mastered the French accent.

2 a distinct emphasis given to a syllable or word in speech by stress or pitch.

- a mark on a letter, typically a vowel, to indicate pitch, stress, or vowel quality: a circumflex accent.

- [MUSIC] an emphasis on a particular note or chord.

3 [in sing.] a special or particular emphasis: the accent is on participation.

- a feature which gives a distinctive visual emphasis to something.

■ v. /aksεnt/ [with obj.] emphasize (a particular feature): fabrics which accent the background colours in the room.

- [MUSIC] play (a note or beat) with emphasis.

<DERIVATIVES> accentual adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘intonation’): from Latin accentus ‘tone, signal, or intensity’ (from ad- ‘to’ + cantus ‘song’), translating Greek prosōidia ‘a song sung to music, intonation’.

accented adj. 1 spoken with or characterized by a particular accent: he spoke in slightly accented English.

2 (of a word or syllable) stressed.

accentor /əksεntə/ n. a small Eurasian songbird with generally drab-coloured plumage.

<INFO> Family Prunellidae and genus Prunella: several species, including the dunnock.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from late Latin, from ad- ‘to’ + cantor ‘singer’.

accentuate /əksεntet -tj-/ v. [with obj.] make more noticeable or prominent: his jacket unfortunately accentuated his paunch.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from medieval Latin accentuat- ‘accented’, from the verb accentuare, from accentus ‘tone’ (see ACCENT).

accentuation n. [mass noun] the action or fact of accentuating or of being accentuated.

- the pattern of relative prominence of syllables in a phrase or utterance.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: in early use from medieval Latin accentuatio(n-); in later use (early 19th century) from ACCENTUATE.

accept v. [with obj.] 1 consent to receive or undertake (something offered): he accepted a pen as a present | she accepted a temporary post as a clerk.

- give an affirmative answer to (an offer or proposal); say yes to: he would accept their offer and see what happened | [no obj.] Tim offered Brian a lift home and he accepted.

- DATED say yes to a proposal of marriage from (a man).

- receive as adequate, valid, or suitable: the college accepted her as a student | credit cards are widely accepted.

- regard favourably or with approval; welcome: the Irish never accepted him as one of them.

- (of a thing) be designed to allow (something) to be inserted or applied: vending machines that accepted 100-yen coins for cans of beer.

2 believe or come to recognize (a proposition) as valid or correct: this tentative explanation came to be accepted by the men | [with clause] it is accepted that ageing is a continuous process.

- take upon oneself (a responsibility or liability); acknowledge: Jenkins is willing to accept his responsibility | [with clause] he accepts that he made a mistake.

3 tolerate or submit to (something unpleasant or undesired): they accepted the need to cut overheads.

<DERIVATIVES> accepter n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin acceptare, frequentative of accipere ‘take something to oneself’, from ad- ‘to’ + capere ‘take’.

acceptable adj. 1 able to be agreed on; suitable: the electoral arrangements must be acceptable to the people.

- moderately good; satisfactory: an acceptable substitute for champagne.

- pleasing; welcome: some coffee would be most acceptable.

2 able to be tolerated or allowed: pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable level.

<PHRASES>

□ the acceptable face of —— the tolerable manifestation or aspect of (something usually considered suspect or immoral): the film's breezy domesticity is the acceptable face of sentimental guff.

<DERIVATIVES> acceptability n. acceptably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin acceptabilis, from acceptare (see ACCEPT).

acceptance n. [mass noun] 1 the action of consenting to receive or undertake something offered: charges involving the acceptance of bribes.

- [count noun] a draft or bill of exchange that is accepted by being signed: a banker's acceptance.

2 the process or fact of being received as adequate, valid, or suitable: you must wait for acceptance into the village.

3 agreement with or belief in an idea or explanation: acceptance of the teaching of the Church.

- willingness to tolerate a difficult situation: a mood of resigned acceptance.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French, from accepter (see ACCEPT).

acceptant adj. (acceptant of) RARE willingly accepting (something).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, ‘accepting’, present participle of accepter.

acceptation /aksεpte(ə)n/ n. a particular sense or the generally recognized meaning (common acceptation) of a word or phrase.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘favourable reception, approval’): from late Latin acceptatio(n-), from the verb acceptare (see ACCEPT). The current sense dates from the early 17th cent.

accepted adj. generally believed or recognized to be valid or correct: he wasn't handsome in the accepted sense. | the accepted consensus within the church.

acceptor n. a person or thing that accepts something, in particular:

- [CHEMISTRY] an atom or molecule which is able to bind to or accept an electron or other species.

- [PHYSICS] such an atom forming a positive hole in a semiconductor.

access n. 1 [mass noun] (often access to) the means or opportunity to approach or enter a place: the staircase gives access to the top floor | wheelchair access.

- the right or opportunity to use or benefit from something: do you have access to a computer? | awards to help people gain access to training.

- the right or opportunity to approach or see someone: we were denied access to our grandson.

- the process of obtaining or retrieving information stored in a computer's memory.

- [as modifier] denoting broadcasting produced by minority and specialist interest groups, rather than by professionals: access television.

2 [in sing.] LITERARY an attack or outburst of an emotion: I was suddenly overcome with an access of rage.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 approach or enter (a place): single rooms have private facilities accessed via the balcony.

2 obtain or retrieve (computer data or a file).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘sudden attack of illness’): from Latin accessus, from the verb accedere ‘to approach’ (see ACCEDE).

■ Sense 1 of the noun is first recorded in the early 17th cent.

access charge (also access fee) n. a charge made for the use of computer or local telephone-network facilities.

access course n. BRITISH an educational course enabling those without traditional qualifications to become eligible for higher education.

accessible adj. 1 (of a place) able to be reached or entered: the town is accessible by bus | this room is not accessible to elderly people.

- able to be easily obtained or used: making learning opportunities more accessible to adults.

- easily understood or appreciated: an accessible account of his theories.

- able to be reached or entered by people who have a disability: features such as nonslip floors and accessible entrances.

2 (of a person, especially one in a position of authority) friendly and easy to talk to; approachable: he is more accessible than most tycoons.

<DERIVATIVES> accessibility n. accessibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin accessibilis, from Latin access- ‘approached’, from the verb accedere (see ACCEDE).

accession n. 1 [mass noun] the attainment or acquisition of a position of rank or power: the Queen's accession to the throne.

- the action or process of formally joining or being accepted by an institution or group: the accession of Spain and Portugal to the EU.

- the formal acceptance of a treaty or agreement: accession to the Treaty of Rome was effected in 1971.

2 a new item added to an existing collection of books, paintings, or artefacts.

- an amount added to an existing quantity of something.

■ v. [with obj.] record the addition of (a new item) to a library, museum, or other collection.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the general sense ‘something added’): from Latin accessio(n-), from the verb accedere ‘approach, come to’ (see ACCEDE).

accessorize (also accessorise) v. [with obj.] provide (a garment) with a fashion accessory: sequinned catsuits were accessorized with cork-heeled shoes.

accessory n. (pl. accessories) 1 a thing which can be added to something else in order to make it more useful, versatile, or attractive: optional accessories include a battery charger and shoulder strap.

- a small article or item of clothing carried or worn to complement a garment or outfit: she wore the suit with perfectly matching accessories—hat, bag, shoes.

2 (also accessary) [LAW] someone who gives assistance to the perpetrator of a crime without taking part in it: she was charged as an accessory to murder.

■ adj. chiefly TECHNICAL contributing to or aiding an activity or process in a minor way; subsidiary or supplementary: functionally the maxillae are a pair of accessory jaws.

<PHRASES>

□ accessory before (or after) the fact [LAW], DATED a person who incites or assists someone to commit an arrestable offence (or knowingly aids someone who has committed such an offence).

<DERIVATIVES> accessorial adj. (chiefly [LAW])

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin accessorius ‘additional thing’, from Latin access- ‘increased’, from the verb accedere (see ACCEDE).

accessory cell n. [PHYSIOLOGY] any of various cells of the immune system that interact with T lymphocytes in the initiation of the immune response.

accessory mineral n. [GEOLOGY] a constituent mineral present in small quantity and not taken into account in identifying a rock.

accessory nerve n. [ANATOMY] each of the eleventh pair of cranial nerves, supplying certain muscles in the neck and shoulder.

access provider n. another term for SERVICE PROVIDER.

acciaccatura /ətakətjərə/ n. (pl. acciaccaturas or acciaccature) [MUSIC] a grace note performed as quickly as possible before an essential note of a melody.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from acciaccare ‘to crush’.

accidence /aksd(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] DATED the part of grammar that deals with the inflections of words.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin accidentia (translation of Greek parepomena ‘things happening alongside’), neuter plural of the present participle of accidere ‘happen’ (see ACCIDENT).

accident n. 1 an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury: he had an accident at the factory | [mass noun] if you are unable to work owing to accident or sickness.

- a crash involving road or other vehicles: four people were killed in a road accident.

- EUPHEMISTIC an incidence of incontinence by a child or animal.

2 an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause: the pregnancy was an accident | it is no accident that Manchester has produced more than its fair share of professional comics.

- [mass noun] the working of fortune; chance: members belong to the House of Lords through hereditary right or accident of birth.

3 [PHILOSOPHY] (in Aristotelian thought) a property of a thing which is not essential to its nature.

<PHRASES>

□ accident and emergency BRITISH a hospital department concerned with the provision of immediate treatment to people who are seriously injured in an accident or who are suddenly taken seriously ill.

□ an accident waiting to happen INFORMAL a potentially disastrous situation, typically caused by negligent or faulty procedures.

□ accidents will happen in the best regulated families PROVERB however careful you try to be, it is inevitable that some unfortunate or unforeseen events will occur: problems like these should not occur, but accidents will happen.

□ by accident unintentionally; by chance: she didn't get where is today by accident. | nomadic hunters probably ended up on the new continent by accident.

□ without accident safely: he was able to stop the train without accident.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘an event’): via Old French from Latin accident- ‘happening’, from the verb accidere, from ad- ‘towards, to’ + cadere ‘to fall’.

accidental adj. 1 happening by chance, unintentionally, or unexpectedly: a verdict of accidental death | the damage might have been accidental.

2 incidental; subsidiary: the location is accidental and contributes nothing to the poem.

3 [PHILOSOPHY] (in Aristotelian thought) relating to or denoting properties which are not essential to a thing's nature.

■ n. 1 [MUSIC] a sign indicating a momentary departure from the key signature by raising or lowering a note.

2 [ORNITHOLOGY] another term for VAGRANT.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective and sense 3 of the adjective): from late Latin accidentalis, from Latin accident- ‘happening’ (see ACCIDENT).

accidentally adv. by chance; inadvertently: his gun went off accidentally . accidentally knocked the vase over.

accident-prone adj. tending to be involved in a greater than average number of accidents.

accidie /aksdi/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY spiritual or mental sloth; apathy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin accidia, alteration of ACEDIA. Obsolete after the 16th century, the term was revived in the late 19th cent.

accipiter /aksptə/ n. [BIRD] a hawk of a group distinguished by short, broad wings and relatively long legs, adapted for fast flight in wooded country.

<INFO> Accipiter and related genera, family Accipitridae: numerous species, including the goshawk.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, ‘hawk, bird of prey’.

accipitrine /aksptrn/ adj. [BIRD] relating to or denoting birds of a family that includes most diurnal birds of prey other than falcons, New World vultures, and the osprey.

<INFO> Family Accipitridae; treated as a subfamily (Accipitrinae) in this sense when the osprey is included in this family.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Latin accipiter ‘bird of prey’.

acclaim v. [with obj.] praise enthusiastically and publicly: the conference was acclaimed as a considerable success.

■ n. [mass noun] enthusiastic and public praise: she has won acclaim for her commitment to democracy.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘express approval’): from Latin acclamare, from ad- ‘to’ + clamare ‘to shout’. The change in the ending was due to association with CLAIM. Current senses date from the 17th cent.

acclaimed adj. publicly praised; celebrated: the band released their critically acclaimed debut in 1994 . an acclaimed artist.

acclamation n. [mass noun] loud and enthusiastic approval: the tackle brought the supporters to their feet in acclamation.

<PHRASES>

□ by acclamation 1 (of election, agreement, etc.) by overwhelming vocal approval and without ballot.

2 CANADIAN (of election) by virtue of being the sole candidate.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin acclamatio(n-), from acclamare ‘shout at’, later ‘shout in approval’ (see ACCLAIM).

acclimate /aklmet əklmət/ v. [no obj.] (often acclimate to) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN acclimatize: helping freshmen to acclimate to college life.

- [BIOLOGY] respond physiologically or behaviourally to a change in a single environmental factor. Compare with ACCLIMATIZE.

- [with obj.] [BOTANY] & [HORTICULTURE] harden off (a plant).

<DERIVATIVES> acclimation n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French acclimater, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + climat ‘climate’.

acclimatize (also acclimatise) v. [no obj.] (often acclimatize to or be/become acclimatized to) become accustomed to a new climate or new conditions; adjust: it's unknown whether people will acclimatize to increasingly warm weather.

- [BIOLOGY] respond physiologically or behaviourally to changes in a complex of environmental factors. Compare with ACCLIMATE.

- [with obj.] [BOTANY] & [HORTICULTURE] harden off (a plant).

<DERIVATIVES> acclimatization n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French acclimater ‘acclimatize’ + -IZE.

acclivity /əklvti/ n. (pl. acclivities) an upward slope.

<DERIVATIVES> acclivitous adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin acclivitas, from acclivis, from ad- ‘towards’ + clivus ‘a slope’.

accolade /akəled akəled/ n. 1 an award or privilege granted as a special honour or as an acknowledgement of merit: the hotel has won numerous accolades.

- an expression of praise or admiration.

2 a touch on a person's shoulders with a sword at the bestowing of a knighthood.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, from Provençal acolada, literally ‘embrace around the neck (when bestowing knighthood)’, from Latin ad- ‘at, to’ + collum ‘neck’.

accommodate v. [with obj.] 1 (of a building or other area) provide lodging or sufficient space for: the cottages accommodate up to six people.

2 fit in with the wishes or needs of: any language must accommodate new concepts.

- [no obj.] (accommodate to) adapt to: making users accommodate to the realities of today's marketplace.

<DERIVATIVES> accommodative adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin accommodat- ‘made fitting’, from the verb accommodare, from ad- ‘to’ + commodus ‘fitting’.

accommodating adj. fitting in with someone's wishes or demands in a helpful way.

<DERIVATIVES> accommodatingly adv.

accommodation n. 1 [mass noun] BRITISH a room, group of rooms, or building in which someone may live or stay: they were living in temporary accommodation.

- (accommodations) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN lodgings, sometimes also including board: the company offers a number of guest house accommodations in Oberammergau.

- the available space for occupants in a building, vehicle, or vessel: there was lifeboat accommodation for 1,178 people.

- the provision of a room or lodgings: the building is used exclusively for the accommodation of guests.

2 a convenient arrangement; a settlement or compromise: the prime minister was seeking an accommodation with Labour.

3 [mass noun] the process of adapting or adjusting to someone or something: accommodation to a separate political entity was not possible.

- [mass noun] the automatic adjustment of the focus of the eye by flattening or thickening of the lens.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin accommodatio(n-), from accommodare ‘fit one thing to another’ (see ACCOMMODATE).

accommodation address n. BRITISH an address for correspondence used by a person who wishes to conceal or does not have a permanent address.

accommodationist n. US a person or political group that seeks compromise with an opposing point of view.

accommodation ladder n. a ladder or flight of steps up the side of a ship allowing access from a small boat or a quayside.

accompaniment n. 1 a musical part which supports or partners an instrument, voice, or group: she sang to a guitar accompaniment | [mass noun] sonatas for piano with violin accompaniment.

- a piece of music played as a complement or background to an activity: lush string accompaniments to romantic scenes in films | we filed out to the accompaniment of the organ.

2 something that supplements or complements something else: these biscuits are a lovely accompaniment to tea.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French accompagnement, from accompagner ‘accompany’.

accompanist n. a person who provides a musical accompaniment to another musician or to a singer.

accompany v. (accompanies, accompanying, accompanied) [with obj.] 1 go somewhere with (someone) as a companion or escort: the two sisters were to accompany us to London.

2 be present or occur at the same time as (something else): the illness is often accompanied by nausea.

- provide a complement or addition to: home-cooked ham accompanied by brown bread.

3 play a musical accompaniment for.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French accompagner, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + compagne, from Old French compaignon ‘companion’. The spelling change was due to association with COMPANY.

accomplice /əkmpls əkm-/ n. a person who helps another commit a crime.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: alteration (probably by association with ACCOMPANY) of Middle English complice ‘an associate’, via Old French from late Latin complex, complic- ‘allied’, from com- ‘together’ + the root of plicare ‘to fold’.

accomplish v. [with obj.] achieve or complete successfully: the planes accomplished their mission.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French acompliss-, lengthened stem of acomplir, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ + complere ‘to complete’.

accomplished adj. highly trained or skilled in a particular activity: an accomplished pianist.

- well educated and having good social skills.

accomplishment n. something that has been achieved successfully: the reduction of inflation was a remarkable accomplishment.

- [mass noun] the successful achievement of a task: the accomplishment of planned objectives.

- an activity that a person can do well: typing was another of her accomplishments.

- [mass noun] skill or ability in an activity: a poet of considerable accomplishment.

accord v. 1 [with obj.] give or grant someone (power, status, or recognition): the powers accorded to the head of state | [with two objs] the national assembly accorded the General more power.

2 [no obj.] (accord with) (of a concept or fact) be harmonious or consistent with.

■ n. an official agreement or treaty.

- [mass noun] agreement or harmony: the government and the rebels are in accord on one point.

<PHRASES>

□ in accord with according to.

□ of one's own accord voluntarily or without outside intervention: he would not seek treatment of his own accord | the rash may go away of its own accord.

□ with one accord in a united way.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Old French acorder ‘reconcile, be of one mind’, from Latin ad- ‘to’ + cor, cord- ‘heart’; influenced by CONCORD.

accordance n. (in phrase in accordance with) in a manner conforming with: the ballot was held in accordance with trade union rules.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French acordance, from acorder ‘bring to an agreement’ (see ACCORD).

accordant adj. ARCHAIC agreeing or compatible: I found the music accordant with the words of the service.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French acordant, from acorder ‘bring to an agreement’ (see ACCORD).

according adv. 1 (usually according to) as stated by or in: the outlook for investors is not bright, according to financial experts.

- in a manner corresponding or conforming to: cook the rice according to the instructions.

- in proportion or relation to: salary will be fixed according to experience.

2 (according as) FORMAL depending on whether.

accordingly adv. 1 in a way that is appropriate to the particular circumstances: we have to discover what his plans are and act accordingly.

2 [sentence adv.] as a result; therefore: there was no breach of the rules; accordingly, there will be no disciplinary inquiry.

accordion /əkdən/ n. a musical instrument played by stretching and squeezing with the hands to work a central bellows that blows air over metal reeds, the melody and chords being sounded by buttons or keys. Compare with CONCERTINA.

- [as modifier] folding like the bellows of an accordion: an accordion pleat.

<DERIVATIVES> accordionist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Akkordion, from Italian accordare ‘to tune’.

accost v. [with obj.] approach and address (someone) boldly or aggressively: reporters accosted him in the street.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally in the sense ‘lie or go alongside’): from French accoster, from Italian accostare, from Latin ad- ‘to’ + costa ‘rib, side’.

accouchement /əkum/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the action of giving birth to a baby.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, from accoucher ‘act as midwife’, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + coucher ‘put to bed’ (see COUCH^1).

accoucheur /akuə/ n. a male midwife.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, from accoucher (see ACCOUCHEMENT).

account n. 1 a report or description of an event or experience: a detailed account of what has been achieved.

2 a record or statement of financial expenditure and receipts relating to a particular period or purpose: the barman was doing his accounts.

- chiefly BRITISH a bill for goods or services provided over a period: there's no money to pay the tradesmen's accounts this month.

3 an arrangement by which a body holds funds on behalf of a client or supplies goods or services to them on credit: a bank account | I began buying things on account.

- a client having an account with a supplier: selling bibles to established accounts in the North.

- a contract to do work for a client: another agency was awarded the account.

- [STOCK EXCHANGE], BRITISH a fixed period on a stock exchange, at the end of which payment must be made for stock that has been bought.

4 [mass noun] importance: money was of no account to her.

5 an interpretation or rendering of a piece of music: a lively account of Offenbach's score.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and complement] consider or regard in a specified way: her visit could not be accounted a success | he accounted himself the unluckiest man alive.

2 [no obj.] ARCHAIC give or receive an account for money received: after 1292 he accounted to the Westminster exchequer.

<PHRASES>

□ by (or from) all accounts according to what one has heard or read: by all accounts he is a pretty nice guy.

□ call (or bring) someone to account require someone to explain a mistake or poor performance.

□ give a good (or bad) account of oneself make a favourable (or unfavourable) impression through one's performance.

□ keep an account of keep a record of.

□ leave something out of account fail or decline to consider a factor.

□ money of account denominations of money used in reckoning but not current as coins.

□ on someone's account for a specified person's benefit: don't bother on my account.

□ on account of because of.

□ on no account under no circumstances: on no account let anyone know we're interested.

□ on one's own account for one's own purposes; for oneself: he began trading on his own account.

- alone; unaided: he'll be investigating on his own account.

□ settle (or square) accounts with have revenge on.

□ take something into account (or take account of) consider something along with other factors before reaching a decision.

□ there's no accounting for tastes (or taste) PROVERB it's impossible to explain why different people like different things, especially those things which the speaker considers unappealing.

□ turn something to (good) account turn something to one's advantage.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ account for 1 give a satisfactory record of (something, typically money, that one is responsible for).

- provide or serve as a satisfactory explanation for: he was brought before the Board to account for his behaviour.

- know the fate or whereabouts of (someone or something), especially after an accident: everyone was accounted for after the floods.

2 succeed in killing, destroying, or defeating: a mishit drive accounted for Jones, who had scored 32.

3 supply or make up (a specified amount or proportion): social security accounts for about a third of total public spending.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘counting’, ‘to count’): from Old French acont (noun), aconter (verb), based on conter ‘to count’.

accountability n. [mass noun] the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility: lack of accountability has corroded public respect for business and political leaders.

accountable adj. 1 required or expected to justify actions or decisions; responsible: ministers are accountable to Parliament | parents cannot be held accountable for their children's actions.

2 able to be explained or understood.

<DERIVATIVES> accountably adv.

accountancy n. [mass noun] the profession or duties of an accountant.

accountant n. a person whose job is to keep or inspect financial accounts.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Law French, present participle of Old French aconter (see ACCOUNT). The original use was as an adjective meaning ‘liable to give an account’, hence denoting a person who must do so.

account executive n. a business executive who manages the interests of a particular client, typically in advertising.

accounting n. [mass noun] the process or work of keeping financial accounts.

accounts payable plural n. money owed by a company to its creditors.

accounts receivable plural n. money owed to a company by its debtors.

accoutre /əkutə/ (US also accouter) v. (accoutres, accoutring, accoutred; US accouters, accoutering, accoutered) [with obj.] clothe or equip in something noticeable or impressive.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French accoutrer, from Old French acoustrer, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + cousture ‘sewing’.

accoutrement /əkutəm(ə)nt -trə-/ (US also accouterment) n. (usually accoutrements) an additional item of dress or equipment: the accoutrements of religious ritual.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from accoutrer ‘clothe, equip’ (see ACCOUTRE).

Accra /əkrα/ the capital of Ghana, a port on the Gulf of Guinea; pop. 1,700,000 (est. 2000).

accra /akrə əkrα/ (also akara) n. (in West Africa and the Caribbean) a fritter made with black-eyed peas or a similar pulse, or, especially in Trinidad, mashed fish.

<ORIGIN> from Yoruba àkàrà ‘bean cake’.

accredit v. (accredits, accrediting, accredited) [with obj.] 1 give credit to (someone) for something: he was accredited with being one of the world's fastest sprinters.

- (accredit something to) attribute an action, saying, or quality to: the discovery of distillation is usually accredited to the Arabs.

2 (of an official body) give authority or sanction to (someone or something) when recognized standards have been met: institutions that do not meet the standards will not be accredited for teacher training | (as adj. accredited) an accredited practitioner.

3 give official authorization for (someone, typically a diplomat or journalist) to be in a particular place or to hold a particular post: no journalist accredited to the UN has ever been expelled.

<DERIVATIVES> accreditation n. accreditor n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): from French accréditer, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + crédit ‘credit’.

accrete /əkrit/ v. [no obj.] grow by accumulation or coalescence: ice that had accreted grotesquely into stalactites.

- [with obj.] form (a composite whole) by gradual accumulation: the collection of art he had accreted was to be sold.

- [ASTRONOMY] (with reference to matter or a body) come or bring together under the influence of gravitation. [no obj.] the gas will cool and then accrete to the galaxy's core.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin accret- ‘grown’, from the verb accrescere, from ad- ‘to’ + crescere ‘grow’.

accretion n. [mass noun] growth or increase by the gradual accumulation of additional layers or matter: the accretion of sediments in coastal mangroves | FIGURATIVE the growing accretion of central government authority.

- [count noun] a thing formed or added by gradual growth or increase: the city has a historic core surrounded by recent accretions.

- [ASTRONOMY] the coming together and cohesion of matter under the influence of gravitation to form larger bodies.

<DERIVATIVES> accretive adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin accretio(n-), from accrescere ‘become larger’ (see ACCRETE).

accretionary prism (also accretionary wedge) n. [GEOLOGY] a mass of sedimentary material scraped off a region of oceanic crust during subduction and piled up at the edge of a continental crustal plate.

accretion disc n. [ASTRONOMY] a rotating disc of matter formed by accretion around a massive body (such as a black hole) under the influence of gravitation.

accrue /əkru/ v. (accrues, accruing, accrued) [no obj.] (of a benefit or sum of money) be received by someone in regular or increasing amounts over time: financial benefits will accrue from restructuring | (as adj. accrued) the accrued interest.

- [with obj.] accumulate or receive (payments or benefits) over time: they accrue entitlements to holiday pay.

- [with obj.] make provision for (a charge) at the end of a financial period for work that has been done but not yet invoiced.

<DERIVATIVES> accrual n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French acreue, past participle of acreistre ‘increase’, from Latin accrescere ‘become larger’ (see ACCRETE).

acculturate /əkltəret/ v. assimilate to a different culture, typically the dominant one: [no obj.] those who have acculturated to the United States | [with obj.] the next weeks were spent acculturating the field staff.

<DERIVATIVES> acculturation n. acculturative adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from AC- + CULTURE + -ATE^3. The noun acculturation dates from the late 19th century.

accumulate /əkjumjlet/ v. [with obj.] gather together or acquire an increasing number or quantity of: investigators have yet to accumulate enough evidence.

- gradually gather or acquire (a resulting whole): her goal was to accumulate a huge fortune.

- [no obj.] gather; build up: the toxin accumulated in their bodies.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin accumulat- ‘heaped up’, from the verb accumulare, from ad- ‘to’ + cumulus ‘a heap’.

accumulation n. [mass noun] the acquisition or gradual gathering of something: the accumulation of wealth.

- [count noun] a mass or quantity of something that has gradually gathered or been acquired: the accumulation of paperwork on her desk.

accumulative /əkjumjlətv/ adj. gathering or growing by gradual increases: the accumulative effects of pollution.

accumulator n. a person or thing that accumulates, in particular:

- BRITISH a large rechargeable electric cell.

- BRITISH a bet placed on a series of races (or other events), the winnings and stake from each being placed on the next: an eight-horse accumulator.

- [COMPUTING] a register used to contain the results of an arithmetical or logical operation.

accuracy n. (pl. accuracies) [mass noun] the quality or state of being correct or precise: we have confidence in the accuracy of the statistics.

- TECHNICAL the degree to which the result of a measurement, calculation, or specification conforms to the correct value or a standard: the accuracy of radiocarbon dating | [count noun] accuracies of 50–70 per cent. Compare with PRECISION.

accurate /akjrət/ adj. 1 (especially of information, measurements, or predictions) correct in all details; exact: accurate information about the illness is essential.

- (of an instrument or method) capable of giving accurate information: an accurate thermometer.

- providing a faithful representation of someone or something: the portrait is an accurate likeness of Mozart.

2 (with reference to a weapon, missile, or shot) capable of or successful in reaching the intended target: reliable, accurate rifles | a player who can deliver long accurate passes to the wingers.

<DERIVATIVES> accurately adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin accuratus ‘done with care’, past participle of accurare, from ad- ‘towards’ + cura ‘care’.

accursed /əkəsd əkəst/ adj. LITERARY 1 under a curse: the Angel of Death walks this accursed house.

2 [attr.] used to express strong dislike of or anger at someone or something: this accursed country!

<ORIGIN> Middle English: past participle of obsolete accurse, from a- (expressing intensity) + CURSE.

accurst adj. archaic spelling of ACCURSED.

accusal n. less common term for ACCUSATION.

accusation n. a charge or claim that someone has done something illegal or wrong: accusations of bribery.

- [mass noun] the action or process of accusing someone: there was accusation in Brian's voice.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin accusatio(n-), from accusare ‘call to account’ (see ACCUSE).

accusative /əkjuzətv/ [GRAMMAR] adj. (in Latin, Greek, German, and some other languages) denoting a case of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives which expresses the object of an action or the goal of motion.

■ n. a word in the accusative case.

- (the accusative) the accusative case.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin (casus) accusativus, literally ‘relating to an accusation or (legal) case’, translating Greek (ptōsis) aitiatikē ‘(the case) showing cause’.

accusatorial /əkjuzətrəl/ adj. [LAW] (of a trial or legal procedure) involving accusation by a prosecutor and a verdict reached by an impartial judge or jury. Compare with ADVERSARIAL, INQUISITORIAL.

accusatory /əkjuzət(ə)ri/ adj. indicating or suggesting that one believes a person has done something wrong: he pointed an accusatory finger in her direction.

accuse v. [with obj.] (often accuse someone of) charge (someone) with an offence or crime: he was accused of murdering his wife's lover.

- claim that (someone) has done something wrong: he was accused of favouritism.

<DERIVATIVES> accuser n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French acuser, from Latin accusare ‘call to account’, from ad- ‘towards’ + causa ‘reason, motive, lawsuit’.

accused n. (the accused) [treated as sing. or plural] a person or group of people who are charged with or on trial for a crime.

accusing adj. (of an expression, gesture, or tone of voice) indicating a belief in someone's guilt or culpability: she stared at him with accusing eyes.

<DERIVATIVES> accusingly adv.

accustom v. [with obj.] (accustom someone/thing to) make someone or something accept (something) as normal or usual: I accustomed my eyes to the lenses | [with obj. and infinitive] sixth-form education is supposed to accustom pupils to think for themselves.

- (be accustomed to) be used to: I am not accustomed to having my word questioned.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French acostumer, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + costume ‘custom’.

accustomed adj. [attr.] customary; usual: his accustomed route.

AC/DC adj. 1 alternating current/direct current.

2 INFORMAL bisexual.

ace n. 1 a playing card with a single spot on it, ranked as the highest card in its suit in most card games: the ace of diamonds | FIGURATIVE life had started dealing him aces again.

2 INFORMAL a person who excels at a particular sport or other activity: a motorcycle ace.

- a pilot who has shot down many enemy aircraft.

3 (in tennis and similar games) a service that an opponent is unable to return and thus wins a point.

- [GOLF], INFORMAL a hole in one.

■ adj. INFORMAL very good: an ace swimmer | [as exclamation] Ace! You've done it!

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL 1 (in tennis and similar games) serve an ace against (an opponent).

- [GOLF] score an ace on (a hole) or with (a shot).

2 NORTH AMERICAN achieve high marks in (a test or exam): I aced my grammar test.

- (ace someone out) outdo someone in a competitive situation.

<PHRASES>

□ an ace up one's sleeve (or North American in the hole) a plan or piece of information kept secret until it becomes necessary to use it.

□ hold all the aces have all the advantages.

□ play one's ace use one's best resource: deciding to play her ace, Emily showed the letter to Vic.

□ within an ace of BRITISH very close to: they came within an ace of death.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting the ‘one’ on dice): via Old French from Latin as ‘unity, a unit’.

-acea suffix [ZOOLOGY] forming the names of zoological groups: Crustacea.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, ‘of the nature of’, neuter plural adjectival ending.

-aceae suffix [BOTANY] forming the names of families of plants: Liliaceae.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, ‘of the nature of’, feminine plural adjectival ending.

-acean suffix [ZOOLOGY] forming the singular of group names ending in -acea (such as crustacean from Crustacea).

<ORIGIN> from Latin -aceus ‘of the nature of’ + -AN.

acedia /əsidə/ n. LITERARY another term for ACCIDIE.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via late Latin from Greek akēdia ‘listlessness’, from a- ‘without’ + kēdos ‘care’.

acellular adj. [BIOLOGY] not consisting of, divided into, or containing cells.

- (especially of protozoa) consisting of one cell only.

acentric adj. without a centre; not centralized.

- [GENETICS] (of a chromosome) having no centromere.

-aceous suffix 1 [BOTANY] forming adjectives from family names ending in -aceae (such as ericaceous from Ericaceae).

2 chiefly [BIOLOGY] & [GEOLOGY] forming adjectives describing similarity, especially in shape, texture, or colour: arenaceous | olivaceous.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -aceus ‘of the nature of’ + -OUS.

acephalous /esεf(ə)ləs -kεf-/ adj. 1 lacking a head.

2 having no leader or chief: an acephalous society.

3 [PROSODY] (typically of a hexameter beginning with a short syllable) lacking a syllable or syllables in the first foot.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: via medieval Latin from Greek akephalos ‘headless’ (from a- ‘without’ + kephalē ‘head’) + -OUS.

acer /esə/ n. a Eurasian or North American deciduous tree or shrub of a genus which includes the maples and the European sycamore.

<INFO> Genus Acer, family Aceraceae: numerous species.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, ‘maple’.

acerb /əsəb/ adj. LITERARY, chiefly US another term for ACERBIC.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin acerbus ‘sour-tasting’.

acerbic adj. 1 (especially of a comment or style of speaking) sharp and forthright: his acerbic wit.

2 ARCHAIC or TECHNICAL tasting sour or bitter.

<DERIVATIVES> acerbically adv. acerbity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin acerbus ‘sour-tasting’ + -IC.

acesulfame /asslfem/ n. [mass noun] a white crystalline compound used as a low-calorie artificial sweetener, typically in the form of a potassium salt (acesulfame-K).

<INFO> A sulphur-containing heterocyclic compound; chem. formula: C_4H_5NO_4S.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: of unknown origin.

acet- combining form variant spelling of ACETO- shortened before a vowel (as in acetaldehyde).

acetabulum /astabjləm/ n. (pl. acetabula /-lə/) 1 [ANATOMY] the socket of the hip bone, into which the head of the femur fits.

2 [ZOOLOGY] any cup-shaped structure, especially a sucker.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a vinegar cup, hence a cup-shaped cavity): from Latin, from acetum ‘vinegar’ + -abulum, denoting a container.

acetal /astal/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound formed by the condensation of two alcohol molecules with an aldehyde molecule.

<INFO> Acetals have the general formula R^1CH(OR^2)2, where R^1 and R^2 are alkyl groups.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ACETIC ACID + al from ALCOHOL.

acetaldehyde /astaldhd/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless volatile liquid aldehyde obtained by oxidizing ethanol.

<INFO> Alternative name: ethanal; chem. formula: CH_3CHO.

acetamide /əsitəmd əsεt-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the amide of acetic acid, a crystalline solid with a characteristic musty odour.

<INFO> Alternative name: ethanamide; chem. formula: CH_3CONH_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ACETYL + AMIDE.

acetaminophen /əsitəmnəfεn əsεtə-/ n. North American term for PARACETAMOL.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from para-acetylaminophenol.

acetanilide /astanld/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline solid prepared by acetylation of aniline, used in dye manufacture.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_5NHCOCH_3.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from acet(yl) + anil(ine) + -IDE.

acetate /astet/ n. 1 [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of acetic acid, containing the anion CH_3COO− or the group –OOCCH_3.

2 [mass noun] cellulose acetate, especially as used to make textile fibres or plastic: [as modifier] acetate silk.

- [count noun] a transparency made of cellulose acetate film.

- [count noun] a direct-cut recording disc coated with cellulose acetate.

acetic acid /əsitk əsεt-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the acid that gives vinegar its characteristic taste. The pure acid is a colourless viscous liquid or glassy solid.

<INFO> Alternative name: ethanoic acid; chem. formula: CH_3COOH.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: acetic from French acétique, from Latin acetum ‘vinegar’.

acetic anhydride n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the anhydride of acetic acid, a colourless pungent liquid used in making synthetic fibres.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (CH_3CO)2O.

aceto- (also acet- before a vowel) combining form [CHEMISTRY] representing ACETIC ACID or ACETYL.

acetobacter /əsitə()baktə astə-/ n. [mass noun] bacteria that oxidize organic compounds to acetic acid, as in vinegar formation.

<INFO> Genus Acetobacter; Gram-negative oval or rod-shaped bacteria.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (genus name), from ACETO- + BACTERIUM.

acetogenic /əsitə()dεnk astə-/ adj. (of bacteria) forming acetate or acetic acid as a product of metabolism.

acetonaemia /astə()nimə/ n. another term for KETOSIS.

acetone /astən/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless volatile liquid ketone made by oxidizing isopropanol, used as an organic solvent and synthetic reagent.

<INFO> Alternative name: propanone; chem. formula: CH_3COCH_3.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ACETIC ACID + -ONE.

acetonitrile /əsitə()ntrl astə-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an odoriferous toxic liquid, used as a solvent in high-performance liquid chromatography.

<INFO> Alternative name: methyl cyanide; chem. formula: CH_3C≡N.

acetous /əsitəs/ adj. producing or resembling vinegar: acetous fermentation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (rare before the late 18th century): from late Latin acetosus ‘sour’, from Latin acetum ‘vinegar’.

acetyl /astl -tl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the acyl radical –C(O)CH_3, derived from acetic acid: acetyl chloride | an acetyl group.

acetylate /əsεtlet/ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. acetylated) [CHEMISTRY] introduce an acetyl group into (a molecule or compound): the acetylated forms of chloramphenicol.

<DERIVATIVES> acetylation n.

acetylcholine /astlkəlin -tl-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound which occurs throughout the nervous system, in which it functions as a neurotransmitter.

acetylcholinesterase /astlkəlnεstərez -tl-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme that causes rapid hydrolysis of acetylcholine. Its action serves to stop excitation of a nerve after transmission of an impulse.

acetyl coenzyme A n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] the acetyl ester of coenzyme A, involved as an acetylating agent in many biochemical processes.

acetylene /əsεtlin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a colourless pungent-smelling hydrocarbon gas, which burns with a bright flame, used in welding and formerly in lighting.

<INFO> Alternative name: ethyne; chem. formula: C_2H_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ACETIC ACID + -YL + -ENE.

acetylide /əsεtld/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt-like compound formed from acetylene and a metal, containing the anion (C≡C)2− or HC≡C−. Acetylides are typically unstable or explosive.

acetylsalicylic acid /astlsalslk -tl-/ n. systematic chemical name for ASPIRIN.

ach /αx/ exclam. dialect (chiefly SCOTTISH) form of ah: ach well, win some lose some.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: Scottish Gaelic, Dutch, and German.

Achaea /əkiə/ a region of ancient Greece on the north coast of the Peloponnese.

Achaean adj. relating to Achaea in ancient Greece.

- LITERARY (especially in Homeric contexts) Greek.

■ n. an inhabitant of Achaea.

- LITERARY (especially in Homeric contexts) a Greek.

The Achaeans were among the earliest Greek-speaking inhabitants of Greece, being established there well before the 12th century BC. Some scholars identify them with the Mycenaeans of the 14th–13th centuries BC. The Greek protagonists in the Trojan War are regularly called Achaeans in the Iliad, though this may have referred only to the leaders.

Achaemenid /əkimənd/ (also Achaemenian /akminən/) adj. relating to the dynasty ruling in Persia from Cyrus I to Darius III (553–330 BC).

■ n. a member of the Achaemenid dynasty.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Akhaimenēs ‘Achaemenes’ (the reputed ancestor of the dynasty) + -ID^3.

achalasia /akəlezə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which the muscles of the lower part of the oesophagus fail to relax, preventing food from passing into the stomach.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from A-1 ‘without, not’ + Greek khalasis ‘loosening’ (from khalan ‘relax’) + -IA^1.

achar /ətα atα/ (also achaar) n. [mass noun] (in Indian cookery) a type of pickle in which the food is preserved in spiced oil: mango achar.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi acār, from Persian.

acharnement /əαnm/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC bloodthirsty fury or ferocity.

<ORIGIN> French, from acharner ‘give a taste of flesh to a dog, falcon, etc.’, from charn, archaic variant of chair, from Latin caro, carn- ‘flesh’.

acharya /ətαə/ n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a Hindu or Buddhist spiritual teacher or leader.

- an influential mentor.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Sanskrit ācārya ‘master, teacher’.

Achates /əketiz/ [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] a companion of Aeneas. His loyalty to his friend was so exemplary as to become proverbial, hence the term fidus Achates (‘faithful Achates’).

ache n. 1 a continuous or prolonged dull pain in a part of one's body: the ache in her head worsened | a handful of salt in the bath water is good for aches and pains | [mass noun] he had stomach ache.

2 [in sing.] an emotion experienced with painful or bitter-sweet intensity: an ache in her heart.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 suffer from a continuous dull pain: my legs ached from the previous day's exercise | I'm aching all over.

2 feel intense sadness or compassion: she sat still and silent, her heart aching | she looked so tired that my heart ached for her.

3 feel an intense desire for: she ached for his touch | [with infinitive] he was aching to get his hands on the ball.

<ORIGIN> Old English æce (noun), acan (verb). In Middle and early modern English the noun was spelled atche and rhymed with ‘batch’ and the verb was spelled and pronounced as it is today. The noun began to be pronounced like the verb around 1700. The modern spelling is largely due to Dr Johnson, who mistakenly assumed its derivation to be from Greek akhos ‘pain’.

Achebe /ətebi/ Chinua (b.1930), Nigerian novelist, poet, short-story writer, and essayist; born Albert Chinualumgu. His novels, such as Things Fall Apart (1958), show traditional African society in confrontation with European customs and values.

achene /əkin/ n. [BOTANY] a small, dry one-seeded fruit that does not open to release the seed.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin achaenium, derived irregularly from a- ‘not’ + Greek khainein ‘to gape’.

Achernar /ekənα/ [ASTRONOMY] the ninth brightest star in the sky and the brightest in the constellation Eridanus, visible only in the southern hemisphere.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic, ‘end of the river (i.e. Eridanus)’.

Acheron /akərn/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] one of the rivers of Hades.

- LITERARY hell.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek Akherōn.

Acheson /ets(ə)n/ Dean (Gooderham) (1893–1971), American statesman, Secretary of State 1949–53. He was instrumental in the formation of NATO, and implemented the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine.

Acheulian /əulən/ (also Acheulean) adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the main Lower Palaeolithic culture in Europe (preceding the Mousterian) and a similar culture in Africa. It is represented by hand-axe industries, which are dated as a whole to about 1,500,000–150,000 years ago. See also ABBEVILLIAN.

- (as n. the Acheulian) the Acheulian culture or period.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French Acheuléen, from St-Acheul near Amiens in northern France, where objects from this culture were found.

achha /athα/ exclam. Indian 1 okay; all right.

2 is that so? (used in responses to indicate the speaker's surprise, joy, or doubt).

<ORIGIN> from Hindi acchā.

achieve v. [with obj.] successfully bring about or reach (a desired objective or result) by effort, skill, or courage: he achieved his ambition to become a press photographer.

<DERIVATIVES> achievable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘complete successfully’): from Old French achever ‘come or bring to a head’, from a chief ‘to a head’.

achievement n. 1 a thing done successfully with effort, skill, or courage: to reach this stage is a great achievement.

2 [mass noun] the process or fact of achieving something: the achievement of professional recognition | a sense of achievement.

3 [HERALDRY] a representation of a coat of arms with all the adjuncts to which a bearer of arms is entitled.

achiever n. a person who achieves a high or specified level of success.

achillea /akliə aklə/ n. a Eurasian and North African plant of a genus that includes the yarrow, typically having heads of small white or yellow flowers and fern-like leaves.

<INFO> Genus Achillea, family Compositae: numerous species.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Akhilleios, denoting a plant supposed to have been used medicinally by Achilles.

Achilles /əkliz/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a hero of the Trojan War, son of Peleus and Thetis. During his infancy his mother plunged him in the Styx, thus making his body invulnerable except for the heel by which she held him. During the Trojan War Achilles killed Hector but was later wounded in the heel by an arrow shot by Paris and died.

Achilles heel n. a weakness or vulnerable point.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: alluding to the vulnerability of ACHILLES.

Achilles tendon n. the tendon connecting calf muscles to the heel.

achimenes /əkməniz/ n. (pl. same) a Central American plant with tubular or trumpet-shaped flowers.

<INFO> Genus Achimenes, family Gesneriaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, either from Greek akhaimenis, denoting a different plant (euphorbia), or from a- ‘not’ + kheimanein ‘expose to the cold’.

Achinese /atniz/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people living in northern Sumatra.

2 [mass noun] the Indonesian language of the Achinese.

■ adj. relating to the Achinese or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Acheh, Atjeh, a territory in northern Sumatra, + -n- + -ESE.

aching adj. 1 have an ache in a part of one's body: the cool air was a relief to my aching head.

2 feeling intense or wistful sadness; sorrowful: an aching feeling of nostalgia.

<DERIVATIVES> achingly adv. [as submodifier] a sound which was achingly familiar to me

achiote /atti/ n. North American term for ANNATTO.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Spanish, from Nahuatl achiotl.

achiral /ekr(ə)l/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (chiefly of a molecule) symmetric in such a way that it can be superimposed on its mirror image; not chiral.

achkan /atkən/ n. a knee-length coat buttoned in front, worn by men from the Indian subcontinent.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi ackan.

achlorhydria /eklhdrə akl-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE absence of hydrochloric acid in the gastric secretions.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + CHLOR- + HYDRO- + -IA^1.

Acholi /ətəli/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a farming and pastoral people of northern Uganda and southern Sudan.

2 [mass noun] the Nilotic language of the Acholi.

■ adj. relating to the Acholi or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Acholi.

achondrite /əkndrt/ n. a stony meteorite containing no small mineral granules (chondrules).

<DERIVATIVES> achondritic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + CHONDRITE.

achondroplasia /əkndrə()plezə e-/ n. [mass noun] a hereditary condition in which the growth of long bones by ossification of cartilage is retarded, resulting in very short limbs and sometimes a face which is small in relation to the skull.

<DERIVATIVES> achondroplasic adj. achondroplastic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + Greek khondros ‘cartilage’ + plasis ‘moulding’ + -IA^1.

achromat /akrə()mat/ n. a lens that transmits light without separating it into constituent colours.

achromatic /akrə()matk/ adj. 1 relating to, using, or denoting lenses that transmit light without separating it into constituent colours.

2 LITERARY without colour: the achromatic gloom.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via French from Greek a- ‘without’ + khrōmatikos (from khrōma ‘colour’).

achy (also achey) adj. (achier, achiest) suffering from continuous dull pain: she felt tired and achy.

<DERIVATIVES> achiness n.

acicular /əskjlə/ adj. TECHNICAL (chiefly of crystals) needle-shaped.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from late Latin acicula ‘small needle’ (diminutive of acus) + -AR^1.

acid n. 1 a substance with particular chemical properties including turning litmus red, neutralizing alkalis, and dissolving some metals; typically, a corrosive or sour-tasting liquid of this kind. Often contrasted with ALKALI and base^1.

- [mass noun] FIGURATIVE bitter or cutting remarks or tone of voice: she was unable to quell the acid in her voice.

2 [CHEMISTRY] a molecule or other species which can donate a proton or accept an electron pair in reactions.

3 [mass noun] INFORMAL the drug LSD.

Acids are compounds which release hydrogen ions (H+) when dissolved in water. Any solution with a pH of less than 7 is acidic, strong acids such as sulphuric or hydrochloric acid having a pH as low as 1 or 2.

■ adj. 1 containing acid or having the properties of an acid; having a pH of less than 7: acid soils. Often contrasted with ALKALINE or BASIC.

2 sharp-tasting or sour: acid fruit.

- (of a person's remarks or tone) bitter or cutting: she was stung into acid defiance.

- (of a colour) strikingly intense or bright: an acid green.

3 [GEOLOGY] (of rock, especially lava) containing a relatively high proportion of silica.

- [METALLURGY] relating to or denoting steel-making processes involving silica-rich refractories and slags.

<PHRASES>

□ put the acid on AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL seek to extract a loan or favour from (someone). [<ORIGIN> acid from ACID TEST, referring to possible resistance (because gold resists nitric acid).]

<DERIVATIVES> acidy adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘sour-tasting’): from Latin acidus, from acere ‘be sour’.

acid drop n. BRITISH a kind of boiled sweet with a sharp taste.

acid-fast adj. [MICROBIOLOGY] denoting bacteria that cannot be decolorized by an acid after staining, which is characteristic of the mycobacteria that cause tuberculosis and leprosy.

acid house n. [mass noun] a kind of popular synthesized dance music with a fast repetitive beat, popular in the 1980s and associated with the taking of drugs such as Ecstasy.

acidic adj. 1 having the properties of an acid, or containing acid; having a pH below 7. Often contrasted with ALKALINE and BASIC.

2 sharp-tasting or sour: acidic wine.

- (of a person's remarks or tone) bitter or cutting: the occasional acidic comment.

- (of a colour) strikingly intense or bright: an acidic yellow.

3 [GEOLOGY] (of rock, especially lava) relatively rich in silica.

- [METALLURGY] relating to or denoting steel-making processes involving silica-rich refractories and slags.

acidify /əsdf/ v. (acidifies, acidifying, acidified) make or become acid: [with obj.] pollutants can acidify surface water.

<DERIVATIVES> acidification n.

acidimetry /asdmtri/ n. [mass noun] measurement of the strengths of acids.

acidity n. [mass noun] 1 the level of acid in substances such as water, soil, or wine.

- the level of acid in the gastric juices, typically when excessive and causing discomfort.

2 bitterness or sharpness in a person's remarks or tone: the cutting acidity in his voice.

acid jazz n. [mass noun] a kind of popular dance music incorporating elements of jazz, funk, soul, and hip hop.

<ORIGIN> apparently coined from ACID HOUSE and popularized by the Acid Jazz record label founded in 1988.

acidly adv. with bitterness or sarcasm: ‘Is it up to you to make that decision?’ she asked acidly.

acidophil /əsdə()fl/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] an acidophilic white blood cell.

acidophilic /asdə()flk əsd-/ adj. [BIOLOGY] 1 (of a cell or its contents) readily stained with acid dyes.

2 (of a micro-organism or plant) growing best in acidic conditions.

acidophilus /asdfləs/ n. [mass noun] a bacterium that is used to make yogurt and to supplement the intestinal flora.

<INFO> Lactobacillus acidophilus; a Gram-positive rod-shaped bacterium.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: modern Latin, literally ‘acid-loving’.

acidosis /asdəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an excessively acid condition of the body fluids or tissues.

<DERIVATIVES> acidotic adj.

acid rain n. [mass noun] rainfall made so acidic by atmospheric pollution that it causes environmental harm, chiefly to forests and lakes. The main cause is the industrial burning of coal and other fossil fuels, the waste gases from which contain sulphur and nitrogen oxides which combine with atmospheric water to form acids.

acid rock n. [mass noun] a style of rock music popular chiefly in the late 1960s, associated with or inspired by hallucinogenic drugs.

acid salt n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt formed by incomplete replacement of the hydrogen of an acid, e.g. potassium hydrogen sulphate (KHSO_4).

acid test n. [in sing.] a conclusive test of the success or value of something: gritstone is the acid test of a climber's ability.

<ORIGIN> figuratively, from the original use denoting a test for gold using nitric acid.

acidulate /əsdjlet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. acidulated) make slightly acidic: acidulated water.

<DERIVATIVES> acidulation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin acidulus (from acidus ‘sour’) + -ATE^3.

acidulous /əsdjləs/ adj. sharp-tasting; sour.

- (of a person's remarks or tone) bitter; cutting.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin acidulus (from acidus ‘sour’) + -OUS.

acinus /asnəs/ n. (pl. acini /-n/) [ANATOMY] 1 a small sac-like cavity in a gland, surrounded by secretory cells.

2 a region of the lung supplied with air from one of the terminal bronchioles.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Latin, literally ‘a kernel’.

-acious suffix (forming adjectives) inclined to; having as a capacity: audacious | capacious.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -ax, -ac- (especially forming adjectives from verbal stems) + -OUS.

-acity suffix forming nouns of quality or state corresponding to adjectives ending in -acious (such as audacity corresponding to audacious).

<ORIGIN> from French -acité or Latin -acitas.

ack-ack n. [mass noun] [MILITARY] anti-aircraft gunfire.

<ORIGIN> signallers' name for the letters AA; ack for A was replaced in military use by able in 1942.

ackee /aki/ (also akee) n. a tropical West African tree which is cultivated for its fruit and has been introduced into the Caribbean and elsewhere.

<INFO> Blighia sapida, family Sapindaceae.

- [mass noun] the fruit of the ackee, which is eaten as a vegetable but is poisonous until fully ripe.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Kru ākee.

ack emma adv. BRITISH DATED informal term for A.M.

<ORIGIN> First World War: signallers' name for these letters.

ackers /akəz/ plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL money.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (originally used by British troops in Egypt as a name for the piastre): probably an alteration of Arabic fakka ‘small change, coins’.

acknowledge v. 1 [reporting v.] accept or admit the existence or truth of: [with obj.] the plight of the refugees was acknowledged by the authorities | [with clause] the government acknowledged that the tax was unfair | [with direct speech] ‘That's true,’ she acknowledged.

2 [with obj.] recognize the importance or quality of: the art world has begun to acknowledge his genius | the hotel is widely acknowledged as one of Cornwall's finest.

- express gratitude for or appreciation of: he received a letter acknowledging his services.

- accept the validity or legitimacy of: Henry acknowledged Richard as his heir.

3 [with obj.] show that one has noticed or recognized (someone) by making a gesture or greeting: she refused to acknowledge my presence.

- confirm (receipt of something).

<DERIVATIVES> acknowledgeable adj.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from the obsolete Middle English verb knowledge, influenced by obsolete acknow ‘acknowledge, confess’.

acknowledged adj. recognized as being good or important: he's an acknowledged expert in the field . an acknowledged comedy genius.

- accepted as valid or legitimate: Prince Louis's acknowledged heir.

acknowledgement (also chiefly US acknowledgment) n. [mass noun] 1 acceptance of the truth or existence of something: there was no acknowledgement of the family's trauma.

2 recognition of the importance or quality of something.

- the expression of gratitude or appreciation for something: he received an award in acknowledgement of his work.

- the action of showing that one has noticed someone or something: he touched his hat in acknowledgement.

- [count noun] a letter confirming receipt of something.

3 (acknowledgements) a statement printed at the beginning of a book expressing the author's or publisher's gratitude to others.

ACL abbr. anterior cruciate ligament.

aclinic line /əklnk/ n. another term for MAGNETIC EQUATOR.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: aclinic from Greek aklinēs, from a- ‘not’ + klinein ‘to bend’.

ACLU abbr. American Civil Liberties Union.

acme /akmi/ n. [in sing.] the point at which something is at its best or most highly developed: physics is the acme of scientific knowledge.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek akmē ‘highest point’. Until the 18th century it was often consciously used as a Greek word and written in Greek letters.

Acmeist /akmist/ adj. relating to or denoting an early 20th-century movement in Russian poetry which rejected the values of symbolism in favour of formal technique and clarity of exposition. Notable members were Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelstam.

■ n. a member of the Acmeist movement.

<DERIVATIVES> Acmeism n.

acne n. [mass noun] a skin condition characterized by red pimples on the skin, especially on the face, due to inflamed or infected sebaceous glands and prevalent chiefly among adolescents.

<DERIVATIVES> acned adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via modern Latin from Greek aknas, a misreading of akmas, accusative plural of akmē ‘highest point, peak, or facial eruption’; compare with ACME.

acne rosacea n. another term for ROSACEA.

Acol /akl/ n. [BRIDGE] a British system of bidding designed to enable partners with weaker hands to find suitable contracts.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Acol Road in Hampstead, London, the address of a house in which the system was devised.

acolyte /akəlt/ n. a person assisting a priest in a religious service or procession.

- an assistant or follower.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French acolyt or ecclesiastical Latin acolytus, from Greek akolouthos ‘follower’.

Aconcagua /aknkαwə/ an extinct volcano in the Andes, on the border between Chile and Argentina, rising to 6,960 m (22,834 ft). It is the highest mountain in the western hemisphere.

aconite /akənt/ n. 1 a poisonous plant of the buttercup family, bearing hooded pink or purple flowers and found in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.

<INFO> Genus Aconitum, family Ranunculaceae: many species, including monkshood and wolfsbane.

- [mass noun] an extract of aconite, used as a poison or in pharmacy.

2 (also winter aconite) a small herbaceous Eurasian plant, cultivated for its yellow flowers in early spring.

<INFO> Genus Eranthis, family Ranunculaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via French and Latin from Greek akoniton.

aconitine /əkntin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a poisonous alkaloid obtained from monkshood and related plants.

acorn n. the fruit of the oak, a smooth oval nut in a rough cup-like base.

<ORIGIN> Old English æcern, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aker, also to ACRE, later associated with OAK and corn^1.

acorn barnacle n. a stalkless barnacle that attaches itself to a variety of surfaces including rocks, ships, and marine animals.

<INFO> Genus Balanus, family Balanidae.

acorn squash n. a winter squash of a variety with ridged dark green to orange rind and yellow flesh.

acorn worm n. a burrowing worm-like marine animal of shallow waters. Its body consists of a proboscis, a collar, and a long trunk with gill slits, and contains a structure resembling a notochord.

<INFO> Class Enteropneusta, phylum Hemichordata.

acotyledon /əktlid(ə)n/ n. a plant with no distinct seed leaves, especially a fern or moss.

<DERIVATIVES> acotyledonous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin plural acotyledones (see a-1, cotyledon).

acouchi /əkuti/ n. (pl. acouchis) a large forest rodent resembling an agouti, found in the Amazon basin.

<INFO> Genus Myoprocta, family Dasyproctidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Tupi.

acoustic /əkustk/ adj. 1 relating to sound or the sense of hearing: dogs have a much greater acoustic range than humans.

- (of building materials) used for soundproofing or modifying sound: acoustic tiles.

- (of a device or system) utilizing sound energy in its operation.

- (of an explosive mine or other weapon) able to be set off by sound waves.

2 (of popular music or musical instruments) not having electrical amplification: an acoustic guitar.

■ n. 1 (also acoustics) the properties or qualities of a room or building that determine how sound is transmitted in it: the Symphony Hall has perfect acoustics.

2 (acoustics) [treated as sing.] the branch of physics concerned with the properties of sound.

3 a guitar without electrical amplification.

<DERIVATIVES> acoustical adj. acoustically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek akoustikos, from akouein ‘hear’.

acoustic coupler n. a modem which converts digital signals into audible signals and vice versa so that they can be transmitted and received over telephone lines.

acoustician /akust(ə)n/ n. an expert in the branch of physics concerned with the properties of sound.

acoustic impedance n. [PHYSICS] the ratio of the pressure over an imaginary surface in a sound wave to the rate of particle flow across the surface.

acoustic shock n. [mass noun] damaged hearing suffered by the user of an earphone as a result of sudden excessive noise in the device.

acquaint v. [with obj.] (acquaint someone with) make someone aware of or familiar with: new staff should be acquainted with fire exit routes | you need to acquaint yourself with the house style.

- (be acquainted) know someone slightly: I am not acquainted with any young lady of that name | I'll leave you two to get acquainted.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French acointier ‘make known’, from late Latin accognitare, from Latin accognoscere, from ad- ‘to’ + cognoscere ‘come to know’.

acquaintance n. 1 [mass noun] knowledge or experience of something: the pupils had little acquaintance with the language.

- slight knowledge of or friendship with someone: I renewed my acquaintance with Herbert.

2 a person one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend: a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

- [mass noun] acquaintances considered collectively: his extensive acquaintance included Oscar Wilde and Yeats.

<PHRASES>

□ make the acquaintance of (or make someone's acquaintance) meet someone for the first time and come to know them slightly.

<DERIVATIVES> acquaintanceship n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘mutual knowledge, being acquainted’): from Old French acointance, from acointier ‘make known’ (see ACQUAINT).

acquaintance rape n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN rape by a person who is known to the victim.

acquiesce /akwεs/ v. [no obj.] accept something reluctantly but without protest: Sara acquiesced in his decision.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin acquiescere, from ad- ‘to, at’ + quiescere ‘to rest’.

acquiescence n. [mass noun] the reluctant acceptance of something without protest: in silent acquiescence, she rose to her feet.

acquiescent adj. ready to accept something without protest, or to do what someone else wants: his acquiescent mood.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin acquiescent- ‘remaining at rest’, from the verb acquiescere (see ACQUIESCE).

acquire v. [with obj.] 1 buy or obtain (an asset or object) for oneself: I managed to acquire all the books I needed.

2 learn or develop (a skill, habit, or quality): I've acquired a taste for whisky.

- come to have (a particular reputation) as a result of one's behaviour or activities.

<PHRASES>

□ an acquired taste a thing that one comes to like over time: pumpkin pie is an acquired taste.

<DERIVATIVES> acquirable adj. acquiree n. ([FINANCE]) acquirer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English acquere, from Old French aquerre, based on Latin acquirere ‘get in addition’, from ad- ‘to’ + quaerere ‘seek’. The English spelling was modified (c.1600) by association with the Latin word.

acquired character (also acquired characteristic) n. [BIOLOGY] a modification or change in an organ or tissue that is due to use, disuse, or environmental effects during an organism's lifetime.

acquirement n. [mass noun] the action of acquiring something: the acquirement of self control.

- [count noun] something acquired, typically a skill.

acquisition /akwz(ə)n/ n. 1 an asset or object bought or obtained, typically by a library or museum.

- a purchase of one company by another.

- [mass noun] the buying or obtaining of assets or objects: western culture places a high value on material acquisition.

2 [mass noun] the learning or developing of a skill, habit, or quality: the acquisition of management skills.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘act of acquiring something’): from Latin acquisitio(n-), from the verb acquirere (see ACQUIRE).

acquisition accounting n. [mass noun] a procedure in accounting in which the value of the assets of a company is changed from book to fair market level after a takeover.

acquisitive adj. excessively interested in acquiring money or material things.

<DERIVATIVES> acquisitively adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French acquisitif, -ive, from late Latin acquisitivus. from Latin acquisit- ‘acquired’, from the verb acquirere (see ACQUIRE).

acquisitiveness n. [mass noun] excessive interest in acquiring money or material things: a culture of acquisitiveness permeated his administration.

acquit v. (acquits, acquitting, acquitted) 1 [with obj.] free (someone) from a criminal charge by a verdict of not guilty: she was acquitted on all counts | the jury acquitted Bream of murder.

2 (acquit oneself) conduct oneself or perform in a specified way: the goalkeeper acquitted himself well.

- (acquit oneself of) ARCHAIC discharge (a duty or responsibility).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘pay a debt, discharge a liability’): from Old French acquiter, from medieval Latin acquitare ‘pay a debt’, from ad- ‘to’ + quitare ‘set free’.

acquittal n. a judgement or verdict that a person is not guilty of the crime with which they have been charged.

acquittance n. [LAW] a written receipt attesting the settlement of a fine or debt.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from aquiter ‘discharge (a debt)’ (see ACQUIT).

Acre 1 /ekə/ an industrial seaport of Israel; pop. 45,700 (2000). Also called AKKO.

2 /αkrə/ a state of western Brazil, on the border with Peru; capital, Rio Branco.

acre /ekə/ n. a unit of land area equal to 4,840 square yards (0.405 hectare).

- (acres of) INFORMAL a large extent or amount of something: acres of space.

<DERIVATIVES> acred adj. [in combination] a many-acred park

<ORIGIN> Old English æcer (denoting the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plough in a day), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch akker and German Acker ‘field’, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit ajra ‘field’, Latin ager, and Greek agros.

acreage /ek(ə)rd/ n. [mass noun] an area of land, typically when used for agricultural purposes, but not necessarily measured in acres: a 35 per cent increase in net acreage | [count noun] a modest acreage.

acre-foot n. (pl. acre-feet) a unit of volume equal to the volume of a sheet of water one acre (0.405 hectare) in area and one foot (30.48 cm) in depth; 43,560 cubic feet (1233.5 cubic metres).

acrid /akrd/ adj. unpleasantly bitter or pungent: acrid smoke | an acrid smell.

<DERIVATIVES> acridity n. acridly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: formed irregularly from Latin acer, acri- ‘sharp, pungent’ + -ID^1, probably influenced by acid.

acridine /akrdin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless solid compound obtained from coal tar, used in the manufacture of dyes and drugs.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_13H_9N.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from ACRID + -INE^4.

acriflavine /akrflevn -in/ n. [mass noun] a bright orange-red dye derived from acridine, used as an antiseptic.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: formed irregularly from ACRIDINE + Latin flavus ‘yellow’ + -INE^4.

Acrilan /akrlan/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a synthetic acrylic textile fibre.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ACRYLIC + Latin lana ‘wool’.

acrimonious /akrmənəs/ adj. (typically of speech or discussion) angry and bitter: an acrimonious dispute about wages.

<DERIVATIVES> acrimoniously adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘bitter, pungent’): from ACRIMONY + -OUS.

acrimony /akrməni/ n. [mass noun] bitterness or ill feeling: the AGM dissolved into acrimony.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘bitter taste or smell’): from French acrimonie or Latin acrimonia, from acer, acri- ‘pungent, acrid’.

acrobat n. an entertainer who performs spectacular gymnastic feats.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French acrobate, from Greek akrobatēs, from akrobatos ‘walking on tiptoe’, from akron ‘tip’ + bainein ‘to walk’.

acrobatic adj. performing, involving, or adept at spectacular gymnastic feats: an acrobatic dive.

<DERIVATIVES> acrobatically adv.

acrobatics plural n. [usually treated as sing.] spectacular gymnastic feats.

acrocyanosis /akrə()sənəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition marked by bluish or purple colouring of the hands and feet, caused by slow circulation.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek akron ‘tip’ + CYANOSIS.

acrolect /akrə()lεkt/ n. [LINGUISTICS] the most prestigious dialect or variety of a particular language. Contrasted with BASILECT.

<DERIVATIVES> acrolectal adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Greek akron ‘summit’ + -lect as in DIALECT.

acromegaly /akrə()mεəli/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal growth of the hands, feet, and face, caused by overproduction of growth hormone by the pituitary gland.

<DERIVATIVES> acromegalic /-malk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in French from Greek akron ‘tip, extremity’ + megas, megal- ‘great’.

acronym /akrənm/ n. an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word (e.g. ASCII, NASA).

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek akron ‘end, tip’ + -ONYM.

acropetal /əkrpt(ə)l/ adj. [BOTANY] (of growth or development) upwards from the base or point of attachment. The opposite of BASIPETAL.

- (of the movement of dissolved substances) outwards towards the shoot and root apices.

<DERIVATIVES> acropetally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek akron ‘tip’ + Latin petere ‘seek’ + -AL.

acrophobia /akrəfəbə/ n. [mass noun] extreme or irrational fear of heights.

<DERIVATIVES> acrophobic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek akron ‘summit’ + -PHOBIA.

acropolis /əkrpəls/ n. a citadel or fortified part of an ancient Greek city, typically one built on a hill.

- (the Acropolis) the ancient citadel at Athens, containing the Parthenon and other notable buildings, mostly dating from the 5th century BC.

<ORIGIN> Greek, from akron ‘summit’ + polis ‘city’.

across prep. & adv. 1 from one side to the other of (a place, area, etc.): [as prep.] I ran across the street | travelling across Europe | [as adv.] he had swum across.

- [as adv.] used with an expression of measurement: mounds some 30 metres across.

2 expressing position or orientation: [as prep.] they lived across the street from one another | the bridge across the river | [as adv.] he looked across at me | halfway across, Jenny jumped.

3 [as adv.] referring to a crossword answer which reads horizontally: 19 across.

<PHRASES>

□ across the board 1 applying to all: the cutbacks might be across the board.

2 US (in horse racing) denoting a bet in which equal amounts are staked on the same horse to win, place, or show in a race.

□ across from opposite: she sat across from me.

□ be (or get) across something AUSTRALIAN fully understand all the details of an issue or situation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as an adverb meaning ‘in the form of a cross’): from Old French a croix, en croix ‘in or on a cross’, later regarded as being from A-2 + CROSS.

acrostic /əkrstk/ n. a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French acrostiche, from Greek akrostikhis, from akron ‘end’ + stikhos ‘row, line of verse’. The change in the ending was due to association with -IC.

Acrux /ekrks/ [ASTRONOMY] the star Alpha Crucis, which is the brightest star in the southern constellation Crux and the twelfth brightest in the sky.

<ORIGIN> from A for alpha + CRUX.

acrylamide /əkrləmd/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless crystalline solid which readily forms water-soluble polymers.

<INFO> The amide of acrylic acid; chem. formula: CH_2=CHCONH_2.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ACRYLIC + AMIDE.

acrylate /akrlet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of acrylic acid.

acrylic /əkrlk/ adj. (of synthetic resins and textile fibres) made from polymers of acrylic acid or acrylates: a red acrylic jumper.

- (of paint) based on acrylic resin as a medium: acrylic colours.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] an acrylic textile fibre: a sweater in four-ply acrylic.

2 (often acrylics) an acrylic paint.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the liquid aldehyde acrolein (from Latin acer, acri- ‘pungent’ + ol(eum) ‘oil’ + -IN^1) + -YL + -IC.

acrylic acid n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a pungent liquid organic acid which can be polymerized to make synthetic resins.

<INFO> Alternative name: propenoic acid; chem. formula: CH_2CH=COOH.

acrylonitrile /akrlə()ntrl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a pungent, toxic liquid, used in making artificial fibres and other polymers.

<INFO> The nitrile of acrylic acid; chem. formula: CH_2=CHCN.

ACT abbr.

- advance corporation tax.

- Australian Capital Territory.

act v. [no obj.] 1 take action; do something: they urged Washington to act | [with infinitive] governments must act to reduce pollution.

- (act on) take action according to or in the light of: I shall certainly act on his suggestion.

- (act for) take action in order to bring about: one's ability to act for community change.

- (act for/on behalf of) represent (someone) on a contractual, legal, or paid basis: he chose a solicitor to act for him.

- (act from/out of) be motivated by: you acted from greed.

2 [with adverbial] behave in the way specified: they challenged a man who was seen acting suspiciously | he acts as if he owned the place | try to act like civilized adults.

- (act up) INFORMAL behave badly.

3 (act as) fulfil the function or serve the purpose of: they need volunteers to act as foster-parents | a day-care centre which will act as a meeting place.

- (act up) be promoted to a more senior position on a temporary basis.

4 take effect; have a particular effect: bacteria act on proteins and sugar.

- (act up) INFORMAL (of a thing) fail to function properly: the plane's engine was acting up.

5 perform a role in a play, film, or television: she acted in her first professional role at the age of six | [with obj.] he acted the role of the king.

- [with complement] behave so as to appear to be; pretend to be: I acted dumb at first.

- [with obj.] (act something out) perform a narrative as if it were a play: encouraging pupils to act out the stories.

- [with obj.] (act something out) [PSYCHOANALYSIS] express repressed emotion or impulses in overt behaviour as a defensive substitute for conscious recall, typical of some behavioural disorders.

■ n. 1 a thing done; a deed: a criminal act | the act of writing down one's thoughts | an act of heroism.

- (Acts or Acts of the Apostles) a New Testament book immediately following the Gospels and relating the history of the early Church.

2 [in sing.] a pretence: she was putting on an act and laughing a lot.

- [with adj. or noun modifier] a particular type of behaviour or routine: he did his Sir Galahad act.

3 (usually Act or Act of Parliament) a written law passed by Parliament, Congress, etc.: the 1989 Children Act.

- a document attesting a legal transaction.

- (acts) DATED the recorded decisions or proceedings of a committee or an academic body.

4 a main division of a play, ballet, or opera: the first act.

- a set performance: her one-woman poetry act.

- a performing group: an act called the Apple Blossom Sisters.

<PHRASES>

□ act of God an instance of uncontrollable natural forces in operation.

□ act of grace a privilege or concession that cannot be claimed as a right.

□ catch someone in the act surprise someone in the process of doing something wrong: the thieves were caught in the act.

□ get one's act together INFORMAL galvanize oneself into organizing one's affairs effectively.

□ get (or be) in on the act INFORMAL become (or be) involved in a particular activity, in order to gain an advantage.

□ a hard (or tough) act to follow an achievement or performance which sets a standard regarded as being hard for others to measure up to.

□ in the act of in the process of: they photographed him in the act of reading other people's mail.

<DERIVATIVES> actable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin actus ‘event, thing done’, act- ‘done’, from the verb agere, reinforced by the French noun acte.

Actaeon /aktiən aktən/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a hunter who, because he accidentally saw Artemis bathing, was changed by her into a stag and killed by his own hounds.

actant /aktənt/ n. 1 [GRAMMAR] a noun or noun phrase involved in the action expressed by a verb.

2 (in literary theory) a person, creature, or object playing any of a set of active roles in a narrative.

ACTH abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] adrenocorticotrophic hormone.

actin /aktn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein which forms (together with myosin) the contractile filaments of muscle cells, and is also involved in motion in other types of cell.

<ORIGIN> 1940: from Greek aktis, aktin- ‘ray’ + -IN^1.

acting n. [mass noun] the art or occupation of performing fictional roles in plays, films, or television: she studied acting in New York | I'd prefer him not to go into acting as it's such an insecure business | [as modifier] an acting career.

■ adj. [attr.] temporarily doing the duties of another person: the acting supervisor.

acting pilot officer n. a rank in the RAF above warrant officer and below pilot officer.

actinian /aktnən/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a sea anemone.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from the modern Latin genus name Actinia (from Greek aktis, aktin- ‘ray’) + -AN.

actinic /aktnk/ adj. TECHNICAL (of light or lighting) able to cause photochemical reactions, as in photography, through having a significant short wavelength or ultraviolet component.

<DERIVATIVES> actinism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek aktis, aktin- ‘ray’ + -IC.

actinide /aktnd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of the series of fifteen metallic elements from actinium (atomic number 89) to lawrencium (atomic number 103) in the periodic table. They are all radioactive, the heavier members being extremely unstable and not of natural occurrence.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from ACTINIUM + -IDE, on the pattern of lanthanide.

actinium /aktnəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 89, a radioactive metallic element of the actinide series. It is rare in nature, occurring as an impurity in uranium ores. (Symbol: Ac)

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek aktis, aktin- ‘ray’ + -IUM.

actinolite /aktnəlt/ n. [mass noun] a green mineral of the amphibole group containing calcium, magnesium, and iron and occurring chiefly in metamorphic rocks and as a form of asbestos.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek aktis, aktin- ‘ray’ + lithos ‘stone’ (because of the ray-like crystals).

actinometer /aktnmtə/ n. [PHYSICS] an instrument for measuring the intensity of radiation, especially ultraviolet radiation.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek aktis, aktin- ‘ray’ + -METER.

actinomorphic /aktnə()mfk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] characterized by radial symmetry, such as a starfish or the flower of a daisy. Compare with ZYGOMORPHIC.

<DERIVATIVES> actinomorphy n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek aktis, aktin- ‘ray’ + morphē ‘form’ + -IC.

actinomycete /aktnə()msit/ n. a bacterium of an order of typically non-motile filamentous forms. They include streptomycetes, and were formerly regarded as fungi.

<INFO> Order Actinomycetales; Gram-positive.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally only in the plural): modern Latin, from Greek aktis, aktin- ‘ray’ + mukētes, plural of mukēs ‘fungus’.

action n. 1 [mass noun] the fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim: he vowed to take tougher action against persistent offenders | if there is a breach of regulations, we will take action.

- the way in which something such as a chemical has an effect or influence: the seeds require the catalytic action of water to release heat. short for INDUSTRIAL ACTION.

- the events represented in a story or play: the action is set in a country house.

- INFORMAL exciting or notable activity: the weekend sporting action begins on Saturday | people in media want to be where the action is.

- [as exclamation] used by a film director as a command to begin: lights, camera, action.

2 a thing done; an act: she frequently questioned his actions.

- a gesture or movement.

3 the way in which something works or moves: the weapon has a smooth action.

- the mechanism that makes a machine or instrument work.

4 armed conflict: servicemen listed as missing in action during the war.

- [count noun] a military engagement: a rearguard action.

5 legal proceedings; a lawsuit: a civil action for damages.

■ v. [with obj.] take action on; deal with: your request will be actioned.

<PHRASES>

□ action at a distance [PHYSICS], chiefly HISTORICAL the exertion of force by one body on another separated from the first by empty space.

□ actions speak louder than words PROVERB what someone actually does means more than what they say they will do.

□ go into action start work or activity.

□ in action in operation; working: watching him in action, normal workers are left in awe.

□ man of action a man whose life is characterized by physical activity or deeds rather than by words or intellectual matters.

□ out of action temporarily unable to work or function: a heart attack put him out of action.

□ put into action put into effect; carry out.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin actio(n-), from agere ‘do, act’.

actionable adj. 1 [LAW] giving sufficient reason to take legal action: an actionable assertion.

2 able to be done or acted on; having practical value: insightful and actionable information on the effect advertising is having on your brand.

actioner n. INFORMAL a film predominantly consisting of exciting action and adventure.

action figure n. a doll representing a character known for vigorous activity, such as a soldier or superhero.

action group n. a body formed to campaign politically on a particular issue.

action-packed adj. INFORMAL full of activity or excitement: an action-packed programme of events.

action painting n. [mass noun] a style of abstract painting in which paint is randomly splashed, thrown, or poured on to the canvas. It was made famous by Jackson Pollock, and formed part of the more general movement of abstract expressionism.

action potential n. [PHYSIOLOGY] the change in electrical potential associated with the passage of an impulse along the membrane of a muscle cell or nerve cell.

action replay n. BRITISH a playback of part of a television broadcast, typically a slow-motion replay of an incident in a sporting event.

- INFORMAL an exact repetition of an action or event.

action research n. [mass noun] studies carried out in the course of an activity or occupation, typically in the field of education, to improve the methods and approach of those involved.

action stations plural n. the positions taken up by military personnel in preparation for action (often as a command or signal to prepare for action).

Actium, Battle of /aktəm/ a naval battle which took place in 31 BC off the promontory of Actium in western Greece, in the course of which Octavian defeated Mark Antony.

activate v. [with obj.] make (something) active or operative: fumes from cooking are enough to activate the alarm.

- convert (a substance, molecule, etc.) into a reactive form.

<DERIVATIVES> activation n. activator n.

activated carbon (also activated charcoal) n. [mass noun] charcoal that has been heated or otherwise treated to increase its adsorptive power.

activated sludge n. [mass noun] aerated sewage containing aerobic micro-organisms which help to break it down.

activation analysis n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a technique of analysis in which atoms of a particular element in a sample are made radioactive, typically by irradiation with neutrons, and their concentration is then determined radiologically.

activation energy n. [CHEMISTRY] the minimum quantity of energy which the reacting species must possess in order to undergo a specified reaction.

active adj. 1 engaging or ready to engage in physically energetic pursuits: although he was seventy he was still robust and active.

- moving or tending to move about vigorously or frequently: I couldn't feel the baby moving, and it was normally very active.

- characterized by busy or lively activity: they enjoyed an active social life.

- (of a person's mind or imagination) alert and lively.

2 participating or engaged in a particular sphere or activity: sexually active teenagers | she was an active member of the society.

- [predic.] (of a person or animal) pursuing their usual occupation or activity at a particular place or time: tigers are active mainly at night.

3 in operation; working: the old watermill was active until 1960.

- (of an electric circuit) capable of modifying its state or characteristics automatically in response to input or feedback.

- (of a volcano) that is erupting or has erupted in historical times.

- (of a disease) in which the symptoms are manifest; not in remission or latent.

- having a chemical or biological effect on something: active ingredients.

4 [GRAMMAR] denoting a voice of verbs in which the subject is typically the person or thing performing the action and which can take a direct object (e.g. she loved him as opposed to the passive form he was loved).

■ n. [GRAMMAR] an active form of a verb.

<DERIVATIVES> actively adv. activeness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘preferring action to contemplation’): from Latin activus, from act- ‘done’, from the verb agere.

active birth n. [mass noun] childbirth during which the mother is encouraged to move around freely and assume any position which feels comfortable.

active carbon (also active charcoal) n. another term for ACTIVATED CARBON.

active citizen n. a person who actively takes responsibility and initiative in areas of public concern such as crime prevention and the local community.

<DERIVATIVES> active citizenship n.

active duty n. [mass noun] the playing of a direct role in the operational work of the police or armed forces as opposed to doing administrative work.

active immunity n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the immunity which results from the production of antibodies by the immune system in response to the presence of an antigen. Compare with PASSIVE IMMUNITY.

active layer n. [GEOGRAPHY] the seasonally thawed surface layer above permafrost.

active list n. a list of the officers in an armed service who are liable to be called on for duty.

active matrix n. [ELECTRONICS] a display system in which each pixel is individually controlled.

active service n. [mass noun] direct participation in military operations as a member of the armed forces.

active site n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a region on an enzyme that binds to a protein or other substance during a reaction.

active transport n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the movement of ions or molecules across a cell membrane into a region of higher concentration, assisted by enzymes and requiring energy.

activewear n. [mass noun] casual, comfortable clothing suitable for sport or exercise.

activism n. [mass noun] the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.

<DERIVATIVES> activist n. & adj.

activity n. (pl. activities) 1 [mass noun] the condition in which things are happening or being done: there has been a sustained level of activity in the economy.

- busy or vigorous action or movement: the room was a hive of activity.

2 (usually activities) a thing that a person or group does or has done: the firm's marketing activities.

- a recreational pursuit or pastime: a range of sporting activities.

3 [CHEMISTRY] a thermodynamic quantity representing the effective concentration of a particular component in a solution or other system, equal to its concentration multiplied by an activity coefficient.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French activité or late Latin activitas, from Latin act- ‘done’, from the verb agere.

act of contrition n. (in the Roman Catholic Church) a penitential prayer.

actomyosin /aktə()məsn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a complex of actin and myosin of which the contractile protein filaments of muscle tissue are composed.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from ACTIN + MYOSIN.

actor n. 1 a person whose profession is acting on the stage, in films, or on television.

- a person who behaves in a way that is not genuine: in war one must be a good actor.

2 a participant in an action or process: employers are key actors within industrial relations.

<DERIVATIVES> actorish adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting an agent or administrator): from Latin, ‘doer, actor’, from agere ‘do, act’. The theatre sense dates from the 16th cent.

Actors' Studio an acting workshop in New York City, founded in 1947 by Elia Kazan and others, and a leading centre of method acting.

actress n. a female actor.

actressy adj. (of a woman) self-consciously theatrical or emotionally volatile: her actressy manner.

actual /aktəl -tjəl/ adj. 1 existing in fact; real: the estimate was much less than the actual cost.

- used to emphasize the important aspect of something: the book could be condensed into half the space, but what of the actual content?

2 existing now; current: using actual income to measure expected income.

<PHRASES>

□ in actual fact used to emphasize a comment that modifies or contradicts a previous statement: people talk as if he was a monster—in actual fact he was a very kind guy.

□ your actual —— INFORMAL the real, genuine, or important thing specified: is this a drop of your actual feminine intuition?

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French actuel ‘active, practical’, from late Latin actualis, from actus (see ACT).

actual bodily harm (abbr.: ABH) n. [mass noun] [LAW] minor injury, such as bruising, inflicted on a person by the deliberate action of another, considered less serious than grievous bodily harm.

actuality n. (pl. actualities) [mass noun] the state of existing in reality: the building looked as impressive in actuality as it did in magazines.

- (actualities) existing conditions or facts: the grim actualities of prison life.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘activity’): from Old French actualite or medieval Latin actualitas, from actualis ‘active, practical’, from actus (see ACT).

actualize (also actualise) v. [with obj.] make a reality of: he had actualized his dream and achieved the world record.

<DERIVATIVES> actualization n.

actually adv. 1 as the truth or facts of a situation: we must pay attention to what young people are actually doing.

2 [sentence adv.] used to emphasize that something someone has said or done is surprising: he actually expected me to be pleased about it!

- used when expressing a contradictory or unexpected opinion or correcting someone: ‘Tom's happy anyway.’ ‘He isn't, actually, not any more.’.

- used to introduce a new topic or to add information to a previous statement: he had a thick Cockney accent—he sounded like my grandad actually.

actuary /aktəri -tj-/ n. (pl. actuaries) a person who compiles and analyses statistics and uses them to calculate insurance risks and premiums.

<DERIVATIVES> actuarial adj. actuarially (also actuarily) adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting a clerk or registrar of a court): from Latin actuarius ‘bookkeeper’, from actus (see ACT). The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

actuate /aktet -tj-/ v. 1 [with obj.] make (a machine or device) operate: the pendulum actuates an electrical switch.

2 make (someone) act in a particular way; motivate: the defendants were actuated by malice.

<DERIVATIVES> actuation n. actuator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin actuat- ‘carried out, caused to operate’, from the verb actuare, from Latin actus (see ACT). The original sense was ‘carry out in practice’, later ‘stir into activity, enliven’; sense 1 dates from the mid 17th cent.

actus reus /aktəs reəs/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] action or conduct which is a constituent element of a crime, as opposed to the mental state of the accused. Compare with MENS REA.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘guilty act’.

acuity /əkjuti/ n. [mass noun] sharpness or keenness of thought, vision, or hearing: intellectual acuity | visual acuity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French acuite or medieval Latin acuitas, from Latin acuere ‘sharpen’ (see ACUTE).

aculeate /əkjulət/ adj. 1 [ZOOLOGY] (of an insect) having a sting.

2 [BOTANY] sharply pointed; prickly.

■ n. [ZOOLOGY] a stinging insect of a group that includes the bees, wasps, and ants.

<INFO> Section Aculeata, suborder Apocrita, order Hymenoptera.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin aculeatus, from aculeus ‘a sting’, diminutive of acus ‘needle’.

acumen /akjmən əkjumən/ n. [mass noun] the ability to make good judgements and take quick decisions: she hides a shrewd business acumen.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin, ‘sharpness, point’, from acuere ‘sharpen’ (see ACUTE).

acuminate /əkjumnət/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of a plant or animal structure, e.g. a leaf) tapering to a point.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin acuminatus ‘pointed’, from acuminare ‘sharpen to a point’, from acuere ‘sharpen’ (see ACUTE).

acupoint /akjpnt/ n. any of the supposed energy points on the body where acupuncture needles are inserted or manual pressure is applied during acupressure.

acupressure /akjprεə/ n. [mass noun] a form of alternative therapy in which manual pressure is used to stimulate specific points on the body along what are considered to be lines of energy.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of ACUPUNCTURE and PRESSURE.

acupuncture /akjp(k)tə/ n. [mass noun] a system of complementary medicine in which fine needles are inserted in the skin at specific points along what are considered to be lines of energy (meridians), used in the treatment of various physical and mental conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> acupuncturist n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin acu ‘with a needle’ + PUNCTURE.

acushla /əklə/ n. IRISH DATED an affectionate form of address.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Irish a chuisle (moi chroi) ‘O pulse (of my heart)!’.

acutance /əkjut(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] the sharpness of a photographic or printed image.

acute adj. 1 (of an unpleasant or unwelcome situation or phenomenon) present or experienced to a severe or intense degree: an acute housing shortage | the problem is acute and getting worse.

- (of a disease or its symptoms) severe but of short duration: acute appendicitis. Often contrasted with CHRONIC.

2 having or showing a perceptive understanding or insight; shrewd: an acute awareness of changing fashions.

- (of a physical sense or faculty) highly developed; keen: an acute sense of smell.

3 (of an angle) less than 90°.

- having a sharp end; pointed.

4 (of a sound) high; shrill.

■ n. short for ACUTE ACCENT.

<DERIVATIVES> acuteness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (describing a disease or its symptoms): from Latin acutus, past participle of acuere ‘sharpen’, from acus ‘needle’.

acute abdomen n. MEDICINE a condition of severe abdominal pain, usually requiring emergency surgery, caused by acute disease of or injury to the internal organs.

acute accent n. a mark (´) placed over certain letters in some languages to indicate a feature such as altered sound quality (e.g. in fiancée).

acutely adv. [as submodifier] 1 (with reference to something unpleasant or unwelcome) intensely: the whole situation was acutely embarrassing.

2 in a way that shows a perceptive understanding or insight: we are all acutely aware of the fragility of our world.

acute rheumatism n. another term for RHEUMATIC FEVER.

ACW abbr. aircraftwoman.

-acy suffix forming nouns of state or quality: celibacy | lunacy.

<ORIGIN> variant of -CY, from Latin -atia (medieval Latin -acia), or from Greek -ateia.

acyclic /esklk -sk-/ adj. 1 not displaying or forming part of a cycle.

- (of a woman) not having a menstrual cycle.

2 [CHEMISTRY] (of a compound or molecule) containing no rings of atoms.

acyclovir /esklə()və/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an antiviral drug used chiefly in the treatment of herpes and Aids. Also called ZOVIRAX (TRADEMARK).

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from acycl(ic) + vir(al DNA).

acyl /esl asl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] denoting a radical of general formula –C(O)R, where R is an alkyl group, derived from a carboxylic acid.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German, from Latin acidus (see ACID) + -YL.

acylate /eslet asl-/ v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] introduce an acyl group into (a molecule or compound).

<DERIVATIVES> acylation n.

AD abbr.

- Anno Domini (used to indicate that a date comes the specified number of years after the traditional date of Christ's birth).

<USAGE> AD is normally written in small capitals and should be placed before the numerals, as in AD 375 (not 375 AD). The reason for this is that AD is an abbreviation of anno domini, which means ‘in the year of our Lord’. However, when the date is spelled out, it is normal to write the third century AD (not AD the third century). Compare with BC.

ad n. INFORMAL 1 an advertisement.

2 [TENNIS] advantage.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation.

ad- prefix denoting motion or direction to: advance | adduce.

- denoting reduction or change into: adapt | adulterate.

- denoting addition, increase, or intensification: adjunct.

<ORIGIN> from Latin ad ‘to’; in the 16th century the use of ad- and its variants was extended to replace a- from a different origin such as Latin ab- (e.g. advance, from French avancer based on late Latin abante ‘in front’).

<USAGE> Ad- is also found assimilated in the following forms: a- before sc, sp, st; ac- before c, k, q; af- before f; ag- before g; al- before l; an- before n; ap- before p; ar- before r; as- before s; at- before t.

A/D abbr. [ELECTRONICS] analogue to digital.

-ad^1 /ad əd/ suffix forming nouns: 1 in collective numerals: myriad | triad.

2 in names of females in classical mythology: dryad | naiad.

3 in names of poems and similar compositions: Iliad | jeremiad.

4 in names of members of some taxonomic groupings: bromeliad.

<ORIGIN> from the Greek ending -as, -ad-.

-ad^2 /əd/ suffix forming nouns such as ballad, salad. Compare with -ade^1.

<ORIGIN> from French -ade.

Ada /edə/ n. [mass noun] a high-level computer programming language used chiefly in real-time computerized control systems, e.g. for aircraft navigation.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: named after Ada Lovelace (see LOVELACE^1).

adage /add/ n. a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Latin adagium ‘saying’, based on an early form of aio ‘I say’.

adagio /ədα(d)ə/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) in slow time.

■ n. (pl. adagios) a movement, passage, or composition marked to be performed adagio.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from ad agio ‘at ease’.

Adam^1 (in the biblical and Koranic traditions) the name of the first man. According to the Book of Genesis, Adam was created by God as the progenitor of the human race and lived with Eve in the Garden of Eden.

<PHRASES>

□ not KNOW someone from Adam not know or be completely unable to recognize the person in question.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew 'āām ‘man’, later taken to be a name.

Adam^2 Robert (1728–92), Scottish architect. He was influenced by neoclassical theory and, assisted by his brother James (1730–94), he initiated a lighter, more decorative style than the Palladianism favoured by the British architecture of the previous half-century.

adamant adj. refusing to be persuaded or to change one's mind: he is adamant that he is not going to resign.

■ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC a legendary rock or mineral to which many properties were attributed, formerly associated with diamond or lodestone.

<DERIVATIVES> adamance n. adamancy n. adamantly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English (as a noun), from Old French adamaunt-, via Latin from Greek adamas, adamant-, ‘untameable, invincible’ (later used to denote the hardest metal or stone, hence diamond), from a- ‘not’ + daman ‘to tame’. The phrase to be adamant dates from the 1930s, although adjectival use had been implied in such collocations as ‘an adamant heart’ since the 16th cent.

adamantine /adəmantn/ adj. LITERARY unable to be broken: adamantine chains | FIGURATIVE her adamantine will.

Adams^1 Ansel (Easton) (1902–84), American photographer, noted for his black-and-white photographs of American landscapes.

Adams^2 John (1735–1826), American Federalist statesman, 2nd President of the US 1797–1801; father of John Quincy Adams. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence (1776).

Adams^3 John Couch (1819–92), English astronomer. In 1843 he calculated the position of a supposed planet beyond Uranus; similar calculations performed by Le Verrier resulted in the discovery of Neptune three years later.

Adams^4 John Quincy (1767–1848), American statesman, 6th President of the US 1825–9; eldest son of John Adams.

Adam's ale n. [mass noun] DATED, HUMOROUS water.

Adam's apple n. a projection at the front of the neck formed by the thyroid cartilage of the larynx, often prominent in men.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: so named from the notion that a piece of the forbidden fruit became lodged in Adam's throat.

Adam's Bridge a line of shoals lying between NW Sri Lanka and the SE coast of Tamil Nadu in India, separating the Palk Strait from the Gulf of Mannar.

Adam's needle n. another term for YUCCA.

Adam's Peak a mountain in south central Sri Lanka, rising to 2,243 m (7,360 ft). A rock near the top bears a depression resembling a footprint, which is the focus of religious pilgrimages.

Adana /adənə/ a town in southern Turkey, capital of a province of the same name; pop. 1,162,000 (est. 2002).

adapt v. [with obj.] make (something) suitable for a new use or purpose; modify: hospitals have had to be adapted for modern medical practice | [with obj. and infinitive] the policies can be adapted to suit individual needs.

- [no obj.] become adjusted to new conditions: a large organization can be slow to adapt to change.

- alter (a text) to make it suitable for filming, broadcasting, or the stage: the film was adapted from a Turgenev short story.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French adapter, from Latin adaptare, from ad- ‘to’ + aptare (from aptus ‘fit’).

adaptable adj. able to adjust to new conditions: rats are highly adaptable to change.

- able to be modified for a new use or purpose: telephone links that are adaptable for modems.

<DERIVATIVES> adaptability n. adaptably adv.

adaptation n. [mass noun] the action or process of adapting or being adapted: the adaptation of teaching strategy to meet students' needs | [count noun] adaptations to the school curriculum.

- [count noun] a film, television drama, or stage play that has been adapted from a written work: a three-part adaptation of Hard Times.

- [BIOLOGY] the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, from late Latin adaptatio(n-), from Latin adaptare (see ADAPT).

adaptationism n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the axiom or assumption that each feature of an organism is the result of evolutionary adaptation for a particular function.

<DERIVATIVES> adaptationist n. & adj.

adaption n. another term for ADAPTATION.

adaptive adj. chiefly TECHNICAL characterized by or given to adaptation: mutation is ultimately essential for adaptive evolution in all populations.

<DERIVATIVES> adaptively adv. adaptivity /adaptvti/ n.

adaptive expectations hypothesis n. [ECONOMICS] the hypothesis that expectations of future values of a variable can be based primarily on its values in the recent past. Compare with RATIONAL EXPECTATIONS HYPOTHESIS.

adaptive radiation n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the diversification of a group of organisms into forms filling different ecological niches.

adaptogen /adaptəd(ə)n/ n. (in herbal medicine) a natural substance considered to help the body adapt to stress.

<DERIVATIVES> adaptogenic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Russian (see ADAPT, -gen).

adaptor (also adapter) n. 1 a device for connecting pieces of equipment that cannot be connected directly.

- a device for connecting several electric plugs to one socket.

2 a person who adapts a text to make it suitable for filming, broadcasting, or the stage.

Adar /adα/ n. (in the Jewish calendar) the sixth month of the civil and twelfth of the religious year, usually coinciding with parts of February and March. It is known in leap years as Second Adar.

- an intercalary month preceding Adar in leap years, also called FIRST ADAR.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ’ăār.

ADAS /edas/ abbr. Agricultural Development and Advisory Service, set up in Britain in 1971.

adaxial /adaksəl/ adj. [BOTANY] facing towards the stem of a plant (in particular denoting the upper surface of a leaf). The opposite of ABAXIAL.

ADC abbr.

- aide-de-camp.

- analogue to digital converter.

ADD abbr.

- analogue digital digital, indicating that a music recording was made in analogue format before being mastered and stored digitally.

- attention deficit disorder.

add v. [with obj.] 1 join (something) to something else so as to increase the size, number, or amount: a new wing was added to the building | some box offices now add on a convenience charge | (as adj. added) one vitamin tablet daily will give added protection.

- [no obj.] (add up) increase in amount, number, or degree: watch those air miles add up!

2 put in (an additional element, ingredient, etc.): chlorine is added to the water to kill bacteria | (as adj. added) the fruit juice contains no added sugar.

- contribute (an enhancing quality) to something: the suite will add a touch of class to your bedroom.

3 put together (two or more numbers or amounts) to calculate their total value: they added all the figures up | add the two numbers together.

- [no obj.] (add up to) amount to: this adds up to a total of 400 calories | FIGURATIVE these isolated incidents don't add up to a true picture of the situation.

- [no obj.] [usually with negative] (add up) INFORMAL seem reasonable or consistent; make sense: many things in her story didn't add up.

4 [reporting v.] say as a further remark: [with direct speech] ‘I hope we haven't been too much trouble,’ she added politely | [with obj.] we would like to add our congratulations.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin addere, from ad- ‘to’ + the base of dare ‘put’.

adda /addα/ n. Indian 1 a place where people gather for conversation.

- an illicit drinking place.

- [mass noun] informal conversation among a group of people.

2 a junction point for public transport.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi aā, originally in the sense ‘perch for tame birds’.

Addams Jane (1860–1935), American social reformer, feminist, and pacifist. In 1889 she founded Hull House, a centre for the care and education of the poor of Chicago. Nobel Peace Prize (1931).

addax /adaks/ n. a large antelope with a mainly greyish and white coat, native to the deserts of North Africa.

<INFO> Addax nasomaculatus, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, from an African word recorded by Pliny.

added value n. & adj.

■ another term for VALUE ADDED.

addendum /ədεndəm/ n. (pl. addenda /-də/) 1 an item of additional material added at the end of a book or other publication.

2 [ENGINEERING] the radial distance from the pitch circle of a cogwheel or wormwheel to the crests of the teeth or ridges. Compare with DEDENDUM.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: Latin, ‘that which is to be added’, gerundive of addere (see ADD).

adder^1 n. a small venomous Eurasian snake which has a dark zigzag pattern on its back and bears live young. It is the only poisonous snake in Britain. Also called VIPER.

<INFO> Vipera berus, family Viperidae.

- used in names of similar or related snakes, e.g. death adder, puff adder.

<ORIGIN> Old English nædre ‘serpent, adder’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch adder and German Natter. The initial n was lost in Middle English by wrong division of a naddre; compare with APRON, auger, and UMPIRE.

adder^2 n. [ELECTRONICS] a unit which adds together two input variables. A full adder can add a bit carried from another addition as well as the two inputs, whereas a half adder can only add the inputs together.

adder's tongue (US also adder-tongue) n. 1 a fern having a single pointed oval frond and a straight spore-bearing stem.

<INFO> Genus Ophioglossum, family Ophioglossaceae, in particular O. vulgatum.

2 North American term for DOG'S-TOOTH VIOLET.

addict n. a person who is addicted to a particular substance, typically an illegal drug.

- [with modifier] INFORMAL an enthusiastic devotee of a specified thing or activity: a self-confessed chocolate addict.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the obsolete verb addict, which was a back-formation from ADDICTED.

addicted adj. (addicted to) physically and mentally dependent on a particular substance: she became addicted to alcohol and diet pills.

- INFORMAL enthusiastically devoted to a particular thing or activity: he's addicted to computers.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from the obsolete adjective addict ‘bound or devoted (to someone)’, from Latin addict- ‘assigned’, from the verb addicere, from ad- ‘to’ + dicere ‘say’.

addiction n. [mass noun] the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity: he committed the offence to finance his drug addiction.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a person's inclination or proclivity): from Latin addictio(n-), from addicere ‘assign’ (see ADDICTED).

addictive adj. (of a substance or activity) causing or likely to cause someone to become addicted to it: a highly addictive drug.

- relating or susceptible to addiction: he has an addictive personality.

<DERIVATIVES> addictively adv.

add-in n. a printed circuit board capable of being fitted internally to a computer or accommodated in an externally accessible slot.

Addington Henry, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (1757–1844), British Tory statesman, Prime Minister 1801–4 and Home Secretary (1812–21).

Addis Ababa /ads abəbə/ (also Adis Abeba) the capital of Ethiopia, situated at an altitude of about 2,440 m (8,000 ft); pop. 2,638,500 (est. 2002).

Addison Joseph (1672–1719), English essayist, poet, dramatist, and Whig politician, noted for his simple, unornamented prose style. In 1711 he founded the Spectator with Sir Richard Steele.

Addisonian /adsənən/ adj. 1 relating to or characteristic of the writing of Joseph Addison.

2 MEDICINE relating to or characterized by Addison's disease.

Addisonian anaemia n. another term for PERNICIOUS ANAEMIA.

Addison's disease n. [mass noun] a disease characterized by progressive anaemia, low blood pressure, great weakness, and bronze discoloration of the skin. It is caused by inadequate secretion of hormones by the adrenal cortex.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Thomas Addison (1793–1860), the English physician who described the disease.

addition n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of adding something to something else: the hotel has been extended with the addition of more rooms.

- [count noun] a person or thing added or joined: you will find the coat a useful addition to your wardrobe.

2 the process of calculating the total of two or more numbers or amounts.

- [MATHEMATICS] the process of combining matrices, vectors, or other quantities under specific rules to obtain their sum or resultant.

<PHRASES>

□ in addition as an extra person or thing: members of the board were paid a small allowance in addition to their normal salary.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin additio(n-), from the verb addere (see ADD).

additional adj. added, extra, or supplementary to what is already present or available: we require additional information.

additionally adv. as an extra factor or circumstance: brokers finance themselves additionally by short-term borrowing.

- [sentence adv.] used to introduce a new fact or argument: additionally, 50 hours of practical experience will be necessary.

additional member system n. a type of proportional representation in which each elector votes separately for a party and for a representative.

addition reaction n. [CHEMISTRY] a reaction in which one molecule combines with another to form a larger molecule with no other products.

additive n. a substance added to something in small quantities to improve or preserve it: many foods contain chemical additives.

■ adj. characterized by, relating to, or produced by addition: the combination of these factors has an additive effect.

- TECHNICAL relating to the reproduction of colours by the superimposition of primary colours.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as an adjective): from late Latin additivus, from Latin addit- ‘added’, from the verb addere (see ADD). The noun dates from the 1940s.

addle v. 1 [with obj.] chiefly HUMOROUS make (someone) unable to think clearly; confuse: being in love must have addled your brain.

2 [no obj.] (of an egg) become rotten, producing no chick.

■ adj. 1 [in combination] not clear or cogent; muddled: the film is addle-brained.

2 ARCHAIC (of an egg) rotten.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective): from Old English adela ‘liquid filth’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aal and German Adel ‘mire, puddle’.

addled adj. 1 unable to think clearly; confused: this might just be my addled brain playing tricks | [in combination] a drug-addled frat boy.

2 (of an egg) rotten.

Addled Parliament the Parliament of James I of England (James VI of Scotland), so known because it refused to accede to the king's requests and was dissolved without having passed any legislation.

add-on n. something that has been or can be added to an existing object or arrangement: [as modifier] cars with add-on extras.

- an accessory device designed to increase the capability of a computer or hi-fi system.

addorsed /ədst/ adj. [HERALDRY] placed back to back.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin ad ‘to’ + dorsum ‘back’ + -ED^2.

addra gazelle /adrə/ n. another term for DAMA GAZELLE.

<ORIGIN> addra probably a local African word.

address n. 1 the particulars of the place where someone lives or an organization is situated: they exchanged addresses and agreed to keep in touch.

- the place where someone lives or an organization is situated: our officers called at the address.

- [COMPUTING] a string of characters which identifies a destination for email messages.

- [COMPUTING] a binary number which identifies a particular location in a data storage system or computer memory.

2 a formal speech delivered to an audience: an address to the European Parliament.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC a person's manner of speaking to someone else: his address was abrupt and unceremonious.

- (addresses) ARCHAIC courteous or amorous approaches to someone: he persecuted her with his addresses.

3 [mass noun] DATED skill, dexterity, or readiness: he rescued me with the most consummate address.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 write the name and address of the intended recipient on (an envelope, letter, or parcel): I addressed my letter to him personally | (as adj. addressed) please enclose a stamped addressed envelope.

2 speak to (a person or an assembly): she addressed the open-air meeting.

- (address someone as) name someone (in the specified way) when talking to them: she addressed my father as ‘Mr Stevens’.

- (address something to) say or write remarks or a protest to: address your complaints to the Trading Standards Board.

3 think about and begin to deal with (an issue or problem): a fundamental problem has still to be addressed.

4 [GOLF] take up one's stance and prepare to hit (the ball).

<PHRASES>

□ form of address a name or title used in speaking or writing to a person of a specified rank or function.

<DERIVATIVES> addresser n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb in the senses ‘set upright’ and ‘guide, direct’, hence ‘write directions for delivery on’ and ‘direct spoken words to’): from Old French, based on Latin ad- ‘towards’ + directus (see DIRECT). The noun is of mid 16th-cent. origin in the sense ‘act of approaching or speaking to someone’.

addressable adj. [COMPUTING] relating to or denoting a memory unit in which all locations can be separately accessed by a particular program.

addressee /adrεsi/ n. the person to whom something is addressed.

adduce /ədjus/ v. [with obj.] cite as evidence: a number of factors are adduced to explain the situation.

<DERIVATIVES> adducible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin adducere, from ad- ‘towards’ + ducere ‘to lead’.

adduct^1 /ədkt/ v. [with obj.] (of a muscle) move (a limb or other part of the body) towards the midline of the body or towards another part. The opposite of ABDUCT.

<DERIVATIVES> adduction n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: back-formation from late Middle English adduction, from late Latin adductio(n-) ‘bringing forward’, from the verb adducere ‘bring in’ (see ADDUCE).

adduct^2 /adkt/ n. [CHEMISTRY] the product of an addition reaction between two compounds.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from German Addukt (blend of Addition and Produkt).

adductor /ədktə/ (also adductor muscle) n. [ANATOMY] a muscle whose contraction moves a limb or other part of the body towards the midline of the body or towards another part. Compare with ABDUCTOR.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: modern Latin, from Latin adduct- ‘brought in’, from the verb adducere (see ADDUCE).

addy n. (pl. addies) INFORMAL an email address.

-ade^1 suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting an action that is completed: barricade | blockade.

2 denoting the body concerned in an action or process: brigade | cavalcade.

3 denoting the product or result of an action or process: arcade | marmalade.

<ORIGIN> from French, via Portuguese, Provençal, and Spanish -ada or via Italian -ata, from Latin -atus (past participial suffix of verbs ending in -are).

-ade^2 suffix forming nouns such as decade.

<ORIGIN> variant of -ad^1, from French -ade, from Greek -as, -ad-.

-ade^3 suffix forming nouns: 1 equivalent in sense to nouns ending in -ade^1: brocade.

2 denoting a person: renegade.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish or Portuguese -ado, masculine form of -ada (see -ade^1).

Adelaide /adəled/ a city in Australia, the capital and chief port of the state of South Australia; pop. 1,110,500 (2001).

-adelic suffix forming adjectives denoting musical genres or styles that incorporate psychedelic music with another element: sampladelic.

<ORIGIN> from PSYCHEDELIC.

Adélie Land /adeli/ (also Adélie Coast) a section of the Antarctic continent south of the 60th parallel, between Wilkes Land and King George V Land.

Aden /ed(ə)n/ a port in Yemen at the mouth of the Red Sea; pop. 510,400 (est. 2002). Aden was formerly under British rule, first as part of British India (from 1839), then from 1935 as a Crown Colony. It was capital of the former South Yemen from 1967 until 1990.

Aden, Gulf of a part of the eastern Arabian Sea lying between the south coast of Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

Adenauer /adnaə/ German /adəna/ Konrad (1876–1967), German statesman, first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany 1949–63. As Chancellor, he presided over the political and economic transformation of his country.

adenine /adnin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound which is one of the four constituent bases of nucleic acids. A purine derivative, it is paired with thymine in double-stranded DNA.

<INFO> Alternative name: 6-aminopurine; chem. formula: C_5H_5N_5.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Greek adēn ‘gland’ + -INE^4.

adeno- combining form relating to a gland or glands: adenocarcinoma.

<ORIGIN> from Greek adēn ‘gland’.

adenocarcinoma /adnəkαsnəmə/ n. (pl. adenocarcinomas or adenocarcinomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a malignant tumour formed from glandular structures in epithelial tissue.

adenoids /adndz/ plural n. a mass of enlarged lymphatic tissue between the back of the nose and the throat, often hindering speaking and breathing in young children.

<DERIVATIVES> adenoidal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: adenoid from Greek adēn ‘gland’ + -OID.

adenoma /adnəmə/ n. (pl. adenomas or adenomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a benign tumour formed from glandular structures in epithelial tissue.

<DERIVATIVES> adenomatous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek adēn ‘gland’.

adenosine /ədεnə()sin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound consisting of adenine combined with ribose, present in all living tissue in combined form as nucleotides.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: blend of ADENINE and RIBOSE.

adenosine deaminase /diamnez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which catalyses the deamination of adenosine to inosine.

adenosine monophosphate (abbr.: AMP) n. another term for ADENYLIC ACID.

adenosine triphosphate (abbr.: ATP) n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound consisting of an adenosine molecule bonded to three phosphate groups, present in all living tissue. The breakage of one phosphate linkage (to form adenosine diphosphate, ADP) provides energy for physiological processes such as muscular contraction.

adenovirus /adnəvrəs/ n. MEDICINE any of a group of DNA viruses first discovered in adenoid tissue, most of which cause respiratory diseases.

<DERIVATIVES> adenoviral adj.

adenylate /ədεnlet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of adenylic acid.

adenylate cyclase /ədεnlet sklez sk-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme that catalyses the formation of cyclic adenylic acid from adenosine triphosphate.

adenylic acid /adnlk/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound consisting of an adenosine molecule bonded to one acidic phosphate group, present in most DNA and RNA. It typically exists in a cyclic form with the phosphate bonded to the nucleoside at two points.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: adenylic from ADENINE + -YL + -IC.

adept adj. /ədεpt adεpt/ very skilled or proficient at something: she is adept at cutting through red tape | an adept negotiator.

■ n. /adεpt/ a person who is skilled or proficient at something: he is an adept at imitation.

<DERIVATIVES> adeptly adv. adeptness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin adeptus ‘achieved’, past participle of adipisci ‘obtain, attain’.

adequacy n. [mass noun] the state or quality of being adequate: the adequacy of testing procedures.

adequate adj. satisfactory or acceptable in quality or quantity: this office is perfectly adequate for my needs | adequate resources and funding.

<DERIVATIVES> adequately adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin adaequatus ‘made equal to’, past participle of the verb adaequare, from ad- ‘to’ + aequus ‘equal’.

à deux /α də/ French /a dø/ adv. for or involving two people: dinner à deux.

<ORIGIN> French.

ADF abbr. automatic direction finder, a device used by pilots to aid navigation.

ad fin. /ad fn/ adv. at or near the end of a piece of writing.

<ORIGIN> from Latin ad finem ‘at the end’.

ADH abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] antidiuretic hormone.

adhan /ədhαn/ n. variant spelling of AZAN.

ADHD abbr. attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

adhere /ədhə/ v. [no obj.] (adhere to) 1 stick fast to (a surface or substance): paint won't adhere well to a greasy surface.

2 believe in and follow the practices of: I do not adhere to any organized religion.

- closely follow, observe, or represent: the account adhered firmly to fact.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin adhaerere, from ad- ‘to’ + haerere ‘to stick’.

adherent n. someone who supports a particular party, person, or set of ideas: he was a strong adherent of monetarism.

■ adj. sticking fast to an object or surface.

<DERIVATIVES> adherence n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French adherent, from Latin adhaerent- ‘sticking to’, from the verb adhaerere (see ADHERE).

adhesion /ədhi(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of adhering to a surface or object: the adhesion of the gum strip to the paper.

- the frictional grip of wheels, shoes, etc. on a surface: the sole unit provides good adhesion for walking on all surfaces.

- [PHYSICS] the sticking together of particles of different substances.

2 MEDICINE an abnormal adhering of surfaces due to inflammation or injury.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French adhésion, from Latin adhaesio(n-), from the verb adhaerere (see ADHERE).

adhesive /ədhisv -zv/ adj. able to stick fast to a surface or object; sticky: an adhesive label.

■ n. a substance used for sticking objects or materials together; glue.

<DERIVATIVES> adhesively adv. adhesiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘tending to adhere or cling to’): from French adhésif, -ive, from the verb adhérer, from Latin adhaerere ‘stick to’ (see ADHERE).

adhibit /ədhbt/ v. (adhibits, adhibiting, adhibited) [with obj.] FORMAL apply or affix (something) to something else.

<DERIVATIVES> adhibition n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘take in, include’): from Latin adhibit- ‘brought in’, from the verb adhibere, from ad- ‘to’ + habere ‘hold, have’.

ad hoc /ad hk/ adj. & adv. created or done for a particular purpose as necessary: [as adj.] the discussions were on an ad hoc basis | [as adv.] the group was constituted ad hoc.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘to this’.

adhocracy /adhkrəsi/ n. [mass noun] a system of flexible and informal organization and management in place of rigid bureaucracy.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of AD HOC and -CRACY.

ad hominem /ad hmnεm/ adv. & adj. 1 relating to or associated with a particular person: [as adv.] the office was created ad hominem for Fenton.

2 (of an argument or reaction) directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining: [as adj.] an ad hominem response.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘to the person’.

adiabatic /edəbatk adə-/ [PHYSICS] adj. relating to or denoting a process or condition in which heat does not enter or leave the system concerned.

- impassable to heat.

■ n. a curve or formula representing adiabatic phenomena.

<DERIVATIVES> adiabatically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek adiabatos ‘impassable’, from a- ‘not’ + dia ‘through’ + batos ‘passable’ (from bainein ‘go’), + -IC.

adiabatic lapse rate n. [METEOROLOGY] the rate at which atmospheric temperature decreases with increasing altitude in conditions of thermal equilibrium.

adieu /ədju/ chiefly LITERARY exclam. goodbye.

■ n. (pl. adieus or adieux /ədjuz/) a goodbye: he whispered a fond adieu.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from a ‘to’ + Dieu ‘God’; compare with ADIOS.

Adi Granth /αd rnt/ another term for GURU GRANTH SAHIB.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit ādigrantha, literally ‘first book’, based on grantha ‘literary composition’, from granth ‘to tie’.

ad infinitum /ad nfntəm/ adv. again and again in the same way; forever: registration is for seven years and may be renewed ad infinitum.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘to infinity’.

ad interim /ad ntərm/ adv. for an intervening or temporary period of time.

■ adj. temporary.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from ad ‘to’ and interim ‘meanwhile’, used as a noun.

adios /ads/ exclam. & n. Spanish term for GOODBYE.

<ORIGIN> Spanish adiós, from a ‘to’ + Dios ‘God’; compare with ADIEU.

adipate /adpet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of adipic acid.

adipic acid /ədpk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline fatty acid obtained from natural fats and used especially in the manufacture of nylon.

<INFO> Alternative name: hexanedioic acid; chem. formula: HOOC(CH_2)4COOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin adeps, adip- ‘fat’ (because the acid was first prepared by oxidizing fats) + -IC.

adipocere /adpə()sə/ n. [mass noun] a greyish waxy substance formed by the decomposition of soft tissue in dead bodies subjected to moisture.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French adipocire, from Latin adeps, adip- ‘fat’ + French cire ‘wax’ (from Latin cera).

adipocyte /adpə()st/ n. [BIOLOGY] a cell specialized for the storage of fat, found in connective tissue.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from ADIPOSE + -CYTE.

adipose /adpəs -z/ adj. TECHNICAL (especially of body tissue) used for the storage of fat.

<DERIVATIVES> adiposity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin adiposus, from adeps, adip- ‘fat’.

adipose fin n. [ZOOLOGY] a small, rayless, fleshy dorsal fin present in certain fishes, notably in the salmon family.

Adirondack Mountains /adrndak/ (also the Adirondacks) a range of mountains in New York State, source of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers.

adit /adt/ n. a horizontal passage leading into a mine for the purposes of access or drainage.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin aditus ‘approach, entrance’, from adit- ‘approached’, from the verb adire, from ad- ‘towards’ + ire ‘go’.

Adivasi /αdvαsi/ n. (pl. Adivasis) a member of any of the aboriginal tribal peoples living in India before the arrival of the Aryans in the second millennium BC.

- a descendant of any of the Adivasi peoples.

<ORIGIN> from modern Sanskrit ādivāsī, from Sanskrit ādi ‘earliest’ + vāsi ‘inhabitant’.

Adj. abbr. adjutant.

adjacent /ədes(ə)nt/ adj. 1 next to or adjoining something else: adjacent rooms | the area adjacent to the station.

2 [GEOMETRY] (of a pair of angles) formed on the same side of a straight line when intersected by another line.

<DERIVATIVES> adjacency n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin adjacent- ‘lying near to’, from adjacere, from ad- ‘to’ + jacere ‘lie down’.

adjective n. [GRAMMAR] a word naming an attribute of a noun, such as sweet, red, or TECHNICAL.

<DERIVATIVES> adjectival adj. adjectivally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French adjectif, -ive, from Latin adject- ‘added’, from the verb adicere, from ad- ‘towards’ + jacere ‘throw’. The term was originally used in the phrase noun adjective, translating Latin nomen adjectivum, a translation of Greek onoma epitheton ‘attributive name’.

adjigo /adə/ (also adjiko /adkə/) n. (pl. adjigos) a yam with edible tubers, native to parts of SW Australia.

<INFO> Dioscorea hastifolia, family Dioscoreaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably from Nhanta (an Aboriginal language) ajuga ‘vegetable food’.

adjoin v. [with obj.] be next to and joined with (a building, room, or piece of land): the dining room adjoins a conservatory.

- ARCHAIC or TECHNICAL add or join something to.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ajoindre, from Latin adjungere, from ad- ‘to’ + jungere ‘to join’.

adjoining adj. (of a building, room, or piece of land) next to or joined with: I was in an adjoining room and could hear voices | they ended up buying the adjoining land.

adjoint [MATHEMATICS] adj. relating to or denoting a function or quantity related to a given function or quantity by a particular process of transposition.

- denoting a matrix that is the transpose of the complex conjugates or the cofactors of a given square matrix.

■ n. an adjoint matrix, function, or quantity.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, literally ‘joined to’, from adjoindre (see ADJOIN).

adjourn /ədən/ v. [with obj.] (usually be adjourned) break off (a meeting, legal case, or game) with the intention of resuming it later: the meeting was adjourned until December 4 | [no obj.] let's adjourn and reconvene at 2 o'clock.

- [no obj., with adverbial] (of a group of people) go somewhere for rest or refreshment: they adjourned to a local pub.

- put off or postpone (a resolution or sentence): sentence was adjourned for a social inquiry report.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘summon someone to appear on a particular day’): from Old French ajorner, from the phrase a jorn (nome) ‘to an (appointed) day’.

adjournment n. an act or period of adjourning or being adjourned: she sought an adjournment of the trial | I suggest we have a short adjournment.

adjournment debate n. (in the UK) a debate in the House of Commons on the motion that the House be adjourned, used as an opportunity for raising various matters.

Adjt abbr. adjutant.

adjudge v. [with obj. and complement] consider or declare to be true or the case: she was adjudged guilty.

- (adjudge something to) (in legal use) award something judicially to: the court adjudged legal damages to her.

- [with obj. and infinitive] (in legal use) condemn (someone) to pay a penalty: the defaulter was adjudged to pay the whole amount.

<DERIVATIVES> adjudgement (also adjudgment) n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ajuger, from Latin adjudicare, from ad- ‘to’ + judicare, from judex, judic- ‘a judge’.

adjudicate /ədudket/ v. [no obj.] make a formal judgement on a disputed matter: the Committee adjudicates on all betting disputes | [with obj.] the case was adjudicated in the High Court.

- act as a judge in a competition: we asked him to adjudicate at the local flower show.

- [with obj. and complement] pronounce or declare judicially: he was adjudicated bankrupt.

<DERIVATIVES> adjudicative adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘award judicially’): from Latin adjudicat- ‘awarded judicially’, from the verb adjudicare (see ADJUDGE). The noun adjudication (as a Scots legal term) dates from the early 17th century.

adjudication n. [mass noun] the action or process of adjudicating: the matter may have to go to court for adjudication.

- [count noun] a formal judgement on a disputed matter: an adjudication had found a degree of unwarranted infringement of privacy.

adjudicator n. a person who adjudicates: the proposal to close the school will have to go before an adjudicator.

adjunct /ad(k)t/ n. 1 a thing added to something else as a supplementary rather than an essential part: computer technology is an adjunct to learning.

- a person who is another's assistant or subordinate.

2 [GRAMMAR] a word or phrase that constitutes an optional element or is considered of secondary importance in a sentence, for example on the table in we left some flowers on the table.

- (in systemic grammar) an obligatory or optional adverbial functioning as a constituent of clause structure.

■ adj. [attr.] connected or added to something: other adjunct therapies include immunotherapy.

- NORTH AMERICAN (of an academic post) attached to the staff of a university in a temporary or assistant capacity: an adjunct professor of entomology.

<DERIVATIVES> adjunctive adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as an adjective meaning ‘joined on, subordinate’): from Latin adjunctus, past participle of adjungere (see ADJOIN).

adjunction n. [mass noun] 1 [MATHEMATICS] the joining of two sets which without overlapping jointly constitute a larger set, or the relation between two such sets.

2 [LOGIC] the asserting in a single formula of two previously asserted formulae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin adjunctio(n)-, from the verb adjungere (see ADJOIN).

adjure /ədə əd/ v. [with obj. and infinitive] FORMAL urge or request (someone) solemnly or earnestly to do something: I adjure you to tell me the truth.

<DERIVATIVES> adjuration n. adjuratory /-rət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘put a person on oath’): from Latin adjurare, from ad- ‘to’ + jurare ‘swear’ (from jus, jur- ‘oath’).

adjust v. 1 [with obj.] alter or move (something) slightly in order to achieve the desired fit, appearance, or result: he smoothed his hair and adjusted his tie | a single control adjusts the water flow.

- [no obj.] permit small alterations or movements so as to achieve a desired fit, appearance, or result: a harness that adjusts to the correct fit.

- [no obj.] adapt or become used to a new situation: she must be allowed to grieve and to adjust in her own way | his eyes had adjusted to semi-darkness.

2 [with obj.] assess (loss or damages) when settling an insurance claim.

<DERIVATIVES> adjuster n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the senses ‘harmonize discrepancies’ and ‘assess loss or damages’): from obsolete French adjuster, from Old French ajoster ‘to approximate’, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ + juxta ‘near’.

adjustable adj. able to be adjusted: the car has fully adjustable seats and steering wheel. | an adjustable spanner.

<DERIVATIVES> adjustability n.

adjustment n. a small alteration or movement made to achieve a desired fit, appearance, or result: I've made a few adjustments to my diet | only slight adjustments to the boat are necessary.

- [mass noun] the process of adapting or becoming used to a new situation: for many couples there may need to be a period of adjustment.

adjutant /adt(ə)nt/ n. 1 a military officer who acts as an administrative assistant to a senior officer.

2 (also adjutant stork or adjutant bird) a large black-and-white stork with a massive bill and a bare head and neck, found in India and SE Asia.

<INFO> Genus Leptoptilos, family Ciconiidae: two species.

<DERIVATIVES> adjutancy n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘assistant, helper’): from Latin adjutant- ‘being of service to’, from adjutare, frequentative of adjuvare ‘assist’ (see ADJUVANT).

Adjutant General n. (pl. Adjutants General) (in the British army) a high-ranking administrative officer.

- (in the US army) the chief administrative officer.

adjuvant /adv(ə)nt/ MEDICINE adj. (of therapy) applied after initial treatment for cancer, especially to suppress secondary tumour formation.

■ n. a substance which enhances the body's immune response to an antigen.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin adjuvant- ‘helping towards’, from the verb adjuvare, from ad- ‘towards’ + juvare to ‘help’.

adland n. [mass noun] INFORMAL the business world of advertising and advertisers.

Adler /adlə/ German /adl/ Alfred (1870–1937), Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist. Adler disagreed with Freud's idea that mental illness was caused by sexual conflicts in infancy, arguing that society and culture were significant factors. He introduced the concept of the inferiority complex.

<DERIVATIVES> Adlerian /adlərən/ adj. & n.

ad-lib v. (ad-libs, ad-libbing, ad-libbed) [no obj.] speak or perform without previously preparing one's words: Charles had to ad-lib because he'd forgotten his script.

■ adv. & adj. (also ad lib) 1 spoken or performed without previous preparation: [as adj.] an ad-lib commentary | [as adv.] I spoke ad lib.

- [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) with free rhythm and expression.

2 as much and as often as desired: [as adv.] the price includes meals and drinks ad lib.

■ n. an ad-lib remark or speech.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (as an adverb): abbreviation of AD LIBITUM.

ad libitum /ad lbtəm/ adv. & adj. more formal term for AD-LIB.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘according to pleasure’.

ad litem /ad ltεm/ adj. [LAW] appointed to act in a lawsuit on behalf of a child or other person who is not considered capable of representing themselves.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘for the lawsuit’.

Adm. abbr. Admiral.

adman n. (pl. admen) INFORMAL a person who works in advertising.

admeasurement n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the action of ascertaining and apportioning just shares in something.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old French amesurement, from the verb amesurer, from medieval Latin admensurare, based on Latin metiri ‘to measure’.

admin n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH the administration of a business, organization, etc.: day-to-day admin | [as modifier] admin staff.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: abbreviation.

adminicle /ədmnk(ə)l/ n. [LAW] a document giving evidence as to the existence or contents of another, missing document.

<DERIVATIVES> adminicular /admnkjlə/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin adminiculum ‘prop, support’.

administer v. [with obj.] 1 manage and be responsible for the running of (a business, organization, etc.): each school was administered separately.

- be responsible for the implementation or use of (law or resources): a Health and Safety agency would administer new regulations.

2 dispense or apply (a remedy or drug): paramedic crews are capable of administering drugs.

- deal out or inflict (punishment): retribution was administered to those found guilty.

3 (of a priest) perform the rites of (a sacrament).

4 ARCHAIC or [LAW] direct the taking of (an oath).

<DERIVATIVES> administrable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin administrare, from ad- ‘to’ + ministrare (see MINISTRATION).

administrate v. less common term for administer (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin administrat- ‘managed’, from the verb administrare (see ADMINISTER).

administration n. 1 [mass noun] the process or activity of running a business, organization, etc.: the day-to-day administration of the company | a career in arts administration.

- (the administration) the people responsible for running a business, organization, etc.: the university administration took their demands seriously.

- [LAW] the management and disposition of the property of a deceased person, debtor, or insolvent company, by a legally appointed administrator: the company went into administration.

2 [mass noun] the management of public affairs; government: the inhabitants of the island voted to remain under French administration.

- [count noun] the government in power: successive Conservative administrations enjoyed a comfortable majority.

- [count noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the term of office of a political leader or government: the early years of the Reagan Administration.

- [count noun] (in the US) a department or agency of the government: the US Food and Drug Administration.

3 [mass noun] the action of dispensing, giving, or applying something: the oral administration of the antibiotic | the administration of justice.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin administratio(n-), from the verb administrare (see ADMINISTER).

administrative adj. relating to the running of a business, organization, etc.: administrative problems | administrative staff.

<DERIVATIVES> administratively adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin administrativus, from administrat- ‘managed’, from the verb administrare (see ADMINISTRATE).

administrator n. 1 a person responsible for carrying out the administration of a business or organization.

- [LAW] a person legally appointed to manage and dispose of the estate of a deceased person, debtor, or insolvent company.

2 a person who dispenses or administers something: administrators of justice.

administratrix /ədmnstretrks/ n. (pl. administratrixes, administratrices /-trsiz/) [LAW] a female administrator of an estate.

admirable adj. arousing or deserving respect and approval: he has one admirable quality—he is totally honest.

<DERIVATIVES> admirably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin admirabilis ‘to be wondered at’, from admirari (see ADMIRE).

admiral n. 1 the most senior commander of a fleet or navy.

- (Admiral) a naval officer of the second most senior rank, above vice admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet or Fleet Admiral.

■ short for VICE ADMIRAL or REAR ADMIRAL.

2 [with modifier] a butterfly which has dark wings with bold red or white markings. See RED ADMIRAL, WHITE ADMIRAL.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting an emir or Saracen commander): from Old French amiral, admirail, via medieval Latin from Arabic 'amīr ‘commander’ (from 'amara ‘to command’). The ending -al was from Arabic -al- ‘of the’, used in titles (e.g. 'amīr-al-'umarā ‘ruler of rulers’), later assimilated to the familiar Latinate suffix -AL.

Admiral of the Fleet n. the highest rank of admiral in the Royal Navy.

Admiral's Cup a yacht-racing competition held every two years since 1957 between international teams of three yachts.

Admiralty n. (pl. Admiralties) 1 (in the UK) the government department that administered the Royal Navy, now incorporated in the Ministry of Defence and current only in titles.

2 (admiralty) [mass noun] [LAW] the jurisdiction of courts of law over cases concerning ships or the sea and other navigable waters.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French admiralte, from admirail ‘emir, leader’ (see ADMIRAL).

Admiralty Islands a group of about forty islands in the western Pacific, part of Papua New Guinea.

admiration n. [mass noun] respect and warm approval: I have the greatest admiration for all those involved in the project.

- (the admiration of) something regarded as impressive or worthy of respect: her house was the admiration of everyone.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘marvelling, wonder’): from Latin admiratio(n-), from the verb admirari (see ADMIRE).

admire v. [with obj.] regard with respect or warm approval: I admire your courage | (as adj. admiring) she couldn't help but notice his admiring glance.

- look at (something impressive or attractive) with pleasure: we were just admiring your garden.

<DERIVATIVES> admiringly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin admirari, from ad- ‘at’ + mirari ‘wonder’.

admirer n. someone who has a particular regard for someone or something: he was a great admirer of Henry James.

- a man who is attracted to a particular woman: she's got a secret admirer.

admissible adj. 1 acceptable or valid, especially as evidence in a court of law: the tape recording was admissible as evidence.

2 having the right to be admitted to a place: foreigners were admissible only as temporary workers.

<DERIVATIVES> admissibility n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin admissibilis, from Latin admittere (see ADMIT).

admission n. 1 a statement acknowledging the truth of something: an admission of guilt | a tacit admission that things had gone wrong.

2 [mass noun] the process or fact of entering or being allowed to enter a place or organization: the evening before her admission to hospital | the country's admission to the UN.

- the fee charged for entry to a public place: admission is £1 for adults and 50p for children.

- (admissions) the number of people entering a place: cinema admissions have been rising recently.

- [count noun] a person admitted to hospital for treatment: there was a substantial reduction in hospital admissions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin admissio(n-), from the verb admittere (see ADMIT).

admit v. (admits, admitting, admitted) 1 [reporting v.] confess to be true or to be the case: [with clause] the Home Office finally admitted that several prisoners had been injured | [with direct speech] ‘I am feeling pretty tired,’ Jane admitted.

- [with obj.] confess to (a crime or fault, or one's responsibility for it): he was sentenced to prison after admitting 47 charges of burglary | [no obj.] the paramilitaries admitted to the illegal possession of arms.

- [with obj.] acknowledge (a failure or fault): after searching for an hour, she finally had to admit defeat.

2 [with obj.] (usually admit to) allow (someone) to enter a place: old-age pensioners are admitted free to the museum.

- receive (a patient) into a hospital for treatment: she was admitted to hospital suffering from a chest infection.

- allow (a person, country, etc.) to join an organization: Canada was admitted to the League of Nations.

- allow (someone) to share in a privilege: he was admitted to the freedom of the city in 1583.

3 [with obj.] accept as valid: the courts can refuse to admit police evidence which has been illegally obtained.

4 [no obj.] (admit of) allow the possibility of: the need to inform him was too urgent to admit of further delay.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin admittere, from ad- ‘to’ + mittere ‘send’.

admittance n. [mass noun] 1 the process or fact of entering or being allowed to enter a place or institution: people were unable to gain admittance to the hall.

2 [PHYSICS] a measure of electrical conduction, numerically equal to the reciprocal of the impedance.

admittedly adv. [sentence adv.] used to express a concession or recognition that something is the case: admittedly, the salary was not wonderful.

admix v. [with obj.] TECHNICAL mix (something) with something else.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: back-formation from the obsolete adjective ‘admixt’, from Latin admixtus ‘mixed together’, past participle of admiscere, from ad- ‘to’ + miscere ‘to mix’.

admixture n. a mixture.

- something mixed with something else: green with an admixture of black.

- [mass noun] the action of adding an ingredient to something else.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘act of admixing’): from AD- (expressing addition) + MIXTURE.

admonish v. [with obj.] reprimand firmly: she admonished me for appearing at breakfast unshaven.

- [with obj. and infinitive] advise or urge (someone) earnestly: she admonished him to drink no more than one glass of wine.

- ARCHAIC warn (someone) of something to be avoided: he admonished the people against the evil of such practices.

<DERIVATIVES> admonishment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English amonest ‘urge, exhort’, from Old French amonester, based on Latin admonere ‘urge by warning’. Later, the final -t of amonest was taken to indicate the past tense, and the present tense changed on the pattern of verbs such as abolish; the prefix became ad- in the 16th century by association with the Latin form.

admonition n. a firm warning or reprimand: he received numerous admonitions for his behaviour.

admonitory /ədmnt(ə)ri/ adj. giving or conveying a warning or reprimand: the sergeant lifted an admonitory finger.

<DERIVATIVES> admonitor n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin admonitorius, from admonit- ‘urged’, from Latin admonere (see ADMONISH).

ADN abbr. Yemen (international vehicle registration).

<ORIGIN> from ADEN.

adnate /adnet/ adj. [BOTANY] joined by having grown together.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin adnatus, variant of agnatus (see AGNATE), by association with AD-.

ad nauseam /ad nzam -sam/ adv. used to refer to the fact that something has been done or repeated so often that it has become annoying or tiresome: the phrase he repeated ad nauseam.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘to sickness’.

adnexa /adnεksə/ plural n. [ANATOMY] the parts adjoining an organ.

<DERIVATIVES> adnexal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Latin, neuter plural of adnexus ‘joined’, from adnectere ‘fasten to’.

adnominal /ədnmn(ə)l/ adj. [GRAMMAR] attached to or modifying a noun.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin adnomen ‘added name’ + -AL.

Adnyamathanha /adnjəmdənə/ n. [mass noun] an Aboriginal language of South Australia.

ado n. [mass noun] a state of agitation or fuss: this is much ado about almost nothing.

- DATED trouble or difficulty: I hastened there without delay or ado.

<PHRASES>

□ what's ado ARCHAIC what's the matter?

□ without further (or more) ado without any fuss or delay; immediately.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘action, business’): from northern Middle English at do ‘to do’, from Old Norse at (used to mark an infinitive) and do^1.

-ado /edə α-/ suffix forming nouns such as bravado, desperado. Compare with -ade^3.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish and Portuguese -ado, or refashioning of Italian -ata, Spanish -ada, based on Latin -atus (past participial suffix of verbs ending in -are).

adobe /ədəbi ədəb/ n. [mass noun] a kind of clay used as a building material.

- [count noun] a brick formed from adobe.

- [count noun] US a building constructed from adobe clay or bricks.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Spanish, from adobar ‘to plaster’, from Arabic a-ūb, from al ‘the’ + ūb ‘bricks’.

adobo /ədəbə/ n. (pl. adobos) [mass noun] 1 a Filipino dish of chicken or pork stewed in vinegar, garlic, soy sauce, bay leaves, and peppercorns.

- the marinade in which this is cooked.

2 (also adobo sauce) a paste or marinade made from chillies, vinegar, herbs, and spices, used in Mexican cookery to flavour meat or fish.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘marinade’.

adolescence n. [mass noun] the period following the onset of puberty during which a young person develops from a child into an adult.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, from Latin adolescentia, from adolescere ‘grow to maturity’ (see ADOLESCENT).

adolescent adj. (of a young person) in the process of developing from a child into an adult.

- relating to or characteristic of adolescence: his adolescent years | adolescent problems.

■ n. an adolescent boy or girl.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): via French from Latin adolescent- ‘coming to maturity’, from adolescere, from ad- ‘to’ + alescere ‘grow, grow up’, from alere ‘nourish’. The adjective dates from the late 18th cent.

Adonai /adn -ne/ n. a Hebrew name for God.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew 'ăōnāy; see also JEHOVAH.

Adonis /ədəns/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a beautiful youth loved by both Aphrodite and Persephone. He was killed by a boar, but Zeus decreed that he should spend the winter of each year in the underworld with Persephone and the summer months with Aphrodite.

- (as n. an Adonis) an extremely handsome young man.

Adonis blue n. a small Eurasian butterfly, the male of which has vivid sky-blue wings.

<INFO> Lysandra bellargus, family Lycaenidae.

adopt v. [with obj.] 1 legally take (another's child) and bring it up as one's own: there are many people eager to adopt a baby.

2 choose to take up or follow (an idea, method, or course of action): this approach has been adopted by many big banks.

- choose and move to (a country or city) as one's permanent place of residence.

3 take on or assume (an attitude or position): he adopted a patronizing tone.

- BRITISH choose (someone) as a candidate for office: she was recently adopted as Labour candidate for the constituency.

- formally approve or accept (a report or suggestion): the committee voted 5–1 to adopt the proposal.

4 BRITISH (of a local authority) accept responsibility for the maintenance of (a road).

<DERIVATIVES> adoptable adj. adoptee n. adopter n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: via French from Latin adoptare, from ad- ‘to’ + optare ‘choose’.

adoption n. [mass noun] the action or fact of adopting or being adopted: she gave up her children for adoption | the widespread adoption of agricultural technology.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin adoptio(n-), from ad- ‘to’ + optio(n-) ‘choosing’ (see OPTION).

adoptive adj. (of a child or parent) in that relationship by adoption: adoptive parents.

- denoting a country or city which a person has chosen as their permanent place of residence.

<DERIVATIVES> adoptively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin adoptivus, from adoptare ‘select for oneself’ (see ADOPT).

adorable adj. inspiring great affection or delight: I have four adorable Siamese cats.

<DERIVATIVES> adorability n. adorableness n. adorably adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘worthy of divine worship’): from French, from Latin adorabilis, from the verb adorare (see ADORE).

adoral /adr(ə)l/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] relating to or denoting the side or end where the mouth is situated.

<DERIVATIVES> adorally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AD- ‘at’ + ORAL.

adoration n. [mass noun] 1 deep love and respect: he gave her a look of adoration . it was enough to earn him the adoration of the fans.

2 worship; veneration: the Adoration of the Magi.

adore v. [with obj.] 1 love and respect (someone) deeply: he adored his mother.

- INFORMAL like very much: she adores Mexican cuisine | (as adj. adoring) a gift from an adoring fan.

2 worship; venerate.

<DERIVATIVES> adorer n. adoringly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin adorare ‘to worship’, from ad- ‘to’ + orare ‘speak, pray’.

adorn v. [with obj.] make more beautiful or attractive: pictures and prints adorned his walls.

<DERIVATIVES> adorner n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin adornare, from ad- ‘to’ + ornare ‘deck, add lustre’.

adornment n. a thing which adorns or decorates; an ornament: the necktie is no longer a necessary male adornment.

- [mass noun] the action of adorning something: precious stones have been used for the purposes of adornment for over 7,000 years.

Adorno /ədnə/ German /adrnə/ Theodor Wiesengrund (1903–69), German philosopher, sociologist, and musicologist; born Theodor Wiesengrund. A member of the Frankfurt School, Adorno argued that philosophical authoritarianism is inevitably oppressive and that all theories should be rejected.

ADP abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] adenosine diphosphate.

ad personam /ad pəsənam/ adv. FORMAL on an individual basis.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

adpressed adj. [BOTANY] lying closely against the adjacent part, or against the ground.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin adpress- ‘pressed near’, from adprimere, from ad ‘to, at’ + premere ‘to press’, + -ED^2.

ADR abbr.

- alternative dispute resolution.

- (in the US) American depositary receipt.

Adrar des Iforas /adrα dez frα/ a massif region in the central Sahara, on the border between Mali and Algeria.

ad rem /ad rεm/ adv. & adj. FORMAL relevant to what is being done or discussed at the time.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Latin, literally ‘to the matter’.

adrenal /ədrin(ə)l/ adj. relating to or denoting a pair of ductless glands situated above the kidneys. Each consists of a core region (adrenal medulla) secreting adrenalin and noradrenaline, and an outer region (adrenal cortex) secreting corticosteroids.

■ n. (usually adrenals) an adrenal gland.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AD- + RENAL.

adrenalin /ədrεn(ə)ln/ (also adrenaline, US Adrenalin (TRADEMARK)) n. [mass noun] a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands that increases rates of blood circulation, breathing, and carbohydrate metabolism and prepares muscles for exertion. Also called EPINEPHRINE.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ADRENAL + -IN^1.

adrenalized /ədrεnəlzd/ (also adrenalised) adj. affected with adrenalin.

- INFORMAL excited, charged, or tense: they possess an adrenalized vigour that distinguishes them from other bands.

adrenergic /adrnədk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to or denoting nerve cells in which adrenalin, noradrenaline, or a similar substance acts as a neurotransmitter. Contrasted with CHOLINERGIC.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from ADRENALIN + Greek ergon ‘work’ + -IC.

adrenocorticotrophic hormone /ədrinə()ktkə()trəfk -trfk/ (also adrenocorticotropic hormone /-trəpk -trpk/) (abbr.: ACTH) n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hormone secreted by the pituitary gland and stimulating the adrenal CORTEX.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from adreno- and cortico- (combining forms of ADRENAL and cortex) + -TROPHIC or -TROPIC.

adrenocorticotrophin /ədrinə()ktkə()trəfn -trfn/ (also adrenocorticotropin /-pn/) n. another term for ADRENOCORTICOTROPHIC HORMONE.

adret /adre/ n. a mountain slope which faces the sun. Compare with UBAC.

<ORIGIN> from French, from dialect variants of à ‘to’ and droit ‘straight’.

Adrian IV (c.1100–59), pope 1154–9; born Nicholas Breakspear. He is the only Englishman to have held this office.

Adriatic /edratk/ adj. relating to the region comprising the Adriatic Sea and its coasts and islands.

■ n. (the Adriatic) the Adriatic Sea or its coasts and islands.

Adriatic, Marriage of the see MARRIAGE OF THE ADRIATIC.

Adriatic Sea an arm of the Mediterranean Sea between the Balkans and the Italian peninsula.

adrift adj. & adv. 1 (of a boat or its passengers) floating without being either moored or steered: [as adv.] a cargo ship went adrift | FIGURATIVE they were cast adrift in a sea of events | [as predic. adjective] the seamen are adrift in lifeboats.

- [as adv.] INFORMAL no longer fixed in position: one of my fillings has come adrift.

2 [as predic. adjective] BRITISH INFORMAL failing to reach a target or winning position: the team are three points adrift of the leaders.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from A-2 ‘on, in’ + DRIFT.

adroit /ədrt/ adj. clever or skilful: he was adroit at tax avoidance.

<DERIVATIVES> adroitly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from à droit ‘according to right, properly’.

adroitness n. [mass noun] cleverness or skill: he lacks political adroitness.

adscititious /adstəs/ adj. ARCHAIC forming an addition or supplement; not integral.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin adscit- ‘admitted, adopted’, from adsciscere, + -ITIOUS^1, on the pattern of adventitious.

ADSL abbr. asymmetric digital subscriber line, a technology for transmitting digital information over standard telephone lines which allows high-speed transmission of signals from the telephone network to an individual subscriber, but a slower rate of transmission from the subscriber to the network.

adsorb /ədzb -sb/ v. [with obj.] (of a solid) hold (molecules of a gas or liquid or solute) as a thin film on the outside surface or on internal surfaces within the material: the dye is adsorbed on to the fibre.

<DERIVATIVES> adsorbable adj. adsorption n. adsorptive adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of AD- (expressing adherence) + ABSORB.

adsorbate n. a substance adsorbed.

adsorbent n. a substance which adsorbs another.

■ adj. able to adsorb substances.

adstratum /adstrαtəm adstrαtəm/ n. (pl. adstrata) [LINGUISTICS] a language or group of elements within it that is responsible for changes in a neighbouring language.

<DERIVATIVES> adstrate adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: modern Latin, from Latin ad ‘to’ + stratum ‘something laid down’.

ADT abbr. Atlantic Daylight Time (see ATLANTIC TIME).

adulate /adjlet/ v. [with obj.] praise (someone) excessively.

<DERIVATIVES> adulator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin adulat- ‘fawned on’, from the verb adulari.

adulation /adjle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] excessive admiration or praise: he found it difficult to cope with the adulation of the fans.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin adulatio(n)-, from adulari ‘fawn on’.

adulatory /adlet(ə)ri/ adj. excessively praising or admiring: an adulatory review | the tone here is adulatory and uncritical.

Adullamite /ədləmt/ n. a member of a dissident political group (originally applied to a group of British MPs who seceded from the Liberal party in 1866).

<ORIGIN> adopted in allusion to the cave of Adullam, where those discontented with the rule of Saul came to join David (1 Sam. 22:1-2).

adult /adlt ədlt/ n. a person who is fully grown or developed.

- a fully developed animal.

- [LAW] a person who has reached the age of majority.

■ adj. fully grown or developed: an adult woman.

- of or for adult people: adult education.

- emotionally and mentally mature: an effort to be adult and civilized.

- suitable only for adults (used euphemistically to refer to a sexually explicit film, book, or magazine).

<DERIVATIVES> adulthood n. adultly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin adultus, past participle of adolescere ‘grow to maturity’ (see ADOLESCENT).

adulterant n. a substance used to adulterate another.

■ adj. used in adulterating something.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin adulterant- ‘corrupting’, from the verb adulterare (see ADULTERATE).

adulterate v. /ədltəret/ [with obj.] render (something) poorer in quality by adding another substance: the brewer is said to adulterate his beer.

■ adj. /ədlt(ə)rət/ ARCHAIC not pure or genuine: adulterate remedies.

<DERIVATIVES> adulteration n. adulterator n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as an adjective): from Latin adulterat- ‘corrupted’, from the verb adulterare.

adulterer n. a person who commits adultery.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from the obsolete verb adulter ‘commit adultery’, from Latin adulterare ‘debauch, corrupt’, replacing an earlier Middle English noun avouterer, from Old French avoutrer ‘commit adultery’.

adulteress n. a female adulterer.

adulterine /ədlt(ə)rn/ adj. 1 (of a child) born as the result of an adulterous relationship.

2 ARCHAIC illegal, unlicensed, or spurious: an adulterine castle.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in the sense ‘due to adulteration’): from Latin adulterinus, from adulterare ‘debauch, corrupt’.

adulterous adj. of or involving adultery: an adulterous affair.

<DERIVATIVES> adulterously adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from the obsolete noun adulter ‘adulterer’ (see ADULTERY) + -OUS.

adultery n. [mass noun] voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse: she was committing adultery with a much younger man.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from the obsolete noun adulter, from Latin adulter ‘adulterer’, replacing an earlier form avoutrie, from Old French avouterie.

adultescent /adltεs(ə)nt/ n. INFORMAL a middle-aged person whose clothes, interests, and activities are typically associated with youth culture.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of ADULT and ADOLESCENT.

adumbrate /admbret/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL 1 represent in outline: Hobhouse had already adumbrated the idea of a welfare state.

- indicate faintly: the walls were only adumbrated by the meagre light.

2 foreshadow (a future event).

3 overshadow: her happy reminiscences were adumbrated by consciousness of something else.

<DERIVATIVES> adumbration n. adumbrative adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin adumbrat- ‘shaded’, from the verb adumbrare, from ad- ‘to’ (as an intensifier) + umbrare ‘cast a shadow’ (from umbra ‘shade’).

adust /ədst/ adj. ARCHAIC 1 scorched; burnt.

2 gloomy; melancholic.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French aduste or Latin adustus ‘burnt’, from adurere, from ad ‘to’ (as an intensifier) + urere ‘to burn’.

Advaita /dvt/ n. [mass noun] [HINDUISM] a Vedantic doctrine that identifies the individual self (atman) with the ground of reality (brahman). It is associated especially with the Indian philosopher Shankara (c.788–820).

<ORIGIN> Sanskrit, literally ‘non-duality’.

ad valorem /ad vəlrεm/ adv. & adj. (of the levying of tax or customs duties) in proportion to the estimated value of the goods or transaction concerned.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘according to the value’.

advance v. 1 [no obj.] move forwards in a purposeful way: he advanced towards the dispatch box | the troops advanced on the capital.

- move forward in time: as the nineteenth century advanced.

- [with obj.] change the date of (an event) so as to occur earlier than planned: I advanced the schedule by several weeks.

2 make or cause to make progress: [no obj.] our knowledge is advancing all the time | [with obj.] it was a chance to advance his own interests.

- [no obj.] (of shares) increase in price.

3 [with obj.] put forward (a theory or suggestion): the hypothesis I wish to advance in this article.

4 [with two objs] lend (money) to (someone): the building society advanced them a loan.

- pay (money) to (someone) before it is due: he advanced me a month's salary.

■ n. 1 a forward movement: the rebels' advance on Madrid was well under way | FIGURATIVE the advance of civilization.

2 a development or improvement: advances in engineering techniques | [mass noun] decades of great scientific advance.

- an increase in amount or price: share prices showed significant advances.

3 an amount of money paid before it is due or for work only partly completed: the author was paid a £250,000 advance.

- a loan: an advance from the bank.

4 (usually advances) an approach made to someone with the aim of initiating sexual or amorous relations: her tutor made advances to her.

■ adj. [attr.] done, sent, or supplied beforehand: advance notice.

<PHRASES>

□ in advance ahead in time: you need to book weeks in advance.

□ in advance of ahead of; before: we went on ahead in advance of the main group.

<DERIVATIVES> advancer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French avance (noun), avancer (verb), from late Latin abante ‘in front’, from ab ‘from’ + ante ‘before’. The initial a- was erroneously assimilated to AD- in the 16th cent.

Advance Australia Fair the national anthem of Australia, composed c.1878 by P. D. McCormick (c.1834–1916), a Scot, under the pen-name ‘Amicus’. It officially replaced ‘God Save the Queen’ in 1984.

advanced adj. far on or ahead in development or progress: negotiations are at an advanced stage.

advanced gas-cooled reactor n. a nuclear reactor in which the coolant is carbon dioxide, with uranium oxide fuel clad in steel and using graphite as a moderator.

advance directive n. a living will which gives durable power of attorney to a surrogate decision-maker, remaining in effect during the incompetency of the person making it.

advanced level n. [mass noun] (in the UK except Scotland) the higher of the two main levels of the GCE examination. Compare with ORDINARY LEVEL.

advanced subsidiary level n. [mass noun] (in the UK except Scotland) a GCE examination at a level between GCSE and advanced level.

advance guard (also advanced guard) n. a body of soldiers preceding and making preparations for the main body of an army.

advance man n. NORTH AMERICAN a person who visits a location before the arrival of an important visitor to make the appropriate arrangements.

advancement n. 1 [mass noun] the process of promoting a cause or plan: their lives were devoted to the advancement of science.

- the promotion of a person in rank or status: opportunities for career advancement.

2 [count noun] a development or improvement: technological advancements.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French avancement, from avancer ‘to advance’.

advantage n. a condition or circumstance that puts one in a favourable or superior position: companies with a computerized database are at an advantage | she had an advantage over her mother's generation.

- [mass noun] the opportunity to gain something; benefit or profit: you could learn something to your advantage | he saw some advantage in the proposal.

- a favourable or desirable feature: the village's proximity to the town is an advantage.

- [TENNIS] a score marking a point interim between deuce and winning the game.

■ v. [with obj.] put in a favourable or superior position.

<PHRASES>

□ have the advantage of DATED be in a stronger position than.

□ take advantage of 1 exploit for one's own benefit: people tend to take advantage of a placid nature.

- DATED (of a man) seduce (a woman).

2 make good use of the opportunities offered by: take full advantage of the facilities available.

□ to advantage in a way which displays or makes good use of the best aspects of something: her shoes showed off her legs to advantage | plan your space to its best advantage.

□ turn something to advantage (or to one's advantage) handle or respond to something in such a way as to benefit from it.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French avantage, from avant ‘in front’, from late Latin abante (see ADVANCE).

advantaged adj. having a comparatively favourable position in terms of economic or social circumstances: children from less advantaged homes.

advantageous /advəntedəs/ adj. involving or creating favourable circumstances that increase the chances of success or effectiveness; beneficial: the scheme is advantageous to your company | we are in an advantageous position.

<DERIVATIVES> advantageously adv.

advection /ədvεk(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the transfer of heat or matter by the flow of a fluid, especially horizontally in the atmosphere or the sea.

<DERIVATIVES> advect v. advective adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin advectio(n-), from advehere ‘bring’, from ad- ‘to’ + vehere ‘carry’.

advent /adv(ə)nt -vεnt/ n. [in sing.] 1 the arrival of a notable person or thing: the advent of television.

2 (Advent) the first season of the Church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.

- (Advent) [CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY] the coming or second coming of Christ.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin adventus ‘arrival’, from advenire, from ad- ‘to’ + venire ‘come’.

Advent calendar n. a piece of card incorporating small numbered flaps, one of which is opened on each day of Advent to reveal a picture appropriate to the season.

Adventist n. a member of any of various Christian sects emphasizing belief in the imminent second coming of Christ. See also SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST.

<DERIVATIVES> Adventism n.

adventitia /advεntə/ n. [mass noun] the outermost layer of the wall of a blood vessel.

<DERIVATIVES> adventitial adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: shortening of modern Latin tunica adventitia ‘additional sheath’.

adventitious /adv(ə)ntəs/ adj. happening as a result of an external factor or chance rather than design or inherent nature: adventitious similarities.

- coming from outside; not native: the adventitious population.

- [BIOLOGY] formed accidentally or in an unusual anatomical position: adventitious lobes may appear between the primaries.

- [BOTANY] (of a root, shoot, etc.) produced in an unusual part of a plant.

<DERIVATIVES> adventitiously adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin adventicius ‘coming to us from abroad’ (from advenire ‘arrive’) + -OUS (see also -itious^2).

Advent Sunday n. the first Sunday in Advent, falling on or near 30 November.

adventure n. an unusual and exciting or daring experience: her recent adventures in Italy.

- [mass noun] excitement associated with danger or the taking of risks: she travelled the world in search of adventure.

- ARCHAIC a commercial venture.

■ v. [no obj.] DATED engage in daring or risky activity: they had adventured into the forest.

- [with obj.] put (one's money or life) at risk: he adventured £300 in the purchase of land.

<DERIVATIVES> adventuresome adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aventure (noun), aventurer (verb), based on Latin adventurus ‘about to happen’, from advenire ‘arrive’.

adventure game n. a type of computer game in which the participant plays a fantasy role in an episodic adventure story.

adventure playground n. BRITISH a playground containing objects or structures such as ropes, slides, and tunnels, for children to play on or in.

adventurer n. a person who enjoys or seeks adventure.

- a person willing to take risks or use dishonest methods for personal gain: a political adventurer.

- ARCHAIC a financial speculator.

- ARCHAIC a mercenary soldier.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting a gambler): from French aventurier, from aventurer ‘venture upon’ (see ADVENTURE).

adventuress n. a female adventurer.

adventurism n. [mass noun] the willingness to take risks in business or politics; actions or attitudes regarded as reckless or potentially hazardous.

<DERIVATIVES> adventurist n. & adj.

adventurous adj. willing to take risks or to try out new methods, ideas, or experiences: an adventurous traveller.

- involving new ideas or methods: they wanted more adventurous meals.

- full of excitement: my life couldn't be more adventurous.

<DERIVATIVES> adventurously adv. adventurousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aventureus, from aventure (see ADVENTURE).

adverb n. [GRAMMAR] a word or phrase that modifies the meaning of an adjective, verb, or other adverb, expressing manner, place, time, or degree (e.g. gently, here, now, very). Some adverbs, for example sentence adverbs, can also be used to modify whole sentences.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin adverbium, from ad- ‘to’ (expressing addition) + verbum ‘word, verb’.

adverbial [GRAMMAR] n. a word or phrase functioning as a major clause constituent and typically expressing place (in the garden), time (in May), or manner (in a strange way).

■ adj. relating to or functioning as an adverb or adverbial.

<DERIVATIVES> adverbially adverb.

adversarial /advəsεrəl/ adj. involving or characterized by conflict or opposition: the adversarial nature of the two-party system.

- [LAW] (of a trial or legal proceedings) in which the parties in a dispute have the responsibility for finding and presenting evidence. Compare with ACCUSATORIAL, INQUISITORIAL.

<DERIVATIVES> adversarially adv.

adversary /advəs(ə)ri/ n. (pl. adversaries) one's opponent in a contest, conflict, or dispute: Davis beat his old adversary in the quarter-finals.

■ adj. /advəs(ə)ri advəsəri/

■ another term for ADVERSARIAL.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French adversarie, from Latin adversarius ‘opposed, opponent’, from adversus (see ADVERSE).

adversative /ədvəsətv/ adj. [GRAMMAR] (of a word or phrase) expressing opposition or antithesis.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French adversatif, -ive or late Latin adversativus, from Latin adversari ‘oppose’, from adversus (see ADVERSE).

adverse /advəs/ adj. preventing success or development; harmful; unfavourable: taxes are having an adverse effect on production | adverse weather conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> adversely adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French advers, from Latin adversus ‘against, opposite’, past participle of advertere, from ad- ‘to’ + vertere ‘to turn’. Compare with AVERSE.

<USAGE> The two words adverse and averse are related in origin but they do not have the same meaning. Adverse means ‘unfavourable or harmful’ and is normally used of conditions and effects rather than people, as in adverse weather conditions. Averse, on the other hand, is used of people, nearly always with to, and means ‘having a strong dislike or opposition to something’, as in I am not averse to helping out. A common error is to use adverse instead of averse, as in he is not adverse to making a profit.

adversity n. (pl. adversities) [mass noun] a difficult or unpleasant situation: resilience in the face of adversity | [count noun] she overcame many adversities.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French adversite, from Latin adversitas, from advertere ‘turn towards’.

advert^1 /advət/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL an advertisement.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation.

advert^2 /ədvət/ v. [no obj.] (advert to) FORMAL refer to in speaking or writing: I have already adverted to the solar revolution.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French avertire, from Latin advertere ‘turn towards’ (see ADVERSE). The original sense was ‘turn one's attention to’, later ‘bring to someone's attention’.

advertise v. [with obj.] describe or draw attention to (a product, service, or event) in a public medium in order to promote sales or attendance: a billboard advertising beer.

- publicize information about (a vacancy): for every job we advertise we get a hundred applicants | [no obj.] he advertised for dancers in the trade papers.

- make (a quality or fact) known: Meryl coughed briefly to advertise her presence.

- ARCHAIC notify (someone) of something: some prisoners advertised the French of this terrible danger.

<DERIVATIVES> advertiser n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French advertiss-, lengthened stem of advertir, from Latin advertere ‘turn towards’ (see ADVERT^2).

advertisement n. a notice or announcement in a public medium promoting a product, service, or event or publicizing a job vacancy: advertisements for alcoholic drinks.

- (advertisement for) INFORMAL a person or thing regarded as a means of recommending something: unhappy clients are not a good advertisement for the firm.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a statement calling attention to something): from Old French advertissement, from the verb advertir (see ADVERTISE).

advertising n. [mass noun] the activity or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or services: her father was in advertising | [as modifier] an advertising agency.

Advertising Standards Authority (abbr.: ASA)

- (in the UK) an independent regulatory body set up in 1962 to monitor standards within advertising and to ensure that advertisements comply with the requirement that they be legal, decent, honest, and truthful.

advertorial /advətrəl/ n. a newspaper or magazine advertisement giving information about a product in the style of an editorial or objective journalistic article.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally US): blend of ADVERTISEMENT and EDITORIAL.

advice n. 1 [mass noun] guidance or recommendations offered with regard to prudent action: my advice is to see your doctor | he should take advice from his accountant.

2 a formal notice of a financial transaction: remittance advices.

3 [mass noun] (also advices) ARCHAIC information; news.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French avis, based on Latin ad ‘to’ + visum, past participle of videre ‘to see’. The original sense was ‘way of looking at something, judgement’, hence later ‘an opinion given’.

advisability n. [mass noun] the quality of being advisable or sensible; wisdom: many questioned the advisability of this policy.

advisable adj. (of a course of action) to be recommended; sensible: it is advisable to carry one of the major credit cards | early booking is advisable.

<DERIVATIVES> advisably adv.

advise v. [reporting v.] offer suggestions about the best course of action to someone: [with obj. and infinitive] I advised him to go home | [with obj.] he advised caution | [no obj.] we advise against sending cash by post.

- [with obj.] recommend: sleeping pills are not advised.

- [with obj.] inform (someone) about a fact or situation in a formal or official way: you will be advised of the requirements | [with obj. and clause] the lawyer advised the court that his client wished to give evidence.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aviser, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ + visere, frequentative of videre ‘to see’. The original senses included ‘look at’ and ‘consider’, hence ‘consult with others’.

advised adj. acting in a way that would be recommended; sensible; wise: you would be advised to check on increases to your pension.

advisedly adv. deliberately and after consideration: I've used the term ‘old’ advisedly.

advisement n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC or NORTH AMERICAN careful consideration.

- advice or counsel.

<PHRASES>

□ take something under advisement NORTH AMERICAN reserve judgement while considering something.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French avisement, from aviser ‘look at’ (see ADVISE).

adviser (also advisor) n. a person who gives advice in a particular field: the military adviser to the President.

<USAGE> The spellings adviser and advisor are both correct. Adviser is the more common spelling in Britain; in North America advisor is more common.

advisory adj. having or consisting in the power to make recommendations but not to take action enforcing them: the Commission acts in an advisory capacity.

- recommended but not compulsory: the EC has put forward an advisory maximum figure.

■ n. (pl. advisories) NORTH AMERICAN an official announcement or warning.

advocaat /advəkα/ n. [mass noun] a liqueur made with eggs, sugar, and brandy.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Dutch, literally ‘advocate’ (being originally considered a lawyer's drink).

advocacy /advəkəsi/ n. [mass noun] 1 public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy: his outspoken advocacy of the agreement has won no friends.

2 the profession or work of a legal advocate.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin advocatia, from advocare ‘summon, call to one's aid’ (see ADVOCATE).

advocate n. /advəkət/ 1 a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy: he was an untiring advocate of economic reform.

2 a person who puts a case on someone else's behalf: care managers can become advocates for their clients.

- a professional pleader in a court of justice. Scottish and South African term for BARRISTER.

■ v. /advəket/ [with obj.] publicly recommend or support: voters supported candidates who advocated an Assembly.

<DERIVATIVES> advocateship n. advocation n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French avocat, from Latin advocatus, past participle (used as a noun) of advocare ‘call (to one's aid)’, from ad- ‘to’ + vocare ‘to call’.

Advocate Depute n. (pl. Advocates Depute) (in Scotland) any of a number of officers who assist the Lord Advocate in prosecutions.

Advocate General n. (pl. Advocates General) any of a number of officers assisting the judges in the European Court of Justice.

advowson /ədvaz(ə)n/ n. BRITISH (in ecclesiastical law) the right to recommend a member of the Anglican clergy for a vacant benefice, or to make such an appointment.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘patronage of a religious house or benefice’, with the obligation to defend it and speak for it): from Old French avoeson, from Latin advocatio(n-), from advocare ‘summon’ (see ADVOCATE).

advt abbr. advertisement.

adware n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] software that automatically displays or downloads advertising material such as banners or pop-ups when a user is online.

Adygea /αdeə αdjeə/ an autonomous republic in the NW Caucasus in SW Russia, with a largely Muslim population; pop. 438,200 (est. 2002); capital, Maikop. Full name Adygei Autonomous Republic /αde αdje/.

Adyghe /ade ade/ (also Adygei) n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a mainly Sunni Muslim people of the NW Caucasus, especially Adygea. Also called CIRCASSIAN.

2 [mass noun] the North Caucasian language of the Adyghe, with about 100,000 speakers in the Caucasus and 100,000 elsewhere.

■ adj. relating to the Adyghe or their language.

adytum /adtəm/ n. (pl. adyta /-tə/) the innermost sanctuary of an ancient Greek temple.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek aduton, neuter singular of adutos ‘impenetrable’, from a- ‘not’ + duein ‘enter’.

adze /adz/ (US adz) n. a tool similar to an axe, with an arched blade at right angles to the handle, used for cutting or shaping large pieces of wood.

■ v. (adz, adzing, adzed) [with obj.] cut away the surface of (a piece of wood) with an adze.

<ORIGIN> Old English adesa, of unknown origin.

adzuki /ədzuki/ (also adzuki bean, aduki) n. (pl. adzukis) 1 a small, round dark-red edible bean.

2 the bushy Asian plant which produces the adzuki bean.

<INFO> Vigna angularis, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Japanese azuki.

AE abbr. auto-exposure.

Æ (also æ) n. a letter used in Old English to represent a vowel intermediate between a and e and from the 16th century onwards used in Latin or Latinized Greek words, representing an original diphthong ae or ai (see ASH^2).

-ae /i / suffix forming plural nouns: 1 used in names of animal and plant families and other groups: Felidae | Gymnospermae.

2 used instead of -as in the plural of many non-naturalized or unfamiliar nouns ending in -a derived from Latin or Greek: striae | larvae.

<ORIGIN> Latin plural suffix, or representing the Greek plural ending -ai.

AEA abbr. (in the UK) Atomic Energy Authority.

aedile /idl/ n. [ROMAN HISTORY] either of two (later four) Roman magistrates responsible for public buildings and originally also for the public games and the supply of corn to the city.

<DERIVATIVES> aedileship n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin aedilis ‘concerned with buildings’, from aedes ‘building’.

AEEU abbr. (in the UK) Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union.

Aegean /idiən -/ adj. relating to the region comprising the Aegean Sea and its coasts and islands.

■ n. (the Aegean) the Aegean Sea or its region.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via Latin from Greek Aigaios + -EAN.

Aegean Islands a group of islands in the Aegean Sea, forming a region of Greece. The principal islands of the group are Chios, Samos, Lesbos, the Cyclades, and the Dodecanese.

Aegean Sea a part of the Mediterranean Sea lying between Greece and Turkey, bounded to the south by Crete and Rhodes and linked to the Black Sea by the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus.

aegis /ids/ n. 1 [in sing.] the protection, backing, or support of a particular person or organization: the negotiations were conducted under the aegis of the UN.

2 (in classical art and mythology) an attribute of Zeus and Athene (or their Roman counterparts Jupiter and Minerva) usually represented as a goatskin shield.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting armour or a shield, especially that of a god): via Latin from Greek aigis ‘shield of Zeus’.

Aegisthus /sθəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the son of Thyestes and lover of Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra.

aegrotat /rə()tat i- irə()-/ n. BRITISH a certificate stating that a university student is too ill to attend an examination.

- an examination pass awarded to a student having an aegrotat.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Latin, literally ‘he is sick’.

Aelfric /alfrk/ (c.955–c.1020), Anglo-Saxon monk, writer, and grammarian; known as Grammaticus. Notable works: Lives of the Saints (993–6).

-aemia (also -haemia, US -emia or -hemia) combining form in nouns denoting that a substance is present in the blood: septicaemia | leukaemia.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek -aimia, from haima ‘blood’.

Aeneas /niəs/ [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] a Trojan leader, son of Anchises and Aphrodite, and legendary ancestor of the Romans. When Troy fell to the Greeks he escaped and after wandering for many years eventually reached Italy. The story of his voyage is recounted in Virgil's Aeneid.

Aeneid /nid ind/ a Latin epic poem in twelve books by Virgil which relates the travels and experiences of Aeneas after the fall of Troy.

aeolian /iələn/ (US eolian) adj. chiefly [GEOLOGY] relating to or arising from the action of the wind.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from the name AEOLUS + -IAN.

aeolian harp n. a stringed instrument that produces musical sounds when a current of air passes through it.

Aeolian Islands ancient name for LIPARI ISLANDS.

Aeolian mode /iələn/ n. [MUSIC] the mode represented by the natural diatonic scale A–A (containing a minor 3rd, 6th, and 7th).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin Aeolius, ‘from Aeolis’ (an ancient coastal district of Asia Minor) + -AN.

Aeolus /iələs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the god of the winds.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Aiolos, from aiolos ‘swift, changeable’.

aeon /iən/ (US or TECHNICAL also eon) n. 1 (often aeons) an indefinite and very long period of time: he reached the crag aeons before I arrived.

- [ASTRONOMY] & [GEOLOGY] a unit of time equal to a thousand million years.

- [GEOLOGY] a major division of geological time, subdivided into eras: the Precambrian aeon.

2 [PHILOSOPHY] (in Neoplatonism, Platonism, and Gnosticism) a power existing from eternity; an emanation or phase of the supreme deity.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek aiōn ‘age’.

aepyornis /ipns/ n. another term for ELEPHANT BIRD.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek aipus ‘high’ + ornis ‘bird’.

AER abbr. annual equivalence rate, the notional rate of interest on loans or credit payable if the interest was paid and added each year.

aerate /εret/ v. [with obj.] introduce air into (a material): aerate the lawn using a garden fork.

<DERIVATIVES> aeration n. aerator n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin aer ‘air’ + -ATE^3, influenced by French aérer.

aerated adj. 1 (of a liquid) made effervescent by being charged with carbon dioxide or some other gas.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL agitated, angry, or overexcited: don't get so aerated!

aerenchyma /εrεkmə/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] a soft plant tissue containing air spaces, found especially in many aquatic plants.

<DERIVATIVES> aerenchymatous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek aēr ‘air’ + enkhuma ‘infusion’.

aerial /εrəl/ n. 1 BRITISH a rod, wire, or other structure by which signals are transmitted or received as part of a radio or television transmission or receiving system.

2 (aerials) a type of freestyle skiing in which the skier jumps from a ramp and carries out manoeuvres in the air.

■ adj. [attr.] existing, happening, or operating in the air: an aerial battle | an intrepid aerial adventurer.

- coming or carried out from the air, especially using aircraft: aerial bombardment of civilian targets | aerial photography.

- (of a part of a plant) growing above ground.

- (of a bird) spending much of its time in flight.

- of or in the atmosphere; atmospheric.

<DERIVATIVES> aeriality n. aerially adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘thin as air, imaginary’): via Latin aerius from Greek aerios (from aēr ‘air’) + -AL.

aerialist n. a person who performs acrobatics high above the ground on a tightrope or trapezes.

aerial perspective n. [mass noun] [ART] the technique of representing more distant objects as fainter and more blue.

aero adj. [attr.] INFORMAL 1 aeronautical: an aero club.

2 aerodynamic: we softened the lines for a more aero look.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (in sense 1): abbreviation.

aero- /εrə/ combining form 1 relating to air: aerobe | aerobics.

2 relating to aircraft: aerotowing | aerodrome.

<ORIGIN> from Greek aēr ‘air’.

aerobatics plural n. [usually treated as sing.] loops, rolls, and other feats of spectacular flying performed in one or more aircraft to entertain an audience on the ground.

<DERIVATIVES> aerobatic adj.

<ORIGIN> First World War: from AERO- + a shortened form of ACROBATICS.

aerobe /εrəb/ n. a micro-organism which grows in the presence of air or requires oxygen for growth.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in French from Greek aēr + bios ‘life’.

aerobic /εrəbk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] relating to, involving, or requiring free oxygen: simple aerobic bacteria.

- relating to or denoting exercise taken to improve the efficiency of the body's cardiovascular system in absorbing and transporting oxygen.

<DERIVATIVES> aerobically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AERO- + Greek bios ‘life’ + -IC.

aerobicized /εrəbszd/ (also aerobicised) adj. (of a person's body) toned by aerobic exercise: a 53-year-old aerobicized divorcée who looks more like a cheerleader than a grandmother.

aerobics plural n. [often treated as sing.] vigorous exercises designed to increase cardiovascular efficiency.

<DERIVATIVES> aerobicist n.

aerobiology n. [mass noun] the study of airborne micro-organisms, pollen, spores, and seeds, especially as agents of infection.

aerobrake v. [no obj.] TECHNICAL cause a spacecraft to slow down by flying through a planet's rarefied atmosphere to produce aerodynamic drag.

■ n. a mechanism for aerobraking.

aerodrome n. BRITISH a small airport or airfield.

aerodynamic adj. relating to aerodynamics: aerodynamic forces.

- of or having a shape which reduces the drag from air moving past: the plane has a more aerodynamic shape.

<DERIVATIVES> aerodynamically adv.

aerodynamics plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of the properties of moving air and the interaction between the air and solid bodies moving through it.

- [treated as plural] the properties of a solid object regarding the manner in which air flows around it.

<DERIVATIVES> aerodynamicist n.

aeroelasticity n. [mass noun] the science of the interaction between aerodynamic forces and non-rigid structures.

<DERIVATIVES> aeroelastic adj.

aerofoil n. BRITISH a structure with curved surfaces designed to give the most favourable ratio of lift to drag in flight, used as the basic form of the wings, fins, and tailplanes of most aircraft.

aerogel n. a solid material of extremely low density, produced by removing the liquid component from a conventional gel.

aerogramme (US aerogram) n. another term for AIR LETTER.

aerolite n. a meteorite made of stone.

aerology n. [mass noun] DATED the study of the atmosphere.

<DERIVATIVES> aerological adj.

aeromagnetic adj. relating to or denoting the measurement of the earth's magnetic field using airborne instruments.

aeromedical adj. 1 relating to the use of aircraft for medical purposes such as transporting patients to hospital.

2 relating to medical issues associated with air travel.

aeromodelling n. [mass noun] the hobby of building and flying model aircraft.

<DERIVATIVES> aeromodeller n.

aeronaut n. DATED a traveller in a hot-air balloon, airship, or other flying craft.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French aéronaute, from Greek aēr ‘air’ + nautēs ‘sailor’.

aeronautics plural n. [treated as sing.] the science or practice of building or flying aircraft.

<DERIVATIVES> aeronautic adj. aeronautical adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from modern Latin aeronautica ‘matters relating to aeronautics’, from Greek (see AERONAUT).

aeronomy /εrnəmi/ n. [mass noun] the study of the upper atmosphere.

aerophagy /εrfədi/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the swallowing of air.

aerophone n. [MUSIC] a wind instrument.

aeroplane n. BRITISH a powered flying vehicle with fixed wings and a weight greater than that of the air it displaces.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French aéroplane, from aéro- ‘air’ + Greek -planos ‘wandering’.

aeroshell n. a casing which protects a spacecraft during re-entry.

aerosol n. a substance enclosed under pressure and released as a fine spray by means of a propellant gas.

- a container holding an aerosol.

- [CHEMISTRY] a colloidal suspension of particles dispersed in air or gas.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from AERO- + SOL^2.

aerosolize (also aerosolise) v. [with obj.] (often as adj. aerosolized) convert into a fine spray or colloidal suspension in air: the drug is being tested in an aerosolized form.

aerospace n. [mass noun] the branch of technology and industry concerned with both aviation and space flight.

aerostat /εrəstat/ n. an airship or hot-air balloon.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French aérostat, from Greek aēr ‘air’ + statos ‘standing’.

aerotowing n. [mass noun] the towing of a glider by a powered aircraft to a height suitable for launching.

Aertex /εtεks/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a cellular cotton fabric used for leisure wear and underwear.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from aer- as in AERATE and TEXTILE.

Aeschines /iskniz/ (c.390–c.314 BC), Athenian orator and statesman. He opposed Demosthenes' efforts to unite the Greek city states against Macedon, with which he attempted to make peace.

Aeschylus /iskləs/ (c.525–c.456 BC), Greek dramatist. Aeschylus is best known for his trilogy the Oresteia (458 BC, consisting of the tragedies Agamemnon, Choephoroe, and Eumenides), which tells the story of Agamemnon's murder at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra and the vengeance of their son Orestes.

Aesculapian /iskjlepən/ adj. ARCHAIC relating to medicine or physicians.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin Aesculapius, the name of the Roman god of medicine, + -IAN.

Aesculapian snake n. a long, slender olive-brown to greyish snake found in Europe and SW Asia. In ancient times it was protected owing to its mythical link with the god of healing, Aesculapius.

<INFO> Elaphe longissima, family Colubridae.

Æsir /isə/ [SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY] the Norse gods and goddesses collectively, including Odin, Thor, and Balder.

Aesop /isp/ (6th century BC), Greek storyteller. The moral animal fables associated with him were probably collected from many sources, and initially communicated orally. Aesop is said to have lived as a slave on the island of Samos.

aesthete /isθit εs-/ (US also esthete) n. a person who is appreciative of and sensitive to art and beauty.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek aisthētēs ‘a person who perceives’, or from AESTHETIC, on the pattern of the pair athlete, athletic.

aesthetic /isθεtk εs-/ (US also esthetic) adj. concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty: the pictures give great aesthetic pleasure.

- giving or designed to give pleasure through beauty: the law applies to both functional and aesthetic objects.

■ n. [in sing.] a set of principles underlying the work of a particular artist or artistic movement: the Cubist aesthetic.

<DERIVATIVES> aesthetically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘relating to perception by the senses’): from Greek aisthētikos, from aisthēta ‘perceptible things’, from aisthesthai ‘perceive’. The sense ‘concerned with beauty’ was coined in German in the mid 18th century and adopted into English in the early 19th century, but its use was controversial until much later in the century.

aesthetician (US also esthetician) n. 1 a person who is knowledgeable about aesthetics.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a beautician.

aestheticism (US also estheticism) n. [mass noun] an approach to art exemplified by the Aesthetic Movement.

aestheticize (US also estheticize) v. [with obj.] represent as beautiful or artistically pleasing.

Aesthetic Movement a literary and artistic movement which flourished in England in the 1880s, devoted to ‘art for art's sake’ and rejecting the notion that art should have a social or moral purpose. Its chief exponents included Oscar Wilde, Max Beerbohm, Aubrey Beardsley, and others associated with the journal the Yellow Book.

aesthetics (US also esthetics) plural n. [usually treated as sing.] a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty.

- the branch of philosophy which deals with questions of beauty and artistic taste.

aestival /istv(ə)l istv(ə)l εst- εstv(ə)l/ (US also estival) adj. TECHNICAL belonging to or appearing in summer.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin aestivalis, from aestivus, from aestus ‘heat’.

aestivate /istvet εst-/ (US estivate) v. [no obj.] [ZOOLOGY] (of an insect, fish, or amphibian) spend a hot or dry period in a prolonged state of torpor or dormancy.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘pass the summer’): from Latin aestivat-, from aestivare ‘spend the summer’, from aestus ‘heat’.

aestivation /istve(ə)n εst-/ (US estivation) n. [mass noun] 1 [ZOOLOGY] prolonged torpor or dormancy of an insect, fish, or amphibian during a hot or dry period.

2 [BOTANY] the arrangement of petals and sepals in a flower bud before it opens. Compare with VERNATION.

aet. (also aetat.) abbr. FORMAL of or at the age of; aged: Mary Freemantle died 19 May 1746 aet. 77.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of Latin aetatis, genitive singular of aetas ‘age’.

a.e.t. abbr. after extra time (in a soccer match).

aetiology /itlədi/ (US etiology) n. [mass noun] 1 MEDICINE the cause, set of causes, or manner of causation of a disease or condition.

- the causation of diseases and disorders as a subject of investigation.

2 the investigation or attribution of the cause or reason for something, often expressed in terms of historical or mythical explanation.

<DERIVATIVES> aetiologic adj. aetiological adj. aetiologically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via medieval Latin from Greek aitiologia, from aitia ‘a cause’ + -logia (see -LOGY).

AF abbr.

- audio frequency.

- autofocus.

af- prefix variant spelling of AD-. assimilated before f (as in affiliate, affirm).

Afar /αfα/ n. (pl. same or Afars) 1 a member of a people living in Djibouti and NE Ethiopia. Also called DANAKIL.

2 [mass noun] the Cushitic language of the Afar, with about 700,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Afar or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Afar qafar.

afar adv. LITERARY at or to a distance: for months he had loved her from afar.

<ORIGIN> Middle English of feor ‘from far’.

afara /əfαrə/ n. a tall West African hardwood tree with a characteristic shape resembling a pagoda. Also called LIMBA.

<INFO> Terminalia superba, family Combretaceae.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Yoruba.

Afars and Issas, French Territory of the /αfαz isαz/ former name (1946–77) for the Republic of Djibouti.

AFC abbr.

- (in the UK) Air Force Cross, awarded for bravery while flying but not in active service against an enemy.

- (in the UK) Association Football Club.

- automatic frequency control, a system in radios and television which keeps them tuned to an incoming signal.

AFDC abbr. (in the US) Aid to Families with Dependent Children, a welfare benefit paid by the federal government.

afeared adj. ARCHAIC or DIALECT afraid.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from āfran ‘frighten’, from ā- (expressing intensity) + fran (see FEAR); used commonly by Shakespeare, but rarely after 1700 in written form.

afebrile adj. MEDICINE not feverish.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from A-1 ‘not’ + FEBRILE.

affability n. [mass noun] the quality of being affable; geniality: an air of benign affability.

affable adj. friendly, good-natured, or easy to talk to: an affable and agreeable companion.

<DERIVATIVES> affably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin affabilis, from the verb affari, from ad- ‘to’ + fari ‘speak’.

affair n. 1 an event or sequence of events of a specified kind or that has previously been referred to: the board admitted responsibility for the affair | I wanted the funeral to be a family affair.

- a matter that is a particular person's concern or responsibility: what you do in your spare time is your affair.

- (affairs) matters of public interest and importance: commissions were created to advise on foreign affairs.

- (affairs) business and financial dealings: his time was spent in winding up his affairs.

2 a love affair: his wife is having an affair.

3 [with adj.] INFORMAL an object of a particular type: her dress was a black low-cut affair.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French afaire, from à faire ‘to do’; compare with ADO.

affaire /afε/ French /afεR/ (also affaire de or du cœur /də kə dju/ French /də dY kœR/) n. a love affair.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, literally ‘affair (of the heart)’.

affairé /afεre/ French /afeRe/ adj. busy; involved.

<ORIGIN> French, from affaire, from à ‘to’ + faire ‘do’.

affect^1 /əfεkt/ v. [with obj.] have an effect on; make a difference to: the dampness began to affect my health | [with clause] your attitude will affect how successful you are.

- touch the feelings of; move emotionally: he was visibly affected by the tragedy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘attack as a disease’): from French affecter or Latin affect- ‘influenced, affected’, from the verb afficere (see AFFECT^2).

<USAGE> Affect and effect are quite different in meaning, though frequently confused. Affect is primarily a verb meaning ‘make a difference to’, as in their gender need not affect their career Effect on the other hand is used both as a noun and a verb, meaning ‘a result’ as a noun (move the cursor until you get the effect you want) or ‘bring about (a result)’ as a verb (growth in the economy can only be effected by stringent economic controls).

affect^2 /əfεkt/ v. [with obj.] pretend to have or feel (something): as usual I affected a supreme unconcern | [with infinitive] a book that affects to loathe the modern world.

- use, wear, or assume (something) pretentiously or so as to make an impression on others: an Anglophile who had affected a British accent.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French affecter or Latin affectare ‘aim at’, frequentative of afficere ‘work on, influence’, from ad- ‘at, to’ + facere ‘do’. The original sense was ‘like, love’, hence ‘(like to) use, assume, etc.’.

affect^3 /afεkt/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHOLOGY] emotion or desire as influencing behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> affectless adj. affectlessness n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Latin affectus ‘disposition’, from afficere ‘to influence’ (see AFFECT^2).

affectation n. [mass noun] behaviour, speech, or writing that is pretentious and designed to impress: the affectation of a man who measures every word for effect | [count noun] she called the room her boudoir, which he thought an affectation.

- [count noun] a studied display of real or pretended feeling: an affectation of calm.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin affectatio(n-), from the verb affectare (see AFFECT^2).

affected adj. 1 influenced or touched by an external factor: affected areas.

2 pretentious and designed to impress: the gesture appeared both affected and stagy.

3 [predic.] ARCHAIC disposed or inclined in a specified way: you might become differently affected towards him.

<DERIVATIVES> affectedly adv.

affecting adj. touching the emotions; moving: a highly affecting account of her experiences in prison.

<DERIVATIVES> affectingly adv.

affection n. [mass noun] 1 a gentle feeling of fondness or liking: she felt affection for the wise old lady | [count noun] he won a place in her affections.

2 ARCHAIC the action or process of affecting or being affected.

- [count noun] a condition or disease: an affection of the skin.

- [count noun] a mental state; an emotion.

<DERIVATIVES> affectional adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin affectio(n-), from afficere ‘to influence’ (see AFFECT^2).

affectionate adj. readily feeling or showing fondness or tenderness: his affectionate nature.

- expressing fondness: an affectionate kiss.

<DERIVATIVES> affectionately adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘disposed, inclined towards’): from French affectionné ‘beloved’ or medieval Latin affectionatus ‘devoted’, from affectio(n-), from afficere ‘to influence’ (see AFFECT^2).

affective adj. [PSYCHOLOGY] relating to moods, feelings, and attitudes: affective disorders.

<DERIVATIVES> affectively adv. affectivity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from late Latin affectivus, from afficere (see AFFECT^2).

Affenpinscher /afənpnə/ n. a dog of a small breed resembling the griffon.

<ORIGIN> German, from Affe ‘monkey’ + Pinscher ‘terrier’.

afferent /af(ə)r(ə)nt/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] conducting or conducted inwards or towards something (for nerves, the central nervous system; for blood vessels, the organ supplied). The opposite of EFFERENT.

■ n. an afferent nerve fibre or vessel.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin afferent- ‘bringing towards’, from the verb afferre, from ad- ‘to’ + ferre ‘bring’.

affiance /əfəns/ v. (be affianced) LITERARY be engaged to marry: Edward was affianced to Lady Eleanor Butler | (as adj. affianced) an affianced couple.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French afiancer, from afier ‘promise, entrust’, from medieval Latin affidare ‘declare on oath’, from ad- ‘towards’ + fides ‘trust’.

affiant /əfənt/ n. [LAW] a person who makes an affidavit.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, present participle of afier, from medieval Latin affidare ‘declare on oath’ (see AFFIANCE).

affidavit /afdevt/ n. [LAW] a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation, for use as evidence in court.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin, literally ‘he has stated on oath’, from affidare.

affiliate v. /əflet/ [with obj.] (usually be affiliated to/with) officially attach or connect (a subsidiary group or a person) to an organization: they are national associations affiliated to larger organizations.

- (of an organization) admit as a member: the main party agreed to affiliate four Conservative associations.

- [no obj.] officially join or become attached to an organization: almost all students affiliate to the Students' Union.

■ n. /əflət/ a person or organization officially attached to a larger body.

<DERIVATIVES> affiliative adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from medieval Latin affiliat- ‘adopted as a son’, from the verb affiliare, from ad- ‘towards’ + filius ‘son’.

affiliated adj. (of a subsidiary group or a person) officially attached or connected to an organization: affiliated union members | Microsoft and its affiliated companies.

affiliation n. [mass noun] the state or process of affiliating or being affiliated: the group has no affiliation to any preservation society | [count noun] his political affiliations.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from medieval Latin affiliatio(n-), from the verb affiliare (see AFFILIATE).

affiliation order n. [LAW], HISTORICAL a legal order that the man judged to be the father of an illegitimate child must help to support it.

affinal /əfn(ə)l/ adj. [ANTHROPOLOGY] concerning or having a family relationship by marriage.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin affinis ‘related’ (see AFFINITY) + -AL.

affine /əfn/ adj. [MATHEMATICS] allowing for or preserving parallel relationships.

■ n. [ANTHROPOLOGY] a relative by marriage.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as a noun): from Old French afin or Latin affinis ‘related’ (see AFFINITY). The mathematical sense dates from the early 20th cent.

affined adj. ARCHAIC related or connected.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin affinis ‘related’ (see AFFINITY) + -ED^1.

affinity n. (pl. affinities) 1 a natural liking for and understanding of someone or something: he had a special affinity with horses.

- a similarity of characteristics suggesting a relationship, especially a resemblance in structure between animals, plants, or languages: a semantic affinity between two words.

- [mass noun] relationship, especially by marriage as opposed to blood ties.

2 chiefly [BIOCHEMISTRY] the degree to which a substance tends to combine with another.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘relationship by marriage’): via Old French from Latin affinitas, from affinis ‘related’ (literally ‘bordering on’), from ad- ‘to’ + finis ‘border’.

affinity card n. a cheque card or credit card for which the bank donates a portion of the money spent using the card to a specific charity or other organization.

affinity group n. chiefly US a group of people linked by a common interest or purpose.

affirm v. 1 [reporting v.] state emphatically or publicly: [with obj.] he affirmed the country's commitment to peace | [with clause] they affirmed that policies were to be judged by their contribution to social justice.

- [with obj.] declare one's support for; uphold; defend: the referendum affirmed the republic's right to secede.

- [with obj.] [LAW] accept or confirm the validity of (a judgement or agreement); ratify.

- [no obj.] [LAW] make a formal declaration rather than taking an oath.

2 [with obj.] offer (someone) emotional support or encouragement: there are five common ways parents fail to affirm their children | good teachers know that students need to be both affirmed and challenged.

<DERIVATIVES> affirmatory adj. affirmer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘make firm’): via Old French from Latin affirmare, from ad- ‘to’ + firmus ‘strong’.

affirmation n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of affirming something: he nodded in affirmation | [count noun] an affirmation of basic human values.

- [count noun] [LAW] a formal declaration by a person who declines to take an oath.

2 emotional support or encouragement: the lack of one or both parents' affirmation leaves some children emotionally crippled.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin affirmatio(n-), from the verb affirmare (see AFFIRM).

affirmative adj. 1 agreeing with or consenting to a statement or request: an affirmative answer.

- [GRAMMAR] & [LOGIC] stating that a fact is so; making an assertion: affirmative sentences. Contrasted with NEGATIVE and INTERROGATIVE.

- (of a vote) expressing approval or agreement.

- relating to or denoting proposed legislation which must receive a parliamentary vote in its favour before it can come into force.

2 offering emotional support: the family is usually a source of encouragement from which affirmative influences come.

■ n. a statement of agreement with or consent to an assertion or request: he accepted her reply as an affirmative.

- [GRAMMAR] a word used in making assertions or to express consent.

- [LOGIC] a statement asserting that something is true of the subject of a proposition.

- (the affirmative) a position of agreement or confirmation: his answer veered towards the affirmative.

■ exclam. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN expressing agreement with or consent to a statement or request; yes.

<PHRASES>

□ in the affirmative so as to accept or agree to a statement or request: he answered the question in the affirmative.

<DERIVATIVES> affirmatively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘assertive, positive’): via Old French from late Latin affirmativus, from affirmare ‘assert’ (see AFFIRM).

affirmative action n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN action favouring those who tend to suffer from discrimination; positive discrimination.

affix v. /əfks/ [with obj.] stick, attach, or fasten (something) to something else: panels to which he affixes copies of fine old prints.

- [no obj.] be able to be fixed: the strings affix to the back of the bridge.

■ n. /afks/ [GRAMMAR] an addition to the base form or stem of a word in order to modify its meaning or create a new word. Compare with PREFIX, SUFFIX, INFIX.

<DERIVATIVES> affixation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French affixer or medieval Latin affixare, frequentative of Latin affigere, from ad- ‘to’ + figere ‘to fix’.

afflatus /əfletəs/ n. FORMAL a divine creative impulse or inspiration.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, from the verb afflare, from ad- ‘to’ + flare ‘to blow’.

afflict v. [with obj.] (of a problem or illness) cause pain or trouble to; affect adversely: his younger child was afflicted with a skin disease | serious ills afflict the industry | (as plural n. the afflicted) he comforted the afflicted.

- [ASTROLOGY] (of a celestial body) be in a stressful aspect with (another celestial body or a point on the ecliptic): Jupiter is afflicted by Mars in opposition.

<DERIVATIVES> afflictive adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘deject, humiliate’): from Latin afflictare ‘knock about, harass’, or from afflict- ‘knocked down, weakened’: both from the verb affligere, from ad- ‘to’ + fligere ‘to strike, dash’.

affliction n. a cause of pain or harm: a crippling affliction of the nervous system.

- [mass noun] the state of being in pain: poor people in great affliction.

- [ASTROLOGY] an instance of one celestial body afflicting another.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘infliction of pain or humiliation’, specifically ‘religious self-mortification’): via Old French from Latin afflictio(n-), from the verb affligere (see AFFLICT).

affluence n. [mass noun] the state of having a great deal of money; wealth: a sign of our growing affluence.

affluent adj. 1 (especially of a group or area) having a great deal of money; wealthy: the affluent societies of the western world.

2 ARCHAIC (of water) flowing freely or in great quantity.

■ n. ARCHAIC a tributary stream.

<DERIVATIVES> affluently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective): via Old French from Latin affluent- ‘flowing towards, flowing freely’, from the verb affluere, from ad- ‘to’ + fluere ‘to flow’.

affluential INFORMAL adj. rich and socially INFLUENTIAL: the daughter of an affluential businessman.

■ n. a rich and socially influential person.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of AFFLUENT and influential.

affluenza /afluεnzə/ n. [mass noun] a psychological malaise supposedly affecting young wealthy people, symptoms of which include a lack of motivation, feelings of guilt, and a sense of isolation.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of AFFLUENT and INFLUENZA.

afflux /aflks/ n. ARCHAIC a flow of something, especially water or air.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin affluxus, from affluere ‘flow freely’ (see AFFLUENT).

afforce v. [with obj.] RARE reinforce (a body of people) with new members: research teams were sometimes afforced by temporary staff.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘to force’): from Old French aforcier, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + force (from Latin fortis ‘strong’).

afford v. [with obj.] 1 (can/could afford) have enough money to pay for: the best that I could afford was a first-floor room | [with infinitive] we could never have afforded to heat the place.

- have (a resource such as money or time) available or to spare: it was taking up more time than he could afford.

- [with infinitive] be able to do something without risk of adverse consequences: only aristocrats could afford to stoop to such practices.

2 provide or supply (an opportunity or facility): the rooftop terrace affords beautiful views | [with two objs] they were afforded the luxury of bed and breakfast.

<ORIGIN> late Old English geforthian, from ge- (prefix implying completeness) + FORTHian ‘to further’, from FORTH. The original sense was ‘promote, perform, accomplish’, later ‘manage, be in a position to do’.

affordable adj. inexpensive; reasonably priced: affordable homes.

<DERIVATIVES> affordability n. affordably adv. [as submodifier] affordably priced hotel rooms

afforest /əfrst/ v. [with obj.] convert (land) into forest, especially for commercial exploitation.

- British HISTORICAL bring (woodland) under the jurisdiction of forest law for the purpose of hunting.

<DERIVATIVES> afforestation n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from medieval Latin afforestare, from ad- ‘to’ (expressing change) + foresta ‘forest’.

affranchise v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC release from servitude.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French afranchiss-, lengthened stem of afranchir, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + franc ‘free’.

affray n. [LAW], DATED an instance of group fighting in a public place that disturbs the peace: Lowe was charged with causing an affray | [mass noun] a person guilty of affray.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general sense ‘disturbance, fray’): from Anglo-Norman French afrayer ‘disturb, startle’, based on an element of Germanic origin related to Old English frithu ‘peace, safety’ (compare with German Friede ‘peace’).

affricate /afrkət/ n. [PHONETICS] a phoneme which combines a plosive with an immediately following fricative or spirant sharing the same place of articulation, e.g. ch as in chair and j as in jar.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin affricatus, past participle of affricare, from ad- ‘to’ + fricare ‘to rub’.

affright ARCHAIC v. [with obj.] frighten (someone): ghosts could never affright her.

■ n. [mass noun] fright: the deer gazed at us in affright.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: in early use from āfyrhted ‘frightened’ in Old English; later by vague form association with FRIGHT.

affront n. an action or remark that causes outrage or offence: he took his son's desertion as a personal affront | the sackings were an affront to justice.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually be affronted) offend the modesty or values of: she was affronted by his familiarity.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): from Old French afronter ‘to slap in the face, insult’, based on Latin ad frontem ‘to the face’.

affronté /əfrnti/ (also affronty) adj. [predic. or postpositive] [HERALDRY] (of an animal's head) facing the observer.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as affronty): French, past participle of affronter ‘to face’.

AFG abbr. Afghanistan (international vehicle registration).

Afghan /afan/ n. 1 a native or national of Afghanistan, or a person of Afghan descent.

2 another term for PASHTO.

3 (afghan) a woollen blanket or shawl, typically one knitted or crocheted in strips or squares.

4 short for AFGHAN COAT or AFGHAN HOUND.

■ adj. relating to Afghanistan, its people, or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Pashto afghānī.

Afghan coat n. BRITISH a kind of sheepskin coat with the skin outside, typically having a shaggy border.

Afghan hound n. a tall hunting dog of a breed with long silky hair.

afghani /afαni/ n. (pl. afghanis) the basic monetary unit of Afghanistan, equal to 100 puls.

<ORIGIN> from Pashto afghānī.

Afghanistan /afanstαn -stan/ a mountainous landlocked republic in central Asia; pop. 27,755,775 (est. 2002); official languages, Pashto and Dari (the local form of Persian); capital, Kabul.

Part of the Indian Mogul empire, Afghanistan became independent in the mid 18th century, and in the 19th and early 20th centuries was a focal point for conflicting Russian and British interests on the North-West Frontier. Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979; after Soviet forces withdrew in 1988–9 the country was thrown into turmoil with various Islamic groups struggling for power. In 1996 the Taliban gained control of Kabul and set up an Islamic state: this was overthrown in 2001 by US-led forces in conjunction with Afghan groups following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001. A new government was formed, but instability continued in many areas of the country.

aficionado /əfsjənαdə -fjə-/ n. (pl. aficionados) a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime: a crossword aficionado.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (denoting a devotee of bullfighting): from Spanish, ‘amateur’, past participle of aficioner ‘become fond of’ used as a noun, based on Latin affectio(n-) ‘(favourable) disposition towards’ (see AFFECTION).

afield adv. 1 to or at a distance: competitors from as far afield as Aberdeen.

2 in the field (in reference to hunting): the satisfaction of a day afield.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from A-2 ‘on, in’ + FIELD.

afire adv. & adj. LITERARY on fire; burning: [as predic. adjective] the whole mill was afire.

AFL abbr. Australian Football League.

aflame adv. & adj. in flames; burning: [as adv.] pour brandy over the steaks and then set aflame.

aflatoxin /aflətksn/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a class of toxic compounds produced by certain moulds found in food, which can cause liver damage and cancer.

<INFO> These are produced by fungi of the Aspergillus flavus group, subdivision Deuteromycotina.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from elements of the modern Latin taxonomic name (see above) + TOXIN.

AFL-CIO abbr. American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

afloat adj. & adv. 1 floating in water; not sinking: [as adv.] they trod water to keep afloat | [as predic. adjective] the canoes were still afloat.

- on board a ship or boat: [as predic. adjective] he hopes to find a second-hand craft and be afloat by the end of the month.

2 out of debt or difficulty: [as adv.] professional management will be needed to keep firms afloat.

<ORIGIN> Old English on flote (see a-2, float), influenced in Middle English by Old Norse á flot(i) and Old French en flot.

aflood adj. flooded or submerged: a market aflood with dumped food.

aflutter adj. [predic.] in a state of tremulous excitement: he has the physique that could send a thousand female hearts aflutter.

AFM abbr. (in the UK) Air Force Medal, awarded for bravery.

afoot adv. & adj. 1 in preparation or progress; happening or beginning to happen: [as predic. adjective] plans are afoot for a festival.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN on foot: [as adv.] they were forced to go afoot.

afore prep. ARCHAIC or DIALECT before: he died the day afore yesterday.

<ORIGIN> Old English onforan (see a-2, fore).

afore- prefix before; previously.

aforementioned adj. denoting a thing or person previously mentioned: songs from the aforementioned album.

aforesaid adj. another term for AFOREMENTIONED.

a fortiori /e ftr α -ri/ adv. & adj. used to express a conclusion for which there is stronger evidence than for a previously accepted one: [as adv.] they reject all absolute ideas of justice, and a fortiori the natural-law position.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Latin, from a fortiori argumento ‘from stronger argument’.

afoul adv. NORTH AMERICAN into conflict or difficulty with.

afraid adj. [predic.] feeling fear or anxiety; frightened: I'm afraid of dogs | she tried to think about the future without feeling afraid.

- worried that something undesirable will occur or be done: she was afraid that he would be angry.

- [with infinitive] unwilling or reluctant to do something for fear of the consequences: I'm often afraid to go out on the streets.

- (afraid for) anxious about the well-being or safety of: William was suddenly afraid for her.

<PHRASES>

□ I'm afraid [with clause] used to express polite or formal apology or regret: I'm afraid I don't understand.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: past participle of the obsolete verb affray, from Anglo-Norman French afrayer (see AFFRAY).

A-frame n. a frame shaped like a capital letter A.

- NORTH AMERICAN a house built around a timber A-frame.

afreet /afrit/ (also afrit) n. (in Arabian and Muslim mythology) a powerful jinn or demon.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Arabic ‘ifrīt.

afresh adv. in a new or different way: she left the job to start afresh.

Africa the second-largest continent, a southward projection of the Old World land mass divided roughly in two by the equator and surrounded by sea except where the Isthmus of Suez joins it to Asia.

African n. a person from Africa, especially a black person.

- a person of black African descent.

■ adj. relating to Africa or people of African descent.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Africanus, from Africa (terra) ‘(land) of the Afri’, an ancient people of North Africa.

Africana /afrkαnə/ plural n. books, artefacts, and other collectors' items connected with Africa, especially southern Africa.

African American chiefly US n. an American of African origin.

■ adj. relating to Americans of African origin.

<USAGE> African American is the currently accepted term in the US for Americans of African origin, having first become prominent in the late 1980s.

African daisy n. a plant of the daisy family, cultivated for its bright flowers.

<INFO> Dimorphotheca and other genera, family Compositae.

African elephant n. the elephant native to Africa, which is larger than the Indian elephant and has larger ears and a two-lipped trunk.

<INFO> Loxodonta africana, family Elephantidae.

African Eve hypothesis n. another term for EVE HYPOTHESIS.

African grey parrot n. another term for GREY PARROT.

African horse sickness n. a notifiable viral disease of horses, which is usually fatal. It is transmitted by biting insects and occurs chiefly in Africa, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean.

Africanism n. 1 a feature of language or culture regarded as characteristically African.

2 [mass noun] the belief that black Africans and their culture should predominate in Africa.

<DERIVATIVES> Africanist n. & adj.

Africanize (also Africanise) v. [with obj.] 1 make African in character: (as adj. Africanized) an Africanized form of Cajun music.

- (in Africa) restructure (an organization) by replacing white employees with black Africans.

2 (usually as adj. Africanized) hybridize (honeybees of European stock) with bees of African stock, producing an aggressive strain.

<DERIVATIVES> Africanization n.

African lynx n. another term for CARACAL.

African National Congress (abbr.: ANC) a South African political party and black nationalist organization. Having been banned by the South African government 1960–90, the ANC was victorious in the country's first democratic elections in 1994 and its leader Nelson Mandela became the country's President.

African Union an association of African states formed in 2002 from the Organization of African Unity.

African violet n. a small East African plant with heart-shaped velvety leaves and violet, pink, or white flowers.

<INFO> Genus Saintpaulia, family Gesneriaceae: several species, in particular S. ionantha, a popular house plant.

Afrikaans /afrkαns/ n. [mass noun] a language of southern Africa, derived from the form of Dutch brought to the Cape by Protestant settlers in the 17th century. It is an official language of South Africa, spoken by around 6 million people as their first language.

■ adj. relating to the Afrikaner people, their way of life, or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Afrikaans, from Dutch, literally ‘African’.

Afrika Korps /afrkə k/ a German army force sent to North Africa in 1941 under General Rommel.

Afrikander /afrkαndə/ (also Africander) n. an animal of a South African breed of sheep or longhorn cattle.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (an early form of AFRIKANER, having the same senses): via Afrikaans from South African Dutch.

Afrikaner /afrkαnə/ n. 1 an Afrikaans-speaking white person in South Africa, especially one descended from the Dutch and Huguenot settlers of the 17th century.

2 S. AFRICAN a gladiolus native to southern Africa.

<INFO> Gladiolus and related genera, family Iridaceae.

<DERIVATIVES> Afrikanerdom n.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from South African Dutch Africander, from Dutch Afrikaan ‘an African’ + the personal suffix -der, on the pattern of Hollander ‘Dutchman’.

Afrikanerbond /afrkαnəbnd -bnt/ a society in South Africa promoting the interests of Afrikaners.

Afrikaner Broederbond former name for AFRIKANERBOND.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from broeder ‘brother’ + bond ‘league’.

Afro n. (pl. Afros) a hairstyle consisting of a mass of very tight curls that stick out all round the head, like the natural hair of some black people.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: independent usage of AFRO-, or an abbreviation of AFRICAN.

Afro- combining form African; African and …: Afro-Asiatic | Afro-Belizean.

- relating to Africa: Afrocentric.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Afer, Afr- ‘African’.

Afro-American chiefly NORTH AMERICAN adj. & n. another term for AFRICAN AMERICAN.

<USAGE> The term Afro-American, first recorded in the 19th century and widespread in the 1960s and 1970s, has now largely given way to African American as the current accepted term in the US for Americans of African origin. In Britain, black is the standard term.

Afro-Asiatic adj. relating to or denoting a family of languages spoken in the Middle East and North Africa. They can be divided into five groups: Semitic, Omotic, Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic. Ancient Egyptian was also a member of this family. Also called HAMITO-SEMITIC.

Afro-Caribbean n. a person of African descent living in or coming from the Caribbean.

■ adj. relating to Afro-Caribbeans.

Afrocentric adj. regarding African or black culture as pre-eminent.

<DERIVATIVES> Afrocentrism n. Afrocentrist n.

afrormosia /afrməzə/ n. 1 [mass noun] the valuable timber of a tropical tree, resembling teak and used for furniture.

2 the tree that yields afrormosia timber, occurring mainly in West Africa.

<INFO> Genus Pericopsis (formerly Afrormosia), family Leguminosae: several species, especially P. elata and P. laxiflora.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: modern Latin, from AFRO- + the related genus name Ormosia, formed irregularly from Greek hormos ‘necklace’ (because necklaces were strung with the seeds).

Afrotropical adj. another term for Ethiopian (sense 2 of the adjective).

aft /αft/ adv. & adj. at, near, or towards the stern of a ship or tail of an aircraft: [as adv.] Travis made his way aft | [as adj.] the aft cargo compartment.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: probably from obsolete baft (see ABAFT), influenced by Low German and Dutch achter ‘abaft, after’.

after prep. 1 in the time following (an event or another period of time): shortly after their marriage they moved to Colorado | after a while he returned | he'd gone out with his secretary for an after-work drink.

- in phrases indicating something happening continuously or repeatedly: day after day we kept studying.

- NORTH AMERICAN past (used in specifying a time): I strolled in about ten minutes after two.

- during the time following the departure or action of: she cooks for him and cleans up after him.

2 behind: she went out, shutting the door after her.

- (with reference to looking or speaking) in the direction of someone who is moving further away: she stared after him.

3 in pursuit or quest of: chasing after something you can't have.

4 next to and following in order or importance: in their order of priorities health comes after housing.

5 in allusion to (someone or something with the same or a related name): they named her Pauline, after Barbara's mother.

- in imitation of: a drawing after Millet's The Reapers.

■ conj. & adv. during the period of time following (an event): [as conjunction] bath-time ended in a flood after the taps were left running | [as adv.] Duke Frederick died soon after.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 ARCHAIC later: he was sorry in after years.

2 nearer the stern of a ship: the after cabin.

<PHRASES>

□ after all in spite of any indications or expectations to the contrary: I rang and told her I couldn't come after all.

□ after hours after normal working or licensed opening hours.

□ after you a polite formula used to suggest that someone goes in front of or takes a turn before oneself.

□ be after doing something IRISH be on the point of doing something or have just done it: the pigs were after breaking loose.

<ORIGIN> Old English æfter, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch achter.

afterbirth n. [mass noun] the placenta and fetal membranes discharged from the womb after the birth of offspring.

afterburner n. an auxiliary burner in which extra fuel is burned in the exhaust of a jet engine, to increase thrust.

aftercare n. [mass noun] 1 care of a patient after a stay in hospital or of a person on release from prison.

2 support or advice offered to a customer following the purchase of a product or service.

afterdamp n. [mass noun] choking gas left after an explosion of firedamp in a mine, rich in carbon monoxide.

afterdeck n. an open deck toward the stern of a ship.

after-effect n. an effect that follows after the primary action of something: he was suffering the after-effects of the drug.

afterglow n. [in sing.] light or radiance remaining in the sky after the sun has set.

- good feelings remaining after a pleasurable or successful experience: basking in the afterglow of victory.

after-image n. an impression of a vivid image retained by the eye after the stimulus has ceased.

afterlife n. [in sing.] (in some religions) life after death: most Christians believe in an afterlife.

aftermarket n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the market for spare parts, accessories, and components for motor vehicles.

- [STOCK EXCHANGE] the market for shares and bonds after their original issue.

aftermath n. 1 the consequences or after-effects of a significant unpleasant event: food prices soared in the aftermath of the drought.

2 [FARMING] new grass growing after mowing or harvest.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2): from AFTER (as an adjective) + dialect math ‘mowing’, of Germanic origin; related to German Mahd.

aftermost adj. [attr.] nearest the stern of a ship or tail of an aircraft.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from AFTER (as an adjective) + -MOST.

afternoon n. the time from noon or lunchtime to evening: I telephoned this afternoon | I'll be back at three in the afternoon | she worked on Tuesday afternoons.

■ adv. (afternoons) INFORMAL in the afternoon; every afternoon.

■ exclam. INFORMAL short for GOOD AFTERNOON.

afterpains plural n. pains after childbirth caused by contraction of the womb.

after-party n. a party held after another event, especially a concert or another party.

afters plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL the sweet course following the main course of a meal; pudding.

aftershave n. [mass noun] an astringent scented lotion for applying to the skin after shaving.

aftershock n. a smaller earthquake following the main shock of a large earthquake.

aftersun adj. denoting a product applied to the skin after exposure to the sun.

aftertaste n. a taste remaining in the mouth after eating or drinking something: the wine had a bitter aftertaste | FIGURATIVE we concluded many exchanges in uneasy fashion, leaving behind a sour aftertaste.

afterthought n. something that is thought of or added later: as an afterthought she said ‘Thank you’.

aftertouch n. [mass noun] a facility on an electronic music keyboard by which an effect is produced by depressing a key after striking it.

afterwards (US also afterward /-wəd/) adv. at a later or future time: the offender was arrested shortly afterwards.

<ORIGIN> Old English æftewearde, from æftan ‘aft’ + -WARDS, influenced by AFTER.

afterword n. a concluding section in a book.

afterworld n. a world entered after death.

AG abbr.

- Adjutant General.

- Aktiengesellschaft, used in the names of German joint-stock companies.

- Attorney General.

Ag^1 symbol the chemical element silver.

<ORIGIN> from Latin argentum.

Ag^2 abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] antigen.

ag^1 /a/ NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL adj. short for AGRICULTURAL.

■ n. short for AGRICULTURE.

ag^2 /ax x/ exclam. S. AFRICAN used to express a range of emotions from irritation or grief to pleasure: ag man, there's nothing anyone can do.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from Dutch ach (see ACH).

ag- prefix variant spelling of AD-. assimilated before g (as in aggravate, aggression).

Aga /αə/ n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a type of heavy heat-retaining stove or range used for cooking and heating.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from the Swedish name (Svenskaa) A(ktiebolaget) Ga(sackumulator) ‘Swedish Gas Accumulator Company’, the original manufacturer.

aga /αə/ n. chiefly HISTORICAL (in Muslim countries, especially under the Ottoman Empire) a military commander or official.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Turkish ağa ‘master, lord’, from Mongolian aqa.

Agadir /aədə/ a seaport and resort on the Atlantic coast of Morocco; pop. 610,600 (est. 2002, metropolitan area).

again /əεn əen/ adv. another time; once more: it was great to meet old friends again.

- returning to a previous position or condition: he rose, tidied the bed, and sat down again.

- in addition to what has already been mentioned: the wages were low but they made half as much again in tips.

- [sentence adv.] used to introduce a further point for consideration, supporting or contrasting with what has just been said: I never saw any signs, but then again, maybe I wasn't looking.

- used to ask someone to repeat something: what was your name again?

<PHRASES>

□ again and again repeatedly.

<ORIGIN> Old English ongēan, ongægn, etc., of Germanic origin; related to German entgegen ‘opposite’.

against /əεnst əenst/ prep. 1 in opposition to: the fight against crime | he decided against immediate publication | swimming against the tide.

- with reference to legal action: the first victim gave evidence against him.

- with reference to a sporting contest: the championship match against Somerset.

2 in anticipation of and preparation for (a problem or difficulty): he gritted his teeth against the pain | makeshift barricades against tank attacks.

- (in betting) in anticipation of the failure of: the odds were 5–1 against England.

- in resistance to; as protection from: he turned up his collar against the wind.

- in relation to (an amount of money owed, due, or lent) so as to reduce, cancel, or secure it: money was advanced against the value of the property.

3 in conceptual contrast to: the benefits must be weighed against the costs.

- in visual contrast to: he was silhouetted against the light of the stair window.

4 in or into physical contact with (something), so as to be supported by or collide with it: she stood with her back against the door | frustration made him bang his head against the wall.

<PHRASES>

□ have something against someone dislike or bear a grudge towards someone: I have nothing against you personally.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from AGAIN + -s (adverbial genitive) + -t probably by association with superlatives (as in amongst).

Aga Khan /αə kαn/ n. the title of the spiritual leader of the Nizari sect of Ismaili Muslims. The first Aga Khan was given his title in 1818 by the shah of Persia. The present (fourth) Aga Khan (Karim al-Hussain Shah, b.1937) inherited the title in 1957.

agal /aαl/ n. a headband worn by Bedouin Arab men to keep the keffiyeh in place.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: representing a Bedouin pronunciation of Arabic ‘iqāl ‘bond, hobble’.

agama /əαmə/ n. an Old World lizard with a large head and a long tail, typically showing a marked difference in colour and form between the sexes.

<INFO> Genus Agama, family Agamidae: many species.

<DERIVATIVES> agamid n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps from Carib (the name was originally applied to a West Indian lizard).

Agamemnon /aəmεmnən/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] king of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus, commander-in-chief of the Greek expedition against Troy. On his return home from Troy he was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus; his murder was avenged by his son Orestes and daughter Electra.

agamic /əamk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] asexual; reproducing asexually: winged agamic females.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek agamos ‘unmarried’ + -IC.

agammaglobulinaemia /eaməlbjlnimə/ (also agammaglobulinemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE lack of gamma globulin in the blood plasma, causing immune deficiency.

agamospermy /aəmə()spəmi/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] asexual reproduction in which seeds are produced from unfertilized ovules.

<DERIVATIVES> agamospermous adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek agamos ‘unmarried’ + sperma ‘seed’.

agapanthus /aəpanθəs/ n. a South African plant of the lily family, with blue or white flowers growing in rounded clusters.

<INFO> Genus Agapanthus, family Liliaceae (or Alliaceae).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek agapē ‘love’ + anthos ‘flower’.

agape^1 /əep/ adj. [predic.] (of a person's mouth) wide open in surprise or wonder.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from A-2 ‘on’ + GAPE.

agape^2 /aəpi/ n. [mass noun] [THEOLOGY] Christian love, as distinct from erotic love or simple affection.

- [count noun] a communal meal held in Christian fellowship.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek agapē ‘brotherly love’.

agar /eα/ (also agar-agar /eαreα/) n. [mass noun] a gelatinous substance obtained from certain red seaweeds and used in biological culture media and as a thickener in foods.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Malay.

agarbatti /aəbti/ n. (pl. same or agarbattis)

■ Indian term for JOSS STICK.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi agarbattī.

agaric /a(ə)rk əαrk/ n. a fungus with a fruiting body that resembles a mushroom, having a convex or flattened cap with gills on the underside.

<INFO> Order Agaricales, class Hymenomycetes, in particular the mushroom family Agaricaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting various bracket fungi with medicinal or other uses): from Latin agaricum, from Greek agarikon ‘tree fungus’.

agarose /aərəz -s/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance which is the main constituent of agar and is used especially in gels for electrophoresis. It is a polysaccharide mainly containing galactose residues.

Agartala /ətəlα/ a city in the far north-east of India, capital of the state of Tripura, situated near the border with Bangladesh; pop. 189,300 (2001).

Agassi /aəsi/ André (b.1970), American tennis player. He won the Wimbledon men's singles title in 1992 and went on to win three major men's singles titles between 1999 and 2000.

Agassiz /aəsi/ Jean Louis Rodolphe (1807–73), Swiss-born American zoologist, geologist, and palaeontologist. In 1837 Agassiz was the first to propose that much of Europe had once been in the grip of an ice age.

agate /aət/ n. [mass noun] an ornamental stone consisting of a hard variety of chalcedony (quartz), typically banded in appearance.

- [count noun] a coloured toy marble resembling a banded gemstone.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French, via Latin from Greek akhatēs.

agave /əevi/ n. a succulent plant with rosettes of narrow spiny leaves and tall flower spikes, native to the southern US and tropical America.

<INFO> Genus Agave, family Agavaceae: numerous species, including the century plant.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek Agauē, the name of one of the daughters of Cadmus in Greek mythology, from agauos ‘illustrious’.

AGC abbr. [ELECTRONICS] automatic gain control.

age n. 1 the length of time that a person has lived or a thing has existed: he died from a heart attack at the age of 51 | he must be nearly 40 years of age.

- a particular stage in someone's life: children of primary school age.

- [mass noun] the state of being old: fine wine improves with age.

2 a distinct period of history: an age of technological growth.

- [GEOLOGY] a division of time that is a subdivision of an epoch, corresponding to a stage in chronostratigraphy.

- (ages/an age) BRITISH INFORMAL a very long time: I haven't seen her for ages.

■ v. (ages, ageing or aging, aged) [no obj.] grow old or older: the tiredness we feel as we age.

- [with obj.] cause to appear old or older: he even tried ageing the painting with a spoonful of coffee.

- (with reference to an alcoholic drink, cheese, etc.) mature or allow to mature: [no obj.] the wine ages in open vats or casks | [with obj.] a cheese that has been aged for four months.

- [with obj.] determine how old (something) is: we didn't have a clue how to age these animals.

<PHRASES>

□ act (or be) one's age [usually in imperative] behave in a manner appropriate to someone of one's age and not to someone younger.

□ come of age reach adult status (in UK law at 18, formerly 21).

□ of an age 1 old enough to be able or expected to do something: the sons are of an age to marry.

2 (of two or more people or things) of a similar age: the children all seemed of an age.

□ through the ages throughout history: the influence of Greek culture through the ages.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, based on Latin aetas, aetat-, from aevum ‘age, era’.

-age suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting an action: leverage | voyage.

- the product of an action: spillage | wreckage.

- a function; a sphere of action: homage | peerage.

2 denoting an aggregate or number of: mileage | percentage.

- fees payable for; the cost of using: postage | tonnage.

- INFORMAL denoting a large number of something (typically forming nouns whose plurals are correctly formed with -s): decibelage | kissage.

3 denoting a place or abode: vicarage | village.

<ORIGIN> from Old French, based on Latin -aticum, neuter form of the adjectival ending -aticus.

aged adj. 1 /edd/ [predic. or postpositive] having lived for a specified length of time; of a specified age: young people aged 14 to 18 | he died aged 60.

- (of a horse or farm animal) over a certain defined age of maturity, typically 6 to 12 years for horses, 3 or 4 years for cattle.

2 /edd/ having lived or existed for a long time; very old: aged men with white hair.

3 /edd/ having been subjected to ageing: replica guitar with aged finish.

age group n. a number of people or things classed together as being of similar age: that attitude is widespread in my age group.

age hardening n. [mass noun] spontaneous hardening of a metal which occurs if it is quenched and then stored at ambient temperature or treated with mild heat.

<DERIVATIVES> age-hardened adj.

ageing (also aging) n. [mass noun] the process of growing old: the external signs of ageing.

- the process of change in the properties of a material occurring over a period, either spontaneously or through deliberate action.

■ adj. (of a person) growing old; elderly: an ageing population.

- (of a thing) reaching the end of useful life: the world's ageing fleet of oil tankers.

ageism n. [mass noun] prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person's age.

<DERIVATIVES> ageist adj. & n.

ageless adj. not ageing or appearing to age.

- lasting for a long time or forever: the town retains an ageless charm.

<DERIVATIVES> agelessness n.

age-long adj. [attr.] having existed for a very long time: the will to change age-long habits.

agency n. 1 [often with adj. or noun modifier] a business or organization providing a particular service on behalf of another business, person, or group: an advertising agency | aid agencies.

- a department or body providing a specific service for a government or other organization: the Environmental Protection Agency.

2 [mass noun] action or intervention producing a particular effect: canals carved by the agency of running water.

- [count noun] a thing or person that acts to produce a particular result: the movies could be an agency moulding the values of the public.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin agentia, from agent- ‘doing’ (see AGENT).

agenda /ədεndə/ n. 1 a list of items to be discussed at a formal meeting: the question of nuclear weapons had been removed from the agenda.

- a plan of things to be done or problems to be addressed: he vowed to put jobs at the top of his agenda | the government had its own agenda.

- the underlying intentions or motives of a particular person or group: Miller has his own agenda and it has nothing to do with football.

2 NORTH AMERICAN an appointment diary.

<PHRASES>

□ on the agenda likely or needing to be dealt with or done: his release was not on the agenda.

□ set the agenda influence or determine a programme of action: he has set the agenda for future work in this field.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘things to be done’): from Latin, neuter plural of agendum, gerundive of agere ‘do’.

<USAGE> Although agenda is the plural of agendum in Latin, in standard modern English it is normally used as a singular noun with a standard plural form (agendas). See also usage at data and media^1.

agent n. 1 a person who acts on behalf of another, in particular:

- a person who manages business, financial, or contractual matters for an actor, performer, writer, etc.

- a person or company that provides a particular service, typically one that involves organizing transactions between two other parties: a travel agent.

- a person who works secretly to obtain information for a government or other official body: a trained intelligence agent.

2 a person or thing that takes an active role or produces a specified effect: agents of environmental change | bleaching agents.

- [GRAMMAR] the doer of an action, typically expressed as the subject of an active verb or in a by phrase with a passive verb.

- [COMPUTING] an independently operating Internet program, typically one that performs background tasks such as information retrieval or processing on behalf of a user or other program.

<DERIVATIVES> agentive adj. ([GRAMMAR])

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘someone or something that produces an effect’): from Latin agent- ‘doing’, from agere.

Agent General n. (pl. Agents General) the representative of an Australian state or Canadian province in London or another major foreign city.

agent noun n. a noun denoting someone or something that performs the action of a verb, usually ending in -er or -or, e.g. worker, accelerator.

Agent Orange n. [mass noun] a defoliant chemical used by the US in the Vietnam War.

agent provocateur /a prəvkətə/ French /aα pRvkatøR/ n. (pl. agents provocateurs pronunc. same) a person employed to induce others to break the law so that they can be convicted.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘provocative agent’.

age of consent n. the age at which a person's consent to sexual intercourse is valid in law.

age of discretion n. the age at which someone is considered able to manage their own affairs or take responsibility for their actions.

age of reason n. [mass noun] 1 the Enlightenment.

2 (especially in the Roman Catholic Church) the age at which a child is held capable of discerning right from wrong.

age-old adj. having existed for a very long time: the age-old quest for knowledge.

agglomerate v. /əlməret/ collect or form into a mass or group: [with obj.] he is seeking to agglomerate the functions of the Home Office | [no obj.] these small particles soon agglomerate together.

■ n. /əlmərət/ a mass or collection of things: a multimedia agglomerate.

- [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a volcanic rock consisting of large fragments bonded together.

■ adj. /əlmərət/ collected or formed into a mass.

<DERIVATIVES> agglomerative adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin agglomerat- ‘added to’, from the verb agglomerare, from ad- ‘to’ + glomerare (from glomus ‘ball’).

agglomeration /əlməre(ə)n/ n. a mass or collection of things; an assemblage: the arts centre is an agglomeration of theatres, galleries, shops, restaurants and bars.

agglutinate /əlutnet/ v. firmly stick or be stuck together to form a mass: (as adj. agglutinated) rhinoceros horns are agglutinated masses of hair.

- [BIOLOGY] (with reference to bacteria or red blood cells) clump together.

- [with obj.] [LINGUISTICS] (of a language) combine (word elements) to express compound ideas.

<DERIVATIVES> agglutination n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin agglutinat- ‘caused to adhere’, from the verb agglutinare, from ad- ‘to’ + glutinare (from gluten ‘glue’).

agglutinative /əlutnətv/ adj. [LINGUISTICS] (of a language, e.g. Hungarian, Turkish, Korean, and Swahili) tending to express concepts in complex words consisting of many elements, rather than by inflection or by using isolated elements. Contrasted with ANALYTIC and SYNTHETIC.

agglutinin /əlutnn/ n. [BIOLOGY] an antibody, lectin, or other substance that causes agglutination.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AGGLUTINATE + -IN^1.

agglutinogen /əlutnəd(ə)n/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an antigenic substance present in blood cells, bacteria, etc., which stimulates the formation of an agglutinin in blood serum.

aggradation /arəde(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the deposition of material by a river, stream, or current.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AG- (expressing increase) + (de)gradation.

aggrandize /ərandz/ (also aggrandise) v. [with obj.] increase the power, status, or wealth of: an action intended to aggrandize the Frankish dynasty.

- enhance the reputation of (someone) beyond what is justified by the facts: he hoped to aggrandize himself by dying a hero's death.

<DERIVATIVES> aggrandizement n. aggrandizer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the general sense ‘increase, magnify’): from French agrandiss-, lengthened stem of agrandir, probably from Italian aggrandire, from Latin grandis ‘large’. The ending was changed by association with verbs ending in -IZE.

aggravate v. [with obj.] 1 make (a problem, injury, or offence) worse or more serious: military action would only aggravate the situation.

2 INFORMAL annoy or exasperate: (as adj. aggravating) she found him thoroughly aggravating and unprofessional.

<DERIVATIVES> aggravatingly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin aggravat- ‘made heavy’, from the verb aggravare, from ad- (expressing increase) + gravis ‘heavy’.

<USAGE> Aggravate in the sense ‘annoy or exasperate’ dates back to the 17th century and has been so used by respected writers ever since. This use is still regarded as incorrect by some traditionalists on the grounds that it is too radical a departure from the etymological meaning of ‘make heavy’. It is, however, comparable to meaning changes in hundreds of other words which have long been accepted without comment.

aggravated adj. [attr.] [LAW] (of an offence) made more serious by attendant circumstances: aggravated burglary.

- (of a penalty) made more severe in recognition of the seriousness of an offence: aggravated damages.

aggravation n. [mass noun] 1 the state of becoming worse or more serious; exacerbation: the patient experienced an aggravation of symptoms.

2 INFORMAL annoyance or exasperation: the whole business has caused me a lot of aggravation. | I don't need this aggravation.

aggregate n. /arət/ 1 a whole formed by combining several separate elements: the council was an aggregate of three regional assemblies.

- the total score of a player or team in a fixture comprising more than one game or round: he set the pace with a one-over-par aggregate of 151 | [mass noun] the result put the sides level on aggregate.

2 a material or structure formed from a mass of fragments or particles loosely compacted together.

- [mass noun] pieces of broken or crushed stone or gravel used to make concrete and in building.

■ adj. /arət/ [attr.] formed or calculated by the combination of several separate elements; total: the aggregate amount of grants made.

- [BOTANY] (of a group of species) comprising several very similar species formerly regarded as a single species.

- [ECONOMICS] denoting the total supply or demand for goods and services in an economy at a particular time.

■ v. /aret/ form or group into a class or cluster: [with obj.] socio-occupational groups aggregate men sharing similar kinds of occupation | [no obj.] the butterflies aggregate in dense groups.

<PHRASES>

□ in (the) aggregate in total; as a whole: 10,000 tonnes in aggregate.

<DERIVATIVES> aggregation n. aggregative /arətv/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin aggregat- ‘herded together’, from the verb aggregare, from ad- ‘towards’ + grex, greg- ‘a flock’.

aggregate fruit n. [BOTANY] a fruit formed from several carpels derived from the same flower, e.g. a raspberry.

aggregator n. [COMPUTING] an Internet company that collects information about other companies' products and services and distributes it through a single website.

aggression n. [mass noun] feelings of anger or antipathy resulting in hostile or violent behaviour; readiness to attack or confront: his chin was jutting with aggression | territorial aggression between individuals of the same species.

- the action of attacking without provocation: he called for an end to foreign aggression against his country.

- forcefulness: the sheer volume and aggression of his playing.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘an attack’): from Latin aggressio(n-), from aggredi ‘to attack’, from ad- ‘towards’ + gradi ‘proceed, walk’.

aggressive adj. ready or likely to attack or confront; characterized by or resulting from aggression: he's very uncooperative and aggressive.

- behaving or done in a determined and forceful way: we needed more growth to pursue our aggressive acquisition strategy.

<DERIVATIVES> aggressively adv. aggressiveness n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin aggress- ‘attacked’ (from the verb aggredi) + -IVE; compare with French agressif, -ive.

aggressor n. a person or country that attacks another first.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin, from aggredi ‘to attack’ (see AGGRESSION).

aggrieved adj. feeling resentment at having been unfairly treated: they were aggrieved at the outcome.

<DERIVATIVES> aggrievedly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘distressed’): past participle of aggrieve, from Old French agrever ‘make heavier’, based on Latin aggravare (see AGGRAVATE).

aggro n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL aggressive, violent behaviour.

- problems and difficulties.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: abbreviation of aggravation (see AGGRAVATE), or of AGGRESSION.

aghast /əαst/ adj. [predic.] filled with horror or shock: she winced, aghast at his cruelty.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: past participle of the obsolete verb agast, gast ‘frighten’, from Old English gsten. The spelling with gh (originally Scots) became general by about 1700, probably influenced by GHOST; compare with GHASTLY.

Aghios Nikolaos /as nkəls/ a fishing port and holiday resort on the north coast of Crete, east of Heraklion; pop. 11,800 (est. 2002). Greek name ÁYIOS NIKÓLAOS.

agile adj. able to move quickly and easily: Ruth was as agile as a monkey | FIGURATIVE his vague manner concealed an agile mind.

<DERIVATIVES> agilely adv. agility n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from Latin agilis, from agere ‘do’.

agin /ən/ prep. dialect form of AGAINST.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: variant of the obsolete preposition again, with the same meaning.

Agincourt, Battle of /adnk -kt/ a battle in northern France in 1415 during the Hundred Years War, in which the English under Henry V defeated a large French army. The victory, achieved largely by use of the longbow, allowed Henry to occupy Normandy.

agio /adə/ n. (pl. agios) the percentage charged on the exchange of one currency, or one form of money, into another that is more valuable.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Italian agio, aggio, literally ‘ease, convenience’.

agist^1 /ədst/ v. [with obj.] take in and feed (livestock) for payment.

<DERIVATIVES> agister n. agistment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘use or allow the use of land for pasture’): from Old French agister, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + gister, from giste ‘lodging’.

agist^2 /edst/ adj. & n.

■ variant spelling of AGEIST (see AGEISM).

agitate v. [with obj.] 1 make (someone) troubled or nervous: the thought of questioning Toby agitated him extremely.

2 stir or disturb (something, especially a liquid) briskly: agitate the water to disperse the oil.

3 [no obj.] campaign to arouse public concern about an issue in the hope of prompting action: they agitated for a reversal of the decision.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘drive away’): from Latin agitat- ‘agitated, driven’, from agitare, frequentative of agere ‘do, drive’.

agitated adj. feeling or appearing troubled or nervous: there's no point getting agitated. | she was red and agitated with the effort of arguing.

<DERIVATIVES> agitatedly adv.

agitation n. [mass noun] 1 a state of anxiety or nervous excitement: she was wringing her hands in agitation.

2 brisk stirring or disturbance of a liquid.

3 the arousing of public concern about an issue and pressing for action on it: widespread agitation for social reform.

- [count noun] INDIAN a public demonstration.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘action, being active’): from Latin agitatio(n-), from the verb agitare (see AGITATE).

agitato /adtαtə/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) agitated in manner: allegro agitato.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘agitated’.

agitator n. 1 a person who urges others to protest or rebel: a political agitator.

2 an apparatus for stirring liquid.

agitprop /adtprp a-/ n. [mass noun] political (originally communist) propaganda, especially in art or literature.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: Russian, blend of agitatsiya ‘agitation’ and propaganda ‘propaganda’.

agleam adj. [predic.] gleaming: his eyes were agleam with the intensity of his fervour.

aglet /alət/ n. a metal or plastic tube fixed round each end of a shoelace.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French aiguillette ‘small needle’, diminutive of aiguille (see AIGUILLE).

agley /əle əli/ adv. SCOTTISH askew; awry.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from A-2 ‘on’ + Scots gley ‘squint’, of unknown origin.

aglow adj. [predic.] glowing: she was aglow with health.

AGM abbr. BRITISH annual general meeting.

agma /amə/ n. [PHONETICS] the speech sound of ‘ng’ as in thing, a velar nasal consonant represented by the symbol // in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from late Greek, from Greek, literally ‘fragment’.

agnail /anel/ n. another term for HANGNAIL.

agnate /anet/ chiefly [LAW] n. a person descended from the same male ancestor as another specified or implied person, especially through the male line.

■ adj. descended from the same male ancestor. Compare with cognate (sense 2 of the adjective).

<DERIVATIVES> agnatic /-natk/ adj. agnation n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a noun): from Latin agnatus, from ad- ‘to’ + gnatus, natus ‘born’.

Agnatha /aneθə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a group of primitive jawless vertebrates which includes the lampreys, hagfishes, and many fossil fishlike forms. Compare with CYCLOSTOME.

<INFO> Superclass Agnatha: the living forms are in the classes Myxini (hagfishes) and Cephalaspidomorphi (lampreys).

<DERIVATIVES> agnathan n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin Agnatha, from A-1 ‘without’ + Greek gnathos ‘jaw’.

Agnes, St^1 (died c.304), Roman martyr, said to have been a Christian virgin who refused to marry. She is the patron saint of virgins and her emblem is a lamb (Latin agnus). Feast day, 21 January.

Agnes, St^2 (c.1211–82), patron saint of Bohemia. She was canonized in 1989. Feast day, 2 March.

Agnesi /anjezi/ Maria Gaetana (1718–99), Italian mathematician and philosopher, regarded as the first female mathematician of the Western world. Her major work, produced in 1748, was a comprehensive treatment of algebra and analysis.

Agni /ani/ the Vedic god of fire, the priest of the gods and the god of the priests.

agnolotti /anjəlti/ plural n. pasta squares stuffed with a variety of fillings, like small ravioli.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

agnosia /ənəsə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inability to interpret sensations and hence to recognize things, typically as a result of brain damage.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: coined in German from Greek agnōsia ‘ignorance’.

agnostic /anstk/ n. a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God.

■ adj. relating to agnostics or agnosticism.

<DERIVATIVES> agnosticism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from A-1 ‘not’ + GNOSTIC.

Agnus Dei /ans dei anjs di/ n. 1 a figure of a lamb bearing a cross or flag, as an emblem of Christ.

2 [CHRISTIAN CHURCH] an invocation beginning with the words ‘Lamb of God’ forming a set part of the Mass.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, literally ‘Lamb of God’.

ago adv. before the present; earlier (used with a measurement of time): he went five minutes ago | as long ago as 1942 | not long ago.

<ORIGIN> Middle English ago, agone, past participle of the obsolete verb ago ‘pass’, used to express passage of time.

<USAGE> When ago is followed by a clause, the clause should be introduced by that rather than since, e.g. it was sixty years ago that I left this place (not it was sixty years ago since I left this place). The use of since is not correct in standard English.

agog adj. [predic.] very eager or curious to hear or see something: I'm all agog | Papa was agog with curiosity.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French en gogues, from en ‘in’ + the plural of gogue ‘fun’.

agogic /ədk/ [MUSIC] adj. relating to or denoting accentuation within musical phrases by slight lengthening of notes.

■ n. (agogics) [usually treated as sing.] the use of agogic accents.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Greek agōgos ‘leading’, from agein ‘to lead’, + -IC.

agogo /əəə/ n. a small bell made of two joined metal cones, used as a percussion instrument in African and Latin music.

<ORIGIN> from Yoruba.

a gogo /ə əə/ adj. [postpositive] INFORMAL in abundance; galore: Gershwin a gogo—all the hits.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from French à gogo, from Old French gogue ‘fun’.

agonic line /ənk/ n. an imaginary line round the earth passing through both the north pole and the north magnetic pole, at any point on which a compass needle points to true north.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek agōnios, agōnos (from a- ‘without’ + gonia ‘angle’) + -IC.

agonist /aənst/ n. 1 [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance which initiates a physiological response when combined with a receptor. Compare with ANTAGONIST.

2 [ANATOMY] a muscle whose contraction moves a part of the body directly. Compare with antagonist.

3 another term for PROTAGONIST.

<DERIVATIVES> agonism n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek agōnistēs ‘contestant’ (a sense reflected in English in the early 17th century), from agōn ‘contest’.

agonistic adj. 1 polemical; combative: an agonistic exchange.

- [ZOOLOGY] (of animal behaviour) associated with conflict.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] relating to or acting as an agonist.

<DERIVATIVES> agonistically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via late Latin from Greek agōnistikos, from agōnistēs ‘contestant’ (see AGONIST).

agonize (also agonise) v. [no obj.] undergo great mental anguish through worrying about something: I didn't agonize over the problem.

- [with obj.] cause mental anguish to.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French agoniser or late Latin agonizare, from Greek agōnizesthai ‘contend’, from agōn ‘contest’.

agonized (also agonised) adj. manifesting, suffering, or characterized by great physical or mental pain: she gave an agonized cry | months of agonized discussion.

agonizing (also agonising) adj. causing great physical or mental pain: an agonizing death | there is an agonizing choice to make.

<DERIVATIVES> agonizingly adv. [as submodifier] agonizingly slow steps

agony n. (pl. agonies) [mass noun] extreme physical or mental suffering: he crashed to the ground in agony.

- the final stages of a difficult or painful death: his last agony.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting mental anguish alone): via Old French and late Latin from Greek agōnia, from agōn ‘contest’. The sense of physical suffering dates from the early 17th cent.

agony aunt (or agony uncle) n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person who answers letters in an agony column.

agony column n. BRITISH INFORMAL a column in a newspaper or magazine offering advice on personal problems to readers who write in.

agora^1 /arə/ n. (pl. agorae /-ri/ or agoras) (in ancient Greece) a public open space used for assemblies and markets.

<ORIGIN> from Greek.

agora^2 /aərα/ n. (pl. agorot or agoroth /aərət -rəθ/) a monetary unit of Israel, equal to one hundredth of a shekel.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew 'ăōrāh ‘small coin’.

agoraphobia /a(ə)rəfəbə/ n. [mass noun] extreme or irrational fear of open or public places.

<DERIVATIVES> agoraphobe n. agoraphobic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek agora ‘place of assembly, marketplace’ + -PHOBIA.

Agostini /aəstini/ Giacomo (b.1944), Italian racing motorcyclist. Between 1966 and 1975 he won a record fifteen world titles, and won the Isle of Man TT ten times.

agouti /əuti/ n. (pl. same or agoutis) a large long-legged burrowing rodent related to the guinea pig, native to Central and South America.

<INFO> Genera Cuniculus and Dasyprocta, family Dasyproctidae: several species.

- [mass noun] fur in which each hair has alternate dark and light bands, producing a grizzled appearance.

- a rodent, especially a mouse, having agouti fur.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via French or from Spanish aguti, from Tupi akutí.

AGR abbr. advanced gas-cooled (nuclear) reactor.

Agra /αrə/ a city on the River Jumna in Uttar Pradesh state, northern India; pop. 1,260,000 (2001). Founded in 1566, Agra was the capital of the Mogul empire until 1658. It is the site of the Taj Mahal.

agrammatism /əramətz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a tendency to form sentences without the correct inflectional structure as a result of brain damage, as in Broca's aphasia.

agranulocytosis /əranjlə()stəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a deficiency of granulocytes in the blood, causing increased vulnerability to infection.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from A-1 + GRANULOCYTE + -OSIS.

agraphia /ərafə e-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inability to write, as a language disorder resulting from brain damage.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + Greek -graphia ‘writing’.

agrarian /ərεrən/ adj. relating to cultivated land or the cultivation of land.

- relating to landed property: the agrarian reforms.

■ n. a person who advocates a redistribution of landed property.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally denoting a Roman law for the division of conquered lands): from Latin agrarius, from ager, agr- ‘field’.

Agrarian Revolution the transformation of British agriculture during the 18th century, characterized by the enclosure of common land and the introduction of technological innovations such as the seed drill and the rotation of crops.

agree v. (agrees, agreeing, agreed) [no obj.] 1 have the same opinion about something; concur: I completely agree with your recent editorial | we both agreed on issues such as tougher penalties for criminals | [with direct speech] ‘Yes, dreadful, isn't it,’ she agreed.

- (agree with) approve of (something) with regard to its moral correctness: I don't agree with random drugs testing in schools.

2 (agree to or to do something) say that one will do something which has been suggested by another person: she had agreed to go and see a movie with him.

- [with obj.] reach agreement about (something) after negotiation: if they had agreed a price the deal would have gone through | [no obj.] the commission agreed on a proposal to limit imports.

3 (agree with) be consistent with: your body language does not agree with what you are saying.

- [GRAMMAR] have the same number, gender, case, or person as: the verb agrees with the final noun.

- [usually with negative] be healthy or appropriate for (someone): she's eaten something which did not agree with her.

<PHRASES>

□ agree to DIFFER see DIFFER.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French agreer, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ + gratus ‘pleasing’.

agreeable adj. 1 quite enjoyable and pleasurable; pleasant: a cheerful and agreeable companion.

2 [predic.] willing to agree to something: they were agreeable to its publication.

- (of a course of action) acceptable: a compromise which might be agreeable to both coal owners and unions.

<DERIVATIVES> agreeableness n. agreeably adv. [as submodifier] an agreeably warm day

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French agreable, from agreer ‘make agreeable to’ (see AGREE).

agreed adj. [attr.] discussed or negotiated and then accepted by all parties: the agreed date.

- (of two or more parties) holding the same view or opinion on something: all the republics are agreed on the necessity of a common defence policy | [with clause] we are agreed that what is needed is a catchy title.

agreement n. [mass noun] harmony or accordance in opinion or feeling: the governments failed to reach agreement | the two officers nodded in agreement.

- [count noun] a negotiated and typically legally binding arrangement between parties as to a course of action: a trade agreement | a verbal agreement to sell.

- the absence of incompatibility between two things; consistency: agreement between experimental observations and theory.

- [GRAMMAR] the condition of having the same number, gender, case, and/or person as another word.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from agreer ‘make agreeable to’ (see AGREE).

agrestal /ərεst(ə)l/ adj. [BOTANY] growing wild in cultivated fields.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin agrestis ‘relating to the country’ (see AGRESTIC) + -AL.

agrestic /ərεstk/ adj. chiefly LITERARY relating to the country; rural or rustic.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin agrestis, from ager, agr- ‘field’ + -IC.

agri- n. variant form of AGRO-.

agribusiness n. [mass noun] 1 agriculture conducted on strictly commercial principles.

- [count noun] an organization engaged in agribusiness.

2 the group of industries dealing with agricultural produce and services required in farming.

agrichemical n. & adj.

■ variant form of AGROCHEMICAL.

Agricola /ərkələ/ Gnaeus Julius (AD 40–93), Roman general and governor of Britain 78–84. As governor he completed the subjugation of Wales and defeated the Scottish Highland tribes.

agricultural adj. 1 relating to agriculture: agricultural land | an agricultural worker.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL (in a sporting context) clumsy: Keith took an agricultural swing at the ball.

<DERIVATIVES> agriculturalist n. agriculturally adv.

agriculture n. [mass noun] the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products.

<DERIVATIVES> agriculturist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin agricultura, from ager, agr- ‘field’ + cultura ‘growing, cultivation’.

agrimony /arməni/ n. (pl. agrimonies) a plant of the rose family which bears slender flower spikes and hooked fruits, found in north temperate regions.

<INFO> Genus Agrimonia, family Rosaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: directly or (in early use) via Old French from Latin agrimonia, alteration of argemonia, from Greek argemōnē ‘poppy’.

agrion /arn/ n. a large damselfly that has a body with a metallic sheen. Also called DEMOISELLE.

<INFO> Genus Agrion (or Calopteryx), family Calopterygidae: numerous species.

<ORIGIN> Greek, neuter of agrios ‘wild’.

Agrippa /ərpə/ Marcus Vipsanius (63–12 BC), Roman general. Augustus' adviser and son-in-law, he played an important part in the naval victories over Mark Antony.

agriproduct n. a product of agribusiness.

agriscience n. [mass noun] the application of science to agriculture.

<DERIVATIVES> agriscientist n.

agritourism n. [mass noun] tourism in which tourists stay with local people in rural areas abroad.

agro- /arə/ (also agri-) combining form agricultural: agro-industry | agrobiology.

- agriculture and …: agroforestry.

<ORIGIN> from Greek agros ‘field’.

agrobiology n. [mass noun] the branch of biology that deals with soil science and plant nutrition and its application to crop production.

<DERIVATIVES> agrobiological adj. agrobiologist n.

agrochemical (also agrichemical) n. a chemical used in agriculture, such as a pesticide or a fertilizer.

■ adj. relating to agrochemicals or their use: the dangers of agrochemical pollution.

agroecosystem n. an ecosystem on agricultural land.

agroforestry n. [mass noun] agriculture incorporating the cultivation of trees.

agro-industry n. [mass noun] industry connected with agriculture.

- agriculture developed along industrial lines.

<DERIVATIVES> agro-industrial adj.

agronomy /ərnəmi/ n. [mass noun] the science of soil management and crop production.

<DERIVATIVES> agronomic adj. agronomical adj. agronomically adv. agronomist n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French agronomie, from agronome ‘agriculturist’, from Greek agros ‘field’ + -nomos ‘arranging’ (from nemoein ‘arrange’).

Agro Pontino /arə pəntinə/ Italian name for PONTINE MARSHES.

agrostology /arəstlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of botany concerned with grasses.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek agrōstis (denoting a kind of grass) + -LOGY.

agroterrorism n. [mass noun] terrorist acts intended to disrupt or damage a country's agriculture, especially the use of a biological agent against crops or livestock.

<DERIVATIVES> agroterrorist n.

aground adj. & adv. (with reference to a ship) on or on to the bottom in shallow water: [as adv.] the ships must slow to avoid running aground | [as predic. adjective] a cargo ship aground in the Pentland Firth.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘on the ground’): from A-2 ‘on’ + GROUND^1.

aguardiente /əwαdεnte/ Spanish /awarjente/ n. [mass noun] a distilled liquor resembling brandy, especially as made in South America from sugar cane.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish, from agua ‘water’ + ardiente ‘fiery’.

Aguascalientes /awəskaljεntez/ a state of central Mexico.

- the capital of Aguascalientes, a health resort noted for its hot springs; pop. 594,100 (2000).

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘hot waters’.

ague /eju/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC malaria or another illness involving fever and shivering.

- [count noun] a fever or shivering fit.

<DERIVATIVES> agued adj. aguish adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin acuta (febris) ‘acute (fever)’.

Agulhas, Cape /ələs/ the most southerly point of the continent of Africa, in the province of Western Cape, South Africa.

Agulhas Current an ocean current flowing southward along the east coast of Africa.

AH abbr. in the year of the Hegira (used in the Muslim calendar for reckoning years from Muhammad's departure from Mecca in AD 622); of the Muslim era: a Koran dated 556 AH.

<ORIGIN> from Latin anno Hegirae.

ah exclam. used to express a range of emotions including surprise, pleasure, sympathy, and realization: ah, there you are!

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French.

AHA abbr. alpha-hydroxy acid.

aha exclam. used to express satisfaction, triumph, or surprise.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from AH + HA^1.

Ahaggar Mountains /αhαə/ another name for HOGGAR MOUNTAINS.

ahead adv. 1 further forward in space; in the line of one's forward motion: the road ahead | he was striding ahead towards the stream.

- further forward in time; in the near future: he contemplated the day ahead | we have to plan ahead.

2 in the lead: he was slightly ahead on points.

3 higher in number, amount, or value than previously: profits were slightly ahead.

<PHRASES>

□ ahead of in front of or before.

- in store for; awaiting: we have a long drive ahead of us.

- earlier than: elimination of trade barriers came five years ahead of schedule.

□ ahead of time in advance: being prepared with appropriate graphics ahead of time is a great policy.

□ ahead of one's (or its) time innovative and radical by the standards of the time.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally in nautical use): from A-2 ‘in, at’ + HEAD.

ahem exclam. used to represent the noise made when clearing the throat, typically to attract attention or express disapproval or embarrassment.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: lengthened form of hem^2.

Ahern /əhən/ Bertie (b.1951), Irish Fianna Fáil statesman, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) 1997–2008.

ahi /αhi/ n. (in Hawaii) a large tuna, especially as an item of food.

<ORIGIN> Hawaiian ‘ahi.

ahimsa /əhmsα/ n. [mass noun] (in the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jainist tradition) respect for all living things and avoidance of violence towards others.

<ORIGIN> Sanskrit, from a ‘non-, without’ + hisā ‘violence’.

ahistorical adj. lacking historical perspective or context.

<DERIVATIVES> ahistorically adv.

Ahmadabad /αmədəbad/ (also Ahmedabad) an industrial city in the state of Gujarat in western India; pop. 3,515,400 (2000).

aholehole /əhəlhəli/ n. a small silvery fish occurring only in the shallow waters around the Hawaiian islands, where it is a food fish.

<INFO> Kuhlia sandvicensis, family Kuhliidae.

<ORIGIN> from Hawaiian.

-aholic (also -oholic) suffix denoting a person addicted to something: shopaholic | workaholic.

<ORIGIN> on the pattern of (alc)oholic.

ahoy exclam. [NAUTICAL] or HUMOROUS a call used in hailing: ahoy there! | land ahoy!

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from AH + HOY^1.

Ahriman /αrmən/ the evil spirit in the doctrine of Zoroastrianism, the opponent of Ahura Mazda.

Ahura Mazda /əhərə mazdə/ the creator god of Zoroastrianism, the force for good and the opponent of Ahriman. Also called ORMAZD.

<ORIGIN> Avestan, literally ‘wise deity’.

Ahvaz /αvαz/ (also Ahwaz /αwαz/) a town in western Iran; pop. 973,600 (est. 2002).

Ahvenanmaa /αvənəmα/ Finnish name for ÅLAND ISLANDS.

AI abbr.

- Amnesty International.

- artificial insemination.

- artificial intelligence.

ai /αi/ n. (pl. ais) the three-toed sloth.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Tupi, imitative of its cry.

AID abbr. artificial insemination by donor.

aid n. 1 [mass noun] help, typically of a practical nature: he saw the pilot slumped in his cockpit and went to his aid | she walked with the aid of a Zimmer frame.

- financial or material help given to a country or area in need: 700,000 tons of food aid | [as modifier] an aid agency.

- [count noun] a source of help or assistance: exercise is an important aid to recovery after heart attacks | a teaching aid.

2 HISTORICAL a grant of subsidy or tax to a king or queen.

■ v. [with obj.] help or support (someone or something) in the achievement of something: women were aided in childbirth by midwives | [no obj.] research was conducted to aid in making decisions.

- promote or encourage (something): diet and exercise aid healthy skin.

<PHRASES>

□ aid and abet see ABET.

□ in aid of chiefly BRITISH in support of; for the purpose of raising money for: a charity show in aid of Leukaemia Research.

□ what's (all) this in aid of? BRITISH INFORMAL what is the purpose of this?

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French aide (noun), aidier (verb), based on Latin adjuvare, from ad- ‘towards’ + juvare ‘to help’.

aida /edə/ n. [mass noun] a material consisting of a mesh of small holes, used in cross-stitch embroidery.

Aidan, St /ed(ə)n/ (d. AD 651), Irish missionary. While a monk in the monastery at Iona he set out to Christianize Northumbria, founding a church and monastery at Lindisfarne in 635 and becoming its first bishop.

aid climbing n. [mass noun] rock climbing using the assistance of objects such as pegs placed in the rock. Compare with FREE CLIMBING.

aide /ed/ n. an assistant to an important person, especially a political leader.

■ short for AIDE-DE-CAMP.

aide-de-camp /eddək/ n. (pl. aides-de-camp pronunc. same) a military officer acting as a confidential assistant to a senior officer.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, ‘camp adjutant’.

aide-memoire /ed mεmwα/ French /εd mεmwaR/ n. (pl. aides-memoires or aides-memoire pronunc. same) 1 an aid to the memory, especially a book or note.

2 an informal diplomatic message.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French aide-mémoire, from aider ‘to help’ and mémoire ‘memory’.

Aids (also AIDS) n. [mass noun] acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a disease in which there is a severe loss of the body's cellular immunity, greatly lowering the resistance to infection and malignancy.

The cause is a virus (called the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV) transmitted in blood and in sexual fluids, and though the incubation period may be long the fully developed disease is invariably fatal. Aids was first identified in the early 1980s and now affects millions of people. In the developed world the disease first spread among homosexuals, intravenous drug users, and recipients of infected blood transfusions, before reaching the wider population. This has tended to overshadow a greater epidemic in parts of Africa, where transmission is mainly through heterosexual contact.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: acronym.

Aids-related complex n. [mass noun] the symptoms of a person who is affected with the Aids virus but does not necessarily develop the disease.

aigrette /erεt erεt/ n. a headdress consisting of a white egret's feather or other decoration such as a spray of gems.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, ‘egret’.

aiguille /ewil/ n. a sharp pinnacle of rock in a mountain range.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, literally ‘needle’, from medieval Latin acucula ‘little needle’, diminutive of Latin acus.

aiguillette /ewlεt/ n. an ornament on some military and naval uniforms, consisting of braided loops hanging from the shoulder and on dress uniforms ending in points that resemble pencils.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, literally ‘small needle’, diminutive of aiguille.

AIH abbr. artificial insemination by husband.

aikido /kidə/ n. [mass noun] a Japanese form of self-defence and martial art that uses locks, holds, throws, and the opponent's own movements.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Japanese aikidō, literally ‘way of adapting the spirit’, from ai ‘together, unify’ + ki ‘spirit’ + dō ‘way’.

ail v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC trouble or afflict (someone) in mind or body: exercise is good for whatever ails one.

<ORIGIN> Old English eglian, eglan, from egle ‘troublesome’, of Germanic origin; related to Gothic agls ‘disgraceful’.

ailanthus /elanθəs/ n. a tall large-leaved deciduous tree grown as an ornamental or shade tree. Native to Asia and Australasia, it has been naturalized in North America and Europe.

<INFO> Genus Ailanthus, family Simaroubaceae: several species, in particular the tree of heaven.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from French ailante, from Ambonese ailanto, literally ‘tree of heaven’ (the ending being influenced by names ending with -anthus, from Greek anthos ‘flower’).

aileron /elərn/ n. a hinged surface in the trailing edge of an aeroplane wing, used to control the roll of an aircraft about its longitudinal axis.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, literally ‘small wing’, diminutive of aile, from Latin ala ‘wing’.

ailing adj. in poor health: I went to see my ailing mother | FIGURATIVE the ailing economy.

ailment n. an illness, typically a minor one.

ailurophile /ljrəfl/ n. a cat lover.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek ailuros ‘cat’ + -PHILE.

ailurophobia /ljrəfəbə/ n. [mass noun] extreme or irrational fear of cats.

<DERIVATIVES> ailurophobe n.

AIM abbr. (in the UK) Alternative Investment Market.

aim v. 1 [with obj.] point or direct (a weapon or camera) at a target: aim the camcorder at some suitable object | [no obj.] aim for the middle of the target.

- direct (a missile or blow) at someone or something: she had aimed the bottle at Gary's head.

- (aim something at) direct information, a product, or an action towards (a particular group): the TV campaign is aimed at the 16–24 age group.

2 [no obj.] have the intention of achieving: the programme will aim at deepening understanding | [with infinitive] we aim to give you the best possible service.

■ n. 1 a purpose or intention; a desired outcome: our primary aim is to achieve financial discipline.

2 [in sing.] the directing of a weapon or missile at a target: his aim was perfect.

<PHRASES>

□ aim high be ambitious.

□ take aim point a weapon or camera at a target.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French amer, variant of esmer (from Latin aestimare ‘assess, estimate’), reinforced by aemer, aesmer (from late Latin adaestimare, intensified form of aestimare).

aimless adj. without purpose or direction: an aimless existence.

<DERIVATIVES> aimlessly adv. aimlessness n.

ainhum /enhəm/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which a band of fibrous tissue grows around the base of a toe, eventually resulting in loss of the digit. It occurs mainly in the tropics and is associated with going barefoot.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Portuguese, based on Yoruba eyun ‘saw’.

ain't INFORMAL contraction am not; are not; is not: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. [<ORIGIN> first representing London dialect.]

- has not; have not: they ain't got nothing to say. [<ORIGIN> from dialect hain't.]

<USAGE> The use of ain't was widespread in the 18th century, typically as a contraction for am not. It is still perfectly normal in many dialects and informal speech in both Britain and North America. Today, however, it does not form part of standard English and should never be used in formal or written contexts. See also usage at aren't.

Aintab /ntαb/ former name (until 1921) for GAZIANTEP.

Aintree /entri/ a suburb of Liverpool, site of a racecourse over which the Grand National is run.

Ainu /enu/ n. (pl. same or Ainus) 1 a member of an aboriginal people of northern Japan, physically distinct (with light skin colour and round eyes) from the majority population.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Ainu people, perhaps related to Altaic. It is no longer in everyday use.

■ adj. relating to the Ainu or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Ainu, literally ‘man, person’.

aioli /əli/ n. [mass noun] mayonnaise seasoned with garlic.

<ORIGIN> French aïoli, from Provençal ai ‘garlic’ + oli ‘oil’.

air n. 1 [mass noun] the invisible gaseous substance surrounding the earth, a mixture mainly of oxygen and nitrogen.

- air regarded as necessary for breathing: the air was stale | the doctor told me to get some fresh air.

- the free or unconfined space above the surface of the earth: he celebrated by tossing his hat high in the air.

- [usually as modifier] referring to the use of aircraft: air travel | all goods must come in by air.

- the earth's atmosphere as a medium for transmitting radio waves: radio stations have successfully sold products over the air.

- one of the four elements in ancient and medieval philosophy and in astrology (considered essential to the nature of the signs of Gemini, Aquarius, and Libra): [as modifier] an air sign.

- [count noun] a breeze or light wind.

2 (air of) an impression of a quality or manner given by someone or something: she answered with a faint air of boredom.

- (airs) an annoyingly affected and condescending manner: he began to put on airs and think he could boss us around.

3 [MUSIC] a tune or short melodious song.

4 a jump off the ground on a snowboard.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 express (an opinion or grievance) publicly: a meeting in which long-standing grievances were aired.

- broadcast (a programme) on radio or television: the programmes were aired on India's state TV network.

- ARCHAIC parade or show (something) ostentatiously.

2 BRITISH expose (a room) to the open air in order to ventilate it: the window sashes were lifted regularly to air the room.

- warm (washed laundry) to remove dampness.

<PHRASES>

□ airs and graces BRITISH DEROGATORY an affectation of superiority.

□ on (or off) the air being (or not being) broadcast on radio or television.

□ take the air go out of doors.

□ up in the air (of a plan or issue) still to be settled; unresolved.

□ walk (or tread) on air feel elated.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 1 of the noun of the noun): from Old French air, from Latin aer, from Greek aēr, denoting the gas.

■ Sense 2 of the noun is from French air, probably from Old French aire ‘site, disposition’, from Latin ager, agr- ‘field’ (influenced by sense 1).

■ Sense 3 of the noun comes from Italian aria (see ARIA).

airbag n. a safety device fitted inside a road vehicle, consisting of a cushion designed to inflate rapidly and protect passengers from impact in the event of a collision.

air ball n. [BASKETBALL] a shot which misses the basket and backboard entirely.

airband n. a range of frequencies allocated for radio communications involving aircraft.

airbase n. a base for the operation of military aircraft.

air bearing n. a bearing in which moving surfaces are kept apart by a layer of air provided by jets.

airbed n. BRITISH an inflatable mattress.

air bladder n. an air-filled bladder or sac found in certain animals and plants.

■ another term for SWIM BLADDER.

airboat n. a shallow-draught boat powered by an aircraft engine, for use in swamps.

airborne adj. transported by air: airborne pollutants.

- (of an aircraft) in the air after taking off.

air brake n. 1 a brake worked by air pressure.

2 a movable flap or other device on an aircraft to reduce its speed.

airbrick n. BRITISH a brick perforated with small holes for ventilation.

air bridge n. BRITISH a movable bridge placed against an aircraft door to allow passengers to embark or disembark.

airbrush n. an artist's device for spraying paint by means of compressed air.

■ v. [with obj.] paint with an airbrush.

- alter or conceal (a photograph or a detail in one) using an airbrush.

- represent or describe as better or more beautiful than in reality: many lived through the disasters and know that the past has been airbrushed.

airburst n. an explosion in the air, especially of a nuclear bomb or large meteorite.

air chief marshal n. a high rank of officer in the RAF, above air marshal and below Marshal of the RAF.

air commodore n. a rank of officer in the RAF, above group captain and below air vice-marshal.

air con n. short for AIR CONDITIONING.

air conditioning n. [mass noun] a system for controlling the humidity, ventilation, and temperature in a building or vehicle, typically to maintain a cool atmosphere in warm conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> air-conditioned adj. air conditioner n.

air corridor n. a route to which aircraft are restricted, especially over a foreign country.

air cover n. [mass noun] protection by aircraft for land-based or naval operations in war situations.

aircraft n. (pl. same) an aeroplane, helicopter, or other machine capable of flight.

aircraft carrier n. a large warship with a deck from which aircraft can take off and land.

aircraftman (or aircraftwoman) n. (pl. aircraftmen or aircraftwomen) the lowest rank in the RAF, below leading aircraftman.

aircrew n. (pl. aircrews) [treated as sing. or plural] the crew manning an aircraft.

- (plural same) a member of an aircrew.

air cushion n. the layer of air supporting a hovercraft or similar vehicle.

air dam n. a streamlining device below the front bumper of a vehicle; a front spoiler.

airdate n. the date on which a particular television or radio programme is scheduled to be broadcast.

airdrome n. US term for AERODROME.

airdrop n. an act of dropping supplies, troops, or equipment by parachute from an aircraft.

■ v. (airdrops, airdropping, airdropped) [with obj.] drop (supplies, troops, etc.) by parachute.

air-dry v. make or become dry through contact with unheated air.

■ adj. not giving off any moisture on exposure to air.

Airedale /εdel/ n. a large terrier of a rough-coated black-and-tan breed.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Airedale, a district in Yorkshire, where the dog was bred.

airer n. BRITISH a frame or stand for airing or drying clothes.

airfare n. the price to be paid by an aircraft passenger for a particular journey.

airfield n. an area of land set aside for the take-off, landing, and maintenance of aircraft.

air filter n. a device for filtering particles from the air passing through it, especially one protecting the air inlet of an internal-combustion engine.

airflow n. the flow of air, especially that encountered by a moving aircraft or vehicle.

airfoil n. North American term for AEROFOIL.

air force n. a branch of the armed forces concerned with fighting or defence in the air.

Air Force One the official aircraft of the President of the United States.

airframe n. the body of an aircraft as distinct from its engine.

airfreight n. [mass noun] the carriage of goods by aircraft.

- goods in transit, or to be carried, by aircraft.

■ v. [with obj.] carry or send (goods) by aircraft.

air-freshener n. a substance or device for making the air in a room smell fresh.

airglow n. [mass noun] a glow in the night sky caused by radiation from the upper atmosphere.

air guitar n. INFORMAL an imaginary guitar ‘played’ by someone miming to rock music: we like our audiences to sing along and play air guitar.

airgun n. 1 a gun which fires pellets using compressed air.

2 (also hot-air gun) a tool used to strip paint by means of a stream of very hot air.

airhead^1 n. [MILITARY] a base close to the area of active operations where supplies and troops can be received and evacuated by air.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: on the pattern of bridgehead.

airhead^2 n. INFORMAL a silly or foolish person.

air hostess n. BRITISH a stewardess in a passenger aircraft.

airily adv. in a way that shows that one is not treating something as serious; casually: he was airily dismissive of the question.

airing n. 1 an exposure to warm or fresh air, for the purpose of ventilating or removing dampness from something: somebody had given the place a thorough airing | [as modifier] an airing cupboard.

- a walk or outing to take air or exercise: taking the baby out for an airing.

2 a public expression of an opinion or subject: these are ideas I feel might be worth an airing.

- a transmission of a television or radio programme.

air-kiss v. [with obj.] purse the lips as if kissing (someone), without making contact.

■ n. (air kiss) a simulated kiss, without contact.

air layering n. [mass noun] [HORTICULTURE] a form of layering in which the branch is potted or wrapped in a moist growing medium to promote root growth.

airless adj. stuffy; not ventilated: a dusty, airless basement.

- without wind or breeze; still: a hot, airless night.

<DERIVATIVES> airlessness n.

air letter n. a sheet of light paper folded and sealed to form a letter for sending by airmail.

airlift n. an act of transporting supplies by aircraft, typically in a blockade or other emergency.

■ v. [with obj.] transport (troops or supplies) by aircraft.

airline n. 1 an organization providing a regular public service of air transport on one or more routes.

2 (usually air line) a pipe supplying air.

airliner n. a large passenger aircraft.

airlock n. 1 a stoppage of the flow in a pump or pipe, caused by an air bubble.

2 a compartment with controlled pressure and parallel sets of doors, to permit movement between areas at different pressures.

airmail n. [mass noun] a system of transporting mail by aircraft, typically overseas: instructions were sent by airmail.

■ v. [with obj.] send (mail) by aircraft.

airman (or airwoman) n. (pl. airmen or airwomen) a pilot or member of the crew of an aircraft, especially in an air force.

- a member of the RAF below commissioned rank.

- a member of the US air force of the lowest rank, below staff sergeant.

- a member of the US navy whose general duties are concerned with aircraft.

airmanship n. [mass noun] skill in flying an aircraft.

air marshal n. a high rank of officer in the RAF, above air vice-marshal and below air chief marshal.

air mass n. [METEOROLOGY] a body of air with horizontally uniform levels of temperature, humidity, and pressure.

air mattress n. North American term for AIRBED.

air mile n. a nautical mile used as a measure of distance flown by aircraft.

- (Air Miles) TRADEMARK points (equivalent to miles of free air travel) accumulated by buyers of airline tickets and other products and redeemable against the cost of air travel with a particular airline.

airmiss n. BRITISH an instance of two or more aircraft in flight on different routes being less than a prescribed safe distance apart.

airmobile /εməbl/ adj. (of troops) moved about by air.

air officer n. any rank of officer in the RAF above that of group captain.

air pistol n. a pistol which fires pellets using compressed air.

airplane n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an aeroplane.

air plant n. a tropical American plant that grows on trees as an epiphyte, with long, narrow leaves that absorb water and nutrients from the atmosphere.

<INFO> Genus Tillandsia, family Bromeliaceae: several species.

airplay n. [mass noun] broadcasting time devoted to a particular record, performer, or musical genre.

air pocket n. a cavity containing air.

- a region of low pressure causing an aircraft to lose height suddenly.

airport n. a complex of runways and buildings for the take-off, landing, and maintenance of civil aircraft, with facilities for passengers.

- [as modifier] relating to or denoting light popular fiction such as is offered for sale to travellers in airports: an airport thriller.

air power n. [mass noun] the ability to defend or attack by means of aircraft.

air pump n. a device for pumping air into or out of an enclosed space.

air quality n. the degree to which the air in a particular place is pollution-free.

air quotes plural n. INFORMAL a pair of quotation marks gestured by a speaker's fingers in the air, to indicate that what is being said is ironic or mocking, or is not a turn of phrase the speaker would typically employ.

air raid n. an attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on to a ground target.

air-raid shelter n. a building or structure designed to protect people from bombs dropped during air raids.

air rank n. [mass noun] the rank attained by air officers.

air rifle n. a rifle which fires pellets using compressed air.

air sac n. a lung compartment containing air; an alveolus.

- an extension of a bird's lung cavity into a bone or other part of the body.

airscrew n. BRITISH an aircraft propeller.

air-sea rescue n. chiefly BRITISH a rescue of a person from the sea using aircraft.

air shaft n. a straight, typically vertical passage admitting air into a mine, tunnel, or building.

airship n. a power-driven aircraft that is kept buoyant by a body of gas (usually helium, formerly hydrogen) which is lighter than air.

air shot n. INFORMAL a missed attempt to hit or kick a ball.

air show n. a show at which aircraft perform aerial displays.

airsick adj. affected with nausea due to travel in an aircraft.

<DERIVATIVES> airsickness n.

airside n. the side of an airport terminal beyond passport and customs control. Contrasted with LANDSIDE.

airspace n. [mass noun] the air available to aircraft to fly in, especially the part subject to the jurisdiction of a particular country.

- room available in the atmosphere immediately above the earth: temples and mosques fight for airspace with skyscrapers.

- [LAW] the right of a private landowner to the space above his land and any structures on it.

airspeed n. [mass noun] the speed of an aircraft relative to the air through which it is moving. Compare with GROUND SPEED.

air station n. an airfield operated by a navy or marine corps.

airstream n. a current of air.

air strike n. an attack made by aircraft.

airstrip n. a strip of ground set aside for the take-off and landing of aircraft.

airtight adj. not allowing air to escape or pass through: an airtight box.

- having no weaknesses; unassailable: she had an airtight alibi.

airtime n. [mass noun] time during which a broadcast is being transmitted.

- the time during which a mobile phone is in use.

air-to-air adj. directed or operating from one aircraft to another in flight.

air-to-ground adj. directed or operating from an aircraft in flight to the land surface.

air-to-surface adj. directed or operating from an aircraft in flight to the surface of the sea or other body of water.

air traffic control n. [mass noun] the ground-based personnel and equipment concerned with controlling and monitoring air traffic within a particular area.

<DERIVATIVES> air traffic controller n.

air vice-marshal n. a high rank of officer in the RAF, above air commodore and below air marshal.

airwaves plural n. the radio frequencies used for broadcasting: football pervades the airwaves.

airway n. 1 the passage by which air reaches a person's lungs.

- a tube for supplying air to a person's lungs in an emergency.

2 a recognized route followed by aircraft.

- (Airways) in names of airlines: British Airways.

3 a ventilating passage in a mine.

airworthy adj. (of an aircraft) safe to fly.

<DERIVATIVES> airworthiness n.

Airy Sir George Biddell (1801–92), English astronomer and geophysicist, who proposed the concept of isostasy and gave an improved estimate of the earth's density.

airy adj. (airier, airiest) 1 (of a room or building) spacious, well lit, and well ventilated.

- delicate, as though filled with or made of air: airy clouds.

- giving an impression of light gracefulness and elegance: her airy presence filled the house.

2 not treating something as serious; casual: her airy unconcern for economy.

<DERIVATIVES> airiness n.

airy-fairy adj. INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH impractical and foolishly idealistic: love might seem an airy-fairy, romantic concept.

aisle /l/ n. a passage between rows of seats in a building such as a church or theatre, an aircraft, or train: the musical had the audience dancing in the aisles.

- a passage between cabinets and shelves of goods in a supermarket or other building.

- [ARCHITECTURE] (in a church) a lower part parallel to the nave, choir, or transept, from which it is divided by pillars.

<PHRASES>

□ lead someone up the aisle get married to someone.

<DERIVATIVES> aisled adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English ele, ile, from Old French ele, from Latin ala ‘wing’. The spelling change in the 17th century was due to confusion with isle and influenced by French aile ‘wing’.

ait /et/ (also eyot) n. [in place names] BRITISH a small island in a river: Raven's Ait.

<ORIGIN> Old English iggath, īgeth, based on īeg ‘island’ + a diminutive suffix.

aitch n. the letter H.

<PHRASES>

□ drop one's aitches fail to pronounce the letter h at the beginning of words, a characteristic feature of certain dialects.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French ache.

aitchbone n. the buttock or rump bone of cattle.

- a cut of beef lying over the aitchbone.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century, from dialect nache ‘rump’, from Old French, based on Latin natis ‘buttock(s)’, + BONE. The initial n in a nache bone was lost by wrong division; compare with adder^1.

Aitken /etkn/ William Maxwell, see BEAVERBROOK.

Aix-en-Provence /εksαprvs/ French /εksαpRvαs/ a city in Provence in southern France; pop. 134,222 (1999).

Aix-la-Chapelle /εkslaapεl/ French name for AACHEN.

Aizawl /dəl/ a city in the far north-east of India, capital of the state of Mizoram; pop. 229,700 (2001).

Ajaccio /ədaksə/ French /aaksjə/ a port on the west coast of Corsica; pop. 52,880 (1999). It is the capital of the southern department of Corse-du-Sud.

Ajanta Caves /ədntə/ a series of caves in the state of Maharashtra, south central India, containing Buddhist frescoes and sculptures dating from the 1st century BC to the 7th century AD.

ajar^1 adv. & adj. (of a door or other opening) slightly open: [as adv.] the home help had left the window ajar | [as predic. adjective] the door to the sitting room was ajar.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from A-2 ‘on’ + obsolete char (Old English cerr) ‘a turn, return’.

ajar^2 adv. ARCHAIC in a jarring state; unharmonious.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from A-2 ‘in, at’ + JAR^2.

Ajax /edaks/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] 1 a Greek hero of the Trojan war, son of Telamon, king of Salamis. He was proverbial for his size and strength.

2 a Greek hero, son of Oileus, king of Locris.

Ajman /admαn/ one of the seven member states of the United Arab Emirates; pop. 118,800 (1995).

Ajmer /dmə/ a city in NW India, in Rajasthan; pop. 485,200 (2001).

ajowan /adəwn/ n. an annual plant with feathery leaves and white flowers, native to India.

<INFO> Trachyspermum ammi, family Umbelliferae.

- [mass noun] the aromatic seeds of the ajowan plant, used as a culinary spice.

- [mass noun] the essential oil of the ajowan plant.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi ajvāyn.

ajuga /əduə/ n. a plant of a genus that includes bugle.

<INFO> Genus Ajuga, family Labiatae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from medieval Latin ajuga.

AK abbr. Alaska (in official postal use).

AK-47 n. a type of assault rifle originally manufactured in the Soviet Union.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: abbreviation of Russian Avtomat Kalashnikov 1947, the designation of the original model designed by Mikhail T. Kalashnikov (born 1919).

aka abbr. also known as: John Merrick, aka the Elephant Man.

Akali /akαli/ n. (pl. Akalis) a member of a Sikh political group.

<ORIGIN> from Punjabi akālī, literally ‘follower of the Immortal One’.

Akan /αk(ə)n/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people inhabiting southern Ghana and adjacent parts of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

2 [mass noun] the language of the Akan, belonging to the Kwa group and having over 4 million speakers. Its main dialects are Ashanti and Fante. Also called TWI.

■ adj. relating to the Akan or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Akan.

akasha /əkαə/ n. (in Indian religion) a supposed all-pervading field in the ether in which a record of past events is imprinted.

<DERIVATIVES> akashic adj.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit ākāśa.

Akbar /akbα/ Jalaludin Muhammad (1542–1605), Mogul emperor of India 1556–1605; known as Akbar the Great. Akbar expanded the Mogul empire to incorporate northern India and established an efficient but enlightened administration.

akebia /əkibə/ n. an East Asian climbing shrub with purplish flowers and deeply divided leaves.

<INFO> Genus Akebia, family Lardizabalaceae.

<ORIGIN> 1837: modern Latin, coined by J. Decaisne, French botanist, from Japanese akebi.

Akela /αkelə/ n. INFORMAL the adult leader of a group of Cub Scouts (officially termed Cub Scout Leader).

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from the name of the leader of a wolf pack in Kipling's Jungle Books (1894–5).

Akhenaten /akənαt(ə)n/ (also Akhenaton or Ikhnaton)

- (14th century BC), Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, reigned 1379–1362 BC; came to the throne as Amenhotep IV. The husband of Nefertiti, he introduced the monotheistic solar cult of Aten and moved the capital from Thebes to the newly built city of Akhetaten.

Akhetaten /akətαt(ə)n/ an ancient Egyptian capital built by Akhenaten in c.1375 BC when he established the new worship of the sun disc Aten, but abandoned after his death. See also TELL EL-AMARNA.

Akhmatova /akmαtəvə/ Anna (1889–1966), Russian poet; pseudonym of Anna Andreevna Gorenko. Akhmatova was a member of the Acmeist group of poets. Notable works: Anno Domini (1922).

Akihito /αkhitə/ (b.1933), son of Emperor Hirohito, emperor of Japan since 1989; full name Tsugu Akihito.

akimbo /əkmbə/ adv. with hands on the hips and elbows turned outwards: she stood with arms akimbo, frowning at the small boy.

- (with reference to limbs) flung out widely or haphazardly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from in kenebowe in Middle English, probably from Old Norse.

akin adj. [predic.] of similar character: something akin to gratitude overwhelmed her | genius and madness are akin.

- related by blood.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: contracted form of of kin.

akinesia /eknisə a-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE loss or impairment of the power of voluntary movement.

<DERIVATIVES> akinetic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek akinēsia ‘quiescence’, from a- ‘without’ + kinēsis ‘motion’.

Akita /əkitə/ n. a spitz (dog) of a Japanese breed.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Akita, the name of a district in northern Japan.

Akkad /akad akad/ the capital city which gave its name to an ancient kingdom traditionally founded by Sargon in north central Mesopotamia. Its site is lost.

Akkadian /əkedən -kad-/ n. 1 an inhabitant of Akkad.

2 [mass noun] the extinct language of Akkad, written in cuneiform, with two dialects, Assyrian and Babylonian, widely used from about 3500 BC. It is the oldest Semitic language for which records exist.

■ adj. relating to Akkad or its language.

Akko /akə/ another name for Acre (sense 1).

Ak-Mechet /akmətεt/ former name for SIMFEROPOL.

Akmola /akmla/ former name for ASTANA.

akrasia /əkrezə əkrasə/ (also acrasia) n. [mass noun] chiefly [PHILOSOPHY] the state of mind in which someone acts against their better judgement through weakness of will.

<DERIVATIVES> akratic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek, from a- ‘without’ + kratos ‘power, strength’. The term is used especially with reference to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.

Akron /akrən/ a city in NE Ohio; pop. 217,074 (2000).

Aksai Chin /aks tn/ a region of the Himalayas occupied by China since 1950, but claimed by India as part of Kashmir.

Aksum /αksəm/ (also Axum) a town in the province of Tigray in northern Ethiopia. It was a religious centre and the capital of a powerful kingdom between the 1st and 6th centuries AD.

<DERIVATIVES> Aksumite adj. & n.

Akubra /əkubrə/ n. AUSTRALIAN TRADEMARK a type of broad-brimmed hat traditionally worn by farmers and cattlemen.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of the manufacturer, perhaps from an Aboriginal language.

AL abbr.

- Alabama (in official postal use).

- Albania (international vehicle registration).

- American League (in baseball).

Al symbol the chemical element aluminium.

al- prefix variant spelling of AD-. assimilated before -l (as in alleviate, allocate).

-al suffix 1 (forming adjectives) relating to; of the kind of:

- from Latin words: annual | infernal.

- from Greek words: HISTORICAL | comical.

- from English nouns: tidal.

2 forming nouns chiefly denoting verbal action: arrival | transmittal.

<ORIGIN>

■ Sense 1 from French -el or Latin -alis;

■ sense 2 from French -aille or from Latin -alis functioning as a noun ending.

ALA abbr. all letters answered (used in personal advertisements).

Ala. abbr. Alabama.

à la /α lα a la/ prep. (of a dish) cooked or prepared in a specified way: fish cooked à la meunière.

- INFORMAL in the style or manner of: afternoon talk shows à la Oprah.

<ORIGIN> French, from à LA MODE.

Alabama /aləbamə/ a state in the south-eastern US, on the Gulf of Mexico; pop. 4,447,100 (2000); capital, Montgomery. It became the 22nd state in 1819.

<DERIVATIVES> Alabaman adj. & n.

alabaster /aləbαstə -bastə aləbαstə -bastə/ n. [mass noun] a translucent form of gypsum or calcite, typically white, often carved into ornaments.

■ adj. made of alabaster.

- LITERARY like alabaster in whiteness and smoothness: her alabaster cheeks flushed with warmth.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin alabaster, alabastrum, from Greek alabastos, alabastros.

à la carte /α lα kαt a la/ French /a la kaRt/ adj. (in a restaurant) referring to food that can be ordered as separate items, rather than part of a set meal: an à la carte menu.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, literally ‘according to the (menu) card’.

alack (also alack-a-day) exclam. ARCHAIC used to express regret or dismay.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from AH + LACK.

alacrity /əlakrti/ n. [mass noun] brisk and cheerful readiness: she accepted the invitation with alacrity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin alacritas, from alacer ‘brisk’.

Aladdin /əladn/ the hero of a story in the Arabian Nights, who finds an old lamp which, when rubbed, summons a genie who obeys the will of the owner.

Aladdin's cave n. a place filled with a great number and variety of strange or precious items: the market is an Aladdin's cave of goodies.

Alagoas /aləəəs/ a state in eastern Brazil, on the Atlantic coast; capital, Maceió.

Alain-Fournier /alεfəne/ French /alεfRnje/ (1886–1914), French novelist; pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier. A literary columnist, he completed only one novel, Le Grand Meaulnes (1913), before his death in the First World War.

alameda /aləmedə/ n. (in Spain and Spanish-speaking areas) a public walkway or promenade, shaded with trees.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Spanish.

Alamo /aləmə/ (the Alamo) a mission in San Antonio, Texas, site of a siege in 1836 by Mexican forces, in which all 180 defenders were killed.

à la mode /α lα məd a la/ adv. & adj. 1 in fashion; up to date: [as adj.] corduroy is extremely à la mode this season.

2 (of beef) braised in wine.

3 NORTH AMERICAN served with ice cream.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: French, literally ‘in the fashion’.

Åland Islands /lənd/ a group of islands in the Gulf of Bothnia, forming an autonomous region of Finland; capital, Mariehamn (known in Finnish as Maarianhamina). Finnish name AHVENANMAA.

alanine /alənin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an amino acid which is a constituent of most proteins.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_3CH(NH_2)COOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: coined in German as Alanin, from ALDEHYDE + -an (for ease of pronunciation) + -INE^4.

alannah /əlanə/ (also alanna) n. IRISH my child (used as an affectionate form of address).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Irish a leanbh ‘O child’.

Al-Anon /alənn/ a mutual support organization for the families and friends of alcoholics, especially those of members of Alcoholics Anonymous.

alap /αlαp/ (also alaap) n. (in Indian music) the improvised section of a raga, forming a prologue to the formal expression.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi alāp.

Alar /elα/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a growth retardant sprayed on fruit and vegetables to enhance the quality of the crop.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: of unknown origin.

alar /elə/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] or [ANATOMY] relating to or resembling a wing or wings.

- [BOTANY] another term for AXILLARY.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin alaris, from ala ‘wing’.

Alarcón /alαkn/ Pedro Antonio de (1833–91), Spanish novelist and short-story writer. Notable works: The Three-Cornered Hat (1874).

Alaric /alərk/ (c.370–410), king of the Visigoths 395–410. He invaded Italy in 408 and captured Rome in 410.

alarm n. [mass noun] an anxious awareness of danger: the boat tilted and the boatmen cried out in alarm | he views the right-wing upsurge in Europe with alarm.

- [in sing.] a warning of danger: I hammered on several doors to raise the alarm | Oliver smelled smoke and gave the alarm.

- [count noun] a warning sound or device: a burglar alarm.

- [count noun] an alarm clock.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] make (someone) feel frightened, disturbed, or in danger: the government was alarmed by an outbreak of unrest.

2 (be alarmed) be fitted or protected with an alarm: this door is locked and alarmed between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an exclamation meaning ‘to arms!’): from Old French alarme, from Italian allarme, from all' arme! ‘to arms!’.

alarm bell n. a bell rung as a warning of danger: the alarm bell rang out | FIGURATIVE the proposal has set alarm bells ringing.

alarm call n. 1 a warning cry made by a bird or other animal when startled.

2 a telephone call made by prior arrangement to wake the person called.

alarm clock n. a clock with a device that can be made to sound at the time set in advance, used to wake someone up.

alarming adj. worrying or disturbing: our countryside is disappearing at an alarming rate.

<DERIVATIVES> alarmingly adv. the water swirls alarmingly | [as submodifier] an alarmingly high rate

alarmist n. someone who exaggerates a danger and so causes needless worry or panic.

■ adj. creating needless worry or panic: alarmist rumours.

<DERIVATIVES> alarmism n.

alarum /əlαrəm/ n. archaic term for ALARM.

<PHRASES>

□ alarums and excursions HUMOROUS confused activity and uproar.

alas exclam. ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS used to express grief, pity, or concern: alas, my funds have some limitations.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French a las, a lasse, from a ‘ah’ + las(se) (from Latin lassus ‘weary’).

Alas. abbr. Alaska.

Alaska the largest state of the US, in the extreme north-west of North America, with coasts on the Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea, and North Pacific; pop. 626,932 (2000); capital, Juneau. The territory was purchased from Russia in 1867 and became the 49th state of the US in 1959.

<DERIVATIVES> Alaskan adj. & n.

Alaska, Gulf of a part of the NE Pacific between the Alaska Peninsula and the Alexander Archipelago.

Alaska Peninsula a peninsula on the south coast of Alaska. It extends south-westwards into the NE Pacific and is continued in the Aleutian Islands.

alate /elet/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] (chiefly of insects or seeds) having wings or wing-like appendages.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin alatus, from ala ‘wing’.

alb /alb/ n. a white vestment reaching to the feet, worn by clergy and servers in some Christian Churches.

<ORIGIN> Old English albe, from ecclesiastical Latin tunica (or vestis) alba ‘white garment’, from Latin albus ‘white’.

alba /albə/ n. a shrub rose of a variety with grey-green leaves and pinkish-white, sweet-scented flowers.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin alba, feminine of albus ‘white’, from the name rosa alba, an old white garden rose.

Albacete /albəseti/ Spanish /albaθete -sete/ a city in a province of the same name in SE Spain; pop. 149,507 (est. 2001).

albacore /albək/ n. a tuna of warm seas, which travels in large schools and is of commercial importance as a food fish.

<INFO> Two species in the family Scombridae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Portuguese albacora, from Arabic al-bakūra, perhaps from al ‘the’ + bakūr ‘premature, precocious’.

Alba Iulia /albə julə/ a city in west central Romania, to the north of the Transylvanian Alps; pop. 71,900 (est. 2002). Founded by the Romans in the 2nd century AD, it was the capital of Transylvania.

Alban, St /lbən/ (3rd century), the first British Christian martyr, a native of Verulamium (now St Albans). He was put to death for sheltering a fugitive priest. Feast day, 22 June.

Albania /albenə/ a republic in SE Europe, bordering on the Adriatic Sea; pop. 3,544,841 (est. 2002); official language, Albanian; capital, Tirana.

Previously part of the Byzantine and later the Ottoman Empire, Albania gained independence in 1912. It became a Stalinist regime under Enver Hoxha after the Second World War, remaining extremely isolationist in policy and outlook until the communists lost power in 1992. Following a period of political instability a democratically elected government was brought to power in 2001.

Albanian n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Albania, or a person of Albanian descent.

2 [mass noun] the language of Albania, with about 6 million speakers. It forms a separate branch of Indo-European, and has two distinct dialects, Tosk and Gheg.

■ adj. relating to Albania or its people or their language.

Albany /lbəni/ the state capital of New York, on the Hudson River; pop. 95,658 (2000).

albatross /albətrs/ n. (pl. albatrosses) 1 a very large, chiefly white oceanic bird with long, narrow wings, found mainly in the southern oceans.

<INFO> Family Diomedeidae: genera Diomedea and Phoebetria.

- a source of frustration or guilt; an encumbrance (in allusion to Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner): an albatross of a marriage.

2 [GOLF] another term for DOUBLE EAGLE.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: alteration (influenced by Latin albus ‘white’) of 16th-cent. alcatras, applied to various seabirds including the frigate bird and pelican, from Spanish and Portuguese alcatraz, from Arabic al-ġaās ‘the diver’.

albedo /albidə/ n. (pl. albedos) chiefly [ASTRONOMY] the proportion of the incident light or radiation that is reflected by a surface, typically that of a planet or moon.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: ecclesiastical Latin, ‘whiteness’, from Latin albus ‘white’.

Albee /lbi al-/ Edward Franklin (b.1928), American dramatist. He was initially associated with the Theatre of the Absurd, but Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962) marked a more naturalistic departure.

albeit /lbit/ conj. though: he was making progress, albeit rather slowly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the phrase all be it ‘although it be (that)’.

Albena /albenə/ a resort town in Bulgaria, on the coast of the Black Sea.

Albers /albəz/ German /albs/ Josef (1888–1976), German-born American artist, designer, and teacher. He taught at the Bauhaus until 1933, and his work was strongly influenced by constructivism. He later emigrated to the US, where he was instrumental in disseminating Bauhaus principles through his teaching work.

albert (also albert chain) n. BRITISH a watch chain with a bar at one end for attaching to a buttonhole.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Prince Albert (see ALBERT, PRINCE).

Albert, Lake a lake in the Rift Valley of east central Africa, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) and Uganda. It is linked to Lake Edward by the Semliki River and to the White Nile by the Albert Nile. African name MOBUTU SESE SEKO, LAKE.

<ORIGIN> named after the Prince Consort by the English explorer Samuel Baker, who in 1864 was the first European to sight it.

Albert, Prince Albert Francis Charles Augustus Emmanuel (1819–61), consort to Queen Victoria and prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Alberta a prairie province in western Canada, bounded on the south by the US and on the west by the Rocky Mountains; capital, Edmonton; pop. 3,064,249 (2001).

Alberti /albεti/ Italian /alberti/ Leon Battista (1404–72), Italian architect, humanist, painter, and art critic. His book On Painting (1435) was the first account of the theory of perspective in the Renaissance.

Albert Nile the upper part of the Nile, flowing through NW Uganda between Lake Albert and the Ugandan–Sudanese border.

Albertus Magnus, St /albətəs manəs/ (c.1200–80), Dominican theologian, philosopher, and scientist; known as Doctor Universalis. A teacher of St Thomas Aquinas, he was a pioneer in the study of Aristotle and contributed significantly to the comparison of Christian theology and pagan philosophy. Feast day, 15 November.

albescent /albεs(ə)nt/ adj. LITERARY growing or shading into white: albescent mist.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin albescere ‘become white’, from albus ‘white’.

Albi /albi/ a town in southern France; pop. 46,300 (1999). The Albigensian movement originated there.

Albigenses /albεnsiz -dεn-/ plural n. a heretical Catharist sect of southern France in the 12th–13th centuries, believing in a form of Manichaean dualism with an extremely strict moral and social code.

<DERIVATIVES> Albigensian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin, from Albiga, the Latin name of ALBI in southern France.

albino /albinə/ n. (pl. albinos) a person or animal having a congenital absence of pigment in the skin and hair (which are white) and the eyes (which are usually pink).

- INFORMAL an abnormally white animal or plant: [as modifier] an albino tiger.

<DERIVATIVES> albinism /albnz(ə)m/ n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Portuguese (originally denoting albinos among African blacks) and Spanish, from albo (from Latin albus ‘white’) + the suffix -ino (see -ine^1).

Albinoni /albnəni/ Tomaso (1671–1751), Italian composer. The Adagio in G with which he is popularly associated was in fact composed by Remo Giazotto, based on a manuscript fragment by Albinoni.

Albinus /albinəs/ another name for ALCUIN.

Albion /albən/ n. a literary term for Britain or England, often used when referring to ancient or historical times.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin, probably of Celtic origin and related to Latin albus ‘white’ (in allusion to the white cliffs of Dover). The phrase perfidious Albion (mid 19th century) translates the French la perfide Albion, alluding to alleged treachery to other nations.

albite /albt/ n. [mass noun] a sodium-rich mineral of the feldspar group, typically white, occurring in silicate rocks.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin albus ‘white’ + -ITE^1.

albizzia /albzə/ n. a leguminous tree or shrub of warm climates, with feathery leaves and plume-like flowers that typically resemble bottlebrushes.

<INFO> Genus Albizia, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Filippo degli Albizzi, a Tuscan nobleman who introduced the silk tree A. julibrizzen into Italy in the mid 18th cent.

album n. 1 a blank book for the insertion of photographs, stamps, or pictures: the wedding pictures had pride of place in the family album.

2 a collection of recordings issued as a single item on record, cassette, or CD.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, neuter of albus ‘white’ used as a noun meaning ‘a blank tablet’. Taken into English from the German use of the Latin phrase album amicorum ‘album of friends’ (a blank book in which autographs, drawings, poems, etc. were collected), it was originally used consciously as a Latin word.

albumen /albjmn/ n. [mass noun] egg white, or the protein contained in it.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin, ‘egg white’, from albus ‘white’.

albumin /albjmn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a simple form of protein that is soluble in water and coagulable by heat, such as that found in egg white, milk, and (in particular) blood serum.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French albumine, based on Latin albumen, albumin- (see ALBUMEN).

albuminoid /albjumnd/ n. another term for SCLEROPROTEIN.

albuminous /albjumnəs/ adj. consisting of, resembling, or containing albumen.

albuminuria /albjmnjərə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the presence of albumin in the urine, typically as a symptom of kidney disease.

Albuquerque^1 /albəkəki/ the largest city in the state of New Mexico; pop. 448,607 (2000).

Albuquerque^2 /albəkəki/ Alfonso de (1453–1515), Portuguese colonial statesman. He conquered Goa (1510) and made it the capital of the Portuguese empire in the east.

alburnum /albənəm/ n. another term for SAPWOOD.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, from albus ‘white’.

Alcaeus /alsiəs/ (c.620–c.580 BC), Greek lyric poet. He invented a new form of lyric metre, the alcaic; he also wrote political odes, drinking songs, and love songs. His works were a model for Horace and the verse of the Renaissance.

alcaic /alkek/ [PROSODY] adj. using or denoting a verse metre occurring in four-line stanzas.

■ plural n. (alcaics) alcaic verse.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via late Latin from Greek alkaikos, from Alkaios (see ALCAEUS).

Alcalá de Henares /alkalα de εnαrεs/ a city in central Spain, on the River Henares, 25 km (15 miles) north-east of Madrid; pop. 172,418 (est. 2001).

alcalde /alkalde/ n. a magistrate or mayor in a Spanish, Portuguese, or Latin American town.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: Spanish, from Arabic al-qāī ‘the judge’ (see CADI).

Alcatraz /alkətraz/ a rocky island in San Francisco Bay, California. Between 1934 and 1963 it was the site of a top-security federal prison.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish alcatraz ‘pelicans’, which were once common there.

alcazar /alkəzα/ n. a Spanish palace or fortress of Moorish origin.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish alcázar, from Arabic al-qar ‘the castle’.

Alcestis /alsεsts/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] wife of Admetus, king of Pherae in Thessaly. She saved her husband's life by consenting to die on his behalf.

alchemilla /alkəmlə/ n. a plant of a genus that includes lady's mantle and its relatives.

<INFO> Genus Alchemilla, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from a medieval Latin diminutive of alchimia ‘alchemy’, from the belief that dew from the leaves of the plant could turn base metals into gold.

alchemy /alkmi/ n. [mass noun] the medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir.

- a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination: finding the person who's right for you requires a very subtle alchemy.

<DERIVATIVES> alchemic /alkεmk/ adj. alchemical adj. alchemist n. alchemize (also alchemise) v.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French and medieval Latin from Arabic al-kīmiyā', from al ‘the’ + kīmiyā' (from Greek khēmia, khēmeia ‘art of transmuting metals’).

Alcheringa /altərə/ (also Alchera /altərə/) n. (in the mythology of some Australian Aborigines) the ‘golden age’ when the first ancestors were created. Also called DREAMTIME.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Arrernte aljerre-nge ‘in the Dreamtime’.

Alcian blue /alsən/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a water-soluble copper-containing blue dye used as a histological stain for glycosaminoglycans.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: Alcian perhaps from (phth)al(o)cyan(ine) with a phonetic respelling.

Alcibiades /alsbədiz/ (c.450–404 BC), Athenian general and statesman. He led the unsuccessful Athenian expeditions against Sparta and Sicily during the Peloponnesian War but fled to Sparta after being charged with sacrilege.

alcid /alsd/ n. [BIRD] a bird of the auk family (Alcidae); an auk.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Alcidae (plural), from the genus name Alca, from Old Norse álka ‘razorbill’; compare with AUK.

Alclad /alklad/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a composite material consisting of sheets of aluminium alloy coated with pure aluminium or a different alloy to increase corrosion resistance.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from al(uminium) + CLAD^2.

Alcock /lkk/ Sir John William (1892–1919), English aviator. Together with Sir Arthur Whitten Brown he made the first non-stop transatlantic flight (16 hours 27 minutes) on 14–15 June 1919.

alcohol n. [mass noun] a colourless volatile flammable liquid which is the intoxicating constituent of wine, beer, spirits, and other drinks, and is also used as an industrial solvent and as fuel.

<INFO> Alternative names: ethanol, ethyl alcohol; chem. formula: C_2H_5OH.

- drink containing alcohol: he has not taken alcohol in twenty-five years.

- [count noun] [CHEMISTRY] any organic compound whose molecule contains one or more hydroxyl groups attached to a carbon atom.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: French (earlier form of alcool), or from medieval Latin, from Arabic al-kul ‘the kohl’. In early use the term referred to powders, specifically kohl, and especially those obtained by sublimation; later ‘a distilled or rectified spirit’ (mid 17th century).

alcohol-free adj. 1 (of a drink) not containing alcohol: alcohol-free lager.

2 (of a place) where alcoholic drinks are not served or consumed.

alcoholic adj. 1 containing or relating to alcohol: alcoholic liquor.

- caused by the excessive consumption of alcohol: alcoholic liver disease.

2 suffering from alcoholism.

■ n. a person suffering from alcoholism.

Alcoholics Anonymous (abbr.: AA) a self-help organization for people fighting alcoholism, founded in the US in 1935 and now having branches worldwide.

alcoholism n. [mass noun] addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor; alcohol dependency.

alcopop n. BRITISH INFORMAL a ready-mixed drink that resembles a soft drink but contains alcohol.

Alcott /lkt/ Louisa May (1832–88), American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women (1868–9), based on her New England childhood. Alcott was involved in diverse reform movements, including women's suffrage.

alcove n. a recess in the wall of a room or garden.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French alcôve, from Spanish alcoba, from Arabic al-qubba ‘the vault’.

Alcuin /alkwn/ (c.735–804) English scholar, theologian, and adviser to Charlemagne; also known as Albinus. He is credited with the transformation of Charlemagne's court into a cultural centre in the period known as the Carolingian Renaissance.

Aldabra /aldabrə/ a coral island group in the Indian Ocean, north-west of Madagascar. Formerly part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, it became an outlying dependency of the Seychelles in 1976.

Aldebaran /aldεbərən/ [ASTRONOMY] the brightest star in the constellation Taurus. It is a binary star of which the main component is a red giant.

<ORIGIN> Arabic, ‘the follower (of the Pleiades)’.

Aldeburgh /ldbrə/ a town on the coast of Suffolk, England; pop. 2,800 (est. 1998). It is the setting for a music festival established by Benjamin Britten.

aldehyde /aldhd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing the group –CHO, formed by the oxidation of alcohols. Typical aldehydes include methanal (formaldehyde) and ethanal (acetaldehyde).

<DERIVATIVES> aldehydic /aldhdk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: shortened from Latin alcohol dehydrogenatum ‘alcohol deprived of hydrogen’.

al dente /al dεnte -ti/ adj. & adv. (of food, typically pasta) cooked so as to be still firm when bitten.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘to the tooth’.

alder /ldə/ (also alder tree) n. a widely distributed tree of the birch family which has toothed leaves and bears male catkins and woody female cones.

<INFO> Genus Alnus, family Betulaceae: many species.

<ORIGIN> Old English alor, aler, of Germanic origin; related to German Erle; forms spelled with d are recorded from the 14th cent.

alder buckthorn n. a deciduous Eurasian shrub which bears glossy leaves and black berries.

<INFO> Frangula alnus (or Rhamnus frangula), family Rhamnaceae.

alderfly n. (pl. alderflies) a brownish fly-like insect that lives near water and has predatory aquatic larvae.

<INFO> Family Sialidae, order Neuroptera: several genera.

alderman n. (pl. aldermen) chiefly HISTORICAL a co-opted member of an English county or borough council, next in status to the Mayor.

- (also alderperson or alderwoman) NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN an elected member of a city council.

<DERIVATIVES> aldermanic adj. aldermanship n.

<ORIGIN> Old English aldormann (originally in the general sense ‘a man of high rank’), from aldor, ealdor ‘chief, patriarch’ (from ald ‘old’) + MAN. Later the sense ‘warden of a guild’ arose; then, as the guilds became identified with the ruling municipal body, ‘local magistrate, municipal officer’.

Aldermaston /ldəmαst(ə)n/ a village near Reading in southern England, site of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.

Alderney /ldəni/ an island in the English Channel, to the north-east of Guernsey; pop. 2,200 (est. 2002). It is the third largest of the Channel Islands.

Aldershot /ldət/ a town in southern England, in Hampshire; pop. 51,000 (est. 2002).

aldicarb /aldkαb/ n. [mass noun] a systemic agricultural pesticide used against some mites, insects, and nematode worms.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of ALDEHYDE + carbamide (from CARBO- + AMIDE).

Aldine /aldn/ adj. relating to the Italian printer Aldus Manutius, or to certain display typefaces.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin Aldinus, from Aldus, the printer's given name.

Aldis lamp /lds/ n. TRADEMARK a hand-held lamp for signalling in Morse code.

<ORIGIN> First World War: named after Arthur C. W. Aldis (1878–1953), its British inventor.

Aldiss /lds/ Brian (Wilson) (b.1925), English novelist and critic, best known for his science fiction. Notable works: Frankenstein Unbound (1973).

aldol /aldl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a viscous liquid obtained when acetaldehyde dimerizes in dilute alkali or acid.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_3CH(OH)CH_2CHO.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from al(dehyde) + -OL.

aldosterone /aldstərən/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a corticosteroid hormone which stimulates absorption of sodium by the kidneys and so regulates water and salt balance.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of ALDEHYDE and STEROID, + -ONE.

aldosteronism /aldə()stεrənz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which there is excessive secretion of aldosterone, which disturbs the balance of sodium, potassium, and water in the blood and so leads to high blood pressure.

Aldrin /ldrn/ Buzz (b.1930), American astronaut; full name Edwin Eugene Aldrin. In 1969 he took part in the first moon landing, the Apollo 11 mission, becoming the second person to set foot on the moon, after Neil Armstrong.

aldrin /ldrn/ n. [mass noun] a toxic synthetic insecticide, now generally banned.

<INFO> A chlorinated polycyclic hydrocarbon; chem. formula: C_12H_8Cl_6.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from the name of K. Alder (see Diels–Alder reaction) + -IN^1.

Aldus Manutius /ldəs mənjuəs/ (1450–1515), Italian scholar, printer, and publisher; Latinized name of Teobaldo Manucci; also known as Aldo Manuzio. He printed fine first editions of many Greek and Latin classics.

ale n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH any beer other than lager, stout, or porter: a draught of ale | [count noun] traditional cask-conditioned ales.

- NORTH AMERICAN beer brewed by top fermentation.

- HISTORICAL a drink made like beer but without the addition of hops.

<ORIGIN> Old English alu, ealu, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse l. Formerly the word referred especially to the paler varieties of beer.

aleatory /elət(ə)ri al-/ (also aleatoric /elətrk al-/) adj. depending on the throw of a die or on chance; random.

- relating to or denoting music or other forms of art involving elements of random choice (sometimes using statistical or computer techniques) during their composition, production, or performance.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin aleatorius, from aleator ‘dice player’, from alea ‘die’, + -Y^1.

alecost /elkst/ n. another term for COSTMARY.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from ALE + cost.

Alecto /əlεktə/ (also Allecto) [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] one of the Furies.

alee /əli/ adj. & adv. [NAUTICAL] on the side of a ship that is sheltered from the wind.

- (of the helm) moved round to leeward in order to tack a vessel or to bring its bows up into the wind.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from A-2 ‘on’ + LEE.

alehouse n. DATED an inn or public house.

Alekhine /alkin aljəkn/ Alexander (1892–1946), Russian-born French chess player, world champion 1927–35 and from 1937 until his death.

Aleksandropol /alksαndrəpl/ (also Alexandropol) former name (1840–1924) for Gyumri.

Aleksandrovsk /alksαndrəfsk/ former name (until 1921) for ZAPORIZHZHYA.

alembic /əlεmbk/ n. a distilling apparatus, now obsolete, consisting of a gourd-shaped container and a cap with a long beak for conveying the products to a receiver.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin alembicus, from Arabic al-'anbīq, from al- ‘the’ + 'anbīq ‘still’ (from Greek ambix, ambik- ‘cup, cap of a still’).

Alentejo /alənteu/ a region and former province of east central Portugal.

aleph /αlεf/ n. the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Hebrew 'āle, literally ‘ox’ (the character in Phoenician and ancient Hebrew possibly being derived from a hieroglyph of an ox's head).

Aleppo /alεpə/ a city in northern Syria; pop. 1,891,900 (est. 2002). Arabic name HALAB.

Aleppo gall n. a hard nut-like gall that forms on the valonia oak (formerly known as the Aleppo oak) in response to the developing larva of a gall wasp. It is used as a source of gallic acid and tannin.

<INFO> The wasp is Cynips tinctoria, family Cynipidae.

alerce /ələsi/ n. a cypress tree that is valued for its timber.

<INFO> Several species in the family Cupressaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, ‘larch’.

alert adj. quick to notice any unusual and potentially dangerous or difficult circumstances; vigilant: an alert police officer discovered a lorry full of explosive | schools need to be constantly alert to this problem.

- able to think clearly; intellectually active: she remained active and alert until well into her eighties.

■ n. [mass noun] the state of being watchful for possible danger: security forces are on the alert for an upsurge in violence.

- [count noun] an announcement or signal warning of danger: a bomb alert.

- [count noun] a period of vigilance following a warning of danger: traffic was halted during the alert.

- [count noun] a signal on an electronic device that prompts the user to do something or attracts their attention: a vibrating alert is a discreet alternative to ringtones.

■ v. [with obj.] warn (someone) of a danger or problem: he alerted people to the dangers of smoking | police were alerted after three men drove away without paying.

<DERIVATIVES> alertly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally in military use): from French alerte, from Italian all' erta ‘to the watchtower’.

alertness n. [mass noun] the quality of being alert: Walsall were indebted to the bravery and alertness of their goalkeeper | a lack of mental alertness.

-ales /eliz/ suffix [BOTANY] forming the names of orders of plants: Rosales.

<ORIGIN> from the plural of the Latin adjectival suffix -alis (see -AL).

alethic /əliθk/ adj. [PHILOSOPHY] denoting modalities of truth, such as necessity, contingency, or impossibility.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek alētheia ‘truth’ + -IC.

Aletschhorn /αlεthn/ a mountain in Switzerland, in the Bernese Alps, rising to 4,195 m (13,763 ft). Its glaciers are among the largest in Europe.

aleurone /əljərən/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] protein stored as granules in the cells of plant seeds.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek aleuron ‘flour’.

Aleut /əljut alut/ n. 1 a member of a people inhabiting the Aleutian Islands, other islands in the Bering Sea, and parts of western Alaska.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Aleuts, related to Eskimo but now almost extinct.

■ adj. relating to the Aleuts or their language.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

Aleutian Islands /əl(j)u(ə)n/ (also the Aleutians) a chain of volcanic islands in US possession, extending south-west from the Alaska Peninsula.

A level n. British short for ADVANCED LEVEL.

- an A-level exam or pass.

alevin /aləvn/ n. a newly spawned salmon or trout still carrying the yolk.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, based on Latin allevare ‘raise up’.

alewife n. (pl. alewives) a NW Atlantic fish of the herring family, which swims up rivers to spawn.

<INFO> Alosa pseudoharengus, family Clupeidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: possibly from earlier alewife ‘woman who keeps an ale house’, with reference to the fish's large belly.

Alexander^1 (356–323 BC), king of Macedon 336–323, son of Philip II; known as Alexander the Great. He conquered Persia, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Bactria, and the Punjab; in Egypt he founded the city of Alexandria.

Alexander^2 the name of three kings of Scotland:

- Alexander I (c.1077–1124), son of Malcolm III, reigned 1107–24.

- Alexander II (1198–1249), son of William I of Scotland, reigned 1214–49.

- Alexander III (1241–86), son of Alexander II, reigned 1249–86.

Alexander^3 the name of three tsars of Russia:

- Alexander I (1777–1825), reigned 1801–25.

- Alexander II (1818–81), son of Nicholas I, reigned 1855–81; known as Alexander the Liberator. His reforms included limited emancipation of the serfs.

- Alexander III (1845–94), son of Alexander II, reigned 1881–94. He reversed many of his father's reforms, resulting in a dangerous situation in Russia.

Alexander^4 Harold (Rupert Leofric George), 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis (1891–1969), British Field Marshal and Conservative statesman, holding commands during the Second World War.

Alexander Archipelago a group of about 1,100 islands off the coast of SE Alaska.

Alexander Nevsky /njεfski/ (also Nevski)

- (c.1220–63), prince of Novgorod 1236–63; canonized as St Alexander Nevsky. He defeated the Swedes on the banks of the River Neva in 1240. Feast day, 30 August or 23 November.

alexanders plural n. [treated as sing.] a European plant of the parsley family with yellowish flowers, formerly eaten as a salad vegetable.

<INFO> Smyrnium olusatrum, family Umbelliferae.

<ORIGIN> Old English alexandre, from medieval Latin alexandrum.

Alexander technique n. a system designed to promote well-being by retraining one's awareness and habits of posture to ensure minimum effort and strain.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869–1955), the Australian-born actor and elocutionist who developed it.

Alexandretta /alzαndrεtə/ former name for ISKENDERUN.

Alexandria /alzαndrə/ the chief port of Egypt; pop. 3,806,300 (est. 2002). Alexandria was a major centre of Hellenistic culture and was renowned for its extensive library (burned down in the late 3rd century BC).

Alexandrian adj. relating to Alexandria in Egypt.

- belonging to the schools of literature and philosophy of ancient Alexandria.

- (of a writer) derivative or imitative of previous writers and fond of obscure learning.

alexandrine /alzαndrn -n/ [PROSODY] adj. (of a line of verse) having six iambic feet.

■ n. (usually alexandrines) an alexandrine line.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French alexandrin, from Alexandre (see Alexander^1), the subject of an Old French poem in this metre.

alexandrite /alzαndrt/ n. [mass noun] a gem variety of chrysoberyl which appears green in daylight and red in artificial light.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of Tsar Alexander II of Russia (see Alexander^3) + -ITE^1.

alexia /əlεksə e-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inability to recognize or read written words or letters, typically as a result of brain damage. Compare with DYSLEXIA.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + Greek lexis ‘speech’, from legein ‘speak’, which was confused with Latin legere ‘read’.

alfalfa /alfalfə/ n. [mass noun] a leguminous plant with clover-like leaves and bluish flowers, native to SW Asia and widely grown for fodder. Also called LUCERNE.

<INFO> Medicago sativa, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, from Arabic al-fafaa, a green fodder.

al-Fatah see FATAH.

alfisol /alfsl/ n. [GEOLOGY] a soil of an order comprising leached basic or slightly acid soils with a clay-enriched B horizon.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from the arbitrary element Alfi- + -SOL.

alfoil n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN TRADEMARK tinfoil.

<ORIGIN> from ALUMINIUM + FOIL^1.

Alfonso XIII /alfnsə/ (1886–1941), king of Spain 1886–1931, forced into exile after elections indicating a preference for a republic.

Alfred (849–99), king of Wessex 871–99; known as Alfred the Great. Alfred's military resistance saved SW England from Viking occupation. A great reformer, he is credited with the foundation of the English navy and with a revival of learning.

Alfredo /alfredə/ adj. denoting a sauce for pasta incorporating butter, cream, garlic, and Parmesan cheese: [postpositive] fettuccine Alfredo.

<ORIGIN> named after Alfredo di Lelio, the Italian chef and restaurateur who invented the sauce.

al fresco /al frεskə/ adv. & adj. in the open air: [as adj.] an al fresco supper.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Italian, literally ‘in the fresh (air)’.

al-Fujayrah another name for FUJAIRAH.

Alfvén /alvεn/ Hannes Olof Gösta (1908–95), Swedish theoretical physicist. His work was important for controlled thermonuclear fusion. Nobel Prize for Physics (1970).

Alfvén wave n. [PHYSICS] a transverse magnetohydrodynamic wave travelling in the direction of the magnetic field in a magnetized plasma. The velocity of such waves (the Alfvén velocity or speed) is characteristic for a plasma of given properties.

alga /alə/ n. (pl. algae /aldi ali/) a simple, non-flowering, and typically aquatic plant of a large assemblage that includes the seaweeds and many single-celled forms. Algae contain chlorophyll but lack true stems, roots, leaves, and vascular tissue.

<INFO> Divisions Chlorophyta (green algae), Heterokontophyta (brown algae), and Rhodophyta (red algae); some (or all) are frequently placed in the kingdom Protista.

<DERIVATIVES> algal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, ‘seaweed’.

algal bloom n. a rapid growth of microscopic algae or cyanobacteria in water, often resulting in a coloured scum on the surface.

Algarve /alαv/ (the Algarve) the southernmost province of Portugal, on the Atlantic coast; capital, Faro.

algebra /aldbrə/ n. [mass noun] the part of mathematics in which letters and other general symbols are used to represent numbers and quantities in formulae and equations.

- a system of algebra based on given axioms.

<DERIVATIVES> algebraist /aldbrest/ n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Italian, Spanish, and medieval Latin, from Arabic al-jabr ‘the reunion of broken parts’, ‘bone-setting’, from jabara ‘reunite, restore’. The original sense, ‘the surgical treatment of fractures’, probably came via Spanish, in which it survives; the mathematical sense comes from the title of a book, ‘ilm al-jabr wa'l-muqābala ‘the science of restoring what is missing and equating like with like’, by the mathematician al-wārizmī (see ALGORITHM).

algebraic adj. relating to or involving algebra.

- denoting a mathematical expression or equation in which a finite number of symbols are combined using only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponentiation with constant rational exponents. Compare with TRANSCENDENTAL.

<DERIVATIVES> algebraical adj. algebraically adv.

Algeciras /aldsərəs/ Spanish /alxeθiras -siras/ a ferry port and resort in southern Spain; pop. 105,066 (est. 2001).

Algeria /aldərə/ a republic on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa; pop. 32,277,942 (est. 2002); official language, Arabic; capital, Algiers.

Algeria was colonized by France in the mid 19th century and was for a time closely integrated with metropolitan France, but following civil war in the 1950s the country achieved independence in 1962. A brief period of multiparty democracy was ended by a military takeover in 1992 after the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front had won the first round of the national elections; violent civil strife ensued.

<DERIVATIVES> Algerian adj. & n.

-algia combining form denoting pain in a specified part of the body: neuralgia | myalgia.

<DERIVATIVES> -algic combining form in corresponding adjectives.

<ORIGIN> from Greek algos ‘pain’.

algicide /aldsd al-/ n. a substance which is poisonous to algae.

Algiers /aldəz/ the capital of Algeria and one of the leading Mediterranean ports of North Africa; pop. 3,815,900 (est. 2002).

alginate n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt of alginic acid.

alginic acid /aldnk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an insoluble gelatinous carbohydrate found (chiefly as salts) in many brown seaweeds. The sodium salt is used as a thickener in foods and many other materials.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: alginic from ALGA + -IN^1 + -IC.

ALGOL /all/ n. [mass noun] an early high-level computer programming language devised to carry out scientific calculations.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from algo(rithmic) + the initial letter of LANGUAGE.

Algol /all/ [ASTRONOMY] a variable star in the constellation Perseus, regarded as the prototype of eclipsing binary stars.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic al ġūl ‘the ghoul’.

algolagnia /alə()lanə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] desire for sexual gratification through inflicting pain on oneself or others; sadomasochism.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: coined in German from Greek algos ‘pain’ + lagneia ‘lust’.

algology /əllədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of algae.

<DERIVATIVES> algological adj. algologist n.

Algonquian /alkwən -k-/ (also Algonkian /-kən/) adj. denoting or relating to a large family of North American Indian languages formerly spoken across a vast area from the Atlantic seaboard to the Great Lakes and the Great Plains, and including Ojibwa, Cree, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, and Delaware. Many words in English have been adopted from these languages, e.g. moccasin, moose, and toboggan.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the Algonquian family of languages.

2 a speaker of any of the Algonquian languages.

<ORIGIN> from ALGONQUIN + -IAN.

Algonquin /alkwn/ (also Algonkin) n. 1 a member of an American Indian people living in Canada along the Ottawa River and its tributaries and westward to the north of Lake Superior.

2 [mass noun] the Algonquian language of the Algonquin people, with about 3,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Algonquin people or their language.

<ORIGIN> French, contraction of obsolete Algoumequin, from a Micmac word meaning ‘at the place of spearing fish and eels’.

algorithm /alər(ə)m/ n. a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer: a basic algorithm for division.

<DERIVATIVES> algorithmic adj. algorithmically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting the Arabic or decimal notation of numbers): variant (influenced by Greek arithmos ‘number’) of Middle English algorism, via Old French from medieval Latin algorismus. The Arabic source, al-wārizmī ‘the man of wārizm’ (now Khiva), was a name given to the 9th-cent. mathematician Abū Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Mūsa, author of widely translated works on algebra and arithmetic.

Algren /lrən/ Nelson (Abraham) (1909–81), American novelist. He drew on his childhood experiences in the slums of Chicago for his novels of social realism, for example The Man with the Golden Arm (1949) and Walk on the Wild Side (1956).

alguacil /alwaθil/ Spanish /alwaθil -sil/ n. (pl. alguaciles /alwaθilz/ Spanish /alwaθiles -siles/) each of a pair of mounted constables acting as an official at a bullfight.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Arabic al-wazīr ‘the helper, aide, or vizier’.

alhaji /alhadi/ n. (pl. alhajis; fem. alhaja) (in West Africa) a Muslim who has been to Mecca as a pilgrim (often used as a title).

<ORIGIN> Hausa, from Arabic al ‘the’ + hājī ‘pilgrim’.

Alhambra /alhambrə/ a fortified Moorish palace, the last stronghold of the Muslim kings of Granada, built between 1248 and 1354 near Granada in Spain.

al-Hudayda /alhudedə/ Arabic name for HODEIDA.

-alia suffix (forming plural nouns) denoting items associated with a particular area of activity or interest: kitchenalia.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, neuter plural ending of adjectives ending in -alis.

alias /eləs/ adv. used to indicate that a named person is also known or more familiar under another specified name: Eric Blair, alias George Orwell.

■ n. 1 a false or assumed identity: a spy operating under the alias Barsad.

- [COMPUTING] an alternative name or label that refers to a file, command, address, or other item, and can be used to locate or access it.

2 [PHYSICS] & [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] each of a set of signal frequencies which, when sampled at a given uniform rate, would give the same set of sampled values, and thus might be incorrectly substituted for one another when reconstructing the original signal.

■ v. [with obj.] [PHYSICS] & [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] misidentify (a signal frequency), introducing distortion or error.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘at another time, otherwise’.

aliasing n. [mass noun] 1 [PHYSICS] & [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] the misidentification of a signal frequency, introducing distortion or error.

2 [COMPUTING] the use of aliases to designate files, commands, addresses, or other items.

3 [COMPUTING] the distortion of a reproduced image so that curved or inclined lines appear inappropriately jagged, caused by the mapping of a number of points to the same pixel.

Ali Baba /ali bαbə/ the hero of a story supposed to be from the Arabian Nights, who discovered the magic formula (‘Open Sesame!’) which opened a cave where forty thieves kept their treasure.

alibi /alb/ n. (pl. alibis) a claim or piece of evidence that one was elsewhere when an act, typically a criminal one, is alleged to have taken place: she has an alibi for the whole of yesterday evening.

- INFORMAL an excuse or pretext: a catch-all alibi for failure and inadequacy.

■ v. (alibis, alibiing, alibied) [with obj.] INFORMAL provide an alibi for.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as an adverb in the sense ‘elsewhere’): from Latin, ‘elsewhere’. The noun use dates from the late 18th cent.

<USAGE> The word alibi, which in Latin means ‘elsewhere’, has been used since the 18th century to mean ‘an assertion by a person that he or she was elsewhere’. In the 20th century a new sense arose (originally in the US) with the meaning ‘an excuse’. This use is an example of a fairly common and natural extension of the core meaning, and, though widely accepted in standard English, it is still regarded as incorrect by some traditionalists.

Alicante /alkanti -te/ a seaport on the Mediterranean coast of SE Spain, the capital of a province of the same name; pop. 283,243 (est. 2001).

Alice band n. a flexible band worn by women and girls to hold back the hair.

<ORIGIN> Alice, from the name of the heroine of two books by Lewis Carroll.

Alice Springs a railway terminus and supply centre serving the outback of Northern Territory, Australia; pop. 50,800 (est. 2002).

alicyclic /alsklk -sk-/ [CHEMISTRY] adj. relating to or denoting organic compounds which combine cyclic structure with aliphatic properties, e.g. cyclohexane and other saturated CYCLIC hydrocarbons. Compare with AROMATIC.

■ n. an alicyclic compound.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of ALIPHATIC and cyclic.

alidade /alded/ n. a sighting device or pointer for determining directions or measuring angles, used in surveying and (formerly) astronomy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: directly or (in modern use) via French and Spanish from Arabic al-‘iāda ‘the revolving radius’, probably based on aud ‘upper arm’.

alien adj. 1 belonging to a foreign country: an alien culture.

- (of a plant or animal species) introduced from another country and later naturalized.

2 unfamiliar and disturbing or distasteful: principles that are alien to them | they found the world of further education a little alien.

3 supposedly from another world; extraterrestrial: alien beings | an alien spacecraft.

■ n. 1 a foreigner, especially one who is not a naturalized citizen of the country where he or she is living: an enemy alien.

- a plant or animal species originally introduced from another country and later naturalized.

2 a hypothetical or fictional being from another world.

<DERIVATIVES> alienness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin alienus ‘belonging to another’, from alius ‘other’.

alienable adj. [LAW] able to be transferred to new ownership.

<DERIVATIVES> alienability n.

alienage n. [mass noun] chiefly [LAW] the state or condition of being an alien.

alienate v. [with obj.] 1 make (someone) feel isolated or estranged: an urban environment which would alienate its inhabitants | (as adj. alienated) an alienated, angst-ridden twenty-two-year-old.

- make (someone) become unsympathetic or hostile: the association does not wish to alienate its members.

2 [LAW] transfer ownership of (property rights) to another person or group.

<PHRASES>

□ alienate someone's affections [US LAW] induce someone to transfer their affection from a person (such as a spouse) with legal rights or claims on them.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin alienat- ‘estranged’, from the verb alienare, from alienus ‘of another’ (see ALIEN).

alienation n. [mass noun] 1 the state or experience of being alienated: a sense of alienation from our environment | unemployment may generate a sense of political alienation.

- (in Marxist theory) a condition of workers in a capitalist economy, resulting from a lack of identity with the products of their labour and a sense of being controlled or exploited.

- [PSYCHIATRY] a state of depersonalization or loss of identity in which the self seems unreal, thought to be caused by difficulties in relating to society and the resulting prolonged inhibition of emotion.

- (also alienation effect) [THEATRE] an effect, sought by some dramatists, whereby the audience remains objective and does not identify with the actors.

2 [LAW] the transfer of the ownership of property rights.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin alienatio(n-), from the verb alienare ‘estrange’, from alienus (see ALIEN). The term alienation effect (1940s) is a translation of German Verfremdungseffekt.

alienee n. [LAW] old-fashioned term for GRANTEE.

alienist n. former term for PSYCHIATRIST.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French aliéniste, based on Latin alienus ‘of another’ (see ALIEN).

alienor /elən/ n. [LAW] old-fashioned term for GRANTOR.

aliform /elfm/ adj. wing-shaped.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from modern Latin aliformis, from Latin ala ‘wing’ + -formis (see -FORM).

Aligarh /αlə/ a city in northern India, in Uttar Pradesh; pop. 667,700 (2001). The city comprises the ancient fort of Aligarh and the former city of Koil.

alight^1 v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of place] FORMAL descend from a train, bus, or other form of transport: visitors should alight at the Fort Road stop.

- (of a bird) descend from the air and settle: one bird alighted on the arm of my chair.

2 (alight on) find by chance; notice: her eyes alighted on the item in question.

<ORIGIN> Old English ālīhtan, from ā- (as an intensifier) + līhtan ‘descend’ (see light^3).

alight^2 adv. & adj. on fire; burning: [as adj.] the house was alight when the firemen arrived | [as adv.] flammable liquid was set alight.

- shining brightly: [as adj.] a single lamp was alight | FIGURATIVE the boy's face was alight with excitement.

<PHRASES>

□ set the world alight INFORMAL achieve something which causes great excitement and makes one famous.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from the phrase on a light (= lighted) fire.

align v. 1 [with obj.] place or arrange (things) in a straight line: the desks are aligned in straight rows facing forwards.

- put (things) into correct or appropriate relative positions: the fan blades are carefully aligned | FIGURATIVE aligning domestic prices with prices in world markets.

- [no obj.] lie in a straight line, or in correct relative positions: the pattern of the border at the joint should align perfectly.

2 (align oneself with) give support to (a person, organization, or cause): newspapers usually align themselves with certain political parties.

- [no obj.] come together in agreement or alliance: all of them must now align against the foe.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French aligner, from à ligne ‘into line’.

alignment n. 1 [mass noun] arrangement in a straight line or in correct relative positions: the tiles had slipped out of alignment.

- [count noun] the route or course of a railway or road.

- [count noun] [ARCHAEOLOGY] a linear arrangement of stones.

2 a position of agreement or alliance: the uncertain nature of political alignments.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French alignement, from aligner (see ALIGN).

alike adj. [predic.] (of two or more people or things) similar to each other: the brothers were very much alike | the houses all looked alike.

■ adv. in the same or a similar way: the girls dressed alike in black trousers and jackets.

- used to show that something applies equally to a number of specified subjects: he talked in a friendly manner to staff and patients alike.

<ORIGIN> Old English gelīc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gelijk and German gleich, reinforced in Middle English by Old Norse álíkr (adjective) and álíka (adverb).

aliment /alm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] 1 ARCHAIC food; nourishment.

2 [SCOTS LAW] maintenance; alimony.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin alimentum, from alere ‘nourish’.

alimentary adj. relating to nourishment or sustenance.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin alimentarius, from alimentum ‘nourishment’ (see ALIMENT).

alimentary canal n. the whole passage along which food passes through the body from mouth to anus during digestion.

alimentation n. [mass noun] FORMAL the provision of nourishment or other necessities of life.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘maintenance, support’): from medieval Latin alimentatio(n-), from late Latin alimentare ‘to feed’, from alimentum ‘nourishment’ (see ALIMENT).

alimony /alməni/ n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a husband's (or wife's) provision for a spouse after separation or divorce; maintenance.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘nourishment, means of subsistence’): from Latin alimonia ‘nutriment’, from alere ‘nourish’.

A-line adj. (of a garment) slightly flared from a narrow waist or shoulders: A-line skirts.

aliphatic /alfatk/ [CHEMISTRY] adj. relating to or denoting organic compounds in which carbon atoms form open chains (as in the alkanes), not aromatic rings.

■ n. an aliphatic compound.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally used of the fatty acids): from Greek aleiphar, aleiphat- ‘fat’ + -IC.

aliquot /alkwt/ n. a portion of a larger whole, especially a sample taken for chemical analysis or other treatment.

- (also aliquot part or portion) [MATHEMATICS] a quantity which can be divided into another an integral number of times.

■ v. [with obj.] divide (a whole) into aliquots.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French aliquote, from Latin aliquot ‘some, so many’, from alius ‘one of two’ + quot ‘how many’.

alisphenoid /alsfind/ (also alisphenoid bone) n. [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] a wing-like cartilaginous bone within a mammal's skull forming part of the socket of the eye.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin ala ‘wing’ + SPHENOID.

A-list (or B-list) n. a real or imaginary list of the most (or second most) celebrated or sought-after individuals, especially in show business: [as modifier] an A-list celebrity.

aliterate /elt(ə)rət/ adj. unwilling to read, although able to do so.

■ n. an aliterate person.

<DERIVATIVES> aliteracy n.

alive adj. [predic.] 1 (of a person, animal, or plant) living, not dead: hopes of finding anyone still alive were fading | he was kept alive by a feeding tube.

- continuing in existence or use: keeping hope alive | fortunately the old recipes are very much alive.

2 alert and active; animated: Ken comes alive when he hears his music played.

- having interest and meaning: we hope we will make history come alive for the children.

3 (alive to) aware of and interested in; responsive to: she was always alive to new ideas.

4 (alive with) swarming or teeming with: in spring those cliffs are alive with auks and gulls.

<PHRASES>

□ alive and kicking INFORMAL prevalent and very active: bigotry is still alive and kicking.

□ alive and well still existing or active (often used to deny rumours or beliefs that something has disappeared or declined): the sports car industry is alive and well.

<DERIVATIVES> aliveness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English on līfe, literally ‘in life’.

aliyah /aljə/ n. (pl. aliyoth /aljət/) [JUDAISM] 1 [mass noun] immigration to Israel: students making aliyah.

2 the honour of being called upon to read from the Torah: I was called up for an aliyah.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ‘ăliyyāh ‘ascent’.

alizarin /əlz(ə)rn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a red pigment present in madder root, used in dyeing.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_14H_8O_4.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French alizarine, from alizari ‘madder’, from Arabic al-‘iāra ‘pressed juice’, from ‘aara ‘to press fruit’.

al-Jizah /al dizə/ Arabic name for GIZA.

alkahest /alkəhεst/ (also alcahest) n. HISTORICAL the hypothetical universal solvent sought by alchemists.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: sham Arabic, probably invented by Paracelsus.

alkali /alkəl/ n. (pl. alkalis) a compound with particular chemical properties including turning litmus blue and neutralizing or effervescing with acids; typically, a caustic or corrosive substance of this kind such as lime or soda. Often contrasted with ACID and base^1.

- [as modifier] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN alkaline.

Alkalis release hydroxide ions (OH−) when dissolved in water. Any solution with a pH of more than 7 is alkaline.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a saline substance derived from the ashes of various plants, including glasswort): from medieval Latin, from Arabic al-qalī ‘calcined ashes (of the glasswort etc.)’, from qalā ‘fry, roast’.

alkalic /alkalk/ adj. [GEOLOGY] (of a rock or mineral) richer in sodium and/or potassium than is usual for its type.

alkali feldspar n. [GEOLOGY] any of the group of feldspars rich in sodium and/or potassium.

alkali metal n. [CHEMISTRY] any of the elements lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, and francium, occupying Group IA (1) of the periodic table. They are very reactive, electropositive, monovalent metals forming strongly alkaline hydroxides.

alkaline adj. having the properties of an alkali, or containing alkali; having a pH greater than 7. Often contrasted with ACIDIC and BASIC.

<DERIVATIVES> alkalinity n.

alkaline earth (also alkaline earth metal) n. any of the elements beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, and radium, occupying Group IIA (2) of the periodic table. They are reactive, electropositive, divalent metals, and form basic oxides which react with water to form comparatively insoluble hydroxides.

alkalize (also alkalise) v. [with obj.] treat with alkali.

alkaloid /alkəld/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a class of nitrogenous organic compounds of plant origin which have pronounced physiological actions on humans. They include many drugs (morphine, quinine) and poisons (atropine, strychnine).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coined in German from ALKALI.

alkalosis /alkələss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an excessively alkaline condition of the body fluids or tissues, which may cause weakness or cramp.

alkane /alken/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of the series of saturated hydrocarbons including methane, ethane, propane, and higher members.

<INFO> Alkanes have the general formula: CnH_2n+2.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ALKYL + -ANE^2.

alkanet /alkənεt/ n. a Eurasian plant of the borage family, typically having a hairy stem and blue flowers.

<INFO> Anchusa and other genera, family Boraginaceae: several species, including the European A. officinalis.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from colloquial Arabic al-annat (classical Arabic al-innā') ‘the henna shrub’.

alkene /alkin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of the series of unsaturated hydrocarbons containing a double bond, including ethylene and propene.

<INFO> Alkenes have the general formula: CnH_2n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ALKYL + -ENE.

alky (also alkie) n. (pl. alkies) INFORMAL an alcoholic.

alkyd /alkd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a group of synthetic polyester resins derived from various alcohols and ACIDs.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: blend of ALKYL and acid.

alkyl /alkl -kl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting a hydrocarbon radical derived from an alkane by removal of a hydrogen atom.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: German, from Alkohol ‘alcohol’ + -YL.

alkylate /alklet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. alkylating or alkylated) [CHEMISTRY] introduce an alkyl radical into (a compound): alkylating agents.

<DERIVATIVES> alkylation n.

alkyne /alkn/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of the series of unsaturated hydrocarbons containing a triple bond, including acetylene.

<INFO> Alkynes have the general formula: CnH_2n-2.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ALKYL + -YNE.

all predeterminer, determiner, & pronoun used to refer to the whole quantity or extent of a particular group or thing: [as predeterminer] all the people I met | she left all her money to him | [as determiner] 10 per cent of all cars sold | he slept all day | [as pronoun] carry all of the blame | we all have different needs.

- [determiner] any whatever: he denied all knowledge of it.

- [determiner] used to emphasize the greatest possible amount of a quality: they were in all probability completely unaware | with all due respect.

- [pronoun] [with clause] the only thing (used for emphasis): all I want is to be left alone.

- [pronoun] (used to refer to surroundings or a situation in general) everything: all was well | all is not lost yet.

■ adv. 1 completely: dressed all in black | she's been all round the world | all by himself.

- INFORMAL used to emphasize a temporary quality: my ankle's gone all wobbly | he was all of a dither.

2 (in games) used after a number to indicate an equal score: after extra time it was still two all.

<PHRASES>

□ all along all the time; from the beginning: she'd known all along.

□ all and sundry everyone.

□ all but 1 very nearly: the subject was all but forgotten.

2 all except: we have support from all but one of the networks.

□ all comers chiefly INFORMAL anyone who chooses to take part in an activity, typically a competition: the champion took on all comers.

□ all for INFORMAL strongly in favour of: I was all for tolerance.

□ all get-out see as —— as all GET-OUT at get-out.

□ all in INFORMAL exhausted: he was all in by half-TIME. See also ALL-IN.

□ all in all on the whole: all in all it's been a good year.

□ all kinds (or sorts) of many different kinds of: he gets into ALL KINDS OF trouble.

□ all MANNER of see MANNER.

□ all of as much as (often used ironically of an amount or quantity considered small by the speaker): the show lasted all of six weeks.

□ all of a SUDDEN see SUDDEN.

□ all-or-none another way of saying ALL-OR-NOTHING.

- [PHYSIOLOGY] (of a response) having a strength independent of the strength of the stimulus THAT caused it.

□ all-or-nothing having no middle position or compromise available: an all-or-nothing decision.

□ all out using all one's strength or resources: going all out to win | [as adj.] an all-out effort.

□ all over 1 completely finished: it's all over between us.

2 INFORMAL everywhere: there were bodies all over.

- with reference to all parts of the body: I was shaking all over.

3 INFORMAL typical of the person mentioned: that's our management all over!

4 INFORMAL effusively attentive to: James was all over her.

□ all over the place (or NORTH AMERICAN also map, BRITISH also shop) INFORMAL everywhere: we've been all over the place looking for you.

- in a state of disorder: my hair was all over the place.

□ all round (US all around) 1 in all respects: it was a bad day all round | [as modifier] a man of all-round ability.

2 for or by each person: drinks all round.

□ all sorts of see all kinds of above.

□ all's well that ends well PROVERB if the outcome of a situation is happy, this compensates for any previous difficulty or unpleasantness.

□ all that —— see THAT.

□ all the SAME see SAME.

□ all the —— see the (sense 6).

□ all there [usually with negative] INFORMAL in full possession of one's mental faculties: he's not quite all there.

□ all the time see TIME.

□ all together all in one place or in a groUP; all at once: they arrived all together. Compare with ALTOGETHER.

□ all told in total: they tried a dozen times all told.

□ all the way INFORMAL without limit or reservation: I'm with you all the way.

□ —— and all used to emphasize something additional that is being referred to: she threw her coffee over him, mug and all.

- INFORMAL as well: get one for me and all.

□ at all [with negative or in questions] (used for emphasis) in any way; to any extent: I don't like him at all.

- IRISH added at the end of an utterance for emphasis: what is the matter with you at all?

□ be all one to make no difference to: simple cases or hard cases, it's all one to me.

□ be all that US INFORMAL be very attractive or good: He thinks he's all that—Yeah, God's gift.

□ be all up with see UP.

□ be all very well INFORMAL used to criticize or reject a favourable or consoling remark: your proposal is all very well in theory, but in practice it will not pay.

□ for all —— in spite of ——: for all its clarity and style, the book is not easy reading.

□ in all in total number; altogether: there were about 5,000 people in all.

□ on (or on to) all fours on (or on to) hands and knees or (of an animal) on all four legs rather than just the hind ones.

□ one's all one's whole strength or resources: I want to give my all to what I am doing now.

<ORIGIN> Old English all, eall, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch al and German all.

alla breve /alə brevi brεve/ n. [MUSIC] a time signature indicating two or four minim beats in a bar.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘according to the breve’.

alla cappella /kəpεlə/ adj. & adv.

■ another term for A CAPPELLA.

Allah /alə əllα/ the name of God among Muslims (and Arab Christians).

<ORIGIN> from Arabic 'allāh, contraction of al-'il‘h ‘the god’.

Allahabad /aləhəbad/ a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, north central India; pop. 990,300 (2001). Situated at the confluence of the sacred Jumna and Ganges Rivers, it is a place of Hindu pilgrimage.

allamanda /aləmandə/ n. any of a number of tropical shrubs or climbers which bear showy yellow or purple flowers.

<INFO> Several species, particularly in the genus Allamanda (family Apocynaceae).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Jean-Nicholas-Sébastien Allamand (1713–87), Swiss naturalist.

all-American adj. 1 possessing qualities characteristic of US ideals, such as honesty, industriousness, and health: his all-American wholesomeness.

2 drawn only from America or the US: an all-American anthology.

- involving or representing the whole of America or the US: an all-American final.

- (also all-America) US (of a sports player) honoured as one of the best amateur competitors in the US.

■ n. (also all-America) US a sports player honoured as one of the best amateurs in the US.

allanite /alənt/ n. [mass noun] a brownish-black mineral of the epidote group, consisting of a silicate of rare earth metals, aluminium, and iron.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Thomas Allan (1777–1833), Scottish mineralogist, + -ITE^1.

allantoin /əlantən/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a crystalline compound formed in the nitrogen metabolism of many mammals (excluding primates).

<INFO> A cyclic compound related to hydantoin; chem. formula: C_4H_6N_4O_3.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ALLANTOIS (because it was discovered in the allantoic fluid of cows) + -IN^1.

allantois /əlantəs/ n. (pl. allantoides /-diz/) the fetal membrane lying below the chorion in many vertebrates, formed as an outgrowth of the embryo's gut. In birds and reptiles it grows to surround the embryo; in eutherian mammals it forms part of the placenta.

<DERIVATIVES> allantoic adj. allantoid adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: modern Latin, based on Greek allantoeidēs ‘sausage-shaped’.

allargando /alαandə/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) getting slower and broader.

■ n. (pl. allargandi /-di/ or allargandos) an allargando passage.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘broadening’.

all-around adj. US term for ALL-ROUND.

allay /əle/ v. [with obj.] diminish or put at rest (fear, suspicion, or worry): the report attempted to educate the public and allay fears.

- relieve or alleviate (pain or hunger): some stale figs partly allayed our hunger.

<ORIGIN> Old English ālecgan ‘lay down or aside’.

All Blacks the New Zealand international rugby union team, so called because of their black strip.

all-clear n. a signal that danger or difficulty is over: she was given the all-clear to travel home.

allée /ale/ n. an alley in a formal garden or park, bordered by trees or bushes.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French.

allegation n. a claim or assertion that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically one made without proof: he made allegations of corruption against the administration | allegations that the army was operating a shoot-to-kill policy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin allegatio(n-), from allegare ‘allege’.

allege /əlεd/ v. [reporting v.] claim or assert that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically without proof: [with clause] he alleged that he had been assaulted | [with obj. and infinitive] he is alleged to have assaulted five men.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘declare on oath’): from Old French esligier, based on Latin lis, lit- ‘lawsuit’; confused in sense with Latin allegare ‘allege’.

alleged adj. [attr.] said, without proof, to have taken place or to have a specified illegal or undesirable quality: the alleged conspirators.

allegedly adv. [sentence adv.] used to convey that something is claimed to be the case or have taken place, although there is no proof: he was allegedly a leading participant in the coup attempt | [as submodifier] allegedly obscene material.

Allegheny Mountains /aləeni/ (also the Alleghenies) a mountain range of the Appalachian system in the eastern US.

allegiance n. [mass noun] loyalty or commitment to a superior or to a group or cause: those wishing to receive citizenship must swear allegiance to the republic | [count noun] a complex pattern of cross-party allegiances.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, variant of Old French ligeance, from lige, liege (see LIEGE), perhaps by association with Anglo-Latin alligantia ‘alliance’.

allegorical adj. constituting or containing allegory: an allegorical painting.

<DERIVATIVES> allegoric adj. allegorically adv.

allegorize (also allegorise) v. [with obj.] interpret or represent symbolically: the picture is interpreted as allegorizing an alienated society.

<DERIVATIVES> allegorization n.

allegory n. (pl. allegories) a story, poem, or picture which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one: Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the spiritual journey.

- a symbol.

<DERIVATIVES> allegorist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French allegorie, via Latin from Greek allēgoria, from allos ‘other’ + -agoria ‘speaking’.

allegretto /alrεtə/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) at a fairly brisk speed.

■ n. (pl. allegrettos) a movement or passage marked to be performed allegretto.

<ORIGIN> Italian, diminutive of ALLEGRO.

Allegri /alεri -le-/ Gregorio (1582–1652), Italian priest and composer, noted especially for his Miserere, written for performance in the Sistine Chapel.

allegro /əlεrə -le-/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) at a brisk speed.

■ n. (pl. allegros) a movement, passage, or composition marked to be performed allegro.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘lively, gay’.

allele /alil/ n. [GENETICS] each of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome. Also called ALLELOMORPH.

<DERIVATIVES> allelic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from German Allel, abbreviation of ALLELOMORPH.

allelochemical /əliləkεmk(ə)l/ n. a chemical produced by a living organism that exerts a detrimental physiological effect on individuals of another species when released into the environment.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Greek allēl- ‘one another’ + CHEMICAL.

allelomorph /əliləmf/ n. another term for ALLELE.

<DERIVATIVES> allelomorphic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek allēl- ‘one another’ + morphē ‘form’.

allelopathy /alilpəθi/ n. [mass noun] [ECOLOGY] the chemical inhibition of one plant (or other organism) by another, due to the release into the environment of substances acting as germination or growth inhibitors.

<DERIVATIVES> allelopathic /əlilə()paθk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek allēl- ‘one another’ + -PATHY.

allemande /almαnd/ n. any of a number of German dances, in particular an elaborate court dance popular in the 16th century.

- the music for an allemande, especially as a movement of a suite.

- a figure in country dancing in which adjacent dancers link arms or join hands and make a full or partial turn.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, ‘German (dance)’.

all-embracing adj. including or covering everything or everyone; comprehensive: the all-embracing term ‘folk art’ appears to be increasingly inadequate.

Allen^1 Ethan (1738–89), American soldier. He fought the British in the War of Independence and led the irregular force the Green Mountain Boys in their campaign to gain independence for the state of Vermont.

Allen^2 Woody (b.1935), American film director, writer, and actor; born Allen Stewart Konigsberg. Allen stars in most of his own films, many of which have won Oscars and which humorously explore themes of neurosis and sexual inadequacy. Notable works: Play it Again, Sam (1972) and Annie Hall (1977).

Allenby /alənbi/ Edmund Henry Hynman, 1st Viscount (1861–1936), British soldier. Commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force against the Turks, he captured Jerusalem in 1917 and defeated the Turkish forces at Megiddo in 1918.

Allende /ajεnde/ Salvador (1908–73), Chilean statesman, President 1970–3. The first avowed Marxist to win a presidency in a free election, Allende was overthrown and killed in a military coup led by General Pinochet.

Allen key (US Allen wrench) n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a spanner designed to fit into and turn an Allen screw.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from the name of the manufacturer, the Allen Manufacturing Company, of Hartford, Connecticut.

Allen screw n. TRADEMARK a screw with a hexagonal socket in the head.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from the name of the manufacturer (see ALLEN KEY).

Allenstein /aləntan/ German name for OLSZTYN.

allergen /aləd(ə)n/ n. a substance that causes an allergic reaction.

<DERIVATIVES> allergenic adj. allergenicity n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: blend of ALLERGY and -GEN.

allergic /ələdk/ adj. caused by or relating to an allergy: an allergic reaction to penicillin.

- [predic.] having an allergy to a substance: one and a half per cent of the population is allergic to bee venom.

- (allergic to) INFORMAL having a strong dislike for: I'm allergic to the hype.

allergist n. a medical practitioner specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies.

allergy /alədi/ n. (pl. allergies) a damaging immune response by the body to a substance, especially a particular food, pollen, fur, or dust, to which it has become hypersensitive.

- INFORMAL a strong dislike: their allergy to free enterprise.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German Allergie, from Greek allos ‘other’, on the pattern of Energie ‘energy’.

Allerød /alərəd/ n. (the Allerød) [GEOLOGY] the second climatic stage of the late-glacial period in northern Europe, between the two Dryas stages (about 12,000 to 10,800 years ago). It was an interlude of warmer weather marked by the spread of birch.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: place name near Copenhagen in Denmark.

alleviate /əlivet/ v. [with obj.] make (suffering, deficiency, or a problem) less severe: he couldn't prevent her pain, only alleviate it | measures to alleviate unemployment.

<DERIVATIVES> alleviation n. alleviative adj. alleviator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin alleviat- ‘lightened’, from the verb alleviare, from Latin allevare, from ad- ‘to’ + levare ‘raise’, influenced by levis ‘light’.

alley^1 n. (pl. alleys) a narrow passageway between or behind buildings.

- a path lined with trees, bushes, or stones.

- [with modifier] a long, narrow area in which games such as skittles and bowling are played: a skittle alley.

- [TENNIS], NORTH AMERICAN either of the two side strips between the service court and the sidelines which count as part of the court in a doubles match.

- [BASEBALL] the area between the outfielders in left-centre or right-centrefield.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French alee ‘walking or passage’, from aler ‘go’, from Latin ambulare ‘to walk’.

alley cat n. a cat that lives wild in a town.

alley-oop exclam. used to encourage or draw attention to the performance of an acrobatic feat.

■ n. (also alley-oop pass) [BASKETBALL] a high pass caught by a leaping teammate who tries to dunk the ball before landing.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: perhaps from French allez! ‘go on!’ + a supposedly French pronunciation of UP.

alleyway n. another term for alley^1.

All Fools' Day n. another term for APRIL FOOL'S DAY.

All Hallows n. another term for ALL SAINTS' DAY.

allheal n. any of a number of plants used in herbal medicine and traditionally considered to be effective in treating a variety of conditions, in particular common valerian.

alliaceous /aleəs/ adj. [BOTANY] relating to or denoting plants of a group that comprises the onions and other alliums.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin allium ‘garlic’ + -ACEOUS; compare with the modern Latin taxonomic family name Alliaceae.

alliance n. a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations: a defensive alliance between Australia and New Zealand | divisions within the alliance.

- a relationship based on similarity of interests, nature, or qualities: an alliance between medicine and morality.

- [mass noun] the state of being joined or associated: his party is in alliance with the Greens.

- [ECOLOGY] a group of closely related plant associations.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aliance, from alier ‘to ally’ (see ally^1).

allicin /alsn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a pungent oily liquid with antibacterial properties, present in garlic.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (C_3H_5S)2O.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Latin allium ‘garlic’ + -IN^1.

allied /ald əld/ adj. joined by or relating to members of an alliance: allied territories | the allied fleet.

- (usually Allied) relating to Britain and her allies in the First and Second World Wars and after: the liberation of Paris by Allied troops.

- (allied to/with) in combination or working together with: skilled craftsmanship allied to advanced technology.

- connected; related: members of the medical and allied professions.

Allier /ale/ French /alje/ a river of central France which rises in the Cévennes and flows 410 km (258 miles) north-west to meet the Loire.

alligator n. a large semiaquatic reptile similar to a crocodile but with a broader and shorter head, native to the Americas and China.

<INFO> Genus Alligator, family Alligatoridae, order Crocodylia: the American alligator (A. mississippiensis) and the Chinese alligator (A. sinensis).

- [mass noun] the skin of the alligator or material resembling it.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish el lagarto ‘the lizard’, probably based on Latin lacerta.

alligator clip n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for CROCODILE CLIP.

alligator fish n. a small, slender bottom-dwelling fish of the NW Atlantic, with an armour of bony plates and two curved spines on the snout.

<INFO> Aspidophoroides monopterygius, family Agonidae.

alligator lizard n. a heavily built slow-moving lizard native to North America and Mexico.

<INFO> Genus Gerrhonotus, family Anguidae: several species.

alligator pear n. North American term for AVOCADO.

alligator snapper (also alligator snapping turtle) n. a large snapping turtle occurring in fresh water around the Gulf of Mexico.

<INFO> Macroclemys temminckii, family Chelydridae.

all-important adj. vitally important; crucial: the town's all-important tourist industry.

all-in adj. BRITISH inclusive of everything: an all-in fee.

all-inclusive adj. including everything or everyone.

- denoting or relating to a holiday in which all or most meals, drinks, and activities are included in the overall price.

all-in-one adj. [attr.] combining two or more items or functions in a single unit: an all-in-one shampoo/conditioner.

■ n. a garment that takes the place of two or more other garments.

all-in wrestling n. [mass noun] BRITISH wrestling with few or no restrictions.

allis shad /als/ n. a European shad (fish) with a deep blue back and silvery sides. Also called KING OF THE HERRINGS.

<INFO> Alosa alosa, family Clupeidae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: allis from Old French alose, from late Latin alausa.

alliterate /əltəret/ v. [no obj.] (of a phrase or line of verse) contain words which begin with the same sound or letter: his first and last names alliterated.

- use words beginning with the same sound or letter.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: back-formation from ALLITERATION.

alliteration n. [mass noun] the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin alliteratio(n-), from Latin ad- (expressing addition) + littera ‘letter’.

alliterative /əlt(ə)rətv/ adj. relating to or marked by alliteration.

<DERIVATIVES> alliteratively adv.

allium /aləm/ n. (pl. alliums) a bulbous plant of a genus that includes the onion and its relatives (e.g. garlic, leek, and chives).

<INFO> Genus Allium, family Liliaceae (or Alliaceae).

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘garlic’.

all-night adj. [attr.] lasting, open, or operating throughout the night: an all-night party.

all-nighter n. INFORMAL an event or activity that continues throughout the night.

allo- /alə/ combining form other; different: allopatric | allotrope.

<ORIGIN> from Greek allos ‘other’.

allocate v. [with obj.] distribute (resources or duties) for a particular purpose: in past years we didn't allocate enough funds to infrastructure maintenance | [with two objs] students are allocated accommodation on a yearly basis.

<DERIVATIVES> allocable adj. allocator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin allocat- ‘allotted’, from the verb allocare, from ad- ‘to’ + locare (see LOCATE).

allocation n. [mass noun] the action or process of allocating or sharing out something: more efficient allocation of resources | ticket allocation.

- [count noun] an amount of a resource assigned to a particular recipient.

<DERIVATIVES> allocative adj. (chiefly [ECONOMICS])

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin allocatio(n-), from the verb allocare (see ALLOCATE).

allochthonous /əlkθənəs/ adj. [GEOLOGY] denoting a deposit or formation that originated at a distance from its present position. Often contrasted with AUTOCHTHONOUS.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ALLO- ‘other’ + Greek khthōn ‘earth’ + -OUS.

allocution /aləkju(ə)n/ n. a formal speech giving advice or a warning.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin allocutio(n-), from alloqui ‘speak to’, from ad- ‘to’ + loqui ‘speak’.

allodium /ələdəm/ (also allod) n. (pl. allodia /ələdə/) HISTORICAL an estate held in absolute ownership, without acknowledgement to a superior.

<DERIVATIVES> allodial adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin al(l)odium, used frequently in the Domesday Book, from a Germanic cognate of ALL + ōd ‘estate’.

allogamy /ələmi/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the fertilization of a flower by pollen from another flower, especially one on a different plant. Compare with AUTOGAMY.

<DERIVATIVES> allogamous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ALLO- ‘other, different’ + Greek -gamia (from gamos ‘marriage’).

allogeneic /alə()dnik -dnek/ adj. MEDICINE relating to or denoting tissues or cells which are genetically dissimilar and hence immunologically incompatible, although from individuals of the same species. Compare with XENOGENEIC.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from ALLO- ‘different’ + Greek genea ‘race, stock’ + -IC.

allogenic /alədεnk/ adj. 1 [GEOLOGY] (of a mineral or sediment) transported to its present position from elsewhere. Often contrasted with AUTHIGENIC.

2 [ECOLOGY] (of a successional change) caused by non-living factors in the environment.

allograft /alərαft/ n. a tissue graft from a donor of the same species as the recipient but not genetically identical. Compare with HOMOGRAFT.

allograph /alərαf/ n. [LINGUISTICS] each of two or more alternative forms of a letter of an alphabet or other grapheme, for example the capital, lower case, italic, and various handwritten forms of a letter.

- [PHONETICS] each of two or more letters or letter combinations representing a single phoneme in different words. Allographs of the phoneme /f/ include the (f) of ‘fake’ and the (ph) of ‘phase’.

<DERIVATIVES> allographic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ALLO- ‘other, different’ + GRAPHEME.

allometry /əlmtri/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the growth of body parts at different rates, resulting in a change of body proportions.

- the study of allometry.

<DERIVATIVES> allometric adj.

allomorph /aləmf/ n. [LINGUISTICS] any of two or more actual representations of a morpheme, such as the plural endings /s/ (as in bats), /z/ (as in bugs), and /z/ (as in buses).

<DERIVATIVES> allomorphic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from ALLO- ‘other, different’ + MORPHEME.

allopath /aləpaθ/ n. a person who practises allopathy.

allopathy /əlpəθi/ n. [mass noun] the treatment of disease by conventional means, i.e. with drugs having effects opposite to the symptoms. Often contrasted with HOMEOPATHY.

<DERIVATIVES> allopathic adj. allopathist n.

allopatric /aləpatrk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of animals or plants, especially of related species or populations) occurring in separate non-overlapping geographical areas. Compare with SYMPATRIC.

- (of speciation) taking place as a result of allopatric separation.

<DERIVATIVES> allopatry n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from ALLO- ‘other’ + Greek patra ‘fatherland’ + -IC.

allophone^1 /aləfən/ n. [PHONETICS] any of the various phonetic realizations of a phoneme in a language, which do not contribute to distinctions of meaning. For example, in English an aspirated p (as in pin) and unaspirated p (as in spin) are allophones of /p/, whereas in ancient Greek the distinction was phonemic.

<DERIVATIVES> allophonic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from ALLO- ‘other, different’ + PHONEME.

allophone^2 /aləfən/ n. CANADIAN (especially in Quebec) an immigrant whose first language is neither French nor English.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from ALLO-, on the pattern of FRANCOPHONE.

allopurinol /alə()pjərnl/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic drug which inhibits uric acid formation, used to treat gout and related conditions.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from ALLO- ‘other’ + PURINE + -OL.

All Ordinaries index (on the Australian stock exchanges) an index based on the weighted average of selected ordinary share prices.

allosaurus /aləsrəs/ n. a large bipedal carnivorous dinosaur of the late Jurassic period.

<INFO> Genus Allosaurus, suborder Theropoda, order Saurischia.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek allos ‘other’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

allosteric /aləstεrk -stərk/ adj. [BIOCHEMISTRY] relating to or denoting the alteration of the activity of an enzyme by means of a conformational change induced by a different molecule.

allot v. (allots, allotting, allotted) [with obj.] give or apportion (something) to someone: equal time was allotted to each | [with two objs] I was allotted a little room in the servant's block.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French aloter, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to’) + loter ‘divide into lots’.

allotment n. 1 BRITISH a plot of land rented by an individual for growing vegetables or flowers.

- US, chiefly HISTORICAL a piece of land made over by the government to an American Indian.

2 [mass noun] the action of allotting something.

- [count noun] an amount allotted to a person.

allotrope /alətrəp/ n. [CHEMISTRY] each of two or more different physical forms in which an element can exist. Graphite, charcoal, and diamond are all allotropes of carbon.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from ALLOTROPY.

allotropy /əltrəpi/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the existence of two or more different physical forms of a chemical element.

<DERIVATIVES> allotropic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek allotropos ‘of another form’, from allo- ‘other’ + tropos ‘manner’ (from trepein ‘to turn’).

allottee n. a person to whom something is allotted, especially land or shares.

all-over adj. [attr.] covering the whole of something: she returned with an all-over tan.

allow v. [with obj.] 1 let (someone) have or do something: [with obj. and infinitive] the dissident was allowed to leave the country | [with two objs] she was allowed a higher profile.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] let (someone) enter a place or go in a particular direction: the river was patrolled and few people were allowed across.

- declare or decide that (an event or activity) is legal or acceptable: political advertising on television is not allowed.

2 give the necessary time or opportunity for: they agreed to a ceasefire to allow talks with the government | [with obj. and infinitive] he stopped to allow his eyes to adjust.

- [no obj.] (allow for) make provision or provide scope for: the house was demolished to allow for road widening.

- [no obj.] (allow for) take (something) into consideration when making plans or calculations: income rose by 11 per cent allowing for inflation.

- provide or set aside for a particular purpose: allow an hour or so for driving.

3 [reporting v.] admit the truth of; concede: [with clause] he allowed that the penalty appeared too harsh for the crime | [with direct speech] ‘Could happen,’ she allowed indifferently.

- [with clause] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL or DIALECT be of the opinion; assert: Lincoln allowed that he himself could never support the man.

<DERIVATIVES> allowedly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the senses ‘commend, sanction’ and ‘assign as a right’): from Old French alouer, from Latin allaudare ‘to praise’, reinforced by medieval Latin allocare ‘to place’ (see ALLOCATE).

allowable adj. 1 allowed, especially within a set of regulations; permissible: the loan deal has been extended to the maximum allowable three months.

2 BRITISH (of an amount of money) able to be earned or received free of tax: tax is payable after deduction of allowable expenses.

<DERIVATIVES> allowably adv.

allowance n. 1 the amount of something that is permitted, especially within a set of regulations or for a specified purpose: your baggage allowance.

- BRITISH an amount of money that can be earned or received free of tax: a personal allowance.

- [HORSE RACING] a deduction in the weight that a horse is required to carry in a race.

2 a sum of money paid regularly to a person to meet needs or expenses: the elderly receive a heating allowance every winter.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a small amount of money given regularly to a child by its parents.

3 [mass noun] ARCHAIC tolerance: the allowance of slavery in the South.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC give (someone) a sum of money as an allowance.

<PHRASES>

□ make allowance(s) for 1 take into consideration when planning something.

2 treat leniently on account of mitigating circumstances.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French alouance, from alouer (see ALLOW).

alloxan /alks(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an acidic compound obtained by the oxidation of uric acid and isolated as an efflorescent crystalline hydrate.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_4H_2N_2O_4.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from all(antoin) + ox(alic) + -AN.

alloy n. /al/ a metal made by combining two or more metallic elements, especially to give greater strength or resistance to corrosion: an alloy of nickel, bronze, and zinc | [as modifier] alloy wheels.

- an inferior metal mixed with a precious one.

■ v. /əl/ [with obj.] mix (metals) to make an alloy: alloying tin with copper to make bronze.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old French aloi (noun) and French aloyer (verb), both from Old French aloier, aleier ‘combine’, from Latin alligare ‘bind’. In early use the term denoted the comparative purity of gold or silver; the sense ‘mixture of metals’ arose in the mid 17th cent.

all-party adj. [attr.] BRITISH involving all political parties: the measure received all-party support.

all-pervasive (also all-pervading) adj. occurring or having an effect through or into every part of something: the all-pervasive excitement.

all-points bulletin (abbr.: APB) n. (in the US) a radio message sent to every officer in a police force giving details of a suspected criminal or stolen vehicle.

all-powerful adj. having complete power: an all-powerful dictator.

all-purpose adj. having a great many uses: an all-purpose kitchen knife.

all right adj. [predic.] of a satisfactory or acceptable quality: the tea was all right.

- in a satisfactory mental or physical state: do you feel all right to walk home?

- permissible; allowable: it's all right for you to go now.

■ adv. 1 in a satisfactory manner or to a satisfactory extent; fairly well: we get on all right.

2 used to emphasize how certain one is about something: ‘Are you sure it's him?’ ‘It's him all right.’.

■ exclam. expressing or asking for assent, agreement, or acceptance: all right, I'll tell you.

all-roader n. another term for ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE.

all-round adj. [attr.] British 1 having a great many abilities or uses; versatile: an all-round artist.

- in many or all respects: his all-round excellence.

2 on or from every side or in every direction: the car's large glass area provides excellent all-round vision.

all-rounder n. BRITISH a versatile person or thing, especially a cricketer who can both bat and bowl well.

All Saints' Day n. a Christian festival in honour of all the saints in heaven, held (in the Western Church) on 1 November.

all-seater adj. BRITISH (of a sports stadium) having a seat for every spectator and no standing places.

allseed n. any of a number of plants producing a large number of seeds for their size.

<INFO> Species in several families, in particular the small Radiola linoides (family Linaceae) of Europe.

All Souls' Day n. a Catholic commemoration with prayers for the souls of the dead, held on 2 November.

allspice n. 1 [mass noun] the dried aromatic fruit of a Caribbean tree, used whole or ground as a culinary spice and in the production of certain liqueurs such as Benedictine.

2 a tree of the myrtle family from which allspice is obtained. Also called PIMENTO or JAMAICA PEPPER.

<INFO> Pimenta dioica, family Myrtaceae.

3 an aromatic North American tree or shrub.

<INFO> Genus Calycanthus, family Calycanthaceae.

all-star adj. [attr.] composed wholly of outstanding performers or players: an all-star cast.

■ n. NORTH AMERICAN a member of an all-star group or team.

Allston /lst(ə)n/ Washington (1779–1843), American landscape painter, the first major artist of the American romantic movement.

all-terrain vehicle n. a small open motor vehicle with one seat and three or more wheels fitted with large tyres, designed for use on rough ground.

all-ticket adj. denoting an event, especially a sports match, for which spectators must buy tickets in advance.

all-time adj. [attr.] unsurpassed: her all-time favourite | interest rates hit an all-time high.

allude v. [no obj.] (allude to) suggest or call attention to indirectly; hint at: she had a way of alluding to Jean but never saying her name.

- mention without discussing at length: we will allude briefly to the main points.

- (of an artist or a work of art) recall (an earlier work or style) in such a way as to suggest a relationship with it.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘hint at, suggest’): from Latin allus-, alludere, from ad- ‘towards’ + ludere ‘to play’.

all-up weight n. chiefly BRITISH the total weight of an aircraft with passengers, cargo, and fuel.

allure n. [mass noun] the quality of being powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating: people for whom gold holds no allure.

■ v. [with obj.] powerfully attract or charm; tempt: will sponsors really be allured by such opportunities?

<DERIVATIVES> allurement n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘tempt, entice’): from Old French aleurier ‘attract’, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to’) + luere ‘a lure’ (originally a falconry term).

alluring adj. powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating; seductive: the town offers alluring shops and restaurants.

<DERIVATIVES> alluringly adv.

allus /ləz aləz/ adv. non-standard spelling of ALWAYS.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: representing a regional pronunciation.

allusion n. an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference: an allusion to Shakespeare | a classical allusion.

- [mass noun] the practice of making allusions.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a pun, metaphor, or parable): from French, or from late Latin allusio(n-), from the verb alludere (see ALLUDE).

allusive adj. using or containing suggestion rather than explicit mention: allusive references to the body | a highly allusive poet.

<DERIVATIVES> allusively adv. allusiveness n.

alluvial /əl(j)uvəl/ adj. relating to or derived from alluvium: rich alluvial soils.

alluvion /əl(j)uvən/ n. [mass noun] chiefly [LAW] the action of the sea or a river in adding to the area of land by deposition. Compare with AVULSION.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting a flood, especially one carrying suspended material which is then deposited): from French, from Latin alluvio(n-), from ad- ‘towards’ + luere ‘to wash’.

alluvium /əl(j)uvəm/ n. [mass noun] a deposit of clay, silt, and sand left by flowing flood water in a river valley or delta, typically producing fertile soil.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: Latin, neuter of alluvius ‘washed against’, from ad- ‘towards’ + luere ‘to wash’.

all-weather adj. in or suitable for all types of weather: an all-weather soccer pitch.

all-wheel drive n. North American term for FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE.

ally^1 /al/ n. (pl. allies) a state formally cooperating with another for a military or other purpose.

- a person or organization that cooperates with or helps another in a particular activity: he was forced to dismiss his closest political ally.

- (the Allies) the countries that fought with Britain in the First and Second World Wars.

■ v. also /əl/ (allies, allying, allied) [with obj.] (ally something to/with) combine or unite a resource or commodity with (another) for mutual benefit: he allied his racing experience with his father's business acumen.

- (ally oneself with) side with or support: he allied himself with the forces of change.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): from Old French alier, from Latin alligare ‘bind together’, from ad- ‘to’ + ligare ‘to bind’; the noun is partly via Old French alie ‘allied’. Compare with ALLOY.

ally^2 /ali/ (also alley) n. (pl. allies) a toy marble made of marble, alabaster, or glass.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps a diminutive of ALABASTER.

-ally suffix forming adverbs from adjectives ending in -al (such as radically from radical). Compare with -AL, -ly^2, -ICALLY.

allyl /all -ll/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the unsaturated hydrocarbon radical –CH_2CH=CH_2: allyl alcohol.

<DERIVATIVES> allylic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin allium ‘garlic’ + -YL.

al-Madinah /almadinə/ Arabic name for MEDINA.

Almagest /almədεst/ n. (the Almagest) an Arabic version of Ptolemy's astronomical treatise.

- (in the Middle Ages) any celebrated textbook on astrology and alchemy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French almageste, based on Arabic, from al ‘the’ + Greek megistē ‘greatest (composition)’.

alma mater /almə mαtə met-/ n. (one's Alma Mater) the university, school, or college that one formerly attended.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the general sense ‘someone or something providing nourishment’): Latin, literally ‘generous mother’.

almanac /lmənak l-/ (also, especially in titles, almanack) n. an annual calendar containing important dates and statistical information such as astronomical data and tide tables.

- a handbook, typically published annually, containing information of general interest or on a sport or pastime.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via medieval Latin from Greek almenikhiaka, of unknown origin.

Almanach de Gotha /lmənak də ətə l-/ an annual publication giving information about European royalty, nobility, and diplomats, published in Gotha 1763–1944 and revived in 1968.

almandine /alməndin -dn/ n. [mass noun] a kind of garnet with a violet tint.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete French, alteration of alabandine, from medieval Latin alabandina (gemma), ‘jewel from Alabanda’, an ancient city in Asia Minor where these stones were cut.

Alma-Tadema /almətadəmə/ Sir Lawrence (1836–1912), Dutch-born British painter. He is best known for lush genre scenes set in the ancient world.

Almaty /almαti/ (also Alma-Ata) the capital (until 2000) of the central Asian republic of Kazakhstan; pop. 1,066,300 (est. 2002). Former name (until 1921) VERNY.

Almería /almərə/ a town in a province of the same name in Andalusia, Spain; pop. 170,994 (est. 2001).

almighty adj. having complete power; omnipotent: I swear by almighty God.

- INFORMAL very great; enormous: the silence was broken by an almighty roar.

■ n. (the Almighty) a name or title for God.

<ORIGIN> Old English ælmihtig (see ALL, mighty).

almirah /almrə/ n. INDIAN a free-standing cupboard or wardrobe.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi almārī, via Portuguese from Latin armarium ‘closet, chest’.

Almirante Brown /almranti/ a city in eastern Argentina, forming part of the conurbation of Buenos Aires; pop. 550,000 (est. 1999).

Almodóvar /almədəvα/ Spanish /alməəβar/ Pedro (b.1951), Spanish film director. His films, such as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), are highly inventive and deal outrageously with sexual matters.

Almohad /alməhad/ (also Almohade /-hed/) n. (pl. Almohads) a member of a Berber Muslim movement and dynasty that conquered the Spanish and North African empire of the Almoravids in the 12th century.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, ultimately from Arabic al-muwaidun ‘believers in one God’.

almond n. 1 the oval edible nut-like seed (kernel) of the almond tree, growing in a woody shell.

2 (also almond tree) the tree that produces almonds, related to the peach and plum. Native to western Asia, it is widely cultivated in warm climates.

<INFO> Prunus dulcis, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French alemande, from medieval Latin amandula, from Greek amugdalē.

almond eyes plural n. eyes that are narrow and oval with pointed ends.

almond oil n. [mass noun] oil expressed from bitter almonds, used for cosmetic preparations, flavouring, and medicinal purposes.

almond paste n. [mass noun] marzipan.

almoner /αmənə alm-/ n. HISTORICAL an official distributor of alms.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aumonier, based on medieval Latin eleemosynarius, from eleemosyna ‘alms’ (see ALMS).

almonry /αmənri alm-/ n. (pl. almonries) a building or place where alms were formerly distributed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French au(l)mosnerie, from medieval Latin eleemosynarius (see ALMONER).

Almoravid /almrəvd/ (also Almoravide /-vd/) n. (pl. Almoravids) a member of a federation of Muslim Berber peoples that established an empire in Morocco, Algeria, and Spain in the 11th century, but were in turn driven out by the Almohads.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Arabic al-murābit, literally ‘one who is bound’.

almost adv. not quite; very nearly: he almost knocked Georgina over | the place was almost empty | blues, jazz—he can play almost anything.

<ORIGIN> Old English æl mst ‘for the most part’ (see ALL, most).

alms /αmz/ plural n. (in historical contexts) money or food given to poor people.

<ORIGIN> Old English ælmysse, ælmesse, from Christian Latin eleemosyna, from Greek eleēmosunē ‘compassion’, from eleēmōn ‘compassionate’, from eleos ‘mercy’.

almshouse n. a house founded by charity, offering accommodation for poor people.

almucantar /alməkantə/ n. 1 [ASTRONOMY] a circle on the celestial sphere parallel to the horizon; a parallel of altitude.

2 a telescope mounted on a float resting on mercury, used to determine stellar altitude and azimuth.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from medieval Latin almucantarath or obsolete French almucantara, from Arabic al-muqanarāt ‘lines of celestial latitude’, based on al ‘the’ + qanara ‘arch’.

Al Nakba /alnakbə/ n. the Palestinian term for the events of 1948, when many Palestinians were displaced by the creation of the new state of Israel.

<ORIGIN> Arabic, literally ‘the disaster’.

aloe /alə/ n. 1 a succulent plant with a rosette of thick tapering leaves and bell-shaped or tubular flowers on long stems, native to the Old World.

<INFO> Genus Aloe, family Liliaceae (or Aloaceae).

- (aloes or bitter aloes) [mass noun] a strong laxative obtained from the bitter juice of various kinds of aloe.

- (also American aloe)

■ another term for CENTURY PLANT.

2 (also aloes wood) [mass noun] the fragrant heartwood of a tropical Asian tree.

<INFO> The tree belongs to the genus Aquilaria, family Thymelaeaceae, in particular A. agallocha.

- the resin obtained from aloes wood, used in perfume, incense, and medicine.

<ORIGIN> Old English alewe, alwe (denoting the fragrant resin or heartwood of certain oriental trees), via Latin from Greek aloē; reinforced in late Middle English by Old French aloes ‘aloe’, hence frequently used in the plural.

aloe vera /vərə/ n. 1 [mass noun] a gelatinous substance obtained from a kind of aloe, used especially in cosmetics as an emollient.

2 the plant that yields aloe vera, grown chiefly in the Caribbean area and the southern US.

<INFO> Aloe vera, family Liliaceae (or Aloaceae).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: modern Latin, literally ‘true aloe’, probably in contrast to the American agave, which closely resembles aloe vera: both plants were formerly classified together in the lily family.

aloft adj. & adv. up in or into the air; overhead: [as predic. adjective] the congregation sways, hands aloft | [as adv.] she held her glass aloft.

- up the mast or into the rigging of a ship.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse á lopt, á lopti, from á ‘in, on, to’ + lopt ‘air’.

alogical adj. opposed to or lacking in logic.

aloha /ələhə/ exclam. & n. a Hawaiian word used when greeting or parting from someone.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Maori aroha ‘love, affection, pity’.

aloha shirt n. a loose, brightly patterned Hawaiian shirt.

Aloha State informal name for HAWAII.

alone adj. & adv. 1 having no one else present; on one's own: [as predic. adjective] she was alone that evening | [as adv.] he lives alone.

- without others' help or participation; single-handed: [as adv.] team members are more effective than individuals working alone | [as predic. adjective] they were not alone in dissenting from the advice.

- [as adj.] isolated and lonely: she was terribly alone and exposed.

2 [as adv.] indicating that something is confined to the specified subject or recipient: he is answerable to Parliament alone | it was a smile for him alone.

- used to emphasize that only one factor out of several is being considered and that the whole is greater or more extreme: there were fifteen churches in the town centre alone.

<PHRASES>

□ go it alone INFORMAL act by oneself without assistance.

□ leave (or let) someone/thing alone 1 abandon or desert someone or something.

2 stop disturbing or interfering with someone or something.

<DERIVATIVES> aloneness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from ALL + ONE.

along prep. & adv. 1 moving in a constant direction on (a more or less horizontal surface): [as prep.] soon we were driving along a narrow road | he saw Gray run along the top of the wall | [as adv.] we continued to plod along.

- used to refer to the passage of time or the making of progress: [as prep.] you'll pick up some valuable tips along the way | [as adv.] they asked how the construction was coming along.

2 [prep.] extending in a more or less horizontal line on: cars were parked along the grass verge | the path along the cliff.

3 [adv.] in or into company with others: he had brought along a friend of his.

<PHRASES>

□ along with in company with or at the same time as: I was chosen, along with twelve other artists.

□ be (or come) along arrive: she'll be along soon.

<ORIGIN> Old English andlang, of West Germanic origin; related to long^1.

alongshore adv. along or by the shore: currents flowing alongshore.

alongside prep. (NORTH AMERICAN also alongside of) close to the side of; next to: she was sitting alongside him | [as adv.] the boat came alongside.

- together and in cooperation with: a care assistant was working alongside him.

- at the same time as or in coexistence with: they aim to encourage coverage of disabled sport alongside able-bodied achievement.

aloo /αlu alu/ (also alu) n. [mass noun] INDIAN potato: aloo jeera.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi, Urdu, and Sanskrit ālū.

aloof adj. not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant: they were courteous but faintly aloof | an aloof and somewhat austere figure.

- conspicuously uninvolved: he stayed aloof from the bickering.

<DERIVATIVES> aloofly adv. aloofness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from A-2 (expressing direction) + LUFF. The term was originally an adverb in nautical use, meaning ‘away and to windward!’, i.e. with the ship's head kept close to the wind away from a lee shore etc. towards which it might drift. From this arose the sense ‘at a distance’.

alopecia /aləpiə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the partial or complete absence of hair from areas of the body where it normally grows; baldness.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek alōpekia, literally ‘fox mange’, from alōpēx ‘fox’.

Alor Setar /αl sətα/ the capital of the state of Kedah in Malaysia, near the west coast of the central Malay Peninsula; pop. 186,524 (2000).

aloud adv. 1 audibly; not silently or in a whisper: he read the letter aloud.

2 ARCHAIC loudly: he wept aloud.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from A-2 (expressing manner) + LOUD.

alow /ələ/ adv. ARCHAIC or DIALECT below; downwards.

- [NAUTICAL], ARCHAIC on or near the deck of a ship.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from A-2 ‘on’ + LOW^1.

ALP abbr. Australian Labor Party.

alp n. a high mountain, especially a snow-capped one.

- (in Switzerland) an area of green pasture on a mountainside.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: singular of ALPS.

alpaca /alpakə/ n. (pl. same or alpacas) a long-haired domesticated South American mammal related to the llama, valued for its wool.

<INFO> Lama pacos, family Camelidae, probably descended from the wild guanaco.

- [mass noun] the wool of the alpaca.

- [mass noun] fabric made from alpaca wool: [as modifier] an alpaca jersey.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Spanish, from Aymara allpaca.

alpargata /alpααtə/ n. a light canvas shoe with a plaited fibre sole; an espadrille.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Spanish.

alpenglow /alpənlə/ n. [mass noun] the rosy light of the setting or rising sun seen on high mountains.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: a partial translation of German Alpenglühen, literally ‘Alp glow’.

alpenhorn /alpənhn/ (also alphorn) n. a very long valveless wooden wind instrument played like a horn and used for signalling in the Alps.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, literally ‘Alp horn’.

alpenstock /alpənstk/ n. an iron-tipped stick used by hillwalkers and formerly by mountaineers.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from German, literally ‘Alp stick’.

alpha /alfə/ n. 1 the first letter of the Greek alphabet (A, α), transliterated as ‘a’.

- [as modifier] denoting the first of a series of items or categories, e.g. forms of a chemical compound: the α and β chains of haemoglobin.

- BRITISH a first-class mark given for an examination paper or piece of school or college work: he had been awarded alpha double plus.

- [as modifier] denoting the dominant animal or person in a particular group: Turner soon proved to be the alpha male. short for ALPHA TEST.

- (Alpha) [followed by Latin genitive] [ASTRONOMY] the first (typically the brightest) star in a constellation: Alpha Orionis.

- [as modifier] relating to alpha decay or alpha particles: an alpha emitter.

2 a code word representing the letter A, used in radio communication.

■ symbol (α) a plane angle.

- (α) angular acceleration.

- (α) [ASTRONOMY] right ascension.

<PHRASES>

□ alpha and omega the beginning and the end (used by Christians as a title for Jesus).

- the essence or most important features.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek.

alphabet n. a set of letters or symbols in a fixed order used to represent the basic set of speech sounds of a language, especially the set of letters from A to Z.

- the basic elements in a system which combine to form complex entities: DNA's 4-letter alphabet.

The origin of the alphabet goes back to the Phoenician system of the 2nd millennium BC, from which the modern Hebrew and Arabic systems are ultimately derived. The Greek alphabet, which emerged in 1000–900 BC, developed two branches, Cyrillic (which became the script of Russian) and Etruscan (from which derives the Roman alphabet used in the West).

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin alphabetum, from Greek alpha, bēta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet.

alphabetical adj. relating to an alphabet: alphabetical characters.

- in the order of the letters of the alphabet: an alphabetical index | in alphabetical order.

<DERIVATIVES> alphabetic adj. alphabetically adv.

alphabetize /alfəbətz/ (also alphabetise) v. [with obj.] arrange in alphabetical order: the listings are arranged by state and alphabetized by city.

<DERIVATIVES> alphabetization n.

alphabet soup n. [mass noun] INFORMAL a confusing or confused mixture of things: the alphabet soup of European security institutions.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: alluding to a kind of clear soup containing pasta in the shapes of letters.

alpha blocker n. MEDICINE any of a class of drugs which prevent the stimulation of the adrenergic receptors responsible for increased blood pressure.

Alpha Centauri /alfə sεntr/ [ASTRONOMY] the third-brightest star in the sky, in the constellation Centaurus, visible only to observers in the southern hemisphere. It is the nearest bright star to the solar system (distance 4.34 light years), and is a visual binary. Also called RIGIL KENTAURUS.

alphafetoprotein /alfəfitəprətin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a protein produced by a fetus which is present in amniotic fluid and the bloodstream of the mother. Levels of the protein can be measured to detect certain congenital defects such as spina bifida and Down's syndrome.

alpha-hydroxy acid n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic acid containing a hydroxyl group bonded to the carbon atom adjacent to the carboxylic acid group. A number of such compounds are used in skincare preparations for their exfoliating properties.

alphanumeric adj. consisting of or using both letters and numerals: alphanumeric data.

■ n. a character that is either a letter or a number.

<DERIVATIVES> alphanumerical adj.

alpha particle n. [PHYSICS] a helium nucleus emitted by some radioactive substances, originally regarded as a ray.

alpha radiation n. [mass noun] ionizing radiation consisting of alpha particles, emitted by some substances undergoing radioactive decay.

alpha rhythm n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the normal electrical activity of the brain when conscious and relaxed, consisting of oscillations (alpha waves) with a frequency of 8 to 13 hertz.

alpha test n. a trial of machinery, software, or other products carried out by a developer before a product is made available for beta testing.

■ v. (alpha-test) [with obj.] subject (a product) to an alpha test.

alphorn /alphn/ n. another term for ALPENHORN.

alpine adj. relating to high mountains: alpine and subalpine habitats.

- (Alpine) relating to the Alps: Alpine guides.

- [SKIING] relating to or denoting skiing downhill: an alpine ski team. Often contrasted with NORDIC.

■ n. 1 a plant native to mountain districts, often suitable for growing in rock gardens.

2 a North American butterfly which has brownish-black wings with orange-red markings.

<INFO> Genus Erebia, subfamily Satyrinae, family Nymphalidae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin Alpinus, from Alpes ‘Alps’ (see ALP).

alpinist n. a climber of high mountains, especially in the Alps.

alprazolam /alprezə()lam/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a drug of the benzodiazepine group, used in the treatment of anxiety.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from al- of unknown origin + p(henyl) + (t)r(i)azol(e) + (-azep)am.

Alps a mountain system in Europe extending in a curve from the coast of SE France through NW Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, southern Germany, and Austria into Slovenia. The highest peak of the Alps, Mont Blanc, rises to a height of 4,807 m (15,771 ft).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from Latin Alpes, from Greek Alpeis, of unknown origin.

al-Qaeda /alkdə alkαidə/ (also al-Qaida) a militant Islamic fundamentalist group.

<ORIGIN> Arabic al-qā‘ida, literally ‘the base’.

al-Qahira /alkαhirα/ (also el-Qahira) Arabic name for CAIRO.

already adv. 1 before or by now or the time in question: Anna has suffered a great deal already.

- as surprisingly soon or early as this: it was already past four o' clock.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used after a word or phrase to express impatience: enough already with these crazy kids and their wacky dances!

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from ALL (as an adverb) + READY; sense 2 is influenced by Yiddish use.

Alsace /alsas/ French /alzas/ a region of NE France, on the borders with Germany and Switzerland. Alsace was annexed by Prussia, along with part of Lorraine (forming Alsace-Lorraine), after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1, and restored to France after the First World War.

Alsatian n. 1 BRITISH a large dog of a breed typically used as guard dogs or for police work. Also called GERMAN SHEPHERD.

2 a native or inhabitant of Alsace.

■ adj. relating to Alsace or its inhabitants.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin Alsatia ‘Alsace’ + -AN.

alsike /alsk/ (also alsike clover) n. a tall clover which is widely grown for fodder, native to Europe and naturalized in North America.

<INFO> Trifolium hybridum, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Alsike in Sweden; Linnaeus mentions the plant growing there.

also adv. in addition; too: a brilliant linguist, he was also interested in botany | dyslexia, also known as word blindness | [sentence adv.] also, a car's very expensive to run.

<ORIGIN> Old English alswā ‘quite so, in that manner, similarly’ (see ALL, so^1).

also-ran n. (pl. also-rans) a loser in a race or other contest, especially by a large margin.

- INFORMAL an undistinguished or unsuccessful person or thing.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: originally applied to racehorses that did not finish in the first three.

alstroemeria /alstrəmərə/ n. a South American plant with showy lily-like flowers, cultivated as an ornamental.

<INFO> Genus Alstroemeria, family Liliaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: modern Latin, named after Klas von Alstroemer (1736–96), Swedish naturalist.

alt. (also alt-) combining form denoting a version of something, especially popular music, that is regarded as outside the mainstream of its genre: alt.country.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: abbreviation of ALTERNATIVE, influenced by the alt. prefix of some Internet newsgroups.

Alta abbr. Alberta.

Altai /alt/ (also Altay) a krai (administrative territory) of Russia in SW Siberia, on the border with Kazakhstan; capital, Barnaul.

Altaic /altek/ adj. 1 relating to the Altai Mountains.

2 denoting or belonging to a phylum or superfamily of languages which includes the Turkic, Mongolian, Tungusic, and Manchu languages. They are characterized by agglutination and vowel harmony.

■ n. [mass noun] the Altaic family of languages.

Altai Mountains a mountain system of central Asia extending about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) eastwards from Kazakhstan into western Mongolia and northern China.

Altair /altε/ [ASTRONOMY] the brightest star in the constellation Aquila.

<ORIGIN> Arabic, literally ‘flying eagle’.

Altamira /altəmərə/ the site of a cave with Palaeolithic rock paintings, south of Santander in northern Spain, discovered in 1879.

altar /ltə l-/ n. the table in a Christian church at which the bread and wine are consecrated in communion services.

- a table or flat-topped block used as the focus for a religious ritual, especially for making sacrifices or offerings to a deity.

<PHRASES>

□ lead someone to the altar marry a woman.

□ sacrifice someone/thing on/at the altar of make someone or something suffer in the interests of: no businessman is going to sacrifice his company on the altar of such altruism.

<ORIGIN> Old English altar, alter, based on late Latin altar, altarium, from Latin altus ‘high’.

altar boy n. a boy who acts as a priest's assistant during a service, especially in the Roman Catholic Church.

altarpiece n. a painting or other work of art designed to be set above and behind an altar.

altazimuth /altazməθ/ n. 1 (also altazimuth mount or mounting) [ASTRONOMY] a telescope mounting that moves in azimuth (about a vertical axis) and in altitude (about a horizontal axis). Compare with EQUATORIAL MOUNT.

- (also altazimuth telescope) a telescope on an altazimuth mounting.

2 a surveying instrument for measuring vertical and horizontal angles, resembling a theodolite but larger and more precise.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: blend of ALTITUDE and azimuth.

alt.country (also alt-country) n. [mass noun] a style of country music that is influenced by alternative rock.

Altdorfer /altdfə/ German /altdrf/ Albrecht (c.1485–1538), German painter and engraver. He was one of the first modern European landscape painters and was principal artist of the Danube School.

alter /ltə l-/ v. change in character or composition, typically in a comparatively small but significant way: [with obj.] Eliot was persuaded to alter the passage | [no obj.] our outward appearance alters as we get older | (as adj. altered) an altered state.

- [with obj.] make structural changes to (a building): plans to alter the dining hall.

- [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN castrate or spay (a domestic animal).

<DERIVATIVES> alterable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French alterer, from late Latin alterare, from Latin alter ‘other’.

alteration n. [mass noun] the action or process of altering or being altered: careful alteration of old buildings | [count noun] alterations had to be made.

<DERIVATIVES> alterative adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin alteratio(n-), from the verb alterare (see ALTER).

altercate /ltəket l-/ v. [no obj.] ARCHAIC dispute or argue noisily and publicly.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin altercat- ‘wrangled’, from altercari.

altercation n. a noisy argument or disagreement, especially in public: I had an altercation with the ticket collector.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin altercatio(n-), from the verb altercari (see ALTERCATE).

alter ego /altər εə lt- i-/ n. (pl. alter egos) a person's secondary or alternative personality.

- an intimate and trusted friend.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: Latin, ‘other self’.

alterity /altεrti l-/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL the state of being other or different; otherness.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin alteritas, from alter ‘other’.

alternant /ltənənt l-/ n. an alternative form of a word or other linguistic unit; a variant.

■ adj. changing from one to the other; alternating.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin alternant- ‘doing things by turns’, from the verb alternare (see ALTERNATE).

alternate v. /ltənet l-/ [no obj.] occur in turn repeatedly: bouts of depression alternate with periods of elation | (as adj. alternating) a season of alternating hot days and cool nights.

- [with obj.] do or perform in turn repeatedly: some adults who wish to alternate work with education.

- change repeatedly between two contrasting conditions: the government alternated between the Labour and Conservative parties.

■ adj. /ltənət l-/ [attr.] 1 every other; every second: she was asked to attend on alternate days.

- (of two things) each following and succeeded by the other in a regular pattern: alternate bouts of intense labour and of idleness.

- [BOTANY] (of leaves or shoots) placed alternately on the two sides of the stem.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for ALTERNATIVE: a novel set in an alternate universe.

■ n. /ltənət l-/ NORTH AMERICAN a person who acts as a deputy or substitute.

<DERIVATIVES> alternately adv. alternation n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (earlier (late Middle English) as alternation): from Latin alternat- ‘done by turns’, from alternare, from alternus ‘every other’, from alter ‘other’.

alternate angles plural n. [MATHEMATICS] two angles, formed when a line crosses two other lines, that lie on opposite sides of the transversal line and on opposite relative sides of the other lines. If the two lines crossed are parallel, the alternate angles are equal.

alternating current (abbr.: AC or ac) n. an electric current that reverses its direction many times a second at regular intervals, typically used in power supplies. Compare with DIRECT CURRENT.

alternation of generations n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] a pattern of reproduction occurring in the life cycles of many lower plants and some invertebrates, involving a regular alternation between two distinct forms. The generations are alternately sexual and asexual (as in ferns) or dioecious and parthenogenetic (as in some jellyfishes).

alternative adj. 1 [attr.] (of one or more things) available as another possibility: the various alternative methods for resolving disputes.

- (of two things) mutually exclusive: the facts fit two alternative scenarios.

2 of or relating to activities that depart from or challenge traditional norms: an alternative lifestyle.

■ n. one of two or more available possibilities: audio cassettes are an interesting alternative to reading | she had no alternative but to break the law.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘alternating, alternate’): from French alternatif, -ive or medieval Latin alternativus, from Latin alternare ‘interchange’ (see ALTERNATE).

<USAGE> 1 The adjective alternate is sometimes used in place of alternative, especially in American English. Strictly speaking, the two words are quite distinct: alternative means ‘available as another possibility or choice’, as in some European countries follow an alternative approach, while alternate means ‘every other or every second’, as in they meet on alternate Sundays, or ‘(of two things) each following and succeeded by the other in a regular pattern’, as in alternate layers of potato and sauce The use of alternate to mean alternative, as in we will need to find alternate sources of fuel, is common in North America, and many dictionaries now record the two simply as variants of one another. The Oxford Reading Programme records a quarter of all uses in this sense using the spelling alternate. It is, however, still regarded as incorrect by many people in Britain.
2 Some traditionalists maintain, from an etymological standpoint, that you can only have a maximum of two alternatives (from the Latin alter ‘other (of two)’) and that uses where there are more than two alternatives are erroneous. Such uses are, however, normal in modern standard English.

alternative comedy n. [mass noun] a style of comedy rejecting established (especially racist or sexist) stereotypes and sometimes having a political component.

alternative dispute resolution n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the use of methods such as mediation or arbitration to resolve a dispute without resort to litigation.

alternative energy n. [mass noun] energy fuelled in ways that do not use up the earth's natural resources or otherwise harm the environment, especially by avoiding the use of fossil fuels or nuclear power.

alternative fuel n. a fuel other than petrol or diesel for powering motor vehicles, such as natural gas, methanol, or electricity.

alternatively adv. [sentence adv.] as another option or possibility: alternatively, you may telephone us direct if you wish.

alternative medicine n. [mass noun] any of a range of medical therapies that are not regarded as orthodox by the medical profession, such as herbalism, naturopathy, and crystal healing. See also COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE.

Alternative Service Book n. a book containing the public liturgy of the Church of England published in 1980 for use as the alternative to the Book of Common Prayer.

alternator n. a dynamo that generates an alternating current.

Althing /lθ l-/ the bicameral legislative assembly of Iceland.

<ORIGIN> Icelandic, from Old Norse.

althorn /althn/ n. a musical instrument of the saxhorn family, especially the alto or tenor saxhorn in E flat.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, from alt ‘high’ (from Latin altus) + Horn ‘horn’.

although conj. in spite of the fact that; even though: although the sun was shining it wasn't that warm | although small, the room has a spacious feel.

- however; but: he says he has the team shirt, although I've never seen him wear it.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from ALL (as an adverb) + THOUGH.

<USAGE> The form although can be replaced by though, the only difference being that although tends to be more formal than though. Some uses of though are not interchangeable with although however: e.g. adverbial uses (it was nice of him to phone, though) and uses in phrases with ‘as’ or ‘even’ (she doesn't look as though she's listening).

Althusser /altsε/ French /altYsεR/ Louis (1918–90), French philosopher. In giving a reinterpretation of traditional Marxism in the light of structuralist theories his work had a significant influence on literary and cultural theory.

altimeter /altmitə/ n. an instrument for determining altitude attained, especially a barometric or radar device fitted in an aircraft.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin altus ‘high’ + -METER.

altimetry /altmtri/ n. [mass noun] the measurement of height or altitude.

<DERIVATIVES> altimetric adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin altimetria.

altiplano /altplαnə/ n. (pl. altiplanos) the high tableland of central South America.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Spanish.

altissimo /altsmə/ adj. [MUSIC] very high in pitch: the extreme altissimo range of his horn.

<ORIGIN> Italian, superlative of alto ‘high’.

altitude n. [mass noun] the height of an object or point in relation to sea level or ground level: flight data including airspeed and altitude | [count noun] flying at altitudes over 15,000 feet.

- great height: the mechanism can freeze at altitude.

- [ASTRONOMY] the apparent height of a celestial object above the horizon, measured in angular distance.

- [GEOMETRY] the length of the perpendicular line from a vertex to the opposite side of a figure.

<DERIVATIVES> altitudinal adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin altitudo, from altus ‘high’.

altitude sickness n. [mass noun] illness caused by ascent to high altitude, characterized by hyperventilation, nausea, and exhaustion resulting from shortage of oxygen.

Alt key n. [COMPUTING] a key on a keyboard which, when pressed simultaneously with another key, gives the latter an alternative function.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: abbreviation of alt(ernative) key.

Altman /ltm(ə)n lt-/ Robert (1925–2006), American film director. He made his name with MASH (1970), a black comedy set in the Korean war. Other notable films include The Player (1992).

alto /altə/ n. (pl. altos) 1 (especially in church music) the highest adult male singing voice (sometimes distinguished from the countertenor voice as using falsetto).

- the lowest female singing voice; contralto.

- a person with an alto voice.

- a part written for an alto voice.

2 [as modifier] denoting the member of a family of instruments pitched second or third highest: alto flute.

- an alto saxophone.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian alto (canto) ‘high (song)’.

alto clef n. a clef placing middle C on the middle line of the stave, used chiefly for viola music.

altocumulus n. (pl. altocumuli) [mass noun] cloud forming a layer of rounded masses with a level base, occurring at medium altitude (typically 2 to 7 km, 6,500 to 23,000 ft).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin alto- (from Latin altus ‘high’) + CUMULUS.

altogether adv. completely; totally: I stopped seeing her altogether | [as submodifier] I'm not altogether sure that I'd trust him.

- including everything or everyone; in total: he had married several times and had forty-six children altogether.

- [sentence adv.] taking everything into consideration; on the whole: altogether it was a great evening.

<PHRASES>

□ in the altogether INFORMAL without any clothes on; naked.

<ORIGIN> Old English (see ALL, together).

<USAGE> Note that altogether and all together do not mean the same thing. Altogether means ‘in total’, as in there are six bedrooms altogether, whereas all together means ‘all in one place’ or ‘all at once’, as in it was good to have a group of friends all together; they came in all together.

alto-relievo /altərlivə/ n. (pl. alto-relievos) [mass noun]

■ another term for HIGH RELIEF at relief (sense 4).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian alto-rilievo.

altostratus n. [mass noun] cloud forming a continuous uniform layer which resembles stratus but occurs at medium altitude (typically 2 to 7 km, 6,500 to 23,000 ft).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin alto- (from Latin altus ‘high’) + STRATUS.

altricial /əltr(ə)l/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of a young bird or other animal) hatched or born in an undeveloped state and requiring care and feeding by the parents. Also called NIDICOLOUS. Often contrasted with PRECOCIAL.

- (of a particular species) having altricial young.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin altrix, altric-, feminine of altor ‘nourisher’, from alere ‘nourish’.

altruism /altrz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.

- [ZOOLOGY] behaviour of an animal that benefits another at its own expense.

<DERIVATIVES> altruist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French altruisme, from Italian altrui ‘somebody else’, from Latin alteri huic ‘to this other’.

altruistic adj. showing a disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others; unselfish: it was an entirely altruistic act. | I question how altruistic his motives were.

<DERIVATIVES> altruistically adv.

ALU abbr. [COMPUTING] arithmetic logic unit.

aludel /aljdεl/ n. a pear-shaped earthenware or glass pot, open at both ends to enable a series to be fitted one above another, formerly used in sublimation and other chemical processes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French alutel, via Spanish from Arabic al-'u āl ‘the sublimation vessel’.

alula /aljlə/ n. (pl. alulae /aljli/)

■ technical term for BASTARD WING.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: modern Latin, literally ‘small wing’, diminutive of ala.

alum /aləm/ (also potash alum) n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless astringent compound which is a hydrated double sulphate of aluminium and potassium, used in solution in dyeing and tanning.

<INFO> Chem. formula: AlK(SO_4)2.12H_2O.

- [count noun] any of a number of analogous crystalline double sulphates of a monovalent metal (or group) and a trivalent metal.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin alumen, alumin- related to aluta ‘tawed leather’.

alumina /əlumnə/ n. [mass noun] a white solid that is a major constituent of many rocks, especially clays, and is found crystallized as corundum, sapphire, and other minerals.

<INFO> Alternative name: aluminium oxide; chem. formula: Al_2O_3.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin alumen (see ALUM), on the pattern of words such as magnesia.

aluminium (US aluminum) n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 13, a light silvery-grey metal. (Symbol: Al)

Aluminium is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust and is obtained mainly from bauxite. Its resistance to corrosion, lightness, and strength (especially in alloys) have led to widespread use in domestic utensils, engineering parts, and aircraft construction.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from ALUMINA + -IUM.

aluminium bronze n. [mass noun] an alloy of copper and aluminium.

aluminize /əlumnz/ (also aluminise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. aluminized) coat with aluminium.

aluminosilicate /əlumnə()slket/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a silicate in which aluminium replaces some of the silicon, especially a rock-forming mineral such as a feldspar or a clay mineral.

aluminous /əlumnəs/ adj. (chiefly of minerals and rocks) containing alumina or aluminium.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin aluminosus, from alumen, alumin- (see ALUM).

alumna /əlmnə/ n. (pl. alumnae /-ni/) a female former pupil or student of a particular school, college, or university.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, feminine of alumnus (see ALUMNUS).

alumnus /əlmnəs/ n. (pl. alumni /-ni/) a male former pupil or student of a particular school, college, or university: a Harvard alumnus.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘nursling, pupil’, from alere ‘nourish’.

<USAGE> In the singular, alumnus nearly always means a male, but the plural alumni can be used to refer to pupils or students of either sex.

alum root n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for HEUCHERA.

Alvarez /alvαrεz/ Luis Walter (1911–88), American physicist. In 1980 Alvarez and his son identified iridium in sediment from the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary and proposed that this resulted from a catastrophic meteorite impact that may have resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs.

alveolar /alvələ alvələ/ adj. 1 [ANATOMY] relating to an alveolus.

2 [PHONETICS] (of a consonant) pronounced with the tip of the tongue on or near this ridge (e.g. n, s, d, t).

■ n. [PHONETICS] an alveolar consonant.

alveolitis /alvə()lts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the air sacs of the lungs.

alveolus /alvələs alvələs/ n. (pl. alveoli /-l -li/) chiefly [ANATOMY] a small cavity, pit, or hollow, in particular:

- any of the many tiny air sacs of the lungs which allow for rapid gaseous exchange.

- the bony socket for the root of a tooth.

- an acinus (sac-like cavity) in a gland.

<DERIVATIVES> alveolate /alvələt/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, ‘small cavity’, diminutive of alveus.

alway adv. archaic form of ALWAYS.

always adv. 1 at all times; on all occasions: the sun always rises in the east.

- throughout a long period of the past: Isabel had always been in rude health.

- for all future time; forever: she will always be missed.

- repeatedly and annoyingly: she is always making derogatory remarks.

2 as a last resort; failing all else: if the marriage doesn't work out, we can always get divorced.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: genitive case of all way, the inflection probably giving the sense ‘at every time’ as opposed to ‘at one uninterrupted time’: the difference between the two is no longer distinct.

alyssum /als(ə)m əls(ə)m/ n. (pl. alyssums) a herbaceous Eurasian plant which typically bears small white or yellow flowers. Some kinds are cultivated in gardens.

<INFO> Genera Alyssum and Lobularia, family Cruciferae: many species.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (used loosely to denote various medicinal herbs): modern Latin, from Latin alysson, from Greek alusson, from a- ‘without’ + lussa ‘rabies’ (referring to early herbalist use).

Alzheimer's disease /altshməz/ n. [mass noun] progressive mental deterioration that can occur in middle or old age, due to generalized degeneration of the brain. It is the commonest cause of premature senility.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915), the German neurologist who first identified it.

AM abbr.

- amplitude modulation.

- (A.M.) Hymns Ancient and Modern.

- US Master of Arts. [<ORIGIN> Latin artium magister.]

- Member of the Order of Australia.

- Assembly Member (a member of the Welsh Assembly).

Am symbol the chemical element americium.

am first person singular present of BE.

a.m. abbr. before noon (used after times of day between midnight and noon not expressed using the twenty-four-hour clock): at 7.45 a.m.

<ORIGIN> from Latin ante meridiem.

amacrine cell /aməkrn -krn/ n. [ANATOMY] a small nerve cell within the retina which has dendrites but no axon.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from A-1 ‘not’ + Greek makros ‘large’ + is, in- ‘sinew or strip’.

amadou /amədu/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a spongy substance made by drying certain bracket fungi and formerly used as an absorbent in medicine, as tinder, and for drying fishing flies.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Latin amator ‘lover’ (because it easily ignites).

amah /αmə/ n. a nursemaid or maid in the Far East or India.

<ORIGIN> from Portuguese ama ‘nurse’.

amakhosi /amaksi/ plural n. S. AFRICAN tribal leaders regarded collectively.

<ORIGIN> Zulu and Xhosa, plural of inkosi ‘ruler, chief’.

Amal /əmαl/ a Lebanese Shiite Muslim organization founded in 1975 and having political and paramilitary wings.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic amal ‘hope’.

Amalfi /əmalfi/ a port and resort on the west coast of Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno; pop. 5,589 (1996).

amalgam /əmaləm/ n. a mixture or blend: a curious amalgam of the traditional and the modern.

- [CHEMISTRY] an alloy of mercury with another metal, especially one used for dental fillings.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French amalgame or medieval Latin amalgama, from Greek malagma ‘an emollient’.

amalgamate /əmaləmet/ v. combine or unite to form one organization or structure: [with obj.] he amalgamated his company with another | [no obj.] numerous small British railway companies amalgamated.

- [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] alloy (a metal) with mercury.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin amalgamat- ‘formed into a soft mass’, from the verb amalgamare, from amalgama (see AMALGAM).

amalgamation n. [mass noun] the action, process, or result of combining or uniting: the threat of amalgamation with another college | [count noun] an amalgamation of two separate companies.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin amalgamare (see AMALGAMATE).

Amalthea /əmalθə/ [ASTRONOMY] a satellite of Jupiter, the third closest to the planet, being reddish in colour and heavily cratered (262 km long and 146 km across).

<ORIGIN> from the name of a goat in Greek Mythology, which suckled the infant Zeus.

amanuensis /əmanjεnss/ n. (pl. amanuenses /-siz/) a literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Latin, from (servus) a manu ‘(slave) at hand(writing), secretary’ + -ensis ‘belonging to’.

Amapá /aməpα/ a state of northern Brazil, on the Atlantic coast, lying between the Amazon delta and the border with French Guiana; capital, Macapá. It is a region of dense rainforest.

amaranth /aməranθ/ n. 1 a plant of a chiefly tropical family that includes love-lies-bleeding.

<INFO> Family Amaranthaceae: several genera, especially Amaranthus.

2 a purple colour.

<DERIVATIVES> amaranthine /aməranθn/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French amarante or modern Latin amaranthus, alteration (on the pattern of plant names ending in -anthus, from Greek anthos ‘flower’) of Latin amarantus, from Greek amarantos ‘not fading’.

amaretti /amərεti/ plural n. Italian almond-flavoured biscuits.

<ORIGIN> Italian, based on amaro ‘bitter’; compare with AMARETTO.

amaretto /amərεtə/ n. [mass noun] (plural amarettos) a brown almond-flavoured liqueur produced in Italy.

<ORIGIN> Italian, diminutive of amaro ‘bitter’ (with reference to bitter almonds).

Amarna, Tell el- /tεl εl əmαnə/ see TELL EL-AMARNA.

amaryllis /amərls/ n. a bulbous plant with showy trumpet-shaped flowers and strap-shaped leaves.

<INFO> Two plants of the family Liliaceae (or Amaryllidaceae): the South African Amaryllis belladonna (also called BELLADONNA LILY), and (popularly) a tropical South American plant of the genus Hippeastrum, grown as a house plant.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin Amaryllis (from Greek Amarullis), a name for a country girl in pastoral poetry.

amass v. [with obj.] gather together or accumulate (a large amount or number of material or things) over a period of time: he amassed a fortune estimated at close to a million pounds.

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC gather together in a crowd or group: the soldiers were amassing from all parts of Spain.

<DERIVATIVES> amasser n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French amasser or medieval Latin amassare, based on Latin massa ‘lump’ (see MASS).

Amaterasu /əmαtərαsu/ the principal deity of the Japanese Shinto religion, the sun goddess and ancestor of Jimmu, founder of the imperial dynasty.

amateur /amətə -tə -tjə amətə/ n. a person who engages in a pursuit, especially a sport, on an unpaid basis.

- a person who is contemptibly inept at a particular activity: that bunch of stumbling amateurs.

■ adj. engaging or engaged in without payment; non-professional: an amateur archaeologist | amateur athletics.

- done in an inept or unskilful way: it's all so amateur!

<DERIVATIVES> amateurism n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Italian amatore, from Latin amator ‘lover’, from amare ‘to love’.

amateurish adj. done in an unskilful or inept way: her amateurish interviewing technique.

<DERIVATIVES> amateurishly adv. amateurishness n.

Amati /əmαti/ a family of Italian violin-makers from Cremona. In the 16th and 17th centuries three generations of the Amatis developed the basic proportions of the violin, viola, and cello.

amatol /amətl/ n. [mass noun] a high explosive consisting of a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: formed irregularly from am(monium) + tol(uene).

amatory /amət(ə)ri/ adj. relating to or induced by sexual love or desire: his amatory exploits.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin amatorius, from amator (see AMATEUR).

Amatriciana /amətriαnə/ adj. denoting a spicy pasta sauce made with tomatoes, pancetta or bacon, and basil.

<ORIGIN> from Italianall' Amatriciana ‘in the style of Amatrice’, from Amatrice, a town in central Italy, + the suffix -ana.

amaurosis /amrəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE partial or total blindness without visible change in the eye, typically due to disease of the optic nerve, spinal cord, or brain.

<DERIVATIVES> amaurotic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek amaurōsis, from amauroun ‘darken’, from amauros ‘dim’.

amaze v. [with obj.] surprise (someone) greatly; fill with astonishment: he was amazed at how modern everything was | [with obj. and clause] she was amazed that Paul should notice her.

<ORIGIN> Old English āmasian, of unknown origin.

amazement n. [mass noun] a feeling of great surprise or wonder: she shook her head in amazement | to her amazement, Bill was keen.

amazing adj. causing great surprise or wonder; astonishing: an amazing number of people registered | it is amazing how short memories are.

- INFORMAL very impressive; excellent: she makes the most amazing cakes.

<DERIVATIVES> amazingly adv. [sentence adv.] amazingly, Alan escaped with a few cuts and bruises

Amazon^1 /aməz(ə)n/ a river in South America, flowing over 6,683 km (4,150 miles) through Peru, Colombia, and Brazil into the Atlantic Ocean. It drains two fifths of the continent and in terms of water flow it is the largest river in the world.

<DERIVATIVES> Amazonian adj.

<ORIGIN> the river bore various names after it was first encountered by Europeans in 1500 and was finally called Amazon after a legendary race of female warriors believed to live on its banks.

Amazon^2 /aməz(ə)n/ n. 1 a member of a legendary race of female warriors believed by the ancient Greeks to exist in Scythia or elsewhere on the edge of the known world.

- a very tall and strong or athletic woman.

2 (amazon) a parrot, typically green, found in Central and South America.

<INFO> Genus Amazona, family Psittacidae: numerous species.

<DERIVATIVES> Amazonian /aməzənən/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek Amazōn, explained by the Greeks as ‘without a breast’ (as if from a- ‘without’ + mazos ‘breast’), referring to the fable that the Amazons cut off the right breast so as not to interfere with the use of a bow, but probably a folk etymology of an unknown foreign word.

amazon ant n. a small reddish ant which captures the pupae of other ant colonies to raise as slaves.

<INFO> Genus Polyergus, family Formicidae.

Amazonas /aməzənəs/ a state of NW Brazil; capital, Manaus. It is crossed by the Amazon and its numerous tributaries.

Amazon dolphin n. another term for BOTO.

Amazonia /aməzənə/ the area around the River Amazon in South America, principally in Brazil, but also extending into Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia. The region comprises approximately one third of the world's remaining tropical rainforest.

- a national park protecting 10,000 sq. km (3,850 sq. miles) of tropical rainforest in the state of Pará, northern Brazil.

ambassador n. an accredited diplomat sent by a state as its permanent representative in a foreign country: the French ambassador to Portugal.

- a representative or promoter of a specified activity: he is a good ambassador for the industry.

<DERIVATIVES> ambassadorial adj. ambassadorship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French ambassadeur, from Italian ambasciator, based on Latin ambactus ‘servant’.

ambassador-at-large n. NORTH AMERICAN an ambassador with special duties not appointed to a particular country.

ambassador extraordinary n. a diplomat sent by one state or monarch on a diplomatic mission to another.

ambassador plenipotentiary n. an ambassador with full powers to sign treaties or otherwise act for the state or monarch.

ambassadress n. a female ambassador.

ambatch /ambat/ n. a tropical African tree of the pea family, with light spongy timber that is used for rafts and floats.

<INFO> Aeschynomene elaphroxylon, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of Ethiopic origin.

Ambato /ambαtə/ a market town in the Andes of central Ecuador; pop. 173,900 (est. 2002).

amber n. [mass noun] hard translucent fossilized resin originating from extinct coniferous trees of the Tertiary period, typically yellowish in colour. It has been used in jewellery since antiquity.

- a honey-yellow colour typical of amber: [as modifier] amber eyes.

- a yellow light used as a cautionary signal between green for ‘go’ and red for ‘stop’: the lights were at amber.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘ambergris’): from Old French ambre, from Arabic ‘anbar ‘ambergris’, later ‘amber’.

amber fluid (also amber liquid) n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL beer.

ambergris /ambərs -is/ n. [mass noun] a wax-like substance that originates as a secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale, found floating in tropical seas and used in perfume manufacture.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ambre gris ‘grey amber’, as distinct from amber jaune ‘yellow amber’ (the resin).

amberjack n. a large marine game fish which occurs in inshore tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic and South Pacific.

<INFO> Genus Seriola, family Carangidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AMBER (because of its yellowish tail) + JACK^1.

ambidextrous /ambdεkstrəs/ adj. able to use the right and left hands equally well.

- (of an implement) designed to be used by left-handed and right-handed people with equal ease.

<DERIVATIVES> ambidexterity n. ambidextrously adv. ambidextrousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin ambidexter (from Latin ambi- ‘on both sides’ + dexter ‘right-handed’) + -OUS.

ambience /ambəns/ (also ambiance) n. the character and atmosphere of a place: the relaxed ambience of the cocktail lounge is popular with guests.

- quality or character given to a sound recording by the space in which the sound occurs.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AMBIENT + -ENCE, or from French ambiance, from ambiant ‘surrounding’.

ambient /ambənt/ adj. 1 relating to the immediate surroundings of something: the liquid is stored at below ambient temperature.

- relating to ambient music.

2 relating to or denoting advertising that makes use of sites or objects other than the established media (e.g. by placing slogans on the back of bus tickets).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French ambiant or Latin ambient- ‘going round’, from ambire.

ambient music n. [mass noun] a style of gentle, largely electronic instrumental music with no persistent beat, used to create or enhance a mood or atmosphere.

ambiguity /ambjuti/ n. (pl. ambiguities) [mass noun] the quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness: we can detect no ambiguity in this section of the Act | [count noun] ambiguities in such questions are potentially very dangerous.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ambiguite or Latin ambiguitas, from ambiguus ‘doubtful’ (see AMBIGUOUS).

ambiguous /ambjəs/ adj. open to more than one interpretation; not having one obvious meaning: ambiguous phrases.

- not clear or decided: the election result was ambiguous.

<DERIVATIVES> ambiguously adv. ambiguousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘indistinct, obscure’): from Latin ambiguus ‘doubtful’ (from ambigere ‘waver, go around’, from ambi- ‘both ways’ + agere ‘to drive’) + -OUS.

ambisexual /ambsεksjəl -əl/ adj. bisexual or androgynous.

■ n. an ambisexual person.

<DERIVATIVES> ambisexually adv.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Latin ambi- ‘on both sides’ + SEXUAL.

ambisonic adj. denoting or relating to a high-fidelity audio system that reproduces the directional and acoustic properties of recorded sound using two or more channels.

■ n. (ambisonics) [treated as sing.] ambisonic reproduction or systems.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Latin ambi- ‘on both sides’ + SONIC.

ambit /ambt/ n. [in sing.] the scope, extent, or bounds of something: a full discussion of this complex issue was beyond the ambit of one book.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘precincts, environs’): from Latin ambitus ‘circuit’, from ambire ‘go round’.

ambition n. a strong desire to do or achieve something: her ambition was to become a model | he achieved his ambition of making a fortune.

- [mass noun] desire and determination to achieve success: young men and women with ambition.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin ambitio(n-), from ambire ‘go around (canvassing for votes)’.

ambitious adj. having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed: a ruthlessly ambitious woman.

- (of a plan or piece of work) intended to satisfy high aspirations and therefore difficult to achieve: an ambitious enterprise.

<DERIVATIVES> ambitiously adv. ambitiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ambitieux or Latin ambitiosus, from ambitio (see AMBITION).

ambivalence n. [mass noun] the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone: the law's ambivalence about the importance of a victim's identity | government ambivalence towards the arts.

ambivalent /ambv(ə)l(ə)nt/ adj. having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone: some loved her, some hated her, few were ambivalent about her | an ambivalent attitude to Europe.

<DERIVATIVES> ambivalently adv.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ambivalence (from German Ambivalenz), on the pattern of equivalent.

ambivert /ambvət/ n. [PSYCHOLOGY] a person who has a balance of extrovert and introvert features in their personality.

<DERIVATIVES> ambiversion n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Latin ambi- ‘on both sides’, on the pattern of extrovert and introvert.

amble v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] walk or move at a slow, relaxed pace: they ambled along the riverbank.

■ n. a walk at a slow, relaxed pace, especially for pleasure: a peaceful riverside amble.

<DERIVATIVES> ambler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting a horse's gait): from Old French ambler, from Latin ambulare ‘to walk’.

amblyopia /ambləpə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE impaired or dim vision without obvious defect or change in the eye.

<DERIVATIVES> amblyopic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek ambluōpia ‘short-sightedness’, from ambluōpos (adjective), from amblus ‘dull’ + ōps, ōp- ‘eye’.

ambo /ambə/ n. (pl. ambos or ambones /-bəniz/) (in an early Christian church) an oblong pulpit with steps at each end.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via medieval Latin from Greek ambōn ‘rim’ (in medieval Greek ‘pulpit’).

Ambon /ambn/ (also Amboina /-bnə/) a mountainous island in eastern Indonesia, one of the Molucca Islands.

- a port on this island, the capital of the Molucca Islands; pop. 262,200 (est. 2002).

<DERIVATIVES> Ambonese (also Amboinese) n. & adj.

amboyna /ambnə/ (also amboyna wood) n. [mass noun] the decorative timber of a rapidly growing SE Asian tree, used for cabinetmaking.

<INFO> The tree is Pterocarpus indicus, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Amboina Island (see AMBON).

Ambrose, St /ambrəz/ (c.339–97), Doctor of the Church, bishop of Milan. A champion of orthodoxy, he also encouraged developments in church music. Feast day, 7 December.

<DERIVATIVES> Ambrosian adj.

ambrosia /ambrəzə/ n. [mass noun] 1 [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the food of the gods.

- something very pleasing to taste or smell: the tea was ambrosia after the slop I'd been suffering.

2 a fungal product used as food by ambrosia beetles.

3 another term for BEE BREAD.

<DERIVATIVES> ambrosial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek, ‘elixir of life’, from ambrotos ‘immortal’.

ambrosia beetle n. a small wood-boring beetle whose adults and larvae (called pinhole borers) feed on ambrosia produced by fungus in the wood.

<INFO> Genus Platypus (family Platypodidae), and Xyleborus and other genera (family Scolytidae).

ambulacrum /ambjlekrəm -lakrəm/ n. (pl. ambulacra /-lekrə -lakrə/) [ZOOLOGY] (in an echinoderm) each of the radially arranged bands, together with their underlying structures, through which the double rows of tube feet protrude.

<DERIVATIVES> ambulacral adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: Latin, ‘avenue’, from ambulare ‘to walk’.

ambulance n. a vehicle equipped for taking sick or injured people to and from hospital, especially in emergencies.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] convey in an ambulance: he was ambulanced to accident and emergency.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, from hôpital ambulant ‘mobile (horse-drawn) field hospital’, from Latin ambulant- ‘walking’ (see AMBULANT).

ambulance-chaser n. DEROGATORY, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a lawyer who specializes in bringing cases seeking damages for personal injury.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the reputation gained by certain lawyers for attending accidents and encouraging victims to sue.

ambulant /ambjl(ə)nt/ adj. MEDICINE (of a patient) able to walk about; not confined to bed.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin ambulant- ‘walking’, from ambulare.

ambulate /ambjlet/ v. [no obj.] FORMAL or TECHNICAL walk; move about.

<DERIVATIVES> ambulation n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin ambulat- ‘walked’, from the verb ambulare.

ambulatory /ambjlət(ə)ri/ adj. relating to or adapted for walking.

■ another term for AMBULANT.

- movable; mobile: an ambulatory ophthalmic service.

■ n. (pl. ambulatories) a place for walking, especially an aisle or cloister in a church or monastery.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a noun): from Latin ambulatorius, from ambulare ‘to walk’.

Ambulocetus /ambjlə()sitəs/ n. a cetacean of the Eocene epoch that had fore and hind limbs and could walk on land.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin ambulare ‘to walk’ + cetus ‘whale’.

ambuscade /ambəsked/ n. DATED an ambush.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC ambush (someone).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French embuscade, from Italian imboscata, Spanish emboscada, or Portuguese embuscada, based on a late Latin word meaning ‘to place in a wood’; related to bush^1.

ambush n. a surprise attack by people lying in wait in a concealed position: seven members of a patrol were killed in an ambush | [mass noun] there might be terrorists waiting in ambush.

■ v. [with obj.] make a surprise attack on (someone) from a concealed position: they were ambushed and taken prisoner by the enemy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘place troops in hiding in order to surprise an enemy’): from Old French embusche (noun), embuschier (verb), based on a late Latin word meaning ‘to place in a wood’; related to bush^1.

am-dram n. [treated as sing. or plural] INFORMAL amateur dramatics.

amelanchier /aməlakə/ n. a shrub of a genus that includes juneberry and snowy mespilus, typically bearing white flowers.

<INFO> Genus Amelanchier, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> from French dialect amelancier ‘medlar’.

ameliorate /əmiləret/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better: the reform did much to ameliorate living standards.

<DERIVATIVES> ameliorative adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: alteration of MELIORATE, influenced by French améliorer, from meilleur ‘better’.

amelioration n. [mass noun] FORMAL the act of making something better; improvement: progress brings with it the amelioration of the human condition.

amen /αmεn e-/ exclam. uttered at the end of a prayer or hymn, meaning ‘so be it’.

- used to express agreement or assent: amen to that!

■ n. an utterance of ‘amen’.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek amēn, from Hebrew 'āmēn ‘truth, certainty’, used adverbially as expression of agreement, and adopted in the Septuagint as a solemn expression of belief or affirmation.

amenable /əminəb(ə)l/ adj. open and responsive to suggestion; easily persuaded or controlled: parents who have amenable children.

- (amenable to) capable of being acted upon in a particular way; susceptible: cardiac failure not amenable to medical treatment.

<DERIVATIVES> amenability n. amenably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘liable to answer to a law or tribunal’): an Anglo-Norman French legal term, from Old French amener ‘bring to’ from a- (from Latin ad) ‘to’ + mener ‘bring’ (from late Latin minare ‘drive animals’, from Latin minari ‘threaten’).

amen corner n. US the part of a Methodist meeting house formerly occupied by worshippers who responded to the preacher's utterances with occasional shouts of ‘Amen!’.

amend v. [with obj.] 1 make minor changes to (a text, piece of legislation, etc.) in order to make it fairer or more accurate, or to reflect changing circumstances: the rule was amended to apply only to non-members.

2 improve the texture or fertility of (soil).

- ARCHAIC put right: a few things had gone wrong, but these had been amended.

<DERIVATIVES> amendable adj. amender n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French amender, based on Latin emendare (see EMEND).

amende honorable /əmd nrαbl(ə)/ French /amαd nRabl/ n. (pl. amendes honorables pronunc. same) LITERARY a public or open apology, typically with some form of reparation.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘honourable reparation’.

amendment n. a minor change or addition designed to improve a text, piece of legislation, etc.: an amendment to existing bail laws.

- (Amendment) an article added to the US Constitution: the First Amendment.

- something which is added to soil in order to improve its texture or fertility.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘improvement, correction’): from Old French amendement, from amender (see AMEND).

amends plural n. (in phrase make amends) compensate or make up for a wrongdoing: try to make amends for the rude way you spoke to Lucy.

<PHRASES>

□ offer of amends [LAW] an offer to publish a correction and an apology for an act of libel.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French amendes ‘penalties, fine’, plural of amende ‘reparation’, from amender (see AMEND).

Amenhotep /αmεnhətεp/ the name of four Egyptian pharaohs of the 18th dynasty; Greek name Amenophis.

- Amenhotep I (16th century BC), son of Ahmose I (founder of the 18th dynasty), reigned 1546–1526.

- Amenhotep II (15th century BC), son of Tuthmosis III, reigned 1450–1425.

- Amenhotep III (15th–14th centuries BC), son of Tuthmosis IV, reigned 1417–1379. He embarked on an extensive building programme centred on his capital, Thebes, including the colossi of Memnon and the Luxor temple.

- Amenhotep IV see AKHENATEN.

amenity /əminti -mεn-/ n. (pl. amenities) a desirable or useful feature or facility of a building or place: the property is situated in a convenient location, close to all local amenities.

- [mass noun] the pleasantness or attractiveness of a place: developments which would clash with amenity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French amenite or Latin amoenitas, from amoenus ‘pleasant’.

amenorrhoea /əmεnəriə/ (US amenorrhea) n. [mass noun] an abnormal absence of menstruation.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + MENORRHOEA.

ament /emεnt əmεnt/ n. [BOTANY] a catkin.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin amentum ‘thong’.

amentia /emεnə ə-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE, DATED severe congenital mental disability.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, literally ‘madness’, from amens, ament- ‘mad’, from a- ‘without’ + mens ‘the mind’.

Amerasian /aməre(ə)n -(ə)n/ adj. having one American and one Asian parent.

■ n. a person with one American and one Asian parent.

amercement /əməsmənt/ n. [LAW], HISTORICAL a fine.

<DERIVATIVES> amerce v.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French amerciment, based on estre amercie ‘be at the mercy of another’ (with respect to the amount of a fine), from a merci ‘at (the) mercy’.

America (also the Americas) a land mass of the western hemisphere consisting of the continents of North and South America joined by the Isthmus of Panama.

- used as a name for the United States.

America was originally inhabited by American Indians and Inuit peoples. The NE coastline of North America was visited by Norse seamen in the early 11th century, but for the modern world America was first reached by Christopher Columbus, who arrived in the Caribbean in 1492 and the South American mainland in 1498.

<ORIGIN> the name America dates from the early 16th century and is believed to derive from the Latin form (Americus) of the name of Amerigo Vespucci, who sailed along the west coast of South America in 1501.

American adj. relating to or characteristic of the United States or its inhabitants: the election of a new American president.

- relating to the continents of America: the American continent south of the tropic of Cancer.

■ n. 1 a native or citizen of the United States.

- a native or inhabitant of any of the countries of North, South, or Central America.

2 [mass noun] the English language as it is used in the United States; American English.

<PHRASES>

□ the American dream the ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved.

<DERIVATIVES> Americanism n. Americanness n.

Americana /əmεrkαnə/ plural n. things associated with America, especially the United States.

American aloe n. another term for CENTURY PLANT.

American Civil War the war between the northern US states (usually known as the Union) and the Confederate States of America, 1861–5.

The war was fought over the issues of slavery and states' rights. The pro-slavery Southern states seceded from the Federal Union following the election of Abraham Lincoln on an anti-slavery platform, but were defeated by the North after failing to gain foreign recognition.

American depositary receipt (also American depositary share) n. (in the US) a negotiable certificate of title to a number of shares in a non-US company which are deposited in an overseas bank.

American English n. [mass noun] the English language as spoken and written in the US.

As well as differences from British English in spelling, pronunciation, and grammar, there are specifically American uses of words and meanings, principally: adoptions from languages with which the early settlers came in contact (moccasin, prairie), changes in meaning (corn, vest), survivals of 17th- and 18th-century English (gotten), and different words for the same referent (elevator for lift).

American Federation of Labor a federation of North American trade unions, merged in 1955 with the Congress of Industrial Organizations to form the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO).

American football n. [mass noun] a kind of football played with an oval ball on a field marked out as a gridiron. Points are scored mainly through touchdowns and field goals. Each side has eleven players on the field at any time. In the US called simply FOOTBALL.

American Independence, War of the war of 1775–83 in which the American colonists won independence from British rule. Called in the US and Canada the AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

The war was triggered by resentment of the economic policies of Britain, particularly the right of Parliament to tax the colonies, and by the exclusion of the colonists from participation in political decisions affecting their interests. Following disturbances such as the Boston Tea Party of 1773, fighting broke out in 1775; a year later the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Americans gained the support of France and Spain, and French sea power eventually played a crucial role in the decisive surrender of a British army at Yorktown in 1781.

American Indian n. a member of any of the groups of indigenous peoples of North, Central, and South America, especially those of North America.

■ adj. relating to American Indians.

<USAGE> The term American Indian has been steadily replaced in the US, especially in official contexts, by the more recent term Native American (first recorded in the 1950s and becoming prominent in the 1970s). The latter is preferred by some as being a more accurate and respectful description (the word Indian recalling Columbus' assumption that, on reaching America, he had reached the east coast of India), as well as avoiding the stereotype of cowboys and Indians in the stories of the Wild West. American Indian is still widespread in general use even in the US, however, perhaps at least partly owing to the fact that it is not normally regarded as offensive by American Indians themselves, and it is the term used in this dictionary. Nevertheless, since the category American Indian is very broad, it is preferable, where possible, to name the specific people, as Apache, Comanche, or Sioux.

Americanize (also Americanise) v. [with obj.] (often as adj. Americanized) make American in character or nationality.

<DERIVATIVES> Americanization /-ze(ə)n/ n.

American Legion (in the US) an association of ex-servicemen formed in 1919.

Americano /əmεrikαnə/ (also café Americano, caffè Americano) n. (pl. Americanos) a drink of espresso coffee diluted with hot water.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: American Spanish (or Italian), literally ‘American (coffee)’.

American organ n. a type of reed organ resembling the harmonium but in which air is sucked (not blown) through reeds.

American plan n.

■ North American term for FULL BOARD. Often contrasted with EUROPEAN PLAN.

American Revolution US and Canadian term for AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, WAR OF.

American Saddle Horse n. a light, strong horse of a breed developed in America to be comfortable to ride over long distances.

American Samoa an unincorporated overseas territory of the US comprising a group of islands in the southern Pacific Ocean, to the east of Samoa and south of the Kiribati group; pop. 68,688 (est. 2002); capital, Fagatogo. In 1899 the US acquired rights to the islands by agreement with Germany and Britain, and in April 1900 the two main islands were ceded to the US by their chiefs. Further islands were handed over in succeeding years.

American Sign Language n. [mass noun] a form of sign language developed in the US for the use of deaf people, consisting of over 4,000 signs.

American Standard Version n. an English translation of the Bible published in the US in 1901, based on the Revised Version of 1881–95 with additional work by American scholars.

America's Cup an international yachting race held every three to four years.

americium /amərsjəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 95, a radioactive metal of the actinide series. Americium does not occur naturally and was first made by bombarding plutonium with neutrons. (Symbol: Am)

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from AMERICA (where it was first made) + -IUM.

Amerindian /amərndən/ (also Amerind /amərnd/) adj. & n. another term for AMERICAN INDIAN, used chiefly in anthropological and linguistic contexts.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of AMERICAN and INDIAN.

Ameslan /amslan/ n. another term for AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: acronym.

Ames test /emz/ n. MEDICINE a test to determine the mutagenic activity of chemicals by observing whether they cause mutations in sample bacteria.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Bruce N. Ames (born 1928), the American biochemist who devised it.

amethyst /aməθst/ n. a precious stone consisting of a violet or purple variety of quartz.

- a violet or purple colour: [as modifier] an amethyst dress.

<DERIVATIVES> amethystine /-θstin/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin amethystus, from Greek amethustos ‘not drunken’ (because the stone was believed to prevent intoxication).

amethyst deceiver n. an edible woodland mushroom with a lilac cap and stem, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Laccaria amethystea, family Tricholomataceae, class Hymenomycetes.

Amex abbr.

- TRADEMARK American Express.

- American Stock Exchange.

Amhara /amhαrə/ n. (pl. same or Amharas) a member of a Semitic people of central Ethiopia.

<ORIGIN> from Amhara, the name of a region of central Ethiopia.

Amharic /amhark/ n. [mass noun] the official language of Ethiopia, a Semitic language descended from Ge'ez and spoken by about 9 million people.

■ adj. relating to Amharic.

amiability n. [mass noun] the quality of having a friendly and pleasant manner; geniality: his good-natured amiability.

amiable adj. having or displaying a friendly and pleasant manner: the amiable young man greeted me enthusiastically.

<DERIVATIVES> amiableness n. amiably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the senses ‘kind’, and ‘lovely, lovable’): via Old French from late Latin amicabilis ‘amicable’. The current sense, influenced by modern French aimable ‘trying to please’, dates from the mid 18th cent.

amianthus /amanθəs/ n. [mass noun] a variety of asbestos with fine silky fibres which can be woven.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin amiantus, from Greek amiantos ‘undefiled’ (i.e. purified of stains by fire, it being incombustible), from a- ‘not’ + miainein ‘defile’. The spelling was changed from the Latin on the pattern of plant names ending in -anthus, from Greek anthos ‘flower’.

amicable /amkəb(ə)l/ adj. characterized by friendliness and absence of discord: an amicable settlement of the dispute | the meeting was relatively amicable.

<DERIVATIVES> amicability n. amicableness n. amicably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘pleasant, benign’, applied to things): from late Latin amicabilis, from Latin amicus ‘friend’.

amicable numbers plural n. [MATHEMATICS] a pair of numbers, each of which is the sum of the factors of the other (e.g. 220 and 284).

amice /ams/ n. 1 a white linen cloth worn on the neck and shoulders, under the alb, by a priest celebrating the Eucharist.

2 a cap, hood, or cape worn by members of certain religious orders.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English:

■ sense 1 from medieval Latin amicia, amisia, of unknown origin;

■ sense 2 from Old French aumusse, from medieval Latin almucia, of unknown origin.

amicus /amkəs/ (in full amicus curiae /kjəri/) n. (pl. amici /-si/, amici curiae) an impartial adviser to a court of law in a particular case.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: modern Latin, literally ‘friend’, (in full) ‘friend of the court’.

amid prep. surrounded by; in the middle of: our dream home, set amid magnificent rolling countryside.

- in an atmosphere or against a background of: talks broke down amid accusations of a hostile takeover bid.

<ORIGIN> Middle English amidde(s) (see a^2, mid^1).

Amidah /əmidə/ n. [JUDAISM] a prayer consisting of a varying number of blessings recited while the worshippers stand.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Hebrew, literally ‘standing’.

amide /emd amd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing the group –C(O)NH_2, derived from ammonia by replacement of a hydrogen atom by an acyl group.

- a compound derived from ammonia by replacement of a hydrogen atom by a metal, containing the anion NH_2−.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from AMMONIA + -IDE.

amidships (also amidship) adv. & adj. in the middle of a ship, either longitudinally or laterally: [as adv.] the destroyer rammed her amidships | [as adj.] an amidships engine room.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from A-2 (expressing position or direction) + MIDSHIP, influenced by AMID.

amidst prep. chiefly LITERARY variant of AMID.

Amiens /amənz/ French /amjε/ a town in northern France; pop. 135,501 (1999).

amigo /əmiə/ n. (pl. amigos) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used to address or refer to a friend, chiefly in Spanish-speaking areas.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Spanish.

Amin /amin/ Idi (1925–2003), Ugandan soldier and head of state 1971–9; full name Idi Amin Dada. Amin overthrew President Obote in a coup, and was deposed after a period of rule characterized by the murder of political opponents and the expulsion of non-Africans.

Amindivi Islands /amndivi/ the northernmost group of islands in the Indian territory of Lakshadweep in the Indian Ocean.

amine /emin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound derived from ammonia by replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms by organic radicals.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from AMMONIA + -INE^4.

amino /əminə əmnə/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] the group –NH_2, present in amino acids, amides, and many amines.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AMINE.

amino acid n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a simple organic compound containing both a carboxyl (–COOH) and an amino (–NH_2) group.

Amino acids occur naturally in plant and animal tissues and form the basic constituents of proteins. There are about twenty common amino acids, of which the simplest is glycine (H_2NCH_2COOH).

amir /əmiə/ n. variant spelling of EMIR.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Persian and Urdu, from Arabic 'amīr ‘commander’, from 'amara ‘to command’; compare with EMIR.

Amirante Islands /amrant amranti/ a group of coral islands in the Indian Ocean, forming part of the Seychelles.

Amis^1 /ems/ Sir Kingsley (1922–95), English novelist. He achieved popular success with his first novel Lucky Jim (1954); his later novels include The Old Devils (Booker Prize, 1986) and The Folks that Live on the Hill (1990).

Amis^2 /ems/ Martin (Louis) (b.1949), English novelist, son of Kingsley Amis. Notable works: The Rachel Papers (1973), Money (1984), and Time's Arrow (1991).

Amish /am α- e-/ plural n. the members of a strict Mennonite sect founded by the Swiss preacher Jakob Amman (or Amen) (c.1645–c.1730). Now living mainly in Pennsylvania and Ohio, the Amish migrated to North America from c.1720.

■ adj. relating to the Amish.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: apparently from German amisch, from the name Jakob Amman.

amiss adj. [predic.] not quite right; inappropriate or out of place: there was something amiss about his calculations.

■ adv. wrongly or inappropriately: the prime minister may have constructed his cabinet a little amiss.

<PHRASES>

□ take something amiss BRITISH be offended by something that is said, especially through misinterpreting the intentions behind it.

□ something would not go (or come) amiss BRITISH the specified thing would be welcome and useful: you look as if a good meal wouldn't go amiss.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Old Norse á mis ‘so as to miss’, from á ‘on’ + mis (related to miss^1).

amitotic /emttk am-/ adj. [BIOLOGY] relating to or denoting the division of a cell nucleus without mitosis.

<DERIVATIVES> amitosis n. amitotically adv.

amitriptyline /amtrptlin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an antidepressant drug of the tricyclic group, with a mild tranquillizing action.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from ami(ne) + TRI- + (he)ptyl + -INE^4.

amity /amti/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL friendly relations.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French amitie, based on Latin amicus ‘friend’.

amma /mα/ n. INDIAN INFORMAL one's mother (often used as a familiar form of address).

<ORIGIN> probably derived from a child's word, perhaps influenced by AMAH.

Amman /əmαn/ the capital of Jordan; pop. 1,252,900 (est. 2002).

ammeter /amtə/ n. an instrument for measuring electric current in amperes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AMPERE + -METER.

ammo /amə/ n. informal term for AMMUNITION.

Ammon Greek and Roman form of AMUN.

ammonia /əmənə/ n. [mass noun] a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent smell, which dissolves in water to give a strongly alkaline solution.

<INFO> Chem. formula: NH_3.

- a solution of ammonia, used as a cleaning fluid.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: modern Latin, from sal ammoniacus (see SAL AMMONIAC).

ammoniacal /amə()nək(ə)l/ adj. of or containing ammonia.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Middle English ammoniac, via Old French from Latin ammoniacus. This represented the Greek word ammōniakos ‘of Ammon’, used as a name for the salt and gum obtained near the temple of Jupiter Ammon at Siwa in Egypt. Compare with SAL AMMONIAC.

ammoniated adj. combined or treated with ammonia.

ammonite /amənt/ n. an ammonoid fossil, especially one of a later type found chiefly in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, typically with intricately frilled suture lines. Compare with CERATITE and GONIATITE.

<INFO> Typified by ammonoids of the order Ammonitida.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin ammonites, from medieval Latin cornu Ammonis ‘horn of Ammon’, from the fossil's resemblance to the ram's horn associated with Jupiter Ammon (see AMMONIACAL).

ammonium /əmənəm/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] the cation NH_4+, present in solutions of ammonia and in salts derived from ammonia.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from AMMONIA + -IUM.

ammonium carbonate n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a white crystalline solid which slowly decomposes, giving off ammonia, and is an ingredient of sal volatile.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (NH_4)2CO_3. Commercial forms often contain other, related, salts.

ammonium chloride n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a white crystalline salt used chiefly in dry cells, as a mordant, and as soldering flux. Also called SAL AMMONIAC.

<INFO> Chem. formula: NH_4Cl.

ammonium nitrate n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a white crystalline solid used as a fertilizer and as a component of some explosives.

<INFO> Chem. formula: NH_4NO_3.

ammonoid /amənd/ [PALAEONTOLOGY] n. an extinct cephalopod mollusc with a flat-coiled spiral shell, found commonly as a fossil in marine deposits from the Devonian to the Cretaceous periods.

<INFO> Subclass Ammonoidea, class Cephalopoda: numerous families.

■ See AMMONITE, CERATITE, and GONIATITE.

■ adj. relating to the ammonoids.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Ammonoidea, based on AMMON (see AMMONITE).

ammunition n. [mass noun] a supply or quantity of bullets and shells.

- considerations that can be used to support one's case in debate: these figures provide ammunition to the argument for more resources.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete French amunition, alteration (by wrong division) of la munition ‘the munition’ (see MUNITION).

amnesia /amnizə/ n. [mass noun] a partial or total loss of memory.

<DERIVATIVES> amnesiac n. & adj. amnesic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek amnēsia ‘forgetfulness’.

amnesty n. (pl. amnesties) an official pardon for people who have been convicted of political offences: an amnesty for political prisoners.

- an undertaking by the authorities to take no action against specified offences during a fixed period: a month-long weapons amnesty.

■ v. (amnesties, amnestying, amnestied) [with obj.] grant an official pardon to.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek amnēstia ‘forgetfulness’.

Amnesty International an independent international organization in support of human rights, especially for prisoners of conscience. The organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

amnio /amnə/ n. (pl. amnios)

■ informal term for AMNIOCENTESIS.

amniocentesis /amnəsεntiss/ n. (pl. amniocenteses /-siz/) a process in which amniotic fluid is sampled using a hollow needle inserted into the uterus, to screen for abnormalities in the developing fetus.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from AMNION + Greek kentēsis ‘pricking’ (from kentein ‘to prick’).

amnion /amnən/ n. (pl. amnions or amnia) the innermost membrane that encloses the embryo of a mammal, bird, or reptile.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek, ‘caul’, diminutive of amnos ‘lamb’.

amniote /amnət/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an animal whose embryo develops in an amnion and chorion and has an allantois; a mammal, bird, or reptile.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Amniota, back-formation from AMNIOTIC.

amniotic adj. relating to the amnion.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: formed irregularly from obsolete amnios ‘amnion’ + -OTIC, perhaps via French amniotique.

amniotic fluid n. [mass noun] the fluid surrounding a fetus within the amnion.

amn't /am(ə)nt/ chiefly SCOTTISH & Irish contraction am not.

amoeba /əmibə/ (US also ameba) n. (pl. amoebas or amoebae /-bi/) a single-celled animal which catches food and moves about by extending finger-like projections of protoplasm. Amoebas are either free-living in damp environments or parasitic.

<INFO> Many families and genera in the phylum Rhizopoda, kingdom Protista, including the aquatic Amoeba proteus.

<DERIVATIVES> amoebic adj. amoeboid adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek amoibē ‘change, alternation’.

amoebiasis /amibəss/ (US also amebiasis) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE infection with amoebas, especially as causing dysentery.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from AMOEBA + -ASIS.

amok /əmk/ (also amuck) adv. (in phrase run amok) behave uncontrollably and disruptively: stone-throwing anarchists were running amok.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via Portuguese amouco, from Malay amok ‘rushing in a frenzy’. Early use was as a noun denoting a Malay in a homicidal frenzy.

among (chiefly BRITISH also amongst) prep. 1 situated more or less centrally in relation to (several other things): flowers hidden among the roots of the trees | you're among friends.

2 being a member or members of (a larger set): a British woman was among the 54 victims of the disaster | snakes are among the animals most feared by man.

3 occurring in or shared by (some members of a group or community): a drop in tooth decay among children | members of the government bickered among themselves.

4 indicating a division, choice, or differentiation involving three or more participants: the old king called the three princesses to divide his kingdom among them | the State Council would elect a temporary president from among its members.

<ORIGIN> Old English ongemang (from on ‘in’ + gemang ‘assemblage, mingling’). The -st of amongst represents -s (adverbial genitive) + -t probably by association with superlatives (as in against).

amontillado /əmntlαdə -jα-/ n. (pl. amontillados) [mass noun] a medium dry sherry.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Montilla, the name of a town in southern Spain where the original wine was produced.

amoral /emr(ə)l/ adj. lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something: an amoral attitude to sex.

<DERIVATIVES> amorally adv. amoralism n. amoralist n. amorality n.

<USAGE> Amoral is distinct in meaning from immoral: while immoral means ‘not conforming to accepted standards of morality’, amoral implies ‘not concerned with morality’. The difference is illustrated in the following two examples: the client pays for the amoral expertise of the lawyer; the council judged the film to be immoral and obscene.

amoretto /amərεtə/ n. (pl. amoretti /-ti/) a representation of Cupid in a work of art.

<ORIGIN> Italian, diminutive of amore ‘love’, from Latin amor.

amorist /amərst/ n. a person who is in love or who writes about love.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin amor or French amour ‘love’ + -IST.

Amorite /amərt/ n. a member of a semi-nomadic people living in Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Syria in the 3rd millennium BC, founders of the ancient city of Mari on the Euphrates and the first dynasty of Babylon.

■ adj. relating to the Amorites.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ĕmōrī + -ITE^1.

amoroso^1 /amərəzə -sə/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) in a loving or tender manner.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from medieval Latin amorosus (see AMOROUS).

amoroso^2 /amərəzə -sə/ n. [mass noun] a dark, sweet sherry.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish, literally ‘amorous’, from medieval Latin amorosus (see AMOROUS).

amorous adj. showing, feeling, or relating to sexual desire: she rejected his amorous advances.

<DERIVATIVES> amorously adv. amorousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin amorosus, from Latin amor ‘love’.

amorphous /əmfəs/ adj. without a clearly defined shape or form: an amorphous, characterless conurbation.

- lacking a clear structure or focus: an amorphous and leaderless legislature.

- [MINERALOGY] & [CHEMISTRY] (of a solid) not crystalline, or not apparently crystalline.

<DERIVATIVES> amorphously adv. amorphousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin amorphus, from Greek amorphos ‘shapeless’ (from a- ‘without’ + morphē ‘form’) + -OUS.

amortize /əmtz/ (also amortise) v. [with obj.] gradually write off the initial cost of (an asset) over a period.

- reduce or pay off (a debt) with regular payments.

- HISTORICAL transfer (land) to a corporation in mortmain.

<DERIVATIVES> amortization n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘deaden’ and ‘transfer (land) to a corporation in mortmain’): from Old French amortiss-, lengthened stem of amortir, based on Latin ad ‘to, at’ + mors, mort- ‘death’.

Amos /ems/ a Hebrew minor prophet (c.760 BC), a shepherd of Tekoa, near Jerusalem.

- a book of the Bible containing the prophecies of Amos.

amosite /eməst/ n. [mass noun] an iron-rich amphibole asbestos, mined in South Africa.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the initial letters of Asbestos Mines of South Africa + -ITE^1.

amount n. a quantity of something, especially the total of a thing or things in number, size, value, or extent: sport gives an enormous amount of pleasure to many people | the substance is harmless if taken in small amounts.

- a sum of money: they have spent a colossal amount rebuilding the stadium.

■ v. [no obj.] (amount to) come to be (the total) when added together: losses amounted to over 10 million pounds.

- be the equivalent of: their actions amounted to a conspiracy.

<PHRASES>

□ any amount of a great deal or number of: the second half produced any amount of action.

□ no amount of not even the greatest possible amount of: no amount of talk is going to change anything.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): from Old French amunter, from amont ‘upward’, literally ‘uphill’, from Latin ad montem. The noun use dates from the early 18th century.

amour /əmə/ n. a love affair or lover, especially one that is secret: he is enraged at this revelation of his past amours.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘love, affection’): via Old French from Latin amor ‘love’. The current sense dates from the late 16th cent.

amour courtois /əmə ktw/ French /amuR kuRtwa/ n. another term for COURTLY LOVE.

<ORIGIN> French.

amour fou /əmə fu/ French /amuR fu/ n. [mass noun] uncontrollable or obsessive passion.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: French, ‘insane love’.

amour propre /amə prpr(ə)/ French /amuR pRpR/ n. [mass noun] a sense of one's own worth; self-respect: Pablo's amour propre must have been tested by his short stature.

<ORIGIN> French.

amoxycillin /əmkssln/ (also amoxicillin) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a semi-synthetic penicillin closely related to ampicillin and with similar properties, but more readily absorbed when taken orally.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from AMINO + OXY-2 + PENICILLIN.

Amoy /əm/ another name for XIAMEN.

AMP abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] adenosine monophosphate.

amp^1 n. short for AMPERE.

amp^2 INFORMAL n. short for AMPLIFIER.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (often amp something up) play (music) through electric amplification: their willingness to amp up traditional songs virtually began the folk-rock genre.

2 (as adj. amped or amped up) NORTH AMERICAN full of nervous energy, especially through taking amphetamines or similar drugs.

Ampakine /ampəkn/ n. (TRADEMARK in the US) any of a class of synthetic compounds which facilitate transmission of nerve impulses in the brain and appear to improve memory and learning capacity.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from AMPA (an acronym denoting certain receptors in the brain) + Greek kinein ‘to move’.

ampelopsis /amplpss/ n. (pl. same) a bushy climbing plant of the vine family.

<INFO> Genus Ampelopsis, family Vitaceae: two species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek ampelos ‘vine’ + opsis ‘appearance’.

amperage /amp(ə)rd/ n. the strength of an electric current in amperes.

ampere /ampε/ (abbr.: A) n. a unit of electric current equal to a flow of one coulomb per second.

<INFO> The SI base unit of electric current, 1 ampere is precisely defined as that constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross section, and placed 1 metre apart in a vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force of 2 × 10−7 newton per metre.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after A-M Ampère.

Ampère /ampε/ French /αpεR/ André-Marie (1775–1836), French physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, who analysed the relationship between magnetic force and electric current.

ampersand /ampəsand/ n. the sign & (standing for and, as in Smith & Co., or the Latin et, as in &c.).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: alteration of and per se and ‘& by itself is and’, formerly chanted as an aid to learning the sign.

amphetamine /amfεtəmin -n/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic, addictive, mood-altering drug, used illegally as a stimulant.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_5CH_2CH(CH_3)NH_2.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: abbreviation of its chemical name, a(lpha-)m(ethyl) phe(ne)t(hyl)amine.

amphi- /amfi/ combining form 1 both: amphibian.

- of both kinds: amphipod.

- on both sides: amphiprostyle.

2 around: amphitheatre.

<ORIGIN> from Greek.

amphibian n. a cold-blooded vertebrate animal of a class that comprises the frogs, toads, newts, salamanders, and caecilians. They are distinguished by having an aquatic gill-breathing larval stage followed (typically) by a terrestrial lung-breathing adult stage.

<INFO> Class Amphibia: orders Urodela (newts and salamanders), Anura (frogs and toads), and Gymnophiona (caecilians).

■ adj. relating to amphibians.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘having two modes of existence or of doubtful nature’): from modern Latin amphibium ‘an amphibian’, from Greek amphibion (noun use of amphibios ‘living both in water and on land’, from amphi ‘both’ + bios ‘life’).

amphibious /amfbəs/ adj. relating to, living in, or suited for both land and water: an amphibious vehicle.

- (of a military operation) involving forces landed from the sea: an amphibious assault.

<DERIVATIVES> amphibiously adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin amphibium, from Greek amphibion (see AMPHIBIAN) + -OUS.

amphibole /amfbəl/ n. [mass noun] any of a class of rock-forming silicate or aluminosilicate minerals typically occurring as fibrous or columnar crystals.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Latin amphibolus ‘ambiguous’ (because of the varied structure of these minerals), from Greek amphibolos, from amphi- ‘both, on both sides’ + ballein ‘to throw’.

amphibolite /amfbəlt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a granular metamorphic rock consisting mainly of hornblende and plagioclase.

amphibology /amfblədi/ n. (pl. amphibologies) a phrase or sentence that is grammatically ambiguous, such as She sees more of her children than her husband.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French amphibologie, from late Latin amphibologia, from Latin amphibolia, from Greek amphibolos ‘ambiguous’ (see AMPHIBOLE).

amphiboly /amfbəli/ n. (pl. amphibolies)

■ another term for AMPHIBOLOGY.

amphibrach /amfbrak/ n. [PROSODY] a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable between two unstressed syllables or (in Greek and Latin) a long syllable between two short syllables.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally in the Latin forms amphibrachus, amphibrachys): via Latin from Greek amphibrakhus ‘short at both ends’.

amphimixis /amfmkss/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] sexual reproduction involving the fusion of two different gametes to form a zygote. Often contrasted with APOMIXIS.

<DERIVATIVES> amphimictic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AMPHI- + Greek mixis ‘mingling’.

amphioxus /amfksəs/ n. a small lancelet which is caught for food in parts of Asia.

<INFO> Genus Branchiostoma (formerly Amphioxus), family Branchiostomidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from AMPHI- + Greek oxus ‘sharp’.

amphipathic /amfpaθk/ (also amphiphilic /amfflk/) adj. [BIOCHEMISTRY] (of a molecule, especially a protein) having both hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from AMPHI- + Greek pathikos (from pathos ‘experience’).

amphipod /amfpd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a crustacean of the chiefly marine order Amphipoda.

Amphipoda /amfpədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of chiefly marine crustaceans with a laterally compressed body and a large number of leg-like appendages.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from AMPHI- ‘of both kinds’ (because some legs are specialized for swimming and some for feeding) + Greek pous, pod- ‘foot’.

amphiprostyle /amfprəstl/ adj. (of a classical building) having a portico at each end but not at the sides.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: via Latin from Greek amphiprostulos, from amphi- ‘both, on both sides’ + prostulos ‘having pillars in front’ (see PROSTYLE).

amphisbaena /amfsbinə/ n. a mythical serpent with a head at each end.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek amphisbaina, from amphis ‘both ways’ + bainein ‘go’.

Amphisbaenia /amfsbinə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a group of reptiles which comprises the worm lizards.

<INFO> Suborder Amphisbaenia, order Squamata.

<DERIVATIVES> amphisbaenian n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek amphisbaina, from amphis ‘both’ + bainein ‘go, walk’.

amphitheatre (US amphitheater) n. (especially in Greek and Roman architecture) an open, circular or oval building with a central space for the presentation of dramatic or sporting events surrounded by tiers of seats for spectators.

- a semicircular seating gallery in a theatre.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek amphitheatron, from amphi ‘on both sides’ + theatron (see THEATRE).

Amphitrite /amftrti/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a sea goddess, wife of Poseidon and mother of Triton.

amphiuma /amfjumə/ n. a fully aquatic eel-like amphibian with very small limbs, occurring in stagnant water and swamps in the south-eastern US.

<INFO> Family Amphiumidae and genus Amphiuma: three species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, probably formed irregularly from AMPHI- ‘both’ + Greek pneuma ‘breath’.

amphora /amf(ə)rə/ n. (pl. amphorae /-ri/ or amphoras) a tall ancient Greek or Roman jar or jug with two handles and a narrow neck.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek amphoreus, or from French amphore.

amphoteric /amfətεrk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of a compound, especially a metal oxide or hydroxide) able to react both as a base and as an acid.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek amphoteros, comparative of amphō ‘both’, + -IC.

ampicillin /ampsln/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a semi-synthetic form of penicillin used to treat infections of the urinary and respiratory tracts.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of AMINO and a contraction of PENICILLIN.

ample adj. (ampler, amplest) enough or more than enough; plentiful: there is ample time for discussion | an ample supply of consumer goods.

- large and accommodating: he leaned back in his ample chair.

- (of a person's figure) full or broad: she stood with her hands on her ample hips.

<DERIVATIVES> ampleness n. amply adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from Latin amplus ‘large, capacious, abundant’.

amplexus /amplεksəs/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] the mating position of frogs and toads, in which the male clasps the female about the back.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Latin, ‘an embrace’.

amplifier n. an electronic device for increasing the amplitude of electrical signals, used chiefly in sound reproduction.

- a device of this kind combined with a loudspeaker, used to amplify electric guitars and other musical instruments.

amplify v. (amplifies, amplifying, amplified) [with obj.] 1 increase the volume of (sound), especially using an amplifier: (as adj. amplified) amplified pop music.

- increase the amplitude of (an electrical signal or other oscillation).

- make (something) more marked or intense: urban policy initiatives amplified social polarization.

2 enlarge upon or add detail to (a story or statement): the notes amplify information contained in the statement.

3 [GENETICS] make multiple copies of (a gene or DNA sequence).

<DERIVATIVES> amplification n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘increase, augment’): from Old French amplifier, from Latin amplificare, from amplus ‘large, abundant’.

amplitude n. [mass noun] 1 [PHYSICS] the maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from the position of equilibrium.

- the maximum difference of an alternating electric current or potential from the average value.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the angular distance of a celestial object from the true east or west point of the horizon at rising or setting.

3 breadth, range, or magnitude: the amplitude of the crime of manslaughter lies beneath murder.

4 [MATHEMATICS] the angle between the real axis of an Argand diagram and a vector representing a complex number.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the senses ‘physical extent’ and ‘grandeur’): from Latin amplitudo, from amplus ‘large, abundant’.

amplitude modulation (abbr.: AM) n. [mass noun] the modulation of a wave by varying its amplitude, used especially as a means of broadcasting an audio signal by combining it with a radio carrier wave. Often contrasted with FREQUENCY MODULATION.

ampoule /ampul/ (US also ampul or ampule /ampjul/) n. a small sealed glass capsule containing a liquid, especially a measured quantity ready for injecting.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, from Latin ampulla (see AMPULLA).

ampulla /amplə/ n. (pl. ampullae /-li/) 1 a roughly spherical Roman flask with two handles.

- a flask for sacred uses such as holding the oil for anointing the sovereign at a coronation.

2 [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] a cavity, or the dilated end of a vessel, shaped like a Roman ampulla.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, diminutive of ampora, variant of amphora (see AMPHORA).

amputate /ampjtet/ v. [with obj.] cut off (a limb) by surgical operation: surgeons had to amputate her left hand.

<DERIVATIVES> amputation n. amputator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin amputat- ‘lopped off’, from amputare, from am- (for amb- ‘about’) + putare ‘to prune’.

amputee n. a person who has had a limb amputated.

AMRAAM /amram/ abbr. advanced medium range air-to-air missile.

amrit /mrt/ n. [mass noun] a syrup considered by Sikhs to be divine, and which they drink at religious observances including baptism.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit amta ‘immortal’.

Amritsar /mrtsə/ a city in the state of Punjab in NW India; pop. 975,700 (2001). It became the centre of the Sikh faith and the site of its holiest temple, the Golden Temple. It was the scene of a riot in 1919, in which 400 people were killed by British troops.

Amsterdam /amstədam amstədam/ the capital and largest city of the Netherlands; pop. 719,500 (est. 2002). It is built on some ninety islands separated by canals. Although Amsterdam is the capital, the country's seat of government and administrative centre is at The Hague.

AMT abbr. (in the US) alternative minimum tax, introduced to prevent companies and individuals using deductions and credits to pay no tax.

amtrac /amtrak/ (also amtrak) n. US an amphibious tracked vehicle used for landing assault troops on a shore.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: blend of AMPHIBIOUS and TRACTOR.

Amtrak /amtrak/ TRADEMARK a federal passenger railway service in the US, operated by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.

amu abbr. atomic mass unit.

Amu Darya /αmu dαrə/ a river of central Asia, rising in the Pamirs and flowing 2,400 km (1,500 miles) into the Aral Sea. In classical times it was known as the Oxus.

amulet /amjlt/ n. an ornament or small piece of jewellery thought to give protection against evil, danger, or disease.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin amuletum, of unknown origin.

Amun /amən/ (also Amon) [EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY] a supreme god of the ancient Egyptians, identified with the sun god Ra, and in Greek and Roman times with Zeus and Jupiter (under the name Ammon).

Amundsen /αmnds(ə)n/ Roald (1872–1928), Norwegian explorer. Amundsen was the first to navigate the North-West Passage (1903–6), during which expedition he located the site of the magnetic north pole. In 1911 he became the first to reach the South Pole.

Amur /əmə/ a river of NE Asia, forming for the greater part of its length the boundary between Russia and China. Its length is about 4,350 km (2,737 miles). Chinese name HEILONG.

amuse v. [with obj.] 1 cause (someone) to find something funny: he made faces to amuse her | (as adj. amused) people looked on with amused curiosity.

2 provide interesting and enjoyable occupation for (someone); entertain: they amused themselves digging through an old encyclopedia.

<DERIVATIVES> amusedly adv.

■ amuse (sense 1)

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘delude, deceive’): from Old French amuser ‘entertain, deceive’, from a- (expressing causal effect) + muser ‘stare stupidly’. Current senses date from the mid 17th century.

amuse-bouche /əmjuzbu -muz-/ n. (pl. amuse-bouches or same)

■ another term for AMUSE-GUEULE.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘amuse mouth’.

amuse-gueule /əmjuzəl/ n. (pl. amuse-gueules or same) a small savoury item of food served as an appetizer before a meal.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘amuse mouth’.

amusement n. [mass noun] 1 the state or experience of finding something funny: we looked with amusement at our horoscopes.

2 the provision or enjoyment of entertainment: an evening's amusement.

- [count noun] something that causes laughter or provides entertainment: she was like an adult planning amusements for a child.

3 [count noun] BRITISH a roundabout, game machine, etc. for providing entertainment at a fairground or resort.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘musing, diversion of the attention’): from French, from the verb amuser (see AMUSE).

amusement arcade n. BRITISH an indoor area containing coin-operated game machines.

amusement park n. a large outdoor area with fairground rides, shows, and other entertainments.

amusing adj. causing laughter and providing entertainment: such a likeable, amusing man!

<DERIVATIVES> amusingly adv.

amygdala /əmdələ/ n. (pl. amygdalae /əmdəli/) [ANATOMY] a roughly almond-shaped mass of grey matter deep inside each cerebral hemisphere, associated with the sense of smell.

<ORIGIN> Late Middle English: via Latin from Greek amugdalē ‘almond’.

amygdale /əmdel/ n. [GEOLOGY] a vesicle in an igneous rock, containing secondary minerals.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from Latin amygdala (see AMYGDALA).

amygdalin /əmd(ə)ln/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a bitter crystalline compound found in bitter almonds and the stones of peaches, apricots, and other fruit.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin amygdala ‘almond’ + -IN^1.

amygdaloid /əmdəld/ adj. TECHNICAL shaped like an almond.

■ n. (also amygdaloid nucleus) [ANATOMY] another term for AMYGDALA.

amygdaloidal adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or containing amygdales.

amyl /eml aml/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the straight-chain pentyl radical –C_5H_11.

- [mass noun] INFORMAL short for AMYL NITRITE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin amylum ‘starch’ + -YL.

amylase /amlez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme, found chiefly in saliva and pancreatic fluid, that converts starch and glycogen into simple sugars.

amyl nitrate n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless synthetic liquid used as an additive in diesel fuel to improve its ignition properties.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_5H_11NO_3.

<USAGE> Amyl nitrate and amyl nitrite are distinct substances, but amyl nitrate is often mistakenly used to refer to the street drug, which is correctly called amyl nitrite.

amyl nitrite n. [mass noun] a yellowish volatile synthetic liquid used medicinally as a vasodilator. It is rapidly absorbed by the body on inhalation, and is sometimes used for its stimulatory effects.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_5H_11NO_2.

amyloid /amld/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a starch-like protein which is deposited in the liver, kidneys, spleen, or other tissues in certain diseases.

■ another term for AMYLOIDOSIS.

amyloidosis /amldəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE deposition of amyloid in the body.

amylopectin /amləpεktn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] the non-crystallizable form of starch, consisting of branched polysaccharide chains.

amylose /amləs amləz/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] the crystallizable form of starch, consisting of long unbranched polysaccharide chains.

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis n. another term for LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE.

amyotrophy /amtrəfi/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE muscular atrophy.

<DERIVATIVES> amyotrophic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from A-1 ‘not’ + Greek mus, muo- ‘muscle’ + Greek trophē ‘nourishment’.

Amytal /amt(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a barbiturate drug used as a sedative and a hypnotic.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_11H_18N_2O_3.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from AMYL + -t- (for ease of pronunciation) + -AL.

an determiner the form of the indefinite article (see a^1) used before words beginning with a vowel sound.

<USAGE> There is still some divergence of opinion over the form of the indefinite article to use preceding certain words beginning with h- when the first syllable is unstressed: ‘a historical document’ or ‘an historical document’; ‘a hotel’ or ‘an hotel’. The form depends on whether the initial h is sounded or not: an was common in the 18th and 19th centuries, because the initial h was commonly not pronounced for these words. In standard modern English the norm is for the h to be pronounced in words like hotel and historical, and therefore the indefinite article a is used; however, the older form, with the silent h and the indefinite article an, is still encountered, especially among older speakers.

an-1 prefix variant spelling of a-1 before a vowel (as in anaemia).

an-2 prefix variant spelling of AD- assimilated before n (as in annihilate, annotate).

an-3 prefix variant spelling of ANA- shortened before a vowel (as in aneurysm).

-an suffix 1 forming adjectives and nouns, especially from:

- names of places: Cuban.

- names of systems: Anglican.

- names of zoological classes or orders: crustacean.

- names of founders: Lutheran.

2 /an/ [CHEMISTRY] forming names of organic compounds, chiefly polysaccharides: dextran.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -anus, -ana, -anum.

ana /αnə/ n. ARCHAIC 1 [treated as plural] anecdotes or literary gossip about a person.

2 [treated as sing.] a collection of a person's memorable sayings.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from -ANA.

ana- (usually an- before a vowel) prefix 1 up: anabatic.

2 back: anamnesis.

3 again: anabiosis.

<ORIGIN> from Greek ana ‘up’.

-ana suffix (forming plural nouns) denoting things associated with a person, place, or field of interest: Americana | Victoriana.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, neuter plural of -anus, adjectival ending.

Anabaptism /anəbaptz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the doctrine that baptism should only be administered to believing adults, held by a radical Protestant sect of the 16th century.

<DERIVATIVES> Anabaptist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek anabaptismos, from ana- ‘over again’ + baptismos ‘baptism’.

anabasis /anabəss/ n. (pl. anabases /-siz/) RARE a military advance into the interior of a country (with reference to that of Cyrus the Younger into Asia in 401 BC, as narrated by Xenophon in his work Anabasis).

<ORIGIN> from Greek, ‘ascent’, from anabainein ‘walk up’, from ana- ‘up’ + bainein ‘go’.

anabatic /anəbatk/ adj. [METEOROLOGY] (of a wind) caused by local upward motion of warm air.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek anabatikos, from anabatēs ‘a person who ascends’, from anabainein ‘walk up’.

anabiosis /anəbəss/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] a temporary state of suspended animation or greatly reduced metabolism.

<DERIVATIVES> anabiotic /-tk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek anabiōsis, from anabioein ‘return to life’.

anabolic /anəblk/ adj. [BIOCHEMISTRY] relating to or promoting anabolism.

anabolic steroid n. a synthetic steroid hormone which resembles testosterone in promoting the growth of muscle. Such hormones are used medicinally to treat some forms of weight loss and (illegally) by some athletes and sports players to enhance physical performance.

anabolism /ənabəlz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] the synthesis of complex molecules in living organisms from simpler ones together with the storage of energy; constructive metabolism.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek anabolē ‘ascent’, from ana- ‘up’ + ballein ‘to throw’.

anabranch /anəbrαn(t)/ n. chiefly AUSTRALIAN a stream that leaves a river and re-enters it further along its course.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ana(stomosing) (present participle of ANASTOMOSE) + BRANCH.

anachronic /anəkrnk/ adj. relating to or involving anachronism.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from ANACHRONISM, on the pattern of pairs such as synchronism, synchronic.

anachronism /ənakrənz(ə)m/ n. a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned: the town is a throwback to medieval times, an anachronism that has survived the passing years.

- [mass noun] the action of attributing something to a period to which it does not belong.

<DERIVATIVES> anachronistic adj. anachronistically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek anakhronismos, from ana- ‘backwards’ + khronos ‘time’.

anaclitic /anəkltk/ adj. [PSYCHIATRY] relating to or characterized by a strong emotional dependence on another or others: anaclitic depression.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Greek anaklitos ‘for reclining’, from anaklinein ‘recline’.

anacoluthon /anəkəluθn -θ(ə)n/ n. (pl. anacolutha /-θə/) a sentence or construction in which the expected grammatical sequence is absent, for example while in the garden, the door banged shut.

<DERIVATIVES> anacoluthic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: via late Latin from Greek anakolouthon, from an- ‘not’ + akolouthos ‘following’.

anaconda /anəkndə/ n. a semiaquatic snake of the boa family which may grow to a great size, native to tropical South America.

<INFO> Genus Eunectes, family Boidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally denoting a kind of Sri Lankan snake): unexplained alteration of Latin anacandaia ‘python’, from Sinhalese henakaňdayā ‘whip snake’, from hena ‘lightning’ + kaňda ‘stem’.

Anacreon /ənakrən/ (c.570–478 BC), Greek lyric poet, best known for his celebrations of love and wine.

<DERIVATIVES> anacreontic adj. & n.

anacronym /ənakrənm/ n. an acronym of which the constituent letters are taken from words that are unfamiliar to most people (e.g. Nicam, scuba).

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from Greek an- ‘without’ + ACRONYM.

anacrusis /anəkruss/ n. (pl. anacruses /-siz/) 1 [PROSODY] one or more unstressed syllables at the beginning of a verse.

2 [MUSIC] one or more unstressed notes before the first bar line of a piece or passage.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek anakrousis ‘prelude’, from ana- ‘up’ + krousis, from krouein ‘to strike’.

anadromous /ənadrəməs/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of a fish such as the salmon) migrating up rivers from the sea to spawn. The opposite of CATADROMOUS.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Greek anadromos (from ana- ‘up’ + dromos ‘running’) + -OUS.

anaemia /ənimə/ (US anemia) n. [mass noun] a condition in which there is a deficiency of red cells or of haemoglobin in the blood, resulting in pallor and weariness.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: via modern Latin from Greek anaimia, from an- ‘without’ + haima ‘blood’.

anaemic (US anemic) adj. suffering from anaemia.

- lacking in colour, spirit, or vitality.

anaerobe /anərəb ənεrəb/ n. [BIOLOGY] a micro-organism that is able to, or can only, live in the absence of oxygen.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AN-1 + AEROBE.

anaerobic adj. [BIOLOGY] relating to or requiring an absence of free oxygen: anaerobic bacteria.

- relating to or denoting exercise which does not improve the efficiency of the body's cardiovascular system in absorbing and transporting oxygen.

<DERIVATIVES> anaerobically adv.

anaesthesia /ansθizə/ (US anesthesia) n. [mass noun] insensitivity to pain, especially as artificially induced by the administration of gases or the injection of drugs before surgical operations.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek anaisthēsia, from an- ‘without’ + aisthēsis ‘sensation’.

anaesthesiology /ansθizlədi/ (US anesthesiology) n. [mass noun] the branch of medicine concerned with anaesthesia and anaesthetics.

<DERIVATIVES> anaesthesiologist n.

anaesthetic /ansθεtk/ (US anesthetic) n. 1 a substance that induces insensitivity to pain.

2 (anaesthetics) [treated as sing.] the study or practice of anaesthesia.

■ adj. inducing or relating to insensitivity to pain.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek anaisthētos ‘insensible’, related to anaisthēsia (see ANAESTHESIA), + -IC.

anaesthetist /ənisθətst/ (US anesthetist) n. a medical specialist who administers anaesthetics.

anaesthetize /ənisθətz/ (also anaesthetise, US anesthetize) v. [with obj.] administer an anaesthetic to (a patient).

- deprive of feeling or awareness: the feeling of numb unreality persisted and anaesthetized me.

<DERIVATIVES> anaesthetization n.

anagen /anəd(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the growing phase of a hair follicle. Often contrasted with TELOGEN.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from ANA- + -GEN.

anagenesis /anədεnss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] species formation without branching of the evolutionary line of descent.

<DERIVATIVES> anagenetic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ANA- and GENESIS.

anaglyph /anəlf/ n. 1 [PHOTOGRAPHY] a stereoscopic photograph with the two images superimposed and printed in different colours, usually red and green, producing a stereo effect when viewed with appropriate filters over each eye.

2 an object, such as a cameo, embossed or carved in low relief.

<DERIVATIVES> anaglyphic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from Greek anagluphē, from ana- ‘up’ + gluphē (from gluphein ‘carve’).

■ Sense 1 dates from the late 19th century.

Anaglypta /anəlptə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a type of thick embossed wallpaper, designed to be painted over.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin anaglypta ‘work in low relief’.

anagram /anəram/ n. a word, phrase, or name formed by rearranging the letters of another, such as spar, formed from rasp.

<DERIVATIVES> anagrammatic adj. anagrammatical adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French anagramme or modern Latin anagramma, from Greek ana- ‘back, anew’ + gramma ‘letter’.

anagrammatize /anəramətz/ (also anagrammatise) v. [with obj.] make an anagram of (a word, phrase, or name).

<DERIVATIVES> anagrammatization n.

Anaheim /anəhm/ a city in California, on the SE side of the Los Angeles conurbation; pop. 328,014 (2000). It is the site of the amusement park Disneyland.

anal /en(ə)l/ adj. relating to or situated near the anus.

- [PSYCHOANALYSIS] (in Freudian theory) relating to or denoting a stage of infantile psychosexual development in which defecation is the major source of sensuous pleasure and the anus forms the centre of self-awareness.

- INFORMAL anal-retentive: he's anal about things like that.

<DERIVATIVES> anally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin analis, from Latin anus (see ANUS).

analects /anəlεkts/ (also analecta /anəlεktə/) plural n. a collection of short literary or philosophical extracts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek analekta ‘things gathered up’, from analegein ‘pick up’, from ana- ‘up’ + legein ‘gather’.

analeptic /anəlεptk/ MEDICINE adj. (chiefly of a drug) tending to restore a person's health or strength; restorative.

■ n. a restorative drug.

- a drug that stimulates the central nervous system.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek analēptikos ‘restorative’.

anal fin n. [ZOOLOGY] an unpaired fin located on the underside of a fish posterior to the anus.

analgesia /an(ə)ldizə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the inability to feel pain.

- medication that acts to relieve pain.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek analgēsia ‘painlessness’, from an- ‘not’ + algein ‘feel pain’.

analgesic /an(ə)ldizk -sk/ MEDICINE adj. (of a drug) acting to relieve pain.

■ n. an analgesic drug.

analogize /ənalədz/ (also analogise) v. [with obj.] make a comparison of (something) with something else to assist understanding.

analogous /ənaləəs/ adj. comparable in certain respects, typically in a way which makes clearer the nature of the things compared: they saw the relationship between a ruler and his subjects as analogous to that of father and children.

- [BIOLOGY] (of organs) performing a similar function but having a different evolutionary origin, such as the wings of insects and birds. Often contrasted with HOMOLOGOUS.

<DERIVATIVES> analogously adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via Latin from Greek analogos ‘proportionate’ + -OUS.

analogue /anəl/ (US also analog) n. a person or thing seen as comparable to another: an interior analogue of the exterior world.

- [CHEMISTRY] a compound with a molecular structure closely similar to that of another.

■ adj. relating to or using signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity such as spatial position, voltage, etc. Often contrasted with digital (sense 1).

- (of a clock or watch) showing the time by means of hands or a pointer rather than displayed digits.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Greek analogon, neuter of analogos ‘proportionate’.

analogue to digital converter n. a device for converting analogue signals to digital form.

analogy /ənalədi/ n. (pl. analogies) a comparison between one thing and another, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification: an analogy between the workings of nature and those of human societies | [mass noun] he interprets logical functions by analogy with machines.

- a correspondence or partial similarity.

- a thing which is comparable to something else in significant respects.

- [mass noun] [LOGIC] a process of arguing from similarity in known respects to similarity in other respects.

- [mass noun] [LINGUISTICS] a process by which new words and inflections are created on the basis of regularities in the form of existing ones.

- [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the resemblance of function between organs that have a different evolutionary origin.

<DERIVATIVES> analogic adj. analogical adj. analogically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘appropriateness, correspondence’): from French analogie, Latin analogia ‘proportion’, from Greek, from analogos ‘proportionate’.

analphabetic adj. 1 representing sounds by composite signs rather than by single letters or symbols.

2 completely illiterate.

anal-retentive [PSYCHOANALYSIS] adj. excessively orderly and fussy (supposedly owing to conflict over toilet-training in infancy).

■ n. a person who is excessively orderly and fussy.

<DERIVATIVES> anal retention n. anal retentiveness n.

anal-sadistic adj. [PSYCHIATRY] displaying abnormal aggressive and destructive tendencies supposedly caused by fixation at the anal stage of development.

analysand /ənalzand/ n. a person undergoing psychoanalysis.

analyse (US analyze) v. [with obj.] 1 examine (something) methodically and in detail, typically in order to explain and interpret it: we need to analyse our results more clearly.

- discover or reveal (something) through close examination: [with clause] he tried to analyse exactly what was going on.

- identify and measure the chemical constituents of (a substance or specimen).

- [GRAMMAR] resolve (a sentence) into its grammatical elements; parse.

2 psychoanalyse (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> analysable adj. analyser n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: influenced by French analyser, from medieval Latin analysis (see ANALYSIS).

analysis /ənalss/ n. (pl. analyses /-siz/) 1 [mass noun] detailed examination of the elements or structure of something: statistical analysis | [count noun] an analysis of popular culture.

- the process of separating something into its constituent elements. Often contrasted with SYNTHESIS.

- the identification and measurement of the chemical constituents of a substance or specimen.

- [MATHEMATICS] the part of mathematics concerned with the theory of functions and the use of limits, continuity, and the operations of calculus.

2 short for PSYCHOANALYSIS.

<PHRASES>

□ in the final (or last) analysis when everything has been considered (used to suggest that a statement expresses the basic truth about a complex situation): in the final analysis it is a question of political history.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via medieval Latin from Greek analusis, from analuein ‘unloose’, from ana- ‘up’ + luein ‘loosen’.

analyst n. a person who conducts analysis.

- a psychoanalyst.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French analyste, from the verb analyser (see ANALYSE).

analytic adj.

■ another term for ANALYTICAL.

- [LOGIC] true by virtue of the meaning of the words or concepts used to express it, so that its denial would be a self-contradiction. Compare with SYNTHETIC.

- [LINGUISTICS] (of a language, e.g. Chinese and English) tending not to alter the form of its words but to use word order to express grammatical structure. Contrasted with SYNTHETIC and AGGLUTINATIVE.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via Latin from Greek analutikos, from analuein ‘unloose’.

analytical adj. relating to or using analysis or logical reasoning.

<DERIVATIVES> analytically adv.

analytical geometry n. [mass noun] geometry using coordinates.

analytical philosophy (also analytic philosophy) n. [mass noun] a method of approaching philosophical problems through analysis of the terms in which they are expressed, associated with Anglo-American philosophy of the early 20th century.

analytical psychology n. [mass noun] the psychoanalytical system of psychology developed and practised by Carl Gustav Jung.

anamnesis /anəmniss/ n. (pl. anamneses /-siz/) [mass noun] 1 recollection, especially of a supposed previous existence.

2 [count noun] MEDICINE a patient's account of their medical history.

3 [CHRISTIAN CHURCH] the part of the Eucharist in which the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ are recalled.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek anamnēsis ‘remembrance’.

anamnestic /anəmnεstk/ adj. MEDICINE denoting an enhanced reaction of the body's immune system to an antigen which is related to one previously encountered.

anamorphosis /anəmfəss/ n. (pl. anamorphoses /anəmfəsiz/) a distorted projection or drawing which appears normal when viewed from a particular point or with a suitable mirror or lens.

- [mass noun] the process by which such images are produced.

<DERIVATIVES> anamorphic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek anamorphōsis ‘transformation’, from ana- ‘back, again’ + morphosis ‘a shaping’ (from morphoun ‘to shape’, from morphē ‘shape, form’).

ananda /αnndə/ n. [mass noun] (in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism) extreme happiness, one of the highest states of being.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit ānanda ‘blessedness, bliss’.

Anangu /αnαu/ n. (pl. same) AUSTRALIAN an Aborigine, especially one from central Australia.

<ORIGIN> from Western Desert (an Aboriginal language), literally ‘person’.

Ananias /anənəs/ two figures in the New Testament, the husband of Sapphira, struck dead because he lied (Acts 5), and the Jewish high priest before whom St Paul was brought (Acts 23).

anapaest /anəpist -pεst/ (US anapest) n. [PROSODY] a metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable.

<DERIVATIVES> anapaestic /-pistk -pεstk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek anapaistos ‘reversed’, from ana- ‘back’ + paiein ‘strike’ (because it is the reverse of a dactyl).

anaphase /anəfez/ n. [mass noun] [GENETICS] the third stage of cell division, between metaphase and telophase, during which the chromosomes move away from one another to opposite poles of the spindle.

anaphor /anəfə -f/ n. [GRAMMAR] a word or phrase that refers back to an earlier word or phrase (e.g. in my cousin said she was coming, she is used as an anaphor for my cousin).

<ORIGIN> 1970s: back-formation from ANAPHORA.

anaphora /ənaf(ə)rə/ n. [mass noun] 1 [GRAMMAR] the use of a word referring back to a word used earlier in a text or conversation, to avoid repetition, for example the pronouns he, she, it, and they and the verb do in I like it and so do they. Compare with CATAPHORA.

2 [RHETORIC] the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

3 [CHRISTIAN CHURCH] the part of the Eucharist which contains the consecration, anamnesis, and communion.

<DERIVATIVES> anaphoric /anəfrk/ adj. anaphorically /anəfrk(ə)l/ adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century:

■ sense 1, sense 2 via Latin from Greek, ‘repetition’, from ana- ‘back’ + pherein ‘to bear’;

■ sense 3 from late Greek.

anaphrodisiac /ənafrədzak/ MEDICINE adj. (chiefly of a drug) tending to reduce sexual desire.

■ n. an anaphrodisiac drug.

anaphylactic /anəflaktk/ adj. MEDICINE relating to or caused by anaphylaxis.

anaphylactic shock n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an extreme, often life-threatening allergic reaction to an antigen to which the body has become hypersensitive.

anaphylaxis /anəflakss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an acute allergic reaction to an antigen (e.g. a bee sting) to which the body has become hypersensitive.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: modern Latin, from Greek ana- ‘again’ + phulaxis ‘guarding’.

anaptyxis /anəptkss/ n. [mass noun] [PHONETICS] the insertion of a vowel between two consonants to aid pronunciation, as in he went thataway.

<DERIVATIVES> anaptyctic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek anaptuxis ‘unfolding’, from ana- ‘back, again’ + ptuxis ‘folding’.

anarch /anαk/ ARCHAIC n. an anarchist.

■ adj. anarchic.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek anarkhos ‘without a chief’ (see ANARCHY).

anarchic adj. with no controlling rules or principles to give order: an anarchic and bitter civil war.

- (of comedy or humour) uncontrolled by convention: his anarchic wit.

<DERIVATIVES> anarchical adj. anarchically adv.

anarchism n. [mass noun] belief in the abolition of all government and the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without recourse to force or compulsion.

- a political force or movement based on belief in anarchism.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek anarkhos ‘without a chief’ (see ANARCHY) + -ISM; later influenced by French anarchisme.

anarchist n. a person who believes in or tries to bring about anarchy.

■ adj. relating to or supporting anarchy or anarchists: an anarchist newspaper.

<DERIVATIVES> anarchistic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek anarkhos ‘without a chief’ (see ANARCHY) + -IST; later influenced by French anarchiste.

anarchy n. [mass noun] 1 a state of disorder due to absence or non-recognition of authority or other controlling systems: he must ensure public order in a country threatened with anarchy.

2 absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual, regarded as a political ideal.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via medieval Latin from Greek anarkhia, from anarkhos, from an- ‘without’ + arkhos ‘chief, ruler’.

Anasazi /anəsαzi/ n. (pl. same or Anasazis) a member of an ancient American Indian people of the south-western US, who flourished between c.200 BC and AD 1500. The earliest phase of their culture is known as the Basket Maker period; the present day Pueblo culture developed from a later stage.

<ORIGIN> from Navajo, ‘ancient one’ or ‘enemy ancestor’.

anastigmat /ənastmat/ n. an anastigmatic lens system.

anastigmatic /anəstmatk/ adj. (of a lens system) constructed so that the astigmatism of each element is cancelled out.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AN-1 ‘not’ + astigmatic (see ASTIGMATISM).

anastomose /ənastəməz/ v. MEDICINE link or be linked by anastomosis.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: coined in French from Greek anastomōsis (see ANASTOMOSIS).

anastomosis /ənastəməss/ n. (pl. anastomoses /-siz/) TECHNICAL a cross-connection between adjacent channels, tubes, fibres, or other parts of a network.

- MEDICINE a connection made surgically between adjacent blood vessels, parts of the intestine, or other channels of the body.

<DERIVATIVES> anastomotic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: modern Latin, from Greek anastomōsis, from anastomoun ‘provide with a mouth’.

anastrophe /ənastrəfi/ n. [mass noun] [RHETORIC] the inversion of the usual order of words or clauses.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Greek anastrophē ‘turning back’, from ana- ‘back’ + strephein ‘to turn’.

anathema /ənaθəmə/ n. 1 [mass noun] something or someone that one vehemently dislikes: racial hatred was anathema to her.

2 a formal curse by a pope or a council of the Church, excommunicating a person or denouncing a doctrine.

- LITERARY a strong curse.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from ecclesiastical Latin, ‘excommunicated person, excommunication’, from Greek anathema ‘thing dedicated’, (later) ‘thing devoted to evil, accursed thing’, from anatithenai ‘to set up’.

anathematize /ənaθəmətz/ (also anathematise) v. [with obj.] curse; condemn: he anathematized them as ‘bloody scroungers’.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French anathématiser, from Latin anathematizare, from Greek anathematizein, from anathema (see ANATHEMA).

Anatolia /anətələ/ the western peninsula of Asia, bounded by the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean, that forms the greater part of Turkey.

Anatolian adj. relating to Anatolia, its inhabitants, or their ancient languages.

■ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Anatolia.

2 [mass noun] an extinct group of ancient languages constituting a branch of the Indo-European language family and including Hittite, Luwian, Lydian, and Lycian.

anatomical adj. relating to bodily structure: anatomical abnormalities.

- relating to the study of anatomy: anatomical lectures.

<DERIVATIVES> anatomic adj. anatomically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin anatomicus, from anatomia (see ANATOMY), + -AL.

anatomist n. an expert in anatomy.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French anatomiste, from a medieval Latin derivative of anatomizare (see ANATOMIZE).

anatomize (also anatomise) v. [with obj.] dissect (a body).

- examine and analyse in detail: successful comedy is notoriously difficult to anatomize.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin anatomizare, from anatomia (see ANATOMY).

anatomy n. (pl. anatomies) 1 [mass noun] the branch of science concerned with the bodily structure of humans, animals, and other living organisms, especially as revealed by dissection and the separation of parts.

- [count noun] the bodily structure of an organism: descriptions of the cat's anatomy and behaviour.

- [count noun] INFORMAL a person's body.

2 a study of the structure or internal workings of something: a detailed anatomy of a society and its institutions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French anatomie or late Latin anatomia, from Greek, from ana- ‘up’ + tomia ‘cutting’ (from temnein ‘to cut’).

Anaxagoras /anaksaərəs/ (c.500–c.428 BC), Greek philosopher, teaching in Athens. He believed that all matter was infinitely divisible and motionless until animated by mind (nous).

Anaximander /anaksmandə/ (c.610–c.545 BC), Greek scientist, who lived at Miletus. He believed the earth to be cylindrical and poised in space, and is reputed to have taught that life began in water and that humans originated from fish.

Anaximenes /anaksmniz/ (fl. 6th century), Greek philosopher and scientist, who lived at Miletus. Anaximenes believed the earth to be flat and shallow, a view of astronomy that was a retrograde step from that of Anaximander.

ANC abbr. African National Congress.

-ance suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting a quality or state or an instance of one: allegiance | extravagance | perseverance.

2 denoting an action: appearance | utterance.

<ORIGIN> from French -ance, from Latin -antia, -entia (from present participial stems -ant-, -ent-).

ancestor n. a person, typically one more remote than a grandparent, from whom one is descended: he could trace his ancestors back to James the First.

- an early type of animal or plant from which others have evolved.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ancestre, from Latin antecessor, from antecedere, from ante ‘before’ + cedere ‘go’.

ancestral adj. of, belonging to, or inherited from an ancestor or ancestors: the family's ancestral home.

<DERIVATIVES> ancestrally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ancestrel, from ancestre (see ANCESTOR).

ancestress n. a female ancestor.

ancestry n. (pl. ancestries) 1 one's family or ethnic descent: he was proud of his Irish ancestry.

- the evolutionary or genetic line of descent of an animal or plant: the ancestry of the rose is extremely complicated.

2 the origin or background of something: the book traces the ancestry of women's poetry.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: alteration of Old French ancesserie, from ancestre (see ANCESTOR).

Anchises /anksiz/ [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the father of the Trojan hero Aeneas.

ancho /antə/ (also ancho chilli) n. (pl. anchos) a large aromatic variety of chilli, used (usually dried) in dishes of Mexican origin or style.

<ORIGIN> from Mexican Spanish (chile) ancho, ‘wide (chilli)’.

anchor n. 1 a heavy object attached to a cable or chain and used to moor a ship to the sea bottom, typically having a metal shank with a pair of curved, barbed flukes at one end.

- (anchors) BRITISH INFORMAL the brakes of a car.

2 a person or thing which provides stability or confidence in an otherwise uncertain situation: the European Community is the economic anchor of the New Europe.

3 [usually as modifier] a large and prestigious department store prominently sited in a new shopping centre: an anchor tenant.

4 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an anchorman or anchorwoman.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 moor (a ship) to the sea bottom with an anchor: the ship was anchored in the lee of the island | [no obj., with adverbial of place] we anchored in the harbour.

- secure firmly in position: the tail is used as a hook with which the fish anchors itself to coral.

- provide with a firm basis or foundation: it is important that policy be anchored to some acceptable theoretical basis.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN present and coordinate (a television or radio programme).

<PHRASES>

□ at anchor (of a ship) moored by means of an anchor.

□ drop anchor (of a ship) let down the anchor and moor.

□ weigh (or raise) anchor (of a ship) take up the anchor when ready to start sailing.

<ORIGIN> Old English ancor, ancra, via Latin from Greek ankura; reinforced in Middle English by Old French ancre. The current form is from anchora, an erroneous Latin spelling. The verb (from Old French ancrer) dates from Middle English.

Anchorage the largest city in Alaska, a seaport on an inlet of the Pacific Ocean; pop. 260,283 (2000).

anchorage n. 1 an area off the coast which is suitable for a ship to anchor.

2 [mass noun] the action of securing something to a base or the state of being secured: the plant needs firm anchorage.

3 HISTORICAL an anchorite's dwelling place.

anchor escapement n. a form of escapement in clocks and watches in which the teeth of the crown wheel or balance wheel act on the pallets by recoil.

anchoress n. HISTORICAL a female anchorite.

anchorite /akərt/ n. HISTORICAL a religious recluse.

<DERIVATIVES> anchoritic adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin anchorita (ecclesiastical Latin anchoreta), from ecclesiastical Greek anakhōrētēs, from anakhōrein ‘retire’, from ana- ‘back’ + khōra, khōr- ‘a place’.

anchorman n. (pl. anchormen) 1 a man who presents and coordinates a live television or radio programme involving other contributors.

- the central or most dependable contributor to something: the anchorman of the Hampshire batting.

2 the member of a relay team who runs the last leg.

anchorwoman n. (pl. anchorwomen) a woman who presents and coordinates a live television or radio programme involving other contributors.

anchoveta /antə()vεtə/ n. an anchovy found off the Pacific coasts of South America, of great commercial importance to Peru.

<INFO> Engraulis ringens, family Engraulidae.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Spanish, diminutive of anchova (see ANCHOVY).

anchovy /antəvi antəvi/ n. (pl. anchovies) a small shoaling fish of commercial importance as a food fish and as bait. It is strongly flavoured and is usually preserved in salt and oil.

<INFO> Genus Engraulis, family Engraulidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish and Portuguese anchova, of unknown origin.

anchusa /əkjuzə antuzə/ n. an Old World plant of the borage family, which is widely cultivated for its bright, typically blue, flowers.

<INFO> Genus Anchusa, family Boraginaceae.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek ankhousa.

ancien régime /sa reim/ French /αsjε Reim/ n. (pl. anciens régimes pronunc. same) a political or social system that has been displaced by another.

- (Ancien Régime) the political and social system in France before the Revolution of 1789.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘old rule’.

ancient^1 adj. belonging to the very distant past and no longer in existence: the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean.

- having been in existence for a very long time: ancient forests.

- HUMOROUS showing or feeling signs of age or wear: an ancient pair of jeans | you make me feel ancient.

■ n. ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS an old man: a solitary ancient in a tweed jacket.

<PHRASES>

□ the Ancient of Days a biblical title for God.

□ the ancients the people of ancient times, especially the Greeks and Romans of classical antiquity.

- the classical Greek and Roman authors.

<DERIVATIVES> ancientness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ancien, based on Latin ante ‘before’.

ancient^2 n. ARCHAIC a standard, flag, or ensign.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: alteration of ENSIGN by association with ancien, an early form of ancient^1.

ancient demesne n. [mass noun] land recorded in Domesday Book as belonging to the Crown.

ancient history n. [mass noun] the history of the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean area and the Near East up to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476.

- INFORMAL something that is already long familiar and no longer new, interesting, or relevant: the New Wave is ancient history now.

<DERIVATIVES> ancient historian n.

ancient lights plural n. [treated as sing.] [LAW] the right of access to light of a property, established by custom and used to prevent the construction of buildings on adjacent property which would obstruct such access.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from lights meaning ‘light from the sky’. In England the sign ‘Ancient Lights’ was often placed on a house, adjacent to a site where a high building might be erected.

anciently adv. long ago: the area was anciently called Dalriada.

ancient monument n. BRITISH an old building or site that is preserved by an official agency.

ancient world n. the region around the Mediterranean and the Near East before the fall of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476.

ancillary /ansləri/ adj. providing necessary support to the primary activities or operation of an organization, system, etc.: ancillary staff.

- in addition to something else, but not as important: paragraph 19 was merely ancillary to paragraph 16.

■ n. (pl. ancillaries) a person whose work provides necessary support to the primary activities of an organization, system, etc.: the employment of specialist teachers and ancillaries.

- something which functions in a supplementary or supporting role.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin ancillaris, from ancilla ‘maidservant’.

ancon /akn -k(ə)n/ n. (pl. ancones /akəniz/) [ARCHITECTURE] 1 a console, typically consisting of two volutes, that supports or appears to support a cornice.

2 each of a pair of projections on either side of a block of stone or other material, used for lifting it.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting the corner or quoin of a wall or rafter): via Latin from Greek ankōn ‘bend, elbow’.

Ancona^1 /akənə/ a port on the Adriatic coast of central Italy, capital of Marche region; pop. 100,402 (2001).

Ancona^2 /ənkənə/ n. a chicken of a breed with black-and-white mottled plumage.

-ancy suffix (forming nouns) denoting a quality or state: buoyancy | expectancy. Compare with -ANCE.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -antia (see also -ENCY).

ancylostomiasis /aklə()stə()məss ans-/ (also ankylostomiasis) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE hookworm infection of the small intestine, often leading to anaemia.

<INFO> The worm is typically Ancylostoma duodenale, class Phasmida.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Ancylostoma (from Greek ankulos ‘crooked’ + stoma ‘mouth’) + -IASIS.

Ancyra /ansrə/ ancient Roman name for ANKARA.

AND abbr. Andorra (international vehicle registration).

and conj. 1 used to connect words of the same part of speech, clauses, or sentences, that are to be taken jointly: bread and butter | they can read and write | a hundred and fifty.

- used to connect two clauses when the second refers to something that happens after the first: he turned round and walked out.

- used to connect two clauses, the second of which refers to something that results from the first: there was a flash flood and by the next morning the town was under water.

- connecting two identical comparatives, to emphasize a progressive change: getting better and better.

- connecting two identical words, implying great duration or great extent: I cried and cried.

- used to connect two identical words to indicate that things of the same name or class have different qualities: all human conduct is determined or caused—but there are causes and causes.

- used to connect two numbers to indicate that they are being added together: six and four makes ten.

- ARCHAIC used to connect two numbers, implying succession: a line of men marching two and two.

2 used to introduce an additional comment or interjection: if it came to a choice—and this was the worst thing—she would turn her back on her parents.

- used to introduce a question in connection with what someone else has just said: ‘I found the letter in her bag.’ ‘And did you steam it open?’.

- used to introduce a statement about a new topic: and now to the dessert.

3 INFORMAL used after some verbs and before another verb to indicate intention, instead of ‘to’: I would try and do what he said. See usage at and below.

■ n. (AND) [ELECTRONICS] a Boolean operator which gives the value one if and only if all the operands are one, and otherwise has a value of zero.

- (also AND gate) a circuit which produces an output signal only when signals are received simultaneously through all input connections.

<PHRASES>

□ and/or either or both of two stated possibilities: audio and/or video components.

<ORIGIN> Old English and, ond, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch en and German und.

<USAGE> 1 It is still widely taught and believed that conjunctions such as and (and also but and because) should not be used to start a sentence, the argument being that a sentence starting with and expresses an incomplete thought and is therefore incorrect. Writers down the centuries from Shakespeare to David Lodge have readily ignored this advice, however, using and to start a sentence, typically for rhetorical effect, as in the following example: What are the government's chances of winning in court? And what are the consequences?
2 A small number of verbs, notably try, come, and go can be followed by and with another verb, as in sentences like we're going to try and explain it to them or why don't you come and see the film? The structures in these verbs correspond to the use of the infinitive to, as in we're going to try to explain it to them or why don't you come to see the film? Since these structures are grammatically odd—for example, the use is normally only idiomatic with the infinitive of the verb and not with other forms (i.e. it is not possible to say I tried and explained it to them)—they are regarded as wrong by some traditionalists. However, these uses are extremely common and can certainly be regarded as part of standard English.
3 For information about whether it is more correct to say both the boys and the girls or both the boys and girls, see usage at both
4 Where items in a list are separated by and, the following verb needs to be in the plural: see usage at or^1.

-and suffix (forming nouns) denoting a person or thing to be treated in a specified way: analysand.

<ORIGIN> from Latin gerundive ending -andus.

Andalusia /andəlusə/ the southernmost region of Spain, bordering on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; capital, Seville. The region was under Moorish rule from 711 to 1492. Spanish name Andalucía /andaluθia -sia/.

Andalusian /andəluzən -sən/ adj. relating to Andalusia or its people or their dialect.

■ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Andalusia.

2 [mass noun] the dialect of Spanish spoken in Andalusia.

3 a light horse of a strong breed from Andalusia.

andalusite /andəlust/ n. [mass noun] a grey, green, brown, or pink aluminosilicate mineral occurring mainly in metamorphic rocks as elongated rhombic prisms, sometimes of gem quality.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from the name of the Spanish region of ANDALUSIA + -ITE^1.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands /andəmən nkəbα/ two groups of islands in the Bay of Bengal, constituting a Union Territory in India; pop. 356,300 (2001); capital, Port Blair.

andante /andante/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) in a moderately slow tempo.

■ n. a movement, passage, or composition marked to be performed andante.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘going’, present participle of andare.

andantino /andantinə/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) lighter than andante, and usually quicker.

■ n. (pl. andantinos) a movement or passage marked to be performed andantino.

<ORIGIN> Italian, diminutive of ANDANTE.

Andean /andiən andən/ adj. relating to the Andes.

■ n. a native or inhabitant of the Andes.

Andersen Hans Christian (1805–75), Danish author. He is famous for his fairy tales, published from 1835, such as ‘The Snow Queen’, ‘The Ugly Duckling’, and ‘The Little Match Girl’. Although rooted in Danish folklore, the stories were also shaped by Andersen's own psychological alienation.

Anderson^1 Carl David (1905–91), American physicist. In 1932 he discovered the positron—the first antiparticle known. Nobel Prize for Physics (1936, shared with Victor Francis Hess).

Anderson^2 Elizabeth Garrett (1836–1917), English physician. She established a dispensary for women and children in London (renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital) and was the first woman elected to the BMA (1873).

Anderson^3 Lindsay (Gordon) (1923–94), English film director, best known for This Sporting Life (1963), If … (1968), and O Lucky Man (1973).

Anderson^4 Marian (1902–93), American operatic contralto. In 1955 she became the first black singer to perform at the New York Metropolitan Opera.

Anderson shelter n. HISTORICAL a small prefabricated air-raid shelter of a type built in the UK during the Second World War.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Sir John Anderson, the Home Secretary in 1939–40 when the shelter was adopted.

Andes /andiz/ a major mountain system running the length of the Pacific coast of South America. Its highest peak is Aconcagua, which rises to a height of 6,960 m (22,834 ft).

andesite /andzt -st/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a dark, fine-grained, brown or greyish intermediate volcanic rock which is a common constituent of lavas in some areas.

<DERIVATIVES> andesitic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after the ANDES mountains, where it is found + -ITE^1.

Andhra Pradesh /αndrə prədε/ a state in SE India, on the Bay of Bengal; capital, Hyderabad.

andiron /andən/ n. a metal stand, typically one of a pair, for supporting wood burning in a fireplace.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French andier, of unknown origin. The ending was altered by association with IRON.

Andorra /andrə/ a small autonomous principality in the southern Pyrenees, between France and Spain; pop. 68,403 (est. 2002); official languages, Catalan and French; capital, Andorra la Vella. Its independence dates from the late 8th century, when Charlemagne is said to have granted the Andorrans self-government for their help in defeating the Moors.

<DERIVATIVES> Andorran adj. & n.

andosol /andəsl/ (also andisol) n. [GEOLOGY] a black or dark brown soil formed from volcanic material, with an A horizon rich in organic material.

andouille /duj/ n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a type of pork sausage, served typically as an hors d'oeuvre.

<ORIGIN> French.

andradite /andrədt/ n. [mass noun] a mineral of the garnet group, containing calcium and iron. It occurs as yellow, green, brown, or black crystals, sometimes of gem quality.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after J. B. de Andrada e Silva (c.1763–1838), Brazilian geologist, + -ITE^1.

Andre /αndre/ Carl (b.1935), American minimalist sculptor. His most famous works consist of ready-made units such as bricks, stacked according to a mathematical system and without adhesives or joints.

Andretti /andrεti/ Mario (Gabriele) (b.1940), Italian-born American motor-racing driver. He won the Formula One world championship in 1978, and also won the Indycar championship four times.

Andrew, Prince Andrew Albert Christian Edward, Duke of York (b.1960), second son of Elizabeth II. He married Sarah Ferguson in 1986 but the couple divorced in 1996; they have two children, Princess Beatrice (b.1988) and Princess Eugenie (b.1990).

Andrew, St an Apostle, the brother of St Peter. The X-shaped cross became associated with his name during the Middle Ages because he is said to have died by crucifixion on such a cross. St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and Russia. Feast day, 30 November.

Andrews^1 Dame Julie (b.1935), English actress and singer; born Julia Elizabeth Wells. She is best known for the films Mary Poppins (1964), for which she won an Oscar, and The Sound of Music (1965).

Andrews^2 Thomas (1813–85), Irish physical chemist. He discovered the critical temperature of carbon dioxide, and showed that ozone is an allotrope of oxygen.

andro- combining form of men; male: androcentric.

<ORIGIN> from Greek anēr, andr- ‘man’.

androcentric /andrə()sεntrk/ adj. focused or centred on men: in the radical feminist view science is sexist and androcentric.

Androcles /andrəkliz/ a runaway slave in a story by Aulus Gellius (2nd century AD) who extracted a thorn from the paw of a lion, which later recognized him and refrained from attacking him when he faced it in the arena.

androcracy /andrkrəsi/ n. (pl. androcracies) a social system ruled or dominated by men.

<DERIVATIVES> androcratic adj.

androecium /andrisəm/ n. (pl. androecia /-sə/) [BOTANY] the stamens of a flower collectively.

<DERIVATIVES> androecial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from ANDRO- + Greek oikion ‘house’.

androgen /andrəd(ə)n/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a male sex hormone, such as testosterone.

<DERIVATIVES> androgenic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from ANDRO- + -GEN.

androgenize /andrdənz/ (also androgenise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. androgenized) treat with or expose to male hormones, typically with the result that male sexual characteristics are produced.

<DERIVATIVES> androgenization n.

androgyne /andrədn/ n. an androgynous individual.

- a hermaphrodite.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek androgunos, from anēr, andr- ‘man’ + gunē ‘woman’.

androgynous /andrdnəs/ adj. partly male and partly female in appearance; of indeterminate sex.

- having the physical characteristics of both sexes; hermaphrodite.

<DERIVATIVES> androgyny n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin androgynus (see ANDROGYNE) + -OUS.

android /andrd/ n. (in science fiction) a robot with a human appearance.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from modern Latin androides, from ANDRO- + -OID.

andrology /andrlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of physiology and medicine which deals with diseases and conditions specific to men.

<DERIVATIVES> andrologist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ANDRO- + -LOGY.

Andromache /andrməki/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the wife of Hector. She became the slave of Neoptolemus (son of Achilles) after the fall of Troy.

Andromeda /andrmdə/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] an Ethiopian princess whose mother Cassiopeia boasted that she herself (or, in some stories, her daughter) was more beautiful than the Nereids. In revenge Poseidon sent a sea monster to ravage the country; to placate him Andromeda was fastened to a rock and exposed to the monster, from which she was rescued by Perseus.

2 [ASTRONOMY] a large northern constellation between Perseus and Pegasus, with few bright stars. It is chiefly notable for the Andromeda Galaxy (or Great Nebula of Andromeda), a conspicuous spiral galaxy probably twice as massive as our own and located two million light years away.

andromeda /andrmdə/ n. a bog rosemary, especially (marsh andromeda) the common bog rosemary.

andropause n. a collection of symptoms, including fatigue and a decrease in libido, experienced by some older men and attributed to a gradual decline in testosterone levels.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from ANDRO-, on the pattern of MENOPAUSE.

Andropov^1 /andrpf/ former name (1984–9) for Rybinsk.

Andropov^2 /andrpf/ Yuri (Vladimirovich) (1914–84), Soviet statesman, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR 1982–4 and President 1983–4. As President he initiated the reform process carried through by Mikhail Gorbachev, his chosen successor.

androstenedione /andrstindaən/ n. [mass noun] an androgenic steroid from which testosterone and certain oestrogens are derived in humans.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from ANDROSTERONE + -ENE + DI-1 + -ONE.

androsterone /andrə()stərən andrstərən/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a relatively inactive male sex hormone produced by metabolism of testosterone.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from ANDRO- + STEROL + -ONE.

-androus combining form [BOTANY] having male organs or stamens of a specified number: polyandrous.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin -andrus (from Greek -andros, from anēr, andr- ‘man’) + -OUS.

-ane^1 suffix variant spelling of -AN, usually with a distinction of sense (such as humane compared with human) but sometimes with no corresponding form in -an (such as mundane).

-ane^2 suffix [CHEMISTRY] forming names of saturated hydrocarbons: methane | propane.

<ORIGIN> on the pattern of words such as -ene, -ine.

anecdotage /ankdətd/ n. [mass noun] 1 anecdotes collectively: a number of reports cannot be dismissed as anecdotage.

2 HUMOROUS old age, especially in someone who is inclined to be garrulous. [<ORIGIN> from a blend of ANECDOTE and DOTAGE.]

anecdotal adj. (of an account) not necessarily true or reliable, because based on personal accounts rather than facts or research: while there was much anecdotal evidence there was little hard fact.

- characterized by or fond of telling anecdotes: her book is anecdotal and chatty.

- (of a painting) depicting small narrative incidents.

<DERIVATIVES> anecdotalist n. anecdotally adv.

anecdote /ankdət/ n. a short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person: he told anecdotes about his job.

- an account regarded as unreliable or hearsay: [mass noun] his wife's death has long been the subject of rumour and anecdote.

- [mass noun] the depiction of a minor narrative incident in a painting.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, or via modern Latin from Greek anekdota ‘things unpublished’, from an- ‘not’ + ekdotos, from ekdidōnai ‘publish’.

anechoic /ankək/ adj. TECHNICAL free from echo: an anechoic chamber.

- (of a coating or material) tending to deaden sound.

anele /ənil/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC anoint (someone), especially as part of the Christian rite of giving extreme unction to the dying.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from an- ‘on’ + archaic elien ‘to oil’ (from Old English ele, from Latin oleum ‘oil’).

anemograph /ənεmərαf/ n. an anemometer which records the speed, duration, and sometimes also the direction of the wind.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek anemos ‘wind’ + -GRAPH.

anemometer /anmmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring the speed of the wind, or of any current of gas.

<DERIVATIVES> anemometric adj. anemometry n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek anemos ‘wind’ + -METER.

anemone /ənεməni/ n. 1 a plant of the buttercup family which typically has brightly coloured flowers and deeply divided leaves.

<INFO> Genus Anemone, family Ranunculaceae: numerous species, including the common Eurasian wood anemone (A. nemorosa).

2 short for SEA ANEMONE.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, said to be from Greek anemōnē ‘windflower’, literally ‘daughter of the wind’, from anemos ‘wind’, thought to be so named because the flowers open only when the wind blows.

anemone fish n. another term for CLOWNFISH.

anemophilous /anmfləs/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a plant) wind-pollinated.

<DERIVATIVES> anemophily n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek anemos ‘wind’ + -philous (see -PHILIA).

anencephalic /anεnsfalk -kεfalk/ MEDICINE adj. having part or all of the cerebral hemispheres and the rear of the skull congenitally absent.

■ n. an anencephalic fetus or infant.

<DERIVATIVES> anencephaly n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek anenkephalos ‘without brain’ + -IC.

anent /ənεnt/ prep. chiefly ARCHAIC or SCOTTISH concerning; about: I'll say a few words anent the letter.

<ORIGIN> Old English on efen ‘in line with, in company with’.

-aneous suffix forming adjectives from Latin words: cutaneous | spontaneous.

<ORIGIN> from the Latin suffix -aneus.

anergia /anədə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] abnormal lack of energy.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek an- ‘without’ + ergon ‘work’.

anergy /anədi/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE absence of the normal immune response to a particular antigen or allergen.

<DERIVATIVES> anergic /ənədik/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German Anergie, from Greek an- ‘not’, on the pattern of Allergie ‘allergy’.

aneroid /anərd/ adj. relating to or denoting a barometer that measures air pressure by the action of the air in deforming the elastic lid of an evacuated box.

■ n. an aneroid barometer.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: coined in French from Greek a- ‘without’ + nēros ‘water’.

aneuploid /anjpld/ adj. [GENETICS] not euploid.

<DERIVATIVES> aneuploidy n.

aneurysm /anjrz(ə)m/ (also aneurism) n. MEDICINE an excessive localized swelling of the wall of an artery.

<DERIVATIVES> aneurysmal adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Greek aneurusma ‘dilatation’, from aneurunein ‘widen out’.

anew adv. chiefly LITERARY in a new or different and typically more positive way: her career had begun anew, with a lucrative Japanese modelling contract.

- once more; again: tears filled her eyes anew.

anfractuous /ənfraktjəs/ adj. RARE sinuous or circuitous.

<DERIVATIVES> anfractuosity n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin anfractuosus, from Latin anfractus ‘a bending’.

angary /aəri/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] the right of a country at war to seize or destroy neutral property out of military necessity, provided that compensation is paid.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French angarie ‘chore, imposition’, from Italian or Latin angaria ‘forced service’, from Greek angareia, from angaros ‘courier’ (being liable to serve as the King's messenger), from Persian.

angel n. 1 a spiritual being believed to act as an attendant, agent, or messenger of God, conventionally represented in human form with wings and a long robe: God sent an angel to talk to Gideon | the Angel of Death.

- an attendant spirit, especially a benevolent one: there was an angel watching over me. See also GUARDIAN ANGEL.

- (in traditional Christian angelology) a being of the lowest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy.

- (Angel)

■ short for HELL'S ANGEL.

2 a person of exemplary conduct or virtue: women were then seen as angels or whores | I know I'm no angel.

- used in similes or comparisons to refer to a person's outstanding beauty, qualities, or abilities: you sang like an angel.

- used in approval to a person who is kind or helpful: be an angel and let us come in.

- used as a term of endearment: I miss you too, angel.

3 INFORMAL a financial backer of a theatrical or business enterprise.

4 a former English coin minted between the reigns of Edward IV and Charles I and bearing the figure of the archangel Michael killing a dragon.

5 (angels) AVIATION SLANG an aircraft's altitude (often used with a numeral indicating thousands of feet): we rendezvous at angels nine.

6 INFORMAL an unexplained radar echo.

<PHRASES>

□ the angel in the house chiefly IRONIC a woman who is completely devoted to her husband and family. [<ORIGIN> phrase from a poem by Coventry Patmore.]

□ on the side of the angels on the side of what is right: we're not in the business of polluting the environment, we're on the side of the angels.

<ORIGIN> Old English engel, ultimately via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek angelos ‘messenger’; superseded in Middle English by forms from Old French angele.

angel cake (NORTH AMERICAN also angel food cake) n. a very light, pale sponge cake made of flour, egg whites, and no fat, typically baked in a ring shape and covered with soft icing.

angel dust n. [mass noun] INFORMAL 1 the hallucinogenic drug phencyclidine hydrochloride.

2 another term for CLENBUTEROL.

Angeleno /andəlinə/ (also Los Angeleno, Angelino) n. (pl. Angelenos) a native or inhabitant of Los Angeles: [as modifier] Angeleno sports fans.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from American Spanish.

Angel Falls a waterfall in the Guiana Highlands of SE Venezuela. It is the highest waterfall in the world, with an uninterrupted descent of 978 m (3,210 ft). The falls were discovered in 1935 by the American aviator and prospector James Angel (c.1899–1956).

angelfish n. (pl. same or angelfishes) any of a number of laterally compressed deep-bodied fishes with extended dorsal and anal fins, typically brightly coloured or boldly striped:

<INFO>

- a freshwater fish native to the Amazon basin (genus Pterophyllum, family Cichlidae), in particular P. scalare.

- a marine or reef-dwelling fish (several genera in the family Chaetodontidae).

- another term for batfish (sense 2)

angel hair (also angel's hair) n. [mass noun] a type of pasta consisting of very fine long strands.

angelic adj. relating to angels: the angelic hosts.

- (of a person) exceptionally beautiful, innocent, or kind: she looks remarkably young and angelic.

<DERIVATIVES> angelical adj. angelically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French angélique, via late Latin from Greek angelikos, from angelos (see ANGEL).

angelica /andεlkə/ n. a tall aromatic plant of the parsley family, with large leaves and yellowish-green flowers. It is used in cooking and herbal medicine.

<INFO> Genus Angelica, family Umbelliferae: many species, especially the cultivated A. archangelica.

- [mass noun] the candied stalk of angelica, used in confectionery and cake decoration.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from medieval Latin (herba) angelica ‘angelic (herb)’, so named because it was believed to be efficacious against poisoning and disease.

angelica tree n. a tree of the ginseng family, with large leaves and black berries.

<INFO> Genus Aralia, family Araliaceae.

Angelic Doctor the nickname of St Thomas Aquinas.

Angelico /andεlkə/ Fra (c.1400–55), Italian painter and Dominican friar; born Guido di Pietro; monastic name Fra Giovanni da Fiesole. Notable works: the frescoes in the convent of San Marco, Florence (c.1438–47).

Angelman syndrome n. [mass noun] a rare congenital disorder characterized by mental disability and a tendency to jerky movement, caused by the absence of certain genes normally present on the copy of chromosome 15 inherited from the mother.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Harold Angelman (1915–96), the British doctor who described the condition.

angelology n. [mass noun] theological doctrine concerning angels.

Angelou /andəlu/ Maya (b.1928), American novelist and poet, acclaimed for the first volume of her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970), which recounts her harrowing experiences as a black child in the American South.

angel shark n. a large, active bottom-dwelling cartilaginous fish with broad wing-like pectoral fins.

<INFO> Family Squatinidae and genus Squatina: several species, in particular S. squatina (also called MONKFISH).

angels on horseback plural n. BRITISH an appetizer consisting of oysters individually wrapped in bacon and served on toast.

angel's trumpet n. a South American shrub or small tree with large pendulous trumpet-shaped flowers, cultivated as an ornamental and in some regions consumed for its narcotic properties.

<INFO> Genus Brugmansia, family Solanaceae; often placed in the genus Datura.

angelus /and(ə)ləs/ n. a Roman Catholic devotion commemorating the Incarnation of Jesus and including the Hail Mary, said at morning, noon, and sunset.

- a ringing of church bells announcing the angelus.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from the Latin phrase Angelus domini ‘the angel of the Lord’, the opening words of the devotion.

angel wings plural n. [treated as sing.] a large white edible piddock (mollusc) which occurs in the Caribbean and on the east coast of North America.

<INFO> Barnea costata, family Pholadidae.

anger n. [mass noun] a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility: the colonel's anger at his daughter's disobedience.

■ v. [with obj.] fill (someone) with anger; provoke anger in: she was angered by his terse answer | [with obj. and clause] he was angered that he had not been told.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse angr ‘grief’, angra ‘vex’. The original use was in the Old Norse senses; current senses date from late Middle English.

Angers /αe/ French /αe/ a town in western France, capital of the former province of Anjou; pop. 151,279 (1999).

Angevin /andəvn/ n. a native, inhabitant, or ruler of Anjou.

- any of the Plantagenet kings of England, especially those who were also counts of Anjou (Henry II, Richard I, and John).

■ adj. relating to Anjou.

- relating to or denoting the Plantagenets.

<ORIGIN> from French, from medieval Latin Andegavinus, from Andegavum ‘Angers’ (see ANGERS).

angina /andnə/ n. [mass noun] 1 (also angina pectoris /pεkt(ə)rs/) a condition marked by severe pain in the chest, often also spreading to the shoulders, arms, and neck, owing to an inadequate blood supply to the heart. [<ORIGIN> Latin pectoris ‘of the chest’.]

2 [with modifier] any of a number of disorders in which there is an intense localized pain: Ludwig's angina.

<DERIVATIVES> anginal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, ‘quinsy’, from Greek ankhonē ‘strangling’.

angio- /andə/ combining form 1 relating to blood vessels: angiography.

2 relating to seed vessels: angiosperm.

<ORIGIN> from Greek angeion ‘vessel’.

angiogenesis n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the development of new blood vessels.

angiogram /andə()ram/ n. an X-ray photograph of blood or lymph vessels, made by angiography.

angiography /andrəfi/ n. [mass noun] radiography of blood or lymph vessels, carried out after introduction of a radiopaque substance.

<DERIVATIVES> angiographic adj. angiographically adv.

angioma /andəmə/ n. (pl. angiomas or angiomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE an abnormal growth produced by the dilatation or new formation of blood vessels.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek angeion ‘vessel’ + -OMA.

angioneurotic adj. MEDICINE (of oedema) marked by swelling and itching of areas of skin, usually allergic in origin.

angioplasty /andə()plasti/ n. (pl. angioplasties) [mass noun] MEDICINE surgical repair or unblocking of a blood vessel, especially a coronary artery.

angiosperm n. [BOTANY] a plant of a large group that comprises those that have flowers and produce seeds enclosed within a carpel, including herbaceous plants, shrubs, grasses, and most trees. Compare with GYMNOSPERM.

<INFO> Subdivision Angiospermae, division Spermatophyta.

<DERIVATIVES> angiospermous /-spəməs/ adj.

angiotensin /andə()tεnsn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein whose presence in the blood promotes aldosterone secretion and tends to raise blood pressure.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ANGIO- + (hyper)tens(ion) + -IN^1.

Angkor /ak/ the capital of the ancient kingdom of Khmer in NW Cambodia, noted for its temples, especially the Angkor Wat (mid 12th century); the site was rediscovered in 1860.

Angle n. a member of a Germanic people, originally inhabitants of what is now Schleswig-Holstein, who came to England in the 5th century AD. The Angles founded kingdoms in Mercia, Northumbria, and East Anglia and gave their name to England and the English.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Anglus, (plural) Angli ‘the people of Angul’, a district of Schleswig (now in northern Germany), so named because of its shape; of Germanic origin, related to Old English angul (see angle^2). Compare with ENGLISH.

angle^1 n. 1 the space (usually measured in degrees) between two intersecting lines or surfaces at or close to the point where they meet.

- a corner, especially an external projection or an internal recess of a part of a building or other structure: a skylight in the angle of the roof.

- a measure of the inclination of one line or surface with respect to another: sloping at an angle of 33° to the horizontal.

- a position from which something is viewed or along which it travels or acts, typically as measured by its inclination from an implicit horizontal or vertical baseline: from this angle Maggie could not see Naomi's face.

2 a particular way of approaching or considering an issue or problem: discussing the problems from every conceivable angle | he always had a fresh angle on life.

3 [often with modifier] [ASTROLOGY] each of the four cardinal points of a chart, from which the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth houses extend anticlockwise respectively.

4 [mass noun] angle iron or a similar constructional material made of another metal.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] direct or incline at an angle: he angled his chair so that he could watch her.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move or be inclined at an angle: still the rain angles down.

- [with obj.] present (information) to reflect a particular view or have a particular focus: angle your answer so that it is relevant to the job for which you are applying.

<PHRASES>

□ at an angle in a direction or at an inclination markedly different from parallel, vertical, or horizontal with respect to an implicit baseline: she wore her beret at an angle | an armchair was drawn up at an angle to his desk.

□ from all angles from every direction or point of view: they come shooting at us from all angles.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin angulus ‘corner’.

angle^2 v. [no obj.] 1 fish with a rod and line.

2 seek something desired by indirectly prompting someone to offer it: Ralph had begun to angle for an invitation.

■ n. ARCHAIC a fish hook.

<ORIGIN> Old English angul (noun); the verb dates from late Middle English.

angle bead n. a strip of metal or wood fixed to a corner before it is plastered to reinforce and protect it.

angle bracket n. 1 either of a pair of marks in the form < >, used to enclose words or figures so as to separate them from their context.

2 another term for bracket (sense 3 of the noun).

angled adj. 1 placed or inclined at an angle to something else: he sent an angled shot into the net.

- (of information) presented so as to reflect a particular view or to have a particular focus.

2 [in combination] having an angle or angles of a specified type or number: a right-angled bend.

angle grinder n. a device with a rotating abrasive disc, used to grind, polish, or cut metal and other materials.

angle iron n. [mass noun] a constructional material consisting of pieces of iron or steel with an L-shaped cross section, able to be bolted together.

- [count noun] a piece of metal of this kind.

angle of attack n. [AERONAUTICS] the angle between the line of the chord of an aerofoil and the relative airflow.

angle of incidence n. [PHYSICS] the angle which an incident line or ray makes with a perpendicular to the surface at the point of incidence.

angle of reflection n. [PHYSICS] the angle made by a reflected ray with a perpendicular to the reflecting surface.

angle of refraction n. [PHYSICS] the angle made by a refracted ray with a perpendicular to the refracting surface.

angle of repose n. the steepest angle at which a sloping surface formed of loose material is stable.

anglepoise n. TRADEMARK a type of desk lamp with a jointed arm and counterbalancing springs that hold it in any position to which it is adjusted: [as modifier] an anglepoise lamp.

angler n. a person who fishes with a rod and line.

■ short for ANGLERFISH.

anglerfish n. (pl. same or anglerfishes) a fish that lures prey with a fleshy lobe on a filament arising from the snout, typically with a very large head and wide mouth, and a small body and tail.

<INFO> Order Lophiiformes: several families. Some rest motionless on the seabed, in particular those of the family Lophiidae; many others are deep-sea fish.

Anglesey /a(ə)lsi/ an island and (since 1996) county of NW Wales, separated from the mainland by the Menai Strait; pop. 66,828 (2001). Welsh name Ynys Môn.

angle shades plural n. [treated as sing.] a European moth with wings patterned in muted green, red, and pink.

<INFO> Phlogophora meticulosa, family Noctuidae.

angle wings plural n. [treated as sing.] a North American butterfly that is related to and resembles the comma.

<INFO> Genus Polygonia, subfamily Nymphalinae, family Nymphalidae: several species.

Anglian /alən/ adj. 1 relating to the ancient Angles.

2 [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a Pleistocene glaciation in Britain, identified with the Elsterian of northern Europe (and perhaps the Mindel of the Alps).

- (as n. the Anglian) the Anglian glaciation or the system of deposits laid down during it.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Angli (see ANGLE) + -IAN.

Anglican adj. relating to or denoting the Church of England or any Church in communion with it.

■ n. a member of any of the Anglican Churches.

<DERIVATIVES> Anglicanism n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin Anglicanus (its adoption suggested by Anglicana ecclesia ‘the English church’ in the Magna Carta), from Latin Anglicus, from Angli (see ANGLE).

Anglican chant n. [mass noun] a method of singing unmetrical psalms and canticles to short harmonized melodies, the first note being extended to accommodate as many syllables as necessary.

Anglican Communion the group of Christian Churches derived from or related to the Church of England, including the Episcopal Church in the US and other national, provincial, and independent Churches. The body's senior bishop is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

anglice /alsi/ adv. FORMAL in English.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin, from Latin Anglus (see ANGLE).

Anglicism n. a word or phrase that is peculiar to British English: this new autobiography is studded with Anglicisms like lorries, plimsolls, and doing a bunk.

- [mass noun] the quality of being typically English or of favouring English things.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin Anglicus, from Angli (see ANGLE) + -ISM.

anglicize (also anglicise) v. [with obj.] make English in form or character: he anglicized his name to Goodman | (as adj. anglicized) an anglicized form of a Navajo word.

<DERIVATIVES> anglicization n.

angling n. [mass noun] BRITISH the sport or pastime of fishing with a rod and line.

Anglo n. (pl. Anglos) 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a white English-speaking person of British or northern European origin, in particular (in the US) as distinct from a Hispanic American or (in Canada) as distinct from a French-speaker.

- Indian, often OFFENSIVE an Anglo-Indian.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a person selected for a Scottish, Irish, or Welsh national sports team who plays for an English club.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: independent usage of ANGLO-.

Anglo- combining form English: anglophone.

- of English origin: Anglo-Saxon.

- English and …: Anglo-Latin.

- British and …: Anglo-Indian.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin Anglus ‘English’.

Anglo-Boer War S. African either of the Boer Wars, but typically the second. See BOER WARS.

Anglo-Catholic adj. relating to Anglo-Catholicism.

■ n. a member of an Anglo-Catholic Church.

Anglo-Catholicism n. [mass noun] a tradition within the Anglican Church which is close to Catholicism in its doctrine and worship and is broadly identified with High Church Anglicanism. As a movement, Anglo-Catholicism grew out of the Oxford Movement of the 1830s and 1840s.

Anglo-Celt n. a person of British or Irish descent (used chiefly outside Britain and Ireland).

<DERIVATIVES> Anglo-Celtic adj.

Anglocentric adj. centred on or considered in terms of England or Britain: an Anglocentric, white view of Australian history.

Anglo-Indian adj. relating to both Britain and India: Anglo-Indian business cooperation.

- of mixed British and Indian parentage.

- chiefly HISTORICAL of British descent or birth but living or having lived long in India.

■ n. an Anglo-Indian person.

Anglo-Irish adj. relating to both Britain and Ireland (or specifically the Republic of Ireland).

- of English descent but born or resident in Ireland.

- of mixed English and Irish parentage.

Anglo-Irish Agreement an agreement made between Britain and the Republic of Ireland in 1985, admitting the Republic to discussions on Northern Irish affairs and providing for greater cooperation between the security forces in border areas.

Anglo-Irish Treaty an agreement signed in 1921 by representatives of the British government and the provisional Irish Republican government, by which Ireland was partitioned and the Irish Free State created in 1922.

Anglo-Latin n. [mass noun] the form of Latin used in medieval England.

■ adj. relating to Anglo-Latin.

Anglomania n. [mass noun] excessive admiration of English customs.

<DERIVATIVES> Anglomaniac n.

Anglo-Norman French (also Anglo-Norman) n. [mass noun] the variety of Norman French used in England after the Norman Conquest. It remained the language of the English nobility for several centuries.

■ adj. relating to Anglo-Norman French.

Anglo-Nubian n. a goat of a coloured breed with a short glossy coat and lop ears, kept for its rich milk.

Anglophile n. a person who is fond of or greatly admires England or Britain.

<DERIVATIVES> Anglophilia n.

Anglophobe n. a person who greatly hates or fears England or Britain.

<DERIVATIVES> Anglophobia n.

anglophone adj. English-speaking: the population is largely anglophone.

■ n. an English-speaking person.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (as a noun; rare before the 1960s): from ANGLO- + -PHONE, on the pattern of francophone.

Anglo-Saxon adj. relating to or denoting the Germanic inhabitants of England from their arrival in the 5th century up to the Norman Conquest.

- of English descent.

- INFORMAL (of an English word or expression) plain, in particular vulgar: using a lot of good old Anglo-Saxon expletives.

■ n. 1 a Germanic inhabitant of England between the 5th century and the Norman Conquest.

- a person of English descent.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN any white, English-speaking person.

2 [mass noun] the Old English language.

- INFORMAL plain English, in particular vulgar slang.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin Anglo-Saxones (plural), medieval Latin Angli Saxones.

Anglosphere /alə()sfə/ n. (the Anglosphere) the countries where English is the main native language, considered collectively.

Angola /aələ/ a republic on the west coast of southern Africa; pop. 10,593,171 (est. 2002); languages, Portuguese (official), Bantu languages; capital, Luanda.

Angola was a Portuguese possession from the end of the 16th century until it achieved independence in 1975. Independence was followed by years of civil war between the ruling Marxist MPLA and the UNITA movement; this was halted by the signing of a ceasefire in 2002.

<DERIVATIVES> Angolan adj. & n.

Angora /arə/ former name (until 1930) for ANKARA.

angora /arə/ n. [often as modifier] a cat, goat, or rabbit of a long-haired breed: angora rabbits.

- [mass noun] a yarn or fabric made from the hair of the angora goat or rabbit: an angora cardigan.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting a long-haired breed): from the place name ANGORA.

angora wool n. [mass noun] a mixture of sheep's wool and angora rabbit hair.

Angostura /aəstjərə/ former name (until 1846) for Ciudad Bolívar.

angostura /aəstjərə/ (also angostura bark) n. [mass noun] an aromatic bitter bark from certain South American trees, used as a flavouring, and formerly as a tonic and to reduce fever.

<INFO> The trees are Angostura febrifuga and Galipea officinalis, family Rutaceae.

■ short for ANGOSTURA BITTERS.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the place name ANGOSTURA.

Angostura bitters plural n. TRADEMARK a kind of tonic first made in Angostura.

angrez /rez/ INDIAN INFORMAL n. (pl. same) an English person.

■ adj. English.

<ORIGIN> Hindi, ‘Englishman’.

Angrezi /rezi/ INDIAN INFORMAL n. [mass noun] the English language.

■ adj. English.

angry adj. (angrier, angriest) feeling or showing strong annoyance, displeasure, or hostility; full of anger: why are you angry with me? | I'm angry that she didn't call me.

- (of the sea or sky) stormy, turbulent, or threatening: the wild, angry sea.

- (of a wound or sore) red and inflamed.

<DERIVATIVES> angrily adv.

angry white male n. chiefly US a right-wing or anti-liberal white man, especially a working-class one.

angry young man n. a young man dissatisfied with and outspoken against existing social and political structures.

- (Angry Young Men) a number of British playwrights and novelists of the early 1950s whose work was marked by irreverence towards the Establishment and disgust at the survival of class distinctions and privilege. Notable members of the group were John Osborne and Kingsley Amis.

angst /ast/ n. [mass noun] a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general: angst-ridden sixth-formers.

<DERIVATIVES> angsty adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from German, ‘fear’.

Ångström /strəm/ Anders Jonas (1814–1874), Swedish physicist. He proposed a relationship between the emission and absorption spectra of chemical elements, and measured optical wavelengths in the unit later named in his honour.

angstrom /astrəm/ (also Ångström /strəm/, angstrom unit) (abbr.: å) n. a unit of length equal to one hundred-millionth of a centimetre, 10−10 metre, used mainly to express wavelengths and interatomic distances.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after A. J. ÅNGSTRÖM.

Anguilla /awlə/ the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean; pop. 12,446 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), English Creole; capital, The Valley. Formerly a British colony, and briefly united with St Kitts and Nevis (1967), the island is now a self-governing dependency of the UK.

<DERIVATIVES> Anguillan adj. & n.

anguilliform /awlfm/ adj. RARE shaped like or resembling an eel.

- [ZOOLOGY] relating to a large order of fishes (Anguilliformes) that comprises the eels.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin anguilla ‘eel’ + -IFORM.

anguine /awn/ adj. RARE of or resembling a snake.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin anguinus, from anguis ‘snake’.

anguish n. [mass noun] severe mental or physical pain or suffering: she shut her eyes in anguish | Philip gave a cry of anguish.

■ v. [no obj.] be extremely distressed about something: I spent the next two weeks anguishing about whether I'd made the right decision.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin angustia ‘tightness’, (plural) ‘straits, distress’, from angustus ‘narrow’.

anguished adj. experiencing or expressing severe mental or physical pain or suffering: he gave an anguished cry.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: past participle of anguish (verb) in the rare sense ‘distress with severe mental or physical pain’, from Old French anguissier, from ecclesiastical Latin angustiare ‘to distress’, from Latin angustia.

angular /ajlə/ adj. 1 having angles or sharp corners: angular chairs | Adam's angular black handwriting.

- (of a person or part of their body) lean and having a prominent bone structure: her angular face.

2 [PHYSICS] denoting physical properties or quantities measured with reference to or by means of an angle, especially those associated with rotation: angular acceleration.

3 [ASTROLOGY] relating to or denoting any of the houses that begin at the four cardinal points of a chart.

<DERIVATIVES> angularity n. angularly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an astrological term): from Latin angularis, from angulus (see angle^1).

angular diameter n. [ASTRONOMY] the apparent diameter of a planet or other celestial object measured by the angle which it subtends at the point of observation.

angular frequency n. [PHYSICS] the frequency of a steadily recurring phenomenon expressed in radians per second. A frequency in hertz can be converted to an angular frequency by multiplying it by 2π. (Symbol: ω)

angular momentum n. [PHYSICS] the quantity of rotation of a body, which is the product of its moment of inertia and its angular velocity.

angular velocity n. [PHYSICS] the rate of change of angular position of a rotating body.

angulate v. [with obj.] TECHNICAL hold, bend, or distort (a part of the body) so as to form an angle or angles.

- [SKIING] incline (the upper body) sideways and outwards during a turn.

<DERIVATIVES> angulation n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as angulated, used chiefly as a botanical or zoological term): from Latin angulatus, past participle of angulare, from angulus ‘angle’. The skiing term dates from the 1970s.

Angus^1 /aəs/ a council area of NE Scotland; administrative centre, Forfar. It was known from the 16th century until 1928 as Forfarshire, and between 1975 and 1996 was part of Tayside region.

Angus^2 /aəs/ n. short for ABERDEEN ANGUS.

angwantibo /əwntbə/ n. (pl. angwantibos) a small rare nocturnal primate of west central Africa, related to the potto.

<INFO> Arctocebus calabarensis, family Lorisidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Efik.

anharmonic adj. [PHYSICS] relating to or denoting motion that is not simple harmonic.

<DERIVATIVES> anharmonicity n.

anhedonia /anhdənə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] inability to feel pleasure in normally pleasurable activities.

<DERIVATIVES> anhedonic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French anhédonie, from Greek an- ‘without’ + hēdonē ‘pleasure’.

anhedral /anhidr(ə)l -hεd-/ adj. [CRYSTALLOGRAPHY] (of a crystal) having no plane faces.

■ n. [mass noun] [AERONAUTICS] downward inclination of an aircraft's wing. Compare with DIHEDRAL.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (as an adjective): from AN-1 ‘not’ + -hedral (see -HEDRON).

anhinga /anhə/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for darter (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Portuguese, from Tupi áyinga.

Anhui /anhwe/ (also Anhwei) a province in eastern China; capital, Hefei.

anhydride /anhdrd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] the compound obtained by removing the elements of water from a particular acid.

- [usually with modifier] an organic compound containing the group –C(O)OC(O)–, derived from a carboxylic acid.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek anudros (see ANHYDROUS) + -IDE.

anhydrite /anhdrt/ n. [mass noun] a white mineral consisting of anhydrous calcium sulphate. It typically occurs in evaporite deposits.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek anudros (see ANHYDROUS) + -ITE^1.

anhydrous /anhdrəs/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of a substance, especially a crystalline compound) containing no water.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek anudros (from an- ‘without’ + hudōr ‘water’) + -OUS.

ani /αni/ n. (pl. anis) a glossy black long-tailed bird of the cuckoo family, with a large deep bill, found in Central and South America.

<INFO> Genus Crotophaga, family Cuculidae: three species.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Spanish ani, Portuguese anum, from Tupi anũ.

aniline /anlin -ln/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless oily liquid present in coal tar. It is used in the manufacture of dyes, drugs, and plastics, and was the basis of the earliest synthetic dyes.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_5NH_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from anil ‘indigo’ (from which it was originally obtained), via French and Portuguese from Arabic an-nīl (from Sanskrit nīlī, from nīla ‘dark blue’).

aniline dye n. chiefly HISTORICAL a synthetic dye, especially one made from aniline.

anilingus /enləs/ n. [mass noun] sexual stimulation of the anus by the tongue or mouth.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Latin anus ‘anus’ on the pattern of cunnilingus.

anima /anmə/ n. [PSYCHIATRY] 1 (in Jungian psychology) the feminine part of a man's personality. Often contrasted with animus (sense 3).

2 the part of the psyche which is directed inwards, in touch with the subconscious. Often contrasted with PERSONA.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Latin, ‘mind, soul’.

animadversion /anmədvə(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL criticism or censure: her animadversion against science.

- [count noun] a comment or remark, especially a critical one.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, or from Latin animadversio(n-), from the verb animadvertere (see ANIMADVERT).

animadvert /anmədvət/ v. [no obj.] (animadvert on/upon/against) FORMAL pass criticism or censure on; speak out against: we shall be obliged to animadvert most severely upon you in our report.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘pay attention to’): from Latin animadvertere, from animus ‘mind’ + advertere (from ad- ‘towards’ + vertere ‘to turn’).

animal n. a living organism which feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and nervous system and able to respond rapidly to stimuli.

- any such living organism other than a human being: are humans superior to animals, or just different?

- a mammal, as opposed to a bird, reptile, fish, or insect: the snowfall seemed to have chased all birds, animals, and men indoors.

- a person without human attributes or civilizing influences, especially someone who is very cruel, violent, or repulsive: those men have to be animals—what they did to that boy was savage.

- [with adj. or noun modifier] a particular type of person or thing: a regular party animal | I am a political animal.

Animals are generally distinguished from plants by being unable to synthesize organic molecules from inorganic ones, so that they have to feed on plants or on other animals. They are typically able to move about, though this ability is sometimes restricted to a particular stage in the life cycle. The great majority of animals are invertebrates, of which there are some thirty phyla; the vertebrates constitute but a single subphylum.

■ adj. 1 relating to or characteristic of animals: the evolution of animal life | animal welfare.

- of animals as distinct from plants: tissues of animal and vegetable protein.

- characteristic of the physical and instinctive needs of animals; of the flesh rather than the spirit or intellect: a crude surrender to animal lust.

2 [BIOLOGY] relating to or denoting the pole or extremity of an embryo that contains the more active cytoplasm in the early stages of development. The opposite of VEGETAL.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: the noun from Latin animal, based on Latin animalis ‘having breath’ from anima ‘breath’; the adjective via Old French from Latin animalis.

animalcule /anmalkjul/ n. ARCHAIC a microscopic animal.

<DERIVATIVES> animalcular adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from modern Latin animalculum, from animal ‘an animal’ + -CULE.

animalism n. [mass noun] 1 behaviour that is characteristic of animals, particularly in being physical and instinctive.

2 religious worship of animals.

<DERIVATIVES> animalistic adj.

animalist n. an animal liberationist.

animality n. [mass noun] animal nature or character: a pre-human condition of animality.

- physical, instinctive behaviour or qualities: what attracted me to her was her animality.

animalize (also animalise) v. [with obj.] make into or like an animal.

<DERIVATIVES> animalization n.

animal liberation n. [mass noun] the freeing of animals from exploitation and cruel treatment by humans.

<DERIVATIVES> animal liberationist n.

animal magnetism n. [mass noun] 1 a quality of sexual attractiveness: he had an animal magnetism that women found irresistible.

2 HISTORICAL a supposed emanation to which the action of mesmerism was ascribed.

animal rights plural n. the rights of animals to live free from human exploitation and abuse: [as modifier] animal rights activists.

animal spirits plural n. natural exuberance.

animate v. /anmet/ [with obj.] 1 bring to life: Prometheus stole fire from heaven to animate his clay men.

- give inspiration, encouragement, or renewed vigour to: she has animated the government with a sense of political direction.

2 give (a film or character) the appearance of movement using animation techniques.

■ adj. /anmət/ alive or having life: gods in a wide variety of forms, both animate and inanimate.

<DERIVATIVES> animator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin animat- ‘instilled with life’, from the verb animare, from anima ‘life, soul’.

animated adj. 1 full of life or excitement; lively: an animated conversation.

2 (of a film) made using animation techniques: an animated version of the classic fairy tale.

<DERIVATIVES> animatedly adv.

animated stick n. a stick insect of the eastern Australian coast, which is one of the world's longest insects at up to 25 cm.

<INFO> Acrophylla titan, family Phasmatidae, order Phasmida.

animateur /anmətə/ n. a person who enlivens or encourages something, especially a promoter of artistic projects.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: French, from medieval Latin animator.

animatic /anmatk/ n. a preliminary version of a film, produced by shooting successive sections of a storyboard and adding a soundtrack.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from animat(ed) + -IC, or a blend of ANIMATED and SCHEMATIC.

animation n. [mass noun] 1 the state of being full of life or vigour; liveliness: they started talking with animation.

- chiefly ARCHAIC the state of being alive.

2 the technique of photographing successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence.

- (also computer animation) the manipulation of electronic images by means of a computer in order to create moving images.

animato /anmαtə/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) in an animated manner.

■ n. (pl. animatos or animati /anmαti/) a passage marked to be performed animato.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

animatronics /anmətrnks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the technique of making and operating lifelike robots, typically for use in film or other entertainment.

<DERIVATIVES> animatronic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of ANIMATED and ELECTRONICS.

anime /anme anmə/ n. [mass noun] Japanese film and television animation, typically having a science-fiction theme and sometimes including violent or explicitly sexual material. Compare with MANGA.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: Japanese.

animism /anmz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] 1 the attribution of a living soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.

2 the belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe.

<DERIVATIVES> animist n. animistic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin anima ‘life, soul’ + -ISM.

animosity /anmsti/ n. (pl. animosities) [mass noun] strong hostility: he no longer felt any animosity towards her.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘spirit, courage’): from Old French animosite or late Latin animositas, from animosus ‘spirited’, from Latin animus ‘spirit, mind’. The current sense dates from the early 17th cent.

animus /anməs/ n. 1 [mass noun] hostility or ill feeling: the author's animus towards her.

2 [mass noun] motivation to do something: the reformist animus came from within the Party.

3 [PSYCHOANALYSIS] (in Jungian psychology) the masculine part of a woman's personality. Often contrasted with ANIMA.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, ‘spirit, mind’.

anion /anən/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a negatively charged ion, i.e. one that would be attracted to the anode in electrolysis. The opposite of CATION.

<DERIVATIVES> anionic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ANODE or ANA-, + ION.

anise /ans/ n. 1 a Mediterranean plant of the parsley family, cultivated for its aromatic seeds which are used in cooking and herbal medicine.

<INFO> Pimpinella anisum, family Umbelliferae. See also ANISEED.

2 an Asian or American tree or shrub which bears fruit with an aniseed-like odour.

<INFO> Genus Illicium, family Illiciaceae: many species, especially star anise (I. verum), used in Chinese cooking.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin anisum, from Greek anison ‘anise, dill’.

anise cap n. a pale greenish mushroom which has a funnel-shaped cap and smells strongly of aniseed.

<INFO> Clitocybe odora, family Tricholomataceae, class Hymenomycetes.

aniseed n. [mass noun] the seed of the anise, used in cooking and herbal medicine.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ANISE + SEED.

anisette /anzεt/ n. [mass noun] a liqueur flavoured with aniseed.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, diminutive of anis ‘anise’.

anisogamy /ansəmi/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] sexual reproduction by the fusion of dissimilar gametes. Compare with ISOGAMY.

<DERIVATIVES> anisogamous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek anisos ‘unequal’ + -gamy (from gamos ‘marriage’).

Anisoptera /anzptərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a group of insects which comprises the dragonflies. Compare with ZYGOPTERA.

<INFO> Suborder Anisoptera, order Odonata.

<DERIVATIVES> anisopteran n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek anisos ‘unequal’ + pteron ‘wing’.

anisotropic /ansə()trpk/ adj. [PHYSICS] (of an object or substance) having a physical property which has a different value when measured in different directions. An example is wood, which is stronger along the grain than across it. Often contrasted with ISOTROPIC.

- (of a property or phenomenon) varying in magnitude according to the direction of measurement.

<DERIVATIVES> anisotropically adv. anisotropy /-strəpi/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek anisos ‘unequal’ + tropos ‘turn’ + -IC.

Anjou /αu/ French /αu/ a former province of western France, on the Loire. It was an English possession from 1154 until 1204.

Ankara /akərə/ the capital of Turkey since 1923; pop. 3,329,400 (est. 2002). Prominent in Roman times as Ancyra, it later declined in importance until chosen by Kemal Atatürk in 1923 as his seat of government. Former name (until 1930) ANGORA.

ankh /ak/ n. an object or design resembling a cross but having a loop instead of the top arm, used in ancient Egypt as a symbol of life.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Egyptian, literally ‘life, soul’.

ankle n. the joint connecting the foot with the leg.

- the narrow part of the leg between the ankle joint and the calf: her slim ankles | the men are ankle-deep in mud.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial of direction] US INFORMAL walk: we can ankle off to a new locale.

- [with obj.] leave: he ankled the series to do a movie.

2 (usually as n. ankling) flex the ankles while cycling in order to increase pedalling efficiency.

<DERIVATIVES> ankled adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English ancleow, of Germanic origin; superseded in Middle English by forms from Old Norse; related to Dutch enkel and German Enkel, from an Indo-European root shared by angle^1.

ankle-biter n. HUMOROUS, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ a child.

ankle bone n. the chief bone of the ankle joint; the talus.

ankle sock n. a sock that reaches just above the ankle.

anklet n. 1 an ornament worn round an ankle.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an ankle sock.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from ANKLE + -LET, on the pattern of bracelet.

ankus /akəs/ n. INDIAN a goad for elephants.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit akuśa.

ankylosaur /akləs/ n. a heavily built quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaur of the Cretaceous period, armoured with bony plates.

<INFO> Infraorder Ankylosauria, order Ornithischia: several genera, in particular Ankylosaurus.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from modern Latin Ankylosaurus, from Greek ankulos (see ANKYLOSIS) + sauros ‘lizard’.

ankylose /akləz/ v. (be/become ankylosed) MEDICINE (of bones or a joint) be or become stiffened or united by ankylosis.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: back-formation from ANKYLOSIS, on the pattern of words such as anastomose.

ankylosing spondylitis n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a form of spinal arthritis, chiefly affecting young males, that eventually causes ankylosis of vertebral and sacroiliac joints.

ankylosis /akləss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal stiffening and immobility of a joint due to fusion of the bones.

<DERIVATIVES> ankylotic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek ankulōsis, from ankuloun ‘to crook’, from ankulos ‘crooked’.

anlage /anlαə/ n. (pl. anlagen /-(ə)n/ ) [BIOLOGY] the rudimentary basis of a particular organ or other part, especially in an embryo.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, ‘foundation, basis’.

anna /anə/ n. a former monetary unit of India and Pakistan, equal to one sixteenth of a rupee.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi ānā.

Annaba /anəbə/ a port of NE Algeria; pop. 240,100 (est. 2002). The modern town is adjacent to the site of Hippo Regius, a prominent city in Roman Africa and the home and bishopric of St Augustine of Hippo from 396 to 430. Former name Bône.

an-Najaf /an/ another name for NAJAF.

annal /an(ə)l/ n. a record of the events of one year: the annal for 1032.

- a record of one item in a chronicle.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: back-formation from ANNALS.

annalist n. a person who writes annals.

<DERIVATIVES> annalistic adj. annalistically adv.

annals plural n. a record of events year by year: eighth-century Northumberland annals.

- historical records: the annals of the police courts | FIGURATIVE the deed will live forever in the annals of infamy.

- (Annals) used in titles of learned journals: Annals of Neurobiology.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin annales (libri) ‘yearly (books)’, from annus ‘year’.

Annan /anan an(ə)n/ Kofi (Atta) (b.1938), Ghanaian diplomat, Secretary General of the United Nations 1997–2007.

Annapolis /ənapəls/ the state capital of Maryland, on Chesapeake Bay; pop. 35,838 (2000). It is the home of the US Naval Academy.

Annapurna /anəpənə/ a ridge of the Himalayas, in north central Nepal. Its highest peak rises to 8,078 m (26,503 ft).

Anna's hummingbird n. a North American hummingbird which lives chiefly in California. The male has an iridescent rose-red head and throat.

<INFO> Calypte anna, family Trochilidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Anna, the wife of Prince François Massena (c.1795–1863), Duc de Ravoli, who obtained the original specimen.

annates /anets/ plural n. chiefly HISTORICAL a year's revenue of a Roman Catholic see or benefice, paid to the Pope by a bishop or other cleric on his appointment.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French, from medieval Latin annata ‘year's proceeds’, from annus ‘year’.

annatto /ənatə/ (also anatto) n. (pl. annattos) 1 [mass noun] an orange-red dye obtained from the seed coat of a tropical fruit, used for colouring foods.

2 the tropical American tree from which this fruit is obtained.

<INFO> Bixa orellana, family Bixaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Carib.

Anne (1665–1714), queen of England and Scotland (known as Great Britain from 1707) and Ireland 1702–14. The last of the Stuart monarchs, daughter of the Catholic James II (but herself a Protestant), she succeeded her brother-in-law William III to the throne. None of her children survived into adulthood, and by the Act of Settlement (1701) the throne passed to the House of Hanover on her death.

Anne, Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise, the Princess Royal (b.1950), daughter of Elizabeth II. She is a skilled horsewoman (riding for Great Britain in the 1976 Olympics) and is president of Save the Children Fund. Her two children are Peter (b.1977) and Zara Philips (b.1981), by her former husband Captain Mark Philips.

Anne, St traditionally the mother of the Virgin Mary, first mentioned by name in the apocryphal gospel of James (2nd century). She is the patron saint of Brittany and the province of Quebec in Canada. Feast day, 26 July.

anneal /ənil/ v. [with obj.] 1 heat (metal or glass) and allow it to cool slowly, in order to remove internal stresses.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] recombine (DNA) in the double-stranded form.

<DERIVATIVES> annealer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English onlan, from on + lan ‘burn, bake’ from āl ‘fire, burning’. The original sense was ‘set on fire’, hence (in late Middle English) ‘subject to fire, alter by heating’.

annelid /an(ə)ld/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a segmented worm of the phylum Annelida, such as an earthworm or leech.

■ adj. relating to or denoting annelids.

<DERIVATIVES> annelidan n. & adj.

Annelida /ənεldə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large phylum that comprises the segmented worms, which include earthworms, lugworms, ragworms, and leeches.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from French (animaux) annelés ‘ringed (animals)’, from Old French anel ‘a ring’, from Latin anellus, diminutive of anulus ‘a ring’.

Anne of Cleves /klivz/ (1515–57), fourth wife of Henry VIII. Arranged for political purposes, the marriage was dissolved after only six months; Henry, initially deceived by a flattering portrait of Anne by Holbein, took an instant dislike to her.

annex v. /ənεks/ [with obj.] 1 add as an extra or subordinate part, especially to a document: the first ten amendments were annexed to the Constitution in 1791.

- ARCHAIC add or attach as a condition or consequence.

2 add (territory) to one's own territory by appropriation: the left bank of the Rhine was annexed by France in 1797.

■ n. /anεks/ (chiefly BRITISH also annexe) (plural annexes) 1 a building joined to or associated with a main building, providing additional space or accommodation.

2 an addition to a document: an annex to the report.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French annexer, from Latin annectere ‘connect’, from ad- ‘to’ + nectere ‘tie, fasten’.

annexation n. [mass noun] the action of annexing something, especially territory: the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938.

<DERIVATIVES> annexationist n. & adj.

Annigoni /anəni/ Pietro (1910–88), Italian painter. He is famous for his portraits of Queen Elizabeth II (1955, 1970) and President Kennedy (1961).

annihilate /ənlet/ v. [with obj.] 1 destroy utterly; obliterate: a simple bomb of this type could annihilate them all | a crusade to annihilate evil.

- defeat utterly: the stronger force annihilated its opponent virtually without loss.

2 [PHYSICS] convert (a subatomic particle) into radiant energy.

<DERIVATIVES> annihilator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as an adjective meaning ‘destroyed, annulled’): from late Latin annihilatus ‘reduced to nothing’, from the verb annihilare, from ad- ‘to’ + nihil ‘nothing’. The sense ‘destroy utterly’ dates from the mid 16th cent.

annihilation n. [mass noun] 1 complete destruction or obliteration: the threat of global annihilation.

- total defeat: a show of independence is its only hope of avoiding annihilation in next year's elections.

2 [PHYSICS] the conversion of matter into energy, especially the mutual conversion of a particle and an antiparticle into electromagnetic radiation.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin annihilatio(n-), from the verb annihilare (see ANNIHILATE).

anniversary n. (pl. anniversaries) the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year: the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain | the 75th anniversary of the RAF.

- the date on which a couple were married in a previous year: he even forgot our tenth anniversary!

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin anniversarius ‘returning yearly’, from annus ‘year’ + versus ‘turning’.

Annobón /anəbn/ an island of Equatorial Guinea, in the Gulf of Guinea. Former name (1973–9) Pagalu.

Anno Domini /anə dmn/ adv. full form of AD.

■ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL advancing age: since retirement Anno Domini has restricted my activities.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘in the year of the Lord’.

annotate /anətet/ v. [with obj.] add notes to (a text or diagram) giving explanation or comment: (as adj. annotated) an annotated bibliography.

<DERIVATIVES> annotatable adj. annotative adj. annotator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin annotat- ‘marked’, from the verb annotare, from ad- ‘to’ + nota ‘a mark’.

annotation n. a note by way of explanation or comment added to a text or diagram: marginal annotations.

- [mass noun] the action of annotating a text or diagram: annotation of prescribed texts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from Latin annotatio(n-), from the verb annotare (see ANNOTATE).

announce v. [reporting v.] make a formal public statement about a fact, occurrence, or intention: [with clause] the President's office announced that the siege would be lifted | [with obj.] he announced his retirement from international football | [with direct speech] ‘I have a confession to make,’ she announced.

- make known the arrival of (a guest) at a formal social occasion.

- give information about (transport) in a station or airport via a public address system: they were announcing her train.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French annoncer, from Latin annuntiare, from ad- ‘to’ + nuntiare ‘declare, announce’ (from nuntius ‘messenger’).

announcement n. a formal public statement about a fact, occurrence, or intention: the minister was about to make an announcement.

- [mass noun] the action of making an announcement: the announcement of the decision of the European Parliament.

- a notice appearing in a newspaper or public place and announcing something such as a birth, death, or marriage.

- a piece of information given over a public address system.

announcer n. a person who announces something, in particular someone who introduces or gives information about programmes on radio or television.

annoy v. [with obj.] 1 make (someone) a little angry; irritate: the decision really annoyed him . your damned cheerfulness has always annoyed me.

2 ARCHAIC harm or attack repeatedly: a gallant Saxon, who annoyed this Coast.

<DERIVATIVES> annoyer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘be hateful to’): from Old French anoier (verb), anoi (noun), based on Latin in odio in the phrase mihi in odio est ‘it is hateful to me’.

annoyance n. [mass noun] the feeling or state of being annoyed; irritation: there was annoyance at government interference | he turned his charm on Tara, much to Hegarty's annoyance.

- [count noun] a thing that annoys someone; a nuisance.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French anoiance, from anoier (see ANNOY).

annoyed adj. slightly angry; irritated: Kelly was annoyed with him | he was annoyed at being woken up so early. | I got very annoyed watching the film.

<DERIVATIVES> annoyedly adv.

annoying adj. causing irritation or annoyance: annoying habits | unsolicited calls are annoying.

<DERIVATIVES> annoyingly adv. [as submodifier] the car is annoyingly noisy

annual adj. occurring once every year: the sponsored walk became an annual event | an annual report.

- calculated over or covering a period of a year: an annual rate of increase | his basic annual income.

- (of a plant) living only for a year or less, perpetuating itself by seed. Compare with BIENNIAL, PERENNIAL.

■ n. 1 a book or magazine that is published once a year under the same title but with different contents.

2 an annual plant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French annuel, from late Latin annualis, based on Latin annus ‘year’.

annual general meeting n. BRITISH a yearly meeting of the members or shareholders of a club, company, or other organization, especially for holding elections and reporting on the year's events.

annualized (also annualised) adj. (of a rate of interest, inflation, or return on an investment) recalculated as an annual rate.

annually adv. once a year; every year: the prize is awarded annually | sales are increasing by about 17% annually.

annual ring n. a ring in the cross section of the stem or root of a temperate woody plant, produced by one year's growth.

annuitant /ənjut(ə)nt/ n. FORMAL a person who receives an annuity.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from ANNUITY, on the pattern of accountant.

annuity n. (pl. annuities) a fixed sum of money paid to someone each year, typically for the rest of their life.

- a form of insurance or investment entitling the investor to a series of annual sums.

<DERIVATIVES> annuitize (also annuitise) v.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French annuité, from medieval Latin annuitas, from Latin annuus ‘yearly’, from annus ‘year’.

annul /ənl/ v. (annuls, annulling, annulled) [with obj.] declare invalid (an official agreement, decision, or result): the elections were annulled by the general amid renewed protests.

- declare (a marriage) to have had no legal existence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French anuller, from late Latin annullare, from ad- ‘to’ + nullum ‘nothing’.

annular /anjlə/ adj. TECHNICAL ring-shaped.

<DERIVATIVES> annularly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French annulaire or Latin annularis, from anulus, annulus ‘a ring’.

annular eclipse n. an eclipse of the sun in which the edge of the sun remains visible as a bright ring around the moon.

annulate /anjlət/ adj. chiefly [ZOOLOGY] having rings; marked with or formed of rings.

<DERIVATIVES> annulated adj. annulation n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin annulatus, from anulus, annulus ‘a ring’.

annulet /anjlt/ n. 1 [ARCHITECTURE] a small fillet or band encircling a column.

2 [HERALDRY] a charge in the form of a small ring.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘small ring’): from Old French anelet, from Latin anulus, annulus ‘ring’ + -ET^1. The spelling change in the 16th century was due to association with the Latin.

annulment n. [mass noun] the act of annulling something: the applicant sought the annulment of the decision | [count noun] grounds for an annulment.

annulus /anjləs/ n. (pl. annuli /-l -li/) TECHNICAL a ring-shaped object, structure, or region.

- [MATHEMATICS] a plane figure consisting of the area between a pair of concentric circles.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin anulus, annulus.

annunciate /ənnset/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC announce (something).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as a past participle): from medieval Latin annunciat-, variant spelling of Latin annuntiat- ‘announced’, from the verb annuntiare.

annunciation n. 1 (usually the Annunciation) the announcement of the Incarnation by the angel Gabriel to Mary (Luke 1:26–38).

- a Church festival commemorating the Annunciation, held on 25 March (Lady Day).

2 [mass noun] FORMAL or ARCHAIC the announcement of something: the annunciation of a set of rules applying to the relationships between states.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French annonciation, from late Latin annuntiatio(n-), from the verb annuntiare (see ANNUNCIATE).

annunciator n. a bell, light, or other device that provides information on the state or condition of something by indicating which of several electric circuits has been activated.

annus horribilis /anəs hribls/ n. a year of disaster or misfortune.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, suggested by ANNUS MIRABILIS.

annus mirabilis /mrαbls/ n. a remarkable or auspicious year.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, ‘wonderful year’.

anoa /ənəə/ n. (pl. same or anoas) a small deer-like water buffalo, native to Sulawesi.

<INFO> Genus Bubalus, family Bovidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: a local word.

anode /anəd/ n. the positively charged electrode by which the electrons leave an electrical device. The opposite of CATHODE.

- the negatively charged electrode of an electrical device, such as a primary cell, that supplies current.

<DERIVATIVES> anodal adj. anodic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek anodos ‘way up’, from ana ‘up’ + hodos ‘way’.

anodize /anədz/ (also anodise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. anodized) coat (a metal, especially aluminium) with a protective oxide layer by an electrolytic process in which the metal forms the anode.

<DERIVATIVES> anodizer n.

anodyne /anədn/ adj. not likely to cause offence or disagreement and somewhat dull: anodyne music.

■ n. a painkilling drug or medicine.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek anōdunos ‘painless’, from an- ‘without’ + odunē ‘pain’.

anogenital /enədεnt(ə)l/ adj. MEDICINE & [ANATOMY] relating to the anus and genitals.

anoint v. [with obj.] 1 smear or rub with oil, typically as part of a religious ceremony: bodies were anointed after death for burial.

- ceremonially confer divine or holy office upon (a priest or monarch) by smearing or rubbing with oil: [with obj. and complement] Samuel anointed him king.

- nominate or choose (someone) as successor to or leading candidate for a position: (as adj. anointed) his officially anointed heir.

2 (anoint something with) smear or rub something with (any other substance): Kuna Indians anoint the tips of their arrows with poison.

<PHRASES>

□ Anointing of the Sick (in the Roman Catholic Church) the sacramental anointing of the ill or infirm with blessed oil; unction.

□ God's (or the Lord's) anointed a monarch ruling by divine right.

<DERIVATIVES> anointer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French enoint ‘anointed’, past participle of enoindre, from Latin inungere, from in- ‘upon’ + ungere ‘anoint, smear with oil’.

anole /ənəli/ n. a small, mainly arboreal American lizard with a throat fan that (in the male) is typically brightly coloured. Anoles have some ability to change colour.

<INFO> Genus Anolis, family Iguanidae: numerous species.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Carib.

anomalistic /ənməlstk/ adj. 1 of the nature of an anomaly; anomalous: the production is stylistically anomalistic.

2 [ASTRONOMY] relating to the anomaly of a planet.

anomalistic month n. [ASTRONOMY] a month measured between successive perigees of the moon (approximately 27^1/2 days).

anomalistic year n. [ASTRONOMY] a year measured between successive perihelia of the earth (approximately 365^1/4 days).

anomalous /ənm(ə)ləs/ adj. deviating from what is standard, normal, or expected: an anomalous situation | sentences which are grammatically anomalous.

<DERIVATIVES> anomalously adv. anomalousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via late Latin from Greek anōmalos (from an- ‘not’ + homalos ‘even’) + -OUS.

anomaly /ənm(ə)li/ n. (pl. anomalies) 1 something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected: there are a number of anomalies in the present system | [with clause] the apparent anomaly that those who produced the wealth were the poorest | [mass noun] the position abounds in anomaly.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the angular distance of a planet or satellite from its last perihelion or perigee.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek anōmalia, from anōmalos (see ANOMALOUS).

anomia /ənəmə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a form of aphasia in which the patient is unable to recall the names of everyday objects.

<DERIVATIVES> anomic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: formed irregularly from A-1 ‘without, not’ + Latin nomen ‘name’ + -IA^1.

anomie /anəmi/ (also anomy) n. [mass noun] lack of the usual social or ethical standards in an individual or group: the theory that high-rise architecture leads to anomie in the residents.

<DERIVATIVES> anomic /ənmk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from French, from Greek anomia, from anomos ‘lawless’.

anon adv. ARCHAIC or INFORMAL soon; shortly: I'll see you anon.

<ORIGIN> Old English on ān ‘into one’, on āne ‘in one’. The original sense was ‘in or into one state, course, etc.’, which developed into the temporal sense ‘at once’.

anon. abbr. anonymous.

anonym n. 1 an anonymous person or publication.

2 a pseudonym.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French anonyme, from Greek anōnumos (see ANONYMOUS).

anonymity /anənmti/ n. [mass noun] the condition of being anonymous: the official spoke on condition of anonymity.

- lack of outstanding, individual, or unusual features; impersonality: the anonymity of big city life definitely has its advantages.

anonymize (also anonymise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. anonymized) remove identifying particulars or details from (something, especially medical test results) for statistical or other purposes: anonymized testing of routine blood samples.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from ANONYMOUS + -IZE.

anonymous /ənnməs/ adj. (of a person) not identified by name; of unknown name: the donor's wish to remain anonymous | an anonymous phone call.

- having no outstanding, individual, or unusual features; unremarkable or impersonal: his impeccable, slightly anonymous Chelsea flat.

<DERIVATIVES> anonymously adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek anōnumos ‘nameless’ (from an- ‘without’ + onoma ‘name’) + -OUS.

anonymous FTP n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] an implementation of an FTP server that allows anyone who can use FTP to log on to the server, using a general username and without a password check.

anopheles /ənfliz/ (also anopheles mosquito) n. a mosquito of a genus which is particularly common in warmer countries and includes the mosquitoes that transmit the malarial parasite to humans. Compare with CULEX.

<INFO> Genus Anopheles, subfamily Anophelinae, family Culicidae.

<DERIVATIVES> anopheline /ənfln -lin/ adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek anōphelēs ‘unprofitable, useless’.

Anoplura /anə()plərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of insects that comprises the sucking lice. Also called SIPHUNCULATA. See also PHTHIRAPTERA.

<DERIVATIVES> anopluran n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from anoplos ‘unarmed’ + oura ‘tail’.

anorak n. 1 a waterproof jacket, typically with a hood, of a kind originally used in polar regions.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a studious or obsessive person with unfashionable and largely solitary interests.

<DERIVATIVES> anorakish adj. anoraky adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Greenland Eskimo anoraq. The British English informal sense dates from the 1980s and derives from the anoraks worn by trainspotters, regarded as typifying this kind of person.

anorectal /enərεkt(ə)l/ adj. MEDICINE & [ANATOMY] relating to the anus and rectum.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French ano-rectal, from Latin ano- (combining form of ANUS) + rectal (see RECTAL).

anorexia /anərεksə/ n. [mass noun] lack or loss of appetite for food (as a medical condition).

- (also anorexia nervosa) an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek, from an- ‘without’ + orexis ‘appetite’.

anorexic (also anorectic) adj. relating to, characterized by, or suffering from anorexia.

- INFORMAL extremely thin.

■ n. 1 a person suffering from anorexia.

2 (anorectic) a medicine which produces a loss of appetite.

anorgasmia /anazmə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE persistent inability to achieve orgasm despite responding to sexual stimulation.

<DERIVATIVES> anorgasmic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from AN-1 + ORGASM + -IA^1.

anorthite /ənθt/ n. [mass noun] a calcium-rich mineral of the feldspar group, typically white, occurring in many basic igneous rocks.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from AN-1 + Greek orthos ‘straight’ + -ITE^1.

anorthosite /ənθəst/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a granular igneous rock composed largely of labradorite or another plagioclase.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French anorthose ‘plagioclase’ + -ITE^1.

anosmia /ənzmə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the loss of the sense of smell, either total or partial. It may be caused by head injury, infection, or blockage of the nose.

<DERIVATIVES> anosmic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from AN-2 + Greek osmē ‘smell’.

another determiner & pronoun 1 used to refer to an additional person or thing of the same type as one already mentioned or known about; one more; a further: [as determiner] have another drink | I didn't say another word | [as pronoun] she was to become another of his stars.

- [as determiner] used with a proper name to indicate someone or something's similarity to the person or event specified: this will not be another Vietnam.

2 used to refer to a different person or thing from one already mentioned or known about: [as determiner] come back another day | his wife left him for another man | [as pronoun] moving from one place to another.

- [as determiner] used to refer to someone sharing an attribute in common with the person already mentioned: his kiss with another man caused a tabloid rumpus.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: as an other until the 16th cent.

A. N. Other pron. BRITISH used when listing a group or team to refer to a person who is not named or whose selection has not been confirmed.

another place n. BRITISH the other House of Parliament (used in the Commons to refer to the Lords, and vice versa).

anothery (also anotherie) n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL another one: I'll have anothery.

Anouilh /nwi/ French /anuj/ Jean (1910–87), French dramatist. He wrote many plays but is best known for his reworking of the Greek myth of Antigone in Antigone (1944).

ANOVA /anəvə/ n. [mass noun] analysis of variance, a statistical method in which the variation in a set of observations is divided into distinct components.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: acronym.

anovulant /anvjl(ə)nt/ MEDICINE adj. (chiefly of a drug) preventing ovulation.

■ n. an anovulant drug.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from AN-1 + ovul(ation) + -ANT.

anovulatory /anvjlet(ə)ri/ adj. MEDICINE (of a menstrual cycle) in which ovulation does not occur.

anoxia /anksə/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL an absence of oxygen.

- MEDICINE an absence or deficiency of oxygen reaching the tissues; severe hypoxia.

<DERIVATIVES> anoxic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from AN-1 + ox(ygen) + -IA^1.

ANS abbr. autonomic nervous system.

ansatz /ansats/ n. [MATHEMATICS] an assumption about the form of an unknown function which is made in order to facilitate solution of an equation or other problem.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from German Ansatz ‘approach, attempt’.

Anschluss /anls/ the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938. Hitler had forced the resignation of the Austrian Chancellor by demanding that he admit Nazis into his cabinet. The new Chancellor, a pro-Nazi, invited German troops to enter the country on the pretext of restoring law and order.

<ORIGIN> German, from anschliessen ‘to join’.

Anselm, St /ansεlm/ (c.1033–1109), Italian-born philosopher and theologian, Archbishop of Canterbury 1093–1109. He worked to free the Church from secular control and believed that the best way to defend the faith was by intellectual reasoning. His writings include Cur Deus Homo? a mystical study on the Atonement. Feast day, 21 April.

anserine /ansərn/ adj. of or like a goose.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin anserinus, from anser ‘goose’.

Anshan /anan/ a city in Liaoning, China; pop. 1,246,800 (est. 2002). Anshan is situated close to major iron-ore deposits and China's largest iron and steel complex is nearby.

ANSI abbr. American National Standards Institute.

answer n. 1 a thing that is said, written, or done as a reaction to a question, statement, or situation: he knocked and entered without waiting for an answer | I hurried along the passage in answer to the doorbell's ring.

- a thing written or said in reaction to a question in a test or quiz: write your answers on a postcard.

- the correct solution to a question in a test or quiz: the answer is 280°.

2 a solution to a problem or dilemma: the answer to poverty and unemployment is a properly funded range of services.

3 [in sing.] (answer to) a person or thing regarded as the equivalent to a better-known one from another place: the press called her Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe.

■ v. 1 [reporting v.] say or write something as a reaction to someone or something: [with direct speech] ‘Of course I can,’ she answered | [with clause] she answered that she would take nothing but the ring | [with obj.] she tried to answer his questions truthfully | [no obj.] Steve was about to answer, but Hazel spoke first.

- [with obj.] provide the required response to (a question in a test or quiz): answer the questions below for a chance to win a holiday.

- [no obj.] (answer back) respond impudently or disrespectfully to someone, especially when being criticized or told to do something.

- [with obj.] act in reaction to (a sound such as a telephone ringing or a knock or ring on a door): Digby answered the door | [no obj.] she rang Edward's house, hoping the housekeeper would answer.

- [no obj.] (answer to) be responsible or report to (someone): I answer to the Assistant Commissioner of Specialist Operations.

2 [with obj.] defend oneself against (a charge, accusation, or criticism): he said he would return to Spain to answer all charges.

- [no obj.] (answer to) be required to explain or justify oneself to (someone).

- [no obj.] (answer for) be responsible or to blame for: the dust mite has a lot to answer for, especially if you are asthmatic.

3 [with obj.] be suitable for fulfilling (a need); satisfy: entrepreneurship is necessary to answer the needs of national and international markets.

<PHRASES>

□ answer the description of correspond to a description, especially one of a suspect issued by the police.

□ answer to (the name of) often HUMOROUS be called: an attractive woman answering to the name of Suzanne.

□ have (or know) all the answers INFORMAL be overconfident about one's knowledge of something.

<DERIVATIVES> answerer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English andswaru (noun), andswarian (verb), of Germanic origin; from a base shared by SWEAR.

answerable adj. 1 (answerable to) required to explain or justify one's actions to; responsible or having to report to: the Attorney General is answerable only to Parliament for his decisions.

- (answerable for) responsible for: an employer is answerable for the negligence of his employees.

2 (of a question) able to be answered: straightforward and answerable questions.

answering machine n. a tape recorder or digital device which supplies a recorded answer to a telephone call and can record a message from the caller.

answering service n. a business that receives and answers telephone calls for its clients.

answerphone n. BRITISH a telephone answering machine.

ant n. a small insect typically having a sting and living in a complex social colony with one or more breeding queens. It is wingless except for fertile adults, which form large mating swarms, and is proverbial for its industriousness.

<INFO> Family Formicidae, order Hymenoptera: several subfamilies.

<PHRASES>

□ have ants in one's pants INFORMAL be fidgety or restless.

<ORIGIN> Old English mete of West Germanic origin; related to German Ameise. Compare with EMMET.

ant- prefix variant spelling of ANTI-. shortened before a vowel or h (as in Antarctic).

-ant suffix 1 (forming adjectives) denoting attribution of an action or state: arrogant | pendant.

2 (forming nouns) denoting an agent: deodorant | propellant.

<ORIGIN> from French or Latin present participial verb stems (see also -ENT).

Antabuse /antəbjus/ n. trademark for DISULFIRAM.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from ANTI- + ABUSE.

antacid /antasd/ adj. (chiefly of a medicine) preventing or correcting acidity, especially in the stomach.

■ n. an antacid medicine.

Antaeus /antiəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a giant, the son of Poseidon and Earth, who compelled all comers to wrestle with him, overcoming and killing them all until he was defeated by Hercules.

antagonism /anta(ə)nz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] active hostility or opposition: the antagonism between them | his antagonism towards the local people | [count noun] petty antagonisms and jealousies.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French antagonisme, from Greek antagōnizesthai ‘struggle against’ (see ANTAGONIST).

antagonist n. 1 a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance which interferes with or inhibits the physiological action of another. Compare with AGONIST.

3 [ANATOMY] a muscle whose action counteracts that of another specified muscle. Compare with agonist.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French antagoniste or late Latin antagonista, from Greek antagōnistēs, from antagōnizesthai ‘struggle against’ (see ANTAGONIZE).

antagonistic adj. 1 showing or feeling active opposition or hostility towards someone or something: he was antagonistic to the government's reforms | an antagonistic group of bystanders.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] & [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to an antagonist or its action.

<DERIVATIVES> antagonistically adv.

antagonize (also antagonise) v. [with obj.] 1 cause (someone) to become hostile: the aim was to antagonize visiting supporters.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] (of a substance) act as an antagonist of (a substance or its action).

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in the sense ‘struggle against’): from Greek antagōnizesthai, from ant- ‘against’ + agōnizesthai ‘struggle’ (from agōn ‘contest’).

Antakya /ntkj/ Turkish name for ANTIOCH.

Antalya /antaljə/ a port in southern Turkey; pop. 606,447 (est. 2002).

Antananarivo /antənanərivə/ the capital of Madagascar, situated in the central plateau; pop. 1,359,600 (est. 2002). Former name (until 1975) TANANARIVE.

Antarctic adj. relating to the south polar region or Antarctica.

- [BOTANY] relating to or denoting a phytogeographical kingdom comprising New Zealand, southern parts of Chile and Argentina, and islands in the South Atlantic and southern Indian Ocean.

■ n. (the Antarctic) the Antarctic region.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French antartique or Latin antarcticus, from Greek antarktikos ‘opposite to the north’, from ant- ‘against’ + arktikos (see ARCTIC).

Antarctica a continent round the South Pole, situated mainly within the Antarctic Circle and almost entirely covered by ice sheets.

Antarctic Circle the parallel of latitude 66° 33′ south of the equator. It marks the southernmost point at which the sun is visible on the southern winter solstice and the northernmost point at which the midnight sun can be seen on the southern summer solstice.

Antarctic Convergence the zone of the Antarctic Ocean where the cold, nutrient-laden Antarctic surface water sinks beneath the warmer waters to the north.

Antarctic Ocean the sea surrounding Antarctica, consisting of parts of the South Atlantic, the South Pacific, and the southern Indian Ocean. Also called SOUTHERN OCEAN.

Antarctic Peninsula a mountainous peninsula of Antarctica between the Bellingshausen Sea and the Weddell Sea, extending northwards towards Cape Horn and the Falkland Islands.

Antares /antαriz/ [ASTRONOMY] the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius. It is a binary star of which the main component is a red supergiant.

<ORIGIN> Greek, literally ‘simulating Mars (in colour)’.

antbear n. another term for AARDVARK.

antbird n. an insectivorous, long-legged, short-tailed bird which typically has dark grey plumage in the male, found mainly in the tropical forests of South America.

<INFO> Family Formicariidae: several genera.

ante /anti/ n. a stake put up by a player in poker or brag before receiving cards.

■ v. (antes, anteing, anted) [with obj.] (ante something up) put up an amount as an ante in poker or brag and similar games.

- North American INFORMAL pay an amount of money in advance: he anted up $925,000 of his own money | [no obj.] the owners have to ante up if they want to attract the best talent.

<PHRASES>

□ up (or raise) the ante increase what is at stake or under discussion, especially in a conflict or dispute: he decided to up the ante in the trade war.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘before’.

ante- /anti/ prefix before; preceding: antechapel | antecedent.

<ORIGIN> from Latin ante ‘before’.

anteater n. a mammal that feeds on ants and termites, with a long snout and sticky tongue.

<INFO> Most anteaters are edentates of the Central and South American family Myrmecophagidae, which includes the giant anteater and the tamanduas. The echidna, numbat, and pangolin are alternatively known as spiny, banded, and scaly anteater respectively.

antebellum /antbεləm/ adj. [attr.] occurring or existing before a particular war, especially the US Civil War: the conventions of the antebellum South.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, from ante ‘before’ and bellum ‘war’.

antecedent /antsid(ə)nt/ n. 1 a thing that existed before or logically precedes another: some antecedents to the African novel might exist in Africa's oral traditions.

2 (antecedents) a person's ancestors or family and social background: her early life and antecedents have been traced.

3 [GRAMMAR] an earlier word, phrase, or clause to which another word (especially a following relative pronoun) refers back.

4 [LOGIC] the statement contained in the ‘if’ clause of a conditional proposition.

■ adj. 1 preceding in time or order; previous or pre-existing: antecedent events.

2 [GRAMMAR] denoting or counting as an antecedent.

<DERIVATIVES> antecedence n. antecedently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French or from Latin antecedent- ‘going before’, from antecedere, from ante ‘before’ + cedere ‘go’.

antechamber n. a small room leading to a main one.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as antichamber): from French antichambre, from Italian anticamera, from anti- ‘preceding’ + camera (see CHAMBER).

antechapel n. (especially in Oxford and Cambridge colleges) a distinct part of a chapel between the entrance and the nave or choir.

antechinus /antknəs/ n. a marsupial mouse of shrew-like habits and appearance, found in Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania.

<INFO> Genera Antechinus and Parantechinus, family Dasyuridae: several species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek anti- ‘simulating’ + ekhinos ‘sea urchin, hedgehog’ (from its bristly fur).

antedate v. [with obj.] precede in time; come before (something) in date: a civilization that antedated the Roman Empire.

- indicate that (a document or event) should be assigned to an earlier date: there are no references to him that would antedate his birth.

antediluvian /antdluvən/ adj. of or belonging to the time before the biblical Flood: gigantic bones of antediluvian animals.

- chiefly HUMOROUS ridiculously old-fashioned: they maintain antediluvian sex-role stereotypes.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from ANTE- + Latin diluvium ‘deluge’ + -AN.

antelope n. (pl. same or antelopes) a swift-running deer-like ruminant with smooth hair and upward-pointing horns, of a group native to Africa and Asia that includes the gazelles, impala, gnus, and elands.

<INFO> Many genera and species, in the family Bovidae.

- North American another term for PRONGHORN.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally the name of a fierce mythical creature with long serrated horns, said to live on the banks of the Euphrates): via Old French and medieval Latin from late Greek antholops, of unknown origin and meaning.

ante-mortem adj. & adv. before death: [as adj.] the ante-mortem instructions of the dead leader.

<ORIGIN> Latin ‘before death’.

antenatal British adj. before birth; during or relating to pregnancy: antenatal care.

■ n. INFORMAL a medical examination during pregnancy.

<DERIVATIVES> antenatally adv.

antenna n. (pl. antennae /-ni/) 1 [ZOOLOGY] either of a pair of long, thin sensory appendages on the heads of insects, crustaceans, and some other arthropods.

- (antennae) the faculty of instinctively detecting and interpreting subtle signs: he has the political antennae of a party whip.

2 (pl. also antennas) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN or TECHNICAL another term for AERIAL: a TV antenna.

<DERIVATIVES> antennal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, alteration of antemna ‘yard’ (of a ship), used in the plural to translate Greek keraioi ‘horns (of insects)’, used by Aristotle.

antennule /antεnjul/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a small antenna, especially either of the first pair of antennae in a crustacean.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: diminutive of ANTENNA.

antenuptial adj. chiefly BRITISH another term for PRENUPTIAL.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from late Latin antenuptialis (see ANTE-, nuptial).

antepartum /antpαtəm/ adj. MEDICINE occurring not long before childbirth.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, ‘before birth’.

antepenult /antpnlt/ n. [LINGUISTICS] the last syllable but two in a word, e.g. -ul- in antepenultimate.

antepenultimate adj. last but two in a series; third last: the antepenultimate item on the agenda.

ante-post adj. [attr.] BRITISH (of a bet on a horse race) placed at odds fixed at the time, and before the runners are known, on a horse thought likely to be entered.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ANTE- + POST^1.

anterior adj. 1 TECHNICAL nearer the front, especially in the front of the body, or nearer to the head or forepart: the veins anterior to the heart. The opposite of POSTERIOR.

- [BOTANY] (of a part of a flower or leaf) situated further away from the main stem.

- [PHONETICS] pronounced with an obstruction located in front of the palato-alveolar region of the mouth, e.g. b, p, d, t.

2 FORMAL coming before in time; earlier: an incident anterior to her troubles.

<DERIVATIVES> anteriority n. anteriorly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French antérieur or Latin anterior, comparative of ante ‘before’.

antero- /antərə/ combining form chiefly [ANATOMY] representing ANTERIOR: anteroposterior.

anterograde adj. directed forwards in time.

- of or denoting a form of amnesia which involves inability to remember information encountered after its onset.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ANTERIOR, on the pattern of retrograde.

anterolateral adj. chiefly [ANATOMY] both anterior and lateral.

anteroom n. an antechamber, typically serving as a waiting room.

- [MILITARY] a large room in an officers' mess, typically adjacent to the dining room.

anteroposterior adj. chiefly [ANATOMY] relating to or directed towards both front and back.

anteverted /antvətd/ adj. [ANATOMY] & MEDICINE (of an organ of the body, especially the womb) inclined forward.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin antevertere, from ante ‘before’ + vertere ‘to turn’ + -ED^2.

ant heap n. another term for ANTHILL.

anthelion /anthilən anθil-/ n. (pl. anthelia /-lə/) a luminous halo round a shadow projected by the sun on to a cloud or fog bank.

- a parhelion seen opposite the sun in the sky.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek anthēlion, neuter of anthēlios ‘opposite to the sun’, from anth- (variant of anti- ‘against’) + hēlios ‘sun’.

anthelmintic /anθ(ə)lmntk/ MEDICINE adj. (chiefly of medicines) used to destroy parasitic worms.

■ n. an anthelmintic medicine.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as an adjective): from anth- (variant of anti ‘against’) + Greek helmins, helminth- ‘worm’ + -IC.

anthem n. 1 a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause: the song became the anthem for hippy activists.

- (also national anthem) a solemn patriotic song officially adopted by a country as an expression of national identity.

2 a musical setting of a religious text to be sung by a choir during a church service, especially in Anglican or Protestant Churches.

<ORIGIN> Old English antefn, antifne (denoting a composition sung antiphonally), from late Latin antiphona (see ANTIPHON). The spelling with th, which began in the 16th century, was on the pattern of similar words such as Antony, Anthony.

anthemic /anθimk/ adj. (of a song) like an anthem in being rousing or uplifting.

anthemion /anθimən/ n. (pl. anthemia /-mə/) an ornamental design of alternating motifs resembling clusters of narrow leaves or honeysuckle petals.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek, literally ‘flower’.

Anthemius /anθiməs/ (6th century AD), Greek mathematician, engineer, and artist; known as Anthemius of Tralles.

anther n. [BOTANY] the part of a stamen that contains the pollen.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French anthère or modern Latin anthera, from Greek anthēra ‘flowery’, from anthos ‘flower’.

antheridium /anθərdəm/ n. (pl. antheridia /-də/) [BOTANY] the male sex organ of algae, mosses, ferns, fungi, and other non-flowering plants.

<DERIVATIVES> antheridial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from anthera (see ANTHER) + -idium (from the Greek diminutive suffix -idion).

antherozoid /anθ(ə)rə()zəd/ n. [BOTANY] another term for SPERMATOZOID.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ANTHER + ZOOID.

anthesis /anθiss/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the flowering period of a plant, from the opening of the flower bud.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek anthēsis ‘flowering’, from anthein ‘to blossom’.

anthill n. a nest in the form of a mound built by ants or termites.

antho- /anθə/ combining form relating to flowers: anthophilous.

<ORIGIN> from Greek anthos ‘flower’.

anthocyanin /anθə()sənn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a blue, violet, or red flavonoid pigment found in plants.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Anthocyan, from Greek anthos ‘flower’ + kuanos ‘blue’ + -IN^1.

anthologize (also anthologise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. anthologized) include (an author or work) in an anthology: the most anthologized of today's poets.

<DERIVATIVES> anthologization n.

anthology n. (pl. anthologies) a published collection of poems or other pieces of writing.

- a collection of songs or musical compositions issued in one album.

<DERIVATIVES> anthologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via French or medieval Latin from Greek anthologia, from anthos ‘flower’ + -logia ‘collection’ (from legein ‘gather’). In Greek, the word originally denoted a collection of the ‘flowers’ of verse, i.e. small choice poems or epigrams, by various authors.

Anthony, St /antəni anθəni/ (also Antony)

- (c.251–356), Egyptian hermit, the founder of monasticism. Feast day, 17 January.

Anthony of Padua, St (also Antony)

- (1195–1231), Portuguese Franciscan friar. His devotion to the poor is commemorated by alms known as St Anthony's bread; he is invoked to find lost articles. Feast day, 13 June.

anthophilous /anθfləs/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of insects or other animals) frequenting flowers.

Anthozoa /anθəzəə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large class of sedentary marine coelenterates that includes the sea anemones and corals. They are either solitary or colonial, and have a central mouth surrounded by tentacles.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek anthos ‘flower’ + zōia ‘animals’.

anthozoan [ZOOLOGY] n. a member of a large class of marine coelenterates (the Anthozoa), such as a sea anemone or coral.

■ adj. relating to or denoting anthozoans.

anthracene /anθrəsin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless crystalline aromatic hydrocarbon obtained by the distillation of crude oils and used in chemical manufacture.

<INFO> A tricyclic compound; chem. formula: C_14H_10.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek anthrax, anthrak- ‘coal’ + -ENE.

anthracite /anθrəst/ n. [mass noun] coal of a hard variety that contains relatively pure carbon and burns with little flame and smoke.

- a dark grey colour.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a gem described by Pliny and said to resemble coals, supposedly hydrophane (a type of opal)): from Greek anthrakitēs, from anthrax, anthrak- ‘coal’.

anthracnose /anθraknəs/ n. [mass noun] a mainly fungal disease of plants, causing dark lesions.

<INFO> This is usually caused by fungi of the subdivision Deuteromycotina.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in French from Greek anthrax, anthrak- ‘coal’ + nosos ‘disease’.

anthranilate /anθrənlet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of anthranilic acid.

anthranilic acid /anθrənlk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless or yellow crystalline compound first obtained by alkaline hydrolysis of indigo.

<INFO> Chem. formula: NH_2C_6H_4COOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: anthranilic from Greek anthrax ‘coal’ + anil (being any imine derived from aniline) + -IC.

anthraquinone /anθrəkwnən/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a yellow crystalline compound obtained by oxidation of anthracene. It is the basis of many natural and synthetic dyes.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_14H_8O_2.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from anthra(cene) + QUINONE.

anthrax /anθraks/ n. [mass noun] a serious bacterial disease of sheep and cattle, typically affecting the skin and lungs. It can be transmitted to humans, causing severe skin ulceration (see MALIGNANT PUSTULE) or a form of pneumonia (wool-sorters' disease).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: Latin, ‘carbuncle’ (the earliest sense in English), from Greek anthrax, anthrak- ‘coal, carbuncle’, with reference to the skin ulceration in humans.

anthropic principle /anθrpk/ n. the cosmological principle that theories of the universe are constrained by the necessity to allow human existence.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: anthropic from Greek anthrōpikos, from anthrōpos ‘human being’.

anthropo- /anθrəpə/ combining form human; of a human being: anthropometry.

- relating to humankind: [ANTHROPOLOGY].

<ORIGIN> from Greek anthrōpos ‘human being’.

anthropocentric adj. regarding humankind as the central or most important element of existence, especially as opposed to God or animals.

<DERIVATIVES> anthropocentrically adv. anthropocentrism n.

anthropogenic /anθrəpədεnk/ adj. (chiefly of environmental pollution and pollutants) originating in human activity.

<DERIVATIVES> anthropogenically adv.

anthropoid adj. resembling a human being in form: anthropoid gods.

- [ZOOLOGY] relating to the group of higher primates, which includes monkeys, apes, and humans.

- [ZOOLOGY] (of an ape) belonging to the family of great apes.

■ n. [ZOOLOGY] a higher primate, especially an ape or apeman.

<INFO> Suborder Anthropoidea, order Primates.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek anthrōpoeidēs, from anthrōpos ‘human being’ + -OID.

anthropology /anθrəplədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of humankind, in particular:

- (also cultural or social anthropology) the comparative study of human societies and cultures and their development.

- (also physical anthropology) the science of human zoology, evolution, and ecology.

<DERIVATIVES> anthropological adj. anthropologist n.

anthropometrics plural n. [treated as sing.] anthropometry, especially as it relates to the design of furniture and machinery.

anthropometry /anθrəpmtri/ n. [mass noun] the scientific study of the measurements and proportions of the human body.

<DERIVATIVES> anthropometric adj.

anthropomorphic /anθrəpəmfk/ adj. relating to or characterized by anthropomorphism.

- having human characteristics: anthropomorphic bears and monkeys.

<DERIVATIVES> anthropomorphically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek anthrōpomorphos (see ANTHROPOMORPHOUS) + -IC.

anthropomorphism /anθrəpəmfz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to a god, animal, or object.

<DERIVATIVES> anthropomorphize (also anthropomorphise) v.

anthropomorphous adj. (of a god, animal, or object) human in form or nature.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Greek anthrōpomorphos (from anthrōpos ‘human being’ + morphē ‘form’) + -OUS.

anthropopathy /anθrəppəθi/ n. [mass noun] the attribution of human emotions to a god.

anthropophagus /anθrəpfəəs/ n. (pl. anthropophagi /anθrəpfə/) (especially in legends or fables) a cannibal.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: Latin, from Greek anthrōpophagos ‘man-eating’, from anthrōpos ‘human being’ + -phagos (see -PHAGOUS).

anthropophagy /anθrəpfədi/ n. [mass noun] the eating of human flesh by human beings.

<DERIVATIVES> anthropophagous /-əs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek anthrōpophagia, from anthrōpophagos (see ANTHROPOPHAGUS).

anthroposophy /anθrəpsəfi/ n. [mass noun] a formal educational, therapeutic, and creative system established by Rudolf Steiner, seeking to use mainly natural means to optimize physical and mental health and well-being.

<DERIVATIVES> anthroposophical adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ANTHROPO- + Greek sophia ‘wisdom’.

anthurium /anθ(j)ərəm/ n. (pl. anthuriums) a tropical American plant which is widely grown for its ornamental foliage or brightly coloured flowering spathes.

<INFO> Genus Anthurium, family Araceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek anthos ‘flower’ + oura ‘tail’.

anti INFORMAL prep. opposed to; against: I'm anti the abuse of drink and the hassle that it causes.

■ adj. [predic.] opposed: the local councils are anti.

■ n. (pl. antis) a person opposed to a particular policy, activity, or idea: the threat to field sports from the antis is a serious one.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as a noun): independent usage of ANTI-.

anti- (also ant-) prefix 1 opposed to; against: anti-aircraft.

- preventing: antibacterial.

- relieving: antipruritic.

- the opposite of: anticlimax.

- acting as a rival: antipope.

- unlike the conventional form: anti-hero.

2 [PHYSICS] the antiparticle of a specified particle: antiproton.

<ORIGIN> from Greek anti ‘against’.

anti-abortion adj. opposing or legislating against medically induced abortion.

<DERIVATIVES> anti-abortionist n. & adj.

anti-aircraft adj. (especially of a gun or missile) used to attack enemy aircraft.

anti-apartheid adj. opposed to a policy or system of apartheid.

antibacterial adj. active against bacteria.

Antibes /tib/ French /αtib/ a fishing port and resort in SE France; pop. 62,412 (1999).

antibiosis /antbəss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] an antagonistic association between two organisms (especially micro-organisms), in which one is adversely affected. Compare with SYMBIOSIS.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ANTI- + a shortened form of SYMBIOSIS.

antibiotic n. a medicine (such as penicillin or its derivatives) that inhibits the growth of or destroys micro-organisms.

■ adj. relating to antibiotics.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in the sense ‘doubting the possibility of life in a particular environment’): from ANTI- + Greek biōtikos ‘fit for life’ (from bios ‘life’).

antibody n. (pl. antibodies) a blood protein produced in response to and counteracting a specific antigen. Antibodies combine chemically with substances which the body recognizes as alien, such as bacteria, viruses, and foreign substances in the blood.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ANTI- + BODY, translating German Antikörper, from anti- ‘against’ + Körper ‘body’.

antic adj. ARCHAIC grotesque or bizarre.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Italian antico ‘antique’, used to mean ‘grotesque’.

anticathode n. [PHYSICS] the target (or anode) of an X-ray tube which is struck by electrons from the cathode and from which X-rays are emitted.

anti-choice adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN opposed to granting choice, especially the right to choose abortion.

anticholinergic /antkəlnədk/ MEDICINE adj. (chiefly of a drug) inhibiting the physiological action of acetylcholine, especially as a neurotransmitter.

■ n. an anticholinergic drug.

Antichrist n. (the Antichrist) a postulated personal opponent of Christ expected by the early Church to appear before the end of the world.

- a person or force seen as opposing Christ or the Christian Church.

<ORIGIN> Old English, via Old French or ecclesiastical Latin from Greek antikhristos, from anti ‘against’ + Khristos (see CHRIST).

anti-Christian adj. 1 opposed to Christianity or Christian values.

2 relating to the Antichrist.

anticipate v. [with obj.] 1 regard as probable; expect or predict: she anticipated scorn on her return to the theatre | [with clause] it was anticipated that the rains would slow the military campaign.

- guess or be aware of (what will happen) and take action in order to be prepared: they failed to anticipate a full scale invasion.

- look forward to: Stephen was eagerly anticipating the break from the routine of business.

2 act as a forerunner or precursor of: he anticipated Bates's theories on mimicry and protective coloration.

- come or take place before (an event or process expected or scheduled for a later time).

<DERIVATIVES> anticipative adj. anticipator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the senses ‘to take something into consideration’, ‘mention something before the proper time’): from Latin anticipat- ‘acted in advance’, from anticipare, based on ante- ‘before’ + capere ‘take’.

anticipation n. [mass noun] the action of anticipating something; expectation or prediction: her eyes sparkled with anticipation | they manned the telephones in anticipation of a flood of calls.

- [MUSIC] the introduction in a composition of part of a chord which is about to follow in full.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin anticipatio(n-), from the verb anticipare (see ANTICIPATE).

anticipatory /antspet(ə)ri/ adj. happening, performed, or felt in anticipation of something: an anticipatory flash of excitement.

anticlerical chiefly HISTORICAL adj. opposed to the power or influence of the clergy, especially in politics.

■ n. a person holding anticlerical views.

<DERIVATIVES> anticlericalism n.

anticlimax n. a disappointing end to an exciting or impressive series of events: the rest of the journey was an anticlimax by comparison | [mass noun] a sense of anticlimax and incipient boredom.

<DERIVATIVES> anticlimactic adj. anticlimactically adv.

anticline /antkln/ n. [GEOLOGY] a ridge or fold of stratified rock in which the strata slope downwards from the crest. Compare with SYNCLINE.

<DERIVATIVES> anticlinal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ANTI- + Greek klinein ‘lean’, on the pattern of incline.

anticlockwise adv. & adj. BRITISH in the opposite direction to the way in which the hands of a clock move round: [as adv.] stopcocks are opened by turning them anticlockwise | [as adj.] an anticlockwise direction.

anticoagulant adj. having the effect of retarding or inhibiting the coagulation of the blood.

■ n. an anticoagulant substance.

anticodon /antkədn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a sequence of three nucleotides forming a unit of genetic code in a transfer RNA molecule, corresponding to a complementary codon in messenger RNA.

anti-communist adj. opposed to communism.

■ n. a person who is opposed to communism.

anticompetitive adj. (of regulations, practices, etc.) tending to suppress economic competition: several industries are already under investigation after complaints of anticompetitive behaviour.

anti-constitutional adj. violating a political constitution: anti-constitutional activity.

anticonvulsant adj. (chiefly of a drug) used to prevent or reduce the severity of epileptic fits or other convulsions.

■ n. an anticonvulsant drug.

Anti-Corn-Law League a pressure group formed in Britain in 1838 to campaign for the repeal of the Corn Laws, under the leadership of Richard Cobden and John Bright.

antics plural n. foolish, outrageous, or amusing behaviour: the antics of our political parties.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from ANTIC.

anticyclone n. a weather system with high barometric pressure at its centre, around which air slowly circulates in a clockwise (northern hemisphere) or anticlockwise (southern hemisphere) direction. Anticyclones are associated with calm, fine weather.

<DERIVATIVES> anticyclonic adj.

antidepressant adj. (chiefly of a drug) used to alleviate depression.

■ n. an antidepressant drug.

antidiarrhoeal adj. (of a drug) used to alleviate diarrhoea.

■ n. an antidiarrhoeal drug.

antidisestablishmentarianism /antdsstablm(ə)ntεrənz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] RARE opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England.

<DERIVATIVES> antidisestablishmentarian n. & adj.

<USAGE> Antidisestablishmentarianism is very occasionally found in genuine use, but it is most often cited as an example of a very long word. Other similar curiosities are FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION and PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS (the longest word in this dictionary). The longest word to be encountered in Britain is the Welsh place name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which is generally abbreviated to Llanfair PG; this name was created in the 19th century.

antidiuretic hormone n. another term for VASOPRESSIN.

antidote n. a medicine taken or given to counteract a particular poison.

- something that counteracts an unpleasant feeling or situation: laughter is a good antidote to stress.

<DERIVATIVES> antidotal adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin, from Greek antidoton, neuter of antidotos ‘given against’, from anti- ‘against’ + didonai ‘give’.

antidromic /antdrəmk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] (of an impulse) travelling in the opposite direction to that normal in a nerve fibre. The opposite of ORTHODROMIC.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ANTI- + Greek dromos ‘running’ + -IC.

anti-emetic adj. (chiefly of a drug) preventing vomiting.

■ n. an anti-emetic drug.

anti-establishment adj. against the establishment or established authority.

antifeedant n. a naturally occurring substance in certain plants which adversely affects insects or other animals which eat them.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from ANTI- + FEED + -ANT.

antiferromagnetic adj. [PHYSICS] denoting or exhibiting a form of magnetism characterized by an antiparallel alignment of adjacent electron spins in a crystal lattice. Compare with FERRIMAGNETIC.

antifouling n. [mass noun] treatment of a boat's hull with a paint or similar substance designed to prevent fouling.

antifreeze n. [mass noun] a liquid, typically one based on ethylene glycol, which can be added to water to lower the freezing point, chiefly used in the radiator of a motor vehicle.

anti-g adj. short for ANTIGRAVITY.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from ANTI- + g, the symbol for acceleration due to gravity.

antigen n. a toxin or other foreign substance which induces an immune response in the body, especially the production of antibodies.

<DERIVATIVES> antigenic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: via German from French antigène (see ANTI-, -gen).

antigenic determinant n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for EPITOPE.

antiglobalization (also antiglobalisation) n. [mass noun] opposition to the increase in the global power and influence of businesses, especially multinational corporations.

Antigone /antəni/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, the subject of a tragedy by Sophocles. She was sentenced to death for defying her uncle Creon, king of Thebes, but she took her own life before the sentence could be carried out, and Creon's son Haemon, who was engaged to her, killed himself over her body.

antigorite /antərt/ n. [mass noun] a mineral of the serpentine group, occurring typically as thin green plates.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Antigorio, a valley in Piedmont, Italy, + -ITE^1.

antigravity n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] a hypothetical force opposing gravity.

■ adj. [attr.] (chiefly of clothing for a pilot or astronaut) designed to counteract the effects of high acceleration.

Antigua /antiwə/ (also Antigua Guatemala) a town in the central highlands of Guatemala; pop. 21,500 (est. 2002).

Antigua and Barbuda /bαbudə/ a country consisting of three islands (Antigua, Barbuda, and Redonda) in the Leeward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean; pop. 67,448 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), Creole; capital, St John's (on Antigua). Discovered in 1493 by Columbus and settled by the English in 1632, Antigua became a British colony with Barbuda as its dependency; the islands gained independence within the Commonwealth in 1981.

<DERIVATIVES> Antiguan adj. & n.

anti-hero n. (pl. anti-heroes) a central character in a story, film, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.

anti-heroine n. a female anti-hero.

antihistamine n. a drug or other compound that inhibits the physiological effects of histamine, used especially in the treatment of allergies.

anti-infective adj. (of a drug) used to prevent infection.

■ n. an anti-infective drug.

anti-inflammatory adj. (chiefly of a drug) used to reduce inflammation.

■ n. (pl. anti-inflammatories) an anti-inflammatory drug.

anti-knock n. [mass noun] a substance (such as tetraethyl lead) added to petrol to inhibit pre-ignition.

Anti-Lebanon Mountains a range of mountains running north to south along the border between Lebanon and Syria, east of the Lebanon range.

Antilles /antliz/ a group of islands, forming the greater part of the West Indies. The Greater Antilles, extending roughly east to west, comprise Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico; the Lesser Antilles, to the south-east, include the Virgin Islands, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, and various small islands to the north of Venezuela. See also NETHERLANDS ANTILLES.

anti-lock adj. (of brakes) designed so as to prevent the wheels locking and the vehicle skidding if applied suddenly.

antilog n. short for ANTILOGARITHM.

antilogarithm n. the number of which a given number is the logarithm.

antilogy /antlədi/ n. (pl. antilogies) ARCHAIC a contradiction in terms or ideas.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French antilogie, from Greek antilogia, from anti- ‘against’ + -logia (see -LOGY).

antimacassar /antməkasə/ n. a piece of cloth put over the back of a chair to protect it from grease and dirt or as an ornament.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ANTI- + MACASSAR.

anti-magnetic adj. (especially of watches) resistant to magnetization.

antimalarial adj. (of a drug) used to prevent malaria.

■ n. an antimalarial drug.

antimatter n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] matter consisting of elementary particles which are the antiparticles of those making up normal matter.

antimetabolite n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a substance that interferes with the normal metabolic processes within cells, typically by combining with enzymes.

antimicrobial adj. active against microbes.

■ n. an antimicrobial substance.

anti-monarchist n. an opponent of monarchy.

antimony /antməni/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 51, a brittle silvery-white semimetal. (Symbol: Sb)

Antimony was known from ancient times; the naturally occurring black sulphide was used as the cosmetic kohl. The element is used in alloys, usually with lead, such as pewter, type metal, and Britannia metal.

<DERIVATIVES> antimonial adj. antimonic adj. antimonious adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting stibnite, the most common ore of the metal): from medieval Latin antimonium, of unknown origin. The current sense dates from the early 19th cent.

anti-national adj. opposed to national interests or nationalism.

anting n. [mass noun] [BIRD] behaviour seen in some birds, in which the bird either picks up ants and rubs them on the feathers or stands with the wings spread and allows the ants to crawl over it. It is probable that the ants' secretions help to keep the feathers in good condition.

antinode n. [PHYSICS] the position of maximum displacement in a standing wave system.

anti-noise n. [mass noun] sound generated for the purpose of reducing noise by interference.

antinomian /antnəmən/ adj. relating to the view that Christians are released by grace from the obligation of observing the moral law.

■ n. a person holding such a view.

<DERIVATIVES> antinomianism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin Antinomi, the name of a 16th-cent. sect in Germany alleged to hold this view, from Greek anti- ‘opposite, against’ + nomos ‘law’.

antinomy /antnəmi/ n. (pl. antinomies) a contradiction between two beliefs or conclusions that are in themselves reasonable; a paradox.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘a conflict between two laws’): from Latin antinomia, from Greek, from anti ‘against’ + nomos ‘law’.

antinovel n. a novel in which the conventions and traditions of the genre are studiously avoided.

anti-nuclear adj. opposed to the development of nuclear weapons or nuclear power.

Antioch /antk/ 1 a city in southern Turkey, near the Syrian border; pop. 155,100 (est. 2002). Antioch was the ancient capital of Syria under the Seleucid kings, who founded it c.300 BC. Turkish name ANTAKYA.

2 a city in ancient Phrygia.

Antiochus /antəkəs/ the name of eight Seleucid kings, notably:

- Antiochus III (c.242–187 BC), reigned 223–187 BC; known as Antiochus the Great. He restored and expanded the Seleucid empire.

- Antiochus IV (c.215–163 BC), son of Antiochus III, reigned 175–163 BC; known as Antiochus Epiphanes. His firm control of Judaea and his attempt to Hellenize the Jews resulted in the revival of Jewish nationalism and the Maccabean revolt.

antioxidant n. a substance that inhibits oxidation, especially one used to counteract the deterioration of stored food products.

- a substance such as vitamin C or E that removes potentially damaging oxidizing agents in a living organism.

antiparallel adj. [PHYSICS] parallel but moving or oriented in opposite directions.

antiparticle n. [PHYSICS] a subatomic particle having the same mass as a given particle but opposite electric or magnetic properties. Every kind of subatomic particle has a corresponding antiparticle, e.g. the positron has the same mass as the electron but an equal and opposite charge.

antipasto /antpastə/ n. (pl. antipasti /-ti/) (in Italian cookery) an hors d'oeuvre.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from anti- ‘before’ + pasto (from Latin pastus ‘food’).

antipathetic adj. showing or feeling a strong aversion: it is human nature to be antipathetic to change.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ANTIPATHY, on the pattern of pathetic.

antipathy /antpəθi/ n. (pl. antipathies) [mass noun] a deep-seated feeling of aversion: his fundamental antipathy to capitalism.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘opposition of feeling, nature, or disposition’): from French antipathie, or via Latin from Greek antipatheia, from antipathēs ‘opposed in feeling’, from anti ‘against’ + pathos ‘feeling’.

anti-personnel adj. (of weapons, especially bombs) designed to kill or injure people rather than to damage buildings or equipment.

antiperspirant n. [mass noun] a substance that is applied to the skin, especially under the arms, to prevent or reduce perspiration.

antiphon /antf(ə)n/ n. (in traditional Western Christian liturgy) a short sentence sung or recited before or after a psalm or canticle.

- a musical setting of an antiphon.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek antiphōna ‘harmonies’, neuter plural of antiphōnos ‘responsive’, from anti ‘in return’ + phōnē ‘sound’.

antiphonal /antfən(ə)l/ adj. (of music, especially church music, or a section of a church liturgy) sung, recited, or played alternately by two groups.

■ n. another term for ANTIPHONARY.

<DERIVATIVES> antiphonally adv.

antiphonary /antf(ə)nəri/ n. (pl. antiphonaries) (in the Western Christian Church) a book of plainsong for the Divine Office.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from ecclesiastical Latin antiphonarium, from antiphōna (see ANTIPHON).

antiphony /antf(ə)ni/ n. [mass noun] antiphonal singing, playing, or chanting.

antipodal /antpəd(ə)l/ adj. relating to or situated on the opposite side of the earth.

- (antipodal to) diametrically opposed to.

antipode /antpəd/ n. the direct opposite of something: the pole and its antipode.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: back-formation from ANTIPODES.

Antipodean /antpədiən/ adj. relating to Australia or New Zealand (used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere): Antipodean wines.

■ n. a person from Australia or New Zealand (used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: formed irregularly from ANTIPODES + -AN.

antipodes /antpədiz/ plural n. 1 (the Antipodes) Australia and New Zealand (used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere).

2 the direct opposite of something: voting and violence are antipodes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French or late Latin from Greek antipodes ‘having the feet opposite’, from anti ‘against, opposite’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’. The term originally denoted the inhabitants of opposite sides of the earth.

antipope n. a person established as pope in opposition to one held by others to be canonically chosen.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English antipape, via French from medieval Latin antipapa (on the pattern of Antichrist). The change in the ending in the 17th century was due to association with pope^1.

antiproton n. [PHYSICS] the negatively charged antiparticle of a proton.

antipruritic /antprrtk/ adj. (chiefly of a drug) used to relieve itching.

■ n. an antipruritic drug.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ANTI- + pruritic (see PRURITUS).

antipsychotic adj. (chiefly of a drug) used to treat psychotic disorders.

■ n. an antipsychotic drug.

antipyretic adj. (chiefly of a drug) used to prevent or reduce fever.

■ n. an antipyretic drug.

antiquarian /antkwεrən/ adj. 1 relating to or dealing in antiques or rare books.

2 relating to the study of antiquities.

■ n. a person who studies or collects antiques or antiquities.

<DERIVATIVES> antiquarianism n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin antiquarius (see ANTIQUARY).

antiquark n. [PHYSICS] the antiparticle of a quark.

antiquary /antkwəri/ n. (pl. antiquaries)

■ another term for ANTIQUARIAN.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin antiquarius, from antiquus (see ANTIQUE).

antiquated adj. old-fashioned or outdated: this antiquated central heating system.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘old, of long standing’): from ecclesiastical Latin antiquare ‘make old’, from antiquus (see ANTIQUE).

antique n. a collectable object such as a piece of furniture or work of art that has a high value because of its age and quality.

■ adj. 1 having a high value because of age and quality: an antique clock.

- intended to resemble the appearance of high-quality old furniture: bookshelves with an antique finish.

2 belonging to ancient times: statues of antique gods.

- old-fashioned or outdated: antique work practices.

- HUMOROUS showing signs of great age or wear: the kitchen had an antique cooker.

■ v. (antiques, antiquing, antiqued) [with obj.] make (something) resemble an antique by artificial means.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as an adjective): from Latin antiquus, anticus ‘former, ancient’, from ante ‘before’.

antiquity n. (pl. antiquities) [mass noun] 1 the ancient past, especially the period of classical and other human civilizations before the Middle Ages: the great civilizations of antiquity.

2 [count noun] (usually antiquities) an object, building, or work of art from the ancient past: a collection of Islamic antiquities.

3 great age: a church of great antiquity.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French antiquite, from Latin antiquitas, from antiquus ‘old, former’ (see ANTIQUE).

anti-racism n. [mass noun] the policy or practice of opposing racism and promoting racial tolerance.

<DERIVATIVES> anti-racist n. & adj.

antiretroviral /antrεtrəvrəl/ adj. denoting or relating to a class of drugs which inhibit the activity of retroviruses such as HIV.

■ n. an antiretroviral drug.

anti-roll bar n. a rubber-mounted bar fitted in the suspension of a vehicle to increase its stability, especially when cornering.

antirrhinum /antrnəm/ n. (pl. antirrhinums) a plant of a genus that includes the snapdragon.

<INFO> Genus Antirrhinum, family Scrophulariaceae.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, from Greek antirrhinon, from anti- ‘counterfeiting’ + rhis, rhin- ‘nose’, from the resemblance of the flower to an animal's snout.

antiscorbutic MEDICINE adj. (chiefly of a drug) having the effect of preventing or curing scurvy.

■ n. an antiscorbutic food or drug.

anti-Semitism n. [mass noun] hostility to or prejudice against Jews.

<DERIVATIVES> anti-Semite n. anti-Semitic adj.

antisense adj. [GENETICS] having a sequence of nucleotides complementary to (and hence capable of binding to) a coding (or sense) sequence, which may be either that of the strand of a DNA double helix which undergoes transcription, or that of a messenger RNA molecule.

antisepsis n. [mass noun] the practice of using antiseptics to eliminate the micro-organisms that cause disease. Compare with ASEPSIS.

antiseptic adj. 1 preventing the growth of disease-causing micro-organisms.

2 scrupulously clean or pure, especially so as to be bland or characterless: their squeaky-clean home epitomizes this antiseptic respectability.

■ n. an antiseptic compound or preparation.

<DERIVATIVES> antiseptically adv.

antiserum n. (pl. antisera) a blood serum containing antibodies against specific antigens, injected to treat or protect against specific diseases.

antisocial adj. 1 contrary to the laws and customs of society, in a way that causes annoyance and disapproval in others: children's antisocial behaviour.

- [PSYCHIATRY] sociopathic.

2 not sociable or wanting the company of others.

<DERIVATIVES> antisocially adv.

<USAGE> On the difference in use between antisocial, unsocial, and unsociable see usage at unsociable.

antispasmodic adj. (chiefly of a drug) used to relieve spasm of involuntary muscle.

■ n. an antispasmodic drug.

anti-static adj. preventing the build-up of static electricity or reducing its effects.

Antisthenes /antsθəniz/ (c.445–c.360 BC), Greek philosopher and teacher, regarded as the founder of the school of Cynics. A pupil and friend of Socrates, he believed that happiness is based on virtuous action rather than ease and pleasure, and that virtue, once acquired, cannot be lost.

antistrophe /antstrəfi/ n. the second section of an ancient Greek choral ode or of one division of it. Compare with STROPHE.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a term in rhetoric denoting the repetition of words in reverse order): via late Latin from Greek antistrophē, from antistrephein ‘turn against’, from anti ‘against’ + strephein ‘to turn’.

antisymmetric adj. [MATHEMATICS] & [PHYSICS] unaltered in magnitude but changed in sign by exchange of two variables or by a particular symmetry operation.

anti-tank adj. for use against enemy tanks.

antiterrorism n. [mass noun] political activities or measures designed to prevent or thwart terrorism.

<DERIVATIVES> antiterrorist adj.

anti-tetanus adj. preventing or effective against tetanus: an anti-tetanus injection.

antithesis /antθəss/ n. (pl. antitheses /-siz/) 1 a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else: love is the antithesis of selfishness.

- a contrast or opposition between two things: the antithesis between occult and rational mentalities.

- [mass noun] a rhetorical or literary device in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed.

2 [mass noun] (in Hegelian philosophy) the negation of the thesis as the second stage in the process of dialectical reasoning. Compare with SYNTHESIS.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting the substitution of one grammatical case for another): from late Latin, from Greek antitithenai ‘set against’, from anti ‘against’ + tithenai ‘to place’. The earliest current sense, denoting a rhetorical or literary device, dates from the early 16th cent.

antithetical /antθεtk(ə)l/ adj. 1 directly opposed or contrasted; mutually incompatible: people whose religious beliefs are antithetical to mine.

2 connected with, containing, or using the rhetorical device of antithesis.

<DERIVATIVES> antithetic adj. antithetically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from Greek antithetikos, from antithetos ‘placed in opposition’, from antitithenai ‘set against’.

antitoxin n. [PHYSIOLOGY] an antibody that counteracts a toxin.

<DERIVATIVES> antitoxic adj.

antitrades (also antitrade winds) plural n. steady winds that blow in the opposite direction to and overlie the trade winds.

antitrust adj. [attr.] (of legislation, chiefly in the US) preventing or controlling trusts or other monopolies, and so promoting fair competition in business.

antitype n. a person or thing that represents the opposite of someone or something else: the antitype of female virtue.

<DERIVATIVES> antitypical adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin antitypus, from Greek antitupos ‘corresponding as an impression to the die’, from anti ‘against, opposite’ + tupos ‘type, a stamp’.

antivenin /antvεnn/ n. an antiserum containing antibodies against specific poisons, especially those in the venom of snakes, spiders, and scorpions.

<DERIVATIVES> antivenom n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ANTI- + ven(om) + -IN^1.

antiviral adj. MEDICINE (chiefly of a drug or treatment) effective against viruses.

antivirus adj. [attr.] [COMPUTING] (of software) designed to detect and destroy computer viruses.

antivivisection adj. [attr.] opposed to the use of live animals for scientific research.

<DERIVATIVES> antivivisectionism n. antivivisectionist n. & adj.

antler n. each of the branched horns on the head of an adult deer (typically a male one), which are made of bone and are grown and cast annually.

- each of the branches on an antler.

<DERIVATIVES> antlered adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting the lowest (forward-directed) branch of the antler): from Anglo-Norman French, variant of Old French antoillier, of unknown origin.

Antlia /antlə/ [ASTRONOMY] a small and faint southern constellation (the Air Pump), between Hydra and Vela.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek.

ant lion n. an insect that resembles a dragonfly, with predatory larvae that construct conical pits into which insect prey, especially ants, fall.

<INFO> Family Myrmeleontidae, order Neuroptera.

Antofagasta /antəfəastə/ a port in northern Chile, capital of a region of the same name; pop. 277,100 (est. 2002).

Antonine /antənn/ adj. relating to the Roman emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius or their rules (AD 138–80).

■ plural n. (the Antonines) the Antonine emperors.

Antonine Wall a defensive fortification about 59 km (37 miles) long, built (c.140 AD) across the narrowest part of southern Scotland between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde. It was intended to mark the frontier of the Roman province of Britain.

Antoninus Pius /antənnəs pəs/ (86–161), Roman emperor 138–61. The adopted son and successor of Hadrian, he had a generally peaceful and harmonious reign.

Antonioni /antənəni/ Michelangelo (1912–2007), Italian film director. Notable films: L'avventura (1960), Blow-Up (1966), and Zabriskie Point (1970).

antonomasia /antənəmezə antnə-/ n. [mass noun] 1 [LINGUISTICS] the substitution of an epithet or title for a proper name (e.g. the Maid of Orleans for Joan of Arc).

2 the use of a proper name to express a general idea (e.g. a Scrooge for a miser).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek, from antonomazein ‘name instead’, from anti- ‘against, instead’ + onoma ‘a name’.

Anton Piller order n. [LAW] a court order which requires the defendant in proceedings to permit the plaintiff or his or her legal representatives to enter the defendant's premises in order to obtain evidence essential to the plaintiff's case.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Anton Piller, German manufacturers of electric motors, who were involved in legal proceedings (1975) in which such an order was granted.

Antony /antəni/ Mark (c.83–30 BC), Roman general and triumvir; Latin name Marcus Antonius. A supporter of Julius Caesar, he was appointed one of the triumvirate after Caesar's murder. Following the battle of Philippi he took charge of the Eastern Empire, where he established his association with Cleopatra. Quarrels with Octavian led finally to his defeat at the battle of Actium and to his suicide.

Antony, St see ANTHONY, ST.

antonym /antənm/ n. a word opposite in meaning to another (e.g. bad and good).

<DERIVATIVES> antonymous adj. antonymy n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French antonyme, from ant- (from Greek anti- ‘against’) + Greek onuma ‘a name’.

Antony of Padua, St see ANTHONY OF PADUA, ST.

antrectomy /antrεktəmi/ n. [mass noun] surgical removal of the walls of an antrum, especially the antrum of the stomach.

Antrim one of the Six Counties of Northern Ireland, since 1973 an administrative district.

- a town in this district, on the NE shore of Lough Neagh; pop. 20,400 (est. 2002).

Antron /antrn/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a type of strong, light nylon fibre used chiefly in making carpets and upholstery.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: an invented name.

antrum /antrəm/ n. (pl. antra /-trə/) [ANATOMY] a natural chamber or cavity in a bone or other anatomical structure.

- the pyloric end of the stomach.

<DERIVATIVES> antral adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, from Greek antron ‘cave’.

ants' eggs plural n. the pupae of ants, especially when used as food for pet fish.

antsy /antsi/ adj. (antsier, antsiest) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL agitated, impatient, or restless: Dick got antsy the day he put to sea.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably from the phrase have ants in one's pants (see ANT).

ant-thrush n. any of a number of thrush-sized ant-eating birds:

<INFO>

- a large antbird (three genera in the family Formicariidae).

- an African thrush (genus Neocossyphus).

- another term for pitta^2

Antung /ant/ former name for DANDONG.

Antwerp /antwəp/ a port in northern Belgium, on the Scheldt; pop. 444,100 (est. 2002). By the 16th century it had become a leading European commercial and financial centre. Flemish name Antwerpen, French name ANVERS.

- a province of Belgium of which Antwerp is the capital.

Anubis /ənjubs/ [EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY] the god of mummification, protector of tombs, typically represented as having a dog's head.

Anura /ənjərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of tailless amphibians that comprises the frogs and toads. Also called SALIENTIA or BATRACHIA.

- (anura) amphibians of this order; frogs and toads.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from AN-1 ‘without’ + Greek oura ‘tail’.

Anuradhapura /ənrαdəpərə/ a city in north central Sri Lanka, capital of a district of the same name; pop. 56,600 (2001). The ancient capital of Sri Lanka, it is a centre of Buddhist pilgrimage.

anuran [ZOOLOGY] n. a tailless amphibian of the order Anura; a frog or toad.

■ adj. relating to or denoting anurans.

anuria /ənjərə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE failure of the kidneys to produce urine.

<DERIVATIVES> anuric adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from AN-1 + -URIA.

anus /enəs/ n. [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] the opening at the end of the alimentary canal through which solid waste matter leaves the body.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, originally ‘a ring’.

Anvers /αvεR/ French name of ANTWERP.

anvil n. 1 a heavy iron block with a flat top and concave sides, on which metal can be hammered and shaped.

2 the horizontally extended upper part of a cumulonimbus cloud.

3 [ANATOMY] another term for INCUS.

<ORIGIN> Old English anfilte, from the Germanic base of ON + a verbal stem meaning ‘beat’.

anxiety n. (pl. anxieties) [mass noun] 1 a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome: he felt a surge of anxiety | [count noun] anxieties about the moral decline of today's youth.

- [PSYCHIATRY] a nervous disorder marked by excessive uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behaviour or panic attacks.

2 [with infinitive] strong desire or concern to do something or for something to happen: the housekeeper's eager anxiety to please.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French anxiété or Latin anxietas, from anxius (see ANXIOUS).

anxiolytic /azəltk/ MEDICINE adj. (chiefly of a drug) used to reduce anxiety.

■ n. a drug used to relieve anxiety.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from ANXIETY + -LYTIC.

anxious adj. 1 feeling or showing worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome: she was extremely anxious about her exams | an anxious look.

- [attr.] (of a situation or period of time) causing or characterized by worry or nervousness: there were some anxious moments.

2 very eager or concerned to do something or for something to happen: the company was anxious to avoid any trouble | [with clause] my parents were anxious that I get an education.

<DERIVATIVES> anxiously adv. anxiousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin anxius (from angere ‘to choke’) + -OUS.

any determiner & pronoun 1 [usually with negative or in questions] used to refer to one or some of a thing or number of things, no matter how much or how many: [as determiner] I don't have any choice | do you have any tips to pass on? | [as pronoun] someone asked him for a match, but Joe didn't have any | you don't know any of my friends.

- anyone: the city council ceased payments to any but the aged.

2 whichever of a specified class might be chosen: [as determiner] these constellations are visible at any hour of the night | [as pronoun] the illness may be due to any of several causes.

■ adv. [usually with negative or in questions] [as submodifier] at all; in some degree (used for emphasis): he wasn't any good at basketball | why look any further? | no one would be any the wiser.

- US INFORMAL at all (used alone, not qualifying another word): I didn't hurt you any.

<PHRASES>

□ any amount of see AMOUNT.

□ any more (also anymore) [usually with negative or in questions] to any further extent; any longer: she refused to listen any more.

□ any OLD see OLD.

□ any road chiefly N. ENGLISH informal term for ANYWAY: any road, I'm sure you'll make a go of it.

□ any time (also anytime) at whatever time: she can come any time.

□ any time (or day or minute etc.) now INFORMAL very soon: we'll get them back any day now.

□ be not having any (of it) INFORMAL be uninterested or disagree: I tried to make polite conversation, but he wasn't having any.

□ not just any —— a particular or special thing of its type rather than any ordinary one of that type.

<ORIGIN> Old English nig (see ONE, -y^1), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch eenig and German einig.

<USAGE> When used as a pronoun any can be used with either a singular or a plural verb, depending on the context: we needed more sugar but there wasn't any left (singular verb) or are any of the new videos available? (plural verb).

anybody pron. anyone: there wasn't anybody around.

<PHRASES>

□ anybody's guess see GUESS.

anyhow adv. 1 another term for ANYWAY.

2 in a careless or haphazard way: two suitcases flung anyhow.

anymore adv. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN variant of ANY more at any.

anyone pron. 1 [usually with negative or in questions] any person or people: there wasn't anyone there | does anyone remember him? | I was afraid to tell anyone.

- [without negative] used for emphasis: anyone could do it.

2 a person of importance or authority: they are read by anyone who's anyone.

<PHRASES>

□ be anyone's INFORMAL be open to sexual advances from anyone: three shandies and he's anyone's.

□ anyone's game an evenly balanced contest: it was still anyone's game at half-time.

<USAGE> The two-word form any one is not the same as the one-word form anyone and the two forms cannot be used interchangeably. Any one means ‘any single (person or thing)’, as in: not more than twelve new members are admitted in any one year.

anyplace adv. North American informal term for ANYWHERE: Miami is hotter than anyplace else.

anything pron. [usually with negative or in questions] used to refer to a thing, no matter what: nobody was saying anything | have you found anything? | he inquired whether there was anything he could do.

- [without negative] used for emphasis: I was ready for anything.

- used to indicate a range: he trains anything from seven to eight hours a day.

<PHRASES>

□ anything but not at all (used for emphasis): he is anything but racist.

□ anything like —— [with negative] at all like —— (used for emphasis): it doesn't taste anything like wine.

□ (as) —— as anything INFORMAL extremely ——: she said it out loud, clear as anything.

□ or anything [usually with negative or in questions] INFORMAL added as a general reference to other things similar to the thing mentioned: no strings attached, you don't have to join up or anything.

anytime adv. variant of ANY TIME at any.

anyway adv. 1 used to confirm or support a point or idea just mentioned: I told you, it's all right, and anyway, it was my fault | it's too late now anyway.

- used in questions to emphasize the speaker's wish to obtain the truth: ‘What are you doing here, anyway?’.

2 used to end a conversation, to change the subject, or to resume a subject after interruption: ‘Anyway, Dot, I must dash.’.

- used to pass over less significant aspects of an account in order to focus on what is important: ‘Poor John always enjoyed a drink. Anyway, he died last year.’.

3 used to indicate that something happened or will happen in spite of something else: nobody invited Miss Honey to sit down but she sat down anyway.

anyways adv. North American informal or dialect form of ANYWAY: you wouldn't understand all them long words anyways.

anywhere adv. [usually with negative or in questions] in or to any place: he couldn't be found anywhere.

- [without negative] used for emphasis: I could go anywhere in the world.

- used to indicate a range: he could get anywhere from three to seven years.

■ pron. any place: he doesn't have anywhere to live.

<PHRASES>

□ anywhere near [with negative or in questions] at all near (used for emphasis): I wouldn't dream of letting a surgeon anywhere near my eyes.

- remotely close to in extent, level, or scope: imitations rarely look anywhere near as good as the real thing.

anywheres adv. & pronoun chiefly NORTH AMERICAN informal or dialect form of ANYWHERE: [as adv.] I'll see if I can see your clothes anywheres.

anywise adv. ARCHAIC in any manner or way.

<ORIGIN> Old English on nige wīsan ‘in any wise’.

Anzac n. a soldier in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (1914–18).

- INFORMAL a person from Australia or New Zealand, especially a member of the armed services.

<ORIGIN> acronym.

Anzac Day n. (in Australia and New Zealand) the day on which the Anzac landing at Gallipoli in 1915 is annually commemorated, 25 April.

Anzus /anzəs/ an alliance between Australia, New Zealand, and the US, established in 1951 and designed to protect those countries in the Pacific area from armed attack. Also called PACIFIC SECURITY TREATY.

AO abbr. Officer of the Order of Australia.

AOB abbr. any other business (at the end of an agenda for a meeting).

AOC abbr. appellation d'origine contrôlée (see APPELLATION CONTRôLéE).

ao dai /a d/ n. (pl. ao dais) a Vietnamese woman's long-sleeved tunic with ankle-length panels at front and back, worn over trousers.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: Vietnamese.

A-OK (also A-okay) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL adj. in good order or condition; all right.

■ adv. in a good manner or way; all right.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally an astronauts' term): from all systems OK.

AONB abbr. (in the UK) Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

AOR n. [mass noun] a style of popular music in which a hard rock background is combined with softer or more melodic elements.

<ORIGIN> 1970s (originally US): from album-oriented rock or adult-oriented rock.

Aoraki-Mount Cook /araki/ official name for Mount Cook (see COOK, MOUNT).

aorist /eərst εr-/ [GRAMMAR] n. a past tense of a verb (especially in Greek), which does not contain any reference to duration or completion of the action.

■ adj. relating to or denoting this tense.

<DERIVATIVES> aoristic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek aoristos ‘indefinite’, from a- ‘not’ + horizein ‘define, limit’.

aorta /etə/ n. the main artery of the body, supplying oxygenated blood to the circulatory system. In humans it passes over the heart from the left ventricle and runs down in front of the backbone.

<DERIVATIVES> aortic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Greek aortē (used in the plural by Hippocrates for the branches of the windpipe, and by Aristotle for the great artery), from aeirein ‘raise’.

Aosta /αstə/ a city in NW Italy, capital of Valle d'Aosta region; pop. 33,926 (2001).

Aotearoa /ateərəə/ Maori name for NEW ZEALAND.

<ORIGIN> Maori, literally ‘land of the long white cloud’.

aoudad /αdad/ n. another term for BARBARY SHEEP.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Berber udād.

à outrance /α utrs/ French /a utRαs/ adv. LITERARY to the death or the very end: a duel à outrance.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘to the utmost’.

Aozou Strip /azu/ (also Aouzou Strip) a narrow corridor of disputed desert land in northern Chad, stretching the full length of the border between Chad and Libya.

AP abbr. Associated Press.

ap-1 prefix variant spelling of AD-. assimilated before p (as in apposite, apprehend).

ap-2 prefix variant spelling of APO-. shortened before a vowel or h (as in aphelion).

apace adv. LITERARY swiftly; quickly: work continues apace.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French a pas ‘at (a considerable) pace’.

Apache /əpati/ n. (pl. same or Apaches) 1 a member of an American Indian people living chiefly in New Mexico and Arizona. Under the leadership of Geronimo, the Apache were the last American Indian people to be conquered by the European settlers.

2 [mass noun] any of the Athabaskan languages of the Apache, which have about 14,000 speakers altogether, though some are virtually extinct.

■ adj. relating to the Apache or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Mexican Spanish, probably from Zuni Apachu, literally ‘enemy’.

apache /əpa/ French /apa/ n. (pl. apaches pronunc. same) a violent street ruffian, originally in Paris.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, from APACHE, by association with the reputed ferocity of the American Indian people.

apart adv. 1 (of two or more people or things) separated by a specified distance in time or space: two stone gateposts some thirty feet apart | studies from as far apart as America and Iceland | FIGURATIVE the two sides remained far apart on the issue of cruise missiles.

- no longer living together or close emotionally: alcoholism had driven us apart.

2 to or on one side; at a distance from the main body: Isabel stepped away from Joanna and stood apart.

- used after a noun to indicate that someone or something has qualities which mark them out from other people or things: wrestlers were a breed apart.

- used to indicate that one is dismissing something from consideration or moving from one tone or topic to another: Alaska apart, much of America's energy business concentrates on producing gas | joking apart, they do a really remarkable job.

3 so as to be shattered; into pieces: he leapt out of the car just before it was blown apart.

<PHRASES>

□ apart from 1 except for: the whole world seemed to be sleeping, apart from Barbara.

2 in addition to; as well as: quite apart from all the work, he had such financial problems.

<DERIVATIVES> apartness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin a parte ‘at the side’.

apartheid /əpαthet əpαtd/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL (in South Africa) a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race.

Adopted as a slogan in the 1948 election by the successful Afrikaner National Party, apartheid extended and institutionalized existing racial segregation. Despite rioting and terrorism at home and isolation abroad from the 1960s onwards, the white regime maintained the apartheid system with only minor relaxation until February 1991.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Afrikaans, literally ‘separateness’, from Dutch apart ‘separate’ + -heid (equivalent of -HOOD).

aparthotel (also apartotel) n. a type of hotel providing self-catering apartments as well as ordinary hotel facilities.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Spanish Apartotel, the name of a company specializing in this type of accommodation, from a blend of apartamento ‘apartment’ and hotel.

apartment n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a suite of rooms forming one residence in a building containing a number of these; a flat.

- a block of apartments.

- (apartments) a private suite of rooms in a very large house: the Imperial apartments.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a private suite of rooms): from French appartement, from Italian appartamento, from appartare ‘to separate’, from a parte ‘apart’.

apartment building (also apartment block or chiefly US apartment house) n. a block of apartments.

apartment hotel n. NORTH AMERICAN a hotel with furnished suites of rooms including kitchen facilities, available for long-term or short-term rental.

apathetic adj. showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern: an apathetic electorate.

<DERIVATIVES> apathetically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from APATHY, on the pattern of pathetic.

apathy /apəθi/ n. [mass noun] lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern: widespread apathy among students.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French apathie, via Latin from Greek apatheia, from apathēs ‘without feeling’, from a- ‘without’ + pathos ‘suffering’.

apatite /apətt/ n. [mass noun] a widely occurring pale green to purple mineral, consisting of calcium phosphate with some fluorine, chlorine, and other elements. It is used in the manufacture of fertilizers.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coined in German from Greek apatē ‘deceit’ (from the mineral's diverse forms and colours).

apatosaurus /əpatəsrəs/ n. a huge herbivorous dinosaur of the late Jurassic period, with a long neck and tail. Formerly called BRONTOSAURUS.

<INFO> Genus Apatosaurus (formerly Brontosaurus), infraorder Sauropoda, order Saurischia.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek apatē ‘deceit’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

APB abbr. US all-points bulletin.

APC abbr. armoured personnel carrier.

ape n. 1 a large primate that lacks a tail, including the gorilla, chimpanzees, orang-utan, and gibbons.

<INFO> Families Pongidae and Hylobatidae.

- used in names of macaque monkeys with short tails, e.g. Barbary ape.

- (in general use) any monkey.

2 an unintelligent or clumsy person.

3 ARCHAIC an inferior imitator or mimic: cunning is but the ape of wisdom.

■ v. [with obj.] (apes, aping, aped) imitate (someone or something), especially in an absurd or unthinking way: new architecture can respect the old without aping its style.

<PHRASES>

□ go ape (or VULGAR SLANG, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN apeshit) INFORMAL become very angry or excited.

<DERIVATIVES> apelike adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English apa, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aap and German Affe.

APEC abbr. Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, a regional economic forum established in 1989, including the US, Japan, China, Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Thailand.

Apeldoorn /ap(ə)ldn/ a town in the east central Netherlands; pop. 155,600 (est. 2002). It is the site of the summer residence of the Dutch royal family.

Apelles /əpεliz/ (4th century BC), Greek painter. He is now known only from written sources, but was highly acclaimed throughout the ancient world.

apeman n. (pl. apemen) an extinct apelike primate believed to be related or ancestral to present-day humans.

Apennines /apnnz/ a mountain range running 1,400 km (880 miles) down the length of Italy, from the north-west to the southern tip of the peninsula.

aperçu /apεsju/ n. (pl. aperçus) a comment or brief reference which makes an illuminating or entertaining point.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, past participle of apercevoir ‘perceive’.

aperient /əpərənt/ MEDICINE adj. (chiefly of a drug) used to relieve constipation.

■ n. a drug used to relieve constipation.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin aperient- ‘opening’, from aperire.

aperiodic adj. TECHNICAL not periodic; irregular.

- [PHYSICS] denoting a potentially oscillating or vibrating system (such as an instrument with a pointer) that is damped to prevent oscillation or vibration.

<DERIVATIVES> aperiodicity n.

aperitif /əpεrtif əpεrtif/ n. an alcoholic drink taken before a meal to stimulate the appetite.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French apéritif, from medieval Latin aperitivus, based on Latin aperire ‘to open’.

aperture /apətə -tj()ə/ n. an opening, hole, or gap.

- a space through which light passes in an optical or photographic instrument, especially the variable opening by which light enters a camera.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin apertura, from apert- ‘opened’, from aperire ‘to open’.

aperture priority n. [mass noun] [PHOTOGRAPHY] a system used in some automatic cameras in which the aperture is selected by the user and the appropriate shutter speed is controlled automatically. Compare with SHUTTER PRIORITY.

apery /epəri/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the action of imitating the behaviour or manner of someone, especially in an absurd or unthinking way.

apetalous /epεt(ə)ləs ə-/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a flower) having no petals.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from modern Latin apetalus, from Greek apetalos ‘leafless’ (from a- ‘without’ + petalon ‘leaf’) + -OUS.

Apex /epεks/ n. [mass noun] a system of reduced fares for scheduled airline flights and railway journeys which must be booked and paid for before a certain period in advance of departure.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Advance Purchase Excursion.

apex /epεks/ n. (pl. apexes or apices /epsiz/) 1 the top or highest part of something, especially one forming a point: the apex of the roof | FIGURATIVE the central bank is at the apex of the financial system.

- [GEOMETRY] the highest point in a plane or solid figure, relative to a base line or plane.

- [BOTANY] the growing point of a shoot.

2 the highest point of achievement; a climax: the apex of his career was in 1966 when he hoisted aloft the World Cup for England.

3 [MOTOR RACING] the point in turning a corner when the vehicle is closest to the edge of the track.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] reach a high point or climax.

2 [with obj.] [MOTOR RACING] turn (a corner) very close to the edge of the track.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, ‘peak, tip’.

Apgar score /apə/ n. MEDICINE a measure of the physical condition of a newborn infant. It is obtained by adding points (2, 1, or 0) for heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, response to stimulation, and skin coloration; a score of ten represents the best possible condition.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Virginia Apgar (1909–74), the American anaesthesiologist who devised this method of assessment in 1953.

aphasia /əfezə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inability (or impaired ability) to understand or produce speech, as a result of brain damage. Compare with APHONIA.

<DERIVATIVES> aphasic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek, from aphatos ‘speechless’, from a- ‘not’ + phanai ‘speak’.

aphelion /aphilən/ n. (pl. aphelia /-lə/) [ASTRONOMY] the point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is furthest from the sun: Mars is at aphelion. The opposite of PERIHELION.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: alteration of modern Latin aphelium (by substitution of the Greek inflection -on), from Greek aph' hēlion ‘from the sun’.

apheresis /εfəriss/ n. [mass noun] (plural aphereses /-siz/) 1 [LINGUISTICS] omission of the initial sound of a word, as when he is is pronounced he's.

2 MEDICINE a technique by which a particular substance or component is removed from the blood, the main volume being returned to the body.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via late Latin from Greek aphairesis, from aphairein ‘take away’, from apo ‘from’ + hairein ‘take’.

aphesis /afss/ n. [mass noun] [LINGUISTICS] the gradual loss of an unstressed vowel at the beginning of a word (e.g. of e from esquire to form squire).

<DERIVATIVES> aphetic /əfεtk/ adj. aphetically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek, literally ‘letting go’, from apo ‘from’ + hienai ‘let go, send’.

aphicide /efsd/ n. an insecticide used against aphids.

aphid /efd/ n. a small bug which feeds by sucking sap from plants; a blackfly or greenfly. Aphids reproduce rapidly, sometimes producing live young without mating, and large numbers can cause extensive damage to plants.

<INFO> Superfamily Aphidoidea, suborder Homoptera.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from aphides, plural of APHIS.

aphis /efs/ n. (pl. aphides /-diz/) an aphid, especially one of the genus Aphis (which includes the common greenfly and blackfly).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek, perhaps a misreading of koris ‘bug’ (interpreting the characters κoρ ‘kor’ as αφ ‘aph’).

aphonia /efənə ə-/ (also aphony /af(ə)ni/) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inability to speak through disease of or damage to the larynx or mouth. Compare with APHASIA.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek aphōnia, from aphōnos ‘voiceless’, from a- ‘without’ + phōnē ‘voice’.

aphorism /afərz(ə)m/ n. a pithy observation which contains a general truth.

- a concise statement of a scientific principle, typically by a classical author.

<DERIVATIVES> aphorist n. aphoristic adj. aphoristically adv. aphorize (also aphorise) v.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French aphorisme or late Latin aphorismus, from Greek aphorismos ‘definition’, from aphorizein ‘define’.

aphrodisiac /afrədzak/ n. a food, drink, or other thing that stimulates sexual desire: power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

■ adj. of the nature of an aphrodisiac; stimulating sexual desire: the aphrodisiac effects of ylang-ylang oil.

<DERIVATIVES> aphrodisiacal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek aphrodisiakos, from aphrodisios, from Aphroditē (see APHRODITE).

Aphrodisias /afrədsəs/ an ancient city of western Asia Minor, site of a temple dedicated to Aphrodite. Now in ruins, it is situated 80 km (50 miles) west of Aydin, in modern Turkey.

Aphrodite /afrədti/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the goddess of beauty, fertility, and sexual love. She is variously described as the daughter of Zeus and Dione, or as being born from the sea. Roman equivalent VENUS.

<ORIGIN> Greek, literally ‘foam-born’, from aphros ‘foam’.

aphtha /afθə/ n. (pl. aphthae /afθi/) MEDICINE a small ulcer occurring in groups in the mouth or on the tongue.

- [mass noun] a condition in which such ulcers occur.

<DERIVATIVES> aphthous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via Latin from Greek, connected with haptein ‘set on fire’.

API abbr. [COMPUTING] application programming interface.

Apia /apə/ the capital of Samoa; pop. 71,000 (est. 2002).

apian /epən/ adj. relating to bees.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin apianus, from apis ‘bee’.

apiary /epəri/ n. (pl. apiaries) a place where bees are kept; a collection of beehives.

<DERIVATIVES> apiarian adj. apiarist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin apiarium, from apis ‘bee’.

apical /epk(ə)l ap-/ adj. 1 TECHNICAL relating to or denoting an apex.

2 [PHONETICS] (of a consonant) formed with the tip of the tongue at or near the front teeth or the alveolar ridge, for example th or trilled r.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin apex, apic- (see APEX) + -AL.

apices plural form of APEX.

Apicomplexa /epkmplεksə/ another term for SPOROZOA.

apiculture /epkltə/ n. technical term for BEE-KEEPING.

<DERIVATIVES> apicultural adj. apiculturist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin apis ‘bee’ + CULTURE, on the pattern of words such as agriculture.

apiece adv. to, for, or by each one of a group (used after a noun or an amount): we sold 385 prints at £10 apiece.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from A^1 + PIECE.

Apis /αps ap-/ [EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY] a god depicted as a bull, symbolizing fertility and strength in war.

apish /ep/ adj. 1 resembling or likened to an ape.

2 foolish or silly.

<DERIVATIVES> apishly adv. apishness n.

aplanat /aplənat/ n. [PHYSICS] a reflecting or refracting surface which is free from spherical aberration.

<DERIVATIVES> aplanatic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Greek aplanētos, from a- ‘not’ + planan ‘wander’.

aplasia /əplezə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the failure of an organ or tissue to develop or to function normally.

<DERIVATIVES> aplastic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + Greek plasis ‘formation’.

aplastic anaemia n. [mass noun] MEDICINE deficiency of all types of blood cell caused by failure of bone marrow development.

aplenty adj. [postpositive] in abundance: there is passion aplenty in the events described.

aplomb /əplm/ n. [mass noun] self-confidence or assurance, especially when in a demanding situation: Diana passed the test with aplomb.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘perpendicularity, steadiness’): from French, from à plomb ‘according to a plumb line’.

apnoea /apniə/ (US apnea) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE temporary cessation of breathing, especially during sleep: thousands suffer from sleep apnoea.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek apnoia, from apnous ‘breathless’.

apo- /apə/ prefix 1 away from: apocrine.

- separate: apocarpous.

2 [ASTRONOMY] denoting the furthest point in the orbit of a body in relation to the primary: apolune. Compare with PERI-.

<ORIGIN> from Greek apo ‘from, away, quite, un-’.

Apoc. abbr.

- Apocalypse.

- Apocrypha.

apocalypse /əpkəlps/ n. 1 an event involving destruction or damage on a catastrophic scale: the apocalypse of World War II.

2 (often the Apocalypse) the complete final destruction of the world, as described in the biblical book of Revelation.

- (the Apocalypse) (especially in the Vulgate Bible) the book of Revelation.

<ORIGIN> Old English, via Old French and ecclesiastical Latin from Greek apokalupsis, from apokaluptein ‘uncover, reveal’, from apo- ‘un-’ + kaluptein ‘to cover’.

apocalyptic adj. describing or prophesying the complete destruction of the world: the apocalyptic visions of ecologists.

- momentous or catastrophic: the struggle between the two countries is assuming apocalyptic proportions.

- of or resembling the biblical Apocalypse: apocalyptic imagery.

<DERIVATIVES> apocalyptically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun denoting the writer of the Apocalypse, St John): from Greek apokaluptikos, from apokaluptein ‘uncover’ (see APOCALYPSE).

apocarpous /apəkαpəs/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a flower, fruit, or ovary) having distinct carpels that are not joined together. Often contrasted with SYNCARPOUS.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from APO- + Greek karpos ‘fruit’ + -OUS.

apochromat /apəkrəmat/ n. [PHYSICS] a lens or lens system that reduces spherical and chromatic aberration.

<DERIVATIVES> apochromatic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from APO- + CHROMATIC.

apocope /əpkəpi/ n. [mass noun] [LINGUISTICS] omission of the final sound of a word, as when cup of tea is pronounced as cuppa tea.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin, from Greek apokoptein ‘cut off’, from apo- ‘from’ + koptein ‘to cut’.

Apocr. abbr. Apocrypha.

apocrine /apəkrn -krn/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to or denoting multicellular glands which release some of their cytoplasm in their secretions, especially the sweat glands associated with hair follicles in the armpits and pubic regions. Compare with ECCRINE.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from APO- + Greek krinein ‘to separate’.

Apocrypha /əpkrfə/ plural n. [treated as sing. or plural] biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of Scripture.

- (apocrypha) writings or reports not considered genuine.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin apocrypha (scripta) ‘hidden (writings)’, from Greek apokruphos, from apokruptein ‘hide away’.

apocryphal adj. (of a story or statement) of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true.

- of or belonging to the Apocrypha.

<DERIVATIVES> apocryphally adv.

apodictic /apədktk/ (also apodeictic /-dktk/) adj. FORMAL clearly established or beyond dispute.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via Latin from Greek apodeiktikos, from apodeiknunai ‘show off, demonstrate’.

apodosis /əpdəss/ n. (pl. apodoses /-siz/) [GRAMMAR] the main clause of a conditional sentence (e.g. I would agree in if you asked me I would agree). Often contrasted with PROTASIS.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via late Latin from Greek, from apodidonai ‘give back’.

apodous /apədəs/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] without feet or having only rudimentary feet.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek apous, apod- ‘footless’ (from a- ‘without’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’) + -OUS.

apogee /apədi/ n. 1 the highest point in the development of something; a climax or culmination: a film which was the apogee of German expressionist cinema.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the point in the orbit of the moon or a satellite at which it is furthest from the earth. The opposite of PERIGEE.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French apogée or modern Latin apogaeum, from Greek apogaion (diastēma), ‘(distance) away from earth’, from apo ‘from’ + gaia, gē ‘earth’.

apolar adj. chiefly [BIOCHEMISTRY] having no electrical polarity.

apolitical adj. not interested or involved in politics: he took an apolitical stance.

Apollinaire /əplnε/ French /aplinεR/ Guillaume (1880–1918), French poet; pseudonym of Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitzki. He coined the term surrealist and was acknowledged by the surrealist poets as their precursor. Notable works: Les Alcools (1913) and Calligrammes (1918).

Apollinaris /əplnεrs/ (c.310–c.390), bishop of Laodicea in Asia Minor. He upheld the heretical doctrine that Christ had a human body and soul but no human spirit, this being replaced by the divine Logos.

<DERIVATIVES> Apollinarian adj. & n.

Apollo 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a god, son of Zeus and Leto and brother of Artemis. He is associated with music, poetic inspiration, archery, prophecy, medicine, pastoral life, and the sun.

2 the American space programme for landing astronauts on the moon. Apollo 8 was the first mission to orbit the moon (1968), Apollo 11 was the first to land astronauts (1969), and five further landings took place up to 1972.

apollo n. (pl. apollos) a large butterfly which has creamy-white wings marked with black and red spots, found chiefly on the mountains of mainland Europe.

<INFO> Parnassius apollo, family Papilionidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from APOLLO.

Apollonian /apələnən/ adj. 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] relating to the god Apollo.

2 relating to the rational, ordered, and self-disciplined aspects of human nature. Compare with DIONYSIAC.

Apollonius^1 /apələnəs/ (c.260–190 BC), Greek mathematician; known as Apollonius of Perga. He examined and redefined conic sections and was the first to use the terms ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola for these classes of curve.

Apollonius^2 /apələnəs/ (3rd century BC), Greek poet and grammarian; known as Apollonius of Rhodes. He is known for his Argonautica, an epic poem in Homeric style dealing with the expedition of the Argonauts.

Apollyon /əpljən/ a name for the Devil (Rev. 9:11).

<ORIGIN> from late Latin (Vulgate), from Greek Apolluōn (translating ABADDON), from apollunai, from apo- ‘quite’ + ollunai ‘destroy’.

apologetic adj. 1 expressing or showing regretful acknowledgement of an offence or failure: she was very apologetic about the whole incident | an apologetic smile.

2 constituting a formal defence or justification of a theory or doctrine.

<DERIVATIVES> apologetically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun denoting a formal justification): from French apologétique or late Latin apologeticus, from Greek apologētikos, from apologeisthei ‘speak in one's own defence’, from apologia (see APOLOGY). The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

apologetics plural n. [treated as sing. or plural] reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine: apologetics for the slave trade are quite out of order.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from APOLOGETIC.

apologia /apələdə/ n. a formal written defence of one's opinions or conduct: an apologia for book-banning.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin (see APOLOGY).

apologist n. a person who offers an argument in defence of something controversial: an enthusiastic apologist for fascism in the 1920s.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French apologiste, from Greek apologizesthai ‘give an account’ (see APOLOGIZE).

apologize (also apologise) v. [no obj.] express regret for something that one has done wrong: I must apologize for disturbing you like this | we apologize to him for our error.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘make a defensive argument’): from Greek apologizesthai ‘give an account’, from apologos (see APOLOGUE). In English the verb has always been used as if it were a direct derivative of apology.

apologue /apəl/ n. a moral fable, especially one with animals as characters.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, via Latin from Greek apologos ‘story’.

apology n. (pl. apologies) 1 a regretful acknowledgement of an offence or failure: we owe you an apology | my apologies for the delay.

- (apologies) a formal expression of regret at being unable to attend a meeting or social function: Robert can't come and sends his apologies.

2 (an apology for) a very poor or inadequate example of: we were shown into an apology for a bedroom.

3 another term for APOLOGIA.

<PHRASES>

□ with apologies to used to introduce a parody or adaptation of a particular person's work: here, with apologies to Rudyard Kipling, is a more apt version of ‘If’.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a formal defence against an accusation): from French apologie, or via late Latin from Greek apologia ‘a speech in one's own defence’, from apo ‘away’ + -logia (see -LOGY).

apolune /apə()lun/ n. [mass noun] the point at which a spacecraft in lunar orbit is furthest from the moon. The opposite of PERILUNE.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from APO- + Latin luna ‘moon’, on the pattern of apogee.

apomict /apəmkt/ n. [BOTANY] a plant which reproduces by apomixis.

apomixis /apəmkss/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] asexual reproduction in plants, in particular agamospermy. Often contrasted with AMPHIMIXIS.

<DERIVATIVES> apomictic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from APO- + Greek mixis ‘mingling’.

apomorphine /apəmfin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a white crystalline compound used as an emetic and in the treatment of parkinsonism.

<INFO> A morphine derivative; chem. formula: C_17H_17NO_2.

aponeurosis /apənjrəss/ n. (pl. aponeuroses /-siz/) [ANATOMY] a sheet of pearly white fibrous tissue which takes the place of a tendon in sheet-like muscles having a wide area of attachment.

<DERIVATIVES> aponeurotic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek aponeurōsis, from apo ‘off, away’ + neuron ‘sinew’ + -OSIS.

apophatic /apəfatk/ adj. [THEOLOGY] (of knowledge of God) obtained through negating concepts that might be applied to him. The opposite of CATAPHATIC.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek apophatikos ‘negative’, from apophasis ‘denial’, from apo- ‘other than’ + phanai ‘speak’.

apophthegm /apəθεm/ (US apothegm) n. a concise saying or maxim; an aphorism.

<DERIVATIVES> apophthegmatic /-θεmatk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French apophthegme or modern Latin apothegma, from Greek, from apophthengesthai ‘speak out’.

apophyllite /əpflt/ n. [mass noun] a mineral occurring typically as white glassy prisms, usually as a secondary mineral in volcanic rocks. It is a hydrated silicate and fluoride of calcium and potassium.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from APO- + Greek phullon ‘leaf’ + -ITE^1.

apophysis /əpfss/ n. (pl. apophyses) 1 [ZOOLOGY] & [ANATOMY] a natural protuberance from a bone, or inside the shell or exoskeleton of a sea urchin or insect, for the attachment of muscles.

2 [BOTANY] a swelling at the base of the sporangium in some mosses.

3 [GEOLOGY] a small offshoot extending from an igneous intrusion into the surrounding rock.

<DERIVATIVES> apophyseal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: modern Latin, from Greek apophusis ‘offshoot’, from apo- ‘from, away’ + phusis ‘growth’.

apoplectic /apəplεktk/ adj. 1 INFORMAL overcome with anger; furious: Mark was apoplectic with rage at the decision.

2 DATED relating to or denoting apoplexy (stroke): an apoplectic attack.

<DERIVATIVES> apoplectically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French apoplectique or late Latin apoplecticus, from Greek apoplēktikos, from apoplēssein ‘disable by a stroke’.

apoplexy /apəplεksi/ n. (pl. apoplexies) [mass noun] 1 DATED unconsciousness or incapacity resulting from a cerebral haemorrhage or stroke.

2 INFORMAL extreme anger: the decision has aroused apoplexy among environmentalists.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French apoplexie, from late Latin apoplexia, from Greek apoplēxia, from apoplēssein ‘disable by a stroke’.

apoprotein /apəprətin/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein which together with a prosthetic group forms a particular biochemical molecule such as a hormone or enzyme.

apoptosis /apə(p)təss/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the death of cells which occurs as a normal and controlled part of an organism's growth or development. Also called PROGRAMMED CELL DEATH.

<DERIVATIVES> apoptotic /-ttk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Greek apoptōsis ‘falling off’, from apo ‘from’ + ptōsis ‘falling, a fall’.

aporia /əprə əprə/ n. an irresolvable internal contradiction or logical disjunction in a text, argument, or theory.

- [mass noun] [RHETORIC] the expression of doubt.

<DERIVATIVES> aporetic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via late Latin from Greek, from aporos ‘impassable’, from a- ‘without’ + poros ‘passage’.

aposematic /apə()smatk/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] denoting coloration or markings serving to warn or repel predators.

<DERIVATIVES> aposematism n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from APO- ‘away from’ + Greek sēma ‘sign’ + -ATIC.

aposiopesis /apə()səpiss/ n. (pl. aposiopeses /-siz/) [mass noun] [RHETORIC] the device of suddenly breaking off in speech.

<DERIVATIVES> aposiopetic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek aposiōpēsis, from aposiōpan ‘be silent’.

apostasy /əpstəsi/ n. [mass noun] the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief or principle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin apostasia, from a late Greek alteration of Greek apostasis ‘defection’.

apostate /apəstet/ n. a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle.

■ adj. abandoning a religious or political belief or principle: an apostate Roman Catholic.

<DERIVATIVES> apostatical adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin apostata, from Greek apostatēs ‘apostate, runaway slave’.

apostatize /əpstətz/ (also apostatise) v. [no obj.] renounce a religious or political belief or principle.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin apostatizare, from apostata (see APOSTATE).

a posteriori /e α pstεrr pstə-/ adj. relating to or denoting reasoning or knowledge which proceeds from observations or experiences to the deduction of probable causes.

- (in general use) of the nature of an afterthought or subsequent rationalization.

■ adv. in a way based on reasoning from known facts or past events rather than by making assumptions or predictions.

- [sentence adv.] with hindsight; as an afterthought.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Latin, ‘from what comes after’.

apostle n. (Apostle) each of the twelve chief disciples of Jesus Christ.

- an important early Christian teacher or pioneering missionary.

- a vigorous and pioneering advocate or supporter of a particular policy, idea, or cause: a man once known as the apostle of free-market economics.

The twelve Apostles were Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (the Less), Judas (or Thaddaeus), Simon, and Judas Iscariot. After the suicide of Judas Iscariot his place was taken by Matthias.

<DERIVATIVES> apostleship n.

<ORIGIN> Old English apostol, via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek apostolos ‘messenger’, from apostellein ‘send forth’.

apostlebird n. a gregarious Australian bird of the mud-nester family, with grey, brown, and black plumage and a robust black bill.

<INFO> Struthidea cinerea, family Corcoracidae (or Grallinidae).

- AUSTRALIAN any of a number of other gregarious birds, especially babblers.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named from the supposed habit of these birds of going about in flocks of twelve.

Apostles' Creed a statement of Christian belief used in the Western Church, dating from the 4th century and traditionally ascribed to the twelve Apostles.

Apostle spoon n. a teaspoon with the figure of an Apostle or saint on the handle.

apostolate /əpstəlet/ n. (chiefly in Roman Catholic contexts) the position or authority of an apostle or a religious leader.

- a group of apostles or religious leaders.

- a form of evangelistic activity or work.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin apostolatus, from apostulus (see APOSTLE).

apostolic /apəstlk/ adj. 1 relating to the Apostles: apostolic writings.

2 relating to the Pope, especially when he is regarded as the successor to St Peter: an apostolic nuncio.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from French apostolique or ecclesiastical Latin apostolicus, from Greek apostolikos, from apostolos (see APOSTLE).

Apostolic Fathers plural n. the Christian leaders immediately succeeding the Apostles.

apostolic succession n. (in Christian thought) the uninterrupted transmission of spiritual authority from the Apostles through successive popes and bishops, taught by the Roman Catholic Church but denied by most Protestants.

apostrophe^1 /əpstrəfi/ n. a punctuation mark (') used to indicate either possession (e.g. Harry's book; boys' coats) or the omission of letters or numbers (e.g. can't; he's; 1 Jan. '99).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting the omission of one or more letters): via late Latin, from Greek apostrophos ‘accent of elision’, from apostrephein ‘turn away’, from apo ‘from’ + strephein ‘to turn’.

<USAGE> Many people are uncertain when to use an apostrophe, and this confusion is probably increased by the fact that it is often omitted in company names (e.g. Barclays Bank). The apostrophe should be used when indicating possession (Sue's cat) or the omission of letters or numbers (he's gone, 1 Jan. '99). It should not be used in forming the plural of ordinary words, as in apple's and pear's or I saw two dog's, or in possessive pronouns such as hers, yours, or theirs. See also usage at its.

apostrophe^2 /əpstrəfi/ n. [RHETORIC] an exclamatory passage in a speech or poem addressed to a person (typically one who is dead or absent) or thing (typically one that is personified).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek apostrophē ‘turning away’, from apostrephein ‘turn away’ (see apostrophe^1).

apostrophize /əpstrəfz/ (also apostrophise) v. [with obj.] 1 [RHETORIC] address an exclamatory passage in a speech or poem to (someone or something).

2 punctuate (a word) with an apostrophe.

apothecaries' measure (also apothecaries' weight) n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL systems of units formerly used in pharmacy for liquid volume (or weight). They were based respectively on the fluid ounce (= 8 drachms or 480 minims) and the ounce troy (= 8 drachms or 24 scruples or 480 grains).

apothecary /əpθk(ə)ri/ n. (pl. apothecaries) ARCHAIC a person who prepared and sold medicines and drugs.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin apothecarius, from Latin apotheca, from Greek apothēkē ‘storehouse’.

apothem /apəθεm/ n. [GEOMETRY] a line from the centre of a regular polygon at right angles to any of its sides.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek apotithenai ‘put aside, deposit’, from apo ‘away’ + tithenai ‘to place’.

apotheosis /əpθəss/ n. (pl. apotheoses /-siz/) 1 the highest point in the development of something; a culmination or climax: his appearance as Hamlet was the apotheosis of his career.

2 the elevation of someone to divine status.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek apotheōsis, from apotheoun ‘make a god of’, from apo ‘from’ + theos ‘god’.

apotheosize /əpθəsz/ (also apotheosise) v. [with obj.] elevate to, or as if to, the rank of a god; idolize.

apotropaic /apətrəpek/ adj. supposedly having the power to avert evil influences or bad luck: apotropaic statues.

<DERIVATIVES> apotropaically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek apotropaios ‘averting evil’, from apotrepein ‘turn away or from’ + -IC.

app n. [COMPUTING] short for application (sense 5).

appal (US appall) v. (appals, appalling, appalled) [with obj.] (usually be appalled) greatly dismay or horrify: bankers are appalled at the economic incompetence of some ministers | (as adj. appalled) Alison looked at me, appalled.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French apalir ‘grow pale’, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + palir ‘to pale’. The original sense was ‘grow pale’, later ‘make pale’, hence ‘horrify’ (late Middle English).

Appalachian Mountains /apəle(t)(ə)n/ (also the Appalachians) a mountain system of eastern North America, stretching from Quebec and Maine in the North to Georgia and Alabama in the South. Its highest peak is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, which rises to 2,037 m (6,684 ft).

Appalachian Trail a 3,200-km (about 2,000-mile) footpath through the Appalachian Mountains from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia.

appalling adj. horrifying; shocking: the cat suffered appalling injuries during the attack.

- INFORMAL shockingly bad; awful: his conduct was appalling.

<DERIVATIVES> appallingly adv.

Appaloosa /apəlusə/ n. a horse of a North American breed having dark spots on a light background.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Opelousas in Louisiana, or Palouse, a river in Idaho.

appanage /ap(ə)nd/ (also apanage) n. HISTORICAL a provision made for the maintenance of the younger children of kings and princes, consisting of a gift of land, an official position, or money.

- ARCHAIC a benefit or right belonging to someone; a perquisite: the appanages of her rank.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, based on medieval Latin appanare ‘provide with the means of subsistence’, from ad- ‘to’ + panis ‘bread’.

apparat /apərαt/ n. [in sing.] chiefly HISTORICAL the administrative system of a communist party, especially in a communist country.

<ORIGIN> Russian, from German, literally ‘apparatus’.

apparatchik /apəratk/ n. (pl. apparatchiks or apparatchiki /-ki/) 1 chiefly HISTORICAL a member of a Communist Party apparat.

2 DEROGATORY or HUMOROUS an official in a large political organization: Tory apparatchiks.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Russian, from apparat (see APPARAT).

apparatus /apəretəs/ n. (pl. apparatuses) 1 [mass noun] the technical equipment or machinery needed for a particular activity or purpose: firemen wearing breathing apparatus.

2 the complex structure of a particular organization or system: the apparatus of government.

3 (also critical apparatus) a collection of notes, variant readings, and other matter accompanying a printed text.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, from apparare ‘make ready for’, from ad- ‘towards’ + parare ‘make ready’.

apparatus criticus /krtkəs/ n. (pl. apparatus critici /krts/)

■ another term for apparatus (sense 3).

apparel n. [mass noun] FORMAL or US clothing.

- (apparels) embroidered ornamentation on ecclesiastical vestments.

■ v. (apparels, apparelling, apparelled; US apparels, appareling, appareled) [with obj.] ARCHAIC clothe (someone): all the vestments in which they used to apparel their Deities.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘make ready or fit’; as a noun ‘furnishings, equipment’): from Old French apareillier, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ (expressing change) + par ‘equal’.

apparent adj. 1 clearly visible or understood; obvious: for no apparent reason she laughed | [with clause] it became apparent that he was talented.

2 seeming real or true, but not necessarily so: his apparent lack of concern.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French aparant, from Latin apparent- ‘appearing’, from the verb apparere (see APPEAR).

apparently adv. [sentence adv.] as far as one knows or can see: the child nodded, apparently content with the promise.

apparent magnitude n. [ASTRONOMY] the magnitude of a celestial object as it is actually measured from the earth. Compare with ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE.

apparent time n. another term for MEAN SOLAR TIME.

apparent wind n. the wind as it is experienced on board a moving sailing vessel, as a result of the combined effects of the true wind and the boat's speed.

apparition n. a ghost or ghostlike image of a person.

- a remarkable or unexpected appearance of someone or something: an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

<DERIVATIVES> apparitional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘the action of appearing’): from Latin apparitio(n-) ‘attendance’, from the verb apparere (see APPEAR).

appeal v. [no obj.] 1 make a serious, urgent, or heartfelt request: police are appealing for information about the incident | she appealed to Germany for political asylum.

- (appeal to) try to persuade someone to do something by calling on (a particular principle or quality): I appealed to his sense of justice.

- [CRICKET] (of the bowler or fielders) call on the umpire to declare a batsman out, traditionally with a shout of ‘How's that?’.

2 [LAW] apply to a higher court for a reversal of the decision of a lower court: he said he would appeal against the conviction | [with obj.] North American they have 48 hours to appeal the decision.

3 be attractive or interesting: the range of topics will appeal to youngsters.

■ n. 1 a serious, urgent, or heartfelt request: his mother made an appeal for the return of the ring.

- [CRICKET] a shout of ‘How's that?’ or a similar call by a bowler or fielder to an umpire to declare a batsman out.

- [mass noun] entreaty: a look of appeal on his face.

- an attempt to persuade someone do to something by calling on a particular principle or quality: an appeal to their common cultural values.

2 [LAW] an application to a higher court for a decision to be reversed: he has 28 days in which to lodge an appeal | [mass noun] the right of appeal.

3 a request for donations to support a charity or cause: a public appeal to raise £120,000.

4 [mass noun] the quality of being attractive or interesting: the popular appeal of football.

<DERIVATIVES> appealer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in legal contexts): from Old French apel (noun), apeler (verb), from Latin appellare ‘to address’, based on ad- ‘to’ + pellere ‘to drive’.

appealable adj. [LAW] (of a case or ruling) able to be referred to a higher court for review.

appeal court n. a court that hears appeals, especially (the Appeal Court) the Court of Appeal.

appealing adj. 1 attractive or interesting: village life is somehow more appealing.

2 showing or expressing a desire for help or sympathy: an appealing look.

<DERIVATIVES> appealingly adv.

appear v. [no obj.] 1 come into sight; become visible or noticeable, especially without apparent cause: smoke appeared on the horizon.

- come into existence or use: the major life forms appeared on earth.

- be published or offered for sale: the paperback edition didn't appear for another two years.

- feature or be shown: the symbol appears in many paintings of the period.

- INFORMAL arrive at a place: by ten o'clock Bill still hadn't appeared.

2 present oneself formally in a court or tribunal: he appeared on six charges of theft.

3 perform publicly in a film, play, etc.: he appeared on Broadway.

4 seem; give the impression of being: [with infinitive] she appeared not to know what was happening | [with clause] it appears unlikely that interest rates will fall.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French apareir, from Latin apparere, from ad- ‘towards’ + parere ‘come into view’.

appearance n. 1 [mass noun] the way that someone or something looks: she checked her appearance in the mirror.

- [count noun] an impression given by someone or something: she read it with every appearance of interest.

2 an act of performing or participating in a public event: he is well known for his television appearances.

3 an act of arriving or becoming visible: the sudden appearance of her daughter startled her.

- a process of coming into existence or use: the appearance of the railway.

<PHRASES>

□ keep up appearances maintain an impression of wealth or well-being.

□ make (or put in) an appearance attend an event briefly, especially as a matter of courtesy.

□ to (or by) all appearances as far as can be seen: to all appearances, it had been a normal day.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French aparance, aparence, from late Latin apparentia, from Latin apparere (see APPEAR).

appearance money n. [mass noun] money paid to secure the appearance of a celebrity, especially a sports player, at a particular event.

appease v. [with obj.] 1 pacify or placate (someone) by acceding to their demands: amendments have been added to appease local pressure groups.

2 assuage or satisfy (a demand or a feeling): we give to charity because it appeases our guilt.

<DERIVATIVES> appeaser n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French apaisier, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + pais ‘peace’.

appeasement n. [mass noun] the action or process of appeasing: a policy of appeasement.

Appel /αp(ə)l/ Karel (1921–2006), Dutch painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. An exponent of abstract expressionism, he is best known for his brightly coloured swirling images.

appellant /əpεl(ə)nt/ n. [LAW] a person who applies to a higher court for a reversal of the decision of a lower court.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French apelant, literally ‘appealing’, from the verb apeler (see APPEAL).

appellate /əpεlət/ adj. [attr.] [LAW] (especially of a court) concerned with or dealing with applications for decisions to be reversed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘appealed against, accused’): from Latin appellatus ‘appealed against’, from the verb appellare (see APPEAL). The current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.

appellation^1 /apəle(ə)n/ n. FORMAL a name or title.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin appellatio(n-), from the verb appellare (see APPEAL).

appellation^2 /apəlasj/ French /apεlasj/ n. an appellation contrôlée.

- a wine bearing such a guarantee.

- the district in which such wine is produced.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of appellation (d'origine) contrôlée.

appellation contrôlée /apəlasj kəntrle/ French /apεlasj ktRəle/ (also appellation d'origine /drin/ French /dRiin/ contrôlée) n. a description awarded to French wine guaranteeing that it was produced in the region specified, using vines and production methods which satisfy the regulating body.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘controlled appellation’.

appellative /əpεlətv/ adj. FORMAL relating to or denoting the giving of a name.

■ n. a common noun, such as ‘doctor’, ‘mother’, or ‘sir’, used as a vocative.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin appellativus, from appellat- ‘addressed’, from the verb appellare (see APPEAL).

appellee /apəli əpεli/ n. [LAW], chiefly US the defending party in a case taken to a higher court.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French appelé, past participle of appeler ‘call’. from Latin appellare ‘to address’ (see APPEAL).

append v. [with obj.] add (something) to the end of a written document: the results of the survey are appended to this chapter.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin appendere ‘hang on’, from ad- ‘to’ + pendere ‘hang’.

appendage n. 1 a thing that is added or attached to something larger or more important: they treat Scotland as a mere appendage of England.

2 [BIOLOGY] a projecting part of an invertebrate or other living organism, with a distinct appearance or function: a pair of feathery appendages through which oxygen is absorbed.

appendant FORMAL adj. attached or added, especially in a subordinate capacity.

■ n. a subordinate person or thing.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in legal contexts): from Old French apendant, from apendre ‘depend on, belong to’, from Latin appendere (see APPEND).

appendectomy /ap(ə)ndεktəmi/ (BRITISH also appendicectomy /əpεndsεktəmi/) n. (pl. appendectomies) a surgical operation to remove the appendix.

appendicitis n. [mass noun] a serious medical condition in which the appendix becomes inflamed and painful.

appendicular /ap(ə)ndkjlə/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to a limb or limbs.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin appendicula ‘small appendage’, diminutive of appendix, + -AR^1.

appendix n. (pl. appendices or appendixes) 1 [ANATOMY] a tube-shaped sac attached to and opening into the lower end of the large intestine in humans and some other mammals. In humans the appendix is small and has no known function, but in rabbits, hares, and some other herbivores it is involved in the digestion of cellulose. Also called VERMIFORM APPENDIX.

2 a section or table of subsidiary matter at the end of a book or document.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from Latin, from appendere ‘hang upon’ (see APPEND).

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 17th cent.

apperception n. [mass noun] [PSYCHOLOGY], DATED the mental process by which a person makes sense of an idea by assimilating it to the body of ideas he or she already possesses.

<DERIVATIVES> apperceptive adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French aperception or modern Latin aperceptio(n-), from Latin ad- ‘to’ + percipere ‘perceive’.

appertain /apəten/ v. [no obj.] 1 (appertain to) relate to; concern: the answers generally appertain to improvements in standard of service.

2 be appropriate or applicable: the institutional arrangements which appertain under the system.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French apertenir, from late Latin appertinere, from ad- ‘to’ + Latin pertinere ‘to pertain’.

appestat /apstat/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] the region of the hypothalamus of the brain which is believed to control a person's appetite for food.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from APPETITE, probably on the pattern of thermostat.

appetency /apt(ə)nsi/ (also appetence) n. (pl. appetencies) RARE a longing or desire.

- a natural tendency or affinity.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin appetentia, from appetere ‘seek after’ (see APPETITE).

appetite n. a natural desire to satisfy a bodily need, especially for food: he has a healthy appetite | [mass noun] they suffered from loss of appetite.

- a strong desire or liking for something: her appetite for life.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French apetit (modern appétit), from Latin appetitus ‘desire for’, from appetere ‘seek after’, from ad- ‘to’ + petere ‘seek’.

appetitive /əpεttv/ adj. characterized by a natural desire to satisfy bodily needs: the appetitive behaviour of animals.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French appétitif or medieval Latin appetitivus, from appetire ‘seek after’ (see APPETITE).

appetizer (also appetiser) n. a small dish of food or a drink taken before a meal or the main course of a meal to stimulate one's appetite.

appetizing (also appetising) adj. stimulating one's appetite: the appetizing aroma of sizzling bacon.

<DERIVATIVES> appetizingly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French appétissant, irregular formation from appétit (see APPETITE).

Appian Way /apən/ the principal road southward from Rome in classical times, named after the censor Appius Claudius Caecus, who in 312 BC built the section to Capua; it was later extended to Brindisi. Latin name VIA APPIA.

applaud v. [no obj.] show approval or praise by clapping: the crowd whistled and applauded | [with obj.] his speech was loudly applauded.

- [with obj.] show strong approval of (a person or action); praise: Jill applauded the decision.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin applaudere, from ad- ‘to’ + plaudere ‘to clap’, reinforced by French applaudir.

applause n. [mass noun] approval or praise expressed by clapping: they gave him a round of applause.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin applausus, from the verb applaudere (see APPLAUD).

applause line n. US a statement in a political speech calculated to win a favourable response from an audience: an urgent plea for health-care reform is still a reliable applause line.

apple n. 1 the round fruit of a tree of the rose family, which typically has thin green or red skin and crisp flesh.

- used in names of unrelated fruits or other plant growths that resemble apples in some way, e.g. custard apple, oak apple.

2 (also apple tree) the tree bearing apples, with hard pale timber that is used in carpentry and to smoke food.

<INFO> Genus Malus, family Rosaceae: numerous hybrids and cultivars.

<PHRASES>

□ the apple never falls far from the tree PROVERB salient family characteristics are usually inherited.

□ the apple of one's eye a person of whom one is extremely fond and proud. [<ORIGIN> originally denoting the pupil of the eye, considered to be a globular solid body, extended as a symbol of something cherished.]

□ apples and oranges NORTH AMERICAN (of two people or things) irreconcilably or fundamentally different.

□ apples and pears BRITISH RHYMING SLANG stairs.

□ a rotten (or bad) apple INFORMAL a bad or corrupt person in a group, especially one whose behaviour is likely to have a detrimental influence on the others. [<ORIGIN> with reference to the effect that a rotten apple has on fruit with which it is in contact.]

□ she's apples AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL used to indicate that everything is in good order and there is nothing to worry about: ‘Is the fire safe?’ ‘Yeah, she's apples.’. [<ORIGIN> from apples and spice or apples and rice, rhyming slang for ‘nice’.]

□ upset the apple cart spoil a plan or disturb the status quo.

<ORIGIN> Old English æppel, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch appel and German Apfel.

apple butter n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a paste of spiced stewed apple used as a spread or condiment, typically made with cider.

apple-cheeked adj. (of a person) having round rosy cheeks.

apple green n. [mass noun] a bright green.

Apple Isle (also Apple Island) Australian informal name for TASMANIA.

<DERIVATIVES> Apple Islander n.

<ORIGIN> so named because it is a region popularly associated with apple-growing.

applejack n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN an alcoholic drink distilled from fermented cider.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from APPLE + JACK^1.

apple-knocker n. US INFORMAL a person who picks or sells apples.

- DEROGATORY an ignorant or unsophisticated person.

apple pie n. 1 a pie made with apples.

2 [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN used to represent a cherished ideal of homeliness: to say I'm fed up with the Olympics is like being against motherhood and apple pie.

<PHRASES>

□ apple-pie bed a bed which, as a practical joke, has been made with one of the sheets folded back on itself so that a person's legs cannot be stretched out.

□ apple-pie order perfect order or neatness: everything was in apple-pie order.

□ as American as apple pie NORTH AMERICAN typically American in character.

apple-polisher n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a toady.

<DERIVATIVES> apple-polishing n.

applesauce n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL nonsense: Oh, applesauce! I will be glad when it's all over.

applet /aplt/ n. [COMPUTING] a very small application, especially a utility program performing one or a few simple functions.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of APPLICATION and -LET.

Appleton Sir Edward Victor (1892–1965), English physicist. He discovered a region of ionized gases (the Appleton layer) in the atmosphere above the Heaviside or E layer, and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1947.

applewood n. (applewoods) [mass noun] the timber of the apple tree.

appley adj. (especially of white wine) smelling or tasting of apples.

appliance n. 1 a device or piece of equipment designed to perform a specific task: electrical and gas appliances.

2 a fire engine.

3 [mass noun] BRITISH the action or process of bringing something into operation: the appliance of science could increase crop yields.

applianced adj. US (of a kitchen) having or fitted with appliances.

applicable adj. relevant or appropriate: the same considerations are equally applicable to accident claims.

<DERIVATIVES> applicability n. applicably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘compliant’): from Old French, or from medieval Latin applicabilis, from the verb applicare (see APPLY).

applicant n. a person who makes a formal application for something, especially a job.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from APPLICATION + -ANT.

application n. 1 a formal request to an authority: an application for leave | [mass noun] licences are available on application | [as modifier] an application form.

2 [mass noun] the action of putting something into operation: the application of general rules to particular cases | [count noun] massage has far-reaching medical applications.

- practical use or relevance: this principle has no application to the present case.

3 [mass noun] the action of applying something to a surface: paints suitable for application on fabric | [count noun] a fresh application of make-up.

- a medicinal substance applied to the skin.

4 [mass noun] sustained effort; hard work: the job takes a great deal of patience and application.

5 (also application program) [COMPUTING] a program or piece of software designed to fulfil a particular purpose: a database application.

<DERIVATIVES> applicational adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin applicatio(n-), from the verb applicare (see APPLY).

application programming interface n. [COMPUTING] a system of tools and resources in an operating system, enabling developers to create software applications.

applicative /aplketv əplkətv/ adj. relating to or involving the application of a subject or idea; practical or applied: applicative algebra.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin applicat- ‘set close or in contact, fastened to’, from the verb applicare (see APPLY).

applicator n. a device used for inserting something or for applying a substance to a surface.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin applicat- ‘fastened to’ (from the verb applicare) + -OR^1.

applied adj. [attr.] (of a subject of study) put to practical use as opposed to being theoretical: applied chemistry. Compare with PURE.

applied linguistics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of linguistics concerned with practical applications of language studies, for example language teaching, translation, and speech therapy.

appliqué /əplike/ n. [mass noun] ornamental needlework in which pieces of fabric are sewn or stuck on to a larger piece to form a picture or pattern.

■ v. (appliqués, appliquéing, appliquéd) [with obj.] (usually be appliquéd with) sew or stick pieces of fabric on to (a garment or larger piece of fabric) to form pictures or patterns: the coat is appliquéd with exotic-looking cloth | (as adj. appliquéd) 19th-century appliquéd silks.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, past participle of appliquer ‘apply’, from Latin applicare (see APPLY).

apply v. (applies, applying, applied) 1 [no obj.] make a formal application or request: you need to apply to the local authority for a grant | [with infinitive] a number of people have applied to vote by proxy.

- put oneself forward formally as a candidate for a job: she had applied for a number of positions.

2 [no obj.] be applicable or relevant: prices do not apply to public holiday periods | normal rules apply.

- [with obj.] bring or put into operation or use: the oil industry has failed to apply appropriate standards of care.

3 [with obj.] put or spread (a substance) on a surface: the sealer can be applied to new wood.

- use; exert: smooth over with a cloth, applying even pressure.

4 (apply oneself) give one's full attention to a task; work hard.

<DERIVATIVES> applier n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French aplier, from Latin applicare ‘fold, fasten to’, from ad- ‘to’ + plicare ‘to fold’.

appoggiatura /əpdətjərə/ n. (pl. appoggiaturas or appoggiature) [MUSIC] a grace note which delays the next note of the melody, taking half or more of its written time value.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from appoggiare ‘lean upon, rest’.

appoint v. [with obj.] 1 assign a job or role to (someone): she has been appointed to the board | they appointed her as personnel manager.

2 determine or decide on (a time or a place): they appointed a day in May for the meeting.

- ARCHAIC decree: such laws are appointed by God.

3 [LAW] decide the disposition of (property of which one is not the owner) under powers granted by the owner: trustees appoint the capital to the beneficiaries.

<DERIVATIVES> appointee n. appointer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French apointer, from a point ‘to a point’.

appointed adj. 1 (of a time or place) decided on beforehand; designated: she arrived at the appointed time.

2 (of a building or room) equipped or furnished in a specified way: a luxuriously appointed lounge.

appointive adj. NORTH AMERICAN (of a job) relating to or filled by appointment rather than election.

appointment n. 1 an arrangement to meet someone at a particular time and place: she made an appointment with my receptionist.

2 an act of assigning a job or position to someone: his appointment as President.

- a job or position: she took up an appointment as head of communications.

- a person appointed to a job or position.

3 (appointments) furniture or fittings: the room was spartan in its appointments.

<PHRASES>

□ by appointment having previously made an arrangement to do something: visits are by appointment only.

□ by appointment to the Queen (in the UK) used by manufacturers to indicate that their products are sold to the queen and are therefore of guaranteed quality.

□ power of appointment 1 power to select the holder of a particular job or position.

2 [LAW] power to decide the disposal of property, in exercise of a right conferred by the owner.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French apointement, from apointer (see APPOINT).

apport /əpt/ n. a material object produced supposedly by occult means, especially at a seance.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French apport ‘something brought’, from apporter ‘bring to’.

apportion v. [with obj.] divide up and share out: voting power will be apportioned according to contribution.

- assign: they did not apportion blame or liability to any one individual.

<DERIVATIVES> apportionable adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old French apportionner or medieval Latin apportionare, from ad- ‘to’ + portionare ‘divide into portions’.

apportionment n. [mass noun] the action or result of apportioning something: the apportionment of blame.

- the determination of the proportional number of members each US state sends to the House of Representatives, based on population figures.

appose /əpəz/ v. [with obj.] TECHNICAL place (something) side by side with or close to something else: the specimen was apposed to X-ray film.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin apponere, on the pattern of words such as compose, expose.

apposite /apəzt/ adj. apt in the circumstances or in relation to something: an apposite quotation | the observations are apposite to the discussion.

<DERIVATIVES> appositely adv. appositeness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin appositus, past participle of apponere ‘apply’, from ad- ‘towards’ + ponere ‘put’.

apposition n. [mass noun] 1 chiefly TECHNICAL the positioning of things side by side or close together.

2 [GRAMMAR] a relationship between two or more words or phrases in which the two units are grammatically parallel and have the same referent (e.g. my friend Sue; the first US president, George Washington).

<DERIVATIVES> appositional adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin appositio(n-), from apponere ‘to apply’ (see APPOSITE).

appositive adj. & n. [GRAMMAR] another term for APPOSITIONAL (see APPOSITION).

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from late Latin appositivus ‘subsidiary’.

appraisal n. an act of assessing something or someone: she carried out a thorough appraisal | [mass noun] the report has been subject to appraisal.

- a formal assessment, typically in an interview, of the performance of an employee over a particular period.

appraisal drilling n. [mass noun] drilling undertaken to establish the quality, quantity, and other characteristics of oil or gas in a newly discovered field.

appraise v. [with obj.] assess the value or quality of: there is a need to appraise existing techniques | (as adj. appraising) she cast an appraising eye over the notes.

- assess the performance of (an employee) formally.

- (of an official valuer) set a price on; value: they appraised the painting at £200,000.

<DERIVATIVES> appraisable adj. appraisee n. appraisement n. appraiser n. appraisingly adv. appraisive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘set a price on’): alteration of APPRIZE, by association with PRAISE. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

<USAGE> The verb appraise is frequently confused with apprise. Appraise means ‘assess (someone or something)’, as in a need to appraise existing techniques, or ‘value’, as in have the gold watch appraised by an expert, while apprise means ‘inform (someone)’ and is often used in the structure apprise someone of something, as in psychiatrists were apprised of his condition People often incorrectly use appraise rather than apprise, as in once appraised of the real facts, there was only one person who showed any opposition.

appreciable adj. large or important enough to be noticed: pupils may have to travel appreciable distances.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French appréciable, from apprécier (see APPRECIATE).

appreciably adv. to an appreciable extent; considerably: profits have grown appreciably over the last four years | [as submodifier] an appreciably higher risk.

appreciate /əpriet -s-/ v. [with obj.] 1 recognize the full worth of: she feels that he does not appreciate her.

- be grateful for (something): I'd appreciate any information you could give me.

2 understand (a situation) fully; grasp the full implications of: they failed to appreciate the pressure he was under | [with clause] I appreciate that you cannot be held totally responsible.

3 [no obj.] rise in value or price: the dollar appreciated against the Deutschmark by 85 per cent.

<DERIVATIVES> appreciator n. appreciatory /-()ət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin appretiat- ‘set at a price, appraised’, from the verb appretiare, from ad- ‘to’ + pretium ‘price’.

appreciation n. [mass noun] 1 recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something: I smiled in appreciation | [count noun] he had a fine appreciation of drawing.

- gratitude: they would be the first to show their appreciation.

- [count noun] a written assessment of an artist or piece of work, typically a favourable one.

2 a full understanding of a situation: the bank's lack of appreciation of their problems.

3 [mass noun] increase in monetary value: the appreciation of the franc against the pound.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French appréciation, from late Latin appretiatio(n-), from the verb appretiare ‘set at a price, appraise’ (see APPRECIATE).

appreciative adj. feeling or showing gratitude or pleasure: an appreciative audience | the team are very appreciative of your support.

<DERIVATIVES> appreciatively adv. appreciativeness n.

apprehend v. [with obj.] 1 arrest (someone) for a crime: a warrant was issued but he has not been apprehended.

2 understand or perceive: we enter a field of vision we could not otherwise apprehend.

- ARCHAIC anticipate (something) with uneasiness or fear.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘grasp, get hold of (physically or mentally)’): from French appréhender or Latin apprehendere, from ad- ‘towards’ + prehendere ‘lay hold of’.

apprehensible adj. ARCHAIC or LITERARY capable of being understood or perceived: a bat whirred, apprehensible only from the displacement of air.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin apprehensibilis, from Latin apprehendere (see APPREHEND).

apprehension n. [mass noun] 1 anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen: he felt sick with apprehension | [count noun] she had some apprehensions about the filming.

2 understanding; grasp: his first apprehension of such large issues.

3 the action of arresting someone: they acted with intent to prevent lawful apprehension.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘learning, acquisition of knowledge’): from late Latin apprehensio(n-), from apprehendere ‘seize, grasp’ (see APPREHEND).

apprehensive adj. 1 anxious or fearful that something bad or unpleasant will happen: he felt apprehensive about going home.

2 RARE relating to perception or understanding.

<DERIVATIVES> apprehensively adv. apprehensiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from French appréhensif or medieval Latin apprehensivus, from Latin apprehendere ‘seize, grasp’ (see APPREHEND).

apprentice n. a person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer, having agreed to work for a fixed period at low wages: [as modifier] an apprentice electrician.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually be apprenticed to) employ (someone) as an apprentice: Edward was apprenticed to a printer.

- [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN serve as an apprentice: she apprenticed with midwives in San Francisco.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aprentis (from apprendre ‘learn’, from Latin apprehendere ‘apprehend’), on the pattern of words ending in -tis, -tif, from Latin -tivus (see -IVE).

apprenticeship n. the position of an apprentice: he served his apprenticeship as a fitter. | the company once offered apprenticeships. | six young chefs have completed their apprenticeships . he's in the second year of his apprenticeship.

appress /əprεs/ v. [with obj.] (usually be appressed) TECHNICAL press (something) close to something else: the two cords can be closely appressed to one another.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin appress- ‘pressed close’, from the verb apprimere, from ad- ‘to’ + premere ‘to press’.

apprise /əprz/ v. [with obj.] inform or tell (someone): I thought it right to apprise Chris of what had happened.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French appris, apprise, past participle of apprendre ‘learn, teach’, from Latin apprehendere (see APPREHEND).

<USAGE> The verb apprise is frequently confused with appraise. See usage at appraise.

apprize /əprz/ (also apprise) ARCHAIC v. [with obj.] 1 put a price on; appraise: the sheriff was to apprize the value of the lands.

2 value highly; esteem: how highly your Highness apprizeth peace.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French aprisier, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + prisier ‘to price, prize’, from pris (see PRICE). The change in the ending in the 17th century was due to association with prize^1.

appro n. (in phrase on appro) BRITISH INFORMAL on approval.

approach v. [with obj.] 1 come near or nearer to (someone or something) in distance or time: the train approached the main line | [no obj.] winter was approaching | (as adj. approaching) an approaching car.

- come close to (a number, level, or standard) in quality or quantity: the population will approach 12 million by the end of the decade.

- ARCHAIC bring nearer: all those changes shall serve to approach him the faster to the blest mansion.

2 speak to (someone) for the first time about a proposal or request: the department had been approached about funding.

3 start to deal with (a situation or problem) in a certain way: one must approach the matter with caution.

■ n. 1 a way of dealing with a situation or problem: we need a whole new approach to the job.

2 an initial proposal or request made to someone: the landowner made an approach to the developer.

- (approaches) DATED behaviour intended to propose personal or sexual relations with someone: feminine resistance to his approaches.

3 [in sing.] the action of coming near or nearer to someone or something in distance or time: the approach of winter.

- (approach to) an approximation to something: the past is impossible to recall with any approach to accuracy.

- the part of an aircraft's flight in which it descends gradually towards an airfield or runway for landing.

- (usually approaches) a road, sea passage, or other way leading to a place: the northern approaches to London.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aprochier, aprocher, from ecclesiastical Latin appropiare ‘draw near’, from ad- ‘to’ + propius (comparative of prope ‘near’).

approachable adj. 1 friendly and easy to talk to: managers should be approachable.

2 (of a place) able to be reached from a particular direction or by a particular means: the site is approachable from the roundabout.

<DERIVATIVES> approachability n.

approach road n. BRITISH a road leading up to a particular place or feature.

approach shot n. [GOLF] a stroke which sends the ball from the fairway on to or nearer the green.

approbate /aprəbet/ v. [with obj.] US RARE approve formally; sanction: a letter approbating the affair.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin approbat- ‘approved’, from the verb approbare, from ad- ‘to’ + probare ‘try, test’ (from probus ‘good’).

approbation n. [mass noun] FORMAL approval or praise: a term of approbation.

<DERIVATIVES> approbative adj. approbatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin approbatio(n-), from the verb approbare (see APPROBATE).

appropriate adj. /əprəprət/ suitable or proper in the circumstances: this isn't the appropriate time or place | a measure appropriate to a wartime economy.

■ v. /əprəpret/ [with obj.] 1 take (something) for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission: the accused had appropriated the property.

2 devote (money or assets) to a special purpose: there can be problems in appropriating funds for legal expenses.

<DERIVATIVES> appropriately adv. [sentence adv.] appropriately, the first recital will be given at the festival appropriateness n. appropriator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin appropriatus, past participle of appropriare ‘make one's own’, from ad- ‘to’ + proprius ‘own, proper’.

appropriation n. 1 [mass noun] the action of appropriating something: dishonest appropriation of property.

- the deliberate reworking of images and styles from earlier, well-known works of art.

2 a sum of money allocated officially for a particular use.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin appropriatio(n-), from appropriare ‘make one's own’ (see APPROPRIATE).

appropriationist n. often DEROGATORY an artist whose work contains reworkings of well-known images by other artists: [as modifier] appropriationist art.

approval n. [mass noun] the action of approving something: the road schemes have been given approval | [count noun] they have delayed the launch to await project approvals.

- the belief that someone or something is good or acceptable: step-parents need to win a child's approval.

<PHRASES>

□ on approval (of goods) supplied on condition that they may be returned if not satisfactory.

□ seal (or stamp) of approval an official statement or indication that something is accepted or regarded favourably.

approve v. [with obj.] 1 officially agree to or accept as satisfactory: the budget was approved by parliament | (as adj. approved) places on approved courses.

- [no obj.] believe that someone or something is good or acceptable: I don't approve of romance | they would not approve.

2 ARCHAIC prove; show: he approved himself ripe for military command.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aprover, from Latin approbare (see APPROBATE). The original sense was ‘prove, demonstrate’, later ‘corroborate, confirm’, hence ‘pronounce to be satisfactory’ (late Middle English).

approved school n. BRITISH HISTORICAL a residential institution for young offenders.

approving adj. showing or feeling approval of someone or something: the wine drew approving comments from across the table.

<DERIVATIVES> approvingly adv.

approx. abbr. approximate(ly).

approximant n. 1 [MATHEMATICS] a function, series, or other expression which is an approximation to the solution of a problem.

2 [PHONETICS] a consonant produced by bringing one articulator (the tongue or lips) close to another without actually touching it, as in English r and w.

approximate adj. /əprksmət/ close to the actual, but not completely accurate or exact: the approximate time of death.

■ v. /əprksmet/ [no obj.] come close or be similar to something in quality, nature, or quantity: a leasing agreement approximating to ownership | [with obj.] reality can be approximated by computational techniques.

- [with obj.] estimate or calculate (a quantity) fairly accurately: I had to approximate the weight of my horse.

<DERIVATIVES> approximative adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the adjectival sense ‘close, similar’): from late Latin approximatus, past participle of approximare, from ad- ‘to’ + proximus ‘very near’. The verb (originally meaning ‘bring close’) arose in the mid 17th century; the current adjectival sense dates from the early 19th cent.

approximately adv. used to show that something is almost, but not completely, accurate or exact; roughly: a journey of approximately two hours.

approximation n. a value or quantity that is nearly but not exactly correct: these figures are only approximations.

- a thing that is similar to something else, but is not exactly the same: the band smashed up their equipment in an approximation of rock star behaviour.

appurtenance /əpət()nəns/ n. (usually appurtenances) an accessory or other item associated with a particular activity or style of living: the appurtenances of consumer culture.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French apertenance, based on late Latin appertinere ‘belong to’ (see APPERTAIN).

appurtenant adj. belonging; pertinent: properties appurtenant to the main building.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French apartenant ‘appertaining’, from the verb apartenir (see APPERTAIN).

APR abbr. annual or annualized percentage rate (used typically of interest on loans or credit).

Apr. abbr. April.

apraxia /əpraksə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inability to perform particular purposive actions, as a result of brain damage.

<DERIVATIVES> apraxic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Apraxie, from Greek apraxia ‘inaction’.

après- /apre/ prefix INFORMAL, HUMOROUS coming after in time, typically specifying a period following an activity: après-shopping.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘after’, used in combinations on the pattern of après-ski.

après-ski n. [mass noun] the social activities and entertainment following a day's skiing.

<DERIVATIVES> après-skiing n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from French, literally ‘after skiing’.

apricot /eprkt/ n. 1 a juicy, soft fruit of an orange-yellow colour resembling a small peach.

- [mass noun] an orange-yellow colour like the skin of a ripe apricot.

2 (also apricot tree) the tree bearing apricots.

<INFO> Prunus armeniaca, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Portuguese albricoque or Spanish albaricoque, from Spanish Arabic al ‘the’ + barqūq (via late Greek from Latin praecoquum, variant of praecox ‘early-ripe’); influenced by Latin apricus ‘ripe’ and French abricot.

April n. the fourth month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the second month of spring: the prison was to close in April | the show opens next April.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin Aprilis.

April Fool n. a person who is the victim of a trick or hoax on April Fool's Day.

- a trick or hoax on April Fool's Day.

April Fool's Day (also April Fools' Day) n. 1 April, in many Western countries traditionally an occasion for playing tricks. This custom has been observed for hundreds of years, but its origin is unknown. Also called ALL FOOLS' DAY.

a priori /e prr α prri/ adj. relating to or denoting reasoning or knowledge which proceeds from theoretical deduction rather than from observation or experience: a priori assumptions about human nature.

■ adv. in a way based on theoretical deduction rather than empirical observation: sexuality may be a factor but it cannot be assumed a priori.

<DERIVATIVES> apriorism /eprərz(ə)m/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Latin, ‘from what is before’.

apron n. 1 a protective garment worn over the front of one's clothes and tied at the back.

- a similar garment worn as part of official dress, as by a bishop or Freemason.

- a sheet of lead worn to shield the body during an X-ray examination.

2 a small area adjacent to another larger area or structure: a tiny apron of garden.

- a hard-surfaced area on an airfield used for manoeuvring or parking aircraft.

- (also apron stage) a projecting strip of stage for playing scenes in front of the curtain.

- US an area of asphalt where the drive of a house meets the road.

- the narrow strip of a boxing ring lying outside the ropes.

3 [GEOLOGY] an extensive outspread deposit of sediment, typically at the foot of a glacier or mountain.

4 [often as modifier] an endless conveyor made of overlapping plates: apron feeders bring coarse ore to a grinding mill.

<PHRASES>

□ tied to someone's apron strings too much under someone's influence and control.

<ORIGIN> Middle English naperon, from Old French, diminutive of nape, nappe ‘tablecloth’, from Latin mappa ‘napkin’. The n was lost by wrong division of a napron; compare with adder^1.

aproned adj. wearing an apron: aproned waiters in white caps.

apropos /aprəpə aprəpə/ prep. with reference to; concerning: she remarked apropos of the initiative, ‘It's not going to stop the abuse’.

■ adj. [predic.] very appropriate to a particular situation: the song feels apropos to a midnight jaunt.

<PHRASES>

□ apropos of nothing having no relevance to any previous discussion or situation.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French à propos ‘(with regard) to (this) purpose’.

apsara /psərα/ (also apsaras /psərαs/) n. (pl. apsaras or apsarases) (in Hindu mythology) a celestial nymph, typically the wife of a heavenly musician.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi apsarā, from Sanskrit apsarās.

apse /aps/ n. 1 a large semicircular or polygonal recess in a church, arched or with a domed roof and typically at the church's eastern end.

2

■ another term for APSIS.

<DERIVATIVES> apsidal /apsd(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in sense 2): from Latin apsis (see APSIS).

apsis /apss/ n. (pl. apsides /-diz/) either of two points on the orbit of a planet or satellite that are nearest to or furthest from the body round which it moves.

<DERIVATIVES> apsidal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting the orbit of a planet): via Latin from Greek apsis, hapsis ‘arch, vault’, perhaps from haptein ‘fasten, join’.

apt adj. 1 appropriate or suitable in the circumstances: the theme could not be more apt.

2 [predic., with infinitive] having a tendency to do something: he is apt to be swayed by irrational considerations.

3 quick to learn: she proved an apt pupil.

<DERIVATIVES> aptly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘suited, appropriate’): from Latin aptus ‘fitted’, past participle of apere ‘fasten’.

apt. abbr. NORTH AMERICAN apartment.

apterous /apt(ə)rəs/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of an insect) having no wings.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek apteros (from a- ‘without’ + pteron ‘wing’) + -OUS.

Apterygota /aptεrətə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a group of insects which includes the bristletails and springtails, having a primitive body form without wings and no distinct larval stage. Compare with PTERYGOTA.

<INFO> Subclass Apterygota, class Insecta (or Hexapoda): several orders, some of which are sometimes excluded from the Insecta.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin Apterygota, from Greek a- ‘not’ + pterugōtos ‘winged’.

apterygote n. [ZOOLOGY] a primitive wingless insect of the group Apterygota, which includes the bristletails and springtails.

aptitude n. a natural ability to do something: children with an aptitude for painting and drawing.

- a natural tendency: his aptitude for deceit.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin aptitudo, from aptus (see APT).

aptitude test n. a test designed to determine a person's ability in a particular skill or field of knowledge.

aptness n. [mass noun] the quality of being appropriate or suitable: the aptness of the punishment.

APU abbr. auxiliary power unit, a device used on aircraft to provide power while on the ground and to start the main engines.

Apuleius /apjliəs/ (born c.123 AD), Roman writer, born in Africa. His writings are characterized by an exuberant and bizarre use of language. Notable works: Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass).

Apulia /əpjulə/ a region of SE Italy, extending into the ‘heel’ of the peninsula; capital, Bari. Italian name PUGLIA.

<DERIVATIVES> Apulian n. & adj.

Apus /epəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a faint southern constellation (the Bird of Paradise), close to the south celestial pole.

<ORIGIN> Latin, denoting a kind of bird, from Greek apous.

Aqaba /akəbə/ Jordan's only port, at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba; pop. 95,600 (est. 2002).

Aqaba, Gulf of a part of the Red Sea extending northwards between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas.

aqua^1 /akwə/ n. [mass noun] a light bluish-green colour; aquamarine.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: abbreviation of AQUAMARINE.

aqua^2 /akwə/ n. [mass noun] (especially in pharmaceutical and commercial use) water.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

aqua- /akwə/ combining form relating to water: aquaculture.

- relating to water sports or aquatic entertainment: aquarobics.

<ORIGIN> from Latin aqua ‘water’.

aqua aura n. [mass noun] quartz or other mineral to which a thin film of gold has been applied, giving it a blue iridescent colour.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from Latin aqua ‘water’ + aura, representing Latin aurum ‘gold’.

aquacade /akwəked/ n. US a spectacle involving swimming and diving, usually with musical accompaniment.

aquaculture n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin aqua ‘water’ + CULTURE, on the pattern of words such as agriculture.

aqua fortis /fts/ n. archaic term for NITRIC ACID.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin, literally ‘strong water’.

aqualung n. a portable breathing apparatus for divers, consisting of cylinders of compressed air strapped on the diver's back, feeding air automatically through a mask or mouthpiece.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally a proprietary name in the US): from Latin aqua ‘water’ + LUNG.

aquamanile /akwəmənli -nili/ n. a water container or ewer, typically in the form of a mammal or bird, used in medieval times.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from late Latin, from Latin aquaemanalis, literally ‘ewer of water’.

aquamarine n. a precious stone consisting of a light bluish-green variety of beryl.

- a light bluish-green colour: [as modifier] the aquamarine water.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin aqua marina ‘seawater’.

aquanaut n. a person who swims under water using an aqualung.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin aqua ‘water’ + Greek nautēs ‘sailor’.

aquaplane n. a board for riding on water, pulled by a speedboat.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a vehicle) slide uncontrollably on a wet surface: the plane is believed to have aquaplaned on the runway.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): from Latin aqua ‘water’ + PLANE^1.

aquaplaning n. [mass noun] the sport of riding on an aquaplane.

aqua regia /ridə/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a mixture of concentrated nitric and hydrochloric acids. It is a highly corrosive liquid able to attack gold and other resistant substances.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Latin, literally ‘royal water’.

aquarelle /akwərεl/ n. [mass noun] the technique of painting with thin, transparent watercolours (as distinct from gouache).

- [count noun] a painting of this kind.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Italian acquarella ‘watercolour’, diminutive of acqua, from Latin aqua ‘water’.

Aquarian /əkwεrən/ [ASTROLOGY] n. a person born under the sign of Aquarius.

■ adj. relating to the sign of Aquarius.

- relating to the Age of Aquarius.

aquarist /akwərst/ n. a person who keeps an aquarium.

aquarium n. (pl. aquaria /-rə/ or aquariums) a transparent tank of water in which live fish and other water creatures and plants are kept.

- a building containing tanks of live fish of different species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, neuter of aquarius ‘of water’, on the pattern of vivarium.

Aquarius /əkwεrəs/ 1 [ASTRONOMY] a large constellation (the Water Carrier or Water Bearer), said to represent a man pouring water from a jar. It contains no bright stars but has several planetary nebulae.

2 [ASTROLOGY] the eleventh sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about 21 January.

- (an Aquarius) a person born when the sun is in this sign.

<PHRASES>

□ Age of Aquarius an astrological age which is about to begin, marked by the precession of the vernal equinox into Aquarius, believed by some to herald worldwide peace and harmony.

<ORIGIN> Latin aquarius ‘of water’, used as a noun to mean ‘water carrier’.

aquarobics /akwərəbks/ plural n. [often treated as sing.] aerobic exercises performed in water.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of AQUA- and AEROBICS.

aquatic /əkwatk -kwt-/ adj. relating to water.

- (of a plant or animal) growing or living in or near water.

■ n. 1 an aquatic plant or animal, especially one suitable for a pond or aquarium.

2 (aquatics) sports played in or on water.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘watery, rainy’): from Old French aquatique or Latin aquaticus, from aqua ‘water’.

aquatint n. a print resembling a watercolour, made by etching a copper plate with nitric acid and using resin and varnish to produce areas of tonal shading.

- [mass noun] the technique or process of producing aquatints.

■ v. [with obj.] produce (a print) in this way.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French aquatinte, from Italian acqua tinta ‘coloured water’.

aquavit /akwəvit/ (also akvavit) n. [mass noun] an alcoholic spirit made from potatoes or other starchy plants.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish akvavit (see AQUA VITAE).

aqua vitae /vti vit/ n. [mass noun] strong alcoholic spirit, especially brandy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, literally ‘water of life’; compare with AQUAVIT, eau de vie, usquebaugh, and WHISKY.

aqueduct /akwdkt/ n. 1 a bridge or viaduct carrying a waterway over a valley or other gap.

- an artificial channel for conveying water.

2 [ANATOMY] a small duct in the body containing fluid.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from obsolete French (now aqueduc), from Latin aquae ductus ‘conduit’, from aqua ‘water’ + ducere ‘to lead’.

aqueduct of Sylvius /slvəs/ n. [ANATOMY] a fluid-filled canal which runs through the midbrain connecting the third and fourth ventricles. Also called CEREBRAL AQUEDUCT.

aqueous /ekwəs/ adj. of or containing water: an aqueous solution of potassium permanganate.

- like water; watery: an eerie, aqueous light.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin aqueus, from Latin aqua ‘water’.

aqueous humour n. [mass noun] the clear fluid filling the space in the front of the eyeball between the lens and the cornea. Compare with VITREOUS HUMOUR.

aquifer /akwfə/ n. a body of permeable rock which can contain or transmit groundwater.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin aqui- (from aqua ‘water’) + -fer ‘bearing’.

Aquila^1 /akwlə əkwlə/ [ASTRONOMY] a small northern constellation (the Eagle), said to represent the eagle that carried Ganymede to Olympus. It contains the bright star Altair, and some rich star fields of the Milky Way.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Aquila^2 /akwlə/ a city in east central Italy, capital of Abruzzi region; pop. 63,121 (2001). Italian name L'AQUILA.

aquilegia /akwlidə/ n. a plant of the buttercup family, which bears showy flowers with backward-pointing spurs. Native to temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, it is widely grown in gardens.

<INFO> Genus Aquilegia, family Ranunculaceae. See also COLUMBINE.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin, probably from Latin aquilegus ‘water-collecting’.

aquiline /akwln/ adj. like an eagle.

- (of a person's nose) hooked or curved like an eagle's beak.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin aquilinus, from aquila ‘eagle’.

Aquinas, St Thomas /əkwnəs/ (1225–74), Italian philosopher, theologian, and Dominican friar; known as the Angelic Doctor.

He is regarded as the greatest figure of scholasticism; one of his most important achievements was the introduction of the work of Aristotle to Christian western Europe. His works include commentaries on Aristotle as well as the Summa Contra Gentiles, intended as a manual for missionaries, and Summa Theologiae, the greatest achievement of medieval systematic theology. He also devised the official Roman Catholic tenets. Feast day, 28 January.

Aquitaine^1 /akwten/ French /akitεn/ a region and former province of SW France, on the Bay of Biscay, centred on Bordeaux. It became an English possession by the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II, and remained so until 1453.

aquiver /əkwvə/ adj. [predic.] quivering; trembling: her face was aquiver with pleasure.

AR abbr.

- US Arkansas (in official postal use).

- Autonomous Republic.

Ar symbol the chemical element argon.

ar- prefix variant spelling of AD-. assimilated before r (as in arrive, arrogate).

-ar^1 suffix 1 (forming adjectives) of the kind specified; relating to: lunar | molecular.

2 forming nouns such as scholar.

<ORIGIN> from Old French -aire, -ier, or from Latin -aris.

-ar^2 suffix forming nouns such as pillar.

<ORIGIN> via Old French from Latin -are (neuter of -aris).

-ar^3 suffix forming nouns such as bursar, exemplar, vicar.

<ORIGIN> from Old French -aire, -ier, or from Latin -arius, -arium.

-ar^4 suffix alteration of -er^1, -or^1 (as in liar, pedlar).

ARA abbr. Associate of the Royal Academy.

Ara /αrə/ [ASTRONOMY] a small and faint southern constellation (the Altar), in the Milky Way near Scorpius.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Arab /arəb erab/ n. 1 a member of a Semitic people, originally from the Arabian peninsula and neighbouring territories, inhabiting much of the Middle East and North Africa.

2 a horse of a breed originating in Arabia, with a distinctive high-set tail.

■ adj. relating to Arabian people: Arab countries.

<ORIGIN> via Latin and Greek from Arabic ‘arab.

arabesque /arəbεsk/ n. 1 [BALLET] a posture in which one leg is extended backwards at right angles, the torso bent forwards, and the arms outstretched, one forwards and one backwards.

2 an ornamental design consisting of intertwined flowing lines, originally found in ancient Islamic art: [as modifier] arabesque scrolls.

3 [MUSIC] a passage or composition with fanciful ornamentation of the melody.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian arabesco ‘in the Arabic style’, from arabo ‘Arab’.

Arabia /ərebə/ (also Arabian peninsula) a peninsula of SW Asia, largely desert, lying between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf and bounded on the north by Jordan and Iraq. The original homeland of the Arabs and the historic centre of Islam, it comprises the states of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Arabian adj. relating to Arabia or its inhabitants.

■ n. HISTORICAL a native or inhabitant of Arabia.

- an Arab horse.

Arabian camel n. the domesticated one-humped camel, probably native to the deserts of North Africa and SW Asia. See also DROMEDARY.

<INFO> Camelus dromedarius, family Camelidae.

Arabian Desert the desert in eastern Egypt, between the Nile and the Red Sea. Also called the EASTERN DESERT.

Arabian Gulf another name for PERSIAN GULF.

Arabian Nights a collection of stories and romances written in Arabic, called in full The Arabian Nights' Entertainment. The king of Samarkand has killed all his wives after one night's marriage until he marries Scheherazade, who saves her life by entertaining him with stories. The stories include the tales of Aladdin and Sinbad the Sailor. Also called THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS.

Arabian peninsula another name for ARABIA.

Arabian Sea the north-western part of the Indian Ocean, between Arabia and India.

Arabic n. [mass noun] the Semitic language of the Arabs, spoken by some 150 million people throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

■ adj. relating to the literature or language of Arab people.

Arabic is written from right to left in a cursive script of twenty-eight consonants, the vowels being indicated by additional signs. The classical or literary language is based largely on that of the Koran; colloquial Arabic has many dialects. The script has been adapted for various languages, including Persian, Urdu, Malay, and (formerly) Turkish.

<DERIVATIVES> Arabicization (also Arabicisation) n. Arabicize (also Arabicise) v.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Latin arabicus from Greek arabikos, from Araps, Arab- ‘Arab’, from the Arabic (see ARAB).

arabica /ərabkə/ n. 1 [mass noun] coffee or coffee beans from the most widely grown coffee plant.

2 the bush that produces these beans, native to the Old World tropics.

<INFO> Coffea arabica, family Rubiaceae. See also ROBUSTA.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Latin, feminine of arabicus (see ARABIC).

Arabic numeral n. any of the numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Arabic numerals reached western Europe (replacing Roman numerals) through Arabia by about AD 1200 but probably originated in India.

arabinose /arəbnəz -s/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a sugar of the pentose class which is a constituent of many plant gums.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ARABICA + -IN^1 + -OSE^2.

arabis /arəbs/ n. a low-growing herbaceous plant which typically bears white or pink flowers, frequently grown in rock gardens. Also called ROCK CRESS or WALL CRESS.

<INFO> Genus Arabis, family Cruciferae.

<ORIGIN> via medieval Latin from Greek, feminine of Araps, Arab- (see ARABIC).

Arabism n. 1 [mass noun] Arab culture or identity.

- support for Arab nationalism or political interests.

2 an Arabic linguistic usage, word, or phrase.

<DERIVATIVES> Arabist n. & adj.

Arabize (also Arabise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. Arabized) give (someone or something) an Arab or Arabic character: an Arabized script.

<DERIVATIVES> Arabization n.

arable adj. (of land) used or suitable for growing crops.

- (of crops) able to be grown on such land.

- concerned with growing such crops: arable farming.

■ n. [mass noun] arable land or crops.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin arabilis, from arare ‘to plough’.

Arab League another name for LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES.

Araby /arəbi/ archaic term for ARABIA.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French Arabie, from Latin Arabia, from Greek.

Aracajú /arəkəu/ a port in eastern Brazil, on the Atlantic coast, capital of the state of Sergipe; pop. 460,898 (2000).

aracari /arəsαri arəkαri/ (also araçari /-sαri/) n. (pl. aracaris) a small toucan with a serrated bill, and typically with a green back and wings, yellow underside, and red rump.

<INFO> Genus Pteroglossus, family Ramphastidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: via Portuguese from Tupi arasa'ri.

arachidonic acid /ərakdnk/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a polyunsaturated fatty acid present in animal fats. It is important in metabolism, especially in the synthesis of prostaglandins and leukotrienes, and is an essential constituent of the diet.

<INFO> Alternative name: eicosa-5,8,11,14-enoic acid; chem. formula: C_19H_31COOH.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: arachidonic formed irregularly from arachidic (a saturated fatty acid) from Latin arachis, see ARACHIS OIL, + -ONE + -IC.

arachis oil /arəks/ n. another term for PEANUT OIL.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin arachis, from Greek arak(h)os, -kis, a leguminous plant.

Arachne /ərakni/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a woman of Colophon in Lydia, a skilful weaver who challenged Athene to a contest. Athene destroyed Arachne's work and Arachne tried to hang herself, but Athene changed her into a spider.

<ORIGIN> from Greek arakhnē ‘spider’.

arachnid /əraknd/ [ZOOLOGY] n. an arthropod of the class Arachnida, such as a spider or scorpion.

■ adj. relating to or denoting arachnids.

Arachnida /ərakndə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of chelicerate arthropods that includes spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks. They have become adapted for a terrestrial life and possess both lungs and tracheae, and many have silk or poison glands.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek arakhnē ‘spider’.

arachnoid /əraknd/ adj. like a spider or arachnid.

■ n. (also arachnoid membrane) [ANATOMY] a fine, delicate membrane, the middle one of the three membranes or meninges that surround the brain and spinal cord, situated between the dura mater and the pia mater.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin arachnoides, from Greek arakhnoeidēs ‘like a cobweb’, from arakhnē ‘spider’.

arachnophobia /əraknəfəbə/ n. [mass noun] extreme or irrational fear of spiders.

<DERIVATIVES> arachnophobe n. arachnophobic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: modern Latin, from Greek arakhnē ‘spider’ + -PHOBIA.

Arafat /arəfat/ Yasser (1929–2004), Palestinian statesman, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization 1968–2004 and Palestinian President 1996–2004. He became leader of the new Palestine National Authority in 1994, following the signing of a PLO–Israeli peace accord for which he shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.

Arafura Sea /arəfərə/ a sea lying between northern Australia, the islands of east Indonesia, and New Guinea.

Aragon^1 /arə(ə)n/ an autonomous region of NE Spain, bounded on the north by the Pyrenees and on the east by Catalonia and Valencia; capital, Saragossa. Formerly an independent kingdom, it was united with Catalonia in 1137 and with Castile in 1479. Spanish name Aragón.

aragonite /arə(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] a mineral consisting of calcium carbonate and typically occurring as colourless prisms in deposits from hot springs.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from the place name Aragon^1 + -ITE^1.

aralia /ərelə/ n. a plant of a very diverse group of trees and shrubs native to America and Asia. Several kinds are cultivated for their foliage and tiny flowers, and some are used in herbal medicine.

<INFO> Genus Aralia, family Araliaceae: several species, including the Japanese angelica tree (A. elata).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, of unknown origin.

Aral Sea /arəl/ an inland sea in central Asia, on the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Its area was reduced to two thirds of its original size between 1960 and 1990, after water was diverted for irrigation, with serious consequences for the environment of the area.

Aramaean /arəmiən/ (also Aramean) n. a member of an ancient Aramaic-speaking people inhabiting Aram (modern Syria) and most of Mesopotamia in the 11th–8th centuries BC.

■ adj. relating to Aram or the Aramaeans.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Aramaeus (from Greek Aramaios: see ARAMAIC) + -AN.

Aramaic /arəmek/ n. [mass noun] a branch of the Semitic family of languages, especially the language of Syria used as a lingua franca in the Near East from the 6th century BC. It replaced Hebrew locally as the language of the Jews, and though displaced by Arabic in the 7th century AD, it still has about 200,000 speakers in scattered communities.

■ adj. relating to this language.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek Aramaios ‘of Aram’ (the biblical name of Syria) + -IC.

arame /arəmi/ n. [mass noun] an edible Pacific seaweed with broad brown leaves which is used in Japanese cookery.

<INFO> Ecklonia bicyclis, class Phaeophyceae.

aramid /aramd/ n. any of a class of synthetic polyamides that are formed from aromatic monomers, and yield fibres of exceptional strength and thermal stability.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from AROMATIC + POLYAMIDE.

Aran /ar(ə)n/ adj. [attr.] denoting a type of knitwear or garment with traditional patterns, typically involving raised cable stitch and large diamond designs.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from the ARAN ISLANDS.

Aranda /ərntə arundə/ n. & adj.

■ variant form of ARRERNTE.

araneid /ərend/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an invertebrate of an order that comprises the spiders.

<INFO> Order Araneae, in particular the family Araneidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Araneida (former order name), from aranea ‘spider’.

Aran Islands a group of three islands, Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer, off the west coast of the Republic of Ireland.

Aranyaka /arənjakə/ n. each of a set of Hindu sacred treatises based on the Brahmanas, composed in Sanskrit c.700 BC. Intended only for initiates, the Aranyakas contain mystical and philosophical material and explications of esoteric rites.

Arapaho /ərapəhə/ n. (pl. same or Arapahos) 1 a member of a North American Indian people living chiefly on the Great Plains, especially in Wyoming.

2 [mass noun] the Algonquian language of the Arapho, now almost extinct.

■ adj. relating to the Arapaho or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Crow alappahó, literally ‘many tattoo marks’.

arapaima /arəpmə/ n. a very large edible freshwater fish native to tropical South America.

<INFO> Arapaima gigas, family Osteoglossidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Tupi.

Ararat, Mount /arərat/ a pair of volcanic peaks in eastern Turkey, near the borders with Armenia and Iran. The higher peak, which rises to 5,165 m (16,946 ft), is the traditional site of the resting place of Noah's ark after the Flood (Gen. 8:4).

arational adj. not based on or governed by logical reasoning.

Araucanian /arkenən/ n. 1 a member of a group of American Indian peoples of Chile and adjacent parts of Argentina, including the Mapuche.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Araucanians, constituting a distinct language family sometimes linked to Penutian.

■ adj. relating to or denoting the Araucanians or their language. See also MAPUCHE.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish Araucania, a region in Chile, + -AN.

araucaria /arkεrə/ n. an evergreen conifer of a genus that includes the monkey puzzle, having stiff sharp leaves.

<INFO> Genus Araucaria, family Araucariaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Spanish Arauco, the name of a province of Araucania, Chile.

Arawak /arəwak/ n. (pl. same or Arawaks) 1 a member of a group of native peoples of the Greater Antilles and northern and western South America. They were forced out of the Antilles by the Caribs shortly before Spanish expansion in the Caribbean.

2 [mass noun] any of the languages of the Arawak.

■ adj. relating to the Arawak or their languages.

<ORIGIN> from Carib aruac.

Arawakan /arəwak(ə)n/ adj. denoting or belonging to a widely scattered family of South American Indian languages, most of which are now extinct or nearly so.

■ n. [mass noun] this family of languages.

arb /αb/ n. INFORMAL short for ARBITRAGEUR.

arbalest /αbəlεst/ (also arblast) n. HISTORICAL a crossbow with a special mechanism for drawing back and releasing the string.

<ORIGIN> Old English arblast, from Old French arbaleste, from late Latin arcubalista, from Latin arcus ‘bow’ + ballista (see BALLISTA).

arbiter /αbtə/ n. a person who settles a dispute or has ultimate authority in a matter: the Secretary of State is the final arbiter.

- a person whose views or actions have influence in a particular sphere: an arbiter of taste.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘judge, supreme ruler’.

arbiter elegantiarum /εlantαrəm/ (also arbiter elegantiae /εlant/) n. a judge of artistic taste and etiquette.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘judge of elegance’, used by Tacitus to describe PETRONIUS, arbiter of taste at Nero's court.

arbitrage /αbtrd αbtrα/ [ECONOMICS] n. [mass noun] the simultaneous buying and selling of securities, currency, or commodities in different markets or in derivative forms in order to take advantage of differing prices for the same asset.

■ v. [no obj.] buy and sell assets using arbitrage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting the exercise of individual judgement): from French, from arbitrer ‘give judgement’, from Latin arbitrari (see ARBITRATE). The current sense dates from the late 19th cent.

arbitrageur /αbtraə/ (also arbitrager /αbtrdə/) n. a person who engages in arbitrage.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from arbitrer ‘give judgement’, from Latin arbitrari (see ARBITRATE).

arbitral /αbtr(ə)l/ adj. relating to or resulting from the use of an arbitrator to settle a dispute.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from late Latin arbitralis, from arbiter ‘judge, supreme ruler’.

arbitrament /αbtrəm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] the settling of a dispute by an arbitrator.

- [count noun] an authoritative decision made by an arbitrator.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French arbitrement, from medieval Latin arbitramentum, from arbitrari (see ARBITRATE).

arbitrary /αbt(rə)ri/ adj. 1 based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system: an arbitrary decision.

2 (of power or a ruling body) unrestrained and autocratic in the use of authority: a country under arbitrary government.

3 [MATHEMATICS] (of a constant or other quantity) of unspecified value.

<DERIVATIVES> arbitrarily adv. arbitrariness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘dependent on one's will or pleasure, discretionary’): from Latin arbitrarius, from arbiter ‘judge, supreme ruler’, perhaps influenced by French arbitraire.

arbitrate /αbtret/ v. [no obj.] (of an independent person or body) reach an authoritative judgement or settlement: the board has the power to arbitrate in disputes | [with obj.] the insurance ombudsman arbitrates insurance matters.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin arbitrat- ‘judged’, from arbitrari, from arbiter ‘judge, supreme ruler’.

arbitration n. [mass noun] the use of an arbitrator to settle a dispute.

<PHRASES>

□ go to arbitration use an arbitrator to settle a dispute.

arbitrator n. an independent person or body officially appointed to settle a dispute.

arbitress n. ARCHAIC a female arbiter.

arbor^1 /αbə/ n. an axle or spindle on which something revolves.

- a device holding a tool in a lathe.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French arbre ‘tree, axis’. The spelling change was due to association with Latin arbor ‘tree’.

Arbor Day n. a day dedicated annually to public tree planting in the US, Australia, and other countries. It is usually observed in late April or early May.

<ORIGIN> from Latin arbor ‘tree’.

arboreal /αbrəl/ adj. living in trees: arboreal rodents.

- relating to trees.

<DERIVATIVES> arboreality n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin arboreus, from arbor ‘tree’, + -AL.

arborescent /αbərεs(ə)nt/ adj. chiefly [BOTANY] tree-like in growth or appearance.

<DERIVATIVES> arborescence n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin arborescent- ‘growing into a tree’, from arborescere, from arbor ‘tree’.

arboretum /αbəritəm/ n. (pl. arboretums or arboreta /-tə/) a botanical garden devoted to trees.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, ‘a place with trees’, from arbor ‘tree’.

arboriculture /αb(ə)rkltə αb-/ n. [mass noun] the cultivation of trees and shrubs.

<DERIVATIVES> arboricultural adj. arboriculturist n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin arbor ‘tree’ + CULTURE, on the pattern of words such as agriculture.

Arborio /αbrə/ n. [mass noun] a variety of round-grained rice produced in Italy and used in making risotto.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

arborist /αbərst/ n. a tree surgeon.

arborization /αb(ə)rze(ə)n/ (also aborisation) n. [ANATOMY] a fine branching structure at the end of a nerve fibre.

arbor vitae /αbə vti vit/ n. another term for THUJA.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, literally ‘tree of life’, probably with reference to its medicinal use.

arbour /αbə/ (US arbor) n. a shady garden alcove with the sides and roof formed by trees or climbing plants trained over a framework.

<DERIVATIVES> arboured adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also denoting a lawn or flower bed): from Old French erbier, from erbe ‘grass, herb’, from Latin herba. The phonetic change to ar- (common in words having er- before a consonant) was assisted by association with Latin arbor ‘tree’.

arbovirus /αbə()vrəs/ n. MEDICINE any of a group of viruses which are transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks, or other arthropods. They include the virus of yellow fever.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ar(thropod)-bo(rne) + VIRUS.

Arbus /αbəs/ Diane (1923–71), American photographer. She is best known for her disturbing images of people on the streets of US cities.

Arbuthnot /αbθnət/ John (1667–1735), Scottish physician and writer. His satirical History of John Bull (1712) was the origin of John Bull as the personification of the typical Englishman.

arbutus /αbjutəs αbjtəs/ n. an evergreen tree or shrub of a genus that includes the strawberry tree. See also TRAILING ARBUTUS.

<INFO> Genus Arbutus, family Ericaceae.

<ORIGIN> from Latin.

ARC abbr.

- HISTORICAL (in the UK) Agricultural Research Council.

- MEDICINE Aids-related complex.

arc /αk/ n. 1 a part of a curve, especially a part of the circumference of a circle.

- a shape or structure resembling this: the huge arc of the sky.

- a curving trajectory: he swung his torch in a wide arc.

- [as modifier] [MATHEMATICS] indicating the inverse of a trigonometrical function. [<ORIGIN> from the former method of defining trigonometrical functions by arcs.]

2 a luminous electrical discharge between two electrodes or other points.

3 (in a novel, play, or film) the development or resolution of the narrative or principal theme: his transformation provides the emotional arc of the story.

■ v. (arcs, arcing /αk/, arced /αkt/) [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial of direction] move with a curving trajectory: the ball arced across the room.

2 (usually as n. arcing) form an electric arc: check that switches operate properly with no sign of arcing.

<PHRASES>

□ minute of arc see minute^1 (sense 2).

□ second of arc see second^2 (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the path of a celestial object, especially the sun, from horizon to horizon): via Old French from Latin arcus ‘bow, curve’.

arcade n. 1 a covered passage with arches along one or both sides.

- a covered walk with shops along one or both sides.

- [ARCHITECTURE] a series of arches supporting a wall, or set along it.

2 short for AMUSEMENT ARCADE.

<DERIVATIVES> arcaded adj. arcading n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from Provençal arcada or Italian arcata, based on Latin arcus ‘bow’.

Arcadia /αkedə/ a mountainous district in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. In poetic fantasy it represents a pastoral paradise and in Greek mythology it is the home of Pan.

Arcadian n. a native of Arcadia.

- LITERARY an idealized country dweller.

■ adj. relating to Arcadia.

- LITERARY relating to an ideal pastoral paradise.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin Arcadius, from Greek Arkadia (see ARCADIA).

Arcady /αkədi/ n. LITERARY an ideal rustic paradise.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek Arkadia (see ARCADIA).

arcana /αkenə/ plural n. [treated as sing. or plural] (sing. arcanum) 1 secrets or mysteries: the arcana of his profession.

2 either of the two groups of cards in a tarot pack: the twenty-two trumps (the major arcana) and the fifty-six suit cards (the minor arcana).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, neuter plural of arcanus (see ARCANE).

arcane /αken/ adj. understood by few; mysterious or secret: arcane procedures for electing people.

<DERIVATIVES> arcanely adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin arcanus, from arcere ‘to shut up’, from arca ‘chest’.

arc cosine (abbr.: arcos) n. a mathematical function that is the inverse of the cosine function.

Arc de Triomphe /αk də trimf/ French /aRk də tRijf/ a ceremonial arch standing at the top of the Champs-Élysées in Paris, commissioned by Napoleon to commemorate his victories in 1805–6. Inspired by the Arch of Constantine in Rome, it was completed in 1836.

arc eye n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a painful eye condition caused by damage to the cornea from ultraviolet radiation during arc welding.

arch^1 n. a curved symmetrical structure spanning an opening and typically supporting the weight of a bridge, roof, or wall above it.

- an arch forming a monument or ornamental feature: a triumphal arch.

- a shape resembling an arch: the delicate arch of his eyebrows.

- the inner side of the foot.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of place] have the curved shape of an arch: a beautiful bridge that arched over a canal.

- form or cause to form the curved shape of an arch: [no obj.] her eyebrows arched in surprise | [with obj.] she arched her back.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French arche, based on Latin arcus ‘bow’.

arch^2 adj. deliberately or affectedly playful and teasing: a somewhat arch tone of voice.

<DERIVATIVES> archly adv. archness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from ARCH-, by association with the sense ‘rogue’ in combinations such as arch-scoundrel.

arch- combining form chief; principal: archbishop | archdiocese.

- pre-eminent of its kind; out-and-out: arch-enemy.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek arkhi-, from arkhos ‘chief’.

-arch /αk/ combining form (forming nouns) denoting a ruler or leader: monarch.

<ORIGIN> Greek arkhos ‘ruling’, from arkhein ‘to rule’.

archaea /αkiə/ plural n. [BIOLOGY] micro-organisms which are similar to bacteria in size and simplicity of structure but radically different in molecular organization. They are now believed to constitute an ancient group which is intermediate between the bacteria and eukaryotes. Also called ARCHAEBACTERIA.

<DERIVATIVES> archaean adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek arkhaios ‘primitive’.

Archaean /αkiən/ (US Archean) adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the aeon that constitutes the earlier (or middle) part of the Precambrian, in which there was no life on the earth. It precedes the Proterozoic aeon and (in some schemes) is preceded by the Priscoan aeon. Also called THE AZOIC.

- (as n. the Archaean) the Archaean aeon or the system of rocks deposited during it.

The Archaean extended from the origin of the earth (see PRECAMBRIAN) to about 2,500 million years ago. In schemes which include the Priscoan aeon, the Archaean began about 4,000 million years ago.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek arkhaios ‘ancient’ + -AN.

archaebacteria /αkbaktərə/ plural n. (sing. archaebacterium)

■ another term for ARCHAEA.

<DERIVATIVES> archaebacterial adj.

archaeo- /αkə/ combining form relating to archaeology or prehistoric times: archaeoastronomy.

<ORIGIN> from Greek arkhaios ‘ancient’.

archaeoastronomy n. [mass noun] the investigation of the astronomical knowledge of prehistoric cultures. Also called ASTRO-ARCHAEOLOGY.

archaeology (US also archeology) n. [mass noun] the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artefacts and other physical remains.

<DERIVATIVES> archaeologic adj. archaeological adj. archaeologically adv. archaeologist n. archaeologize (also archaeologise) v.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘ancient history’): from modern Latin archaeologia, from Greek arkhaiologia ‘ancient history’, from arkhaios ‘ancient’. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

archaeomagnetism n. [mass noun] magnetism possessed by components of clay and rocks which have in the past been heated above a certain temperature. The orientation and intensity of this remanent magnetism was fixed by the earth's magnetic field when the material cooled, and can be used to study the earth's magnetism and as a method of geological and archaeological dating.

<DERIVATIVES> archaeomagnetic adj.

archaeometry /αkmətri/ n. [mass noun] the application of scientific techniques to the dating of archaeological remains.

<DERIVATIVES> archaeometric adj.

archaeopteryx /αkptərks/ n. the oldest known fossil bird, of the late Jurassic period. It had feathers, wings, and hollow bones like a bird, but teeth, a bony tail, and legs like a small coelurosaur dinosaur.

<INFO> Archaeopteryx lithographica, subclass Archaeornithes.

<ORIGIN> from ARCHAEO- ‘ancient’ + Greek pterux ‘wing’.

archaic /αkek/ adj. very old or old-fashioned: prisons are run on archaic methods.

- (of a word or a style of language) no longer in everyday use but sometimes used to impart an old-fashioned flavour.

- of an early period of art or culture, especially the 7th–6th centuries BC in Greece: the archaic temple at Corinth.

<DERIVATIVES> archaically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French archaïque, from Greek arkhaikos, from arkhaios, from arkhē ‘beginning’.

archaism /αkez(ə)m/ n. a thing that is very old or old-fashioned, especially an archaic word or style of language or art: conscious archaisms inspired by French harpsichord music.

- [mass noun] the use or conscious imitation of archaic styles or features in language or art.

<DERIVATIVES> archaistic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin archaismus, from Greek arkhaismos, from arkhaizein ‘imitate archaic styles’, from arkhaios ‘ancient’, from arkhē ‘beginning’.

archaize /αkez/ (also archaise) v. [with obj.] give (an artistic work) an old-fashioned flavour by using archaic words or styles.

- [no obj.] use archaic words or styles in an artistic work.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek arkhaizein, from arkhaios ‘ancient’ (see ARCHAEAN).

archaizing (also archaising) adj. consciously imitating a word or a style of language or art that is very old or old-fashioned.

Archangel /αkend(ə)l/ a port of NW Russia, on the White Sea; pop. 388,000 (est. 2002). It is named after the monastery of the Archangel Michael situated there. Russian name ARKHANGELSK.

archangel /αkend(ə)l αken-/ n. 1 an angel of greater than ordinary rank.

- (in traditional Christian angelology) a being of the eighth-highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy.

2 (also yellow archangel) a yellow-flowered Eurasian dead-nettle found in woodland.

<INFO> Lamiastrum galeobdolon (or Galeobdolon luteum), family Labiatae.

<DERIVATIVES> archangelic adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English, from Anglo-Norman French archangele, via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek arkhangelos, from arkhi- ‘chief’ + angelos ‘messenger, angel’.

archbishop n. the chief bishop responsible for a large district.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from ARCH- ‘chief’ + biscop (see BISHOP), replacing earlier heah-biscop ‘high-bishop’.

archbishopric n. the office of an archbishop.

- an archdiocese.

<ORIGIN> Old English arcebiscoprice (see ARCH-, bishopric).

archboard n. a block of shaped wood at the aft end of the counter at the stern of a ship.

archdeacon n. a senior Christian cleric (in the early Church a deacon, in the modern Anglican Church a priest) to whom a bishop delegates certain responsibilities.

<ORIGIN> Old English arce-, ercediacon, from ecclesiastical Latin archidiaconus, from ecclesiastical Greek arkhidiakonos, from arkhi- ‘chief’ + diakonos (see DEACON).

archdeaconry n. (pl. archdeaconries) the district for which an archdeacon is responsible.

- the residence of an archdeacon.

- the office of an archdeacon.

archdiocese n. the district for which an archbishop is responsible.

<DERIVATIVES> archdiocesan adj.

archduchess n. HISTORICAL 1 the wife or widow of an archduke.

2 a daughter of the Emperor of Austria.

archduke n. a chief duke, in particular (formerly) the son of the Emperor of Austria.

<DERIVATIVES> archducal adj. archduchy n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old French archeduc, from Merovingian Latin archidux, archiduc-, from archi- ‘chief’ + dux, duc- (see DUKE).

arched adj. constructed with or in the form of an arch or arches: high arched windows.

archegonium /αkənəm/ n. (pl. archegonia /-ə/) [BOTANY] the female sex organ in mosses, liverworts, ferns, and most conifers.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek arkhegonos, from arkhe- ‘chief’ + gonos ‘race’.

arch-enemy n. a person who is extremely opposed or hostile to someone or something: the twins were arch-enemies.

- (the Arch-enemy) the Devil.

archenteron /αkεntərn/ n. [ANATOMY] the rudimentary alimentary cavity of an embryo at the gastrula stage.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek arkhē ‘beginning’ + enteron ‘intestine’.

Archer Jeffrey (Howard), Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (b.1940), British writer and Conservative politician. He resigned as an MP after being declared bankrupt, and embarked on a career as a best-selling novelist. He was deputy chairman of the Conservative Party 1985–6, but resigned after a libel case; in 2001 he was found to have committed perjury in that case and was jailed for four years.

archer n. a person who shoots with a bow and arrows, especially at a target as a sport.

- (the Archer) the zodiacal sign or constellation Sagittarius.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French archier, based on Latin arcus ‘bow’.

archerfish n. (pl. same or archerfishes) a freshwater fish that knocks insect prey off overhanging vegetation by shooting water at it from its mouth. It is native to Asia, Australia, and the Philippines.

<INFO> Genus Toxotes, family Toxotidae: several species, in particular T. jaculator.

archery n. [mass noun] shooting with a bow and arrows, especially at a target as a sport.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French archerie, from archier (see ARCHER).

arches plural n. [treated as sing.] used in names of moths with curving arch-like patterns on the wings, such as dark arches.

<INFO> Several genera in the families Noctuidae and Notodontidae.

archetypal /αktp(ə)l/ adj. 1 very typical of a certain kind of person or thing: the archetypal country doctor.

- relating to or denoting an original which has been imitated: archetypal myths.

2 relating to or denoting Jungian archetypes.

3 recurrent as a symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology: an archetypal journey representing the quest for identity.

<DERIVATIVES> archetypally adv.

archetype /αktp/ n. 1 a very typical example of a certain person or thing: he was the archetype of the old-style football club chairman.

- an original which has been imitated; a prototype: an instrument which was the archetype of the early flute.

2 [PSYCHOANALYSIS] (in Jungian theory) a primitive mental image inherited from the earliest human ancestors, and supposed to be present in the collective unconscious.

3 a recurrent symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology: mythological archetypes of good and evil.

<DERIVATIVES> archetypical adj. archetypically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek arkhetupon ‘something moulded first as a model’, from arkhe- ‘primitive’ + tupos ‘a model’.

archidiaconal /αkdak(ə)n(ə)l/ adj. relating to an archdeacon.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin archidiaconalis, from archi- ‘chief’ + diaconalis (see DIACONAL).

archiepiscopal /αkpskəp(ə)l/ adj. relating to an archbishop.

<DERIVATIVES> archiepiscopacy n. (pl. archiepiscopacies) archiepiscopate n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek arkhiepiskopos ‘archbishop’ (from arkhi- ‘chief’ + episkopos ‘bishop’) + -AL.

archil /αtl/ n. archaic spelling of ORCHIL.

Archilochus /αkləkəs/ (8th or 7th century BC), Greek poet. Acclaimed in his day as equal in stature to Homer and Pindar, he wrote satirical verse and fables and is credited with the invention of iambic metre.

archimandrite /αkmandrt/ n. the superior of a large monastery or group of monasteries in the Orthodox Church.

- an honorary title given to a monastic priest.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via ecclesiastical Latin, from ecclesiastical Greek arkhimandritēs, from arkhi- ‘chief’ + mandra ‘monastery’.

Archimedean screw /αkmidən/ n. a device invented by Archimedes for raising water by means of a helix rotating within a tube.

Archimedes /αkmidiz/ (c.287–212 BC), Greek mathematician and inventor, of Syracuse. He is famous for his discovery of Archimedes' principle (legend has it that he made this discovery while taking a bath, and ran through the streets shouting ‘Eureka!’); among his mathematical discoveries are the ratio of the radius of a circle to its circumference, and formulas for the surface area and volume of a sphere and of a cylinder.

<DERIVATIVES> Archimedean adj.

Archimedes' principle [PHYSICS] a law stating that a body totally or partially immersed in a fluid is subject to an upward force equal in magnitude to the weight of fluid it displaces.

archipelago /αkpεləə/ n. (pl. archipelagos or archipelagoes) an extensive group of islands.

- a sea or stretch of water having many islands.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Italian arcipelago, from Greek arkhi- ‘chief’ + pelagos ‘sea’. The word was originally used as a proper name (the Archipelago ‘the Aegean Sea’): the general sense arose because the Aegean Sea is notable for its large numbers of islands.

Archipenko /αkpjεkə/ Alexander (Porfirevich) (1887–1964), Russian-born American sculptor. He adapted cubist techniques to sculpture. Notable works: Walking Woman (1912).

Archipiélago de Colón /arkipjelaə e kələn/ official Spanish name for GALAPAGOS ISLANDS.

architect n. a person who designs buildings and in many cases also supervises their construction.

- a person who is responsible for inventing or realizing a particular idea or project: the architects of the reform programme.

■ v. [with obj.] [COMPUTING] design and configure (a program or system).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French architecte, from Italian architetto, via Latin from Greek arkhitektōn, from arkhi- ‘chief’ + tektōn ‘builder’.

architectonic /αktεktnk/ adj. 1 relating to architecture or architects.

2 (of an artistic composition) having a clearly defined structure, especially one that is artistically pleasing: the painting's architectonic harmony.

■ n. (architectonics) [usually treated as sing.] 1 the scientific study of architecture.

2 musical, literary, or artistic structure.

<DERIVATIVES> architectonically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via Latin from Greek arkhitektonikos, from arkhitektōn (see ARCHITECT).

architecture n. [mass noun] 1 the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings.

- the style in which a building is designed and constructed, especially with regard to a specific period, place, or culture: Georgian architecture.

2 the complex or carefully designed structure of something: the chemical architecture of the human brain.

- the conceptual structure and logical organization of a computer or computer-based system.

<DERIVATIVES> architectural adj. architecturally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin architectura, from architectus (see ARCHITECT).

architrave /αktrev/ n. 1 (in classical architecture) a main beam resting across the tops of columns.

2 the moulded frame around a doorway or window.

- a moulding round the exterior of an arch.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Italian, from archi- ‘chief’ + -trave from Latin trabs, trab- ‘a beam’.

archive /αkv/ n. (usually archives) a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people: [as modifier] a section of archive film.

- the place where historical documents or records are kept.

- a complete record of the data in part or all of a computer system, stored on an infrequently used medium.

■ v. [with obj.] place or store (something) in an archive.

- [COMPUTING] transfer (data) to a less frequently used storage medium such as magnetic tape.

<DERIVATIVES> archival adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘place where records are kept’): from French archives (plural), from Latin archiva, archia, from Greek arkheia ‘public records’, from arkhē ‘government’. The verb dates from the late 19th cent.

archivist /αkvst/ n. a person who maintains and is in charge of archives.

archivolt /αkvəlt/ n. a band of mouldings round the lower curve of an arch.

- the lower curve of an arch from impost to impost of the columns.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French archivolte or Italian archivolto, based on Latin arcus ‘bow, arch’ + volvere ‘to roll’.

archlute n. a bass lute with an extended neck which supports unstopped bass strings.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French archiluth, from archi- ‘chief’ + luth ‘lute’.

archon /αkən/ n. each of the nine chief magistrates in ancient Athens.

<DERIVATIVES> archonship n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek arkhōn ‘ruler’, noun use of the present participle of arkhein ‘to rule’.

archosaur /αkəs/ n. [ZOOLOGY] & [PALAEONTOLOGY] a reptile of a large group that includes the dinosaurs and pterosaurs and is represented today only by the crocodilians.

<INFO> Subdivision Archosauria, subclass Diapsida.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from modern Latin Archosauria, from Greek arkhos ‘chief’ or arkhōn ‘ruler’ + -SAUR.

archpriest n. a chief priest.

arch-rival n. the chief rival of a person, team, or organization.

archway n. a curved structure forming a passage or entrance.

-archy /αki/ combining form (forming nouns) denoting a type of rule or government, corresponding to nouns ending in -arch: monarchy.

<ORIGIN> representing Greek arkh(e)ia ‘government, leadership’, formed as -ARCH: see -y^3.

arc lamp (also arc light) n. a light source using an electric arc.

arco /αkə/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) played on a violin or other stringed instrument using the bow. Often contrasted with PIZZICATO.

arcology /αklədi/ n. (pl. arcologies) an ideal integrated city contained within a massive vertical structure, allowing maximum conservation of the surrounding environment.

<ORIGIN> 1969: blend of ARCHITECTURE and ECOLOGY.

arcos abbr. arc cosine.

arc sine (abbr.: arcsin) n. a mathematical function that is the inverse of the sine function.

arc tangent (abbr.: arctan) n. a mathematical function that is the inverse of the tangent function.

Arctic adj. 1 relating to the regions around the North Pole: an Arctic explorer.

- (of animals or plants) living or growing in the region around the North Pole.

2 (arctic) INFORMAL (of weather conditions) very cold.

■ n. 1 (the Arctic) the regions around the North Pole.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a thick waterproof overshoe extending to the ankle or above.

3 (arctic) a drab-coloured hairy butterfly of the arctic and subarctic regions of the New World.

<INFO> Genus Oenis, subfamily Satyrinae, family Nymphalidae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin arcticus, articus, from Greek arktikos, from arktos ‘bear, Ursa Major, pole star’.

Arctic Circle the parallel of latitude 66° 33′ north of the equator. It marks the northernmost point at which the sun is visible on the northern winter solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun can be seen on the northern summer solstice.

Arctic fox n. a small fox with a thick coat that turns white in winter, found on the tundra of North America and Eurasia.

<INFO> Alopex lagopus, family Canidae.

Arctic hare n. a hare whose coat turns white in winter, found in the arctic areas of North America.

<INFO> Lepus arcticus, family Leporidae; sometimes treated as the same species as the mountain hare of Eurasia.

Arctic Ocean the sea that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. Much of the sea is covered with pack ice throughout the year.

Arctic tern n. a red-billed tern which breeds in the Arctic and adjacent areas, migrating to Antarctic regions to overwinter.

<INFO> Sterna paradisaea, family Sternidae.

Arctogaea /αktədiə/ (US Arctogea) [ZOOLOGY] a major zoogeographical area comprising the Palaearctic, Nearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental regions.

<DERIVATIVES> Arctogaean adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek arktos ‘northern’ + gaia ‘earth’.

arctophile /αktəfl/ n. a person who collects or is very fond of teddy bears.

<DERIVATIVES> arctophilia n. arctophilist /αktflst/ n. arctophily /αktfli/ n.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Greek arctos ‘bear’ + -PHILE.

Arcturus /αktjərəs/ [ASTRONOMY] the fourth-brightest star in the sky, and the brightest in the constellation Boötes. It is an orange giant.

<ORIGIN> from Greek arktos ‘bear’ + ouros ‘guardian’ (because of its position in line with the tail of Ursa Major).

arcuate /αkjət/ adj. TECHNICAL shaped like a bow; curved.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin arcuatus, past participle of arcuare ‘to curve’, from arcus ‘bow, curve’.

arcus senilis /αkəs snls/ n. MEDICINE a narrow opaque band encircling the cornea, common in old age.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘senile bow’.

arc welding n. [mass noun] a technique in which metals are welded using the heat generated by an electric arc.

-ard suffix forming nouns such as bollard, wizard.

- forming nouns having a depreciatory sense: drunkard | dullard.

<ORIGIN> from Old French, from German -hard ‘hard, hardy’.

Ardennes /αdεn/ a forested upland region extending over parts of SE Belgium, NE France, and Luxembourg. It was the scene of fierce fighting in both world wars.

ardent /αd(ə)nt/ adj. 1 very enthusiastic or passionate: an ardent supporter of the conservative cause.

2 ARCHAIC or LITERARY burning; glowing: the ardent flames.

<DERIVATIVES> ardency n. ardently adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ardant from Latin ardens, ardent-, from ardere ‘to burn’.

Ard Fheis /αd ε/ Irish /αrd e/ n. (pl. Ard Fheiseann) an Irish party political conference.

<ORIGIN> Irish, from ard ‘chief’ + feis ‘convention’.

Ardizzone /αdzəni/ Edward (Jeffrey Irving) (1900–79), British artist, best known as an illustrator and writer of children's books. He was appointed an official war artist in the Second World War.

Ardnamurchan /αdnəmək(ə)n/ a peninsula on the coast of Highland region in western Scotland.

ardour /αdə/ (US ardor) n. [mass noun] great enthusiasm or passion: the rebuff did little to dampen his ardour.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin ardor, from ardere ‘to burn’.

arduous /αdjəs/ adj. involving or requiring strenuous effort; difficult and tiring: an arduous journey.

<DERIVATIVES> arduously adv. arduousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin arduus ‘steep, difficult’ + -OUS.

are^1 second person singular present and first, second, third person plural present of BE.

are^2 /α/ n. HISTORICAL a metric unit of measurement, equal to 100 square metres.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Latin area (see AREA).

area n. 1 a region or part of a town, a country, or the world: rural areas of Britain | people living in the area are at risk.

- [with modifier] a space allocated for a specific use: the dining area.

- a part of an object or surface: areas of the body.

- (the area) [SOCCER] short for PENALTY AREA.

2 the extent or measurement of a surface or piece of land: the area of a triangle | [mass noun] the room is twelve square feet in area.

3 a subject or range of activity or interest: the key areas of science.

4 [usually as modifier] a sunken enclosure giving access to the basement of a building: the area steps.

<DERIVATIVES> areal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘space allocated for a specific purpose’): from Latin, literally ‘vacant piece of level ground’.

area code n. another term for DIALLING CODE.

area dean n. see dean^1 (sense 1).

areaway n. NORTH AMERICAN a sunken enclosure giving access to the basement of a building.

- a passageway between buildings.

areca /arkə ərikə/ (also areca palm) n. a tropical Asian palm.

<INFO> Genus Areca, family Palmae: several species, in particular A. catechu.

<ORIGIN> via Portuguese from Malayalam áekka.

areca nut n. the astringent seed of an areca palm (Areca catechu), which is often chewed with betel leaves. Also called BETEL NUT.

areg plural form of erg^2.

areligious /erldəs/ adj. not influenced by or practising religion: areligious rationalism was the prevalent trend.

arena n. 1 a level area surrounded by seating, in which sports, entertainments, and other public events are held.

2 a place or scene of activity, debate, or conflict: he has re-entered the political arena.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin harena, arena ‘sand, sand-strewn place of combat’.

arenaceous /arneəs/ adj. [GEOLOGY] consisting of sand or sand-like particles.

- [BIOLOGY] (of animals or plants) living or growing in sand.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin arenaceus, from arena, harena ‘sand’.

arenavirus /ərinəvrəs/ n. MEDICINE any of a group of RNA viruses (including that causing Lassa fever) which appear under an electron microscope to contain sand-like granules.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Latin arenosus ‘sandy’ (from arena ‘sand’) + VIRUS.

Arendt /αrənt/ Hannah (1906–75), German-born American philosopher and political theorist. A pupil of Heidegger, she established her reputation as a political thinker with one of the first works to propose that Nazism and Stalinism had common roots. Notable works: The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963).

aren't contraction are not: they aren't here.

- am not (only used in questions): I'm right, aren't I? | why aren't I being given a pay rise?

<USAGE> The contraction aren't is used to mean ‘am not’ in questions, as in I'm right, aren't I? This is now standard, although it was first used as a hypercorrect form, following stigmatization of the earlier form ain't, a contraction of amn't. Outside questions, aren't used to mean ‘am not’ is incorrect (e.g. I aren't going is clearly wrong). The more logical form amn't is now non-standard and restricted to Scottish, Irish, and dialect use.

areola /əriələ/ n. (pl. areolae /-li/) [ANATOMY] a small circular area, in particular the ring of pigmented skin surrounding a nipple.

- [BIOLOGY] any of the small spaces between lines or cracks on a leaf or an insect's wing.

- MEDICINE a reddened patch around a spot or papule.

<DERIVATIVES> areolar adj. areolate adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘small space or interstice’): from Latin, literally ‘small open space’, diminutive of area (see AREA).

areole /εrəl/ n. [BIOLOGY] an areola, especially a small area bearing spines or hairs on a cactus.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French aréole, from Latin (see AREOLA).

areology /εrlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of the planet Mars.

<DERIVATIVES> areological adj. areologist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ARES + -OLOGY.

Areopagus /arpəəs/ (in ancient Athens) a hill on which was sited the highest governmental council and later a judicial court.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Areios pagos ‘hill of Ares’; the name for the site came to denote the court itself.

Arequipa /arεkipə/ a city in the Andes of southern Peru; pop. 733,900 (est. 2002).

Ares /εriz/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the Greek war god, son of Zeus and Hera. Roman equivalent MARS.

arête /ərεt əret/ n. a sharp mountain ridge.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Latin arista ‘ear of corn, fish bone, spine’.

arf (usually arf arf) exclam. used to imitate or represent laughter or a dog's bark.

'arf n., predeterminer, pronoun, adj., & adv.

■ non-standard spelling of HALF, used to represent southern English (especially Cockney) speech.

argali /α(ə)li/ n. (pl. same) the largest wild sheep, which has massive horns and is found in mountainous areas of Asia.

<INFO> Ovis ammon, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Mongolian.

argan /α(ə)n/ n. an evergreen Moroccan tree or shrub which has hard, heavy wood and yields seeds whose oil is used in cosmetics and cooking.

<INFO> Argania spinosa, family Sapotaceae.

<ORIGIN> Moroccan Arabic, from Berber argān.

Argand diagram /αənd/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a diagram on which complex numbers are represented geometrically using Cartesian axes, the horizontal coordinate representing the real part of the number and the vertical coordinate the complex part.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after J. R. Argand (1768–1822), French mathematician.

Argand lamp n. HISTORICAL an oil or gas lamp fitted with a cylindrical burner which allowed air to pass both inner and outer surfaces of the flame.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: named after Aimé Argand (1755–1803), French physicist.

argent /αd(ə)nt/ adj. LITERARY & [HERALDRY] silver; silvery white: the argent moon.

■ n. [mass noun] [HERALDRY] silver as a heraldic tincture.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting silver coins): via Old French from Latin argentum ‘silver’.

argentiferous /αd(ə)ntf(ə)rəs/ adj. (of rocks or minerals) containing silver.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin argentum ‘silver’ + -FEROUS.

Argentina /αdəntinə/ a republic occupying much of the southern part of South America; pop. 37,812,817 (est. 2002); official language, Spanish; capital, Buenos Aires. Also called THE ARGENTINE /αdəntn -tin/.

Colonized by the Spanish in the 16th century, Argentina declared its independence in 1816. It emerged as a democratic republic in the mid 19th century, but has periodically fallen under military rule. Having long claimed the Falkland Islands, Argentina invaded them in 1982 but was defeated and expelled by British forces.

<DERIVATIVES> Argentine adj. & n. Argentinian adj. & n.

argentine /αd(ə)ntn/ adj. ARCHAIC of or resembling silver.

■ n. a small marine fish with a silvery sheen.

<INFO> Family Argentinidae: two genera and several species, in particular Argentina silus of the North Atlantic.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French argentin, argentine, from argent ‘silver’, from Latin argentum.

Argentine ant n. a small South American ant that has become established in parts of Europe and Africa.

<INFO> Iridomyrmex humilis, family Formicidae.

argillaceous /αdleəs/ adj. [GEOLOGY] (of rocks or sediment) consisting of or containing clay.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin argillaceus (from argilla ‘clay’) + -OUS.

argillite /αdlt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a sedimentary rock that does not split easily, formed from consolidated clay.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin argilla ‘clay’ + -ITE^1.

arginine /αdnin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a basic amino acid which is a constituent of most proteins. It is an essential nutrient in the diet of vertebrates.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HN=C(NH_2)NH(CH_2)3CH(NH_2)COOH.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Arginin, perhaps from Greek arginoeis ‘bright-shining, white’.

Argive /αv -dv/ adj. relating to the ancient city of Argos.

- (especially in Homer) Greek.

■ n. a citizen of Argos.

- (especially in Homer) a Greek person.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Argivus, from Greek Argeios ‘relating to Argos’.

argle-bargle n. [mass noun] 1 copious but meaningless talk or writing; waffle: bureaucratic argle-bargle.

2 another term for ARGY-BARGY.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: reduplication of dialect argle, a late 16th-cent. alteration of ARGUE.

Argo /αə/ (in full Argo Navis) [ASTRONOMY], HISTORICAL a large southern constellation (the ship Argo), which is now divided into the constellations Carina, Puppis, and Vela.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

argol /α(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] tartar obtained from wine fermentation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French argoile, of unknown origin.

argon /αn/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 18, an inert gaseous element of the noble gas group. Argon is the commonest noble gas, making up nearly one per cent of the earth's atmosphere. (Symbol: Ar)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek, neuter of argos ‘idle’, from a- ‘without’ + ergon ‘work’.

argonaut /α(ə)nt/ n. a small floating octopus, the female of which has webbed sail-like arms and secretes a thin coiled papery shell in which the eggs are laid. Also called PAPER NAUTILUS.

<INFO> Genus Argonauta, order Octopoda.

Argonauts /αənts/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a group of heroes who accompanied Jason on board the ship Argo in the quest for the Golden Fleece.

<ORIGIN> argonaut from Greek argonautēs ‘sailor in the ship Argo’.

Argos /αs/ a city in the NE Peloponnese of Greece; pop. 22,289 (1991). One of the oldest cities of ancient Greece, it dominated the Peloponnese and the western Aegean in the 7th century BC.

argosy /αəsi/ n. (pl. argosies) LITERARY a large merchant ship, originally one from Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) or Venice.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: apparently from Italian Ragusea (nave) ‘(vessel) of Ragusa’.

argot /αə/ n. the jargon or slang of a particular group or class: teenage argot.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally denoting the jargon or slang of criminals): from French, of unknown origin.

arguable adj. 1 able to be argued or asserted: [with clause] it was arguable that the bank had no authority to honour the cheques.

2 open to disagreement; not obviously correct: a highly arguable assumption.

arguably adv. [sentence adv.] it may be argued (used to qualify the statement of an opinion or belief): she is arguably the greatest woman tennis player of all time.

argue v. (argues, arguing, argued) 1 [reporting v.] give reasons or cite evidence in support of an idea, action, or theory, typically with the aim of persuading others to share one's view: [with clause] sociologists argue that inequalities in industrial societies are being reduced | [no obj.] he argued for extra resources | [with direct speech] ‘It stands to reason,’ she argued.

- [with obj.] (argue someone into/out of) persuade someone to do or not to do (something) by giving reasons: I tried to argue him out of it.

2 [no obj.] exchange or express diverging or opposite views, typically in a heated or angry way: the two men started arguing in a local pub | FIGURATIVE I wasn't going to argue with a gun | [with obj.] she was too tired to argue the point.

<PHRASES>

□ argue the toss INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH dispute a decision or choice already made.

<DERIVATIVES> arguer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French arguer, from Latin argutari ‘prattle’, frequentative of arguere ‘make clear, prove, accuse’.

argufy /αjf/ v. (argufies, argufying, argufied) [no obj.] HUMOROUS or DIALECT argue or quarrel, typically about something trivial: It won't do to argufy, I tell you.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: fanciful formation from ARGUE; compare with speechify.

argument n. 1 an exchange of diverging or opposite views, typically a heated or angry one: I've had an argument with my father | heated arguments over public spending | [mass noun] there was some argument about the decision.

2 a reason or set of reasons given in support of an idea, action or theory: there is a strong argument for submitting a formal appeal | [with clause] he rejected the argument that keeping the facility would be costly.

3 [MATHEMATICS] & [LOGIC] an independent variable associated with a function or proposition and determining its value. For example, in the expression y = F(x_1, x_2), the arguments of the function F are x_1 and x_2, and the value is y.

4 another term for amplitude (sense 4).

5 [LINGUISTICS] any of the noun phrases in a clause that are related directly to the verb, typically the subject, direct object, and indirect object.

6 ARCHAIC a summary of the subject matter of a book.

<PHRASES>

□ for the sake of argument as a basis for discussion or reasoning.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘process of reasoning’): via Old French from Latin argumentum, from arguere ‘make clear, prove, accuse’.

argumentation n. [mass noun] the action or process of reasoning systematically in support of an idea, action, or theory: lines of argumentation used to support his thesis.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin argumentatio(n-), from argumentat- ‘conducted as an argument’, from argumentari.

argumentative adj. 1 given to arguing: an argumentative child.

2 using or characterized by systematic reasoning: the highest standards of argumentative rigour.

<DERIVATIVES> argumentatively adv. argumentativeness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French argumentatif, -ive or late Latin argumentativus, from argumentari ‘conduct an argument’.

argument from design n. [CHRISTIAN] the argument that God's existence is demonstrable from the evidence of design in the universe.

argus /αəs/ n. 1 (also argus pheasant) a large long-tailed pheasant with generally brown plumage, found in SE Asia and Indonesia.

<INFO> Two species in the family Phasianidae: the great argus (Argusianus argus) and the crested argus (Rheinartia ocellata), which has the longest tail feathers of any bird.

2 a small brown or bluish Eurasian butterfly which has eye-like markings near the wing margins.

<INFO> Aricia and other genera, family Lycaenidae.

3 (also argus fish) a silvery deep-bodied fish with round spots, found throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific region in both fresh and salt water.

<INFO> Scatophagus argus, family Scatophagidae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from Greek Argos, the name of a mythical watchman with a hundred eyes.

Argus-eyed adj. LITERARY vigilant.

argute /αjut/ adj. RARE shrewd.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin argutus ‘made clear, proved, accused’, from arguere.

argy-bargy /αdbαdi αbαi/ n. (pl. argy-bargies) [mass noun] INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH noisy quarrelling or wrangling: a bit of argy-bargy between actor and director | [count noun] an argy-bargy over the price.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally Scots): rhyming jingle based on ARGUE.

argyle /αl/ n. [usually as modifier] a pattern composed of diamonds of various colours on a plain background, used in knitted garments such as sweaters and socks.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Argyll, a family name and a former county of Scotland. The pattern is based on the tartan of the Argyll branch of the Campbell clan.

Argyll and Bute /αl bjut/ a council area in the west of Scotland, created in 1996; administrative centre, Lochgilphead.

Argyllshire a former county on the west coast of Scotland. It was divided between Strathclyde and Highland regions in 1975 and in 1996 became part of Argyll and Bute.

argyrophilic /αdrə()flk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of cells or their contents) readily stained black by silver salts.

<DERIVATIVES> argyrophil adj. argyrophilia n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek arguro- (from arguros ‘silver’) + -philic (see -PHILIA).

arhat /αhat/ n. (in Buddhism and Jainism) a saint of one of the highest ranks.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit, literally ‘meritorious’.

aria /αrə/ n. [MUSIC] a long accompanied song for a solo voice, typically one in an opera or oratorio.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Italian, from Latin aer ‘air’.

Ariadne /aradni/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the daughter of King Minos of Crete and Pasiphaë. She helped Theseus to escape from the Minotaur's labyrinth by giving him a ball of thread, which he unravelled as he went in and used to trace his way out again after killing the Minotaur.

Arian^1 /εrən/ (also Arien) n. a person born under the sign of Aries.

■ adj. relating to a person born under the sign of Aries.

Arian^2 /εrən/ n. an adherent of the doctrine of Arianism.

■ adj. of or concerning Arianism.

-arian suffix (forming adjectives and corresponding nouns) having a concern or belief in a specified thing: humanitarian | vegetarian.

<ORIGIN> from the Latin suffix -arius.

Arianism n. [mass noun] [CHRISTIAN] the main heresy denying the divinity of Christ, originating with the Alexandrian priest Arius (c.250–c.336). Arianism maintained that the son of God was created by the Father and was therefore neither coeternal nor consubstantial with the Father.

arid /ard/ adj. 1 (of land or a climate) having little or no rain; too dry or barren to support vegetation: the arid plains north of Cape Town.

2 lacking in interest, excitement, or meaning: his arid years in suburbia.

<DERIVATIVES> aridity n. aridly adv. aridness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French aride or Latin aridus, from arere ‘be dry or parched’.

aridisol /ərdsl/ n. [GEOLOGY] a soil of an order comprising typically saline or alkaline soils with very little organic matter, characteristic of arid regions.

Ariel /εrəl/ 1 [ASTRONOMY] a satellite of Uranus discovered in 1851, the twelfth closest to the planet and the fourth largest (diameter 1,160 km).

2 a series of six American and British satellites devoted to studies of the ionosphere and X-ray astronomy (1962-79).

<ORIGIN> the name of a fairy in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

ariel /εrəl/ n. a gazelle found in the Middle East and North Africa.

<INFO> Genus Gazella, family Bovidae: possibly the mountain gazelle (G. gazella) or the dorcas gazelle (G. dorcas).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Arabic ‘aryal.

Aries /εriz/ 1 [ASTRONOMY] a small constellation (the Ram), said to represent the ram whose Golden Fleece was sought by Jason and the Argonauts.

2 [ASTROLOGY] the first sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters at the vernal equinox (about 20 March).

- (an Aries) (plural same) a person born when the sun is in this sign.

<PHRASES>

□ First Point of Aries [ASTRONOMY] the point on the celestial sphere where the path of the sun crosses the celestial equator from south to north in March, marking the zero point of right ascension. Owing to precession of the equinoxes it has moved from Aries into Pisces, and is now approaching Aquarius . Also called VERNAL EQUINOX.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

aright adv. DIALECT correctly; properly: I wondered if I'd heard aright.

<ORIGIN> Old English on riht, ariht (see a-2 ‘in’, right).

aril /arl/ n. [BOTANY] an extra seed covering, typically coloured and hairy or fleshy, e.g. the red fleshy cup around a yew seed.

<DERIVATIVES> arillate adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin arillus, of unknown origin; perhaps related to medieval Latin arilli ‘dried grape stones’.

arioso /arəzə -sə/ [MUSIC] n. [mass noun] (especially in opera and oratorio) a style of vocal performance more melodic than recitative but less formal than an aria.

- [count noun] (plural ariosos) a passage in this style.

■ adj. & adv. in such a style or manner.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from ARIA.

Ariosto /arstə/ Ludovico (1474–1533), Italian poet noted for his romantic epic Orlando Furioso (final version 1532).

-arious suffix forming adjectives such as gregarious, vicarious.

<ORIGIN> from the Latin suffix -arius + -OUS.

arise v. (past arose; past participle arisen) [no obj.] 1 (of a problem, opportunity, or situation) emerge; become apparent: new difficulties had arisen.

- come into being; originate: the practice arose in the nineteenth century.

- (arise from/out of) occur as a result of: motorists are liable for damages arising out of accidents.

2 FORMAL or LITERARY get or stand up: he arose at 9.30.

<ORIGIN> Old English ārīsan, from ā- ‘away’ (as an intensifier) + the verb RISE.

arisings plural n. materials forming the secondary or waste products of industrial operations.

Aristarchus^1 /arstαkəs/ (3rd century BC), Greek astronomer; known as Aristarchus of Samos. Founder of an important school of Hellenic astronomy, he was aware of the rotation of the earth around the sun and so was able to account for the seasons.

Aristarchus^2 /arstαkəs/ (c.217–145 BC), Greek scholar; known as Aristarchus of Samothrace. The librarian at Alexandria, he is noted for his editions of the writings of Homer and other Greek authors.

Aristides /arstdiz/ (5th century BC), Athenian statesman and general; known as Aristides the Just. He commanded the Athenian army at the battle of Plataea.

Aristippus /arstpəs arstpəs/ (late 5th century BC), Greek philosopher; known as Aristippus the Elder. He was a pupil of Socrates and is generally considered the founder of the Cyrenaic school.

aristo /ərstə/ n. (pl. aristos)

■ informal term for ARISTOCRAT.

aristocracy n. (pl. aristocracies) (usually the aristocracy) [treated as sing. or plural] the highest class in certain societies, typically comprising people of noble birth holding hereditary titles and offices: members of the aristocracy.

- a form of government in which power is held by the nobility.

- a state in which governing power is held by the nobility.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French aristocratie, from Greek aristokratia, from aristos ‘best’ + -kratia ‘power’. The term originally denoted the government of a state by its best citizens, later by the rich and well born, hence the sense ‘nobility’, regardless of the form of government (mid 17th century).

aristocrat /arstəkrat ərst-/ n. a member of the aristocracy.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French aristocrate (a word of the French Revolution), from aristocratie (see ARISTOCRACY).

aristocratic adj. of, belonging to, or typical of the aristocracy: an aristocratic family.

<DERIVATIVES> aristocratically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French aristocratique, from Greek aristokratikos, from aristokratia (see ARISTOCRACY).

Aristophanes /arstfəniz/ (c.450–c.385 BC), Greek comic dramatist. His surviving plays are characterized by exuberant language and the satirization of leading contemporary figures. Notable works: Lysistrata, the Birds, the Frogs.

Aristotelian /arstətilən/ adj. relating to Aristotle or his philosophy.

■ n. a student of Aristotle or an adherent of his philosophy.

Aristotelian logic n. [mass noun] the traditional system of logic expounded by Aristotle and developed in the Middle Ages, concerned chiefly with deductive reasoning as expressed in syllogisms.

Aristotle /arstt(ə)l/ (384–322 BC), Greek philosopher and scientist.

A pupil of Plato and tutor to Alexander the Great, he founded a school (the Lyceum) outside Athens. He is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western thought and his work was central to Islamic and Christian medieval philosophy. His surviving works cover a vast range of subjects, including logic, ethics, metaphysics, politics, natural science, and physics.

Aristotle's lantern n. [ZOOLOGY] a conical structure of calcareous plates and muscles supporting the rasping teeth of a sea urchin.

Arita /əritə/ n. [mass noun] a type of Japanese porcelain characterized by asymmetric decoration.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Arita, a town in Japan, where it is made.

arithmetic n. /ərθmətk/ [mass noun] the branch of mathematics dealing with the properties and manipulation of numbers: the laws of arithmetic.

- the use of numbers in counting and calculation: arithmetic had never been her strong point.

■ adj. /arθmεtk/ [attr.] relating to arithmetic: arithmetic calculations.

<DERIVATIVES> arithmetical adj. arithmetically adv. arithmetician n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French arismetique, based on Latin arithmetica, from Greek arithmētikē (tekhnē) ‘(art) of counting’, from arithmos ‘number’.

arithmetic logic unit n. a unit in a computer which carries out arithmetic and logical operations.

arithmetic mean n. the average of a set of numerical values, as calculated by adding them together and dividing by the number of terms in the set.

arithmetic progression (also arithmetic series) n. a sequence of numbers in which each differs from the preceding one by a constant quantity (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.; 9, 7, 5, 3, etc.).

arithmetic unit n. another term for ARITHMETIC LOGIC UNIT.

arithmetize /ərθmətz/ v. [with obj.] express arithmetically; reduce to arithmetical form.

-arium /εrəm/ suffix forming nouns usually denoting a place: planetarium | vivarium.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, neuter of -arius, adjectival ending.

Ariz. abbr. Arizona.

Arizona a state of the south-western US, on the border with Mexico; pop. 5,130,632 (2000); capital, Phoenix. It became the 48th state of the US in 1912.

<DERIVATIVES> Arizonan n. & adj.

Arjuna /αdnə/ [HINDUISM] a Kshatriya prince in the Mahabharata, one of the two main characters in the Bhagavadgita.

ark n. 1 (the ark) (in the Bible) the ship built by Noah to save his family and two of every kind of animal from the Flood; Noah's ark.

- ARCHAIC a ship or boat.

2 short for ARK OF THE COVENANT.

- (also Holy Ark) a chest or cupboard housing the Torah scrolls in a synagogue.

3 (also ark shell) a small bivalve mollusc which attaches itself to rocks with byssus threads.

<INFO> Order Arcoidea: Arca and other genera.

<PHRASES>

□ be out of (or have gone out with) the ark BRITISH INFORMAL be very old-fashioned.

<ORIGIN> Old English ærc, from Latin arca ‘chest’.

Ark. abbr. Arkansas.

Arkansas /αkəns/ a state of the south central US; pop. 2,673,400 (2002); capital, Little Rock. It became the 25th state of the US in 1836.

<DERIVATIVES> Arkansan n. & adj.

Arkhangelsk /arxanilsk/ Russian name for ARCHANGEL.

Ark of the Covenant (also Ark of the Testimony) the wooden chest which contained the tablets of the laws of the ancient Israelites. Carried by the Israelites on their wanderings in the wilderness, it was later placed by Solomon in the Temple at Jerusalem.

arkose /αkəs -z/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a coarse-grained sandstone which is at least 25 per cent feldspar.

<DERIVATIVES> arkosic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, probably from Greek arkhaios ‘ancient’.

Arkwright Sir Richard (1732–92), English inventor and industrialist. In 1767 he patented a water-powered spinning machine capable of producing yarn strong enough to be used as warp.

Arles /αl/ French /aRl/ a city in SE France; pop. 50,453 (1999). It was the capital of the medieval kingdom of Arles, formed in the 10th century by the union of Provence and Burgundy.

Arlington /αltən/ 1 a county in northern Virginia, forming a suburb of Washington. It is the site of the Pentagon.

2 an industrial city in northern Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth; pop. 332,969 (2002).

Arlon /αl/ French /aRl/ a town in SE Belgium, capital of the province of Luxembourg; pop. 24,791 (est. 2000).

arm^1 n. 1 each of the two upper limbs of the human body from the shoulder to the hand: she held the baby in her arms.

- a flexible limb of an invertebrate animal, e.g. an octopus.

- a sleeve of a garment.

- used to refer to the holding of a person's arm in support or companionship: as they walked he offered her his arm | he arrived with a pretty girl on his arm.

- used to refer to something powerful or protective: they have extended the arm of friendship to developing countries.

2 a thing resembling an arm in form or function, in particular:

- a side part of a chair or other seat on which a sitter can rest their arm.

- a narrow strip of water or land projecting from a larger body.

3 a branch or division of a company or organization: the political arm of the separatist group.

- each of the types of troops of which an army is composed, such as infantry or artillery. [<ORIGIN> also understood as a figurative use of arm^2.]

4 [MATHEMATICS] each of the lines enclosing an angle.

<PHRASES>

□ arm in arm (of two or more people) with arms linked.

□ as long as one's (or someone's) arm INFORMAL very long: I have a list of vices as long as your arm.

□ at arm's length 1 away from the body, with one's arm fully extended: I held the telephone at arm's length.

2 avoiding intimacy or close contact: he has long fought to keep the government at arm 's length from big business.

□ cost an arm and a leg INFORMAL be extremely expensive.

□ give one's right arm INFORMAL used to convey how much one would like to have or do something: I'd give my right arm to go with them.

□ the long (or strong) arm of the law the far-reaching power of the law.

□ put the arm on NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL attempt to force or coerce (someone) to do something: she started putting the arm on them for donations.

□ under one's arm between one's arm and one's body: Meryl tucked the papers under her arm.

□ with open arms with great affection or enthusiasm: schools have welcomed such arrangements with open arms.

□ within (or beyond) arm's reach near (or not near) enough to reach by extending one's arm: he came closer, almost within arm's reach | the bookshelf is within arm's reach of my computer.

<DERIVATIVES> armful n. (pl. armfuls) armless adj. armload n.

<ORIGIN> Old English arm, earm, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch arm and German Arm.

arm^2 v. [with obj.] 1 supply or provide with weapons: the security forces are armed with automatic rifles.

- supply or provide with equipment, tools, or other items in preparation or readiness for something: she armed them with brushes and mops.

2 activate the fuse of (a bomb, missile, or other explosive device) so that it is ready to explode.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French armer (verb), from Latin armare, from arma ‘armour, arms’.

armada /αmαdə/ n. a fleet of warships.

- (the Armada or the Spanish Armada) a Spanish naval invasion force sent against England in 1588 by Philip II of Spain. It was defeated by the English fleet and almost completely destroyed by storms off the Hebrides.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Spanish, from armata, feminine past participle of Latin armare ‘to arm’.

armadillo /αmədlə/ n. (pl. armadillos) a nocturnal insectivorous mammal that has large claws for digging and a body covered in bony plates. Armadillos are native to Central and South America and one kind is spreading into the southern US.

<INFO> Family Dasypodidae, order Xenarthra (or Edentata): several genera.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish, diminutive of armado ‘armed man’, from Latin armatus, past participle of armare ‘to arm’.

Armageddon /αməεd(ə)n/ n. (in the New Testament) the last battle between good and evil before the Day of Judgement.

- the place where the Armageddon will be fought.

- a dramatic and catastrophic conflict, especially one seen as likely to destroy the world or the human race: nuclear Armageddon.

<ORIGIN> Greek, from Hebrew har mĕgiddōn ‘hill of Megiddo’ (Rev. 16:16).

Armagh /αmα/ one of the Six Counties of Northern Ireland, since 1973 an administrative district.

- the chief town of Armagh; pop. 15,200 (est. 2002).

Armagnac /αmənjak/ n. [mass noun] a type of brandy traditionally made in Aquitaine in SW France.

<ORIGIN> from the former name of a district in Aquitaine.

Armalite /αməlt/ n. TRADEMARK a type of light automatic rifle.

armament /αməm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] (also armaments) military weapons and equipment.

- the process of equipping military forces for war.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC a military force equipped for war.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘force equipped for war’): from Latin armamentum, from armare ‘to arm’ (see arm^2).

armamentarium /αməmεntεrəm/ n. (pl. armamentaria /-rə/) the medicines, equipment, and techniques available to a medical practitioner.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, ‘arsenal, armoury’.

Armani /αmαni/ Italian /armani/ Giorgio (b.1935), Italian fashion designer.

armature /αmətə -tj()ə/ n. 1 the rotating coil or coils of a dynamo or electric motor.

- any moving part of an electrical machine in which a voltage is induced by a magnetic field.

- a piece of iron or other object acting as a keeper for a magnet.

2 an open framework on which a sculpture is moulded with clay or similar material.

- a framework or formal structure, especially of a literary work: Shakespeare's plots have served as the armature for many novels.

3 [BIOLOGY] the protective covering of an animal or plant.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC armour.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, from Latin armatura ‘armour’, from armare ‘to arm’ (see arm^2). The original sense was ‘armour’, hence ‘protective covering’ (sense 3, early 18th century), later ‘keeper of a magnet’, source of sense 1 (mid 19th century).

armband n. a band worn around a person's upper arm to hold up a shirtsleeve or as a form of identification.

- an inflatable plastic band worn around a person's upper arm as a swimming aid.

arm candy n. INFORMAL a sexually attractive companion accompanying a person, especially a celebrity, at social events.

armchair n. a large, comfortable chair with side supports for a person's arms.

- [as modifier] lacking or not involving practical or direct experience of a particular subject or activity: an armchair traveller.

Armco /αmkə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a very pure soft iron, used in particular for roadside crash barriers.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: acronym from American Rolling Mill Company.

armed adj. 1 equipped with or carrying a firearm or firearms: heavily armed troops.

- involving the use of firearms: armed robbery.

2 [HERALDRY] having claws, a beak, etc. of a specified tincture.

<PHRASES>

□ armed to the teeth formidably armed.

armed forces (also armed services) plural n. a country's army, navy, and air force.

Armenia /αminə/ a landlocked country in the Caucasus of SW Asia; pop. 3,330,099 (est. 2002); official language, Armenian; capital, Yerevan.

The Armenian homeland fell under Turkish rule from the 16th century, and with the decline of the Ottomans was divided between Turkey, Iran, and Russia. In 1915 the Turks forcibly deported 1,750,000 Armenians to the deserts of Syria and Mesopotamia; more than 600,000 were killed or died on forced marches. Russian Armenia was absorbed into the Soviet Union in 1922, gaining independence as a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991.

Armenian /αminən/ n. 1 a native of Armenia, or a person of Armenian descent.

2 [mass noun] the Indo-European language of Armenia, spoken by around 4 million people and written in a distinctive alphabet of thirty-eight letters.

■ adj. relating to Armenia or to the Armenian Church.

Armenian Church (also Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church) an independent Christian Church established in Armenia since c.300 and influenced by Roman and Byzantine as well as Syrian traditions. A small Armenian Catholic Church also exists (see UNIATE).

armhole n. each of two openings in a garment through which the wearer puts their arms.

armiger /αmdə/ n. a person entitled to heraldic arms.

<DERIVATIVES> armigerous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: Latin, literally ‘bearing arms’, from arma ‘arms’ + gerere ‘to bear’.

armillaria /αmlεrə/ n. a fungus of a genus that includes the honey fungus, found chiefly in woodland. Its mycelia can grow for a considerable distance, enabling individuals of parasitic species to invade more than one tree.

<INFO> Genus Armillaria, family Tricholomataceae, class Hymenomycetes: many species, including A. bulbosa, a single individual of which may span several hectares.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin: from Latin armilla ‘bracelet’ (because of the bracelet-like frill on the fruiting bodies).

armillary sphere n. a model of the celestial globe constructed from rings and hoops representing the equator, the tropics, and other celestial circles, and able to revolve on its axis.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin armillaris ‘relating to an armilla’, an astronomical instrument consisting of a hoop fixed in the plane of the equator (sometimes crossed by one in the plane of the meridian), used by the ancient astronomers to show the recurrence of equinoxes and solstices; from Latin armilla ‘bracelet’.

Arminian /αmnən/ adj. relating to the doctrines of Jacobus Arminius (Latinized name of Jakob Hermandszoon, 1560–1609), a Dutch Protestant theologian who rejected the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. His teachings had a considerable influence on Methodism.

■ n. an adherent of Arminian doctrines.

<DERIVATIVES> Arminianism n.

armistice /αmsts/ n. an agreement made by opposing sides in a war to stop fighting for a certain time; a truce.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, or from modern Latin armistitium, from arma ‘arms’ (see arm^2) + -stitium ‘stoppage’.

Armistice Day n. the anniversary of the armistice of 11 November 1918, now replaced by Remembrance Sunday in the UK and Veterans Day in the US.

armlet n. a band or bracelet worn round the upper part of a person's arm.

armlock n. a method of restraining someone by holding their arm tightly behind their back.

armoire /αmwα/ n. a cupboard or wardrobe, typically one that is ornate or antique.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from Old French armarie (see AUMBRY).

armorial /αmrəl/ adj. relating to heraldry or heraldic devices: armorial bearings.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French armoierie (see ARMOURY).

Armorica /αmrkə/ an ancient region of NW France between the Seine and the Loire.

Armorican adj. relating to Armorica.

- [GEOLOGY] another term for HERCYNIAN.

armory^1 /αməri/ n. [mass noun] heraldry.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French armoierie (see ARMOURY).

armour (US armor) n. [mass noun] 1 the metal coverings formerly worn to protect the body in battle: knights in armour | a suit of armour.

2 (also armour plate) the tough metal layer covering a military vehicle or ship to defend it from attack.

- military vehicles collectively: infantry, armour, and logistic units.

3 the protective layer or shell of some animals and plants.

4 a person's emotional, social, or other defences: his armour of self-confidence.

■ v. [with obj.] provide (someone) with emotional, social, or other defences: the knowledge armoured him against her.

<DERIVATIVES> armour-plated adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French armure, from Latin armatura, from armare ‘to arm’ (see arm^2).

armoured (US armored) adj. 1 covered with or protected by armour: armoured vehicles.

2 (of some animals and plants) having a protective layer or shell: armoured fish.

armoured personnel carrier n. an armoured military vehicle used to transport troops.

armourer (US armorer) n. 1 a maker, supplier, or repairer of weapons or armour.

2 an official in charge of the arms of a warship or regiment.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French armurier, from armure (see ARMOUR).

armoury (US armory) n. (pl. armories) 1 a place where arms are kept.

- a supply of arms: Britain's nuclear armoury expanded.

- US a place where arms are manufactured.

2 an array of resources available for a particular purpose: his armoury of comic routines.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a place where militia units drill and train.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘armour’): from Old French armoirie, armoierie, from armoier ‘to blazon’, from arme ‘weapon’ (see ARMS). The change in the second syllable in the 17th century was due to association with ARMOUR.

armpit n. a hollow under the arm at the shoulder. Also called AXILLA.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a place regarded as extremely unpleasant: they call the region the armpit of America.

<PHRASES>

□ up to one's armpits chiefly US deeply involved in a particular unpleasant situation or enterprise: the country is up to its armpits in drug trafficking.

armrest n. a padded or upholstered arm of a chair or other seat on which a sitter can comfortably rest their arm.

arms plural n. 1 weapons; armaments: arms and ammunition | [as modifier] arms exports.

2 distinctive emblems or devices originally borne on shields in battle and now forming the heraldic insignia of families, corporations, or countries.

<PHRASES>

□ a call to arms a call to defend or make ready for confrontation.

□ in arms armed; prepared to fight.

□ lay down (one's) arms cease fighting.

□ take up arms begin fighting.

□ under arms equipped and ready for war or battle.

□ up in arms protesting vigorously about something: teachers are up in arms about new school tests.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French armes, from Latin arma.

arms control n. [mass noun] international disarmament or arms limitation, especially by mutual consent.

arm's-length adj. [attr.] avoiding intimacy or close contact: they maintained an arm's-length relationship.

arms race n. a competition between nations for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons.

Armstrong^1 Edwin Howard (1890–1954), American electrical engineer, inventor of the superheterodyne radio receiver and the frequency modulation (FM) system.

Armstrong^2 (Daniel) Louis (1900–71), American jazz musician; known as Satchmo. A major influence on Dixieland jazz, he was a trumpet and cornet player as well as a bandleader and a distinctive singer.

Armstrong^3 Neil (Alden) (b.1930), American astronaut. He commanded the Apollo 11 mission, during which he became the first man to set foot on the moon (20 July 1969).

arm-wrestling n. [mass noun] a trial of strength in which two people sit opposite each other with one elbow resting on a table, clasp each other's hands, and try to force each other's arm down on to the table.

<DERIVATIVES> arm-wrestle v.

army n. (pl. armies) 1 [treated as sing. or plural] an organized military force equipped for fighting on land: the two armies were in position | [as modifier] army officers.

- (the army) the part of a country's military force trained to fight on land: he joined the army at 16.

2 (an army of/armies of) a large number of people or things: an army of photographers.

<PHRASES>

□ you and whose army? INFORMAL used as an expression of disbelief in someone's ability to carry out a threat: ‘One word to him and I'll have you.’ ‘You and whose army?’.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French armee, from armata, feminine past participle of Latin armare ‘to arm’.

army ant n. a blind nomadic tropical ant that forages in large columns, preying chiefly on insects and spiders. Also called DRIVER ANT.

<INFO> Subfamily Dorylinae, family Formicidae.

army disposal n. Australian term for ARMY SURPLUS.

army issue n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] equipment or clothing supplied by the army.

Army List n. (in the UK) an official list of commissioned officers.

army-navy adj. US denoting the type of shop which specializes in military surplus equipment, or the goods sold there.

army surplus n. [mass noun] goods and equipment which are surplus to the army's requirements: [as modifier] an army surplus store.

army worm n. any of a number of insect larvae which occur in destructive swarms, in particular:

<INFO>

- the caterpillars of some moths, which feed on cereals and other crops and move en masse when the food is exhausted (Spodoptera and other genera, family Noctuidae).

- the small maggots of certain fungus gnats, which move in large numbers within secreted slime (genus Sciara, family Mycetophilidae).

Arne /αn/ Thomas (1710–78), English composer noted for ‘Rule, Britannia’ (whose words are attributed to James Thomson) and for his settings of Shakespearean songs.

Arnel /αnεl/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a synthetic fibre or fabric made from cellulose triacetate.

Arnhem /αnəm/ a town in the eastern Netherlands, situated on the River Rhine, capital of the province of Gelderland; pop. 138,500 (est. 2002). During the Second World War, in September 1944, Allied airborne troops made a landing nearby but were overwhelmed by German forces.

Arnhem Land a peninsula in Northern Territory, Australia whose chief town is Nhulunbuy. In 1976 Arnhem Land was declared an Aboriginal reservation.

arnica /αnkə/ n. a plant of the daisy family which bears yellow, daisy-like flowers, found in cooler regions of the northern hemisphere.

<INFO> Genus Arnica, family Compositae: many species, especially mountain tobacco (A. montana) of central Europe.

- [mass noun] a preparation of the arnica plant used medicinally, especially for the treatment of bruises.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: modern Latin, of unknown origin.

Arno /αnə/ a river which rises in the Apennines of northern Italy and flows westwards 240 km (150 miles) through Florence and Pisa to the Ligurian Sea.

Arnold^1 Sir Malcolm (Henry) (1921–2006), English composer and trumpeter, noted especially for his orchestral works and film scores.

Arnold^2 Matthew (1822–88), English poet, essayist, and social critic. In works such as Culture and Anarchy (1869) he criticized the Victorian age in terms of its materialism, philistinism, and complacency. Notable poems: ‘The Scholar Gipsy’ (1853), ‘Dover Beach’ (1867).

aroha /αrhə/ n. [mass noun] NZ love; affection.

- sympathy.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

aroid /εrd/ (also aroid lily) n. [BOTANY] a plant of the arum family (Araceae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ARUM + -OID.

arolla /ərlə/ (also arolla pine) n. a tall pine tree of the Alps and Carpathian Mountains, frequently planted in dense clumps as an avalanche break.

<INFO> Pinus cembra, family Pinaceae. Alternative name: Swiss stone pine.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Swiss French arol(l)e.

aroma n. a distinctive, typically pleasant smell: the tantalizing aroma of fresh coffee.

- a subtle, pervasive quality or atmosphere: the aroma of officialdom.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (usually in the plural denoting fragrant plants or spices): via Latin from Greek arōma ‘spice’.

aromatherapy n. [mass noun] the use of aromatic plant extracts and essential oils for healing and cosmetic purposes.

<DERIVATIVES> aromatherapeutic adj. aromatherapist n.

aromatic adj. 1 having a pleasant and distinctive smell: a massage with aromatic oils.

2 [CHEMISTRY] relating to or denoting organic compounds containing a planar unsaturated ring of atoms which is stabilized by an interaction of the bonds forming the ring, e.g. benzene and its derivatives. Compare with ALICYCLIC.

■ n. 1 a substance or plant emitting a pleasant and distinctive smell.

2 [CHEMISTRY] an aromatic compound.

<DERIVATIVES> aromatically adv. aromaticity n. ([CHEMISTRY])

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin aromaticus, from Greek arōmatikos, from arōma (see AROMA).

aromatize (also aromatise) v. [with obj.] 1 [CHEMISTRY] convert (a compound) into an aromatic structure.

2 give (something) a pleasant and distinctive smell.

<DERIVATIVES> aromatization n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French aromatiser, from late Latin aromatizare, from Greek arōmatizein ‘to spice’.

arose past of ARISE.

around adv. 1 located or situated on every side: the mountains towering all around.

2 so as to face in the opposite direction: Guy seized her by the shoulders and turned her around.

3 in or to many places throughout a locality: word got around that he was on the verge of retirement.

4 aimlessly or unsystematically; here and there: one of them was glancing nervously around.

5 present, living, in the vicinity, or in active use: there was no one around | maize has been around for a long time.

6 (used with a number or quantity) approximately: software costs would be around £1,500 | I returned to my hotel around 3 a.m.

■ prep. 1 on every side of: the palazzo is built around a courtyard | the hills around the city.

- (of something abstract) having (the thing mentioned) as a focal point: our entire culture is built around those loyalties.

2 in or to many places throughout (a community or locality): cycling around the village | a number of large depots around the country.

3 following an approximately circular route: he walked around the airfield | it can drill around corners.

4 so as to encircle or embrace (someone or something): he put his arm around her.

<PHRASES>

□ have been around INFORMAL have a lot of varied experience and understanding of the world.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from A-2 ‘in, on’ + ROUND.

<USAGE> On the difference in use between round and around see usage at round.

arousal n. [mass noun] the action or fact of arousing or being aroused: sexual arousal in dreams is common.

arouse v. [with obj.] 1 evoke or awaken (a feeling, emotion, or response): something about the man aroused the guard's suspicions | the letter aroused in him a sense of urgency.

- excite or provoke (someone) to anger or strong emotions: an ability to influence the audience and to arouse the masses.

- excite (someone) sexually: his touch, which had so aroused her moments before, unnerved her now | (as adj. aroused) she told him how aroused she was.

2 awaken (someone) from sleep: she had been aroused from deep slumber.

<DERIVATIVES> arousable adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from ROUSE, on the pattern of the pair of rise, arise.

ARP abbr. BRITISH HISTORICAL air-raid precautions.

Arp /αp/ French /aRp/ Jean (1887–1966), French painter, sculptor, and poet; also known as Hans Arp. He was a co-founder of the Dada movement and is noted for his three-dimensional abstract curvilinear sculptures in marble and bronze.

arpeggiate /αpεdet/ v. [with obj.] [MUSIC] play (a chord) as a series of ascending or descending notes.

<DERIVATIVES> arpeggiation n. arpeggiator n.

arpeggio /αpεdə/ n. (pl. arpeggios) [MUSIC] the notes of a chord played in rapid succession, either ascending or descending.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from arpeggiare ‘play the harp’, from arpa ‘harp’.

arpeggione /αpεdəne -ni/ n. an early 19th-century stringed instrument resembling a guitar in shape and having six strings and frets, but played with a bow like a cello.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, from ARPEGGIO.

arquebus /αkwbəs/ (also harquebus) n. HISTORICAL an early type of portable gun supported on a tripod or a forked rest.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French harquebuse, based on Middle Low German hakebusse, from hake ‘hook’ + busse ‘gun’.

arr. abbr.

- (of a piece of music) arranged by: Variations on a theme of Corelli (arr. Wild).

- (with reference to the arrival time of a bus, train, or aircraft) arrives.

arrabbiata /arəbjαtə/ adj. denoting a spicy pasta sauce made with tomatoes and chilli peppers.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘angry’, from arrabbiare ‘make angry’.

arrack /arək ərak/ (also arak) n. [mass noun] an alcoholic spirit made in Eastern countries from the sap of the coco palm or from rice.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Arabic ‘araq ‘sweat’, from the phrase ‘arak al-tamr, denoting an alcoholic spirit made from dates.

arrah /arə/ exclam. IRISH expressing excitement or strong emotion: ‘Arrah, don't be talking nonsense,’ Elmer exclaimed.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Irish ara, arú.

arraign /əren/ v. call or bring (someone) before a court to answer a criminal charge: her sister was arraigned on charges of attempted murder.

- find fault with; censure: social workers were relieved it was not they who were arraigned in the tabloids.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French araisnier, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ + ratio(n-) ‘reason, account’.

arraignment n. [mass noun] the action of arraigning someone in court: he's scheduled for arraignment in New York on Thursday | [count noun] she pleaded not guilty at her arraignment.

Arran an island in the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland.

arrange v. [with obj.] 1 put (things) in a neat, attractive, or required order: she had just finished arranging the flowers | the columns are arranged in 12 rows.

2 organize or make plans for (a future event): they hoped to arrange a meeting | [no obj.] my aunt arranged for the furniture to be stored.

- [no obj.] reach agreement about an action or event in advance: I arranged with my boss to have the time off | [with infinitive] they arranged to meet at eleven o'clock.

- ensure that (something) is done or provided by organizing it in advance: accommodation can be arranged if required.

3 [MUSIC] adapt (a composition) for performance with instruments or voices other than those originally specified: songs arranged for viola and piano.

4 ARCHAIC settle (a dispute or claim).

<DERIVATIVES> arrangeable adj. arranger n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French arangier, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + rangier ‘put in order’ (see RANGE).

arranged marriage n. a marriage planned and agreed by the families or guardians of the couple concerned.

arrangement n. 1 [mass noun] the action, process, or result of arranging or being arranged: the arrangement of the furniture in the room.

- [count noun] a thing that has been arranged in a neat or attractive way: flower arrangements | an intricate arrangement of gravel paths.

2 (usually arrangements) a plan or preparation for a future event: all the arrangements for the wedding were made.

- an agreement with someone to do something: the travel agents have an arrangement with the hotel | [mass noun] by special arrangement, students can take a course in other degree programmes.

3 [MUSIC] a composition arranged for performance with instruments or voices differing from those originally specified: Mozart's symphonies in arrangements for cello and piano.

4 ARCHAIC a settlement of a dispute or claim.

arrant /ar(ə)nt/ adj. [attr.] DATED complete, utter: what arrant nonsense!

<DERIVATIVES> arrantly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: variant of ERRANT, originally in phrases such as arrant thief (‘outlawed, roving thief’).

Arras /arəs/ French /aRas/ a town in NE France; pop. 40,590 (1999). In medieval times it was a centre for the manufacture of tapestries.

arras /arəs/ n. a wall hanging made of a rich tapestry fabric, typically used to conceal an alcove.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting the fabric itself): named after the French town of ARRAS.

array /əre/ n. 1 an impressive display or range of a particular type of thing: there is a vast array of literature on the topic | a bewildering array of choices.

2 an ordered arrangement, in particular:

- an arrangement of troops.

- [MATHEMATICS] an arrangement of quantities or symbols in rows and columns; a matrix.

- [COMPUTING] an ordered set of related elements.

3 [mass noun] LITERARY elaborate or beautiful clothing: he was clothed in fine array.

4 [LAW] a list of jurors impanelled.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial of place] display or arrange (things) in a particular way: the manifesto immediately divided the forces arrayed against him.

2 [with obj.] (usually be arrayed in) dress someone in (the clothes specified): they were arrayed in Hungarian national dress.

3 [with obj.] [LAW] impanel (a jury).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘preparedness’ and ‘place in readiness’): from Old French arei (noun), areer (verb), based on Latin ad- ‘towards’ + a Germanic base meaning ‘prepare’.

arré /əre/ exclam. INDIAN used to express annoyance, surprise, or interest, or to attract someone's attention.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit are, an interjection for calling to a person of inferior rank.

arrears plural n. money that is owed and should have been paid earlier.

<PHRASES>

□ in arrears (also chiefly [LAW] in arrear) 1 behind with paying money that is owed: two out of three tenants are in arrears.

- (of payments made or due for wages, rent, etc.) at the end of each period in which work is done or a tenancy is occupied: you will be paid monthly in arrears.

2 (of a competitor in a sports race or match) having a lower score or weaker performance than other competitors: she finished ten metres in arrears.

<DERIVATIVES> arrearage n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (first used in the phrase in arrear): from arrear (adverb) ‘behind, overdue’, from Old French arere, from medieval Latin adretro, from ad- ‘towards’ + retro ‘backwards’.

Arrernte /ərntə arundə/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of an Aboriginal people of central Australia.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Arrernte, now with fewer than 2,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Arrernte or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Arrernte.

arrest v. [with obj.] 1 seize (someone) by legal authority and take them into custody: the police arrested him for possession of marijuana | two youths aged 16 were arrested.

- seize and detain (a ship) by legal authority.

2 stop or check (progress or a process): the spread of the disease can be arrested.

- [no obj.] suffer a heart attack: they were trying to resuscitate a patient who had arrested.

3 attract the attention of (someone): the church's stillness arrested her.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the action of seizing someone and taking them into custody: I have a warrant for your arrest | they placed her under arrest | [count noun] at least 69 arrests were made.

2 a stoppage or sudden cessation of motion: [with modifier] a cardiac arrest.

<PHRASES>

□ arrest of judgement [LAW] the suspension of proceedings in a criminal trial between the verdict and the sentence on the grounds of a material irregularity in the course of the trial.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French arester, based on Latin ad- ‘at, to’ + restare ‘remain, stop’.

arrestable offence n. [LAW], BRITISH an offence for which there is a fixed mandatory penalty or which carries a sentence of at least five years' imprisonment (e.g. theft).

arrestee n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person who has been or is being legally arrested.

arrester (also arrestor) n. a device which prevents or stops a specified thing: a spark arrester.

- a device on an aircraft carrier that slows down aircraft after landing by means of a hook and cable.

arresting adj. striking; eye-catching: at 6 ft 6 in he was an arresting figure.

<DERIVATIVES> arrestingly adv.

arrestment n. [LAW] an attachment of property for the satisfaction of a debt.

Arretine /arətn/ adj. denoting Samian ware (Roman pottery), especially that made at Arretium (modern Arezzo) in central Italy.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the name of the city + -INE^1.

Arrhenius /ərenəs ərin-/ Svante August (1859–1927), Swedish chemist, noted for his work on electrolytes. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1903).

arrhythmia /ermə/ (also arhythmia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which the heart beats with an irregular or abnormal rhythm.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek arruthmia ‘lack of rhythm’, from a- ‘without’ + rhuthmos (see RHYTHM).

arrhythmic (also arhythmic) adj. not rhythmic; without rhythm or regularity: the arrhythmic phrasing of the music.

- MEDICINE relating to or suffering from cardiac arrhythmia.

<DERIVATIVES> arrhythmical adj. arrhythmically adv.

arrière-pensée /arε pse/ French /aRjεR pαse/ n. a concealed thought or intention; an ulterior motive.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘behind thought’.

arris /ars/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] a sharp edge formed by the meeting of two flat or curved surfaces.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: alteration of early modern French areste ‘sharp ridge’, earlier form of arête.

arris rail n. a fence rail with a triangular cross section.

arrival n. [mass noun] the action or process of arriving: Ruth's arrival in New York | he was dead on arrival at hospital.

- [count noun] a person who has arrived somewhere: hotel staff greeted the late arrivals.

- the emergence or appearance of a new development or product: the arrival of democracy.

- [count noun] a newly emerged development or product: sociology is a relatively new arrival on the academic scene.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French arrivaille, from Old French arriver (see ARRIVE).

arrive v. [no obj.] 1 reach a place at the end of a journey or a stage in a journey: we arrived at his house and knocked at the door | the team arrived in New Delhi on July 30 | they had recently arrived from Turkey.

- (of a thing) be brought or delivered: the invitation arrived a few days later.

2 (of an event or a particular moment) happen or come: we will be in touch with them when the time arrives.

- (of a new development or product) come into existence or use: microcomputers arrived at the start of the 1970s.

3 (arrive at) reach (a conclusion or decision): they arrived at the same conclusion.

4 (of a baby) be born: he will feel jealous when a new baby arrives.

5 INFORMAL achieve success or recognition.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘reach the shore after a voyage’): from Old French ariver, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ + ripa ‘shore’.

arrivederci /ərivədεti arivεdεrti/ exclam. goodbye until we meet again.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘until we see each other again’.

arriviste /arivist/ n. an ambitious or ruthlessly self-seeking person.

<DERIVATIVES> arrivisme /arivizm(ə)/ n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, from arriver (see ARRIVE).

arrogance n. [mass noun] the quality of being arrogant: the arrogance of this man is astounding.

arrogant adj. having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities: he's arrogant and opinionated | a typically arrogant assumption.

<DERIVATIVES> arrogantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin arrogant- ‘claiming for oneself’, from the verb arrogare (see ARROGATE).

arrogate /arəet/ v. [with obj.] take or claim (something) for oneself without justification: they arrogate to themselves the ability to divine the nation's true interests.

<DERIVATIVES> arrogation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin arrogat- ‘claimed for oneself’, from the verb arrogare, from ad- ‘to’ + rogare ‘ask’.

arrondissement /arndismα arndismα/ French /aRdismα/ n. a subdivision of a French department, for local government administration.

- an administrative district of certain large French cities, in particular Paris.

<ORIGIN> French, from arrondir ‘make round’.

Arrow Kenneth Joseph (b.1921), American economist, noted chiefly for his work on general economic equilibrium and social choice. Nobel Prize for Economics (1972).

arrow n. a weapon consisting of a thin, straight stick with a sharp point, designed to be shot from a bow.

- a mark or sign resembling an arrow, used to show direction or position: we followed a series of arrows.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move or appear to move swiftly and directly: lights arrowed down into the airport.

<DERIVATIVES> arrowed adj. arrowy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English arewe, arwe, from Old Norse.

arrowgrass n. [mass noun] a grass-like marsh plant with a slender spike of tiny flowers.

<INFO> Genus Triglochin, family Juncaginaceae.

arrowhead n. 1 the pointed end of an arrow.

2 [GEOMETRY] a quadrilateral in which one internal angle is more than 180°.

3 a Eurasian water plant with arrow-shaped leaves above the water surface.

<INFO> Genus Sagittaria, family Alismataceae: several species.

arrowroot n. a herbaceous Caribbean plant from which a starch is prepared.

<INFO> Maranta arundinacea, family Marantaceae.

- [mass noun] the fine-grained starch obtained from arrowroot, used in cookery and medicine.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: alteration of Arawak aru-aru (literally ‘meal of meals’) by association with ARROW and root^1, the tubers being used to absorb poison from arrow wounds.

arrow slit n. (especially in a medieval fortified building) a narrow vertical slit in a wall for shooting or looking through or to admit light and air.

arrow worm n. a slender transparent worm-like animal with fins, having spines on the head for grasping prey. It is common in marine plankton. Also called CHAETOGNATH.

<INFO> Phylum Chaetognatha.

arroyo /ərə/ n. (pl. arroyos) a steep-sided gully formed by the action of fast-flowing water in an arid or semi-arid region, found chiefly in the south-western US.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish.

arroz /ars/ Spanish /arəθ arəs/ n. Spanish word for RICE, used in the names of various dishes.

arse BRITISH VULGAR SLANG n. 1 a person's buttocks or anus.

2 a stupid, irritating, or contemptible person.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (arse about/around) behave in a stupid way; waste time.

2 [with obj.] (arse something up) make a botched attempt at something.

3 (can't be arsed) not want to do something because one has no interest in or enthusiasm for it.

<PHRASES>

□ arse about face contrary to what is usual, expected, or logical.

□ arse over tit so as to fall over in a sudden or dramatic way.

□ get off one's arse stop being lazy.

□ my arse! used to convey that one does not believe something that has just been said.

□ not KNOW one's arse from one's elbow be totally ignorant or incompetent.

□ talk out of one's arse talk rubbish.

□ up your arse! used to express contempt for someone or something.

<ORIGIN> Old English ærs, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aars and German Arsch.

arse bandit n. BRITISH VULGAR SLANG a male homosexual.

arsehole n. BRITISH VULGAR SLANG 1 the anus.

2 a stupid, irritating, or contemptible person.

arse-kissing n. another term for ARSE-LICKING.

arse-licking n. [mass noun] VULGAR SLANG the action or practice of behaving obsequiously in order to gain favour.

<DERIVATIVES> arse-licker n.

arsenal n. a collection of weapons and military equipment: Britain's nuclear arsenal.

- a place where weapons and military equipment are stored or made.

- an array of resources available for a certain purpose: we have an arsenal of computers at our disposal.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting a dock for the construction and repair of ships): from French, or from obsolete Italian arzanale, based on Arabic dār-a-inā‘a, from dār ‘house’ + al- ‘(of) the’ + sinā‘a ‘art, industry’.

arsenate /αs(ə)net/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of any oxyacid of arsenic.

arsenic n. /αs(ə)nk/ [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 33, a brittle steel-grey semimetal. (Symbol: As)

Arsenic compounds (and their poisonous properties) have been known since ancient times, and the metallic form was isolated in the Middle Ages. Arsenic occurs naturally in orpiment, realgar, and other minerals, and rarely as the free element. Arsenic is used in semiconductors and some specialized alloys; its toxic compounds are widely used as herbicides and pesticides.

■ adj. /αsεnk/ relating to arsenic.

- [CHEMISTRY] of arsenic with a valency of five; of arsenic(V). Compare with ARSENIOUS.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting yellow orpiment, arsenic sulphide): via Old French from Latin arsenicum, from Greek arsenikon ‘yellow orpiment’, identified with arsenikos ‘male’, but in fact from Arabic al-zarnī ‘the orpiment’, based on Persian zar ‘gold’.

arsenic acid n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a weakly acidic crystalline solid with oxidizing properties, formed when arsenic reacts with nitric acid.

<INFO> Chem. formula: H_3AsO_4.

arsenical /αsεnk(ə)l/ adj. of or containing arsenic.

■ n. an arsenical drug or other compound.

arsenide n. [CHEMISTRY] a binary compound of arsenic with a metallic element.

arsenious /αsinəs/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] of arsenic with a valency of three; of arsenic(III). Compare with ARSENIC.

arsenopyrite /αs(ə)nəprt/ n. [mass noun] a silvery-grey mineral consisting of an arsenide and sulphide of iron and cobalt.

arsey adj. (arsier, arsiest) INFORMAL 1 BRITISH bad-tempered or uncooperative.

2 AUSTRALIAN very lucky. [<ORIGIN> alteration of slang tin arse ‘lucky person’, from tin ‘money’, figuratively ‘luck’.]

arsine /αsin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a poisonous gas smelling slightly of garlic, made by the reaction of some arsenides with acids.

<INFO> Alternative name: arsenic trihydride; chem. formula: AsH_3.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ARSENIC, on the pattern of amine.

arsis /αss/ n. (pl. arses /-siz/) [PROSODY] a stressed syllable or part of a metrical foot in Greek or Latin verse. Often contrasted with thesis (sense 3).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek, literally ‘lifting’, from airein ‘raise’.

arson n. [mass noun] the criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property: police are treating the fire as arson | [as modifier] an arson attack.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: an Anglo-Norman French legal term, from medieval Latin arsio(n-), from Latin ardere ‘to burn’.

arsonist n. a person who commits arson: police believe arsonists were responsible for both fires.

arsphenamine /αsfεnəmin -n/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic organic arsenic compound formerly used to treat syphilis and other diseases. See also EHRLICH.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: blend of ARSENIC, phenyl, and AMINE.

arsy-versy adj. & adv. INFORMAL in a confused, disordered, or perversely contrary state or manner: [as adj.] they got things all arsy-versy.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from ARSE + Latin versus ‘turned’, the addition of -y^1 to both elements forming a jingle.

art^1 n. 1 [mass noun] the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power: the art of the Renaissance | great art is concerned with moral imperfections | she studied art in Paris.

- works produced by such skill and imagination: his collection of modern art | [as modifier] an art critic.

- creative activity resulting in the production of paintings, drawings, or sculpture: she's good at art.

2 (the arts) the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance: the visual arts | [in sing.] the art of photography.

3 (arts) subjects of study primarily concerned with human creativity and social life, such as languages, literature, and history (as contrasted with scientific or technical subjects): the belief that the arts and sciences were incompatible | the Faculty of Arts.

4 a skill at doing a specified thing, typically one acquired through practice: the art of conversation.

<PHRASES>

□ art for art's sake used to convey the idea that the chief or only aim of a work of art is the self-expression of the individual artist who creates it.

□ art is long, life is short PROVERB there is so much knowledge to acquire that a lifetime is not sufficient.

□ the art of war the strategy, tactics, and techniques of combat.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin ars, art-.

art^2 archaic or dialect second person singular present of BE.

art. abbr. article.

Artaud /αtə/ French /aRtə/ Antonin (1896–1948), French actor, director, and poet. He developed the concept of the non-verbal Theatre of Cruelty, which concentrated on the use of sound, mime, and lighting, expounding his theory in a series of essays Le Théâtre et son double (1938).

Artaxerxes /αtəzəksiz/ the name of three kings of ancient Persia:

- Artaxerxes I son of Xerxes I, reigned 464–424 BC.

- Artaxerxes II son of Darius II, reigned 404–358 BC.

- Artaxerxes III son of Artaxerxes II, reigned 358–338 BC.

art deco /dεkə/ n. [mass noun] the predominant decorative art style of the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by precise and boldly delineated geometric shapes and strong colours and used most notably in household objects and in architecture.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: shortened from French art décoratif ‘decorative art’, from the 1925 Exposition des Arts décoratifs in Paris.

artefact /αtfakt/ (US artifact) n. 1 an object made by a human being, typically one of cultural or historical interest: gold and silver artefacts.

2 something observed in a scientific investigation or experiment that is not naturally present but occurs as a result of the preparative or investigative procedure.

<DERIVATIVES> artefactual adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin arte ‘by or using art’ + factum ‘something made’ (neuter past participle of facere ‘make’).

artel /αtεl/ n. (pl. artels, arteli) HISTORICAL (in pre-revolutionary Russia) a cooperative association of craftsmen living and working together.

<ORIGIN> from Russian artel′.

Artemis /αtms/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a goddess, daughter of Zeus and sister of Apollo. She was a huntress and is typically depicted with a bow and arrows. Roman equivalent DIANA.

artemisia /αtmzə/ n. an aromatic or bitter-tasting plant of a genus that includes wormwood, mugwort, and sagebrush. Several kinds are used in herbal medicine and many are cultivated for their feathery grey foliage.

<INFO> Genus Artemisia, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Latin from Greek, ‘wormwood’, named after the goddess ARTEMIS, to whom it was sacred.

artemisinin /αtmisnn/ n. [mass noun] a terpene-based antimalarial substance used in Chinese medicine.

<INFO> The drug is obtained from Artemisia annua, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of ARTEMISIA and QUININE.

Arte Povera /αte pvərə/ n. [mass noun] an artistic movement that originated in Italy in the 1960s, combining aspects of conceptual, minimalist, and performance art, and making use of worthless or common materials such as earth or newspaper, in the hope of subverting the commercialization of art.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: Italian, literally ‘impoverished art’, from arte ‘art’ + povera (feminine of povero ‘needy’).

arterial /αtərəl/ adj. 1 relating to an artery or arteries.

2 denoting an important route in a system of roads, railway lines, or rivers: one of the main arterial routes from York.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin arterialis, from Latin arteria (see ARTERY).

arterialize (also arterialise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. arterialized) convert venous into arterial (blood) by oxygenation, especially in the lungs.

<DERIVATIVES> arterialization n.

arterio- combining form relating to the arteries: arteriosclerosis.

<ORIGIN> from Greek artēria (see ARTERY).

arteriography /αtərrəfi/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE radiography of an artery, carried out after injection of a radiopaque substance.

arteriole /αtərəl/ n. [ANATOMY] a small branch of an artery leading into capillaries.

<DERIVATIVES> arteriolar adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French artériole, diminutive of artère (see ARTERY).

arteriosclerosis /αtərəsklərəss -sklə-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries, occurring typically in old age.

<DERIVATIVES> arteriosclerotic adj.

arteriovenous /αtərəvinəs/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to or affecting an artery and a vein.

arteritis n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the walls of an artery.

artery n. (pl. arteries) 1 any of the muscular-walled tubes forming part of the circulation system by which blood (mainly that which has been oxygenated) is conveyed from the heart to all parts of the body. Compare with vein (sense 1).

2 an important route in a system of roads, rivers, or railway lines: George Street, main artery of Edinburgh's Golden Mile.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin arteria, from Greek artēria, probably from airein ‘raise’.

artesian /αtizən -(ə)n/ adj. relating to or denoting a well bored perpendicularly into water-bearing strata lying at an angle, so that natural pressure produces a constant supply of water with little or no pumping.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French artésien ‘from Artois’ (see ARTOIS), where such wells were first made.

Artex /αtεks/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a kind of plaster applied to walls and ceilings to give a TEXTUREd finish.

■ v. [with obj.] cover (a wall or ceiling) with Artex.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of art^1 and texture.

art form n. a conventionally established form of artistic composition, such as the novel, sonata, or sonnet.

- any activity regarded as a medium of imaginative or creative self-expression: he elevates stage managing to an art form.

artful adj. 1 clever or skilful, especially in a crafty or cunning way: her artful wiles.

2 showing creative skill or taste: an artful photograph of a striking woman.

<DERIVATIVES> artfully adv. artfulness n.

art history n. [mass noun] the academic study of the history and development of painting, sculpture, and the other visual arts.

<DERIVATIVES> art historian n.

art house n. a cinema which specializes in showing films that are artistic or experimental rather than merely entertaining.

arthralgia /αθraldə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE pain in a joint.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek arthron ‘joint’ + -ALGIA.

arthritis /αθrts/ n. [mass noun] a disease causing painful inflammation and stiffness of the joints.

<DERIVATIVES> arthritic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek, from arthron ‘joint’. Arthritic was already used in late Middle English.

arthro- combining form of a joint; relating to joints: arthroscope.

<ORIGIN> from Greek arthron ‘joint’.

arthrodesis /αθrdss/ n. [mass noun] surgical immobilization of a joint by fusion of the bones.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ARTHRO- + Greek desis ‘binding together’.

arthropod /αθrəpd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an invertebrate animal of the large phylum Arthropoda, such as an insect, spider, or crustacean.

Arthropoda /αθrəpədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large phylum of invertebrate animals that includes insects, spiders, crustaceans, and their relatives. They have a segmented body, an external skeleton, and jointed limbs, and are sometimes placed in different phyla.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek arthron ‘joint’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’.

arthroscope /αθrəskəp/ n. MEDICINE an instrument through which the interior of a joint may be inspected or operated on.

<DERIVATIVES> arthroscopic adj. arthroscopy n.

Arthur^1 a legendary king of Britain, historically perhaps a 5th- or 6th-century Romano-British chieftain or general. Stories of his life, the exploits of his knights, and the Round Table of his court at Camelot were developed by Malory, Chrétien de Troyes, and other medieval writers and became the subject of many legends.

<DERIVATIVES> Arthurian /αθjərən/ adj.

Arthur^2 Chester Alan (1830–86), American Republican statesman, 21st President of the US 1881–5.

artic /αtk/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL an articulated lorry.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: abbreviation.

artichoke /αttək/ n. 1 (also globe artichoke) a European plant cultivated for its large thistle-like flower heads.

<INFO> Cynara scolymus, family Compositae.

- the unopened flower head of the artichoke, of which the heart and the fleshy bases of the bracts are edible.

2 British short for JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from northern Italian articiocco, from Spanish alcarchofa, from Arabic al-aršūfa.

article n. 1 a particular item or object: small household articles | articles of clothing.

2 a piece of writing included with others in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication: an article about middle-aged executives.

3 a separate clause or paragraph of a legal document or agreement, typically one outlining a single rule or regulation.

4 (articles) BRITISH a period of training with a firm as a solicitor, architect, surveyor, or accountant: he is already in articles | it may be worth taking articles in a specialized firm.

- the terms on which crew members take service on a ship.

5 [GRAMMAR] the definite or indefinite article. See also determiner (sense 2).

■ v. [with obj.] BRITISH bind (a trainee solicitor, architect, surveyor, or accountant) to undergo a period of training with a firm in order to become qualified: he was articled to a firm of solicitors in York.

<PHRASES>

□ an article of faith a firmly held belief.

□ article of VIRTU see VIRTU.

□ the finished article something that is complete and ready for use.

□ the genuine article a person or thing considered to be an authentic and excellent example of their kind.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a separate clause of the Apostles' Creed): from Old French, from Latin articulus ‘small connecting part’, diminutive of artus ‘joint’.

articled clerk n. BRITISH a trainee solicitor.

articular /αtkjlə/ adj. relating to a joint or the joints: articular cartilage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin articularis, from articulus ‘small connecting part’ (see ARTICLE).

articulate adj. /αtkjlət/ 1 having or showing the ability to speak fluently and coherently: she was not very articulate.

2 TECHNICAL having joints or jointed segments.

- [ZOOLOGY] denoting a brachiopod which has projections and sockets that form a hinge joining the two halves of the shell.

■ v. /αtkjlet/ [with obj.] 1 pronounce (something) clearly and distinctly: he articulated each word with precision.

- express (an idea or feeling) fluently and coherently: they were unable to articulate their emotions.

2 [no obj.] form a joint: the mandible is a solid piece articulating with the head.

- (be articulated) be connected by joints.

<DERIVATIVES> articulable adj. articulacy n. articulately adv. articulateness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin articulatus, past participle of articulare ‘divide into joints, utter distinctly’, from articulus ‘small connecting part’ (see ARTICLE).

articulated adj. BRITISH having two or more sections connected by a flexible joint: an articulated lorry | the trilobite's thorax has a number of articulated segments.

articulation n. [mass noun] 1 the formation of clear and distinct sounds in speech: the articulation of vowels and consonants.

- the action of putting into words an idea or feeling: it would involve the articulation of a theory of the just war.

- [PHONETICS] the formation of a speech sound by constriction of the air flow in the vocal organs at a particular place (e.g. the tongue, teeth, or palate) and in a particular way (as a plosive, affricate, etc.).

2 [MUSIC] clarity in the production of successive notes.

3 the state of being jointed: the area of articulation of the lower jaw.

- [count noun] a specified joint: the leg articulation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘joint’, ‘joining’): from Latin articulatio(n-), from the verb articulare (see ARTICULATE).

articulator n. any of the vocal organs above the larynx, including the tongue, lips, teeth, and hard palate.

articulatory /αtkjlət(ə)ri αtkjlet(ə)ri/ adj. relating to the formation of speech sounds.

artifice /αtfs/ n. [mass noun] clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others: an industry dominated by artifice | [count noun] the style is not free from the artifices of the period.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘workmanship’): from Old French, from Latin artificium, based on ars, art- ‘art’ + facere ‘make’.

artificer /αtfsə/ n. 1 a skilled mechanic in the armed forces.

2 ARCHAIC a skilled craftsman or inventor.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, probably an alteration of Old French artificien, from artifice (see ARTIFICE).

artificial adj. 1 made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural: her skin glowed in the artificial light | an artificial limb | artificial flowers.

- (of a situation or concept) not existing naturally; contrived or false: the artificial division of people into age groups.

2 (of a person or their behaviour) insincere or affected: she gave an artificial smile.

3 [BRIDGE] (of a bid) conventional as opposed to natural.

<DERIVATIVES> artificiality n. artificially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French artificiel or Latin artificialis, from artificium ‘handicraft’ (see ARTIFICE).

artificial horizon n. a gyroscopic instrument or a fluid surface, typically one of mercury, used to provide the pilot of an aircraft with a horizontal reference plane for navigational measurement when the natural horizon is obscured.

artificial insemination (abbr.: AI) n. [mass noun] the veterinary or medical procedure of injecting semen into the vagina or uterus.

artificial intelligence (abbr.: AI) n. [mass noun] the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.

artificial kidney n. a machine or other mechanical device which performs the functions of the human kidney.

artificial life n. [mass noun] the simulation by computer programs or computerized systems of the behaviour, population dynamics, or other characteristics of living organisms.

artificial respiration n. [mass noun] the restoration or initiation of someone's breathing by manual, mechanical, or mouth-to-mouth methods.

artificial silk n. old-fashioned term for VISCOSE.

artillery /αtləri/ n. (pl. artilleries) [mass noun] large-calibre guns used in warfare on land: tanks and heavy artillery.

- a military detachment or branch of the armed forces that uses large-calibre guns.

<DERIVATIVES> artillerist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French artillerie, from artiller, alteration of atillier ‘equip, arm’, probably a variant of atirier, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + tire ‘rank, order’.

artilleryman n. (pl. artillerymen) a member of a regiment of artillery.

artiodactyl [ZOOLOGY] n. a mammal of the order Artiodactyla, such as a cow, sheep, camel, or pig.

■ adj. relating to or denoting artiodactyls.

Artiodactyla /αtə()daktlə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of mammals that comprises the even-toed ungulates. Compare with PERISSODACTYLA.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek artios ‘even’ + daktulos ‘finger, toe’.

artisan /αtzan αtzan/ n. a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand.

<DERIVATIVES> artisanal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Italian artigiano, based on Latin artitus, past participle of artire ‘instruct in the arts’, from ars, art- ‘art’.

artist n. 1 a person who creates paintings or drawings as a profession or hobby.

- a person who practises or performs any of the creative arts, such as a sculptor, film-maker, actor, or dancer.

- a person skilled at a particular task or occupation: a surgeon who is an artist with the scalpel.

2 [with modifier] INFORMAL a person who habitually practises a specified reprehensible activity: rip-off artists.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting a master of the liberal arts): from French artiste, from Italian artista, from arte ‘art’, from Latin ars, art-.

artiste /αtist/ n. a professional entertainer, especially a singer or dancer: cabaret artistes.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French (see ARTIST).

artistic adj. having or revealing natural creative skill: my lack of artistic ability.

- relating to or characteristic of art or artists: a denial of artistic freedom.

- aesthetically pleasing: computer programs which produce artistic designs.

<DERIVATIVES> artistically adv.

artistic director n. the person with overall responsibility for the selection and interpretation of the works performed by a theatre, ballet, or opera company.

artistry n. [mass noun] creative skill or ability: the artistry of the pianist.

artist's fungus n. a bracket fungus with a reddish-brown upper surface and a pale lower surface on which scratches remain visible as dark marks, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Ganoderma applanatum, family Ganodermataceae, class Hymenomycetes.

artless adj. without guile or deception: an artless, naive girl | artless sincerity.

- without effort or pretentiousness; natural and simple: an artless literary masterpiece.

- without skill or finesse: her awkward, artless prose.

<DERIVATIVES> artlessly adv.

art nouveau /α(t) nuvə/ n. [mass noun] a style of decorative art, architecture, and design prominent in western Europe and the USA from about 1890 until the First World War and characterized by intricate linear designs and flowing curves based on natural forms.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, literally ‘new art’.

Artois /αtw/ French /aRtwa/ a region and former province of NE France.

art paper n. [mass noun] BRITISH high-quality paper coated with china clay or a similar substance to give it a smooth surface.

arts and crafts plural n. decorative design and handicraft.

Arts and Crafts Movement an English decorative arts movement of the second half of the 19th century which sought to revive the ideal of craftsmanship in an age of increasing mechanization and mass production. William Morris was its most prominent member.

art therapy n. [mass noun] a form of psychotherapy involving the encouragement of free self-expression through painting, drawing, or modelling, used as a remedial or diagnostic activity.

artwork n. [mass noun] illustrations, photographs, or other non-textual material prepared for inclusion in a publication.

- paintings, drawings, or other artistic works: a collection of artwork from tribal cultures | [count noun] each artwork is reproduced in colour on a full page.

arty (chiefly NORTH AMERICAN also artsy) adj. (artier, artiest; artsier, artsiest) INFORMAL making a strong, affected, or pretentious display of being artistic or interested in the arts: television people and arty types | a very arty film.

<DERIVATIVES> artily adv. artiness n.

arty-crafty (chiefly NORTH AMERICAN also artsy-craftsy) adj. INFORMAL interested or involved in making decorative artistic objects, especially ones perceived as quaint or homespun: he mixed with the arty-crafty set.

arty-farty (chiefly NORTH AMERICAN also artsy-fartsy) adj. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY associated with or showing an interest in the arts: you'll have to forget that arty-farty nonsense here.

Aruba /ərubə/ an island in the Caribbean Sea, close to the Venezuelan coast; pop. 70,441 (est. 2002); capital, Oranjestad. Formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles, it separated from that group in 1986 to become a self-governing territory of the Netherlands.

arugula /ərujlə/ (also rucola, rugola) n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the rocket plant, used in cookery.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Italian dialect, ultimately a diminutive of Latin eruca ‘down-stemmed plant’.

arum /εrəm/ n. a European plant which has arrow-shaped leaves and a broad leafy spathe enclosing a club-shaped spadix. Pollination is by small flies which are temporarily trapped by the plant.

<INFO> Genus Arum, family Araceae (the arum family): several species, in particular the common wild arum or cuckoo pint.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from Greek aron.

arum lily n. chiefly BRITISH a tall lily-like African plant which bears a large showy spathe. Also called CALLA LILY, especially in North America.

<INFO> Genus Zantedeschia, family Araceae: several species, in particular Z. aethiopica.

Arunachal Pradesh /αrənαtəl prədε/ a mountainous state in the far north-east of India, lying on the borders of Tibet to the north and Burma (Myanmar) to the east; capital, Itanagar. It became a state of India in 1986.

Arunta /ərntə arundə/ n. & adj.

■ variant form of ARRERNTE.

ARV abbr. antiretroviral (drug).

arvo /αvə/ n. (pl. arvos) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL afternoon: on Monday arvo.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: abbreviation of AFTERNOON (with voicing of the f) + -O.

-ary^1 suffix 1 forming adjectives such as budgetary, primary.

2 forming nouns such as dictionary, granary.

<ORIGIN> from French -aire or Latin -arius ‘connected with’.

-ary^2 suffix forming adjectives such as capillary, [MILITARY].

<ORIGIN> from French -aire or Latin -aris ‘relating to’.

Aryabhata I /arəbαtə/ (476–c.550), Indian astronomer and mathematician. His surviving work, the Aryabhatiya (499), has sections dealing with mathematics, the measurement of time, planetary models, the sphere, and eclipses.

Aryan /εrən/ adj. relating to or denoting a people speaking an Indo-European language who invaded northern India in the 2nd millennium BC, displacing the Dravidian and other aboriginal peoples.

■ old-fashioned term for PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN or INDO-IRANIAN.

- (in Nazi ideology) relating to or denoting people of Caucasian race not of Jewish descent.

The idea that there was an ‘Aryan’ race corresponding to the parent Indo-European language was proposed by certain 19th-century writers, and was taken up by Hitler and other proponents of racist ideology, but it has been generally rejected by scholars.

■ n. a member of the ancient Aryan people.

- [mass noun] the language of the Aryan people.

- (in Nazi ideology) a person of Caucasian race not of Jewish descent.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit ārya ‘noble’ + -AN.

aryl /arl -rl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting a radical derived from an aromatic hydrocarbon by removal of a hydrogen atom: aryl groups.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from AROMATIC + -YL.

arytenoid /artind/ (also arytenoid cartilage) n. [ANATOMY] either of a pair of cartilages at the back of the larynx, used in the production of different kinds of voice quality (for example creaky voice).

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from modern Latin arytaenoides, from Greek arutainoeidēs, from arutaina ‘funnel’.

AS abbr. Anglo-Saxon.

As symbol the chemical element arsenic.

as^1 /az əz/ adv. used in comparisons to refer to the extent or degree of something: go as fast as you can | it tasted like grape juice but not as sweet.

- used to emphasize an amount: as many as twenty-two rare species may be at risk.

■ conj. 1 used to indicate that something happens during the time when something else is taking place: Frank watched him as he ambled through the crowd | as she grew older, she kept more to herself.

2 used to indicate by comparison the way that something happens or is done: they can do as they wish | she kissed him goodbye, as usual.

- used to add or interject a comment relating to the statement of a fact: as you can see, I didn't go after all.

3 because; since: I must stop now as I have to go out.

4 even though: sweet as he is, he doesn't pay his bills | try as he might, he failed to pull it off.

■ prep. 1 used to refer to the function or character that someone or something has: it came as a shock | she got a job as a cook.

2 during the time of being (the thing specified): he had often been ill as a child.

<PHRASES>

□ as and when at the time when (used to refer to an uncertain future event): they deal with an issue as and when it rears its head.

□ as for with regard to: as for you, you'd better be quick.

□ as from (or of) chiefly BRITISH used to indicate the time or date from which something starts: as from 1 January, a free market will be created | I'm on the dole as of now.

□ as if (or though) as would be the case if: she behaved as if he wasn't there.

□ as if! INFORMAL I very much doubt it: You know how pools winners always say it won't change their lives? Yeah, as if!

□ as (it) is in the existing circumstances: I've got enough on my plate as it is.

□ as it were in a way (used to be less precise): areas which have been, as it were, pushed aside.

□ as long as see long^1.

□ as MUCH see MUCH.

□ as PER see PER.

□ as SUCH see SUCH.

□ as to with respect to; concerning: decisions as to which patients receive treatment.

□ as well see well^1.

□ as yet [usually with negative] until now or a particular time in the past: the damage is as yet undetermined.

□ as you do BRITISH INFORMAL used as an ironic comment on a somewhat unexpected statement: on the way home I fell asleep in John's car, as you do.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: reduced form of Old English alswā ‘similarly’ (see ALSO).

<USAGE> For a discussion of whether it is correct to say he's not as shy as I rather than he's not as shy as me or I live in the same street as she rather than I live in the same street as her see usage at personal pronoun.

as^2 /as/ n. (pl. asses) an ancient Roman copper coin.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘a unit’.

as- prefix variant spelling of AD-. assimilated before s (as in assemble, assess).

ASA abbr.

- Advertising Standards Authority.

- Amateur Swimming Association.

- American Standards Association (especially in film-speed specification): a 400 ASA film.

asafoetida /asəfitdə -fεt-/ (US asafetida) n. 1 [mass noun] a fetid resinous gum obtained from the roots of a herbaceous plant, used in herbal medicine and Indian cooking.

2 a Eurasian plant of the parsley family, from which asafoetida gum is obtained.

<INFO> Ferula assa-foetida, family Umbelliferae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin, from asa (from Persian azā ‘mastic’) + foetida (see FETID).

asana /αsənə/ n. a posture adopted in performing hatha yoga.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit āsana.

Asansol /asənsəl/ an industrial city in NE India, in West Bengal, north-west of Kolkata (Calcutta); pop. 486,300 (2001).

asap abbr. as soon as possible.

asarabacca /asərəbakə/ n. a low-growing European evergreen plant of the birthwort family, formerly used in medicine and as an ingredient in snuff.

<INFO> Asarum europaeum, family Aristolochiaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin asarum (from Greek asaron), probably compounded with a shortened form of another name for the plant in Greek.

ASB abbr. Alternative Service Book.

asbestos /azbεsts as- -təs/ n. [mass noun] a highly heat-resistant fibrous silicate mineral that can be woven into fabrics, and is used in brake linings and in fire-resistant and insulating materials.

- fabric containing asbestos.

The asbestos minerals include chrysotile (white asbestos) and several kinds of amphibole, notably amosite (brown asbestos) and crocidolite (blue asbestos). The danger to health caused by breathing in highly carcinogenic asbestos particles has led to more stringent control of its use.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century, via Latin from Greek asbestos ‘unquenchable’ (applied by Dioscurides to quicklime), from a- ‘not’ + sbestos (from sbennumi ‘quench’).

asbestosis /azbεstəss as-/ n. [mass noun] a lung disease resulting from the inhalation of asbestos particles, marked by severe fibrosis and a high risk of mesothelioma (cancer of the pleura).

ASBO abbr. BRITISH antisocial behaviour order, a court order which can be obtained by local authorities in order to restrict the behaviour of a person likely to cause harm or distress to the public.

Ascalon /askələn/ ancient Greek name for ASHQELON.

ascariasis /askərəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE infection of the intestine with ascarids (parasitic nematode worms).

ascarid /askərd/ (also ascaris /-rs/) n. [ZOOLOGY] a parasitic nematode worm of a family (Ascaridae) whose members typically live in the intestines of vertebrates.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from modern Latin Ascaridae (plural), from Greek askarides, plural of askaris ‘intestinal worm’.

ascend v. 1 [with obj.] go up or climb: she ascended the stairs | [no obj.] we had ascended 3,000 ft.

- climb to the summit of (a mountain or hill): the first traveller to ascend the mountain.

- (of a fish or boat) move upstream along (a river).

2 [no obj.] rise or move up through the air: the lift ascended from his sight.

- (of a road or flight of steps) slope or lead up: the road ascends to the loch | (as adj. ascending) a gently ascending forest track.

- move up to a higher social or professional rank: some executives ascend to top-level positions.

- (of a voice or sound) rise in pitch: Carolyn's voice had ascended into high-pitched giggles.

<PHRASES>

□ ascend the throne become king or queen.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin ascendere, from ad- ‘to’ + scandere ‘to climb’.

ascendancy (also ascendency) n. [mass noun] occupation of a position of dominant power or influence: the ascendancy of good over evil | [in sing.] the poor have a moral ascendancy over the rich.

■ short for PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY.

ascendant (also ascendent) adj. 1 rising in power or influence: the newly ascendant liberal party.

2 [ASTROLOGY] (of a planet, zodiacal degree, or sign) on or close to the intersection of the ecliptic with the eastern horizon.

■ n. [ASTROLOGY] the point on the ecliptic at which it intersects the eastern horizon at a particular time, typically that of a person's birth.

<PHRASES>

□ in the ascendant rising in power or influence: the reformers are in the ascendant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin ascendent- ‘climbing up’, from the verb ascendere (see ASCEND).

ascender n. 1 a part of a letter that extends above the level of the top of an x (as in b and f).

- a letter having an ascender.

2 [CLIMBING] a device which can be clipped to a rope to act as a foothold or handhold, or to keep something in position.

ascending colon n. [ANATOMY] the first main part of the large intestine, which passes upwards from the caecum on the right side of the abdomen.

ascension n. [in sing.] the action of rising to an important position or a higher level: his ascension to the presidency.

- (Ascension) the ascent of Christ into heaven on the fortieth day after the Resurrection.

<DERIVATIVES> ascensional adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (referring to the ascent of Christ): via Old French from Latin ascensio(n-), from the verb ascendere (see ASCEND).

Ascension Day n. the Thursday forty days after Easter, on which Christ's Ascension is celebrated in the Christian Church.

Ascension Island a small island in the South Atlantic, incorporated with St Helena, with which it is a dependency of the UK; pop. 1,100 (est. 2002).

Ascensiontide n. the period of ten days from Ascension Day to Whitsun Eve.

ascent n. [usually in sing.] 1 a climb or walk to the summit of a mountain or hill: the first ascent of the Matterhorn.

- an upward slope or path that one may walk or climb: the ascent grew steeper.

2 an instance of rising or moving up through the air: the first balloon ascent was in 1783.

- a rise to a higher social or professional rank: his ascent to power.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from ASCEND, on the pattern of the pair of descend, descent.

ascertain /asəten/ v. [with obj.] find (something) out for certain; make sure of: an attempt to ascertain the cause of the accident | [with clause] management should ascertain whether adequate funding can be provided.

<DERIVATIVES> ascertainable adj. ascertainment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘assure, convince’): from Old French acertener, based on Latin certus ‘settled, sure’.

ascesis /əsiss/ n. [mass noun] the practice of severe self-discipline, typically for religious reasons.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek askēsis ‘training’, from askein ‘to exercise’.

ascetic /əsεtk/ adj. characterized by severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons: an ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and manual labour.

■ n. a person who follows an ascetic life.

<DERIVATIVES> ascetically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin asceticus or Greek askētikos, from askētēs ‘monk’, from askein ‘to exercise’.

asceticism /əsεtsz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] severe self-discipline and avoiding of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons: acts of physical asceticism.

Ascham /askəm/ Roger (c.1515–68), English humanist scholar and writer, noted for his treatise on archery, Toxophilus (1545), and The Scholemaster (1570), a practical and influential tract on education.

aschelminth /ahεlmnθ ask-/ n. (pl. aschelminths or aschelminthes) [ZOOLOGY] an invertebrate animal belonging to a group of phyla that are distinguished by the lack of a well-developed coelom and blood vessels. Most are minute worm-like animals, including the nematodes, rotifers, and water bears.

<INFO> Phylum Nematoda and about seven minor phyla, formerly placed in a phylum Aschelminthes.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin Aschelminthes (former phylum name), from Greek askos ‘sac’ + helminth ‘worm’ (from the former belief that animals of this group had a fluid-filled internal sac).

asci plural form of ASCUS.

ascidian /əsdən/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a sea squirt.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin plural Ascidia (genus name), from Greek askidion, diminutive of askos ‘wineskin’.

ASCII /aski/ abbr. [COMPUTING] American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a set of digital codes representing letters, numerals, and other symbols, widely used as a standard format in the transfer of text between computers.

ascites /əstiz/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity, causing abdominal swelling.

<DERIVATIVES> ascitic adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek askitēs, from askos ‘wineskin’.

Asclepius /əsklipəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a hero and god of healing, son of Apollo.

ascomycete /askəmsit/ n. (pl. ascomycetes /-msits -msitiz/) [BOTANY] a fungus whose spores develop within asci (cylindrical sacs). They include most moulds, mildews, and yeasts, the fungal component of most lichens, and a few large forms such as morels and truffles. Compare with BASIDIOMYCETE.

<INFO> Subdivision Ascomycotina (formerly class Ascomycetes): several classes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Ascomycetes (former class name), from Greek askos ‘sac’ + mukētes ‘fungi’.

ascorbate n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt, ester, or the anion of ascorbic acid.

ascorbic acid /əskbk/ n. [mass noun] a vitamin found particularly in citrus fruits and green vegetables. It is essential in maintaining healthy connective tissue, and is also thought to act as an antioxidant. Severe deficiency causes scurvy. Also called VITAMIN C.

<INFO> A lactone; chem. formula: C_6H_8O_6.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from A-1 ‘without’ + medieval Latin scorbutus ‘scurvy’ + -IC.

Ascot a town in southern England, south-west of Windsor. Its racecourse is the site of an annual race meeting.

ascot (also ascot tie) n. a man's broad silk necktie.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the place name ASCOT, by association with formal dress at race meetings held there.

ascribe v. [with obj.] (ascribe something to) regard something as being due to (a cause): he ascribed Jane's short temper to her upset stomach.

- regard a text, quotation, or work of art as being produced by or belonging to (a particular person or period): a quotation ascribed to Thomas Cooper.

- regard a quality as belonging to: tough-mindedness is a quality commonly ascribed to top bosses.

<DERIVATIVES> ascribable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin ascribere, from ad- ‘to’ + scribere ‘write’.

ascription n. [mass noun] the attribution of something to a cause: the ascription of effect to cause.

- the attribution of a text, quotation, or work of art to a particular person or period: her ascription of the text to Boccaccio | questions of authorial ascription.

- the action of regarding a quality as belonging to someone or something: the ascription of special personal qualities to political leaders.

- [count noun] a preacher's words ascribing praise to God at the end of a sermon.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin ascriptio(n-), from the verb ascribere (see ASCRIBE).

ascus /askəs/ n. (pl. asci /ask -i/) [BOTANY] a sac, typically cylindrical in shape, in which the spores of ascomycete fungi develop.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek askos ‘bag’.

ASDIC /azdk/ n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH an early form of sonar used to detect submarines.

<ORIGIN> First World War: acronym from Anti-Submarine Detection Investigation Committee.

-ase suffix [BIOCHEMISTRY] forming names of enzymes: amylase.

<ORIGIN> from (diast)ase.

ASEAN /asən/ abbr. Association of South-East Asian Nations.

aseismic /eszmk/ adj. [GEOLOGY] not characterized by earthquake activity.

asepsis /esεpss/ n. [mass noun] the absence of bacteria, viruses, and other micro-organisms.

- the exclusion of bacteria and other micro-organisms, typically during surgery. Compare with ANTISEPSIS.

aseptic adj. free from contamination caused by harmful bacteria, viruses, or other micro-organisms; surgically sterile or sterilized.

- (of surgical practice) aiming at the complete exclusion of harmful micro-organisms.

<DERIVATIVES> aseptically adv.

asexual adj. 1 without sexual feelings or associations: she wore a grey frock, discreet and asexual.

2 [BIOLOGY] (of reproduction) not involving the fusion of gametes.

- without sex or sexual organs: asexual parasites.

<DERIVATIVES> asexuality n. asexually adv.

Asgard /azαd/ [SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY] a region in the centre of the universe, inhabited by the gods.

ASH abbr. (in the UK) Action on Smoking and Health.

ash^1 n. 1 [mass noun] (also ashes) the powdery residue left after the burning of a substance: cigarette ash | I turned over the ashes.

- (ashes) the remains of a human body after cremation or burning.

- the mineral component of an organic substance, as assessed from the residue left after burning: coal contains higher levels of ash than premium fuels.

2 (the Ashes) a trophy for the winner of a series of Test matches in a cricket season between England and Australia. [<ORIGIN> from a mock obituary notice published in the Sporting Times (2 September 1882), with reference to the symbolical remains of English cricket being taken to Australia after a sensational victory by the Australians at the Oval.]

<PHRASES>

□ turn to ashes in one's mouth become bitterly disappointing or worthless.

□ rise (or emerge) from the ashes be renewed after destruction. [<ORIGIN> see rise like a phoenix from the ashes (at PHOENIX).]

<DERIVATIVES> ashy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English æsce, aexe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch as and German Asche.

ash^2 n. 1 (also ash tree) a tree with compound leaves, winged fruits, and hard pale timber, widely distributed throughout north temperate regions.

<INFO> Genus Fraxinus, family Oleaceae: many species, especially the common (or European) ash (F. excelsior).

- used in names of trees unrelated to the ash but with similar leaves, e.g. mountain ash.

2 an Old English runic letter, , a vowel intermediate between a and e. It is represented in the Roman alphabet by the symbol æ or Æ (see also Æ). [<ORIGIN> so named from the word of which it was the first letter.]

<ORIGIN> Old English æsc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch es and German Esche.

ashamed adj. [predic.] embarrassed or guilty because of something one has done or characteristics one has: you should be ashamed of yourself | [with clause] she felt ashamed that she had hit him.

- [with infinitive] reluctant to do something through fear of embarrassment or humiliation: I'm ashamed to say I followed him home | I am not ashamed to be seen with them.

<DERIVATIVES> ashamedly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English āscamod, past participle of āscamian ‘feel shame’, from ā- (as an intensifier) + the verb SHAME.

Ashanti^1 /əanti/ (also Asante) a region of central Ghana. It was annexed by Britain in 1902, becoming part of the former British colony of the Gold Coast.

Ashanti^2 /əanti/ (also Asante) n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people of south central Ghana.

2 [mass noun] the dialect of Akan spoken by the Ashanti.

■ adj. relating to the Ashanti or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Akan.

ash blonde (also ash blond) adj. (of a person's hair) very pale blonde.

■ n. a woman with very pale blonde hair.

ashcan n. US a dustbin.

Ashcan School a group of American realist painters active from c.1908 until the First World War, who painted scenes from the slums of New York. The school grew out of the group called ‘the Eight’.

Ashcroft Dame Peggy (1907–91), English actress; born Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft. She made her name on the stage with a number of Shakespearean roles, and won an Oscar for best supporting actress in the film A Passage to India (1984).

Ashdod /add/ a seaport on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, situated to the south of Tel Aviv; pop. 174,200 (est. 2000).

Ashdown Sir Paddy (b.1941), British Liberal Democrat politician, born in India; full name Jeremy John Durham Ashdown. He was the first leader of the Liberal Democrats 1988–99.

Ashe Arthur (Robert) (1943–93), American tennis player. He won the US Open singles championship in 1968 and Wimbledon in 1975, and was the first black male player to achieve world rankings.

ashen^1 adj. 1 (of a person's face) very pale with shock, fear, or illness: Eleanor's ashen face.

2 LITERARY of or resembling ashes.

ashen^2 adj. ARCHAIC made of timber from the ash tree.

ashen-faced adj. very pale with shock, fear, or illness.

Asher /aə/ (in the Bible) a Hebrew patriarch, son of Jacob and Zilpah (Gen. 30:12, 13).

- the tribe of Israel traditionally descended from the Hebrew patriarch Asher.

ashet /at/ n. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a large plate or dish.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French assiette.

Ashgabat /aəbat/ (also Ashkhabad) the capital of the central Asian republic of Turkmenistan; pop. 711,400 (est. 2002). Former name (1919–27) Poltoratsk.

ashine adj. [predic.] LITERARY shining: eyes ashine in the darkness.

Ashkenazi /akənαzi/ n. (pl. Ashkenazim /-zm/) a Jew of central or eastern European descent. More than 80 per cent of Jews today are Ashkenazim; they preserve Palestinian rather than Babylonian Jewish traditions and some still use Yiddish. Compare with SEPHARDI.

<DERIVATIVES> Ashkenazic adj.

<ORIGIN> from modern Hebrew, from Ashkenaz, grandson of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah (Gen. 10:3).

Ashkenazy /akənαzi/ Vladimir (Davidovich) (b.1937), Russian-born pianist. A child prodigy, he left the Soviet Union in 1963, finally settling in Iceland in 1973.

ash key n. BRITISH the winged fruit of an ash tree, growing in clusters resembling bunches of keys.

ashlar /alə/ n. [mass noun] masonry made of large square-cut stones, used as a facing on walls of brick or stone rubble.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aisselier from Latin axilla, diminutive of axis ‘plank’.

ashlaring n. [mass noun] 1 ashlar masonry.

2 upright boarding fixed from the joists to the rafters of an attic to cut off the acute angle between the roof and the floor.

Ashmole Elias (1617–92), English antiquary. His collection of rarities, presented to Oxford University in 1677, formed the nucleus of the Ashmolean Museum.

Ashmolean Museum /amələn/ a museum of art and antiquities in Oxford. It opened in 1683 and was the first public institution of its kind in England.

Ashmore and Cartier Islands /am kαte/ an external territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean, comprising the uninhabited Ashmore Reef and Cartier Islands.

ashore adv. to or on the shore or land from the direction of the sea: the seals come ashore to breed.

- on land as opposed to at sea: we spent the day ashore.

ash pan n. a tray fitted beneath a grate in which ashes can be collected and removed.

ashplant n. a sapling from an ash tree, typically used as a walking stick.

Ashqelon /akələn/ (also Ashkelon) an ancient Mediterranean city, situated to the south of modern Tel Aviv, in Israel. Greek name ASCALON.

ashram /arəm/ n. (especially in the Indian subcontinent) a hermitage, monastic community, or other place of religious retreat.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit āśrama ‘hermitage’.

ashrama /arəmə/ n. [HINDUISM] any of the four stages of an ideal life, ascending from the status of pupil to the total renunciation of the world.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit āśrama.

Ash Shariqah /a αrikə/ Arabic name for SHARJAH.

ashtanga /atαə/ (also astanga /astαə/) n. [mass noun] a type of yoga based on eight principles and consisting of a series of poses executed in swift succession, combined with deep, controlled breathing.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi aan or its source, Sanskrit ashaga ‘having eight parts’, from ashtán ‘eight’.

Ashton Sir Frederick (William Mallandaine) (1904–88), British ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. As a choreographer he created new works as well as popular adaptations of classical ballets.

ashtray n. a small receptacle for tobacco ash and cigarette ends.

Ashurbanipal /aəbanpal -banpαl/ king of Assyria c.668–627 BC, grandson of Sennacherib. A patron of the arts, he established a library of more than 20,000 clay tablets at Nineveh.

Ash Wednesday n. the first day of Lent in the Western Christian Church, marked by services of penitence.

<ORIGIN> from the custom of marking the foreheads of penitents with ashes on that day.

ASI abbr. airspeed indicator.

Asia /eə -ə/ the largest of the world's continents, constituting nearly one third of the land mass, lying entirely north of the equator except for some SE Asian islands. It is connected to Africa by the Isthmus of Suez, and borders Europe (part of the same land mass) along the Ural Mountains and across the Caspian Sea.

asiago /asαə/ n. [mass noun] a strong-flavoured cow's milk cheese made in northern Italy.

<ORIGIN> named after Asiago, the plateau and town in northern Italy where the cheese was first made.

Asia Minor the western peninsula of Asia, which now constitutes the bulk of modern Turkey.

Asian /e(ə)n -(ə)n/ adj. relating to Asia or its people, customs, or languages.

■ n. a native of Asia or a person of Asian descent.

<DERIVATIVES> Asianness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin Asianus, from Greek Asianos, from Asia (see ASIA).

<USAGE> In Britain Asian is used to refer to people who come from (or whose parents came from) the Indian subcontinent, while in North America it is used to refer to people from the Far East.

Asian American n. an American who is of Asian (chiefly Far Eastern) descent.

■ adj. relating to Asian Americans.

Asian Development Bank a bank with forty-seven member countries (thirty-two are from the Asia–Pacific region) located in Manila. Its aim is to promote the economic and social progress of its developing member countries.

Asian elephant n. another term for INDIAN ELEPHANT.

Asian pear n. another term for NASHI.

Asia-Pacific (also Asia-Pacific region) n. a business region consisting of the whole of Asia as well as the countries of the Pacific Rim.

Asiatic /eatk ez-/ adj. relating to or deriving from Asia: Asiatic coastal regions.

■ n. OFFENSIVE an Asian person.

<ORIGIN> via Latin Asiaticus from Greek Asiatikos, from Asia (see ASIA).

<USAGE> The standard and accepted term when referring to individual people is Asian rather than Asiatic, which can be offensive. However, Asiatic is standard in scientific and technical use, for example in biological and anthropological classifications.

ASIC abbr. [ELECTRONICS] application specific integrated circuit.

aside adv. to one side; out of the way: he pushed his plate aside | they stood aside to let a car pass | she must put aside all her antagonistic feelings.

- in reserve; for future use: she set aside some money for rent.

- used to indicate that one is dismissing a topic or changing to a new subject: joking aside, I've certainly had my fill.

■ n. a remark or passage in a play that is intended to be heard by the audience but is supposed to be unheard by the other characters in the play.

- an incidental remark, or one not intended to be heard by everyone present: ‘Does that make him a murderer?’ whispered Alice in an aside to Fred.

<PHRASES>

□ aside from chiefly NORTH AMERICAN apart from.

□ take (or draw) someone aside move someone away from a group of people in order to talk to them privately: he took him aside and urged him to quit wasting his time and talent.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally on side): see a^2, side.

A-side n. the side of a pop single regarded as the main one.

Asimov /azmf/ Isaac (1920–92), Russian-born American writer and scientist, particularly known for his works of science fiction and books on science for non-scientists. Notable science-fiction works: I, Robot (1950) and Foundation (trilogy, 1951–3).

asinine /asnn/ adj. extremely stupid or foolish: Lydia ignored his asinine remark.

<DERIVATIVES> asininity n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin asininus, from asinus ‘ass’.

Asir Mountains /əsə/ a range of mountains in SW Saudi Arabia, running parallel to the Red Sea.

-asis (often -iasis) suffix forming the names of diseases: onchocerciasis | psoriasis.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek.

asity /asti/ n. (pl. asities) a stocky perching bird related to the pittas, found only in Madagascar.

<INFO> Family Philepittidae: two genera, in particular Philepitta (two species).

<ORIGIN> probably a local word.

ask v. 1 [reporting v.] say something in order to obtain an answer or some information: [with obj. and clause] I asked her what she meant | [with obj.] people are always asking questions | [with direct speech] ‘How much further?’ I asked | [no obj.] the old man asked about her job.

- [no obj.] (ask around) talk to different people in order to find out something: there are fine meals to be had if you ask around.

- [no obj.] (ask after or Scottish for) BRITISH enquire about the health or well-being of: if I see him I'll tell him you were asking after him.

2 [with obj.] say to (someone) that one wants them to do or give something: Mary asked her father for money | [with obj. and infinitive] I asked him to call the manager | [no obj.] don't be afraid to ask for advice.

- [with clause] say that one wants permission to do something: she asked if she could move in | [with infinitive] he asked to see the officer involved | [with obj.] you should have asked my permission first.

- [no obj.] (ask for) say that one wants to speak to: when I arrived I asked for Katrina.

- say that one wants (a specified amount) as a price for selling something: he was asking £250 for the guitar.

- expect or demand (something) of someone: it's asking a lot, but could you look through Billy's things?

3 [with obj.] invite (someone) to one's home or a function: it's about time we asked Pam to dinner | she asked him round for a drink.

- (ask someone along) invite someone to join one on a group outing.

- (ask someone out) invite someone out on a date.

■ n. [in sing.] 1 US the price at which an item, especially a financial security, is offered for sale: [as modifier] ask prices for bonds.

2 [with adj.] INFORMAL something that is asked for; a demand: it was a tough ask, but they delivered.

<PHRASES>

□ ask me another INFORMAL used to indicate that one does not know the answer to a question: ‘What do they quarrel about?’ queried Ruth. ‘Ask me another!’.

□ be asking for trouble (or it) INFORMAL behave in a way that is likely to result in difficulty for oneself.

□ a big ask INFORMAL a difficult demand to fulfil: he told Australians to be happy, don't worry—it's a big ask.

□ don't ask me! INFORMAL used to indicate that one has no idea of the answer to a question.

□ for the asking used to indicate that someone can easily have something if they want it: the job was his for the asking.

□ I ask you! INFORMAL an exclamation of shock or disapproval intended to elicit agreement from one's listener: ringing me up on Christmas Day, I ask you!

□ if you ask me INFORMAL used to emphasize that a statement is one's personal opinion: if you ask me, it's just an excuse for laziness.

<DERIVATIVES> asker n.

<ORIGIN> Old English āscian, āhsian, āxian, of West Germanic origin.

askance /əskans əskαns/ (also askant /-skant -skαnt/) adv. with an attitude or look of suspicion or disapproval: the reformers looked askance at the mystical tradition | a waiter looked askance at his jeans.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: of unknown origin.

askari /əskαri/ n. (pl. same or askaris) 1 (in East Africa) a soldier or police officer.

2 (Askari) S. African HISTORICAL a member of the ANC who changed sides and joined the apartheid government's police force.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Arabic ‘askarī ‘soldier’.

askew /əskju/ adv. & adj. not in a straight or level position: [as predic. adjective] her hat was slightly askew.

- wrong; awry: [as adv.] the plan went sadly askew.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from A-2 ‘on’ + SKEW.

Askey /aski/ Arthur (Bowden) (1900–82), English comedian and actor. He was particularly famous for his radio show, Band Waggon (1938–9), and also appeared in a number of films.

asking price n. the price at which something is offered for sale.

ASL abbr. American Sign Language.

aslant adv. at an angle or in a sloping direction: some of the paintings hung aslant.

■ prep. across (something) at an angle.

asleep adj. & adv. in or into a state of sleep: [as adj.] she had been asleep for over three hours | [as adv.] he soon fell asleep.

- not attentive or alert; inactive: [as adj.] the competition was not asleep.

- (of a limb) having no feeling; numb: [as adj.] his legs were asleep.

- LITERARY used euphemistically to indicate that someone is dead.

<PHRASES>

□ asleep at the switch (or wheel) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL not attentive or alert.

ASLEF /azlεf/ abbr. (in the UK) Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen.

AS level n. (in the UK except Scotland) an examination or pass at advanced subsidiary level.

aslope adj. & adv. ARCHAIC or LITERARY in a sloping position: [as adj.] the steps are aslope and broken | [as adv.] against the mast he leans aslope.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: origin uncertain; this form appears earlier than SLOPE.

ASM abbr.

- air-to-surface missile.

- assistant stage manager.

Asmara /asmαrə/ (also Asmera /-mεrə/) the capital of Eritrea; pop. 392,500 (est. 2002).

asocial adj. avoiding social interaction; inconsiderate of or hostile to others: a tendency to asocial behaviour.

Asoka /əsəkə/ (also Ashoka /əəkə/)

- (died c.232 BC), emperor of India c.269–232 BC. He converted to Buddhism and established it as the state religion.

Asoka Chakra /tkrə/ the wheel on the Indian flag, designed after a wheel on a column set up by the Emperor Asoka.

Asoka pillar a pillar with four lions on the capital, built by the Emperor Asoka at Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh to mark the spot where the Buddha publicly preached his first sermon, and adopted as a symbol by the government of India.

ASP abbr. application service provider, a company providing Internet access to software applications that would otherwise have to be installed on individual computers.

asp /asp/ n. 1 (also asp viper) a small southern European viper with an upturned snout.

<INFO> Vipera aspis, family Viperidae.

■ another term for EGYPTIAN COBRA.

2 a large predatory Eurasian freshwater fish of the carp family.

<INFO> Aspius aspius, family Cyprinidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin aspis, from Greek.

asparagine /əsparədin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hydrophilic amino acid which is a constituent of most proteins.

<INFO> An amide of aspartic acid; chem. formula: CONH_2CH_2CH(NH_2)COOH.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from ASPARAGUS (which contains it) + -INE^4.

asparagus /əsparəəs/ n. a tall plant of the lily family with fine feathery foliage, cultivated for its edible shoots.

<INFO> Asparagus officinalis, family Liliaceae.

- [mass noun] the tender young shoots of the asparagus plant, eaten as a vegetable.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek asparagos.

asparagus fern n. a decorative indoor or greenhouse plant with feathery foliage, which is related to the edible asparagus.

<INFO> Genus Asparagus, family Liliaceae: several species.

asparagus pea n. a pea plant which has edible cylindrical pods with four longitudinal wavy flanges.

<INFO> Tetragonolobus (or Lotus) purpurea, family Leguminosae.

aspartame /əspαtem/ n. [mass noun] a very sweet substance used as an artificial sweetener, chiefly in low-calorie products. It is a derivative of aspartic acid and phenylalanine.

aspartate /əspαtet/ n. a salt or ester of aspartic acid.

aspartic acid /əspαtk/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an acidic amino acid which is a constituent of most proteins, and also occurs in sugar cane. It is important in the metabolism of nitrogen in animals, and also acts as a neurotransmitter.

<INFO> Chem. formula: COOHCH_2CH(NH_2)COOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: aspartic from French aspartique, formed arbitrarily from Latin asparagus (see ASPARAGUS).

aspect n. 1 a particular part or feature of something: personal effectiveness in all aspects of life | the financial aspect can be overstressed.

- a particular way in which something may be considered: from every aspect theirs was a changing world.

- a particular appearance or quality: the air of desertion lent the place a sinister aspect | [mass noun] a man of decidedly foreign aspect.

2 [usually in sing.] the positioning of a building or other structure in a particular direction: a greenhouse with a southern aspect.

- the side of a building facing a particular direction: the front aspect of the hotel was unremarkable.

3 [mass noun] [GRAMMAR] a category or form which expresses the way in which time is denoted by a verb.

There are three aspects in English, the progressive or continuous aspect (expressing duration, typically using the auxiliary verb be with a form in -ing, as in I was reading a book), the perfect or perfective (expressing completed action, typically using the auxiliary verb have with a past participle, as in I have read the book), and unmarked aspect (as in he reads books).

4 [ASTROLOGY] any of a number of particular angular relationships between one celestial body or point on the ecliptic and another: the sun in Aries formed an adverse aspect with Uranus in Capricorn.

■ v. [with obj.] [ASTROLOGY] (of a planet) form an aspect with (another celestial body).

<DERIVATIVES> aspectual adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the action or a way of looking): from Latin aspectus, from aspicere ‘look at’, from ad- ‘to, at’ + specere ‘to look’.

aspect ratio n. 1 the ratio of the width to the height of the image on a television screen.

2 [AERONAUTICS] the ratio of the span to the mean chord of an aerofoil.

Aspen a ski resort in south central Colorado; pop. 5,914 (2000).

aspen n. a poplar tree with small rounded long-stalked leaves that tremble in the breeze.

<INFO> Genus Populus, family Salicaceae: several species, in particular the European P. tremula and the North American quaking aspen (P. tremuloides).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from dialect asp (in the same sense) + -EN^2, forming an adjective later used as a noun (late 16th century).

Asperger's syndrome /aspədə(r)z/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] a rare and relatively mild autistic disorder characterized by awkwardness in social interaction, pedantry in speech, and preoccupation with very narrow interests.

<ORIGIN> named after Hans Asperger (1906–80), the Austrian psychiatrist who described the condition in 1944.

asperges /əspədiz/ n. [mass noun] [CHRISTIAN] the rite of sprinkling holy water at the beginning of the Mass, still used occasionally in Catholic churches.

- [count noun]

■ another term for ASPERGILLUM.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: the first word of the Latin text of Psalms 50(51):7 (literally ‘thou shalt purge’, but translated in the Authorized Version as ‘purge me’), recited before mass during the sprinkling of holy water.

aspergillosis /aspədləss/ n. [mass noun] a condition in which certain fungi infect the tissues, most commonly the lungs.

<INFO> The fungi are blackish moulds of the genus Aspergillus, subdivision Deuteromycotina.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Aspergillus, from ASPERGILLUM, + -OSIS.

aspergillum /aspədləm/ n. (pl. aspergilla or aspergillums) an implement for sprinkling holy water.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin.

asperity /əspεrti/ n. (pl. asperities) [mass noun] harshness of tone or manner: he pointed this out with some asperity.

- (asperities) harsh qualities or conditions: the asperities of a harsh and divided society.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘hardship, rigour’): from Old French asperite, or Latin asperitas, from asper ‘rough’.

aspermia /espəmə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE failure to produce semen, or absence of sperms from the semen.

asperse /əspəs/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY attack or criticize the reputation or integrity of: he aspersed the place and its inhabitants.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘spatter with liquid’): from Latin aspers- ‘sprinkled’, from the verb aspergere, from ad- ‘to’ + spargere ‘sprinkle’.

aspersion /əspə(ə)n/ n. (usually aspersions) an attack on the reputation or integrity of someone or something: I don't think anyone is casting aspersions on you.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the sprinkling of water, especially at baptism): from Latin aspersio(n-), from aspergere (see ASPERSE).

asphalt /asfalt -əlt/ n. [mass noun] a mixture of dark bituminous pitch with sand or gravel, used for surfacing roads, flooring, roofing, etc.

- the pitch used in asphalt, sometimes found in natural deposits but usually made by the distillation of crude oil.

■ v. [with obj.] surface with asphalt.

<DERIVATIVES> asphaltic adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French asphalte, based on late Latin asphalton, asphaltum, from Greek asphalton.

aspherical adj. (especially of an optical lens) not spherical.

<DERIVATIVES> aspheric adj. aspherically adv.

asphodel /asfədεl/ n. 1 a Eurasian plant of the lily family, typically having long slender leaves and flowers borne on a spike.

<INFO> Genera Asphodelus and Asphodeline, family Liliaceae. See also BOG ASPHODEL.

2 LITERARY an everlasting flower said to grow in the Elysian fields.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek asphodelos; compare with DAFFODIL.

asphyxia /əsfksə/ n. [mass noun] a condition arising when the body is deprived of oxygen, causing unconsciousness or death; suffocation.

<DERIVATIVES> asphyxial adj. asphyxiant adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘stopping of the pulse’): modern Latin, from Greek asphuxia, from a- ‘without’ + sphuxis ‘pulse’.

asphyxiate v. [with obj.] kill (someone) by depriving them of air: they were asphyxiated by the carbon monoxide fumes.

- [no obj.] die by being deprived of air: they slowly asphyxiated.

<DERIVATIVES> asphyxiation n.

aspic n. [mass noun] a savoury jelly made with meat stock, used as a garnish, or to contain pieces of food such as meat, seafood, or eggs, set in a mould.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, literally ‘asp’, from the colours of the jelly as compared with those of the snake.

aspidistra /aspdstrə/ n. a bulbous plant of the lily family with broad tapering leaves, native to East Asia and widely grown as a house plant.

<INFO> Genus Aspidistra, family Liliaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek aspis, aspid- ‘shield’ (because of the shape of the stigma), on the pattern of Tupistra, a related genus.

aspirant /əspər(ə)nt asp()r-/ adj. [attr.] having ambitions to achieve something, typically to follow a particular career: an aspirant politician.

■ n. a person who has ambitions to achieve something: an aspirant to the throne.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (as a noun): from Latin aspirant- ‘aspiring’, from the verb aspirare (see ASPIRE).

aspirate v. /aspəret/ [with obj.] 1 (often as adj. aspirated) [PHONETICS] pronounce (a sound) with an exhalation of breath: the aspirated allophone of p occurs in ‘pie’.

- [no obj.] pronounce the sound of h at the beginning of a word.

2 MEDICINE breathe (something) in; inhale: some drowning victims don't aspirate any water.

- draw (fluid) by suction from a vessel or cavity.

3 (usually as adj. aspirated) provide (an internal-combustion engine) with air: the superchargers produce twice the power of standard aspirated engines. See also NORMALLY ASPIRATED.

■ n. /asp(ə)rət/ 1 [PHONETICS] an aspirated consonant.

- a sound of h.

2 [mass noun] MEDICINE matter that has been drawn from the body by suction.

■ adj. /asp(ə)rət/ [PHONETICS] (of a sound) pronounced with an exhalation of breath; aspirated.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as an adjective): from Latin aspiratus ‘breathed’, past participle of aspirare (see ASPIRE).

aspiration n. 1 (usually aspirations) a hope or ambition of achieving something: the needs and aspirations of the people | [mass noun] the yawning gulf between aspiration and reality.

2 [mass noun] [PHONETICS] the action of pronouncing a sound with an exhalation of breath.

3 [mass noun] MEDICINE the action or process of drawing breath.

- the action of drawing fluid by suction from a vessel or cavity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Latin aspiratio(n-), from the verb aspirare (see ASPIRE).

aspirational adj. having or characterized by aspirations to achieve social prestige and material success: young, aspirational, and independent women.

<DERIVATIVES> aspirationally adv.

aspirator n. MEDICINE an instrument or apparatus for aspirating fluid from a vessel or cavity.

aspire v. [no obj.] 1 direct one's hopes or ambitions towards achieving something: we never thought that we might aspire to those heights | [with infinitive] other people will aspire to be like you.

2 LITERARY rise high; tower.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French aspirer or Latin aspirare, from ad- ‘to’ + spirare ‘breathe’.

aspirin n. (pl. same or aspirins) [mass noun] a synthetic compound used medicinally to relieve mild or chronic pain and to reduce fever and inflammation, usually taken in tablet form.

<INFO> Alternative name: acetylsalicylic acid; chem. formula: C_6H_4(OCOCH_3)COOH.

- (in general use) a tablet of any mild painkilling drug.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, from acetylierte Spirsäure ‘acetylated salicylic acid’ (the element Spir- being from the plant genus name Spiraea).

aspiring adj. [attr.] directing one's hopes or ambitions towards becoming a specified type of person: an aspiring artist.

asportation n. [mass noun] [LAW], RARE the detachment, movement, or carrying away of property, formerly an essential component of the crime of larceny.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin asportatio(n-), from asportare ‘carry away’.

asprawl adv. & adj. sprawling: [as predic. adjective] she lay, legs and arms asprawl.

asquint adv. & adj. with a glance to one side or from the corner of the eyes: [as adv.] a woman looked asquint at me.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from A-2 ‘on’ + a Low German or Dutch word related to modern Dutch schuinte ‘slant’.

Asquith /askwθ/ Herbert Henry, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (1852–1928), British Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1908–16.

ass^1 /as/ n. 1 a hoofed mammal of the horse family, which is typically smaller than a horse and has longer ears and a braying call.

<INFO> Genus Equus, family Equidae: E. africanus of Africa, which is the ancestor of the domestic ass or donkey, and E. hemionus of Asia.

- (in general use) a donkey.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a foolish or stupid person: that ass of a young man.

<PHRASES>

□ make an ass of oneself INFORMAL behave in a way that makes one look foolish or stupid.

<ORIGIN> Old English assa, from a Celtic word related to Welsh asyn, Breton azen, based on Latin asinus.

ass^2 /αs as/ n. NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG a person's buttocks or anus.

- [mass noun] women regarded as a source of sexual gratification.

- oneself (used in phrases for emphasis).

<PHRASES>

□ bust one's ass try very hard to do something.

□ chew (someone's) ass reprimand (someone) severely.

□ drag (or tear or haul) ass hurry or move fast.

□ get your ass in (or into) gear hurry.

□ not GIVE a rat's ass not care at all about something.

□ put (or have) someone's ass in a sling get someone in trouble.

□ whip (or bust) someone's ass beat someone in a fight.

<DERIVATIVES> assed adj. [in combination] fat-assed guys

<ORIGIN> variant of ARSE.

-ass combining form NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used in derogatory terms as an intensifier: smart-ass.

Assad /asad/ Hafiz al- (1928–2000), Syrian Baath statesman, President 1971–2000. He strengthened Syria's oil-based economy and suppressed political opposition such as the uprising of Muslim extremists (1979–82).

assai /as/ adv. [usually postpositive] [as submodifier] [MUSIC] (in directions) very: allegro assai.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘very much’.

assail /əsel/ v. [with obj.] make a concerted or violent attack on: the Scots army assailed Edward's army from the rear.

- (of an unpleasant feeling or physical sensation) come upon (someone) suddenly and strongly: she was assailed by doubts and regrets.

- criticize strongly.

<DERIVATIVES> assailable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French asaill-, stressed stem of asalir, from medieval Latin assalire, from Latin assilire, from ad- ‘to’ + salire ‘to leap’; compare with ASSAULT.

assailant n. a person who physically attacks another.

Assam /asam/ a state in NE India; capital, Dispur. Most of the state lies in the valley of the Brahmaputra River; it is noted for the production of tea.

Assamese /asəmiz/ n. (pl. same) 1 a native or inhabitant of Assam.

2 [mass noun] the Indic language which is the official language of Assam, related to Bengali and spoken by around 23 million people, roughly half in Assam and half in Bangladesh.

■ adj. relating to Assam, its people, or their language.

assart /əsαt/ BRITISH HISTORICAL n. a piece of land converted from forest to arable use.

- [mass noun] the action of converting forest to arable use.

■ v. [with obj.] convert (forest) to arable use.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): from Old French essarter, from medieval Latin ex(s)artare, based on ex ‘out’ + sar(r)ire ‘to weed’. The verb dates from the early 16th cent.

assassin /əsasn/ n. 1 a person who murders an important person for political or religious reasons.

2 (Assassin) a member of the Nizari branch of Ismaili Muslims at the time of the Crusades, when the newly established sect ruled part of northern Persia (1094–1256). They were renowned as militant fanatics, and were popularly reputed to use hashish before going on murder missions.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, or from medieval Latin assassinus, from Arabic ašīšī ‘hashish-eater’.

assassinate v. [with obj.] murder (an important person) for political or religious reasons.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin assassinat- ‘killed’, from the verb assassinare, from assassinus (see ASSASSIN).

assassination n. [mass noun] the action of assassinating someone: the assassination of President Kennedy | [as modifier] a failed assassination attempt. [count noun] a wave of bombings and assassinations.

assassin bug n. a long-legged predatory or bloodsucking bug which occurs chiefly in the tropics and feeds mainly on other arthropods. Some of those that bite humans can transmit micro-organisms such as that causing Chagas' disease.

<INFO> Family Reduviidae, suborder Heteroptera: numerous species.

assault v. [with obj.] make a physical attack on: he pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer | she was sexually assaulted as a child.

- carry out a military attack or raid on (an enemy position).

- bombard with something undesirable or unpleasant: thunder assaulted the ears.

■ n. 1 a physical attack: his imprisonment for an assault on the film director | a sexual assault.

- [LAW] an act that threatens physical harm to a person, whether or not actual harm is done: he admitted an assault and two thefts | [mass noun] he appeared in court charged with assault.

- a military attack or raid on an enemy position: troops began an assault on the city.

- a strong verbal attack: an articulate assault on all forms of prejudice.

2 a concerted attempt to do something demanding: a winter assault on Mt. Everest.

<DERIVATIVES> assaulter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French asaut (noun), assauter (verb), based on Latin ad- ‘to’ + saltare, frequentative of salire ‘to leap’. Compare with ASSAIL.

assault and battery n. [mass noun] [LAW] the action of threatening a person together with the action of making physical contact with them.

assault course n. BRITISH a course through which the participants must run, negotiating obstacles to be climbed, crawled under, crossed on suspended ropes, etc., as used for training soldiers.

assaultive adj. tending or likely to commit an assault: they found that assaultive men had abusive parents.

- aggressive or forcefully assertive.

assault rifle n. a lightweight rifle developed from the sub-machine gun, which may be set to fire automatically or semi-automatically.

assay /əse ase/ n. [mass noun] the testing of a metal or ore to determine its ingredients and quality: submission of plate for assay.

- [count noun] a procedure for measuring the biochemical or immunological activity of a sample.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 determine the content or quality of (a metal or ore).

- determine the biochemical or immunological activity of (a sample).

- examine (something) in order to assess its nature: stepping inside, I quickly assayed the clientele.

2 ARCHAIC attempt: I assayed a little joke of mine on him.

<DERIVATIVES> assayer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general sense ‘testing, or a test of, the merit of someone or something’): from Old French assai (noun), assaier (verb), variant of essai ‘trial’, essayer ‘to try’ (see ESSAY).

assay office n. an establishment for the assaying of ores and metals.

- BRITISH an institution authorized to award hallmarks to articles made from precious metals. There are currently four in Britain, at London, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Edinburgh.

ass-backwards NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL adv. in a manner contrary to what is usual, expected, or logical: I never did like to do anything simple when I could do it ass-backwards.

■ adj. contrary to what is usual, expected, or logical.

assegai /asə/ (also assagai) n. (pl. assegais) 1 a slender, iron-tipped, hardwood spear used chiefly by southern African peoples.

2 (also assegai wood) a South African tree of the dogwood family, which yields hard timber.

<INFO> Curtisia dentata, family Cornaceae.

■ v. (assegais, assegaing, assegaied) [with obj.] wound or kill with an assegai.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from obsolete French azagaie or Portuguese azagaia, from Arabic az-zaġāyah, from az, al ‘the’ + Berber zaġāyah ‘spear’.

assemblage n. a collection or gathering of things or people: a loose assemblage of diverse groups.

- a machine or object made of pieces fitted together: some vast assemblage of gears and cogs.

- a work of art made by grouping together found or unrelated objects.

- [mass noun] the action of gathering or fitting things together.

assemble v. 1 [no obj.] (of people) gather together in one place for a common purpose: a crowd had assembled outside the gates.

- [with obj.] cause (people or things) to gather together for a common purpose: he assembled the surviving members of the group for a tour.

- (usually as n. assembling) [ENTOMOLOGY] (of male moths) gather for mating in response to a pheromone released by a female.

2 [with obj.] fit together the separate component parts of (a machine or other object): my new machine is being assembled and my old one dismantled.

3 [with obj.] [COMPUTING] translate (a program) from a symbolic language into machine code.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French asembler, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ + simul ‘together’.

assemblé /asble/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) [BALLET] a leap in which the feet are brought together before landing.

assembler n. 1 a person who assembles a machine or its parts.

2 [COMPUTING] a program for converting instructions written in low-level symbolic code into machine code.

■ another term for ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE.

assembly n. (pl. assemblies) 1 a group of people gathered together in one place for a common purpose: an assembly of dockers and labourers.

- a group of people elected to make laws or decisions for a particular country or region.

2 [mass noun] the action of gathering together as a group for a common purpose: a decree guaranteeing freedom of assembly.

- the regular gathering of the teachers and pupils of a school at the start or end of the day: he was told off for talking in assembly.

- (usually the assembly) chiefly HISTORICAL a signal for troops to assemble, given by drum or bugle.

3 [mass noun] [often as modifier] the action of fitting together the component parts of a machine or other object: a car assembly plant.

- [count noun] a unit consisting of components that have been fitted together: the tail assembly of the aircraft.

4 [mass noun] [usually as modifier] [COMPUTING] the conversion of instructions in low-level code to machine code.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French asemblee, feminine past participle of asembler (see ASSEMBLE).

assembly language n. [COMPUTING] a low-level symbolic code converted by an assembler.

assembly line n. a series of workers and machines in a factory by which a succession of identical items is progressively assembled.

assembly room n. chiefly BRITISH a public room or hall in which meetings or social functions are held.

assembly shop n. a place where a machine or its components are assembled.

assent /əsεnt/ n. [mass noun] the expression of approval or agreement: a loud murmur of assent | he nodded assent.

- official agreement or sanction: the act was given the Royal Assent.

■ v. [no obj.] (often assent to) express approval or agreement: the Prime Minister assented to the change | [with direct speech] ‘Guest house, then,’ Frank assented cheerfully.

<DERIVATIVES> assenter (also assentor) n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French as(s)enter (verb), as(s)ente (noun), based on Latin assentire, from ad- ‘towards’ + sentire ‘feel, think’.

assert v. [reporting v.] state a fact or belief confidently and forcefully: [with clause] the company asserts that the cuts will not affect development | [with obj.] he asserted his innocence.

- [with obj.] cause others to recognize (one's authority or a right) by confident and forceful behaviour: the good librarian is able to assert authority when required.

- (assert oneself) behave or speak in a confident and forceful manner: it was time to assert himself.

<DERIVATIVES> asserter (also assertor) n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin asserere ‘claim, affirm’, from ad- ‘to’ + serere ‘to join’.

assertion n. a confident and forceful statement of fact or belief: [with clause] his assertion that his father had deserted the family.

- [mass noun] the action of asserting something: the assertion of his legal rights.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin assertio(n-), from the verb asserere (see ASSERT).

assertive adj. having or showing a confident and forceful personality: the job may call for assertive behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> assertively adv. assertiveness n.

asses plural form of as^2, ass^1, ass^2.

asses' bridge n. English term for PONS ASINORUM.

assess v. [with obj.] evaluate or estimate the nature, ability, or quality of: the committee must assess the relative importance of the issues | [with clause] it is difficult to assess whether this is a new trend.

- calculate or estimate the price or value of: the damage was assessed at £5 billion.

- set the value of a tax, fine, etc., for (a person or property) at a specified level: all empty properties will be assessed at 50 per cent.

<DERIVATIVES> assessable adj. assessor n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French assesser, based on Latin assidere ‘sit by’ (in medieval Latin ‘levy tax’), from ad- ‘to, at’ + sedere ‘sit’. Compare with ASSIZE.

assessment n. [mass noun] the action of assessing someone or something: the assessment of educational needs | assessments of market value.

asset n. a useful or valuable thing or person: quick reflexes were his chief assets | the school is an asset to the community.

- (usually assets) an item of property owned by a person or company, regarded as having value and available to meet debts, commitments, or legacies: growth in net assets.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the plural in the sense ‘sufficient estate to allow discharge of a will’): from an Anglo-Norman French legal term, from Old French asez ‘enough’, based on Latin ad ‘to’ + satis ‘enough’.

asset-backed adj. denoting securities having as collateral the return on a series of mortgages, credit agreements, or other forms of lending.

asset-stripping n. [mass noun] the practice of taking over a company in financial difficulties and selling each of its assets separately at a profit without regard for the company's future.

<DERIVATIVES> asset-stripper n.

asseveration /əsεvəre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the solemn or emphatic declaration or statement of something: I fear that you offer only unsupported asseveration | [count noun] the dogmatic outlook marks many of his asseverations.

<DERIVATIVES> asseverate v.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin asseveratio(n-), from the verb asseverare, from ad- ‘to’ + severus ‘serious’.

assibilate /əsblet/ v. [with obj.] [PHONETICS] pronounce (a sound) as a sibilant or affricate ending in a sibilant (e.g. sound t as ts).

<DERIVATIVES> assibilation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin assibilat- ‘hissed at’, from the verb assibilare, from ad- ‘to’ + sibilare ‘to hiss’.

assiduity /asdjuti/ n. (pl. assiduities) [mass noun] constant or close attention to what one is doing: the assiduity with which he could wear down his opponents.

- (assiduities) ARCHAIC or LITERARY constant attentions to someone.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin assiduitas, from assiduus ‘occupied with’ (see ASSIDUOUS).

assiduous /əsdjəs/ adj. showing great care and perseverance: she was assiduous in pointing out every feature.

<DERIVATIVES> assiduously adv. assiduousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin assiduus, from assidere ‘be engaged in doing’ (see ASSESS), + -OUS.

assign v. [with obj.] 1 allocate (a job or duty): Congress had assigned the task to the agency | [with two objs] his leader assigned him this mission.

- appoint (someone) to a job, task, or organization: she has been assigned to a new job.

2 designate or set (something) aside for a specific purpose: managers happily assign large sums of money to travel budgets.

- (assign something to) attribute something as belonging to: it is difficult to decide whether to assign the victory to Godwin.

3 transfer (legal rights or liabilities).

■ n. [LAW] another term for assignee (sense 1).

<DERIVATIVES> assignable adj. assigner (also assignor) n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French asigner, assiner, from Latin assignare, from ad- ‘to’ + signare ‘to sign’.

assignation n. 1 an appointment to meet someone in secret, typically one made by lovers: his assignation with an older woman.

2 [mass noun] the allocation or attribution of someone or something as belonging to something.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘command, appointment to office, or allotment of revenue’): via Old French from Latin assignatio(n-), from the verb assignare (see ASSIGN).

assignee n. chiefly [LAW] 1 a person to whom a right or liability is legally transferred.

2 a person appointed to act for another.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French assigne, past participle of assigner ‘allot’ (see ASSIGN).

assignment n. 1 a task or piece of work allocated to someone as part of a job or course of study: a homework assignment.

- [mass noun] the allocation of a job or task to someone: the effective assignment of tasks.

2 [mass noun] the allocation of someone or something as belonging to a particular group or category: the assignment of individuals to particular social positions.

3 an act of making a legal transfer of a right or liability: an assignment of leasehold property.

- a document effecting a legal transfer of a right or liability.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French assignement, from medieval Latin assignamentum, from Latin assignare ‘allot’ (see ASSIGN).

assimilate v. [with obj.] 1 take in and understand fully (information or ideas): Marie tried to assimilate the week's events.

- absorb and integrate (people, ideas, or culture) into a wider society or culture: pop trends are assimilated into the mainstream with alarming speed.

2 (of the body or any biological system) absorb and digest (food or nutrients).

3 regard as similar; liken: philosophers had assimilated thought to perception.

- [no obj.] become similar: the Churches assimilated to a certain cultural norm.

- [PHONETICS] make (a sound) more like another in the same or next word.

<DERIVATIVES> assimilable adj. assimilation n. assimilative adj. assimilator n. assimilatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin assimilat- ‘absorbed, incorporated’, from the verb assimilare, from ad- ‘to’ + similis ‘like’.

assimilationist n. a person who advocates or participates in racial or cultural integration.

Assisi^1 /əsisi/ a town in the region of Umbria in central Italy; pop. 24,443 (2001). It is famous as the birthplace of St Francis, whose tomb is located there.

assist v. [with obj.] help (someone), typically by doing a share of the work: a senior academic would assist him in his work | [no obj.] their presence would assist in keeping the peace.

- help by providing money or information: they were assisting police with their inquiries | [no obj.] funds to assist with capital investment.

- [no obj.] be present as a helper: two midwives who assisted at a water birth.

■ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an act of giving help, typically by providing money: the budget must have an assist from tax policies.

- (chiefly in ice hockey, basketball, or baseball) an act of touching the ball in a play in which a teammate scores or an opposing batter is put out: Elliot had 10 points and five assists.

<DERIVATIVES> assister n. assistive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French assister, from Latin assistere ‘take one's stand by’, from ad- ‘to, at’ + sistere ‘take one's stand’.

assistance n. [mass noun] the action of helping someone by sharing work: the work was completed with the assistance of carpenters.

- the provision of money, resources, or information to help someone: schemes offering financial assistance to employers | she will be glad to give advice and assistance.

<PHRASES>

□ be of assistance be of practical use or help: the guide will be of assistance to development groups.

□ come to someone's assistance act to help someone.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from medieval Latin assistentia, from Latin assistere (see ASSIST).

assistant n. a person who ranks below a senior person: [as modifier] an assistant manager.

- [with adj. or noun modifier] a person who helps in particular work: a care assistant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from medieval Latin assistent- ‘taking one's stand beside’, from the verb assistere (see ASSIST).

assistant professor n. NORTH AMERICAN a university teacher ranking immediately below an associate professor.

assistantship n. NORTH AMERICAN a paid academic appointment made to a graduate student that involves part-time teaching or research.

assisted area n. (in the UK) a region receiving government grants or loans for industrial development.

assisted place n. (in the UK) a place in an independent school for a pupil whose fees are wholly or partially subsidized by the state.

assisted suicide n. [mass noun] the suicide of a patient suffering from an incurable disease, effected by the taking of lethal drugs provided by a doctor for this purpose.

assize /əsz/ n. (usually assizes) HISTORICAL a court which formerly sat at intervals in each county of England and Wales to administer the civil and criminal law. In 1972 the civil jurisdiction of assizes was transferred to the High Court, and the criminal jurisdiction to the Crown Court.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French assise, feminine past participle of asseeir ‘sit, settle, assess’, from Latin assidere (see ASSESS).

ass-kissing n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG obsequious behaviour in order to gain favour.

Assoc. abbr. (as part of a title) Association.

associate v. /əsəet -set/ [with obj.] (often associate someone/thing with) connect (someone or something) with something else in one's mind: I associated wealth with freedom.

- connect (something) with something else because they occur together or one produces the other: the environmental problems associated with nuclear waste.

- (be associated with) be involved with.

- (associate oneself with) allow oneself to be connected with or seen to be supportive of: I cannot associate myself with some of the language used.

- [no obj.] meet or have dealings with someone regarded with disapproval: he began to associate with the Mafia.

■ n. /əsəət -sət/ 1 a partner or companion in business or at work: a close associate of the Minister.

2 a person with limited or subordinate membership of an organization.

3 chiefly [PSYCHOLOGY] a concept connected with another.

■ adj. /əsəət -sət/ [attr.] connected with an organization or business: an associate company.

- having shared function or membership but with a lesser status: the associate director of the academy.

<DERIVATIVES> associability n. associable adj. associateship n. associator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘join with in a common purpose’; as an adjective in the sense ‘allied’): from Latin associat- ‘joined’, from the verb associare, from ad- ‘to’ + socius ‘sharing, allied’.

associated adj. (of a person or thing) connected with something else: two associated events.

- (of a company) connected or amalgamated with another company or companies.

- [CHEMISTRY] (of liquids) in which the molecules are held together by hydrogen bonding or other weak interaction.

Associated Press (abbr.: AP) an international news agency based in New York City.

associate professor n. NORTH AMERICAN an academic ranking immediately below full professor.

association n. 1 (often in names) a group of people organized for a joint purpose: the National Association of Probation Officers.

- [ECOLOGY] a stable plant community including a characteristic group of dominant plant species.

2 a connection or cooperative link between people or organizations: he developed a close association with the university | [mass noun] the programme was promoted in association with the Department of Music.

- [mass noun] the process or state of becoming a subordinate member of an organization: [as modifier] an association agreement between Bulgaria and the EU.

- [CHEMISTRY] the linking of molecules through hydrogen bonding or other interaction short of full bond formation.

3 (usually associations) a mental connection between things: the word bureaucracy has unpleasant associations.

- [mass noun] the action of making a mental connection: there's nothing new in the association of fasting with spirituality.

4 [mass noun] the state of occurring with something else; co-occurrence: cases of cancer found in association with colitis.

<DERIVATIVES> associational adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘uniting in a common purpose’): from medieval Latin associatio(n-), from Latin associare ‘to unite, ally’ (see ASSOCIATE).

association area n. [ANATOMY] a region of the cortex of the brain which connects sensory and motor areas, and which is thought to be concerned with higher mental activities.

Association football n. [mass noun] British more formal term for SOCCER.

associationism n. [mass noun] a theory in philosophy or psychology which regards the simple association or co-occurrence of ideas or sensations as the primary basis of meaning, thought, or learning.

<DERIVATIVES> associationist n. & adj.

Association of South-East Asian Nations (abbr.: ASEAN) a regional organization intended to promote economic cooperation and now comprising the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Brunei.

associative adj. 1 of or involving the association of things: making associative links.

- [COMPUTING] of or denoting computer storage in which items are identified by content rather than by address.

2 [MATHEMATICS] involving the condition that a group of quantities connected by operators gives the same result whatever their grouping, i.e. in whichever order the operations are performed, as long as the order of the quantities remains the same, e.g. (a × b) × c = a × (b × c).

assonance /as(ə)nəns/ n. [mass noun] resemblance of sound between syllables of nearby words, arising particularly from the rhyming of two or more stressed vowels, but not consonants (e.g. sonnet, porridge), but also from the use of identical consonants with different vowels (e.g. killed, cold, culled).

<DERIVATIVES> assonant adj. assonate /-net/ v.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Latin assonare ‘respond to’, from ad- ‘to’ + sonare (from sonus ‘sound’).

assort v. 1 [no obj.] [GENETICS] (of genes or characteristics) become distributed among cells or progeny.

2 [with obj.] ARCHAIC place in a group; classify: he would assort it with the fabulous dogs as a monstrous invention.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French assorter, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + sorte ‘sort, kind’.

assortative adj. denoting or involving the preferential mating of animals or marriage between people with similar characteristics.

assorted adj. [attr.] of various sorts put together; miscellaneous: bowls in assorted colours.

assortment n. a miscellaneous collection of things or people: the room was filled with an assortment of clothes.

ASSR abbr. HISTORICAL Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Asst abbr. Assistant.

assuage /əswed/ v. [with obj.] make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense: the letter assuaged the fears of most members.

- satisfy (an appetite or desire): an opportunity occurred to assuage her desire for knowledge.

<DERIVATIVES> assuagement n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French assouagier, asouagier, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ (expressing change) + suavis ‘sweet’.

As Sulaymaniyah /as/ full name of SULAYMANIYAH.

assume v. [with obj.] 1 suppose to be the case, without proof: topics which assume detailed knowledge of local events | [with clause] it is reasonable to assume that such changes have significant social effects | [with obj. and infinitive] they were assumed to be foreign.

2 take or begin to have (power or responsibility): he assumed full responsibility for all organizational work.

- seize (power or control).

3 begin to have (a specified quality, appearance, or extent): militant activity had assumed epidemic proportions.

- adopt falsely: Oliver assumed an expression of penitence.

<DERIVATIVES> assumable adj. assumedly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin assumere, from ad- ‘towards’ + sumere ‘take’.

assumed adj. [attr.] falsely adopted: a man living under an assumed name.

assuming conj. used for the purpose of argument to indicate a premise on which a statement can be based: assuming that the treaty is ratified, what is its relevance?

■ adj. ARCHAIC arrogant or presumptuous.

assumption n. 1 a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof: they made certain assumptions about the market | [with clause] we're working on the assumption that the time of death was after midnight.

2 [mass noun] the action of taking on power or responsibility.

3 (Assumption) the reception of the Virgin Mary bodily into heaven. This was formally declared a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church in 1950.

- the feast in honour of the Assumption, celebrated on 15 August.

4 [mass noun] ARCHAIC arrogance or presumption.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 3): from Old French asompsion or Latin assumptio(n-), from the verb assumere (see ASSUME).

assumptive adj. 1 RARE of the nature of an assumption.

2 ARCHAIC arrogant or presumptuous.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘taken, adopted’): from Latin assumptivus, from the verb assumere (see ASSUME).

Assur /aə/ (also Asur or Ashur) an ancient city state of Mesopotamia, situated on the River Tigris to the south of modern Mosul. It was the traditional capital of the Assyrian empires.

assurance n. 1 a positive declaration intended to give confidence; a promise: [with clause] he gave an assurance that work would begin on Monday.

2 [mass noun] confidence or certainty in one's own abilities: she drove with assurance.

- certainty about something: assurance of faith depends on our trust in God.

3 [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH insurance, specifically life insurance.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French, from assurer ‘assure’.

<USAGE> In the context of life insurance, a technical distinction is made between assurance and insurance. Assurance is used of policies under whose terms a payment is guaranteed, either after a fixed term or on the death of the insured person; insurance is the general term, and is used in particular of policies under whose terms a payment would be made only in certain circumstances (e.g. accident or death within a limited period).

assure v. 1 [reporting v.] tell someone something positively to dispel any doubts: [with obj. and clause] Tony assured me that there was a supermarket in the village | [with obj. and direct speech] ‘I quite understand,’ Mrs Lewis assured her | [with obj.] they assured him of their full confidence.

- (assure oneself) make sure of something: she assured herself that he was asleep.

2 [with obj.] make (something) certain to happen: victory was now assured | [with clause] their influence assured that the report would be tough.

- (be assured of) be certain to get: you would be assured of a welcome.

3 chiefly BRITISH cover (a life) by assurance.

- secure the future payment of (an amount) with insurance.

<DERIVATIVES> assurer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French assurer, based on Latin ad- ‘to’ (expressing change) + securus (see SECURE).

assured adj. 1 confident: an extremely assured performance.

2 [attr.] protected against discontinuance or change: an assured tenancy.

<DERIVATIVES> assuredly adv. [sentence adv.] if they lose their hold, they will assuredly drown

Assyria /əsrə/ an ancient country in what is now northern Iraq. From the early part of the 2nd millennium BC Assyria was the centre of a succession of empires; it was at its peak in the 8th and late 7th centuries BC, when its rule stretched from the Persian Gulf to Egypt. It fell in 612 BC to a coalition of Medes and Babylonians.

Assyrian n. 1 an inhabitant of ancient Assyria.

2 [mass noun] the language of ancient Assyria, a dialect of Akkadian.

3 [mass noun] a dialect of Aramaic still spoken by a group of people of mainly Christian faith living in the mountains of Syria, northern Iraq, and surrounding regions.

■ adj. 1 relating to ancient Assyria or its language.

2 relating to or denoting modern Assyrian or its speakers.

Assyriology /əsrləd/ n. [mass noun] the study of the language, history, and antiquities of ancient Assyria.

<DERIVATIVES> Assyriological adj. Assyriologist n.

AST abbr. Atlantic Standard Time (see ATLANTIC TIME).

astable /əsteb(ə)l e-/ adj. chiefly [ELECTRONICS] relating to a system or electric circuit which oscillates spontaneously between unstable states.

Astaire /əstε/ Fred (1899–1987), American dancer, singer, and actor; born Frederick Austerlitz. He is famous for starring in a number of film musicals, including Top Hat (1935), in a successful partnership with Ginger Rogers.

Astana /əstαnə/ a city in Kazakhstan, the capital since 1997; pop. 293,800 (est. 2002). Former name AKMOLA.

Astarte /əstαti/ a Phoenician goddess of fertility and sexual love who corresponds to the Babylonian and Assyrian goddess Ishtar and who became identified with the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, and others.

astatic /əstatk/ adj. [PHYSICS] (of a system or instrument) consisting of or employing a combination of magnets suspended in a uniform magnetic field on a single wire or thread in such a way that no torque is present.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek astatos ‘unstable’ + -IC.

astatine /astətin/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 85, a radioactive member of the halogen group. Astatine was first produced by bombarding bismuth with alpha particles, and it occurs in traces in nature as a decay product. (Symbol: At)

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek astatos ‘unstable’ + -INE^4.

aster /astə/ n. a plant of a large genus that includes the Michaelmas daisy, typically having purple or pink rayed flowers.

<INFO> Genus Aster, family Compositae: numerous species. See also CHINA ASTER.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘a star’): via Latin from Greek astēr ‘star’.

-aster suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting poor quality: criticaster | poetaster.

2 [BOTANY] denoting incomplete resemblance: oleaster.

<ORIGIN> from Latin.

asterisk n. a symbol (*) used in text as a pointer to an annotation or footnote.

■ v. [with obj.] mark (a word or piece of text) with an asterisk: (as adj. asterisked) asterisked entries.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek asteriskos ‘small star’, diminutive of astēr.

asterism /astərz(ə)m/ n. 1 [ASTRONOMY] a prominent pattern or group of stars that is smaller than a constellation.

2 a group of three asterisks () drawing attention to a piece of text.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek asterismos, from astēr ‘star’.

astern adv. behind or towards the rear of a ship or aircraft: the engine rooms lay astern.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from A-2 (expressing position or direction) + STERN^2.

asteroid /astərd/ n. 1 a small rocky body orbiting the sun. Large numbers of these, ranging enormously in size, are found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, though some have more eccentric orbits.

2 [ZOOLOGY] an echinoderm of the class Asteroidea, which comprises the starfishes.

■ adj. [ZOOLOGY] relating to or denoting echinoderms of the class Asteroidea.

<DERIVATIVES> asteroidal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek asteroeidēs ‘starlike’, from astēr ‘star’.

Asteroidea /astərdə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of echinoderms that comprises the starfishes.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek asteroeidēs ‘starlike’, from astēr ‘star’.

asthenia /əsθinə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal physical weakness or lack of energy.

<DERIVATIVES> asthenic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek astheneia, from asthenēs ‘weak’.

asthenosphere /əsθεnəsfə/ n. [GEOLOGY] the upper layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur.

<DERIVATIVES> asthenospheric adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek asthenēs ‘weak’ + SPHERE.

asthma /asmə/ n. [mass noun] a respiratory condition marked by attacks of spasm in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. It is usually connected to allergic reaction or other forms of hypersensitivity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin asma, from Greek asthma, from azein ‘breathe hard’.

asthmatic adj. relating to or suffering from asthma.

■ n. a person who suffers from asthma.

<DERIVATIVES> asthmatically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: via Latin from Greek asthmatikos, from asthma (see ASTHMA).

Asti /asti/ n. [mass noun] 1 a white wine from the Italian province of Asti and neighbouring parts of Piedmont.

2 a light sparkling wine from the Asti region.

astigmatism /əstmətz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a defect in the eye or in a lens caused by a deviation from spherical curvature, which results in distorted images, as light rays are prevented from meeting at a common focus.

<DERIVATIVES> astigmatic /astmatk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + Greek stigma ‘point’ + -ISM.

astilbe /əstlbi/ n. an Old World plant of the saxifrage family, with plumes of tiny white, pink, or red flowers.

<INFO> Genus Astilbe, family Saxifragaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek a- ‘not’ + stilbē, feminine of stilbos ‘glittering’ (because the individual flowers are small and inconspicuous).

astir adj. [predic.] in a state of excited movement: the streets are all astir.

- awake and out of bed: he woke before anyone was astir.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from A-2 ‘on’ + the noun stir^1.

Asti Spumante /asti sp(j)umante -ti/ n. another term for Asti (sense 2).

Aston Francis William (1877–1945), English physicist. He invented the mass spectrograph (with J. J. Thomson) and eventually discovered many of the 287 naturally occurring isotopes of non-radioactive elements. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1922).

astonish v. [with obj.] surprise or impress (someone) greatly: you never fail to astonish me | [with obj. and clause] it astonished her that he was so anxious.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as astonished, in the sense ‘stunned, bewildered, dismayed’): from obsolete astone ‘stun, stupefy’, from Old French estoner, based on Latin ex- ‘out’ + tonare ‘to thunder’.

astonished adj. greatly surprised or impressed; amazed: he was astonished at the change in him | we were astonished to hear of this decision.

astonishing adj. extremely surprising or impressive; amazing: an astonishing achievement | I find it astonishing that they ever thought it could work.

<DERIVATIVES> astonishingly adv. [as submodifier] an astonishingly successful programme

astonishment n. [mass noun] great surprise: she looked at him in astonishment.

Astor /astə/ Nancy Witcher Langhorne, Viscountess (1879–1964), American-born British Conservative politician. She became the first woman to sit in the House of Commons when she succeeded her husband as MP for Plymouth in 1919.

astound v. [with obj.] shock or greatly surprise: her bluntness astounded him.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘stunned’): from astoned, past participle of obsolete astone (see ASTONISH).

astounding adj. surprisingly impressive or notable: the summit offers astounding views.

<DERIVATIVES> astoundingly adv. [as submodifier] an astoundingly good performance

astraddle prep. with the legs stretched widely on each side of: policemen sitting astraddle motorcycles.

■ adj. & adv. with the legs stretched widely on each side: [as predic. adjective] with her legs astraddle | [as adv.] the guys got me astraddle of the wheel.

Astraea /astriə/ [ASTRONOMY] asteroid 5, discovered in 1845 (diameter 125 km).

<ORIGIN> from the name of a Roman goddess associated with justice.

astragal /astrə(ə)l/ n. 1 a moulding or wooden strip of semicircular cross section.

- [ARCHITECTURE] a narrow semicircular moulding round the top or bottom of a column.

2 a bar separating panes of glass in cabinetmaking.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from ASTRAGALUS, partly via French astragale.

astragalus /əstra(ə)ləs/ n. (pl. astragali /-l/) 1 chiefly [ZOOLOGY] another term for talus^1 (ankle bone).

- (astragali) HISTORICAL small bones used as dice.

2 a plant of a genus that includes milk vetch.

<INFO> Genus Astragalus, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek astragalos ‘ankle bone, moulding’, also the name of a plant.

Astrakhan /astrəkαn/ a city in southern Russia, on the delta of the River Volga; pop. 482,000 (est. 2002).

astrakhan /astrəkan/ n. [mass noun] the dark curly fleece of young karakul lambs from central Asia.

- a fabric imitating astrakhan.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: named after the city of ASTRAKHAN, from which the fleeces were exported.

astral /astr(ə)l/ adj. [attr.] relating to or resembling the stars: astral navigation.

- relating to a supposed non-physical realm of existence to which various psychic and paranormal phenomena are ascribed, and in which the physical human body is said to have a counterpart: spiritual beings from the astral plane.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin astralis, from astrum ‘star’.

astrantia /əstrantə/ n. a plant of the parsley family with small compact starlike heads of tiny flowers surrounded by prominent bracts, native to Europe and western Asia.

<INFO> Genus Astrantia, family Umbelliferae: several species, in particular A. major, which is often grown in gardens.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, perhaps from Greek astēr ‘star’.

astray adv. 1 away from the correct path or direction: we went astray but a man redirected us.

2 into error or morally questionable behaviour: he was led astray by boozy colleagues.

<PHRASES>

□ go astray (of an object) become lost or mislaid: the money had gone astray.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘distant from the correct path’): from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French estraie, past participle of estraier, based on Latin extra ‘out of bounds’ + vagari ‘wander’.

astride prep. & adv. 1 with a leg on each side of: [as prep.] he was sitting astride the bike | [as adv.] he sat on the chair astride.

- [as adv.] (of a person's legs) apart: he stood, legs astride.

2 [as prep.] extending across: the port stands astride an international route.

astringent /əstrn(d)(ə)nt/ adj. 1 causing the contraction of skin cells and other body tissues: an astringent skin lotion.

2 sharp or severe in manner or style: her astringent words had their effect.

- (of taste or smell) sharp or bitter.

■ n. an astringent lotion applied to the skin to reduce bleeding from minor abrasions or as a cosmetic to make the skin less oily.

<DERIVATIVES> astringency n. astringently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Latin astringent- ‘pulling tight’, from the verb astringere, from ad- ‘towards’ + stringere ‘bind, pull tight’.

astro- /astrə/ combining form relating to the stars or celestial objects: astrodome | astrophotography.

- relating to outer space: astrochemistry.

<ORIGIN> from Greek astron ‘star’.

astro-archaeology n. another term for ARCHAEOASTRONOMY.

astrobiology n. [mass noun] the branch of biology concerned with the study of life on earth and in space.

<DERIVATIVES> astrobiological adj. astrobiologist n.

astrobleme /astrəblim/ n. [GEOLOGY] an eroded remnant of a large crater made by the impact of a meteorite or comet.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Greek astron ‘star’ + blēma ‘wound’.

astrochemistry n. [mass noun] the study of molecules and ions occurring in stars and interstellar space.

<DERIVATIVES> astrochemical adj. astrochemist n.

astrocompass n. an instrument designed to indicate direction with respect to the stars.

astrocyte /astrə()st/ n. [ANATOMY] a star-shaped glial cell of the central nervous system.

<DERIVATIVES> astrocytic adj.

astrodome n. 1 chiefly US an enclosed stadium with a domed roof.

2 a domed window in an aircraft for astronomical observations.

astrogation /astrə()e(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] (in science fiction) navigation in outer space.

<DERIVATIVES> astrogator n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of ASTRO- and NAVIGATION.

astroid /astrd/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a hypocycloid with four cusps (like a square with concave sides).

astrolabe /astrəleb/ n. chiefly HISTORICAL an instrument used to make astronomical measurements, typically of the altitudes of celestial bodies, and in navigation for calculating latitude, before the development of the sextant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French astrelabe, from medieval Latin astrolabium, from Greek astrolabon, neuter of astrolabos ‘star-taking’.

astrology n. [mass noun] the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world.

Ancient observers of the heavens developed elaborate systems of explanation based on the movements of the sun, moon, and planets through the constellations of the zodiac, for predicting events and for casting horoscopes. By 1700 astrology had lost intellectual credibility in the West, but continued to have popular appeal. Modern astrology is based on that of the Greeks, but other systems are extant, e.g. that of China.

<DERIVATIVES> astrologer n. astrological adj. astrologically adv. astrologist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French astrologie, from Latin astrologia, from Greek, from astron ‘star’.

astrometric binary n. [ASTRONOMY] a binary star system in which one companion is invisible, but is known to be present from its effect on measurements relating to the other.

astrometry n. [mass noun] the measurement of the positions, motions, and magnitudes of stars.

<DERIVATIVES> astrometric adj.

astronaut n. a person who is trained to travel in a spacecraft.

<DERIVATIVES> astronautical adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from ASTRO-, on the pattern of aeronaut and aquanaut.

astronautics plural n. [treated as sing.] the science and technology of space travel and exploration.

astronomer n. an expert in or student of astronomy.

astronomical adj. 1 relating to astronomy.

2 INFORMAL (of an amount) extremely large: he wanted an astronomical fee.

<DERIVATIVES> astronomic adj.

■ astronomical (sense 2)

□ astronomically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek astronomikos, from astronomia (see ASTRONOMY).

astronomical unit (abbr.: AU) n. [ASTRONOMY] a unit of measurement equal to 149.6 million kilometres, the mean distance from the centre of the earth to the centre of the sun.

astronomy n. [mass noun] the branch of science which deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole.

In ancient times, observation of the sun, moon, stars, and planets formed the basis of timekeeping and navigation. Astronomy was greatly furthered by the invention of the telescope, but modern observations are made in all parts of the spectrum, including X-ray and radio frequencies, using terrestrial and orbiting instruments and space probes.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also denoting astrology): from Old French astronomie, from Latin astronomia, from Greek, from astronomos (adjective) ‘star-arranging’.

astrophotography n. [mass noun] the use of photography in astronomy.

<DERIVATIVES> astrophotographer n. astrophotographic adj.

astrophysics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of astronomy concerned with the physical nature of stars and other celestial bodies, and the application of the laws and theories of physics to the interpretation of astronomical observations.

<DERIVATIVES> astrophysical adj. astrophysicist n.

AstroTurf n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an artificial grass surface, used for sports fields.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from ASTRODOME (SENSE 1)

■ (where it was first used) + TURF.

Asturias /astərəs/ an autonomous region and former principality of NW Spain; capital, Oviedo.

<DERIVATIVES> Asturian n. & adj.

astute adj. having or showing an ability to accurately assess situations or people and turn this to one's advantage: an astute businessman.

<DERIVATIVES> astutely adv. astuteness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from obsolete French astut or Latin astutus, from astus ‘craft’.

astylar /əstlə/ adj. [ARCHITECTURE] (of a classical building) lacking columns or pilasters.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + Greek stulos ‘column’ + -AR^1.

Asunción /əsnsn/ Spanish /asunsjən -θjən/ the capital and chief port of Paraguay; pop. 546,800 (est. 2002).

asunder adv. ARCHAIC or LITERARY apart: those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.

<ORIGIN> Old English on sundran ‘in or into a separate place’; compare with SUNDER.

asura /srə/ n. a member of a class of divine beings in the Vedic period, which in Indian mythology tend to be evil and in Zoroastrianism are benevolent. Compare with DEVA.

ASV abbr. American Standard Version (of the Bible).

Aswan /aswαn/ a city on the Nile in southern Egypt, 16 km (10 miles) north of Lake Nasser; pop. 250,500 (est. 2002). Two dams across the Nile have been built nearby. The controlled release of water from Lake Nasser behind the High Dam produces the greater part of Egypt's electricity.

aswarm adj. [predic.] crowded or full: the streets were aswarm with vendors.

aswim adj. [predic.] swimming: sardines aswim in oil.

aswirl adj. & adv. covered or surrounded with something swirling; swirling: [as adv.] she shook her head, sending the streamers aswirl.

asylee /əsli/ n. a person who is seeking or has been granted political asylum.

asylum n. 1 [mass noun] (also political asylum) the protection granted by a state to someone who has left their native country as a political refugee: people seeking asylum in Britain | [as modifier] an asylum seeker.

- shelter or protection from danger.

2 DATED an institution for the care of people who are mentally ill.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘place of refuge’, especially for criminals): via Latin from Greek asulon ‘refuge’, from asulos ‘inviolable’, from a- ‘without’ + sulon ‘right of seizure’. Current senses date from the 18th cent.

asymmetrical adj. having parts which fail to correspond to one another in shape, size, or arrangement; lacking symmetry: the church has an asymmetrical plan with an aisle only on one side.

- having parts or aspects which are not equal or equivalent: the asymmetrical relationship between a landlord and a tenant.

<DERIVATIVES> asymmetric adj. asymmetrically adv.

asymmetrical warfare n. [mass noun] warfare involving surprise attacks by small, simply armed groups on a nation armed with modern high-tech weaponry.

asymmetric bars plural n. a pair of bars of different heights used in women's gymnastics.

asymmetry /esmtri/ n. (pl. asymmetries) [mass noun] lack of equality or equivalence between parts or aspects of something; lack of symmetry.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek asummetria, from a- ‘without’ + summetria (see SYMMETRY).

asymptomatic adj. MEDICINE (of a condition or a person) producing or showing no symptoms.

asymptote /asm(p)tət/ n. a straight line that continually approaches a given curve but does not meet it at any finite distance.

<DERIVATIVES> asymptotic /asm(p)ttk/ adj. asymptotically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin asymptota (linea) ‘(line) not meeting’, from Greek asumptōtos ‘not falling together’, from a- ‘not’ + sun ‘together’ + ptōtos ‘apt to fall’ (from piptein ‘to fall’).

asynchronous adj. 1 not existing or occurring at the same time.

2 [COMPUTING] & [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] controlling the timing of operations by the use of pulses sent when the previous operation is completed rather than at regular intervals.

3 (of a machine or motor) not working in time with the alternations of current.

4 [ASTRONOMY] (of a satellite) revolving round the parent planet at a different rate from that at which the planet rotates.

<DERIVATIVES> asynchronously adv. asynchrony n.

asyndeton /əsndt(ə)n/ n. (pl. asyndeta /-tə/) [mass noun] the omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence, as in I came, I saw, I conquered.

<DERIVATIVES> asyndetic /asndεtk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: modern Latin, from Greek asundeton, neuter of asundetos ‘unconnected’, from a- ‘not’ + sundetos ‘bound together’.

asystole /esstəli/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which the heart ceases to beat.

<DERIVATIVES> asystolic /esstlk/ adj.

At symbol the chemical element astatine.

at^1 prep. 1 expressing location or arrival in a particular place or position: they live at Conway House | they stopped at a small trattoria.

2 expressing the time when an event takes place: the children go to bed at nine o'clock | his death came at a time when the movement was split.

- (followed by a noun without a determiner) denoting a particular period of time: the sea is cooler at night.

- (followed by a noun without a determiner) denoting the time spent by someone attending an educational institution or workplace: it was at university that he first began to perform.

3 denoting a particular point or level on a scale: prices start at £18,500 | driving at 50 mph.

- referring to someone's age: at fourteen he began to work as a postman.

4 expressing a particular state or condition: his ready smile put her at ease | they were at a disadvantage.

- expressing a relationship between an individual and a skill: boxing was the only sport I was any good at | she was getting much better at hiding her reactions.

5 expressing the object of a look, thought, action, or plan: I looked at my watch | Leslie pointed at him | policies aimed at reducing taxation.

- expressing an incomplete or attempted action, typically involving repeated movements: she clutched at the thin gown | he hit at her face with the gun.

6 expressing the means by which something is done: holding a prison officer at knifepoint | FIGURATIVE her pride had taken a beating at his hands.

<PHRASES>

□ at all see ALL.

□ at FIRST see FIRST.

□ at it engaged in some activity, typically a reprehensible one: the council is at it again, wanting to turn another green patch into a carpark.

□ at last see last^1.

□ at LEAST see LEAST.

□ at MOST see MOST.

□ at ONCE see ONCE.

□ at that in addition; furthermore: it was not fog but smoke, and very thick at that.

□ where it's at INFORMAL the focus of fashion or style: building your own palace is where it's at.

<ORIGIN> Old English æt, of Germanic origin; related to Old Frisian et and Old Norse at, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin ad ‘to’.

at^2 /αt at/ n. a monetary unit of Laos, equal to one hundredth of a kip.

<ORIGIN> Thai.

at- prefix variant spelling of AD-. assimilated before t (as in attend, attenuate).

Atacama Desert /atəkαmə/ an arid region of western Chile, extending roughly 965 km (600 miles) southwards from the Peruvian border.

atactic /ətaktk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of a polymer or polymer structure) in which the repeating units have no regular stereochemical configuration.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek ataktos, from a- ‘not’ + taktos ‘arranged’ + -IC.

Atalanta /atəlantə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a huntress who would marry only someone who could beat her in a foot race. She was beaten when a suitor threw down three golden apples which she stopped to pick up.

ataman /atəman/ n. (pl. atamans) a Cossack leader.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Russian.

ataraxy /atəraksi/ (also ataraxia /atəraksə/) n. [mass noun] LITERARY a state of serene calmness.

<DERIVATIVES> ataractic adj. ataraxic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French ataraxie, from Greek ataraxia ‘impassiveness’, from a- ‘not’ + tarassein ‘disturb’.

Atatürk /atətək/ Kemal (1881–1938), Turkish general and statesman, President 1923–38; also called Kemal Pasha. He was elected the first President of the Turkish republic, taking the name of Atatürk (‘father of the Turks’) in 1934. He abolished the caliphate and introduced other policies designed to make Turkey a modern secular state.

atavistic /atəvstk/ adj. relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral: atavistic fears and instincts.

<DERIVATIVES> atavism n. atavistically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: based on Latin atavus ‘forefather’ + the adjectival suffix -istic.

ataxia /ətaksə/ (also ataxy /-si/) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the loss of full control of bodily movements.

<DERIVATIVES> ataxic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek, from a- ‘without’ + taxis ‘order’. The original sense was ‘irregularity, disorder’, later (in medical use) denoting irregularity of function or symptoms.

ATB abbr. all-terrain bike.

at-bat [BASEBALL] n. a player's turn at batting, as officially recorded: he had three singles in four at-bats.

■ adv. (at bat) batting.

ATC abbr.

- air traffic control or air traffic controller.

- (in Britain) Air Training Corps.

ATE abbr. automated test equipment.

ate past of EAT.

-ate^1 suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting status or office: doctorate | episcopate.

- denoting a state or function: curate | mandate.

2 denoting a group: electorate.

3 [CHEMISTRY] denoting a salt or ester, especially of an acid with a corresponding name ending in -ic: chlorate | nitrate.

4 denoting a product of a chemical process: condensate | filtrate.

<ORIGIN> from Old French -at or Latin -atus, -ata, -atum.

-ate^2 suffix 1 forming adjectives and nouns such as associate, duplicate, separate.

2 forming adjectives from Latin: caudate.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -atus, -ata, -atum.

-ate^3 suffix forming verbs such as fascinate, hyphenate.

<ORIGIN> from -ate^2; originally forms were based on existing past participial adjectives ending in -atus, but were later extended to any Latin verb ending in -are and to French verbs ending in -er.

A-team n. a group of elite soldiers or the top advisers or other staff in an organization.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from sports terminology in which an organization's A-team is its best team.

Atebrin /atbrn/ (US Atabrine) n. trademark for QUINACRINE.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

atelectasis /atlεktəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE partial collapse or incomplete inflation of the lung.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek atelēs ‘imperfect’ + ektasis ‘extension’.

atelier /ətεle/ n. a workshop or studio, especially one used by an artist or designer.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from Old French astelle ‘splinter of wood’, from Latin astula.

a tempo /α tεmpə/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) in the previous tempo.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘in time’.

atemporal /etεmp(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. existing or considered without relation to time.

<DERIVATIVES> atemporality n.

Aten /αt(ə)n/ (also Aton) [EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY] the sun or solar disc, the deity of a strong monotheistic cult, particularly during the reign of Akhenaten.

atenolol /ətεnəll/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a beta blocker used mainly to treat angina and high blood pressure.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: perhaps from a(ngina) + ten(sion) + (propran)olol, a related compound.

ATF abbr. (in the US) (Federal Bureau of) Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

Athabaskan /aθəbask(ə)n/ (also Athapaskan) adj. denoting or relating to a family of North American Indian languages, including a southern group of which the most important are Navajo and Apache, and a northern group in Alaska and the Canadian North-West, many of which are now rare or extinct.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the Athabaskan family of languages, sometimes classified in the Na-Dene phylum.

2 a speaker of any of the Athabaskan languages.

<ORIGIN> from Athabasca, the name of a lake in western Canada, from Cree Athap-askaw ‘grass and reeds here and there’, + -AN.

athame /əθemi əθαme/ n. a black-handled, double-edged ritual knife used in modern witchcraft.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

Athanasian Creed /aθəne(ə)n/ a summary of Christian doctrine formerly attributed to St Athanasius, but probably dating from the 5th century.

Athanasius, St /aθəneəs/ (c.296–373), Greek theologian and upholder of Christian orthodoxy against Arianism. Feast day, 2 May.

athanor /aθən/ n. HISTORICAL a type of furnace used by alchemists, able to maintain a steady heat for long periods.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Arabic at-tannūr, from al- ‘the’ + tannūr ‘baker's oven’.

Atharva Veda /ətəvə vedə vidə/ [HINDUISM] a collection of hymns and ritual utterances in early Sanskrit, added at a later stage to the existing Veda material.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit Atharvan (the name of Brahma's eldest son, said to be the author of the collection) + veda ‘(sacred) knowledge’.

atheism /eθz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] disbelief in the existence of God or gods.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French athéisme, from Greek atheos, from a- ‘without’ + theos ‘god’.

atheist n. a person who does not believe in the existence of God or gods: he is a committed atheist.

<DERIVATIVES> atheistic adj. atheistical adj.

atheling /aθ(ə)l/ n. HISTORICAL a prince or lord in Anglo-Saxon England.

<ORIGIN> Old English ætheling, of West Germanic origin, from a base meaning ‘race, family’.

Athelstan /aθəlstən/ (895–939), king of England 925–39. Athelstan came to the thrones of Wessex and Mercia in 924 before effectively becoming the first king of all England.

athematic /aθmatk e-/ adj. 1 [MUSIC] (of a composition) not based on the use of themes.

2 [GRAMMAR] (of a verb form) having a suffix attached to the stem without a connecting (thematic) vowel.

Athenaeum /aθniəm/ (US also Atheneum) n. used in the names of libraries or institutions for literary or scientific study: the Boston Athenaeum.

- used in the titles of periodicals concerned with literature, science, and art.

- (the Athenaeum) a London club founded in 1824, originally for men of distinction in literature, art, and learning.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: via Latin from Greek Athēnaion, denoting the temple of the goddess Athene in ancient Athens (which was used for teaching).

Athene /əθini/ (also Athena) [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the patron goddess of Athens, typically allegorized into a personification of wisdom. Also called PALLAS. Roman equivalent MINERVA.

Athenian empire see DELIAN LEAGUE.

Athens /aθnz/ the capital of Greece; pop. 3,126,600 (est. 2002). Greek name Athínai.

A flourishing city state of ancient Greece, Athens was an important cultural centre in the 5th century BC. It came under Roman rule in 146 BC and fell to the Goths in AD 267. After its capture by the Turks in 1456 Athens declined to the status of a village, until chosen as the capital of a newly independent Greece in 1834.

<DERIVATIVES> Athenian adj. & n.

atherogenic /aθərə()dεnk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] tending to promote the formation of fatty deposits in the arteries.

<DERIVATIVES> atherogenesis n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ATHEROMA + -GENIC.

atheroma /aθərəmə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE degeneration of the walls of the arteries caused by accumulated fatty deposits and scar tissue, and leading to restriction of the circulation and a risk of thrombosis. See also ATHEROSCLEROSIS.

- the fatty material which forms deposits in the arteries.

<DERIVATIVES> atheromatous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek athērōma, from athērē, atharē ‘groats’.

atherosclerosis /aθərəsklərəss -sklə-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a disease of the arteries characterized by the deposition of fatty material on their inner walls. See also ATHEROMA.

<DERIVATIVES> atherosclerotic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: coined in German from Greek athērē ‘groats’ + sklērōsis ‘hardening’ (see SCLEROSIS).

athetosis /aθtəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which abnormal muscle contraction causes involuntary writhing movements. It affects some people with cerebral palsy, impairing speech and use of the hands.

<DERIVATIVES> athetoid adj. athetotic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek athetos ‘without position’ + -OSIS.

Athínai /aθine/ Greek name for ATHENS.

athirst adj. [predic.] ARCHAIC thirsty.

- very eager to get something: she was athirst for news.

<ORIGIN> Old English ofthyrst, shortened from ofthyrsted, past participle of ofthyrstan ‘be thirsty’.

athlete n. a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise.

- BRITISH a person who takes part in competitive track and field events (athletics).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin athleta, from Greek athlētēs, from athlein ‘compete for a prize’, from athlon ‘prize’.

athlete's foot n. [mass noun] a fungal infection affecting mainly the skin between the toes. It is a form of ringworm.

athletic adj. 1 physically strong, fit, and active: big, muscular, athletic boys.

2 [attr.] BRITISH relating to athletes or athletics: athletic events | an athletic club.

<DERIVATIVES> athletically adv. athleticism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French athlétique or Latin athleticus, from Greek athlētikos, from athlētēs (see ATHLETE).

athletics plural n. [usually treated as sing.] BRITISH the sport of competing in track and field events, including running races and various competitions in jumping and throwing.

- NORTH AMERICAN physical sports and games of any kind.

athletic support (also athletic supporter) n. another term for JOCKSTRAP.

at-home n. a party in a person's home.

- DATED a period when a person has announced that they will receive visitors in their home.

-athon suffix forming nouns denoting an action or activity which is carried on for a very long time or on a very large scale, typically to raise funds for charity: talkathon | walkathon.

<ORIGIN> on the pattern of (mar)athon.

Athos, Mount /aθs eθ-/ a narrow, mountainous peninsula in NE Greece, projecting into the Aegean Sea. It is inhabited by monks of the Orthodox Church, who forbid women and even female animals to set foot on the peninsula.

<DERIVATIVES> Athonite /aθənt/ adj. & n.

athwart /əθwt/ prep. 1 from side to side of; across: a counter was placed athwart the entrance.

2 in opposition to; counter to: these statistics run sharply athwart conventional presumptions.

■ adv. 1 across from side to side; transversely: one table running athwart was all the room would hold.

2 so as to be perverse or contradictory: our words ran athwart and we ended up at cross purposes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from A-2 ‘on’ + THWART.

-atic suffix forming adjectives and nouns such as aquatic, idiomatic.

<ORIGIN> from French -atique or Latin -aticus, sometimes based on Greek -atikos.

atilt adv. tilted and nearly falling.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from A-2 + TILT.

-ation suffix (forming nouns) denoting an action or an instance of it: exploration | hesitation.

- denoting a result or product of action: plantation.

<ORIGIN> from French -ation or Latin -ation-.

Ativan /atvan/ n. trademark for LORAZEPAM.

-ative suffix (forming adjectives) denoting a characteristic or propensity: pejorative | talkative.

<ORIGIN> from French -atif, -ative or Latin -ativus (from past participial stems ending in -at).

Atkins diet n. (TRADEMARK in the US) a high-protein, high-fat diet in which carbohydrates are severely restricted.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after the American cardiologist Robert C. Atkins (1930–2003).

Atkinson Sir Harry (Albert) (1831–92), British-born New Zealand statesman, Prime Minister 1876–7, 1883–4, and 1887–91.

Atlanta the state capital of Georgia in the US; pop. 416,474 (2000).

<DERIVATIVES> Atlantan n. & adj.

atlantes plural form of atlas (sense 3).

Atlantic adj. 1 of or adjoining the Atlantic Ocean: the Atlantic coast of Europe.

2 [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the third climatic stage of the postglacial period in northern Europe, between the Boreal and Sub-Boreal stages (about 7,500 to 5,000 years ago), marked by a moist oceanic climate.

■ n. (the Atlantic) 1 short for ATLANTIC OCEAN.

2 [GEOLOGY] the Atlantic climatic stage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek Atlantikos, from Atlas, Atlant- (see ATLAS). The term originally referred to Mount Atlas in Libya, hence to the sea near the west African coast, later extended to the whole ocean.

Atlantic, Battle of the a succession of sea operations during the Second World War in which Axis naval and air forces attempted to destroy ships carrying supplies from North America to the UK.

Atlantic Charter a declaration of eight common principles in international relations drawn up by Churchill and Roosevelt in August 1941, which provided the ideological basis for the United Nations organization.

Atlanticism /atlantsz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] belief in or support for a close relationship between western Europe and the US, or particularly for NATO.

<DERIVATIVES> Atlanticist n. & adj.

Atlantic Ocean the ocean lying between Europe and Africa to the east and North and South America to the west. It is divided by the equator into the North Atlantic and the South Atlantic oceans.

Atlantic Provinces the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland, Labrador, and the Maritime Provinces.

Atlantic seal n. another term for GREY SEAL.

Atlantic time the standard time in a zone including the easternmost parts of mainland Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, specifically:

<INFO>

- (Atlantic Standard Time abbreviation: AST) standard time based on the mean solar time at longitude 60° W, four hours behind GMT.

- (Atlantic Daylight Time abbreviation: ADT) Atlantic time during daylight saving, three hours behind GMT.

Atlantis a legendary island, beautiful and prosperous, which was overwhelmed by the sea.

<DERIVATIVES> Atlantean adj. & n.

Atlas [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] one of the Titans, who was punished for his part in their revolt against Zeus by being made to support the heavens. He became identified with the Atlas Mountains.

<DERIVATIVES> Atlantean adj.

atlas n. 1 a book of maps or charts: I looked in the atlas to see where Naples was | a road atlas.

2 (also atlas vertebra) [ANATOMY] the topmost vertebra of the backbone, articulating with the occipital bone of the skull.

3 (pl. atlantes /atlantiz/) [ARCHITECTURE] a stone carving of a male figure, used as a column to support the entablature of a Greek or Greek-style building.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally denoting a person who supported a great burden): via Latin from Greek Atlas, the god who held up the pillars of the universe and whose picture appeared at the front of early atlases.

atlas moth n. a very large boldly marked silk moth which occurs in both the Old and New World tropics.

<INFO> Genus Attacus, family Saturniidae: several species, in particular A. atlas of Asia, which is the largest moth in the world.

Atlas Mountains a range of mountains in North Africa extending from Morocco to Tunisia in a series of chains.

ATM abbr.

- [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] asynchronous transfer mode.

- automated teller machine.

atman /αtmən/ n. [mass noun] [HINDUISM] the spiritual life principle of the universe, especially when regarded as immanent in the individual's real self.

- [count noun] a person's soul.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit ātman, literally ‘essence, breath’.

atmosphere n. [usually in sing.] 1 the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet: part of the sun's energy is absorbed by the earth's atmosphere.

- the air in any particular place: these beetles breed best in a damp atmosphere.

- (abbr.: atm) [PHYSICS] a unit of pressure equal to mean atmospheric pressure at sea level, 101,325 pascals.

2 the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or creative work: the hotel has won commendations for its friendly, welcoming atmosphere.

- [mass noun] a pleasurable and interesting mood: a superb restaurant, full of atmosphere.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin atmosphaera, from Greek atmos ‘vapour’ + sphaira ‘ball, globe’.

atmospheric adj. 1 relating to the atmosphere of the earth: atmospheric pollution.

2 creating a distinctive mood, typically of romance or nostalgia: atmospheric lighting.

<DERIVATIVES> atmospherical adj. (ARCHAIC) atmospherically adv.

atmospheric pressure n. [mass noun] the pressure exerted by the weight of the atmosphere, which at sea level has a mean value of 101,325 pascals (roughly 14.6959 pounds per square inch).

atmospherics plural n. 1 electrical disturbances in the atmosphere due to lightning and other phenomena, especially as they interfere with telecommunications.

2 effects intended to create a particular atmosphere or mood, especially in music: a smoky jazz sound with spooky atmospherics.

ATOL /atl/ abbr. (in the UK) Air Travel Organizer's Licence.

atoll /atl ətl/ n. a ring-shaped reef, island, or chain of islands formed of coral.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Maldivian atolu.

atom n. 1 the smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist.

- (usually the atom) atomic particles as a source of nuclear energy: the power of the atom.

- [usually with negative] an extremely small amount of something: I shall not have one atom of strength left.

Atoms consist of a tiny, dense, positively charged nucleus made of neutrons and protons, surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons, roughly 10−8 cm in diameter. Each chemical element consists of atoms with a characteristic number of protons. Atoms are held together in molecules by the sharing of electrons.

2 [usually as modifier] CANADIAN a level of amateur sport, typically involving children aged between nine and eleven: eight atom hockey teams.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French atome, via Latin from Greek atomos ‘indivisible’, based on a- ‘not’ + temnein ‘to cut’.

atom bomb (also atomic bomb) n. a bomb which derives its destructive power from the rapid release of nuclear energy by fission of heavy atomic nuclei, causing damage through heat, blast, and radioactivity.

Such a bomb contains a critical mass of a material such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239, which when detonated by a conventional explosive charge is capable of maintaining a nuclear chain reaction, releasing large amounts of energy almost instantaneously.

atomic adj. relating to an atom or atoms.

- [CHEMISTRY] (of a substance) consisting of uncombined atoms rather than molecules.

- of or forming a single irreducible unit or component in a larger system: a society made up of atomic individuals pursuing private interests.

- relating to or using the energy released in nuclear fission or fusion: the atomic age required a new way of political thinking | atomic weapons.

<DERIVATIVES> atomically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from modern Latin atomicus, from atomus ‘indivisible’ (see ATOM).

atomic clock n. an extremely accurate type of clock which is regulated by the vibrations of an atomic or molecular system such as caesium or ammonia.

atomicity n. 1 [CHEMISTRY] the number of atoms in the molecules of an element.

2 [mass noun] the state or fact of being composed of indivisible units.

atomic mass n. the mass of an atom of a chemical element expressed in atomic mass units. It is approximately equivalent to the number of protons and neutrons in the atom (the mass number) or to the average number allowing for the relative abundances of different isotopes.

atomic mass unit (abbr.: amu) n. a unit of mass used to express atomic and molecular weights, equal to one twelfth of the mass of an atom of carbon-12.

atomic number n. [CHEMISTRY] the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, which is characteristic of a chemical element and determines its place in the periodic table. (Symbol: Z)

atomic physics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of physics concerned with the structure of the atom and the characteristics of subatomic particles.

atomic spectrum n. the spectrum of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed during transitions of electrons between energy levels within an atom. Each element has a characteristic spectrum by which it can be recognized.

atomic theory n. [mass noun] the theory that all matter is made up of tiny indivisible particles (atoms). According to modern interpretations of the theory, the atoms of each element are effectively identical, but differ from those of other elements, and unite to form compounds in fixed proportions.

atomic volume n. [CHEMISTRY] the volume occupied by one gram-atom of an element under standard conditions.

atomic weight n. [CHEMISTRY] another term for RELATIVE ATOMIC MASS.

atomism n. [mass noun] chiefly [PHILOSOPHY] a theoretical approach that regards something as interpretable through analysis into distinct, separable, and independent elementary components. The opposite of HOLISM.

<DERIVATIVES> atomist n. atomistic adj.

atomize (also atomise) v. [with obj.] convert (a substance) into very fine particles or droplets.

- reduce to atoms.

- break up into small units: by disrupting our ties with our neighbours, crime atomizes society.

<DERIVATIVES> atomization n.

atomizer (also atomiser) n. a device for emitting water, perfume, or other liquids as a fine spray.

atom smasher n. informal term for PARTICLE ACCELERATOR.

atomy /atəmi/ n. (pl. atomies) ARCHAIC a skeleton or emaciated body.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from ANATOMY, taken as an atomy.

atonal /etən(ə)l ə-/ adj. [MUSIC] not written in any key or mode.

<DERIVATIVES> atonalism n. atonalist n. atonality n.

atone v. [no obj.] make amends or reparation: a human sacrifice to atone for the sin.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘make or become united or reconciled’, rare before the 16th century): from at one in early use; later by back-formation from ATONEMENT.

atonement n. [mass noun] the action of making amends for a wrong or injury: he submitted his resignation as an act of atonement.

- (in religious contexts) reparation or expiation for sin: an annual ceremony of confession and atonement for sin.

- (the Atonement) [CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY] the reconciliation of God and mankind through Jesus Christ.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting unity or reconciliation, especially between God and man): from at one + -MENT, influenced by medieval Latin adunamentum ‘unity’, and earlier onement from an obsolete verb one ‘to unite’.

atonic /ətnk/ adj. 1 [LINGUISTICS] (of a syllable) without accent or stress.

2 [PHYSIOLOGY] lacking muscular tone.

<DERIVATIVES> atony /atəni/ n.

atop LITERARY prep. on the top of: the weathervane is perched atop the Great Tower.

■ adv. on the top: the air-raid siren atop of the County Courthouse.

atopic /etpk/ adj. denoting a form of allergy in which a hypersensitivity reaction such as eczema or asthma may occur in a part of the body not in contact with the allergen.

<DERIVATIVES> atopy n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek atopia ‘unusualness’, from atopos ‘unusual’, from a- ‘without’ + topos ‘place’.

-ator suffix forming agent nouns such as agitator.

- used in names of implements, machines, etc.: escalator.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, or sometimes representing French -ateur.

-atory suffix (forming adjectives) relating to or involving an action: explanatory | predatory.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -atorius.

A to Z (also A–Z) n. an alphabetically arranged handbook; a complete guide to a subject: an A to Z of tools.

- a book containing lists and maps of city streets: having consulted the A-Z of Greater London, I knew how to get there.

ATP abbr.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] adenosine triphosphate.

- BRITISH automatic train protection, a system for automatically stopping a train if its driver does not observe signal warnings or speed restrictions.

atrabilious /atrəbləs/ adj. LITERARY melancholy or irritable: an atrabilious old man.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘affected by black bile’, one of the four supposed cardinal humours of the body, believed to cause melancholy): from Latin atra bilis ‘black bile’, translation of Greek melankholia ‘melancholy’, + -IOUS.

atraumatic adj. (of a medical or surgical procedure) causing minimal tissue injury.

atrazine /atrəzin/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic compound derived from triazine, used as an agricultural herbicide.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of AMINO and TRIAZINE.

atremble adj. [predic.] LITERARY trembling.

atresia /ətriə -zə/ n. [mass noun] 1 MEDICINE absence or abnormal narrowing of an opening or passage in the body.

2 [PHYSIOLOGY] the degeneration of those ovarian follicles which do not ovulate during the menstrual cycle.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + Greek trēsis ‘perforation’ + -IA^1.

Atreus /etrəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the son of Pelops and father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. He quarrelled with his brother Thyestes and invited him to a banquet at which he served up the flesh of Thyestes' own children.

atrioventricular /etrə()vεntrkjlə/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to the atrial and ventricular chambers of the heart, or the connection or coordination between them.

atrium /etrəm/ n. (pl. atria /etrə/ or atriums) 1 [ARCHITECTURE] an open-roofed entrance hall or central court in an ancient Roman house.

- a central hall in a modern building, typically rising through several stories and having a glazed roof.

- the forecourt of a large church built on the basilican plan.

2 [ANATOMY] each of the two upper cavities of the heart from which blood is passed to the ventricles. The right atrium receives deoxygenated blood from the veins of the body, the left atrium oxygenated blood from the pulmonary vein. Also called AURICLE.

<DERIVATIVES> atrial adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin.

atrocious adj. horrifyingly wicked: atrocious cruelties.

- of a very poor quality; extremely bad or unpleasant: he attempted an atrocious imitation of my English accent | atrocious weather.

<DERIVATIVES> atrociously adv. atrociousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin atrox, atroc- ‘cruel’ + -IOUS.

atrocity n. (pl. atrocities) an extremely wicked or cruel act, typically one involving physical violence or injury: a textbook which detailed war atrocities.

- HUMOROUS a highly unpleasant or distasteful object: atrocities in cheap red nylon.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘cruelty’): from French atrocité or Latin atrocitas, from atrox, atroc- ‘cruel’.

atrophy /atrəfi/ v. (atrophies, atrophying, atrophied) [no obj.] 1 (of body tissue or an organ) waste away, especially as a result of the degeneration of cells, or become vestigial during evolution: the calf muscles will atrophy | (as adj. atrophied) in some beetles, the hindwings are atrophied.

2 gradually decline in effectiveness or vigour due to underuse or neglect: the imagination can atrophy from lack of use.

■ n. [mass noun] the condition or process of atrophying: gastric atrophy | FIGURATIVE extensive TV viewing may lead to atrophy of children's imaginations.

<DERIVATIVES> atrophic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French atrophier (verb), atrophie (noun), from late Latin atrophia, from Greek, ‘lack of food’, from a- ‘without’ + trophē ‘food’.

atropine /atrəpin -n/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a poisonous compound found in deadly nightshade and related plants. It is used in medicine as a muscle relaxant, e.g. in dilating the pupil of the eye.

<INFO> An alkaloid; chem. formula: C_17N_23NO_3.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin Atropa belladonna ‘deadly nightshade’, from ATROPOS + -INE^4.

Atropos /atrəps/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] one of the three Fates.

<ORIGIN> Greek, literally ‘inflexible’.

at sign n. the symbol @.

attaboy exclam. an informal expression of encouragement or admiration to a man or boy.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: probably representing a casual pronunciation of that's the boy.

attacca /ətakə/ v. [in imperative] a musical instruction used to indicate that the next section should follow without a pause.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘attack’.

attach v. [with obj.] 1 join or fasten (something) to something else: attach your safety line to the bridge.

- add or fasten (a related document) to another: I attach a copy of the memo for your information.

- include (a condition) as part of an agreement: the Commission can attach appropriate conditions to the operation of the agreement.

- (attach oneself to) accompany (a person or group) without being invited.

- appoint (someone) for special or temporary duties: I was attached to another working group.

2 (attach something to) attribute importance or value to: he doesn't attach too much importance to fixed ideas.

- [no obj.] (attach to) (of importance or value) be attributed to: a good deal of prominence attaches to the central union federations.

3 [LAW], ARCHAIC seize (a person or property) by legal authority: the Earl Marshal attached Gloucester for high treason.

<DERIVATIVES> attachable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘seize by legal authority’): from Old French atachier or estachier ‘fasten, fix’, based on an element of Germanic origin related to stake^1; compare with ATTACK.

attaché /ətae/ n. 1 a person on the staff of an ambassador having a specialized area of responsibility: naval and air attachés.

2 North American short for attaché case.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, literally ‘attached’, past participle of attacher.

attaché case n. a small, flat, rigid, rectangular case used for carrying documents.

attached adj. 1 joined, fastened, or connected to something: please complete the attached form | a ground floor bedroom with a toilet attached.

2 full of affection or fondness: during the journey Mark became increasingly attached to Tara.

3 (attached to) appointed to (an organization) for special or temporary duties: he was attached to Military Intelligence.

- (of an organization) affiliated to (a larger organization): a science policy agency attached to the Council of Ministers.

attachment n. 1 an extra part or extension that is or may be attached to something to perform a particular function: the processor comes complete with a blender attachment.

- a computer file appended to an email.

2 [mass noun] affection, fondness, or sympathy for someone or something: she felt a sentimental attachment to the place creep over her.

- [count noun] an affectionate relationship: he formed an attachment with a young widow.

3 BRITISH temporary secondment to an organization: the students are placed on attachment to schools for one day a week.

4 [mass noun] the action of attaching something: the case has a loop for attachment to your waist belt.

- legal seizure of property.

<PHRASES>

□ attachment of earnings [ENGLISH LAW] payment of debts by direct deduction from the debtor's earnings, under a court order.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘arrest for contempt of court’): from Old French attachement, from atachier ‘fasten, fix’ (see ATTACH).

attachment parenting n. [mass noun] an approach to raising infants that aims to promote a close relationship between the baby and its parents by methods such as feeding on demand and letting the baby sleep with its parents.

attack v. [with obj.] 1 take aggressive military action against (a place or enemy forces) with weapons or armed force: in February the Germans attacked Verdun | [no obj.] the terrorists did not attack again until March.

- act against (someone or something) aggressively in an attempt to injure or kill: a doctor was attacked by two youths.

- (of a disease, chemical, or insect) act harmfully on: HIV is thought to attack certain cells in the brain.

2 criticize or oppose fiercely and publicly: he attacked the government's defence policy.

3 begin to deal with (a problem or task) in a determined and vigorous way: a plan of action to attack unemployment.

4 [no obj.] (in sport) make a forceful attempt to score a goal or point or otherwise gain an advantage against an opposing team or player: Crystal Palace attacked swiftly down the left | (as adj. attacking) Leeds showed some good attacking play.

- [with obj.] [CHESS] move into or be in a position to capture (an opponent's piece or pawn).

■ n. 1 an aggressive and violent act against a person or place: he was killed in an attack on a checkpoint | three classrooms were gutted in the arson attack | the north-western suburbs came under attack in the latest fighting.

- [mass noun] destructive action by a disease, chemical, or insect: the tissue is open to attack by fungus.

- a determined attempt to tackle a problem or task: an attack on inflation.

- [mass noun] forceful and decisive style in performing music or another art: the sheer attack of Hendrix's playing.

2 an instance of fierce public criticism or opposition: he launched a stinging attack on the Prime Minister.

3 a sudden short bout of an illness or stress: an attack of nausea | an asthma attack.

4 (in sport) an aggressive attempt to score a goal or point or otherwise gain an advantage.

- BRITISH the players in a team who are in the position of trying to score a goal or win points: Baxter was recalled to the attack.

- [CHESS] a threat to capture an opponent's piece or pawn.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French attaque (noun), attaquer (verb), from Italian attacco ‘an attack’, attaccare ‘join battle’, based on an element of Germanic origin (see ATTACH).

attacker n. 1 a person or animal that attacks someone or something.

2 (in sport) a player whose task is to attack the other side's goal in the attempt to score; a forward.

attagirl exclam. an informal expression of encouragement or admiration to a woman or girl.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: on the pattern of attaboy.

attain v. [with obj.] succeed in achieving (something that one has worked for): clarify your objectives and ways of attaining them | he attained the rank of Brigadier.

- reach (a specified age, size, or amount): dolphins can attain speeds in water which man cannot yet emulate.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘bring to justice’ and ‘reach a state’): from Old French ateindre, from Latin attingere, from ad- ‘at, to’ + tangere ‘to touch’.

attainable adj. able to be attained; achievable: yields in excess of 6 % are easily attainable | an attainable target.

<DERIVATIVES> attainability n.

attainder /ətendə/ n. HISTORICAL the forfeiture of land and civil rights suffered as a consequence of a sentence of death for treason or felony.

<PHRASES>

□ act (or bill) of attainder an item of legislation inflicting attainder without judicial process.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, variant (used as a noun) of Old French ateindre in the sense ‘convict, bring to justice’ (see ATTAIN).

attainment n. [mass noun] the action or fact of achieving a goal towards which one has worked: the attainment of corporate aims.

- [count noun] (often attainments) a thing achieved, especially a skill or educational achievement: he spoke of the low educational attainments of his workforce.

attaint v. [with obj.] 1 HISTORICAL subject (someone) to attainder.

2 ARCHAIC affect or infect with disease or corruption.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘touch, reach, attain’): from obsolete attaint (adjective), from Old French ataint, ateint, past participle of ateindre ‘bring to justice’ (see ATTAIN); influenced in meaning by TAINT.

Attalid /atəld/ n. a member of a Hellenistic dynasty named after Attalus I (reigned 241–197 BC), which flourished in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.

■ adj. relating to this dynasty.

attap /atəp/ (also atap) n. [mass noun] thatch made in SE Asia from palm fronds.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Malay atap ‘roof, thatch’.

attar /atə/ (also otto) n. a fragrant essential oil, typically made from rose petals.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via Persian from Arabic ‘ir ‘perfume, essence’.

attempt v. [with obj.] make an effort to achieve or complete (something difficult): she attempted a comeback in 2001 | [with infinitive] troops shot civilians who attempted to flee.

- try to climb to the top of (a mountain): the expedition was the first to attempt Everest.

- ARCHAIC try to take (a life): he would not have attempted the life of a friend.

■ n. an effort to achieve or complete a difficult task or action: [with infinitive] an attempt to halt the bombings.

- an effort to surpass a record or conquer a mountain: an attempt on the unclimbed north-east ridge.

- a bid to kill someone: Karakozov made an attempt on the Tsar's life.

- a thing produced as a result of trying to make or achieve something: she picked her first attempt at a letter out of the wastebasket.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French attempter, from Latin attemptare, from ad- ‘to’ + temptare ‘to tempt’.

Attenborough^1 /at(ə)nb(ə)rə/ Sir David (Frederick) (b.1926), English naturalist and broadcaster, brother of Richard Attenborough. He is known for films of animals in their natural habitats, including Life on Earth (1979), The Trials of Life (1990), and The Life of Mammals (2002).

Attenborough^2 /at(ə)nb(ə)rə/ Richard (Samuel), Baron Attenborough of Richmond-upon-Thames (b.1923), English film actor, producer, and director; brother of David Attenborough. Notable films directed: Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Gandhi (1982), and Shadowlands (1993).

attend v. [with obj.] 1 be present at (an event, meeting, or function): the whole sales force attended the conference | [no obj.] her family were not invited to attend.

- go regularly to (a school, church, or clinic): all children are required to attend school.

2 [no obj.] (attend to) deal with: he muttered that he had business to attend to.

- give practical help and care to; look after: the severely wounded had two medics to attend to their wounds | [with obj.] each of the beds in the intensive-care unit is attended by a nurse.

- pay attention to: Alice hadn't attended to a word of his sermon.

3 escort and wait on (a member of royalty or other important person): Her Royal Highness was attended by Mrs Jane Stevens.

4 occur with or as a result of: people feared that the switch to a peacetime economy would be attended by a severe slump.

<DERIVATIVES> attender n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘apply one's mind or energies to’): from Old French atendre, from Latin attendere, from ad- ‘to’ + tendere ‘stretch’.

attendance n. [mass noun] the action or state of going regularly to or being present at a place or event: my attendance at church was very patchy.

- [count noun] the number of people present at a particular place or event: she is being blamed for the museum's low attendances.

<PHRASES>

□ in attendance 1 present at a function or a place: some 200 were in attendance at the fourteenth reunion.

2 accompanying a member of royalty or other important person as an assistant or servant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from atendre ‘give one's attention to’ (see ATTEND).

attendance allowance n. [mass noun] (in the UK) a state benefit paid to disabled people who need constant care at home.

attendance centre n. (in the UK) a place to which young offenders are ordered by a court to report regularly for a set period, as a minor penalty.

attendant n. 1 a person employed to provide a service to the public in a particular place: a cloakroom attendant.

- an assistant to an important person; a servant or courtier.

2 a person who is present on a particular occasion: he had become a regular attendant at chapel.

■ adj. 1 occurring with or as a result of: the sea and its attendant attractions.

2 (of a person) accompanying another as a companion or assistant: a child in a pram with attendant nursemaid.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Old French, from atendre ‘give one's attention to’ (see ATTEND).

attendee n. a person who attends a conference or other gathering.

attention n. [mass noun] 1 notice taken of someone or something; the regarding of someone or something as interesting or important: he drew attention to three spelling mistakes | you've never paid that much attention to her opinions.

- the mental faculty of considering or taking notice of someone or something: he turned his attention to the educational system.

2 the action of dealing with or taking special care of someone or something: her business needed her attention | he was found guilty of failing to give a patient adequate medical attention.

- (attentions) things done to express interest in or please someone: she felt flattered by his attentions.

3 [MILITARY] a position assumed by a soldier, standing very straight with the feet together and the arms straight down the sides of the body: Saunders stood stolidly to attention.

- [as exclamation] an order to assume a straight standing position.

<DERIVATIVES> attentional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin attentio(n-), from the verb attendere (see ATTEND).

attention deficit disorder (NORTH AMERICAN also attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) n. any of a range of behavioural disorders occurring primarily in children, including such symptoms as poor concentration, hyperactivity, and learning difficulties.

attentive adj. paying close attention to something: never before had she had such an attentive audience | ministers should be more attentive to the interests of taxpayers.

- assiduously attending to the comfort or wishes of others; very polite or courteous: the hotel has a pleasant atmosphere and attentive service.

<DERIVATIVES> attentively adv. attentiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French attentif, -ive, from atendre ‘give one's attention to’ (see ATTEND).

attenuate v. /ətεnjet/ [with obj.] 1 reduce the force, effect, or value of: her intolerance was attenuated by an unexpected liberalism.

- reduce the amplitude of (a signal, electric current, or other oscillation).

- reduce the virulence of (a pathogenic organism or vaccine): researchers hoped that the substance would attenuate the course of the disease.

2 reduce in thickness; make thin.

■ adj. /ətεnjət/ RARE reduced in force, effect, or physical thickness.

<DERIVATIVES> attenuation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin attenuat- ‘made slender’, from the verb attenuare, from ad- ‘to’ + tenuare ‘make thin’ (from tenuis ‘thin’).

attenuated adj. 1 (especially of a person) extremely thin: she was a drooping, attenuated figure.

2 (of a pathogenic organism or vaccine) reduced in virulence: attenuated strains of rabies virus.

attenuator n. a device consisting of an arrangement of resistors which reduces the strength of a radio or audio signal.

attest /ətεst/ v. 1 [with obj.] provide or serve as clear evidence of: his status is attested by his becoming an alderman | [no obj.] his numerous drawings of babies attest to his fascination with them.

- [no obj.] declare that something exists or is the case: I can attest to his tremendous energy | [with clause] the deceased's solicitor attested that he had been about to institute divorce proceedings.

- witness or certify formally.

2 [no obj.] HISTORICAL enrol as ready for military service.

- [with obj.] recruit (someone) for military service by putting them on oath to serve if called upon.

<DERIVATIVES> attestation n. attestor n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French attester, from Latin attestari, from ad- ‘to’ + testari ‘to witness’ (from testis ‘a witness’).

Attic /atk/ adj. relating to ancient Athens or Attica, or the dialect of Greek spoken there.

■ n. [mass noun] the dialect of Greek used by the ancient Athenians. It was the chief literary form of classical Greek.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek Attikos.

attic n. a space or room inside or partly inside the roof of a building.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as an architectural term designating a small order (column and entablature) above a taller one): from French attique, from Latin Atticus ‘relating to Athens or Attica’.

Attica /atkə/ a triangular promontory of eastern Greece. With the islands in the Saronic Gulf it forms a department of Greece, of which Athens is the capital.

Atticism /atsz(ə)m/ n. a word or form characteristic of Attic Greek, regarded as having particular literary elegance.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek Attikismos, from Attikos (see ATTIC).

Attila /ətlə/ (406–53), king of the Huns 434–53. He ravaged vast areas between the Rhine and the Caspian Sea before being defeated by the joint forces of the Roman army and the Visigoths at Châlons in 451.

Attila Line the boundary separating Greek and Turkish-occupied Cyprus, named after the Attila Plan, a secret Turkish plan of 1964 to partition the country. Also called SAHIN LINE.

attire FORMAL or LITERARY n. [mass noun] clothes, especially fine or formal ones: the usually sober attire of British security service personnel.

■ v. (be attired) be dressed in clothes of a specified kind: Lady Agatha was attired in an elaborate evening gown | (as adj., with submodifier attired) stylishly attired teenagers in stonewashed jeans.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French atirier, atirer ‘equip’, from a tire ‘in order’, of unknown origin.

Attis /ats/ [ANATOLIAN MYTHOLOGY] the youthful consort of Cybele. His death and resurrection were associated with the spring festival.

attitude n. 1 a settled way of thinking or feeling about something: he was questioned on his attitude to South Africa | being competitive is an attitude of mind.

- a position of the body indicating a particular mental state: the boy was standing in an attitude of despair.

- [BALLET] a position in which one leg is lifted behind with the knee bent at right angles and turned out, and the corresponding arm is raised above the head, the other extended to the side.

2 [mass noun] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN truculent or uncooperative behaviour: I asked the waiter for a clean fork and all I got was attitude.

- individuality and self-confidence: she snapped her fingers with attitude.

3 the orientation of an aircraft or spacecraft, relative to the direction of travel.

<DERIVATIVES> attitudinal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting the placing or posture of a figure in art): from French, from Italian attitudine ‘fitness, posture’, from late Latin aptitudo, from aptus ‘fit’.

attitudinize /attjudnz/ (also attitudinise) v. [no obj.] adopt or express a particular attitude or attitudes, typically just for effect.

<DERIVATIVES> attitudinizer n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian attitudine (see ATTITUDE) + -IZE.

Attlee /atli/ Clement Richard, 1st Earl Attlee (1883–1967), British Labour statesman, Prime Minister 1945–51. His term saw the creation of the modern welfare state and the nationalization of major industries.

attn abbr. (on an envelope or at the top of a letter or fax) attention (i.e. for the attention of): attn: Harold Carter.

atto- /atə/ combining form (used in units of measurement) denoting a factor of 10−18: attowatt.

<ORIGIN> from Danish or Norwegian atten ‘eighteen’.

attorn /ətən/ v. [no obj.] [LAW] formally make or acknowledge a transfer of something.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC transfer (something) to someone else.

<PHRASES>

□ attorn tenant [LAW] formally make or acknowledge a transfer of tenancy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘turn, change, transform’): from Old French atorner ‘appoint, assign’, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + torner ‘to turn’. The spelling with o, rather than u or ou, is due to the late Anglo-Norman French form attorner, adopted in legal use.

attorney /ətəni/ n. (pl. attorneys) a person, typically a lawyer, appointed to act for another in business or legal matters. Compare with BARRISTER, SOLICITOR.

- chiefly US a qualified lawyer. South African term for SOLICITOR.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French atorne, past participle of atorner ‘assign’, from a ‘towards’ + torner ‘turn’.

Attorney General n. (pl. Attorneys General) the principal legal officer who represents the Crown or a state in legal proceedings and gives legal advice to the government.

attract v. [with obj.] cause to come to a place or participate in a venture by offering something of interest or advantage: a campaign to attract more visitors to Shetland | he hoped this strategy would attract foreign investment by multinationals.

- evoke (a specified reaction): I did not want to attract attention | his criticism of the government attracted widespread support.

- cause (someone) to have a liking for or interest in something: I was attracted to the idea of working for a ballet company.

- (be attracted to) have a sexual or romantic interest in: despite all her denials, she was still violently attracted to him.

- exert a force on (an object) which is directed towards the source of the force: the negatively charged ions attract particles of dust.

<DERIVATIVES> attractor n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin attract- ‘drawn near’, from the verb attrahere, from ad- ‘to’ + trahere ‘draw’.

attractant n. a substance which attracts: a sex attractant given off by female moths to attract a mate.

attraction n. [mass noun] the action or power of evoking interest in or liking for someone or something: the timeless attraction of a good tune | she has very romantic ideas about sexual attraction.

- [count noun] a quality or feature that evokes interest, liking, or desire: this reform has many attractions for those on the left.

- [count noun] a place which draws visitors by providing something of interest or pleasure: the church is the town's main tourist attraction.

- [PHYSICS] a force under the influence of which objects tend to move towards each other.

- [GRAMMAR] the influence exerted by one word on another which causes it to change to an incorrect form, e.g. the wages of sin is (for are) death.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the action of a poultice in drawing matter from the tissues): from Latin attractio(n-), from the verb attrahere (see ATTRACT).

attractive adj. pleasing or appealing to the senses: an attractive village | foliage can be as attractive as flowers.

- (of a person) appealing to look at; sexually alluring: a stunningly attractive, charismatic man.

- having qualities or features which arouse interest: the site is close to other prestige schemes which should make it attractive to developers.

- relating to attraction between physical objects.

<DERIVATIVES> attractively adv. attractiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘absorbent’): from French attractif, -ive, from late Latin attractivus, from the verb attrahere (see ATTRACT).

attribute v. /ətrbjut/ [with obj.] (attribute something to) regard something as being caused by: he attributed the firm's success to the efforts of the managing director | his resignation was attributed to stress.

- ascribe a work or remark to (a particular author, artist, or speaker): the building was attributed to Inigo Jones.

- regard a quality or feature as characteristic of or possessed by: ancient peoples attributed magic properties to certain stones.

■ n. /atrbjut/ 1 a quality or feature regarded as a characteristic or inherent part of someone or something: flexibility and mobility are the key attributes of Britain's army.

- a material object recognized as symbolic of a person, especially a conventional object used in art to identify a saint or mythical figure.

2 [GRAMMAR] an attributive adjective or noun.

3 [STATISTICS] a real property which a statistical analysis is attempting to describe.

<DERIVATIVES> attributable /ətrbjtəb(ə)l/ adj. attribution n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: the noun from Old French attribut; the verb from Latin attribut- ‘allotted’: both from the verb attribuere, from ad- ‘to’ + tribuere ‘assign’.

attribution theory n. [mass noun] [PSYCHOLOGY] a theory which supposes that people attempt to understand the behaviour of others by attributing feelings, beliefs, and intentions to them.

attributive /ətrbjtv/ adj. [GRAMMAR] (of an adjective or other modifier) preceding the word that it modifies and expressing an attribute, as old in the old dog (but not in the dog is old) and expiry in expiry date. Contrasted with PREDICATIVE.

<DERIVATIVES> attributively adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (as a noun in the sense ‘a word expressing an attribute’): from French attributif, -ive, from attribut ‘an attribute’, from Latin attribuere ‘add to’ (see ATTRIBUTE).

attrit /ətrt/ v. (attrits, attriting, attrited) [with obj.] US INFORMAL wear down (an opponent or enemy) by sustained action: his defense was designed to attrit us.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: back-formation from ATTRITION.

attrition /ətr(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the process of reducing something's strength or effectiveness through sustained attack or pressure: the council is trying to wear down the opposition by attrition | the squadron suffered severe attrition of its bombers.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ the gradual reduction of a workforce by employees leaving and not being replaced rather than by redundancy.

- wearing away by friction; abrasion: the skull shows attrition of the edges of the teeth.

2 (in scholastic theology) sorrow for sin, falling short of contrition.

<DERIVATIVES> attritional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from late Latin attritio(n-), from atterere ‘to rub’.

attune v. [with obj.] make receptive or aware: a society more attuned to consumerism than ideology | (as adj. attuned) the Department is very attuned politically.

- accustom or acclimatize: students are not attuned to making decisions.

- make harmonious: the interests of East and West are now closely attuned.

<DERIVATIVES> attunement n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from AT- + TUNE.

Atty abbr. Attorney.

ATV abbr.

- North American all-terrain vehicle.

- HISTORICAL (in the UK) Associated Television, an independent television company founded in 1956 and replaced in 1981 by Central Television.

Atwood Margaret (Eleanor) (b.1939), Canadian novelist, poet, critic, and short-story writer. Notable novels: The Edible Woman (1969), Cat's Eye (1989), The Blind Assassin (Booker Prize, 2000).

atypical adj. not representative of a type, group, or class: a sample of people who are rather atypical of the target audience | there were somewhat atypical results in May and November.

<DERIVATIVES> atypically adv.

AU abbr.

- African Union.

- angstrom unit(s).

- (also a.u.) astronomical unit(s).

Au symbol the chemical element gold.

<ORIGIN> from Latin aurum.

aubade /əbαd/ n. a poem or piece of music appropriate to the dawn or early morning.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from Spanish albada, from alba ‘dawn’.

auberge /əbε/ French /əbεR/ n. an inn in a French-speaking country.

<ORIGIN> French, from Provençal alberga ‘lodging’.

aubergine /əbəin/ n. chiefly BRITISH 1 the purple egg-shaped fruit of a tropical Old World plant, which is eaten as a vegetable. Also called EGGPLANT.

- [mass noun] a dark purple colour like the skin of an aubergine.

2 the large plant of the nightshade family which bears aubergines.

<INFO> Solanum melongena, family Solanaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Catalan alberginia, from Arabic al-bāinjān (based on Persian bādingān, from Sanskrit vātigana).

aubretia /briə/ (also aubrietia) n. a dwarf evergreen Eurasian trailing plant with dense masses of foliage and purple, pink, or white flowers, widely cultivated in rock gardens.

<INFO> Aubrieta deltoidea, family Cruciferae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, named after Claude Aubriet (1668–1743), French botanist.

<USAGE> In popular use the forms aubretia and aubrietia have become more frequent than the strictly correct form aubrieta.

Aubrey /bri/ John (1626–97), English antiquarian and author. He is chiefly remembered for Brief Lives, a collection of biographies of eminent people.

auburn /bən bən/ adj. (of hair) of a reddish-brown colour.

■ n. [mass noun] a reddish-brown colour.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French auborne, alborne, from Latin alburnus ‘whitish’, from albus ‘white’. The original sense was ‘yellowish white’, but the word became associated with brown because in the 16th and 17th centuries it was often written abrune or abroun.

Aubusson /əbjsn -s/ n. a fine tapestry or carpet made at Aubusson, a town in central France, especially one from the late 18th century.

AUC abbr. used to indicate a date reckoned from 753 BC, the year of the foundation of Rome: 765 AUC.

<ORIGIN> from Latin ab urbe condita ‘from the foundation of the city’, also anno urbis conditae ‘in the year of the foundation of the city’.

Auckland /klənd/ the largest city and chief seaport of New Zealand, in the North Island; pop. 380,154 (2001). It was the site of the first Parliament of New Zealand in 1854, remaining the capital until 1865.

au courant /ə kr/ adj. aware of what is going on; well informed: they were au courant with the literary scene.

- fashionable: frocks with au courant details like ruching and asymmetrical hemlines.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, literally ‘in the (regular) course’.

auction /k(ə)n/ n. 1 a public sale in which goods or property are sold to the highest bidder: the books are expected to fetch a six-figure sum at tomorrow's auction.

- [mass noun] the action or process of selling something to the highest bidder: the Ferrari sold at auction for £10 million.

2 [BRIDGE] the part of the play in which players bid to decide the contract in which the hand shall be played.

■ v. [with obj.] sell or offer for sale at an auction: the painting was auctioned at Christie's.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin auctio(n-) ‘increase, auction’, from the verb augere ‘to increase’.

auction bridge n. [mass noun] an obsolete form of the card game bridge, in which all tricks won counted towards the game whether bid or not.

auctioneer n. a person who conducts auctions by accepting bids and declaring goods sold.

<DERIVATIVES> auctioneering n.

auction house n. a company that runs auctions.

auction room (also auction rooms) n. a building in which auctions are held.

aucuba /kjbə/ n. a hardy East Asian evergreen shrub of the dogwood family, resembling a laurel.

<INFO> Genus Aucuba, family Cornaceae: several species, in particular the Japanese laurel (A. japonica).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Japanese aokiba.

audacious /deəs/ adj. 1 showing a willingness to take surprisingly bold risks: a series of audacious takeovers.

2 showing an impudent lack of respect: he made an audacious remark.

<DERIVATIVES> audaciously adv. audaciousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin audax, audac- ‘bold’ (from audere ‘dare’) + -IOUS.

audacity /dasti/ n. [mass noun] 1 a willingness to take bold risks: he whistled at the sheer audacity of the plan.

2 rude or disrespectful behaviour; impudence: she had the audacity to suggest I'd been carrying on with him.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin audacitas, from audax, audac- ‘bold’ (see AUDACIOUS).

Auden /d(ə)n/ W. H. (1907–73), British-born poet, resident in America from 1939; full name Wystan Hugh Auden. Look, Stranger! (1936) and Spain (1937, on the Civil War) secured his position as a leading left-wing poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Anxiety (1947).

audial /dəl/ adj. relating to or perceived through the sense of hearing.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: formed irregularly from Latin audire ‘hear’ (compare with AUDILE), on the pattern of visual.

audible adj. able to be heard: some ultrasound is audible to dogs.

■ n. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a change of playing tactics called by the quarterback at the line of scrimmage.

<DERIVATIVES> audibility n. audibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from late Latin audibilis, from audire ‘hear’.

audience n. 1 the assembled spectators or listeners at a public event such as a play, film, concert, or meeting: he asked for questions from members of the audience.

- the people who watch or listen to a television or radio programme: the programme attracted an audience of almost twenty million.

- the readership of a newspaper, magazine, or book: the newspaper has a sophisticated audience.

- the people giving attention to something: the report deserves consideration by a much wider audience.

2 a formal interview with a person in authority: he demanded an audience with the Pope.

3 [mass noun] ARCHAIC formal hearing.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin audientia, from audire ‘hear’.

audile /dl/ adj. another term for AUDITORY.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: formed irregularly from Latin audire ‘hear’, on the pattern of tactile.

audio n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] sound, especially when recorded, transmitted, or reproduced: audio equipment | the machine can retrieve and play audio from a CD-ROM.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: independent usage of AUDIO-.

audio- combining form relating to hearing or sound: audiometer | audio-visual.

<ORIGIN> from Latin audire ‘hear’.

Audio-Animatronics plural n. trademark for ANIMATRONICS.

<DERIVATIVES> Audio-Animatronic adj.

audiobook n. a recording on audio cassette or compact disc of a reading of a book, typically a novel.

audio cassette n. a cassette of audio tape.

audio frequency n. a frequency of oscillation capable of being perceived by the human ear, generally between 20 and 20,000 Hz.

audiogram n. a graphic record produced by audiometry.

audiology /dlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of science and medicine concerned with the sense of hearing.

<DERIVATIVES> audiological adj. audiologist n.

audiometry /dmtri/ n. [mass noun] measurement of the range and sensitivity of a person's sense of hearing.

<DERIVATIVES> audiometer n. audiometric adj.

audiophile n. INFORMAL a hi-fi enthusiast.

audio tape n. [mass noun] magnetic tape on which sound can be recorded.

- [count noun] a length of this, typically in the form of a cassette.

■ v. (audiotape) [with obj.] record (sound) on tape: each interview was audiotaped and transcribed.

audio typist n. a typist who transcribes letters or other documents from recorded dictation.

audio-visual adj. using both sight and sound, typically in the form of slides or video and recorded speech or music: learners can be encouraged to use audio-visual aids.

audit n. an official inspection of an organization's accounts, typically by an independent body.

- a systematic review or assessment of something: a complete audit of flora and fauna at the site.

■ v. (audits, auditing, audited) [with obj.] 1 conduct an official financial inspection of (a company or its accounts): unlimited companies must also have their accounts audited.

- conduct a systematic review of: a method of auditing obstetric and neonatal care.

2 NORTH AMERICAN attend (a class) informally, without working for credit.

<DERIVATIVES> auditability n. auditable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin auditus ‘hearing’, from audire ‘hear’, in medieval Latin auditus (compoti) ‘audit (of an account)’, an audit originally being presented orally.

Audit Commission (in the UK) an independent body that monitors public spending, especially that by local government, on behalf of the government.

audition /d(ə)n/ n. 1 an interview for a role or job as a singer, actor, dancer, or musician, consisting of a practical demonstration of the candidate's suitability and skill.

2 [mass noun] ARCHAIC the power of hearing or listening.

■ v. [no obj.] perform an audition: I auditioned and was lucky enough to get the part.

- [with obj.] assess the suitability of (someone) for a role by means of an audition: she was auditioning people for her new series.

<DERIVATIVES> auditionee n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘power of hearing or listening’): from Latin auditio(n-), from audire ‘hear’. Sense 1 of the noun dates from the late 19th cent.

auditive adj. another term for AUDITORY.

auditor n. 1 a person who conducts an audit.

2 a listener: so low was Deems's voice that his auditors had to give it close attention.

- NORTH AMERICAN a person who attends a class informally without working for credit.

<DERIVATIVES> auditorial adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French auditeur, from Latin auditor, from audire ‘to hear’.

auditorium n. (pl. auditoriums or auditoria) 1 the part of a theatre, concert hall, or other public building in which the audience sits.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a large building or hall used for public gatherings, typically concerts or sports events.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally in the general sense ‘a place for hearing’): from Latin, neuter of auditorius ‘relating to hearing’ (see AUDITORY).

auditory adj. relating to the sense of hearing: the auditory nerves | teaching methods use both visual and auditory stimulation.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin auditorius, from audire ‘hear’.

Audubon /dəb(ə)n/ John James (1785–1851), American naturalist and artist. He is noted for The Birds of America (1827–38).

Auer /aə/ German /a/ Carl, Baron von Welsbach (1858–1929), Austrian chemist. He separated the supposed rare earth element didymium into neodymium and praseodymium.

Auerbach /bak/ German /abax/ Frank (b.1931), German-born British painter.

AUEW abbr. HISTORICAL (in the UK) Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers.

au fait /ə fe/ French /ə fε(t)/ adj. (au fait with) having a good or detailed knowledge of: you should be au fait with the company and its products.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, literally ‘to the fact, to the point’.

au fond /ə f/ French /ə f/ adv. in essence.

<ORIGIN> French.

Aug. abbr. August.

Augean /diən/ adj. relating to Augeas: the Augean stables.

- (of a task or problem) requiring so much effort to complete or solve as to seem impossible: there are Augean amounts of debris to clear.

Augeas /diəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a legendary king whose vast stables had never been cleaned. Hercules cleaned them in a day by diverting the River Alpheus to flow through them.

auger /ə/ n. 1 a tool resembling a large corkscrew, for boring holes in wood.

- a similar larger tool for boring holes in the ground.

2 (also auger shell) a marine mollusc of warm seas with a slender tapering spiral shell.

<INFO> Terebra and other genera, family Terebridae, class Gastropoda.

<ORIGIN> Old English nafogār, from nafu (see nave^2) + gār ‘piercer’. The n was lost by wrong division of a nauger; compare with adder^1 and APRON.

<USAGE> See usage at augur.

Auger effect /əe/ n. [PHYSICS] an effect whereby an atom which has been ionized by removal of an electron from an inner shell loses energy by emitting an electron from an outer shell.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Pierre V. Auger (1899–1993), French physicist.

aught^1 /t/ (also ought) pron. ARCHAIC anything at all: know you aught of this fellow, young sir?

<ORIGIN> Old English āwiht (see aye^2, wight).

augite /dt/ n. [mass noun] a dark green or black aluminosilicate mineral of the pyroxene group. It occurs in many igneous rocks, including basalt, gabbro, and dolerite.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin augites, denoting a precious stone (probably turquoise), from Greek augitēs, from augē ‘lustre’.

augment v. /mεnt/ [with obj.] make (something) greater by adding to it; increase: her secretarial work helped to augment her husband's income.

■ n. /m(ə)nt/ [LINGUISTICS] a vowel prefixed to past tenses of verbs in Greek and certain other Indo-European languages.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French augmenter (verb), augment (noun), or late Latin augmentare, from Latin augere ‘to increase’.

augmentation n. [mass noun] the action or process of making or becoming greater in size or amount.

- [MUSIC] the lengthening of the time values of notes in a melodic part.

- [count noun] [HERALDRY] an addition to a coat of arms granted as a mark of special honour.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin augmentatio(n-), from the verb augmentare (see AUGMENT).

augmentative adj. [LINGUISTICS] (of an affix or derived word) reinforcing the idea of the original word, especially by meaning ‘a large one of its kind’, as with the Italian suffix -one in borrone ‘ravine’, compared with borro ‘ditch’.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘having a tendency to increase’): from Old French augmentatif, -ive or medieval Latin augmentativus, from the verb augmentare (see AUGMENT).

augmented adj. 1 having been made greater in size or value: augmented pensions for those retiring at 65.

2 [MUSIC] denoting or containing an interval which is one semitone greater than the corresponding major or perfect interval: augmented fourths.

augmented reality n. [mass noun] a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view.

augmented transition network n. [LINGUISTICS] a type of grammar that represents a sentence as a series of states and possible continuations, augmented with rules for such matters as word agreement.

Augrabies Falls /ərαbiz/ a series of waterfalls on the Orange River in the province of Northern Cape, South Africa.

au gratin /ə rata/ French /ə Ratε/ adj. [postpositive] sprinkled with breadcrumbs or grated cheese and browned: lentil and mushroom au gratin.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘by grating’, from the verb gratter ‘to grate’.

Augsburg /azbə/ German /aksbrk/ a city in southern Germany, in Bavaria; pop. 252,300 (est. 2002).

Augsburg Confession a statement of the Lutheran position, drawn up mainly by Melanchthon and approved by Luther before being presented to the Emperor Charles V at Augsburg on 25 June 1530.

augur /ə/ v. [no obj.] (augur well/badly/ill) (of an event or circumstance) portend a good or bad outcome: the end of the cold war seemed to augur well.

■ n. HISTORICAL (in ancient Rome) a religious official who observed natural signs, especially the behaviour of birds, interpreting these as an indication of divine approval or disapproval of a proposed action.

<DERIVATIVES> augural /j(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): from Latin, ‘diviner’.

<USAGE> The spellings augur (a verb meaning ‘portend a good or bad outcome’, as in this augurs well) and auger (a type of tool used for boring) are sometimes confused, but the two words are quite different in both their present meaning and their origins.

augury /jri/ n. (pl. auguries) a sign of what will happen in the future; an omen: they heard the sound as an augury of death.

- [mass noun] the interpretation of omens.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘divination’): from Old French augurie or Latin augurium ‘interpretation of omens’, from augur (see AUGUR).

August n. the eighth month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the last month of summer: the sultry haze of late August | the wettest August in six years.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin augustus ‘consecrated, venerable’; named after AUGUSTUS, the first Roman emperor.

august /st/ adj. respected and impressive: she was in august company.

<DERIVATIVES> augustly adv. augustness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French auguste or Latin augustus ‘consecrated, venerable’.

Augusta /stə/ 1 a resort in eastern Georgia in the US; pop. (with Richmond) 199,800 (2000).

2 the state capital of Maine; pop. 18,560 (2000).

Augustan /st(ə)n/ adj. connected with or occurring during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus.

- relating to or denoting Latin literature of the reign of Augustus, including the works of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Livy.

- relating to or denoting 17th- and 18th-century English literature of a style considered refined and classical, including the works of Pope, Addison, and Swift.

■ n. a writer of the (Latin or English) Augustan period or style.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Augustanus ‘relating to Augustus’ (see AUGUSTUS).

Augustine /stn/ n. an Augustinian friar.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French augustin, from Latin Augustinus ‘Augustine’ (see AUGUSTINIAN).

Augustine, St^1 /stn/ (died c.604), Italian churchman; known as St Augustine of Canterbury. Sent from Rome by Pope Gregory the Great to refound the Church in England in 597, he founded a monastery at Canterbury and became its first archbishop. Feast day, 26 May.

Augustine, St^2 /stn/ (354–430), Doctor of the Church; known as St Augustine of Hippo. He became bishop of Hippo in North Africa in 396. His writings, such as Confessions and the City of God, dominated subsequent Western theology. Feast day, 28 August.

Augustinian /əstnən/ adj. 1 relating to St Augustine of Hippo or his doctrines.

2 relating to a religious order observing a rule derived from St Augustine's writings.

■ n. 1 a member of an Augustinian order.

2 an adherent of the doctrines of St Augustine.

Augustus /stəs/ (63 BC–AD 14), the first Roman emperor; born Gaius Octavius; also called (until 27 BC) Octavian. He was adopted by the will of his great-uncle Julius Caesar and gained supreme power by his defeat of Antony in 31 BC. In 27 BC he was given the title Augustus (‘venerable’) and became in effect the first Roman emperor.

auk /k/ n. a short-winged diving seabird found in northern oceans, typically with a black head and back and white underparts.

<INFO> Family Alcidae (the auk family), which comprises the guillemots, razorbills, puffins, and their relatives.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Old Norse álka ‘razorbill’.

auklet /klt/ n. a small, stubby auk (seabird) found in the North Pacific, typically with grey underparts.

<INFO> Aethia and three other genera, family Alcidae: several species.

auld /ld αld/ adj. Scottish form of OLD.

<ORIGIN> Old English ald, Anglian form of OLD.

auld lang syne /ld la sn/ n. [mass noun] times long past.

<PHRASES>

□ for auld lang syne for old times' sake.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Scots (see AULD, lang syne). The phrase was popularized as the title and refrain of a song by Robert Burns (1788).

aumbry /mbri/ (also ambry) n. (pl. aumbries) a small recess or cupboard in the wall of a church.

- HISTORICAL a small cupboard.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French armarie, from Latin armarium ‘closet, chest’, from arma ‘utensils’.

au naturel /ə natjrεl/ French /ə natYRεl/ adj. & adv. with no elaborate treatment, dressing, or preparation: [as adj.] the cheese is delicious whether au naturel or seasoned.

- HUMOROUS naked: [as adv.] the remote beach where we'd been camping au naturel.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘in the natural (state)’.

Aung San /a san/ (1914–47), Burmese nationalist leader. As leader of the Council of Ministers he negotiated a promise of self-government from the British shortly before his assassination.

Aung San Suu Kyi /a san su ti/ (b.1945), Burmese political leader, daughter of Aung San and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) since 1988. The ruling military government refused to recognize her party's victory in the 1990 elections. She was held under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and since 2000 has frequently been detained again. Nobel Peace Prize (1991).

aunt n. the sister of one's father or mother or the wife of one's uncle.

- INFORMAL an unrelated adult female friend, especially of a child.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ante, from Latin amita.

auntie (also aunty) n. (pl. aunties)

■ informal term for AUNT.

- (Auntie) BRITISH INFORMAL the BBC.

Aunt Sally n. (pl. Aunt Sallies) [mass noun] a game played in some parts of Britain in which players throw sticks or balls at a wooden dummy.

- [count noun] a dummy used in this game.

- [count noun] a person or thing set up as an easy target for criticism.

au pair /ə pε/ n. a young foreign person, typically a woman, who helps with housework or childcare in exchange for food, a room, and some pocket money.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, literally ‘on equal terms’. The phrase was originally adjectival, describing an arrangement between two parties paid for by the exchange of mutual services; the noun usage dates from the 1960s.

aura /rə/ n. (pl. auras or aurae /-ri/) 1 the distinctive atmosphere or quality that seems to surround and be generated by a person, thing, or place: the ceremony retains an aura of mystery.

2 (in spiritualism and some forms of alternative medicine) a supposed emanation surrounding the body of a living creature and regarded as an essential part of the individual.

- any invisible emanation, especially an odour.

3 MEDICINE a warning sensation experienced before an attack of epilepsy or migraine.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting a gentle breeze): via Latin from Greek, ‘breeze, breath’. Current senses date from the 18th cent.

aural /r(ə)l/ adj. relating to the ear or the sense of hearing: information held in written, aural, or visual form | aural anatomy.

<DERIVATIVES> aurally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin auris ‘ear’ + -AL.

<USAGE> The words aural and oral have the same pronunciation in standard English, which is sometimes a source of confusion. However, although a distinctive pronunciation for aural has been proposed /(ar(ə)l/, the first syllable rhyming with cow), it has not yet become standard.

Aurangzeb /rəzεb aərə-/ (1618–1707), Mogul emperor of Hindustan 1658–1707, who increased the Mogul empire to its greatest extent.

aurar plural form of EYRIR.

aureate /rət/ adj. made of or having the colour of gold.

- (of language) highly ornamented or elaborate.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin aureatus, from Latin aureus ‘golden’, from aurum ‘gold’.

Aurelian /rilən/ (c.215–75), Roman emperor 270–5; Latin name Lucius Domitius Aurelianus. Originally a common soldier, he rose through the ranks and was elected emperor by the army.

Aurelius /riləs/ Marcus (121–80), Roman emperor 161–80; full name Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. He was occupied for much of his reign with wars against invading Germanic tribes. His Meditations, a collection of aphorisms and reflections, are evidence of his philosophical nature.

aureole /rəl/ (also aureola /rələ/) n. 1 a circle of light or brightness surrounding something, especially as depicted in art around the head or body of a person represented as holy.

- a corona around the sun or moon.

2 another term for AREOLA.

3 [GEOLOGY] the zone of metamorphosed rock surrounding an igneous intrusion.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aureole, from Latin aureola (corona) ‘golden (crown)’, feminine of aureolus (diminutive of aureus, from aurum ‘gold’).

aureus /rəs/ n. (pl. aurei) a Roman coin of the late republic and empire, worth 25 silver denarii.

<ORIGIN> Latin, noun use of aureus ‘golden’, from aurum ‘gold’.

au revoir /ə rəvwα/ French /ə RəvwaR/ exclam. goodbye until we meet again.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, literally ‘to the seeing again’.

Auric /rk/ French /Rik/ Georges (1899–1983), French composer. Auric was a member of the anti-romantic group Les Six. He is probably best known for film music such as the scores for The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and Moulin Rouge (1952).

auric^1 /rk/ adj. relating to the aura supposedly surrounding a living creature.

auric^2 /rk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] of gold with a valency of three; of gold(III).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin aurum ‘gold’ + -IC.

auricle /rk(ə)l/ n. [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] 1 a structure resembling an ear or ear lobe.

- the external part or pinna of the ear.

2 another term for ATRIUM (of the heart).

- a small muscular flap on the surface of each atrium of the heart.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin auricula ‘external part of the ear’, diminutive of auris ‘ear’.

auricula /rkjlə/ n. an Alpine primula from which a wide range of flowering cultivars have been developed. It has leaves that supposedly resemble bears' ears. Also called BEAR'S EAR.

<INFO> Primula auricula, family Primulaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, diminutive of auris ‘ear’.

auricular /rkjlə/ adj. 1 relating to the ear or hearing.

2 relating to or shaped like an auricle.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin auricularis, from auricula, diminutive of auris ‘ear’.

auriculate /rkjlət/ adj. chiefly [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] having one or more structures shaped like an ear or ear lobe.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin auricula ‘external part of the ear’ (diminutive of auris ‘ear’) + -ATE^2.

auriculotherapy /rkjələθεrəpi/ n. [mass noun] a form of acupuncture applied to points on the ear in order to treat other parts of the body.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Latin auricula ‘external part of the ear’ + -O- + THERAPY.

auriferous /rf(ə)rəs/ adj. (of rocks or minerals) containing gold.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin aurifer ‘gold-bearing’ (from aurum ‘gold’) + -OUS.

Auriga /rə/ [ASTRONOMY] a large northern constellation (the Charioteer), said to represent a man holding a whip.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Aurignacian /rnje(ə)n rne-/ adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the early stages of the Upper Palaeolithic culture in Europe and the Near East. It is dated in most places to about 34,000–29,000 years ago, and is associated with Cro-Magnon Man.

- (as n. the Aurignacian) the Aurignacian culture or period.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French Aurignacien, from Aurignac in SW France, where objects from this culture were found.

auriscope /rskəp/ (also auroscope /rəskəp/) n. another term for OTOSCOPE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin auris ‘ear’ + -SCOPE.

aurochs /rks a-/ n. (pl. same) a large wild Eurasian ox that was the ancestor of domestic cattle. It was probably exterminated in Britain in the Bronze Age, and the last one was killed in Poland in 1627. Also called URUS.

<INFO> Bos primigenius, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from German, early variant of Auerochs, from Old High German ūrohso, from ūr (form also found in Old English, of unknown origin) + ohso ‘ox’.

Aurora /rrə/ [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] goddess of the dawn. Greek equivalent EOS.

aurora /rrə/ n. (pl. auroras or aurorae /-ri/) 1 a natural electrical phenomenon characterized by the appearance of streamers of reddish or greenish light in the sky, especially near the northern or southern magnetic pole. The effect is caused by the interaction of charged particles from the sun with atoms in the upper atmosphere. In northern and southern regions it is respectively called aurora borealis or Northern Lights and aurora australis or Southern Lights. [<ORIGIN> borealis from Latin, ‘northern’, based on Greek Boreas, the god of the north wind; australis from Latin, ‘southern’, from Auster ‘the south, the south wind’.]

2 LITERARY the dawn.

<DERIVATIVES> auroral adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in sense 2): from Latin, ‘dawn, goddess of the dawn’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 18th cent.

AUS abbr. Australia (international vehicle registration).

Auschwitz /avts/ a Nazi concentration camp in the Second World War, near the town of Oświęcim (Auschwitz) in Poland.

auscultation /sk(ə)lte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action of listening to sounds from the heart, lungs, or other organs, typically with a stethoscope, as a part of medical diagnosis.

<DERIVATIVES> auscultate v. auscultatory /skltət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin auscultatio(n-), from auscultare ‘listen to’.

Auslese /aslezə/ n. [mass noun] a white wine of German origin or style made from selected bunches of grapes picked later than the general harvest.

<ORIGIN> from German, from aus ‘out’ + Lese ‘picking, vintage’.

auspice /sps/ n. ARCHAIC a divine or prophetic token.

<PHRASES>

□ under the auspices of with the help, support, or protection of: the course is run under the auspices of the Anglican Church.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting the observation of bird flight in divination): from French, or from Latin auspicium, from auspex ‘observer of birds’, from avis ‘bird’ + specere ‘to look’.

auspicious /spəs/ adj. conducive to success; favourable: it was not the most auspicious moment to hold an election.

- giving or being a sign of future success: they said it was an auspicious moon—it was rising.

- ARCHAIC characterized by success; prosperous.

<DERIVATIVES> auspiciously adv. auspiciousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from AUSPICE + -OUS.

Aussie /zi si/ (also Ozzie) n. & adj.

■ informal term for AUSTRALIA or AUSTRALIAN.

Austen /stn -/ Jane (1775–1817), English novelist. Her major novels are Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), Northanger Abbey (1818), and Persuasion (1818). They are notable for skilful characterization, dry wit, and penetrating social observation.

austenite /stnt -/ n. [mass noun] [METALLURGY] a solid solution of carbon in a non-magnetic form of iron stable at high temperatures. It is a constituent of some forms of steel.

<DERIVATIVES> austenitic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of Sir William Roberts-Austen (1843–1902), English metallurgist, + -ITE^1.

austere /stə -/ adj. (austerer, austerest) severe or strict in manner or attitude: he was an austere man, with a rigidly puritanical outlook.

- (of living conditions or a way of life) having no comforts or luxuries: conditions in the prison could hardly be more austere.

- having a plain and unadorned appearance: the cathedral is impressive in its austere simplicity.

<DERIVATIVES> austerely adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin austerus, from Greek austēros ‘severe’.

austerity n. (pl. austerities) [mass noun] 1 sternness or severity of manner or attitude: he was noted for his austerity and his authoritarianism.

- plainness and simplicity in appearance: the room was decorated with a restraint bordering on austerity.

- [count noun] (usually austerities) a feature of an austere way of life: his uncle's austerities had undermined his health.

2 difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce public expenditure: the country was subjected to acute economic austerity | [count noun] (austerities) the austerities of post-war London.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French austérité, from Latin austeritas, from austerus ‘severe’ (see AUSTERE).

Austerlitz, Battle of /astəlts stə-/ a battle in 1805 near the town of Austerlitz (now in the Czech Republic), in which Napoleon defeated the Austrians and Russians.

Austin^1 /stn -/ the state capital of Texas; pop. 656,562 (2000). First settled in 1835, it was named in 1839 after Stephen F. Austin, son of Moses Austin, leader of the first Texas colony.

Austin^2 /stn -/ Herbert, 1st Baron Austin of Longbridge (1866–1941), British motor manufacturer. Among the cars produced by his factory the Austin Seven (‘Baby Austin’) was particularly popular. His company merged with Morris Motors in 1952 to form the British Motor Corporation.

Austin^3 /stn -/ John (1790–1859), English jurist. His work is significant for its strict delimitation of the sphere of law and its distinction from that of morality.

Austin^4 /stn -/ J. L. (1911–60), English philosopher; full name John Langshaw Austin. A careful exponent of linguistic philosophy, he pioneered the theory of speech acts, pointing out that utterances can be used to perform actions as well as to convey information. Notable works: Sense and Sensibilia and How to Do Things with Words (both 1962).

Austin Friars plural n. another name for Augustinian Friars.

austral /str(ə)l -/ adj. TECHNICAL relating to the southern hemisphere.

- (Austral) of Australia or Australasia.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin australis, from Auster ‘the south, the south wind’.

Australasia /strəleə -ə/ the region consisting of Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the neighbouring islands of the Pacific.

<DERIVATIVES> Australasian adj. & n.

Australia an island country and continent of the southern hemisphere, in the SW Pacific, a member state of the Commonwealth; pop. 19,564,792 (est. 2002); official language, English; capital, Canberra.

Inhabited by Aboriginal peoples since prehistoric times, Australia was explored by the Dutch from 1606; British colonization began in 1788, as did the transportation of convicts (discontinued in 1868). Australia was declared a Commonwealth in 1901, when the six colonies (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and the offshore island of Tasmania) federated as sovereign states; Northern Territory achieved similar status in 1978.

Australia Day n. a national public holiday in Australia, commemorating the founding on 26 January 1788 of the colony of New South Wales.

Australian n. a native or national of Australia, or a person of Australian descent.

■ adj. relating to Australia.

- [ZOOLOGY] relating to or denoting a zoogeographical region comprising Australasia together with Indonesia east of Wallace's line, in which monotremes and marsupials dominate the fauna. Compare with NOTOGAEA.

- [BOTANY] relating to or denoting a phytogeographical kingdom comprising only Australia and Tasmania.

<DERIVATIVES> Australianism n.

<ORIGIN> from French australien, from Latin australis in the phrase Terra Australis ‘the southern land’, the name of the supposed southern continent.

Australian Antarctic Territory an area of Antarctica administered by Australia, lying between longitudes 142° east and 136° east.

Australian Capital Territory a federal territory in New South Wales, Australia, consisting of two enclaves ceded by New South Wales, one in 1911 to contain Canberra, the other in 1915 containing Jervis Bay; the latter became the Jervis Bay Territory in 1988.

Australian crawl n. chiefly AUSTRALIAN another term for crawl (sense 2 of the noun).

Australian flatworm n. an orange or yellow terrestrial flatworm up to 8 cm in length, accidentally introduced from Australia to Britain where it is destroying earthworm populations.

<INFO> Coenoplana alba, order Tricladida, class Turbellaria.

Australian Labor Party (abbr.: ALP) Australia's oldest political party, founded in 1891. The party is moderate left-of-centre; it has provided three recent Australian Prime Ministers, Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke, and Paul Keating.

Australian Rules (also Australian Rules football) n. [mass noun] a form of football played on an oval ground with an oval ball by teams of eighteen players.

The game dates from 1858. Players may run with the ball if they touch it to the ground every fifteen metres, and may pass it in any direction by punching. There are both inner and outer goalposts: a behind (between the outer posts) scores one point and a goal (between the inner posts) scores six.

Australian salute n. AUSTRALIAN HUMOROUS a wave of the hand to brush flies off the face.

Australian terrier n. a wire-haired terrier of a breed originating in Australia.

Austral Islands another name for TUBUAI ISLANDS.

australite /strəlt/ n. [GEOLOGY] a tektite from the strewn field in Australia.

Australoid /strəld/ adj. relating to the broad division of humankind represented by Australian Aboriginal peoples.

■ n. a person belonging to this division of humankind.

<USAGE> The term Australoid belongs to a set of terms introduced by 19th-century anthropologists attempting to categorize human races. Such terms are associated with outdated notions of racial types, and so are now potentially offensive and best avoided. See usage at Mongoloid.

Australopithecus /strələpθkəs/ n. a fossil bipedal primate with both apelike and human characteristics, found in Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene deposits (c.4 million to 1 million years old) in Africa.

<INFO> Genus Australopithecus, family Hominidae: several species, including the lightly built A. africanus, which is thought to be the immediate ancestor of the human genus Homo.

<DERIVATIVES> australopithecine /-sin/ n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin australis ‘southern’ (see AUSTRAL) + Greek pithēkos ‘ape’.

Australorp /strəlp/ n. a black Orpington chicken of an Australian breed.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: blend of AUSTRALIAN and ORPINGTON.

Austria a republic in central Europe; pop. 8,169,929 (est. 2002); official language, German; capital, Vienna. German name Österreich.

Austria was dominated from the early Middle Ages by the Habsburg family, and became the centre of a massive central European empire which lasted until 1918. The country was incorporated within the Nazi Reich in 1938 and after the Second World War was occupied by the Allies, regaining its sovereignty in 1955. A referendum in 1994 approved Austria's entry into the European Union.

<DERIVATIVES> Austrian adj. & n.

Austria–Hungary (also Austro-Hungarian Empire) the dual monarchy established in 1867 by the Austrian emperor Franz Josef, according to which Austria and Hungary became autonomous states under a common sovereign.

Austrian blind n. a blind made from ruched fabric, which extends about a third of the way down a window.

Austrian Succession, War of the a group of several related conflicts (1740–8), involving most of the states of Europe, that were triggered by the death of the Emperor Charles VI and the accession of his daughter Maria Theresa in 1740 to the Austrian throne. See also PRAGMATIC SANCTION.

Austro-1 /strə/ combining form Austrian; Austrian and …: Austro-Hungarian.

Austro-2 /strə/ combining form Australian; Australian and …: Austro-Malayan.

- southern: Austro-Asiatic.

Austro-Asiatic adj. relating to or denoting a phylum or superfamily of languages spoken in SE Asia, consisting of the Mon-Khmer family, the Munda family, and one or two other isolated languages.

■ n. [mass noun] this phylum of languages.

Austronesian /strə()niən -zən/ adj. relating to or denoting a family of languages spoken in an area extending from Madagascar in the west to the Pacific islands in the east. Also called MALAYO-POLYNESIAN.

■ n. [mass noun] this family of languages.

Austronesian languages are spoken by about 140 million people, of whom all but 1 million speak a language of the Indonesian group, which includes Indonesian, Javanese, Tagalog, and Malagasy. The other groups are Micronesian, Melanesian, and Polynesian, scattered across the islands of the South Pacific.

<ORIGIN> from German austronesisch, based on Latin australis ‘southern’ (see AUSTRAL) + Greek nēsos ‘island’.

AUT abbr. (in the UK) Association of University Teachers.

aut- prefix variant spelling of auto-1 shortened before a vowel (as in autoxidation).

autarch /tαk/ n. a ruler who has absolute power.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek autarkhos, from autos ‘self’ + arkhos ‘leader’.

autarchy /tαki/ n. (pl. autarchies) 1 another term for AUTOCRACY.

2 variant spelling of AUTARKY.

<DERIVATIVES> autarchic adj.

autarky (also autarchy) n. [mass noun] economic independence or self-sufficiency.

- [count noun] a country, state, or society which is economically independent.

<DERIVATIVES> autarkic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek autarkeia, from autarkēs ‘self-sufficiency’, from autos ‘self’ + arkein ‘suffice’.

autecology /tklədi/ (also autoecology) n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the ecological study of a particular species. Contrasted with SYNECOLOGY.

<DERIVATIVES> autecological adj.

auteur /ətə -/ n. a film director who influences their films so much that they rank as their author.

<DERIVATIVES> auteurism n. auteurist adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from French, literally ‘author’.

authentic adj. 1 of undisputed origin and not a copy; genuine: the letter is now accepted as an authentic document.

- made or done in the traditional or original way, or in a way that faithfully resembles an original: the restaurant serves authentic Italian meals | every detail of the film was totally authentic.

- based on facts; accurate or reliable: an authentic depiction of the situation.

- (in existentialist philosophy) relating to or denoting an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life.

2 [MUSIC] (of a church mode) containing notes between the principal note or final and the note an octave higher. Compare with PLAGAL.

<DERIVATIVES> authentically adv. [as submodifier] the food is authentically Cajun

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin authenticus, from Greek authentikos ‘principal, genuine’.

authenticate v. [with obj.] prove or show (something) to be true, genuine, or valid: they were invited to authenticate artefacts from the Italian Renaissance.

- [no obj.] [COMPUTING] (of a user or process) have one's identity verified.

<DERIVATIVES> authentication /-ke(ə)n/ n. authenticator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin authenticat- ‘established as valid’, from the verb authenticare, from late Latin authenticus ‘genuine’ (see AUTHENTIC).

authenticity /θεntsti/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being authentic: the paper should have established the authenticity of the documents before publishing them.

authigenic /θdεnk/ adj. [GEOLOGY] (of minerals and other materials) formed in their present position. Often contrasted with ALLOGENIC.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek authigenēs ‘born on the spot’ + -IC.

author n. a writer of a book, article, or document: he is the author of several books on the subject.

- someone who writes books as a profession.

- the writings of such a person: I had to read authors I disliked.

- an originator of a plan or idea: the authors of the peace plan.

■ v. [with obj.] be the author of (a book or piece of writing): she has authored several articles on wildlife.

- be the originator of: the concept has been authored largely by insurance companies.

<DERIVATIVES> authorial /θrəl/ adj. authorship n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘a person who invents or causes something’): from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from augere ‘increase, originate, promote’. The spelling with th arose in the 15th century, and perhaps became established under the influence of authentic.

<USAGE> In the sense ‘be the author of’ the verb author is objected to by some traditionalists. It is well established, though, especially in North America, and has been in use since the end of the 16th century.

authoress n. a female author.

authoring n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] the creation of programs and databases for computer applications such as computer-assisted learning or multimedia products: [as modifier] an authoring system.

authoritarian /θrtεrən/ adj. favouring or enforcing strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom: the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic regime.

- showing a lack of concern for the wishes or opinions of others; dictatorial: he had an authoritarian and at times belligerent manner.

■ n. an authoritarian person.

<DERIVATIVES> authoritarianism n.

authoritative /θrtətv -tetv/ adj. 1 able to be trusted as being accurate or true; reliable: clear, authoritative information and advice | an authoritative source.

- (of a text) considered to be the best of its kind and unlikely to be improved upon: this is likely to become the authoritative study of the subject.

2 commanding and self-confident; likely to be respected and obeyed: his voice was calm and authoritative.

- proceeding from an official source and requiring compliance or obedience: authoritative directives.

<DERIVATIVES> authoritatively adv. authoritativeness n.

authority n. (pl. authorities) 1 [mass noun] the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience: he had absolute authority over his subordinates | a rebellion against those in authority.

- [often with infinitive] the right to act in a specified way, delegated from one person or organization to another: military forces have the legal authority to arrest drug traffickers.

- official permission; sanction: the money was spent without parliamentary authority.

2 (often authorities) a person or organization having political or administrative power and control: health authorities issued a worldwide alert.

3 [mass noun] the power to influence others, especially because of one's commanding manner or one's recognized knowledge about something: he has the natural authority of one who is used to being obeyed.

- the confidence resulting from personal expertise: he hit the ball with authority.

- [count noun] a person with extensive or specialized knowledge about a subject; an expert: he was an authority on the stock market.

- [count noun] a book or other source able to supply reliable information or evidence.

<PHRASES>

□ have something on good authority have ascertained something from a reliable source.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French autorite, from Latin auctoritas, from auctor ‘originator, promoter’ (see AUTHOR).

authorization (also authorisation) n. [mass noun] the action of authorizing: the raising of revenue and the authorization of spending.

- [count noun] a document giving official permission.

authorize (also authorise) v. [with obj.] give official permission for or approval to (an undertaking or agent): the government authorized further aircraft production | [with obj. and infinitive] the troops were authorized to use force.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French autoriser, from medieval Latin auctorizare, from auctor ‘originator, promoter’ (see AUTHOR).

authorized adj. having official permission or approval: an authorized dealer | authorized access to the computer.

Authorized Version n. chiefly BRITISH an English translation of the Bible made in 1611 at the order of James I and still widely used, though never formally ‘authorized’. Also called KING JAMES BIBLE.

autism /tz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts.

- a mental condition in which fantasy dominates over reality, as a symptom of schizophrenia and other disorders.

<DERIVATIVES> autistic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek autos ‘self’ + -ISM.

auto^1 n. (pl. autos) [usually as modifier] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a car: the auto industry.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of AUTOMOBILE.

auto^2 adj. & n.

■ short for AUTOMATIC.

auto-1 (usually aut- before a vowel) combining form self: auto-analysis.

- one's own: autograph.

- by oneself or spontaneous: autoxidation.

- by itself or automatic: autofocusing.

<ORIGIN> from Greek autos ‘self’.

auto-2 combining form relating to cars: autocross.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of AUTOMOBILE.

autoantibody n. (pl. autoantibodies) [PHYSIOLOGY] an antibody produced by an organism in response to a constituent of its own tissues.

Autobahn /tə()bαn/ German /atəban/ n. a German, Austrian, or Swiss motorway.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from German, from Auto ‘motor car’ + Bahn ‘path, road’.

autobiographical adj. (of a written work) dealing with the writer's own life: an autobiographical account | the book is partly autobiographical.

<DERIVATIVES> autobiographic adj. autobiographically adv.

autobiography n. (pl. autobiographies) an account of a person's life written by that person.

- [mass noun] such writing as a literary genre.

<DERIVATIVES> autobiographer n.

autocar n. ARCHAIC a motor vehicle.

autocatalysis n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] catalysis of a reaction by one of its products.

<DERIVATIVES> autocatalyst n. autocatalytic adj.

autocephalous /tə()sεf(ə)ləs -kεf-/ adj. (of an Eastern Christian Church) appointing its own head, not subject to the authority of an external patriarch or archbishop.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek autokephalos (from autos ‘self’ + kephalē ‘head’) + -OUS.

autochanger (also autochange) n. a mechanism for the automatic substitution of one record or compact disc for another during use.

autochrome n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] an early form of colour photography using plates coated with dyed starch grains, patented by the Lumière brothers in 1904.

- [count noun] a colour photograph made by this process.

autochthon /tkθ(ə)n -θən/ n. (pl. autochthons or autochthones /-θəniz/) an original or indigenous inhabitant of a place; an aborigine.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek, literally ‘sprung from the earth’, from autos ‘self’ + khthōn ‘earth, soil’.

autochthonous /tkθənəs/ adj. (of an inhabitant of a place) indigenous rather than descended from migrants or colonists.

- [GEOLOGY] (of a deposit or formation) formed in its present position. Often contrasted with ALLOCHTHONOUS.

autoclave /tə()klev/ n. a strong heated container used for chemical reactions and other processes using high pressures and temperatures, e.g. steam sterilization.

■ v. [with obj.] heat (something) in an autoclave.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from auto- ‘self’ + Latin clavus ‘nail’ or clavis ‘key’ (so named because it is self-fastening).

autocomplete n. a software program that completes words or strings without the user needing to type them in full.

autocorrelation n. [mass noun] [MATHEMATICS] & [STATISTICS] correlation between the elements of a series and others from the same series separated from them by a given interval.

- [count noun] a calculation of such correlation.

autocracy /tkrəsi/ n. (pl. autocracies) [mass noun] a system of government by one person with absolute power.

- [count noun] a state or society governed by one person with absolute power.

- domineering rule or control: a boss who shifts between autocracy and consultation.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘autonomy’): from Greek autokrateia, from autokratēs (see AUTOCRAT).

autocrat n. a ruler who has absolute power.

- an imperious person who insists on complete obedience from others.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French autocrate, from Greek autokratēs, from autos ‘self’ + kratos ‘power’.

autocratic adj. relating to a ruler who has absolute power: the constitutional reforms threatened his autocratic power.

- taking no account of other people's wishes or opinions; domineering: a man with a reputation for an autocratic management style.

<DERIVATIVES> autocratically adv.

autocrine /tə()krn/ adj. [BIOCHEMISTRY] denoting or relating to a cell-produced substance that has an effect on the cell by which it is secreted.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from AUTO-1 + Greek krinein ‘to separate’.

autocross n. [mass noun] BRITISH a form of motor racing in which cars are driven singly or in heats over a course including rough terrain or unmade roads. Compare with RALLYCROSS.

- NORTH AMERICAN a form of competition in which cars are driven around an obstacle course, typically marked out by cones on an empty car park.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of AUTOMOBILE and CROSS-COUNTRY.

autocue n. TRADEMARK, BRITISH a device which projects an enlarged image of a script on to a clear glass screen in front of a person speaking on television or in public, so enabling the speaker to read their speech while appearing to be looking at the viewers or a

auto-da-fé /tədαfe/ n. (pl. autos-da-fé /təz-/) the burning of a heretic by the Spanish Inquisition.

- a sentence of such a kind.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Portuguese, literally ‘act of the faith’.

autodial v. (autodials, autodialling, autodialled; US autodials, autodialing, autodialed) [no obj.] [COMPUTING] (of a modem) automatically dial a telephone number or establish a connection with a computer.

<DERIVATIVES> autodialler n.

autodidact /təddakt/ n. a self-taught person.

<DERIVATIVES> autodidactic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Greek autodidaktos ‘self-taught’, from autos ‘self’ + didaskein ‘teach’.

auto-erotic adj. relating to sexual excitement generated by stimulating or fantasizing about one's own body.

<DERIVATIVES> auto-eroticism n.

auto-exposure n. a device which sets the exposure automatically on a camera.

- [mass noun] the facility to set exposure automatically.

autofocus n. a device focusing a camera or other piece of equipment automatically.

- [mass noun] the facility for automatic focusing.

<DERIVATIVES> autofocusing n.

autogamy /təmi/ n. [BIOLOGY] self-fertilization, especially the self pollination of a flower. Compare with ALLOGAMY.

<DERIVATIVES> autogamous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AUTO-1 ‘self’ + Greek -gamia (from gamos ‘marriage’).

autogenic /tə()dεnk/ adj. TECHNICAL self-generated: autogenic succession.

autogenic training n. [mass noun] a form of relaxation therapy involving auto-suggestion.

autogenous /tdnəs/ adj. arising from within or from a thing itself.

- (of welding) done either without a filler or with a filler of the same metal as the pieces being welded.

autogiro (also autogyro) n. (pl. autogiros) a form of aircraft with freely rotating horizontal blades and a propeller. It differs from a helicopter in that the blades are not powered but rotate in the slipstream, propulsion being by a conventional mounted engine.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Spanish, from auto- ‘self’ + giro ‘gyration’.

autograft n. a graft of tissue from one point to another of the same individual's body.

autograph n. 1 a signature, especially that of a celebrity written as a memento for an admirer: fans surged around the car asking for autographs.

2 a manuscript or musical score in an author's or musician's own handwriting.

- [mass noun] a person's handwriting.

■ v. [with obj.] write one's signature on (something); sign: the whole team autographed a shirt for him | (as adj. autographed) an autographed photo.

■ adj. written in the author's own handwriting: an autograph manuscript.

- (of a painting or sculpture) done by the artist, not by a copier.

<DERIVATIVES> autographic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French autographe or late Latin autographum, from Greek autographon, neuter of autographos ‘written with one's own hand’, from autos ‘self’ + graphos ‘written’.

autography n. [mass noun] 1 writing done with one's own hand.

2 the facsimile reproduction of writing or illustration.

3 [count noun] an autobiography.

autoharp n. a kind of zither fitted with a series of sprung and padded bars which allow the playing of chords by damping selected strings.

autohypnosis n. [mass noun] induction of a hypnotic state in oneself; self-hypnosis.

<DERIVATIVES> autohypnotic adj.

autoimmune adj. MEDICINE relating to disease caused by antibodies or lymphocytes produced against substances naturally present in the body: the infection triggers an autoimmune response.

<DERIVATIVES> autoimmunity n.

autointoxication n. [mass noun] MEDICINE poisoning by a toxin formed within the body itself.

autologous /tləəs/ adj. (of cells or tissues) obtained from the same individual.

autolysis /tlss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the destruction of cells or tissues by their own enzymes, especially those released by lysosomes.

<DERIVATIVES> autolytic adj.

automaker n. NORTH AMERICAN a company which manufactures cars.

automat n. US HISTORICAL a cafeteria in which food and drink were obtained from slot machines.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting an automaton): from German, from French automate, from Latin automaton (see AUTOMATON). The current sense dates from the early 20th cent.

automate v. [with obj.] convert (a process or facility) to be operated by largely automatic equipment: industry is investing in automating production | (as adj. automated) a fully automated process.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: back-formation from AUTOMATION.

automated teller machine n. a machine that automatically provides cash and performs other banking services on insertion of a special card by the account holder.

automatic adj. 1 (of a device or process) working by itself with little or no direct human control: an automatic kettle that switches itself off when it boils | calibration is fully automatic.

- (of a firearm) self-loading and able to fire continuously until the ammunition is exhausted or the pressure on the trigger is released.

- (of a motor vehicle or its transmission) using gears that change by themselves according to speed and acceleration.

2 done or occurring spontaneously, without conscious thought or attention: automatic physical functions such as breathing | ‘Nice to meet you,’ he said, with automatic politeness.

- done or occurring as a matter of course and without debate: he is the automatic choice for the senior team.

- (especially of a legal sanction) given or imposed as a necessary and inevitable result of a fixed rule or particular set of circumstances: he received an automatic one-match suspension.

■ n. 1 a gun that continues firing until the ammunition is exhausted or the pressure on the trigger is released.

2 a vehicle with automatic transmission.

<DERIVATIVES> automatically adv. automaticity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Greek automatos ‘acting of itself’ (see AUTOMATON) + -IC.

automatic gain control n. [mass noun] [ELECTRONICS] a feature of certain amplifier circuits which gives a constant output over a wide range of input levels.

automatic pilot n. a device for keeping an aircraft on a set course without the intervention of the pilot.

<PHRASES>

□ on automatic pilot out of routine or habit, without concentration or conscious thought: I leapt out of bed and dressed on automatic pilot.

automatic translation n. another term for MACHINE TRANSLATION.

automatic writing n. [mass noun] writing said to be produced by a spiritual, occult, or subconscious agency rather than by the conscious intention of the writer.

automation n. [mass noun] the use or introduction of automatic equipment in a manufacturing or other process or facility.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally US): irregular formation from AUTOMATIC + -ATION.

automatism /tmətz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] the performance of actions without conscious thought or intention.

- [count noun] an action performed unconsciously or involuntarily.

- [ART] the avoidance of conscious intention in producing works of art, especially by using mechanical techniques or subconscious associations.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French automatisme, from automate ‘automaton’, from Greek automatos ‘acting of itself’ (see AUTOMATON).

automatize /tmətz/ (also automatise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. automatized) make automatic or habitual: the need to refresh automatized forms of literature.

<DERIVATIVES> automatization n.

automaton /tmət(ə)n/ n. (pl. automata /-tə/ or automatons) a moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being.

- a machine which performs a range of functions according to a predetermined set of coded instructions.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via Latin from Greek, neuter of automatos ‘acting of itself’, from autos ‘self’.

automize v. 1 another term for AUTOMATE.

2 another term for AUTOMATIZE.

automobile n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a car.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from auto- ‘self’ + mobile ‘mobile’.

automotive /təmətv/ adj. relating to or concerned with motor vehicles.

autonomic /tənmk/ adj. chiefly [PHYSIOLOGY] involuntary or unconscious; relating to the autonomic nervous system.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in the sense ‘self-governing’): from AUTONOMY + -IC.

autonomic nervous system n. the part of the nervous system responsible for control of the bodily functions not consciously directed, such as breathing, the heartbeat, and digestive processes.

autonomous adj. (of a country or region) having the freedom to govern itself or control its own affairs: the federation included sixteen autonomous republics.

- having the freedom to act independently: school governors are legally autonomous.

- (in Kantian moral philosophy) acting in accordance with one's moral duty rather than one's desires. Compare with HETERONOMOUS.

<DERIVATIVES> autonomously adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek autonomos ‘having its own laws’ + -OUS.

autonomy /tnəmi/ n. (pl. autonomies) [mass noun] the right or condition of self-government: between the First and Second World Wars, Canada gained greater autonomy from Britain.

- [count noun] a self-governing country or region.

- freedom from external control or influence; independence.

- (in Kantian moral philosophy) the capacity of an agent to act in accordance with objective morality rather than under the influence of desires.

<DERIVATIVES> autonomist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek autonomia, from autonomos ‘having its own laws’, from autos ‘self’ + nomos ‘law’.

autopilot n. short for AUTOMATIC PILOT.

autopista /tə()pistə/ Spanish /autəpista/ n. a motorway in a Spanish-speaking country.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Spanish, from auto ‘automobile’ + pista ‘track’.

autopsy /tpsi tpsi/ n. (pl. autopsies) a post-mortem examination to discover the cause of death or the extent of disease.

■ v. (autopsies, autopsying, autopsied) [with obj.] perform an autopsy on (a body or organ).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘personal observation’): from French autopsie or modern Latin autopsia, from Greek, from autoptēs ‘eyewitness’, from autos ‘self’ + optos ‘seen’.

autoradiogram /təredə()ram/ n. another term for AUTORADIOGRAPH.

autoradiograph n. a photograph of an object produced by radiation from radioactive material in the object.

■ v. [with obj.] make an autoradiograph of.

<DERIVATIVES> autoradiographic adj. autoradiography n.

autorickshaw n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a motorized, three-wheeled rickshaw for public hire.

autorotation n. [mass noun] rotation of an object caused by the flow of moving air or water around the shape of the object (e.g. a winged seed).

- autorotation in the rotor blades of a helicopter that is descending without engine power.

<DERIVATIVES> autorotate v.

autoroute n. a French motorway.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from French, from auto(mobile) ‘car’ + route ‘route’.

autosave [COMPUTING] n. a software facility which automatically saves a user's work at regular intervals.

■ v. [with obj.] save (work) automatically using the autosave facility.

autoshaping n. [mass noun] [PSYCHOLOGY] conditioning in which the conditioned response has not been reinforced by reward or punishment, but is a modified instinctive response to certain stimuli.

autosome /təəm/ n. [BIOLOGY] any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome.

<DERIVATIVES> autosomal adj.

autostrada /tə()strαdə/ Italian /autəstrada/ n. (pl. autostradas or autostrade /-de/ Italian /-de/) an Italian motorway.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Italian, from auto ‘automobile’ + strada ‘road’.

auto-suggestion n. [mass noun] the hypnotic or subconscious adoption of an idea which one has originated oneself.

autotelic /tə()tεlk/ adj. FORMAL (of an activity or a creative work) having an end or purpose in itself.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from AUTO-1 ‘self’ + Greek telos ‘end’ + -IC.

autotomy /ttəmi/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] the casting off of a part of the body (e.g. the tail of a lizard) by an animal under threat.

autotoxin n. a substance produced by an organism which is toxic to itself.

<DERIVATIVES> autotoxic adj.

autotransformer n. an electrical transformer which has a single winding of which part is common to both primary and secondary circuits.

autotransplantation n. [mass noun] transplantation of tissue from one site to another in the same individual.

<DERIVATIVES> autotransplant n. autotransplanted adj.

autotroph /tə()trəf -trf/ n. [BIOLOGY] an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide. Compare with HETEROTROPH.

<DERIVATIVES> autotrophic adj. autotrophy n.

autotype n. 1 a facsimile.

2 [mass noun] a photographic printing process for monochrome reproduction.

autowinder n. a device which automatically winds on the film in a camera after a picture has been taken.

<DERIVATIVES> autowind n. & v.

autoworker n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a worker in the motor vehicle manufacturing industry.

autoxidation /tksde(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] spontaneous oxidation of a substance at ambient temperatures in the presence of oxygen.

<DERIVATIVES> autoxidize (also autoxidise) v.

autumn n. chiefly BRITISH the season after summer and before winter, in the northern hemisphere from September to November and in the southern hemisphere from March to May: the countryside is ablaze with colour in autumn | FIGURATIVE he was in the autumn of his life.

- [ASTRONOMY] the period from the autumn equinox to the winter solstice.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French autompne, or later directly from Latin autumnus.

autumnal adj. of, characteristic of, or occurring in autumn: rich autumnal colours.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin autumnalis, from autumnus ‘autumn’.

autumn crocus n. a crocus-like Eurasian plant of the lily family, cultivated for its autumn-blooming flowers.

<INFO> Genus Colchicum, family Liliaceae: several species, in particular meadow saffron.

autumn equinox (also autumnal equinox) n. the equinox in autumn, on about 22 September in the northern hemisphere and 20 March in the southern hemisphere.

- [ASTRONOMY] the equinox in September.

autunite /tnt/ n. [mass noun] a yellow mineral occurring as square crystals which fluoresce in ultraviolet light. It is a hydrated phosphate of calcium and uranium.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Autun, the name of a town in eastern France, + -ITE^1.

Auvergne /əvεn/ French /əvεR/ a region of south central France and a province of the Roman Empire. The region is mountainous and contains the extinct volcanic cones known as the Puys.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Arverni, the name of a Celtic tribe who lived there in Roman times.

auxiliary /zləri -/ adj. providing supplementary or additional help and support: auxiliary airport staff | the ship has an auxiliary power source.

- (of troops) engaged in the service of a nation at war but not part of the regular army.

- (of a sailing vessel) equipped with a supplementary engine: an auxiliary schooner.

■ n. (pl. auxiliaries) an auxiliary person or thing: a nursing auxiliary | there are two main fuel tanks and two auxiliaries.

- NORTH AMERICAN a group of volunteers giving supplementary support to an organization or institution: members of the Volunteer Fire Department's women's auxiliary.

- [GRAMMAR] an auxiliary verb.

- a naval vessel with a supporting role, not armed for combat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin auxiliarius, from auxilium ‘help’.

auxiliary verb n. [GRAMMAR] a verb used in forming the tenses, moods, and voices of other verbs. The primary auxiliary verbs in English are be, do, and have; the modal auxiliaries are can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would.

auxin /ksn/ n. [mass noun] a plant hormone which causes the elongation of cells in shoots and is involved in regulating plant growth. See also INDOLEACETIC ACID.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: coined in German from Greek auxein ‘to increase’ + -IN^1.

auxotroph /ksətrəf -trf/ n. [BIOLOGY] a mutant organism (especially a bacterium or fungus) that requires a particular additional nutrient which the normal strain does not.

<DERIVATIVES> auxotrophic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Latin auxilium ‘help’ + Greek trophos ‘feeder’.

AV abbr.

- audio-visual (teaching aids).

- Authorized Version.

avadavat /avədəvat/ (also amadavat) n. a small South Asian waxbill that is widely kept as a cage bird. The male has red or green plumage and a red bill. Also called MUNIA.

<INFO> Genus Amandava, family Estrildidae: the red avadavat (A. amandava) and the green avadavat (A. formosa).

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: named after the city of AHMADABAD in India, where the birds were sold.

avail v. 1 (avail oneself of) FORMAL use or take advantage of (an opportunity or available resource): my daughter did not avail herself of my advice.

2 [with obj.] LITERARY help or benefit: no amount of struggle availed Charles.

■ n. (usually in phrase of/to no avail) use or benefit: he begged her to reconsider, but to no avail.

<PHRASES>

□ avail someone nothing ARCHAIC (of an action) be of no help at all to someone.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from obsolete vail ‘be of use or value’ (apparently on the pattern of pairs such as amount, mount), from Old French valoir, from Latin valere ‘be strong, be of value’.

available adj. able to be used or obtained; at someone's disposal: refreshments will be available all afternoon | community health services available to Londoners.

- (of a person) not otherwise occupied; free to do something: the nurse is only available at certain times | the minister was not available for comment.

<DERIVATIVES> availability n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘effectual, serviceable’ and ‘legally valid’): from AVAIL + -ABLE. The sense ‘at someone's disposal’ dates from the early 19th cent.

avalanche /avəlαn/ n. 1 a mass of snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside.

- a large mass of mud or other material moving rapidly downhill: an avalanche of mud.

2 a sudden arrival or occurrence of something in overwhelming quantities: we have had an avalanche of applications for the post.

3 [PHYSICS] a cumulative process in which a fast-moving ion or electron generates further ions and electrons by collision.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a mass of snow, ice, etc.) descend rapidly down a mountainside.

- [with obj.] engulf or carry off by an avalanche: the climbers were avalanched down the south face of the mountain.

2 [PHYSICS] undergo a rapid increase in conductivity due to an avalanche process.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, alteration of the Alpine dialect word lavanche (of unknown origin), influenced by avaler ‘descend’; compare with Italian valanga.

Avalon /avəln/ (in Arthurian legend) the place to which Arthur was conveyed after death.

avant- /av/ combining form (especially with reference to popular music) original or innovative; avant-garde: even in avant-rock, a song's words are usually its focus.

avant-garde /avαd/ n. (usually the avant-garde) new and experimental ideas and methods in art, music, or literature: he has been called a promoter of the avant-garde.

- a group of artists, musicians, or writers working with new and experimental ideas and methods: works by artists of the Russian avant-garde.

■ adj. favouring or introducing new and experimental ideas and methods: a controversial avant-garde composer.

<DERIVATIVES> avant-gardism n. avant-gardist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the vanguard of an army): from French, literally ‘vanguard’. Current senses date from the early 20th cent.

Avar /əvα/ n. 1 a member of a nomadic equestrian people from central Asia who built up a large kingdom in SE Europe from the 6th century but were conquered by Charlemagne (791–9).

2 a member of a pastoral people of Dagestan in Russia, of uncertain relationship to the ancient Avars.

3 [mass noun] the North Caucasian language of the modern Avars.

■ adj. relating to the Avars or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Avar.

avarice n. [mass noun] extreme greed for wealth or material gain.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin avaritia, from avarus ‘greedy’.

avaricious adj. having or showing an extreme greed for wealth or material gain: an avaricious, manipulative woman.

<DERIVATIVES> avariciously adv. avariciousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French avaricieux, based on Latin avarus ‘greedy’.

avascular /əvaskjlə e-/ adj. MEDICINE characterized by or associated with a lack of blood vessels.

avast /əvαst/ exclam. [NAUTICAL] stop; cease: a sailor is expected to keep hauling until the mate hollers ‘Avast!’.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Dutch hou'vast, houd vast ‘hold fast!’.

avatar /avətα/ n. 1 chiefly [HINDUISM] a manifestation of a deity or released soul in bodily form on earth; an incarnate divine teacher.

2 an incarnation, embodiment, or manifestation of a person or idea: he chose John Stuart Mill as the avatar of the liberal view.

3 [COMPUTING] a movable icon representing a person in cyberspace or virtual reality graphics.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit avatāra ‘descent’, from ava ‘down’ + tar- ‘to cross’.

avaunt /əvnt/ exclam. ARCHAIC go away: avaunt, you worm-faced fellows of the night!

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French avant, from Latin ab ‘from’ + ante ‘before’.

ave /αve/ exclam. LITERARY used to express good wishes on meeting or parting.

■ n. 1 (Ave)

■ short for AVE MARIA.

2 LITERARY a shout of welcome or farewell.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin, ‘fare well!’, singular imperative of avere.

Ave. abbr. Avenue.

Avebury /evb(ə)ri/ a village in Wiltshire, site of one of Britain's major henge monuments of the late Neolithic period. The monument consists of a bank and ditch containing the largest known stone circle, with two smaller circles within it.

Ave Maria /αve məriə/ n. a prayer to the Virgin Mary used in Catholic worship. The first line is adapted from Luke 1:28. Also called HAIL MARY.

<ORIGIN> the opening words in Latin, literally ‘hail, Mary!’.

avenge v. [with obj.] inflict harm in return for (an injury or wrong done to oneself or another): he vowed in silent fervour to avenge their murders.

- inflict harm in return for an injury or wrong on behalf of (oneself or another): we must avenge our dead | they avenged themselves on the interlopers.

<DERIVATIVES> avenger n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French avengier, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to’) + vengier, from Latin vindicare ‘vindicate’.

avens /ev(ə)nz/ n. a plant of the rose family, typically having serrated, divided leaves and seeds bearing small hooks.

<INFO> Genus Geum, family Rosaceae: several species, including the widespread water avens (G. rivale), with drooping pinkish flowers, and wood avens or herb bennet.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French avence (medieval Latin avencia), of unknown origin.

aventurine /əvεntərn/ n. [mass noun] 1 brownish glass containing sparkling particles of copper or gold: [as modifier] aventurine glass.

2 a translucent mineral containing small reflective particles, especially quartz containing mica or iron compounds, or feldspar containing haematite.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Italian avventurino, from avventura ‘chance’ (because of its accidental discovery).

avenue n. 1 a broad road in a town or city, typically having trees at regular intervals along its sides: tree-lined avenues surround the hotel | [in names] Shaftesbury Avenue.

- [in names] NORTH AMERICAN a thoroughfare running at right angles to the streets in a city laid out on a grid pattern: 7th Avenue.

- BRITISH a tree-lined approach to a country house or similar building: an avenue of limes.

2 a way of approaching a problem or making progress towards something: three possible avenues of research suggested themselves.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): from French, feminine past participle of avenir ‘arrive, approach’, from Latin advenire, from ad- ‘towards’ + venire ‘come’.

aver /əvə/ v. (avers, averring, averred) [reporting v.] FORMAL state or assert to be the case: [with clause] he averred that he was innocent of the allegations | [with direct speech] ‘I don't have to do anything—it's his problem,’ Rory averred.

- [with obj.] [LAW] allege as a fact in support of a plea.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘declare or confirm to be true’): from Old French averer, based on Latin ad ‘to’ (implying ‘cause to be’) + verus ‘true’.

average n. 1 the result obtained by adding several amounts together and then dividing this total by the number of amounts; the mean: the proportion of over-60s is above the EU average of 19 per cent.

- an amount, standard, level, or rate regarded as usual or ordinary: underground water reserves are below average | they take about thirty minutes on average.

2 [mass noun] the apportionment of financial liability resulting from loss of or damage to a ship or its cargo.

- reduction in the amount payable under an insurance policy, e.g. in respect of partial loss.

■ adj. constituting the result obtained by adding together several amounts and then dividing this total by the number of amounts: the average temperature in May was 4°C below normal.

- of the usual or ordinary amount, standard, level, or rate: a woman of average height.

- having qualities that are seen as typical of a particular person, group, or thing: the average lad likes a good night out.

- mediocre; not very good: a very average director making very average movies.

■ v. [with obj.] amount to or achieve as an average rate or amount over a period of time; mean: annual inflation averaged 2.4 per cent.

- calculate or estimate the average of: the women earned only £35 weekly when their seasonal earnings were averaged out.

- [no obj.] (average out) result in an even distribution; even out: it is reasonable to hope that the results will average out.

- [no obj.] (average out at/to) result in an average figure of: the cost should average out at about £6 per page.

<DERIVATIVES> averagely adv. averageness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French avarie ‘damage to ship or cargo’, earlier ‘customs duty’, from Italian avaria, from Arabic ‘awār ‘damage to goods’; the suffix -age is on the pattern of damage. Originally denoting a duty payable by the owner of goods to be shipped, the term later denoted the financial liability from goods lost or damaged at sea, and specifically the equitable apportionment of this between the owners of the vessel and of the cargo (late 16th century); this gave rise to the general sense of calculating the mean (mid 18th century).

avermectin /evəmεktn/ n. any of a group of compounds with strong anthelmintic properties, isolated from a strain of bacteria. Chemically, they are macrocyclic lactones with a disaccharide ring attached.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from modern Latin (Streptomyces) averm(itilis), the name of the source actinomycete, + ect- (of unknown origin) + -IN^1.

averment /əvəm(ə)nt/ n. FORMAL an affirmation or allegation.

- [LAW] a formal statement by a party in a case of a fact or circumstance which the party offers to prove or substantiate.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French averrement, averement, from averer ‘declare true’ (see AVER).

Avernus /əvənəs/ a lake near Naples in Italy, which fills the crater of an extinct volcano. It was described by Virgil and other Latin writers as the entrance to the underworld.

Averroës /əvεrəiz/ (c.1126–98), Spanish-born Islamic philosopher, judge, and physician; Arabic name ibn-Rushd. His highly influential commentaries on Aristotle sought to reconcile Aristotle with Plato and the Greek philosophical tradition with the Arabic.

averse adj. [predic.] [usually with negative] having a strong dislike of or opposition to something: as a former CIA director, he is not averse to secrecy | [in combination] the bank's approach has been risk-averse.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin aversus ‘turned away from’, past participle of avertere (see AVERT).

<USAGE> 1 On the confusion of averse and adverse see usage at adverse
2 Traditionally, and according to Dr Johnson, averse from is preferred to averse to. The latter is condemned on etymological grounds (the Latin root translates as ‘turn from’). However, averse to is entirely consistent with ordinary usage in modern English (on the analogy of hostile to, disinclined to, etc.) and is part of normal standard English.

aversion n. a strong dislike or disinclination: they made plain their aversion to the use of force.

- someone or something that arouses such feelings.

<DERIVATIVES> aversive adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally denoting the action of turning away or averting one's eyes): from Latin aversio(n-), from avertere ‘turn away from’ (see AVERT).

aversion therapy n. [mass noun] a type of behaviour therapy designed to make patients give up an undesirable habit by causing them to associate it with an unpleasant effect.

avert v. [with obj.] 1 turn away (one's eyes or thoughts): she averted her eyes while we made stilted conversation.

2 prevent or ward off (an undesirable occurrence): talks failed to avert a rail strike.

<DERIVATIVES> avertable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘divert or deter someone from a place or a course of action’): from Latin avertere, from ab- ‘from’ + vertere ‘to turn’; reinforced by Old French avertir.

Aves /eviz αvez/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of vertebrates which comprises the birds.

<ORIGIN> Latin, plural of avis ‘bird’.

Avesta /əvεstə/ n. the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, compiled in the 4th century.

<ORIGIN> Persian.

Avestan /əvεst(ə)n/ adj. relating to the Avesta or to the ancient Iranian language in which it is written, closely related to Vedic Sanskrit.

■ n. [mass noun] the Avestan language.

avgas /avas/ n. [mass noun] aircraft fuel.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from av(iation) + GAS.

avian /evən/ adj. relating to birds: avian tuberculosis.

■ n. a bird.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin avis ‘bird’ + -AN.

avian flu n. formal term for BIRD FLU.

aviary /evəri/ n. (pl. aviaries) a large cage, building, or enclosure for keeping birds in.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin aviarium, from avis ‘bird’.

aviate /evet/ v. pilot or fly in an aircraft: [with obj.] an aircraft that can be aviated without effort | [no obj.] there are fewer opportunities to aviate in winter.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from AVIATION.

aviation n. [mass noun] the flying or operating of aircraft: [as modifier] the aviation industry.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, formed irregularly from Latin avis ‘bird’.

aviator n. DATED a pilot.

aviatrix /evetrks/ n. (pl. aviatrices /-trsiz/) DATED a female pilot.

Avicenna /avsεnə/ (980–1037), Persian-born Islamic philosopher and physician; Arabic name ibn-Sina. His philosophical system, drawing on Aristotle but in many ways closer to Neoplatonism, was the major influence on the development of scholasticism. His Canon of Medicine was a standard medieval medical text.

avicularium /əvkjlεrəm/ n. (pl. avicularia /-rə/) [ZOOLOGY] (in some bryozoans) any of a number of modified zooids that take the form of a pair of snapping jaws resembling a bird's head, serving to prevent other organisms from settling on the colony. Compare with VIBRACULUM.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from avicula, diminutive of avis ‘bird’.

aviculture /evkltə/ n. [mass noun] the breeding and rearing of birds.

<DERIVATIVES> avicultural adj. aviculturalist n. aviculturist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin avis ‘bird’ + CULTURE.

avid /avd/ adj. having or showing a keen interest in or enthusiasm for something: an avid reader of science fiction.

- (avid for) having an eager desire for: she was avid for information about the murder inquiry.

<DERIVATIVES> avidly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French avide or Latin avidus, from avere ‘crave’.

avidin /avdn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein found in raw egg white, which combines with biotin and hinders its absorption.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from AVID + -IN^1.

avidity n. [mass noun] 1 keen interest or enthusiasm.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] the overall strength of binding between an antibody and an antigen.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French avidité or Latin aviditas, from avidus ‘eager, greedy’.

avifauna /evfnə/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] the birds of a particular region, habitat, or geological period.

<DERIVATIVES> avifaunal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin avis ‘bird’ + FAUNA.

Avignon /avnj/ French /avi/ a city on the Rhône in SE France; pop. 85,854 (est. 2002). From 1309 until 1377 it was the residence of the popes during their exile from Rome, and was papal property until the French Revolution.

Ávila, Teresa of see Teresa of Ávila, St.

avionics /evnks/ plural n. [usually treated as sing.] electronics as applied to aviation.

- [usually treated as plural] electronic equipment fitted in an aircraft.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: blend of AVIATION and ELECTRONICS.

avirulent /evrjl(ə)nt a-/ adj. (of a micro-organism) not virulent.

avitaminosis /evtəmnəss -vt-/ n. (pl. avitaminoses /-siz/) MEDICINE a condition resulting from a deficiency of a particular vitamin.

avizandum /avzandəm/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] time taken for further consideration of a judgement.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin, literally ‘consideration’, gerund of avizare ‘consider, advise’, from ad- ‘to’ + visere, frequentative of videre ‘to see’.

avo /αvə/ n. (pl. avos) a monetary unit of Macao, equal to one hundredth of a pataca.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese.

avocado /avəkαdə/ n. (pl. avocados) 1 (BRITISH also avocado pear) a pear-shaped fruit with a rough leathery skin and smooth, oily edible flesh. Also called ALLIGATOR PEAR.

- [mass noun] a light green colour like that of the flesh of avocados.

2 the tropical evergreen tree which bears the avocado fruit, native to Central America and widely cultivated elsewhere.

<INFO> Persea americana, family Lauraceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Spanish, alteration (influenced by avocado ‘advocate’) of aguacate, from Nahuatl ahuacatl.

avocation /avəke(ə)n/ n. FORMAL a hobby or minor occupation.

<DERIVATIVES> avocational adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin avocatio(n-), from avocare ‘call away’, from ab- ‘from’ + vocare ‘to call’.

avocet /avəsεt/ n. a long-legged wading bird with a slender upturned bill and strikingly patterned plumage.

<INFO> Genus Recurvirostra, family Recurvirostridae: four species, in particular R. avosetta of Eurasia, which has black-and-white plumage.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French avocette, from Italian avosetta.

Avogadro /avəαdrə/ Amedeo (1776–1856), Italian chemist and physicist. His law, formulated in 1811, was used to derive both molecular weights and a system of atomic weights.

Avogadro's constant (also Avogadro's number) n. [CHEMISTRY] the number of atoms or molecules in one mole of a substance, equal to 6.023 × 10^23.

Avogadro's law (also Avogadro's hypothesis) n. [CHEMISTRY] a law stating that equal volumes of gases at the same temperature and pressure contain equal numbers of molecules.

avoid v. [with obj.] 1 keep away from or stop oneself from doing (something): avoid excessive exposure to the sun | Gerard avoided meeting his eye.

- contrive not to meet (someone): boys queued up to take Gloria out, but avoided Deirdre.

- prevent from happening: book early to avoid disappointment.

2 [LAW] repudiate, nullify, or render void (a decree or contract).

<DERIVATIVES> avoidance n. avoider n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French evuider ‘clear out, get rid of’, from vuide ‘empty’ (see VOID).

avoidable adj. able to be avoided or prevented: the accident was entirely avoidable | avoidable costs.

<DERIVATIVES> avoidably adv.

avoidance relationship n. a familial relationship that is forbidden according to rules operating in some traditional societies. In Australian Aboriginal society, for example, mothers-in-law and sons-in-law may not meet face to face or speak directly with one another.

avoirdupois /avwαdjpwα avədəpz/ n. a system of weights based on a pound of 16 ounces or 7,000 grains, widely used in English-speaking countries: [as modifier] avoirdupois weights | [postpositive] a pound avoirdupois. Compare with TROY.

- HUMOROUS weight; heaviness: she was putting on the avoirdupois like nobody's business.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting merchandise sold by weight): from Old French aveir de peis ‘goods of weight’, from aveir ‘to have’ (infinitive used as a noun, from Latin habere) + peis ‘weight’ (see poise^1).

Avon 1 a river of central England which rises near the Leicestershire–Northamptonshire border and flows 154 km (96 miles) south-west through Stratford to the River Severn.

2 a river of SW England which rises near the Gloucestershire–Wiltshire border and flows 121 km (75 miles) through Bath and Bristol to the River Severn.

3 a former county of SW England, formed in 1974 from parts of north Somerset and Gloucestershire and replaced in 1996 by unitary councils of North Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and NE Somerset.

avouch v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC affirm or assert.

<DERIVATIVES> avouchment n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French avochier, from Latin advocare ‘summon in defence’, from ad- ‘to’ + vocare ‘to call’.

avow v. [reporting v.] assert or confess openly: [with clause] he avowed that he had voted Labour in every election | [with obj.] he avowed his change of faith.

<DERIVATIVES> avowal n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘acknowledge, approve’ and ‘vouch for’): from Old French avouer ‘acknowledge’, from Latin advocare ‘summon in defence’ (see AVOUCH).

avowed adj. [attr.] that has been asserted, admitted, or stated publicly: an avowed atheist | they came to power with the avowed aim of promoting religious toleration.

<DERIVATIVES> avowedly adv.

avulsion /əvl(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] chiefly MEDICINE the action of pulling or tearing away.

- [LAW] the sudden separation of land from one property and its attachment to another, especially by flooding or a change in the course of a river. Compare with ALLUVION.

<DERIVATIVES> avulse v.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin avulsio(n-), from the verb avellere, from ab- ‘from’ + vallere ‘pluck’.

avuncular /əvkjlə/ adj. 1 kind and friendly towards a younger or less experienced person: he was avuncular, reassuring, and trustworthy.

2 [ANTHROPOLOGY] relating to the relationship between men and the children of their siblings.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin avunculus ‘maternal uncle’, diminutive of avus ‘grandfather’.

avunculate /əvkjlət/ n. (the avunculate) [ANTHROPOLOGY] the special relationship in some societies between a man and his sister's son.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin avunculus ‘maternal uncle’ + -ATE^2.

aw exclam. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN & SCOTTISH used to express mild protest, entreaty, commiseration, or disapproval: aw, come on, Andy.

<ORIGIN> natural exclamation: first recorded in American English in the mid 19th century.

AWACS /ewaks/ abbr. airborne warning and control system, an airborne radar system for detecting enemy aircraft and directing friendly forces.

await v. [with obj.] wait for (an event): we await the proposals with impatience | remand prisoners awaiting trial | (as adj., with submodifier awaited) an eagerly awaited debut.

- (of an event or circumstance) be in store for (someone): many dangers await them.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French awaitier, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + waitier ‘to wait’.

awake v. (past awoke ; past participle awoken) [no obj.] stop sleeping; wake from sleep: she awoke to find the streets covered in snow.

- [with obj.] cause (someone) to wake from sleep: my screams awoke my parents.

- regain consciousness: I awoke none the worse for the operation.

- (awake to) become aware of; come to a realization of: the authorities finally awoke to the extent of the problem.

- make or become active again: [with obj.] there were echoes and scents which awoke some memory in me.

■ adj. [predic.] not asleep: the noise might keep you awake at night.

- (awake to) aware of: too few are awake to the dangers.

<ORIGIN> Old English āwæcnan, āwacian, both used in the sense ‘come out of sleep’ (see a-2, wake^1).

awaken v. [with obj.] rouse from sleep; cause to stop sleeping: Anna was awakened by the telephone.

- [no obj.] stop sleeping: he sighed but did not awaken.

- rouse (a feeling): different images can awaken new emotions within us.

- (awaken someone to) make someone aware of (something) for the first time: the film helped to awaken many to the horrors of apartheid.

<ORIGIN> Old English onwæcnan, from on ‘on’ + WAKEN.

awakening n. 1 FORMAL an act of waking from sleep.

2 an act or moment of becoming suddenly aware of something: the war came as a rude awakening to the hardships of life.

- the beginning or rousing of something: her sexual awakening | the awakening of vigorous political debate.

■ adj. coming into existence or awareness: his awakening desire | an awakening conscience.

award v. [with two objs] give or order the giving of (something) as an official payment, compensation, or prize to (someone): he was awarded the Military Cross | a 3.5 per cent pay rise was awarded to staff.

- grant or assign (a contract or commission) to (a person or organization).

■ n. a prize or other mark of recognition given in honour of an achievement: the company's annual award for high-quality service.

- an amount of money given as an official payment, compensation, or grant: a 1.5 per cent pay award.

- [mass noun] the action of giving a payment, compensation, or prize: the award of an honorary doctorate | [count noun] an award of damages.

<DERIVATIVES> awardee n. awarder n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘issue a judicial decision’, also denoting the decision itself): from Anglo-Norman French awarder, variant of Old French esguarder ‘consider, ordain’, from es- (from Latin ex ‘thoroughly’) + guarder ‘watch (over)’, based on a word of Germanic origin related to WARD; compare with GUARD.

award-winning adj. having won a prize in recognition of quality: award-winning food.

aware adj. [predic.] having knowledge or perception of a situation or fact: most people are aware of the dangers of sunbathing | [with clause] he was aware that a problem existed.

- [with adv. or in combination] concerned and well informed about a particular situation or development: everyone needs to become more environmentally aware.

<ORIGIN> Old English gewær, of West Germanic origin; related to German gewahr, also to ware^3.

awareness n. [mass noun] knowledge or perception of a situation or fact: we need to raise public awareness of the issue. | there is a lack of awareness of the risks.

- concern about and well-informed interest in a particular situation or development: a growing environmental awareness. | his political awareness developed.

awash adj. [predic.] covered or flooded with water, especially seawater or rain: the boat rolled violently, her decks awash | FIGURATIVE the city was awash with journalists.

- level with the surface of water so that it just washes over: a rock awash outside the reef entrance.

away adv. 1 to or at a distance from a particular place or person: she landed badly, and crawled away | they walked away from the vicarage in silence | we'll only be away for four nights.

- at a specified distance: when he was ten or twelve feet away he stopped | we have had patients from as far away as Wales.

- at a specified future distance in time: the wedding is only weeks away.

- towards a lower level; downwards: in front of them the land fell away to the river.

- (with reference to sports fixtures) at the opponents' ground.

2 into an appropriate place for storage or safe keeping: he put away the pistol.

3 into non-existence: Marie felt her distress ebbing away.

4 constantly, persistently, or continuously: there was Morrissey crooning away.

■ adj. (of a sporting contest) played at the opponents' ground: tomorrow night's away game at Leicester.

■ n. an away match or win.

<PHRASES>

□ away with said as an exhortation to overcome or be rid of something: away with poverty!

- (away with you) SCOTTISH expressing scepticism.

<ORIGIN> Old English onweg, aweg ‘on one's way’ (see a-2, way).

awayday n. BRITISH a day's leave or a day trip.

- a day on which employees meet at a venue away from the workplace to plan strategy or to discuss a particular issue.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: first denoting a type of money-saving return rail ticket.

Awdry /dri/ Reverend W. (1911–97), English author; full name Wilbert Vere Awdry. He was the creator of the Thomas the Tank Engine series of children's books.

awe n. [mass noun] a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder: they gazed in awe at the small mountain of diamonds | the sight filled me with awe | his staff members are in awe of him.

- ARCHAIC capacity to inspire awe: is it any wonder that Christmas Eve has lost its awe?

■ v. [with obj.] inspire with awe: they were both awed by the vastness of the forest.

<ORIGIN> Old English ege ‘terror, dread, awe’, replaced in Middle English by forms related to Old Norse agi.

aweary adj. literary form of WEARY: I am well aweary of it now.

awed adj. filled with awe or wonder: he spoke in a hushed, awed whisper | I watched her in awed silence.

aweigh adj. [predic.] [NAUTICAL] (of an anchor) raised just clear of the seabed.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from A-2 ‘on’ + WEIGH^1.

awe-inspiring adj. arousing awe through being impressive or formidable: Michelangelo's awe-inspiring masterpiece.

<DERIVATIVES> awe-inspiringly adv.

awesome adj. extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring awe: the awesome power of the atomic bomb.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN extremely good; excellent: the band is truly awesome!

<DERIVATIVES> awesomely adv. awesomeness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘filled with awe’): from AWE + -SOME^1.

awestruck (also awestricken) adj. filled with or revealing awe: people were awestruck by the pictures sent back to earth.

awful adj. 1 very bad or unpleasant: the place smelled awful | I look awful in a swimsuit | an awful speech.

- extremely shocking; horrific: awful, bloody images.

- (of a person) very unwell or troubled: I felt awful for being so angry with him | you look awful—you should go and lie down.

2 [attr.] used to emphasize the extent of something, especially something unpleasant or negative: I've made an awful fool of myself.

3 ARCHAIC inspiring reverential wonder or fear.

■ adv. [as submodifier] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN awfully; very: we're an awful long way from the motorway.

<PHRASES>

□ an awful lot a very large amount; a great deal: we've had an awful lot of letters.

<DERIVATIVES> awfulness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English (see AWE, -ful).

awfully adv. 1 [as submodifier] INFORMAL very: I'm awfully sorry to bother you so late | an awfully nice man.

- very much: thanks awfully for the tea, Mr Oakley.

2 very badly or unpleasantly: we played awfully.

awhile adv. for a short time: stand here awhile.

<ORIGIN> Old English āne hwīle ‘(for) a while’.

awhirl adj. [predic.] in a whirl; whirling: her mind was awhirl with images.

awkward adj. 1 causing difficulty; hard to do or deal with: some awkward questions | the wheelbarrow can be awkward to manoeuvre.

- deliberately unreasonable or uncooperative: you're being damned awkward!

2 causing or feeling uneasy embarrassment or inconvenience: he had put her in a very awkward position | she felt awkward alone with him.

3 not smooth or graceful; ungainly: Luther's awkward movements impeded his progress.

- uncomfortable or abnormal: make sure the baby isn't sleeping in an awkward position.

<DERIVATIVES> awkwardly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘the wrong way round, upside down’): from dialect awk ‘backwards, perverse, clumsy’ (from Old Norse afugr ‘turned the wrong way’) + -WARD.

awkwardness n. [mass noun] the quality of being awkward: there was a moment of awkwardness | the awkwardness of youth.

awl /l/ n. a small pointed tool used for piercing holes, especially in leather.

<ORIGIN> Old English æl, of Germanic origin; related to German Ahle.

awn /n/ n. [BOTANY] a stiff bristle, especially one of those growing from the ear or flower of barley, rye, and many grasses.

<DERIVATIVES> awned adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Old Norse gn; related to Swedish agn, Danish avn.

awning n. a sheet of canvas or other material stretched on a frame and used to keep the sun or rain off a shop window, doorway, or ship's deck.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally in nautical use): of unknown origin.

awoke past of AWAKE.

awoken past participle of AWAKE.

AWOL /ewl/ adj. [usually predic.] [MILITARY] absent from where one should be but without intent to desert: the men have gone AWOL | HUMOROUS now the parrot has gone AWOL.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: acronym from absent without (official) leave.

awry /ər/ adv. & adj. away from the usual or expected course; amiss: [as adv.] many youthful romances go awry | [as predic. adjective] I got the impression that something was awry.

- out of the normal or correct position; askew: [as predic. adjective] he was hatless, his silver hair awry.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from A-2 ‘on’ + WRY.

AWS abbr. BRITISH automatic warning system, a system of providing train drivers with audible indications regarding signals and where necessary applying brakes automatically.

aw-shucks adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL self-deprecating and shy: he's filled with aw-shucks niceness.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from AW + shucks (see SHUCK).

ax (also aks) v. dialect and West Indian form of ASK: I'm axing plenty question. | I axed her once if she would want pipes and t'ings put into her body.

axe (US also ax) n. 1 a tool used for chopping wood, typically of iron with a steel edge and wooden handle.

- a measure intended to reduce costs drastically, especially one involving redundancies: thirty staff are facing the axe at the Royal Infirmary.

2 INFORMAL a musical instrument used in popular music or jazz, especially a guitar or (originally) a saxophone.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 end, cancel, or dismiss suddenly and ruthlessly: the company is axing 125 jobs | 2,500 staff were axed as part of a rationalization programme.

- reduce (costs or services) drastically: the Chancellor warned the cabinet to axe public spending.

2 cut or strike with an axe, especially violently or destructively.

<PHRASES>

□ have an axe to grind have a private reason for doing or being involved in something.

<ORIGIN> Old English æx, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aaks and German Axt.

axe kick n. a type of kick used in tae kwon do and other martial arts, in which the opponent's head is struck with the heel of the foot.

axel /aks(ə)l/ n. a jump in skating from the forward outside edge of one skate to the backward outside edge of the other, with one (or more) and a half turns in the air.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Axel R. Paulsen (1885–1938), Norwegian skater.

axeman (US also axman) n. (pl. axemen) 1 a man who works, fights, or commits violent attacks with an axe: a mad axeman.

- INFORMAL a man who cuts costs drastically or ruthlessly.

2 INFORMAL a male rock or jazz guitarist.

axenic /ezεnk/ adj. chiefly [BOTANY] relating to or denoting a culture that is free from living organisms other than the species required.

<DERIVATIVES> axenically adv.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from a- ‘not’ + Greek xenikos ‘alien, strange’ + -IC.

axes plural form of axis^1.

axial /aksəl/ adj. relating to or forming an axis: the main axial road.

- around an axis: the axial rotation rate of the Earth.

<DERIVATIVES> axially adv.

axil /aksl/ n. [BOTANY] the upper angle between a leaf stalk or branch and the stem or trunk from which it is growing.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin axilla ‘armpit’ (see AXILLA).

axilla /akslə/ n. (pl. axillae /-li/) 1 [ANATOMY] an armpit, or the corresponding part in a bird or other animal.

2 [BOTANY] an axil.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, diminutive of ala ‘wing’.

axillary /aksləri/ adj. 1 [ANATOMY] relating to the armpit or a corresponding part: enlargement of the axillary lymph nodes.

2 [BOTANY] in or growing from an axil: axillary buds. Often contrasted with TERMINAL.

■ n. (also axillary feather) [ORNITHOLOGY] feathers growing from the axilla.

axiom /aksəm/ n. a statement or proposition which is regarded as being established, accepted, or self-evidently true: the axiom that sport builds character.

- chiefly [MATHEMATICS] a statement or proposition on which an abstractly defined structure is based.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French axiome or Latin axioma, from Greek axiōma ‘what is thought fitting’, from axios ‘worthy’.

axiomatic /aksəmatk/ adj. self-evident or unquestionable: it is axiomatic that dividends have to be financed.

- chiefly [MATHEMATICS] relating to or containing axioms.

<DERIVATIVES> axiomatically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek axiōmatikos, from axiōma ‘what is thought fitting’ (see AXIOM).

axiomatize /aksmətz/ (also axiomatise) v. [with obj.] express (a theory) as a set of axioms: the attempts that are made to axiomatize linguistics.

axion /aksn/ n. [PHYSICS] a hypothetical subatomic particle postulated to account for the rarity of processes which break charge–parity symmetry.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from AXIAL + -ON.

axis^1 /akss/ n. (pl. axes /-siz/) 1 an imaginary line about which a body rotates: the Earth revolves on its axis once every 24 hours.

- [GEOMETRY] an imaginary straight line passing through the centre of a symmetrical solid, about which a plane figure can be conceived as rotating to generate the solid.

- an imaginary line which divides something into equal or roughly equal halves, especially in the direction of its greatest length.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a fixed reference line for the measurement of coordinates.

3 a straight central part in a structure to which other parts are connected.

- [BOTANY] the central column of an inflorescence or other growth.

- [ZOOLOGY] the skull and backbone of a vertebrate animal.

4 [ANATOMY] the second cervical vertebra, below the atlas at the top of the backbone.

5 an agreement or alliance between two or more countries that forms a centre for an eventual larger grouping of nations: the Anglo-American axis.

- (the Axis) the alliance of Germany and Italy formed before and during the Second World War, later extended to include Japan and other countries: [as modifier] the Axis Powers.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘axle, pivot’.

axis^2 /akss/ (also axis deer) n. (pl. same)

■ another term for CHITAL.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, the name of an Indian animal mentioned by Pliny.

axisymmetric /akssmεtrk/ adj. [GEOMETRY] symmetrical about an axis.

axle /aks(ə)l/ n. a rod or spindle (either fixed or rotating) passing through the centre of a wheel or group of wheels.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally axle-tree): from Old Norse xultré.

axle box n. (on a railway vehicle) a metal enclosure within which the end of an axle revolves.

Axminster /aksmnstə/ (also Axminster carpet) n. a kind of machine-woven patterned carpet with a cut pile.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after the town of Axminster in southern England, noted since the 18th century for the production of carpets.

axolemma /aksə()lεmə/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the plasma membrane of an axon.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek axōn ‘axis’ + lemma ‘husk’.

axolotl /aksəlt(ə)l/ n. a Mexican salamander which in natural conditions retains its aquatic newt-like larval form throughout life but is able to breed.

<INFO> Ambystoma mexicanum, family Ambystomatidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Nahuatl, from atl ‘water’ + xolotl ‘servant’.

axon /aksn/ n. the long thread-like part of a nerve cell along which impulses are conducted from the cell body to other cells. Compare with DENDRITE.

<DERIVATIVES> axonal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (denoting the body axis): from Greek axōn ‘axis’.

axoneme /aksə()nim/ n. [BIOLOGY] the central strand of a cilium or flagellum. It is composed of an array of microtubules, typically in nine pairs around two single central ones.

<DERIVATIVES> axonemal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek axōn ‘axis’ + nēma ‘thread’.

axonometric /aks(ə)nə()mεtrk/ adj. using or denoting an orthographic projection of an object, such as a building, on a plane inclined to each of the three principal axes of the object; three-dimensional but without perspective.

axoplasm /aksə()plaz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the cytoplasm of a nerve axon.

<DERIVATIVES> axoplasmic adj.

Ayacucho /əkutə/ a city in the Andes of south central Peru; pop. 111,100 (est. 2002).

ayah /ə/ n. a nursemaid or nanny employed by Europeans in India or another former British territory.

<ORIGIN> Anglo-Indian, from Portuguese aia ‘nurse’, feminine of aio ‘tutor’.

ayahuasca /əwaskə/ n. a tropical vine of the Amazon region, noted for its hallucinogenic properties.

<INFO> Genus Banisteriopsis, family Malpighiaceae: several species.

- [mass noun] a hallucinogenic drink prepared from the bark of ayahuasca.

<ORIGIN> from South American Spanish, from Quechua ayawáskha, from aya ‘corpse’ + waskha ‘rope’.

ayatollah /ətlə/ n. a high-ranking religious leader among Shiite Muslims, especially in Iran.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Persian, from Arabic 'āyatu-llāh, literally ‘token of God’.

Ayckbourn /ekbn/ Sir Alan (b.1939), English dramatist. He is known chiefly for comedies dealing with suburban and middle-class life, such as Relatively Speaking (1967) and Absurd Person Singular (1973).

aye^1 // (also ay) exclam. ARCHAIC or DIALECT said to express assent; yes: aye, you're right there.

- (aye aye) [NAUTICAL] a response accepting an order: aye aye, captain.

- (in voting) I assent: all in favour say aye.

■ n. an affirmative answer, especially in voting.

<PHRASES>

□ the ayes have it the affirmative votes are in the majority.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from I, first person personal pronoun, expressing assent.

aye^2 /e / adv. ARCHAIC or SCOTTISH always or still: I've aye fancied seeing Edinburgh.

<PHRASES>

□ for aye forever.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse ei, ey; related to Latin aevum ‘age’ and Greek aie(i) ‘ever’, aiōn ‘aeon’.

aye-aye // n. a rare nocturnal Madagascan primate related to the lemurs. It has rodent-like incisor teeth and an elongated twig-like finger on each hand with which it prises insects from bark.

<INFO> Daubentonia madagascariensis, the only member of the family Daubentoniidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Malagasy aiay.

Ayer /ε/ Sir A. J. (1910–89), English philosopher; full name Alfred Jules Ayer. Involved with the Vienna Circle in the 1930s, he was an important proponent of logical positivism. Notable work: Language, Truth, and Logic (1936).

Ayers Rock /εz/ a red rock mass in Northern Territory, Australia, south-west of Alice Springs. The largest monolith in the world, it is 348 m (1,143 ft) high and about 9 km (6 miles) in circumference. Official name ULURU.

<ORIGIN> named after Sir Henry Ayers, Premier of South Australia in 1872–3.

Ayesha /α(j)iə/ the youngest wife of Muhammad.

Áyios Nikólaos /ajis niklas/ Greek name for AGHIOS NIKOLAOS.

Aylesbury^1 /elzb(ə)ri/ a town in south central England, the county town of Buckinghamshire; pop. 61,000 (est. 2002).

Aylesbury^2 /elzb(ə)ri/ n. (pl. Aylesburys) a domestic duck of a breed with white plumage.

Aymara /mərα/ n. (pl. same or Aymaras) 1 a member of an American Indian people inhabiting the high plateau region of Bolivia and Peru near Lake Titicaca.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Aymara, with over 2 million speakers. It may be related to Quechua.

■ adj. relating to the Aymara or their language.

<ORIGIN> Bolivian Spanish.

Ayr /ε/ a port in SW Scotland, on the Firth of Clyde, the administrative centre of South Ayrshire council area; pop. 48,400 (est. 2002).

Ayrshire^1 /εə -ə/ a former county of SW Scotland, on the Firth of Clyde, now divided into the council areas of North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, and South Ayrshire.

Ayrshire^2 /εə/ n. an animal of a mainly white breed of dairy cattle.

Ayub Khan /jb kαn/ Muhammad (1907–74), Pakistani soldier and statesman, President 1958–69.

Ayurveda /αjəvedə -vidə/ n. [mass noun] the traditional Hindu system of medicine (incorporated in Atharva Veda, the last of the four Vedas), which is based on the idea of balance in bodily systems and uses diet, herbal treatment, and yogic breathing.

<DERIVATIVES> Ayurvedic adj.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit āyus ‘life’ + veda ‘(sacred) knowledge’.

AZ abbr. Arizona (in official postal use).

Azad Kashmir /αzad kamə/ an autonomous state in NE Pakistan, formerly part of Kashmir; administrative centre, Muzzafarabad. It was established in 1949 after Kashmir was split as a result of the partition of India.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu, literally ‘Free Kashmir’.

azalea /əzelə/ n. a deciduous flowering shrub with clusters of brightly coloured, sometimes fragrant flowers. Azaleas are typically smaller than other rhododendrons and there are numerous cultivars.

<INFO> Genus Rhododendron, family Ericaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek, feminine of azaleos ‘dry’, because the shrub flourishes in dry soil.

azan /əzαn/ (also adhan) n. the Muslim call to ritual prayer made by a muezzin from the minaret of a mosque (or now often played from a recording).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Arabic 'aān ‘announcement’.

Azania /əzenə/ an alternative name for South Africa, proposed in the time of apartheid by some supporters of majority rule for the country.

<DERIVATIVES> Azanian n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> Greek (taken from classical geography), probably based on Arabic Zanj, denoting a black African.

azarole /azərəl/ n. 1 an edible Mediterranean fruit which resembles a tiny apple and is used for making preserves.

2 the small hawthorn-like tree bearing azaroles.

<INFO> Crataegus azarolus, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French azerole, from Spanish azarolla.

azeotrope /ezətrəp əziə-/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a mixture of two liquids which has a constant boiling point and composition throughout distillation.

<DERIVATIVES> azeotropic /-trəpk -trpk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from A-1 ‘without’ + Greek zein ‘to boil’ + tropos ‘turning’.

Azerbaijan /azəbdαn/ a country in the Caucasus of SW Asia, on the western shore of the Caspian Sea; pop. 7,798,497 (est. 2002); languages, Azerbaijani (official), Russian; capital, Baku.

Historically, the name Azerbaijan referred to a larger region which formed part of Persia. The northern part of this was ceded to Russia in the early 19th century, the southern part remaining a region of NW Iran. Russian Azerbaijan was absorbed into the Soviet Union in 1922, gaining independence on the break-up of the USSR in 1991.

Azerbaijani adj. relating to Azerbaijan or its people or their language.

■ n. (pl. Azerbaijanis) 1 a native or national of Azerbaijan, or a person of Azerbaijani descent.

2 [mass noun] the Turkic language spoken by over 14 million people in Azerbaijan and adjacent regions.

Azeri /əzεri/ n. (pl. Azeris) 1 a member of a Turkic people forming the majority population of Azerbaijan, and also living in Armenia and northern Iran.

2 [mass noun] the Azerbaijani language.

■ adj. relating to the Azeris or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Turkish azerî.

azide /ezd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound containing the anion N_3− or the group –N_3.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from AZO- + -IDE.

azidothymidine /ezdəθmdin ezdə-/ n. former name for the drug ZIDOVUDINE.

Azikiwe /αzkiwe/ (Benjamin) Nnamdi (1904–96), Nigerian statesman, the first Governor General of an independent Nigeria 1960–3 and its first President 1963–6.

Azilian /əzlən/ adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting an early Mesolithic culture in Europe, succeeding the Magdalenian and dated to about 11,500–9,500 years ago. It is characterized by flat bone harpoons, painted pebbles, and microliths.

- (as n. the Azilian) the Azilian culture or period.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Mas d'Azil in the French Pyrenees, where objects from this culture were found.

azimuth /azməθ/ n. the direction of a celestial object from the observer, expressed as the angular distance from the north or south point of the horizon to the point at which a vertical circle passing through the object intersects the horizon.

- the horizontal angle or direction of a compass bearing.

<DERIVATIVES> azimuthal /-mjuθ(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the arc of a celestial circle from the zenith to the horizon): from Old French azimut, from Arabic as-samt, from al ‘the’ + samt ‘way, direction’.

azimuthal projection /azmjuθ(ə)l/ n. a map projection in which a region of the earth is projected on to a plane tangential to the surface, usually at a pole or the equator.

azine /ezin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a cyclic organic compound having a ring including one or (usually) more nitrogen atoms.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AZO- + -INE^4.

azo- /ezə/ prefix [CHEMISTRY] containing two adjacent nitrogen atoms between carbon atoms: azobenzene.

<ORIGIN> from obsolete azote ‘nitrogen’, from French, from Greek a- ‘without’ + zōē ‘life’.

azobenzene /ezəbεnzin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a synthetic crystalline organic compound used chiefly in dye manufacture.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (C_6H_5)N=N(C_6H_5).

azo dye n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a large class of synthetic dyes whose molecules contain two adjacent nitrogen atoms between carbon atoms.

azoic /ezək/ adj. having no trace of life or organic remains.

- (the Azoic) [GEOLOGY] another term for ARCHAEAN.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek azōos ‘without life’ + -IC.

azonal /ezən(ə)l/ adj. (especially of soils) having no zonal organization or structure.

azoospermia /ezəəspəmə əzə-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE absence of motile (and hence viable) sperm in the semen.

<DERIVATIVES> azoospermic adj.

Azores /əzz/ a group of volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean, west of Portugal, in Portuguese possession but partially autonomous; pop. 246,030 (est. 1999); capital, Ponta Delgada.

azoturia /azə()tjərə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal excess of nitrogen compounds in the urine.

- [VETERINARY] a condition that can affect horses exercised after a period of stabling, causing painful stiffness in the hindquarters and back, and dark urine containing products of muscle cell destruction. Also called TYING-UP.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from obsolete azote ‘nitrogen’ + -URIA.

Azov, Sea of /azf/ an inland sea of southern Russia and Ukraine, separated from the Black Sea by the Crimea and linked to it by a narrow strait.

Azrael /azrel/ (in Jewish and Islamic Mythology) the angel who severs the soul from the body at death.

AZT abbr. TRADEMARK azidothymidine.

Aztec /aztεk/ n. 1 a member of the American Indian people dominant in Mexico before the Spanish conquest of the 16th century.

2 [mass noun] the extinct language of the Aztecs, a Uto-Aztecan language from which modern Nahuatl is descended.

■ adj. relating to or denoting the Aztecs or their language.

<ORIGIN> from French Aztèque or Spanish Azteca, from Nahuatl aztecatl ‘person of Aztlan’, their legendary place of origin.

azulejo /azjlehə/ n. (pl. azulejos) a kind of glazed coloured tile traditionally used in Spanish and Portuguese buildings.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish, from azul ‘blue’.

azure /aə -j()ə e-/ adj. bright blue in colour like a cloudless sky.

- [HERALDRY] blue: [postpositive] a saltire azure.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] a bright blue colour.

- LITERARY the clear sky.

2 a small butterfly which is typically blue or purplish.

<INFO> Celastrina and other genera, family Lycaenidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a blue dye): from Old French asur, azur, from medieval Latin azzurum, azolum, from Arabic al ‘the’ + lāzaward (from Persian lāžward ‘lapis lazuli’).

azurite /art -j()ə- e-/ n. [mass noun] a blue mineral consisting of basic copper carbonate. It occurs as blue prisms or crystal masses, typically with malachite.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from AZURE + -ITE^1.

azygos vein /azəs/ n. [ANATOMY] a large vein on the right side at the back of the thorax, draining into the superior vena cava.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: azygos from Greek azugos, from a- ‘without’ + zugon ‘yoke’, the vein not being one of a pair.

azygous /azəs/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] (of an organic structure) single; not existing in pairs.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek azugos ‘unyoked’ (compare with AZYGOS VEIN) + -OUS.

Az Zarqa /az/ variant form of ZARQA.

B^1 (also b) n. (pl. Bs or B's) 1 the second letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the second in a set of items, categories, sizes, etc.

- the second highest class of academic mark.

- (in the UK) denoting a secondary road: the B4248 | B-roads.

- denoting the second-highest-earning socio-economic category for marketing purposes, including intermediate management and professional personnel.

- (b) [CHESS] denoting the second file from the left, as viewed from White's side of the board.

- (usually b) the second fixed constant to appear in an algebraic equation.

- [GEOLOGY] denoting a soil horizon of intermediate depth, typically the subsoil.

- the human blood type (in the ABO system) containing the B antigen and lacking the A.

- (with numeral) denoting a series of international standard paper sizes each twice the area of the next, as B0, B1, B2, B3, B4, etc., B4 being 250 × 353 mm.

2 (usually B) [MUSIC] the seventh note of the diatonic scale of C major.

- a key based on a scale with B as its keynote.

<PHRASES>

□ plan B an alternative strategy.

B^2 abbr.

- Belgium (international vehicle registration).

- bishop (used in recording moves in chess): Be5.

- black (used in describing grades of pencil lead): 2B pencils.

- bomber (in designations of US aircraft types): a B-52.

■ symbol the chemical element boron.

- [PHYSICS] magnetic flux density.

b abbr.

- [PHYSICS] barn(s).

- (b.) born (used to indicate a date of birth): George Lloyd (b.1913).

- [CRICKET] (on scorecards) bowled by: AC Hudson b Prasad 146.

- [CRICKET] (on scorecards) bye(s).

BA abbr.

- Bachelor of Arts: David Brown, BA.

- British Airways.

- British Association (for the Advancement of Science).

- Buenos Aires.

Ba symbol the chemical element barium.

ba /bα/ n. in ancient Egypt, the supposed soul of a person or god, which survived after death but had to be sustained with offerings of food. It was typically represented as a human-headed bird. See also KA.

baa v. (baas, baaing, baaed) [no obj.] (of a sheep or lamb) bleat.

■ n. the cry of a sheep or lamb.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: imitative.

Baade /bαdə/ (Wilhelm Heinrich) Walter (1893–1960), German-born American astronomer. He proved that the Andromeda galaxy was much further away than had been thought, which implied that the universe was much older and more extensive than had been supposed.

Baader–Meinhof Group /bαdəmnhf/ another name for RED ARMY FACTION.

Baal /bαl/ (also Bel) a male fertility god whose cult was widespread in ancient Phoenician and Canaanite lands.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ba‘al ‘lord’.

Baalbek /bαlbεk/ a town in eastern Lebanon, site of the ancient city of Heliopolis.

baap /bαp/ n. INDIAN a father.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bāp.

baas /bαs/ n. S. African, often OFFENSIVE a supervisor or employer, especially a white man in charge of coloured or black people.

<ORIGIN> Dutch, ‘master’; compare with boss^1.

baasie /bαsi/ n. S. African, often OFFENSIVE a form of address to a young white male.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans (from earlier Dutch baasje), literally ‘little master’.

Baath Party /bαθ/ (also Ba'ath Party) a pan-Arab socialist party founded in Syria in 1943. Different factions of the Baath Party hold power in Syria and Iraq.

<DERIVATIVES> Baathism n. Baathist adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> Baath, from Arabic ba‘ ‘resurrection, renaissance’.

baba^1 /bαbα/ (also rum baba) n. a small, rich sponge cake, typically soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.

<ORIGIN> via French from Polish, literally ‘married peasant woman’.

baba^2 /bαbα/ n. INDIAN INFORMAL 1 father (often as a proper name or as a familiar form of address).

- a respectful form of address for an older man.

- (often Baba) a holy man.

2 a child, especially a male one.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bābā.

baba ganoush /bαbə anu/ (also baba ghanouj /anu/) n. [mass noun] a thick sauce or spread made from puréed aubergines and sesame seeds, typical of eastern Mediterranean cuisine.

<ORIGIN> from Egyptian Arabic, from Arabic bābā, literally ‘father’ + ghannūj, perhaps a personal name.

babalaas /babəlas -lαs/ S. African n. [mass noun] the after-effects of drinking an excess of alcohol.

■ adj. hung-over.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from Zulu ibhabhalazi.

babassu /babəsu/ (also babaçu) n. a Brazilian palm that yields an edible oil which is sometimes used in cosmetics.

<INFO> Genus Orbignya, family Palmae.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Brazilian Portuguese babaçu, from Tupi ybá ‘fruit’ + guasu ‘large’.

Babbage /babd/ Charles (1791–1871), English mathematician, inventor, and pioneer of machine computing. He designed a mechanical computer with Ada Lovelace but was unable to complete it in his lifetime.

Babbitt^1 /babt/ Milton (Byron) (b.1916), American composer and mathematician. His compositions developed from the twelve-note system of Schoenberg and Webern.

Babbitt^2 /babt/ n. DATED, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a materialistic, complacent, and conformist businessman.

<DERIVATIVES> Babbittry n.

<ORIGIN> from the name George Babbitt, the protagonist of the novel Babbitt (1922) by Sinclair Lewis.

babbitt metal /babt/ n. [mass noun] a soft alloy of tin, antimony, copper, and usually lead, used to line bearings.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Isaac Babbitt (1799–1862), the American inventor of the lining.

babble v. [no obj.] 1 talk rapidly and continuously in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way: they babbled on about their holiday.

- [reporting v.] utter something rapidly and incoherently: [with direct speech] ‘Thank goodness you're all right,’ she babbled.

- reveal something secret or confidential by talking carelessly: he babbled to another convict while he was in jail.

2 (usually as adj. babbling) (of a stream) make the continuous murmuring sound of water flowing over stones: a gently babbling brook.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] the confused sound of a group of people talking simultaneously: a babble of protest.

- foolish, excited, or confused talk: her soft voice stopped his babble.

- [mass noun] background disturbance caused by interference from conversations on other telephone lines.

2 the continuous murmuring sound of water flowing over stones in a stream: the babble of a brook.

<DERIVATIVES> babblement n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German babbelen, or an independent English formation, as a frequentative based on the repeated syllable ba, typical of a child's early speech.

-babble combining form [mass noun] INFORMAL forming nouns denoting confusing or pretentious jargon, especially that characteristic of a particular field or group: psychobabble | technobabble.

babbler n. 1 a thrush-like Old World songbird with a long tail, short rounded wings, and a loud, discordant or musical voice.

<INFO> Family Timaliidae (the babbler family): numerous genera.

2 a person who babbles.

babby n. (pl. babbies)

■ dialect form of BABY.

babe n. 1 LITERARY a baby.

2 INFORMAL an affectionate form of address for a lover.

3 INFORMAL a sexually attractive young woman.

<PHRASES>

□ babe in arms a baby that is too young to walk.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably imitative of an infant's first attempts at speech. Compare with BABY.

babel /beb(ə)l/ n. [in sing.] a confused noise made by a number of voices: the babel of voices on the road.

- a confused situation.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Babel (see TOWER OF BABEL), where, according to the biblical story, God made the builders all speak different languages.

Babel, Tower of see TOWER OF BABEL.

babelicious /bebləs/ adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (of a woman) very sexually attractive.

<ORIGIN> 1992: coined in the film Wayne's World.

babesiosis /bəbizəss/ (also babesiasis /bαbzəss/) n. [mass noun] a disease of cattle and other livestock, transmitted by the bite of ticks. It affects the red blood cells and causes the passing of red or blackish urine. Also called PIROPLASMOSIS, REDWATER, or MURRAIN.

<INFO> The disease is caused by protozoans of the genus Babesia, phylum Sporozoa.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from modern Latin Babesia, from the name Victor Babès (1854–1926), Romanian bacteriologist.

Babi /bαbi/ n. an adherent of Babism.

babiche /bəbi/ n. [mass noun] raw hide, typically formed into strips, as used by North American Indians for making fastenings and animal snares.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Canadian French, from Micmac a:papi:č.

babirusa /bαbrusə/ n. a forest-dwelling wild pig with several upturned horn-like tusks, native to Malaysia.

<INFO> Babyrousa babyrussa, family Suidae.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Malay, from babi ‘hog’ + rusa ‘deer’.

Babism /bαbz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a religion founded in 1844 by the Persian Mirza Ali Muhammad of Shiraz (1819–50) (popularly known as ‘the Bab’), who taught that a new prophet would follow Muhammad. See also BAHA'I.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via Persian from Arabic bāb ‘intermediary’, literally ‘gate’ (taken as a name by the founder) + -ISM.

baboon n. a large Old World ground-dwelling monkey with a long doglike snout and large teeth.

<INFO> Genera Papio and Mandrillus, family Cercopithecidae: several species, including the drill and mandrill.

- an ugly or uncouth person.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a grotesque figure used in architecture): from Old French babuin or medieval Latin babewynus, perhaps from Old French baboue ‘muzzle, grimace’.

baboon spider n. a large, hairy burrowing spider found in Africa.

<INFO> Ceratogyrus, Harpactira, and other genera, family Theraphosidae, suborder Mygalomorphae.

babouche /bəbu/ n. a heelless slipper, typically in oriental style.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from Arabic bābūj, Persian pāpūš, literally ‘foot covering’.

Babruisk /bəbrusk/ (also Babruysk) a river port in central Belarus, on the Byarezina River south-east of Minsk; pop. 227,700 (est. 2002). Russian name BOBRUISK or BOBRUYSK.

babu /bαbu/ n. (pl. babus) INDIAN a respectful title or form of address for a man, especially an educated one.

- an office worker.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bābū, literally ‘father’.

babul /bəbul/ n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a tropical acacia introduced from Africa, used as a source of fuel, gum arabic, and (formerly) tannin.

<INFO> Acacia nilotica, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Hindi babūl.

Babur /bαbə/ (1483–1530), first Mogul emperor of India 1526–30, descendant of Tamerlane; born Zahir ad-Din Muhammad. He invaded India c.1525 and conquered the territory from the Oxus to Patna.

babushka /bəbkə babkə/ n. (in Russia) an old woman or grandmother.

- NORTH AMERICAN a headscarf tied under the chin, typical of those traditionally worn by Russian women.

<ORIGIN> Russian, ‘grandmother’.

Babuyan Islands /bαbjαn/ a group of twenty-four volcanic islands lying to the north of the island of Luzon in the northern Philippines.

baby n. (pl. babies) 1 a very young child: his wife's just had a baby | [as modifier] a baby girl.

- a very young animal.

- the youngest member of a family or group.

- a timid or childish person: ‘Don't be such a baby!’ she said witheringly.

- (one's baby) INFORMAL one's particular responsibility or concern.

2 INFORMAL a lover or spouse (often as a form of address): my baby left me for another guy.

- a thing regarded with affection or familiarity: this baby can reach speeds of 120 mph.

■ adj. [attr.] comparatively small or immature of its kind: a baby version of the Oxford Movement.

- (of vegetables) picked before reaching their usual size: baby carrots.

■ v. (babies, babying, babied) [with obj.] treat (someone) as a baby; pamper or be overprotective towards.

<PHRASES>

□ throw the baby out with the bathwater discard something valuable along with other things that are undesirable.

<DERIVATIVES> babyhood n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably imitative of an infant's first attempts at speech.

baby blue n. 1 [mass noun] a pale shade of blue.

- (baby blues) INFORMAL blue eyes.

2 (baby blues) INFORMAL post-natal depression.

baby boom n. INFORMAL a temporary marked increase in the birth rate, especially the one following the Second World War.

<DERIVATIVES> baby boomer n.

baby bouncer n. BRITISH a harness suspended by elastic or a spring, into which a baby is put, with its feet within reach of the floor, to exercise its legs.

baby buggy n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a light pushchair with a soft seat that allows the chair to be collapsed inwards.

baby bust n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a temporary marked decrease in the birth rate.

<DERIVATIVES> baby buster n.

baby carriage n. NORTH AMERICAN a pram.

baby-doll adj. denoting a style of women's clothing resembling that traditionally worn by a doll or young child, especially short, high-waisted, short-sleeved dresses.

baby face n. a smooth round face like a baby's.

baby-faced adj. having a youthful or innocent face: baby-faced tough guys.

baby grand n. the smallest size of grand piano, about 1.5 metres long.

Babygro n. (pl. Babygros) BRITISH TRADEMARK an all-in-one stretch garment for babies.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally US): from BABY + GROW.

babyish adj. DEROGATORY typical of or suitable for a baby; childish: he pursed his mouth into a babyish pout.

<DERIVATIVES> babyishly adv. babyishness n.

Babylon^1 /babln/ an ancient city in Mesopotamia, the capital of Babylonia in the 2nd millennium BC. The city (of which only ruins now remain) lay on the Euphrates and was noted by classical writers for its luxury, its fortifications, and its legendary Hanging Gardens.

<ORIGIN> Greek Babulōn (from Hebrew bāel), also the name of the mystical city of the Apocalypse. Compare with BABEL.

Babylon^2 /babln/ n. [mass noun] BLACK ENGLISH (chiefly among Rastafarians) a contemptuous or dismissive term for aspects of white culture seen as degenerate or oppressive, especially the police.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: by association with Babylon^1.

Babylonia /bablənə/ an ancient region of Mesopotamia, formed when the kingdoms of Akkad in the north and Sumer in the south combined in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC.

Babylonian /bablənən/ n. 1 an inhabitant of Babylon or Babylonia.

2 [mass noun] the dialect of Akkadian spoken in ancient Babylon.

■ adj. relating to Babylon or Babylonia.

Babylonian Captivity the captivity of the Israelites in Babylon, lasting from their deportation by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC until their release by Cyrus the Great in 539 BC.

babymother (or babyfather) n. BLACK ENGLISH the mother (or father) of one or more of one's children.

baby oil n. [mass noun] a mineral oil used to soften the skin.

baby's breath n. a herbaceous plant of delicate appearance which bears tiny scented pink or white flowers.

<INFO> Gypsophila paniculata, family Caryophyllaceae.

babysit v. (babysits, babysitting; past and past participle babysat) [no obj.] look after a child or children while the parents are out: I babysit for my neighbour sometimes | [with obj.] she was babysitting Sophie.

<DERIVATIVES> babysitter n. babysitting n.

baby stay n. [NAUTICAL] an additional forestay sometimes used on offshore racing yachts.

baby talk n. [mass noun] childish talk used by or to young children.

baby tooth n. another term for MILK TOOTH.

baby walker n. BRITISH a wheeled frame in which a baby is suspended in a harness and can move itself about a room with its feet.

bacalao /bakəla/ n. [mass noun] codfish, typically dried or salted, as used in Spanish and Latin American cookery.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

Bacall /bəkl/ Lauren (b.1924), American actress. She co-starred with her husband, Humphrey Bogart, in a number of successful thrillers, including The Big Sleep (1946) and Key Largo (1948).

baccalaureate /bakəlrət/ n. 1 an examination intended to qualify successful candidates for higher education. See also INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE.

2 a university bachelor's degree.

3 US a religious service held at some educational institutions before commencement, including a farewell sermon to the graduating students.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 2): from French baccalauréat or medieval Latin baccalaureatus, from baccalaureus ‘bachelor’. The earlier form baccalarius was altered by wordplay to conform with bacca lauri ‘laurel berry’, because of the laurels awarded to scholars.

■ Sense 1 dates from 1970.

baccarat /bakərα/ n. [mass noun] a gambling card game in which players hold two- or three-card hands, the winning hand being that giving the highest remainder when its face value is divided by ten.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French baccara, of unknown origin.

Bacchae /baki/ the priestesses or female devotees of the Greek god Bacchus.

bacchanal /bakən(ə)l -nal/ chiefly LITERARY n. 1 a wild and drunken celebration.

2 a priest, worshipper, or follower of Bacchus.

■ adj. another term for BACCHANALIAN.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin bacchanalis, from the name of the god BACCHUS.

Bacchanalia /bakənelə/ plural n. [also treated as sing.] 1 the Roman festival of Bacchus.

2 (bacchanalia) drunken celebrations.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin bacchanalia, neuter plural of the adjective bacchanalis (see BACCHANAL).

bacchanalian /bakənelən/ adj. characterized by or given to drunken revelry: a bacchanalian orgy.

bacchant /bakənt/ n. (pl. bacchants or bacchantes /bəkantiz/; fem. bacchante /bəkant bəkanti/) a priest, priestess, or follower of Bacchus.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French bacchante, from Latin bacchari ‘celebrate the feast of Bacchus’.

Bacchus /bakəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] another name for DIONYSUS.

<DERIVATIVES> Bacchic adj.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek Bakkhos.

baccy n. British informal term for TOBACCO.

Bach /bαx/ Johann Sebastian (1685–1750), German composer.

An exceptional and prolific baroque composer, he produced works ranging from violin concertos, suites, and the six Brandenburg Concertos (1720–1) to clavier works and sacred cantatas. Large-scale choral works include The Passion according to St John (1723), The Passion according to St Matthew (1729), and the Mass in B minor (1733–8). He had twenty children: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–88) wrote church music, keyboard sonatas, and a celebrated treatise on clavier playing, and Johann Christian Bach (1735–82) became music master to the British royal family and composed thirteen operas.

bach^1 /bax/ n. WELSH used as a term of endearment, often after a personal name: Thomas bach, you are looking tired.

<ORIGIN> Welsh, literally ‘little’.

bach^2 /bat/ INFORMAL v. [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ (especially of a man) live alone and do one's own cooking and housekeeping: Baldy bached in a hut down the road a bit.

■ n. NZ a small holiday house.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (as a verb): abbreviation of BACHELOR.

Bacharach /bakərak/ Burt (b.1929), American writer of popular songs. His songs, many of which were written with lyricist Hal David (b.1921), include ‘Walk On By’ (1961), ‘Alfie’ (1966), and ‘Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head’ (1969).

bachata /batata/ n. [mass noun] a style of romantic music originating in the Dominican Republic.

- [count noun] a bachata song.

<ORIGIN> Caribbean Spanish, literally ‘a party, good time’.

bachcha /btə/ n. INDIAN INFORMAL a young person.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi baccā ‘child’.

bachelor n. 1 a man who is not and has never been married: one of the country's most eligible bachelors.

- [ZOOLOGY] a male bird or mammal prevented from breeding by a dominant male.

2 a person who holds a first degree from a university or other academic institution (only in titles or set expressions): a Bachelor of Arts.

3 CANADIAN a bachelor apartment.

4 HISTORICAL a young knight serving under another's banner. See also KNIGHT BACHELOR. [<ORIGIN> said to be from French bas chevalier, literally ‘low knight’ (i.e. knight of a low order).]

<DERIVATIVES> bachelorhood n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bacheler; of uncertain origin.

bachelor apartment n. NORTH AMERICAN an apartment consisting of a single large main room; a studio flat.

bachelorette n. North American 1 a young unmarried woman.

2 a very small bachelor apartment.

bachelor girl n. an independent, unmarried young woman.

bachelor party (or bachelorette party) n. NORTH AMERICAN a party given for a man (or woman) about to get married, typically attended by men (or women) only.

bachelor's buttons plural n. [treated as sing. or plural] any of a number of ornamental plants which bear small, button-like, double flowers, in particular:

<INFO>

- a white flower of the daisy family (Achillea ptarmica, family Compositae).

- a yellow buttercup (Ranunculus acris, family Ranunculaceae).

Bach flower remedies /bat/ (also Bach remedies) plural n. preparations of the flowers of various plants used in a system of complementary medicine intended to relieve ill health by influencing underlying emotional states.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Edward Bach (1886–1936), British physician.

bacilliform /bəslfm/ adj. chiefly [BIOLOGY] rod-shaped.

bacillus /bəsləs/ n. (pl. bacilli /-l -li/) a rod-shaped bacterium.

- a disease-causing bacterium.

<DERIVATIVES> bacillary adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from late Latin, diminutive of Latin baculus ‘stick’.

<USAGE> All bacteria belonging to the genus Bacillus are called bacilli. However, there are some bacteria, also called BACILLI, which do not belong to the genus Bacillus.

back n. 1 the rear surface of the human body from the shoulders to the hips: he lay on his back | [as modifier] back pain.

- the corresponding upper surface of an animal's body.

- the spine of a person or animal.

- the main structure of a ship's hull or an aircraft's fuselage.

- the part of a garment that covers a person's back.

- a person's back regarded as carrying a load or bearing an imposition: the Press are on my back.

2 the side or part of something that is away from the spectator or from the direction in which it moves or faces; the rear: at the back of the hotel is a secluded garden | a rubber dinghy with an engine at the back.

- the position directly behind someone or something: she unbuttoned her dress from the back.

- the side or part of an object that is not normally seen or used: write on the back of a postcard.

- the part of a chair against which the sitter's back rests.

3 a player in a team game who plays in a defensive position behind the forwards.

4 (the Backs) the grounds of Cambridge colleges which back on to the River Cam.

■ adv. 1 in the opposite direction from the one that one is facing or travelling towards: he moved back a pace | she walked away without looking back.

- expressing movement of the body into a reclining position: he leaned back in his chair | sit back and relax.

- at a distance away: keep back from the roadside.

- (back of) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL behind: he knew that other people were back of him.

- North American INFORMAL losing by a specified margin: the team was five points back.

2 so as to return to an earlier or normal position or condition: she put the book back on the shelf | he drove to Glasgow and back in a day | things were back to normal.

- at a place previously left or mentioned: the folks back home are counting on him.

- fashionable again: sideburns are back.

3 in or into the past: he made his fortune back in 1955.

4 in return: they wrote back to me.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] give financial, material, or moral support to: he had a newspaper empire backing him | his mother backed him up on everything.

- supplement in order to strengthen: firefighters, backed up by helicopters and planes, fought to bring the flames under control.

- bet money on (a person or animal) winning a race or contest: he backed the horse at 33–1.

2 [with obj.] cover the back of (an article) in order to support, protect, or decorate it: a mirror backed with tortoiseshell.

3 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] walk or drive backwards: she tried to back away | FIGURATIVE the government backed away from the plan | [with obj.] he backed the Mercedes into the yard.

- [no obj.] (of the wind) change direction anticlockwise around the points of the compass: the wind had backed to the north-west. The opposite of veer^1.

- [with obj.] [SAILING] put (a sail) aback in order to slow the vessel down or assist in turning through the wind.

4 [no obj.] (back on /on to) (of a building or other structure) have its back facing or adjacent to: his garage wall backs on to the neighbouring property.

- [with obj.] lie behind or at the back of: the promenade is backed by lots of cafes.

- put a piece of music on the less important side of (a recording): the new single is backed with a track from the LP.

5 (in popular music) provide musical accompaniment to (a singer or musician): on his new album he is backed by an American group.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 of or at the back of something: the back garden | the back pocket of his jeans.

- in a remote or subsidiary position: back roads.

2 from or relating to the past: she was owed back pay.

3 directed towards the rear or in a reversed course: a back header.

4 [PHONETICS] (of a sound) articulated at the back of the mouth.

<PHRASES>

□ at someone's back in pursuit or support of someone.

□ back and forth to and fro.

□ back in the day in the past; some time ago: back in the day, he'd had one of the greatest minds I'd ever come across.

□ one's back is turned one's attention is elsewhere: he kissed her quickly, when the landlady's back was turned.

□ the back of beyond a very remote or inaccessible place.

□ back o'Bourke AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL the outback. [<ORIGIN> from the name of a town in north-west New South Wales.]

□ the back of one's mind used to express that something is in one's mind but is not consciously thought of or remembered: she had a little nagging worry at the back of her mind.

□ back to front BRITISH with the back at the front and the front at the back: the exhausts had been fitted back to front.

□ back water reverse the action of a boat's oars to slow down or stop.

□ back the wrong horse make a wrong or inappropriate choice.

□ behind someone's back without a person's knowledge and in an unfair way: Carla made fun of him behind his back.

□ get (or put) someone's back up make someone annoyed or angry.

□ in back NORTH AMERICAN at the back of something, especially a building: my dad demolished a shed in back of his barn.

□ know something like the back of one's hand be entirely familiar with a place or route.

□ on one's back in bed recovering from an injury or illness.

□ put one's back into approach (a task) with vigour.

□ turn one's back on ignore (someone) by turning away from them.

- reject or abandon (a person or thing that one was previously involved with).

□ with one's back to (or up against) the wall in a desperate situation.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ back down withdraw a claim or assertion in the face of opposition: party leaders backed down and rescinded the resolution.

□ back off draw back from action or confrontation: they backed off from fundamental reform of the system.

- NORTH AMERICAN back down.

□ back out withdraw from a commitment: if he backs out of the deal they'll sue him.

□ back up 1 (of vehicles) form into a queue due to congestion.

2 (of running water) accumulate behind an obstruction.

□ back something up 1 [COMPUTING] make a spare copy of data or a disk.

2 cause vehicles to form into a queue due to congestion: the traffic was backed up a mile in each direction.

<DERIVATIVES> backmost adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English bæc, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Dutch and Old Norse bak. The adverb use dates from late Middle English and is a shortening of ABACK.

backache n. [mass noun] prolonged pain in one's back: a cure for backache.

back alley n. a narrow passage behind or between buildings.

- [as modifier] secret and illegal: a back-alley abortion.

back-arc adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the area behind an island arc.

backbar n. chiefly US a structure behind a bar counter, with shelves for holding bottles, other supplies, and equipment.

backbeat n. [MUSIC] a strong accent on one of the normally unaccented beats of the bar, used especially in jazz and popular music.

backbencher n. (in the UK) a Member of Parliament who does not hold office in the government or opposition and who sits behind the front benches in the House of Commons.

<DERIVATIVES> backbench adj.

backbiting n. [mass noun] malicious talk about someone who is not present.

<DERIVATIVES> backbite v. backbiter n.

backblocks plural n. (the backblocks) AUSTRALIAN/NZ land in the remote and sparsely inhabited interior: [as modifier] backblocks roads.

backboard n. a board placed at or forming the back of something, such as a piece of electronic equipment.

- a board used to support or straighten a person's back, especially after an accident.

- [BASKETBALL] an upright board behind the basket, off which the ball may rebound.

back boiler n. BRITISH a boiler supplying hot water or heating that is built in behind a fireplace or is an integral part of a gas fire.

backbone n. 1 the series of vertebrae extending from the skull to the pelvis; the spine.

- US the spine of a book.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] the main chain of a polymeric molecule.

2 the chief support of a system or organization: these firms are the backbone of our industrial sector.

- [mass noun] strength of character: he has enough backbone to see us through this difficulty.

3 [COMPUTING] & [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] a high-speed, high-capacity digital connection which forms the axis of a local or wide area network.

back-breaking adj. (of manual labour) physically demanding: a day's back-breaking work.

back-burner v. [with obj.] US postpone consideration of or action on: a planned test of the new ale has been back-burnered.

<PHRASES>

□ on the back burner see BURNER.

backcast n. a backward swing of a fishing line preparatory to casting.

■ v. (past and past participle backcast) [no obj.] make a backcast.

back catalogue n. all the works previously produced by a recording artist or record company: the owner of the Elvis Presley back catalogue.

backchannel n. 1 a secondary or covert route for the passage of information: we used him as a diplomatic backchannel.

2 [PSYCHOLOGY] a sound or gesture made to give continuity to a conversation by a person who is listening to another.

backchat n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL rude or cheeky remarks made in reply to someone in authority.

backcloth n. British another term for BACKDROP.

backcomb v. [with obj.] chiefly BRITISH comb (the hair) from the ends of the strands towards the scalp to make it look thicker.

backcountry n. (the backcountry) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN sparsely inhabited rural areas.

backcourt n. 1 (in tennis, basketball, and other games) the part of each side of the court nearest the back wall or back boundary line.

2 the defensive players in a basketball team.

3 (especially in Glasgow) a courtyard behind a house or tenement.

backcrawl n. another term for BACKSTROKE.

backcross [GENETICS] v. [with obj.] cross (a hybrid) with one of its parents or an organism with the same genetic characteristics as one of the parents.

■ n. an instance or result of backcrossing.

backdate v. [with obj.] BRITISH make (something, especially a pay increase) retrospectively valid: the 4 per cent increase was backdated to June.

- put an earlier date to (a document) than the actual one.

back door n. the rear door of a building.

- [as modifier] achieved by using indirect or dishonest means: a back-door tax increase.

<PHRASES>

□ by (or through) the back door using indirect or dishonest means to achieve an objective.

backdown n. an act of backing down.

backdraught (US backdraft) n. 1 a current of air or water that flows backwards down a chimney, pipe, etc.

2 a phenomenon in which a fire that has consumed all available oxygen suddenly explodes when more oxygen is made available, typically because a door or window has been opened.

<DERIVATIVES> backdraughting n.

backdrop n. a painted cloth hung at the back of a theatre stage as part of the scenery.

- the setting or background for a scene, event, or situation: the conference took place against a backdrop of increasing diplomatic activity.

■ v. (backdrops, backdropping, backdropped) [with obj.] lie behind or beyond; serve as a background to: the rolling hills that backdropped our camp.

back end n. the end of something which is furthest from the front or the working end: the back end of the car swung round.

- INFORMAL the rump or buttocks.

- the latter part of a period of time: the book takes us up to the back end of last year.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 relating to the end of a project, process, or investment: many annuities have back-end surrender charges.

2 [COMPUTING] denoting a subordinate processor or program, not directly accessed by the user, which performs a specialized function on behalf of a main processor or software system.

backer n. a person, institution, or country that supports someone or something, especially financially: a struggle to find a new financial backer.

- a person that bets on a horse.

back-fanged adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of a snake such as a boomslang) having the rear one or two pairs of teeth modified as fangs, with grooves to conduct the venom. Compare with FRONT-FANGED.

backfield n. [mass noun] [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] the area of play behind the line of scrimmage.

- the players (quarterback and running backs) positioned in this area.

backfill v. [with obj.] refill (an excavated hole) with the material dug out of it.

■ n. [mass noun] material used for backfilling.

backfire v. /bakfə/ [no obj.] 1 (of a vehicle or its engine) undergo a mistimed explosion in the cylinder or exhaust.

2 (of a plan or action) have an opposite and undesirable effect to what was intended: overzealous publicity backfired on her.

■ n. /bakfə/ 1 a mistimed explosion in the cylinder or exhaust of a vehicle or engine.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a fire started deliberately to stop the progress of an approaching fire by creating a burned area in its path.

backfist n. (in martial arts) a punch made with the back of the fist.

backflip n. a backward somersault done in the air with the arms and legs stretched out straight.

back focus n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] the distance between the back of a lens and the image of an object at infinity.

back-formation n. a word that is formed from an existing word which looks as though it is a derivative, typically by removal of a suffix (e.g. edit from editor).

- [mass noun] the process by which such words are formed.

backgammon n. [mass noun] a board game in which two players move their pieces around twenty-four triangular points according to the throw of dice, the winner being the first to remove all their pieces from the board.

- [count noun] the most complete form of win in this game.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from BACK + GAMMON^2.

background n. 1 the part of a picture, scene, or design that forms a setting for the main figures or objects, or appears furthest from the viewer: the house stands against a background of sheltering trees | the word is written in white on a red background.

- a less important or conspicuous position or function: after that evening, she remained in the background.

- [COMPUTING] used in reference to tasks or processes that do not need input from the user: programs can be left running in the background.

- [PHYSICS] low-intensity radiation from radioisotopes present in the natural environment.

- unwanted signals, such as noise in the reception or recording of sound.

2 the circumstances or situation prevailing at a particular time or underlying a particular event: the political and economic background | [as modifier] background information.

- a person's education, experience, and social circumstances: she has a background in nursing | her voice suggested a tenacious, working-class background.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 form a background to: windswept land backgrounded by the Rockies.

2 provide with background: the embassy backgrounded American reporters.

backgrounder n. NORTH AMERICAN an official briefing or handout giving background information.

background music n. [mass noun] music intended as an unobtrusive accompaniment to an activity or to provide atmosphere in a film.

background radiation n. [ASTRONOMY] the uniform microwave radiation remaining from the Big Bang.

backhand n. (in tennis and other racket sports) a stroke played with the back of the hand facing in the direction of the stroke, with the arm across the body: [as modifier] a backhand volley.

■ v. [with obj.] strike with a backhanded blow or stroke: in a flash, he backhanded Ace across the jaw.

backhanded adj. 1 made with the back of the hand facing in the direction of movement: a backhanded pass.

2 having a meaning that is expressed indirectly or ambiguously: coming from me, teasing is a backhanded compliment.

backhander n. 1 a blow made with the back of the hand: shut up, or I'll give you a backhander.

- a backhand stroke or shot in a game.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a secret and illegal payment; a bribe: a fortune had been paid in backhanders to local officials.

back-heel v. [with obj.] kick (something) backwards with the heel: Johnson back-heeled the ball.

backhoe (BRITISH also backhoe loader) n. a mechanical excavator which draws towards itself a bucket attached to a hinged boom.

backing n. [mass noun] 1 help or support: the foreign secretary won the backing of opposition parties.

- a layer of material that forms, protects, or strengthens the back of something.

- (especially in popular music) the musical or vocal accompaniment to the main singer or soloist: the trio provided backing | [as modifier] a backing group.

2 [PHONETICS] the movement of the place of formation of a sound towards the back of the mouth.

backing store n. [COMPUTING] a device for secondary storage of data that typically has greater capacity than the primary store but is slower to access.

backing track n. a recorded musical accompaniment, especially one for a soloist to play or sing along with.

back issue n. a past issue of a journal or magazine.

backland n. [mass noun] 1 (also backlands)

■ another term for BACKCOUNTRY.

2 land behind an area which is built on or otherwise developed.

backlash n. 1 [in sing.] a strong negative reaction by a large number of people, especially to a social or political development: a public backlash against racism.

2 [mass noun] recoil arising between parts of a mechanism.

- degree of play between parts of a mechanism.

backless adj. (of a woman's garment) cut low at the back: a backless lycra dress.

backlift n. (in sport) a backward movement of the bat or leg before playing a stroke or kicking the ball.

backlight n. [mass noun] illumination from behind.

■ v. (past backlit; past participle backlit or backlighted) [with obj.] illuminate from behind.

<DERIVATIVES> backlighting n.

backline n. 1 a line marking the back of something, especially the area of play in a game.

- [RUGBY] the players lined out across the field behind a scrum or line-out.

2 the amplifiers used by a popular music group for guitars and other instruments, typically placed across the back of the stage.

backlist n. a publisher's list of books published before the current season and still in print.

backload n. a load transported on the return journey of a delivery truck.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] transport a load on a return journey.

2 [with obj.] place more charges at the later stages of (a financial agreement) than at the earlier stages.

backlog n. an accumulation of uncompleted work or matters needing to be dealt with: the company took on extra staff to clear the backlog of work.

backlot n. an outdoor area in a film studio where large exterior sets are made and some outside scenes are filmed.

backmarker n. BRITISH a competitor who is among the last in a race.

back number n. BRITISH an issue of a periodical earlier than the current one.

- INFORMAL a person or thing seen as outdated or past their prime.

back office n. an office or centre in which the administrative work of a business is carried out, as opposed to its dealings with customers.

backpack n. a rucksack.

- a piece of equipment carried on a person's back.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. backpacking) travel or hike carrying one's belongings in a rucksack: a week's backpacking in the Pyrenees.

<DERIVATIVES> backpacker n.

back pass n. [SOCCER] a deliberate pass to one's own goalkeeper (who is not allowed to pick up the ball if the pass was kicked).

back passage n. British, EUPHEMISTIC the rectum.

back-pedal v. [no obj.] 1 reverse one's previous action or opinion: Boyd quickly back-pedalled when asked to explain her suggestion.

- move hastily backwards: Cook forced the goalkeeper to back-pedal and push a shot over the bar.

2 move the pedals of a bicycle backwards (formerly to brake).

backplane n. a board to which the main circuit boards of a computer may be connected, and which provides connections between them.

backplate n. a plate placed at or forming the back of something.

back-projection n. [mass noun] the projection of a picture on to the back of a translucent screen for viewing or for use as a background in filming.

- [count noun] an image projected in this way.

<DERIVATIVES> back-project v.

backrest n. a support for a person's back when they are seated.

back room n. a place where secret, administrative, or supporting work is done: this would lead to weak government, and deals in back rooms | [as modifier] the back-room staff.

back row n. [treated as sing. or plural] [RUGBY] the forwards who are in the third row in a scrum.

<DERIVATIVES> back-rower n.

backscatter n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] deflection of radiation or particles through an angle of 180°.

- radiation or particles that have been deflected in this way.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] light from a flashgun or other light source that is deflected directly into a lens.

■ v. [with obj.] [PHYSICS] deflect (radiation or particles) through an angle of 180°.

backscratcher n. an implement for scratching one's back.

backscratching n. [mass noun] the reciprocal provision of help or support, typically in an underhand or illicit manner.

back seat n. a seat at the back of a vehicle.

<PHRASES>

□ take a back seat take or be given a less important position or role: in future he would take a back seat in politics.

back-seat driver n. INFORMAL a passenger in a car who gives the driver unwanted advice.

<DERIVATIVES> back-seat driving n.

backshift n. [mass noun] [GRAMMAR] the changing of a present tense in direct speech to a past tense in reported speech (or a past tense to pluperfect).

backside n. 1 INFORMAL a person's buttocks.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the reverse or rear side of something: the backside of the hill.

■ adj. (of a manoeuvre in surfing and other board sports) done clockwise for a regular rider and anticlockwise for a goofy rider.

backsight n. 1 the sight of a rifle or other weapon that is nearer the eye of the person aiming.

2 [SURVEYING] a sight or reading taken backwards or towards the point of starting.

back slang n. [mass noun] slang in which words are spoken as though they were spelled backwards (e.g. redraw for warder).

backslapping n. [mass noun] the action of slapping a person's back in congratulation or encouragement.

- the action of congratulating someone in a hearty or effusive way: the awards are about industry politics and backslapping.

■ adj. vigorously hearty: those cheerful, backslapping journalists.

<DERIVATIVES> backslapper n.

backslash n. a backward-sloping diagonal line (\), used in computer commands.

backslide v. (past backslid; past participle backslid or ARCHAIC backslidden) [no obj.] relapse into bad ways or error: there are many things that can cause slimmers to backslide | (as n. backsliding) there would be no backsliding from the government's sound policies.

<DERIVATIVES> backslider n.

backspace n. 1 a key on a typewriter or computer keyboard used to cause the carriage or cursor to move backwards.

2 a device on a video recorder or camcorder which produces a slight backward run between shots to eliminate disturbance caused by the interruption of the scanning process.

■ v. [no obj.] move a typewriter carriage or computer cursor backwards.

backspin n. [mass noun] a backward spin given to a moving ball, causing it to stop more quickly or rebound at a steeper angle on hitting a surface.

backsplash n. North American term for SPLASHBACK.

back-stabbing n. [mass noun] the action of criticizing someone in a treacherous manner while feigning friendship: the media world of back-stabbing, scheming, and downright malice.

<DERIVATIVES> back-stabber n.

backstage adv. in or to the area behind the stage in a theatre, especially the wings or dressing rooms: I went backstage after the show | [as modifier] a backstage tour of the opera house.

- in secret: we planned our strategies backstage.

backstairs plural n. stairs at the back or side of a building.

- [as modifier] underhand; clandestine: I won't make backstairs deals with politicians.

backstamp n. a mark stamped on the back of a plate or a letter.

backstay n. a stay on a sailing ship leading downwards and aft from the top or upper part of a mast.

backstitch n. [mass noun] a method of sewing with overlapping stitches.

■ v. [with obj.] sew using backstitch.

backstop n. a thing placed at the rear of something as a barrier or support.

- [BASEBALL] a high fence or similar structure behind the home plate area.

- [BASEBALL] a catcher.

- an emergency precaution or last resort: the human operator has to act as the ultimate backstop when things go badly wrong.

■ v. [with obj.] [BASEBALL] act as backstop for.

- [ICE HOCKEY] act as goaltender for. the man who backstopped the Edmonton Oilers.

- support or reinforce: the founding banks were backstopping the loans.

backstory n. (pl. backstories) a history or background created for a fictional character in a film or television programme: a brief prologue detailing our hero's backstory.

back straight n. BRITISH the part of a racecourse that is furthest from the grandstand and parallel to the home straight.

backstreet n. a minor street away from the main roads.

- [as modifier] acting or occurring secretly and typically illegally: backstreet abortions.

backstretch n. North American another term for BACK STRAIGHT.

- the area adjacent to a racecourse where the horses are stabled and stable employees have temporary living accommodation.

backstroke n. 1 a swimming stroke performed on the back with the arms lifted alternately out of the water in a backward circular motion and the legs extended and kicking.

2 [BELL-RINGING] a pull of the tail end of the rope from its highest position so as to swing the bell through a full circle. Compare with HANDSTROKE.

<DERIVATIVES> backstroker n.

■ backstroke (sense 1)

backswept adj. swept, slanted, or sloped backwards: his backswept hair.

backswimmer n. another term for water boatman (sense 1).

backswing n. a backward swing, especially of an arm or of a golf club when about to hit a ball.

backsword n. a sword with only one cutting edge.

back talk n. North American term for BACKCHAT.

back-to-back adj. 1 BRITISH (of houses) built in a continuous terrace backing on to another terrace, with a party wall or a narrow alley between.

2 consecutive: his back-to-back victories in the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix.

■ n. BRITISH a house in a back-to-back terrace.

■ adv. (back to back) 1 (of two people) facing in opposite directions with their backs touching.

2 consecutively; in succession: the games were played back to back.

back-to-nature adj. [attr.] advocating or relating to reversion to a simpler way of life: a back-to-nature lifestyle.

backtrack v. 1 [no obj.] retrace one's steps: Marilyn backtracked and went down into the basement.

- reverse one's previous position or opinion: the unions have had to backtrack on their demands.

2 [with obj.] US pursue, trace, or monitor: he was able to backtrack the buck to a ridge nearby.

backup n. 1 [mass noun] help or support: no police backup could be expected.

- someone or something that can be called upon if necessary; a reserve: I've got a security force as backup | [as modifier] a backup generator.

2 [mass noun] [COMPUTING] the procedure for making copies of data in case the original is lost or damaged.

- [count noun] a copy made in such a way.

3 NORTH AMERICAN an accumulation of something caused by a blockage, as in traffic or water.

backup light n. North American term for REVERSING LIGHT.

backveld /bakfεlt/ n. (the backveld) S. AFRICAN remote country districts, especially when considered to be unsophisticated or conservative.

<DERIVATIVES> backvelder n.

<ORIGIN> partial translation of Afrikaans agterveld, literally ‘back countryside’.

backward adj. 1 directed behind or to the rear: she left the room without a backward glance.

- reverting to an inferior state; retrograde: the decision was a backward step.

2 having made less progress than is normal or expected: a backward agricultural country.

- (of a person) having learning difficulties.

3 [with negative] (backward in) lacking the confidence to do (something): he was not backward in displaying his talents.

4 [CRICKET] (of a fielding position) behind an imaginary line passing through the stumps at the batsman's end at right angles to the wicket.

■ adv. another word for BACKWARDS.

<DERIVATIVES> backwardly adv. backwardness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from earlier abackward, from ABACK.

<USAGE> In most adverbial uses backward and backwards are interchangeable: the car rolled slowly backward and the car rolled slowly backwards are both equally acceptable. In North American English backward tends to be preferred to backwards, while in British English it is the other way round. As an adjective, on the other hand, the standard form is backward rather than backwards: uses such as a backwards glance (as opposed to a backward glance) are unusual (though not incorrect).

backwardation n. [mass noun] [STOCK EXCHANGE], BRITISH a situation in which the spot or cash price of a commodity is higher than the forward price. Often contrasted with CONTANGO.

- a situation in which the offer price for stock is lower than the bid.

- HISTORICAL a percentage paid by a person selling stock for the right of delaying its delivery.

backward-looking adj. opposing progress and innovation; reactionary.

backwards (also backward) adv. 1 (of a movement) in the direction of one's back: Penny glanced backwards | he took a step backwards.

2 (of an object's motion) back towards the starting point: the tape rolled backwards.

3 in reverse of the usual direction or order: count backwards from twenty to ten.

- towards the past: the songs look backwards to long-ago battles.

- towards or into a worse state: a step backwards for the economy.

<PHRASES>

□ backwards and forwards in both directions alternately; to and fro.

□ bend (or fall or lean) over backwards INFORMAL make every effort to achieve something, especially to be fair or helpful: we have bent over backwards to ensure a fair trial for the defendants.

□ know something backwards be entirely familiar with something.

backwards-compatible (also backward-compatible) adj. (of computer hardware or software) able to be used with an older piece of hardware or software without special adaptation or modification.

<DERIVATIVES> backwards compatibility n.

backwash n. [mass noun] the motion of receding waves.

- a backward current created by an object moving through water or air.

- the unpleasant after-effects of an event: the backwash of the Cuban missile crisis.

■ v. [with obj.] clean (a filter) by reversing the flow of fluid through it.

backwater n. a part of a river not reached by the current, where the water is stagnant.

- an isolated or peaceful place.

- a place or situation in which no development or progress is taking place: the country remained an economic backwater.

backwind [SAILING] v. [with obj.] (of a sail or vessel) deflect a flow of air into the back of (another sail or vessel).

■ n. a flow of air deflected into the back of a sail.

backwoods plural n. [often as modifier] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN remote uncleared forest land: backwoods homesteads.

- a remote or sparsely inhabited region, especially one considered backward.

backwoodsman n. (pl. backwoodsmen) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an inhabitant of backwoods, especially one regarded as uncouth or backward.

- British INFORMAL a peer who very rarely attends the House of Lords.

backyard n. BRITISH a yard at the back of a house or other building.

- NORTH AMERICAN a back garden.

- INFORMAL the area close to where one lives, regarded with proprietorial concern: children must be made aware of environmental issues in their own backyard.

Bacolod /bαkəld/ a city on the NW coast of the island of Negros in the central Philippines; pop. 440,700 (est. 2002). It is the chief city of the island and a major port.

Bacon^1 Francis, Baron Verulam and Viscount St Albans (1561–1626), English statesman and philosopher. As a scientist he advocated the inductive method; his views were instrumental in the founding of the Royal Society in 1660. Notable works: The Advancement of Learning (1605) and Novum Organum (1620).

Bacon^2 Francis (1909–92), Irish painter. His work chiefly depicts human figures in grotesquely distorted postures, set in confined interior spaces.

Bacon^3 Roger (c.1214–94), English philosopher, scientist, and Franciscan friar. Most notable for his work in the field of optics, he emphasized the need for an empirical approach to scientific study.

bacon n. [mass noun] cured meat from the back or sides of a pig.

<PHRASES>

□ bring home the bacon INFORMAL 1 supply material support: I have to go to work because it brings home the bacon.

2 achieve success.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from a Germanic word meaning ‘ham, flitch’; related to BACK.

bacon-and-eggs n. Australian another term for EGGS AND BACON.

baconer n. a pig fit for being made into bacon and ham, typically heavier than both a porker and a cutter.

Baconian /bekənən/ adj. relating to Sir Francis Bacon or his inductive method of reasoning and philosophy.

- relating to or denoting the theory that Bacon wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare.

■ n. an adherent of Bacon's philosophical system.

- a supporter of the theory that Bacon wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare.

bacteraemia /baktərimə/ (US bacteremia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the presence of bacteria in the blood.

<DERIVATIVES> bacteraemic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BACTERIUM + -AEMIA.

bacteria plural form of BACTERIUM.

bactericide /baktərsd/ n. a substance which kills bacteria.

<DERIVATIVES> bactericidal adj.

bacterio- /baktərə/ combining form representing BACTERIUM.

bacteriocin /baktərə()sn/ n. [BIOLOGY] a protein produced by bacteria of one strain and active against those of a closely related strain.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from French bactériocine, from Greek baktērion ‘small cane’ + a shortened form of COLICIN.

bacteriological adj. relating to bacteriology or bacteria.

- relating to or denoting germ warfare.

<DERIVATIVES> bacteriologic adj. bacteriologically adv.

bacteriology n. [mass noun] the study of bacteria.

<DERIVATIVES> bacteriologist n.

bacteriolysis /baktərlss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the rupture of bacterial cells, especially by an antibody.

<DERIVATIVES> bacteriolytic adj.

bacteriophage /baktərə()fed -fα/ n. [BIOLOGY] a virus which parasitizes a bacterium by infecting it and reproducing inside it. Bacteriophages are much used in genetic research.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from BACTERIUM + Greek phagein ‘eat’.

bacteriostat /baktərə()stat/ n. a substance that prevents the multiplying of bacteria without destroying them.

<DERIVATIVES> bacteriostasis n. bacteriostatic adj. bacteriostatically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BACTERIUM + Greek statos ‘standing’.

bacterium /baktərəm/ n. (pl. bacteria /-rə/) a member of a large group of unicellular micro-organisms which have cell walls but lack organelles and an organized nucleus, including some which can cause disease.

Bacteria are widely distributed in soil, water, and air, and on or in the tissues of plants and animals. Formerly included in the plant kingdom, they are now classified separately (as prokaryotes). They play a vital role in global ecology, as the chemical changes they bring about include those of organic decay and nitrogen fixation. Much modern biochemical knowledge has been gained from the study of bacteria, as they grow easily and reproduce rapidly in laboratory cultures.

<DERIVATIVES> bacterial adj. bacterially adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek baktērion, diminutive of baktēria ‘staff, cane’ (because the first ones to be discovered were rod-shaped). Compare with BACILLUS.

<USAGE> Bacteria is the plural form (derived from Latin) of bacterium. Like any other plural it should be used with the plural form of the verb: the bacteria causing salmonella are killed by thorough cooking, not the bacteria causing salmonella is killed by thorough cooking. However, the unfamiliarity of the form means that bacteria is sometimes mistakenly treated as a singular form, as in the example above.

bacteriuria /baktərjərə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the presence of bacteria in the urine.

Bactria /baktrə/ an ancient country in central Asia, corresponding to the northern part of modern Afghanistan. It was the seat of a powerful Indo-Greek kingdom in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.

<DERIVATIVES> Bactrian adj. & n.

Bactrian camel n. the two-humped camel, which has been domesticated but is still found wild in central Asia.

<INFO> Camelus ferus (including the domesticated C. bactrianus), family Camelidae.

baculovirus /bakjlə()vrəs/ n. [BIOLOGY] a member of a family of DNA viruses infecting only invertebrate animals. Some have a very specific insect host, and may be used in biological pest control.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from Latin baculum ‘rod, stick’ + VIRUS.

baculum /bakjləm/ n. (pl. bacula /-lə/)

■ another term for OS PENIS.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: modern Latin.

bad adj. (worse, worst) 1 of poor quality or a low standard: a bad diet | bad eyesight.

- not able to do a particular thing well: I'm so bad at names | a bad listener.

- [attr.] not appropriate in a particular situation: morning was a bad time to ask Andy about anything.

2 not such as to be hoped for or desired; unpleasant or unwelcome: bad news | it was the worst day of his life | bad luck.

- (of something causing pain, danger, or other unwelcome consequences) severe or serious: bad headaches | a bad crash.

- (bad for) having a harmful effect on: soap was bad for his face.

3 lacking or failing to conform to moral virtue: the bad guys | bad behaviour.

- (of language) using words generally considered offensive.

4 (of a part of the body) injured, diseased, or painful: a bad back.

- [as complement] (of a person) unwell: I feel bad.

5 (of food) decayed; putrid: everything in the fridge went bad.

- (of the atmosphere) polluted; unhealthy: bad air.

6 [as complement] regretful, guilty, or ashamed about something: working mothers who feel bad about leaving their child.

7 worthless; not valid: he ran up 87 bad cheques.

8 (badder, baddest) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN good; excellent: they want the baddest, best-looking Corvette there is.

■ adv. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL badly: he beat her up real bad.

<PHRASES>

□ a bad penny always turns up see PENNY.

□ a bad WORKMAN always blames his tools see WORKMAN.

□ come to a bad END see END.

□ from bad to worse into an even worse state.

□ in a bad way ill or in trouble.

□ my bad NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used to acknowledge responsibility for a mistake: Sorry I lost your CD. It's my bad.

□ not (or not so) bad INFORMAL fairly good: she discovered he wasn't so bad after all.

□ to the bad 1 to ruin.

2 in deficit: he was £80 to the bad.

□ too bad INFORMAL used to indicate that something is regrettable but is now beyond retrieval: too bad, but that's the way it is.

<DERIVATIVES> baddish adj. badness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old English bddel ‘hermaphrodite, womanish man’.

bada bing /bαdə b/ (also bada bing bada boom) exclam. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used to emphasize that something will happen effortlessly and predictably: follow the appropriate twelve-step program and—bada bing—you're rolling in it.

<ORIGIN> probably imitating the sound of a drum roll; popularized by the US television series The Sopranos.

badam /bdαm/ n. Indian term for ALMOND.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi badām.

badass NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL adj. 1 tough or aggressive: a badass demeanour.

2 formidable; excellent: this was one badass camera.

■ n. an aggressive or uncooperative person.

bad blood n. [mass noun] ill feeling: there has always been bad blood between these families.

bad break n. INFORMAL a piece of bad luck.

bad breath n. [mass noun] unpleasant-smelling breath; halitosis.

bad debt n. a debt that cannot be recovered.

baddeleyite /bad(ə)lt/ n. [mass noun] a mineral consisting largely of zirconium dioxide, ranging from colourless to yellow, brown, or black.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Joseph Baddeley, English traveller, + -ITE^1.

badderlocks /badəlks/ (also dabberlocks) plural n. chiefly SCOTTISH an edible seaweed with a long greenish frond and prominent midrib, occurring in northern Europe.

<INFO> Alaria esculenta, class Phaeophyceae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps from Balderlocks, based on the name of the god BALDER.

baddy (also baddie) n. (pl. baddies) INFORMAL a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.

bade /bed bad/ past of bid^2.

Baden /bαd(ə)n/ a spa town in Austria, south of Vienna; pop. 24,500 (2001). It was a royal summer retreat and fashionable resort in the 19th century.

Baden-Baden /bαd(ə)nbαd(ə)n/ a spa town in the Black Forest; pop. 52,400 (est. 2002). It was a fashionable resort in the 19th century.

Baden-Powell /bed(ə)npəəl/ Robert (Stephenson Smyth), 1st Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell (1857–1941), English soldier and founder of the Boy Scout movement. He became a national hero after his successful defence of Mafeking (1899–1900) in the Boer War.

Baden-Württemberg /bαd(ə)nvətəmbə/ German /badnvYrtəmbεrk/ a state of western Germany; capital, Stuttgart.

Bader /bαdə/ Sir Douglas (Robert Steuart) (1910–82), British airman. Despite having lost both legs in a flying accident in 1931, he saw action as a fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain (1940–1). After the war he was noted for his work on behalf of disabled people.

bad faith n. [mass noun] 1 intent to deceive: the Republicans accused the Democrats of negotiating in bad faith.

2 (in existentialist philosophy) refusal to confront facts or choices.

bad form n. [mass noun] an offence against current social conventions: it was considered bad form to talk about money.

badge n. a small piece of metal, plastic, or cloth bearing a design or words, typically worn to identify a person or to indicate membership of an organization or support for a cause.

- a distinguishing object or emblem: the car's front badge is much loved by thieves.

- a feature or sign which reveals a particular quality: philanthropy was regarded as a badge of social esteem.

■ v. [with obj.] mark with a badge or other distinguishing emblem.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

badge engineering n. [mass noun] the practice of marketing a motor vehicle under two or more brand names or badges.

badger n. a heavily built omnivorous nocturnal mammal of the weasel family, typically having a grey and black coat.

<INFO> Several genera and species in the family Mustelidae, in particular the Eurasian Meles meles, which has a white head with two black stripes, and the North American Taxidea taxus, with a white stripe on the head.

■ v. [with obj.] repeatedly and annoyingly ask (someone) to do something: journalists badgered him about the deals | Tom had finally badgered her into going.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: perhaps from BADGE, with reference to its distinctive head markings. The verb sense (late 18th century) originates from the sport of badger-baiting.

badger-baiting n. [mass noun] a sport in which dogs draw a badger from its sett and kill it, illegal in the UK since 1830.

Badger State informal name for Wisconsin^1.

bad hair day n. INFORMAL a day on which everything seems to go wrong, characterized as a day on which one's hair is particularly unmanageable.

badinage /badnα/ n. [mass noun] humorous or witty conversation: he developed a nice line in badinage with the Labour leader.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from badiner ‘to joke’, from badin ‘fool’, based on Provençal badar ‘gape’.

badlands plural n. extensive tracts of heavily eroded, uncultivable land with little vegetation.

- (Badlands) a barren plateau region of the western US, mainly in North and South Dakota and Nebraska.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): translation of French mauvaises terres.

badly adv. (worse, worst ) 1 in an unsatisfactory, inadequate, or unsuccessful way: England have played badly this year | the war was going badly.

- in a critical or unfavourable way: try not to think badly of me.

- in an unacceptable or unpleasant way: she realized she was behaving rather badly.

2 used to emphasize the seriousness of an unpleasant event or action: the building was badly damaged by fire.

- very much or intensely: I wanted a baby so badly.

3 in a guilty or regretful way: I felt badly about my unfriendliness.

<PHRASES>

□ badly off at a disadvantage, especially by being poor.

bad manners plural n. lack of polite or well-bred social behaviour: it's bad manners to talk with your mouth full. | I have never experienced such bad manners and ignorance.

<DERIVATIVES> bad-mannered adj.

badmash /bdmα/ n. INDIAN a dishonest or unprincipled man.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu, from Persian bad ‘evil’ + Arabic ma‘āš ‘means of livelihood’.

bad-minded adj. W. INDIAN malicious, unsympathetic, or cynical.

badminton n. [mass noun] a game with rackets in which a shuttlecock is hit back and forth across a net.

<ORIGIN> named after Badminton in SW England, country seat of the Duke of Beaufort.

bad-mouth v. [with obj.] INFORMAL criticize (someone) behind their back: no one wants to hire an individual who bad-mouths a prior employer.

Badon Hill, Battle of /bed(ə)n/ an ancient British battle in which, according to one theory, the forces of King Arthur successfully defended themselves against the Saxons in AD 516. Another source implies that the battle was fought c.500 but does not connect it with King Arthur.

bad-tempered adj. easily annoyed or made angry: seldom has there been a more naughty and bad-tempered child.

- characterized by anger: a bad-tempered match.

<DERIVATIVES> bad-temperedly adv.

BAe abbr. British Aerospace.

Baedeker /bedkə/ German /bεdək/ Karl (1801–59), German publisher. He is remembered chiefly for the series of guidebooks to which he gave his name and which are still published today.

Baer /bε/ German /bε/ Karl Ernest von (1792–1876), German biologist. He discovered that ova were particles within the ovarian follicles, and formulated the principle that in the developing embryo general characteristics appear before special ones. His studies were used by Darwin in the theory of evolution.

Baeyer /bə/ German /ba/ Adolph Johann Friedrich Wilhelm von (1835–1917), German organic chemist. He prepared the first barbiturates and investigated dyes, synthesizing indigo and determining its structural formula. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1905).

Baez /bεz/ Joan (b.1941), American folk singer. She is best known for her performances at civil rights demonstrations in the early 1960s.

Baffin William (c.1584–1622), English navigator and explorer, the pilot of several expeditions in search of the North-West Passage 1612–16.

Baffin Bay an extension of the North Atlantic between Baffin Island and Greenland, linked to the Arctic Ocean by three passages. It is largely ice-bound in winter.

Baffin Island a large island in the Canadian Arctic, situated at the mouth of Hudson Bay. It is separated from Greenland by Baffin Bay.

baffle v. [with obj.] 1 totally bewilder or perplex: an unexplained occurrence that baffled everyone.

2 restrain or regulate (a fluid, sound, etc.).

■ n. a device used to restrain the flow of a fluid, gas, etc. or to prevent the spreading of sound or light in a particular direction.

<DERIVATIVES> bafflement n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘cheat, deceive’): perhaps related to French bafouer ‘ridicule’ or obsolete French beffer ‘mock, deceive’.

bafflegab /baf(ə)lab/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL incomprehensible or pretentious verbiage, especially bureaucratic jargon.

baffler n. another term for BAFFLE.

baffling adj. impossible to understand; perplexing: the crime is a baffling mystery for the police.

<DERIVATIVES> bafflingly adv. [as submodifier] his team selection has been bafflingly erratic

BAFTA /baftə/ abbr.

- British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

- [as n.] an award made by this institution.

bafta /bαftə/ (also baft) n. [mass noun] coarse fabric, typically of cotton.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Urdu, from Persian bāft ‘textile’, bāfta ‘woven’.

bag n. 1 a flexible container with an opening at the top, used for carrying things: brown paper bags.

- the amount held by such a container: a bag of sugar.

- a woman's handbag.

- a piece of luggage: she began to unpack her bags.

2 (bags) loose folds of skin under a person's eyes.

3 (bags) BRITISH DATED loose-fitting trousers.

4 (bags of) INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH plenty of: I had bags of energy.

5 INFORMAL a woman, especially an older one, perceived as unpleasant or unattractive: an interfering old bag.

6 (one's bag) INFORMAL one's particular interest or taste: ask the manager about mild curries, if that's your bag.

7 the amount of game shot by a hunter.

8 (in southern Africa) a unit of measurement, used especially of grain, equal to 70 kg (formerly 200 lb).

9 [BASEBALL] a base.

■ v. (bags, bagging, bagged) [with obj.] 1 put (something) in a bag: customers bagged their own groceries.

2 succeed in killing or catching (an animal): Mike bagged nineteen cod.

- succeed in securing (something): we've bagged three awards for excellence | get there early to bag a seat in the front row.

3 [no obj.] (of clothes, especially trousers) form loose bulges due to wear: these trousers never bag at the knee.

4 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL abandon or give up on: she ought to just bag this marriage and get on with her life.

5 (often as n. bagging) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL criticize: it's a pretty suspect outfit, deserving of the consistent bagging it gets from customers.

6 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL fit (a patient) with an oxygen mask or other respiratory aid.

<PHRASES>

□ bag and baggage with all one's belongings: he threw her out bag and baggage.

□ a bag of bones INFORMAL an emaciated person or animal.

□ a bag (or bundle) of nerves INFORMAL a person who is extremely timid or tense.

□ a bag of tricks INFORMAL a set of ingenious plans, techniques, or resources.

□ bags (or bags I) BRITISH INFORMAL a child's expression used to make a claim to something: bags I his jacket.

□ in the bag INFORMAL 1 (of something desirable) as good as secured: the election is in the bag.

2 NORTH AMERICAN drunk.

<DERIVATIVES> bagful n. (pl. bagfuls) bagger n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old Norse baggi.

Baganda /bəandə/ plural n. (sing. Muganda) an African people of the kingdom of Buganda, now forming part of Uganda.

<ORIGIN> a local name; compare with Kiswahili Waganda.

bagasse /bəas/ n. [mass noun] the dry pulpy residue left after the extraction of juice from sugar cane.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Spanish bagazo ‘pulp’.

bagatelle /baətεl/ n. 1 [mass noun] a game in which small balls are hit and then allowed to roll down a sloping board on which there are holes, each numbered with the score achieved if a ball goes into it, with pins acting as obstructions.

2 a thing regarded as too unimportant or easy to be worth much consideration: dealing with these boats was a mere bagatelle for the world's oldest yacht club.

3 a short, light piece of music, especially one for the piano.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 2): from French, from Italian bagatella, perhaps from baga ‘baggage’ or from a diminutive of Latin baca ‘berry’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 19th cent.

Bagehot /badət/ Walter (1826–77), English economist and journalist. He became editor of the Economist in 1860, a post which he held until his death. Notable works: The English Constitution (1867), Lombard Street (1873).

bagel /be(ə)l/ n. a dense bread roll in the shape of a ring, characteristic of Jewish baking.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (as beigel): from Yiddish beygel.

baggage n. [mass noun] 1 suitcases and bags containing personal belongings packed for travelling; luggage.

- the portable equipment of an army.

2 past experiences or long-held attitudes perceived as burdensome encumbrances: the emotional baggage I'm hauling around.

3 [count noun] DATED a cheeky or disagreeable girl or woman.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bagage (from baguer ‘tie up’), or bagues ‘bundles’; perhaps related to BAG.

Baggie n. (pl. Baggies) NORTH AMERICAN TRADEMARK a plastic bag typically used for storing food.

baggy adj. (baggier, baggiest) (of clothing) loose and hanging in folds: baggy trousers.

- (of eyes) with folds of puffy skin below them.

■ n. (baggies) INFORMAL loose, wide-legged trousers or shorts.

<DERIVATIVES> baggily adv. bagginess n.

baggywrinkle n. [mass noun] rope yarns wound around parts of a ship's rigging to prevent chafe.

bagh /bα/ n. [usually in place names] INDIAN a large garden or orchard: Roshanara Bagh.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Persian bāg.

Baghdad /badad/ the capital of Iraq, on the River Tigris; pop. 5,605,000 (est. 2002). A thriving city under the Abbasid caliphs in the 8th and 9th centuries, it was taken by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman in 1534 and remained under Ottoman rule until the First World War. In 1920 it became the capital of the newly created state of Iraq.

bag lady n. INFORMAL a homeless woman who carries her possessions around in shopping bags.

bag lunch n. variant of BROWN-BAG LUNCH.

bagman n. (pl. bagmen) 1 US & AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an agent who collects or distributes the proceeds of illicit activities.

2 CANADIAN a political fund-raiser.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a travelling salesman.

bagnio /bαnjə banjə/ n. (pl. bagnios) 1 ARCHAIC a brothel.

2 HISTORICAL (in the Far East) a prison.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from Italian bagno, from Latin balneum ‘bath’.

Bagot /baət/ n. a goat of a horned white breed with a black head, neck, and shoulders.

bagpipe n. (also bagpipes) a musical instrument with reed pipes that are sounded by the pressure of wind emitted from a bag squeezed by the player's arm. Bagpipes are associated especially with Scotland, but are also used in folk music in Ireland, Northumberland, and France, and in varying forms across Europe and western Asia.

<DERIVATIVES> bagpiper n.

ba gua /bα wα/ (also pa kua) n. a Chinese religious motif incorporating the eight trigrams of the I Ching, arranged octagonally around a symbol denoting the balance of yin and yang, or around a mirror.

- (in feng shui) this motif regarded as a pattern determining the significance and auspicious qualities of spatial relationships.

- [mass noun] a Chinese martial art in which movements are focused on a circle and the defence of eight points around it.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese bā ‘eight’ + guà ‘divinatory symbols’.

baguette /baεt/ n. 1 a long, narrow French loaf.

2 [often as modifier] a gem, especially a diamond, cut in a long rectangular shape: a baguette diamond.

3 [ARCHITECTURE] a small moulding, semicircular in section.

4 a slim, rectangular handbag with a short strap.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in sense 3): from French, from Italian bacchetto, diminutive of bacchio, from Latin baculum ‘staff’.

■ Sense 1 and sense 2 date from the 20th cent.

bagwash n. BRITISH DATED a laundry at which clothes are washed but not pressed.

bagworm n. a drab moth, the caterpillar and flightless female of which live in a portable protective case constructed out of plant debris.

<INFO> Family Psychidae: many genera.

bah exclam. an expression of contempt or disagreement: You think it was an accident? Bah!

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably from French.

bahadur /bαhədə/ n. INDIAN a great man.

- an honorific title, originally given to officers in British India: Bahadur Shah.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu and Persian bahādur, from Mongolian.

Baha'i /bαhαi/ (also Bahai) n. (pl. Baha'is) [mass noun] a monotheistic religion founded in the 19th century as a development of Babism, emphasizing the essential oneness of humankind and of all religions and seeking world peace. The Baha'i faith was founded by the Persian Baha'ullah (1817–92) and his son Abdul Baha (1844–1921).

- [count noun] an adherent of the Baha'i faith.

<DERIVATIVES> Baha'ism /bαhαz(ə)m/ n.

<ORIGIN> Persian, from Arabic bahā' ‘splendour’.

Bahamas a country consisting of an archipelago off the SE coast of Florida, part of the West Indies; pop. 300,529 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), Creole; capital, Nassau.

It was there that Columbus made his first landfall in the New World (12 October 1492). The islands were a British colony from the 18th century until they gained independence within the Commonwealth in 1973.

<DERIVATIVES> Bahamian /bəhemən/ adj. & n.

Bahasa Indonesia /bəhαsə/ n. [mass noun] the official language of Indonesia. See INDONESIAN.

<ORIGIN> from Malay bahasa ‘language’.

Bahasa Malaysia /bəhαsə/ n. [mass noun] the official language of Malaysia. See MALAY.

Bahawalpur /bəhαwəlpə/ a city of central Pakistan, in Punjab province; pop. 403,400 (1998). It was formerly the capital of a princely state established by the nawabs of Bahawalpur.

Bahia /bαiə/ 1 a state of eastern Brazil, on the Atlantic coast; capital, Salvador.

2 former name for SALVADOR.

Bahía Blanca /bαiə blakə/ a port in Argentina serving the southern part of the country; pop. 281,161 (est. 1999).

bahookie /bəhki/ n. SCOTTISH INFORMAL a person's buttocks.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: probably a blend of BEHIND and HOUGH, + -IE.

Bahrain /bαren/ a sheikhdom consisting of a group of islands in the Persian Gulf; pop. 656,397 (est. 2002); official language, Arabic; capital, Manama.

Ruled by the Portuguese in the 16th century and the Persians in the 17th century, the islands became a British protectorate in 1861 and gained independence in 1971. Bahrain's economy is dependent on the refining and export of oil.

<DERIVATIVES> Bahraini adj. & n.

baht /bαt/ n. (pl. same) the basic monetary unit of Thailand, equal to 100 satangs.

<ORIGIN> from Thai bāt.

bahu /bαhu/ n. INDIAN a daughter-in-law.

<ORIGIN> Hindi bahū ‘daughter-in-law, wife’, from Sanskrit vadhū, vadhukā.

Bahutu plural form of HUTU.

bai /b/ n. (pl. bais) Indian 1 [often as name] a polite form of address for a woman.

2 a maid.

<ORIGIN> Marathi, ‘lady’, possibly from Turkish baaji.

Baikal, Lake /bkαl/ (also Baykal) a large lake in southern Siberia, the largest freshwater lake in Europe and Asia and, with a depth of 1,743 m (5,714 ft), the deepest lake in the world.

Baikonur /bkənə/ (also Baykonur) a mining town in central Kazakhstan. The world's first satellite (1957) and the first manned space flight (1961) were launched from the former Soviet space centre nearby.

bail^1 n. [mass noun] the temporary release of an accused person awaiting trial, sometimes on condition that a sum of money is lodged to guarantee their appearance in court: he has been released on bail.

- money paid by or for such a person as security.

■ v. [with obj.] release or secure the release of (a prisoner) on payment of bail: nine were bailed on drugs charges | [with obj. and infinitive] he was bailed to appear at Durham Crown Court.

<PHRASES>

□ go bail (or stand bail) act as surety for an accused person.

□ jump bail INFORMAL fail to appear for trial after being released on bail.

□ post bail pay a sum of money as bail.

<DERIVATIVES> bailable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, literally ‘custody, jurisdiction’, from bailler ‘take charge of’, from Latin bajulare ‘bear a burden’.

bail^2 n. 1 (usually bails) [CRICKET] either of the two crosspieces bridging the stumps, which the bowler and fielders try to dislodge with the ball to get the batsman out.

2 a bar which holds something in place, in particular:

- a bar on a typewriter or computer printer which holds the paper steady.

- [CLIMBING] a bar on a crampon which fits into a groove in the sole of a boot.

- a bar separating horses in an open stable.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a movable framework for securing the head of a cow during milking.

■ v. [with obj.] Australian/NZ 1 (usually bail up) confront (someone) with the intention of robbing them: they bailed up Mr Dyason and demanded his money.

- detain (someone) in conversation, especially against their will.

2 secure (a cow) during milking.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting the outer wall of a castle): from Old French baile ‘palisade, enclosure’, baillier ‘enclose’, perhaps from Latin baculum ‘rod, stick’.

bail^3 (BRITISH also bale) v. 1 [with obj.] scoop water out of (a ship or boat): the first priority is to bail out the boat with buckets.

- scoop (water) out of a ship or boat.

2 [no obj.] (bail out) make an emergency parachute descent from an aircraft.

- withdraw from an obligation or commitment: she felt ready to bail out of the corporate rat race.

- [with obj.] (bail someone/thing out) rescue someone or something from a difficulty: the state will not bail out loss-making enterprises.

3 [no obj.] (bail on) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL let (someone) down: he looks a little like the other guy that bailed on me.

<DERIVATIVES> bailer n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from obsolete bail ‘bucket’, from French baille, based on Latin bajulus ‘carrier’.

Baile Átha Cliath /bla kliə/ Irish name for DUBLIN.

bailee /beli/ n. [LAW] a person or party to whom goods are delivered for a purpose, such as custody or repair, without transfer of ownership.

Bailey^1 a shipping forecast area in the NE Atlantic north of Rockall and south-west of the Faroes.

Bailey^2 David (b.1938), English photographer. He was a prominent figure of 1960s pop culture.

bailey n. (pl. baileys) the outer wall of a castle.

- a court enclosed by a bailey.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Old French baile ‘palisade, enclosure’ (see bail^2).

Bailey bridge n. a temporary bridge of lattice steel designed for rapid assembly from prefabricated standard parts, used especially in military operations.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: named after Sir D. Bailey (1901–85), the English engineer who designed it.

bailie /beli/ n. (pl. bailies) chiefly HISTORICAL a municipal officer and magistrate in Scotland.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally used interchangeably with BAILIFF): from Old French bailli.

bailiff /belf/ n. 1 a sheriff's officer who executes writs and processes and carries out distraints and arrests.

- the agent of a landlord.

2 NORTH AMERICAN an official in a court of law who keeps order, looks after prisoners, etc.

3 BRITISH HISTORICAL the sovereign's representative in a district, especially the chief officer of a hundred.

- the first civil officer in the Channel Islands.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French baillif, inflected form of bailli (see BAILIE), based on Latin bajulus ‘carrier, manager’.

bailiwick /belwk/ n. (one's bailiwick) 1 one's sphere of operations or area of interest: after the war, the Middle East remained his bailiwick.

2 [LAW] the district or jurisdiction of a bailie or bailiff.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from BAILIE + WICK^2.

bailment n. [LAW] an act of delivering goods to a bailee for a particular purpose, without transfer of ownership.

bailor /bel/ n. [LAW] a person or party that entrusts goods to a bailee.

bailout n. INFORMAL an act of giving financial assistance to a failing business or economy to save it from collapse.

Baily's beads [ASTRONOMY] a string of bright points seen at the edge of the darkened moon at the beginning or end of totality in an eclipse of the sun, caused by the unevenness of the lunar topography.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Francis Baily (1774–1844), English astronomer.

Bainbridge Dame Beryl (Margaret) (b.1934), English novelist. Her works include The Bottle Factory Outing (1974) and An Awfully Big Adventure (1989).

bain-marie /banməri/ n. (pl. bains-marie or bain-maries pronunc. same) a pan of hot water in which a cooking container is placed for slow cooking.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: French, translation of medieval Latin balneum Mariae ‘bath of Maria’, translating Greek kaminos Marias ‘furnace of Maria’, said to be a Jewish alchemist.

Bairam /brαm/ n. either of two annual Muslim festivals, GREATER BAIRAM and LESSER BAIRAM (see EID).

<ORIGIN> from Turkish baïram (earlier form of bayram), from Persian barām.

Baird /bεd/ John Logie (1888–1946), Scottish pioneer of television. He made the first transatlantic transmission and demonstration of colour television in 1928 using a mechanical system which was soon superseded by an electronic system.

bairn /bεn/ n. chiefly SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a child.

<ORIGIN> Old English bearn, of Germanic origin; related to the verb bear^1.

Baisakhi /bsαkhi/ n. a Sikh festival held annually to commemorate the founding of the khalsa by Gobind Singh in 1699.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit Vaiśākha, denoting a month of the Hindu lunar year corresponding to April–May, regarded in some areas as the start of the new year.

bait n. 1 [mass noun] food placed on a hook or in a net, trap, or fishing area to entice fish or other animals as prey.

- something intended to entice someone to do something: many potential buyers are reluctant to take the bait.

2 variant spelling of bate^1.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 deliberately annoy or taunt (someone): the other boys revelled in baiting him about his love of literature.

- cause dogs to attack (a trapped or restrained animal).

2 put bait on (a hook) or in (a trap, net, or fishing area) to entice fish or animals: I used a hook baited with fat.

<PHRASES>

□ fish or cut bait NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL stop vacillating and decide to act on or disengage from something.

□ rise to the bait react to a provocation or temptation exactly as intended.

<DERIVATIVES> baiter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse beit ‘pasture, food’, beita ‘to hunt or chase’.

bait-and-switch n. [mass noun] the action (generally illegal) of advertising goods which are an apparent bargain, with the intention of substituting inferior or more expensive goods.

baitcasting n. [mass noun] fishing by throwing a bait or lure into the water on the end of a line using a rod and reel.

<DERIVATIVES> baitcaster n.

baiza /bzα/ n. (pl. same or baizas) a monetary unit of Oman, equal to one thousandth of a rial.

<ORIGIN> Arabic.

baize /bez/ n. [mass noun] a coarse felt-like woollen material that is typically green, used for covering billiard and card tables and for aprons.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French baies, feminine plural of bai ‘chestnut-coloured’ (see bay^4), treated as a singular noun. The name is presumably from the original colour of the cloth, although several colours are recorded.

Baja California /bαhα/ a mountainous peninsula in NW Mexico, which extends southwards from the border with California and separates the Gulf of California from the Pacific Ocean. It consists of two states of Mexico: Baja California (capital, Mexicali) and Baja California Sur (capital, La Paz). Also called LOWER CALIFORNIA.

bajada /bəhαdə/ n. a broad slope of alluvial material at the foot of an escarpment.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, ‘descent, slope’.

Bajan /bed(ə)n/ adj. & n.

■ informal term for BARBADIAN (see BARBADOS).

bajra /bαdrα/ n. [mass noun] (in the Indian subcontinent) pearl millet or similar grain.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bājrā, bājrī.

baju /bαdu/ n. a short, loose jacket worn in Malaysia.

<ORIGIN> Malay.

Baka /baka/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a nomadic Pygmy people inhabiting the rainforests of south-eastern Cameroon and northern Gabon.

2 [mass noun] the Bantu language of the Baka.

<ORIGIN> perhaps from Lingala Ba-aka ‘Pygmies’.

bake v. [with obj.] 1 cook (food) by dry heat without direct exposure to a flame, typically in an oven: they bake their own bread and cakes | (as adj. baked) baked apples.

- [no obj.] (of food) be cooked in such a way: the bread was baking on hot stones.

2 (of the sun or other agency) subject (something) to dry heat, especially so as to harden it.

- [no obj.] INFORMAL be or become extremely hot in prolonged sun or hot weather: the city was baking in a heatwave.

■ n. [with modifier] a dish consisting of a mixture of ingredients cooked in an oven: a vegetable bake.

- [with modifier] NORTH AMERICAN a social gathering at which baked food of a specified kind is eaten: lobster bakes.

<ORIGIN> Old English bacan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bakken and German backen.

bakeapple n. CANADIAN the fruit of the cloudberry.

baked Alaska n. [mass noun] a dessert of sponge cake and ice cream in a meringue covering, cooked in a hot oven for a very short time.

baked beans plural n. baked haricot beans, typically cooked in tomato sauce and tinned.

baked potato n. a potato baked in its skin.

bakehouse n. DATED a building or area in which bread is made.

Bakelite /bek(ə)lt/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an early form of brittle plastic, typically dark brown, made from formaldehyde and phenol, used chiefly for electrical equipment.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Leo H. Baekeland (1863–1944), the Belgian-born American chemist who invented it, + -ITE^1.

bake-off n. NORTH AMERICAN a contest in which cooks prepare baked goods such as bread and cakes for judging.

- INFORMAL a contest between companies to win a contract.

Baker^1 Dame Janet (Abbott) (b.1933), English operatic mezzo-soprano.

Baker^2 Josephine (1906–75), American dancer. She was a star of the Folies-Bergère in the 1930s, famed for her exotic dancing and risqué clothing.

baker n. a person whose trade is making and selling bread and cakes.

- [often with modifier] an oven for a particular purpose: a waffle baker.

<PHRASES>

□ baker's dozen a group of thirteen. [<ORIGIN> from the former bakers' custom of adding an extra loaf to a dozen sold to a retailer, this constituting the latter's profit.]

bakery n. (pl. bakeries) a place where bread and cakes are made or sold.

- [mass noun] baked goods such as bread and cakes.

bakeshop n. North American term for BAKERY.

bakeware n. [mass noun] tins, trays, and other items used during baking.

Bakewell Robert (1725–95), English pioneer in scientific methods of livestock breeding and husbandry. He produced pedigree herds of sheep and cattle and increased the meat production from his animals through selective breeding.

Bakewell tart n. BRITISH a baked open pie consisting of a pastry case lined with jam and filled with almond sponge cake.

<ORIGIN> named after the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire.

baking powder n. [mass noun] a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar, used instead of yeast in baking.

baking soda n. [mass noun] sodium bicarbonate used in cooking, for cleaning, or in toothpaste.

Bakker Robert T. (b.1945), American palaeontologist. He proposed the controversial idea that dinosaurs were active and warm-blooded.

bakkie /baki bki/ n. (pl. bakkies) S. African 1 a light truck or pickup truck.

2 a small basin or other container.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from bak ‘container’ + the diminutive suffix -ie.

baklava /bakləvə bəklαvə/ n. [mass noun] a dessert originating in the Middle East made of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and soaked in honey.

<ORIGIN> Turkish.

baksheesh /baki/ (also backsheesh) n. [mass noun] (in parts of the Middle East, Far East, and the Indian subcontinent) a small sum of money given as alms, a tip, or a bribe.

<ORIGIN> based on Persian bašīš, from bašīdan ‘give’.

Bakst /bakst/ Léon (1866–1924), Russian painter and designer; born Lev Samuilovich Rozenberg. He was a member of the Diaghilev circle and the Ballets Russes, for which he designed exotic, richly coloured sets and costumes.

Baku /baku/ the capital of Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea; pop. 2,071,600 (est. 2002). It is an industrial port and a centre of the oil industry.

Bakunin /bakunn/ Mikhail (Aleksandrovich) (1814–76), Russian anarchist. He took part in the revolutions of 1848, and participated in the First International until his expulsion in 1872.

balaclava /baləklαvə/ (also balaclava helmet) n. chiefly BRITISH a close-fitting garment covering the whole head and neck except for parts of the face, typically made of wool.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (worn originally by soldiers on active service in the Crimean War): named after the village of Balaclava in the Crimea (see BALACLAVA, BATTLE OF).

Balaclava, Battle of /baləklαvə/ a battle of the Crimean War, fought between Russia and an alliance of British, French, and Turkish forces in and around the port of Balaclava (now Balaklava) in the southern Crimea in 1854. The battle ended inconclusively; it is chiefly remembered as the scene of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

balafon /baləfn/ n. a large xylophone with hollow gourds as resonators, used in West African music.

<ORIGIN> via French from Manding bala ‘xylophone’ + fo ‘to play’.

balalaika /baləlkə/ n. a Russian musical instrument like a guitar with a triangular body and typically three strings.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Russian, of Tartar origin.

balance n. 1 [mass noun] an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady: she lost her balance and fell.

- [SAILING] the ability of a boat to stay on course without adjustment of the rudder.

2 [mass noun] a situation in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions: the obligations of political balance in broadcasting | [in sing.] try to keep a balance between work and relaxation.

- mental or emotional stability: the way to some kind of peace and personal balance.

- the relative volume of various sources of sound: the balance of the voices is good.

- [ART] harmony of design and proportion.

3 an apparatus for weighing, especially one with a central pivot, beam, and two scales.

- (the Balance) the zodiacal sign or constellation Libra.

4 a counteracting weight or force.

- (also balance wheel) the regulating device in a clock or watch.

5 [mass noun] a predominating amount; a preponderance: the balance of opinion was that work was more important than leisure.

6 a figure representing the difference between credits and debits in an account; the amount of money held in an account: he accumulated a healthy balance with the savings bank.

- the difference between an amount due and an amount paid: the holiday balance must be paid by 8 weeks before departure.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 put (something) in a steady position so that it does not fall: a mug that she balanced on her knee.

- [no obj.] remain in a steady position without falling: Richard balanced on the ball of one foot.

2 offset or compare the value of (one thing) with another: the cost of obtaining such information needs to be balanced against its benefits.

- counteract or equal the effect or importance of: he balanced his radical remarks with more familiar declarations.

- establish equal or appropriate proportions of elements in: policies that help women balance work and family life.

3 compare debits and credits in (an account) so as to ensure that they are equal: the law requires the council to balance its books each year.

- [no obj.] (of an account) have credits and debits equal.

<PHRASES>

□ balance of payments the difference in total value between payments into and out of a country over a period.

□ balance of power 1 a situation in which states of the world have roughly equal power.

2 the power held by a small group when larger groups are of equal strength.

□ balance of trade the difference in value between a country's imports and exports.

□ in the balance in an uncertain or critical state: his survival hung in the balance for days.

□ on balance when all factors are taken into consideration: on balance, he was pleased with how things had gone.

□ strike a balance choose a moderate course.

□ throw (or catch) someone off balance make someone unsteady and in danger of falling.

- surprise someone by doing something unexpected.

<DERIVATIVES> balancer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 3 of the noun): from Old French balance (noun), balancer (verb), based on late Latin (libra) bilanx ‘(balance) having two scale pans’, from bi- ‘twice, having two’ + lanx ‘scale pan’.

balanced adj. keeping or showing a balance; in good proportions: she assembled a balanced team.

- taking everything into account; fairly judged or presented: accurate and balanced information.

- (especially of food) having different elements in the correct proportions: a healthy, balanced diet.

- (of an electric circuit or signal) being symmetrical with respect to a reference point, usually ground.

balance sheet n. a statement of the assets, liabilities, and capital of a business or other organization at a particular point in time, detailing the balance of income and expenditure over the preceding period.

balance wheel n. the regulating device in a watch or clock.

Balanchine /balənin -tin/ George (1904–83), Russian-born American ballet dancer and choreographer; born Georgi Melitonovich Balanchivadze. He was chief choreographer of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes during the 1920s, and in 1934 he co-founded the company which later became the New York City Ballet.

balancing act n. an action or activity that requires a delicate balance between different situations or requirements.

balander /bəlandə/ (also balanda) n. DEROGATORY (in Australian Aboriginal English) a white man.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Makasarese balanda, from Malay belanda (alteration of HOLLANDER in the sense ‘Dutchman’).

balanitis /balənts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the glans penis.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek balanos ‘glans penis’ (literally ‘acorn’) + -ITIS.

balas ruby /baləs/ n. a ruby of a delicate rose-red variety.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French balais, from Arabic balaš, from Persian Badašān, a district of Afghanistan where it is found.

balata /balətə bəlαtə/ n. a tropical American tree which bears edible fruit and produces latex.

<INFO> Several species in the family Sapotaceae, in particular Manilkara bidentata.

- [mass noun] the dried sap of this tree, used as a substitute for rubber.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Carib balatá.

Balaton, Lake /blətn/ a large, shallow lake in west central Hungary, situated in a resort and wine-producing region to the south of the Bakony mountains.

Balboa /balbəə/ Vasco Núñez de (1475–1519), Spanish explorer. In 1513 he reached the western coast of the isthmus of Darien (Panama), thereby becoming the first European to see the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean.

balboa /balbəə/ n. the basic monetary unit of Panama, equal to 100 centésimos.

<ORIGIN> named after Vasco Núñez de BALBOA.

balbriggan /balbr(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a knitted cotton fabric, used for stockings and underwear.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after the town of Balbriggan in Ireland, where it was originally made.

Balcon /blk(ə)n/ Sir Michael (1896–1977), English film producer associated chiefly with Ealing Studios. He produced such famous comedies as Kind Hearts and Coronets and Whisky Galore (both 1949).

balcony n. (pl. balconies) 1 a platform enclosed by a wall or balustrade on the outside of a building, with access from an upper-floor window or door.

2 (the balcony) the highest tier of seats in a theatre, above the dress or upper circle.

- the upstairs seats in a cinema.

- NORTH AMERICAN the dress circle in a theatre.

<DERIVATIVES> balconied adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Italian balcone, probably ultimately of Germanic origin.

bald /bld/ adj. 1 having a scalp wholly or partly lacking hair: he was starting to go bald.

- (of an animal) not covered by the usual fur, hair, or feathers: hedgehogs are born bald.

- (of a plant or an area of land) not covered by the usual leaves, bark, or vegetation.

- (of a tyre) having the tread worn away.

2 without any extra detail or explanation; plain or blunt: the bald statement in the preceding paragraph requires amplification.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) bald as a coot completely bald.

<DERIVATIVES> baldish adj. baldly adv.

■ bald (sense 2)

□ baldness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from a base meaning ‘white patch’, whence the archaic sense ‘marked or streaked with white’. Compare with Welsh ceffyl bal, denoting a horse with a white mark on its face.

baldachin /baldəkn bld-/ (also baldaquin /bldəkn/ or baldacchino /baldəkinə/) n. a ceremonial canopy of stone, metal, or fabric over an altar, throne, or doorway.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a rich brocade of silk and gold thread): from Italian baldacchino, from Baldacco ‘Baghdad’, place of origin of the brocade.

bald crow n. the rockfowl.

bald cypress n. another term for SWAMP CYPRESS.

bald eagle n. a white-headed North American eagle that includes fish among its prey. It is the national bird of the US but is now common only in Alaska.

<INFO> Haliaetus leucocephalus, family Accipitridae.

Balder /bldə/ [SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY] a son of Odin and god of the summer sun. He was invulnerable to all things except mistletoe, with which the god Loki, by a trick, induced the blind god Hödur to kill him.

balderdash /bldəda/ n. [mass noun] senseless talk or writing; nonsense.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a frothy liquid; later, an unappetizing mixture of drinks): of unknown origin.

bald-faced adj. North American another term for BAREFACED.

baldhead n. (among Rastafarians) a person who is not a Rastafarian.

balding /bld/ adj. in the process of losing one's hair: a balding middle-aged man stepped into the room.

baldmoney /bldmni/ n. (pl. baldmoneys)

■ another term for SPIGNEL.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the gentian; now only Scots): of unknown origin.

baldpate n. the American wigeon (in allusion to its white-crowned head).

baldric /bldrk/ n. HISTORICAL a belt for a sword or other piece of equipment, worn over one shoulder and reaching down to the opposite hip.

<ORIGIN> Middle English baudry, from Old French baudre, of unknown ultimate origin.

Baldwin^1 /bldwn/ James (Arthur) (1924–87), American novelist and black civil rights activist. Notable works: Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953) and Giovanni's Room (1956).

Baldwin^2 /bldwn/ Stanley, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (1867–1947), British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1923–4, 1924–9, and 1935–7. Despite the German occupation of the Rhineland and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (both 1936), Baldwin opposed demands for rearmament, believing that the public would not support it.

baldy (also baldie) n. (pl. baldies) INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a bald-headed person.

■ adj. chiefly SCOTTISH & IRISH bald.

bale^1 n. a large wrapped or bound bundle of paper, hay, or cotton.

- the quantity in a bale as a measure, specifically (in the US) 500 lb of cotton.

■ v. [with obj.] make up into bales: the straw is left on the field to be baled later.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Middle Dutch, from Old French; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to ball^1.

bale^2 n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC evil considered as a destructive force.

- evil suffered; physical or mental torment.

<ORIGIN> Old English balu, bealu, of Germanic origin.

Bâle /bal/ French name for BASLE.

Balearic Islands /balark bələrk/ (also the Balearics) a group of Mediterranean islands off the east coast of Spain, forming an autonomous region of that country, with four large islands (Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza, Formentera) and seven smaller ones; capital, Palma (on Majorca).

baleen /bəlin/ n. [mass noun] whalebone.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also denoting a whale): from Old French baleine, from Latin balaena ‘whale’.

baleen whale n. a whale that has plates of whalebone in the mouth for straining plankton from the water. Baleen whales include the rorqual, humpback, right whale, and grey whale. Also called WHALEBONE WHALE.

<INFO> Suborder Mysticeti, order Cetacea: three families and ten species.

balefire n. US a large open-air fire.

<ORIGIN> Old English (recorded in poetry), from obsolete bale ‘great fire’ + FIRE.

baleful adj. threatening harm; menacing: Bill shot a baleful glance in her direction.

- having a harmful or destructive effect: the baleful influence of Rasputin.

<DERIVATIVES> balefully adv. balefulness n.

Balenciaga /balεnsαə/ Spanish /balenθjaa -sjaa/ Cristóbal (1895–1972), Spanish couturier. In the 1950s he contributed to the move away from the tight-waisted New Look originated by Christian Dior to a looser, semi-fitted style.

baler n. a machine for making up material such as paper, hay, or cotton into bales.

Balfour /balfə/ Arthur James, 1st Earl of Balfour (1848–1930), British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1902–5. In 1917, in his capacity as Foreign Secretary, Balfour issued the declaration in favour of a Jewish national home in Palestine that came to be known as the Balfour Declaration.

Bali /bαli/ a mountainous island of Indonesia, to the east of Java; chief city, Denpasar; pop. 2,856,000 (1993).

balibuntal /balbnt(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] a fine close-woven straw, used for making hats.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Baliuag in the Philippines, where it originated, + BUNTAL.

Balinese /bαlniz/ adj. relating to Bali or its people or language.

■ n. (pl. same) 1 a native or inhabitant of Bali.

2 [mass noun] the Indonesian language of Bali, with around 4 million speakers.

Balkanize /blkənz bl-/ (also Balkanise) v. [with obj.] divide (a region or body) into smaller mutually hostile states or groups.

<DERIVATIVES> Balkanization /-ze(ə)n/ n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Balkan Peninsula (where this was done in the late 19th and early 20th century) + -IZE.

Balkans /blkənz/ 1 (also Balkan Mountains) a range of mountains stretching eastwards across Bulgaria from the Serbian frontier to the Black Sea. The highest peak is Botev Peak (2,375 m; 7,793 ft).

2 the countries occupying the part of SE Europe lying south of the Danube and Sava Rivers, forming a peninsula bounded by the Adriatic and Ionian Seas in the west, the Aegean and Black Seas in the east, and the Mediterranean in the south.

<DERIVATIVES> Balkan adj.

Balkan Wars two wars of 1912–13 that were fought over the last European territories of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1912 Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro forced Turkey to give up Albania and Macedonia, leaving the area around Constantinople (Istanbul) as the only Ottoman territory in Europe. The following year Bulgaria disputed with Serbia, Greece, and Romania for possession of Macedonia, which was partitioned between Greece and Serbia.

Balkhash, Lake variant spelling of BALQASH, LAKE.

Balkis /blks bl-/ the name of the queen of Sheba in Arabic literature.

balky /blki bki/ (BRITISH also baulky) adj. (balkier, balkiest; baulkier, baulkiest) chiefly US awkward; uncooperative.

Ball^1 John (d.1381), English rebel. Ball was a priest who preached an egalitarian social message. He was excommunicated and imprisoned for heresy, and following the Peasants' Revolt was hanged as a traitor.

Ball^2 Lucille (1911–89), American comedienne, known in particular for the popular television series I Love Lucy (1951–5).

ball^1 n. 1 a solid or hollow spherical or egg-shaped object that is kicked, thrown, or hit in a game: a cricket ball.

- a spherical object or mass of material: a ball of wool | he crushed the card into a ball.

- HISTORICAL a solid spherical non-explosive projectile for a cannon.

- [mass noun] a game played with a ball: he comes across a group of kids playing ball.

- [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN baseball: young men would graduate from college and enter pro ball.

2 a single throw, kick, or hit of the ball in a game, in particular:

- [CRICKET] a delivery of the ball by the bowler to the batsman.

- [BASEBALL] a pitch delivered outside the strike zone which the batter does not attempt to hit.

- [SOCCER] a pass of the ball in a specified direction or manner: Whelan sent a long ball to Goddard.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 squeeze or form (something) into a rounded shape: Robert balled up his napkin and threw it on to his plate.

- clench (one's fist) tightly.

- [no obj.] form a round shape: the fishing nets eventually ball up and sink.

- wrap the root ball of (a tree or shrub) in hessian to protect it during transportation.

2 NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG have sexual intercourse with (someone).

3 [no obj.] BRITISH (of a flower) fail to open properly, decaying in the half-open bud.

<PHRASES>

□ the ball is in your court it is up to you to make the next move.

□ a ball of fire a person who is full of energy and enthusiasm.

□ the ball of the foot the rounded protuberant part of the foot at the base of the big toe.

□ the ball of the thumb the rounded protuberant part of the hand at the base of the thumb.

□ have a lot (or not much) on the ball US have a lot of (or not much) ability.

□ keep the ball rolling maintain the momentum of an activity.

□ keep one's eye on (or take one's eye off) the ball keep (or fail to keep) one's attention focused on the matter in hand.

□ on the ball aware of and quick to respond to new ideas and methods.

□ play ball INFORMAL work willingly with others; cooperate: if his solicitors won't play ball, there's nothing we can do.

□ start (or get or set) the ball rolling cause something to start happening.

□ the whole ball of wax NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL everything.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse bllr, of Germanic origin.

ball^2 n. a formal social gathering for dancing.

<PHRASES>

□ have a ball INFORMAL enjoy oneself greatly.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French bal ‘a dance’, from late Latin ballare ‘to dance’; related to Greek ballizein ‘to dance’ (also ballein ‘to throw’).

ballad n. 1 a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas. Traditional ballads are typically of unknown authorship, having been passed on orally from one generation to the next.

2 a slow sentimental or romantic song.

<DERIVATIVES> balladist n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting a light, simple song): from Old French balade, from Provençal balada ‘dance, song to dance to’, from balar ‘to dance’, from late Latin ballare (see ball^2). The sense ‘narrative poem’ dates from the mid 18th cent.

ballade /balαd/ n. 1 a poem consisting of one or more triplets of stanzas with a repeated refrain and an envoi.

2 a piece of music in romantic style with dramatic elements, typically for piano.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: earlier spelling and pronunciation of BALLAD.

balladeer /balədə/ n. a singer or composer of ballads.

ballad opera n. a theatrical entertainment popular in early 18th-century England, taking the form of a satirical play interspersed with traditional or operatic songs. The best-known example is John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728).

balladry n. [mass noun] ballads collectively.

- the art of writing or performing ballads.

ball and chain n. a heavy metal ball secured by a chain to the leg of a prisoner to prevent escape.

- used to convey the idea that someone or something is a crippling encumbrance: the ball and chain of debt.

ball-and-socket joint n. a natural or manufactured joint or coupling, such as the hip joint, in which a partially spherical end lies in a socket, allowing multidirectional movement and rotation.

Ballantyne /baləntn/ R. M. (1825–94), Scottish author; full name Robert Michael Ballantyne. He wrote acclaimed stories for boys, such as The Coral Island (1857).

ballan wrasse /balən/ n. a large European wrasse (fish) of rocky shores and reefs, popular as an angling fish.

<INFO> Labrus bergylta, family Labridae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: ballan from Irish ballán, from ball ‘spot’.

Ballarat /balərat/ a mining and sheep-farming centre in Victoria, Australia; pop. 80,045 (2001). It is the site of the discovery in 1851 of the largest gold reserves in Australia.

Ballard J. G. (1930–2009), British novelist and short-story writer; full name James Graham Ballard. He is known for dystopian science fiction such as his first novel, The Drowned World (1962), and Crash (1973).

ballast /baləst/ n. [mass noun] 1 heavy material, such as gravel, sand, or iron, placed in the bilge of a ship to ensure its stability.

- a similar substance carried in an airship or on a hot-air balloon to stabilize it and jettisoned when greater altitude is required.

- something providing stability or substance: the film is an entertaining comedy with some serious ideas thrown in for ballast.

2 gravel or coarse stone used to form the bed of a railway track or the substratum of a road.

- a mixture of coarse and fine aggregate for making concrete.

3 [count noun] a passive component used in an electric circuit to moderate changes in current.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 give stability to (a ship) by putting a heavy substance in its bilge.

2 form (the bed of a railway line or the substratum of a road) with gravel or coarse stone.

<PHRASES>

□ in ballast (of a ship) laden only with ballast.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably of Low German or Scandinavian origin.

ball bearing n. a bearing in which the parts are separated by a ring of small freely rotating metal balls which reduce friction.

- a ball used in such a bearing.

ballboy n. a boy who retrieves balls that go out of play during a game such as tennis or baseball.

ball-breaker (also ball-buster) n. INFORMAL a sexually demanding woman who destroys men's self-confidence.

<DERIVATIVES> ball-breaking adj.

ball carrier n. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a player in possession of the ball and attempting to advance it.

ball clay n. [mass noun] a fine-textured clay used in the manufacture of ceramics.

ballcock n. a valve which is linked by a hinged arm to a ball floating on top of a liquid and opens or closes a tap automatically according to the height of the ball, especially in the cistern of a flushing toilet.

baller n. 1 a person or device that makes or forms something into balls: a melon baller.

2 US a player of a ball game.

ballerina n. a female ballet dancer.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Italian, feminine of ballerino ‘dancing master’, from ballare ‘to dance’, from late Latin.

Ballesteros /baləstεrs/ Spanish /bajesterəs/ Sevvy (b.1957), Spanish golfer; full name Severiano Ballesteros. In 1979 he became the youngest player in the 20th century to win the British Open; the following year he was the youngest-ever winner of the US Masters.

ballet n. [mass noun] an artistic dance form performed to music, using precise and highly formalized set steps and gestures. Classical ballet, which originated in Renaissance Italy and established its present form during the 19th century, is characterized by light, graceful movements and the use of pointe shoes with reinforced toes.

- [count noun] a creative work of this form or the music written for it.

- [treated as sing. or plural] a group of dancers who regularly perform ballets: the Bolshoi Ballet.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian balletto, diminutive of ballo ‘a dance’, from late Latin ballare ‘to dance’ (see ball^2).

ballet dancer n. a person who dances in ballets.

balletic /bəlεtk/ adj. relating to or characteristic of ballet: a graceful, balletic movement.

<DERIVATIVES> balletically adv.

ballet master n. a person employed by a ballet company to teach and rehearse dancers.

balletomane /baltəmen/ n. a ballet enthusiast.

<DERIVATIVES> balletomania n.

ballet shoe (also ballet pump) n. a light, round-toed woman's shoe with very flat heels, resembling the type worn by ballet dancers.

Ballets Russes /bale rus/ French /bale Rus/ a ballet company formed in Paris in 1909 by Sergei Diaghilev.

The company commissioned music from the composers Stravinsky, Satie, and Rimsky-Korsakov, while Picasso and Jean Cocteau designed sets. The company's choreographers and dancers included Michel Fokine, Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, and George Balanchine. It was responsible for reviving ballet as an art form in western Europe.

ball float n. the spherical float attached to a hinged arm in the ballcock of a water cistern.

ball game n. a game played with a ball.

- NORTH AMERICAN a baseball match.

<PHRASES>

□ a different (or whole new) ball game INFORMAL a situation that is completely different from a previous one: making the film was a whole new ball game for her.

ballgirl n. a girl who retrieves balls that go out of play during a game such as tennis or baseball.

ballhawk n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a player who is good at getting possession of or catching the ball.

<DERIVATIVES> ballhawking n.

ballista /bəlstə/ n. (pl. ballistae /-sti/ or ballistas) a catapult used in ancient warfare for hurling large stones.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin, based on Greek ballein ‘to throw’.

ballistic /bəlstk/ adj. 1 relating to projectiles or their flight.

2 moving under the force of gravity only.

<PHRASES>

□ go ballistic INFORMAL fly into a rage.

<DERIVATIVES> ballistically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from BALLISTA + -IC.

ballistic missile n. a missile with a high, arching trajectory, which is initially powered and guided but falls under gravity on to its target.

Ballistic Missile Defense Organization name given to STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE after 1993.

ballistics plural n. [treated as sing.] the science of projectiles and firearms.

- the scientific study of the effects of being fired on a bullet, cartridge, or gun.

ball lightning n. [mass noun] a rare and little known kind of lightning having the form of a moving globe of light several centimetres across which persists for periods of up to a minute.

ballon /bal/ n. [mass noun] (in dancing) the ability to appear effortlessly suspended while performing movements during a jump.

<ORIGIN> French, from Italian ballone, from balla ‘ball’.

balloon n. 1 a small coloured rubber bag which is inflated with air and then sealed at the neck, used as a child's toy or a decoration.

2 (also hot-air balloon) a large bag filled with hot air or gas to make it rise in the air, typically one carrying a basket for passengers: he set his sights on crossing the Pacific by balloon.

3 a rounded outline in which the words or thoughts of characters in a comic strip or cartoon are written.

4 (also balloon glass) a large rounded drinking glass, used especially for brandy.

5 SCOTTISH INFORMAL a stupid person.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 swell out in a spherical shape: the trousers ballooned out below his waist.

- (of an amount of money spent or owed) increase rapidly: the company's debt has ballooned in the last five years.

- (of a person) increase rapidly in weight: I ate out of boredom and I just ballooned up.

2 BRITISH (with reference to a ball) lob or be lobbed high in the air: the ball ballooned into the air.

3 travel by hot-air balloon: he is famous for ballooning across oceans.

<PHRASES>

□ when the balloon goes up BRITISH INFORMAL when the action or trouble starts. [<ORIGIN> probably with allusion to the release of a balloon to mark the start of an event.]

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally denoting a game played with a large inflated leather ball): from French ballon or Italian ballone ‘large ball’.

balloon angioplasty n. [mass noun] MEDICINE surgical widening of a blocked or narrowed blood vessel, especially a coronary artery, by means of a balloon catheter.

balloon catheter n. MEDICINE a type of catheter incorporating a small balloon which may be introduced into a canal, duct, or blood vessel and then inflated in order to clear an obstruction or dilate a narrowed region.

balloonfish n. (pl. same or balloonfishes) a tropical porcupine fish which lives in shallow water and can inflate itself when threatened.

<INFO> Diodon holocanthus, family Diodontidae.

ballooning n. [mass noun] the sport or pastime of flying in a balloon.

<DERIVATIVES> ballooner n. balloonist n.

balloon payment n. a repayment of the outstanding principal sum made at the end of a loan period, interest only having been paid hitherto.

balloon tyre n. a large tyre containing air at low pressure for travel on soft or uneven surfaces.

<DERIVATIVES> balloon-tyred adj.

balloon vine n. a tropical American vine with inflated balloon-like pods.

<INFO> Cardiospermum halicacabum, family Sapiondaceae.

balloon whisk n. a hand whisk made of loops of wire.

ballot n. a system of voting secretly and in writing on a particular issue: a strike ballot | [mass noun] the commissioners were elected by ballot.

- (the ballot) the total number of votes cast in such a process: he won 54 per cent of the ballot.

- the piece of paper used to record a person's vote.

- a lottery held to decide the allocation of tickets, shares, or other things among a number of applicants.

■ v. (ballots, balloting, balloted) [with obj.] (of an organization) ask (members) to vote secretly on an issue: the union is preparing to ballot its members on industrial action.

- [no obj.] cast one's vote on an issue: [with infinitive] ambulance crews balloted unanimously to reject the deal.

- decide the allocation of (something) to applicants by drawing lots.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting a small coloured ball placed in a container to register a vote): from Italian ballotta, diminutive of balla (see ball^1).

ballot box n. a sealed box into which voters put completed ballot papers.

- (the ballot box) democratic principles and methods: the proper remedy was the ballot box and not the court.

ballotin /balətn/ n. a deep decorative cardboard box, slightly larger at the top and with broad flaps, in which chocolates are sold.

<ORIGIN> French, from ballot ‘a small package of goods’.

ballotine /balətin/ n. a piece of roasted meat which has first been boned, stuffed, and folded or rolled into an egg-like shape.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, ultimately from balle ‘a package of goods’.

ballot paper n. BRITISH a slip of paper used to register a vote.

ballpark n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a baseball ground.

2 INFORMAL an area or range within which an amount or estimate is likely to be correct: we can make a pretty good guess that this figure's in the ballpark.

- [as modifier] INFORMAL (of a price or cost) approximate: the ballpark figure is $400–500.

ballplayer n. NORTH AMERICAN a baseball player.

ballpoint (also ballpoint pen) n. a pen with a tiny ball as its writing point, especially one using stiffer ink than a rollerball.

ballroom n. a large room for formal dancing.

ballroom dancing n. [mass noun] formal social dancing in couples, popular as a recreation and also as a competitive activity. The ballroom dance repertoire includes dances developed from old European folk dances such as the waltz and minuet, Latin American dances such as the tango, rumba, and cha-cha, and dances of 20th-century origin such as the foxtrot and quickstep.

balls VULGAR SLANG plural n. 1 testicles.

2 [mass noun] courage or nerve.

3 [mass noun] BRITISH nonsense; rubbish (often said to express strong disagreement).

■ v. [with obj.] (balls something up) BRITISH bungle something.

<PHRASES>

□ have someone/thing by the balls have complete control over someone or something: they've got us by the balls, and they know it.

balls-aching adj. VULGAR SLANG causing annoyance, revulsion, or boredom.

<DERIVATIVES> balls-ache n. balls-achingly adv.

balls-up n. BRITISH VULGAR SLANG a bungled or badly carried out task or action; a mess.

ballsy adj. (ballsier, ballsiest) INFORMAL determined and courageous: she was a cool, ballsy woman.

<DERIVATIVES> ballsiness n.

ball-tampering n. [mass noun] [CRICKET] unlawful alteration of the surface or seam of a ball on the field, to affect its motion when bowled.

ball-tearer n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL something outstanding of its kind.

ball valve n. a one-way valve that is opened and closed by pressure on a ball which fits into a cup-shaped opening.

- British another term for BALLCOCK.

bally /bali/ adj. & adv. British old-fashioned euphemism for bloody^2.

ballyhoo INFORMAL n. [mass noun] extravagant publicity or fuss: after all the ballyhoo, the film was a flop.

■ v. (ballyhoos, ballyhooing, ballyhooed) [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN praise or publicize extravagantly.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: American coinage of unknown origin.

Ballymena /balminə/ a town in Northern Ireland, to the north of Lough Neagh, capital of a district of the same name; pop. 29,900 (est. 2002).

balm /bαm/ n. 1 a fragrant cream or liquid used to heal or soothe the skin.

- something that has a soothing or restorative effect: the murmur of the water can provide balm for troubled spirits.

2 a tree which yields a fragrant resinous substance, especially one used in medicine.

<INFO> Species in several families, in particular those of the genus Commiphora (family Burseraceae).

- [mass noun] resinous substance from such a tree.

3 (also lemon or sweet balm) [mass noun] a bushy herb of the mint family, with leaves smelling and tasting of lemon.

<INFO> Melissa officinalis, family Labiatae.

- used in names of other aromatic herbs of the mint family, e.g. bee balm.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘preparation for embalming, fragrant resinous substance’): from Old French basme, from Latin balsamum (see BALSAM).

balmacaan /balməkan/ n. a loose-fitting overcoat with a small rounded collar, typically having raglan sleeves.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Balmacaan, an estate near Inverness in Scotland.

bal masqué /bal maske/ French /bal maske/ n. (pl. bals masqués pronunc. same) a masked ball.

<ORIGIN> French.

Balmer series /bαmə/ [PHYSICS] a series of lines in the visible and ultraviolet spectrum of atomic hydrogen, between 656 and 365 nanometres.

<ORIGIN> from the name of the Swiss physicist J. J. Balmer (1825–98).

balm of Gilead /lad/ n. 1 [mass noun] a fragrant medicinal resin obtained from certain trees.

2 a tree that yields such a resin, in particular:

<INFO>

- an Arabian tree traditionally of importance in medicine and perfumery (Commiphora gileadensis, family Burseraceae).

- either of two poplars with sticky aromatic buds (Populus × gileadensis (or candicans)) and the balsam poplar, family Salicaceae).

- the balsam fir.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: balm from a translation in Coverdale's Bible (Gen. 37:25), rendered ‘resin’ in the Vulgate; Gilead from the assumption that this resin is the substance mentioned in the Bible as coming from Gilead.

balmoral /balmr(ə)l/ n. 1 a round brimless hat with a cockade or ribbons attached, worn by certain Scottish regiments.

2 a heavy laced leather walking boot.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): named after BALMORAL CASTLE in Scotland.

Balmoral Castle a holiday residence of the British royal family, on the River Dee in Scotland.

bal musette /bal mjuzεt/ French /bal mYzεt/ n. (pl. bals musettes pronunc. same) (in France) a dance hall with an accordion band.

<ORIGIN> French, originally denoting dancing outdoors to bagpipe accompaniment.

balmy /bαmi/ adj. (balmier, balmiest) 1 characterized by pleasantly warm weather: the balmy days of late summer.

2 North American or DATED variant spelling of BARMY.

<DERIVATIVES> balmily adv. balminess n.

balmyard n. (in the West Indies) a place where the rituals of Pocomania or obeah are practised.

<ORIGIN> from BALM in the sense ‘healing influence’, possibly influenced by an African word.

balneology /balnlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of medicinal springs and the therapeutic effects of bathing in them.

■ another term for BALNEOTHERAPY.

<DERIVATIVES> balneological adj. balneologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin balneum ‘bath’ + -LOGY.

balneotherapy /balnə()θεrəpi/ n. [mass noun] the treatment of disease by bathing in mineral springs.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin balneum ‘bath’ + THERAPY.

baloney /bələni/ n. INFORMAL 1 [mass noun] foolish or deceptive talk; nonsense: I don't buy it—it's all a load of baloney.

2 North American term for BOLOGNA.

<ORIGIN> 1920s:

■ sense 1 said to be a corruption of BOLOGNA.

Balqash, Lake /balkα/ (also Balkhash) a shallow salt lake in Kazakhstan.

balsa /blsə blsə/ n. [mass noun] 1 (also balsa wood) very lightweight timber used chiefly for making models and rafts.

2 the fast-growing tropical American tree from which this timber is obtained.

<INFO> Ochroma lagopus (or pyramidale), family Bombacaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a kind of South American raft or fishing boat): from Spanish, ‘raft’.

balsam /blsəm bl-/ n. 1 [mass noun] an aromatic resinous substance, such as balm, exuded by various trees and shrubs and used as a base for certain fragrances and medical preparations.

- [count noun] a tree or shrub which yields balsam.

2 a herbaceous plant cultivated for its helmeted pink or purple flowers.

<INFO> Genus Impatiens, family Balsaminaceae: several species.

<DERIVATIVES> balsamic /-samk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, via Latin from Greek balsamon.

balsam fir n. a North American fir tree which yields Canada balsam.

<INFO> Abies balsamea, family Pinaceae.

balsamic vinegar n. [mass noun] dark, sweet Italian vinegar that has been matured in wooden barrels.

balsam poplar n. a North American poplar tree which yields balsam.

<INFO> Populus balsamifera, family Salicaceae.

bals masqués plural form of bal masqué.

bals musettes plural form of BAL MUSETTE.

Balt /blt blt/ n. 1 a speaker of a Baltic language; a Lithuanian or Latvian.

2 a native or inhabitant of one of the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

- HISTORICAL a German-speaking inhabitant of any of these states.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from late Latin Balthae ‘dwellers near the Baltic Sea’.

Balthasar /balθəzα/ the name of one of the three Magi.

balthazar /balθazə/ n. a very large wine bottle, equivalent in capacity to sixteen regular bottles.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Balthazar, the name of the king of Babylon, who ‘made a great feast … and drank wine before a thousand’ (Dan. 5:1).

Balti /balti/ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Baltistan.

2 [mass noun] the Tibetan language of the Baltis, with around 400,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Baltis or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Ladakhi dialect.

balti /blti balti/ n. (pl. baltis) [mass noun] a type of spicy Pakistani cuisine in which the food is cooked in a small two-handled pan known as a karahi.

- [count noun] a meal prepared in this way.

<ORIGIN> of uncertain origin: perhaps from BALTI.

Baltic /bltk blt-/ adj. 1 relating to the Baltic Sea or the region surrounding it.

2 denoting or relating to a branch of the Indo-European family of languages consisting of Lithuanian, Latvian, and Old Prussian.

■ n. 1 (the Baltic) the Baltic Sea or the Baltic States.

2 [mass noun] the Baltic languages collectively.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin Balticus, from late Latin Balthae ‘dwellers near the Baltic Sea’.

Baltic Exchange an association of companies, based in London, whose members are engaged in numerous international trading activities, especially the chartering of vessels to carry cargo.

<ORIGIN> from the name Virginia and Baltic, one of many coffee houses where shipowners and merchants met in London in the 18th century, the coffee house being so named by association with areas of much of the trade.

Baltic Sea an almost landlocked sea of northern Europe, between Sweden, Finland, Russia, Poland, Germany, and Denmark. It is linked with the North Sea by the Kattegat strait and the Øresund channel.

Baltic States 1 the independent republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

2 the ten members of the Council of Baltic States established in 1992: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweden.

Baltimore /bltm bl-/ a seaport in north Maryland; pop. 651,154 (2000).

<DERIVATIVES> Baltimorean /bltmrən bl-/ n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> named after George Calvert, the first Baron Baltimore (c.1580–1632), who in 1632 obtained a grant of land for the colony later to become Maryland.

Baltistan /bltstαn bl- -stan/ a region of the Karakoram range of the Himalayas, to the south of K2. Also called LITTLE TIBET.

Baluchi /bəluti/ n. (pl. same or Baluchis) 1 a native or inhabitant of Baluchistan.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Iranian group spoken by over 5 million people in and around Baluchistan.

■ adj. relating to the Baluchi or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Persian Balūč(ī).

Baluchistan /bəlutstαn -stan/ 1 a mountainous region of western Asia, which includes part of SE Iran, SW Afghanistan, and western Pakistan.

2 a province of western Pakistan; capital, Quetta.

balun /baln/ n. a type of electrical transformer used to connect an unbalanced circuit to a balanced one.

<ORIGIN> from bal(ance to) un(balance transformer).

Balunda plural form of LUNDA.

baluster /baləstə/ n. a short decorative pillar forming part of a series supporting a rail or coping.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French balustre, from Italian balaustro, from balaust(r)a ‘wild pomegranate flower’ (via Latin from Greek balaustion), so named because part of the pillar resembles the curving calyx tube of the flower.

balustrade /baləstred/ n. a railing supported by balusters, especially one forming an ornamental parapet to a balcony, bridge, or terrace.

<DERIVATIVES> balustraded adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from balustre (see BALUSTER).

Balzac /balzak/ Honoré de (1799–1850), French novelist. He is chiefly remembered for his series of ninety-one interconnected novels and stories known collectively as La Comédie humaine, which includes Eugénie Grandet (1833) and Le Père Goriot (1835).

<DERIVATIVES> Balzacian /balzakən/ adj.

bam exclam. used to imitate the sound of a hard blow or to convey something happening abruptly: he'll have to make a dash for it, and when he does, bam, he's dead.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: imitative.

Bamako /baməkə/ the capital of Mali, in the south of the country, on the River Niger; pop. 906,700 (est. 2002).

Bambara /bambαrə/ n. (pl. same or Bambaras) 1 a member of a West African people living chiefly in Mali.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Bambara, belonging to the Mande group. It has about 1.5 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Bambara or their language.

bambino /bambinə/ n. (pl. bambini /-ni/ or bambinos) a baby or young child.

- an image of the infant Jesus.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: Italian, diminutive of bambo ‘silly’.

bamboo n. [mass noun] a giant woody grass which is grown chiefly in the tropics.

<INFO> Bambusa and other genera, family Gramineae.

- the hollow jointed stem of this plant, used as a cane or to make furniture and implements.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Dutch bamboes, based on Malay mambu.

bamboo rat n. a large nocturnal burrowing rat that feeds chiefly on the roots of bamboo and other plants, found in the forests of SE Asia.

<INFO> Genus Rhyzomys, family Muridae: several species.

bamboo shoot n. a young shoot of bamboo, eaten as a vegetable.

bamboozle /bambuz(ə)l/ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL cheat or fool: he bamboozled Canada's largest banks in a massive counterfeit scam.

<DERIVATIVES> bamboozler n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: of unknown origin.

Bamian /bamαn/ a city in central Afghanistan; pop. 29,800 (est. 2002). Nearby are the remains of two colossal statues of Buddha, destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, and the ruins of the city of Ghulghuleh, which was destroyed by Genghis Khan c.1221.

bammy (also bammie) n. (in the West Indies) a flat roll or pancake made from cassava flour.

<ORIGIN> probably from a West African language.

ban^1 /ban/ v. (bans, banning, banned) [with obj.] officially or legally prohibit (something): parking is banned around the harbour in summer.

- officially prevent (someone) from doing something: her son was banned for life from the Centre.

■ n. 1 an official or legal prohibition: a proposed ban on cigarette advertising | a three-year driving ban.

- an official exclusion of a person from an organization, country, or activity: a ban on dangerous jet-ski riders.

- HISTORICAL a sentence of outlawry.

2 ARCHAIC a curse.

<DERIVATIVES> bannable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English bannan ‘summon by a public proclamation’, of Germanic origin, reinforced by Old Norse banna ‘curse, prohibit’; the noun is partly from Old French ban ‘proclamation, summons, banishment’.

ban^2 /bαn/ n. (pl. bani /bαni/) a monetary unit of Romania, equal to one hundredth of a leu.

<ORIGIN> Romanian.

Banaba /bənabə/ an island in the western Pacific, just south of the equator to the west of the Gilbert Islands. Formerly within the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, the island has been part of Kiribati since 1979. Also called OCEAN ISLAND.

banal /bənαl -nal/ adj. so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring: songs with banal, repeated words.

<DERIVATIVES> banally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally relating to feudal service in the sense ‘compulsory’, hence ‘common to all’): from French, from ban ‘a proclamation or call to arms’; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to ban^1.

banality /bənalti/ n. (pl. banalities) [mass noun] the fact or condition of being banal; unoriginality: there is an essential banality to the story he tells.

banana n. 1 a long curved fruit which grows in clusters and has soft pulpy flesh and yellow skin when ripe.

2 (also banana plant or banana tree) the tropical and subtropical palm-like plant which bears bananas, having very large leaves but lacking a woody trunk.

<INFO> Genus Musa, family Musaceae: several species, in particular M. sapientum.

<PHRASES>

□ go (or be) bananas INFORMAL become (or be) mad or extremely silly.

- become extremely angry or excited: she went bananas when I said I was going to leave the job.

□ top (or second) banana INFORMAL the most (or second most) important person in an organization.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Portuguese or Spanish from Mande.

banana belt n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a region with a comparatively warm climate.

Banana bender n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a person from Queensland.

Bananaland n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL Queensland.

<DERIVATIVES> Bananalander n.

banana plug n. [ELECTRONICS], INFORMAL a single-pole connector with a curved strip of metal forming a spring along its tip.

bananaquit /bənαnəkwt/ n. a small songbird with a curved bill, typically with a white stripe over the eye, a sooty grey back, and yellow underparts. It is common in the Caribbean and Central and South America.

<INFO> Coereba flaveola, the only member of the family Coerebidae; sometimes placed in the family Parulidae.

<ORIGIN> see quit^2.

banana republic n. DEROGATORY a small state that is politically unstable as a result of the domination of its economy by a single export controlled by foreign capital.

banana skin n. BRITISH INFORMAL used to refer to a cause of difficulty or embarrassment: the minister was appointed to spot political banana skins.

banana split n. a sweet dish made with bananas cut down the middle and filled with ice cream, sauce, and nuts.

banausic /bənsk/ adj. FORMAL not operating on an elevated level; mundane.

- relating to technical work.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek banausikos ‘of or for artisans’.

Banbury cake n. BRITISH a flat pastry with a spicy currant filling.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: named after the town of Banbury in central England, where it was originally made.

bancassurance /bakərəns/ (also bankassurance) n. [mass noun] BRITISH the selling of life assurance and other insurance products and services by banking institutions.

<DERIVATIVES> bancassurer n.

banco /bakə/ exclam. (in baccarat, chemin de fer, and similar games) an indication of a player's willingness to meet the banker's whole stake single-handed.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via French from Italian.

band^1 n. 1 a flat, thin strip or loop of material, used as a fastener, for reinforcement, or as decoration.

- a plain ring for the finger, especially a gold wedding ring.

- [ORNITHOLOGY], N. AMER. a ring of metal placed round a bird's leg to identify it.

- a belt or strap transmitting motion between two wheels or pulleys.

- (bands) a collar with two hanging strips, worn by certain lawyers, clerics, and academics as part of their formal dress.

2 a stripe, line, or elongated area of a different colour, texture, or composition from its surroundings: a long, narrow band of cloud.

- a narrow stratum of rock or coal.

3 a range of values or a specified category within a series (used especially in financial contexts): your home was placed in one of eight valuation bands.

- a range of frequencies or wavelengths in a spectrum: channels in the UHF band.

- any of several groups into which school pupils of the same age are divided on the basis of broadly similar ability: the top band of pupils.

4 ARCHAIC a thing that restrains, binds, or unites: must I fall, and die in bands?

■ v. [with obj.] 1 provide or fit (an object) with something in the form of a strip or ring, for reinforcement or decoration: doors are banded with iron to make them stronger.

- [ORNITHOLOGY], N. AMER. put a band on (a bird) for identification.

2 mark (something) with a stripe or stripes of a different colour: the bird's bill is banded across the middle with black | (as adj. banded) banded agate.

3 BRITISH allocate to a range or category (used especially in financial contexts): single adults in a property banded above D will pay more.

- group (school pupils) into classes or sets for teaching purposes.

<ORIGIN> late Old English (in sense 4 of the noun), from Old Norse, reinforced in late Middle English by Old French bande, of Germanic origin; related to BIND.

band^2 n. 1 a group of people who have a common interest or purpose or who share a common feature: a band of eminent British researchers.

- [ANTHROPOLOGY] a subgroup of a tribe.

2 a small group of musicians and vocalists who play pop, jazz, or rock music.

- a group of musicians who play brass, wind, or percussion instruments: a military band.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a herd or flock: moving bands of caribou.

■ v. [no obj.] (of people or organizations) form a group to achieve a mutual objective: local people banded together to fight the company.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bande, of Germanic origin; related to BANNER.

Banda /bandə/ Hastings Kamuzu (1906–97), Malawian statesman, Prime Minister 1964–94 and the first President of the Republic of Malawi 1966–94. Banda was defeated in Malawi's first multiparty elections in 1994; the following year he was acquitted on charges of murdering four political opponents.

bandage n. a strip of woven material used to bind up a wound or to protect an injured part of the body: her leg was swathed in bandages | [mass noun] a strip of bandage.

■ v. [with obj.] bind (a wound or a part of the body) with a protective strip of material: bandage the foot so that the ankle is supported.

<DERIVATIVES> bandaging n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from bande (see band^1).

Band-Aid n. TRADEMARK, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a piece of sticking plaster of a type having a gauze pad.

- (also band-aid) [often as modifier] a temporary solution, especially an unsatisfactory one: a band-aid solution to a much deeper problem.

bandana /bandanə/ (also bandanna) n. a large coloured handkerchief, typically with white spots, worn tied around the head or neck.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: probably via Portuguese from Hindi.

Bandaranaike /bandərənkə/ Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias (1916–2000), Sinhalese stateswoman, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka 1960–5, 1970–7, and 1994–2000. The world's first woman Prime Minister, she succeeded her husband, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, after his assassination.

Bandar Lampung /bandə lamp/ a city at the southern tip of Sumatra, in Indonesia; pop. 727,400 (est. 2002). It was created in the 1980s as a result of the amalgamation of the city of Tanjungkarang and the nearby port of Telukbetung.

Bandar Seri Begawan /bandə sεr bəαwən/ the capital of Brunei; pop. 74,700 (est. 2002).

Banda Sea /bandə/ a sea in eastern Indonesia, between the central and south Molucca Islands.

B & B abbr. bed and breakfast.

bandbox n. a circular cardboard box for carrying hats.

- DATED used in comparisons to convey the smartness and neatness of someone's appearance: I'd go out looking fresh out of a bandbox.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from BAND^1 + BOX^1, the box being used originally for neckbands.

bandeau /bandə/ n. (pl. bandeaux /-dəz/) 1 a narrow band worn round the head to hold the hair in position.

2 [usually as modifier] a woman's strapless top formed from a band of fabric fitting around the bust: a bandeau bikini top.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Old French bandel, diminutive of bande (see band^1).

banded anteater n. another term for NUMBAT.

bander n. NORTH AMERICAN a bird ringer.

banderilla /bandərijə -rljə/ n. a decorated dart thrust into a bull's neck or shoulders during a bullfight.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, diminutive of bandera ‘banner’.

banderillero /bandərljεrə -rijεrə/ n. (pl. banderilleros) a bullfighter who uses banderillas.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

banderole /bandərəl/ (also banderol) n. a long, narrow flag with a cleft end, flown at a masthead.

- HISTORICAL an ornamental streamer on a knight's lance.

- a ribbon-like stone scroll bearing an inscription.

- a rectangular banner carried at the funerals of public figures and placed over the tomb.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Italian banderuola, diminutive of bandiera ‘banner’.

bandersnatch /bandəsnat/ n. a fierce mythical creature immune to bribery and capable of moving very fast.

<ORIGIN> 1871: coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass; probably a portmanteau word.

bandfish n. (pl. same or bandfishes) 1 an elongated marine fish with dorsal and often anal fins that extend the length of the body.

<INFO> Family Cepolidae: several genera and species.

2 a large edible freshwater fish that has a long trunk-like snout and lacks dorsal, pelvic, and tail fins, native to tropical South America.

<INFO> Rhamphichthys rostratus, family Rhamphichthyidae.

bandh /bnd/ n. INDIAN a general strike.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit bandh ‘to stop’.

bandicoot /bandkut/ n. a mainly insectivorous marsupial native to Australia and New Guinea.

<INFO> Family Peramelidae: several genera and species.

- INDIAN a bandicoot rat.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Telugu pandikokku, literally ‘pig-rat’.

bandicoot rat n. an Asian rat that is a destructive pest in many places.

<INFO> Genera Bandicota and Nesokia, family Muridae: four species, in particular the large B. indica.

banding n. [mass noun] the presence or formation of stripes of contrasting colour: the yellow and black banding of bees and wasps.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] the pattern of regions on a chromosome made visible by staining.

bandit n. (pl. bandits or banditti /banditi/) a robber or outlaw belonging to a gang and typically operating in an isolated or lawless area.

- MILITARY SLANG an enemy aircraft.

<DERIVATIVES> banditry n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian bandito, ‘banned’, past participle of bandire ‘to ban’.

bandito /banditə/ (also bandido) n. (pl. banditos) NORTH AMERICAN a Mexican bandit, especially as represented in films and popular culture.

bandleader n. a player at the head of a musical band.

bandmaster n. the conductor of a musical band, especially a brass or military one.

Band of Hope a British organization promoting total abstinence from alcohol.

bandog n. a fighting dog bred for its strength and ferocity by crossing aggressive breeds.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting a dog kept on a chain or ‘band’): from BAND^1 + DOG.

bandolier /bandələ/ (also bandoleer) n. a shoulder belt with loops or pockets for cartridges.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French bandoulière; perhaps from Spanish bandolera (from banda ‘sash’), or from Catalan bandolera (from bandoler ‘bandit’).

bandoneon /bandənən/ n. a type of square concertina, especially popular in Argentina.

<ORIGIN> via Spanish from German Bandonion, named after Heinrich Band, the 19th-cent. German musician who invented it, + -on- (as in Harmonika ‘harmonica’) + -ion (as in Akkordion ‘accordion’).

bandora /bandrə/ (also bandore /band/) n. a kind of bass lute with a scallop-shaped body and metal strings, typical of English consorts of the late 16th and 17th centuries.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: origin uncertain; compare with Dutch bandoor, Spanish bandurria, also with BANJO; probably based on Greek pandoura ‘three-stringed lute’.

bandpass adj. (of a filter) transmitting only a set range of frequencies.

■ n. the range of frequencies which are transmitted through such a filter.

bandsaw n. a saw consisting of an endless moving steel belt with a serrated edge.

bandshell n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a bandstand in the form of a large concave shell with special acoustic properties.

bandsman n. (pl. bandsmen) a player in a musical band, especially a military or brass one.

bandstand n. a covered outdoor platform for a band to play on, typically in a park.

bandulu /bandulu/ n. [mass noun] W. INDIAN crime or fraudulent dealings: [as modifier] bandulu business.

Bandung /band/ a city in Indonesia; pop. 2,884,300 (est. 2002). Founded by the Dutch in 1810, it was the capital of the former Dutch East Indies.

bandura /bandurə/ n. a Ukrainian stringed instrument resembling a large asymmetrical lute with many strings, held vertically and plucked like a zither.

<ORIGIN> Ukrainian; compare with BANDORA.

bandwagon n. 1 (especially formerly) a wagon used for carrying a band in a parade or procession.

2 an activity or cause that has suddenly become fashionable or popular: companies sought to strengthen their share prices by jumping on the dot-com bandwagon | they would not climb aboard the bandwagon of every fashionable social issue.

bandwidth n. [ELECTRONICS] a range of frequencies within a given band, in particular that used for transmitting a signal.

- the transmission capacity of a computer network or other telecommunication system.

bandy^1 adj. (bandier, bandiest) (of a person's legs) curved outwards so that the knees are wide apart.

- having legs that are curved in such a way.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps from obsolete bandy ‘curved stick used in hockey’.

bandy^2 v. (bandies, bandying, bandied) [with obj.] (usually be bandied about/around) pass on or discuss (an idea or rumour) in a casual or uninformed way: £40,000 is the figure that has been bandied about.

<PHRASES>

□ bandy words argue pointlessly or rudely: I'm not going to bandy words with you.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘pass a ball to and fro’): perhaps from French bander ‘take sides at tennis’, from bande ‘band, crowd’ (see band^2).

bandy^3 n. [mass noun] a form of hockey played on a field or on ice with a ball and large curved sticks.

- [count noun] (plural bandies) the curved stick used in this sport.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps from BANDY^2.

bandy-bandy n. (pl. bandy-bandys) a small mildly venomous nocturnal snake marked with distinctive black-and-white bands, native to Australia.

<INFO> Vermicella annulata, family Elapidae.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Kattah (an Aboriginal language) bandi bandi.

bane n. [usually in sing.] 1 a cause of great distress or annoyance: the telephone was the bane of my life.

2 ARCHAIC something, especially poison, which causes death.

<DERIVATIVES> baneful adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> Old English bana ‘thing causing death, poison’, of Germanic origin.

baneberry n. (pl. baneberries) a plant of the buttercup family, which bears fluffy spikes of creamy-white flowers followed by shiny berries, found in north temperate regions.

<INFO> Genus Actaea, family Ranunculaceae, especially the common Eurasian A. spicata (also called HERB CHRISTOPHER), with black berries.

- the bitter, often poisonous, berry of the baneberry.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from BANE in the sense ‘poison’ + BERRY.

Banffshire /bamfə -ə/ a former county of NE Scotland which became a part of Grampian region in 1975 and Aberdeenshire in 1996.

bang^1 n. 1 a sudden loud, sharp noise: the door slammed with a bang.

- a sharp blow causing such a noise: I went to answer a bang on the front door.

- a sudden painful blow: a nasty bang on the head.

2 (bangs) NORTH AMERICAN a fringe of hair cut straight across the forehead. [<ORIGIN> from a use of the adverb bang to mean ‘abruptly’.]

3 VULGAR SLANG an act of sexual intercourse.

4 [COMPUTING], chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the character ‘!’.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 strike or put down (something) forcefully and noisily: he began to bang the table with his fist | Sarah banged the phone down | [no obj.] someone was banging on the door.

- [with obj. and adverbial] cause (something) to strike something else unexpectedly and sharply: I banged my head on the low beams | [no obj.] she banged into some shelves in the darkness.

- [no obj.] make a sudden loud noise, typically repeatedly: the shutter was banging in the wind.

- (with reference to something such as a door) open or close noisily: [with obj. and complement] he banged the kitchen door shut behind him.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a person) move around or do something noisily: she was banging around the kitchen.

2 NORTH AMERICAN cut (hair) in a fringe.

3 VULGAR SLANG (of a man) have sexual intercourse with (a woman).

■ adv. INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH exactly: the train arrived bang on time.

- completely: bring your wardrobe bang up to date.

■ exclam. 1 used to convey the sound of a sudden loud noise: party poppers went bang.

2 used to convey the suddenness of an action: the minute something becomes obsolete, bang, it's gone.

<PHRASES>

□ bang for one's (or the) buck US INFORMAL value for money.

□ bang goes —— BRITISH used to express the sudden collapse of a plan or hope: my first thought when I heard the news was ‘Bang goes my knighthood!’.

□ bang on BRITISH INFORMAL exactly right: the programme is bang on about the fashion world.

□ bang (or knock) people's heads together see HEAD.

□ get a bang out of NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL derive excitement or pleasure from: some people get a bang out of reading that stuff.

□ with a bang 1 abruptly: the remark brought me down to earth with a bang.

2 successfully or impressively: the occasion went with a bang.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ bang away at INFORMAL do something in a persistent or dogged way: he was banging away at his novel.

□ bang on about BRITISH INFORMAL talk at tedious length about (something): the government banged on about competition and the free market.

□ bang something out INFORMAL 1 play music noisily, enthusiastically, and unskilfully.

2 produce something hurriedly or in great quantities: they weren't banging out ads in my day the way they are now.

□ bang someone/thing up BRITISH INFORMAL imprison someone: they've been banged up for something they didn't do.

- North American INFORMAL damage or injure someone or something.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: imitative, perhaps of Scandinavian origin; compare with Old Norse bang ‘hammering’.

Bangalore /baəl/ a city in south central India, capital of the state of Karnataka; pop. 4,292,200 (2001).

Bangalore torpedo n. a tube containing explosive used by infantry for blowing up wire entanglements or other barriers.

bangarang /baəra/ n. W. INDIAN an uproar or disturbance.

<ORIGIN> probably imitative, but perhaps influenced by Portuguese banguelê ‘riot, disorder’.

banger n. BRITISH INFORMAL 1 a sausage.

2 an old car in poor condition: they've only got an old banger.

3 a loud explosive firework.

banging adj. BRITISH INFORMAL (of dance music) having a loud relentless beat.

- excellent: a bangin' night out.

Bangkok /bakk/ the capital and chief port of Thailand, on the Chao Phraya waterway, 40 km (25 miles) upstream from its outlet into the Gulf of Thailand; pop. 6,320,200 (2000). Thai name KRUNG THEP.

Bangla /blə/ n. [mass noun] the Bengali language.

■ adj. 1 Bangladeshi.

2 Bengali.

<ORIGIN> from Bengali bāglā.

Bangladesh /balədε/ a country of the Indian subcontinent, in the Ganges delta; pop. 133,376,684 (est. 2002); official language, Bengali; capital, Dhaka.

Formerly part of British India, the region became (as East Pakistan) one of the two geographical units of Pakistan. After civil war the independent republic of Bangladesh was proclaimed in 1971; it became a Commonwealth state in 1972.

<DERIVATIVES> Bangladeshi adj. & n.

bangle n. a rigid ornamental band worn round the arm or occasionally the ankle.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Hindi baglī ‘glass bracelet’.

bangtail n. a horse's tail that has been cut straight across just below the level of the hocks.

- US INFORMAL a racehorse.

bangtail muster n. AUSTRALIAN a count of cattle on a station, involving cutting across the tufts at the tail ends as each is counted.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: bang in the sense ‘cut (the tail of an animal) straight across’; compare with bang^1 (sense 2 of the verb).

Bangui /bai/ the capital of the Central African Republic; pop. 652,900 (est. 2002).

bang-up adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL excellent: for a novice, he has done a bang-up job.

bani plural form of ban^2.

bania /bnə/ n. (in India) a trader or merchant.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi baniyā, from Sanskrit vāija.

banish v. [with obj.] send (someone) away from a country or place as an official punishment: a number of people were banished to Siberia for political crimes.

- get rid of (something unwanted): all thoughts of romance were banished from her head.

<DERIVATIVES> banishment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French baniss-, lengthened stem of banir; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to ban^1.

banister /banstə/ (also bannister) n. (also banisters) the structure formed by the uprights and handrail at the side of a staircase.

- a single upright at the side of a staircase: I stuck my head between the banisters.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from earlier barrister, alteration of BALUSTER.

Banja Luka /banjə lukə/ a town in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina; pop. 160,000 (est. 1997).

Banjarmasin /bandəmαsn/ (also Bandjarmasin) a deep-water port and capital of the province of Kalimantan in Indonesia, on the island of Borneo; pop. 548,900 (est. 2002).

banjax /bandaks/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. banjaxed) INFORMAL ruin, incapacitate, or break: the kettle's banjaxed.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: originally Anglo-Irish, of unknown origin.

banjo n. (pl. banjos or banjoes) a stringed instrument of the guitar family, with a round open-backed soundbox of parchment stretched over a metal hoop.

- an object resembling this in shape: [as modifier] a banjo clock.

<DERIVATIVES> banjoist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: originally a black American alteration of bandore (see BANDORA).

Banjul /bandul/ the capital of Gambia; pop. 57,800 (est. 2000). Former name (until 1973) BATHURST.

bank^1 n. 1 the land alongside or sloping down to a river or lake: willows lined the bank of the stream.

2 a long, high mass or mound of a particular substance: a grassy bank | a bank of snow.

- an elevation in the seabed or a riverbed; a mudbank or sandbank.

- a transverse slope given to a road, railway, or sports track to enable vehicles or runners to maintain speed round a curve.

- [mass noun] the sideways tilt of an aircraft when turning in flight: a rather steep angle of bank.

3 a set of similar things, especially electrical or electronic devices, grouped together in rows: the DJ had big banks of lights and speakers on either side of his console.

- a tier of oars.

4 the cushion of a pool table.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 heap (a substance) into a mass or mound: the rain banked the soil up behind the gate | snow was banked in humps at the roadside.

- [no obj.] form into a mass or mound: purple clouds banked up over the hills.

- heap up (a fire) with tightly packed fuel so that it burns slowly: she banked up the fire.

- edge or surround with a ridge or row of something: steps banked with pots of chrysanthemums.

2 (with reference to an aircraft or vehicle) tilt or cause to tilt sideways in making a turn: [no obj.] the plane banked as if to return to the airport | [with obj.] I banked the aircraft steeply and turned.

3 build (a road, railway, or sports track) higher at the outer edge of a bend to facilitate fast cornering.

4 (often as n. banking) BRITISH (of a locomotive) provide additional power for (a train) in ascending an incline.

5 (of an angler) succeed in landing (a fish): it was the biggest rainbow trout that had ever been banked.

6 NORTH AMERICAN (in pool) play (a ball) so that it rebounds off a surface such as a cushion.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse bakki, of Germanic origin; related to BENCH. The senses ‘set of things in rows’ and ‘tier of oars’ are from French banc, of the same ultimate origin.

bank^2 n. a financial establishment that uses money deposited by customers for investment, pays it out when required, makes loans at interest, and exchanges currency: [as modifier] a bank account.

- a stock of something available for use when required: a blood bank | FIGURATIVE Britain has a bank of highly exportable skills.

- a site or receptacle where something may be deposited for recycling: a paper bank.

- (the bank) the store of money or tokens held by the banker in some gambling or board games.

- the person holding this store; the banker.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] deposit (money or valuables) in a bank.

- [no obj.] have an account at a particular bank: the family has banked with Coutts for generations.

- INFORMAL win or earn (a sum of money): he banked £100,000 for a hole-in-one.

- store (something, especially blood, tissue, or sperm) for future use.

2 [no obj.] (bank on) rely on confidently: the prime minister cannot bank on their support.

<PHRASES>

□ break the bank (in gambling) win more money than is held by the bank.

- [usually with negative] INFORMAL cost more than one can afford: at £30, the shirts won't break the bank.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (originally denoting a money dealer's table): from French banque or Italian banca, from medieval Latin banca, bancus, of Germanic origin; related to bank^1 and BENCH.

bankable adj. (especially in the entertainment industry) certain to bring profit and success: he needed some bankable names to star in the film.

<DERIVATIVES> bankability /-əblti/ n.

bank balance n. the amount of money held in a bank account at a given moment.

bank barn n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a barn built on a slope.

bank bill n. 1 BRITISH a bill of exchange drawn by one bank on another.

2 US another term for BANKNOTE.

bank book n. another term for PASSBOOK.

bank card n. another term for CHEQUE CARD.

bank draft n. a cheque drawn by a bank on its own funds.

banker^1 n. 1 a person who manages or owns a bank or group of banks.

- the person running the table, controlling play, or acting as dealer in some gambling or board games.

2 BRITISH a supposedly certain bet: the horse should be a banker for him in the Members' race.

- a result forecast identically (while other forecasts differ) in several football-pool entries on one coupon.

banker^2 n. 1 a boat employed in cod fishing off Newfoundland.

- a Newfoundland fisherman.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a river flooded to the top of its banks.

3 an additional locomotive used to assist a train in ascending an incline.

4 a bench at which a stonemason works.

banker's card n. British another term for CHEQUE CARD.

banker's draft n. another term for BANK DRAFT.

banker's hours plural n. NORTH AMERICAN short working hours (in reference to the typical opening hours of a bank).

banker's order n. BRITISH a standing order to a bank to make specified payments from one's account to a particular recipient.

Bank for International Settlements a bank founded in 1930 to promote the cooperation of central banks and to provide facilities for international financial operations. It is located at Basle in Switzerland.

Bankhead Tallulah (1903–68), American actress, noted for her uninhibited public persona. Her most successful film appearance was in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944).

bank holiday n. BRITISH a day on which banks are officially closed, kept as a public holiday.

Ban Ki-moon /ban kimun/ (b.1944), South Korean diplomat, Secretary General of the United Nations since 2007.

banking^1 n. [mass noun] the business conducted or services offered by a bank: with this account, you are entitled to free banking.

banking^2 n. an embankment or artificial bank.

bank manager n. a person in charge of a local branch of a bank.

banknote n. a piece of paper money, constituting a central bank's promissory note to pay a stated sum to the bearer on demand.

Bank of England the central bank of England and Wales, which issues legal tender, manages the national debt, administers exchange rate policy, and since 1997 sets interest rates. Founded in 1694, it was nationalized in 1946.

bank rate n. another term for BASE RATE or DISCOUNT RATE.

bankroll n. NORTH AMERICAN a roll of banknotes.

- financial resources.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL support (a person, organization, or project) financially: the project is bankrolled by wealthy expatriates.

bankrupt adj. (of a person or organization) declared in law as unable to pay their debts: his father went bankrupt and the family had to sell their home.

- FIGURATIVE completely lacking in a particular good quality: their cause is morally bankrupt.

■ n. a person judged by a court to be insolvent, whose property is taken and disposed of for the benefit of their creditors.

■ v. [with obj.] reduce (a person or organization) to bankruptcy: the strike nearly bankrupted the union.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Italian banca rotta ‘broken bench’, from banca (see bank^2) and rompere ‘to break’. The change in the ending was due to association with Latin rupt- ‘broken’.

bankruptcy n. (pl. bankruptcies) [mass noun] the state of being bankrupt: many companies were facing bankruptcy | [count noun] a 7% increase in bankruptcies.

- FIGURATIVE the state of being completely lacking in a particular good quality: the intellectual bankruptcy of the corporate media.

bankruptcy order n. [LAW] an order of the court declaring a person bankrupt and placing their affairs under the control of a receiver or trustee. Compare with RECEIVING ORDER.

Banks^1 Gordon (b.1937), English footballer. An outstanding goalkeeper, he played in the 1966 and 1970 World Cups. In 1972 a serious eye injury sustained in a car crash effectively ended his playing career.

Banks^2 Sir Joseph (1743–1820), English botanist. He accompanied Captain James Cook on his first voyage to the Pacific, and helped to establish the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

banksia /baksə/ n. an evergreen Australian shrub which typically has narrow leathery leaves and spikes of bottlebrush-like flowers.

<INFO> Genus Banksia, family Proteaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Sir Joseph Banks (see Banks^2).

banksia rose n. a small-flowered climbing rose native to China.

<INFO> Rosa banksiae, family Rosaceae.

bank statement n. a printed record of the balance in a bank account and the amounts that have been paid into it and withdrawn from it, issued periodically to the holder of the account.

bank vole n. a common reddish-brown Eurasian vole that lives in woodland and scrub.

<INFO> Clethrionomys glareolus, family Muridae.

banner n. 1 a long strip of cloth bearing a slogan or design, carried in a demonstration or procession or hung in a public place.

- HISTORICAL a flag on a pole used as the standard of a king, knight, or army.

- used in reference to support for a belief or principle: the government is flying the free trade banner.

2 an advertisement on a website in the form of a bar, column, or box.

■ adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN excellent; outstanding: the company was having a banner year.

<PHRASES>

□ under the banner of as part of a specified group: the party is running under the banner of the Left-Wing Alliance.

- claiming to support a specified cause or principle: campaigns fought under the banner of multiculturalism.

<DERIVATIVES> bannered adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French baniere, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to band^2.

banneret /banərt/ n. HISTORICAL 1 a knight who commanded his own troops in battle under his own banner.

2 a knighthood given on the battlefield for courage.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French baneret, literally ‘bannered’, from baniere ‘banner’.

banner headline n. a large newspaper headline, especially one across the top of the front page.

Bannister Sir Roger (Gilbert) (b.1929), British middle-distance runner and neurologist. In May 1954 he became the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes, with a time of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.

bannock /banək/ n. a round, flat loaf, typically unleavened, associated with Scotland and northern England.

<ORIGIN> Old English bannuc, of Celtic origin; related to Welsh ban, Breton bannac'h, banne, and Cornish banna ‘a drop’.

Bannockburn, Battle of /banəkbən/ a battle which took place near Stirling in central Scotland in 1314, in which the English army of Edward II, advancing to break the siege of Stirling Castle, was defeated by the Scots under Robert the Bruce.

banns plural n. a notice read out on three successive Sundays in a parish church, announcing an intended marriage and giving the opportunity for objections.

<PHRASES>

□ forbid the banns ARCHAIC raise an objection to an intended marriage.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: plural of ban^1.

banoffi pie /bənfi/ (also banoffee pie) n. a pie or tart made with toffee, bananas, and cream.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: banoffi from a blend of BANANA and TOFFEE.

banquet /bakwt/ n. an elaborate and formal evening meal for many people: a state banquet at Buckingham Palace.

- an elaborate meal with several courses; a feast: a lavish five-course banquet | FIGURATIVE a veritable banquet of seasonal events.

■ v. (banquets, banqueting, banqueted) [with obj.] (usually as n. banqueting) entertain with a banquet: [as modifier] a banqueting hall.

<DERIVATIVES> banqueter n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French, diminutive of banc ‘bench’ (see bank^1).

banquette /bakεt/ n. 1 an upholstered bench along a wall, especially in a restaurant or bar.

2 a raised step behind a rampart.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): from French, from Italian banchetta, diminutive of banca ‘bench’ (see bank^2).

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 19th cent.

banshee /bani bani/ n. (in Irish legend) a female spirit whose wailing warns of a death in a house: the little girl dropped her ice cream and began to howl like a banshee | [as modifier] a horrible banshee wail.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Irish bean sídhe, from Old Irish ben síde ‘woman of the fairies’.

bansuri /bansəri/ n. a bamboo transverse flute of northern India.

bantam n. a chicken of a small breed, the cock of which is noted for its aggression.

- [usually as modifier] CANADIAN a level of amateur sport typically involving children aged between 13 and 15: bantam hockey.

■ short for BANTAMWEIGHT.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: apparently named after the province of Bantam in Java, although the fowl is not native there.

bantamweight n. [mass noun] a weight in boxing and other sports intermediate between flyweight and featherweight. In the amateur boxing scale it ranges from 51 to 54 kg.

- [count noun] a boxer or other competitor of this weight.

banteng /bantε/ n. a SE Asian forest ox that resembles the domestic cow. It has been domesticated in Bali.

<INFO> Bos javanicus, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Malay.

banter n. [mass noun] the playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks: there was much good-natured banter.

■ v. [no obj.] exchange remarks in a good-humoured teasing way: the men bantered with the waitresses | (as adj. bantering) a bantering tone.

<DERIVATIVES> banterer n. banteringly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

Banting Sir Frederick Grant (1891–1941), Canadian physiologist and surgeon. With the assistance of C. H. Best, Banting discovered insulin in 1921–2, using it to treat the previously incurable and fatal disease diabetes. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1923, shared with J. J. R. Macleod).

bantling n. ARCHAIC a young child.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from BAND^1 + -LING, or a corruption of German bänkling ‘bastard’.

Bantu /bantu bantu/ n. (pl. same or Bantus) 1 a member of an extensive group of indigenous peoples of central and southern Africa.

2 [mass noun] the group of Niger–Congo languages spoken by these peoples, including Swahili, Xhosa, and Zulu.

■ adj. relating to these peoples or their languages.

<ORIGIN> plural (in certain Bantu languages) of -ntu ‘person’.

<USAGE> The word Bantu became a strongly offensive term under the old apartheid regime in South Africa, especially when used to refer to a single individual. In standard current use in South Africa the term black or African is used as a collective or non-specific term for African peoples. The term Bantu has, however, continued to be accepted as a neutral ‘scientific’ term outside South Africa used to refer to the group of languages and their speakers collectively.

Bantu education n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL, DEROGATORY (in South Africa under apartheid) the official system of education for black South Africans.

Bantustan /bantustαn -stan/ n. S. African HISTORICAL, DEROGATORY a partially self-governing area set aside during the period of apartheid for a particular indigenous African people; a so-called homeland.

<ORIGIN> from BANTU + -stan, on the pattern of words such as Hindustan.

banyan /banjən/ (also banian) n. 1 (also banyan tree) an Indian fig tree, the branches of which produce wide-ranging aerial roots which later become accessory trunks.

<INFO> Ficus benghalensis, family Moraceae.

2 a loose flannel undergarment worn in India.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Portuguese, from Gujarati vāiyo ‘man of the trading caste’, from Sanskrit. Originally denoting a Hindu merchant, the term was applied, by Europeans in the mid 17th century, to a tree under which such traders had built a pagoda.

banzai /banz/ exclam. 1 a Japanese battle cry.

2 a form of greeting used to the Japanese emperor.

■ adj. (especially of troops) attacking fiercely and recklessly: a banzai charge.

- INFORMAL behaving wildly; berserk.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, literally ‘ten thousand years (of life to you)’.

baobab /beə()bab/ n. a short tree with a very thick trunk and large edible fruit, living to a great age.

<INFO> Genus Adansonia, family Bombacaceae: several species, in particular the African A. digitata and the Australian A. gregorii.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: probably from an African language; first recorded in Latin (1592), in a treatise on the plants of Egypt by the Italian botanist Prosper Alpinus.

BAOR abbr. British Army of the Rhine.

Baotou /batə/ an industrial city in Inner Mongolia, northern China, on the Yellow River; pop. 1,437,000 (est. 2002).

bap n. British 1 a large, round, flattish bread roll, typically with a spongy texture and floury top.

2 (baps) INFORMAL a woman's breasts.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

baptism n. [mass noun] the Christian religious rite of sprinkling water on to a person's forehead or of immersing them in water, symbolizing purification or regeneration and admission to the Christian Church. In many denominations, baptism is performed on young children and is accompanied by name-giving.

- [count noun] a ceremony or occasion at which baptism takes place.

- a person's initiation into a particular activity or role, typically one perceived as difficult: this event constituted his baptism as a politician.

<PHRASES>

□ baptism of fire a difficult introduction to a new job or activity. [<ORIGIN> from the original sense of ‘a soldier's first battle’.]

<DERIVATIVES> baptismal adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French baptesme, via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek baptismos ‘ceremonial washing’, from baptizein ‘immerse, baptize’.

baptismal name n. a personal name given at baptism.

baptist n. 1 (Baptist) a member of a Protestant Christian denomination advocating baptism only of adult believers by total immersion. Baptists form one of the largest Protestant bodies and are found throughout the world and especially in the US.

2 a person who baptizes someone.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French baptiste, via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek baptistēs, from baptizein ‘immerse, baptize’.

baptistery (also baptistry) n. (pl. baptisteries or baptistries) the part of a church used for baptism.

- HISTORICAL a building next to a church, used for baptism.

- (in a Baptist chapel) a sunken receptacle used for baptism by total immersion.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French baptistere, via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek baptistērion, from baptizein ‘immerse, baptize’.

baptize (also baptise) v. [with obj. and often with complement] administer baptism to (someone); christen: he was baptized Joshua.

- admit (someone) into a specified Church by baptism: Mark had been baptized a Catholic.

- give a name or nickname to: the media have baptized the murderer ‘The Babysitter’.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin baptizare, from Greek baptizein ‘immerse, baptize’.

bapu /bpu/ (also bappu) n. INDIAN a father (often as a form of address).

<ORIGIN> from Gujarati.

bar^1 n. 1 a long rigid piece of wood, metal, or similar material, typically used as an obstruction, fastening, or weapon.

- an amount of food or another substance formed into a narrow block: a bar of chocolate.

- a band of colour or light: bars of sunlight shafting through the windows.

- BRITISH the heating element of an electric fire.

- (the bar) the crossbar of a goal.

- BRITISH a metal strip below the clasp of a medal, awarded as an additional distinction.

- a sandbank or shoal at the mouth of a harbour or an estuary.

- [HERALDRY] a charge in the form of a narrow horizontal stripe across the shield.

2 a counter in a pub, restaurant, or cafe across which drinks or refreshments are served.

- a room in a pub, restaurant, or hotel in which alcohol is served.

- an establishment where alcohol and sometimes other refreshments are served.

- [with modifier] a small shop, stall, or area in a department store that serves refreshments or provides a specified service: a sandwich bar.

3 a barrier or restriction to an action or advance: political differences are not necessarily a bar to a good relationship.

- [LAW] a plea suspending an action or claim in a lawsuit.

4 [MUSIC] any of the short sections or measures, typically of equal time value, into which a piece of music is divided, shown on a score by vertical lines across the stave.

5 (the bar) a partition in a court room, now usually notional, beyond which most people may not pass and at which an accused person stands: the prisoner at the bar.

- BRITISH a rail marking the end of each chamber in the Houses of Parliament.

6 (the Bar) the profession of barrister.

- BRITISH barristers collectively.

- NORTH AMERICAN lawyers collectively.

- a particular court of law.

■ v. (bars, barring, barred) [with obj.] 1 fasten (something, especially a door or window) with a bar or bars: she bolted and barred the door.

- prevent or prohibit (someone) from doing something or from going somewhere: journalists had been barred from covering the elections.

- forbid someone from undertaking (an activity): the job she loved had been barred to her.

- exclude (something) from consideration: nothing is barred in the crime novel.

- [LAW] prevent or delay (an action) by objection.

2 mark (something) with bars or stripes: his face was barred with light.

■ prep. chiefly BRITISH except for: his kids were all gone now, bar one.

- [HORSE RACING], BRIT. except the horses indicated (used when stating the odds).

<PHRASES>

□ bar none with no exceptions: the greatest living American poet bar none.

□ be called (or go) to the Bar BRITISH be admitted as a barrister.

□ be called within the Bar BRITISH be appointed a Queen's Counsel.

□ behind bars in prison.

□ lower (or raise) the bar lower (or raise) the standards which need to be met in order to qualify for something: the restaurant raised the bar for contemporary Scottish cuisine in the capital.

<DERIVATIVES> barred adj. [in combination] a five-barred gate

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French barre (noun), barrer (verb), of unknown origin.

bar^2 n. a unit of pressure equivalent to a hundred thousand newtons per square metre or approximately one atmosphere.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek baros ‘weight’.

Bar. abbr. Baruch (Apocrypha) (in biblical references).

bara brith /barə brθ/ n. [mass noun] a traditional Welsh tea bread, typically made with raisins, currants, and candied peel.

<ORIGIN> Welsh, literally ‘speckled bread’.

barasingha /barəsə/ n. (pl. same)

■ another term for SWAMP DEER.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Hindi bārahsighā, literally ‘twelve-tined’.

barathea /barəθə/ n. [mass noun] a fine woollen cloth, sometimes mixed with silk or cotton, used chiefly for coats and suits.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

baraza /bərαzə/ n. (in East Africa) a public meeting place.

<ORIGIN> Kiswahili.

barb^1 n. 1 a sharp projection near the end of an arrow, fish hook, or similar object, which is angled away from the main point so as to make extraction difficult.

- a cluster of spikes on barbed wire.

- a deliberately hurtful remark: his barb hurt more than she cared to admit.

2 a beard-like filament at the mouth of some fish, such as barbel and catfish.

- each of the fine hair-like filaments growing from the shaft of a feather, forming the vane.

3 a freshwater fish with barbels around the mouth, popular in aquaria.

<INFO> Barbus and other genera, family Cyprinidae: numerous species.

<DERIVATIVES> barbless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a piece of linen worn over or under the chin by nuns): from Old French barbe, from Latin barba ‘beard’.

barb^2 n. a small horse of a hardy breed originally from North Africa.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French barbe, from Italian barbero ‘of Barbary’.

Barbados /bαbeds/ the most easterly of the Caribbean islands, one of the Windward Islands group; pop. 276,607 (est. 2002); official language, English; capital, Bridgetown. Barbados became a British colony in the 1630s and remained British until 1966, when it gained independence as a Commonwealth state.

<DERIVATIVES> Barbadian adj. & n.

barbarian n. (in ancient times) a member of a people not belonging to one of the great civilizations (Greek, Roman, Christian).

- an uncultured or brutish person.

■ adj. relating to ancient barbarians: barbarian invasions.

- uncultured; brutish.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as an adjective used in a derogatory way to denote a person with different speech and customs): from Old French barbarien, from barbare, or from Latin barbarus (see BARBAROUS).

barbaric adj. 1 savagely cruel: he carried out barbaric acts in the name of war.

2 primitive; unsophisticated: the barbaric splendour he found in civilizations since destroyed.

- uncivilized and uncultured.

<DERIVATIVES> barbarically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun in the sense ‘a barbarian’): from Old French barbarique, or via Latin from Greek barbarikos, from barbaros ‘foreign’ (especially with reference to speech).

barbarism n. [mass noun] 1 absence of culture and civilization: the collapse of civilization and the return to barbarism.

- [count noun] a word or expression which is badly formed according to traditional philological rules, e.g. a word formed from elements of different languages, such as breathalyser (English and Greek) or television (Greek and Latin).

2 extreme cruelty or brutality: she called the execution an act of barbarism.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French barbarisme, via Latin from Greek barbarismos, from barbarizein ‘speak like a foreigner’, from barbaros ‘foreign’.

barbarity n. (pl. barbarities) [mass noun] 1 extreme cruelty or brutality: the barbarity displayed by the terrorists | [count noun] the barbarities of war.

2 absence of culture and civilization: beyond the Empire lay barbarity.

barbarize (also barbarise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. barbarizing) cause to become savage or uncultured: the barbarizing effect of four decades of rock 'n' roll.

<DERIVATIVES> barbarization n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘speak using barbarisms’): from late Latin barbarizare, from Greek barbarizein ‘speak like a foreigner’.

Barbarossa^2 /bαbərsə/ (c.1483–1546), Barbary pirate; born Khair ad-Din. He was notorious for his successes against Christian vessels in the eastern Mediterranean.

barbarous adj. 1 extremely brutal: many early child-rearing practices were barbarous by modern standards.

2 primitive and uncivilized: a remote and barbarous country.

- (of language) coarse and unrefined.

<DERIVATIVES> barbarously adv. barbarousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): via Latin from Greek barbaros ‘foreign’ + -OUS.

Barbary /bαbəri/ (also Barbary States) a former name for the Saracen countries of North and NW Africa, together with Moorish Spain. Compare with MAGHRIB.

<ORIGIN> based on Arabic barbar (see BERBER).

Barbary ape n. a tailless macaque monkey that is native to NW Africa and also found on the Rock of Gibraltar.

<INFO> Macaca sylvana, family Cercopithecidae.

Barbary Coast a former name for the Mediterranean coast of North Africa from Morocco to Egypt.

Barbary sheep n. a short-coated sheep with a long neck ruff, found in the high deserts of northern Africa. Also called AOUDAD.

<INFO> Ammotragus lervia, family Bovidae.

Barbary States another name for BARBARY.

barbastelle /bαbəstεl bαbəstεl/ n. an Old World bat with broad ears that meet over the head.

<INFO> Genus Barbastella, family Vespertilionidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Italian barbastello.

barbecue n. a meal or gathering at which meat, fish, or other food is cooked out of doors on a rack over an open fire or on a special appliance.

- a rack or appliance used for the preparation of food at a barbecue.

- [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN food cooked on a barbecue.

■ v. (barbecues, barbecuing, barbecued) [with obj.] cook (food) on a barbecue.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Spanish barbacoa, perhaps from Arawak barbacoa ‘wooden frame on posts’. The original sense was ‘wooden framework for sleeping on, or for storing meat or fish to be dried’.

barbecue sauce n. a highly seasoned sauce containing vinegar, spices, and usually chillies.

barbed adj. having a barb or barbs: barbed arrows.

- (of a remark or joke) deliberately hurtful: a fair degree of barbed wit.

barbed wire n. [mass noun] wire with clusters of short, sharp spikes set at short intervals along it, used to make fences or in warfare as an obstruction.

barbel /bαb(ə)l/ n. 1 a fleshy filament growing from the mouth or snout of a fish.

2 a large European freshwater fish of the carp family, which has barbels hanging from the mouth.

<INFO> Barbus barbus, family Cyprinidae.

3 [with modifier] an African marine or freshwater fish with barbels round the mouth.

<INFO> Species in several families, including Tachysurus feliceps (family Aniidae), of southern African coasts and estuaries.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): via Old French from late Latin barbellus, diminutive of barbus ‘barbel’, from barba ‘beard’.

barbell /bαbεl/ n. a long metal bar to which discs of varying weights are attached at each end, used for weightlifting.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BAR^1 + BELL^1.

Barber Samuel (1910–81), American composer. He developed a style based on romanticism allied to classical forms; his music includes operas and orchestral and chamber music.

barber n. a person who cuts men's hair and shaves or trims beards as an occupation.

■ v. [with obj.] cut or trim (a man's hair).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Anglo-Norman French from Old French barbe (see barb^1).

barberry n. (pl. barberries) a spiny shrub which typically has yellow flowers and red berries, frequently grown for ornamental hedging.

<INFO> Genus Berberis, family Berberidaceae: many species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French berberis (see BERBERIS). The change in the ending was due to association with BERRY.

barbershop n. 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a shop where a barber works.

2 [mass noun] [often as modifier] a popular style of close harmony singing, typically for four male voices. [<ORIGIN> from the custom in the 16th and 17th centuries of passing time in a barber's shop by harmonizing to a lute or guitar provided to entertain customers waiting their turn.]

barber's itch (also barber's rash) n. [mass noun] ringworm of the face or neck communicated by unsterilized shaving apparatus.

barber's pole n. a pole painted with spiralling red and white stripes and hung outside barbers' shops as a business sign.

Barberton daisy /bαbət(ə)n/ n. South African term for TRANSVAAL DAISY.

<ORIGIN> from the name of a town in the Transvaal.

barbet /bαbt/ n. a large-headed, brightly coloured fruit-eating bird that has a stout bill with tufts of bristles at the base. Barbets are found on all continents, especially in the tropics.

<INFO> Family Capitonidae: numerous genera and species.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a poodle): from French, from barbe ‘beard’ (see barb^1). The current sense dates from the early 19th cent.

barbette /bαbεt/ n. a fixed armoured housing at the base of a gun turret on a warship or armoured vehicle.

- HISTORICAL a platform on which a gun was placed to fire over a parapet.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, diminutive of barbe ‘beard’ (see barb^1).

barbican /bαbk(ə)n/ n. the outer defence of a city or castle, especially a double tower above a gate or drawbridge.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French barbacane; probably based on Arabic.

barbie n. (pl. barbies) INFORMAL, chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ a barbecue.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: abbreviation.

Barbie doll n. TRADEMARK a doll representing a conventionally attractive young woman.

- INFORMAL a young woman who is glossily attractive but apparently characterless or unintelligent.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: Barbie, diminutive of the given name Barbara.

bar billiards n. BRITISH a form of billiards played on a small table, typically in a public bar, in which balls are struck into holes guarded by pegs.

Barbirolli /bαbrli/ Sir John (Giovanni Battista) (1899–1970), English conductor, of Franco-Italian descent, conductor of the Hallé Orchestra from 1943.

barbital /bαbt(ə)l/ n. North American term for BARBITONE.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BARBITURIC ACID, on the pattern of veronal (an alternative name).

barbitone /bαbtən/ n. [mass noun] a long-acting sedative and sleep-inducing drug of the barbiturate type.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_12O_3N_2.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BARBITURIC ACID + -ONE.

barbiturate /bαbtjrət -ret/ n. any of a class of sedative and sleep-inducing drugs derived from barbituric acid.

- [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of barbituric acid.

barbituric acid /bαbtjərk -tərk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a synthetic organic acid from which the barbiturates are derived.

<INFO> A cyclic derivative of urea and malonic acid; chem. formula: C_4H_4O_3N_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French barbiturique, from German Barbitursäure, from the given name Barbara + Säure ‘acid’.

Barbizon School a mid 19th-century school of French landscape painters who reacted against classical conventions and based their art on direct study of nature. Led by Théodore Rousseau, the group included Charles Daubigny and Jean-François Millet.

<ORIGIN> named after Barbizon, a small village in the forest of Fontainebleau, near Paris, where Rousseau and others worked.

barbola /bαbələ/ (also barbola work) n. [mass noun] the craft of making small models of fruit or flowers from a plastic paste.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: an arbitrary formation from BARBOTINE.

barbotine /bαbətn/ n. [mass noun] slip (liquid clay) used to decorate pottery.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French.

Barbour^1 /bαbə/ John (c.1320–95), Scottish poet and prelate. The only poem ascribed to him with certainty is The Bruce, a verse chronicle relating the deeds of Robert the Bruce.

Barbour^2 /bαbə/ (also Barbour jacket) n. TRADEMARK a type of green waxed outdoor jacket.

<ORIGIN> named after John Barbour (died 1918), a draper in NE England who sold waterproof clothing.

Barbuda see ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA.

<DERIVATIVES> Barbudan adj. & n.

barbule /bαbjul/ n. a minute filament projecting from the barb of a feather.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin barbula, diminutive of barba ‘beard’.

barbwire n. NORTH AMERICAN barbed wire.

BarcaLounger /bαkəlandə/ n. US TRADEMARK a type of deeply padded reclining chair.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from the name of Edward J. Barcolo, who acquired the original licence to manufacture the chairs, and LOUNGER.

barcarole /bαkərəl bαkərəl/ (also barcarolle /-rl -rl/) n. a song traditionally sung by Venetian gondoliers.

- a musical composition in the style of a barcarole.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French barcarolle, from Venetian Italian barcarola ‘boatman's song’, from barca ‘boat’.

Barcelona /bαsələnə/ Spanish /barθeləna barse-/ a city on the coast of NE Spain, capital of Catalonia; pop. 1,505,325 (est. 2001).

barchan /bαk(ə)n/ n. a crescent-shaped shifting sand dune, as found in the deserts of Turkestan.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Turkic barkhan.

bar chart (also chiefly NORTH AMERICAN bar graph) n. a diagram in which the numerical values of variables are represented by the height or length of lines or rectangles of equal width.

Bar-Cochba /bαkkbə/ Jewish rebel leader; known as Simeon in Jewish sources. He led the rebellion against the Romans in AD 132, and was accepted by some of his Jewish contemporaries as the Messiah.

barcode n. a machine-readable code in the form of numbers and a pattern of parallel lines of varying widths, printed on a commodity and used especially for stock control.

■ v. [with obj.] mark with a barcode: all the merchandise is barcoded and scanned.

Barcoo /bαku/ adj. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL relating to the remote inland area of Australia: Barcoo sickness.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of a river (and the surrounding country) in western Queensland.

Barcoo rot n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL scurvy.

bard^1 n. ARCHAIC or LITERARY a poet, traditionally one reciting epics and associated with a particular oral tradition.

- (the Bard or the Bard of Avon) Shakespeare.

- (Bard) the winner of a prize for Welsh verse at an Eisteddfod.

<DERIVATIVES> bardic adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Scottish Gaelic bàrd, Irish bard, Welsh bardd, of Celtic origin. In Scotland in the 16th century it was a derogatory term for an itinerant musician, but was later romanticized by Sir Walter Scott.

bard^2 n. a rasher of fat bacon placed on meat or game before roasting.

■ v. [with obj.] cover (meat or game) with rashers of fat bacon.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French barde, a transferred sense of barde ‘armour for the breast and flanks of a warhorse’, based on Arabic bara'a ‘saddlecloth, padded saddle’.

bardie /bαdi/ (also bardee or bardy) n. (pl. bardies) AUSTRALIAN the edible larva or pupa of certain insects, in particular:

<INFO>

- a longhorn beetle that bores within stems (Bardistus cibarius, family Cerambycidae).

- a moth that develops underground on roots (family Hepialidae, especially Trictena argentata).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Nyungar (and other Aboriginal languages) bardi.

bardo /bαdə/ n. [mass noun] (in Tibetan Buddhism) a state of existence between death and rebirth, varying in length according to a person's conduct in life and manner of, or age at, death.

<ORIGIN> Tibetan bár-do, from bar ‘interval’ + do ‘two’.

bardolatry /bαdlətri/ n. [mass noun] HUMOROUS excessive admiration of Shakespeare.

<DERIVATIVES> bardolater (or bardolator) n.

Bardolino /bαdəlinə/ n. [mass noun] a red wine from the Veneto region of Italy.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

Bardot /bαdə/ French /baRdə/ Brigitte (b.1934), French actress; born Camille Javal. The film And God Created Woman (1956) established her reputation as an international sex symbol.

bare adj. 1 (of a person or part of the body) not clothed or covered: he was bare from the waist up | she padded in bare feet towards the door.

- without the appropriate, usual, or natural covering: leaf fall had left the trees bare | bare floorboards.

- without the appropriate or usual contents: a bare cell with just a mattress.

- (bare of) devoid of; without.

2 without addition; basic and simple: he outlined the bare essentials of the story.

- [attr.] only just sufficient: the bare minimum of furniture.

- [attr.] surprisingly small in number or amount: all you need to get started with this program is a bare 10K bytes of memory.

■ v. [with obj.] uncover (a part of the body or other thing) and expose it to view: he bared his chest to show his scar.

<PHRASES>

□ bare all take off all of one's clothes and display oneself to others.

□ the bare bones the basic facts about something, without any detail: the bare bones of the plot.

□ bare one's soul reveal one's innermost secrets and feelings to someone.

□ bare one's teeth show one's teeth, typically when angry.

□ with one's bare hands without using tools or weapons.

<DERIVATIVES> bareness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English bær (noun), barian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch baar.

bareback adj. & adv. on an unsaddled horse or donkey: [as adj.] a bareback circus rider | [as adv.] she's riding bareback.

barebacking n. [mass noun] VULGAR SLANG the practice of having anal intercourse without a condom.

bareboat adj. relating to or denoting a boat or ship hired without a crew: bareboat charters.

Barebones Parliament the nickname of Cromwell's Parliament of 1653, from one of its members, Praise-God Barbon, an Anabaptist leather seller of Fleet Street. It replaced the Rump Parliament, but was itself dissolved within a few months.

barefaced adj. 1 shameless and undisguised: a barefaced lie.

2 having an uncovered face.

barefoot (also barefooted) adj. & adv. wearing nothing on the feet: [as adv.] I won't walk barefoot.

barefoot doctor n. a paramedical worker with basic medical training working in a rural district in China.

barège /bəre/ n. [mass noun] a light, silky dress fabric resembling gauze, typically made from wool.

<ORIGIN> French, named after the village of Barèges in SW France, where it was originally made.

barehanded adj. & adv. with nothing in or covering one's hands.

- carrying no weapons.

bareheaded adj. & adv. without a covering for one's head.

Bareilly /bəreli/ an industrial city in northern India, in Uttar Pradesh; pop. 699,800 (2001).

bare-knuckle (also bare-knuckled) adj. (of a boxer or boxing match) without gloves.

- INFORMAL with no scruples or reservations: an apostle of bare-knuckle capitalism.

barely adv. 1 only just; almost not: she nodded, barely able to speak | [as submodifier] a barely perceptible pause.

- only a very short time before: they had barely sat down before forty policemen swarmed in.

2 in a simple and sparse way: their barely furnished house.

3 ARCHAIC openly; explicitly.

Barenboim /barənbm/ Daniel (b.1942), Israeli pianist and conductor, musical director of the Orchestre de Paris 1975–88 and of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1991. In 1967 he married the cellist Jacqueline du Pré.

Barents /barənts/ Willem (d.1597), Dutch explorer. The leader of several expeditions in search of the North-East Passage to Asia, Barents discovered Spitsbergen and reached Novaya Zemlya, off the coast of which he died.

Barents Sea a part of the Arctic Ocean to the north of Norway and Russia, bounded to the west by Svalbard, to the north by Franz Josef Land, and to the east by Novaya Zemlya.

barf INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN v. [no obj.] vomit.

■ n. an attack of vomiting.

- [mass noun] vomited food.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally US): of unknown origin.

barfly /bαfl/ n. (pl. barflies) INFORMAL a person who spends much of their time drinking in bars.

barfly jumping n. [mass noun] the sport of jumping at and sticking to a Velcro-covered wall while wearing a Velcro suit.

bargain n. 1 an agreement between two or more people or groups as to what each will do for the other: bargains between political parties supporting the government.

2 a thing bought or offered for sale much more cheaply than is usual or expected: the table was a real bargain | [as modifier] a bargain price of 99p.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 negotiate the terms and conditions of a transaction: he bargained with the local council to rent the stadium.

- [with obj.] (bargain something away) part with something after negotiation but get little or nothing in return.

2 (bargain for/on) be prepared for; expect: I got more information than I'd bargained for | he didn't bargain on this storm.

<PHRASES>

□ drive a hard bargain be uncompromising in making a deal.

□ into (North American in) the bargain in addition to what has already been mentioned or was expected: I am now tired and extremely hungry—with a headache into the bargain.

□ keep one's side of the bargain carry out the promises one has made as part of an agreement.

<DERIVATIVES> bargainer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bargaine (noun), bargaignier (verb); probably of Germanic origin and related to German borgen ‘borrow’.

bargain basement n. a store or part of a store where goods are sold cheaply: [as modifier] bargain-basement prices.

bargaining chip (BRITISH also bargaining counter) n. a potential concession or other factor which can be used to advantage in negotiations.

barge n. a long flat-bottomed boat for carrying freight on canals and rivers, either under its own power or towed by another.

- a long ornamental boat used for pleasure or ceremony.

- a boat used by the chief officers of a warship.

■ v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move forcefully or roughly: we can't just barge into a private garden.

- (barge in) intrude or interrupt rudely or awkwardly: sorry to barge in on your cosy evening.

- [with obj.] (chiefly in a sporting context) run into and collide with (someone), typically intentionally.

2 [with obj.] convey (freight) by barge.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a small seagoing vessel): from Old French, perhaps based on Greek baris ‘Egyptian boat’.

bargeboard n. a board, typically an ornamental one, fixed to the gable end of a roof to hide the ends of the roof timbers.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from mid 16th-cent. barge- (used in architectural terms relating to the gable of a building), perhaps from medieval Latin bargus ‘gallows’.

bargee /bαdi/ n. chiefly BRITISH a person in charge of or working on a barge.

Bargello /bαdεlə/ n. [mass noun] a kind of embroidery worked on canvas in stitch patterns suggestive of flames.

<ORIGIN> named after Bargello Palace, in Florence, Italy.

bargepole n. a long pole used to propel a barge and fend off obstacles.

<PHRASES>

□ would not touch someone/thing with a bargepole INFORMAL used to express a refusal to have anything to do with someone or something.

bar graph n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for BAR CHART.

bar-hop v. (bar-hops, bar-hopping, bar-hopped) [no obj.] (usually as n. bar-hopping) visit several bars in succession, having a drink in each.

<DERIVATIVES> bar-hopper n.

Bari /bαri/ an industrial seaport on the Adriatic coast of SE Italy, capital of Apulia region; pop. 312,452 (2001).

barilla /bərlə/ n. [mass noun] an impure alkali formerly made from the ashes of burnt plants, especially saltworts.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish barrilla, diminutive of barra ‘bar’.

Barisal /brsl/ a river port in southern Bangladesh, on the Ganges delta; pop. 260,400 (est. 2002).

barista /bərstə/ n. a person who serves in a coffee bar.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: Italian, ‘barman’.

baritone n. 1 an adult male singing voice between tenor and bass.

- a singer with a baritone voice.

- a part written for a baritone voice.

2 [usually as modifier] an instrument that is second lowest in pitch in its family: a baritone sax.

- a brass instrument similar to a euphonium, sounding in B flat and used in brass bands.

<DERIVATIVES> baritonal /baritən(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Italian baritono, from Greek barutonos, from barus ‘heavy’ + tonos (see TONE).

barium /bεrəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 56, a soft white reactive metal of the alkaline earth group. (Symbol: Ba)

- a mixture of barium sulphate and water, opaque to X-rays, which is swallowed to permit radiological examination of the stomach or intestines: [as modifier] a barium meal.

Barium compounds are used in water purification, the glass industry, and pigments, and as an ingredient of signal flares and fireworks, to which they give a bright yellowish-green colour. Barium oxide is a component of high-temperature superconductors.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BARYTA + -IUM.

bark^1 n. the sharp explosive cry of a dog, fox, or seal.

- a sound resembling a bark, typically one made by someone laughing or coughing: a short bark of laughter.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (of a dog, fox, or seal) give a bark.

- (of a person) make a sound resembling a bark: she barked with laughter.

2 [with obj.] utter (a command or question) abruptly or aggressively: he began barking out his orders | [with direct speech] ‘Nobody is allowed up here,’ he barked.

- [no obj.] US call out in order to sell or advertise something.

<PHRASES>

□ one's bark is worse than one's bite one is not as ferocious as one appears or sounds.

□ be barking up the wrong tree INFORMAL be pursuing a mistaken or misguided line of thought or course of action.

<ORIGIN> Old English beorc (noun), beorcan (verb), of Germanic origin; possibly related to break^1.

bark^2 n. [mass noun] the tough protective outer sheath of the trunk, branches, and twigs of a tree or woody shrub.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 chiefly BRITISH strip the bark from (a tree or piece of wood).

- scrape the skin off (one's shin) by accidentally hitting it against something hard.

2 TECHNICAL tan or dye (leather or other materials) using the tannins found in bark.

<DERIVATIVES> barked adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse brkr; perhaps related to BIRCH.

bark^3 n. ARCHAIC or LITERARY a ship or boat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of BARQUE.

bark beetle n. a small wood-boring beetle that tunnels under the bark of trees, which may die if heavily infested.

<INFO> Family Scolytidae: many genera and species, including the elm bark beetle (Scolytus scolytus), which is responsible for the spread of the fungus which causes Dutch elm disease.

barkcloth n. [mass noun] cloth made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry or similar tree.

barkeeper (US also barkeep) n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person who owns or serves drinks in a bar.

barker n. INFORMAL a tout at an auction, sideshow, etc., who calls out to passers-by to attract custom.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from BARK^1 + -ER^1. The original sense was ‘a person or animal that barks; a noisy protestor’, hence the current sense (late 17th century).

barking adj. BRITISH INFORMAL completely mad or demented: we are all a bit barking | [as submodifier] has she gone completely barking mad?

barking deer n. another term for MUNTJAC.

Barkly Tableland a plateau region lying to the north-east of Tennant Creek in Northern Territory, Australia.

<ORIGIN> named after Sir Henry Barkly, governor of Victoria 1856–63.

barley n. [mass noun] a hardy cereal with coarse bristles extending from the ears, cultivated especially for use in brewing and stockfeed.

<INFO> Genus Hordeum, family Gramineae.

- the grain of barley.

<ORIGIN> Old English bærlic (adjective), from bære, bere ‘barley’ + -lic (see -ly^1).

barleycorn n. a grain of barley.

- a former unit of measurement (about a third of an inch) based on the length of a grain of barley.

barleymow n. ARCHAIC a stack of barley.

barley sugar n. [mass noun] an amber-coloured sweet made of boiled sugar, traditionally shaped as a twisted stick.

barley water n. [mass noun] BRITISH a drink made from water and a boiled barley mixture, usually flavoured with orange or lemon.

barley wine n. [mass noun] a strong English ale.

bar line n. [MUSIC] a vertical line used in a musical score to mark a division between bars.

barm n. [mass noun] the froth on fermenting malt liquor.

- ARCHAIC or DIALECT yeast or leaven.

<ORIGIN> Old English beorma, of West Germanic origin.

barmaid n. 1 BRITISH a woman serving behind the bar of a pub or hotel.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a waitress who serves drinks in a bar.

barman n. (pl. barmen) chiefly BRITISH a man serving behind the bar of a pub or hotel.

barmbrack (also barnbrack) n. [mass noun] a kind of soft, spicy bread containing dried fruit, originating in Ireland where it is traditionally eaten at Halloween.

<ORIGIN> from Irish bairin breac ‘speckled cake’.

barm cake n. N. ENGLISH a soft, flattish bread roll.

Barmecide /bαmsd/ adj. RARE illusory or imaginary and therefore disappointing.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as a noun): from Arabic Barmakī, the name of a prince in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, who gave a beggar a feast consisting of ornate but empty dishes.

bar mitzvah /bα mtsvə/ n. the initiation ceremony of a Jewish boy who has reached the age of 13 and is regarded as ready to observe religious precepts and eligible to take part in public worship.

- the boy undergoing this ceremony.

■ v. [with obj.] administer the bar mitzvah ceremony to (a boy).

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew bar miwāh, literally ‘son of the commandment’.

barmy adj. (barmier, barmiest) BRITISH INFORMAL extremely foolish: this is a barmy decision.

- mad; crazy: I thought I was going barmy at first.

<DERIVATIVES> barmily adv. barminess n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘frothy’): from BARM + -Y^1.

barn^1 n. a large farm building used for storing grain, hay, or straw or for housing livestock.

- NORTH AMERICAN a large shed used for storing road or railway vehicles.

- a large and uninviting building: a great barn of a pub.

<ORIGIN> Old English bern, berern, from bere ‘barley’ + ern, ærn ‘house’.

barn^2 (abbr.: b) n. [PHYSICS] a unit of area, 10−28 square metres, used especially in particle physics.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: apparently from the phrase as big as a barn door.

Barnabas, St /bαnəbəs/ (died c.61), a Cypriot Levite and Apostle. He accompanied St Paul on the first missionary journey to Cyprus and Asia Minor. The traditional founder of the Cypriot Church, he is said to have been martyred in Cyprus. Feast day, 11 June.

barnacle /bαnək(ə)l/ n. a marine crustacean with an external shell, which attaches itself permanently to a surface and feeds by filtering particles from the water using its modified feathery legs.

<INFO> Class Cirripedia. See ACORN BARNACLE, GOOSE BARNACLE.

<DERIVATIVES> barnacled adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin bernaca, of unknown origin. In Middle English the term denoted the barnacle goose, whose breeding grounds were long unknown and which was believed to hatch from the shell of the crustacean to which it gave its name.

barnacle goose n. a goose with a white face and black neck, breeding in the arctic tundra of Greenland, Spitsbergen, and Novaya Zemlya.

<INFO> Branta leucopsis, family Anatidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: see BARNACLE.

Barnard /bαnαd/ Christiaan Neethling (1922–2001), South African surgeon. He pioneered human heart transplantation, performing the first operation of this kind in December 1967.

Barnardo /bənαdə/ Thomas John (1845–1905), Irish-born doctor and philanthropist. He founded the East End Mission for destitute children in 1867, the first of many such homes. Now known as Dr Barnardo's Homes, they cater chiefly for those with physical and mental disabilities.

Barnard's star [ASTRONOMY] a red dwarf in the constellation Ophiuchus. It has a large proper motion and is one of the closest stars to the sun.

<ORIGIN> named after Edward E. Barnard (1857–1923), the American astronomer who discovered it in 1916.

Barnaul /bαnəul/ the capital of Altai territory in Russia on the River Ob; pop. 580,100 (est. 2002).

barn burner n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a very exciting or dramatic event, especially a sports contest.

barn dance n. 1 an informal social gathering for country dancing.

2 a dance for a number of couples moving round a circle, typically involving changes of partner.

barn door n. 1 the large door of a barn.

- used to refer to a large and easy target: on the shooting range he could not hit a barn door.

2 a hinged metal flap fitted to a spotlight to control the direction and intensity of its beam.

barnet /bαnt/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person's hair.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from rhyming slang barnet fair, the name of a famous horse fair held at Barnet, Herts.

barney n. (pl. barneys) BRITISH INFORMAL a quarrel, especially a noisy one.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

barn owl n. an owl with a heart-shaped face, black eyes, and relatively long, slender legs, typically nesting in farm buildings or in holes in trees. Also called SCREECH OWL.

<INFO> Genus Tyto, family Tytonidae: three species, especially T. alba, which is found throughout the world and (in western Europe) has a white face and underparts.

Barnsley a town in northern England, a unitary authority formerly in South Yorkshire; pop. 75,200 (est. 2002).

barnstorm v. [no obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN tour rural districts giving theatrical performances, originally often in barns.

- make a rapid tour of an area as part of a political campaign.

- travel around giving exhibitions of flying and performing aeronautical stunts.

<DERIVATIVES> barnstormer n.

barnstorming adj. (of a performance or performer) flamboyantly energetic and successful: his barnstorming oratory has been sorely missed.

Barnum /bαnəm/ P. T. (1810–91), American showman; full name Phineas Taylor Barnum. He billed his circus, opened in 1871, as ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’; ten years later he founded the Barnum and Bailey circus with his former rival Anthony Bailey (1847–1906).

Barnum effect n. [PSYCHOLOGY] the tendency to accept as true types of information such as character assessments or horoscopes, even when the information is so vague as to be worthless.

<ORIGIN> named after P. T.

■ Barnum; the word Barnum was in use from the mid 19th century as a noun in the sense ‘nonsense, humbug’.

barnyard n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the area of open ground around a barn; a farmyard.

baro- /barə/ combining form relating to pressure: barotrauma | barotitis.

<ORIGIN> from Greek baros ‘weight’.

Baroda /bərədə/ a former princely state of western India, now part of Gujarat.

■ former name (until 1976) for VADODARA.

barograph n. a barometer that records its readings on a moving chart.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek baros ‘weight’ + -GRAPH.

Barolo /bərələ/ Italian /barələ/ n. [mass noun] a full-bodied red Italian wine from Barolo, a region of Piedmont.

barometer n. an instrument measuring atmospheric pressure, used especially in forecasting the weather and determining altitude.

- something which reflects changes in circumstances or opinions: furniture is a barometer of changing tastes.

<DERIVATIVES> barometric adj. barometrical adj. barometry n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek baros ‘weight’ + -METER.

baron n. 1 a member of the lowest order of the British nobility. Baron is not used as a form of address, barons usually being referred to as ‘Lord’.

- a similar member of a foreign nobility.

- HISTORICAL a person who held lands or property from the sovereign or a powerful overlord.

2 [with modifier] an important or powerful person in a specified business or industry: a press baron.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin baro, baron- ‘man, warrior’, probably of Germanic origin.

baronage n. 1 [treated as sing. or plural] barons or nobles collectively.

2 an annotated list of barons or peers.

baroness n. the wife or widow of a baron. Baroness is not used as a form of address, baronesses usually being referred to as ‘Lady’.

- a woman holding the rank of baron either as a life peerage or as a hereditary rank.

baronet /bar(ə)nt/ n. a member of the lowest hereditary titled British order, with the status of a commoner but able to use the prefix ‘Sir’.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Latin baronettus, from Latin baro, baron- ‘man, warrior’. The term originally denoted a gentleman, not a nobleman, summoned by the king to attend parliament; the current order was instituted in the early 17th cent.

baronetage n. 1 [treated as sing. or plural] baronets collectively.

2 an annotated list of baronets.

baronetcy n. (pl. baronetcies) the rank of a baronet.

baronial adj. 1 relating to a baron or barons.

2 in the turreted style characteristic of Scottish country houses.

baron of beef n. BRITISH a joint of beef consisting of two sirloins joined at the backbone.

barony n. (pl. baronies) 1 the rank and estates of a baron.

2 HISTORICAL (in Ireland) a division of a county.

3 HISTORICAL (in Scotland) a large manor or estate.

baroque /bərk -rək/ adj. relating to or denoting a style of European architecture, music, and art of the 17th and 18th centuries that followed Mannerism and is characterized by ornate detail. In architecture the period is exemplified by the palace of Versailles and by the work of Wren in England. Major composers include Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel; Caravaggio and Rubens are important baroque artists.

- highly ornate and extravagant in style.

■ n. [mass noun] the baroque style or period.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French (originally designating a pearl of irregular shape), from Portuguese barroco, Spanish barrueco, or Italian barocco; of unknown ultimate origin.

baroreceptor n. [ZOOLOGY] a receptor sensitive to changes in pressure.

barotitis /barə()tts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE discomfort and inflammation in the ear caused by the changes of pressure occurring during air travel.

barotrauma n. [mass noun] MEDICINE injury caused by a change in air pressure, affecting typically the ear or the lung.

barouche /bəru/ n. HISTORICAL a four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage with a collapsible hood over the rear half, a seat in front for the driver, and seats facing each other for the passengers.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from German dialect Barutsche, from Italian baroccio, based on Latin birotus ‘two-wheeled’, from bi- ‘having two’ + rota ‘wheel’.

barque /bαk/ n. a sailing ship, typically with three masts, in which the foremast and mainmast are square-rigged and the mizzenmast is rigged fore and aft.

- LITERARY a boat.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, probably from Provençal barca, from late Latin barca ‘ship's boat’.

barquentine /bαk(ə)ntin/ (US barkentine) n. a sailing ship similar to a barque but with only the foremast square-rigged and the remaining masts rigged fore and aft.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from BARQUE, on the pattern of brigantine.

Barquisimeto /bαksmetə/ a city in NW Venezuela; pop. 919,500 (est. 2002).

Barra /barə/ a small island towards the southern end of the Outer Hebrides, to the south of South Uist, from which it is separated by the Sound of Barra.

barrack^1 v. [with obj.] provide (soldiers) with accommodation in a building or set of buildings.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from BARRACKS.

barrack^2 v. 1 [with obj.] BRITISH jeer loudly at (someone performing or speaking in public) in order to express disapproval or to distract them: opponents barracked him when he addressed the opening parliamentary session.

2 [no obj.] (barrack for) AUSTRALIAN/NZ give support and encouragement to: I take it you'll be barracking for Labour tonight?

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably from Northern Irish dialect.

barrack-room lawyer n. BRITISH a person who likes to give authoritative-sounding opinions on subjects in which they are not qualified, especially legal matters.

barracks (also barrack) plural n. [often treated as sing.] a large building or group of buildings used to house soldiers: the troops were ordered back to barracks.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: barrack from French baraque, from Italian baracca or Spanish barraca ‘soldier's tent’, of unknown origin.

barrack square n. BRITISH a drill ground near a barracks.

barracoon /barəkun/ n. HISTORICAL an enclosure in which black slaves were confined for a limited period.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish barracón, from barraca ‘soldier's tent’ (see BARRACKS).

barracouta /barəkutə/ n. (pl. same or barracoutas) a long, slender fish of southern oceans, highly valued as food. Also called SNOEK in South Africa.

<INFO> Thyrsites atun, family Gempylidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: alteration of BARRACUDA.

barracuda /barəkudə/ n. (pl. same or barracudas) a large predatory tropical marine fish with a slender body and large jaws and teeth.

<INFO> Family Sphyraenidae and genus Sphyraena: several species, in particular S. barracuda.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

barracudina /barəkudinə/ n. a slender-bodied predatory fish with a long head, found in open oceans.

<INFO> Family Paralepididae: numerous species, including Paralepis atlantica.

<ORIGIN> from American Spanish, diminutive of barracuda (see BARRACUDA), which it resembles.

barrage /barα/ n. 1 a concentrated artillery bombardment over a wide area.

- an overwhelming number of questions, criticisms, or complaints delivered simultaneously or in rapid succession: a barrage of questions.

2 an artificial barrier across a river or estuary to prevent flooding, aid irrigation or navigation, or to generate electricity by tidal power.

■ v. [with obj.] bombard (someone) with questions, criticisms, or complaints: his doctor was barraged with unsolicited advice.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2 of the noun): from French, from barrer ‘to bar’, of unknown origin.

barrage balloon n. a large balloon anchored to the ground by cables and typically with netting suspended from it, serving as an obstacle to low-flying enemy aircraft.

barramundi /barəmndi/ n. (pl. same or barramundis) any of a number of large, chiefly freshwater fishes of Australia and SE Asia:

<INFO>

- a fish that migrates between the sea and rivers and is valued as a food fish (Lates calcarifer, family Centropomidae).

- a mouthbrooder (genus Scleropages, family Osteoglossidae), in particular S. leichardti.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably from an Aboriginal language of Queensland.

barranca /bərakə/ (also barranco) n. (pl. barrancas or barrancos) chiefly US a narrow, winding river gorge.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Spanish.

Barranquilla /barəkijə/ the chief port of Colombia; pop. 1,298,400 (est. 2002). Founded in 1629, the city lies at the mouth of the Magdalena River, near the Caribbean Sea.

barratry /barətri/ n. [mass noun] 1 ARCHAIC fraud or gross negligence of a ship's master or crew at the expense of its owners or users.

2 [LAW] vexatious litigation or incitement to it (abolished as an offence in Britain in 1967).

3 HISTORICAL trade in the sale of Church or state appointments.

<DERIVATIVES> barrator n. barratrous adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3): from Old French baraterie, from barater ‘deceive’, based on Greek prattein ‘do, perform, manage’ (sometimes dishonestly); perhaps influenced by Old Norse barátta ‘contest’.

Barrault /barə/ French /baRə/ Jean-Louis (1910–94), French actor and director. He directed a number of films, and appeared in Les Enfants du Paradis (1945).

Barr body n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a small, densely staining structure in the cell nuclei of females, consisting of a condensed, inactive X chromosome. It is regarded as diagnostic of genetic femaleness.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after the Canadian anatomist M. L. Barr (1908–95).

barre /bα/ n. 1 a horizontal bar at waist level on which ballet dancers rest a hand for support during certain exercises.

2 [as modifier] denoting a chord played using the barré method.

<ORIGIN> French.

barré /bare/ n. [MUSIC] a method of playing a chord on the guitar or a similar instrument in which one finger is laid across all the strings at a particular fret.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘barred’, past participle of barrer.

barrel n. 1 a cylindrical container bulging out in the middle, traditionally made of wooden staves with metal hoops round them.

- a barrel together with its contents: a barrel of beer.

- a measure of capacity used for oil and beer, usually equal to 36 imperial gallons for beer and 35 imperial gallons or 42 US gallons (roughly 159 litres) for oil.

2 a cylindrical tube forming part of an object such as a gun or a pen: a gun barrel.

3 the belly and loins of a four-legged animal such as a horse.

■ v. (barrels, barrelling, barrelled; North American barrels, barreling, barreled) 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN drive or move in a way that is so fast as to almost be out of control: they shot him and then barreled away in the truck.

2 [with obj.] put into a barrel or barrels.

<PHRASES>

□ a barrel of laughs [with negative] INFORMAL a source of amusement or pleasure: life is not exactly a barrel of laughs at the moment.

□ over a barrel INFORMAL in a helpless position; at someone's mercy.

□ with both barrels INFORMAL with unrestrained force or emotion.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French baril, from medieval Latin barriclus ‘small cask’.

barrel-chested adj. having a large rounded chest.

barrel distortion n. [mass noun] a type of defect in optical or electronic images in which vertical or horizontal straight lines appear as convex curves.

barrelfish n. (pl. same or barrelfishes) a fish which lives in the deep waters of the Atlantic when adult, and on the surface, typically among flotsam, when young.

<INFO> Schedophilus medusophagus and Hyperoglyphe perciforma, family Centrolophidae.

barrelhead n. the flat top of a barrel.

<PHRASES>

□ on the barrelhead North American term for on the NAIL (see NAIL).

barrelhouse n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a cheap or disreputable bar.

2 [mass noun, usually as modifier] an unrestrained and unsophisticated style of jazz music.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: so named because of the rows of barrels along the walls of such a bar.

barrel organ n. a small pipe organ played by turning a handle, which rotates a cylinder studded with pegs that open the valves to produce a preset tune, formerly much used by street musicians.

barrel roll n. an aerobatic manoeuvre in which an aircraft follows a single turn of a spiral while rolling once about its longitudinal axis.

barrel vault n. [ARCHITECTURE] a vault forming a half cylinder.

<DERIVATIVES> barrel-vaulted adj.

barren adj. 1 (of land) too poor to produce much or any vegetation.

- (of a tree or plant) not producing fruit or seed.

- ARCHAIC (of a woman) infertile.

- (of a female animal) not pregnant or unable to become so.

2 showing no results or achievements; unproductive: he scored yesterday to end his barren spell.

3 (of a place or building) bleak and lifeless.

- empty of meaning or value.

- (barren of) devoid of: the room was barren of furniture.

■ n. (usually barrens) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a barren tract or tracts of land: the Newfoundland barrens.

<DERIVATIVES> barrenly adv. barrenness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French barhaine, of unknown origin.

barrenwort n. an Old World plant with cup-shaped spurred flowers, cultivated for its colourful foliage. It was formerly thought to cause infertility.

<INFO> Genus Epimedium, family Berberidaceae.

barrette /barεt/ n. a hairslide.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, diminutive of barre ‘bar’.

barricade /barked/ n. an improvised barrier erected across a street or other thoroughfare to prevent or delay the movement of opposing forces.

■ v. [with obj.] block or defend with a barricade: they barricaded the building and occupied it all night.

- shut (someone) into a place by blocking all the entrances: detainees who barricaded themselves into their dormitory.

<PHRASES>

□ man (or go to) the barricades strongly protest against or defend something.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from barrique ‘cask’, from Spanish barrica; related to BARREL (barrels often being used to build barricades).

Barrie Sir J. M. (1860–1937), Scottish dramatist and novelist; full name James Matthew Barrie. Barrie's most famous play is Peter Pan (1904), a fantasy for children about a boy who did not grow up.

barrier n. a fence or other obstacle that prevents movement or access.

- BRITISH a gate at a car park or railway station that controls access by being raised or lowered.

- a circumstance or obstacle that keeps people or things apart or prevents communication or progress: a language barrier | the cultural barriers to economic growth.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a palisade or fortification defending an entrance): from Old French barriere, of unknown origin; related to BARRE.

barrier cream n. BRITISH a cream used to protect the skin from damage or infection.

barrier method n. a method of contraception using a device or preparation which prevents live sperm from reaching an ovum.

barrier reef n. a coral reef close and running parallel to the shore but separated from it by a channel of deep water.

barring prep. except for; if not for: barring accidents, we should win.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from the verb bar^1 + -ING^2.

barrio /barə/ n. (pl. barrios) a district of a town in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries.

- (in the US) the Spanish-speaking quarter of a town or city.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, perhaps from Arabic.

barrique /bərik/ French /baRik/ n. a wine barrel, especially a small one made of new oak in which Bordeaux and other wines are aged.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French.

barrister (also barrister-at-law) n. chiefly BRITISH a person called to the bar and entitled to practise as an advocate, particularly in the higher courts. Compare with ATTORNEY, SOLICITOR.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the noun bar^1, perhaps on the pattern of minister.

barroom n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a room where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter.

barrow^1 n. BRITISH a two-wheeled handcart used especially by street vendors.

- a wheelbarrow.

<ORIGIN> Old English bearwe ‘stretcher, bier’, of Germanic origin; related to bear^1.

barrow^2 n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] an ancient burial mound.

<ORIGIN> Old English beorg, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch berg, German Berg ‘hill, mountain’.

barrow boy n. BRITISH a boy or man who sells wares from a barrow in the street.

Barry Sir Charles (1795–1860), English architect, designer of the Houses of Parliament.

barry /bαri/ adj. [HERALDRY] divided into typically four, six, or eight equal horizontal bars of alternating tinctures.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French barré ‘barred, striped’, past participle of barrer.

Barrymore an American family of film and stage actors, notably Lionel (1878–1954), his sister Ethel (1879–1959), and their brother John (1882–1942).

Barsac /bαsak/ French /baRsak/ n. [mass noun] a sweet white wine from the district of Barsac, a department of the Gironde in France.

bar sinister n. popular and erroneous term for BEND SINISTER.

bar stool n. a tall stool for customers at a bar to sit on.

Bart^1 Lionel (1930–99), English composer and lyricist. His musicals include Oliver! (1960).

Bart^2 abbr. Baronet.

bar tack n. a stitch made to strengthen a potential weak spot in a garment or other sewn item.

<DERIVATIVES> bar-tacked adj.

bartender n. a person serving drinks at a bar.

<DERIVATIVES> bartend v. bartending n.

barter v. [with obj.] exchange (goods or services) for other goods or services without using money: he often bartered a meal for drawings | [no obj.] they were able to buy or barter for most of what they needed.

■ n. [mass noun] the action or system of bartering.

- goods or services used in bartering: I took a supply of coffee and cigarettes to use as barter.

<DERIVATIVES> barterer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from Old French barater ‘deceive’ (see BARRATRY).

Barth^1 /bαθ/ John (Simmons) (b.1930), American novelist and short-story writer noted for complex experimental novels such as The Sot-Weed Factor (1960).

Barth^2 /bαt bαθ/ Karl (1886–1968), Swiss Protestant theologian. His seminal work Epistle to the Romans (1919) established a neo-orthodox or theocentric approach to contemporary religious thought which remains influential on Protestant theology.

<DERIVATIVES> Barthian /bαtən/ adj.

Barthes /bαt/ French /baRt/ Roland (1915–80), French writer and critic. Barthes was a leading exponent of structuralism and semiology in literary criticism, while later works were influential in the development of deconstruction and post-structuralism.

Bartholdi /bαtldi -θldi/ French /baRtldi/ (Frédéric) Auguste (1834–1904), French sculptor, known especially for the Statue of Liberty, which was presented to the US in 1886.

bartholinitis /bαtəlnts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of Bartholin's gland, typically accompanied by cysts or abscesses.

Bartholin's gland /bαtəlnz/ n. [ANATOMY] either of a pair of glands lying near the entrance of the vagina, which secrete a fluid that lubricates the vulva.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: named by Caspar Bartholin (1655–1738), Danish anatomist, as a tribute to his father.

Bartholomew, St /bαθləmju/ an Apostle. He is said to have been flayed alive in Armenia, and is hence regarded as the patron saint of tanners. Feast day, 24 August.

bartizan /bαtzan/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] a battlemented parapet or an overhanging corner turret at the top of a castle or church tower.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from 17th-cent. bertisene, Scots variant of bratticing ‘temporary breastwork or parapet’, from BRATTICE; revived and reinterpreted by Sir Walter Scott.

Bartlett pear /bαtlt/ n. a dessert pear of a juicy early-ripening variety.

<ORIGIN> from the name of Enoch Bartlett (1779–1860), a US merchant who first distributed the pear.

Bartók /bαtk/ Béla (1881–1945), Hungarian composer. His work owes much to Hungarian folk music and includes six string quartets, three piano concertos, and the Concerto for Orchestra (1943).

Bartolommeo /bαtləmeə/ Italian /bartələmmεə/ Fra (c.1472–1517), Italian painter; born Baccio della Porta. He was a Dominican friar and worked chiefly in Florence, where he was impressed and influenced by the work of Raphael.

Barton Sir Edmund (1849–1920), Australian statesman and jurist, first Prime Minister of Australia 1901–3.

bar tracery n. [mass noun] [ARCHITECTURE] tracery with strips of stone across an aperture.

bartsia /bαtsə/ n. a herbaceous plant of the figwort family, some kinds being partly parasitic on the roots of other plants, especially grasses.

<INFO> Bartsia and related genera, family Scrophulariaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Johann Bartsch (1709–38), Prussian botanist.

Baruch /bαrk/ a book of the Apocrypha, attributed in the text to Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah (Jer. 36).

barwing n. an Asian bird of the babbler family, with barred feathers on the wings and tail.

<INFO> Genus Actinodura, family Timaliidae: several species.

barycentric /barsεntrk/ adj. relating to the centre of gravity.

<DERIVATIVES> barycentre n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek barus ‘heavy’ + -CENTRIC.

baryon /barn/ n. [PHYSICS] a subatomic particle, such as a nucleon or hyperon, that has a mass equal to or greater than that of a proton.

<DERIVATIVES> baryonic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek barus ‘heavy’ + -ON.

Baryshnikov /bərinkf/ Mikhail (Nikolaevich) (b.1948), American ballet dancer, born in Latvia of Russian parents. In 1974 he defected to the West while touring with the Kirov Ballet.

baryta /bərtə/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] barium hydroxide.

<INFO> Chem. formula: Ba(OH)2.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BARYTE, on the pattern of words such as soda.

baryte /bart bε-/ (also barytes /bərtiz/, barite) n. a mineral consisting of barium sulphate, typically occurring as colourless prismatic crystals or thin white flakes.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as barytes): from Greek barus ‘heavy’ + endings based on Greek -ites.

baryton /bartn/ n. an obsolete stringed instrument similar to a bass viol, with additional sympathetic strings, used mainly in 18th-century Germany and Austria.

<ORIGIN> variant of BARITONE.

bas /bs/ exclam. INDIAN stop; enough: Bas! Stop pestering me!

<ORIGIN> from Hindi, from Persian.

basal /bes(ə)l/ adj. chiefly TECHNICAL forming or belonging to a bottom layer or base.

basal cell carcinoma n. technical term for RODENT ULCER.

basal ganglia plural n. [ANATOMY] a group of structures linked to the thalamus in the base of the brain and involved in coordination of movement.

basal metabolic rate n. the rate at which the body uses energy while at rest to maintain vital functions such as breathing and keeping warm.

<DERIVATIVES> basal metabolism n.

basalt /baslt -(ə)lt/ n. [mass noun] a dark fine-grained volcanic rock that sometimes displays a columnar structure, typically composed largely of plagioclase with pyroxene and olivine.

- a kind of black stoneware developed by Josiah Wedgwood.

<DERIVATIVES> basaltic /bəsltk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the Latin form): from Latin basaltes (variant of basanites), from Greek basanitēs, from basanos ‘touchstone’.

basanite /basənt/ n. [mass noun] a dark grey or black basaltic rock consisting of plagioclase, augite, olivine, and a feldspathoid.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin basanites (see BASALT) + -ITE^1.

bascule /baskjul/ (also bascule bridge) n. a type of bridge with a section which can be raised and lowered using counterweights.

- a movable section of road forming part of a bascule bridge.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: earlier denoting a lever apparatus of which one end is raised while the other is lowered, from French (earlier bacule), ‘see-saw’, from battre ‘to bump’ + cul ‘buttocks’.

base^1 n. 1 the lowest part or edge of something, especially the part on which it rests or is supported: she sat down at the base of a tree.

- [ARCHITECTURE] the part of a column between the shaft and pedestal or pavement.

- [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] the end at which a part or organ is attached to the trunk or main part.

- [GEOMETRY] a line or surface on which a figure is regarded as standing: the base of the triangle.

- [SURVEYING] a known line used as a geometrical base for trigonometry.

- [HERALDRY] the lowest part of a shield.

2 a conceptual structure or entity on which something draws or depends: the town's economic base collapsed.

- a foundation or starting point for further work: she uses existing data as the base for the study.

- [with modifier] a group of people regarded as supporting an organization, for example by buying its products: a customer base.

3 a place used as a centre of operations by the armed forces or others; a headquarters: he headed back to base.

- the main place where a person works or stays: she makes the studio her base | your hotel is a good base from which to explore.

4 a main or important element or ingredient to which other things are added: soaps with a vegetable oil base.

- [mass noun] a substance into which a pigment is mixed to form paint, such as water, oil, or powdered aluminium hydroxide.

5 [CHEMISTRY] a substance capable of reacting with an acid to form a salt and water, or (more broadly) of accepting or neutralizing hydrogen ions. Compare with ACID and ALKALI.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] a purine or pyrimidine group in a nucleotide or nucleic acid.

6 [ELECTRONICS] the middle part of a bipolar transistor, separating the emitter from the collector.

7 [LINGUISTICS] the root or stem of a word or a derivative.

- the uninflected form of a verb.

8 [MATHEMATICS] a number used as the basis of a numeration scale.

- a number in terms of which other numbers are expressed as logarithms.

9 [BASEBALL] each of the four stations that must be reached in turn to score a run.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (base something on) use (something specified) as the foundation or starting point for something: the film is based on a novel by Pat Conroy | entitlement will be based on income.

2 situate at a specified place as the centre of operations: the Science Policy Review Unit is based at the University of Sussex | (as adj., in combination -based) a London-based band.

<PHRASES>

□ get to first base [usually with negative] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN achieve the first step towards one's objective.

□ off base INFORMAL mistaken.

□ touch base INFORMAL briefly make or renew contact with someone.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin basis ‘base, pedestal’, from Greek.

base^2 adj. 1 without moral principles; ignoble: the electorate's baser instincts of greed and selfishness.

2 ARCHAIC denoting or befitting a person of low social class.

3 (of coins or other articles) not made of precious metal.

<DERIVATIVES> basely adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bas, from medieval Latin bassus ‘short’ (found in classical Latin as a cognomen). Early senses included ‘low, short’ and ‘of inferior quality’; from the latter arose a sense ‘low in the social scale’, and hence (mid 16th century) ‘reprehensibly cowardly, selfish, or mean’.

baseball n. [mass noun] a ball game played between two teams of nine on a diamond-shaped circuit of four bases. It is played chiefly as a warm-weather sport in the US and Canada.

- [count noun] the hard ball used in baseball.

baseball cap n. a cotton cap of a kind originally worn by baseball players, with a large peak and an adjustable strap at the back.

baseboard n. North American term for SKIRTING.

baseborn adj. ARCHAIC of low birth or origin.

- illegitimate.

base camp n. a camp from which mountaineering expeditions set out or from which a particular activity can be carried out.

base dressing n. an application of manure or fertilizer to the earth, which is then ploughed or dug in.

basehead n. US INFORMAL a habitual user of freebase or crack.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from a shortened form of FREEBASE + -HEAD^2.

base hit n. [BASEBALL] a fair ball hit such that the batter can advance safely to a base without an error by the team in the field.

base hospital n. 1 a military hospital situated at some distance from the area of active operations during a war.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a hospital serving a large rural area.

base jump (also BASE jump) n. a parachute jump from a fixed point, typically a high building or promontory, rather than an aircraft.

■ v. (base-jump) [no obj.] perform a base jump.

<DERIVATIVES> base jumper n. base jumping n.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: base from building, antenna-tower, span, earth (denoting the types of structure used).

Basel /bazl/ German name for BASLE.

baseless adj. 1 without foundation in fact: baseless allegations.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] (of a column) not having a base between the shaft and pedestal.

<DERIVATIVES> baselessly adv. baselessness n.

baseline n. 1 a minimum or starting point used for comparisons.

2 (in tennis, volleyball, and other games) the line marking each end of a court.

3 [BASEBALL] the line between bases which a runner must stay close to when running.

4 [PRINTING] the imaginary straight line through the feet of most letters in a line of type.

baseload n. the permanent minimum load that a power supply system is required to deliver.

baseman n. (pl. basemen) [BASEBALL] a fielder designated to cover either first, second, or third base.

basement n. the floor of a building which is partly or entirely below ground level.

- [GEOLOGY] the oldest formation of rocks underlying a particular area.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: probably from archaic Dutch basement ‘foundation’, perhaps from Italian basamento ‘column base’.

basement membrane n. [ANATOMY] a thin, delicate membrane of protein fibres and mucopolysaccharides separating an epithelium from underlying tissue.

base metal n. a common metal that is not considered precious, such as copper, tin, or zinc.

baseness n. [mass noun] lack of moral principles; bad character: the baseness of human nature.

basenji /bəsεndi/ n. (pl. basenjis) a smallish hunting dog of a central African breed, which growls and yelps but does not bark.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: a local word.

base pair n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a pair of complementary bases in a double-stranded nucleic acid molecule, consisting of a purine in one strand linked by hydrogen bonds to a pyrimidine in the other. Cytosine always pairs with guanine, and adenine with thymine (in DNA) or uracil (in RNA).

baseplate n. a sheet of metal forming the bottom of an object.

base rate n. (in the UK) the interest rate set by the Bank of England for lending to other banks, used as the benchmark for interest rates generally.

bases plural form of base^1 and BASIS.

base station n. 1 a relay located at the centre of any of the cells of a cellular telephone system.

2 a short-range transceiver which connects a cordless phone to the main telephone network.

base unit n. a fundamental unit that is defined arbitrarily and not by combinations of other units. The base units of the SI system are the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela.

bash INFORMAL v. [with obj.] 1 strike hard and violently: she bashed him with the book | [no obj.] people bashed on the doors.

- (bash something in) damage or break something by striking it violently.

- [no obj.] (bash into) collide with: the other vehicle bashed into the back of them.

- fiercely criticize or oppose: the dispute will be used as an excuse to bash the unions.

2 (bash something out) produce something rapidly without preparation or attention to detail.

3 [no obj.] (bash on or away) BRITISH continue despite difficulties.

■ n. 1 a heavy blow: a bash on the head.

2 a party or social event: a birthday bash.

3 [in sing.] BRITISH an attempt: have a bash at this quiz.

<DERIVATIVES> basher n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a verb): imitative, perhaps a blend of bang^1 and SMASH, dash, etc.

basha /baə/ n. an improvised shelter for one or a few soldiers.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally denoting a bamboo hut with a thatched roof): Assamese.

bashert /baət/ n. (in Jewish use) a person's soulmate, especially when considered as an ideal or predestined marriage partner.

<ORIGIN> Yiddish, ‘fate, destiny’.

bashful adj. reluctant to draw attention to oneself; shy.

<DERIVATIVES> bashfully adv. bashfulness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from obsolete bash ‘make or become abashed’ (from ABASH) + -FUL.

bashing n. [mass noun] [usually in combination] INFORMAL violent physical assault: nine incidents of gay-bashing were reported to the police.

- fierce criticism or opposition: union-bashing.

Bashkir /bakə/ n. 1 a member of a Muslim people living in the southern Urals.

2 [mass noun] the Turkic language of the Bashkirs, with about 1 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Bashkirs or their language.

<ORIGIN> via Russian from Turkic Başkurt.

Bashkiria /bakərə/ an autonomous republic in central Russia, west of the Urals; pop. 3,964,000 (1990); capital, Ufa. Also called BASHKIR AUTONOMOUS REPUBLIC.

bashment /bamənt/ n. 1 W. INDIAN a large party or dance.

2 an uptempo style of popular music derived from dancehall and ragga.

basho /baə/ n. (pl. same or bashos) a sumo wrestling tournament.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from ba ‘place, occasion’ + shō ‘place, locality’.

BASIC n. [mass noun] a simple high-level computer programming language that uses familiar English words, designed for beginners and formerly widely used on microcomputers.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: acronym from Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.

basic adj. 1 forming an essential foundation or starting point; fundamental: certain basic rules must be obeyed | the laying down of arms is basic to the agreement.

- offering or constituting the minimum required without elaboration or luxury: the food was good, if a bit basic.

- common to or required by everyone; primary and ineradicable or inalienable: basic human rights.

2 [CHEMISTRY] having the properties of a base, or containing a base; having a pH above 7. Often contrasted with ACIDIC and ALKALINE.

- [GEOLOGY] (of rock, especially lava) relatively poor in silica.

- [METALLURGY] relating to or denoting steel-making processes involving lime-rich refractories and slags.

■ n. (basics) INFORMAL the essential facts or principles of a subject or skill: I learnt the basics of programming on a course | teachers are going back to basics to encourage pupils to learn English.

- essential food and other supplies: people are facing a shortage of basics like flour.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BASE^1 + -IC.

basically adv. [often as submodifier] in the most essential respects; fundamentally: we started from a basically simple idea.

- [sentence adv.] used to indicate that a statement summarizes the most important aspects, or gives a roughly accurate account, of a more complex situation: I basically played the same thing every night.

Basic English n. [mass noun] a simplified form of English limited to 850 selected words, intended for international communication.

basicity /bessti/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the number of hydrogen atoms replaceable by a base in a particular acid.

basic oxygen process n. a steel-making process in which a jet of oxygen is delivered by a lance on to a molten mixture of pig iron and scrap steel in a retort lined with a basic refractory. Excess carbon is burnt away, producing enough heat to keep the iron molten, and the oxidized impurities are removed as gases or slag.

basic pay n. [mass noun] a standard rate of pay before additional payments such as allowances and bonuses.

basic slag n. [mass noun] slag formed as a by-product of basic steel-making processes. It is generally rich in lime and sometimes also in phosphates, and can be used as fertilizer.

basic wage n. the amount a person earns before additional payments such as overtime.

- Australian/NZ another term for MINIMUM WAGE.

basidiomycete /bəsdəmsit/ n. (pl. basidiomycetes /-msits -msitiz/) [BOTANY] a fungus whose spores develop in basidia. They include the majority of familiar mushrooms and toadstools. Compare with ASCOMYCETE.

<INFO> Subdivision Basidiomycotina (formerly class Basidiomycetes): several classes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: anglicized singular of modern Latin Basidiomycetes, from basidium (see BASIDIUM) + Greek mukētes ‘fungi’.

basidium /bəsdəm/ n. (pl. basidia /-də/) a microscopic club-shaped spore-bearing structure produced by certain fungi.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek basidion, diminutive of basis (see BASIS).

Basie /besi/ Count (1904–84), American jazz pianist, organist, and bandleader; born William Basie. In 1935 he formed a big band, known as the Count Basie Orchestra, which became one of the most successful bands of the swing era.

basil /baz(ə)l -zl/ n. [mass noun] 1 an aromatic plant of the mint family, native to tropical Asia. The leaves are used as a culinary herb, especially in Mediterranean dishes.

<INFO> Genus Ocimum, family Labiatae: several species, in particular the annual sweet basil (O. basilicum).

2 (also wild basil) a European plant which grows in hedges and scrub.

<INFO> Clinopodium vulgare, family Labiatae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French basile, via medieval Latin from Greek basilikon, neuter of basilikos ‘royal’ (see BASILICA).

Basil, St (c.330–79), Doctor of the Church, bishop of Caesarea; known as St Basil the Great. Brother of St Gregory of Nyssa, he staunchly opposed Arianism and put forward a monastic rule which is still the basis of monasticism in the Eastern Church. Feast day, 14 June.

basilar /baslə/ adj. of or situated at the base of something, especially of the skull, or of the organ of Corti in the ear.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from modern Latin basilaris, formed irregularly from Latin basis (see BASIS).

Basildon /bazldən/ a town in SE Essex; pop. 165,661 (2001). It was developed as a new town from 1949.

basilect /baslεkt bes-/ n. [LINGUISTICS] a less prestigious dialect or variety of a particular language. Often contrasted with ACROLECT.

<DERIVATIVES> basilectal /-lεkt(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from BASIS + -lect as in DIALECT.

Basilian /bəzlən/ adj. relating to St Basil the Great, or the order of monks and nuns following his monastic rule.

■ n. a Basilian monk or nun.

basilica /bəslkə -zl-/ n. a large oblong hall or building with double colonnades and a semicircular apse, used in ancient Rome as a law court or for public assemblies.

- a similar building used as a Christian church.

- the name given to certain churches granted special privileges by the Pope.

<DERIVATIVES> basilican adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, literally ‘royal palace’, from Greek basilikē, feminine of basilikos ‘royal’, from basileus ‘king’.

Basilicata /bəslkαtə/ a region of southern Italy, lying between the ‘heel’ of Apulia and the ‘toe’ of Calabria; capital, Potenza.

basilisk /bazlsk/ n. 1 a mythical reptile with a lethal gaze or breath, hatched by a serpent from a cock's egg.

- [HERALDRY] another term for COCKATRICE.

2 a long, slender, and mainly bright green lizard found in Central America, the male of which has a crest running from the head to the tail. It can swim well, and is able to run on its hind legs across the surface of water.

<INFO> Basiliscus plumifrons, family Iguanidae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek basiliskos ‘little king, serpent’, from basileus ‘king’.

basilosaurus /baslə()srəs/ n. a large marine cetacean of the Eocene epoch, having rudimentary fore and hind limbs.

<INFO> Genus Basilosaurus, suborder Archaeoceti, order Cetacea.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek basileus ‘king’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

basin n. 1 chiefly BRITISH a bowl for washing, typically attached to a wall and having taps connected to a water supply; a washbasin.

2 a wide open container used for preparing food or for holding liquid.

3 a circular or oval valley or natural depression on the earth's surface, especially one containing water: the loch is cupped in a shallow basin among low hills.

- the tract of country drained by a river and its tributaries, or which drains into a lake or sea: the Amazon basin.

- an enclosed area of water where boats can be moored.

- [GEOLOGY] a circumscribed rock formation where the strata dip towards the centre.

<DERIVATIVES> basinful n. (pl. basinfuls)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bacin, from medieval Latin bacinus, from bacca ‘water container’, perhaps of Gaulish origin.

basinet /basnt/ (also bascinet) n. HISTORICAL a light, close-fitting steel helmet, typically having a visor.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bacinet ‘little basin’.

basipetal /bespt(ə)l/ adj. [BOTANY] (of growth or development) downwards towards the base or point of attachment. The opposite of ACROPETAL.

- (of the movement of dissolved substances) inwards from the shoot and root apices.

<DERIVATIVES> basipetally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BASIS + Latin petere ‘seek’ + -AL.

basis n. (pl. bases /-siz/) the underlying support or foundation for an idea, argument, or process: trust is the only basis for a good working relationship.

- [with adj.] the system or principles according to which an activity or process is carried on: she needed coaching on a regular basis.

- the justification for or reasoning behind something: on the basis of these statistics important decisions are made.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a base or pedestal): via Latin from Greek, ‘stepping’. Compare with base^1.

basis point n. [FINANCE] one hundredth of one percentage point (used chiefly in expressing differences of interest rates).

bask v. [no obj.] lie exposed to warmth and light, typically from the sun, for relaxation and pleasure.

- (bask in) revel in and make the most of (something pleasing): he went on basking in the glory of his first book.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘bathe’): perhaps related to Old Norse batha ‘bathe’.

basket n. 1 a container used to hold or carry things, typically made from interwoven strips of cane or wire.

- [FINANCE] a group or range of currencies or investments: a basket of ten currencies.

2 [BASKETBALL] a net fixed on a hoop used as the goal.

- a goal scored.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL euphemism for bastard (sense 2 of the noun).

<DERIVATIVES> basketful n. (pl. basketfuls)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French basket, of unknown ultimate origin.

basketball n. [mass noun] a game played between two teams of five players in which goals are scored by throwing a ball through a netted hoop fixed at each end of the court.

- [count noun] the inflated ball used in basketball.

basket case n. INFORMAL a person or thing regarded as useless or unable to cope.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: originally US slang denoting a soldier who had lost all four limbs, thus unable to move independently.

basket hilt n. a sword hilt with a guard resembling basketwork.

Basket Maker n. a member of a culture of the south-western US, forming the early stages of the Anasazi culture, from the 1st century BC until c.700 AD. The name comes from the basketry and other woven fragments found in early cave sites.

basketry n. [mass noun] the craft of basket-making.

- baskets collectively.

basket weave n. [mass noun] a style of weave or a pattern resembling basketwork.

basketwork n. [mass noun] material woven in the style of a basket.

- the craft of making basketwork.

basking shark n. a large shark which feeds exclusively on plankton and typically swims slowly close to the surface, found chiefly in the open ocean.

<INFO> Cetorhinus maximus, the only member of the family Cetorhinidae.

Basle /bαl bαz(ə)l/ a commercial and industrial city on the Rhine in NW Switzerland; pop. 163,800 (est. 2002). French name Bâle, German name Basel.

basmati /basmαti -z-/ (also basmati rice) n. [mass noun] a kind of long-grain Indian rice with a delicate fragrance.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bāsmatī, literally ‘fragrant’.

basophil /besə()fl/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a basophilic white blood cell.

basophilic /besə()flk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] (of a cell or its contents) readily stained with basic dyes.

Basotho /bəsutu/ plural n. (sing. Mosotho) the South Sotho people collectively, living chiefly in Lesotho.

<ORIGIN> the name in Sesotho.

Basque /bask bαsk/ n. 1 a member of a people living in the Basque Country of France and Spain. Culturally one of the most distinct groups in Europe, the Basques were largely independent until the 19th century. The Basque separatist movement ETA is carrying on an armed struggle against the Spanish government.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Basques, which is not known to be related to any other language. It has about 1 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Basques or their language.

<ORIGIN> from French, from Latin Vasco; compare with GASCON.

basque /bask bαsk/ n. a close-fitting bodice extending from the shoulders to the waist and typically with a short continuation below waist level.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BASQUE, referring to Basque dress.

Basque Country a region of the western Pyrenees in both France and Spain, the homeland of the Basque people. French name PAYS BASQUE.

Basque Provinces an autonomous region of northern Spain, on the Bay of Biscay; capital, Vitoria.

Basra /bazrə/ an oil port of Iraq, on the Shatt al-Arab waterway; pop. 1,337,600 (est. 2002).

bas-relief /basrlif bα(s)-/ n. [mass noun]

■ another term for LOW RELIEF (see RELIEF (SENSE 4)).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as basse relieve): from Italian basso-rilievo ‘low relief’, later altered to the French form.

bass^1 /bes/ n. 1 the lowest adult male singing voice.

- a singer with such a voice.

- a part written for such a voice.

2 [as modifier] denoting the member of a family of instruments that is the lowest in pitch: a bass clarinet.

- INFORMAL a bass guitar or double bass.

3 [mass noun] the low-frequency output of a radio or audio system, corresponding to the bass in music.

<DERIVATIVES> bassy adj. (bassier, bassiest)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: alteration of base^2, influenced by BASSO.

bass^2 /bas/ n. (pl. same or basses) 1 the common European freshwater perch.

2 any of a number of fish similar to or related to this, in particular:

<INFO>

- a mainly marine fish found in temperate waters (family Percichthyidae or Moronidae, including Dicentrarchus labrax of European waters and genus Morone of North America).

- an American freshwater fish of the sunfish family, popular with anglers (genera Ambloplites and Micropterus, family Centrarchidae).

- a sea bass.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: alteration of dialect barse, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch baars and German Barsch.

bass^3 /bas/ n. another term for BAST.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: alteration.

bass clef n. [MUSIC] a clef placing F below middle C on the second-highest line of the stave.

bass drum n. a large drum of indefinite low pitch.

Bassein /basen/ a port on the Irrawaddy delta in SW Burma (Myanmar); pop. 219,700 (est. 2002).

Basse-Normandie /basnməndi/ French /basnRmαdi/ a region of NW France, on the coast of the English Channel, including the Cherbourg peninsula and the city of Caen.

basset (also basset hound) n. a sturdy hunting dog of a breed with a long body, short legs, and long drooping ears.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, diminutive of bas ‘low’, from medieval Latin bassus ‘short’.

Basseterre /bastε/ the capital of St Kitts and Nevis in the Leeward Islands, on the island of St Kitts; pop. 11,600 (est. 2002).

Basse-Terre /bastε/ the main island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.

basset horn n. an alto clarinet in F, typically with a bent mouthpiece and upturned bell.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, translation of French cor de bassette, from Italian corno di bassetto, from corno ‘horn’ + di ‘of’ + bassetto (diminutive of basso ‘low’, from Latin bassus ‘short’).

bassinet /basnεt/ n. a child's wicker cradle.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, diminutive of bassin ‘basin’; compare with BASINET.

bassist /besst/ n. a person who plays a double bass or bass guitar.

basslet /baslt/ n. a small, brightly coloured fish related to the sea basses.

<INFO> Genera Gramma and Lipogramma, family Grammidae: several species.

bassline /besln/ n. the lowest part or sequence of notes in a piece of music.

basso /basə/ n. (pl. bassos or bassi /-si/) a bass voice or vocal part.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: Italian, ‘low’, from Latin bassus ‘short, low’.

bassoon n. a bass woodwind instrument of the oboe family, with a doubled-back tube over four feet long, played with a double reed.

<DERIVATIVES> bassoonist n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French basson, from Italian bassone, from basso ‘low’, from Latin bassus ‘short, low’.

basso profundo /prəfndə/ n. (pl. bassos profundos or bassi profundi /-di/) a bass singer with an exceptionally low range.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Italian, from basso ‘low’ + profondo ‘deep’.

basso-relievo /basərlivə/ n. (pl. basso-relievos)

■ another term for LOW RELIEF (see RELIEF (SENSE 4)).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian basso-rilievo.

Bass Strait /bas/ a channel separating Tasmania from the mainland of Australia.

<ORIGIN> named after the English explorer George Bass (1771–1803), who discovered the strait.

bass viol n. a bass instrument of the viol family; a viola da gamba.

- NORTH AMERICAN a double bass.

basswood /baswd/ n. a North American lime tree with large leaves, commonly planted as a street tree in the US.

<INFO> Tilia americana, family Tiliaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from BASS^3 + WOOD.

bast /bast/ n. (also bast fibre) [mass noun] fibrous material from a plant, in particular the inner bark of a tree such as the lime, used as fibre in matting, cord, etc.

- [BOTANY] the phloem or vascular tissue of a plant.

<ORIGIN> Old English bæst; related to Dutch bast, German Bast; of unknown origin.

bastard /bαstəd bast-/ n. 1 ARCHAIC or DEROGATORY a person born of parents not married to each other.

2 INFORMAL an unpleasant or despicable person.

- [with adj.] BRITISH a person of a specified kind: he was a lucky bastard.

- BRITISH a difficult or awkward undertaking, situation, or device: it's been a bastard of a week.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 ARCHAIC or DEROGATORY born of parents not married to each other; illegitimate.

2 (of a thing) no longer in its pure or original form; debased: a bastard Darwinism.

- (of a handwriting script or typeface) showing a mixture of different styles.

<DERIVATIVES> bastardy n.

■ bastard (sense 1 of the noun)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin bastardus, probably from bastum ‘packsaddle’; compare with Old French fils de bast, ‘packsaddle son’ (i.e. the son of a mule driver who uses a packsaddle for a pillow and is gone by morning).

<USAGE> In the past the word bastard was the standard term in both legal and non-legal use for ‘an illegitimate child’. Today, however, it has little importance as a legal term and is retained today in this older sense only as a term of abuse.

bastardize (also bastardise) v. [with obj.] 1 (often as adj. bastardized) corrupt or debase (a language, art form, etc.), typically by adding new elements: a strange, bastardized form of French.

2 ARCHAIC declare (someone) illegitimate.

<DERIVATIVES> bastardization n.

bastard-trench v. [with obj.] [HORTICULTURE] dig (ground) by digging over the lower soil with the topsoil temporarily removed.

bastard wing n. a group of small quill feathers on the first digit of a bird's wing.

baste^1 v. [with obj.] pour fat or juices over (meat) during cooking in order to keep it moist.

<DERIVATIVES> baster n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: of unknown origin.

baste^2 v. [with obj.] [NEEDLEWORK] tack with long, loose stitches in preparation for sewing.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bastir ‘sew lightly’, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to BAST.

baste^3 v. [with obj.] INFORMAL, DATED beat (someone) soundly; thrash.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps a figurative use of baste^1.

Bastet /bastεt/ [EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY] a goddess usually shown as a woman with the head of a cat, wearing one gold earring. See also SEKHMET.

Bastia /bastjə/ the chief port of Corsica; pop. 37,884 (1999).

bastide /bastid/ n. (in southern France) a country house.

- HISTORICAL a fortified village or town in France.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: via Old French from Provençal bastida.

Bastille /bastil/ a fortress in Paris built in the 14th century and used in the 17th–18th centuries as a state prison. Its storming by the mob on 14 July 1789 marked the start of the French Revolution.

<ORIGIN> via Old French from Provençal bastida, from bastir ‘build’.

bastinado /bastnedə -nαdə/ n. [mass noun] a form of punishment or torture that involved caning the soles of someone's feet.

■ v. (bastinadoes, bastinadoing, bastinadoed) [with obj.] punish or torture (someone) in such a way.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a blow with a stick): from Spanish bastonada, from bastón ‘stick, cudgel’, from late Latin bastum ‘stick’.

bastion /bastən/ n. 1 a projecting part of a fortification built at an angle to the line of a wall, so as to allow defensive fire in several directions.

- a natural rock formation resembling such a fortification.

2 an institution, place, or person strongly maintaining particular principles, attitudes, or activities: cricket's last bastion of discrimination.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Italian bastione, from bastire ‘build’.

bastnaesite /bastnest/ n. [mass noun] a yellow to brown mineral consisting of a fluoride and carbonate of cerium and other rare earth metals.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Bastnäs, the name of a district in Västmanland, Sweden, + -ITE^1.

basuco /bəsukə/ n. [mass noun] impure or low-grade cocaine, especially when mixed with coca paste and tobacco and cannabis.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from Colombian Spanish; perhaps related to Spanish bazucar ‘shake violently’.

Basutoland /bəsutəland/ former name (until 1966) for LESOTHO.

bat^1 n. an implement with a handle and a solid surface, typically of wood, used for hitting the ball in games such as cricket, baseball, and table tennis.

- a turn at playing with a bat.

- a person batting, especially in cricket; a batsman.

- each of a pair of objects resembling table tennis bats, used by a person on the ground to guide a taxiing aircraft.

- a slab on which pottery is formed, dried, or fired.

■ v. (bats, batting, batted) [no obj.] 1 (of a sports team or player) take the role of hitting rather than throwing the ball.

- (bat for (or go to bat for)) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN defend the interests of; support: she turned out to have the law batting for her.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] hit at (someone or something) with the flat of one's hand: he batted the flies away.

- (bat something around (or about)) INFORMAL discuss an idea or proposal casually or idly.

3 (bat around (or about)) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN travel widely, frequently, or casually.

<PHRASES>

□ off one's own bat BRITISH at one's own instigation; spontaneously.

□ right off the bat NORTH AMERICAN at the very beginning; straight away.

<ORIGIN> late Old English batt ‘club, stick, staff’, perhaps partly from Old French batte, from battre ‘to strike’.

bat^2 n. 1 a mainly nocturnal mammal capable of sustained flight, with membranous wings that extend between the fingers and limbs.

<INFO> Order Chiroptera: many families and numerous species. The large tropical fruit bats (suborder Megachiroptera) generally have good eyesight and feed mainly on fruit; the numerous smaller bats (suborder Microchiroptera) are mouse-like in appearance, mainly insectivorous, and use ultrasonic echolocation.

2 (usually old bat) INFORMAL a woman regarded as unattractive or unpleasant. [<ORIGIN> from bat, a slang term for ‘prostitute’, or from BATTLEAXE.]

<PHRASES>

□ have bats in the (or one's) belfry INFORMAL be eccentric or mad.

□ like a bat out of hell INFORMAL very fast and wildly.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: alteration, perhaps by association with medieval Latin batta, blacta, of Middle English bakke, of Scandinavian origin.

bat^3 v. (bats, batting, batted) [with obj.] flutter (one's eyelashes), typically in a flirtatious manner: she batted her long dark eyelashes at him.

<PHRASES>

□ not bat (or without batting) an eyelid (or North American eye) INFORMAL show (or showing) no surprise or concern: she paid the bill without batting an eyelid.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US): from dialect and US bat ‘to wink, blink’, variant of obsolete bate ‘to flutter’.

Bata /bαtə/ a seaport in Equatorial Guinea; pop. 44,300 (est. 2002).

Batak /batək/ n. (pl. same or Bataks) 1 a member of a people of the northern part of Sumatra.

2 [mass noun] the Indonesian language of the Batak, with about 6 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Batak or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Batak.

Batan Islands /bətαn/ the most northerly islands of the Philippines.

batata /bətαtə/ n. [mass noun] (in the southern Caribbean) sweet potato.

<ORIGIN> via Spanish from Taino.

Batavia /bətevə/ former name (until 1949) for JAKARTA.

Batavian n. a member of the ancient Germanic people who inhabited the island of Betuwe between the Rhine and the Waal (now part of the Netherlands).

■ adj. 1 relating to the Batavians.

2 HISTORICAL or ARCHAIC relating to the people of the Netherlands.

- relating to Jakarta in Indonesia (formerly the Dutch East Indies).

<ORIGIN> from Latin Batavia (from Batavi ‘the people of Betuwe’) + -AN.

Batavian lettuce n. another term for BATAVIAN ENDIVE (see ENDIVE).

batch n. a quantity or consignment of goods produced at one time.

- INFORMAL a number of things or people regarded as a group or set: a batch of loyalists and sceptics.

- [COMPUTING] a group of records processed as a single unit, usually without input from a user.

■ v. [with obj.] arrange (things) in sets or groups.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the senses ‘process of baking’, ‘quantity produced at one baking’): based on an Old English word related to bacan (see BAKE). Current senses date from the early 18th cent.

batch file n. a computer file containing a list of instructions to be carried out in turn.

batchmate n. INDIAN a classmate.

batch processing n. [mass noun] the performing of an industrial process on material in batches of a limited quantity or number.

- [COMPUTING] the processing of previously collected jobs in a single batch.

bate^1 (also bait) n. [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED an angry mood: he got into a stinking bate.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the verb BAIT ‘torment’, expressing the notion ‘state of a baited person’.

bate^2 v. [no obj.] [FALCONRY] (of a hawk) beat the wings in agitation and flutter off the perch.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French batre ‘to beat’ (see also batter^1).

bat-eared fox n. a small fox found in southern and East Africa, with very large ears that are used to locate insect prey.

<INFO> Otocyon megalotis, family Canidae.

bateau /batə/ n. (pl. bateaux /-əz/) a light flat-bottomed riverboat used in Canada.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: French, ‘boat’.

bateau mouche /batə mu/ French /batə mu/ n. (pl. bateaux mouches pronunc. same) a pleasure boat that takes sightseers on the Seine in Paris.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘fly boat’, because of the boat's mobility.

bated adj. (in phrase with bated breath) in great suspense; very anxiously or excitedly: he waited for a reply to his offer with bated breath.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from the past participle of obsolete bate ‘restrain’, from ABATE.

<USAGE> The spelling baited breath instead of bated breath is a common mistake. A quarter of citations for this idiom in the Oxford Reading Programme are for the incorrect spelling.

bateleur /bat(ə)lə/ (also bateleur eagle) n. a short-tailed African eagle with mainly black plumage and a bare red face.

<INFO> Terathopius ecaudatus, family Accipitridae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, literally ‘acrobat, juggler’ (with reference to the side-to-side tilting motion of the bird in flight).

Bateman H. M. (1887–1970), Australian-born British cartoonist; full name Henry Mayo Bateman. He is known for the series of cartoons entitled ‘The Man Who …’, which illustrated social gaffes based on snobbery.

Bates H. E. (1905–74), English novelist and short-story writer; full name Herbert Ernest Bates. He is noted for novels such as The Darling Buds of May (1958).

Batesian mimicry /betsən/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] mimicry in which an edible animal is protected by its resemblance to one avoided by predators. Compare with Müllerian mimicry.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Henry W. Bates (1825–92), the English naturalist who first described it.

Bates method n. [mass noun] a technique intended to improve eyesight using eye exercises rather than lenses or surgery.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: named after William H. Bates (1860–1931), American ophthalmologist.

Bateson William (1861–1926), English geneticist. He coined the term [GENETICS] in its current sense and publicized the work of Mendel.

batfish n. (pl. same or batfishes) 1 a fish of tropical and temperate seas with a flattened body that is round or almost triangular when viewed from above.

<INFO> Family Ogcocephalidae: several genera and species.

2 a deep-bodied, laterally compressed marine fish of the Indo-Pacific region, resembling an angelfish.

<INFO> Genus Platax, family Ephippidae: several species.

bat fly n. a bloodsucking fly of spider-like appearance, parasitic on bats and bearing live young.

<INFO> Family Nycteribiidae: Nycteribia and other genera.

Bath a spa town in SW England; pop. 86,300 (est. 2002). The town was founded by the Romans, who called it Aquae Sulis, and was a fashionable spa in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

<DERIVATIVES> Bathonian adj. & n.

bath^1 /bαθ/ n. (pl. baths) a large container for water, used for immersing and washing the body.

- an act or process of immersing and washing one's body in the water held by a bath: she took a long, hot bath.

- (usually baths) BRITISH a building containing a public swimming pool or washing facilities.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a bathroom.

- [with modifier] a container holding a liquid in which something is immersed, typically when undergoing a process such as film developing.

■ v. [with obj.] BRITISH wash (someone) while immersing them in a bath: how to bath a baby.

- [no obj.] wash oneself while immersed in a bath: there was no hot water to bath in.

<PHRASES>

□ an early bath BRITISH INFORMAL used in reference to the sending off of a sports player during a match: the referee awarded a penalty and ordered an early bath for Thomas.

□ take a bath INFORMAL suffer a heavy financial loss.

<ORIGIN> Old English bæth, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bad and German Bad.

bath^2 /baθ/ n. an ancient Hebrew liquid measure equivalent to about 40 litres or 9 gallons.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ba .

Bath, Order of the see ORDER OF THE BATH.

Bath bun n. BRITISH a round yeast bun containing currants and topped with icing or sugar.

<ORIGIN> named after the city of BATH, where it was originally made.

bath chair n. DATED a kind of wheelchair for invalids, typically with a hood.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after the city of BATH, which attracted many invalids because of the supposed curative powers of its hot springs.

bath cube n. BRITISH a cube of perfumed bath salts which is dissolved in bathwater.

bathe v. [no obj.] 1 wash by immersing one's body in water.

- [with obj.] soak or wipe gently with liquid to clean or soothe: she bathed and bandaged my knee.

- [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN wash (someone) in a bath: they bathed the baby.

2 chiefly BRITISH swim or spend time in the sea or a lake, river, or pool for pleasure.

3 [with obj.] suffuse or envelop in something: the park lay bathed in sunshine.

■ n. [in sing.] BRITISH an act or spell of swimming or spending time in the water: a bathe in the cold North Sea.

<ORIGIN> Old English bathian, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German baden.

bather n. 1 BRITISH a person swimming or spending time in the water.

2 (bathers) AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a swimming costume.

bathetic /bəθεtk/ adj. producing an unintentional effect of anticlimax: the movie manages to be poignant without becoming bathetic.

bathhouse n. a building containing baths for communal use.

bathing machine n. HISTORICAL a wheeled hut drawn to the edge of the sea, used for changing in and bathing from.

bathing suit (BRITISH also bathing costume) n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a swimming costume.

bath mat n. a mat for a person to stand on after getting out of a bath.

bathochromic /baθə()krəmk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] relating to or denoting a shift of the absorption spectrum of a compound towards longer wavelengths.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek bathos ‘depth’ + khrōma ‘colour’ + -IC.

batholith /baθəlθ/ n. [GEOLOGY] a very large igneous intrusion extending to an unknown depth in the earth's crust.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: coined in German from Greek bathos ‘depth’ + -LITH.

bathos /beθs/ n. [mass noun] (especially in a literary work) an effect of anticlimax created by an unintentional lapse in mood from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (first recorded in the Greek sense): from Greek, literally ‘depth’. The current sense was introduced by Alexander Pope in the early 18th cent.

bathrobe n. a dressing gown, especially one made of towelling.

bathroom n. a room containing a bath and usually also a washbasin and a toilet.

- NORTH AMERICAN a room containing a toilet: I have to go to the bathroom.

bath salts plural n. a crystalline substance that is dissolved in bathwater to soften or perfume it.

Bathsheba /baθibə baθbə/ (in the Bible) the mother of Solomon. She was originally wife of Uriah the Hittite, and later one of the wives of David.

bath sponge n. a marine sponge of warm waters, the fibrous skeleton of which is used as a sponge for washing.

<INFO> Genera Spongia and Hippospongia, family Spongiidae.

Bath stone n. [mass noun] a type of oolitic limestone found especially near Bath in SW England, grey to yellowish in colour and used in building and sculpture.

bathtub n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a bath.

Bathurst /baθəst/ former name (until 1973) for BANJUL.

bathwater n. the water in a bath.

bathy- /baθi/ combining form relating to depth: bathymetry | bathysphere.

<ORIGIN> from Greek bathus ‘deep’.

bathyal /baθəl/ adj. relating to the zone of the sea between the continental shelf and the abyssal zone.

bathymeter /bəθmtə/ n. an instrument used to measure the depth of water in seas or lakes.

<DERIVATIVES> bathymetric adj. bathymetry n.

bathypelagic /baθpladk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of fish and other organisms) inhabiting the deep sea where the environment is dark and cold, between about 1000 and 3000 metres (approximately 3300 and 9800 ft) down.

bathyscaphe /baθskaf/ n. chiefly HISTORICAL a manned submersible vessel of a kind used by the French deep-sea explorer Auguste Piccard (1884–1962).

<ORIGIN> 1940s: coined in French by its inventor, Auguste Piccard, from Greek bathus ‘deep’ + skaphos ‘ship’.

bathysphere n. a manned spherical chamber for deep-sea observation, lowered by cable from a ship.

batik /batk bətik/ n. [mass noun] a method (originally used in Java) of producing coloured designs on textiles by dyeing them, having first applied wax to the parts to be left undyed.

- cloth treated in this way.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Javanese, literally ‘painted’.

Batista /batistə/ Fulgencio (1901–73), Cuban soldier and statesman, President 1940–4 and 1952–9; full name Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar. Despite support from the US his second government was overthrown by Fidel Castro.

batiste /bətist/ n. [mass noun] a fine, light linen or cotton fabric resembling cambric.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French (earlier batiche); probably related to battre ‘to beat’.

Batman a US cartoon, TV, and film character, by day the millionaire socialite Bruce Wayne but at night a cloaked and masked figure fighting crime in Gotham City.

batman n. (pl. batmen) DATED (in the British armed forces) an officer's personal servant.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally denoting an orderly in charge of the bat horse ‘packhorse’ which carried the officer's baggage): from Old French bat (from medieval Latin bastum ‘packsaddle’) + MAN.

bat mitzvah /bαt mtsvə/ n. a religious initiation ceremony for a Jewish girl aged twelve years and one day, regarded as the age of religious maturity.

- the girl undergoing such a ceremony.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ba miwāh ‘daughter of commandment’, suggested by BAR MITZVAH.

baton n. a short stick or something resembling one, in particular:

- a thin stick used by a conductor to direct an orchestra or choir.

- [ATHLETICS] a short stick or tube passed from runner to runner in a relay race.

- a long stick carried and twirled by a drum major.

- a police officer's truncheon.

- a staff of office or authority, especially one carried by a field marshal.

- [HERALDRY] a narrow bend truncated at each end.

- a short bar replacing some figures on the dial of a clock or watch.

- (batons) one of the suits in some tarot packs, corresponding to wands in others.

<PHRASES>

□ pass (on) the baton hand over a particular duty or responsibility.

□ take up (or pick up) the baton accept a duty or responsibility.

□ under the baton of (of an orchestra or choir) conducted by: the contract also allows for the orchestra to record under the baton of Sir Edward Downes.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting a staff or cudgel): from French bâton, earlier baston, from late Latin bastum ‘stick’.

Baton Rouge /bat(ə)n ru/ the state capital of Louisiana; pop. 227,818 (2000).

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘red stick’, with reference to a post placed as a boundary marker for the settlement.

baton round n. BRITISH a large rubber or plastic projectile shot from a special gun and used especially in riot control.

Batrachia /bətrekə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] another term for ANURA.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek batrakhos ‘frog’.

batrachian /bətrekən/ n. & adj. [ZOOLOGY] another term for ANURAN.

bats adj. [predic.] INFORMAL, DATED (of a person) mad.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the phrase have bats in the belfry (see bat^2).

batsman n. (pl. batsmen) a player, especially in cricket, who is batting or whose chief skill is in batting.

<DERIVATIVES> batsmanship n.

Batswana plural form of TSWANA.

batt /bat/ n. a piece of felted material used for lining or insulating items such as quilts and sleeping bags.

- a piece of fibreglass used to insulate buildings.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘lump, piece’): of unknown origin.

battalion /bətalən/ n. a large body of troops ready for battle, especially an infantry unit forming part of a brigade.

- a large organized group of people pursuing a common aim.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French bataillon, from Italian battaglione, from battaglia ‘battle’, from Latin (see BATTLE).

Battambang /batəmba/ (also Batdambang) the capital of a province of the same name in western Cambodia; pop. 195,000 (est. 2002).

battels /bat(ə)lz/ plural n. (at Oxford University) a college account for food and accommodation expenses.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps from dialect battle ‘nourish’, from the earlier adjective battle ‘nutritious’; probably related to batten^2.

battement /bat(ə)m/ n. [with modifier] [BALLET] a movement in which one leg is moved outward from the body and in again. See also GRAND BATTEMENT, PETIT BATTEMENT.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘beating’.

Batten Jean (1909–82), New Zealand aviator. She was the first woman to fly from England to Australia and back (1934–5), and in 1936 she made the first direct solo flight from England to New Zealand.

batten^1 n. a long flat strip of squared timber or metal used to hold something in place or as a fastening against a wall.

- a strip of wood or metal for securing a tarpaulin over a ship's hatchway.

- a strip of wood or plastic used to stiffen and hold the leech of a sail out from the mast.

■ v. [with obj.] strengthen or fasten (something) with battens: Stephen was battening down the shutters.

<PHRASES>

□ batten down the hatches [NAUTICAL] secure a ship's tarpaulins.

- prepare for a difficulty or crisis.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French batant, present participle (used as a noun) of batre ‘to beat’, from Latin battuere.

batten^2 v. [no obj.] (batten on) thrive or prosper at the expense of: multinational monopolies batten on the working classes.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘improve in condition, grow fat’): from Old Norse batna ‘get better’, related to better^1.

Battenberg (also Battenberg cake) n. chiefly BRITISH an oblong sponge cake covered with marzipan, with a square cross section quartered with two colours of sponge.

<ORIGIN> named after the town of Battenberg in Germany.

battening n. [mass noun] a structure formed with battens.

batter^1 v. [with obj.] strike repeatedly with hard blows: a prisoner was battered to death with a table leg.

- (often as n. battering) subject (one's spouse, partner, or child) to repeated violence and assault: outrage at wife-battering and child abuse.

- censure, criticize, or defeat severely or thoroughly.

<DERIVATIVES> batterer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French batre ‘to beat’ (from Latin battuere) + -ER^4.

batter^2 n. 1 [mass noun] a semi-liquid mixture of flour, egg, and milk or water, used for making pancakes or for coating food before frying.

- NORTH AMERICAN a mixture of ingredients for a cake.

2 [PRINTING] a damaged area of metal type or a printing block.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bateure ‘the action of beating’, from batre ‘to beat’.

batter^3 n. (in various sports, especially baseball) a player who is batting.

batter^4 n. a gradual backwards slope in a wall or similar structure.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a wall) have a receding slope.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a verb): of unknown origin.

battered^1 adj. (of food) coated in batter and deep-fried until crisp.

battered^2 adj. injured by repeated blows or punishment: he finished the day battered and bruised.

- having suffered repeated violence from a spouse, partner, or parent: battered babies.

- (of a thing) damaged by age and repeated use: a pair of battered black boots.

batterie /bat(ə)ri/ n. [mass noun] [BALLET] the action of beating the feet or calves together during a leap.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘beating’.

batterie de cuisine /batəri də kwzin/ n. the apparatus or set of utensils for serving or preparing a meal.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘set of equipment for the kitchen’. The sense of ‘set’ developed from the original meaning of ‘collection of artillery equipment (for ‘beating’ the enemy)’; see also BATTERY.

battering ram n. a heavy beam, originally with an end in the form of a carved ram's head, formerly used in breaching fortifications.

- a heavy object swung or rammed against a door to break it down.

battery n. (pl. batteries) 1 a container consisting of one or more cells, in which chemical energy is converted into electricity and used as a source of power: a camera battery | [as modifier] battery power.

2 a fortified emplacement for heavy guns.

- an artillery subunit of guns, men, and vehicles.

3 a set of similar units of equipment, typically when connected together.

- an extensive series, sequence, or range of things: children are given a battery of tests.

4 [usually as modifier] chiefly BRITISH a series of small cages for the intensive rearing of farm animals, especially calves and poultry: battery farming | battery hens.

5 [mass noun] [LAW] the infliction of unlawful personal violence on another person, even where the contact does no physical harm. See also ASSAULT AND BATTERY.

6 (the battery) [BASEBALL] the pitcher and the catcher.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French baterie, from battre ‘to strike’, from Latin battuere. The original sense was ‘metal articles wrought by hammering’, later ‘a number of pieces of artillery used together’, whence ‘a number of Leyden jars connected up so as to discharge simultaneously’ (mid 18th century), giving rise to sense 1.

Batticaloa /batkələə/ a city on the east coast of Sri Lanka; pop. 78,500 (2001).

batting^1 n. [mass noun] the action of hitting with or using a bat, especially in cricket or baseball.

- a cricket team's batsmen collectively.

batting^2 n. [mass noun] cotton wadding prepared in sheets for use in quilts.

batting average n. the average score of a batsman or batter, in cricket a batsman's runs scored per completed innings, and in baseball a batter's safe hits per official times at bat.

batting order n. the order in which batsmen or batters in cricket or baseball take their turn to bat.

battle n. a sustained fight between large organized armed forces: the battle lasted for several hours | [in names] the Battle of Waterloo | [mass noun] he died in battle.

- a lengthy and difficult conflict or struggle: the battle against ageing.

■ v. [no obj.] struggle tenaciously to achieve or resist something: he has been battling against the illness.

- [with obj.] engage in a fight or struggle against: firefighters battled a 9,800-acre brush fire.

<PHRASES>

□ battle it out fight or compete to a definite conclusion.

□ battle royal (pl. battles royal) a fiercely contested fight or dispute.

□ battle stations chiefly US the positions taken by military personnel in preparation for battle (often used as a command or signal to prepare for battle).

□ half the battle an important step towards achieving something: he never gives in, and that's half the battle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bataille (noun), bataillier (verb), based on late Latin battualia ‘military or gladiatorial exercises’, from Latin battuere ‘to beat’.

battleaxe (US also battleax) n. 1 a large broad-bladed axe used in ancient warfare.

2 INFORMAL a formidably aggressive older woman.

Battleborn State informal name for NEVADA.

battlebus n. BRITISH INFORMAL a bus or coach used as a mobile operational centre during an election campaign.

battlecruiser n. HISTORICAL a large warship of a type built in the early 20th century, carrying similar armament to a battleship but faster and more lightly armoured.

battle cry n. a word or phrase shouted by soldiers going into battle to express solidarity and intimidate the enemy.

- a slogan expressing the ideals of people engaged in a campaign.

battledore /bat(ə)ld/ n. HISTORICAL 1 (also battledore and shuttlecock) [mass noun] a game played with a shuttlecock and rackets, a forerunner of badminton.

- [count noun] the small racket used in this game.

2 a wooden paddle-shaped implement formerly used in washing clothes for beating and stirring.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): perhaps from Provençal batedor ‘beater’, from batre ‘to beat’.

battledress n. [mass noun] combat dress, particularly as worn by British soldiers during the Second World War.

battle fatigue n. another term for COMBAT FATIGUE.

battlefield (also battleground) n. the piece of ground on which a battle is or was fought.

- a place or situation of strife or conflict: an ideological battlefield.

battlefront n. the place where opposing armies engage in combat.

battlegroup n. a military force created to fight together, typically consisting of several different types of troops.

battlement n. (usually battlements) a parapet at the top of a wall, especially of a fort or castle, that has regularly spaced squared openings for shooting through.

- a section of roof enclosed by battlements.

<DERIVATIVES> battlemented adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bataillier ‘fortify with movable defence turrets’, possibly related to BATTLE.

battler n. a person who battles or fights.

- chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ a person who refuses to admit defeat in the face of difficulty.

battleship n. a heavy warship of a type built chiefly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with extensive armour protection and large-calibre guns.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: shortening of line-of-battle ship, originally with reference to the largest wooden warships.

battue /bət(j)u/ n. [mass noun] the driving of game towards hunters by beaters.

- [count noun] a shooting party arranged so that beaters can drive the game towards the hunters.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, feminine past participle of battre ‘to beat’, from Latin battuere.

batty^1 adj. (battier, battiest) INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH mad; insane: you'll drive me batty!

<DERIVATIVES> battily adv. battiness n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BAT^2 + -Y^1. Compare with BATS.

batty^2 n. W. INDIAN INFORMAL a person's bottom.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: representing a pronunciation of BOTTY.

batty boy (also batty man) n. W. INDIAN INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a homosexual man.

Batwa n. plural form of TWA.

batwing adj. [attr.] (of a sleeve) having a deep armhole and a tight cuff.

- (of a garment) having such sleeves.

batwoman n. (pl. batwomen) a female attendant or cleaner serving an officer in the British services.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: from bat (see BATMAN) + WOMAN.

bauble /bb(ə)l/ n. 1 a small, showy trinket or decoration, especially (British) a light, brightly coloured sphere hung on a Christmas tree.

- something of no importance or worth.

2 HISTORICAL a baton formerly used as an emblem by jesters.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French baubel ‘child's toy’, of unknown origin.

Baucis /bss baks/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the wife of Philemon.

baud /bd/ n. (pl. same or bauds) chiefly [COMPUTING] a unit used to express the speed of transmission of electronic signals, corresponding to one information unit or event per second.

- a unit of data transmission speed for a modem of one bit per second (in fact there is usually more than one bit per event).

<ORIGIN> 1930s: coined in French from the name of Jean M. E. Baudot (1845–1903), French engineer who invented a telegraph printing system.

Baudelaire /bəd(ə)lε/ French /bədlεR/ Charles (Pierre) (1821–67), French poet and critic. He is largely known for Les Fleurs du mal (1857), a series of 101 lyrics that explore his isolation and melancholy and the attraction of evil and the macabre.

<DERIVATIVES> Baudelairean /bəd(ə)lεrən/ adj. & n.

Baudrillard /bədrjα/ French /bədRijaR/ Jean (1929–2007), French sociologist and cultural critic, associated with postmodernism.

bauera /baərə/ n. a small evergreen shrub with pink or purple flowers, native to temperate regions of Australia.

<INFO> Genus Bauera, family Cunoniaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after the brothers Franz (1758–1840) and Ferdinand (1760–1826) Bauer, Austrian botanical draughtsmen.

Bauhaus /bahas/ a school of applied arts established by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919 and noted for its refined functionalist approach to architecture and industrial design.

<ORIGIN> German, ‘house of architecture’, from Bau ‘building’ + Haus ‘house’.

baulk /blk bk/ (chiefly US also balk) v. [no obj.] hesitate or be unwilling to accept an idea or undertaking: he baulked at such a drastic solution.

- [with obj.] thwart or hinder (a plan or person): he raised every objection he could to baulk this plan.

- [with obj.] (baulk someone of) prevent a person or animal from having (something): a tiger baulked of its prey.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC miss or refuse (a chance or invitation).

- (with reference to a horse) refuse or cause to refuse to go on.

■ n. 1 a roughly squared timber beam.

2 the area on a billiard table between the baulk line and the bottom cushion, within which in some circumstances a ball is protected from a direct stroke.

3 [BASEBALL] an unlawful action made by a pitcher that may deceive a base runner.

4 a ridge left unploughed between furrows.

<ORIGIN> late Old English balc, from Old Norse bálkr ‘partition’. The original use was ‘unploughed ridge’, later ‘land left unploughed by mistake’, hence ‘blunder, omission’, giving rise to the verb use ‘miss (a chance)’. A late Middle English sense ‘obstacle’ gave rise to the verb senses ‘hesitate’ and ‘hinder’.

baulk line n. a transverse line marked on a billiard table, extending the diameter of the D to the sides of the table.

bauxite /bkst/ n. [mass noun] an amorphous clayey rock that is the chief commercial ore of aluminium. It consists largely of hydrated alumina with variable proportions of iron oxides.

<DERIVATIVES> bauxitic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Les Baux (the name of a village near Arles in SE France, near which it was first found) + -ITE^1.

bavardage /bavαdα/ French /bavaRda/ n. [mass noun] idle gossip.

<ORIGIN> French, from bavarder ‘to chatter’, from bavard ‘talkative’, from bave ‘drivel’.

Bavaria /bəvεrə/ a state of southern Germany, formerly an independent kingdom; capital, Munich. German name BAYERN.

<DERIVATIVES> Bavarian n. & adj.

bavarois /bavəwα/ (also bavaroise /bavəwαz/) n. a dessert containing gelatin and whipped cream, served cold.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘Bavarian’.

bawbee /bbi/ n. SCOTTISH a coin of low value.

- a former silver coin worth three (later six) Scottish pennies.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from the name of the laird of Sillebawby, mint master under James V.

bawd /bd/ n. ARCHAIC a woman in charge of a brothel.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: shortened from obsolete bawdstrot, from Old French baudestroyt ‘procuress’, from baude ‘shameless’.

bawdry n. [mass noun] obscenity in speech or writing.

bawdy adj. (bawdier, bawdiest) dealing with sexual matters in a comical way; humorously indecent.

■ n. [mass noun] humorously indecent talk or writing.

<DERIVATIVES> bawdily adv. bawdiness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from BAWD + -Y^1.

bawdy house n. ARCHAIC a brothel.

bawl v. 1 [reporting v.] shout or call out noisily and unrestrainedly: [with direct speech] ‘Move!’ bawled the drill corporal | [with obj.] we began to bawl out the words of the carol.

- (bawl someone out) INFORMAL reprimand someone angrily.

2 [no obj.] weep or cry noisily: (as adj. bawling) bawling babies.

■ n. a loud, unrestrained shout.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘(of an animal) howl, bark’): imitative; possibly related to medieval Latin baulare ‘to bark’ or Icelandic baula ‘to low’.

bawley /bli/ n. (pl. bawleys) a fishing smack of a kind formerly used on the coasts of Essex and Kent.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

bawn /bn/ n. 1 IRISH HISTORICAL a fortified enclosure around a castle.

2 IRISH & CANADIAN a meadow.

3 CANADIAN a flat expanse of rocks on a beach, on which fish are spread to dry.

<ORIGIN> from Irish.

Bax Sir Arnold (Edward Trevor) (1883–1953), English composer, noted for tone poems such as Tintagel (1917).

bay^1 n. a broad inlet of the sea where the land curves inwards: a boat trip round the bay | [in place names] Sandy Bay | the Bay of Biscay.

- an indentation or recess in a range of hills or mountains.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French baie, from Old Spanish bahia, of unknown origin.

bay^2 (also bay tree, bay laurel, or sweet bay) n. an evergreen Mediterranean shrub with deep green leaves and purple berries. Its aromatic leaves are used in cookery and were formerly used to make triumphal crowns for victors.

<INFO> Laurus nobilis, family Lauraceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the laurel berry): from Old French baie, from Latin baca ‘berry’.

bay^3 n. 1 a space created by a window line projecting outwards from a wall.

- a section of wall between two buttresses or columns, especially in the nave of a church.

2 [with modifier] a compartment with a specified function in a vehicle, aircraft, or ship: a bomb bay.

- an area specially allocated or marked off: a loading bay.

- (also bay platform) BRITISH a short terminal platform at a railway station also having through lines.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French baie, from baer ‘to gape’, from medieval Latin batare, of unknown origin.

bay^4 adj. (of a horse) brown with black points.

■ n. a bay horse.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bai, from Latin badius.

bay^5 v. [no obj.] (of a dog, especially a large one) bark or howl loudly.

- (of a group of people) shout loudly, typically to demand something: the crowd bayed for an encore.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC bay at: a pack of wolves baying the moon.

■ n. [in sing.] the sound of baying.

<PHRASES>

□ at bay forced to face or confront one's attackers or pursuers; cornered.

□ bay for blood demand punishment or retribution.

□ bring someone/thing to bay trap or corner a person or animal being hunted or chased: the Athenians were brought to bay between the streams.

□ hold (or keep) someone/thing at bay prevent someone or something from approaching or having an effect.

□ stand at bay turn to face one's pursuers: she will be doomed to stand at bay.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun): from Old French (a)bai (noun), (a)baiier (verb) ‘to bark’, of imitative origin.

baya /bə/ (also baya weaver) n. a weaver bird that typically has a brown back, yellow cap, and black face, common throughout the Indian subcontinent and in SE Asia.

<INFO> Ploceus philippinus, family Ploceidae.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi.

bayadère /bədε/ n. a Hindu dancing girl, especially one at a southern Indian temple.

<ORIGIN> from French, from Portuguese bailadeira, from bailar ‘to dance’ (related to medieval Latin ballare ‘to dance’).

Bayard /beαd/ French /bajaR/ Pierre du Terrail, Chevalier de (1473–1524), French soldier. He became known as the knight ‘sans peur et sans reproche’ (fearless and above reproach).

bayberry n. (pl. bayberries) a North American shrub with aromatic leathery leaves and waxy berries. Also called WAX MYRTLE.

<INFO> Genus Myrica, family Myricaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from BAY^2 + BERRY.

Bayern /ban/ German name for BAVARIA.

Bayes' theorem n. [STATISTICS] a theorem describing how the conditional probability of each of a set of possible causes for a given observed outcome can be computed from knowledge of the probability of each cause and the conditional probability of the outcome of each cause.

<DERIVATIVES> Bayesian adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Thomas Bayes (1702–61), English mathematician.

Bayeux Tapestry /bjə/ an embroidered cloth, about 70 metres (230 feet) long, illustrating events leading up to the Norman Conquest and made between 1066 and 1077 for the bishop of Bayeux in Normandy.

Baykal, Lake variant spelling of BAIKAL, LAKE.

bay laurel n. another term for bay^2.

bay leaf n. the aromatic dried leaf of the bay tree, used in cooking.

Baylis Lilian Mary (1874–1937), English theatre manager, noted for her management of the Old Vic and for her initiative in reopening the old Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1931.

bayonet n. 1 a sword-like stabbing blade which may be fixed to the muzzle of a rifle for use in hand-to-hand fighting.

2 [as modifier] denoting a fitting for a light bulb, camera lens, etc. which is engaged by being pushed into a socket and then twisted to lock it in place.

■ v. (bayonets, bayoneting, bayoneted) [with obj.] stab (someone) with a bayonet.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting a kind of short dagger): from French baïonnette, from Bayonne, the name of a town in SW France, where they were first made.

bayou /bu/ n. (pl. bayous) (in the southern US) a marshy outlet of a lake or river.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Louisiana French, from Choctaw bayuk.

Bayreuth /brt/ a town in Bavaria where Wagner is buried and where festivals of his operas are held regularly.

bay rum n. [mass noun] a perfume, chiefly for the hair, distilled originally from rum and bayberry leaves.

Bay State informal name for MASSACHUSETTS.

bay tree n. another term for bay^2.

bay window n. a window built to project outwards from an outside wall.

baza /bαzə/ n. an Asian or Australasian hawk with a crest.

<INFO> Genus Aviceda, family Accipitridae: three species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, via Hindi from Arabic bāz, denoting a goshawk.

bazaar /bəzα/ n. a market in a Middle Eastern country.

- a fund-raising sale of goods.

- DATED a large shop selling miscellaneous goods.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian bazarro, from Turkish, from Persian bāzār ‘market’.

bazillion /bəzljən/ cardinal number INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a very large number: you were going a bazillion miles per hour!

<ORIGIN> 1980s: probably a blend of BILLION and GAZILLION.

bazoo /bəzu/ n. (pl. bazoos) US INFORMAL 1 a person's mouth.

2 a person's bottom.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin; compare with Dutch bazuin ‘trombone, trumpet’.

bazooka n. 1 a short-range tubular rocket launcher used against tanks.

2 a kazoo shaped like a trumpet.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (in sense 2; originally US): apparently from US slang BAZOO in the original sense ‘kazoo’.

bazoom n. (usually bazooms) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a woman's breast.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: probably an alteration of BOSOM.

BB symbol

- BRITISH double-black (used in describing grades of pencil lead).

- NORTH AMERICAN a standard size of lead pellet used in air rifles.

b-ball n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL basketball.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: contraction.

BBC abbr. British Broadcasting Corporation.

BBC English n. [mass noun] a form of standard spoken English associated with BBC announcers.

bbl. abbr. barrels (especially of oil).

b-boy n. INFORMAL, chiefly US a young man involved with hip-hop culture.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: b-probably from the noun BEAT or from BREAK-DANCING.

BBQ abbr. INFORMAL barbecue.

BBS abbr. [COMPUTING] bulletin board system.

BC abbr.

- before Christ (used to indicate that a date is before the Christian era).

- British Columbia (in official postal use).

<USAGE> BC is normally written in small capitals and placed after the numerals, as in 72 BC (not BC 72). Compare with AD.

bcc (also b.c.c.) abbr. blind carbon copy (used as an indication that a duplicate has been or should be sent to another person without the knowledge of the main recipient). Compare with CC.

BCD abbr. binary coded decimal.

BCE abbr. before the Common Era (used of dates before the Christian era, especially by non-Christians).

B-cell n. [PHYSIOLOGY] another term for B-LYMPHOCYTE.

BCF abbr.

- bromochlorodifluoromethane, a substance formerly used in fire extinguishers.

- British Cycling Federation.

BCG abbr. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, an anti-tuberculosis vaccine developed by the French bacteriologists Albert Calmette (1863–1933) and Camille Guérin (1872–1961).

BD abbr.

- Bachelor of Divinity.

- Bangladesh (international vehicle registration).

BDD abbr. body dysmorphic disorder.

Bde abbr. Brigade.

bdellium /dεləm/ n. [mass noun] a fragrant resin produced by a number of trees related to myrrh, used in perfumes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek bdellion, of Semitic origin.

Bdr abbr. BRITISH Bombardier.

BDS abbr. Bachelor of Dental Surgery.

BE abbr.

- Bachelor of Education.

- Bachelor of Engineering.

- bill of exchange.

Be symbol the chemical element beryllium.

be v. (sing. present am; are; is; plural present are; 1st and 3rd sing. past was; 2nd sing. past and plural past were; present subjunctive be; past subjunctive were; present participle being; past participle been) 1 (usually there is/are) exist: there are no easy answers | there once was a man | there must be something wrong | I think, therefore I am.

- be present: there were no curtains around the showers | are there any castles in this area?

2 [with adverbial] occur; take place: the exhibition will be in November | the opening event is on October 16 | that was before the war.

- occupy a position in space: Salvation Street was on his left | she was not at the window.

- stay in the same place or condition: he's a tough customer—let him be.

- attend: I'm at school doing A levels.

- come; go; visit: he's from Missouri | I have just been to Thailand | the doctor's been twice today.

3 [as copular v.] having the state, quality, identity, nature, role, etc., specified: Amy was 91 | the floor was uneven | I want to be a teacher | father was not well | it will be Christmas soon | ‘Be careful,’ Mr Carter said.

- cost: the tickets were £25.

- amount to: one and one is two.

- represent: let A be a square matrix of order n.

- signify: we were everything to each other.

- consist of; constitute: the monastery was several three-storey buildings.

4 INFORMAL say: last time I saw her she was all ‘You need to quit smoking!’.

■ auxiliary v. 1 used with a present participle to form continuous tenses: they are coming | he had been reading | she will be waiting.

2 used with a past participle to form the passive voice: it was done | it is said | his book will be published.

3 [with infinitive] used to indicate something that is due or destined to happen: construction is to begin next summer | his mum was never to see him win.

- used to express obligation or necessity: you are to follow these orders | they said I was to remain on board.

- used to express possibility: these snakes are to be found in North America | she was nowhere to be seen.

- used to hypothesize about something that might happen: if I were to lose | if I was to tell you, you'd think I was mad.

4 ARCHAIC used with the past participle of intransitive verbs to form perfect tenses: I am returned.

<PHRASES>

□ as/that was as someone or something was previously called: former Sex Pistol John Lydon (Rotten, as was).

□ the be-all and end-all INFORMAL a feature of an activity or a way of life that is of greater importance than any other.

□ be at INFORMAL be doing or trying to do: what are you at THERE?

□ be away DIALECT leave or set out at once: I'm away to my work.

□ be off [often in imperative] go away; leave: be off with you!

□ be oneself act naturally, according to one's character and instincts.

□ been (or been and gone) and—— BRITISH INFORMAL used to express surprise or annoyance at someone's actions: they've been and carted Mum off to hospital.

□ been there, done that see THERE.

□ be that as it may see may^1.

□ not be oneself not feel in one's usual physical or mental state.

□ -to-be [in combination] of the future: my bride-to-be.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēon, an irregular and defective verb, whose full conjugation derives from several originally distinct verbs. The forms am and is are from an Indo-European root shared by Latin sum and est. The forms was and were are from an Indo-European root meaning ‘remain’. The forms be and been are from an Indo-European root shared by Latin fui ‘I was’, fio ‘I become’, and Greek phuein ‘bring forth, cause to grow’. The origin of are is uncertain.

<USAGE> For a discussion of whether it is correct to say that must be he at the door and it is I rather than that must be him at the door and it is me, see usage at personal pronoun.

be- prefix forming verbs: 1 all over; all round: bespatter.

- thoroughly; excessively: bewilder.

2 (added to intransitive verbs) expressing transitive action: bemoan.

3 (added to adjectives and nouns) expressing transitive action: befool | befriend.

4 (added to nouns) affect with: befog.

- (added to adjectives) cause to be: befoul.

5 (forming adjectives ending in -ed) having; covered with: bejewelled.

<ORIGIN> Old English, weak form of bī ‘by’.

beach n. a pebbly or sandy shore, especially by the sea between high- and low-water marks: fabulous sandy beaches.

■ v. [with obj.] run or haul up (a boat or ship) on to a beach: at the water's edge a rowing boat was beached.

- (of an angler) land (a fish) on a beach.

- (also be beached) [no obj.] (of a whale or similar animal) become stranded out of the water: we don't know what causes whales to beach.

- leave (someone) at a loss: competitive procurement seems to have beached several firms.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting shingle on the seashore): perhaps related to Old English bæce, bece ‘brook’ (an element that survives in place names such as Wisbech and Sandbach), assuming an intermediate sense ‘pebbly river valley’.

beach ball n. a large inflatable ball used for playing games on the beach.

Beach Boys a US pop group known for their vocal harmonies and for songs like ‘Surfin' USA’ (1963) and the album Pet Sounds (1966).

beach buggy n. a low wide-wheeled motor vehicle for recreational driving on sand.

beach bum n. INFORMAL a person who spends time idly on or around a beach.

beachcomber n. 1 a vagrant who makes a living by searching beaches for articles of value and selling them.

2 a long wave rolling in from the sea.

beached adj. hauled up or stranded on a beach: a beached whale | beached fishing boats.

beachfront n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for SEAFRONT.

beachhead n. a defended position on a beach taken from the enemy by landing forces, from which an attack can be launched.

<ORIGIN> Second World War (originally US): formed on the pattern of bridgehead.

beach plum n. a maritime shrub related to the plum, found on the east coast of North America.

<INFO> Prunus maritima, family Rosaceae.

- the edible fruit of the beach plum.

beachside adj. next to the beach.

beach volleyball n. [mass noun] a form of volleyball played on sand by teams of two players.

beachwear n. [mass noun] clothing suitable for wearing on the beach, though not necessarily for swimming in.

beacon n. a fire or light set up in a high or prominent position as a warning, signal, or celebration.

- [often in place names] BRITISH a hill suitable for a beacon: Ivinghoe Beacon.

- a light or other visible object serving as a signal, warning, or guide at sea, on an airfield, etc.

- a radio transmitter whose signal helps to fix the position of a ship, aircraft, or spacecraft.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēacn ‘sign, portent, ensign’, of West Germanic origin; related to BECKON.

beaconfish n. (pl. same or beaconfishes) a popular aquarium characin from tropical South America, with a red and gold spot near the base of the tail fin and another near the eye.

<INFO> Hemigrammus ocellifer, family Characidae.

bead n. 1 a small piece of glass, stone, or similar material that is threaded with others to make a necklace or rosary or sewn on to fabric.

2 a drop of a liquid on a surface: beads of sweat.

3 a small knob forming the foresight of a gun.

4 the reinforced inner edge of a pneumatic tyre that grips the rim of the wheel.

5 an ornamental plaster moulding resembling a string of beads or having a semicircular cross section.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (often as adj. beaded) decorate or cover with beads: a beaded evening bag.

2 cover (a surface) with drops of moisture: his face was beaded with perspiration.

<PHRASES>

□ draw (or get) a bead on chiefly NORTH AMERICAN take aim at with a gun.

□ tell one's beads use the beads of a rosary in counting prayers.

<ORIGIN> Old English gebed ‘prayer’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bede and German Gebet, also to bid^2. Current senses derive from the use of a rosary, each bead representing a prayer.

beaded lizard n. a venomous lizard with a stout body, short limbs, a large blunt head, and bead-like scales, occurring from the south-western US to Guatemala.

<INFO> Family Helodermatidae and genus Heloderma: the Mexican beaded lizard (H. horridum) and the Gila monster.

beading n. [mass noun] 1 decoration or ornamental moulding resembling a string of beads or having a semicircular cross section.

2 the bead of a tyre.

beadle n. BRITISH a ceremonial officer of a church, college, or similar institution.

- SCOTTISH a church officer attending on the minister.

- HISTORICAL a minor parish officer dealing with petty offenders.

<ORIGIN> Old English bydel ‘a person who makes a proclamation’, gradually superseded in Middle English by forms from Old French bedel, ultimately of Germanic origin; related to German Büttel, also to bid^1. Compare with BEDEL.

beadlet anemone n. a common European coastal sea anemone which is typically rust-red with several rings of tentacles around the mouth.

<INFO> Actinia equina, order Actiniaria.

beadsman n. (pl. beadsmen) HISTORICAL a pensioner provided for by a benefactor in return for prayers, especially one living in an almshouse.

beadwork n. [mass noun] decorative work made of beads.

beady adj. (beadier, beadiest) (of a person's eyes) small, round, and gleaming.

- bright and keenly observant: I shall certainly keep a beady eye on this development | a beady-eyed observer.

<DERIVATIVES> beadily adv. beadiness n.

beagle n. a small hound of a breed with a short coat, used for hunting hares.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. beagling) hunt with beagles.

<DERIVATIVES> beagler n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: perhaps from Old French beegueule ‘open-mouthed’, from beer ‘open wide’ + gueule ‘throat’.

Beagle Channel a channel through the islands of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America.

<ORIGIN> named after HMS Beagle, the ship of Charles Darwin's voyage of 1831–6.

beak^1 n. a bird's horny projecting jaws; a bill.

- the similar horny projecting jaw of other animals, for example a turtle or squid.

- INFORMAL a person's nose: she can't wait to stick her beak in.

- a projection at the prow of an ancient warship, typically shaped to resemble the head of a bird or other animal, used to pierce the hulls of enemy ships.

<DERIVATIVES> beaked adj. [in combination] a yellow-beaked alpine chough beak-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bec, from Latin beccus, of Celtic origin.

beak^2 n. BRITISH INFORMAL a magistrate or a schoolmaster.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: probably from criminals' slang.

beaked whale n. a medium-sized whale with elongated jaws that form a beak, typically showing marked differences in size and body form between the sexes.

<INFO> Family Ziphiidae: four genera and several species, including the bottlenose whales.

beaker n. BRITISH a tall drinking container, typically made of plastic, with straight sides and no handle.

- a lipped cylindrical glass container for laboratory use.

- ARCHAIC or LITERARY a large drinking container with a wide mouth.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] a waisted pot characteristic of graves of the Beaker folk.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘large drinking container’): from Old Norse bikarr, perhaps based on Greek bikos ‘drinking bowl’.

Beaker folk plural n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a late Neolithic and early Bronze Age European people (c.2700–1700 BC), named after distinctive waisted pots (Beaker ware) that were associated with their burials and appear to have been used for alcoholic drinks. It is now thought that the Beaker folk were not a separate race, but that the use of such pots spread as a result of migration, trade, and fashion.

beaky adj. INFORMAL (of a person's nose) resembling a bird's beak; hooked.

bealach /bεlax/ n. SCOTTISH a narrow mountain pass.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Gaelic, from Middle Irish belach ‘a pass, road’.

Beale Dorothea (1831–1906), English educationist. She was principal of Cheltenham Ladies' College 1858–1906 and a campaigner for women's suffrage and higher education.

beam n. 1 a long, sturdy piece of squared timber or metal used to support the roof or floor of a building.

- a narrow, raised horizontal piece of squared timber on which a gymnast balances while performing exercises.

- a horizontal piece of squared timber or metal supporting the deck and joining the sides of a ship.

- [NAUTICAL] the direction of an object visible from the port or starboard side of a ship when it is perpendicular to the centre line of the vessel: there was land in sight on the port beam.

- a ship's breadth at its widest point: a cutter with a beam of 16 feet.

- INFORMAL the width of a person's hips: notice how broad in the beam she's getting?

- the main stem of a stag's antler.

- the crossbar of a balance.

- an oscillating shaft which transmits the vertical piston movement of a beam engine to the crank or pump.

- the shank of an anchor.

- HISTORICAL the main timber of a horse-drawn plough.

2 a ray or shaft of light: a beam of light flashed in front of her | the torch beam dimmed perceptibly.

- a directional flow of particles or radiation: beams of electrons.

- a series of radio or radar signals emitted as a navigational guide for ships or aircraft.

3 a radiant or good-natured look or smile: a beam of satisfaction.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] transmit (a radio signal or broadcast) in a specified direction: the satellite beamed back radio signals to scientists on Earth.

- [with obj.] (beam someone up/down) (in science fiction) transport someone instantaneously to or from a spaceship. [<ORIGIN> phrase from the American television series Star Trek.]

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a light or light source) shine brightly: the sun's rays beamed down.

3 [no obj.] smile radiantly: she beamed with pleasure.

- [with obj.] express (an emotion) with a radiant smile: the instructress beamed her approval.

<PHRASES>

□ a beam in one's eye a fault that is greater in oneself than in the person one is finding fault with. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Matt. 7:3.]

□ off (or way off) beam INFORMAL on the wrong track; mistaken.

□ on her (or its) beam ends (of a ship) heeled over on its side; almost capsized.

□ on one's beam ends near the end of one's resources; desperate.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēam ‘tree, beam’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch boom and German Baum.

beam compass (also beam compasses) n. a drawing compass consisting of a horizontal rod or beam connected by sliding sockets to two vertical legs, used for drawing large circles.

beam engine n. a stationary steam engine with a large oscillating beam that transmits the vertical movement of the pistons to a crank or pump.

beamer n. [CRICKET] a ball bowled directly at a batsman's head or upper body without bouncing (regarded as unsporting).

beaming adj. smiling broadly; grinning: his beaming face told its own story | a beaming smile.

Beamon /bimən/ Bob (b.1946), American long jumper; full name Robert Beamon. At the 1968 Olympic Games he set a world record that stood until 1991.

beam sea n. [NAUTICAL] a sea which is rolling against a ship's side approximately at right angles.

beam splitter n. a device for dividing a beam of light or other electromagnetic radiation into two or more separate beams.

beamy adj. (beamier, beamiest) (of a ship) broad-beamed.

bean n. 1 an edible seed, typically kidney-shaped, growing in long pods on certain leguminous plants.

- the hard seed of coffee, cocoa, and certain other plants.

2 a leguminous plant that bears beans in pods.

<INFO> Phaseolus and other genera, family Leguminosae: numerous species, including the runner bean (P. coccineus), French bean (P. vulgaris), and broad bean (Vicia faba).

3 (NORTH AMERICAN also beans) [with negative] INFORMAL a very small amount or nothing at all of something (used emphatically): there is not a single bean of substance in the report.

- used in reference to money: he didn't have a bean.

4 INFORMAL, DATED a person's head, especially when regarded as a source of common sense.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN hit (someone) on the head: she picked up a rock and beaned him on the forehead.

<PHRASES>

□ full of beans INFORMAL lively; in high spirits.

□ know how many beans make five BRITISH INFORMAL be sensible and intelligent.

□ old bean BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a friendly form of address to a man.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch boon and German Bohne.

beanbag n. 1 a small bag filled with dried beans and used in children's games.

2 a large cushion filled with polystyrene beads and used as a seat.

bean counter n. INFORMAL a person, typically an accountant or bureaucrat, perceived as placing excessive emphasis on controlling expenditure and budgets.

bean curd n. another term for TOFU.

beanery n. (pl. beaneries) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a cheap restaurant.

beanfeast n. BRITISH INFORMAL a celebratory party with plentiful food and drink.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BEAN + FEAST. The term originally denoted an annual dinner given to employees by their employers, where beans and bacon were regarded as an indispensable dish.

bean goose n. a grey goose with orange-yellow bill and legs, breeding in the arctic tundra of Lapland and Siberia and overwintering in parts of Europe and Asia.

<INFO> Anser fabalis, family Anatidae.

beanie n. (pl. beanies) a small close-fitting hat worn on the back of the head.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally US): perhaps from BEAN (in the sense ‘head’) + -IE.

beano n. (pl. beanos) BRITISH INFORMAL a party.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of BEANFEAST.

beanpole n. a stick for supporting bean plants.

- INFORMAL a tall, thin person.

bean sprouts plural n. the sprouting seeds of certain beans, especially mung beans, used chiefly in oriental cookery.

beanstalk n. the stem of a bean plant, proverbially fast-growing and tall.

bear^1 v. (past bore; past participle borne) [with obj.] 1 (of a person) carry: he was bearing a tray of brimming glasses | the warriors bore lances tipped with iron.

- (of a vehicle or boat) convey (passengers or cargo): steamboats bear the traveller out of Kerrerra Sound.

- have or display as a visible mark or feature: many of the papers bore his flamboyant signature.

- be called by (a name or title): he bore the surname Tiller.

- (bear oneself) carry or conduct oneself in a specified manner: she bore herself with dignity.

2 support; carry the weight of: walls which cannot bear a stone vault.

- take responsibility for: no one likes to bear the responsibility for such decisions | the expert's fee shall be borne by the tenant.

- be able to accept or stand up to: it is doubtful whether either of these distinctions would bear scrutiny.

3 endure (an ordeal or difficulty): she bore the pain stoically.

- [with modal and negative] manage to tolerate (a situation or experience): she could hardly bear his sarcasm | [with infinitive] I cannot bear to see you hurt.

- (cannot bear someone/thing) strongly dislike: I can't bear caviar.

4 give birth to (a child): she bore sixteen daughters | [with two objs] his wife had borne him a son.

- (of a tree or plant) produce (fruit or flowers).

5 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] turn and proceed in a specified direction: bear left and follow the old drove road.

<PHRASES>

□ bear the BRUNT of see BRUNT.

□ bear the burden of suffer the consequences of.

□ bear fruit yield positive results.

□ bear a hand ARCHAIC help in a task or enterprise.

□ bear in mind remember and take into account: [with clause] you need to bear in mind that the figures vary from place to place.

□ bear someone malice (or ill will) [with negative] wish someone harm.

□ bear a relation (or relationship) to [with negative] be logically consistent with: the map didn't seem to bear any relation to the roads.

□ bear a resemblance (or similarity) to resemble.

□ bear witness (or testimony) to testify to: little is left to bear witness to the past greatness of the city.

- state or show one's belief in: people bearing witness to Jesus.

□ be borne in on (or upon) come to be realized by: the folly of her action was borne in on her.

□ not bear thinking about be too terrible to contemplate.

<ORIGIN> Old English beran, of Germanic origin; from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit bharati, Greek pherein, and Latin ferre.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ bear away another way of saying BEAR OFF.

□ bear down (of a woman in labour) exert downwards pressure in order to push the baby out.

□ bear down on move directly towards someone or something in a purposeful or intimidating manner.

- take strict measures to deal with: a commitment to bear down on inflation.

□ bear off [SAILING] change course away from the wind.

□ bear on be relevant to (something): two kinds of theories which bear on literary studies.

- [with adverbial] be a burden on: the extension of VAT to domestic fuel will bear hard on the low-paid.

□ bear something out support or confirm something: this assumption is not borne out by any evidence.

□ bear up remain cheerful in the face of adversity: she's bearing up remarkably well.

□ bear with be patient or tolerant with.

<USAGE> Until the 18th century borne and born were simply variant forms of the past participle of bear, used interchangeably with no distinction in meaning. By around 1775, however, the present distinction in use had become established. At that time borne became the standard past participle used in all the senses listed in this dictionary entry, e.g. she has borne you another son, the findings have been borne out, and so on. Born became restricted to just one very common use, which remains the case today: in the passive, without by, as the standard, neutral way to refer to birth: she was born in 1965, he was born lucky, or I was born and bred in Gloucester.

bear^2 n. 1 a large, heavy mammal which walks on the soles of its feet, having thick fur and a very short tail. Bears are related to the dog family but have an omnivorous diet.

<INFO> Family Ursidae: several genera and species.

- a teddy bear.

- INFORMAL a rough, bad-mannered, or uncouth person.

- a large, heavy, cumbersome man.

- (the Bear) INFORMAL a nickname for Russia.

2 [STOCK EXCHANGE] a person who sells shares hoping to buy them back later at a lower price. Often contrasted with bull^1. [<ORIGIN> said to be from a proverb warning against ‘selling the bear's skin before one has caught the bear’.]

3 (pl. same or bears) US INFORMAL a police officer.

<PHRASES>

□ like a bear with a sore head BRITISH INFORMAL (of a person) very irritable.

□ loaded for bear NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL fully prepared for any eventuality, especially a confrontation or challenge.

<ORIGIN> Old English bera, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch beer and German Bär.

bearable adj. able to be endured.

<DERIVATIVES> bearability n. bearably adv.

bear-baiting n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a form of entertainment which involved setting dogs to attack a captive bear.

bearberry n. (pl. bearberries) a creeping dwarf shrub of the heather family, with pinkish flowers and bright red berries.

<INFO> Genus Arctostaphylos, family Ericaceae: several species.

bearcat n. a bear-like climbing mammal, especially the red panda.

beard n. 1 a growth of hair on the chin and lower cheeks of a man's face.

- a tuft of hair on the chin of certain mammals, for example a lion or goat.

- a tuft of hairs or bristles on certain plants, especially the awn of a grass.

2 US INFORMAL a person who carries out a transaction, typically a bet, for someone else in order to conceal the other's identity.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a woman who accompanies a homosexual man as an escort to a social occasion, in order to help conceal his homosexuality.

■ v. [with obj.] boldly confront or challenge (someone formidable).

<PHRASES>

□ beard the lion in his den (or lair) confront or challenge someone on their own ground.

<DERIVATIVES> beardless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch baard and German Bart.

bearded adj. having a growth of hair on one's cheeks and chin: beside me sat a pair of bearded men | [in combination] a grey-bearded man.

- (of an animal) having a tuft of hair on its chin: a bearded seal.

- (of a plant) having a tuft of hair or bristles: bearded irises.

bearded collie n. a dog of a shaggy breed of collie with long hair on the face.

bearded dragon (also bearded lizard) n. a semi-arboreal Australian lizard with spiny scales and a large throat pouch bearing sharp spines.

<INFO> Genus Pogona (or Amphibolurus), family Agamidae; several species.

bearded tit n. a small long-tailed Eurasian songbird of the parrotbill family, the male of which has dark markings resembling a moustache, frequenting reed beds. Also called REEDLING.

<INFO> Panurus biarmicus, family Panuridae (or Paradoxornithidae); formerly placed in the tit family.

bearded vulture n. another term for LAMMERGEIER.

beardfish n. (pl. same or beardfishes) a small bottom-dwelling marine fish of deep water, with a long pair of fleshy barbels beneath the chin.

<INFO> Family Polymixiidae and genus Polymixia: several species, in particular P. lowei.

beardie n. (pl. beardies) BRITISH INFORMAL 1 a bearded man, especially one regarded as lacking in style.

2 a bearded collie.

Beardmore Glacier a glacier in Antarctica, flowing from the Queen Maud Mountains to the Ross Ice Shelf, at the southern edge of the Ross Sea.

<ORIGIN> named after William Beardmore (1856–1936), an English shipbuilder who supported Antarctic exploration.

Beardsley Aubrey (Vincent) (1872–98), English artist and illustrator, associated with art nouveau and the Aesthetic movement. He is known for original and controversial illustrations, such as those for Oscar Wilde's Salome (1894).

bearer n. 1 a person or thing that carries or holds something: [in combination] a flag-bearer | FIGURATIVE I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.

- a carrier of equipment on an expedition.

- INDIAN a domestic servant or other menial worker.

- INDIAN a waiter.

- a person who carries the coffin at a funeral.

2 a person who presents a cheque or other order to pay money: promissory notes payable to the bearer.

- [as modifier] payable to the possessor: bearer bonds.

bear garden (also bear pit) n. a scene of uproar and confusion.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: bear from BEAR^2. The original sense was ‘a place set apart for bear-baiting’; bear gardens were often used for other rough sports, hence the figurative meaning.

beargrass n. a North American plant with long, coarse, grass-like leaves, in particular:

<INFO>

- a wild yucca (genus Yucca, family Agavaceae).

- a cultivated ornamental plant, the leaves of which were formerly used by American Indians to make watertight baskets (Xerophyllum tenax, family Liliaceae).

bear hug n. a rough, tight embrace.

bearing n. 1 a person's way of standing or moving: a man of precise military bearing.

- the way a person behaves or conducts themselves: she has the bearing of a First Lady.

2 [mass noun] relation; relevance: the case has no direct bearing on the issues being considered.

3 [mass noun] the ability to tolerate something bad or to be tolerated: school was bad enough, but now it's past bearing.

4 (often bearings) a part of a machine that allows one part to rotate or move in contact with another part with as little friction as possible.

5 the direction or position of something, or the direction of movement, relative to a fixed point. It is usually measured in degrees, typically with magnetic north as zero.

- (one's bearings) awareness of one's position relative to one's surroundings: he flashed the torch around, trying to get his bearings.

6 [HERALDRY] a device or charge: armorial bearings.

bearing rein n. a fixed rein which causes the horse to raise its head and arch its neck.

bearish adj. 1 resembling or likened to a bear, typically in being rough, surly, or clumsy.

2 [STOCK EXCHANGE] characterized by or associated with falling share prices.

<DERIVATIVES> bearishly adv. bearishness n.

bear market n. [STOCK EXCHANGE] a market in which share prices are falling, encouraging selling.

Béarnaise sauce /beənez/ n. [mass noun] a rich sauce thickened with egg yolks and flavoured with tarragon.

<ORIGIN> Béarnaise, feminine of French béarnais ‘of Béarn’, a region of SW France.

bear pit n. another term for BEAR GARDEN.

bear's breech n. a Mediterranean plant with large deep-cut leaves and tall spikes of purple-veined white flowers.

<INFO> Acanthus mollis, family Acanthaceae.

bear's ear n. another term for AURICULA.

bear's foot n. a hellebore, which has leaves that are said to resemble a bear's foot.

bearskin n. the pelt of a bear, especially when used as a rug or wrap.

- a tall cap of black fur worn ceremonially by certain troops, such as the Guards in the British army.

Beas /beαs biαs/ a river of northern India which rises in the Himalayas and flows through Himachal Pradesh to join the Sutlej River in Punjab. It is one of the five rivers that gave Punjab its name.

beast n. an animal, especially a large or dangerous four-footed one: a wild beast.

- (usually beasts) a domestic animal, especially a bovine farm animal.

- ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS an animal as opposed to a human.

- an inhumanly cruel, violent, or depraved person.

- INFORMAL an objectionable or unpleasant person or thing: a scheming, manipulative little beast.

- (the beast) a person's brutish or untamed characteristics: the beast in you is rearing its ugly head.

- [with adj.] INFORMAL a thing possessing a specified quality: that much-maligned beast, the rave record.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French beste, based on Latin bestia.

beastie n. (pl. beasties) Scottish or HUMOROUS an insect or other small animal.

- [with adj.] INFORMAL a vehicle or device of a specified kind: these little beasties only have three wheels.

beastly adj. (beastlier, beastliest) 1 BRITISH INFORMAL very unpleasant: this beastly war.

- unkind; malicious: don't be beastly to him.

2 ARCHAIC cruel and unrestrained: beastly immorality.

■ adv. [as submodifier] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED to an extreme and unpleasant degree: a beastly dull wedding party.

<DERIVATIVES> beastliness n.

beast of burden n. an animal, such as a mule or donkey, that is used for carrying loads.

beast of prey n. an animal, especially a mammal, that kills and eats other animals.

beat v. (past beat; past participle beaten) [with obj.] 1 strike (a person or an animal) repeatedly and violently so as to hurt or injure them, typically with an implement such as a club or whip: she beat me with a stick for the slightest misdemeanour.

- strike (an object) repeatedly so as to make a noise: he beat the table with his hand.

- [no obj.] (of an instrument) make a rhythmical sound through being struck: drums were beating in the distance.

- strike (a carpet, blanket, etc.) repeatedly in order to remove dust.

- flatten or shape (metal) by striking it repeatedly with a hammer: pure gold can be beaten out to form very thin sheets.

- (beat something against/on) strike something against (something): she beat her fists against the wood.

- [no obj.] strike repeatedly at or on something: Sidney beat on the door with the flat of his hand | Emmie began to beat at the flames.

- move across (an area of land) repeatedly striking at the ground cover in order to raise game birds for shooting.

2 defeat (someone) in a game or other competitive situation: she beat him easily at chess | Juventus were beaten 2–1.

- overcome (a problem or disease): the battle to beat car crime | he beat heroin addiction in 1992.

- do or be better than (a record or score): he beat his own world record.

- INFORMAL be better than: you can't beat the taste of fresh raspberries.

- INFORMAL baffle: it beats me how you manage to work in this heat.

3 succeed in getting somewhere ahead of (someone): the defender beat him to the ball.

- take action to avoid (difficulty or inconvenience): they set off early to beat the traffic.

4 [no obj.] (of the heart) pulsate: her heart beat faster with panic.

5 (of a bird) move (the wings) up and down.

- [no obj.] (of a bird) fly making rhythmic wing movements: an owl beat low over the salt marsh.

6 stir (cooking ingredients) vigorously to make a smooth or frothy mixture.

7 (beat it) INFORMAL leave: [in imperative] now beat it, will you!

8 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] [SAILING] sail into the wind, following a zigzag course with repeated tacking: we beat southwards all that first day.

■ n. 1 a main accent or rhythmic unit in music or poetry: the glissando begins on the second beat.

- a strong rhythm in popular music: the music changed to a funky disco beat.

- [in sing.] a regular, rhythmic sound or movement: the beat of the wipers became almost hypnotic.

- the sound made when something, especially a musical instrument, is struck: he heard a regular drum beat.

- a pulsation of the heart.

- a periodic variation of sound or amplitude due to the combination of two sounds, electrical signals, or other vibrations having similar but not identical frequencies.

2 the movement of a bird's wings.

3 an area allocated to a police officer and patrolled on foot: his beat was in North London | public clamour for more policemen on the beat.

- a spell of duty allocated to a police officer: his beat ended at 6 a.m.

- an area regularly frequented by someone.

- INFORMAL a person's area of interest: his beat is construction, property, and hotels.

- a stretch of water fished by an angler.

4 a brief pause or moment of hesitation: she waited for a beat of three seconds. [<ORIGIN> from the use of a stage direction referring to such a pause.]

5 INFORMAL short for BEATNIK.

■ adj. 1 [predic.] INFORMAL completely exhausted: I'm beat—I need an hour or so to rest.

2 [attr.] relating to the beat generation or its philosophy: beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

<PHRASES>

□ beat about the bush discuss a matter without coming to the point.

□ beat someone at their own game see game^1.

□ beat the bounds HISTORICAL mark parish boundaries by walking round them and striking certain points with rods.

□ beat one's BREAST see BREAST.

□ beat the bushes NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL search thoroughly: I was out beating the bushes for investors to split the risk.

□ beat the clock perform a task quickly or within a fixed time limit.

□ beat the drum for see drum^1.

□ be beaten at the post be defeated at the last moment.

□ beat the pants off INFORMAL prove to be vastly superior to.

□ beat a path to someone's door (of a large number of people) hasten to make contact with someone regarded as interesting or inspiring.

□ beat a (hasty) retreat withdraw quickly in order to avoid something unpleasant.

□ beat the system succeed in finding a means of getting round rules, regulations, or other means of control.

□ beat time indicate or follow a musical tempo with a baton or other means.

□ beat someone to it succeed in doing something or getting somewhere before someone else.

□ if you can't beat them, join them HUMOROUS if you are unable to outdo rivals in some endeavour, you might as well cooperate with them and thereby possibly gain an advantage.

□ to beat all ——s infinitely better than all the things of the specified type: a PC screen saver to beat all screen savers.

□ to beat the band NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL in such a way as to surpass all competition: they were talking to beat the band.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ beat someone back force (someone trying to do something) to retreat: I was beaten back by the flames.

□ beat down (of the sun) radiate intense heat and brightness.

- (of rain) fall hard and continuously.

□ beat something down quell defence or resistance.

- fight to suppress a feeling or emotion.

□ beat someone down force someone to reduce the price of something.

□ beat off VULGAR SLANG (of a man) masturbate.

□ beat someone/thing off succeed in resisting an attacker or an attack.

- win against a challenge or rival.

□ beat something out 1 produce a loud, rhythmic sound by striking something: he beat out a rhythm on the drums.

2 extinguish flames by striking at them with a suitable object.

□ beat someone up assault and injure someone by hitting, kicking, or punching them repeatedly.

- (beat oneself up) INFORMAL reproach or criticize oneself excessively.

□ beat up on someone North American way of saying BEAT SOMEONE UP.

<DERIVATIVES> beatable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēatan, of Germanic origin.

beatbox n. INFORMAL 1 a drum machine.

2 a radio or radio cassette player used to play loud music, especially rap.

■ v. [no obj.] imitate the sounds of a drum machine with the voice.

beaten past participle of BEAT

■ adj. 1 having been defeated: last year's beaten finalist.

- exhausted and dejected: he sat feeling old and beaten.

2 having been beaten or struck: he trudged home like a beaten cur.

3 (of food) stirred vigorously to a uniform consistency: beaten egg.

- (of metal) shaped by hammering, typically so as to give the surface a dimpled texture.

- (of precious metal) hammered to form thin foil for ornamental use.

4 (of a path) well trodden; much used.

<PHRASES>

□ off the beaten track in or into an isolated place.

beater n. 1 a person who hits someone or something, in particular:

- a person employed to raise game birds for shooting by striking at the ground cover.

- [in combination] a person who habitually hits someone: a wife-beater.

2 an implement or machine used for beating.

3 [in combination] INFORMAL a means of defeating or preventing something: a recession-beater.

4 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an old or dilapidated vehicle.

beat frequency n. [PHYSICS] the number of beats per second, equal to the difference in the frequencies of two interacting tones or oscillations.

beat generation n. a movement of young people in the 1950s and early 1960s who rejected conventional society, valuing free self-expression and favouring modern jazz. Among writers associated with the movement were Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.

beatific /biətfk/ adj. 1 feeling or expressing blissful happiness: a beatific smile.

2 [CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY] imparting holy bliss.

<DERIVATIVES> beatifically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French béatifique or Latin beatificus, from beatus ‘blessed’.

beatification /batfke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] (in the Roman Catholic Church) declaration by the Pope that a dead person is in a state of bliss, constituting a first step towards canonization and permitting public veneration.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘action of making blessed’): from Old French, or from ecclesiastical Latin beatificatio(n-), from beatificare ‘make blessed’, from Latin beatus ‘blessed’.

beatify /batf/ v. (beatifies, beatifying, beatified) [with obj.] (in the Roman Catholic Church) announce the beatification of.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘make blessed or supremely happy’): from Old French beatifier or ecclesiastical Latin beatificare, from Latin beatus ‘blessed’.

beating n. 1 a punishment or assault in which the victim is hit repeatedly: if he got dirt on his clothes he'd get a beating | [mass noun] torture methods included beating.

2 [mass noun] pulsation or throbbing, typically of the heart.

3 a defeat in a competitive situation.

<PHRASES>

□ take a beating INFORMAL suffer damage or hurt: her pride had taken a beating at his hands.

□ take some (or a lot of) beating INFORMAL be difficult to surpass or defeat.

beatitude /battjud/ n. [mass noun] supreme blessedness.

- (the Beatitudes) the blessings listed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3–11).

- (His/Your Beatitude) a title given to patriarchs in the Orthodox Church.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French beatitude or Latin beatitudo, from beatus ‘blessed’.

Beatles a pop and rock group from Liverpool consisting of George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr. Remembered for the quality and stylistic diversity of their songs (mostly written by Lennon and McCartney), they achieved success with their first single ‘Love Me Do’ (1962) and went on to produce albums such as Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).

- (as modifier Beatle) characteristic of the Beatles: a Beatle jacket.

beatnik n. a young person in the 1950s and early 1960s belonging to a subculture associated with the beat generation.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from BEAT + -nik on the pattern of sputnik, perhaps influenced by US use of Yiddish -nik, denoting someone or something who acts in a particular way.

Beaton Sir Cecil (Walter Hardy) (1904–80), English photographer famous for his fashion features and portraits of celebrities, particularly the British royal family. He later diversified into costume and set design, winning two Oscars for the film My Fair Lady (1964).

Beatty^1 /biti/ David, 1st Earl Beatty of the North Sea and of Brooksby (1871–1936), British admiral. During the First World War he played a major role in the Battle of Jutland and was Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet from 1916.

Beatty^2 /beti biti/ Warren (b.1937), American actor, film director, and screenwriter; born Henry Warren Beaty. He starred in and produced Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and was producer, co-writer, star, and Oscar-winning director of Reds (1981).

beat-up adj. INFORMAL worn out by overuse; in a state of disrepair.

beau /bə/ n. (pl. beaux or beaus /bəz bə/) DATED 1 a boyfriend or male admirer.

2 a rich, fashionable young man; a dandy.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in sense 2): from French, literally ‘handsome’, from Latin bellus.

Beaubourg Centre /bəb/ French /bəbuR/ another name for POMPIDOU CENTRE.

Beaufort scale /bəfət/ n. a scale of wind speed based on a visual estimation of the wind's effects, ranging from force 0 (less than 1 knot or 1 kph, ‘calm’) to force 12 (64 knots or 118 kph and above, ‘hurricane’).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Sir Francis Beaufort (1774–1857), the English admiral and naval hydrographer who devised it.

Beaufort Sea a part of the Arctic Ocean lying to the north of Alaska and Canada.

<ORIGIN> named after the English admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (see BEAUFORT SCALE).

beau geste /bə εst/ French /bə εst/ n. (pl. beaux gestes pronunc. same) a noble and generous act.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘splendid gesture’.

beau idéal /bə ideal/ French /bə ideal/ n. a person or thing representing the highest possible standard of excellence in a particular respect.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘ideal beauty’.

Beaujolais /bəəle/ French /bəəlε/ n. [mass noun] a light red or (less commonly) white burgundy wine produced in the Beaujolais district of SE France.

Beaujolais Nouveau /bəəle nuvə/ French /bəəlε nuvə/ n. [mass noun] a Beaujolais wine sold in the first year of a vintage.

<ORIGIN> from BEAUJOLAIS + French nouveau ‘new’.

Beaumarchais /bəmαe/ French /bəmaRε/ Pierre Augustin Caron de (1732–99), French dramatist. He is chiefly remembered for his comedies The Barber of Seville (1775) and The Marriage of Figaro (1784), which inspired operas by Rossini and Mozart.

beau monde /bə mnd/ French /bə md/ n. (the beau monde) fashionable society.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘fine world’.

Beaumont /bəmnt/ Francis (1584–1616), English dramatist. He collaborated with John Fletcher on Philaster (1609), The Maid's Tragedy (1610–11), and many other plays. The Knight of the Burning Pestle (c.1607) is attributed to Beaumont alone.

Beaune /bən/ n. [mass noun] a red burgundy wine from the region around Beaune in eastern France.

beau sabreur /bə sabrə/ French /bə sαbRœR/ n. (pl. beaux sabreurs pronunc. same) a dashing adventurer.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘handsome swordsman’, originally a sobriquet of Joachim Murat (1767–1815), French cavalry officer and brother-in-law of Napoleon.

beaut /bjut/ INFORMAL n. a particularly fine example of something: the idea was a beaut.

- a beautiful person.

■ adj. AUSTRALIAN/NZ very good or beautiful: a beaut view.

beauteous adj. LITERARY beautiful.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from BEAUTY, on the pattern of bounteous and plenteous.

beautician n. a person whose job is to give people beauty treatment.

beautiful adj. pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically: beautiful poetry | a beautiful young woman.

- of a very high standard; excellent: she spoke in beautiful English.

<PHRASES>

□ the beautiful game BRITISH soccer.

□ the beautiful people 1 fashionable, glamorous, and privileged people.

2 (in the 1960s) hippies.

□ the body beautiful an ideal of physical beauty: there is an array of products for producing the body beautiful.

<DERIVATIVES> beautifully adv.

beautify v. (beautifies, beautifying, beautified) [with obj.] improve the appearance of.

<DERIVATIVES> beautification n. beautifier n.

beauty n. (pl. beauties) 1 [mass noun] a combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight: I was struck by her beauty | an area of outstanding natural beauty.

- a combination of qualities that pleases the intellect.

- [as modifier] denoting something intended to make someone more attractive: beauty treatment.

2 a beautiful or pleasing thing or person, in particular:

- a beautiful woman: a blonde beauty.

- an excellent example of something: the fish was a beauty, around 14 pounds.

- (the beauties of) the pleasing or attractive features of (something): the beauties of the English countryside.

- [in sing.] the best aspect or advantage of something: the beauty of keeping cats is that they don't tie you down.

■ adj. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL good; excellent (used as a general term of approval).

<PHRASES>

□ beauty is in the eye of the beholder PROVERB that which one person finds beautiful or admirable may not appeal to another.

□ beauty is only skin-deep PROVERB a pleasing appearance is not a guide to character.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French beaute, based on Latin bellus ‘beautiful, fine’.

beauty contest n. a contest in which the winner is the woman judged the most beautiful.

- INFORMAL a contest between rival institutions which depends heavily on presentation.

beauty queen n. a woman judged most beautiful in a beauty contest.

beauty salon (also beauty parlour) n. an establishment in which hairdressing, make-up, and similar cosmetic treatments are carried out professionally.

beauty sleep n. [mass noun] HUMOROUS sleep considered to be sufficient to keep one looking young and beautiful.

beauty spot n. 1 BRITISH a place known for its beautiful scenery.

2 a small natural or artificial mark such as a mole on a woman's face, considered to enhance her attractiveness.

beaux plural form of BEAU.

beaux arts /bəz α/ French /bəz aR/ plural n. 1 fine arts.

2 (usually Beaux Arts) [as modifier] relating to the classical decorative style maintained by the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the 19th century.

<ORIGIN> French.

beaux esprits plural form of BEL ESPRIT.

beaux yeux /bəz jə/ French /bəz jœ/ plural n. LITERARY beautiful eyes.

- favourable regard.

<ORIGIN> French.

beaver^1 n. (pl. same or beavers) 1 a large semiaquatic broad-tailed rodent native to North America and northern Eurasia. It is noted for its habit of gnawing through trees to fell them in order to make dams.

<INFO> Family Castoridae and genus Castor: the North American C. canadensis and the Eurasian C. fiber.

- [mass noun] the soft light brown fur of the beaver.

- (also beaver hat) chiefly HISTORICAL a hat made of felted beaver fur.

- (also beaver cloth) [mass noun] a heavy woollen cloth resembling felted beaver fur.

- a very hard-working person.

2 (Beaver) a boy aged about 6 or 7 who is an affiliated member of the Scout Association.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually beaver away) INFORMAL work hard: Bridget beavered away to keep things running smoothly.

<ORIGIN> Old English beofor, befor, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bever and German Biber, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘brown’.

beaver^2 n. the lower part of the face guard of a helmet in a suit of armour. The term is also used to refer to the upper part or visor, or to a single movable guard.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French baviere ‘bib’, from baver ‘slaver’.

beaver^3 n. 1 VULGAR SLANG, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a woman's genitals or pubic area.

- a woman regarded in sexual terms.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a bearded man.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

beaverboard n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a kind of fibreboard used in building.

Beaverbrook Max Aitken, 1st Baron (1879–1964), Canadian-born British Conservative politician and newspaper proprietor; full name William Maxwell Aitken. He bought the Daily Express in 1916 and increased its circulation to record levels. Beaverbrook was also Minister of Aircraft Production in Churchill's cabinet (1940).

beaver lamb n. [mass noun] lambskin made to look like beaver fur.

Beaver State informal name for OREGON.

bebop /bibp/ n. [mass noun] a type of jazz originating in the 1940s and characterized by complex harmony and rhythms. It is associated particularly with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Dizzy Gillespie.

<DERIVATIVES> bebopper n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally US): imitative of the typical rhythm of this music.

becalm v. [with obj.] leave (a sailing ship) unable to move through lack of wind: some boats were becalmed for a time.

becalmed adj. (of a sailing ship) unable to move through lack of wind: the vast expanse of the becalmed ocean | FIGURATIVE a place prosperously becalmed in its past.

became past participle of BECOME.

becard /bεkəd bəkαd/ n. a small bird of the tyrant flycatcher family with a large head and strong bill, found mainly in Central and South America.

<INFO> Genus Pachyramphus, family Tyrannidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French bécarde, from bec ‘beak’.

because conj. for the reason that; since: we did it because we felt it our duty | just because I'm inexperienced doesn't mean that I lack perception.

<PHRASES>

□ because of on account of; by reason of: they moved here because of the baby.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from the phrase by cause, influenced by Old French par cause de ‘by reason of’.

<USAGE> 1 When because follows a negative construction the meaning can be ambiguous. In the sentence he did not go because he was ill, for example, it is not clear whether it means either ‘the reason he did not go was that he was ill’ or ‘being ill wasn't the reason for him going; there was another reason’. Some usage guides recommend using a comma when the first interpretation is intended (he did not go, because he was ill) and no comma where the second interpretation is intended, but it is probably wiser to avoid using because after a negative altogether.
2 As with other conjunctions such as but and and, it is still widely held that it is incorrect to begin a sentence with because. It has, however, long been used in this way in both written and spoken English (typically for rhetorical effect), and is quite acceptable.
3 On the construction the reason … is because see usage at reason.

béchamel /beəmεl/ (also béchamel sauce) n. [mass noun] a rich white sauce made with milk infused with herbs and other flavourings.

<ORIGIN> named after the Marquis Louis de Béchamel (died 1703), steward to Louis XIV of France, who is said to have invented a similar sauce.

bêche-de-mer /bεdəmε/ n. (pl. same or bêches-de-mer pronunc. same) 1 a large sea cucumber which is eaten as a delicacy in China and Japan. Also called TREPANG.

2 [mass noun] (Bêche-de-mer)

■ another term for BISLAMA.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: pseudo-French, alteration of Portuguese bicho do mar, literally ‘sea worm’.

Bechstein /bεkstn bεx-/ n. a piano made by the German piano-builder Friedrich Wilhelm Carl Bechstein (1826–1900) or by the firm which he founded in 1856.

Bechuanaland /bεtαnəland/ former name (until 1966) for BOTSWANA.

beck^1 n. N. ENGLISH a stream.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse bekkr, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch beek and German Bach. Used as the common term for a brook in northern areas, beck often refers, in literature, to a brook with a stony bed or following a rugged course, typical of such areas.

beck^2 n. LITERARY a gesture requesting attention, such as a nod or wave.

<PHRASES>

□ at someone's beck and call always having to be ready to obey someone's orders immediately.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from archaic beck, abbreviated form of BECKON.

Beckenbauer /bεk(ə)nbaə/ German /bεknba/ Franz (b.1945), German footballer. A defender, he captained Germany when they won the World Cup in 1974. He was manager of the national team that won the World Cup again in 1990.

Becker /bεkə/ German /bεk/ Boris (b.1967), German tennis player. In 1985 he became the youngest man and first unseeded player to win the men's singles championship at Wimbledon. He won it again in 1986 and 1989.

becket /bεkt/ n. a loop of rope or similar device for securing loose items on a ship.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: of unknown origin.

Becket, St Thomas à /bεkt/ (c.1118–70), English prelate and statesman, Archbishop of Canterbury 1162–70. He began openly to oppose Henry II, who uttered words in anger which led four knights to assassinate Becket in his cathedral. Henry was obliged to do public penance at Becket's tomb, which became a major centre of pilgrimage until its destruction under Henry VIII (1538). Feast day, 29 December.

Beckett /bεkt/ Samuel (Barclay) (1906–89), Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet. He is best known for his plays, especially Waiting for Godot (1952), a seminal work in the Theatre of the Absurd. Nobel Prize for Literature (1969).

Beckford William (1759–1844), English writer and collector. As an author he is remembered for the oriental romance Vathek (1786, originally written in French).

Beckham David (Robert Joseph) (b.1975), English footballer. A midfielder for Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Milan, he was appointed England captain in 2001.

Beckmann^1 /bεkmən/ German /bεkman/ Ernst Otto (1853–1923), German chemist. He devised a method of determining a compound's molecular weight by measuring the rise in boiling point of a solvent containing the compound.

Beckmann^2 /bεkmən/ German /bεkman/ Max (1884–1950), German painter and graphic artist. Beckmann's paintings reflect his first-hand experience of human evil during the First World War.

beckon v. [no obj.] make a gesture with the hand, arm, or head to encourage or instruct someone to approach or follow: Miranda beckoned to Adam.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] summon (someone) in this way: he beckoned Cameron over | [with obj. and infinitive] he beckoned Duncan to follow.

- appear attractive or inviting: the going is tough and soft options beckon.

<ORIGIN> Old English bīecnan, bēcnan, of West Germanic origin; related to BEACON.

becloud v. [with obj.] LITERARY make obscure or muddled: confusion beclouds the issue.

become v. (becomes, becoming; past became; past participle become) 1 [no obj., with complement] begin to be: she became angry and sulked all day | it is becoming clear that we are in a new situation.

- grow to be; develop into: the child will become an adult.

- (of a person) qualify or be accepted as: she wanted to become a doctor.

- (become of) (in questions) happen to: what would become of her now?

2 [with obj.] (of clothing) look good on or suit (someone): mourning regalia became her.

- be appropriate to (someone): minor celebrity status did not become Potter.

<ORIGIN> Old English becuman ‘come to a place, come (to be or do something)’ (see BE-, come), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bekomen and German bekommen ‘get, receive’.

becoming adj. (of clothing) looking good on someone: what a becoming dress!

- suitable or appropriate: do not talk too much to your cousins, it's not becoming.

<DERIVATIVES> becomingly adv. becomingness n.

Becquerel /bεkərεl/ French /bεkRel/ Antoine-Henri (1852–1908), French physicist. With Marie and Pierre Curie he discovered the natural radioactivity in uranium salts. Nobel Prize for Physics (1903, shared with the Curies).

becquerel /bεkərεl/ (abbr.: Bq) n. [PHYSICS] the SI unit of radioactivity, corresponding to one disintegration per second.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after A. H.

■ Becquerel.

BEd abbr. Bachelor of Education.

bed n. 1 a piece of furniture for sleep or rest, typically a framework with a mattress: a large double bed | she was in bed by nine.

- a bed and associated facilities comprising a place for a patient in a hospital: the unit has 20 geriatric beds.

- a bedroom: [in combination] a three-bed detached house.

- a place or article used by a person or animal for sleep or rest: a bed of straw.

- INFORMAL used with reference to a bed as the typical place for sexual activity: he's incredibly good in bed.

2 an area of ground, typically in a garden, where flowers and plants are grown: a bed of tulips.

3 a flat base or foundation on which something rests or is supported, in particular:

- the foundation of a road or railway.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the open part of a truck, wagon, or cart, where goods are carried.

- the flat surface beneath the baize of a billiard table.

4 a stratum or layer of rock: a bed of clay.

- a layer of food on which other foods are served: the salad is served on a bed of raw spinach.

5 the bottom of the sea or a lake or river.

- [with modifier] a place on the seabed where shellfish, especially oysters or mussels, breed or are bred: an oyster bed.

■ v. (beds, bedding, bedded) [with obj.] 1 provide with sleeping accommodation: the children were bedded in the attic.

- [no obj.] (bed down) settle down to sleep or rest for the night in an improvised place: you can bed down in the shed.

- (bed someone/thing down) settle a person or animal down to sleep or rest for the night.

- INFORMAL have sexual intercourse with.

2 transfer (a plant) from a pot or seed tray to a garden plot: I bedded out some house plants.

3 fix firmly; embed: the posts should be firmly bedded in concrete.

- lay or arrange (something, especially stone) in a layer.

- [no obj.] (bed in) settle down and become established: a period of calm will allow the changes to bed in.

<PHRASES>

□ bed and board BRITISH lodging and food, typically forming part of someone's wages.

□ bed of nails a board with nails pointing out of it, as lain on by fakirs and ascetics.

- a problematic or uncomfortable situation.

□ a bed of roses [usually with negative] used in reference to a situation or activity that is comfortable or easy: farming is no bed of roses.

□ be brought to bed ARCHAIC (of a woman) give birth to a child: she was brought to bed of a daughter.

□ get out of bed on the wrong side (or US get up on the wrong side of the bed) start the day in a bad mood, which continues all day long.

□ in bed with INFORMAL having sexual intercourse with.

- in undesirably close association with: he was in bed with the Mob.

□ keep one's bed ARCHAIC stay in bed because of illness.

□ one has made one's bed and must lie in (or on) it one must accept the consequences of one's actions.

□ put someone to bed prepare someone, typically a child, for rest in bed: Clare put her to bed and gave her a mug of cocoa.

□ put something to bed INFORMAL make a newspaper or book ready for press.

□ take to one's bed stay in bed because of illness.

<ORIGIN> Old English bed, bedd (noun), beddian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bed and German Bett.

bedabble /bdab(ə)l/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC stain or splash with dirty liquid or blood.

bedad /bdad/ exclam. IRISH used to express surprise or for emphasis.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: alteration of by God; compare with BEGAD and gad^2.

bed and breakfast n. sleeping accommodation for a night and a meal in the morning, provided in guest houses and hotels.

- a guest house.

■ v. (bed-and-breakfast) [with obj.] [STOCK EXCHANGE], BRITISH sell (shares) and buy them back by agreement the next day.

bedaub v. [with obj.] LITERARY smear or daub with a sticky substance.

bedazzle v. [with obj.] greatly impress (someone) with outstanding ability: bedazzled by him, they offered him a post in Paris.

- make (someone) unable to think clearly.

<DERIVATIVES> bedazzlement n.

bed-blocking n. [mass noun] BRITISH the long-term occupation of hospital beds, chiefly by elderly people, due to a shortage of suitable care elsewhere.

bedbug n. a bloodsucking bug which is a parasite of birds and mammals.

<INFO> Family Cimicidae, suborder Heteroptera: Cimex and other genera, and many species, in particular C. lectularius, which comes out to feed on humans at night.

bedchamber n. ARCHAIC a bedroom.

bedclothes plural n. coverings for a bed, such as sheets and blankets.

bedcover n. British 1 a bedspread.

2 (bedcovers) bedclothes.

beddable /bεdəb(ə)l/ adj. INFORMAL sexually attractive or available.

bedded adj. 1 [in combination] (of a place) having a specified number or type of beds: a twin-bedded room.

2 [GEOLOGY] (of rock) deposited in layers of strata: thinly bedded carbonate mudstones.

bedder n. 1 a plant suitable for use as a bedding plant.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a servant employed to clean rooms in Cambridge colleges.

3 [in combination] BRITISH INFORMAL a house or flat with a specified number of bedrooms: a studio or one-bedder.

bedding n. [mass noun] 1 bedclothes.

- straw or similar material for animals to sleep on.

2 a base or bottom layer: [as modifier] a bedding course of sand.

3 a display of bedding plants.

4 [GEOLOGY] the stratification or layering of rocks: [as modifier] bedding planes.

bedding plant n. a plant set into a garden bed or container when it is about to bloom, typically an annual used for display and discarded at the end of the season.

Bede, St /bid/ (c.673–735), English monk, theologian, and historian; known as the Venerable Bede. Bede wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (completed in 731), a primary source for early English history. Feast day, 27 May.

bedeck v. [with obj.] decorate: he led us into a room bedecked with tinsel.

bedeguar /bεdα/ (also bedeguar gall) n. a reddish moss-like growth on rose bushes, forming in response to the developing larvae of a gall wasp. Also called ROBIN'S PINCUSHION.

<INFO> The wasp is Diplolepis rosae, family Cynipidae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French bédégar, from Persian bād-āwar, literally ‘wind-brought’.

bedel /bid(ə)l bdεl/ (also bedell) n. BRITISH (in some British universities) an official with largely ceremonial duties.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: archaic spelling of BEADLE.

bedevil v. (bedevils, bedevilling, bedevilled; US bedevils, bedeviling, bedeviled) [with obj.] (of something bad) cause great and continual trouble to: projects like this are bedevilled by a shortage of cash.

- (of a person) torment or harass: he bedevilled them with petty practical jokes.

<DERIVATIVES> bedevilment n.

bedew /bdju/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY cover or sprinkle with drops of water or other liquid.

bedfellow n. a person who shares a bed with another.

- a person or thing allied or closely connected with another: big business and politics were inseparable bedfellows.

Bedford a town in south central England, on the River Ouse, the county town of Bedfordshire; pop. 73,900 (est. 2002).

Bedford cord n. [mass noun] a tough woven fabric with prominent ridges, similar to corduroy.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after the town of BEDFORD.

Bedfordshire a county of south central England; county town, Bedford.

bedhead n. BRITISH an upright board or panel fixed at the head of a bed.

bed-hop v. [no obj.] INFORMAL engage in successive casual sexual affairs.

<DERIVATIVES> bed-hopper n.

bedight /bdt/ adj. ARCHAIC adorned: a Christmas pudding bedight with holly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: past participle of archaic bedight ‘equip, array’ (see BE-, dight).

bedim v. (bedims, bedimming, bedimmed) [with obj.] LITERARY cause to become dim.

bedizen /bdz(ə)n -dz-/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY dress up or decorate gaudily: a uniform bedizened with resplendent medals.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from BE- (as an intensifier) + obsolete dizen ‘deck out’, probably of Dutch origin.

bedjacket n. a jacket worn for extra warmth when sitting up in bed.

bed joint n. a horizontal layer of mortar underneath a layer of masonry.

bedlam /bεdləm/ n. 1 [mass noun] a scene of uproar and confusion: there was bedlam in the courtroom.

2 ARCHAIC an asylum.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: early form of BETHLEHEM, referring to the hospital of St Mary of Bethlehem in London, used as an asylum for the insane.

bedlinen n. [mass noun] sheets, pillowcases, and duvet covers.

Bedlington terrier /bεdlt(ə)n/ n. a terrier of a breed with a narrow head, long legs, and curly grey hair.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after the village of Bedlington in northern England, where the breed originated.

bedload n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the sediment transported by a river in the form of particles too heavy to be in suspension.

bedmaker n. BRITISH a person employed to clean and tidy students' rooms in a college, especially at Cambridge.

bedmate n. a person, especially a sexual partner, with whom one shares a bed.

Bedouin /bεdn/ (also Beduin) n. (pl. same) a nomadic Arab of the desert.

■ adj. relating to the Bedouin.

<ORIGIN> from Old French beduin, based on Arabic badawī, (plural) badawīn ‘dwellers in the desert’, from badw ‘desert’.

bedpan n. a receptacle used by a bedridden patient for urine and faeces.

bedplate n. a metal plate forming the base of a machine.

bedpost n. any of the four upright supports of a bedstead.

<PHRASES>

□ between you and me and the bedpost (or the gatepost or the wall) INFORMAL in strict confidence.

bedraggled adj. dishevelled: we got there, tired and bedraggled.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from BE- ‘thoroughly’ + DRAGGLE + -ED^2.

bed rest n. [mass noun] confinement of an invalid to bed as part of treatment.

bedridden adj. confined to bed by sickness or old age.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: formed irregularly from archaic bedrid ‘bedridden person’, from the base of the verb RIDE.

bedrock n. [mass noun] solid rock underlying loose deposits such as soil or alluvium.

- the fundamental principles on which something is based: honesty is the bedrock of a good relationship.

bedroll n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a sleeping bag or other bedding rolled into a bundle.

bedroom n. 1 a room for sleeping in.

- [as modifier] relating to sexual relations: bedroom secrets.

2 [as modifier] NORTH AMERICAN denoting a small town or suburb whose residents commute to a nearby city.

Beds. abbr. Bedfordshire.

bedside n. the space beside a bed (used especially with reference to an invalid's bed): he was summoned to the bedside of a dying man | [as modifier] a bedside lamp.

<PHRASES>

□ bedside manner a doctor's approach or attitude to a patient.

bedsit (also bedsitter or bed-sitting room) n. BRITISH a one-roomed unit of accommodation typically consisting of combined bedroom and sitting room with cooking facilities.

bedskirt n. NORTH AMERICAN a valance for a bed.

bedsock n. chiefly BRITISH each of a pair of thick socks worn for extra warmth in bed.

bedsore n. a sore developed by an invalid because of pressure caused by lying in bed in one position. Also called DECUBITUS ULCER.

bedspread n. a decorative cloth used to cover a bed when it is not in use.

bedstead n. the framework of a bed on which the mattress and bedclothes are placed.

bedstraw n. a herbaceous plant with small white or yellow flowers and whorls of slender leaves, formerly used for stuffing mattresses.

<INFO> Genus Galium, family Rubiaceae: several species.

bedtime n. [in sing.] the usual time when someone goes to bed: it was well past her bedtime | a bedtime story.

Bedu /bεdu/ n. & adj.

■ another term for BEDOUIN.

bed-warmer n. a device for warming a bed, typically a metal pan filled with warm coals.

bed-wetting n. [mass noun] involuntary urination during the night.

<DERIVATIVES> bed-wetter n.

bee n. 1 (also honeybee or hive bee) a stinging winged insect which collects nectar and pollen, produces wax and honey, and lives in large communities.

<INFO> Four species in the genus Apis, family Apidae, in particular the widespread A. mellifera.

2 an insect of a large group to which the honeybee belongs, including many solitary as well as social kinds.

<INFO> Superfamily Apoidea, order Hymenoptera: several families, often now placed in the single family Apidae.

3 [with modifier] a meeting for communal work or amusement: a sewing bee.

<PHRASES>

□ the bee's knees INFORMAL an outstandingly good person or thing. [<ORIGIN> first used to denote something small and insignificant, transferred to the opposite sense in US slang.]

□ have a bee in one's bonnet INFORMAL be preoccupied or obsessed with something.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēo, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bij and German dialect Beie.

Beeb British informal name for the BBC.

bee balm n. another term for SWEET BERGAMOT (see bergamot^1).

bee beetle n. a hairy yellowish chafer with broad black stripes, which flies by day and is typically seen on flowers.

<INFO> Genus Trichius, family Scarabaeidae: several species, in particular T. fasciatus.

bee bread n. [mass noun] honey or pollen used as food by bees.

beech n. (also beech tree) a large tree with smooth grey bark, glossy leaves, and hard, pale fine-grained timber.

<INFO> Genera Fagus (of the northern temperate zone) and Notofagus (the southern beeches, of Australasia and South America), family Fagaceae: many species.

- (also beechwood) [mass noun] the hard, pale fine-grained timber of the beech.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēce, of Germanic origin; related to Latin fagus ‘beech’, Greek phagos ‘edible oak’.

Beecham Sir Thomas (1879–1961), English conductor and impresario, founder of the London Philharmonic (1932) and the Royal Philharmonic (1947). He did much to stimulate interest in new or neglected composers such as Sibelius, Delius, and Richard Strauss.

Beecher Henry Ward (1813–87), American Congregationalist clergyman, orator, and writer. He became famous as an orator attacking political corruption and slavery.

beech fern n. a fern with triangular, deeply lobed fronds, found in moist woodland habitats and beside streams in Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Genus Phegopteris, family Thelypteridaceae.

Beeching Richard, Baron (1913–85), English businessman and engineer. As Chairman of the British Railways Board (1963–5) he was responsible for the closure of a substantial proportion of the British rail network.

beech marten n. another term for STONE MARTEN.

beechmast n. [mass noun] the angular brown nuts of the beech tree, pairs of which are enclosed in a prickly case.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from BEECH + MAST^2.

bee dance n. another term for WAGGLE DANCE.

bee-eater n. a brightly coloured insectivorous bird with a large head and a long downcurved bill, typically having long central tail feathers.

<INFO> Family Meropidae: three genera, in particular Merops, and including the European bee-eater (M. apiaster).

beef n. 1 [mass noun] the flesh of a cow, bull, or ox, used as food.

- [count noun] (plural beeves /bivz/ or US also beefs) [FARMING] a cow, bull, or ox fattened for its meat.

2 [mass noun] INFORMAL flesh with well-developed muscle: he needs a little more beef on his bones.

- strength or power: he was brought in to give the team more beef.

- the substance of a matter: it's more a sketch than a policy—where's the beef?

3 (pl. beefs) INFORMAL a complaint or grievance: he has a beef with education: it doesn't teach the basics of investing.

4 US INFORMAL a criminal charge: getting caught with pot in the sixties was a narco beef.

■ v. INFORMAL 1 [with obj.] (beef something up) give more substance or strength to something: cost-cutting measures are planned to beef up performance.

2 [no obj.] complain: he was beefing about how the recession was killing the business.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French boef, from Latin bos, bov- ‘ox’.

beefalo n. (pl. same or beefaloes) a hybrid animal of a cross between cattle and BUFFALO.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of BEEF and buffalo.

beefburger n. BRITISH a flat round cake of minced beef, fried or grilled and typically eaten in a bun.

beefcake n. [mass noun] INFORMAL attractive men with well-developed muscles.

beefeater n. a Yeoman Warder or Yeoman of the Guard in the Tower of London.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally a derogatory term for a well-fed servant): the current sense dates from the late 17th cent.

bee fly n. a squat, hairy bee-like fly that hovers to feed from flowers using its long tongue. Its larvae typically parasitize other insects, especially bees and wasps.

<INFO> Family Bombyllidae: many genera.

beefsteak n. a thick slice of lean beef, typically from the rump and eaten grilled or fried.

beefsteak fungus n. a reddish-brown bracket fungus which resembles raw beef and is sometimes considered edible, found in Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Fistulina hepatica, family Fistulinaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

beef tea n. [mass noun] BRITISH a drink made from stewed extract of beef, used as nourishment for invalids.

beef tomato (chiefly NORTH AMERICAN also beefsteak tomato) n. a tomato of an exceptionally large and firm variety.

beef Wellington n. [mass noun] a dish consisting of beef coated in pâté and wrapped in puff pastry.

beefwood n. a tropical hardwood tree with close-grained red timber.

<INFO> Species in several families, in particular Casuarina equisetifolia (family Casuarinaceae), of Australia and SE Asia.

beefy adj. (beefier, beefiest) 1 INFORMAL muscular or robust: he shrugged his beefy shoulders.

- large and impressively powerful.

2 tasting like beef.

<DERIVATIVES> beefily adv. beefiness n.

bee hawkmoth n. a small day-flying hawkmoth with partly transparent wings, resembling a bumblebee and hovering at flowers to feed.

<INFO> Genus Hemaris, family Sphingidae: several species.

beehive n. 1 a box-like or dome-shaped structure in which bees are kept.

- [usually as modifier] something having the domed shape of a traditional beehive: a beehive hut.

- (the Beehive)

■ another term for PRAESEPE.

2 a woman's domed and lacquered hairstyle popular in the 1960s.

<DERIVATIVES> beehived adj.

■ beehive (sense 2)

Beehive State informal name for UTAH.

bee-keeping n. [mass noun] the occupation of owning and breeding bees for their honey.

<DERIVATIVES> bee-keeper n.

beeline n. a straight line between two places.

<PHRASES>

□ make a beeline for hurry directly to.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: with reference to the straight line supposedly taken instinctively by a bee when returning to the hive.

bee louse n. a minute fly which is a parasite of honeybees, the larvae feeding on wax and stored pollen.

<INFO> Braula coeca, family Braulidae.

Beelzebub /bεlzbb/ a name for the Devil.

<ORIGIN> from late Latin Beëlzebub, translating Hebrew ba‘al zĕū ‘lord of flies’, the name of a Philistine god (2 Kings 1:2), and Greek Beelzeboul ‘the Devil’ (Matt. 12:24).

Beemer /bimə/ (also Beamer) n. INFORMAL a car or motorcycle manufactured by the company BMW.

<ORIGIN> 1980s (originally US): representing a pronunciation of the first two letters of BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG) + -ER^1.

been past participle of BE.

bee orchid n. a European orchid with a flower that resembles a bee.

<INFO> Ophrys apifera and related species, family Orchidaceae.

beep n. a short, high-pitched sound emitted by electronic equipment or a vehicle horn.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a horn or electronic device) produce a beep.

- [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN summon (someone) by means of a pager.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: imitative.

beeper n. a device that emits short, high-pitched sounds as a signal.

beer n. [mass noun] an alcoholic drink made from yeast-fermented malt flavoured with hops: a pint of beer | [count noun] he ordered a beer.

<PHRASES>

□ beer and skittles [often with negative] BRITISH amusement or enjoyment: life isn't all beer and skittles.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēor, of West Germanic origin, based on monastic Latin biber ‘a drink’, from Latin bibere ‘to drink’; related to Dutch bier and German Bier.

beer belly (also beer gut) n. INFORMAL a man's fat stomach caused by excessive consumption of beer.

<DERIVATIVES> beer-bellied adj.

Beerbohm /bəbəm/ Max (1872–1956), English caricaturist, essayist, and critic; full name Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm. A central figure of the Aesthetic Movement, he is remembered chiefly for his novel, Zuleika Dobson (1911).

beer cellar n. 1 an underground room for storing beer.

2 a basement bar where beer is served.

Beerenauslese /bεrənaslεzə/ n. [mass noun] a white wine of German origin or style made from selected individual grapes picked later than the general harvest.

<ORIGIN> German, from Beeren ‘berries’ + aus ‘out’ + lese ‘picking’.

beer engine n. BRITISH a machine that draws up beer from a barrel in a cellar.

beer garden n. a garden, typically one attached to a pub, where beer is served.

beer gut n. another term for BEER BELLY.

beer hall n. a large room or building where beer is served.

- (in black townships in South Africa) a state-run establishment selling beer.

beerhouse n. BRITISH HISTORICAL a public house licensed to sell beer but not spirits.

beer mat n. BRITISH a small cardboard table mat for resting glasses on in a bar or pub.

beer money n. [mass noun] INFORMAL a small amount of money allowed or earned.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from an allowance of money formerly made to servants instead of beer.

beer parlour n. CANADIAN a room in a hotel or tavern where beer is served.

Beersheba /bəibə/ a town in southern Israel on the northern edge of the Negev desert; pop. 172,900 (2000).

beery adj. (beerier, beeriest) INFORMAL 1 influenced by the drinking of beer in large amounts: many beery pledges were made.

2 smelling or tasting of beer: stale beery breath.

<DERIVATIVES> beerily adv. beeriness n.

beestings plural n. [treated as sing.] the first milk produced by a cow or goat after giving birth.

<ORIGIN> Old English bȳsting, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch biest and German Biest(milch).

bee-stung adj. INFORMAL (of a woman's lips) full, red, and pouting.

beeswax n. [mass noun] 1 the wax secreted by bees to make honeycombs and used to make wood polishes and candles.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person's concern or business: that's none of your beeswax.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. beeswaxed) polish (furniture) with beeswax.

beeswing /bizw/ n. [mass noun] a filmy crust on old port.

beet n. a herbaceous plant widely cultivated as a source of food for humans and livestock, and for processing into sugar. Some varieties are grown for their leaves and some for their swollen nutritious root.

<INFO> Beta vulgaris, family Chenopodiaceae: several subspecies.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēte, of West Germanic origin, from Latin beta, perhaps of Celtic origin; related to Dutch beet and German Bete.

Beethoven /bet(h)əv(ə)n/ Ludwig van (1770–1827), German composer.

Despite increasing deafness Beethoven was responsible for a prodigious output: nine symphonies, thirty-two piano sonatas, sixteen string quartets, the opera Fidelio (1814), and the Mass in D (the Missa Solemnis, 1823). In his Ninth Symphony (1824) he broke with precedent in the finale by introducing voices to sing Schiller's Ode to Joy. He is often seen as bridging the classical and romantic movements.

<DERIVATIVES> Beethovenian /bet(h)əviniən/ adj.

beetle^1 n. 1 an insect of a large order distinguished by having forewings that are typically modified into hard wing cases (elytra), which cover and protect the hindwings and abdomen.

<INFO> Order Coleoptera: see COLEOPTERA.

2 [mass noun] BRITISH a dice game in which a picture of a beetle is drawn or assembled.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] INFORMAL make one's way hurriedly: the tourist beetled off.

<ORIGIN> Old English bitula, bitela ‘biter’, from the base of bītan ‘to bite’.

beetle^2 n. 1 a very heavy mallet, typically with a wooden head, used for ramming, crushing, etc.

2 a machine used for heightening the lustre of cloth by pressure from rollers.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 ram or crush with a beetle.

2 finish (cloth) with a beetle.

<ORIGIN> Old English bētel, of Germanic origin; related to BEAT.

beetle^3 v. [no obj.] (usually as adj. beetling) (of a rock or a person's eyebrows) project or overhang.

■ adj. [attr.] (of a person's eyebrows) shaggy and projecting.

<DERIVATIVES> beetle-browed adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as an adjective): back-formation from beetle-browed, first recorded in Middle English. The verb was apparently used as a nonce word by Shakespeare and was later adopted by other writers.

beetle-crusher n. BRITISH HUMOROUS a large boot, shoe, or foot.

beetling /bitl/ adj. [attr.] (of a rock or a person's eyebrows) projecting or overhanging: piercing eyes glittered beneath a great beetling brow.

Beeton Mrs Isabella Mary (1836–65), English writer on cookery, famous for her best-selling Book of Cookery and Household Management (1861).

beetroot n. chiefly BRITISH 1 the edible dark-red spherical root of a kind of beet, eaten as a vegetable.

2 the variety of beet which produces this root.

<INFO> Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris, family Chenopodiaceae.

beeves plural form of beef (sense 1 of the noun).

beezer adj. BRITISH INFORMAL excellent: a beezer time was had by all.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from the earlier noun beezer, denoting something large or impressive, of unknown origin.

BEF abbr. British Expeditionary Force.

befall v. (past befell; past participle befallen) [with obj.] LITERARY (especially of something bad) happen to (someone): a tragedy befell his daughter | [no obj.] she was to blame for anything that befell.

<ORIGIN> Old English befeallan ‘to fall’ (early use being chiefly figurative); related to German befallen.

befit v. (befits, befitting, befitted) [with obj.] be appropriate for; suit: as befits a Quaker, he was a humane man.

befitting adj. appropriate to the occasion: a country which can run the prestigious tournament in a befitting manner.

<DERIVATIVES> befittingly adv.

befog v. (befogs, befogging, befogged) [with obj.] make confused: her brain was befogged with lack of sleep.

befogged adj. incapable of clear thought; confused: a thought swam through my befogged mind.

befool v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC make a fool of.

before prep., conjunction, & adv. 1 during the period of time preceding (a particular event or time): [as prep.] she had to rest before dinner | the day before yesterday | [as conjunction] they lived rough for four days before they were arrested | [as adv.] his playing days had ended six years before | it's never happened to me before.

2 in front of: [as prep.] Matilda stood before her, panting | [as adv.] ARCHAIC trotting through the city with guards running before and behind.

- [prep.] in front of and required to answer to (a court of law, tribunal, or other authority): he could be taken before a magistrate for punishment.

3 in preference to; rather than: [as prep.] a woman who placed duty before all else | [as conjunction] they would die before they would cooperate with each other.

<ORIGIN> Old English beforan (see BY, fore), of Germanic origin; related to German bevor.

beforehand adv. before an action or event; in advance: rooms must be booked beforehand.

<PHRASES>

□ be beforehand with ARCHAIC anticipate or forestall.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally as two words): from BEFORE + HAND; probably influenced by Old French avant main.

befoul v. [with obj.] make dirty; pollute: the dangers of letting industry befoul the environment.

befriend v. [with obj.] act as or become a friend to (someone), especially when they are in need of help or support: he makes a point of befriending newcomers to Parliament.

befuddle v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. befuddled) cause to become unable to think clearly: even in my befuddled state I could see that they meant trouble.

<DERIVATIVES> befuddlement n.

befurred adj. dressed in or covered with furs.

beg v. (begs, begging, begged) 1 [reporting v.] ask someone earnestly or humbly for something: [with obj.] he begged his fellow passengers for help | [with obj. and infinitive] she begged me to say nothing to her father | [no obj.] I must beg of you not to act impulsively.

- [with obj.] ask for (something) earnestly or humbly: he begged their forgiveness.

- [with obj.] ask formally for (permission to do something): I will now beg leave to make some observations | [no obj., with infinitive] I beg to second the motion.

- [no obj.] (beg off) withdraw from an undertaking.

2 [no obj.] ask for food or money as charity: they had to beg for food.

- [with obj.] acquire (something) from someone in this way: a piece of bread which I begged from a farmer.

- (of a dog) sit up with the front paws raised expectantly in the hope of a reward.

<PHRASES>

□ beg the question 1 (of a fact or action) raise a point that has not been dealt with; invite an obvious question.

2 assume the truth of an argument or proposition to be proved, without arguing it.

□ beg to differ see DIFFER.

□ beg yours AUSTRALIAN/NZ I beg your pardon.

□ go begging (of an article) be available because unwanted by others.

- (of an opportunity) fail to be taken.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Old English bedecian, of Germanic origin; related to bid^2.

<USAGE> The original meaning of the phrase beg the question belongs to the field of logic and is a translation of Latin petitio principii, literally meaning ‘laying claim to a principle’, i.e. assuming something that ought to be proved first, as in the following sentence: by devoting such a large part of the budget for the fight against drug addiction to education, we are begging the question of its significance in the battle against drugs. To some traditionalists this is still the only correct meaning. However, over the last 100 years or so another, more general use has arisen: ‘invite an obvious question’, as in some definitions of mental illness beg the question of what constitutes normal behaviour. This is by far the commonest use today and is widely accepted in modern standard English.

begad /bad/ exclam. ARCHAIC or IRISH used to express surprise or for emphasis.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: altered form; compare with BEDAD and gad^2.

began past of BEGIN.

begat archaic past of BEGET.

begemmed adj. set or studded with gems.

beget v. (begets, begetting; past begot; past participle begotten) [with obj.] LITERARY 1 (especially of a man) bring (a child) into existence by the process of reproduction: they hoped that the King might beget an heir by his new queen.

2 cause; bring about: killings beget more killings.

<DERIVATIVES> begetter n.

<ORIGIN> Old English begietan ‘get, obtain by effort’ (see BE-, get).

beggar n. 1 a person, typically a homeless one, who lives by asking for money or food.

2 [with adj.] INFORMAL a person of a specified type, especially one to be envied or pitied: poor little beggars.

■ v. [with obj.] reduce (someone) to poverty: why should I beggar myself for you?

<PHRASES>

□ beggar belief (or description) be too extraordinary to be believed or described.

□ beggars can't be choosers PROVERB people with no other options must be content with what is offered.

□ set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the Devil PROVERB someone unaccustomed to power or luxury will abuse or be corrupted by it.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from BEG + -AR^3.

beggarly adj. 1 pitifully or deplorably meagre or bad: the stipend in 1522 was a beggarly 26 shillings.

2 poverty-stricken; very poor.

<DERIVATIVES> beggarliness n.

beggar-my-neighbour n. [mass noun] a card game for two players in which the object is to acquire one's opponent's cards. Players alternately turn cards up and if an honour is revealed, the other player must find an honour within a specified number of turns or else forfeit the cards already played.

■ adj. [attr.] (especially of national policy) self-aggrandizing at the expense of competitors.

beggar's purse n. North American an appetizer consisting of a crêpe stuffed with a savoury filling, typically caviar and crème fraiche.

beggary n. [mass noun] a state of extreme poverty.

begging bowl n. a bowl held out by a beggar for food or alms.

begging letter n. a letter asking for a gift or a charitable donation.

Begin /ben bεn/ Menachem (1913–92), Israeli statesman, Prime Minister 1977–83. His hard line on Arab–Israeli relations softened in a series of meetings with President Sadat of Egypt, which led to a peace treaty between the countries. Nobel Peace Prize (1978, shared with Sadat).

begin v. (begins, beginning; past began; past participle begun) 1 [with obj.] perform or undergo the first part of (an action or activity): Peter had just begun a life sentence for murder | [with infinitive or present participle] it was beginning to snow | [no obj.] she began by rewriting the syllabus.

- [no obj.] come into being or have its starting point at a certain time or place: a new era had begun | the cycleway begins at Livingston village.

- [no obj.] (of a person) hold a specified role before holding any other: he began as a drummer.

- [no obj.] (begin with) have as a first element: words beginning with a vowel.

- [no obj.] (begin on/upon) set to work at: Picasso began on a great canvas.

- [with direct speech] start speaking by saying: ‘Mr Smith,’ he began.

- [no obj.] (begin at) (of an article) cost at least (a specified amount): rooms begin at £139.

2 [no obj., with infinitive] [with negative] INFORMAL not have any chance or likelihood of doing a specified thing: I can't begin to tell you how much I hate that commercial.

<PHRASES>

□ to begin with at first.

- used to introduce the first of several points.

<ORIGIN> Old English beginnan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German beginnen.

beginner n. a person just starting to learn a skill or take part in an activity.

<PHRASES>

□ beginner's luck good luck supposedly experienced by a beginner at a particular activity.

beginning n. the point in time or space at which something begins: he left at the beginning of February | they had reached the beginning of the wood.

- the first part or earliest stage of something: the ending of one relationship and the beginning of another | she had the beginnings of a headache.

- (beginnings) the background or origins of a person or organization: he had risen from humble beginnings to great wealth.

<PHRASES>

□ the beginning of the end the first sign of the failure or end of something.

begob /bb/ exclam. IRISH expressing amazement or emphasis.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: alteration of by God!; compare with BEGAD.

begone exclam. LITERARY go away (as an expression of annoyance): begone from my sight!

begonia /bənə/ n. a herbaceous plant of warm climates, the flowers of which have brightly coloured sepals but no petals. Numerous cultivars are grown for their flowers or striking foliage.

<INFO> Genus Begonia, family Begoniaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Michel Bégon (1638–1710), the French amateur botanist who discovered the plant on the island of Santo Domingo and introduced it to Europe.

begorra /brə/ exclam. an exclamation of surprise traditionally attributed to the Irish.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: alteration of by God.

begot past of BEGET.

begotten past participle of BEGET.

beg-pardon n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an apology.

begrime v. [with obj.] (often as adj. begrimed) blacken with ingrained dirt.

begrudge v. 1 [with two objs] envy (someone) the possession or enjoyment of (something): she begrudged Martin his affluence.

2 [with obj.] give reluctantly or resentfully: nobody begrudges a single penny spent on health | (as adj. begrudging) begrudging admiration from a rival.

<DERIVATIVES> begrudger n. (chiefly IRISH) begrudgingly adv.

beguile v. [with obj.] 1 charm or enchant (someone), often in a deceptive way: he beguiled the voters with his good looks.

- trick (someone) into doing something: they were beguiled into signing a peace treaty.

2 LITERARY help (time) pass pleasantly: to beguile some of the time they went to the cinema.

<DERIVATIVES> beguilement n. beguiler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘deceive, deprive of by fraud’): from BE- ‘thoroughly’ + obsolete guile ‘to deceive’ (see GUILE).

beguiling adj. charming or enchanting, often in a deceptive way: a beguiling mixture of English, French and Italian.

<DERIVATIVES> beguilingly adv. [as submodifier] the idea is beguilingly simple

beguine /bein/ n. a popular dance of Caribbean origin, similar to the foxtrot.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from West Indian French, from French béguin ‘infatuation’.

begum /beəm/ n. INDIAN a Muslim woman of high rank.

- (Begum) the title of a married Muslim woman, equivalent to Mrs.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu begam, from eastern Turkish bigim ‘princess’, feminine of big ‘prince’.

begun past participle of BEGIN.

behalf n. (in phrase on (US also in) behalf of or on someone's/something's behalf) 1 in the interests of a person, group, or principle: he campaigned on behalf of the wrongly convicted four.

2 as a representative of: he had to attend the funeral on Mama's behalf.

3 on the part of; done by: this wasn't simply a philanthropic gesture on his behalf.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from a mixture of the earlier phrases on his halve and bihalve him, both meaning ‘on his side’ (see BY, half).

Behan /biən/ Brendan (Francis) (1923–64), Irish dramatist and poet. A committed supporter of Irish nationalism, he is noted for the novel Borstal Boy (1958), which describes his punishment for involvement in terrorist activities, and the play The Quare Fellow (1956).

behave v. [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial] act or conduct oneself in a specified way, especially towards others: he always behaved like a gentleman | It is not acceptable for a student to behave like that towards a teacher.

- (of a machine or natural phenomenon) work or function in a specified way: each car behaves differently.

2 [often in imperative] (also behave oneself) conduct oneself in accordance with the accepted norms of a society or group: ‘Just behave, Tom,’ he said | they were expected to behave themselves.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from BE- ‘thoroughly’ + HAVE in the sense ‘have or bear (oneself) in a particular way’.

behaved adj. [in combination or with submodifier] conducting oneself in a specified way: a well-behaved child | some of the boys had been badly behaved.

behaviour (US behavior) n. [mass noun] the way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially towards others: he will vouch for her good behaviour | his insulting behaviour towards me.

- the way in which an animal or person behaves in response to a particular situation or stimulus: the feeding behaviour of predators.

- the way in which a machine or natural phenomenon works or functions: the erratic behaviour of the old car.

<PHRASES>

□ be on one's best behaviour behave well in a social situation or when being observed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from BEHAVE, on the pattern of demeanour, and influenced by obsolete haviour from HAVE.

behavioural (US behavioral) adj. involving, relating to, or emphasizing behaviour: closely related species have similar behavioural patterns | a behavioural approach to children's language.

<DERIVATIVES> behaviourally adv.

behaviouralism (US behavioralism) n. [mass noun] the methods and principles of the scientific study of animal (and human) behaviour.

- advocacy of or adherence to a behavioural approach to social phenomena.

<DERIVATIVES> behaviouralist n. & adj.

behavioural science n. [mass noun] the scientific study of human and animal behaviour.

behaviourism (US behaviorism) n. [mass noun] [PSYCHOLOGY] the theory that human and animal behaviour can be explained in terms of conditioning, without appeal to thoughts or feelings, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behaviour patterns.

<DERIVATIVES> behaviourist n. & adj. behaviouristic adj.

behaviour therapy n. [mass noun] the treatment of neurotic symptoms by training the patient's reactions to stimuli.

behead v. cut off the head of (someone), especially as a form of execution.

<ORIGIN> Old English behēafdian; from BE- ‘off’ (expressing removal) + hēafod (see HEAD).

beheld past and past participle of BEHOLD.

behemoth /bhimθ bihməθ/ n. a huge or monstrous creature.

- something enormous, especially a large and powerful organization.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Hebrew bĕhēmō , intensive plural of bĕhēmāh ‘beast’.

behest /bhεst/ n. LITERARY a person's orders or command: they had assembled at his behest.

<ORIGIN> Old English behs ‘a vow’, from a Germanic base meaning ‘bid’; related to HIGHT.

behind prep. 1 at or to the far side of (something), typically so as to be hidden by it: the recording machinery was kept behind screens | the sun came out from behind a cloud.

- underlying (something) but not apparent to the observer: the agony behind his decision to retire.

2 following or further back than (another member of a moving group): we were stuck behind a slow-moving tractor.

- at the back of (someone), after they have passed through a door: she ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

3 in support of or giving guidance to (someone else): whatever you decide to do, I'll be behind you | the power behind the throne.

- controlling or responsible for (an event or plan): the chances were that he was behind the death of the girl | the meticulous organization behind the coup.

4 after the departure or death of (someone): he left behind him a manuscript which was subsequently published.

5 less advanced than (someone or something) in achievement or development: the government admitted it is ten years behind the West in PC technology.

6 having a lower score than (another competitor): Woosnam moved to ten under par, five shots behind Fred Couples.

■ adv. 1 at or to the far side of something: Campbell grabbed him from behind.

2 in a particular place after leaving or after others have moved on: don't leave me behind.

3 further back than other members of a moving group: Ben led the way, with Joe a short distance behind.

4 (in a contest or match) having a score lower than that of the opposing team: England were still 382 runs behind.

5 late in accomplishing a task: I'm getting behind with my work.

- in arrears: she was behind with her rent.

■ n. 1 INFORMAL a person's buttocks: she slid inelegantly down a few steps on her behind.

2 [AUSTRALIAN RULES] a kick that sends the ball over a behind line, or a touch that sends it between the inner posts, scoring one point.

<ORIGIN> Old English behindan, bihindan, from bi ‘by’ + hindan ‘from behind’.

behindhand adj. [predic.] late or slow in doing something: the Yoruba have not been behindhand in economic activity.

- ARCHAIC unaware of recent events: you are miserably behindhand—Mr Cole gave me a hint of it six weeks ago.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from BEHIND + HAND, on the pattern of beforehand.

behind line n. [AUSTRALIAN RULES] the line between an inner and outer goalpost.

Behn /ben bεn/ Aphra (1640–89), English novelist and dramatist, regarded as the first professional woman writer in England. Notable works: The Rover (comic play, 1678) and Oroonoko, or the History of the Royal Slave (novel, 1688).

behold v. (past and past participle beheld) [with obj.] [often in imperative] ARCHAIC or LITERARY see or observe (someone or something, especially of remarkable or impressive nature): behold your lord and prince! | the botanical gardens were a wonder to behold.

<DERIVATIVES> beholder n.

<ORIGIN> Old English bihaldan, from bi- ‘thoroughly’ + haldan ‘to hold’. Parallel Germanic words have the sense ‘maintain, retain’; the notion of ‘looking’ is found only in English.

beholden adj. [predic.] owing thanks or having a duty to someone in return for help or a service: I don't like to be beholden to anybody.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: archaic past participle of BEHOLD, in the otherwise unrecorded sense ‘bound’.

behoof /bhuf/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC benefit or advantage: to make laws for the behoof of the colony.

<ORIGIN> Old English behōf, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch behoef and German Behuf, also to HEAVE.

behove /bhəv/ (US behoove /-huv/) v. [with obj.] (it behoves someone to do something) FORMAL it is a duty or responsibility for someone to do something: it behoves the House to assure itself that there is no conceivable alternative.

- [with negative] it is appropriate or suitable; it befits: it ill behoves Opposition Members to decry the sale of arms to friendly countries.

<ORIGIN> Old English behōfian, from behōf (see BEHOOF).

Behrens /bεr(ə)nz/ Peter (1868–1940), German architect and designer. He trained Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier.

Behring /bεr/ Emil Adolf von (1854–1917), German bacteriologist and one of the founders of immunology. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1901).

Beiderbecke /bdəbεk/ Bix (1903–31), American jazz musician and composer; born Leon Bismarck Beiderbecke. A self-taught cornetist and pianist, he was one of a handful of white musicians who profoundly influenced the development of jazz.

beige n. [mass noun] a pale sandy fawn colour: tones of beige and green | [as modifier] a beige raincoat.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (denoting a usually undyed and unbleached woollen fabric of this colour): from French, of unknown ultimate origin.

beignet /bεnje/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 a fritter.

2 a square of fried dough eaten hot sprinkled with icing sugar.

<ORIGIN> French, from archaic buyne ‘hump, bump’.

Beijing /bed/ (also Peking) the capital of China, in the north-east of the country; pop. 9,267,300 (est. 2002). Beijing became the country's capital in 1421, at the start of the Ming period, and survived as the capital of the Republic of China after the revolution of 1912.

being n. 1 [mass noun] existence: the railway brought many towns into being | the single market came into being in 1993.

- being alive; living: holism promotes a unified way of being.

2 [in sing.] the nature or essence of a person: sometimes one aspect of our being has been developed at the expense of the others.

3 a real or imaginary living creature or entity, especially an intelligent one: alien beings | a rational being.

Beira /brə/ a port on the coast of Mozambique, capital of Sofala province; pop. 447,600 (est. 2002).

beira /berə/ (also beira antelope) n. a rare antelope found in Somalia and Ethiopia.

<INFO> Dorcatragus megalotis, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> a local name.

Beirut /berut/ the capital and chief port of Lebanon; pop. 1,878,200 (est. 2002). The city was badly damaged during the Lebanese civil war of 1975–89.

beisa /bezə/ (also beisa oryx) n. a gemsbok of a race that is native to the Horn of Africa.

<INFO> Oryx gazella beisa, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Amharic.

Beit Din n. variant form of BETH DIN.

Beja /bεdə/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a nomadic people living between the Nile and the Red Sea.

2 [mass noun] the Cushitic language of the Beja, with about 1 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Beja or their language.

bejabers /bdebəz/ (also bejabbers /-dabəz/) exclam. another way of saying BEJESUS.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: alteration of by Jesus.

Béjart /beα/ French /beaR/ Maurice (1927–2007), French choreographer; born Maurice Jean Berger. He is chiefly identified with The Ballet of the 20th Century, the company which he founded in Brussels in 1959. His choreography is noted for its fusion of classic and modern dance.

bejesus /bdizəs/ (also bejeezus) exclam. IRISH INFORMAL used to express surprise or for emphasis.

<PHRASES>

□ beat the bejesus out of hit (someone) very hard or for a long time.

□ scare the bejesus out of frighten (someone) very much.

bejewelled (US bejeweled) adj. adorned with jewels.

Bekaa /bkα/ (also el-Beqa'a) a fertile valley in central Lebanon between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains.

Bel /bεl/ another name for BAAL.

bel n. a unit used in the comparison of power levels in electrical communication or of intensities of sound, corresponding to an intensity ratio of 10 to 1. See also DECIBEL.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from the name of A. G. Bell (see Bell^1).

belabour (US belabor) v. [with obj.] 1 attack (someone) physically or verbally: Bernard was belabouring Jed with his fists.

2 argue or discuss (a subject) in excessive detail: there is no need to belabour the point.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from BE- + the verb LABOUR.

Bel and the Dragon a book of the Apocrypha containing additional stories of Daniel, concerned mainly with his refusal to worship Bel and his slaying of a dragon.

Belarus /bεlərus/ a country in eastern Europe; pop. 10,335,352 (est. 2002); official language, Belorussian; capital, Minsk. Formerly called BELORUSSIA, WHITE RUSSIA.

Successively part of the grand duchy of Lithuania, Poland, and the Russian empire, the country became a republic of the Soviet Union in 1921. Belarus gained independence as a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991 but in 1996 signed a treaty with Russia that established a Community of Sovereign Republics.

<DERIVATIVES> Belarusian n. & adj.

belated adj. coming or happening later than should have been the case: a belated apology.

<DERIVATIVES> belatedly adv. belatedness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘overtaken by darkness’): past participle of obsolete belate ‘delay’ (see BE-, late).

belay /bile ble/ v. [with obj.] 1 fix (a running rope) round a cleat, rock, pin, or other object, to secure it.

- secure (a rock climber) in this way: he belayed his partner across the ice.

2 [usually in imperative] NAUTICAL SLANG stop; desist from: ‘Belay that, mister. Man your post.’.

■ n. 1 an act of belaying.

2 a spike of rock or other object used for belaying.

<DERIVATIVES> belayer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally in nautical use): from BE- + LAY^1, on the pattern of Dutch beleggen.

belaying pin n. a fixed pin used on board ship and in rock climbing to secure a rope which is fastened around it.

bel canto /bεl kantə/ n. [mass noun] a lyrical style of operatic singing using a full, rich, broad tone and smooth phrasing.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Italian, literally ‘fine song’.

belch v. 1 [no obj.] emit wind noisily from the stomach through the mouth.

2 [with obj.] (especially of a chimney) send out large amounts of (smoke or flames): a factory chimney belches out smoke.

- [no obj.] (belch from) (of smoke or flames) pour out from (a chimney or other opening): flames belch from the wreckage.

■ n. an act of belching.

<ORIGIN> Old English belcettan, probably imitative.

beldam /bεldəm/ (also beldame) n. ARCHAIC an old woman.

- a malicious or loathsome old woman.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘grandmother’): from Old French bel ‘beautiful’ + DAM^3.

beleaguer v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. beleaguered) lay siege to: he led a relief force to the aid of the beleaguered city.

- put in a very difficult situation: the board is supporting the beleaguered director.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Dutch belegeren ‘camp round’, from be- ‘(all) about’ + leger ‘a camp’.

Belém /bεlεm/ a city and port of northern Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon, capital of the state of Pará; pop. 1,271,615 (2000). It is the country's chief commercial centre.

belemnite /bεləmnt/ n. an extinct cephalopod mollusc with a bullet-shaped internal shell that is typically found as a fossil in marine deposits of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

<INFO> Order Belemnoidea, class Cephalopoda: many genera.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from modern Latin belemnites, based on Greek belemnon ‘dart’.

bel esprit /bεl εspri/ French /bεl εspRi/ n. (pl. beaux esprits /bəz εspri/ French /bəz εspRi/) ARCHAIC a witty person.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘fine mind’.

Belfast /bεlfαst/ the capital and chief port of Northern Ireland; pop. 277,391 (2001). The city suffered damage and population decline from the early 1970s as a result of sectarian violence by the IRA and Loyalist paramilitary groups.

Belfast sink n. a type of deep rectangular kitchen sink, traditionally made of glazed white porcelain.

belfry n. (pl. belfries) the part of a bell tower or steeple in which bells are housed.

- a bell tower or steeple housing bells.

<ORIGIN> Middle English berfrey, from Old French berfrei, later belfrei, of West Germanic origin. The change in the first syllable was due to association with bell^1.

Belgae /bεldi bεl/ plural n. an ancient Celtic people inhabiting Gaul north of the Seine and Marne Rivers.

<ORIGIN> from Latin.

Belgaum /bεlam/ an industrial city in western India, in the state of Karnataka; pop. 399,600 (2001).

Belgian adj. relating to Belgium.

■ n. a native or national of Belgium, or a person of Belgian descent.

Belgian Blue n. a heavily muscled animal of a breed of cattle kept for its meat.

Belgian Congo former name (1908–60) for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (see Congo, Democratic Republic of the).

Belgian endive n. another term for endive (sense 2).

Belgian hare n. a rabbit of a dark red long-eared domestic breed.

Belgian sheepdog n. a dog of a medium-sized breed, similar in appearance to an Alsatian.

Belgian waffle n. NORTH AMERICAN a waffle with large, deep indentations.

Belgic /bεldk/ adj. relating to the Belgae.

Belgium a low-lying country in western Europe on the south shore of the North Sea and English Channel; pop. 10,274,595 (est. 2002); official languages, Flemish and French; capital, Brussels. French name Belgique /bεlik/, Belgium /bεlxiə/.

Belgium became independent from the Netherlands after a nationalist revolt in 1830. Occupied and devastated during both world wars, Belgium formed the Benelux Customs Union with the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1948 and became a founder member of the EEC. Flemish is spoken mainly in the north of the country, and French and Walloon in the south.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from BELGAE.

Belgorod /bεlərd/ an industrial city in southern Russia, on the Donets River close to the border with Ukraine; pop. 300,000 (est. 2002).

Belgrade /bεlred/ the capital of Serbia and formerly of Yugoslavia, situated on the River Danube; pop. 1,127,500 (est. 2002). Serbian name BEOGRAD.

Belial /biləl/ a name for the Devil.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew bĕliyya‘al ‘worthlessness’.

belie v. (belies, belying, belied) [with obj.] 1 (of an appearance) fail to give a true impression of (something): his lively, alert manner belied his years.

2 fail to fulfil or justify (a claim or expectation): the quality of the music seems to belie the criticism.

<ORIGIN> Old English belēogan ‘deceive by lying’, from BE- ‘about’ + lēogan ‘to lie’. Current senses date from the 17th cent.

belief n. 1 an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof: his belief in extraterrestrial life | [with clause] a belief that climate can be modified beneficially.

- something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion: we're prepared to fight for our beliefs | [mass noun] contrary to popular belief existing safety regulations were adequate.

- a religious conviction: Christian beliefs | [mass noun] the medieval system of fervent religious belief.

2 (belief in) trust, faith, or confidence in (someone or something): a belief in democratic politics.

<PHRASES>

□ be of the belief that hold the opinion that; think: I am firmly of the belief that we need to improve our product.

□ beyond belief astonishingly great, good, or bad; incredible: riches beyond belief.

□ in the belief that thinking or believing that: he took the property in the belief that he had consent.

□ to the best of my belief in my genuine opinion; as far as I know.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: alteration of Old English gelēafa; compare with BELIEVE.

believable adj. able to be believed; credible: she felt that Dawn's story was not quite believable.

- (of a fictional character or situation) convincing or realistic.

<DERIVATIVES> believability n. believably adv.

believe v. [with obj.] 1 accept that (something) is true, especially without proof: the superintendent believed Lancaster's story | [with clause] some 23 per cent believe that smoking keeps down weight.

- accept the statement of (someone) as true: he didn't believe her.

- (believe in) have faith in the truth or existence of: those who believe in God.

- [no obj.] have religious faith.

- (believe something of) feel sure that (someone) is capable of doing something: I wouldn't have believed it of Lavinia—what an extraordinary woman!

- (believe in) have confidence in (a person or a course of action): he had finally begun to believe in her.

2 [with clause] hold (something) as an opinion; think: I believe we've already met | (believe someone/thing to be) four men were believed to be trapped.

- (believe in) be of the opinion that (something) is right or acceptable: I don't believe in censorship of the arts.

<PHRASES>

□ believe it or not used to concede that a statement is surprising: believe it or not, I was considered quite bright in those days.

□ believe me (or believe you me) used to emphasize the truth of a statement: believe me, it is well worth the effort.

□ be unable to (or be hardly able to) believe one's luck be amazed by how lucky one is on a particular occasion.

□ be unable to believe one's eyes (or ears) be amazed by what one sees or hears.

□ don't you believe it! used to express disbelief in the truth of a statement.

□ would you believe (it)? used to express amazement about something: they're still arguing, would you believe it?

<ORIGIN> late Old English belȳfan, belēfan, alteration of gelēfan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch geloven and German glauben, also to LIEF.

believer n. 1 a person who believes in the truth or existence of something: [with clause] a firm believer that party politics has no place in local government.

- a person who believes that a specified thing is right, effective, or acceptable: I'm a great believer in community policing.

2 an adherent of a particular religion; someone with religious faith.

Belisha beacon /bəliə/ n. (in the UK) an orange ball containing a flashing light, mounted on a striped post on the pavement at each end of a zebra crossing.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Leslie Hore-Belisha (1893–1957), British politician, Minister of Transport when the beacons were introduced.

belittle v. [with obj.] dismiss (someone or something) as unimportant: she belittled Amy's riding skills whenever she could | (as adj. belittling) his cruel, belittling remarks.

<DERIVATIVES> belittlement n. belittler n. belittlingly adv.

Belitung /blit/ an Indonesian island in the Java Sea, between Borneo and Sumatra. Former name BILLITON.

Belize /bεliz/ a country on the Caribbean coast of Central America; pop. 262,999 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), Creole, Spanish; capital, Belmopan. Former name (until 1973) BRITISH HONDURAS.

Proclaimed as a British Crown Colony in 1862, Belize became an independent Commonwealth state in 1981. Guatemala, which bounds it on the west and south, has always claimed the territory on the basis of old Spanish treaties, although in 1992 it agreed to recognize the existence of Belize.

<DERIVATIVES> Belizean (also Belizian) adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> named after a river with a Mayan name meaning ‘muddy water’.

Belize City the principal seaport and former capital (until 1970) of Belize; pop. 49,100 (2000).

Bell^1 Alexander Graham (1847–1922), Scottish-born American scientist. He invented a method for transmitting speech electrically and gave the first public demonstration of the telephone in 1876; he founded the Bell Telephone Company the following year.

Bell^2 Currer, Ellis, and Acton, the pseudonyms used by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë.

Bell^3 Gertrude (Margaret Lowthian) (1868–1926), English archaeologist, traveller, and supporter of Arab independence.

Bell^4 Vanessa (1879–1961), English painter and designer; born Vanessa Stephen. Together with her sister Virginia Woolf she was a prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group.

bell^1 n. 1 a hollow metal object, typically in the shape of a deep inverted cup widening at the lip, that sounds a clear musical note when struck, especially by means of a clapper inside.

- a device that includes or sounds like a bell, used to give a signal or warning: a bicycle bell.

- (the bell) (in boxing and other sports) a bell rung to mark the start or end of a round: they were dragged off each other at the final bell.

2 a bell-shaped object or part, in particular:

- the end of a trumpet.

- the corolla of a bell-shaped flower.

3 (bells) a musical instrument consisting of a set of metal tubes of different lengths, suspended in a frame and played by being struck with a hammer. Also called TUBULAR BELLS.

4 [NAUTICAL] (preceded by a numeral) the time as indicated every half-hour of a watch by the striking of the ship's bell one to eight times: at five bells in the forenoon of June 11.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] provide with a bell or bells: (as adj. belled) animals in gaudy belled harnesses.

2 [no obj.] make a ringing sound likened to that of a bell: the organ was belling away.

- [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL telephone (someone).

3 [no obj.] spread outwards like the lip of a bell: her shirt belled out behind.

<PHRASES>

□ bell the cat take the danger of a shared enterprise upon oneself. [<ORIGIN> an allusion to a fable in which the mice (or rats) suggest hanging a bell around the cat's neck to have warning of its approach.]

□ bells and whistles INFORMAL attractive additional features or trimmings. [<ORIGIN> an allusion to the various bells and whistles of old fairground organs.]

□ be saved by the bell (in boxing and other sports) be saved from being counted out by the ringing of the bell at the end of a round.

- escape from a difficult situation narrowly or by an unexpected intervention.

□ (as) clear (or sound) as a bell perfectly clear (or sound).

□ give someone a bell BRITISH INFORMAL telephone someone.

□ ring a bell INFORMAL sound vaguely familiar: the name rings a bell.

□ with bells on NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL enthusiastically: everybody's waiting for you with bells on.

<ORIGIN> Old English belle, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bel, and perhaps to bell^2.

bell^2 n. the cry of a stag or buck at rutting time.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a stag or buck) make this cry.

<ORIGIN> Old English bellan ‘to bellow’, of Germanic origin; related to German bellen ‘to bark, bray’, and perhaps also to bell^1.

belladonna /bεlədnə/ n. deadly nightshade.

- [mass noun] a drug prepared from the leaves and root of deadly nightshade, containing atropine.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin, from Italian bella donna ‘fair lady’, perhaps from the use of its juice to add brilliance to the eyes by dilating the pupils.

belladonna lily n. a South African amaryllis.

bellbird n. 1 a tropical American bird of the cotinga family, with a loud explosive call.

<INFO> Genus Procnias, family Cotingidae: four species.

2 any of a number of Australasian songbirds with a ringing call.

<INFO>

- (New Zealand bellbird) a New Zealand honeyeater (Anthornis melanura, family Meliphagidae).

- (crested bellbird) an Australian whistler (Oreoica gutturalis, family Pachycephalidae).

- the bell miner.

- See miner^2

bell-bottoms plural n. trousers with a marked flare below the knee: (as modifier bell-bottom) bell-bottom trousers.

<DERIVATIVES> bell-bottomed adj.

bellboy n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an attendant in a hotel who performs services such as carrying guests' luggage.

bell buoy n. a buoy equipped with a bell rung by the motion of the sea, warning shipping of shallow waters.

bell captain n. NORTH AMERICAN the supervisor of a group of bellboys.

bell crank (also bell-crank lever) n. a lever with two arms which have a common fulcrum at their junction.

bell curve n. [MATHEMATICS] a graph of a normal (Gaussian) distribution, with a large rounded peak tapering away at each end.

belle /bεl/ n. a beautiful girl or woman, especially the most beautiful at a particular event: the belle of the ball.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, feminine of beau, from Latin bella, feminine of bellus ‘beautiful’.

belle époque /bεl epk/ French /bεl epk/ n. the period of settled and comfortable life preceding the First World War: [as modifier] a romantic, belle-époque replica of a Paris bistro.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘fine period’.

Bellerophon /blεrəf(ə)n/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a hero who slew the monster Chimera with the help of the winged horse Pegasus.

belles-lettres /bεllεtr(ə)/ French /bεllεtR/ plural n. [also treated as sing.] essays, particularly on literary and artistic criticism, written and read primarily for their aesthetic effect.

<DERIVATIVES> belletrism /bεllεtrz(ə)m/ n. belletrist n. belletristic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, literally ‘fine letters’.

bellflower n. a plant with bell-shaped flowers that are typically blue, purple, or white, many kinds being cultivated as ornamentals.

<INFO> Genus Campanula, family Campanulaceae (the bellflower family): many species, including the Eurasian clustered bellflower (C. glomerata) and the harebell.

bell glass n. a bell-shaped glass cover used, especially formerly, as a cloche.

bell heather n. a common European heather with relatively large purplish-red flowers.

<INFO> Erica cinerea, family Ericaceae.

bellhop n. North American another term for BELLBOY.

bellicose /bεlkəs/ adj. demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight: a mood of bellicose jingoism.

<DERIVATIVES> bellicosity /-ksti/ n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin bellicosus, from bellicus ‘warlike’, from bellum ‘war’.

belligerence /bəld(ə)r(ə)ns/ (also belligerency) n. [mass noun] aggressive or warlike behaviour.

belligerent adj. hostile and aggressive: the mood at the meeting was belligerent.

- engaged in a war or conflict, as recognized by international law.

■ n. a nation or person engaged in war or conflict, as recognized by international law.

<DERIVATIVES> belligerently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin belligerant- ‘waging war’, from the verb belligerare, from bellum ‘war’.

Bellingshausen Sea /bεlzhaz(ə)n/ a part of the SE Pacific off the coast of Antarctica, bounded to the east and south by the Antarctic Peninsula and Ellsworth Land.

<ORIGIN> named after the Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (1778–1852), who in 1819–21 became the first to circumnavigate Antarctica.

Bellini^1 /bεlini/ a family of Italian painters in Venice, Jacopo (c.1400–70) and his sons Gentile (c.1429–1507) and Giovanni (c.1430–1516).

Bellini^2 /bεlini/ Vincenzo (1801–35), Italian composer. Notable operas: La Sonnambula (1831), Norma (1831), and I Puritani (1835).

Bellini^3 /bəlini/ n. (pl. Bellinis) a cocktail consisting of peach juice mixed with champagne.

<ORIGIN> from the name of the Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini^1: the cocktail is said to have been invented in Venice during a major exhibition of the artist's work in 1948.

bell jar n. a bell-shaped glass cover used in a laboratory, typically for enclosing samples.

bell magpie n. see CURRAWONG and magpie (sense 2).

bellman n. (pl. bellmen) HISTORICAL a town crier.

bell metal n. [mass noun] an alloy of copper and tin for making bells, with a higher tin content than in bronze.

Belloc /bεlk/ (Joseph) Hilaire (Pierre René) (1870–1953), French-born British writer, historian, and poet remembered chiefly for Cautionary Tales (1907).

Bellow Saul (1915–2005), Canadian-born American novelist, of Russian-Jewish descent. Notable works: The Adventures of Augie March (1953) and Herzog (1964). Nobel Prize for Literature (1976).

bellow v. [no obj.] (of a person or animal) emit a deep loud roar, typically in pain or anger: he bellowed in agony.

- [reporting v.] shout something with a deep loud roar: [with obj.] he bellowed out the order | [with direct speech] ‘Not sausage and mash again!’ he bellowed.

- [with obj.] sing (a song) loudly and tunelessly: a dozen large men were bellowing ‘Jerusalem’.

■ n. a deep roaring shout or sound: a bellow of rage.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from late Old English bylgan.

bellows plural n. [also treated as sing.] 1 (also a pair of bellows) a device with an air bag that emits a stream of air when squeezed together with two handles, used for blowing air into a fire.

- a similar device used in a harmonium or small organ.

2 an object or device with concertinaed sides to allow it to expand and contract, such as a tube joining a lens to a camera body.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Old English belga, plural of belig (see BELLY), used as a shortened form of earlier blstbelig ‘blowing bag’.

bell pepper n. North American term for SWEET PEPPER.

bell pull n. a cord or handle which rings a bell when pulled, typically used to summon someone from another room.

bell push n. BRITISH a button that operates an electric bell when pushed.

bell-ringing n. [mass noun] the activity or pastime of ringing church bells or handbells.

<DERIVATIVES> bell-ringer n.

Bell's palsy n. [mass noun] paralysis of the facial nerve causing muscular weakness in one side of the face.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Sir Charles Bell (1774–1842), the Scottish anatomist who first described it.

bell tent n. a cone-shaped tent supported by a central pole.

bellwether n. the leading sheep of a flock, with a bell on its neck.

- something that leads or indicates a trend: Basildon is now the bellwether of Britain's voting behaviour.

belly n. (pl. bellies) 1 the front part of the human trunk below the ribs, containing the stomach and bowels.

- the stomach, especially as representing the body's need for food: they'll fight all the better on empty bellies.

- the underside of a bird or other animal.

- (also belly pork) [mass noun] a cut of pork from the underside between the legs.

- a pig's belly as food, especially as a traded commodity.

2 the rounded underside of a ship or aircraft.

- the top surface of an instrument of the violin family, over which the strings are placed.

■ v. (bellies, bellying, bellied) 1 swell or cause to swell: [no obj.] as she leaned forward her pullover bellied out | [with obj.] the wind bellied the sail out.

2 [no obj.] (belly up to) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL move or sit close to (a bar or table).

<PHRASES>

□ go belly up INFORMAL go bankrupt.

<DERIVATIVES> bellied adj. [in combination] fat-bellied men

<ORIGIN> Old English belig ‘bag’, of Germanic origin, from a base meaning ‘swell, be inflated’.

bellyache INFORMAL n. a stomach pain.

■ v. [no obj.] complain noisily or persistently: Heads of Department bellyaching about lack of resources.

<DERIVATIVES> bellyacher n.

bellyband n. a band placed round a horse's belly to harness it to the shafts of a cart.

belly button n. INFORMAL a person's navel.

belly dance n. a dance originating in the Middle East, typically performed by a woman and involving undulating movements of the belly and rapid gyration of the hips.

<DERIVATIVES> belly dancer n. belly dancing n.

bellyflop INFORMAL n. a dive into water, landing flat on one's front.

■ v. (bellyflops, bellyflopping, bellyflopped) [no obj.] perform a bellyflop.

- (of an aircraft) perform an emergency landing without lowering the undercarriage.

bellyful n. (pl. bellyfuls) a quantity of food sufficient to fill one's stomach; a sustaining meal.

<PHRASES>

□ have a (or one's) bellyful INFORMAL become intolerant of someone or something after lengthy or repeated contact: he had had his bellyful of hospitals.

belly landing n. a crash-landing of an aircraft on the underside of the fuselage, without lowering the undercarriage.

belly laugh n. a loud unrestrained laugh.

Belmopan /bεlməpan/ the capital of Belize; pop. 8,100 (2000).

Belo Horizonte /bεl rznte -ti/ a city in eastern Brazil, capital of the state of Minas Gerais; pop. 2,229,697 (2000).

belong v. [no obj.] 1 (belong to) be the property of: the vehicle did not belong to him.

- be due to: most of the credit belongs to Paul.

- (of a contest or period of time) be dominated by: the race belonged completely to Fogarty.

2 (belong to) be a member of (a particular group or organization): he belonged to the local cricket club.

- [usually with adverbial of place] (of a person) have an affinity for a specified place or situation: she is a stranger, and doesn't belong here | you and me, we belong together | (as n. belonging) we feel a real sense of belonging.

- have the right personal or social qualities to be a member of a particular group: young people are generally very anxious to belong.

3 [with adverbial of place] (of a thing) be rightly placed in a specified position: he put the rifle back in the locker where it belonged | such statements do not belong in a modern student textbook.

- be rightly assigned to a specified category: these compounds belong to a class of chemical mediators called kairomones.

<DERIVATIVES> belongingness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from BE- (as an intensifier) + the archaic verb long ‘belong’, based on Old English gelang ‘at hand, together with’.

belongings plural n. a person's movable possessions.

Belorussia /bεlə()rə/ (also Byelorussia) former name for BELARUS.

<ORIGIN> Russian Belorossiya, from belyĭ ‘white’ + Rossiya ‘Russia’.

Belorussian (also Byelorussian) adj. relating to Belarus, its people, or its language.

■ n. 1 a native of Belarus, or a person of Belorussian descent.

2 [mass noun] the Eastern Slavic language of Belarus, with about 9 million speakers.

Belostok /bilastək/ Russian name for Białystok.

beloved adj. dearly loved: his beloved son.

- (beloved by/of) very popular with (a specified set of people): the stark council estates beloved of town planners in the 1960s.

■ n. a much loved person: he watched his beloved from afar.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: past participle of obsolete belove ‘be pleasing’, later ‘love’.

below prep. 1 at a lower level or layer than: just below the pocket was a stain | the blistered skin below his collar.

- lower in grade or rank than: the aristocracy rank below the monarchy | they rated the company's financial soundness below its competitor's.

- lower than (a specified amount or standard): pupils of below average ability | below freezing | below 50 mph.

2 extending underneath: the tunnel below the crags | cables running below the floorboards.

■ adv. at a lower level or layer: he jumped from the window into the moat below.

- (in printed text) mentioned further down on the same page, or further on in the text: our nutritionist is pictured below right.

- [NAUTICAL] below deck: I'll go below and fix us a drink.

<PHRASES>

□ below (the) ground beneath the surface of the ground.

□ below stairs BRITISH DATED in the basement of a house as occupied by servants.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adverb): from BE- ‘by’ + the adjective low^1. Not common until the 16th century, the word developed a prepositional use and was frequent in Shakespeare.

below decks (also below deck) adj. & adv. in or into the space below the main deck of a ship.

■ plural n. (belowdecks) the space below the main deck of a ship.

Bel Paese /bεl pαeze -zi/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a rich, white, mild, creamy cheese of a kind originally made in Italy.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘fair country’.

Belsen /bεls(ə)n/ a Nazi concentration camp in the Second World War, near the village of Belsen in NW Germany.

Belshazzar /bεlazə/ (6th century BC), viceroy and son of the last king of Babylon. The Bible (Daniel 5) tells how his death in the sack of the city was foretold by a mysterious hand which wrote on the palace wall at a banquet.

belt n. 1 a strip of leather or other material worn, typically round the waist, to support or hold in clothes or to carry weapons. short for SEAT BELT.

- a belt worn as a sign of rank or achievement: he was awarded the victor's belt.

- a belt of a specified colour, marking the attainment of a particular level in judo, karate, or similar sports: [as modifier] brown-belt level.

- a person who has reached such a level: Shaun became a brown belt in judo.

- (the belt) the punishment of being struck with a belt.

2 a strip of material used in various technical applications, in particular:

- a continuous band of material used in machinery for transferring motion from one wheel to another.

- a conveyor belt.

- a flexible strip carrying machine-gun cartridges.

3 a strip or encircling area that is different in nature or composition from its surroundings: the asteroid belt | a belt of trees.

4 INFORMAL a heavy blow: she administered a good belt with her stick.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial] fasten with a belt: she belted her raincoat firmly.

- [no obj., with adverbial] be fastened with a belt: the jacket belts at the waist.

- [with obj.] secure or attach with a belt: he was securely belted into the passenger seat.

- [no obj.] (belt up) BRITISH INFORMAL put on a seat belt.

2 [with obj.] beat or strike (someone), especially with a belt as a punishment: I was belted and sent to my room.

- hit (something) hard: he belted the ball downfield.

- (belt something out) sing or play a song loudly and forcefully.

3 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] INFORMAL rush or dash in a specified direction: he belted out of the side door.

- (of rain) fall hard: the rain belted down on the tin roof.

4 [no obj., usually in imperative] (belt up) BRITISH INFORMAL be quiet.

<PHRASES>

□ below the belt disregarding the rules; unfair. [<ORIGIN> from the notion of an unfair and illegal blow in boxing.]

□ belt and braces BRITISH (of a policy or action) providing double security, by using two means to the same end. [<ORIGIN> from the literal belt and braces for holding up a pair of loose trousers.]

□ tighten one's belt cut one's expenditure; live more frugally.

□ under one's belt 1 safely or satisfactorily achieved, experienced, or acquired: he now has almost a year as minister under his belt.

2 (of food or drink) consumed: Gus already had a large brandy under his belt.

<DERIVATIVES> belted adj.

■ belt (sense 1 of the noun)

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin, from Latin balteus ‘girdle’.

Beltane /bεlten/ n. an ancient Celtic festival celebrated on May Day.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Scottish Gaelic bealltainn.

belt drive n. a mechanism in which power is transmitted by the movement of a continuous flexible belt.

belted galloway n. an animal belonging to a variety of the galloway breed of cattle. See GALLOWAY.

belter n. INFORMAL 1 an exceptional or outstanding example of something: Owen made the goal with a belter of a pass.

2 a loud, forceful singer or song.

belting n. 1 [mass noun] belts collectively, or material for belts.

2 a beating, especially with a belt as a punishment.

■ adj. INFORMAL outstanding: they've come up with some belting songs.

beltman n. (pl. beltmen) AUSTRALIAN/NZ the member of a surf life-saving team who swims out, wearing a belt with a line attached for safety, to give assistance to bathers or surfers in difficulties.

belt sander n. a sander that uses a moving abrasive belt to smooth surfaces.

beltway n. US a ring road.

- (Beltway) [often as modifier] Washington DC, especially as representing the perceived insularity of the US government: conventional Beltway wisdom. [<ORIGIN> transferred use by association with the ring road encircling Washington.]

beluga /bəluə/ n. (pl. same or belugas) 1 a small white toothed whale related to the narwhal, living in herds mainly in Arctic coastal waters. Also called WHITE WHALE.

<INFO> Delphinapterus leucas, family Monodontidae.

2 a very large sturgeon occurring in the inland seas and associated rivers of central Eurasia.

<INFO> Huso huso, family Acipenseridae.

- (also beluga caviar) [mass noun] caviar obtained from this fish.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from Russian belukha (sense 1), beluga (sense 2), both from belyĭ ‘white’.

belvedere /bεlvdə/ n. a summer house or open-sided gallery, typically at rooftop level, commanding a fine view.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian, literally ‘fair sight’, from bel ‘beautiful’ + vedere ‘to see’.

belying present participle of BELIE.

BEM abbr. British Empire Medal, an award for public service (discontinued in 1993).

bema /bimə/ n. (pl. bemas or bemata /bimətə/) the altar part or sanctuary in ancient and Orthodox churches.

- (usually bimah) the podium or platform in a synagogue from which the Torah and Prophets are read.

- HISTORICAL the platform from which orators spoke in ancient Athens.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek bēma ‘step, raised place’.

Bemba /bεmbə/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of an African people of Zambia.

2 [mass noun] the Bantu language of the Bemba, with nearly 2 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Bemba or their language.

<ORIGIN> Bemba.

bemire /bmə/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC cover or stain with mud.

- (be bemired) be stuck in mud.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from BE- (expressing transitivity) + MIRE.

bemoan v. [with obj.] express discontent or sorrow over (something): it was no use bemoaning her lot.

<ORIGIN> Old English bemnan ‘complain, lament’. The change in the second syllable (16th century) was due to association with MOAN, to which it is related.

bemuse v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. bemused) puzzle, confuse, or bewilder: her bemused expression | he was bemused by what was happening.

<DERIVATIVES> bemusedly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from BE-

■ (as an intensifier) + MUSE^2.

bemusement n. [mass noun] the fact or condition of being bemused; puzzlement: we turned to each other in utter bemusement.

ben^1 n. SCOTTISH (especially in place names) a high mountain or mountain peak: Ben Nevis.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Scottish Gaelic and Irish beann.

ben^2 n. SCOTTISH the inner room in a two-roomed cottage. See also but^2.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: dialect variant of Middle English binne ‘within’ (adverb), from Old English binnan (related to Dutch and German binnen).

Benares /bnαrz/ former name for VARANASI.

Benbecula /bεnbεkjlə/ a small island in the Outer Hebrides, situated between North and South Uist and linked to them by causeways.

Ben Bella /bεn bεlə/ (Muhammad) Ahmed (b.1916), Algerian statesman, Prime Minister 1962–3 and President 1963–5. The first President of an independent Algeria, he was overthrown in a military coup.

bench n. 1 a long seat for several people, typically made of wood or stone.

2 a long work table in a workshop or laboratory.

3 a judge's seat in a law court.

- (the bench) the office of judge or magistrate: his appointment to the civil bench.

- a judge or magistrate presiding over a particular case.

4 BRITISH a long seat in Parliament for politicians of a specified party: the Conservative benches.

- the politicians occupying such a seat: the pledge that was given by the Opposition benches yesterday.

5 (the bench) a seat at the side of a sports field for coaches, substitutes, and players not taking part in a game.

6 a flat ledge in masonry or on sloping ground.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 exhibit (a dog) at a show: Affenpinschers and Afghans were benched side by side. [<ORIGIN> from the practice of exhibiting dogs on benches.]

2 NORTH AMERICAN withdraw (a sports player) from play: the coach benched quarterback Cunningham in favour of McMahon.

3 short for BENCH-PRESS.

<PHRASES>

□ on the bench 1 appointed as or in the capacity of a judge or magistrate: he retired after twenty-five years on the bench.

2 acting as one of the possible substitutes in a sports match.

<ORIGIN> Old English benc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bank and German Bank, also to bank^1.

bencher n. [LAW] (in the UK) a senior member of any of the Inns of Court.

benchmark n. 1 a standard or point of reference against which things may be compared: the pay settlement will set a benchmark for other employers and workers.

- a problem designed to evaluate the performance of a computer system.

2 a surveyor's mark cut in a wall, pillar, or building and used as a reference point in measuring altitudes.

■ v. [with obj.] evaluate (something) by comparison with a standard: we are benchmarking our performance against external criteria.

- [no obj., with adverbial] give particular results during a benchmark test: the device should benchmark at between 100 and 150 MHz.

benchmark test n. a test using a benchmark to evaluate a computer system's performance.

bench press n. a bodybuilding and weightlifting exercise in which a lifter lies on a bench with the feet on the floor and raises a weight with both arms.

■ v. (bench-press) [with obj.] raise (a weight) in a bench press.

bench seat n. a seat across the whole width of a car.

bench table n. a low stone seat on the inside of a wall or round the base of a pillar in a church, cloister, or other religious building.

bench test chiefly [COMPUTING] n. a test carried out on a machine, a component, or software before it is released for use, to ensure that it works properly.

■ v. (bench-test) [with obj.] run a bench test on.

benchwarmer n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a sports player who does not get selected to play; a substitute.

benchwork n. [mass noun] work carried out at a bench in a laboratory or workshop.

bend^1 v. (past and past participle bent) 1 [with obj.] shape or force (something straight) into a curve or angle: the wire has to be bent back tightly.

- [no obj.] (of something straight) be shaped or forced into a curve or angle: poppies bending in the wind.

- [no obj., usually with adverbial of direction] (of a road, river, or path) deviate from a straight line in a specified direction: the road bent left and then right.

- FIGURATIVE force or be forced to submit: [with obj.] they want to bend me to their will | [no obj.] a refusal to bend to mob rule.

2 [no obj.] (of a person) incline the body downwards from the vertical: she bent down and yanked out the flex | I bent over my plate.

- [with obj.] move (a jointed part of the body) to an angled position: extend your left leg and bend your right.

3 [with obj.] interpret or modify (a rule) to suit someone: we cannot bend the rules, even for Darren.

4 [with obj.] direct (one's attention or energies) to a task: Eric bent all his efforts to persuading them to donate some blankets | [no obj.] she bent once more to the task of diverting her guests.

5 [with obj.] [NAUTICAL] attach (a sail or cable) by means of a knot: sailors were bending sails to the spars.

■ n. 1 a curve in a road, river, path, or racing circuit.

2 a curved or angled part of something: make a bend in the wire.

3 a kind of knot used to join two ropes together, or to tie a rope to another object, e.g. a carrick bend.

4 (the bends) decompression sickness, especially in divers.

<PHRASES>

□ bend someone's ear INFORMAL talk to someone, especially at length or to ask a favour.

□ bend one's elbow NORTH AMERICAN drink alcohol.

□ bend over backwards see BACKWARDS.

□ on bended knee (or knees) kneeling, especially when pleading or showing great respect.

□ round (or US around) the bend INFORMAL mad: I'd go round the bend looking after kids all day.

<DERIVATIVES> bendable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English bendan ‘put in bonds, tension a bow by means of a string’, of Germanic origin; related to band^1.

bend^2 n. [HERALDRY] an ordinary in the form of a broad diagonal stripe from top left (dexter chief) to bottom right (sinister base) of a shield or part of one.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French bande, Old French bende ‘flat strip’.

bender n. 1 an object or person that bends something: a metal bender.

2 INFORMAL a wild drinking spree.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a male homosexual.

4 BRITISH a shelter made by covering a framework of bent branches with canvas or tarpaulin.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting instruments such as pliers, for bending things): from BEND^1 + -ER^1.

Bendigo /bεndə/ a former gold-mining town in the state of Victoria, Australia; pop. 86,068 (2001).

bendlet n. [HERALDRY] a bend of half the normal width, usually borne in groups of two or three.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from the earlier heraldic term bendel ‘little bend’ (Old French diminutive of bende ‘band’) + -ET^1.

bend sinister n. [HERALDRY] a broad diagonal stripe from top right to bottom left of a shield (a supposed sign of bastardy).

bendy adj. (bendier, bendiest) 1 BRITISH capable of bending; soft and flexible.

2 (especially of a road) having many bends.

<DERIVATIVES> bendiness n.

beneath prep. 1 extending or directly underneath: a 2.5-mile tunnel beneath the Alps.

- underneath so as to be hidden, covered, or protected: the ancient city has lain hidden beneath the sea for 2,000 years.

2 at a lower level or layer than: beneath this floor there's a cellar | her eyes had dark shadows beneath them.

- lower in grade or rank than: he was relegated to the rank beneath theirs.

- considered of lower status or worth than: she's in love with a man who is rather beneath her.

- hidden behind (an appearance): beneath the gloss of success was a tragic private life.

■ adv. 1 extending or directly underneath something: a house built on stilts to allow air to circulate beneath.

2 at a lower level or layer: upper layers can be removed to reveal internal parts beneath.

- hidden behind an appearance: the smile revealed the evil beneath.

<ORIGIN> Old English binithan, bineothan, from bi (see BY) + nithan, neothan ‘below’, of Germanic origin; related to NETHER.

benedicite /bεndsti/ n. a blessing, especially a grace said at table in religious communities.

- (the Benedicite) the canticle used in the Anglican service of matins beginning ‘O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord’, the text being taken from the Apocrypha.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘bless ye!’, plural imperative from benedicere ‘wish well’; the first word of the canticle in Latin.

Benedict, St /bεndkt/ (c.480–c.550), Italian hermit. He established a monastery at Monte Cassino and his Regula Monachorum (known as the Rule of St Benedict) formed the basis of Western monasticism. Feast day, 11 July (formerly 21 March).

Benedict XVI /bendkt/ (b.1927), German cleric, pope since 2005; born Joseph Alois Ratzinger.

Benedictine /bεndktn/ n. 1 a monk or nun of a Christian religious order following the rule of St Benedict and established c.540.

2 [mass noun] TRADEMARK a liqueur based on brandy, originally made by Benedictine monks in France.

■ adj. relating to St Benedict or the Benedictines.

<ORIGIN> from French bénédictine or modern Latin benedictinus, from the name Benedictus (see BENEDICT, ST).

benediction n. [mass noun] the utterance of a blessing, especially at the end of a religious service.

- (Benediction) (in the Roman Catholic Church) a service in which the congregation is blessed with the sacrament.

- [count noun] a prayer asking for divine blessing.

- the state of being blessed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin benedictio(n-), from benedicere ‘wish well, bless’, from bene ‘well’ + dicere ‘say’.

benedictory adj. ARCHAIC relating to the giving of a blessing.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin benedictorius, from benedicere ‘wish well’ (see BENEDICTION).

Benedict's solution (also Benedict's reagent) n. [mass noun] a chemical solution that changes colour in the presence of glucose and other reducing sugars, used in clinical urine tests for diabetes. It is a mixture of sodium or potassium citrate, sodium carbonate, and copper sulphate.

<ORIGIN> named after Stanley R. Benedict (1884–1936), American chemist.

Benedictus /bεndktəs/ n. [CHRISTIAN] 1 an invocation beginning Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini (Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord) forming a set part of the Mass.

2 a canticle beginning Benedictus Dominus Deus (Blessed be the Lord God) from Luke 1:68–79.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘blessed’, past participle of benedicere ‘wish well’.

benefaction /bεnfak(ə)n/ n. FORMAL a donation or gift.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin benefactio(n-), from bene facere ‘do good (to)’, from bene ‘well’ + facere ‘do’.

benefactive /bεnfaktv/ [GRAMMAR] adj. denoting a semantic case or construction that expresses the person or thing that benefits from the action of the verb, for example for you in I bought this for you.

■ n. the benefactive case, or a word or expression in it.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Latin benefactus ‘capable of giving’ + -IVE.

benefactor n. a person who gives money or other help to a person or cause.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from bene facere ‘do good (to)’ (see BENEFACTION).

benefactress n. a female benefactor.

benefic /bnεfk/ adj. ARCHAIC beneficent or kindly.

- [ASTROLOGY] relating to or denoting the planets Jupiter and Venus, traditionally considered to have a favourable influence.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin beneficus, from bene facere ‘do good (to)’.

benefice /bεnfs/ n. a permanent Church appointment, typically that of a rector or vicar, for which property and income are provided in respect of pastoral duties.

<DERIVATIVES> beneficed adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin beneficium ‘favour, support’, from bene ‘well’ + facere ‘do’.

beneficent /bnεfs(ə)nt/ adj. (of a person) generous or doing good.

- resulting in good: a beneficent democracy.

<DERIVATIVES> beneficence n. beneficently adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin beneficent- (stem of beneficentior, comparative of beneficus ‘favourable, generous’), from bene facere ‘do good (to)’.

beneficial adj. 1 resulting in good; favourable or advantageous: the beneficial effect on the economy | the process was beneficial to both supplier and customer.

2 [LAW] relating to rights to the use or benefit of property, other than legal title.

<DERIVATIVES> beneficially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin beneficialis, from beneficium (see BENEFICE).

beneficiary n. (pl. beneficiaries) a person who derives advantage from something, especially a trust, will, or life insurance policy.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin beneficiarius, from beneficium (see BENEFICE).

beneficiate /bεnfet/ v. [with obj.] treat (a raw material) to improve its properties.

<DERIVATIVES> beneficiation n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Spanish beneficiar (from beneficio ‘benefit’) + -ATE^3.

benefit n. 1 an advantage or profit gained from something: enjoy the benefits of being a member | [mass noun] the changes are of benefit to commerce.

2 a payment made by the state or an insurance scheme to someone entitled to receive it: part-time jobs supplemented by means-tested benefits | [mass noun] families on benefit.

3 an event such as a concert or game, intended to raise money for a particular player or charity.

■ v. (benefits, benefiting or benefitting,benefited or benefitted) [no obj.] receive an advantage; profit: areas that would benefit from regeneration.

- [with obj.] bring advantage to: the bill will benefit Britain.

<PHRASES>

□ benefit of clergy 1 HISTORICAL exemption of the English clergy and nuns from the jurisdiction of the ordinary civil courts, granted in the Middle Ages but abolished in 1827.

2 ecclesiastical sanction: they lived together without benefit of clergy.

□ the benefit of the doubt a concession that a person or fact must be regarded as correct or justified, if the contrary has not been proven: I'll give you the benefit of the doubt as to whether it was deliberate or not.

□ for the benefit of in order to help or be useful to: a venue run for the benefit of the community.

- in order to interest or impress (someone): it was all an act put on for his benefit.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting a kind deed or something well done): from Old French bienfet, from Latin benefactum ‘good deed’, from bene facere ‘do good (to)’.

benefit society n. another term for FRIENDLY SOCIETY.

benefit tourist n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person who travels to or within Britain in order to live off social security payments while untruthfully claiming to be seeking work.

<DERIVATIVES> benefit tourism n.

Benelux /bεnlks/ a collective name for Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, especially with reference to their economic union.

<ORIGIN> 1947: acronym from Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Beneš /bεnε/ Edvard (1884–1948), Czechoslovak statesman, Prime Minister 1921–2, President 1935–8 and 1945–8. During the Second World War he served in London as head of the Czechoslovakian government in exile. In 1945 he regained the presidency but resigned after the 1948 communist coup.

benevolence n. [mass noun] the quality of being well meaning; kindness.

benevolent adj. well meaning and kindly.

- [attr.] (of an organization) serving a charitable rather than a profit-making purpose: a benevolent fund.

<DERIVATIVES> benevolently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French benivolent, from Latin bene volent- ‘well wishing’, from bene ‘well’ + velle ‘to wish’.

BEng abbr. Bachelor of Engineering.

benga /bεə/ n. [mass noun] a style of African popular music originating in Kenya, characterized by a fusion of traditional Kenyan music and a lively arrangement of guitars, bass, and vocals.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from Luo.

Bengal /bεl/ a region in the north-east of the Indian subcontinent, containing the Ganges and Brahmaputra River deltas. In 1947 the province was divided into West Bengal, which has remained a state of India, and East Bengal, now Bangladesh.

Bengal, Bay of a part of the Indian Ocean lying between India to the west and Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand to the east.

Bengali /bεli/ n. (pl. Bengalis) 1 a native of Bengal.

2 [mass noun] the Indic language of Bangladesh and West Bengal, spoken by some 200 million people. It is written in a script similar to the Devanagari script.

■ adj. relating to Bengal, its people, or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bagālī.

bengaline /bεəlin/ n. [mass noun] a strong ribbed fabric made of a mixture of silk and either cotton or wool.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, so named because of a similarity with archaic Bengals denoting fabrics, usually silks, imported from Bengal.

Bengal light n. a kind of firework giving off a blue flame and used for lighting or signalling.

Benghazi /bεαzi/ a Mediterranean port in NE Libya; pop. 708,000 (est. 2002). It was the joint capital (with Tripoli) from 1951 to 1972.

Benguela /bεwεlə -εlə/ a port and railway terminal in Angola, on the Atlantic coast; pop. 131,400 (est. 2002). Copper is brought here from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire).

Benguela Current a cold ocean current which flows from Antarctica northwards along the west coast of southern Africa as far as Angola.

Ben-Gurion /bεnərən/ David (1886–1973), Israeli statesman, Prime Minister 1948–53 and 1955–63, Israel's first Prime Minister and Minister of Defence.

benighted adj. 1 in a state of pitiful or contemptible intellectual or moral ignorance: they saw themselves as bringers of culture to poor benighted peoples.

2 overtaken by darkness: a storm developed and we were forced to wait benighted near the summit.

<DERIVATIVES> benightedness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): past participle of archaic benight ‘cover in the darkness of night, obscure’ (see BE-, night).

benign adj. 1 gentle and kind: his benign but firm manner.

- (of a climate or environment) mild and favourable.

2 MEDICINE (of a disease) not harmful in effect.

- (of a tumour) not malignant.

<DERIVATIVES> benignity n. benignly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French benigne, from Latin benignus, probably from bene ‘well’ + -genus ‘-born’. Compare with gentle^1.

benignant /bnnənt/ adj. 1 kindly and benevolent: an old man with a benignant expression.

2 MEDICINE a less common term for BENIGN.

3 ARCHAIC having a good effect; beneficial: the benignant touch of love and beauty.

<DERIVATIVES> benignancy n. benignantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from BENIGN, or Latin benignus, on the pattern of malignant.

benign neglect n. [mass noun] non-interference that is intended to benefit someone or something more than continual attention would.

Benin /bεnin/ a country of West Africa, immediately west of Nigeria; pop. 6,787,625 (est. 2002); languages, French (official), West African languages; capital, Porto Novo. The country was conquered by the French in 1893 and became part of French West Africa. In 1960 it became fully independent. Former name (until 1975) DAHOMEY.

<DERIVATIVES> Beninese /bεnniz/ adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> name adopted in 1975, formerly used of an African kingdom powerful in the 14th–17th cents.

Benin, Bight of a wide bay on the coast of Africa north of the Gulf of Guinea, bordered by Togo, Benin, and SW Nigeria. Lagos is its chief port.

Benioff zone /bεnf/ n. [GEOLOGY] an inclined zone in which many deep earthquakes occur, situated beneath a destructive plate boundary where oceanic crust is being subducted.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Victor H. Benioff (1899–1968), American seismologist.

benison /bεnz(ə)n -s-/ n. LITERARY a blessing: the rewards and benisons of marriage.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French beneiçun, from Latin benedictio (see BENEDICTION).

Benjamin (in the Bible) a Hebrew patriarch, the youngest and favourite son of Jacob (Gen. 35:18, 42, etc.).

- the smallest tribe of Israel, traditionally descended from him.

Benn Tony (b.1925), British Labour politician; full name Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn. A Labour MP from 1950, he was debarred from the House of Commons on succeeding to the title of Viscount Stansgate in 1960. He renounced his title in 1963 and was re-elected. He held several cabinet posts and gained a reputation as an orator on the left of the party.

benne /bεni/ n. US term for SESAME.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Malay bene.

Bennett^1 Alan (b.1934), English dramatist and actor. Notable works: Beyond the Fringe (1960), Forty Years On (1969), and Talking Heads (1987).

Bennett^2 (Enoch) Arnold (1867–1931), English novelist, dramatist, and critic. His fame rests on the novels and stories set in the Potteries (‘the Five Towns’) of his youth, notably Anna of the Five Towns (1902), The Old Wives' Tale (1908), and the Clayhanger series (1902–8).

Bennett^3 Sir Richard Rodney (b.1936), English composer, whose works include film scores, operas, concertos, and chamber pieces.

Ben Nevis /bεn nεvs/ a mountain in western Scotland. Rising to 1,343 m (4,406 ft), it is the highest mountain in the British Isles.

Benny Jack (1894–1974), American comedian and actor; born Benjamin Kubelsky. Working notably on radio and then television, he was renowned for his timing, delivery, and mordant, self-effacing humour.

benny^1 n. (pl. bennies) INFORMAL, chiefly US a tablet of Benzedrine.

benny^2 n. (pl. bennies) US INFORMAL a benefit attached to employment; a perk.

benomyl /bεnəml/ n. [mass noun] a systemic fungicide used on fruit and vegetable crops, derived from imidazole.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from ben(z)o- + m(eth)yl.

Benoni /bənəni/ a city in South Africa, in the province of Gauteng, east of Johannesburg; pop. 406,400 (est. 2002). It is a gold-mining centre.

bent^1 past and past participle of bend^1

■ adj. 1 sharply curved or having an angle: a piece of bent wire.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL dishonest; corrupt: a bent cop.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL, DEROGATORY homosexual.

4 (bent on) determined to do or have: a missionary bent on saving souls | a mob bent on violence.

■ n. a natural talent or inclination: a man of a religious bent | she had no natural bent for literature.

<PHRASES>

□ bent out of shape NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL angry or agitated.

bent^2 n. 1 (also bent grass) a stiff grass which is used for lawns and is a component of pasture and hay grasses.

<INFO> Agrostis and other genera, family Gramineae: several species, including common bent (A. capillaris (or tenuis)).

- the stiff flowering stalk of a grass.

2 ARCHAIC or DIALECT a heath or unenclosed pasture.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old English beonet (recorded in place names), of West Germanic origin; related to German Binse.

Bentham /bεnθəm/ Jeremy (1748–1832), English philosopher and jurist, the first major proponent of utilitarianism. Notable works: Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789).

<DERIVATIVES> Benthamism n. Benthamite n. & adj.

benthos /bεnθs/ n. [mass noun] [ECOLOGY] the flora and fauna found on the bottom, or in the bottom sediments, of a sea or lake.

<DERIVATIVES> benthic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek, ‘depth of the sea’.

Bentley Edmund Clerihew (1875–1956), English journalist and novelist, inventor of the comic verse form, the clerihew.

bento /bεntə/ n. (pl. bentos) a lacquered or decorated wooden Japanese lunch box.

- a Japanese-style packed lunch, consisting of such items as rice, vegetables, and sashimi.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

bentonite /bεntənt/ n. [mass noun] a kind of absorbent clay formed by breakdown of volcanic ash, used especially as a filler.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of Fort Benton in Montana, US, where it is found, + -ITE^1.

ben trovato /bεn trə()vαtə/ adj. (of an anecdote) invented but plausible.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘well found’.

bentwood n. [mass noun] wood that is artificially shaped for use in making furniture.

Benue-Congo /bεnwe/ n. [mass noun] a major branch of the Niger–Congo family of languages, spoken mainly in Nigeria and including Efik and Fula.

■ adj. relating to or denoting this group of languages.

<ORIGIN> from the names of rivers.

benumb v. [with obj.] (often as adj. benumbed) deprive of physical or emotional feeling: a hoarse shout cut through his benumbed senses.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from obsolete benome, past participle of benim ‘deprive’, from BE- (expressing removal) + Old English niman ‘take’.

Benxi /bεni/ a city in NE China, in the province of Liaoning; pop. 1,170,100 (est. 2002).

Benz /bεnz/ German /bεnts/ Karl Friedrich (1844–1929), German engineer and motor manufacturer. In 1885 he built the first vehicle to be driven by an internal-combustion engine.

benzaldehyde /bεnzaldhd/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid aldehyde with the odour of bitter almonds, used in the manufacture of dyes and perfumes.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_5CHO.

Benzedrine /bεnzdrin/ n. trademark for AMPHETAMINE.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from BENZOIC ACID and EPHEDRINE.

benzene /bεnzin/ n. [mass noun] a colourless volatile liquid hydrocarbon present in coal tar and petroleum, and used in chemical synthesis. Its use as a solvent has been reduced because of its carcinogenic properties.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_6.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BENZOIC ACID + -ENE.

benzene ring n. [CHEMISTRY] the hexagonal unsaturated ring of six carbon atoms present in benzene and many other aromatic molecules.

benzenoid /bεnznd/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] having the six-membered ring structure or aromatic properties of benzene.

benzine /bεnzin/ (also benzin /-zn/) n. [mass noun] a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons obtained from petroleum.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (denoting benzene): from BENZOIN + -INE^4.

benzoate /bεnzəet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of benzoic acid.

benzocaine /bεnzə()ken/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic crystalline compound which is used as a local anaesthetic.

<INFO> Alternative name: ethyl para-aminobenzoate; chem. formula NH_2C_6H_4COOC_2H_5.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from BENZOIC ACID + -caine (from COCAINE).

benzodiazepine /bεnzədezpin -azəpin/ n. MEDICINE any of a class of heterocyclic organic compounds used as tranquillizers, such as Librium and Valium.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from BENZENE + DI-1 + AZO- + EPI- + -INE^4.

benzoic acid /bεnzək/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a white crystalline substance present in benzoin and other plant resins, used as a food preservative.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_5COOH.

benzoin /bεnzən/ n. [mass noun] 1 (also gum benzoin) a fragrant gum resin obtained from a tropical East Asian tree, used in medicines, perfumes, and incense. Also called GUM BENJAMIN.

<INFO> This is obtained from several species of the genus Styrax (family Styracaceae), in particular S. benzoin.

2 [CHEMISTRY] a white crystalline aromatic ketone present in this resin.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_5CHOHCOC_6H_5.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French benjoin, based on Arabic lubānjāwī ‘incense of Java’.

benzol /bεnzl/ (also benzole /-zəl/) n. [mass noun] crude benzene used as a fuel.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BENZOIC ACID + -OL.

benzopyrene /bεnzə()prin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a compound which is the major carcinogen present in cigarette smoke, and also occurs in coal tar.

<INFO> A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon; chem. formula: C_20H_12.

benzoquinone /bεnzə()kwnən/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a yellow crystalline compound related to benzene but having two hydrogen atoms replaced by oxygen.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_4O_2; there are two isomers, with the oxygen atoms on opposite (1,4-benzoquinone) or adjacent (1,2-benzoquinone) carbon atoms.

benzoyl /bεnzəl -zəl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the acyl radical –C(O)C_6H_5, derived from benzoic acid: benzoyl peroxide.

benzyl /bεnzl -zl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the radical –CH_2C_6H_5, derived from toluene: benzyl benzoate.

Beograd /bεrad/ Serbian name for BELGRADE.

Beowulf /beəwlf/ an Old English epic poem celebrating the legendary Scandinavian hero Beowulf.

Generally dated to the 8th century, the poem was the first major poem in a European vernacular language and is the only complete Germanic epic that survives. It describes Beowulf's killing of the water monster Grendel and its mother and his death in combat with a dragon, and includes both pagan and Christian elements.

bequeath /bkwi/ v. [with obj.] leave (property) to a person or other beneficiary by a will: he bequeathed his art collection to the town.

- pass (something) on or leave (something) to someone else: he ditched the unpopular policies bequeathed to him.

<DERIVATIVES> bequeathal n. bequeather n.

<ORIGIN> Old English becwethan, from BE- ‘about’ (expressing transitivity) + cwethan ‘say’ (see QUOTH).

bequest n. a legacy: a bequest of over £300,000.

- [mass noun] the action of bequeathing something: a painting acquired by bequest.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from BE- ‘about’ + Old English cwis ‘speech’, influenced by BEQUEATH.

berate v. [with obj.] scold or criticize (someone) angrily: she berated herself for being fickle.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from BE- ‘thoroughly’ + RATE^2.

Berber /bəbə/ n. 1 a member of the indigenous people of North Africa, among whom are the nomadic Tuareg.

2 [mass noun] the Afro-Asiatic language of these peoples, spoken by about 11 million people. There are several different dialects; some of them, e.g. Tamashek, are regarded by some scholars as separate languages.

■ adj. relating to the Berber peoples or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic barbar, from Greek barbaros ‘foreigner’ (see BARBARIAN).

Berbera /bəbərə/ a port on the north coast of Somalia; pop. 213,400 (est. 2002).

berberine /bəbərin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a bitter yellow compound of the alkaloid class, obtained from barberry and other plants.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BERBERIS + -INE^4.

berberis /bəbərs/ n. a plant of a genus that comprises the barberries.

<INFO> Genus Berberis, family Berberidaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin and Old French, from medieval Latin barbaris.

berceuse /bεsəz/ n. (pl. berceuses pronunc. same) a lullaby.

<ORIGIN> French, from bercer ‘to rock’.

Berchtesgaden /bεxtəsαd(ə)n/ German /bεrçtəsadn/ a town in southern Germany, in the Bavarian Alps close to the border with Austria; pop. 7,966 (1997). Hitler had a fortified retreat there.

bereave v. (be bereaved) be deprived of a close relation or friend through their death: she had recently been bereaved | (as adj. bereaved) bereaved families | (as n. the bereaved) those who counsel the bereaved.

<ORIGIN> Old English berēafian (see BE-, reave). The original sense was ‘deprive of’ in general.

bereavement n. [mass noun] the action or condition of being bereaved: there is no right way to experience bereavement | [count noun] the family suffered a sad bereavement.

bereft adj. 1 (bereft of) deprived of or lacking (something): her room was stark and bereft of colour.

2 (of a person) sad and lonely, especially through someone's death or departure: his death in 1990 left her bereft.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: archaic past participle of BEREAVE.

Berenice /bεrnsi/ (3rd century BC), Egyptian queen, wife of Ptolemy III.

beret /bεre -ri/ n. a round flattish cap of felt or cloth.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French béret ‘Basque cap’, from Old Provençal berret, based on late Latin birrus ‘hooded cape’. Compare with BIRETTA.

Berg /bε/ Alban (Maria Johannes) (1885–1935), Austrian composer, a leading exponent of twelve-note composition. Notable works: the operas Wozzeck (1914–21) and Lulu (1928–35) and his violin concerto (1935).

berg^1 /bə/ n. short for ICEBERG.

berg^2 /bə/ n. S. AFRICAN a mountain or hill.

- (the Berg) the Drakensberg mountain range.

<ORIGIN> Dutch.

bergamot^1 /bəəmt/ n. 1 [mass noun] an oily substance extracted from the rind of a dwarf variety of Seville orange, used in cosmetics and as flavouring in Earl Grey tea.

2 (also bergamot orange) the tree which bears a variety of Seville orange from which bergamot is extracted.

<INFO> Citrus aurantium subsp. bergamia, family Rutaceae.

3 an aromatic North American herb of the mint family.

<INFO> Genus Monarda, family Labiatae: several species, in particular sweet bergamot (M. didyma) (also called BEE BALM, OSWEGO TEA), grown for its bright flowers.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in sense 2): named after the city and province of Bergamo in northern Italy.

bergamot^2 /bəəmt/ n. a dessert pear of a rich and sweet variety.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French bergamotte, from Italian bergamotta, from Turkish begarmudu ‘prince's pear’, from beg ‘prince’ + armud ‘pear’ + the possessive suffix -u.

Bergen 1 /bε(ə)n/ a seaport in SW Norway; pop. 200,600 (est. 2002). It is a centre of the fishing and North Sea oil industries.

2 /bεrxə(n)/

■ Flemish name for MONS.

bergen /bə(ə)n/ n. BRITISH a type of rucksack supported by a frame, used by the military.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: manufacturer's name.

bergenia /bəinə/ n. an evergreen Asian plant with large, thick leaves and typically pink, red, or purple flowers.

<INFO> Genus Bergenia, family Saxifragaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Karl A. von Bergen (1704–60), German botanist and physician.

Berger /bəə/ German /bεr/ Hans (1873–1941), German psychiatrist who detected electric currents in the cerebral cortex and developed encephalography.

Bergerac^1 /bεərak/ a wine-producing region in the Dordogne valley in SW France.

- a town on the Dordogne River; pop. 26,053 (1999).

bergère /bεε/ n. a long-seated upholstered armchair fashionable in the 18th century.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, literally ‘shepherdess’.

bergie /bəi/ n. (pl. bergies) S. African INFORMAL a vagrant.

<ORIGIN> from Dutch berg ‘mountain’ + the informal suffix -IE.

Bergius /bəəs/ German /bεrs/ Friedrich Karl Rudolf (1884–1949), German industrial chemist. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1931).

Bergman^1 /bəmən/ (Ernst) Ingmar (1918–2007), Swedish film and theatre director. He used haunting imagery and symbolism often derived from Jungian dream analysis. Notable films: Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal (1956), and Hour of the Wolf (1968).

Bergman^2 /bəmən/ Ingrid (1915–82), Swedish actress. Although her film career was long, she is probably best known for her romantic role opposite Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942). Other notable films: Notorious (1946) and Anastasia (1956).

bergschrund /bərnd/ n. a crevasse at the junction of a glacier or snowfield with a steep upper slope.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, from Berg ‘mountain’ + Schrund ‘crevice’.

Bergson /bəs(ə)n/ French /bεRksn/ Henri (Louis) (1859–1941), French philosopher. Dividing the world into life (or consciousness) and matter, he rejected Darwinian evolution and argued that life possesses an inherent creative impulse (élan vital) which creates new forms as life seeks to impose itself on matter. Nobel Prize for Literature (1927).

<DERIVATIVES> Bergsonian adj.

berg wind n. S. AFRICAN a hot dry northerly wind blowing from the interior to coastal districts.

Beria /bεrə/ Lavrenti (Pavlovich) (1899–1953), Soviet politician and head of the secret police 1938–53. He was involved in the elimination or deportation of Stalin's opponents, but after Stalin's death he was arrested and executed.

beribboned adj. decorated with many ribbons.

beriberi /bεrbεri/ n. [mass noun] a disease causing inflammation of the nerves and heart failure, ascribed to a deficiency of vitamin B_1.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Sinhalese, from beri ‘weakness’.

Bering /bεr/ Vitus (Jonassen) (1681–1741), Danish navigator and explorer. He led several Russian expeditions aimed at discovering whether Asia and North America were connected by land.

Beringia /bεrndə/ the area comprising the Bering Strait and adjacent parts of Siberia and Alaska (used especially in connection with the migration of animals across the former Bering land bridge).

<DERIVATIVES> Beringian adj.

Bering Sea an arm of the North Pacific lying between NE Siberia and Alaska, bounded to the south by the Aleutian Islands. It is linked to the Arctic Ocean by the Bering Strait. Both the sea and the strait are named after Vitus Bering.

Bering Strait a narrow sea passage which separates the eastern tip of Siberia from Alaska and links the Arctic Ocean with the Bering Sea, about 85 km (53 miles) wide at its narrowest point. During the Ice Age, as a result of a drop in sea levels, the Bering land bridge formed between the two continents, allowing the migration of animals and dispersal of plants in both directions.

Berio /bεrə/ Luciano (1925–2003), Italian composer, an experimentalist who has adopted serial, aleatory, and electronic techniques. Notable works: Circles (1960), Sequenza series (1958–75), and Un Re in Ascolto (opera, 1984).

berk /bək/ (also burk or burke) n. BRITISH INFORMAL a stupid person.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: abbreviation of Berkeley or Berkshire Hunt, rhyming slang for ‘cunt’.

Berkeley^1 /bəkli/ a city in western California, on San Francisco Bay, site of a campus of the University of California; pop. 102,700 (2000).

Berkeley^2 /bəkli/ Busby (1895–1976), American choreographer and film director; born William Berkeley Enos. He is remembered for spectacular and dazzling sequences in which huge casts of rhythmically moving dancers formed kaleidoscopic patterns on the screen. Notable films: the Gold Diggers series (1922–37) and Babes in Arms (1939).

Berkeley^3 /bαkli/ George (1685–1753), Irish philosopher and bishop. He argued that material objects exist solely by being perceived, so there are only minds and mental events. Since God perceives everything all the time, objects have a continuous existence in the mind of God. Notable works: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710).

Berkeley^4 /bαkli/ Sir Lennox (Randall Francis) (1903–89), English composer of four operas, four symphonies, music for ballet and film, and sacred choral music.

berkelium /bəkiləm bəkləm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 97, a radioactive metal of the actinide series. Berkelium does not occur naturally and was first made by bombarding americium with helium ions. (Symbol: Bk)

<ORIGIN> 1949: from Berkeley^1

■ (where it was first made) + -IUM.

Berkoff /bəkf/ Steven (b.1937), English dramatist, director, and actor. Much of his work is politically radical in content and shocking and aggressive in style.

Berks. abbr. Berkshire.

Berkshire /bαkə -ə/ a county of southern England, west of London, divided in 1998 into six unitary authorities.

Berlin^1 /bəln/ the capital of Germany; pop. 3,289,500 (est. 2002).

At the end of the Second World War the city was occupied by the Allies and divided into two parts: West Berlin, comprising the American, British, and French sectors, later a state of the Federal Republic of Germany despite forming an enclave within the German Democratic Republic; and East Berlin, the sector of the city occupied by the Soviet Union and later capital of the German Democratic Republic. Between 1961 and 1989 the Berlin Wall separated the two parts, which were reunited in 1990; occupation formally ended in 1994.

Berlin^2 /bəln/ Irving (1888–1989), Russian-born American songwriter; born Israel Baline. Notable works: the songs ‘God Bless America’ (1939) and ‘White Christmas’ (1942) and the film score for Annie Get Your Gun (1946).

Berlin^3 /bəln/ Sir Isaiah (1909–97), Latvian-born British philosopher who concerned himself with the history of ideas. Notable works: Karl Marx (1939), Four Essays on Liberty (1959), and Vico and Herder (1976).

Berlin airlift an operation by British and American aircraft to airlift food and supplies to Berlin in 1948–9, while Russian forces blockaded the city to isolate it from the West and terminate the joint Allied military government of the city. After the blockade was lifted the city was formally divided into East and West Berlin.

Berliner n. 1 a native or citizen of Berlin.

2 a doughnut with jam filling and vanilla icing.

<ORIGIN> German.

Berlin Wall a fortified and heavily guarded wall built in 1961 by the communist authorities on the boundary between East and West Berlin, chiefly to curb the flow of East Germans to the West. It was opened in November 1989 after the collapse of the communist regime in East Germany and subsequently dismantled.

Berlin work n. [mass noun] worsted embroidery on canvas.

Berlioz /bεləz/ French /bεRljz/ Hector (1803–69), French composer; full name Louis-Hector Berlioz. He wrote for large orchestras and choirs and employed dramatic, descriptive orchestral effects. Notable works: Les Troyens (opera, 1856–9), Symphonie fantastique (1830), and La Damnation de Faust (cantata, 1846).

Berlusconi /bεlskəni/ Silvio (b.1936), Italian media entrepreneur and politician, Prime Minister of Italy briefly in 1994 and since 2001.

berm /bəm/ n. a flat strip of land, raised bank, or terrace bordering a river or canal.

- a path or grass strip beside a road.

- an artificial ridge or embankment, such as one built as a defence against tanks.

- a narrow space between a ditch and the base of a parapet.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting a narrow space): from French berme, from Dutch berm.

Bermuda /bəmjudə/ (also the Bermudas) a country consisting of about 150 small islands off the coast of North Carolina; pop. 63,690 (est. 2002); official language, English; capital, Hamilton. It is a British dependency with full internal self-government.

<DERIVATIVES> Bermudan adj. & n. Bermudian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> named after a Spanish sailor, Juan Bermúdez, who sighted the islands early in the 16th cent.

Bermuda grass n. [mass noun] a creeping grass common in warmer parts of the world, used for lawns and pasture.

<INFO> Cynodon dactylon, family Gramineae.

Bermuda rig n. a fore-and-aft yachting rig with a tall tapering mainsail.

Bermuda shorts (also Bermudas) plural n. casual knee-length shorts.

Bermuda Triangle an area of the western Atlantic Ocean where a large number of ships and aircraft are said to have mysteriously disappeared.

Bernadette, St /bənədεt/ (1844–79), French peasant girl; born Marie Bernarde Soubirous. Her visions of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes in 1858 led to the town's establishment as a centre of pilgrimage. Bernadette later became a nun and was canonized in 1933. Feast day, 18 February.

Bernadotte^1 /bənədt/ Folke, Count (1895–1948), Swedish statesman. As vice-president of the Swedish Red Cross he arranged the exchange of prisoners of war and in 1945 conveyed a German offer of capitulation to the Allies.

Bernadotte^2 /bənədt/ French /bεRnadt/ Jean Baptiste Jules (1763–1844), French soldier, king of Sweden (as Charles XIV) 1818–44. One of Napoleon's marshals, he was adopted by Charles XIII of Sweden in 1810 and later became king, thus founding Sweden's present royal house.

Bernard /bεnα/ French /bεRnaR/ Claude (1813–78), French physiologist. Bernard showed the role of the pancreas in digestion, the method of regulation of body temperature, and the function of nerves supplying the internal organs.

Bernard, St /bənəd/ (c.996–c.1081), French monk who founded two hospices for travellers in the Alps. The St Bernard passes, where the hospices were situated, and St Bernard dogs are named after him. Feast day, 28 May.

Bernard of Clairvaux, St /klεvə/ French /klεRvə/ (1090–1153), French theologian and abbot. He was the first abbot of Clairvaux and his monastery became one of the chief centres of the Cistercian order. Feast day, 20 August.

Berne /bən bεn/ French /bεRn/ German /bεrn/ (also Bern) the capital of Switzerland since 1848; pop. 121,900 (est. 2002).

- a canton of Switzerland.

<DERIVATIVES> Bernese adj. & n.

Berne Convention an international copyright agreement of 1886, later revised. The US has never been party to it.

Berners-Lee /bənəzli/ Sir Tim (b.1955), English computer engineer. He proposed the World Wide Web in 1989 and designed its first software.

Bernhardt /bənhαt/ French /bεRnaR/ Sarah (1844–1923), French actress; born Henriette Rosine Bernard. She was best known for her portrayal of Marguerite in La Dame aux Camélias and Cordelia in King Lear.

Bernini /bεnini/ Italian /bernini/ Gian Lorenzo (1598–1680), Italian baroque sculptor, painter, and architect. His work includes the great canopy over the altar and the colonnade round the piazza at St Peter's, Rome.

Bernoulli /bənui/ the name of a Swiss family that produced many eminent mathematicians and scientists:

- Jakob (1654–1705); also known as Jacques or James Bernoulli. He made discoveries in calculus and contributed to geometry and the theory of probabilities.

- Johann (1667–1748), the brother of Jakob, who contributed to differential and integral calculus; also known as Jean or John Bernoulli.

- Daniel (1700–82), son of Johann. His greatest contributions were to hydrodynamics and mathematical physics.

Bernstein /bənstin -stn/ Leonard (1918–90), American composer, conductor, and pianist. Notable works: Candide (operetta, 1954–6), West Side Story (musical, 1957), Chichester Psalms (1965), and film music for On the Waterfront (1954).

Berra /bεrə/ Yogi (b.1925), American baseball player; born Lawrence Peter Berra. He was especially famous as a catcher with the New York Yankees.

Berry^1 a former province of central France; chief town, Bourges.

Berry^2 Chuck (b.1931), American rock-and-roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter; born Charles Edward Berry. One of the first great rock-and-roll stars, he is known for songs such as ‘Johnny B Goode’ and ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ (both 1958).

berry n. (pl. berries) 1 a small roundish juicy fruit without a stone: juniper berries.

- [BOTANY] any fruit that has its seeds enclosed in a fleshy pulp, for example a banana or tomato.

2 any of various kernels or seeds, such as the coffee bean.

3 a fish egg or roe of a lobster or similar creature.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. berrying) gather berries.

<DERIVATIVES> berried adj. [often in combination] red-berried elder trees

<ORIGIN> Old English berie, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bes and German Beere.

berserk /bəzək -s-/ adj. out of control with anger or excitement; wild or frenzied: a man went berserk with an arsenal of guns.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally as a noun denoting a wild Norse warrior who fought with frenzy): from Old Norse berserkr (noun), probably from birn-, bjorn (see bear^2) + serkr ‘coat’, but also possibly from berr ‘bare’ (i.e. without armour).

berserker n. an ancient Norse warrior who fought with wild or uncontrolled ferocity.

berth n. 1 a ship's allotted place at a wharf or dock.

2 a fixed bunk on a ship, train, or other means of transport.

3 INFORMAL (often in a sporting context) a position in an organization or event: he looked at home in an unfamiliar right-back berth.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 moor (a ship) in its allotted place.

- [no obj.] (of a ship) dock.

2 (of a passenger ship) provide a sleeping place for (someone).

<PHRASES>

□ give someone/thing a wide berth steer a ship well clear of something while passing it.

- stay away from someone or something.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘adequate sea room’): probably from a nautical use of bear^1 + -TH^2.

bertha n. chiefly HISTORICAL a deep collar, typically made of lace, attached to the top of a dress that has a low neckline.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the given name Bertha.

berthing n. [mass noun] accommodation for ships in berths: there were more than 12 miles of berthing.

Bertillon /bεtij/ French /bεRtij/ Alphonse (1853–1914), French criminologist. He devised a system of body measurements for the identification of criminals, which was widely used until superseded by fingerprinting at the beginning of the 20th century.

Bertolucci /bεtəluti/ Italian /bertəlutti/ Bernardo (b.1940), Italian film director. Notable works: The Spider's Stratagem (1970), Last Tango in Paris (1972), and The Last Emperor (1988).

Berwickshire /bεrkə -ə/ a former county of SE Scotland, on the border with England. It became a part of Borders region (now Scottish Borders) in 1975.

Berwick-upon-Tweed /bεrkəpntwid/ a town at the mouth of the River Tweed in NE England, close to the Scottish border; pop. 14,000 (est. 2002). Having been held alternately by England and Scotland, it was ceded by Scotland to England in 1482.

beryl /bεrl/ n. [mass noun] a transparent pale green, blue, or yellow mineral consisting of a silicate of beryllium and aluminium, sometimes used as a gemstone.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French beril, via Latin from Greek bērullos.

berylliosis /bərləss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE poisoning by beryllium or beryllium compounds, especially by inhalation causing fibrosis of the lungs.

beryllium /bərləm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 4, a hard grey metal. (Symbol: Be)

Beryllium is the lightest of the alkaline earth metals, and its chief source is the mineral beryl. It is used in the manufacture of light corrosion-resistant alloys and in windows in X-ray equipment.

Berzelius /bəziləs/ Jöns Jakob (1779–1848), Swedish analytical chemist. He determined the atomic weights of many elements and discovered cerium, selenium, and thorium.

Bes /bεs/ [EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY] a grotesque god depicted as having short legs, an obese body, and an almost bestial face, who dispelled evil spirits.

Besançon /bεz(ə)nsn/ French /bəzαs/ the capital of Franche-Comté in NE France; pop. 117,733 (1999).

Besant /bεz(ə)nt bzant/ Annie (1847–1933), English theosophist, writer, and politician, president of the Theosophical Society. She settled in Madras (Chennai), where she worked for Indian self-government.

beseech v. (past and past participle besought or beseeched) [reporting v.] LITERARY ask someone urgently and fervently to do or give something: [with obj. and infinitive] they beseeched him to stay | [with obj. and direct speech] ‘You have got to believe me,’ Violet beseeched him | [with obj.] they earnestly beseeched his forgiveness.

<DERIVATIVES> beseechingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from BE- (as an intensifier) + Old English sēcan (see SEEK).

beset v. (besetting; past and past participle beset) [with obj.] 1 (of a problem or difficulty) trouble (someone or something) persistently: the social problems that beset the UK | she was beset with self-doubt.

- surround and harass: I was beset by clouds of flies.

2 (be beset with) ARCHAIC be covered or studded with: springy grass all beset with tiny jewel-like flowers.

<PHRASES>

□ besetting sin a fault to which a person or institution is especially prone.

<ORIGIN> Old English besettan, from BE- ‘about’ + settan (see set^1).

beside prep. 1 at the side of; next to: he sat beside me in the front seat | the table beside the bed.

- compared with: beside Paula she always felt clumsy.

2 in addition to; apart from: he commissioned work from other artists beside Minton.

<PHRASES>

□ beside oneself overcome with worry, grief, or anger; distraught: she was beside herself with rage.

□ beside the point see POINT.

<ORIGIN> Old English be sīdan (adverb) ‘by the side’ (see BY, side).

<USAGE> It is sometimes said that beside should not be used to mean ‘apart from’ and that besides should be used instead (he commissioned work from other artists besides Minton rather than he commissioned work from other artists beside Minton). Although there is little logical basis for such a view, and in standard English both beside and besides are used for this sense, it is worth being aware of the potential ambiguity in the use of beside: beside the cold meat, there are platters of trout and salmon means either ‘the cold meat is next to the trout and salmon’ or ‘apart from the cold meat, there are also trout and salmon’.

besides prep. in addition to; apart from: I have no other family besides my parents | besides being a player, he was my friend.

■ adv. in addition; as well: I'm capable of doing the work, and a lot more besides.

- [sentence adv.] used to introduce an additional idea or explanation: I had no time to warn you. Besides, I wasn't sure.

besiege v. [with obj.] surround (a place) with armed forces in order to capture it or force its surrender: the king marched north to besiege Berwick | (as adj. besieged) the besieged city.

- surround and harass: she spent the whole day besieged by newsmen.

- (be besieged) be inundated by large numbers of requests or complaints: the television station was besieged with calls.

<DERIVATIVES> besieger n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: alteration (by change of prefix) of assiege, from Old French asegier.

besmear v. [with obj.] LITERARY smear or cover with a greasy or sticky substance.

<ORIGIN> Old English bismierwan (see BE-, smear).

besmirch /bsmət/ v. [with obj.] 1 damage (someone's reputation): he had besmirched the good name of his family.

2 LITERARY make (something) dirty or discoloured: the ground was besmirched with blood.

besom /biz(ə)m bz-/ n. 1 a broom made of twigs tied round a stick.

2 Scottish & N. English DEROGATORY a woman or girl.

<ORIGIN> Old English besema, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch bezem and German Besen.

besotted /bstd/ adj. 1 strongly infatuated: he became besotted with a local barmaid.

2 ARCHAIC intoxicated; drunk.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: past participle of besot ‘make foolishly affectionate’, from BE- ‘cause to be’ + SOT.

besought past and past participle of BESEECH.

bespangle v. [with obj.] LITERARY cover or adorn with something that glitters or sparkles.

bespatter v. [with obj.] splash drops of a liquid substance all over (an object): his elegant shoes and trousers were bespattered with mud.

bespeak v. (past bespoke; past participle bespoken) [with obj.] 1 be evidence of; indicate: the attractive tree-lined road bespoke money.

2 order or reserve (something) in advance: the defendant's insurers took steps to bespeak his medical records.

3 ARCHAIC speak to.

<ORIGIN> Old English bisprecan ‘speak up, speak out’ (see BE-, speak), later ‘discuss, decide on’, hence ‘order’ (sense 2, late 16th century).

bespectacled adj. wearing glasses.

bespoke adj. BRITISH (of goods, especially clothing) made to order: a bespoke suit.

- (of a trader) making such goods: bespoke tailors.

- (of a computer program) written or adapted for a specific user or purpose.

bespoken past participle of BESPEAK.

besprinkle v. [with obj.] LITERARY sprinkle all over with small drops or amounts of a substance.

Bessarabia /bεsərebə/ a region in eastern Europe between the Dniester and Prut Rivers, from 1918 to 1940 part of Romania. The major part of the region now falls in Moldova, the remainder in Ukraine.

<DERIVATIVES> Bessarabian adj. & n.

Bessel /bεs(ə)l/ Friedrich Wilhelm (1784–1846), German astronomer and mathematician. He determined the positions of some 75,000 stars, obtained accurate measurements of stellar distances, and following a study of the orbit of Uranus, predicted the existence of an eighth planet.

Bessemer /bεsəmə/ Sir Henry (1813–98), English engineer and inventor. By 1860 he had developed the Bessemer process, the first successful method of making steel in quantity at low cost.

Bessemer process n. a steel-making process, now largely superseded, in which carbon, silicon, and other impurities are removed from molten pig iron by oxidation in a blast of air in a special tilting retort (a Bessemer converter).

Best^1 Charles Herbert (1899–1978), American-born Canadian physiologist who assisted F. G. Banting in research leading to the discovery of insulin in 1922.

Best^2 George (1946–2005), Northern Irish footballer. A winger for Manchester United, he was named European Footballer of the Year in 1968.

best adj. of the most excellent or desirable type or quality: the best midfielder in the country | how to obtain the best results from your machine | her best black suit.

- most enjoyable: some of the best times of my life.

- most appropriate, advantageous, or well advised: do whatever you think best | it's best if we both go.

■ adv. to the highest degree; most (used with verbs suggesting a desirable action or state or a successful outcome): they named the pictures they liked best | you knew him best | well-drained soil suits this plant best.

- to the highest standard: the best-dressed man in Britain | the things we do best.

- most appropriately or usefully: pruning is best done in spring | jokes are best avoided in essays.

■ n. (the best) that which is the most excellent, outstanding, or desirable: buy the best you can afford | Sarah always had to be the best at everything | this film represents the best of mainstream popular cinema.

- the finest aspect of a person or thing: he brought out the best in people.

- (one's best) the highest standard or level that someone or something can reach: this is jazz at its best | try to look your best.

- (one's best) one's smartest or most formal clothes: she dressed in her best.

- (in sport) a record performance: a lifetime best of 12.0 seconds | a personal best.

- written at the end of a letter to wish a person well: See you soon, best, Michael.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL outwit or get the better of (someone): she refused to allow herself to be bested.

<PHRASES>

□ all the best said or written to wish a person well on ending a letter or parting.

□ as best one can (or may) as effectively as possible under the circumstances: I went about my job as best I could.

□ at best taking the most optimistic view: what signs there are of recovery are patchy at best.

□ at the best of times even in the most favourable circumstances: his memory is poor at the best of times.

□ best of breed the animal in a show judged to be the best representative of its breed.

- any item or product considered to be the best of its kind: their technology is still considered best of breed and demand for their products is still growing.

□ one's best friend one's closest friend: Michael was Frank's best friend | he's best friends with Eddie.

□ the best-laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley PROVERB even the most careful planning doesn't necessarily ensure success. [<ORIGIN> see gang^2.]

□ be the best of friends be very close friends: she's really nice and we're the best of friends.

□ the best of three (or five etc.) victory achieved by winning the majority of a specified odd number of games.

□ the best part of most of: the tedious ceremony took the best part of a day.

□ best wishes an expression of hope for someone's future happiness or welfare, often written at the end of a letter.

□ one's best years the most vigorous and productive period of one's life; one's prime.

□ do (or try) one's best do all one can: Ruth did her best to reassure her.

□ be for (or all for) the best be desirable in the end, although not at first seeming so.

□ get the best of overcome (someone): his drinking got the best of him and he was fired.

□ give someone/thing best BRITISH DATED admit the superiority of someone or something.

□ had best do something find it most sensible or well advised to do the thing mentioned: I'd best be going.

□ make the best of derive what limited advantage one can from (something unsatisfactory): you'll just have to make the best of the situation.

- use (resources) as well as possible: he tried to make the best of his talents.

□ make the best of a bad job BRITISH do something as well as one can under difficult circumstances.

□ six of the best British, chiefly HISTORICAL or HUMOROUS a caning as a punishment, traditionally with six strokes of the cane.

□ to the best of one's ability (or knowledge) as far as one can do (or know): the text is free of errors, to the best of my knowledge.

□ with the best of them as well or as much as anyone: he'll be out there dancing with the best of them.

<ORIGIN> Old English betest (adjective), betost, betst (adverb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German best, also to better^1.

best ball n. [GOLF] the better score at a hole of two or more players competing as a team: [as modifier] a best-ball match.

best boy n. the assistant to the chief electrician of a film crew.

best end n. [mass noun] BRITISH the rib end of a neck of lamb or other meat.

bestial /bεstəl/ adj. of or like an animal or animals: Darwin's revelations about our bestial beginnings.

- savagely cruel and depraved: bestial and barbaric acts.

<DERIVATIVES> bestialize (also bestialise) v. bestially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin bestialis, from Latin bestia ‘beast’.

bestiality n. [mass noun] 1 savagely cruel or depraved behaviour.

2 sexual intercourse between a person and an animal.

bestiary /bεstəri/ n. (pl. bestiaries) a descriptive or anecdotal treatise on various kinds of animal, especially a medieval work with a moralizing tone.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from medieval Latin bestiarium, from Latin bestia ‘beast’.

bestir v. (bestirs, bestirring, bestirred) (bestir oneself) make a physical or mental effort; exert or rouse oneself: they rarely bestir themselves except in the most pressing of circumstances.

best known adj. most famous: his best-known book.

best man n. a male friend or relative chosen by a bridegroom to assist him at his wedding.

bestow v. [with obj.] confer or present (an honour, right, or gift): the office was bestowed on him by the monarch of this realm.

- ARCHAIC put (something) in a specified place: stooping to bestow the presents into eager hands.

<DERIVATIVES> bestowal n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘use for, devote to’): from BE- (as an intensifier) + Old English stōw ‘place’.

bestrew v. (past participle bestrewed or bestrewn) [with obj.] LITERARY cover or partly cover (a surface) with scattered objects: the court was all bestrewn with herbs.

- (of objects) lie scattered over (a surface): to sweep away the sand and rubbish which bestrewed the floor.

<ORIGIN> Old English bestrēowian (see BE-, strew).

bestride v. (past bestrode; past participle bestridden) 1 [with obj.] stand astride over; straddle: he bestrode me, defending my prone body | FIGURATIVE creatures that bestride the dividing line between amphibians and reptiles.

- sit astride on: he bestrode his horse with the easy grace of a born horseman.

2 dominate: he bestrides Alberta politics today.

<ORIGIN> Old English bestrīdan (see BE-, stride).

best-seller n. a book or other product that sells in very large numbers.

best-selling adj. selling in greater quantities than others of its kind: a best-selling novel | he is also a best-selling author.

besuited adj. (of a man) wearing a suit: a quiet, besuited bank manager.

bet v. (bets, betting; past and past participle bet or betted) 1 [no obj.] risk a sum of money or valued item against someone else's on the basis of the outcome of an unpredictable event such as a race or game: he bet on baseball games | [with clause] I would be prepared to bet that he wanted to leave | [with obj.] most people would bet their life savings on the prospect.

- [with obj. and clause] risk a sum of money against (someone) on the outcome or likelihood of a future event: [with two objs] I bet you £15 you won't chat her up.

2 [with clause] INFORMAL used to express certainty: I bet this place is really spooky late at night | he'll be surprised to see me, I'll bet.

■ n. an act of betting a sum of money: she had a bet on the Derby | for a bet he once rode 200 miles in nine hours.

- a sum of money staked: the bookies are taking bets on his possible successor.

- [with adj.] INFORMAL a candidate or option offering a specified likelihood of success: City looked a good bet for victory | your best bet is to call the official liquidators.

- (one's bet) INFORMAL one's opinion about a future event: my bet is that Arsenal won't win anything.

<PHRASES>

□ all bets are off INFORMAL the outcome of a situation is unpredictable.

□ bet the farm NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL risk everything that one owns on a bet, investment, or enterprise: this isn't a great time to bet the farm on the Internet.

□ don't (or I wouldn't) bet on it INFORMAL used to express doubt about something: he may be a suitable companion—but don't bet on it.

□ want to bet? INFORMAL used to express strong disagreement with a confident assertion: ‘You can't be with me every moment.’ ‘Want to bet?’.

□ you bet INFORMAL you may be sure; certainly: ‘Would you like this piece of pie?’ ‘You bet!’.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps a shortening of the obsolete noun abet ‘abetment’.

beta /bitə/ n. the second letter of the Greek alphabet (B, β), transliterated as ‘b’.

- [as modifier] denoting the second of a series of items, categories, forms of a chemical compound, etc.: beta carotene | β blocker.

- BRITISH a second-class mark given for a piece of work or an examination paper.

- INFORMAL short for BETA TEST.

- (Beta) [followed by Latin genitive] [ASTRONOMY] the second (typically second-brightest) star in a constellation: Beta Virginis.

- [as modifier] relating to beta decay or beta particles: beta emitters.

- (also beta coefficient) a measure of the movement in price of a security relative to the stock market as a whole, used to indicate possible risk.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek.

beta blocker n. any of a class of drugs which prevent the stimulation of the adrenergic receptors responsible for increased cardiac action, used to control heart rhythm, treat angina, and reduce high blood pressure.

Betacam /bitəkam/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a high-quality format for video cameras and recorders.

- [count noun] a camera using this format.

beta decay n. [mass noun] radioactive decay in which an electron is emitted.

betaine /bitəin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline compound with basic properties found in many plant juices.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (CH_3)3N+–CH_2CO_2−.

- [count noun] any zwitterionic compound of the type represented by this.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: formed irregularly from Latin beta ‘beet’ (because originally isolated from sugar beet) + -INE^4.

betake v. (past betook; past participle betaken) [with obj.] (betake oneself to) LITERARY go to: I shall betake myself to my lodgings.

Betamax /bitəmaks/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a format for video recorders, now largely obsolete.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Japanese beta ‘all over’ + -max from MAXIMUM.

beta particle (also beta ray) n. [PHYSICS] a fast-moving electron emitted by radioactive decay of substances (originally regarded as rays).

beta rhythm n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the normal electrical activity of the brain when conscious and alert, consisting of oscillations (beta waves) with a frequency of 18 to 25 hertz.

beta test n. a trial of machinery, software or other products in the final stages of development, carried out by a party unconnected with the development process.

■ v. (beta-test) [with obj.] subject (a product) to a beta test.

betatron /bitətrn/ n. [PHYSICS] an apparatus for accelerating electrons in a circular path by magnetic induction.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from BETA + -TRON.

betcha v. a non-standard contraction of ‘bet you’, used in representing informal speech.

betel /bit(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] 1 the leaf of an Asian evergreen climbing plant, which in the East is chewed as a mild stimulant.

2 the plant, related to pepper, from which these leaves are taken.

<INFO> Piper betle, family Piperaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Portuguese from Malayalam veila.

Betelgeuse /bit(ə)ldəz/ (also Betelgeux) [ASTRONOMY] the tenth-brightest star in the sky, in the constellation Orion. It is a red supergiant, and variations in its brightness are associated with pulsations in its outer envelope.

<ORIGIN> French, alteration of Arabic yad al-jauzā ‘hand of the giant’ (the giant being Orion).

betel nut n. another term for ARECA NUT.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese betel.

bête noire /bet nwα bεt/ French /bεt nwaR/ n. (pl. bêtes noires pronunc. same) a person or thing that one particularly dislikes.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘black beast’.

Beth Din /bet din/ (also Beit Din) n. a Jewish court of law composed of three rabbinic judges, responsible for matters of Jewish religious law and the settlement of civil disputes between Jews.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew bē dīn, literally ‘house of judgement’.

bethink v. (past and past participle bethought) (bethink oneself) FORMAL or ARCHAIC come to think: he bethought himself of the verse from the Book of Proverbs.

<ORIGIN> Old English bithencan (see BE-, think).

Bethlehem /bεθlhεm/ a small town 8 km (5 miles) south of Jerusalem, in the West Bank; pop. 21,950 (est. 2002). It was the native city of King David and is the reputed birthplace of Jesus.

betide v. [no obj.] LITERARY happen: I waited with beating heart, not knowing what would betide.

- [with obj.] happen to (someone): she was trembling with fear lest worse might betide her.

<PHRASES>

□ woe betide see WOE.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from BE- (as an intensifier) + obsolete tide ‘befall’, from Old English tīdan ‘happen’, from tīd (see TIDE).

betimes adv. 1 ARCHAIC before the usual or expected time; early: next morning I was up betimes.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN sometimes; on occasion.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from obsolete betime (see BY, time).

bêtise /betiz bεtiz/ French /betiz/ n. a foolish or ill-timed remark or action.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘stupidity’, from bête ‘foolish’.

Betjeman /bεtəmən/ Sir John (1906–84), English poet, noted for his self-deprecating, witty, and gently satirical poems. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1972.

betoken v. [with obj.] LITERARY be a sign of: she wondered if his cold, level gaze betokened indifference or anger.

- be a warning or indication of (a future event): the falling comet betokened the true end of Merlin's powers.

<ORIGIN> Old English betācnian, from BE- (as an intensifier) + tācnian ‘signify’, of Germanic origin; related to TOKEN.

betony /bεtəni/ n. (pl. betonies) a Eurasian plant of the mint family, which bears spikes of showy purple flowers.

<INFO> Stachys officinalis, family Labiatae.

- used in names of plants that resemble the betony, e.g. water betony.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French betoine, based on Latin betonica, perhaps from the name of an Iberian tribe.

betook past of BETAKE.

betray v. [with obj.] 1 expose (one's country, a group, or a person) to danger by treacherously giving information to an enemy: a double agent who betrayed some 400 British and French agents to the Germans.

- treacherously reveal (information): many of those employed by diplomats betrayed secrets.

- be gravely disloyal to: the men who have betrayed British people's trust.

2 unintentionally reveal; be evidence of: she drew a deep breath that betrayed her indignation.

<DERIVATIVES> betrayer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from BE- ‘thoroughly’ + obsolete tray ‘betray’, from Old French trair, based on Latin tradere ‘hand over’.

betrayal n. [mass noun] the action of betraying one's country, a group, or a person; treachery: the betrayal by the French of their own refugees | [count noun] these developments represented a betrayal of democracy.

betroth /btrə -θ/ v. [with obj.] DATED formally engage (someone) to be married: in no time I shall be betrothed to Isabel.

<ORIGIN> Middle English betreuthe: from BE- (expressing transitivity) + TRUTH. The change in the second syllable was due to association with TROTH.

betrothal n. [mass noun] DATED formal engagement to be married; engagement.

betrothed n. (one's betrothed) the person to whom one is engaged: how long have you known your betrothed?

better^1 adj. 1 more desirable, satisfactory, or effective: we're hoping for better weather tomorrow | the new facilities were far better | I'm better at doing sums than Alice. [<ORIGIN> comparative of the adjective GOOD.]

- more appropriate, advantageous, or well advised: there couldn't be a better time to take up this job | it might be better to borrow the money.

2 [predic. or as complement] partly or fully recovered from illness, injury, or mental stress: his leg was getting better. [<ORIGIN> comparative of the adjective well^1.]

■ adv. more excellently or effectively: Jonathon could do better if he tried | sound travels better in water than in air | instruments are generally better made these days.

- to a greater degree; more (used in connection with success or with desirable actions or conditions): I liked it better when we lived in the country | well-fed people are better able to fight off infection.

- more suitably, appropriately, or usefully: the money could be better spent on more urgent cases.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the better one; that which is better: the Natural History Museum book is by far the better of the two | you've a right to expect better than that | a change for the better.

2 (one's betters) chiefly DATED or HUMOROUS one's superiors in social class or ability: educating the young to respect their elders and betters.

■ v. [with obj.] improve on or surpass (an existing or previous level or achievement): his account can hardly be bettered | bettering his previous time by ten minutes.

- make (something) better; improve: his ideas for bettering the lot of the millhands.

- (better oneself) achieve a higher social position or status: the residents are mostly Londoners who have bettered themselves.

- overcome or defeat (someone): she had almost bettered him at archery.

<PHRASES>

□ the —— the better used to emphasize the importance or desirability of the thing specified: the sooner we're off the better.

□ better the devil you know than the devil you don't know PROVERB it's wiser to deal with an undesirable but familiar situation than to risk a change that might lead to an even worse situation.

□ better off in a more desirable or advantageous position, especially in financial terms: the proposals would make her about £400 a year better off.

□ the better part of almost all of; most of: it is the better part of a mile.

□ better safe than sorry PROVERB it's wiser to be cautious and careful than to be hasty or rash and so do something you may later regret.

□ better than NORTH AMERICAN more than: he'd lived there for better than twenty years.

□ the better to —— so as to —— better: he leaned closer the better to hear her.

□ for better or (for) worse whether the outcome is good or bad.

□ get the better of gain an advantage over or defeat (someone) by superior strength or ability: no one has ever got the better of her yet.

- (of a feeling or urge) be too strong to conceal or resist: curiosity got the better of her.

□ go one better narrowly surpass a previous effort or achievement: I want to go one better this time and score.

- narrowly outdo (another person).

□ had better do something would find it wiser to do something; ought to do something: you had better be careful.

□ have the better of be more successful in (a contest): Attlee had the better of these exchanges.

□ no (or little) better than just (or almost) the same as (something bad); merely: viceroys who were often no better than bandits.

□ no better than one should (or ought to) be regarded as sexually promiscuous or of doubtful moral character.

<ORIGIN> Old English betera (adjective), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch beter and German besser, also to BEST.

<USAGE> In the verb phrase had better do something the word had acts like an auxiliary verb and in informal spoken contexts it is often dropped, as in you better not come tonight. In writing, the had may be contracted to 'd but it should not be dropped altogether.

better half n. INFORMAL a person's wife, husband, or partner.

betterment n. [mass noun] the improvement of something: they believed that what they were doing was vital for the betterment of society.

- [LAW] the enhanced value of real property arising from local improvements.

Betterton Thomas (1635–1710), English actor. A leading actor of the Restoration period, he also adapted the plays of John Webster, Molière, and Beaumont and Fletcher for his own productions.

Betti /bεti/ Ugo (1892–1953), Italian dramatist, poet, and short-story writer. Notable plays: Corruption in the Palace of Justice (1949) and Crime on Goat Island (1950).

betting n. [mass noun] the action of gambling money on the outcome of a race, game, or other unpredictable event.

- the odds offered by bookmakers for such events: Atlantic Way headed the betting at 2-1.

<PHRASES>

□ the betting is INFORMAL it is likely: the betting is that the company will slash the dividend.

□ in (or out of) the betting likely (or unlikely) to be among the winners of a horse race and given appropriate odds.

□ what's the betting? BRITISH INFORMAL used to express a belief that something is likely: what's the betting he's up to no good?

betting shop (also betting office) n. BRITISH an establishment licensed to handle bets on races and other events.

bettong /bεt/ n. a short-nosed rat-kangaroo found in Australia.

<INFO> Family Potoroidae: two genera, in particular Bettongia, and several species. See also BOODIE, WOYLIE.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Dharuk.

bettor (also better) n. chiefly US a person who bets, especially on a regular basis.

between prep. 1 at, into, or across the space separating (two objects or regions): the border between Mexico and the United States | the dog crawled between us and lay down at our feet | those who travel by train between London and Paris.

2 in the period separating (two points in time): they snack between meals | the long, cold nights between autumn and spring.

3 in the interval separating (two points on a scale): a man aged between 18 and 30 | between 25 and 40 per cent off children's clothes.

4 indicating a connection or relationship involving two or more parties: links between science and industry | negotiations between the two companies are continuing.

- with reference to a collision or conflict: a collision in mid-air between two light aircraft | the 14th- and 15th-century wars between England and France.

- with reference to a contrast or failure to correspond: the difference between income and expenditure.

- with reference to a choice or differentiation involving two or more things being considered together: you have to choose between two or three different options.

5 by combining the resources or actions of (two or more people or other entities): we have created something between us | oxygen and nitrogen between them account for 99 per cent of air.

- shared by (two or more people or things): they had drunk between them a bottle of Chianti.

■ adv. 1 in or along the space separating two objects or regions: layers of paper with tar in between | from Leipzig to Dresden, with the gentle Elbe flowing between.

2 in the period separating two points in time: sets of exercises with no rest in between.

<PHRASES>

□ between ourselves (or you and me) in confidence: just between you and me, he's a bit boring.

□ (in) between times (or whiles) in the intervals between other actions.

<ORIGIN> Old English betwēonum, from be ‘by’ + a Germanic word related to TWO.

<USAGE> In standard English it is correct to say between you and me but incorrect to say between you and I. Why is this? A preposition such as between takes the object case and is correctly followed by object pronouns such as me, him, her, and us rather than subject pronouns such as I, he, she, and we. Thus it is correct to say between us or between him and her and it is clearly incorrect to say between we or between he and she. The mistake between you and I arises from a confusion between what follows a preposition and what ordinarily comes at the beginning of a sentence in the subject case. Many people know that it is not correct to say John and me went to the shops and that the correct sentence is John and I went to the shops. Thus, people concerned about correcting mistakes in one context have assumed that ‘and me’ should in all cases be replaced by ‘and I’. In trying to avoid one kind of error, another one has been created.

betwixt prep. & adv. archaic term for BETWEEN.

<PHRASES>

□ betwixt and between INFORMAL neither one thing nor the other.

<ORIGIN> Old English betwēox, from be ‘by’ + a Germanic word related to TWO.

beurré /bjəri/ n. a class of pear of a mellow variety.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: French, literally ‘buttered, buttery’.

beurre blanc /bə bl/ French /bœR blα/ n. [mass noun] a creamy sauce made with butter, onions, and vinegar or lemon juice, usually served with seafood dishes.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘white butter’.

beurre manié /bə manje/ French /bœR manje/ n. [mass noun] a mixture of flour and butter used for thickening sauces or soups.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘worked butter’.

Beuthen /bYtn/ German name for BYTOM.

Beuys /bs/ Joseph (1921–86), German artist. One of the most influential figures of the avant-garde movement in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s, his work consisted of ‘assemblages’ of various articles of rubbish. In 1979 he co-founded the German Green Party.

BeV abbr. another term for GEV.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from billion (10^9) electronvolts.

Bevan /bεv(ə)n/ Nye (1897–1960), British Labour politician; full name Aneurin Bevan. MP for Ebbw Vale 1929–60, his most notable contribution was the creation of the National Health Service (1948) during his time as Minister of Health 1945–51.

bevatron /bεvətrn/ n. a synchrotron used to accelerate protons to energies in the billion electronvolt range.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from BEV + -TRON.

bevel /bεv(ə)l/ n. a slope from the horizontal or vertical in carpentry and stonework; a sloping surface or edge.

- (also bevel square) a tool for marking angles in carpentry and stonework.

■ v. (bevels, bevelling, bevelled; US bevels, beveling, beveled) [with obj.] (often as adj. bevelled) reduce (a square edge on an object) to a sloping edge: a bevelled mirror.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘oblique’): from an Old French diminutive of baif ‘open-mouthed’, from baer ‘to gape’ (see bay^3).

bevel gear n. a gear working another gear at an angle to it by means of bevel wheels.

bevel wheel n. a toothed wheel whose working face is oblique to the axis.

beverage /bεv(ə)rd/ n. (chiefly in commercial use) a drink other than water.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bevrage, based on Latin bibere ‘to drink’.

Beveridge /bεvərd/ William Henry, 1st Baron (1879–1963), British economist and social reformer, born in India. He was chairman of the committee which prepared the Beveridge Report, which formed the basis of much of the social legislation on which the welfare state in the UK is founded.

Beverly Hills a largely residential city in California, on the NW side of the Los Angeles conurbation; pop. 33,784 (2000). It is famous as the home of many film stars.

Bevin /bεvn/ Ernest (1881–1951), British Labour statesman and trade unionist. He was one of the founders of the Transport and General Workers' Union and a leading organizer of the General Strike (1926).

Bevin boy n. (during the Second World War), a young man of age for National Service selected by lot to work as a miner.

<ORIGIN> named after Ernest BEVIN.

bevvied /bεvd/ adj. BRITISH INFORMAL having consumed a lot of alcohol; drunk.

bevvy /bεvi/ n. (pl. bevvies) BRITISH INFORMAL an alcoholic drink.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of BEVERAGE.

bevy /bεvi/ n. (pl. bevies) a large group of people or things of a particular kind: he was surrounded by a bevy of beautiful girls.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

bewail v. [with obj.] express great regret, sadness, or disappointment about (something): men will bewail the loss of earlier freedoms.

<DERIVATIVES> bewailer n.

beware v. [no obj.] [in imperative or infinitive] be cautious and alert to risks or dangers: shoppers were warned to beware of cut-price fakes | Beware! Dangerous submerged rocks ahead | [with obj.] we should beware the incompetence of legislators.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from the phrase be ware (see BE-, ware^3).

bewdy n. & adj.

■ non-standard Australian spelling of BEAUTY.

bewhiskered adj. having hair or whiskers growing on the face.

Bewick /bjuk/ Thomas (1753–1828), English artist and wood engraver, noted especially for the animal studies in such books as A History of British Birds (1797, 1804).

Bewick's swan n. a bird of the Eurasian race of the tundra swan, breeding in Arctic regions of Russia and overwintering in northern Europe and central Asia.

<INFO> Cygnus columbianus bewickii, family Anatidae.

bewigged adj. wearing a wig.

bewilder v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to become perplexed and confused: she was bewildered by his sudden change of mood.

<DERIVATIVES> bewilderment n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from BE- ‘thoroughly’ + obsolete wilder ‘lead or go astray’, of unknown origin.

bewildered adj. confused and indecisive; puzzled: he saw the bewildered look on my face.

<DERIVATIVES> bewilderedly adv.

bewildering adj. confusing or perplexing: there is a bewildering array of holidays to choose from.

<DERIVATIVES> bewilderingly adv. [as submodifier] the regulations are bewilderingly complex

bewitch v. [with obj.] cast a spell over (someone): a handsome prince who had been bewitched by a sorceress.

- enchant and delight (someone): they both were bewitched by the golden luminosity of Italy | (as adj. bewitching) she was certainly a bewitching woman.

<DERIVATIVES> bewitcher n. bewitchingly adv. bewitchment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from BE- ‘thoroughly’ + WITCH.

bey /be/ n. (pl. beys) HISTORICAL the governor of a district or province in the Ottoman Empire.

- formerly used in Turkey and Egypt as a courtesy title.

<ORIGIN> Turkish, modern form of beg ‘prince, governor’.

beyond prep. & adv. 1 at or to the further side of: [as prep.] he pointed to a spot beyond the concealing trees | [as adv.] from south of Dortmund as far as Essen and beyond.

- [prep.] outside the physical limits or range of: the hook which held the chandelier was beyond her reach.

- more extensive or extreme than; further-reaching than: [as prep.] what these children go through is far beyond what most adults endure in a lifetime | the authority of the inspectors goes beyond ordinary police powers | [as adv.] pushing the laws to their limits and beyond.

2 happening or continuing after (a specified time, stage, or event): [as prep.] training beyond the age of 14 | [as adv.] music going on into the night and beyond.

3 having progressed or achieved more than (a specified stage or level): [as prep.] we need to get beyond square one | his failure to rise beyond the rank of Undersecretary.

- above or greater than (a specified amount): [as prep.] raising its stake beyond 15% | [as adv.] he could count up to a hundred thousand million now, and beyond.

4 [prep.] to or in a degree or condition where a specified action is impossible: the landscape has changed beyond recognition | their integrity is beyond question.

- too much for (someone) to achieve or understand: the questions were well beyond the average adult.

5 [prep.] [with negative] apart from; except: beyond telling us that she was well educated, he has nothing to say about her | there was little vegetation beyond brush-growth.

■ n. (the beyond) the unknown, especially in references to life after death: messages from the beyond.

<PHRASES>

□ the back of beyond see BACK.

<ORIGIN> Old English begeondan, from be ‘by’ + geondan of Germanic origin (related to YON and YONDER).

bezant /bεz(ə)nt/ n. 1 HISTORICAL a gold or silver coin originally minted at Byzantium.

2 [HERALDRY] a roundel or (i.e. a solid gold circle).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French besant, from Latin Byzantius ‘Byzantine’.

■ Sense 2 dates from the late 15th cent.

bezel /bεz(ə)l/ n. a grooved ring holding the cover of a watch face or other instrument in position.

- a groove holding the crystal of a watch or the stone of a gem in its setting.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old French, of unknown origin.

bezique /bzik/ n. [mass noun] a trick-taking card game for two, played with a double pack of 64 cards, including the seven to ace only in each suit.

- the holding of the queen of spades and the jack of diamonds in bezique.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French bésigue, perhaps from Persian bāzīgar ‘juggler’ or bāzī ‘game’.

bezoar /biz bεzəα/ n. 1 a small stony concretion which may form in the stomachs of certain animals, especially ruminants, and which was once used as an antidote for various ailments.

2 a wild goat with flat scimitar-shaped horns, found from Greece to Pakistan. The ancestor of the domestic goat, it was the best-known source of bezoars.

<INFO> Capra aegagrus, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the general sense ‘stone or concretion’): from French bezoard, based on Arabic bāzahr, bādizahr, from Persian pādzahr ‘antidote’.

b.f. abbr.

- British INFORMAL bloody fool.

- (in bookkeeping) brought forward.

BFI abbr. British Film Institute.

B-film n. another term for B-MOVIE.

BFPO abbr. British Forces Post Office (or British Field Post Office, when in a combat zone).

BG abbr. Bulgaria (international vehicle registration).

BGH abbr. bovine growth hormone.

BH abbr. Belize (international vehicle registration).

<ORIGIN> from British Honduras.

Bh symbol the chemical element bohrium.

bhadralok /bdrəlk/ (also bhadralog) n. [mass noun] INDIAN prosperous, well-educated people, typically Bengalis, regarded as members of a social class: [as modifier] Kolkata's bhadralok circles.

- [count noun] a member of this class.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bhadralog, Bengali bhadralok, from Sanskrit bhadrá ‘worthy, respectable’ + loká ‘folk, people’.

Bhagavadgita /bəvəditə/ [HINDUISM] a poem composed between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD and incorporated into the Mahabharata. Presented as a dialogue between the Kshatriya prince Arjuna and his divine charioteer Krishna, it stresses the importance of doing one's duty and of faith in God. Also called Gita.

Bhagwan /bwαn/ n. INDIAN God.

- a guru or revered person (often used as a proper name or form of address).

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bhagwān, from Sanskrit bhagavān, from the root bhaj ‘adore’.

bhai /b/ n. INDIAN a brother.

- a friendly form of address for a man.

- (as suffix -bhai) added to proper names to form an affectionate form of address to an older person: Abdulbhai.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bhāi, based on Sanskrit bhrāt ‘brother’.

bhajan /bd(ə)n/ n. [HINDUISM] a devotional song.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit bhajana, from bhaj ‘to worship’.

bhaji /bαdi/ n. (pl. bhajis or bhajia /bαdə/) (in Indian cuisine) a small flat cake or ball of vegetables, fried in batter.

- an Indian dish of fried vegetables.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bhājī ‘fried vegetables’.

bhakti /bkti/ n. [mass noun] [HINDUISM] devotional worship directed to one supreme deity, usually Vishnu (especially in his incarnations as Rama and Krishna) or Shiva, by whose grace salvation may be attained by all regardless of sex, caste, or class. It is followed by the majority of Hindus today.

<ORIGIN> Sanskrit.

bhang /ba/ (also bang) n. [mass noun] the leaves and flower tops of cannabis, used as a narcotic.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bhāg.

bhangra /bαrə/ n. [mass noun] a type of popular music combining Punjabi folk traditions with Western pop music.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (denoting a traditional folk dance): from Punjabi bhāngrā.

bharal /br(ə)l/ n. a Himalayan wild sheep with a bluish coat and backward-curving horns. Also called BLUE SHEEP.

<INFO> Pseudois nayaur, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Hindi.

Bharat /brət/ Hindi name for INDIA.

Bharatanatyam /brtənαtjm/ n. [mass noun] a classical dance form of southern India.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit bharatanāya, literally ‘the dance of Bharata’, from Bharata, reputed to be the author of the Nāyaśāstra, a manual of dramatic art.

bhasha /bαə/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN language.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bhāā.

bhavan /bαvn/ n. [often in place names] INDIAN a building used for a special purpose, such as meetings or concerts.

<ORIGIN> Hindi.

Bhavnagar /bvnə/ an industrial port in NW India, in Gujarat, on the Gulf of Cambay; pop. 511,000 (2001). It was the capital of a former Rajput princely state of the same name.

BHC abbr. benzene hexachloride.

bhelpuri /belpuri/ n. [mass noun] an Indian dish of puffed rice, onions, spices, and hot chutney.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bhel ‘mixture’ + pūrī ‘deep-fried bread’.

bhikkhu /bku/ (also bhikku) n. a Buddhist monk or devotee.

<ORIGIN> Pali, from Sanskrit bhikú ‘beg’.

Bhil /bil/ (also Bheel) n. a member of an indigenous people of central India.

■ adj. relating to the Bhils.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi Bhīl, from Sanskrit Bhilla.

Bhili /bili/ n. [mass noun] the Indic language of the Bhils.

bhindi /bndi/ n. Indian term for OKRA.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bhiī.

Bhisho /biə/ a town in southern South Africa, the capital of the province of Eastern Cape, situated near the coast to the north-east of Port Elizabeth; pop. (with East London) 103,700 (est. 2002). Former name BISHO.

Bhojpuri /bədpəri/ n. [mass noun] one of the Bihari group of languages, spoken by some 20 million people in western Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Bhopal /bəpαl/ a city in central India, the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh; pop. 1,433,900 (2001). In December 1984 leakage of poisonous gas from an American-owned pesticide factory in the city caused the death of about 2,500 people.

bhp abbr. brake horsepower.

Bhubaneswar /bbənewə/ a city in eastern India, capital of the state of Orissa; pop. 647,300 (2001).

bhuna /bunə/ (also bhoona) n. [mass noun] a medium-hot dry curry originating in Bengal, prepared typically by frying meat with spices at a high temperature: lamb bhuna.

<ORIGIN> from Bengali, Urdu bhunnā ‘to be fried’, ultimately from Sanskrit bhrajj ‘fry, parch, roast’.

Bhutan /butαn/ a small independent kingdom on the south-eastern slopes of the Himalayas, a protectorate of the Republic of India; pop. 2,094,176 (est. 2002); languages, Dzongkha (official), Nepali; capital, Thimphu.

<DERIVATIVES> Bhutanese /butəniz/ adj. & n.

Bhutto^1 /butə/ Benazir (1953–2007), Pakistani stateswoman, Prime Minister 1988–90 and 1993–6, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. She was the first woman Prime Minister of a Muslim country. Defeated in elections in 1997, she was later charged with corruption offences and banned from public office; the conviction was subsequently overturned. She was assassinated after returning to Pakistan to campaign for re-election.

Bhutto^2 /butə/ Zulfikar Ali (1928–79), Pakistani statesman, President 1971–3 and Prime Minister 1973–7. He was ousted by a military coup and executed for conspiring to murder a political rival.

Bi symbol the chemical element bismuth.

bi /b/ abbr. INFORMAL bisexual.

bi- /b/ combining form two; having two: bicoloured | biathlon. See also BIN-.

- occurring twice in every one or once in every two: bicentennial.

- lasting for two: biennial.

- doubly; in two ways: biconcave.

- [CHEMISTRY] (in names of compounds) containing two atoms or groups of a specified kind: biphenyl.

- [CHEMISTRY] denoting an acid salt: bicarbonate.

- [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] (of division and subdivision) twice over: bipinnate.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, ‘doubly, having two’; related to Greek di- ‘two’.

<USAGE> The meaning of bimonthly (and other similar words such as biweekly and biyearly) is ambiguous. Such words can either mean ‘occurring or produced twice a month’ or ‘occurring or produced every two months’. The only way to avoid this ambiguity is to use alternative expressions like every two months and twice a month.

Biafra /bafrə/ a state proclaimed in 1967, when part of eastern Nigeria, inhabited chiefly by the Igbo people, sought independence from the rest of the country. In the ensuing civil war the new state's troops were overwhelmed by numerically superior forces, and by 1970 it had ceased to exist.

<DERIVATIVES> Biafran adj. & n.

bialy /bαli/ n. (pl. bialys) US a flat bread roll topped with chopped onions.

<ORIGIN> Yiddish, from Białystok, where such bread was originally made.

Białystok /bialstk/ an industrial city in NE Poland, close to the border with Belarus; pop. 285,507 (est. 2000). Russian name BELOSTOK.

bi-amping n. [mass noun] INFORMAL the use of two amplifiers for high- and low-frequency ranges in an audio circuit.

biannual adj. occurring twice a year: the biannual meeting of the planning committee. Compare with BIENNIAL.

<DERIVATIVES> biannually adv.

Biarritz /bərts/ French /bjaRits/ a seaside resort in SW France, on the Bay of Biscay; pop. 30,055 (1999).

bias n. 1 [mass noun] inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair: there was evidence of bias against black applicants | the bias towards younger people in recruitment.

- a concentration on or interest in one particular area or subject: his work showed a discernible bias towards philosophy.

- a systematic distortion of a statistical result due to a factor not allowed for in its derivation.

2 a direction diagonal to the weave of a fabric: a turquoise silk dress cut on the bias.

3 [BOWLS] the irregular shape given to one side of a bowl.

- the oblique course that such a shape causes a bowl to run.

4 [ELECTRONICS] a steady voltage, magnetic field, or other factor applied to a system or device to cause it to operate over a predetermined range.

■ v. (biases, biasing, biased) [with obj.] 1 cause to feel or show inclination or prejudice for or against someone or something: readers said the paper was biased towards the Conservatives | editors were biased against authors from provincial universities.

2 [ELECTRONICS] give a bias to.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘oblique line’; also as an adjective meaning ‘oblique’): from French biais, from Provençal, perhaps based on Greek epikarsios ‘oblique’.

bias binding n. [mass noun] a narrow strip of fabric cut obliquely and used to bind edges or for decoration.

bias-cut adj. (of a garment or fabric) cut obliquely or diagonally across the grain.

biased adj. unfairly prejudiced for or against someone or something: we will not tolerate this biased media coverage.

bias-ply adj. North American term for CROSS-PLY.

biathlon n. a Nordic skiing event in which the competitors combine cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

<DERIVATIVES> biathlete n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from BI- ‘two’ + Greek athlon ‘contest’, on the pattern of pentathlon.

biaxial adj. having or relating to two axes.

- (of crystals) having two optic axes, as in the orthorhombic, monoclinic, and triclinic systems.

<DERIVATIVES> biaxially adv.

bib^1 n. 1 a piece of cloth or plastic fastened round a child's neck to keep its clothes clean while eating.

- a loose-fitting sleeveless garment worn on the upper body for identification, especially by competitors and officials at sporting events.

- the part above the waist of the front of an apron or pair of dungarees.

- a patch of colour on the throat of a bird or other animal.

2 a common European inshore fish of the cod family. Also called POUT^2 or POUTING.

<INFO> Trisopterus luscus, family Gadidae.

<PHRASES>

□ one's best bib and tucker INFORMAL one's smartest clothes.

□ stick (or poke) one's bib in AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL interfere.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from BIB^2.

bib^2 v. (bibs, bibbing, bibbed) [with obj.] ARCHAIC drink (something alcoholic).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from Latin bibere ‘to drink’.

bibber n. [in combination] a person who regularly drinks a specified drink: a winebibber.

bibb lettuce n. NORTH AMERICAN a butterhead lettuce of a variety that has crisp dark green leaves.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Jack Bibb (1789–1884), the American horticulturalist who developed it.

bib cock n. a tap with a bent nozzle fixed at the end of a pipe.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps from BIB^1 and cock^1.

bibelot /bbələ/ n. a small, decorative ornament or trinket.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, fanciful formation based on bel ‘beautiful’.

bibi /bibi/ n. (pl. bibis) INDIAN a man's wife.

- DATED a man's non-European girlfriend.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu bībī, from Persian.

Bible n. (the Bible) the Christian scriptures, consisting of the Old and New Testaments.

- (the Bible) the Jewish scriptures, consisting of the Torah or Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa or Writings.

- (also bible) a copy of the Christian or Jewish scriptures.

- a particular edition or translation of the Bible: the New English Bible.

- (bible) INFORMAL a book regarded as authoritative in a particular sphere: a brand-new edition of this filmgoers' bible.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin biblia, from Greek (ta) biblia ‘(the) books’, from biblion ‘book’, originally a diminutive of biblos ‘papyrus, scroll’, of Semitic origin.

Bible-basher (also Bible-thumper) n. INFORMAL a person who expounds or follows the teachings of the Bible in an aggressively evangelical way.

<DERIVATIVES> Bible-bashing (also Bible-thumping) adj. & n.

Bible Belt n. (the Bible Belt) those areas of the southern and middle western United States and western Canada where Protestant fundamentalism is widely practised.

biblical adj. relating to or contained in the Bible: the biblical account of creation | biblical times.

- resembling the language or style of the Bible: there is a biblical cadence in the last words he utters.

- very great; on a very large scale: they see themselves as victims of almost biblical proportions.

<DERIVATIVES> biblically adv.

biblicist /bblsst/ n. a person who interprets the Bible literally.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BIBLICAL + -IST.

biblio- /bblə/ combining form relating to a book or books: bibliomania | bibliophile.

<ORIGIN> from Greek biblion ‘book’.

bibliography /bblrəfi/ n. (pl. bibliographies) a list of the books referred to in a scholarly work, typically printed as an appendix.

- a list of the books of a specific author or publisher, or on a specific subject.

- [mass noun] the history or systematic description of books, their authorship, printing, publication, editions, etc.

<DERIVATIVES> bibliographer n. bibliographic /-ərafk/ adj. bibliographical /-ərafk(ə)l/ adj. bibliographically /-ərafk(ə)li/ adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French bibliographie or modern Latin bibliographia, from Greek biblion ‘book’ + -graphia ‘writing’.

bibliomancy /bblə()mansi/ n. [mass noun] the practice of foretelling the future by interpreting a randomly chosen passage from a book, especially the Bible.

bibliomania n. [mass noun] passionate enthusiasm for collecting and possessing books.

<DERIVATIVES> bibliomaniac n. & adj.

bibliometrics plural n. [treated as sing.] statistical analysis of books, articles, or other publications.

<DERIVATIVES> bibliometric adj.

bibliophile n. a person who collects or has a great love of books.

<DERIVATIVES> bibliophilic adj. bibliophily /-fli/ n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Greek biblion ‘book’ + philos ‘loving’.

bibliopole /bblə()pəl/ n. ARCHAIC a person who buys and sells books, especially rare ones.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via Latin from Greek bibliopōlēs, from biblion ‘book’ + pōlēs ‘seller’.

Bibliothèque nationale /bblətεk nasjənαl/ French /bibljətεk nasjnal/ the French national library in Paris, which receives a copy of every book and periodical etc. published in France.

bibliotherapy n. [mass noun] the use of books as therapy in the treatment of mental or psychological disorders.

bib overalls plural n. NORTH AMERICAN dungarees.

bib tap n. another term for BIB COCK.

bibulous /bbjləs/ adj. FORMAL excessively fond of drinking alcohol.

<DERIVATIVES> bibulously adv. bibulousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘absorbent’): from Latin bibulus ‘freely or readily drinking’ (from bibere ‘to drink’) + -OUS.

bicameral /bkam(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. (of a legislative body) having two chambers.

<DERIVATIVES> bicameralism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BI- ‘two’ + Latin camera ‘chamber’ + -AL.

bicarb n. [mass noun] INFORMAL sodium bicarbonate.

bicarbonate /bkαbənet -nət/ n. 1 [CHEMISTRY] a salt containing the anion HCO_3−.

2 (also bicarbonate of soda) [mass noun] sodium bicarbonate.

bice /bs/ n. [mass noun] a medium blue or blue-green pigment made from basic copper carbonate.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘dark or brownish grey’): from Old French bis ‘dark grey’, of unknown ultimate origin.

bicentenary /bsεntinəri -tεn-/ n. (pl. bicentenaries) the two-hundredth anniversary of a significant event.

■ adj. relating to a two-hundredth anniversary: the huge bicentenary celebrations.

bicentennial n. & adj.

■ another term for BICENTENARY.

bicephalous /bsεf(ə)ləs -kεf-/ adj. having two heads.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BI- ‘two’ + Greek kephalē ‘head’ + -OUS.

biceps /bsεps/ n. (pl. same) any of several muscles having two points of attachment at one end, in particular:

- (also biceps brachii /brek/) a large muscle in the upper arm which turns the hand to face palm uppermost and flexes the arm and forearm.

- (also biceps femoris /fmrs/ or leg biceps) [ANATOMY] a muscle in the back of the thigh which helps to flex the leg.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘two-headed’, from bi- ‘two’ + -ceps (from caput ‘head’).

bichir /bə/ n. an elongated African freshwater fish with an armour of hard shiny scales and a series of separate fins along its back.

<INFO> Genus Polypterus, family Polypteridae: several species, including P. senegalus.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: via French from dialect Arabic abu shīr.

bichon frise /bi(ə)n friz/ n. (pl. bichons frise or bichon frises) a small dog of a breed with a fine, curly white coat.

<ORIGIN> from French barbichon ‘little water spaniel’ + frisé ‘curly-haired’.

bicker v. [no obj.] 1 argue about petty and trivial matters: couples who bicker over who gets what from the divorce.

2 LITERARY (of water) flow or fall with a gentle repetitive noise; patter.

- (of a flame or light) flash, gleam, or flicker.

<DERIVATIVES> bickerer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

bicky (also bikky) n. (pl. bickies) INFORMAL a biscuit.

<PHRASES>

□ big bikkies AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a large sum of money: just showing up is worth big bickies.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: diminutive of BISCUIT.

bicoastal /bakəst(ə)l/ adj. US living on, taking place in, or involving both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the US: a bicoastal businessman.

bicolour adj. having two colours: a male bicolour damselfish.

■ n. a bicolour flower or breed.

<DERIVATIVES> bicoloured adj. & n.

biconcave adj. concave on both sides.

biconvex adj. convex on both sides.

bicultural adj. having or combining the cultural attitudes and customs of two nations, peoples, or ethnic groups.

<DERIVATIVES> biculturalism n.

bicuspid adj. having two cusps or points.

■ n. a tooth with two cusps, especially a human premolar tooth.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BI- ‘two’ + Latin cuspis, cuspid- ‘sharp point’.

bicuspid valve n. [ANATOMY] another term for MITRAL VALVE.

bicycle n. a vehicle consisting of two wheels held in a frame one behind the other, propelled by pedals and steered with handlebars attached to the front wheel.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] ride a bicycle: they spent the holidays bicycling around the beautiful Devonshire countryside.

<DERIVATIVES> bicyclist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BI- ‘two’ + Greek kuklos ‘wheel’.

bicycle chain n. a chain that transmits the driving power from the pedals of a bicycle to its rear wheel.

bicycle clip n. each of a pair of metal clips worn by a cyclist round their ankles to prevent their trouser legs from becoming entangled with the bicycle chain.

bicycle pump n. a portable pump for inflating bicycle tyres.

bicycle rickshaw n. another term for CYCLE RICKSHAW.

bicyclic /bsklk -sk-/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] having two fused rings of atoms in its molecule.

bid^1 v. (bids, bidding; past and past participle bid) 1 [with obj.] offer (a certain price) for something, especially at an auction: a consortium of dealers bid a world record price for a snuff box | [no obj.] guests will bid for pieces of fine jewellery.

- [no obj.] (bid for) (of a contractor) offer to do (work) for a stated price; tender for: nineteen companies have indicated their intention to bid for the contract.

- [BRIDGE] make a statement during the auction undertaking to make (a certain number of tricks with a stated suit as trumps) if the bid is successful and one becomes the declarer: North bids four hearts.

2 [no obj.] make an effort or attempt to achieve: [with infinitive] she's now bidding to become a top female model | the two forwards are bidding for places in the England side.

■ n. 1 an offer of a price, especially at an auction: at the fur tables, several buyers make bids for the pelts.

- an offer to buy the shares of a company in order to gain control of it: a takeover bid.

- an offer to do work or supply goods at a stated price; a tender.

- [BRIDGE] an undertaking by a player in the auction to make a stated number of tricks with a stated suit as trumps.

2 an attempt or effort to achieve something: he made a bid for power in 1984 | [with infinitive] an investigation would be carried out in a bid to establish what had happened.

<DERIVATIVES> bidder n.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēodan ‘to offer, command’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bieden and German bieten.

bid^2 v. (bids, bidding; past bid or bade; past participle bid) [with obj.] 1 utter (a greeting or farewell) to: James bade a tearful farewell to his parents.

2 ARCHAIC or LITERARY command or order (someone) to do something: I did as he bade me.

- invite (someone) to do something: he bade his companions enter.

<PHRASES>

□ bid fair to ARCHAIC or LITERARY seem likely to: the girl bade fair to be pretty.

<ORIGIN> Old English biddan ‘ask’, of Germanic origin; related to German bitten.

bidarka /bdαkə/ n. a canoe covered with animal skins, used by the Inuit of Alaska and adjacent regions.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Russian baĭdarka, diminutive of baĭdara ‘an umiak’.

biddable adj. 1 meekly ready to accept and follow instructions.

2 [BRIDGE] strong enough to justify a bid.

<DERIVATIVES> biddability /-blti/ n.

bidden archaic or literary past participle of bid^2.

bidding n. [mass noun] 1 the offering of particular prices for something, especially at an auction.

- the offers made in such a situation: the bidding rose to £280,000.

- (in bridge and whist) the action of stating before play how many tricks one intends to make.

2 the ordering or requesting of someone to do something: women came running at his bidding | Balfour refused to do their bidding.

bidding paddle n. a paddle-shaped baton, typically marked with an identifying number, used to signal bids at auctions.

bidding prayer n. (in church use) a prayer in the form of an invitation by a minister or leader to the congregation to pray about something.

biddy n. (pl. biddies) INFORMAL a woman, especially an elderly one, regarded as annoying or interfering: the old biddies were muttering in his direction.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally denoting a chicken): of unknown origin; probably influenced by the use of biddy denoting an Irish maidservant, from Biddy, pet form of the given name Bridget.

bide v. [no obj., with adverbial of place] ARCHAIC or DIALECT remain or stay somewhere: how long must I bide here to wait for the answer?

<PHRASES>

□ bide one's time wait quietly for a good opportunity to do something: she patiently bided her time before making an escape bid.

<ORIGIN> Old English bīdan, of Germanic origin.

bidet /bide/ n. a low oval basin used for washing one's genital and anal area.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘horse’): from French, literally ‘pony’, from bider ‘to trot’, of unknown origin.

bidi /bidi/ (also beedi or biri) n. (pl. bidis) (in the Indian subcontinent) a type of cheap cigarette made of unprocessed tobacco wrapped in leaves.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bīi ‘betel plug, cigar’, from Sanskrit vīikā.

bidirectional adj. functioning in two directions.

bidonville /bd(ə)nvl/ n. a shanty town built of oil drums or other metal containers, especially on the outskirts of a North African city.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from French, from bidon ‘container for liquids’ + ville ‘town’.

bid price n. the price at which a market-maker or dealer is prepared to buy securities or other assets. Compare with OFFER PRICE.

bidri /bdri/ n. [mass noun] an alloy of copper, lead, tin, and zinc, used as a ground for inlaying with gold and silver.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Urdu bidrī, from Bidar, the name of a town in India.

Biedermeier /bidəmə/ adj. denoting or relating to a style of furniture and interior decoration current in Germany in the period 1815–48, characterized by restraint, conventionality, and utilitarianism.

<ORIGIN> from the name of Gottlieb Biedermaier, a fictitious German provincial schoolmaster and poet created by L. Eichrodt (1854).

Bielefeld /biləfεlt/ an industrial city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany; pop. 322,000 (est. 2002).

biennale /biεnαle -li/ n. a large art exhibition or music festival, especially one held biennially.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (used originally as the name of an international art exhibition held in Venice): from Italian, literally ‘biennial’.

biennial /bεnəl/ adj. 1 taking place every other year: the first of a series of biennial exhibitions. Compare with BIANNUAL.

2 (of a plant) taking two years to grow from seed to fruition and die. Compare with annual, PERENNIAL.

■ n. 1 a biennial plant.

2 an event celebrated or taking place every two years.

<DERIVATIVES> biennially adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin biennis (from bi- ‘twice’ + annus ‘year’) + -AL.

biennium /bεnəm/ n. (pl. biennia /-nə/ or bienniums) (usually the biennium) a specified period of two years: the budget for the next biennium.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin, from bi- ‘twice’ + annus ‘year’.

bien pensant /bja ps/ French /bjε pαsα/ adj. conventional or orthodox in attitude.

■ n. (bien-pensant) a conventional or orthodox person.

<ORIGIN> French, from bien ‘well’ + pensant, present participle of penser ‘think’.

bier /bə/ n. a movable frame on which a coffin or a corpse is placed before burial or cremation or on which they are carried to the grave.

<ORIGIN> Old English bēr, of Germanic origin; related to German Bahre, also to bear^1.

Bierce /bəs/ Ambrose (Gwinnett) (1842–c.1914), American writer, best known for his sardonic short stories and The Devil's Dictionary (1911). In 1913 he travelled to Mexico and mysteriously disappeared.

biface /bfes/ n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a type of prehistoric stone implement flaked on both faces.

bifacial adj. having two faces, in particular:

- [BOTANY] (of a leaf) having upper and lower surfaces that are structurally different.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] (of a flint or other artefact) worked on both faces.

biff INFORMAL v. [with obj.] strike (someone) roughly or sharply with the fist: he biffed me on the nose.

■ n. a sharp blow with the fist.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): symbolic of a short sharp movement.

biffin n. an English cooking apple of a dark red variety.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: representing a dialect pronunciation of beefing, from BEEF + -ING^1, with reference to the colour.

bifid /bfd/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] (of a part of a plant or animal) divided by a deep cleft or notch into two parts: a bifid leaf | the gut is bifid.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin bifidus, from bi- ‘doubly’ + fidus (from findere ‘to split’).

bifilar /bflə/ adj. consisting of or involving two threads or wires.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BI- ‘two’ + filum ‘thread’ + -AR^1.

bifocal adj. denoting a lens having two parts each with a different focal length, one for distant vision and one for near vision.

■ n. (bifocals) a pair of glasses with bifocal lenses.

bifold adj. double or twofold.

BIFU abbr. (in the UK) Banking, Insurance, and Finance Union.

bifurcate v. /bfəket/ divide into two branches or forks: [no obj.] just below Cairo the river bifurcates | [with obj.] the trail was bifurcated by a mountain stream.

■ adj. /bfəkət/ divided into two branches or forks: a bifurcate tree.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin bifurcat- ‘divided into two forks’, from the verb bifurcare, from Latin bifurcus ‘two-forked’, from bi- ‘having two’ + furca ‘a fork’.

bifurcation n. [mass noun] the division of something into two branches or parts.

- [count noun] either of two branches into which something divides.

big adj. (bigger, biggest) 1 of considerable size or extent: her big hazel eyes | big buildings | big staff cuts.

- [attr.] larger than other items of the same kind: my big toe.

- grown-up: I'm a big girl now.

- [attr.] elder: my big sister.

- INFORMAL on an ambitiously large scale: a small company with big plans.

- [attr.] INFORMAL doing a specified action very often or on a very large scale: a big eater | a big gambler.

- INFORMAL showing great enthusiasm: a big tennis fan.

- INFORMAL very popular or successful: African bands which are big in Britain.

2 of considerable importance or seriousness: it's a big decision | his biggest problem is money | he made a big mistake.

- INFORMAL holding an important position or playing an influential role: as a senior in college, he was a big man on campus.

3 [predic.] INFORMAL, often IRONIC generous: ‘I'm inclined to take pity on you.’ ‘That's big of you!’.

■ v. [with obj.] (big something up) BLACK SLANG praise or recommend something highly: the record's been on the streets a while now, but it's certainly still worth bigging up.

■ n. (the bigs) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL the major league in a professional sport.

<PHRASES>

□ be big with child ARCHAIC be in a late stage of pregnancy.

□ the Big Apple INFORMAL New York City.

□ the Big Board US INFORMAL the New York Stock Exchange.

□ big cheese INFORMAL an important person. [<ORIGIN> 1920s: cheese, probably via Urdu from Persian čīz ‘thing’: the phrase the cheese was used earlier to mean ‘first-rate’ (i.e. the thing).]

□ Big Chief (also Big Daddy) INFORMAL a person in authority; the head of an organization or enterprise.

□ the big five a name given by hunters to the five largest and most dangerous African mammals: rhinoceros, elephant, buffalo, lion, and leopard.

□ the big idea chiefly IRONIC a clever or important intention or scheme: the government's big idea was to make public services competitive.

□ the big lie a gross distortion or misrepresentation of the facts, especially when used as a propaganda device by a politician or official body.

□ big money (chiefly NORTH AMERICAN also big bucks) INFORMAL large amounts of money.

□ big name (or big noise) INFORMAL a person who is famous in a particular sphere: he's a big name in athletics.

□ the big smoke BRITISH INFORMAL London.

- chiefly AUSTRALIAN any large town.

□ the big screen INFORMAL the cinema.

□ big shot INFORMAL an important or influential person.

□ the big stick INFORMAL the use or threat of force or power: the authorities used quiet persuasion instead of the big stick.

□ the Big Three (or Four etc.) INFORMAL the three, four, etc., most important or powerful figures in a particular field: increased competition between the Big Three cider-makers.

□ come (or go) over big INFORMAL have a great effect; be a success: the story went over big with the children.

□ give someone the big E BRITISH INFORMAL reject someone. [<ORIGIN> E from elbow.]

□ in a big way INFORMAL to a great extent or high degree: he contributed to the film in a big way.

□ make it big INFORMAL become very successful or famous.

□ talk big INFORMAL talk boastfully or overconfidently.

□ think big INFORMAL be ambitious.

□ too big for one's boots (or DATED breeches) INFORMAL conceited.

<DERIVATIVES> biggish adj. bigness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘strong, mighty’): of unknown origin.

big air n. a high jump in sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding, and BMX.

bigamy n. [mass noun] the offence of marrying someone while already married to another person.

<DERIVATIVES> bigamist n. bigamous adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bigamie, from bigame ‘bigamous’, from late Latin bigamus, from bi- ‘twice’ + Greek -gamos ‘married’.

big band n. a large group of musicians playing jazz or dance music: [as modifier] the big-band sound.

Big Bang n. 1 [ASTRONOMY] the explosion of dense matter which according to current cosmological theories marked the origin of the universe.

A fireball of radiation at extremely high temperature and density, but occupying a tiny volume, is believed to have formed. This expanded and cooled, extremely fast at first, but more slowly as subatomic particles condensed into matter which later accumulated to form galaxies and stars. The galaxies are currently still retreating from one another. What was left of the original radiation continued to cool and has been detected as a uniform background of weak microwave radiation.

2 (in the UK) the introduction in 1986 of major changes in trading on the Stock Exchange, principally involving widening of membership, relaxation of rules for brokers, and computerization.

Big Ben the great clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London and its bell.

big box n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a very large store which sells goods at discount prices, especially one specializing in a particular type of merchandise.

Big Brother n. INFORMAL a person or organization exercising total control over people's lives.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from the name of the head of state in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).

big bud n. [mass noun] a disease of blackcurrant bushes in which the buds become swollen due to the presence of gall mites.

<INFO> The mite is Cecidophyopsis ribis, family Eriophyidae.

big business n. [mass noun] large-scale or important financial or commercial activity: the children's toy market is big business now.

big cat n. any of the large members of the cat family, including the lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, snow leopard, clouded leopard, cheetah, and puma.

<INFO> Panthera and other genera, family Felidae.

big crunch n. [ASTRONOMY] a contraction of the universe to a state of extremely high density and temperature (a hypothetical opposite of the big bang).

big dipper n. 1 BRITISH a roller coaster.

2 (the Big Dipper)

■ North American term for plough (sense 2 of the noun).

big end n. (in a piston engine) the larger end of the connecting rod, encircling the crankpin.

bigeneric /bdnεrk/ adj. [BOTANY] relating to or denoting a hybrid between two genera.

bigeye n. 1 (also bigeye tuna) a large migratory tuna which is found in warm seas and is very important to the fishing industry.

<INFO> Thunnus obesus, family Scombridae.

2 a reddish fish with large eyes which lives in moderately deep waters of the tropical Atlantic and the western Indian Ocean. Also called CATALUFA.

<INFO> Priacanthus arenatus, family Priacanthidae.

Bigfoot n. (pl. Bigfeet) a large, hairy apelike creature resembling a yeti, supposedly found in NW America. See also SASQUATCH.

<ORIGIN> from the size of its footprints.

big game n. [mass noun] large animals hunted for sport.

biggie n. (pl. biggies) INFORMAL a big, important, or successful person or thing: composers including most of the biggies like Brahms, Wagner, Mendelssohn.

big government n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN government perceived as excessively interventionist and intruding into all aspects of the lives of its citizens.

bigha /biə/ n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a measure of land area varying locally from 1/3 to 1 acre (1/8 to 2/5 hectare).

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bīghā.

big hair n. [mass noun] INFORMAL a bouffant hairstyle, especially one that has been teased, permed, or sprayed to create volume.

big-head n. INFORMAL a conceited or arrogant person.

big-headed n. INFORMAL conceited or arrogant: I'm trying not to get too big-headed.

<DERIVATIVES> big-headedness n.

big-hearted adj. (of a person or action) kind and generous.

big hitter n. another term for HEAVY HITTER.

bighorn (also bighorn sheep) n. (pl. same or bighorns) a stocky brown wild sheep with large horns, found in North America and NE Asia.

<INFO> Genus Ovis, family Bovidae: two species, in particular the American bighorn O. canadensis (also called MOUNTAIN SHEEP), found chiefly in the Rocky Mountains.

big house n. (usually the big house) 1 the largest house in a village or area, typically inhabited by a family of high social standing.

2 US INFORMAL a prison.

bight /bt/ n. 1 a curve or recess in a coastline, river, or other geographical feature.

2 a loop of rope.

<ORIGIN> Old English byht ‘a bend or angle’, of Germanic origin; related to bow^2.

big league n. a group of teams in a professional sport, especially baseball, competing for a championship at the highest level.

- (the big league) INFORMAL a very successful or important group: the film brought him into the movie world's big league.

<DERIVATIVES> big leaguer n.

big mouth n. INFORMAL an indiscreet or boastful person.

<DERIVATIVES> big-mouthed adj.

big-note v. [with obj.] (big-note oneself) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL boastfully exaggerate one's own wealth or importance: he's continually trying to big-note himself.

bigot /bət/ n. a person who is bigoted.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a superstitious religious hypocrite): from French, of unknown origin.

bigoted adj. having or revealing an obstinate belief in the superiority of one's own opinions and a prejudiced intolerance of the opinions of others: a bigoted group of reactionaries | a bigoted article.

<DERIVATIVES> bigotedly adv.

bigotry n. [mass noun] intolerance towards those who hold different opinions from oneself: the report reveals racism and right-wing bigotry.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from BIGOT, reinforced by French bigoterie.

big science n. [mass noun] INFORMAL scientific research that is expensive and involves large teams of scientists.

big tent n. used in reference to a political party's policy of permitting or encouraging a broad spectrum of views among its members: [as modifier] we're running a big-tent campaign.

big-ticket adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL constituting a major expense: big-ticket items such as cars, houses, and expensive vacations.

big time INFORMAL n. (the big time) the highest or most successful level in a career, especially in entertainment: a bit-part actor who finally made the big time in Hollywood.

■ adv. on a large scale; to a great extent: this time they've messed up big time.

<DERIVATIVES> big-timer n.

big top n. the main tent in a circus.

big tree n. North American term for GIANT REDWOOD (see REDWOOD).

biguanide /bwαnd/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline compound with basic properties, made by condensation of two guanidine molecules.

<INFO> Chem. formula: NH(C(NH)(NH_2))2.

big wheel n. 1 BRITISH a Ferris wheel.

2

■ North American term for BIGWIG.

bigwig n. INFORMAL an important person, especially in a particular sphere: government bigwigs.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: so named from the large wigs formerly worn by distinguished men.

BIH abbr. Bosnia and Herzegovina (international vehicle registration number).

<ORIGIN> from Bosnian Bosna i Hercegovina.

Bihar /bhα/ a state in NE India; capital, Patna.

Bihari /bhαri/ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Bihar.

2 [mass noun] a group of three closely related Indic languages (Bhojpuri, Maithili, and Magahi) spoken principally in Bihar.

■ adj. relating to Bihar, its peoples, or their languages.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi Bihārī.

bijection /bdεk(ə)n/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a mapping that is both one-to-one (an injection) and onto (a surjection), i.e. a function which relates each member of a set S (the domain) to a separate and distinct member of another set T (the range), where each member in T also has a corresponding member in S.

<DERIVATIVES> bijective adj.

bijou /biu/ adj. chiefly BRITISH (especially of a house or flat) small and elegant.

■ n. (pl. bijoux pronunc. same) ARCHAIC a jewel or trinket.

<ORIGIN> French, from Breton bizou ‘finger ring’, from biz ‘finger’.

bijouterie /biut(ə)ri/ French /bijutRi/ n. [mass noun] jewellery or trinkets.

<ORIGIN> French, from BIJOU.

bike INFORMAL n. a bicycle or motorcycle.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] ride a bicycle or motorcycle: Danny bikes to the park and back every day.

- [with obj.] BRITISH cause (a letter or package) to be delivered by bicycle or motorcycle: I'll get them to bike the scripts over.

<PHRASES>

□ get off one's bike AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL become annoyed.

□ on your bike! BRITISH INFORMAL go away (used as an expression of annoyance).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

biker n. INFORMAL a motorcyclist, especially one who is a member of a gang.

- a cyclist.

bikeway n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a path or lane for the use of bicycles.

bikie n. (pl. bikies) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a member of a gang of motorcyclists.

Bikini an atoll in the Marshall Islands, in the western Pacific, used by the US between 1946 and 1958 as a site for testing nuclear weapons.

bikini n. (pl. bikinis) a two-piece swimming costume for women.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after BIKINI, where an atom bomb was exploded in 1946 (because of the supposed ‘explosive’ effect created by the garment).

bikini briefs plural n. scanty briefs worn by women as underwear.

bikini line n. the area of skin around the edge of the bottom half of a bikini (used especially with reference to the cosmetic removal of the pubic hair in this area).

Biko /bikə/ Steve (1946–77), South African radical leader; full name Stephen Bantu Biko. He was banned from political activity in 1973; after his death in police custody he became a symbol of heroic resistance to apartheid.

Bikol /bkl/ (also Bicol) n. (pl. same or Bikols) 1 a member of an indigenous people of SE Luzon in the Philippines.

2 [mass noun] the Austronesian language of the Bikol, with over 3 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Bikol or their language.

Bikram yoga /bkram/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a type of hatha yoga characterized by a set series of postures and breathing exercises, performed in a room heated to a very high temperature.

<ORIGIN> named after the Indian yoga teacher Bikram Choudhury (b. 1946), who developed it.

bilabial adj. [PHONETICS] (of a speech sound) formed by closure or near closure of the lips, e.g. p, b, m, w.

■ n. a consonant sound made in such a way.

bilal /blαl/ n. (in Malaysia) a muezzin.

<ORIGIN> Malay, from Arabic Bilal, the first name of an Abyssinian slave appointed as the first muezzin following Muhammad's pilgrimage to Mecca in 629.

bilateral adj. 1 having or relating to two sides; affecting both sides: bilateral hearing.

2 involving two parties, especially countries: the bilateral agreements with Japan.

<DERIVATIVES> bilaterally adv.

bilateral symmetry n. [mass noun] the property of being divisible into symmetrical halves on either side of a unique plane.

bilayer n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a film two molecules thick (formed e.g. by lipids), in which each molecule is arranged with its hydrophobic end directed inwards towards the opposite side of the film and its hydrophilic end directed outwards.

Bilbao /blba -beə/ Spanish /bilβaə/ a seaport and industrial city in northern Spain; pop. 353,943 (est. 2001).

bilberry n. (pl. bilberries) a hardy dwarf shrub with red drooping flowers and dark blue edible berries, growing on heathland and mountains in northern Eurasia.

<INFO> Genus Vaccinium, family Ericaceae: several species, in particular V. myrtillus.

- the small blue edible berry of this plant.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare with Danish bøllebær.

bilbo n. (pl. bilbos or bilboes) a sword used in former times, noted for the temper and elasticity of its blade.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Bilboa, an earlier English form of the name BILBAO, noted for the manufacture of fine blades.

bilboes plural n. an iron bar with sliding shackles, formerly used for confining a prisoner's ankles.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

bilby /blbi/ n. (pl. bilbies)

■ another term for RABBIT-EARED BANDICOOT.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably from an Aboriginal language.

Bildungsroman /bldzrəmαn/ n. a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education.

<ORIGIN> German, from Bildung ‘education’ + Roman ‘a novel’.

bile n. [mass noun] 1 a bitter greenish-brown alkaline fluid which aids digestion and is secreted by the liver and stored in the gall bladder.

2 anger, bitterness, or irritability: his response was full of bile and hatred.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Latin bilis.

bile duct n. the duct which conveys bile from the liver and the gall bladder to the duodenum.

bi-level adj. having or functioning on two levels; arranged on two planes: a bi-level ventilation system.

- NORTH AMERICAN denoting a style of two-storey house in which the lower storey is partially sunk below ground level, and the main entrance is between the two storeys.

- denoting a railway carriage with seats on two levels.

■ n. NORTH AMERICAN a bi-level house.

bilge n. 1 the area on the outer surface of a ship's hull where the bottom curves to meet the vertical sides.

- (bilges) the lowest internal portion of the hull.

- (also bilge water) [mass noun] dirty water that collects inside the bilges.

2 [mass noun] INFORMAL nonsense; rubbish: romantic bilge dreamed up by journalists.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC break a hole in the bilge of (a ship).

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: probably a variant of BULGE.

bilge keel n. each of a pair of plates or timbers fastened under the sides of the hull of a ship to provide lateral resistance to the water, prevent rolling, and support its weight in dry dock.

bilharzia /blhαtsə/ n. [mass noun] a chronic disease, endemic in parts of Africa and South America, caused by infestation with blood flukes (schistosomes). Also called BILHARZIASIS or SCHISTOSOMIASIS.

- a blood fluke (schistosome).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, former name of the genus Schistosoma, named after T. Bilharz (1825–62), the German physician who discovered the parasite.

bilharziasis /blhαtsəss/ n. MEDICINE another term for BILHARZIA (the disease).

biliary /bləri/ adj. MEDICINE relating to bile or the bile duct.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French biliaire, from bile ‘bile’.

bilinear adj. [MATHEMATICS] 1 RARE relating to or contained by two straight lines.

2 relating to or denoting a function of two variables that is linear and homogeneous in both independently.

bilingual adj. speaking two languages fluently: a bilingual secretary.

- (of a text or an activity) written or conducted in two languages: bilingual dictionaries | bilingual education.

- (of a country, city, or other community) using two languages, especially officially.

■ n. a person fluent in two languages.

<DERIVATIVES> bilingualism n. bilingually adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin bilinguis, from bi- ‘having two’ + lingua ‘tongue’ + -AL.

bilious adj. 1 affected by or associated with nausea or vomiting: a bilious attack.

- (of a colour) lurid or sickly: a bilious yellow hue.

2 spiteful; bad-tempered: his bilious temperament.

3 [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to bile.

<DERIVATIVES> biliously adv. biliousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘biliary’): from Latin biliosus, from bilis ‘bile’.

bilirubin /blrubn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an orange-yellow pigment formed in the liver by the breakdown of haemoglobin and excreted in bile.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Latin bilis ‘bile’ + ruber ‘red’ + -IN^1.

biliverdin /blvədn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a green pigment excreted in bile. It is an oxidized derivative of bilirubin.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin bilis ‘bile’ + French vert ‘green’ + -IN^1.

bilk INFORMAL v. [with obj.] 1 obtain or withhold money from (someone) unfairly or by deceit; cheat or defraud: government waste has bilked the taxpayer of billions of dollars.

- obtain (money) fraudulently: some businesses bilk thousands of dollars from unsuspecting elderly consumers.

2 ARCHAIC evade; elude.

<DERIVATIVES> bilker n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally used in cribbage meaning ‘spoil one's opponent's score’): perhaps a variant of BAULK.

Bill n. (the Bill or the Old Bill) [treated as sing. or plural] BRITISH INFORMAL the police.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: pet form of the given name William.

bill^1 n. 1 a printed or written statement of the money owed for goods or services: the bill for their meal came to £17.

2 a draft of a proposed law presented to parliament for discussion: a debate over the civil rights bill.

3 a programme of entertainment at a theatre or cinema: she was top of the bill at America's leading vaudeville house.

4 NORTH AMERICAN a banknote: a ten-dollar bill.

5 a poster or handbill.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 list (a person or event) in a programme: they were billed to appear but did not show up.

- (bill someone/thing as) describe or advertise someone or something in a particular way: he was billed as ‘the new Sean Connery’.

2 send a bill to (someone): we shall be billing them for the damage caused | [with two objs] he had been billed £3,000 for his licence.

- charge (a sum of money): we billed £400,000.

<PHRASES>

□ fit (or fill) the bill be suitable for a particular purpose.

<DERIVATIVES> billable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a written list or catalogue): from Anglo-Norman French bille, probably based on medieval Latin bulla ‘seal, sealed document’ (see also bull^2).

bill^2 n. 1 the beak of a bird, especially when it is slender, flattened, or weak, or belongs to a web-footed bird or a bird of the pigeon family.

- the muzzle of a platypus.

- NORTH AMERICAN the peak of a cap.

2 the point of an anchor fluke.

3 [in place names] a narrow promontory: Portland Bill.

■ v. [no obj.] (of birds, especially doves) stroke bill with bill during courtship.

<PHRASES>

□ bill and coo INFORMAL behave or talk in a very loving or sentimental way.

<DERIVATIVES> billed adj. [usually in combination] the red-billed weaver bird

<ORIGIN> Old English bile, of unknown origin.

bill^3 n. a medieval weapon like a halberd with a hook instead of a blade.

<ORIGIN> Old English bil, of West Germanic origin; related to German Bille ‘axe’.

billabong n. AUSTRALIAN a branch of a river forming a backwater or stagnant pool, made by water flowing from the main stream during a flood.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Wiradhuri bilabang ‘channel that is dry except after rain’.

billboard n. a large outdoor board for displaying advertisements; a hoarding.

billet^1 n. a place, especially a civilian's house, where soldiers are lodged temporarily.

- INFORMAL a place to stop or stay: the young people's stay at each of their billets was short.

■ v. (billets, billeting, billeted) [with obj. and adverbial of place] lodge (soldiers) in a particular place, especially a civilian's house: most of the army was billeted within the town.

- assign temporary accommodation to: the American team was billeted at Uxbridge.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting a short written document): from Anglo-Norman French billette, diminutive of bille (see bill^1). The verb is recorded in the late 16th century, and the noun sense, ‘a written order requiring a householder to lodge the bearer, usually a soldier’, from the mid 17th century; hence the current meaning.

billet^2 n. 1 a thick piece of wood.

- a small bar of metal for further processing.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] each of a series of short cylindrical pieces inserted at intervals in Norman decorative mouldings.

3 [HERALDRY] a rectangle placed vertically as a charge.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French billette and billot, diminutives of bille ‘tree trunk’, from medieval Latin billa, billus ‘branch, trunk’, probably of Celtic origin.

billet-doux /bledu/ n. (pl. billets-doux /-duz/) DATED or HUMOROUS a love letter.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: French, literally ‘sweet note’.

billfish n. (pl. same or billfishes) a large, fast-swimming fish of open seas, with a streamlined body and a long pointed spear-like snout. It occurs on the surface in warmer waters and is a popular sporting fish.

<INFO> Family Istiophoridae: three genera and several species, including the marlins, sailfish, and spearfish.

billfold n. NORTH AMERICAN a wallet.

billhook n. a tool having a sickle-shaped blade with a sharp inner edge, used for pruning or lopping branches or other vegetation.

billiards /bljədz/ plural n. [usually treated as sing.] a game for two people, played on a billiard table, in which three balls are struck with cues into pockets round the edge of the table: (as modifier billiard) a billiard ball.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French billard, denoting both the game and the cue, diminutive of bille (see billet^2).

billiard table n. a smooth rectangular cloth-covered table used for billiards, snooker, and some forms of pool, with six pockets at the corners and sides into which the balls can be struck.

billing n. [mass noun] 1 the fact of being advertised or described in a particular way: they can justify their billing as Premier League favourites | he shared top billing with his wife.

2 the process of preparing or sending invoices: faster, more accurate order fulfilment and billing.

- (usually billings) the total amount of business conducted in a given time, especially that of an advertising agency: the account was worth about $2 million a year in billings.

Billingsgate a London fish market dating from the 16th century. In 1982 the market moved to the Isle of Dogs in the East End.

Billings method n. a system for finding the time of ovulation by examining cervical mucus. It can be used as a form of birth control by avoiding sexual intercourse at that time.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Drs John and Evelyn Billings, who devised the method.

billion cardinal number (pl. billions or (with numeral or quantifying word) same) the number equivalent to the product of a thousand and a million; 1,000,000,000 or 10^9: a world population of nearly 5 billion | half a billion dollars.

- (billions) INFORMAL a very large number or amount of something: our immune systems are killing billions of germs right now.

- a billion pounds or dollars: the problem persists despite the billions spent on it.

- DATED, BRITISH a million million (1,000,000,000,000 or 10^12).

<DERIVATIVES> billionth ordinal number

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from million, by substitution of the prefix bi- ‘two’ for the initial letters.

billionaire n. a person possessing assets worth at least a billion pounds or dollars.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BILLION, on the pattern of millionaire.

Billiton /blitn/ former name of BELITUNG.

bill of costs n. BRITISH a solicitor's account of charges and expenses incurred while carrying out a client's business.

bill of exchange n. a written order to a person requiring them to make a specified payment to the signatory or to a named payee; a promissory note.

bill of fare n. DATED a menu.

bill of goods n. NORTH AMERICAN a consignment of merchandise.

<PHRASES>

□ sell someone a bill of goods deceive someone, especially by persuading them to accept something untrue or undesirable.

bill of health n. a certificate relating to the incidence of infectious disease on a ship or in the port from which it has sailed.

<PHRASES>

□ a clean bill of health a declaration or confirmation that someone is healthy or that something is in good condition.

bill of indictment n. HISTORICAL or NORTH AMERICAN a written accusation as presented to a grand jury.

bill of lading n. a detailed list of a ship's cargo in the form of a receipt given by the master of the ship to the person consigning the goods.

bill of quantities n. a detailed statement of work, prices, dimensions, and other details, for the erection of a building by contract.

Bill of Rights n. [LAW] a statement of the rights of a class of people, in particular:

- the English constitutional settlement of 1689, confirming the deposition of James II and the accession of William and Mary, guaranteeing the Protestant succession, and laying down the principles of parliamentary supremacy.

- the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the US, ratified in 1791.

bill of sale n. a certificate of transfer of personal property, used especially where something is transferred as security for a debt.

billon /blən/ n. [mass noun] an alloy formerly used for coinage, containing gold or silver with a predominating amount of copper or other base metal.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, literally ‘bronze or copper money’, in Old French ‘ingot’, from bille (see billet^2).

billow n. a large undulating mass of something, typically cloud, smoke, or steam.

- ARCHAIC a large sea wave.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of fabric) fill with air and swell outwards: her dress billowed out around her. (as adj. billowing) a billowing skirt and shirt.

- (of smoke, cloud, or steam) move or flow outward with an undulating motion: smoke was billowing from the chimney-mouth | (as adj. billowing) all I could see was thick, billowing smoke.

<DERIVATIVES> billowy adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old Norse bylgja.

billposter (also billsticker) n. a person who pastes up advertisements on hoardings.

<DERIVATIVES> billposting n.

billy^1 (also billycan) n. (pl. billies) BRITISH a tin or enamel cooking pot with a lid and a wire handle, for use when camping.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from Aboriginal billa ‘water’.

billy^2 n. (pl. billies) 1 short for BILLY GOAT.

2 (also billy club) NORTH AMERICAN a truncheon.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Billy, pet form of the given name William.

billycart n. AUSTRALIAN a go-kart.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (in the sense ‘a small handcart’): perhaps from BILLY^2: formerly such carts were sometimes pulled by a goat.

billycock n. HISTORICAL a kind of bowler hat.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: said to be from the name of William Coke, nephew of Thomas William Coke, Earl of Leicester (1752–1842).

billy goat n. a male goat.

billy-o n. (in phrase like billy-o) BRITISH INFORMAL very much, hard, or strongly: I had to run like billy-o.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

bilobed (also bilobate) adj. having or consisting of two lobes.

bilocation n. [mass noun] the supposed phenomenon of being in two places simultaneously.

biltong /blt bəl-/ n. [mass noun] chiefly S. AFRICAN lean meat which is salted and dried in strips.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from Dutch bil ‘buttock’ + tong ‘tongue’.

BIM abbr. British Institute of Management.

Bim /bm/ n. INFORMAL a native or inhabitant of Barbados.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

bim n. US INFORMAL short for BIMBO.

bimanual adj. performed with both hands.

<DERIVATIVES> bimanually adv.

bimbo n. (pl. bimbos) INFORMAL, DEROGATORY an attractive but unintelligent or frivolous young woman.

<DERIVATIVES> bimbette n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally in the sense ‘fellow, chap’): from Italian, literally ‘little child’.

bi-media adj. involving or working in two of the mass communication media, especially radio and television: a bi-media journalist.

bimetallic adj. 1 made of two metals.

2 HISTORICAL relating to bimetallism.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French bimétallique, from bi- ‘two’ + métallique ‘metallic’.

bimetallic strip n. a temperature-sensitive electrical contact used in some thermostats, consisting of two bands of different metals joined lengthwise. When heated, the metals expand at different rates, causing the strip to bend.

bimetallism /bmεt(ə)lz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a system of allowing the unrestricted currency of two metals (e.g. gold and silver) as legal tender at a fixed ratio to each other.

<DERIVATIVES> bimetallist n.

bimillenary /bmlεnəri -lin- bmlənəri/ adj. [attr.] relating to a period of two thousand years or a two-thousandth anniversary.

■ n. (pl. bimillenaries) a period of two thousand years or a two-thousandth anniversary.

bimodal adj. having or involving two modes, in particular (of a statistical distribution) having two maxima.

bimolecular adj. [CHEMISTRY] consisting of or involving two molecules.

bimonthly adj. occurring or produced twice a month or every two months: a bimonthly newsletter.

■ adv. twice a month or every two months.

■ n. (pl. bimonthlies) a periodical produced twice a month or every two months.

bin British n. 1 a receptacle in which to deposit rubbish.

- [with modifier] a capacious receptacle for storing a specified substance: a compost bin.

- a partitioned stand for storing bottles of wine.

2 [STATISTICS] each of a series of ranges of numerical value into which data are sorted in statistical analysis.

■ v. (bins, binning, binned) [with obj.] 1 INFORMAL throw (something) away by putting it in a bin: piles of junk that should have been binned years ago.

- discard or reject: the whole idea had to be binned.

2 store (something, especially wine) in a bin.

3 [STATISTICS] group together (data) in bins.

<ORIGIN> Old English bin(n), binne, of Celtic origin; related to Welsh ben ‘cart’. The original meaning was ‘receptacle’ in a general sense; also ‘a receptacle for provender in a stable’ and ‘container for grain, bread, or other foodstuffs’. The sense ‘receptacle for rubbish’ dates from the mid 19th cent.

bin- prefix variant form of BI- before a vowel (as in binaural).

binary /bnəri/ adj. 1 relating to, composed of, or involving two things.

2 relating to, using, or denoting a system of numerical notation that has 2 rather than 10 as a base.

■ n. (pl. binaries) 1 [mass noun] the binary system of notation.

2 something having two parts.

- a binary star.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘duality, a pair’): from late Latin binarius, from bini ‘two together’.

binary code n. [mass noun] [ELECTRONICS] a coding system using the binary digits 0 and 1 to represent a letter, digit, or other character in a computer or other electronic device.

binary coded decimal (abbr.: BCD) n. [mass noun] [ELECTRONICS] a system for coding a number in which each digit of a decimal number is represented individually by its binary equivalent.

- [count noun] a number represented in this way.

binary digit n. one of two digits (0 or 1) in a binary system of notation.

binary star n. [ASTRONOMY] a system of two stars in which one star revolves round the other or both revolve round a common centre.

binary system n. 1 a system in which information can be expressed by combinations of the digits 0 and 1.

2 a system consisting of two parts: the binary system of state and public schools.

- [ASTRONOMY] a star system containing two stars orbiting around each other.

binary tree n. [COMPUTING] a data structure in which a record is linked to two successor records, usually referred to as the left branch when greater and the right when less than the previous record.

binational adj. concerning or consisting of two nations.

binaural /bnr(ə)l b-/ adj. relating to or involving both ears: human hearing is binaural.

- relating to sound recorded using two microphones and usually transmitted separately to the two ears of the listener.

bin bag n. BRITISH a large, strong plastic bag used as a container for household rubbish.

bind v. (past and past participle bound) [with obj.] 1 tie or fasten (something) tightly together: logs bound together with ropes | they bound her hands and feet.

- restrain (someone) by tying their hands and feet: the raider then bound and gagged Mr Glenn.

- wrap (something) tightly: her hair was bound up in a towel.

- bandage (a wound): Shelley cleaned the wound and bound it up with a clean dressing.

- (be bound with) (of an object) be encircled by something, typically metal bands, so as to have greater strength: an ancient oak chest bound with brass braces.

2 stick together or cause to stick together in a single mass: [with obj.] mix the flour with the coconut and enough egg white to bind them.

- cause (painting pigments) to form a smooth medium by mixing them with oil.

- hold by chemical bonding.

- [no obj.] (bind to) combine with (a substance) through chemical bonding.

3 cause (people) to feel united: the comradeship that had bound such a disparate bunch of lads together.

- (bind someone to) cause someone to feel strongly attached to (a person or place): touches like that had bound men to him for life.

4 impose a legal or contractual obligation on: a party who signs a document will normally be bound by its terms.

- indenture (someone) as an apprentice.

- (bind oneself) FORMAL make a contractual or enforceable undertaking: the government cannot bind itself as to the form of subsequent legislation.

- (of a court of law) require (someone) to fulfil an obligation, typically by paying a sum of money as surety: he was bound over to keep the peace by magistrates.

- (be bound by) be hampered or constrained by: Sarah did not want to be bound by a rigid timetable.

5 fix together and enclose (the pages of a book) in a cover: a small, fat volume, bound in red morocco.

6 trim (the edge of a piece of material) with a decorative strip: a frill with the edges bound in a contrasting colour.

- [no obj.] (bind off) NORTH AMERICAN cast off in knitting.

7 [LOGIC] (of a quantifier) be applied to (a given variable) so that the variable falls within its scope. For example, in an expression of the form ‘For every x, if x is a dog, x is an animal’, the universal quantifier is binding the variable x.

8 [LINGUISTICS] (of a rule or set of grammatical conditions) determine the relationship between (coreferential noun phrases).

9 (of a food or medicine) make (someone) constipated.

■ n. 1 INFORMAL a nuisance: I know being disturbed on Christmas Day is a bind.

- a problematical situation: he is in a political bind over the abortion issue.

2 FORMAL a statutory constraint: the moral bind of the law.

3 [MUSIC] another term for TIE.

4 another term for BINE.

<PHRASES>

□ bind someone hand and foot see HAND.

<ORIGIN> Old English bindan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German binden, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit bandh.

bindaas /bndαs/ adj. INDIAN INFORMAL carefree, fashionable, and independent-minded: Bollywood's most bindaas babe.

<ORIGIN> Gujarati bin-dās, literally ‘without servitude’, from Sanskrit vinā + dāsya.

binder n. 1 a cover for holding magazines or loose sheets of paper together.

2 a substance used to make other substances or materials stick or mix together.

3 a reaping machine that binds grain into sheaves.

4 a bookbinder.

binder twine n. [mass noun] (in farming) strong cord made from plastic or natural fibre, used in a baling machine to tie hay and straw bales.

bindery n. (pl. binderies) a workshop or factory in which books are bound.

bindi /bndi/ n. (pl. bindis) a decorative mark worn in the middle of the forehead by Indian women, especially Hindus.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bindī.

bindi-eye /bnd/ n. a small perennial Australian plant of the daisy family, with a bur-like fruit.

<INFO> Calotis cuneifolia, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: perhaps from an Aboriginal language.

binding n. 1 a strong covering holding the pages of a book together.

2 [mass noun] fabric cut or woven in a strip, used for binding the edges of a piece of material.

3 (also ski binding) [SKIING] a mechanical device fixed to a ski to grip a ski boot, especially either of a pair used for downhill skiing which hold the toe and heel of the boot and release it automatically in a fall.

4 [mass noun] (in Chomskyan linguistics) the relationship between a referentially dependent noun (such as a reflexive) and the independent noun phrase which determines its reference.

■ adj. (of an agreement or promise) involving an obligation that cannot be broken: business agreements are intended to be legally binding.

binding energy n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the energy that holds a nucleus together. This is equal to the mass defect of the nucleus.

binding post n. [ELECTRONICS] a connector consisting of a threaded screw to which bare wires are attached and held in place by a nut.

binding site n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a location on a macromolecule or cellular structure at which chemical interaction with a specific active substance takes place.

bindlestiff /bnd(ə)lstf/ n. US INFORMAL a tramp.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: probably from an alteration of BUNDLE + STIFF (in the sense ‘useless person’).

bindweed /bndwid/ n. [mass noun] a twining plant with trumpet-shaped flowers, several kinds of which are invasive weeds.

<INFO> Genera Convolvulus and Calystegia, family Convolvulaceae: several species, in particular the hedge (or larger) bindweed (Calystegia sepium).

- used in names of similar twining plants, e.g. black bindweed.

bine /bn/ n. a long, flexible stem of a climbing plant, especially the hop.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: originally a dialect form of BIND.

bin-end n. BRITISH one of the last bottles from a bin of wine, usually sold at a reduced price.

Binet /bine/ Alfred (1857–1911), French psychologist. He devised a mental age scale which described performance in relation to the average performance of students of the same physical age, and with the psychiatrist Théodore Simon (1873–1961) pioneered a system of intelligence tests.

bing^1 n. chiefly SCOTTISH a heap, especially of metallic ore or of waste from a mine.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old Norse bingr ‘heap’.

bing^2 exclam. indicating a sudden action or event: then, bing, the lights went on.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: (originally dialect in the sense ‘sudden bang’): imitative.

binge INFORMAL n. a period of excessive indulgence in an activity, especially drinking alcohol: he went on a binge and was in no shape to drive | [as modifier] binge drinking.

■ v. (binges, bingeing or US also binging, binged) [no obj.] indulge in an activity, especially eating, to excess: she binged on ice cream.

<DERIVATIVES> binger n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from English dialect binge ‘to soak a wooden vessel’.

bingle /b(ə)l/ n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a collision.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: diminutive of dialect bing ‘thump, blow’ (compare bing^2).

bingo n. a game in which players mark off numbers on cards as the numbers are drawn randomly by a caller, the winner being the first person to mark off all their numbers.

■ exclam. 1 a call by someone who wins a game of bingo.

2 used to express satisfaction at a sudden positive event or outcome: Just swipe the pen over a bar code and bingo! The recorder's programmed itself.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (as exclamation): of unknown origin.

bin liner n. BRITISH a plastic bag used for lining a rubbish bin.

binman n. (pl. binmen) BRITISH INFORMAL a dustman.

binnacle /bnək(ə)l/ n. a built-in housing for a ship's compass.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as bittacle): from Spanish bitácula, bitácora or Portuguese bitacola, from Latin habitaculum ‘dwelling place’, from habitare ‘inhabit’. The change to binnacle occurred in the mid 18th cent.

binocs plural n. INFORMAL short for BINOCULARS.

binocular /bnkjlə/ adj. adapted for or using both eyes: a binocular microscope.

<DERIVATIVES> binocularly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘having two eyes’): from Latin bini ‘two together’ + oculus ‘eye’, on the pattern of ocular.

binoculars (also a pair of binoculars) plural n. an optical instrument with a lens for each eye, used for viewing distant objects.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: plural of BINOCULAR.

binocular vision n. [mass noun] vision using two eyes with overlapping fields of view, allowing good perception of depth.

binomial /bnəməl/ n. 1 [MATHEMATICS] an algebraic expression of the sum or the difference of two terms.

2 a two-part name, especially the Latin name of a species of living organism (consisting of the genus followed by the specific epithet).

3 [GRAMMAR] a noun phrase with two heads joined by a conjunction, in which the order is relatively fixed (as in knife and fork).

■ adj. 1 [MATHEMATICS] consisting of two terms.

- relating to a binomial or to the binomial theorem.

2 having or using two names (used especially of the Latin name of a species of living organism).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French binôme or modern Latin binomium (from bi- ‘having two’ + Greek nomos ‘part, portion’) + -AL.

binomial distribution n. [STATISTICS] a frequency distribution of the possible number of successful outcomes in a given number of trials in each of which there is the same probability of success.

binomial nomenclature n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the system of nomenclature in which two terms are used to denote a species of living organism, the first one indicating the genus and the second the specific epithet.

binomial theorem n. a formula for finding any power of a binomial without multiplying at length.

binominal adj. another term for binomial (sense 2 of the adjective).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin binominis, from bi- ‘having two’ + nomen, nomin- ‘name’ + -AL.

bins plural n. INFORMAL short for BINOCULARS.

bint n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a girl or woman.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Arabic, literally ‘daughter, girl’.

binturong /bntjr/ n. a tree-dwelling Asian civet with a coarse blackish coat and a muscular prehensile tail.

<INFO> Arctictis binturong, family Viverridae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Malay.

binucleate /bnjuklət/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of a cell) having two nuclei.

bio n. (pl. bios) INFORMAL a biography.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: abbreviation.

bio- /bə/ combining form relating to life: biosynthesis.

- biological; relating to biology: biohazard.

- of living beings: biogenesis.

- relating to or involving the use of toxic biological or biochemical substances as weapons of war: bioterrorism.

<ORIGIN> from Greek bios ‘(course of) human life’. The sense is extended in modern scientific usage to mean ‘organic life’.

bioaccumulate v. [no obj.] (of a substance) become concentrated inside the bodies of living things.

<DERIVATIVES> bioaccumulation n.

bioacoustics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of acoustics concerned with sounds produced by or affecting living organisms, especially as relating to communication.

bioactive adj. (of a substance) having a biological effect.

<DERIVATIVES> bioactivity n.

bioassay /bəəse/ n. [mass noun] measurement of the concentration or potency of a substance by its effect on living cells or tissues.

bioavailability n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the proportion of a drug or other substance which enters the circulation when introduced into the body and so is able to have an active effect.

<DERIVATIVES> bioavailable adj.

biocentrism n. [mass noun] the view or belief that the rights and needs of humans are not more important than those of other living things.

<DERIVATIVES> biocentric adj. biocentrist n.

biochemical adj. relating to the chemical processes and substances which occur within living organisms.

■ n. a biochemical substance.

<DERIVATIVES> biochemically adv.

biochemistry n. [mass noun] the branch of science concerned with the chemical and physico-chemical processes and substances which occur within living organisms.

- processes and substances of this kind: abnormal brain biochemistry.

<DERIVATIVES> biochemist n.

biochip n. a microchip designed or intended to function in a biological environment, especially inside a living organism.

- a logical device analogous to the silicon chip, whose components are formed from biological molecules or structures.

biocide n. 1 a poisonous substance, especially a pesticide.

2 [mass noun] the destruction of life.

<DERIVATIVES> biocidal adj.

biocircuit n. an integrated circuit incorporating biological molecules or structures.

bioclast /bə()klast/ n. [GEOLOGY] a fragment of a shell or fossil forming part of a sedimentary rock.

<DERIVATIVES> bioclastic adj.

bioclimatic adj. [ECOLOGY] relating to the interrelation of climate and the activities and distribution of living organisms.

biocoenosis /bə()snəss/ (US biocenosis) n. (pl. biocoenoses /-siz/) [ECOLOGY] an association of different organisms forming a closely integrated community.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from BIO- ‘life’ + Greek koinōsis ‘sharing’ (from koinos ‘common’).

biocompatible adj. (especially of material used in surgical implants) not harmful or toxic to living tissue.

<DERIVATIVES> biocompatibility n.

biocomputer n. a (hypothetical) computer based on circuits and components formed from biological molecules or structures.

- the brain regarded as a computer.

<DERIVATIVES> biocomputing n.

biocontrol n. short for BIOLOGICAL CONTROL.

bioconversion n. [mass noun] the conversion of one chemical compound, or one form of energy, into another by living organisms.

biodata plural n. [treated as sing. or plural] biographical details.

- [treated as sing.] INDIAN a curriculum vitae.

biodegradable adj. (of a substance or object) capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms and thereby avoiding pollution.

<DERIVATIVES> biodegradability n.

biodegrade v. [no obj.] (of a substance or object) be decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms.

<DERIVATIVES> biodegradation n.

bio-diesel n. [mass noun] a biofuel intended as a substitute for diesel.

biodiversity n. [mass noun] the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat, a high level of which is usually considered to be important and desirable.

biodynamics plural n. [treated as sing.] 1 the study of physical motion or dynamics in living systems.

2 a method of organic farming that incorporates certain astrological and spiritual principles and practices.

<DERIVATIVES> biodynamic adj.

bioelectric adj. relating to electricity or electrical phenomena produced within living organisms.

<DERIVATIVES> bioelectrical adj.

bioenergetics plural n. [treated as sing.] 1 the study of the transformation of energy in living organisms.

2 a system of holistic therapy in which massage and other physical therapies are used in conjunction with psychotherapy.

<DERIVATIVES> bioenergetic adj.

bioengineering n. [mass noun] 1 another term for GENETIC ENGINEERING.

2 the use of artificial tissues, organs, or organ components to replace damaged or absent body parts.

3 the use in engineering or industry of organisms or biological processes.

<DERIVATIVES> bioengineer n. & v.

bioethics plural n. [treated as sing.] the ethics of medical and biological research.

<DERIVATIVES> bioethical adj. bioethicist n.

biofeedback n. [mass noun] the use of electronic monitoring of a normally automatic bodily function in order to train someone to acquire voluntary control of that function.

biofilm n. a thin but robust layer of mucilage adhering to a solid surface and containing a community of bacteria and other micro-organisms.

bioflavonoid n. any of a group of compounds occurring mainly in citrus fruits and blackcurrants, formerly regarded as vitamins.

biofouling n. [mass noun] the fouling of underwater pipes and other surfaces by organisms such as barnacles and algae.

biofuel n. a fuel derived immediately from living matter.

biog n. INFORMAL a biography.

biogas n. [mass noun] gaseous fuel, especially methane, produced by the fermentation of organic matter.

biogenesis /bə()dεnss/ n. [mass noun] the synthesis of substances by living organisms.

- HISTORICAL the hypothesis that living matter arises only from other living matter.

<DERIVATIVES> biogenetic adj.

biogenic /bə()dεnk/ adj. produced or brought about by living organisms.

biogeochemical adj. relating to or denoting the cycle in which chemical elements and simple substances are transferred between living systems and the environment.

<DERIVATIVES> biogeochemist n. biogeochemistry n.

biogeography n. [mass noun] the branch of biology that deals with the geographical distribution of plants and animals.

<DERIVATIVES> biogeographer n. biogeographic adj. biogeographical adj. biogeographically adv.

biographee n. a person who is the subject of a biography.

biographical adj. (of data or a written work) dealing with a particular person's life: biographical information | biographical books on the Beatles.

<DERIVATIVES> biographic adj. biographically adv.

biography n. (pl. biographies) an account of someone's life written by someone else.

- [mass noun] writing of such a type as a literary genre.

<DERIVATIVES> biographer n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French biographie or modern Latin biographia, from medieval Greek, from bios ‘life’ + -graphia ‘writing’.

biohazard n. a risk to human health or the environment arising from biological work, especially with micro-organisms.

bioindicator n. an organism used as an indicator of the quality of an ecosystem, especially in terms of pollution.

bioinformatics plural n. [treated as sing.] the science of collecting and analysing complex biological data such as genetic codes.

<DERIVATIVES> bioinformatic adj.

Bioko /bəkə/ an island of Equatorial Guinea, in the eastern part of the Gulf of Guinea. Its chief town is Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. Former names Fernando Póo and MACIAS NGUEMA.

biolistics plural n. [treated as sing.] a technique in genetic engineering in which tiny metal pellets coated with DNA are propelled into living cells at high velocities.

<DERIVATIVES> biolistic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: apparently from BIO- and BALLISTICS.

biological adj. 1 relating to biology or living organisms.

- (of a detergent or other cleaning product) containing enzymes to assist the process of cleaning.

- relating to or involving the use of micro-organisms or toxins of biological origin as weapons of war.

2 (of a parent or child) related by blood; natural: his biological mother.

<DERIVATIVES> biologic adj. biologically adv.

biological clock n. an innate mechanism that controls the physiological activities of an organism which change on a daily, seasonal, yearly, or other regular cycle.

biological control n. [mass noun] the control of a pest by the introduction of a natural enemy or predator.

biologism /blədz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the interpretation of human life from a strictly biological point of view.

<DERIVATIVES> biologistic adj.

biology n. [mass noun] the study of living organisms, divided into many specialized fields that cover their morphology, physiology, anatomy, behaviour, origin, and distribution.

- the plants and animals of a particular area: the biology of the Chesapeake Bay.

- the physiology, behaviour, and other qualities of a particular organism or class of organisms: human biology.

<DERIVATIVES> biologist n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coined in German, via French from Greek bios ‘life’ + -LOGY.

bioluminescence n. [mass noun] the biochemical emission of light by living organisms such as glow-worms and deep-sea fish.

- the light emitted in such a way.

<DERIVATIVES> bioluminescent adj.

biomagnetism n. [mass noun] the interaction of living organisms with magnetic fields.

biomarker n. a naturally occurring molecule, gene, or characteristic by which a particular pathological or physiological process, disease, etc. can be identified.

biomass n. [mass noun] 1 the total quantity or weight of organisms in a given area or volume.

2 organic matter used as a fuel, especially in a power station for the generation of electricity.

biomaterial n. [mass noun] a biological or synthetic substance which can be introduced into body tissue as part of an implanted medical device or used to replace an organ, bodily function, etc.

biomathematics plural n. [treated as sing.] the science of the application of mathematics to biology.

biome /bəm/ n. [ECOLOGY] a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, e.g. forest or tundra.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BIO- ‘life’ + -OME.

biomechanics plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of the mechanical laws relating to the movement or structure of living organisms.

<DERIVATIVES> biomechanical adj. biomechanically adv. biomechanist n.

biomedical adj. relating to both biology and medicine.

<DERIVATIVES> biomedicine n.

biometeorology n. [mass noun] the study of the relationship between living organisms and weather.

biometric signature n. the unique pattern of a bodily feature such as the retina, iris, or voice, encoded on an identity card and used for recognition and identification purposes.

biometry /bmtri/ (also biometrics /bə()mεtrks/) n. [mass noun] the application of statistical analysis to biological data.

<DERIVATIVES> biometric adj. biometrical adj. biometrician n.

biomimetic adj. [BIOCHEMISTRY] relating to or denoting synthetic methods which mimic biochemical processes.

biomolecule n. a molecule that is involved in the maintenance and metabolic processes of living organisms.

biomorph n. a decorative form or object based on or resembling a living organism.

- a graphical representation of an organism generated on a computer, used to model evolution.

<DERIVATIVES> biomorphic adj.

bionic adj. having artificial body parts, especially electromechanical ones.

- INFORMAL having ordinary human powers increased by or as if by the aid of such devices: working out in gyms in an attempt to become bionic men.

- relating to bionics.

<DERIVATIVES> bionically adv.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from BIO- ‘human’, on the pattern of electronic.

bionics plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of mechanical systems that function like living organisms or parts of living organisms.

bionomics /bə()nmks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of the mode of life of organisms in their natural habitat and their adaptations to their surroundings; ecology.

<DERIVATIVES> bionomic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BIO- ‘life’, on the pattern of [ECONOMICS].

biopharmaceutical n. a biological macromolecule or cellular component, such as a blood product, used as a pharmaceutical.

biophilia n. [mass noun] (according to a theory of the biologist E. O. Wilson) an innate and genetically determined affinity of human beings with the natural world.

biophysics plural n. [treated as sing.] the science of the application of the laws of physics to biological phenomena.

<DERIVATIVES> biophysical adj. biophysicist n.

biopic /bəpk/ n. INFORMAL a biographical film.

biopiracy /bəprəsi/ n. [mass noun] the practice of commercially exploiting naturally occurring biochemical or genetic material, especially by obtaining patents that restrict its future use, while failing to pay fair compensation to the community from which it originates.

biopolymer n. a polymeric substance occurring in living organisms, e.g. a protein, cellulose, or DNA.

bioprospecting n. [mass noun] the search for plant and animal species from which medicinal drugs and other commercially valuable compounds can be obtained.

<DERIVATIVES> bioprospector n.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from bio(diversity) prospecting.

biopsy /bpsi/ n. (pl. biopsies) an examination of tissue removed from a living body to discover the presence, cause, or extent of a disease.

■ v. (biopsies, biopsying, biopsied) [with obj.] conduct a biopsy on (tissue removed from a living body): the lesions may be malignant and should be biopsied.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in French from Greek bios ‘life’ + opsis ‘sight’, on the pattern of necropsy.

biopsychology n. [mass noun] the branch of psychology concerned with its biological and physiological aspects.

<DERIVATIVES> biopsychological adj.

bioreactor n. an apparatus in which a biological reaction or process is carried out, especially on an industrial scale.

bioregion n. a region defined by characteristics of the natural environment rather than by man-made divisions.

<DERIVATIVES> bioregional adj.

bioregionalism n. [mass noun] advocacy of the belief that human activity should be largely constrained by ecological or geographical boundaries rather than political ones.

<DERIVATIVES> bioregionalist n.

bioremediation /bə()rmidie(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the use of either naturally occurring or deliberately introduced micro-organisms to consume and break down environmental pollutants, in order to clean a polluted site.

biorhythm n. a recurring cycle in the physiology or functioning of an organism, such as the daily cycle of sleeping and waking.

- a cyclic pattern of physical, emotional, or mental activity believed to occur in a person's life: I found that the music suited my biorhythms.

<DERIVATIVES> biorhythmic adj.

BIOS /bs/ n. [COMPUTING] a set of computer instructions in firmware which control input and output operations.

<ORIGIN> acronym from Basic Input-Output System.

bioscience n. any of the life sciences.

<DERIVATIVES> bioscientist n.

bioscope n. DATED, chiefly S. AFRICAN a cinema or film.

biosecurity n. [mass noun] procedures or measures designed to protect the population against harmful biological or biochemical substances.

biosensor n. a device which uses a living organism or biological molecules, especially enzymes or antibodies, to detect the presence of chemicals.

biosignature n. another term for BIOMARKER.

biosocial adj. relating to the interaction of biological and social factors.

biosolids plural n. organic matter recycled from sewage, especially for use in agriculture.

biosphere n. 1 the regions of the surface and atmosphere of the earth or another planet occupied by living organisms.

2 an artificial structure enclosing a self-contained ecosystem or ecosystems.

<DERIVATIVES> biospheric adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Greek bios ‘life’ + sphaira (see SPHERE).

biostatistics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of statistics that deals with data relating to living organisms.

<DERIVATIVES> biostatistical adj. biostatistician n.

biostratigraphy /bə()strətrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of stratigraphy concerned with fossils and their use in dating rock formations.

<DERIVATIVES> biostratigrapher n. biostratigraphic adj. biostratigraphical adj. biostratigraphically adv.

biosurgery n. [mass noun] the medical use of maggots to clean infected wounds, especially in cases where an infection is resistant to conventional antibiotic treatment.

biosynthesis n. [mass noun] the production of complex molecules within living organisms or cells.

<DERIVATIVES> biosynthetic adj.

biosystematics plural n. [treated as sing.] taxonomy based on the study of the genetic evolution of plant and animal populations.

<DERIVATIVES> biosystematist n.

biota /bətə/ n. [mass noun] [ECOLOGY] the animal and plant life of a particular region, habitat, or geological period: the biota of the river.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: modern Latin, from Greek biotē ‘life’.

biotech n. short for BIOTECHNOLOGY.

biotechnology n. [mass noun] the exploitation of biological processes for industrial and other purposes, especially the genetic manipulation of micro-organisms for the production of antibiotics, hormones, etc.

<DERIVATIVES> biotechnological adj. biotechnologist n.

biotecture /bətεktə/ n. [mass noun] the use of living plants as an integral part of the design of buildings.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from BIO- ‘of living organisms’ + a shortened form of ARCHITECTURE.

bioterrorism n. [mass noun] the use of infectious agents or other harmful biological or biochemical substances as weapons of terrorism.

<DERIVATIVES> bioterrorist n.

biotic /btk/ adj. relating to or resulting from living organisms: biotic interactions.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French biotique, or via late Latin from Greek biōtikos, from bios ‘life’.

biotin /bətn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a vitamin of the B complex, found in egg yolk, liver, and yeast. It is involved in the synthesis of fatty acids and glucose. Also called VITAMIN H, especially in North America.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: coined in German from Greek bios ‘life’ + -IN^1.

biotite /bətt/ n. [mass noun] a black, dark brown, or greenish black micaceous mineral, occurring as a constituent of many igneous and metamorphic rocks.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after J.-B. Biot (1774–1862), French mineralogist.

biotope /bətəp/ n. [ECOLOGY] the region of a habitat associated with a particular ecological community.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from German Biotop, based on Greek topos ‘place’.

biotransformation n. [mass noun] the alteration of a substance, typically a drug, within the body.

bioturbation /bətəbe(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the disturbance of sedimentary deposits by living organisms.

<DERIVATIVES> bioturbated adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from BIO- + Latin turbatio(n-), from turbare ‘disturb’.

biotype n. a group of organisms having an identical genetic constitution.

biowarfare n. [mass noun] biological warfare.

bioweapon n. a harmful biological agent used as a weapon of war.

bipartisan /bpαtzan/ adj. of or involving the agreement or cooperation of two political parties that usually oppose each other's policies: the reforms received considerable bipartisan approval.

<DERIVATIVES> bipartisanship n.

bipartite /bpαtt/ adj. 1 involving or made by two separate parties: a bipartite agreement.

2 consisting of two parts: a bipartite uterus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘divided into two parts’): from Latin bipartitus, past participle of bipartire, from bi- ‘two’ + partire ‘to part’.

biped /bpεd/ n. an animal that uses two legs for walking.

■ adj. using two legs for walking.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (earlier (early 17th century) as bipedal): from Latin bipes, biped- (from bi- ‘having two’ + pes, ped- ‘foot’).

bipedal /bpid(ə)l/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of an animal) using only two legs for walking.

<DERIVATIVES> bipedalism n. bipedality /bpidalti/ n.

biphasic /bfezk/ adj. TECHNICAL having two phases.

biphenyl /bfinl bfεnl/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing two phenyl groups bonded together, e.g. the PCBs.

bipinnate /bpnet/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a pinnate leaf) having leaflets that are further subdivided in a pinnate arrangement.

biplane n. an early type of aircraft with two pairs of wings, one above the other.

bipod /bpd/ n. a two-legged stand or support.

bipolar adj. 1 having or relating to two poles or extremities: a sharply bipolar division of affluent and underclass.

- relating to or occurring in both North and South polar regions: bipolar species.

2 (of psychiatric illness) characterized by both manic and depressive episodes, or manic ones only.

- (of a person) suffering from bipolar disorder.

3 (of a nerve cell) having two axons, one either side of the cell body.

4 [ELECTRONICS] (of a transistor or other device) using both positive and negative charge carriers.

<DERIVATIVES> bipolarity n.

bipolar disorder n. [mass noun] a mental disorder marked by alternating periods of elation and depression.

bippy /bpi/ n. (pl. bippies) US INFORMAL a person's buttocks.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: popularized by the US television programme Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, where it was used as a nonsense word with an air of innuendo but intentionally vague meaning: of unknown origin.

biracial adj. concerning or containing members of two racial groups.

biramous /breməs/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (especially of crustacean limbs and antennae) dividing to form two branches.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BI- ‘two’ + RAMUS + -OUS.

birch n. 1 (also birch tree) a slender hardy tree which has thin peeling bark and bears catkins. Birch trees grow chiefly in northern temperate regions and yield hard, pale, fine-grained timber.

<INFO> Genus Betula, family Betulaceae: many species, including the silver birch (B. pendula) of Europe.

2 (the birch) chiefly HISTORICAL a formal punishment in which a person is flogged with a bundle of birch twigs.

■ v. [with obj.] chiefly HISTORICAL beat (someone) with a bundle of birch twigs as a formal punishment.

<DERIVATIVES> birchen adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> Old English bierce, birce, of Germanic origin; related to German Birke.

birchbark n. [mass noun] the impervious bark of the North American paper birch, formerly used by American Indians to make canoes and other items.

Bircher /bətə/ n. a member or supporter of the John Birch Society, an extreme right-wing and anti-communist American organization founded in 1958.

<ORIGIN> from the name of John Birch, a USAF officer and ‘first casualty of the Cold War’, killed by Chinese communists in 1945.

bird n. 1 a warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrate animal distinguished by the possession of feathers, wings, a beak, and typically by being able to fly.

<INFO> Class Aves; birds probably evolved in the Jurassic period from small dinosaurs that may already have been warm-blooded.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an aircraft, spacecraft, or satellite.

2 INFORMAL a person of a specified kind or character: she's a sharp old bird.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL a young woman or a man's girlfriend.

<PHRASES>

□ the bird has flown the person one is looking for has escaped or left.

□ a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush PROVERB it's better to be content with what you have than to risk losing everything by seeking to get more.

□ the birds and the bees INFORMAL basic facts about sex and reproduction, as told to a child.

□ birds of a feather flock together PROVERB people of the same sort or with the same tastes and interests will be found together.

□ do (one's) bird BRITISH INFORMAL serve a prison sentence. [<ORIGIN> [BIRD] from rhyming slang birdlime ‘time’.]

□ flip someone the bird (or flip the bird) US INFORMAL stick one's middle finger up at someone as a sign of contempt or anger.

□ (strictly) for the birds INFORMAL not worthy of consideration.

□ get the bird BRITISH INFORMAL be booed or jeered at.

□ give someone the bird BRITISH INFORMAL boo or jeer at someone.

- North American another way of saying flip someone the bird.

□ have a bird NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be very shocked or agitated.

□ a little bird told me HUMOROUS used to indicate that the speaker knows something but chooses to keep the identity of their informant secret: a little bird told me it was your birthday.

<DERIVATIVES> bird-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English brid ‘chick, fledgling’, of unknown origin.

bird banding n. North American term for BIRD RINGING.

<DERIVATIVES> bird bander n.

bird bath n. a small basin placed in a garden and filled with water for birds to bathe in.

birdbrain n. INFORMAL a silly or stupid person.

<DERIVATIVES> birdbrained adj.

birdcage n. a cage for pet birds, typically made of wire or cane.

bird cherry n. a small wild cherry tree or shrub, with bitter black fruit that is eaten by birds.

<INFO> Prunus padus, family Rosaceae.

bird dog North American n. 1 a gun dog trained to retrieve birds.

2 INFORMAL a talent scout.

■ v. (bird-dog) [with obj.] INFORMAL search out or pursue with dogged determination: reporters bird-dogged the candidates for several weeks.

bird-eating spider (also bird spider) n. another term for tarantula (sense 1).

birder n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a birdwatcher.

bird fancier's lung n. [mass noun] a respiratory disease caused by inhaling dust consisting of feathers, droppings, and other organic matter from birds.

bird flu n. [mass noun] a severe, often fatal, type of influenza that affects birds, especially poultry, and that can also be fatal to humans.

bird house n. North American term for NEST BOX.

birdie n. (pl. birdies) 1 INFORMAL a child's term for a bird.

2 [GOLF] a score of one stroke under par at a hole.

■ v. (birdies, birdying, birdied) [with obj.] [GOLF] play (a hole) with a score of one stroke under par: Drummond birdied the 16th and 17th for a 73.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: diminutive of BIRD; the golf term from US slang [BIRD], denoting any first-rate thing.

birding n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the observation of birds in their natural habitats as a hobby.

birdlime n. [mass noun] a sticky substance spread on to twigs to trap small birds.

bird of paradise n. 1 (pl. birds of paradise) a tropical Australasian bird, the male of which is noted for the beauty and brilliance of its plumage and its spectacular courtship display. Most kinds are found in New Guinea.

<INFO> Family Paradisaeidae: numerous genera.

2 (also bird of paradise flower) a southern African plant related to the banana, which bears a showy irregular flower with a long projecting tongue.

<INFO> Genus Strelitzia, family Strelitziaceae: several species, in particular S. regina, with orange and dark blue flowers.

bird of passage n. 1 a person who passes through a place without staying for long.

2 DATED a migratory bird.

bird of prey n. a bird that feeds on animal flesh, distinguished by a hooked bill and sharp talons; a raptor.

<INFO> Orders Falconiformes (the diurnal birds of prey) and Strigiformes (the owls).

bird pepper n. a tropical American capsicum pepper which is thought to be the ancestor of both sweet and chilli peppers.

<INFO> Capsicum annuum (var. glabriusculum) (or C. frutescens (var. typicum)), family Solanaceae.

- the small, red, very hot fruit of this plant.

- a variety of small hot pepper grown in Asia or Africa.

bird ringing n. [mass noun] the practice of catching birds, marking them with an identifying band around the leg, and then releasing them.

<DERIVATIVES> bird ringer n.

birdseed n. [mass noun] a blend of seed for feeding pet birds.

Birdseye Clarence (1886–1956), American businessman and inventor. He developed a process of rapid freezing of foods in small packages suitable for retail, creating a revolution in eating habits.

bird's-eye n. 1 [usually as modifier] any of a number of plants with small flowers that have contrasting petals and centres, in particular:

<INFO>

- (also bird's-eye primrose) a primrose with yellow-centred purple flowers (Primula farinosa, family Primulaceae).

- (also bird's-eye speedwell)

- North American term for GERMANDER SPEEDWELL

2 (also bird's-eye chilli or bird's-eye pepper) a small very hot chilli pepper.

3 a small geometric pattern woven with a dot in the centre, typically used in suiting and lining fabrics.

bird's-eye maple n. [mass noun] the timber of an American maple which contains eye-like markings, used in decorative woodwork.

bird's-eye view n. a general view from above.

bird's-foot n. (pl. bird's-foots) a European plant of the pea family, which bears pods shaped like the foot of a bird.

<INFO> Ornithopus perpusillus, family Leguminosae.

bird's-foot trefoil n. a small plant of the pea family which has three-lobed leaves, yellow flowers streaked with red, and triple pods that resemble the feet of a bird. Also called EGGS AND BACON or TOM THUMB.

<INFO> Lotus corniculatus, family Leguminosae.

birdshot n. [mass noun] the smallest size of shot for sporting rifles or other guns.

bird's-nest n. 1 a brownish or yellowish saprophytic flowering plant of the wintergreen family, with scale-like leaves.

<INFO> Two species in the family Monotropaceae (or Pyrolaceae): the yellow bird's-nest (Monotropa hypopitys) of north temperate regions, and the giant bird's-nest (Pterospora andromeda) of North America.

2 (also bird's-nest fungus) a Eurasian and North American fungus with a small bowl-shaped fruiting body that opens to reveal egg-shaped organs containing the spores.

<INFO> Family Nidulariaceae, class Gasteromycetes, including the common bird's-nest (Crucibulum laeve).

bird's-nesting n. [mass noun] the action or practice of hunting for birds' nests in order to take the eggs.

bird's-nest orchid n. a European woodland orchid which lacks chlorophyll, the whole plant being yellowish brown. Its nest-like mass of thick roots absorbs nutrients from a soil-dwelling fungus.

<INFO> Neottia nidus-avis, family Orchidaceae.

bird's nest soup n. [mass noun] a soup made in Chinese cookery from the dried gelatinous coating of the nests of swifts and other birds.

birdsong n. [mass noun] the musical vocalizations of a bird or birds, typically uttered by a male songbird in characteristic bursts or phrases for territorial purposes.

bird-strike n. a collision between a bird and an aircraft.

bird table n. BRITISH a small platform or table in a garden on which food for birds is placed.

birdwatching n. [mass noun] the practice of observing birds in their natural environment as a hobby.

<DERIVATIVES> birdwatcher n.

birdwing (also bird-winged butterfly) n. a very large boldly marked butterfly occurring in the tropical parts of Australasia.

<INFO> Genus Ornithoptera, family Papilionidae: several species, including Queen Alexandra's birdwing (O. alexandrae), which is the world's largest butterfly.

birefringent /brfrn(d)(ə)nt/ adj. [PHYSICS] having two different refractive indices.

<DERIVATIVES> birefringence n.

bireme /brim/ n. an ancient warship with two files of oarsmen on each side.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin biremis, from bi- ‘having two’ + remus ‘oar’.

biretta /brεtə/ n. a square cap with three flat projections on top, worn by Roman Catholic clergymen.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian berretta or Spanish birreta, based on late Latin birrus ‘hooded cape’. Compare with BERET.

Birgitta, St /bətə/ variant spelling of Bridget, St^2.

Birkenhead /bəkənhεd/ a town in NW England on the Wirral Peninsula, across the River Mersey from Liverpool; pop. 91,000 (est. 2002).

Birkenstock n. TRADEMARK a type of shoe or sandal with a contoured cork-filled sole and a thick leather upper.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from the name of the manufacturer.

birl /bəl/ Scottish v. spin; whirl: [no obj.] my dad would have birled in his grave at the very idea.

■ n. a spin or whirl.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: imitative.

birlinn /bəln bə-/ n. a large rowing boat or barge of a kind formerly used in the Western Islands of Scotland.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Scottish Gaelic.

Birman /bəmən/ n. a cat of a long-haired breed, typically with a cream body, dark head, tail, and legs, and white paws.

<ORIGIN> variant of BURMAN.

Birmingham 1 an industrial city in west central England; pop. 977,100 (2001).

2 an industrial city in north central Alabama; pop. 242,820 (2000).

biro /brə/ n. (pl. biros) BRITISH TRADEMARK a kind of ballpoint pen.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after László József Bíró (1899–1985), Hungarian inventor of the ballpoint.

birr /bə/ n. the basic monetary unit of Ethiopia, equal to 100 cents.

<ORIGIN> from Amharic.

birth n. [mass noun] the emergence of a baby or other young from the body of its mother; the start of life as a physically separate being: he was blind from birth | [count noun] despite a difficult birth he's fit and healthy.

- the beginning or coming into existence of something: the birth of Socialist Realism.

- a person's origin, descent, or ancestry: the mother is English by birth | he is of noble birth.

■ v. [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN give birth to (a baby or other young): she birthed five children within ten years.

<PHRASES>

□ give birth bear a child or young: she gave birth to a son.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse byrth; related to bear^1.

birth certificate n. an official document issued to record a person's birth and identify them by name, place, date of birth, and parentage.

birth control n. [mass noun] the practice of preventing unwanted pregnancies, especially by use of contraception.

birthdate n. the date on which a person was born.

birthday n. the anniversary of the day on which a person was born.

- the day of a person's birth: he shares a birthday with Rod Stewart.

- the anniversary of something's origin or foundation: the seventy-fifth birthday of the Institute.

<PHRASES>

□ in one's birthday suit HUMOROUS naked.

birthday book n. a book in diary form for recording birthdays.

Birthday Honours plural n. (in Britain) the titles and decorations awarded on a sovereign's official birthday: [as modifier] the Birthday Honours list.

birthing n. [mass noun] the action or process of giving birth.

birthing pool n. a large bath in which a woman may give birth.

birthmark n. an unusual, typically permanent, mark on someone's body which is there from birth.

birth mother n. a woman who has given birth to a child, as opposed to an adoptive mother.

birth parent n. a biological as opposed to an adoptive parent.

birthplace n. the place where a person was born.

- the place where something started or originated: Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance.

birth rate n. the number of live births per thousand of population per year.

birthright n. a particular right of possession or privilege a person has from birth, especially as an eldest son.

- a natural or moral right, possessed by everyone: she saw a liberal education as the birthright of every child.

birth sign n. [ASTROLOGY] the zodiacal sign through which the sun is passing when a person is born.

birthstone n. a gemstone popularly associated with the month or astrological sign of a person's birth.

birthweight n. [mass noun] the weight of a baby at birth.

birthwort n. a climbing or herbaceous plant which typically has heart-shaped leaves and deep-throated, pipe-shaped flowers. It was formerly used as an aid to childbirth and to induce abortion.

<INFO> Genus Aristolochia, family Aristolochiaceae.

Birtwistle /bətws(ə)l/ Sir Harrison (Paul) (b.1934), English composer and clarinettist. His early work was influenced by Stravinsky; later compositions are more experimental.

biryani /brαni/ (also biriani) n. [mass noun] an Indian dish made with highly seasoned rice and meat, fish, or vegetables.

<ORIGIN> Urdu, from Persian biryāni, from biriyān ‘fried, grilled’.

BIS abbr. Bank for International Settlements.

bis /bis/ adv. [MUSIC] (as a direction) again.

<ORIGIN> via French and Italian from Latin, literally ‘twice’.

bis- /bs/ combining form [CHEMISTRY] used to form the names of compounds containing two groups identically substituted or coordinated: bis(2-aminoethyl) ether.

Biscay, Bay of /bske/ a part of the North Atlantic between the north coast of Spain and the west coast of France, noted for its strong currents and storms. The shipping forecast area Biscay extends approximately as far west as the longitude of Gijón in Spain.

biscotti /bskti/ plural n. small rectangular biscuits containing nuts, made originally in Italy.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

biscuit n. 1 BRITISH a small baked unleavened cake, typically crisp, flat, and sweet: a chocolate biscuit.

- NORTH AMERICAN a small, soft round cake like a scone.

2 [mass noun] porcelain or other pottery which has been fired but not glazed.

3 [mass noun] a light brown colour.

4 [CARPENTRY] a small flat piece of wood used to join two larger pieces of wood together, fitting into slots in each.

<PHRASES>

□ take the biscuit (or chiefly NORTH AMERICAN cake) INFORMAL be the most remarkable or foolish of its kind.

<DERIVATIVES> biscuity adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bescuit, based on Latin bis ‘twice’ + coctus, past participle of coquere ‘to cook’ (so named because originally biscuits were cooked in a twofold process: first baked and then dried out in a slow oven so that they would keep).

biscuit barrel n. BRITISH a small barrel-shaped container for biscuits.

biscuit beetle n. a small beetle related to the furniture beetle, with larvae that feed on dried foodstuffs and stored products such as biscuits, pasta, and seeds. Also called DRUGSTORE BEETLE.

<INFO> Stegobium paniceum, family Anobiidae.

biscuit firing (also biscuit fire) n. [mass noun] the first firing of pottery, which permanently hardens the clay.

biscuit jointer n. a tool used to cut slots into pieces of wood so that they can be joined using a biscuit (see BISCUIT (SENSE 4)).

bisect v. [with obj.] divide into two parts: a landscape of ploughland bisected by long straight roads.

- [GEOMETRY] divide (a line, angle, or shape) into two exactly equal parts.

<DERIVATIVES> bisection n. bisector n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from BI- ‘two’ + Latin sect- (from secare ‘to cut’).

biserial adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] arranged in or consisting of two series or rows.

bisexual adj. 1 sexually attracted to both men and women.

2 [BIOLOGY] having characteristics of both sexes.

■ n. a person who is sexually attracted to both men and women.

<DERIVATIVES> bisexuality n.

bish n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a mistake or blunder.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

Bishkek /bkεk/ the capital of Kyrgyzstan; pop. 808,900 (est. 2002). Former names PISHPEK, FRUNZE.

Bisho former name for BHISHO.

Bishop Elizabeth (1911–79), American poet. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her first two collections, North and South (1946) and A Cold Spring (1955).

bishop n. 1 a senior member of the Christian clergy, usually in charge of a diocese and empowered to confer holy orders.

2 (also bishop bird) an African weaver bird, the male of which has red, orange, yellow, or black plumage.

<INFO> Genus Euplectes, family Ploceidae: several species, including the red bishop (E. orix), which has scarlet plumage with a black face and underparts.

3 a chess piece, typically with its top shaped like a mitre, that can move in any direction along a diagonal on which it stands. Each player starts the game with two bishops, one moving on white squares and the other on black.

4 [mass noun] mulled and spiced wine.

<ORIGIN> Old English biscop, bisceop, based on Greek episkopos ‘overseer’, from epi ‘above’ + -skopos ‘-looking’.

bishopric /bəprk/ n. the office or rank of a bishop.

- a district under a bishop's control; a diocese.

<ORIGIN> Old English bisceoprīce, from bisceop (see BISHOP) + rīce ‘realm’.

Bislama /bləmα/ (also Beach-la-mar or Bêche-de-mer) n. [mass noun] an English-based pidgin language used as the national language of Vanuatu, where it shares official status with English and French.

<ORIGIN> alteration of Portuguese bicho do mar ‘sea cucumber’ (traded as a commodity, the word later being applied to the language of trade).

Bismarck^1 /bzmαk/ the state capital of North Dakota; pop. 55,532 (2000). A terminus of the Northern Pacific Railway, it took the name of the German Chancellor in order to attract German capital for railroad-building.

Bismarck^2 /bzmαk/ German /bsmark/ Otto Eduard Leopold von, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (1815–98), Prussian minister and German statesman, Chancellor of the German Empire 1871–90; known as the Iron Chancellor. He was the driving force behind the unification of Germany, orchestrating wars with Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1870–1) in order to achieve this end.

<DERIVATIVES> Bismarckian adj.

Bismarck Sea an arm of the Pacific Ocean north-east of New Guinea and north of New Britain.

bismillah /bsmlə/ exclam. in the name of God (an invocation used by Muslims at the beginning of an undertaking).

<ORIGIN> from Arabic bi-smi-llāh, the first word of the Koran.

bismuth /bzməθ/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 83, a brittle reddish-tinged grey metal. (Symbol: Bi)

- a compound of this element used medicinally.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin bisemutum, Latinization of German Wismut, of unknown origin.

bison /bs(ə)n/ n. (pl. same) a humpbacked shaggy-haired wild ox native to North America and Europe.

<INFO> Genus Bison, family Bovidae: B. bison of North American prairies (also called BUFFALO), and B. bonasus of European forests (also called WISENT), now found only in Poland. These are sometimes regarded as a single species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to WISENT.

bisphenol A /bsfinl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a synthetic organic compound used in the manufacture of epoxy resins and other polymers.

<INFO> A bicyclic phenol; chem. formula: C(CH_3)2(C_6H_4OH)2.

bisque^1 /bsk bisk/ n. [mass noun] a rich shellfish soup, typically made from lobster.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘crayfish soup’.

bisque^2 /bsk/ n. an extra turn or stroke allowed to a weaker player in croquet.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally a term in real tennis): from French, of unknown ultimate origin.

bisque^3 /bsk/ n. another term for biscuit (sense 2).

Bissagos Islands /bsαəs/ a group of islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.

Bissau /bsa/ the capital of Guinea-Bissau; pop. 288,300 (est. 2002).

bistable n. an electronic circuit which has two stable states.

■ adj. (of a system) having two stable states.

bistort /bstt/ n. a Eurasian herbaceous plant with a spike of flesh-coloured flowers and a twisted root.

<INFO> Genus Polygonum, family Polygonaceae: several species, in particular P. bistorta.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French bistorte or medieval Latin bistorta, from bis ‘twice’ + torta (feminine past participle of torquere ‘to twist’).

bistoury /bstri/ n. (pl. bistouries) a surgical knife with a long, narrow, straight or curved blade.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French bistouri, originally bistorie ‘dagger’, of unknown origin.

bistre /bstə/ (US also bister) n. [mass noun] a brownish-yellow pigment made from the soot of burnt wood.

- the colour of this pigment.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, of unknown origin.

bistro /bistrə bs-/ n. (pl. bistros) a small, inexpensive restaurant.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: French; perhaps related to bistouille, a northern colloquial term meaning ‘bad alcohol’, perhaps from Russian bystro ‘rapidly’.

bisulphate (US bisulfate) n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt of the anion HSO_4−.

bit^1 n. 1 a small piece, part, or quantity of something: give the duck a bit of bread | he read bits of his work to me.

- (a bit) a short time or distance: I fell asleep for a bit | can you move over a bit?

- (a bit) a fairly large amount: working in a foreign country took quite a bit of getting used to.

2 [with adj.] INFORMAL a set of actions or ideas associated with a specific group or activity: Miranda could go off and do her theatrical bit.

3 INFORMAL a girl or young woman: he went and married some young bit half his age.

4 (bits) BRITISH INFORMAL a person's genitals.

5 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a unit of 12^1/2 cents (used only in even multiples).

<PHRASES>

□ a bit somewhat; to some extent: he came back looking a bit annoyed.

□ bit by bit gradually: bit by bit the truth started to emerge.

□ a bit of a —— used to suggest that something is not severe or extreme, or is the case only to a limited extent: I have had a bit of an accident | he's a bit of a womanizer.

- used to denote a young person or one of slight build: you're just a bit of a girl yourself.

□ a bit of all right BRITISH INFORMAL a pleasing person or thing, especially a woman regarded in sexual terms.

□ bit of fluff (or skirt or stuff) BRITISH INFORMAL a woman regarded in sexual terms.

□ bit of rough see ROUGH.

□ bit on the side BRITISH INFORMAL 1 a person with whom one is unfaithful to one's partner.

2 money earned outside one's normal job.

□ bits and pieces (or British bobs) an assortment of small items.

□ do one's bit INFORMAL make a useful contribution to an effort or cause: I was persuaded to do my bit for the environment.

□ in bits BRITISH INFORMAL very upset or emotionally affected.

□ not a bit not at all: I'm not a bit tired.

□ not a bit of it BRITISH not at all: Am I being unduly cynical? Not a bit of it.

□ to bits 1 into pieces: both cars were smashed to bits.

2 INFORMAL very much; to a great degree: Vicky was thrilled to bits | I just love him to bits.

<ORIGIN> Old English bita ‘bite, mouthful’, of Germanic origin; related to German Bissen, also to BITE.

bit^2 past of BITE.

bit^3 n. 1 a mouthpiece, typically made of metal, which is attached to a bridle and used to control a horse.

2 a tool or piece for boring or drilling: a drill bit.

- the cutting or gripping part of a plane, pincers, or other tool.

- the part of a key that engages with the lock lever.

- the copper head of a soldering iron.

■ v. [with obj.] put a bit into the mouth of (a horse).

<PHRASES>

□ above the bit (of a horse) carrying its head too high so that it evades correct contact with the bit.

□ behind the bit (of a horse) carrying its head with the chin tucked in so that it evades contact with the bit.

□ get (or take or have) the bit between (or North American in) one's teeth begin to tackle a problem or task in a determined or independent way.

□ off the bit (or bridle) (of a horse) ridden on a loose rein to allow it to gallop freely.

□ on the bit (or bridle) (of a horse) ridden with a light but firm contact on the mouth.

<DERIVATIVES> bitted adj. [in combination] a double-bitted axe

<ORIGIN> Old English bite ‘biting, a bite’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch beet and German Biss, also to BITE.

bit^4 n. [COMPUTING] a unit of information expressed as either a 0 or 1 in binary notation.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: blend of BINARY and DIGIT.

bitch n. 1 a female dog, wolf, fox, or otter.

2 INFORMAL a spiteful or unpleasant woman.

- BLACK SLANG a woman (used in a non-derogatory sense).

3 (a bitch) INFORMAL a difficult or unpleasant situation or thing: working the night shift is a bitch.

4 INFORMAL a complaint: my big bitch is that there's nothing new here.

■ v. [no obj.] INFORMAL make spitefully critical comments: everybody was bitching about their colleagues.

<ORIGIN> Old English bicce, of Germanic origin.

bitchery n. [mass noun] INFORMAL malicious or spiteful behaviour.

bitching (also bitchen) US INFORMAL adj. excellent: a bitching new album.

■ adv. [as submodifier] extremely: it's bitchin' hot, ain't it?

bitch-slap v. [with obj.] US INFORMAL deliver a stinging blow to (someone), typically in order to humiliate them: I would have bitch-slapped him for talking that way.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: originally black English, referring to a woman hitting or haranguing her male partner.

bitchy adj. (bitchier, bitchiest) INFORMAL malicious or spitefully critical: bitchy remarks.

<DERIVATIVES> bitchily adv. bitchiness n.

bite v. (past bit; past participle bitten) [with obj.] 1 use the teeth to cut into (something): the woman's arm was bitten off by an alligator | [no obj.] Rosa bit into a cream cake.

- use the teeth in order to inflict injury on: she had bitten, scratched, and kicked her assailant.

- (of a snake, insect, or spider) wound with fangs, pincers, or a sting: while on holiday she was bitten by an adder.

- [no obj.] (of an acid) corrode a surface: chemicals have bitten deep into the stone.

- [no obj.] (of a fish) take the bait or lure on the end of a fishing line into the mouth.

- [no obj.] INFORMAL be persuaded to accept a deal or offer: a hundred or so retailers should bite.

- INFORMAL annoy or worry: what's biting you today?

2 [no obj.] (of a tool, tyre, boot, etc.) grip or take hold on a surface: once on the slab, my boots failed to bite.

- (of an object) press into a part of the body, causing pain: the handcuffs bit into his wrists.

- cause emotional pain: Cheryl's betrayal had bitten deep.

- (of a policy or situation) take effect, with unpleasant consequences: the cuts in art education were starting to bite.

- North American INFORMAL be very bad, unpleasant, or unfortunate.

3 (bite something back) refrain with difficulty from saying something, making a sound, or expressing an emotion: Melissa bit back a scathing comment.

■ n. 1 an act of biting something in order to eat it: Stephen ate a hot dog in three big bites.

- a wound inflicted by an animal's or a person's teeth: Percy's dog had given her a nasty bite.

- a wound inflicted by a snake, insect, or spider: my legs were covered in mosquito bites.

- an instance of bait being taken by a fish: by four o'clock he still hadn't had a single bite.

- [DENTISTRY] the bringing together of the teeth in occlusion.

2 a piece cut off by biting: Robyn took a large bite out of her sandwich.

- INFORMAL a quick snack: I plan to stop off in the village and have a bite to eat.

- a small morsel of prepared food, intended to constitute one mouthful: bacon bites with cheese.

- FIGURATIVE a short piece of information.

3 a sharp or pungent flavour: a fresh, lemony bite.

- [mass noun] incisiveness or cogency of style: the tale has added bite if its characters appear to be real.

- a feeling of cold in the air or wind: by early October there's a bite in the air.

<PHRASES>

□ someone's bark is worse than their bite said of someone whose fierce and intimidating manner does not reflect their nature.

□ be bitten by the —— bug develop a passionate interest in a specified activity: Joe was badly bitten by the showbiz bug at the age of four.

□ bite the big one NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL die.

□ bite the bullet decide to do something difficult or unpleasant that one has been putting off or hesitating over. [<ORIGIN> from the old custom of giving wounded soldiers a bullet to bite on when undergoing surgery without anaesthetic.]

□ bite the dust INFORMAL be killed.

- fail or come to an end: she hoped the new course would not bite the dust for lack of funding.

□ bite the hand that feeds one deliberately hurt or offend a benefactor.

□ bite someone's head off see HEAD.

□ bite one's lip repress an emotion; stifle laughter or a retort.

□ bite one's nails chew at one's nails as a nervous habit.

□ bite off more than one can chew take on a commitment one cannot fulfil.

□ the biter bitten (or bit) used to indicate that someone is being treated in the same way that they have treated others, typically badly.

□ bite one's tongue make a desperate effort to avoid saying something: I had to bite my tongue and accept his explanation.

□ one could have bitten one's tongue off used to convey that one profoundly and immediately regrets having said something: as soon as he had spoken, Grant could have bitten his tongue off.

□ once bitten, twice shy PROVERB an unpleasant experience induces caution.

□ put the bite on NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL borrow or extort money from. [<ORIGIN> 1930s (originally US): bite, from the slang sense ‘deception’.]

□ take a bite out of INFORMAL reduce by a significant amount: commissions that can take a bite out of your retirement funds.

<DERIVATIVES> biter n.

<ORIGIN> Old English bītan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bijten and German beissen.

biternate /btənet/ adj. [BOTANY] (especially of a ternate leaf) having leaflets or other parts that are further subdivided in a ternate arrangement.

bite-sized (also bite-size) adj. (of a piece of food) small enough to be eaten in one mouthful: cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.

- INFORMAL very small or short: a series of bite-sized essays.

Bithynia /bθnə/ the ancient name for the region of NW Asia Minor west of ancient Paphlagonia, bordering the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.

biting adj. 1 (of insects and certain other animals) able to wound the skin with a sting or fangs.

2 (of wind or cold) so cold as to be painful: he leant forward to protect himself against the biting wind.

- (of wit or criticism) harsh or cruel: his biting satire on corruption and power.

<DERIVATIVES> bitingly adv.

biting midge n. a minute fly which typically occurs in large swarms. The female has piercing mouthparts and feeds on the blood of a variety of animals, including humans.

<INFO> Family Ceratopogonidae: numerous genera and species, including the common European Culicoides obsoletus.

bitmap [COMPUTING] n. a representation in which each item corresponds to one or more bits of information, especially the information used to control the display of a computer screen.

■ v. (bitmaps, bitmapping, bitmapped) [with obj.] represent (an item) as a bitmap.

bitonal /btən(ə)l/ adj. (of music) having parts in two different keys sounding together.

<DERIVATIVES> bitonality n.

bit part n. a small acting role in a play or a film.

bit rate n. [ELECTRONICS] the number of bits per second that can be transmitted along a digital network.

Bitrex /btrεks/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a bitter-tasting synthetic organic compound added to cleaning fluids or other products to make them unpalatable.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: an invented name.

bitstream /btstrim/ n. [ELECTRONICS] a stream of data in binary form.

- (Bitstream) TRADEMARK a system of digital-to-analogue signal conversion used in some audio CD players, in which the signal from the CD is digitally processed to give a signal at a higher frequency before being converted to an analogue signal.

bitten past participle of BITE.

bitter adj. 1 having a sharp, pungent taste or smell; not sweet: raw berries have an intensely bitter flavour.

- (of chocolate) dark and unsweetened.

2 feeling or showing anger, hurt, or resentment because of bad experiences or a sense of unjust treatment: I don't feel jealous or bitter | she wept bitter tears of self-reproach.

- (of a conflict, argument, or opponent) full of anger and acrimony: a bitter five-year legal battle.

3 painful or unpleasant to accept or contemplate: today's decision has come as a bitter blow | she knew from bitter experience how treacherous such feelings could be.

4 (of wind or weather) intensely cold: a bitter February night.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] BRITISH beer that is strongly flavoured with hops and has a bitter taste.

2 (bitters) [treated as sing.] alcohol flavoured with bitter plant extracts, used as an additive in cocktails or as a medicinal substance to promote appetite or digestion.

<PHRASES>

□ to the bitter end used to indicate that one will continue doing something until it is finished, no matter what: the workers would fight to the bitter end. [<ORIGIN> perhaps associated with a nautical word bitter denoting the last part of a cable inboard of the BITTS, perhaps influenced by the biblical phrase ‘her end is bitter as wormwood’ (Prov. 5:4).]

<DERIVATIVES> bitterly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English biter, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German bitter, and probably to BITE.

bitter apple n. another term for COLOCYNTH.

bittercress n. a plant with small white flowers, which grows widely as a temperate weed, especially in damp soils.

<INFO> Genus Cardamine, family Cruciferae: several species.

bitter-ender n. INFORMAL a person who holds out until the end, no matter what.

- (in southern African history) a Boer who refused to surrender towards the end of the Second Boer War.

bitter greens plural n. NORTH AMERICAN mixed green leaves of a variety of salad vegetables with a bitter taste, such as endives, chicory, or spinach.

bitter lemon n. [mass noun] BRITISH a carbonated semi-sweet soft drink flavoured with lemons.

bitterling n. a small brightly coloured freshwater fish of central Europe. The eggs are deposited inside a mussel, in which they are fertilized and the young eventually hatch.

<INFO> Rhodeus amarus, family Cyprinidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Bitterling, from bitter ‘bitter’ (translating Latin amarus) + -LING.

bittern^1 /btən/ n. a large marshbird of the heron family, which is typically smaller than a heron, with brown streaked plumage. The larger kinds are noted for the deep booming call of the male in the breeding season.

<INFO> Genera Botaurus and Ixobrychus, family Ardeidae: several species, especially the Eurasian bittern (B. stellaris) and the American bittern (B. lentiginosus).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English bitore, from Old French butor, based on Latin butio ‘bittern’ + taurus ‘bull’ (because of its call). The -n was added in the 16th century, perhaps by association with hern, obsolete variant of HERON.

bittern^2 /bt(ə)n/ (also bitterns) n. [mass noun] a concentrated solution of various salts remaining after the crystallization of salt from seawater.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: probably from the adjective BITTER.

bitterness n. 1 sharpness of taste; lack of sweetness: the lime juice imparts a slight bitterness.

2 anger and disappointment at being treated unfairly; resentment: he expressed bitterness over his dismissal without notice.

bitter orange n. another term for SEVILLE ORANGE.

bitter pit n. [mass noun] a disease of apples caused by calcium deficiency, characterized by sunken brown spots.

bitter-sweet adj. 1 (of food or drink) sweet with a bitter aftertaste.

2 arousing pleasure tinged with sadness or pain: bitter-sweet memories of his time in London.

■ n. (usually bittersweet) 1 another term for WOODY NIGHTSHADE (see NIGHTSHADE).

2 a vine-like American climbing plant which bears clusters of bright orange pods.

<INFO> Genus Celastrus, family Celastraceae: several species.

3 (also bittersweet shell) a widely distributed bivalve mollusc which has a pale rounded shell that is typically marked with wavy lines.

<INFO> Genus Glycymeris, family Glycymeridae.

bittersweet chocolate n. North American term for PLAIN CHOCOLATE.

bitts plural n. a pair of posts on the deck of a ship for fastening mooring lines or cables.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Low German origin.

bitty INFORMAL adj. (bittier, bittiest) 1 chiefly BRITISH made up of small parts that seem unrelated: the text is rather bitty.

2 [usually in combination] NORTH AMERICAN tiny: a little-bitty girl.

<DERIVATIVES> bittily adv. bittiness n.

Bitumastic /btjmastk/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an asphaltic composition used as a protective coating.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BITUMEN and MASTIC.

bitumen /btjmən/ n. [mass noun] a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons obtained naturally or as a residue from petroleum distillation. It is used for road surfacing and roofing.

- Australian INFORMAL a tarred road surface: a kilometre and a half of bitumen.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting naturally occurring asphalt used as mortar): from Latin.

bituminize /btjumnz/ (also bituminise) v. [with obj.] convert into, impregnate with, or cover with bitumen.

<DERIVATIVES> bituminization n.

bituminous /btjumnəs/ adj. of, containing, or of the nature of bitumen.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French bitumineux, from Latin bituminosus.

bituminous coal n. [mass noun] black coal having a relatively high volatile content and burning with a characteristically bright smoky flame.

bitwise adj. [COMPUTING] denoting an operator in a programming language which manipulates the individual bits in a byte or word.

bitzer /btsə/ (also bitser) n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a contraption made from previously unrelated parts.

- a mongrel dog.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: abbreviation of the phrase bits and pieces.

bivalence /bvel(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] [LOGIC] the existence of only two states or truth values (e.g. true and false).

bivalent adj. 1 /bv(ə)l(ə)nt/ [BIOLOGY] (of homologous chromosomes) associated in pairs.

2 /bvel(ə)nt/ [CHEMISTRY] another term for DIVALENT.

■ n. /bv(ə)l(ə)nt/ [BIOLOGY] a pair of homologous chromosomes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BI- ‘two’ + Latin valent- ‘being strong’ (from the verb valere).

bivalve n. an aquatic mollusc which has a compressed body enclosed within a hinged shell, such as oysters, mussels, and scallops. Also called PELECYPOD or LAMELLIBRANCH.

<INFO> Class Bivalvia (formerly Pelecypoda or Lamellibranchia).

■ adj. (also bivalved) 1 (of a mollusc or other aquatic invertebrate) having a hinged double shell.

2 [BOTANY] having two valves.

bivariate /bvεrət/ adj. [STATISTICS] involving or depending on two variates.

bivouac /bvak bvwak/ n. a temporary camp without tents or cover, used especially by soldiers or mountaineers.

■ v. (bivouacs, bivouacking, bivouacked) [no obj.] stay in a bivouac: we bivouacked on the north side of the town.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting a night watch by the whole army): from French, probably from Swiss German Bîwacht ‘additional guard at night’, apparently denoting a citizens' patrol supporting the ordinary town watch.

bivvy INFORMAL n. (pl. bivvies) a small tent or temporary shelter.

■ v. (bivvies, bivvying, bivvied) [no obj.] stay in a small tent or temporary shelter.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of BIVOUAC.

biweekly adj. & adv. appearing or taking place every two weeks or twice a week: [as adj.] a biweekly bulletin.

■ n. (pl. biweeklies) a periodical that appears every two weeks or twice a week.

bi-wiring n. [mass noun] the use of two wires between an amplifier and a loudspeaker to operate the low- and high-frequency speaker circuits separately.

biyearly adj. & adv. appearing or taking place every two years or twice a year.

biz n. INFORMAL a business, especially one connected with entertainment: the music biz.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): abbreviation.

bizarre /bzα/ adj. very strange or unusual: a bizarre situation | his behaviour became more and more bizarre.

<DERIVATIVES> bizarrely adv. [sentence adv.] bizarrely, he doesn't like desserts bizarreness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian bizzarro ‘angry’, of unknown origin.

bizarrerie /bzαrəri/ n. (pl. bizarreries) a thing considered extremely strange and unusual, especially in an amusing way.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from BIZARRE.

bizarro /bzαrə/ adj. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN bizarre.

Bizerta /bzətə/ (also Bizerte) a seaport on the northern coast of Tunisia; pop. 108,900 (2000).

Bizet /bize/ Georges (1838–75), French composer; born Alexandre César Léopold Bizet. He is best known for the opera Carmen (1875).

Bjerknes /bjəknəs/ Vilhelm Frimann Koren (1862–1951), Norwegian geophysicist and meteorologist. He developed a theory of physical hydrodynamics for atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and mathematical models for weather prediction. His son Jacob (1897–1975) built on his father's work, and through his development of a model for the structure and behaviour of cyclones (he introduced the term front to meteorology) became a major contributor to theoretical meteorology and practical weather forecasting.

Bk symbol the chemical element berkelium.

bk abbr. book.

BL abbr.

- (in Scotland and Ireland) Bachelor of Law.

- bill of lading.

- HISTORICAL British Leyland.

- British Library.

bl abbr. barrel.

blab v. (blabs, blabbing, blabbed) [no obj.] INFORMAL reveal secrets by indiscreet talk: she blabbed to the press | [with obj.] there's no need to blab the whole story.

- talk foolishly or mindlessly: they blab on about responsibility.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun): probably of Germanic origin; ultimately imitative.

blabber INFORMAL v. [no obj.] talk foolishly, indiscreetly, or excessively: she blabbered on and on.

■ n. a person who blabbers.

- [mass noun] foolish, indiscreet, or excessive talk: the obsequious blabber of her servants.

blabbermouth n. INFORMAL a person who talks excessively or indiscreetly.

Black Joseph (1728–99), Scottish chemist. He was important in developing accurate techniques for following chemical reactions by weighing reactants and products, and formulated the concepts of latent heat and thermal capacity.

black adj. 1 of the very darkest colour due to the absence of or complete absorption of light; the opposite of white: black smoke | her long black hair.

- (of the sky or night) completely dark due to the sun, moon, or stars not being visible: the sky was moonless and black.

- (of a plant or animal) dark in colour as distinguished from a lighter variety: Japanese black pine.

- (of coffee or tea) served without milk.

- of or denoting the suits spades and clubs in a pack of cards.

- (of a ski run) of the highest level of difficulty, as indicated by black markers positioned along it.

2 (also Black) belonging to or denoting any human group having dark-coloured skin, especially of African or Australian Aboriginal ancestry.

- relating to black people: black culture.

3 characterized by tragic or disastrous events; causing despair or pessimism: five thousand men were killed on the blackest day of the war | the future looks black.

- (of a person's state of mind) full of gloom or misery; very depressed: Jean had disappeared and Mary was in a black mood.

- (of humour) presenting tragic or harrowing situations in comic terms.

- full of anger or hatred: Rory shot her a black look.

- ARCHAIC very evil or wicked: my soul is steeped in the blackest sin.

4 BRITISH DATED (of goods or work) not to be handled or undertaken by trade union members, especially so as to express support for an industrial dispute elsewhere: the union declared the ship black.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] black colour or pigment: a tray decorated in black and green.

- black clothes or material, typically worn as a sign of mourning: only one or two of the mourners were in black.

- darkness, especially of night or an overcast sky: the only thing visible in the black was the light of the torch.

- (Black) the player of the black pieces in chess or draughts.

- [count noun] a black thing, in particular the black ball in snooker.

2 (also Black) a member of a dark-skinned people, especially one of African or Australian Aboriginal ancestry.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL blackcurrant cordial: a rum and black.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (something) black, especially with polish: the steps of the house were neatly blacked.

- make (one's face and other visible parts) black with polish or make-up so as not to be seen at night or to play the role of a black person in a play or film: white extras blacking up their faces to play Ethiopians.

2 BRITISH DATED refuse to handle (goods), undertake (work), or have dealings with (a person or business) as a way of taking industrial action: the printers blacked firms trying to employ women.

<PHRASES>

□ black someone's eye hit someone in the eye so as to cause bruising.

□ black-on-black denoting harmful actions in which both the perpetrator and the victim are black: the American media was saturated with stories of black-on-black violence.

□ in the black not owing any money; solvent.

□ in someone's black books INFORMAL in disfavour with someone.

□ look on the black side INFORMAL view a situation from a pessimistic angle.

□ men in black INFORMAL anonymous dark-clothed men who supposedly visit people who have reported an encounter with a UFO or an alien in order to prevent them publicizing it.

□ not as black as one is painted INFORMAL not as bad as one is said to be.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ black out undergo a sudden and temporary loss of consciousness.

□ black something out 1 extinguish all lights or completely cover windows, especially for protection against an air attack.

- subject a place to an electricity failure: Chicago was blacked out yesterday after a freak flood.

2 obscure something completely so that it cannot be read or seen: the number plate had been blacked out with masking tape.

- (of a television company) decide not to broadcast a disputed or controversial programme.

<DERIVATIVES> blackish adj. blackly adv. blackness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English blæc, of Germanic origin.

<USAGE> Evidence for the use of black to refer to African peoples (and their descendants) dates back at least to the late 14th century. Although the word has been in continuous use ever since, other terms have enjoyed prominence too: in the US coloured was the term adopted in preference by emancipated slaves following the American Civil War, and coloured was itself superseded in the US in the early 20th century by Negro as the term preferred by prominent black American campaigners such as Booker T. Washington. In Britain, on the other hand, coloured was the most widely used and accepted term in the 1950s and early 1960s. With the civil rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s, black was adopted by Americans of African origin to signify a sense of racial pride, and it remains the most widely used and generally accepted term in Britain today. See also AFRICAN AMERICAN and AFRO-AMERICAN.

black Africa the area of Africa, generally south of the Sahara, where black people predominate.

blackamoor /blakəm -mə/ n. ARCHAIC a black African or a very dark-skinned person.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from BLACK + MOOR.

black and blue adj. covered in livid bruises.

black and tan n. 1 a terrier of a breed with a black back and tan markings on face, flanks, and legs.

2 [mass noun] BRITISH a drink composed of stout and bitter.

Black and Tans an armed force recruited by the British government to fight Sinn Fein in Ireland in 1920–1. Their harsh methods caused an outcry in Britain and America.

<ORIGIN> so named because of the mixture of military khaki and black constabulary colours of their uniform.

black and white adj. 1 (of a photograph, film, television programme, etc.) in black, white, shades of grey, and no other colour: old black-and-white movies.

2 (of a situation or debate) involving clearly defined opposing principles or issues: it was all grey areas; no black-and-white certainties.

■ n. US INFORMAL a police car.

<PHRASES>

□ in black and white 1 in writing or print: she had abandoned all hope of getting her contract down in black and white.

2 in terms of clearly defined opposing principles or issues: children think in black and white, good and bad.

black ant n. a small ant which is black in colour and is typically found in and around houses.

<INFO> Several species in the family Formicidae.

black art n. (often the black arts)

■ another term for BLACK MAGIC.

- HUMOROUS a technique or practice considered mysterious and sinister: the black art of political news management.

blackball v. [with obj.] reject (a candidate applying to become a member of a private club), typically by means of a secret ballot.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the practice of registering an adverse vote by placing a black ball in a ballot box.

black bass n. a North American freshwater fish of the sunfish family, which is a popular sporting and food fish.

<INFO> Genus Micropterus, family Centrarchidae: several species, in particular the largemouth bass (M. salmoides) and the smallmouth bass (M. dolomieui).

black bean n. 1 either of two cultivated varieties of bean plant having small black seeds:

<INFO>

- a variety of soy bean, used fermented in oriental cooking.

- a Mexican variety of the French bean.

- the dried seed of the black bean plants, used as a vegetable.

2 either of two Australian plants of the pea family:

<INFO>

- a liana with blackish flowers (Kennedia nigricans, family Leguminosae).

- another term for MORETON BAY CHESTNUT

black bear n. a medium-sized forest-dwelling bear with blackish fur and a paler face, found in North America and east Asia.

<INFO> Two species, family Ursidae: the American black bear (Ursus americanus), with a wide range of coat colour, and the smaller Asian black bear (Selenarctos thibetanus).

black beetle n. BRITISH INFORMAL the common cockroach.

black belt n. a black belt worn by an expert in judo, karate, and other martial arts.

- a person qualified to wear a black belt.

blackberry n. (pl. blackberries) 1 an edible soft fruit consisting of a cluster of soft purple-black drupelets.

2 the prickly climbing shrub of the rose family which bears blackberries. Also called BRAMBLE.

<INFO> Rubus fruticosus, family Rosaceae (sometimes treated as an aggregate of many species).

■ v. (blackberries, blackberrying, blackberried) [no obj.] (usually as n. blackberrying) gather blackberries in the wild.

black bile n. [mass noun] (in medieval science and medicine) one of the four bodily humours, believed to be associated with a melancholy temperament. Also called MELANCHOLY.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: translation of Greek melankholia (see MELANCHOLY). Compare with ATRABILIOUS.

black bindweed n. [mass noun] a twining European weed related to the docks, with heart-shaped leaves and small white flowers.

<INFO> Fallopia convolvulus, family Polygonaceae.

blackbird n. 1 an Old World thrush with mainly black plumage.

<INFO> Genus Turdus, family Turdidae: four species, in particular T. merula, the male of which has all-black plumage and a yellow bill.

2 (also American blackbird) a New World songbird with a strong pointed bill. The male has black plumage that is iridescent or has patches of red or yellow.

<INFO> Family Icteridae (the American blackbird family): several genera and species, including the abundant red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus).

3 HISTORICAL a black or Polynesian captive on a slave ship.

blackboard n. a large board with a smooth dark surface attached to a wall or supported on an easel and used by teachers in schools for writing on with chalk.

black body n. [PHYSICS] a hypothetical perfect absorber and radiator of energy, with no reflecting power.

black bottom n. a popular American dance of the 1920s.

black box n. a flight recorder in an aircraft.

- INFORMAL a complex piece of equipment with contents which are mysterious to the user.

blackboy n. an Australian tree or erect shrub with long, stiff grass-like leaves. Flowering in some species is stimulated by fire. Also called GRASS TREE.

<INFO> Genus Xanthorrhoea, family Xanthorrhoeaceae: several species, including a tree (X. preissii) with a thick dark trunk and a palm-like crown of leaves, and a shrub (X. australis) with a short buried trunk and leaves on the surface of the ground.

black bread n. [mass noun] a coarse dark-coloured type of rye bread.

black bryony n. a climbing European hedgerow plant with broad glossy leaves, poisonous red berries, and black tubers.

<INFO> Tamus communis, the only European member of the yam family (Dioscoreaceae).

blackbuck n. a small Indian gazelle, the horned male of which has a black back and white underbelly, the female being hornless. Also called SASIN.

<INFO> Antilope cervicapra, family Bovidae.

black bulgar n. a cup-shaped stemless black fungus which grows on the fallen trunks and branches of broadleaved trees in Europe.

<INFO> Bulgaria inquinans, family Helotiaceae, subdivision Ascomycotina.

black bun n. [mass noun] rich fruit cake in a pastry case, traditionally eaten in Scotland at New Year.

Blackburn an industrial town in NW England; pop. 137,471 (2001).

blackbutt n. a tall straight-trunked Australian eucalyptus tree, typically with fire-charred fibrous bark on the lower trunk and with pale brown timber.

<INFO> Eucalyptus pilularis, family Myrtaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BLACK + BUTT^3 in the sense ‘tree trunk’.

black butter n. [mass noun] a sauce made by heating butter until it is brown and, typically, adding vinegar.

blackcap n. 1 a mainly European warbler with a black cap in the male and a reddish-brown one in the female.

<INFO> Sylvia atricapilla, family Sylviidae.

2 NORTH AMERICAN the black-capped chickadee.

<INFO> Parus atricapillus, family Paridae.

Black Carib n. [mass noun] a language derived from Island Carib with borrowings from Spanish, English, and French, spoken in isolated parts of Central America by descendants of people transported from the Lesser Antilles.

black caucus n. US a political caucus composed of black people interested in advancing the concerns of blacks.

blackcock n. (pl. same) the male of the black grouse.

black consciousness n. [mass noun] awareness of one's identity as a black person.

Black Country a district of the English Midlands with much heavy industry.

blackcurrant n. 1 a small round edible black berry which grows in loose hanging clusters.

2 the widely cultivated shrub which bears blackcurrants.

<INFO> Ribes nigrum, family Grossulariaceae.

Black Death the great epidemic of a disease thought to be bubonic plague, that killed a large proportion of the population of Europe in the mid 14th century. It originated in central Asia and China and spread rapidly through Europe, carried by the fleas of black rats, reaching England in 1348 and killing between one third and one half of the population in a matter of months.

<ORIGIN> a modern term (compare with earlier the (great) pestilence, great death, the plague), said to have been introduced into English history by Mrs Markham (pseudonym of Mrs Penrose) in 1823, and into medical literature by a translation of German der Schwarze Tod (1833).

black diamond n. 1 INFORMAL a lump of coal.

2 a dark, opaque form of diamond. Also called CARBONADO.

3 [usually as modifier] NORTH AMERICAN a difficult ski slope: a steep, black-diamond run.

black dog n. a metaphorical representation of melancholy or depression.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (earlier as a name used during Queen Anne's reign for a bad shilling). Winston Churchill used the expression when alluding to his periodic bouts of depression.

black durgon /də(ə)n/ n. a black triggerfish that occurs worldwide in tropical seas.

<INFO> Melichthys niger, family Balistidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: durgon perhaps from English dialect durgan or durgen ‘undersized person or animal’.

black economy n. BRITISH the part of a country's economic activity which is unrecorded and untaxed by its government.

blacken v. make or become black or dark, especially as a result of burning, decay, or bruising: [with obj.] stone blackened by the soot of ages | (as adj. blackened) she smiled at Mary, revealing blackened teeth | [no obj.] he set light to the paper, watching the end blacken as it burned.

- [with obj.] dye or colour (the face or hair) black for camouflage or cosmetic effect.

- [with obj.] damage or destroy (someone's reputation) by speaking badly of them: she won't thank you for blackening her husband's name.

black English n. [mass noun] any of various forms of English spoken by black people, especially as an urban dialect in the US.

Blackett /blakt/ Patrick Maynard Stuart, Baron (1897–1974), English physicist. Blackett was a member of the Maud Committee, which dealt with the development of the atom bomb. He also modified the cloud chamber for the study of cosmic rays. Nobel Prize for Physics (1948).

black eye n. an area of bruised skin around the eye resulting from a blow.

black-eyed bean (also black-eye bean, US black-eyed pea) n. a creamy-white edible bean which has a black mark at the point where it was attached to the pod.

<INFO> This bean is obtained from Vigna sinensis, family Leguminosae.

black-eyed Susan n. any of a number of plants having flowers with yellowish petals and a dark centre:

<INFO>

- a slender tropical climber popular as an indoor or greenhouse plant (Thunbergia alata, family Acanthaceae).

- a rudbeckia grown in gardens (Rudbeckia hirta and its hybrids, family Compositae).

blackface n. 1 a sheep of a breed with a black face.

2 [mass noun] make-up used by a non-black performer playing a black role.

blackfellow n. AUSTRALIAN OFFENSIVE an Aboriginal.

black-figure n. [usually as modifier] a type of ancient Greek pottery, originating in Corinth in the 7th century BC, in which figures are painted in black, details being added by incising through to the red clay background: a black-figure amphora. Compare with RED-FIGURE.

blackfish n. (pl. same or blackfishes) 1 any of a number of dark-coloured fish:

<INFO>

- an open-ocean fish related to the perches (genera Centrolophus and Schedophilus, family Centrolophidae), in particular the large and widespread C. niger.

- (Alaska blackfish) a small fish occurring along the Arctic coasts of Alaska and Siberia, noted for its ability to withstand freezing (Dallia pectoralis, family Umbridae).

- (river blackfish) a large fish of Australian rivers (Gadopsis marmoratus, family Gadopsidae).

- another term for LUDERICK

- another term for GALJOEN

- a salmon just after spawning.

2 another term for PILOT WHALE.

black flag n. 1 HISTORICAL a pirate's ensign, typically thought to feature a white skull and crossbones on a black background.

2 HISTORICAL a black flag hoisted outside a prison to announce an execution.

3 [MOTOR RACING] a black flag used to signal to a driver that he must stop at the pits as a punishment for a misdemeanour.

blackfly n. (pl. same or blackflies) 1 a black or dark green aphid which is a common pest of crops and gardens.

<INFO> Several species in the family Aphididae, in particular Aphis fabae.

2 (also black fly) a small black fly, the female of which sucks blood and can transmit a number of serious human and animal diseases.

<INFO> Family Simuliidae: Simulium and other genera.

Blackfoot n. (pl. same or Blackfeet) 1 a member of a confederacy of North American Indian peoples of the north-western plains. The Blackfoot confederacy was made up of three closely related tribes: the Blackfoot proper or Siksika, the Bloods, and the Peigan.

2 [mass noun] the Algonquian language of the Blackfoot, with about 6,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Blackfoot or their language.

Black Forest a hilly wooded region of SW Germany, lying to the east of the Rhine valley. German name SCHWARZWALD.

Black Forest gateau (North American Black Forest cake) n. a chocolate sponge having layers of morello cherries or cherry jam and whipped cream and topped with chocolate icing.

Black Friar n. a Dominican friar.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: so named because of the colour of the order's habit.

black frost n. [mass noun] frost which does not have a white surface.

black gold n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL oil.

black grouse n. (pl. same) a large Eurasian grouse, the male of which has glossy blue-black plumage and a lyre-shaped tail. The males display in communal leks.

<INFO> Tetrao tetrix, family Tetraonidae (or Phasianidae); the male is called a blackcock and the female a greyhen.

blackguard /blaαd -əd/ DATED n. a man who behaves in a dishonourable or contemptible way.

■ v. [with obj.] abuse or disparage (someone) scurrilously.

<DERIVATIVES> blackguardly adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally as two words): from BLACK + GUARD. The term originally denoted a body of attendants or servants, especially the menials who had charge of kitchen utensils, but the exact significance of the epithet ‘black’ is uncertain. The sense ‘scoundrel, villain’ dates from the mid 18th century, and was formerly considered highly offensive.

black guillemot n. a seabird of the auk family with black summer plumage and large white wing patches, breeding on the coasts of the Arctic and North Atlantic.

<INFO> Cepphus grylle, family Alcidae.

blackhead n. 1 a plug of sebum in a hair follicle, darkened by oxidation.

2 [mass noun] an infectious disease of turkeys producing discoloration of the head, caused by a protozoon.

Black Hills a range of mountains in east Wyoming and west South Dakota. The highest point is Harney Peak (2,207 m, 7,242 ft); the range also includes the sculptured granite face of Mount Rushmore.

black hole n. [ASTRONOMY] a region of space having a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation can escape.

- INFORMAL a place where money or lost items apparently disappear without trace.

Black holes are probably formed when a massive star exhausts its nuclear fuel and collapses under its own gravity. If the star is massive enough no known force can counteract the increasing gravity, and it will collapse to a point of infinite density. Before this stage is reached, within a certain radius (the event horizon) light itself becomes trapped and the object becomes invisible.

Black Hole of Calcutta a dungeon 6 metres (20 feet) square in Fort William, Calcutta (now Kolkata), where perhaps as many as 146 English prisoners were confined overnight following the capture of the city by the nawab of Bengal in 1756. Only twenty-three of them were still alive the next morning.

black house n. a traditional single-storeyed Scottish house built of turf or mortarless stone, typically lacking a chimney and roofed with turf or thatch.

black ice n. [mass noun] a transparent coating of ice, especially on a road surface.

black information n. [mass noun] information held by banks, credit agencies, or other financial institutions about people who are considered bad credit risks.

blacking n. [mass noun] black paste or polish, especially that used on shoes.

blackjack n. 1 [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a gambling card game in which players try to acquire cards with a face value totalling 21 and no more. Also called PONTOON^1, VINGT-ET-UN.

2 a widely distributed weed related to the bur-marigold, with barbed black seeds. [<ORIGIN> perhaps from SENSE 3, drawing a comparison between the shape of the seeds and a bludgeon.]

<INFO> Bidens pilosa, family Compositae.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a flexible lead-filled truncheon.

4 HISTORICAL a pirates' black ensign.

5 HISTORICAL a tar-coated leather container used to hold beer.

Black Jew n. another term for FALASHA.

black kite n. a bird of prey with dark plumage and a slightly forked tail, feeding mainly by scavenging and found throughout much of the Old World.

<INFO> Milvus migrans, family Accipitridae.

black knight n. [STOCK EXCHANGE] a person or company making an unwelcome takeover bid for another company.

<ORIGIN> by association with WHITE KNIGHT.

blacklead n. another term for GRAPHITE.

■ v. [with obj.] polish (metal, especially cast iron) with graphite.

blackleg n. 1 BRITISH DEROGATORY a person who continues working when fellow workers are on strike.

2 [mass noun] an acute infectious bacterial disease of cattle and sheep, causing necrosis in one or more legs.

<INFO> The bacterium is Clostridium chauvoei.

3 [mass noun] any of a number of plant diseases in which part of the stem blackens and decays, in particular:

<INFO>

- a fungal disease of cabbages and related plants (caused by Leptosphaeria, Pleospora, and other genera).

- a bacterial disease of potatoes (caused by Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica).

■ v. (blacklegs, blacklegging, blacklegged) [no obj.] BRITISH DEROGATORY continue working when one's fellow workers are on strike.

black letter n. [mass noun] an early, ornate, bold style of type.

black light n. [mass noun] ultraviolet or infrared radiation, invisible to the eye.

blacklist n. a list of people or groups regarded as unacceptable or untrustworthy and often marked down for punishment or exclusion.

■ v. [with obj.] put (a person or group) on a blacklist.

black lung n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN pneumoconiosis caused by inhalation of coal dust.

black magic n. [mass noun] magic involving the supposed invocation of evil spirits for evil purposes.

blackmail n. [mass noun] the action, treated as a criminal offence, of demanding money from someone in return for not revealing compromising information which one has about them.

- money demanded in this way: we do not pay blackmail.

- the use of threats or the manipulation of someone's feelings to force them to do something: some people use emotional blackmail.

■ v. [with obj.] demand money from (someone) in return for not revealing compromising information about them.

- force (someone) to do something by using threats or manipulating their feelings: he had blackmailed her into sailing with him.

<DERIVATIVES> blackmailer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting protection money levied by Scottish chiefs): from BLACK + obsolete mail ‘tribute, rent’, from Old Norse mál ‘speech, agreement’.

black mamba n. a highly venomous slender olive-brown to dark grey snake that moves with great speed and agility. Native to eastern and southern Africa, it is the largest poisonous snake on the continent.

<INFO> Dendroaspis polylepis, family Elapidae.

Black Maria /blak mərə/ n. 1 INFORMAL a police vehicle for transporting prisoners.

2 [mass noun] a card game in which players try to avoid winning tricks containing the queen of spades or any hearts.

- a name for the queen of spades in this game.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): said to be named after a black woman, Maria Lee, who kept a boarding house in Boston and helped police in escorting drunk and disorderly customers to jail.

black mark n. BRITISH INFORMAL a note or record of a person's misdemeanour or discreditable action: a black mark went down against his name for turning down the job.

black market n. an illegal traffic or trade in officially controlled or scarce commodities.

<DERIVATIVES> black marketeer n. black-marketeering n.

black mass n. a travesty of the Roman Catholic Mass in worship of the Devil.

black metal n. [mass noun] a type of heavy metal music having lyrics which deal with the Devil and the supernatural.

Black Monday n. 1 Monday 19 October 1987, when massive falls in the value of stocks on Wall Street triggered similar falls in markets around the world.

2 ARCHAIC Easter Monday.

black money n. [mass noun] income illegally obtained or not declared for tax purposes.

Black Monk n. a Benedictine monk.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: so named because of the colour of the order's habit.

Blackmore R. D. (1825–1900), English novelist and poet; full name Richard Doddridge Blackmore. He is known for his romantic novel Lorna Doone (1869), set on 17th-century Exmoor.

black Muslim n. a member of the NATION OF ISLAM.

black nationalism n. [mass noun] the advocacy of the national civil rights of black people, especially in the US.

blackout n. 1 a period when all lights must be turned out or covered to prevent them being seen by the enemy during an air raid.

- (usually blackouts) BRITISH dark curtains put up in windows to cover lights during an air raid.

- a failure of an electrical power supply: due to a power blackout their hotel was in total darkness.

- a moment in the theatre when the lights on stage are suddenly dimmed.

- a suppression of information, especially one imposed on the media by government: there is a total information blackout on minority interests.

2 a temporary loss of consciousness.

Black Panther n. a member of a militant political organization set up in the US in 1966 to fight for black rights.

black panther n. a leopard that has black fur rather than the typical spotted coat.

black pepper n. [mass noun] the dried black berries of the pepper, harvested while still unripe and used either whole or ground as a spice and condiment.

blackpoll /blakpəl/ (also blackpoll warbler) n. a North American warbler with a black cap, white cheeks, and white underparts streaked with black.

<INFO> Dendroica striata, family Parulidae.

Blackpool a seaside resort and unitary authority in NW England; pop. 142,284 (2001).

black powder n. [mass noun] gunpowder.

Black Power n. [mass noun] a movement in support of rights and political power for black people, especially prominent in the US in the 1960s and 1970s.

Black Prince (1330–76), eldest son of Edward III of England; name given to Edward, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. He was responsible for the English victory at Poitiers in 1356. He predeceased his father, but his son became king as Richard II.

black pudding n. BRITISH a black sausage containing pork, dried pig's blood, and suet.

black rat n. a rat with dark fur, large ears, and a long tail. It is found throughout the world, being particularly common in the tropics, and is the chief host of the plague-transmitting flea. Also called SHIP RAT, HOUSE RAT, or ROOF RAT.

<INFO> Rattus rattus, family Muridae.

black rhinoceros n. a two-horned rhinoceros with a prehensile upper lip, found in Africa south of the Sahara.

<INFO> Diceros bicornis, family Rhinocerotidae.

Black Rod (in full Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod) n. (in the UK) the chief usher of the Lord Chamberlain's department of the royal household, who is also usher to the House of Lords.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: so named because of the black wand carried as a symbol of office.

black rot n. [mass noun] any of a number of fungal or bacterial diseases of plants, fruits, and vegetables, producing blackening, rotting, and shrivelling.

black salsify n. another term for SCORZONERA.

Black Sea a tideless almost landlocked sea bounded by Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania, connected to the Mediterranean through the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara.

black sheep n. INFORMAL a member of a family or group who is regarded as a disgrace to it.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the proverb there is a black sheep in every flock.

blackshirt n. a member of a Fascist organization, in particular:

- (in Italy) a member of a paramilitary group founded by Mussolini.

- (in Nazi Germany) a member of the SS.

- (in the UK) a supporter of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: so named because of the colour of the Italian Fascist uniform.

blacksmith n. a person who makes and repairs things in iron by hand.

- a farrier.

black smoker n. [GEOLOGY] a geothermal vent on the seabed which ejects superheated water containing much suspended matter, typically black sulphide minerals.

black spot n. 1 BRITISH a place or area marked by a particular trouble or concern: an unemployment black spot | an accident black spot.

2 [mass noun] a fungal or bacterial disease of plants, especially roses, producing black blotches on the leaves.

<INFO> Rose black spot is caused by the fungus Diplocarpon rosae, subdivision Ascomycotina.

Blackstone Sir William (1723–80), English jurist. His major work was the Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–9), an exposition of English law.

Black Stone the sacred reddish-black stone built into the outside wall of the Kaaba and ritually touched by Muslim pilgrims.

black stump n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a notional place in the outback imagined as being the last outpost of civilization: he was born not in the capital city, but somewhere out beyond the black stump.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: black in the sense ‘fire-blackened’.

black swan n. a mainly black swan with white flight feathers which is common in Australia and Tasmania and has been introduced elsewhere.

<INFO> Cygnus atratus, family Anatidae.

- ARCHAIC something extremely rare: husbands without faults, if such black swans there be. [<ORIGIN> proverbial, from Juvenal's Satires.]

black-tailed deer n. another term for MULE DEER.

black tea n. [mass noun] 1 tea served without milk.

2 tea of the most usual type, that is fully fermented before drying. Compare with GREEN TEA.

blackthorn n. a thorny Eurasian shrub which bears white flowers before the leaves appear, followed by astringent blue-black fruits (sloes). Also called SLOE.

<INFO> Prunus spinosa, family Rosaceae.

- a walking stick or cudgel made from a stem of the blackthorn shrub.

blackthorn winter n. BRITISH a spell of cold weather at the time in early spring when the blackthorn flowers.

black tie n. a black bow tie worn with a dinner jacket.

- [mass noun] formal evening dress: the audience wears black tie | [as modifier] evening meals were black-tie affairs.

blacktop chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. [mass noun] asphalt, tarmacadam, or other black material used for surfacing roads.

- [count noun] a road or area surfaced with blacktop.

■ v. (blacktops, blacktopping, blacktopped) [with obj.] surface (a road or area) with blacktop: 41 km had been blacktopped to date.

black tracker n. AUSTRALIAN an Aborigine employed to help find people lost or hiding in the bush.

black velvet n. [mass noun] a drink consisting of a mixture of stout and champagne.

black vulture n. 1 a very large Old World vulture with blackish-brown plumage, now rare in Europe. Also called CINEREOUS VULTURE.

<INFO> Aygypius monachus, family Accipitridae.

2 a New World vulture with black plumage and a bare black head.

<INFO> Coragyps atratus, family Cathartidae.

blackwall tyre n. a tyre with black side walls.

Black Watch the Royal Highland Regiment.

<ORIGIN> in the early 18th century the term Watch was given to certain companies of irregular troops in the Highlands; Black Watch referred to some of these companies raised c.1729–30, distinguished by their dark-coloured tartan.

black water n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL waste water and sewage from toilets. Compare with GREY WATER.

blackwater fever n. [mass noun] a severe form of malaria in which blood cells are rapidly destroyed, resulting in dark urine.

black widow n. a highly venomous American spider which has a black body with red markings.

<INFO> Latrodectus mactans, family Theridiidae; subspecies also occur on other continents (see KATIPO, REDBACK, BUTTON SPIDER).

blackwood n. a tropical hardwood tree of the pea family, which produces high-quality dark timber.

<INFO> Dalbergia and other genera, family Leguminosae: several species.

blackwork n. [mass noun] a type of embroidery done in black thread on white cloth, popular especially in Tudor times.

bladder n. 1 a muscular membranous sac in the abdomen which receives urine from the kidneys and stores it for excretion.

2 an inflated or hollow flexible bag or chamber.

<ORIGIN> Old English bldre, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch blaar and German Blatter, also to blow^1.

bladder campion n. a white-flowered Eurasian campion with a swollen bladder-like calyx behind the deeply cut petals.

<INFO> Silene vulgaris, family Caryophyllaceae.

bladdered adj. BRITISH INFORMAL extremely drunk.

bladder fern n. a small, delicate fern with rounded spore cases, growing on rocks and walls in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Genus Cystopteris, family Woodsiaceae: several species.

bladder nut n. a shrub or small tree of northern temperate regions, which bears white flowers and inflated seed capsules.

<INFO> Genus Staphylea, family Staphyleaceae: several species.

bladder senna n. a Mediterranean shrub of the pea family, which bears yellow flowers followed by inflated reddish pods.

<INFO> Colutea arborescens, family Leguminosae.

bladder worm n. an immature form of a tapeworm, which lives in the flesh of the secondary host. Further development is suspended until it is eaten by the primary host.

bladderwort n. an aquatic plant of north temperate regions, with small air-filled bladders which keep the plant afloat and trap tiny animals that provide additional nutrients.

<INFO> Genus Utricularia, family Lentibulariaceae.

bladderwrack n. [mass noun] a common brown shoreline seaweed which has tough strap-like fronds containing air bladders that give buoyancy.

<INFO> Fucus vesiculosus, class Phaeophyceae.

blade n. 1 the flat cutting edge of a knife, saw, or other tool or weapon.

- LITERARY a sword.

- (blades) AUSTRALIAN/NZ hand shears used in sheep shearing.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] a long, narrow flake.

2 the flat, wide section of an implement or device such as an oar or a propeller.

- a thin, flat metal runner on an ice skate.

- (also blade bone) a shoulder bone in a joint of meat, or the joint itself.

- the flat part of the tongue behind the tip.

3 a long, narrow leaf of grass or another similar plant: a blade of grass.

- [BOTANY] the broad, thin part of a leaf apart from the stalk.

4 INFORMAL, DATED a dashing or energetic young man.

■ v. [no obj.] US INFORMAL skate using Rollerblades.

<DERIVATIVES> bladed adj. [in combination] double-bladed paddles blader n.

<ORIGIN> Old English blæd ‘leaf of a plant’ (also in sense 2 of the noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch blad and German Blatt.

blaeberry /bleb(ə)ri -bεri/ n. (pl. blaeberries)

■ Scottish and northern English term for BILBERRY.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Scots and northern English dialect blae ‘blackish-blue’ (from Old Norse blár, related to blue^1) + BERRY.

blag BRITISH INFORMAL n. 1 a violent robbery or raid.

2 an act of using clever talk or lying to obtain something: blags and scams on the allowance scheme.

■ v. (blags, blagging, blagged) [with obj.] 1 steal (something) in a violent robbery or raid: I could lie in wait and blag her fur coat.

2 obtain (something) by clever talk or lying: they blagged two free tickets to France.

<DERIVATIVES> blagger n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century:

■ sense 1 of the noun of unknown origin;

■ sense 2 of the noun perhaps from French blaguer ‘tell lies’.

blague /blα/ n. RARE a joke or piece of nonsense.

<ORIGIN> French.

blagueur /blaə/ French /blaøR/ n. RARE a person who talks nonsense.

<ORIGIN> French, from BLAGUE.

blah INFORMAL n. 1 (also blah-blah) [mass noun] used to refer to something which is boring or without meaningful content: talking all kinds of blah to him.

- used to substitute for actual words in contexts where these are felt to be too tedious or lengthy to give in full: he said nations great and small could come together to blah blah blah.

2 (the blahs) NORTH AMERICAN depression: a case of the blahs.

■ adj. NORTH AMERICAN dull or unexciting.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): imitative.

blain /blen/ n. RARE an inflamed swelling or sore on the skin.

<ORIGIN> Old English blegen, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch blein.

Blair Tony (b.1953), British Labour statesman, Prime Minister1997–2007; full name Anthony Charles Lynton Blair. He was elected leader of the Labour Party in 1994. His landslide victory in the election of 1997 gave his party its biggest-ever majority and made him the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812.

<DERIVATIVES> Blairism n. Blairite n. & adj.

Blake^1 Sir Peter (b.1932), English painter, prominent in the pop art movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He is best known for the cover design for the Beatles album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).

Blake^2 William (1757–1827), English artist and poet. Blake's poems mark the beginning of romanticism and a rejection of the Age of Enlightenment. His watercolours and engravings, like his writings, were only fully appreciated after his death. Notable collections of poems: Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794).

<DERIVATIVES> Blakeian adj.

Blakey^1 Art (1919–90), American jazz drummer, a pioneer of the bebop movement known for his group the Jazz Messengers; full name Arthur Blakey.

Blakey^2 n. (pl. Blakeys) BRITISH a protective metal plate fitted to the sole of a shoe or boot.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after the manufacturers, E. Blakey and Sons, of Leeds.

blame v. [with obj.] feel or declare that (someone or something) is responsible for a fault or wrong: the inquiry blamed the train driver for the accident.

- (blame something on) assign the responsibility for a bad or unfortunate situation or phenomenon to (someone or something): they blame youth crime on unemployment.

■ n. [mass noun] responsibility for a fault or wrong: his players had to take the blame for the defeat | they are trying to put the blame on us.

<PHRASES>

□ be to blame be responsible for a fault or wrong: he was to blame for their deaths.

□ I don't (or can't) blame you (or her etc.) used to indicate that one agrees that the action or attitude taken was reasonable: he was becoming impatient and I couldn't blame him.

□ have only oneself to blame be solely responsible for a bad or unwelcome state of affairs.

<DERIVATIVES> blameable (US also blamable) adj. blameful adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French blamer, blasmer (verb), from a popular Latin variant of ecclesiastical Latin blasphemare ‘reproach, revile, blaspheme’, from Greek blasphēmein (see BLASPHEME).

blame game n. INFORMAL a situation in which one party blames others for something bad or unfortunate rather than attempting to seek a solution.

<DERIVATIVES> blame-gaming n.

blameless adj. innocent of wrongdoing: he led a blameless life.

<DERIVATIVES> blamelessly adv. blamelessness n.

blamestorming n. [mass noun] group discussion regarding the assigning of responsibility for a failure or mistake.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: on the pattern of brainstorming.

blameworthy adj. responsible for wrongdoing and deserving of censure or blame.

<DERIVATIVES> blameworthiness n.

blanc /bl/ adj. (of wine) white.

<ORIGIN> French.

blanch /blαn(t)/ v. [with obj.] 1 make white or pale by extracting colour: the cold light blanched her face.

- whiten (a plant) by depriving it of light.

2 [no obj.] flinch or grow pale from shock, fear, or a similar emotion: he visibly blanched at this reminder of mortality.

3 prepare (vegetables) for freezing or further cooking by immersing briefly in boiling water.

- (often as adj. blanched) peel (almonds) by scalding them.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French blanchir, from blanc ‘white’, ultimately of Germanic origin.

Blanchard /blaα/ French /blαaR/ Jean Pierre François (1753–1809), French balloonist. He made the first crossing of the English Channel by air, flying by balloon, on 7 January 1785.

blancmange /bləmn -mαn/ n. BRITISH a sweet opaque gelatinous dessert made with flavoured cornflour and milk.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English blancmanger: from Old French blanc mangier, from blanc ‘white’ + mangier ‘eat’ (used as a noun to mean ‘food’). The shortened form without -er arose in the 18th cent.

blanco /blakə/ British n. [mass noun] a white substance used for whitening belts and other items of military equipment.

■ v. (blancoes, blancoing, blancoed) [with obj.] whiten (equipment) with blanco.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French blanc ‘white’, ultimately of Germanic origin.

bland adj. lacking strong features or characteristics and therefore uninteresting: bland, mass-produced pop music.

- (of food or drink) unseasoned, mild-tasting, or insipid.

- showing no strong emotion: his expression was bland and unreadable.

<DERIVATIVES> blandly adv. blandness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘gentle in manner’): from Latin blandus ‘soft, smooth’.

blandish /bland/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC coax (someone) with kind words or flattery.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French blandiss-, lengthened stem of blandir, from Latin blandiri, from blandus ‘soft, smooth’.

blandishment n. (often blandishments) a flattering or pleasing statement or action used as a means of gently persuading someone to do something.

blank adj. 1 (of a surface or background) unrelieved by decorative or other features; bare, empty, or plain: a blank wall | the screen went blank.

- not written or printed on: a blank sheet of paper.

- (of a document) with spaces left for a signature or details: blank tax-return forms.

- (of a tape) with nothing recorded on it: blank cassettes.

2 showing a lack of comprehension or reaction: we were met by blank looks.

- temporarily having no knowledge or understanding: her mind went blank.

- lacking incident or result: those blank moments aboard airplanes.

3 [attr.] complete; absolute (used emphatically with negative force): he was met with a blank refusal to discuss the issue.

4 used euphemistically in place of an adjective regarded as obscene, profane, or abusive: show the miserable blank-blank Englishman how to fight this war.

■ n. 1 a space left to be filled in a document: leave blanks to type in the appropriate names.

- a document with blank spaces to be filled.

2 (also blank cartridge) a cartridge containing gunpowder but no bullet, used for training or as a signal.

3 an empty space or period of time, especially in terms of a lack of knowledge or understanding: my mind was a total blank.

4 an object which has no mark or design on it, in particular:

- a roughly cut metal or wooden block intended for further shaping or finishing.

- a domino with one or both halves blank.

- a plain metal disc from which a coin is made by stamping a design on it.

5 a dash written instead of a word or letter, especially instead of an obscenity or profanity.

- used euphemistically in place of a noun regarded as obscene, profane, or abusive.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (something) blank or empty: electronic countermeasures blanked out the radar signals.

- [no obj.] become blank or empty: the picture blanked out.

- cut (a metal blank).

2 NORTH AMERICAN defeat (a sports team) without allowing them to score: Baltimore blanked Toronto in a 7–0 victory.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL deliberately ignore (someone): I just blanked them and walked out.

<PHRASES>

□ be firing blanks HUMOROUS (of a man) be infertile.

□ draw a blank elicit no successful response; fail: the search drew a blank.

<DERIVATIVES> blankly adv. blankness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘white, colourless’): from Old French blanc ‘white’, ultimately of Germanic origin.

blank cheque n. a signed cheque with the amount left for the payee to fill in.

- an unlimited freedom of action: the elections did not hand the president a blank cheque to carry on as before.

blanket n. 1 a large piece of woollen or similar material used as a covering on a bed or elsewhere for warmth.

- a thick covering mass or layer: a dense grey blanket of cloud.

2 [PRINTING] a rubber surface used for transferring the image in ink from the plate to the paper in offset printing.

■ adj. [attr.] covering all cases or instances; total and inclusive: a blanket ban on tobacco advertising.

■ v. (blankets, blanketing, blanketed) [with obj.] 1 cover completely with a thick layer of something: the countryside was blanketed in snow.

- stifle or keep quiet (sound): the double glazing blankets the noise a bit.

2 [SAILING] take wind from the sails of (another craft) by passing to windward.

<PHRASES>

□ born on the wrong side of the blanket DATED illegitimate.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting undyed woollen cloth): via Old Northern French from Old French blanc ‘white’, ultimately of Germanic origin.

blanket bath n. BRITISH an all-over wash given to a person confined to bed.

blanket bog n. [mass noun] an extensive flat peat bog formed in cool regions of high rainfall or humidity.

blanket coat n. NORTH AMERICAN a coat made from a blanket or from blanket-like material.

blanket finish n. a very close finish in a race.

blanketing n. [mass noun] material used for making blankets.

blanket roll n. NORTH AMERICAN a soldier's blanket and kit made into a roll for use on active service.

blanket stitch n. [mass noun] a buttonhole stitch used on the edges of a blanket or other material too thick to be hemmed.

blanket weed n. [mass noun] a common green freshwater alga which forms long unbranched filaments, sometimes becoming a problem in over-enriched water and garden ponds.

<INFO> Genus Spirogyra, division Chlorophyta (or phylum Chlorophyta, kingdom Protista).

blankety (also blankety-blank) adj. & n. INFORMAL used euphemistically to replace a word considered obscene or taboo: [as adj.] it's time to ditch the blankety-blank tax code.

blanking plate n. a plate that covers an opening in a device or a wall to protect it from moisture or dust.

blank verse n. [mass noun] verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameters.

blanquette /blkεt/ n. a dish consisting of white meat in a white sauce.

<ORIGIN> French, based on blanc ‘white’.

Blantyre /blantə/ the chief commercial and industrial city of Malawi; pop. 533,000 (est. 2002) (with Limbe, a town 8 km south-east of Blantyre).

blare v. make or cause to make a loud, harsh sound: [no obj.] the ambulance arrived outside, siren blaring | [with obj.] the wireless was blaring out organ music.

■ n. [in sing.] a loud, harsh sound: a blare of trumpets.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘roar, bellow’): from Middle Dutch blaren, bleren, or Low German blaren, of imitative origin. Current senses date from the late 18th cent.

blarney n. [mass noun] talk which aims to charm, flatter, or persuade (often considered typical of Irish people): it took all my Irish blarney to keep us out of court.

- amusing and harmless nonsense: this story is perhaps just a bit of blarney.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: named after Blarney, a castle near Cork in Ireland, where there is a stone said to give the gift of persuasive speech to anyone who kisses it.

blasé /blαze/ adj. unimpressed with or indifferent to something because one has experienced or seen it so often before: she was becoming quite blasé about the dangers.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, past participle of blaser ‘cloy’, probably ultimately of Germanic origin.

blaspheme /blasfim/ v. [no obj.] speak irreverently about God or sacred things: he has blasphemed against the Holy Spirit.

<DERIVATIVES> blasphemer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin blasphemare ‘reproach, revile, blaspheme’, from Greek blasphēmein, from blasphēmos ‘evil-speaking’. Compare with BLAME.

blasphemous /blasfəməs/ adj. sacrilegious against God or sacred things; profane: blasphemous and heretical talk.

<DERIVATIVES> blasphemously adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek blasphēmos ‘evil-speaking’ + -OUS.

blasphemy n. (pl. blasphemies) [mass noun] the action or offence of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk: he was detained on charges of blasphemy | [count noun] he was screaming incomprehensible blasphemies.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek blasphēmia ‘slander, blasphemy’.

blast /blαst/ n. 1 a destructive wave of highly compressed air spreading outwards from an explosion: they were thrown backwards by the blast.

- an explosion or explosive firing: a bomb blast | a shotgun blast.

- a forceful attack or assault: United's four-goal blast.

2 a strong gust of wind or air: the icy blast hit them.

- a strong current of air used in smelting.

3 a single loud note of a horn, whistle, or similar: a blast of the ship's siren.

4 INFORMAL a severe reprimand: I braced myself for the inevitable blast.

5 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an enjoyable experience or lively party: it could turn out to be a real blast.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 blow up or break apart (something solid) with explosives: the school was blasted by an explosion.

- produce (damage) by means of an explosion: the force of the collision blasted out a tremendous crater.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] force or throw (something) in a specified direction by impact or explosion: the car was blasted thirty feet into the sky.

- shoot with a gun: Fowler was blasted with an air rifle.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move very quickly and loudly in a specified direction: four low-flying jets blasted down the glen.

- (blast off) (of a rocket or spacecraft) take off from a launching site.

2 produce or cause to produce loud continuous music or other noise: [no obj.] music blasted out at full volume | [with obj.] an impatient motorist blasted his horn.

3 kick or strike (a ball) hard: the striker blasted the free kick into the net.

4 INFORMAL criticize fiercely: the school was blasted by government inspectors.

5 LITERARY (of a wind or other natural force) wither, shrivel, or blight (a plant): corn blasted before it be grown up.

- strike with divine anger (used to express annoyance or dislike): damn and blast this awful place!

- destroy or ruin: your reputation is blasted already in the village.

■ exclam. INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH expressing annoyance: ‘Blast! The car won't start!’.

<PHRASES>

□ a blast from the past INFORMAL something powerfully nostalgic: the soundtrack is a real blast from the past.

□ (at) full blast at maximum power or intensity: the heat is on full blast.

<DERIVATIVES> blaster n.

<ORIGIN> Old English blst, of Germanic origin; related to blaze^3.

-blast combining form [BIOLOGY] denoting an embryonic cell: erythroblast. Compare with -CYTE.

- denoting a germ layer of an embryo: epiblast.

<ORIGIN> from Greek blastos ‘germ, sprout’.

blast chiller n. a machine used in commercial kitchens to cool food rapidly by circulating very cold air over it.

blasted adj. 1 [attr.] INFORMAL used to express annoyance: make your own blasted coffee!

2 [attr.] LITERARY withered or blighted; laid waste: a blasted heath | an area of blasted trees.

3 [predic.] INFORMAL drunk: I got really blasted.

blast furnace n. a smelting furnace in the form of a tower into which a blast of hot compressed air can be introduced from below. Such furnaces are used chiefly to make iron from a mixture of iron ore, coke, and limestone.

blasto- /blastə/ combining form relating to germination: blastoderm.

<ORIGIN> from Greek blastos ‘germ, sprout’.

blastocyst n. [ANATOMY] a mammalian blastula in which some differentiation of cells has occurred.

blastoderm n. [ANATOMY] a blastula having the form of a disc of cells on top of the yolk.

blast-off n. [mass noun] the launching of a rocket or spacecraft.

blastomere /blastə()mə/ n. [ANATOMY] a cell formed by cleavage of a fertilized ovum.

blastomycosis /blastə()mkəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a disease caused by infection with parasitic fungi affecting the skin or the internal organs.

<INFO> The fungi belong to the genus Blastomyces, subdivision Deuteromycotina.

blastula /blastjlə/ n. (pl. blastulae /-li/ or US blastulas) [ANATOMY] an animal embryo at the early stage of development when it is a hollow ball of cells.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek blastos ‘sprout’.

blat INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN v. (blats, blatting, blatted) [no obj.] 1 make a bleating sound.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] travel quickly: blatting down the motorway.

■ n. a bleat or similar noise: the blat of Jack's horn.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: imitative.

blatant /blet(ə)nt/ adj. (of bad behaviour) done openly and unashamedly: blatant lies.

- completely lacking in subtlety; very obvious: she forced herself to resist his blatant charm.

<DERIVATIVES> blatancy n. blatantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps an alteration of Scots blatand ‘bleating’. It was first used by Spenser as an epithet for a thousand-tongued monster produced by Cerberus and Chimaera, a symbol of calumny, which he called the blatant beast. It was subsequently used to mean ‘clamorous, offensive to the ear’, first of people (mid 17th century), later of things (late 18th century); the sense ‘unashamedly conspicuous’ arose in the late 19th cent.

blather /blaə/ (also blither or chiefly SCOTTISH blether) v. [no obj.] talk long-windedly without making very much sense: she began blathering on about spirituality and life after death | (as n. blathering) now stop your blathering and get back to work.

■ n. [mass noun] long-winded talk with no real substance.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb; originally Scots and northern English dialect): from Old Norse blathra ‘talk nonsense’, from blathr ‘nonsense’.

blatherskite /blaəskt/ (also bletherskate) n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person who talks at great length without making much sense.

- [mass noun] foolish talk; nonsense.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from BLATHER + skite, a Scots derogatory term adopted into American colloquial speech during the War of Independence from the Scottish song Maggie Lauder, by F. Semphill, which was popular with American troops.

blatter v. [no obj., with adverbial] INFORMAL move with a clatter: the pickup blattered down the road.

- strike repeatedly and noisily: I blattered away at the old typewriter.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: originally Scots, of imitative origin.

Blaue Reiter /blaə rtə/ a group of German expressionist painters formed in 1911, based in Munich. The group included Wassily Kandinsky, Jean Arp, and Paul Klee.

<ORIGIN> German, literally ‘blue rider’, the title of a painting by Kandinsky.

Blavatsky /blavatski/ Helena (Petrovna) (1831–91), Russian spiritualist, born in Ukraine; born Helena Petrovna Hahn; known as Madame Blavatsky. In 1875 she co-founded the Theosophical Society in New York.

blaxploitation /blaksplte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the exploitation of black people, especially with regard to stereotyped roles in films.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of blacks (see BLACK) and EXPLOITATION.

blaze^1 n. 1 a very large or fiercely burning fire: twenty firemen fought the blaze.

- [in sing.] a very bright display of light or colour: the gardens in summer are a blaze of colour.

- [in sing.] a conspicuous display or outburst of something: their relationship broke up in a blaze of publicity.

2 (blazes) INFORMAL used in various expressions of anger, bewilderment, or surprise as a euphemism for ‘hell’: ‘Go to blazes!’ he shouted | what the blazes are you all talking about? [<ORIGIN> with reference to the flames associated with hell.]

■ v. [no obj.] 1 burn fiercely or brightly: the fire blazed merrily.

- (blaze up) burst into flame.

- shine brightly or powerfully: the sun blazed down | FIGURATIVE Barbara's eyes were blazing with anger.

2 fire a gun repeatedly or indiscriminately: they stormed with main entrance with guns blazing.

3 INFORMAL achieve something in an impressive manner: she blazed to a gold medal in the 200-metre sprint.

- [with obj.] hit (a ball) with impressive strength: he blazed a drive into the rough.

4 INFORMAL smoke cannabis.

<PHRASES>

□ like blazes INFORMAL very fast or forcefully: I ran like blazes homewards. [<ORIGIN> see blaze^1 (sense 2 of the noun).]

□ with all guns blazing INFORMAL with great but reckless determination and energy.

<ORIGIN> Old English blæse ‘torch, bright fire’, of Germanic origin; related ultimately to blaze^2.

blaze^2 n. 1 a white spot or stripe on the face of a mammal or bird.

- a broad white stripe running the length of a horse's face.

2 a mark made on a tree by cutting the bark so as to mark a route.

■ v. (blaze a trail) 1 set an example by being the first to do something; pioneer: small firms would set the pace, blazing a trail for others to follow.

2 mark out a path or route.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: ultimately of Germanic origin; related to German Blässe ‘blaze’ and blass ‘pale’, also to blaze^1, and probably to BLEMISH.

blaze^3 v. [with obj.] present or proclaim (news) in a prominent, typically sensational, manner.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘blow out on a trumpet’): from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch blāzen ‘to blow’; related to blow^1.

blazer n. a coloured summer jacket worn by schoolchildren or sports players as part of a uniform.

- a plain jacket not forming part of a suit but considered appropriate for formal wear.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BLAZE^1 + -ER^1. The original general sense was ‘a thing that blazes or shines’ (mid 17th century), giving rise to the term for a brightly coloured sporting jacket.

blazing adj. very hot: the delicious cool of marble corridors after the blazing heat outside.

- (of an argument) very heated: she had a blazing row with Eddie and stormed out.

<DERIVATIVES> blazingly adv.

blazing star n. any of a number of North American plants, some of which are cultivated for their flowers, in particular:

<INFO>

- a plant of the daisy family with tall spikes of purple or white flowers (genus Liatris, family Compositae).

- a plant of the lily family bearing spikes of white flowers (Chamaelirium luteum, family Liliaceae). Also called DEVIL'S BIT, UNICORN ROOT

blazon /blez(ə)n/ v. [with obj.] 1 [with adverbial of place] display prominently or vividly: they saw their company name blazoned all over the media.

- report (news), especially in a sensational manner: accounts of their ordeal were blazoned to the entire nation.

2 [HERALDRY] describe or depict (armorial bearings) in a correct heraldic manner.

- inscribe or paint (an object) with arms or a name.

■ n. [HERALDRY] a correct description of armorial bearings.

- ARCHAIC a coat of arms.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a shield, later one bearing a heraldic device): from Old French blason ‘shield’, of unknown origin. The sense of the verb has been influenced by blaze^3.

blazonry n. [mass noun] [HERALDRY] the art of describing or painting heraldic devices or armorial bearings.

- [treated as plural] devices or bearings of this type.

bleach v. [with obj.] 1 cause (a material such as cloth, paper, or hair) to become white or much lighter by a chemical process or by exposure to sunlight: a new formula to bleach and brighten clothing | (as adj. bleached) permed and bleached hair.

- deprive of vitality or substance: his contributions to the album are bleached of personality.

2 clean or sterilize (a drain, sink, etc.) with bleach.

■ n. [mass noun] a chemical (typically a solution of sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide) used to make materials whiter or for sterilizing drains, sinks, etc.

<ORIGIN> Old English blcan (verb), blce (noun), from blc ‘pale’, of Germanic origin; related to bleak^1.

bleacher n. 1 a person or thing that bleaches.

2 (usually bleachers) NORTH AMERICAN a cheap bench seat at a sports ground, typically in an outdoor uncovered stand.

bleacherite n. NORTH AMERICAN a person sitting in the bleachers.

bleaching powder n. [mass noun] a powder containing calcium hypochlorite, used chiefly to remove colour from materials.

bleak^1 adj. (of an area of land) lacking vegetation and exposed to the elements: a bleak and barren moor.

- (of a building or room) charmless and inhospitable; dreary: he looked round the bleak little room in despair.

- (of the weather) cold and miserable: a bleak midwinter's day.

- (of a situation) not hopeful or encouraging; unlikely to have a favourable outcome: he paints a bleak picture of a company that has lost its way | the future looks bleak.

- (of a person's expression) cold and forbidding: his mouth was set and his eyes were bleak.

<DERIVATIVES> bleakly adv. bleakness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English blāc ‘shining, white’, or in later use from synonymous Old Norse bleikr; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to BLEACH.

bleak^2 n. a small silvery shoaling fish of the carp family, found in Eurasian rivers.

<INFO> Genera Alburnus and Chalcalburnus, family Cyprinidae: several species, in particular A. alburnus.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old Norse bleikja.

blear ARCHAIC adj. dim, dull, or filmy: a medicine to lay to sore and blear eyes.

■ v. [with obj.] make dim; blur: he bleared his eyes with books.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): probably related to Middle High German blerre ‘blurred vision’ and Low German blarroged ‘bleary-eyed’.

bleary adj. (blearier, bleariest) (of the eyes) looking or feeling dull and unfocused from sleep or tiredness: Boris opened a bleary eye | bleary-eyed business travellers.

<DERIVATIVES> blearily adv. bleariness n.

bleat v. [no obj.] (of a sheep, goat, or calf) make a characteristic weak, wavering cry: the lamb was bleating weakly | (as n. bleating) the plaintive bleating of sheep.

- [reporting v.] speak or complain in a weak, querulous, or foolish way: it's no good just bleating on about the rising tide of crime.

■ n. the weak, wavering cry made by a sheep, goat, or calf: the distant bleat of sheep.

- a person's weak or plaintive cry: his despairing bleat touched her heart.

- INFORMAL a complaint: they're hoping that I'll bow to their idiotic arrangements without a bleat.

<DERIVATIVES> bleater n.

<ORIGIN> Old English bltan, of imitative origin.

bleb n. a small blister on the skin.

- a small bubble in glass or in a fluid.

- [BIOLOGY] a rounded outgrowth on the surface of a cell.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: variant of BLOB.

bleed v. (past and past participle bled) 1 [no obj.] lose blood from the body as a result of injury or illness: the cut was bleeding steadily | some casualties were left to bleed to death | (as n. bleeding) the bleeding has stopped now.

2 [with obj.] draw blood from (someone), especially as a former method of treatment in medicine.

- INFORMAL drain (someone) of money or resources: his policy of attempting to bleed British unions of funds.

3 [with obj.] allow (fluid or gas) to escape from a closed system through a valve.

- release fluid or gas from (a system) in this way: air can be got rid of by bleeding the radiator at the vent.

4 [no obj.] (of a liquid substance such as dye or colour) seep into an adjacent colour or area: I worked loosely with the oils, allowing colours to bleed into one another.

- [PRINTING] (with reference to an illustration or design) print or be printed so that it runs off the page after trimming: the picture bleeds on three sides.

■ n. 1 an instance of bleeding: a lot of blood was lost from the placental bleed.

2 [mass noun] the escape of fluid or gas from a closed system through a valve.

3 [PRINTING] an instance of printing an illustration or design so as to leave no margin after the page has been trimmed: the picture has an unfortunate bleed.

- [mass noun] the seeping of a dye or colour into an adjacent colour or area: colour bleed is apparent on brighter hues.

<PHRASES>

□ bleed someone/something dry (or white) drain someone or something of wealth or resources.

□ my heart bleeds (for you) used ironically to imply that the person referred to does not deserve the sympathetic response they are seeking: ‘I flew out here feeling tired and overworked.’ ‘My heart bleeds for you!’ she replied.

<ORIGIN> Old English blēdan, of Germanic origin; related to BLOOD.

bleeder n. 1 [with adj.] BRITISH INFORMAL a person regarded with contempt or pity: the poor bleeder split his head open.

2 INFORMAL a person who bleeds easily, especially a haemophiliac.

3 [BASEBALL] a ground ball hit that barely passes between two infielders.

bleeding adj. [attr.] BRITISH INFORMAL used for emphasis, or to express annoyance: the watch was a bleeding copy | [as submodifier] she looks so bleeding bored all day.

bleeding edge n. the very forefront of technological development.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: on the pattern of LEADING EDGE, cutting edge.

bleeding heart n. 1 INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a person considered to be excessively soft-hearted or liberal: [as modifier] bleeding-heart environmentalists.

2 any of a number of plants which have red, or partly red, heart-shaped flowers, in particular:

<INFO>

- a popular herbaceous garden plant related to Dutchman's breeches (genus Dicentra, family Fumariaceae, in particular D. cucullaria).

- a tropical twining shrub with cream and red flowers, widely cultivated under glass (Clerodendrum thomsoniae, family Verbenaceae).

3 (also bleeding heart dove) a dove with an oval red patch on the breast, found on islands around the Philippines.

<INFO> Genus Gallicolumba, family Columbidae: several species.

bleep n. a short high-pitched sound made by an electronic device as a signal or to attract attention.

- a sound of this type used in broadcasting as a substitute for a censored word or phrase.

- British another term for BLEEPER.

■ v. [no obj.] (of an electronic device) make a short high-pitched sound or sounds as a signal or to attract attention: the screen flickered for a few moments and bleeped.

- [with obj.] BRITISH summon (someone) with a bleeper: I'll get Jan to bleep you if I need transport.

- [with obj.] substitute a bleep or bleeps for (a censored word or phrase): I may have to bleep a few words in his testimony.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: imitative.

bleeper n. BRITISH a small portable electronic device which emits a series of high-pitched sounds when someone wants to contact the wearer.

blemish n. a small mark or flaw which spoils the appearance of something: the girl's hands were without a blemish.

- a moral defect or fault: the offences were an uncharacteristic blemish on an otherwise clean record | [mass noun] local government is not without blemish.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. blemished) spoil the appearance of (something): my main problem was a blemished skin | FIGURATIVE his reign as world champion has been blemished by controversy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb): from Old French ble(s)miss-, lengthened stem of ble(s)mir ‘make pale, injure’; probably of Germanic origin.

blench^1 /blεn(t)/ v. [no obj.] make a sudden flinching movement out of fear or pain: he blenched and struggled to regain his composure.

<ORIGIN> Old English blencan ‘deceive’, of Germanic origin; later influenced by BLINK.

blench^2 /blεn(t)/ v. chiefly DIALECT variant spelling of BLANCH.

blend v. [with obj.] mix (a substance) with another substance so that they combine together: blend the cornflour with a tablespoon of water | add the grated cheese and blend well.

- (often as adj. blended) mix (different types of the same substance, such as tea, coffee, spirits, etc.) together so as to make a product of the desired quality: a blended whisky.

- put or combine (abstract things) together: I blend basic information for the novice with some scientific gardening for the more experienced | (as n. blending) a blending of romanticism with a more detached modernism.

- [no obj.] form a harmonious combination: costumes, music, and lighting all blend together beautifully.

- (blend in/into) be an unobtrusive or harmonious part of a greater whole by being similar in appearance or behaviour: she would have to employ a permanent bodyguard in the house, someone who would blend in.

■ n. a mixture of different substances or other things: the chutney is a blend of bananas, raisins, and ginger | Ontario offers a cultural blend you'll find nowhere else on earth.

- a mixture of different types of the same substance.

- a word made up of parts of two other words and combining their meanings, for example motel from motor and hotel.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Old Norse blanda ‘to mix’.

blende /blεnd/ n. another term for SPHALERITE.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from German, from blenden ‘deceive’ (so named because it often resembles galena, but is deceptive in that it yields no lead).

blended family n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a family consisting of a couple and their children from this and all previous relationships.

blender n. a person or thing that mixes things together, in particular an electric mixing machine used in food preparation for liquidizing, chopping, or puréeing.

Blenheim^1 /blεnm/ 1 a battle in 1704 in Bavaria, near the village of Blindheim, in which the English, under the Duke of Marlborough, defeated the French and the Bavarians.

2 (also Blenheim Palace) the Duke of Marlborough's seat at Woodstock near Oxford, a stately home designed by Vanbrugh (1705). The house and its estate were given to the first Duke of Marlborough in honour of his victory at Blenheim.

Blenheim^2 /blεnm/ n. a dog of a small red and white breed of spaniel.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of Blenheim palace (see Blenheim^1).

Blenheim Orange n. an English dessert apple of a golden or orange-red variety which ripens late in the season.

<ORIGIN> so named because it was discovered growing by the boundary wall of the Blenheim estate (see Blenheim^1) in the 18th cent.

blenny n. (pl. blennies) a small spiny-finned marine fish with scaleless skin and a blunt head, typically living in shallow inshore or intertidal waters.

<INFO> Family Blenniidae: several genera, in particular Blennius.

- used in names of other small fishes that resemble or are related to the true blennies, e.g. eel blenny.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin blennius, from Greek blennos ‘mucus’ (because of its mucous coating).

blent LITERARY past and past participle of BLEND.

bleomycin /bliəmsn/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an antibiotic used to treat Hodgkin's disease and other cancers.

<INFO> The drug is obtained from the bacterium Streptomyces verticillus.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: an arbitrary alteration of earlier phleomycin, the name of a related antibiotic.

blepharitis /blεfərts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the eyelid.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek blepharon ‘eyelid’ + -ITIS.

blepharoplasty /blεf(ə)rə()plasti/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE surgical repair or reconstruction of an eyelid.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek blepharon ‘eyelid’ + -PLASTY.

blepharospasm /blεf(ə)rəspaz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] involuntary tight closure of the eyelids.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek blepharon ‘eyelid’ + SPASM.

Blériot /blεrə/ French /bleRjə/ Louis (1872–1936), French aviation pioneer. On 25 July 1909 he became the first to fly the English Channel (Calais to Dover), in a monoplane of his own design.

blesbok /blεsbk/ n. an antelope with a mainly reddish-brown coat and white face, found in south-western South Africa. It belongs to the same species as the bontebok.

<INFO> Damaliscus dorcas phillipsi, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Afrikaans, from Dutch bles ‘blaze’ (because of the white mark on its forehead) + bok ‘buck’.

bless v. [with obj.] pronounce words in a religious rite in order to confer or invoke divine favour upon; ask God to look favourably on: he blessed the dying man and anointed him.

- (especially in Christian church services) call (God) holy; praise (God).

- (bless someone with) (of God or some notional higher power) endow someone with (a particular cherished thing or attribute): we have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy | a beautiful city blessed with huge sandy beaches.

- express or feel gratitude to; thank: she silently blessed the premonition which had made her pack her best dress.

- (bless oneself) ARCHAIC make the sign of the cross.

- used in expressions of surprise, endearment, gratitude, etc.: bless my soul, Alan, what are you doing? | Nurse Jones, bless her, had made a pot of tea | she even bought me a little present—bless!

<PHRASES>

□ bless you! said to a person who has just sneezed. [<ORIGIN> from the phrase (may) God bless you.]

□ not HAVE a penny to bless oneself with DATED be completely impoverished. [<ORIGIN> alluding to the cross on an old silver penny or to the practice of crossing a person's palm with silver for luck.]

<ORIGIN> Old English blēdsian, blētsian, based on blōd ‘blood’ (i.e. originally perhaps ‘mark or consecrate with blood’). The meaning was influenced by its being used to translate Latin benedicere ‘to praise, worship’, and later by association with BLISS.

blessed /blεsd blεst/ adj. 1 made holy; consecrated: the Blessed Sacrament.

- a title preceding the name of a dead person considered to have led a holy life, especially a person formally beatified by the Roman Catholic Church: the Convent of the Blessed Agnes.

- endowed with divine favour and protection: blessed are the meek.

- [as plural n.] (the Blessed) those who live with God in heaven.

2 INFORMAL used in mild expressions of annoyance or exasperation: he'll want to go and see his blessed allotment.

<DERIVATIVES> blessedly adv.

blessedness /blεsdns/ n. [mass noun] the state of being blessed with divine favour.

<PHRASES>

□ single blessedness HUMOROUS the state of being unmarried. [<ORIGIN> from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream I. i. 78.]

Blessed Virgin Mary a title given to Mary, the mother of Jesus (see Mary^1).

blessing n. God's favour and protection: may God continue to give us his blessing.

- a prayer asking for divine favour and protection: a priest gave a blessing as the ship was launched.

- grace said before or after a meal.

- a beneficial thing for which one is grateful: great intelligence can be a curse as well as a blessing | it's a blessing we're alive.

- a person's sanction or support: he gave the plan his blessing even before it was announced.

<PHRASES>

□ a blessing in disguise an apparent misfortune that eventually has good results.

blest adj. archaic or literary term for BLESSED.

blew past of blow^1 and blow^3.

blewit /blut/ (also blewits) n. an edible European mushroom with a pale buff or lilac cap and a lilac stem.

<INFO> Genus Lepista, family Tricholomataceae, class Hymenomycetes: several species, including common blewit (L. saeva) and wood blewit (L. nuda).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably from BLUE^1.

Bligh /bl/ William (1754–1817), British naval officer, captain of HMS Bounty. In 1789 part of his crew, led by the first mate Fletcher Christian, mutinied and Bligh was set adrift in an open boat, arriving safely at Timor, nearly 6,400 km (4,000 miles) away, a few weeks later.

blight n. [mass noun] 1 a plant disease, typically one caused by fungi such as mildews, rusts, and smuts: the vines suffered blight and disease | potato blight.

2 [in sing.] a thing that spoils or damages something: her remorse could be a blight on that happiness.

- the degeneration of a landscape or urban area as a result of neglect: the city's high-rise social housing had become synonymous with urban blight.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] infect (plants) with blight.

2 spoil, harm, or destroy: the scandal blighted the careers of several leading politicians.

- (usually as adj. blighted) subject (an urban area) to neglect: plans to establish enterprise zones in blighted areas.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting inflammation of the skin): of unknown origin.

blighter n. [with adj.] BRITISH INFORMAL a person who is regarded with contempt, irritation, or pity: you little blighter!

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BLIGHT + -ER^1.

Blighty n. BRITISH an informal term for Britain or England, used by soldiers of the First and Second World Wars.

- MILITARY SLANG a wound suffered by a soldier in the First World War which was sufficiently serious to merit being shipped home to Britain: he had copped a Blighty and was on his way home.

<ORIGIN> first used by soldiers in the Indian army; Anglo-Indian alteration of Urdu bilāyatī, wilāyatī ‘foreign, European’, from Arabic wilāyat, wilāya ‘dominion, district’.

blimey (also cor blimey) exclam. BRITISH INFORMAL used to express surprise, excitement, or alarm.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: altered form of (God) blind (or blame) me!

blimp n. INFORMAL 1 (also Colonel Blimp) BRITISH a pompous, reactionary type of person: you'll still find Colonel Blimps at local party level.

2 a small airship or barrage balloon.

- NORTH AMERICAN a fat person: I could work out four hours a day and still end up a blimp.

3 a soundproof cover for a cine camera.

<DERIVATIVES> blimpish adj.

<ORIGIN> First World War (in sense 2): of uncertain origin.

■ Sense 1 derives from the character invented by cartoonist David Low, used in anti-German or anti-government drawings before and during the Second World War.

blin /bln/ singular form of BLINI.

blind adj. 1 unable to see because of injury, disease, or a congenital condition: a blind man with a stick | he was blind in one eye | (as plural n. the blind) guide dogs for the blind.

- (of an action, especially a test or experiment) done without being able to see or without having relevant information: a blind tasting of eight wines.

- [AERONAUTICS] (of flying) using instruments only: blind landings during foggy conditions.

2 lacking perception, awareness, or judgement: a blind acceptance of the status quo | she was blind to the realities of her position.

- not controlled by reason: they left in blind panic.

- not governed by purpose: a world of blind chance.

3 concealed or closed, in particular:

- (of a corner or bend in a road) impossible to see round: two trucks collided on a blind curve in the road.

- (of a door or window) walled up.

- closed at one end: a blind pipe.

4 [with negative] BRITISH INFORMAL not the slightest (used in emphatic expressions): this declaration is not a blind bit of good to the workers.

5 (of a plant) without buds, eyes, or terminal flowers.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 cause (someone) to be unable to see, permanently or temporarily: the injury temporarily blinded him | her eyes were blinded with scalding tears.

2 deprive (someone) of understanding, judgement, or perception: he was blinded by his faith | somehow Clare and I were blinded to the truth.

- (blind someone with) confuse or overawe someone with (something they do not understand): they try to blind you with science.

3 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED move very fast and dangerously: I could see the bombs blinding along above the roof tops.

■ n. 1 a screen for a window, especially one on a roller or made of slats: she pulled down the blinds.

- BRITISH an awning over a shop window.

2 [in sing.] something designed to conceal one's real intentions: he phoned again from his own home: that was just a blind for his wife.

- NORTH AMERICAN a camouflaged shelter used for observing or hunting wildlife: a duck blind.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a heavy drinking bout: he's off on a blind again.

■ adv. without being able to see clearly: he was the first pilot in history to fly blind | wines were tasted blind.

- without having all the relevant information; unprepared: he was going into the interview blind.

- (of a stake in poker or brag) put up by a player before the cards dealt are seen.

<PHRASES>

□ bake something blind bake a pastry or flan case without a filling.

□ (as) blind as a bat INFORMAL having very bad eyesight.

□ blind drunk INFORMAL extremely drunk.

□ there's none so blind as those who will not see PROVERB there's no point trying to reason with someone who does not want to listen to reason.

□ turn a blind eye pretend not to notice. [<ORIGIN> said to be in allusion to Nelson, who lifted a telescope to his blind eye at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801), thus not seeing the signal to ‘discontinue the action’.]

□ when the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a ditch PROVERB those people without knowledge or experience should not try to guide or advise others in a similar position: I didn't know anything about fighting and neither did my students—it was the blind leading the blind.

<DERIVATIVES> blindness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German blind.

blind alley n. a cul-de-sac.

- FIGURATIVE a course of action leading nowhere.

blind coal n. [mass noun] chiefly SCOTTISH anthracite.

blind date n. a social engagement with a person one has not previously met, arranged with a view to the development of a romantic or sexual relationship.

blinder n. 1 BRITISH INFORMAL an excellent performance in a game or race: Marinello played a blinder in his first game.

2 (blinders) NORTH AMERICAN blinkers on a horse's bridle.

blindfold n. a piece of cloth tied round the head to cover someone's eyes.

■ v. [with obj.] deprive (someone) of sight by tying a blindfold round their head.

■ adv. & adj. BRITISH with a blindfold covering the eyes: [as adv.] the reporter was driven blindfold to meet the gangster.

- (of a game of chess) conducted without sight of board and pieces.

- [as adv.] used to convey that something is done with great ease and confidence: he missed putts that he would normally hole blindfold.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: alteration, by association with fold^1, of blindfeld, past participle of obsolete blindfell ‘strike blind, blindfold’, from Old English geblindfellan (see BLIND, fell^2).

Blind Freddie (also Blind Freddy) n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL an imaginary person supposed to have little or no perception.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: said to be from the name of a Sydney hawker.

blind gut n. the caecum.

blinding adj. 1 (of light) very bright and likely to dazzle or cause temporary blindness: the sunlight outside was blinding | FIGURATIVE a blinding flash of inspiration.

- temporarily obstructing the vision: blinding rain.

- (especially of pain) very intense: I've got a blinding headache.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL (of an action) remarkably skilful and exciting: he denied Norwich victory with two blinding saves.

■ n. [mass noun] the process of covering a newly made road with grit to fill cracks.

- the grit used in such a process.

- a thin bed of concrete laid down over an area before the main mass of concrete is put in place.

<DERIVATIVES> blindingly adv. [as submodifier] the reason was blindingly obvious

blindly adv. 1 without being able to see; unseeingly: she began groping blindly in the dark.

2 without understanding or using one's judgement; unthinkingly: don't blindly accept dogma as justification.

- without a clear goal or direction: he ran blindly for his life.

blind man's buff (US also blind man's bluff) n. a game in which a blindfold player tries to catch others while being pushed about by them.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from buff ‘a blow’, from Old French bufe (see buffet^2).

blind pig n. another term for BLIND TIGER.

blind side n. [in sing.] a direction in which a person has a poor view of approaching traffic or danger.

- [RUGBY] the side of the scrum opposite that on which the main line of the opponents' backs is ranged.

■ v. (blindside) [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN hit or attack (someone) on their blind side.

- make (someone) unable to perceive the truth of a situation.

blindsight n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the ability to respond to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving them, a condition which can occur after certain types of brain damage.

blind snake n. a small burrowing insectivorous snake which lacks a distinct head and has very small inefficient eyes. Also called WORM SNAKE.

<INFO> Infraorder Scolecophidia: three families, in particular Typhlopidae, and several genera.

blind spot n. 1 [ANATOMY] the point of entry of the optic nerve on the retina, insensitive to light.

2 an area where a person's view is obstructed.

- an area in which a person lacks understanding or impartiality: Ed had a blind spot where these ethical issues were concerned.

3 [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] a point within the normal range of a transmitter where there is unusually weak reception.

blind stamping (also blind tooling) n. [mass noun] the impressing of text or a design on a book cover without the use of colour or gold leaf.

blind stitch n. [mass noun] a sewing stitch producing stitches visible on one side only.

■ v. (blind-stitch) [with obj.] sew (something) using blind stitches.

blind tiger (also blind pig) n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an illegal bar.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably so named to evade prohibition laws, the bars being disguised as exhibition halls for the display of natural curiosities.

blind trust n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a trust independently administering the private business interests of a person in public office to prevent conflict of interest.

blindworm n. another term for SLOW-WORM.

bling /bl/ (also bling-bling) INFORMAL n. [mass noun] expensive, ostentatious clothing and jewellery: look at the bling he's already wearing on his left arm.

■ adj. denoting expensive, ostentatious clothing or jewellery, or the style or materialistic attitudes associated with them: the bling lifestyle of diamond rings, flashy cars, and champagne.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: perhaps imitative of light reflecting off jewellery, or of jewellery clashing together.

blini /blni blini/ (also bliny or blinis) plural n. (sing. blin) pancakes made from buckwheat flour and served with sour cream.

<ORIGIN> Russian (plural).

blink v. [no obj.] 1 shut and open the eyes quickly: I blinked in astonishment | [with obj.] he blinked his eyes nervously | she blinked away her tears.

- [with obj.] (blink something back) try to control or prevent tears by blinking.

- [usually with negative] (blink at) react to (something) with surprise or disapproval: he doesn't blink at the unsavoury aspects of his subject.

2 (of a light) flash on and off in a regular or intermittent way: the car's right-hand indicator was blinking.

■ n. 1 an act of shutting and opening the eyes very quickly: he was observing her every blink.

- FIGURATIVE a moment's hesitation: Feargal would have given her all this without a blink.

2 a momentary gleam of light.

<PHRASES>

□ in the blink of an eye (or in a blink) very quickly.

□ not BLINK an eye show no reaction.

□ on the blink INFORMAL (of a machine) not working properly; out of order: the computer's on the blink.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from blenk, Scots variant of blench^1, reinforced by Middle Dutch blinken ‘to shine’. Early senses included ‘deceive’, ‘flinch’ (compare with blench^1), and also ‘open the eyes after sleep’: hence sense 1 of the verb (mid 16th century).

blinker n. 1 (blinkers) chiefly BRITISH a pair of small leather screens attached to a horse's bridle to prevent it seeing sideways and behind and being startled.

- something which prevents someone from gaining a full understanding of a situation: we are having a fresh look at ourselves without blinkers.

2 (usually blinkers) a vehicle indicator or other device that gives out an intermittent light.

■ v. [with obj.] put blinkers on (a horse).

- cause (someone) to have a narrow or limited outlook on a situation.

blinkered adj. (of a horse) wearing blinkers.

- having or showing a narrow or limited outlook: a blinkered attitude.

blinking adj. [attr.] BRITISH INFORMAL used to express annoyance: computers can be a blinking nuisance to operators | [as submodifier] I'll sign off however I blinking well like.

blinks (also water blinks) plural n. [usually treated as sing.] a small fleshy plant with tiny white flowers, which grows in damp and wet habitats in temperate regions. The leaves are sometimes eaten in salads.

<INFO> Montia fontana, family Portulacaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from BLINK in the sense ‘momentary gleam of light’ (referring to the small flowers).

blintze /bln(t)s/ n. a thin rolled pancake filled with cheese or fruit and then fried or baked.

<ORIGIN> from Yiddish blintse, from Russian blinets ‘little pancake’; compare with BLINI.

blip n. 1 an unexpected, minor, and typically temporary deviation from a general trend: the Chancellor dismissed rising inflation as a blip.

2 a very short high-pitched sound made by an electronic device.

- a small flashing point of light on a radar screen representing an object.

■ v. (blips, blipping, blipped) 1 [no obj.] (of an electronic device) make a very short high-pitched sound or succession of sounds.

2 [with obj.] open (the throttle of a motor vehicle) momentarily.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (denoting a sudden rap or tap): imitative; the noun sense ‘unexpected deviation’ dates from the 1970s.

blipvert n. a television advert of a few seconds' duration.

Bliss Sir Arthur (Edward Drummond) (1891–1975), English composer. He moved from the influence of Stravinsky, in works such as A Colour Symphony (1922), to a rich style closer to Elgar, as in his choral symphony Morning Heroes (1930).

bliss n. [mass noun] perfect happiness; great joy: she gave a sigh of bliss.

- a state of spiritual blessedness, typically that reached after death.

■ v. (bliss out or be blissed out) INFORMAL reach a state of perfect happiness, oblivious of everything else: Josh is just blissed out, always smiling | [as adj.] blissed-out hippies.

<ORIGIN> Old English blīths, bliss, of Germanic origin; related to BLITHE.

blissful adj. extremely happy; full of joy: a blissful couple holding a baby.

- providing perfect happiness or great joy: the blissful caress of cool cotton sheets.

<PHRASES>

□ blissful ignorance complete unawareness of something important or unpleasant.

<DERIVATIVES> blissfully adv. [as submodifier] she was blissfully happy blissfulness n.

blister n. 1 a small bubble on the skin filled with serum and caused by friction, burning, or other damage.

- a similar swelling, filled with air or fluid, on the surface of a plant, heated metal, painted wood, etc.

- MEDICINE, chiefly HISTORICAL a preparation applied to the skin to form a blister.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED an annoying person: the child is a disgusting little blister.

■ v. [no obj.] form blisters on the skin or other surface: the surface of the door began to blister | (as adj. blistered) he had blistered feet.

- [with obj.] cause blisters to form on the surface of: a caustic liquid which blisters the skin.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old French blestre ‘swelling, pimple’.

blister beetle n. a beetle that, when alarmed, secretes a substance that causes blisters. The larvae are typically parasites of other insects.

<INFO> Lytta and other genera, family Meloidae: several species.

blister copper n. [mass noun] partly purified copper with a blistered surface formed during smelting.

blister gas n. [mass noun] poison gas which causes blisters on and intense irritation to the skin.

blistering adj. (of heat) intense: the blistering heat of the desert.

- (of criticism) expressed with great vehemence: a blistering attack on the government's transport policy.

- extremely fast, forceful, or impressive: Burke set a blistering pace.

<DERIVATIVES> blisteringly adv.

blister pack n. another term for BUBBLE PACK.

blithe adj. showing a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper: a blithe disregard for the rules of the road.

- LITERARY happy or carefree: a blithe seaside comedy.

<DERIVATIVES> blithely adv. blitheness n. blithesome /-s(ə)m/ adj. (LITERARY)

<ORIGIN> Old English blīthe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch blijde, also to BLISS.

blithering adj. [attr.] INFORMAL complete; utter (used to express annoyance or contempt): a blithering idiot.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BLITHER + -ING^2.

BLitt abbr. Bachelor of Letters.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Baccalaureus Litterarum.

blitz n. 1 an intensive or sudden military attack.

- (the Blitz) the German air raids on Britain in 1940–1.

2 INFORMAL a sudden concerted effort to deal with something: Katrina and I had a blitz on the cleaning.

- [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a play in which one or more defensive backs charge the quarterback of the opposing team.

3 another term for LIGHTNING CHESS.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 attack or seriously damage (a place) in a blitz: news came that Rotterdam had been blitzed | FIGURATIVE City blitzed United with a three-goal burst.

2 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] charge (the opposing team's quarterback) in a blitz.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of BLITZKRIEG.

blitzkrieg /bltskri/ n. an intense military campaign intended to bring about a swift victory.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: from German, literally ‘lightning war’.

Blixen Karen (Christentze), Baroness Blixen-Finecke (1885–1962), Danish novelist and short-story writer; born Karen Dinesen; also known by the pseudonym of Isak Dinesen. She is best known for Seven Gothic Tales (1934) and her autobiography Out of Africa (1937), which she wrote after living in Kenya from 1914 to 1931.

blizzard n. a severe snowstorm with high winds.

- a large or overwhelming number of things arriving suddenly: a blizzard of forms.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally US, denoting a violent blow): of unknown origin.

BL Lac object n. [ASTRONOMY] a type of remote elliptical galaxy with a very compact starlike nucleus, remarkable for its considerable short-term variations in brightness and radio emissions.

<ORIGIN> BL Lac, short for BL Lacertae, the designation of the first such object discovered (originally thought to be a variable star).

bloat^1 v. make or become swollen with fluid or gas: [with obj.] the fungus has bloated their abdomens | (as n. bloating) she suffered from abdominal bloating.

■ n. [mass noun] a disease of livestock characterized by an accumulation of gas in the stomach.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from obsolete bloat ‘swollen, soft’, perhaps from Old Norse blautr ‘soft, flabby’.

bloat^2 v. [with obj.] cure (a herring) by salting and smoking it lightly.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: related to the adjective bloat used in the compound bloat herring ‘bloater’ from the late 16th to mid 17th century; of obscure origin.

bloated adj. swollen with fluid or gas: he had a bloated, unshaven face.

- excessive in size or amount: the company trimmed its bloated labour force.

- (of a person) excessively wealthy and pampered: the bloated captains of industry.

bloater n. a herring cured by salting and light smoking.

bloatware n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING], INFORMAL software whose usefulness is reduced because of the excessive memory it requires.

blob n. a drop of a thick liquid or viscous substance: blobs of paint.

- a spot of colour: the town is much more than a brown blob on the map.

- an indeterminate roundish mass or shape: a big pink blob of a face was at the window.

- INFORMAL a score of 0 in a game.

■ v. (blobs, blobbing, blobbed) [with obj.] put small drops of thick liquid or spots of colour on: her nose was blobbed with paint.

<DERIVATIVES> blobby adj. (blobbier, blobbiest)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a bubble): perhaps symbolic of a drop of liquid; compare with BLOTCH, blubber^1, and PLOP.

bloc n. a group of countries or political parties with common interests who have formed an alliance: the Soviet bloc | a parliamentary bloc.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, literally ‘block’.

Bloch /blx/ Ernest (1880–1959), Swiss-born American composer, of Jewish descent. His work reflects the influence of the late 19th-century romanticism of Liszt and Richard Strauss and Jewish musical forms. Notable works: the Israel Symphony (1912–16) and Solomon (1916).

block n. 1 a large solid piece of hard material, especially rock, stone, or wood, typically with flat surfaces on each side: a block of marble.

- a sturdy flat-topped piece of wood used as a work surface: a chopping block.

- a packaged rectangular portion of butter, ice cream, chocolate, etc.: a family block of ice cream.

- chiefly BRITISH a set of sheets of paper glued along one edge, used for drawing or writing on: a sketching block.

- (usually blocks) a starting block: Jackson jetted out of his blocks.

- [PRINTING] a piece of wood or metal engraved for printing on paper or fabric.

- (also cylinder block or engine block) a large metal moulding containing the cylinders of an internal-combustion engine.

- a head-shaped mould for shaping hats or wigs.

2 BRITISH a large single building subdivided into separate rooms, flats, or offices: a block of flats.

- a building or part of a complex used for a particular purpose: a shower block.

- a group of buildings bounded by four streets: she went for a run round the block.

- NORTH AMERICAN any urban or suburban area bounded by four streets: ours was the ugliest house on the block.

- NORTH AMERICAN the length of one side of a block, especially as a measure of distance: he lives a few blocks away from the museum.

3 a large quantity or allocation of things regarded as a unit: a block of shares | final examinations will be taken in a block at the end of the course | [as modifier] a block booking.

- [COMPUTING] a large piece of text processed as a unit.

4 an obstacle to the normal progress or functioning of something: substantial demands for time off may constitute a block to career advancement | an emotional block.

- an act of blocking someone or something: Marshall's shot drew a fine block from the goalkeeper.

- a chock for stopping the motion of a wheel.

- (also blockhole) [CRICKET] the spot on which a batsman rests the end of the bat while waiting to receive a ball.

5 a flat area of something, especially a solid area of colour: cover the eyelid with a neutral block of colour.

- Australian/NZ HISTORICAL an area of land, in particular a tract offered to an individual settler by a government.

- AUSTRALIAN an urban or suburban building plot.

6 a pulley or system of pulleys mounted in a case.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make the movement or flow in (a passage, pipe, road, etc.) difficult or impossible: block up the holes with sticky tape | the narrow roads were blocked by cars | (as adj. blocked) a blocked nose.

- put an obstacle in the way of (something proposed or attempted): he stood up, blocking her escape | the government tried to block an agreement on farm subsidies.

- restrict the use or conversion of (currency or any other asset).

- [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] impede the progress of (a tackler) with one's body.

- (in martial arts or soccer) stop (a blow or ball) from finding its mark: Knight did well to block Soloman's shot.

- [CRICKET] stop (a ball) with the bat defensively.

- [BRIDGE] play in such a way that opponents are prevented from establishing (a long suit).

2 impress text or a design on (a book cover).

3 shape or reshape (a hat) on a mould.

<PHRASES>

□ have been around the block (a few times) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (of a person) have a lot of experience.

□ the new kid on the block INFORMAL a newcomer to a particular place or sphere of activity.

□ on the (auction) block for sale at auction: the original first manuscript for Ravel's Bolero goes on the block today.

□ put (or lay) one's head (or neck) on the block INFORMAL put one's standing or reputation at risk by proceeding with a particular course of action. [<ORIGIN> with reference to an executioner's block.]

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ block something in 1 paint something with solid areas of colour.

- add something in a unit: it's a good idea to block in regular periods of exercise.

- mark something out roughly.

2 park one's car in such a way as to prevent another car from moving away: he blocked in Vera's Mini.

□ block something out 1 stop something such as light or noise from reaching somewhere: you're blocking out my sun.

- exclude something unpleasant from one's thoughts or memory.

2 mark or sketch something out roughly.

<DERIVATIVES> blocky adj. (blockier, blockiest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a log or tree stump): from Old French bloc (noun), bloquer (verb), from Middle Dutch blok, of unknown ultimate origin.

blockade n. an act or means of sealing off a place to prevent goods or people from entering or leaving: they voted to lift the blockade of major railway junctions.

- an obstruction of a physiological or mental function, especially of a biochemical receptor.

■ v. [with obj.] seal off (a place) to prevent goods or people from entering or leaving.

<PHRASES>

□ run a blockade (of a ship) manage to enter or leave a blockaded port.

<DERIVATIVES> blockader n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from BLOCK + -ADE^1, probably influenced by ambuscade.

blockage n. an obstruction which makes movement or flow difficult or impossible: a blockage in the pipes | [mass noun] the pumps are prone to blockage.

block and tackle n. a lifting mechanism consisting of ropes, a pulley block, and a hook.

blockboard n. [mass noun] BRITISH a building material consisting of a core of wooden strips between two layers of plywood.

blockbuster n. INFORMAL a thing of great power or size, in particular a film, book, or other product that is a great commercial success: [as modifier] a blockbuster film.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (denoting a huge aerial bomb capable of destroying a whole block of streets): from BLOCK + BUSTER.

blockbusting INFORMAL adj. very successful commercially: his blockbusting novel.

■ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the practice of persuading owners to sell property cheaply because of the fear of people of another race or class moving into the neighbourhood, and then profiting by reselling at a higher price.

block capitals plural n. plain capital letters.

block diagram n. a diagram showing in schematic form the general arrangement of the parts or components of a complex system or process, such as an industrial apparatus or an electronic circuit.

blocker n. 1 a substance which prevents or inhibits a given physiological function.

2 [CRICKET] a habitually defensive batsman.

- [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a player whose task it is to block for the ball carrier.

block grant n. a grant from central government which a local authority can allocate to a wide range of services.

blockhead n. INFORMAL a very stupid person.

<DERIVATIVES> blockheaded adj.

block heater n. 1 BRITISH a storage heater.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a device for heating the engine block of a vehicle.

blockhouse n. a reinforced concrete shelter used as an observation point.

- HISTORICAL a one-storeyed timber building with loopholes, used as a fort.

- US a house made of squared logs.

blocking n. [mass noun] 1 the action of blocking or obstructing someone or something, in particular:

- [PSYCHIATRY] the sudden halting of the flow of thought or speech, as a symptom of schizophrenia or other mental disorder.

- failure to recall or consider an unpleasant memory or train of thought.

2 the grouping or treatment of things (e.g. shades of colour) in blocks.

- the physical arrangement of actors on a stage or film set.

blockish adj. 1 big, bulky, or crude in form or appearance: his blockish architecture is ugly if functional.

2 unintelligent.

block letters plural n. plain capital letters; block capitals.

block mountain n. [GEOLOGY] a mountain formed by natural faults in the earth's crust.

block plane n. a carpenter's plane with a blade set at an acute angle, used especially for planing across the end grain of wood.

block release n. [mass noun] BRITISH a system of allowing employees the whole of a stated period off work in order to undertake an educational course.

blockship n. a ship which is moored or grounded in a channel in order to block it, for purposes of war or to provide shelter.

block system n. a system of railway signalling which divides the track into sections and allows no train to enter a section that is not completely clear.

block vote n. BRITISH a vote proportional in power to the number of people a delegate represents, used particularly at a trade-union conference.

blockwork n. [mass noun] blocks of concrete, cement, or similar material in a wall or other structure.

Bloemfontein /blumfnten blm-/ the capital of Free State province and judicial capital of South Africa; pop. 371,200 (est. 2002).

blog n. a personal website on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis.

■ v. (blogs, blogging, blogged) [no obj.] (usually as n. blogging) add new material to or regularly update a blog.

<DERIVATIVES> blogger n.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: abbreviation of WEBLOG.

blogosphere /bləsfə/ n. (the blogosphere) INFORMAL personal websites and blogs collectively.

blogroll n. INFORMAL (on a blog) a list of hyperlinks to other blogs or websites.

bloke n. BRITISH INFORMAL a man: he's a nice bloke.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Shelta.

blokeish (also blokish) adj. BRITISH INFORMAL indulging in or relating to stereotypically male behaviour and interests.

<DERIVATIVES> blokeishness n.

blokey adj. another term for BLOKEISH.

blonde adj. (also blond) (chiefly of hair) fair or pale yellow: her long blonde hair | I had my hair dyed blonde.

- having hair of a fair or pale yellow colour: a tall blonde woman.

- having fair hair and a light complexion (especially when regarded as a racial characteristic).

■ n. a woman with blonde hair.

- [mass noun] the colour of blonde hair.

<DERIVATIVES> blondish adj. blondness n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (earlier as blond): from French, feminine of blond, from medieval Latin blundus ‘yellow’, perhaps from Germanic.

<USAGE> The alternative spellings blonde and blond correspond to the feminine and masculine forms in French, but in English the distinction is not always made, as English does not have such distinctions of grammatical gender. Thus, blond woman or blonde woman, blond man or blonde man are all used. The word is more commonly used of women, though, and in the noun the spelling is typically blonde. In American usage the usual spelling is blond for both adjective and noun.

blonde moment n. HUMOROUS an instance of being silly or scatterbrained.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from the stereotypical perception of blonde-haired women as unintelligent.

Blondin /blndn/ French /bldε/ Charles (1824–97), French acrobat; born Jean-François Gravelet. He is famous for walking across a tightrope suspended over Niagara Falls on several occasions.

Blood /bld/ n. (pl. same or Bloods) a member of a North American Indian people belonging to the Blackfoot Confederacy.

blood n. [mass noun] 1 the red liquid that circulates in the arteries and veins of humans and other vertebrate animals, carrying oxygen to and carbon dioxide from the tissues of the body: drops of blood.

- an internal bodily fluid which performs a similar function in invertebrates.

- FIGURATIVE violence involving bloodshed: a commando operation full of blood and danger.

Blood consists of a mildly alkaline aqueous fluid (plasma) containing red cells (erythrocytes), white cells (leucocytes), and platelets; it is red when oxygenated and purple when deoxygenated. Red blood cells carry the protein haemoglobin, which gives blood its colour and can combine with oxygen, thus enabling the blood to carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. White blood cells protect the body against the invasion of foreign agents (e.g. bacteria). Platelets and other factors present in plasma are concerned in the clotting of blood, preventing haemorrhage. In medieval science and medicine, blood was regarded as one of the four bodily humours, believed to be associated with a confident and optimistic temperament.

2 fiery or passionate temperament: a ritual that fires up his blood.

3 [with modifier] family background; descent or lineage: she must have Irish blood in her.

- [count noun] a person of specified descent: a mixed blood.

- [count noun] US INFORMAL a fellow black person.

4 [count noun] DATED a fashionable and dashing young man: a group of young bloods.

■ v. [with obj.] chiefly BRITISH 1 initiate (someone) in a particular activity: clubs are too slow to blood young players.

2 [HUNTING] smear the face of (a novice) with the blood of the kill.

- give (a hound) a first taste of blood.

<PHRASES>

□ be like getting blood out of (or from) a stone (NORTH AMERICAN also turnip) be extremely difficult (said in reference to obtaining something from someone): getting a story out of her is like getting blood out of a stone!

□ blood and guts INFORMAL violence and bloodshed, especially in fiction.

□ blood and thunder INFORMAL unrestrained and violent action or behaviour.

□ blood is thicker than water PROVERB family relationships and loyalties are the strongest and most important ones.

□ one's blood is up one is in a fighting mood.

□ blood, sweat, and tears extremely hard work; unstinting effort.

□ blood will tell PROVERB family characteristics cannot be concealed.

□ first blood 1 the first shedding of blood, especially in a boxing match or formerly in duelling with swords.

2 the first point or advantage gained in a contest: King drew first blood when he took the opening set.

□ give blood allow blood to be removed medically from one's body in order to be stored for use in transfusions.

□ have blood on one's hands be responsible for someone's death.

□ in one's blood ingrained in or fundamental to one's character: racing is in his blood.

□ make someone's blood boil INFORMAL infuriate someone.

□ make someone's blood run cold horrify someone.

□ new (or fresh) blood new members admitted to a group, especially as an invigorating force.

□ of the blood (royal) LITERARY royal.

□ out for (someone's) blood set on getting revenge.

□ taste blood achieve an early success that stimulates further efforts: the speculators have tasted blood and could force a devaluation of the currency.

□ young blood a younger member or members of a group, especially as an invigorating force.

<ORIGIN> Old English blōd, of Germanic origin; related to German Blut and Dutch bloed.

blood bank n. a place where supplies of blood or plasma for transfusion are stored.

bloodbath n. an event or situation in which many people are killed in an extremely violent way.

blood boosting n. another term for BLOOD DOPING.

blood–brain barrier n. [ANATOMY] a semipermeable membrane separating the blood from the cerebrospinal fluid, and constituting a barrier to the passage of cells, particles, and large molecules.

blood brother n. a man who has sworn to treat another man as a brother, typically by a ceremonial mingling of blood.

blood cell n. any of the kinds of cell normally found circulating in the blood.

blood count n. a determination of the number of corpuscles in a specific volume of blood.

- the number found in such a procedure: a low blood count.

blood-curdling adj. causing or expressing terror or horror: a blood-curdling scream.

blood donor n. a person who gives blood for transfusion.

blood doping n. [mass noun] the injection of oxygenated blood into an athlete before an event in an (illegal) attempt to enhance athletic performance.

blooded adj. 1 [usually in combination] having blood or a temperament of a specified kind: thin-blooded.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (of horses or cattle) of good pedigree: a blooded stallion.

blood feud n. a lengthy conflict between families involving a cycle of retaliatory killings.

bloodfin n. a small South American freshwater fish that is silvery yellow with bright red fins, popular in aquaria.

<INFO> Aphyocharax rubripinnis, family Characidae.

blood fluke n. another term for SCHISTOSOME.

blood group n. any of the various types of human blood whose antigen characteristics determine compatibility in transfusion. The best-known blood groups are those of the ABO system.

blood heat n. [mass noun] the normal body temperature of a healthy human being, about 37 °C or 98.4 °F.

blood horse n. DATED a thoroughbred horse.

bloodhound n. a large hound of a breed with a very keen sense of smell, used in tracking.

blood knot n. a type of knot used by anglers to join two fishing lines.

bloodless adj. 1 (of a revolution or conflict) without violence or killing: a bloodless coup.

2 (of the skin) drained of colour: his bloodless lips.

- (of a person) cold or ruthless.

- lacking in vitality; feeble: a bloodless chorus.

<DERIVATIVES> bloodlessly adv. bloodlessness n.

bloodletting n. [mass noun] 1 chiefly HISTORICAL the surgical removal of some of a patient's blood for therapeutic purposes.

2 the violent killing and wounding of people during a war or conflict: gang members have halted their internecine bloodletting.

- bitter division and quarrelling within an organization.

bloodline n. an animal's set of ancestors or pedigree, especially with reference to the desirable characteristics bred into it.

- a set of ancestors or line of descent of an important person.

bloodlust n. [mass noun] uncontrollable desire to kill or maim others.

blood meal n. [mass noun] dried blood used for feeding animals and as a fertilizer.

blood money n. [mass noun] 1 money paid in compensation to the family of someone who has been killed.

2 money paid to a hired killer.

blood orange n. an orange of a variety with red or red-streaked flesh.

blood poisoning n. [mass noun] the presence of micro-organisms or their toxins in the blood, causing a diseased state; septicaemia.

blood pressure n. [mass noun] the pressure of the blood in the circulatory system, often measured for diagnosis since it is closely related to the force and rate of the heartbeat and the diameter and elasticity of the arterial walls.

blood pudding (also chiefly NORTH AMERICAN blood sausage) n. [mass noun] black pudding.

blood red n. [mass noun] a deep red: [as modifier] a blood-red lipstick.

blood relation (also blood relative) n. a person who is related to another by birth rather than by marriage.

bloodroot n. 1 a North American plant of the poppy family, which has white flowers and fleshy underground rhizomes which exude red sap when cut.

<INFO> Sanguinaria canadensis, family Papaveraceae.

2 a lily-like Australian plant with a red rhizome which is roasted and eaten by some Aborigines.

<INFO> Haemodorum coccineum, family Haemodoraceae.

blood sausage n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for BLOOD PUDDING.

bloodshed n. [mass noun] the killing or wounding of people, typically on a large scale during a conflict.

bloodshot adj. (of the eyes) inflamed or tinged with blood, typically as a result of tiredness.

blood sport n. (usually blood sports) a sport involving the hunting, wounding, or killing of animals.

bloodstain n. a mark or discoloration on fabric or a surface caused by blood.

bloodstained adj. marked or covered with blood.

bloodstock n. [treated as sing. or plural] thoroughbred horses considered collectively.

bloodstone n. [mass noun] a green gemstone that is spotted or streaked with red, consisting of a variety of chalcedony.

bloodstream n. [in sing.] the blood circulating through the body of a person or animal.

bloodsucker n. 1 an animal or insect that sucks blood, especially a leech or a mosquito.

2 a long-tailed arboreal Asian lizard which carries its head in a raised position. The head and shoulders of the male become bright red when it is excited.

<INFO> Calotes versicolor, family Agamidae.

3 INFORMAL a person who extorts money or otherwise lives off other people.

<DERIVATIVES> bloodsucking adj.

blood sugar n. [mass noun] the concentration of glucose in the blood.

blood test n. a scientific examination of a sample of blood, typically for the diagnosis of illness or for the detection and measurement of drugs or other substances.

bloodthirsty adj. (bloodthirstier, bloodthirstiest) having or showing a desire to kill and maim: a bloodthirsty dictator.

- (of a story or film) containing or depicting much violence.

<DERIVATIVES> bloodthirstily adv. bloodthirstiness n.

blood transfusion n. an injection of a volume of blood, previously taken from a healthy person, into a patient.

blood vessel n. a tubular structure carrying blood through the tissues and organs; a vein, artery, or capillary.

bloodwood n. any of a number of hardwood trees with deep red timber, in particular:

<INFO>

- an Australian gum tree (genus Eucalyptus, family Myrtaceae, in particular E. gummifera).

- a tree of the Old World tropics (genus Pterocarpus, family Leguminosae), including kiaat.

bloodworm n. 1 the bright red aquatic larva of a non-biting midge, the blood of which contains haemoglobin that allows it to live in poorly oxygenated water.

<INFO> Genus Chironomus, family Chironomidae.

2 another term for TUBIFEX.

bloody^1 adj. (bloodier, bloodiest) 1 covered, smeared, or running with blood: his bloody hands.

- composed of or resembling blood: a bloody discharge.

2 involving or characterized by bloodshed or cruelty: a bloody coup | the bloody tyrannies of Europe.

■ v. (bloodies, bloodying, bloodied) [with obj.] cover or stain with blood.

<PHRASES>

□ bloody (or bloodied) but unbowed proud of what one has achieved despite having suffered great difficulties or losses.

<DERIVATIVES> bloodily adv. bloodiness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English blōdig (see BLOOD, -y^1).

bloody^2 adj. (bloodier, bloodiest) INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH 1 [attr.] used to express anger, annoyance, or shock, or simply for emphasis: you took your bloody time | [as exclamation] bloody Hell!—what was that? | [as submodifier] it's bloody cold outside.

2 DATED unpleasant or perverse: don't be too bloody to poor Nigel.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from BLOODY^1. The use of bloody to add emphasis to an expression is of uncertain origin, but is thought to have a connection with the ‘bloods’ (aristocratic rowdies) of the late 17th and early 18th centuries; hence the phrase bloody drunk (= as drunk as a blood) meant ‘very drunk indeed’. After the mid 18th century until quite recently bloody used as a swear word was regarded as unprintable, probably from the mistaken belief that it implied a blasphemous reference to the blood of Christ, or that the word was an alteration of ‘by Our Lady’; hence a widespread caution in using the term even in phrases, such as bloody battle, merely referring to bloodshed.

Bloody Assizes the trials of the supporters of the Duke of Monmouth after their defeat at the Battle of Sedgemoor, held in SW England in 1685. The government's representative, Judge Jeffreys, sentenced several hundred rebels to death and about 1,000 others to transportation to America as plantation slaves.

bloody hand n. [HERALDRY] another term for RED HAND.

Bloody Mary^1 the nickname of Mary I of England (see Mary^2).

Bloody Mary^2 n. (pl. Bloody Marys) a drink consisting of vodka and tomato juice.

bloody-minded adj. BRITISH INFORMAL deliberately uncooperative.

<DERIVATIVES> bloody-mindedly adv. bloody-mindedness n.

bloody-nosed beetle n. a large black leaf beetle which exudes a red liquid from its mouth and leg joints when disturbed.

<INFO> Genus Timarcha, family Chrysomelidae.

Bloody Sunday 1 (in Northern Ireland) 30 January 1972, when British troops shot dead thirteen marchers in Londonderry who were protesting against the government's policy of internment.

2 (in Britain) 13 November 1887, when police violently broke up a socialist demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, against the British government's Irish policy.

3 (in Russia) 9 January 1905 (22 January in the New Style calendar), when troops attacked and killed hundreds of unarmed workers who had gathered in St Petersburg to present a petition to the tsar.

blooey /blui/ (also blooie) US INFORMAL adv. & adj. awry; amiss: [as adv.] the ignition switch went blooey.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: of unknown origin.

bloom^1 n. 1 a flower, especially one cultivated for its beauty: an exotic bloom.

- [mass noun] the state or period of flowering: the apple trees were in bloom.

- [mass noun] the state or period of greatest beauty, freshness, or vigour: a young girl, still in the bloom of youth.

- [in sing.] a youthful or healthy glow in a person's complexion: her face had lost its usual bloom.

- [mass noun] a full, bright sound in a recording: the remastering has lost some of the bloom of the strings.

2 a delicate powdery surface deposit on certain fresh fruits, leaves, or stems.

- [mass noun] a greyish-white appearance on chocolate caused by cocoa butter rising to the surface.

■ short for ALGAL BLOOM.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] produce flowers; be in flower: a chalk pit where cowslips bloomed.

- come into or be in full beauty or health; flourish: the children had bloomed in the soft Devonshire air.

- (of fire, colour, or light) become radiant and glowing: colour bloomed in her cheeks.

2 [with obj.] TECHNICAL coat (a lens) with a special surface layer so as to reduce reflection from its surface.

<PHRASES>

□ the bloom is off the rose NORTH AMERICAN the thing in question is no longer new, fresh, or exciting.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse blóm ‘flower, blossom’, blómi ‘prosperity’, blómar ‘flowers’.

bloom^2 n. a mass of iron, steel, or other metal hammered or rolled into a thick bar for further working.

- HISTORICAL an unworked mass of puddled iron.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as n. blooming) make (metal) into such a mass.

<ORIGIN> Old English blōma, of unknown origin.

bloomer^1 n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a serious or stupid mistake.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: equivalent to blooming error.

bloomer^2 n. BRITISH a large loaf with diagonal slashes on a rounded top.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

bloomer^3 n. [usually in combination] a plant that produces flowers at a specified time: fragrant night-bloomers such as nicotiana.

- [with adj.] a person who matures or flourishes at a specified time: he was a late bloomer.

bloomers plural n. women's loose-fitting knee-length knickers, considered old-fashioned.

- HISTORICAL women's and girls' loose-fitting trousers, gathered at the knee or, originally, the ankle.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Mrs Amelia J. Bloomer (1818–94), an American social reformer who advocated a similar garment.

bloomery n. (pl. bloomeries) HISTORICAL a forge or mill producing blooms of wrought iron.

Bloomfield Leonard (1887–1949), American linguist, one of the founders of American structural linguistics. His primary aim was to establish linguistics as an autonomous and scientific discipline. Notable works: Language (1933).

<DERIVATIVES> Bloomfieldian adj.

blooming adj. [attr.] BRITISH INFORMAL used to express annoyance or for emphasis: of all the blooming cheek! | [as submodifier] a blooming good read.

Bloomsbury an area of central London noted for its large squares and gardens and for its associations with the Bloomsbury Group. The British Museum is located there.

- [as modifier] associated with or similar to the Bloomsbury Group: a Bloomsbury artist.

Bloomsbury Group a group of writers, artists, and philosophers living in or associated with Bloomsbury in the early 20th century. Members of the group, which included Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, and Roger Fry, were known for their unconventional lifestyles and attitudes and were a powerful force in the growth of modernism.

bloop NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL v. 1 [no obj.] (of an electronic device) emit a short low-pitched noise: a fruit machine blooping in the corner.

2 [no obj.] make a mistake: the company admitted it had blooped.

3 [with obj.] [BASEBALL] hit (a ball) weakly or make (a hit) that lands just beyond the reach of the infielders.

■ n. 1 a short low-pitched noise emitted by an electronic device.

2 a mistake: a typical beginner's bloop.

3 [BASEBALL] another term for blooper (sense 2).

<DERIVATIVES> bloopy adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: imitative.

blooper n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 an embarrassing error.

2 [BASEBALL] a weakly hit fly ball landing just beyond the reach of the infielders.

<ORIGIN> 1926 (originally US, denoting a radio which caused others to bloop, i.e. emit a loud howling noise): from imitative BLOOP + -ER^1.

blooter /blutə/ v. [with obj.] SCOTTISH hit or kick (something) hard and wildly: he blootered the ball over the bar.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: earlier senses include ‘blunder’ and ‘talk foolishly’, but ultimately of unknown origin.

blossom n. a flower or a mass of flowers, especially on a tree or bush: tiny white blossoms | [mass noun] the slopes were ablaze with almond blossom.

- [mass noun] the state or period of flowering: fruit trees in blossom.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a tree or bush) produce flowers or masses of flowers: a garden in which roses blossom | (as adj. blossoming) blossoming magnolia.

- mature or develop in a promising or healthy way: their friendship blossomed into romance | (as n. blossoming) the blossoming of experimental theatre.

<DERIVATIVES> blossomy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English blōstm, blōstma (noun), blōstmian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bloesem, also to bloom^1.

blot n. 1 a dark mark or stain made by ink, paint, dirt, etc.: an ink blot.

- a shameful act or quality that damages an otherwise good character or reputation: the only blot on an otherwise clean campaign.

- a thing that mars the appearance of something: wind power turbines are a blot on the landscape.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] a procedure in which proteins or nucleic acids separated on a gel are transferred directly to an immobilizing medium for identification.

■ v. (blots, blotting, blotted) [with obj.] 1 dry (a wet surface or substance) using an absorbent material: Henry blotted the page.

2 mark or stain (something): (as adj. blotted) the writing was messy and blotted.

- damage the good character or reputation of: the turmoil blotted his memory of the school.

3 (blot something out) cover writing or pictures with ink or paint so that they cannot be seen.

- obscure a view: a dust shield blotting out the sun.

- obliterate or disregard something painful in one's memory or existence: the concentration necessary to her job blotted out all the feelings.

4 [BIOCHEMISTRY] transfer by means of a blot.

<PHRASES>

□ blot one's copybook BRITISH tarnish one's good reputation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Old Norse blettr.

blotch n. a large irregular patch or unsightly mark on the skin or another surface: red blotches on her face.

■ v. [with obj.] cover with blotches.

<DERIVATIVES> blotchiness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a verb): partly an alteration of obsolete plotch in the same sense (of unknown origin), influenced by BLOT; partly a blend of BLOT and BOTCH.

blotchy adj. (blotchier, blotchiest) covered with blotches; patchy: discoloration or blotchy skin on the legs.

blotter n. 1 a sheet or pad of blotting paper in a frame, kept on a desk.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a temporary recording book, especially a police charge sheet.

blotting paper n. [mass noun] absorbent paper used for soaking up excess ink when writing.

blotto adj. [predic.] INFORMAL extremely drunk.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BLOT + -O.

blouse n. a woman's upper garment resembling a shirt, typically with a collar, buttons, and sleeves.

- a loose linen or cotton garment formerly worn by peasants and manual workers, typically belted at the waist.

- a type of jacket worn as part of military uniform.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial] make (a garment) hang in loose folds: I bloused my trousers over my boots.

<PHRASES>

□ big girl's blouse BRITISH INFORMAL a weak, cowardly, or oversensitive man.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting a belted loose garment worn by peasants): from French, of unknown origin.

blouson /bluzn/ n. a short loose-fitting jacket, typically bloused and finishing at the waist.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, diminutive of BLOUSE.

bloviate /bləvet/ v. [no obj.] US INFORMAL talk at length, especially in an inflated or empty way.

<DERIVATIVES> bloviation n. bloviator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from BLOW^1.

Blow John (c.1649–1708), English composer and organist. The organist of Westminster Abbey 1668–79 and 1695–1708, he wrote much church music and taught Henry Purcell. His masque Venus and Adonis (c.1682) was a forerunner of English opera.

blow^1 v. (past blew; past participle blown) 1 [no obj.] (of wind) move creating an air current: a cold breeze was blowing in off the sea.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] (of wind) cause (something) to move; propel: a gust of wind blew a cloud of smoke into his face | the spire was blown down during a gale.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] be carried, driven, or moved by the wind or an air current: it was so windy that the tent nearly blew away | cotton curtains blowing in the breeze.

- North American INFORMAL leave: I'd better blow.

2 [no obj.] (of a person) expel air through pursed lips: Willie took a deep breath, and blew | he blew on his tea to cool it.

- [with obj.] use one's breath to propel (something): he blew cigar smoke in her face.

- breathe hard; pant: Uncle Albert was soon puffing and blowing.

- (as adj. blown) out of breath; panting: an exhausted, blown horse.

- [with obj.] force air through the mouth into (an instrument) in order to make a sound: the umpire blew his whistle.

- (of an instrument) make a sound when air is forced into it: police whistles blew.

- [with obj.] sound (the horn of a vehicle).

- INFORMAL play jazz or rock music in an unrestrained style.

- [with obj.] force air through a tube into (molten glass) in order to create an artefact.

- [with obj.] remove the contents of (an egg) by forcing air through it.

- (of a whale) eject air and vapour through the blowhole.

3 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] (of an explosion or explosive device) displace violently or send flying: the blast had blown the windows out of the van.

- [no obj.] (of a vehicle tyre) burst suddenly while the vehicle is in motion.

- burst or cause to burst due to pressure or overheating: [no obj.] the engines sounded as if their exhausts had blown.

- (with reference to an electric circuit) burn out through overloading: [no obj.] the fuse had blown | [with obj.] the floodlights blew a fuse.

4 [with obj.] INFORMAL spend recklessly: they blew £100,000 in just eighteen months.

5 [with obj.] INFORMAL completely bungle (an opportunity): he'd been given a second chance and he'd blown it | they blew a 4–2 lead.

- expose (a stratagem): a man whose cover was blown.

6 (past participle blowed) [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL damn: [as imperative] ‘Well, blow me’, he said, ‘I never knew that’ | [with clause] I'm blowed if I want to see him again.

7 [with obj.] VULGAR SLANG perform fellatio on (a man).

8 [with obj.] (of flies) lay eggs in or on (something).

■ n. 1 [in sing.] a strong wind: we're in for a bit of a blow.

- an act of getting some fresh air: I'll go down to the sea and get a blow before supper.

2 an act of blowing an instrument: a number of blows on the whistle.

- INFORMAL a spell of playing jazz or rock music.

- an act of blowing one's nose: give your nose a good blow.

- (in steel-making) an act of sending an air or oxygen blast through molten metal in a converter.

3 [mass noun] INFORMAL cannabis.

<PHRASES>

□ be blown off course (of a project) be disrupted by some circumstance.

□ be blown out of the water be shown to lack all credibility.

□ blow someone's brains out INFORMAL kill someone with a shot in the head.

□ blow cold on regard unfavourably: however, they are now blowing cold on the issue.

□ blow the doors off NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be considerably better or more successful than: a package that blows the doors off anything on the market.

□ blow a fuse (or gasket) INFORMAL lose one's temper.

□ blow hot and cold alternate inconsistently between two moods, attitudes, or courses of action.

□ blow someone a kiss kiss the tips of one's fingers then blow across them towards someone as a gesture of affection.

□ blow someone's mind INFORMAL impress or otherwise affect someone very strongly: the sound of a twelve-string guitar just blew my mind.

□ blow one's nose clear one's nose of mucus by blowing through it into a handkerchief.

□ blow off STEAM see LET OFF STEAM at steam.

□ blow something to bits (or pieces or smithereens) use bombs or other explosives to destroy something, typically a building, completely: the commandos blew the base to smithereens.

□ blow one's top (or chiefly NORTH AMERICAN lid or stack) INFORMAL lose one's temper.

□ blow up in one's face (of an action, project, or situation) go drastically wrong with damaging effects to oneself.

□ blow with the wind be incapable of maintaining a consistent course of action.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ blow someone away INFORMAL 1 kill someone using a firearm.

2 impress someone greatly: I'm blown away by his new poem.

□ blow in INFORMAL arrive casually and unannounced.

□ blow off INFORMAL break wind noisily.

□ blow someone off NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL fail to keep an appointment with someone.

- end a romantic or sexual relationship with someone.

□ blow something off NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL ignore or make light of something.

- fail to attend something: Ivy blew off class.

□ blow out 1 be extinguished by an air current: the candles blew out.

2 (of a tyre) puncture while the vehicle is in motion.

3 (of an oil or gas well) emit gas suddenly and forcefully.

4 (blow itself out) (of a storm) finally lose its force.

□ blow someone out NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL defeat someone convincingly.

□ blow something out 1 use one's breath to extinguish a flame: he blew out the candle.

2 puff out one's cheeks.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL render a part of the body useless: he blew out his knee playing basketball.

□ blow over (of trouble) fade away without serious consequences.

□ blow up 1 explode.

- lose one's temper: Mum had blown up at Dad with more than her usual vehemence.

2 (of a wind or storm) begin to develop.

- (of a scandal or dispute) emerge or become public.

3 inflate: my stomach had started to blow up.

□ blow someone up INFORMAL, DATED reprimand someone severely: she got blown up by her boss for being late.

□ blow something up 1 cause something to explode.

2 inflate something: a small pump for blowing up balloons.

- exaggerate the importance of something: it was a domestic tiff which had been blown up out of all proportion.

3 enlarge a photograph or text.

<ORIGIN> Old English blāwan, of Germanic origin; related to German blähen ‘blow up, swell’, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin flare ‘blow’.

blow^2 n. a powerful stroke with a hand, weapon, or hard object: he received a blow to the skull.

- a sudden shock or disappointment: the news came as a crushing blow to the cast.

<PHRASES>

□ at one blow by a single stroke; in one operation: the letter had destroyed his certainty at one blow.

□ blow-by-blow (of a description of an event) giving all the details in the order in which they occurred: a blow-by-blow account of how England lost to Portugal.

□ come to blows start fighting after a disagreement.

□ soften (or cushion) the blow make it easier to cope with a difficult change or upsetting news: monetary compensation was offered to soften the blow.

□ strike a blow for (or against) act in support of (or opposition to): a chance to strike a blow for freedom.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

blow^3 ARCHAIC or LITERARY v. (past blew; past participle blown) [no obj.] produce flowers or be in flower: I know a bank where the wild thyme blows.

■ n. [mass noun] the state or period of flowering: stocks in fragrant blow.

<ORIGIN> Old English blōwan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bloeien and German blühen, also to bloom^1 and BLOSSOM.

blowback n. 1 a process in which gases expand or travel in a direction opposite to the usual one, especially through escape of pressure or delayed combustion.

2 chiefly US the unintended adverse results of a political action or situation: this is the blowback from all those aggressive public health campaigns.

blowdown n. [mass noun] 1 NORTH AMERICAN trees that have been blown down by the wind.

- the blowing down of a tree or trees.

2 the removal of solids or liquids from a container or pipe using pressure.

blow-dry v. [with obj.] dry and style (hair) with a hand-held dryer.

■ n. [in sing.] an act of blow-drying the hair.

<DERIVATIVES> blow-dryer (also blow-drier) n.

blower n. 1 a person or thing that blows, especially a mechanical device for creating a current of air used to dry or heat something.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a telephone.

blowfish n. (pl. same or blowfishes) any of a number of fishes that are able to inflate their bodies when alarmed, such as a globefish.

blowfly n. (pl. blowflies) a large and typically metallic fly which lays its eggs on meat and carcasses.

<INFO> Family Calliphoridae: numerous species, including the bluebottle.

blowgun n. another term for BLOWPIPE.

blowhard n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a boastful or pompous person.

blowhole n. 1 the nostril of a whale or dolphin on the top of its head.

2 a hole in ice through which a sea mammal breathes or a person fishes.

- a vent for air or smoke in a tunnel or other structure.

blowie n. (pl. blowies) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a blowfly.

blow-in n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a newcomer or recent arrival.

blow job n. VULGAR SLANG an act of fellatio.

blowlamp n. British term for BLOWTORCH.

blown^1 past participle of blow^1

■ adj. INFORMAL (of a vehicle or its engine) provided with a turbocharger.

blown^2 past participle of blow^3.

blowout n. 1 an occasion when a tyre on a vehicle bursts or an electric fuse melts.

- an uprush of oil or gas from a well.

- North American INFORMAL an outburst of anger or an argument.

2 INFORMAL a large or lavish meal or social gathering.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an easy victory in a sporting contest or election.

4 a hollow eroded by the wind.

blowpipe n. 1 a primitive weapon consisting of a long tube through which an arrow or dart is propelled by force of the breath.

2 a long tube by means of which molten glass is blown into the required shape.

- a tube used to intensify the heat of a flame by blowing air or other gas through it at high pressure.

blowsy /blazi/ (also blowzy) adj. (blowsier, blowsiest; blowzier, blowziest) (of a woman) coarse, untidy, and red-faced.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from obsolete blowze ‘beggar's female companion’, of unknown origin.

blowtorch n. a portable device producing a hot flame which can be directed on to a surface, typically to burn off paint.

blow-up n. 1 an enlargement of a photograph.

2 INFORMAL an outburst of anger.

■ adj. [attr.] inflatable: a blow-up pillow.

blowy adj. (blowier, blowiest) windy or windswept: a blowy day.

BLT n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a sandwich filled with bacon, lettuce, and tomato.

blub v. (blubs, blubbing, blubbed) [no obj.] INFORMAL cry noisily and uncontrollably; sob.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: abbreviation of blubber^2.

blubber^1 n. [mass noun] the fat of sea mammals, especially whales and seals.

- INFORMAL, DEROGATORY excessive human fat.

■ adj. ARCHAIC (of a person's lips) swollen or protruding. [<ORIGIN> alteration of obsolete blabber ‘swollen’.]

<DERIVATIVES> blubbery adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the foaming of the sea, also a bubble on water): perhaps symbolic; compare with BLOB and BLOTCH.

blubber^2 v. [no obj.] INFORMAL cry noisily and uncontrollably; sob: he was blubbering like a child | [with direct speech] ‘I don't like him,’ blubbered Jonathan.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably symbolic; compare with BLOB and blubber^1.

bluchers /blukəz/ plural n. HISTORICAL strong leather half-boots or high shoes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after G. L. von Blücher (1742–1819), Prussian general.

bludge AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL v. [no obj.] shirk responsibility and live off the efforts of others: they were sick of bludging on the public.

- [with obj.] cadge or scrounge: the girls bludged smokes.

■ n. an easy job or assignment.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from BLUDGER.

bludgeon /bld(ə)n/ n. a thick stick with a heavy end, used as a weapon.

■ v. [with obj.] beat (someone) repeatedly with a bludgeon or other heavy object.

- force or bully (someone) to do something: she was determined not to be bludgeoned into submission.

- (bludgeon one's way) make one's way by brute force.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: of unknown origin.

bludger n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a scrounger.

- an idle or lazy person.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally British slang denoting a pimp, specifically one who robbed his prostitute's clients): abbreviation of bludgeoner, from BLUDGEON.

blue^1 adj. (bluer, bluest) 1 of a colour intermediate between green and violet, as of the sky or sea on a sunny day: the clear blue sky | blue jeans | deep blue eyes.

- (of a person's skin) having turned blue as a result of cold or breathing difficulties: Ashley went blue and I panicked.

- (of a bird or other animal) having blue markings: a blue jay.

- (of a cat, fox, or rabbit) having fur of a smoky grey colour: the blue fox.

- (of a ski run) of the second-lowest level of difficulty, as indicated by coloured markers positioned along it.

- [PHYSICS] denoting one of three colours of quark.

2 INFORMAL (of a person or mood) melancholy, sad, or depressed: he's feeling blue.

3 INFORMAL (of a film, joke, or story) having sexual or pornographic content: a blue movie.

4 BRITISH INFORMAL politically conservative: the successful blue candidate.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] blue colour or pigment: she was dressed in blue | the dark blue of his eyes | [count noun] armchairs in pastel blues and greens.

- blue clothes or material: Susan wore blue.

2 a blue thing, in particular:

- the blue ball in snooker.

- (the blue) LITERARY the sky or sea, or the unknown: far out upon the blue were many sails.

■ another term for BLUING.

3 [usually with modifier] a small butterfly, the male of which is predominantly blue while the female is typically brown.

<INFO> Numerous genera in the family Lycaenidae.

4 BRITISH a person who has represented Cambridge University (a Cambridge blue) or Oxford University (an Oxford blue) at a particular sport in a match between the two universities: a flyweight boxing blue.

- a distinction awarded to such a person: Adrian's brother won a rugby blue in December.

5 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an argument or fight. [<ORIGIN> 1940s: perhaps by association with phrases such as make the air blue, alluding to swearing.]

6 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a mistake.

7 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a nickname for a red-headed person. [<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.]

8 BRITISH INFORMAL a supporter of the Conservative Party.

■ v. (blues, bluing or blueing, blued) 1 make or become blue.

- [with obj.] heat (metal) so as to give it a greyish-blue finish.

2 [with obj.] chiefly HISTORICAL wash (white clothes) with bluing.

<PHRASES>

□ blue on blue [MILITARY] denoting or relating to an attack made by one's own side that accidentally harms one's own forces: blue-on-blue incidents. [<ORIGIN> from the use of blue to indicate friendly forces in military exercises.]

□ do something until (or till) one is blue in the face INFORMAL put all one's efforts into doing something to no avail: she could talk to him until she was blue in the face, but he was just not hearing.

□ once in a blue moon INFORMAL very rarely. [<ORIGIN> because a ‘blue moon’ is a phenomenon that occurs only very rarely.]

□ out of the blue (or out of a clear blue sky) INFORMAL without warning; unexpectedly: she phoned me out of the blue. [<ORIGIN> with reference to a ‘blue’ (i.e. clear) sky, from which nothing unusual is expected.]

□ talk a blue streak NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL speak continuously and at great length.

<DERIVATIVES> blueness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bleu, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to Old English blwen ‘blue’ and Old Norse blár ‘dark blue’ (see also BLAEBERRY).

blue^2 v. (blues, bluing or blueing, blued) BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED squander or recklessly spend (money).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps a variant of blow^1.

blue baby n. a baby with a blue complexion from lack of oxygen in the blood due to a congenital defect of the heart or major blood vessels.

blueback n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a bird or fish, especially a trout or a sockeye salmon, having a bluish back.

Bluebeard a character in a tale by Charles Perrault, who killed several wives in turn for disobeying his order to avoid a locked room, which contained the bodies of his previous wives. Local tradition in Brittany identifies him with Gilles de Rais (c.1400–40), a perpetrator of atrocities, although he had only one wife (who left him).

- (as n. a Bluebeard) a man who murders his wives.

blue beat n. another term for SKA.

bluebell n. 1 a European woodland plant of the lily family, which produces clusters of blue bell-shaped flowers in spring. Also called WILD HYACINTH.

<INFO> Hyacinthoides (or Endymion) nonscripta, family Liliaceae.

2 any of a number of other plants with blue bell-shaped flowers, in particular:

<INFO>

- Scottish term for HAREBELL

- a North American plant of the borage family (genus Mertensia, family Boraginaceae).

- an Australian and South African plant of the bellflower family (genus Wahlenbergia, family Campanulaceae).

blueberry n. (pl. blueberries) 1 a small sweet blue-black edible berry which grows in clusters on North American shrubs related to the bilberry.

2 one of the dwarf shrubs that produces blueberries, some kinds being cultivated for their fruit or as ornamentals.

<INFO> Genus Vaccinium, family Ericaceae: several species.

bluebill n. 1 a large African waxbill with a stout metallic blue bill and red and black plumage.

<INFO> Genus Spermophaga, Estrildidae: three species.

2 any of a number of ducks with blue bills:

<INFO>

- North American the scaup duck.

- Australian the blue-billed duck (Oxyura australis).

bluebird n. an American songbird of the thrush family, the male of which has a blue head, back, and wings.

<INFO> Genus Sialia, family Turdidae: three species.

blue-black adj. black with a tinge of blue.

blue blood n. [mass noun] noble birth.

- [count noun] a person of noble birth.

<DERIVATIVES> blue-blooded adj.

blue bonnet n. a pale grey-brown Australian parrot with a deep blue face and variously coloured wings, tail, and belly.

<INFO> Psephotus (or Northiella) haematogaster, family Psittacidae.

Blue Book n. (in the UK) a report bound in a blue cover and issued by Parliament or the Privy Council.

- (in the US) an official book listing government officials.

- (usually blue book) an authoritative handbook.

bluebottle n. 1 a common blowfly with a metallic blue body, the female of which often comes into houses searching for a suitable food source on which to lay her eggs.

<INFO> Calliphora vomitoria, family Calliphoridae.

2 AUSTRALIAN & S. AFRICAN the Portuguese man-of-war. [<ORIGIN> so named because of its blue balloon-like float.]

3 BRITISH the wild cornflower.

4 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a police officer.

blue box n. 1 chiefly US an electronic device used to access long-distance telephone lines illegally.

2 CANADIAN a blue plastic box for the collection of recyclable household materials.

blue channel n. (at a customs area in an airport or port) the passage which should be taken by arriving passengers who have only travelled within the European Union.

blue cheese n. [mass noun] cheese containing veins of blue mould, such as Stilton and Danish Blue.

blue-chip adj. [attr.] denoting companies or their shares considered to be a reliable investment, though less secure than gilt-edged stock.

- of the highest quality: blue-chip art.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): from the blue chip used in gambling games, which usually has a high value.

blue chipper n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a highly valued person, especially a sports player.

blue coat n. 1 HISTORICAL a soldier in a blue uniform.

2 (Blue Coat) BRITISH a student at a charity school with a blue uniform.

blue-collar adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN relating to manual work or workers, particularly in industry: a blue-collar neighbourhood.

blue corn n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a variety of maize with bluish grains.

blue crab n. a large edible swimming crab of the Atlantic coast of North America.

<INFO> Callinectes sapidus, family Portunidae.

blue crane n. a large South African crane with blue-grey plumage, the national bird of South Africa. Also called STANLEY CRANE.

<INFO> Anthropoides paradisea, family Gruidae.

blue ensign n. a blue flag with the Union Jack in the top corner next to the flagstaff, flown chiefly by British naval auxiliary vessels.

blue-eyed boy n. BRITISH INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY a person highly regarded by someone and treated with special favour.

blue-eyed grass n. a North American plant of the iris family, cultivated for its blue flowers.

<INFO> Genus Sisyrinchium, family Iridaceae: several species.

blue-eyed Mary n. a low-growing southern European plant of the borage family, which bears bright blue flowers and spreads by means of runners.

<INFO> Omphalodes verna, family Boraginaceae.

Bluefields a port on the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua, situated on an inlet of the Caribbean Sea; pop. 43,200 (est. 2002).

bluefin (also bluefin tuna) n. the commonest large tuna, which occurs worldwide in warm seas. It is probably the largest bony fish, and is very important as a food and game fish. Also called TUNNY.

<INFO> Thunnus thynnus, family Scombridae.

bluefish n. (pl. same or bluefishes) a predatory blue-coloured marine fish, which inhabits tropical and temperate waters and is popular as a game fish.

<INFO> Pomatomus saltatrix, the only member of the family Pomatomidae.

blue flag n. 1 a European award for beaches, based on cleanliness and safety.

2 [MOTOR RACING] a blue flag used to indicate to a driver that there is another driver trying to lap him.

blue flyer n. AUSTRALIAN a female red kangaroo.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: blue, by association with the informal nickname for red-headed people (see blue^1 (sense 7 of the noun)).

bluegill /blul/ n. an edible North American freshwater fish of the sunfish family, with a deep body and bluish cheeks and gill covers.

<INFO> Lepomis macrochirus, family Centrarchidae.

bluegrass n. [mass noun] 1 (also Kentucky bluegrass) a bluish-green grass which was introduced into North America from northern Europe, widely grown (especially in Kentucky and Virginia) for fodder.

<INFO> Genus Poa, family Gramineae: several species, in particular the common Eurasian meadow grass.

2 a kind of country music characterized by virtuoso playing of banjos and guitars and high-pitched, close-harmony vocals.

Bluegrass State informal name for KENTUCKY.

blue-green algae plural n. another term for CYANOBACTERIA (see Cyanobacteria).

blue ground n. another term for KIMBERLITE.

bluegum n. a Eucalyptus tree with blue-green aromatic leaves and smooth bark.

<INFO> Genus Eucalyptus, family Myrtaceae: several species, in particular E. regnans.

blue hare n. another term for MOUNTAIN HARE.

bluehead n. a small wrasse (fish) of the tropical East Atlantic, the large males of which have a blue head and green body with vertical stripes, and the females and smaller males are predominantly yellowish.

<INFO> Thalassoma bifasciatum, family Labridae.

blue heeler n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a cattle dog with a dark speckled body.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: blue from the characteristic blue (or red) flecked coat of the breed.

blue helmet n. a member of a UN peacekeeping force.

blue ice n. [mass noun] ice of a vivid blue colour, formed when a large body of water freezes suddenly.

bluejacket n. INFORMAL a sailor in the navy.

blue jay n. a common North American jay with a blue crest, back, wings, and tail.

<INFO> Cyanocitta cristata, family Corvidae.

■ another term for roller^1 (sense 4).

blue jet n. a very faint short-lived cone of deep blue light sometimes observed in the upper atmosphere above an intense thunderstorm.

Blue John n. [mass noun] a blue or purple banded variety of fluorite found in Derbyshire.

blue law n. NORTH AMERICAN a law prohibiting certain activities, such as shopping, on a Sunday.

- (in colonial New England) a strict puritanical law, particularly one preventing entertainment or leisure activities on a Sunday.

blue line n. [HOCKEY] either of the two lines running across the ice between the centre line and the goal line.

blue metal n. [mass noun] BRITISH broken blue stone used for road-making.

blue mould n. a bluish fungus which grows on food, some kinds of which are used to produce blue cheeses or antibiotics such as penicillin.

<INFO> Penicillium and other genera, subdivision Deuteromycotina.

Blue Mountains 1 a section of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales, Australia.

2 a range of mountains in eastern Jamaica.

3 a range of mountains running from central Oregon to SE Washington State in the US.

Blue Nile one of the two principal headwaters of the Nile. Rising from Lake Tana in NW Ethiopia, it flows some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) southwards then north-westwards into Sudan, where it meets the White Nile at Khartoum.

bluenose n. INFORMAL 1 US a priggish or puritanical person.

2 (Bluenose) CANADIAN a person from Nova Scotia.

<DERIVATIVES> bluenosed adj.

■ bluenose (sense 1)

blue note n. [MUSIC] a minor interval where a major would be expected, used especially in jazz.

blue-pencil v. [with obj.] censor or make cuts in (a manuscript, film, or other work).

Blue Peter n. a blue flag with a white square in the centre, raised by a ship about to leave port.

blue-plate adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN (of a restaurant meal) consisting of a full main course ordered as a single menu item.

<ORIGIN> with reference to the original blue plates divided into compartments, on which fixed-price restaurant meals were served.

blue pointer n. another term for mako^1.

blueprint n. a design plan or other technical drawing.

- something which acts as a plan, model, or template for others: the scheme was a blueprint for future development programmes.

■ v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN draw up (a plan or model): (as adj. blueprinted) a neatly blueprinted scheme.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the original process in which prints were composed of white lines on a blue ground or of blue lines on a white ground.

blue riband n. 1 (NORTH AMERICAN also blue ribbon) a ribbon of blue silk given to the winner of a competition or as a mark of great distinction.

- a badge worn by members of the Order of the Garter.

2 (Blue Riband or Ribbon) a trophy for the ship making the fastest eastward sea crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on a regular commercial voyage.

■ adj. (blue-ribbon) [attr.] North American 1 of the highest quality; first-class.

2 (of a jury or committee) specially selected.

Blue Ridge Mountains a range of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern US, stretching from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia. Mount Mitchell is the highest peak, rising to a height of 2,037 m (6,684 ft).

blue rinse n. a preparation used as a rinse on grey or white hair so as to give it a temporary blue tint.

- (also blue-rinsed) [as modifier] INFORMAL, DEROGATORY relating to conservative elderly women: the blue-rinse brigade.

blue roan adj. denoting an animal's coat consisting of black-and-white hairs evenly mixed, giving it a blue-grey hue.

■ n. an animal with such a coat.

blue rock n. (in pigeon-fancying) a pigeon showing the coloration of the wild rock dove.

blues plural n. 1 (often the blues) [treated as sing. or plural] melancholic music of black American folk origin, typically in a twelve-bar sequence. It developed in the rural southern US towards the end of the 19th century, finding a wider audience in the 1940s, as blacks migrated to the cities. This urban blues gave rise to rhythm and blues and rock and roll.

- [treated as sing.] a piece of such music: a blues in C.

2 (the blues) INFORMAL feelings of melancholy, sadness, or depression: she's got the blues.

<DERIVATIVES> bluesy adj. (bluesier, bluesiest)

■ blues (sense 1)

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in sense 2): elliptically from blue devils ‘depression or delirium tremens’.

Blues and Royals plural n. BRITISH a regiment of the Household Cavalry.

<ORIGIN> formed from the amalgamation (1969) of the Royal Horse Guards (also known as the Blues) and the Royal Dragoons.

blueschist /bluist/ n. [mass noun] a metamorphic rock with a blue colour, formed under conditions of high pressure and low temperature.

blue-screen adj. [attr.] denoting a special-effects technique used in films in which scenes shot against a blue background are superimposed on other scenes.

blue shark n. a long, slender shark with an indigo-blue back and white underparts, found typically in the open sea.

<INFO> Prionace glauca, family Carcharhinidae.

blue sheep n. another term for BHARAL.

blue shift n. [mass noun] [ASTRONOMY] the displacement of the spectrum to shorter wavelengths in the light coming from distant celestial objects moving towards the observer. Compare with RED SHIFT.

blue-sky (also blue-skies) adj. [attr.] INFORMAL creative or visionary and unconstrained by practicalities: blue-sky thinking.

bluesman n. (pl. bluesmen) a male performer of blues music.

blue state n. a US state that predominantly votes for or supports the Democratic Party. Compare with RED STATE.

<ORIGIN> from the typical colour used to represent the Democratic Party on maps during elections.

bluestocking n. often DEROGATORY an intellectual or literary woman.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: originally used to describe a man wearing blue worsted (instead of formal black silk) stockings; extended to mean ‘in informal dress’. Later the term denoted a person who attended the literary assemblies held (c.1750) by three London society ladies, where some of the men favoured less formal dress. The women who attended became known as blue-stocking ladies or blue-stockingers.

bluestone n. [mass noun] any of various bluish or grey building stones.

- [count noun] any of the smaller stones made of dolerite found in the inner part of Stonehenge.

bluet /blut/ n. a low-growing evergreen North American plant with milky-blue flowers.

<INFO> Hedyotis (or Houstonia) caerulea, family Rubiaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, diminutive of bleu ‘blue’.

bluethroat n. a songbird resembling the robin, found in northern Eurasia and Alaska. The male has a blue throat with a red or white spot in the centre.

<INFO> Luscinia svecicus, family Turdidae.

blue tit n. a small tit (songbird) with a blue cap, greenish-blue back, and yellow underparts, widespread in Eurasia and NW Africa.

<INFO> Parus caeruleus, family Paridae.

bluetongue n. [mass noun] an insect-borne viral disease of sheep (transmissible with less serious effects to cattle and goats), characterized by fever, lameness, and a blue, swollen mouth and tongue.

Bluetooth n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a standard for the short-range wireless interconnection of mobile phones, computers, and other electronic devices.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: said to be named after King Harald Bluetooth (910–85), credited with uniting Denmark and Norway, as Bluetooth technology unifies the telecommunications and computing industries.

blue vinny /vni/ (also blue vinney) n. [mass noun] a blue-mould skimmed-milk cheese from Dorset.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: vinny from Old English fyniġ ‘mouldy, musty’.

blue vitriol n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC crystalline copper sulphate.

blue water n. open sea: [as modifier] blue-water navigation.

blue whale n. a mottled bluish-grey rorqual which is the largest living animal and reaches lengths of up to 27 m (90 ft).

<INFO> Balaenoptera musculus, family Balaenopteridae.

bluey adj. [often in combination] almost or partly blue: bluey-green foliage.

■ n. (pl. blueys) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL, DATED 1 a bundle of possessions carried by a bushman. [<ORIGIN> because the outer covering was generally a blue blanket.]

2 a nickname for a red-headed person.

bluff^1 n. an attempt to deceive someone into believing that one can or is going to do something: the offer was denounced as a bluff | [mass noun] his game of bluff.

■ v. [no obj.] try to deceive someone as to one's abilities or intentions: he's been bluffing all along | they bluffed their way past the sentries | [with obj.] the object is to bluff your opponent into submission.

- (bluff it out) survive a difficult situation by maintaining a pretence.

<PHRASES>

□ call someone's bluff 1 challenge someone to carry out a stated intention, in the expectation of being able to expose it as a pretence.

2 (in poker or brag) make an opponent show their hand in order to reveal that its value is weaker than their heavy betting suggests.

<DERIVATIVES> bluffer n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally in the sense ‘blindfold, hoodwink’): from Dutch bluffen ‘brag’, or bluf ‘bragging’. The current sense (originally US, mid 19th century) originally referred to bluffing in the game of poker.

bluff^2 adj. direct in speech or behaviour but in a good-natured way: a big, bluff, hearty man.

<DERIVATIVES> bluffly adv. bluffness n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘surly, abrupt in manner’): figurative use of bluff^3. The current positive connotation dates from the early 19th cent.

bluff^3 n. 1 a steep cliff, bank, or promontory.

2 CANADIAN a grove or clump of trees.

■ adj. (of a cliff or a ship's bows) having a vertical or steep broad front.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as an adjective, originally in nautical use): of unknown origin.

bluing (also blueing) n. [mass noun] 1 chiefly HISTORICAL blue powder used to preserve the whiteness of laundry.

2 a greyish-blue finish on metal produced by heating.

bluish (also blueish) adj. having a blue tinge; slightly blue.

Blum /blum/ Léon (1872–1950), French statesman, Prime Minister 1936–7, 1938, 1946–7. As France's first socialist and Jewish Prime Minister, Blum introduced significant labour reforms.

Blumenbach /blumənbαx/ Johann Friedrich (1752–1840), German physiologist and anatomist. He is regarded as the founder of physical anthropology, though his approach has since been much modified. He classified modern humans into five broad categories (Caucasian, Mongoloid, Malayan, Ethiopian, and American) based mainly on cranial measurements.

Blunden Edmund (Charles) (1896–1974), English poet and critic. His poetry reveals his love of the English countryside, while his prose work Undertones of War (1928) deals with his experiences in the First World War.

blunder n. a stupid or careless mistake.

■ v. [no obj.] make a stupid or careless mistake; act or speak clumsily: he knew he'd blundered | (as adj. blundering) one's first blundering attempts.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move clumsily or as if unable to see: we were blundering around in the darkness.

<DERIVATIVES> blunderer n. blunderingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to BLIND.

blunderbuss n. HISTORICAL a short large-bored gun firing balls or slugs.

- FIGURATIVE an action or way of doing something regarded as lacking in subtlety and precision: economists resort too quickly to the blunderbuss of regulation.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: alteration (by association with BLUNDER) of Dutch donderbus, literally ‘thunder gun’.

blunge /bln(d)/ v. [with obj.] mix (clay or other materials) with water in a revolving apparatus, for use in ceramics.

<DERIVATIVES> blunger n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: blend of BLEND and PLUNGE.

Blunt Anthony (Frederick) (1907–83), British art historian, Foreign Office official, and Soviet spy. He confessed in 1965 that he had been a Soviet agent since the 1930s and had facilitated the escape of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean. When these facts were made public in 1979 he was stripped of his knighthood.

blunt adj. 1 (of a cutting implement) not having a sharp edge or point: a blunt knife.

- having a flat or rounded end: the blunt tip of the leaf.

2 (of a person or remark) uncompromisingly forthright: a blunt statement of fact.

■ v. make or become less sharp: [with obj.] wood can blunt your axe | [no obj.] the edge may blunt very rapidly.

- [with obj.] weaken or reduce the force of (something): their determination had been blunted.

■ n. BLACK SLANG a hollowed-out cigar filled with cannabis.

<DERIVATIVES> bluntly adv. bluntness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘dull, insensitive’): perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to Old Norse blunda ‘shut the eyes’.

blunt instrument n. a heavy object without a sharp edge or point, used as a weapon.

- FIGURATIVE an imprecise or heavy-handed way of doing something: as a promotional method direct mail is a blunt instrument.

blur v. (blurs, blurring, blurred) make or become unclear or less distinct: [with obj.] tears blurred her vision | his novels blur the boundaries between criticism and fiction | [no obj.] in front of him the page blurred.

■ n. a thing that cannot be seen or heard clearly: the pale blur of her face | the words were a blur.

- something remembered or perceived indistinctly, typically because it happened very fast: the day before was a blur.

<DERIVATIVES> blurry adj. (blurrier, blurriest)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘smear that partially obscures something’): perhaps related to BLEAR.

Blu-ray n. [mass noun] a format of DVD designed for the storage of high-definition video and data.

<ORIGIN> early 21st century: from blu, a respelling of blue^1 (from the colour of the laser used to read and write this type of DVD), + RAY^1.

blurb n. a short description of a book, film, or other product written for promotional purposes.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN write or contribute a blurb for (a book, film, or other product).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: coined by Gelett Burgess (died 1951), American humorist.

blurred adj. unable to see or be seen clearly: blurred vision | the camera caught only two blurred images.

- not clear or distinct; hazy: the blurred distinctions between childhood and adulthood.

blurt v. [with obj.] say (something) suddenly and without careful consideration: she blurted out the truth | [with direct speech] ‘It wasn't my idea,’ Gordon blurted.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably imitative.

blush v. 1 [no obj.] show shyness, embarrassment, or shame by becoming red in the face: she blushed at the unexpected compliment | [with complement] Kate felt herself blushing scarlet.

- feel embarrassed or ashamed: [with infinitive] he blushed to think of how he'd paraded himself.

2 (often as adj. blushing) LITERARY be or become pink or pale red: the trees are loaded with blushing blossoms.

■ n. 1 a reddening of the face as a sign of shyness, embarrassment, or shame: he had brought a faint blush to her cheeks.

2 a pink or pale red tinge: the roses were white with a lovely pink blush.

3 [mass noun] [often as modifier] a wine with a slight pink tint made in the manner of white wine but from red grape varieties: blush Zinfandel.

4 [mass noun] North American another term for blusher (sense 1).

<PHRASES>

□ at first blush at the first glimpse or impression.

□ spare (or save) someone's blushes refrain from causing someone embarrassment.

<DERIVATIVES> blushingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English blyscan; related to modern Dutch blozen.

blusher n. 1 [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH a cosmetic of a powder or cream consistency used to give a warm colour to the cheeks.

2 a toadstool with a buff cap bearing fluffy white spots and with white flesh that turns pink when bruised or cut, found in woodland in Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Amanita rubescens, family Amanitaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

bluster v. [no obj.] 1 talk in a loud, aggressive, or indignant way with little effect: you threaten and bluster, but won't carry it through | [with direct speech] ‘I don't care what he says,’ I blustered.

2 (of a storm, wind, or rain) blow or beat fiercely and noisily: a winter gale blustered against the sides of the house | (as adj. blustering) the blustering wind.

■ n. [mass noun] loud, aggressive, or indignant talk with little effect: their threats contained a measure of bluster.

<DERIVATIVES> blusterer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: ultimately imitative.

blustery adj. (of weather) characterized by strong winds: a gusty, blustery day.

- (of a wind) blowing in strong gusts.

Blu-tack British n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a blue sticky material used to attach paper to walls.

■ v. [with obj.] attach (something) using Blu-tack.

B-lymphocyte n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a lymphocyte not processed by the thymus gland, and responsible for producing antibodies. Also called B-CELL. Compare with T-LYMPHOCYTE.

<ORIGIN> B for BURSA, referring to the organ in birds where it was first identified.

Blyton Enid (1897–1968), English writer of children's fiction. Her best-known creation for young children is the character Noddy, who first appeared in 1949; her books for older children include the series of Famous Five and Secret Seven adventure stories.

BM abbr.

- Bachelor of Medicine.

- British Museum.

BMA abbr. British Medical Association.

BMI abbr. body mass index.

B-movie n. a low-budget film of inferior quality made for use as a supporting feature in a cinema programme: [as modifier] a B-movie actress.

BMR abbr. basal metabolic rate.

BMus abbr. Bachelor of Music.

BMX n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] the organized racing of robust bicycles on a dirt-track or cross-country course: BMX riders.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from the initial letters of bicycle motocross, with X standing for cross.

Bn abbr.

- Baron.

- Battalion.

bn abbr. billion.

B'nai B'rith /bəne bəriθ brθ/ a Jewish organization founded in New York in 1843, which pursues educational, humanitarian, and cultural activities and attempts to safeguard the rights and interests of Jews around the world.

<ORIGIN> Hebrew, literally ‘sons of the covenant’.

BNP abbr. British National Party.

BO abbr. INFORMAL body odour.

bo^1 exclam. another term for boo^1.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: imitative.

bo^2 n. US INFORMAL used as a friendly form of address.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps an abbreviated form of BOY.

boa /bəə/ n. 1 a constrictor snake which bears live young and may reach great size, native to America, Africa, Asia, and some Pacific islands.

<INFO> Family Boidae, several genera and numerous species.

- (in general use) any snake which is a constrictor.

2 a long, thin stole of feathers or fur worn around a woman's neck, typically as part of evening dress.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin (mentioned in the writings of Pliny), of unknown ultimate origin.

boab /bəab/ n. Australian another term for BAOBAB.

boa constrictor n. a large snake, typically with bold markings, that kills by coiling around its prey and asphyxiating it, native to tropical America.

<INFO> Boa constrictor, family Boidae.

Boadicea /bədsiə/ another name for BOUDICCA.

boar n. (pl. same or boars) 1 (also wild boar) a tusked Eurasian wild pig from which domestic pigs are descended, exterminated in Britain in the 17th century.

<INFO> Sus scrofa, family Suidae.

- [mass noun] the flesh of the wild boar as food.

2 an uncastrated domestic male pig.

3 the full-grown male of certain other animals, especially a badger, guinea pig, or hedgehog.

<ORIGIN> Old English bār, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch beer and German Bär.

board n. 1 a long, thin, flat piece of wood or other hard material, used for floors or other building purposes: loose boards creaked as I walked on them | [mass noun] sections of board.

- (the boards) INFORMAL the stage of a theatre.

- (the board) AUSTRALIAN/NZ the part of the floor of a shearing shed where the shearers work. [<ORIGIN> late 19th century: originally boards running alongside the pens.]

2 a thin, flat piece of wood or other stiff material used for various purposes, in particular:

- a vertical surface on which to write or pin notices.

- a horizontal surface on which to cut things, play games, or perform other activities.

- a flat insulating sheet used as a mounting for an electronic circuit: a graphics board.

- the piece of equipment on which a person stands in surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and certain other sports.

- (boards) pieces of thick stiff card used for book covers.

- (boards) the structure, typically of wood surmounted with panels of glass, surrounding an ice-hockey rink.

- (boards) [BASKETBALL] informal term for BACKBOARD.

3 [treated as sing. or plural] a group of people constituted as the decision-making body of an organization: he sits on the board of directors | [as modifier] a board meeting.

4 [mass noun] the provision of regular meals when one stays somewhere, in return for payment or services: board and lodging.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC a table set for a meal.

5 [SAILING] a distance covered by a vessel in a single tack.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] get on or into (a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle): we boarded the plane for Oslo | [no obj.] they would not be able to board without a ticket.

- (be boarding) (of an aircraft) be ready for passengers to get on: Flight 172 to Istanbul is now boarding.

2 [no obj.] live and receive regular meals in a house in return for payment or services: the cousins boarded for a while with Ruby.

- (of a pupil) live in school during term time.

- [with obj.] provide (a person or animal) with regular meals and somewhere to live in return for payment: dogs may have to be boarded at kennels.

3 [with obj.] (board something up/over) cover or seal a window or building with pieces of wood: the shop was still boarded up.

4 [no obj.] ride on a snowboard.

<PHRASES>

□ go by the board (of something planned or previously upheld) be abandoned, rejected, or ignored: my education just went by the board. [<ORIGIN> earlier in nautical use meaning ‘fall overboard’, used of a mast falling past the board, i.e. the side of the ship.]

□ on board on or in a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle.

- INFORMAL on to a team as a member: the need to bring on board a young manager.

- INFORMAL (of a jockey) riding.

□ take something on board INFORMAL fully consider or assimilate a new idea or situation: we've got to take accusations of sexism on board.

□ tread (or walk) the boards INFORMAL appear on stage as an actor.

<ORIGIN> Old English bord, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch boord and German Bort; reinforced in Middle English by Old French bort ‘edge, ship's side’ and Old Norse borth ‘board, table’.

boarded adj. (of a floor, roof, or other structure) built with pieces of wood.

- (of a window or building) covered or sealed with pieces of wood.

boarder n. 1 a person who receives regular meals when staying somewhere, in return for payment or services.

- a pupil who lives in school during term time.

2 a person who forces their way on to a ship in an attack.

3 a person who takes part in a sport using a board, such as surfing or snowboarding.

board foot n. (pl. board feet) a unit of volume for timber equal to 144 cu. inches.

board game n. a game that involves the movement of counters or other objects round a board.

boarding n. [mass noun] 1 long, flat, thin pieces of wood used to build or cover something.

2 the arrangement according to which pupils live in school during term time.

3 the action of getting on or into a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle.

4 [ICE HOCKEY] the illegal action of body-checking an opponent violently into the boards from behind.

boarding house n. a private house providing food and lodging for paying guests.

boarding kennel n. BRITISH a place in which dogs are kept and looked after, especially while their owners are on holiday.

boarding pass (also boarding card) n. a pass for boarding an aircraft, given to passengers when checking in.

boarding school n. a school which provides accommodation and meals for the pupils during term time.

Board of Green Cloth n. full form of GREEN CLOTH.

Board of Trade n. 1 North American term for CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

- (in full Chicago Board of Trade) the Chicago futures exchange.

2 a now nominal British government department within the Department of Trade and Industry concerned with commerce and industry.

boardroom n. a room in which a board of directors of a company or other organization meets regularly.

- the directors of a company or organization considered collectively.

boardsailing n. another term for WINDSURFING.

<DERIVATIVES> boardsailor n.

board school n. HISTORICAL an elementary school under the management of a School Board, established in Britain by the Education Act of 1870.

board shorts plural n. long shorts of a kind originally worn by surfers.

boardwalk n. a wooden walkway across sand or marshy ground.

- NORTH AMERICAN a promenade along a beach or waterfront, typically made of wood.

boarfish n. (pl. same or boarfishes) any of a number of deep-bodied fishes with a protruding snout, a small mouth, small toothed scales, and a spiny dorsal fin:

<INFO>

- a temperate marine fish occurring around southern Africa, the North Pacific, and Australasia (Pentaceros richardsoni and others in the family Pentacerotidae).

- a marine fish of the NE Atlantic (family Caproidae, in particular Capros aper).

Boas /bəaz/ Franz (1858–1942), German-born American anthropologist. A pioneer of modern anthropology, he developed the linguistic and cultural components of ethnology. He did much to overturn the theory that Nordic peoples constitute an essentially superior race; his writings were burnt by the Nazis.

boast^1 v. 1 [reporting v.] talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities: [no obj.] she boasted about her many conquests | [with clause] he boasted that he had taken part in the crime | [with direct speech] Ted used to boast ‘I manage ten people.’.

2 [with obj.] (of a person, place, or thing) possess (a feature that is a source of pride): the hotel boasts high standards of comfort.

■ n. an act of talking with excessive pride and self-satisfaction: I said I would win and it wasn't an idle boast.

<DERIVATIVES> boaster n. boastingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun): of unknown origin.

boast^2 n. (in squash) a stroke in which the ball is made to hit one of the side walls before hitting the front wall.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from French bosse denoting a rounded projection in the wall of a court for real tennis.

boastful adj. showing excessive pride and self-satisfaction in one's achievements, possessions, or abilities.

<DERIVATIVES> boastfully adv. boastfulness n.

boat n. a small vessel for travelling over water, propelled by oars, sails, or an engine: a fishing boat | [as modifier] a boat trip.

- a vessel of any size, especially a large one.

■ v. [no obj.] travel in a boat for pleasure: they boated through fjords.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] transport (someone or something) in a boat: they boated the timber down the lake.

- [with obj.] (of an angler) draw (a hooked fish) into a boat.

<PHRASES>

□ be in the same boat INFORMAL be in the same difficult circumstances as others.

□ off the boat INFORMAL, often OFFENSIVE recently arrived from a foreign country, and by implication naive or an outsider: what are you, fresh off the boat?

□ push the boat out BRITISH INFORMAL be lavish in one's spending or celebrations.

□ rock the boat INFORMAL say or do something to disturb an existing situation and upset people.

<DERIVATIVES> boatful n. (pl. boatfuls)

<ORIGIN> Old English bāt, of Germanic origin.

boatbill n. 1 (also boat-billed heron) a small Central and South American heron with a broad flattened bill and a prominent black crest.

<INFO> Cochlearius cochlearius, family Ardeidae.

2 a flycatcher that has a very broad flattened bill with a hooked tip, found mainly in New Guinea. Also called FLATBILL FLYCATCHER.

<INFO> Genus Machaerirhynchus, family Monarchidae: two species.

boatbuilding n. [mass noun] the occupation or industry of building boats.

<DERIVATIVES> boatbuilder n.

boat deck n. the deck from which a ship's lifeboats are launched.

boatel /bətεl/ (also botel) n. 1 a waterside hotel with facilities for mooring boats.

2 a ship moored at a wharf and used as a HOTEL.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally US): blend of BOAT and hotel.

boater n. 1 a flat-topped hardened straw hat with a brim. [<ORIGIN> so named because originally worn while boating.]

2 a person who uses or travels in a boat for pleasure.

boathook n. a long pole with a hook and a spike at one end, used for fending off or pulling a boat.

boathouse n. a shed at the edge of a river or lake used for housing boats.

boatie n. (pl. boaties) INFORMAL, chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ a boating enthusiast.

boating n. [mass noun] rowing or sailing in boats as a sport or form of recreation.

boatload n. an amount of cargo or number of passengers which will fill a ship or boat: a boatload of coal.

- INFORMAL a large amount: the Telecommunications Reform Act created a boatload of new regulations.

boatman n. (pl. boatmen) a person who hires out boats or provides transport by boat.

boat neck n. a type of wide neckline on a garment that sits just below the collarbone.

boat people plural n. refugees who have left a country by sea, in particular the Vietnamese people who fled in small boats to Hong Kong, Australia, and elsewhere after the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam in 1975.

boat race n. 1 a race between rowing crews.

- (the Boat Race) the annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge. First rowed at Henley in 1829, it has been held over its present course, from Putney to Mortlake (6.8 km, 4.25 miles), since 1845.

2 BRITISH RHYMING SLANG a person's face.

boat shell n. North American term for SLIPPER LIMPET.

boatswain /bəs(ə)n/ (also bo'sun or bosun) n. a ship's officer in charge of equipment and the crew.

<ORIGIN> late Old English bātswegen (see BOAT, swain).

boatswain's chair n. a seat suspended from ropes, used for work on the body or masts of a ship or the face of a building.

boat train n. a train scheduled to connect with the arrival or departure of a boat.

boatyard n. an enclosed area of land where boats are built or stored.

Boa Vista /bəə vstə/ a town in northern Brazil, capital of the state of Roraima; pop. 221,100 (est. 2002).

Bob n. (in phrase Bob's your uncle) BRITISH INFORMAL used to express the ease with which a task can be achieved: fill in the form, and Bob's your uncle.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: pet form of the given name Robert.

bob^1 v. (bobs, bobbing, bobbed) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] make a quick, short movement up and down: I could see his head bobbing about | the boat bobbed up and down.

- [with obj.] cause (something) to make such a movement: she bobbed her head.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] make a sudden move so as to appear or disappear: a lady bobbed up from beneath the counter.

- [no obj.] make a brief curtsy.

■ n. a quick, short movement up and down: she could only manage a slight bob of her head.

- a brief curtsy.

<PHRASES>

□ bob and weave make rapid bodily movements up and down and from side to side, for example as an evasive tactic by a boxer.

□ bob for apples try to catch floating or hanging apples with one's mouth alone, as a game.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

bob^2 n. 1 a style in which the hair is cut short and evenly all round so that it hangs above the shoulders.

2 a weight on a pendulum, plumb line, or kite-tail.

3 a bobsleigh.

4 a short line at or towards the end of a stanza.

■ v. (bobs, bobbing, bobbed) 1 [with obj.] (usually as adj. bobbed) cut (someone's hair) in a bob.

2 [no obj.] ride on a bobsleigh.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a bunch or cluster): of unknown origin.

bob^3 n. (pl. same) BRITISH INFORMAL a shilling.

- used with reference to a moderately large but unspecified amount of money: those vases are worth a few bob.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

bob^4 n. a change of order in bell-ringing.

- used in names of change-ringing methods: plain bob.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps connected with bob^1 in the sense ‘sudden movement up and down’.

bobber n. 1 a person who rides on a bobsleigh.

2 a float used in angling.

bobbin n. 1 a cylinder or cone holding thread, yarn, or wire, used especially in weaving and machine sewing.

- a spool or reel.

2 a small bar attached to a string used for raising a door latch.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French bobine, of unknown origin.

bobbinet /bbnεt/ n. [mass noun] machine-made cotton net (imitating bobbin lace).

bobbin lace n. [mass noun] lace made by hand with thread wound on bobbins.

bobble^1 n. a small ball made of strands of wool used as a decoration on a hat or on furnishings.

- (bobbles) small plastic balls attached to a circular piece of elastic, used for fastening girls' hair.

<DERIVATIVES> bobbly adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: diminutive of bob^2.

bobble^2 /bb(ə)l/ INFORMAL v. 1 [no obj.] move with a feeble or irregular bouncing motion: some of those goals have bobbled in off the post.

2 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN mishandle (a ball): Andy bobbled the ball, so his throw home was too late.

■ n. 1 a feeble or irregular bouncing motion.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a mishandling of a ball.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: frequentative of bob^1.

bobby n. (pl. bobbies) BRITISH INFORMAL a police officer.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: pet form of Robert, given name of Sir Robert PEEL.

bobby calf n. an unweaned calf slaughtered for veal.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: perhaps from BOB^2, bobby calf being one of a number of collocations where bobby has the sense ‘small, short’. Compare with the dialect term staggering bob for a very young calf or its meat, recorded from the late 18th century, perhaps from the pet form of Robert.

bobby-dazzler n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a person or thing considered remarkable or excellent.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally northern English dialect): related to DAZZLE; the origin of the first element is unknown.

bobby pin n. NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ a kind of sprung hairpin or small clip.

■ v. (bobby-pin) [with obj.] fix (hair) in place with a bobby pin.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from BOB^2

■ (because bobby pins were originally used with bobbed hair) + -Y^2.

bobby socks (also bobby sox) plural n. NORTH AMERICAN short socks reaching just above the ankle, as worn by teenage girls in the 1940s and 1950s.

<ORIGIN> compare with bob^2 in the sense ‘cut short’.

bobby-soxer n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DATED an adolescent girl.

bobcat n. a small North American lynx with a barred and spotted coat and a short tail.

<INFO> Felis rufus, family Felidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BOB^2

■ (with reference to its short tail) + CAT^1.

Bobo /bəbə/ n. (pl. Bobos) INFORMAL a person having both the values of the counterculture of the 1960s and the materialism of the 1980s; a bourgeois Bohemian.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: abbreviation.

bobol /bbl/ W. Indian n. [mass noun] fraudulent activity, typically involving the misuse of public funds.

■ v. (bobols, bobolling, bobolled) [no obj.] commit fraud.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

bobolink /bbəlk/ n. a North American songbird of the American blackbird family, with a finch-like bill. The male has black, buff, and white plumage.

<INFO> Dolichonyx oryzivorus, family Icteridae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally Bob o'Lincoln, Bob Lincoln): imitative of its call.

bobotie /bəbuti -bəti/ n. [mass noun] a South African dish of curried minced meat baked with a rich savoury custard.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, probably of Malay or Javanese origin.

Bobruisk /babrujsk/ (also Bobruysk) Russian name for BABRUISK.

bobskate n. CANADIAN an adjustable skate for a child, consisting of two sections of double runners.

bobsled n. North American term for BOBSLEIGH.

<DERIVATIVES> bobsledding n.

bobsleigh n. BRITISH a mechanically steered and braked sledge, typically for two or four people, used for racing down an ice-covered run.

<DERIVATIVES> bobsleighing n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US, denoting a sleigh made of two short sleighs coupled together and used for hauling logs): from BOB^2 in the sense ‘short’ + SLEIGH.

bobstay n. a rope used to hold down the bowsprit of a ship and keep it steady.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: probably from BOB^1 + STAY^2.

bobsy-die /bbzd/ n. [mass noun] DIALECT & NZ a great deal of fuss or trouble: she'll kick up bobsy-die later.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: contraction of earlier Bob's-a-dying.

bobtail n. a docked tail of a horse or dog.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably from BOB^2 + TAIL^1. It was originally recorded as a humorous term for a kind of broad-headed arrow, probably because it looked as though it had been cut short.

bobweight n. a component used as a counterweight to a moving part in a machine.

bobwhite (also bobwhite quail) n. a New World quail with mottled reddish-brown plumage, and typically a pale throat and eyestripe.

<INFO> Genus Colinus, family Phasianidae: two species, in particular the northern bobwhite (C. virginianus).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: imitative of its call.

bocage /bəkα/ n. [mass noun] 1 (in France) pastureland divided into small hedged fields interspersed with groves of trees.

2 the modelling of leaves, flowers, and plants in clay, especially for porcelain figurines.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from Old French boscage (see BOSCAGE).

Boccaccio /bəkatə/ Giovanni (1313–75), Italian writer, poet, and humanist. He is most famous for the Decameron (1348–58), a collection of a hundred tales told by ten young people who have moved to the country to escape the Black Death.

bocce /bte bti/ (also boccia /btə/) n. [mass noun] an Italian game similar to bowls but played on a shorter, narrower green.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘bowls’, plural of boccia ‘ball’.

Boccherini /bkərini/ Luigi (1743–1805), Italian composer and cellist, known chiefly for his cello concertos and sonatas.

bocconcini /bkntini/ plural n. small balls of mozzarella cheese.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

Boche /b/ INFORMAL, DATED n. a German, especially a soldier.

- (the Boche) Germans, especially German soldiers, considered collectively.

■ adj. German.

<ORIGIN> French soldiers' slang, originally in the sense ‘rascal’, later used in the First World War meaning ‘German’.

Bochum /bəxm/ German /bəxm/ an industrial city in the Ruhr valley, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany; pop. 387,000 (est. 2002).

bock n. [mass noun] a strong, dark German beer.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via French from an abbreviation of German Eimbockbier ‘beer from Einbeck’, a town in Hanover.

bockety /bkti/ adj. IRISH unsteady; wobbly: the bockety wheelchair trundled off down the street.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Irish bacach ‘lame’.

BOD abbr. biochemical oxygen demand.

bod n. INFORMAL a body: a line-up of stunning bods.

- chiefly BRITISH a person: some clever bod wrote a song about them.

bodach /bədαx/ n. Scottish & Irish 1 a man, especially a peasant or an old man.

2 a ghost; a spectre.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (earlier as buddough): from Scottish Gaelic.

bodacious /bədeəs/ adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL excellent, admirable, or attractive: bodacious babes.

- US audacious in a way considered admirable.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps a variant of SW dialect boldacious, blend of BOLD and AUDACIOUS.

bode v. [no obj.] (bode well/ill) be a portent of a particular outcome: their argument did not bode well for the future | [with obj.] the 12 per cent interest rate bodes dark days ahead for retailers.

<ORIGIN> Old English bodian ‘proclaim, foretell’, from boda ‘messenger’, of Germanic origin; related to German Bote, also to bid^1.

bodega /bədeə/ n. a cellar or shop selling wine and food, especially in a Spanish-speaking country or area.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, via Latin from Greek apothēkē ‘storehouse’. Compare with BOUTIQUE.

Bodensee /bədnze/ German name for Lake Constance (see CONSTANCE, LAKE).

Bode's law /bədz bədəz/ n. [ASTRONOMY] a formula by which the distances of the first seven planets from the sun are roughly derived in terms of powers of two.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Johann E. Bode (1747–1826), the German astronomer who drew attention to the law, which was discovered earlier by his countryman, Johann D. Titius (1729–96).

bodge v. [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL make or repair (something) badly or clumsily: the door was bodged together from old planks.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: alteration of BOTCH.

bodger INFORMAL n. BRITISH a person who makes or repairs something badly or clumsily.

■ adj. Australian another term for BODGIE.

bodgie AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL n. (pl. bodgies) a youth, especially of the 1950s, analogous to the British Teddy boy.

■ adj. worthless or inferior; false: a bodgie second-hand car with bodgie number plates.

<ORIGIN> probably from BODGER; a term said to have arisen as a result of the post-war black market trade in American-made cloth in Sydney, Australia; when inferior cloth was passed off as American-made, it was called bodgie, extended to denote any young man who adopted an American accent and manner.

Bodhgaya /bdəjα bəd-/ (also Buddh Gaya) a village in the state of Bihar, NE India, where the Buddha attained enlightenment.

bodhisattva /bdsαtvə/ n. (in Mahayana Buddhism) a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so through compassion for suffering beings.

<ORIGIN> Sanskrit, ‘a person whose essence is perfect knowledge’, from bodhi ‘perfect knowledge’ (from budh- ‘know perfectly’) + sattva ‘being, essence’.

bodhrán /barαn barαn/ n. a shallow one-sided Irish drum typically played using a short stick with knobbed ends.

<ORIGIN> Irish.

bodice n. the part of a woman's dress (excluding the sleeves) which is above the waist.

- a woman's sleeveless undergarment, often laced at the front.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally bodies): plural of BODY, retaining the original pronunciation. The term probably first denoted an undergarment, then known as a pair of bodice, although this sense is not recorded until the early 17th cent.

bodice-ripper n. INFORMAL or HUMOROUS a sexually explicit romantic novel or film with a historical setting.

<DERIVATIVES> bodice-ripping adj.

bodiless adj. lacking a body: a bodiless head.

- having no material form or being; incorporeal: a sinister, bodiless voice.

bodily adj. [attr.] of or concerning the body: children learn to control their bodily functions.

- material or actual as opposed to spiritual or incorporeal: God is not present in bodily form.

■ adv. 1 by moving a person's or one's own body with force: he hauled her bodily from the van.

2 in one mass; as a whole.

bodkin n. 1 a thick, blunt needle with a large eye, used for drawing tape or cord through a hem.

- HISTORICAL a long pin used for fastening up the hair.

2 [PRINTING] a pointed tool used for removing pieces of metal type for correction.

3 ARCHAIC a dagger.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps of Celtic origin and related to Irish bod, Welsh bidog, Scottish Gaelic biodag ‘dagger’.

Bodleian Library /bdlən/ the library of Oxford University, one of six copyright libraries in the UK.

Bodley Sir Thomas (1545–1613), English scholar and diplomat. He refounded and greatly enlarged the Oxford University library, which was renamed the Bodleian in 1604.

- an informal name for the Bodleian Library.

Bodoni /bədəni/ Giambattista (1740–1813), Italian printer. He designed a typeface characterized by extreme contrast between uprights and diagonals, which is named after him.

Bodrum /bdrəm/ a resort town on the Aegean coast of western Turkey, site of the ancient city of Halicarnassus.

body n. (pl. bodies) 1 the physical structure, including the bones, flesh, and organs, of a person or an animal: it's important to keep your body in good condition.

- the trunk apart from the head and the limbs: the blow almost severed his head from his body.

- a corpse: they found his body washed up on the beach.

- [mass noun] the physical and mortal aspect of a person as opposed to the soul or spirit: we're together in body and spirit.

- INFORMAL a person's body regarded as an object of sexual desire: he was just after her body.

- INFORMAL, DATED a person of a specified type: a motherly body.

2 (the body of) the main or central part of something, especially a building or text: the main body of the house was built in 1625.

- the main section of a motor vehicle or aircraft: the body of the aircraft was filled with smoke.

3 a large amount or collection of something: a rich body of Canadian folklore | large bodies of seawater.

4 an organized group of people with a common purpose or function: a regulatory body | international bodies of experts.

5 [often with adj.] TECHNICAL a material object: the path taken by the falling body.

6 [mass noun] a full or substantial quality of flavour in wine.

- fullness or thickness of a person's hair: restructuring formulations help to add body.

7 BRITISH a woman's close-fitting stretch garment for the upper body, fastening at the crotch.

8 (in pottery) a clay used for making the main part of ceramic ware, as distinct from a glaze.

■ v. (bodies, bodying, bodied) [with obj.] 1 (body something forth) FORMAL give material form to something abstract: he bodied forth the traditional Prussian remedy for all ills.

2 build the bodywork of (a motor vehicle).

<PHRASES>

□ body and soul involving every aspect of a person; completely: the company owned them body and soul.

□ in a body all together; as a group: they departed in a body.

□ keep body and soul together stay alive, especially in difficult circumstances.

□ over my dead body INFORMAL used to emphasize that one completely opposes something: she moves into our home over my dead body.

<DERIVATIVES> bodied adj. [in combination] a wide-bodied jet

<ORIGIN> Old English bodig, of unknown origin.

body armour n. [mass noun] clothing worn by army and police personnel to protect against gunfire.

body art n. [mass noun] 1 tattoos or jewellery ornamenting the body and regarded as art.

- the practice of decorating the body by means of tattooing, piercing, etc.

2 an artistic genre, originating in the 1970s, in which the actual body of the artist or model is integral to the work.

body bag n. a bag used for carrying a corpse from a battlefield or the scene of an accident or crime.

body blow n. a heavy punch to the body.

- something that causes problems or severe disappointment; a setback: a tax on books would be a body blow for education.

bodyboard n. a short, light type of surfboard ridden in a prone position.

<DERIVATIVES> bodyboarder n. bodyboarding n.

bodybuilder n. 1 a person who strengthens and enlarges the muscles of their body through strenuous exercise.

2 a person or company that builds the bodies of vehicles.

<DERIVATIVES> bodybuilding n.

body-centred adj. denoting a crystal structure in which there is an atom at each vertex and at the centre of the unit cell.

body-check n. (especially in ice hockey) an attempt to obstruct a player by bumping into them, typically with the shoulder or hip.

■ v. [with obj.] obstruct (a player) in such a way.

body clock n. a person's or animal's biological clock.

body colour n. [mass noun] opaque pigment used in painting, especially gouache.

body-con adj. denoting a style of clothing characterized by very tight-fitting garments: fab though the body-con trend is, I can't give up on smocks just yet.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: shortening of body-conscious.

body corporate n. formal term for CORPORATION.

body double n. a stand-in for a film actor used during stunt or nude scenes.

body dysmorphic disorder n. [mass noun] a psychological disorder in which a person becomes obsessed with imaginary defects in their appearance.

body English n. [mass noun] North American 1 follow-through movement after throwing or hitting a ball.

2 another term for BODY LANGUAGE.

bodyguard n. a person or group of people employed to escort and protect an important or famous person.

body language n. [mass noun] the conscious and unconscious movements and postures by which attitudes and feelings are communicated: his intent was clearly expressed in his body language.

bodyline n. [mass noun] [CRICKET], HISTORICAL persistent short-pitched fast bowling on the leg side, threatening the batsman's body, especially as employed by England in the Ashes series in Australia in 1932–3.

body louse n. a louse which infests the human body and is especially prevalent where hygiene is poor. It is able to transmit several diseases through its bite, including typhus.

<INFO> Pediculus humanus humanus, family Pediculidae, order Anoplura. See also HEAD LOUSE.

body mass index (abbr.: BMI) n. (pl. body mass indices) an approximate measure of whether someone is over- or underweight, calculated by dividing their weight in kilograms by the square of their height in metres.

body odour n. [mass noun] the unpleasant smell of a person's unwashed body.

body piercing n. [mass noun] the piercing of holes in parts of the body other than the ear lobes in order to insert rings or other decorative objects.

body politic n. (usually the body politic) the people of a nation, state, or society considered collectively as an organized group of citizens.

body-popping n. [mass noun] a kind of street dancing characterized by jerky robotic movements of the joints.

body press n. [WRESTLING] a move in which a wrestler uses their body weight to pin an opponent to the floor.

body scrub n. an exfoliating cosmetic preparation applied to the body to cleanse the skin.

- a type of beauty treatment in which the skin is cleansed and exfoliated.

body search n. a search of a person's body and clothing for illicit weapons, drugs, or other articles, conducted typically by customs officials or the police.

bodyshell n. the metal frame of a motor or railway vehicle, to which the metal panels are attached.

body shop n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a garage where repairs to the bodywork of vehicles are carried out.

bodyside n. the side of the body of a vehicle.

body slam n. [WRESTLING] a move (illegal in some codes) in which the opponent's body is lifted and then thrown hard on to the floor.

bodysnatcher n. HISTORICAL a person who illicitly disinterred corpses for dissection, for which there was no legal provision until 1832.

<DERIVATIVES> bodysnatching n.

body stocking n. a woman's one-piece undergarment which covers the torso and legs.

bodysuit n. a close-fitting one-piece stretch garment for women, worn typically for sporting activities.

bodysurf v. [no obj.] (often as n. bodysurfing) float on the crest of incoming waves without using a board.

<DERIVATIVES> bodysurfer n.

body swerve n. an abrupt swerving movement of the whole body, used as a tactic to avoid contact or collision.

body text n. (usually the body text) the main part of a printed text, excluding items such as headings and footnotes.

body warmer n. a sleeveless quilted or padded jacket worn as an outdoor garment.

body wave n. a soft, light permanent wave designed to give the hair fullness.

bodywork n. [mass noun] 1 the metal outer shell of a vehicle.

2 therapies and techniques in complementary medicine which involve touching or manipulating the body.

<DERIVATIVES> bodyworker n.

■ bodywork (sense 2)

body wrap n. a type of beauty treatment intended to result in a reduction in body measurements, involving the application of skin-cleansing ingredients to the body, which is then wrapped in hot bandages.

Boeotia /bəə/ a department of central Greece, to the north of the Gulf of Corinth, and a region of ancient Greece of which the chief city was Thebes.

<DERIVATIVES> Boeotian adj. & n.

Boer /b bəə bə/ chiefly HISTORICAL n. 1 a member of the Dutch and Huguenot population which settled in southern Africa in the late 17th century. The Boers' present-day descendants are the Afrikaners.

2 (boer) S. AFRICAN an Afrikaner farmer.

3 (boer) S. African INFORMAL (under apartheid) a member of the police, prison service, or security forces.

■ adj. relating to the Boers.

<ORIGIN> from Dutch boer ‘farmer’.

boerboel /bəbl/ (also boerbull) n. S. AFRICAN a large cross-breed dog bred from the mastiff and indigenous African dogs.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: Afrikaans, from boer (commonly applied to indigenous plants and animals) + boel, from Dutch bul (as in bulhond ‘mastiff’).

boeremusiek /bərəmjusk/ n. [mass noun] S. AFRICAN traditional Afrikaner music, often for dancing.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from boere ‘Afrikaner’ + musiek ‘music’.

boerewors /burəvs b-/ n. [mass noun] S. AFRICAN a type of traditional sausage, typically containing coarsely ground beef and pork seasoned with spices.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from boere ‘Afrikaner or farmer's’ + wors ‘sausage’.

boer goat n. a goat of a hardy breed, originally from South Africa.

<ORIGIN> from Afrikaans boer ‘farmer’ + GOAT.

boerie /bri/ n. S. African INFORMAL another term for BOEREWORS.

Boer Wars two wars fought by Great Britain in southern Africa between 1880 and 1902.

The first war (1880–1) began with the revolt of the Boer settlers in Transvaal against British rule and ended with the establishment of an independent Boer Republic under British suzerainty. The second (1899–1902) was caused by the Boer refusal to grant equal rights to recent British immigrants and by the imperialist ambitions of Cecil Rhodes. The British eventually won through superior numbers and the employment of concentration camps to control the countryside.

Boethius /bəiθəs/ Anicius Manlius Severinus (c.480–524), Roman statesman and philosopher, best known for The Consolation of Philosophy, which he wrote while in prison on a charge of treason.

boeuf bourguignon /bəf bnj/ n. [mass noun] a dish consisting of beef stewed in red wine.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘Burgundy beef’.

boff^1 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL v. [with obj.] 1 have sexual intercourse with (someone).

2 hit (someone).

■ n. 1 an act of sexual intercourse.

2 a blow or punch.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (in the sense ‘a blow or punch’): imitative.

boff^2 n. short for BOFFIN.

boffin n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person engaged in scientific or technical research: the boffins at the Telecommunications Research Establishment.

- a person with knowledge or a skill considered to be complex or arcane: a computer boffin.

<DERIVATIVES> boffiny adj.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: of unknown origin.

boffo NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL adj. 1 (of a theatrical production or film, or a review of one) very successful or wholeheartedly commendatory: a boffo box office certainty.

2 (of a laugh) deep and unrestrained.

- boisterously funny.

■ n. (pl. boffos) a success.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from US boff ‘roaring success’ + -O.

boffola /bfələ/ NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. a joke or a line in a script intended to get a laugh.

■ adj. (of a laugh) hearty and unrestrained.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: extension of slang boff ‘hearty laugh’.

Bofors gun /bəfəz/ n. a type of light anti-aircraft gun.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Bofors in Sweden, where it was first manufactured.

bog n. 1 an area of wet muddy ground that is too soft to support a heavy body: a peat bog | FIGURATIVE a bog of legal complications | [mass noun] the island is a wilderness of bog and loch.

- [ECOLOGY] wetland with acid peaty soil, typically dominated by peat moss. Compare with fen^1.

2 (the bog) BRITISH INFORMAL the toilet.

■ v. (bogs, bogging, bogged) 1 (be/get bogged down) be or become stuck in mud or wet ground: the family Rover became bogged down on the beach road.

- be prevented from making progress in a task or activity: you must not get bogged down in detail.

2 [no obj.] (bog off) BRITISH INFORMAL go away.

3 [no obj.] (bog in) AUSTRALIAN/NZ start a task enthusiastically: if he saw a trucker in difficulty, he would just bog in and give a hand. [<ORIGIN> early 20th century: bog probably in the sense ‘sink, immerse (oneself)’.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Irish or Scottish Gaelic bogach, from bog ‘soft’.

bogan^1 /bə(ə)n/ n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL 1 a boringly conventional or old-fashioned person.

2 an uncouth or uncultured person.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

bogan^2 /bə(ə)n/ n. CANADIAN a side stream.

<ORIGIN> Algonquian.

Bogarde /bəαd/ Sir Dirk (1921–99), British actor and writer, of Dutch descent; born Derek Niven van den Bogaerde. He became famous in the ‘Doctor’ series of comedy films, and played more serious roles in films such as The Servant (1963) and Death in Venice (1971).

Bogart /bəαt/ Humphrey (DeForest) (1899–1957), American actor. His many films include Casablanca (1942), The Big Sleep (1946, in which he played opposite his fourth wife Lauren Bacall), and The African Queen (1951, for which he won an Oscar).

bogart /bəαt/ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly US selfishly appropriate or keep (something, especially a cannabis cigarette): don't bogart that joint, my friend.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Humphrey BOGART, who often smoked in films.

bog arum n. a plant of the arum family, with heart-shaped leaves, a white spathe, and a green spadix. It grows in swamps and boggy ground in north temperate regions. Also called CALLA or WATER CALLA.

<INFO> Calla palustris, family Araceae.

bog asphodel n. a yellow-flowered European marsh plant of the lily family.

<INFO> Narthecium ossifragum, family Liliaceae.

bogbean n. a plant of bogs and shallow water which has creeping rhizomes, bean-like three-lobed leaves, and hairy white or pinkish flowers. Also called BUCKBEAN.

<INFO> Menyanthes trifoliata, family Menyanthaceae.

bog cotton n. another term for COTTON GRASS.

bogey^1 [GOLF] n. (pl. bogeys) a score of one stroke over par at a hole.

■ old-fashioned term for par^1 (sense 1 of the noun).

■ v. (bogeys, bogeying, bogeyed) [with obj.] play (a hole) in one stroke over par.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from Bogey, denoting the Devil (see bogey^2), regarded as an imaginary player.

bogey^2 (also bogy) n. (pl. bogeys) 1 an evil or mischievous spirit.

- a person or thing that causes fear or alarm: the bogey of recession.

- US MILITARY SLANG an enemy aircraft.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a piece of nasal mucus.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (as a proper name applied to the Devil): of unknown origin; probably related to BOGLE.

bogey^3 n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL an act of swimming or bathing.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Dharuk bu-gi ‘to swim’.

bogeyman (also bogyman) n. (pl. bogeymen) an imaginary evil spirit, used to frighten children.

- a person or thing that is widely regarded as an object of fear: nuclear power is the environmentalists' bogeyman.

bog garden n. a piece of land laid out and irrigated to grow plants which prefer a damp habitat.

boggart /bət/ n. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH an evil or mischievous spirit.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: related to obsolete bog ‘bugbear’, boggle, and BOGLE.

boggle v. [no obj.] INFORMAL (of a person or their mind) be astonished or baffled when trying to imagine something: the mind boggles at the spectacle.

- [with obj.] cause (a person or their mind) to be astonished: the inflated salary of a star boggles the mind.

- (boggle at) (of a person) hesitate to do or accept: you never boggle at plain speaking.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably of dialect origin and related to BOGLE and bogey^2.

boggy adj. (boggier, boggiest) too wet and muddy to be easily walked on; marshy: the shrub grows naturally in boggy ground.

<DERIVATIVES> bogginess n.

bogie /bəi/ n. (pl. bogies) chiefly BRITISH an undercarriage with four or six wheels pivoted beneath the end of a railway vehicle.

- INDIAN a railway carriage.

- chiefly N. ENGLISH a low truck on four small wheels; a trolley.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally in northern English dialect use): of unknown origin.

bog iron (also bog iron ore) n. [mass noun] an impure porous form of limonite deposited in bogs.

bogland n. [mass noun] marshy land.

bogle /bə(ə)l/ n. a phantom or goblin.

- SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a scarecrow.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: of unknown origin; probably related to bogey^2.

bogman n. IRISH DEROGATORY a person from a rural area.

bog moss n. another term for peat moss (sense 1).

bog myrtle n. a deciduous shrub of boggy places, with short upright catkins and aromatic grey-green leaves with insecticidal properties. Also called SWEET GALE.

<INFO> Myrica gale, family Myricaceae.

bog oak n. an ancient oak tree which has been preserved in peat, with hard black wood.

BOGOF /bf/ abbr. buy one, get one free.

Bogomil /bəəml b-/ n. HISTORICAL a member of a heretical medieval Balkan sect professing a modified form of Manichaeism.

<DERIVATIVES> Bogomilism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from medieval Greek Bogomilos, from Bogomil, literally ‘beloved of God’, the name of the person who first disseminated the heresy, from Old Church Slavonic.

bogong /bə/ (also bogong moth) n. a large brown moth of southern Australia, formerly eaten by Aborigines.

<INFO> Agrotis infusa, family Noctuidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Ngayawung (an Aboriginal language).

Bogotá /bətα/ the capital of Colombia, situated in the eastern Andes at about 2,610 m (8,560 ft); pop. 6,680,500 (est. 2002). It was founded by the Spanish in 1538 on the site of a pre-Columbian centre of the Chibcha culture. Official name Santa Fé de Bogotá.

bog rosemary n. a pink-flowered evergreen dwarf shrub, which grows in boggy soils in north temperate regions. Also called ANDROMEDA.

<INFO> Genus Andromeda, family Ericaceae: two species, in particular the common A. polifolia.

bog spavin n. a soft swelling of the joint capsule of the hock of horses, which most commonly occurs in young, fast-growing horses.

bog-standard adj. British informal® derogatory ordinary or basic: a bog-standard PC.

bogtrotter n. INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE an Irish person.

bogus /bəəs/ adj. not genuine or true (used in a disapproving manner when deception has been attempted): a bogus insurance claim.

<DERIVATIVES> bogusly adv. bogusness n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally US, denoting a machine for making counterfeit money): of unknown origin.

Bo Hai /bə h/ (also Po Hai) a large inlet of the Yellow Sea, on the coast of eastern China. Also called CHIHLI, GULF OF.

bohea /bəhi/ n. [mass noun] a black China tea that comes from the last crop of the season and is usually regarded as of low quality.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: named after the Bu-yi (Wuyi) hills in China, from where black tea first came to Britain.

Bohemia /bəhimə/ a region forming the western part of the Czech Republic. Formerly a Slavic kingdom, it became a province of the newly formed Czechoslovakia by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

Bohemian n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Bohemia.

2 (also bohemian) a socially unconventional person, especially one who is involved in the arts. [<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French bohémien ‘Gypsy’ (because Gypsies were thought to come from Bohemia, or because they perhaps entered the West through Bohemia).]

■ adj. 1 relating to Bohemia or its people.

2 (also bohemian) socially unconventional: she revelled in the Bohemian life of Montparnasse.

<DERIVATIVES> Bohemianism n.

■ Bohemian (sense 2 of the noun)

boho /bəhə/ n. (pl. bohos)

■ informal term for Bohemian (sense 2 of the noun).

■ adj. informal term for Bohemian (sense 2 of the adjective).

Bohol /bəhl/ an island lying to the north of Mindanao in the central Philippines; pop. 1,139,130 (2000); chief town, Tagbilaran.

Bohr /b/ Niels Hendrik David (1885–1962), Danish physicist and pioneer in quantum physics. Bohr's theory of the structure of the atom incorporated quantum theory for the first time, and is the basis for present-day quantum-mechanical models. Bohr helped to develop the atom bomb in Britain and then in the US. Nobel Prize for Physics (1922). His son, Aage Niels Bohr (1922–2009), shared the 1975 prize for his studies of the physics of the atomic nucleus.

bohrium /brəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 107, a very unstable element made by high-energy atomic collisions. (Symbol: Bh)

bohunk /bəhk/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DEROGATORY an immigrant from central or SE Europe.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: apparently from BOHEMIAN + -hunk, alteration of HUNGARIAN.

boil^1 v. 1 (with reference to a liquid) reach or cause to reach the temperature at which it bubbles and turns to vapour: [with obj.] we asked people to boil their drinking water | [no obj.] he waited for the water to boil.

- (with reference to a kettle, pan, or other container) heat or be heated until the liquid inside reaches such a temperature: [with obj.] she boiled the kettle and took down a couple of mugs | [no obj.] the kettle boiled and he filled the teapot.

2 [with obj.] subject (something) to the heat of boiling liquid, in particular:

- (with reference to food) cook or be cooked by immersing in boiling water or stock: [with obj.] boil the potatoes until well done | (as adj. boiled) two boiled eggs | [no obj.] make the sauce while the lobsters are boiling.

- wash or sterilize (clothes) in water of a very high temperature.

3 [no obj.] (of the sea or clouds) be turbulent and stormy: a huge cliff with the black sea boiling below.

- (of a person or strong emotion) be stirred up: he was boiling with rage.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] the temperature at which a liquid bubbles and turns to vapour: bring the sauce to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

- the process of heating a liquid to such a temperature: the kettle's on the boil.

- British FIGURATIVE a state of great activity or excitement: he has gone off the boil since opening the campaign.

2 [FISHING] a sudden rise of a fish at a fly.

<PHRASES>

□ keep the pot boiling maintain the brisk momentum of something: a home win over Sheffield kept the pot boiling.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ boil down to amount to; be essentially a matter of: everything boiled down to cash in the end.

□ boil something down reduce the volume of a liquid by boiling.

□ boil over (of a liquid) flow over the sides of the container in boiling.

- (of a situation or strong emotion) reach a state of such intensity that it can no longer be controlled or contained: one woman's anger boiled over.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French boillir, from Latin bullire ‘to bubble’, from bulla ‘bubble’.

boil^2 n. an inflamed pus-filled swelling on the skin, caused typically by the infection of a hair follicle.

<ORIGIN> Old English bȳle, bȳl, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch buil and German Beule.

Boileau /bwlə/ French /bwalə/ Nicholas (1636–1711), French critic and poet; full name Nicholas Boileau-Despréaux. Boileau is considered particularly important as one of the founders of French literary criticism. His didactic poem Art poétique (1674) defined principles of composition and criticism.

boiled shirt n. DATED a dress shirt with a starched front.

boiled sweet n. BRITISH a hard sweet made of boiled sugar.

boiler n. 1 a fuel-burning apparatus or container for heating water, in particular:

- a household device providing a hot-water supply or serving a central heating system.

- a tank for generating steam under pressure in a steam engine.

- DATED a metal tub for washing or sterilizing clothes at a very high temperature.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a chicken suitable for cooking only by boiling.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL an unattractive or unpleasant woman.

boilermaker n. 1 a worker who makes metal boilers for generating steam.

- a metalworker in heavy industry.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a shot of whisky followed immediately by a glass of beer as a chaser.

boilerplate n. 1 [mass noun] rolled steel plates for making boilers.

2 (boilerplates) [CLIMBING] smooth, overlapping, and undercut slabs of rock.

3 [mass noun] North American clichéd or predictable ideas or writing: they exposed the truth behind the patriotic boilerplate.

- standardized pieces of text for use as clauses in contracts or as part of a computer program.

boiler room n. 1 a room in a building or a compartment in a ship containing a boiler and related heating equipment.

2 a room or office in which many operators engage in high-pressure telephone sales, especially of risky or worthless investments: [as modifier] a boiler-room operation.

boiler suit n. BRITISH a one-piece suit worn as overalls for heavy manual work.

boilie /bli/ n. (pl. boilies) a type of flavoured fishing bait, spherical in shape with a hard outer layer, used chiefly to catch carp.

boiling adj. at or near boiling point: boiling water.

- INFORMAL extremely hot: Saturday is forecast to be boiling and sunny | [as submodifier] I felt boiling hot.

■ n. [mass noun] boiling point: reheat the sauce to just below boiling.

boiling point n. the temperature at which a liquid boils and turns to vapour.

- FIGURATIVE the point at which anger or excitement breaks out into violent expression: racial tension surged to boiling point.

boiling-water reactor (abbr.: BWR) n. a nuclear reactor in which the fuel is uranium oxide clad in zircaloy and the coolant and moderator is water, which is boiled to produce steam for driving turbines.

boilover n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a surprise result, especially the defeat of a favourite in a sporting event.

boing /b/ exclam. representing a reverberating sound, especially the noise made by the release of a compressed spring.

■ n. a reverberating sound.

■ v. [no obj.] make a reverberating sound.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: imitative.

boink v. & n. North American variant spelling of BONK.

Boise /bsi/ the state capital of Idaho; pop. 185,787 (2000).

boisterous adj. noisy, energetic, and cheerful: a group of boisterous lads.

- (of weather or water) wild or stormy: the boisterous wind was lulled.

<DERIVATIVES> boisterously adv. boisterousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘rough, stiff’): variant of earlier boistuous ‘rustic, coarse, boisterous’, of unknown origin.

boîte /bwt/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) a small restaurant or nightclub.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘box’.

Bokassa /bəkasə/ Jean Bédel (1921–96), African statesman and military leader, President 1972–6 of the Central African Republic, self-styled emperor 1976–9.

boke /bək/ (also boak) v. [no obj.] SCOTTISH vomit.

■ n. a vomiting fit.

<ORIGIN> Middle English bolke; related to BELCH.

bokeh /bəke/ n. [mass noun] [PHOTOGRAPHY] the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

bokken /bk(ə)n/ n. a wooden sword used as a practice weapon in kendo.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

bokmakierie /bkməkəri/ (also bokmakierie shrike) n. (pl. bokmakieries) a bush shrike with conspicuous yellow underparts and a black band across the breast, common in southern Africa.

<INFO> Telophorus (or Malaconotus) zeylonus, family Laniidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Afrikaans, imitative of its call.

Bokmål /bukml/ n. [mass noun] one of two standard forms of the Norwegian language, a modified form of Danish. See NORWEGIAN.

<ORIGIN> from Norwegian bok ‘book’ + mål ‘language’.

bolas /bələs/ n. [treated as sing. or plural] (especially in South America) a missile consisting of a number of balls connected by strong cord, which when thrown entangles the limbs of the quarry.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Spanish and Portuguese, plural of bola ‘ball’.

bold adj. 1 (of a person, action, or idea) showing a willingness to take risks; confident and courageous: a bold attempt to solve the crisis | no journalist was bold enough to take on the Prime Minister.

- DATED (of a person or their manner) so confident as to be impudent or presumptuous: she tossed him a bold look.

- IRISH (especially of a child) naughty; badly behaved: I slapped him when he was bold.

2 (of a colour, design, or shape) having a strong, vivid, or clear appearance: a coat with bold polka dots.

- of a kind of typeface having dark, heavy strokes, used especially for emphasis.

■ n. [mass noun] a bold typeface or letter: Shadow cabinet members listed in bold.

<PHRASES>

□ be (or make) so bold (as to do something) FORMAL dare to do something that might be considered audacious (used when politely asking a question or making a suggestion): what would he be calling for, if I might make so bold as to ask?

□ (as) bold as brass confident to the point of impudence.

□ bold stroke a daring action or initiative: the budget was full of bold strokes.

<DERIVATIVES> boldly adv. boldness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English bald, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch boud and to German bald ‘soon’.

boldface n. [mass noun] a kind of typeface with dark, heavy strokes.

■ adj. printed in boldface type.

<DERIVATIVES> boldfaced adj.

boldo /bldə/ n. (pl. boldos) an evergreen Chilean tree from which are obtained an edible fruit, a dye, and a medicinal leaf infusion.

<INFO> Peumus boldus, family Monimiaceae.

- [mass noun] a medicinal preparation of the leaves of the boldo tree, used as a tonic and digestive aid.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: via American Spanish from Araucanian voldo.

bole^1 n. the trunk of a tree.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse bolr; perhaps related to BAULK.

bole^2 n. [mass noun] a fine, smooth, reddish clay containing iron oxide, used especially as a ground for oil painting and gilding.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from late Latin bolus ‘rounded mass’ (see BOLUS).

bolection /bəlεk(ə)n/ n. [usually as modifier] [ARCHITECTURE] a decorative moulding above or around a panel or other architectural feature.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: of unknown origin.

bolero /bəlεrə/ n. (pl. boleros) 1 a Spanish dance in simple triple time.

- a piece of music for or in the time of this dance.

2 also /blərə/ a woman's short open jacket.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Spanish.

boletus /bəlitəs/ (also bolete) n. (pl. boletuses) a toadstool with pores rather than gills on the underside of the cap, typically having a thick stem.

<INFO> Genus Boletus, family Boletaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, from Greek bōlitēs, perhaps from bōlos ‘lump’.

Boleyn /bəln/ Anne (1507–36), second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I. Henry divorced Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne (1533), but she fell from favour when she failed to provide him with a male heir and was eventually executed on the grounds of alleged infidelities.

Bolger /bldə/ James (Brendan) (b.1935), New Zealand National Party statesman, Prime Minister 1990–7.

bolide /bəld/ n. a large meteor which explodes in the atmosphere.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Latin bolis, bolid-, from Greek bolis ‘missile’.

Bolingbroke /blbrk/ the surname of Henry IV of England (see Henry^1).

bolivar /blvα blivα/ Spanish /bəliβar/ n. the basic monetary unit of Venezuela, equal to 100 centimos.

<ORIGIN> named after Simón Bolívar.

Bolívar /blivα/ Spanish /bəliβar/ Simón (1783–1830), Venezuelan patriot and statesman; known as the Liberator. He succeeded in driving the Spanish from Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador. Upper Peru was named Bolivia in his honour.

Bolivia /bəlvə/ Spanish /bəliβja/ a landlocked country in South America; pop. 8,445,134 (est. 2002); languages, Spanish (official), Aymara, and Quechua; capital, La Paz; legal capital and seat of the judiciary, Sucre.

Bolivia's chief topographical feature is the altiplano, the high central plateau between the eastern and western chains of the Andes. Following Pizarro's defeat of the Incas the country became part of Spain's American empire. It was freed from Spanish rule in 1825, but has suffered continually from political instability.

<DERIVATIVES> Bolivian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> named after Simón Bolívar.

boliviano /bəlvαnə/ Spanish /bəliβjanə/ n. (pl. bolivianos) the basic monetary unit of Bolivia (1863–1962 and since 1987), equal to 100 centavos or cents.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘Bolivian’, from BOLIVIA.

boll /bəl/ n. the rounded seed capsule of plants such as cotton or flax.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting a bubble): from Middle Dutch bolle ‘rounded object’; related to bowl^1.

Böll /bəl/ German /bœl/ Heinrich (Theodor) (1917–85), German novelist and short-story writer. His years in the German army (1938–44) provided the material for his earliest novel, Adam, Where Art Thou? (1951). His later work, such as The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1974), is frequently critical of post-war German society. Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).

bollard /blαd -ləd/ n. 1 BRITISH a short post used to prevent traffic from entering an area.

2 a short, thick post on the deck of a ship or a quayside, to which a ship's rope may be secured.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): perhaps from Old Norse bolr (see bole^1) + -ARD.

bollito misto /blitə mstə/ n. (pl. bolliti misti /bliti msti/) an Italian dish of mixed meats, such as chicken, veal, and sausage, boiled with vegetables in broth.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘boiled mixed (meat)’.

bollix VULGAR SLANG v. [with obj.] (usually bollix something up) bungle (a task).

■ n. 1 [treated as plural]

■ variant spelling of BOLLOCKS.

2 [treated as sing.] IRISH a foolish or contemptible man.

bollock /blək/ (also ballock) v. [with obj.] BRITISH VULGAR SLANG reprimand (someone) severely.

bollocking (also ballocking) n. BRITISH VULGAR SLANG a severe reprimand.

bollocks (also ballocks) plural n. BRITISH VULGAR SLANG 1 the testicles.

2 [treated as sing.] nonsense; rubbish (used to express contempt or disagreement, or as an exclamation of annoyance).

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: plural of bollock, variant of earlier ballock, of Germanic origin; related to ball^1.

bollocky adj. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL naked.

boll weevil n. a small weevil which feeds on the fibres of the cotton boll and is a major pest of the American cotton crop.

<INFO> Anthonomus grandis, family Curculionidae.

bollworm n. a moth caterpillar which attacks the cotton boll, in particular:

<INFO>

- (pink bollworm) a small moth caterpillar which is a serious pest of the North American cotton crop (Pectinophora gossypiella, family Gelechiidae).

- (also cotton bollworm) another term for CORN EARWORM

Bollywood n. a name for the Indian popular film industry, based in Mumbai (Bombay).

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of BOMBAY and HOLLYWOOD.

bolo /bələ/ n. (pl. bolos) a large single-edged knife used in the Philippines.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

Bologna /bələnjə -lnjə/ Italian /bəla/ a city in northern Italy, capital of Emilia-Romagna region; pop. 369,955 (2001). Its university, which dates from the 11th century, is the oldest in Europe.

bologna /bələnjə bəlnjə/ (also bologna sausage) n. NORTH AMERICAN a large smoked sausage made of bacon, veal, pork suet, and other meats.

bolometer /bəlmtə/ n. a sensitive electrical instrument for measuring radiant energy.

<DERIVATIVES> bolometric adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek bolē ‘ray of light’ + -METER.

boloney n. variant spelling of BALONEY.

bolo tie n. NORTH AMERICAN a type of tie consisting of a cord worn around the neck with a large ornamental fastening at the throat.

Bolshevik /blvk/ n. HISTORICAL a member of the majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, which seized power in the October Revolution of 1917.

- chiefly DEROGATORY (in general use) a person with politically subversive or radical views; a revolutionary.

■ adj. relating to or characteristic of Bolsheviks or Bolshevism.

<DERIVATIVES> Bolshevism n. Bolshevist n.

<ORIGIN> Russian, from bol′she ‘greater’ (with reference to the greater faction).

bolshie (also bolshy) BRITISH INFORMAL adj. (of a person or attitude) deliberately combative or uncooperative: policemen with bolshie attitudes.

■ n. (Bolshie) (plural Bolshies) DATED a Bolshevik or socialist.

<DERIVATIVES> bolshiness n.

Bolshoi Ballet /bl/ a Moscow ballet company. Since 1825 it has been based at the Bolshoi Theatre, where it staged the first production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake (1877).

bolster^1 /bəlstə/ n. 1 a long, thick pillow that is placed under other pillows for support.

2 a part on a vehicle or tool providing structural support or reducing friction.

- [BUILDING] a short timber cap over a post designed to increase the bearing of the beams it supports.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 support or strengthen: the fall in interest rates is starting to bolster confidence.

2 provide (a seat) with padded support: (as adj. bolstered) I snuggled down into the heavily bolstered seat.

<DERIVATIVES> bolsterer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bolster and German Polster.

bolster^2 /bəlstə/ n. a heavy chisel used for cutting bricks.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

Bolt^1 Robert (Oxton) (1924–95), English writer best known for the play A Man for All Seasons (1960) and the screenplays for Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Dr Zhivago (1965).

Bolt^2 Usain (St Leo) (b.1986), Jamaican athlete. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing he won gold medals in the 100 metre and 200 metre races, setting a new world record time for each. He also won a gold, and set a new world record, as part of the Jamaican 4×100 metre relay team.

bolt^1 n. 1 a large metal pin, in particular:

- a bar that slides into a socket to fasten a door or window.

- a long pin with a head that screws into a nut, used to fasten things together.

- the sliding piece of the breech mechanism of a rifle.

- [CLIMBING] a long pin that is driven into a rock face so that a rope can be attached to it.

2 a short, heavy arrow shot from a crossbow.

3 a jagged white flash of lightning.

■ v. [with obj.] fasten with a bolt, in particular:

- fasten (a door or window) with a bar that slides into a socket.

- [with obj. and adverbial of place] fasten (something) to something else with a long pin that screws into a nut: the lid was bolted down | FIGURATIVE new benefits have been bolted on to the social security system.

<PHRASES>

□ a bolt from (or out of) the blue a sudden and unexpected event: the job came like a bolt from the blue. [<ORIGIN> with reference to the unlikelihood of a thunderbolt coming from a clear blue sky.]

□ bolt upright with the back very straight.

□ have shot one's bolt INFORMAL have done all that is in one's power.

<ORIGIN> Old English, ‘arrow’, of unknown origin; related to Dutch bout and German Bolzen ‘arrow, bolt for a door’.

bolt^2 v. 1 [no obj.] (of a horse or other animal) run away suddenly, typically from fear: the horses shied and bolted.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a person) move or run away suddenly in an attempt to escape: they bolted down the stairs.

- [with obj.] (in hunting) cause (a rabbit or fox) to run from its burrow or hole.

- (of a plant) grow quickly upwards and stop flowering as seeds develop: the lettuces have bolted.

2 [with obj.] eat (food) quickly: there's no need to bolt your food.

<PHRASES>

□ make a bolt for try to escape by moving suddenly towards (something): Ellie made a bolt for the door.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from BOLT^1, expressing the sense ‘fly like an arrow’.

bolt^3 n. 1 a roll of fabric, originally as a measure: the room was stacked with bolts of cloth.

2 a folded edge of a piece of paper that is trimmed off to allow it to be opened, as on a section of a book.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: transferred use of bolt^1.

bolt^4 (also boult) v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC pass (flour, powder, or other material) through a sieve.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bulter, of unknown ultimate origin. The change in the first syllable was due to association with bolt^1.

bolt-action adj. (of a gun) having a breech which is opened by turning a bolt and sliding it back.

bolter n. a person or animal that bolts or runs away.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ an outsider in a sporting event or other competition.

- Australian HISTORICAL an escaped convict or absconder.

bolt-hole n. 1 a place where a person can escape and hide: he thought of Antwerp as a possible bolt-hole.

2 chiefly BRITISH a hole or burrow by which a rabbit or other wild animal can escape.

bolting n. [mass noun] [MOUNTAINEERING] the action of driving long metal pins into a rock face so that ropes can be attached to them.

Bolton a town in NW England, near Manchester; pop. 138,400 (est. 2002).

bolt-on adj. [attr.] (of an extra part of a machine) able to be fastened on with a bolt or catch.

■ n. a bolt-on part of a machine.

Boltzmann /bltsman/ Ludwig (1844–1906), Austrian physicist, who made contributions to the kinetic theory of gases, statistical mechanics, and thermodynamics.

Boltzmann distribution another term for Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution.

Boltzmann's constant n. [CHEMISTRY] the ratio of the gas constant to Avogadro's constant, equal to 1.381 × 10−23 joules per kelvin. (Symbol: k)

bolus /bələs/ n. (pl. boluses) 1 a small rounded mass of a substance, especially of chewed food at the moment of swallowing.

2 a type of large pill used in veterinary medicine.

- MEDICINE a single dose of a drug or other medicinal preparation given all at once.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a large pill): via late Latin from Greek bōlos ‘clod’.

Bolzano /bltsαnə/ a city in NE Italy, capital of the Bolzano-Bozen province; pop. 93,079 (2001).

boma /bəmə/ n. (in eastern and southern Africa) an enclosure, especially for animals.

<ORIGIN> Kiswahili.

bomb n. 1 a container filled with explosive or incendiary material, designed to explode on impact or when detonated by a timing, proximity, or remote-control device.

- (the bomb) nuclear weapons considered collectively as agents of mass destruction: she joined the fight against the bomb.

2 a thing resembling a bomb in shape, in particular:

- (also volcanic bomb) a lump of lava thrown out by a volcano.

- a pear-shaped weight used to anchor a fishing line to the bottom.

3 (a bomb) BRITISH INFORMAL a large sum of money: that silk must have cost a bomb.

4 INFORMAL a film, play, or other event that fails badly: that bomb of an old movie.

5 (the (or da) bomb) US INFORMAL an outstandingly good person or thing: the site would really be da bomb if its content were updated more frequently.

6 a long forward pass or hit in a ball game: a two-run bomb.

7 INFORMAL a cannabis cigarette.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] attack (a place or object) with a bomb or bombs: they bombed the city at dawn.

- (bomb someone out) make someone homeless by destroying their home with bombs.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] BRITISH INFORMAL move very quickly: we were bombing down the motorway at breakneck speed.

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL (of a film, play, or other event) fail badly: it just became another big-budget film that bombed.

<PHRASES>

□ go down a bomb BRITISH INFORMAL be very well received: those gigs we did went down a bomb.

□ go like a bomb BRITISH INFORMAL 1 be very successful: the party went like a bomb.

2 (of a vehicle or person) move very fast.

□ look like a bomb's hit it INFORMAL (of a place) be extremely messy or untidy in appearance: the room looked like a bomb had hit it.

<DERIVATIVES> bomblet n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French bombe, from Italian bomba, probably from Latin bombus ‘booming, humming’, from Greek bombos, of imitative origin.

bombard v. /bmbαd/ [with obj.] attack (a place or person) continuously with bombs, shells, or other missiles: the city was bombarded by federal forces.

- subject (someone) to a continuous flow of questions, criticisms, or information: they will be bombarded with complaints.

- [PHYSICS] direct a stream of high-speed particles at (a substance).

■ n. /bmbαd/ HISTORICAL a cannon of the earliest type, which fired a stone ball or large shot.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun denoting an early form of cannon, also a shawm) from Old French bombarde, probably based on Latin bombus ‘booming, humming’ (see BOMB). The verb (late 16th century) is from French bombarder.

bombarde /bmbαd/ n. 1 a shawm (wind instrument) of alto pitch, used in medieval bands and in Breton folk music.

2 a powerful bass reed organ stop.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, denoting a shawm (see BOMBARD).

bombardier /bmbədə/ n. 1 a rank of non-commissioned officer in certain artillery regiments, equivalent to corporal.

2 a member of a bomber crew in the US air force responsible for aiming and releasing bombs.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a soldier in charge of a bombard, an early form of cannon): from French, from Old French bombarde ‘cannon’ (see BOMBARD).

bombardier beetle n. a ground beetle that discharges a puff of irritant vapour from its anus with an audible pop when alarmed.

<INFO> Several species in the family Carabidae, in particular the European Brachinus crepitans.

bombardment /bmbαdm(ə)nt/ n. a continuous attack with bombs, shells, or other missiles: an aerial bombardment will precede the attack.

- a continuous flow of questions, criticisms, or information: a steady bombardment of emails and phone calls.

bombardon /bmbαd(ə)n/ n. a bass tuba.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian bombardone, from bombardo ‘cannon’. Compare with BOMBARDE.

bombast /bmbast/ n. [mass noun] high-sounding language with little meaning, used to impress people.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting raw cotton or cotton wool used as padding, later used figuratively): from Old French bombace, from medieval Latin bombax, bombac-, alteration of bombyx ‘silkworm’ (see BOMBAZINE).

bombastic adj. high-sounding but with little meaning; inflated: bombastic rhetoric | bombastic music that drowned out what anyone was saying.

<DERIVATIVES> bombastically adv.

Bombay former name (until 1995) for MUMBAI.

Bombay duck n. [mass noun] the bummalo (fish), especially when dried and eaten as an accompaniment to curries.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: alteration of BUMMALO by association with BOMBAY (Mumbai) in India, from which bummalo were exported; the reason for the use of the term duck is unknown.

Bombay mix n. [mass noun] an Indian-style spiced snack consisting of lentils, peanuts, and deep-fried strands of gram flour (sev).

bombazine /bmbəzin/ n. [mass noun] a twilled dress fabric of worsted and silk or cotton, especially a black kind formerly used for mourning clothes.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting raw cotton): from French bombasin, from medieval Latin bombacinum, from bombycinum, neuter of bombycinus ‘silken’, based on Greek bombux ‘silkworm’.

bomb bay n. a compartment in the fuselage of an aircraft in which bombs are held and from which they may be dropped.

bomb calorimeter n. a thick-walled steel container used to determine the energy contained in a substance by measuring the heat generated during its combustion.

bomb disposal n. [mass noun] the defusing or removal and detonation of unexploded and delayed-action bombs.

bombe /bmb/ n. a frozen dome-shaped dessert.

- a dome-shaped mould in which a bombe is made.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘bomb’.

bombé /bbe/ French /bbe/ adj. (of furniture) rounded.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, literally ‘swollen out’.

bombed adj. 1 (of an area or building) subjected to bombing.

2 INFORMAL intoxicated by drink or drugs.

bomber n. 1 an aircraft designed to carry and drop bombs.

2 a person who plants, detonates, or throws bombs, especially as a terrorist.

3 INFORMAL a large cigarette containing cannabis.

4 a bomber jacket.

bomber jacket n. a short jacket tightly gathered at the waist and cuffs by elasticated bands and typically having a zip front.

bombinate /bmbnet/ v. [no obj.] LITERARY buzz; hum.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from medieval Latin bombinat- ‘buzzed’, from the verb bombinare, from Latin bombus ‘humming’ (see BOMBARD).

bombing n. an act or instance of dropping or detonating a bomb somewhere: a series of terrorist bombings.

bombora /bmbrə/ n. AUSTRALIAN a wave which forms over a submerged offshore reef or rock, sometimes breaking heavily and producing a dangerous stretch of broken water.

- a submerged offshore reef or rock.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from an Aboriginal word, perhaps Dharuk bumbora.

bombproof adj. strong enough to resist the effects of blast from a bomb.

bombshell n. 1 an unexpected and surprising event, especially an unpleasant one: the news came as a bombshell.

2 INFORMAL a very attractive woman: a twenty-year-old blonde bombshell.

3 DATED an artillery shell.

bombsight n. a mechanical or electronic device used in an aircraft for aiming bombs.

bomb site n. an area in a town or city where the buildings have been destroyed by bombs.

bomb squad n. a division of a police force appointed to investigate the planting and detonation of terrorist bombs.

Bon /bn/ (also O-Bon) n. a Japanese Buddhist festival held annually in August to honour the dead. Also called FESTIVAL OF THE DEAD and LANTERN FESTIVAL.

<ORIGIN> from Japanese.

Bon, Cape a peninsula of NE Tunisia, extending into the Mediterranean Sea.

bona fide /bənə fdi/ adj. genuine; real: she was a bona fide expert.

■ adv. chiefly [LAW] without intention to deceive: the court will assume that they have acted bona fide.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘with good faith’, ablative singular of BONA FIDES.

bona fides /bənə fdiz/ n. [mass noun] a person's honesty and sincerity of intention: he went to great lengths to establish his liberal bona fides.

- [treated as plural] INFORMAL documentary evidence showing that a person is what they claim to be; credentials.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘good faith’.

Bonaire /bnε/ one of the two principal islands of the Netherlands Antilles (the other is Curaçao); chief town, Kralendijk; pop. 17,500 (est. 2002).

bonanza /bənanzə/ n. a situation which creates a sudden increase in wealth, good fortune, or profits: a natural gas bonanza for Britain | [as modifier] a bonanza year for the computer industry.

- a large amount of something desirable: the festive feature-film bonanza.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally US, especially with reference to success when mining): from Spanish, literally ‘fair weather, prosperity’, from Latin bonus ‘good’.

Bonaparte /bənəpαt/ French /bnapaRt/ (Italian Buonaparte) a Corsican family including the three French rulers named Napoleon.

<DERIVATIVES> Bonapartism n. Bonapartist n. & adj.

bon appétit /bn apεti/ French /bn apeti/ exclam. used as a salutation to a person about to eat.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘good appetite’.

bona vacantia /bənə vəkantə/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] (in the UK) goods without an apparent owner, such as treasure trove or the estate of a person dying intestate and without heirs, to which the Crown may have right.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘ownerless goods’.

Bonaventura, St /bnəvεntjərə/ (1221–74), Franciscan theologian; born Giovanni di Fidanza; known as the Seraphic Doctor. He wrote the official biography of St Francis and had a lasting influence as a spiritual writer. Feast day, 15 (formerly 14) July.

bonbon n. a piece of confectionery; a sweet.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, reduplication of bon ‘good’, from Latin bonus.

bonbonnière /bnbnjε/ n. a small ornamental box or lidded jar for confectionery.

<ORIGIN> French.

bonce n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person's head.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (denoting a large marble): of unknown origin.

Bond^1 Edward (b.1934), English dramatist. Many of his plays are marked by scenes of violence and cruelty. Notable works: Saved (1965) and Lear (1971).

Bond^2 James, a British secret agent in the spy novels of Ian Fleming, known also by his code name 007.

bond /bnd/ n. 1 a thing used to tie something or to fasten things together: she brushed back a curl which had strayed from its bonds.

- (bonds) ropes, chains, or other restraints used to hold someone prisoner.

- a force or feeling that unites people; a shared emotion or interest: there was a bond of understanding between them.

2 an agreement with legal force, in particular:

- [LAW] a deed by which a person is committed to make payment to another. South African term for MORTGAGE.

- a certificate issued by a government or a public company promising to repay borrowed money at a fixed rate of interest at a specified time.

- an insurance policy held by a company, which protects against losses resulting from circumstances such as bankruptcy.

- US a sum of money paid as bail.

3 (also chemical bond) a strong force of attraction holding atoms together in a molecule or crystal, resulting from the sharing or transfer of electrons.

4 [with modifier] [BUILDING] a pattern in which bricks are laid in order to ensure the strength of the resulting structure.

■ v. 1 join or be joined securely to something else, especially by means of an adhesive substance, heat, or pressure: [with obj.] press the material to bond the layers together | [no obj.] this material will bond well to stainless steel rods | (as adj. bonding) a bonding agent.

- [no obj.] establish a relationship or link with someone based on shared feelings, interests, or experiences: the failure to properly bond with their children | (as noun modifier bonding) the film has some great male bonding scenes.

2 join or be joined by a chemical bond.

3 [with obj.] (usually as adj. bonding) lay (bricks) in an overlapping pattern so as to form a strong structure: a bonding course.

4 (usually as n. bonding) place (dutiable goods) in bond.

<PHRASES>

□ in bond (of dutiable goods) stored in a bonded warehouse until the importer pays the duty owing.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: variant of band^1.

bondage n. [mass noun] 1 the state of being a slave: the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt's bondage | FIGURATIVE young women lost to the bondage of early motherhood.

2 sexual practice that involves the tying up or restraining of one partner.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Latin bondagium, from Middle English bond ‘serf’ (earlier ‘peasant, householder’), from Old Norse bóndi ‘tiller of the soil’, based on búa ‘dwell’; influenced in sense by BOND.

bondager n. HISTORICAL a person who performed services as a condition of feudal tenure.

- (in southern Scotland and NE England) a female outworker supplied to a proprietor by a tenant.

bonded adj. 1 (of a thing or things) joined securely to another or each other, especially by an adhesive, heat process, or pressure.

- emotionally or psychologically linked: a strongly bonded group of females.

2 held by a chemical bond: bonded atoms.

3 (of a person or company) bound by a legal agreement, in particular:

- (of a travel agent or tour operator) holding an insurance policy which protects travellers' holidays and money should the company go bankrupt.

- (of a worker or workforce) obliged to work for a particular employer, typically in a condition close to slavery.

4 (of dutiable goods) placed in bond.

bonded warehouse n. a customs-controlled warehouse for the retention of imported goods until the duty owed is paid.

Bondi /bnd/ a coastal resort in New South Wales, Australia, a suburb of Sydney. It is noted for its popular beach.

bondieuserie /bndjəz(ə)ri/ French /bdjøzRi/ n. (pl. bondieuseries) a church ornament or devotional object, especially one of little artistic merit.

- [mass noun] such objects collectively.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from French, from bon ‘good’ + Dieu ‘God’.

bond paper n. [mass noun] high-quality writing paper.

bondsman n. (pl. bondsmen) 1 a person who stands surety for a bond.

2 ARCHAIC a slave. [<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: variant of Middle English bondman, from obsolete bond ‘serf’ (see also BONDAGE).]

bondstone n. a stone or brick running through a wall to bind or strengthen it.

Bône /bən/ former name for ANNABA.

bone n. 1 any of the pieces of hard, whitish tissue making up the skeleton in humans and other vertebrates: his injuries included many broken bones | a shoulder bone.

- (one's bones) one's body: he hauled his tired bones upright.

- (bones) a corpse or skeleton.

- (bones) FIGURATIVE the basic or essential framework of something: you need to put some flesh on the bones of your idea.

- a bone of an animal with meat on it fed to a dog.

The substance of bones is formed by specialized cells (osteoblasts) which secrete around themselves a material containing calcium salts (which provide hardness and strength in compression) and collagen fibres (which provide tensile strength).

2 [mass noun] the calcified material of which bones consist: an earring of bone.

- a substance similar to bone, such as ivory or whalebone.

- (often bones) a thing made or formerly made of bone, such as a strip of stiffening for a foundation garment.

- (usually bones) (in southern Africa) one of a set of carved dice or bones used by traditional healers in divination.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] remove the bones from (meat or fish) before cooking, serving, or selling.

2 [no obj.] (bone up on) INFORMAL study (a subject) intensively, typically in preparation for something: she boned up on languages she had learned long ago.

3 [with obj.] US VULGAR SLANG (of a man) have sexual intercourse with (someone).

<PHRASES>

□ bone of contention a subject or issue over which there is continuing disagreement: the examination system has long been a serious bone of contention.

□ close to (or near) the bone (of a remark) penetrating and accurate to the point of causing discomfort.

- (of a joke or story) likely to cause offence because near the limit of decency.

□ cut (or pare) something to the bone reduce something to the bare minimum: costs will have to be cut to the bone.

□ have a bone to pick with someone INFORMAL have reason to disagree or be annoyed with someone.

□ in one's bones felt, understood, or believed very deeply or instinctively.

□ make no bones about have no hesitation in stating or dealing with (something), however unpleasant or awkward it is: he makes no bones about his feelings towards the militants.

□ not HAVE a —— bone in one's body have not the slightest trace of the specified quality: she hasn't got a sympathetic bone in her body.

□ off (or on) the bone (of meat or fish) having had the bone or bones removed (or left in) before being cooked, served, or sold.

□ point the bone at AUSTRALIAN (of an Aborigine) cast a spell on (someone) so as to cause their sickness or death.

- FIGURATIVE betray (someone); let (someone) down. [<ORIGIN> from an Australian Aboriginal ritual, in which a bone is pointed at a victim.]

□ to the bone (of a wound) so deep as to expose a person's bone: his thigh had been axed open to the bone | FIGURATIVE his contempt cut her to the bone.

□ to one's bones (or to the bone) used to emphasize the essential nature of a specified quality: he's a cop to the bone.

□ what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh (or blood) PROVERB a person's behaviour or characteristics are determined by their heredity.

□ work one's fingers to the bone work very hard.

<ORIGIN> Old English bān, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch been and German Bein.

bone ash n. [mass noun] the mineral residue of calcined bones.

bone china n. [mass noun] white porcelain containing bone ash, made in Britain since about 1800.

boned adj. 1 (of meat or fish) having had the bones removed before being cooked, served, or sold.

2 [in combination] (of a person) having bones of the specified type: she was fine-boned and boyishly slim.

3 (of a garment) stiffened with strips of plastic or whalebone to give shape to the wearer's figure or the garment.

bone dry adj. completely or extremely dry.

bonefish n. (pl. same or bonefishes) a silvery game fish of warm coastal waters. Also called LADYFISH.

<INFO> Family Albulidae and genus Albula: several species, in particular A. vulpes.

bonehead n. INFORMAL a stupid person.

<DERIVATIVES> boneheaded adj.

bone idle (also bone lazy) adj. BRITISH extremely idle or lazy.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: expressing idle through to the bone.

boneless adj. (of meat or fish) having had the bones removed before being cooked or served.

- lacking physical or mental strength: I think her Harry's a boneless little drip.

<DERIVATIVES> bonelessly adv.

bonemeal n. [mass noun] crushed or ground bones used as a fertilizer.

boner n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a stupid mistake.

2 NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG an erection of the penis.

3 NZ a low-grade farm animal, with meat only suitable for use in sausages or other processed products.

<PHRASES>

□ pull a boner NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL make a stupid mistake.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BONE or (in sense 1) from BONEHEAD, + -ER^1.

boneset n. a North American plant of the daisy family, which bears clusters of small white flowers and is used in herbal medicine.

<INFO> Eupatorium perfoliatum, family Compositae.

- British the common comfrey, the ground-up root of which was formerly used as a ‘plaster’ to set broken bones.

bone-setter n. HISTORICAL a person, usually not formally qualified, who set broken or dislocated bones.

boneshaker n. BRITISH INFORMAL an old vehicle with poor suspension: a boneshaker of a van.

- an early type of bicycle without rubber tyres.

bone spavin n. osteoarthritis of the hock in horses, which may cause swelling and lameness.

bone-tired (also bone-weary) adj. extremely tired.

boneyard n. INFORMAL a cemetery.

bonfire n. a large open-air fire used for burning rubbish or as part of a celebration.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from BONE + FIRE. The term originally denoted a large open-air fire on which bones were burnt (sometimes as part of a celebration), also one for burning heretics or proscribed literature. Dr Johnson accepted the mistaken idea that the word came from French bon ‘good’.

Bonfire Night n. (in the UK) 5 November, on which fireworks are displayed and figures representing Guy Fawkes burnt in memory of the Gunpowder Plot.

bong^1 n. a low-pitched sound, as of a bell.

■ v. [no obj.] emit such a sound.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): imitative.

bong^2 n. a water pipe used for smoking cannabis or other drugs.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Thai baung, literally ‘cylindrical wooden tube’.

bong^3 n. [MOUNTAINEERING] a large piton.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: probably imitative.

bongo^1 /bə/ n. (pl. bongos) each of a joined pair of small deep-bodied drums, typically held between the knees and played with the fingers.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Latin American Spanish bongó.

bongo^2 /bə/ n. (pl. same or bongos) a forest antelope that has a chestnut coat with narrow white vertical stripes, native to central Africa.

<INFO> Tragelaphus euryceros, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Kikongo.

bonham /bnəm/ n. IRISH a piglet.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: dialect variant of Irish banbh ‘pig’.

Bonhoeffer /bnhəfə/ German /bnhøf/ Dietrich (1906–45), German Lutheran theologian and pastor. He was an active opponent of Nazism and was involved in the German resistance movement. Arrested in 1943, he was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp and later executed.

bonhomie /bnəmi bnəmi/ n. [mass noun] cheerful friendliness; geniality: he exuded good humour and bonhomie.

<DERIVATIVES> bonhomous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from bonhomme ‘good fellow’.

boniato /bnαtə/ n. (pl. boniatos) a variety of sweet potato with white flesh.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

Boniface, St /bnfes/ (680–754), Anglo-Saxon missionary; born Wynfrith; known as the Apostle of Germany. He was sent to Frisia and Germany to spread the Christian faith and was appointed Primate of Germany in 732; he was martyred in Frisia. Feast day, 5 June.

Bonington /bntən/ Chris (b.1934), English mountaineer; full name Christian John Storey Bonington. He made the first British ascent of the north face of the Eiger in 1962 and led expeditions to Mount Everest in 1975 and 1985 (when he reached the summit).

bonito /bənitə/ n. (pl. bonitos) a small tuna with dark oblique stripes on the back, important as a food and game fish.

<INFO> Sarda and related genera, family Scombridae: several species.

■ another term for skipjack (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish.

bonk (also North American boink) INFORMAL v. 1 [with obj.] hit (someone or something): he bonked his head on the plane's low bulkhead.

2 [no obj.] BRITISH have sexual intercourse.

3 [no obj.] (of a cyclist or runner) reach a point of exhaustion that makes it impossible to go further.

■ n. 1 an act or the sound of hitting someone or something: give it a bonk with a hammer.

2 BRITISH an act of sexual intercourse.

3 (the bonk) a level of exhaustion that makes a cyclist or runner unable to go further.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: imitative.

bonkbuster n. BRITISH INFORMAL a type of popular novel characterized by frequent explicit sexual encounters.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from BONK, on the pattern of blockbuster.

bonkers adj. [predic.] INFORMAL mad; crazy: you're stark raving bonkers!

<ORIGIN> 1940s: of unknown origin.

bon mot /bn mə/ n. (pl. bon mots or bons mots pronunc. same or /-məz/) a witty remark.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, literally ‘good word’.

Bonn a city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany; pop. 311,800 (est. 2002). From 1949 until the reunification of Germany in 1990 Bonn was the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Bonnard /bnα/ French /bnaR/ Pierre (1867–1947), French painter and graphic artist, a member of the Nabi Group. Notable for their rich, glowing colours, his works continue and develop the Impressionist tradition; they mostly depict domestic interior scenes, nudes, and landscapes.

bonne /bn/ n. DATED a nursemaid or housemaid, typically a French one.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, feminine of bon ‘good’.

bonne bouche /bn bu/ French /bn bu/ n. (pl. bonne bouches or bonnes bouches pronunc. same) an appetizing item of food, especially something sweet eaten at the end of a meal.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘a good taste in the mouth’, from bonne, feminine of bon ‘good’, and bouche ‘mouth’.

bonne femme /bn fam/ adj. [postpositive] (of fish dishes, stews, and soups) cooked in a simple way: sole bonne femme.

<ORIGIN> French, from the phrase à la bonne femme ‘in the manner of a good housewife’.

bonnet n. 1 a woman's or child's hat tied under the chin and with a brim framing the face.

- a soft, round brimless hat like a beret, as worn by men and boys in Scotland.

- [HERALDRY] the velvet cap within a coronet.

- (also war bonnet) the ceremonial feathered headdress of an American Indian.

2 BRITISH the hinged metal canopy covering the engine of a motor vehicle.

3 a cowl on a chimney.

4 [SAILING], HISTORICAL an additional canvas laced to the foot of a sail to catch more wind.

<DERIVATIVES> bonneted adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a soft brimless hat for men): from Old French bonet, from medieval Latin abonnis ‘headgear’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the late 15th cent.

bonnethead (also bonnethead shark) n. a small hammerhead shark with a relatively narrow rounded head, found in American waters. Also called SHOVELHEAD.

<INFO> Sphyrna tiburo, family Sphyrnidae.

bonnet macaque (also bonnet monkey) n. a South Indian macaque with a bonnet-like tuft of hair on the head.

<INFO> Macaca radiata, family Cercopithecidae.

bonnetmouth n. a small, slender shoaling fish with an extensible mouth and a long spiny dorsal fin, occurring in the tropical western Atlantic.

<INFO> Inermia vittata, family Emmelichthyidae.

Bonney William H. (1859–81), American outlaw; born Henry McCarty; known as Billy the Kid. A notorious robber and murderer, he was captured by Sheriff Pat Garrett in 1880, and was shot by Garrett after he escaped.

bonny (also bonnie) adj. (bonnier, bonniest) chiefly SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH attractive or beautiful: a bonny lass.

- (of a baby) plump and healthy-looking.

- sizeable (usually expressing approval): it's worth a thousand pounds, a bonny sum.

<DERIVATIVES> bonnily adv. bonniness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: perhaps related to Old French bon ‘good’.

bonny clabber n. another term for CLABBER.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Irish bainne clabair, denoting thick milk for churning.

bonobo /bnəbə/ n. (pl. bonobos) a chimpanzee with a black face and black hair, found in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire). It is believed to be the closest living relative of humans. Also called PYGMY CHIMPANZEE.

<INFO> Pan paniscus, family Pongidae.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: a local word.

bonsai /bns/ n. [mass noun] the art of growing ornamental, artificially dwarfed varieties of trees and shrubs in pots.

- [count noun] (plural same) (also bonsai tree) an ornamental tree or shrub grown in such a way.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Japanese, from bon ‘tray’ + sai ‘planting’.

bonsella /bnsεlə/ (also bonsela) n. S. AFRICAN a tip or bonus.

<ORIGIN> from Zulu bansela ‘express thanks with a gift’, or from umbanselo ‘small gift’.

bonspiel /bnspil/ n. a curling match.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally Scots): probably of Low German origin.

bontebok /bntəbk/ n. (pl. same or bonteboks) an antelope with a mainly reddish-brown coat and white face, found in eastern South Africa. It belongs to the same species as the blesbok.

<INFO> Damaliscus dorcas dorcas, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Afrikaans, from Dutch bont ‘pied’ + bok ‘buck’.

bonus n. a sum of money added to a person's wages as a reward for good performance: big Christmas bonuses.

- BRITISH an extra dividend or issue paid to the shareholders of a company.

- BRITISH a distribution of profits to holders of an insurance policy.

- an extra and unexpected advantage: good weather is an added bonus but the real appeal is the landscape.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (probably originally Stock Exchange slang): from Latin bonus (masculine) ‘good’, used in place of bonum (neuter) ‘good, good thing’.

bonus issue n. BRITISH an issue of additional shares to shareholders instead of a dividend, in proportion to the shares already held.

bon vivant /b viv/ French /b vivα/ n. (pl. bon vivants or bons vivants pronunc. same) a person who devotes themselves to a sociable and luxurious lifestyle.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, literally ‘person living well’, from bon ‘good’ and vivre ‘to live’.

bon viveur /b vivə/ n. (pl. bon viveurs or bons viveurs pronunc. same)

■ another term for BON VIVANT.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: pseudo-French, from French bon ‘good’ and viveur ‘a living person’, on the pattern of bon vivant.

bon voyage /bn vjα/ French /bn vwaja/ exclam. used to express good wishes to someone about to set off on a journey.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: French, literally ‘good journey’.

bonxie /bksi/ n. (pl. bonxies) SCOTTISH the great skua (seabird).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Norwegian bunksi, from bunke ‘dumpy body’.

bony adj. (bonier, boniest) of or like bone: the bony plates that protect turtles and tortoises.

- (of a fish eaten as food) having many bones.

- (of a person or part of the body) so thin that the bones can be seen: he held up his bony fingers.

<DERIVATIVES> boniness n.

bony fish n. a fish of a large class distinguished by a skeleton of bone, and comprising the majority of modern fishes. Compare with CARTILAGINOUS FISH.

<INFO> Class Osteichthyes: two or three subclasses.

bonze /bnz/ n. a Japanese or Chinese Buddhist religious teacher.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from Japanese bonzō, bonsō ‘priest’.

bonzer (also bonza) adj. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL excellent; first-rate.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: perhaps an alteration of BONANZA.

boo^1 exclam. 1 said suddenly to surprise someone who is unaware of one's presence. [<ORIGIN> probably an alteration of earlier bo, used in the same way since late Middle English.]

2 said to show disapproval or contempt: ‘There's only one bar.’ ‘Boo!’.

■ n. an utterance of ‘boo’ to show disapproval of a speaker or performer: the audience greeted this comment with boos and hisses.

■ v. (boos, booing, booed) say ‘boo’ to show disapproval of a speaker or performer: [no obj.] they booed and hissed when he stepped on stage | [with obj.] the team were booed off the pitch.

<PHRASES>

□ wouldn't say boo to a goose (or US not say boo) used to emphasize that someone is very timid.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in sense 2 of the exclamation): imitative of the lowing of oxen.

boo^2 n. US INFORMAL a person's boyfriend or girlfriend.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: origin uncertain; probably an alteration of French beau ‘boyfriend, male admirer’.

booay /bu/ (also booai or boohai) n. (the booay) NZ remote rural districts.

<PHRASES>

□ up the booay completely wrong or astray.

<ORIGIN> perhaps from the place name Puhoi in North Auckland, New Zealand.

boob^1 INFORMAL n. 1 BRITISH an embarrassing mistake.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a foolish or stupid person.

■ v. [no obj.] BRITISH make an embarrassing mistake.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of booby^1.

boob^2 n. (usually boobs) INFORMAL a woman's breast.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally US): abbreviation of booby^2, from dialect bubby, of uncertain origin; perhaps related to German dialect Bübbi ‘teat’.

booboisie /bubwαzi/ n. [mass noun] US INFORMAL stupid people regarded as a social class.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from BOOB^1, humorous formation on the pattern of bourgeoisie.

boo-boo n. (pl. boo-boos) INFORMAL a mistake.

- NORTH AMERICAN a minor injury.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally US): reduplication of boob^1.

boobook /bubk/ n. a small Australasian owl which has a characteristic double hoot reminiscent of the call of the European cuckoo. Also called MOPOKE or MOREPORK.

<INFO> Genus Ninox, family Strigidae: two species, especially the common N. novaeseelandiae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: imitative of its call.

boob tube n. INFORMAL 1 BRITISH a woman's tight-fitting strapless top made of stretchy material.

2 (usually the boob tube) NORTH AMERICAN television or a television set: librarians are scrambling for ways to compete with the boob tube.

booby^1 n. (pl. boobies) 1 a stupid person.

2 a large tropical seabird of the gannet family, with brown, black, or white plumage and brightly coloured feet.

<INFO> Genus Sula, family Sulidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: probably from Spanish bobo (in both senses), from Latin balbus ‘stammering’.

booby^2 n. (pl. boobies) INFORMAL a woman's breast.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: alteration of dialect bubby (see boob^2).

booby hatch n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a psychiatric hospital.

booby prize n. a prize given as a joke to the person who is last in a race or competition.

booby trap n. 1 an apparently harmless object containing a concealed explosive device designed to detonate when someone touches it.

2 a trap intended as a practical joke, especially one involving an object placed on top of a door ajar ready to fall on a person passing through.

■ v. (booby-trap) [with obj.] place a booby trap in or on (an object or area): (as adj. booby-trapped) a booby-trapped parcel.

boodie /budi/ n. a burrowing rat-kangaroo found only on islands off Western Australia.

<INFO> Bettongia lesueur, family Potoroidae. Also called BURROWING BETTONG.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Nyungar burdi.

boodle n. [mass noun] INFORMAL money, especially that gained or spent illegally or improperly.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a pack or crowd): from Dutch boedel, boel ‘possessions, disorderly mass’. Compare with CABOODLE.

boofhead n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a fool.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: probably from bufflehead ‘simpleton’, based on obsolete buffle ‘buffalo’.

boogaloo /buəlu/ US n. a dance to rock-and-roll music performed with swivelling and shuffling movements of the body, originally popular in the 1960s.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: perhaps an alteration of BOOGIE-WOOGIE.

booger /bə buə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a piece of nasal mucus.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps an alteration of BUGGER or bogey^2.

boogie n. (also boogie-woogie) (plural boogies) [mass noun] a style of blues played on the piano with a strong, fast beat.

- [count noun] INFORMAL a dance to pop or rock music.

■ v. (boogies, boogieing, boogied) [no obj.] INFORMAL dance to pop or rock music: Pat went off to boogie to a steel band.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] NORTH AMERICAN move or leave somewhere fast: I think we'd better boogie on out of here.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US in the sense ‘party’): of unknown origin.

boogie board n. a short, light type of surfboard ridden in a prone position.

<DERIVATIVES> boogie-boarder n.

boohoo exclam. used to represent the sound of someone crying noisily.

■ v. (boohoos, boohooing, boohooed) [no obj.] cry noisily.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: imitative.

boojum /budəm/ n. an imaginary dangerous animal.

<ORIGIN> 1876: nonsense word coined by Lewis Carroll in The Hunting of the Snark.

book n. 1 a written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers: a book of selected poems.

- a literary composition that is published or intended for publication as such a work: I'm writing a book.

- a main division of a literary work or of the Bible: the Book of Genesis.

- (also book of words) the libretto of a musical or opera, or the script of a play.

- (one's books) used to refer to studying: he is so deep in his books he would forget to eat.

- INFORMAL a magazine.

- an imaginary record or list (often used to emphasize the comprehensiveness of someone's actions or experience): she felt every emotion in the book of love.

2 [with modifier] a bound set of blank sheets for writing in: an accounts book.

- (books) a set of records or accounts: a bid to balance the books.

- a bookmaker's record of bets accepted and money paid out.

- [SOCCER] the notebook in which a referee writes the names of players who are cautioned for foul play.

3 a set of tickets, stamps, matches, samples of cloth, etc., bound together: a pattern book.

4 (the book) the first six tricks taken by the declarer in a hand of bridge, after which further tricks count towards fulfilling the contract.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 reserve (accommodation, a place, etc.); buy (a ticket) in advance: I have booked a table at the Swan | [no obj.] book early to avoid disappointment.

- reserve accommodation for (someone): his secretary had booked him into the Howard Hotel | [with two objs] book me a single room at my usual hotel.

- [no obj.] (book in/into) register one's arrival at a hotel.

- engage (a performer or guest) for an event.

- (be booked up) have all places reserved; be full.

2 make an official note of the personal details of (a person who has broken a law or rule): the cop booked me and took me down to the station.

- [SOCCER] (of a referee) note down the name of (a player) who is cautioned for foul play.

<PHRASES>

□ bring someone to book chiefly BRITISH officially punish someone or call them to account for their behaviour.

□ by the book strictly according to the rules: a cop who doesn't exactly play it by the book.

□ close the books make no further entries at the end of an accounting period; cease trading.

□ in someone's bad (or good) books in disfavour (or favour) with someone.

□ in my book in my opinion: that counts as a lie in my book.

□ make (or open) a book (US make book) take bets and pay out winnings on the outcome of a race or other contest or event.

□ on the books contained in a list of members, employees, or clients.

□ People of the Book Jews and Christians as regarded by Muslims.

□ suit one's book BRITISH be convenient to one.

□ take a leaf out of someone's book imitate or emulate someone in a particular way.

□ throw the book at INFORMAL charge or punish (someone) as severely as possible.

□ you can't judge a book by its cover PROVERB outward appearances are not a reliable indication of the true character of someone or something.

<ORIGIN> Old English bōc (originally also ‘a document or charter’), bōcian ‘to grant by charter’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch boek and German Buch, and probably to BEECH (on which runes were carved).

bookable adj. 1 able to be reserved: tickets are bookable in advance.

2 [SOCCER] (of an offence) serious enough for the offending player to be cautioned by the referee.

bookbinder n. a person who binds books as a profession.

<DERIVATIVES> bookbinding n.

bookcase n. an open cabinet containing shelves on which to keep books.

book club n. a society which sells its members selected books, typically at reduced prices.

bookend n. a support placed at the end of a row of books to keep them upright, typically forming one of a pair.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL be positioned at the end or on either side of (something): the narrative is bookended by a pair of incisive essays.

booker n. a person employed to engage performers for a theatre or similar.

Booker Prize a literary prize awarded annually for a novel published by a British, Irish, or Commonwealth citizen during the previous year, formerly sponsored by Booker plc and since 2002 by Man Group plc. Full name Man Booker Prize.

book hand n. [mass noun] a formal style of handwriting as used by professional copiers of books before the invention of printing.

bookie n. (pl. bookies) INFORMAL a bookmaker.

booking n. 1 an act of reserving accommodation, a ticket, etc. in advance: the hotel does not handle group bookings | [mass noun] early booking is essential.

2 [SOCCER] an instance of a player being cautioned by the referee for foul play.

booking clerk n. BRITISH an official selling tickets, especially at a railway station.

booking hall n. BRITISH a room or area at a railway station in which tickets are sold.

booking office n. chiefly BRITISH a place where tickets are sold, especially at a railway station or theatre.

bookish adj. (of a person or way of life) devoted to reading and studying.

- (of language or writing) literary in style or allusion.

<DERIVATIVES> bookishly adv. bookishness n.

bookkeeping n. [mass noun] the activity or occupation of keeping records of the financial affairs of a business.

<DERIVATIVES> bookkeeper n.

bookland n. [mass noun] BRITISH HISTORICAL an area of common land granted by charter to a private owner before the Norman conquest.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from bóc ‘charter’ + LAND. The term was applied eventually to all land that was not folcland, i.e. land subject to traditional communal obligations.

book learning n. [mass noun] knowledge gained from books or study rather than personal experience.

booklet n. a small, thin book with paper covers, typically giving information on a particular subject.

booklouse n. (pl. booklice) a minute insect that typically has reduced or absent wings, frequently found in buildings where it may cause damage to books and paper.

<INFO> Liposcelidae and related families in the order Psocoptera: many species, in particular the common Liposcelis bostrychophilus.

book lung n. [ZOOLOGY] (in a spider or other arachnid) each of a pair of respiratory organs composed of many fine lamellae. They are situated in the abdomen and have openings on the underside.

bookmaker n. a person whose job is to take bets (especially on horse races), calculate odds, and pay out winnings; the manager of a betting shop.

<DERIVATIVES> bookmaking n.

bookman n. (pl. bookmen) ARCHAIC a literary man.

bookmark n. a strip of leather, card, or other material, used to mark one's place in a book.

- [COMPUTING] a record of the address of a file, Internet page, or other data used to enable quick access by a user.

■ v. [with obj.] [COMPUTING] make a record of (the address of a file, Internet page, etc.) to enable quick access by a user.

bookmobile n. NORTH AMERICAN a mobile library.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from BOOK, on the pattern of automobile.

Book of Changes n. English name for I CHING.

Book of Common Prayer n. the official service book of the Church of England, compiled by Thomas Cranmer and others, first issued in 1549, and largely unchanged since the revision of 1662.

book of hours n. a book of prayers appointed for particular canonical hours or times of day, used by Roman Catholics for private devotions and popular especially in the Middle Ages, when they were often richly illuminated.

Book of the Dead n. 1 a collection of ancient Egyptian religious and magical texts, selections from which were often written on or placed in tombs.

2 (in full Tibetan Book of the Dead) a Tibetan Buddhist text recited during funerary rites, describing the passage from death to rebirth.

bookplate n. a decorative label stuck in the front of a book, bearing the name of the book's owner.

bookrest n. BRITISH an adjustable support for an open book on a table.

bookseller n. a person who sells books, especially as the owner or manager of a bookshop.

bookshelf n. (pl. bookshelves) a shelf on which books can be stored.

bookshop (US also bookstore) n. a shop where books are sold.

Books of the Maccabees plural n. see MACCABEES.

bookstall n. chiefly BRITISH a stand where books and sometimes newspapers are sold, especially out of doors or at a railway station.

booksy adj. BRITISH INFORMAL having literary or bookish pretensions.

book token n. BRITISH a voucher which can be exchanged for books costing up to a specified amount.

book value n. the value of a security or asset as entered in a firm's books. Often contrasted with MARKET VALUE.

bookwork n. [mass noun] 1 the activity of keeping records of accounts.

2 the studying of textbooks, as opposed to practical work.

bookworm n. 1 INFORMAL a person who enjoys reading.

2 (especially formerly) the larva of a wood-boring beetle which feeds on the paper and glue in books.

Boole George (1815–64), English mathematician responsible for Boolean algebra. The study of mathematical or symbolic logic developed mainly from his ideas.

Boolean /bulən/ adj. denoting a system of algebraic notation used to represent logical propositions by means of the binary digits 0 (false) and 1 (true), especially in computing and electronics.

■ n. [COMPUTING] a binary variable with these possible values.

boom^1 n. a loud, deep, resonant sound: the deep boom of the bass drum.

- the characteristic resonant cry of the bittern.

■ v. [no obj.] make a loud, deep, resonant sound: thunder boomed in the sky.

- [with direct speech] say in a loud, deep, resonant voice: ‘Stop right there,’ boomed the Headmaster.

- (of a bittern) utter its characteristic resonant cry.

<PHRASES>

□ boom boom BRITISH INFORMAL an exclamation made after delivering the punchline of a joke. [<ORIGIN> popularized by the fox puppet Basil Brush, a character in a British television comedy show.]

<DERIVATIVES> boominess n. boomy adj. (boomier, boomiest)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb): ultimately imitative; perhaps from Dutch bommen ‘to hum, buzz’.

boom^2 n. a period of great prosperity or rapid economic growth: the London property boom | [mass noun] the eras of boom and bust.

■ v. [no obj.] experience a period of great prosperity or rapid economic growth: business is booming.

<DERIVATIVES> boomlet n. boomy adj. (boomier, boomiest)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US): probably from BOOM^1.

boom^3 n. 1 a pivoted spar to which the foot of a vessel's sail is attached, allowing the angle of the sail to be changed.

2 [often as modifier] a movable arm over a television or film set, carrying a microphone or camera: a boom mike.

3 a floating beam used to contain oil spills or to form a barrier across the mouth of a harbour or river.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the general sense ‘beam, pole’): from Dutch, ‘beam, tree, pole’; related to BEAM.

boom box n. INFORMAL a large portable radio and cassette player capable of powerful sound.

boomer n. INFORMAL 1 something large or notable of its kind, in particular:

- AUSTRALIAN a large male kangaroo.

- a large wave.

2 North American short for BABY BOOMER (see BABY BOOM).

3 US a nuclear submarine with ballistic missiles.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably from the verb boom^1 + -ER^1.

boomerang n. a curved flat piece of wood that can be thrown so that it will return to the thrower, traditionally used by Australian Aborigines as a hunting weapon.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a plan or action) recoil on the originator: misleading consumers about quality will eventually boomerang on a car-maker.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Dharuk.

booming adj. 1 having a period of great prosperity or rapid economic growth: the booming economy of the 1920s.

2 (of a sound or voice) loud, deep, and resonant.

3 struck with great force: a booming kick from the touchline.

boomslang n. a large, highly venomous southern African tree snake, the male of which is bright green and the female dull olive brown.

<INFO> Dispholidus typus, family Colubridae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Afrikaans, from Dutch boom ‘tree’ + slang ‘snake’.

boon n. 1 [usually in sing.] a thing that is helpful or beneficial: the route will be a boon to many travellers.

2 ARCHAIC a favour or request.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘request for a favour’): from Old Norse bón.

boon companion n. a close friend with whom one enjoys spending time.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: boon from Old French bon, from Latin bonus ‘good’. The early literal sense was ‘good fellow’, originally denoting a drinking companion.

boondocks /bundks/ plural n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL rough or isolated country: this place is out in the boondocks, you'll never get here by bus.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: boondock from Tagalog bundok ‘mountain’.

boondoggle /bund(ə)l/ NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. an unnecessary, wasteful, or fraudulent project.

■ v. [no obj.] waste money or time on such projects.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

Boone Daniel (c.1734–1820), American pioneer. Boone made trips west from Pennsylvania into the unexplored area of Kentucky, organizing settlements and successfully defending them against hostile American Indians.

boong /b/ n. AUSTRALIAN OFFENSIVE an Aborigine.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: origin uncertain.

boonies /bunz/ plural n. short for BOONDOCKS.

boor /b bə/ n. a rough and bad-mannered person.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘peasant’): from Low German būr or Dutch boer ‘farmer’.

boorish adj. rough and bad-mannered; coarse: boorish behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> boorishly adv. boorishness n.

boost v. [with obj.] 1 help or encourage (something) to increase or improve: a range of measures to boost tourism.

- amplify (an electrical signal).

2 NORTH AMERICAN push from below.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL steal (something): he'd had his wallet boosted in a bar.

■ n. 1 a source of help or encouragement leading to increase or improvement: the cut in interest rates will give a further boost to the economy.

- an increase or improvement: a boost in exports.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a push from below.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally US, in sense 2 of the verb): of unknown origin.

booster n. 1 a device for increasing electrical voltage or signal strength.

2 the first stage of a rocket or spacecraft, used to give initial acceleration and then jettisoned.

3 MEDICINE a dose of a vaccine that increases or renews the effect of an earlier one.

4 [in combination] a source of help or encouragement: job fairs are a great morale booster.

- NORTH AMERICAN a keen promoter of a person, organization, or cause.

5 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a shoplifter.

boosterism n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the keen promotion of a person, organization, or cause.

<DERIVATIVES> boosterish adj.

booster seat (also booster cushion) n. an extra seat or cushion placed on an existing seat for a small child to sit on.

boot^1 n. 1 a sturdy item of footwear covering the foot and ankle, and sometimes also the lower leg: a pair of walking boots.

- a covering to protect the lower part of a horse's leg.

- HISTORICAL an instrument of torture encasing and crushing the foot.

- US short for DENVER BOOT.

2 INFORMAL a hard kick: he got a boot in the stomach.

3 BRITISH an enclosed space at the back of a car for carrying luggage or other goods.

4 (also boot-up) [usually as modifier] the process of starting a computer and putting it into a state of readiness for operation: a boot disk.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] kick (something) hard in a specified direction: he ended up booting the ball into the stand.

- (boot someone off) INFORMAL force someone to leave a vehicle unceremoniously: a guard booted two children off a train.

- (boot someone out) INFORMAL force someone to leave a place or job unceremoniously: she had been booted out of school.

2 start (a computer) and put it into a state of readiness for operation: the menu will be ready as soon as you boot up your computer | [no obj.] the system won't boot from the original drive. [<ORIGIN> from BOOTSTRAP (SENSE 2 OF THE NOUN).]

3 US place a wheel clamp on (an illegally parked car).

<PHRASES>

□ the boot (or North American shoe) is on the other foot the situation, in particular the holding of advantage, has reversed.

□ boots and all AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL with no holds barred; wholeheartedly: Canberra's cabbies go in boots and all for a fair deal.

□ die with one's boots on die in battle or while actively occupied.

□ get the boot INFORMAL be dismissed from one's job.

□ give someone the boot INFORMAL dismiss someone from their job.

□ old boot INFORMAL an ugly or disliked old woman.

□ put the boot in (or into someone) BRITISH INFORMAL kick someone hard when they are on the ground.

- FIGURATIVE treat someone vulnerable in a cruel way.

□ with one's heart in one's boots in a state of great depression or trepidation.

□ you (can) bet your boots INFORMAL used to express absolute certainty: you can bet your boots that the patrol has raised the alarm.

<DERIVATIVES> booted adj.

■ boot^1 (sense 1 of the noun, sense 3 of the noun)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse bóti or its source, Old French bote, of unknown ultimate origin.

boot^2 n. (in phrase to boot) as well; in addition: she was a woman of uninspiring appearance and a dreadful bore to boot.

<ORIGIN> Old English bōt ‘advantage, remedy’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch boete and German Busse ‘penance, fine’, also to better^1 and BEST.

bootable adj. (of a disk) containing the software required to boot a computer.

bootblack n. chiefly HISTORICAL a person employed to polish boots and shoes.

bootboy n. 1 INFORMAL a rowdy or violent youth typically having close-cropped hair and wearing heavy boots.

2 HISTORICAL a boy employed to clean boots and shoes.

boot camp n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a military training camp for new recruits, with very harsh discipline.

- a prison for young offenders, run on military lines.

boot-cut adj. (of jeans or other trousers) flared very slightly below the knee, so as to be worn comfortably over boots.

bootee /buti/ (also bootie) n. 1 a baby's soft woollen shoe.

2 a woman's short boot.

3 a protective shoe or lining for a shoe.

Boötes /bəətiz/ [ASTRONOMY] a northern constellation (the Herdsman), said to represent a man holding the leash of two dogs (Canes Venatici) while driving a bear (Ursa Major). It contains the bright star Arcturus.

<ORIGIN> Greek.

Booth William (1829–1912), English religious leader, founder and first general of the Salvation Army. A Methodist revivalist preacher, in 1865 he established a mission in the East End of London which later became the Salvation Army.

booth /bu buθ/ n. 1 a small temporary tent or structure at a market, fair, or exhibition, used for selling goods, providing information, or staging shows.

2 an enclosed compartment that allows privacy, for example when telephoning, voting, or sitting in a restaurant.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘temporary dwelling or shelter’): from Old Norse buth, based on búa ‘dwell’.

Boothia, Gulf of /buθə/ a gulf in the Canadian Arctic, between the Boothia Peninsula and Baffin Island, in the Northwest Territories.

<ORIGIN> named in honour of Sir Felix Booth (1775–1850), patron of the expedition to the Arctic (1829–33) led by Sir John Ross.

Boothia Peninsula a peninsula of northern Canada, in the Northwest Territories, situated between Victoria Island and Baffin Island.

bootjack n. a device for holding a boot by the heel to ease the withdrawal of one's foot.

bootlace n. a cord or leather strip for lacing boots.

bootlace fungus n. another term for HONEY FUNGUS.

bootlace tie n. BRITISH a narrow necktie, popular in the 1950s.

bootleg adj. (of alcoholic drink or a recording) made, distributed, or sold illegally: bootleg cassettes.

■ v. (bootlegs, bootlegging, bootlegged) [with obj.] make, distribute, or sell (alcoholic drink or a recording) illegally: (as n. bootlegging) bootlegging is rife in America.

■ n. an illegal musical recording, especially one made at a concert.

<DERIVATIVES> bootlegger n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the smugglers' practice of concealing bottles in their boots.

bootless adj. ARCHAIC (of a task or undertaking) ineffectual; useless: remonstrating with him seems ever to have been a bootless task.

<ORIGIN> Old English bōtlēas ‘not able to be compensated for by payment’ (see boot^2, -less).

bootlicker n. INFORMAL an obsequious or servile person.

<DERIVATIVES> bootlicking n. & adj.

bootmaker n. a maker of boots and shoes.

boots n. BRITISH DATED a person employed in a hotel to clean boots and shoes, carry luggage, and perform other menial tasks.

boot-scooting n. informal term for LINE DANCING.

bootstrap n. 1 a loop at the back of a boot, used to pull it on.

2 [COMPUTING] a technique of loading a program into a computer by means of a few initial instructions which enable the introduction of the rest of the program from an input device.

3 [usually as modifier] the technique of starting with existing resources to create something more complex and effective: we see the creative act as a bootstrap process.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 [COMPUTING] fuller form of boot^1 (sense 2 of the verb).

2 start up (an Internet-based business or other enterprise) with minimal financial resources.

- get (oneself or something) into or out of a situation using existing resources: the company is bootstrapping itself out of a marred financial past.

<PHRASES>

□ pull (or drag) oneself up by one's (own) bootstraps improve one's position by one's own efforts.

<DERIVATIVES> bootstrapping n.

boot top n. the part of the hull of a ship just above the waterline, typically marked by a line of contrasting colour.

booty^1 n. [mass noun] valuable stolen goods, especially those seized in war.

- INFORMAL something gained or won.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting plunder acquired in common): from Middle Low German būte, buite ‘exchange, distribution’, of uncertain origin.

booty^2 n. (pl. booties) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person's bottom.

<PHRASES>

□ shake one's booty dance energetically.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: probably an alteration of BOTTY.

booty call n. US INFORMAL a sexual invitation or rendezvous.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from BOOTY^2 and CALL.

bootylicious /butləs/ adj. US INFORMAL (of a woman) sexually attractive.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from BOOTY^2, on the pattern of delicious.

booze INFORMAL n. [mass noun] alcoholic drink: I wonder where he's hidden his booze.

■ v. [no obj.] drink alcohol, especially in large quantities.

<ORIGIN> Middle English bouse, from Middle Dutch būsen ‘drink to excess’. The spelling booze dates from the 18th cent.

boozer n. INFORMAL a person who drinks large quantities of alcohol.

- BRITISH a pub or bar.

booze-up n. BRITISH INFORMAL a heavy drinking session.

boozy adj. (boozier, booziest) INFORMAL characterized by drinking large quantities of alcohol: a boozy lunch.

<DERIVATIVES> boozily adv. booziness n.

bop^1 INFORMAL n. 1 BRITISH a dance to pop music.

- an organized social occasion with such dancing.

2 short for BEBOP.

■ v. (bops, bopping, bopped) [no obj.] dance to pop music: everyone was bopping until the small hours.

- move or travel energetically: entrepreneurial types bopping around Italy.

<DERIVATIVES> bopper n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: shortening of BEBOP.

bop^2 INFORMAL v. (bops, bopping, bopped) [with obj.] hit or punch quickly: Rex bopped him on the head.

■ n. a quick blow or punch.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (originally US): imitative.

bo-peep n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a quick look.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally denoting a game of hiding and reappearing): from bo, an exclamation intended to startle someone (compare with boo^1) + the verb peep^1. The current sense dates from the 1940s.

Bophuthatswana /bə()putətswαnə/ a former homeland established in South Africa for the Tswana people, now part of North West and Mpumalanga.

bora^1 /brə/ n. a strong, cold, dry NE wind blowing in the upper Adriatic.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: dialect variant of Italian borea, from Latin boreas ‘north wind’ (see BOREAL).

bora^2 /brə/ n. an Australian Aboriginal rite in which boys are initiated into manhood.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Kamilaroi buuru.

Bora-Bora /brəbrə/ an island of the Society Islands group in French Polynesia.

boracic /bərask/ adj. 1 consisting of or containing boric acid, especially as an antiseptic.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL having no money. [<ORIGIN> from boracic lint, rhyming slang for ‘skint’.]

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from medieval Latin borax, borac- (see BORAX) + -IC.

borage /brd/ n. a European herbaceous plant with bright blue flowers and hairy leaves, which is attractive to bees.

<INFO> Borago officinalis, family Boraginaceae (the borage family). This family includes many plants that typically have blue or purple flowers, including forget-me-not, comfrey, bugloss, and alkanet.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bourrache, from medieval Latin borrago, perhaps from Arabic 'abū urāš ‘father of roughness’ (referring to the leaves).

boraginaceous /brdneəs/ adj. [BOTANY] relating to or denoting plants of the borage family (Boraginaceae).

borane /bren/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a series of unstable binary compounds of boron and hydrogen, analogous to the alkanes. The simplest example is diborane, B_2H_6.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BORON + -ANE^2.

Borås /brs/ an industrial city in SW Sweden; pop. 96,883 (2000).

borate /bret/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt in which the anion contains both boron and oxygen, as in borax.

borax /braks/ n. [mass noun] a white compound which occurs as a mineral in some alkaline salt deposits and is used in making glass and ceramics, as a metallurgical flux, and as an antiseptic.

<INFO> A hydrated sodium borate; chem. formula: Na_2B_4O_710H_2O.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin, from Arabic būraq, from Pahlavi būrak.

Borazon /brəzn/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an industrial abrasive consisting of boron nitride.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from BORON, with the insertion of AZO-.

borborygmus /bbərməs/ n. (pl. borborygmi /-m/) TECHNICAL a rumbling or gurgling noise made by the movement of fluid and gas in the intestines.

<DERIVATIVES> borborygmic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek borborugmos.

Bordeaux^1 /bdə/ French /bRdə/ a port of SW France on the River Garonne, capital of Aquitaine; pop. 215,363 (1999). It is a centre of the wine trade.

Bordeaux^2 /bdə/ n. (pl. same /-dəz/) [mass noun] a red, white, or rosé wine from the district of Bordeaux.

Bordeaux mixture n. [mass noun] a fungicide for vines, fruit trees, and other plants, composed of equal quantities of copper sulphate and calcium oxide in water.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: first used in the vineyards of the Bordeaux region.

bordelaise /bdəlez/ adj. denoting or served with a sauce of red wine and onions: bordelaise sauce | [postpositive] lobster bordelaise.

<ORIGIN> French, from (à la) bordelaise ‘Bordeaux-style’.

bordello /bdεlə/ n. (pl. bordellos) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a brothel.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (gradually replacing Middle English bordel): from Italian, probably from Old French bordel, diminutive of borde ‘small farm, cottage’, ultimately of Germanic origin.

Border Allan (Robert) (b.1955), Australian cricketer. A batsman and occasional spin bowler, he had made 156 Test match appearances (93 as captain) and scored 11,174 runs (all three figures being world records) at the time of his retirement from international cricket in 1994.

border n. 1 a line separating two countries, administrative divisions, or other areas: Panama's western border with Costa Rica | [as modifier] border controls.

- a district near such a line: a refugee camp on the border.

- (the Border) the boundary and adjoining districts between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

- (the Border or the Borders) the boundary and adjoining districts between Scotland and England.

- FIGURATIVE an edge or limit of something: the unknown regions at the borders of physics and electronics.

2 a decorative strip around the edge of something.

- a strip of ground along the edge of a lawn or path for planting flowers or shrubs.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] form an edge along or beside (something): a pool bordered by palm trees.

- provide (something) with a decorative edge: the walls were bordered with carved scrolls and cornices.

2 (of a country or area) be adjacent to (another country or area): regions bordering Azerbaijan | [no obj.] the states bordering on the Black Sea.

3 [no obj.] (border on) come close to or be developing into (an extreme condition): Sam arrived in a state of excitement bordering on hysteria.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bordeure; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to BOARD.

Border collie n. a common working sheepdog, typically with a black-and-white coat, of a medium-sized breed originating near the border between England and Scotland.

borderer n. (chiefly in historical contexts) a person living near the border between two countries, especially that between Scotland and England.

borderland n. (usually borderlands) a district near the line separating two countries or areas.

- FIGURATIVE an area of overlap between two things: the murky borderland between history and myth.

borderline n. a boundary separating two countries or areas.

- FIGURATIVE a division between two distinct or opposite things: the borderline between ritual and custom.

■ adj. only just acceptable in quality or as belonging to a category: references may be requested in borderline cases.

Border terrier n. a small terrier of a breed with rough hair, originating in the Cheviot Hills.

Bordet /bde/ French /bRde/ Jules (1870–1961), Belgian bacteriologist and immunologist. He discovered the complement system of blood serum, and developed a vaccine for whooping cough. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1919).

bordure /bdjə/ n. [HERALDRY] a broad border used as a charge in a coat of arms, often as a mark of difference.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of BORDER.

bore^1 v. 1 [with obj.] make (a hole) in something with a tool or by digging: bore a hole in the wall to pass the cable through | [no obj.] the drill can bore through rock | FIGURATIVE his eyes bored into hers.

- hollow out (a gun barrel or other tube): an 1100 cc road bike bored out to 1168 cc.

2 [no obj.] (of an athlete or racehorse) push another competitor out of the way.

■ n. 1 the hollow part inside a gun barrel or other tube.

- [often in combination] the diameter of a bore; the calibre: a small-bore rifle.

- [in combination] a gun of a specified bore: he shot a guard in the leg with a twelve-bore.

2 short for BOREHOLE.

<ORIGIN> Old English borian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to German bohren.

bore^2 n. a person whose talk or behaviour is dull and uninteresting: he can be a crashing bore.

- [in sing.] a tedious or annoying situation or activity: it's such a bore cooking when one's alone.

■ v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to feel weary and uninterested by dull talk or behaviour: she is too polite to bore us with anecdotes | [with obj. and complement] timid women quickly bore her silly.

<PHRASES>

□ bore someone to death (or to tears) make someone feel extremely bored: he would bore everyone to death with tales about his wonderful daughter.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (as a verb): of unknown origin.

bore^3 n. a steep-fronted wave caused by the meeting of two tides or by the constriction of a tide rushing up a narrow estuary.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps from Old Norse bára ‘wave’; the term was used in the general sense ‘billow, wave’ in Middle English.

bore^4 past of bear^1.

boreal /brəl/ adj. 1 [ECOLOGY] relating to or characteristic of the climatic zone south of the Arctic, especially the cold temperate region dominated by taiga and forests of birch, poplar, and conifers: northern boreal forest.

- (Boreal) [BOTANY] relating to or denoting a phytogeographical kingdom comprising the arctic and temperate regions of Eurasia and North America.

2 (Boreal) [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the second climatic stage of the postglacial period in northern Europe, between the Preboreal and Atlantic stages (about 9,000 to 7,500 years ago), marked by a warm, dry climate.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin borealis, from Latin Boreas, denoting the god of the north wind, from Greek.

bored^1 adj. feeling weary and impatient because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity: she got bored with staring out of the window | they hung around all day, bored stiff | bored teenagers.

<DERIVATIVES> boredly /bdli/ adv.

<USAGE> The normal constructions for bored are bored by or bored with. More recently, bored of has emerged (probably by analogy with other words, such as tired of), but this construction, though common in informal English, is not yet considered acceptable in standard English.

bored^2 adj. [in combination] (of a gun) having a specified bore: large-bored guns.

bore da /brε dα/ exclam. WELSH good morning!

<ORIGIN> Welsh, from bore ‘morning’ + da ‘good’.

boredom n. [mass noun] the state of feeling bored: I'll die of boredom if I live that long.

boreen /brin/ n. IRISH a narrow country road.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Irish bóithrín, diminutive of bóthar ‘road’.

borehole n. a deep, narrow hole made in the ground, especially to locate water or oil.

borer n. 1 a worm, mollusc, insect, or insect larva which bores into wood, other plant material, or rock.

2 a tool for boring.

borescope n. an instrument used to inspect the inside of a structure through a small hole.

Borg Björn (Rune) (b.1956), Swedish tennis player. He won five consecutive men's singles titles at Wimbledon (1976–80), beating the record of three consecutive wins held by Fred Perry.

borgata /bαtə/ n. (pl. borgatas or borgate) US an organized branch of the Mafia.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: Italian, ‘district, village’.

Borges /bxεs/ Jorge Luis (1899–1986), Argentinian poet, short-story writer, and essayist. The volume of short stories A Universal History of Infamy (1935, revised 1954) is regarded as a founding work of magic realism.

<DERIVATIVES> Borgesian adj.

Borgia^1 /bə/ Italian /brda/ Cesare (c.1476–1507), Italian statesman, cardinal, and general. The illegitimate son of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI) and brother of Lucrezia Borgia, he was captain general of the papal army from 1499, and became master of a large portion of central Italy.

Borgia^2 /bə/ Italian /brda/ Lucrezia (1480–1519), Italian noblewoman, sister of Cesare Borgia. She married three times, according to the political alliances useful to her family; after her third marriage in 1501 she established herself as a patron of the arts.

boric /brk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] of boron: boric oxide.

boric acid n. [CHEMISTRY] a weakly acid crystalline compound derived from borax, used as a mild antiseptic and in the manufacture of heat-resistant glass and enamels. See also BORACIC.

<INFO> Chem. formula: B(OH)3.

boride /brd/ n. a binary compound of boron with a metallic element.

boring adj. not interesting; tedious: I've got a boring job in an office.

<DERIVATIVES> boringly adv. [as submodifier] my boringly respectable uncle boringness n.

bork v. [with obj.] US INFORMAL obstruct (someone, especially a candidate for public office) by systematically defaming or vilifying them.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from the name of Robert Bork (born 1927), an American judge whose nomination to the Supreme Court (1987) was rejected following unfavourable publicity for his allegedly extreme views.

Borlaug /bl/ Norman Ernest (1914–2009), American scientist, a central figure in the green revolution. He has worked for many years on the improvement of wheat crops and the adaptation of new strains of wheat to parts of the world where it has not previously been grown.

borlotti bean /blti/ n. a type of kidney bean with a pink speckled skin that turns brown when cooked.

<ORIGIN> Italian borlotti, plural of borlotto ‘kidney bean’.

Bormann /bmən/ German /bəman/ Martin (1900–c.1945), German Nazi politician. Considered to be Hitler's closest collaborator, he disappeared at the end of the Second World War; his skeleton, exhumed in Berlin, was identified in 1973.

Born /bn/ German /brn/ Max (1882–1970), German theoretical physicist, a founder of quantum mechanics. Nobel Prize for Physics (1954).

born adj. existing as a result of birth: she was born in Aberdeen | I was born with a sense of curiosity | a newly born baby.

- [in combination] having a specific nationality: a German-born philosopher.

- [attr.] having a natural ability to do a particular job: he's a born engineer.

- [predic., with infinitive] perfectly suited or trained to do a particular job: men born to rule.

- (of an organization, movement, or idea) brought into existence: on 1 January 1992, the new company was born.

- (born of) existing as a result of (a particular situation or feeling): his work is born of despair.

<PHRASES>

□ born and bred by birth and upbringing, especially with reference to someone considered a typical product of a place: he was a Cambridge man born and bred.

□ born on the wrong side of the blanket see BLANKET.

□ be born with a SILVER spoon in one's mouth see SILVER.

□ in all one's born days used to express surprise at something one has not encountered before: in all my born days I've never seen the like of it.

□ not KNOW one is born BRITISH used to convey that someone has an easy life without realizing how easy it is.

□ there's one (or a sucker) born every minute INFORMAL there are many gullible people.

□ I (or he, she, etc.) wasn't born yesterday used to indicate that one (or another person) is not foolish or gullible.

<ORIGIN> Old English boren, past participle of beran ‘to bear’ (see bear^1).

<USAGE> On the difference between born and borne see usage at bear^1.

Borna disease n. [mass noun] an infectious neurological disease affecting horses and other mammal and bird species, caused by an RNA virus (Borna disease virus).

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Borna, the name of a town and district near Leipzig in Germany where an outbreak occurred.

born-again adj. relating to or denoting a person who has converted to a personal faith in Christ (with reference to John 3:3): a born-again Christian.

- FIGURATIVE newly converted to and very enthusiastic about an idea or cause: born-again environmentalists.

■ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a born-again Christian.

borne past participle of bear^1

■ adj. [in combination] carried or transported by the thing specified: waterborne bacteria.

Borneo /bnə/ a large island of the Malay Archipelago, comprising Kalimantan (a region of Indonesia), Sabah and Sarawak (states of Malaysia), and Brunei.

<DERIVATIVES> Bornean adj. & n.

Bornholm /bnhəm/ a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, south-east of Sweden.

Bornholm disease n. [mass noun] a viral infection with fever and pain in the muscles of the ribs.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after the island of BORNHOLM, where it was first described.

bornite /bnt/ n. [mass noun] a brittle reddish-brown crystalline mineral with an iridescent purple tarnish, consisting of a sulphide of copper and iron.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from the name of Ignatius von Born (1742–91), Austrian mineralogist, + -ITE^1.

boro- /brə/ combining form [CHEMISTRY] representing BORON.

Borobudur /brəbdə/ a Buddhist monument in central Java, built c.800.

Borodin /brədn/ Aleksandr (Porfirevich) (1833–87), Russian composer. He is best known for the epic opera Prince Igor (completed after his death by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov).

Borodino, Battle of /brədinə/ a battle in 1812 at Borodino, a village about 110 km (70 miles) west of Moscow, at which Napoleon's forces defeated the Russian army.

boron /brn/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 5, a non-metallic solid. (Symbol: B)

Boron is usually prepared as an amorphous brown powder, but when very pure it forms hard, shiny, black crystals with semiconducting properties. The element has some specialized uses, such as in alloy steels and in nuclear control rods.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BORAX, on the pattern of carbon (which it resembles in some respects).

boronia /bərənə/ n. a sweet-scented Australian shrub which is cultivated for its perfume and for the cut-flower trade.

<INFO> Genus Boronia, family Rutaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Francesco Borone (1769–94), Italian botanist.

borosilicate /brəslket/ n. [usually as modifier] a low-melting glass made from a mixture of silica and boric oxide (B_2O_3).

borough /brə/ n. a town or district which is an administrative unit, in particular:

- BRITISH a town (as distinct from a city) with a corporation and privileges granted by a royal charter.

- British HISTORICAL a town sending representatives to Parliament.

- an administrative division of London.

- a municipal corporation in certain US states.

- each of five divisions of New York City.

- (in Alaska) a district corresponding to a county elsewhere in the US.

<ORIGIN> Old English burg, burh ‘fortress, citadel’, later ‘fortified town’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch burg and German Burg. Compare with BURGH.

Borromini /brəmini/ Francesco (1599–1667), Italian architect, a leading figure of the Italian baroque.

Borrow George (Henry) (1803–81), English writer. His travels with Gypsies provided material for the picaresque narrative Lavengro (1851) and its sequel The Romany Rye (1857).

borrow v. [with obj.] 1 take and use (something belonging to someone else) with the intention of returning it: he had borrowed a car from one of his colleagues.

- take and use (money) from a person or bank under an agreement to pay it back later.

- take and use (a book) from a library for a fixed period of time.

- take (a word or idea) from another language, person, or source and use it in one's own language or work: the term is borrowed from Greek.

2 [GOLF] allow (a certain distance) when playing a shot to compensate for sideways motion of the ball due to a slope or other irregularity.

■ n. [GOLF] a slope or other irregularity on a golf course which must be compensated for when playing a shot.

<PHRASES>

□ be (living) on borrowed time used to convey that someone has survived against expectations, with the implication that they will not do so for much longer.

□ borrow trouble NORTH AMERICAN take needless action that may have detrimental effects.

<DERIVATIVES> borrower n.

<ORIGIN> Old English borgian ‘borrow against security’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German borgen.

<USAGE> Some people confuse the two words lend and borrow, which have reciprocal but different meanings: see usage at lend.

borrowing n. [mass noun] the action of borrowing something: a curb on government borrowing | [count noun] the group had total borrowings of $570 million.

- [count noun] a word or idea taken from another language, person, or source and used in one's own language or work: the majority of designs were borrowings from the continent.

borrow pit n. a pit resulting from the excavation of material for use in embankments.

Borsalino /bsəlinə/ n. (pl. Borsalinos) TRADEMARK a man's wide-brimmed felt hat.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of the manufacturer.

borscht /bt/ (also borsch /b/) n. [mass noun] a Russian or Polish soup made with beetroot and usually served with sour cream.

<ORIGIN> from Russian borshch.

Borscht Belt /bt/ n. NORTH AMERICAN HUMOROUS a resort area in the Catskill Mountains frequented chiefly by Jewish people of eastern European origin.

borstal /bst(ə)l/ n. BRITISH HISTORICAL a custodial institution for young offenders.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after the village of Borstal in southern England, where the first of these was established.

bort /bt/ (also boart) n. [mass noun] small, granular, opaque diamonds, used as an abrasive in cutting tools.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Dutch boort.

borzoi /bz/ n. (pl. borzois) a large Russian wolfhound of a breed with a narrow head and silky, typically white, coat.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Russian borzoĭ (adjective), borzaya (noun), from borzyĭ ‘swift’.

boscage /bskd/ (also boskage) n. [mass noun] a mass of trees or shrubs.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to bush^1. Compare with BOCAGE.

Bosch /b/ Hieronymus (c.1450–1516), Dutch painter. Bosch's highly detailed works are typically crowded with half-human, half-animal creatures and grotesque demons in settings symbolic of sin and folly. His individual style prefigures that of the surrealists.

Bose /bəs/ Satyendra Nath (1894–1974), Indian physicist. With Einstein he described fundamental particles which later came to be known as bosons.

bosh n. [mass noun] INFORMAL nonsense; rubbish: that's a load of bosh.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Turkish boş ‘empty, worthless’.

bosie /bəzi/ (also bosey) n. [CRICKET] Australian term for GOOGLY.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of Bernard J. T. Bosanquet (1877–1936), English all-round cricketer, + -IE.

bosky /bski/ adj. LITERARY covered by trees or bushes; wooded: a slow-moving river meandering between bosky banks.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Middle English bosk, variant of bush^1.

Bosman /bzmən/ n. [usually as modifier] used with reference to a European Court ruling which obliges professional football or other sports clubs to allow players over the age of 25 to move freely between clubs once their contracts have expired.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: named after Jean-Marc Bosman, a Belgian footballer who brought a legal case which resulted in the ruling.

Bosnia /bznə/ short for BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA.

- a region in the Balkans forming the larger, northern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

<DERIVATIVES> Bosniak (also Bosniac) adj. & n.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (also Bosnia-Herzegovina) a country in the Balkans, formerly a constituent republic of Yugoslavia; pop. 3,964,388 (est. 2002); capital, Sarajevo.

Bosnia and Herzegovina were conquered by the Turks in 1463. The province of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed by Austria in 1908, an event which contributed towards the outbreak of the First World War. In 1918 it became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which changed its name to Yugoslavia in 1929. In 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina followed Slovenia and Croatia in declaring independence, but ethnic conflict among Muslims, Serbs, and Croats quickly reduced the republic to a state of civil war. An accord signed in December 1995 formally brought the conflict to an end.

Bosnian /bznən/ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of the Balkan country Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2 [mass noun] the Slavic language of the Bosnians.

■ adj. relating to Bosnia and Herzegovina, its people, or their language.

bosom n. a woman's chest or breasts: her ample bosom | [mass noun] the dress offered a fair display of bosom.

- a part of a dress covering the chest.

- LITERARY the space between a person's clothing and their chest used for carrying things: he carried a letter in his bosom.

- LITERARY a person's loving care and protection: Bruno went home each night to the bosom of his family.

- used to refer to the chest as the seat of emotions: quivering dread was settling in her bosom.

■ adj. [attr.] (of a friend) very close or intimate: the two girls had become bosom friends.

<DERIVATIVES> bosomed adj. [in combination] her small-bosomed physique

<ORIGIN> Old English bōsm, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch boezem and German Busen.

bosomy adj. having large breasts.

boson /bəzn/ n. [PHYSICS] a subatomic particle, such as a photon, which has zero or integral spin and follows the statistical description given by S. N. Bose and Einstein.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after S. N. BOSE + -ON.

Bosporus /bspərəs/ (also Bosphorus /bsfə-/) a strait connecting the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, and separating Europe from the Anatolian peninsula of western Asia. Istanbul is located at its south end.

BOSS abbr. Bureau of State Security.

boss^1 INFORMAL n. a person who is in charge of a worker or organization: her boss offered her promotion | union bosses.

- a person in control of a group or situation: does he see you as a partner, or is he already the boss?

■ v. [with obj.] give (someone) orders in a domineering manner: you're always bossing us about.

■ adj. NORTH AMERICAN excellent; outstanding: she's a real boss chick.

<PHRASES>

□ be one's own boss be self-employed.

□ show someone who's boss make it clear that it is oneself who is in charge: now it's time to show her who's boss.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally US): from Dutch baas ‘master’.

boss^2 n. 1 a stud on the centre of a shield.

- [ARCHITECTURE] an ornamental carving covering the point where the ribs in a vault or ceiling cross.

- the central part of a propeller.

2 [GEOLOGY] a large mass of igneous rock protruding through other strata.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French boce, of unknown origin.

boss^3 n. US INFORMAL a cow.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

bossa nova /bsə nəvə/ n. a dance like the samba, originating in Brazil.

- a piece of music for the bossa nova or in its rhythm.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Portuguese, from bossa ‘tendency’ and nova (feminine of novo) ‘new’.

boss-cocky n. (pl. boss-cockies) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a farmer who employs labour.

- a person in authority.

boss-eyed adj. BRITISH INFORMAL cross-eyed or squinting.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: compare with dialect boss ‘miss, bungle’, of unknown origin.

bossism n. [mass noun] US a situation whereby a political party is controlled by party managers.

bossy^1 adj. (bossier, bossiest) INFORMAL fond of giving people orders; domineering.

<DERIVATIVES> bossily adv. bossiness n.

bossy^2 n. (pl. bossies) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a cow or calf.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century of unknown origin.

bossyboots n. BRITISH INFORMAL a domineering person.

bosthoon /bstun/ (also bostoon) n. IRISH an uncouth or ignorant man or boy.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Irish bastún.

bosting /bsti/ (also bostin /bstin/) adj. DIALECT very good; excellent.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: probably a dialect pronunciation of bursting or busting.

Boston^1 the state capital of Massachusetts; pop. 589,141 (2000). It was founded c.1630 and named after Boston in Lincolnshire.

<DERIVATIVES> Bostonian n. & adj.

Boston^2 n. [mass noun] 1 a card game resembling solo whist.

2 a variation of the waltz or of the two-step.

Boston baked beans plural n. an American dish of baked beans with salt pork and molasses.

Boston crab n. [WRESTLING] a hold in which a wrestler sits astride a prone opponent and pulls upwards on the opponent's legs.

Boston ivy n. a Virginia creeper with three-lobed leaves, which is cultivated for its foliage.

<INFO> Parthenocissus tricuspidata, family Vitaceae.

Boston Tea Party a violent demonstration in 1773 by American colonists prior to the War of American Independence. Colonists boarded vessels in Boston harbour and threw the cargoes of tea into the water in protest at the imposition of a tax on tea by the British Parliament, in which the colonists had no representation.

Boston terrier n. a small smooth-coated terrier of a breed originating in Massachusetts from a crossing of a bulldog and terrier.

Boswell James (1740–95), Scottish author, companion and biographer of Samuel Johnson. He is known for Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785) and The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791).

<DERIVATIVES> Boswellian adj.

Bosworth Field /bzwəθ/ (also Battle of Bosworth) a battle of the Wars of the Roses fought in 1485 near Market Bosworth in Leicestershire. Henry Tudor defeated and killed the Yorkist king Richard III, enabling him to take the throne as Henry VII.

bot^1 n. 1 the larva of the botfly, which is an internal parasite of horses.

- (sheep bot) the sheep nostril fly. See NOSTRIL FLY.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a person who persistently borrows or cadges from others.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: probably of Low German origin.

bot^2 n. (chiefly in science fiction) a robot.

- [COMPUTING] an autonomous program on a network (especially the Internet) which can interact with systems or users, especially one designed to behave like a player in some computer games.

bot. abbr.

- (with reference to journal titles) botanic; botanical; botany.

- bottle.

- bought.

botanical adj. relating to botany: botanical specimens.

■ n. (usually botanicals) a substance obtained from a plant and used typically in medicinal or cosmetic products.

<DERIVATIVES> botanic adj. botanically adv.

botanic garden (also botanical garden) n. an establishment where plants are grown for scientific study and display to the public.

botanize (also botanise) v. [no obj.] (usually as n. botanizing) study plants, especially in their natural habitat.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin botanizare, from Greek botanizein ‘gather plants’, from botanē ‘plant’.

Botany /bt(ə)ni/ (also Botany wool) n. [mass noun] merino wool, especially from Australia.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after BOTANY BAY, from where the wool originally came.

botany /bt(ə)ni/ n. [mass noun] the scientific study of the physiology, structure, genetics, ecology, distribution, classification, and economic importance of plants.

- the plant life of a particular region, habitat, or geological period: the botany of North America.

<DERIVATIVES> botanist n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from earlier botanic (from French botanique, based on Greek botanikos, from botanē ‘plant’) + -Y^3.

Botany Bay an inlet of the Tasman Sea in New South Wales, Australia, just south of Sydney. It was the site of Captain James Cook's landing in 1770 and of an early British penal settlement.

<ORIGIN> named by Cook after the large variety of plants collected there by his companion, Sir Joseph Banks.

botch v. [with obj.] INFORMAL carry out (a task) badly or carelessly: he was accused of botching the job | (as adj. botched) a botched attempt to kill them.

■ n. (also botch-up) INFORMAL a bungled task: I've probably made a botch of things.

<DERIVATIVES> botcher n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘repair’ but originally not implying clumsiness): of unknown origin.

botfly /btfl/ n. (pl. botflies) a stout hairy-bodied fly whose larvae are internal parasites of mammals, in particular:

<INFO>

- a fly whose larvae (bots) develop within the guts of horses (Gasterophilus and other genera, family Gasterophilidae).

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a fly of the warble fly family (Oestridae).

both predeterminer, determiner, & pronoun used for emphasis to refer to two people or things, regarded and identified together: [as predeterminer] both his parents indulged him | [as determiner] she held on with both hands | cars parked on both sides of the road | [as pronoun] a picture of both of us together | he looked at them both.

■ adv. used before the first of two alternatives to emphasize that the statement being made applies to each (the other alternative being introduced by ‘and’): the film has won favour with both young and old | studies of zebra finches, both in the wild and in captivity.

<PHRASES>

□ have it both ways benefit from two incompatible ways of thinking or behaving: countries cannot have it both ways: the cost of a cleaner environment may sometimes be fewer jobs.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse báthir.

<USAGE> When both is used in constructions with and, the structures following ‘both’ and ‘and’ should be symmetrical in well-formed English. Thus, studies of zebra finches, both in the wild and in captivity is better than, for example, studies of zebra finches, both in the wild and captivity. In the second example, the symmetry of ‘in the wild’ and ‘in captivity’ has been lost. Other examples: her article is detrimental both to understanding and to peace (not her article is detrimental to both understanding and to peace).

Botha^1 /bətə/ Louis (1862–1919), South African soldier and statesman, first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa 1910–19.

Botha^2 /bətə/ P. W. (1916–2006), South African statesman, Prime Minister 1978–84, State President 1984–9; full name Pieter Willem Botha. An authoritarian leader, he continued to enforce apartheid but in response to pressure introduced limited reforms; his resistance to more radical change ultimately led to his fall from power.

Botham /bəθəm/ Sir Ian (Terence) (b.1955), English all-round cricketer. In 1978 he became the first player to score 100 runs and take eight wickets in a single Test match; in 1982 he also achieved the record of 3,000 runs and 250 wickets in Test matches overall.

bother v. 1 [no obj., with negative] take the trouble to do something: scientists rarely bother with such niceties | [with infinitive] the driver didn't bother to ask why.

2 [with obj.] (of a circumstance or event) worry, disturb, or upset (someone): secrecy is an issue which bothers journalists | [with obj. and clause] it bothered me that I hadn't done anything.

- [no obj.] [usually with negative] feel concern about or interest in: don't bother about me—I'll find my own way home | he wasn't to bother himself with day-to-day things | (as adj. bothered) I'm not particularly bothered about how I look.

- cause trouble or annoyance to (someone) by interrupting or otherwise inconveniencing them: I'm sorry to bother you at this time of night.

■ n. [mass noun] effort, trouble, or difficulty: he saved me the bother of having to come up with a speech | it may seem like too much bother to cook just for yourself.

- (a bother) a person or thing that causes annoyance or difficulty: I hope she hasn't been a bother.

■ exclam. BRITISH used to express mild irritation or impatience: ‘Bother!’ she muttered.

<PHRASES>

□ can't be bothered (to do something) be unwilling to make the effort needed to do something.

□ hot and bothered in a state of anxiety or physical discomfort, especially as a result of being pressured: others struggle with bags and briefcases, looking hot and bothered.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as a noun in the dialect sense ‘noise, chatter’): of Anglo-Irish origin; probably related to Irish bodhaire ‘noise’, bodhraim ‘deafen, annoy’. The verb (originally dialect) meant ‘confuse with noise’ in the early 18th cent.

botheration INFORMAL n. [mass noun] effort, worry, or difficulty; bother.

■ exclam. DATED used to express mild irritation or annoyance.

bothersome adj. annoying; troublesome: most childhood stomach aches, though bothersome, aren't serious.

Bothnia, Gulf of /bθnə/ a northern arm of the Baltic Sea, between Sweden and Finland.

both ways adv. & adj.

■ another term for EACH-WAY: [as adv.] put me down for a fiver both ways.

Bothwell /bθwεl/ James Hepburn, 4th Earl of (c.1536–78), Scottish nobleman and third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was implicated in the murder of Mary's previous husband, Lord Darnley (1567), a crime for which he was tried but acquitted; he married Mary later the same year.

bothy /bθi/ (also bothie) n. (pl. bothies) (in Scotland) a small hut or cottage, especially one for housing farm labourers or for use as a mountain refuge.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: obscurely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic both, bothan, and perhaps to BOOTH.

botnet n. a network of private computers infected with malicious software and controlled as a group without the owners' knowledge, e.g. to send spam messages.

<ORIGIN> early 21st century: blend of bot^2 and NETWORK.

boto /bətə/ (also boutu) n. (pl. botos) a pink and grey river dolphin found in the Amazon and Orinoco River systems. Also called AMAZON DOLPHIN.

<INFO> Inia geoffrensis, family Platanistidae.

Botox /bətks/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a drug prepared from botulin, used medically to treat certain muscular conditions and cosmetically to remove wrinkles by temporarily paralysing facial muscles.

<DERIVATIVES> Botoxed adj.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from BOTULINUM TOXIN.

bo tree /bə/ (also bodhi tree) n. a fig tree native to India and SE Asia, regarded as sacred by Buddhists. Also called PEEPUL or PIPAL.

<INFO> Ficus religiosa, family Moraceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: representing Sinhalese bōgaha ‘tree of knowledge’ (Buddha's enlightenment having occurred beneath such a tree), from bō (from Sanskrit budh ‘understand thoroughly’) + gaha ‘tree’.

botryoidal /btrd(ə)l/ adj. (chiefly of minerals) having a shape reminiscent of a cluster of grapes.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek botruoeidēs (from botrus ‘bunch of grapes’) + -AL.

botrytis /bətrts/ n. [mass noun] a greyish powdery mould which causes a number of plant diseases and is deliberately cultivated (as noble rot) on the grapes used for certain wines.

<INFO> Genus Botrytis, subdivision Deuteromycotina (or Ascomycotina), in particular the grey mould B. cinerea.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek botrus ‘cluster of grapes’.

Botswana /btswαnə/ a landlocked country in southern Africa; pop. 1,591,232 (est. 2002); official languages, Setswana and English; capital, Gaborone.

Inhabited by Sotho people and, in the Kalahari Desert, San (Bushmen), the area was made the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland in 1885. It became an independent republic within the Commonwealth in 1966, adopting the name Botswana.

<DERIVATIVES> Botswanan adj. & n.

bott abbr. bottle.

bottarga /bətαə/ n. [mass noun] salted and dried tuna or grey mullet roe.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from Arabic buarkhah, from Coptic outarakhon.

botte /bt/ n. [FENCING] an attack or thrust.

<ORIGIN> French.

Botticelli /bttεli/ Sandro (1445–1510), Italian painter; born Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi. He worked in Renaissance Florence under the patronage of the Medicis. Botticelli is best known for his mythological works such as Primavera (c.1478) and The Birth of Venus (c.1480).

bottle n. 1 a glass or plastic container with a narrow neck, used for storing drinks or other liquids.

- the contents of such a container: she managed to get through a bottle of wine.

- (the bottle) INFORMAL used in reference to the heavy drinking of alcohol: more women are taking to the bottle.

- BRITISH a baby's feeding bottle.

- a large metal cylinder holding liquefied gas.

2 [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL the courage or confidence needed to do something difficult or dangerous: I lost my bottle completely and ran.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] place (drinks or other liquid) in bottles for storage: the wine was bottled in 1997.

- BRITISH place (fruit or vegetables) in glass jars with other ingredients in order to preserve them.

- (usually as adj. bottled) store (gas) in a container in liquefied form.

2 [with obj.] (bottle something up) repress or conceal feelings over time: his anger and frustration had been bottled up for years.

- (bottle someone/something up) keep someone or something trapped or contained: he had to stay bottled up in New York.

3 [no obj.] (bottle out) BRITISH INFORMAL lose one's nerve and decide not to do something: the Minister has bottled out of real reforms.

4 [with obj.] INFORMAL throw a glass bottle at (someone): he was bottled offstage at a club.

<PHRASES>

□ bottle and glass BRITISH RHYMING SLANG arse.

□ hit the bottle INFORMAL start to drink alcohol heavily.

□ in bottle (of wine) having been aged for a specified number of years in its bottle: the wine can be drunk after eight years in bottle.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French boteille, from medieval Latin butticula, diminutive of late Latin buttis ‘cask, wineskin’ (see butt^4).

bottle age n. [mass noun] time spent by a wine maturing in its bottle.

bottle bank n. BRITISH a place where used glass bottles may be deposited for recycling.

bottle blonde (also bottle blond) DEROGATORY adj. (of a woman's hair) of a shade of blonde that looks as if it has been artificially lightened or bleached.

■ n. a woman with dyed or bleached blonde hair.

bottlebrush n. 1 a cylindrical brush for cleaning inside bottles.

2 an Australian shrub or small tree with spikes of scarlet or yellow flowers which resemble bottlebrushes.

<INFO> Genus Callistemon, family Myrtaceae.

- any of a number of plants bearing similar flowers.

bottle-feed v. [with obj.] feed (a baby) with milk from a feeding bottle.

bottle green n. [mass noun] dark green: [as modifier] a bottle-green uniform.

bottleneck n. 1 the neck or mouth of a bottle.

2 a narrow section of road or a junction that impedes traffic flow.

- a situation that causes delay in a process or system.

3 a device shaped like the neck of a bottle that is worn on a guitarist's finger and used to produce sliding effects on the strings.

- (also bottleneck guitar) [mass noun] the style of playing that uses a bottleneck.

bottlenose dolphin (also bottle-nosed dolphin) n. a stout-bodied dolphin with a distinct short beak, found in tropical and temperate coastal waters.

<INFO> Tursiops truncatus, family Delphinidae.

bottlenose whale (also bottle-nosed whale) n. a beaked whale of variable colour, with a bulbous forehead.

<INFO> Genus Hyperoodon, family Ziphiidae: two species.

bottle party n. BRITISH a party to which guests bring bottles of drink.

bottler n. 1 a person or company that bottles drinks.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an admirable person or thing: he's getting married to a real little bottler.

bottlescrew n. British term for TURNBUCKLE.

bottle store (also bottle shop) n. chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ & S. AFRICAN another term for OFF-LICENCE.

bottle tree n. either of two Australian trees with swollen bottle-shaped trunks containing water:

<INFO>

- the Australian baobab of the Kimberley region (Adansonia gregorii, family Bombacaceae).

- a relative of the flame tree occurring in Queensland (Brachychiton rupestre, family Sterculiaceae).

bottom n. (usually the bottom) 1 the lowest point or part of something: the bottom of the page | she paused at the bottom of the stairs.

- the ground under a sea, river, or lake: the liner plunged to the bottom of the sea.

- the lowest surface on the inside of a container: place the fruit on the bottom of the dish.

- chiefly BRITISH the furthest part or point of something: the shed at the bottom of the garden.

- the lowest position in a competition or ranking: he started at the bottom and now has his own business.

- (also bottoms) the lower half of a specified two-piece garment: a pair of pyjama bottoms.

- (bottoms) another term for BOTTOMLAND.

- the keel or hull of a ship.

2 chiefly BRITISH a person's buttocks: Toby pinched her bottom.

3 [mass noun] [PHYSICS] one of six flavours of quark.

4 [mass noun] ARCHAIC stamina or strength of character.

5 ARCHAIC a ship, especially a cargo carrier.

■ adj. in the lowest position: the books on the bottom shelf.

- (of a place) in the furthest position away in a downhill direction: the bottom field.

- in the lowest or last position in a competition or ranking: I was put in the bottom class | they came bottom with 17 points.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (of a ship) reach or touch the ground under the sea: nuclear submarines cannot bottom.

- [with obj.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ excavate (a hole or mine) to the level of a mineral-bearing stratum.

- [no obj.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ find gold or other minerals while mining: he's bottomed on opal there.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC find the extent or real nature of.

2 [no obj.] (usually bottom out) (of a situation) reach the lowest point before stabilizing or improving: encouraging signs suggested the recession was bottoming out.

<PHRASES>

□ at bottom fundamentally: at bottom, science is exploration.

□ be at the bottom of be the basic cause or origin of (something).

□ the bottom falls (or drops) out used to refer to the sudden collapse or failure of something: the bottom fell out of the market for classic cars.

□ bottoms up! INFORMAL used to express friendly feelings towards one's companions before drinking.

□ from the bottom of one's heart see HEART.

□ from the bottom up starting at the lower end or beginning of a hierarchy or process and proceeding to the top: we began to study history from the bottom up.

□ get to the bottom of find an explanation for (a mystery).

□ knock the bottom out of cause (something) to collapse or fail suddenly.

□ you (can) bet your bottom dollar INFORMAL used to state one's conviction that a particular thing is going to happen: you can bet your bottom dollar it'll end in tears.

<DERIVATIVES> bottomed adj. [in combination] a glass-bottomed boat | bare-bottomed toddlers bottommost adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English botm, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bodem ‘bottom, ground’ and German Boden ‘ground, earth’.

bottom drawer n. BRITISH DATED household linen stored by a woman in preparation for her marriage.

bottom feeder n. 1 any marine creature that lives on the seabed and feeds by scavenging.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a member of a group of very low social status who survives by any means possible.

bottom fermentation n. [mass noun] the process by which lager-type beers are fermented, proceeding for a relatively long period at low temperature with the yeast falling to the bottom.

bottomland n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN low-lying land, typically by a river.

bottomless adj. without a bottom.

- very deep: the cold dark sea in whose bottomless depths monsters swam.

- (of a supply of money or other resources) inexhaustible: I don't have a bottomless pit of money.

bottom line n. [usually in sing.] INFORMAL the final total of an account or balance sheet: the rise in turnover failed to add to the company's bottom line.

- the fundamental and most important factor: the bottom line is I'm still married to Denny.

bottomry n. [mass noun] DATED a system of merchant insurance in which a ship is used as security against a loan to finance a voyage, the lender losing their money if the ship sinks.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from BOTTOM (in the sense ‘ship’) + -RY, influenced by Dutch bodemerij.

bottom-up adj. proceeding from the bottom or beginning of a hierarchy or process upwards; non-hierarchical: bottom-up decisions.

botty n. (pl. botties) BRITISH a child's word for a person's bottom.

botulin /btjln/ n. [mass noun] the bacterial toxin involved in botulism.

botulinum toxin /btjlnəm/ (also botulinus toxin) n. another term for BOTULIN.

botulism /btjlz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] food poisoning caused by a bacterium growing on improperly sterilized tinned meats and other preserved foods.

<INFO> The bacterium is Clostridium botulinum.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Botulismus, originally ‘sausage poisoning’, from Latin botulus ‘sausage’.

boubou /bubu/ (also boubou shrike) n. 1 an African bush shrike (songbird) with the upper parts mainly blackish in colour. It is noted for the duet of bell-like calls produced by the male and female together. Compare with BRUBRU.

<INFO> Genus Laniarius, family Laniidae: several species.

2 a long, colourful, loose-fitting garment worn by both sexes in parts of Africa. [<ORIGIN> French, from Malinke bubu.]

bouchée /bue/ n. a small pastry with a sweet or savoury filling.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, literally ‘mouthful’, from bouche ‘mouth’.

Boucher /bue/ French /bue/ François (1703–70), French painter and decorative artist, one of the foremost artists of the rococo style in France. Notable paintings: The Rising of the Sun (1753) and Summer Pastoral (1749).

bouclé /bukle/ n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] yarn with a looped or curled ply, or fabric woven from this yarn: a bouclé sweater.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘buckled, curled’.

Boudicca /budkə bədkə/ (d. AD 62), a queen of the Britons, ruler of the Iceni tribe in eastern England; also known as Boadicea. Boudicca led her forces in revolt against the Romans and sacked Colchester, St Albans, and London before being defeated by the Roman governor Suetonius Paulinus.

boudin /buda/ n. 1 (plural pronunc. same) a French type of black pudding.

2 (boudins /budnz budaz/) [GEOLOGY] a series of elongated parallel sections formed by the fracturing of a sedimentary rock stratum during folding.

<ORIGIN> French.

boudoir /budwα/ n. chiefly HISTORICAL or HUMOROUS a woman's bedroom or small private room.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, literally ‘sulking-place’, from bouder ‘pout, sulk’.

bouffant /buf/ adj. (of a person's hair) styled so as to stand out from the head in a rounded shape.

■ n. a bouffant hairstyle.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, literally ‘swelling’, present participle of bouffer.

Bougainville^1 /buənvl/ a volcanic island in the South Pacific, forming a province of Papua New Guinea. It is the largest of the islands in the Solomon Islands archipelago.

<ORIGIN> named after Louis de Bougainville (see Bougainville^2), who visited it in 1768.

Bougainville^2 /buənvl/ French /buεvil/ Louis Antoine de (1729–1811), French explorer. Bougainville led the first French circumnavigation of the globe 1766–9, visiting many of the islands of the South Pacific and compiling an invaluable scientific record of his findings.

bougainvillea /bu(ə)nvlə/ (also bougainvillaea) n. an ornamental shrubby climbing plant that is widely cultivated in the tropics. The insignificant flowers are surrounded by large, brightly coloured papery bracts which persist on the plant for a long time.

<INFO> Genus Bougainvillea, family Nyctaginaceae.

<ORIGIN> named after Louis de Bougainville (see Bougainville^2).

bough /ba/ n. a main branch of a tree: apple boughs laden with blossom.

<ORIGIN> Old English bōg, bōh ‘bough or shoulder’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch boeg ‘shoulders or ship's bow’, German Bug ‘ship's bow’ and ‘horse's hock or shoulder’, also to bow^3.

bought past and past participle of BUY.

boughten /bt(ə)n/ adj. DIALECT, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN bought rather than home-made: her first store-boughten doll.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: dialect variant of BOUGHT.

bougie /bui/ n. (pl. bougies) MEDICINE a thin, flexible surgical instrument for exploring or dilating a passage of the body.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, literally ‘wax candle’, from Arabic Bijāya, an Algerian town which traded in wax.

bouillabaisse /bujəbes/ n. [mass noun] a rich, spicy stew or soup made with various kinds of fish, originally from Provence.

<ORIGIN> French, from modern Provençal bouiabaisso.

bouilli /buji/ n. [mass noun] stewed or boiled meat.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘boiled’.

bouillon /buj/ n. [mass noun] thin soup or stock made by stewing meat, fish, or vegetables in water.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘liquid in which something has boiled’, from bouillir ‘to boil’.

boulder n. a large rock, typically one that has been worn smooth by erosion.

<DERIVATIVES> bouldery adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: shortened from earlier boulderstone, of Scandinavian origin.

boulder clay n. [mass noun] clay containing many large stones and boulders, formed by deposition from melting glaciers and ice sheets.

bouldering n. [mass noun] [MOUNTAINEERING] climbing on large boulders, either for practice or as a sport in its own right.

boule^1 /bul/ (also boules pronounced same) n. [mass noun] a French form of bowls, played on rough ground with metal balls.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally denoting a form of roulette): French, literally ‘bowl’.

boule^2 /buli/ n. a legislative body of ancient or modern Greece.

<ORIGIN> from Greek boulē ‘senate’.

boulevard /buləvαd/ n. a wide street in a town or city, typically one lined with trees: [in names] Sunset Boulevard.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, ‘a rampart’ (later ‘a promenade on the site of one’), from German Bollwerk (see BULWARK).

boulevardier /buləvαdje/ n. a wealthy, fashionable socialite.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, originally in the sense ‘person who frequents boulevards’.

Boulez /bulεz/ Pierre (b.1925), French composer and conductor. His works explore and develop serialism and aleatory music, making use of both traditional and electronic instruments.

boulle /bul/ (also buhl) n. [mass noun] brass, tortoiseshell, or other material cut to make a pattern and used for inlaying furniture: [as modifier] boulle cabinets.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French boule, from the name of André Charles Boulle (1642–1732), French cabinetmaker. The variant buhl is apparently a modern Germanized spelling.

Boulogne /bln/ French /bul/ a ferry port and fishing town in northern France; pop. 44,859 (1999). Full name Boulogne-sur-Mer /-sjəmε/ French /-sYRmεR/.

Boult /bəlt/ Sir Adrian (Cedric) (1889–1983), English conductor. Noted especially for his championship of English composers, he was music director of the BBC 1930–49 and principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra 1950–7.

Boulting /bəlt/ John (1913–85) and Roy (1913–2001), English film producers and directors. Twin brothers, they shared responsibilities as producer and director on films such as Brighton Rock (1947) and I'm All Right Jack (1959).

Boulton /bəlt(ə)n/ Matthew (1728–1809), English engineer and manufacturer. With his partner James Watt he pioneered the manufacture of steam engines, which they began to produce in 1774.

bounce v. 1 [no obj., usually with adverbial of direction] (with reference to an object, especially a ball) move quickly up, back, or away from a surface after hitting it: the ball bounced away and he chased it | [with obj.] he was bouncing the ball against the wall.

- (of light, sound, or an electronic signal) come into contact with an object or surface and be reflected back: short sound waves bounce off even small objects.

- (also bounce back) (of an email) be returned to its sender after failing to reach its destination: I tried to email him, but the message bounced.

- (bounce back) recover well after a setback or problem: the savings rate has already started to bounce back and is sure to rise further.

- [with obj.] W. INDIAN come into sudden forceful contact with; collide with: people cross the road as slowly as possible, as if daring the cars to bounce them.

2 [no obj., usually with adverbial of direction] jump repeatedly up and down, typically on something springy: Emma was happily bouncing up and down on the mattress.

- move up and down repeatedly: the gangplank bounced under his confident step.

- [with obj.] cause (a child) to move lightly up and down on one's knee as a game.

- [with adverbial of direction] (of a vehicle) move jerkily along a bumpy surface: the car bounced down the narrow track.

- [with adverbial of direction] move in a particular direction in an energetic, happy, or enthusiastic manner: Linda bounced in through the open front door.

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL (of a cheque) be returned by a bank when there are insufficient funds in an account to meet it: a further two cheques of £160 also bounced.

- [with obj.] (of a bank) return a cheque in such circumstances.

4 [with obj.] INFORMAL eject (a troublemaker) forcibly from a nightclub or similar establishment.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN dismiss (someone) from a job: those who put in a dismal performance will be bounced from the tour.

5 [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL pressurize (someone) into doing something, typically by presenting them with a fait accompli: the government should beware being bounced into any ill-considered foreign gamble.

■ n. 1 a rebound of a ball or other object: the wicket was causing the occasional erratic bounce.

- [mass noun] the ability of a surface to make a ball rebound in a specified way: a pitch of low bounce.

- W. INDIAN a collision.

2 an act of jumping or of moving up and down jerkily: every bounce of the truck brought them into fresh contact.

- [mass noun] exuberant self-confidence: the bounce was now back in Jenny's step.

- [mass noun] health and body in a person's hair: use conditioner to help hair regain its bounce.

<PHRASES>

□ be bouncing off the walls NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be full of nervous excitement or agitation.

□ bounce an idea off INFORMAL share an idea with (someone) in order to refine it.

□ on the bounce as something rebounds: he caught the ball on the bounce.

- INFORMAL in quick succession: it's nice to get four victories on the bounce.

<ORIGIN> Middle English bunsen ‘beat, thump’, perhaps imitative, or from Low German bunsen ‘beat’, Dutch bons ‘a thump’.

bouncebackability n. [mass noun] INFORMAL (especially in sport) the capacity to recover quickly from a setback: promotion-chasing sides need to show the requisite bouncebackability after defeat.

bounce flash n. a device for giving reflected photographic flashlight.

bouncer n. 1 a person employed by a nightclub or similar establishment to prevent troublemakers and other unwanted people entering or to eject them from the premises.

2 [CRICKET] a ball bowled fast and short so as to rise high after pitching.

bouncing adj. 1 (of a baby) vigorous and healthy: Lisa gave birth to a bouncing baby boy.

2 lively and confident: by the next day she was her usual bouncing, energetic self.

bouncing Bet n. another term for SOAPWORT.

bouncy adj. (bouncier, bounciest) bouncing or causing things to bounce: bouncy floorboards | a bouncy ball.

- (of a person) confident and lively: she was still the girl he remembered, bouncy and full of life.

- (of music) having a pleasingly jaunty rhythm: bouncy 1960s tunes.

<DERIVATIVES> bouncily adv. bounciness n.

bouncy castle n. BRITISH a large inflatable structure, typically in the form of a stylized castle or other building, on which children can jump and play.

bound^1 v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] walk or run with leaping strides: Louis came bounding down the stairs | FIGURATIVE shares bounded ahead in early dealing.

- (of an object) rebound from a surface: bullets bounded off the veranda.

■ n. a leaping movement towards or over something: I went up the steps in two effortless bounds.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as a noun): from French bond (noun), bondir (verb) ‘resound’, later ‘rebound’, from late Latin bombitare, from Latin bombus ‘humming’.

bound^2 n. (often bounds) a territorial limit; a boundary: the ancient bounds of the forest.

- a limitation or restriction on feeling or action: it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the issue could arise again | enthusiasm to join the union knew no bounds.

- TECHNICAL a limiting value.

■ v. [with obj.] form the boundary of; enclose: the ground was bounded by a main road on one side and a meadow on the other.

- place within certain limits; restrict: freedom of action is bounded by law.

<PHRASES>

□ in bounds inside the part of a sports field or court in which play is conducted.

□ out of bounds 1 outside the part of a sports field or court in which play is conducted.

2 outside the limits of where one is permitted to be: his kitchen was out of bounds to me at mealtimes.

- beyond what is acceptable: Paul felt that this conversation was getting out of bounds.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘landmark’ and ‘borderland’): from Old French bodne, from medieval Latin bodina, earlier butina, of unknown ultimate origin.

bound^3 adj. going or ready to go towards a specified place: an express train bound for Edinburgh | [in combination] the three moon-bound astronauts.

- destined or very likely to have a specified experience: they were bound for disaster.

<ORIGIN> Middle English boun (in the sense ‘ready, dressed’), from Old Norse búinn, past participle of búa ‘get ready’; the final -d is euphonic, or influenced by bound^4.

bound^4 past and past participle of BIND

■ adj. 1 [in combination] restricted or confined to a specified place: his job kept him city-bound.

- prevented from operating normally by the specified conditions: blizzard-bound Boston.

2 [with infinitive] certain to be or to do or have something: there is bound to be a change of plan.

- obliged by law, circumstances, or duty to do something: I'm bound to do what I can to help Sam | I'm bound to say that I have some doubts.

3 [in combination] (of a book) having a specified binding: fine leather-bound books.

4 (of a grammatical element) occurring only in combination with another form.

- in Chomskyan linguistics, (of a reflexive, reciprocal, or other linguistic unit) dependent for its reference on another noun phrase in the same sentence.

<PHRASES>

□ bound up in focusing on to the exclusion of all else: she was too bound up in her own misery to care that other people were hurt.

□ bound up with (or in) closely connected with or related to: democracy is bound up with a measure of economic and social equality.

□ I'll be bound BRITISH used to emphasize that one is sure of something: she's hatching more little plots, I'll be bound!

boundary n. (pl. boundaries) 1 a line which marks the limits of an area; a dividing line: a county boundary | the river marks the boundary between the two regions | [as modifier] a boundary wall.

- (often boundaries) a limit of something abstract, especially a subject or sphere of activity: a community without class or political boundaries.

2 [CRICKET] a hit crossing the limits of the field, scoring four or six runs.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: variant of dialect bounder, from BOUND^2 + -ER^1, perhaps on the pattern of limitary.

boundary condition n. [MATHEMATICS] a condition that is required to be satisfied at all or part of the boundary of a region in which a set of differential conditions is to be solved.

boundary layer n. a layer of more or less stationary fluid (such as water or air) immediately surrounding an immersed moving object.

boundary rider n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a person employed to maintain the outer fences of a cattle or sheep station.

boundary umpire n. [AUSTRALIAN RULES] an umpire on the boundary line who signals when the ball is out and throws it back in to restart play.

boundary value n. [MATHEMATICS] a value specified by a boundary condition.

bounden /band(ə)n/ archaic past participle of BIND

<PHRASES>

□ a (or one's) bounden duty a responsibility regarded by oneself or others as obligatory: his bounden duty to respond to the call for help.

bounder n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a dishonourable man: he is nothing but a fortune-seeking bounder.

boundless adj. unlimited or immense: enthusiasts who devote boundless energy to their hobby.

<DERIVATIVES> boundlessly adv. boundlessness n.

bounteous adj. ARCHAIC generously given or giving; bountiful: the earth yields a bounteous harvest.

<DERIVATIVES> bounteously adv. bounteousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bontif, -ive ‘benevolent’ (from bonte ‘bounty’), on the pattern of plenteous.

bountiful adj. large in quantity; abundant: the ocean provided a bountiful supply of fresh food.

- giving generously: this bountiful God has thought of everything.

<DERIVATIVES> bountifully adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from BOUNTY + -FUL.

Bounty a ship of the British navy on which in 1789 part of the crew, led by Fletcher Christian, mutinied against their commander, William Bligh, and set him adrift in an open boat with eighteen companions.

bounty n. (pl. bounties) 1 a sum paid for killing or capturing a person or animal: there was an increased bounty on his head.

2 HISTORICAL a sum paid by the state to encourage trade.

- a sum paid by the state to army or navy recruits on enlistment.

3 LITERARY something given or occurring in generous amounts: the bounties of nature.

- [mass noun] generosity: for millennia the people along the Nile have depended entirely on its bounty.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting goodness or generosity): from Old French bonte ‘goodness’, from Latin bonitas, from bonus ‘good’. The sense ‘monetary reward’ dates from the early 18th cent.

bounty hunter n. a person who pursues a criminal for whom a reward is offered.

bouquet /bke bəke bke/ n. 1 an attractively arranged bunch of flowers, especially one presented as a gift or carried at a ceremony.

- an expression of approval; a compliment: we will happily publish the bouquets and brickbats.

2 the characteristic scent of a wine or perfume: the aperitif has a faint bouquet of almonds.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French (earlier ‘clump of trees’), from a dialect variant of Old French bos ‘wood’.

■ Sense 2 dates from the mid 19th cent.

bouquet garni /bke αni bəke bke/ n. (pl. bouquets garnis) a bunch of herbs, typically encased in a muslin bag, used for flavouring a stew or soup.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘garnished bouquet’.

Bourbaki /bəbαki/ Nicolas, a pseudonym of a group of mathematicians, mainly French, attempting to give a complete account of the foundations of pure mathematics. Their first publication was in 1939.

<ORIGIN> the group was named, humorously, after a defeated French general of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1).

Bourbon^1 /bəb(ə)n bbn/ the surname of a branch of the royal family of France. The Bourbons ruled France from 1589, when Henry IV succeeded to the throne, until the monarchy was overthrown in 1848, and reached the peak of their power under Louis XIV in the late 17th century. Members of this family have also been kings of Spain (1700–1931 and since 1975).

Bourbon^2 /bəb(ə)n/ n. 1 BRITISH a chocolate-flavoured biscuit with a chocolate-cream filling.

2 US a reactionary.

3 (also Bourbon rose) a rose of a variety which flowers over a long period and has a rich scent. It arose as a natural hybrid on the island of Réunion (formerly Île de Bourbon) and was introduced into Europe in the early 19th century.

<INFO> Rosa × borboniana, a hybrid of Rosa chinensis and R. damascena, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): from Bourbon^1.

■ Sense 1 dates from the 1930s.

bourbon /bəb(ə)n bə-/ n. [mass noun] a kind of American whisky distilled from maize and rye.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Bourbon County, Kentucky, where it was first made.

Bourbonnais /bəbne/ a former duchy and province of central France; chief town, Moulins. It forms part of the Auvergne and Centre regions.

bourdon /bəd(ə)n/ n. a low-pitched stop in an organ or harmonium, typically a stopped diapason of 16-foot pitch.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘drone of a bagpipe’): from Old French, ‘drone’, of imitative origin.

Bourdon gauge /bədn/ n. a pressure gauge employing a coiled metallic tube which tends to straighten out when pressure is exerted within it.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Eugène Bourdon (1808–84), French hydraulic engineer.

bourgeois /bəwα/ adj. belonging to or characteristic of the middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes: a rich, bored, bourgeois family | these views will shock the bourgeois critics.

- (in Marxist contexts) upholding the interests of capitalism; not communist: bourgeois society took for granted the sanctity of property.

■ n. (pl. same) a bourgeois person.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from late Latin burgus ‘castle’ (in medieval Latin ‘fortified town’), ultimately of Germanic origin and related to BOROUGH. Compare with BURGESS.

bourgeoise /bəwαz/ adj. belonging to or characteristic of female members of the bourgeoisie.

■ n. a female member of the bourgeoisie.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, feminine of bourgeois ‘citizen’ (see BOURGEOIS).

bourgeoisie /bəwαzi/ n. [treated as sing. or plural] the middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes.

- (in Marxist contexts) the capitalist class who own most of society's wealth and means of production.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: French, from BOURGEOIS.

Bourgogne /buR/ French name for BURGUNDY.

Bourguiba /bəibə/ Habib ibn Ali (1903–2000), Tunisian nationalist and statesman, the first President of independent Tunisia 1957–87.

Bourke-White /bək/ Margaret (1906–71), American photojournalist. During the Second World War she was the first female photographer to be attached to the US armed forces, at the end of the war accompanying the Allied forces when they entered the concentration camps.

bourn^1 /bn bən/ n. DIALECT a small stream, especially one that flows intermittently or seasonally.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: southern English variant of burn^2.

bourn^2 /bn bən/ (also bourne) n. LITERARY a limit or boundary.

- a goal or destination.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting a boundary of a field): from French borne, from Old French bodne (see bound^2).

Bournemouth /bnməθ/ a resort town and unitary authority on the south coast of England, formerly in Dorset; pop. 163,441 (2001).

bourrée /bəre/ n. a lively French dance like a gavotte.

- [BALLET] a series of very fast little steps, with the feet close together, usually performed on the tips of the toes and giving the impression that the dancer is gliding over the floor.

■ v. [no obj.] perform a bourrée.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: French, literally ‘faggot of twigs’ (the dance being performed around a fire made with such twigs).

bourse /bəs/ n. a stock market in a non-English-speaking country, especially France. Compare with BURSE.

- (the Bourse) the Paris stock exchange.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as burse, the usual form until the mid 19th century): from French, literally ‘purse’, via medieval Latin from Greek bursa ‘leather’.

Boursin /bəsa/ French /buRsε/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a kind of soft cheese from France.

<ORIGIN> French.

boustrophedon /bastrəfid(ə)n bu-/ adj. & adv. (of written words) from right to left and from left to right in alternate lines.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek, literally ‘as an ox turns in ploughing’, from bous ‘ox’ + -strophos ‘turning’.

bout /bat/ n. 1 a short period of intense activity of a specified kind: occasional bouts of strenuous exercise | a drinking bout.

- an attack of illness or strong emotion: a severe bout of flu.

- a wrestling or boxing match.

2 a curve in the side of a violin, guitar, or other musical instrument.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a curve or circuit, hence later a ‘turn’ of activity): from dialect bought ‘bend, loop’; probably of Low German origin.

boutade /butαd/ n. FORMAL a sudden outburst or outbreak.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: French, from bouter ‘to thrust’.

boutique /butik/ n. 1 a small shop selling fashionable clothes or accessories.

2 a business serving a sophisticated or specialized clientele: [as modifier] California's boutique wineries.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, ‘small shop’, via Latin from Greek apothēkē ‘storehouse’. Compare with BODEGA.

boutique hotel n. a stylish small hotel, typically one situated in a fashionable urban location.

bouton /butn/ n. [ANATOMY] an enlarged part of a nerve fibre or cell, especially an axon, where it forms a synapse with another nerve.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from French, literally ‘button’.

boutonnière /butnjε/ n. a spray of flowers worn in a buttonhole.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, ‘buttonhole’, from bouton ‘button’.

Boutros-Ghali /butrsαli/ Boutros (b.1922), Egyptian diplomat and politician, Secretary General of the United Nations 1992–7.

boutu n. another term for BOTO.

Bouvet Island /buve/ an uninhabited Norwegian island in the South Atlantic.

<ORIGIN> named after the French navigator François Lozier-Bouvet (1705–86), who visited it in 1739.

bouvier /buve/ n. a large, powerful dog of a rough-coated breed originating in Belgium.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘cowherd’.

bouzouki /bzuki/ n. (pl. bouzoukis) a long-necked Greek form of mandolin.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from modern Greek mpouzouki, possibly related to Turkish bozuk ‘spoilt’ (with reference to roughly made instruments).

bovid /bəvd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a mammal of the cattle family (Bovidae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Bovidae (plural), from bos, bov- ‘ox’.

bovine /bəvn/ adj. relating to or affecting cattle: bovine tuberculosis | bovine tissue.

- (of a person or their manner) sluggish or stupid: a look of bovine contentment came into her face.

■ n. an animal of the cattle group, which also includes buffaloes and bison.

<DERIVATIVES> bovinely adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from late Latin bovinus, from Latin bos, bov- ‘ox’.

bovine somatotrophin /səmətə()trəfn/ n. [mass noun] a growth hormone occurring naturally in cows that is added to cattle feed to increase milk production.

Bovril n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a concentrated essence of beef diluted with hot water to make a drink.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin bos, bov- ‘ox’, the second element perhaps from vril, an imaginary form of energy described in E. Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Coming Race (1871).

bovver n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] BRITISH INFORMAL hooliganism or violent disorder, especially as caused by gangs of skinheads: a bovver boy.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: representing a cockney pronunciation of BOTHER.

bovver boots n. BRITISH INFORMAL heavy laced boots extending to the mid-calf, typically worn by skinheads.

Bow /bə/ Clara (1905–65), American actress. One of the most popular stars and sex symbols of the 1920s, she was known as the ‘It Girl’.

bow^1 /bə/ n. 1 a knot tied with two loops and two loose ends, used especially for tying shoelaces and decorative ribbons: a girl with long hair tied back in a bow.

- a decorative ribbon tied in a bow.

2 a weapon for shooting arrows, typically made of a curved piece of wood joined at both ends by a taut string.

3 a long, partially curved rod with horsehair stretched along its length, used for playing the violin and other stringed instruments.

- a single passage of such a rod over the strings.

4 a curved stroke forming part of a letter (e.g. b, p).

5 a metal ring forming the handle of a key or pair of scissors.

- NORTH AMERICAN a side piece or lens frame of a pair of glasses.

■ v. [with obj.] play (a stringed instrument or music) using a bow.

<PHRASES>

□ have (or add) another string to one's bow BRITISH have a further resource that one can make use of.

□ have many strings to one's bow BRITISH have a wide range of resources that one can make use of.

<ORIGIN> Old English boga ‘bend, bow, arch’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch boog and German Bogen, also to bow^2.

bow^2 /ba/ v. [no obj.] 1 bend the head or upper part of the body as a sign of respect, greeting, or shame: he turned and bowed to his father | [with obj.] she knelt and bowed her head | councillors stood with heads bowed.

2 bend with age or under pressure: the roof trusses bowed as the wind fought to rip the roof free | [with obj.] the creepers were bowed down with flowers.

- submit to pressure or demands: the government has bowed to pressure from farmers to increase compensation.

3 (bow out) withdraw or retire from an activity or role: many artists are forced to bow out of the profession at a relatively early age.

■ n. an act of bending the head or upper body as a sign of respect or greeting: the man gave a little bow.

<PHRASES>

□ bow and scrape behave in an obsequious way to someone in authority.

□ make one's bow make one's first formal appearance in a particular role: the midfielder only made his England bow nine months ago.

□ take a bow acknowledge applause after a performance by bowing.

<ORIGIN> Old English būgan ‘bend, stoop’, of Germanic origin; related to German biegen, also to bow^1.

bow^3 /ba/ (also bows) n. the front end of a ship: water sprayed high over her bows.

<PHRASES>

□ on the bow [NAUTICAL] within 45° of the point directly ahead.

□ a (warning) shot across the bows a statement or gesture intended to frighten someone into changing their course of action: supporters are firing a warning shot across the President's bows.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Low German boog, Dutch boeg, ‘shoulder or ship's bow’; related to BOUGH.

bow compass (also bow compasses) n. a compass with jointed legs.

bowdlerize /badlərz/ (also bowdlerise) v. [with obj.] remove material that is considered improper or offensive from (a text or account), especially with the result that the text becomes weaker or less effective: (as adj. bowdlerized) a bowdlerized version of the story.

<DERIVATIVES> bowdlerism n. bowdlerization n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of Dr Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare in 1818, + -IZE.

bowel /baəl/ n. (often bowels) the part of the alimentary canal below the stomach; the intestine.

- (the bowels of) the deepest inner parts or areas of (something): the mineshaft descended deep into the bowels of the earth.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bouel, from Latin botellus, diminutive of botulus ‘sausage’.

bowel movement n. an act of defecation.

- the faeces discharged in an act of defecation.

Bowen /bən/ Elizabeth (Dorothea Cole) (1899–1973), British novelist and short-story writer, born in Ireland. Notable novels: The Death of the Heart (1938) and The Heat of the Day (1949).

bower^1 /baə/ n. a pleasant shady place under trees or climbing plants in a garden or wood.

- LITERARY a summer house or country cottage.

- LITERARY a woman's private room or bedroom.

■ v. [with obj.] LITERARY shade or enclose (a place or person): (as adj. bowered) the bowered pathways into the tangle of vines.

<ORIGIN> Old English būr ‘dwelling, inner room’, of Germanic origin; related to German Bauer ‘birdcage’.

bower^2 /baə/ (also bower anchor) n. each of two anchors carried at a ship's bow, formerly distinguished as the best bower (starboard) or small bower (port).

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from BOW^3 + -ER^1.

bowerbird n. a strong-billed Australasian bird, noted for the male's habit of constructing an elaborate run or bower adorned with feathers, shells, and other objects to attract the female for courtship.

<INFO> Family Ptilonorhynchidae: several genera and species.

Bowery /baəri/ a street and district in New York City associated with drunks and vagrants.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: built on the site of governor Peter Stuyvesant's bowery ‘farm’, from Dutch bouwerij; the district became noted for its cheap lodging houses and saloons.

bowfin /bəfn/ n. a predatory American freshwater fish with a large blunt head and a long dorsal fin. It is able to survive for long periods out of water.

<INFO> Amia calva, the only living member of the family Amiidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BOW^1 + FIN.

bow-fronted adj. (of furniture) having a convexly curved front.

<DERIVATIVES> bow front n. & adj.

bowhead /bəhεd/ (also bowhead whale) n. an Arctic right whale with black skin, feeding by skimming the surface for plankton. Also called GREENLAND RIGHT WHALE.

<INFO> Balaena mysticetus, family Balaenidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BOW^1 + HEAD.

bowhunting n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the practice of hunting animals with a bow rather than a gun.

<DERIVATIVES> bowhunter n.

Bowie^1 /bəi/ David (b.1947), English rock singer, songwriter, and actor; born David Robert Jones. He is known for his theatrical performances and for his adoption of a number of different stage personae. Notable albums: Ziggy Stardust (1972) and Heroes (1977).

Bowie^2 /bəi/ Jim (1799–1836), American frontiersman; full name James Bowie. He shared command of the garrison that resisted the Mexican attack on the Alamo, where he died.

bowie /bəi/ (also bowie knife) n. (pl. bowies) a long knife with a blade that is double-edged at the point.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after J. Bowie (see Bowie^2).

bowknot n. a double-looped ornamental knot in a ribbon, tie, or other fastening.

bowl^1 n. 1 a round, deep dish or basin used for food or liquid: a mixing bowl | a sugar bowl.

- the contents of a bowl: they ate huge bowls of steaming spaghetti.

- [usually in names] a decorative round dish awarded as a prize in a competition: the McGeorge Rose Bowl.

- a rounded, concave part of an object: a toilet bowl | the bowl of a spoon.

- [GEOGRAPHY] a natural basin.

2 [in names] chiefly US a stadium for sporting or musical events: the Hollywood Bowl.

- an American football game played after the regular season between leading teams.

<DERIVATIVES> bowlful n. (pl. bowlfuls)

<ORIGIN> Old English bolle, bolla, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bol ‘round object’, also to BOLL.

bowl^2 n. 1 a wooden or hard rubber ball, slightly asymmetrical so that it runs on a curved course, used in the game of bowls.

- a large ball with indentations for gripping, used in tenpin bowling.

- a wooden ball or disc used in playing skittles.

2 a spell or turn of bowling in cricket.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] roll (a ball or other round object) along the ground: she snatched her hat off and bowled it ahead of her.

2 [with obj.] [CRICKET] (of a bowler) propel (the ball) overarm from one end of the pitch to the other for the batsman to attempt to hit: Lillee bowled another bouncer | [no obj.] Sobers bowled to Willis.

- dismiss (a batsman) by knocking down the wicket with the ball which one has bowled: Stewart was bowled for 33.

- (bowl a side out) get an entire team out: they bowled Lancashire out for 143.

3 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] BRITISH move rapidly and smoothly in a specified direction: they bowled along the country roads.

4 [with obj.] (bowl someone over) knock someone down.

- INFORMAL greatly impress someone by one's good qualities, looks, or achievements: when he met Angela he was just bowled over by her.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘ball’): from Old French boule, from Latin bulla ‘bubble’.

bow legs plural n. legs that curve outwards at the knee; bandy legs.

<DERIVATIVES> bow-legged adj.

bowler^1 n. 1 [CRICKET] a member of the fielding side who bowls or is bowling.

2 a player at bowls, tenpin bowling, or skittles.

bowler^2 (also bowler hat) n. chiefly BRITISH a man's hard felt hat with a round dome-shaped crown.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after William Bowler, the English hatter who designed it in 1850.

Bowles /bəlz/ Paul (Frederick) (1910–99), American writer and composer. His novels, which include The Sheltering Sky (1949) and The Spider's House (1966), typically concern westerners in the Arab world.

bowline /bəln/ n. 1 a rope attaching the weather side of a square sail to a ship's bow.

2 a simple knot for forming a non-slipping loop at the end of a rope.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German bōlīne, Middle Dutch boechlijne, from boeg ‘ship's bow’ + lijne ‘line’.

bowling n. [mass noun] 1 the game of bowls as a sport or recreation.

- the game of tenpin bowling.

- the game of skittles.

2 [CRICKET] the action of a bowler in sending down balls towards the batsman's wicket: fast bowling.

- the bowlers in a team: on paper their bowling looks weak.

bowling alley n. a long, narrow track along which balls are rolled in the games of skittles or tenpin bowling.

- a building containing such tracks.

bowling average n. [CRICKET] the number of runs conceded by a bowler per wicket taken.

bowling crease n. [CRICKET] the line from behind which a bowler delivers the ball.

bowling green n. an area of closely mown grass on which the game of bowls is played.

bowls /bəlz/ plural n. [treated as sing.] a game played with heavy bowls, the object of which is to propel one's bowl so that it comes to rest as close as possible to a previously bowled small ball (the jack). Bowls is played chiefly out of doors (though indoor bowls is also popular) on a closely trimmed lawn called a green.

- BRITISH tenpin bowling or skittles.

bowman^1 /bəmən/ n. (pl. bowmen) an archer.

bowman^2 /bamən/ n. (pl. bowmen) the rower who sits nearest the bow of a boat, especially a racing boat.

bowsaw /bəs/ n. a saw with a narrow blade stretched like a bowstring on a light frame.

bowser /bazə/ n. TRADEMARK a tanker used for fuelling aircraft and other vehicles or for supplying water.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a petrol pump.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from the name of a company of oil storage engineers.

bowshot /bət/ n. [in sing.] the distance to which a bow can send an arrow: the two armies camped almost within bowshot of each other.

bowsie /bazi/ n. (pl. bowsies) IRISH a low-class or unruly person.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

bowsprit /bəsprt/ n. a spar running out from a ship's bow, to which the forestays are fastened.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German bōgsprēt, Middle Dutch boechspriet, from boech ‘bow’ + spriet ‘sprit’.

Bow Street Runner /bə/ n. the popular name for a London policeman during the first half of the 19th century.

<ORIGIN> named after Bow Street in London, site of the chief metropolitan magistrates' court.

bowstring /bəstr/ n. the string of an archer's bow, traditionally made of three strands of hemp.

■ v. (past and past participle bowstrung) [with obj.] HISTORICAL strangle with a bowstring (a former Turkish method of execution).

bow tie n. a necktie in the form of a bow or a knot with two loops.

bow wave n. a wave or system of waves set up at the bows of a moving ship.

bow window n. a curved bay window.

bow-wow exclam. /bawa/ an imitation of a dog's bark.

■ n. /bawa/ a child's word for a dog.

bowyang /bəja/ n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ DATED a band or strap worn round the trouser leg below the knee.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from British dialect bow-yanks, bow-yankees ‘leather leggings’, of unknown origin.

bowyer /bəjə/ n. a person who makes or sells archers' bows.

box^1 n. 1 a container with a flat base and sides, typically square or rectangular and having a lid: a cigarette box | a hat box.

- the contents of a box: she ate a whole box of chocolates that night.

- (the box) INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH television or a television set: we sat around watching the box.

- INFORMAL a coffin: I always thought I'd be in a box when I finally left here.

- VULGAR SLANG, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a woman's vagina.

2 an area or space enclosed within straight lines, in particular:

- an area on a page that is to be filled in or that contains separate printed matter: tick the box on the coupon.

- an area on a computer screen for user input or displaying information.

- BRITISH a box junction.

- (the box) [SOCCER] the penalty area.

- (the box) [BASEBALL] the area occupied by the batter.

3 a separate section or enclosed area reserved for a group of people in a theatre or sports ground, or for witnesses or the jury in a law court: the royal box.

- HISTORICAL a coachman's seat.

- BRITISH a small country house for use when shooting or fishing.

4 a protective casing for a piece of a mechanism.

- INFORMAL short for GEARBOX.

- BRITISH a light shield for protecting a man's genitals in sport, especially in cricket.

5 a facility at a newspaper office for receiving replies to an advertisement: write to me care of Box 112.

- a facility at a post office whereby letters are kept until called for by the addressee.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (often as adj. boxed) put in or provide with a box: the books are sold as a boxed set | Muriel boxed up all Christopher's clothes.

- enclose (a piece of text) within printed lines: boxed sections in magazines.

- (box someone in) restrict the ability of (a person or vehicle) to move freely: a van had double-parked alongside her car and totally boxed her in.

2 (box sheep up) AUSTRALIAN/NZ mix up different flocks.

<PHRASES>

□ be a box of birds NZ INFORMAL be fine or happy.

□ box of tricks INFORMAL an ingenious gadget: all those magical effects were produced by this little box of tricks here.

□ out of the box AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL unusually good: the novel is nothing out of the box. [<ORIGIN> by association with the phrase look fresh out of a bandbox ‘look very smart’ (see BANDBOX).]

□ out of one's box BRITISH INFORMAL intoxicated with alcohol or drugs.

□ think outside the box INFORMAL have ideas that are original, creative, or innovative.

<DERIVATIVES> boxful n. (pl. boxfuls) box-like adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English, probably from late Latin buxis, from Latin pyxis ‘boxwood box’, from Greek puxos (see box^3).

box^2 v. [no obj.] fight an opponent using one's fists; compete in the sport of boxing: he boxed for England | [with obj.] he had to box Benn for the title.

■ n. [in sing.] a slap with the hand on the side of a person's head: she gave him a box on the ear.

<PHRASES>

□ box clever BRITISH INFORMAL act so as to outwit someone: she had to box clever, let Adam think she had accepted what he said.

□ box someone's ears slap someone on the side of the head, especially as a punishment.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘a blow’): of unknown origin.

box^3 n. 1 (also box tree) a slow-growing European evergreen shrub or small tree with small glossy dark green leaves. It is widely used in hedging and for topiary, and yields hard, heavy timber.

<INFO> Buxus sempervirens, family Buxaceae.

2 any of a number of trees which have similar timber or foliage, in particular:

<INFO>

- several Australian eucalyptus trees (genus Eucalyptus, family Myrtaceae).

- the tropical American Venezuelan (or West Indian) box (Casearia praecox, family Flacourtiaceae), the timber of which has now largely replaced that of the European box.

<ORIGIN> Old English, via Latin from Greek puxos.

box^4 v. (in phrase box the compass) chiefly [NAUTICAL] 1 recite the compass points in correct order.

2 make a complete change of direction.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps from Spanish bojar ‘sail round’, from Middle Low German bōgen ‘bend’, from the base of bow^1.

Box and Cox n. [often as modifier] BRITISH used to refer to an arrangement whereby people make use of the same accommodation or facilities at different times, according to a strict arrangement: a Box and Cox arrangement.

<ORIGIN> the title of a play (1847) by J. M. Morton, in which two characters, John Box and James Cox, unknowingly become tenants of the same room.

box-and-whisker plot n. another term for BOX PLOT.

box beam n. another term for BOX GIRDER.

boxboard n. [mass noun] a type of stiff cardboard used to make boxes.

box camera n. a simple box-shaped hand camera.

box canyon n. NORTH AMERICAN a narrow canyon with a flat bottom and vertical walls.

boxcar n. NORTH AMERICAN an enclosed railway freight wagon, typically with sliding doors on the sides.

box elder n. an American maple with leaves that resemble those of the elder and green or purplish twigs.

<INFO> Acer negundo, family Aceraceae.

Boxer n. a member of a fiercely nationalistic Chinese secret society which flourished in the 19th century. In 1899 the society led a Chinese uprising against Western domination which was eventually crushed by a combined European force, aided by Japan and the US.

<ORIGIN> from BOXER, translating Chinese yì hé quán, literally ‘righteous harmony fists’.

boxer n. 1 a person who takes part in boxing, especially for sport.

2 a medium-sized dog of a breed with a smooth brown coat and pug-like face.

boxercise n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a form of exercise based on boxing training and using boxing equipment.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of BOXER and EXERCISE.

boxer shorts (also boxers) plural n. men's loose underpants similar in shape to the shorts worn by boxers.

boxfish n. (pl. same or boxfishes) a tropical marine fish that has a shell of bony plates enclosing the body, from which spines project. Also called TRUNKFISH.

<INFO> Family Ostraciontidae: numerous species.

box girder n. a hollow girder square in cross section.

Boxgrove man n. a fossil hominid of the Middle Pleistocene period, whose fragmentary remains were found at Boxgrove near Chichester, SE England, in 1993 and 1995. Dated (controversially) to about 500,000 years ago, it is one of the earliest known humans in Europe.

<INFO> Homo heidelbergensis (or H. erectus), family Hominidae.

boxing n. the sport or practice of fighting with the fists, especially with padded gloves in a roped square ring according to prescribed rules (the Queensberry Rules).

Boxing Day n. BRITISH a public holiday celebrated on the first day (strictly, the first weekday) after Christmas Day.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the custom of giving tradespeople a Christmas box on this day.

boxing glove n. a heavily padded mitten worn in boxing.

boxing weight n. each of a series of fixed weight ranges at which boxers are matched.

box jelly n. a jellyfish with a box-shaped swimming bell, living in warm seas. See also SEA WASP.

<INFO> Class Cubozoa (formerly order Cubomedusae).

box junction n. BRITISH a road area at a junction marked with a yellow grid, which a vehicle should enter only if its exit from it is clear.

box kite n. a tailless kite in the form of a long box open at each end.

box number n. a number identifying a private advertisement in a newspaper and functioning as an address for replies.

box office n. a place at a theatre, cinema, etc. where tickets are bought or reserved.

- used to refer to the commercial success of a film, play, or actor in terms of the audience size or takings that they command: [as modifier] the movie was a huge box office hit.

boxout n. a piece of text written to accompany a larger text and printed in a separate area of the page.

box pew n. an old-fashioned church pew enclosed by wooden partitions.

box pleat n. a pleat consisting of two parallel creases facing opposite directions and forming a raised band.

box plot (also box-and-whisker plot) n. [STATISTICS] a simple way of representing statistical data on a plot in which a rectangle is drawn to represent the second and third quartiles, usually with a vertical line inside to indicate the median value. The lower and upper quartiles are shown as horizontal lines either side of the rectangle.

box room n. BRITISH a very small room used for storage or as a bedroom.

box score n. NORTH AMERICAN the tabulated results of a baseball game or other sporting event, with statistics given for each player's performance.

box seat n. 1 a seat in a box in a theatre or sports stadium.

2 HISTORICAL a coachman's seat.

<PHRASES>

□ in the box seat AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL in an advantageous position.

box-shifter n. INFORMAL a retail company which aims to maximize sales with little regard for quality or customer care.

box spanner n. BRITISH a cylindrical spanner with a hexagonal end fitting over the head of a nut.

box spring n. each of a set of vertical springs housed in a frame in a mattress or upholstered chair base.

boxthorn n. a thorny shrub of warm-temperate regions, which bears red berries. Some kinds are used for hedging.

<INFO> Genus Lycium, family Solanaceae: several species (see also tea tree (sense 2)).

box turtle n. a land-living turtle which has a lower shell with hinged lobes that can be drawn up tightly to enclose the animal. It is native to North America and Mexico and is commonly kept as a pet in the US.

<INFO> Genus Terrapene, family Emydidae: several species.

boxty /bksti/ (also boxty bread) n. [mass noun] a type of bread made using grated raw potatoes and flour, originally in Ireland.

<ORIGIN> from Irish bacstaí.

boxy adj. (boxier, boxiest) squarish in shape: a boxy jacket.

- (of a room or space) cramped.

- (of recorded sound) restricted in tone.

boy n. 1 a male child or youth.

- a person's son: she put her little boy to bed.

- [with modifier] a male child or young man who does a specified job: a delivery boy.

2 [usually with adj.] a man, especially a young or relatively young one: I was the new boy at the office.

- (boys) INFORMAL men who mix socially or who belong to a particular group, team, or profession: he wants to stay one of the boys | our boys have finished bombing.

- DATED a friendly form of address from one man to another, especially from an older man to a young man: my dear boy, don't say another word!

- DATED, OFFENSIVE (often used as a form of address) a black male servant or worker.

- a form of address to a male dog: down boy!

■ exclam. INFORMAL used to express strong feelings, especially of excitement or admiration: oh boy, that's wonderful!

<PHRASES>

□ boys in blue INFORMAL policemen; the police.

□ boys will be boys used to express the view that mischievous or childish behaviour is typical of boys or young men and should not cause surprise when it occurs.

□ the big boys the most powerful and successful men or organizations.

<DERIVATIVES> boyhood n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a male servant): of unknown origin.

boyar /bα(r) bəjα/ n. HISTORICAL a member of the old aristocracy in Russia, next in rank to a prince.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Russian boyarin ‘grandee’.

boy band (or girl band) n. a pop group composed of attractive young men (or young women), whose music and image are designed to appeal primarily to a young teenage audience.

Boyce William (1711–79), English composer and organist. His compositions include songs, overtures, and eight symphonies; one of his most famous songs is ‘Hearts of Oak’. He is also noted for his Cathedral Music (1760–73).

Boycott Geoffrey (b.1940), English cricketer. He was an opening batsman for England, and was captain of Yorkshire 1971–5.

boycott v. [with obj.] withdraw from commercial or social relations with (a country, organization, or person) as a punishment or protest.

- refuse to buy or handle (goods) as a punishment or protest.

- refuse to cooperate with or participate in (a policy or event).

■ n. a punitive ban on relations with other bodies, cooperation with a policy, or the handling of goods.

<ORIGIN> from the name of Captain Charles C. Boycott (1832–97), an Irish land agent so treated in 1880, in an attempt instigated by the Irish Land League to get rents reduced.

Boyd Arthur (Merric Bloomfield) (1920–99), Australian painter, potter, etcher, and ceramic artist. He was famous for large ceramic sculptures and for pictures inspired by his travels among Aborigines.

Boyer /be/ Charles (1897–1978), French-born American actor. Before going to Hollywood in the 1930s he enjoyed a successful stage career in France. Notable films: Mayerling (1936), Gaslight (1944), and Barefoot in the Park (1968).

boyfriend n. a person's regular male companion with whom they have a romantic or sexual relationship.

boyish adj. of, like, or characteristic of a male child or young man: his boyish charm | she looked boyish and defiant.

<DERIVATIVES> boyishly adv. boyishness n.

Boyle Robert (1627–91), Irish-born scientist. Boyle put forward a view of matter based on particles which was a precursor of the modern theory of chemical elements and a cornerstone of his mechanical philosophy, which became very influential. He is best known for his experiments with the air pump, which led to the law named after him.

Boyle's law n. [CHEMISTRY] a law stating that the pressure of a given mass of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to its volume at a constant temperature.

boylya /bljə/ n. AUSTRALIAN an Aborigine thought to have spiritual and magical powers.

<ORIGIN> from Nyungar bolya.

Boyne, Battle of the /bn/ a battle fought near the River Boyne in Ireland in 1690, in which the Protestant army of William of Orange, the newly crowned William III, defeated the Catholic army (including troops from both France and Ireland) led by the recently deposed James II. The battle is celebrated annually (on 12 July) in Northern Ireland as a victory for the Protestant cause.

boyo n. (pl. boyos) WELSH & IRISH INFORMAL a boy or man (used chiefly as a form of address).

boy racer n. BRITISH INFORMAL a youth or young man fond of driving very fast and aggressively in high-powered cars.

Boys' Brigade the oldest of the national organizations for boys in Britain, founded in 1883 with the aim of promoting ‘Christian manliness’, discipline, and self-respect. Companies are now also found in the US and in Commonwealth countries; each is connected with a church.

Boy Scout n. North American or old-fashioned term for scout^1 (sense 3 of the noun).

boysenberry /bz(ə)nb(ə)ri -bεri/ n. (pl. boysenberries) 1 a large red edible blackberry-like fruit.

2 the shrubby plant that bears the boysenberry, which is a hybrid of several kinds of bramble.

<INFO> Rubus loganobaccus, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Robert Boysen (died 1950), the American horticulturalist who developed it.

boy toy n. INFORMAL a young woman considered sexually attractive to men.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: inversion of TOY BOY.

boy wonder n. INFORMAL an exceptionally talented young man or boy.

Boz /bz/ the pseudonym used by Charles Dickens in his Pickwick Papers and contributions to the Morning Chronicle.

bozo /bəzə/ n. (pl. bozos) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a stupid or insignificant man.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: of unknown origin.

BP abbr.

- before the present (era): 18,000 years BP.

- blood pressure.

- British Petroleum, a large multinational oil company.

- (indicating listing in the) British Pharmacopoeia.

Bp abbr. Bishop.

bp abbr.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] base pair(s), as a unit of length in nucleic acid chains.

- [FINANCE] basis point(s).

- (b.p.) boiling point.

BPC abbr. British Pharmaceutical Codex.

BPH abbr. MEDICINE benign prostatic hyperplasia (or hypertrophy), an enlargement of the prostate gland common in elderly men.

BPhil abbr. Bachelor of Philosophy.

bpi abbr. [COMPUTING] bits per inch, used to indicate the density of data that can be stored on magnetic tape or similar media.

B-picture n. another term for B-MOVIE.

bpm abbr. beats per minute: a pulse rate of 40 bpm.

BPR abbr. business process re-engineering.

bps abbr. [COMPUTING] bits per second.

Bq abbr. becquerel.

BR abbr.

- North American bedroom or bedrooms.

- Brazil (international vehicle registration).

- (in the UK) British Rail or (formerly) British Railways.

Br symbol the chemical element bromine.

Br. abbr.

- (with reference to journal titles) British.

- (with reference to religious orders) Brother.

bra n. an undergarment worn by women to support the breasts.

<DERIVATIVES> braless adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: abbreviation of BRASSIERE.

braai /br/ S. African n. (pl. braais)

■ short for BRAAIVLEIS.

- a structure on which a fire can be made for the outdoor grilling of meat.

■ v. (braais, braaiing or braaing, braaied) [with obj.] grill (meat) over an open fire.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans.

braaivleis /brfles/ n. S. AFRICAN a picnic or barbecue where meat is grilled over an open fire.

- [mass noun] meat cooked in this way.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, ‘grilled meat’, from braai ‘to grill’ + vleis ‘meat’.

braata /brαtə/ n. W. INDIAN a small amount added to a purchase in a market to encourage the customer to return.

<ORIGIN> probably from Spanish barata ‘bargain’.

Brabant /brəbant/ a former duchy in western Europe, lying between the Meuse and Scheldt Rivers. Its capital was Brussels. It is now divided into two provinces in two countries: North Brabant in the Netherlands, of which the capital is 's-Hertogenbosch; and Brabant in Belgium, of which the capital remains Brussels.

Brabham /brabəm/ Sir Jack (b.1926), Australian motor-racing driver; full name John Arthur Brabham. He won the Formula One world championship three times (1959, 1960, 1966).

brace n. 1 a device fitted to something, in particular a weak or injured part of the body, to give support: a neck brace.

- a strengthening piece of iron or timber used in building or carpentry.

- (also braces) a wire device fitted in the mouth to straighten the teeth.

- (also brace and bit) a drilling tool with a crank handle and a socket to hold a bit.

- a rope attached to the yard of a ship for trimming the sail.

2 (braces) BRITISH a pair of straps that pass over the shoulders and fasten to the top of trousers at the front and back to hold them up.

3 (pl. same) a pair of something, typically of birds or mammals killed in hunting: thirty brace of grouse.

4 [PRINTING] either of the two marks { and }, used either to indicate that two or more items on one side have the same relationship as each other to the single item to which the other side points, or in pairs to show that words between them are connected.

- [MUSIC] a similar mark connecting staves to be performed at the same time.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] make (a structure) stronger or firmer with wood, iron, or other forms of support: the posts were braced by lengths of timber.

- press (one's body or part of one's body) firmly against something in order to stay balanced: she braced her feet against a projecting shelf | he stood with legs braced.

- prepare (someone) for something difficult or unpleasant: both stations are bracing themselves for job losses.

2 [no obj.] (brace up) be strong or courageous.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb meaning ‘clasp, fasten tightly’): from Old French bracier ‘embrace’, from brace ‘two arms’, from Latin bracchia, plural of bracchium ‘arm’, from Greek brakhiōn.

bracelet n. an ornamental band, hoop, or chain worn on the wrist or arm.

- (bracelets) INFORMAL handcuffs.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from bras ‘arm’, from Latin bracchium.

bracer^1 n. INFORMAL an alcoholic drink intended to prepare one for something difficult or unpleasant.

bracer^2 n. 1 a sort of wrist guard used in archery and other sports.

2 HISTORICAL a portion of a suit of armour covering the arm.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French braciere, from bras ‘arm’ (see BRACELET).

bracero /brəsərə brəsεrə/ n. (pl. braceros) a Mexican labourer allowed into the United States for a limited time as a seasonal agricultural worker.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: Spanish, literally ‘labourer’, from brazo ‘arm’.

brachial /brekəl/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to the arm or an arm-like structure: the brachial artery.

- [ZOOLOGY] denoting the upper valve of a brachiopod's shell.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin brachialis, from brac(c)hium ‘arm’.

brachiate v. /braket/ [no obj.] (of certain apes) move by using the arms to swing from branch to branch.

■ adj. /brakət brekət/ [BIOLOGY] 1 branched, especially having widely spread paired branches on alternate sides.

2 having arms.

<DERIVATIVES> brachiation n. brachiator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally in the sense ‘having paired branches’): from Latin brachium ‘arm’ + -ATE^2.

brachiopod /brakə()pd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a marine invertebrate of the phylum Brachiopoda, which comprises the lamp shells.

Brachiopoda /brakəpədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a phylum of marine invertebrates that comprises the lamp shells.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek brakhiōn ‘arm’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’.

brachiosaurus /brakə()srəs/ n. a huge herbivorous dinosaur of the late Jurassic to mid Cretaceous periods, with forelegs much longer than the hind legs.

<INFO> Genus Brachiosaurus, infraorder Sauropoda, order Saurischia.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek brakhiōn ‘arm’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

brachistochrone /brəkstəkrən/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a curve between two points along which a body can move under gravity in a shorter time than for any other curve.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek brakhistos ‘shortest’ + khronos ‘time’.

brachy- /braki/ combining form short: brachycephalic.

<ORIGIN> from Greek brakhus ‘short’.

brachycephalic /braksfalk -kεfalk/ adj. [ANATOMY] having a relatively broad, short skull (typically with the breadth at least 80 per cent of the length). Often contrasted with DOLICHOCEPHALIC.

<DERIVATIVES> brachycephaly n.

brachytherapy /brakθεrəpi/ n. the treatment of cancer, especially prostate cancer, by the insertion of radioactive implants directly into the tissue.

bracing adj. 1 fresh and invigorating: the bracing sea air.

2 (of a support) serving to brace a structure: bracing struts.

<DERIVATIVES> bracingly adv.

■ bracing (sense 1)

brack n. IRISH a cake or bun containing dried fruit.

<ORIGIN> shortening of BARMBRACK.

bracken n. [mass noun] a tall fern with coarse lobed fronds, which occurs worldwide and can cover large areas.

<INFO> Pteridium aquilinum, family Dennstaedtiaceae (or Hypolepidaceae).

- INFORMAL any large coarse fern resembling bracken.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of Scandinavian origin; related to Danish bregne, Swedish bräken.

bracket n. 1 each of a pair of marks ( ) [ ] { } < > used to enclose words or figures so as to separate them from the context: symbols are given in brackets.

2 [with adj. or noun modifier] a category of people or things that are similar or fall between specified limits: those in a high income bracket.

3 a right-angled support attached to a wall for holding a shelf, lamp, or other object.

4 (the bracket) BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a person's nose or jaw.

5 [MILITARY] the distance between two artillery shots fired either side of the target to establish range.

■ v. (brackets, bracketing, bracketed) [with obj.] 1 enclose (words or figures) in brackets: (as adj. bracketed) the relevant data is included as bracketed points.

- [MATHEMATICS] enclose (a complex expression) in brackets to denote that the whole of the expression rather than just a part of it has a particular relation, such as multiplication or division, to another expression.

2 place (one or more people or things) in the same category or group: he is sometimes bracketed with the ‘new wave’ of film directors.

3 hold or attach (something) by means of a right-angled support: pipes should be bracketed.

4 [MILITARY] establish the range of (a target) by firing two preliminary shots, one short of the target and the other beyond it.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] establish (the correct exposure) by taking several pictures with slightly more or less exposure.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French braguette or Spanish bragueta ‘codpiece, bracket, corbel’, from Provençal braga, from Latin braca, (plural) bracae ‘breeches’.

bracket fungus n. a fungus which forms shelf-like projections on the trunks of living or dead trees, sending hyphae into the wood and sometimes causing the death of the tree or decay of the timber.

<INFO> Several families in the order Aphyllophorales, class Hymenomycetes.

brackish adj. (of water) slightly salty, as in river estuaries.

- (of fish or other organisms) living in or requiring brackish water.

<DERIVATIVES> brackishness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from obsolete brack ‘salty’, from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch brac.

braconid /brakənd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a small parasitic wasp of a family (Braconidae) which is related to the ichneumons. Unlike the latter, braconids lay numerous eggs in a single host.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Braconidae (plural), formed irregularly from Greek brakhus ‘short’.

bract n. [BOTANY] a modified leaf or scale, typically small, with a flower or flower cluster in its axil. Bracts are sometimes larger and more brightly coloured than the true flower, as in poinsettia.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin bractea ‘thin plate of metal’.

bracteate /braktət -tet/ adj. [BOTANY] having or bearing bracts.

■ n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] an ornament or plate of thinly beaten precious metal, typically a thin gold disc.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin bracteatus, from bractea (see BRACT).

brad n. a nail of rectangular cross section with a flat tip and a small, typically asymmetrical head.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Norse broddr ‘spike’.

bradawl /bradl/ n. a tool for boring holes, resembling a small, sharpened screwdriver.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BRAD + AWL.

Bradbury^1 Sir Malcolm (Stanley) (1932–2000), English novelist, critic, and academic. As a novelist he was known for satires of university life such as The History Man (1975) and Rates of Exchange (1983).

Bradbury^2 Ray (b.1920), American writer of science fiction; full name Raymond Douglas Bradbury. Notable works: The Martian Chronicles (short story collection, 1950) and Fahrenheit 451 (novel, 1951).

Bradenham ham /brad(ə)nəm/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a dark sweet-cured ham.

Bradford an industrial city in northern England, a unitary authority formerly in Yorkshire; pop. 290,400 (est. 2002).

Bradley James (1693–1762), English astronomer. Bradley was appointed Astronomer Royal in 1742. He discovered the aberration of light and also observed the oscillation of the earth's axis (nutation). His star catalogue was published posthumously.

Bradman Sir Don (1908–2001), Australian cricketer; full name Sir Donald George Bradman. Bradman holds the record for the highest Australian Test score against England (334 in 1930), and his Test match batting average of 99.94 is well above that of any other cricketer of any era.

Bradshaw n. a timetable of all passenger trains in Britain, issued 1839–1961.

<ORIGIN> named after its first publisher, George Bradshaw (1801–53), printer and engraver.

bradycardia /bradkαdə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormally slow heart action.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek bradus ‘slow’ + kardia ‘heart’.

bradykinin /bradknn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound released in the blood in some circumstances which causes contraction of smooth muscle and dilation of blood vessels. It is a peptide with nine amino-acid residues.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek bradus ‘slow’ + kinēsis ‘motion’ + -IN^1.

brae /bre/ n. SCOTTISH a steep bank or hillside.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse brá ‘eyelash’. Compare with brow^1, in which a similar sense development occurred.

Braeburn /brebən/ n. a dessert apple of a variety with crisp flesh, first grown in New Zealand.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Braeburn Orchards, where it was first grown commercially.

brag v. (brags, bragging, bragged) [reporting v.] say something in a boastful manner: [with clause] he bragged that he was sure of victory | [no obj.] they were bragging about how easy it had been.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] a gambling card game which is a simplified form of poker.

2 a boastful statement.

■ adj. [attr.] US INFORMAL excellent; first-rate.

<DERIVATIVES> bragger n. bragging n. & adj. braggingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘boastful’): of unknown origin (French braguer is recorded only later).

Braga /brαə/ a city in northern Portugal, capital of a mountainous district of the same name; pop. 105,000 (est. 2001).

Braganza^1 /brəanzə/ a city in NE Portugal, capital of a mountainous district of the same name; pop. 19,885 (2001). It was the original seat of the Braganza dynasty. Portuguese name Bragança /brəəsə/.

Braganza^2 /brəanzə/ the dynasty that ruled Portugal from 1640 until the end of the monarchy in 1910 and Brazil (on its independence from Portugal) from 1822 until the formation of the republic in 1889.

Bragg Sir William Henry (1862–1942), English physicist, a founder of solid-state physics. He collaborated with his son, Sir (William) Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971), in developing the technique of X-ray diffraction for determining the atomic structure of crystals; for this they shared the 1915 Nobel Prize for Physics.

braggadocio /braədətə/ n. [mass noun] boastful or arrogant behaviour.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a boaster): from Braggadocchio, the name of a BRAGGART in Spenser's The Faerie Queene, from BRAG or braggart + the Italian suffix -occio, denoting something large of its kind.

braggart /braət -αt/ n. a person who boasts about their achievements or possessions.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French bragard, from braguer ‘to brag’.

bragging rights plural n. a temporary position of ascendancy in a closely contested rivalry: he walked off with a guaranteed $25,000 and bragging rights for at least a year.

Brahe /brαhi brαə/ Tycho (1546–1601), Danish astronomer. He built an observatory equipped with precision instruments, but despite demonstrating that comets follow sun-centred paths he adhered to a geocentric view of the planets.

Brahma /brαmə/ 1 the creator god in Hinduism, who forms a triad with Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma was an important god of late Vedic religion, but has been little worshipped since the 5th century AD.

2 another term for Brahman (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit brahman.

brahma /brαmə/ n. short for BRAHMAPUTRA.

Brahman /brαmən/ n. (pl. Brahmans) 1 (also Brahmin) a member of the highest Hindu caste, originally that of the priesthood.

2 [mass noun] the ultimate reality underlying all phenomena in the Hindu scriptures.

3 US spelling of Brahmin (sense 3).

<DERIVATIVES> Brahmanic /-mank/ adj. Brahmanical /-mank(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit brāhmaa (sense 1), brahman (sense 2).

Brahmana /brαmənə/ n. (in Hinduism) any of the lengthy commentaries on the Vedas, composed in Sanskrit c.900–700 BC and containing expository material relating to Vedic sacrificial ritual.

Brahmanism /brαmənz(ə)m/ (also Brahminism) n. [mass noun] the complex sacrificial religion that emerged in post-Vedic India (c.900 BC) under the influence of the dominant priesthood (Brahmans), an early stage in the development of Hinduism.

Brahmaputra /brαməputrə/ a river of southern Asia, rising in the Himalayas and flowing 2,900 km (1,800 miles) through Tibet, NE India, and Bangladesh, to join the Ganges at its delta on the Bay of Bengal.

brahmaputra /brαməputrə/ n. a chicken of a large Asian breed.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after the BRAHMAPUTRA, where it originated.

Brahmin /brαmn/ n. 1

■ variant spelling of Brahman (sense 1).

2 US a socially or culturally superior person, especially one from New England.

3 (also Brahminy bull or US Brahman) an ox of a humped breed originally domesticated in India, which is tolerant of heat and drought and is now kept widely in tropical and warm-temperate countries. Also called ZEBU.

<INFO> Bos indicus, family Bovidae; now usually included under the name B. taurus with other domestic cattle.

<DERIVATIVES> Brahminical adj.

■ Brahmin (sense 1, sense 2)

Brahms /brαmz/ Johannes (1833–97), German composer and pianist. He eschewed programme music and opera and concentrated on traditional forms. He composed four symphonies, four concertos, chamber and piano music, choral works including the German Requiem (1857–68), and nearly 200 songs.

<DERIVATIVES> Brahmsian adj.

Brahms and Liszt adj. [predic.] BRITISH INFORMAL drunk.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: rhyming slang for ‘pissed’.

Brahui /brəhui/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a pastoral people of western Pakistan.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Brahui, a Dravidian language isolated for several thousand years from other members of the family. It has nearly 2 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Brahui or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Brahui.

braid n. 1 [mass noun] threads of silk, cotton, or other material woven into a decorative band for edging or trimming garments: a coat trimmed with gold braid | [count noun] fancy braids.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a length of hair made up of three or more interlaced strands: her hair curled neatly in blonde braids.

- a length made up of three or more interlaced strands of any flexible material: a flexible copper braid.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 interlace three or more strands of (hair or other flexible material) to form a length: their long hair was tightly braided.

2 (often as adj. braided) edge or trim (a garment) with braid: braided red trousers.

3 (usually as adj. braided) (of a river or stream) flow into shallow interconnected channels divided by deposited earth or alluvium.

<ORIGIN> Old English bregdan ‘make a sudden movement’, also ‘interweave’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch breien (verb).

braiding n. [mass noun] decorative braid or braided work: curtains heavy with gold braiding.

brail [SAILING] n. (brails) small ropes that are led from the leech of a fore-and-aft sail to pulleys on the mast for temporarily furling it.

■ v. [with obj.] (brail a sail up) furl a sail by hauling on brails.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French braiel, from medieval Latin bracale ‘girdle’, from braca ‘breeches’.

Brăila /brəilə/ an industrial city and port on the Danube, in eastern Romania; pop. 231,500 (est. 2002).

Braille^1 /brel/ French /bRaj/ Louis (1809–52), French educationist. Blind from the age of 3, by the age of 15 he had developed his own system of raised-point reading and writing, which was officially adopted two years after his death.

Braille^2 /brel/ n. [mass noun] a form of written language for blind people, in which characters are represented by patterns of raised dots that are felt with the fingertips.

■ v. (Brailles, Brailling, Brailled) [with obj.] print or transcribe in Braille.

Brain Dennis (1921–57), English French-horn player. His mastery of the instrument's entire range inspired many composers, including Benjamin Britten and Paul Hindemith, to write works for him.

brain n. 1 an organ of soft nervous tissue contained in the skull of vertebrates, functioning as the coordinating centre of sensation and intellectual and nervous activity.

- (brains) the substance of an animal's brain used as food.

- INFORMAL an electronic device with functions comparable to those of the human brain.

The human brain consists of three main parts. (i) The forebrain, greatly developed into the cerebrum, consists of two hemispheres joined by a bridge of nerve fibres, and is responsible for the exercise of thought and control of speech. (ii) The midbrain, the upper part of the tapering brainstem, contains cells concerned in eye movements. (iii) The hindbrain, the lower part of the brainstem, contains cells responsible for breathing and for regulating heart action, the flow of digestive juices, and other unconscious actions and processes. The cerebellum, which lies behind the brain stem, plays an important role in the execution of highly skilled movements.

2 intellectual capacity: I didn't have enough brains for the sciences | [mass noun] success requires brain as well as brawn.

- (the brains) INFORMAL a clever person who supplies the ideas and plans for a group of people: Tom was the brains of the outfit.

- a person's mind: a tiny alarm bell began to ring in her brain.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL hit (someone) hard on the head with an object: she brained me with a rolling pin.

<PHRASES>

□ have (got) something on the brain INFORMAL be obsessed with something: John has cars on the brain.

<ORIGIN> Old English brægen, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch brein.

brainbox n. BRITISH INFORMAL a very clever person.

braincase n. the cranium.

brainchild n. (pl. brainchildren) INFORMAL an idea or invention which is considered to be a particular person's creation: the statue is the brainchild of a local landscape artist.

brain coral n. a compact coral with a convoluted surface resembling that of the brain.

<INFO> Diploria and other genera, order Scleractinia.

brain damage n. [mass noun] injury to the brain that impairs its functions, especially permanently.

<DERIVATIVES> brain-damaged adj.

brain-dead adj. having suffered brain death: brain-dead patients.

- INFORMAL extremely stupid: the brain-dead politics of the past.

brain death n. [mass noun] irreversible brain damage causing the end of independent respiration, regarded as indicative of death.

brain drain n. [in sing.] INFORMAL the emigration of highly trained or qualified people from a particular country.

Braine John (Gerard) (1922–86), English novelist, famous for his first novel, Room at the Top (1957), whose opportunistic hero was hailed as a representative example of an ‘angry young man’.

brained adj. [in combination] having a brain of a certain size or kind: large-brained mammals.

- DEROGATORY having an intellectual capacity of a certain quality or kind: half-brained twits.

brain fever n. [mass noun] DATED inflammation of the brain.

brainfever bird n. the common hawk cuckoo of India and Sri Lanka, which has a monotonous and maddeningly persistent call.

<INFO> Cuculus varius, family Cuculidae.

brain fungus n. 1 (also yellow brain fungus) a soft yellow gelatinous fungus with a lobed and folded surface, living on dead wood in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Tremella mesenterica, family Tremellaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

2 another term for CAULIFLOWER FUNGUS.

brainiac n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an exceptionally intelligent person.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from the name of a supremely intelligent alien character in the Superman comic strip, from a blend of BRAIN and MANIAC.

brainless adj. stupid; very foolish: a brainless bimbo.

<DERIVATIVES> brainlessly adv. brainlessness n.

brainpan n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person's skull.

brainpower n. [mass noun] mental ability; intelligence.

brainstem n. [ANATOMY] the central trunk of the mammalian brain, consisting of the medulla oblongata, pons, and midbrain, and continuing downwards to form the spinal cord.

brainstorm n. 1 BRITISH INFORMAL a moment in which one is suddenly unable to think clearly or act sensibly.

2 a spontaneous group discussion to produce ideas and ways of solving problems.

- North American INFORMAL a sudden clever idea.

■ v. [no obj.] hold a group discussion to produce ideas: (as noun modifier brainstorming) a brainstorming session.

brains trust n. 1 BRITISH a group of experts who give impromptu answers to questions in front of an audience or on the radio.

2 (usually brain trust) NORTH AMERICAN a group of experts appointed to advise a government or politician.

brain-teaser (also brain-twister) n. INFORMAL a problem or puzzle, typically one designed to be solved for amusement.

<DERIVATIVES> brain-teasing adj.

brainwash v. [with obj.] pressurize (someone) into adopting radically different beliefs by using systematic and often forcible means: people are brainwashed into believing family life is the best | (as n. brainwashing) victims of brainwashing.

brainwave n. 1 (usually brainwaves) an electrical impulse in the brain.

2 [usually in sing.] INFORMAL a sudden clever idea.

brainwork n. [mass noun] mental activity; thought.

brainy adj. (brainier, brainiest) having or showing intelligence: a brainy discussion | she was brainy, except for maths.

<DERIVATIVES> brainily adv. braininess n.

braise v. [with obj.] fry (food) lightly and then stew it slowly in a closed container: (as adj. braised) braised veal.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French braiser, from braise ‘live coals’ (in which the container was formerly placed).

brak /brak/ adj. S. AFRICAN (of water or soil) brackish or alkaline.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from Dutch.

brake^1 n. a device for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, typically by applying pressure to the wheels: he slammed on his brakes | [as modifier] a brake pedal.

- FIGURATIVE a thing that slows or hinders a process: constrained resources will act as a brake on research.

■ another term for BRAKE VAN.

■ v. [no obj.] make a moving vehicle slow down or stop by using a brake: she had to brake hard to avoid a milk float | (as noun modifier braking) an anti-lock braking system.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

brake^2 n. HISTORICAL an open horse-drawn carriage with four wheels.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: variant of break^2.

brake^3 n. a toothed instrument used for crushing flax and hemp.

- (also brake harrow) a heavy machine formerly used in agriculture for breaking up large lumps of earth.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: possibly related to Middle Low German brake and Dutch braak, and perhaps also to break^1.

brake^4 n. ARCHAIC or LITERARY a thicket. See also FERNBRAKE.

<ORIGIN> Old English bracu (first recorded in the plural in fearnbraca ‘thickets of fern’), related to Middle Low German brake ‘branch, stump’.

brake^5 (also brake fern) n. a coarse fern of warm and tropical countries, frequently having the fronds divided into long linear segments.

<INFO> Genus Pteris, family Pteridaceae.

■ archaic term for BRACKEN.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps an abbreviation of BRACKEN (interpreted as plural).

brake^6 archaic past of break^1.

brake block n. a block of hard material pressed against the rim of a wheel to slow it down by friction, especially on a bicycle.

brake disc n. the disc attached to the wheel in a disc brake.

brake drum n. a broad, very short cylinder attached to a wheel, against which the brake shoes press in a drum brake.

brake fluid n. [mass noun] fluid used in a hydraulic brake system.

brake horsepower (abbr.: b.h.p.) n. (pl. same) an imperial unit of power, equal to one horsepower but used only as a measure of the power available at the shaft of an engine.

- the available power of an engine, assessed by measuring the force needed to brake it.

brake light n. a red light at the back of a vehicle that is automatically illuminated when the brakes are applied.

brake lining n. a layer of hard material attached to a brake shoe or brake pad to increase friction against the drum or disc.

brakeman n. (pl. brakemen) 1 (BRITISH also brakesman) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a railway worker responsible for a train's brakes or for other duties such as those of a guard.

2 a person in charge of brakes, especially in a bobsleigh.

brake pad n. a thin block, typically one of a pair, which presses on to the disc in a disc brake.

brake shoe n. a long curved block, typically one of a pair, which presses on to the drum in a drum brake.

brake van n. BRITISH a railway carriage or wagon from which the train's brakes can be controlled by the guard.

Bramah /bramə/ Joseph (1748–1814), English inventor. One of the most influential engineers of the Industrial Revolution, Bramah is best known for his hydraulic press, used for heavy forging.

Bramante /bramante/ Donato (di Angelo) (1444–1514), Italian architect. As architect to Pope Julius II he drew up the first plan for the new St Peter's (begun in 1506), instigating the concept of a huge central dome.

bramble n. a prickly scrambling shrub of the rose family, especially a blackberry.

- BRITISH the fruit of the blackberry.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. brambling) BRITISH gather blackberries.

<DERIVATIVES> brambly adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English bræmbel, brmel, of Germanic origin; related to BROOM.

bramble shark n. a heavy-bodied, dull-coloured shark of the tropical Atlantic, with numerous thornlike spines on the back.

<INFO> Echinorhinus brucus, family Echinorhinidae.

brambling /brambl/ n. a northern Eurasian finch with a white rump, related to the chaffinch. The male has a black head and orange breast in summer.

<INFO> Fringilla montifringilla, family Fringillidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps from or related to the obsolete German synonym Brämling, related to BRAMBLE, or a variant of BRANDLING (because both are streaked).

Bramley (also Bramley's seedling) n. (pl. Bramleys) an English cooking apple of a large green variety with firm flesh.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Matthew Bramley, the English butcher in whose garden it is said to have first grown c.1850.

bran n. [mass noun] pieces of grain husk separated from flour after milling.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, of unknown origin.

Branagh /branə/ Kenneth (Charles) (b.1960), English actor, producer, and director. With the Royal Shakespeare Company he attracted critical acclaim for roles such as Henry V. He has also directed and starred in films such as Hamlet (1996).

branch n. a part of a tree which grows out from the trunk or from a bough.

- a lateral extension or subdivision extending from the main part of a river, road, railway, etc.

- a division or office of a large business or organization, operating locally or having a particular function: he went to work at our Birmingham branch.

- a conceptual subdivision of a family, subject, group of languages, etc.: a branch of mathematics called graph theory.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a road or path) divide into one or more subdivisions: follow this track south until it branches into two.

- (branch off) diverge from the main route or part: the road branched off at the market town.

- (branch out) extend or expand one's activities or interests in a new direction: the company is branching out into Europe.

2 (of a tree or plant) bear or send out branches.

<DERIVATIVES> branched adj. branchlet n. branch-like adj. branchy adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French branche, from late Latin branca ‘paw’.

branchia /brakə/ n. (pl. branchiae /-ki/) the gills of fish and some invertebrate animals.

<DERIVATIVES> branchial adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin branchia, (plural) branchiae, from Greek brankhia (plural).

branchiopod /brakə()pd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a small aquatic crustacean of the class Branchiopoda, such as a water flea or fairy shrimp.

Branchiopoda /brakəpədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of small aquatic crustaceans that includes water fleas and fairy shrimps, which are distinguished by having gills upon the feet.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek brankhia ‘gills’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’.

branch line n. a secondary railway line running from a main line to a terminus.

Brancusi /brakuzi/ Constantin (1876–1957), Romanian sculptor, who spent much of his working life in France. His sculpture represents an attempt to move away from a representational art and to capture the essence of forms by reducing them to their ultimate, almost abstract, simplicity.

brand n. 1 a type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name: a new brand of soap powder.

- a brand name: the firm will market computer software under its own brand.

- a particular type or kind of something: they entertained millions with their inimitable brand of comedy.

2 an identifying mark burned on livestock or (especially in former times) criminals or slaves with a branding iron.

- ARCHAIC a branding iron.

- a habit or quality that causes someone public shame or disgrace: the brand of Paula's dipsomania.

3 a piece of burning or smouldering wood: he took two burning brands from the fire.

4 LITERARY a sword.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 mark with a branding iron.

- mark out as having a particular bad or shameful quality: anyone who says anything bad about the country is branded as a traitor | [with obj. and complement] she was branded a liar.

2 assign a brand name to: (as adj. branded) cut-price branded goods.

- (as n. branding) the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design.

<DERIVATIVES> brander n.

<ORIGIN> Old English brand ‘burning’ (also in sense 3 of the noun), of Germanic origin; related to German Brand, also to burn^1. The verb sense ‘mark with a hot iron’ dates from late Middle English, giving rise to the noun sense ‘a mark of ownership made by branding’ (mid 17th century), whence sense 1 of the noun (early 19th century).

brandade /brdαd/ n. [mass noun] a Provençal dish consisting of salt cod mixed into a purée with olive oil and milk.

<ORIGIN> French, from modern Provençal brandado, literally ‘something that has been shaken’.

Brandenburg /brandənbə/ German /brandnbrk/ a state of NE Germany; capital, Potsdam. The modern state corresponds to the western part of the former Prussian electorate, of which the eastern part was ceded to Poland after the Second World War.

Brandenburg Gate one of the city gates of Berlin (built 1788–91), the only one that survives. After the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 it stood in East Berlin, a conspicuous symbol of a divided city. It was reopened in December 1989.

brand extension n. an instance of using an established brand name or trademark on new products, so as to increase sales.

branding iron n. a metal implement which is heated and used to brand livestock (or, in former times, criminals or slaves).

brandish v. [with obj.] wave or flourish (something, especially a weapon) as a threat or in anger or excitement: a man leaped out brandishing a knife.

<DERIVATIVES> brandisher n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French brandiss-, lengthened stem of brandir; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to BRAND.

brand leader n. the best-selling or most highly regarded product or brand of its type.

brandling n. a red earthworm with rings of a brighter colour, typically found in manure, and used as bait by anglers and in composting kitchen waste.

<INFO> Eisenia fetida, family Lumbricidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from BRAND + -LING.

brand loyalty n. [mass noun] the tendency of some consumers to continue buying the same brand of goods rather than competing brands.

brand name n. a name given by the maker to a product or range of products, especially a trademark.

brand new adj. completely new: Graham's uniform was brand new | a brand-new Oxford dictionary.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from BRAND + NEW, with the idea ‘straight from the fire’.

Brando Marlon (1924–2004), American actor. An exponent of method acting, he first attracted critical acclaim in the stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire (1947); he starred in the film version four years later. Other notable films: On the Waterfront (1954, for which he won an Oscar) and The Godfather (1972).

Brands Hatch a motor-racing circuit near Farningham in Kent.

Brandt^1 /brant/ Bill (1904–83), German-born British photographer; full name Hermann Wilhelm Brandt. He is best known for his almost abstract treatment of the nude, as in Perspectives of Nudes (1961).

Brandt^2 /brant/ Willy (1913–92), German statesman, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–74; born Karl Herbert Frahm. He achieved international recognition for his policy of détente and the opening of relations with the countries of the Eastern bloc (Ostpolitik). Nobel Peace Prize (1971).

Brand X n. a name used for an unidentified brand contrasted unfavourably with a product of the same type which is being promoted.

brandy n. (pl. brandies) [mass noun] a strong alcoholic spirit distilled from wine or fermented fruit juice.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from earlier brandwine, brandewine, from Dutch brandewijn, from branden ‘burn, distil’ + wijn ‘wine’.

brandy-bottle n. the common yellow water lily, the flowers of which produce an alcoholic smell which is attractive to beetles.

brandy butter n. [mass noun] BRITISH a stiff mixture of brandy, butter, and sugar, served with hot desserts.

brandy snap n. BRITISH a crisp rolled gingerbread wafer, usually filled with cream.

brane n. [PHYSICS] an extended object analogous to the strings of string theory but having any number of dimensions rather than one dimension.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: short for MEMBRANE.

branks /braks/ plural n. HISTORICAL an instrument of punishment for a scolding woman, consisting of an iron framework for the head and a sharp metal gag for restraining the tongue.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: origin uncertain; compare with German Pranger ‘a pillory or bit for a horse’ and Dutch prang ‘a fetter’; also with late Middle English barnacle(s), denoting a powerful bit for restraining a horse.

branle /bran(ə)l/ n. a 16th-century court dance of French origin.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from branler ‘shake’.

brannigan /bran(ə)n/ (also branigan) n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a brawl or violent argument.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin; perhaps from the surname Brannigan.

Branson Sir Richard (b.1950), English businessman. He made his name with the company Virgin Records, which he set up in 1969. He later influenced the opening up of air routes with Virgin Atlantic Airways, established in 1984.

brant n. North American term for BRENT GOOSE.

bran tub n. BRITISH a lucky dip in which the hidden items are buried in bran.

Braque /brak/ French /bRak/ Georges (1882–1963), French painter. His collages, which introduced commercial lettering and fragmented objects into pictures to contrast the real with the ‘illusory’ painted image, were the first stage in the development of synthetic cubism.

brash^1 adj. self-assertive in a rude, noisy, or overbearing way: he was brash, cocky, and arrogant.

- having an ostentatious or tasteless appearance: the cafe was a brash new building.

<DERIVATIVES> brashly adv. brashness n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally dialect); perhaps a form of rash^1.

brash^2 n. [mass noun] 1 loose broken rock or ice.

2 clippings from hedges, shrubs, or other plants.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

Brasil /braziw/ Portuguese name for Brazil^1.

Brasilia /brəzlə/ the capital, since 1960, of Brazil; pop. 2,043,169 (2000). Designed by Lúcio Costa in 1956, the city was located in the centre of the country with the intention of drawing people away from the crowded coastal areas.

Braşov /brav/ a city in Romania; pop. 309,600 (est. 2002). It belonged to Hungary until after the First World War, and was ceded to Romania in 1920. Hungarian name Brassó; German name KRONSTADT.

brass n. 1 [mass noun] a yellow alloy of copper and zinc: [as modifier] a brass plate on the door.

- [count noun] a decorative object made of brass: shining brasses stood on the mantelpiece.

- (also horse brass) [count noun] BRITISH a round flat brass ornament for the harness of a draught horse.

- [count noun] a memorial, typically a medieval one, consisting of a flat piece of inscribed brass, laid in the floor or set into the wall of a church.

- [count noun] a brass block or die used for stamping a design on a book binding.

2 [MUSIC] brass wind instruments (including trumpet, horn, and trombone) forming a band or a section of an orchestra: the brass were consistently too loud.

3 (also top brass) INFORMAL people in authority or of high military rank.

4 BRITISH INFORMAL money: they wanted to spend their newly acquired brass.

<PHRASES>

□ brassed off BRITISH INFORMAL exasperated.

□ a brass farthing [with negative] INFORMAL any money or assets at all: she hasn't got two brass farthings to rub together.

□ brass monkey BRITISH INFORMAL used in phrases to refer to extremely cold weather: it's brass monkey weather tonight | it was cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. [<ORIGIN> often said to be from a type of brass rack or ‘monkey’ once used to stack cannonballs on ships, and from which the balls might be ejected as a result of the metal contracting in very cold weather; this explanation has not been proved.]

□ brass neck INFORMAL cheek or effrontery: I didn't think that his mother would have the brass neck to come round here.

□ the brass ring NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL success or reward. [<ORIGIN> with reference to the reward of a free ride given on a merry-go-round to the person hooking a brass ring suspended over the horses.]

□ get down to brass tacks INFORMAL start to consider the basic facts or practical details.

<ORIGIN> Old English bræs, of unknown origin.

brassard /brasαd/ n. 1 a band worn on the sleeve, typically with a uniform.

2 HISTORICAL a piece of armour for the upper arm.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from bras ‘arm’.

brass band n. a group of musicians playing brass instruments and sometimes also percussion.

brasserie /brasəri/ n. (pl. brasseries) a restaurant in France or in a French style.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, originally ‘brewery’, from brasser ‘to brew’.

Brassey /brasi/ Thomas (1805–70), English engineer and railway contractor. He built more than 10,000 km (6,500 miles) of railways in Europe, India, South America, and Australia.

brass hat n. BRITISH INFORMAL a high-ranking officer in the armed forces.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: so named because of the gilt insignia on the caps of such officers.

brassica /braskə/ n. a plant of a genus that includes cabbage, swede, rape, and mustard.

<INFO> Genus Brassica, family Cruciferae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin, literally ‘cabbage’.

brassie /brasi brαsi/ (also brassy) n. (pl. brassies) [GOLF], INFORMAL a number two wood.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: so named because the wood was originally shod with brass.

brassiere /brazə brazε/ n. full form of BRA.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French brassière, literally ‘bodice, child's vest’.

Brassó /brə/ Hungarian name for Braşov.

brass rubbing n. [mass noun] the action of rubbing heelball or chalk over paper laid on an engraved brass to reproduce its design.

- [count noun] an image created by brass rubbing.

brassware n. [mass noun] utensils or other objects made of brass.

brassy^1 adj. (brassier, brassiest) resembling brass in colour; bright or harsh yellow.

- sounding like a brass musical instrument; harsh and loud.

- (of a person, typically a woman) tastelessly showy or loud in appearance or manner: her brassy, audacious exterior.

<DERIVATIVES> brassily adv. brassiness n.

brat n. DEROGATORY or HUMOROUS a badly behaved child.

<DERIVATIVES> brattish adj. brattishness n. bratty adj. (brattier, brattiest)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps an abbreviation of synonymous Scots bratchet, from Old French brachet ‘hound, bitch’; or perhaps from dialect brat ‘rough garment, rag’, based on Old Irish bratt ‘cloak’.

Bratislava /bratslαvə/ the capital of Slovakia, a port on the Danube; pop. 428,672 (2001). From 1526 to 1784 it was the capital of Hungary. German name PRESSBURG; Hungarian name POZSONY.

brat pack n. INFORMAL a rowdy and ostentatious group of young celebrities, especially film stars.

<DERIVATIVES> brat packer n.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: after rat pack^1.

brattice /brats/ n. a partition or shaft lining in a coal mine, typically made of wood or heavy cloth.

<DERIVATIVES> bratticed adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a temporary wooden gallery for use in a siege): from Old French bretesche, from medieval Latin britisca, from Old English brittisc ‘British’. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

brattle DIALECT n. a sharp rattling sound: a distant brattle of thunder.

■ v. make or cause to make a rattling sound.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: probably imitative, from a blend of break^1 and RATTLE.

bratwurst /bratvəst/ n. [mass noun] a type of fine German pork sausage that is generally fried or grilled.

<ORIGIN> German, from Brat ‘a spit’ + Wurst ‘sausage’.

Braun^1 /bran/ Eva (1910–45), German mistress of Adolf Hitler. Braun and Hitler are thought to have married during the fall of Berlin, shortly before committing suicide together in the air-raid shelter of his Berlin headquarters.

Braun^2 /bran/ Karl Ferdinand (1850–1918), German physicist. Braun invented the coupled system of radio transmission and the Braun tube (forerunner of the cathode ray tube), in which a beam of electrons could be deflected. Nobel Prize for Physics (1909).

Braun^3 /bran/ Wernher Magnus Maximilian von (1912–77), German-born American rocket engineer. Braun led development on the V-2 rockets used by Germany in the Second World War. After the war he moved to the US, where he pioneered the work which resulted in the US space programme.

Braunschweig /branvak/ German name for BRUNSWICK.

bravado n. [mass noun] a bold manner or a show of boldness intended to impress or intimidate.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish bravada, from bravo ‘bold’ (see BRAVE, -ado).

brave adj. ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage: she was very brave about the whole thing | (as plural n. the brave) it was a time to remember the brave.

- LITERARY fine or splendid in appearance: his medals made a brave show.

■ n. DATED an American Indian warrior.

- a young man who shows courage or fighting spirit.

■ v. [with obj.] endure or face (unpleasant conditions or behaviour) without showing fear: he pulled on his coat ready to brave the elements.

<PHRASES>

□ brave new world used to refer, often ironically, to a new and hopeful period in history resulting from major changes in society: the brave new world of the health care market. [<ORIGIN> title of a satirical novel by Aldous Huxley (1932), after Shakespeare's The Tempest (V. i. 183).]

□ put a brave face on something see FACE.

<DERIVATIVES> bravely adv. braveness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French, from Italian bravo ‘bold’ or Spanish bravo ‘courageous, untamed, savage’, based on Latin barbarus (see BARBAROUS).

bravery n. [mass noun] courageous behaviour or character.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘bravado’): from French braverie or Italian braveria ‘boldness’, based on Latin barbarus (see BARBAROUS).

bravo^1 /brαvə brαvə/ exclam. used to express approval when a performer or other person has done something well: bravo, you're improving!

■ n. (pl. bravos) 1 a cry of bravo: bravos rang out.

2 a code word representing the letter B, used in radio communication.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from Italian, literally ‘bold’ (see BRAVE).

bravo^2 /brαvə/ n. (pl. bravos or bravoes) a thug or hired assassin.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian, from bravo ‘bold (one)’ (see BRAVE).

bravura /brəv(j)ərə/ n. [mass noun] great technical skill and brilliance shown in a performance or activity: the recital ended with a blazing display of bravura | [as modifier] a bravura performance.

- the display of great daring: the show of bravura hid a guilty timidity.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian, from bravo ‘bold’.

braw /br/ adj. SCOTTISH fine, good, or pleasing: it was a braw day.

<DERIVATIVES> brawly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: variant of BRAVE.

brawl n. a rough or noisy fight or quarrel.

■ v. [no obj.] fight or quarrel in a rough or noisy way: he ended up brawling with a lout outside his house.

- LITERARY (of a stream) flow noisily.

<DERIVATIVES> brawler n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps ultimately imitative and related to bray^1.

brawn n. [mass noun] 1 physical strength in contrast to intelligence: commando work required as much brain as brawn.

2 BRITISH meat from a pig's or calf's head that is cooked and pressed in a pot with jelly.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French braon ‘fleshy part of the leg’, of Germanic origin; related to German Braten ‘roast meat’.

brawny adj. (brawnier, brawniest) physically strong; muscular.

<DERIVATIVES> brawniness n.

Braxton Hicks contractions /brakstən hks/ plural n. MEDICINE intermittent weak contractions of the uterus occurring during pregnancy.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after John Braxton Hicks (1823–97), English gynaecologist.

braxy /braksi/ n. [mass noun] a fatal bacterial infection of young sheep, occurring chiefly in upland areas in winter.

<INFO> The bacterium is Clostridium septicum.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps from obsolete brack ‘break, flaw’, from Germanic base of break^1.

bray^1 n. the loud, harsh cry of a donkey or mule.

- a sound, voice, or laugh resembling a bray.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a donkey or mule) utter a bray.

- (of a person) speak or laugh loudly and harshly: he brayed with laughter | [with direct speech] ‘Leave!,’ brayed a voice behind her.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French brait ‘a shriek’, braire ‘to cry’ (the original senses in English), perhaps ultimately of Celtic origin.

bray^2 v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC pound or crush (something) to small pieces, typically with a pestle and mortar.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French breier, of Germanic origin; related to break^1.

Bray, Vicar of the protagonist of an 18th-century song who kept his benefice from Charles II's reign to George I's by changing his beliefs to suit the times. The song is apparently based on an anecdote about an unidentified vicar of Bray, Berkshire, in Thomas Fuller's Worthies of England (1662).

braze v. [with obj.] (often as adj. brazed) form, fix, or join by soldering with an alloy of copper and zinc at high temperature.

■ n. a brazed joint.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French braser ‘solder’, ultimately of Germanic origin.

brazen adj. 1 bold and without shame: he went about his illegal business with a brazen assurance | a brazen hussy.

2 LITERARY or ARCHAIC made of brass.

- harsh in sound: the music's brazen chords.

■ v. [with obj.] (brazen something out) endure an embarrassing or difficult situation by behaving with apparent confidence and lack of shame: there was nothing to do but brazen it out.

<DERIVATIVES> brazenly adv. brazenness /brez(ə)nns/ n.

<ORIGIN> Old English bræsen ‘made of brass’, from bræs ‘brass’, of unknown ultimate origin.

brazier^1 /brezə -ə/ n. 1 a portable heater consisting of a pan or stand for holding lighted coals.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a barbecue.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French brasier, from braise ‘hot coals’.

brazier^2 /brezjə -ə/ n. a worker in brass.

<DERIVATIVES> braziery n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from BRASS + -IER, on the pattern of glass and glazier.

Brazil^1 the largest country in South America; pop. 176,029,560 (est. 2002); official language, Portuguese; capital, Brasilia. Portuguese name BRASIL.

Brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world. Previously inhabited largely by Tupi and Guarani peoples, Brazil was colonized by the Portuguese, who imported large numbers of slaves from West Africa to work on sugar plantations. The country was proclaimed an independent empire in 1822, becoming a republic after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1889.

Brazil^2 n. 1 (also Brazil nut) a large three-sided nut with an edible kernel, several of which develop inside a large woody capsule borne by a South American forest tree.

<INFO> The tree is Bertholletia excelsa, family Lecythidaceae.

2 (also Brazil wood) [mass noun] hard red timber from which dye may be obtained.

<INFO> The timber is obtained from several tropical trees of the genus Caesalpinia, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from medieval Latin brasilium. The South American country Brazil (see Brazil^1) takes its name from the wood.

Brazilian n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Brazil.

2 a style of waxing a woman's pubic hair in which almost all the hair is removed, with only a very small central strip remaining.

■ adj. relating to Brazil.

Brazzaville /brazəvl/ the capital of Congo, a major port; pop. 1,133,800 (est. 2002). It was founded in 1880 by the French explorer Savorgnan de Brazza (1852–1905) and was capital of French Equatorial Africa from 1910 to 1958.

breach n. 1 an act of breaking or failing to observe a law, agreement, or code of conduct: a breach of confidence | [mass noun] I sued for breach of contract.

- a break in relations: a widening breach between government and Church.

2 a gap in a wall, barrier, or defence, especially one made by an attacking army.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make a gap in and break through (a wall, barrier, or defence): the river breached its bank.

- break or fail to observe (a law, agreement, or code of conduct).

2 [no obj.] (of a whale) rise and break through the surface of the water.

<PHRASES>

□ breach of the peace BRITISH public disturbance, or an act considered likely to cause one.

□ breach of promise the action of breaking a sworn assurance to do something, formerly especially to marry someone.

□ step into the breach replace someone who is suddenly unable to do a job or task.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French breche, ultimately of Germanic origin; related to break^1.

bread n. 1 [mass noun] food made of flour, water, and yeast mixed together and baked: a loaf of bread | [as modifier] a bread roll | [count noun] Italian breads.

- the bread or wafer used in the Eucharist: altar bread.

- FIGURATIVE the food that one needs in order to live: his day job puts bread on the table.

2 INFORMAL money: I hate doing this, but I need the bread.

<PHRASES>

□ be the best (or greatest) thing since sliced bread INFORMAL be very good.

□ bread and circuses entertainment or political policies used to keep the mass of people happy and docile. [<ORIGIN> translating Latin panem et circenses (Juvenal's Satires, x.80).]

□ bread and water a frugal diet that is eaten in poverty, chosen in abstinence, or given as a punishment.

□ bread and wine the consecrated elements used in the celebration of the Eucharist; the sacrament of the Eucharist.

□ the bread of life a source of spiritual nourishment.

□ break bread celebrate the Eucharist.

- DATED share a meal with someone.

□ one cannot live by bread alone people have spiritual as well as physical needs. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Deut. 8:3, Matt. 4:4.]

□ cast one's bread upon the waters do good without expecting gratitude or reward. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Eccles. 11:1.]

□ one's daily bread the money or food that one needs in order to live: she earned her daily bread by working long hours.

□ know which side one's bread is buttered (on) INFORMAL know where one's advantage lies.

□ take the bread out of (or from) people's mouths deprive people of their livings by competition or unfair working practices.

□ want one's bread buttered on both sides INFORMAL want more than is practicable or than is reasonable to expect.

<ORIGIN> Old English brēad, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch brood and German Brot.

bread and butter n. [mass noun] a person's livelihood or main source of income: their bread and butter is reporting local events | [as modifier] bread-and-butter occupations.

- used in reference to something everyday or ordinary: the bread and butter of non-League soccer.

bread-and-butter letter n. a letter expressing thanks for hospitality.

bread-and-butter pudding n. [mass noun] a dessert consisting of slices of bread and butter layered with dried fruit and sugar and baked with a mixture of milk and egg.

breadbasket n. 1 a part of a region that produces cereals for the rest of it.

2 INFORMAL a person's stomach, considered as the target for a blow.

bread bin n. BRITISH a container for keeping bread in.

breadboard n. 1 a board for cutting bread on.

2 a board for making an experimental model of an electric circuit.

■ v. [with obj.] make (an experimental electric circuit).

breadcrumb n. (usually breadcrumbs) a small fragment of bread.

<DERIVATIVES> breadcrumbed adj.

breaded adj. (of food) coated with breadcrumbs and then fried: breaded scampi.

breadfruit n. 1 the large round starchy fruit of a tropical tree, which is used as a vegetable and sometimes to make a substitute for flour.

2 (also breadfruit tree) the large evergreen tree which bears breadfruit, which is widely cultivated on the islands of the Pacific and the Caribbean.

<INFO> Artocarpus altilis, family Moraceae.

3 South African term for BREAD TREE.

breadhead n. INFORMAL a person who is motivated by, or obsessed with, making money.

bread-kind n. [mass noun] W. INDIAN food with a consistency resembling bread, such as yams or sweet potatoes.

breadline n. 1 (the breadline) BRITISH the poorest condition in which it is acceptable to live: they are not well off, but they are not on the breadline.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a queue of people waiting to receive free food.

bread pudding n. [mass noun] a rich, heavy cake or pudding made from pieces of bread soaked in milk and baked with eggs, sugar, dried fruit, and spices, eaten hot or cold.

bread sauce n. [mass noun] sauce made with milk and breadcrumbs, typically eaten with roast chicken or turkey.

breadstick n. a long, thin, crisp piece of baked dough.

breadth n. [mass noun] the distance or measurement from side to side of something; width: the boat measured 27 feet in breadth | [in sing.] the bank reaches a maximum breadth of about 100 km.

- wide range or extent: she has the advantage of breadth of experience | the minister is not noted for his breadth of vision.

- [count noun] DATED a piece of cloth of standard or full width.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from obsolete brede in the same (related to BROAD) + -TH^2, on the pattern of length.

breadthways (also breadthwise) adv. in a direction parallel with a thing's width.

bread tree (also bread palm) n. a cycad native to tropical and southern Africa, which yields an edible sago-like starch.

<INFO> Genus Encephalartos, family Zamiaceae.

breadwinner n. a person who earns money to support their family, typically the sole one.

<DERIVATIVES> breadwinning n. & adj.

break^1 v. (past broke; past participle broken) 1 separate into pieces as a result of a blow, shock, or strain: [no obj.] the rope broke with a loud snap | [with obj.] windows in the street were broken by the blast.

- sustain an injury involving the fracture of a bone or bones in a part of the body: [with obj.] she had broken her leg in two places | [no obj.] what if his leg had broken?

- [with obj.] cause a cut or graze in (the skin): the bite had scarcely broken the skin.

- make or become inoperative: [no obj.] the machine has broken and they can't fix it until next week | [with obj.] he's broken the video.

- [no obj.] (of the amniotic fluid surrounding a fetus) be discharged when the sac is ruptured in the first stages of labour: she realized her waters had broken.

- [with obj.] INFORMAL open (a safe) forcibly.

- [with obj.] use (a banknote) to pay for something and receive change out of the transaction: she had to break a tenner.

- [no obj.] (of two boxers or wrestlers) come out of a clinch, especially at the referee's command.

- [no obj.] make the first stroke at the beginning of a game of billiards, pool, or snooker.

- [with obj.] unfurl (a flag or sail).

- [with obj.] succeed in deciphering (a code).

- [with obj.] disprove (an alibi).

2 [with obj.] interrupt (a continuity, sequence, or course): the new government broke the pattern of growth | his concentration was broken by a sound.

- put an end to (a silence) by speaking or making contact.

- chiefly BRITISH make a pause in (a journey).

- [no obj.] stop proceedings in order to have a pause or vacation: at mid-morning they broke for coffee.

- lessen the impact of (a fall).

- disconnect or interrupt (an electric circuit).

- stop oneself being subject to (a habit): try to break the habit of adding salt at the table.

- surpass (a record): the film broke box office records in the US.

3 [with obj.] fail to observe (a law, regulation, or agreement): the council says it will prosecute traders who break the law | a legally binding contract which can only be broken by mutual consent.

- fail to continue with (a self-imposed discipline): diets started without preparation are broken all the time.

4 [with obj.] crush the emotional strength, spirit, or resistance of: the idea was to better the prisoners, not to break them.

- [no obj.] (of a person's emotional strength or control) give way: her self-control finally broke.

- destroy the power of (a movement or organization).

- destroy the effectiveness of (a strike), typically by moving in other people to replace the striking workers.

5 [no obj.] undergo a change or enter a new state, in particular:

- (of the weather) change suddenly, especially after a fine spell: the weather broke and thunder rumbled through a leaden sky.

- (of a storm) begin violently.

- (of dawn or a day) begin as the sun rises: dawn was just breaking.

- (of clouds) move apart and begin to disperse.

- (of waves) curl over and dissolve into foam: the Caribbean sea was breaking gently on the shore.

- (of a person's voice) falter and change tone, due to emotion: her voice broke as she relived the experience.

- (of a boy's voice) change in tone and register at puberty.

- [PHONETICS] (of a vowel) develop into a diphthong, under the influence of an adjacent sound.

- (of prices on the stock exchange) fall sharply.

6 [no obj.] (of news or a scandal) suddenly become public: since the news broke I've received thousands of wonderful letters.

- [with obj.] (break something to) make bad news known to (someone).

7 [no obj., with adverbial] (chiefly of an attacking player or team, or of a military force) make a rush or dash in a particular direction: Mitchell won possession and broke quickly, allowing Hughes to score.

- (of a bowled cricket ball) change direction on bouncing, due to spin.

- [SOCCER] (of the ball) rebound unpredictably: the ball broke to Craig but his shot rebounded from the post.

■ n. 1 an interruption of continuity or uniformity: the magazine has been published without a break since 1950.

- an act of separating oneself from a pre-existing state of affairs: a break with the past.

- a change in the weather.

- [with modifier] a change of line, paragraph, or page: dotted lines on the screen show page breaks.

- a change of tone in a person's voice due to emotion.

- an interruption in an electric circuit.

- (also break of serve or service break) [TENNIS] the winning of a game against an opponent's serve.

2 a pause in work: I need a break from mental activity | those returning to work after a career break | a coffee break.

- BRITISH an interval during the school day: the bell went for break.

- a short holiday: a weekend break in the Cotswolds.

- a short solo or instrumental passage in jazz or popular music.

3 a gap or opening: the track bends left through a break in the hedge | he stopped to wait for a break in the traffic.

4 an instance of breaking something, or the point where something is broken: he was stretchered off with a break to the leg.

5 a rush or dash in a particular direction, especially by an attacking player or team: Norwich scored on a rare break with 11 minutes left.

- INFORMAL an escape, typically from prison.

- [CRICKET] a change in the direction of a bowled ball on bouncing.

6 INFORMAL an opportunity or chance, especially one leading to professional success: his big break came when a critic gave him a rave review.

7 [SNOOKER] & [BILLIARDS] a consecutive series of successful shots, scoring a specified number of points: a break of 83 put him in front for the first time.

- a player's turn to make the opening shot of a game.

8 a bud or shoot sprouting from a stem.

<PHRASES>

□ break one's back put great effort into achieving something.

□ break the back of accomplish the main or hardest part of (a task): we've broken the back of the problem.

- overwhelm or defeat: I thought we really had broken the back of inflation.

□ break the bank see bank^2.

□ break BREAD see BREAD.

□ break camp see camp^1.

□ break even reach a point in a business venture when the profits are equal to the costs.

□ break someone's HEART see HEART.

□ break the ICE see ICE.

□ break in two break into two parts. the slate fell from my hand and broke in two on the hard floor.

□ break a leg! THEATRICAL SLANG good luck!

□ break the mould see mould^1.

□ break of day dawn.

□ break something open open something forcibly.

□ break rank see rank^1.

□ break (someone's) serve (or service) win a game in a tennis match against an opponent's service.

□ break ship [NAUTICAL] fail to rejoin one's ship after absence on leave.

□ break STEP see STEP.

□ break wind release gas from the anus.

□ a clean break a complete separation from a situation or relationship: Dan decided it was best to make a clean break with the past.

□ give someone a break [usually in imperative] INFORMAL stop putting pressure on someone about something.

- (give me a break) used to express contemptuous disagreement or disbelief about what has been said: He's seven times as quick and he's only 20 years old—give me a break!

□ make a break for make a sudden dash in the direction of, especially in a bid to escape: he made a break for the door.

□ that's (or them's) the breaks NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL that's the way things turn out (used to express resigned acceptance of a situation).

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ break away escape from someone's hold.

- escape from the control of a person, group, or practice: an attempt to break away from the elitism that has dominated the book trade.

- (of a competitor in a race) move into the lead.

□ break down 1 (of a machine or motor vehicle) suddenly cease to function: his van broke down.

- (of a relationship, agreement, or process) cease to continue; collapse: pay negotiations with management broke down.

- lose control of one's emotions when in a state of distress: the old woman broke down in tears.

- (of a person's health or emotional control) fail or collapse.

2 undergo chemical decomposition: waste products which break down into low-level toxic materials.

□ break something down 1 demolish a door or other barrier: they had to get the police to break the door down | FIGURATIVE class barriers can be broken down by educational reform.

2 separate something into a number of parts: each tutorial is broken down into more manageable units.

- analyse information: bar graphs show how the information can be broken down.

- convert a substance into simpler compounds by chemical action: almost every natural substance can be broken down by bacteria.

□ break free another way of saying BREAK AWAY.

□ break in 1 force entry to a building.

2 [with direct speech] interject: ‘I don't want to interfere,’ Mrs Hendry broke in | the doctor's voice broke in on her thoughts.

□ break someone in 1 familiarize someone with a new job or situation: there was no time to break in a new foreign minister.

2 (break a horse in) accustom a horse to a saddle and bridle, and to being ridden.

□ break something in wear something, typically a pair of new shoes, until it becomes supple and comfortable.

□ break into 1 enter or open (a place, vehicle, or container) forcibly, especially for the purposes of theft: two raiders broke into his home | a friend of mine had his car broken into.

- succeed in winning a share of (a market or a position in a profession): foreign companies have largely failed to break into the domestic-equity business.

- interrupt (a conversation).

2 suddenly or unexpectedly burst forth into (laughter or song).

3 change one's pace to (a faster one): Greg broke into a sprint.

□ break off 1 become severed: the fuselage had broken off just behind the pilot's seat.

2 abruptly stop talking: she broke off, stifling a sob.

□ break something off 1 remove something from a larger unit or whole: Tucker broke off a piece of bread.

2 abruptly end or discontinue something: Britain threatened to break off diplomatic relations.

□ break out 1 (of war, fighting, or similarly undesirable things) start suddenly: forest fires have broken out across Indonesia.

- (of a physical discomfort) suddenly manifest itself: prickles of sweat had broken out along her backbone.

2 escape: a prisoner broke out of his cell.

□ break out in be suddenly affected by an unpleasant sensation or condition: she had broken out in a rash.

□ break something out INFORMAL open and start using something: it was time to break out the champagne.

□ break through make or force a way through (a barrier): demonstrators attempted to break through the police lines | the sun might break through in a few spots.

- achieve success in a particular area: so many talented players are struggling to break through.

□ break up disintegrate or disperse: the grey clouds had begun to break up.

- (of a gathering or collective) disband; end.

- chiefly BRITISH end the school term: we broke up for the summer.

- (of a couple in a relationship) part company.

- (of a radio or telephone signal) be interrupted by interference.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN start laughing uncontrollably: the whole cast broke up.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN become emotionally upset.

□ break someone up chiefly NORTH AMERICAN cause someone to become extremely upset.

□ break something up cause something to separate into several pieces, parts, or sections: break up the chocolate and place it in a bowl | he intends to break the company up into strategic business units.

- cut something up for scrap metal: she was towed to Bo'Ness and broken up.

- disperse or put an end to a gathering: police broke up a demonstration in the capital.

□ break with quarrel or cease relations with (someone): he had broken with his family long before.

- act in a way that is not in accordance with (a custom or tradition).

<ORIGIN> Old English brecan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch breken and German brechen, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin frangere ‘to break’.

break^2 n. 1 former term for BREAKING CART.

2 HISTORICAL another term for brake^2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from 16th-cent. brake ‘cage’, later ‘framework’, of unknown origin.

breakable adj. capable of breaking or being broken easily: breakable ornaments | an encrypted password isn't easily breakable.

■ plural n. (breakables) things which are fragile and easily broken.

breakage n. [mass noun] the action of breaking something, or the fact of being broken: some breakage of bone has occurred | [count noun] there had been three breakages in the overhead wires.

breakaway n. 1 a divergence or radical change from something established or long-standing: rock was a breakaway from pop.

- a secession of a number of people from an organization, resulting in the establishment of a new organization: [as modifier] a breakaway group.

2 a sudden attack or forward movement, especially in a race or a soccer game.

- [RUGBY] each of the two flank forwards on the outsides of the second row of a scrum formation.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a stampede of animals, typically at the sight or smell of water.

breakbeat n. a sample of a syncopated drum beat, usually repeated to form a rhythm used as a basis for dance music, hip hop, etc.

- [mass noun] dance music featuring breakbeats.

breakbone fever n. another term for DENGUE.

break-bulk adj. denoting a system of transporting cargo as separate pieces rather than in containers.

break crop n. a crop grown between fields of cereals to ensure a varied planting pattern.

break-dancing n. [mass noun] an energetic and acrobatic style of street dancing, developed by US black people.

<DERIVATIVES> break-dance v. & n. break-dancer n.

breakdown n. 1 a mechanical failure.

2 a failure of a relationship or system: a breakdown in military discipline | a communications breakdown | [mass noun] some of these women will have experienced marital breakdown.

- a sudden collapse in someone's mental health.

3 the chemical or physical decomposition of something: the breakdown of ammonia to nitrites.

- an explanatory analysis, especially of statistics: a detailed cost breakdown.

breaker n. 1 a heavy sea wave that breaks into white foam on the shore.

2 a person or thing that breaks something: [in combination] a rule-breaker.

- chiefly BRITISH a person who breaks up disused machinery.

3 a person who interrupts a conversation on a Citizens' Band radio channel, indicating that they wish to transmit a message.

- any CB radio user.

break-even n. the point or state at which a person or company breaks even.

break-fall n. (in martial arts) a controlled fall in which most of the impact is absorbed by the arms or legs.

breakfast n. a meal eaten in the morning, the first of the day: a breakfast of bacon and eggs | [mass noun] I don't eat breakfast.

■ v. [no obj.] eat breakfast: she breakfasted on fried bread and bacon.

<PHRASES>

□ have (or eat) someone for breakfast INFORMAL deal with or defeat someone with contemptuous ease.

<DERIVATIVES> breakfaster n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the verb break^1 + FAST^2.

breakfast television n. [mass noun] television programmes broadcast early in the morning.

break feeding n. [mass noun] NZ a system of controlling the feeding of grazing animals by dividing their paddock with movable electric fences.

breakfront n. a piece of furniture having the line of its front broken by a curve or angle: [as modifier] a breakfront bookcase.

break-in n. an illegal forced entry of a building or vehicle, typically to steal something.

breaking and entering n. [mass noun] (in North American, and formerly also British, legal use) the crime of entering a building by force so as to commit burglary.

breaking cart n. a two-wheeled, low, open carriage with a skeleton body, used for breaking in young horses.

breaking point n. the moment of greatest strain at which someone or something gives way: the refugee crisis reached breaking point | her nerves were stretched to breaking point.

breakneck adj. dangerously or extremely fast: he drove at breakneck speed.

breakout n. 1 a forcible escape, especially from prison.

- (in soccer and other sports) a sudden attack by a team that has been defending.

2 an outbreak: a breakout of hostilities.

3 [mass noun] the deformation or splintering of wood, stone, or other material being drilled or planed.

■ adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL 1 suddenly and extremely popular or successful: a breakout movie.

2 denoting a group which breaks away from a larger gathering for discussion.

break point n. 1 a place or time at which an interruption or change is made.

- (usually breakpoint) [COMPUTING] a place in a computer program where the sequence of instructions is interrupted, especially by another program or operator intervention.

2 [TENNIS] the state of a game when the player or side receiving service needs only one more point to win the game: he hit a winner to reach break point.

breakthrough n. a sudden, dramatic, and important discovery or development: a major breakthrough in the fight against Aids.

breakthrough bleeding n. [mass noun] bleeding from the uterus occurring between menstrual periods, a side effect of some oral contraceptives.

break-up n. the separation or breaking up of something into several pieces or sections: the break-up of the Ottoman Empire.

- the end of a relationship: a marriage break-up.

breakwater n. a barrier built out into the sea to protect a coast or harbour from the force of waves.

breakwind n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a windbreak.

Bream Julian (Alexander) (b.1933), English guitarist and lute player. He formed the Julian Bream Consort for the performance of early consort music and revived and edited much early music. Britten, Walton, and others composed works for him.

bream^1 n. (pl. same) a greenish-bronze deep-bodied freshwater fish native to Europe.

<INFO> Abramis brama, family Cyprinidae.

- used in names of other fishes resembling or related to this, e.g. sea bream, Ray's bream.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bresme, of Germanic origin; related to German Brachsen, Brassen.

bream^2 v. [with obj.] [NAUTICAL], ARCHAIC clear (a ship or its bottom) of weeds, shells, or other accumulated matter by burning and scraping it.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: probably of Low German origin and related to BROOM.

breast n. 1 either of the two soft, protruding organs on the upper front of a woman's body which secrete milk after childbirth.

2 a person's chest, especially when regarded as the seat of the emotions: wild feelings of frustration were rising up in his breast | her heart was hammering in her breast.

- the corresponding part of a bird or mammal: [as modifier] the breast feathers of the doves.

- a joint of meat or portion of poultry cut from such a part: Lisa popped a breast of chicken into the microwave.

- the part of a garment that covers the chest: [as modifier] a breast pocket.

■ v. [with obj.] face and move forwards against or through (something): I watched him breast the wave.

- reach the top of (a hill).

<PHRASES>

□ beat one's breast make an exaggerated show of sorrow, despair, or regret.

<DERIVATIVES> breasted adj. [in combination] a bare-breasted woman | a crimson-breasted bird

<ORIGIN> Old English brēost, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch borst and German Brust.

breastbone n. a thin, flat bone running down the centre of the chest, to which the ribs are attached. Also called STERNUM.

breast collar n. a thick chest strap which forms part of a horse's harness, often used instead of an ordinary collar on horses pulling lightweight or show vehicles.

breast drill n. a drill on which pressure is brought to bear by the operator's chest.

breastfeed v. (past and past participle breastfed) [with obj.] (of a woman) feed (a baby) with milk from the breast: she breastfed her first child | [no obj.] sometimes it is not possible to breastfeed.

- [no obj.] (of a baby) feed from the breast.

breasthook n. a large piece of shaped timber fitted in the bows of a ship, used to connect the sides to the stem.

breast implant n. a prosthesis consisting of a gel-like or fluid material in a flexible sac, implanted behind or in place of a female breast in reconstructive or cosmetic surgery.

breastpin n. ARCHAIC a small brooch or badge worn on the chest, typically to fasten a garment.

breastplate n. 1 a piece of armour covering the chest.

2 a set of straps attached to the front of a saddle, which pass across the horse's chest and prevent the saddle slipping backward.

breast pump n. a device for drawing milk from a woman's breasts by suction.

breast shell n. a shallow plastic receptacle that fits over the nipple of a lactating woman to catch any milk that flows.

breaststroke n. a swimming stroke in which the arms are pushed forwards and then swept back in a circular movement, while the legs are tucked in towards the body and then kicked out in a corresponding movement.

<DERIVATIVES> breaststroker n.

breastsummer n. [ARCHITECTURE] a beam across a broad opening, sustaining a superstructure.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from BREAST and summer^2.

breastwork n. a low temporary defence or parapet.

breath n. [mass noun] the air taken into or expelled from the lungs: I was gasping for breath | his breath smelled of garlic.

- an inhalation or exhalation of air from the lungs: she drew in a quick breath.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC the power of breathing; life.

- [in sing.] a slight movement of air: the weather was balmy, not a breath of wind.

- [in sing.] a sign, hint, or suggestion: he avoided the slightest breath of scandal.

<PHRASES>

□ before one can (or has time to) draw breath before one can do anything.

□ a breath of fresh air INFORMAL a refreshing change: Mike, my present husband, was a breath of fresh air.

□ the breath of life a thing that someone needs or depends on: politics has been the breath of life to her for 50 years.

□ catch one's breath 1 cease breathing momentarily in surprise or fear.

2 rest after exercise to restore normal breathing.

□ don't hold your breath INFORMAL used to indicate that something is unlikely to happen: next thing you know I'll be knitting baby clothes—but don't hold your breath!

□ draw breath breathe in.

□ get one's breath (back) BRITISH begin to breathe normally again after exercise or exertion.

□ hold one's breath cease breathing temporarily.

- FIGURATIVE be in a state of suspense or anticipation: France held its breath while the Senate chose its new president.

□ in the same (or next) breath in the same statement: she admitted it but said in the same breath that it was of no consequence.

□ the (or one's) last breath the last moment of one's life: she would fight to the last breath to preserve her good name.

□ out of breath gasping for air, typically after exercise.

□ take breath pause to recover free and easy breathing: she had great need of a moment of silence to take breath.

□ take someone's breath away astonish or inspire someone with awed respect or delight.

□ under one's breath in a very quiet voice; almost inaudibly: he swore violently under his breath.

□ waste one's breath talk or give advice without effect: I've far better things to do than waste my breath arguing.

<ORIGIN> Old English brth ‘smell, scent’, of Germanic origin; related to BROOD.

breathable adj. (of the air) fit or pleasant to breathe.

- (of clothes or material) admitting air to the skin and allowing sweat to evaporate.

<DERIVATIVES> breathability n.

breathalyse (US breathalyze) v. [with obj.] (of the police) use a breathalyser to test how much alcohol (a driver) has consumed.

breathalyser (US TRADEMARK Breathalyzer) n. a device used by police for measuring the amount of alcohol in a driver's breath.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of BREATH and ANALYSE, + -ER^1.

breatharian /brεθεrən/ n. a person who believes that it is possible, through meditation, to reach a level of consciousness where one can obtain all the nutrients one needs from the air or sunlight.

breathe v. [no obj.] take air into the lungs and then expel it, especially as a regular physiological process: she was breathing deeply | breathe in through your nose | he breathed out heavily | [with obj.] we are polluting the air we breathe.

- be alive; remain living: at least I'm still breathing.

- LITERARY (of wind) blow softly.

- [with direct speech] say something with quiet intensity: ‘We're together at last,’ she breathed.

- (of an animal or plant) respire or exchange gases: plants breathe through their roots.

- [with obj.] give an impression of (something): the whole room breathed an air of hygienic efficiency.

- (of wine) be exposed to fresh air: letting a wine breathe allows oxygen to enter.

- (of material or soil) admit or emit air or moisture: let your lawn breathe by putting air into the soil.

- [with obj.] allow (a horse) to rest after exertion.

<PHRASES>

□ breathe (freely) again relax after being frightened or tense about something: she wouldn't breathe freely again until she was airborne.

□ breathe down someone's neck follow closely behind someone.

- constantly check up on someone.

□ breathe one's last die.

□ breathe (new) life into fill with enthusiasm and energy; reinvigorate: the Prime Minister would breathe new life into his party.

□ breathe a sigh of relief exhale noisily as a sign of relief: they breathed a great sigh of relief after the election was won.

□ not BREATHE a word remain silent about something secret.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘exhale, steam’): from BREATH.

breather n. 1 a person or animal that breathes in a particular way: a heavy breather.

2 INFORMAL a brief pause for rest: let's take a breather.

3 a vent or valve to release pressure or to allow air to move freely around something.

breathing n. 1 [mass noun] the process of taking air into and expelling it from the lungs: his breathing was shallow.

2 a sign in Greek (‘ or ’) indicating the presence of an aspirate (rough breathing) or the absence of an aspirate (smooth breathing) at the beginning of a word.

breathing space n. an opportunity to pause, relax, or decide what to do next.

breathless adj. 1 gasping for breath, typically due to exertion: the climb left me breathless.

- feeling or causing great excitement or other strong feelings: she was breathless with shock.

2 (of the air) not stirred by any wind or breeze; stiflingly still: the warm breathless air.

<DERIVATIVES> breathlessly adv. breathlessness n.

breathtaking adj. astonishing or awe-inspiring in quality, so as to take one's breath away: the scene was one of breathtaking beauty.

<DERIVATIVES> breathtakingly adv.

breath test n. a test in which a driver is made to blow into a breathalyser to check whether they have drunk more than the legally permitted amount.

■ v. (breath-test) [with obj.] give (someone) a breath test.

breathy /brεθi/ adj. (breathier, breathiest) producing or causing an audible sound of breathing, typically as a result of physical exertion or strong feelings: a breathy laugh.

<DERIVATIVES> breathily adv. breathiness n.

breccia /brεtə -tə/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] rock consisting of angular fragments of stones cemented by finer calcareous material.

<DERIVATIVES> brecciate v. brecciation n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Italian, literally ‘gravel’, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to break^1.

Brecht /brεxt/ German /brεçt/ (Eugen) Bertolt (Friedrich) (1898–1956), German dramatist, producer, and poet. His interest in combining music and drama led to collaboration with Kurt Weill, for example in The Threepenny Opera (1928), an adaptation of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera. Brecht's later drama, written in exile after Hitler's rise to power, uses techniques of theatrical alienation and includes Mother Courage (1941) and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1948).

<DERIVATIVES> Brechtian adj.

Breconshire /brεkənə -ə/ (also Brecknockshire /brεknk-/) a former county of south central Wales. It was divided between Powys and Gwent in 1974.

bred past and past participle of BREED

■ adj. [usually in combination] (of a person or animal) reared in a specified environment or way: the bareness of the scene intimidated the city-bred Elizabeth.

Breda /bredə/ a manufacturing town in the SW Netherlands; pop. 160,000 (est. 2002). It is noted for the Compromise of Breda of 1566, a protest against Spanish rule over the Netherlands; the 1660 manifesto of Charles II (who lived there in exile), stating his terms for accepting the throne of Britain; and the Treaty of Breda, which ended the Anglo-Dutch war of 1665–7.

bredie /bridi brədi/ n. a traditional southern African dish consisting of a stew of meat (typically mutton) and vegetables.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, perhaps from Portuguese bredo, denoting several species of Amaranthus, sometimes cooked as a vegetable.

breech n. 1 the part of a cannon behind the bore.

- the back part of a rifle or gun barrel.

2 ARCHAIC a person's buttocks.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC dress (a boy) in breeches after he has been in petticoats since birth.

<ORIGIN> Old English brēc (plural of brōc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch broek), interpreted as a singular form. The original sense was ‘garment covering the loins and thighs’ (compare with BREECHES), hence ‘the buttocks’ (sense 2 of the noun, mid 16th century), later ‘the hind part’ of anything.

breech birth (also breech delivery) n. a delivery of a baby which is so positioned in the womb that the buttocks or feet are delivered first.

breechblock n. a metal block which closes the aperture at the back part of a rifle or gun barrel.

breechclout n. North American term for LOINCLOTH.

breeches /brtz britz/ plural n. short trousers fastened just below the knee, now chiefly worn for riding or as part of ceremonial dress.

- INFORMAL trousers.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: plural of BREECH.

Breeches Bible n. the Geneva Bible of 1560, so named because the word breeches is used in Gen. 3:7 for the garments made by Adam and Eve.

breeches buoy n. a lifebuoy with canvas breeches attached which, when suspended from a rope, can be used to hold and transfer a passenger to safety from a ship.

breeching n. [mass noun] 1 a strong leather strap passing round the hindquarters of a horse harnessed to a vehicle and enabling the horse to push backwards.

2 HISTORICAL a thick rope used to secure the carriages of cannon on a ship and to absorb the force of the recoil.

3 the hair or wool on the hindquarters of an animal.

breech-loader n. a gun designed to have ammunition inserted at the breech rather than through the muzzle.

<DERIVATIVES> breech-loading adj.

breed v. (past and past participle bred) [no obj.] (of animals) mate and then produce offspring: toads are said to return to the pond of their birth to breed.

- [with obj.] cause (an animal) to produce offspring, especially in a controlled and organized way: bitches may not be bred from more than once a year.

- [with obj.] develop (a variety of animal or plant) for a particular purpose or quality: these horses are bred for this sport.

- [with obj.] rear and train (someone) to behave in a particular way: Theodora had been beautifully bred.

- [with obj.] produce or lead to (something) over a period of time: success had bred a certain arrogance.

- [with obj.] [PHYSICS] create (fissile material) by nuclear reaction.

■ n. a stock of animals or plants within a species having a distinctive appearance and typically having been developed by deliberate selection.

- a sort or kind of person or thing: a new breed of entrepreneurs was brought into being.

<PHRASES>

□ a breed apart a kind of person that is very different from the norm: health-service staff are a breed apart with their dedication to duty.

□ a dying breed a kind of person that is slowly disappearing: the country's dying breed of elder statesmen.

□ what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh (or blood) see BONE.

<ORIGIN> Old English brēdan ‘produce (offspring), bear (a child)’, of Germanic origin; related to German brüten, also to BROOD.

breeder n. a person who breeds animals or plants: a dog breeder.

- an animal that breeds at a particular time or in a particular way: emperor penguins are winter breeders.

- INFORMAL, DEROGATORY (among homosexuals) a heterosexual person.

breeder reactor n. a nuclear reactor which creates fissile material (typically plutonium-239 by irradiation of uranium-238) at a faster rate than it uses another fissile material (typically uranium-235) as fuel.

breeding n. [mass noun] 1 the mating and production of offspring by animals: the flooding of the rivers is a trigger for breeding to start.

2 the good manners regarded as characteristic of the aristocracy and conferred by heredity: a girl of good breeding.

breeding ground n. an area where birds, fish, or other animals habitually breed.

- a place or situation that favours the development or occurrence of something: the situation is a breeding ground for political unrest.

breeks plural n. chiefly SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH another term for BREECHES.

breeze^1 n. 1 a gentle wind.

- [with modifier] a wind of force 2 to 6 on the Beaufort scale (4–27 knots or 7–50 kph).

2 INFORMAL a thing that is easy to do or accomplish: travelling through London was a breeze.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] INFORMAL come or go in a casual or light-hearted manner: Roger breezed into her office.

- [no obj.] (breeze through) deal with something with apparently casual ease: Milan had breezed through their first defence of the European Cup.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably from Old Spanish and Portuguese briza ‘NE wind’ (the original sense in English).

breeze^2 n. [mass noun] small cinders mixed with sand and cement to make breeze blocks.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French braise, (earlier) brese ‘live coals’.

breeze block n. BRITISH a lightweight building brick made from small cinders mixed with sand and cement.

breezeway n. NORTH AMERICAN a roofed outdoor passage, as between a house and a garage.

breezy adj. (breezier, breeziest) 1 pleasantly windy: it was a bright, breezy day.

2 appearing relaxed, informal, and cheerily brisk: the text is written in a breezy matter-of-fact manner.

<DERIVATIVES> breezily adv. breeziness n.

Bregenz /breənts/ German /breεnts/ a city in western Austria, on the eastern shores of Lake Constance; pop. 26,853 (est. 2002). It is the capital of the state of Vorarlberg.

brekkie (also brekky) n. [mass noun] INFORMAL breakfast.

Brel /brεl/ French /bRεl/ Jacques (1929–78), Belgian singer and composer. He gained a reputation in Paris as an original songwriter whose satirical wit was balanced by his idealism and hope.

Bremen /bremən/ a state of NW Germany. Divided into two parts, which centre on the city of Bremen and the port of Bremerhaven, it is surrounded by the state of Lower Saxony.

- its capital, an industrial city linked by the River Weser to the port of Bremerhaven and the North Sea; pop. 528,200 (est. 2002).

bremsstrahlung /brεmztrαl/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] electromagnetic radiation produced by the acceleration or especially the deceleration of a charged particle after passing through the electric and magnetic fields of a nucleus.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from German, from bremsen ‘to brake’ + Strahlung ‘radiation’.

Bren (also Bren gun) n. a lightweight quick-firing machine gun used by the Allied forces in the Second World War.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of Brno (a town in the Czech Republic where it was originally made) and Enfield in England (site of the Royal Small Arms Factory where it was later made).

Brendan, St (c.486–c.575), Irish abbot. The legend of the ‘Navigation of St Brendan’ (c.1050), describing his voyage with a band of monks to a promised land (possibly Orkney or the Hebrides), was widely popular in the Middle Ages. Feast day, 16 May.

Brenner Pass /brεnə/ an Alpine pass at the border between Austria and Italy, on the route between Innsbruck and Bolzano, at an altitude of 1,371 m (4,450 ft).

brent goose n. a small goose with a mainly black head and neck, breeding in the arctic tundra of Eurasia and Canada.

<INFO> Branta bernicla, family Anatidae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

bresaola /brεsalə/ n. [mass noun] an Italian dish of raw beef cured by salting and air-drying, typically served in slices with an olive oil, lemon juice, and pepper dressing.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from bresada, past participle of brasare ‘braise’.

Brescia /brεə/ an industrial city in Lombardy, in northern Italy; pop. 187,865 (2001).

Breslau /brεsla/ German name for Wrocław.

Bresson /brεs/ French /bRεs/ Robert (1907–99), French film director. His most notable films, most of which feature unknown actors, include Diary of a Country Priest (1951) and The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962).

Brest /brεst/ French /bRεst/ 1 a port and naval base on the Atlantic coast of Brittany, in NW France; pop. 149,634 (1999).

2 a river port and industrial city in Belarus, situated close to the border with Poland; pop. 305,800 (est. 2002). The peace treaty between Germany and Russia was signed there in March 1918. Former name (until 1921) Brest-Litovsk. Polish name Brześć nad Bugiem.

Bretagne /bRəta/ French name for BRITTANY.

brethren archaic plural of BROTHER

■ plural n. fellow Christians or members of a male religious order. See also brother (sense 2 of the noun).

- IRONIC or HUMOROUS people belonging to a particular group: our brethren in the popular national press.

Breton^1 /brεt(ə)n/ n. 1 a native of Brittany.

2 [mass noun] the Celtic language of Brittany, derived from Cornish. It has around 500,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to Brittany or its people or language.

<ORIGIN> from Old French, ‘Briton’.

Breton^2 /brεt(ə)n/ French /bRət/ André (1896–1966), French poet, essayist, and critic. First involved with Dadaism, Breton later launched the surrealist movement, outlining the movement's philosophy in his manifesto of 1924. His creative writing is characterized by surrealist techniques such as ‘automatic’ writing.

Breuil /brəi/ French /bRœj/ Henri (Édouard Prosper) (1877–1961), French archaeologist. He is noted for his work on Palaeolithic cave paintings, in particular those at Altamira in Spain, which he was able to authenticate.

breve n. 1 [MUSIC] a note, rarely used in modern music, having the time value of two semibreves, and represented as a semibreve with two short bars either side, or as a square.

2 a written or printed mark (˘) indicating a short or unstressed vowel.

3 HISTORICAL an authoritative letter from a pope or monarch.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: variant of BRIEF. In the musical sense, the term was originally used in a series where a long was of greater time value than a breve.

brevet /brεvt/ n. [often as modifier] a former type of military commission conferred especially for outstanding service, by which an officer was promoted to a higher rank without the corresponding pay: a brevet lieutenant.

■ v. (brevets, breveting or brevetting, breveted or brevetted) [with obj.] confer a brevet rank on.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an official letter, especially a papal indulgence): from Old French brievet ‘little letter’, diminutive of bref.

breviary /brivəri/ n. (pl. breviaries) a book containing the service for each day, to be recited by those in orders in the Roman Catholic Church.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also denoting an abridged version of the Psalms): from Latin breviarium ‘summary, abridgement’, from breviare ‘abridge’, from brevis ‘short, brief’.

brevity /brεvti/ n. [mass noun] concise and exact use of words in writing or speech.

- shortness of time: the brevity of human life.

<PHRASES>

□ brevity is the soul of wit PROVERB the essence of a witty statement lies in its concise wording and delivery. [<ORIGIN> from Shakespeare's Hamlet (II. ii. 90).]

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French brievete, from Latin brevitas, from brevis ‘brief’.

brew v. [with obj.] 1 make (beer) by soaking, boiling, and fermentation.

2 make (tea or coffee) by mixing it with hot water: I've just brewed some coffee.

- (brew up) BRITISH INFORMAL make tea.

3 [no obj.] (of an unwelcome event or situation) begin to develop: there was more trouble brewing as the miners went on strike | a storm was brewing.

■ n. 1 a kind of beer.

- INFORMAL a glass or can of beer.

2 a cup or mug of tea or coffee.

3 a mixture of events, people, or things which interact to form a more potent whole: a dangerous brew of political turmoil and violent conflict.

<DERIVATIVES> brewer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English brēowan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch brouwen and German brauen.

brewer's yeast n. [mass noun] a yeast which is used in the brewing of top-fermenting beer and is also eaten as a source of vitamin B.

<INFO> Saccharomyces cerevisiae, subdivision Ascomycotina.

brewery n. (pl. breweries) a place where beer is made commercially.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from BREW, probably on the pattern of Dutch brouwerij.

brewhouse n. a brewery.

brewmaster n. a person who supervises the brewing process in a brewery.

brewpub n. chiefly US an establishment, typically one including a restaurant, selling beer brewed on the premises.

brewski n. (pl. brewskis or brewskies) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a beer.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from BREW + a fanciful ending, perhaps after the common Slavonic surname suffix -ski.

Brewster Sir David (1781–1868), Scottish physicist. He is best known for his work on the laws governing the polarization of light, and for his invention of the kaleidoscope.

brew-up n. BRITISH INFORMAL a session of making tea.

breyani /brαni/ n. South African spelling of BIRYANI.

Brezhnev /brεnεf/ Leonid (Ilich) (1906–82), Soviet statesman, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR 1966–82 and President 1977–82. His period in power was marked by intensified persecution of dissidents at home and by attempted détente followed by renewed Cold War in 1968; he was largely responsible for the invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968).

briar^1 (also brier) n. any of a number of prickly scrambling shrubs, especially a wild rose.

<INFO> Genus Rosa, family Rosaceae: several species, including the Eurasian sweet briar (R. rubiginosa).

<DERIVATIVES> briary adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English brr, brēr, of unknown origin.

briar^2 (also brier) n. 1 (also briar pipe) a tobacco pipe made from woody nodules borne at ground level by a large woody plant of the heather family.

2 the tree heath, which bears these nodules.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French bruyère ‘heath, heather’, from medieval Latin brucus.

bribe v. [with obj.] dishonestly persuade (someone) to act in one's favour by a gift of money or other inducement: they attempted to bribe opponents into losing | [with obj. and infinitive] they had bribed an official to sell them a certificate.

■ n. a sum of money or other inducement offered or given to bribe someone.

<DERIVATIVES> bribable adj. briber n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French briber, brimber ‘beg’, of unknown origin. The original sense was ‘rob, extort’, hence (as a noun) ‘theft, stolen goods’, also ‘money extorted or demanded for favours’, later ‘offer money as an inducement’ (early 16th century).

bribery n. [mass noun] the giving or offering of a bribe: his opponent had been guilty of bribery and corruption | [as modifier] a bribery scandal.

bric-a-brac n. [mass noun] miscellaneous objects and ornaments of little value.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from obsolete à bric et à brac ‘at random’.

brick n. 1 a small rectangular block typically made of fired or sun-dried clay, used in building.

- [mass noun] bricks collectively as a building material: this mill was built of brick | [as modifier] a large brick building.

- a small, rectangular object: a brick of ice cream.

- BRITISH a child's toy building block.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a generous, helpful, and reliable person: ‘You are really a brick, Vi,’ Gloria said.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and usually with adverbial] block or enclose with a wall of bricks: the doors have been bricked up.

2 (be bricking oneself) BRITISH VULGAR SLANG be extremely worried or nervous.

<PHRASES>

□ a brick short of a load see SHORT.

□ bricks and mortar buildings, typically housing: untold acres are being buried under bricks and mortar.

- a house considered in terms of its value as an investment.

- [as modifier] used to denote a business that operates conventionally rather than (or as well as) over the Internet: the bricks-and-mortar banks.

□ come up against (or hit) a brick wall face an insuperable problem or obstacle while trying to do something.

□ like a ton of bricks INFORMAL with crushing weight, force, or authority: the FA came down on him like a ton of bricks.

□ you can't make bricks without straw PROVERB nothing can be made or accomplished without proper or adequate material or information. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Exod. 5; ‘without straw’ meant ‘without having straw provided’ (i.e. the Israelites were required to gather the straw for themselves). A misinterpretation has led to the current sense.]

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch bricke, brike; probably reinforced by Old French brique; of unknown ultimate origin.

brickbat n. a piece of brick used as a missile.

- a critical remark or comment: the plaudits were beginning to outnumber the brickbats.

brick-built adj. (of a building or structure) made of bricks.

brickfield n. an area of ground where bricks are made.

brickie n. (pl. brickies) BRITISH INFORMAL a bricklayer.

bricklayer n. a person whose job is to build walls, houses, and other structures with bricks.

<DERIVATIVES> bricklaying n.

brick red n. [mass noun] a deep brownish red: [as modifier] he had a brick-red face.

brickwork n. 1 [mass noun] the bricks in a wall, house, or other structure in terms of their type or layout: the patterned brickwork of the gables.

2 (brickworks) [treated as sing.] BRITISH a factory where bricks are made.

brickyard n. a place where bricks are made.

bricolage /brkəlα/ n. (pl. same or bricolages) [mass noun] (in art or literature) construction or creation from a diverse range of available things.

- [count noun] something constructed or created from a diverse range of things.

<ORIGIN> French.

bricoleur /brkələ/ n. a person who engages in bricolage.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘handyman’.

bridal adj. of or concerning a bride or a newly married couple: her white bridal gown | the bridal party came out into the church porch.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old English brȳd-ealu ‘wedding feast’, from brȳd ‘bride’ + ealu ‘ale-drinking’. Since the late 16th century, the word has been associated with adjectives ending in -AL.

bridal suite n. a suite of rooms in a hotel for the use of a newly married couple.

bride n. a woman on her wedding day or just before and after the event.

<ORIGIN> Old English brȳd, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bruid and German Braut.

Bride, St /bridə brd/ see Bridget, St^1.

bridegroom n. a man on his wedding day or just before and after the event.

<ORIGIN> Old English brȳdguma, from brȳd ‘bride’ + guma ‘man’. The change in the second syllable was due to association with GROOM.

bride price n. a sum of money or quantity of goods given to a bride's family by that of the groom in some tribal societies.

bridesmaid n. 1 a girl or woman, usually one of several, who accompanies a bride on her wedding day.

2 INFORMAL a person who never attains a desire or goal. [<ORIGIN> from the saying ‘always the bridesmaid and never the bride’.]

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: alteration of earlier bridemaid.

bridewell n. ARCHAIC a prison or reform school for petty offenders.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: named after St Bride's Well in the City of London, near which such a building stood.

Bridge Frank (1879–1941), English composer, conductor, and violist. His compositions include chamber music, songs, and orchestral works, among them The Sea (1910–11) and Oration (for cello and orchestra, 1930).

bridge^1 n. 1 a structure carrying a road, path, railway, etc. across a river, road, or other obstacle: a bridge across the River Thames | a railway bridge.

- something intended to reconcile or connect two seemingly incompatible things: a committee which was formed to create a bridge between rival party groups.

2 the elevated, enclosed platform on a ship from which the captain and officers direct operations.

3 the upper bony part of a person's nose: he pushed his spectacles further up the bridge of his nose.

- the central part of a pair of glasses, fitting over the bridge of the nose.

4 a partial denture supported by natural teeth on either side.

5 [MUSIC] the part of a stringed instrument over which the strings are stretched.

6 [MUSIC] a bridge passage or middle eight.

7 the support for the tip of a billiard cue formed by the hand.

- a long stick with a frame at the end which is used to support a cue for a difficult shot.

8 an electric circuit with two branches across which a detector or load is connected, used to measure resistance or other property by equalizing the potential across the two ends of a detector, or to rectify an alternating voltage or current.

■ v. [with obj.] be or make a bridge over (something): a covered walkway bridged the gardens | earlier attempts to bridge St George's Channel had failed.

- make (a difference between two groups) smaller or less significant: new initiatives were needed to bridge the great abyss of class.

<PHRASES>

□ cross that bridge when one comes to it deal with a problem when and if it arises.

<DERIVATIVES> bridgeable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English brycg (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch brug and German Brücke.

bridge^2 n. [mass noun] a card game related to whist, played by two partnerships of two players who at the beginning of each hand bid for the right to name the trump suit, the highest bid also representing a contract to make a specified number of tricks with a specified suit as trumps.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

bridge-and-tunnel adj. US INFORMAL (of a person) living in the suburbs and perceived as unsophisticated: clubs catering for the beautiful people and the bridge-and-tunnel crowds.

<ORIGIN> with reference to the routes used for commuting into New York.

bridge-building n. [mass noun] the promotion of friendly relations between groups.

<DERIVATIVES> bridge-builder n.

bridgehead n. a strong position secured by an army inside enemy territory from which to advance or attack.

bridge loan n. North American term for BRIDGING LOAN.

bridge of boats n. a bridge formed by mooring boats side by side across a river.

Bridge of Sighs a 16th-century enclosed bridge in Venice between the Doges' Palace and the state prison, originally crossed by prisoners on their way to torture or execution.

bridge passage n. a transitional section in a musical composition leading to a new section or theme.

bridge roll n. BRITISH a small, soft bread roll with a long, thin shape.

Bridges Robert (Seymour) (1844–1930), English poet and literary critic. His long philosophical poem The Testament of Beauty (1929), written in the Victorian tradition, was instantly popular. He was Poet Laureate 1913–30.

Bridget, St^1 (also Bride or Brigid)

- (6th century), Irish abbess; also known as St Bridget of Ireland. She was venerated in Ireland as a virgin saint and noted in miracle stories for her compassion; her cult soon spread over most of western Europe. Feast day, 1 February.

Bridget, St^2 (also Birgitta)

- (c.1303–73), Swedish nun and visionary; also known as St Bridget of Sweden. She experienced her first vision of the Virgin Mary at the age of 7. Feast day, 23 July.

Bridgetown the capital of Barbados, a port on the south coast; pop. 7,500 (est. 1994).

bridgework n. [mass noun] 1 dental bridges collectively.

2 [BUILDING] the component parts of a bridge.

- the construction of bridges.

bridging /brd/ n. [mass noun] [MOUNTAINEERING] a method of climbing a wide chimney by using the left hand and foot on one side wall and the right hand and foot on the other.

bridging loan n. BRITISH a sum of money lent by a bank to cover an interval between two transactions, typically the buying of one house and the selling of another.

Bridgman Percy Williams (1882–1961), American physicist. He worked with liquids and solids under very high pressures and his techniques were later used in making artificial minerals (including diamonds). Nobel Prize for Physics (1946).

bridie n. (pl. bridies) SCOTTISH a meat pasty.

<ORIGIN> perhaps from obsolete bride's pie.

bridle n. the headgear used to control a horse, consisting of buckled straps to which a bit and reins are attached.

- a line, rope, or device that is used to restrain or control the action or movement of something.

- [NAUTICAL] a mooring cable.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] put a bridle on (a horse).

- bring (something) under control; curb: the fact that he was their servant bridled his tongue.

2 [no obj.] show one's resentment or anger, especially by throwing up one's head and drawing in one's chin: she bridled at his tone.

<PHRASES>

□ off (or on) the bridle see bit^3.

<ORIGIN> Old English brīdel (noun), brīdlian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch breidel (noun).

■ Sense 2 of the verb of the verb use is from the action of a horse when reined in.

bridleway (also bridle path) n. BRITISH a path or track along which horse riders have right of way.

bridoon /brdun/ (also bradoon) n. a snaffle bit which is frequently used in conjunction with a curb bit in a double bridle.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French bridon, from bride ‘bridle’, of Germanic origin.

Brie /bri/ n. [mass noun] a kind of soft, mild, creamy cheese with a firm white skin.

<ORIGIN> named after Brie in northern France, where it was originally made.

brief adj. 1 of short duration; not lasting for long: the president made a brief working visit to Moscow.

- concise in expression; using few words: introductions were brief and polite | be brief and don't talk for longer than is necessary.

2 (of a piece of clothing) not covering much of the body; scanty: Alison sported a pair of extremely brief black shorts.

■ n. 1 BRITISH a set of instructions given to a person about a job or task: his brief is to turn round the county's fortunes.

2 [LAW], BRITISH a summary of the facts and legal points in a case given to a barrister to argue in court.

- a piece of work for a barrister.

- British INFORMAL a solicitor or barrister: it was only his brief's eloquence that had saved him from prison.

- US a written statement of the facts and legal points supporting one side of a case, for presentation to a court.

3 a letter from the Pope to a person or community on a matter of discipline.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 instruct or inform (someone) thoroughly, especially in preparation for a task: she briefed him on last week's decisions.

2 BRITISH instruct (a barrister) by brief.

<PHRASES>

□ hold a brief for BRITISH be retained as counsel for.

□ hold no brief for BRITISH not support or argue in favour of: I hold no brief for dishonest policemen.

□ in brief in a few words; in short: he is, in brief, the embodiment of evil | the news in brief.

<DERIVATIVES> briefer n. briefness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French brief, from Latin brevis ‘short’. The noun is via late Latin breve ‘note, dispatch’, hence ‘an official letter’.

briefcase n. a leather or plastic rectangular container with a handle for carrying books and documents.

briefing n. a meeting for giving information or instructions: a media briefing in the House of Commons.

- [mass noun] the action of informing or instructing someone: today's briefing of Nato allies.

briefless adj. [LAW], BRITISH (of a barrister) having no clients.

briefly adv. for a short time; fleetingly: he worked briefly as a lawyer.

- using few words; concisely: as I briefly mentioned earlier | [sentence adv.] briefly, the plot is as follows ….

briefs plural n. short, close-fitting underpants or knickers.

brig^1 n. 1 a two-masted square-rigged ship, typically having an additional lower fore-and-aft sail on the gaff and a boom to the mainmast.

2 INFORMAL a prison, especially on a warship.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: abbreviation of BRIGANTINE (the original sense).

brig^2 n. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a bridge.

<ORIGIN> from Old Norse bryggja.

Brig. abbr. Brigadier.

brigade n. a subdivision of an army, typically consisting of a small number of infantry battalions and/or other units and forming part of a division: he commanded a brigade of 3,000 men.

- an organization with a military or quasi-military structure: a volunteer ambulance brigade.

- INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY a group of people with a characteristic in common: the anti-smoking brigade.

■ v. [with obj.] RARE form into a brigade.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian brigata ‘company’, from brigare ‘contend’, from briga ‘strife’.

brigade major n. [MILITARY] the principal staff officer to the brigadier in command at the headquarters of a brigade.

brigadier n. a rank of officer in the British army, above colonel and below major general.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French (see BRIGADE, -ier).

brigadier general n. a rank of officer in the US army, air force, and marine corps, above colonel and below major general.

brigalow /brələ/ n. an Australian acacia tree.

<INFO> Genus Acacia, family Leguminosae: several species, in particular A. harpophylla, with silver leaves and dark furrowed bark.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from an Aboriginal word, perhaps Kamilaroi burigal.

brigand /br(ə)nd/ n. a member of a gang that ambushes and robs people in forests and mountains.

<DERIVATIVES> brigandage n. brigandry n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also denoting an irregular foot soldier): from Old French, from Italian brigante, literally ‘(person) contending’, from brigare ‘contend’ (see BRIGADE).

brigandine /br(ə)ndin/ n. HISTORICAL a coat of mail, typically one made of iron rings or plates attached to canvas or other fabric.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from brigand (see BRIGAND).

brigantine /br(ə)ntin/ n. a two-masted sailing ship with a square-rigged foremast and a mainmast rigged fore and aft.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting a small vessel used by pirates): from Old French, from Italian brigantino, from brigante (see BRIGAND).

Briggs^1 Henry (1561–1630), English mathematician. He was renowned for his work on logarithms, in which he introduced the decimal base, made the thousands of calculations necessary for the tables, and popularized their use. Briggs also devised a standard method used for long division.

Briggs^2 Raymond (Redvers) (b.1934), English writer and illustrator of children's books. His works include Father Christmas (1973) and The Snowman (1979).

Bright John (1811–89), English Liberal politician and reformer. A noted orator, Bright was the leader, along with Richard Cobden, of the campaign to repeal the Corn Laws. He was also a vociferous opponent of the Crimean War (1854) and was closely identified with the 1867 Reform Act.

bright adj. 1 giving out or reflecting much light; shining: the sun was dazzlingly bright | her bright, dark eyes.

- full of light: the rooms are bright and spacious.

- (of a period of time) having sunny, cloudless weather: the long, bright days of June.

- (of colour) vivid and bold: the bright green leaves.

- having a vivid colour: a bright tie.

2 intelligent and quick-witted: she was amiable, but not very bright | a bright idea.

3 cheerful and lively: at breakfast she would be persistently bright and chirpy | she gave a bright smile.

- (of someone's future) likely to be successful and happy: these young people have a bright future ahead of them.

4 (of sound) clear, vibrant, and typically high-pitched: her voice is fresh and bright.

■ adv. chiefly LITERARY brightly: a full moon shining bright.

■ n. (brights) 1 bold and vivid colours: a choice of colours from pastels through to brights.

2 NORTH AMERICAN headlights switched to full beam: he turned the brights on and we drove along the dirt road.

<PHRASES>

□ bright and early very early in the morning.

□ (as) bright as a button BRITISH INFORMAL intelligently alert and lively.

□ bright lights the glamour and excitement of city life: they hankered for the bright lights of the capital.

□ look on the bright side be optimistic or cheerful in spite of difficulties.

<DERIVATIVES> brightish adj. brightly adv. brightness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English beorht, of Germanic origin.

brighten v. make or become more light: [no obj.] most of the country should brighten up later | [with obj.] the fire began to blaze fiercely, brightening the room.

- [with obj.] make (something) more attractively colourful: daffodils brighten up many gardens and parks.

- make or become happier and more cheerful: [no obj.] Sarah brightened up considerably as she thought of Emily's words | [with obj.] she seems to brighten his life.

<ORIGIN> Old English (ge)beorhtnian.

bright-eyed adj. having shining eyes.

- alert and lively: bright-eyed young lawyers.

<PHRASES>

□ bright-eyed and bushy-tailed INFORMAL alert and lively. [<ORIGIN> from the conventional description of a squirrel.]

Brighton a resort on the south coast of England; pop. 122,500 (est. 2002). It was patronized by the Prince of Wales (later George IV) from c.1780 to 1827, and is noted for its Regency architecture. It became a city (with Hove) in 2000.

Bright's disease n. [mass noun] a disease involving chronic inflammation of the kidneys.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Richard Bright, (1789–1858), the English physician who established its nature.

bright spark n. BRITISH INFORMAL, often IRONIC a clever or witty person.

brightwork n. [mass noun] polished metalwork on ships or other vehicles.

bright young thing n. an enthusiastic, ambitious, and self-consciously fashionable young person, a term originally applied in the 1920s to a member of a young fashionable set noted for exuberant and outrageous behaviour.

Brigid, St /brdd/ see Bridget, St^1.

brill^1 n. a European flatfish that resembles a turbot.

<INFO> Scophthalmus rhombus, family Scophthalmidae (or Bothidae).

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: of unknown origin.

brill^2 adj. BRITISH INFORMAL excellent; marvellous: a brill new series | [as exclamation] ‘She says I can spend half-term with you.’ ‘Hey, brill!’.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: abbreviation of BRILLIANT.

brilliance (also brilliancy) n. [mass noun] 1 intense brightness of light: the nights were dark, lit only by the brilliance of Aegean stars.

- vividness of colour.

2 exceptional talent or intelligence: he's played the stock market with great brilliance.

brilliant adj. 1 (of light or colour) very bright: brilliant sunshine illuminated the scene.

2 exceptionally clever or talented: he was quite brilliant and was promoted almost at once | the germ of a brilliant idea hit her.

- outstanding; impressive: his brilliant career at Harvard.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL excellent; marvellous: we had a brilliant time | [as exclamation] ‘Brilliant!’ he declared excitedly.

■ n. a diamond of brilliant cut.

<DERIVATIVES> brilliantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French brillant ‘shining’, present participle of briller, from Italian brillare, probably from Latin beryllus (see BERYL).

brilliant cut n. a circular cut for diamonds and other gemstones in the form of two many-faceted pyramids joined at their bases, the upper one truncated near its apex.

brilliantine n. [mass noun] 1 DATED scented oil used on men's hair to make it look glossy.

2 US shiny dress fabric made from cotton and mohair or cotton and worsted.

<DERIVATIVES> brilliantined adj.

■ brilliantine (sense 1)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French brillantine, from brillant ‘shining’ (see BRILLIANT).

Brillo pad n. TRADEMARK a pad made of steel wool impregnated with soap, used for scouring pans.

- [as modifier] INFORMAL denoting wiry or tightly curled hair: teachers hated my Brillo-pad hairstyle.

brim n. 1 the projecting edge around the bottom of a hat: a soft hat with a turned-up brim.

2 the upper edge or lip of a cup, bowl, or other container: he filled her glass to the brim.

■ v. (brims, brimming, brimmed) [no obj.] (often as adj. brimming) be full to the point of overflowing: a brimming cup.

- fill something so completely that it almost overflows: large tears brimmed in her eyes.

- be full of a particular quality, feeling, etc.: he is brimming with ideas.

<DERIVATIVES> brimless adj. brimmed adj. [in combination] a wide-brimmed hat

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting the edge of the sea or other body of water): perhaps related to German Bräme ‘trimming’.

brimful adj. [predic.] filled with something to the point of overflowing: a jug brimful of custard.

brimstone /brmst(ə)n -stən/ n. 1 [mass noun] ARCHAIC sulphur.

2 a bright yellow butterfly or moth:

<INFO>

- (also brimstone butterfly) a European butterfly of the white family, the male of which is yellow and the female greenish-white (Gonepteryx rhamni, family Pieridae).

- (also brimstone moth) a small yellow European moth (Opisthograptis luteolata, family Geometridae).

<ORIGIN> late Old English brynstān, probably from bryne ‘burning’ + stān ‘stone’.

brindle n. [mass noun] a brownish or tawny colour of animal fur, with streaks of other colour.

- [count noun] an animal with such a coat.

■ adj. (also brindled) (especially of a domestic animal) brownish or tawny with streaks of other colour: a brindle pup.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: back-formation from brindled, alteration of Middle English brinded, probably of Scandinavian origin.

Brindley /brndli/ James (1716–72), pioneering English canal-builder. He designed some 600 km (375 miles) of waterway with a minimum of locks, cuttings, or tunnels, connecting most of the major rivers of England.

brine n. [mass noun] water strongly impregnated with salt: the olives have been stored in brine.

- seawater.

- [count noun] TECHNICAL a strong solution of a salt or salts.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. brined) soak or preserve in salty water: brined anchovies.

<ORIGIN> Old English brīne, of unknown origin.

brine shrimp n. a small fairy shrimp which lives in brine pools and salt lakes and is used as food for aquarium fish.

<INFO> Artemia salina, class Branchiopoda.

bring v. (past and past participle brought) [with obj.] 1 take or go with (someone or something) to a place: she brought Luke home from hospital | [with two objs] Liz brought her a glass of water.

- cause (someone or something) to come to a place: what brings you here? | a felony case brought before a jury | FIGURATIVE his inner confidence has brought him through his ordeal.

- (bring someone in) involve (someone) in a particular activity: he has brought in a consultancy company.

- cause someone to receive (an amount of money) as income or profit: two important Chippendale lots brought £10,000 each | [with two objs] five more novels brought him £150,000.

- cause (someone or something) to move in a particular direction: he brought his hands out of his pockets | heavy rain brought down the ceiling.

- cause (something): the bad weather brought famine.

2 cause (someone or something) to be in a particular state or condition: an economic policy that would have brought the country to bankruptcy | I'll give you an aspirin to bring down your temperature.

3 initiate (legal action) against someone: riot and conspiracy charges should be brought against them.

4 [usually with negative] (bring oneself to do something) force oneself to do something unpleasant: she could not bring herself to mention it.

<PHRASES>

□ bring home the bacon see BACON.

□ bring something HOME to see HOME.

□ bring the house down make an audience laugh or applaud very enthusiastically.

□ bring it on INFORMAL used to express confidence in meeting a challenge.

□ bring something to bear 1 exert influence or pressure so as to achieve a particular result: they brought pressure to bear on him to resign.

2 aim a weapon: he brought his rifle to bear on a distant target.

□ bring someone to BOOK see BOOK.

□ bring something to light see light^1.

□ bring someone/thing to mind cause one to remember or think of someone or something: all that marble brought to mind a mausoleum.

□ bring something to pass chiefly LITERARY cause something to happen.

□ bring something to the table (or party) contribute something of value to a discussion, project, etc.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ bring something about 1 cause something to happen.

2 cause a ship to head in a different direction.

□ bring something back reintroduce something: bringing back capital punishment would solve nothing.

- cause something to return: the smell of the tiny church brought back every memory of my childhood.

□ bring someone down cause someone to lose power: the vote will not bring down the government.

- cause someone to fall over, especially by tackling them during a football or rugby match.

- make someone unhappy.

□ bring someone/thing down cause someone or something to fall over by shooting them.

□ bring something forth ARCHAIC give birth to something.

□ bring something forward 1 move a meeting or event to an earlier date or time.

2 (often as adj. brought forward) (in bookkeeping) transfer a total sum from the bottom of one page to the top of the next.

3 propose a plan or idea for consideration.

□ bring something in 1 introduce a new law or product: Congress brought in reforms to prevent abuse of presidential power.

2 (of a jury) give a decision in court: the jury brought in a unanimous verdict.

□ bring someone off 1 rescue someone from a ship in difficulties.

2 VULGAR SLANG give someone or oneself an orgasm.

□ bring something off achieve something successfully: a good omelette is very hard to bring off.

□ bring someone on encourage someone who is learning something to develop or improve.

□ bring something on 1 cause something, typically something unpleasant, to occur: ulcers are not brought on by a rich diet.

- (bring something on/upon) be responsible for something unpleasant that happens to (oneself or someone else): he's brought it upon himself—he's not a victim.

2 (of the weather) promote the growth of crops.

□ bring someone out 1 encourage someone to feel more confident: she needs friends to bring her out of herself.

2 BRITISH cause someone to go on strike.

□ bring something out 1 produce and launch a new product or publication: the band are bringing out a video.

2 make something more evident; emphasize something: the shawl brings out the colour of your eyes.

□ bring someone round (or US around) 1 (also bring someone to) restore someone to consciousness.

2 persuade someone to agree to something.

□ bring something to cause a boat to stop, especially by turning into the wind.

□ bring up (chiefly of a ship) come to a stop.

□ bring someone up look after a child until it is an adult.

- (be brought up) be taught as a child to adopt particular behaviour or attitudes: he had been brought up to believe that marriage was forever.

□ bring something up 1 vomit something.

2 raise a matter for discussion or consideration: she tried repeatedly to bring up the subject of money.

<DERIVATIVES> bringer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English bringan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch brengen and German bringen.

bring and buy (also bring-and-buy sale) n. BRITISH a charity sale at which people bring items for sale and buy those brought by others.

brinjal /brndl -dl/ n. INDIAN & S. AFRICAN an aubergine.

<ORIGIN> based on Portuguese berinjela, from Arabic al-bāinjān (see AUBERGINE).

Brink André (b.1935), South African novelist, short-story writer, and dramatist. He gained international recognition with his novel Looking on Darkness (1973), which became the first novel in Afrikaans to be banned by the South African government. Other notable novels: A Dry White Season (1979) and A Chain of Voices (1982).

brink n. the extreme edge of land before a steep slope or a body or water: the brink of the cliffs.

- the verge of a particular situation or action, typically one that is unwelcome: the country was on the brink of a constitutional crisis.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of Scandinavian origin.

brinkmanship /brkmənp/ (US also brinksmanship) n. [mass noun] the art or practice of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping, especially in politics.

brinny n. (pl. brinnies) AUSTRALIAN a stone, typically one thrown as a missile.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: probably from an Aboriginal language.

briny /brni/ adj. (brinier, briniest) of salty water or the sea; salty: the briny tang of the scallops.

■ n. (the briny) BRITISH INFORMAL the sea.

brio /briə/ n. [mass noun] vigour or vivacity of style or performance: she told her story with some brio. See also CON BRIO.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian.

brioche /bri bri/ n. a light sweet yeast bread typically in the form of a small round roll.

<ORIGIN> French, from Norman French brier, synonym of broyer, literally ‘split up into very small pieces by pressure’.

briquette /brkεt/ (also briquet) n. a block of compressed coal dust or peat used as fuel.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, diminutive of brique ‘brick’.

bris /bris/ n. the ceremony in which a Jewish baby boy is circumcised.

<ORIGIN> Hebrew bĕrī , short for bĕrī milah ‘covenant of circumcision’.

Brisbane^1 /brzbən/ the capital of Queensland, Australia; pop. 1,536,000 (est. 2002). It was founded in 1824 as a penal colony.

<ORIGIN> named after Sir Thomas Brisbane (see Brisbane^2).

Brisbane^2 /brzbən/ Sir Thomas Makdougall (1773–1860), Scottish soldier and astronomer. In 1790 he joined the army, becoming major general in 1813. He was governor of New South Wales (1821–5) and became an acclaimed astronomer.

brisé /brize/ n. [BALLET] a jump in which the dancer sweeps one leg into the air to the side while jumping off the other, brings both legs together in the air and beats them before landing.

■ adj. (of a fan) consisting entirely of pierced sticks of ivory, horn, or tortoiseshell.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘broken’.

brisk adj. active and energetic: a good brisk walk | business appeared to be brisk.

- showing a wish to deal with things quickly; slightly brusque: she adopted a brisk, businesslike tone.

- (of wind or the weather) cold but pleasantly invigorating.

■ v. [with obj.] (brisk something up) quicken something: Mary brisked up her pace.

<DERIVATIVES> brisken v. briskly adv. briskness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from French brusque (see BRUSQUE).

brisket n. [mass noun] meat cut from the breast of an animal, typically a cow.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old Norse brjósk ‘cartilage, gristle’.

brisling /brsl brz-/ n. (pl. same or brislings) a sprat, typically one seasoned and smoked in Norway and sold in a can.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Norwegian and Danish.

bristle /brs(ə)l/ n. (usually bristles) a short, stiff hair on an animal's skin or a man's face.

- a stiff animal hair, or a man-made substitute, used to make a brush: a toothbrush with nylon bristles | [mass noun] the heads are made with natural bristle.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of hair or fur) stand upright away from the skin, typically as a sign of anger or fear: the hair on the back of his neck bristled.

- (of an animal) react in such a way that its hair or fur stands on end: the cat bristled in annoyance.

- (of a person) react angrily or defensively: she bristled at his rudeness.

2 (bristle with) be covered with or abundant in: the roof bristled with antennae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old English byrst (of Germanic origin, related to German Borste) + -LE^1.

bristlebird n. an Australian songbird with mainly brown plumage, a long cocked tail, a fringe of bristles around the bill, and secretive habits.

<INFO> Genus Dasyornis, family Acanthizidae (or Maluridae): two or three species.

bristlecone pine n. a very long-lived shrubby pine of western North America. It has been used in dendrochronology to check radiocarbon dating.

<INFO> Pinus longaeva, family Pinaceae.

bristle fern n. a mainly tropical filmy fern with hair-like bristles protruding from the spore-containing bodies.

<INFO> Genus Trichomanes, family Hymenophyllaceae.

bristletail n. a small primitive wingless insect which has bristles at the end of the abdomen.

<INFO> Orders Thysanura (the true bristletails, with three bristles, including the silverfish) and Diplura (the two-pronged bristletails), subclass Apterygota.

bristle worm n. a marine annelid worm which has a segmented body with numerous bristles on the fleshy lobes of each segment. Also called POLYCHAETE.

<INFO> Class Polychaeta: numerous species, including ragworms, lugworms, fan worms, and their relatives.

bristling adj. 1 (especially of hair) short, stiff, and spiky.

2 aggressively brisk or tense: he fills the screen with a restless, bristling energy.

bristly adj. (of hair or foliage) having a stiff and prickly texture.

- covered with short, stiff hairs: he rubbed his bristly chin.

Bristol /brst(ə)l/ a city in SW England; pop. 409,300 (est. 2002). Situated on the River Avon about 10 km (6 miles) from the Bristol Channel, it has been a leading port since the 12th century.

Bristol board n. [mass noun] a type of stiff, smooth cardboard used as a drawing surface or for cutting and shaping.

Bristol Channel a wide inlet of the Atlantic between South Wales and the south-western peninsula of England, narrowing into the estuary of the River Severn.

Bristol fashion adj. [predic.] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED in good order; neat and clean: it gave him pleasure to keep things shipshape and Bristol fashion.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: originally in nautical use, referring to the commercial prosperity brought to Bristol by its shipping.

bristols plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL a woman's breasts.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from rhyming slang Bristol Cities ‘titties’.

Brit INFORMAL n. a British person.

■ adj. British.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

Britain the island containing England, Wales, and Scotland, and including the small adjacent islands. The name is broadly synonymous with Great Britain, but the longer form is more usual for the political unit. See also GREAT BRITAIN, UNITED KINGDOM.

<ORIGIN> Old English Breoton, from Latin Brittones ‘Britons’, superseded in Middle English by forms from Old French Bretaigne (from Latin Brit(t)annia). It became a largely historical term until revived in the mid 16th century, as the possible union of England and Scotland became a subject of political concern.

Britain, Battle of a series of air battles fought over Britain during August–October 1940, in which the RAF successfully resisted raids by the numerically superior German air force. This led Hitler to abandon plans to invade Britain, although the Germans continued to bomb British cities by night for several months afterwards.

Britannia /brtanjə/ the personification of Britain, usually depicted as a helmeted woman with shield and trident. The figure appeared on Roman coins and was revived with the name Britannia on the coinage of Charles II.

<ORIGIN> the Latin name for BRITAIN.

Britannia metal n. [mass noun] a silvery alloy consisting of tin with about 5–15 per cent antimony and usually some copper, lead, or zinc.

Britannia silver n. [mass noun] hallmarked silver that is at least 95.8 per cent pure.

Britannic /brtank/ adj. DATED (chiefly in names or titles) of Britain or the British Empire: he answered His Britannic Majesty's call to arms.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin Britannicus, from Britannia (see BRITANNIA).

britches /brtz/ n. another form of BREECHES, representing a pronunciation.

Briticism /brtsz(ə)m/ (also Britishism /-z(ə)m/) n. an idiom used in Britain but not in other English-speaking countries.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BRITISH, on the pattern of words such as Gallicism.

British adj. 1 relating to Great Britain or the United Kingdom, or to its people or language.

2 of the British Commonwealth or (formerly) the British Empire.

■ n. (as plural n. the British) the British people.

<DERIVATIVES> Britishness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English Brettisc ‘relating to the ancient Britons’, from Bret ‘Briton’, from Latin Britto, or its Celtic equivalent.

British Academy an institution founded in 1901 for the promotion of historical, philosophical, and philological studies.

British Antarctic Territory that part of Antarctica claimed by Britain. Designated in 1962 from territory that was formerly part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies, it includes some 388,500 sq. km (150,058 sq. miles) of the continent of Antarctica as well as the South Orkney Islands and South Shetland Islands in the South Atlantic.

British Broadcasting Corporation (abbr.: BBC) a public corporation for radio and television broadcasting in Britain.

The BBC was established in 1927 by royal charter and held a monopoly until the introduction of the first commercial TV station in 1954. It is financed by the sale of television viewing licences rather than by revenue from advertising and has an obligation to remain impartial in its reporting.

British Columbia a province on the west coast of Canada; pop. 4,095,934 (2001); capital, Victoria. Formed in 1866 by the union of Vancouver Island (a former British colony) and the mainland area, then called New Caledonia, the province includes the Queen Charlotte Islands.

British Council an organization established in 1934 with the aims of promoting a wider knowledge of Britain and the English language abroad, and of developing closer cultural relations with other countries.

British Empire a former empire consisting of Great Britain and its possessions, dominions, and dependencies.

Colonization of North America and domination of India began in the 17th century. A series of small colonies, mostly in the West Indies, were gained during the late 17th–early 19th centuries, and Australia, New Zealand, various parts of the Far East, and large areas of Africa were added in the 19th century. Self-government was granted to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa in the mid 19th century, and most of the remaining colonies have gained independence since the end of the Second World War.

British Empire, Order of the see ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

British English n. [mass noun] English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere.

Britisher n. INFORMAL (in North America and old-fashioned British English) a native or inhabitant of Britain.

British Expeditionary Force a British force made available by the army reform of 1908 for service overseas. Such forces were sent to France in 1914 and 1939.

British Guiana see GUYANA.

British Honduras former name (until 1973) for BELIZE.

British India that part of the Indian subcontinent administered by the British from 1765, when the East India Company acquired control over Bengal, until 1947, when India became independent and Pakistan was created. By 1850 British India was coterminous with India's boundaries in the west and north and by 1885 it included Burma in the east. The period of British rule was known as the Raj.

British Indian Ocean Territory a British dependency in the Indian Ocean, comprising the Chagos Archipelago and (until 1976) parts of the Seychelles. Ceded to Britain by France in 1814, the islands became a dependency in 1965. There are no permanent inhabitants, but British and US naval personnel occupy the island of Diego Garcia.

British Isles a group of islands lying off the coast of NW Europe, from which they are separated by the North Sea and the English Channel. They include Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Hebrides, the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, the Scilly Isles, and the Channel Islands.

British Legion short for ROYAL BRITISH LEGION.

British Library the national library of Britain, containing the former library departments of the British Museum. The principal copyright library, it was established separately from the British Museum in 1972, and moved to a new headquarters in 1998.

British Museum a national museum of antiquities in London. Established with public funds in 1753, it includes among its holdings the Magna Carta, the Elgin Marbles, and the Rosetta Stone.

British National Party (abbr.: BNP) an extreme right-wing political party in Britain supporting racial discrimination and strongly opposing immigration. The party arose in the 1980s as a breakaway group from the National Front.

British Sign Language n. [mass noun] a form of sign language developed in the UK for the use of deaf people, the fourth most widely used indigenous language in Britain.

British Somaliland /səmαlland/ a former British protectorate established on the Somali coast of East Africa in 1884. In 1960 it united with former Italian territory to form the independent republic of Somalia.

British Standard n. the specification of recommended procedure, quality of output, terminology, and other details, in a particular field, drawn up and published by the British Standards Institution.

British Summer Time (abbr.: BST) time as advanced one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time for daylight saving in the UK between March and October.

British thermal unit n. the amount of heat needed to raise 1 lb of water at maximum density through one degree Fahrenheit, equivalent to 1.055 × 10^3 joules.

British Union of Fascists an extreme right-wing British political party founded by Sir Oswald Mosley in 1932. It promoted strongly anti-Semitic views and its supporters were known as blackshirts. The party was effectively destroyed by the Public Order Act of 1936.

British warm n. a short, thick military overcoat or duffel coat.

Briton n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Great Britain, or a person of British descent.

2 a Celtic inhabitant of southern Britain before and during Roman times.

<ORIGIN> from Old French Breton, from Latin Britto, Britton-, or its Celtic equivalent.

Britpop n. [mass noun] British pop music of the mid 1990s that was typically influenced by the Beatles and other British groups of the 1960s and perceived as a reaction against American grunge music.

Brittany /brtəni/ a region and former duchy of NW France, forming a peninsula between the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel. It was occupied in the 5th and 6th centuries by Britons fleeing the Saxons, and was incorporated into France in 1532. French name BRETAGNE.

Britten /brt(ə)n/ (Edward) Benjamin, Lord Britten of Aldeburgh (1913–76), English composer, pianist, and conductor. He founded the Aldeburgh festival with Peter Pears in 1948, and in 1976 became the first composer to be made a life peer. Notable operas: Peter Grimes (1945), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), and Death in Venice (1973).

brittle adj. hard but liable to break easily: her bones became fragile and brittle.

- (of a person's voice) unpleasantly hard and sharp and showing signs of instability or nervousness: a brittle laugh.

- appearing decisive or cheerful but unstable or nervous within.

■ n. [mass noun] a brittle sweet made from nuts and set melted sugar: peanut brittle.

<DERIVATIVES> brittlely (or brittly) adv. brittleness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to Old English brēotan ‘break up’.

brittle bone disease n. [mass noun] MEDICINE another term for OSTEOGENESIS IMPERFECTA or OSTEOPOROSIS.

brittle fracture n. [mass noun] fracture of a metal or other material occurring without appreciable prior plastic deformation.

brittlestar n. a marine animal related to starfishes, with long, thin, flexible arms radiating from a small central disk.

<INFO> Class Ophiuroidea: Ophiura and other genera.

Brittonic /brtnk/ adj. & n. variant of BRYTHONIC.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Britto, Britton- ‘Briton’ + -IC.

britzka /brtskə/ (also britzska) n. HISTORICAL an open carriage with a folding hood and space for people to recline.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Polish bryczka.

BRN abbr. Bahrain (international vehicle registration).

Brno /bə(r)nə/ an industrial city in the Czech Republic; pop. 379,185 (2001). It is the capital of Moravia.

bro /brə/ n. INFORMAL short for BROTHER: his baby bro.

- (Bro.) Brother (used before a first name when referring in writing to a member of a religious order of men): Bro. Felix.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a friendly greeting or form of address: ‘Yo bro!’.

broach^1 v. [with obj.] 1 raise (a difficult subject) for discussion: he broached the subject he had been avoiding all evening.

2 pierce (a cask) to draw liquor.

- open and start using the contents of (a bottle or other container).

3 [no obj.] (of a fish or sea mammal) rise through the water and break the surface: the salmon broach, then fall to slap the water.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French brochier, based on Latin brocchus, broccus ‘projecting’. The earliest recorded sense was ‘prick with spurs’, generally ‘pierce’, which gave rise (late Middle English) to sense 2.

■ Sense 1, a figurative use of this, dates from the late 16th cent.

broach^2 [NAUTICAL] v. [no obj.] (of a ship) veer and pitch forward, presenting a side to the wind and waves and losing steerage control.

■ n. a sudden and unwelcome veering of a ship that causes it to broach.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: of unknown origin.

broach spire n. an octagonal church spire rising from a square tower without a parapet.

broad adj. 1 having a distance larger than usual from side to side; wide: a broad staircase.

- (after a measurement) giving the distance from side to side: the valley is three miles long and half a mile broad.

- large in area: a broad expanse of paddy fields.

2 covering a large number and wide scope of subjects: the company has a broad range of experience.

- having a wide range of meanings or applications; loosely defined: our range of programmes comprises three broad categories.

- including many people of many kinds: the polls registered broad support for Labour.

3 general; without detail: a broad outline of the legal framework for pension schemes.

- (of a hint) clear and unambiguous; not subtle.

- (of a phonetic transcription) showing only meaningful distinctions in sound and ignoring minor details.

4 somewhat coarse and indecent: the broad humour has been toned down.

5 (of a regional accent) very noticeable and strong: the words had a distinct tang of broad Lancashire.

■ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a woman.

<PHRASES>

□ broad in the beam INFORMAL (of a person) fat around the hips.

□ in broad daylight during daylight hours, and surprising for this reason: the kidnap took place in broad daylight.

<DERIVATIVES> broadness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English brād, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch breed and German breit.

broadacre adj. AUSTRALIAN (of farming practices or equipment) used in or suitable for large-scale production.

broadband n. [mass noun] a high-capacity transmission technique using a wide range of frequencies, which enables a large number of messages to be communicated simultaneously: it's important to have a firewall if you have broadband | [as modifier] broadband networks.

broad bean n. 1 a large flat edible green bean which is usually eaten without the pod. Also called FAVA BEAN in North America.

2 the plant which yields broad beans.

<INFO> Vicia faba, family Leguminosae.

broadbill n. 1 a small, colourful bird of the Old World tropics, with a stocky body, a large head, and a flattened bill with a wide gape.

<INFO> Family Eurylaimidae: several genera.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a bird with a broad bill, especially a duck such as the shoveler or the scaup.

broad-brush adj. lacking in detail and finesse: a broad-brush measure of inflation.

broadcast v. (past broadcast; past participle broadcast or broadcasted) [with obj.] 1 transmit (a programme or some information) by radio or television: the announcement was broadcast live | (as n. broadcasting) the state monopoly on broadcasting.

- [no obj.] take part in a radio or television transmission: they regularly broadcast on Radio 2.

- tell (something) to many people: we don't want to broadcast our unhappiness to the world.

2 scatter (seeds) by hand or machine rather than placing in drills or rows.

■ n. a radio or television programme or transmission.

■ adj. relating to radio or television programmes: a broadcast journalist.

■ adv. by scattering: green manures can be sown broadcast or in rows.

<DERIVATIVES> broadcaster n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in the sense ‘sown by scattering’): from BROAD + the past participle of cast^1. Senses relating to radio and television date from the early 20th cent.

Broad Church n. a tradition or group within the Anglican Church favouring a liberal interpretation of doctrine.

- a group or doctrine which allows for and caters to a wide range of opinions and people.

broadcloth n. [mass noun] clothing fabric of fine twilled wool or worsted, or plain-woven cotton.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: originally denoting cloth made 72 inches wide, as opposed to ‘strait’ cloth, 36 inches wide. The term now implies quality rather than width.

broaden v. [no obj.] become larger in distance from side to side; widen: her smile broadened | the river slowed and broadened out slightly.

- expand to encompass more people or things: her interests broadened as she grew up | [with obj.] he has to broaden Labour's appeal to the whole community.

<PHRASES>

□ broaden one's horizons expand one's range of interests, activities, and knowledge: they want to broaden their horizons with a change of scenery and culture.

broad gauge n. a railway gauge which is wider than the standard gauge of 4 ft 8^1/2 in (1.435 m).

broad jump n. North American term for LONG JUMP.

broadleaf adj. another term for BROADLEAVED.

■ n. a tree or plant with wide flat leaves.

broadleaved adj. (of a tree or plant) having relatively wide flat leaves rather than needles; non-coniferous.

- (of a wood or woodland) consisting of broadleaved trees.

broadloom n. [mass noun] carpet woven in wide widths: wall-to-wall broadloom.

<DERIVATIVES> broadloomed adj.

broadly adv. 1 [sentence adv.] in general and without considering minor details: the climate is broadly similar in the two regions | broadly speaking, the risks are as follows.

2 widely and openly: he was grinning broadly.

broad-minded adj. tolerant or liberal in one's views and reactions; not easily offended: a broad-minded approach to religion.

<DERIVATIVES> broad-mindedly adv. broad-mindedness n.

broad money n. [mass noun] [ECONOMICS] money in any form including bank or other deposits as well as notes and coins.

Broadmoor /brdm -mə/ a special hospital near Reading in southern England for the secure holding of patients regarded as both mentally ill and potentially dangerous. It was established in 1863.

broad pennant (also broad pendant) n. a short swallow-tailed pennant distinguishing the commodore's ship in a squadron.

broad reach [SAILING] n. a point of sailing in which the wind blows over a boat's quarter, between the beam and the stern: on a broad reach they are magnificent craft.

■ v. (broad-reach) [no obj.] sail with the wind in this position.

Broads (often the Norfolk Broads) a network of shallow freshwater lakes, traversed by slow-moving rivers, in Norfolk and Suffolk. They were formed by the gradual natural flooding of medieval peat diggings.

broadscale adj. on a broad scale; extensive.

broadsheet n. a large piece of paper printed with information on one side only.

- (also broadsheet newspaper) a newspaper with a large format, regarded as more serious and less sensationalist than tabloids.

broadside n. 1 a fierce verbal attack: he launched a broadside against the economic reforms.

2 HISTORICAL a firing of all the guns from one side of a warship.

- the set of guns which can fire on each side of a warship.

- the side of a ship above the water between the bow and quarter.

3 a sheet of paper printed on one side only, forming one large page: a broadside of Lee's farewell address.

■ adv. with the side turned in a particular direction: the yacht was drifting broadside to the wind.

- on the side: her car was hit broadside by another vehicle.

■ v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN collide with the side of (a vehicle): I had to skid my bike sideways to avoid broadsiding her.

<PHRASES>

□ broadside on sideways on.

broad-spectrum adj. denoting antibiotics, pesticides, etc. effective against a large variety of organisms.

broadsword n. a sword with a wide blade, used for cutting rather than thrusting.

broadtail n. a karakul sheep.

- [mass noun] the fleece or wool from a karakul lamb.

Broadway a street traversing the length of Manhattan, New York. It is famous for its theatres, and its name has become synonymous with show business.

broadway n. [usually in names] a large open or main road: Fulham Broadway.

broast v. [with obj.] North American cook (food) by a combination of broiling and ROASTing: [as adj.] (broasted) broasted chicken.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of broil^1 and roast.

Brobdingnagian /brbdnaən/ adj. huge; gigantic: a beam engine of Brobdingnagian proportions.

■ n. a giant.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Brobdingnag, the name given by Swift (in Gulliver's Travels) to a land where everything is of huge size, + -IAN.

brocade n. [mass noun] a rich fabric woven with a raised pattern, typically with gold or silver thread: [as modifier] a heavy brocade curtain.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. brocaded) weave (something) in such a way: a heavily brocaded blanket.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish and Portuguese brocado (influenced by French brocart), from Italian broccato, from brocco ‘twisted thread’.

Broca's area /brəkəz/ n. [ANATOMY] a region of the brain concerned with the production of speech, located in the cortex of the dominant frontal lobe. Damage in this area causes Broca's aphasia, characterized by hesitant and fragmented speech with little grammatical structure.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Paul Broca (1824–80), French surgeon.

broccoli /brkəli/ n. [mass noun] a cultivated variety of cabbage which bears heads of green or purplish flower buds that are eaten as a vegetable.

<INFO> There are several kinds of broccoli, in particular those in the ‘Italica’ group, including sprouting broccoli, which bears small loose clusters of heads on several shoots, and the bright green dense-headed variety which is also called CALABRESE.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian, plural of broccolo ‘cabbage sprout, head’, diminutive of brocco ‘shoot’, based on Latin brocchus, broccus ‘projecting’.

broch /brk brx/ n. a prehistoric circular stone tower in north Scotland and adjacent islands.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: alteration of BURGH (the original sense). The current sense dates from the mid 17th cent.

brochette /brεt/ n. a skewer or spit on which chunks of meat or fish are barbecued, grilled, or roasted: beef and lamb en brochette.

- a dish of meat or fish chunks cooked in such a way.

<ORIGIN> French, diminutive of broche ‘skewer’.

brochure /brəə brə/ n. a small book or magazine containing pictures and information about a product or service: a holiday brochure.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, literally ‘something stitched’, from brocher ‘to stitch’ (see broach^1).

brochureware n. [mass noun] websites or web pages produced by converting a company's printed marketing or advertising material into an Internet format, typically providing little or no opportunity for interactive contact with prospective customers.

brock n. BRITISH a name for a badger.

<ORIGIN> Old English brocc, broc, of Celtic origin; related to Welsh and Cornish broch, Irish and Scottish Gaelic broc, and Breton broc'h.

Brocken /brk(ə)n/ the highest of the Harz Mountains in north central Germany, rising to 1,143 m (3,747 ft). It is noted for the phenomenon of the Brocken spectre and for witches' revels which reputedly took place there on Walpurgis night.

Brocken spectre n. a magnified shadow of an observer, typically surrounded by rainbow-like bands, thrown on to a bank of cloud in high mountain areas when the sun is low.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after BROCKEN, where the phenomenon was first reported.

brocket (also brocket deer) n. a small deer with short straight antlers, found in Central and South America.

<INFO> Genus Mazama, family Cervidae: four species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting any red deer stag in its second year, with straight antlers): from Anglo-Norman French broquet, diminutive of broque, variant of broche (see BROOCH). The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

broderie anglaise /brəd(ə)r lez/ n. [mass noun] open embroidery, typically in floral patterns, on fine white cotton or linen.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, literally ‘English embroidery’.

Brodsky /brdski/ Joseph (1940–96), Russian-born American poet; born Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky. He wrote both in Russian and in English, and was most famous for his collection The End of a Beautiful Era (1977). Nobel Prize for Literature (1987).

brogan /brə(ə)n/ n. a coarse stout leather shoe reaching to the ankle.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Irish brógán, Scottish Gaelic brógan, literally ‘small brogue’.

brogue^1 n. a strong outdoor shoe with ornamental perforated patterns in the leather.

- a rough shoe of untanned leather, formerly worn in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Scottish Gaelic and Irish bróg, from Old Norse brók (related to BREECH).

brogue^2 n. a marked accent, especially Irish or Scottish, when speaking English.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps allusively from BROGUE^1, referring to the rough footwear of Irish peasants.

broil^1 v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN cook (meat or fish) by exposure to direct heat.

- [no obj.] become very hot, especially from the sun: the countryside lay broiling in the sun.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘burn, char’): from Old French bruler ‘to burn’, of unknown origin.

broil^2 n. ARCHAIC a quarrel or commotion.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from obsolete broil ‘to muddle’. Compare with EMBROIL.

broiler n. 1 (also broiler chicken) a young chicken suitable for roasting, grilling, or barbecuing.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a gridiron, grill, or special part of a stove for cooking meat or fish by exposure to direct heat.

broiling adj. NORTH AMERICAN extremely hot; scorching: the women toil in the broiling sun.

broke past (and archaic past participle) of break^1

■ adj. [predic.] INFORMAL having completely run out of money: he went broke owing two million pounds.

<PHRASES>

□ go for broke INFORMAL risk everything in an all-out effort.

broken past participle of break^1

■ adj. 1 having been broken: he had a broken arm.

- (of a relationship) ended, typically through infidelity: a broken marriage.

2 (of a person) having given up all hope; despairing: he went to his grave a broken man.

3 having breaks or gaps in continuity: a broken white line across the road.

- (of a language) spoken falteringly and with many mistakes, as by a foreigner: a young man talking in broken Italian.

4 having an uneven and rough surface: he pressed onwards over the broken ground.

<DERIVATIVES> brokenly adv. brokenness /brək(ə)nns/ n.

broken chord n. [usually as modifier] [MUSIC] a chord in which the notes are played successively.

broken colour n. [mass noun] a colour mixed or juxtaposed closely with another.

broken-down adj. worn out and dilapidated by age, use, or ill-treatment: a broken-down shack.

- (of a machine or vehicle) not functioning, due to mechanical failure.

- (of a horse) with serious damage to the legs, in particular the tendons, caused by excessive strain.

broken-field adj. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] relating to or occurring in the area beyond the line of scrimmage where defenders are relatively scattered: a broken-field run.

- INFORMAL (of a movement) with starts, stops, and changes of direction, in the manner of a broken-field ball carrier: a broken-field chase.

broken-hearted adj. overwhelmed by grief or disappointment.

<DERIVATIVES> broken-heartedness n.

Broken Hill 1 a town in New South Wales, Australia; pop. 22,200 (est. 2002). It is a centre of lead, silver, and zinc mining.

2 former name (1904–65) for Kabwe.

broken home n. a family in which the parents are divorced or separated.

broken wind n. [mass noun]

■ another term for COPD in horses.

<DERIVATIVES> broken-winded adj.

broker n. a person who buys and sells goods or assets for others. Compare with BROKER-DEALER.

■ v. [with obj.] arrange or negotiate (an agreement): fighting continued despite attempts to broker a ceasefire.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a retailer or pedlar): from Anglo-Norman French brocour, of unknown ultimate origin.

<USAGE> The term broker was officially replaced in the UK Stock Exchange by broker-dealer in 1986, broker-dealers being entitled to act both as agents and principals in share dealings.

brokerage n. [mass noun] the business of acting as a broker.

- [mass noun] a fee or commission charged by a broker: a revenue of £1,400 less a sales brokerage of £12.50.

- [count noun] a company that buys or sells goods or assets for clients.

broker-dealer n. (in the UK) a person combining the former functions of a broker and jobber on the Stock Exchange.

<USAGE> Now the official term on the UK Stock Exchange, replacing broker in 1986.

broking n. [mass noun] BRITISH the business or service of buying and selling goods or assets for others: [as modifier] a broking house.

brolga /brlə/ n. a large grey Australian crane which has an elaborate courtship display that involves leaping, wing-flapping, and trumpeting.

<INFO> Grus rubicundus, family Gruidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Kamilaroi burralga (also found in other Aboriginal languages).

brolly n. (pl. brollies) BRITISH INFORMAL an umbrella.

brom- /brəm/ combining form variant spelling of BROMO- shortened before a vowel (as in bromide).

bromate /brəmet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of bromic acid.

Bromberg /brmbεrk/ German name for BYDGOSZCZ.

brome /brəm/ n. [mass noun] an oat-like grass which is sometimes grown for fodder or ornamental purposes.

<INFO> Genus Bromus, family Gramineae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin Bromus, from Greek bromos ‘oat’.

bromeliad /brəmilad/ n. a plant of tropical and subtropical America, typically having short stems with rosettes of stiff, spiny leaves. Some kinds are epiphytic and many are cultivated as pot plants.

<INFO> Family Bromeliaceae: Bromelia and other genera, and numerous species, including the pineapple and Spanish moss.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Bromelia (named by Linnaeus after Olaf Bromel (1639–1705), Swedish botanist) + -AD^1.

bromic acid /brəmk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a strongly oxidizing acid known only in aqueous solutions.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HBrO_3.

bromide /brəmd/ n. 1 [CHEMISTRY] a compound of bromine with another element or group, especially a salt containing the anion Br− or an organic compound with bromine bonded to an alkyl radical.

2 a reproduction or piece of typesetting on bromide paper.

3 a trite statement that is intended to soothe or placate: feel-good bromides create the illusion of problem-solving.

- DATED a sedative preparation containing potassium bromide.

<DERIVATIVES> bromidic adj.

■ bromide (sense 3)

bromide paper n. [mass noun] photographic printing paper coated with silver bromide emulsion.

bromine /brəmin/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 35, a dark red fuming toxic liquid with a choking, irritating smell. It is a member of the halogen group and occurs chiefly in the form of salts in seawater and brines. (Symbol: Br)

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French brome, from Greek brōmos ‘a stink’, + -INE^4.

bromism /brəmz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] DATED a condition of dullness and weakness due to excessive intake of bromide sedatives.

bromo- /brəmə/ (usually brom- before a vowel) combining form [CHEMISTRY] representing BROMINE.

bromocriptine /brəməkrptin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a drug used in the treatment of parkinsonism, galactorrhoea, and other conditions. It is a synthetic analogue of the ergot alkaloids and stimulates the dopaminergic receptors of the brain, inhibiting the release of prolactin.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from BROMO- + ergocryptine (an ergot alkaloid, from ERGOT + Greek kruptos ‘hidden’) + -INE^4.

Brompton cocktail /brmpt(ə)n/ n. a powerful painkiller and sedative consisting of vodka or other liquor laced with morphine and sometimes also cocaine.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: said to be from the name of Brompton Hospital, London, where the mixture was invented for cancer patients.

bronc /brk/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL short for BRONCO.

bronchi plural form of BRONCHUS.

bronchial /brkəl/ adj. relating to the bronchi or bronchioles: bronchial pneumonia.

bronchial tree n. the branching system of bronchi and bronchioles, conducting air from the windpipe into the lungs.

bronchiectasis /brkεktəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal widening of the bronchi or their branches, causing a risk of infection.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek bronkhia (denoting the branches of the main bronchi) + ektasis ‘dilatation’.

bronchiole /brkəl/ n. [ANATOMY] any of the minute branches into which a bronchus divides.

<DERIVATIVES> bronchiolar adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin bronchiolus, bronchiolum, diminutives of late Latin bronchia, denoting the branches of the main bronchi.

bronchiolitis /brkəlts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the bronchioles.

bronchitis n. [mass noun] inflammation of the mucous membrane in the bronchial tubes. It typically causes bronchospasm and coughing.

<DERIVATIVES> bronchitic adj. & n.

broncho- /brkə/ combining form relating to the bronchi: bronchopneumonia.

<ORIGIN> from Greek bronkho-, from bronkhos ‘windpipe’.

bronchocele /brkə()sil/ n. a goitre.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek bronkhokēlē.

bronchodilator /brkə()dletə/ n. MEDICINE a drug that causes widening of the bronchi, for example any of those taken by inhalation for the alleviation of asthma.

<DERIVATIVES> bronchodilation n.

bronchogenic /brkə()dεnk/ adj. of bronchial origin.

bronchopneumonia /brkə()njumənə/ n. [mass noun] inflammation of the lungs, arising in the bronchi or bronchioles.

bronchoscope n. a fibre-optic cable that is passed into the windpipe in order to view the bronchi.

<DERIVATIVES> bronchoscopy n.

bronchospasm n. [mass noun] MEDICINE spasm of bronchial smooth muscle, producing narrowing of the bronchi.

bronchus /brkəs/ n. (pl. bronchi /-k/) any of the major air passages of the lungs which diverge from the windpipe.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from late Latin, from Greek bronkhos ‘windpipe’.

bronco n. (pl. broncos) a wild or half-tamed horse of the western US.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, literally ‘rough, rude’.

broncobuster n. INFORMAL a cowboy who breaks in wild or half-tamed horses.

Bronowski /brənfski/ Jacob (1908–74), Polish-born British scientist, writer, and broadcaster. He popularized science with such books as The Common Sense of Science (1951) and the 1970s television documentary series The Ascent of Man.

Brontë the name of three English novelists:

- Charlotte (1816–55), author of Jane Eyre (1847), Shirley (1849), and Villette (1853).

- Emily (1818–48), author of Wuthering Heights (1847); also a poet.

- Anne (1820–49), author of Agnes Grey (1845) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1847).

The three sisters (with their brother Branwell, 1817–48) grew up in the Yorkshire village of Haworth, and had limited experience of the outside world. Their works were published under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.

brontosaurus /brntəsrəs/ (also brontosaur /brntəs/) n. former term for APATOSAURUS.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (former genus name), from Greek brontē ‘thunder’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

brontothere /brntəθə/ n. a large ungulate mammal of the Eocene epoch with a horn-like bony growth on the nose.

<INFO> Family Brontotheriidae, order Perissodactyla.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek brontē ‘thunder’ + thērion ‘wild beast’.

Bronx /brks/ (the Bronx) a borough in the north-east of New York City.

<ORIGIN> named after Jonas Bronck, a Dutch settler who purchased land there in 1641.

Bronx cheer n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a sound of derision or contempt made by blowing through closed lips with the tongue between them.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: named after the BRONX in New York.

bronze n. [mass noun] a yellowish-brown alloy of copper with up to one-third tin.

- [count noun] a sculpture or other object made of bronze.

- [count noun]

■ short for BRONZE MEDAL.

- a yellowish-brown colour: rich, gleaming shades of bronze.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (a person or part of the body) suntanned: Alison was bronzed by outdoor life.

2 give (something) a surface of bronze or something resembling bronze: the doors were bronzed with sculpted reliefs.

<DERIVATIVES> bronzy adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a verb): from French bronze (noun), bronzer (verb), from Italian bronzo, probably from Persian birinj ‘brass’.

Bronze Age a prehistoric period that followed the Stone Age and preceded the Iron Age, when weapons and tools were made of bronze rather than stone. See also COPPER AGE.

The Bronze Age began in the Near East and SE Europe in the late 4th and early 3rd millennium BC. It is associated with the first European civilizations, the beginnings of urban life in China, and the final stages of some Meso-American civilizations, but did not appear in Africa and Australasia at all.

bronzed adj. attractively and evenly suntanned; tanned: bronzed and powerful arms.

bronze medal n. a medal made of or coloured bronze, customarily awarded for third place in a race or competition.

bronzer n. a cosmetic liquid or powder applied to the skin to give it colour or shine, typically to give the appearance of a suntan.

bronzewing (also bronze-winged pigeon) n. an Australian pigeon with a metallic bronze band on the wing.

<INFO> Genus Phaps, family Columbidae: three species.

Bronzino /brnzinə/ Agnolo (1503–72), Italian mannerist painter; born Agnolo di Cosimo. He spent most of his career in Florence as court painter to Cosimo de' Medici. Notable works: Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time (c.1546).

broo /bru/ n. (in phrase on the broo) SCOTTISH INFORMAL claiming unemployment benefit.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: alteration of BUREAU.

brooch n. an ornament fastened to clothing with a hinged pin and catch.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: variant of broach, a noun originally meaning ‘skewer, bodkin’, from Old French broche ‘spit for roasting’, based on Latin brocchus, broccus ‘projecting’. Compare with broach^1.

brood n. 1 a family of birds or other young animals produced at one hatching or birth: a brood of chicks.

- INFORMAL a large family of children: she was brought up as part of a brood of eight.

2 [mass noun] bee or wasp larvae.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] think deeply about something that makes one unhappy, angry, or worried: she had brooded over the subject a thousand times.

2 [with obj.] (of a bird) sit on (eggs) to hatch them.

- (of a fish, frog, or invertebrate) hold (developing eggs) within the body.

■ adj. [attr.] (of an animal) kept to be used for breeding: a brood mare.

<ORIGIN> Old English brōd, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch broed and German Brut, also to BREED. The verb was originally used with an object, i.e. ‘to nurse (feelings) in the mind’ (late 16th century), a figurative use of the idea of a hen nursing chicks under her wings.

brooder n. 1 a heated house for chicks or piglets.

2 a person who broods about something.

brooding adj. engaged in or showing deep thought about something that makes one sad, angry, or worried: he stared with brooding eyes.

- appearing darkly menacing: the brooding moorland.

<DERIVATIVES> broodingly adv.

brood pouch n. a pouch in certain fish, frogs, and invertebrates in which the eggs are protected before hatching.

broody adj. (broodier, broodiest) 1 (of a hen) inclined to incubate eggs.

- INFORMAL (of a woman) having a strong desire to have a baby.

2 engaging in or arising from deep thought: his broody concern for the future.

<DERIVATIVES> broodily adv. broodiness n.

Brook Peter (Stephen Paul) (b.1925), English theatre director. As co-director of the Royal Shakespeare Company he earned critical acclaim with King Lear (1963) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970).

brook^1 n. a small stream.

<DERIVATIVES> brooklet n.

<ORIGIN> Old English brōc, of unknown origin; related to Dutch broek and German Bruch ‘marsh’.

brook^2 v. [with obj.] [with negative] FORMAL tolerate or allow (something, typically dissent or opposition): Jenny would brook no criticism of Matthew.

<ORIGIN> Old English brūcan ‘use, possess’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bruiken and German brauchen. The current sense dates from the mid 16th century, a figurative use of an earlier sense ‘digest, stomach’.

Brooke Rupert (Chawner) (1887–1915), English poet. He is most famous for his wartime poetry 1914 and Other Poems (1915). He died while on naval service in the Mediterranean.

Brooklands a motor-racing circuit near Weybridge in Surrey, England, opened in 1907. During the Second World War the course was converted for aircraft manufacture.

brooklime n. [mass noun] a Eurasian speedwell with smooth fleshy leaves and deep blue flowers on long stalks. It grows in wet areas, where the stems take root or float in the water.

<INFO> Veronica beccabunga, family Scrophulariaceae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English broklemok, from BROOK^1 + hleomoce, the name of the plant in Old English.

Brooklyn a borough of New York City, at the south-western corner of Long Island. The Brooklyn Bridge (1869–83) links Long Island with lower Manhattan.

Brooklynese n. [mass noun] an uncultivated form of New York speech associated especially with the borough of Brooklyn.

Brookner /brknə/ Anita (b.1928), English novelist and art historian. She won the Booker Prize for Hotel du Lac (1984).

Brooks^1 Cleanth (1906–94), American teacher and critic. A leading proponent of the New Criticism movement, he edited The Southern Review from 1935 to 1942 and taught at Yale University 1947–75. Notable works: Modern Poetry and Tradition (1939).

Brooks^2 Mel (b.1927), American film director and comic actor; born Melvin Kaminsky. His debut The Producers (1967) was followed by films including the spoof western Blazing Saddles (1974).

brookweed n. [mass noun] a small white-flowered European plant which grows in wet ground, typically near the sea.

<INFO> Samolus valerandi, family Primulaceae.

broom n. 1 a long-handled brush of bristles or twigs, used for sweeping.

- an implement for sweeping the ice in the game of curling.

2 a flowering shrub with long, thin green stems and small or few leaves, cultivated for its profusion of flowers.

<INFO> Cytisus, Genista, and related genera, family Leguminosae: many species and cultivars.

<PHRASES>

□ a new broom sweeps clean PROVERB people newly appointed to positions of responsibility tend to make far-reaching changes.

<ORIGIN> Old English brōm (in sense 2), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch braam, also to BRAMBLE.

broomball n. [mass noun] a game similar to ice hockey in which players run rather than skate and use rubber brooms or broom handles to push a ball into the goal.

broomie n. (pl. broomies) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a person who sweeps the floor in a shearing shed.

broomrape n. a parasitic plant which bears tubular flowers on a leafless brown stem. It is attached by its tubers to the roots of the host plant.

<INFO> Genus Orobanche, family Orobanchaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from BROOM + Latin rapum ‘tuber’.

broomstick n. a brush with twigs at one end and a long handle, on which, in children's literature, witches are said to fly.

Bros /brs/ plural n. brothers (in names of companies): Moss Bros the tailors.

brose /brəz/ n. chiefly SCOTTISH a kind of porridge made with oatmeal or dried peas and boiling water or milk.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: originally a Scots form of Middle English brewis ‘broth’, from Old French brouez; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to BROTH.

broth n. [mass noun] 1 soup consisting of meat or vegetables cooked in stock, sometimes thickened with barley or other cereals: mutton broth.

- meat or fish stock.

2 [MICROBIOLOGY] a liquid medium containing proteins and other nutrients for the culture of bacteria.

- a liquid mixture for the preservation of tissue.

<PHRASES>

□ a broth of a boy IRISH used approvingly to refer to a very lively boy or young man.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to BREW.

brothel n. a house where men visit prostitutes.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally brothel-house): from late Middle English brothel ‘worthless man, prostitute’, related to Old English brēothan ‘degenerate, deteriorate’.

brothel creepers plural n. INFORMAL soft-soled suede shoes.

brother n. 1 a man or boy in relation to other sons and daughters of his parents.

- a male associate or fellow member of an organization: the time is coming, brothers, for us to act.

- North American INFORMAL a black man (often used as a term of address by other black people).

- a thing which resembles or is connected to another thing: the machine is almost identical to its larger brother.

2 (pl. also brethren) [CHRISTIAN CHURCH] a (male) fellow Christian.

- a member of a religious order of men: a Benedictine brother.

- a member of a fundamentalist Protestant denomination: the Plymouth Brethren.

■ exclam. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN used to express annoyance or surprise.

<PHRASES>

□ brothers in arms soldiers fighting together on the same side.

<ORIGIN> Old English brōthor, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch broeder and German Bruder, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin frater.

brother-german n. (pl. brothers-german) ARCHAIC a brother sharing both parents, as opposed to a half-brother or stepbrother.

brotherhood n. 1 [mass noun] the relationship between brothers.

- the feeling of kinship with and closeness to a group of people or all people: a gesture of solidarity and brotherhood.

2 an association or community of people linked by a common interest, religion, or trade: a religious brotherhood.

- NORTH AMERICAN a trade union.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from obsolete brotherred (based on Old English -rden ‘condition, state’; compare with KINDRED). The change of suffix was due to association with words ending in -HOOD and -head^1.

brother-in-law n. (pl. brothers-in-law) the brother of one's wife or husband.

- the husband of one's sister or sister-in-law.

brotherly adj. typical of how brothers behave towards each other; fraternal: he and I had such a brotherly bond.

- showing affection and concern; affectionate: you could feel the warmth and the brotherly kindness.

<DERIVATIVES> brotherliness n.

brotherly love n. [mass noun] [CHRISTIAN] feelings of humanity and compassion towards one's fellow humans.

brougham /bru(ə)m/ n. HISTORICAL a horse-drawn carriage with a roof, four wheels, and an open driver's seat in front.

- a car with an open driver's seat.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Lord Brougham (1778–1868), who designed the carriage.

brought past and past participle of BRING.

brouhaha /bruhαhα/ n. a noisy and overexcited reaction or response to something: the brouhaha over those infamous commercials | [mass noun] all that election brouhaha.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, probably imitative.

Brouwer /braə/ Adriaen (c.1605–38), Flemish painter. His most typical works represent peasant scenes in taverns.

brow^1 n. 1 a person's forehead: he wiped his brow.

2 (usually brows) an eyebrow: his brows lifted in surprise.

3 the summit of a hill or pass: the cottages were built on the brow of a hill.

<DERIVATIVES> browed adj. [in combination] furrow-browed

<ORIGIN> Old English brū ‘eyelash, eyebrow’, of Germanic origin. Current senses arose in Middle English; compare with BRAE.

brow^2 n. a gangway from a ship to the shore.

- a hinged part of a ferry or landing craft forming a landing platform.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably from Norwegian bru, from Old Norse brú ‘bridge’.

browbeat v. (past browbeat; past participle browbeaten) [with obj.] intimidate (someone), typically into doing something, with stern or abusive words: a witness is being browbeaten under cross-examination.

<DERIVATIVES> browbeater n.

Brown^1 Sir Arthur Whitten (1886–1948), Scottish aviator. He made the first transatlantic flight in 1919 with Sir John William Alcock.

Brown^2 Ford Madox (1821–93), English painter. His early work was inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, and in 1861 he became a founder member of William Morris's company, designing stained glass and furniture.

Brown^3 Gordon (James) (b.1951), British Labour statesman, Prime Minister since 2007.

Brown^4 James (1928–2006), American soul and funk singer and songwriter. In the 1960s he played a leading role in the development of funk with songs such as ‘Papa's Got a Brand New Bag’ (1965) and ‘Sex Machine’ (1970).

Brown^5 John (1800–59), American abolitionist. In 1859 he was executed after raiding a government arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia, intending to arm black slaves and start a revolt. He became a hero of the abolitionists in the Civil War.

Brown^6 Lancelot (1716–83), English landscape gardener; known as Capability Brown. He evolved an English style of natural-looking landscape parks. Notable examples of his work are at Blenheim Palace, Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, and Kew Gardens.

brown adj. of a colour produced by mixing red, yellow, and blue, as of dark wood or rich soil: an old brown coat | she had warm brown eyes.

- dark-skinned or suntanned: his face was brown from the sun. South African term for coloured (sense 2 of the adjective).

- (of bread) made from unsifted or unbleached flour.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] brown colour or pigment: the brown of his eyes | a pair of boots in brown | [count noun] the print is rich with velvety browns.

- brown clothes or material: a woman all in brown.

2 a brown thing, in particular the brown ball in snooker.

3 [with modifier] a satyrid butterfly, which typically has brown wings with small eyespots.

<INFO> Subfamily Satyrinae, family Nymphalidae: many genera and species.

4 South African term for coloured (sense 1 of the noun).

■ v. 1 make or become brown, typically by cooking: [with obj.] a skillet in which food has been browned | [no obj.] grill the pizza until the cheese has browned.

2 (be browned off) BRITISH INFORMAL be irritated or depressed: they're getting browned off with the overtime.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) brown as a berry (of a person) very suntanned.

□ in a brown study see STUDY.

<DERIVATIVES> brownish adj. brownness n. browny adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English brūn, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bruin and German braun.

brown ale n. [mass noun] BRITISH dark, mild beer sold in bottles.

brown algae plural n. a large group of algae that are typically olive brown or greenish in colour, including many seaweeds. They contain xanthophyll in addition to chlorophyll.

<INFO> Class Phaeophyceae, division Heterokontophyta (also phylum Heterokonta, kingdom Protista); formerly division Phaeophyta.

brown-bag lunch n. (also bag lunch) NORTH AMERICAN a packed lunch carried to work, school, etc.

■ v. (brown-bag it) NORTH AMERICAN take a packed lunch to work, school, etc.

<DERIVATIVES> brown-bagger n.

brown bear n. a large bear with a coat colour ranging from cream to black, occurring chiefly in forests in Eurasia and North America. It is widely persecuted, and was exterminated in Britain, probably before the 10th century. Compare with GRIZZLY BEAR.

<INFO> Ursus arctos, family Ursidae.

brown belt n. a belt of a brown colour marking a level of proficiency below that of a black belt in judo, karate, or other martial arts.

- a person qualified to wear a brown belt.

Brown Betty n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a baked pudding made with apples or other fruit and breadcrumbs.

2 BRITISH a large brown earthenware teapot.

brown coal n. another term for LIGNITE.

brown dwarf n. [ASTRONOMY] a celestial object intermediate in size between a giant planet and a small star, believed to emit mainly infrared radiation.

Browne Sir Thomas (1605–82), English author and physician. He achieved prominence with Religio Medici (1642), a collection of opinions on a vast number of subjects connected with religion.

brown earth n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a type of soil having a brown humus-rich surface layer.

brown fat n. [mass noun] a dark-coloured adipose tissue with many blood vessels, involved in the rapid production of heat in hibernating animals and human babies.

brownfield adj. BRITISH denoting or relating to urban sites for potential building development that have had previous development on them. Compare with GREENFIELD.

brown goods plural n. television sets, audio equipment, and similar household appliances. Compare with GREY GOODS, WHITE GOODS.

brown hare n. a hare found commonly in much of Eurasia, though absent from Ireland.

<INFO> Lepus europaeus (or capensis), family Leporidae.

brown holland n. [mass noun] unbleached holland linen.

Brownian motion /branən/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the erratic random movement of microscopic particles in a fluid, as a result of continuous bombardment from molecules of the surrounding medium.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Robert Brown (1773–1858), the Scottish botanist who first observed the motion.

Brownie n. (pl. Brownies) 1 (the Brownies) the junior branch of the Guides Association, for girls aged between about 7 and 10, wearing a brown uniform.

- (BRITISH also Brownie Guide) a member of the Brownies.

2 (brownie) a small square of rich chocolate cake, with nuts.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a piece of sweet currant bread.

3 (brownie) a benevolent elf that supposedly haunts houses and does housework secretly. [<ORIGIN> diminutive of BROWN; a ‘wee brown man’ often appears in Scottish ballads and fairy tales.]

<PHRASES>

□ brownie point INFORMAL, HUMOROUS an imaginary award given to someone for an attempt to please: his policy will win brownie points with voters.

Brownie Guider n. the adult leader of a group of Brownies. See also brown owl (sense 2).

Browning^1 Elizabeth Barrett (1806–61), English poet; born Elizabeth Barrett. She established her reputation with Poems (1844). In 1846 she eloped to Italy with Robert Browning.

Browning^2 Robert (1812–89), English poet. In 1842 he established his name with Dramatic Lyrics, containing ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ and ‘My Last Duchess’.

Browning^3 n. (also Browning machine gun) a type of water-cooled automatic machine gun.

- (also Browning automatic) a type of automatic pistol.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after John M. Browning (1855–1926), American designer of the weapons.

browning n. [mass noun] 1 the process or result of making something brown, typically by cooking or burning.

2 BRITISH darkened flour, typically with other additives, for colouring gravy.

brown-nose INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. (also brown-noser) a grossly obsequious person.

■ v. [with obj.] curry favour with (someone) by acting very obsequiously: academics were brown-nosing the senior faculty | [no obj.] if I can't learn to brown-nose, at least I can keep my mouth shut.

brown-out n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a partial blackout.

brown owl n. 1 another term for TAWNY OWL.

2 (Brown Owl) BRITISH INFORMAL the adult leader of a group of Brownies, officially termed the Brownie Guider since 1968.

brown rat n. a rat found throughout the world, typically living in association with man and regarded as a pest. It is commonly kept as a laboratory animal and as a pet, and is also bred in the albino form. Also called COMMON RAT, NORWAY RAT.

<INFO> Rattus norvegicus, family Muridae.

brown rice n. [mass noun] unpolished rice with only the husk of the grain removed.

brown rot n. [mass noun] a fungal disease causing the rotting and browning of parts of plants, in particular:

<INFO>

- a disease producing discoloration and shrivelling of apples, pears, plums, and other fruit (caused by fungi of the genus Sclerotinia, subdivision Ascomycotina).

- a disease resulting in the softening and cracking of timber (caused by bracket fungi of the family Polyporaceae, class Hymenomycetes).

brown sauce n. [mass noun] 1 a savoury sauce made with fat and flour cooked to a brown colour.

2 a commercially prepared relish containing vinegar and spices.

Brownshirt n. HISTORICAL a member of a Nazi militia founded by Hitler in Munich in 1921, with brown uniforms resembling those of Mussolini's Blackshirts. They aided Hitler's rise to power, but were eclipsed by the SS after the ‘night of the long knives’ in June 1934. Also called STORM TROOPS or STURMABTEILUNG.

brown snake n. 1 a fast-moving, aggressive venomous Australian snake, with a variety of colour forms.

<INFO> Pseudonaja and other genera, family Elapidae: several species, in particular P. textilis.

2 a small, secretive harmless North American snake that is typically brown in colour.

<INFO> Storeria dekayi, family Colubridae.

brownstone n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a kind of reddish-brown sandstone used for building.

- [count noun] a building faced with such sandstone.

brown sugar n. [mass noun] unrefined or partially refined sugar.

browntop (also browntop bent) n. another term for the grass COMMON BENT (see bent^2).

brown trout n. (pl. same) the common trout of Europe, especially one of a non-migratory race having dark spotted skin and occurring in small rivers and pools.

<INFO> Salmo trutta, family Salmonidae, in particular S. trutta fario.

browse /braz/ v. [no obj.] 1 survey goods for sale in a leisurely and casual way: he stopped to browse around a second-hand bookshop.

- scan through a text, website, or collection of data to gain an impression of the contents: she browsed through the newspaper | [with obj.] I decided to spend the night browsing the Internet.

2 (of an animal) feed on leaves, twigs, or other high-growing vegetation: they reach upward to browse on bushes.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] an act of casual looking or reading: a browse through the sports pages | I was just having a quick browse around the antique stalls.

- a book, magazine, or website to be casually looked through: this book is a useful browse for a new worker in the field.

2 [mass noun] vegetation, such as twigs and young shoots, eaten by animals.

<DERIVATIVES> browsable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the verb): from Old French broster, from brost ‘young shoot’, probably of Germanic origin.

browser n. 1 a person who looks casually through books or magazines or at goods for sale.

2 [COMPUTING] a program with a graphical user interface for displaying HTML files, used to navigate the World Wide Web: a Web browser.

3 an animal which feeds mainly on high-growing vegetation.

brrr exclam. used to express someone's reaction to feeling cold: Brrr! It's a freezing cold day.

BRU abbr. Brunei (international vehicle registration).

Brubeck /brubεk/ Dave (b.1920), American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader; full name David Warren Brubeck. He formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951 and won international recognition with the album Time Out, which included ‘Take Five’ (1959).

brubru /brubru/ (also brubru shrike) n. a small tropical African shrike (bird) with striking black-and-white plumage and chestnut flanks. Compare with BOUBOU.

<INFO> Nilaus afer, family Laniidae.

Bruce^1 Robert the, see Robert I.

Bruce^2 James (1730–94), Scottish explorer. In 1770 he was the first European to discover the source of the Blue Nile, although his Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile (1790), recounting his expedition, was dismissed by his contemporaries as fabrication.

Bruce^3 Lenny (1925–66), American comedian; born Leonard Alfred Schneider. He gained notoriety for flouting the bounds of respectability with his humour, and was imprisoned for obscenity in 1961. He died following an accidental drugs overdose.

brucellosis /brusələss/ n. [mass noun] a bacterial disease typically affecting cattle and causing undulant fever in humans.

<INFO> This disease is caused by Gram-negative bacteria of the genus Brucella, in particular B. abortus.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from modern Latin Brucella + -OSIS: named after Sir David Bruce (1855–1931), the Scottish physician who identified the bacterium.

brucite /brust/ n. [mass noun] a white, grey, or greenish mineral typically occurring in the form of tabular crystals. It consists of hydrated magnesium hydroxide.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Archibald Bruce (1777–1818), American mineralogist, + -ITE^1.

Bruckner /brknə/ Anton (1824–96), Austrian composer and organist. He wrote ten symphonies, four masses, and a Te Deum (1884).

Bruegel /br(ə)l/ (also Breughel or Brueghel) the name of a family of Flemish artists:

- Pieter (c.1525–69); known as Pieter Bruegel the Elder. He produced landscapes, religious allegories, and satires of peasant life. Notable works: The Procession to Calvary (1564).

- Pieter Bruegel the Younger (1564–1638), son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder; known as Hell Bruegel. A very able copyist of his father's work, he is also noted for his paintings of devils.

- Jan (1568–1623), son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder; known as Velvet Bruegel. He was a celebrated painter of flowers, landscapes, and mythological scenes.

Bruges /bru/ a city in NW Belgium, capital of the province of West Flanders; pop. 115,400 (est. 2002). A centre of the Flemish textile trade until the 15th century, it is a well-preserved medieval city surrounded by canals. Flemish name Brugge /brYxə/.

bruin /brun/ n. a name for a bear, especially in children's fables.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Dutch bruin (see BROWN); used as a name for the bear in the 13th-cent. fable Reynard the Fox.

bruise n. an injury appearing as an area of discoloured skin on the body, caused by a blow or impact rupturing underlying blood vessels.

- a mark indicating damage on a fruit, vegetable, or plant.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (often as adj. bruised) inflict a bruise on (someone or something): a bruised knee.

- [no obj.] be susceptible to bruising: potatoes bruise easily, so treat them with care.

- hurt (someone's feelings): she tried to bolster her bruised pride.

2 crush or pound (food): the mix contains bruised oats.

<ORIGIN> Old English brȳsan ‘crush or injure with a blow’, reinforced in Middle English by Old French bruisier ‘break’.

bruiser n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a person who is tough and aggressive and enjoys a fight or argument.

- a professional boxer.

bruising adj. causing a bruise or bruises: his legs took the bruising blows.

- (of a competitive situation) conducted in an aggressive way and likely to be stressful: a bruising cabinet battle over public spending.

■ n. [mass noun] bruises on the skin: her arm showed signs of bruising.

<DERIVATIVES> bruisingly adv.

bruit /brut/ v. [with obj. and adverbial] spread (a report or rumour) widely: I didn't want to have our relationship bruited about the office.

■ n. 1 ARCHAIC a report or rumour.

2 MEDICINE a sound, especially an abnormal one, heard through a stethoscope; a murmur.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): from Old French bruit ‘noise’, from bruire ‘to roar’.

Brum /brm/ British an informal name for Birmingham.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation of BRUMMAGEM.

Brumaire /brumε/ French /bRYmεR/ n. the second month of the French Republican calendar (1793–1805), originally running from 22 October to 20 November.

<ORIGIN> French, from brume ‘mist’.

brumby /brmbi/ n. (pl. brumbies) (in Australia) a wild or unbroken horse.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

brume /brum/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY mist or fog: the birds rise like brume.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Latin bruma ‘winter’.

Brummagem /brməd(ə)m/ adj. [attr.] 1 INFORMAL relating to Birmingham or the dialect of English spoken there.

2 DATED cheap, showy, or counterfeit: a vile Brummagem substitute for the genuine article.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: dialect form of BIRMINGHAM, England;

■ sense 2 is with reference to counterfeit coins and cheap plated goods once made there.

Brummell /brm(ə)l/ George Bryan (1778–1840), English dandy; known as Beau Brummell. He was the arbiter of British fashion for the first decade and a half of the 19th century, owing his social position to his friendship with the Prince Regent.

Brummie (also Brummy) INFORMAL n. (pl. Brummies) BRITISH a native of the British city of Birmingham.

■ adj. 1 BRITISH from or relating to Birmingham: a Brummie accent.

2 (brummy) AUSTRALIAN/NZ counterfeit, showy, or cheaply made: brummy jewels.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from BRUM.

brumous /bruməs/ adj. LITERARY foggy and wintry.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French brumeux, from late Latin brumosus (from bruma ‘winter’).

brunch n. a late morning meal eaten instead of breakfast and LUNCH.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of BREAKFAST and lunch.

Brundtland /brntland/ Gro Harlem (b.1939), Norwegian Labour stateswoman, Prime Minister 1981, 1986–9, and 1990–6. As Norway's first woman Prime Minister she chaired the World Commission on Environment and Development (known as the Brundtland Commission), which produced the report Our Common Future in 1987; in 1998 she became director general of the World Health Organization.

Brunei /brun/ a small, oil-rich sultanate on the NW coast of Borneo, pop. 350,898 (est. 2002); languages, Malay (official), English (official), Chinese; capital, Bandar Seri Begawan.

In the 16th century Brunei dominated Borneo and parts of the Philippines, but its power declined as that of the Portuguese and Dutch grew, and in 1888 it was placed under British protection. It became a fully independent Commonwealth state in 1984.

<DERIVATIVES> Bruneian /brunən/ adj. & n.

Brunel^1 /brnεl/ Isambard Kingdom (1806–59), English engineer, son of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel. He was chief engineer of the Great Western Railway. His achievements include designing the Clifton suspension bridge (1829–30), the first transatlantic steamship, the Great Western (1838), and the Great Eastern (1858), at the time the world's largest ship.

Brunel^2 /brnεl/ Sir Marc Isambard (1769–1849), French-born English engineer, father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He introduced mass-production machinery to Portsmouth dockyard and designed other machines for woodworking, boot-making, knitting, and printing. He also worked to construct the first tunnel under the Thames (1825–43).

Brunelleschi /brunəlεski/ Filippo (1377–1446), Italian architect; born Filippo di Ser Brunellesco. He is especially noted for the dome of Florence cathedral (1420–61), which he raised without the use of temporary supports. He is often credited with the Renaissance ‘discovery’ of perspective.

brunette /brunεt br-/ (US also brunet) n. a woman or girl with dark brown hair.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, feminine of brunet, diminutive of brun ‘brown’.

brung dialect past and past participle of BRING.

Brunhild /brunhlt/ [GERMANIC MYTHOLOGY] in the Nibelungenlied, the wife of Gunther, who instigated the murder of Siegfried. In the Norse versions she is a Valkyrie whom Sigurd (the counterpart of Siegfried) wins by penetrating the wall of fire behind which she lies in an enchanted sleep.

Bruno /brunə/ Giordano (1548–1600), Italian philosopher. He was a follower of Hermes Trismegistus and a supporter of the heliocentric Copernican view of the solar system. Bruno was tried by the Inquisition for heresy and burned at the stake.

Bruno, St /brunə/ (c.1032–1101), German-born French churchman. In 1084 he founded the Carthusian order at La Grande Chartreuse near Grenoble. Feast day, 6 October.

Brunswick /brnzwk/ a former duchy and state of Germany, mostly incorporated into Lower Saxony. German name BRAUNSCHWEIG.

- the capital of this former duchy, an industrial city in Lower Saxony, Germany; pop. 242,400 (est. 2002).

Brunswick stew n. [mass noun] US a stew originally made with squirrel or rabbit, but now consisting of chicken and vegetables including onion and tomatoes.

brunt /brnt/ n. (the brunt) the worst part or chief impact of a specified action: education will bear the brunt of the cuts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a blow or an attack, also the force or shock of something): of unknown origin.

bruschetta /brskεtə/ n. [mass noun] toasted Italian bread drenched in olive oil and served typically with garlic or tomatoes.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from bruscare ‘to toast’.

brush^1 n. 1 an implement with a handle and a block of bristles, hair, or wire, used especially for cleaning, applying a liquid or powder to a surface, or arranging the hair: a shaving brush.

- an act of sweeping, applying, or arranging with a brush or with one's hand: he gave the seat a brush.

2 a light and fleeting touch: the lightest brush of his lips against her cheek.

- a brief unpleasant or unwelcome encounter with someone or something: a brush with death.

3 the bushy tail of a fox.

4 (usually brushes) a drumstick with long wire bristles, used to make a soft hissing sound on drums or cymbals.

5 a piece of carbon or metal serving as an electrical contact with a moving part in a motor or alternator.

6 [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL girls or women regarded sexually: ‘Beer first, brush later.’. [<ORIGIN> 1940s: probably from brush in the sense ‘animal's tail’, by association with tail ‘buttocks’ (see tail^1).]

■ v. [with obj.] 1 [with adverbial] remove (dust or dirt) by sweeping or scrubbing: we'll be able to brush the mud off easily.

- use a brush or one's hand to remove dust or dirt from (something): she brushed down her best coat.

- clean (one's teeth) with a brush.

- arrange (one's hair) by running a brush through it.

- apply a liquid to (a surface) with a brush: brush the potatoes with oil.

2 [no obj.] touch lightly and gently: stems of grass brush against her legs | she brushed past him to leave the room.

- [with obj.] push (something) away with a quick movement of the hand: she brushed a wisp of hair away from her face.

- [with obj.] (brush something aside) dismiss something curtly and confidently: he brushed aside attacks on his policies.

- [with obj.] (brush someone/thing off) dismiss someone or something in an abrupt way: the judge brushed off his pleas for leniency.

3 (brush up on or brush something up) improve one's existing knowledge or skill in a particular area: brush up on your telephone skills.

4 (brush someone back) [BASEBALL], INFORMAL (of a pitcher) force a batter to step back to avoid being hit by a ball pitched close to the body.

<DERIVATIVES> brushless adj. (chiefly TECHNICAL) brush-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: noun from Old French broisse; verb partly from Old French brosser ‘to sweep’.

brush^2 n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ undergrowth, small trees, and shrubs.

- land covered with such growth.

- NORTH AMERICAN cut brushwood.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ dense forest.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French broce, perhaps based on Latin bruscum, denoting an excrescence on a maple.

brushback (also brushback pitch) n. [BASEBALL] a pitch aimed close to the body so that the batter must step back to avoid it.

brush discharge n. a broad electrical discharge from a conductor occurring when the potential difference is high but not sufficient for a spark or arc.

brushed adj. 1 (of fabric) having a soft raised nap: brushed cotton.

2 (of metal) finished with a non-reflective surface: brushed aluminium.

brush-off n. [in sing.] INFORMAL a rejection or dismissal of someone by treating them as unimportant: he's given her the brush-off.

brushstroke n. a mark made by a paintbrush drawn across a surface.

brushtail (also brush-tailed possum) n. a nocturnal and mainly tree-dwelling Australasian marsupial, which has a pointed muzzle and a furred tail with a naked tip.

<INFO> Genus Trichosurus, family Phalangeridae: three species, in particular the common brushtail (T. vulpecula), frequently found in suburban areas.

brush-turkey n. a large mound-building bird of the megapode family, resembling a turkey and found mainly in New Guinea. Also called SCRUB-TURKEY.

<INFO> Family Megapodiidae: several genera and species, including Alectura lathami of eastern Australia.

brush-up n. [usually in sing.] BRITISH an act of cleaning or smartening oneself or something up: he must want a wash and brush-up after the long journey.

- [usually as modifier] an act of improving existing knowledge or skill in a particular area: a two-day brush-up course.

brush wolf n. North American term for COYOTE.

brushwood n. [mass noun] undergrowth, twigs, and small branches.

brushwork n. [mass noun] the way in which a painter uses their brush, as evident in their paintings: canvases characterized by lively, flowing brushwork.

brushy adj. 1 covered in or consisting of brushwood: a brushy hillside.

2 [ART] displaying bold use of the brush in painting: brushy outlining of form.

brusque /brsk brusk/ adj. abrupt or offhand in speech or manner: she could be brusque and impatient.

<DERIVATIVES> brusquely adv. brusqueness n. brusquerie /brsk(ə)ri bru-/ n. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, ‘lively, fierce’, from Italian brusco ‘sour’.

Brussels^1 the capital of Belgium and of the Belgian province of Brabant; pop. 958,800 (est. 2002). The headquarters of the European Commission is located there. Flemish name Brussel /brYs(ə)l/. French name BRUXELLES.

Brussels^2 plural n. INFORMAL Brussels sprouts.

Brussels carpet n. a carpet with a heavy woollen pile and a strong linen back.

Brussels lace n. [mass noun] an elaborate kind of lace, typically with a raised design, made using a needle or lace pillow.

Brussels sprout (also Brussel sprout) n. a vegetable consisting of the small compact bud of a variety of cabbage.

- the plant which yields the Brussels sprout, bearing many such buds along a tall single stem.

brut /brut/ French /bRY/ adj. (of sparkling wine) unsweetened; very dry.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘raw, rough’.

brutal adj. savagely violent: a brutal murder.

- unpleasant or harsh: the brutal morning light.

- direct and without attempting to disguise unpleasantness: the brutal honesty of his observations.

- North American INFORMAL very bad: their first date was brutal.

<DERIVATIVES> brutally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘relating to the lower animals’): from Old French, or from medieval Latin brutalis, from brutus ‘dull, stupid’ (see BRUTE).

brutalism n. 1 [mass noun] cruelty and savageness.

2 a stark style of functionalist architecture, especially of the 1950s and 1960s, characterized by the use of steel and concrete in massive blocks.

<DERIVATIVES> brutalist n. & adj.

brutality n. [mass noun] savage physical violence; great cruelty: brutality against civilians.

brutalize (also brutalise) v. [with obj.] make (someone) cruel, violent, or insensitive to the pain of others by repeated exposure to violence: he had been brutalized in prison and become cynical | (as adj. brutalizing) the brutalizing effects of warfare.

- treat (someone) in a savage and violent way: they brutalize and torture persons in their custody.

<DERIVATIVES> brutalization n.

brute n. 1 a savagely violent man or animal: he was a cold-blooded brute.

- INFORMAL a cruel or insensitive person: what an unfeeling little brute you are.

- something awkward, difficult, or unpleasant: a great brute of a machine.

2 an animal as opposed to a human being.

■ adj. [attr.] unreasoning and animal-like: a brute struggle for social superiority.

- merely physical: we achieve little by brute force.

- fundamental, inescapable, and unpleasant: the brute necessities of basic subsistence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Old French brut(e), from Latin brutus ‘dull, stupid’.

brutish adj. resembling or characteristic of a brute: he was coarse and brutish | brutish behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> brutishly adv. brutishness n.

Bruton /brut(ə)n/ John (Gerard) (b.1947), Irish Fine Gael statesman, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) 1994–7.

Brutus^1 a legendary Trojan hero, great-grandson of Aeneas and supposed ancestor of the British people. In medieval legend he was said to have brought a group of Trojans to England and founded Troynovant or New Troy (London).

Brutus^2 Lucius Junius, legendary founder of the Roman Republic. Traditionally he led a popular uprising, after the rape of Lucretia, against the king (his uncle) and drove him from Rome. He and the father of Lucretia were elected as the first consuls of the Republic (509 BC).

Brutus^3 Marcus Junius (85–42 BC), Roman senator. With Cassius he led the conspirators who assassinated Julius Caesar in 44. They were defeated by Caesar's supporters, Antony and Octavian, at the battle of Philippi in 42, after which Brutus committed suicide.

Bruxelles /bRYsεl/ French name for Brussels^1.

bruxism /brksz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] involuntary habitual grinding of the teeth, typically during sleep.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek brukhein ‘gnash the teeth’ + -ISM.

Bryansk /bransk/ (also Briansk) an industrial city in European Russia, south-west of Moscow, on the Desna River; pop. 452,000 (est. 2002).

Brylcreem /brlkrim/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a cream used on men's hair to give it a smooth, shiny appearance.

<DERIVATIVES> Brylcreemed adj.

bryology /brlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of mosses and liverworts.

<DERIVATIVES> bryological adj. bryologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek bruon ‘moss’ + -LOGY.

bryony /brəni/ (also white bryony) n. (pl. bryonies) a climbing Eurasian hedgerow plant with lobed hairy leaves, red berries, and spring-like tendrils. See also BLACK BRYONY.

<INFO> Bryonia dioica, the only British member of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae).

<ORIGIN> Old English, via Latin from Greek bruōnia.

Bryophyta /brə()ftə/ plural n. [BOTANY] a division of small flowerless green plants which comprises the mosses and liverworts. They lack true roots and reproduce by spores released from a stalked capsule.

<INFO> Division Bryophyta: classes Musci (mosses) and Hepaticae (liverworts).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek bruon ‘moss’ + phuta ‘plants’.

bryophyte n. [BOTANY] a small flowerless green plant of the division Bryophyta, which comprises the mosses and liverworts.

Bryozoa /brəzəə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a phylum of sedentary aquatic invertebrates that comprises the moss animals. Also called ECTOPROCTA, POLYZOA.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek bruon ‘moss’ + zōia ‘animals’.

bryozoan [ZOOLOGY] n. a sedentary aquatic invertebrate of the phylum Bryozoa, which comprises the moss animals.

■ adj. relating to or denoting bryozoans.

Brythonic /brθnk/ (also Brittonic) adj. denoting or relating to the southern group of Celtic languages, consisting of Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. They were spoken in Britain before and during the Roman occupation, surviving as Welsh and Cornish after the Anglo-Saxon invasions, and being taken to Brittany by emigrants. Compare with GOIDELIC. Also called P-CELTIC.

■ n. [mass noun] the Brythonic languages collectively.

<ORIGIN> from Welsh Brython ‘Britons’ + -IC.

Brześć nad Bugiem /bεt nad bujεm/ Polish name for Brest (sense 2).

BS abbr.

- US Bachelor of Science.

- BRITISH Bachelor of Surgery.

- Blessed Sacrament.

- British Standard(s).

- North American VULGAR SLANG bullshit.

BSc abbr. Bachelor of Science, a first degree in a science subject.

BSE abbr. bovine spongiform encephalopathy, a disease of cattle which affects the central nervous system, causing agitation and staggering, and is usually fatal. It is believed to be caused by an agent such as a prion or a virino, and to be related to Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans. Also (popularly) called MAD COW DISEASE.

BSI abbr. British Standards Institution.

B-side n. the side of a pop single regarded as the less important one.

BSL abbr. British Sign Language.

BST abbr.

- bovine somatotrophin.

- HISTORICAL British Standard Time, one hour ahead of GMT, in continuous use 1968–71.

- British Summer Time.

BT abbr. British Telecom.

Bt abbr. Baronet.

B2B abbr. business-to-business, denoting trade conducted via the Internet between businesses.

B2C abbr. business-to-consumer, denoting trade conducted via the Internet between businesses and consumers.

Btu (also BTU) abbr. British thermal unit(s).

BTW abbr. by the way.

Bual /bual/ n. [mass noun] a variety of wine grape grown chiefly in Madeira.

- a Madeira wine of a medium-sweet type made from such grapes.

<ORIGIN> from Portuguese boal.

BUAV abbr. British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection.

bub n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an aggressive or rude way of addressing a boy or man: hey, bub, I'm looking for someone.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from earlier bubby (perhaps a child's form of BROTHER), or from German Bube ‘boy’.

bubal /bjub(ə)l/ n. a hartebeest, especially one of an extinct race that was formerly found in North Africa.

<INFO> Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French bubale, via Latin from Greek boubalos ‘wild ox, antelope’.

bubba /bbə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL 1 used as an affectionate form of address to a brother.

2 DEROGATORY an uneducated conservative white male of the southern US.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: alteration of BROTHER.

bubbie n. US INFORMAL (in Jewish use) one's grandmother.

<ORIGIN> from Yiddish bube ‘grandmother’.

bubble n. 1 a thin sphere of liquid enclosing air or another gas.

- an air- or gas-filled spherical cavity in a liquid or a solidified liquid such as glass.

- FIGURATIVE used to refer to a situation or feeling that is unlikely to last: many companies enjoyed rapid expansion before the bubble burst | a bubble of confidence.

2 a transparent domed cover or enclosure: piglets born into a sterile bubble.

3 (also bubble shell) a marine mollusc that typically has a thin scroll-like shell.

<INFO> Bullidae and other families, order Cephalaspidea, class Gastropoda.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a liquid) contain rising bubbles of air or gas: a pot of coffee bubbled away on the stove.

- (often as adj. bubbling) make a sound resembling this: a bubbling fountain.

- (bubble with/over with) be filled with an irrepressible positive feeling: Ellen was bubbling with enthusiasm.

- (bubble up) (of a feeling) become more intense and approach the point of being expressed: the fury bubbling up inside her.

<PHRASES>

□ on the bubble NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (of a sports player or team) occupying the last qualifying position on a team or for a tournament, and liable to be replaced by another. [<ORIGIN> from sit on the bubble, with the implication that the bubble may burst.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: partly imitative, partly an alteration of BURBLE.

bubble and squeak n. [mass noun] BRITISH cooked cabbage fried with cooked potatoes and often meat.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the sounds of the mixture cooking.

bubble bath n. [mass noun] liquid, crystals, or powder added to bathwater to make it foam and have a fragrant smell.

bubble canopy n. a transparent domed canopy on a fighter aircraft or bubble car.

bubble car n. a small car with a transparent domed canopy and typically three wheels.

bubble chamber n. [PHYSICS] an apparatus designed to make the tracks of ionizing particles visible as a row of bubbles in a liquid.

bubblegum n. [mass noun] 1 chewing gum that can be blown into bubbles.

- (also bubblegum pink) [mass noun] the bright pink colour that is typical of bubblegum.

2 [usually as modifier] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN pop music that is catchy and repetitive and designed to appeal especially to teenagers: rockers hate bubblegum pop.

bubblehead n. INFORMAL a foolish or empty-headed person.

bubblejet printer n. a form of ink-jet printer.

bubble pack n. a small package enclosing goods in transparent dome-shaped plastic on a flat cardboard backing.

■ another term for BUBBLE WRAP.

bubbler n. AUSTRALIAN & US a drinking fountain.

bubble wrap n. [mass noun] (TRADEMARK in the US) plastic packaging material in sheets containing numerous small air cushions designed to protect fragile goods.

bubbly adj. (bubblier, bubbliest) 1 containing bubbles: bake until the top is crisp and bubbly.

2 (of a person) full of cheerful high spirits: a bright and bubbly personality.

■ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL champagne.

Buber /bubə/ Martin (1878–1965), Israeli religious philosopher, born in Austria. In his existentialist work I and Thou (1923) he argues that religious experience involves reciprocal relationships with a personal subject, rather than knowledge of some ‘thing’.

bubinga /bjubə/ n. [mass noun] reddish-brown timber used chiefly for inlay work and as a veneer.

<INFO> The timber is obtained from several tropical African trees of the genus Guibourtia, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> a local name.

bubo /bjubə/ n. (pl. buboes) a swollen inflamed lymph node in the armpit or groin.

<DERIVATIVES> bubonic /bjubnk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from Greek boubōn ‘groin or swelling in the groin’.

bubonic plague n. the commonest form of plague in humans, characterized by fever, delirium, and the formation of buboes.

The plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, is transmitted by rat fleas. Epidemics occurred in Europe throughout the Middle Ages (notably as the Black Death and the Great Plague of 1665–6); the disease is still endemic in parts of Asia.

bucatini /bkətini/ plural n. small hollow tubes of pasta.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

buccal /bk(ə)l/ adj. TECHNICAL relating to the cheek: the buccal side of the molars.

- relating to the mouth: the buccal cavity.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin bucca ‘cheek’ + -AL.

buccaneer /bkənə/ n. HISTORICAL a pirate, originally one operating in the Caribbean.

- a person who acts in a recklessly adventurous and often unscrupulous way, especially in business.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally denoting European hunters in the Caribbean): from French boucanier, from boucan ‘a frame on which to cook or cure meat’, from Tupi mukem.

buccaneering adj. (especially in a business context) high-risk and adventurous: the buccaneering nature of the oil-transport industry.

buccinator /bksnetə/ n. [ANATOMY] a flat, thin muscle in the wall of the cheek.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, from buccinare ‘blow a trumpet’, from buccina, denoting a kind of trumpet.

Bucephalus /bjusεfələs/ the favourite horse of Alexander the Great, who tamed the horse as a boy and took it with him on his campaigns until its death, after a battle, in 326 BC.

Buchan^1 /bk(ə)n/ Alexander (1829–1907), Scottish meteorologist. He wrote a textbook on meteorology and produced maps and tables of atmospheric circulation, and of ocean currents and temperatures, based largely on information gathered on the voyage of HMS Challenger in 1872–6.

Buchan^2 /bk(ə)n/ John, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (1875–1940), Scottish novelist. His adventure stories feature recurring heroes such as Richard Hannay. Notable works: The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915).

Buchanan /bjukanən/ James (1791–1868), American Democratic statesman, 15th President of the US 1857–61. His leanings towards the pro-slavery side in the developing dispute over slavery made the issue more fraught and he retired from politics in 1861.

Bucharest /bukərεst/ the capital of Romania; pop. 1,977,200 (est. 2002). It was founded in the 14th century on the trade route between Europe and Constantinople. Romanian name Bucureşti.

Buchenwald /bukənvald/ German /buxnvalt/ a Nazi concentration camp in the Second World War, near Weimar in eastern Germany.

Buchner /bknə/ German /buxn/ Eduard (1860–1917), German organic chemist. He studied the chemistry of alcoholic fermentation and identified several enzymes, notably zymase. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1907).

buchu /bku/ n. a heather-like South African shrub which is cultivated for its essential oil and as an ornamental.

<INFO> Genus Agathosma (or Barosma) and Diosma, family Rutaceae.

- [mass noun] a diuretic drug made from the powdered leaves of the buchu.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Khoikhoi.

Buck Pearl S. (1892–1973), American writer; full name Pearl Sydenstricker Buck. Her upbringing and work in China inspired her earliest novels, including The Good Earth (Pulitzer Prize, 1931). Nobel Prize for Literature (1938).

buck^1 n. 1 the male of some horned animals, especially the fallow deer, roe deer, reindeer, and antelopes.

- a male hare, rabbit, ferret, rat, or kangaroo.

- S. AFRICAN an antelope of either sex.

2 another term for VAULTING HORSE.

3 a vertical jump performed by a horse, with the head lowered, back arched, and back legs thrown out behind.

4 ARCHAIC a fashionable and spirited young man.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (of a horse) to perform a buck: he's got to get his head down to buck | [with obj.] she bucked them off if they tried to get on her back.

- (of a vehicle) make sudden jerky movements.

2 [with obj.] oppose or resist (something oppressive or inevitable): the shares bucked the market trend.

3 (buck someone up or buck up) INFORMAL make or become more cheerful: [with obj.] Bella and Jim need me to buck them up | [no obj.] buck up, kid, it's not the end of the game.

■ adj. US MILITARY SLANG lowest of a particular rank: a buck private.

<PHRASES>

□ buck up one's ideas BRITISH INFORMAL become more serious, energetic, and hard-working.

<ORIGIN> Old English, partly from buc ‘male deer’ (of Germanic origin, related to Dutch bok and German Bock); reinforced by bucca ‘male goat’, of the same ultimate origin.

buck^2 n. NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a dollar: a run-down hotel room for five bucks a night.

- S. African INFORMAL a rand.

- Indian INFORMAL a rupee.

<PHRASES>

□ big bucks a lot of money.

□ a fast (or quick) buck easily and quickly earned money: itinerant traders out to make a fast buck.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

buck^3 n. an article placed as a reminder in front of a player whose turn it is to deal at poker.

<PHRASES>

□ the buck stops here (or with someone) INFORMAL the responsibility for something cannot or should not be passed to someone else.

□ pass the buck INFORMAL shift the responsibility for something to someone else.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

buck-and-wing n. US, chiefly HISTORICAL a lively solo tap dance, performed typically in wooden-soled shoes.

buckaroo /bkəru/ n. NORTH AMERICAN DATED a cowboy.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: alteration of VAQUERO.

buckbean n. another term for BOGBEAN.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Flemish bocks boonen ‘goat's beans’.

buckboard n. NORTH AMERICAN an open horse-drawn carriage with four wheels and seating that is attached to a plank stretching between the front and rear axles.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from buck ‘body of a cart’ (perhaps a variant of obsolete bouk ‘belly, body’) + BOARD.

buckbrush n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN coarse vegetation on which wild deer browse.

buckeen /bkin/ n. HISTORICAL a poor but aspiring young man of the lower Anglo-Irish gentry.

bucket n. 1 a roughly cylindrical open container with a handle, made of metal or plastic and used to hold and carry liquids.

- the contents of a bucket or the amount it can contain: she emptied a bucket of water over them.

- (buckets) INFORMAL large quantities of something, especially liquid: I wept buckets.

- a compartment on the outer edge of a waterwheel.

- the scoop of a dredger or grain elevator.

- a scoop attached to the front of a loader, digger, or tractor.

2 [COMPUTING] a unit of data that can be transferred from a backing store in a single operation.

■ v. (buckets, bucketing, bucketed) [no obj.] 1 (it buckets down, it is bucketing down, etc.) BRITISH INFORMAL rain heavily.

2 [with adverbial of direction] INFORMAL (of a vehicle) move quickly and jerkily: the car came bucketing out of a side road.

<DERIVATIVES> bucketful n. (pl. bucketfuls)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French buquet ‘tub, pail’, perhaps from Old English būc ‘belly, pitcher’.

bucket hat n. a simple soft cloth hat with a brim.

bucketload n. as much as can be held by a bucket.

- INFORMAL a large amount or number.

bucket seat n. a seat in a car or aircraft with a rounded back to fit one person.

bucket shop n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY 1 an unauthorized office for speculating in stocks or currency using the funds of unwitting investors.

2 BRITISH a travel agency that specializes in providing cheap air tickets.

bucketwheel n. a machine with a series of scoops or buckets on a rotating belt, used to excavate or move material.

buckeye n. 1 an American tree or shrub related to the horse chestnut, with showy red or white flowers.

<INFO> Genus Aesculus, family Hippocastanaceae: several species.

- the nut of the buckeye.

2 (also buckeye butterfly) an orange and brown New World butterfly with conspicuous eyespots on the wings.

<INFO> Junonia coenia, subfamily Nymphalinae, family Nymphalidae.

3 (Buckeye) US INFORMAL a native of the state of Ohio.

4 (also buckeye coupling) a kind of automatic coupling for railway rolling stock. [<ORIGIN> named after the Buckeye Steel Castings Company, Columbus, Ohio.]

Buckeye State informal name for OHIO.

buck fever n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL nervousness felt by novice hunters when they first sight game.

buckhorn n. a horn of a deer.

- [mass noun] such horn, used for knife handles, small containers, and rifle sights.

buckhound n. a staghound of a small breed.

Buckingham Palace the London residence of the British sovereign since 1837, adjoining St James's Park, Westminster. It was built for the Duke of Buckingham in the early 18th century and bought by George III in 1761.

Buckinghamshire a county of central England; county town, Aylesbury.

buckjump Australian/NZ v. [no obj.] (of a horse) jump vertically with its head lowered, back arched, and legs drawn together in an attempt to unseat its rider.

■ n. an act of buckjumping.

<DERIVATIVES> buckjumper n.

buckjumping n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN/NZ a rodeo event in which a rider attempts to stay in the saddle of a bucking horse for a period of eight seconds.

Buckland William (1784–1856), English geologist. He helped to redefine geology, correlating deposits and associated fossils with former conditions, and developed the idea of an ice age. He was the first to describe and name a dinosaur (Megalosaurus), in 1824.

buckle n. a flat, typically rectangular frame with a hinged pin, used for joining the ends of a belt or strap.

- a similarly shaped ornament on a shoe.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] fasten or decorate with a buckle: he buckled his belt.

- [no obj.] (buckle up) fasten one's seat belt in a car or aircraft.

2 [no obj.] bend and give way under pressure or strain: the earth buckled under the titanic stress.

- [with obj.] bend (something) out of shape: a lorry backed into the wall and buckled the gate.

- (of a person) suffer a psychological collapse as a result of stress: a weaker person might have buckled under the strain.

3 [no obj.] (buckle down) tackle a task with determination: they will buckle down to negotiations over the next few months.

- (buckle to) DATED make a determined effort.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bocle, from Latin buccula ‘cheek strap of a helmet’, from bucca ‘cheek’.

■ Sense 2 of the verb is from French boucler ‘to bulge’.

buckler n. HISTORICAL a small round shield held by a handle or worn on the forearm.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French (escu) bocler, literally ‘(shield) with a boss’, from bocle ‘buckle, boss’ (see BUCKLE).

buckler fern n. a European fern with deeply divided lobes and with stalks that are typically covered with brown scales.

<INFO> Several species in the genus Dryopteris, family Dryopteridaceae.

Buckley's n. (in phrase (not) have Buckley's (or Buckley's chance)) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL have little or no chance of doing or achieving something: the vehicle had Buckley's chance of stopping.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: sometimes said to be from the name of William Buckley (died 1856), who, despite dire predictions as to his chances of survival, lived with the Aborigines for many years.

buckling n. a smoked herring.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German Bückling ‘bloater’.

buckminsterfullerene /bkmnstəflərin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a form of carbon having molecules of 60 atoms arranged in a polyhedron resembling a geodesic sphere. See also FULLERENE.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: named after Richard Buckminster Fuller (see Fuller^1).

buck naked adj. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN completely naked.

bucko n. (pl. buckoes or buckos) INFORMAL a young man (often as a form of address): I know you, my bucko, you're a troublemaker.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally nautical slang): from BUCK^1 + -O.

buck-passing n. [mass noun] INFORMAL the practice of shifting the responsibility for something to someone else.

buckra /bkrə/ n. (pl. same or buckras) US & W. INDIAN INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY a white person, especially a man.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Ibibio and Efik (m)bakara ‘European, master’.

buckram /bkrəm/ n. [mass noun] coarse linen or other cloth stiffened with gum or paste, and used as interfacing and in bookbinding.

<PHRASES>

□ men in buckram ARCHAIC non-existent people. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to Shakespeare's 1 Henry IV II. iv. 210–50.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a kind of fine linen or cotton cloth): from Old French boquerant, perhaps from BUKHARA in central Asia.

buck rarebit n. BRITISH a dish of melted cheese on toast with a poached egg on top.

Bucks abbr. Buckinghamshire.

Buck's Fizz n. [mass noun] BRITISH champagne or sparkling white wine mixed with orange juice as a cocktail.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from the name of Buck's Club, in London, and FIZZ.

buckshee /bki bki/ adj. INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH free of charge: a buckshee brandy.

<ORIGIN> First World War (originally soldiers' slang): alteration of BAKSHEESH.

buckshot n. [mass noun] coarse lead shot used in shotgun shells.

buckskin n. 1 the skin of a male deer.

- [mass noun] greyish leather with a suede finish, traditionally made from buckskin but now often made from sheepskin: [as modifier] a pair of buckskin moccasins.

- (buckskins) clothes or shoes made from such leather.

- [mass noun] thick, smooth cotton or woollen fabric.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a horse of a greyish-yellow colour.

<DERIVATIVES> buckskinned adj.

buckthorn n. a shrub or small tree which typically bears thorns and black berries. Some kinds yield dyes and others have been used medicinally.

<INFO> Genus Rhamnus, family Rhamnaceae: several species, including the common buckthorn (R. cathartica), with berries formerly used as a cathartic.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from BUCK^1 in the sense ‘deer’ + THORN, translating modern Latin spina cervina.

buck tooth n. an upper tooth that projects over the lower lip.

<DERIVATIVES> buck-toothed adj.

buckwheat n. an Asian plant of the dock family, producing starchy seeds that are used for fodder and also milled into flour which is widely used in the US.

<INFO> Fagopyrum esculentum, family Polygonaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Middle Dutch boecweite ‘beech wheat’, its grains being shaped like beechmast.

buckyballs plural n. [CHEMISTRY], INFORMAL spherical molecules of a fullerene, especially buckminsterfullerene. Related cylindrical molecules are termed buckytubes.

bucolic /bjuklk/ adj. relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life: the church is lovely for its bucolic setting.

■ n. (usually bucolics) a pastoral poem.

<DERIVATIVES> bucolically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as a noun): via Latin from Greek boukolikos, from boukolos ‘herdsman’, from bous ‘ox’.

Bucureşti /bukurεtj/ Romanian name for BUCHAREST.

bud^1 n. a compact knob-like growth on a plant which develops into a leaf, flower, or shoot.

- [BIOLOGY] an outgrowth from an organism, e.g. a yeast cell, that separates to form a new individual without sexual reproduction taking place.

- [with modifier] [ZOOLOGY] a rudimentary leg or other appendage of an animal which has not yet grown, or never will grow, to full size.

■ v. (buds, budding, budded) [no obj.] [BIOLOGY] (of a plant or animal) form a bud: new blood vessels bud out from the vascular bed.

- [with obj.] graft a bud of (a plant) on to another plant.

<PHRASES>

□ in bud (of a plant) having newly formed buds.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

bud^2 n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a friendly form of address from one boy or man to another.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation of BUDDY.

Budapest /b(j)udəpεst/ the capital of Hungary; pop. 1,858,100 (est. 2002). The city was formed in 1873 by the union of the hilly city of Buda on the right bank of the River Danube with the low-lying city of Pest on the left.

Buddha /bdə/ (often the Buddha) a title given to the founder of Buddhism, Siddartha Gautama (c.563–c.483 BC). Born an Indian prince in what is now Nepal, he renounced wealth and family to become an ascetic, and after achieving enlightenment while meditating, taught all who came to learn from him.

- (as n. a Buddha) [BUDDHISM] a person who has attained full enlightenment.

- a statue or picture of the Buddha.

<ORIGIN> Sanskrit, literally ‘enlightened’, past participle of budh ‘know’.

Buddhism /bdz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a widespread Asian religion or philosophy, founded by Siddartha Gautama in NE India in the 5th century BC.

Buddhism has no god, and gives a central role to the doctrine of karma. The ‘four noble truths’ of Buddhism state that all existence is suffering, that the cause of suffering is desire, that freedom from suffering is nirvana, and that this is attained through the ‘eightfold path’ of ethical conduct, wisdom, and mental discipline (including meditation). There are two major traditions, Theravada and Mahayana.

<DERIVATIVES> Buddhist n. & adj. Buddhistic adj.

buddhu /bdu/ n. INDIAN INFORMAL an idiot.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi buddhū.

budding adj. (of a plant) having or developing buds: a budding chrysanthemum.

- (of a body part) becoming larger as part of normal growth.

- (of a person) beginning and showing signs of promise in a particular sphere: budding young actors.

- beginning and showing promising signs of continuing: their budding relationship.

buddle n. a shallow inclined container in which ore is washed.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

buddleia /bdlə/ n. a widely cultivated shrub with clusters of fragrant lilac, white, or yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Buddleia (or Buddleja), family Loganiaceae: several species, especially the butterfly bush.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin; named in honour of the English botanist Adam Buddle (died 1715), by Linnaeus, at the suggestion of Sir William Houston, who introduced the plant to Europe from South America.

buddy INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. (pl. buddies) a close friend.

- a working companion with whom close cooperation is required.

- a person who befriends and helps another with an incapacitating disease, typically Aids.

- used as a form of address to a man whose name is not known: I'm working on it, buddy.

■ v. (buddies, buddying, buddied) [no obj.] become friendly and spend time with someone: I decided to buddy up to them.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): perhaps an alteration of BROTHER, or a variant of butty^2.

buddy-buddy adj. INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY very friendly: he's buddy-buddy with the Ambassador.

buddy system n. a cooperative arrangement whereby individuals are paired or teamed up and assume responsibility for one another's welfare or safety.

Budge Don (1915–2000), American tennis player; born John Donald Budge. He was the first to win the four major singles championships—Australia, France, Britain, and the US—in one year (1938). In both 1937 and 1938 he won the Wimbledon singles, men's doubles, and mixed doubles.

budge v. [usually with negative] make or cause to make the slightest movement: [no obj.] the queue in the bank hasn't budged | [with obj.] I couldn't budge the door.

- [no obj.] (budge up or US over) INFORMAL make room for another person by moving: budge up, boys, make room for your uncle.

- [usually with modal] change an opinion: [no obj.] he wouldn't budge on his decision.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French bouger ‘to stir’, based on Latin bullire ‘to boil’.

budgerigar n. a small gregarious Australian parakeet which is green with a yellow head in the wild. It is popular as a cage bird and has been bred in a variety of colours.

<INFO> Melopsittacus undulatus, family Psittacidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of Aboriginal origin, perhaps an alteration of Kamilaroi gijirrigaa (also in related languages).

budget n. 1 an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time: keep within the household budget.

- (Budget) an annual or other regular estimate of national revenue and expenditure put forward by a finance minister.

- the amount of money needed or available for a purpose: they have a limited budget.

2 ARCHAIC a quantity of written or printed material.

■ v. (budgets, budgeting, budgeted) [no obj.] allow or provide a particular amount of money in a budget: the university is budgeting for a deficit.

- [with obj.] provide (a sum of money) for a particular purpose from a budget: the council proposes to budget £100,000 to provide grants | (as adj. budgeted) a budgeted figure of £31,000.

■ adj. [attr.] inexpensive: a budget guitar.

<PHRASES>

□ on a budget with a restricted amount of money: we're travelling on a budget.

<DERIVATIVES> budgetary adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bougette, diminutive of bouge ‘leather bag’, from Latin bulga ‘leather bag, knapsack’, of Gaulish origin. Compare with BULGE. The word originally meant a pouch or wallet, and later its contents. In the mid 18th century, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in presenting his annual statement, was said ‘to open the budget’. In the late 19th century the use of the term was extended from governmental to other finances.

budget account n. BRITISH an account with a bank, store, or public utility into which one makes regular payments to cover bills.

budgie n. (pl. budgies) INFORMAL a budgerigar.

budo /budə/ n. [mass noun] martial arts.

- the code on which martial arts are all based.

<ORIGIN> Japanese budō, from bu ‘military’ + dō ‘way’.

budstick n. a small piece of plant stem with a bud, prepared for grafting on to another plant.

Budweis /btvas/ German name for ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE.

budwood n. [mass noun] short lengths of young branches with buds prepared for grafting on to the rootstock of another plant.

budworm n. a moth caterpillar that is destructive to buds. See also SPRUCE BUDWORM.

Buenaventura /bwenəvεntjərə/ Spanish /bwenaβentura/ the chief Pacific port of Colombia; pop. 230,700 (est. 2002).

Buenos Aires /bwenəs riz/ Spanish /bwenəs ajres/ the capital city and chief port of Argentina, on the River Plate; pop. 2,904,192 (est. 1999).

Buerger's disease /bəəz/ n. [mass noun] inflammation and thrombosis in small and medium-sized blood vessels, typically in the legs and leading to gangrene. It has been associated with smoking.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Leo Buerger (1879–1943), American surgeon.

buff^1 n. [mass noun] 1 a yellowish-beige colour: [as modifier] a buff envelope.

2 a stout dull yellow leather with a velvety surface.

3 [count noun] a stick, wheel, or pad used for polishing.

■ v. [with obj.] polish (something): he buffed the glass until it gleamed.

- give (leather) a velvety finish by removing the surface of the grain.

■ adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (of a person or their body) in good physical shape with well-developed muscles: the driver was a buff blond named March.

<PHRASES>

□ in the buff INFORMAL naked.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably from French buffle, from Italian bufalo, from late Latin bufalus (see BUFFALO). The original sense in English was ‘buffalo’, later ‘oxhide’ or ‘colour of oxhide’.

buff^2 n. [with modifier] INFORMAL a person who is enthusiastically interested in and very knowledgeable about a particular subject: a computer buff.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BUFF^1, originally applied to enthusiastic fire-watchers, because of the buff uniforms formerly worn by New York volunteer firemen.

Buffalo an industrial city in New York State; pop. 292,648 (2000). Situated at the eastern end of Lake Erie, it is a major port of the St Lawrence Seaway.

buffalo n. (pl. same or buffaloes) 1 a heavily built wild ox with backward-curving horns, found mainly in the Old World tropics:

<INFO>

- four species native to South Asia (genus Bubalus, family Bovidae). See also WATER BUFFALO, ANOA

- a wild ox with large horns, native to Africa south of the Sahara (Synceros caffer, family Bovidae, the African buffalo), sometimes considered to be two species, the Cape buffalo and the forest (or dwarf) buffalo.

- the North American bison.

2 (also buffalo fish) a large greyish-olive freshwater fish with thick lips, common in North America.

<INFO> Genus Ictiobus, family Catostomidae: several species.

■ v. (buffaloes, buffaloing, buffaloed) [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL overawe or intimidate (someone): she didn't like being buffaloed.

- baffle (someone): the problem has buffaloed the advertising staff.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably from Portuguese bufalo, from late Latin bufalus, from earlier bubalus, from Greek boubalos ‘antelope, wild ox’.

Buffalo Bill (1846–1917), American showman; born William Frederick Cody. He gained his nickname for killing 4,280 buffalo in eight months to feed the Union Pacific Railroad workers, and subsequently devoted his life to his travelling Wild West Show.

buffalo gnat n. North American term for blackfly (sense 2).

buffalo grass n. [mass noun] any of a number of grasses, in particular:

<INFO>

- a creeping grass of the North American plains (Buchloe dactyloides, family Gramineae).

- a N. American grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum, family Gramineae), naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

buffalo thorn n. a tropical African shrub or small tree with glossy leaves and thorns which grow in pairs, one of each pair being straight and the other curved.

<INFO> Ziziphus mucronata, family Rhamnaceae.

buffalo weaver n. a large thickset African weaver bird that is either all black or has a white head and red rump.

<INFO> Genera Bubalornis and Dinemellia, family Ploceidae: three species.

Buffalo wings (also Buffalo chicken wings) plural n. NORTH AMERICAN deep-fried chicken wings coated in a spicy sauce and served with blue cheese dressing.

buffed (also buffed-out) adj. another term for buff^1.

buffer^1 n. 1 a person or thing that reduces a shock or that forms a barrier between incompatible or antagonistic people or things: family and friends can provide a buffer against stress.

- (buffers) BRITISH a pair of shock-absorbing pistons projecting from a cross-beam at the end of a railway track or on the front and rear of a railway vehicle.

2 (also buffer solution) [CHEMISTRY] a solution which resists changes in pH when acid or alkali is added to it.

3 [COMPUTING] a temporary memory area or queue used when creating or editing text, or when transferring data between devices or programs operating at different speeds.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 lessen or moderate the impact of (something): the massage helped to buffer the strain.

2 treat with a chemical buffer.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably from obsolete buff (verb), imitative of the sound of a blow to a soft body.

buffer^2 n. BRITISH INFORMAL an elderly man who is considered to be foolishly old-fashioned, unworldly, or incompetent: a distinguished old buffer.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: probably from obsolete buff (see buffer^1), or from dialect buff ‘stutter, splutter’ (possibly the same word). In late Middle English buffer had the sense ‘stammerer’.

buffer state n. a small neutral country situated between two larger hostile countries and serving to prevent the outbreak of regional conflict.

buffer stock n. a reserve of a commodity that can be used to offset price fluctuations.

buffer zone n. a neutral area serving to separate hostile forces or nations.

- an area of land designated for environmental protection.

buffet^1 /bfe bfe/ n. 1 a meal consisting of several dishes from which guests serve themselves: [as modifier] a cold buffet lunch.

2 a room or counter in a station, hotel, or other public building selling light meals or snacks.

- (also buffet car) BRITISH a railway carriage selling light meals or snacks.

3 also /bft/

■ North American term for sideboard (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting a sideboard): from French, from Old French bufet ‘stool’, of unknown origin.

buffet^2 /bft/ v. (buffets, buffeting, buffeted) [with obj.] (especially of wind or waves) strike repeatedly and violently; batter: rough seas buffeted the coast | [no obj.] the wind was buffeting at their bodies.

- knock (someone) off course: he was buffeted from side to side.

- FIGURATIVE (of difficulties) afflict (someone) over a long period: they were buffeted by a major recession.

■ n. 1 DATED a blow or punch.

- a shock or misfortune: the daily buffets of urban civilization.

2 [mass noun] [AERONAUTICS] another term for BUFFETING.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French buffeter (verb), buffet (noun), diminutive of bufe ‘a blow’.

buffet^3 /bft/ n. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a low stool or hassock.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bufet, of unknown origin.

buffeting n. [mass noun] 1 the action of buffeting someone or something: the roofs have survived the buffeting of worse winds than this.

2 [AERONAUTICS] irregular oscillation of part of an aircraft, caused by turbulence.

bufflehead /bf(ə)lhεd/ n. a small North American diving duck related to the goldeneye, with a large puffy head. The male has white plumage with a black back.

<INFO> Bucephala albeola, family Anatidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘simpleton’): from obsolete buffle ‘buffalo’ + HEAD. The current sense (mid 18th century) may be an independent formation because of the duck's large square-shaped head.

buffo /bfə/ n. (pl. buffos) a comic actor in Italian opera.

■ adj. of or typical of Italian comic opera: a buffo character.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Italian, ‘puff of wind, buffoon’, from buffare ‘to puff’, of imitative origin.

Buffon /bufn/ French /bYf/ Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de (1707–88), French naturalist. A founder of palaeontology, he emphasized the unity of all living species, minimizing the apparent differences between animals and plants. He produced a compilation of the animal kingdom, the Histoire Naturelle, which had reached thirty-six volumes by the time of his death.

buffoon /bəfun/ n. a ridiculous but amusing person; a clown.

<DERIVATIVES> buffoonish adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French bouffon, from Italian buffone, from medieval Latin buffo ‘clown’. Originally recorded as a rare Scots word for a kind of pantomime dance, the term later (late 16th century) denoted a professional jester.

buffoonery n. (pl. buffooneries) [mass noun] behaviour that is ridiculous but amusing.

buff-tip n. a European moth that has buff-coloured wing tips and thoracic hair, giving it the appearance of a twig when at rest.

<INFO> Phalera bucephala, family Notodontidae.

bug n. 1 INFORMAL a harmful micro-organism, typically a bacterium.

- an illness caused by a micro-organism: he'd just recovered from a flu bug.

- [with modifier] an enthusiastic interest in something: they caught the sailing bug.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a small insect.

3 (also true bug) [ENTOMOLOGY] an insect of a large order distinguished by having mouthparts that are modified for piercing and sucking.

<INFO> Order Hemiptera: see HEMIPTERA.

4 a concealed miniature microphone, used for secret eavesdropping or recording.

5 an error in a computer program or system.

■ v. (bugs, bugging, bugged) [with obj.] 1 conceal a miniature microphone in (a room or telephone) in order to eavesdrop on or record someone's conversations secretly: the telephones in the presidential palace were bugged.

- record or eavesdrop on (a conversation) in this way.

2 INFORMAL annoy or bother (someone): a persistent reporter was bugging me.

3 [no obj.] (bug off) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL go away.

- (bug out) leave quickly: if you see enemy troops, bug out.

4 [no obj.] (bug out) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL bulge outwards: men's eyes bug out when she walks past.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin. Current verb senses date from the early 20th cent.

bugaboo /bəbu/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an object of fear or alarm; a bogey.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: probably of Celtic origin and related to Welsh bwci bo ‘bogey, the Devil’, bwci ‘hobgoblin’ and Cornish bucca.

Buganda /b(j)uandə/ a former kingdom of East Africa, on the north shore of Lake Victoria, now part of Uganda.

bugbane n. a tall plant of the buttercup family, with spikes of cream or yellow flowers and fern-like leaves, native to north temperate regions.

<INFO> Genus Cimicifuga, family Ranunculaceae: several species, in particular C. foetida.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BUG + BANE, with reference to the former use of the species C. foetida to drive away bedbugs.

bugbear n. 1 a cause of obsessive fear, anxiety, or irritation.

2 ARCHAIC an imaginary being invoked to frighten children, typically a sort of hobgoblin supposed to devour them.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from obsolete bug ‘bogey’ (of unknown origin) + BEAR^2.

bug-eyed adj. with bulging eyes: a bug-eyed monster.

bugger VULGAR SLANG, chiefly BRITISH n. 1 [with adj.] used as a term of abuse, especially for a man.

- used to refer to a person, typically a man, for whom one feels pity or respect.

- an annoyingly awkward thing.

2 DEROGATORY a person who commits buggery.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 penetrate the anus of (someone) during sexual intercourse.

2 (often bugger someone/thing about) cause serious harm or trouble to.

- [no obj.] (bugger about/around) act in a stupid or feckless way.

- used to express an angrily dismissive attitude to (someone or something).

3 [no obj., usually in imperative] (bugger off) go away.

■ exclam. (also buggeration) used to express annoyance or anger.

<PHRASES>

□ bugger all nothing.

□ bugger me used to express surprise or amazement.

□ I'm buggered if —— used to make the following clause negative.

□ not GIVE a bugger not care in the slightest.

□ play silly buggers act in a foolish way.

□ well, I'm (or I'll be) buggered used to express one's amazement at something.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting a heretic, specifically an Albigensian): from Middle Dutch, from Old French bougre ‘heretic’, from medieval Latin Bulgarus ‘Bulgarian’, particularly one belonging to the Orthodox Church and therefore regarded as a heretic by the Roman Church. The sense ‘sodomite’ (16th century) arose from an association of heresy with forbidden sexual practices; its use as a general insult dates from the early 18th cent.

buggered adj. [predic.] BRITISH VULGAR SLANG (of a person) extremely tired.

buggery n. [mass noun] 1 anal intercourse. In law the term also covers bestiality.

2 BRITISH VULGAR SLANG used in various expressions as an intensifier.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘heresy’): from Middle Dutch buggerie, from Old French bougrerie, from bougre (see BUGGER).

Buggins' turn n. BRITISH INFORMAL a system by which appointments or awards are made in rotation rather than by merit.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Buggins, used to represent a typical surname.

buggy^1 n. (pl. buggies) 1 a small motor vehicle, typically with an open top: a golf buggy.

2 short for BABY BUGGY.

3 HISTORICAL a light horse-drawn vehicle for one or two people, with two or (in North America) four wheels.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: of unknown origin.

buggy^2 adj. (buggier, buggiest) 1 infested with bugs.

2 (of a computer program or system) faulty in operation.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL mad; insane.

bughouse INFORMAL n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a psychiatric hospital or asylum.

2 DATED a seedy, run-down cinema.

■ adj. NORTH AMERICAN crazy.

bugle^1 n. (also bugle-horn) a brass instrument like a small trumpet, typically without valves or keys and used for military signals.

■ v. [no obj.] sound a bugle.

- [with obj.] sound (a note or call) on a bugle: he bugled a warning.

<DERIVATIVES> bugler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin buculus, diminutive of bos ‘ox’. The early English sense was ‘wild ox’, hence the compound bugle-horn, denoting the horn of an ox used to give signals, originally in hunting.

bugle^2 n. [mass noun] a creeping Eurasian plant of the mint family, with blue flowers held on upright stems.

<INFO> Genus Ajuga, family Labiatae: several species, especially the common A. reptans.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from late Latin bugula.

bugle^3 n. an ornamental tube-shaped glass or plastic bead sewn on to clothing.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

bugleweed n. North American term for bugle^2.

bugloss /bjuls/ n. a bristly plant of the borage family, with bright blue flowers.

<INFO> Anchusa and other genera, family Boraginaceae: several species, including the Eurasian A. arvensis and the widespread viper's bugloss.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French buglosse or Latin buglossus, from Greek bouglōssos ‘ox-tongued’, from bous ‘ox’ + glōssa ‘tongue’.

build v. (past and past participle built) [with obj.] 1 construct (something) by putting parts or material together: the ironworks were built in 1736.

- commission, finance, and oversee the building of (something): the county council plans to build a bypass.

- (build something in/into) incorporate something and make it a permanent part of a structure, system, or situation: engineers want to build in extra traction.

- [COMPUTING] compile (a program, database, index, etc.).

2 make or become stronger or more intense: [with obj.] we built up confidence in our abilities | [no obj.] the air of excited anticipation builds.

- establish and develop (a business or situation) over a period of time: he'd built up the store from nothing.

- [no obj.] (build on) use as a basis for further development: Britain should build on the talents of its workforce.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the proportions of a person's or animal's body: she was of medium height and slim build | [in sing.] he had an ideal build for a sprinter.

2 the style or form of construction of something, especially a vehicle.

3 [COMPUTING] a compiled version of a program.

- [mass noun] the process of compiling a program.

<PHRASES>

□ build one's hopes up become ever more hopeful or optimistic about something: don't build your hopes up, Julia, you'll only get hurt.

□ built on sand without reliable foundations or any real substance.

<ORIGIN> Old English byldan, from bold, botl ‘dwelling’, of Germanic origin; related to bower^1.

builder n. [usually in combination] a person who constructs something by putting parts or material together: a boatbuilder.

- a person whose job is to construct or repair houses.

- [usually in combination] a person or thing that creates or develops a particular thing: breaking the record was a real confidence-builder.

builders' merchant n. a supplier of construction materials.

building n. 1 a structure with a roof and walls, such as a house or factory.

2 [mass noun] the action or trade of constructing something: the building of motorways | [as modifier] building materials.

- the creation or development of something over a period of time: the building of democracy in Guatemala.

building block n. 1 a child's wooden or plastic toy brick.

2 a basic unit from which something is built up: sounds are the building blocks of language.

building line n. a limit beyond which a house must not extend into a street.

building site n. an area where a structure is being constructed or repaired.

building society n. BRITISH a financial organization which pays interest on investments by its members and lends capital for the purchase or improvement of houses.

Building societies originally developed as non-profit-making cooperative societies from friendly societies. Since 1986 changes in legislation have allowed them to offer banking and other facilities, and some have become public limited companies.

buildout n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the growth, development, or expansion of something: the rapid buildout of digital technology.

build-up n. [usually in sing.] 1 a gradual accumulation or increase, typically of something negative that leads to a problem: the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

2 a period of excitement and preparation before a significant event: the build-up to Christmas.

built past and past participle of BUILD

■ adj. (of a person) having a specified physical size or build: a slightly built woman.

built-in adj. forming an integral part of a structure: a worktop with a built-in cooker.

- (of a characteristic) inherent; innate: the system has a built-in resistance to change.

built-up adj. 1 (of an area) densely covered by buildings.

2 increased in height by the addition of parts: shoes with built-up heels.

Bujumbura /budəmbərə/ the capital of Burundi, at the north-eastern end of Lake Tanganyika; pop. 323,200 (est. 2002). It was known as Usumbura until 1962.

Bukhara /bkαrə/ (also Bukhoro /bukrə/, Bokhara) a city in the central Asian republic of Uzbekistan; pop. 268,000 (est. 2002). It is one of the oldest trade centres in central Asia, and is noted for the production of karakul fleeces.

Bukharin /bkαrn/ Nikolai (Ivanovich) (1888–1938), Russian revolutionary activist and theorist. Editor of Pravda (1918–29) and Izvestia (1934–7), a member of the Politburo (1924–9), and chairman of Comintern from 1926, he was executed in one of Stalin's purges.

Bukovina /bkə()vinə/ a region of SE Europe in the Carpathians, divided between Romania and Ukraine. Formerly a province of Moldavia, it was ceded to Austria by the Turks in 1775. After the First World War it was made part of Romania, the northern part being incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR in the Second World War.

Bulawayo /bləweə/ an industrial city in western Zimbabwe; pop. 927,600 (est. 2002).

bulb n. 1 a rounded underground storage organ present in some plants, notably those of the lily family, consisting of a short stem surrounded by fleshy scale leaves or leaf bases, lying dormant over winter. Compare with CORM, RHIZOME.

- a plant grown from a bulb.

2 short for LIGHT BULB.

3 an expanded part of a glass tube such as that forming the reservoir of a thermometer.

- a hollow flexible container with an opening through which the air can be expelled by squeezing, such as that used to fill a syringe.

- a spheroidal dilated part at the end of an anatomical structure.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek bolbos ‘onion, bulbous root’.

bulb fly n. a hoverfly that resembles a bumblebee, with larvae that are pests of daffodil bulbs.

<INFO> Merodon equestris, family Syrphidae.

bulbil /blbl/ n. [BOTANY] a small bulb-like structure, in particular one in the axil of a leaf, which may fall to form a new plant.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin bulbillus, diminutive of bulbus ‘onion, bulbous root’.

bulbous adj. 1 fat, round, or bulging: a bulbous nose.

2 (of a plant) growing from a bulb.

bulbul /blbl/ n. a tropical African and Asian songbird, typically having a crest, drab plumage, and a melodious voice.

<INFO> Family Pycnonotidae: several genera and numerous species.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Persian, of imitative origin.

Bulganin /blαnn/ Nikolai (Aleksandrovich) (1895–1975), Soviet statesman, Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Premier) 1955–8. He was Vice-Premier in the government of Georgi Malenkov in 1953, and in 1955 shared the premiership with Khrushchev.

Bulgar /blα/ n. a member of a Slavic people who settled in what is now Bulgaria in the 7th century.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin Bulgarus, from Old Church Slavonic Blŭgarinŭ.

bulgar /blə/ (also bulgur, bulgar wheat) n. [mass noun] a cereal food made from whole wheat partially boiled then dried, eaten especially in Turkey.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Turkish bulgur ‘bruised grain’.

Bulgaria /blεrə/ a country in SE Europe on the western shores of the Black Sea; pop. 7,621,337 (est. 2002); official language, Bulgarian; capital, Sofia.

Part of the Ottoman Empire from the 14th century, Bulgaria remained under Turkish rule until the late 19th century, becoming independent in 1908. Bulgaria fought on the German side in both world wars. A communist state was set up by the Soviets after the Second World War, and a multiparty democratic system was introduced in 1989. In 2007 Bulgaria joined the EU.

<ORIGIN> named after the Bulgars (see BULGAR).

Bulgarian adj. relating to Bulgaria, its people, or their language.

■ n. 1 a native or national of Bulgaria, or a person of Bulgarian descent.

2 [mass noun] the Southern Slavic language spoken in Bulgaria.

bulge n. 1 a rounded swelling which distorts an otherwise flat surface.

- [MILITARY] a piece of land which projects outwards from an otherwise regular line.

2 [in sing.] INFORMAL an unusual temporary increase in number or size: a bulge in the birth rate.

■ v. [no obj.] swell or protrude to an incongruous extent: the veins in his neck bulged | (as adj. bulging) he stared with bulging eyes.

- be full of and distended with: a briefcase bulging with documents.

<DERIVATIVES> bulgingly adv. bulgy adj. (bulgier, bulgiest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French boulge, from Latin bulga (see BUDGET). The original meaning was ‘wallet or bag’, later ‘a ship's bilge’ (early 17th century); other senses presumably derived from association with the shape of a full bag.

Bulge, Battle of the (in the Second World War) a German counteroffensive in the Ardennes aimed at preventing an Allied invasion of Germany, in late 1944–early 1945. The Germans drove a ‘bulge’ about 60 miles (110 km) deep in the front line, but were later forced to retreat.

bulimarexia /bjlmərεksə b-/ n. [mass noun] chiefly US another term for BULIMIA NERVOSA (see BULIMIA).

<DERIVATIVES> bulimarexic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of BULIMIA and ANOREXIA.

bulimia /bjlmə b-/ (also bulimia nervosa) n. [mass noun] an emotional disorder characterized by a distorted body image and an obsessive desire to lose weight, in which bouts of extreme overeating are followed by fasting or self-induced vomiting or purging.

<DERIVATIVES> bulimic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as bolisme, later bulimy): modern Latin, or from medieval Latin bolismos, from Greek boulimia ‘ravenous hunger’, from bous ‘ox’ + limos ‘hunger’.

bulk n. 1 [mass noun] the mass or size of something large: residents jump up and down on their rubbish to reduce its bulk.

- large size or shape: he moved quickly in spite of his bulk.

- [count noun] a large mass or shape.

- [as modifier] large in quantity: bulk orders of over 100 copies.

- roughage in food: potatoes supply energy, essential protein, and bulk.

- cargo in an unpackaged mass such as grain or oil.

- [PRINTING] the thickness of paper or a book.

2 (the bulk of) the greater part of something: the bulk of the traffic had passed.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 treat (a product) so that its quantity appears greater than it is: traders were bulking up their flour with chalk.

- [no obj.] (bulk up) build up flesh and muscle, typically in training for sporting events.

2 combine (shares or commodities for sale): your shares will be bulked with others and sold at the best prices available.

<PHRASES>

□ bulk large be or seem to be of great importance: territorial questions bulked large in diplomatic relations.

□ in bulk 1 (of goods) in large quantities and generally at a reduced price: retail multiples buy in bulk.

2 (of a cargo or commodity) not packaged; loose.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: the senses ‘cargo as a whole’ and ‘heap, large quantity’ (the earliest recorded) are probably from Old Norse búlki ‘cargo’; other senses arose perhaps by alteration of obsolete bouk ‘belly, body’.

bulk buying n. [mass noun] the purchase of goods in large amounts, typically at a discount.

<DERIVATIVES> bulk-buy v.

bulk carrier (also bulker) n. a ship that carries non-liquid cargoes such as grain or ore in bulk.

bulkhead n. a dividing wall or barrier between separate compartments inside a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old Norse bálkr ‘partition’ + HEAD.

bulk mail n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a category of mail for sending out large numbers of identical items at a reduced rate.

bulk modulus n. [PHYSICS] the relative change in the volume of a body produced by a unit compressive or tensile stress acting uniformly over its surface.

bulky adj. (bulkier, bulkiest) taking up much space; large and unwieldy: a bulky carrier bag.

- (of a person) heavily built.

<DERIVATIVES> bulkily adv. bulkiness n.

bull^1 n. 1 an uncastrated male bovine animal: [as modifier] bull calves.

- a large male animal, especially a whale or elephant.

- (the Bull) the zodiacal sign or constellation Taurus.

2 BRITISH a bullseye.

3 [STOCK EXCHANGE] a person who buys shares hoping to sell them at a higher price later. Often contrasted with bear^2.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] INFORMAL push or move powerfully or violently: he bulled the motor cycle clear of the tunnel.

2 [no obj.] (be bulling) (of a cow) behave in a manner characteristic of being on heat.

<PHRASES>

□ like a bull at a gate taking action hastily and without thought.

□ like a bull in a china shop behaving recklessly and clumsily in a situation where one is likely to cause damage.

□ take the bull by the horns deal decisively with a difficult or dangerous situation.

<ORIGIN> late Old English bula (recorded in place names), from Old Norse boli. Compare with BULLOCK.

bull^2 n. a papal edict.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla ‘bubble, rounded object’ (in medieval Latin ‘seal or sealed document’).

bull^3 n. [mass noun] INFORMAL stupid or untrue talk or writing; nonsense: much of what he says is sheer bull.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin.

bulla /blə/ n. (pl. bullae /bli/) 1 MEDICINE a large blister containing serous fluid.

- an abnormal air-filled cavity in the lung.

2 [ANATOMY] a rounded prominence.

3 a round seal attached to a papal bull, typically one made of lead.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘bubble’.

bullace /bls/ n. a thorny shrub or small tree with small purple-black plum-like fruits. The damson is probably a cultivated form.

<INFO> Prunus domestica subsp. insititia (or P. insititia), family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French buloce ‘sloe’: of unknown origin.

bull ant n. another term for BULLDOG ANT.

bullate /blet/ adj. [BOTANY] covered with rounded swellings like blisters.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin bullatus, from Latin bulla ‘bubble’.

bull-baiting n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL the practice of setting dogs to harass a bull, popular as an entertainment in medieval Europe.

bull bar n. a strong metal grille fitted to the front of a motor vehicle to protect it against impact damage.

bulldog n. 1 a dog of a sturdy smooth-haired breed with a large head and powerful protruding lower jaw, a flat wrinkled face, and a broad chest.

- a person noted for courageous or stubborn tenacity: [as modifier] the bulldog spirit.

2 INFORMAL (at Oxford and Cambridge Universities) an official who assists the proctors, especially in disciplinary matters.

■ v. (bulldogs, bulldogging, bulldogged) [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN wrestle (a steer) to the ground by holding its horns and twisting its neck.

<DERIVATIVES> bulldogger n.

bulldog ant n. a large Australian ant with large jaws and a powerful sting. Also called BULL ANT.

<INFO> Genus Myrmecia, family Formicidae.

bulldog bat n. a fish-eating bat that has long legs and very large feet with sharp claws, native to Central and South America. Also called FISHERMAN BAT, MASTIFF BAT.

<INFO> Noctilio leporinus, family Noctilionidae.

bulldog bond n. a sterling bond issued on the UK market by a foreign borrower.

bulldog clip n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a strong sprung metal device with two flat plates that close so as to hold papers together.

bulldoze v. [with obj.] clear (ground) or destroy (buildings, trees, etc.) with a bulldozer: developers are bulldozing the site.

- INFORMAL use force insensitively when dealing with (someone or something): she believes that to build status you need to bulldoze everyone else.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US in the sense ‘intimidate’): from BULL^1 + -doze, alteration of the noun DOSE.

bulldozer n. a powerful track-laying tractor with caterpillar tracks and a broad curved upright blade at the front for clearing ground.

- FIGURATIVE a person or group exercising irresistible force, especially in disposing of opposition: the new Duke was a political bulldozer.

bulldust n. [mass noun] Australian/NZ 1 coarse dust.

2 VULGAR SLANG nonsense; rubbish.

bulldyke (also bulldike) n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a lesbian of masculine appearance or manner.

bullet n. 1 a metal projectile for firing from a rifle, revolver, or other small firearm, typically cylindrical and pointed, and sometimes containing an explosive.

- used in similes to refer to someone or something that moves very fast: the ball sped across the grass like a bullet.

- US (in sporting contexts) a very fast ball.

- (the bullet) INFORMAL dismissal from employment: your record's bad, but it's doubtful they'll give you the bullet.

2 [PRINTING] a small solid circle printed before each in a list of items, for emphasis.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting a cannonball): from French boulet, boulette ‘small ball’, diminutive of boule, from Latin bulla ‘bubble’.

bullet-headed adj. DEROGATORY having a small, round head.

<DERIVATIVES> bullet head n.

bulletin n. a short official statement or broadcast summary of news.

- a regular newsletter or report issued by an organization.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting an official warrant in some European countries): from French, from Italian bullettino, diminutive of bulletta ‘passport’, diminutive of bulla ‘seal, bull’.

bulletin board n. NORTH AMERICAN a noticeboard.

- an Internet site where users can post comments about a particular issue or topic and reply to other users' postings.

bullet point n. each of several items in a list, typically a summary of the arguments in a presentation printed with a bullet before each for emphasis.

bulletproof adj. designed to resist the penetration of bullets: a bulletproof vest.

bullet train n. INFORMAL a Japanese high-speed passenger train.

bull fiddle n. INFORMAL, chiefly US a double bass.

bullfight n. a public spectacle, especially in Spain, at which a bull is baited and killed.

<DERIVATIVES> bullfighter n.

bullfighting n. [mass noun] the sport of baiting and killing a bull as a public spectacle in an outdoor arena.

Bullfighting is the national spectator sport of Spain, and is found also in Latin America. Typically, the bull is tormented by mounted picadors with lances and banderilleros who stick darts into its neck; the matador then baits it with a red cape and attempts to kill it with a sword thrust beneath the shoulder blade.

bullfinch n. 1 a stocky Eurasian finch with a short, thick bill, typically having grey or pinkish plumage, dark wings, and a white rump.

<INFO> Genus Pyrrhula, family Fringillidae: several species, in particular the common P. pyrrhula, the male of which has a pink breast.

2 a Caribbean songbird of the bunting family, resembling the Old World bullfinch.

<INFO> Genera Loxigilla and Melopyrrha, family Emberizidae (subfamily Emberizinae): four species.

bullfrog n. a very large frog which has a deep booming croak and is often a predator of smaller vertebrates.

<INFO> Genera Rana and Pyxicephalus, family Ranidae: the North American bullfrog (R. catesbiana), the Asian bullfrog (R. tigrina), and the African bullfrog (P. adspersus).

bullhead n. 1 a small mainly freshwater Eurasian fish of the sculpin family, with a broad flattened head and spiny fins.

<INFO> Genera Cottus and Taurulus, family Cottidae: three species.

2 (also bullhead catfish) an American freshwater catfish.

<INFO> Genus Ictalurus, family Ictaluridae: several species.

bullheaded adj. determined in an obstinate and unthinking way: a bullheaded belief that she is right.

<DERIVATIVES> bullheadedly adv. bullheadedness n.

bullhorn n. NORTH AMERICAN a megaphone.

bull huss n. see HUSS.

bullion n. [mass noun] 1 gold or silver in bulk before coining, or valued by weight.

2 ornamental braid or fringing made with twists of gold or silver thread.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, in the sense ‘a mint’, variant of Old French bouillon, based on Latin bullire ‘to boil’.

bullion knot n. a decorative stitch in embroidery made by winding the thread several times round the needle before sewing a backstitch.

bullish adj. 1 aggressively confident and self-assertive.

2 [STOCK EXCHANGE] characterized by rising share prices: the market was bullish.

- (of a dealer) inclined to buy because of an anticipated rise in prices.

- optimistic: we are very bullish about our prospects.

<DERIVATIVES> bullishly adv. bullishness n.

bull kelp n. [mass noun] a very large brown seaweed found in Pacific and Antarctic waters, growing up to 50 m in length off the north-western coasts of North America.

<INFO> Nereocystis and other genera, class Phaeophyceae.

bull market n. [STOCK EXCHANGE] a market in which share prices are rising, encouraging buying.

bull mastiff n. a dog that is a cross-breed of bulldog and mastiff.

bull-necked adj. (of a man) having a thick, strong neck: a beefy, bull-necked cop.

<DERIVATIVES> bull neck n.

bull-nosed adj. having a rounded edge or end: a bull-nosed chisel.

<DERIVATIVES> bull nose n.

bullock n. a male domestic bovine animal that has been castrated and is raised for beef.

■ v. [no obj.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL work long and hard: people have dropped dead bullocking their guts out.

<ORIGIN> late Old English bulluc, diminutive of bula (see bull^1). The verb (late 19th century) is by association with a bullock's use as a draught animal.

bullock's heart n. the edible fruit of a tropical American custard apple.

<INFO> The tree is Annona reticulata, family Annonaceae.

bullocky n. (pl. bullockies) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL, HISTORICAL a bullock driver.

bullous /bləs/ adj. MEDICINE characterized by blisters or bullae on the skin.

bullpen n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an enclosure for bulls.

- an exercise area for baseball pitchers.

- an open-plan office area.

- a large cell in which prisoners are held before a court hearing.

bullring n. an arena where bullfights are held.

bullroarer n. AUSTRALIAN a sacred object used in Aboriginal religious ceremonies, consisting of a piece of wood attached to a string, whirled round to produce a roaring noise.

Bull Run a small river in eastern Virginia, scene of two Confederate victories, in 1861 and 1862, during the American Civil War.

bull session n. NORTH AMERICAN an informal group discussion.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: bull from BULL^3.

bullseye n. 1 the centre of the target in sports such as archery, shooting, and darts.

- a shot that hits the centre of such a target.

- FIGURATIVE used to refer to something that achieves exactly the intended effect: the silence told him he'd scored a bullseye.

2 a large, hard round peppermint sweet.

3 DATED a thick disc of glass forming a small window in a ship or the glass of a lamp: [as modifier] a bullseye lantern.

- a thick knob of glass at the centre of a blown glass sheet.

bullshit VULGAR SLANG n. [mass noun] stupid or untrue talk or writing; nonsense.

■ v. (bullshits, bullshitting, bullshitted) [with obj.] talk nonsense to (someone) in an attempt to deceive them.

<DERIVATIVES> bullshitter n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BULL^3 + SHIT.

bullshot n. a cocktail made with vodka, beef bouillon, and Worcester sauce.

bull snake n. a gopher snake of a race found on the plains and prairies of North America.

<INFO> Pituophis catenifer sayi, family Colubridae.

bull terrier n. a short-haired dog of a breed that is a cross between a bulldog and a terrier.

bull trout n. a North American trout that resembles the Dolly Varden, found in cold rivers and lakes.

<INFO> Salvelinus confluentus, family Salmonidae.

- BRITISH a sea trout.

bullwhip North American n. a whip with a long heavy lash.

■ v. (bullwhips, bullwhipping, bullwhipped) [with obj.] strike or thrash with a bullwhip.

bully^1 n. (pl. bullies) a person who uses strength or influence to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.

■ v. (bullies, bullying, bullied) [with obj.] use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force them to do something: a local man was bullied into helping them.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably from Middle Dutch boele ‘lover’. Original use was as a term of endearment applied to either sex; it later became a familiar form of address to a male friend. The current sense dates from the late 17th cent.

bully^2 adj. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN very good; excellent: the statue really looked bully.

<PHRASES>

□ bully for you! (or him etc.) often IRONIC used to express admiration or approval: he got away—bully for him!

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally used of a person, meaning ‘admirable, gallant, jolly’): from BULLY^1. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

bully^3 n. (pl. bullies) (also bully off) the start of play in field hockey, in which two opponents strike each other's sticks three times and then go for the ball.

■ v. (bullies, bullying, bullied) [no obj.] start play in this way.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally denoting a scrum in Eton football): of unknown origin.

bully^4 (also bully beef) n. [mass noun] INFORMAL corned beef.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: alteration of BOUILLI.

bully boy n. a tough, aggressive man: [as modifier] bully-boy tactics.

bully pulpit n. NORTH AMERICAN a public office or position of authority that provides its occupant with an opportunity to speak out on any issue: he could use the presidency as a bully pulpit to bring out the best in civic life.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: apparently originally used by President Theodore Roosevelt, explaining his personal view of the presidency.

bullyrag (also ballyrag) v. (bullyrags, bullyragging, bullyragged) [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL treat (someone) in a scolding or intimidating way: he would bullyrag them around but lick up to his superiors.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

bulrush (also bullrush) n. 1 a tall reed-like water plant with strap-like leaves and a dark brown velvety cylindrical head of numerous tiny flowers. Also called REED MACE.

<INFO> Genus Typha, family Typhaceae: several species, in particular T. latifolia.

2 another term for CLUBRUSH.

3 (in biblical use) a papyrus plant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from BULL^1 in the sense ‘large or coarse’, as in words such as bullfrog.

Bultmann /bltmən/ German /bltman/ Rudolf (Karl) (1884–1976), German Lutheran theologian. He emphasized the ‘existential’ rather than the historical significance of the Gospel story.

bulwark /blwək/ n. 1 a defensive wall.

- a person or thing that acts as a defence: the security forces are a bulwark against the breakdown of society.

2 (usually bulwarks) an extension of a ship's sides above the level of the deck.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch bolwerk; related to bole^1 and WORK.

bum^1 n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person's buttocks or anus.

<PHRASES>

□ bums on seats the audience at a theatre, cinema, or other entertainment, viewed as a source of income.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

bum^2 INFORMAL n. North American 1 a vagrant.

- a lazy or worthless person: you ungrateful bum!

2 [in combination] a person who devotes a great deal of time to a specified activity: a ski bum.

■ v. (bums, bumming, bummed) 1 [no obj.] (usually bum around) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN travel with no particular purpose: he bummed around Florida for a few months.

- pass one's time idly: students bumming around at university.

2 [with obj.] get by asking or begging: they tried to bum quarters off us.

3 [with obj.] (usually be bummed out) NORTH AMERICAN make (someone) feel upset or disappointed.

■ adj. [attr.] of poor quality; bad or wrong: not one bum note was played.

<PHRASES>

□ give someone (or get) the bum's rush chiefly NORTH AMERICAN forcibly eject someone (or be forcibly ejected) from a place or gathering.

- abruptly dismiss someone (or be abruptly dismissed) for a poor idea or performance.

□ on the bum NORTH AMERICAN travelling rough and with no fixed home; vagrant.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably from BUMMER.

bumbag n. BRITISH INFORMAL a small pouch on a belt, for money and other valuables, worn round the waist or hips.

bum-bailiff n. HISTORICAL, DEROGATORY a bailiff empowered to collect debts or arrest debtors for non-payment.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from BUM^1, so named because of the association of an approach from behind.

bumbershoot /bmbəut/ n. US INFORMAL an umbrella.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: alteration of UMBRELLA + PARACHUTE.

bumble v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move or act in an awkward or confused manner: they bumbled around the house.

2 [no obj.] speak in a confused or indistinct way.

- [with adverbial] (of an insect) buzz or hum.

<DERIVATIVES> bumbler n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘hum, drone’): from BOOM^1 + -LE^4.

bumblebee n. a large hairy social bee which flies with a loud hum, living in small colonies in holes underground. Also called HUMBLE-BEE.

<INFO> Genus Bombus, family Apidae: many species.

bumbling adj. acting in a confused or ineffectual way; incompetent: he's a bumbling fool.

bumboat n. a small vessel carrying provisions for sale to moored or anchored ships.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from BUM^1 + BOAT. The term originally denoted a scavenger's boat removing ships' refuse, often also bringing produce for sale.

bumboy n. VULGAR SLANG a young male homosexual, especially a prostitute.

bumf (also bumph) n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL useless or tedious printed material.

- DATED toilet paper.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of slang bum-fodder, in the same sense.

bumfluff n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL, DEROGATORY the first beard growth of an adolescent.

bumiputra /bumputrə/ n. (pl. same or bumiputras) a Malaysian of indigenous Malay origin.

<ORIGIN> Malay, literally ‘son of the soil’.

bummalo /bmələ/ n. (pl. same) a small elongated fish of South Asian coasts which is dried and used as food. Also called BOMBAY DUCK.

<INFO> Harpodon nehereus, family Harpadontidae.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps from Marathi bombīl.

bummaree /bməri/ n. a self-employed licensed porter at Smithfield meat market in London.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

bummer n. INFORMAL 1 (a bummer) a disappointing or unpleasant situation or experience: the team's relegation is a real bummer.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a loafer or vagrant.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from German Bummler, from bummeln ‘stroll, loaf about’.

bump n. 1 a light blow or a jolting collision: a nasty bump on the head.

- (the bumps) BRITISH INFORMAL (on a person's birthday) a custom by which the person is lifted by the arms and legs and let down on to the ground, once for each year of their age.

- [ROWING] (in races where boats make a spaced start one behind another) the point at which a boat begins to overtake or touch the boat ahead, thereby defeating it.

- [AERONAUTICS] a rising air current causing an irregularity in an aircraft's motion.

2 a protuberance on a level surface: bumps in the road.

- a swelling on the skin, especially one caused by illness or injury.

- DATED a lump on a person's skull, formerly thought to indicate a particular mental faculty.

3 [mass noun] a loosely woven fleeced cotton fabric used in upholstery and as lining material.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] knock or run into someone or something with a jolt: I almost bumped into him | [with obj.] she bumped the girl with her hip.

- (bump into) meet by chance: we might just bump into each other.

- [with obj.] hurt or damage (something) by striking it on something else: she bumped her head on the sink.

- [with obj.] [ROWING] (in a race) gain a bump against.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move or travel with much jolting: the car bumped along the rutted track.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] push (something) jerkily in a specified direction: she had to bump the pushchair down the steps.

3 [with obj.] (bump someone off) INFORMAL murder someone.

4 [with obj.] (bump something up) INFORMAL increase something: the hotel may well bump up the bill.

5 [with obj.] refuse (a passenger) a reserved place on a flight because of deliberate overbooking by the airline.

- NORTH AMERICAN displace from a job, especially in favour of someone else: she was bumped for a youthful model.

<PHRASES>

□ be bumping along the bottom reach the lowest point in performance or ranking without improving or deteriorating further: the economy was still bumping along the bottom.

□ with a bump suddenly and shockingly: the scandal brought them down to earth with a bump.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a verb): imitative, perhaps of Scandinavian origin.

bumper n. 1 a horizontal bar fixed across the front or back of a motor vehicle to reduce damage in a collision.

2 [CRICKET], DATED another term for bouncer (sense 2).

3 (also bumper race) [HORSE RACING] a flat race for inexperienced horses which are intended for future racing in hurdles or steeplechases. [<ORIGIN> said to be from an earlier racing term bumper ‘amateur rider’.]

4 ARCHAIC a generous glassful of an alcoholic drink, typically one drunk as a toast.

■ adj. exceptionally large, fine, or successful: a bumper crop.

<PHRASES>

□ bumper-to-bumper very close together, as cars in a traffic jam.

- (of an insurance policy) comprehensive; all-inclusive.

bumper car n. another term for DODGEM.

bumpkin n. an unsophisticated or socially awkward person from the countryside: she thought Tom a bit of a country bumpkin.

<DERIVATIVES> bumpkinish adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps from Dutch boomken ‘little tree’ or Middle Dutch bommekijn ‘little barrel’, used to denote a dumpy person.

bump-start n. & v.

■ another term for PUSH-START.

bumptious adj. irritatingly self-assertive: an impossibly bumptious and opinionated ass.

<DERIVATIVES> bumptiously adv. bumptiousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: humorously from BUMP, on the pattern of fractious.

bumpy adj. (bumpier, bumpiest) (of a surface) uneven, with many patches raised above the rest: the car jolted on the bumpy road.

- (of a journey or other movement) involving sudden jolts and jerks: the bumpy flight brought on a bout of airsickness | FIGURATIVE investors could be in for a bumpy ride.

<DERIVATIVES> bumpily adv. bumpiness n.

bum rap n. [in sing.] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a false charge, typically one leading to imprisonment.

- an unfair judgement on someone or something: the industry often gets a bum rap for being dishonest.

bum-rush v. [with obj.] US INFORMAL suddenly force or barge one's way into: fans bum-rushed record stores.

bum steer n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a piece of false information or unhelpful guidance.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from BUM^2 + STEER^1 in the sense ‘advice, guidance’.

bumsters plural n. trousers that are cut very low on the hips.

bum-sucking n. [mass noun] BRITISH VULGAR SLANG obsequious, servile behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> bum-sucker n.

bun n. 1 a small cake, typically containing dried fruit.

- a bread roll.

- (in Scotland and Jamaica) a rich fruit cake or currant bread.

2 a hairstyle in which the hair is drawn back into a tight coil at the back of the head.

3 (buns) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person's buttocks.

<PHRASES>

□ have a bun in the oven INFORMAL be pregnant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

Bunbury a seaport and resort to the south of Perth in Western Australia; pop. 27,300 (est. 2002).

bunce n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL money or profit gained by someone: they can turn their hand to many jobs as long as there's a bit of bunce in it.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: of unknown origin.

bunch n. 1 a number of things, typically of the same kind, growing or fastened together: a bunch of grapes.

- INFORMAL a group of people.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a large number or quantity; a lot: the bluesy style that earned him a bunch of '70s hits.

2 (bunches) BRITISH a girl's hairstyle in which the hair is tied back into two clumps at the back or on either side of the head.

■ v. [with obj.] collect or fasten into a compact group: she bunched the needles together.

- form or cause to form tight folds: [no obj.] the bedclothes had bunched up around his waist.

- [no obj.] form into a tight group or crowd: he halted, forcing the rest of the field to bunch up behind him.

- [no obj.] (of muscles) flex or bulge.

<PHRASES>

□ the best (or the pick) of the bunch INFORMAL the best in a particular group.

□ bunch of fives BRITISH INFORMAL a fist or punch.

□ thanks a bunch IRONIC, chiefly BRITISH thank you very much.

<DERIVATIVES> bunchy adj. (bunchier, bunchiest)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

bunchberry n. (pl. bunchberries) a low-growing plant of the dogwood family, which produces white flowers followed by red berries and bright red autumn foliage. It is native to North America, east Asia, and Greenland.

<INFO> Cornus canadensis, family Cornaceae.

bunchflower n. a North American plant of the lily family, with yellowish-green flowers.

<INFO> Melanthium virginicum, family Liliaceae.

bunch grass n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a grass that grows in clumps.

<INFO> Schizachyrium and other genera, family Gramineae: several species, especially S. scoparium, used for grazing and in erosion control, especially on the Great Plains.

bunco NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. (pl. buncos) [usually as modifier] a swindle or confidence trick: a bunco artist.

■ v. (buncoes, buncoing, buncoed) [with obj.] DATED swindle or cheat.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from Spanish banca, the name of a card game.

bund n. an embankment or causeway.

- a wall surrounding an industrial fuel tank.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: via Urdu from Persian.

Bundesbank /bndəsbak/ the central bank of Germany, established in 1875. Its headquarters are in Frankfurt.

<ORIGIN> German, from Bund ‘federation’ + Bank ‘bank’.

Bundesrat /bndəzrαt/ the upper house of Parliament in Germany or Austria.

<ORIGIN> German, from Bund ‘federation’ + Rat ‘council’.

Bundestag /bndəztα/ the lower house of Parliament in Germany.

<ORIGIN> German, from Bund ‘federation’ + tagen ‘confer’.

bundle n. a collection of things or quantity of material tied or wrapped up together: a thick bundle of envelopes.

- a set of nerve, muscle, or other fibres running in parallel close together.

- [COMPUTING] a set of software or hardware sold together.

- (a bundle) INFORMAL a large amount of money: the new printer cost a bundle.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] tie or roll up (a number of things) together as though into a parcel: she quickly bundled up her clothes.

- (usually be bundled up) dress (someone) in many warm clothes: they were bundled up in thick sweaters.

- [COMPUTING] sell (items of hardware and software) as a package.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] INFORMAL push, carry, or send forcibly, hastily, or unceremoniously: he was bundled into a van.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a group of people) move in a disorganized way: they bundled out into the corridor.

3 [no obj.] (usually as n. bundling) sleep fully clothed with another person, as a former local custom during courtship.

<PHRASES>

□ a bundle of fun (or laughs) INFORMAL, often IRONIC an extremely amusing or entertaining person or thing: you're a bundle of laughs this evening.

□ a bundle of nerves see A BAG OF NERVES at bag.

□ drop one's bundle AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL panic; lose one's self-control. [<ORIGIN> from obsolete bundle ‘swag’.]

□ go a bundle on [usually with negative] BRITISH INFORMAL be very keen on: I don't go a bundle on seeing a man and woman snogging.

<DERIVATIVES> bundler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps originally from Old English byndelle ‘a binding’, reinforced by Low German and Dutch bundel (to which byndelle is related).

bundobust /bəndəbst/ (also bandobast /bandəbst bndəbast/) n. [mass noun] INDIAN arrangements or organization: why all these big crowds and strict police bundobust, he wondered.

<ORIGIN> Urdu, from Persian band-o-bast ‘tying and binding’.

bundu /bndu/ n. (the bundu) (in South Africa and Zimbabwe) the wilds; a distant or wilderness region.

<ORIGIN> probably from Shona bundo ‘grasslands’.

bunfight n. BRITISH INFORMAL, HUMOROUS 1 a tea party or other function, typically of a grand or official kind.

2 a heated argument or exchange.

bun foot n. (pl. bun feet) a foot in the shape of a flattened sphere, used for chairs, tables, or other furniture in the late 17th century.

bung^1 n. a stopper for closing a hole in a container.

■ v. [with obj.] close with a stopper.

- (bung something up) block something: you let vegetable peelings bung the sink up.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle Dutch bonghe (noun).

bung^2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL adj. 1 broken down, ruined, or useless.

2 DATED dead.

<PHRASES>

□ go bung 1 break down; fail or go bankrupt.

2 die.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally Australian pidgin): from Yagara (an extinct Aboriginal language).

bung^3 v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] BRITISH INFORMAL put or throw (something) somewhere in a careless or casual way: fill out the reply-paid card and bung it in the post.

■ n. BRITISH INFORMAL a bribe.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: symbolic; the noun sense dates from the 1950s.

bungalow /bələ/ n. a low house having only one storey or, in some cases, upper rooms set in the roof, typically with dormer windows.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Hindi baglā ‘belonging to Bengal’, from a type of cottage built for early European settlers in Bengal.

bungarotoxin /bərə()tksn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound found in the venom of the krait (snake) which is a powerful neurotoxin.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from the modern Latin genus name Bungarus (perhaps from Sanskrit bhagura ‘bent’) + TOXIN.

bungee /bndi/ n. (also bungee cord or bungee rope) a long nylon-cased rubber band used for securing luggage and in the sport of bungee jumping.

■ v. [no obj.] perform a bungee jump.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (denoting an elasticated cord for launching a glider): of unknown origin.

bungee jumping n. [mass noun] the sport of leaping from a bridge, crane, or other high place while secured by a long nylon-cased rubber band around the ankles.

<DERIVATIVES> bungee jump n. bungee jumper n.

bunghole n. an aperture through which a cask can be filled or emptied.

bungle v. [with obj.] carry out (a task) clumsily or incompetently: she had bungled every attempt to help | (as adj. bungled) a bungled bank raid.

- [no obj.] (usually as adj. bungling) make or be prone to making many mistakes: the work of a bungling amateur.

■ n. a mistake or badly carried out action: a government bungle over state pensions.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin; compare with BUMBLE.

bungler n. a person who habitually bungles things; an amateur: the government is evidently a bunch of bunglers.

Bunin /bunn/ Ivan (Alekseevich) (1870–1953), Russian poet and prose writer. An opponent of modernism, he concentrated on the themes of peasant life and love. Nobel Prize for Literature (1933, the first Russian prizewinner).

bunion /bnj(ə)n/ n. a painful swelling on the first joint of the big toe.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: ultimately from Old French buignon, from buigne ‘bump on the head’.

bunk^1 n. a narrow shelf-like bed, typically one of two or more arranged one on top of the other.

■ v. [no obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN sleep in a bunk or improvised bed, typically in shared quarters: they bunk together in the dormitory.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: of unknown origin; perhaps related to BUNKER.

bunk^2 v. [no obj.] (bunk off) BRITISH INFORMAL abscond or play truant from school or work.

<PHRASES>

□ do a bunk INFORMAL make a hurried or furtive departure or escape.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

bunk^3 n. [mass noun] INFORMAL nonsense: anyone with a brain cell would never believe such bunk.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of BUNKUM.

bunk bed n. a piece of furniture consisting of two beds, one above the other, that form a unit.

bunker n. 1 a large container or compartment for storing fuel: a coal bunker.

2 a reinforced underground shelter, typically for use in wartime.

3 a hollow filled with sand, used as an obstacle on a golf course.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 fill the fuel containers of (a ship); refuel.

2 (be bunkered) [GOLF] (of a player) have one's ball lodged in a bunker: he was bunkered at the fifth hole.

- hit (the ball) into a bunker: he bunkered his second shot.

- British INFORMAL cause difficulties to; hinder the progress of: he may find his new sporting pursuits bunkered by activities he hadn't planned on.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally Scots, denoting a seat or bench): perhaps related to bunk^1.

Bunker Hill the first pitched battle (1775) of the War of American Independence (actually fought on Breed's Hill near Boston, Massachusetts). Although the British won, the good performance of the untrained Americans gave considerable impetus to the Revolution.

bunkhouse n. a building offering basic sleeping accommodation for workers.

bunkum (also buncombe) n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, DATED nonsense: they talk a lot of bunkum about their products.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally buncombe): named after Buncombe County in North Carolina, mentioned in an inconsequential speech made by its congressman solely to please his constituents (c.1820).

bunk-up n. INFORMAL a helping push or pull up.

bunny n. (pl. bunnies) INFORMAL 1 a child's term for a rabbit.

- (also bunny girl) a club hostess or waitress wearing a skimpy costume with ears and a tail suggestive of a rabbit.

- [with adj.] a person of a specified type or in a specified mood: Alex had missed his plane—he was not a happy bunny.

2 AUSTRALIAN a victim or dupe.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally used as a term of endearment to a person, later as a pet name for a rabbit): from dialect bun ‘squirrel, rabbit’, also used as a term of endearment, of unknown origin.

■ Sense 2 dates from the early 20th cent.

bunny-boiler n. INFORMAL a woman who acts vengefully after having been spurned by her lover.

<ORIGIN> with reference to the film Fatal Attraction (1987), in which a rejected woman boils her lover's pet rabbit.

bunny chow n. (in South Africa) a takeaway food consisting of a hollowed-out half loaf of bread filled with vegetable or meat curry.

<ORIGIN> probably from Hindi banyā, from Gujerati vaniya, denoting one of a Hindu caste of merchants, + CHOW in the sense ‘food’.

bunny-hop v. [no obj.] jump forward in a crouched position: he bunny-hopped around the stage.

- [with obj.] move (a vehicle) forward jerkily.

■ n. a jump in a crouched position.

- a short jump or jerky forward movement made on a bicycle or by a vehicle.

bunny-hugger n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY an animal lover; a conservationist.

bunny slope n. US term for NURSERY SLOPE.

Bunsen /bns(ə)n/ German /bnzn/ Robert Wilhelm Eberhard (1811–99), German chemist. With Gustav Kirchhoff he pioneered spectroscopy, detecting new elements (caesium and rubidium) and determining the composition of many substances and of the sun and stars. He designed numerous items of chemical apparatus, notably the Bunsen burner (1855).

Bunsen burner n. a small adjustable gas burner used in laboratories as a source of heat.

bunt^1 /bnt/ v. [with obj.] 1 [BASEBALL] (of a batter) gently tap (a pitched ball) without swinging in an attempt to make it more difficult to field: he tried to bunt the ball down the first baseline | [no obj.] Phil bunted and got to first.

- (of a batter) help (a base runner) to progress to a further base by tapping a ball in such a way: he bunted Davis to third.

2 push or butt: Gary bunted her with his head.

■ n. 1 [BASEBALL] an act or result of bunting a pitched ball.

2 an act of flying an aircraft in part of an outside loop.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: probably related to the noun butt^1 (the original sense).

bunt^2 /bnt/ (also wheat bunt) n. [mass noun] a disease of wheat caused by a smut fungus, the spores of which give off a smell of rotten fish. Also called STINKING SMUT.

<INFO> The fungus is Tilletia caries, class Teliomycetes.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting the puffball fungus): of unknown origin.

bunt^3 /bnt/ n. the baggy centre of a fishing net or a sail.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

buntal /bnt(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] the straw from a talipot palm used for making hats: a buntal hat.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Tagalog.

Bunter /bntə/ Billy, a schoolboy character, noted for his fatness and gluttony, in stories by Frank Richards (pseudonym of Charles Hamilton, 1876–1961).

Bunting Basil (1900–85), English poet and journalist. He was influenced by modernists including Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. He published his early work abroad, not really gaining recognition until Briggflatts (1966).

bunting^1 n. 1 an Old World seed-eating songbird related to the finches, typically having brown streaked plumage and a boldly marked head.

<INFO> Family Emberizidae, subfamily Emberizinae (the bunting family and subfamily): several genera, in particular Emberiza, and numerous species.

2 a small New World songbird of the cardinal subfamily, the male of which is mainly or partly bright blue in colour.

<INFO> Family Emberizidae, subfamily Cardinalinae: genera Passerina and Cyanocompsa, and several species.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

bunting^2 n. [mass noun] flags and other colourful festive decorations.

- a loosely woven fabric used for such decoration.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: of unknown origin.

bunting^3 (also bunting bag) n. NORTH AMERICAN a hooded sleeping bag for babies.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: origin uncertain; perhaps from BUNTING^2.

buntline /bntln/ n. a line for restraining the loose centre of a sail while it is furled.

bunya /bnjə/ (also bunya pine or bunya bunya /bnjəbnjə/) n. a tall coniferous Australian tree related to the monkey puzzle, bearing large cones containing edible seeds.

<INFO> Araucaria bidwillii, family Araucariaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Wiradhuri.

Bunyan /bnjən/ John (1628–88), English writer. A Nonconformist, he was imprisoned twice for unlicensed preaching, during which time wrote his spiritual autobiography Grace Abounding (1666) and began his major work The Pilgrim's Progress (1678–84).

bunyip /bnjp/ n. Australian 1 a mythical amphibious monster said to inhabit inland waterways.

2 [usually as modifier] an impostor or pretender: Australia's bunyip aristocracy.

<ORIGIN> from an Aboriginal word.

Buñuel /bunwεl/ Spanish /buwel/ Luis (1900–83), Spanish film director. Influenced by surrealism, he wrote and directed his first film, Un Chien andalou (1928), jointly with Salvador Dalí. Other notable films: Belle de jour (1967) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972).

buoy /b/ n. an anchored float serving as a navigation mark, to show reefs or other hazards, or for mooring.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (often be buoyed up) keep (someone or something) afloat: the creatures could swim, both buoyed up and cooled by the water.

- make (someone) cheerful and confident: she was buoyed up by his praise.

- cause (a price) to rise to or remain at a high level: shares were up 4p, buoyed by his cut-and-thrust management style.

2 (usually as adj. buoyed) mark with an anchored float: a buoyed channel.

<DERIVATIVES> buoyage n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Middle Dutch boye, boeie, from a Germanic base meaning ‘signal’. The verb is from Spanish boyar ‘to float’, from boya ‘buoy’.

buoyancy n. [mass noun] 1 the ability or tendency of something to float in water or other fluid.

- the power of a liquid to keep something afloat.

- FIGURATIVE a high level of activity in an economy or stock market: there is renewed buoyancy in the demand for steel.

2 a cheerful and optimistic attitude or disposition.

buoyancy aid n. a sleeveless jacket lined with buoyant material, worn for water sports.

buoyant adj. 1 able or tending to keep afloat or rise to the top of a liquid or gas.

- (of a liquid or gas) able to keep something afloat.

- FIGURATIVE (of an economy, business, or market) involving or engaged in much successful trade or activity: car sales were buoyant.

2 cheerful and optimistic: the conference ended with the party in a buoyant mood.

<DERIVATIVES> buoyantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French bouyant or Spanish boyante, present participle of boyar ‘to float’ (see BUOY).

BUPA /bupə/ abbr. (in the UK) British United Provident Association, a private health insurance organization.

bupkis /bpks/ n. [mass noun] US INFORMAL nothing at all: you know bupkis about fund-raising.

<ORIGIN> from Yiddish.

buppie n. (pl. buppies) INFORMAL a young urban black professional; a black yuppie.

bupropion /bjuprəpən/ n. [mass noun] an antidepressant drug which is also given to relieve the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Also called ZYBAN (TRADEMARK).

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_13H_18ClNO.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from BUTANE + propion (see PROPIONIC ACID) + -n (perhaps from -ONE).

BUR abbr. Burma (international vehicle registration).

burb n. (usually the burbs) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL short for SUBURB: the leafy burbs of Connecticut.

Burbage /bəbd/ Richard (c.1567–1619), English actor. He was the creator of most of Shakespeare's great tragic roles — Hamlet, Othello, Lear, and Richard III — and was also associated with the building of the Globe Theatre.

Burbank /bəbak/ a city in southern California, on the north side of the Los Angeles conurbation; pop. 27,900 (2000). It is a centre of the film and television industries.

Burberry /bəb(ə)ri/ n. (pl. Burberries) TRADEMARK a kind of lightweight belted raincoat, typically beige in colour, with a distinctive tartan lining.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Burberrys Ltd, the name of the manufacturer.

burble v. 1 [no obj.] make a continuous murmuring noise: a stream burbled through the woods.

- speak continuously and at length in an unintelligible or confused way: he burbled on about annuities | [with obj.] he was burbling inanities.

2 (often as n. burbling) [AERONAUTICS] (of an airflow) break up into turbulence.

■ n. [mass noun] continuous murmuring noise: the steady burble of running water.

- rambling speech: an hour of boring burble.

<DERIVATIVES> burbler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘to bubble’): imitative. Current senses date from the late 19th cent.

burbot /bəbət/ n. an elongated bottom-dwelling fish that is the only freshwater member of the cod family, occurring in Eurasia and North America but almost extinct in Britain.

<INFO> Lota lota, family Gadidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French borbete, probably from borbe ‘mud, slime’.

burden n. 1 a load, typically a heavy one.

- a duty or misfortune that causes worry, hardship, or distress: [with modifier] the tax burden on low-wage earners.

- the main responsibility for achieving a specified aim or task: the burden of establishing that the authority had misused its powers rests upon the prosecution.

- a ship's carrying capacity; tonnage.

2 (the burden) the main theme or gist of a speech, book, or argument.

3 ARCHAIC the refrain or chorus of a song.

■ v. [with obj.] load heavily.

- cause (someone) worry, hardship, or distress: they were not yet burdened with adult responsibility.

<PHRASES>

□ burden of proof the obligation to prove one's assertion.

<ORIGIN> Old English byrthen, of West Germanic origin; related to bear^1.

burdensome adj. difficult to carry out or fulfil; taxing: the burdensome responsibilities of professional life.

- undesirably restrictive: bureaucratically burdensome assessment procedures.

burdock /bədk/ n. a large herbaceous Old World plant of the daisy family. The hook-bearing flowers become woody burrs after fertilization and cling to animals' coats to aid seed dispersal.

<INFO> Genus Arctium, family Compositae: several species, including the large-leaved great burdock (A. lappa), which has edible roots and is used in herbal medicine.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from BURR + DOCK^3.

bureau /bjərə/ n. (pl. bureaux or bureaus) 1 BRITISH a writing desk with drawers and typically an angled top opening downwards to form a writing surface.

- NORTH AMERICAN a chest of drawers.

2 an office or department for transacting particular business: a news bureau | the London bureau of the Washington Post.

- a government department: the intelligence bureau.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, originally ‘baize’ (used to cover writing desks), from Old French burel, probably from bure ‘dark brown’, based on Greek purros ‘red’.

bureaucracy /bj(ə)rkrəsi/ n. (pl. bureaucracies) [mass noun] 1 a system of government in which most of the important decisions are taken by state officials rather than by elected representatives.

- [count noun] a state or organization governed or managed according to such a system.

- [count noun] the officials in such a system, considered as a group or hierarchy.

2 excessively complicated administrative procedure: the unnecessary bureaucracy in local government.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French bureaucratie, from bureau (see BUREAU).

bureaucrat n. an official in a government department, in particular one perceived as being concerned with procedural correctness at the expense of people's needs.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French bureaucrate, from bureaucratie (see BUREAUCRACY).

bureaucratic adj. relating to the business of running an organization, or government: well-established bureaucratic procedures.

- over-concerned with procedure at the expense of efficiency or common sense: the scheme is overly bureaucratic and complex.

<DERIVATIVES> bureaucratically adv.

bureaucratize (also bureaucratise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. bureaucratized) govern (a state or organization) by an excessively complicated administrative procedure: impersonal and bureaucratized welfare systems.

<DERIVATIVES> bureaucratization n.

bureau de change /bjərə də / French /bYRə də α/ n. (pl. bureaux de change pronunc. same) an establishment at which customers can exchange foreign money.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: French, literally ‘office of exchange’.

Bureau of State Security (abbr.: BOSS) the former South African intelligence and security organization under apartheid.

burette /bjrεt/ (US also buret) n. a graduated glass tube with a tap at one end, for delivering known volumes of a liquid, especially in titrations.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from buire ‘jug’, of Germanic origin; related to German Bauch ‘stomach’.

burfi /bəfi/ (also barfi) n. [mass noun] an Indian sweet made from milk solids and sugar and typically flavoured with cardamom or nuts.

<ORIGIN> Hindi, from Persian barfī, literally, ‘icy, snowy’, also denoting a kind of sweet decorated with silver leaf.

burg /bə/ n. 1 an ancient or medieval fortress or walled town.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a town or city.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from late Latin burgus (see BURGESS).

■ Sense 2 is from German Burg ‘castle, city’.

burgage /bəd/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL (in England and Scotland) tenure of land in a town held in return for service or annual rent.

- [count noun] a house or other property held by such tenure.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin burgagium, from late Latin burgus ‘fortified town’.

Burgas /bəas/ an industrial port and resort in Bulgaria, on the Black Sea; pop. 193,316 (2001).

burgee /bədi/ n. a flag bearing the colours or emblem of a sailing club, typically triangular.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps from French bourgeois (see BURGESS) in the sense ‘owner, master’.

Burgenland /bəənland/ German /brnlant/ a state of eastern Austria; capital, Eisenstadt.

burgeon /bəd(ə)n/ v. [no obj.] (often as adj. burgeoning) begin to grow or increase rapidly; flourish: manufacturers are keen to cash in on the burgeoning demand.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bourgeonner ‘put out buds’, from borjon ‘bud’, based on late Latin burra ‘wool’.

burger n. a flat round cake of minced beef that is fried or grilled and generally eaten in a bread roll.

- [with modifier] a similarly shaped cake made of a specified ingredient: a nut burger.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (originally US): abbreviation of HAMBURGER.

Burgess^1 Anthony (1917–93), English novelist and critic; pseudonym of John Anthony Burgess Wilson. One of his best-known novels is A Clockwork Orange (1962), a disturbing, futuristic vision of juvenile delinquency and violence. Other notable works: Earthly Powers (1980).

Burgess^2 Guy (Francis de Moncy) (1911–63), British Foreign Office official and spy. Acting as a Soviet agent from the 1930s, he worked for MI5 while ostensibly employed by the BBC. After the war he worked at the British Embassy in Washington, under Kim Philby; charged with espionage in 1951, he fled to the USSR with Donald Maclean.

burgess n. 1 ARCHAIC an inhabitant of a town or borough with full rights of citizenship.

2 BRITISH HISTORICAL a Member of Parliament for a borough, corporate town, or university.

3 (in the US and also historically in the UK) a magistrate or member of the governing body of a town.

- US HISTORICAL a member of the assembly of colonial Maryland or Virginia.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French burgeis, from late Latin burgus ‘castle, fort’ (in medieval Latin ‘fortified town’); related to BOROUGH.

Burgess Shale a stratum of sedimentary rock exposed in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. The bed, dated to the Cambrian period (about 540 million years ago), is rich in well-preserved fossils of early marine invertebrates, many of which represent evolutionary lineages unknown in later times.

<ORIGIN> named after the Burgess Pass, British Columbia, where the shale outcrops.

burgh /brə/ n. HISTORICAL or SCOTTISH a borough or chartered town.

<DERIVATIVES> burghal /bə(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: Scots form of BOROUGH.

burgher /bəə/ n. 1 ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS a citizen of a town or city, typically a member of the wealthy bourgeoisie.

2 HISTORICAL (in southern Africa) an Afrikaans citizen of a Boer Republic.

- (in southern Africa) a civilian member of a local militia unit.

3 (Burgher) a descendant of a Dutch or Portuguese colonist in Sri Lanka.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from BURGH, reinforced by Dutch burger, from burg ‘castle’ (see BOROUGH).

Burghley /bəli/ William Cecil, 1st Baron (1520–98), English statesman. Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth I 1558–72 and Lord High Treasurer 1572–98, he was the queen's most trusted councillor and minister.

burghul /bəul/ n. another term for BULGAR.

<ORIGIN> Persian.

burglar n. a person who commits burglary.

<DERIVATIVES> burglarious /-lεrəs/ adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from legal French burgler or Anglo-Latin burgulator, burglator; related to Old French burgier ‘pillage’.

burglarize (also burglarise) v. North American term for BURGLE.

burglary n. (pl. burglaries) illegal entry of a building with intent to commit a crime, especially theft: [mass noun] a two-year sentence for burglary | [count noun] a series of burglaries.

In English law before 1968, burglary was a crime under statute and in common law; since 1968 it has been a statutory crime only. See also HOUSEBREAKING.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from legal French burglarie, from burgler (see BURGLAR).

burgle v. [with obj.] chiefly BRITISH enter (a building) illegally with intent to commit a crime, especially theft: our house in London has been burgled.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: originally a humorous and colloquial back-formation from BURGLAR.

burgomaster /bəə()mαstə/ n. the mayor of a Dutch, Flemish, German, Austrian, or Swiss town.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Dutch burgemeester, from burg ‘castle, citadel’ (see BOROUGH) + meester ‘master’. The change in the final element was due to association with master^1.

burgonet /bəənεt/ n. HISTORICAL a kind of visored helmet.

- a light steel cap worn by pikemen.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French bourguignotte, perhaps a use of the feminine of bourgignot ‘Burgundian’, the ending being assimilated to -et^1.

burgoo /bəu/ n. [mass noun] 1 NORTH AMERICAN a stew or thick soup, typically one served at an outdoor meal.

2 chiefly [NAUTICAL] a thick porridge.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic burġul (see BURGHUL).

Burgos /bəs/ Spanish /burəs/ a town in northern Spain; pop. 166,251 (2000). It was the capital of Castile during the 11th century, and the official seat of Franco's Nationalist government (1936–9).

Burgoyne /bən/ John (1722–92), English general and dramatist; known as Gentleman Johnny. He surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga (1777) in the War of American Independence.

burgrave /bərev/ n. HISTORICAL the governor or hereditary ruler of a German town or castle.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from German Burggraf, from Burg ‘castle’ (see BOROUGH) + Graf ‘count, noble’.

Burgundian /bəndən/ n. a native or inhabitant of Burgundy.

- HISTORICAL a member of a Germanic people that invaded Gaul from the east and established the kingdom of Burgundy in the 5th century AD.

■ adj. relating to Burgundy or the Burgundians.

Burgundy /bəəndi/ a region and former duchy of east central France, centred on Dijon. The region is noted for its wine. French name BOURGOGNE.

burgundy n. (pl. burgundies) [mass noun] a wine from Burgundy (usually taken to be red unless otherwise specified).

- a deep red colour like that of burgundy wine.

burial n. [mass noun] the action or practice of burying a dead body: his remains were shipped home for burial.

- [count noun] a ceremony at which someone's body is buried; a funeral.

- [count noun] [ARCHAEOLOGY] a grave or the remains found in it.

<ORIGIN> Old English byrgels ‘place of burial, grave’ (interpreted as plural in Middle English, hence the loss of the final -s), of Germanic origin; related to BURY.

burial ground n. an area of ground set aside for the burying of human bodies.

burin /bjərn/ n. a hand-held steel tool used for engraving in metal or wood.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] a flint tool with a chisel point.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French; perhaps related to Old High German bora ‘boring tool’.

burka /bəkə brkα/ (also burkha, burqa) n. a long, loose garment covering the whole body from head to feet, worn in public by women in many Muslim countries.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu and Persian burqa‘, from Arabic burqu‘.

Burke^1 Edmund (1729–97), British man of letters and Whig politician. Burke wrote on the issues of political emancipation and moderation, notably with respect to Roman Catholics and the American colonies.

Burke^2 John (1787–1848), Irish genealogical and heraldic writer. He compiled Burke's Peerage (1826), the guide to peers and baronets.

Burke^3 Robert O'Hara (1820–61), Irish explorer. He led a successful expedition from south to north across Australia in the company of William Wills and two others—the first white men to make this journey. On the return journey, however, Burke, Wills, and a third companion died of starvation.

Burke^4 William (1792–1829), Irish murderer. He was a bodysnatcher operating in Edinburgh with his accomplice William Hare.

Burkina /bəkinə/ a landlocked country in western Africa, in the Sahel; pop. 12,603,185 (est. 2002); official language, French; capital, Ouagadougou. A French protectorate from 1898, it became an autonomous republic within the French Community in 1958 and a fully independent republic in 1960. Official name Burkina Faso /fasə/.

<DERIVATIVES> Burkinan adj. & n.

Burkitt's lymphoma /bəkts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE cancer of the lymphatic system, caused by the Epstein–Barr virus, chiefly affecting children in central Africa.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Denis P. Burkitt (1911–93), the British surgeon who described it.

burl^1 /bəl/ n. a slub or lump in wool or cloth.

- NORTH AMERICAN a rounded knotty growth on a tree, used especially in handcrafted objects and veneers.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bourle ‘tuft of wool’, diminutive of bourre ‘coarse wool’, from late Latin burra ‘wool’.

burl^2 /bəl/ n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an attempt: we'll give it a burl.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: regional usage of BIRL.

burlap /bəlap/ n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN coarse canvas woven from jute, hemp, or a similar fibre, used especially for sacking.

- lighter material of a similar kind used in dressmaking and furnishing.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

burlesque /bəlεsk/ n. 1 an absurd or comically exaggerated imitation of something, especially in a literary or dramatic work; a parody: a novel which is a burlesque of the literary life | [mass noun] the argument descends into music-hall burlesque.

2 a variety show, typically including striptease: [as modifier] burlesque clubs.

■ v. (burlesques, burlesquing, burlesqued) [with obj.] parody or imitate in an absurd or comically exaggerated way: a mock-heroic farce that burlesques the affectations of Restoration heroic drama.

<DERIVATIVES> burlesquer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian burlesco, from burla ‘mockery’, of unknown origin.

burley /bəli/ (also burley tobacco) n. [mass noun] a tobacco of a light-coloured variety which is grown mainly in Kentucky, USA.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

Burlington a city in southern Canada, on Lake Ontario south-west of Toronto; pop. 150,836 (2001).

burly adj. (burlier, burliest) (of a person) large and strong; heavily built.

<DERIVATIVES> burliness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘dignified, imposing’): probably from an unrecorded Old English word meaning ‘stately, fit for the bower’ (see bower^1, -ly^1).

Burma /bəmə/ a country in SE Asia, on the Bay of Bengal; pop. 42,238,224 (est. 2002); official language, Burmese; capital, Naypyidaw. Official name (since 1989) UNION OF MYANMAR.

Annexed by the British during the 19th century, Burma was occupied by the Japanese from 1942 to 1945 and became an independent republic in 1948. In 1962 an army coup led by Ne Win overthrew the government and established an authoritarian state. The National League for Democracy (NLD) won the election held in May 1990, even though its leader Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest; however, the military regime did not relinquish power.

<USAGE> The military authorities in Burma have promoted the name Myanmar as the official name for their state since 1989; Burma is often preferred by people who oppose the current government.

Burman n. (pl. Burmans) & adj.

■ another term for Burmese (sense 1 of the noun).

bur-marigold n. a plant of the daisy family, with inconspicuous yellow flowers and small barbed fruit which cling to passing animals. Several kinds are widespread weeds.

<INFO> Genus Bidens, family Compositae: several species, in particular B. frondosa.

Burma Road a route linking Lashio in Burma to Kunming in China, covering 1,154 km (717 miles). Completed in 1939, it was built by the Chinese in response to the Japanese occupation of the Chinese coast, to serve as a supply route to the interior.

Burmese n. (pl. same) 1 a member of the largest ethnic group of Burma (Myanmar) in SE Asia.

2 a native or national of Burma.

3 [mass noun] the official language of Burma, which is the first language of about 22 million people (75 per cent of the population). It is a tonal Sino-Tibetan language written in an alphabet derived from that of ancient Pali.

4 (also Burmese cat) a cat of a short-coated breed originating in Asia.

■ adj. relating to Burma, its people, or their language.

burn^1 v. (past and past participle burned or chiefly BRITISH burnt) 1 [no obj.] (of a fire) flame or glow while consuming a material such as coal or wood: a fire burned and crackled cheerfully in the grate.

- (of a candle or other source of light) be alight: a light was burning in the hall.

- be in flames: by nightfall, the whole city was burning.

- [with obj.] use (a type of fuel) as a source of heat or energy: a diesel engine converted to burn natural gas.

- [with obj.] (of the body of a person or animal) convert (calories) to energy: exercise does help to burn up calories.

2 be or cause to be destroyed by fire: [no obj.] he watched his restaurant burn to the ground | [with obj.] he burned all the letters.

- be or cause to be damaged, injured, or spoiled by heat or fire: [with obj.] I burned myself on the stove | [no obj.] the toast's burning.

- [no obj.] (of the skin) become red and painful through exposure to the sun: my skin tans easily but sometimes burns.

- [no obj.] feel hot or sore, typically as a result of illness or injury: her forehead was burning and her throat ached.

3 (be burning with) be entirely possessed by (a desire or an emotion): Martha was burning with curiosity.

4 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] INFORMAL drive very fast: a despatch rider burning up the highways.

5 [with obj.] produce (a compact disc) by copying from an original or master copy.

■ n. 1 an injury caused by exposure to heat or flame: he was treated in hospital for burns to his hands.

- a mark left on something as a result of being burned: the carpet was covered in cigarette burns.

- an injury caused by friction: they found rope burns around her waist.

- a hot, painful sensation in the muscles experienced as a result of sustained vigorous exercise.

2 consumption of a type of fuel as an energy source: natural gas produces the cleanest burn of the lot.

- a firing of a rocket engine in flight.

3 NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ an act of clearing of vegetation by burning.

- an area of land cleared in this way.

4 BRITISH INFORMAL a cigarette.

<PHRASES>

□ be burned at the stake HISTORICAL be executed by being tied to a stake and publicly burned alive, typically for alleged heresy or witchcraft.

□ burn one's bridges (or British boats) do something which makes it impossible to return to an earlier state.

□ burn the candle at both ends go to bed late and get up early.

□ burn a hole in someone's pocket (of money) tempt someone to spend it quickly and extravagantly.

□ burn the midnight oil read or work late into the night.

□ burn (NORTH AMERICAN also lay) rubber INFORMAL drive very quickly.

□ go for the burn INFORMAL push one's body to the extremes when doing physical exercise.

□ a slow burn INFORMAL a state of slowly mounting anger or annoyance.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ burn something down (or burn down) (with reference to a building or structure) destroy or be destroyed completely by fire.

□ burn something into brand or imprint (something) with an image by burning: designs are burnt into the skin | FIGURATIVE a childhood incident that was burnt into her memory.

□ burn out 1 cease to function as a result of excessive heat or friction: the clutch had burned out.

2 ruin one's health or become completely exhausted through overwork: social pressures that can cause career women to burn out | (as adj. burned out) a burned-out undercover cop.

□ burn someone out make someone homeless by destroying their home by fire: he and his family had been burned out of their house.

□ burn something out completely destroy a building or vehicle by fire, so that only a shell remains.

□ burn someone up NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL make someone very angry.

<ORIGIN> Old English birnan ‘be on fire’ and bærnan ‘consume by fire’, both from the same Germanic base; related to German brennen.

burn^2 n. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a small stream.

<ORIGIN> Old English burna, burn(e), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bron and German Brunnen ‘well’.

Burne-Jones Sir Edward (Coley) (1833–98), English painter and designer. His work, which included tapestry and stained-glass window designs, reflected his interest in medieval and literary themes and is typical of the later Pre-Raphaelite style.

burner n. 1 a person or thing that burns: [in combination] uphill walking is a great calorie-burner.

- a part of a cooker, lamp, etc. that emits a flame.

- an apparatus in which a substance is heated.

- NORTH AMERICAN the heating element of an electric cooker.

2 a device for producing a compact disc by copying from an original or master copy.

<PHRASES>

□ on the back burner INFORMAL having low priority: he wants the matter to be put on the back burner.

burnet /bənt/ n. 1 a herbaceous plant of the rose family, with globular pinkish flower heads and leaves composed of many small leaflets.

<INFO> Genus Sanguisorba, family Rosaceae: several species, including the edible salad burnet (S. minor), and the spiny shrub-like thorny burnet (S. spinosum) of the eastern Mediterranean.

2 a day-flying moth that typically has greenish-black wings with crimson markings.

<INFO> Zygaena and other genera, family Zygaenidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a kind of dark brown woollen cloth): from Old French brunete, burnete (denoting brown cloth or a plant with brown flowers), diminutives of brun ‘brown’.

burnet rose n. a small wild Eurasian rose with white flowers and leaves like those of salad burnet.

<INFO> Rosa pimpinellifolia, family Rosaceae.

burnet saxifrage n. a slender white-flowered European plant of the parsley family.

<INFO> Pimpinella saxifraga, family Umbelliferae.

Burnett /bənεt/ Frances (Eliza) Hodgson (1849–1924), British-born American novelist. She is remembered chiefly for her novels for children, including Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911).

Burney Fanny (1752–1840), English novelist; born Frances Burney. Notable works: Evelina (1778), Cecilia (1782), and Letters and Diaries (1846).

burn-in n. 1 [mass noun] damage to a computer or television screen which occurs when a very bright image has been displayed for too long.

2 a continuous period of operation undergone by an electronic device in order to check for defects.

burning adj. on fire: a burning building.

- very hot or bright: the burning midday sun.

- very keenly or deeply felt; intense: he had a burning ambition to climb to the upper reaches of management.

- of urgent interest and importance; exciting or calling for debate: pension reform is still a burning issue | the burning question of independence.

<DERIVATIVES> burningly adv.

burning bush n. 1 any of a number of shrubs noted for their bright red autumn foliage, in particular the kochia or the smoke tree.

2 any of a number of shrubs or trees with bright red leaves or fruits.

<INFO> Several plants, in particular North American spindles of the genus Euonymus (family Celastraceae), e.g. the wahoo (E. atropurpurea).

3 another term for GAS PLANT.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: with biblical allusion to Exod. 3:2.

burning glass n. a lens for concentrating the sun's rays on an object so as to set fire to it.

burnish v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. burnished) polish (something, especially metal) by rubbing: highly burnished armour.

- FIGURATIVE enhance or improve: a man who took advantage of any opportunity to burnish his image.

■ n. [in sing.] the shine on a highly polished surface.

<DERIVATIVES> burnisher n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French burniss-, lengthened stem of burnir, variant of brunir ‘make brown’, from brun ‘brown’.

burnished brass n. a European moth that has green to gold wing patches with a metallic lustre.

<INFO> Genus Diachrisia, family Noctuidae: several species.

burnous /bənus/ (US also burnoose) n. a long, loose hooded cloak worn by Arabs.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: French, from Arabic burnus, from Greek birros ‘cloak’.

burnout n. [mass noun] 1 the reduction of a fuel or substance to nothing through use or combustion.

2 the failure of an electrical device or component through overheating.

3 physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress: high levels of professionalism which may result in burnout.

burn rate n. the rate at which a new company spends its initial capital.

Burns^1 George (1896–1996), American comedian; born Nathan Birnbaum. Known for his comedy partnership with his wife Gracie Allen (1902–64), he won an Oscar for the film The Sunshine Boys (1975).

Burns^2 Robert (1759–96), Scottish poet, best known for poems such as ‘The Jolly Beggars’ (1786) and ‘Tam o' Shanter’ (1791), and for old Scottish songs which he collected, including ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Burns Night celebrations are held in Scotland and elsewhere on his birthday, 25 January.

burnside n. (usually burnsides) a moustache in combination with whiskers on the cheeks but no beard on the chin.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after General Ambrose Burnside (1824–81), American army officer.

burnt chiefly BRITISH past and past participle of burn^1.

burnt ochre n. [mass noun] a deep, opaque yellow-brown pigment made by calcining ochre.

- the colour of this pigment.

burnt offering n. 1 an offering burnt on an altar as a religious sacrifice.

2 HUMOROUS an overcooked or charred meal or item of food.

burnt sienna n. [mass noun] a deep reddish-brown pigment made by calcining raw sienna.

- the colour of this pigment.

burnt umber n. [mass noun] a deep brown pigment made by calcining raw umber.

- the colour of this pigment.

bur oak n. a North American oak with large fringed acorn cups and timber that was formerly important in shipbuilding.

<INFO> Quercus macrocarpa, family Fagaceae.

buroo /bəru/ n. variant form of BROO.

burp INFORMAL v. [no obj.] noisily release air from the stomach through the mouth; belch.

- [with obj.] make (a baby) belch after feeding, typically by patting its back.

■ n. a noise made by air released from the stomach through the mouth; a belch.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (originally US): imitative.

burpee /bəpi/ n. a physical exercise consisting of a squat thrust made from and ending in a standing position.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Royal H. Burpee, American psychologist. The original usage was Burpee test, in which a series of burpees are executed in rapid succession, designed to measure agility and coordination.

burp gun n. US INFORMAL a lightweight sub-machine gun.

Burr Aaron (1756–1836), American Democratic Republican statesman. In 1804, while Vice-President, he killed his rival Alexander Hamilton in a duel. He then plotted to form an independent administration in Mexico and was tried for treason but acquitted.

burr n. 1 a whirring sound, such as a telephone ringing tone or the sound of cogs turning.

- a rough pronunciation of the letter r, especially with a uvular trill as in a Northumberland accent.

- (loosely) a regional accent: a soft Scottish burr.

2 (also bur) a rough edge or ridge left on an object (especially of metal) by the action of a tool or machine.

3 (also bur) a small rotary cutting tool with a shaped end, used chiefly in woodworking and dentistry.

- a small surgical drill for making holes in bone, especially in the skull.

4 [mass noun] a siliceous rock used for millstones.

- [count noun] a whetstone.

5 (also bur) a prickly seed case or flower head that clings to clothing and animal fur.

- [usually as modifier] a plant that produces burrs, for example bur-reed.

6 (also bur) [as modifier] denoting wood containing knots or other growths which show a pattern of dense swirls in the grain when sawn, used for veneers and other decorative woodwork: burr walnut.

7 the coronet of a deer's antler.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] make a whirring sound.

- speak with a regional accent, especially one in which the letter r is prominent.

2 [with obj.] form a rough edge on (metal).

<PHRASES>

□ a burr under someone's saddle NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a persistent source of irritation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 5 of the noun): probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Danish burre ‘burr, burdock’, Swedish kard-borre ‘burdock’.

Burra /brə/ Edward (1905–76), English painter, noted for his low-life subjects, as in Harlem (1934), and the bizarre and fantastic, as in Dancing Skeletons (1934).

burra /brə/ adj. [attr.] INDIAN big or important: the burra sahibs.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi baā ‘great, greatest’.

Burra Din /brə dn/ n. INDIAN Christmas.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi baā ‘great’ and din ‘day’.

burrawang /brəwa/ (also burrawong) n. an Australian cycad with palm-like leaves and a sunken underground trunk.

<INFO> Macrozamia spiralis, family Zamiaceae.

- the poisonous nut of the burrawang, which becomes edible after prolonged soaking.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Dharuk.

bur-reed n. an aquatic reed-like plant with rounded flower heads. Its oily seeds are an important source of winter food for wildfowl.

<INFO> Genus Sparganium, family Sparganiaceae.

burrfish n. (pl. same or burrfishes) a porcupine fish with spines that are permanently erected, occurring in tropical waters of the Atlantic and Pacific.

<INFO> Genus Chilomycterus, family Diodontidae: several species, including the common C. schoepfi of the western Atlantic.

burrito /britə/ n. (pl. burritos) a Mexican dish consisting of a tortilla rolled round a savoury filling, typically of minced beef or beans.

<ORIGIN> Latin American Spanish, diminutive of Spanish burro, literally ‘donkey’ (see BURRO).

burro /brə/ n. (pl. burros) chiefly US a small donkey used as a pack animal.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Spanish.

Burroughs^1 /brəz/ Edgar Rice (1875–1950), American novelist and writer of science fiction. He is chiefly remembered for his adventure stories about Tarzan, who first appeared in Tarzan of the Apes (1914).

Burroughs^2 /brəz/ William (Seward) (1914–97), American novelist. In the 1940s he became addicted to heroin, and his best-known writing, for example Junkie (1953) and The Naked Lunch (1959), deals with life as a drug addict in a unique, surreal style.

burrow n. a hole or tunnel dug by a small animal, especially a rabbit, as a dwelling.

■ v. [no obj.] (of an animal) make a hole or tunnel, typically for use as a dwelling: moles burrowing away underground | (as adj. burrowing) burrowing earthworms.

- [with adverbial of direction] dig into or through something solid: worms that burrow through dead wood.

- [with adverbial of direction] hide underneath or press close to something: the child burrowed deeper into the bed.

- FIGURATIVE make a thorough inquiry; investigate: journalists are burrowing into the prime minister's business affairs.

<DERIVATIVES> burrower n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: variant of BOROUGH.

Bursa /bəsə/ a city in NW Turkey, capital of a province of the same name; pop. 1,190,000 (est. 2002). It was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1326 to 1402.

bursa /bəsə/ n. (pl. bursae /-si/ or bursas) [ANATOMY] a fluid-filled sac or sac-like cavity, especially one countering friction at a joint.

<DERIVATIVES> bursal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from medieval Latin, ‘bag, purse’, from Greek bursa ‘leather’.

bursa of Fabricius n. [ZOOLOGY] a glandular sac opening into the cloaca of a bird, producing B-cells.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in the Latin form bursa Fabricii): from BURSA and a Latinized form of the name of Girolama Fabrici (1533–1619), Italian anatomist.

bursar n. chiefly BRITISH 1 a person who manages the financial affairs of a college or school.

2 SCOTTISH a student who holds a bursary.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French boursier or (in sense 1) medieval Latin bursarius, from bursa ‘bag, purse’ (see BURSA).

bursary /bəsəri/ n. (pl. bursaries) British 1 a grant, especially one awarded to someone to enable them to study at university or college.

2 the room of a bursar in a college or school.

<DERIVATIVES> bursarial /-sεrəl/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in sense 2): from medieval Latin bursaria, from bursa ‘bag, purse’ (see BURSA).

burse /bəs/ n. 1 a flat, square, fabric-covered case in which a folded corporal cloth is carried to and from an altar in church.

2 (the Burse) HISTORICAL the Royal Exchange in Cornhill, London. Compare with BOURSE.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense ‘purse’): from French bourse or medieval Latin bursa (see BOURSE, BURSA).

bursitis /bəsts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of a bursa, typically one in a shoulder joint.

burst v. (past and past participle burst) [no obj.] 1 break open or apart suddenly and violently, especially as a result of an impact or internal pressure: one of the balloons burst | the dam burst after days of torrential rain.

- [with obj.] cause to break open or apart in this way: he burst the balloon | the swollen river was expected to burst its banks.

- be so full as almost to break open: the wardrobe was bursting with piles of clothes.

- feel a very strong or irrepressible emotion or impulse: he was bursting with joy and excitement | [with infinitive] she was bursting to say something.

2 issue suddenly and uncontrollably: the words burst from him in an angry rush.

- open suddenly and forcibly: a door burst open and a girl raced out.

- [with adverbial of direction] move suddenly and violently: he burst into the room without knocking | FIGURATIVE she burst on to the British art scene in 1985.

3 suddenly begin doing or producing something: Sophie burst out laughing | she burst into tears | the aircraft burst into flames.

4 [with obj.] separate (continuous stationery) into single sheets.

■ n. 1 an instance of breaking or splitting as a result of internal pressure or puncturing; an explosion: the mortar bursts were further away than before.

2 a sudden brief outbreak: a burst of activity | bursts of laughter.

- a sudden issuing forth: her breath was coming in short bursts.

3 a period of continuous and intense effort: he sailed 474 miles in one 24-hour burst.

<PHRASES>

□ burst someone's bubble shatter someone's illusions about something or destroy their sense of well-being.

<ORIGIN> Old English berstan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bersten, barsten.

burster n. 1 [ASTRONOMY] a cosmic source of powerful short-lived bursts of X-rays or other radiation.

2 INFORMAL a violent gale.

3 a machine which separates continuous stationery into single sheets.

bursty adj. INFORMAL or TECHNICAL occurring at intervals in short, sudden episodes.

- relating to or denoting the transmission of data in short, separate bursts of signals.

Burt Cyril (Lodowic) (1883–1971), English psychologist. Using studies of identical twins, he claimed that intelligence is inherited, but he was later accused of fabricating data.

burthen n. archaic form of BURDEN.

<DERIVATIVES> burthensome adj.

Burton^1 Richard (1925–84), Welsh actor; born Richard Jenkins. He often co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor (to whom he was twice married) in films such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).

Burton^2 Sir Richard (Francis) (1821–90), English explorer, anthropologist, and translator. He and John Hanning Speke were the first Europeans to see Lake Tanganyika (1858). He translated the Arabian Nights (1885–8), the Kama Sutra (1883), The Perfumed Garden (1886), and other works.

Burton^3 Robert (1577–1640), English churchman and scholar, author of The Anatomy of Melancholy (first published 1621).

burton^1 n. (in phrase go for a burton) BRITISH INFORMAL meet with disaster; be ruined, destroyed, or killed.

<ORIGIN> Second World War (originally RAF slang): perhaps referring to Burton ale, from Burton-upon-Trent.

burton^2 (also burton-tackle) n. HISTORICAL a light two-block tackle for hoisting.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: alteration of Middle English Breton tackle, a nautical term in the same (see Breton^1).

Burton upon Trent a town in west central England, in Staffordshire; pop. 61,000 (est. 2002). The town is noted for its breweries.

Burundi /brndi/ a central African country on the east side of Lake Tanganyika, to the south of Rwanda; pop. 6,373,002 (est. 2002); official languages, French and Kirundi; capital, Bujumbura.

Inhabited mainly by Hutu and Tutsi peoples, the area formed part of German East Africa from the 1890s until the First World War, after which it was administered by Belgium. The country became an independent monarchy in 1962 and a republic in 1966. Multiparty elections in 1993 resulted in the country being led for the first time by a member of the Hutu majority rather than the traditionally dominant Tutsis; this led within months to large-scale ethnic violence.

<DERIVATIVES> Burundian adj. & n.

bury v. (buries, burying, buried) 1 [with obj.] put or hide underground: he buried the box in the back garden | (as adj. buried) buried treasure.

- place (a dead body) in the earth or in a tomb, usually with funeral rites: he was buried in St John's churchyard.

- lose (someone, especially a relative) through death: a rich old lady who had buried two husbands.

2 cover (someone or something) completely: the countryside has been buried under layers of concrete | the sheep were buried beneath six-foot drifts of snow.

- hide (something) from sight: she buried her face in her hands.

- hide or try to forget (a feeling or memory): they had buried their feelings of embarrassment and fear.

- (bury oneself) involve oneself deeply in something to the exclusion of other concerns: he buried himself in work.

- INFORMAL (of a football player) shoot (the ball) into the goal.

<PHRASES>

□ bury one's head in the sand ignore unpleasant realities.

<ORIGIN> Old English byrgan, of West Germanic origin; related to the verb BORROW and to BOROUGH.

Buryat /bəjat/ n. 1 a member of a people living in southern Siberia, Mongolia, and northern China.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Buryat, related to Mongolian and having over 400,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Buryat or their language.

Buryatia /bəjαtə/ (also Buryat Republic /bəjαt/) an autonomous republic in SE Russia, between Lake Baikal and the Mongolian border; pop. 1,013,800 (est. 2002); capital, Ulan-Ude.

burying beetle n. a black beetle, typically with broad orange bands on its wing cases, which buries small animal carcasses to provide a food store for its larvae. Also called SEXTON BEETLE.

<INFO> Nicrophorus and other genera, family Silphidae.

bus n. (pl. buses; US also busses) 1 a large motor vehicle carrying passengers by road, typically one serving the public on a fixed route and for a fare: [as modifier] a bus service.

- INFORMAL, DATED a car, aircraft, or other vehicle.

2 [COMPUTING] a distinct set of conductors carrying data and control signals within a computer system, to which pieces of equipment may be connected in parallel.

■ v. (busses, bussing, bussed or buses, busing, bused) 1 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] transport in a communal road vehicle: staff were bussed in and out of the factory.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] travel by bus: the priest bussed in from a neighbouring parish.

- NORTH AMERICAN transport (a child of one ethnic group) to a school where another group is predominant, in an attempt to promote racial integration.

2 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN remove (dirty plates and dishes) from a table in a restaurant or cafeteria.

- remove dirty plates and dishes from (a table).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: shortening of OMNIBUS.

busbar /bsbα/ n. a system of electrical conductors in a generating or receiving station on which power is concentrated for distribution.

busboy /bsb/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a young man who clears tables in a restaurant or cafe.

Busby Sir Matt (1909–94), Scottish-born footballer and football manager. As manager of Manchester United 1945–69 he led them to win five League Championships and the European Cup in 1968.

busby /bzbi/ n. (pl. busbies) a tall fur hat with a coloured cloth flap hanging down on the right-hand side and in some cases a plume on the top, worn by soldiers of certain regiments of hussars and artillerymen.

■ popular term for BEARSKIN (the cap).

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting a large bushy wig): of unknown origin.

Bush^1 George (Herbert Walker) (b.1924), American Republican statesman, 41st President of the US 1989–93. He negotiated further arms reductions with the Soviet Union and organized international action to expel the Iraqis from Kuwait in 1990.

Bush^2 George W(alker) (b.1946), American Republican statesman, 43rd President of the US 2001–2009. He is the son of George Bush. One of his first acts as President was to launch a ‘War on Terror’ against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon; he also ordered the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, maintaining that Saddam Hussein was developing chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

<DERIVATIVES> Bushism n.

bush^1 n. 1 a shrub or clump of shrubs with stems of moderate length: a rose bush.

- HISTORICAL a bunch of ivy as a vintner's sign.

2 (the bush) (especially in Australia and Africa) wild or uncultivated country: they have to spend a night camping in the bush.

- [mass noun] the vegetation growing in such a district: the lowland country was covered in thick bush.

- NZ indigenous rainforest.

- [as modifier] chiefly S. AFRICAN uncivilized or primitive: bush justice.

3 a luxuriant growth of thick hair or fur: a childish face with a bush of bright hair.

- VULGAR SLANG a woman's pubic hair.

■ v. [no obj.] spread out into a thick clump: her hair bushed out like a halo.

<PHRASES>

□ go bush AUSTRALIAN/NZ leave one's usual surroundings; run wild. [<ORIGIN> early 20th cent: by association with the phrase take to the bush, originally said of escaped convicts.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bos, bosc, variants of bois ‘wood’, reinforced by Old Norse buski, of Germanic origin and related to Dutch bos and German Busch. The sense ‘uncultivated country’ is probably directly from Dutch bos.

bush^2 n. British 1 a metal lining for a round hole, especially one in which an axle revolves.

- a bearing for a revolving shaft.

2 a sleeve that protects an electric cable where it passes through a panel.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Middle Dutch busse.

bushbaby n. (pl. bushbabies) a small nocturnal tree-dwelling African primate with very large eyes. Also called GALAGO.

<INFO> Genus Galago, family Lorisidae, suborder Prosimii: several species.

bush basil n. a low-growing compact variety of basil.

<INFO> Ocimum minimum, family Labiatae.

bushbuck n. a small antelope with a reddish-brown coat with white markings, found in southern Africa.

<INFO> Tragelaphus scriptus, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BUSH^1 + BUCK^1, influenced by Dutch bosbok.

bushchat n. an Asian songbird related to the stonechat, the males of which generally have black (or grey) and white plumage.

<INFO> Genus Saxicola, family Turdidae: several species.

bushcraft n. [mass noun] skill at living in the bush.

bush cricket n. an insect related to the grasshoppers, with very long antennae and a mainly carnivorous diet. Many kinds live among shrubby vegetation, active and singing mainly at dusk and in the night. Formerly called LONG-HORNED GRASSHOPPER.

<INFO> Family Tettigoniidae: many genera.

bush dog n. a small stocky carnivorous mammal of the dog family, with short legs and small ears. It is native to the forests of Central and South America.

<INFO> Speothus venaticus, family Canidae.

bushed adj. INFORMAL 1 tired out; exhausted.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ lost in the bush.

- flummoxed or bewildered.

3 CANADIAN psychologically disturbed on account of isolation.

bushel /b(ə)l/ (abbr.: bu.) n. 1 BRITISH a measure of capacity equal to 8 gallons (equivalent to 36.4 litres), used for corn, fruit, liquids, etc.

2 US a measure of capacity equal to 64 US pints (equivalent to 35.2 litres), used for dry goods.

<PHRASES>

□ hide one's light under a bushel see hide^1.

<DERIVATIVES> bushelful n. (pl. bushelfuls)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French boissel, perhaps of Gaulish origin.

bush fallow n. [mass noun] a system of farming in which bushes and trees are cleared from virgin land, which is then allowed to lie fallow for a while before cultivation begins.

bush fire n. a fire in scrub or a forest, especially one that spreads rapidly.

bush-hen n. an Australasian rail (bird) with plain brown and grey plumage.

<INFO> Amaurornis olivaceus, family Rallidae. Alternative name: rufous-tailed moorhen.

bushido /budə bidə/ n. [mass noun] the code of honour and morals developed by the Japanese samurai.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from bushi ‘samurai’ + dō ‘way’.

bushing n. another term for bush^2.

bush jacket n. another term for SAFARI JACKET.

bush lawyer n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a person claiming legal or other knowledge who is unqualified to do so.

bush league North American n. a minor league of a professional sport, especially baseball.

■ adj. (bush-league) INFORMAL of mediocre quality; second-rate.

<DERIVATIVES> bush-leaguer n.

Bushman n. (pl. Bushmen) 1 a member of any of several aboriginal peoples of southern Africa, especially of the Kalahari Desert. Traditionally nomadic hunter-gatherers, many are now employed by farmers. Also called SAN.

2 older term for SAN (the languages of these people).

3 (bushman) a person who lives, works, or travels in the Australian bush.

bushmaster n. a pit viper which is the largest venomous snake in the New World, found in Central and South America.

<INFO> Lachesis muta, family Viperidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from Dutch bosmeester, from bos ‘bush’ + meester ‘master’.

bushmeat n. [mass noun] the meat of African wild animals as food.

bush medicine n. [mass noun] chiefly W. INDIAN traditional folk medicine, typically prepared from herbs and other plants.

bush pig (also African bush pig) n. a wild pig that is native to the forests and savannahs of Africa and Madagascar. Also called RED RIVER HOG.

<INFO> Potamochoerus porcus, family Suidae.

bushranger n. 1 US a person living far from civilization.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ HISTORICAL an outlaw living in the bush.

bush sickness n. [mass noun] a deficiency disease of animals caused by a lack of cobalt in the soil (and hence in the diet).

bush tea n. a tea made from dried leaves and twigs of various shrubs, especially in tropical countries.

bush telegraph n. a rapid informal network by which information or gossip is spread.

bushtit n. a small American songbird of the long-tailed tit family, with mainly pale grey plumage and sometimes a black mask.

<INFO> Psaltriparus minimus, family Aegithalidae (formerly Paridae); formerly regarded as two species.

bushveld /bfεlt -vεlt/ n. (the Bushveld) a region in the hot dry north-east of South Africa and adjoining countries.

- [mass noun] the type of vegetation of the Bushveld, dominated by low-growing thorn trees and bush.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BUSH^1 + VELD, influenced by Afrikaans bosveld.

bushwa /bwα/ (also bushwah) n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL rubbish, nonsense.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: apparently a euphemism for BULLSHIT.

bushwalking n. [mass noun] chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ hiking or backpacking.

<DERIVATIVES> bushwalker n.

bushwhack v. 1 [no obj.] (often as n. bushwhacking) NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ live or travel in bush country.

- [with adverbial of direction] cut or push one's way through dense vegetation: he'd bushwhacked down the steep slopes.

- work clearing scrub and felling trees in bush country.

2 [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN engage in guerrilla warfare.

- [with obj.] surprise (someone) by attacking them from a hidden place; ambush.

bushwhacked adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN exhausted or worn out.

bushwhacker n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ a person who clears land in bush country.

- a person who lives or travels in bush country.

2 US a guerrilla fighter (originally in the American Civil War).

bushy^1 adj. (bushier, bushiest) 1 growing thickly: a dense, bushy plant | his eyebrows were thick and bushy.

2 covered with bush or bushes: bushy desert areas.

<DERIVATIVES> bushily adv. bushiness n.

bushy^2 (also bushie) n. (pl. bushies) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a person who lives in the bush (as distinct from in a town), typically regarded as uncultured or unsophisticated.

busily adv. in a very active way: he was busily engaged in other activities.

- while giving all one's attention to something: he was busily writing away.

business n. [mass noun] 1 a person's regular occupation, profession, or trade: experts who typically conduct their business over the Internet.

- an activity that someone is engaged in: what is your business here?

- a person's concern: this is none of your business | the neighbours make it their business to know all about you.

- work that has to be done or matters that have to be attended to: government business | let's get down to business.

2 commercial activity: firms who want to do business with Japan | the tea business | [as modifier] the business community.

- trade considered in terms of its volume or profitability: how's business? | the banks are continuing to lose business.

- [count noun] a commercial house or firm: a catering business.

3 [in sing.] INFORMAL a situation or series of events, typically a scandalous or discreditable one: maybe something positive will come out of the whole awful business.

- a difficult matter: what a business!

4 [THEATRE] actions on stage other than dialogue.

5 (the business) BRITISH INFORMAL a very enjoyable or popular person or thing: this brandy is the business.

<PHRASES>

□ business as usual an ongoing and unchanging state of affairs despite difficulties or disturbances: apart from being under new management, it's business as usual in the department.

□ do the business BRITISH INFORMAL do what is required or achieve the desired result: Rogers has got to do the business, score a hat trick or something.

- VULGAR SLANG have sexual intercourse.

□ have no business have no right to do something: he had no business tampering with social services.

□ in business operating, especially in commerce: they will have to import from overseas to remain in business.

- INFORMAL able to begin operations: if you'll contact the right people, I should think we're in business.

□ in the business of engaged in or prepared to engage in: I am not in the business of making accusations.

□ like nobody's business INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH to an extraordinarily high degree or standard: these weeds spread like nobody's business.

□ mind one's own business refrain from meddling in other people's affairs.

□ send someone about their business DATED tell someone to go away.

<ORIGIN> Old English bisignis ‘anxiety’ (see BUSY, -ness); the sense ‘state of being busy’ was used from Middle English down to the 18th century, but is now differentiated as busyness. The use ‘appointed task’ dates from late Middle English, and from it all the other current senses have developed.

business card n. a small card printed with one's name, occupation, business address, etc.

business cycle n. a cycle or series of cycles of economic expansion and contraction. Also called TRADE CYCLE.

business day n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for WORKING DAY.

business double n. [BRIDGE] a double made with the intention of increasing the penalty points scored by a partnership if they defeat their opponents' contract. Often contrasted with TAKE-OUT DOUBLE.

business end n. (the business end) INFORMAL the functional part of a tool or device: he found himself facing the business end of six lethal-looking weapons.

- the essential or basic part of a process or operation: the rigs are the business end of the oil industry.

businesslike adj. having or indicating an efficient, practical, and systematic approach to one's work or a task: his brisk, businesslike tone.

businessman (or businesswoman) n. (pl. businessmen or businesswomen) a person who works in commerce, especially at executive level.

business park n. an area where company offices and light industrial premises are built.

business person n. a businessman or businesswoman.

business process re-engineering (also business process redesign) n. [mass noun] the process of restructuring a company's organization and methods, especially so as to exploit the capabilities of computers.

business studies plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of economics and management, especially as an educational topic.

busk^1 v. [no obj.] 1 play music in the street or other public place for voluntary donations: the group began by busking on Philadelphia sidewalks | (as n. busking) years of busking had taught him how to hold a crowd.

2 (busk it) INFORMAL improvise.

<DERIVATIVES> busker n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from obsolete French busquer ‘seek’, from Italian buscare or Spanish buscar, of Germanic origin. Originally in nautical use in the sense ‘cruise about, tack’, the term later meant ‘go about selling things’, hence ‘go about performing’ (mid 19th century).

busk^2 n. HISTORICAL a stay or stiffening strip for a corset.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French busc, from Italian busco ‘splinter’ (related to French bûche ‘log’), of Germanic origin.

buskin n. chiefly HISTORICAL a calf-high or knee-high boot of cloth or leather.

- a thick-soled laced boot worn by an ancient Athenian tragic actor to gain height.

- (the buskin) the style or spirit of tragic drama.

<DERIVATIVES> buskined adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (designating a calf-length boot): probably from Old French bouzequin, variant of brousequin, from Middle Dutch broseken, of unknown ultimate origin.

bus lane n. a division of a road marked off with painted lines for use by buses.

busload n. a group of people travelling in a bus.

busman n. (pl. busmen) a driver of a bus.

<PHRASES>

□ a busman's holiday a holiday or form of recreation that involves doing the same thing that one does at work.

Busoni /busəni/ Ferruccio (Benvenuto) (1866–1924), Italian composer, conductor, and pianist. As a composer he is best known for his piano works and his unfinished opera Doktor Faust (1925).

Buss Frances Mary (1827–94), English educationist. She was in charge of the North London Collegiate School for Ladies (1850–94) and campaigned for higher education for women with her friend Dorothea Beale.

buss ARCHAIC or NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. a kiss.

■ v. [with obj.] kiss.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: alteration of late Middle English bass (noun and verb), probably from French baiser, from Latin basiare.

bus shelter n. a roofed structure for people to wait under at a bus stop.

bus station n. a place in a town where buses arrive and depart.

bus stop n. a place where a bus regularly stops, usually marked by a sign.

bust^1 n. 1 a woman's chest as measured around her breasts: a 36-inch bust.

- a woman's breasts, especially considered in terms of their size: a woman with big hips and a big bust.

2 a sculpture of a person's head, shoulders, and chest.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting the upper part or torso of a large sculpture): from French buste, from Italian busto, from Latin bustum ‘tomb, sepulchral monument’.

bust^2 INFORMAL v. (past and past participle busted or bust) [with obj.] 1 break, split, or burst: they bust the tunnel wide open | FIGURATIVE the film bust every box office record | [no obj.] the colour control had bust.

- [no obj.] (bust up) (of a group or couple) separate, typically after a quarrel.

- violently disrupt: men hired to bust up union rallies.

- NORTH AMERICAN strike violently: Tamara bust him in the eye.

- [no obj.] (bust out) escape: she busted out of prison.

- [no obj.] (in blackjack and similar card games) exceed the score of 21, so losing one's stake.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (of the police) raid or search (premises where illegal activity is suspected): my flat got busted.

- arrest: two roadies were busted for drugs.

- chiefly US reduce (a soldier) to a lower rank; demote: he was busted to private.

■ n. 1 a period of economic difficulty or depression: the boom was followed by the present bust.

2 a police raid: a drug bust.

3 a worthless thing: cynics remain convinced the political process is a bust.

4 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a violent blow: a bust on the snout.

■ adj. 1 BRITISH damaged or broken: the vacuum cleaner's bust.

2 bankrupt: six of their sponsors have gone bust.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally US, as a noun in the sense ‘an act of bursting or splitting’): variant of BURST.

bustard /bstəd/ n. a large, heavily built, swift-running bird, found in open country in the Old World. The males of most bustards have a spectacular courtship display.

<INFO> Family Otididae: several genera and species, including the great bustard (Otis tarda), which is the heaviest flying land bird.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: perhaps an Anglo-Norman French blend of Old French bistarde and oustarde, both from Latin avis tarda ‘slow bird’: the name is unexplained, as the bustards are fast runners.

bustard quail n. the barred button-quail. See BUTTON-QUAIL.

busted flush n. 1 (in poker) a hand containing four cards of the same suit and one of a different suit.

2 INFORMAL a promising person or thing that turns out to be unsuccessful: her leadership is already a busted flush.

bustee /bsti/ n. INDIAN a slum area or shanty town.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi bastī ‘dwelling’.

buster n. INFORMAL 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN used as a mildly disrespectful form of address to a man or boy: like it or lump it, buster.

2 [usually in combination] a person or thing that stops or gets rid of a specified thing: a crime-buster | the drug's reputation as a cold-buster.

3 a notable or impressive person or thing.

- a violent gale.

bustier /bste bst-/ n. a close-fitting strapless top worn by women.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from French, from buste (see bust^1).

bustle^1 v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move in an energetic and busy manner: people clutching clipboards bustled about.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] cause to move hurriedly in a particular direction: she bustled us into the kitchen.

- [no obj.] (of a place) be full of activity: the streets bustled with people | (as adj. bustling) the bustling little town.

■ n. [mass noun] excited activity and movement: all the noise and the traffic and the bustle.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps a variant of obsolete buskle, frequentative of busk ‘prepare’, from Old Norse.

bustle^2 n. HISTORICAL a pad or frame worn under a skirt and puffing it out behind.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

bustline n. the measurement round a woman's body at the bust: these figure-enhancing bras will immediately increase your bustline.

bust-up n. INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH a serious quarrel: the diplomatic bust-up with Germany.

- a fight or brawl: a touchline bust-up.

busty adj. (bustier, bustiest) INFORMAL (of a woman) having large breasts: a busty starlet.

<DERIVATIVES> bustiness n.

busway n. a road or section of a road set apart exclusively for buses, typically one equipped with tracks or grooves for guiding them.

busy adj. (busier, busiest) 1 having a great deal to do: he had been too busy to enjoy himself.

- occupied with or concentrating on a particular activity or object of attention: the team members are busy raising money.

- (of a time or place) full of activity: the busy city streets | I've had a busy day.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (of a telephone line) engaged.

2 excessively detailed or decorated: the lavish set designs are a little too busy.

■ v. (busies, busying, busied) (busy oneself) keep oneself occupied: she busied herself with her new home.

■ n. (also bizzy) (plural busies or bizzies) BRITISH INFORMAL a police officer.

<DERIVATIVES> busyness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English bisgian (verb), bisig (noun); related to Dutch bezig, of unknown origin.

busy bee n. INFORMAL an industrious person.

busybody n. (pl. busybodies) a meddling or prying person.

busy Lizzie n. (pl. busy Lizzies) BRITISH an East African plant with abundant red, pink, or white flowers. It is widely grown as a house plant, and its many hybrids are grown as bedding plants.

<INFO> Impatiens walleriana, family Balsaminaceae.

busywork n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN work that keeps a person busy but has little value in itself.

but^1 conj. 1 used to introduce a phrase or clause contrasting with what has already been mentioned: he stumbled but didn't fall | this is one principle, but it is not the only one | the food is cheap but delicious | the problem is not that they are cutting down trees, but that they are doing it in a predatory way.

2 [with negative or in questions] used to indicate the impossibility of anything other than what is being stated: one cannot but sympathize | there was nothing they could do but swallow their pride | they had no alternative but to follow.

3 used to introduce a response expressing a feeling such as surprise or anger: but that's an incredible saving! | but why?

4 used after an expression of apology for what one is about to say: I'm sorry, but I can't pay you.

5 [with negative] ARCHAIC without it being the case that: it never rains but it pours.

■ prep. except; apart from; other than: we were never anything but poor | supply currently exceeds demand in all but the most rural areas | the last but one.

- used with repetition of certain words to give emphasis: nobody, but nobody, was going to stop her.

■ adv. 1 no more than; only: he is but a shadow of his former self | choose from a colourful array of mango, starfruit, and raspberries, to name but a few.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ & SCOTTISH INFORMAL (used at the end of a sentence) though; however: he was a nice bloke but.

■ n. an argument against something; an objection: no buts—just get out of here | as with all these proposals, ifs and buts abound.

<PHRASES>

□ but for except for: I walked along Broadway, deserted but for the occasional cab.

- if it were not for: the game could be over but for you.

□ but that ARCHAIC other than that; except that: she would have screamed, but that her cry would have called her masters.

□ but then after all; on the other hand (introducing a contrasting comment): it couldn't help, but then again, it probably couldn't hurt.

<ORIGIN> Old English be-ūtan, būtan, būta ‘outside, without, except’ (see BY, out).

<USAGE> For advice about using but and other conjunctions to begin a sentence, see usage at and.

but^2 n. SCOTTISH an outer room, especially in a two-roomed cottage.

<PHRASES>

□ but and ben a two-roomed cottage; a humble home.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from BUT^1 in the early sense ‘outside’, specifically ‘into the outer part of a house’.

butadiene /bjutədin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless gaseous hydrocarbon made by catalytic dehydrogenation of butane. It is used in the manufacture of synthetic rubber.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_2=CHCH=CH_2.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from BUTANE + DI-1 + -ENE.

butane /bjuten/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a flammable hydrocarbon gas of the alkane series, present in petroleum and natural gas. It is used in bottled form as a fuel. See also ISOBUTANE.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_3CH_2CH_2CH_3.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from BUTYL + -ANE^2.

butanoic acid /bjutənək/ n. systematic chemical name for BUTYRIC ACID.

<DERIVATIVES> butanoate n.

butanol /bjutənl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] each of two isomeric liquid alcohols used as solvents; butyl alcohol.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_3CH_2CH_2CH_2OH (1-butanol, butan-1-ol) and CH_3CH_2CH(OH)CH_3 (2-butanol, butan-2-ol).

butch INFORMAL adj. mannish or masculine in appearance or behaviour, often aggressively or ostentatiously so.

■ n. a mannish lesbian, typically as contrasted with a more feminine partner. Compare with FEMME.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: perhaps an abbreviation of BUTCHER.

butcher n. 1 a person whose trade is cutting up and selling meat in a shop.

- a person who slaughters and cuts up animals for food: [with modifier] a pork butcher.

- a person who kills people indiscriminately or brutally.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person selling refreshments, newspapers, etc. on a train or in a theatre.

■ v. [with obj.] slaughter or cut up (an animal) for food.

- kill (a person or people) indiscriminately or brutally: they rounded up and butchered 250 people.

- ruin (something) deliberately or through incompetence: the film was butchered by the studio that released it.

<PHRASES>

□ have (or take) a butcher's BRITISH INFORMAL have a look. [<ORIGIN> butcher's from butcher's hook, rhyming slang for a ‘look’.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French bochier, from boc ‘he-goat’, probably of the same ultimate origin as buck^1.

butcher-bird n. 1 a shrike (family Laniidae), which impales its prey on thorns.

2 a crow-like predatory Australasian songbird, with a heavy hook-tipped bill. Compare with magpie (sense 2).

<INFO> Family Cracticidae: three genera, in particular Cracticus, and several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from its habit of impaling its prey on thorns.

butcher's block n. a sturdy wooden kitchen table with a square top on which food may be chopped.

- (also butcher block) [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a material used to make kitchen worktops and tables, consisting of strips of wood glued together.

butcher's broom n. a low evergreen Eurasian shrub of the lily family, with flat shoots that give the appearance of stiff spine-tipped leaves.

<INFO> Ruscus aculeatus, family Liliaceae.

butcher's meat (also butcher meat) n. [mass noun] BRITISH fresh uncured meat excluding game and poultry.

butchery n. (pl. butcheries) [mass noun] 1 the work of slaughtering animals and preparing them for sale as meat.

- [count noun] BRITISH a slaughterhouse.

- [count noun] BRITISH a butcher's shop.

2 the savage killing of large numbers of people.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a slaughterhouse or meat market): from Old French boucherie, from bouchier ‘butcher’.

Bute /bjut/ John Stuart, 3rd Earl of (1713–92), Scottish courtier and Tory statesman, Prime Minister 1762–3.

bute /bjut/ n. informal term for PHENYLBUTAZONE.

buteo /bjutə/ n. (pl. buteos) [BIRD], chiefly US a bird of prey of a group distinguished by broad wings that are used for soaring.

<INFO> Buteo and related genera, family Accipitridae; many species, including the buzzards and the American red-tailed and Harris' hawks.

<ORIGIN> from Latin buteo ‘buzzard, hawk’.

Buteyko /butekə/ n. [as modifier] of or denoting a technique of controlled breathing claimed to alleviate asthma.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: named after the Russian physiologist Konstantin Buteyko (born 1923), who devised the technique.

Buthelezi /butəlezi/ Dr Mangosuthu (Gatsha) (b.1928), South African politician. He became leader of the Inkatha movement in 1975, and was Minister of Home Affairs 1994–2004.

Butler^1 Reg (1913–81), English sculptor; born Reginald Cotterell. Working mainly in forged or cast metal, he won an international competition in 1953 for a monument (never built) to the Unknown Political Prisoner.

Butler^2 Samuel (1612–80), English poet, most notable for his three-part satirical poem Hudibras (1663–78).

Butler^3 Samuel (1835–1902), English novelist. He is noted for Erewhon (1872), Erewhon Revisited (1901), and the semi-autobiographical The Way of All Flesh (1903).

butler n. the chief manservant of a house.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bouteillier ‘cup-bearer’, from bouteille ‘bottle’.

butoh /butə/ n. [mass noun] a style of Japanese modern dance featuring dancers covered in white body paint.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, literally ‘dance’.

butt^1 v. [with obj.] 1 (of a person or animal) hit (someone or something) with the head or horns: she butted him in the chest.

- strike (one's head) against something.

2 [no obj.] (butt in) interrupt or intrude on a conversation or activity: sorry to butt in on you.

- (butt out) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL stop interfering: politicians should butt out of these cases.

■ n. a push or blow, especially one given with the head.

<PHRASES>

□ butt heads NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL engage in conflict or be in strong disagreement.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French boter, of Germanic origin.

butt^2 n. 1 the person or thing at which criticism or ridicule is directed: his singing is the butt of dozens of jokes.

2 (usually butts) an archery or shooting target or range.

- a mound on or in front of which a target is set up for archery or shooting.

- a grouse-shooter's stand, screened by low turf or a stone wall.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the archery sense): from Old French but, of unknown origin; perhaps influenced by French butte ‘rising ground’.

butt^3 n. 1 (also butt end) the thicker end of something, especially a tool or a weapon: a rifle butt.

- the square end of a plank or plate meeting the end or side of another, as in the side of a ship.

- the thicker or hind end of a hide used for leather.

2 (also butt end) the stub of a cigar or a cigarette.

3 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person's buttocks or anus.

4 the trunk of a tree, especially the part just above the ground.

■ v. [no obj.] adjoin or meet end to end: the shop butted up against the row of houses.

- [with obj.] join (pieces of stone, timber, and other building materials) with the ends or sides flat against each other.

<PHRASES>

□ butt naked INFORMAL completely naked.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: the noun apparently related to Dutch bot ‘stumpy’, also to BUTTOCK; the verb partly from BUTT^2, reinforced by ABUT.

butt^4 n. 1 a cask, typically used for wine, ale, or water: a butt of malmsey.

2 US a liquid measure equal to 126 US gallons (equivalent to 477.5 litres).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French bot, from late Latin buttis.

butte /bjut/ n. NORTH AMERICAN & TECHNICAL an isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top (similar to but narrower than a mesa).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, ‘mound’, from Old French but, of unknown origin (compare with butt^2).

butter n. [mass noun] a pale yellow edible fatty substance made by churning cream and used as a spread or in cooking.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 spread (something) with butter: Lily buttered a slice of toast | (as adj. buttered) lavishly buttered bread.

2 (butter someone up) INFORMAL flatter or otherwise ingratiate oneself with someone.

<PHRASES>

□ look as if butter wouldn't melt in one's mouth INFORMAL appear gentle or innocent while typically being the opposite.

<ORIGIN> Old English butere, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch boter and German Butter, based on Latin butyrum, from Greek bouturon.

butter-and-eggs n. any of a number of plants having two shades of yellow in the flower, especially yellow toadflax.

butterball n. NORTH AMERICAN a plump bird, especially a turkey or bufflehead.

- INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a fat person.

butter bean n. BRITISH a lima bean, especially one of a variety with large flat white seeds.

butterbur /btəbə/ n. a Eurasian waterside plant of the daisy family, the rounded flower heads of which are produced before the leaves. The large, soft leaves were formerly used to wrap butter, and extracts are used medicinally as an anticonvulsant.

<INFO> Genus Petasites, family Compositae: several species, in particular the common P. hybridus.

butter cap n. a buff-coloured woodland toadstool with a greasy cap, found in both Eurasia and North America and typically growing in tufts and often in rings.

<INFO> Collybia butyracea, family Tricholomataceae, class Hymenomycetes.

buttercream n. [mass noun] a soft mixture of butter and icing sugar used as a filling or topping for a cake.

buttercup n. a herbaceous plant with bright yellow cup-shaped flowers, which is common in grassland and as a garden weed. All kinds are poisonous and generally avoided by livestock.

<INFO> Genus Ranunculus, family Ranunculaceae (the buttercup family). This large family also includes anemones, celandines, aconites, clematis, and hellebores, many of which have poisonous seeds.

buttercup squash n. a winter squash of a variety with dark green rind and orange flesh.

butterfat n. [mass noun] the natural fat contained in milk and dairy products.

Butterfield William (1814–1900), English architect, an exponent of the Gothic revival. Notable designs: Keble College, Oxford (1867–83).

butterfingers n. (pl. same) INFORMAL a clumsy person, especially one who fails to hold a catch.

<DERIVATIVES> butterfingered adj.

butterfish n. (pl. same or butterfishes) any of a number of fishes with oily flesh or slippery skin:

<INFO>

- a deep-bodied edible fish of temperate and tropical seas (family Stromateidae), in particular Peprilus triacanthus of eastern North America.

- another term for gunnel^1

- an Australasian reef fish (family Odacidae), in particular the edible Odax pullus of New Zealand, which has green bones and feeds on kelp.

- a tropical freshwater or marine fish that is popular in aquaria (several families, including Scatophagidae).

butterfly n. (pl. butterflies) 1 a nectar-feeding insect with two pairs of large, typically brightly coloured wings that are covered with microscopic scales. Butterflies are distinguished from moths by having clubbed or dilated antennae, holding their wings erect when at rest, and being active by day.

<INFO> Superfamilies Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea, order Lepidoptera: several families. Formerly placed in a grouping known as the Rhopalocera.

- [as modifier] having a two-lobed shape resembling the spread wings of a butterfly: a butterfly clip.

- a showy or frivolous person: a social butterfly.

- (butterflies) INFORMAL a fluttering and nauseous sensation felt in the stomach when one is nervous.

2 a stroke in swimming in which both arms are raised out of the water and lifted forwards together.

■ v. (butterflies, butterflying, butterflied) [with obj.] split (a piece of meat or fish) almost in two and spread it out flat: (as adj. butterflied) butterflied shrimp.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from BUTTER + FLY^2; perhaps from the cream or yellow colour of common species, or from an old belief that the insects stole butter.

butterfly bush n. a Chinese buddleia that is cultivated in the West for its large spikes of fragrant purplish-lilac or white flowers, which are highly attractive to butterflies.

<INFO> Buddleia davidii, family Loganiaceae.

butterfly cake n. BRITISH a small sponge cake with its top cut off and divided into two pieces, which are then fixed to the cake with buttercream at an angle to resemble a butterfly's wings.

butterfly effect n. (with reference to chaos theory) the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from the notion in chaos theory that a butterfly fluttering in Rio de Janeiro could change the weather in Chicago.

butterfly fish n. 1 any of a number of brightly coloured or boldly marked fish of warm waters, in particular:

<INFO>

- a reef-dwelling fish that is popular in marine aquaria (Chaetodon and other genera, family Chaetodontidae).

- a predatory marine fish that bears long venomous spines (genus Pterois, family Scorpaenidae).

2 a West African freshwater fish with large pectoral fins used in leaping out of the water and long fin rays used as stilts.

<INFO> Pantodon buchholzi, the only member of the family Pantodontidae.

butterfly knife n. a long, broad knife used in pairs in some forms of kung fu.

butterfly net n. a fine-meshed bag supported on a frame at the end of a handle, used for catching butterflies.

butterfly nut n. another term for wing nut (sense 1).

butterfly orchid n. a wild orchid with a flower that somewhat resembles a butterfly in shape, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Genus Platanthera, family Orchidaceae: many species, including two widely distributed European species with fragrant greenish-white flowers, P. chlorantha and the smaller P. bifolia.

butterfly ray n. a small ray of warm coastal waters with very broad triangular fins.

<INFO> Family Gymnuridae and genus Gymnura: several species, including G. natalensis.

butterfly valve n. a valve consisting of a rotating circular plate or a pair of hinged semicircular plates, attached to a transverse spindle and mounted inside a pipe in order to regulate or prevent flow.

butterfly weed n. [mass noun] a North American milkweed with bright orange flowers which are attractive to butterflies.

<INFO> Asclepias tuberosa, family Asclepiadaceae.

butterhead lettuce n. a class of lettuce varieties having soft leaves that grow in a loose head and are said to have the flavour of butter.

butter icing n. another term for BUTTERCREAM.

buttermilk n. [mass noun] the slightly sour liquid left after butter has been churned, used in baking or consumed as a drink.

- a pale yellow colour like that of buttermilk.

butter muslin n. [mass noun] BRITISH loosely woven cotton cloth, formerly used for wrapping butter.

butternut n. a North American walnut tree which is cultivated as an ornamental and also for its quality timber.

<INFO> Juglans cinerea, family Juglandaceae.

- the edible oily nut of the butternut.

butternut squash n. a popular winter squash of a pear-shaped variety with light yellowish-brown rind and orange flesh.

butterscotch n. [mass noun] a brittle yellow-brown sweet made with butter and brown sugar.

- a sauce or syrup flavoured with butterscotch.

butterwort /btəwət/ n. a carnivorous bog plant which has violet flowers borne above a rosette of greasy yellowish-green leaves that trap and digest small insects, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Genus Pinguicula, family Lentibulariaceae: several species, in particular the common butterwort (P. vulgaris).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: named from the plant's supposed ability to keep cows in milk, and so maintain the supply of butter.

buttery^1 adj. containing or tasting like butter: layers of flaky buttery pastry.

- covered with butter: buttery fingers.

<DERIVATIVES> butteriness n.

buttery^2 n. (pl. butteries) BRITISH a room in a college where food is kept and sold to students.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French boterie ‘butt store’, from Old French bot (see butt^4).

buttinsky n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an interfering person.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from butt in (see butt^1) and -ski, formed in humorous imitation of the final element in many Russian names.

buttle v. [no obj.] HUMOROUS work as a butler: there is no one today worth buttling for.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: back-formation from BUTLER.

buttock n. either of the two round fleshy parts of the human body that form the bottom.

<ORIGIN> Old English buttuc, probably from the base of butt^3 + -OCK.

buttock line n. each of a series of longitudinal lines or curves marked on a plan of a ship to show its fore-and-aft sections at various distances from the centre line.

button n. 1 a small disc or knob sewn on to a garment, either to fasten it by being pushed through a slit made for the purpose or for decoration.

- a small round object resembling a button: chocolate buttons.

- [FENCING] a knob fitted to the point of a foil to make it harmless.

- used in reference to things of little worth: he will never give away anything that is worth a button.

2 a small device on a piece of electrical or electronic equipment which is pressed to operate it.

3 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a badge bearing a design or slogan and pinned to clothing.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] fasten (clothing) with buttons: he buttoned up his jacket.

- (button someone into) fasten the buttons of a garment being worn by someone: he buttoned himself into the raincoat.

- [no obj.] (of a garment) be fastened with buttons: a dress which buttoned down the front.

2 (usually in imperative button it) INFORMAL stop talking.

3 (button something up) INFORMAL complete or conclude something satisfactorily: they've buttoned up the league title by opening up a seven points gap.

- (often as adj. buttoned up) repress or inhibit something: it was repressive enough to keep public opinion buttoned up.

<PHRASES>

□ button one's lip INFORMAL stop or refrain from talking.

□ on the button INFORMAL, chiefly US punctually: we arrived at 5.20 on the button.

- exactly right: the programme is right on the button every time.

□ press the button INFORMAL initiate an action or train of events (often used to refer to the ease with which a nuclear war might be started).

□ push (or press) someone's buttons INFORMAL arouse or provoke a reaction in someone: don't allow co-workers to push your buttons.

<DERIVATIVES> buttoned adj. [in combination] a gold-buttoned blazer buttonless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French bouton, of Germanic origin and related to butt^1.

button-back n. [as modifier] denoting a chair or sofa with a quilted back, the stitching being hidden by buttons: a button-back antique chair.

buttonball tree n. see buttonwood (sense 1).

buttonbush n. a low-growing North American shrub that grows in water, with small tubular flowers forming globular flower heads.

<INFO> Cephalanthus occidentalis, family Rubiaceae.

button chrysanthemum n. a variety of chrysanthemum with small spherical flowers.

button-down adj. (of a collar) having points which are buttoned to the garment.

- (of a shirt) having such a collar.

- (also buttoned down) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (of a person) conservative or unimaginative.

■ n. a shirt with a button-down collar.

button grass n. [mass noun] chiefly AUSTRALIAN a grass or sedge with compact rounded flowering heads.

<INFO>

- a large tufted sedge (Gymnoschoenus spaerocephalus, family Cyperaceae).

- an annual grass (Dactyloctenium radulans, family Gramineae).

buttonhole n. a slit made in a garment to receive a button for fastening.

- BRITISH a flower or spray worn in a buttonhole on the lapel of a jacket.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 INFORMAL attract the attention of and detain (someone) in conversation, typically against their will.

2 make buttonholes in (a garment).

buttonholer n. an attachment for a sewing machine used to make buttonholes.

buttonhole stitch n. [mass noun] a looped stitch used for edging buttonholes or pieces of material.

buttonhook n. 1 a small hook with a long handle for fastening tight buttons (often formerly on buttoned boots).

2 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a play in which a pass receiver runs straight downfield and then doubles back sharply towards the line of scrimmage.

button lift n. another term for POMA.

button man n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a hired killer.

button mushroom n. a young unopened mushroom.

button-quail n. a small quail-like Old World bird related to the rails, with only three toes. Also called HEMIPODE.

<INFO> Family Turnicidae and genus Turnix: several species, including the widespread barred button-quail (T. suscitator) of Asia (also called BUSTARD QUAIL).

Buttons n. BRITISH INFORMAL a nickname for a liveried pageboy, now normally only in pantomimes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the rows of buttons on his jacket.

button spider n. a highly venomous African spider which is a close relative of the American black widow.

<INFO> A subspecies of Latrodectus mactans, family Theridiidae.

button-through adj. BRITISH (of clothing) fastened with buttons from top to bottom.

■ n. a dress that fastens in such a way.

buttonwood n. 1 (also buttonwood tree) NORTH AMERICAN an American plane tree. Also called SYCAMORE in North America.

<INFO> Genus Platanus, family Platanaceae: several species, in particular P. occidentalis (also called BUTTONBALL TREE), which is the largest deciduous tree in the US and is grown for ornament and timber.

2 either of two mangroves found mainly in tropical America, used in the production of tanbark and for charcoal.

<INFO> Conocarpus erectus (the button mangrove) and Laguncularia racemosa, family Combretaceae.

buttress /btrs/ n. a structure of stone or brick built against a wall to strengthen or support it: the cathedral's massive buttresses | FIGURATIVE the political police were the main buttress of the regime.

- a projecting portion of a hill or mountain.

■ v. [with obj.] provide (a building or structure) with buttresses: (as adj. buttressed) a buttressed wall.

- FIGURATIVE increase the strength of or justification for; reinforce: authority was buttressed by religious belief.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French (ars) bouterez ‘thrusting (arch)’, from boter ‘to strike or thrust’ (see butt^1).

butty^1 (also buttie) n. (pl. butties) INFORMAL, chiefly N. ENGLISH a filled or open sandwich: a bacon butty.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BUTTER + -Y^2.

butty^2 n. (pl. butties) British 1 INFORMAL (among miners) a friend or workmate.

2 HISTORICAL a middleman negotiating between miners and the mine owner.

3 (also butty boat) an unpowered freight barge intended to be towed.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: probably from BOOTY^1 in the phrase play booty ‘join in sharing plunder’.

butut /butut/ n. (pl. same or bututs) a monetary unit of Gambia, equal to one hundredth of a dalasi.

<ORIGIN> a local word.

butyl /bjutl -tl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting an alkyl radical –C_4H_9, derived from butane: butyl acetate. See also ISOBUTYL.

■ short for BUTYL RUBBER.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from BUTYRIC ACID + -YL.

butyl rubber n. [mass noun] a synthetic rubber made by polymerizing isobutylene and isoprene.

butyrate /bjutret/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of butyric acid.

butyric acid /bjutrk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless syrupy liquid organic acid found in rancid butter and in arnica oil.

<INFO> Alternative name: butanoic acid; chem. formula: C_3H_7COOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: butyric from Latin butyrum (see BUTTER) + -IC.

buxom /bks(ə)m/ adj. (of a woman) plump, with a full figure and large breasts: a buxom blonde.

<DERIVATIVES> buxomness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from the stem of Old English būgan ‘to bend’ (see bow^2) + -SOME^1. The original sense was ‘compliant, obliging’, later ‘lively and good-tempered’, influenced by the traditional association of plumpness and good health with an easy-going nature.

Buxtehude /bkstəhudə/ Dietrich (c.1637–1707), Danish organist and composer. Working in Lübeck, he wrote mainly for the organ.

buy v. (buys, buying; past and past participle bought) [with obj.] 1 obtain in exchange for payment: she bought six first-class stamps | he had been able to buy up hundreds of acres | [with two objs] he bought me a new frock | [no obj.] homeowners who buy into housing developments.

- (buy someone out) pay someone to give up an ownership, interest, or share.

- (buy oneself out) obtain one's release from the armed services by payment.

- (buy something in) withdraw something at auction because it fails to meet the reserve price.

- procure the loyalty and support of (someone) by bribery: here was a man who could not be bought | I'll buy off the investigators.

- [often with negative] be a means of obtaining (something) through exchange or payment: money can't buy happiness.

- get by sacrifice or great effort: greatness is dearly bought.

- [no obj.] be a buyer for a store or firm.

2 INFORMAL accept the truth of: I am not prepared to buy the claim that the ends justify the means | [no obj.] I hate to buy into stereotypes.

■ n. INFORMAL a purchase: wine is a rarely a good buy in duty-free shops.

- an act of purchasing something: a drug buy.

<PHRASES>

□ buy the farm NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL die.

□ buy it INFORMAL be killed.

□ buy time delay an event temporarily so as to have longer to improve one's own position.

<ORIGIN> Old English bycgan, of Germanic origin.

buy-back n. [mass noun] the buying back of goods by the original seller.

- a form of borrowing in which shares or bonds are sold with an agreement to repurchase them at a later date.

buyer n. a person who makes a purchase.

- a person employed to select and purchase stock or materials for a large retail or manufacturing business.

<PHRASES>

□ buyer's (or buyers') market an economic situation in which goods or shares are plentiful and buyers can keep prices down.

buy-in n. 1 a purchase of shares by a broker after a seller has failed to deliver similar shares, the original seller being charged any difference in cost.

2 (also management buy-in) a purchase of shares in a company by managers who are not employed by it.

3 [mass noun] the buying back by a company of its own shares.

4 agreement with, or acceptance of, a policy or suggestion: there should be a moral buy-in from everyone in the organization.

buyout n. the purchase of a controlling share in a company, especially by its own managers (also management buyout).

buzz n. 1 a low, continuous humming or murmuring sound, made by or similar to that made by an insect: the buzz of the bees | a buzz of conversation.

- the sound of a buzzer or telephone.

- INFORMAL a telephone call: I'll give you a buzz.

2 an atmosphere of excitement and activity: there is a real buzz about the place.

- INFORMAL a feeling of excitement or euphoria; a thrill: I got such a buzz out of seeing the kids' faces.

3 INFORMAL a rumour: there's a strong buzz that he's in Scotland.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 make a low, continuous humming sound: mosquitoes were buzzing all around us.

- signal to someone with a buzzer: the intercom buzzed loudly | [with obj.] he buzzed the stewardesses every five minutes.

- [with obj.] INFORMAL telephone (someone).

2 [with adverbial of direction] move quickly or busily: she buzzed along the M1 back into town.

- (usually in imperative buzz off) INFORMAL go away.

- [with obj.] [AERONAUTICS], INFORMAL fly very close to (another aircraft, the ground, etc.) at high speed: helicopter gunships were sent to buzz the villages.

3 (usually be buzzing with) be full of excitement or activity: Westminster is buzzing with anticipation | within an hour, every department was buzzing with the news.

- (of a person) be euphoric or very stimulated: twenty-four hours later Marcus was still buzzing.

4 [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL throw (something) hard.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: imitative.

buzzard /bzəd/ n. 1 a large hawklike bird of prey with broad wings and a rounded tail, often seen soaring in wide circles.

<INFO> Family Accipitridae: several genera, in particular Buteo, and including the common (Eurasian) buzzard (B. buteo).

2 NORTH AMERICAN a vulture, especially a turkey vulture.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French busard, based on Latin buteo ‘falcon’.

buzz bomb n. informal term for FLYING BOMB.

buzz cut n. a very short haircut in which the hair is clipped close to the head with a razor.

buzzer n. an electrical device that makes a buzzing noise and is used for signalling.

<PHRASES>

□ at the buzzer NORTH AMERICAN at the end of a game or period of play.

buzz saw n. North American term for CIRCULAR SAW.

buzzword (also buzz phrase) n. INFORMAL a technical word or phrase that has become fashionable, typically as a slogan.

buzzy adj. (buzzier, buzziest) INFORMAL (especially of a place or atmosphere) lively and exciting: a buzzy bar with live music.

BVDs plural n. NORTH AMERICAN TRADEMARK a type of boxer shorts.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation from the name of the manufacturers; the mistaken full form in folk etymology is babies' ventilated diapers.

BVI abbr. British Virgin Islands.

BVM abbr. Blessed Virgin Mary.

b/w abbr. black and white (used especially to describe printing, film, photographs, or television pictures).

bwana /bwαnə/ n. (in East Africa) a boss or master (often used as a title or form of address): he can't hear you, bwana.

<ORIGIN> Kiswahili.

BWR abbr. boiling-water reactor.

by prep. 1 identifying the agent performing an action:

- after a passive verb: the door was opened by my cousin Annie | damage caused by fire.

- after a noun denoting an action: a clear decision by the electorate | years of hard fund-raising work by local people.

- identifying the author of a text, idea, or work of art: a book by Ernest Hemingway.

2 [often with verbal noun] indicating the means of achieving something: malaria can be controlled by attacking the parasite | they substantiate their opinions by the use of precise textual reference | they plan to provide further working capital by means of borrowing.

- indicating a term to which an interpretation is to be assigned: what is meant by ‘fair’?

- indicating a name according to which a person is known: she mostly calls me by my last name.

- indicating the means of transport selected for a journey: the cost of travelling by bus | I travelled to Folkestone by rail.

- indicating the other parent of someone's child or children: Richard is his son by his third wife.

- indicating the sire of a pedigree animal, especially a horse: a black filly by Goldfuerst.

- (followed by a noun without a determiner) in various phrases indicating how something happens: I heard by chance that she has married again | Anderson, by contrast, rejects this view | she ate by candlelight.

3 indicating the amount or size of a margin: the shot missed her by miles | the raising of VAT by 2.5%.

- indicating a quantity or amount: billing is by the minute | the drunken yobbos who turned up by the cartload.

- in phrases indicating something happening repeatedly or progressively, typically with repetition of a unit of time: colours changing minute by minute | the risk becomes worse by the day.

- identifying a parameter: a breakdown of employment figures by age and occupation.

- expressing multiplication, especially in dimensions: a map measuring 400 by 600 mm | she multiplied it by 89.

4 indicating a deadline or the end of a particular time period: I've got to do this report by Monday | by now Kelly needed extensive physiotherapy.

5 indicating location of a physical object beside a place or object: remains were discovered by the roadside | the pram was by the dresser.

- past and beyond: I drove by our house.

6 indicating the period in which something happens: this animal always hunts by night.

7 concerning; according to: anything you do is all right by me | she had done her duty by him.

8 used in mild oaths: it was the least he could do, by God | I swear by Almighty God.

■ adv. so as to go past: a car flashed by on the other side of the road | he let only a moment go by.

■ n. (pl. byes)

■ variant spelling of bye^1.

<PHRASES>

□ by and by before long; eventually.

□ by the by (or bye) incidentally: where's Hector, by the by?

□ by and large on the whole; everything considered: mammals have, by and large, bigger brains than reptiles. [<ORIGIN> originally in nautical use, describing the handling of a ship both to the wind and off it.]

□ by oneself 1 alone: she lives in the apartment by herself.

2 unaided: the patient often learns to undress by himself.

□ by way of see WAY.

<ORIGIN> Old English bī, bi, be, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bij and German bei.

by- (also bye-) prefix subordinate; incidental; secondary: by-election | by-product.

Byatt /bət/ Dame A. S. (b.1936), English novelist and literary critic; born Antonia Susan Byatt. She is the elder sister of Margaret Drabble. Notable novels: The Virgin in the Garden (1978) and Possession (1990, Booker Prize).

Byblos /bbls/ an ancient Mediterranean seaport, situated on the site of modern Jebeil, to the north of Beirut in Lebanon. It became a thriving Phoenician city in the 2nd millennium BC.

by-blow n. BRITISH DATED a man's illegitimate child.

by-catch n. the unwanted fish and other marine creatures trapped by commercial fishing nets during fishing for a different species.

Bydgoszcz /bdt/ an industrial river port in north central Poland; pop. 384,537 (est. 2000). 20,000 of its citizens were massacred by Nazis in September 1939. German name BROMBERG.

bye^1 n. 1 the transfer of a competitor directly to the next round of a competition in the absence of an assigned opponent.

2 [CRICKET] a run scored from a ball that passes the batsman without being hit (recorded as an extra, not credited to the individual batsman).

3 [GOLF] one or more holes remaining unplayed after a match has been decided.

<PHRASES>

□ by the bye variant spelling of BY the by (see BY).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a side issue or incidental matter): from BY.

bye^2 exclam. INFORMAL short for GOODBYE.

bye-bye exclam. informal way of saying GOODBYE.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: child's reduplication.

bye-byes n. [mass noun] a child's word for sleep.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the sound bye-bye, long used as a refrain in lullabies.

by-election n. BRITISH the election of an MP in a single constituency to fill a vacancy arising during a government's term of office.

by-form n. a secondary form of a word: historically, ‘inquire’ is a by-form of ‘enquire’.

bygone adj. belonging to an earlier time: relics of a bygone age.

■ n. (usually bygones) a thing dating from an earlier time.

<PHRASES>

□ let bygones be bygones forget past offences or causes of conflict and be reconciled.

by-law (also bye-law) n. 1 BRITISH a regulation made by a local authority or corporation.

2 a rule made by a company or society to control the actions of its members.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from obsolete byrlaw ‘local law or custom’, from Old Norse býjar, genitive singular of býr ‘town’, but associated with BY.

byline n. 1 a line in a newspaper naming the writer of an article.

2 (also byeline) (chiefly in soccer) the part of the goal line to either side of the goal.

byname n. a nickname, especially one given to distinguish a person from others with the same given name.

BYO (also BYOB) abbr. bring your own (bottle).

BYOG abbr. AUSTRALIAN/NZ bring your own grog.

bypass n. 1 a road passing round a town or its centre to provide an alternative route for through traffic.

2 a secondary channel, pipe, or connection to allow a flow when the main one is closed or blocked.

3 an alternative passage made by surgery, typically to aid the circulation of blood.

- a surgical operation to make such a passage.

■ v. [with obj.] go past or round: bypass the farm and continue to the road.

- provide (a town) with a route diverting traffic from its centre.

- avoid or circumvent (an obstacle or problem): a manager might bypass formal channels of communication.

bypath n. an indirect route.

byplay n. [mass noun] secondary or subsidiary action or involvement in a play or film.

by-product n. an incidental or secondary product made in the manufacture or synthesis of something else: zinc is a by-product of the glazing process.

- an unintended but inevitable secondary result: he saw poverty as the by-product of colonial prosperity.

Byrd^1 Richard (Evelyn) (1888–1957), American explorer, naval officer, and aviator. He claimed to have made the first aircraft flight over the North Pole (1926), although his actual course has been disputed. He was the first to fly over the South Pole (1929).

Byrd^2 William (1543–1623), English composer. He was joint organist of the Chapel Royal with Tallis and is famous for his Latin masses and his Anglican Great Service.

byre n. BRITISH a cowshed.

<ORIGIN> Old English bȳre; perhaps related to bower^1.

byroad n. a minor road.

Byron /bərən/ George Gordon, 6th Baron (1788–1824), English poet. Byron's poetry exerted considerable influence on the romantic movement, particularly on the Continent. Having joined the fight for Greek independence, he died of malaria before seeing serious action. Notable works: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) and Don Juan (1819–24).

Byronic /brnk/ adj. characteristic of Lord Byron or his poetry.

- (of a man) alluringly dark, mysterious, and moody.

byssinosis /bsnəss/ n. [mass noun] a lung disease caused by prolonged inhalation of textile fibre dust.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin byssinus ‘made of byssus’ (from Greek bussinos) + -OSIS.

byssus /bsəs/ n. (pl. byssuses or byssi /-s/) 1 [mass noun] HISTORICAL a fine textile fibre and fabric of flax.

2 [ZOOLOGY] a tuft of tough silky filaments by which mussels and some other bivalves adhere to rocks and other objects.

<DERIVATIVES> byssal adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from Greek bussos, of Semitic origin.

bystander n. a person who is present at an event or incident but does not take part.

byte /bt/ n. [COMPUTING] a group of binary digits or bits (usually eight) operated on as a unit.

- such a group as a unit of memory size.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: an arbitrary formation based on bit^4 and BITE.

by-the-wind sailor n. a surface-dwelling colonial marine coelenterate of the Atlantic and Mediterranean. It has a disc-like float bearing a sail that is used to catch the wind.

<INFO> Velella velella, suborder Chondrophora, order Hydroida.

Bytom /btəm/ a city in southern Poland, north-west of Katowice; pop. 201,942 (est. 2000). German name BEUTHEN.

bytownite /btant/ n. [mass noun] a mineral present in many basic igneous rocks, consisting of a calcic plagioclase feldspar.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Bytown, the former name of Ottawa, Canada, + -ITE^1.

byway n. a road or track not following a main route; a minor road or path: the highways and byways of Dorset.

- a little-known area of knowledge: the arcane byways of the laws of privilege.

byword n. a person or thing cited as a notable and outstanding example or embodiment of something: his name became a byword for luxury.

- a word or expression summarizing a thing's characteristics or a person's principles: ‘Small is beautiful’ may be the byword for most couturiers.

Byzantine /bzantn b-/ adj. 1 relating to Byzantium, the Byzantine Empire, or the Eastern Orthodox Church.

- of an ornate artistic and architectural style which developed in the Byzantine Empire and spread to Italy, Russia, and elsewhere. The art is typified by religious wall paintings and icons and the architecture by many-domed churches.

2 (of a system or situation) excessively complicated, and typically involving a great deal of administrative detail: Byzantine insurance regulations.

- characterized by deviousness or underhand procedure: he has the most Byzantine mind in politics.

■ n. a citizen of Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire.

<DERIVATIVES> Byzantinism /bzantnz(ə)m b-/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin Byzantinus, from BYZANTIUM.

Byzantine Empire the empire in SE Europe and Asia Minor formed from the eastern part of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire was divided in AD 395 by the Emperor Theodosius between his sons; Constantinople (Byzantium) became the capital of the Eastern Empire in 476, with the fall of Rome. In 1054 theological and political differences between Constantinople and Rome led to the breach between Eastern and Western Christianity (see Great Schism (sense 1)). After about 1100 the empire gradually declined; the loss of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 was the end of the empire, although its rulers held Trebizond (Trabzon) until 1461.

Byzantinist /bzantst b-/ n. a historian or other scholar specializing in the study of the Byzantine Empire, its history, art, and culture.

Byzantium /bzantəm b-/ an ancient Greek city, founded in the 7th century BC, at the southern end of the Bosporus, site of the modern city of Istanbul. It was rebuilt by Constantine the Great in AD 324–30 as Constantinople.

C^1 (also c) n. (pl. Cs or C's) 1 the third letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the third in a set of items, categories, sizes, etc.

- the third-highest class of academic mark.

- denoting an intermediate socio-economic category for marketing purposes, including the majority of white-collar (C1) and skilled blue-collar personnel (C2).

- (c) [CHESS] denoting the third file from the left of a chessboard, as viewed from White's side of the board.

- (usually c) the third fixed constant to appear in an algebraic expression, or a known constant.

- denoting the lowest soil horizon, comprising parent materials.

2 a shape like that of a letter C: [in combination] C-springs.

3 (usually C) [MUSIC] the first note of the diatonic scale of C major, the major scale having no sharps or flats.

- a key based on a scale with C as its keynote.

4 the Roman numeral for 100. [<ORIGIN> abbreviation of Latin centum ‘hundred’.]

5 (C) [mass noun] a computer programming language originally developed for implementing the Unix operating system. [<ORIGIN> formerly known as B, abbreviation of BCPL.]

C^2 abbr.

- (C.) Cape: C. Hatteras.

- Celsius or centigrade: 29°C.

- (in names of sports clubs) City: Lincoln C.

- (C.) British Command Paper (second series, 1870–99).

- (in Britain) Conservative.

- (©) copyright.

- [PHYSICS] coulomb(s).

- Cuba (international vehicle registration).

■ symbol

- [PHYSICS] capacitance.

- the chemical element carbon.

<PHRASES>

□ the Big C INFORMAL cancer.

c abbr.

- [CRICKET] (on scorecards) caught by: ME Waugh c Lara b Walsh 19.

- cent(s).

- [in combination] (in units of measurement) centi-: centistokes (cS).

- (c.) century or centuries: a watch case, 19th c.

- (often c.) (preceding a date or amount) circa; approximately: Isabella was born c.1759.

- (of water) cold: all bedrooms have h & c.

- colt.

■ symbol [PHYSICS] the speed of light in a vacuum: E = mc^2.

c/- abbr. AUSTRALIAN/NZ care of.

C & W abbr. country and western (music).

CA abbr.

- California (in official postal use).

- SCOTTISH & CANADIAN chartered accountant.

Ca symbol the chemical element calcium.

ca abbr. (preceding a date or amount) circa.

CAA abbr. (in the UK) Civil Aviation Authority.

caatinga /kαtə/ n. [mass noun] (in Brazil) vegetation in semi-arid country consisting of thorny shrubs and stunted trees.

<ORIGIN> via Portuguese from Tupi, from caá ‘natural vegetation’ + tinga ‘white’.

CAB abbr.

- Citizens' Advice Bureau.

- US Civil Aeronautics Board.

cab^1 n. 1 (also taxi cab) a taxi.

- HISTORICAL a horse-drawn vehicle for public hire.

2 the driver's compartment in a lorry, bus, or train.

■ v. (cabs, cabbing, cabbed) [no obj.] travel in a taxi: Roger cabbed home.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: abbreviation of CABRIOLET.

cab^2 n. INFORMAL a cabinet containing a speaker or speakers for a guitar amplifier.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: abbreviation.

cabal /kəbal/ n. a secret political clique or faction: a cabal of dissidents.

- ARCHAIC a secret intrigue.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting the Kabbalah): from French cabale, from medieval Latin cabala (see KABBALAH).

cabaletta /kabəlεtə/ n. (pl. cabalettas or cabalette) a simple aria with a repetitive rhythm.

- the uniformly quick final section of an aria.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian, variant of coboletta ‘short stanza’, diminutive of cobola, from Old Provençal cobla, from Latin copula ‘connection’.

Caballé /kəbalje kabalje/ Spanish /kaβaje/ Montserrat (b.1933), Spanish operatic soprano.

caballero /kabəljεrə/ n. (pl. caballeros) 1 a Spanish gentleman.

2 US (in the south-western states) a horseman.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Spanish, ‘gentleman, horseman’, based on Latin caballus ‘horse’. Compare with CAVALIER, chevalier.

cabana /kəbαnə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a hut, cabin, or shelter at a beach or swimming pool.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Spanish cabaña, from late Latin capana, cavana ‘cabin’.

cabaret /kabəre kabəre/ n. [mass noun] entertainment held in a nightclub or restaurant while the audience eat or drink at tables: she was seen recently in cabaret | [as modifier] a cabaret act | [count noun] the cabaret drew to a close.

- [count noun] a nightclub or restaurant where cabaret is performed.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a French inn): from Old French, literally ‘wooden structure’, via Middle Dutch from Old Picard camberet ‘little room’. Current senses date from the early 20th cent.

cabbage n. 1 a cultivated plant eaten as a vegetable, having thick green or purple leaves surrounding a spherical heart or head of young leaves.

<INFO> Brassica oleracea, family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; the cabbage family). As well as the brassicas, the members of this family (known as crucifers) include the mustards and cresses together with many ornamentals (candytuft, alyssum, stocks, nasturtiums, wallflowers).

- [mass noun] the leaves of cabbage, eaten as a vegetable.

2 BRITISH OFFENSIVE a person whose physical or mental activity is impaired or destroyed by injury or illness.

- INFORMAL a person who leads a very dull life.

<DERIVATIVES> cabbagy adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French (Picard) caboche ‘head’, variant of Old French caboce, of unknown origin.

cabbage lettuce n. a lettuce of a variety which has broad, rounded leaves forming a globular head close to the ground.

cabbage moth n. a brown moth whose caterpillars are pests of cabbages and related plants.

<INFO> Mamestra brassicae, family Noctuidae.

cabbage palm n. any of a number of palms or palm-like plants that resemble a cabbage in some way, in particular:

<INFO>

- a Caribbean palm with edible buds that resemble a cabbage (Roystonea oleraceae, family Palmae).

- an evergreen plant occurring in warm regions and grown elsewhere as a greenhouse or indoor plant (genus Cordyline, family Agavaceae).

cabbage roll n. NORTH AMERICAN a boiled cabbage leaf that is formed into a roll with a stuffing of rice and minced meat and then baked.

cabbage rose n. a kind of rose with a large, round, compact double flower.

cabbage tree n. any of a number of palm-like trees that resemble a cabbage in some way, in particular:

<INFO>

- a New Zealand tree grown for its sugary sap or for ornament (Cordyline australis, family Agavaceae).

- a cabbage palm.

cabbage white n. a mainly white butterfly that has caterpillars which are pests of cabbages and related plants.

<INFO> Genus Pieris, family Pieridae: several species, in particular the small white (P. rapae) and the large white (P. brassicae).

cabbageworm n. NORTH AMERICAN any caterpillar that is a pest of cabbages, especially that of the cabbage white butterfly.

cabbalistic /kabəlstk/ adj. relating to or associated with mystical interpretation or esoteric doctrine.

<DERIVATIVES> cabbalism n. cabbalist n.

<ORIGIN> variant of Kabbalistic: see KABBALAH.

cabby (also cabbie) n. (pl. cabbies) INFORMAL a taxi driver.

caber /kebə/ n. a roughly trimmed tree trunk used in the Scottish Highland sport of tossing the caber. This involves holding the caber upright and running forward to toss it so that it lands on the opposite end.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Scottish Gaelic cabar ‘pole’.

Cabernet /kabəne/ n. short for CABERNET FRANC or CABERNET SAUVIGNON.

Cabernet Franc /fr/ n. [mass noun] a variety of black wine grape grown chiefly in parts of the Loire Valley and NE Italy.

- a red wine made from the Cabernet Franc grape.

<ORIGIN> French.

Cabernet Sauvignon /səvnj/ n. [mass noun] a variety of black wine grape from the Bordeaux area of France, now grown throughout the world.

- a red wine made from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape.

<ORIGIN> French.

cabezon /kabzn/ n. a heavy-bodied fish with a broad tentacle above each eye and a green-brown body with white patches, found on the west coast of North America.

<INFO> Scorpaenichthys marmoratus, family Cottidae.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

cab-forward adj. denoting a design of car or truck in which the driver's or passenger compartment is placed so as to extend further forward than the standard position.

cabildo /kəbldə/ n. (pl. cabildos) (in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries) a town council or local government council.

- a town hall.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from late Latin capitulum ‘chapter house’.

cabin n. 1 a private room or compartment on a ship.

- the area for passengers in an aircraft.

2 a small wooden shelter or house in a wild or remote area.

■ v. (cabins, cabining, cabined) [with obj.] (often as adj. cabined) DATED confine in a small place.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cabane, from Provençal cabana, from late Latin capanna, cavanna.

cabin boy n. chiefly HISTORICAL a boy employed to wait on a ship's officers or passengers.

cabin class n. [mass noun] the intermediate class of accommodation on a passenger ship.

cabin crew n. [treated as sing. or plural] the members of an aircraft crew who attend to passengers.

cabin cruiser n. a motor boat with living accommodation.

Cabinda /kəbndə/ an enclave of Angola at the mouth of the River Congo, separated from the rest of Angola by a wedge of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire).

- the capital of Cabinda; pop. 208,900 (est. 2002).

cabinet n. 1 a cupboard with drawers or shelves for storing or displaying articles: a cocktail cabinet.

- a wooden box or piece of furniture housing a radio, television set, or speaker.

2 (also Cabinet) (in the UK, Canada, and other Commonwealth countries) the committee of senior ministers responsible for controlling government policy: [as modifier] a cabinet meeting.

- (in the US) a body of advisers to the President, composed of the heads of the executive departments of the government.

3 ARCHAIC a small private room.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from CABIN + -ET^1, influenced by French cabinet.

cabinetmaker n. a skilled joiner who makes furniture or similar high-quality woodwork.

<DERIVATIVES> cabinetmaking n.

cabinet minister n. a member of a parliamentary cabinet.

cabinet pudding n. [mass noun] BRITISH a steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit.

cabinetry n. [mass noun] cabinets collectively.

cabin fever n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN lassitude, irritability, and similar symptoms resulting from long confinement or isolation indoors during the winter.

cable n. 1 a thick rope of wire or hemp used for construction, mooring ships, and towing vehicles.

- the chain of a ship's anchor.

- [NAUTICAL] a length of 200 yards (182.9 m) or (in the US) 240 yards (219.4 m).

- (also cable moulding) [ARCHITECTURE] a moulding resembling twisted rope.

2 an insulated wire or wires having a protective casing and used for transmitting electricity or telecommunication signals: an underground cable | [mass noun] transatlantic phone calls went by cable.

- a cablegram.

■ short for CABLE TELEVISION.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 send a message to (someone) by cablegram: he cabled her to cancel all arrangements.

- transmit (a message) by cablegram.

- [no obj.] send a cablegram.

2 provide (an area) with power lines or with the equipment necessary for cable television.

3 [ARCHITECTURE] decorate (a structure) with rope-shaped mouldings.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French chable, from late Latin capulum ‘halter’.

cable car n. 1 a transport system, typically one travelling up and down a mountain, in which cabins are suspended on a continuous moving cable driven by a motor at one end of the route.

- a cabin on a cable-car system.

2 a carriage on a cable railway.

cablegram n. HISTORICAL a telegraph message sent by cable.

cable-knit adj. (of a garment) knitted using cable stitch: a white cable-knit sweater.

cable-laid adj. (of rope) made of three triple strands.

cable railway n. a railway along which carriages are drawn by a continuous cable.

cable release n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a cable attached to the shutter release of a camera, allowing the photographer to open the shutter without touching or moving the camera.

cable-stayed bridge n. a bridge in which the weight of the deck is supported by a number of cables running directly to one or more towers.

cable stitch n. [mass noun] a combination of knitted stitches resembling twisted rope.

cable television n. [mass noun] a system in which television programmes are transmitted to the sets of subscribers by cable rather than by a broadcast signal.

cable tier n. HISTORICAL a place in a ship for stowing a coiled cable.

cableway n. a transport system in which goods are carried suspended from a continuous moving cable.

cabman n. (pl. cabmen) HISTORICAL the driver of a horse-drawn hackney carriage.

cabochon /kabən/ n. a gem that has been polished but not faceted.

<PHRASES>

□ en cabochon (of a gem) polished but not faceted.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, diminutive of caboche ‘head’.

caboclo /kəbəklə/ n. (pl. caboclos) (in Brazil) an American Indian.

- a Brazilian of mixed white and Indian or Indian and black ancestry.

<ORIGIN> Brazilian Portuguese, perhaps from Tupi Kaa-boc ‘person having copper-coloured skin’.

caboodle (also kaboodle) n. (in phrase the whole caboodle or the whole kit and caboodle) INFORMAL the whole number or quantity of people or things in question.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): perhaps from the phrase kit and boodle, in the same (see kit^1, boodle).

caboose n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a railway wagon with accommodation for the train crew, typically attached to the end of the train.

2 ARCHAIC a kitchen on a ship's deck.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Dutch kabuis, kombuis, of unknown origin.

caboshed /kəbt/ (also caboched or cabossed /-bst/) adj. [usually postpositive] [HERALDRY] (of the head of a stag, bull, etc.) shown full face with no neck visible.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French caboché, in the same sense.

Cabot /kabət/ the name of two Italian explorers and navigators:

- John (c.1450–c.1498); Italian name Giovanni Caboto. He sailed from Bristol in 1497 in search of Asia, but in fact landed on the mainland of North America, the first European to do so.

- Sebastian (c.1475–1557), son of John. Sebastian accompanied his father on his voyage in 1497 and made further voyages after the latter's death, most notably to Brazil and the River Plate (1526).

cabotage /kabətα -d/ n. [mass noun] the right to operate sea, air, or other transport services within a particular territory.

- restriction of the operation of sea, air, or other transport services within or into a particular country to that country's own transport services.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in the sense ‘coastal trade’): from French, from caboter ‘sail along a coast’, perhaps from Spanish cabo ‘cape, headland’.

cabover n. NORTH AMERICAN a truck where the driver's cab is mounted directly above the engine.

cabrio /kabrə/ n. (pl. cabrios)

■ short for cabriolet (sense 1).

cabriole /kabrəl/ n. [BALLET] a jump in which one leg is extended into the air forwards or backwards, the other is brought up to meet it, and the dancer lands on the second foot.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘light leap’, from cabrioler (earlier caprioler), from Italian capriolare ‘to leap in the air’ (see CAPRIOLE).

cabriole leg n. a kind of curved leg characteristic of Chippendale and Queen Anne furniture.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: so named from the resemblance to the front leg of a leaping animal (see CABRIOLE).

cabriolet /kabrə()le/ n. 1 a car with a roof that folds down.

2 a light two-wheeled carriage with a hood, drawn by one horse.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from cabriole ‘goat's leap’, from cabrioler ‘to leap in the air’ (see CABRIOLE); so named because of the carriage's motion.

ca'canny /kαkani/ n. [mass noun] BRITISH DATED the policy of deliberately limiting output at work.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally Scots in the sense ‘proceed warily’): from ca' (variant of the call (verb)) and CANNY.

cacao /kəkαə kəkeə/ n. (pl. cacaos) 1 [mass noun] bean-like seeds from which cocoa, cocoa butter, and chocolate are made.

2 the small tropical American evergreen tree which bears cacao seeds, now cultivated mainly in West Africa.

<INFO> Theobroma cacao, family Sterculiaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Spanish from Nahuatl cacaua.

cacciatore /katətre -ri/ (also cacciatora /-rə/) adj. [postpositive] prepared in a spicy tomato sauce with mushrooms and herbs: chicken cacciatore.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘hunter’ (because of the use of ingredients that a hunter might have to hand).

cachaca /kəαkə/ n. [mass noun] a Brazilian white rum made from sugar cane.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Brazilian Portuguese, from Portuguese cacaça ‘(white) rum’.

cachalot /kaəlt/ n. old-fashioned term for SPERM WHALE.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from Spanish and Portuguese cachalote, from cachola ‘big head’.

cache /ka/ n. a collection of items of the same type stored in a hidden or inaccessible place: an arms cache | a cache of gold coins.

- a hidden or inaccessible storage place for valuables, provisions, or ammunition.

- (also cache memory) [COMPUTING] an auxiliary memory from which high-speed retrieval is possible.

■ v. (caches, cacheing or caching, cached) [with obj.] store away in hiding or for future use.

- [COMPUTING] store (data) in a cache memory.

- [COMPUTING] provide (hardware) with a cache memory.

<DERIVATIVES> cacheable adj. cacheless adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from cacher ‘to hide’.

cachectic /kəkεktk/ adj. MEDICINE relating to or having the symptoms of cachexia.

cachepot /kapə kapt/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) an ornamental holder for a flowerpot.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French cache-pot, from cacher ‘to hide’ + pot ‘pot’.

cache-sexe /kasεks/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) a covering for the genitals, typically worn by erotic dancers or tribal peoples.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from French, from cacher ‘to hide’ and sexe ‘genitals’.

cachet /kae/ n. 1 [mass noun] the state of being respected or admired; prestige: no other shipping company had quite the cachet of Cunard.

2 a distinguishing mark or seal.

3 a flat capsule enclosing a dose of unpleasant-tasting medicine.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, from cacher in the sense ‘to press’, based on Latin coactare ‘constrain’.

cachexia /kəkεksə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE weakness and wasting of the body due to severe chronic illness.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via late Latin from Greek kakhexia, from kakos ‘bad’ + hexis ‘habit’.

cachinnate /kaknet/ v. [no obj.] RARE laugh loudly.

<DERIVATIVES> cachinnation n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin cachinnat- ‘laughed loudly’, from the verb cachinnare, of imitative origin.

cachou /kau kəu/ n. (pl. cachous) DATED a pleasant-smelling lozenge sucked to mask bad breath.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘catechu’): from French, from Portuguese cachu, from Malay kacu. The current sense dates from the early 18th cent.

cachucha /kətutə/ n. a lively Spanish solo dance in triple time, performed with castanet accompaniment.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

cacique /kəsik/ n. 1 (in Latin America or the Spanish-speaking Caribbean) a native chief.

- (in Spain or Latin America) a local political boss.

2 a gregarious tropical American bird that has black plumage with patches of red or yellow.

<INFO> Genus Cacicus, family Icteridae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Spanish or French, from Taino.

cack BRITISH INFORMAL n. [mass noun] excrement; dung.

- rubbish: they talk such a load of cack.

■ v. [with obj.] defecate in (one's clothes).

<ORIGIN> Old English (as cac- in cachūs ‘privy’); the verb dates from late Middle English and is related to Middle Dutch cacken; based on Latin cacare ‘defecate’.

cack-handed adj. BRITISH INFORMAL 1 inept; clumsy: a great song ruined by cack-handed production.

2 DEROGATORY left-handed.

<DERIVATIVES> cack-handedly adv. cack-handedness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CACK, in the sense ‘excrement’, + HAND + -ED^2.

cackle v. [no obj.] (of a bird, especially a hen or goose) give a raucous clucking cry: the hen was cackling as if demented | (as adj. cackling) cackling, whooping cries.

- laugh in a loud, harsh way: she cackled with laughter.

- INFORMAL talk at length without acting on what is said.

■ n. the raucous clucking cry of a bird such as a hen or a goose.

- a loud, harsh laugh: her delighted cackle.

<PHRASES>

□ cut the cackle [usually in imperative] INFORMAL stop talking aimlessly and come to the point.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Middle Low German kākelen, partly imitative, reinforced by kāke ‘jaw, cheek’.

cacodemon /kakə()dimən/ (also cacodaemon) n. RARE a malevolent spirit or person.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek kakodaimōn, from kakos ‘bad’ + daimōn ‘spirit’.

cacodyl /kakə()dl -dl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a malodorous, toxic, spontaneously flammable liquid compound containing arsenic.

<INFO> Chem. formula: ((CH_3)2As)2.

- [as modifier] of or denoting the radical –As(CH_3)2, derived from cacodyl.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kakōdēs ‘stinking’ (from kakos ‘bad’) + -YL.

cacodylate /kakədlet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of cacodylic acid.

cacodylic acid /kakə()dlk -dlk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a toxic crystalline acid containing arsenic, used as a herbicide.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (CH_3)2AsO(OH).

cacoethes /kakəiθiz/ n. [in sing.] RARE an urge to do something inadvisable.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek kakoēthes ‘ill-disposed’, from kakos ‘bad’ + ēthos ‘disposition’.

cacography /kəkrəfi/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC bad handwriting or spelling.

<DERIVATIVES> cacographer n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek kakos ‘bad’, on the pattern of orthography.

cacology /kəklədi/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC bad choice of words or poor pronunciation.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via late Latin from Greek kakologia ‘abusive language’, from kakos ‘bad’.

cacomistle /kakə()ms(ə)l/ n. a nocturnal raccoon-like animal with a dark-ringed tail, found in North and Central America.

<INFO> Genus Bassariscus, family Procyonidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin American Spanish cacomixtle, from Nahuatl tlacomiztli.

cacophonous /kəkf(ə)nəs/ adj. involving or producing a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds: the cacophonous sound of slot machines.

cacophony /kəkf(ə)ni/ n. (pl. cacophonies) a harsh discordant mixture of sounds: a cacophony of deafening alarm bells.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French cacophonie, from Greek kakophōnia, from kakophōnos ‘ill-sounding’, from kakos ‘bad’ + phōnē ‘sound’.

cactus n. (pl. cacti /-t/ or cactuses) a succulent plant with a thick fleshy stem which typically bears spines, lacks leaves, and has brilliantly coloured flowers. Cacti are native to arid regions of the New World and are cultivated elsewhere, especially as pot plants.

<INFO> Family Cactaceae: numerous genera and species.

<DERIVATIVES> cactaceous adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘cardoon’): from Latin, from Greek kaktos ‘cardoon’.

cactus dahlia n. a dahlia of a variety which has rolled petals, giving the flower a prickly appearance.

cacuminal /kəkjumn(ə)l/ adj. [PHONETICS] another term for RETROFLEX.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin cacuminare ‘make pointed’ (from cacumen, cacumin- ‘top, summit’) + -AL.

CAD abbr. computer-aided design.

cad n. INFORMAL, DATED a man who behaves dishonourably, especially towards a woman: her adulterous cad of a husband.

<DERIVATIVES> caddish adj. caddishly adv. caddishness n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (denoting a passenger picked up by the driver of a horse-drawn coach for personal profit): abbreviation of CADDIE or CADET.

cadastral /kədastr(ə)l/ adj. (of a map or survey) showing the extent, value, and ownership of land, especially for taxation.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from cadastre ‘register of property’, from Provençal cadastro, from Italian catastro (earlier catastico), from late Greek katastikhon ‘list, register’, from kata stikhon ‘line by line’.

cadaver /kədαvə -de-/ n. MEDICINE or LITERARY a corpse.

<DERIVATIVES> cadaveric adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from cadere ‘to fall’.

cadaverous adj. very pale, thin, or bony: he was gaunt and cadaverous.

<DERIVATIVES> cadaverously adv. cadaverousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin cadaverosus, from cadaver ‘corpse’.

Cadbury /kadb(ə)ri/ George (1839–1922) and Richard (1835–99), English cocoa and chocolate manufacturers and social reformers. As committed Quakers, they were concerned with improving their employees' working and living conditions, and established a new factory and housing estate at Bournville.

CADCAM abbr. computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacture.

caddie (also caddy) n. (pl. caddies) a person who carries a golfer's clubs and provides other assistance during a match.

■ v. (caddies, caddying, caddied) [no obj.] work as a caddie.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally Scots): from French cadet. The original term denoted a gentleman who joined the army without a commission, intending to learn the profession and follow a military career, later coming to mean ‘odd-job man’. The current sense dates from the late 18th cent.

caddis /kads/ (also caddis fly) n. a small moth-like insect with an aquatic larva that typically builds a protective portable case of sticks, stones, and other particles.

<INFO> Order Trichoptera: several families.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: of unknown origin.

caddis worm n. the soft-bodied aquatic larva of a caddis fly, used as fishing bait.

Caddoan /kadəən/ adj. relating to or denoting a group of American Indian peoples formerly inhabiting the Midwest, or their languages, now all virtually extinct.

■ n. 1 a member of any of the Caddoan peoples.

2 [mass noun] the family of languages spoken by the Caddoan peoples, which includes Pawnee and may be related to Siouan and Iroquoian.

<ORIGIN> from Caddo (a language of the Caddoan family) kaduhdacu, denoting a band belonging to this group, + -AN.

caddy^1 n. (pl. caddies) [usually with modifier] a small storage container, typically one with divisions: a tool caddy.

- (also tea caddy) chiefly BRITISH a small tin in which tea is kept for daily use.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from earlier catty, denoting a unit of weight of 1^1/3 lb (0.61 kg), from Malay kati.

caddy spoon n. a spoon used to dispense tea from a tea caddy, having a wide, shallow bowl and a short handle.

Cade /ked/ Jack (d.1450), Irish rebel; full name John Cade. In 1450 he assumed the name of Mortimer and led the Kentish rebels against Henry VI. They occupied London for three days and executed the treasurer of England and the sheriff of Kent.

cadelle /kədεl/ n. a small dark beetle that is frequently found in food stores, where it scavenges and preys on other insects.

<INFO> Tenebroides mauritanicus, family Cleridae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, based on Latin catella, catellus ‘young (of an animal), little dog’.

cadence /ked(ə)ns/ n. 1 a modulation or inflection of the voice: the measured cadences that he employed in the Senate.

- a rhythmical effect in written text: the dry cadences of the essay.

- a fall in pitch of the voice at the end of a phrase or sentence.

- [mass noun] rhythm: the thumping cadence of the engines.

2 a sequence of notes or chords comprising the close of a musical phrase: the final cadences of the Prelude.

<DERIVATIVES> cadenced adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘rhythm or metrical beat’): via Old French from Italian cadenza, based on Latin cadere ‘to fall’.

cadency n. [mass noun] chiefly [HERALDRY] the status of a younger branch of a family.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘rhythm or metrical beat’): based on Latin cadent- ‘falling’, from the verb cadere. The current sense is apparently by association with CADET.

cadential adj. relating to a cadenza or cadence.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CADENCE, on the pattern of pairs such as essence, essential.

cadenza /kədεnzə/ n. a virtuoso solo passage inserted into a movement in a concerto or other musical work, typically near the end.

<PHRASES>

□ have a cadenza S. African INFORMAL be extremely agitated. [<ORIGIN> said to be from Danny Kaye's The Little Fiddle, a humorous recording made in the 1940s.]

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian (see CADENCE).

cadet n. 1 a young trainee in the armed services or police force: an air cadet.

- a boy or girl of 13–18 who undergoes voluntary army, navy, or air force training together with adventure training.

- AUSTRALIAN a trainee or novice, especially a trainee journalist.

2 FORMAL or ARCHAIC a younger son or daughter.

- [usually as modifier] a junior branch of a family: a cadet branch of the family.

<DERIVATIVES> cadetship n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): from French, from Gascon dialect capdet, a diminutive based on Latin caput ‘head’. The notion ‘little head’ or ‘inferior head’ gave rise to that of ‘younger, junior’.

cadge v. [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL ask for or obtain (something to which one is not strictly entitled): he cadged fivers off old school friends.

■ n. [FALCONRY] a padded wooden frame on which hooded hawks are carried to the field. [<ORIGIN> apparently an alteration of CAGE, perhaps confused with the dialect verb cadge ‘carry about’.]

<PHRASES>

□ on the cadge INFORMAL looking for an opportunity to obtain something without paying for it.

<DERIVATIVES> cadger n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the dialect sense ‘carry about’): back-formation from the noun cadger, which dates from the late 15th century, denoting (in northern English and Scots) an itinerant dealer, whence the verb sense ‘hawk, peddle’, giving rise to the current verb senses from the early 19th cent.

cadi /kαdi kedi/ (also kadi) n. (pl. cadis) (in Islamic countries) a judge.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Arabic qāī, from qaā ‘to judge’.

Cadiz /kədz/ a city and port on the coast of SW Spain; pop. 137,971 (est. 2001). Spanish name Cádiz /kaiθ kais/.

Cadmean /kadmiən/ adj. relating to Cadmus.

cadmium /kadməm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 48, a silvery-white metal. (Symbol: Cd)

Cadmium occurs naturally in zinc ores and is obtained as a by-product of zinc smelting. It is used as a component in alloys with a low melting point and as a corrosion-resistant coating on other metals.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin cadmia ‘calamine’, so named because it is found with calamine in zinc ore. Compare with CALAMINE.

cadmium cell n. a primary electric cell with a cathode of cadmium amalgam and an electrolyte of saturated cadmium sulphate solution, used in laboratories as a standard of electromotive force.

cadmium yellow n. [mass noun] a bright yellow pigment containing cadmium sulphide. Deeper versions are called cadmium orange; the addition of cadmium selenide gives cadmium red.

- a bright yellow colour.

Cadmus /kadməs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the brother of Europa and traditional founder of Thebes in Boeotia. He killed a dragon which guarded a spring, and when (on Athene's advice) he sowed the dragon's teeth a harvest of armed men came up; he disposed of the majority by setting them to fight one another, and the survivors formed the ancestors of the Theban nobility.

cadre /kαdə kαdr(ə) kadri/ n. 1 a small group of people specially trained for a particular purpose or profession: a cadre of professional managers.

2 also /kedə/ a group of activists in a communist or other revolutionary organization.

- a member of an activist group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Italian quadro, from Latin quadrus ‘square’.

caduceus /kədjusəs/ n. (pl. caducei /-s/) an ancient Greek or Roman herald's wand, typically one with two serpents twined round it, carried by the messenger god Hermes or Mercury.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Doric Greek karukeion from Greek kērux ‘herald’.

caducity /kədjusti/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the infirmity of old age; senility.

- LITERARY frailty or transitory nature.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French caducité, from caduc, from Latin caducus ‘liable to fall’, from cadere ‘to fall’.

caducous /kədjukəs/ adj. chiefly [BOTANY] (of an organ or part) easily detached and shed at an early stage.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘epileptic’): from Latin caducus ‘liable to fall’ (from cadere ‘to fall’) + -OUS.

CAE abbr. computer-aided engineering.

caecilian /sslən/ (also coecilian) n. [ZOOLOGY] a burrowing worm-like amphibian of a tropical order distinguished by poorly developed eyes and the lack of limbs.

<INFO> Order Gymnophiona (or Apoda): five families.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin Caecilia (genus name), from Latin caecilia ‘slow-worm’, + -AN.

caecitis /skts/ (US cecitis) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the caecum.

caecum /sikəm/ (US cecum) n. (pl. caeca) [ANATOMY] a pouch connected to the junction of the small and large intestines.

<DERIVATIVES> caecal adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin (intestinum) caecum ‘blind (gut)’, translation of Greek tuphlon enteron.

Caedmon /kadmən/ (7th century), Anglo-Saxon monk and poet, said to have been an illiterate herdsman inspired in a vision to compose poetry on biblical themes. The only authentic fragment of his work is a song in praise of the Creation, quoted by Bede.

Caelum /siləm/ [ASTRONOMY] a small and faint southern constellation (the Chisel), next to Eridanus.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Caen /kαn/ French /kα/ an industrial city and river port in Normandy in northern France, on the River Orne, capital of the region of Basse-Normandie; pop. 113,987 (1999).

Caerdydd /kardi/ Welsh name for CARDIFF.

Caerfyrddin /karvrin/ Welsh name for CARMARTHEN.

Caergybi /karbi/ Welsh name for Holy Island (sense 2).

Caernarfon /kənαv(ə)n/ Welsh /karnarvn/ (also Caernarvon) a town in NW Wales on the shore of the Menai Strait, the administrative centre of Gwynedd; pop. 9,600 (est. 2002).

Caernarfonshire (also Caernarvonshire) a former county of NW Wales, part of Gwynedd from 1974.

Caerns. abbr. Caernarfonshire.

Caerphilly /kεfli kα- kə-/ n. [mass noun] a kind of mild white cheese, originally made in Caerphilly in Wales.

Caesar /sizə/ n. 1 a title of Roman emperors, especially those from Augustus to Hadrian.

- an autocrat.

2 MEDICINE, BRITISH INFORMAL a Caesarean section.

<PHRASES>

□ Caesar's wife a person who is required to be above suspicion. [<ORIGIN> with reference to Plutarch's Caesar (X. 6) ‘I thought my wife ought not even to be under suspicion’.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin Caesar, family name of the Roman statesman JULIUS CAESAR.

Caesarea /sizərə/ an ancient port on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, one of the principal cities of Roman Palestine.

Caesarea Mazaca /mazəkə/ former name for KAYSERI.

Caesarean /szεrən/ (also Caesarian) adj. 1 (US also Cesarean) of or effected by Caesarean section: a Caesarean delivery.

2 of or connected with Julius Caesar or the Caesars.

■ n. a Caesarean section: I had to have a Caesarean | [mass noun] two sons both born by Caesarean.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as a noun denoting a supporter of an emperor or imperial system): from Latin Caesareus ‘of Caesar’ + -AN.

Caesarean section n. a surgical operation for delivering a child by cutting through the wall of the mother's abdomen.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Caesarian from the story that Julius Caesar was delivered by this method.

Caesarea Philippi /flp flp/ a city in ancient Palestine, on the site of the present-day village of Baniyas in the Golan Heights.

Caesar salad n. a salad consisting of cos lettuce and croutons served with a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, raw egg, Worcester sauce, and seasoning.

<ORIGIN> named after Caesar Cardini, the Mexican restaurateur who invented it in 1924.

caesium /sizəm/ (US cesium) n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 55, a soft, silvery, extremely reactive metal. It belongs to the alkali metal group and occurs as a trace element in some rocks and minerals. (Symbol: Cs)

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin caesius ‘greyish-blue’ (because it has characteristic lines in the blue part of the spectrum).

caesium clock n. an atomic clock that uses the vibrations of caesium atoms as a time standard.

caesura /szjərə/ n. (in Greek and Latin verse) a break between words within a metrical foot.

- (in modern verse) a pause near the middle of a line.

<DERIVATIVES> caesural adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, from caes- ‘cut, hewn’, from the verb caedere.

CAF abbr. NORTH AMERICAN cost and freight.

cafard /kafα/ n. [mass noun] melancholia.

<ORIGIN> from French.

cafe /kafe kafi/ (also café) n. 1 a small restaurant selling light meals and drinks.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a bar or nightclub.

3 S. AFRICAN a shop selling sweets, cigarettes, newspapers, etc. and staying open after normal hours.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French café ‘coffee or coffee house’.

café au lait /kafe ə le kaf/ n. [mass noun] coffee with milk.

- the light brown colour of coffee with milk.

<ORIGIN> French.

cafe bar n. a cafe which also serves alcoholic drinks.

cafe curtain n. a curtain covering the lower half of a window.

café noir /kafe nwα kaf/ n. [mass noun] black coffee.

<ORIGIN> French.

cafe society n. [mass noun] the regular patrons of fashionable restaurants and nightclubs.

cafeteria n. a restaurant in which customers serve themselves from a counter and pay before eating.

- [as modifer] NORTH AMERICAN denoting a system in which people may choose for themselves from a number of available options, especially one in which an employee may select a personal package of company benefits: employers who offer cafeteria plans and other flexible programs.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): from Latin American Spanish cafetería ‘coffee shop’.

cafetière /kaf(ə)tjε/ n. a coffee pot containing a plunger made of fine mesh with which the grounds are pushed to the bottom when the coffee is ready to be poured.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from café ‘coffee’.

caff n. BRITISH INFORMAL a cafe.

caffeinated /kafnetd/ adj. (of coffee or tea) containing the natural amount of caffeine, or with caffeine added.

caffeine /kafin/ n. [mass noun] an alkaloid compound which is found especially in tea and coffee plants and is a stimulant of the central nervous system.

<INFO> chem. formula: C_8H_10N_4O_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French caféine, from café ‘coffee’.

CAFOD /kafd/ abbr. Catholic Fund for Overseas Development.

Cagayan Islands /kαəjαn/ a group of seven small islands in the Sulu Sea in the western Philippines.

Cage John (Milton) (1912–92), American composer, pianist, and writer. He was notable for his experimental approach, which included the use of aleatory music and periods of silence.

cage n. a structure of bars or wires in which birds or other animals are confined: she kept a canary in a cage | FIGURATIVE his cage of loneliness.

- a prison cell or camp.

- an open framework forming the compartment in a lift.

- a structure of crossing bars or wires designed to hold or support something.

- [BASEBALL] a portable backstop situated behind the batter during batting practice.

■ v. [with obj.] confine in a cage: the parrot screamed, furious at being caged | (as adj. caged) a caged bird.

- INFORMAL put in prison.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin cavea.

cage bird n. a bird of a kind customarily kept in a cage.

cage fungus n. a fetid-smelling fungus that forms a hollow latticed spherical structure, the inner surface of which bears the spores.

<INFO> Genus Clathrus, family Clathraceae, class Gasteromycetes.

cagey (also cagy) adj. (cagier, cagiest) INFORMAL reluctant to give information owing to caution or suspicion: a spokesman was cagey about the arrangements his company had struck.

<DERIVATIVES> cagily adv. caginess (also cageyness) n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): of unknown origin.

Cagliari /kalαri kaljəri/ Italian /kaFFari/ the capital of Sardinia, a port on the south coast; pop. 158,351 (2001).

Cagney /kani/ James (1899–1986), American actor. He is chiefly remembered for playing gangster roles in films such as The Public Enemy (1931), but he was also a skilled dancer and comedian who received an Oscar for his part in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).

cagoule /kəul/ (also kagoul) n. BRITISH a lightweight, hooded, thigh-length waterproof jacket.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from French, literally ‘cowl’.

cahier /kje/ French /kaje/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) an exercise book or notebook.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French; compare with QUIRE.

cahoots /kəhuts/ plural n. (in phrase in cahoots) INFORMAL colluding or conspiring together secretly: the area is dominated by guerrillas in cahoots with drug traffickers.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally US): of unknown origin.

Cahora Bassa /kəhrə basə/ a lake on the Zambezi River in western Mozambique. Its waters are impounded by a dam and massive hydroelectric complex.

cahow /kəha/ n. a large endangered Atlantic petrel which breeds in Bermuda.

<INFO> Pterodroma cahow, family Procellariidae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: imitative of its call.

CAI abbr. computer-assisted (or -aided) instruction.

caiman /kemən/ (also cayman) n. a semiaquatic reptile similar to the alligator but with a heavily armoured belly, native to tropical America.

<INFO> Caiman and other genera, family Alligatoridae: three species.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish caimán, Portuguese caimão, from Carib acayuman.

Cain (in the Bible) the eldest son of Adam and Eve and murderer of his brother Abel.

<PHRASES>

□ raise Cain INFORMAL create trouble or a commotion.

Caine Sir Michael (b.1933), English film actor; born Maurice Micklewhite. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including The Ipcress File (1965) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986, for which he won an Oscar).

caipirinha /kprnjə/ n. a Brazilian cocktail made with cachaca, lime or lemon juice, sugar, and crushed ice.

<ORIGIN> Brazilian Portuguese, from caipira ‘yokel’.

caique /kik kα-/ n. 1 a light rowing boat used on the Bosporus.

2 a small eastern Mediterranean sailing ship.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French caïque, from Italian caicco, from Turkish kayık.

cairn n. 1 a mound of rough stones built as a memorial or landmark, typically on a hilltop or skyline.

- a prehistoric burial mound made of stones.

2 (also cairn terrier) a small terrier of a breed with short legs, a longish body, and a shaggy coat. [<ORIGIN> perhaps so named from being used to hunt among cairns.]

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Scottish Gaelic carn.

cairngorm /kεnm/ n. another term for SMOKY QUARTZ.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: named after the CAIRNGORM MOUNTAINS.

Cairngorm Mountains (also the Cairngorms) a mountain range in northern Scotland.

<ORIGIN> from Scottish Gaelic carn gorm ‘blue cairn’.

Cairo /kərə/ the capital of Egypt, a port on the Nile near the head of its delta; pop. 15,546,100 (est. 2002). Arabic name AL-QAHIRA.

<DERIVATIVES> Cairene /kərin/ adj. & n.

caisson /kes(ə)n kəsun/ n. 1 a large watertight chamber, open at the bottom, from which the water is kept out by air pressure and in which construction work may be carried out under water.

- a floating vessel or watertight structure used as a gate across the entrance of a dry dock or basin.

2 HISTORICAL a chest or wagon for holding or conveying ammunition.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, literally ‘large chest’, from Italian cassone, the spelling having been altered in French by association with caisse ‘case’.

caisson disease n. another term for DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS.

Caithness /keθnεs/ a former county in the extreme north-east of Scotland. It became part of Highland region in 1975.

caitiff /ketf/ n. ARCHAIC a contemptible or cowardly person: [as modifier] a caitiff knight.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a captive or prisoner): from Old French caitif ‘captive’, based on Latin captivus ‘(person) taken captive’ (see CAPTIVE).

cajole /kədəl/ v. [with obj.] persuade (someone) to do something by sustained coaxing or flattery: he hoped to cajole her into selling him her house.

<DERIVATIVES> cajolement n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French cajoler.

cajolery /kədəl(ə)ri/ n. [mass noun] coaxing or flattery intended to persuade someone to do something: she uses cajolery, deception, and manipulation to get what she wants.

Cajun /ked(ə)n/ n. a member of any of the largely self-contained communities in the bayou areas of southern Louisiana formed by descendants of French Canadians, speaking an archaic form of French.

■ adj. relating to the Cajuns, especially with reference to their folk music or spicy cuisine.

<ORIGIN> alteration of ACADIAN.

cajuput /kadəpt/ (also cajeput) n. 1 (also cajuput oil) [mass noun] an aromatic medicinal oil obtained from a tree of the myrtle family.

2 a chiefly Australasian tree related to the bottlebrushes, with papery bark. Also called PAPERBARK.

<INFO> Genus Melaleuca, family Myrtaceae: M. cajuputi, which produces cajuput oil, and M. quinquenervia.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Malay kayu putih, literally ‘white tree’.

cake n. 1 an item of soft sweet food made from a mixture of flour, fat, eggs, sugar, and other ingredients, baked and sometimes iced or decorated: a fruit cake | [as modifier] a cake shop | [mass noun] a mouthful of cake.

- (the cake) BRITISH the amount of money or assets available to be divided up or shared: you have not received a fair slice of the education cake.

2 an item of savoury food formed into a flat round shape, and typically baked or fried: crab cakes.

- a flattish compact mass of something, especially soap: a cake of soap.

■ v. [with obj.] (of a thick or sticky substance that hardens when dry) cover and become encrusted on (the surface of an object): his clothes were caked in mud.

- [no obj.] (of a thick or sticky substance) dry or harden into a solid mass: the blood under his nose was beginning to cake.

<PHRASES>

□ cakes and ale DATED lively enjoyment.

□ a piece of cake INFORMAL something easily achieved: I never said that training him would be a piece of cake.

□ sell like hot cakes INFORMAL be sold quickly and in large quantities.

□ take the cake see take the BISCUIT at biscuit.

□ you can't have your cake and eat it (too) PROVERB you can't enjoy both of two desirable but mutually exclusive alternatives.

<DERIVATIVES> cakey adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a small flat bread roll): of Scandinavian origin; related to Swedish kaka and Danish kage.

cake flour n. North American term for PLAIN FLOUR.

cakehole n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person's mouth.

cakewalk n. 1 INFORMAL an absurdly or surprisingly easy task: winning the league won't be a cakewalk for them.

2 a strutting dance popular at the end of the 19th century, developed from an American black contest in graceful walking which had a cake as a prize.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 INFORMAL achieve or win something easily: he cakewalked to a 5-1 triumph.

2 walk or dance in the manner of a cakewalk.

CAL abbr. computer-assisted (or -aided) learning.

Cal abbr. large calorie(s).

cal abbr. small calorie(s).

Cal. abbr. California.

Calabar /kaləbα/ a seaport in Nigeria; pop. 431,200 (est. 2002).

Calabar bean n. the poisonous seed of a tropical West African climbing plant, containing physostigmine and formerly used for tribal ordeals.

<INFO> The plant is Physostigma venosum, family Leguminosae.

calabash /kaləba/ n. (also calabash tree) an evergreen tropical American tree which bears fruit in the form of large woody gourds.

<INFO> Crescentia cujete, family Bignoniaceae.

- a gourd from the calabash tree.

- a water container, tobacco pipe, or other object made from the dried shell of a calabash or a similar gourd.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French calebasse, from Spanish calabaza, perhaps from Persian arbuz ‘melon’.

calabaza /kaləbαzə/ n. West Indian and US term for CALABASH.

calaboose /kaləbus/ n. US INFORMAL a prison.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from black French calabouse, from Spanish calabozo ‘dungeon’.

calabrese /kaləbris kaləbris -bresi/ n. see BROCCOLI.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Italian, literally ‘Calabrian’.

Calabria /kəlabrə/ a region of SW Italy, forming the ‘toe’ of the Italian peninsula; capital, Catanzaro.

<DERIVATIVES> Calabrian adj. & n.

caladium /kəledəm/ n. (pl. caladiums) a tropical South American plant of the arum family, which is cultivated for its brilliantly coloured ornamental foliage.

<INFO> Genus Caladium, family Araceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Malay keladi.

Calah /kelə/ biblical name for NIMRUD.

Calais /kale/ French /kalε/ a ferry port in northern France; pop. 77,333 (1999). Captured by Edward III in 1347 after a long siege, it remained an English possession until it was retaken by the French in 1558.

calamanco /kaləmakə/ n. (pl. calamancoes) [mass noun] HISTORICAL a glossy woollen cloth chequered on one side only.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

calamander /kaləmandə/ (also calamander wood) n. another term for COROMANDEL.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Sinhalese kau-madīriya, perhaps from Coromandel ebony (see COROMANDEL), changed by association with Sinhalese kau ‘black’.

calamari /kaləmαri/ (also calamares /kaləmαrez/) plural n. squid served as food.

<ORIGIN> Italian, plural of calamaro, from medieval Latin calamarium ‘pen case’, from Greek kalamos ‘pen’ (with reference to the squid's long tapering internal shell and its ink). The variant calamares is Spanish.

calamine /kaləmn/ n. 1 [mass noun] a pink powder consisting of zinc carbonate and ferric oxide, used to make a soothing lotion or ointment.

2 DATED smithsonite or a similar zinc ore.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin calamina, alteration of Latin cadmia ‘calamine’, from Greek kadmeia (gē) ‘Cadmean (earth)’, from Kadmos ‘Cadmus’ (see CADMUS).

calamint /kaləmnt/ n. an aromatic Eurasian herbaceous plant or shrub with blue or lilac flowers.

<INFO> Genus Calamintha, family Labiatae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French calament, from medieval Latin calamentum, from late Latin calaminthe, from Greek kalaminthē.

calamites /kaləmtiz/ n. (pl. same) a swamp plant with jointed stems that belonged to an extinct group related to the horsetails, growing to a height of 18 m (60 ft).

<INFO> Calamites and other genera, family Calamitaceae, class Sphenopsida.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from CALAMUS.

calamitous adj. involving calamity; catastrophic or disastrous: such calamitous events as fires, hurricanes, and floods.

<DERIVATIVES> calamitously adv.

calamity n. (pl. calamities) an event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster: emergency measures may be necessary in order to avert a calamity | [mass noun] the journey had led to calamity and ruin.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘disaster and distress’): from Old French calamite, from Latin calamitas.

Calamity Jane (c.1852–1903), American frontierswoman, noted for her skill at shooting and riding; born Martha Jane Cannary.

calamondin /kaləmndn/ (also calamondin orange) n. a small hybrid citrus plant which bears fragrant white flowers followed by small orange-yellow fruit, native to the Philippines and grown as a house plant.

<INFO> × Citrofortunella microcarpa (formerly Citrus mitis), family Rutaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Tagalog kalamunding.

calamus /kaləməs/ n. (pl. calami /-m/) 1 another term for SWEET FLAG.

- (also calamus root) [mass noun] a preparation of the aromatic root of the sweet flag.

2 [ZOOLOGY] the hollow lower part of the shaft of a feather, which lacks barbs; a quill.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a reed or an aromatic plant mentioned in the Bible): from Latin, from Greek kalamos.

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 17th cent.

calando /kəlandə/ adv. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) gradually decreasing in speed and volume.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘slackening’.

calandra /kəlandrə/ (also calandra lark) n. a large Eurasian lark with a stout bill and a black patch on each side of the neck.

<INFO> Genus Melanocorypha, family Alaudidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old French calandre, via medieval Latin from Greek kalandros.

calash /kəla/ n. another term for CALECHE.

calathea /kaləθə/ n. a tropical American plant which typically has variegated leaves, grown as a greenhouse or indoor plant.

<INFO> Genus Calathea, family Marantaceae: many species, including the zebra plant.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kalathos ‘basket’.

calc- combining form (used chiefly in geological terms) of lime or calcium: calcalkaline.

<ORIGIN> from German Kalk ‘lime’, with spelling influenced by Latin calx ‘lime’ (see CALX).

calcalkaline /kalkalkəln/ adj. [GEOLOGY] (chiefly of rocks) relatively rich in both calcium and alkali metals.

calcaneus /kalkenəs/ (also calcaneum /-nəm/) n. (pl. calcanei /-n/ or calcanea /-nə/) [ANATOMY] the large bone forming the heel. It articulates with the cuboid bone of the foot and the talus bone of the ankle, and the Achilles tendon is attached to it.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin.

calcareous /kalkεrəs/ adj. containing calcium carbonate; chalky.

- [ECOLOGY] (of vegetation) occurring on chalk or limestone.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin calcarius (from calx, calc- ‘lime’) + -EOUS.

calceolaria /kalsəlεrə/ n. a South American plant which is cultivated for its brightly coloured slipper- or pouch-shaped flowers. Also called SLIPPER FLOWER.

<INFO> Genus Calceolaria, family Scrophulariaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: modern Latin, from Latin calceolus, diminutive of calceus ‘shoe’.

calces plural form of CALX.

calci- combining form relating to calcium or its compounds: calcifuge.

<ORIGIN> from Latin calx, calc- ‘lime’.

calcic /kalsk/ adj. (chiefly of minerals) containing or relatively rich in calcium.

calcicole /kalskəl/ n. [BOTANY] a plant that grows best in calcareous soil (occurring chiefly on chalk and limestone).

<DERIVATIVES> calcicolous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CALCI- + Latin colere ‘inhabit’.

calciferol /kalsfərl/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] one of the D vitamins, a sterol which is formed when its isomer ergosterol is exposed to ultraviolet light, and which is routinely added to dairy products. Also called ERGOCALCIFEROL, VITAMIN D2.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from CALCIFEROUS + -OL.

calciferous /kalsf(ə)rəs/ adj. containing or producing calcium salts, especially calcium carbonate.

calcifuge /kalsfjud/ n. [BOTANY] a plant that is not suited to calcareous soil.

calcify /kalsf/ v. (calcifies, calcifying, calcified) [with obj.] (usually as adj. calcified) harden by deposition of or conversion into calcium carbonate or some other insoluble calcium compounds: calcified cartilage.

<DERIVATIVES> calcific adj. calcification n.

calcine /kalsn -sn/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. calcined) reduce, oxidize, or desiccate by roasting or exposing to strong heat: calcined bone ash.

<DERIVATIVES> calcination n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin calcinare, from late Latin calcina ‘lime’, from Latin calx, calc- ‘lime’ (see CALX).

calcite /kalst/ n. [mass noun] a white or colourless mineral consisting of calcium carbonate. It is a major constituent of sedimentary rocks such as limestone and is deposited in caves to form stalactites and stalagmites.

<DERIVATIVES> calcitic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: coined in German from Latin calx, calc- ‘lime’ (see CALX).

calcitonin /kalstənn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hormone secreted by the thyroid that has the effect of lowering blood calcium.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from CALCI- + TONIC + -IN^1.

calcium n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 20, a soft grey metal. (Symbol: Ca)

Calcium is one of the alkaline earth metals. Its compounds occur naturally in limestone, fluorite, gypsum, and other minerals. Many physiological processes involve calcium ions, and calcium salts are an essential constituent of bone, teeth, and shells.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin calx, calc- ‘lime’ (see CALX) + -IUM.

calcium antagonist n. a compound of a type that reduces the influx of calcium into the cells of cardiac and smooth muscle, reducing the strength of contractions. Drugs of this kind are used to treat angina and high blood pressure.

calcium carbonate n. [mass noun] a white insoluble solid occurring naturally as chalk, limestone, marble, and calcite, and forming mollusc shells and stony corals.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CaCO_3.

calcium hydroxide n. [mass noun] a soluble white crystalline solid commonly produced in the form of slaked lime.

<INFO> Chem. formula: Ca(OH)2.

calcium oxide n. [mass noun] a white caustic alkaline solid, commonly produced in the form of quicklime.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CaO.

calcrete /kalkrit/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a breccia or conglomerate cemented together by calcareous material, formed in soils in semi-arid conditions. Also called CALICHE.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CALC- + a shortened form of CONCRETE.

calculable adj. able to be measured or assessed.

<DERIVATIVES> calculability n. calculably adv.

calculate v. [with obj.] 1 determine (the amount or number of something) mathematically: the program can calculate the number of words that will fit in the space available | [with clause] local authorities have calculated that full training would cost around £5,000 per teacher.

2 (usually be calculated to do something) intend (an action) to have a particular effect: his last words were calculated to wound her.

- [no obj.] (calculate on) include as an essential element in one's plans.

3 [with clause] US DIALECT suppose or believe: I calculate it's pretty difficult to git edication down there.

<DERIVATIVES> calculative adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin calculat- ‘counted’, from the verb calculare, from calculus ‘a small pebble (as used on an abacus)’.

calculated adj. (of an action) done with full awareness of the likely consequences: victims of vicious and calculated assaults.

<DERIVATIVES> calculatedly adv.

calculating adj. acting in a scheming and ruthlessly determined way: he was a coolly calculating, ruthless man.

<DERIVATIVES> calculatingly adv.

calculation n. a mathematical determination of the amount or number of something: finding ways of saving money involves complicated calculations | [mass noun] the calculation of depreciation.

- an assessment of the risks, possibilities, or effects of a situation or course of action: decisions are shaped by political calculations.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin calculatio(n-), from the verb calculare (see CALCULATE).

calculator n. something used for making mathematical calculations, in particular a small electronic device with a keyboard and a visual display.

calculus /kalkjləs/ n. 1 (pl. calculuses) (also infinitesimal calculus) [mass noun] the branch of mathematics that deals with the finding and properties of derivatives and integrals of functions, by methods originally based on the summation of infinitesimal differences. The two main types are differential calculus and integral calculus.

2 (pl. calculuses) a particular method or system of calculation or reasoning.

3 (pl. calculi /-l -li/) MEDICINE a hard mass formed by minerals within the body, especially in the kidney or gall bladder.

■ another term for TARTAR.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘small pebble (as used on an abacus)’.

Calcutta /kalktə/ former name (until 2000) for KOLKATA.

caldarium /kaldεrəm/ n. (pl. caldaria /-rə/) a hot room in an ancient Roman bath.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Caldecott /kldkt/ Randolph (1846–86), English graphic artist and watercolour painter. He is best known for his illustrations for children's books.

Calder /kldə/ Alexander (1898–1976), American sculptor and painter. He was one of the first artists to introduce movement into sculpture, making mobiles incorporating abstract forms. His static sculptures are known by contrast as ‘stabiles’.

caldera /kldεrə -dərə/ n. a large volcanic crater, especially one formed by a major eruption leading to the collapse of the mouth of the volcano.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Spanish, from late Latin caldaria ‘boiling pot’.

Calderón de la Barca /kaldərn de la bαkə/ Pedro (1600–81), Spanish dramatist and poet. He wrote some 120 plays, more than seventy of them religious dramas.

Caldwell /kldwεl/ Erskine (Preston) (1903–87), American novelist and short-story writer. Caldwell reproduced the dialect of the poor whites in his realistic, earthy, and popular novels, such as Tobacco Road (1932).

caleche /kəlε/ (also calash) n. HISTORICAL 1 a light low-wheeled carriage with a removable folding hood.

2 a woman's hooped silk hood.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French calèche, via German from Polish kolasa, from kolo ‘wheel’.

Caledonian /kaldənən/ adj. 1 (chiefly in names or geographical terms) relating to Scotland or the Scottish Highlands: the Caledonian Railway.

2 [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a mountain-forming period (orogeny) in NW Europe and Greenland during the Lower Palaeozoic era, especially the late Silurian.

■ n. chiefly HUMOROUS or LITERARY a person from Scotland.

<ORIGIN> from Caledonia, the Latin name for northern Britain, + -AN.

Caledonian Canal a system of lochs and canals crossing Scotland from Inverness on the east coast to Fort William on the west.

calefacient /kalfe(ə)nt/ n. ARCHAIC a drug or other substance that gives a sensation of warmth.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin calefacient- ‘making warm’, from the verb calefacere, from calere ‘be warm’ + facere ‘make’.

calendar /kalndə/ n. a chart or series of pages showing the days, weeks, and months of a particular year, or giving particular seasonal information.

- a system by which the beginning, length, and subdivisions of the year are fixed. See also JULIAN CALENDAR and GREGORIAN CALENDAR.

- a list of days or events of a specified kind: the social calendar.

- NORTH AMERICAN a book in which to note daily appointments.

■ v. [with obj.] enter (something) in a calendar or timetable.

<DERIVATIVES> calendric /-lεndrk/ adj. calendrical adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French calendier, from Latin kalendarium ‘account book’, from kalendae (see CALENDS).

calender /kalndə/ n. a machine in which cloth or paper is pressed by rollers to glaze or smooth it.

■ v. [with obj.] press in a calender.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a verb): from French calendre (noun), calendrer (verb), of unknown origin.

calends /kalndz/ (also kalends) plural n. the first day of the month in the ancient Roman calendar.

<ORIGIN> Old English (denoting an appointed time): from Old French calendes, from Latin kalendae, calendae ‘first day of the month’ (when accounts were due and the order of days was proclaimed); related to Latin calare and Greek kalein ‘call, proclaim’.

calendula /kəlεndjlə/ n. a Mediterranean plant of a genus that includes the common or pot marigold.

<INFO> Genus Calendula, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, diminutive of calendae (see CALENDS); perhaps because it flowers for most of the year.

calenture /kal(ə)ntjə/ n. [mass noun] feverish delirium formerly thought of as afflicting sailors in the tropics.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from Spanish calentura ‘fever’, from calentar ‘be hot’, based on Latin calere ‘be warm’.

calf^1 n. (pl. calves) 1 a young bovine animal, especially a domestic cow or bull in its first year.

- the young of some other large mammals, such as elephants, rhinoceroses, large deer and antelopes, and whales.

■ short for CALFSKIN.

2 a floating piece of ice detached from an iceberg.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or with) calf (of a cow) pregnant.

<DERIVATIVES> calf-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English cælf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kalf and German Kalb.

calf^2 n. (pl. calves) the fleshy part at the back of a person's leg below the knee.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse kálfi, of unknown origin.

calf love n. another term for PUPPY LOVE.

calfskin n. [mass noun] leather made from the hide or skin of a calf, used in bookbinding and shoemaking.

Calgary /kaləri/ a city in southern Alberta, SW Canada; pop. 864,500 (est. 2002).

Cali /kαli/ an industrial city in western Colombia; pop. 2,203,800 (est. 2002).

calibrate /kalbret/ v. [with obj.] mark (a gauge or instrument) with a standard scale of readings.

- correlate the readings of (an instrument) with those of a standard in order to check the instrument's accuracy.

- adjust (experimental results) to take external factors into account or to allow comparison with other data.

<DERIVATIVES> calibrator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CALIBRE + -ATE^3.

calibration n. [mass noun] the action or process of calibrating something: the measuring devices require calibration.

- [count noun] each of a set of graduations on an instrument.

calibre /kalbə/ (US caliber) n. 1 [mass noun] the quality of someone's character or the level of their ability: they could ill afford to lose a man of his calibre.

- the standard reached by something: educational facilities of a very high calibre.

2 the internal diameter or bore of a gun barrel: [in combination] a small-calibre revolver.

- the diameter of a bullet, shell, or rocket.

- the diameter of a body of circular section, such as a tube, blood vessel, or fibre.

<DERIVATIVES> calibred adj. [in combination] a large-calibred gun

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘social standing or importance’): from French, from Italian calibro, perhaps from Arabic qālib ‘mould’, based on Greek kalapous ‘shoemaker's last’.

caliche /kəliti/ n. [mass noun] a mineral deposit of gravel, sand, and nitrates, found in dry areas of America.

■ another term for CALCRETE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin American Spanish.

calico /kalkə/ n. (pl. calicoes or US also calicos) [mass noun] BRITISH a type of cotton cloth, typically plain white or unbleached: [as modifier] a calico dress.

- NORTH AMERICAN printed cotton fabric.

■ adj. NORTH AMERICAN (of an animal, typically a cat) multicoloured or piebald.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally also calicut): alteration of CALICUT, where the fabric originated.

Calicut /kalkt/ a seaport in the state of Kerala in SW India, on the Malabar Coast; pop. 436,500 (2001). Also called KOZHIKODE.

Calif. abbr. California.

California a state of the US, on the Pacific coast; pop. 33,871,648 (2000); capital, Sacramento. Formerly part of Mexico, it was ceded to the US in 1847, and became the 31st state of the US in 1850.

<DERIVATIVES> Californian adj. & n.

California, Gulf of an arm of the Pacific Ocean separating the Baja California peninsula from mainland Mexico.

California Current a cold ocean current of the eastern Pacific that flows south along the west coast of North America.

California poppy (also Californian poppy) n. an annual poppy native to western North America, which is cultivated for its brilliant yellow or orange flowers.

<INFO> Eschscholtzia californica, family Papaveraceae.

californium /kalfnəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 98, a radioactive metal of the actinide series, first produced by bombarding curium with helium ions. (Symbol: Cf)

<ORIGIN> 1950s: named after California University (where it was first made) + -IUM.

Caligula /kəljlə/ (AD 12–41), Roman emperor 37–41; born Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus. His reign was notorious for its tyrannical excesses.

caliper /kalpə/ (also calliper) n. 1 (calipers) an instrument for measuring external or internal dimensions, having two hinged legs resembling a pair of compasses and in-turned or out-turned points.

- (also caliper rule) a measuring instrument having one linear component sliding along another, with two parallel jaws and a vernier scale.

- (also brake caliper) a motor-vehicle or bicycle brake consisting of two or more hinged components.

2 (also caliper splint) BRITISH a metal support for a person's leg.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: apparently an alteration of CALIBRE.

caliph /kelf ka-/ n. HISTORICAL the chief Muslim civil and religious ruler, regarded as the successor of Muhammad. The caliph ruled in Baghdad until 1258 and then in Egypt until the Ottoman conquest of 1517; the title was then held by the Ottoman sultans until it was abolished in 1924 by Atatürk.

<DERIVATIVES> caliphate n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French caliphe, from Arabic alīfa meaning ‘deputy (of God)’ (from the title alīfat Allāh), or meaning ‘successor (of Muhammad)’ (from the title alīfat rasūl Allāh ‘of the Messenger of God’), from alafa ‘succeed’.

call v. 1 [with obj.] cry out to (someone) in order to summon them or attract their attention: she heard Terry calling her | [no obj.] I distinctly heard you call.

- cry out (a word or words): he heard an insistent voice calling his name | Meredith was already calling out a greeting.

- shout out or chant (the steps and figures) to people performing a square dance or country dance.

- telephone (a person or telephone number): could I call you back?

- summon (an emergency service, taxi, etc.) by telephone: if you are suspicious, call the police.

- bring (a witness) into court to give evidence.

- [with obj. and infinitive] ARCHAIC inspire or urge (someone) to do something: I am called to preach the Gospel.

- fix a date or time for (a meeting, strike, or election).

- [BRIDGE] make (a particular bid) during the auction.

- [no obj.] guess the outcome of tossing a coin: ‘You call,’ he said. ‘Heads or tails?’.

- predict the result of (a future event, especially an election or a vote): in the Midlands the race remains too close to call.

- [CRICKET] (of an umpire) no-ball (a bowler) for throwing.

- [COMPUTING] cause the execution of (a subroutine).

2 [no obj.] (of an animal, especially a bird) make its characteristic cry: the mother bird was calling from the twig.

3 [with obj. and complement] give (an infant or animal) a specified name: they called their daughter Hannah.

- address or refer to (someone) by a specified name, title, etc.: please call me Lucy.

- refer to or consider (someone or something) as being: he's the only person I would call a friend.

- (of an umpire or other official in a game) pronounce (a ball, stroke, etc.) to be the thing specified: the linesman called the ball wide.

4 [no obj., with adverbial of place] chiefly BRITISH (of a person) pay a brief visit: I've got to call at the bank to get some cash | he had promised Celia he would call in at the clinic.

- (call for) stop to collect (someone) at the place where they are living or working: I'll call for you around seven.

- (call at) (of a train or coach) stop at (a specified station or stations) on a particular route: the 8.15 service to Paddington, calling at Reading.

■ n. 1 a cry made as a summons or to attract someone's attention: in response to the call, a figure appeared.

- [with modifier] a series of notes sounded on a brass instrument as a signal to do something: a bugle call to rise at 8.30.

- a telephone communication or conversation: I'll give you a call at around five.

- (a call for) an appeal or demand for: the call for action was welcomed.

- a summons: a messenger arrived bringing news of his call to the throne.

- [in sing., with infinitive] a vocation: his call to be a disciple.

- [in sing.] a powerful force of attraction: walkers can't resist the call of the Cairngorms.

- [usually with negative] (call for) demand or need for (goods or services): there is little call for antique furniture.

- a shout by an official in a game indicating that the ball has gone out of play or that a rule has been breached.

- [BRIDGE] a bid, response, or double.

- a direction in a square dance given by the caller.

- a demand for payment of lent or unpaid capital.

- [STOCK EXCHANGE] short for CALL OPTION.

2 the characteristic cry of a bird or other animal: it is best distinguished by its call, a loud ‘pwit’.

3 a brief visit: we paid a call on an elderly Spaniard.

- a visit or journey made in response to an emergency appeal for help: the doctor was out on a call.

<PHRASES>

□ at call another way of saying on call (sense 2).

□ call attention to cause people to notice: he is seeking to call attention to himself by his crimes.

□ call someone's bluff see bluff^1.

□ call collect NORTH AMERICAN make a telephone call reversing the charges.

□ call something into (or in) question cast doubt on something: these findings call into question the legitimacy of the proceedings.

□ call it a DAY see DAY.

□ call someone NAMEs see NAME.

□ call of NATURE see NATURE.

□ call the shots (or tune) take the initiative in deciding how something should be done.

□ call a spade a spade see spade^1.

□ call someone to ACCOUNT see ACCOUNT.

□ call someone/thing to mind cause one to think of someone or something, especially through similarity: the still lifes call to mind certain of Cézanne's works.

- [with negative] remember someone or something: [with clause] I cannot call to mind where I have seen you.

□ call someone/thing to order ask those present at a meeting to be silent so that business may proceed.

□ don't call us, we'll call you INFORMAL used as a dismissive way of saying that someone has not been successful in an audition or job application.

□ good call (or bad call) INFORMAL used to express approval (or criticism) of a person's decision or suggestion. [<ORIGIN> with reference to decisions made by referees or umpires.]

□ on call 1 (of a person) able to be contacted in order to provide a professional service if necessary, but not formally on duty.

2 (of money lent) repayable on demand.

□ to call one's own used to describe something that one can genuinely feel belongs to one: I had not an item to call my own.

□ within call near enough to be summoned by calling: she moved into the guest room, within call of her father's room.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ call for 1 make necessary: desperate times call for desperate measures.

2 draw attention to the need for: the report calls for an audit of endangered species.

□ call something forth elicit a specified response: few things call forth more compassion.

□ call someone/thing down 1 cause or provoke someone or something to appear or occur: nothing called down the wrath of Nemesis quicker.

2 DATED reprimand someone.

□ call someone in enlist someone's aid or services.

□ call something in require payment of a loan or promise of money.

□ call someone/thing off order a person or dog to stop attacking someone.

□ call something off cancel an event or agreement.

□ call on 1 pay a visit to (someone): he's planning to call on Katherine today.

2 (also call upon) have recourse to: we are able to call on academic staff with a wide variety of expertise.

- [with infinitive] demand that (someone) do something: he called on the government to hold a vote.

□ call someone out 1 summon someone to deal with an emergency or to do repairs.

2 order or advise workers to strike.

3 ARCHAIC challenge someone to a duel.

□ call something over DATED read out a list of names to determine those present.

□ call someone up 1 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN telephone someone.

2 summon someone to serve in the army.

- select someone to play in a team: he was called up for the international against Turkey.

□ call something up summon for use something that is stored or kept available: icons which allow you to call up a graphic.

- evoke something: the imaginative intensity with which he called up the Devon landscape.

<ORIGIN> late Old English ceallian, from Old Norse kalla ‘summon loudly’.

calla /kalə/ n. either of two plants of the arum family:

<INFO>

- (also water calla) another term for BOG ARUM

- (usually calla lily) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for ARUM LILY

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin.

Callaghan /kaləhan/ (Leonard) James, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff (1912–2005), British Labour statesman, Prime Minister 1976–9.

callaloo /kaləlu/ (also callalou) n. 1 [mass noun] the spinach-like leaves of a tropical American plant, used in Caribbean cookery.

- a soup or stew made with callaloo leaves.

2 the plant of the arum family from which callaloo leaves are obtained.

<INFO> Genus Xanthosoma, family Araceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from American Spanish calalú.

Callanetics /kalənεtks/ plural n. [treated as sing. or plural] TRADEMARK a system of physical exercises based on small repeated movements.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: named after Callan Pinckney (born 1939), American deviser of the system, perhaps on the pattern of [ATHLETICS].

Callao /kaja/ the principal seaport of Peru; pop. 424,300 (est. 1998).

Callas /kaləs/ Maria (1923–77), American-born operatic soprano, of Greek parentage; born Maria Cecilia Anna Kalageropoulos. She was a coloratura soprano whose bel canto style of singing was especially suited to 19th-century Italian opera.

callback n. 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an invitation to return for a second audition or interview.

2 a telephone call made to return one that someone has received.

3 [mass noun] a security feature used by some computer systems accessed by telephone, in which a user must log on from a previously registered phone number, to which the system then places a return call.

call box n. 1 BRITISH a public telephone booth.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a telephone for emergency use.

call centre n. an office in which large numbers of telephone calls are handled, especially one providing the customer services functions of a large organization.

caller n. 1 a person who pays a brief visit or makes a telephone call.

2 a person who calls out numbers in a game of bingo or directions in a dance.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a racing or sports commentator.

caller ID n. [mass noun] a facility that identifies and displays the telephone numbers of incoming calls made to a particular line.

call girl n. a female prostitute who accepts appointments by telephone.

Callicrates /kəlkrətiz/ (5th century BC), Greek architect. He was the leading architect in Periclean Athens, and with Ictinus designed the Parthenon (447–438 BC).

calligraph /kalrαf/ v. [with obj.] write in calligraphic style.

calligraphy /kəlrəfi/ n. [mass noun] decorative handwriting or handwritten lettering.

- the art of producing decorative handwriting or lettering with a pen or brush.

<DERIVATIVES> calligrapher n. calligraphic adj. calligraphist n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek kalligraphia, from kalligraphos ‘person who writes beautifully’, from kallos ‘beauty’ + graphein ‘write’.

Callimachus /kəlməkəs/ (c.305–c.240 BC), Greek poet and scholar. He is famed for his hymns and epigrams, and was head of the library at Alexandria.

calling n. 1 [mass noun] the action or sound of calling.

2 a strong urge towards a particular way of life or career; a vocation: those who have a special calling to minister to others' needs.

- a profession or occupation: he considered engineering one of the highest possible callings.

calling bell n. INDIAN a doorbell.

calling card n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a visiting card or business card.

- FIGURATIVE an action by which someone or something can be identified: holistic, sustainable design is the calling card of the green architect.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a phonecard or telephone charge card.

Calliope /kələpi/ [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the Muse of epic poetry.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Kalliopē, literally ‘having a beautiful voice’.

calliope /kələpi/ n. an American keyboard instrument resembling an organ but with the notes produced by steam whistles, formerly used on showboats and in travelling fairs.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the Greek name Kalliopē (see CALLIOPE).

callipygian /kalpdən/ (also callipygean) adj. RARE having well-shaped buttocks.

<DERIVATIVES> callipygous /kalpdəs kalpdəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek kallipūgos (used to describe a famous statue of Venus), from kallos ‘beauty’ + pūgē ‘buttocks’, + -IAN.

callistemon /kalstimən/ n. a plant of a genus that comprises the bottlebrushes.

<INFO> Genus Callistemon, family Myrtaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kallos ‘beauty’ + stēmōn ‘thread or stamen’.

callisthenics /kalsθεnks/ (US calisthenics) plural n. gymnastic exercises to achieve bodily fitness and grace of movement.

<DERIVATIVES> callisthenic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek kallos ‘beauty’ + sthenos ‘strength’ + -ICS.

Callisto /kəlstə/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a nymph who was changed into a bear by Zeus. See also URSA MAJOR.

2 [ASTRONOMY] one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, the eighth-closest satellite to the planet, icy with a dark, cratered surface (diameter 4,800 km).

callitrichid /kaltrkd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a primate of a family (Callitrichidae or Callithricidae) that comprises the marmosets and tamarins.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin Callitrichidae (plural), from Greek kallitrikhos ‘having beautiful hair’.

call letters plural n. NORTH AMERICAN a sequence of letters used by a television or radio station as an identifying code.

call money n. [mass noun] money loaned by a bank or other institution which is repayable on demand.

callop /kaləp/ n. a deep-bodied edible gold and green freshwater fish found in Australia. Also called GOLDEN PERCH.

<INFO> Plectroplites ambiguus, family Serranidae.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: perhaps from an Aboriginal language of southern Australia.

call option n. [STOCK EXCHANGE] an option to buy assets at an agreed price on or before a particular date.

callosity /kəlsti/ n. (pl. callosities) TECHNICAL a thickened and hardened part of the skin; a callus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French callosité, from Latin callositas, from callosus ‘hard-skinned’, from callum, callus ‘hardened skin’.

callous adj. showing or having an insensitive and cruel disregard for others: his callous comments about the murder made me shiver.

■ n. variant spelling of CALLUS.

<DERIVATIVES> callously adv. callousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the Latin sense): from Latin callosus ‘hard-skinned’.

calloused (also callused) adj. (of a part of the body) having an area of hardened skin: a calloused palm.

call-out n. an instance of being summoned to deal with an emergency or do repairs: [as modifier] a call-out charge.

call-over n. BRITISH DATED a roll-call at school.

callow adj. (of a young person) inexperienced and immature: earnest and callow undergraduates.

<DERIVATIVES> callowly adv. callowness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English calu ‘bald’, of West Germanic origin, probably from Latin calvus ‘bald’. This was extended to mean ‘unfledged’, which led to the present sense ‘immature’.

Calloway /kaləwe/ Cab (1907–94), American jazz singer and bandleader; full name Cabell Calloway. He was famous for his style of scat singing, for his flamboyant appearance, and for songs such as ‘Minnie the Moocher’ (1931).

call sign (also call signal) n. a message, code, or tune that is broadcast by radio to identify the broadcaster or transmitter.

calluna /kəlunə/ n. [mass noun] the common heather of Europe and Asia Minor.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek kallunein ‘beautify, sweep clean’ (from kallos ‘beauty’). The notion of ‘sweeping’ is also seen in the noun BROOM, brooms being originally made of twigs of heather or broom.

call-up n. an instance of being summoned to serve in the armed forces or a sports team: [as modifier] my call-up papers.

callus /kaləs/ (also callous) n. a thickened and hardened part of the skin or soft tissue, especially in an area that has been subjected to friction.

- MEDICINE the bony healing tissue which forms around the ends of broken bone.

- [BOTANY] a hard formation of tissue, especially new tissue formed over a wound.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin callus (more commonly callum) ‘hardened skin’.

call waiting n. [mass noun] a service whereby someone making a telephone call is notified of an incoming call on the line that they are already using, and is able to place the first call on hold while the second is answered.

calm adj. 1 not showing or feeling nervousness, anger, or other strong emotions: she had to keep calm at all costs | his voice was calm.

- (of a place) peaceful after violent activity: the city was reported to be calm, but army patrols remained.

2 (of the weather) pleasantly free from wind: the night was clear and calm.

- (of the sea) not disturbed by large waves.

■ n. [mass noun] 1 the absence of strong emotions; calm feelings: his usual calm deserted him.

- the absence of violent activity in a place: the elections proceeded in an atmosphere of relative calm | [in sing.] an edgy calm reigned in the capital.

2 the absence of wind: in the centre of the storm calm prevailed.

- still air represented by force 0 on the Beaufort scale (less than 1 knot or 1 kph).

- [count noun] (often calms) an area of the sea without wind.

■ v. [with obj.] make (someone) tranquil and quiet; soothe: I took him inside and tried to calm him down.

- [no obj.] (calm down) (of a person) become tranquil and quiet.

<PHRASES>

□ the calm before the storm see STORM.

<DERIVATIVES> calmly adv. calmness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via one of the Romance languages from Greek kauma ‘heat (of the day)’.

calmative /kαmətv kal-/ adj. (of a drug) having a sedative effect.

■ n. a calmative drug.

calmodulin /kalmdjln/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein which binds calcium and is involved in regulating a variety of activities in cells.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from cal(cium) + modul(ate) + -IN^1.

calomel /kaləmεl/ n. [mass noun] mercurous chloride, a white powder formerly used as a purgative.

<INFO> Chem. formula: Hg_2Cl_2.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, perhaps from Greek kalos ‘beautiful’ + melas ‘black’ (perhaps because it was originally obtained from a black mixture of mercury and mercuric chloride).

Calor gas /kalə/ n. [mass noun] BRITISH TRADEMARK liquefied butane stored under pressure in portable containers, used domestically as a substitute for mains gas and in camping as a portable fuel.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: Calor from Latin calor ‘heat’.

caloric /kəlrk kalərk/ adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN or TECHNICAL relating to heat; calorific: a caloric value of 7 calories per gram.

■ n. [mass noun] a hypothetical fluid substance formerly thought to be responsible for the phenomena of heat.

<DERIVATIVES> calorically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as a noun): from French calorique, from Latin calor ‘heat’.

calorie n. (pl. calories) either of two units of heat energy:

- (also small calorie) (abbr.: cal) the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C (now usually defined as 4.1868 joules).

- (also large calorie) (abbr.: Cal) the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water through 1 °C, equal to one thousand small calories and often used to measure the energy value of foods.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Latin calor ‘heat’ + French suffix -ie (see -y^3).

calorific adj. relating to the amount of energy contained in food or fuel: she knew the calorific contents of every morsel.

- (of food or drink) containing many calories and so likely to be fattening: there is fruit salad for those who can resist the more calorific concoctions.

<DERIVATIVES> calorifically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin calorificus, from calor ‘heat’.

calorific value n. the energy contained in a fuel or food, determined by measuring the heat produced by the complete combustion of a specified quantity of it. This is now usually expressed in joules per kilogram.

calorimeter /kalərmtə/ n. an apparatus for measuring the amount of heat involved in a chemical reaction or other process.

<DERIVATIVES> calorimetric adj. calorimetry n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin calor ‘heat’ + -METER.

calotype /kalətp/ (also calotype process) n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL an early photographic process in which negatives were made using paper coated with silver iodide.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kalos ‘beautiful’ + TYPE.

calque /kalk/ [LINGUISTICS] n. another term for LOAN TRANSLATION.

■ v. (be calqued on) originate or function as a loan translation of.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from French, literally ‘copy, tracing’, from calquer ‘to trace’, via Italian from Latin calcare ‘to tread’.

caltrop /kaltrəp/ (also caltrap) n. 1 a spiked metal device thrown on the ground to impede wheeled vehicles or (formerly) cavalry horses.

2 a creeping plant with woody carpels that typically have hard spines and resemble military caltrops.

<INFO> Genus Tribulus, family Zygophyllaceae.

3 (also water caltrop)

■ another term for water chestnut (sense 3).

<ORIGIN> Old English calcatrippe, denoting any plant which tended to catch the feet, from medieval Latin calcatrippa, from calx ‘heel’ or calcare ‘to tread’ + a word related to trap^1.

■ Sense 1 was probably adopted from French.

calumet /kaljmεt/ n. a North American Indian peace pipe.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from late Latin calamellus ‘little reed’, diminutive of Latin calamus (referring to the pipe's reed stem).

calumniate /kəlmnet/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL make false and defamatory statements about: he has been calumniating the Crown and all the conservative decencies.

<DERIVATIVES> calumniation n. calumniator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin calumniari, from calumnia (see CALUMNY).

calumny /kaləmni/ n. (pl. calumnies) [mass noun] the making of false and defamatory statements about someone in order to damage their reputation; slander.

■ v. (calumnies, calumnying, calumnied) [with obj.] FORMAL slander (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> calumnious /kəlmnəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin calumnia.

calutron /kəlutrn/ n. a device that uses large electromagnets to separate uranium isotopes from uranium ore, developed in the 1940s to produce highly enriched weapons-grade uranium.

<ORIGIN> from Cal(ifornia) U(niversity) (cyclo)tron.

Calvados /kalvəds/ n. [mass noun] apple brandy, traditionally made in the Calvados region of Normandy.

Calvary /kalv(ə)ri/ the hill outside Jerusalem on which Christ was crucified.

- (as n. a calvary) a sculpture or picture representing the scene of the Crucifixion.

<ORIGIN> from late Latin calvaria ‘skull’, translation of Greek golgotha ‘place of a skull’ (Matt. 27:33) (see GOLGOTHA).

calve v. 1 [no obj.] (of cows and certain other large animals) give birth to a calf.

- [with obj.] (of a person) help (a cow) give birth to a calf.

2 [with obj.] (of an iceberg or glacier) split and shed (a smaller mass of ice).

- [no obj.] (of a mass of ice) split off from an iceberg or glacier.

<ORIGIN> Old English calfian, from cælf ‘calf’.

calves plural form of calf^1, calf^2.

Calvin^1 John (1509–64), French Protestant theologian and reformer. On becoming a Protestant he fled to Switzerland, where he attempted to reorder society on reformed Christian principles and established the first Presbyterian government, in Geneva. His Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536) was the first systematic account of reformed Christian doctrine.

Calvin^2 Melvin (1911–97), American biochemist, who investigated photosynthesis and discovered the cycle of reactions (the Calvin cycle) which constitute the dark reaction. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1961).

Calvinism n. [mass noun] the Protestant theological system of John Calvin and his successors, which develops Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone into an emphasis on the grace of God and centres on the doctrine of predestination.

<DERIVATIVES> Calvinist n. Calvinistic adj. Calvinistical adj.

Calvino /kalvinə/ Italo (1923–87), Italian novelist and short-story writer, born in Cuba. His later works, such as If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (1979), are associated with magic realism.

calx /kalks/ n. (pl. calces /kalsiz/) [CHEMISTRY], ARCHAIC a powdery metallic oxide formed when an ore or mineral has been heated.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘lime’, probably from Greek khalix ‘pebble, limestone’.

Calypso /kəlpsə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a nymph who kept Odysseus on her island, Ogygia, for seven years.

<ORIGIN> Greek, literally ‘she who conceals’.

calypso /kəlpsə/ n. (pl. calypsos) [mass noun] a kind of West Indian (originally Trinidadian) music in syncopated African rhythm, typically with words improvised on a topical theme.

- [count noun] a calypso song.

<DERIVATIVES> calypsonian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

calyx /kalks ke-/ (also calix) n. (pl. calyces /-lsiz/ or calyxes) 1 [BOTANY] the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud. Compare with COROLLA.

2 [ZOOLOGY] a cup-like cavity or structure, in particular:

- a portion of the pelvis of a mammalian kidney.

- the cavity in a calcareous coral skeleton that surrounds the polyp.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, from Greek kalux ‘case of a bud, husk’, related to kaluptein ‘to hide’.

calzone /kaltsəne -ni/ n. (pl. calzoni or calzones) a type of pizza that is folded in half before cooking to contain a filling.

<ORIGIN> Italian dialect, probably a special use of calzone ‘trouser leg’, with reference to the shape of the pizza.

CAM abbr. computer aided manufacturing.

cam n. 1 a projection on a rotating part in machinery, designed to make sliding contact with another part while rotating and impart reciprocal or variable motion to it.

- a camshaft.

2 INFORMAL a camera.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Dutch kam ‘comb’, as in kamrad ‘cogwheel’.

camaraderie /kamərαd(ə)ri -ri/ n. [mass noun] mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together: the enforced camaraderie of office life.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from camarade ‘comrade’.

Camargue /kəmα/ French /kamaR/ (the Camargue) a region of the Rhône delta in SE France, characterized by numerous shallow salt lagoons. The region is known for its white horses and as a nature reserve.

camarilla /kamərl(j)ə/ n. DEROGATORY a small group of people, especially a group of advisers to a ruler or politician, with a shared purpose: a military camarilla that has lost any sense of political reality.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, diminutive of camara ‘chamber’.

camas /kəmas/ (also camass or quamash) n. a North American plant of the lily family, cultivated for its starry blue or purple flowers.

<INFO> Genera Camassia and Zigadenus, family Liliaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Chinook Jargon kamass, perhaps from Nootka.

Cambay, Gulf of /kambe/ (also Gulf of Khambat) an inlet of the Arabian Sea on the Gujarat coast of western India, north of Mumbai (Bombay).

camber /kambə/ n. the slightly convex or arched shape of a road or other horizontal surface.

- BRITISH a tilt built into a road at a bend or curve, enabling vehicles to maintain speed.

- the slight sideways inclination of the front wheels of a motor vehicle.

- the extent of curvature of a section of an aerofoil.

<DERIVATIVES> cambered adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cambre, dialect variant of chambre ‘arched’, from Latin camurus ‘curved inwards’.

Camberwell beauty n. BRITISH a migratory butterfly with deep purple yellow-bordered wings, which is a rare visitor to Britain.

<INFO> Nymphalis antiopa, subfamily Nymphalinae, family Nymphalidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Camberwell in London, then a village, where the first specimens were captured.

cambium /kambəm/ n. (pl. cambia or cambiums) [mass noun] [BOTANY] a cellular plant tissue from which phloem, xylem, or cork grows by division, resulting (in woody plants) in secondary thickening.

<DERIVATIVES> cambial adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting one of the alimentary humours once supposed to nourish the body): from medieval Latin, ‘change, exchange’.

Cambodia /kambədə/ a country in SE Asia between Thailand and southern Vietnam; pop. 12,775,324 (est. 2002); official language, Khmer; capital, Phnom Penh. Also officially called the KHMER REPUBLIC and KAMPUCHEA.

The country was made a French protectorate in 1863 and remained under French influence until it became fully independent in 1953. During the Vietnam War it was bombed and invaded by US forces, and then, following a civil war (1970–5), came under the control of the Khmer Rouge; more than 2 million Cambodians died before the regime was toppled by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979.

Cambodian n. 1 a native or national of Cambodia, or a person of Cambodian descent.

2 another term for KHMER (the language).

■ adj. relating to Cambodia, its people, or their language.

cambozola /kambəzələ/ (also cambazola) n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a type of German blue soft cheese with a rind like Camembert, produced using Gorgonzola blue mould.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: an invented name, blend of CAMEMBERT and GORGONZOLA, with the insertion of -bo-.

Cambrelle /kambrεl/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a synthetic fabric which absorbs perspiration, used as a lining material for climbing and walking boots.

Cambrian /kambrən/ adj. 1 (chiefly in names or geographical terms) Welsh: the Cambrian Railway.

2 [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the first period in the Palaeozoic era, between the end of the Precambrian aeon and the beginning of the Ordovician period.

- (as n. the Cambrian) the Cambrian period or the system of rocks deposited during it.

The Cambrian lasted from about 570 to 510 million years ago and was a time of widespread seas. It is the earliest period in which fossils, notably trilobites, can be used in geological dating.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin Cambria ‘Wales’, variant of Cumbria, from Welsh Cymry ‘Welshman’ or Cymru ‘Wales’.

cambric /kambrk kem-/ n. [mass noun] a lightweight, closely woven white linen or cotton fabric.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Kamerijk, Flemish form of Cambrai, a town in northern France, where it was originally made. Compare with CHAMBRAY.

Cambridge 1 a city in eastern England, the county town of Cambridgeshire; pop. 120,600 (est. 1998). Cambridge University is located there.

2 a city in eastern Massachusetts, forming part of the conurbation of Boston; pop. 101,400 (2000). Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are located there.

Cambridge blue n. British 1 [mass noun] a pale blue colour.

2 a person who has represented Cambridge University at a particular sport in a match against Oxford University.

Cambridgeshire a county of eastern England; county town, Cambridge.

Cambridge University a university at Cambridge in England, founded in 1230. The university comprises a federation of thirty-one colleges.

Cambs. abbr. Cambridgeshire.

Cambyses /kambsiz/ (d.522 BC), king of Persia 529–522 BC, son of Cyrus. He is chiefly remembered for his conquest of Egypt in 525 BC.

camcorder n. a portable combined video camera and video RECORDER.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of camera^1 and recorder.

came^1 past tense of COME.

came^2 n. each of a number of strips forming a framework for enclosing a pane of glass, especially in a leaded window.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

camel n. 1 a large, long-necked ungulate mammal of arid country, with long slender legs, broad cushioned feet, and either one or two humps on the back. Camels can survive for long periods without food or drink, chiefly by using up the fat reserves in their humps.

<INFO> Genus Camelus, family Camelidae (the camel family): two species (see ARABIAN CAMEL, BACTRIAN CAMEL). The camel family also includes the llama and its relatives.

- [mass noun] a fabric made from camel hair.

- [mass noun] a yellowish-fawn colour like that of camel hair.

2 an apparatus for raising a sunken ship, consisting of one or more watertight chests to provide buoyancy.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin camelus, from Greek kamēlos, of Semitic origin.

camelback n. a back with a hump-shaped curve on a sofa or other piece of furniture: [as modifier] a camelback sofa.

camel cricket n. a humpbacked wingless insect related to the grasshoppers, typically living in caves or holes. Also called CAVE CRICKET.

<INFO> Family Raphidophoridae: several genera.

cameleer /kamələ/ n. a person who controls or rides a camel.

camel hair (also camel's hair) n. [mass noun] 1 a fabric made from the hair of a camel: [as modifier] a camel-hair coat.

2 [usually as modifier] fine, soft hair from a squirrel's tail, used in artists' brushes.

camelid /kəmild kaməld/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a mammal of the camel family (Camelidae).

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from modern Latin Camelidae (plural), from Latin camelus ‘camel’, from Greek kamēlos.

camellia /kəmilə -mεlə/ n. an evergreen East Asian shrub related to the tea plant, grown for its showy flowers and shiny leaves.

<INFO> Genus Camellia, family Theaceae: several species, in particular the common camellia (C. japonica).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named by Linnaeus after Joseph Kamel (Latinized as Camellus), Moravian botanist (1661–1706), who described the flora of Luzon.

camelopard /kamlə()pαd kəmεləpαd/ n. ARCHAIC a giraffe.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek kamēlopardalis, from kamēlos ‘camel’ + pardalis (see PARD).

Camelopardalis /kəmεlə()pαd(ə)ls/ [ASTRONOMY] a large but inconspicuous northern constellation (the Giraffe), between the Pole Star and Perseus.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek kamēlopardalis (see CAMELOPARD).

Camelot /kamlt/ (in Arthurian legend) the place where King Arthur held his court.

- (as n. a Camelot) a place associated with glittering romance and optimism.

camel spider n. another term for SUN SPIDER.

camel thorn n. either of two spiny leguminous shrubs occurring in arid country.

<INFO> Alhagi camelorum (of the Middle East) and Acacia giraffae (of southern Africa), family Leguminosae.

Camembert /kaməmbε/ n. [mass noun] a kind of rich, soft, creamy cheese with a whitish rind, originally made near Camembert in Normandy.

cameo /kamə/ n. (pl. cameos) 1 a piece of jewellery, typically oval in shape, consisting of a portrait in profile carved in relief on a background of a different colour.

2 a short descriptive literary sketch which neatly encapsulates someone or something: cameos of street life.

- a small character part in a play or film, played by a distinguished actor: [as modifier] he played numerous cameo roles.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French camahieu, cama(h)u; later influenced by Italian cam(m)eo, from medieval Latin cammaeus, related to the Old French word.

cameo glass n. [mass noun] decorative glass consisting of layers of different colours, the outermost being cut away to leave a design in relief.

camera^1 n. a device for recording visual images in the form of photographs, movie film, or video signals.

<PHRASES>

□ on (or off) camera while being filmed or televised (or not being filmed or televised).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin (see camera^2, camera obscura).

camera^2 n. [in names] a chamber or round building: the Radcliffe Camera.

<PHRASES>

□ in camera chiefly [LAW] in private, in particular taking place in the private chambers of a judge, with the press and public excluded.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting a council or legislative chamber in Italy or Spain): from Latin, ‘vault, arched chamber’, from Greek kamara ‘object with an arched cover’.

camera lucida /kam(ə)rə lusdə/ n. an instrument in which rays of light are reflected by a prism to produce an image on a sheet of paper, from which a drawing can be made.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, ‘bright chamber’, on the pattern of camera obscura.

cameraman n. (pl. cameramen) a man whose profession is operating a video, television, or film camera.

camera obscura /bskjərə/ n. a darkened box with a convex lens or aperture for projecting the image of an external object on to a screen inside, a forerunner of the modern camera.

- a small round building with a rotating angled mirror at the apex of the roof, projecting an image of the landscape on to a horizontal surface inside.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, ‘dark chamber’.

camera phone n. a mobile phone incorporating a digital camera.

camera-ready adj. (of material to be printed) in the right form and of good enough quality to be reproduced photographically on to a printing plate: camera-ready copy.

camerawork n. [mass noun] the way in which cameras are used in a film or television programme: discreet camerawork and underplayed acting.

Cameron^1 James (b.1954), Canadian-born American film director. His films include The Terminator (1984) and Titanic (1997).

Cameron^2 Julia Margaret (1815–79), English photographer, credited with being the first to use soft-focus techniques. Her work often reflects the influence of contemporary painting, especially that of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Cameron Highlands a hill resort region in Pahang, Malaysia.

<ORIGIN> named after the surveyor William Cameron, who mapped the area in 1885.

Cameroon /kamərun/ a country on the west coast of Africa between Nigeria and Gabon; pop. 16,184,748 (est. 2002); languages, French (official), English (official), many local languages, pidgin; capital, Yaoundé. French name Cameroun /kamRun/.

The territory was a German protectorate from 1884 to 1916, after which it was administered by France and Britain, latterly under League of Nations (later United Nations) trusteeship. In 1960 the French part became an independent republic, to be joined in 1961 by part of the British Cameroon; the remainder became part of Nigeria. Cameroon became a member of the Commonwealth in 1995.

<DERIVATIVES> Cameroonian adj. & n.

cam follower n. the part of a machine in sliding or rolling contact with a rotating cam and given motion by it.

cami n. (pl. camis) INFORMAL a camisole.

camiknickers plural n. BRITISH a woman's one-piece undergarment which combines camisole and French knickers.

Camisard /kamsα kamsα/ French /kamisaR/ n. a member of the French Protestant insurgents who rebelled against the persecution that followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

<ORIGIN> French, from Provençal camisa, from late Latin camisia ‘shirt’, because of the white shirts worn by the insurgents over their clothing for ease of recognition.

camisole /kamsəl/ n. a woman's loose-fitting undergarment for the upper body, typically held up by shoulder straps.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, either from Italian camiciola, diminutive of camicia, or from Spanish camisola, diminutive of camisa, both from late Latin camisia ‘shirt or nightgown’.

camo /kamə/ n. INFORMAL short for CAMOUFLAGE: [as modifier] a camo jacket.

Camões /kamn/ (also Camoëns /kaməεns/) Luis (Vaz) de (c.1524–80), Portuguese poet. His most famous work, The Lusiads (1572), describes Vasco da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India.

camogie /kaməi/ n. [mass noun] an Irish game resembling hurling, played by women or girls.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Irish caméog.

camomile /kaməml/ (also chiefly NORTH AMERICAN chamomile) n. an aromatic European plant of the daisy family, with white and yellow daisy-like flowers.

<INFO> The perennial sweet (or Roman) camomile (Chamaemelum nobile (or Anthemis nobilis), family Compositae), traditionally used for lawns and herbal medicine, the annual German camomile (Matricaria recutita), used medicinally, and the yellow-flowered dyer's camomile (Anthemis tinctoria), used to produce a yellow-brown dye.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French camomille, from late Latin chamomilla, from Greek khamaimēlon ‘earth-apple’ (because of the apple-like smell of its flowers).

camomile tea (also chiefly NORTH AMERICAN chamomile tea) n. [mass noun] an infusion of dried flowers of sweet camomile.

Camorra /kəmrə/ (the Camorra) a secret criminal society originating in Naples and Neapolitan emigrant communities in the 19th century. Some members later moved to the US and formed links with the Mafia.

<ORIGIN> Italian, perhaps from Spanish camorra ‘dispute, quarrel’.

camouflage /kaməflα/ n. [mass noun] the disguising of military personnel, equipment, and installations by painting or covering them to make them blend in with their surroundings: on the trenches were pieces of turf which served for camouflage.

- clothing or materials used as camouflage: figures dressed in army camouflage.

- the natural colouring or form of an animal which enables it to blend in with its surroundings: the whiteness of polar bears provides camouflage.

- FIGURATIVE actions or devices intended to disguise or mislead: much of my apparent indifference was merely protective camouflage.

■ v. [with obj.] hide or disguise the presence of (a person, animal, or object) by means of camouflage: the caravan was camouflaged with netting and branches from trees | FIGURATIVE grievances should be discussed, not camouflaged.

<ORIGIN> First World War: from French, from camoufler ‘to disguise’ (originally thieves' slang), from Italian camuffare ‘disguise, deceive’, perhaps by association with French camouflet ‘whiff of smoke in the face’.

camp^1 n. 1 a place with temporary accommodation of huts, tents, or other structures, used by soldiers, refugees, or travelling people.

- a complex of buildings for holiday accommodation, with recreational facilities.

- (also summer camp) NORTH AMERICAN a summer holiday programme for children, offering a range of activities.

- [mass noun] temporary overnight lodging in tents: we pitched camp at a fine spot.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY], BRITISH an enclosed or fortified prehistoric site, especially an Iron Age hill fort.

2 the supporters of a particular party or doctrine regarded collectively: both the liberal and conservative camps were annoyed by his high-handed manner.

3 S. AFRICAN a fenced field or enclosed area for grazing.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a place where livestock regularly congregate or where a mustered herd is assembled.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 live for a time in a tent or caravan, especially while on holiday: holiday parks in which you can camp or stay in a chalet | (as n. camping) camping attracts people of all ages.

- lodge temporarily, especially in an inappropriate or uncomfortable place: we camped out for the night in a mission schoolroom.

- remain persistently in one place: the press will be camping on your doorstep once they get on to this story.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ (of livestock) assemble together for rest.

3 [with obj.] S. AFRICAN divide (land) and enclose with fences.

<PHRASES>

□ break camp take down a tent or the tents of an encampment ready to leave.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French camp, champ, from Italian campo, from Latin campus ‘level ground’, specifically applied to the Campus Martius in Rome, used for games, athletic practice, and military drill.

camp^2 INFORMAL adj. (of a man or his manner) ostentatiously and extravagantly effeminate: a heavily made-up and highly camp actor.

- deliberately exaggerated and theatrical in style: the movie seems more camp than shocking or gruesome.

■ n. [mass noun] deliberately exaggerated and theatrical behaviour or style: Hollywood camp.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a man) behave in an ostentatiously effeminate way: he camped it up a bit for the cameras.

<DERIVATIVES> campery n. campily adv. campiness n. campy adj. (campier, campiest)

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

campaign n. a series of military operations intended to achieve a goal, confined to a particular area, or involving a specified type of fighting: a desert campaign | [mass noun] the army set off on campaign.

- an organized course of action to achieve a goal: an election campaign | the campaign for a full inquiry into the regime.

■ v. [no obj.] work in an organized and active way towards a goal: people who campaigned against child labour | [with infinitive] the services he had campaigned to protect.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a tract of open country): from French campagne ‘open country’, via Italian from late Latin campania, from campus ‘level ground’ (see camp^1). The change in sense arose from an army's practice of ‘taking the field’ (i.e. moving from a fortress or town to open country) at the onset of summer.

campaigner n. a person who works in an organized and active way towards a goal: human rights campaigners are furious at the government's decision.

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (abbr.: CND) a British organization which campaigns for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide and calls for unilateral disarmament.

Campania /kampenə -panjə/ a region of southern Italy; capital, Naples.

<DERIVATIVES> Campanian n. & adj.

campanile /kampənile/ n. an Italian bell tower, especially a free-standing one.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian, from campana ‘bell’.

campanology /kampənlədi/ n. [mass noun] the art or practice of bell-ringing.

<DERIVATIVES> campanological adj. campanologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin campanologia, from late Latin campana ‘bell’.

campanula /kampanjlə/ n. another term for BELLFLOWER.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, diminutive of late Latin campana ‘bell’.

campanulate /kampanjlət/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a flower) bell-shaped, like a campanula.

Campari /kampαri/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a pinkish aperitif flavoured with bitters.

<ORIGIN> named after the manufacturer.

camp bed n. BRITISH a folding portable bed, typically made of canvas stretched over a metal frame.

Campbell^1 /kamb(ə)l/ Sir Malcolm (1885–1948), English motor-racing driver. In 1935 he became the first man to exceed a land speed of 300 mph (483 kph). He also achieved a water-speed record of 141.74 mph (228 kph), in 1939. His son Donald (Malcolm) (1921–67) was also a motor-racing driver, and in 1964 achieved a speed of 276.33 mph (445 kph) on water and 403 mph (649 kph) on land. He was killed attempting to break his own water speed record.

Campbell^2 /kamb(ə)l/ Mrs Patrick (1865–1940), English actress; born Beatrice Stella Tanner. George Bernard Shaw wrote the part of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (1914) for her.

Campbell^3 /kamb(ə)l/ Roy (1901–57), South African poet; full name Ignatius Royston Dunnachie Campbell. His long poem Flowering Rifle (1939) shows strong right-wing sympathies; he fought for Franco's side in the Spanish Civil War.

Campbell^4 /kamb(ə)l/ Thomas (1777–1844), Scottish poet, chiefly remembered for his patriotic lyrics such as ‘The Battle of Hohenlinden’ and ‘Ye Mariners of England’.

Campbell-Bannerman Sir Henry (1836–1908), British Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1905–8. His premiership saw the grant of self-government to the defeated Boer republics of Transvaal (1906) and the Orange River Colony (1907).

campcraft n. [mass noun] knowledge and skill required for an outdoor life lacking modern conveniences.

Camp David the country retreat of the President of the US, in the Appalachian Mountains in Maryland. President Carter hosted talks there between the leaders of Israel and Egypt which resulted in the Camp David agreements (1978) and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty of 1979.

campdrafting n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN an equestrian sport in which each rider in turn selects a bullock from a herd and drives it round a set course.

Campeche /kampεte/ a state of SE Mexico, on the Yucatán Peninsula.

- the capital of Campeche, a seaport on the Gulf of Mexico; pop. 190,800 (2000).

camper n. 1 a person who spends a holiday in a tent or holiday camp.

- [with adj.] INFORMAL a person in a specified mood: I understand that this is necessary, but I am not a happy camper.

2 (also camper van) BRITISH a large motor vehicle with living accommodation.

- NORTH AMERICAN a caravan.

campesino /kampəsinə/ n. (pl. campesinos /-əz/) (in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries) a peasant farmer.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

campfire n. an open-air fire in a camp, used for cooking and as a focal point for social activity.

camp follower n. a civilian who works in or is attached to a military camp.

- a person who is nominally attached to a group but does not make a substantial contribution to its activities: cynical opportunists and camp followers.

campground n. North American term for CAMPSITE.

camphor /kamfə/ n. [mass noun] a white volatile crystalline substance with an aromatic smell and bitter taste, occurring in certain essential oils.

<INFO> A terpenoid ketone; chem. formula: C_10H_17O.

<DERIVATIVES> camphoric /-frk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French camphore or medieval Latin camphora, from Arabic kāfūr, via Malay from Sanskrit karpūra.

camphorate v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. camphorated) impregnate or treat with camphor.

camphor tree n. an East Asian tree of the laurel family, the chief natural source of camphor.

<INFO> Cinnamomum camphora, family Lauraceae.

campimetry /kampmətri/ n. [mass noun] a technique for measuring or mapping the field of vision of the eye.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin campus ‘field’ (see camp^1) + -METRY.

Campinas /kampinəs/ a city in SE Brazil, north-west of São Paulo; pop. 951,824 (2000).

Campion^1 /kampən/ Jane (b.1954), New Zealand film director and screenwriter. Notable works: An Angel at My Table (1990) and The Piano (1993), for which she received an Oscar for best screenplay.

Campion^2 /kampən/ St Edmund (1540–81), English Jesuit priest and martyr. He was canonized in 1970. Feast day, 1 December.

campion /kampən/ n. a plant of the pink family, typically having pink or white flowers with notched petals, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Genera Silene and Lychnis, family Caryophyllaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps related to CHAMPION. The name was originally used for the rose campion, whose name in Latin (Lychnis coronaria) and Greek (lukhnis stephanōmatikē) means ‘campion fit for a crown’, and which was said in classical times to have been used for victors' garlands.

camp meeting n. NORTH AMERICAN a religious meeting held in the open air or in a tent.

campo /kampə/ n. (pl. campos) 1 (in South America, especially Brazil) a grass plain with occasional stunted trees.

2 a square in an Italian or Spanish town.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian campo, literally ‘field’.

Campobasso /kampəbasə/ a city in central Italy, capital of Molise region; pop. 46,860 (2001).

Campo Grande /kampu randi/ a city in SW Brazil, capital of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul; pop. 654,832 (2000).

camporee /kampəri/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a local or regional camping event for Scouts.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of camp^1 and JAMBOREE.

campsite n. a place used for camping, especially one equipped for holidaymakers.

campus n. (pl. campuses) the grounds and buildings of a university or college: for the first year I had a room on campus.

- NORTH AMERICAN the grounds of a school, hospital, or other institution.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally US): from Latin campus ‘field’ (see camp^1).

campylobacter /kampləbaktə kampləbaktə/ n. a bacterium which may cause abortion in animals and food poisoning in humans.

<INFO> Genus Campylobacter: several species; curved or spiral Gram-negative bacteria.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: modern Latin, from Greek kampulos ‘bent’ + BACTERIUM.

CAMRA /kamrə/ abbr. BRITISH Campaign for Real Ale.

camshaft /kamαft/ n. a shaft with one or more cams attached to it, especially one operating the valves in an internal-combustion engine.

Camulodunum /kamjlə()d(j)unəm/ Roman name for COLCHESTER.

Camus /kamu/ French /kamY/ Albert (1913–60), French novelist, dramatist, and essayist, closely aligned with existentialism. Notable works: The Outsider (novel, 1942), The Plague (novel, 1947), and The Rebel (essay, 1951). Nobel Prize for Literature (1957).

camwood n. 1 [mass noun] the hard red timber of an African tree.

2 either of two trees of the pea family which yield camwood timber.

<INFO> Baphia nitida and (now usually) Pterocarpus soyauxii (the African padouk), family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: probably from Temne k'am + WOOD.

can^1 modal v. (3rd sing. present can; past could) 1 be able to: they can run fast | I could hear footsteps | he can't afford it.

- be able to through acquired knowledge or skill: I can speak Italian.

- have the opportunity or possibility to: there are many ways holidaymakers can take money abroad.

- [with negative or in questions] used to express doubt or surprise about the possibility of something's being the case: he can't have finished | where can she have gone?

- used to indicate that something is typically the case: antique clocks can seem out of place in modern homes | he could be very moody.

2 be permitted to: you can use the phone if you want to | nobody could legally drink on the premises.

3 used to request someone to do something: can you open the window? | can't you leave me alone?

- used to make a suggestion or offer: we can have another drink if you like.

<ORIGIN> Old English cunnan ‘know’ (in Middle English ‘know how to’), related to Dutch kunnen and German können; from an Indo-European root shared by Latin gnoscere ‘know’ and Greek gignōskein ‘know’.

<USAGE> Is there any difference between may and can when used to request or express permission, as in may/can I ask you a few questions? It is still widely held that using can for permission is somehow incorrect, and that it should be reserved for expressions denoting capability, as in can you swim? Although this use of can is not regarded as incorrect in standard English, there is a clear difference in formality between the two verbs: may is, generally speaking, a more polite way of asking for something and is the better choice in more formal contexts.

can^2 n. 1 a cylindrical metal container: a petrol can | a can of paint.

- a small steel or aluminium container in which food or drink is hermetically sealed for storage over long periods: a beer can.

- the quantity of food or drink held by a can: he drank two cans of lager.

2 (the can) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL prison.

3 (the can) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL the toilet.

4 (cans) INFORMAL headphones.

■ v. (cans, canning, canned) [with obj.] 1 preserve (food) in a can.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL dismiss from a job.

- reject as inadequate: they canned the project.

<PHRASES>

□ a can of worms a complicated matter likely to prove awkward or embarrassing.

□ in the can INFORMAL on tape or film and ready to be broadcast or released.

<DERIVATIVES> canner n.

<ORIGIN> Old English canne, related to Dutch kan and German Kanne; either of Germanic origin or from late Latin canna.

Can. abbr. Canada or Canadian.

Cana /kenə/ an ancient small town in Galilee, where Christ is said to have performed his first miracle by changing water into wine during a marriage feast (John 2:1–11).

Canaan /kenən/ the biblical name for the area of ancient Palestine west of the River Jordan, the Promised Land of the Israelites, who conquered and occupied it during the latter part of the 2nd millennium BC.

<DERIVATIVES> Canaanite n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek Khanaan, from Hebrew kĕna`an.

Canada the second-largest country in the world, covering the entire northern half of North America with the exception of Alaska; pop. 31,902,268 (est. 2002); official languages, English and French; capital, Ottawa.

Eastern Canada was colonized by the French in the 17th century, with the British emerging as the ruling colonial power in 1763 after the Seven Years War. Canada became a federation of provinces with dominion status in 1867, and the final step in attaining legal independence from the UK was taken with the signing of the Constitution Act of 1982; Canada remains a member of the Commonwealth. French-speakers are largely concentrated in Quebec, the focal point for the French-Canadian separatist movement.

<DERIVATIVES> Canadian n. & adj. Canadianism n.

Canada balsam n. [mass noun] a yellowish resin obtained from the balsam fir and used for mounting preparations on microscope slides.

Canada goose n. a common North American goose with a black head and neck, a white chinstrap, and a loud trumpeting call. It has been introduced widely in Britain and elsewhere.

<INFO> Branta canadensis, family Anatidae.

Canada jay n. another term for GREY JAY.

Canada thistle n. NORTH AMERICAN the European creeping or field thistle, which has become naturalized as a serious weed in North America.

<INFO> Cirsium arvense, family Compositae.

Canadian football n. [mass noun] a form of football played in Canada, resembling American football, with twelve players a side.

Canadian French n. [mass noun] the form of the French language written and spoken by French Canadians.

Canadian pondweed n. [mass noun] an invasive aquatic American plant which has become naturalized in Europe and is grown in aquaria and ponds.

<INFO> Elodea canadensis, family Hydrocharitaceae.

Canadian Shield a large plateau which occupies over two fifths of the land area of Canada and is drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay. Also called LAURENTIAN PLATEAU.

Canadien /kanadjα/ French /kanadjε/ Canadian n. a French Canadian.

■ adj. French Canadian.

<ORIGIN> French.

canaille /kənαi/ French /kanaj/ n. (the canaille) DEROGATORY the common people; the masses: the haughty contempt of a grandee sneering at the canaille.

<ORIGIN> French, from Italian canaglia ‘pack of dogs’, from cane ‘dog’.

canal n. 1 an artificial waterway constructed to allow the passage of boats or ships inland or to convey water for irrigation.

2 a tubular duct in a plant or animal, serving to convey or contain food, liquid, or air: the ear canal.

3 [ASTRONOMY] any of a number of linear markings formerly reported as seen by telescope on the planet Mars.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, alteration of chanel ‘channel’, from Latin canalis ‘pipe, groove, channel’, from canna ‘cane’.

canal boat n. a long, narrow boat used on canals.

Canaletto /kanəlεtə/ (1697–1768), Italian painter; born Giovanni Antonio Canal. He is famous for his paintings of Venetian festivals and scenery.

canalize /kan(ə)lz/ (also canalise) v. [with obj.] 1 convert (a river) into a navigable canal.

2 convey (something) through a duct or channel.

<DERIVATIVES> canalization n.

Canal Zone see PANAMA CANAL.

canapé /kanəpe/ n. 1 a small piece of bread or pastry with a savoury topping, served with drinks at receptions or formal parties.

2 a decorative French antique sofa.

<ORIGIN> French, sense 1 being a figurative extension of the sense ‘sofa’ (as a ‘couch’ on which to place toppings). See also CANOPY.

canard /kənαd kanαd/ n. 1 an unfounded rumour or story: the old canard that LA is a cultural wasteland.

2 a small wing-like projection attached to an aircraft forward of the main wing to provide extra stability or control, sometimes replacing the tail.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, literally ‘duck’, also ‘hoax’, from Old French caner ‘to quack’.

Canaries Current a cold ocean current in the North Atlantic that flows south-westwards from Spain to meet equatorial waters near the Canary Islands.

canary n. (pl. canaries) 1 a mainly African finch with a melodious song, typically having yellowish-green plumage. One kind is popular as a cage bird and has been bred in a variety of colours, especially bright yellow.

<INFO> Genus Serinus, family Fringillidae: several species, especially the island canary (S. canaria), which is native to the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira, and from which the domestic canary was developed.

2 (also canary yellow) [mass noun] a bright yellow colour resembling the plumage of a canary.

3 (also canary wine) [mass noun] HISTORICAL a sweet wine from the Canary Islands, similar to Madeira.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French canari, from Spanish canario ‘canary’ or ‘person from the Canary Islands’ (see CANARY ISLANDS).

canary creeper n. a South American climbing plant related to the nasturtium. It has bright yellow flowers with deeply toothed petals, which give the appearance of a small bird in flight.

<INFO> Tropaeolium peregrinum, family Tropaeolaceae.

canary grass n. [mass noun] a tall grass of NW Africa and the Canary Islands, grown for its seeds which are fed to canaries and other caged finches.

<INFO> Genus Phalaris, family Gramineae: several species.

Canary Islands (also the Canaries) a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, off the NW coast of Africa, forming an autonomous region of Spain; capital, Las Palmas; pop. 1,716,276 (2000). The group includes the islands of Tenerife, Gomera, La Palma, Hierro, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Lanzarote.

<ORIGIN> from French Canarie, via Spanish from Latin Canaria (insula) ‘(island) of dogs’, from canis ‘dog’, one of the islands being noted in Roman times for large dogs.

canasta /kənastə/ n. [mass noun] a card game resembling rummy, using two packs. It is usually played by two pairs of partners, and the aim is to collect sets (or melds) of cards.

- [count noun] a meld of seven cards in canasta.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Spanish (of Uruguayan origin), literally ‘basket’, based on Latin canistrum ‘basket’ (see CANISTER).

Canaveral, Cape /kənavər(ə)l/ a cape on the east coast of Florida, known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 until 1973. It is the site of the John F. Kennedy Space Center, from which the Apollo space missions were launched.

Canberra /kanbərə/ the capital of Australia and seat of the federal government, in Australian Capital Territory, an enclave of New South Wales; pop. 321,700 (2001).

cancan n. a lively, high-kicking stage dance originating in 19th-century Parisian music halls and performed by women in long skirts and petticoats.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, child's word for canard ‘duck’, from Old French caner ‘to quack’.

cancel v. (cancels, cancelling, cancelled; US also cancels, canceling, canceled) [with obj.] 1 decide or announce that (a planned event) will not take place: he was forced to cancel his visit.

- annul or revoke (a formal arrangement which is in effect): his visa had been cancelled.

- abolish or make void (a financial obligation): I intend to cancel your debt to me.

- mark, pierce, or tear (a ticket or stamp) to show that it has been used or invalidated: cancelling stamps on registered mail.

2 (usually cancel something out) (of a factor or circumstance) neutralize or negate the force or effect of (another): the electric fields may cancel each other out.

- [MATHEMATICS] delete (an equal factor) from both sides of an equation or from the numerator and denominator of a fraction.

■ n. 1 a mark made on a postage stamp to show that it has been used.

2 [PRINTING] a new page or section inserted in a book to replace the original text, typically to correct an error.

3 US (in music) a natural sign ().

<DERIVATIVES> canceller n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘obliterate or delete writing by drawing or stamping lines across it’): from Old French canceller, from Latin cancellare, from cancelli ‘crossbars’.

cancelbot /kansəlbt/ n. [COMPUTING] a program that searches for and deletes specified mailings from Internet newsgroups.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from CANCEL + BOT^2.

cancellation (US also cancelation) n. [mass noun] the action of cancelling something: the project was threatened with cancellation by the government | [count noun] the show is sold out, but check for cancellations.

- [count noun] a crossing out of something written.

- [count noun] a mark made on a postage stamp to show that it has been used.

cancellous /kans(ə)ləs/ adj. [ANATOMY] denoting bone tissue with a mesh-like structure containing many pores, typical of the interior of mature bones.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin cancelli ‘crossbars’ + -OUS.

Cancer 1 [ASTRONOMY] a constellation (the Crab), said to represent a crab crushed under the foot of Hercules. It contains the globular star cluster of Praesepe or the Beehive.

2 [ASTROLOGY] the fourth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters at the northern summer solstice (about 21 June).

- (a Cancer) a person born when the sun is in the sign of Cancer.

<PHRASES>

□ tropic of Cancer see tropic^1.

<DERIVATIVES> Cancerian /-sərən -sεrən/ n. & adj.

■ Cancer (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> Latin.

cancer n. [mass noun] a disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body: he's got cancer | lung cancer.

- [count noun] a malignant growth or tumour resulting from an uncontrolled division of cells: most skin cancers are curable.

- [count noun] an evil or destructive practice or phenomenon that is hard to contain or eradicate: racism is a cancer sweeping across Europe.

<DERIVATIVES> cancerous adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin, ‘crab or creeping ulcer’, translating Greek karkinos, said to have been applied to such tumours because the swollen veins around them resembled the limbs of a crab.

■ canker was the usual form until the 17th century Compare with CANCER.

cancer stick n. INFORMAL, HUMOROUS a cigarette.

Cancún /kankun/ a resort in SE Mexico, on the NE coast of the Yucatán Peninsula; pop. 397,200 (2000).

candela /kandεlə -dilə kandlə/ (abbr.: cd) n. [PHYSICS] the SI unit of luminous intensity. One candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 × 10^12 Hz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 2/683 watt per steradian.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Latin, ‘candle’.

candelabra tree n. either of two trees with upward-curving boughs:

<INFO>

- a tropical African tree (genus Euphorbia, family Euphorbiaceae).

- a South American pine tree related to the monkey puzzle (Araucaria angustifolia, family Araucariaceae).

candelabrum /kandlαbrəm -le-/ n. (pl. candelabra /-brə/) a large branched candlestick or holder for several candles or lamps.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, from candela (see CANDLE).

<USAGE> Based on the Latin forms, the correct singular is candelabrum and the correct plural is candelabra. However, these forms are often not observed in practice: the singular form is assumed to be candelabra and hence its plural is interpreted as candelabras.

candid adj. 1 truthful and straightforward; frank: his responses were remarkably candid | a candid discussion.

2 (of a photograph of a person) taken informally, especially without the subject's knowledge.

<DERIVATIVES> candidly adv. candidness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the Latin sense): from Latin candidus ‘white’. Subsequent early senses were ‘pure, innocent’, ‘unbiased’, and ‘free from malice’, hence ‘frank’ (late 17th century). Compare with CANDOUR.

candida /kanddə/ n. [mass noun] a yeast-like parasitic fungus that can sometimes cause thrush.

<INFO> Genus Candida, subdivision Deuteromycotina.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, feminine of Latin candidus ‘white’.

candidate /kanddet -dət/ n. a person who applies for a job or is nominated for election: candidates applying for this position should be computer-literate | the Green Party candidate.

- BRITISH a person taking an examination: an A-level candidate.

- a person or thing regarded as suitable for or likely to receive a particular fate, treatment, or position: she was the perfect candidate for a biography.

<DERIVATIVES> candidacy n. candidature n. (British)

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin candidatus ‘white-robed’, also denoting a candidate for office (who traditionally wore a white toga), from candidus ‘white’.

candidiasis /kanddəss/ n. [mass noun] infection with candida, especially as causing oral or vaginal thrush.

candiru /kandru/ n. a minute, slender catfish of the Amazon region, feeding by sucking blood from other fishes and sometimes entering the body orifices of mammals. It is notorious for its occasional habit of entering the urethra of human bathers.

<INFO> Vandellia cirrhosa, family Trichomycteridae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via Portuguese from Tupi candirú.

candle n. 1 a cylinder or block of wax or tallow with a central wick which is lit to produce light as it burns.

2 (also international candle) [PHYSICS] a unit of luminous intensity, superseded by the candela.

■ v. [with obj.] (of a poultry breeder) test (an egg) for freshness or fertility by holding it to the light.

<PHRASES>

□ be able to hold a candle to [with negative] INFORMAL be nearly as good as: nobody in the final could hold a candle to her.

□ the game's not worth the candle the potential advantages to be gained from doing something do not justify the cost or trouble involved.

<DERIVATIVES> candler n.

<ORIGIN> Old English candel, from Latin candela, from candere ‘be white or glisten’.

candleberry n. (pl. candleberries) any of a number of trees or shrubs whose berries or seeds yield a wax or oil which can be used for making candles, in particular:

<INFO>

- a bayberry or related North American shrub.

- the candlenut.

candlefish n. (pl. same or candlefishes) a small edible marine fish with oily flesh, occurring on the west coast of North America. Also called EULACHON.

<INFO> Thaleichthys pacificus, family Osmeridae.

<ORIGIN> so named because the Chinook Indians formerly burnt the oily bodies of these fish as candles.

candleholder n. a holder or support for a candle.

candlelight n. [mass noun] dim light provided by a candle or candles: we dined by candlelight.

candlelit adj. lit by a candle or candles: a romantic candlelit dinner.

Candlemas /kand(ə)lmas -məs/ n. a Christian festival held on 2 February to commemorate the purification of the Virgin Mary (after childbirth, according to Jewish law) and the presentation of Christ in the Temple. Candles were traditionally blessed at this festival.

<ORIGIN> Old English Candelmæsse (see CANDLE, Mass).

candlenut n. an evergreen tree of the spurge family, with large seeds that yield an oil used for lighting and other purposes, native to SE Asia and the South Pacific islands. Also called CANDLEBERRY.

<INFO> Aleurites moluccana, family Euphorbiaceae.

candlepower n. [mass noun] illuminating power expressed in candelas or candles: [as modifier] a 16-candlepower lamp.

candlestick n. a support or holder for one or more candles, typically one that is tall and thin.

candlewick n. [mass noun] a thick, soft cotton fabric with a raised, tufted pattern: [as modifier] a candlewick dressing gown.

- the yarn used to make candlewick.

can-do adj. INFORMAL having or showing a determination or willingness to take action and achieve results: I like his can-do attitude.

Candolle /kandl/ French /kαdl/ Augustin Pyrame de (1778–1841), Swiss botanist. He introduced a new scheme of plant classification based on morphological characteristics, which prevailed for many years.

candomblé /kandmble/ n. [mass noun] a Brazilian sect of the macumba cult.

<ORIGIN> Brazilian Portuguese.

candour (US candor) n. [mass noun] the quality of being open and honest; frankness: a man of refreshing candour.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the Latin sense): from Latin candor ‘whiteness’. The current sense dates from the mid 18th century; the development of the senses paralleled that of CANDID.

CANDU /kandu kandu/ (also Candu) n. a nuclear reactor of a Canadian design in which the fuel is unenriched uranium oxide clad in zircaloy and the coolant and moderator is heavy water.

<ORIGIN> from Can(ada) + the initial letters of DEUTERIUM and URANIUM.

candy n. (pl. candies) (also sugar candy) [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN sweets; confectionery: [as modifier] a candy bar | [count noun] pink and yellow candies.

- chiefly BRITISH sugar crystallized by repeated boiling and slow evaporation.

■ v. (candies, candying, candied) [with obj.] (often as adj. candied) preserve (fruit) by coating and impregnating it with a sugar syrup: candied fruit.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a verb): the noun use is from late Middle English sugar-candy, from French sucre candi ‘crystallized sugar’, from Arabic sukkar ‘sugar’ + qandī ‘candied’, based on Sanskrit khaa ‘fragment’.

candy apple n. NORTH AMERICAN a toffee apple.

- (also candy-apple red) [mass noun] a bright red colour.

candy-ass n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a timid, cowardly, or despicable person.

<DERIVATIVES> candy-assed adj.

candy cane n. NORTH AMERICAN a cylindrical stick of striped sweet rock with a curved end, resembling a walking stick.

candyfloss n. [mass noun] BRITISH a mass of pink or white fluffy spun sugar wrapped round a stick.

- FIGURATIVE something perceived as lacking in worth or substance: their music is just aural candyfloss.

candyman n. (pl. candymen) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person who sells illegal drugs.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CANDY + MAN, an earlier sense denoting a ragman who gave toffee in exchange for goods.

candy-striped adj. (of material or a garment) patterned with alternating stripes of white and another colour, typically pink.

<DERIVATIVES> candy-stripe adj. & n.

candy-striper n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a female voluntary nurse in a hospital.

<ORIGIN> so named because of the candy-striped uniforms of such nurses.

candytuft n. a European plant with small heads of white, pink, or purple flowers, grown as a garden or rockery plant.

<INFO> Genus Iberis, family Cruciferae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Candy (obsolete form of Candia, former name of Crete) + TUFT.

cane n. 1 the hollow jointed stem of a tall grass, especially bamboo or sugar cane, or the stem of a slender palm such as rattan.

- any plant that produces canes.

- [mass noun] stems of bamboo, rattan, or wicker used as a material for making furniture or baskets: [as modifier] a cane coffee table. short for SUGAR CANE.

- a flexible woody stem of the raspberry plant or any of its relatives.

2 a length of cane or a slender stick, especially one used as a support for plants, a walking stick, or an instrument of punishment.

- (the cane) a form of corporal punishment used in certain schools, involving beating with a cane: wrong answers were rewarded by the cane.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 beat with a cane as a punishment.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL take (drink or drugs) in large quantities: the others were probably out caning it in some bar.

<DERIVATIVES> caner n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, via Latin from Greek kanna, kannē, of Semitic origin.

canebrake n. NORTH AMERICAN a piece of ground covered with a dense growth of canes.

cane chair n. a chair with a seat made of woven cane strips.

caned adj. 1 (of furniture) made or repaired with cane: armchairs with caned seats.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL intoxicated with drink or drugs.

cane rat n. a large rat-like African rodent found in wetlands south of the Sahara. It is often a pest of sugar plantations.

<INFO> Family Thryonomyidae and genus Thryonomys: two species.

cane sugar n. [mass noun] sugar obtained from sugar cane.

Canes Venatici /keniz vnats/ [ASTRONOMY] a small northern constellation (the Hunting Dogs), said to represent two dogs (Asterion and Chara) held on a leash by Boötes.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

cane toad n. a large brown toad native to tropical America. It has been introduced elsewhere as a pest control agent but can become a serious pest itself, partly because animals eating it are killed by its toxins. Also called MARINE TOAD, GIANT TOAD.

<INFO> Bufo marinus, family Bufonidae.

Canetti /kənεti/ Elias (1905–94), Bulgarian-born British writer. Notable works: Auto-da-Fé (1936) and Crowds and Power (1960). Nobel Prize for Literature (1981).

Canfield n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a form of the card game patience or solitaire.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Richard A. Canfield (1855–1914), an American gambler.

canid /kand/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a mammal of the dog family (Canidae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Canidae (plural), from Latin canis ‘dog’.

canine /kenn ka-/ adj. relating to or resembling a dog or dogs: canine behavioural problems.

- [ZOOLOGY] relating to animals of the dog family.

■ n. 1 a dog.

- [ZOOLOGY] an animal of the dog family.

2 (also canine tooth) a pointed tooth between the incisors and premolars of a mammal, often greatly enlarged in carnivores.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the noun): from French, from Latin caninus, from canis ‘dog’.

caning n. a beating with a cane as a punishment.

- British INFORMAL a resounding defeat: the team suffered a caning at Blackburn.

- British INFORMAL a severe reprimand: education experts gave BBC chiefs a caning over the drama series.

Canis Major /kens medə/ [ASTRONOMY] a small constellation (the Great Dog), said to represent one of the dogs following Orion. It is just south of the celestial equator and contains the brightest star, Sirius.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Canis Minor /mnə/ [ASTRONOMY] a small constellation (the Little Dog), said to represent one of the dogs following Orion. It is close to the celestial equator and contains the bright star Procyon.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

canister n. a round or cylindrical container used for storing such things as food, chemicals, or rolls of film.

- [mass noun] HISTORICAL small bullets packed in cases that fit the bore of a gun: another deadly volley of canister.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting a basket): from Latin canistrum, from Greek kanastron ‘wicker basket’, from kanna ‘cane, reed’ (see CANE).

canker n. [mass noun] 1 a destructive fungal disease of apple and other trees that results in damage to the bark.

- [count noun] an open lesion in plant tissue caused by infection or injury.

- fungal rot in some fruits and vegetables, e.g. parsnips and tomatoes.

2 an ulcerous condition or disease of a human or animal, in particular:

- (also canker sore) NORTH AMERICAN a small ulcer of the mouth or lips. another term for thrush^2 (sense 2).

- inflammation of the ear of a dog, cat, or rabbit, typically caused by a mite infestation.

3 a malign and corrupting influence that is difficult to eradicate: [in sing.] racism remains a canker at the heart of the nation.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (of woody plant tissue) become infected with canker.

2 (as adj. cankered) infected with a pervasive and corrupting bitterness: he hated her with a cankered, shameful abhorrence.

<DERIVATIVES> cankerous adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a tumour): from Old French chancre, from Latin cancer ‘crab’ (see CANCER).

cankerworm n. the caterpillar of a North American moth that has wingless females. Cankerworms consume the buds and leaves of trees and can be a major pest.

<INFO> Several species in the family Geometridae.

canna /kanə/ (also canna lily) n. a lily-like tropical American plant with bright flowers and ornamental strap-like leaves.

<INFO> Genus Canna, family Cannaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin, from Latin canna ‘cane, reed’ (see CANE).

cannabinoid /kanəbnd/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] any of a group of closely related compounds which include cannabinol and the active constituents of cannabis.

cannabinol /kanəbnl kənab-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline compound whose derivatives, especially THC, are the active constituents of cannabis.

<INFO> A polycyclic phenol; chem. formula: C_21H_26O_2.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CANNABIS + -OL.

cannabis n. [mass noun] a tall plant with a stiff upright stem, divided serrated leaves, and glandular hairs. It is used to produce hemp fibre and as a psychotropic drug. Also called INDIAN HEMP, MARIJUANA.

<INFO> Cannabis sativa, family Cannabaceae (or Cannabidaceae): two subspecies (sometimes considered two species), C. s. sativa, which is chiefly used for hemp, and C. s. indica, from which the drug is usually obtained.

- a dried preparation of the flowering tops or other parts of the cannabis plant, or a resinous extract of it (cannabis resin), used (generally illegally) as a psychotropic drug, chiefly in cigarettes.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, from Greek kannabis.

canned adj. 1 (of food or drink) preserved or supplied in a sealed can: canned beans.

2 INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY (of music, laughter, or applause) pre-recorded.

3 INFORMAL drunk.

cannel coal /kan(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] a hard, compact kind of bituminous coal.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally a northern English usage): of unknown origin.

cannellini bean /kanəlini/ n. a kidney-shaped bean of a medium-sized creamy-white variety.

<ORIGIN> Italian cannellini, literally ‘small tubes’.

cannelloni /kanələni/ plural n. rolls of pasta stuffed with a meat or vegetable mixture.

- [mass noun] an Italian dish consisting of cannelloni cooked in a cheese sauce.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘large tubes’, from cannello ‘tube’.

cannelure /kan(ə)ljə/ n. a groove round the cylindrical part of a bullet.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from canneler ‘provide with a channel’, from canne ‘reed, cane’.

cannery n. (pl. canneries) a factory where food is canned.

Cannes /kan/ a resort on the Mediterranean coast of France; pop. 67,304 (1999). An international film festival is held there annually.

cannibal n. a person who eats the flesh of other human beings: [as modifier] cannibal tribes.

- an animal that feeds on flesh of its own species.

<DERIVATIVES> cannibalism n. cannibalistic adj. cannibalistically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Spanish Canibales (plural), variant (recorded by Columbus) of Caribes, the name of a West Indian people reputed to eat humans (see CARIB).

cannibalize (also cannibalise) v. [with obj.] 1 use (a machine) as a source of spare parts for another, similar machine.

- (of a company) reduce the sales of (one of its products) by introducing a similar, competing product.

2 (of an animal) eat (an animal of its own kind): female spiders cannibalize courting males.

<DERIVATIVES> cannibalization n.

Canning George (1770–1827), British Tory statesman, Prime Minister 1827. After two periods as Foreign Secretary he succeeded Lord Liverpool as Prime Minister but died shortly afterwards.

Cannizzaro /kanzαrə/ Stanislao (1826–1910), Italian chemist. He revived Avogadro's hypothesis and used it to distinguish clearly between atoms and molecules, and to introduce the unified system of atomic and molecular weights.

cannoli /kanəli/ plural n. NORTH AMERICAN a dessert consisting of small deep-fried pastry tubes with a creamy filling, typically of sweetened ricotta cheese.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from canna ‘reed’.

cannon n. 1 (pl. usually same) a large, heavy piece of artillery, typically mounted on wheels, formerly used in warfare.

- a heavy automatic gun that fires shells from an aircraft or tank.

2 [BILLIARDS] & [SNOOKER], chiefly BRIT. a stroke in which the cue ball strikes two balls successively. [<ORIGIN> early 19th century: alteration of CAROM.]

3 [ENGINEERING] a heavy cylinder or hollow drum that is able to rotate independently on a shaft.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] chiefly BRITISH 1 collide with something forcefully or at an angle: the couple behind almost cannoned into us | his shot cannoned off the crossbar.

2 [BILLIARDS] & [SNOOKER] make a cannon shot.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French canon, from Italian cannone ‘large tube’, from canna ‘cane, reed’ (see CANE).

cannonade /kanəned/ n. a period of continuous heavy gunfire.

■ v. [no obj.] (often as n. cannonading) discharge heavy guns continuously.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Italian cannonata, from cannone (see CANNON).

cannonball n. 1 a round metal or stone projectile fired from a cannon.

2 (also cannonball dive) NORTH AMERICAN a jump into water feet first with the knees clasped to the chest.

cannon bone n. a long tube-shaped bone in the lower leg of a horse or other large quadruped, between the fetlock and the knee or hock.

cannoneer n. HISTORICAL an artilleryman who positioned and fired a cannon.

cannon fodder n. [mass noun] soldiers regarded merely as material to be expended in war.

cannot contraction can not.

<USAGE> Both the one-word form cannot and the two-word form can not are acceptable, but cannot is far more common in all contexts; on the Oxford English Corpus, there are only around 400 citations for can not and over 6,000 for cannot. The two-word form is advised only in a construction in which not is part of a set phrase, such as ‘not only … but (also)’: Paul can not only sing well, he also paints brilliantly.

cannula /kanjlə/ n. (pl. cannulae /-li/ or cannulas) [SURGERY] a thin tube inserted into a vein or body cavity to administer medication, drain off fluid, or insert a surgical instrument.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin ‘small reed’, diminutive of canna (see CANE).

cannulate v. [with obj.] [SURGERY] introduce a cannula or thin tube into (a vein or body cavity).

<DERIVATIVES> cannulation n.

canny adj. (cannier, canniest) 1 having or showing shrewdness and good judgement, especially in money or business matters: canny investors will switch banks if they think they are getting a raw deal.

2 N. English & SCOTTISH pleasant; nice: she's a canny lass.

<DERIVATIVES> cannily adv. canniness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally Scots): from CAN^1 (in the obsolete sense ‘know’) + -Y^1.

canoe n. a narrow keelless boat with pointed ends, propelled by using a paddle or paddles.

■ v. (canoes, canoeing, canoed) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] travel in or paddle a canoe: he had once canoed down the Nile.

<DERIVATIVES> canoeing n. canoeist n. canoer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Spanish canoa, from Arawak, from Carib canaoua.

canola /kənələ/ n. [mass noun] oilseed rape of a variety developed in Canada and grown in North America, which yields a valuable culinary oil.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from CANADA + -ola (based on Latin oleum ‘oil’).

canon^1 n. 1 a general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged: the appointment violated the canons of fair play and equal opportunity.

- a Church decree or law.

2 a collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine: the biblical canon.

- the works of a particular author or artist that are recognized as genuine: the Shakespeare canon.

- a list of literary works considered to be permanently established as being of the highest quality: Hopkins was firmly established in the canon of English poetry.

3 (also canon of the Mass) (in the Roman Catholic Church) the part of the Mass containing the words of consecration.

4 [MUSIC] a piece in which the same melody is begun in different parts successively, so that the imitations overlap.

<PHRASES>

□ in canon [MUSIC] with different parts successively beginning the same melody.

<ORIGIN> Old English: from Latin, from Greek kanōn ‘rule’, reinforced in Middle English by Old French canon.

canon^2 n. a member of the clergy who is on the staff of a cathedral, especially one who is a member of the chapter.

- (also canon regular or regular canon) (in the Roman Catholic Church) a member of certain orders of clergy that live communally according to an ecclesiastical rule in the same way as monks.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘canon regular’): from Old French canonie, from Latin canonicus ‘according to rule’ (see CANONIC). The other sense dates from the mid 16th cent.

canon cancrizans /kakrzanz/ n. [MUSIC] a canon in which the theme or subject is repeated backwards in the second part. Also called CRAB CANON.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CANON^1 + medieval Latin cancrizans ‘walking backwards’ (from cancer ‘crab’).

canoness /kanəns/ n. (in the Roman Catholic Church) a member of certain religious orders of women living communally according to an ecclesiastical rule in the same way as nuns.

canonic /kənnk/ adj. 1 [MUSIC] in canon form.

2 another term for CANONICAL.

<ORIGIN> Old English (as a noun): from Old French canonique or Latin canonicus ‘canonical’, from Greek kanonikos, from kanon ‘rule’ (see canon^1). The adjective dates from the late 15th cent.

canonical /kənnk(ə)l/ adj. 1 according to or ordered by canon law: the canonical rites of the Roman Church.

2 included in the list of sacred books officially accepted as genuine: the canonical Gospels of the New Testament.

- accepted as being accurate and authoritative: the canonical method of comparative linguistics.

- (of a writer or work) belonging to the literary canon: canonical writers like Jane Austen.

- according to recognized rules or scientific laws: canonical nucleotide sequences.

3 relating to a cathedral chapter or a member of it.

■ plural n. (canonicals) the prescribed official dress of the clergy: Cardinal Bea in full canonicals.

<DERIVATIVES> canonically adv.

canonical hours plural n. 1 the times of daily Christian prayer appointed in the breviary, or the offices set for them (namely matins with lauds, prime, terce, sext, nones, vespers, and compline).

2 (in the Church of England) the time during which a marriage may lawfully be celebrated (usually between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.).

canonicity n. [mass noun] the fact or status of being canonical: established standards of canonicity.

canonist n. an expert in canon law.

<DERIVATIVES> canonistic adj.

canonize (also canonise) v. [with obj.] 1 (in the Roman Catholic Church) officially declare (a dead person) to be a saint: he was the last English saint to be canonized prior to the Reformation.

2 sanction by Church authority.

<DERIVATIVES> canonization n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin canonizare ‘admit as authoritative’ (in medieval Latin ‘admit to the list of recognized saints’), from Latin canon (see canon^1).

canon law n. [mass noun] ecclesiastical law, especially (in the Roman Catholic Church) that laid down by papal pronouncements.

canonry n. (pl. canonries) the office or benefice of a canon.

canoodle v. [no obj.] INFORMAL kiss and cuddle amorously: she was caught canoodling with her boyfriend.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): of unknown origin.

can opener n. a tin opener.

Canopic jar /kənəpk/ (also Canopic vase) n. a covered urn used in ancient Egyptian burials to hold the entrails and other visceral organs from an embalmed body.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Canopic from Latin Canopicus, from Canopus, the name of a town in ancient Egypt.

Canopus /kənəpəs/ [ASTRONOMY] the second-brightest star in the sky, and the brightest in the constellation Carina. It is a supergiant, visible only to observers in the southern hemisphere.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek Kanōpus, the name of the pilot of the fleet of King Menelaus in the Trojan War.

canopy n. (pl. canopies) 1 an ornamental cloth covering hung or held up over something, especially a throne or bed.

- [ARCHITECTURE] a roof-like projection or shelter.

- the transparent plastic or glass cover of an aircraft's cockpit.

- the expanding, umbrella-like part of a parachute, made of silk or nylon.

2 [in sing.] the uppermost branches of the trees in a forest, forming a more or less continuous layer of foliage: woolly monkeys spend hours every day sitting high in the canopy.

■ v. (canopies, canopying, canopied) [with obj.] (usually as adj. canopied) cover or provide with a canopy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin canopeum ‘ceremonial canopy’, alteration of Latin conopeum ‘mosquito net over a bed’, from Greek kōnōpeion ‘couch with mosquito curtains’, from kōnōps ‘mosquito’.

canorous /kənrəs/ adj. RARE (of song or speech) melodious or resonant.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin canorus (from canere ‘sing’) + -OUS.

Canova /kənəvə/ Italian /kanva/ Antonio (1757–1822), Italian sculptor, a leading exponent of neoclassicism. Notable works: Cupid and Psyche (1792) and The Three Graces (1813–16).

canst archaic second person singular present of can^1.

cant^1 /kant/ n. [mass noun] 1 hypocritical and sanctimonious talk, typically of a moral, religious, or political nature: he had no time for the cant of the priests about sin.

2 language specific to a particular group or profession and regarded with disparagement: thieves' cant.

- [as modifier] denoting a phrase or catchword temporarily current or in fashion: ‘herstories’ rather than ‘histories’ as the cant phrase goes.

■ v. [no obj.] DATED talk hypocritically and sanctimoniously about something: if they'd stop canting about ‘honest work’ they might get somewhere.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: probably from Latin cantare ‘to sing’ (see CHANT). The early meaning was ‘musical sound, singing’; in the mid 17th century this gave rise to the senses ‘whining manner of speaking’ and ‘form of words repeated mechanically in such a manner’ (for example a beggar's plea), hence ‘jargon’ (of beggars and other such groups).

cant^2 /kant/ v. have or cause to have a slanting or oblique position; tilt: [with obj.] he canted his head to look at the screen | [no obj.] mismatched slate roofs canted at all angles.

- [no obj.] (of a ship) swing round: the ship canted to starboard.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] a slope or tilt: the outward cant of the curving walls.

2 a wedge-shaped block of wood, especially one remaining after the better-quality pieces have been cut off.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting an edge or brink): from Middle Low German kant, kante, Middle Dutch cant ‘point, side, edge’, based on a Romance word related to medieval Latin cantus ‘corner, side’.

Cant. abbr. Canticles (the Song of Songs) (in biblical references).

can't contraction cannot.

Cantab /kantab/ abbr. of Cambridge University: John Smith, MA (Cantab).

<ORIGIN> from Latin Cantabrigiensis, from Cantabrigia ‘Cambridge’.

cantabile /kantαble/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] in a smooth singing style.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘singable’.

Cantabria /kantabrə/ an autonomous region of northern Spain; capital, Santander.

<DERIVATIVES> Cantabrian adj. & n.

Cantabrigian /kantəbrdən/ adj. relating to Cambridge (in England) or Cambridge University.

■ n. a member of Cambridge University.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin Cantabrigia (see Cambridge (sense 1) + -IAN).

cantal /kantαl/ n. [mass noun] a hard, strong cheese made chiefly in the Auvergne.

<ORIGIN> named after Cantal, a department of Auvergne, France.

cantaloupe /kantəlup/ (also cantaloupe melon) n. a small round melon of a variety with orange flesh and ribbed skin.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French cantaloup, from Cantaluppi near Rome, where it was first grown in Europe after being introduced from Armenia.

cantankerous adj. bad-tempered, argumentative, and uncooperative: he can be a cantankerous old fossil at times.

<DERIVATIVES> cantankerously adv. cantankerousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: of unknown origin; perhaps a blend of Anglo-Irish cant ‘auction’ and rancorous (see RANCOUR).

cantata /kantαtə/ n. a medium-length narrative or descriptive piece of music with vocal solos and usually a chorus and orchestra.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Italian cantata (aria) ‘sung (air)’, from cantare ‘sing’.

cant dog n. another term for CANT HOOK.

canteen n. 1 chiefly BRITISH a restaurant provided by an organization such as a college, factory, or company for its students or staff.

2 BRITISH a specially designed case or box containing a set of cutlery.

3 a small water bottle, as used by soldiers or campers.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally denoting a shop selling provisions or alcohol in a barracks or garrison town): from French cantine, from Italian cantina ‘cellar’. A French use of cantine denoting a small compartmented case for carrying bottles of wine may have given rise to sense 2.

canteen culture n. [mass noun] INFORMAL (in the UK) a set of conservative and discriminatory attitudes said to exist within the police force.

canter n. [in sing.] a pace of a horse or other quadruped between a trot and a gallop, with not less than one foot on the ground at any time: I rode away at a canter.

- a ride on a horse at a canter: we came back from one of our canters.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a horse) move at a canter in a particular direction: they cantered down into the village.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or at) a canter BRITISH without much effort; easily: they retained their leadership of the Second Division at a canter.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as a verb): short for Canterbury pace or Canterbury gallop, from the supposed easy pace of medieval pilgrims to CANTERBURY.

Canterbury 1 a city in Kent, SE England, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury; pop. 40,400 (est. 2002). St Augustine established a church and monastery there in 597 and it became a place of medieval pilgrimage.

2 a region on the central east coast of the South Island, New Zealand.

canterbury n. (pl. canterburies) a low open-topped cabinet with partitions for holding music or books.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after CANTERBURY in Kent (from a belief that the Archbishop of Canterbury ordered such a piece to be made).

Canterbury, Archbishop of n. the archbishop of the southern province of the Church of England, who is Primate of All England and first peer of the realm, and plays a leading role in the worldwide Anglican Church.

Canterbury bell n. a tall, sturdy cultivated bellflower with large pale blue flowers.

<INFO> Campanula medium, family Campanulaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: named after the bells on Canterbury pilgrims' horses (see CANTER).

cantharides /kanθardiz/ plural n. see SPANISH FLY.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, plural of cantharis, from Greek kantharis ‘Spanish fly’.

cantharus /kanθ(ə)rəs/ n. (pl. canthari) (in ancient Greece and Rome) a large two-handled drinking cup.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek kantharos.

cant hook n. a hinged metal hook at the end of a long handle, used for gripping and rolling logs.

canthus /kanθəs/ n. (pl. canthi /-θ/) the outer or inner corner of the eye, where the upper and lower lids meet.

<DERIVATIVES> canthic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, from Greek kanthos.

canticle /kantk(ə)l/ n. 1 a hymn or chant, typically with a biblical text, forming a regular part of a church service.

2 (Canticles or Canticle of Canticles)

■ another name for SONG OF SONGS (especially in the Vulgate Bible).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin canticulum ‘little song’, diminutive of canticum, from canere ‘sing’.

cantilena /kantlenə -linə/ n. [MUSIC] the part carrying the melody in a composition.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian, from Latin, ‘song’.

cantilever /kantlivə/ n. a long projecting beam or girder fixed at only one end, used in bridge construction.

- a long bracket or beam projecting from a wall to support a balcony, cornice, etc.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. cantilevered) support by a cantilever or cantilevers: a cantilevered deck.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: of unknown origin.

cantilever bridge n. a bridge in which each span is constructed from cantilevers built out sideways from piers.

cantillate /kantlet/ v. [with obj.] RARE chant or intone (a passage of religious text).

<DERIVATIVES> cantillation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin cantillat- ‘hummed’, from the verb cantillare, from cantare (see CHANT).

cantina /kantinə/ n. (especially in a Spanish-speaking country or the south-western US) a bar.

- (in Italy) a wine shop.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Spanish and Italian.

canting arms plural n. [HERALDRY] arms containing an allusion to the name of the bearer.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: canting from CANT^1, in the obsolete sense ‘speak, say (in a particular way)’.

cantle /kant(ə)l/ n. the raised curved part at the back of a horse's saddle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘a corner’): from Anglo-Norman French cantel, variant of Old French chantel, from medieval Latin cantellus, from cantus ‘corner, side’.

canto /kantə/ n. (pl. cantos) one of the sections into which certain long poems are divided.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian, literally ‘song’, from Latin cantus.

Canton /kantn/ another name for GUANGZHOU.

canton n. 1 /kantn kantn/ a subdivision of a country established for political or administrative purposes.

- a state of the Swiss Confederation.

2 /kant(ə)n/ [HERALDRY] a square charge smaller than a quarter and positioned in the upper (usually dexter) corner of a shield.

<DERIVATIVES> cantonal /kantən(ə)l kantən(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old French, literally ‘corner’, from Provençal, based on a Romance word related to medieval Latin cantus (see cant^2).

Cantonese adj. relating to Canton (Guangzhou), its inhabitants, or their dialect.

■ n. (pl. same) 1 a native or inhabitant of Canton.

2 [mass noun] a form of Chinese spoken by over 54 million people, mainly in SE China (including Hong Kong). Also called YUE.

cantonment /kantnm(ə)nt -tun-/ n. (especially in the Indian subcontinent) a military garrison or camp.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French cantonnement, from cantonner ‘to quarter’ (see CANTON).

Cantopop n. [mass noun] SE ASIAN a type of popular music combining Cantonese lyrics and Western disco music.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of CANTONESE and pop^2.

Cantor /kant/ German /kantr/ Georg (1845–1918), Russian-born German mathematician. His work on numbers laid the foundations for the theory of sets and stimulated 20th-century exploration of number theory.

cantor /kant -ə/ n. 1 an official who sings liturgical music and leads prayer in a synagogue.

2 (in formal Christian worship) a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation respond.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, ‘singer’, from canere ‘sing’.

cantorial adj. relating to a cantor.

- relating to or denoting the north side of the choir of a church, the side on which the cantor sits. The opposite of DECANAL.

cantoris /kantrs/ n. the section of a church or cathedral choir conventionally placed on the north side and taking the second or lower part in antiphonal singing. The opposite of DECANI.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘of the cantor’ (see CANTOR).

cantrail /kantrel/ n. BRITISH a piece of metal or timber supporting the roof of a railway carriage.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CANT^2 + RAIL^1.

cantrip /kantrp/ n. SCOTTISH ARCHAIC a mischievous or playful act; a trick.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (also in the sense ‘witch's trick’): of unknown origin.

cantus /kantəs/ n. the highest voice in polyphonic choral music.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin.

cantus firmus /kantəs fəməs/ n. (pl. cantus firmi /kantus fəm/) [MUSIC] a melody used as the basis for a polyphonic composition.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘firm song’.

Canuck /kənk/ n. INFORMAL a Canadian.

<ORIGIN> apparently from CANADA.

Canute /kənjut/ (also Cnut or Knut)

- (d.1035), Danish king of England 1017–35, Denmark 1018–35, and Norway 1028–35, son of Sweyn I. He is remembered for demonstrating to fawning courtiers his inability to stop the rising tide; this has become distorted in folklore to suggest that Canute really expected to turn back the tide.

canvas n. [mass noun] (plural canvases or canvasses) a strong, coarse unbleached cloth made from hemp, flax, or a similar yarn, used to make items such as sails and tents and as a surface for oil painting.

- [count noun] a piece of canvas prepared for use as the surface for an oil painting.

- [count noun] an oil painting: Turner's late canvases.

- (the canvas) the canvas-covered floor of a boxing or wrestling ring.

- [count noun] either of a racing boat's tapering ends, originally covered with canvas.

■ v. (canvases, canvassing, canvassed; US canvases, canvasing, canvased) [with obj.] cover with canvas: the door had been canvassed over.

<PHRASES>

□ by a canvas (in boat racing) by a small margin.

□ under canvas 1 in a tent or tents: the family will be living under canvas.

2 with sails spread.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Northern French canevas, based on Latin cannabis ‘hemp’, from Greek.

canvasback n. a North American diving duck with a long, sloping black bill, related to the common pochard.

<INFO> Aythya valisineria, family Anatidae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: so named because of the white back of the male.

canvass v. [with obj.] 1 solicit votes from (electors in a constituency): in each ward, two workers canvassed some 2,000 voters | [no obj.] he's canvassing for the Green Party.

- question (someone) in order to ascertain their opinion: they promised to canvass all member clubs for their views.

2 propose (an idea or plan) for discussion: early retirement was canvassed as a solution to the problem of unemployment.

- discuss thoroughly: the issues that were canvassed are still unresolved.

■ n. an act of canvassing: a house-to-house canvass.

<DERIVATIVES> canvasser n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘toss in a canvas sheet’ (as a sport or punishment)): from CANVAS. Later extended senses include ‘criticize, discuss’ (mid 16th century) and ‘propose for discussion’; hence ‘seek support for’.

canyon n. a deep gorge, typically one with a river flowing through it, as found in North America.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish cañón ‘tube’, based on Latin canna ‘reed, cane’.

canyoning (also canyoneering) n. [mass noun] the sport of jumping into a fast-flowing mountain stream and allowing oneself to be carried downstream at high speed.

canzona /kantsənə -z-/ n. an instrumental arrangement of a French or Flemish song, typical of 16th-century Italy.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Italian, from CANZONE.

canzone /kantsəne -z-/ n. (pl. canzoni /-ni/) an Italian or Provençal song or ballad.

- a type of lyric resembling a madrigal.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian, ‘song’, from Latin cantio(n-) ‘singing’, from canere ‘sing’.

canzonetta /kanzənεtə kantsənεtə/ n. (pl. canzonettas or canzonette /-nεte/) a short, light vocal piece, especially in the Italian style of the 17th century.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian ‘little song’, diminutive of canzone (see CANZONE).

caoutchouc /katk/ n. [mass noun] natural rubber that has not been vulcanized.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from obsolete Spanish cauchuc, from Quechua kauchuk.

CAP abbr. Common Agricultural Policy.

cap^1 n. 1 a kind of soft, flat hat without a brim and typically with a peak.

- [with adj. or noun modifier] a kind of soft, close-fitting head covering worn for a particular purpose: a shower cap | a bathing cap.

- BRITISH a cap awarded as a sign of membership of a particular sports team, especially a national team: he has won three caps for Scotland.

- BRITISH a player to whom a cap is awarded: a former naval officer and rugby cap.

- an academic mortar board: school-leavers in cap and gown.

2 a protective lid or cover for an object such as a bottle, the point of a pen, or a camera lens.

- an artificial protective covering for a tooth.

- the top of a bird's head when distinctively coloured.

3 an upper limit imposed on spending or borrowing: he raised the cap on local authority spending.

4 (also Dutch cap) BRITISH INFORMAL a contraceptive diaphragm.

5 the broad upper part of the fruiting body of most mushrooms and toadstools, at the top of a stem and bearing gills or pores.

6 short for PERCUSSION CAP.

■ v. (caps, capping, capped) [with obj.] 1 put a lid or cover on: he capped his pen.

- form a covering layer or topmost part of: (as adj., in combination -capped) snow-capped mountains.

- put an artificial protective covering on (a tooth).

2 provide a fitting climax or conclusion to: he capped a memorable season by becoming champion of champions.

- follow or reply to (a story, remark, or joke) by producing a better one.

3 BRITISH place a limit or restriction on (prices, expenditure, or borrowing): council budgets will be capped.

4 (be capped) BRITISH be chosen as a member of a particular sports team, especially a national one: he was capped ten times by England.

5 SCOTTISH & NZ confer a university degree on.

<PHRASES>

□ cap and bells HISTORICAL the insignia of the professional jester.

□ cap in hand (North American hat in hand) BRITISH humbly asking for a favour: we have to go cap in hand begging for funds.

□ cap of liberty a conical cap given to Roman slaves when they were freed, used as a republican symbol in more recent times.

□ cap of maintenance BRITISH a cap or hat worn as a symbol of official dignity or carried in front of a sovereign on ceremonial occasions.

□ if the cap fits, wear it (North American if the shoe fits, wear it) BRITISH used as a way of suggesting that someone should accept a generalized remark or criticism as applying to themselves.

□ set one's cap at (or US for) DATED (of a woman) try to attract (a particular man) as a suitor.

□ to cap it all as the final unfortunate incident in a long series: she was on edge, her nerves taut, and to cap it all, she could feel the beginnings of a headache.

<DERIVATIVES> capful n. (pl. capful capfuls)

<ORIGIN> Old English cæppe ‘hood’, from late Latin cappa, perhaps from Latin caput ‘head’.

cap^2 n. [FINANCE] short for CAPITALIZATION: [as modifier] mid-cap companies | small-cap stocks.

cap. abbr.

- capacity.

- capital (city).

- capital letter.

capability n. (pl. capabilities) (often capability of doing/to do something) the power or ability to do something: he had an intuitive capability of bringing the best out in people | the company's capability to increase productivity.

- (often capabilities) the extent of someone's or something's ability: the job is beyond my capabilities.

- a facility on a computer for performing a specified task: a graphics capability.

- forces or resources giving a country the ability to undertake a particular kind of military action: their nuclear weapons capability.

Capablanca /kapəblakə/ José Raúl (1888–1942), Cuban chess player, world champion 1921–1927.

capable adj. 1 (capable of doing something) having the ability, fitness, or quality necessary to do or achieve a specified thing: I'm quite capable of taking care of myself | the aircraft is capable of flying 5,000 miles non-stop.

- open to or admitting of something: the strange events are capable of rational explanation.

2 able to achieve efficiently whatever one has to do; competent: she looked enthusiastic and capable | a highly capable man.

<DERIVATIVES> capably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘able to take in’, physically or mentally): from French, from late Latin capabilis, from Latin capere ‘take or hold’.

capacious adj. having a lot of space inside; roomy: she rummaged in her capacious handbag.

<DERIVATIVES> capaciously adv. capaciousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin capax, capac- ‘capable’ + -IOUS.

capacitance /kəpast(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the ability of a system to store an electric charge.

- the ratio of the change in an electric charge in a system to the corresponding change in its electric potential. (Symbol: C)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CAPACITY + -ANCE.

capacitate v. [with obj.] FORMAL or ARCHAIC make (someone) capable of a particular action or legally competent to act in a particular way.

- (be capacitated) [PHYSIOLOGY] (of spermatozoa) undergo changes inside the female reproductive tract enabling them to penetrate and fertilize an ovum.

<DERIVATIVES> capacitation n.

capacitor /kəpastə/ n. a device used to store an electric charge, consisting of one or more pairs of conductors separated by an insulator.

capacity n. (pl. capacities) 1 [in sing.] the maximum amount that something can contain: the capacity of the freezer is 1.1 cubic feet | the stadium's seating capacity | [mass noun] the room was filled to capacity.

- [as modifier] fully occupying the available area or space: they played to a capacity crowd.

- the total cylinder volume that is swept by the pistons in an internal-combustion engine.

■ former term for CAPACITANCE.

2 the amount that something can produce: the company aimed to double its electricity-generating capacity | when running at full capacity, the factory will employ 450 people.

3 the ability or power to do or understand something: I was impressed by her capacity for hard work | their intellectual capacities.

- [in sing.] a person's legal competence: cases where a patient's testamentary capacity is in doubt.

4 [in sing.] a specified role or position: I was engaged in a voluntary capacity | writing in his capacity as legal correspondent.

<DERIVATIVES> capacitive (also capacitative) adj. (chiefly [PHYSICS])

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French capacité, from Latin capacitas, from capax, capac- ‘that can contain’, from capere ‘take or hold’.

caparison /kəpars(ə)n/ n. an ornamental covering spread over a horse's saddle or harness.

■ v. (be caparisoned) (of a horse) be decked out in rich decorative coverings.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from obsolete French caparasson, from Spanish caparazón ‘saddlecloth’, from capa ‘hood’.

cape^1 n. 1 a sleeveless cloak, typically a short one.

- a part of a longer coat or cloak that falls loosely over the shoulders from the neckband.

2 NORTH AMERICAN the pelt from the head and neck of an animal, for preparation as a hunting trophy.

■ v. [with obj.] (in bullfighting) taunt (the bull) by flourishing a cape.

<DERIVATIVES> caped adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Provençal capa, from late Latin cappa ‘covering for the head’.

cape^2 n. a headland or promontory.

- (the Cape) the Cape of Good Hope.

- (the Cape) the former Cape Province of South Africa.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cap, from Provençal, based on Latin caput ‘head’.

Cape Barren goose n. a pale grey Australian goose with a short black bill that is almost covered by a waxy yellow cere. Also called CEREOPSIS GOOSE.

<INFO> Cereopsis novaehollandiae, family Anatidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Cape Barren, an island in the Bass Strait, Australia.

Cape Breton Island /brεt(ə)n/ an island forming the north-eastern part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Cape Cod a sandy peninsula in SE Massachusetts, forming a wide curve enclosing Cape Cod Bay.

Cape Colony early name (1814–1910) for the former Cape Province.

Cape coloured n. (pl. same or Cape coloureds) (in South Africa) a person of mixed ethnic descent resident in the province of Western Cape, speaking Afrikaans or English as their first language, and typically not a follower of Islam. Compare with CAPE MALAY.

■ adj. relating to Cape coloured people.

Cape doctor n. S. African INFORMAL the strong prevailing SE wind in the province of Western Cape.

Cape Dutch n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL the form of Dutch spoken by the early settlers at the Cape of Good Hope, which developed into Afrikaans.

■ adj. 1 HISTORICAL relating to the Cape Dutch language.

2 of or denoting a style of furniture or architecture used by early settlers in South Africa.

capeesh /kəpi/ exclam. INFORMAL, chiefly US do you understand?: Upstairs is off limits. Capeesh?

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Italian capisce third person singular present tense of capire ‘understand’.

Cape gooseberry n. 1 a soft edible yellow berry enclosed in a husk that resembles a lantern in shape.

2 the tropical South American plant with heart-shaped leaves which bears the Cape gooseberry.

<INFO> Physalis peruviana, family Solanaceae.

Cape hen n. the white-chinned petrel of southern oceans, with mainly dark brown plumage.

<INFO> Procellaria aequinoctialis, family Procellariidae.

Cape jasmine n. a fragrant Chinese gardenia, some kinds of which have flowers that are used to perfume tea.

<INFO> Genus Gardenia, family Rubiaceae: several species.

Čapek /tapεk/ Karel (1890–1938), Czech novelist and dramatist. He is known for R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1920), which introduced the word robot to the English language, and The Insect Play (1921), written with his brother Josef (1887–1945).

capelin /kepln kap-/ (also caplin) n. a small fish of the North Atlantic, resembling a smelt. It is abundant in coastal waters and provides a staple food for humans and many animals.

<INFO> Mallotus villosus, family Osmeridae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, from Provençal capelan, from medieval Latin cappellanus ‘custodian’ (see CHAPLAIN).

Capella /kəpεlə/ [ASTRONOMY] the sixth-brightest star in the sky, and the brightest in the constellation Auriga. It is a yellow giant.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘she-goat’, diminutive of caper ‘goat’.

capellini /kapεlini/ plural n. pasta in the form of very thin strands.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: Italian, diminutive of capello ‘hair’.

Cape Malay (also Cape Muslim) n. (in South Africa) a member of a predominantly Afrikaans-speaking and Muslim group resident mainly in the province of Western Cape. Compare with CAPE COLOURED.

■ adj. relating to the Cape Malay people.

Cape marigold n. another term for AFRICAN DAISY.

Cape pigeon (also Cape petrel) n. another term for PINTADO PETREL.

Cape primrose n. another term for STREPTOCARPUS.

Cape Province a former province of South Africa, containing the Cape of Good Hope. The area became a British colony in 1814; it was known as Cape Colony from then until 1910, when it joined the Union of South Africa. In 1994 it was divided into the provinces of Northern Cape, Western Cape, and Eastern Cape.

caper^1 v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] skip or dance about in a lively or playful way: children were capering about the room.

■ n. 1 a playful skipping movement: she did a little caper or dance.

2 INFORMAL an illicit or ridiculous activity or escapade: I'm too old for this kind of caper.

- a light-hearted, far-fetched film, especially about crime: a cop caper about intergalactic drug dealers.

<PHRASES>

□ cut a caper make a playful skipping movement.

<DERIVATIVES> caperer n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: abbreviation of CAPRIOLE.

caper^2 n. 1 (usually capers) the cooked and pickled flower bud of a bramble-like southern European shrub, used to flavour food.

2 the shrub from which capers are taken.

<INFO> Capparis spinosa, family Capparidaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French câpres or Latin capparis, from Greek kapparis; later interpreted as plural, hence the loss of the final -s in the 16th cent.

capercaillie /kapəkeli/ (SCOTTISH also capercailzie /-kelzi/) n. (pl. capercaillies) a large turkey-like Eurasian grouse of mature pine forests.

<INFO> Genus Tetrao, family Tetraonidae (or Phasianidae): two species, in particular T. urogallus, which has been re-established in the Scottish Highlands.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Scottish Gaelic capull coille, literally ‘horse of the wood’.

caper spurge n. an ornamental European spurge which has become naturalized in North America. It has poisonous seeds, but the buds can be used as a substitute for capers.

<INFO> Euphorbia lathyris, family Euphorbiaceae.

capeskin n. [mass noun] a soft leather made from South African sheepskin.

Cape sparrow n. a dark brown sparrow native to southern Africa.

<INFO> Passer melanurus, family Passeridae (or Ploceidae).

Capet /kapt kapεt/ French /kapε/ Hugh (938–96), king of France 987–96, founder of the Capetian dynasty.

Capetian /kəpi(ə)n/ adj. relating to or denoting the dynasty ruling France 987–1328.

■ n. a member of the Capetian dynasty.

Cape Town the legislative capital of South Africa and administrative capital of the province of Western Cape; pop. 2,686,000 (est. 2002).

<DERIVATIVES> Capetonian n. & adj.

Cape Verde Islands /vəd/ a country consisting of a group of islands in the Atlantic off the coast of Senegal, named after the most westerly cape of Africa; pop. 408,760 (est. 2002); languages, Portuguese (official), Creole; capital, Praia. Previously uninhabited, the islands were settled by the Portuguese from the 15th century. They remained a Portuguese colony until 1975, when an independent republic was established.

<DERIVATIVES> Cape Verdean adj. & n.

capias /kepəs kap-/ n. (pl. capiases) [LAW] a writ ordering the arrest of a named person.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin capias (ad respondendum), literally ‘you are to seize (until reply is made)’, from capere ‘take’.

capillarity n. [mass noun] the tendency of a liquid in a capillary tube or absorbent material to rise or fall as a result of surface tension. Also called CAPILLARY ACTION.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French capillarité, from Latin capillaris ‘like a hair’ (see CAPILLARY).

capillary /kəpləri/ n. (pl. capillaries) 1 [ANATOMY] any of the fine branching blood vessels that form a network between the arterioles and venules.

2 (also capillary tube) a tube which has an internal diameter of hair-like thinness.

■ adj. [attr.] relating to capillaries or capillarity.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin capillaris, from capillus ‘hair’, influenced by Old French capillaire.

capillary action n. another term for CAPILLARITY.

capillary joint n. a joint made between two pipes by putting their ends into a fitting that is only slightly larger than the pipes and filling the gap with molten solder.

capital^1 n. 1 (also capital city or town) the city or town that functions as the seat of government and administrative centre of a country or region: Warsaw is the capital of Poland.

- [with modifier] a place associated more than any other with a specified activity or product: the fashion capital of the world.

2 [mass noun] wealth in the form of money or other assets owned by a person or organization or available for a purpose such as starting a company or investing: rates of return on invested capital were high.

- the excess of a company's assets over its liabilities.

- people who possess wealth and use it to control a society's economic activity, considered collectively: a conflict of interest between capital and labour.

- [with modifier] FIGURATIVE a valuable resource of a particular kind: there is insufficient investment in human capital.

3 (also capital letter) a letter of the size and form used to begin sentences and names: he wrote the name in capitals.

■ adj. 1 [attr.] (of an offence or charge) liable to the death penalty: murder is the only capital crime in the state.

2 [attr.] (of a letter of the alphabet) large in size and of the form used to begin sentences and names.

3 INFORMAL, DATED excellent: he's a really capital fellow.

■ exclam. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED used to express approval, satisfaction, or delight: That's splendid! Capital!

<PHRASES>

□ make capital out of use to one's own advantage: the opposition are seeking to make political capital out of the scandal.

□ with a capital —— used to give emphasis to the word in question: she was ugly with a capital U.

<DERIVATIVES> capitally adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘relating to the head or top’, later ‘standing at the head or beginning’): via Old French from Latin capitalis, from caput ‘head’.

capital^2 n. [ARCHITECTURE] the distinct, typically broader section at the head of a pillar or column.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French capitel, from late Latin capitellum ‘little head’, diminutive of Latin caput.

capital adequacy n. [mass noun] the statutory minimum reserves of capital which a bank or other financial institution must have available.

capital gain n. (often capital gains) a profit from the sale of property or an investment.

capital gains tax (abbr.: CGT) n. [mass noun] a tax levied on profit from the sale of property or an investment.

capital goods plural n. goods that are used in producing other goods, rather than being bought by consumers. Often contrasted with CONSUMER GOODS.

capital-intensive adj. (of a business or industrial process) requiring the investment of large sums of money.

capitalism n. [mass noun] an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

capitalist n. a person who uses their wealth to invest in trade and industry for profit in accordance with the principles of capitalism.

■ adj. supporting or based on the principles of capitalism: capitalist countries | the global economy is essentially capitalist.

<DERIVATIVES> capitalistic adj. capitalistically adv.

capitalization (also capitalisation) n. 1 [FINANCE] the provision of capital for a company, or the conversion of income or assets into capital.

2 the action of writing or printing in capital letters or with an initial capital.

capitalize (also capitalise) v. 1 [no obj.] (capitalize on) take the chance to gain advantage from: an attempt by the opposition to capitalize on the government's embarrassment.

2 [with obj.] provide (a company) with capital: (as adj. capitalized) a highly capitalized industry.

3 [with obj.] realize (the present value of an income); convert into capital.

- reckon (the value of an asset) by setting future benefits against the cost of maintenance: a trader will want to capitalize repairs expenditure.

4 [with obj.] write or print (a word or letter) in capital letters.

- begin (a word) with a capital letter.

capital levy n. a tax by means of which the state appropriates a fixed proportion of private wealth.

capital market n. the part of a financial system concerned with raising capital by dealing in shares, bonds, and other long-term investments.

capital punishment n. [mass noun] the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime.

capital ship n. a large warship such as a battleship or aircraft carrier.

capital sum n. a lump sum of money payable to an insured person or paid as an initial fee or investment.

capital territory n. (in Australia, Nigeria, Pakistan, etc.) the territory containing the capital city of the country.

capital transfer tax (abbr.: CTT) n. [mass noun] (in the UK) a tax levied on the transfer of capital by gift or bequest (replaced in 1986 by inheritance tax).

capitano /kaptαnə/ n. (pl. capitanos) (in Italy or among Italian-speakers) a captain or chief.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

capitate /kaptet/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] ending in a distinct compact head.

■ n. (also capitate bone) [ANATOMY] the largest of the carpal bones, situated at the base of the palm of the hand and articulating with the third metacarpal.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin capitatus, from caput, capit-, ‘head’.

capitation n. [mass noun] the payment of a fee or grant to a doctor, school, etc., the amount of which is determined by the number of patients, pupils, or customers that are served: [as modifier] income from capitation fees.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting the counting of heads): from late Latin capitatio ‘poll tax’, from caput ‘head’.

Capitol /kapt(ə)l/ (usually the Capitol) 1 the seat of the US Congress in Washington DC.

- (capitol) US a building housing a legislative assembly: the work is on display at the Utah state capitol.

2 the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome.

<ORIGIN> from Old French capitolie, capitoile, later assimilated to Latin Capitolium (from caput, capit- ‘head’).

Capitol Hill the region around the Capitol in Washington DC (often as an allusive reference to the US Congress itself).

capitular /kəptjlə/ adj. 1 relating to a cathedral chapter.

2 [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] relating to a capitulum.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin capitularis, from Latin capitulum ‘small head’.

capitulary /kəptjləri/ n. (pl. capitularies) HISTORICAL a royal command under the Merovingian dynasty.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin capitularius, from Latin capitulum in the sense ‘section of a law’.

capitulate /kəptjlet/ v. [no obj.] cease to resist an opponent or an unwelcome demand; yield: the patriots had to capitulate to the enemy forces.

<DERIVATIVES> capitulator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘parley, draw up terms’): from French capituler, from medieval Latin capitulare ‘draw up under headings’, from Latin capitulum, diminutive of caput ‘head’.

capitulation n. [mass noun] the action of ceasing to resist an opponent or demand: she gave a sigh of capitulation | [count noun] a capitulation to wage demands.

- (capitulations) HISTORICAL an agreement or set of conditions.

capitulum /kəptjləm/ n. (pl. capitula /-lə/) [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] a compact head of a structure, in particular a dense flat cluster of small flowers or florets, as in plants of the daisy family.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, diminutive of caput ‘head’.

caplet (TRADEMARK Caplet) n. a coated oral medicinal tablet.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of CAPSULE and TABLET.

cap'n /kapn/ n. informal contraction of CAPTAIN, used in representing speech.

capo^1 /kapə/ (also capo tasto) n. (pl. capos) a clamp fastened across all the strings of a fretted musical instrument to raise their tuning by a chosen amount.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Italian capo tasto, literally ‘head stop’.

capo^2 /kapə/ n. (pl. capos) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the head of a crime syndicate, especially the Mafia, or a branch of one.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Italian, from Latin caput ‘head’.

Capo di Monte /kapə d mnte mnti/ n. [mass noun] a type of porcelain first produced at the Capo di Monte palace near Naples in the mid 18th century, generally white with richly coloured rococo decoration.

capoeira /kaperə/ n. [mass noun] a system of physical discipline and movement originating among Brazilian slaves, treated as a martial art and dance form.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese.

capon /kep(ə)n/ n. a castrated domestic cock fattened for eating.

<DERIVATIVES> caponize (also caponise) v.

<ORIGIN> late Old English: from Old French, based on Latin capo, capon-.

caponata /kapə()nαtə/ n. [mass noun] a dish of aubergines, olives, and onions seasoned with herbs, served as an appetizer.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

Capone /kəpən/ Al (1899–1947), American gangster, of Italian descent; full name Alphonse Capone. He dominated organized crime in Chicago in the 1920s and was indirectly responsible for many murders, including the St Valentine's Day Massacre.

caponier /kapənə/ n. a covered passage across a ditch round a fort.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Spanish caponera, literally ‘capon enclosure’.

capot /kəpt/ n. (in piquet) the winning of all twelve tricks in the hand by one player, for which a bonus is awarded.

■ v. (capots, capotting, capotted) [with obj.] score a capot against (one's opponent).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, perhaps from a dialect variant of chapoter ‘castrate’.

capo tasto /kapə tastə/ n. (pl. capo tastos)

■ another term for capo^1.

Capote /kəpəti/ Truman (1924–84), American writer; born Truman Streckfus Persons. Notable works: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood (1966), a meticulous recreation of a brutal multiple murder.

capote /kəpət/ n. NORTH AMERICAN HISTORICAL a long cloak or coat with a hood, worn especially as part of an army or company uniform.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, diminutive of cape (see cape^1).

Capp Al (1909–79), American cartoonist; full name Alfred Gerald Caplin. He is best known for his comic strip ‘Li'l Abner’, which appeared in the New York Mirror from 1934 to 1977.

Cappadocia /kapədəə/ an ancient region of central Asia Minor, between Lake Tuz and the Euphrates, north of Cilicia. It was an important centre of early Christianity.

<DERIVATIVES> Cappadocian adj. & n.

cappelletti /kapəlεti/ plural n. small pieces of pasta folded and stuffed with meat or cheese.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘little hats’.

capper n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a more surprising, upsetting, or entertaining event or situation than all others that have gone before: the capper was him accusing her of ripping off his car.

cappuccino /kaptinə/ n. (pl. cappuccinos) a type of coffee made with milk that has been frothed up with pressurized steam.

<ORIGIN> from Italian, literally ‘Capuchin’, because its colour resembles that of a Capuchin's habit.

Capra /kaprə/ Frank (1897–1991), Italian-born American film director. He is known for comedies such as It Happened One Night (1934), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). He won six Oscars.

Capri /kəpri/ Italian /kapri/ an island off the west coast of Italy, south of Naples.

capriccio /kəprtə/ n. (pl. capriccios) 1 a lively piece of music, typically one that is short and free in form.

2 a painting or other work of art representing a fantasy or a mixture of real and imaginary features.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a sudden change of mind): from Italian, literally ‘head with the hair standing on end’, hence ‘horror’, later ‘a sudden start’ (influenced by capra ‘goat’, associated with frisky movement), from capo ‘head’ + riccio ‘hedgehog’.

capriccioso /kəprtəzə -sə/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) in a free and impulsive style.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘capricious’, from CAPRICCIO.

caprice /kəpris/ n. 1 a sudden and unaccountable change of mood or behaviour: her caprices made his life impossible | [mass noun] a land where men were ruled by law and not by caprice.

2 [MUSIC] another term for CAPRICCIO.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian (see CAPRICCIO).

capricious /kəprəs/ adj. given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behaviour: a capricious and often brutal administration.

- changing according to no discernible rules; unpredictable: a capricious climate.

<DERIVATIVES> capriciously adv. capriciousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French capricieux, from Italian (see CAPRICCIOSO).

Capricorn /kaprkn/ [ASTROLOGY] the tenth sign of the zodiac (the Goat), which the sun enters at the northern winter solstice (about 21 December).

- (a Capricorn) a person born when the sun is in the sign of Capricorn.

<PHRASES>

□ tropic of Capricorn see tropic^1.

<DERIVATIVES> Capricornian n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin capricornus, from caper, capr- ‘goat’ + cornu ‘horn’, on the pattern of Greek aigokēros ‘goat-horned, Capricorn’.

Capricornus /kaprknəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a constellation (the Goat), said to represent a goat with a fish's tail.

<ORIGIN> Latin (see CAPRICORN).

caprine /kaprn/ adj. relating to or resembling goats.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin caprinus, from caper, capr- ‘goat’.

capriole /kaprəl/ n. a movement performed in classical riding, in which the horse leaps from the ground and kicks out with its hind legs.

- a leap or caper in dancing, especially a cabriole.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete French (now cabriole), from Italian capriola ‘leap’, from capriolo ‘roebuck’, from Latin capreolus, diminutive of caper, capr- ‘goat’.

capri pants /kəpri/ (also capris) plural n. close-fitting tapered trousers for women.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally US): named after the island of CAPRI.

Caprivi Strip /kəprivi/ a narrow strip of Namibia which extends towards Zambia from the north-eastern corner of Namibia and reaches the Zambezi River.

<ORIGIN> named after Leo Graf von Caprivi, German imperial Chancellor (1890–4) at the time when this region became part of the colony of German South West Africa.

caproate /kaprəet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of caproic acid.

cap rock n. [mass noun] a layer of hard impervious rock overlying and often sealing in a deposit of oil, gas, or coal.

caproic acid /kəprək/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a liquid fatty acid present in milk fat and coconut and palm oils.

<INFO> Alternative name: hexanoic acid; chem. formula: CH_3(CH_2)4COOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: caproic from Latin caper, capr- ‘goat’ (because of its smell) + -IC.

caprolactam /kaprə()laktam/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a synthetic crystalline compound which is an intermediate in nylon manufacture.

<INFO> A lactam; chem. formula: C_6H_11NO.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from CAPROIC ACID + LACTAM.

caprylate /kaprlet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of caprylic acid.

caprylic acid /kaprlk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a liquid fatty acid present in butter and other fats.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_3(CH_2)6COOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin caper, capr-, ‘goat’ + -YL + -IC.

caps abbr. capital letters.

capsaicin /kapsesn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a compound that is responsible for the pungency of capsicums.

<INFO> A cyclic amide; chem. formula: C_18H_27NO_3.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: alteration of capsicine, the name of a substance formerly thought to have the same property.

Capsian /kapsən/ adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a Palaeolithic culture of North Africa and southern Europe, noted for its microliths and dated to c.8000–4500 BC.

- (as n. the Capsian) the Capsian culture or period.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin Capsa (now Gafsa in Tunisia), where objects from this culture were found, + -IAN.

capsicum /kapskəm/ n. (pl. capsicums) a tropical American plant of the nightshade family with fruits (peppers) containing many seeds. Many cultivated kinds have been developed.

<INFO> Genus Capsicum, family Solanaceae: several species and varieties, in particular C. annuum (var. annuum), the cultivated forms of which include the (‘grossum’) group (sweet peppers) and the (‘longum’) group (chilli peppers).

- the fruit of any of the capsicum plants, varying in size, colour, and pungency.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: modern Latin, perhaps from Latin capsa (see case^2).

capsid^1 n. another term for MIRID.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Capsidae (plural), from Capsus (genus name).

capsid^2 n. [MICROBIOLOGY] the protein coat or shell of a virus particle, surrounding the nucleic acid or nucleoprotein core.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: coined in French from Latin capsa (see case^2).

capsize v. [no obj.] (of a boat) be overturned in the water: the craft capsized in heavy seas | (as adj. capsized) a capsized dinghy.

- [with obj.] cause (a boat) to overturn.

■ n. [in sing.] an instance of capsizing.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps based on Spanish capuzar ‘sink (a ship) by the head’, from cabo ‘head’ + chapuzar ‘to dive or duck’.

cap sleeve n. a sleeve extending only a short distance from the shoulder and tapering to nothing under the arm.

<DERIVATIVES> cap-sleeved adj.

capstan /kapst(ə)n/ n. a broad revolving cylinder with a vertical axis used for winding a rope or cable, powered by a motor or pushed round by levers.

- the motor-driven spindle on a tape recorder that makes the tape travel past the head at constant speed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Provençal cabestan, from cabestre ‘halter’, from Latin capistrum, from capere ‘seize’.

capstan lathe n. a lathe with a revolving tool holder that enables several tools to be permanently mounted on it.

capstone n. a stone fixed on top of something, typically a wall.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] a large flat stone forming a roof over the chamber of a megalithic tomb.

capsule /kapsjul -sjl/ n. 1 a small case or container, especially a round or cylindrical one.

- a small soluble case of gelatin containing a dose of medicine, swallowed whole.

- the foil or plastic covering the cork of a wine bottle.

2 [ANATOMY] a tough sheath or membrane that encloses an organ or other structure in the body, such as a kidney or a synovial joint.

- [BIOLOGY] a gelatinous layer forming the outer surface of some bacterial cells.

3 [BOTANY] a dry fruit that releases its seeds by bursting open when ripe, such as a pea pod.

4 [BOTANY] the spore-producing structure of mosses and liverworts, typically borne on a stalk.

5 [as modifier] (of a piece of writing) shortened but retaining the essence of the original; condensed: a capsule review of the movie.

<DERIVATIVES> capsular adj. capsulate adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘small container’): via French from Latin capsula, diminutive of capsa (see case^2).

capsulize (also capsulise) v. [with obj.] put (information) in condensed form; summarize.

Capt. abbr. Captain.

captain n. 1 the person in command of a ship.

- the pilot in command of a civil aircraft.

- a rank of naval officer above commander and below commodore.

- a rank of officer in the army and in the US and Canadian air forces, above lieutenant and below major.

2 the leader of a team, especially in sports.

- a powerful or influential person in a particular field: a captain of industry.

- BRITISH a head boy or girl in a school.

- NORTH AMERICAN a supervisor of waiters or bellboys.

3 (in the US) a police officer in charge of a precinct, ranking below a chief.

■ v. [with obj.] be the captain of (a ship, aircraft, or sports team).

<DERIVATIVES> captaincy n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘chief or leader’): from Old French capitain (superseding earlier chevetaigne ‘chieftain’), from late Latin capitaneus ‘chief’, from Latin caput, capit- ‘head’.

Captain Cooker n. NZ a wild boar.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Captain J. Cook (see Cook^1), who brought domesticated pigs (from which the wild boar is supposedly descended) to New Zealand.

captain general n. an honorary rank of senior officer in the British army, most commonly in an artillery regiment.

captan /kapt(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic fungicide and insecticide derived from a mercaptan.

caption n. a title or brief explanation accompanying an illustration, cartoon, or poster.

- a piece of text appearing on a cinema or television screen as part of a film or broadcast.

- [LAW] the heading of a legal document.

■ v. [with obj.] provide (an illustration) with a title or explanation: [with two objs] the photograph was captioned ‘Three little maids’.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘seizing, capture’): from Latin captio(n-), from capere ‘take, seize’. Early senses ‘arrest’ and ‘warrant for arrest’ gave rise to ‘statement of where, when, and by whose authority a warrant was issued’ (late 17th century): this was usually appended to a legal document, hence the sense ‘heading or accompanying wording’ (late 18th century).

captious /kapəs/ adj. FORMAL tending to find fault or raise petty objections: a captious teacher.

<DERIVATIVES> captiously adv. captiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘intended to deceive someone’): from Old French captieux or Latin captiosus, from captio(n-) ‘seizing’, (figuratively) ‘deceiving’ (see CAPTION).

captivate v. [with obj.] attract and hold the interest and attention of; charm: he was captivated by her beauty.

<DERIVATIVES> captivation n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin captivat- ‘taken captive’, from the verb captivare, from captivus (see CAPTIVE).

captivating adj. capable of attracting and holding interest; charming: a captivating smile.

<DERIVATIVES> captivatingly adv.

captive n. a person who has been taken prisoner or an animal that has been confined.

■ adj. 1 imprisoned or confined: the farm was used to hold prisoners of war captive | a captive animal.

- [attr.] having no freedom to choose alternatives or to avoid something: advertisements at the cinema reach a captive audience.

2 (of a facility or service) controlled by, and typically for the sole use of, an organization: a captive power plant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin captivus, from capere ‘seize, take’.

captive balloon n. a lighter-than-air balloon secured by a rope to the ground, used to carry radar equipment or for parachute jumps.

captivity n. (pl. captivities) [mass noun] the condition of being imprisoned or confined: he was released after 865 days in captivity | the third month of their captivity passed.

- (the Captivity)

■ short for BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin captivitas, from captivus ‘taken captive’ (see CAPTIVE).

captor n. a person that catches or confines another.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, from capt- ‘seized, taken’, from the verb capere.

capture v. [with obj.] 1 take into one's possession or control by force: the island was captured by Australian forces in 1914 | FIGURATIVE the appeal captured the imagination of thousands.

- (in chess and other board games) make a move that secures the removal of (an opposing piece) from the board.

- [ASTRONOMY] (of a star, planet, or other celestial body) bring (a less massive body) permanently within its gravitational influence.

2 record accurately in words or pictures: she did a series of sketches, trying to capture all his moods.

3 cause (data) to be stored in a computer.

4 [PHYSICS] absorb (an atomic or subatomic particle).

5 (of a stream) divert the upper course of (another stream) by encroaching on its catchment area.

■ n. [mass noun] the action of capturing or of being captured: the capture of the city | he was killed while resisting capture.

- [count noun] a person or thing that has been captured.

<DERIVATIVES> capturer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a noun): from French, from Latin captura, from capt- ‘seized, taken’, from the verb capere.

Capuchin /kaptn/ n. 1 a friar belonging to a branch of the Franciscan order that observes a strict rule drawn up in 1529.

2 a cloak and hood formerly worn by women.

3 (capuchin or capuchin monkey) a South American monkey with a cap of hair on the head which has the appearance of a cowl.

<INFO> Genus Cebus, family Cebidae: four species.

4 (capuchin) a pigeon of a breed with head and neck feathers resembling a cowl.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete French, earlier form of capucin, from Italian cappuccino, from cappuccio ‘hood, cowl’, from cappa (see cape^1), the friars being so named because of their sharp-pointed hoods.

capybara /kapbαrə/ n. (pl. same or capybaras) a South American mammal that resembles a giant long-legged guinea pig. It lives in groups near water and is the largest living rodent.

<INFO> Hydrochaerus hydrochaeris, the only member of the family Hydrochaeridae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish capibara or Portuguese capivara, from Tupi capiuára, from capĩ ‘grass’ + uára ‘eater’.

car n. a road vehicle, typically with four wheels, powered by an internal-combustion engine and able to carry a small number of people: we're going by car | [as modifier] a car crash.

- a railway carriage or (North American) wagon: the first-class cars.

- the passenger compartment of a lift, cableway, or balloon.

- LITERARY a chariot.

<DERIVATIVES> carful n. (pl. carfuls)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘wheeled vehicle’): from Old Northern French carre, based on Latin carrum, carrus, of Celtic origin.

carabao /karəbeə/ n. (pl. same or carabaos)

■ another term for WATER BUFFALO.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Spanish, from a local word in the Philippines.

carabid /karəbd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a fast-running beetle of a family (Carabidae) that comprises the predatory ground beetles.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Carabidae (plural), from Latin carabus, denoting a kind of crab.

carabineer /karəbnə/ (also carabinier) n. HISTORICAL a cavalry soldier whose principal weapon was a carbine.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French carabinier, from carabine (see CARBINE).

carabinero /karabnεrə/ n. (pl. carabineros /-əz/) a Spanish or South American frontier guard or customs officer.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘soldier armed with a carbine’.

carabiniere /karəbnjεri/ n. (pl. carabinieri pronunc. same) a member of the Italian paramilitary police.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘carabineer’.

caracal /karəkal/ n. a long-legged lynx-like cat with black tufted ears and a uniform brown coat, native to Africa and western Asia. Also called AFRICAN LYNX.

<INFO> Felis caracal, family Felidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French or Spanish, from Turkish karakulak, from kara ‘black’ + kulak ‘ear’ (because of its black ear tufts).

Caracalla /karəkalə/ (188–217), Roman emperor 211–17; born Septimius Bassanius; later called Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus. In 212 he granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Roman Empire.

caracara /karəkαrə/ n. (pl. same or caracaras) a large New World bird of prey of the falcon family, with a bare face and a deep bill, feeding largely on carrion.

<INFO> Family Falconidae: four genera and several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish or Portuguese caracará, from Tupi-Guarani, imitating its cry.

Caracas /kərakəs/ the capital of Venezuela; pop. 1,763,100 (est. 2002).

caracole /karəkəl/ n. a half turn to the right or left by a horse.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a horse) perform a caracole.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French caracole, caracol ‘snail's shell, spiral’.

carafe /kəraf -rαf/ n. an open-topped glass flask used for serving wine or water in a restaurant.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Italian caraffa, probably based on Arabic garafa ‘draw water’.

caragana /karəαnə/ n. a shrub or small tree of the pea family, which is native to central Asia and Siberia and is sometimes planted as an ornamental.

<INFO> Genus Caragana, family Leguminosae: several species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, of Turkic origin.

Carajás /karəαs/ a mining region in north Brazil, the site of one of the richest deposits of iron ore in the world.

caramba /kərambə/ exclam. INFORMAL, often HUMOROUS an expression of surprise or dismay.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish.

carambola /kar(ə)mbələ/ n. 1 a golden-yellow juicy fruit with a star-shaped cross section. Also called STARFRUIT.

2 the small tropical tree which bears carambolas.

<INFO> Averrhoa carambola, family Oxalidaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Portuguese, probably from Marathi karambal.

caramel /karəm(ə)l -mεl/ n. [mass noun] sugar or syrup heated until it turns brown, used as a flavouring or colouring for food or drink: a gateau frosted with caramel | [as modifier] caramel ice cream.

- the light brown colour of caramel.

- [count noun] a soft toffee made with sugar and butter that have been melted and further heated.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Spanish caramelo.

caramelize (also caramelise) v. [no obj.] (of sugar or syrup) be converted into caramel.

- [with obj.] (usually as adj. caramelized) cook (food) with sugar so that it becomes coated with caramel.

<DERIVATIVES> caramelization n.

carangid /kərandd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a marine fish of the jack family (Carangidae), whose members typically have a sloping forehead and two dorsal fins.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Carangidae (plural), from the genus name Caranx.

carapace /karəpes/ n. the hard upper shell of a tortoise or crustacean.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Spanish carapacho, of unknown origin.

carat /karət/ n. 1 a unit of weight for precious stones and pearls, equivalent to 200 milligrams: a half-carat diamond ring.

2 (US also karat) a measure of the purity of gold, pure gold being 24 carats: 23-carat gold.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from French, from Italian carato, from Arabic qīrā (a unit of weight), from Greek keration ‘fruit of the carob’ (also denoting a unit of weight), diminutive of keras ‘horn’, with reference to the elongated seed pod of the carob.

Caratacus /kəratəkəs/ (also Caractacus)

- (1st century AD), British chieftain, son of Cymbeline. He took part in the resistance to the Roman invasion of AD 43.

Caravaggio /karəvadə/ Italian /karavaddə/ Michelangelo Merisi da (c.1571–1610), Italian painter. An influential figure in the transition from late Mannerism to Baroque, he made use of naturalistic realism and dramatic light and shade.

<DERIVATIVES> Caravaggesque /karəvadεsk/ adj.

caravan n. 1 BRITISH a vehicle equipped for living in, typically towed by a car and used for holidays.

- a covered horse-drawn wagon: a Gypsy caravan.

- NORTH AMERICAN a covered lorry.

2 HISTORICAL a group of people, especially traders or pilgrims, travelling together across a desert in Asia or North Africa.

- any large group of people, typically with vehicles or animals, travelling together in single file: a caravan of cars and trucks.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2): from French caravane, from Persian kārwān. The sense ‘covered horse-drawn wagon’ dates from the early 19th cent.

caravanette n. BRITISH a motor vehicle with a rear compartment equipped for living in.

caravanning n. [mass noun] BRITISH the activity of spending a holiday in a caravan.

<DERIVATIVES> caravanner n.

caravanserai /karəvansər -ri/ (US also caravansary) n. (pl. caravanserais or caravansaries) 1 HISTORICAL an inn with a central courtyard for travellers in the desert regions of Asia or North Africa.

2 a group of people travelling together; a caravan.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Persian kārwānsarāy, from kārwān ‘caravan’ + sarāy ‘palace’.

caravan site (also caravan park) n. BRITISH an area where caravans may be parked and used for holidays or as permanent homes.

caravel /karəvεl/ (also carvel) n. HISTORICAL a small, fast Spanish or Portuguese sailing ship of the 15th–17th centuries.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French caravelle, from Portuguese caravela, diminutive of caravo, via Latin from Greek karabos ‘horned beetle’ or ‘light ship’.

caraway /karəwe/ n. [mass noun] 1 (also caraway seed) the seeds of a plant of the parsley family, used for flavouring and as a source of oil.

2 the white-flowered Mediterranean plant which bears caraway seeds.

<INFO> Carum carvi, family Umbelliferae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from medieval Latin carui, from Arabic al-karāwiyā, probably from Greek karon ‘cumin’.

carb^1 n. short for CARBURETTOR.

carb^2 n. short for CARBOHYDRATE.

carbamate /kαbəmet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester containing the anion NH_2COO− or the group –OOCNH_2, derived from the hypothetical compound carbamic acid.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from carbamic (from CARBO- + AMIDE + -IC) + -ATE^1.

carbamazepine /kαbəmezpin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic compound of the benzodiazepine class, used as an anticonvulsant and analgesic drug.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from CARBO- + AMIDE, on the pattern of benzodiazepine.

carbanion /kαbanən/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic anion in which the negative charge is located on a carbon atom.

carbaryl /kαbərl/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic insecticide used to protect crops and in the treatment of fleas and lice.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_12H_11NO_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from CARBAMATE + -YL.

carbazole /kαbəzəl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless crystalline substance obtained from coal tar, used in dye production.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_12H_9N.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CARBO- + AZO- + -OLE.

carbene /kαbin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a highly reactive molecule containing a divalent carbon atom, examples of which occur as intermediates in some organic reactions.

carbide /kαbd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a binary compound of carbon with an element of lower or comparable electronegativity.

- [mass noun] calcium carbide (CaC_2), used to generate acetylene by reaction with water and formerly used in portable lamps: [as modifier] a carbide lamp.

carbine /kαbn/ n. a light automatic rifle.

- HISTORICAL a short rifle or musket used by cavalry.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French carabine, from carabin ‘mounted musketeer’, of unknown origin.

carbo- combining form representing CARBON.

carbocation /kαbə()katən/ n. [CHEMISTRY] another term for CARBONIUM ION.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from CARBO- + CATION.

carbohydrate n. any of a large group of organic compounds occurring in foods and living tissues and including sugars, starch, and cellulose. They contain hydrogen and oxygen in the same ratio as water (2:1) and typically can be broken down to release energy in the animal body.

carbolic n. [mass noun] 1 (also carbolic acid) phenol, especially when used as a disinfectant.

2 (also carbolic soap) disinfectant soap containing phenol.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CARBO- + -OL + -IC.

carbo-load v. [no obj.] (of a sports player or an athlete) saturate the muscles with stored glycogen by exercising and dieting and then shortly before a competition eating a large amount of carbohydrates.

car bomb n. a bomb concealed in or under a parked car, used especially by terrorists.

■ v. (car-bomb) [with obj.] attack with a car bomb.

<DERIVATIVES> car bomber n.

carbon n. 1 [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 6, a non-metal which has two main forms (diamond and graphite) and which also occurs in impure form in charcoal, soot, and coal. (Symbol: C)

- [count noun] a rod of carbon in an arc lamp.

- [count noun] a piece of carbon paper or a carbon copy.

2 carbon dioxide or other gaseous carbon compounds released into the atmosphere, associated with climate change: the level of carbon in the atmosphere has been consistently rising |[as modifier] fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions continued to rise.

Compounds of carbon (organic compounds) form the physical basis of all living organisms. Carbon atoms are able to link with each other and with other atoms to form chains and rings, and an infinite variety of carbon compounds exist.

<DERIVATIVES> carbonless adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French carbone, from Latin carbo, carbon- ‘coal, charcoal’.

carbon-12 n. [mass noun] the commonest natural carbon isotope, of mass 12. It is the basis for the accepted scale of atomic mass units.

carbon-14 n. [mass noun] a long-lived naturally occurring radioactive carbon isotope of mass 14, used in carbon dating and as a tracer in biochemistry.

carbonaceous adj. (chiefly of rocks or sediments) consisting of or containing carbon or its compounds.

carbonado /kαbənedə/ n. (pl. carbonados) a dark opaque diamond, used in abrasives and cutting tools. Also called BLACK DIAMOND.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Portuguese.

carbonara /kαbənαrə/ adj. denoting a pasta sauce made with bacon or ham, egg, and cream: [postpositive] spaghetti carbonara.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘charcoal kiln’, perhaps influenced by carbonata, a dish of charcoal-grilled salt pork.

carbonate /kαbənet/ n. a salt of the anion CO_32−, typically formed by reaction of carbon dioxide with bases.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. carbonated) dissolve carbon dioxide in (a liquid): a carbonated soft drink.

- [CHEMISTRY] convert into a carbonate, typically by reaction with carbon dioxide.

<DERIVATIVES> carbonation n.

carbonatite /kαbnətt/ n. [GEOLOGY] a lava or other igneous rock composed chiefly of carbonates rather than silicates.

carbon black n. [mass noun] a fine carbon powder used as a pigment, made by burning hydrocarbons in insufficient air.

carbon copy n. a copy of written or typed material made with carbon paper.

- a person or thing identical or very similar to another: the children were carbon copies of their father.

carbon credit n. a permit which allows a country or organization to produce a certain amount of carbon emissions and which can be traded if the full allowance is not used.

carbon cycle n. 1 the series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the cycle of thermonuclear reactions believed to occur in stars, in which carbon nuclei are repeatedly formed and broken down in the conversion of hydrogen into helium.

carbon dating n. [mass noun] the determination of the age of an organic object from the relative proportions of the carbon isotopes carbon-12 and carbon-14 that it contains. The ratio between them changes as radioactive carbon-14 decays and is not replaced by exchange with the atmosphere.

carbon dioxide n. [mass noun] a colourless, odourless gas produced by burning carbon and organic compounds and by respiration. It is naturally present in air (about 0.03 per cent) and is absorbed by plants in photosynthesis.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CO_2.

carbon disulphide n. [mass noun] a colourless toxic flammable liquid used as a solvent, especially for rubber and sulphur.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CS_2.

carbon fibre n. [mass noun] a material consisting of thin, strong crystalline filaments of carbon, used as a strengthening material, especially in resins and ceramics: [as modifier] a carbon-fibre brake disc.

carbon fixation n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the incorporation of carbon into organic compounds by living organisms, chiefly by photosynthesis in green plants.

carbon footprint n. the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organization, or community.

carbonic /kαbnk/ adj. relating to carbon or its compounds, especially carbon dioxide.

carbonic acid n. [mass noun] a very weak acid formed in solution when carbon dioxide dissolves in water.

<INFO> Chem. formula: H_2CO_3.

carbonic acid gas n. archaic term for CARBON DIOXIDE.

carbonic anhydrase /anhdrez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which catalyses the conversion of dissolved bicarbonates into carbon dioxide.

Carboniferous /kαbənf(ə)rəs/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the fifth period of the Palaeozoic era, between the Devonian and Permian periods.

- [as n.] (the Carboniferous) the Carboniferous period or the system of rocks deposited during it.

The Carboniferous lasted from about 363 to 290 million years ago. During this time the first reptiles and seed-bearing plants appeared, and there were extensive coral reefs and coal-forming swamp forests.

carbonium ion /kαbənəm/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic cation in which the positive charge is located on a carbon atom.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: carbonium from CARBO- ‘carbon’, on the pattern of ammonium.

carbonize (also carbonise) v. convert or be converted into carbon, typically by heating or burning or during fossilization: [with obj.] the steak was carbonized on the outside.

- (usually as adj. carbonized) coat with carbon.

<DERIVATIVES> carbonization n.

carbon monoxide n. [mass noun] a colourless, odourless toxic flammable gas formed by incomplete combustion of carbon.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CO.

carbonnade /kαbənαd -ned/ n. a rich beef stew made with onions and beer.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a piece of meat or fish cooked on hot coals): from French, from Latin carbo, -onis ‘coal, charcoal’.

carbon-neutral adj. making or resulting in no net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, especially as a result of carbon offsetting.

carbon offsetting n. [mass noun] the counteracting of carbon dioxide emissions with an equivalent reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

carbon paper n. [mass noun] thin paper coated with carbon or another pigmented substance, used for making a second impression of a document as it is being written or typed.

carbon sink n. [ECOLOGY] a forest, ocean, or other natural environment viewed in terms of its ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

carbon steel n. [mass noun] steel in which the main alloying element is carbon.

carbon tax n. a tax on fossil fuels, especially those used by motor vehicles, intended to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide.

carbon tetrachloride n. [mass noun] a colourless toxic volatile liquid used as a solvent, especially for fats and oils.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CCl_4.

carbon trading n. another term for EMISSIONS TRADING.

carbonyl /kαbənl -nl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the divalent radical =C=O, present in such organic compounds as aldehydes, ketones, amides, and esters, and in organic acids as part of the carboxyl group: carbonyl compounds.

- [count noun] a coordination compound in which one or more carbon monoxide molecules are bonded as neutral ligands to a central metal atom: nickel carbonyl.

carbonyl chloride n. another term for PHOSGENE.

car boot sale n. BRITISH an outdoor sale at which people sell unwanted possessions, typically from the boots of their cars.

carborundum /kαbərndəm/ n. [mass noun] a very hard black solid consisting of silicon carbide, used as an abrasive.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US, as a trademark): blend of CARBON and CORUNDUM.

carboxyhaemoglobin /kαbkshimələbn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound formed in the blood by the binding of carbon monoxide to haemoglobin. It is stable and therefore cannot absorb or transport oxygen.

carboxyl /kαbksl -sl/ (also carboxy) n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the acid radical –COOH, present in most organic acids: the carboxyl group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CARBO- + OX- ‘oxygen’ + -YL.

carboxylase /kαbkslez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which catalyses the addition of a carboxyl group to a specified substrate.

carboxylate /kαbkslet/ [CHEMISTRY] n. a salt or ester of a carboxylic acid.

■ v. [with obj.] add a carboxyl group to (a compound): (as adj. carboxylated) carboxylated polysaccharides.

<DERIVATIVES> carboxylation n.

carboxylic acid /kαbkslk/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic acid containing a carboxyl group. The simplest examples are methanoic (or formic) acid and ethanoic (or acetic) acid.

carboy n. a large globular glass bottle with a narrow neck, typically protected by a frame and used for holding acids or other corrosive liquids.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Persian qarāba ‘large glass flagon’.

carbuncle /kαbk(ə)l/ n. 1 a severe abscess or multiple boil in the skin, typically infected with staphylococcus bacteria.

2 a bright red gem, in particular a garnet cut en cabochon.

<DERIVATIVES> carbuncular adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French charbuncle, from Latin carbunculus ‘small coal’, from carbo ‘coal, charcoal’.

carburation /kαbjre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the process of mixing air with a fine spray of liquid hydrocarbon fuel, as in an internal-combustion engine.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from archaic carburet ‘combine or charge with a hydrocarbon’ + -ATION.

carburetted (US carbureted) adj. (of a vehicle or engine) having fuel supplied through a carburettor, rather than an injector.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from archaic carburet ‘carbide’ + -ED^2.

carburettor /kαbjrεtə -bə-/ (also US carburetor) n. a device in an internal-combustion engine for mixing air with a fine spray of liquid fuel.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from archaic carburet ‘combine or charge with a hydrocarbon’ + -OR^1.

carburize /kαbjrz -bə-/ (also carburise) v. [with obj.] add carbon to (iron or steel), in particular by heating in the presence of carbon to harden the surface.

<DERIVATIVES> carburization n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French carbure ‘carbide’ + -IZE.

carcajou /kαkədu -əu/ n. North American term for WOLVERINE.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Canadian French, apparently of Algonquian origin (compare with KINKAJOU).

carcass (BRITISH also carcase) n. the dead body of an animal.

- the trunk of an animal such as a cow, sheep, or pig, for cutting up as meat.

- the remains of a cooked bird after all the edible parts have been removed.

- HUMOROUS a person's body, living or dead: my obsession will last while there's life in this old carcass.

- the structural framework of a building, ship, or piece of furniture.

- FIGURATIVE the remains of something: automotive carcasses stripped of radios, hubcaps and even body panels.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French carcois, variant of Old French charcois; in later use from French carcasse; of unknown ultimate origin.

carcass meat n. [mass noun] BRITISH raw meat as distinct from corned or tinned meat.

Carcassonne /kαkəsn/ French /kaRkasn/ a walled city in SW France; pop. 44,000 (1999).

carceral /kαs(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. LITERARY relating to a prison.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin carceralis, from carcer ‘prison’.

Carchemish /kαkm/ an ancient city on the upper Euphrates, north-east of Aleppo.

carcinogen /kαsnəd(ə)n/ n. a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from an abbreviation of CARCINOMA + -GEN.

carcinogenesis /kαs()nədεnss/ n. [mass noun] the initiation of cancer formation.

carcinogenic /kαs()nədεnk/ adj. having the potential to cause cancer.

<DERIVATIVES> carcinogenicity n.

carcinoid /kαsnd/ n. MEDICINE a tumour of a type occurring in the glands of the intestine (especially the appendix) or in the bronchi, and sometimes secreting hormones.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from an abbreviation of CARCINOMA + -OID.

carcinoma /kαsnəmə/ n. (pl. carcinomas or carcinomata /-mətə/) a cancer arising in the epithelial tissue of the skin or of the lining of the internal organs.

<DERIVATIVES> carcinomatous adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: via Latin from Greek karkinōma, from karkinos ‘crab’ (compare with CANCER).

carcinomatosis /kαsnəmətəss/ n. [mass noun] the widespread dissemination of carcinoma in the body.

car coat n. a short, square-cut style of coat designed to be worn when driving a car.

car crash n. INFORMAL a chaotic or disastrous situation that holds a ghoulish fascination for onlookers or observers: her life is turning into a car crash | [as modifier] a classic piece of car-crash television.

card^1 n. 1 a piece of thick, stiff paper or thin pasteboard, in particular one used for writing or printing on: some notes jotted down on a card | [mass noun] a piece of card.

- a card printed with a picture and used to send a message or greeting: a birthday card.

- a card with a person's name and other details printed on it for purposes of identification, for example a business card.

2 a small rectangular piece of plastic containing personal data in a machine-readable form and used to obtain cash or credit or to pay for a telephone call, gain entry to a room or building, etc.

3 a playing card: a pack of cards.

- (cards) a game played with playing cards.

4 [COMPUTING] short for EXPANSION CARD.

5 (cards) BRITISH INFORMAL documents relating to an employee, especially for tax and national insurance, held by the employer.

6 a programme of events at a race meeting.

- a record of scores in a sporting event; a scorecard.

7 INFORMAL, DATED a person regarded as odd or amusing: He laughed: ‘You're a card, you know’.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 write (something) on a card, especially for indexing.

2 NORTH AMERICAN check the identity card of (someone), in particular as evidence of legal drinking age.

3 INFORMAL (in golf and other sports) score (a certain number of points on a scorecard): he carded 68 in the final round.

4 (be carded) CANADIAN (of an amateur athlete) be in receipt of government funding to pursue training.

<PHRASES>

□ a card up one's sleeve a plan or asset that is kept secret until it is needed.

□ get one's cards BRITISH INFORMAL be dismissed from one's employment.

□ give someone their cards BRITISH INFORMAL dismiss someone from employment.

□ hold all the cards be in a very strong or advantageous position.

□ on (or North American in) the cards BRITISH INFORMAL possible or likely: our marriage has been on the cards from day one.

□ play (or use) the —— card exploit the specified issue or idea mentioned, especially for political advantage: the government tried to play the nationalist card.

□ play one's cards right make the best use of one's assets and opportunities.

□ put (or lay) one's cards on the table be completely open and honest in declaring one's resources, intentions, or attitude.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3 of the noun): from Old French carte, from Latin carta, charta, from Greek khartēs ‘papyrus leaf’.

card^2 v. [with obj.] comb and clean (raw wool, hemp fibres, or similar material) with a sharp-toothed instrument in order to disentangle the fibres before spinning.

■ n. a toothed implement or machine for carding wool.

<DERIVATIVES> carder n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French carde, from Provençal carda, from cardar ‘tease, comb’, based on Latin carere ‘to card’.

Card. abbr. Cardinal.

cardamom /kαdəməm/ (also cardamum) n. [mass noun] 1 the aromatic seeds of a plant of the ginger family, used as a spice and also medicinally.

2 the SE Asian plant which bears cardamom seeds.

<INFO> Elettaria cardamomum, family Zingiberaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cardamome or Latin cardamomum, from Greek kardamōmon, from kardamon ‘cress’ + amōmon, the name of a kind of spice plant.

Cardamom Mountains a range of mountains in western Cambodia, rising to a height of 1,813 m (5,886 ft) at its highest point.

cardan joint /kαd(ə)n/ n. British another term for UNIVERSAL JOINT.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Gerolamo Cardano (1501–76), Italian mathematician.

cardan shaft /kαd(ə)n/ n. BRITISH a shaft with a universal joint at one or both ends.

cardboard n. 1 [mass noun] pasteboard or stiff paper: [as modifier] a cardboard box.

2 [as modifier] (of a character in a literary work) lacking depth and realism; artificial: with its superficial, cardboard characters, the novel was typical of her work.

cardboard city n. an urban area where homeless people congregate under makeshift shelters made from cardboard boxes.

card-carrying adj. registered as a member of a political party or trade union.

- often HUMOROUS confirmed in or dedicated to a specified pursuit or outlook: a card-carrying pessimist.

card game n. a game in which playing cards are used.

cardholder n. a person who has a credit card or debit card.

cardia /kαdə/ n. [ANATOMY] the upper opening of the stomach, where the oesophagus enters.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek kardia.

cardiac /kαdak/ adj. 1 relating to the heart: a cardiac arrest.

2 relating to the part of the stomach nearest the oesophagus.

■ n. INFORMAL a heart attack.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun denoting heart disease): from French cardiaque or Latin cardiacus, from Greek kardiakos, from kardia ‘heart or upper opening of the stomach’. The adjective dates from the early 17th cent.

Cardiff the capital of Wales, a seaport on the Bristol Channel; pop. 279,500 (est. 2002). Welsh name CAERDYDD.

cardigan n. a knitted jumper fastening down the front.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (Crimean War): named after James Thomas Brudenel, 7th Earl of Cardigan (1797–1868), leader of the Charge of the Light Brigade, whose troops first wore such garments.

Cardiganshire a former county of SW Wales. It became part of Dyfed in 1974; the area became a county once more in 1996, as Ceredigion.

Cardin /kαda/ French /kaRdε/ Pierre (b.1922), French couturier, the first designer of haute couture to show a collection of clothes for men as well as women.

cardinal n. 1 a leading dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinals are nominated by the Pope, and form the Sacred College which elects succeeding popes (now invariably from among their own number).

- (also cardinal red) [mass noun] a deep scarlet colour like that of a cardinal's cassock.

2 a New World songbird of the bunting family, having a stout bill and typically a conspicuous crest. The male is partly or mostly red in colour.

<INFO> Family Emberizidae, subfamily Cardinalinae (the cardinal grosbeak subfamily): four genera and several species.

■ adj. [attr.] of the greatest importance; fundamental: two cardinal points must be borne in mind.

<DERIVATIVES> cardinalate n. cardinally adv. cardinalship n.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin cardinalis, from cardo, cardin- ‘hinge’.

■ Sense 1 of the noun has arisen through the notion of the important function of such priests as ‘pivots’ of church life.

cardinal beetle n. a mainly bright red beetle with feathery or comb-like antennae, which typically lives under loose bark.

<INFO> Family Pyrochroidae: several genera.

cardinal fish n. a small brightly coloured fish found in shallow tropical seas around reefs. The male often broods the eggs in his mouth.

<INFO> Family Apogonidae: several genera, in particular Apogon, and numerous species.

cardinal flower n. a tall scarlet-flowered lobelia found in North America.

<INFO> Lobelia cardinalis, family Campanulaceae.

cardinality n. (pl. cardinalities) [MATHEMATICS] the number of elements in a set or other grouping, as a property of that grouping.

cardinal number n. a number denoting quantity (one, two, three, etc.), as opposed to an ordinal number (first, second, third, etc.).

cardinal point n. each of the four main points of the compass (north, south, east, and west).

cardinal sin n. (in Christian tradition) any of the seven deadly sins.

- chiefly HUMOROUS a serious error of judgement: he committed the cardinal sin of criticizing his teammates.

cardinal virtue n. each of the chief moral attributes of scholastic philosophy: justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. Compare with THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES.

cardinal vowel n. [PHONETICS] each of a series of vowel sounds used as a standard reference point to assist in the description and classification of vowel sounds in any language.

card index n. a catalogue or similar collection of information in which each item is entered on a separate card and the cards are arranged in a particular order, typically alphabetical.

■ v. (card-index) [with obj.] list on a card index.

carding wool n. [mass noun] short-stapled pieces of wool which result from the carding process, spun and woven to make standard-quality fabrics. Compare with COMBING WOOL.

cardio n. [mass noun] INFORMAL cardiovascular exercise.

cardio- /kαdə/ combining form relating to the heart: cardiograph | cardiopulmonary.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kardia ‘heart’.

cardiogram /kαdə()ram/ n. a record of muscle activity within the heart made by a cardiograph.

cardiograph /kαdə()rαf/ n. an instrument for recording heart muscle activity, such as an electrocardiograph.

<DERIVATIVES> cardiographer n. cardiography n.

cardioid n. [MATHEMATICS] a heart-shaped curve traced by a point on the circumference of a circle as it rolls around another identical circle.

- (also cardioid microphone) a directional microphone with a heart-shaped pattern of sensitivity.

■ adj. of the shape of a cardioid.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Greek kardioeidēs ‘heart-shaped’, from kardia ‘heart’ + eidos ‘form’.

cardiology n. [mass noun] the branch of medicine that deals with diseases and abnormalities of the heart.

<DERIVATIVES> cardiological adj. cardiologist n.

cardiomegaly /kαdəmεəli/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal enlargement of the heart.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from CARDIO- + Greek megas, megal- ‘great’.

cardiomyopathy /kαdəmpəθi/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE chronic disease of the heart muscle.

cardiopulmonary adj. MEDICINE relating to the heart and the lungs.

cardiorespiratory adj. MEDICINE relating to the action of both heart and lungs.

cardiothoracic adj. MEDICINE relating to the heart and chest or lungs.

cardiovascular adj. MEDICINE relating to the heart and blood vessels.

carditis /kαdts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the heart.

card key n. another term for KEY CARD.

cardoon /kαdun/ n. a tall thistle-like southern European plant related to the globe artichoke, with leaves and roots that may be used as vegetables.

<INFO> Cynara cardunculus, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French cardon, from carde ‘edible part of an artichoke’, from modern Provençal cardo, based on Latin carduus, cardus ‘thistle, artichoke’.

cardphone n. BRITISH a public telephone operated by a phonecard rather than coins.

card sharp (also card sharper) n. a person who cheats at cards in order to win money.

card swipe n. an electronic reader through which a credit or charge card or cheque guarantee card is passed in order to record the information it bears: [as modifier] a card swipe system.

card table n. a table for playing cards on, typically having legs that fold flat for storage and a baize surface.

card vote n. British another term for BLOCK VOTE.

cardy (also cardie) n. (pl. cardies) BRITISH INFORMAL short for CARDIGAN.

care n. [mass noun] 1 the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something: the care of the elderly | the child is in the care of her grandparents | health care.

- BRITISH protective custody or guardianship provided by a local authority for children whose parents are dead or unable to look after them properly: she was taken into care | children in care.

2 serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk: he planned his departure with great care.

- [count noun] an object of concern or attention: the cares of family life.

- [count noun] a feeling of or occasion for anxiety: she was driving along without a care in the world.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 [often with negative] feel concern or interest; attach importance to something: they don't care about human life | [with clause] I don't care what she says.

- feel affection or liking: you care very deeply for him.

- (care for/to do something) like or be willing to do or have something: would you care for some tea?

2 (care for) look after and provide for the needs of: he has numerous animals to care for.

<PHRASES>

□ care in the community another term for COMMUNITY CARE.

□ care of at the address of: write to me care of Ann.

□ I (or he, she, etc.) couldn't (North American INFORMAL also could) care less INFORMAL used to express complete indifference: he couldn't care less about football.

□ for all you care (or he, she, etc. cares) INFORMAL used to indicate that someone feels no interest or concern: I could drown for all you care.

□ have a care [often in imperative] DATED be cautious: ‘Have a care!’ she warned.

□ take care 1 [often in imperative] be cautious; keep oneself safe: take care if you're planning to go out tonight.

2 [with infinitive] make sure of doing something: he would take care to provide himself with an escape clause.

□ take care of 1 keep (someone or something) safe and provided for: I can take care of myself.

2 deal with: he has the equipment to take care of my problem.

<ORIGIN> Old English caru (noun), carian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Old High German chara ‘grief, lament’, charon ‘grieve’, and Old Norse kr ‘sickbed’.

careen /kərin/ v. 1 [with obj.] turn (a ship) on its side for cleaning, caulking, or repair.

- [no obj.] (of a ship) tilt; lean over: a heavy flood tide caused my vessel to careen dizzily.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way: an electric golf cart careened around the corner.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a noun denoting the position of a careened ship): from French carène, from Italian carena, from Latin carina ‘a keel’. Sense 2 was influenced by the verb CAREER.

career n. an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and with opportunities for progress.

- the time spent by a person in a career: the end of a distinguished career in the Royal Navy.

- the progress through history of an institution, organization, etc.: the court has had a chequered career.

- [as modifier] working permanently in or committed to a particular profession: a career diplomat.

- [as modifier] (of a woman) interested in pursuing a profession rather than devoting all her time to childcare and housekeeping: a career girl.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way: the coach careered across the road and went through a hedge.

<PHRASES>

□ in full career ARCHAIC at full speed.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a road or racecourse): from French carrière, from Italian carriera, based on Latin carrus ‘wheeled vehicle’.

careerist DEROGATORY adj. concerned mainly with advancement in one's profession: a careerist politician.

■ n. a careerist person.

<DERIVATIVES> careerism n.

career structure n. BRITISH a recognized pattern of advancement within a job or profession.

carefree adj. free from anxiety or responsibility: we were young and carefree | the carefree days of the holidays.

<DERIVATIVES> carefreeness n.

careful adj. 1 making sure of avoiding potential danger, mishap, or harm; cautious: I begged him to be more careful | be careful not to lose her address.

- (careful of/about) anxious to protect (something) from harm or loss; solicitous: he was very careful of his reputation.

- prudent in the use of something, especially money: his mother had always been careful with money.

2 done with or showing thought and attention: a careful consideration of the facts.

<DERIVATIVES> carefully adv. carefulness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English carful (see CARE, -ful).

caregiver n. North American another term for CARER.

<DERIVATIVES> caregiving n. & adj.

care label n. a label giving instructions for the washing and care of a fabric or garment.

careless adj. not giving sufficient attention or thought to avoiding harm or errors: she had been careless and had left the window unlocked | a careless error.

- (careless of/about) not concerned or worried about: he was careless of his own safety.

- showing no interest or effort; casual: she gave a careless shrug.

<DERIVATIVES> carelessly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English carlēas ‘free from care’ (see CARE, -less).

carelessness n. [mass noun] failure to give sufficient attention to avoiding harm or errors; negligence: most road accidents are caused by carelessness on the part of motorists.

careline n. BRITISH a telephone service provided by the manufacturers of a product to deal with queries and complaints from consumers.

carer n. BRITISH a family member or paid helper who regularly looks after a child or a sick, elderly, or disabled person.

caress v. [with obj.] touch or stroke gently or lovingly: she caressed the girl's forehead | FIGURATIVE a gentle breeze caressed his skin | (as adj. caressing) his caressing touch.

■ n. a gentle or loving touch.

<DERIVATIVES> caressingly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French caresser (verb), caresse (noun), from Italian carezza, based on Latin carus ‘dear’.

caret /karət/ n. a mark (∧, λ) placed below the line to indicate a proposed insertion in a text.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, ‘is lacking’.

caretaker n. 1 a person employed to look after a building.

- [as modifier] holding power temporarily: the club's caretaker manager.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person employed to look after people or animals.

care worker n. BRITISH a person employed to support and supervise vulnerable, infirm, or disadvantaged people, or those under the care of the state.

careworn adj. tired and unhappy because of prolonged worry: a careworn expression.

carex /kεrεks/ n. (pl. carices /-rsiz/) a sedge (grass-like plant) of a large genus found chiefly in temperate and cold regions.

<INFO> Genus Carex, family Cyperaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin, ‘sedge’.

Carey^1 /kεri/ George (Leonard) (b.1935), English Anglican churchman, Archbishop of Canterbury 1991–2002.

Carey^2 /kεri/ Peter (b.1943), Australian novelist. He has twice won the Booker Prize, for Oscar and Lucinda (1988) and True History of the Kelly Gang (2001).

carfare /kαfε/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the fare for travel on a bus, underground train, or similar public transport.

cargo n. (pl. cargoes or cargos) [mass noun] goods carried on a ship, aircraft, or motor vehicle: transportation of bulk cargo | [count noun] a cargo of oil.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Spanish cargo, carga, from late Latin carricare, carcare ‘to load’, from Latin carrus ‘wheeled vehicle’.

cargo cult n. (in the Melanesian Islands) a system of belief based around the expected arrival of ancestral spirits in ships bringing cargoes of food and other goods.

cargo pants plural n. loose-fitting casual cotton trousers with large patch pockets halfway down each leg.

carhop n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DATED a waiter or waitress at a drive-in restaurant.

Caria /kεrə/ an ancient region of SW Asia Minor, south of the Maeander River and north-west of Lycia.

<DERIVATIVES> Carian adj. & n.

cariad /karad/ n. WELSH darling; sweetheart: how's it going, cariad?

<ORIGIN> Welsh, ‘love’.

Carib /karb/ n. 1 a member of an indigenous South American people living mainly in coastal regions of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Venezuela.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Caribs, the only member of the Cariban family of languages still spoken by a substantial number of people (around 20,000). Also called GALIBI.

- the Cariban family of languages.

3 (also Island Carib) [mass noun] an unrelated Arawakan language, now extinct, formerly spoken in the Lesser Antilles. See also BLACK CARIB.

■ adj. relating to the Caribs or their language.

- relating to Island Carib or Black Carib.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish caribe, from Haitian Creole. Compare with CANNIBAL.

Cariban /karb(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a family of South American languages scattered widely throughout Brazil, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, Venezuela, and Colombia. With the exception of Carib, they are all extinct or have few speakers.

■ adj. relating to or denoting this family of languages.

Caribbean /karbiən kərbən/ n. (the Caribbean) the region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (including the West Indies), and the surrounding coasts.

■ adj. relating to the Caribbean.

<USAGE> There are two possible pronunciations of the word Caribbean. The first, more common in British English, puts the stress on the -be-, while the second, found in the US and the Caribbean itself, stresses the -rib-.

Caribbean Community and Common Market (abbr.: CARICOM) an organization established in 1973 to promote cooperation in economic affairs and social services and to coordinate foreign policy among its members, all of which are independent states of the Caribbean region.

Caribbean Sea the part of the Atlantic Ocean lying between the Antilles and the mainland of Central and South America.

caribou /karbu/ n. (pl. same)

■ North American term for REINDEER.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Canadian French, from Micmac γalipu, literally ‘snow-shoveller’ (because the caribou scrapes away snow to feed on the vegetation underneath).

caricature /karkətjə karkət/ n. a picture, description, or imitation of a person in which certain striking characteristics are exaggerated in order to create a comic or grotesque effect.

- a ludicrous or grotesque version of someone or something: he looked a caricature of his normal self.

■ v. [with obj.] make or give a caricature of: he was famous enough to be caricatured by Private Eye.

<DERIVATIVES> caricatural adj. caricaturist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from Italian caricatura, from caricare ‘load, exaggerate’, from Latin carricare (see CHARGE).

CARICOM /karkm/ abbr. Caribbean Community and Common Market.

caries /kεriz/ n. [mass noun] decay and crumbling of a tooth or bone.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin.

carillon /karljən -ln kərljən/ n. a set of bells played using a keyboard or by an automatic mechanism similar to a piano roll.

- a tune played on a carillon.

<DERIVATIVES> carillonneur /karljənə -rlə- kə-/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Old French quarregnon ‘peal of four bells’, based on Latin quattuor ‘four’.

Carina /kərnə -ri-/ [ASTRONOMY] a southern constellation (the Keel) partly in the Milky Way, originally part of Argo. It contains the second-brightest star in the sky, Canopus.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

carina /kərnə -ri-/ n. (pl. carinae /-ni/ or carinas) chiefly [BIOLOGY] a keel-shaped structure, in particular:

- the ridge of a bird's breastbone, to which the main flight muscles are attached.

- a cartilage situated at the point where the trachea (windpipe) divides into the two bronchi.

<DERIVATIVES> carinal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, ‘keel’.

carinate /karnet -ət/ adj. having a keel-like ridge.

- (of a bird) having a deep ridge on the breastbone for the attachment of flight muscles. Contrasted with RATITE.

<DERIVATIVES> carinated adj. carination n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin carinatus ‘having a keel’, from carina ‘keel’.

caring adj. displaying kindness and concern for others: a caring and invaluable friend.

■ n. [mass noun] the work or practice of looking after those unable to care for themselves, especially on account of age or illness: [as modifier] the caring professions.

<DERIVATIVES> caringly adv.

Carinthia /kərnθə/ an Alpine state of southern Austria; capital, Klagenfurt. German name Kärnten.

<DERIVATIVES> Carinthian n. & adj.

carioca /karəkə/ n. 1 a native of Rio de Janeiro.

2 a Brazilian dance resembling the samba.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Portuguese, from Tupi kari'oka ‘house of the white man’.

cariogenic /kεrə()dεnk ka-/ adj. TECHNICAL causing tooth decay.

carious /kεrəs/ adj. (of bones or teeth) decayed.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin cariosus (see CARIES).

caritas /kartαs/ n. [mass noun] Christian love of humankind; charity.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Latin.

carjacking n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the action of violently stealing an occupied car.

<DERIVATIVES> carjack v. carjacker n.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of CAR and hijacking (see HIJACK).

cark (also kark) v. [no obj.] AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL die: he's always bragged about carking it before he hit twenty.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: probably imitative of the caw of a carrion crow.

carking adj. [attr.] ARCHAIC causing distress or worry: her carking doubts.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: present participle of Middle English cark ‘worry, burden’, from Old Northern French carkier, based on late Latin carcare (see CHARGE).

carl n. ARCHAIC a peasant or man of low birth.

- SCOTTISH a man; a fellow.

<ORIGIN> Old English (denoting a peasant or villein): from Old Norse karl ‘man, freeman’, of Germanic origin; related to CHURL.

Carley float /kαli/ n. a large emergency raft carried on board ship, consisting of a buoyant canvas ring with a wooden grid deck.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Horace S. Carley (fl. 1900), American inventor.

carline^1 /kαln/ (also carline thistle) n. a thistle-like European plant with flower heads that bear shiny persistent straw-coloured bracts.

<INFO> Genus Carlina, family Compositae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from medieval Latin carlina, perhaps an alteration of cardina (from Latin carduus ‘thistle’), by association with Carolus Magnus (see CHARLEMAGNE), to whom its medicinal properties were said to have been revealed.

carline^2 /kαln/ n. (usually carlines) any of the pieces of squared timber fitted fore and aft between the deck beams of a wooden ship to support the deck planking.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘(old) woman, witch’): from Old Norse karling; the reason for nautical use of the word remains obscure.

Carlisle /kαll/ a city in NW England, the county town of Cumbria; pop. 73,100 (est. 2002).

Carlism /kαlz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a Spanish conservative political movement originating in support of Don Carlos, brother of Fernando VII (died 1833), who claimed the throne in place of Fernando's daughter Isabella. The movement supported the Catholic Church and opposed centralized government; it was revived in support of the Nationalist side during the Spanish Civil War.

<DERIVATIVES> Carlist adj. & n.

carload n. the number of people that can travel in a car: a carload of passengers.

- NORTH AMERICAN the quantity of goods that can be carried in a railway freight car.

Carlovingian /kαlə()vndən/ adj. & n. another term for CAROLINGIAN.

<ORIGIN> from French carlovingien, from Karl ‘Charles’, on the pattern of mérovingien ‘Merovingian’.

Carlow /kαlə/ a county of the Republic of Ireland, in the province of Leinster.

Carlsbad plum /kαlzbad/ n. a dessert plum of a blue-black variety, that is often crystallized.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary) in the Czech Republic.

Carlyle /kαll/ Thomas (1795–1881), Scottish historian and political philosopher. He established his reputation as a historian with his History of the French Revolution (1837). Influenced by German romanticism, many of his works, including Sartor Resartus (1833–4), celebrate the force of the ‘strong, just man’ as against the degraded masses.

carman n. (pl. carmen) DATED a driver of a van or cart; a carrier.

Carmarthen /kəmαən/ a town in SW Wales, the administrative centre of Carmarthenshire; pop. 13,000 (est. 2002). Welsh name CAERFYRDDIN.

Carmarthenshire a county of South Wales; administrative centre, Carmarthen. It was part of Dyfed between 1974 and 1996.

Carmel, Mount /kαm(ə)l/ a group of mountains near the Mediterranean coast in NW Israel, sheltering the port of Haifa. In the Bible it is the scene of the defeat of the priests of Baal by the prophet Elijah (I Kings 18).

Carmelite /kαmlt/ n. a friar or nun of a contemplative Catholic order founded at Mount Carmel during the Crusades and dedicated to Our Lady.

■ adj. relating to the Carmelites.

Carmichael /kαmk(ə)l/ Hoagy (1899–1981), American jazz pianist, composer, and singer; born Howard Hoagland Carmichael. His best-known songs include ‘Stardust’ (1929), ‘Two Sleepy People’ (1938), and ‘In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening’ (1951).

carminative /kαmnətv kαmnətv/ adj. (chiefly of a drug) relieving flatulence.

■ n. a drug that relieves flatulence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French carminatif, -ive, or medieval Latin carminat- ‘healed (by incantation)’, from the verb carminare, from Latin carmen (see CHARM).

carmine /kαmn -mn/ n. [mass noun] a vivid crimson colour: [as modifier] carmine roses.

- a vivid crimson pigment made from cochineal.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French carmin, based on Arabic qirmiz (see KERMES). Compare with CRIMSON.

Carnaby Street /kαnəbi/ a street in the West End of London. It became famous in the 1960s as a centre of the popular fashion industry.

Carnac /kαnak/ the site in Brittany of nearly 3,000 megalithic stones dating from the Neolithic period.

carnage /kαnd/ n. [mass noun] the killing of a large number of people.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, from Italian carnaggio, from medieval Latin carnaticum, from Latin caro, carn- ‘flesh’.

carnal /kαn(ə)l/ adj. relating to physical, especially sexual, needs and activities: carnal desire.

<DERIVATIVES> carnality n. carnally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Christian Latin carnalis, from caro, carn- ‘flesh’.

carnal knowledge n. [mass noun] DATED, chiefly [LAW] sexual intercourse.

carnallite /kαn(ə)lt/ n. [mass noun] a white or reddish mineral consisting of a hydrated chloride of potassium and magnesium.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Rudolf von Carnall (1804–74), German mining engineer, + -ITE^1.

Carnap /kαnap/ Rudolf (1891–1970), German-born American philosopher, a founding member of the Vienna Circle. Notable works: The Logical Structure of the World (1928) and The Logical Foundations of Probability (1950).

carnassial /kαnasəl/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] denoting the large upper premolar and lower molar teeth of a carnivore, adapted for shearing flesh.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French carnassier ‘carnivorous’, based on Latin caro, carn- ‘flesh’.

Carnatic /kαnatk/ adj. of or denoting the main style of classical music in southern India, as distinct from the Hindustani music of the north.

<ORIGIN> Anglicization of KARNATAKA in SW India.

carnation n. a double-flowered cultivated variety of clove pink, with grey-green leaves and showy pink, white, or red flowers.

<INFO> Dianthus caryophyllus, family Caryophyllaceae: many cultivars.

- [mass noun] a rosy pink colour.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps based on a misreading of Arabic qaranful ‘clove or clove pink’, from Greek karyophyllon. The early forms suggest confusion with a different word carnation ‘rosy pink colour’, with incarnation, and with coronation.

carnauba /kαnbə -nabə/ n. a NE Brazilian fan palm, the leaves of which exude a yellowish wax. Also called WAX PALM.

<INFO> Copernicia cerifera, family Palmae.

- (also carnauba wax) [mass noun] wax from the carnauba palm, used as a polish.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Portuguese, from Tupi.

Carné /kαne/ French /kaRne/ Marcel (1906–96), French film director. He gained his reputation for the films he made with the poet and scriptwriter Jacques Prévert (1900–77), notably Le Jour se lève (1939) and Les Enfants du paradis (1945).

Carnegie /kαnei kαnəi/ Andrew (1835–1919), Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist. He built up a fortune in the steel industry in the US, then retired from business in 1901 and devoted his wealth to charitable purposes, in particular libraries, education, and the arts.

carnelian /kαnilən/ (also cornelian) n. [mass noun] a semi-precious stone consisting of a dull red or reddish-white variety of chalcedony (quartz).

- a dull red colour.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French corneline; the prefix car- being suggested by Latin caro, carn- ‘flesh’.

carnet /kαne/ n. 1 a book of tickets for use on public transport in some countries.

2 a customs permit allowing a motor vehicle to be taken across a frontier for a limited period.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from French, ‘notebook’.

carnival n. 1 an annual festival, typically during the week before Lent in Roman Catholic countries, involving processions, music, dancing, and the use of masquerade: [as modifier] a carnival parade.

- an exciting or riotous mixture of elements: the film is a visual and aural carnival.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a travelling funfair or circus.

<DERIVATIVES> carnivalesque adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Italian carnevale, carnovale, from medieval Latin carnelevamen, carnelevarium ‘Shrovetide’, from Latin caro, carn- ‘flesh’ + levare ‘put away’.

Carnivora /kαnvərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of mammals that comprises the cats, dogs, bears, hyenas, weasels, civets, raccoons, and mongooses. They are distinguished by having powerful jaws and teeth adapted for stabbing, tearing, and eating flesh.

carnivore /kαnv/ n. an animal that feeds on other animals.

- [ZOOLOGY] a mammal of the order Carnivora.

- INFORMAL a person who is not a vegetarian.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Latin carnivorus (see CARNIVOROUS).

carnivorous /kαnv(ə)rəs/ adj. (of an animal) feeding on other animals.

- (of a plant) able to trap and digest small animals, especially insects.

<DERIVATIVES> carnivorously adv. carnivorousness n. carnivory /kαnv(ə)ri/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin carnivorus, from caro, carn- ‘flesh’ + -vorus (see -VOROUS).

carnosaur /kαnəs/ n. a large bipedal carnivorous dinosaur, typically one with greatly reduced forelimbs.

<INFO> Infraorder Carnosauria, suborder Theropoda, order Saurischia; includes tyrannosaurus, allosaurus, and megalosaurus.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from modern Latin, from Latin caro, carn- ‘flesh’ + Greek sauros ‘lizard’.

Carnot /kαnə/ French /kaRnə/ Nicolas Léonard Sadi (1796–1832), French scientist. His work in analysing the efficiency of steam engines was posthumously recognized as being of crucial importance to the theory of thermodynamics.

carnotite /kαnətt/ n. [mass noun] a lemon-yellow radioactive mineral consisting of hydrated vanadate of uranium, potassium, and other elements.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Marie Adolphe Carnot (1839–1920), French inspector of mines, + -ITE^1.

carny (also carney) n. (pl. carnies or carneys) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a carnival or funfair.

- a person who works in a carnival or funfair.

carob /karəb/ n. 1 [mass noun] a brown floury powder extracted from the carob bean, used as a substitute for chocolate.

2 (also carob tree) a small evergreen Arabian tree which bears long brownish-purple edible pods. Also called LOCUST TREE.

<INFO> Ceratonia siliqua, family Leguminosae.

- (also carob bean) the edible pod of the carob tree. Also called LOCUST BEAN.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the carob bean): from Old French carobe, from medieval Latin carrubia, from Arabic arrūba.

carol n. a religious folk song or popular hymn, particularly one associated with Christmas: we sang carols by candlelight.

■ v. (carols, carolling, carolled; US carols, caroling, caroled) 1 [with obj.] sing or say (something) happily: [with direct speech] ‘Goodbye,’ he carolled.

2 (as n. carolling) the activity of singing Christmas carols.

<DERIVATIVES> caroller n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French carole (noun), caroler (verb), of unknown origin.

Carolina duck /karəlnə/ n. another term for WOOD DUCK.

Carolina parakeet n. a small long-tailed parakeet with mainly green plumage and a yellow and orange head. It was formerly common in the eastern US but was exterminated by about 1920.

<INFO> Conuropsis (or Aratinga) carolinensis, family Psittacidae.

Caroline /karəln/ adj. 1 (also Carolean /-liən/) relating to the reigns of Charles I and II of England: a Caroline poet.

2 another term for CAROLINGIAN.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin Carolus ‘Charles’.

Caroline Islands (also the Carolines) a group of islands in the western Pacific Ocean, north of the equator, divided between the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau.

Carolingian /karəlndən/ (also Carlovingian) adj. relating to the Frankish dynasty, founded by Charlemagne's father (Pepin III), that ruled in western Europe from 750 to 987.

- denoting or relating to a style of minuscule script developed in France during the time of Charlemagne, on which modern lower-case letters are largely based.

■ n. a member of the Carolingian dynasty.

<ORIGIN> alteration of earlier CARLOVINGIAN, by association with medieval Latin Carolus ‘Charles’.

Carolingian Renaissance a period during the reign of Charlemagne and his successors that was marked by achievements in art, architecture, learning, and music.

Carolinian /karəlnən/ n. a native or inhabitant of the US states of South or North Carolina.

■ adj. 1 of or relating to South or North Carolina.

2 denoting a forest region extending from South Ontario to South Carolina.

carol-singing n. [mass noun] the singing of carols, especially by groups going from door to door at Christmas with the object of raising money.

<DERIVATIVES> carol-singer n.

carom /karəm/ chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. a cannon in billiards or pool.

- (also carom billiards) [mass noun] a game resembling billiards, played on a table without pockets and depending on cannons for scoring.

■ v. [no obj.] make a carom; strike and rebound.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: abbreviation of carambole, from Spanish carambola, apparently from bola ‘ball’.

carotene /karətin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an orange or red plant pigment found in carrots and many other plant structures. It is a terpenoid hydrocarbon with several isomers, of which one (beta-carotene) is important in the diet as a precursor of vitamin A.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: coined in German from Latin carota (see CARROT).

carotenoid /kərtnd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a class of mainly yellow, orange, or red fat-soluble pigments, including carotene, which give colour to plant parts such as ripe tomatoes and autumn leaves.

Carothers /kərəz/ Wallace Hume (1896–1937), American industrial chemist. He developed the first successful synthetic rubber, neoprene, and the synthetic fibre Nylon 6.6.

carotid /kərtd/ adj. relating to or denoting the two main arteries which carry blood to the head and neck, and their two main branches.

■ n. each of the carotid arteries.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French carotide or modern Latin carotides, from Greek karōtides, plural of karōtis ‘drowsiness’, from karoun ‘stupefy’ (because compression of these arteries was thought to cause stupor).

carouse /kəraz/ v. [no obj.] drink alcohol and enjoy oneself with others in a noisy, lively way: they danced and caroused until the drink ran out | (as n. carousing) a night of carousing.

■ n. a noisy, lively drinking party.

<DERIVATIVES> carousal n. carouser n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: originally as an adverb meaning ‘right out, completely’ in the phrase drink carouse, from German gar aus trinken; hence ‘drink heavily, have a drinking bout’.

carousel /karəsεl -zεl/ n. 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a merry-go-round at a fair.

2 a conveyor system at an airport from which arriving passengers collect their luggage.

3 HISTORICAL a tournament in which groups of knights took part in demonstrations of equestrian skills.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French carrousel, from Italian carosello.

carp^1 n. (pl. same) a deep-bodied freshwater fish, typically with barbels around the mouth. Carp are farmed for food in some parts of the world and are often kept in large ponds.

<INFO> Family Cyprinidae (the carp family): several genera and species. The family includes the majority of freshwater fishes in Eurasia, Africa, and North and Central America.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French carpe, from late Latin carpa.

carp^2 v. [no obj.] complain or find fault continually about trivial matters: I don't want to carp about the way you did it.

<DERIVATIVES> carper n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘talk, chatter’): from Old Norse karpa ‘brag’; later influenced by Latin carpere ‘pluck at, slander’.

Carpaccio /kαpatə/ Italian /karpattə/ Vittore (c.1455–1525), Italian painter noted especially for his paintings of Venice.

carpaccio /kαpatə/ Italian /karpattə/ n. [mass noun] an Italian hors d'oeuvre consisting of thin slices of raw beef or fish served with a sauce.

<ORIGIN> Italian, named after Vittore CARPACCIO (from his use of red pigments, resembling raw meat).

carpal /kαp(ə)l/ adj. relating to the bones forming the human carpus (wrist), or to their equivalent in an animal's forelimb.

■ n. any of the carpal bones.

carpal tunnel syndrome n. [mass noun] a painful condition of the hand and fingers caused by compression of a major nerve where it passes over the carpal bones through a passage at the front of the wrist. It may be caused by continual repetitive movements or by fluid retention.

car park n. BRITISH an area or building where cars or other vehicles may be left temporarily.

Carpathian Mountains /kαpeθən/ (also the Carpathians) a mountain system extending south-eastwards from southern Poland and Slovakia into Romania.

carpe diem /kαpe diεm dεm/ exclam. used to urge someone to make the most of the present time and give little thought to the future.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘seize the day!’, a quotation from Horace (Odes I.xi).

carpel /kαp(ə)l/ n. [BOTANY] the female reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of an ovary, a stigma, and usually a style. It may occur singly or as one of a group.

<DERIVATIVES> carpellary adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French carpelle or modern Latin carpellum, from Greek karpos ‘fruit’.

Carpentaria, Gulf of /kαpəntεrə/ a large bay on the north coast of Australia, between Arnhem Land and the Cape York Peninsula.

carpenter n. a person who makes and repairs wooden objects and structures.

■ v. [with obj.] make by shaping wood: the rails were carpentered very skilfully.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, from Old French carpentier, charpentier, from late Latin carpentarius (artifex) ‘carriage (maker)’, from carpentum ‘wagon’, of Gaulish origin; related to CAR.

carpenter ant n. a large ant which burrows into wood to make a nest.

<INFO> Genus Camponotus, family Formicidae: numerous species.

carpenter bee n. a large solitary black bee with purplish wings, which nests in tunnels bored in dead wood or plant stems.

<INFO> Genus Xylocopa, family Apidae: several species.

carpenter trousers plural n. loose-fitting trousers with many pockets of various sizes and loops for tools at the tops or sides of the legs.

carpentry n. [mass noun] the activity or occupation of making or repairing things in wood.

- the work made or done by a carpenter: the superb carpentry of the timber roof.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French carpentrie, Old French charpenterie, from charpentier (see CARPENTER).

carpet n. 1 a floor covering made from thick woven fabric: the house has fitted carpets throughout | [mass noun] the floor was covered with carpet.

- a large rug, especially an oriental one: priceless Persian carpets.

- a thick or soft expanse or layer of something: carpets of wood anemones and bluebells.

- INFORMAL, chiefly US a type of artificial playing surface on a tennis court or sports field.

2 [with modifier] a slender moth marked with undulating bands of colour across the wings.

<INFO> Many species in the family Geometridae, including the garden carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata).

■ v. (carpets, carpeting, carpeted) [with obj.] 1 cover with carpet: the stairs were carpeted in a lovely shade of red.

- cover with a thick or soft expanse or layer of something: the meadows are carpeted with flowers.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL reprimand severely: the Chancellor of the Exchequer carpeted the bank bosses.

<PHRASES>

□ on the carpet INFORMAL being severely reprimanded by someone in authority: we've all been on the carpet for the chances we took. [<ORIGIN> from carpet in the sense ‘table covering’, referring to ‘the carpet of the council table’, before which one would be summoned for reprimand.]

□ sweep something under the carpet conceal or ignore a problem or difficulty in the hope that it will be forgotten.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a thick fabric used as a cover for a table or bed): from Old French carpite or medieval Latin carpita, from obsolete Italian carpita ‘woollen counterpane’, based on Latin carpere ‘pluck, pull to pieces’.

carpet bag n. a travelling bag of a kind originally made of carpet-like material.

■ v. (carpet-bag) [no obj.] INFORMAL act as a carpetbagger: (as adj. carpet-bagging) he's the carpet-bagging king.

carpetbagger n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a political candidate who seeks election in an area where they have no local connections.

- BRITISH a person who becomes a member of a mutually owned building society or insurance company in order to gain financially in the event of the organization demutualizing.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: originally applied to people from the northern states of the US who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from the Reconstruction.

carpet beetle n. a small beetle whose larva (the woolly bear) is destructive to carpets, fabrics, and other materials.

<INFO> Genus Anthrenus, family Dermestidae.

carpet-bomb v. [with obj.] (often as n. carpet-bombing) bomb (an area) intensively.

carpeting n. 1 [mass noun] carpets collectively: offices with wall-to-wall carpeting.

- the fabric from which carpets are made.

2 [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL a severe reprimand: I was called to her office for a carpeting.

carpet knight n. ARCHAIC a man who avoids hard work in favour of leisure activities or philandering.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: with reference to a knight's exploits being restricted to a carpeted boudoir, instead of to the field of battle.

carpet python (also carpet snake) n. a common large Australian climbing snake that is typically brightly patterned.

<INFO> Morelia spilota, family Pythonidae.

carpet shark n. a conspicuously marked small shallow-water shark with barbels around the nose or mouth, found in the Indo-Pacific region and the Red Sea.

<INFO> Family Orectolobidae: Orectolobus and other genera, and several species, including the wobbegong.

carpet shell n. a burrowing bivalve mollusc of temperate and warm seas, with concentric growth rings and irregular coloured markings.

<INFO> Genus Venerupis, family Veneriidae.

carpet slipper n. BRITISH a soft slipper whose upper part is made of wool or thick cloth.

carpet snake n. another term for CARPET PYTHON.

carpet sweeper n. a manual household implement used for sweeping carpets, having a revolving brush or brushes and a receptacle for dust and dirt.

carphology /kαflədi/ n. [mass noun] RARE plucking at the bedclothes by a delirious patient.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek karphologia, from karphos ‘straw’ + legein ‘collect’.

car phone n. a cellular phone designed for use in a motor vehicle.

carping adj. difficult to please; critical: she has silenced the carping critics with a successful debut tour.

carpology /kαplədi/ n. [mass noun] RARE the study of fruits and seeds.

<DERIVATIVES> carpological adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek karpos ‘fruit’ + -LOGY.

carpool chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. an arrangement between people to make a regular journey in a single vehicle, typically with each person taking turns to drive the others.

- a group of people in a carpool.

■ v. [no obj.] form or participate in a carpool.

<DERIVATIVES> carpooler n.

carpophore /kαpə()f/ n. [BOTANY] (in a flower) an elongated axis that raises the stem of the pistil above the stamens.

- (in a fungus) the stem of the fruiting body.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek karpos ‘fruit’ + -PHORE.

carport n. a shelter for a car consisting of a roof supported on posts, built beside a house.

carpus /kαpəs/ n. (pl. carpi /-p/) the group of small bones between the main part of the forelimb and the metacarpus in terrestrial vertebrates. The eight bones of the human carpus form the wrist and part of the hand, and are arranged in two rows.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from modern Latin, from Greek karpos ‘wrist’.

carr n. [mass noun] BRITISH fenland with neutral water.

- [ECOLOGY] wet woodland, typically dominated by alder or willow: a patch of alder carr.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse kjarr ‘brushwood’, in kjarr-mýrr ‘marsh overgrown with brushwood’.

Carracci /kərati/ the name of a family of Italian painters comprising the brothers Annibale (1560–1609) and Agostino (1557–1602) and their cousin Ludovico (1555–1619). Together they established a teaching academy at Bologna, while Annibale became famed for his frescoes on the ceiling of the Farnese Gallery in Rome and for his invention of the caricature.

carrack /karək/ n. a large merchant ship of a kind operating in European waters from the 14th to the 17th century.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French caraque; perhaps from Spanish carraca, from Arabic, perhaps from qarāqir, plural of qurqūra, a type of merchant ship.

carrageen /karəin/ (also carragheen or carrageen moss) n. [mass noun] an edible red shoreline seaweed with flattened branching fronds, found in both Eurasia and North America. Also called IRISH MOSS.

<INFO> Chondrus crispus, division Rhodophyta.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Irish carraigín.

carrageenan /karəinən/ n. [mass noun] a substance extracted from red and purple seaweeds, consisting of a mixture of polysaccharides. It is used as a thickening or emulsifying agent in food products.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from CARRAGEEN + -AN.

Carrara /kərαrə/ Italian /karrara/ a town in Tuscany in west central Italy, famous for the white marble quarried there since Roman times; pop. 65,650 (2001).

Carrel /kərεl karəl/ French /kaRεl/ Alexis (1873–1944), French surgeon and biologist. He developed improved techniques for suturing arteries and veins, and carried out some of the first organ transplants. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1912).

carrel /kar(ə)l/ n. a small cubicle with a desk for the use of a reader or student in a library.

- HISTORICAL a small enclosure or study in a cloister.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: apparently related to CAROL in the old sense ‘ring’.

Carreras /kərεrəs/ José (b.1946), Spanish operatic tenor. His repertoire ranges from the operas of Verdi, Puccini, and Donizetti to traditional Catalan songs and popular light music.

carriage n. 1 a means of conveyance, in particular:

- BRITISH any of the separate sections of a train that carry passengers: the first-class carriages.

- a four-wheeled passenger vehicle pulled by two or more horses: a horse-drawn carriage.

- a wheeled support for moving a heavy object such as a gun.

2 [mass noun] BRITISH the conveying of goods or passengers from one place to another: the carriage of bikes on public transport.

3 a moving part of a machine that carries other parts into the required position: a typewriter carriage.

4 [in sing.] a person's bearing or deportment: her carriage was graceful, her movements quick and deft.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Northern French cariage, from carier (see CARRY).

carriage and pair n. a four-wheeled passenger carriage pulled by two horses.

carriage bolt n. North American term for COACH BOLT.

carriage clock n. BRITISH a portable clock in a rectangular case with a handle on top.

carriage house n. NORTH AMERICAN a building for housing a carriage, typically one which has been converted into a dwelling.

carriage release n. a function or lever which enables the carriage on a manual or electric typewriter to move freely, instead of only in one direction when the keys are pressed.

carriage return (also carriage return key) n. another term for return (sense 5 of the noun).

carriage trade n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the wealthy clientele of a business.

<ORIGIN> with reference to people who formerly would have been wealthy enough to maintain a private carriage.

carriageway n. BRITISH each of the two sides of a dual carriageway or motorway, each of which usually have two or more lanes.

- the part of a road intended for vehicles rather than pedestrians.

carrick bend n. a kind of knot used to join ropes end to end, especially so that they can go round a capstan without jamming.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from BEND^2: carrick perhaps an alteration of CARRACK.

Carrick-on-Shannon the county town of Leitrim in the Republic of Ireland, on the River Shannon; pop. 2,600 (est. 2002).

carrier n. 1 a person or thing that carries, holds, or conveys something: water carriers.

- BRITISH a carrier bag: a plastic carrier.

2 a person or company that undertakes the professional conveyance of goods or people: the instruments can be sent by carrier.

- a vessel or vehicle for transporting goods in bulk.

- an aircraft carrier.

- a company that provides facilities for conveying telecommunications messages.

3 a person or animal that transmits a disease-causing organism to others, especially without suffering from it themselves: the badger is a carrier of bovine tuberculosis.

- an individual that possesses a particular gene, especially as a single copy whose effect is masked by a dominant allele, so that the associated characteristic (such as a hereditary disease) is not displayed but may be passed to offspring.

4 a substance used to support or convey another substance such as a pigment, catalyst, or radioactive material.

- [PHYSICS] short for CHARGE CARRIER.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] a molecule that transfers a specified molecule or ion within the body, especially across a cell membrane.

carrier bag n. BRITISH a plastic or paper bag with handles, especially one supplied by a shop to carry goods purchased there.

carrier pigeon n. a pigeon trained to carry messages tied to its neck or leg.

carrier shell n. a mollusc of warm seas which camouflages itself by cementing shell fragments and pebbles to its shell.

<INFO> Family Xenophoridae, class Gastropoda: Xenophora and other genera.

carrier wave n. a high-frequency electromagnetic wave modulated in amplitude or frequency to convey a signal.

Carrington /kartən/ Dora (de Houghton) (1893–1932), English painter, a member of the Bloomsbury Group.

carriole /karəl/ (also cariole) n. 1 HISTORICAL a small open horse-drawn carriage for one person.

- a light covered cart.

2 (in Canada) a kind of sledge pulled by a horse or dogs.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from Italian carriuola, diminutive of carro, from Latin carrum (see CAR).

carrion n. [mass noun] the decaying flesh of dead animals.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French and Old Northern French caroine, caroigne, Old French charoigne, based on Latin caro ‘flesh’.

carrion beetle n. a beetle that feeds on decaying animal and plant matter.

<INFO> Family Silphidae: many species, including the burying beetles.

carrion crow n. a medium-sized, typically all-black crow which is common throughout much of Eurasia.

<INFO> Corvus corone, family Corvidae. See also HOODED CROW.

carrion flower n. another term for STAPELIA.

Carroll Lewis (1832–98), English writer; pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He wrote the children's classics Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871), which were inspired by Alice Liddell, the young daughter of the dean at the Oxford college where Carroll was a mathematics lecturer.

carronade /karəned/ n. HISTORICAL a short large-calibre cannon, formerly in naval use.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Carron, near Falkirk in Scotland, where this kind of cannon was first made.

carrot n. 1 a tapering orange-coloured root eaten as a vegetable.

2 a cultivated plant of the parsley family with feathery leaves, which yields carrots.

<INFO> Daucus carota, family Umbelliferae: two subspecies and many varieties; wild forms lack the swollen root.

3 an offer of something enticing as a means of persuasion (often contrasted with the threat of something punitive or unwelcome): carrots will promote cooperation over the environment far more effectively than sticks. Compare with stick^1 (sense 3). [<ORIGIN> with allusion to the proverbial encouragement of a donkey to move by enticing it with a carrot.]

4 (carrots) INFORMAL, usually DEROGATORY a nickname for a red-haired person.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French carotte, from Latin carota, from Greek karōton.

carrot fly n. a small fly whose larvae are a widespread pest of carrots, burrowing into the roots.

<INFO> Psila rosae, family Psilidae.

carroty adj. (of a person's hair) orange-red in colour.

carry v. (carries, carrying, carried) [with obj.] 1 support and move (someone or something) from one place to another: medics were carrying a wounded man on a stretcher.

- transport, conduct or transmit: the train service carries 20,000 passengers daily | nerves carry visual information from the eyes.

- have on one's person: he was killed for the money he was carrying | FIGURATIVE she had carried the secret all her life.

- be infected with (a disease) and liable to transmit it to others: ticks can carry a nasty disease which affects humans.

2 support the weight of: the bridge is capable of carrying even the heaviest loads.

- be pregnant with: she was carrying twins.

3 [no obj.] (of a sound, ball, missile, etc.) reach a specified point: his voice carried clearly across the room | the ball carried to second slip.

- [with obj.] (of a gun or similar weapon) propel (a missile) to a specified distance.

- [with obj.] take or develop (an idea or activity) to a specified point: he carried the criticism much further.

4 assume or accept (responsibility or blame): they must carry management responsibility for the mess they have got the company into.

- be responsible for the effectiveness of: they relied on dialogue to carry the plot.

5 (carry oneself) stand and move in a specified way: she carried herself straight and with assurance.

6 have as a feature or consequence: being a combat sport, karate carries with it the risk of injury | each bike carries a ten-year guarantee.

- (of a newspaper or a television or radio station) publish or broadcast: the paper carried a detailed account of the current crisis.

- (of a shop) keep a regular stock of (goods for sale): 550 off-licences carry the basic range.

- be known or marked by: the product does not carry the swallow symbol.

7 approve (a proposed measure) by a majority of votes: the resolution was carried by a two-to-one majority.

- persuade (others) to support one's policy: he could not carry the cabinet.

- NORTH AMERICAN gain (a state or district) in an election.

8 transfer (a figure) to an adjacent column during an arithmetical operation (e.g. when a column of digit adds up to more than ten).

■ n. (pl. carries) [usually in sing.] 1 an act of carrying something from one place to another.

- [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] an act of running or rushing with the ball.

- [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the action of keeping a gun on one's person: this pistol is the right choice for on-duty or off-duty carry.

- North American HISTORICAL a place between navigable waters over which boats or supplies had to be carried.

- the transfer of a figure into an adjacent column (or the equivalent part of a computer memory) during an arithmetical operation.

2 the range of a gun or similar weapon.

- [GOLF] the distance a ball travels before reaching the ground.

3 [FINANCE] the maintenance of an investment position in a securities market, especially with regard to the costs or profits accruing.

<PHRASES>

□ carry all before one overcome all opposition.

□ carry one's bat [CRICKET] (of an opening or high-order batsman) be not out at the end of a side's completed innings.

□ carry the can BRITISH INFORMAL take responsibility for a mistake or misdeed.

□ carry conviction be convincing.

□ carry the day be victorious or successful.

□ carry something into effect act on a plan or proposal. the plans have not been carried into effect for want of premises.

□ carry weight be influential: the report is expected to carry considerable weight with the administration.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ be/get carried away lose self-control: I got a bit carried away when describing his dreadful season.

□ carry something away [NAUTICAL] lose a mast or other part of a ship through breakage.

□ carry something forward transfer figures to a new page or account.

- keep something to use or deal with at a later time: we carried forward a reserve which allowed us to meet demands.

□ carry someone/thing off take someone or something away by force.

- (of a medical condition) kill someone: Parkinson's disease carried him off in September.

□ carry something off win a prize: she failed to carry off the gold medal.

- succeed in doing something difficult: he could not have carried it off without government help.

□ carry on 1 continue an activity or task: you can carry on with a sport as long as you feel comfortable | she carries on watching the telly.

- continue to move in the same direction: I knew I was going the wrong way, but I just carried on.

2 INFORMAL behave in a specified way: they carry on in a very adult fashion.

- behave in an overemotional way.

3 INFORMAL be engaged in a love affair, typically one of which the speaker disapproves: she was carrying on with young Adam.

□ carry something on engage in an activity: he could not carry on a logical conversation.

□ carry something out perform a task: we're carrying out a market-research survey.

□ carry something over retain something and apply or deal with it in a new context: much of the wartime economic planning was carried over into the peace.

- postpone an event: the match had to be carried over till Sunday.

- another way of saying CARRY SOMETHING FORWARD.

□ carry something through bring a project to completion.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French and Old Northern French carier, based on Latin carrus ‘wheeled vehicle’.

carryall n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a large bag or case.

2 HISTORICAL a light carriage. [<ORIGIN> early 18th century: apparently altered by folk etymology from French carriole, denoting a small covered carriage.]

- US a large car or truck with seats facing each other along the sides.

carrycot n. BRITISH a small portable bed for a baby.

carrying capacity n. [mass noun] the number or quantity of people or things which can be conveyed by a vehicle or container.

- [ECOLOGY] the number of people, animals, or crops which a region can support without environmental degradation.

carrying charge n. 1 [FINANCE], chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an expense or effective cost arising from unproductive assets such as stored goods or unoccupied premises.

2 a sum payable for the conveyance of goods.

carrying trade n. the business of transporting commercial goods from one place to another by land, sea, or air.

carry-on n. [usually in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL a display of excitement or fuss over an unimportant matter: I never saw such a carry-on!

- (also carryings-on) questionable behaviour, typically involving sexual impropriety: the sort of carry-on that goes on behind the chintz curtains of suburbia.

carry-out adj. & n. chiefly SCOTTISH & US another term for TAKEAWAY.

carry-over n. [usually in sing.] something transferred or resulting from a previous situation: the slow trading was a carry-over from the big losses of last week.

carse /kαs/ n. [mass noun] SCOTTISH fertile lowland beside a river.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps an alteration of carrs, plural of CARR.

carsick adj. affected with nausea caused by the motion of a car or other vehicle in which one is travelling.

<DERIVATIVES> carsickness n.

Carson^1 Rachel (Louise) (1907–64), American zoologist, a pioneer ecologist and popularizer of science. She is noted especially for The Sea Around Us (1951) and Silent Spring (1963), an attack on the indiscriminate use of pesticides.

Carson^2 Willie (b.1942), Scottish jockey; full name William Fisher Hunter Carson. His successes include victories in the Derby in 1979, 1980, and 1989.

Carson City the state capital of Nevada; pop. 52,457 (2000).

cart n. a strong open vehicle with two or four wheels, typically used for carrying loads and pulled by a horse: a horse and cart.

- a shallow open container on wheels that may be pulled or pushed by hand.

- (also shopping cart) NORTH AMERICAN a supermarket trolley.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 convey or put in a cart or similar vehicle: the meat was pickled in salt and carted to El Paso.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] INFORMAL carry (a heavy or cumbersome object) somewhere with difficulty: they carted the piano down three flights of stairs.

- remove or convey (someone) somewhere unceremoniously: they were carted off to the nearest police station.

- [CRICKET] hit (the ball) with a powerful stroke that sends it a long way.

<PHRASES>

□ in the cart BRITISH INFORMAL in trouble or difficulty.

□ put the cart before the horse reverse the proper order or procedure of something.

<DERIVATIVES> carter n. cartful n. (pl. cartfuls)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse kartr, probably influenced by Anglo-Norman French and Old Northern French carete, diminutive of carre (see CAR).

cartage n. [mass noun] the conveyance of something in a cart or other vehicle.

Cartagena /kαtədinə/ Spanish /kartaxena/ 1 a port in SE Spain; pop. 183,799 (est. 2001). Originally named Mastia, it was refounded as Carthago Nova (New Carthage) by Hasdrubal in c.225 BC, as a base for the Carthaginian conquest of Spain.

2 a port, resort, and oil-refining centre in NW Colombia, on the Caribbean Sea; pop. 853,900 (est. 2002).

carte blanche /kαt blαn/ n. 1 [mass noun] complete freedom to act as one wishes: the architect given carte blanche to design the store.

2 (in piquet) a hand containing no court cards as dealt.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: French, literally ‘blank paper’ (i.e. a blank sheet on which to write whatever one wishes, particularly one's own terms for an agreement).

carte de visite /kαt də vzit/ n. (pl. cartes de visite pronunc. same) HISTORICAL a small photographic portrait of a person, mounted on a piece of card.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, ‘visiting card’.

cartel /kαtεl/ n. an association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition: the Columbian drug cartels.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Kartell, from French cartel, from Italian cartello, diminutive of carta, from Latin carta (see card^1). It was originally used to refer to the coalition of the Conservatives and National Liberal parties in Germany (1887), and hence any political combination; later to denote a trade agreement (early 20th century).

cartelize /kαtεlz kαtəlz/ (also cartelise) v. [with obj.] (of manufacturers or suppliers) form a cartel in (an industry or trade).

Carter^1 Angela (1940–92), English novelist and short-story writer, whose fiction is characterized by fantasy, black humour, and eroticism. Notable works: The Magic Toyshop (1967) and Nights at the Circus (1984).

Carter^2 Elliott (Cook) (b.1908), American composer. He is noted for his innovative approach to metre and his choice of sources as diverse as modern jazz and Renaissance madrigals.

Carter^3 Howard (1874–1939), English archaeologist. In 1922, while excavating in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes, he discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen.

Carter^4 Jimmy (b.1924), American Democratic statesman, 39th President of the US 1977–81; full name James Earl Carter. He hosted the talks which led to the Camp David agreements (1978) and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Cartesian /kαtizən -(ə)n/ adj. relating to Descartes and his ideas.

■ n. a follower of Descartes.

<DERIVATIVES> Cartesianism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin Cartesianus, from Cartesius, Latinized form of the name of Descartes.

Cartesian coordinates plural n. numbers which indicate the location of a point relative to a fixed reference point (the origin), being its shortest (perpendicular) distances from two fixed axes (or three planes defined by three fixed axes) which intersect at right angles at the origin.

Carthage /kαθd/ an ancient city on the coast of North Africa near present-day Tunis. Founded by the Phoenicians c.814 BC, Carthage became a major force in the Mediterranean, and came into conflict with Rome in the Punic Wars. It was finally destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC.

<DERIVATIVES> Carthaginian n. & adj.

carthorse n. a large, strong horse suitable for heavy work.

Carthusian /kαθjuzən/ n. a monk or nun of an austere contemplative order founded by St Bruno in 1084.

■ adj. relating to the Carthusians.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin Carthusianus, from Cart(h)usia, Latin name of Chartreuse, near Grenoble, where the order was founded.

Cartier /kαte/ French /kaRtje/ Jacques (1491–1557), French explorer. The first to establish France's claim to North America, he made three voyages to Canada between 1534 and 1541.

Cartier-Bresson /kαtebrεs/ French /kaRtjebRεs/ Henri (1908–2004), French photographer and film director. He was noted for his collection of photographs The Decisive Moment (1952) and his documentary film about the Spanish Civil War, Return to Life (1937).

cartilage /kαt()ld/ n. [mass noun] firm, flexible connective tissue found in various forms in the larynx and respiratory tract, in structures such as the external ear, and in the articulating surfaces of joints. It is more widespread in the infant skeleton, being replaced by bone during growth.

- [count noun] a particular structure made of cartilage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, from Latin cartilago, cartilagin-.

cartilaginous /kαtladnəs/ adj. [ANATOMY] made of cartilage.

- [ZOOLOGY] (of a vertebrate animal) having a skeleton of cartilage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin cartilaginosus, from cartilago, cartilagin- ‘cartilage’.

cartilaginous fish n. a fish of a class distinguished by having a skeleton of cartilage rather than bone, including the sharks, rays, and chimaeras. Compare with BONY FISH.

<INFO> Class Chondrichthyes: subclasses Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) and Hoplocephali (chimaeras).

Cartland Dame (Mary) Barbara (Hamilton) (1901–2000), English author of light romantic fiction.

cartload n. the amount held by a cart.

- INFORMAL a large quantity or number of people or things: drunken yobbos who turned up by the cartload.

cartogram /kαtəram/ n. a map on which statistical information is shown in diagrammatic form.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French cartogramme, from carte ‘map or card’ + -gramme (from Greek gramma ‘thing written’).

cartography /kαtrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the science or practice of drawing maps.

<DERIVATIVES> cartographer n. cartographic adj. cartographical adj. cartographically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French cartographie, from carte ‘map, card’ (see card^1) + -graphie (see -GRAPHY).

cartomancy /kαtə()mansi/ n. [mass noun] fortune telling by interpreting a random selection of playing cards.

<DERIVATIVES> cartomancer n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French cartomancie, from carte ‘card’ + -mancie (see -MANCY).

carton n. a small, light box or container in which drinks or foodstuffs are packaged.

- NORTH AMERICAN a large container of goods.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Italian cartone (see CARTOON).

cartonnage /kαt(ə)nd/ n. an ancient Egyptian mummy case made of tightly fitting layers of linen or papyrus glued together.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French.

cartoon n. 1 a simple drawing showing the features of its subjects in a humorously exaggerated way, especially a satirical one in a newspaper or magazine.

- (also cartoon strip) a narrative sequence of humorous drawings in a comic, magazine, or newspaper, usually with captions.

- a simplified or exaggerated version or interpretation of something: [as modifier] Dolores becomes a cartoon housewife, reading glossy magazines in a bathrobe.

2 a film using animation techniques to photograph a sequence of drawings rather than real people or objects.

3 a full-size drawing made by an artist as a preliminary design for a painting or other work of art.

■ v. [with obj.] make a drawing of (someone) in a simplified or exaggerated way.

- (as n. cartooning) the activity or occupation of drawing cartoons.

<DERIVATIVES> cartoonish adj. cartoonist n. cartoony adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 3 of the noun): from Italian cartone, from carta, from Latin carta, charta (see card^1).

■ Sense 1 of the noun dates from the mid 19th cent.

cartophily /kαtfli/ n. [mass noun] the collecting of picture cards, such as postcards or cigarette cards, as a hobby.

<DERIVATIVES> cartophilist n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from French carte or Italian carta ‘card’ + -PHILY.

cartouche /kαtu/ n. 1 a carved tablet or drawing representing a scroll with rolled-up ends, used ornamentally or bearing an inscription.

- a decorative architectural feature, such as a modillion or corbel, resembling a scroll.

2 an ornate frame around a design or inscription.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] an oval or oblong enclosing a group of Egyptian hieroglyphs, typically representing the name and title of a monarch.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French cartouche (masculine noun), earlier cartoche, from Italian cartoccio, from carta, from Latin carta, charta (see card^1).

cartridge n. a container holding a spool of photographic film, a quantity of ink, etc., designed for insertion into a mechanism.

- a casing containing a charge and a bullet or shot for small arms or an explosive charge for blasting.

- a component carrying the stylus on the pickup head of a record player.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French cartouche (feminine noun), from Italian cartoccio (see CARTOUCHE).

cartridge belt n. a belt with pockets or loops for cartridges of ammunition.

cartridge paper n. [mass noun] BRITISH thick, rough-textured paper used for drawing and for strong envelopes.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: originally used to make cartridge cases.

cartwheel n. 1 the wheel of a cart.

2 a circular sideways handspring with the arms and legs extended.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] perform a cartwheel or cartwheels: he cartwheeled across the room.

Cartwright Edmund (1743–1823), English engineer, inventor of the power loom.

cartwright n. chiefly HISTORICAL a person whose job is making carts.

caruncle /karək(ə)l kər-/ n. 1 a wattle of a bird such as a turkeycock.

2 the red prominence at the inner corner of the eye.

3 [BOTANY] a coloured waxy or oily outgrowth from a seed near the micropyle, attractive to ants which aid the seed's dispersal.

<DERIVATIVES> caruncular adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: obsolete French, from Latin caruncula, from caro, carn- ‘flesh’.

Caruso /kəruzə -sə/ Italian /karusə/ Enrico (1873–1921), Italian operatic tenor. He was the first major tenor to be recorded on gramophone records.

carve v. [with obj.] 1 cut (a hard material) in order to produce an object, design, or inscription: the wood was carved with runes | (as adj. carved) bookcases of carved oak.

- produce (an object, inscription, or design) by cutting into a hard material: the altar was carved from a block of solid jade | I carved my initials on the tree.

2 cut (cooked meat) into slices for eating.

- cut (a slice of meat) from a larger piece.

3 [SKIING] make (a turn) by tilting one's skis on to their edges and using one's weight to bend them so that they slide into an arc.

<PHRASES>

□ be carved on tablets of stone see STONE.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ carve something out 1 take something from a larger whole, especially with difficulty: the company hopes to carve out a greater share of the $20 bn market.

2 establish or create something through painstaking effort: he managed to carve out a successful photographic career for himself.

□ carve someone up INFORMAL 1 slash someone with a knife or other sharp object.

2 drive aggressively into the path of another driver while overtaking.

□ carve something up divide something ruthlessly into separate areas or parts: West Africa was carved up by the Europeans.

<ORIGIN> Old English ceorfan ‘cut, carve’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch kerven.

carvel-built adj. (of a boat) having external planks which do not overlap. Compare with CLINKER-BUILT.

carven archaic past participle of CARVE.

carver n. 1 a person who carves a hard material professionally: an ivory carver.

2 a knife designed for slicing meat.

- (carvers) a knife and fork for slicing meat.

3 a person who cuts and serves the meat at a meal.

- BRITISH the principal chair, with arms, in a set of dining chairs, intended for the person carving meat.

carvery n. (pl. carveries) BRITISH a buffet or restaurant where cooked joints are displayed and carved as required in front of customers.

carve-up n. [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL a ruthless division of something into separate areas or parts: the carve-up of the brewing industry by vested interests.

carving n. [mass noun] the action of carving.

- [count noun] an object or design carved from a hard material as an artistic work.

carving knife n. a knife with a long blade used for carving cooked meat into slices.

car wash n. a building containing equipment for washing vehicles automatically.

caryatid /karatd/ n. (pl. caryatides /-diz/ or caryatids) [ARCHITECTURE] a stone carving of a draped female figure, used as a pillar to support the entablature of a Greek or Greek-style building.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via French and Italian from Latin caryatides, from Greek karuatides, plural of karuatis ‘priestess of Artemis at Caryae’, from Karuai (Caryae) in Laconia.

caryophyllaceous /karə()fleəs/ adj. [BOTANY] relating to or denoting plants of the pink family (Caryophyllaceae).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Caryophyllaceae (plural), based on Greek karuophullon ‘clove pink’, + -OUS.

caryopsis /karpss/ n. (pl. caryopses /-siz/) [BOTANY] a dry one-seeded fruit in which the ovary wall is united with the seed coat, typical of grasses and cereals.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from modern Latin, from Greek karuon ‘nut’ + opsis ‘appearance’.

casaba /kəsαbə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a winter melon of a variety with a wrinkled yellow rind and sweet flesh.

- (casabas) INFORMAL a woman's breasts.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Kasaba (now Turgutlu) in Turkey, from which the melons were first exported.

Casablanca /kasəblakə/ the largest city of Morocco, a seaport on the Atlantic coast; pop. 3,344,300 (est. 2002).

Casals /kəsalz/ Pablo (1876–1973), Spanish cellist, conductor, and composer. He was noted especially for his performances of Bach suites and the Dvořák Cello Concerto.

Casanova /kasənəvə -z-/ Giovanni Jacopo (1725–98), Italian adventurer; full name Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt. He is famous for his memoirs describing his sexual encounters and other exploits.

- (as n. usually a Casanova) a man notorious for seducing women.

cascabel /kaskəb(ə)l/ n. a small red chilli pepper of a mild-flavoured variety.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Spanish, from Catalan cascavel, from medieval Latin cascabellus ‘little bell’.

cascade n. 1 a small waterfall, typically one of several that fall in stages down a steep rocky slope.

- a mass of something that falls or hangs in copious quantities: a cascade of pink bougainvillea.

- a large number or amount of something occurring at the same time: a cascade of anti-war literature.

2 a process whereby something, typically information or knowledge, is successively passed on.

- a succession of devices or stages in a process, each of which triggers or initiates the next.

■ v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of water) pour downwards rapidly and in large quantities: water was cascading down the stairs.

- fall or hang in copious quantities: blonde hair cascaded down her back.

2 [with obj.] pass (something) on to a succession of others: teachers who are able to cascade their experience effectively.

3 [with obj.] arrange (a number of devices or objects) in a series or sequence.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian cascata, from cascare ‘to fall’, based on Latin casus (see case^1).

Cascade Range a range of volcanic mountains in western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to northern California.

cascara /kaskαrə/ (also cascara sagrada /sərαdə/) n. 1 [mass noun] a purgative made from the dried bark of an American buckthorn.

2 the tree from which cascara is obtained, native to western North America.

<INFO> Rhamnus purshiana, family Rhamnaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Spanish cáscara (sagrada), literally ‘(sacred) bark’.

case^1 n. 1 an instance of a particular situation; an example of something occurring: a case of mistaken identity | in many cases farmers do have a deep feeling for their land.

- [usually in sing.] the situation affecting or relating to a particular person or thing: I'll make an exception in your case.

- an incident or set of circumstances under official investigation by the police: a murder case.

2 an instance of a disease, injury, or problem: 200,000 cases of hepatitis B.

- a person or their particular problem requiring or receiving medical or welfare attention: most breast cancer cases were older women | the local social services discussed Gemma's case.

- [with adj. or noun modifier] INFORMAL a person whose situation is regarded as pitiable or as having no chance of improvement: Vicky was a very sad case.

- INFORMAL, DATED an amusing or eccentric person.

3 a legal action, especially one to be decided in a court of law: a libel case | a former employee brought the case against the council.

- a set of facts or arguments supporting one side in a legal case: the case for the defence.

- a set of facts or arguments supporting one side of a debate or controversy: the case against tobacco advertising.

- (also case stated) an agreed summary of the facts relating to a legal case, drawn up for review or decision on a point of law by a higher court.

4 [GRAMMAR] any of the forms of a noun, adjective, or pronoun that express the semantic relation of the word to other words in the sentence: the accusative case.

<PHRASES>

□ as the case may be according to the circumstances (used when referring to two or more alternatives): the authorities will decide if they are satisfied or not satisfied, as the case may be.

□ be the case be so.

□ in any case whatever happens or may have happened.

- moreover: he wasn't allowed out yet, and in any case he wasn't well enough.

□ (just) in case 1 as a provision against something happening or being true: we put on thick jumpers, in case it was cold.

2 if it is true that: in case you haven't figured it out, let me explain.

□ in case of in the event of (a particular situation): instructions about what to do in case of fire.

□ in no case under no circumstances: in no case is a specific funding target set.

□ in that case if that is or will be the situation: ‘I'm free this evening.’ ‘In that case, why not have dinner with me?’.

□ it's a case of —— used to introduce a summary of a particular situation, especially one that is unavoidable under the circumstances: it's not a case of wanting to return to work but having to.

□ on (or off) someone's case INFORMAL continually (or no longer) criticizing or harassing someone: teachers, you know, get on your case.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cas, from Latin casus ‘fall’, related to cadere ‘to fall’; in sense 4 directly from Latin, translating Greek ptōsis, literally ‘fall’.

case^2 n. 1 a container designed to hold or protect something: a silver cigarette case.

- the outer protective covering of a natural or manufactured object: a seed case.

- an item of luggage; a suitcase.

- a box containing twelve bottles of wine or other drink, sold as a unit: a case of champagne.

2 each of the two forms, capital or minuscule, in which a letter of the alphabet may be written or printed. See also UPPER CASE, LOWER CASE. [<ORIGIN> from the use in printing to mean ‘partitioned container for loose metal type’.]

■ v. [with obj.] 1 surround in a material or substance: the towers are of steel cased in granite.

- enclose in a protective container: (as adj. cased) a cased pair of pistols.

2 INFORMAL reconnoitre (a place) before carrying out a robbery: I was casing the joint.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French casse, chasse (modern caisse ‘trunk, chest’, châsse ‘reliquary, frame’), from Latin capsa, related to capere ‘to hold’.

caseation /kese(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition characteristic of tuberculosis, in which diseased tissue forms a firm, dry mass like cheese in appearance.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from medieval Latin caseatio(n-), from Latin caseus ‘cheese’.

casebook n. a written record of cases dealt with, especially one kept by a doctor or investigator.

- a book containing extracts of important legal cases.

- US a book containing a selection of source materials on a particular subject, used as a reference work or in teaching.

case-bound adj. TECHNICAL (of a book) hardback.

case conference n. a meeting of professionals such as teachers or social workers to discuss a particular case.

case-hardened adj. (of a material) having a hard surface.

- (of iron or steel) having been given a hard surface by being carburized.

- made callous or tough by experience: a case-hardened politician.

<DERIVATIVES> case-harden v.

case history n. a record of a person's background or medical history kept by a doctor or social worker.

casein /kesin -sn/ n. [mass noun] the main protein present in milk and (in coagulated form) in cheese. It is used in processed foods and in adhesives, paints, and other industrial products.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin caseus ‘cheese’ + -IN^1.

case knife n. 1 US a knife used at meals.

2 ARCHAIC a type of dagger carried in a sheath.

case law n. [mass noun] the law as established by the outcome of former cases. Compare with COMMON LAW, STATUTE LAW.

caseload n. the number of cases with which a doctor, lawyer, or social worker is concerned at one time.

casemate /kesmet/ n. 1 HISTORICAL a small room in the wall of a fortress, with openings from which guns or missiles could be fired.

2 an armoured enclosure for guns on a warship.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Italian casamatta, perhaps from Greek khasma, khasmat- (see CHASM).

Casement Sir Roger (David) (1864–1916), Irish diplomat and nationalist. In 1914 he sought German support for an Irish uprising, and was subsequently hanged by the British for treason.

casement n. a window or part of a window set on a vertical hinge so that it opens like a door.

- LITERARY a window of any kind.

- the sash of a sash window.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an architectural term denoting a hollow moulding): from Anglo-Latin cassimentum, from cassa, from Latin capsa (see case^2).

caseous /kesəs/ adj. MEDICINE characterized by caseation.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin caseus ‘cheese’ + -OUS.

case-sensitive adj. (of a computer program or function) differentiating between capital and lower-case letters.

case-shot n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL bullets or pieces of metal in an iron case fired from a cannon.

case study n. 1 a process or record of research into the development of a particular person, group, or situation over a period of time.

2 a particular instance of something used or analysed in order to illustrate a thesis or principle: airline deregulation provides a case study of the effects of the internal market.

casevac /kazvak ka-/ MILITARY SLANG n. [mass noun] evacuation of casualties by air.

■ v. (casevacs, casevacing, casevaced) [with obj.] evacuate (a casualty) by air.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of CASUALTY and EVACUATION.

casework^1 n. [mass noun] social work directly concerned with individuals, especially that involving a study of a person's family history and personal circumstances.

<DERIVATIVES> caseworker n.

casework^2 n. [mass noun] the decorative outer case protecting the workings of a complex mechanism such as an organ or harpsichord.

Cash Johnny (b.1932), American country music singer and songwriter. Notable songs: ‘I Walk the Line’ (1956) and ‘A Boy Named Sue’ (1969).

cash^1 n. [mass noun] money in coins or notes, as distinct from cheques, money orders, or credit: the staff were paid in cash | a discount for cash.

- money in any form: she was always short of cash.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 give or obtain notes or coins for (a cheque or money order): the bank cashed her cheque.

- [no obj.] (cash up or North American cash out) count and check takings at the end of a day's trading.

- (cash something in or North American cash out) convert an insurance policy, savings account, or other investment into money.

2 [no obj.] (cash in) INFORMAL take advantage of or exploit (a situation): the breweries were cashing in on the rediscovered taste for real ales.

3 [BRIDGE] lead (a high card) so as to take the opportunity to win a trick.

<PHRASES>

□ cash and carry a system of wholesale trading whereby goods are paid for in full at the time of purchase and taken away by the purchaser.

- a wholesale store operating the cash-and-carry system.

□ cash down BRITISH with immediate and full payment at the time of purchase: the price was £900 cash down.

□ cash in one's chips INFORMAL die. [<ORIGIN> with reference to gambling in a casino.]

□ cash in hand BRITISH payment for goods and services in cash rather than by cheque or other means, typically as a way of avoiding the payment of tax on the amount earned: [as modifier] a cash-in-hand job.

□ cash on delivery the system of paying for goods when they are delivered.

<DERIVATIVES> cashable adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a box for money): from Old French casse or Italian cassa ‘box’, from Latin capsa (see case^2).

cash^2 n. (pl. same) HISTORICAL a coin of low value from China, southern India, or SE Asia.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Portuguese caixa, from Tamil kāsu, influenced by cash^1.

cashback n. a form of incentive offered to buyers of certain products whereby they receive a cash refund after making their purchase.

- a facility offered by some retailers whereby the customer may withdraw cash when making a debit card purchase.

cash bar n. a bar at a social function at which guests buy drinks rather than having them provided free.

cash book n. a book in which receipts and payments of money are recorded.

cash card n. BRITISH a plastic card issued by a bank or building society which enables the holder to withdraw money from a cash dispenser.

cash cow n. INFORMAL a business or investment that provides a steady income or profit.

cash crop n. a crop produced for its commercial value rather than for use by the grower.

<DERIVATIVES> cash cropping n.

cash desk n. BRITISH a counter or compartment in a shop or restaurant where payments are made.

cash dispenser n. British another term for AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINE.

cashew /kau kəu/ n. 1 (also cashew nut) an edible kidney-shaped nut, rich in oil and protein, which is roasted and shelled before it can be eaten. Oil extracted from the shells is used as a lubricant, in the production of plastics, etc.

2 (also cashew tree) a bushy tropical American tree related to the mango, bearing cashew nuts singly at the tip of each swollen fruit. Also called ACAJOU.

<INFO> Anacardium occidentale, family Anacardiaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Portuguese, from Tupi acajú, cajú.

cashew apple n. the swollen edible fruit of the cashew tree, from which the cashew nut hangs, sometimes used to make wine.

cash flow n. the total amount of money being transferred into and out of a business, especially as affecting liquidity.

cashier^1 n. a person handling payments and receipts in a shop, bank, or business.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Dutch cassier or French caissier, from caisse ‘cash’.

cashier^2 v. [with obj.] dismiss (someone) from the armed forces in disgrace because of a serious misdemeanour.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘dismiss or disband troops’): from Flemish kasseren ‘disband (troops)’ or ‘revoke (a will)’, from French casser ‘revoke, dismiss’, from Latin quassare (see QUASH).

cashless adj. characterized by the exchange of funds by cheque, debit or credit card, or electronic methods rather than the use of cash: the age of the cashless society.

cashmere n. [mass noun] fine, soft wool, originally that from the Kashmir goat.

- woollen material made from or resembling cashmere: [as modifier] a cashmere jumper.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: an early spelling of KASHMIR.

cash nexus n. the relationship constituted by monetary transactions.

cashpoint n. BRITISH TRADEMARK another term for AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINE.

cash ratio n. the ratio of the liquid assets of a company to its current liabilities.

- the ratio of cash to deposits in a bank (for which minimum values are generally set officially).

cash register n. a machine used in shops that has a drawer for money and totals, displays, and records the amount of each sale.

cash-strapped adj. INFORMAL extremely short of money: cash-strapped consumers have gone deeper into debt.

casing n. 1 a cover or shell that protects or encloses something: a waterproof casing.

2 the frame round a door or window.

casino n. (pl. casinos) a public room or building where gambling games are played.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian, diminutive of casa ‘house’, from Latin casa ‘cottage’.

casita /kəsitə/ n. N. AMER a small house or other building, especially a wooden cabin.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Spanish, diminutive of casa ‘house’.

cask n. a large barrel-like container used for storing liquids, typically alcoholic drinks.

- the quantity of liquid held in a cask: a cask of cider.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French casque or Spanish casco ‘helmet’. The current senses appear only in English; from the late 16th to the late 18th centuries the word also denoted a helmet (compare with CASQUE).

cask beer n. [mass noun] draught beer brewed and stored in the traditional way, maturing naturally in the cask from which it is served. Compare with KEG BEER.

cask-conditioned adj. (of beer) undergoing a secondary fermentation in the cask and not filtered, pasteurized, or further processed before serving.

casket n. a small ornamental box or chest for holding jewels, letters, or other valued objects.

- BRITISH a small wooden box for cremated ashes.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a coffin.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps an Anglo-Norman French form of Old French cassette, diminutive of casse (see case^2).

Casnewydd /kasnew/ Welsh name for NEWPORT.

Caspar /kaspə -pα/ one of the three Magi.

Caspian Sea /kaspən/ a large landlocked salt lake, bounded by Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It is the world's largest body of inland water with an area of about 371,800 sq. km (143,550 sq. miles). Its surface lies 28 m (92 ft) below sea level.

casque /kαsk/ n. 1 HISTORICAL a helmet.

2 [ZOOLOGY] a helmet-like structure, such as that on the bill of a hornbill or the head of a cassowary.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from Spanish casco. Compare with CASK.

Cassandra /kəsandrə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a daughter of the Trojan king Priam. She was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but when she cheated him, he turned this into a curse by causing her prophecies, though true, to be disbelieved.

- (as n. a Cassandra) a prophet of disaster, especially one who is disregarded.

cassareep /kasərip/ (also casareep) n. [mass noun] W. INDIAN a thick brown syrup made by boiling down the juice of grated cassava with sugar and spices, used as a flavouring for pepper pot (see PEPPER POT (SENSE 2)).

<ORIGIN> from Arawak casiripe.

cassata /kəsαtə/ n. [mass noun] Neapolitan ice cream containing candied or dried fruit and nuts.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: Italian.

cassation /kəse(ə)n/ n. [MUSIC] an informal instrumental composition of the 18th century, similar to a divertimento and often performed outdoors.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Kassation ‘serenade’, from Italian cassazione.

Cassatt /kəsat/ Mary (1844–1926), American painter, who worked mostly in Paris. Her paintings display a close interest in everyday subject matter.

cassava /kəsαvə/ n. 1 [mass noun] the starchy tuberous root of a tropical tree, used as food in tropical countries.

- starch or flour obtained from cassava. Also called MANIOC.

2 the shrubby tree from which cassava is obtained, native to tropical America and cultivated throughout the tropics.

<INFO> Genus Manihot, family Euphorbiaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Taino casávi, cazábbi, influenced by French cassave.

Cassegrain telescope /kasren/ n. a reflecting telescope in which light reflected from a convex secondary mirror passes through a hole in the primary mirror.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after N. Cassegrain (1625–1712), the French astronomer who devised it.

casserole n. a kind of stew that is cooked slowly in an oven: a chicken casserole.

- a large covered dish used for cooking casseroles.

■ v. [with obj.] cook (food) slowly in a casserole.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, diminutive of casse ‘spoon-like container’, from Old Provençal casa, from late Latin cattia ‘ladle, pan’, from Greek kuathion, diminutive of kuathos ‘cup’.

cassette n. a sealed plastic unit containing a length of audio tape, videotape, film, etc. wound on a pair of spools, for insertion into a recorder, playback device, or other machine.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, diminutive of casse (see case^2).

cassette player (also cassette recorder) n. a machine for playing back or recording audio cassettes.

cassette tape n. a cassette of audio tape or videotape.

cassia /kasə/ n. 1 a tree, shrub, or herbaceous plant of the pea family, native to warm climates. Cassias yield a variety of products, including fodder, timber, and medicinal drugs (such as senna), and many are cultivated as ornamentals.

<INFO> Genus Cassia, family Leguminosae: many species.

2 (also cassia bark) [mass noun] the aromatic bark of an East Asian tree, yielding an inferior kind of cinnamon which is sometimes used to adulterate true cinnamon.

<INFO> Cinnamomum aromaticum, family Lauraceae.

<ORIGIN> Old English (in sense 2), from Latin, probably denoting the wild cinnamon, via Greek from Hebrew qĕī‘āh.

cassingle /kas(ə)l/ n. an audio cassette with a single piece of popular music on each side.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of CASSETTE and SINGLE.

Cassini^1 /kasini/ Giovanni Domenico (1625–1712), Italian-born French astronomer. He discovered the gap in the rings of Saturn known as Cassini's division.

Cassini^2 a spacecraft launched in 1997 to explore Saturn and Titan, which it reached in 2004. It consists of an orbiter and a probe (see Huygens^2).

Cassiopeia /kasə()piə/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the wife of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, and mother of Andromeda.

2 [ASTRONOMY] a constellation near the north celestial pole, recognizable by the conspicuous ‘W’ pattern of its brightest stars.

cassis^1 /kasis kass/ (also crème de cassis) n. [mass noun] a syrupy blackcurrant liqueur produced mainly in Burgundy.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘blackcurrant’, apparently from Latin cassia (see CASSIA).

cassis^2 /kasi/ n. [mass noun] a wine produced in the region of Cassis, a small town near Marseilles.

cassiterite /kəstərt/ n. [mass noun] a reddish, brownish, or yellowish mineral consisting of tin dioxide. It is the main ore of tin.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kassiteros ‘tin’ + -ITE^1.

Cassius /kasəs/ Gaius (d.42 BC), Roman general; full name Gaius Cassius Longinus. He was one of the leaders of the conspiracy in 44 BC to assassinate Julius Caesar.

cassock n. a full-length garment worn by certain Christian clergy, members of church choirs, and others having an office or role in a church.

<DERIVATIVES> cassocked adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French casaque ‘long coat’, from Italian casacca ‘riding coat’, probably from Turkic kazak ‘vagabond’. Compare with COSSACK.

cassone /kasəne -ni/ n. (pl. cassones /-nz/ or cassoni /-ni/) (in Italy) a large chest, especially one used to hold a bride's trousseau.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Italian, ‘large chest’.

cassoulet /kasle/ n. [mass noun] a stew made with meat and beans.

<ORIGIN> French, diminutive of dialect cassolo ‘stew pan’, from Old Provençal cassa ‘pan’; related to CASSEROLE.

cassowary /kasəwəri -wεri/ n. (pl. cassowaries) a very large flightless bird related to the emu, with a bare head and neck, a tall horny crest, and one or two coloured wattles. It is native mainly to the forests of New Guinea.

<INFO> Family Casuariidae and genus Casuarius: three species.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Malay kesuari.

cast^1 v. (past and past participle cast) [with obj.] 1 [usually with adverbial of direction] chiefly LITERARY throw (something) forcefully in a specified direction: he cast the book down on to the chair angrily | the fishermen cast a large net around a school of tuna | FIGURATIVE individuals who do not accept the norms are cast out from the group.

- throw the hooked and baited end of (a fishing line) out into the water.

- let down (an anchor or sounding line).

2 [with adverbial of place] cause (light or shadow) to appear on a surface: the moon cast a pale light over the cottages.

- [with adverbial of direction] direct (one's eyes or a look) at something: she cast down her eyes | [with two objs] she cast him a desperate glance.

- cause (uncertainty or disparagement) to be associated with something: journalists cast doubt on the government's version of events.

3 [with adverbial of direction] discard: he jumped in, casting caution to the wind.

- shed (skin or horns) in the process of growth: the antlers are cast each year.

- (of a horse) lose (a shoe).

4 shape (metal or other material) by pouring it into a mould while molten.

- make (a moulded object) by casting metal: a bell was cast for the church.

- arrange and present in a specified form or style: he issued statements cast in tones of reason.

5 register (a vote): votes have been cast in 40 per cent of the seats.

6 cause (a magic spell) to take effect: the witch cast a spell on her to turn her into a beast | FIGURATIVE the city casts a spell on the visitor.

7 calculate and record details of (a horoscope).

8 [no obj., usually with adverbial of direction] (in country dancing) change one's position by moving a certain number of places in a certain direction along the outside of the line in which one is dancing.

9 [no obj.] [HUNTING] (of a dog) search in different directions for a lost scent: the dog cast furiously for the vanished rabbit.

- [with obj.] let loose (hounds) on a scent.

10 immobilize (an animal, especially a cow) by using a rope to cause it to fall on its side.

■ n. 1 an object made by shaping molten metal or similar material in a mould: bronze casts of the sculpture.

- (also plaster cast) a mould used to make an object by casting.

- (also plaster cast) a bandage stiffened with plaster of Paris, moulded to the shape of a limb that is broken and used to support and protect it.

2 an act of throwing something forcefully: he grabbed a spear for a third cast.

- [FISHING] a throw of a fishing line.

- BRITISH the leader of a fishing line.

3 [in sing.] [with adj. or noun modifier] the form or appearance of something, especially someone's features or complexion: she had a somewhat masculine cast of countenance | the colours he wore emphasized the olive cast of his skin.

- the character of something: this question is for minds of a more philosophical cast than mine.

4 a slight squint: he had a cast in one eye.

5 short for WORM CAST.

6 a pellet regurgitated by a hawk or owl.

7 [HUNTING] a wide search made by a hound or pack of hounds to find a trail.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a wide sweep made by a sheepdog in mustering sheep.

<PHRASES>

□ cast one's bread upon the waters see BREAD.

□ cast one's eyes over have a quick appraising look at.

□ cast light on see light^1.

□ cast LOTs see LOT.

□ cast one's mind back think back to a particular event or time: he cast his mind back to the fatal evening.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ cast about (or around or round) search far and wide (physically or mentally): he is restlessly casting about for novelties. [<ORIGIN> from CAST^1 (sense 9 of the verb).]

□ be cast away be stranded after a shipwreck.

□ be cast down feel depressed: she was greatly cast down by abusive criticism of her novels.

□ cast off (or cast something off) 1 [KNITTING] take the stitches off the needle by looping each over the next to finish the edge.

2 set a boat or ship free from her moorings: the boatmen cast off and rowed downriver.

- (cast off) (of a boat or ship) be set free from her moorings.

3 let loose a hunting hound or hawk.

4 [PRINTING] estimate the space that will be taken in print by manuscript copy.

□ cast on (or cast something on) [KNITTING] make the first row of a specified number of loops on the needle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse kasta ‘to cast or throw’.

cast^2 n. [treated as sing. or plural] the actors taking part in a play, film, or other production: he draws sensitive performances from his inexperienced cast.

■ v. (past and past participle cast) [with obj.] assign a part in a play or film to (an actor): he was cast as a young knight in her lavish historical epic.

- allocate parts in (a play or film).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: a special use of cast^1

■ in cast^1 (sense 4 of the verb).

Castalia /kastelə/ a spring on Mount Parnassus, sacred in antiquity to Apollo and the Muses.

<DERIVATIVES> Castalian adj.

castanets plural n. small concave pieces of wood, ivory, or plastic, joined in pairs by a cord and clicked together by the fingers as a rhythmic accompaniment to Spanish dancing.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish castañeta, diminutive of castaña, from Latin castanea ‘chestnut’.

castaway n. a person who has been shipwrecked and stranded in an isolated place.

caste n. each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by relative degrees of ritual purity or pollution and of social status: members of the lower castes | [mass noun] a man of high caste.

- [mass noun] the system of dividing society into castes.

- any class or group of people who inherit exclusive privileges or are perceived as socially distinct: those educated in private schools belong to a privileged caste.

- [ENTOMOLOGY] (in some social insects) a class of physically distinct individuals with a particular function in the society.

There are four basic classes or varnas in Hindu society: Brahman (priest), Kshatriya (warrior), Vaisya (merchant or farmer), and Sudra (labourer). The lowest class, the scheduled caste (formerly known as untouchables), fall outside the varna system and have historically suffered extreme discrimination.

<PHRASES>

□ lose caste descend in the caste system, e.g. by having contact with a person of low caste, by eating foods regarded as unclean, or by taking employment regarded as of lower status.

- come to be regarded with less respect; lose status.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the general sense ‘race, breed’): from Spanish and Portuguese casta ‘lineage, race, breed’, feminine of casto ‘pure, unmixed’, from Latin castus ‘chaste’.

caste Hindu n. a Hindu who belongs to one of the four main castes.

casteism n. [mass noun] adherence to a caste system.

Castel Gandolfo /kastεl andlfə/ the summer residence of the pope, situated on the edge of Lake Albano near Rome.

castellan /kastələn/ n. HISTORICAL the governor of a castle.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Northern French castelain, from medieval Latin castellanus, from Latin castellum (see CASTLE).

castellated /kastəletd/ adj. having battlements: a castellated gatehouse.

- (of a nut or other mechanical part) having grooves or slots on its upper face.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin castellatus, from Latin castellum (see CASTLE).

castellations /kastəle(ə)nz/ plural n. defensive or decorative parapets with regularly spaced notches; battlements.

- (castellation) [mass noun] the use or building of castellations.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: based on medieval Latin castellare ‘to build castles’, from castellum (see CASTLE).

Castell-Nedd /kastelne/ Welsh name for NEATH.

caste mark n. a symbol on the forehead denoting membership of a particular Hindu caste.

caster n. 1 a person who casts something or a machine for casting something.

2 [FISHING] a fly pupa used as bait.

3 variant spelling of castor^1.

caster sugar (also castor sugar) n. [mass noun] BRITISH finely granulated white or pale golden sugar.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: so named because it was suitable for use in a castor (see castor^1 (sense 2)).

castigate /kastet/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL reprimand (someone) severely: he was castigated for not setting a good example.

<DERIVATIVES> castigation n. castigator n. castigatory adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin castigare ‘reprove’, from castus ‘pure, chaste’.

Castile /kastil/ a region of central Spain, on the central plateau of the Iberian peninsula, formerly an independent Spanish kingdom.

<ORIGIN> from French Castille, from Spanish Castilla.

Castile soap n. [mass noun] fine, hard white or mottled soap made with olive oil and soda.

Castilian /kastlən/ n. 1 a native of Castile.

2 [mass noun] the language of Castile, being the standard spoken and literary Spanish.

■ adj. relating to Castile, Castilians, or the Castilian form of Spanish.

Castilla-La Mancha /kastijəlamantə -ljə-/ an autonomous region of central Spain; capital, Toledo.

Castilla-León /kastijəlen -ljə-/ an autonomous region of northern Spain; capital, Valladolid.

casting n. an object made by pouring molten metal or other material into a mould.

casting couch n. INFORMAL used in reference to the supposed practice whereby actresses are awarded parts in films or plays in return for granting sexual favours to the casting director: she was no stranger to the casting couch.

casting director n. the person responsible for assigning roles in a film or play.

casting vote n. an extra vote given by a chairperson to decide an issue when the votes on each side are equal.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from an obsolete sense of cast ‘turn the scale’.

cast iron n. [mass noun] a hard, relatively brittle alloy of iron and carbon which can be readily cast in a mould and contains a higher proportion of carbon than steel (typically 2–4.3 per cent).

- [as modifier] FIGURATIVE firm and unchangeable: there are no cast-iron guarantees.

Castle Barbara (Anne), Baroness Castle of Blackburn (1911–2002), British Labour politician. As Minister of Transport (1965–8) she introduced the 70 mph speed limit and the breathalyser test.

castle n. a large building, typically of the medieval period, fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers, and often a moat.

- a magnificent and imposing old mansion: [in names] Castle Howard.

- [CHESS], INFORMAL old-fashioned term for rook^2.

■ v. [no obj.] (often as n. castling) [CHESS] make a special move (no more than once in a game by each player) in which the king is transferred from its original square two squares along the back rank towards a rook on its corner square which is then transferred to the square passed over by the king.

- [with obj.] move (the king) by castling.

<PHRASES>

□ castles in the air (or in Spain) visionary unattainable schemes; daydreams: my father built castles in the air about owning a boat.

<DERIVATIVES> castled adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> late Old English: from Anglo-Norman French and Old Northern French castel, from Latin castellum, diminutive of castrum ‘fort’.

Castlebar /kαs(ə)lbα/ the county town of Mayo, in the Republic of Ireland; pop. 8,900 (est. 2002).

Castlereagh /kαs(ə)lre/ Robert Stewart, Viscount (1769–1822), British Tory statesman. He became Foreign Secretary in 1812 and represented Britain at the Congress of Vienna (1814–15).

cast net n. a fishing net that is thrown out and immediately drawn in again, rather than being set up and left.

cast-off British adj. no longer wanted; abandoned or discarded: a pile of cast-off clothes.

■ n. something, especially a garment, that is no longer wanted: I'm not going out in her cast-offs!

Castor /kαstə/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the twin brother of Pollux. See DIOSCURI.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the second-brightest star in the constellation Gemini, close to Pollux. It is a multiple star system, the three components visible in a moderate telescope being close binaries.

castor^1 /kαstə/ (also caster) n. 1 each of a set of small swivelling wheels fixed to the legs or base of a heavy piece of furniture so that it can be moved easily.

2 a small container with holes in the top, especially one used for sprinkling sugar or pepper.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in sense 2): originally a variant of CASTER, in the general sense ‘something that casts’.

castor^2 /kαstə/ n. [mass noun] an oily reddish-brown substance secreted by beavers, used in medicine and perfumes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘beaver’): from Old French or Latin, from Greek kastōr.

castor bean n. the seed of the castor oil plant, which contains a number of poisonous compounds, especially ricin, as well as castor oil.

- NORTH AMERICAN the castor oil plant.

castor oil n. [mass noun] a pale yellow oil obtained from castor beans, used as a purgative, a lubricant, and in manufacturing oil-based products.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps so named because it succeeded castor^2 in medicinal use.

castor oil plant n. an African shrub with lobed serrated leaves, which yields the seeds from which castor oil is obtained and is widely naturalized in warm countries.

<INFO> Ricinus communis, family Euphorbiaceae.

castrate v. [with obj.] remove the testicles of (a male animal or man).

- deprive of power, vitality, or vigour: a restrictive classicism would have castrated England's literature.

■ n. a man or male animal whose testicles have been removed.

<DERIVATIVES> castration n. castrator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (earlier (Middle English) as castration): from Latin castrare.

castration complex n. [PSYCHIATRY] (in Freudian theory) an unconscious anxiety arising during psychosexual development, represented in males as a fear that the penis will be removed by the father in response to sexual interest in the mother, and in females as a compulsion to demonstrate that they have an adequate symbolic equivalent to the penis, whose absence is blamed on the mother.

castrato /kastrαtə/ n. (pl. castrati /-ti/) HISTORICAL a male singer castrated in boyhood so as to retain a soprano or alto voice. The practice of castration was banned in 1903.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian, past participle of castrare (see CASTRATE).

Castries /kastris/ the capital of the Caribbean island of St Lucia, a seaport on the NW coast; pop. 60,200 (est. 2002).

Castro /kastrə/ Fidel (b.1927), Cuban statesman, Prime Minister 1959–76 and President 1976–2008. After overthrowing President Batista he set up a communist regime which survived the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the collapse of the Soviet bloc. In 2008 he stood down in favour of his brother Raúl Castro.

casual /kajəl -zj-/ adj. 1 relaxed and unconcerned: a casual attitude to life.

- made or done without much thought or premeditation: a casual remark.

- done or acting in a desultory way: to the casual observer, rugby looks something like football.

- done or acting without sufficient care or thoroughness: the casual way in which victims were treated.

2 not regular or permanent, in particular:

- BRITISH employed or established on a temporary or irregular basis: a casual worker | casual jobs.

- (of a sexual relationship or encounter) occurring between people who are not established sexual partners.

3 [attr.] happening by chance; accidental: he pretended it was a casual meeting.

4 without formality of style or manner, in particular (of clothing) suitable for everyday wear rather than formal occasions: a casual short-sleeved shirt | an ideal coat for casual occasions.

■ n. 1 a person who does something irregularly: a number of casuals became regular customers.

- BRITISH a worker employed on an irregular or temporary basis.

- HISTORICAL a person admitted to a workhouse for a short period.

2 (casuals) BRITISH clothes or shoes suitable for everyday wear rather than formal occasions.

3 BRITISH a youth belonging to a subculture characterized by the wearing of expensive casual clothing and frequently associated with football hooliganism.

<DERIVATIVES> casually adv. casualness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective, sense 3 of the adjective): from Old French casuel and Latin casualis, from casus ‘fall’ (compare with case^1).

casual Friday n. Friday as a designated day of the week when organizations allow employees to dress more casually than on other weekdays.

casualization (also casualisation) n. [mass noun] the transformation of a workforce from one employed chiefly on permanent contracts to one engaged on a short-term temporary basis.

<DERIVATIVES> casualize (also casualise) v.

casualty n. (pl. casualties) a person killed or injured in a war or accident: the shelling caused thousands of civilian casualties.

- a person or thing badly affected by an event or situation: the building industry has been one of the casualties of the recession.

- BRITISH the casualty department of a hospital: he went to casualty to have a cut stitched.

- (chiefly in insurance) an accident or disaster.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘chance, a chance occurrence’): from medieval Latin casualitas, from casualis (see CASUAL), on the pattern of words such as penalty.

casualty department (also casualty ward) n. BRITISH the department of a hospital providing immediate treatment for emergency cases.

casual ward n. HISTORICAL a ward in a workhouse providing accommodation for those temporarily unable to support themselves.

casual water n. [mass noun] [GOLF] water that has accumulated temporarily and does not constitute a recognized hazard of the course. A player may move a ball from casual water without penalty.

casuarina /kasjərinə/ n. a tree with slender, jointed, drooping twigs which resemble horsetails and bear tiny scale-like leaves, native to Australia and SE Asia. Also called SHE-OAK.

<INFO> Genus Casuarina, family Casuarinaceae.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin casuarius ‘cassowary’ (from the resemblance of the branches to the bird's feathers).

casuist /kazjst -j-/ n. 1 a person who uses clever but unsound reasoning, especially in relation to moral questions; a sophist.

2 a person who resolves moral problems by the application of theoretical rules.

<DERIVATIVES> casuistic adj. casuistical adj. casuistically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French casuiste, from Spanish casuista, from Latin casus (see case^1).

casuistry n. [mass noun] 1 the use of clever but unsound reasoning, especially in relation to moral questions; sophistry.

2 the resolving of moral problems by the application of theoretical rules.

casus belli /kesəs bεl kαss bεli/ n. (pl. same) an act or situation that provokes or justifies a war.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from casus (see case^1) and belli, genitive of bellum ‘war’.

CAT abbr.

- clear air turbulence.

- computer-assisted (or -aided) testing.

- MEDICINE computerized axial tomography: [as modifier] a CAT scan.

cat^1 n. 1 a small domesticated carnivorous mammal with soft fur, a short snout, and retractile claws. It is widely kept as a pet or for catching mice, and many breeds have been developed.

<INFO> Felis catus, family Felidae (the cat family); it was probably domesticated in ancient Egypt from the local race of wildcat. The cat family also includes the ocelot, serval, margay, lynx, and the big cats.

- a wild animal of the cat family: a marbled cat. See also BIG CAT.

- used in names of catlike animals of other families, e.g. native cat, ring-tailed cat.

- INFORMAL a malicious or spiteful woman.

- HISTORICAL short for CAT-O'-NINE-TAILS.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (especially among jazz enthusiasts) a man.

3 HISTORICAL a short tapered stick used in the game of tipcat.

■ v. (cats, catting, catted) [with obj.] [NAUTICAL] raise (an anchor) from the surface of the water to the cathead.

<PHRASES>

□ all cats are grey in the dark (or US at night all cats are gray) PROVERB the qualities that distinguish people from one another are obscured in some circumstances, and if they can't be perceived they don't matter.

□ cat and mouse a series of cunning manoeuvres designed to thwart an opponent: he continues to play cat and mouse with the UN inspection teams.

□ a cat may look at a king PROVERB even a person of low status or importance has rights.

□ the cat's whiskers (or chiefly NORTH AMERICAN meow or pyjamas) INFORMAL an excellent person or thing: this car is the cat's whiskers.

□ fight like cat and dog INFORMAL (of two people) be continually arguing with one another.

□ has the cat got your tongue? said to someone who remains silent when they are expected to speak.

□ let the cat out of the bag INFORMAL reveal a secret carelessly or by mistake.

□ like a cat on a hot tin roof (BRITISH also on hot bricks) INFORMAL very agitated or anxious.

□ like the cat that's got (or who's stolen) the cream INFORMAL self-satisfied, having achieved one's objective.

□ look like something the cat brought in INFORMAL look very dirty or diSHEvelled.

□ not HAVE a cat in hell's chance INFORMAL have no chance at all.

□ put (or set) the cat among the pigeons BRITISH say or do something that is likely to cause trouble or controversy.

□ see which way the cat jumps INFORMAL see what direction events are taking before committing oneself.

□ when (or while) the cat's away, the mice will play PROVERB people will naturally take advantage of the absence of someone in authority to do as they like.

□ who's she—the cat's mother? see SHE.

<ORIGIN> Old English catt, catte, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kat and German Katze; reinforced in Middle English by forms from late Latin cattus.

cat^2 n. short for CATALYTIC CONVERTER.

cat^3 n. short for CATAMARAN.

cata- (also cat-) prefix 1 down; downwards: catadromous.

2 wrongly; badly: catachresis.

3 completely: cataclysm.

4 against; alongside: catapult.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kata ‘down’.

catabolism /kətabəlz(ə)m/ (also katabolism) n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the breakdown of complex molecules in living organisms to form simpler ones, together with the release of energy; destructive metabolism.

<DERIVATIVES> catabolic /katəblk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek katabolē ‘throwing down’, from kata- ‘down’ + ballein ‘to throw’.

catabolite /kətabəlt/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a product of catabolism.

catachresis /katəkriss/ n. (pl. catachreses /-siz/) [mass noun] the use of a word in an incorrect way, for example the use of mitigate for militate.

<DERIVATIVES> catachrestic /-kristk -krεstk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, from Greek katakhrēsis, from katakhrēsthai ‘misuse’, from kata- ‘down’ (expressing the sense ‘wrongly’) + khrēsthai ‘use’.

cataclasis /katəkless/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the fracture and breaking up of rock by natural processes.

<DERIVATIVES> cataclastic /-klastk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from CATA- ‘completely’ + Greek klasis ‘breaking’.

cataclysm /katəklz(ə)m/ n. a large-scale and violent event in the natural world.

- a sudden violent political or social upheaval: the cataclysm of the First World War.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally denoting the biblical Flood described in Genesis): from French cataclysme, via Latin from Greek kataklusmos ‘deluge’, from kata- ‘down’ + kluzein ‘to wash’.

cataclysmic adj. (of a natural event) large-scale and violent: a cataclysmic earthquake.

- causing sudden and violent upheaval: a novel about a cataclysmic world war.

<DERIVATIVES> cataclysmically adv.

catacomb /katəkum -kəm/ n. (usually catacombs) an underground cemetery consisting of a subterranean gallery with recesses for tombs, as constructed by the ancient Romans.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from late Latin catacumbas, the name of the subterranean cemetery of St Sebastian near Rome.

catadioptric /katədptrk/ adj. [OPTICS] denoting an optical system which involves both the reflecting and refracting of light, in order to reduce aberration.

catadromous /katadrəməs/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of a fish such as the eel) migrating down rivers to the sea to spawn. The opposite of ANADROMOUS.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CATA- ‘down’ + Greek dromos ‘running’, on the pattern of anadromous.

catafalque /katəfalk/ n. a decorated wooden framework supporting the coffin of a distinguished person during a funeral or while lying in state.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian catafalco, of unknown origin. Compare with SCAFFOLD.

Catalan /katəlan/ n. 1 a native of Catalonia in Spain.

2 [mass noun] a Romance language closely related to Castilian Spanish and Provençal, widely spoken in Catalonia (where it has official status alongside Castilian Spanish) and in Andorra, the Balearic Islands, and parts of southern France. It has about 6 million speakers in all.

■ adj. relating to Catalonia, its people, or its language.

<ORIGIN> from French, from Spanish catalán, related to Catalan català ‘Catalan’, Catalunya ‘Catalonia’.

catalase /katəlez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme that catalyses the reduction of hydrogen peroxide.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CATALYSIS + -ASE.

catalectic /katəlεktk/ adj. [PROSODY] (of a metrical line of verse) lacking one syllable in the last foot.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin catalecticus, from Greek katalēktikos, from katalēgein ‘leave off’.

catalepsy /kat(ə)lεpsi/ n. [mass noun] a medical condition characterized by a trance or seizure with a loss of sensation and consciousness accompanied by rigidity of the body.

<DERIVATIVES> cataleptic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French catalepsie or late Latin catalepsia, from Greek katalēpsis, from katalambanein ‘seize upon’.

catalogue (US catalog) n. a complete list of items, typically one in alphabetical or other systematic order, in particular:

- a list of all the books or resources in a library.

- a publication containing details of items for sale, especially one produced by a mail-order company.

- a list of works of art in an exhibition or collection, with detailed comments and explanations.

- US a list of courses offered by a university or college.

- [in sing.] a series of unwelcome or unpleasant things: his life was a catalogue of dismal failures.

■ v. (catalogues, cataloguing, catalogued; US also catalogs, cataloging, cataloged) [with obj.] make a systematic list of (items of the same type).

- enter (an item) in a catalogue.

- list (similar situations, qualities, or events) in succession: the report catalogues dangerous work practices in the company.

<DERIVATIVES> cataloguer (US also cataloger) n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin catalogus, from Greek katalogos, from katalegein ‘pick out or enrol’.

catalogue raisonné /rezne/ n. (pl. catalogues raisonnés pronunc. same) a descriptive catalogue of works of art with explanations and scholarly comments.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, ‘explained catalogue’.

Catalonia /katələnə/ an autonomous region of NE Spain; capital, Barcelona. The region has a strong separatist tradition; the normal language for everyday purposes is Catalan, which has also won acceptance in recent years for various official purposes. Catalan name Catalunya /katəlunə/; Catalonia /katalua/.

<DERIVATIVES> Catalonian adj. & n.

catalpa /kətalpə/ n. a tree with large heart-shaped leaves, clusters of trumpet-shaped flowers, and slender bean-like seed pods, native to North America and east Asia and cultivated as an ornamental.

<INFO> Genus Catalpa, family Bignoniaceae: several species, in particular the Indian bean tree.

<ORIGIN> from Creek.

catalufa /katəlufə/ n. another term for bigeye (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> from Spanish.

catalyse /kat(ə)lz/ (US catalyze) v. [with obj.] cause or accelerate (a reaction) by acting as a catalyst.

- cause (an action or process) to begin: the introduction of the canal and the railway catalysed the city's industrial growth.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CATALYSIS, on the pattern of analyse.

catalyser n. British another term for CATALYTIC CONVERTER.

catalysis /kətalss/ n. [mass noun] the acceleration of a chemical reaction by a catalyst.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin, from Greek katalusis, from kataluein ‘dissolve’, from kata- ‘down’ + luein ‘loosen’.

catalyst n. a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.

- a person or thing that precipitates an event: the prime minister's speech acted as a catalyst for debate.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CATALYSIS, on the pattern of analyst.

catalytic adj. relating to or involving the action of a catalyst.

<DERIVATIVES> catalytically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CATALYSIS, on the pattern of pairs such as analysis, analytic.

catalytic converter n. a device incorporated in the exhaust system of a motor vehicle, containing a catalyst for converting pollutant gases into less harmful ones.

catamaran n. a yacht or other boat with twin hulls in parallel.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Tamil kaumaram, literally ‘tied wood’.

catamite /katəmt/ n. ARCHAIC a boy kept for homosexual practices.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin catamitus, via Etruscan from Greek Ganumēdēs (see GANYMEDE).

catamount /katəmant/ (also catamountain /katəmantn/) n. NORTH AMERICAN a puma.

- ARCHAIC any medium-sized or large wild cat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as catamountain): from the phrase cat of the mountain.

catananche /katənaki/ n. a plant of a genus that includes cupid's dart.

<INFO> Genus Catananche, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin, from Latin catanance, a plant used in love potions, from Greek katanankē, from kata- ‘down’ + anankē ‘compulsion’.

Catania /kətαnə -tenə/ a seaport situated at the foot of Mount Etna, on the east coast of Sicily; pop. 306,464 (2001).

cataphatic /katəfatk/ adj. [THEOLOGY] (of knowledge of God) obtained through defining God with positive statements. The opposite of APOPHATIC.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kataphatikos ‘affirmative’, from kataphasis ‘affirmation’, from kata- (as an intensifier) + phanai ‘speak’.

cataphor /kαtəfə -f/ n. [GRAMMAR] a word or phrase that refers to or stands for a later word or phrase (e.g. in when they saw Ruth, the men looked slightly abashed, they is used as a cataphor for the men).

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: back-formation from CATAPHORA.

cataphora /kətaf(ə)rə/ n. [mass noun] [GRAMMAR] the use of a word or phrase that refers to or stands for a later word or phrase (e.g. the pronoun he in he may be approaching 37, but Jeff has no plans to retire from the sport yet). Compare with ANAPHORA.

<DERIVATIVES> cataphoric /katəfrk/ adj. cataphorically adv.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from CATA- on the pattern of anaphora.

cataphract /katəfrakt/ n. ARCHAIC a soldier in full armour.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via Latin from Greek kataphraktos ‘clothed in full armour’.

cataplasm /katəplaz(ə)m/ n. ARCHAIC a plaster or poultice.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cataplasme or late Latin cataplasma, from Greek kataplasma, from kataplassein ‘plaster over’.

cataplexy /katəplεksi/ n. [mass noun] a medical condition in which strong emotion or laughter causes a person to suffer sudden physical collapse though remaining conscious.

<DERIVATIVES> cataplectic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kataplēxis ‘stupefaction’, from kataplessein, from kata- ‘down’ + plēssein ‘strike’.

catapult n. 1 BRITISH a forked stick with an elastic band fastened to the two prongs, used by children for shooting small stones.

2 HISTORICAL a military machine worked by a lever and ropes for hurling large stones or other missiles.

3 a mechanical device for launching a glider or other aircraft, especially from the deck of a ship.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] hurl or launch (something) with or as if with a catapult: the explosion catapulted the car 30 yards along the road | FIGURATIVE their music catapulted them to the top of the charts.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move suddenly or at great speed as though hurled by a catapult: the horse catapulted away from the fence.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French catapulte or Latin catapulta, from Greek katapeltēs, from kata- ‘down’ + pallein ‘hurl’.

cataract /katərakt/ n. 1 a large waterfall.

- a sudden rush of water; a downpour: the rain enveloped us in a deafening cataract.

2 a medical condition in which the lens of the eye becomes progressively opaque, resulting in blurred vision: she had cataracts in both eyes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin cataracta ‘waterfall, floodgate’, also ‘portcullis’ (medical sense 2 probably being a figurative use of this), from Greek kataraktēs ‘down-rushing’, from katarassein, from kata- ‘down’ + arassein ‘strike, smash’.

catarrh /kətα/ n. [mass noun] excessive discharge or build-up of mucus in the nose or throat, associated with inflammation of the mucous membrane.

<DERIVATIVES> catarrhal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French catarrhe, from late Latin catarrhus, from Greek katarrhous, from katarrhein ‘flow down’, from kata- ‘down’ + rhein ‘flow’.

catarrhine /katərn/ [ZOOLOGY] adj. relating to primates of a group that comprises the Old World monkeys, gibbons, great apes, and humans. They are distinguished by having nostrils that are close together and directed downwards, and do not have a prehensile tail. Compare with PLATYRRHINE.

■ n. a catarrhine primate.

<INFO> Infraorder Catarrhini, order Primates: four families.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CATA- ‘down’ + Greek rhis, rhin- ‘nose’.

catastrophe /kətastrəfi/ n. 1 an event causing great and usually sudden damage or suffering; a disaster: an environmental catastrophe | [mass noun] inaction will only bring us closer to catastrophe.

- something very unfortunate or unsuccessful: the tax would be a catastrophe for the industry.

2 the denouement of a drama, especially a classical tragedy.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘denouement’): from Latin catastropha, from Greek katastrophē ‘overturning, sudden turn’, from kata- ‘down’ + strophē ‘turning’ (from strephein ‘to turn’).

catastrophe theory n. [mass noun] a branch of mathematics concerned with systems displaying abrupt discontinuous change.

catastrophic adj. involving or causing sudden great damage or suffering: a catastrophic earthquake.

- extremely unfortunate or unsuccessful: catastrophic mismanagement of the economy.

- involving a sudden and large-scale alteration in state: the body undergoes catastrophic collapse towards the state of a black hole.

- relating to geological catastrophism.

<DERIVATIVES> catastrophically adv.

catastrophism n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the theory that changes in the earth's crust during geological history have resulted chiefly from sudden violent and unusual events. Often contrasted with UNIFORMITARIANISM.

<DERIVATIVES> catastrophist n. & adj.

catatonia /katətənə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] abnormality of movement and behaviour arising from a disturbed mental state (typically schizophrenia). It may involve repetitive or purposeless overactivity, or catalepsy, resistance to passive movement, and negativism.

- INFORMAL a state of immobility and stupor.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CATA- ‘badly’ + Greek tonos ‘tone or tension’.

catatonic adj. [PSYCHIATRY] relating to or characterized by catatonia: catatonic schizophrenia.

- INFORMAL of or in an immobile or unresponsive stupor.

catawba /kətbə/ n. [mass noun] a North American variety of grape.

- a white wine made from the catawba grape.

<ORIGIN> named after the River Catawba in North and South Carolina.

cat-bear n. another term for RED PANDA.

catbird n. 1 a long-tailed American songbird of the mockingbird family, with mainly dark grey or black plumage and catlike mewing calls.

<INFO> Two genera and species, family Mimidae.

2 a thickset Australasian bird of the bowerbird family, having a loud call like a yowling cat.

<INFO> Genus Ailuroedus (and Scenopoeetes), family Ptilonorhynchidae: several species.

<PHRASES>

□ in the catbird seat NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL in a superior or advantageous position. [<ORIGIN> said to be an allusion to a baseball player in the fortunate position of having no strikes and therefore three balls still to play (a reference made in James Thurber's short story The Catbird Seat).]

catboat n. a sailing boat with a single mast placed well forward and carrying only one sail.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from cat (denoting a type of merchant ship formerly used in the coal and timber trades in NE England) + BOAT.

cat burglar n. a thief who enters a building by climbing to an upper storey.

catcall n. a shrill whistle or shout of disapproval made at a public meeting or performance.

- a loud whistle or a comment of a sexual nature made by a man to a passing woman.

■ v. [no obj.] make a catcall: they were fired for catcalling at women.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from CAT^1 + CALL, originally denoting a kind of whistle or squeaking instrument used to express disapproval at a theatre.

catch v. (past and past participle caught) [with obj.] 1 intercept and hold (something which has been thrown, propelled, or dropped): she threw the bottle into the air and caught it again.

- intercept the fall of (someone).

- seize or take hold of: he caught hold of her arm as she tried to push past him.

- [no obj.] (catch at) grasp or try to grasp: his hands caught at her arms as she tried to turn away.

- [CRICKET] dismiss (a batsman) by catching the ball before it touches the ground.

2 capture (a person or animal that tries or would try to escape): we hadn't caught a single rabbit.

- succeed in reaching a person who is ahead of one.

- (be caught in) unexpectedly find oneself in (an unwelcome situation): my sister was caught in a thunderstorm.

- surprise (someone) in an incriminating situation or in the act of doing something wrong: he was caught with bomb-making equipment in his home.

- come upon (someone) unexpectedly: unexpected snow caught us by surprise.

3 [no obj., with adverbial of place] (of an object) accidentally become entangled or trapped in something: a button caught in her hair.

- [with obj. and adverbial of place] have (a part of one's body or clothing) become entangled or trapped in something: she caught her foot in the bedspread | FIGURATIVE companies face increased risks of being caught in a downward spiral.

- [with obj. and adverbial of place] fix or fasten in place: her hair was caught up in a chignon.

4 reach in time and board (a train, bus, or aircraft): they caught the 12.15 from Oxford.

- reach or be in a place in time to see (a person, performance, programme, etc.): she was hurrying downstairs to catch the news.

- North American INFORMAL attend or watch (a performance): we'll get some burgers and catch a movie.

5 engage (a person's interest or imagination).

- perceive fleetingly: she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

- hear or understand (something said), especially with effort: he bellowed something Jess couldn't catch.

- succeed in evoking or representing: the programme caught something of the flavour of Minoan culture.

6 [with obj. and adverbial of place] strike (someone) on a part of the body: Ben caught him on the chin with an uppercut.

- accidentally strike (a part of one's body) against something: she fell and caught her head on the corner of the hearth.

7 contract (an illness) through infection or contagion.

8 [no obj.] become ignited and start burning: the rafters have caught.

- (of an engine) FIRE and start running.

■ n. 1 an act of catching something, typically a ball.

- [CRICKET] a chance or act of catching the ball to dismiss a batsman: he took a brilliant catch at deep square leg.

- an amount of fish caught: the UK's North Sea haddock catch.

2 [mass noun] a game in which a ball is thrown back and forth between two or more players.

3 a device for securing something such as a door, window, or box: the window catch was rusty.

4 a hidden problem or disadvantage in an apparently ideal situation: there's a catch in it somewhere.

5 [in sing.] INFORMAL a person considered desirable as a partner or spouse: Giles is a good catch for any girl.

6 [in sing.] an unevenness in a person's voice caused by emotion: there was a catch in Anne's voice.

7 [MUSIC] a round, typically one with words arranged to produce a humorous effect.

<PHRASES>

□ catch (a) COLD see COLD.

□ catch one's DEATH (of cold) see DEATH.

□ catch someone's eye 1 be noticed by someone.

2 attract someone's attention by making eye contact with them: he caught Eva's eye and beckoned.

□ catch fire see FIRE.

□ catch it (North American catch hell) BRITISH INFORMAL be punished or told off.

□ catch the light shine or glint in the light.

□ catch SIGHT of see SIGHT.

□ catch the sun 1 be in a sunny position.

2 BRITISH become tanned or sunburned.

□ play catch-up NORTH AMERICAN try to equal a competitor in a sport or game.

□ you wouldn't catch —— doing something INFORMAL used to indicate that there is no possibility of the person mentioned doing what is specified: you wouldn't catch me walking back to the house alone at night.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ catch on INFORMAL 1 (of a practice or fashion) become popular.

2 understand what is meant or how to do something: I caught on to what it was the guy was saying.

- (catch yourself on) IRISH become aware of something: catch yourself on, Michael, people don't get arrested for no reason.

□ catch someone out 1 detect that someone has done something wrong or made a mistake.

- put someone in a difficult situation for which they are unprepared: you might get caught out by the weather.

2 [CRICKET] dismiss a batsman by catching the ball before it touches the ground.

□ catch up succeed in reaching a person who is ahead of one: O'Hara caught up with Stella at the bottom of the hill.

- do tasks which one should have done earlier: he normally used the afternoons to catch up on paperwork.

□ catch up with 1 talk to (someone) whom one has not seen for some time in order to find out what they have been doing.

2 begin to have a damaging effect on: the physical exertions began to catch up with Sue.

□ catch someone up 1 BRITISH succeed in reaching a person who is ahead of one.

2 (be/get caught up in) become involved in (something that one had not intended to become involved in): he had no desire to be caught up in political activities.

□ catch something up pick something up hurriedly.

<DERIVATIVES> catchable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘chase’): from Anglo-Norman French and Old Northern French cachier, variant of Old French chacier, based on Latin captare ‘try to catch’, from capere ‘take’.

catch-all n. [usually as modifier] a term or category that encompasses a variety of different elements: the stigmatizing catch-all term ‘schizophrenia’.

catch-as-catch-can n. [mass noun] 1 ARCHAIC wrestling in which all holds are permitted.

2 [usually as modifier] a situation of using whatever is available: the catch-as-catch-can repair of fences.

catch crop n. a crop grown in the space between two main crops or at a time when no main crops are being grown.

catcher n. a person or thing that catches something.

- [BASEBALL] a fielder positioned behind home plate to catch pitches not hit by the batter.

catchfly n. (pl. catchflies) a campion or similar plant of the pink family, with a sticky stem.

<INFO> Silene, Lychnis, and other genera, family Caryophyllaceae.

catching adj. [predic.] (of a disease) infectious: chicken pox is catching until scabs form on all the blisters | FIGURATIVE her enthusiasm is catching.

catchlight n. a gleam of reflected light in the eye of a person in a photograph.

catchline n. BRITISH a short, eye-catching line of type, such as a running head.

- an advertising slogan.

catchment n. 1 [mass noun] the action of collecting water, especially the collection of rainfall over a natural drainage area.

2 a catchment area.

catchment area n. 1 the area from which a hospital's patients or school's pupils are drawn.

2 the area from which rainfall flows into a river, lake, or reservoir.

catchpenny adj. [attr.] having a cheap superficial attractiveness designed to encourage quick sales: the catchpenny world of commercial publishing.

catchphrase n. a well-known sentence or phrase, especially one that is associated with a particular famous person.

catch points plural n. railway points positioned so as to derail any vehicle running in the wrong direction on a line, as a safety precaution.

catch-22 n. a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions: [as modifier] a catch-22 situation.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: title of a novel by Joseph Heller (1961), in which the main character feigns madness in order to avoid dangerous combat missions, but his desire to avoid them is taken to prove his sanity.

catchup /katp/ n. old-fashioned term for KETCHUP.

catchweight n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] chiefly HISTORICAL unrestricted weight in a wrestling match or other sporting contest: a catchweight contest.

catchword n. 1 a popular word or phrase encapsulating a particular concept: ‘motivation’ is a great catchword.

2 a word printed or placed so as to attract attention.

- [PRINTING], chiefly HISTORICAL the first word of a page given at the foot of the previous one.

catchy adj. (catchier, catchiest) (of a tune or phrase) instantly appealing and memorable: catchy pop melodies.

<DERIVATIVES> catchily adv. catchiness n.

cate /ket/ n. (usually cates) ARCHAIC a choice food; a delicacy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘selling, a bargain’): from obsolete acate ‘purchasing, things purchased’, from Old French acat, achat, from acater, achater ‘buy’, based on Latin captare ‘seize’, from capere ‘take’.

catechesis /katkiss/ n. [mass noun] religious instruction given with a catechism in preparation for Christian baptism or confirmation.

- (in Roman Catholic use) religious instruction in general.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek katēkhēsis ‘oral instruction’.

catechetical /katkεtk(ə)l/ adj. relating to religious instruction given in preparation for Christian baptism or confirmation.

- relating to religious teaching by means of questions and answers.

<DERIVATIVES> catechetic adj. catechetically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from ecclesiastical Greek katēkhētikos, from katēkhētēs ‘catechist’, from katēkhein ‘instruct orally’ (see CATECHIZE).

catechetics /katkεtks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of theology that deals with the instruction given to Christians before baptism or confirmation.

- religious teaching in general, especially that given to children in the Roman Catholic Church.

catechin /kattn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline compound which is the major constituent of catechu.

<INFO> A phenol; chem. formula: C_15H_14O_6; several isomers.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CATECHU + -IN^1.

catechism /katkz(ə)m/ n. a summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for religious instruction.

- (in Roman Catholic use) religious instruction in general.

<DERIVATIVES> catechismal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from ecclesiastical Latin catechismus, from ecclesiastical Greek, from katēkhizein (see CATECHIZE).

catechist n. a teacher of the principles of Christian religion, especially one using a catechism.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek katēkhistēs, from katēkhein ‘instruct orally’.

catechize (also catechise) v. [with obj.] instruct (someone) in the principles of Christian religion by means of question and answer, typically by using a catechism.

<DERIVATIVES> catechizer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from ecclesiastical Greek katēkhizein, from katēkhein ‘instruct orally, make hear’.

catechol /kattl -kl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline compound obtained by distilling catechu.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_4(OH)2.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CATECHU + -OL.

catecholamine /katkələmin/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a class of aromatic amines which includes a number of neurotransmitters such as adrenalin and dopamine.

catechu /kattu/ n. [mass noun] a vegetable extract containing tannin, especially one (also called CUTCH) obtained from the heartwood of an Indian acacia tree, used for tanning and dyeing.

■ another term for GAMBIER.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Malay kacu. Compare with CACHOU.

catechumen /katkjumεn/ n. a person who is receiving instruction in preparation for Christian baptism or confirmation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek katēkhoumenos ‘being instructed’, present participle of katēkhein ‘instruct orally’ (see CATECHIZE).

categorical adj. unambiguously explicit and direct: a categorical assurance.

<DERIVATIVES> categoric adj. categorically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin categoricus (from Greek katēgorikos, from katēgoria ‘statement’: see CATEGORY) + -AL.

categorical imperative n. [PHILOSOPHY] (in Kantian ethics) an unconditional moral obligation which is binding in all circumstances and is not dependent on a person's inclination or purpose.

categorize (also categorise) v. [with obj.] place in a particular class or group: silk is categorized as a luxury import.

<DERIVATIVES> categorization n.

category n. (pl. categories) 1 a class or division of people or things regarded as having particular shared characteristics: the various categories of research.

2 [PHILOSOPHY] each of a possibly exhaustive set of classes among which all things might be distributed.

- each of the a priori conceptions applied by the mind to sense impressions.

<DERIVATIVES> categorial adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from French catégorie or late Latin categoria, from Greek katēgoria ‘statement, accusation’, from katēgoros ‘accuser’.

category killer n. a large store, typically one of a chain, which specializes in a particular type of discounted merchandise and becomes the dominant retailer in that category.

category mistake n. [LOGIC] the error of assigning to something a quality or action which can only properly be assigned to things of another category, for example treating abstract concepts as though they had a physical location.

catena /kətinə/ n. (pl. catenae /-ni/ or catenas) TECHNICAL a connected series or chain.

- a connected series of texts written by early Christian theologians.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘chain’, originally in catena patrum ‘chain of the (Church) Fathers’.

catenaccio /katənatə/ n. [mass noun] [SOCCER] a very defensive system of play, especially one employing a sweeper.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: Italian, literally ‘bolt’, from catena ‘chain’ + the pejorative suffix -accio.

catenane /katənen/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a molecule which consists of two or more connected rings like links in a chain.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Latin catena ‘chain’ + -ANE^2.

catenary /kətinəri/ n. (pl. catenaries) a curve formed by a wire, rope, or chain hanging freely from two points that are on the same horizontal level: [as modifier] a catenary wire.

- a wire, rope, or chain forming a catenary.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin catenarius ‘relating to a chain’, from catena ‘chain’.

catenated /katnetd/ adj. TECHNICAL connected in a chain or series: catenated molecules.

<DERIVATIVES> catenation n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: past participle of the rare verb catenate, from Latin catenat- ‘chained, fettered’, from the verb catenare, from catena ‘chain’.

catenative /kətnətv/ adj. [GRAMMAR] denoting a verb that governs a non-finite form of another verb, for example like in I like swimming.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from Latin catena ‘chain’ + -ATIVE.

catenoid /katənd/ n. [GEOMETRY] the surface generated by rotating a catenary about its axis of symmetry.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin catena ‘chain’ + -OID.

cater v. [no obj.] 1 BRITISH provide people with food and drink at a social event or other gathering: my mother helped to cater for the party | (as n. catering) high standards of catering.

- [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN provide food and drink for (an event): he catered a lunch for 20 people.

2 (cater for/to) provide with what is needed or required: the school caters for children with learning difficulties.

- (cater for) take into account or make allowances for: the scheme caters for interest rate fluctuations.

- (cater to) try to satisfy (a need or demand): he catered to her every whim.

<DERIVATIVES> caterer n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete cater ‘caterer’, from Old French acateor ‘buyer’, from acater ‘buy’ (see CATE).

cateran /kat(ə)r(ə)n/ n. HISTORICAL a warrior or raider from the Scottish Highlands.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the plural or as a collective singular denoting the peasantry as fighters): from Scottish Gaelic ceathairne ‘peasantry’.

cater-cornered /ketəknəd/ (also cater-corner, catty-cornered, kitty-corner) adv. & adj. NORTH AMERICAN situated diagonally opposite someone or something: [as adj.] a cater-cornered short cut.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from dialect cater ‘diagonally’, from cater denoting the four on dice, from French quatre ‘four’, from Latin quattuor.

caterpillar n. 1 the larva of a butterfly or moth, which has a segmented body resembling a worm with three pairs of true legs and several pairs of leg-like appendages.

- (in general use) any similar larva of various insects, especially sawflies.

2 (also caterpillar track or tread) TRADEMARK an articulated steel band passing round the wheels of a vehicle for travel on rough ground.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps from a variant of Old French chatepelose, literally ‘hairy cat’, influenced by obsolete piller ‘ravager’. The association with ‘cat’ is found in other languages, e.g. Swiss German Teufelskatz (literally ‘devil's cat’), Lombard gatta (literally ‘cat’). Compare with French chaton, English catkin, which resembles a hairy caterpillar.

caters n. [BELLRINGING] a system of change-ringing using nine bells, with four pairs changing places each time.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French quatre ‘four’.

caterwaul /katəwl/ v. [no obj.] (often as n. caterwauling) (of a cat) make a shrill howling or wailing noise.

■ n. a shrill howling or wailing noise.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from CAT^1 + imitative WAUL.

catfight n. INFORMAL a fight between women.

<DERIVATIVES> catfighting n.

catfish n. (pl. same or catfishes) 1 a freshwater or marine fish with whisker-like barbels round the mouth, typically bottom-dwelling.

<INFO> Order Siluriformes: many families, including the Eurasian family Siluridae (see WELS) and the Callichthyidae (which contains a number of species that are popular in aquaria, in particular the genus Corydoras).

2 another term for WOLF FISH.

cat flap n. a small hinged flap in an outer door, through which a cat may enter or leave a building.

catgut n. [mass noun] a material used for the strings of musical instruments and for surgical sutures, made of the dried twisted intestines of sheep or horses, but not cats.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: the association with cat^1 remains unexplained.

Cath. abbr.

- Cathedral.

- Catholic.

Cathar /kaθα/ n. a member of a heretical medieval Christian sect which professed a form of Manichaean dualism and sought to achieve great spiritual purity.

<DERIVATIVES> Catharism n. Catharist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin Cathari (plural), from Greek katharoi ‘the pure’.

catharsis /kəθαss/ n. (pl. catharses /-siz/) [mass noun] 1 the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.

2 MEDICINE, RARE purgation.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in sense 2): from Greek katharsis, from kathairein ‘cleanse’, from katharos ‘pure’. The notion of ‘release’ through drama (sense 1) derives from Aristotle's Poetics.

cathartic adj. 1 providing psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions; causing catharsis: crying is a cathartic release.

2 MEDICINE purgative.

■ n. MEDICINE a purgative drug.

<DERIVATIVES> cathartically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in medical use): via late Latin from Greek kathartikos, from katharsis ‘cleansing’ (see CATHARSIS).

Cathay /kaθe/ the name by which China was known to medieval Europe. Also called KHITAI.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin Cataya, Cathaya, from Turkic Khitāy.

cathead n. a horizontal beam extending from each side of a ship's bow, used for raising and carrying an anchor.

cathectic /kəθεktk/ adj. [PSYCHIATRY] relating to cathexis.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Greek kathektikos ‘capable of holding’.

cathedral n. the principal church of a diocese, with which the bishop is officially associated: [in names] St Paul's Cathedral.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as an adjective, the noun being short for cathedral church ‘the church which contains the bishop's throne’): from late Latin cathedralis, from Latin cathedra ‘seat’, from Greek kathedra.

cathedral city n. a city in which there is a cathedral.

Cather /kaə/ Willa (Sibert) (1876–1974), American novelist and short-story writer. Her home state of Nebraska provides the setting for some of her best writing. Notable novels: O Pioneers! (1913) and Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927).

Catherine II (1729–96), empress of Russia, reigned 1762–96; known as Catherine the Great. She became empress after her husband, Peter III, was deposed; her attempted social and political reforms were impeded by the aristocracy. She formed alliances with Prussia and Austria, and made territorial advances at the expense of the Turks and Tartars.

Catherine, St (died c.307), early Christian martyr; known as St Catherine of Alexandria. According to tradition she opposed the persecution of Christians under the emperor Maxentius and refused to recant or to marry the emperor. She is said to have been tortured on a spiked wheel and then beheaded. Feast day, 25 November.

Catherine de' Medici (1519–89), queen of France, wife of Henry II. She ruled as regent (1560–74) during the minority reigns of her three sons, Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III, and it was at her instigation that Huguenots were killed in the Massacre of St Bartholomew (1572).

Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536), first wife of Henry VIII, youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile, mother of Mary I. Henry's wish to annul his marriage to Catherine (due to her failure to produce a male heir) led eventually to England's break with the Roman Catholic Church.

Catherine wheel n. BRITISH a firework in the form of a flat coil which spins when fixed to something solid and lit.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a heraldic term for a spiked wheel): named after St Catherine (see CATHERINE, ST), with reference to her martyrdom.

catheter /kaθtə/ n. MEDICINE a flexible tube inserted through a narrow opening into a body cavity, particularly the bladder, for removing fluid.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin, from Greek kathetēr, from kathienai ‘send or let down’.

catheterize (also catheterise) v. [with obj.] MEDICINE insert a catheter into (a body cavity).

<DERIVATIVES> catheterization n.

cathetometer /kaθtmtə/ n. a telescope mounted on a graduated scale, used for accurate measurement of small vertical distances.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin cathetus (from Greek kathetos ‘perpendicular line’, from kathienai ‘send or let down’) + -METER.

cathexis /kəθεkss/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] the concentration of mental energy on one particular person, idea, or object (especially to an unhealthy degree).

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Greek kathexis ‘retention’, translating German Libidobesetzung, coined by Freud.

cathode /kaθəd/ n. the negatively charged electrode by which electrons enter an electrical device. The opposite of ANODE.

- the positively charged electrode of an electrical device, such as a primary cell, that supplies current.

<DERIVATIVES> cathodal adj. cathodic /kəθdk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kathodos ‘way down’, from kata- ‘down’ + hodos ‘way’.

cathode ray n. a beam of electrons emitted from the cathode of a high-vacuum tube.

cathode ray tube n. a high-vacuum tube in which cathode rays produce a luminous image on a fluorescent screen, used in televisions and computer terminals.

cathodic protection n. [mass noun] protection of a metal structure from corrosion under water by making it act as an electrical cathode.

cathodoluminescence /kaθədə()lumnεs(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] luminescence excited by the impact of an electron beam.

catholic adj. 1 including a wide variety of things; all-embracing: her tastes are pretty catholic.

2 (Catholic) of the Roman Catholic faith.

- of or including all Christians.

- relating to the historic doctrine and practice of the Western Church.

■ n. (Catholic) a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

<DERIVATIVES> catholicity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective): from Old French catholique or late Latin catholicus, from Greek katholikos ‘universal’, from kata ‘in respect of’ + holos ‘whole’.

Catholic Emancipation the granting of full political and civil liberties to Roman Catholics in Britain and Ireland. This was effected by the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, which repealed restrictive laws, including that which barred Catholics from holding public office.

Catholicism /kəθlsz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the faith, practice, and church order of the Roman Catholic Church.

- adherence to the forms of Christian doctrine and practice which are generally regarded as Catholic rather than Protestant or Eastern Orthodox.

Catholicize (also Catholicise) v. [with obj.] make Roman Catholic; convert to Catholicism.

Catholic League see HOLY LEAGUE.

Catholicos /kəθlks/ n. (pl. Catholicoses /kəθlkəsiz/ or Catholicoi /kəθlk/) the Patriarch of the Armenian or the Nestorian Church.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Greek katholikos ‘universal’ (see CATHOLIC).

cathouse n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a brothel.

cat ice n. [mass noun] thin ice from under which the water has receded.

Catiline /katln/ (c.108–62 BC), Roman nobleman and conspirator; Latin name Lucius Sergius Catilina. In 63 BC he planned an uprising which was suppressed; his fellow conspirators were executed and he died in battle in Etruria.

cation /katən/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a positively charged ion, i.e. one that would be attracted to the cathode in electrolysis. The opposite of ANION.

<DERIVATIVES> cationic /katnk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CATA- ‘alongside’ or from CATHODE, + ION.

catkin n. a downy, hanging flowering spike of trees such as willow and hazel, pollinated by the wind.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete Dutch katteken ‘kitten’.

cat ladder n. a ladder used for working on a sloping roof, with a hook at one end, wheels at the other, and pads to spread the load.

catlick n. BRITISH INFORMAL a perfunctory wash.

catlike adj. resembling a cat in appearance, action, or character: Marianne crossed the room with her usual catlike grace.

catlinite /katlnt/ n. [mass noun] a red clay of the Upper Missouri region, the sacred pipestone of the American Indians.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of George Catlin (1796–1872), American artist, + -ITE^1.

catmint n. a plant of the mint family, with downy leaves, purple-spotted white flowers, and a pungent smell attractive to cats. Also called CATNIP.

<INFO> Genus Nepeta, family Labiatae: several species.

catnap n. a short sleep during the day.

■ v. (catnaps, catnapping, catnapped) [no obj.] have a catnap.

catnip n. another term for CATMINT.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally US): from CAT^1 + nip, variant of dialect nep, nept, from medieval Latin nepta, from Latin nepeta ‘catmint’.

Cato /ketə/ Marcus Porcius (234–149 BC), Roman statesman, orator, and writer; known as Cato the Elder or Cato the Censor. As censor he initiated a vigorous programme of reform, and attempted to stem the growing influence of Greek culture.

cat-o'-nine-tails n. HISTORICAL a rope whip with nine knotted cords, formerly used (especially at sea) to flog offenders.

catoptric /katptrk/ [PHYSICS] adj. relating to a mirror, a reflector, or reflection.

■ plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of optics that deals with reflection.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Greek katoptrikos ‘reflecting’, from katoptron ‘mirror’.

cat's cradle n. [mass noun] a child's game in which a loop of string is put around and between the fingers and complex patterns are formed.

cat scratch fever (also cat scratch disease) n. [mass noun] an infectious disease occurring after a scratch by a cat's claw, a splinter, or a thorn.

cat's ear (also cat's ears) n. a plant which resembles the dandelion, with yellow flowers and rosettes of leaves.

<INFO> Genus Hypochaeris, family Compositae.

cat's eye n. 1 a semi-precious stone, especially chalcedony, with a band of bright lustre.

2 (catseye) BRITISH TRADEMARK a reflective stud set into a road as one of a series to mark traffic lanes or the edge of the carriageway by reflecting light from headlights.

cat's foot n. a small white-flowered creeping plant of the daisy family, with soft white hairs on the flowering stems and undersides of the leaves. Also called MOUNTAIN EVERLASTING.

<INFO> Antennaria dioica, family Compositae.

cat shark n. a small bottom-dwelling shark that has catlike eyes and small dorsal fins set well back, inhabiting warmer waters.

<INFO> Apristurus and other genera, family Scyliorhinidae: several species.

Catskill Mountains /katskl/ (also the Catskills) a range of mountains in the state of New York, part of the Appalachian system.

cat's paw n. a person who is used by another to carry out an unpleasant or dangerous task.

cat's tail (also cattail) n. a plant with long, thin parts suggestive of cats' tails, in particular:

<INFO>

- the reed mace.

- (also cat's-tail grass) timothy grass.

catsuit n. a woman's close-fitting one-piece garment with trouser legs, covering the body from the neck to the feet.

catsup /katsəp/ n. US another term for KETCHUP.

cat's whisker n. a fine adjustable wire in a crystal radio receiver.

cattery n. (pl. catteries) BRITISH a boarding or breeding establishment for cats.

cattish adj. another term for catty^1.

<DERIVATIVES> cattishly adv. cattishness n.

cattle plural n. 1 large ruminant animals with horns and cloven hoofs, domesticated for meat or milk, or as beasts of burden; cows and oxen.

<INFO> Bos taurus (including the zebu, B. indicus), family Bovidae; descended from the extinct aurochs.

2 animals of a group related to domestic cattle, including yak, bison, and buffaloes.

<INFO> Tribe Bovini, family Bovidae (the cattle family): four genera, in particular Bos. The cattle family also includes the sheep, goats, goat-antelopes, and antelopes.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also denoting personal property or wealth): from Anglo-Norman French catel, variant of Old French chatel (see CHATTEL).

cattle cake n. [mass noun] BRITISH concentrated food for cattle in a compressed flat form.

cattle call n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an open audition for parts in a play or film.

cattle class n. [mass noun] HUMOROUS the cheapest class of seats on an aircraft.

cattle dog n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a dog bred and trained to work cattle.

cattle duffing n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN theft of cattle.

<DERIVATIVES> cattle duffer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: duffing from DUFFER^2.

cattle egret n. a small white heron which feeds around grazing cattle and game herds. Native to southern Eurasia and Africa, it colonized North and South America and Australasia in the 20th century.

<INFO> Bubulcus (or Ardeola) ibis, family Ardeidae.

cattle grid (North American cattle guard) n. BRITISH a metal grid covering a ditch, allowing vehicles and pedestrians to pass over but not cattle and other animals.

cattleman n. (pl. cattlemen) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person who tends or rears cattle.

cattle plague n. another term for RINDERPEST.

cattleya /katlə/ n. a tropical American orchid with brightly coloured showy flowers and thick leaves, typically growing as an epiphyte.

<INFO> Genus Cattleya, family Orchidaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, named after William Cattley (died 1832), English patron of botany.

cat train n. NORTH AMERICAN a crawler tractor pulling a train of sleighs across snow or ice.

<ORIGIN> cat from CATERPILLAR.

catty^1 adj. (cattier, cattiest) 1 deliberately hurtful in one's remarks; spiteful: catty comments.

2 relating to cats; catlike.

<DERIVATIVES> cattily adv. cattiness n.

catty^2 n. S. African INFORMAL a catapult.

catty-cornered adj. another term for CATER-CORNERED.

Catullus /kətləs/ Gaius Valerius (c.84–c.54 BC), Roman poet. He wrote on a range of subjects, but is best known for his love poems.

CATV abbr. community antenna television (cable television).

catwalk n. 1 BRITISH a platform extending into an auditorium, along which models walk to display clothes in fashion shows.

2 a narrow walkway or open bridge, especially in an industrial installation.

caubeen /kbin/ n. an Irish beret, typically dark green in colour.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: Irish, literally ‘old hat’, from cáibín ‘little cape’, diminutive of cába ‘cape’.

Caucasian /kkezən -(ə)n/ adj. 1 relating to one of the traditional divisions of humankind, covering a broad group of peoples from Europe, western Asia, and parts of India and North Africa. [<ORIGIN> so named because the German physiologist Blumenbach believed that it originated in the Caucasus region of SE Europe.]

- white-skinned; of European origin.

2 relating to the Caucasus.

3 relating to a group of languages spoken in the region of the Caucasus, of which thirty-eight are known, many not committed to writing. The most widely spoken is Georgian, of the small South Caucasian family, not related to the three North Caucasian families.

■ n. a Caucasian person.

- a white person; a person of European origin.

<USAGE> In the racial classification as developed by Blumenbach and others in the 19th century, Caucasian (or Caucasoid) included peoples whose skin colour ranged from light (in northern Europe) to dark (in parts of North Africa and India). Although the classification is outdated and the categories are now not generally accepted as scientific (see USAGE AT MONGOLOID), the term Caucasian has acquired a more restricted meaning. It is now used, especially in the US, as a synonym for ‘white or of European origin’, as in the police are looking for a Caucasian male in his forties.

Caucasoid /kkəsd/ adj. relating to the Caucasian division of humankind.

Caucasus /kkəsəs/ (also Caucasia /kkezə -keə/) a mountainous region of SE Europe and SW Asia, lying between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and SE Russia.

Cauchy /kəi/ French /kəi/ Augustin Louis, Baron (1789–1857), French mathematician. He transformed the theory of complex functions by discovering his integral theorems, founded the modern theory of elasticity, and contributed substantially to the founding of group theory and analysis.

caucus /kkəs/ n. (pl. caucuses) 1 (in North America and New Zealand) a meeting of the members of a legislative body who are members of a particular political party, to select candidates or decide policy.

- the members of a caucus.

2 a group of people with shared concerns within a political party or larger organization.

■ v. (caucuses, caucusing, caucused) [no obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN hold or form a caucus.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally US): perhaps from Algonquian cau'-cau'-as'u ‘adviser’.

caudal /kd(ə)l/ adj. of or like a tail.

- at or near the tail or the posterior part of the body.

<DERIVATIVES> caudally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin caudalis, from Latin cauda ‘tail’.

caudal fin n. [ZOOLOGY] another term for TAIL FIN.

Caudata /kdetə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] another term for URODELA.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Latin cauda ‘tail’.

caudate /kdet/ [ANATOMY] adj. relating to or denoting the caudate nucleus.

■ n. short for CAUDATE NUCLEUS.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin caudatus, from cauda ‘tail’.

caudate nucleus n. [ANATOMY] the upper of the two grey nuclei of the corpus striatum in the cerebrum of the brain.

caudex /kdεks/ n. (pl. caudices /-dsiz/) [BOTANY] the axis of a woody plant, especially a palm or tree fern, comprising the stem and root.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin, earlier form of CODEX.

caudillo /kadijə -diljə/ n. (pl. caudillos) (in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries) a military or political leader.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from late Latin capitellum, diminutive of Latin caput ‘head’. The title El Caudillo, ‘the leader’, was assumed by General Franco of Spain in 1938.

caught past and past participle of CATCH.

caul /kl/ n. 1 the amniotic membrane enclosing a fetus.

- part of the caul occasionally found on a child's head at birth, thought to bring good luck.

2 HISTORICAL a woman's close-fitting indoor headdress or hairnet.

3 [ANATOMY] the omentum.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old French cale ‘head covering’, but recorded earlier.

cauldron (also caldron) n. 1 a large metal pot with a lid and handle, used for cooking over an open fire.

2 a situation characterized by instability and strong emotions: a cauldron of repressed anger.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French caudron, based on Latin caldarium, calidarium ‘cooking-pot’, from calidus ‘hot’.

cauliflower n. a cabbage of a variety which bears a large immature flower head of small creamy-white flower buds.

- [mass noun] the flower head of the cauliflower eaten as a vegetable.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete French chou fleuri ‘flowered cabbage’, probably from Italian cavolfiore or modern Latin cauliflora. The original English form colieflorie or cole-flory had its first element influenced by COLE; the second element was influenced by FLOWER during the 17th cent.

cauliflower cheese n. [mass noun] BRITISH a savoury dish of cauliflower in a cheese sauce.

cauliflower ear n. a person's ear that has become thickened or deformed as a result of repeated blows, typically in boxing or rugby.

cauliflower fungus n. an edible fungus which forms a distinctive fruiting body with a yellowish lobed surface, growing on wood and other plant debris. Also called BRAIN FUNGUS.

<INFO> Genus Sparassis and family Sparassidaceae, class Hymenomycetes: several species.

caulk /kk/ (US also calk) n. [mass noun] a waterproof filler and sealant, used in building work and repairs.

■ v. [with obj.] seal (a gap or seam) with caulk.

- make (a boat) watertight by stopping up any gaps in its hull.

<DERIVATIVES> caulker n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘copulate’, used of birds): from Old Northern French cauquer, caukier, variant of cauchier ‘tread, press with force’, from Latin calcare ‘tread’, from calx, calc- ‘heel’.

causal adj. relating to or acting as a cause: the causal factors associated with illness.

- [GRAMMAR] & [LOGIC] expressing or indicating a cause: a causal conjunction.

<DERIVATIVES> causally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun denoting a causal conjunction or particle): from late Latin causalis, from Latin causa ‘cause’.

causalgia /kzaldə/ n. [mass noun] severe burning pain in a limb caused by injury to a peripheral nerve.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kausos ‘heat, fever’ + -ALGIA.

causality n. [mass noun] 1 the relationship between cause and effect.

2 the principle that everything has a cause.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French causalité or medieval Latin causalitas, from Latin causa ‘cause’.

causation n. [mass noun] the action of causing something: the postulated role of nitrate in the causation of cancer.

- the relationship between cause and effect; causality.

<PHRASES>

□ chain of causation [LAW] a linked series of events leading from cause to effect, typically in the assessment of liability for damages.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin causatio(n-) ‘pretext’ (in medieval Latin ‘the action of causing’), from causare ‘to cause’.

causative adj. acting as a cause: a causative factor.

- [GRAMMAR] expressing causation: a causative verb.

<DERIVATIVES> causatively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French causatif, -ive, or late Latin causativus, from causare ‘to cause’.

cause n. 1 a person or thing that gives rise to an action, phenomenon, or condition: the cause of the accident is not clear.

- [mass noun] reasonable grounds for doing, thinking, or feeling something: Faye's condition had given no cause for concern | [count noun] class size is a cause for complaint in some schools.

2 a principle, aim, or movement to which one is committed and which one is prepared to defend or advocate: she devoted her whole adult life to the cause of deaf people | I'm raising money for good causes.

3 a matter to be resolved in a court of law.

- an individual's case offered at law.

■ v. [with obj.] make (something, especially something bad) happen: this disease can cause blindness | [with two objs] you could cause them problems.

<PHRASES>

□ cause and effect the principle of causation.

- the operation or relation of a cause and its effect.

□ cause of action [LAW] a fact or facts that enable a person to bring an action against another.

□ in the cause of so as to support, promote, or defend something: he gave his life in the cause of freedom.

□ make common cause unite in order to achieve a shared aim: nationalist movements made common cause with the reformers.

□ a rebel without a cause a person who is dissatisfied with society but does not have a specific aim to fight for. [<ORIGIN> from the title of a US film, released in 1955.]

<DERIVATIVES> causeless adj. causer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin causa (noun), causare (verb).

'cause conj. INFORMAL short for BECAUSE.

cause célèbre /kz sεlεbr(ə)/ French /kəz selεbR/ n. (pl. causes célèbres pronunc. same) a controversial issue that attracts a great deal of public attention.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, literally ‘famous case’.

causerie /kəzəri/ French /kəzRi/ n. (pl. causeries pronunc. same) an informal article or talk, typically on a literary subject.

<ORIGIN> French, from causer ‘to talk’.

causeway n. a raised road or track across low or wet ground.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from CAUSEY + WAY.

causewayed camp n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a type of Neolithic settlement in southern Britain, visible as an oval enclosure surrounded by concentric ditches that are crossed by several causeways.

causey /kzi -si/ n. (pl. causeys)

■ archaic or dialect term for CAUSEWAY.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French causee, based on Latin calx ‘lime, limestone’ (used for paving roads).

caustic /kstk kst-/ adj. 1 able to burn or corrode organic tissue by chemical action: a caustic cleaner.

2 sarcastic in a scathing and bitter way: the players were making caustic comments about the refereeing.

3 [PHYSICS] formed by the intersection of reflected or refracted parallel rays from a curved surface.

■ n. 1 a caustic substance.

2 [PHYSICS] a caustic surface or curve.

<DERIVATIVES> caustically adv. causticity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek kaustikos, from kaustos ‘combustible’, from kaiein ‘to burn’.

caustic potash n. another term for POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE.

caustic soda n. another term for SODIUM HYDROXIDE.

cauterize /ktərz/ (also cauterise) v. [with obj.] burn the skin or flesh of (a wound) with a heated instrument or caustic substance in order to stop bleeding or to prevent infection.

<DERIVATIVES> cauterization n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cauteriser, from late Latin cauterizare, from Greek kautēriazein, from kautērion ‘branding iron’, from kaiein ‘to burn’.

cautery /kt(ə)ri/ n. (pl. cauteries) an instrument or a caustic substance used for cauterizing.

- [mass noun] the action of cauterizing something.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek kautērion ‘branding iron’ (see CAUTERIZE).

caution n. 1 [mass noun] care taken to avoid danger or mistakes: anyone receiving a suspect package should exercise extreme caution.

- [count noun] BRITISH an official or legal warning given to someone who has committed a minor offence but has not been charged, to the effect that further action will be taken if they commit another such offence: they let him off with a caution.

- warning: business advisers have sounded a note of caution.

2 INFORMAL, DATED an amusing or surprising person.

■ v. [reporting v.] say something as a warning: [with clause] the Chancellor cautioned that economic uncertainties remained | [with direct speech] ‘Be careful now,’ he cautioned.

- [no obj.] (caution against) warn or advise against (doing something): advisers have cautioned against tax increases.

- [with obj.] BRITISH issue an official or legal warning to: he was cautioned for possessing drugs.

- [with obj.] BRITISH (of a police officer) advise (someone) of their legal rights when arresting them.

<PHRASES>

□ err on the side of caution take a comparatively safe course of action when presented with a choice.

□ throw caution to the wind (or winds) act in a completely reckless manner.

□ under caution having been told of one's legal rights when under arrest: she made a statement under caution.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting bail or a guarantee; now chiefly Scots and US): from Latin cautio(n-), from cavere ‘take heed’.

cautionary adj. serving as a warning: a cautionary tale.

caution money n. [mass noun] BRITISH money deposited, especially by a college student, as security for good conduct.

cautious adj. careful to avoid potential problems or dangers: a cautious driver | firms have been unusually cautious about hiring new workers.

<DERIVATIVES> cautiously adv. cautiousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from CAUTION, on the pattern of pairs such as ambition, ambitious.

Cauvery /kvəri/ (also Kaveri) a river in south India which rises in north Kerala and flows 765 km (475 miles) eastwards to the Bay of Bengal, south of Pondicherry. It is held sacred by Hindus.

cava /kαvə/ n. [mass noun] a Spanish sparkling wine made in the same way as champagne.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

Cavafy /kəvαfi/ Constantine (Peter) (1863–1933), Greek poet; born Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis. His poems refer mainly to the Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman period of his native Alexandria.

cavalcade /kav(ə)lked kav(ə)lked/ n. a formal procession of people walking, on horseback, or riding in vehicles.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a ride or raid on horseback): from French, from Italian cavalcata, from cavalcare ‘to ride’, based on Latin caballus ‘horse’.

cavalier /kavələ/ n. 1 (Cavalier) HISTORICAL a supporter of King Charles I in the English Civil War.

2 ARCHAIC a courtly gentleman, especially one acting as a lady's escort.

- a horseman, especially a cavalryman.

3 (also Cavalier King Charles) a small spaniel of a breed with a long snout.

■ adj. showing a lack of proper concern; offhand: Anne was irritated by his cavalier attitude.

<DERIVATIVES> cavalierly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Italian cavaliere, based on Latin caballus ‘horse’. Compare with CABALLERO and CHEVALIER.

cavalry n. (pl. cavalries) [usually treated as plural] (in the past) soldiers who fought on horseback.

- modern soldiers who fight in armoured vehicles.

<DERIVATIVES> cavalryman n. (pl. cavalrymen)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French cavallerie, from Italian cavalleria, from cavallo ‘horse’, from Latin caballus.

cavalry twill n. [mass noun] strong woollen twill used especially for making trousers.

Cavan /kav(ə)n/ a county of the Republic of Ireland, part of the old province of Ulster.

- the county town of Cavan; pop. 3,600 (est. 2002).

cavaquinho /kavakinjə/ n. (pl. cavaquinhos) a type of small, four-stringed guitar resembling a ukulele, popular in Brazil and Portugal.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese.

cavatina /kavətinə/ n. (pl. cavatine /kavətine/, cavatinas) [MUSIC] a short operatic aria in simple style without repeated sections.

- a similar piece of lyrical instrumental music.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Italian.

cave^1 /kev/ n. a natural underground chamber in a hillside or cliff.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 BRITISH explore caves as a sport.

2 (cave in or US also cave) subside or collapse: the ceiling caved in | [with obj.] Len's club would have caved his skull in.

- yield or submit under pressure: the manager caved in to his demands.

<DERIVATIVES> cave-like adj. caver n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin cava, from cavus ‘hollow’ (compare with CAVERN). The usage cave in may be from the synonymous dialect expression calve in, influenced by obsolete cave ‘excavate, hollow out’.

cave^2 /kevi/ exclam. BRITISH SCHOOL SLANG, DATED look out!

<PHRASES>

□ keep cave act as lookout.

<ORIGIN> Latin, imperative of cavere ‘beware’.

caveat /kavat ke-/ n. a warning or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations.

- [LAW] a notice, especially in a probate, that certain actions may not be taken without informing the person who gave the notice.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, literally ‘let a person beware’.

caveat emptor /εmpt/ n. the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘let the buyer beware’.

cave bear n. a large extinct bear of the Pleistocene epoch, whose remains are found commonly in caves throughout Europe.

<INFO> Ursus spelaeus, family Ursidae.

cave cricket n. another term for CAMEL CRICKET.

cave-dweller n. a caveman or cavewoman.

cavefish n. (pl. same or cavefishes) a small colourless fish which lives only in limestone caves in North America. It has reduced or absent eyes, and the head and body are covered with papillae which are sensitive to vibration.

<INFO> Family Amblyopsidae: four genera, in particular Amblyopsis and Typhlichthys.

cave-in n. a collapse of a roof or underground structure.

- an instance of yielding or submitting under pressure: the government's cave-in to industry pressure.

Cavell /kav(ə)l/ Edith (Louisa) (1865–1915), English nurse. During the First World War she helped Allied soldiers to escape from occupied Belgium. She was subsequently executed by the Germans and became a heroine of the Allied cause.

caveman n. (pl. cavemen) a prehistoric man who lived in caves.

- an uncivilized or violent man: [as modifier] you can't change my mind by caveman tactics.

Cavendish /kav(ə)nd/ Henry (1731–1810), English chemist and physicist. He identified hydrogen, studied carbon dioxide, and determined their densities relative to atmospheric air. He also established that water is a compound, and determined the density of the earth.

cavendish /kav(ə)nd/ n. [mass noun] tobacco softened, sweetened, and formed into cakes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably from the surname Cavendish.

cave painting n. a prehistoric picture on the interior of a cave, often depicting animals.

cavern /kav(ə)n/ n. a large cave or chamber in a cave.

- a large, dark place or space: a dark cavern of a shop.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French caverne or from Latin caverna, from cavus ‘hollow’. Compare with cave^1.

cavernous adj. like a cavern in size, shape, or atmosphere: a dismal cavernous hall.

- giving the impression of vast, dark depths: his cavernous eyes.

<DERIVATIVES> cavernously adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French caverneux or Latin cavernosus (from caverna ‘cavern’).

cavesson /kavs(ə)n/ n. a type of heavy bridle which lacks a bit and has a thick noseband fitted with rings to which a rein may be attached.

- a simple noseband on a horse's bridle.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French caveçon, Italian cavezzone, based on Latin caput ‘head’.

cavewoman n. (pl. cavewomen) a prehistoric woman who lived in caves.

caviar /kavα kavα/ (also caviare) n. [mass noun] the pickled roe of sturgeon or other large fish, eaten as a delicacy.

<PHRASES>

□ caviar to the general a good thing unappreciated by the ignorant.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Italian caviale (earlier caviaro) or French caviar, probably from medieval Greek khaviari.

cavil /kav(ə)l/ v. (cavils, cavilling, cavilled; US cavils, caviling, caviled) [no obj.] make petty or unnecessary objections: they cavilled at the cost.

■ n. a petty or unnecessary objection.

<DERIVATIVES> caviller n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French caviller, from Latin cavillari, from cavilla ‘mockery’.

caving n. [mass noun] BRITISH the sport or pastime of exploring caves.

cavitation /kavte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the formation of an empty space within a solid object or body.

- the formation of bubbles in a liquid, typically by the movement of a propeller through it.

cavity n. (pl. cavities) an empty space within a solid object: the abdominal cavity.

- a decayed part of a tooth.

<DERIVATIVES> cavitary adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French cavité or late Latin cavitas, from Latin cavus ‘hollow’.

cavity wall n. a wall formed from two thicknesses of brickwork or blockwork with a space between them.

cavolo nero /kavələ nεrə/ n. [mass noun] a dark-leaved variety of kale used in Tuscan cookery.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from cavolo ‘cabbage’ + nero ‘black’.

cavort v. [no obj.] jump or dance around excitedly: the players cavorted about the pitch.

- INFORMAL engage enthusiastically in sexual or disreputable pursuits: he'd been cavorting with a hooker.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally US): perhaps an alteration of CURVET.

Cavour /kəvə/ Camillo Benso, Conte di (1810–61), Italian statesman. A supporter of Italian unification under Victor Emmanuel II, he was Premier of Piedmont (1852–9; 1860–1), and in 1861 became the first Premier of a unified Italy.

cavy /kevi/ n. (pl. cavies) a South American rodent with a sturdy body and vestigial tail.

<INFO> Family Caviidae: five genera and several species, in particular the guinea pig.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin cavia, from Galibi cabiai.

caw n. the harsh cry of a rook, crow, or similar bird.

■ v. [no obj.] utter a caw.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: imitative.

Cawley /kli/ Evonne (Fay) (b.1951), Australian tennis player; born Evonne Fay Goolagong. She won two Wimbledon singles titles (1971; 1980) and was three times Australian singles champion (1974–6).

Cawnpore /knp/ former name for KANPUR.

Caxton William (c.1422–91), the first English printer. He printed the first book in English in 1474 and went on to produce about eighty other texts, including editions of Le Morte d'Arthur and Canterbury Tales.

cay /ke ki/ n. a low bank or reef of coral, rock, or sand, especially one on the islands in Spanish America. Compare with key^2.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Spanish cayo ‘shoal, reef’, from French quai ‘quay’.

Cayenne /keεn/ the capital and chief port of French Guiana; pop. 50,600 (1999).

cayenne /keεn/ (also cayenne pepper) n. [mass noun] a pungent hot-tasting red powder prepared from ground dried chilli peppers.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Tupi kyynha, quiynha, later associated with CAYENNE.

Cayley^1 /keli/ Arthur (1821–95), English mathematician and barrister. He wrote almost a thousand mathematical papers, including articles on determinants, group theory, and the algebra of matrices. The Cayley numbers, a generalization of complex numbers, are named after him.

Cayley^2 /keli/ Sir George (1773–1857), English engineer, the father of British aeronautics. He is best known for his understanding of the principles of flight and for building the first manned glider, which was flown in 1853. He was also a founder of the original Polytechnic Institution.

Cayman Islands /kemən/ (also the Caymans) a group of three islands in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba; pop. 36,272 (est. 2002); official language, English; capital, George Town. The Cayman Islands are a British dependency.

Cayuga /kejuə k-/ n. (pl. same or Cayugas) 1 a member of an American Indian people, one of the five of the original Iroquois confederacy, formerly inhabiting part of New York State.

2 [mass noun] the extinct Iroquoian language of the Cayuga.

■ adj. relating to the Cayuga or their language.

<ORIGIN> from an Iroquoian place name.

Cayuse /kjus/ n. (pl. same or Cayuses) 1 a member of an American Indian people of Washington State and Oregon.

2 [mass noun] the extinct Penutian language of the Cayuse.

3 (cayuse) an American Indian pony.

■ adj. relating to the Cayuse or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Chinook Jargon.

CB abbr.

- Citizens' Band (radio frequencies).

- (in the UK) Companion of the Order of the Bath.

CBC abbr. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

CBE abbr. (in the UK) Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

CBI abbr. Confederation of British Industry.

CBS abbr. (in the US) Columbia Broadcasting System.

CBT abbr. cognitive behavioural therapy.

CC abbr.

- British City Council.

- Companion of the Order of Canada.

- BRITISH County Council.

- BRITISH County Councillor.

- Cricket Club.

cc (also c.c.) abbr.

- carbon copy (used as an indication that a duplicate has been or should be sent to another person).

- cubic centimetre(s).

■ v. (cc's, cc'ing, cc'd) [with obj.] send a copy of an email to (a third party).

CCD abbr. [ELECTRONICS] charge-coupled device, a high-speed semiconductor used chiefly in image detection.

CCJ abbr. (in the UK) county court judgement, issued by a court after a person's failure to repay a debt and recorded in that person's credit history.

CCK abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] cholecystokinin.

CCTV abbr. closed-circuit television.

CD^1 n. a compact disc.

CD^2 abbr.

- civil defence.

- corps diplomatique (diplomatic corps). [<ORIGIN> French.]

Cd symbol the chemical element cadmium.

cd abbr. candela.

Cd. abbr. (in the UK) Command Paper (third series, 1900–18).

CDC abbr.

- (in the US) Centers for Disease Control.

- Commonwealth Development Corporation.

CD-I abbr. compact disc (interactive).

CDN abbr. Canada (international vehicle registration).

cDNA abbr. complementary DNA.

Cdr abbr. (in the navy or air force) Commander.

CD-R n. a blank compact disc which can be recorded on once only.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: abbreviation of compact disc recordable.

Cdre abbr. Commodore.

CD-ROM n. a compact disc used as a read-only optical memory device for a computer system.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: abbreviation of compact disc read-only memory.

CD-RW n. a blank compact disc that can be recorded, erased, and re-recorded many times.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: abbreviation of compact disc rewritable.

CDT abbr.

- Central Daylight Time (see CENTRAL TIME).

- craft, design, and technology (as a school subject in the UK).

CD video (abbr.: CDV) n. [mass noun] a video system in which both sound and picture are recorded on compact disc.

CE abbr.

- Church of England.

- civil engineer.

- Common Era.

Ce symbol the chemical element cerium.

ceanothus /siənəθəs/ n. a North American shrub which is cultivated for its dense clusters of small, typically blue, flowers.

<INFO> Genus Ceanothus, family Rhamnaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek keanōthos, denoting a kind of thistle.

Ceará /seərα/ a state in NE Brazil, on the Atlantic coast; capital, Fortaleza.

cease v. come or bring to an end: [no obj.] the hostilities ceased and normal life was resumed | [with infinitive] on his retirement the job will cease to exist | [with obj.] they were asked to cease all military activity.

<PHRASES>

□ never cease to (in hyperbolic use) do something very frequently: her exploits never cease to amaze me.

□ without cease without stopping.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cesser, from Latin cessare ‘stop’, from cedere ‘to yield’.

ceasefire n. a temporary suspension of fighting; a truce.

- an order or signal to stop fighting.

ceaseless adj. constant and unending: the fort was subjected to ceaseless bombardment.

<DERIVATIVES> ceaselessly adv.

Ceauşescu /taεsku/ Nicolae (1918–89), Romanian communist statesman, first President of the Socialist Republic of Romania 1974–89. His regime became increasingly totalitarian and corrupt; a popular uprising in December 1989 resulted in its downfall and in his execution.

cebid /sibd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a primate of a family (Cebidae) that includes most of the New World monkeys.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Cebidae (plural), from the genus name Cebus.

Cebu /sbu/ an island of the south central Philippines.

- the chief city and port of Cebu; pop. 718,821 (2000).

Cecilia, St /ssiljə/ (2nd or 3rd century), Roman martyr. According to legend, she took a vow of celibacy but when forced to marry converted her husband to Christianity and both were martyred. She is the patron saint of church music. Feast day, 22 November.

cecropia /skrəpə/ n. 1 a fast-growing tropical American tree which is typically among the first to colonize a cleared area.

<INFO> Genus Cecropia, family Cecropiaceae.

2 (also cecropia moth) a very large North American silk moth with boldly marked reddish-brown wings.

<INFO> Platysamia (or Hyalophora) cecropia, family Saturniidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, from the name Cecrops, a king of Attica.

cedar n. any of a number of conifers which typically yield fragrant, durable timber, in particular:

<INFO>

- a large tree of the pine family (genus Cedrus, family Pinaceae), in particular the cedar of Lebanon (C. libani), with spreading branches, and the deodar.

- a tall slender North American or Asian tree (genus Thuja, family Cupressaceae), in particular the western red cedar (T. plicata).

<DERIVATIVES> cedarn adj. (LITERARY)

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Old French cedre or Latin cedrus, from Greek kedros.

cede /sid/ v. [with obj.] give up (power or territory): in 1874, the islands were ceded to Britain.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French céder or Latin cedere ‘to yield’.

cedi /sidi/ n. (pl. same or cedis) the basic monetary unit of Ghana, equal to 100 pesewas.

<ORIGIN> of Ghanaian origin, perhaps an alteration of SHILLING.

cedilla /sdlə/ n. a mark (¸) written under the letter c, especially in French, to show that it is pronounced like an s rather than a k (e.g. façade).

- a similar mark under s in Turkish and other oriental languages.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete Spanish, earlier form of zedilla, diminutive of zeda (the letter Z), from Greek zēta.

Ceefax /sifaks/ n. [mass noun] BRITISH TRADEMARK a teletext service provided by the BBC.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: representing the pronunciation of the initial syllables of seeing and facsimile.

ceiba /sbə/ n. a very tall tropical American tree from which kapok is obtained, with lightweight yellowish or pinkish timber. Also called KAPOK.

<INFO> Ceiba pentandra, family Bombacaceae.

<ORIGIN> via Spanish from Taino, literally ‘giant tree’.

ceil /sil/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC line or plaster the roof of (a building).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘line the interior of a room with plaster or panelling’): perhaps related to Latin celare, French céler ‘conceal’.

ceilidh /keli/ n. a social event with Scottish or Irish folk music and singing, traditional dancing, and storytelling.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Scottish Gaelic ceilidh and Irish célidhe (earlier form of céilí), from Old Irish céilide ‘visit, visiting’, from céile ‘companion’.

ceiling n. 1 the upper interior surface of a room or other similar compartment.

2 an upper limit set on prices, wages, or expenditure: the government imposed a wage ceiling of 3 per cent.

3 the maximum altitude that a particular aircraft can reach.

- the altitude of the base of a cloud layer.

4 [NAUTICAL] the inside planking of a ship's bottom and sides.

<DERIVATIVES> ceilinged adj. [in combination] high-ceilinged rooms

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting the action of lining the interior of a room with plaster or panelling): from CEIL + -ING^1.

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 16th cent.

ceiling rose n. a circular mounting on a ceiling, through which the wiring of an electric light passes.

cel /sεl/ n. a transparent sheet of celluloid or similar film material, which can be drawn on and used in the production of cartoons.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: abbreviation of CELLULOID.

celadon /sεlədn/ n. [mass noun] a willow-green colour.

- a grey-green glaze used on pottery, especially that from China.

- pottery made with celadon glaze.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French céladon, a colour named after the hero in d'Urfé's pastoral romance L'Astrée (1607–27).

celandine /sεləndn/ (also lesser celandine) n. a common plant of the buttercup family which produces yellow flowers in the early spring. See also GREATER CELANDINE.

<INFO> Ranunculus ficaria, family Ranunculaceae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English, from Old French celidoine, from medieval Latin celidonia, based on Greek khelidōn ‘swallow’ (the flowering of the plant being associated with the arrival of swallows).

-cele (also -coele) combining form MEDICINE denoting a swelling or hernia in a specified part: meningocele.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kēlē ‘tumour’.

celeb /slεb/ n. INFORMAL a celebrity: a TV celeb.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): abbreviation.

Celebes /sεlbiz/ former name for SULAWESI.

Celebes Sea a part of the western Pacific between the Philippines and Sulawesi, bounded to the west by Borneo. It is linked to the Java Sea by the Makassar Strait.

Celebra /slεbrə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a synthetic drug used in the management of arthritic pain.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: an invented word.

celebrant /sεlbr(ə)nt/ n. 1 a person who performs a rite, especially a priest at the Eucharist.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a person who celebrates something.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French célébrant or Latin celebrant- ‘celebrating’, from the verb celebrare (see CELEBRATE).

celebrate v. [with obj.] 1 publicly acknowledge (a significant or happy day or event) with a social gathering or enjoyable activity: they were celebrating their wedding anniversary at a swanky restaurant | [no obj.] she celebrated with a glass of champagne.

- reach (a birthday or anniversary).

2 perform (a religious ceremony), in particular officiate at (the Eucharist): he celebrated holy communion.

3 honour or praise publicly: a film celebrating the actor's career.

<DERIVATIVES> celebrator n. celebratory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Latin celebrat- ‘celebrated’, from the verb celebrare, from celeber, celebr- ‘frequented or honoured’.

celebrated adj. greatly admired; renowned: a celebrated mathematician.

celebration n. [mass noun] the action of celebrating an important day or event: the birth of his son was a cause for celebration.

- [count noun] a social gathering or enjoyable activity held to celebrate something: a birthday celebration.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin celebratio(n-), from the verb celebrare (see CELEBRATE).

celebrity n. (pl. celebrities) a famous person, especially in entertainment or sport.

- [mass noun] the state of being well known: his prestige and celebrity grew.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘solemn ceremony’): from Old French celebrite or Latin celebritas, from celeber, celebr- ‘frequented or honoured’.

celebutante /slεbjutαnt/ n. a celebrity who is well known in fashionable society.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of CELEBRITY and DEBUTANTE.

celeriac /slεrak/ n. [mass noun] celery of a variety which forms a large swollen turnip-like root which can be eaten cooked or raw.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from CELERY + an arbitrary use of -AC.

celerity /slεrti/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC or LITERARY swiftness of movement.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French celerite, from Latin celeritas, from celer ‘swift’.

celery n. [mass noun] a cultivated plant of the parsley family, with closely packed succulent leaf stalks which are used as a salad or cooked vegetable.

<INFO> Apium graveolens (var. dulce), family Umbelliferae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French céleri, from Italian dialect selleri, based on Greek selinon ‘parsley’.

celery pine (also celery-top pine) n. a slow-growing evergreen tree with shoots that resemble celery leaves, growing from Borneo to New Zealand.

<INFO> Genus Phyllocladus, family Phyllocladaceae.

celery salt n. [mass noun] a mixture of salt and ground celery seed used for seasoning.

celesta /slεstə/ n. a small keyboard instrument in which felted hammers strike a row of steel plates suspended over wooden resonators, giving an ethereal bell-like sound.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: pseudo-Latin, based on French céleste ‘heavenly’.

celeste /slεst/ n. 1 short for VOIX CELESTE.

2 another term for CELESTA.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French céleste ‘heavenly’, from Latin caelestis, from caelum ‘heaven’.

celestial adj. [attr.] positioned in or relating to the sky, or outer space as observed in astronomy: a celestial body.

- belonging or relating to heaven: the celestial city.

- supremely good: the celestial beauty of music.

<DERIVATIVES> celestially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin caelestialis, from Latin caelestis, from caelum ‘heaven’.

celestial bamboo n. another term for NANDINA.

celestial equator n. the projection into space of the earth's equator; an imaginary circle equidistant from the celestial poles.

celestial globe n. a spherical representation of the sky showing the constellations.

celestial latitude n. [ASTRONOMY] the angular distance of a point north or south of the ecliptic. Compare with declination (sense 1).

celestial longitude n. [ASTRONOMY] the angular distance of a point east of the First Point of Aries, measured along the ecliptic. Compare with RIGHT ASCENSION.

celestial mechanics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of theoretical astronomy that deals with the calculation of the motions of celestial objects such as planets.

celestial navigation n. [mass noun] the action of finding one's way by observing the sun, moon, and stars.

celestial pole n. [ASTRONOMY] the point on the celestial sphere directly above either of the earth's geographic poles, around which the stars and planets appear to rotate during the course of the night.

celestial sphere n. an imaginary sphere of which the observer is the centre and on which all celestial objects are considered to lie.

celibacy /sεlbəsi/ n. [mass noun] the state of abstaining from marriage and sexual relations: a priest who had taken a vow of celibacy.

celibate /sεlbət/ adj. abstaining from marriage and sexual relations, typically for religious reasons: a celibate priest.

- having or involving no sexual relations: a celibate lifestyle.

■ n. a person who abstains from marriage and sexual relations.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (earlier (mid 17th century) as celibacy): from French célibat or Latin caelibatus ‘unmarried state’ + -ATE^2.

Céline /selin/ Louis-Ferdinand (1894–1961), French novelist; pseudonym of Louis-Ferdinand Destouches. He is best known for his autobiographical novel, the satirical Voyage au bout de la nuit (1932).

cell n. 1 a small room in which a prisoner is locked up or in which a monk or nun sleeps.

- HISTORICAL a small monastery or nunnery dependent on a larger one.

2 [BIOLOGY] the smallest structural and functional unit of an organism, which is typically microscopic and consists of cytoplasm and a nucleus enclosed in a membrane.

- an enclosed cavity in an organism.

- a small compartment in a larger structure such as a honeycomb.

3 a small group forming a nucleus of political activity, typically a secret, subversive one: terrorist cells.

4 a device containing electrodes immersed in an electrolyte, used for generating current or for electrolysis.

- a unit in a device for converting chemical or solar energy into electricity.

5 the local area covered by one of the short-range transmitters in a cellular telephone system.

- NORTH AMERICAN a mobile phone.

<DERIVATIVES> celled adj. [in combination] a single-celled organism cell-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Old French celle or Latin cella ‘storeroom or chamber’.

cella /kεlə/ n. (pl. cellae /-li/) the inner area of an ancient temple, especially one housing the hidden cult image in a Greek or Roman temple.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

cellar n. a room below ground level in a house, often used for storing wine or coal.

- a stock of wine.

■ v. [with obj.] store (wine) in a cellar.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general sense ‘storeroom’): from Old French celier, from late Latin cellarium ‘storehouse’, from Latin cella ‘storeroom or chamber’.

cellarage n. [mass noun] cellars collectively.

- money charged for the use of a cellar or storehouse.

cellarer /sεlərə/ n. the person in a monastery who is responsible for provisioning and catering.

- a cellarman.

cellaret /sεlərεt/ (US also cellarette) n. HISTORICAL a cabinet or sideboard for keeping alcoholic drinks and glasses in a dining room.

cellarman n. (pl. cellarmen) BRITISH a person in charge of a wine cellar.

cell block n. a large single building or part of a complex subdivided into separate prison cells.

Cellini /tεlini/ Benvenuto (1500–71), Italian goldsmith and sculptor, the most renowned goldsmith of his day.

cell line n. [BIOLOGY] a cell culture developed from a single cell and therefore consisting of cells with a uniform genetic make-up.

cellmate n. a person with whom one shares a cell.

cell-mediated adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] denoting the aspect of an immune response involving the action of white blood cells, rather than that of circulating antibodies. Often contrasted with HUMORAL.

cello /tεlə/ n. (pl. cellos) a bass instrument of the violin family, held upright on the floor between the legs of the seated player.

<DERIVATIVES> cellist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: shortening of VIOLONCELLO.

cellophane /sεləfen/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a thin transparent wrapping material made from viscose.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CELLULOSE + -phane, from diaphane, a kind of semi-transparent woven silk (from medieval Latin diaphanus ‘diaphanous’).

cellphone n. a mobile phone.

cellular /sεljlə/ adj. 1 relating to or consisting of living cells: cellular proliferation.

2 denoting or relating to a mobile telephone system that uses a number of short-range radio stations to cover the area that it serves, the signal being automatically switched from one station to another as the user travels about.

3 (of a fabric item, such as a blanket or vest) knitted so as to form holes or hollows that trap air and provide extra insulation.

4 consisting of small compartments or rooms: cellular accommodation.

<DERIVATIVES> cellularity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French cellulaire, from modern Latin cellularis, from cellula ‘little chamber’, diminutive of cella.

cellular automaton n. (pl. cellular automata) [COMPUTING] each of a set of units in a mathematical model which have simple rules governing their replication and destruction, used to model complex systems composed of simple units such as living things or parallel processors.

cellular phone n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a mobile phone.

cellulase /sεljlez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme that converts cellulose into glucose or a disaccharide.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CELLULOSE + -ASE.

cellulite /sεljlt/ n. [mass noun] persistent subcutaneous fat causing dimpling of the skin, especially on women's hips and thighs.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from French, from cellule ‘small cell’.

cellulitis n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of subcutaneous connective tissue.

celluloid n. [mass noun] a transparent flammable plastic made in sheets from camphor and nitrocellulose, formerly used for cinematographic film.

- the cinema as a genre: having made the leap from theatre to celluloid, she can now make more money.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CELLULOSE + -OID.

cellulose /sεljləz -s/ n. [mass noun] 1 an insoluble substance which is the main constituent of plant cell walls and of vegetable fibres such as cotton. It is a polysaccharide consisting of chains of glucose monomers.

2 paint or lacquer consisting principally of cellulose acetate or nitrate in solution.

<DERIVATIVES> cellulosic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from cellule ‘small cell’ + -OSE^2.

cellulose acetate n. [mass noun] a non-flammable thermoplastic polymer made by acetylating cellulose, used as the basis of artificial fibres and plastic.

cellulose nitrate n. another term for NITROCELLULOSE.

cell wall n. [BIOLOGY] a rigid layer of polysaccharides lying outside the plasma membrane of the cells of plants, fungi, and bacteria. In the algae and higher plants it consists mainly of cellulose.

celosia /sləsə -ə/ n. a plant of a genus that includes cockscomb.

<INFO> Genus Celosia, family Amarantaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kēlos ‘burnt or dry’ (from the burnt appearance of the flowers in some species).

Celsius^1 /sεlsəs/ Anders (1701–44), Swedish astronomer, best known for his temperature scale.

Celsius^2 /sεlsəs/ (abbr.: C) adj. [postpositive when used with a numeral] of or denoting a scale of temperature on which water freezes at 0° and boils at 100° under standard conditions.

■ n. (also Celsius scale) the Celsius scale of temperature.

<USAGE> Celsius rather than centigrade is the standard accepted term when giving temperatures: use 25° Celsius rather than 25° centigrade.

Celt /kεlt sεlt/ n. a member of a group of peoples inhabiting much of Europe and Asia Minor in pre-Roman times. Their culture developed in the late Bronze Age around the upper Danube, and reached its height in the La Tène culture (5th to 1st centuries BC) before being overrun by the Romans and various Germanic peoples.

- a native of any of the modern nations or regions in which Celtic languages are (or were until recently) spoken; a person of Irish, Highland Scottish, Manx, Welsh, or Cornish descent.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Celtae (plural), from Greek Keltoi; in later use from French Celte ‘Breton’ (taken as representing the ancient Gauls).

celt /sεlt/ n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a prehistoric stone or metal implement with a bevelled cutting edge, probably used as a tool or weapon.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from medieval Latin celtis ‘chisel’.

Celtiberian /kεltbərən -t- sεlt-/ n. another term for Iberian (sense 3 of the noun).

Celtic /kεltk s-/ adj. relating to the Celts or their languages, which constitute a branch of the Indo-European family and include Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, Manx, Cornish, and several extinct pre-Roman languages such as Gaulish.

■ n. [mass noun] the Celtic language group. See also P-CELTIC, Q-CELTIC.

<DERIVATIVES> Celticism /-sz(ə)m/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin Celticus (from Celtae ‘Celts’), or from French Celtique (from Celte ‘Breton’).

<USAGE> Celt and Celtic can be pronounced either with an initial k- or s-, but in standard English the normal pronunciation is with a k-, except in the name of the Glaswegian football club.

Celtic Church the Christian Church in the British Isles from its foundation in the 2nd or 3rd century until its assimilation into the Roman Catholic Church (664 in England; 12th century in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland).

Celtic cross n. a Latin cross with a circle round the centre.

Celtic fringe n. the Highland Scots, Irish, Welsh, and Cornish in relation to the rest of Britain.

Celtic harp n. another term for CLARSACH.

Celtic Sea the part of the Atlantic Ocean between southern Ireland and SW England.

CE mark n. a symbol applied to products to indicate that they conform with relevant EU directives regarding health and safety or environmental protection.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: CE from the initial letters of French Conformité Européenne ‘European Conformity’ or Communauté Européene ‘European Community’.

cembalo /tεmbələ/ n. (pl. cembalos)

■ another term for HARPSICHORD.

<DERIVATIVES> cembalist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian, shortening of clavicembalo, from medieval Latin clavicymbalum, from Latin clavis ‘key’ + cymbalum ‘cymbal’.

cement n. [mass noun] a powdery substance made by calcining lime and clay, mixed with water to form mortar or mixed with sand, gravel, and water to make concrete.

- concrete.

- a soft glue that hardens on setting.

- a substance for filling cavities in teeth.

- (also cementum) [ANATOMY] a thin layer of bony material that fixes teeth to the jaw.

- [GEOLOGY] the material which binds particles together in sedimentary rock.

■ v. [with obj.] fix with cement.

- settle or establish firmly: the two firms are expected to cement an agreement soon.

<DERIVATIVES> cementer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ciment (noun), cimenter (verb), from Latin caementum ‘quarry stone’, from caedere ‘hew’.

cementation /simεnte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the binding together of particles or other things by cement.

2 [METALLURGY] a process of altering a metal by heating it in contact with a powdered solid.

cementite /smεntt/ n. [mass noun] [METALLURGY] a hard, brittle iron carbide present in cast iron and most steels.

cementitious /simεntəs/ adj. of the nature of cement.

cement mixer n. a machine with a revolving drum used for mixing cement with sand, gravel, and water to make concrete.

cemetery n. (pl. cemeteries) a large burial ground, especially one not in a churchyard: a military cemetery.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek koimētērion ‘dormitory’, from koiman ‘put to sleep’.

cenacle /sεnək(ə)l/ n. 1 FORMAL a group of people such as a discussion group or literary clique.

2 the room in which the Last Supper was held.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cenacle, from Latin cenaculum, from cena ‘dinner’.

CEng abbr. (in the UK) chartered engineer.

cenotaph /sεnətαf -taf/ n. a monument to someone buried elsewhere, especially one commemorating people who died in a war.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French cénotaphe, from late Latin cenotaphium, from Greek kenos ‘empty’ + taphos ‘tomb’.

cenote /snəte/ n. a natural underground reservoir of water such as occurs in the limestone of Yucatán, Mexico.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Yucatán Spanish, from Maya tzonot.

Cenozoic /sinəzək/ (also Cainozoic) adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the most recent era, following the Mesozoic era and comprising the Tertiary and Quaternary periods.

- (as n. the Cenozoic) the Cenozoic era, or the system of rocks deposited during it.

The Cenozoic has lasted from about 65 million years ago to the present day. It has seen the rapid evolution and rise to dominance of mammals, birds, and flowering plants.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kainos ‘new’ + zōion ‘animal’ + -IC.

cense /sεns/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC ritually perfume (something) with the odour of burning incense.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French encenser.

censer n. a container in which incense is burnt during a religious ceremony.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French censier, from encensier, from encens (see incense^1).

censor n. 1 an official who examines books, films, news, etc. that are about to be published and suppresses any parts that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

- [PSYCHOANALYSIS] an aspect of the superego which is said to prevent certain ideas and memories from emerging into consciousness. [<ORIGIN> from a mistranslation of German Zensur ‘censorship’, coined by Freud.]

2 (in ancient Rome) either of two magistrates who held censuses and supervised public morals.

■ v. [with obj.] examine (a book, film, etc.) officially and suppress unacceptable parts of it.

<DERIVATIVES> censorial adj. censorship n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2 of the noun): from Latin, from censere ‘assess’.

<USAGE> For an explanation of the difference between censor and censure see usage at censure.

censorious /sεnsrəs/ adj. severely critical of others: censorious champions of morality.

<DERIVATIVES> censoriously adv. censoriousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin censorius (from censor ‘magistrate’) + -IOUS.

censure /sεnə/ v. [with obj.] express severe disapproval of (someone or something), especially in a formal statement.

■ n. [mass noun] the formal expression of severe disapproval: two MPs were singled out for censure | [count noun] despite episcopal censures, the practice continued.

<DERIVATIVES> censurable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘judicial sentence’): from Old French censurer (verb), censure (noun), from Latin censura ‘judgement, assessment’, from censere ‘assess’.

<USAGE> Censure and censor, although quite different in meaning, are frequently confused. Both words can function as verbs and nouns, but censure means ‘express severe disapproval of’ (the country was censured for human rights abuses) or ‘the expression of severe disapproval’, while censor means ‘examine (a book, film, etc.) and suppress unacceptable parts of it’ (the letters she received were censored) or ‘an official who censors books, films, etc.’.

census n. (pl. censuses) an official count or survey, especially of a population: a traffic census.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a poll tax): from Latin, applied to the registration of citizens and property in ancient Rome, usually for taxation, from censere ‘assess’. The current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.

cent n. 1 a monetary unit in various countries, equal to one hundredth of a dollar, euro, or other decimal currency unit.

- INFORMAL a small sum of money: she saved every cent possible.

- [with negative] INFORMAL used for emphasis to denote no money at all: he hadn't yet earned a cent.

2 [MUSIC] one hundredth of a semitone.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘a hundred’): from French cent, Italian cento, or Latin centum ‘hundred’.

cent. abbr. century.

centas /sεntas/ n. (pl. same) a monetary unit of Lithuania, equal to one hundredth of a litas.

<ORIGIN> Lithuanian.

centaur /sεnt/ n. [MYTHOLOGY] a creature with the head, arms, and torso of a man and the body and legs of a horse.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek kentauros, the Greek name for a Thessalonian tribe of expert horsemen; of unknown ultimate origin.

centaurea /sεntrə sεntəriə/ n. a plant of a Eurasian genus which includes the cornflower and knapweed.

<INFO> Genus Centaurea, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin based on Greek kentauros ‘centaur’ (see CENTAURY).

Centaurus /sεntrəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a large southern constellation (the Centaur). It lies in the Milky Way and contains the stars Alpha and Proxima Centauri.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

centaury /sεntri/ n. (pl. centauries) a widely distributed herbaceous plant of the gentian family, typically having pink flowers.

<INFO> Centaurium and related genera, family Gentianaceae: many species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin centaurea, based on Greek kentauros ‘centaur’ (because its medicinal properties were said to have been discovered by the centaur Chiron).

centavo /sεntαvə/ n. (pl. centavos) a monetary unit of Mexico, Brazil, and certain other countries (formerly including Portugal), equal to one hundredth of the basic unit.

<ORIGIN> Spanish and Portuguese, from Latin centum ‘a hundred’.

Centcom abbr. Central Command.

centenarian /sεntnεrən/ n. a person who is a hundred or more years old.

centenary /sεntinəri -tεn-/ British n. (pl. centenaries) the hundredth anniversary of a significant event.

■ adj. relating to a hundredth anniversary.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a century): from Latin centenarius ‘containing a hundred’, based on Latin centum ‘a hundred’.

centennial /sεntεnəl/ chiefly NORTH AMERICAN adj. relating to a hundredth anniversary.

■ n. a hundredth anniversary.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin centum ‘a hundred’, on the pattern of biennial.

Centennial State informal name for COLORADO.

centesimal /sεntεsm(ə)l/ adj. relating to division into hundredths.

<DERIVATIVES> centesimally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin centesimus ‘hundredth’, from centum ‘a hundred’.

centesimo /tεntεsmə/ n. (pl. centesimos) a former monetary unit of Italy, worth one hundredth of a lira (used only in calculations).

<ORIGIN> Italian.

centésimo /sεntεsmə/ Spanish /sentesimə θen-/ n. (pl. centésimos) a monetary unit of Uruguay and Panama, equal to one hundredth of a peso in Uruguay, and one hundredth of a balboa in Panama.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

centi- combining form used commonly in units of measurement: 1 one hundredth: centilitre.

2 hundred: centigrade | centipede.

<ORIGIN> from Latin centum ‘hundred’.

centigrade adj. [postpositive when used with a numeral]

■ another term for Celsius^2.

■ n. (also centigrade scale) the Celsius scale of temperature.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Latin centum ‘a hundred’ + gradus ‘step’.

<USAGE> In giving temperatures, use Celsius rather than centigrade in all contexts.

centigram (also centigramme) (abbr.: cg) n. a metric unit of mass, equal to one hundredth of a gram.

centile /sεntl/ n. another term for PERCENTILE.

centilitre (US centiliter) (abbr.: cl) n. a metric unit of capacity, equal to one hundredth of a litre.

centime /stim/ French /sαtim/ n. a monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a franc or some other decimal currency units (used in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg until the introduction of the euro in 2002).

<ORIGIN> French, from Latin centesimus ‘hundredth’, from centum ‘a hundred’.

centimetre (US centimeter) (abbr.: cm) n. a metric unit of length, equal to one hundredth of a metre.

centimetre-gram-second system n. a system of measurement using the centimetre, the gram, and the second as basic units of length, mass, and time respectively.

centimo /sεntmə/ Spanish /θentimə sen-/ n. (pl. centimos) a monetary unit of a number of Latin American countries (and formerly of Spain), equal to one hundredth of the basic unit.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

centimorgan /sεntm(ə)n/ (also centiMorgan) n. [GENETICS] a map unit used to express the distance between two gene loci on a chromosome. A spacing of one centimorgan indicates a one per cent chance that two genes will be separated by crossing over.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from centi- (denoting a factor of one hundredth) + the name of T. H. Morgan (see Morgan^2).

centipede /sεntpid/ n. a predatory myriapod invertebrate with a flattened elongated body composed of many segments. Most segments bear a single pair of legs, the front pair being modified as poison fangs.

<INFO> Class Chilopoda: several orders.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French centipède or Latin centipeda, from centum ‘a hundred’ + pes, ped- ‘foot’.

cento /sεntə/ n. (pl. centos) RARE a literary work made up of quotations from other authors.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Latin, ‘patchwork garment’, the original sense in English.

centra plural form of CENTRUM.

central adj. 1 at the point or in the area that is in the middle of something: the station has a central courtyard | central London.

- [PHONETICS] (of a vowel) articulated in the centre of the mouth.

2 of the greatest importance; principal or essential: his preoccupation with history is central to his work.

- [attr.] having or denoting supreme power over a country or organization: central government.

■ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a place with a high concentration of a specified type of person or thing: you're in workaholic central here.

<DERIVATIVES> centrality n. centrally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, or from Latin centralis, from centrum (see CENTRE).

Central African Republic a country of central Africa; pop. 3,642,739 (est. 2002); languages, French (official), Sango; capital, Bangui. Formerly a French colony, it became a republic within the French Community in 1958 and a fully independent state in 1960. Former name (until 1958) UBANGHI SHARI.

Central America the southernmost part of North America, linking the continent to South America and consisting of the countries of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

<DERIVATIVES> Central American adj. & n.

central bank n. a national bank that provides financial and banking services for its country's government and commercial banking system, as well as implementing the government's monetary policy and issuing currency.

central casting n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an agency or department that supplies actors for minor, usually stereotypical or generic film roles: a balding professor who looks like a lawyer from central casting.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from the name of the US organization Central Casting Corporation.

Central Command (abbr.: Centcom) a US military strike force consisting of units from the army, air force, and navy, established in 1979 (as the Rapid Deployment Force) to operate in the Middle East and North Africa.

Central Criminal Court official name for OLD BAILEY.

Central European Time (abbr.: CET) the standard time based on the mean solar time at the meridian 15° E, used in central and western continental Europe. It is one hour ahead of GMT.

central heating n. [mass noun] a system for warming a building by heating water or air in one place and circulating it through pipes and radiators or vents.

Central Intelligence Agency (abbr.: CIA) a federal agency in the US responsible for coordinating government intelligence activities. Established in 1947 and originally intended to operate only overseas, it has since also operated in the US.

centralism n. [mass noun] the control of disparate activities and organizations under a single authority.

<DERIVATIVES> centralist n. & adj.

centralize (also centralise) v. [with obj.] (often as adj. centralized) concentrate (control of an activity or organization) under a single authority: a highly centralized country.

- bring (activities) together in one place.

<DERIVATIVES> centralization n.

central locking n. [mass noun] a locking system in a motor vehicle which enables the locks of all doors to be operated simultaneously.

central nervous system n. [ANATOMY] the complex of nerve tissues that controls the activities of the body. In vertebrates it comprises the brain and spinal cord.

Central Park a large public park in the centre of Manhattan in New York City.

Central Powers the alliance of Germany, Austria–Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria during the First World War.

- the alliance of Germany, Austria–Hungary, and Italy between 1882 and 1914.

central processing unit (also central processor) (abbr.: CPU) n. [COMPUTING] the part of a computer in which operations are controlled and executed.

central reservation n. BRITISH the strip of land between the carriageways of a motorway or other major road.

central tendency n. [STATISTICS] the tendency for the values of a random variable to cluster round its mean, mode, or median.

Central time the standard time in a zone that includes the central states of the US and parts of central Canada, specifically:

<INFO>

- (Central Standard Time abbreviation: CST) standard time based on the mean solar time at longitude 90° W., six hours behind GMT.

- (Central Daylight Time abbreviation: CDT) Central time during daylight saving, five hours behind GMT.

Centre /str(ə)/ French /sαtR/ a region of central France, including the cities of Orleans, Tours, and Chartres.

centre (US center) n. 1 the point that is equally distant from every point on the circumference of a circle or sphere.

- a point or part that is equally distant from all sides, ends, or surfaces of something: the centre of the ceiling | the city centre.

- a political party or group whose opinions avoid extremes.

- the middle player in a line or group in certain team games.

- a kick, hit, or throw of the ball from the side to the middle of field in soccer, hockey, and other team games.

- the filling in a chocolate: truffles with liqueur centres.

- a pivot or axis of rotation.

- a conical adjustable support for a workpiece in a lathe or similar machine.

2 the point from which an activity or process is directed, or on which it is focused: the city was a centre of discontent | the managing director is at the centre of a row over policy.

- the most important place in the respect specified: Geneva was then the centre of the banking world.

3 a place or group of buildings where a specified activity is concentrated: a conference centre.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (be centred in) occur mainly in or around (a specified place): the textile industry was centred in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

- (centre around/on or centre something around/on) have or cause to have (a specified concern or theme): the case centres around the couple's adopted children.

2 [with obj.] place in the middle: to centre the needle, turn the knob.

- [no obj.] (in soccer, hockey, and other team games) kick, hit, or throw the ball from the side to the middle of the playing area.

- [no obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN play as the middle player of a line or group in certain team games.

<PHRASES>

□ centre of attention a person or thing that excites everyone's interest or concern.

□ centre of attraction 1 [PHYSICS] the point to which bodies tend by gravity.

2 another term for CENTRE OF ATTENTION.

□ centre of buoyancy [PHYSICS] the centroid of the immersed part of a ship or other floating body.

□ centre of curvature [MATHEMATICS] the centre of a circle which passes through a curve at a given point and has the same tangent and curvature at that point.

□ centre of excellence a place where the highest standards are maintained.

□ centre of flotation the centre of gravity of a floating object.

□ centre of gravity a point from which the weight of a body or system may be considered to act. In uniform gravity it is the same as the centre of mass.

□ centre of mass a point representing the mean position of the matter in a body or system.

□ centre of pressure [PHYSICS] a point on a surface through which the resultant force due to pressure passes.

<DERIVATIVES> centremost adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin centrum, from Greek kentron ‘sharp point, stationary point of a pair of compasses’, related to kentein ‘to prick’.

centre back n. [SOCCER] a defender who plays in the middle of the field.

centre bit n. a drill bit with a central point and side cutters.

centreboard (US centerboard) n. a pivoted board that can be lowered through the keel of a sailing boat to reduce sideways movement.

centred (US centered) adj. 1 [in combination] having a specified subject as the most important or focal element: a child-centred school.

2 [in combination] (of a chocolate) having a centre or filling of a specified type: a soft-centred chocolate.

3 chiefly US (of a person) well balanced and confident or serene.

<DERIVATIVES> centredness n.

centrefield (US centerfield) n. [BASEBALL] the central part of the outfield.

<DERIVATIVES> centrefielder n.

centrefold (US centerfold) n. the two middle pages of a magazine, often taken up by a single illustration or feature.

- an illustration on a centrefold, typically a picture of a naked or scantily clad model.

centre forward n. [SOCCER] & [HOCKEY] an attacker who plays in the middle of the field.

centre half n. [SOCCER] another term for CENTRE BACK.

centre line n. a real or imaginary line through the centre of something, especially one following an axis of symmetry.

centrepiece (US centerpiece) n. an item, ornament, issue, etc. intended to be a focus of attention: a domestic programme with health care as the centrepiece.

centre punch n. a tool consisting of a metal rod with a conical point for making an indentation, to allow a drill to make a hole at the same spot without slipping.

centre spread n. the two facing middle pages of a newspaper or magazine.

centre stage n. [in sing.] the centre of a stage.

- the most prominent position: finance is taking centre stage in debates on policy.

■ adv. at or towards the middle of a stage: at the play's opening she stands centre stage.

- in or towards the most prominent position.

centrex n. [mass noun] a telephone service in which a group of phone lines can be joined by part of the local exchange acting as a private exchange.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of CENTRAL and EXCHANGE.

centric adj. 1 in or at the centre; central: centric and peripheral forces.

2 [BOTANY] (of a diatom) radially symmetrical. Compare with PENNATE.

<DERIVATIVES> centrical adj. centricity /-trsti/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek kentrikos, from kentron ‘sharp point’ (see CENTRE).

-centric combining form 1 having a specified centre: geocentric.

2 forming an opinion or evaluation originating from a specified viewpoint: Eurocentric | ethnocentric.

<DERIVATIVES> -centricity combining form in corresponding nouns.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kentrikos, on the pattern of words such as (con)centric.

centrifugal /sεntrfju(ə)l sεntrfj(ə)l/ adj. [PHYSICS] moving or tending to move away from a centre. The opposite of CENTRIPETAL.

<DERIVATIVES> centrifugally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from modern Latin centrifugus, from Latin centrum (see CENTRE) + -fugus ‘fleeing’ (from fugere ‘flee’).

centrifugal force n. [PHYSICS] a force, arising from the body's inertia, which appears to act on a body moving in a circular path and is directed away from the centre around which the body is moving.

centrifugal pump n. a pump that uses an impeller to move water or other fluids.

centrifuge /sεntrfjud/ n. a machine with a rapidly rotating container that applies centrifugal force to its contents, typically to separate fluids of different densities (e.g. cream from milk) or liquids from solids.

■ v. [with obj.] subject to the action of a centrifuge.

<DERIVATIVES> centrifugation /-fje(ə)n/ n.

centring (US centering) n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of placing something in the middle of something else.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] framing used to support an arch or dome while it is under construction.

centriole /sεntrəl/ n. [BIOLOGY] each of a pair of minute cylindrical organelles near the nucleus in animal cells, involved in the development of spindle fibres in cell division.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin centriolum, diminutive of centrum (see CENTRE).

centripetal /sεntrpit(ə)l sεntrpt(ə)l/ adj. [PHYSICS] moving or tending to move towards a centre. The opposite of CENTRIFUGAL.

<DERIVATIVES> centripetally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from modern Latin centripetus, from Latin centrum (see CENTRE) + -petus ‘seeking’ (from petere ‘seek’).

centripetal force n. [PHYSICS] a force which acts on a body moving in a circular path and is directed towards the centre around which the body is moving.

centrist adj. having moderate political views or policies.

■ n. a person who holds moderate political views.

<DERIVATIVES> centrism n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French centriste, from Latin centrum (see CENTRE).

centroid n. [MATHEMATICS] the centre of mass of a geometric object of uniform density.

centromere /sεntrə()mə/ n. [BIOLOGY] the point on a chromosome by which it is attached to a spindle fibre during cell division.

<DERIVATIVES> centromeric adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Latin centrum (see CENTRE) + Greek meros ‘part’.

centrosome /sεntrəsəm/ n. [BIOLOGY] an organelle near the nucleus of a cell which contains the centrioles (in animal cells) and from which the spindle fibres develop in cell division.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin centrum (see CENTRE) + Greek sōma ‘body’.

centrum /sεntrəm/ n. (pl. centrums or centra /-trə/) [ANATOMY] the solid central part of a vertebra, to which the arches and processes are attached.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin.

centuple /sεntjp(ə)l/ v. [with obj.] multiply by a hundred or by a very large amount: they were centupling the national debt.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, or from ecclesiastical Latin centuplus, alteration of Latin centuplex, from Latin centum ‘hundred’.

centurion /sεntjərən/ n. the commander of a century in the ancient Roman army.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin centurio(n-), from centuria (see CENTURY).

century n. (pl. centuries) 1 a period of one hundred years: a century ago most people walked to work.

- a period of a hundred years reckoned from the traditional date of the birth of Christ: the fifteenth century | [as modifier] a twentieth-century lifestyle.

2 a score of a hundred in a sporting event, especially a batsman's score of a hundred runs in cricket.

3 a company in the ancient Roman army, originally of a hundred men.

- an ancient Roman political division for voting.

<DERIVATIVES> centurial adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3): from Latin centuria, from centum ‘hundred’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 17th cent.

<USAGE> 1 Strictly speaking, centuries run from 01 to 100, meaning that the new century begins on the first day of the year 01 (i.e. 1 January 1901, 1 January 2001, etc.). In practice and in popular perception, however, the new century is held to begin when the significant digits in the date change, i.e. on 1 January 2000, when 1999 became 2000.
2 Since the 1st century ran from the year 1 to the year 100, the ordinal number (i.e. second, third, fourth, etc.) used to denote the century will always be one digit higher than the corresponding cardinal digit(s). Thus, 1066 is a date in the 11th century, 1542 is a date in the 16th century, and so on.

century plant n. a large stemless agave with long spiny leaves, which produces a very tall flowering stem after many years of growth and then dies. Also called AMERICAN ALOE.

<INFO> Agave americana, family Agavaceae.

CEO abbr. chief executive officer.

cep /sεp/ n. an edible European mushroom with a smooth brown cap, a stout white stalk, and pores rather than gills, growing in dry woodland and much sought after as a delicacy. Also called PENNY BUN.

<INFO> Boletus edulis, family Boletaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French cèpe, from Gascon cep ‘tree trunk, mushroom’, from Latin cippus ‘stake’.

cephalic /sfalk kε-/ adj. TECHNICAL in or relating to the head.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cephalique, from Latin cephalicus, from Greek kephalikos, from kephalē ‘head’.

-cephalic combining form -headed (used most commonly in medical terms): macrocephalic.

<ORIGIN> based on Greek kephalē ‘head’ + -IC.

cephalic index n. [ANTHROPOLOGY] a number expressing the ratio of the maximum breadth of a skull to its maximum length.

cephalin /sεf(ə)ln kεf-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of phospholipids present in cell membranes, especially in the brain.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kephalē ‘brain’ + -IN^1.

cephalization /sεfəlze(ə)n kεf-/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] the concentration of sense organs, nervous control, etc., at the anterior end of the body, forming a head and brain, both during evolution and in the course of an embryo's development.

cephalo- /sεfələ kεf-/ combining form relating to the head or skull: cephalometry.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kephalē ‘head’.

Cephalochordata /sεfələ()kdetə kε-/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small group of marine invertebrates that comprises the lancelets.

<INFO> Subphylum Cephalochordata, phylum Chordata.

<DERIVATIVES> cephalochordate /sεfələ()kdet kε-/ n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from CEPHALO- ‘head’ + Greek chorda ‘cord’.

cephalometry /sεfəlmtri kεf-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE measurement and study of the proportions of the head and face, especially during development and growth.

<DERIVATIVES> cephalometric adj.

cephalon /sεfəln kεf-/ n. [ZOOLOGY] (in some arthropods, especially trilobites) the region of the head, composed of fused segments.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kephalē ‘head’.

Cephalonia /sεfələnə kε-/ a Greek island in the Ionian Sea; pop. 39,900 (est. 2002). Greek name Kefallinía.

cephalopod /sεf(ə)lə()pd kε-/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an active predatory mollusc of the large class Cephalopoda, such as an octopus or squid.

Cephalopoda /sεfələpədə kε-/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large class of active predatory molluscs comprising octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish. They have a distinct head with large eyes and a ring of tentacles around a beaked mouth, and are able to release a cloud of inky fluid to confuse predators.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek kephalē ‘head’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’.

cephalosporin /sεfələ()sprn kε-/ n. any of a group of semi-synthetic broad-spectrum antibiotics resembling penicillin.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from modern Latin Cephalosporium (genus providing moulds for this) + -IN^1.

cephalothorax /sεf(ə)ləθraks kεf-/ n. [ZOOLOGY] the fused head and thorax of spiders and other chelicerate arthropods.

-cephalous combining form equivalent to -CEPHALIC.

cepheid /sifd sε-/ (also cepheid variable) n. [ASTRONOMY] a variable star having a regular cycle of brightness with a frequency related to its luminosity, so allowing estimation of its distance from the earth.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of the variable star Delta Cephei, which typifies this class of stars.

Cepheus /sifəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a constellation near the north celestial pole, with no very bright stars.

<ORIGIN> from the name of a king of Ethiopia, the husband of Cassiopeia.

'cept prep., conjunction, & v.

■ non-standard contraction of EXCEPT used in representing speech: everyone else had visitors—'cept for Captain.

ceramic /sramk/ adj. made of clay and permanently hardened by heat: a ceramic bowl.

■ n. (ceramics) pots and other articles made from clay hardened by heat.

- [usually treated as sing.] the art of making ceramic articles.

- [mass noun] (ceramic) the material from which ceramics are made: tableware in ceramic.

- [mass noun] (ceramic) any non-metallic solid which remains hard when heated.

<DERIVATIVES> ceramicist n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek keramikos, from keramos ‘pottery’.

ceramic hob n. an electric cooker hob made of ceramic, with heating elements fixed to its underside.

Ceram Sea /serəm/ (also Seram Sea) the part of the western Pacific Ocean at the centre of the Molucca Islands.

cerastes /srastiz/ n. a North African viper which has a spike over each eye.

<INFO> Genus Cerastes, family Viperidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from Greek kerastēs ‘horned’, from keras ‘horn’.

cerastium /srastəm/ n. (pl. cerastiums) a plant of a genus that includes chickweed and snow-in-summer.

<INFO> Genus Cerastium, family Caryophyllaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kerastēs ‘horned’ (with reference to the shape of many seed capsules) + -IUM.

ceratite /sεrətt sər-/ n. an ammonoid fossil of an intermediate type found chiefly in the Permian and Triassic periods, typically with partly frilled and partly lobed suture lines. Compare with AMMONITE and GONIATITE.

<INFO> Typified by the genus Ceratites, order Ceratida.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Ceratites (from Greek keras, kerat- ‘horn’) + -ITE^1.

ceratobranchial /sεrətə()brakəl kε-/ n. [ZOOLOGY] each of the paired ventral cartilaginous sections of the branchial arch in fishes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek keras, kerat- ‘horn’ + branchial (see BRANCHIA).

ceratopsian /sεrətpsən kεr-/ n. [PALAEONTOLOGY] a gregarious quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaur of a group found in the Cretaceous period, including triceratops.

<INFO> Infraorder Ceratopsia, order Ornithischia.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from modern Latin Ceratopsia (plural) (from Greek keras, kerat- ‘horn’ + ops ‘face’) + -AN.

Cerberus /səbərəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a monstrous watchdog with three (or in some accounts fifty) heads, which guarded the entrance to Hades.

cercaria /səkεrə/ n. (pl. cercariae /-i/) [ZOOLOGY] a free-swimming larval stage in which a parasitic fluke passes from an intermediate host (typically a snail) to another intermediate host or to the final vertebrate host.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, formed irregularly from Greek kerkos ‘tail’.

cerclage /səklα/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the use of a ring or loop to bind together the ends of an obliquely fractured bone or encircle the opening of a malfunctioning cervix.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, literally ‘encirclement’.

cercopithecine /səkə()pθsin/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an Old World monkey of a group that includes the macaques, mangabeys, baboons, and guenons.

<INFO> Subfamily Cercopithecinae, family Cercopithecidae.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin Cercopithecinae (plural), based on Greek kerkopithēkos ‘long-tailed monkey’, from kerkos ‘tail’ + pithēkos ‘ape’.

cercopithecoid /səkə()pθkd/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a primate of a group that comprises the Old World monkeys.

<INFO> Superfamily Cercopithecoidea and family Cercopithecidae.

■ adj. relating to cercopithecoid monkeys.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Cercopithecoidea, based on Greek kerkopithēkos, a long-tailed monkey (from kerkos ‘tail’ + pithēkos ‘ape’).

cercus /səkəs/ n. (pl. cerci /-k/) [ZOOLOGY] either of a pair of small appendages at the end of the abdomen of some insects and other arthropods.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from modern Latin, from Greek kerkos ‘tail’.

cere /sə/ n. [BIRD] a waxy fleshy covering at the base of the upper beak in some birds.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin cera ‘wax’.

cereal n. 1 a grain used for food, for example wheat, maize, or rye.

- a grass producing edible grain that is grown as an agricultural crop: [as modifier] cereal crops.

2 [mass noun] a breakfast food made from roasted grain, typically eaten with milk: a bowl of cereal.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (as an adjective): from Latin cerealis, from CERES.

cerebellum /sεrbεləm/ n. (pl. cerebellums or cerebella) [ANATOMY] the part of the brain at the back of the skull in vertebrates, which coordinates and regulates muscular activity.

<DERIVATIVES> cerebellar adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, diminutive of CEREBRUM.

cerebral /sεrbr(ə)l səribr(ə)l/ adj. 1 of the cerebrum of the brain: a cerebral haemorrhage | the cerebral cortex.

- intellectual rather than emotional or physical: she excelled in cerebral pursuits.

2 [PHONETICS] another term for RETROFLEX.

<DERIVATIVES> cerebrally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin cerebrum ‘brain’ + -AL.

cerebral aqueduct n. another term for AQUEDUCT OF SYLVIUS.

cerebral dominance n. [mass noun] the normal tendency for one side of the brain to control particular functions, such as handedness and speech.

cerebral palsy n. [mass noun] a condition marked by impaired muscle coordination (spastic paralysis) and/or other disabilities, typically caused by damage to the brain before or at birth. See also SPASTIC.

cerebration /sεrbre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL or FORMAL the working of the brain; thinking.

<DERIVATIVES> cerebrate v.

cerebro- combining form relating to the brain: cerebrospinal.

<ORIGIN> from Latin cerebrum ‘brain’.

cerebroside /sεrbrə()sd/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of complex lipids present in the sheaths of nerve fibres.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin cerebrum ‘brain’ + -OSE^2 + -IDE.

cerebrospinal /sεrbrə()spn(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to the brain and spine.

cerebrospinal fluid n. [mass noun] [ANATOMY] clear watery fluid which fills the space between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater.

cerebrovascular /sεrbrə()vaskjlə/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to the brain and its blood vessels.

cerebrum /sεrbrəm/ n. (pl. cerebra /-brə/) [ANATOMY] the principal and most anterior part of the brain in vertebrates, located in the front area of the skull and consisting of two hemispheres, left and right, separated by a fissure. It is responsible for the integration of complex sensory and neural functions and the initiation and coordination of voluntary activity in the body.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, ‘brain’.

cerecloth /səklθ/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL waxed cloth used for wrapping a corpse.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from earlier cered cloth, from cere ‘to wax’, from Latin cerare, from cera ‘wax’.

Ceredigion /kεrədən/ a county of western mid Wales; administrative centre, Aberaeron.

cerement /səm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] (also cerements) HISTORICAL waxed cloth for wrapping a corpse.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (first used by Shakespeare in Hamlet, 1602): from cere (see CERECLOTH).

ceremonial adj. 1 relating to or used for formal religious or public events: a ceremonial occasion.

2 (of a post or role) conferring or involving only nominal authority or power: the largely ceremonial position of Lord Lieutenant of Kent.

■ n. [mass noun] the system of rules and procedures to be observed at a formal or religious occasion: the procedure was conducted with all due ceremonial.

- [count noun] a rite or ceremony.

<DERIVATIVES> ceremonialism n. ceremonialist n. ceremonially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin caerimonialis, from Latin caerimonia ‘religious worship’ (see CEREMONY).

ceremonious adj. relating or appropriate to grand and formal occasions: a Great Hall where ceremonious and public appearances were made.

<DERIVATIVES> ceremoniously adv. ceremoniousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French cérémonieux or late Latin caerimoniosus, from Latin caerimonia (see CEREMONY).

ceremony n. (pl. ceremonies) 1 a formal religious or public occasion, especially one celebrating a particular event, achievement, or anniversary.

- an act or series of acts performed according to a traditional or prescribed form.

2 [mass noun] the ritual observances and procedures required or performed at grand and formal occasions: the new Queen was proclaimed with due ceremony.

- formal polite behaviour: he showed them to their table with great ceremony.

<PHRASES>

□ stand on ceremony [usually with negative] BRITISH insist on the observance of formalities: we don't stand on ceremony in this house.

□ without ceremony without preamble or politeness: he was pushed without ceremony into the bathroom.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ceremonie or Latin caerimonia ‘religious worship’, (plural) ‘ritual observances’.

Cerenkov radiation /tərεkf rede(ə)n/ (also Cherenkov radiation) n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] electromagnetic radiation emitted by particles moving in a medium at speeds faster than that of light in the same medium.

cereology /sərləd/ n. [mass noun] the study or investigation of crop circles.

<DERIVATIVES> cereologist n.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from CERES + -LOGY.

cereopsis goose /sεrpss/ n. another term for CAPE BARREN GOOSE.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Cereopsis (genus name), from Greek kerinos ‘waxen’ + opsis ‘face’ (because of its cere).

Ceres /səriz/ 1 [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the goddess of agriculture. Greek equivalent DEMETER.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the first asteroid to be discovered, found by G. Piazzi of Palermo on 1 January 1801. It is also much the largest (diameter 913 km).

ceresin /sεrsn/ n. [mass noun] a hard whitish paraffin wax used with or instead of beeswax.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin ceres (from Latin cera ‘wax’) + -IN^1.

cerise /sεris -z/ n. [mass noun] a light clear red colour: a shade of vivid cerise.

■ adj. of a light clear red colour.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, literally ‘cherry’.

cerium /sərəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 58, a silvery-white metal. It is the most abundant of the lanthanide elements and is the main component of the alloy misch metal. (Symbol: Ce)

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after the asteroid CERES, discovered shortly before.

cermet /səmεt/ n. any of a class of heat-resistant materials made of ceramic and sintered METAL.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of CERAMIC and metal.

CERN /sən/ abbr. European Organization for Nuclear Research.

<ORIGIN> initial letters of French Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, its former title.

cero /sərə/ n. (pl. same or ceros) a large fish of the mackerel family, which is an important food fish in the tropical western Atlantic.

<INFO> Scomberomorus regalis, family Scombridae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Spanish sierra ‘saw or sawfish’.

cero- /sərə/ combining form relating to wax: ceroplastic.

<ORIGIN> from Latin cera or Greek kēros ‘wax’.

ceroc /srk/ n. [mass noun] a type of modern social dance having elements of rock and roll, jive, and salsa.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: invented word, apparently coined in English from French ce (as in c'est ‘this is’) + roc ‘rock’.

ceroplastic adj. relating to modelling in wax.

cert n. BRITISH INFORMAL an event regarded as inevitable: of course Mum would cry, it was a dead cert.

- a racehorse strongly tipped to win a race.

- a person regarded as certain to do something: the Scottish keeper was a cert to play.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of CERTAINTY.

cert. abbr.

- certificate.

- certified.

certain /sət(ə)n -tn/ adj. 1 able to be firmly relied on to happen or be the case: it's certain that more changes are in the offing | she looks certain to win an Oscar.

- having or showing complete conviction about something: are you absolutely certain about this?

2 [attr.] specific but not explicitly named or stated: he raised certain personal problems with me | the exercise was causing him a certain amount of pain.

- used when mentioning the name of someone not known to the reader or hearer: a certain General Percy captured the town.

■ pron. (certain of) some but not all: certain of his works have been edited.

<PHRASES>

□ for certain without any doubt: I don't know for certain.

□ make certain [with clause] take action to ensure that something happens.

- establish whether something is definitely the case: he probably knew her, but it didn't do any harm to make certain.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, based on Latin certus ‘settled, sure’.

certainly adv. [sentence adv.] used to emphasize the speaker's belief that what is said is true: the prestigious address certainly adds to the firm's appeal.

- used to indicate that a statement is made as a concession or contrasted with another: our current revenues are certainly lower than anticipated.

- used to express complete agreement with something that has just been said.

certainty n. (pl. certainties) [mass noun] firm conviction that something is the case: she knew with absolute certainty that they were dead.

- the quality of being reliably true: there is a bewildering lack of certainty and clarity in the law.

- a general air of confidence: a man exuding certainty.

- [count noun] a fact that is definitely true or an event that is definitely going to take place: the passing of the act made a general election a certainty.

- [count noun] a person that is certain to do or win the specified thing: he was expected to be a certainty for a gold medal.

<PHRASES>

□ for a certainty beyond the possibility of doubt.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French certainete, from certain (see CERTAIN).

CertEd abbr. (in the UK) Certificate in Education.

certes /sətz/ adv. ARCHAIC assuredly; I assure you.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, based on Latin certus ‘settled, sure’.

certifiable adj. 1 able or needing to be officially recorded: encephalitis was a certifiable condition.

2 officially recognized as needing treatment for mental disorder.

<DERIVATIVES> certifiably adv.

certificate n. /sətfkət/ 1 an official document attesting a fact, in particular:

- a document recording a person's birth, marriage, or death: a birth certificate.

- a document confirming that someone has reached a certain level of achievement in a course of study or training.

- a document attesting ownership of an item or the fulfilment of legal requirements: a share certificate.

2 an official classification awarded to a cinema film by a board of censors indicating its suitability for a particular age group: an 18 certificate.

■ v. /sətfket/ [with obj.] BRITISH provide with or attest in an official document.

<DERIVATIVES> certification n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘certification, attestation’): from French certificat or medieval Latin certificatum, from certificare (see CERTIFY).

certificate of deposit n. a certificate issued by a bank to a person depositing money for a specified length of time at a specified rate of interest.

Certificate of Secondary Education (abbr.: CSE) n. an examination formerly set for secondary-school pupils in England and Wales, replaced in 1988 by the GCSE.

certified cheque n. a cheque which is guaranteed by a bank.

certified mail n. North American term for RECORDED DELIVERY.

certified public accountant n. US a member of an officially accredited professional body of accountants.

certify v. (certifies, certifying, certified) [with obj.] attest or confirm in a formal statement: the profits for the year had been certified by the auditors | [with clause] the Law Society will certify that the sum charged is fair and reasonable.

- chiefly BRITISH officially recognize as possessing certain qualifications or meeting certain standards: scenes of violence had to be cut before the film could be certified | (as adj. certified) a certified accountant.

- officially declare insane.

<DERIVATIVES> certifier n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French certifier, from late Latin certificare, from Latin certus ‘certain’.

certiorari /sətə()rαri/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] a writ or order by which a higher court reviews a case tried in a lower court: an order of certiorari.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Law Latin, ‘to be informed’, a phrase originally occurring at the start of the writ, from certiorare ‘inform’, from certior, comparative of certus ‘certain’.

certitude /səttjud/ n. [mass noun] absolute certainty or conviction that something is the case: the question may never be answered with certitude.

- [count noun] something that someone firmly believes is true: the collapse of the old political certitudes in eastern Europe.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin certitudo, from certus ‘certain’.

cerulean /srulən/ LITERARY adj. deep blue in colour like a clear sky: images of cerulean waters and golden sands.

■ n. [mass noun] a deep sky-blue colour.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin caeruleus ‘sky blue’, from caelum ‘sky’.

cerumen /srumən/ n. technical term for EARWAX.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Latin cera ‘wax’.

ceruse /sərus srus/ n. archaic term for WHITE LEAD.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin cerussa, perhaps from Greek kēros ‘wax’.

Cervantes /səvantiz/ Spanish /θerβantes ser-/ Miguel de (1547–1616), Spanish novelist and dramatist; full name Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. His most famous work is Don Quixote (1605–15), a satire on chivalric romances that greatly influenced the development of the novel.

cervelat /səvəlα -lat/ n. [mass noun] a kind of smoked pork sausage.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from obsolete French, earlier form of cervelas, from Italian cervellata.

cervical /səvk(ə)l səvk(ə)l/ adj. 1 relating to the narrow neck-like passage forming the lower end of the womb: cervical cancer.

2 relating to the neck: the fifth cervical vertebra.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, or from modern Latin cervicalis, from Latin cervix, cervic- ‘neck’.

cervical screening n. [mass noun] BRITISH the examination of cellular material from the neck of the womb for cancer.

cervical smear n. BRITISH a specimen of cellular material from the neck of the womb spread on a microscope slide for examination for cancerous cells or precancerous changes.

cervicitis /səvsts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the neck of the womb.

cervid /səvd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a mammal of the deer family (Cervidae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Cervidae (plural), from Latin cervus ‘deer’.

cervine /səvn/ adj. RARE relating to deer; deer-like.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin cervinus, from cervus ‘deer’, + -INE^1.

cervix /səvks/ n. (pl. cervices /-siz/) 1 the narrow neck-like passage forming the lower end of the womb.

2 TECHNICAL the neck.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Latin.

Cesarewitch /szarəwt/ a horse race run annually over two miles at Newmarket, England.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Russian tsesarevich ‘heir to the throne’, named in honour of the Russian Crown prince (later Alexander II) who attended the inaugural race in 1839.

České Budějovice /tεske budjεjvtsε/ a city in the south of the Czech Republic, on the River Vltava; pop. 180,314 (2001). It is noted for the production of lager. German name BUDWEIS.

cess^1 /sεs/ (also sess) n. (in Scotland, Ireland, and India) a tax or levy.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting the obligation placed on the Irish to supply the Lord Deputy's household and garrison with provisions at prices ‘assessed’ by the government): shortened from the obsolete noun assess ‘assessment’.

cess^2 /sεs/ n. (in phrase bad cess to) chiefly IRISH a curse on: bad cess to the day I joined that band!

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally Anglo-Irish): perhaps from CESS^1.

cessation /sεse(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the fact or process of ending or being brought to an end: the cessation of hostilities.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin cessatio(n-), from cessare ‘cease’.

cesser /sεsə/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] termination or cessation, especially of a period of tenure or legal liability.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French cesser ‘cease’, used as a noun.

cession /sε(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the formal giving up of rights, property, or territory by a state: the cession of twenty important towns.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English; from Latin cessio(n-), from cedere ‘cede’.

cesspit n. a pit for the disposal of liquid waste and sewage.

- FIGURATIVE a disgusting or corrupt place: the affair threatened to be a cesspit of scandal.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from cess (the supposed base of CESSPOOL) + PIT^1.

cesspool n. an underground container for the temporary storage of liquid waste and sewage.

- FIGURATIVE a disgusting or corrupt place.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting a trap under a drain to catch solids): probably an alteration, influenced by pool^1, of archaic suspiral ‘vent, water pipe, settling tank’, from Old French souspirail ‘air hole’, based on Latin sub- ‘from below’ + spirare ‘breathe’.

c'est la vie /se lαvi/ French /sε la vi/ exclam. used to express acceptance or resignation in the face of a difficult or unpleasant situation: if you get thwarted, c'est la vie.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘that's life’.

Cestoda /sεstədə/ (also Cestoidea) plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of parasitic flatworms that comprises the tapeworms.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Latin cestus, from Greek kestos, literally ‘stitched’, used as a noun in the sense ‘girdle’.

cestode /sεstəd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a parasitic flatworm of the class Cestoda; a tapeworm.

cestui que trust /sεti ki trst/ n. [LAW] the beneficiary of a trust.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Law French, short for cestui a que use le trust est créé, ‘the person for whose benefit anything is given in trust to another’.

CET abbr. Central European Time.

Cetacea /steə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of marine mammals that comprises the whales, dolphins, and porpoises. These have a streamlined hairless body, no hindlimbs, a horizontal tail fin, and a blowhole on top of the head for breathing. See also MYSTICETI, ODONTOCETI.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Latin cetus, from Greek kētos ‘whale’.

cetacean n. a marine mammal of the order Cetacea; a whale, dolphin, or porpoise.

■ adj. relating to or denoting cetaceans.

cetane /siten/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid hydrocarbon of the alkane series, present in petroleum spirit.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_16H_34.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin cetus ‘whale’, from Greek kētos (because related compounds were first derived from spermaceti) + -ANE^2.

cetane number n. a quantity indicating the ignition properties of diesel fuel relative to cetane as a standard.

ceteris paribus /ketərs parbs sεt- sit-/ adv. FORMAL with other conditions remaining the same; other things being equal.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: modern Latin.

cetrimide /sεtrmd/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic detergent and antiseptic which is a quaternary ammonium compound derived from cetane.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from cet(yl)trim(ethylammomium brom)ide.

Cetshwayo /sεtweə/ (also Cetewayo)

- (c.1826–84), Zulu king. He became ruler of Zululand in 1873 and was involved in a series of battles with the Afrikaners and British; he was deposed as leader after the capture of his capital by the British in 1879.

Cetti's warbler /tεtz/ n. a chestnut-brown Eurasian warbler with a strikingly loud and abrupt song.

<INFO> Cettia cetti, family Sylviidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Francesco Cetti, 18th-cent. Italian ornithologist.

Cetus /sitəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a large northern constellation (the Whale), said to represent the sea monster which threatened Andromeda. It contains the variable star Mira, but no other bright stars.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Ceuta /setə/ Spanish /θeuta seuta/ a Spanish enclave on the coast of North Africa, in Morocco; pop. 71,500 (2001).

Cévennes /sevεn/ French /sevεn/ a mountain range on the south-eastern edge of the Massif Central in France.

ceviche /sεvite/ (also seviche) n. [mass noun] a South American dish of marinaded raw fish or seafood.

<ORIGIN> South American Spanish.

Ceylon /sln/ former name (until 1972) for SRI LANKA.

Ceylon moss n. [mass noun] a red seaweed of the Indian subcontinent, which is the main source of agar.

<INFO> Gracilaria lichenoides, division Rhodophyta.

Cézanne /sezan/ French /sezan/ Paul (1839–1906), French painter. He is closely identified with post-Impressionism and his later work had an important influence on cubism. Notable works: Bathers (sequence of paintings 1890–1905).

CF abbr.

- (in the UK) Chaplain to the Forces.

- cystic fibrosis.

Cf symbol the chemical element californium.

cf. abbr. compare with (used to refer a reader to another written work or another part of the same written work).

<ORIGIN> from Latin confer ‘compare’.

c.f. abbr. carried forward (used to refer to figures transferred to a new page or account).

CFA (also CFA franc) n. the basic monetary unit of Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, and the Central African Republic, equal to 100 centimes.

<ORIGIN> CFA from French Communauté Financière Africaine ‘African Financial Community’.

CFC abbr. [CHEMISTRY] chlorofluorocarbon, any of a class of compounds of carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, and fluorine, typically gases used in refrigerants and aerosol propellants. They are harmful to the ozone layer in the earth's atmosphere owing to the release of chlorine atoms on exposure to ultraviolet radiation.

CFE abbr. (in the UK) College of Further Education.

CFS abbr. chronic fatigue syndrome.

CG abbr. Democratic Republic of the Congo (international vehicle registration).

cg abbr. centigram(s).

CGI abbr.

- [COMPUTING] Common Gateway Interface, an interface standard by which World Wide Web servers may access external programs so that data is returned automatically in the form of a web page.

- computer-generated imagery.

CGS abbr. (in the UK) Chief of General Staff.

cgs abbr. centimetre-gram-second.

CGT abbr. capital gains tax.

CH abbr.

- (in the UK) Companion of Honour.

- Switzerland (international vehicle registration). [<ORIGIN> from French Confédération Helvétique ‘Swiss Confederation’.]

ch. abbr.

- chapter.

- (of a horse) chestnut in colour.

- church.

chaap /αp/ (also chhaap) n. INDIAN an official seal or stamp, used to approve or authenticate a permit or similar document.

<ORIGIN> Hindi chāp ‘stamp, brand’.

chaat /tαt/ n. [mass noun] an Indian dish of boiled vegetables or raw fruit, with spices.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi cā.

chabazite /kabəzt/ n. [mass noun] a colourless, pink, or yellow zeolite mineral, typically occurring as rhombohedral crystals.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French chabazie, from Greek khabazie, a misreading of khalazie, vocative form of khalazios ‘hailstone’ (from khalaza ‘hail’, because of its form and colour), + -ITE^1.

Chablis /abli/ n. [mass noun] a dry white burgundy wine from Chablis in eastern France.

Chabrol /abrl/ French /abRl/ Claude (b.1930), French film director, a member of the nouvelle vague. His films typically combine suspense with studies of personal relationships, and include Les Biches (1968).

chacha /tt/ n. INDIAN uncle (often used as a respectful form of address to a man around the same age as one's father).

<ORIGIN> from Hindi cācā.

cha-cha /tαtα/ (also cha-cha-cha) n. a ballroom dance with small steps and swaying hip movements, performed to a Latin American rhythm.

- music for a cha-cha.

■ v. (cha-chas, cha-chaing /-tα(r)/, cha-cha'd or cha-chaed /-tαd/) [no obj.] dance the cha-cha.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: Latin American Spanish.

chachalaca /tatəlakə/ n. a pheasant-like tree-dwelling bird of the guan family, found mainly in the forests of tropical America.

<INFO> Genus Ortalis, family Cracidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via South American Spanish from Nahuatl, of imitative origin.

chack v. [no obj.] (of a bird) make a harsh call.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: imitative.

chacma baboon /takmə/ n. a dark grey baboon which lives on the savannah of southern Africa.

<INFO> Papio ursinus, family Cercopithecidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Khoikhoi.

Chaco another name for GRAN CHACO.

chaconne /əkn/ n. [MUSIC] a composition in a series of varying sections in slow triple time. Compare with PASSACAGLIA.

- a stately dance performed to a chaconne, popular in the 18th century.

- a ballroom dance performed in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from Spanish chacona.

Chaco War /tαkə/ a boundary dispute in 1932–5 between Bolivia and Paraguay, in which Paraguay eventually gained most of the disputed territory.

chacun à son goût /akən a sn u/ French /akœ a s u/ exclam. each to their own taste.

<ORIGIN> French.

Chad /tad/ a landlocked country in northern central Africa; pop. 8,997,237 (est. 2002); official languages, French and Arabic; capital, N'Djamena.

Much of the country lies in the Sahel and, in the north, the Sahara Desert. A French colony from 1913, Chad became autonomous within the French Community in 1958, and fully independent as a republic in 1960.

<DERIVATIVES> Chadian adj. & n.

chad /tad/ n. a piece of waste material removed from card or tape by punching.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: of unknown origin.

Chad, Lake a shallow lake on the borders of Chad, Niger, and Nigeria in north central Africa. Its size varies seasonally from c.10,360 sq. km (4,000 sq. miles) to c.25,900 sq. km (10,000 sq. miles).

Chadic /tadk/ n. [mass noun] a group of Afro-Asiatic languages spoken in the region of Lake Chad, of which the most important is Hausa.

■ adj. relating to the Chadic languages.

chador /tαd tαdə tdə/ (also chaddar or chuddar) n. a large piece of cloth that is wrapped around the head and upper body leaving only the face exposed, worn especially by Muslim women.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Urdu chādar, chaddar, from Persian čādar ‘sheet or veil’.

Chadwick /tadwk/ Sir James (1891–1974), English physicist. He discovered the neutron, for which he received the 1935 Nobel Prize for Physics.

chaebol /tebl/ n. (pl. same or chaebols) (in South Korea) a large family-owned business conglomerate.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: Korean, literally ‘money clan’.

chaeta /kitə/ n. (pl. chaetae /-ti/) [ZOOLOGY] a stiff bristle made of chitin, especially in an annelid worm.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek khaitē ‘long hair’.

Chaetognatha /kitənaθə -neθə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small phylum of marine invertebrates that comprises the arrow worms.

<DERIVATIVES> chaetognath n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek khaitē ‘long hair’ + gnathos ‘jaw’.

chafe /tef/ v. 1 (with reference to a part of the body) make or become sore by rubbing against something: [with obj.] the collar chafed his neck | [no obj.] her arms chafed where the rope bit into them.

- [no obj.] (of an object) rub abrasively against another: the grommet stops the cable chafing on the metal.

2 [with obj.] rub (a part of the body) to restore warmth or sensation: I chafed her feet and wrapped the blanket round her.

3 become or make annoyed or impatient because of a restriction or inconvenience: [no obj.] the bank chafed at the restrictions imposed upon it | [with obj.] it chafed him to be confined like this.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] wear or damage caused by rubbing: to prevent chafe the ropes should lie flat.

2 ARCHAIC a state of annoyance.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘make warm’): from Old French chaufer ‘make hot’, based on Latin calefacere, from calere ‘be hot’ + facere ‘make’.

chafer /tefə/ n. a large flying beetle, the adult and larva of which can be very destructive to foliage and plant roots respectively.

<INFO> Several subfamilies of the family Scarabaeidae.

<ORIGIN> Old English ceafor, cefer, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kever.

chaff^1 /tαf taf/ n. [mass noun] 1 the husks of corn or other seed separated by winnowing or threshing.

- chopped hay and straw used as fodder.

2 worthless things; rubbish: he hopes to separate scientifically supported claims from pseudoscientific chaff.

3 strips of metal foil released in the air to obstruct radar detection.

<PHRASES>

□ separate (or sort) the wheat from the chaff distinguish valuable people or things from worthless ones.

<ORIGIN> Old English cæf, ceaf, probably from a Germanic base meaning ‘gnaw’; related to Dutch kaf, also to CHAFER.

chaff^2 /tαf taf/ n. [mass noun] light-hearted joking; banter.

■ v. [with obj.] tease.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from CHAFE.

chaffer /tafə/ v. [no obj.] haggle about the terms of an agreement or price of something.

■ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC haggling about the price of something.

<DERIVATIVES> chafferer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘trade or trading’): from Old English cēap ‘a bargain’ + faru ‘journey’; probably influenced by Old Norse kaupfr.

chaffinch n. a Eurasian and North African finch, typically with a bluish top to the head and dark wings and tail.

<INFO> Genus Fringilla, family Fringillidae: two species, in particular the F. coelebs, which (in the male of the typical European form) has a pinkish face and breast.

<ORIGIN> Old English ceaffinc ‘chaff finch’ (because it forages around barns, picking seeds out of the chaff).

chaffweed /tafwid/ n. [mass noun] a tiny European pimpernel with pink or white flowers.

<INFO> Anagallis minima, family Primulaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably from the verb CHAFE + WEED.

chafing dish n. a cooking pot with an outer pan of hot water, used for keeping food warm.

- a metal pan containing a spirit lamp or burning charcoal, used for cooking at table.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from the original (now obsolete) sense of CHAFE ‘become warm, warm up’.

Chagall /aal/ Marc (1887–1985), Russian-born French painter and graphic artist. His work was characterized by the use of rich emotive colour and dream imagery, and had a significant influence on surrealism.

Chagas' disease /tαəsz/ n. [mass noun] a disease caused by a trypanosome transmitted by bloodsucking bugs, endemic in South and Central America and causing damage to the heart and central nervous system.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Carlos Chagas (1879–1934), the Brazilian physician who first described it.

Chagos Archipelago /tαəs/ an island group in the Indian Ocean forming the British Indian Ocean Territory.

chagrin /arn ərn/ n. [mass noun] annoyance or distress at having failed or been humiliated: to my chagrin, he was nowhere to be seen.

■ v. (be chagrined) feel distressed or humiliated.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘melancholy’): from French chagrin (noun), literally ‘rough skin, shagreen’, chagriner (verb), of unknown origin.

chai /t/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN tea made by boiling tea leaves with milk, sugar, and sometimes spices.

<ORIGIN> a term in various Indian languages.

Chain Sir Ernst Boris (1906–79), German-born British biochemist. With Howard Florey he isolated and purified penicillin and in 1945 they shared a Nobel Prize with Alexander Fleming.

chain n. 1 a series of linked metal rings used for fastening or securing something, or for pulling loads: he slid the bolts on the front door and put the safety chain across | the drug dealer is being kept in chains.

- a decorative chain worn round the neck as jewellery or as a badge of office.

- FIGURATIVE a restrictive force or factor: workers secured by the chains of the labour market.

2 a sequence of items of the same type forming a line: he kept the chain of buckets supplied with water.

- a series of connected elements: the action would initiate a chain of events.

- a connected series of mountains: a mountain chain.

- a group of hotels, restaurants, or shops owned by the same company.

- a part of a molecule consisting of a number of atoms bonded together in a linear sequence.

- a figure in a quadrille or similar dance, in which dancers meet and pass each other in a continuous sequence.

3 a jointed measuring line consisting of linked metal rods.

- the length of such a measuring line (66 ft).

4 (chains) a structure of planks projecting horizontally from a sailing ship's sides abreast of the masts, used to widen the basis for the shrouds. [<ORIGIN> formed earlier of iron plates.]

■ v. [with obj.] fasten or secure with a chain: she chained her bicycle to the railings.

- confine with a chain: he had been chained up | FIGURATIVE as an actuary you will not be chained to a desk.

<PHRASES>

□ pull (or yank) someone's chain INFORMAL tease someone by leading them to believe something untrue: he's just pulling your chain.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chaine, chaeine, from Latin catena ‘a chain’.

chain armour n. another term for CHAIN MAIL.

chain bridge n. a suspension bridge held by chains rather than cables.

chain drive n. [mass noun] a mechanism in which power is transmitted from an engine to the wheels of a vehicle or a boat's propeller by means of a moving endless chain.

<DERIVATIVES> chain-driven adj.

chaîné /εne/ n. (pl. chaînés pronunc. same) [BALLET] a sequence of fast turns from one foot to the other, executed in a straight line.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘linked’.

chain gang n. a group of convicts chained together while working outside the prison.

chain gear n. a gear transmitting motion by means of a moving endless chain, especially in a bicycle.

chain gun n. a machine gun that uses a motor-driven chain to power all moving parts.

chain harrow n. a harrow consisting of a net made of chains in a metal frame.

chain letter n. one of a sequence of letters, each recipient in the sequence being requested to send copies to a specific number of other people.

chain-link adj. [attr.] made of wire in a diamond-shaped mesh: a chain-link fence.

chain mail n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL flexible armour consisting of small metal rings linked together.

chainplate n. a strong link or plate on a sailing ship's side, to which the shrouds are secured.

chain reaction n. a chemical reaction or other process in which the products themselves promote or spread the reaction.

- the self-sustaining fission reaction spread by neutrons which occurs in nuclear reactors and bombs.

- a series of events, each caused by the previous one: the wine provoked a chain reaction of memories.

chainring n. a large cog carrying the chain on a bicycle, to which the pedals are attached.

chainsaw n. a mechanical power-driven cutting tool with teeth set on a chain which moves around the edge of a blade.

chain shot n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL pairs of cannonballs or half balls joined by a chain, fired from cannons in sea battles in order to damage masts and rigging.

chain-smoke v. [no obj.] smoke continually, typically by lighting a cigarette from the stub of the last one smoked.

<DERIVATIVES> chain-smoker n.

chain stitch n. [mass noun] an embroidery or crochet stitch resembling a chain.

chain store n. one of a series of shops owned by one firm and selling the same goods.

chain wheel n. a wheel transmitting power by means of a chain fitted to its edges.

chair n. 1 a separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs.

2 the person in charge of a meeting or of an organization (used as a neutral alternative to chairman or chairwoman): she's the chair of a research committee.

- the post of a chairperson: he was due to step down after a three-year stint in the chair.

3 a professorship: he held a chair in physics.

4 (the chair) US short for ELECTRIC CHAIR.

5 chiefly BRITISH a metal socket holding a rail in place on a railway sleeper.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 act as chairperson of or preside over (an organization, meeting, or public event): the debate was chaired by the Archbishop of York.

2 BRITISH carry (someone) aloft in a chair or in a sitting position to celebrate a victory.

<PHRASES>

□ take the chair act as chairperson.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chaiere (modern chaire ‘bishop's throne, etc.’, chaise ‘chair’), from Latin cathedra ‘seat’, from Greek kathedra. Compare with CATHEDRAL.

chair car n. NORTH AMERICAN a railway carriage with adjustable seats in pairs either side of a central gangway.

chairlady n. (pl. chairladies)

■ another term for CHAIRWOMAN.

chairlift n. 1 a series of chairs hung from a moving cable, used for carrying people up and down a mountain.

2 a device for carrying people in wheelchairs from one floor of a building to another.

chairman n. (pl. chairmen) 1 a person chosen to preside over a meeting.

- the permanent or long-term president of a committee, company, or other organization.

- (Chairman) (since 1949) the leading figure in the Chinese Communist Party.

2 HISTORICAL a sedan-bearer.

<DERIVATIVES> chairmanship n.

chairperson n. a chairman or chairwoman (used as a neutral alternative).

chairwoman n. (pl. chairwomen) a female chairperson.

chaise /ez/ n. 1 chiefly HISTORICAL a horse-drawn carriage for one or two people, typically one with an open top and two wheels.

■ another term for POST-CHAISE.

2 US term for CHAISE LONGUE.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, variant of chaire (see CHAIR).

chaise longue /l/ n. (pl. chaises longues pronunc. same) a sofa with a backrest at only one end.

- (also chaise lounge) NORTH AMERICAN a sunbed or other chair with a lengthened seat for reclining on.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, literally ‘long chair’.

chakka /tkə/ n. INDIAN a wheel or tyre.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi cakkā.

chakra /tkrə/ n. (in Indian thought) each of seven centres of spiritual power in the human body.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit cakra ‘wheel or circle’, from an Indo-European base meaning ‘turn’, shared by WHEEL.

chal^1 /tal/ n. a male Gypsy.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Romany, literally ‘person, fellow’.

chalaza /kəlezə/ n. (pl. chalazae /-zi/) [ZOOLOGY] (in a bird's egg) each of two twisted membranous strips joining the yolk to the ends of the shell.

<DERIVATIVES> chalazal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek khalaza ‘small knot’.

Chalcedon /kalsdn kalsid(ə)n/ a former city on the Bosporus in Asia Minor, now part of Istanbul. Turkish name Kadiköy.

Chalcedon, Council of the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church, held at Chalcedon in 451. It condemned the Monophysite position and affirmed the dual but united nature of Christ as god and man.

<DERIVATIVES> Chalcedonian /kalsdənən/ n. & adj.

chalcedony /kalsεdəni/ n. (pl. chalcedonies) [mass noun] a microcrystalline type of quartz occurring in several different forms including onyx and agate.

<DERIVATIVES> chalcedonic /kalsdnk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin calcedonius, chalcedonius (often believed to mean ‘stone of Chalcedon’, but this is doubtful), from Greek khalkēdōn.

chalcid /kalsd/ (also chalcid wasp) n. a minute metallic-coloured parasitic wasp of a large group whose members lay eggs inside the eggs of other insects.

<INFO> Superfamily Chalcidoidea, order Hymenoptera.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Chalcis (genus name), from Greek khalkos ‘copper, brass’, + -ID^3.

Chalcis /kalss/ the chief town of the island of Euboea, on the coast opposite mainland Greece; pop. 59,200 (est. 2002). Greek name Khalkís.

Chalcolithic /kalkə()lθk/ adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a period in the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, chiefly in the Near East and SE Europe, during which some weapons and tools were made of copper. This period was still largely Neolithic in character. Also called ENEOLITHIC.

- (as n. the Chalcolithic) the Chalcolithic period. Also called COPPER AGE.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek khalkos ‘copper’ + lithos ‘stone’ + -IC.

chalcopyrite /kalkə()prt/ n. [mass noun] a yellow crystalline mineral consisting of a sulphide of copper and iron. It is the principal ore of copper. Also called COPPER PYRITES.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin chalcopyrites, from Greek khalkos ‘copper’ + puritēs (see PYRITES).

Chaldea /kaldiə/ an ancient country in what is now southern Iraq, inhabited by the Chaldeans.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Khaldaia, from Akkadian Kaldû, the name of a Babylonian tribal group.

Chaldean /kaldiən/ n. 1 a member of an ancient people who lived in Chaldea c.800 BC and ruled Babylonia 625–539 BC. They were renowned as astronomers and astrologers.

2 [mass noun] the Semitic language of the ancient Chaldeans.

- a language related to Aramaic and spoken in parts of Iraq.

3 a member of a Syrian Uniate (formerly Nestorian) Church based mainly in Iran and Iraq.

■ adj. 1 relating to ancient Chaldea or its people or language.

2 relating to the East Syrian Uniate Church.

Chaldee /kaldi kaldi/ n. 1 [mass noun] the language of the ancient Chaldeans.

- DATED the Aramaic language as used in some books of the Old Testament.

2 a native of ancient Chaldea.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Chaldaei ‘Chaldeans’, from Greek Khaldaioi, from Khaldaia (see CHALDEA).

chalet /ale/ n. a wooden house with overhanging eaves, typically found in the Swiss Alps.

- BRITISH a small cabin or house used by holidaymakers, forming a unit within a holiday complex.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Swiss French, diminutive of Old French chasel ‘farmstead’, based on Latin casa ‘hut, cottage’.

Chaliapin /aljαpn/ Fyodor (Ivanovich) (1873–1938), Russian operatic bass. He was particularly noted for his roles in Russian opera, such as the title role of Boris Godunov.

chalice n. HISTORICAL a large cup or goblet.

- the wine cup used in the Christian Eucharist.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin calix, calic- ‘cup’.

chalicothere /kalkəθə/ n. a large horse-like fossil mammal of the late Tertiary period, with stout claws on the toes rather than hoofs.

<INFO> Family Chalicotheriidae, order Perissodactyla: several genera.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from modern Latin Chalicotherium (genus name), from Greek khalix, khalik- ‘gravel’ + thērion ‘wild animal’.

chalk n. [mass noun] a white soft earthy limestone (calcium carbonate) formed from the skeletal remains of sea creatures.

- a chalk-like substance (calcium sulphate), made into sticks used for writing or drawing on a blackboard.

- [count noun] [GEOLOGY] a series of strata consisting mainly of chalk.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 write or draw with chalk: he chalked a message on the board.

- rub the tip of (a snooker cue) with chalk.

2 BRITISH charge (drinks bought in a pub or bar) to a person's account: he chalked the bill on to the Professor's private account.

3 (chalk something up) achieve something noteworthy: he has chalked up a box office success.

4 (chalk something up) NORTH AMERICAN ascribe something to a particular cause: I chalked my sleeplessness up to nerves.

<PHRASES>

□ as different as (or like) chalk and cheese BRITISH fundamentally different or incompatible.

□ by a long chalk BRITISH by far.

□ chalk and talk BRITISH teaching by traditional methods focusing on the blackboard and presentation by the teacher as opposed to more informal or interactive methods.

□ not by a long chalk BRITISH by no means; not at all: they weren't beaten yet, not by a long chalk. [<ORIGIN> with reference to the chalk used for marking up scores in competitive games.]

<ORIGIN> Old English cealc (also denoting lime), related to Dutch kalk and German Kalk, from Latin calx (see CALX).

chalkboard n. North American term for BLACKBOARD.

chalkface n. [in sing.] BRITISH the day-to-day work of teaching in a school: teachers at the chalkface.

chalkhill blue n. a European blue butterfly of calcareous grassland, of which the male is silvery-blue with blackish markings and the female is brown.

<INFO> Lysandra coridon, family Lycaenidae.

chalk pit n. BRITISH a quarry from which chalk is extracted.

chalk-stone n. MEDICINE, DATED a chalky deposit of sodium urate formed in the hands and feet of sufferers from severe gout.

chalk-stripe adj. [attr.] (of a garment or material) having a pattern of thin white stripes on a dark background: a chalk-stripe suit.

■ n. (chalk stripe) a pattern of thin white stripes on a dark background.

<DERIVATIVES> chalk-striped adj.

chalk talk n. NORTH AMERICAN a talk or lecture in which the speaker uses a blackboard and chalk.

chalky adj. (chalkier, chalkiest) 1 consisting of or rich in chalk: chalky soil.

2 resembling chalk in texture or paleness of colour: walls of chalky green.

<DERIVATIVES> chalkiness n.

challah /hαlə xαlα/ n. (pl. challahs or chalot, chaloth /xαlt/) a plaited loaf of white leavened bread, traditionally baked to celebrate the Jewish sabbath.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew allah.

challenge n. 1 a call to someone to participate in a competitive situation or fight to decide who is superior in terms of ability or strength.

- a task or situation that tests someone's abilities: the traverse of the ridge is a challenge for experienced climbers | he took up the challenge of organizing a sports afternoon.

- an attempt to win a contest or championship in a sport.

2 a call to prove or justify something: a challenge to the legality of the banning order.

- a guard's call for a password or other proof of identity.

- [LAW] an objection regarding the eligibility or suitability of a jury member.

3 [mass noun] MEDICINE exposure of the immune system to pathogenic organisms or antigens: recently vaccinated calves should be protected from challenge.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 dispute the truth or validity of: it is possible to challenge the report's assumptions.

- [LAW] object to (a jury member): a certain number of jurors may be challenged.

- (of a guard) order (someone) to prove their identity.

2 invite (someone) to engage in a contest: he challenged one of my men to a duel | organizations challenged the government in by-elections.

- enter into competition with or opposition against:

- make a rival claim to or threaten someone's hold on (a position): they were challenging his leadership.

- [with obj. and infinitive] invite (someone) to do or say something that one thinks will be difficult or impossible: I challenge the Minister to deny these accusations.

3 MEDICINE expose (the immune system) to pathogenic organisms or antigens.

<DERIVATIVES> challengeable adj. challenger n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘accusation’ and ‘accuse’): from Old French chalenge (noun), chalenger (verb), from Latin calumnia ‘calumny’, calumniari ‘calumniate’.

challenged adj. [with submodifier or in combination] used euphemistically to indicate that someone suffers impairment or disability in a specified respect: my experience of being physically challenged.

- INFORMAL used to indicate that someone or something is lacking or deficient in a specified respect: I didn't know he was so vertically challenged | today's attention-challenged teens.

<USAGE> The use with a preceding adverb (e.g. physically challenged), originally intended to give a more positive tone than terms such as disabled or handicapped, arose in the US in the 1980s and quickly spread to the UK and elsewhere. Despite the originally serious intention the term rapidly became stalled by uses whose intention was to make fun of the attempts at euphemism and whose tone was usually clearly ironic: examples include cerebrally challenged, conversationally challenged, and follicularly challenged. See also usage at disabled.

Challenger Deep the deepest part (11,034 m, 36,201 ft) of the Mariana Trench in the North Pacific, discovered by HMS Challenger II in 1948.

challenging adj. testing one's abilities; demanding: challenging and rewarding employment.

- inviting competition; provocative: there was a challenging glint in his eyes.

<DERIVATIVES> challengingly adv.

challis /als ali/ n. [mass noun] a lightweight soft clothing fabric made from silk and worsted.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: origin uncertain; perhaps from the surname Challis.

chalone /kalən ke-/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance secreted like a hormone but having the effect of inhibiting a physiological process.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek khalōn ‘slackening’, present participle of khalaein, on the pattern of hormone.

chalumeau /almə/ n. (pl. chalumeaux pronunc. same) a reed instrument of the early 18th century from which the clarinet was developed.

- (also chalumeau register) the lowest octave of the clarinet's range.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Latin calamellus ‘little reed’, diminutive of calamus.

chalupa /təlupə/ n. (in Spain and Latin America) a small light boat or canoe.

- a fried tortilla in the shape of a boat, with a spicy filling.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Spanish, ultimately related to Dutch sloep ‘sloop’.

chalybeate /kəlbət/ adj. [attr.] of or denoting natural mineral springs containing iron salts.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin chalybeatus, from Latin chalybs, from Greek khalups, khalub- ‘steel’.

Cham /tam/ n. (pl. same or Chams) 1 a member of an indigenous people of Vietnam and Cambodia, who formed an independent kingdom from the 2nd to 17th centuries AD.

2 [mass noun] the Austronesian language of the Cham, with about 230,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Cham, their culture, or their language.

Chamaeleon /kəmilən/ [ASTRONOMY] a small and faint southern constellation (the Chameleon), close to the south celestial pole.

<ORIGIN> from Greek.

chamaephyte /kamft/ n. [BOTANY] a woody plant whose resting buds are on or near the ground.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek khamai ‘on the ground’ + -PHYTE.

chamber n. 1 a large room used for formal or public events: a council chamber.

- one of the houses of a parliament: the upper chamber.

- (chambers) [LAW], BRITISH rooms used by a barrister or barristers, especially in the Inns of Court.

- [LAW] a judge's office, where proceedings may be held if not required to be held in open court.

- ARCHAIC a private room, especially a bedroom.

2 an enclosed space or cavity: a burial chamber.

- a large underground cavern.

- the part of a gun bore that contains the charge.

- [BIOLOGY] a cavity in a plant, animal body, or organ.

3 [as modifier] [MUSIC] of or for a small group of instruments: a chamber concert.

■ v. [with obj.] place (a bullet) into the chamber of a gun.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘private room’): from Old French chambre, from Latin camera ‘vault, arched chamber’, from Greek kamara ‘object with an arched cover’.

chambered adj. (especially of a gun) having a chamber of a particular kind.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] (of a tomb) containing a burial chamber.

- [BIOLOGY] (of a plant, animal body, or organ) having one or more body cavities: [in combination] a four-chambered heart.

Chamberlain^1 /tembəln/ (Arthur) Neville (1869–1940), British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1937–40, son of Joseph Chamberlain. He pursued a policy of appeasement with Germany, signing the Munich Agreement (1938), but was forced to abandon this policy following Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939.

Chamberlain^2 /tembəln/ Joseph (1836–1914), British Liberal statesman. He left the Liberal party in 1886 because of Gladstone's support of Irish Home Rule. The leader of the Liberal Unionists from 1891, he played a leading role in the handling of the Second Boer War.

Chamberlain^3 /tembəln/ Owen (1920–2006), American physicist. He investigated subatomic particles and in 1955 discovered the antiproton with E. G. Segrè (1905–89), for which they shared the 1959 Nobel Prize for Physics.

chamberlain /tembəln/ n. HISTORICAL an officer who managed the household of a monarch or noble.

- BRITISH an officer who received revenue on behalf of a corporation or public body.

<DERIVATIVES> chamberlainship n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a servant in a bedchamber): via Old French from Old Saxon kamera, from Latin camera ‘vault’ (see CHAMBER).

chambermaid n. a woman who cleans bedrooms and bathrooms in a hotel.

chamber music n. [mass noun] instrumental music played by a small ensemble, with one player to a part, the most important form being the string quartet.

Chamber of Commerce n. a local association to promote and protect the interests of the business community in a particular place.

Chamber of Deputies n. the lower legislative assembly in some parliaments.

chamber of horrors n. a place of entertainment containing instruments or scenes of torture or execution.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name given to a room in Madame Tussaud's waxwork exhibition.

Chamber of Trade n. a national organization representing local Chambers of Commerce.

chamber orchestra n. a small orchestra.

chamber organ n. a movable pipe organ for playing in a small concert hall, chapel, or private house.

chamber pot n. a bowl kept in a bedroom and used as a toilet at night.

Chambers Sir William (1723–96), Scottish architect. His neoclassical style is demonstrated in buildings such as Somerset House in London (1776).

Chambertin /bəta/ n. [mass noun] a dry red burgundy wine of high quality from Gevrey Chambertin in eastern France.

Chambéry /bəri/ French /αbeRi/ a town in eastern France; pop. 55,786 (1999).

chambray /ambre/ n. [mass noun] a cloth with a white weft and a coloured warp.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally US): formed irregularly from Cambrai, the name of a town in northern France, where it was originally made. Compare with CAMBRIC.

chambré /mbre s-/ adj. [predic.] (of red wine) at room temperature: the French believe that Cabernet tastes best chambré.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: French, past participle of chambrer ‘bring to room temperature’, from chambre ‘room’ (see CHAMBER).

chamcha /tmtə/ n. INDIAN INFORMAL an obsequious person.

<ORIGIN> from Bengali and Hindi chamra, cham, literally ‘skin, hide’. The extended sense may derive from the idea of an obsequious person staying very close to a superior.

chameleon /kəmilən/ (also chamaeleon) n. a small slow-moving Old World lizard with a prehensile tail, long extensible tongue, protruding eyes that rotate independently, and a highly developed ability to change colour.

<INFO> Family Chamaeleonidae: four genera, in particular Chamaeleo, and numerous species, including the European chameleon (C. vulgaris).

- (also American chameleon) NORTH AMERICAN an anole (tree-dwelling lizard).

- FIGURATIVE a person who changes their opinions or behaviour according to the situation: voters have misgivings about his performance as a political chameleon.

<DERIVATIVES> chameleonic adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Latin chamaeleon from Greek khamaileōn, from khamai ‘on the ground’ + leōn ‘lion’.

chameli /tmeli/ n. Indian term for JASMINE.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi camelī.

chametz /hαmεts xαmεts/ (also chometz) n. [mass noun] [JUDAISM] leaven or food mixed with leaven, prohibited during Passover.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Hebrew āmē.

chamfer /tamfə/ [CARPENTRY] v. [with obj.] cut away (a right-angled edge or corner) to make a symmetrical sloping edge.

■ n. a symmetrical sloping surface at an edge or corner.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘flute or furrow’): back-formation from chamfering, from French chamfrain, from chant ‘edge’ (see cant^2) + fraint ‘broken’ (from Old French fraindre ‘break’, from Latin frangere).

chamise /(t)əmiz/ (also chamiso /təmisə/) n. (pl. chamises or chamisos) an evergreen shrub with small narrow leaves, common in the chaparral of California, US.

<INFO> Adenostoma fasciculatum, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Mexican Spanish chamiso.

chamois n. 1 /amwα/ (plural same /-wαz/) an agile goat-antelope with short hooked horns, found in mountainous areas of Europe from Spain to the Caucasus.

<INFO> Genus Rupicapra, family Bovidae: two species.

2 /ami amwα/ (plural same /-mz -wαz/) (also British chamois leather) [mass noun] a type of soft pliable leather now made from sheepskin or lambskin.

- [count noun] a piece of chamois leather, used for washing windows or cars.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, of unknown ultimate origin.

Chamonix /amni/ French /amni/ a ski resort at the foot of Mont Blanc, in the Alps of eastern France; pop. 9,830 (1999). Full name Chamonix-Mont-Blanc /mnblk/.

Chamorro /təmrə/ n. (pl. same or Chamorros) 1 a member of the indigenous people of Guam.

2 [mass noun] the Austronesian language of the Chamorro, with about 73,000 speakers.

champ^1 v. [no obj.] 1 (of a horse) make a noisy biting or chewing action.

- munch or chew enthusiastically or noisily: he champed on his sandwich.

2 fret impatiently: he was already on the plane, champing to get off to Lagos.

■ n. [in sing.] a biting or chewing action.

<PHRASES>

□ champ at the bit be restlessly impatient to start doing something.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably imitative.

champ^2 n. INFORMAL a champion.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation.

Champagne /ampen/ French /αpa/ a region and former province of NE France, which now corresponds to the Champagne-Ardenne administrative region. The region is noted for the white sparkling wine first produced there in about 1700.

champagne /ampen/ n. [mass noun] a white sparkling wine from Champagne.

- a pale cream or straw colour.

Champagne-Ardenne a region of NE France, comprising part of the Ardennes forest and the vine-growing area of Champagne.

Champagne Charlie n. INFORMAL a man who lives a life of luxury and excess.

<ORIGIN> from the name of a popular song, first performed in 1868.

champagne socialist n. BRITISH DEROGATORY a person who espouses socialist ideals while enjoying a wealthy and luxurious lifestyle.

<DERIVATIVES> champagne socialism n.

champaign /tampen/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC open level countryside.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French champagne, from late Latin campania, based on Latin campus ‘level ground’. Compare with CAMPAIGN.

champak /tmpək tam-/ (also chempaka) n. an Asian evergreen tree of the magnolia family, which bears fragrant orange flowers and is sacred to Hindus and Buddhists.

<INFO> Michelia champaca, family Magnoliaceae.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit campaka.

champers n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL champagne.

champerty /tampəti/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] an illegal agreement in which a person with no previous interest in a lawsuit finances it with a view to sharing the disputed property if the suit succeeds.

<DERIVATIVES> champertous adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French champartie, from Old French champart ‘feudal lord's share of produce’, from Latin campus ‘field’ + pars ‘part’.

champignon /tampnjən/ (also fairy ring champignon) n. a small edible mushroom with a light brown cap, growing in short grass in both Eurasia and North America and often forming fairy rings.

<INFO> Marasmius oreades, family Tricholomataceae, class Hymenomycetes.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, diminutive of Old French champagne ‘open country’ (see CHAMPAIGN).

champion n. 1 a person who has surpassed all rivals in a sporting contest or other competition: [as modifier] a champion hurdler.

2 a person who vigorously supports or defends a person or cause: he became the determined champion of a free press.

- HISTORICAL a knight who fought in single combat on behalf of the monarch.

■ v. [with obj.] vigorously support or defend the cause of: he championed the rights of the working class and the poor.

■ adj. BRITISH INFORMAL or DIALECT excellent: ‘Thank ye, lad,’ the farmer said. ‘That's champion.’.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a fighting man): from Old French, from medieval Latin campio(n-) ‘fighter’, from Latin campus (see camp^1).

Champion of England n. (in the UK) a hereditary official who at coronations offers to defend the monarch's title to the throne.

championship n. 1 a contest for the position of champion in a sport or game.

- the position or title of the winner of a championship contest.

2 [mass noun] the vigorous support or defence of a person or cause: Alan's championship of his estranged wife.

Champlain /amplen/ French /αplε/ Samuel de (1567–1635), French explorer and colonial statesman. He established a settlement at Quebec in 1608, developing alliances with the native peoples, and was appointed Lieutenant Governor in 1612.

Champlain, Lake a lake in North America, situated to the east of the Adirondack Mountains.

<ORIGIN> named after Samuel de CHAMPLAIN, who reached it in 1609.

champlevé /am(p)ləve ləve/ n. [mass noun] enamelwork in which hollows made in a metal surface are filled with coloured enamels.

<ORIGIN> French, from champ ‘field’ + levé ‘raised’.

Champollion /plj/ French /αplj/ Jean-François (1790–1832), French Egyptologist. A pioneer in the study of ancient Egypt, he is best known for his success in deciphering some of the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone in 1822.

Champs-Élysées /z elize/ French /αz elize/ an avenue in Paris, leading from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe.

chana /tnə/ (also channa) n. [mass noun] INDIAN chickpeas, especially when roasted and prepared as a snack.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi canā.

chance n. 1 a possibility of something happening: there is a chance of winning the raffle | [mass noun] there is little chance of his finding a job.

- (chances) the probability of something desirable happening: he played down his chances of becoming chairman.

- [in sing.] an opportunity to do or achieve something: I gave her a chance to answer.

2 [mass noun] the occurrence of events in the absence of any obvious intention or cause: he met his brother by chance.

■ v. 1 [no obj., with infinitive] do something by accident or without intending to: he was very effusive if they chanced to meet.

- (chance upon/on/across) find or see by accident: he chanced upon an interesting advertisement.

2 [with obj.] INFORMAL do (something) despite its being dangerous or of uncertain outcome: they chanced a late holiday.

<PHRASES>

□ as chance would have it as it happened.

□ by any chance possibly (used in tentative enquiries or suggestions): were you looking for me by any chance?

□ chance one's arm (or luck) BRITISH INFORMAL undertake something although it may be dangerous or unsuccessful.

□ chance would be a fine thing BRITISH INFORMAL expressing a speaker's belief that something is desirable but the opportunity is unlikely to arise.

□ no chance INFORMAL there is no possibility of that.

□ on the (off) chance just in case.

□ stand a chance have a prospect of success or survival: his rivals don't stand a chance.

□ take a chance (or chances) behave in a way that leaves one vulnerable to danger or failure.

- (take a chance on) put one's trust in (something or someone) knowing that it may not be safe or certain.

□ take one's chance do something risky with the hope of success.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cheance, from cheoir ‘fall, befall’, based on Latin cadere.

chancel /tαns(ə)l/ n. the part of a church near the altar, reserved for the clergy and choir, and typically separated from the nave by steps or a screen.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin cancelli ‘crossbars’.

chancellery /tαns(ə)l(ə)ri -sləri/ n. (pl. chancelleries) 1 the position, office, or department of a chancellor.

- the official residence of a chancellor.

2 US an office attached to an embassy or consulate.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chancellerie, from chancelier ‘secretary’ (see CHANCELLOR).

chancellor n. a senior state or legal official.

- (Chancellor)

■ short for CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER.

- (Chancellor) the head of the government in some European countries, such as Germany.

- BRITISH the honorary head of a university.

- US the president or chief administrative officer of a university.

- a bishop's law officer.

- US the presiding judge of a chancery court.

- (in the UK) an officer of an order of knighthood who seals commissions.

<DERIVATIVES> chancellorship n.

<ORIGIN> late Old English from Old French cancelier, from late Latin cancellarius ‘porter, secretary’ (originally a court official stationed at the grating separating public from judges), from cancelli ‘crossbars’.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster n. (in the UK) a member of the government legally representing the Crown as Duke of Lancaster, typically a cabinet minister employed on non-departmental work.

Chancellor of the Exchequer n. the chief finance minister of the United Kingdom, who prepares the nation's annual budgets.

chance-medley n. [mass noun] [LAW], RARE the accidental killing of a person in a fight.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Anglo-Norman French chance medlee, literally ‘mixed chance’, from chance ‘luck’ + medlee, feminine past participle of medler ‘to mix’ (based on Latin miscere).

chancer n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person who exploits any opportunity to further their own ends.

chancery n. (pl. chanceries) 1 (Chancery or Chancery Division) [LAW] (in the UK) the Lord Chancellor's court, a division of the High Court of Justice.

- US a court of law that decides legal cases based on the principle of equity.

- HISTORICAL the court of a bishop's chancellor.

2 chiefly BRITISH an office attached to an embassy or consulate.

3 a public record office.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: contraction of CHANCELLERY.

Chan Chan /tan tan/ the capital of the pre-Inca civilization of the Chimu. Its extensive adobe ruins are situated on the coast of north Peru.

Chan-chiang /tantja/ variant of ZHANJIANG.

chancre /akə/ n. MEDICINE a painless ulcer, particularly one that develops on the genitals in venereal disease.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from Latin cancer ‘creeping ulcer’.

chancroid /akrd/ n. [mass noun] a venereal infection causing ulceration of the lymph nodes in the groin. Also called SOFT SORE.

chancy adj. (chancier, chanciest) INFORMAL involving risks and uncertainty: football coaching is a chancy business.

<DERIVATIVES> chancily adv. chanciness n.

chandelier /andələ/ n. a large, decorative hanging light with branches for several light bulbs or candles.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from chandelle ‘candle’, from Latin candela, from candere ‘be white, glisten’.

chandelle /andεl/ n. a steep climbing turn executed in an aircraft to gain height while changing the direction of flight.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from French, literally ‘candle’.

Chandigarh /tndα/ 1 a Union Territory of NW India, created in 1966.

2 a city in the territory of Chandigarh; pop. 808,000 (2001). The present city was designed in 1950 by Le Corbusier as a new capital for the Punjab and is now the capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana.

Chandler /tαndlə/ Raymond (Thornton) (1888–1959), American novelist. He is remembered as the creator of the private detective Philip Marlowe, who appeared in novels such as The Big Sleep (1939).

chandler /tαndlə/ n. 1 (also ship chandler) a dealer in supplies and equipment for ships and boats.

2 HISTORICAL a dealer in household items such as oil, soap, paint, and groceries.

- a person who makes and sells candles.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a candle maker or candle seller): from Old French chandelier, from chandelle ‘candle’ (see CHANDELIER).

chandlery n. (pl. chandleries) the shop or business of a chandler.

- [mass noun] goods sold by a chandler.

Chandragupta Maurya /tndrəptə marə/ (c.325–297 BC), Indian emperor. He founded the Mauryan empire and annexed provinces deep into Afghanistan from Alexander's Greek successors.

Chandrasekhar /tndrəsikə -sekə/ Subrahmanyan (1910–95), Indian-born American astronomer. He suggested how some stars could eventually collapse to form a dense white dwarf, provided that their mass does not exceed an upper limit (the Chandrasekhar limit).

Chanel /ənεl/ French /anεl/ Coco (1883–1971), French couturière; born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. Her simple but sophisticated garments were a radical departure from the stiff corseted styles of the day. She also diversified into perfumes, costume jewellery, and textiles.

Chaney /teni/ Lon (1883–1930), American actor; born Alonso Chaney. He played a wide variety of deformed villains and macabre characters in more than 150 films, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923).

Changan /taαn/ former name for XIAN.

Chang-chiakow /tatjαka/ variant of ZHANGJIAKOU.

Changchun /tatn/ an industrial city in NE China, capital of Jilin province; pop. 2,690,300 (est. 2002).

change v. 1 make or become different: [with obj.] a proposal to change the law | [no obj.] a Virginia creeper just beginning to change from green to gold.

- [no obj., with complement] alter in terms of: the ferns began to change shape.

- [no obj.] (of traffic lights) move from one colour of signal to another.

- [no obj.] (of the moon) arrive at a fresh phase; become new.

2 [with obj.] take or use another instead of: she decided to change her name.

- move from one to another: she was a typist who changed jobs incessantly.

- [no obj.] move to a different train, bus, etc.: we had to change at Rugby.

- give up or get rid of (something) in exchange for something else: we changed the flagstones for quarry tiles.

- remove (something dirty or faulty) and replace it with another of the same kind: he scarcely knew how to change a plug.

- put a clean nappy on (a baby or young child).

- [no obj.] engage a different gear in a motor vehicle: he changed into second.

- exchange (a sum of money) for the same sum in a different currency or denomination.

- [no obj.] put different clothes on: he changed for dinner.

■ n. 1 an act or process through which something becomes different: the change from a nomadic to an agricultural society | [mass noun] activities related to environmental change.

- the substitution of one thing for another: we need a change of government.

- an alteration or modification: a change came over Eddie's face.

- a new or refreshingly different experience: couscous makes an interesting change from rice.

- [in sing.] a clean garment or garments as a replacement for something one is wearing: a change of socks.

- (the change or the change of life) INFORMAL the menopause.

- the moon's arrival at a fresh phase, typically at the new moon.

2 [mass noun] coins as opposed to banknotes: a handful of loose change.

- money given in exchange for the same sum in larger units.

- money returned to someone as the balance of the sum paid for something.

3 (usually changes) an order in which a peal of bells can be rung.

4 (Change or 'Change) HISTORICAL a place where merchants met to do business.

<PHRASES>

□ change address move house or business premises.

□ change colour blanch or flush.

□ change hands (of a business or building) pass to a different owner.

- (of money or a marketable commodity) pass to another person in the course of a business transaction.

□ a change is as good as a rest PROVERB a change of work or occupation can be as restorative or refreshing as a period of relaxation.

□ change one's mind adopt a different opinion or plan.

□ a change of air a different climate, typically as a means of improving one's health.

□ a change of heart a move to a different opinion or attitude.

□ change places exchange places or roles: under the bishop's plan, he and I were to change places.

□ change step alter one's step so that the opposite leg is the one that marks time when marching.

□ change the subject begin talking of something different, to avoid embarrassment or distress.

□ change one's tune express a very different opinion or behave in a very different way.

□ for a change contrary to how things usually happen or in order to introduce variety: it's nice to be pampered for a change.

□ get no change out of BRITISH INFORMAL fail to get information or a desired reaction from.

□ ring the changes vary the ways of expressing or doing something. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to bell-ringing and the different orders in which a peal of bells may be rung.]

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ change down BRITISH engage a lower gear in a vehicle or on a bicycle.

□ change over 1 move from one system or situation to another: arable farmers have to change over to dairy farming.

2 swap roles or duties.

□ change up BRITISH engage a higher gear in a vehicle or on a bicycle.

<DERIVATIVES> changeful adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French change (noun), changer (verb), from late Latin cambiare, from Latin cambire ‘barter’, probably of Celtic origin.

changeable adj. 1 liable to unpredictable variation: the weather will be changeable with rain at times.

2 able to be changed or exchanged: cover the tables with changeable cloths.

<DERIVATIVES> changeability n. changeableness n. changeably adv.

changeless adj. remaining the same: changeless truths.

<DERIVATIVES> changelessly adv. changelessness n.

changeling n. a child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents' real child in infancy.

changement de pieds /(d)m də pje/ (also changement) n. (pl. changements de pieds pronunc. same) [BALLET] a leap during which a dancer changes the position of the feet.

changeover n. a change from one system or situation to another.

change purse n. NORTH AMERICAN a purse used for carrying money.

changer n. a person or thing that changes something.

- [COMPUTING] a device that holds several disks, CDs, or other memory devices, and is able to switch between them.

change-ringing n. [mass noun] the ringing of sets of church bells or handbells in a constantly varying order.

<DERIVATIVES> change-ringer n.

change-up n. [BASEBALL] an unexpectedly slow pitch designed to throw off the batter's timing.

Chang Jiang /ta da/ another name for YANGTZE.

Changsha /taα/ the capital of Hunan province in east central China; pop. 1,544,700 (est. 2002).

Chania /kαnjα/ a port on the north coast of Crete, capital of the island from 1841 to 1971; pop. 55,000 (est. 2002). Greek name Khaniá.

channel n. 1 a length of water wider than a strait, joining two larger areas of water, especially two seas.

- (the Channel) the English Channel.

- a navigable passage in a stretch of water otherwise unsafe for vessels.

- a hollow bed for a natural or artificial waterway.

2 a band of frequencies used in radio and television transmission, especially as used by a particular station.

- a service or station using a channel of frequencies: a new television channel.

3 a method or system for communication or distribution: they didn't apply through the proper channels | some companies have a variety of sales channels.

4 an electric circuit which acts as a path for a signal.

- [ELECTRONICS] the semiconductor region in a field-effect transistor that forms the main current path between the source and the drain.

5 [BIOLOGY] a tubular passage or duct for liquid.

■ v. (channels, channelling, channelled; US channels, channeling, channeled) [with obj.] 1 direct towards a particular end or object: the council is to channel public funds into training schemes.

- cause to pass along or through a specified route or medium: many countries channel their aid through charities.

- (of a person) serve as a medium for (a spirit).

- emulate or seem to be inspired by: Meg Ryan plays Avery as if she's channelling Nicole Kidman.

2 (usually as adj. channelled) form channels or grooves in: pottery with a distinctive channelled decoration.

<DERIVATIVES> channeller n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chanel, from Latin canalis ‘pipe, groove, channel’, from canna ‘reed’ (see CANE). Compare with CANAL.

channel cat (also channel catfish) n. a common North American freshwater catfish which has a pale blue to olive back with dark spots.

<INFO> Ictalurus punctatus, family Ictaluridae.

Channel Country an area of SW Queensland and NE South Australia, watered intermittently by natural channels, where rich grasslands produced by the summer rains provide grazing for cattle.

channel-graze v. US INFORMAL another term for channel-hop (sense 1).

<DERIVATIVES> channel-grazer n.

channel-hop v. [no obj.] INFORMAL 1 change frequently from one television channel to another, using a remote control device.

2 travel across the English Channel and back to Britain frequently or for only a brief trip.

<DERIVATIVES> channel-hopper n.

Channel Islands a group of islands in the English Channel off the NW coast of France, of which the largest are Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney; pop. 149,800 (2001). Formerly part of the dukedom of Normandy, they have owed allegiance to England since the Norman Conquest in 1066.

channelize (also channelise) v. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for channel (sense 1 of the verb).

channel-surf v. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for channel-hop (sense 1).

Channel Tunnel a railway tunnel under the English Channel, linking the coasts of England and France, opened in 1994 and 49 km (31 miles) long.

chanson /s/ French /αs/ n. a French song.

<ORIGIN> French, from Latin cantio(n-) ‘singing’, from canere ‘sing’.

chanson de geste /s də εst/ French /αsdə εst/ n. (pl. chansons de geste pronunc. same) a medieval French historical verse romance.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘song of heroic deeds’, from chanson ‘song’ (see CHANSON) and geste from Latin gesta ‘actions, exploits’, from gerere ‘perform’.

chant n. 1 a repeated rhythmic phrase, typically one shouted or sung in unison by a crowd.

- a repetitive song, typically an incantation or part of a ritual.

2 [MUSIC] a short musical passage in two or more phrases used for singing unmetrical words; a psalm or canticle sung to such music.

- [mass noun] the style of music consisting of such passages: Gregorian chant.

■ v. [with obj.] say or shout repeatedly in a sing-song tone: protesters were chanting slogans | [no obj.] everyone was singing and chanting.

- sing or intone (a psalm, canticle, or sacred text).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘sing’): from Old French chanter ‘sing’, from Latin cantare, frequentative of canere ‘sing’.

chanter n. 1 a person who chants something.

2 [MUSIC] the pipe of a bagpipe with finger holes, on which the melody is played.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French chanteor, from Latin cantator, from cantare (see CHANT).

chanterelle /tαntərεl tαntərεl/ n. an edible woodland mushroom with a yellow funnel-shaped cap, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Cantharellus cibarius, family Cantharellaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from modern Latin cantharellus, diminutive of cantharus, from Greek kantharos, denoting a kind of drinking container.

chanteuse /αntəz/ French /αtøz/ n. a female singer of popular songs.

<ORIGIN> French, from chanter ‘sing’.

chanticleer /tαntklə/ n. LITERARY a name given to a domestic cock, especially in fairy tales.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French Chantecler, the name of the cock in the fable Reynard the Fox, from chanter ‘sing, crow’ (see CHANT) + cler ‘clear’.

Chantilly cream /antli/ n. [mass noun] sweetened or flavoured whipped cream.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Chantilly, a town near Paris, where it originated.

Chantilly lace n. [mass noun] a delicate kind of bobbin lace.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Chantilly (see CHANTILLY CREAM).

chanting goshawk n. a long-legged African hawk with pale grey upper parts, throat, and breast, noted for its prolonged musical fluting call.

<INFO> Genus Melierax, family Accipitridae: three species.

chantry /tαntri/ n. (pl. chantries) an endowment for a priest or priests to celebrate masses for the founder's soul.

- a chapel, altar, or other part of a church endowed for such a purpose.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French chanterie, from chanter ‘to sing’.

chanty /anti/ (also chantey) n. (pl. chanties or chanteys) ARCHAIC or North American variant spellings of shanty^2.

Chanute /tənut/ Octave (1832–1910), French-born American aviation pioneer. From 1898 he produced a number of gliders, including a biplane which made over 700 flights. He assisted the Wright brothers in making the world's first controlled powered flight.

chaology /kelədi/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the study of chaotic systems.

<DERIVATIVES> chaologist n.

Chao Phraya /ta prəjα/ a major waterway of central Thailand, formed by the junction of the Ping and Nan Rivers.

chaos /kes/ n. [mass noun] complete disorder and confusion: snow caused chaos in the region.

- [PHYSICS] the property of a complex system whose behaviour is so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions.

- the formless matter supposed to have existed before the creation of the universe.

- (Chaos) [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the first created being, from which came the primeval deities Gaia, Tartarus, Erebus, and Nyx.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting a gaping void or chasm, later formless primordial matter): via French and Latin from Greek khaos ‘vast chasm, void’.

chaos theory n. [mass noun] the branch of mathematics that deals with complex systems whose behaviour is highly sensitive to slight changes in conditions, so that small alterations can give rise to strikingly great consequences.

chaotic adj. in a state of complete confusion and disorder: the political situation was chaotic.

- [PHYSICS] relating to systems which exhibit chaos.

<DERIVATIVES> chaotically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from CHAOS, on the pattern of words such as hypnotic.

chaotic attractor n. [MATHEMATICS] another term for STRANGE ATTRACTOR.

chap^1 v. (chaps, chapping, chapped) [no obj.] (of the skin) become cracked, rough, or sore, typically through exposure to cold weather: his skin is very dry and chaps easily.

- [with obj.] (usually as adj. chapped) (of the wind or cold) cause (skin) to crack or become sore: chapped lips.

■ n. a cracked or sore patch on the skin.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

chap^2 n. BRITISH INFORMAL a man or a boy.

- DATED a friendly form of address between men and boys: best of luck, old chap.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a buyer or customer): abbreviation of CHAPMAN. The current sense dates from the early 18th cent.

chap^3 n. (usually chaps) the lower jaw or half of the cheek, especially that of a pig used as food.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin. Compare with CHOPS.

chap. abbr. chapter.

chaparajos /apərehəs t-/ (also chaparejos) plural n. NORTH AMERICAN leather trousers without a seat, worn by a cowboy over ordinary trousers to protect the legs.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Mexican Spanish chaparreras, from chaparra ‘dwarf evergreen oak’ (with reference to protection from thorny vegetation: see CHAPARRAL); probably influenced by Spanish aparejo ‘equipment’.

chaparral /apəral t-/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN vegetation consisting chiefly of tangled shrubs and thorny bushes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, from chaparra ‘dwarf evergreen oak’.

chapatti /təpαti -pati/ (also chupatty) n. (pl. chapattis) (in Indian cookery) a thin pancake of unleavened wholemeal bread cooked on a griddle.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi capātī, from capānā ‘flatten, roll out’.

chapbook n. HISTORICAL a small pamphlet containing tales, ballads, or tracts, sold by pedlars.

- NORTH AMERICAN a small paper-covered booklet, typically containing poems or fiction.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CHAPMAN + BOOK.

chape /tep/ n. 1 HISTORICAL the metal point of a scabbard.

2 the metal pin of a buckle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general sense ‘plate of metal overlaying or trimming something’): from Old French, literally ‘cape, hood’, from late Latin cappa ‘cap’.

chapeau /apə/ n. (pl. chapeaux) [HERALDRY] a hat or cap, typically a red one with an ermine lining, on which the crests of some peers are borne.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French, from Latin cappellum, diminutive of cappa ‘cap’.

chapeau-bras /apəbrα/ French /apəbRa/ n. (pl. chapeaux-bras pronunc. same) HISTORICAL a man's three-cornered flat silk hat, typically carried under the arm.

<ORIGIN> French, from chapeau ‘hat’ and bras ‘arm’.

chapel n. 1 a small building or room used for Christian worship in a school, prison, hospital, or large private house: the prison riot started after a service in the chapel.

- a part of a large church or cathedral with its own altar and dedication.

- BRITISH a place of worship for Nonconformist congregations: she went to chapel twice on Sunday.

- a small building or room used for funeral services.

- US a chapel of rest.

2 BRITISH the members or branch of a print or newspaper trade union at a particular place of work.

■ adj. BRITISH INFORMAL belonging to or regularly attending a Nonconformist chapel: staunch chapel folk.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chapele, from medieval Latin cappella, diminutive of cappa ‘cap or cape’ (the first chapel being a sanctuary in which St Martin's cloak was preserved).

chapel of ease n. an Anglican chapel situated for the convenience of parishioners living a long distance from the parish church.

chapel of rest n. BRITISH an undertaker's mortuary, where bodies are kept before a funeral.

chapel royal n. (pl. chapels royal) a chapel in a royal palace.

- (the Chapel Royal) the body of clergy, singers, and musicians employed by the English monarch for religious services, now based at St James's Palace, London.

chapelry n. (pl. chapelries) a district served by an Anglican chapel.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chapelerie, medieval Latin cappellaria, from cappella, originally ‘little cloak’ (see CHAPEL).

chaperone /apərən/ (also chaperon /apərn/) n. a person who accompanies and looks after another person or group of people.

- DATED an older woman responsible for the decorous behaviour of a young unmarried girl at social occasions.

■ v. [with obj.] accompany and look after or supervise.

<DERIVATIVES> chaperonage /ap(ə)r(ə)nd/ n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a hood or cap, regarded as giving protection): from French, feminine of chaperon ‘hood’, diminutive of chape (see CHAPE). The current sense dates from the early 18th cent.

chaperonin /apərənn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein that aids the assembly and folding of other protein molecules in living cells.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from CHAPERONE + -IN^1.

chap-fallen (also chop-fallen) adj. ARCHAIC with one's lower jaw hanging due to extreme exhaustion or dejection.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from CHAP^3.

chaplain n. a member of the clergy attached to a private chapel, institution, ship, regiment, etc.

<DERIVATIVES> chaplaincy n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chapelain, from medieval Latin cappellanus, originally denoting a custodian of the cloak of St Martin, from cappella, originally ‘little cloak’ (see CHAPEL).

chaplet /taplt/ n. 1 a garland or circlet for a person's head.

2 a string of 55 beads (one third of the rosary number) for counting prayers, or as a necklace.

3 a metal support for the core of a hollow casting mould.

<DERIVATIVES> chapleted adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French chapelet, diminutive of chapel ‘hat’, based on late Latin cappa ‘cap’.

Chaplin Charlie (1889–1977), English film actor and director; full name Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin. He directed and starred in many short silent comedies, mostly playing a bowler-hatted tramp, a character which was his trademark for more than twenty-five years. Notable films: The Kid (1921).

<DERIVATIVES> Chaplinesque adj.

Chapman George (c.1560–1634), English poet and dramatist. He is chiefly known for his translations of Homer; the complete Iliad and Odyssey were published in 1616.

chapman n. (pl. chapmen) ARCHAIC a pedlar.

<ORIGIN> Old English cēapman, from cēap ‘bargaining, trade’ (see CHEAP) + MAN.

chappal /tap(ə)l/ n. INDIAN a slipper.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi cappal.

Chappaquiddick Island /tapəkwdk/ a small island off the coast of Massachusetts, the scene of a car accident in 1969 involving Senator Edward Kennedy in which his assistant Mary Jo Kopechne drowned.

Chappell /tap(ə)l/ Greg (b.1948), Australian cricketer; full name Gregory Stephen Chappell. Captain of Australia (1975–84), he was the first Australian to score more than 7,000 test-match runs.

chappie n. (pl. chappies) BRITISH INFORMAL another term for chap^2.

chaprasi /tprαsi/ n. (pl. chaprasis) INDIAN a junior office worker who carries messages.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi, from caprās, denoting a metal identity badge worn by messengers or orderlies.

chaps plural n. short for CHAPARAJOS.

chapstick n. NORTH AMERICAN TRADEMARK a small stick of a cosmetic substance used to prevent chapping of the lips.

chaptalization /taptəlze(ə)n/ (also chaptalisation) n. [mass noun] (in winemaking) the correction or improvement of must by the addition of calcium carbonate to neutralize acid, or of sugar to increase alcoholic strength.

<DERIVATIVES> chaptalize (also chaptalise) v.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of Jean A. Chaptal (1756–1832), the French chemist who invented the process, + -ization (see -IZE).

chapter n. 1 a main division of a book, typically with a number or title.

- an Act of Parliament numbered as part of a session's proceedings.

- a section of a treaty.

2 a distinctive period in history or in a person's life.

3 the governing body of a religious community or knightly order.

4 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a local branch of a society.

- a local group of Hell's Angels.

<PHRASES>

□ chapter and verse an exact reference or authority: she can give chapter and verse on current legislation.

□ a chapter of accidents BRITISH a series of unfortunate events.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chapitre, from Latin capitulum, diminutive of caput ‘head’.

Chapter 11 n. [mass noun] US protection from creditors given to a company in financial difficulties for a limited period to allow it to reorganize.

<ORIGIN> with allusion to chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy code.

chapter house n. a building used for the meetings of the canons of a cathedral or other religious community.

- US a place where a college fraternity or sorority meets.

char^1 /tα/ v. (chars, charring, charred) [with obj.] partially burn so as to blacken the surface: a region charred by bush fires | (as adj. charred) charred remains.

■ n. [mass noun] material that has been charred.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: apparently a back-formation from CHARCOAL.

char^2 /tα/ BRITISH INFORMAL n. a charwoman.

■ v. (chars, charring, charred) [no obj.] work as a charwoman.

char^3 /tα/ (also cha /tα/ or chai /t/) n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL tea.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as cha; rare before the early 20th century): from Chinese (Mandarin dialect) chá.

charabanc /arəba/ n. BRITISH an early form of bus, used typically for pleasure trips.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French char-à-bancs ‘carriage with benches’ (the original horse-drawn charabancs having rows of bench seats).

characin /karəsn/ n. a small and brightly coloured freshwater fish native to Africa and tropical America.

<INFO> Family Characidae: numerous species, including the piranhas and popular aquarium fishes such as the tetras.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Characinus (genus name), from Greek kharax, literally ‘pointed stake’, denoting a kind of fish.

character n. 1 the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual: running away was not in keeping with her character.

- the distinctive nature of something: gas lamps give the area its character.

- [mass noun] the quality of being individual in an interesting or unusual way: the island is full of character.

- [mass noun] strength and originality in a person's nature: she had character as well as beauty.

- a person's good reputation: to what do I owe this attack on my character?

- DATED a written statement of someone's good qualities; a testimonial.

2 a person in a novel, play, or film.

- a part played by an actor.

- INFORMAL an unusual or amusing person: she's a right character with a will of her own.

3 a printed or written letter or symbol.

- [COMPUTING] a symbol representing a letter or number.

4 chiefly [BIOLOGY] a characteristic, especially one that assists in the identification of a species.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC inscribe or write (something).

- describe: you have well charactered him.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or out of) character in keeping (or not in keeping) with someone's usual pattern of behaviour and motives.

<DERIVATIVES> characterful adj. characterfully adv. characterless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French caractere, via Latin from Greek kharaktēr ‘a stamping tool’. From the early sense ‘distinctive mark’ arose ‘token, feature, or trait’ (early 16th century), and from this ‘a description, especially of a person's qualities’, giving rise to ‘distinguishing qualities’.

character actor n. an actor who specializes in playing eccentric or unusual people rather than leading roles.

character assassination n. [mass noun] the malicious and unjustified harming of a person's good reputation.

character code n. [COMPUTING] the binary code used to represent a letter or number.

character dance n. [mass noun] a style of ballet deriving inspiration from national or folk dances, or interpreting and representing a particular profession, mode of living, or personality.

<DERIVATIVES> character dancer n.

characteristic adj. typical of a particular person, place, or thing: he began with a characteristic attack on extremism.

■ n. 1 a feature or quality belonging typically to a person, place, or thing and serving to identify them: certain defining characteristics of the school emerge from the study.

2 [MATHEMATICS] the whole number or integral part of a logarithm, which gives the order of magnitude of the original number.

<DERIVATIVES> characteristically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French caractéristique or medieval Latin characteristicus, from Greek kharaktēristikos, from kharaktēr ‘a stamping tool’.

characteristic curve n. a graph showing the relationship between two variable but interdependent quantities.

characteristic function n. [MATHEMATICS] a function whose result is unity for the members of a given set and zero for all non-members.

characteristic radiation n. [mass noun] radiation consisting of wavelengths which are peculiar to the element which emits them.

characterize (also characterise) v. [with obj.] 1 describe the distinctive nature or features of: she characterized the period as the decade of revolution.

2 (of a feature or quality) be typical or characteristic of: the disease is characterized by weakening of the immune system.

<DERIVATIVES> characterization n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘engrave, inscribe’): from French caractériser or medieval Latin characterizare, from Greek kharaktērizein, from kharaktēr ‘a stamping tool’.

character part n. a part played by a character actor.

character recognition n. [mass noun] the identification by electronic means of printed or written characters.

character string n. a linear sequence of characters stored in or processed by a computer.

character witness n. a person who attests to another's good reputation in a court of law.

charade /ərαd/ n. an absurd pretence intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance: talk of unity was nothing more than a charade.

- (charades) a game in which players guess a word or phrase from a written or acted clue given for each syllable and for the whole item.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from modern Provençal charrado ‘conversation’, from charra ‘chatter’, perhaps of imitative origin.

charango /təraə/ n. (pl. charangos) a small Andean guitar, traditionally made from an armadillo shell.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from South American Spanish.

charas /tαrəs/ n. [mass noun] cannabis resin.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi caras.

charbroil v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN grill (food, especially meat) on a rack over charcoal.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of CHARCOAL and broil^1.

charcoal n. [mass noun] a porous black solid, consisting of an amorphous form of carbon, obtained as a residue when wood, bone, or other organic matter is heated in the absence of air.

- charcoal used for drawing.

- [count noun] a drawing made with charcoal.

- a dark grey colour.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably related to COAL in the early sense ‘charcoal’.

charcoal burner n. 1 a person who makes charcoal.

2 a small stove using charcoal as fuel.

charcoal filter n. a filter containing charcoal to absorb impurities.

Charcot /αkə/ French /aRkə/ Jean-Martin (1825–93), French neurologist, regarded as one of the founders of modern neurology. He established links between neurological conditions and particular lesions in the central nervous system. His work on hysteria was taken up by his pupil Sigmund Freud.

charcuterie /αkut(ə)ri/ n. (pl. charcuteries) [mass noun] cold cooked meats.

- [count noun] a shop selling cold meats.

<ORIGIN> French, from obsolete char (earlier form of chair) ‘flesh’ + cuite ‘cooked’.

chard /tαd/ n. (also Swiss chard) a beet of a variety with broad edible white leaf stalks and green blades.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French carde, perhaps influenced by chardon ‘thistle’.

Chardonnay /αdəne/ n. [mass noun] a variety of white wine grape used for making champagne and other wines.

- a wine made from the Chardonnay grape.

<ORIGIN> French.

charentais /arənte/ (also charentais melon) n. a melon of a small variety with a pale green rind and orange flesh.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘from the Charentes region’.

Charente /arnt/ French /aRαt/ a river of western France, which rises in the Massif Central and flows 360 km (225 miles) westwards to enter the Bay of Biscay at Rochefort.

charge v. [with obj.] 1 demand (an amount) as a price for a service rendered or goods supplied: wedding planners may charge an hourly fee of €100 to € 150 | [with two objs] he charged me five dollars for the wine.

- (charge something to) record the cost of something as an amount payable by (someone) or on (an account): they charge the calls to their credit-card accounts.

2 formally accuse (someone) of something, especially an offence under law: they were charged with assault.

- [with clause] make an accusation or assertion that: opponents charged that below-cost pricing would reduce safety.

- [LAW] formally accuse someone of (an offence).

3 entrust (someone) with a task as a duty or responsibility: the committee was charged with reshaping the educational system.

4 store electrical energy in (a battery or battery-operated device): the shaver can be charged up and used while travelling.

- [no obj.] (of a battery or battery-operated device) receive and store electrical energy.

5 TECHNICAL or FORMAL load or fill (a container, gun, etc.) to the full or proper extent.

- FIGURATIVE fill or pervade with a quality or emotion: the air was charged with menace.

6 [no obj.] rush forward in attack: the plan is to charge headlong at the enemy.

- [with obj.] rush aggressively towards (someone or something) in attack.

- [with adverbial of direction] move quickly and forcefully: Henry charged up the staircase.

7 [HERALDRY] place a heraldic bearing on: a pennant argent, charged with a cross gules.

■ n. 1 a price asked for goods or services: our standard charge for a letter is £25.

- a financial liability or commitment.

2 an accusation, typically one formally made against a prisoner brought to trial: he appeared in court on a charge of attempted murder.

3 [mass noun] responsibility for the care or control of someone or something: the people in her charge are pupils and not experimental subjects.

- [count noun] a person or thing entrusted to the care of someone: the babysitter watched over her charges.

- [count noun] DATED a responsibility or duty assigned to someone.

- [count noun] an official instruction, especially one given by a judge to a jury regarding points of law.

4 the property of matter that is responsible for electrical phenomena, existing in a positive or negative form.

- the quantity of matter responsible for electrical phenomena carried by a body.

- [mass noun] energy stored chemically for conversion into electricity.

5 a quantity of explosive to be detonated in order to fire a gun or similar weapon.

6 a headlong rush forward, typically in attack: a cavalry charge.

7 [HERALDRY] a device or bearing placed on a shield or crest.

<PHRASES>

□ free of charge without any payment due.

□ in charge in control or with overall responsibility: he was in charge of civil aviation matters.

□ press charges accuse someone formally of a crime so that they can be brought to trial.

□ put someone on a charge of something BRITISH charge someone with a specified offence. he should be put on a charge of perjury.

□ take charge assume control or responsibility: the candidate must take charge of an actual flight.

<DERIVATIVES> chargeable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general senses ‘to load’ and ‘a load’, from Old French charger (verb), charge (noun), from late Latin carricare, carcare ‘to load’, from Latin carrus ‘wheeled vehicle’.

charge account n. NORTH AMERICAN an account to which goods and services may be charged on credit.

chargeback n. a demand by a credit-card provider for a retailer to make good the loss on a fraudulent or disputed transaction.

- (in business use) an act or policy of allocating the cost of an organization's centrally located resources to the individuals or departments which use them.

charge-cap v. [with obj.] BRITISH (of a government) subject (a local authority) to an upper limit on the charges it may levy on the public for services.

charge card n. a credit card for use with an account which must be paid in full when a statement is issued.

charge carrier n. a particle which carries an electric charge.

- a mobile electron or hole by which electric charge passes through a semiconductor.

charge conjugation n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] replacement of a particle by its antiparticle.

charged adj. having an electric charge.

- FIGURATIVE filled with excitement, tension, or emotion: the highly charged atmosphere created by the boycott.

chargé d'affaires /αe dafε/ French /aRze dafεR/ (also chargé) n. (pl. chargés d'affaires pronunc. same) an ambassador's deputy.

- a state's diplomatic representative in a minor country.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, ‘(a person) in charge of affairs’.

charge density n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the electric charge per unit area of a surface, or per unit volume of a field or body.

chargehand n. BRITISH a worker, ranking below a foreman, in charge of others on a particular job.

charge nurse n. BRITISH a nurse in charge of a ward in a hospital.

Charge of the Light Brigade a British cavalry charge in 1854 during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. A misunderstanding between the commander of the Light Brigade and his superiors led to the British cavalry being destroyed. The charge was immortalized in verse by Alfred Tennyson.

charger^1 n. 1 a horse ridden by a knight or cavalryman.

2 a device for charging a battery or battery-powered equipment.

charger^2 n. ARCHAIC a large flat dish.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French chargeour, from chargier ‘to load’, from late Latin carricare, carcare ‘to load’ (see CHARGE).

charge sheet n. BRITISH a record made in a police station of the charges against a person.

chargrill v. grill (food, typically meat or fish) quickly at a very high heat.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: on the pattern of charbroil.

chariot n. 1 a two-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses, used in ancient racing and warfare.

2 HISTORICAL a four-wheeled carriage with back seats and a coachman's seat.

3 LITERARY a stately or triumphal carriage.

■ v. [with obj.] LITERARY convey in or as in a chariot.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, augmentative of char ‘cart’, based on Latin carrus ‘wheeled vehicle’.

charioteer n. a chariot driver.

- (the Charioteer) the constellation Auriga.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French charieter, from chariot ‘large cart’ (see CHARIOT). The sense in astronomy dates from the early 20th cent.

charism /karz(ə)m/ n. another term for charisma (sense 2).

charisma /kərzmə/ n. 1 [mass noun] compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others: he has tremendous charisma and stage presence.

2 (pl. charismata /kərzmətə/) a divinely conferred power or talent.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 2): via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek kharisma, from kharis ‘favour, grace’.

charismatic adj. 1 exercising a compelling charm which inspires devotion in others: he was a charismatic figure with great appeal to the public.

2 relating to the charismatic movement in the Christian Church.

- (of a power or talent) divinely conferred: charismatic prophecy.

■ n. an adherent of the charismatic movement.

- a person who claims divine inspiration.

<DERIVATIVES> charismatically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kharisma, kharismat- ‘charisma’, + -IC.

charismatic movement n. a fundamentalist movement within the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other Christian Churches that emphasizes talents held to be conferred by the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and healing of the sick.

charitable adj. 1 relating to the assistance of those in need: he has spent £50,000 on charitable causes.

- (of an organization or activity) officially recognized as devoted to the assistance of those in need.

- generous in giving to those in need.

2 apt to judge others leniently or favourably: those who were less charitable called for his resignation.

<DERIVATIVES> charitableness n. charitably adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘showing Christian love to God and man’): from Old French, from charite (see CHARITY).

charity n. (pl. charities) 1 an organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need.

- [mass noun] the body of organizations viewed collectively as the object of fund-raising or of donations: the proceeds of the sale will go to charity.

2 [mass noun] the voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need.

- help or money given to those in need: an unemployed teacher living on charity.

3 [mass noun] kindness and tolerance in judging others: she found it hard to look on her mother with much charity.

- ARCHAIC love of humankind, typically in a Christian context: faith, hope, and charity.

<PHRASES>

□ charity begins at home PROVERB a person's first responsibility is for the needs of their own family and friends.

<ORIGIN> late Old English (in the sense ‘Christian love of one's fellows’): from Old French charite, from Latin caritas, from carus ‘dear’.

Charity Commission (in the UK) a board established to control charitable trusts.

charity school n. a school which is supported by charitable contributions.

charity shop n. BRITISH a shop where second-hand goods are sold to raise money for a charity.

charivari /αrvαri/ (chiefly US also shivaree) n. (pl. charivaris) chiefly HISTORICAL a cacophonous mock serenade, typically performed by a group of people in derision of an unpopular person or in celebration of a marriage.

- a series of discordant noises.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, of unknown origin.

charkha /təkə/ (also charka) n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a domestic spinning wheel used chiefly for cotton.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu chara ‘spinning wheel’, from Persian; related to Sanskrit cakra ‘wheel’.

charlady n. (pl. charladies) BRITISH a charwoman.

charlatan /αlət(ə)n/ n. a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill.

<DERIVATIVES> charlatanism n. charlatanry n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting an itinerant seller of supposed remedies): from French, from Italian ciarlatano, from ciarlare ‘to babble’.

Charlemagne /αləmen/ (742–814), king of the Franks 768–814 and Holy Roman emperor (as Charles I) 800–14; Latin name Carolus Magnus; known as Charles the Great. As the first Holy Roman emperor Charlemagne promoted the arts and education, and his court became the cultural centre of the Carolingian Renaissance, the influence of which outlasted his empire.

Charleroi /αlərw/ French /aRlRwa/ an industrial city in SW Belgium; pop. 201,000 (est. 2002).

Charles^1 the name of two kings of England, Scotland, and Ireland:

- Charles I (1600–49), son of James I, reigned 1625–49. His reign was dominated by the deepening religious and constitutional crisis that resulted in the English Civil War 1642–9. After the battle of Naseby, Charles tried to regain power in alliance with the Scots, but his forces were defeated in 1648 and he was tried by a special Parliamentary court and beheaded.

- Charles II (1630–85), son of Charles I, reigned 1660–85. Charles was restored to the throne after the collapse of Cromwell's regime and displayed considerable adroitness in handling the difficult constitutional situation, although continuing religious and political strife dogged his reign.

Charles^2 the name of four kings of Spain:

- Charles I (1500–58), son of Philip I, reigned 1516–56, Holy Roman emperor (as Charles V) 1519–56. His reign was characterized by the struggle against Protestantism in Germany, rebellion in Castile, and war with France (1521–44). Exhausted by these struggles, Charles handed Naples, the Netherlands, and Spain over to his son Philip II and the imperial Crown to his brother Ferdinand, and retired to a monastery.

- Charles II (1661–1700), reigned 1665–1700. He inherited a kingdom already in a decline which he was unable to halt. His choice of Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France, as his successor gave rise to the War of the Spanish Succession.

- Charles III (1716–88), reigned 1759–88. He improved Spain's position as an international power through an increase in foreign trade, and brought Spain a brief cultural and economic revival.

- Charles IV (1748–1819), reigned 1788–1808. During the Napoleonic Wars he suffered the loss of the Spanish fleet, destroyed along with that of France at Trafalgar in 1805. Following the French invasion of Spain in 1807, Charles was forced to abdicate.

Charles^3 the name of seven Holy Roman emperors:

- Charles I see CHARLEMAGNE.

- Charles II (823–877), reigned 875–877.

- Charles III (839–888), reigned 881–887.

- Charles IV (1316–1378), reigned 1355–1378.

- Charles V Charles I of Spain (see Charles^2).

- Charles VI (1685–1740), reigned 1711–40. His claim to the Spanish throne instigated the War of the Spanish Succession, but he was ultimately unsuccessful. He drafted the Pragmatic Sanction in an attempt to ensure that his daughter succeeded to the Habsburg dominions; this triggered the War of the Austrian Succession after his death.

- Charles VII (1697–1745), reigned 1742–45.

Charles^4 Ray (1930–2004), American pianist and singer; born Ray Charles Robinson. Totally blind from the age of 6, he drew on blues, jazz, and country music for songs such as ‘What'd I Say’ (1959) and ‘Georgia On My Mind’ (1960).

Charles VII (1403–61), king of France 1422–61. At the time of his accession much of northern France was under English occupation. After the intervention of Joan of Arc, however, the French experienced a dramatic military revival and the defeat of the English ended the Hundred Years War.

Charles XII (also Karl XII)

- (1682–1718), king of Sweden 1697–1718. In 1700 he embarked on the Great Northern War against Denmark, Poland-Saxony, and Russia. Initially successful, in 1709 he embarked on an expedition into Russia which ended in the destruction of his army and his internment.

Charles, Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales (b.1948), heir apparent to Elizabeth II. He married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981; the couple had two children, Prince William Arthur Philip Louis (b.1982) and Prince Henry Charles Albert David (known as Prince Harry, b.1984), and were divorced in 1996. In 2005 he married Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles (b.1947); she became HRH the Duchess of Cornwall.

Charles' law (also Charles's law) n. [CHEMISTRY] a law stating that the volume of an ideal gas at constant pressure is directly proportional to the absolute temperature.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Jacques A. C. Charles (1746–1823), the French physicist who first formulated it.

Charles Martel /mαtεl/ (c.688–741), Frankish ruler of the eastern part of the Frankish kingdom from 715 and the whole kingdom from 719, grandfather of Charlemagne. His rule marked the beginning of Carolingian power.

Charles's Wain ARCHAIC the Plough in Ursa Major.

<ORIGIN> Old English Carles wægn ‘the wain of Carl (Charlemagne)’, perhaps because the star Arcturus was associated with King Arthur, with whom Charlemagne was connected in legend.

Charleston^1 1 the state capital of West Virginia; pop. 53,421 (2000).

2 a city and port in South Carolina; pop. 96,650 (2000). The bombardment in 1861 of Fort Sumter, in the harbour, by Confederate troops marked the beginning of the American Civil War.

Charleston^2 n. a lively dance of the 1920s which involved turning the knees inwards and kicking out the ankles.

■ v. [no obj.] dance the Charleston.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: named after Charleston^1 in South Carolina, US.

charley horse n. [in sing.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a cramp or feeling of stiffness in an arm or leg.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

charlie n. (pl. charlies) 1 BRITISH INFORMAL a fool.

2 (charlies) BRITISH INFORMAL a woman's breasts.

3 [mass noun] INFORMAL cocaine.

4 a code word representing the letter C, used in radio communication.

5 US & AUSTRALIAN/NZ MILITARY SLANG a member of the Vietcong or the Vietcong collectively. [<ORIGIN> shortening of Victor Charlie, radio code for VC, representing Vietcong.]

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: diminutive of the male given name Charles.

charlock /tαlk/ n. [mass noun] a wild mustard with yellow flowers, which is a common weed of cornfields.

<INFO> Sinapis arvensis, family Cruciferae.

<ORIGIN> Old English cerlic, cyrlic, of unknown origin.

Charlotte a commercial city and transportation centre in southern North Carolina; pop. 540,828 (2000).

charlotte n. a pudding made of stewed fruit with a casing or covering of bread, sponge cake, biscuits, or breadcrumbs.

<ORIGIN> French, from the female given name Charlotte.

Charlotte Amalie /əmαlə/ the capital of the Virgin Islands, on the island of St Thomas; pop. 13,800 (est. 2002).

<ORIGIN> named after the wife of King Christian V of Denmark.

Charlotte Dundas /dndas/ a paddle steamer launched in 1802 on the River Clyde, the first vessel to use steam propulsion commercially.

charlotte russe /rus/ n. a pudding consisting of custard enclosed in sponge cake or a casing of sponge fingers.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘Russian charlotte’.

Charlottetown the capital and chief port of Prince Edward Island, Canada; pop. 33,600 (est. 2002).

Charlton the name of two brothers eminent in football:

- Jack (b.1935), English footballer and manager; full name John Charlton. A Leeds United defender, he was a member of the England side that won the World Cup in 1966. He later managed a number of teams including the Republic of Ireland national side (1986–95).

- Bobby (b.1937), English footballer; full name Sir Robert Charlton. An outstanding Manchester United striker, he scored a record forty-nine goals for England and was a member of the side that won the World Cup in 1966.

charm n. 1 [mass noun] the power or quality of delighting, attracting, or fascinating others: he was captivated by her youthful charm.

- [count noun] (usually charms) an attractive or alluring characteristic or feature: the hidden charms of the city.

2 a small ornament worn on a necklace or bracelet.

3 an object, act, or saying believed to have magic power.

- an object kept or worn to ward off evil and bring good luck: a good luck charm.

4 [mass noun] [PHYSICS] one of six flavours of quark.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 delight greatly: the books have charmed children the world over.

- use one's ability to please and attract in order to influence (someone): he charmed her into going out.

2 control or achieve by or as if by magic: a gesticulating figure endeavouring to charm a cobra | [with adverbial] she will charm your warts away.

<PHRASES>

□ turn on the charm use one's ability to please in a calculated way so as to influence someone or to obtain something.

□ work like a charm be completely successful or effective.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘incantation or magic spell’ and ‘to use spells’): from Old French charme (noun), charmer (verb), from Latin carmen ‘song, verse, incantation’.

charm bracelet n. a bracelet hung with small trinkets or ornaments.

charmed adj. 1 (of a person's life or a period of this) unusually lucky or happy as though protected by magic: I felt that I had a charmed life.

2 [PHYSICS] (of a particle) possessing the property charm.

■ exclam. DATED expressing polite pleasure at an introduction: charmed, I'm sure.

charmer n. a person with an attractive and engaging personality, typically one who uses this to impress or manipulate others.

charmeuse /αməz/ n. [mass noun] a soft, smooth silky dress fabric.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, feminine of charmeur ‘charmer’, from charmer ‘to charm’.

charming adj. very pleasant or attractive: a charming country cottage.

- (of a person or their manner) very polite, friendly, and likeable: he was a charming, affectionate colleague.

■ exclam. used as an ironic expression of displeasure or disapproval: ‘I hate men.’ ‘Charming!’ he said.

<DERIVATIVES> charmingly adv.

charmless adj. unattractive or unpleasant: a charmless sixties structure.

<DERIVATIVES> charmlessly adv. charmlessness n.

charm offensive n. a campaign of flattery, friendliness, and cajolement designed to achieve the support or agreement of others: he launched a charm offensive against MPs who didn't support the government.

charmonium /tαmənəm/ n. (pl. charmonia) [PHYSICS] a combination of a charmed quark and antiquark.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from CHARM (SENSE 4 OF THE NOUN).

charm school n. INFORMAL, DATED an institution offering training in etiquette, elocution, etc.

charnel /tαn(ə)l/ n. short for CHARNEL HOUSE.

■ adj. associated with death: I gagged on the charnel stench of the place.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin carnale, neuter (used as a noun) of carnalis ‘relating to flesh’ (see CARNAL).

charnel house n. HISTORICAL a building or vault in which corpses or bones are piled.

- a place associated with violent death: Europe in the immediate post-war period had become a charnel house.

Charolais /arə()le/ n. (pl. same) an animal of a breed of large white beef cattle.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after the Monts du Charollais, hills in eastern France where the breed originated.

Charon /kεrən/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] an old man who ferried the souls of the dead across the Rivers Styx and Acheron to Hades.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the only satellite of Pluto, discovered in 1978, with a diameter (1,190 km) that is more than half that of Pluto.

Charophyta /kαrə()ftə karə()- tarə()-/ plural n. [BOTANY] a division of lower plants that includes the stoneworts, which are frequently treated as a class (Charophyceae) of the green algae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), former name of the family Characeae, from Chara (genus name) + phuton ‘a plant’.

charophyte n. [BOTANY] a lower plant of the division Charophyta, such as a stonewort.

charpoy /tαp/ n. INDIAN a light bedstead.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Urdu cārpāī ‘four-legged’, from Persian.

charr /tα/ (also char) n. (pl. same) a trout-like freshwater or marine fish of northern countries, valued as a food and game fish.

<INFO> Genus Salvelinus, family Salmonidae: several species, in particular the red-bellied Arctic charr (S. alpinus), which occurs in Arctic waters, and the North American brook charr or brook trout (S. fontinalis).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: perhaps of Celtic origin.

charrette /arεt/ (also charette) n. North American 1 a public meeting or workshop devoted to a concerted effort to solve a problem or plan the design of something.

2 a period of intense work, typically undertaken in order to meet a deadline.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a cart or wagon): from Frenchcharrette, literally ‘cart’; current sense dates from the mid 20th century, possibly with reference to the use of a cart in 19th-cent. Paris to collect architecture students' work on the day of an exhibition.

charro /tαrə/ n. (pl. charros) a traditionally dressed Mexican cowboy.

<ORIGIN> Mexican Spanish, from Spanish, literally ‘rustic’.

chart n. a sheet of information in the form of a table, graph, or diagram: the doctor recorded her blood pressure on a chart.

- (usually the charts) a weekly listing of the current best-selling pop records: she topped the charts for eight weeks.

- a geographical map or plan, especially one used for navigation by sea or air.

- (also birth chart or natal chart) [ASTROLOGY] a circular map showing the positions of the planets in the twelve houses at the time of someone's birth, from which astrologers are said to be able to deduce their character or potential.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] make a map of (an area): Cook charted the coasts and waters of New Zealand.

- plot (a course) on a chart: the pilot found his craft taking a route he had not charted | FIGURATIVE the poems chart his descent into madness.

- record on a chart.

2 [no obj.] (of a record) sell enough copies to enter the music charts at a particular position: the record will probably chart at about No. 74.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French charte, from Latin charta ‘paper, papyrus leaf’ (see card^1).

chartbuster n. INFORMAL a popular singer or group that makes a best-selling recording.

- a best-selling recording.

charter n. 1 a written grant by the sovereign or legislative power of a country, by which a body such as a borough, company, or university is created or its rights and privileges defined.

- a written constitution or description of an organization's functions.

- [with modifier] (in the UK) a written statement of the rights of a specified group of people: the standard set by the patient's charter.

- (a charter for) BRITISH a policy or law regarded as enabling people to engage more easily in a specified undesirable activity: he described the act as a charter for vandals.

2 [mass noun] the hiring of an aircraft, ship, or motor vehicle for a special purpose: a plane on charter to a multinational company.

- [count noun] a ship or vehicle that is hired.

- [count noun] a trip made by a ship or vehicle under hire: he liked to see the boat sparkling clean before each charter.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (usually as adj. chartered) grant a charter to (a city, university, or other body): chartered corporations.

2 hire (an aircraft, ship, or motor vehicle).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chartre, from Latin chartula, diminutive of charta ‘paper’ (see card^1).

chartered adj. [attr.] 1 BRITISH (of an accountant, engineer, librarian, etc.) qualified as a member of a professional body that has a royal charter.

2 (of an aircraft or ship) having been hired.

charterer n. a person or organization that charters a ship or aircraft.

charter flight n. a flight by an aircraft chartered for a specific journey, not part of an airline's regular schedule.

Charter Mark n. (in the UK) an award granted to institutions for exceptional public service under the terms of the Citizen's Charter.

charter member n. NORTH AMERICAN an original or founding member of a society or organization.

charter party n. 1 a deed between a shipowner and a trader for the hire of a ship and the delivery of cargo.

2 a group of people using a hired aircraft or ship.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French charte partie, from medieval Latin charta partita ‘divided charter’, i.e. one written in duplicate on a single sheet, then divided in such a way that the two parts could be fitted together again as proof of authenticity.

charter school n. 1 (in North America) a publicly funded independent school established by teachers, parents, or community groups under the terms of a charter with a local or national authority.

2 (Charter School) HISTORICAL a school established by the Charter Society (founded for that purpose in 1733) to provide a Protestant education to poor Catholics in Ireland.

Chartism n. [mass noun] 1 a UK parliamentary reform movement of 1837–48, the principles of which were set out in a manifesto called The People's Charter and called for universal suffrage for men, equal electoral districts, voting by secret ballot, abolition of property qualifications for MPs, and annual general elections.

2 (chartism) the use of charts of financial data to predict future trends and to guide investment strategies.

<DERIVATIVES> Chartist n. & adj.

Chartres /αtr(ə)/ French /aRtR/ a city in northern France; pop. 40,361 (1999). It is noted for its Gothic cathedral.

chartreuse /αtrəz/ n. 1 [mass noun] a pale green or yellow liqueur made from brandy and aromatic herbs.

- a pale yellow or green colour resembling the liqueur chartreuse.

2 a dish made in a mould using pieces of meat, game, vegetables, or (now most often) fruit in jelly.

<ORIGIN> named after La Grande Chartreuse, the Carthusian monastery near Grenoble, where the liqueur (sense 1) was first made;

■ sense 2 is an extended use.

chart-topping adj. INFORMAL (of a popular singer, group, or recording) having reached the top of the music charts.

<DERIVATIVES> chart-topper n.

charwoman n. (pl. charwomen) BRITISH DATED a woman employed as a cleaner in a house or office.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete char or chare ‘a turn of work, an odd job, chore’ (obscurely related to CHORE) + WOMAN.

chary /tεri/ adj. (charier, chariest) cautiously or suspiciously reluctant to do something: she had been chary of telling the whole truth.

<DERIVATIVES> charily adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English cearig ‘sorrowful, anxious’, of West Germanic origin; related to CARE. The current sense arose in the mid 16th cent.

Charybdis /kərbds/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a dangerous whirlpool in a narrow channel of the sea, opposite the cave of the sea monster Scylla.

Chas. abbr. Charles.

chase^1 v. [with obj.] 1 pursue in order to catch or catch up with: police chased the stolen car through the city | [no obj.] the dog chased after the stick.

- seek to attain: the team are chasing their first home win this season.

- seek the company of (a member of the opposite sex) in an obvious way: he spends all his free time chasing girls.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] drive or cause to go in a specified direction: she chased him out of the house.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] rush in a specified direction: he chased down the motorway.

3 try to obtain (something owed or required): the company employs people to chase up debts.

- try to make contact with (someone) in order to obtain something owed or required: the council recently appointed its own team of bailiffs to chase non-payers.

- (chase up) (US chase down) make further investigation of (an unresolved matter).

■ n. an act of pursuing someone or something: they captured the youths after a brief chase.

■ short for STEEPLECHASE.

- (the chase) hunting as a sport: she was an ardent follower of the chase | FIGURATIVE combining the thrill of the chase with the joy of finding a bargain.

- [in place names] BRITISH an area of unenclosed land formerly reserved for hunting: Cannock Chase.

- ARCHAIC a hunted animal.

<PHRASES>

□ chase the game (in soccer) adopt attacking tactics, especially when losing, at the risk of being vulnerable to counter-attack.

□ give chase go in pursuit.

□ go and chase oneself [in imperative] INFORMAL go away.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chacier (verb), chace (noun), based on Latin captare ‘continue to take’, from capere ‘take’.

chase^2 v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. chased) engrave (metal, or a design on metal): a miniature container with a delicately chased floral design.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: apparently from earlier enchase, from Old French enchasser.

chase^3 n. (in letterpress printing) a metal frame for holding the composed type and blocks being printed at one time.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French châsse, from Latin capsa ‘box’ (see case^2).

chase^4 n. 1 the part of a gun enclosing the bore.

2 a groove or furrow cut in the face of a wall or other surface to receive a pipe or wire.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French chas ‘enclosed space’, from Provençal cas, caus, from medieval Latin capsum ‘thorax or nave of a church’.

chaser n. 1 a person or thing that pursues someone or something: [in combination] a woman-chaser.

2 a horse for steeplechasing.

3 INFORMAL a strong alcoholic drink taken after a weaker one: drinking pints of bitter with vodka chasers.

chasm /kaz(ə)m/ n. a deep fissure in the earth's surface.

- FIGURATIVE a profound difference between people, viewpoints, feelings, etc.: the chasm between rich and poor.

<DERIVATIVES> chasmic adj. (RARE)

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting an opening up of the sea or land, as in an earthquake): from Latin chasma, from Greek khasma ‘gaping hollow’.

chasse /as/ n. a liqueur drunk after coffee.

<ORIGIN> French, abbreviation of chasse-café, literally ‘chase-coffee’.

chassé /ase/ n. a gliding step in dancing in which one foot displaces the other.

■ v. (chassés, chasséing, chasséd) [no obj.] perform a chassé.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘chased’.

Chasselas /as(ə)lα/ n. [mass noun] a variety of white grape, grown mainly in Europe and Chile for eating as a fruit or for making wine.

- a wine made from the Chasselas grape.

<ORIGIN> named after a village near Mâcon, France.

chasseur /asə/ French /asœR/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) HISTORICAL a soldier equipped and trained for rapid movement, especially in the French army.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, from chasser ‘to chase or hunt’.

chasseur sauce n. [mass noun] a rich dark sauce with wine and mushrooms, typically served with poultry or game.

<ORIGIN> from French chasseur ‘huntsman’, from chasser ‘to chase or hunt’.

chassis /asi -i/ n. (pl. same /-sz/) the base frame of a car, carriage, or other wheeled vehicle.

- the outer structural framework of a piece of audio, radio, or computer equipment.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French châssis ‘frame’, based on Latin capsa ‘box’ (see case^2).

chaste adj. abstaining from extramarital, or from all, sexual intercourse.

- not having any sexual nature or intention: a chaste, consoling embrace.

- without unnecessary ornamentation; simple or restrained: chaste Classical symmetry.

<DERIVATIVES> chastely adv. chasteness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin castus.

chasten /tes(ə)n/ v. [with obj.] (of a reproof or misfortune) have a restraining or moderating effect on: the director was somewhat chastened by his recent flops | (as adj. chastening) a chastening experience.

- ARCHAIC (especially of God) discipline; punish.

<DERIVATIVES> chastener n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from an obsolete verb chaste, from Old French chastier, from Latin castigare ‘castigate’, from castus ‘morally pure, chaste’.

chaste tree n. a southern European shrub with blue or white flowers, grown as an ornamental.

<INFO> Vitex agnus-castus, family Verbenaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: so named because of its association with chastity in sacrifices to Ceres.

chastise v. [with obj.] rebuke or reprimand severely: he chastised his colleagues for their laziness.

- DATED punish, especially by beating.

<DERIVATIVES> chastisement n. chastiser n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: apparently formed irregularly from the obsolete verb chaste (see CHASTEN).

chastity n. [mass noun] the state or practice of refraining from extramarital, or especially from all, sexual intercourse: vows of chastity.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chastete, from Latin castitas, from castus ‘morally pure’ (see CHASTE).

chastity belt n. HISTORICAL a garment or device designed to prevent the woman wearing it from having sexual intercourse.

chasuble /tazjb(ə)l/ n. an ornate sleeveless outer vestment worn by a Catholic or High Anglican priest when celebrating Mass.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chesible, later chasuble, from late Latin casubla, alteration of Latin casula ‘hooded cloak or little cottage’, diminutive of casa ‘house’.

chat^1 v. (chats, chatting, chatted) [no obj.] talk in a friendly and informal way: she chatted to her mother on the phone every day.

- [with obj.] (chat someone up) INFORMAL engage someone in flirtatious conversation.

■ n. an informal conversation: he dropped in for a chat | [mass noun] that's enough chat for tonight.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: shortening of CHATTER.

chat^2 n. 1 [often in combination] a small Old World songbird of the thrush family, with black, white, and brown coloration and a harsh call.

<INFO> Saxicola and other genera, family Turdidae: numerous species. See also BUSHCHAT, STONECHAT, WHINCHAT.

2 [with modifier] any of a number of small songbirds with harsh calls:

<INFO>

- a New World warbler that typically has a yellow or pink breast (genera Icteria and Granatellus, family Parulidae).

- an Australian songbird related to the honeyeaters, the male of which is either mainly yellow or boldly marked (genera Ephthianura and Ashbyia, family Ephthianuridae).

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: probably imitative of its call.

chateau /atə/ (also château /atə/ French /atə/) n. (pl. chateaux or chateaus pronunc. same or /-təz/) a large French country house or castle, often giving its name to wine made in its neighbourhood: [in names] Château Margaux.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, from Old French chastel (see CASTLE).

Chateaubriand /atəbri/ French /atəbRijα/ François-René, Vicomte de (1768–1848), French writer and diplomat. He was an important figure in early French romanticism. Notable works: Le Génie du Christianisme (1802) and Mémoires d'outre-tombe (autobiography, 1849–50).

chateaubriand /atəbri/ n. a thick fillet of beef steak.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after François-René, Vicomte de CHATEAUBRIAND, whose chef is said to have created the dish.

chatelain /atəlen/ n. another term for CASTELLAN.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French chastelain, from medieval Latin castellanus ‘castellan’, from Latin castellum (see CASTLE).

chatelaine /atəlen/ n. DATED a woman in charge of a large house.

- HISTORICAL a set of short chains attached to a woman's belt, used for carrying keys or other items.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French châtelaine, feminine of châtelain ‘castellan’, from medieval Latin castellanus (see CHATELAIN).

Chatham /tatəm/ 1st Earl of, see PITT.

Chatham Islands a group of two islands, Pitt Island and Chatham Island, in the SW Pacific to the east of New Zealand.

chatline n. a telephone service which allows conversation among a number of separate callers.

chatoyant /ətənt/ adj. (of a gem, especially when cut en cabochon) showing a band of bright lustre caused by reflection from inclusions in the stone.

<DERIVATIVES> chatoyance n. chatoyancy n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, present participle of chatoyer ‘to shimmer’.

chat room n. an area on the Internet or other computer network where users can communicate, typically one dedicated to a particular topic.

chat show n. BRITISH a television or radio programme in which celebrities are invited to talk informally about various topics.

chattel /tat(ə)l/ n. (in general use) a personal possession.

- [LAW] an item of property other than freehold land, including tangible goods (chattels personal) and leasehold interests (chattels real). See also GOODS AND CHATTELS.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chatel, from medieval Latin capitale, from Latin capitalis, from caput ‘head’. Compare with capital^1 and CATTLE.

chattel mortgage n. NORTH AMERICAN a mortgage on a movable item of property.

chatter v. [no obj.] talk informally about unimportant matters: she was chattering about her holiday.

- (of a bird, monkey, or machine) make a series of short, quick high-pitched sounds.

- (of a person's teeth) click repeatedly together from cold or fear.

■ n. [mass noun] informal talk: he was full of inconsequential but amusing chatter.

- a series of short, quick high-pitched sounds: the starlings' constant chatter.

<PHRASES>

□ the chattering classes BRITISH DEROGATORY intellectual or artistic people considered as a social group given to the expression of liberal opinions.

<DERIVATIVES> chattery adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: imitative.

chatterbot n. a computer program designed to interact with people by simulating conversation.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of CHATTER and ROBOT.

chatterbox n. INFORMAL a person who likes to chatter.

chatterer n. 1 a person who chatters at length.

2 INFORMAL any of a number of birds with chattering calls, especially a babbler, a waxwing, or a cotinga.

Chatterton Thomas (1752–70), English poet, chiefly remembered for his fabricated poems professing to be those of a 15th-century monk. He committed suicide at the age of 17.

chatty adj. (chattier, chattiest) readily engaging in informal talk: the driver was very chatty.

- (of a conversation, letter, etc.) informal and lively.

<DERIVATIVES> chattily adv. chattiness n.

chat-up n. [often as modifier] BRITISH INFORMAL an act of talking flirtatiously to someone: a chat-up line.

Chaucer /tsə/ Geoffrey (c.1342–1400), English poet. His most famous work, the Canterbury Tales (c.1387–1400), is a cycle of linked tales told by a group of pilgrims. His skills of characterization, humour, and versatility established him as the first great English poet. Other notable works: Troilus and Criseyde (1385).

<DERIVATIVES> Chaucerian /tsərən/ adj. & n.

chaudhuri /tadri/ n. (pl. chaudhuris) INDIAN a government employee who supplies and is in charge of workers and materials for public works.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi caudharī, literally ‘holder of four’, or from Sanskrit cakradhārin, denoting the bearer of a discus as a sign of authority.

chauffeur n. a person employed to drive a private or hired car.

■ v. [with obj.] drive (a car or a passenger in a car), typically as part of one's job: she insisted on being chauffeured around.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (in the general sense ‘motorist’): from French, literally ‘stoker’ (by association with steam engines), from chauffer ‘to heat’.

chauffeuse /əfəz/ n. a female chauffeur.

Chauliac /əlak/ French /əljak/ Guy de (c.1300–68), French physician. His Chirurgia Magna (1363) was the first work to describe many surgical techniques.

chaulmoogra /tlmurə/ n. a tropical Asian evergreen tree with narrow leathery leaves and oil-rich seeds.

<INFO> Genus Hydnocarpus, family Flacourtiaceae: several species, in particular H. kurzii, the main source of the oil.

- (also chaulmoogra oil) [mass noun] oil obtained from the seeds of the chaulmoogra tree, used medically and as a preservative.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Bengali cāul-mugrā.

Chaumes /əm/ n. [mass noun] a type of French cheese with an orange rind and a creamy flavour.

chausses /əs/ plural n. HISTORICAL pantaloons or close-fitting coverings for the legs and feet, in particular those forming part of a knight's armour.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: French, literally ‘clothing for the legs’.

chautauqua /ttkwə -/ n. NORTH AMERICAN an institution that provided popular adult education courses and entertainment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Chautauqua, a county in New York State, where such an institution was first set up.

chauvinism /əv()nz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] exaggerated or aggressive patriotism.

- excessive or prejudiced support for one's own cause, group, or sex. See also MALE CHAUVINISM.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Nicolas Chauvin, a Napoleonic veteran noted for his extreme patriotism, popularized as a character by the Cogniard brothers in Cocarde Tricolore (1831).

chauvinist /əv()nst/ n. a person displaying aggressive or exaggerated patriotism.

- a person displaying excessive or prejudiced support for their own cause, group, or sex: she wrote off all the local males as hopeless chauvinists.

■ adj. relating to or characteristic of a chauvinist: a chauvinist rejection of foreign interference.

chauvinistic /əv()nstk/ adj. feeling or displaying aggressive or exaggerated patriotism.

- displaying excessive or prejudiced support for their own cause, group, or sex.

<DERIVATIVES> chauvinistically adv.

chav n. British informal, DEROGATORY a young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour and the wearing of (real or imitation) designer clothes.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: perhaps from the name of Chatham, Kent, or from Polari chavy ‘child’ from Romany chavi or Polari charver ‘a woman, especially a prostitute’.

Chavín /tαvin/ n. [usually as modifier] [ARCHAEOLOGY] a civilization that flourished in Peru c.1000–200 BC, uniting a large part of the country's coastal region in a common culture.

<ORIGIN> from the name of the town and temple complex of Chavín de Huantar in the northern highlands, where the civilization was centred.

chaw /t/ INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. an act of chewing something, especially something not intended to be swallowed: enjoying a good chaw.

- something chewed, especially a quid of tobacco: a chaw of tobacco.

■ v. [with obj.] chew (something, especially tobacco).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb): variant of CHEW.

chawal /twəl tl/ n. [mass noun] rice, especially as part of a dish: egg chawal.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi cāval.

chawl /tl/ n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a large building divided into many separate tenements, offering cheap, basic accommodation to labourers.

<ORIGIN> from Marathi cā, denoting a long narrow building.

chayote /teəti/ n. 1 a succulent green pear-shaped tropical fruit which resembles cucumber in flavour.

2 the tropical American vine which yields the chayote, also producing an edible yam-like tuberous root.

<INFO> Sechium edule, family Cucurbitaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Spanish, from Nahuatl chayotli.

ChB abbr. Bachelor of Surgery.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Chirurgiae Baccalaureus.

CHD abbr. coronary heart disease.

cheap adj. 1 low in price, especially in relation to similar items or services: local buses were reliable and cheap.

- charging low prices: a cheap restaurant.

- inexpensive because of inferior quality: cheap, shoddy goods.

2 of little worth because achieved in a discreditable way requiring little effort: her moment of cheap triumph.

- deserving contempt: a cheap trick.

- North American INFORMAL miserly: she's too cheap to send me a postcard.

■ adv. at or for a low price: a house that was going cheap because of the war.

<PHRASES>

□ cheap and cheerful BRITISH simple and inexpensive.

□ cheap and nasty BRITISH of low cost and bad quality: the materials can seem a bit cheap and nasty.

□ cheap at the price (or HUMOROUS at half the price) BRITISH well worth having, regardless of the cost.

□ on the cheap INFORMAL at low cost.

<DERIVATIVES> cheapish adj. cheaply adv. cheapness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from an obsolete phrase good cheap ‘a good bargain’, from Old English cēap ‘bargaining, trade’, based on Latin caupo ‘small trader, innkeeper’.

cheapen v. [with obj.] reduce the price of: the depreciation of the dollar would cheapen US exports.

- degrade: the mass media cheapen the experience of art.

cheapjack n. a seller of cheap inferior goods, typically a hawker at a fair or market.

■ adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN of inferior quality.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CHEAP + JACK^1.

cheapo (also cheapie) INFORMAL adj. [attr.] inexpensive and of poor quality: a cheapo version of the guitar.

■ n. (pl. cheapos) something that is inexpensive and of poor quality.

cheapskate n. INFORMAL a miserly person.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US): from CHEAP + skate ‘a worn-out horse’ or ‘a mean, contemptible, or dishonest person’, of unknown origin.

cheat v. 1 [no obj.] act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage: she always cheats at cards.

- [with obj.] gain an advantage over or deprive of something by using unfair or deceitful methods; defraud: he had cheated her out of everything she had.

- INFORMAL be sexually unfaithful: his wife was cheating on him.

2 [with obj.] avoid (something undesirable) by luck or skill: she cheated death in a spectacular crash.

■ n. a person who behaves dishonestly in order to gain an advantage.

- an act of cheating; a fraud or deception.

- [mass noun] a children's card game, the object of which is to get rid of one's cards while making declarations about them which may or may not be truthful.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: shortening of ESCHEAT (the original sense).

cheater n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 a person who acts dishonestly in order to gain an advantage.

2 (cheaters) INFORMAL a pair of glasses or sunglasses.

cheat grass n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a tough wild grass of open land, sometimes growing as a weed among cereal crops and in pasture.

<INFO> Genus Bromus, family Gramineae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: a local word for various wild plants, perhaps from their resemblance to the cereals among which they grew.

cheat sheet n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a piece of paper bearing written notes intended to aid one's memory, typically one used surreptitiously in an examination.

Cheboksary /tεbəksαri/ a city in west central Russia, on the River Volga, west of Kazan, capital of the autonomous republic of Chuvashia; pop. 420,000 (est. 2002).

Chechen /tεtεn/ n. (pl. same or Chechens) 1 a member of the largely Muslim people inhabiting Chechnya.

2 [mass noun] the North Caucasian language of the Chechen people.

■ adj. relating to the Chechen people or their language.

<ORIGIN> from obsolete Russian chechen (earlier form of chechenets).

Chechnya /tεtnjα/ (also Chechenia) an autonomous republic in the Caucasus in SW Russia, on the border with Georgia; pop. 1,290,000 (1990); capital, Grozny. The republic declared itself independent of Russia in 1991 and was invaded by Russian forces (1994). A peace treaty agreed the withdrawal of troops, but the Russians invaded again in 1999. Also called CHECHEN REPUBLIC.

check^1 v. [with obj.] 1 examine (something) in order to determine its accuracy, quality, or condition, or to detect the presence of something: customs officers have the right to check all luggage | [no obj.] a simple blood test to check for anaemia.

- verify or establish to one's satisfaction: phone us to check the availability of your chosen holiday | [with clause] she glanced over her shoulder to check that the door was shut.

- (check against) verify the accuracy of something by comparing it with (something else): keep your receipt to check against your statement.

- North American another way of saying CHECK SOMETHING OFF.

- North American another way of saying CHECK SOMETHING IN.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN look at; take notice of: check also the remix.

2 stop or slow the progress of (something undesirable): efforts were made to check the disease.

- curb or control (one's feelings or reaction): he learned to check his excitement.

- [ICE HOCKEY] hamper or neutralize (an opponent) with one's body or stick.

- [no obj.] (check against) provide a means of preventing: processes to check against deterioration in the quality of the data held.

3 [with obj.] [CHESS] move a piece or pawn to a square where it attacks (the opposing king).

4 [no obj.] (in poker) choose not to make a bet when called upon, allowing another player to do so instead.

5 [no obj.] (of a hound) pause to make sure of or regain a scent.

6 [no obj.] (of a trained hawk) abandon the intended quarry and fly after other prey.

■ n. 1 an examination to test or ascertain accuracy, quality, or satisfactory condition: a campaign calling for regular checks on gas appliances | a health check.

2 a stopping or slowing of progress: there was no check to the expansion of the market.

- a means of control or restraint: a permanent check upon the growth or abuse of central authority.

- [ICE HOCKEY] an act of hampering or neutralizing an opponent with one's body or stick.

- a temporary loss of the scent in hunting.

- [FALCONRY] the movement made by a hawk when it abandons its intended quarry and pursues other prey.

3 [CHESS] a move by which a piece or pawn directly attacks the opponent's king and by which the king may be checkmated.

4 NORTH AMERICAN the bill in a restaurant.

5 (also baggage or luggage check) a token of identification for left luggage.

6 a counter used as a stake in a gambling game.

7 (also check mark)

■ North American term for tick^1 (sense 1 of the noun).

8 a part of a piano which catches the hammer and prevents it retouching the strings.

9 a crack or flaw in timber.

■ exclam. 1 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN expressing assent or agreement.

2 used by a chess player to announce that the opponent's king has been placed in check.

<PHRASES>

□ checks and balances counterbalancing influences by which an organization or system is regulated, typically those ensuring that power in political institutions is not concentrated in the hands of particular individuals or groups.

□ in check 1 under control: a way of keeping inflation in check.

2 [CHESS] (of a king) directly attacked by an opponent's piece or pawn; (of a player) having the king in this position.

□ keep a check on monitor: keep a regular check on your score.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ check in (or check someone in) arrive and register at a hotel or airport: you must check in at least one hour before take-off | they check in the passengers.

□ check something in have one's baggage weighed and put aside for consignment to the hold of an aircraft on which one is booked to travel.

- register and leave baggage in a left-luggage department.

□ check into register one's arrival at (a hotel).

□ check something off NORTH AMERICAN tick or otherwise mark an item on a list to show that it has been dealt with.

□ check on 1 verify, ascertain, or monitor the state or condition of: the doctor had come to check on his patient.

2 another way of saying CHECK UP ON.

□ check out 1 settle one's hotel bill before leaving.

- North American INFORMAL die.

2 prove to be true or correct.

□ check someone/thing out 1 establish the truth or inform oneself about someone or something: they decided to go and check out a local restaurant.

2 (check something out) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN enter the price of goods in a supermarket into a cash machine.

- register something as having been borrowed.

□ check through inspect or examine thoroughly.

□ check up on investigate in order to establish the truth about or accuracy of: Don called me to check up on some facts.

<DERIVATIVES> checkable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally as used in the game of chess): the noun and exclamation from Old French eschec, from medieval Latin scaccus, via Arabic from Persian šāh ‘king’; the verb from Old French eschequier ‘play chess, put in check’. The sense ‘stop or control’ arose from the use in chess, and led (in the late 17th century) to ‘examine the accuracy of’.

check^2 n. a pattern of small squares: a fine black-and-white check.

- a garment or fabric with a pattern of small squares: on Wednesdays he wore the small check.

■ adj. [attr.] having a checked pattern: a blue check T-shirt.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from CHEQUER (SENSE 1 OF THE NOUN).

checkbox n. [COMPUTING] a small area on a computer screen which, when selected by the user, shows that a particular feature has been enabled.

checked adj. having a pattern of small squares: a checked shirt.

checker^1 n. 1 a person or thing that verifies or examines something: a spelling and grammar checker.

2 US a cashier in a supermarket.

checkerberry n. (pl. checkerberries) a creeping evergreen North American shrub of the heather family, with spiny scented leaves and waxy white flowers. Also called WINTERGREEN.

<INFO> Gaultheria procumbens, family Ericaceae.

- the edible red fruit of the checkerberry plant.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from checkers or chequers ‘berries of the service tree’ (so named from their colour) + BERRY.

checkerspot n. a North American butterfly that resembles a fritillary, with pale markings on the wings that typically form a chequered pattern.

<INFO> Euphydryas and other genera, subfamily Melitaeinae, family Nymphalidae.

check-in n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] the action of registering one's presence, typically as a passenger at an airport: the check-in counter.

- the point at which someone checks in.

checking account (Canadian chequing account) n. NORTH AMERICAN a current account at a bank.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from CHECK^3.

checklist n. a list of items required, things to be done, or points to be considered, used as a reminder.

check mark n. North American another term for check^1 (sense 7 of the noun).

checkmate n. [mass noun] [CHESS] a position in which a player's king is directly attacked by an opponent's piece or pawn and has no possible move to escape the check. The attacking player thus wins the game.

- [as exclamation] said by a player to announce that the opponent's king is in the position of checkmate.

- FIGURATIVE a final defeat or deadlock: if the rebel forces succeed in cutting off the road, they will have achieved checkmate.

■ v. [with obj.] [CHESS] put into checkmate.

- FIGURATIVE defeat or frustrate totally: the vice president checkmated that strategy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French eschec mat, from Arabic šāh māta, from Persian šāh māt ‘the king is dead’.

checkout n. 1 a point at which goods are paid for in a supermarket or similar store.

2 [mass noun] the administrative procedure followed when a guest leaves a hotel at the end of their stay.

checkpoint n. a barrier or manned entrance, typically at a border, where security checks are carried out on travellers.

- a place on the route in a long-distance race where the time for each competitor is recorded.

- a location whose exact position can be verified visually or electronically, used by pilots to aid navigation.

check rein n. a bearing rein.

checkroom n. NORTH AMERICAN a cloakroom in a hotel or theatre.

- an office for left luggage.

checksum n. a digit representing the sum of the correct digits in a piece of stored or transmitted digital data, against which later comparisons can be made to detect errors in the data.

check-up n. a thorough examination, especially a medical or dental one, to detect any problems.

check valve n. a valve that closes to prevent backward flow of liquid.

Cheddar n. [mass noun] a kind of firm smooth yellow cheese, originally made in Cheddar in SW England.

cheder /xεdə/ (also heder) n. (pl. chedarim /-dαrm/, cheders) a school for Jewish children in which Hebrew and religious knowledge are taught.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Hebrew eer ‘room’.

cheechako /titαkə/ n. (pl. cheechakos) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person newly arrived in the mining districts of Alaska or NW Canada.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Chinook Jargon, ‘newcomer’.

cheek n. 1 either side of the face below the eye: tears rolled down her cheeks.

2 either of the buttocks.

3 either of two side pieces or parts arranged in lateral pairs in a structure.

4 [in sing.] talk or behaviour regarded as rude or lacking in respect: he had the cheek to complain.

■ v. [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL speak impertinently to: Frankie always got away with cheeking his elders.

<PHRASES>

□ cheek by jowl close together: they lived cheek by jowl in a one-room flat. [<ORIGIN> from a use of jowl in the sense ‘cheek’; the phrase was originally cheek by cheek.]

□ cheek to cheek (of two people dancing) with their heads close together in a romantic way.

□ turn the other cheek refrain from retaliating when one has been attacked or insulted. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Matt. 5:39.]

<DERIVATIVES> cheeked adj. [in combination] rosy-cheeked

<ORIGIN> Old English cē(a)ce, cēoce ‘cheek, jaw’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch kaak.

cheekbone n. the bone below the eye.

cheekpiece n. 1 a smooth block fitted to the stock of a rifle or shotgun and resting against the face when aiming from the shoulder.

2 either of the two straps of a horse's bridle joining the bit and the headpiece.

3 a bar on a horse's bit which lies outside the mouth.

cheeky adj. (cheekier, cheekiest) impudent or irreverent, typically in an amusing way: a cheeky grin.

<DERIVATIVES> cheekily adv. cheekiness n.

cheep n. a short, high squeaky cry made by a young bird.

- a short, high sound resembling the cry of a young bird: an electronic cheep from the alarm.

- [in sing.] [with negative] [often as modifier] INFORMAL the slightest sound: there has not been a cheep from anybody.

■ v. [no obj.] make a short, high squeaky sound.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally Scots): imitative (compare with peep^2).

cheer v. 1 [no obj.] shout for joy or in praise or encouragement: she cheered from the sidelines | (as adj. cheering) a cheering crowd.

- [with obj.] praise or encourage with shouts: MPs rose to cheer the Chancellor | the cyclists were cheered on by the crowds.

2 [with obj.] give comfort or support to: he seemed greatly cheered by my arrival.

- (cheer someone up or cheer up) make or become less miserable: [with obj.] I asked her out to lunch to cheer her up | [no obj.] he cheered up at the sight of the food.

■ n. 1 a shout of encouragement, praise, or joy: a tremendous cheer from the audience.

2 (also good cheer) [mass noun] cheerfulness, optimism, or confidence: an attempt to inject a little cheer into this gloomy season.

- food and drink provided for a festive occasion: they had partaken heartily of the Christmas cheer.

<PHRASES>

□ of good cheer ARCHAIC cheerful; optimistic.

□ three cheers three successive hurrahs shouted to express appreciation or congratulation: three cheers for the winners!

□ two cheers qualified approval or mild enthusiasm.

□ what cheer? ARCHAIC how are you?

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chiere ‘face’, from late Latin cara, from Greek kara ‘head’. The original sense was ‘face’, hence ‘expression, mood’, later specifically ‘a good mood’.

cheerful adj. noticeably happy and optimistic: how can she be so cheerful at six o'clock in the morning? | a cheerful voice.

- causing happiness by its nature or appearance: cheerful news | the room was painted in cheerful colours.

<DERIVATIVES> cheerfulness n.

cheerfully adv. in a cheerful way.

- readily and willingly: he cheerfully admits to being the wrong side of fifty.

cheerio exclam. BRITISH INFORMAL used as an expression of good wishes on parting; goodbye.

- DATED expressing good wishes before drinking.

cheerleader n. a member of a team of girls who perform organized cheering, chanting, and dancing in support of a sports team at matches in the US and elsewhere.

- an enthusiastic and vocal supporter of someone or something: he was a cheerleader for individual initiative.

<DERIVATIVES> cheerleading n. & adj.

cheerless adj. gloomy; depressing: the corridors were ill-lit and cheerless.

<DERIVATIVES> cheerlessly adv. cheerlessness n.

cheerly adv. ARCHAIC heartily (used as a cry of encouragement among sailors).

cheers exclam. INFORMAL 1 expressing good wishes before drinking.

2 BRITISH expressing good wishes on parting or ending a conversation.

3 chiefly BRITISH expressing gratitude or acknowledgement for something.

cheery adj. (cheerier, cheeriest) happy and optimistic: a cheery smile.

<DERIVATIVES> cheerily adv. cheeriness n.

cheese^1 n. [mass noun] 1 a food made from the pressed curds of milk, firm and elastic or soft and semi-liquid in texture: grated cheese | [as modifier] a cheese sandwich | [count noun] a cow's milk cheese.

- [count noun] a complete cake of cheese with its rind.

- [with modifier] BRITISH a conserve having the consistency of soft cheese: lemon cheese.

- [count noun] a round, flat object resembling a cake of cheese, such as the heavy flat wooden disc used in skittles and other games.

2 INFORMAL the quality of being too obviously sentimental: the conversations tend too far towards cheese.

<PHRASES>

□ hard cheese BRITISH INFORMAL used to express sympathy over a petty matter.

□ say cheese said by a photographer to encourage the subject to smile.

<ORIGIN> Old English cēse, cȳse, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch kaas and German Käse; from Latin caseus.

cheese^2 v. [with obj.] (usually be cheesed off) BRITISH INFORMAL exasperate, frustrate, or bore (someone): I got a bit cheesed off with the movie.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the archaic phrase cheese it, used to urge someone to stop doing something): of unknown origin.

cheeseboard n. BRITISH a selection of cheeses served as a course of a meal.

- a board on which cheese is served and cut.

cheeseburger n. a beefburger with a slice of cheese on it, served in a bread roll.

cheesecake n. 1 a kind of rich sweet tart made with cream and soft cheese on a biscuit base.

2 [mass noun] INFORMAL images portraying women in a manner which emphasizes idealized or stereotypical sexual attractiveness.

cheesecloth n. [mass noun] thin, loosely woven, unsized cotton cloth, used typically for light clothing and in preparing or protecting food.

cheese-cutter n. 1 an implement for cutting cheese, especially by means of a wire which can be pulled through the cheese.

2 (also cheese-cutter cap) INFORMAL a cap with a broad, squared peak.

cheese fly n. a small shiny black fly whose larvae infest cheese. Also called CHEESE-SKIPPER.

<INFO> Piophila casei, family Piophilidae.

cheese head n. BRITISH a type of screw head with vertical sides and a slightly domed top.

cheese mite n. a mite that infests cheese.

<INFO> Genus Tyroglyphus, order (or subclass) Acari.

cheesemonger n. BRITISH a person who sells cheese, butter, and other dairy products.

cheese-paring adj. extremely careful or mean with money: cheese-paring methods necessitated by desperate shortages.

■ n. [mass noun] meanness.

cheese-skipper n. another term for CHEESE FLY.

cheesesteak n. US a long bread roll with a filling of thinly sliced sautéed beef, melted cheese, and sautéed onions.

cheese straw n. a thin strip of pastry, flavoured with cheese and eaten as a snack.

cheesewood n. a small tropical evergreen tree with white flowers and yellowish-orange fruit.

<INFO> Genus Pittosporum, family Pittosporaceae: several species, in particular the Australian P. undulatum, with fragrant flowers and hard yellowish timber used in making golf clubs, and the South African P. viridifolium.

cheesy adj. (cheesier, cheesiest) 1 like cheese in taste, smell, or consistency: a pungent, cheesy sauce.

2 INFORMAL cheap and of low quality: cheesy motel rooms.

- hackneyed and obviously sentimental: an album of cheesy pop hits.

- (of a smile) exaggerated and likely to be insincere: a cheesy grin.

<DERIVATIVES> cheesily adv. cheesiness n.

cheetah /titə/ n. a large slender spotted cat found in Africa and parts of Asia. It is the fastest animal on land.

<INFO> Acinonyx jubatus, family Felidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Hindi cītā, perhaps from Sanskrit citraka ‘leopard’.

Cheever /tivə/ John (1912–82), American short-story writer and novelist. His stories frequently satirize affluent suburban New Englanders. Notable novels: The Wapshot Chronicle (1957).

chef n. a professional cook, typically the chief cook in a restaurant or hotel.

■ v. (chefs, cheffing, cheffed) [no obj.] (usually as n. cheffing) INFORMAL work as a chef.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, literally ‘head’.

chef d'école /εf dekl/ n. (pl. chefs d'école pronunc. same) the initiator or leader of a school or style of music, painting, or literature.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, ‘head of school’.

chef-d'œuvre /e dəvr(ə)/ n. (pl. chefs-d'œuvre pronunc. same) a masterpiece.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘chief work’.

Chefoo /tifu/ former name for YANTAI.

Cheka /tεkə/ an organization under the Soviet regime for the investigation of counter-revolutionary activities. It executed many real and alleged enemies of Lenin's regime from its formation in 1917 until 1922, when it was replaced by the OGPU.

<ORIGIN> Russian, from che, ka, the initial letters of Chrezvychaĭnaya komissiya ‘Extraordinary Commission (for combating Counter-revolution, Sabotage, and Speculation)’.

Chekhov /tεkf/ Anton (Pavlovich) (1860–1904), Russian dramatist and short-story writer. Chekhov's work, portraying upper-class life in pre-revolutionary Russia with a blend of naturalism and symbolism, had a considerable influence on 20th-century drama. Notable plays: The Seagull (1895), Uncle Vanya (1900), The Three Sisters (1901), and The Cherry Orchard (1904).

<DERIVATIVES> Chekhovian /tεkəvən/ adj.

Chekiang /tεkja/ variant of ZHEJIANG.

chela^1 /kilə/ n. (pl. chelae /-li/) [ZOOLOGY] a pincer-like claw, especially of a crab or other crustacean. Compare with CHELICERA.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: modern Latin, from Latin chele or Greek khēlē ‘claw’.

chela^2 /telə/ n. a follower and pupil of a guru.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi celā.

chelate /kilet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound containing a ligand (typically organic) bonded to a central metal atom at two or more points.

■ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of an appendage) bearing chelae.

■ v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] form a chelate with.

<DERIVATIVES> chelation n. chelator n.

chelation therapy n. [mass noun] (in alternative medicine) a treatment for atherosclerosis involving the intravenous infusion of substances intended to remove the calcium contained in the plaques of hardened arteries.

chelicera /kəls(ə)rə/ n. (pl. chelicerae /-ri/) [ZOOLOGY] either of a pair of appendages in front of the mouth in arachnids and some other arthropods, usually modified as pincer-like claws. Compare with chela^1.

<DERIVATIVES> cheliceral adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek khēlē ‘claw’ + keras ‘horn’.

Chelicerata /kəlsəretə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large group of arthropods that comprises the arachnids, sea spiders, and horseshoe crabs. They lack antennae, but possess a pair of chelicerae, a pair of pedipalps, and (typically) four pairs of legs.

<INFO> Subphylum Chelicerata, phylum Arthropoda.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek khēlē ‘claw’ + keras ‘horn’.

chelicerate /kəlsəret -(ə)rət/ [ZOOLOGY] n. an arthropod of the large group Chelicerata; an arachnid, sea spider, or horseshoe crab.

■ adj. relating to or denoting chelicerates.

Chellean /εlən/ adj. & n. former term for ABBEVILLIAN.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French Chelléen, from Chelles, near Paris, where tools from this period were discovered.

Chelmsford /tεlmzfəd/ a cathedral city in SE England, the county town of Essex; pop. 100,700 (est. 2002).

Chelonia /klənə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] former term for TESTUDINES.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek khelōnē ‘tortoise’.

chelonian /klənən/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a reptile of the order Testudines (formerly Chelonia); a turtle, terrapin, or tortoise.

■ adj. relating to or denoting chelonians.

Chelsea a residential district of London, on the north bank of the River Thames.

Chelsea boot n. an elastic-sided boot, typically with a high heel.

Chelsea bun n. BRITISH a flat, spiral-shaped currant bun sprinkled with sugar.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: named after CHELSEA, where such buns were originally made.

Chelsea pensioner n. (in the UK) an inmate of the Chelsea Royal Hospital for old or disabled soldiers.

Chelsea tractor n. BRITISH INFORMAL a large four-wheel drive vehicle used mainly in urban areas.

Chelsea ware n. [mass noun] a type of soft-paste porcelain made at Chelsea in the 18th century.

Cheltenham /tεlt(ə)nəm/ a town in western England, in Gloucestershire; pop. 93,600 (est. 2002). It became a fashionable spa town in the 19th century.

Chelyabinsk /tljαbnsk/ an industrial city in southern Russia on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains; pop. 1,107,000 (est. 2002).

chemi- combining form representing CHEMICAL.

chemical adj. relating to chemistry, or the interactions of substances as studied in chemistry: the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

- relating to chemicals: chemical treatments for killing fungi.

- relating to or denoting the use of poison gas or other chemicals as weapons of war.

■ n. a distinct compound or substance, especially one which has been artificially prepared or purified: never mix disinfectant with other chemicals.

- an addictive drug: [as modifier] chemical dependency.

<DERIVATIVES> chemically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French chimique or modern Latin chimicus, chymicus, from medieval Latin alchymicus, from alchimia (see ALCHEMY).

chemical engineering n. [mass noun] the branch of engineering concerned with the design and operation of industrial chemical plants.

<DERIVATIVES> chemical engineer n.

chemical potential n. [CHEMISTRY] a thermodynamic function expressing the ability of an uncharged atom or molecule in a chemical system to perform physical work.

chemical reaction n. a process that involves rearrangement of the molecular or ionic structure of a substance, as distinct from a change in physical form or a nuclear reaction.

chemical weathering n. [mass noun] the erosion or disintegration of rocks, building materials, etc., caused by chemical reactions (chiefly with water and substances dissolved in it) rather than by mechanical processes.

chemico- combining form representing CHEMICAL.

chemiluminescence n. [mass noun] the emission of light during a chemical reaction which does not produce significant quantities of heat.

<DERIVATIVES> chemiluminescent adj.

chemin de fer /əma də fε/ n. [mass noun] a card game which is a variety of baccarat.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘railway’.

chemise /əmiz/ n. a dress hanging straight from the shoulders, popular in the 1920s.

- a woman's loose-fitting undergarment or nightdress.

- a priest's alb or surplice.

- HISTORICAL a smock.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin camisia ‘shirt or nightgown’.

chemisette /εmzεt/ n. a woman's undergarment similar to a camisole.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, diminutive of chemise.

chemisorption /kεmsp(ə)n -zp-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] adsorption in which the adsorbed substance is held by chemical bonds.

<DERIVATIVES> chemisorbed adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from CHEMI- + a shortened form of ADSORPTION (see ADSORB).

chemist n. 1 BRITISH a shop where medicinal drugs are dispensed and sold, and in which toiletries and other medical goods can be purchased.

- a person authorized to dispense medicinal drugs.

2 a person engaged in chemical research or experiments.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an alchemist): from French chimiste, from modern Latin chimista, from alchimista ‘alchemist’, from alchimia (see ALCHEMY).

chemistry n. (pl. chemistries) [mass noun] 1 the branch of science concerned with the substances of which matter is composed, the investigation of their properties and reactions, and the use of such reactions to form new substances.

- the chemical composition and properties of a substance or body.

2 the complex emotional or psychological interaction between people: their affair was triggered by intense sexual chemistry.

Chemnitz /kεmnts/ an industrial city in eastern Germany, on the Chemnitz River; pop. 256,100 (est. 2002). Former name (from 1953) KARL-MARX-STADT.

chemo /kimə/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL chemotherapy.

chemo- combining form representing CHEMICAL.

chemoattractant /kiməətraktənt kεm-/ n. [BIOLOGY] a substance which attracts motile cells of a particular type.

chemoautotroph /kimətətrəf -trf kεm-/ n. [BIOLOGY] an organism, typically a bacterium, which derives energy from the oxidation of inorganic compounds.

<DERIVATIVES> chemoautotrophic /-trəfk -trfk/ adj. chemoautotrophy /-trəfi -trfi/ n.

chemoprophylaxis /kiməprflakss kεm-/ n. [mass noun] the use of drugs to prevent disease.

<DERIVATIVES> chemoprophylactic adj.

chemoreceptor /kimərsεptə kεm-/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a sensory cell or organ responsive to chemical stimuli.

<DERIVATIVES> chemoreception n.

chemostat /kimə()stat kεm-/ n. a system in which the chemical composition is kept at a controlled level, especially for the culture of micro-organisms.

chemosynthesis /kimə()snθss kεm-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the synthesis of organic compounds by bacteria or other living organisms using energy derived from reactions involving inorganic chemicals, typically in the absence of sunlight. Compare with PHOTOSYNTHESIS.

<DERIVATIVES> chemosynthetic adj.

chemotaxis /kimə()takss kεm-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] movement of a motile cell or organism, or part of one, in a direction corresponding to a gradient of increasing or decreasing concentration of a particular substance.

<DERIVATIVES> chemotactic adj.

chemotherapy /kimə()θεrəpi kεm-/ n. [mass noun] the treatment of disease by the use of chemical substances, especially the treatment of cancer by cytotoxic and other drugs.

<DERIVATIVES> chemotherapist n.

chemurgy /kεmədi/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the chemical and industrial use of organic raw materials.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from CHEMO-, on the pattern of [METALLURGY].

Chenab /tnαb/ a river of northern India and Pakistan, which rises in the Himalayas and flows through Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, to join the Sutlej River in Punjab. It is one of the five rivers that gave Punjab its name.

Chen-chiang /tεntja/ variant of ZHENJIANG.

Chengchow /tεta/ variant of ZHENGZHOU.

Chengdu /tεdu/ the capital of Sichuan province in west central China; pop. 3,312,200 (est. 2002).

chenille /ənil/ n. [mass noun] a tufty, velvety cord or yarn, used for trimming furniture and made into carpets or clothing.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, literally ‘hairy caterpillar’, from Latin canicula ‘small dog’, diminutive of canis.

Chenin /əna/ (also Chenin blanc) n. [mass noun] a variety of wine grape native to the Loire valley but widely cultivated elsewhere.

- a white wine made from the Chenin grape.

<ORIGIN> French, perhaps from the name of the manor of Mont-Chenin, Touraine.

Chennai /tn/ a seaport on the east coast of India, capital of Tamil Nadu; pop. 4,298,600 (2001). Former name (until 1995) MADRAS.

cheongsam /tsam t-/ n. a straight, close-fitting silk dress with a high neck and slit skirt, worn by Chinese and Indonesian women.

<ORIGIN> Chinese (Cantonese dialect).

Cheops /kips/ (fl. early 26th century BC), Egyptian pharaoh of the 4th dynasty; Egyptian name Khufu. He commissioned the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza.

cheque (US check) n. an order to a bank to pay a stated sum from the drawer's account, written on a specially printed form.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (originally denoting a counterfoil, or a form with a counterfoil): variant of check^1, in the sense ‘device for checking the amount of an item’.

chequebook n. a book of printed cheques ready for use.

chequebook journalism n. [mass noun] the practice of paying a large amount of money to acquire the exclusive right to publish a person's story in a newspaper.

cheque card (also cheque guarantee card) n. BRITISH a card issued by a bank to guarantee the honouring of cheques up to a stated amount.

chequer (US checker) n. 1 (chequers) a pattern of squares, typically alternately coloured: a geometric shape bordered by chequers | (as modifier chequer) a chequer design.

2 (checkers) [treated as sing.] NORTH AMERICAN the game of draughts.

- (checker) a piece used in the game of draughts.

■ v. [with obj.] divide into or mark with an arrangement of squares of different colour or character: a great plain chequered with corn and green mosses.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from EXCHEQUER. The original sense ‘chessboard’ gave rise to chequered meaning ‘marked like a chessboard’; hence sense 1 of the noun (early 16th century).

chequerboard (US checkerboard) n. a board for playing checkers (draughts) and similar games, having a regular pattern of squares in alternating colours, typically black and white.

chequered (US checkered) adj. 1 having a pattern consisting of alternating squares of different colours.

2 marked by periods of varied fortune or discreditable incidents: the chequered history of post-war Britain.

chequered flag n. [MOTOR RACING] a flag with a black-and-white chequered pattern, displayed to drivers at the end of a race.

<PHRASES>

□ take the chequered flag finish first in a race.

Chequers a Tudor mansion in Buckinghamshire which serves as a country seat of the British Prime Minister in office.

Cher /ε/ a river of central France, which rises in the Massif Central, flowing 350 km (220 miles) northwards to meet the Loire near Tours.

Cherbourg /əbə/ French /εRbuR/ a seaport and naval base in Normandy, northern France; pop. 25,370 (1999).

Cheremis /tεrəms/ n. former term for the Mari language (see Mari^2).

Cherenkov /trεkf/ (also Cerenkov) Pavel (Alekseevich) (1904–90), Soviet physicist. He investigated the effects of high-energy particles and shared the 1958 Nobel Prize for Physics for discovering the cause of blue light (now called CERENKOV RADIATION) emitted by radioactive substances underwater.

Cherepovets /tεrpəvjεts/ a city in NW Russia, on the Rybinsk reservoir; pop. 324,800 (est. 2002).

cherimoya /tεrmə/ (also chirimoya) n. 1 a kind of custard apple with scaly green skin and a flavour resembling that of pineapple.

2 the small tree which bears the cherimoya fruit, native to the Andes of Peru and Ecuador.

<INFO> Annona cherimola, family Annonaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Spanish, from Quechua, from chiri ‘cold or refreshing’ + muya ‘circle’.

cherish v. [with obj.] protect and care for (someone) lovingly.

- hold (something) dear: I cherish the letters she wrote.

- keep in one's mind (a hope or ambition): he had long cherished a secret fantasy about his future.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘treat with affection’): from Old French cheriss-, lengthened stem of cherir, from cher ‘dear’, from Latin carus.

Cherkasy /təkasi/ a port in central Ukraine, on the River Dnieper; pop. 295,000 (est. 2001). Russian name Cherkassy.

Cherkess /təkεs/ n. another term for CIRCASSIAN.

Cherkessk /təkεsk/ a city in the Caucasus in southern Russia, capital of the republic of Karachai-Cherkessia; pop 121,700 (est. 2002).

Chernenko /tənjεkə/ Konstantin (Ustinovich) (1911–85), Soviet statesman, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR and President 1984–5. He died after only thirteen months in office and was succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev.

Chernihiv /tεnihv/ a port in northern Ukraine, on the River Desna; pop. 301,000 (est. 2001). Russian name Chernigov /tənif/.

Chernivtsi /tənvtsi/ a city in western Ukraine, in the foothills of the Carpathians, close to the border with Romania; pop. 240,000 (est. 2001). It was part of Romania between 1918 and 1940. Russian name Chernovtsy /ternəvtsi/.

Chernobyl /tənbl -nəbl/ a town near Kiev in Ukraine where, in April 1986, an accident at a nuclear power station resulted in a serious escape of radioactive material.

Chernorechye /tənərεtjə/ former name (until 1919) for DZERZHINSK.

chernozem /tənəzεm/ n. [GEOLOGY] a fertile black soil rich in humus and with a lighter lime-rich layer beneath, typically occurring in the temperate grasslands of the Russian steppes and North American prairies.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Russian, from chërnyĭ ‘black’ + zemlya ‘earth’.

Cherokee /tεrəki/ n. (pl. same or Cherokees) 1 a member of an American Indian people formerly inhabiting much of the southern US, now living on reservations in Oklahoma and North Carolina.

2 [mass noun] the Iroquoian language of the Cherokee, which has had its own script since 1820 and has about 11,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Cherokee or their language.

<ORIGIN> from obsolete Cherokee tsaraki, earlier form of tsaliki.

Cherokee rose n. a climbing Chinese rose with fragrant white flowers, which has become naturalized in the southern US.

<INFO> Rosa laevigata, family Rosaceae.

cheroot /ərut/ n. a cigar with both ends open.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French cheroute, from Tamil curuu ‘roll of tobacco’.

cherry n. (pl. cherries) 1 a small, soft round stone fruit that is typically bright or dark red.

2 (also cherry tree) the tree that bears the cherry.

<INFO> Genus Prunus, family Rosaceae: several species, the edible kinds being derived from the sweet (or wild) cherry (P. avium) and the sour (or morello) cherry (P. cerasus).

- (also cherrywood) [mass noun] the wood of the cherry tree.

3 [mass noun] a bright deep red colour.

4 (one's cherry) INFORMAL one's virginity.

<PHRASES>

□ a bite at the cherry BRITISH an attempt or opportunity to do something.

□ a bowl of cherries [usually with negative] a very pleasant or enjoyable situation or experience: life isn't exactly a bowl of cherries.

□ the cherry on the cake a desirable feature perceived as the finishing touch to something that is already very good: the car is faster than a Ferrari, but the cherry on the cake is the price.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Northern French cherise, from medieval Latin ceresia, based on Greek kerasos ‘cherry tree, cherry’. The final -s was lost because cherise was interpreted as plural (compare with caper^2 and PEA).

cherry brandy n. [mass noun] a sweet, dark red, cherry-flavoured liqueur made with brandy in which cherries have been steeped, or with crushed cherry stones.

cherry laurel n. an evergreen shrub or small tree with leathery leaves, white flowers, and cherry-like fruits, native to the Balkans and widely cultivated as the common ‘laurel’ of gardens.

<INFO> Prunus laurocerasus, family Rosaceae.

cherry-pick v. [with obj.] selectively choose (the most beneficial or profitable items, opportunities, etc.) from what is available: the company should buy the whole airline and not just cherry-pick its best assets.

cherry picker n. INFORMAL 1 a hydraulic crane with a railed platform at the end for raising and lowering people, for instance to work on overhead cables.

2 a person who cherry-picks.

cherry pie n. a garden heliotrope with fragrant blue flowers.

<INFO> Genus Heliotropium, family Boraginaceae: several species.

cherry plum n. a SW Asian shrub or small tree with white flowers and small red and yellow edible fruit. Also called MYROBALAN.

<INFO> Prunus cerasifera, family Rosaceae.

- the fruit of the cherry plum tree.

cherry tomato n. a miniature tomato with a strong flavour.

Chersonese /kəsəniz/ ancient name for the Gallipoli peninsula.

<ORIGIN> from Latin chersonesus, from Greek khersonēsos, from khersos ‘dry’ + nēsos ‘island’.

chert /tət/ n. [mass noun] a hard, dark, opaque rock composed of silica (chalcedony) with an amorphous or microscopically fine-grained texture. It occurs as nodules (flint) or, less often, in massive beds.

<DERIVATIVES> cherty adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally dialect): of unknown origin.

cherub n. (pl. cherubim) a winged angelic being described in biblical tradition as attending on God, represented in ancient Middle Eastern art as a lion or bull with eagles' wings and a human face and regarded in traditional Christian angelology as an angel of the second highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy.

- (plural cherubim or cherubs) a representation of a cherub in Western art, depicted as a chubby, healthy-looking child with wings.

- (plural cherubs) a beautiful or innocent-looking child.

<ORIGIN> Old English cherubin, ultimately (via Latin and Greek) from Hebrew kĕrū, plural kĕrūīm. A rabbinic folk etymology, which explains the Hebrew singular form as representing Aramaic kĕ-rayā ‘like a child’, led to the representation of the cherub as a child.

cherubic /trubk/ adj. having the innocence or plump prettiness of a young child: a round, cherubic face.

<DERIVATIVES> cherubically adv.

Cherubini /kεrbini/ (Maria) Luigi (Carlo Zenobio Salvatore) (1760–1842), Italian composer. He spent most of his composing career in Paris and is principally known for his church music and operas.

chervil /təvl/ n. [mass noun] a Eurasian plant of the parsley family, with delicate fern-like leaves which are used as a culinary herb.

<INFO> Anthriscus cerefolium, family Umbelliferae.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin chaerephylla, from Greek khairephullon.

chervonets /təvənjεts/ n. (pl. chervontsy) a pre-Revolutionary Russian gold coin, worth three roubles.

- a currency note introduced by the Bolsheviks in 1922, worth ten roubles.

<ORIGIN> Russian.

Cherwell /tαwεl/ Frederick Alexander Lindemann, 1st Viscount (1886–1957), German-born British physicist, who was Churchill's scientific and aeronautical adviser during the war.

Ches. abbr. Cheshire.

Chesapeake Bay /tεsəpik/ a large inlet of the North Atlantic on the US coast, extending 320 km (200 miles) northwards through the states of Virginia and Maryland.

Cheshire^1 /tεə -ə/ a county of west central England; county town, Chester.

Cheshire^2 /tεə/ (Geoffrey) Leonard (1917–92), British airman and philanthropist. A bomber pilot in the Second World War, he later founded the Cheshire Foundation Homes for disabled and incurably sick people.

Cheshire^3 /tεə/ n. [mass noun] a kind of firm crumbly cheese, originally made in Cheshire.

Cheshire cat n. a cat depicted with a broad fixed grin, as popularized through Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865).

<PHRASES>

□ grin like a Cheshire cat have a broad fixed smile on one's face.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin, but it is said that Cheshire cheeses used to be marked with the face of a smiling cat.

Chesil Beach /tεz(ə)l/ (also Chesil Bank) a shingle beach in southern England, off the Dorset coast. It is over 25 km (17 miles) long and encloses a tidal lagoon.

chess n. [mass noun] a board game of strategic skill for two players, played on a chequered board on which each playing piece is moved according to precise rules. The object is to put the opponent's king under a direct attack from which escape is impossible (checkmate).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French esches, plural of eschec ‘a check’ (see check^1).

chessboard n. a square board divided into sixty-four alternating dark and light squares (conventionally called ‘black’ and ‘white’), used for playing chess or draughts (checkers).

chessman n. (pl. chessmen) a solid figure used as a chess piece.

chess set n. a chessboard and a set of chessmen.

chest n. 1 the front surface of a person's or animal's body between the neck and the stomach.

- the whole of a person's upper trunk, especially as considered with reference to their respiratory health or to their size of clothes: a bad chest | a 42-inch chest.

2 a large strong box, typically made of wood and used for storage or transport.

- BRITISH the treasury or financial resources of some institutions: the university chest.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] [SOCCER] propel (the ball) by means of one's chest.

<PHRASES>

□ get something off one's chest INFORMAL say something that one has wanted to say for a long time, resulting in a feeling of relief.

□ play (or keep) one's cards close to one's chest (or North American vest) INFORMAL be extremely secretive and cautious about one's intentions.

<DERIVATIVES> chested adj. [in combination] a broad-chested athlete

<ORIGIN> Old English cest, cyst, related to Dutch kist and German Kiste, based on Greek kistē ‘box’.

Chester a city in NW England, the county town of Cheshire; pop. 80,800 (est. 2002).

Chesterfield a town in Derbyshire; pop. 98,852 (2001).

chesterfield n. 1 a sofa with padded arms and back of the same height and curved outwards at the top.

- CANADIAN any sofa.

2 a man's plain straight overcoat, typically with a velvet collar.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): named after a 19th-cent. Earl of CHESTERFIELD.

Chesterton G. K. (1874–1936), English essayist, novelist, and critic; full name Gilbert Keith Chesterton. His novels include The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904) and a series of detective stories featuring Father Brown, a priest with a talent for crime detection.

Chester White n. a pig of a prolific white breed, developed in North America.

<ORIGIN> named after Chester county, Pennsylvania.

chest freezer n. a freezer with a hinged lid rather than a door.

chestnut n. 1 (also sweet chestnut) a glossy hard brown edible nut which develops within a bristly case and which may be roasted and eaten.

- [mass noun] a deep reddish-brown colour.

- a horse of a reddish-brown or yellowish-brown colour, with a brown mane and tail.

2 (also chestnut tree, sweet chestnut, or Spanish chestnut) the large European tree that produces the edible chestnut, with serrated leaves and heavy timber.

<INFO> Castanea sativa, family Fagaceae.

■ short for HORSE CHESTNUT.

3 a small horny patch on the inside of each of a horse's legs.

<PHRASES>

□ an old chestnut a joke, story, or subject that has become tedious and uninteresting through constant repetition.

□ pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire succeed in a hazardous undertaking for someone else's benefit. [<ORIGIN> with reference to the fable of a monkey using a cat's paw to extract roasting chestnuts from a fire.]

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old English chesten (from Old French chastaine, via Latin from Greek kastanea) + NUT.

chestnut oak n. a North American oak which has leaves resembling those of the chestnut.

<INFO> Genus Quercus, family Fagaceae: several species.

chest of drawers n. a piece of furniture used for storage, consisting of an upright frame into which drawers are fitted.

chest voice n. [in sing.] the lowest register of the voice in singing or speaking.

chesty adj. (chestier, chestiest) INFORMAL 1 BRITISH having a lot of catarrh in the lungs.

2 (of a woman) having large or prominent breasts.

3 NORTH AMERICAN conceited and arrogant.

<DERIVATIVES> chestily adv. chestiness n.

Chetnik /tεtnk/ n. a member of a Slavic nationalist guerrilla force in the Balkans, especially during the Second World War.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Serbian četnik, from četa ‘band, troop’.

chetrum /tεtrum/ n. (pl. same or chetrums) a monetary unit of Bhutan, equal to one hundredth of a ngultrum.

<ORIGIN> Dzongkha.

Chetumal /tεtmαl/ a port in SE Mexico, on the Yucatán Peninsula at the border with Belize, capital of the state of Quintana Roo; pop. 121,600 (2000).

cheval glass /əval/ (also cheval mirror) n. a tall mirror fitted at its middle to an upright frame so that it can be tilted.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: cheval from French, in the sense ‘frame’.

Chevalier /əvale/ French /(ə)valje/ Maurice (1888–1972), French singer and actor. Notable films: Innocents of Paris (1929) and Gigi (1958).

chevalier /εvələ/ n. HISTORICAL a knight.

- a member of certain orders of knighthood or of modern French orders such as the Legion of Honour.

- (Chevalier) BRITISH HISTORICAL a title of the Old and Young Pretenders.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a horseman or mounted knight): from Old French, from medieval Latin caballarius, from Latin caballus ‘horse’. Compare with CABALLERO and CAVALIER.

chevet /əve/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] (in large churches) an apse with an ambulatory giving access behind the high altar to a series of chapels set in bays.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, literally ‘pillow’, from Latin capitium, from caput ‘head’.

Cheviot /tεvət tiv-/ n. a large sheep of a breed with short thick wool.

- (cheviot) [mass noun] the wool or tweed cloth obtained from the Cheviot sheep.

Cheviot Hills /tεvət tiv-/ (also the Cheviots) a range of hills on the border between England and Scotland.

chèvre /εvr(ə)/ n. [mass noun] French cheese made with goat's milk.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘goat, she-goat’, from Latin caper.

chevron n. a V-shaped line or stripe, especially one on the sleeve of a uniform indicating rank or length of service.

- [HERALDRY] an ordinary in the form of a broad inverted V-shape.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in heraldic use): from Old French, based on Latin caper ‘goat’; compare with Latin capreoli (diminutive of caper) used to mean ‘pair of rafters’.

chevrotain /εvrəten/ n. a small deer-like mammal with small tusks, typically nocturnal and found in the tropical rainforests of Africa and South Asia. Also called MOUSE DEER.

<INFO> Family Tragulidae: genera Tragulus (three Asian species) and Hyemoschus (one African species).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, diminutive of Old French chevrot, diminutive of chèvre ‘goat’.

Chevy /εvi/ (also Chevvy) n. (pl. Chevys or Chevvys) INFORMAL a Chevrolet car.

chevy v. variant spelling of CHIVVY.

chew v. [with obj.] bite and work (food) in the mouth with the teeth, especially to make it easier to swallow: he was chewing a mouthful of toast | [no obj.] he chewed for a moment, then swallowed.

- gnaw at (something) persistently: he chewed his lip reflectively | [no obj.] she chewed at a fingernail.

■ n. a repeated biting or gnawing of something.

- something that is meant for chewing: a dog chew | a chew of tobacco.

- a chewy sweet.

<PHRASES>

□ chew the cud see CUD.

□ chew the fat (or rag) INFORMAL chat in a leisurely and prolonged way.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ chew someone out NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL reprimand someone severely: he chewed me out for being late.

□ chew something over discuss or consider something at length: executives met to chew over the company's future.

□ chew something up damage or destroy something as if by chewing: the bikes were chewing up the paths.

<DERIVATIVES> chewable adj. chewer n. [usually in combination] a tobacco-chewer

<ORIGIN> Old English cēowan, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch kauwen and German kauen.

chewing gum n. [mass noun] flavoured gum for chewing, typically made from chicle.

chew stick n. a Caribbean climbing plant of the buckthorn family, the twigs or bark of which are chewed to clean the teeth, for their flavour, or as a stimulant.

<INFO> Gouania domingensis, family Rhamnaceae.

chewy adj. (chewier, chewiest) (of food) needing to be chewed hard or for some time before being swallowed.

<DERIVATIVES> chewiness n.

Cheyenne^1 /an -εn/ the state capital of Wyoming; pop. 53,011 (2000).

Cheyenne^2 /an/ n. (pl. same or Cheyennes) 1 a member of an American Indian people formerly living between the Missouri and Arkansas Rivers but now on reservations in Montana and Oklahoma.

2 [mass noun] the Algonquian language of the Cheyenne, now almost extinct.

■ adj. relating to the Cheyenne or their language.

<ORIGIN> Canadian French, from Dakota šahíyena, from šaia ‘speak incoherently’, from ša ‘red’ + ya ‘speak’.

Cheyne–Stokes breathing /ten/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a cyclical pattern of breathing in which movement gradually decreases to a complete stop and then returns to normal. It occurs in various medical conditions, and at high altitudes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after John Cheyne (1777–1836), Scottish physician, and William Stokes (1804–78), Irish physician.

chez /e/ prep. at the home of (used in conscious imitation of French): I spent one summer chez Grandma.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, from Old French chiese, from Latin casa ‘cottage’.

Chhattisgarh /tatzα/ a state in central India, formed in 2000 from the SE part of Madhya Pradesh; capital, Raipur.

chhi-chhi /titi/ (also chee-chee) exclam. INDIAN used to express disgust.

<ORIGIN> perhaps from Hindi chī-chī! ‘shame on you!’ (literally ‘dirt, excrement’).

chi^1 /k/ n. the twenty-second letter of the Greek alphabet (X, χ), transliterated as ‘kh’ or ‘ch’.

- (Chi) [followed by Latin genitive] [ASTRONOMY] the twenty-second star in a constellation: Chi Ophiuchi.

<ORIGIN> Greek.

chi^2 /ki/ (also qi or ki) n. [mass noun] the circulating life force whose existence and properties are the basis of much Chinese philosophy and medicine.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese qì, literally ‘air, breath’.

Chiang Kai-shek /tja kεk/ (also Jiang Jie Shi)

- (1887–1975), Chinese statesman and general, President of China 1928–31 and 1943–9 and of Taiwan 1950–75. He tried to unite China by military means in the 1930s but was defeated by the communists after the end of the Second World War. Forced to abandon mainland China in 1949, he set up a separate Nationalist Chinese State in Taiwan.

Chiangmai /tjam/ a city in NW Thailand; pop. 167,800 (2000).

Chianina /kəninə/ n. an animal of a very large white breed of cattle, kept for its lean meat.

<ORIGIN> from Italian.

Chianti /kanti/ n. (pl. Chiantis) [mass noun] a dry red Italian wine produced in Tuscany.

<ORIGIN> named after the Chianti Mountains, Italy.

Chiapas /tαpəs/ a state of southern Mexico, bordering Guatemala; capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez.

chiaroscuro /kαrəskərə/ n. [mass noun] the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.

- an effect of contrasted light and shadow: the chiaroscuro of cobbled streets.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian, from chiaro ‘clear, bright’ (from Latin clarus) + oscuro ‘dark, obscure’ (from Latin obscurus).

chiasma /kazmə k-/ n. (pl. chiasmata /-tə/) 1 (also optic chiasma) [ANATOMY] the X-shaped structure formed at the point below the brain where the two optic nerves cross over each other.

2 [BIOLOGY] a point at which paired chromosomes remain in contact during the first metaphase of meiosis, and at which crossing over and exchange of genetic material occur between the strands.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek chiasma ‘crosspiece, cross-shaped mark’, from khiazein ‘mark with the letter chi’.

chiasmus /kazməs k-/ n. a rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order.

<DERIVATIVES> chiastic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘crosswise arrangement’): modern Latin, from Greek khiasmos, from khiazein ‘mark with the letter chi’, from khi ‘chi’.

chiastolite /kastəlt k-/ n. [mass noun] a form of the mineral andalusite containing carbonaceous inclusions giving a cross-shaped appearance.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek khiastos ‘arranged crosswise’ + -LITE.

chib Scottish n. a knife used as a weapon.

■ v. (chibs, chibbing, chibbed) [with obj.] stab (someone).

<ORIGIN> perhaps a variant of SHIV.

Chiba /tibə/ a city in Japan, on the island of Honshu, east of Tokyo; pop. 902,600 (est. 2002).

Chibcha /tbtə/ n. (pl. same or Chibchas) 1 a member of an American Indian people of Colombia whose ancient civilization was destroyed by Europeans.

2 [mass noun] the extinct Chibchan language of the Chibcha.

<ORIGIN> American Spanish, from Chibcha zipa ‘chief, hereditary leader’.

Chibchan /tbt(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a language family of Colombia and Central America, most members of which are now extinct or nearly so.

■ adj. relating to Chibchan.

chibouk /tbuk/ n. a long Turkish tobacco pipe.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French chibouque, from Turkish çubuk, literally ‘tube’.

chic /ik/ adj. (chicer, chicest) elegantly and stylishly fashionable: she looked every inch the chic Frenchwoman.

■ n. [mass noun] stylishness and elegance, typically of a specified kind: the hotel's lobby and restaurant are the height of designer chic.

<DERIVATIVES> chicly adv. chicness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, probably from German Schick ‘skill’.

Chicago a city in Illinois, on Lake Michigan; pop. 2,896,016 (2000). Selected as a terminal for the new Illinois and Michigan canal, Chicago developed during the 19th century as a major grain market and food-processing centre.

<DERIVATIVES> Chicagoan n. & adj.

Chicana /tkαna - -ken-/ n. chiefly US a female North American of Mexican origin or descent. See also CHICANO.

<ORIGIN> Mexican Spanish, alteration of Spanish mejicana (feminine) ‘Mexican’.

chicane /ken/ n. 1 a sharp double bend created to form an obstacle on a motor-racing track or a road.

2 DATED (in card games) a hand without cards of one particular suit; a void.

3 [mass noun] ARCHAIC the use of deception; chicanery.

■ v. [no obj.] ARCHAIC employ chicanery.

- [with obj.] deceive (someone).

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the senses ‘chicanery’ and ‘use chicanery’): from French chicane (noun), chicaner (verb) ‘quibble’, of unknown origin.

chicanery n. [mass noun] the use of deception or subterfuge to achieve one's purpose: storylines packed with political chicanery.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French chicanerie, from chicaner ‘to quibble’ (see CHICANE).

Chicano /tkαnə - -ken-/ n. (pl. Chicanos) chiefly US a North American of Mexican origin or descent. See also CHICANA.

<ORIGIN> Mexican Spanish, alteration of Spanish mejicano (masculine) ‘Mexican’.

chicha /ttə/ n. [mass noun] (in South and Central America) a kind of beer made typically from maize.

<ORIGIN> American Spanish, from Kuna.

chicharron /titərən/ n. (pl. chicharrones /-ənz/) (in Mexican cooking) a piece of fried pork crackling.

<ORIGIN> from American Spanish chicharrón.

Chichén Itzá /ttεn tsα/ a site in northern Yucatán, Mexico, the centre of the Mayan empire after AD 918.

Chichester^1 /ttstə/ a city in southern England, the county town of West Sussex; pop. 27,200 (est. 2002).

Chichester^2 /ttstə/ Sir Francis (Charles) (1901–72), English yachtsman. In his yacht Gipsy Moth IV he was the first person to sail alone round the world with only one stop (1966–7).

Chichewa /ttewə/ n. another term for NYANJA (the language).

chichi^1 /ii/ adj. attempting stylish elegance but achieving only an over-elaborate pretentiousness: the tiny chichi dining room.

■ n. [mass noun] pretentious and over-elaborate refinement: a good restaurant without the chichi traditionally associated with French food.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (in the sense ‘showiness or pretentious object’): from French, of imitative origin.

chichi^2 /titi/ n. US INFORMAL a woman's breast.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: military slang, of Japanese origin.

Chichimec /titmεk/ n. (pl. same or Chichimecs) 1 a member of a group of American Indian peoples, including the Toltecs and the Aztecs, dominant in central Mexico from the 10th to the 16th centuries.

2 [mass noun] a Uto-Aztecan language of the Chichimec, with some 5,000 surviving speakers.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Nahuatl.

chick^1 n. 1 a young bird, especially one newly hatched.

- a newly hatched young domestic fowl.

2 INFORMAL a young woman: she's a great-looking chick.

<PHRASES>

□ neither chick nor child North American or DIALECT no children at all.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: abbreviation of CHICKEN.

chick^2 n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a folding bamboo screen for a doorway.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu chik, from Persian čigh.

chickabiddy n. (pl. chickabiddies) INFORMAL an affectionate form of address for a small child or a loved one.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from CHICK^1 + -a- (for ease of pronunciation) + BIDDY.

chickadee n. North American term for tit^1.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: imitative of its call.

chickaree n. a squirrel with red fur, found in the coniferous forests of North America.

<INFO> Genus Tamiasciurus, family Sciuridae: three species.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: imitative of its call.

Chickasaw /tkəs/ n. (pl. same or Chickasaws) 1 a member of an American Indian people formerly resident in Mississippi and Alabama, and now in Oklahoma.

2 [mass noun] the Muskogean language of the Chickasaw, now all but extinct.

■ adj. relating to the Chickasaw or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Chickasaw.

chicken n. 1 a domestic fowl kept for its eggs or meat, especially a young one.

- [mass noun] meat from a chicken: roast chicken.

2 [mass noun] INFORMAL a game in which the first person to lose their nerve and withdraw from a dangerous situation is the loser.

- [count noun] a coward.

■ adj. [predic.] INFORMAL cowardly: I was too chicken to go to court.

■ v. [no obj.] (chicken out) INFORMAL withdraw from or fail in something through lack of nerve: the referee chickened out of giving a penalty.

<PHRASES>

□ chicken-and-egg denoting a situation in which each of two things appears to be necessary to the other.

□ don't count your chickens before they're hatched see count^1.

□ like a headless chicken INFORMAL in a panic-stricken and unthinking manner.

<ORIGIN> Old English cīcen, cȳcen, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kieken and German Küchlein, and probably also to cock^1.

chicken à la king n. [mass noun] cooked breast of chicken in a cream sauce with mushrooms and peppers.

<ORIGIN> said to be named after E. Clark King, proprietor of a New York hotel.

chicken brick n. BRITISH an earthenware container for roasting a chicken in its own juices.

chicken cholera n. [mass noun] an infectious disease of fowls, a form of pasteurellosis.

chicken feed n. [mass noun] INFORMAL a ridiculously small sum of money.

chicken-fried steak n. US a thin piece of beef which is lightly battered and fried until crisp.

chicken hawk n. NORTH AMERICAN a hawk of a type that is reputed to prey on domestic fowl.

chicken-hearted (also chicken-livered) adj. easily frightened; cowardly.

Chicken Little n. NORTH AMERICAN an alarmist or person who panics easily.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from the name of a character in a nursery story who repeatedly warns that the sky is falling down.

chickenpox n. [mass noun] an infectious disease causing a mild fever and a rash of itchy inflamed pimples which turn to blisters and then loose scabs. It is caused by the herpes zoster virus and mainly affects children. Also called VARICELLA.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: probably so named because of its mildness, as compared to smallpox.

chickenshit NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG adj. worthless or contemptible (used as a general term of abuse).

- cowardly.

■ n. a worthless or contemptible person.

- [mass noun] something worthless; rubbish.

chicken wire n. [mass noun] light wire netting with a hexagonal mesh.

chick flick n. INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY a film which appeals to young women.

chickling pea n. another term for GRASS PEA.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: based on obsolete chich ‘chickpea’.

chick lit n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY literature which appeals to young women.

chickpea n. 1 a round yellowish edible seed, widely used as a pulse. Also called GARBANZO.

2 the Old World plant of the pea family which bears chickpeas.

<INFO> Cicer arietinum, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (earlier as chiche-pease): from late Middle English chiche (from Old French chiche, cice, from Latin cicer ‘chickpea’) + PEASE.

chickweed n. [mass noun] a small, widespread, white-flowered plant of the pink family, often growing as a garden weed, and sometimes eaten by poultry.

<INFO> Stellaria and other genera, family Caryophyllaceae: several species.

chicle /tk(ə)l -kli/ n. [mass noun] the milky latex of the sapodilla tree, formerly chewed by the Aztecs and now used to make chewing gum.

■ another term for SAPODILLA.

<ORIGIN> via Latin American Spanish, from Nahuatl tzictli.

chicory /tk(ə)ri/ n. (pl. chicories) 1 BRITISH a blue-flowered Mediterranean plant of the daisy family, cultivated for its edible salad leaves and carrot-shaped root.

<INFO> Cichorium intybus, family Compositae.

- [mass noun] the root of the chicory plant, which is roasted and ground for use as an additive to or substitute for coffee.

2 North American term for ENDIVE.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete French cicorée (earlier form of chicorée) ‘endive’, via Latin from Greek kikhorion.

chide /td/ v. (past chided or ARCHAIC chid /td/; past participle chided or ARCHAIC chidden /td(ə)n/) [with obj.] scold or rebuke: she chided him for not replying to her letters | [with direct speech] ‘Now, now,’ he chided.

<DERIVATIVES> chider n. chiding adj. chidingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English cīdan, of unknown origin.

chief n. 1 a leader or ruler of a people or clan: the chief of the village | [as title] Chief Banawi.

- the head of an organization: a union chief | the chief of police.

- an informal form of address to a man, especially one of superior rank or status: it's quite simple, chief.

2 [HERALDRY] an ordinary consisting of a broad horizontal band across the top of the shield.

- the upper third of the field.

■ adj. most important: the chief reason for the spending cuts | chief among her concerns is working alone at night.

- having or denoting the highest rank: the chief economist of a leading bank.

<PHRASES>

□ chief cook and bottle-washer INFORMAL a person who performs a variety of important but routine tasks.

□ in chief [HERALDRY] at the top; in the upper part. See also -IN-CHIEF.

□ too many chiefs and not enough Indians used to describe a situation where there are too many people giving orders and not enough people to carry them out.

<DERIVATIVES> chiefdom n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chief, chef, based on Latin caput ‘head’.

chief constable n. BRITISH the head of the police force of a county or other region.

chief inspector n. BRITISH a police officer ranking above inspector and below superintendent.

chiefly adv. mainly: he is remembered chiefly for his organ sonatas.

- for the most part; mostly: an audience consisting chiefly of women between the ages of 18 and 54.

chief of staff n. the senior staff officer of a service, command, or formation.

chief petty officer n. a rank of non-commissioned officer in a navy, above petty officer and below warrant officer or senior chief petty officer.

chief rabbi n. (in the UK and some other countries) the leading rabbi of a national Jewish community.

chieftain n. the leader of a people or clan.

- INFORMAL a powerful member of an organization.

<DERIVATIVES> chieftaincy /-si/ n. (pl. chieftaincies) chieftainship n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English and Old French chevetaine, from late Latin capitaneus (see CAPTAIN). The spelling was altered by association with CHIEF.

chief technician n. a rank of non-commissioned officer in the RAF, above sergeant and below flight sergeant.

chief warrant officer n. a rank in the US armed forces, above warrant officer and below the lowest-ranking commissioned officer.

chiffchaff n. a small Eurasian and North African migratory leaf warbler with drab plumage.

<INFO> Genus Phylloscopus, family Sylviidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: imitative of its call.

chiffon n. 1 [mass noun] a light, transparent fabric typically made of silk or nylon: [as modifier] a chiffon blouse.

2 [as modifier] (of a cake or dessert) made with beaten egg to give a light consistency: chiffon cake.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally plural, denoting trimmings on a woman's dress): from French, from chiffe ‘rag’.

chiffonade /fənαd/ n. a preparation of shredded or finely cut leaf vegetables, used as a garnish for soup.

<ORIGIN> French, from chiffonner ‘to crumple’.

chiffonier /fənə/ n. 1 BRITISH a low cupboard either used as a sideboard or with a raised bookshelf on top.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a tall chest of drawers.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French chiffonnier, chiffonnière, literally ‘ragpicker’, also denoting a chest of drawers for odds and ends.

chifforobe /fərəb/ n. US a piece of furniture with drawers on one side and hanging space on the other.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: blend of CHIFFONIER and WARDROBE.

Chifley /tfli/ Joseph Benedict (1885–1951), Australian Labor statesman, Prime Minister 1945–9. He continued Labor's nationalization and welfare programme and initiated Australia's immigration policy.

chigger /tə d-/ (also jigger) n. 1 a tropical flea, the female of which burrows and lays eggs beneath the host's skin, causing painful sores. Also called CHIGOE, SAND FLEA.

<INFO> Tunga penetrans, family Tungidae.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a harvest mite.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: variant of CHIGOE.

chignon /inj/ n. a knot or coil of hair arranged on the back of a woman's head.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, originally ‘nape of the neck’, based on Latin catena ‘chain’.

chigoe /tə/ n. another term for chigger (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French chique, from a West African language.

Chihli, Gulf of /tili/ another name for BO HAI.

Chihuahua /twαwə/ a state of northern Mexico.

- its capital, the principal city of north central Mexico; pop. 657,900 (2000).

chihuahua /twαwə/ n. a very small dog of a smooth-haired large-eyed breed originating in Mexico.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after CHIHUAHUA.

chikan /tk(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] (in the Indian subcontinent) a type of hand embroidery using cutwork and shadow work.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu, from Persian čikan.

chikungunya /tk(ə)nnjə/ n. [mass noun] a viral disease resembling dengue, transmitted by mosquitoes and endemic in East Africa and parts of Asia.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: a local word.

chilblain n. a painful, itching swelling on a hand or foot, caused by poor circulation in the skin when exposed to cold.

<DERIVATIVES> chilblained adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from CHILL + BLAIN.

child n. (pl. children) a young human being below the age of full physical development.

- a son or daughter of any age.

- an immature or irresponsible person.

- a person who has little or no experience in a particular area: he's a child in financial matters.

- (children) ARCHAIC the descendants of a family or people: the children of Abraham.

- (child of) a person regarded as the product of (a specified influence or environment): a child of the Sixties.

<PHRASES>

□ child's play a task which is easily accomplished.

□ from a child since childhood: from a child she had taken ballet lessons.

□ with child ARCHAIC pregnant.

<DERIVATIVES> childless adj. childlessness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cild, of Germanic origin. The Middle English plural childer or childre became childeren or children by association with plurals ending in -en, such as brethren.

child abuse n. [mass noun] physical maltreatment or sexual molestation of a child.

child allowance n.

■ informal term for CHILD BENEFIT.

- HISTORICAL (in the UK) a tax allowance granted to parents of dependent children.

childbearing n. [mass noun] the process of giving birth to children: [as modifier] women of childbearing age.

childbed n. archaic term for CHILDBIRTH.

child benefit n. [mass noun] (in the UK) regular payment by the state to the parents of a child up to a certain age.

childbirth n. [mass noun] the process of giving birth to a child: she died in childbirth.

childcare n. [mass noun] the care of children, especially by a crèche, nursery, or childminder while parents are working.

child-centred adj. giving priority to the interests and needs of children: child-centred teaching methods.

Childe /tld/ n. [in names] ARCHAIC or LITERARY a youth of noble birth: Childe Harold.

<ORIGIN> late Old English, variant of CHILD.

Childermas /tldəmas/ n. ARCHAIC the feast of the Holy Innocents, 28 December.

<ORIGIN> Old English cildramæsse, from cildra ‘of children’, genitive plural of cild (see CHILD) + mæsse (see MASS).

Childers /tldəz/ (Robert) Erskine (1870–1922), English-born Irish writer and political activist, shot for his involvement in the Irish civil war. Notable works: The Riddle of the Sands (novel, 1903). His son Erskine Hamilton Childers (1905–74) was President of Ireland 1973–4.

childhood n. [mass noun] the state or period of being a child: he spent his childhood in Lewes | [as modifier] a childhood friend.

<ORIGIN> Old English cildhād (see CHILD, -hood).

childish adj. of, like, or appropriate to a child: childish enthusiasm.

- silly and immature: a childish outburst.

<DERIVATIVES> childishly adv. childishness n.

childlike adj. (of an adult) having the good qualities, such as innocence, associated with a child: she speaks with a childlike directness.

childminder n. BRITISH a person who looks after children in their own house for payment.

<DERIVATIVES> child-minding n.

childproof adj. designed to prevent children from injuring themselves or doing damage: disinfectants that are fitted with childproof caps.

children plural form of CHILD.

Children's Crusade a crusade to the Holy Land in 1212 by tens of thousands of children, chiefly from France and Germany. Most never reached their destination, and were sold into slavery.

Child Support Agency (abbr.: CSA)

- (in the UK) a government agency responsible for the assessment and collection of compulsory child maintenance payments from absent parents.

Chile /tli/ Spanish /tile/ a country occupying a long coastal strip down the southern half of the west of South America; pop. 15,498,930 (est. 2002); official language, Spanish; capital, Santiago.

Most of Chile was part of the Inca empire and became part of Spanish Peru after Pizarro's conquest. Independence was achieved in 1818 with help from Argentina. After the overthrow of the Marxist democrat Salvador Allende in 1973, Chile was ruled by the right-wing military dictatorship of General Pinochet until a democratically elected President took office in 1990.

<DERIVATIVES> Chilean adj. & n.

Chile pine n. another term for MONKEY PUZZLE.

chile relleno /tl rεljenə/ n. (pl. chiles rellenos) (in Mexican cuisine) a stuffed chilli pepper, typically battered and deep-fried.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, ‘stuffed chilli’.

Chile saltpetre n. another term for SODIUM NITRATE, especially as a commercial product.

chiliad /klad/ n. RARE a group of a thousand things.

- a thousand years; a millennium.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin chilias, chiliad- ‘a thousand years’, from Greek khilias, khiliad-, from khilioi ‘thousand’.

chiliarch /klαk/ n. (in ancient Greece) a commander of a thousand men.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek khiliarkhēs, from khilioi ‘thousand’.

chiliast /klast/ n. another term for MILLENARIAN.

<DERIVATIVES> chiliasm n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek khiliastēs, from khilias ‘a thousand years’, from khilioi ‘thousand’.

chiliastic /klastk/ adj. another term for MILLENARIAN.

chili dog n. NORTH AMERICAN a hot dog garnished with chilli con carne.

chill n. 1 [in sing.] an unpleasant feeling of coldness in the atmosphere, one's surroundings, or the body: there was a chill in the air.

- a feverish cold.

- a coldness of manner: the chill in relations between France and its former colony.

- a sudden and powerful feeling of fear: a chill ran down my spine.

2 a metal mould, often cooled, designed to ensure rapid or even cooling of metal during casting.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (someone) cold: they were chilled by a sudden wind.

- cool (food or drink) in a refrigerator: (as adj. chilled) chilled white wine.

- [METALLURGY] another term for CHILL-CAST.

2 horrify or frighten (someone): the city was chilled by the violence | (as adj. chilling) a chilling account of the prisoners' fate.

3 [no obj.] (usually chill out) INFORMAL calm down and relax: they like to get home, have a bath, and chill out.

- pass time idly with other people: she always seems to be just chilling with friends.

■ adj. chilly: the chill grey dawn | FIGURATIVE the chill winds of public censure.

<PHRASES>

□ chill someone's blood horrify or terrify someone.

□ take the chill off warm slightly: an electric heater took the chill off the house.

<DERIVATIVES> chillingly adv. chillness n. chillsome adj. (LITERARY)

<ORIGIN> Old English cele, ciele ‘cold, coldness’, of Germanic origin; related to COLD.

chill-cast v. [with obj.] [METALLURGY] rapidly solidify (cast iron or other metal) by contact with a cooled metal mould or other cold surface in order to produce a hard, dense surface.

chiller n. 1 a machine for cooling something, especially a cold cabinet or refrigerator for keeping stored food a few degrees above freezing point.

2 short for SPINE-CHILLER.

chill factor n. a quantity expressing the perceived lowering of the air temperature caused by the wind.

chilli /tli/ (also chilli pepper, US chile or chili) n. (pl. chillies, US chiles or chilies) a small hot-tasting pod of a variety of capsicum, used in sauces, relishes, and spice powders. There are various forms with pods of differing size, colour, and strength of flavour.

<INFO> Capsicum annuum (var. annuum), (‘longum’) group ((or var. longum)).

■ short for CHILLI POWDER.

■ short for CHILLI CON CARNE.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish chile, from Nahuatl chilli.

chilli con carne /kn kαne -ni/ n. [mass noun] a stew of minced beef and beans flavoured with chilli powder.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish chile con carne, literally ‘chilli pepper with meat’.

chilli powder n. [mass noun] a hot-tasting mixture of ground dried red chillies and other spices.

chill-out adj. [attr.] INFORMAL intended to induce or enhance a relaxed mood, in particular an area in a nightclub where quiet or ambient music is played.

chillum /tləm/ n. (pl. chillums) a hookah.

- a small pipe used for smoking cannabis.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi cilam.

chilly adj. (chillier, chilliest) uncomfortably or unpleasantly cold: a chilly February evening.

- (of a person) feeling cold.

- unfriendly: he got a chilly reception from Republican activists.

<DERIVATIVES> chilliness n.

chillybin n. NZ a portable insulated container for keeping food and drink cool.

<ORIGIN> from a proprietary name.

Chilopoda /kləpədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of myriapod arthropods which comprises the centipedes.

<DERIVATIVES> chilopod /kləpd/ n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek kheilos ‘lip’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’.

Chilpancingo /tlpansə/ a city in SW Mexico, capital of the state of Guerrero; pop. 142,746 (2000).

Chiltern Hills /tlt(ə)n/ (also the Chilterns) a range of chalk hills in southern England, north of the River Thames and west of London.

Chiltern Hundreds (in the UK) a Crown manor, whose administration is a nominal office for which an MP applies as a way of resigning from the House of Commons. This is because stewardship of the district is legally an office of profit under the Crown, the holding of which disqualifies a person from being an MP.

<ORIGIN> from CHILTERN HILLS and Hundreds (see the hundred (noun)).

Chiluba /tlubə/ n. another term for LUBA (the language).

Chimborazo /tmbərαzə/ the highest peak of the Andes in Ecuador, rising to 6,310 m (20,487 ft).

chime^1 n. a bell or a metal bar or tube, tuned and used in a set to produce a melodious series of ringing sounds when struck.

- a sound made by such an instrument: the chimes of Big Ben.

- (chimes) a set of tuned bells used as a doorbell.

- [BELL-RINGING] a stroke of the clapper against one or both sides of a scarcely moving bell.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a bell or clock) make melodious ringing sounds, typically to indicate the time: [with complement] the clock chimed eight.

2 (chime with or chime in with) BRITISH be in agreement with: his poem chimes with our modern experience of loss.

3 (chime in) interject a remark: ‘Yes, you do that,’ Dave chimed in eagerly.

<DERIVATIVES> chimer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘cymbal’ and ‘ring out’): probably from Old English cimbal (see CYMBAL), later interpreted as chime bell.

chime^2 n. the projecting rim at the end of a cask.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from an Old English word related to Dutch kim and German Kimme. Compare with chine^3.

chimenea /tmneə -niə/ n. a free-standing clay fireplace or oven which consists of a hollow bulbous body tapering to a short chimney-like smoke vent.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: Spanish, ‘chimney’.

chimera /kmərə k-/ (also chimaera) n. 1 (in Greek mythology) a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.

- any mythical animal formed from parts of various animals.

2 a thing which is hoped for but is illusory or impossible to achieve: the economic sovereignty you claim to defend is a chimera.

3 [BIOLOGY] an organism containing a mixture of genetically different tissues, formed by processes such as fusion of early embryos, grafting, or mutation.

- a DNA molecule with sequences derived from two or more different organisms, formed by laboratory manipulation.

4 (chimaera) a cartilaginous marine fish with a long tail, an erect spine before the first dorsal fin, and typically a forward projection from the snout.

<INFO> Subclass Hoplocephali: three families, in particular Chimaeridae.

<DERIVATIVES> chimeric /-mεrk/ adj. chimerical adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek khimaira ‘she-goat or chimera’.

chimichanga /tmtaə/ n. a tortilla rolled round a savoury filling and deep-fried.

<ORIGIN> Mexican Spanish, literally ‘trinket’.

chimney n. (pl. chimneys) 1 a vertical channel or pipe which conducts smoke and combustion gases up from a fire or furnace and typically through the roof of a building.

- a chimney stack.

2 a glass tube protecting the flame of a lamp.

3 a very steep narrow cleft by which a rock face may be climbed.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a fireplace or furnace): from Old French cheminee ‘chimney, fireplace’, from late Latin caminata, perhaps from camera caminata ‘room with a fireplace’, from Latin caminus ‘forge, furnace’, from Greek kaminos ‘oven’.

chimney breast n. a part of an interior wall that projects to surround a chimney.

chimney corner n. a warm seat within an old-fashioned fireplace.

chimney piece n. BRITISH a mantelpiece.

chimney pot n. an earthenware or metal pipe at the top of a chimney, narrowing the aperture and increasing the updraught.

chimney stack n. the part of a chimney that projects above a roof.

chimney sweep n. a person whose job is cleaning out the soot from chimneys.

chimney swift n. the common swift (bird) of the eastern part of North America, with mainly dark grey plumage.

<INFO> Chaetura pelagica, family Apodidae.

chimonanthus /kmə()nanθəs/ n. a shrub of the Chinese genus Chimonanthus (family Calycanthaceae), especially the wintersweet.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kheimōn ‘winter’ + anthos ‘flower’.

chimp n. INFORMAL a chimpanzee.

chimpanzee n. a great ape with large ears, mainly black coloration, and lighter skin on the face, native to the forests of west and central Africa. Chimpanzees show advanced behaviour such as the making and using of tools.

<INFO> Genus Pan, family Pongidae: the common chimpanzee (P. troglodytes) and the bonobo.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French chimpanzé, from Kikongo.

Chimu /timu/ n. (pl. same or Chimus) 1 a member of an indigenous people of Peru that developed the most important civilization before the Incas.

2 [mass noun] the extinct language of the Chimu.

■ adj. relating to the Chimu or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish.

Chin^1 /tn/ n. (pl. same or Chins) 1 a member of a people of SW Burma (Myanmar) and neighbouring parts of India and Bangladesh.

2 [mass noun] the Tibeto-Burman language of the Chin, with about 800,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Chin or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Burmese, ‘hill man’.

chin n. the protruding part of the face below the mouth, formed by the apex of the lower jaw.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 INFORMAL hit or punch (someone) on the chin.

2 draw one's body up so that one's chin is level with or above (a horizontal bar) with one's feet off the ground, as an exercise.

<PHRASES>

□ keep one's chin up INFORMAL remain cheerful in difficult circumstances.

□ take it on the chin accept misfortune courageously or stoically.

<DERIVATIVES> chinned adj. [in combination] square-chinned

<ORIGIN> Old English cin, cinn, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kin, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin gena ‘cheek’ and Greek genus ‘jaw’.

China a country in east Asia, the third largest and most populous in the world; pop. 1,284,303,705 (est. 2002); language, Chinese (of which Mandarin is the official form); capital, Beijing. Official name PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.

Chinese civilization stretches back until at least the 3rd millennium BC, the country being ruled by a series of dynasties until the Qing (or Manchu) dynasty was overthrown by Sun Yat-sen in 1911; China was proclaimed a republic the following year. After the Second World War the Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai-shek was overthrown by the communists under Mao Zedong, the People's Republic of China being declared in 1949. Market-oriented reforms were introduced in the last quarter of the twentieth century.

china n. 1 [mass noun] a fine white or translucent vitrified ceramic material: a plate made of china | [as modifier] a china cup. Also called PORCELAIN.

- household tableware or other objects made from this or a similar material: she had begun to remove the breakfast china.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a friend. [<ORIGIN> from rhyming slang china plate ‘mate’.]

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as an adjective): from Persian chīnī ‘relating to China’, where it was originally made.

China, Republic of official name for TAIWAN.

China aster n. a Chinese plant of the daisy family, which is cultivated for its bright showy flowers.

<INFO> Callistephus chinensis, family Compositae.

chinaberry (also chinaberry tree) n. (pl. chinaberries) a tall tree which bears fragrant lilac flowers and yellow berries, native to Asia and Australasia.

<INFO> Melia azedarach, family Meliaceae.

- the fruit of the chinaberry, used to make insecticides and also rosary beads.

china blue n. [mass noun] a pale greyish blue.

china clay n. another term for KAOLIN.

chinagraph pencil n. BRITISH a waxy pencil used to write on china, glass, or other hard surfaces.

Chinaman n. (pl. Chinamen) 1 chiefly ARCHAIC or DEROGATORY a native of China.

2 [CRICKET] a ball that spins from off to leg, bowled by a left-handed bowler to a right-handed batsman.

chinar /tnα/ (also chenar) n. the oriental plane tree, found from SE Europe to northern Iran.

<INFO> Platanus orientalis, family Platanaceae.

<ORIGIN> from Persian chinār.

China rose n. 1 a Chinese rose which was introduced into Europe in the 19th century.

<INFO> Rosa chinensis, family Rosaceae.

- any of a number of garden rose varieties derived from crosses of this plant.

2 a tropical shrubby evergreen hibiscus, which is cultivated for its large showy flowers.

<INFO> Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, family Malvaceae.

China Sea the part of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of China, divided by the island of Taiwan into the East China Sea in the north and the South China Sea in the south.

china stone n. [mass noun] partly kaolinized granite containing plagioclase feldspar, which is ground and mixed with kaolin to make porcelain.

China syndrome n. [in sing.] a hypothetical sequence of events following the meltdown of a nuclear reactor, in which the core melts through its containment structure and deep into the earth.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from CHINA (as being on the opposite side of the earth from a reactor in the US).

China tea n. [mass noun] tea made from a small-leaved type of tea plant grown in China, typically flavoured by smoke curing or the addition of flower petals.

Chinatown n. a district of a large non-Chinese town or port in which the population is predominantly of Chinese origin.

china tree n. another term for CHINABERRY.

chinch /tn(t)/ (also chinch bug) n. a plant-eating ground bug that forms large swarms on grasses and rushes.

<INFO> Two species in the family Lygaeidae, suborder Heteroptera: the American Blissus leucopterus and the European Ischnodemus sabuleti.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘bedbug’): from Spanish chinche, from Latin cimex, cimic-.

chincherinchee /tntərnti/ n. a white-flowered South African lily.

<INFO> Ornithogalum thyrsoides, family Liliaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: imitative of the squeaky sound made by rubbing its stalks together.

chinchilla /tntlə/ n. 1 a small South American rodent with soft grey fur and a long bushy tail.

<INFO> Genus Chinchilla, family Chinchillidae: two species.

2 a cat or rabbit of a breed with silver-grey or grey fur.

3 [mass noun] the highly valued fur of the chinchilla, or of the chinchilla rabbit.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish, from Aymara or Quechua.

chin-chin exclam. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED used to express good wishes before drinking.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: representing a pronunciation of Chinese qing qing.

Chindit /tndt/ n. a member of the Allied forces behind the Japanese lines in Burma in 1943–5.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: from Burmese chinthé, a mythical creature.

Chindwin /tndwn/ a river which rises in northern Burma (Myanmar) and flows southwards for 885 km (550 miles) to meet the Irrawaddy.

chine^1 /tn/ n. 1 the backbone of an animal as it appears in a joint of meat.

- a joint of meat containing all or part of this.

2 a mountain ridge.

■ v. [with obj.] cut (meat) across or along the backbone.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French eschine, based on a blend of Latin spina ‘spine’ and a Germanic word meaning ‘narrow piece’, related to SHIN.

chine^2 /tn/ n. (in the Isle of Wight or Dorset) a deep narrow ravine.

<ORIGIN> Old English cinu ‘cleft, chink’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch keen, also to chink^1.

chine^3 /tn/ n. the angle where the strakes of the bottom of a boat or ship meet the side.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of chime^2 (the original sense).

Chinese n. (pl. same) 1 [mass noun] the language of China.

2 a native or national of China, or a person of Chinese descent.

- British INFORMAL a Chinese meal.

- British INFORMAL a Chinese restaurant.

Chinese, a member of the Sino-Tibetan language family, is the world's most commonly spoken first language, with an estimated 1.2 billion native speakers worldwide. The script is logographic, using characters which originated as stylized pictographs but now also represent abstract concepts and the sounds of syllables. Though complex, it permits written communication between speakers of the many dialects, most of which are mutually incomprehensible in speech. For transliteration into the Roman alphabet, the Pinyin system is now usually used.

■ adj. relating to China or its language, culture, or people.

- belonging to the people forming the dominant ethnic group of China and also widely dispersed elsewhere. Also called HAN.

Chinese box n. each of a set of boxes graduated in size so as to fit inside each other.

Chinese burn n. INFORMAL an act of placing both hands on a person's arm and then twisting it to produce a burning sensation.

Chinese cabbage n. another term for CHINESE LEAVES.

Chinese chequers (US Chinese checkers) plural n. [usually treated as sing.] a board game for two to six players who attempt to move marbles or counters from one corner to the opposite one on a star-shaped board.

Chinese fire drill n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, often OFFENSIVE a state of disorder or confusion.

Chinese gooseberry n. former term for KIWI FRUIT.

Chinese lantern n. 1 a collapsible paper lantern.

2 a Eurasian plant with white flowers and globular orange fruits enclosed in an orange-red papery calyx.

<INFO> Physalis alkekengi, family Solanaceae.

Chinese leaves (also Chinese cabbage) plural n. BRITISH an oriental cabbage which does not form a firm heart.

<INFO> Genus Brassica, family Cruciferae: two species, pak choi (B. chinensis), which has smooth tapering leaves, and pe tsai (B. pekinenis), which resembles lettuce.

Chinese puzzle n. an intricate puzzle consisting of many interlocking pieces.

Chinese red n. [mass noun] a vivid orange-red.

Chinese wall n. an insurmountable barrier, especially to the passage of information.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: with allusion to the GREAT WALL OF CHINA.

Chinese water chestnut n. another term for water chestnut (sense 1).

Chinese whispers plural n. [treated as sing.] BRITISH a game in which a message is distorted by being passed around in a whisper.

Chinese white n. [mass noun] white pigment consisting of zinc oxide.

ching n. an abrupt high-pitched ringing sound, typically one made by a cash register.

<ORIGIN> imitative.

Chin Hills /tn/ a range of hills in western Burma (Myanmar), close to the borders with India and Bangladesh.

Chink n. INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE a Chinese person.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: irregular formation from CHINA.

chink^1 n. a narrow opening, typically one that admits light: a chink in the curtains.

- a narrow beam or patch of light admitted by such an opening: I noticed a chink of light under the door.

<PHRASES>

□ a chink in someone's armour a weak point in someone's character or arguments which makes them vulnerable to attack.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: related to chine^2.

chink^2 v. make or cause to make a light, high-pitched ringing sound, as of glasses or coins striking together: [no obj.] the chain joining the handcuffs chinked | [with obj.] they chinked glasses and kissed.

■ n. a high-pitched ringing sound: the chink of glasses.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: imitative.

chinkara /tkαrə/ n. (pl. same) (in the Indian subcontinent) the Indian gazelle, which occurs from Iran to central India.

<INFO> Gazella bennettii, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Hindi cikārā, from Sanskrit chikkāra.

Chinkiang /tnkja/ variant of ZHENJIANG.

Chinky INFORMAL n. (pl. Chinkies) 1 OFFENSIVE a Chinese person.

2 BRITISH a Chinese restaurant or a Chinese meal.

■ adj. OFFENSIVE Chinese.

chinless adj. (of a person) lacking a well-defined chin.

- INFORMAL lacking strength of character; ineffectual.

chinless wonder n. BRITISH INFORMAL an ineffectual upper-class man.

chin music n. [mass noun] US INFORMAL idle chatter.

chino /tinə/ n. (pl. chinos) [mass noun] a cotton twill fabric, typically khaki-coloured.

- (chinos) casual cotton trousers made from chino or a similar fabric.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Latin American Spanish, literally ‘toasted’ (referring to the typical colour).

Chino- /tnə/ combining form equivalent to SINO-.

chinoiserie /nwαzəri/ n. (pl. chinoiseries) [mass noun] a decorative style in Western art, furniture, and architecture, especially in the 18th century, characterized by the use of Chinese motifs and techniques.

- objects or decorations in this style: his apartment was filled with chinoiserie.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from chinois ‘Chinese’.

Chinook /tnuk -nk -/ n. (pl. same or Chinooks) 1 a member of an American Indian people originally inhabiting the region around the Columbia River in Oregon.

2 [mass noun] the extinct Penutian language of the Chinook.

■ adj. relating to the Chinook or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Salish tsinúk.

chinook /tnuk -nk -/ n. 1 (also chinook wind) a warm dry wind which blows down the east side of the Rocky Mountains at the end of winter.

2 (also chinook salmon) a large North Pacific salmon which is an important food fish.

<INFO> Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, family Salmonidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from attributive use of CHINOOK.

Chinook Jargon n. [mass noun] an extinct pidgin composed of elements from Chinook, Nootka, English, French, and other languages, formerly used in the Pacific North-West of North America.

chinquapin /tkəpn/ (also chinkapin) n. a North American chestnut tree.

<INFO> Several species in the family Fagaceae, in particular Castanea pumila.

- the edible nut of the chinquapin.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Virginia Algonquian.

chinstrap n. a strap attached to a hat, helmet, or other headgear, designed to hold it in place by fitting under the wearer's chin.

chintz n. [mass noun] printed multicoloured cotton fabric with a glazed finish, used for curtains and upholstery: [as modifier] floral chintz curtains.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as chints, plural of chint, denoting a stained or painted calico cloth imported from India): from Hindi chī ‘spattering, stain’.

chintzy adj. (chintzier, chintziest) 1 BRITISH of, like, or decorated with chintz: a pretty, chintzy fabric.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL cheap and of poor quality.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL miserly: a chintzy salary increase.

<DERIVATIVES> chintzily adv. chintziness n.

chin-up n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for pull-up (sense 1).

chinwag BRITISH INFORMAL n. a chat.

■ v. (chinwags, chinwagging, chinwagged) [no obj.] have a chat.

chionodoxa /kənədksə/ n. a bulbous Eurasian plant of the lily family, with early blooming blue flowers. Also called GLORY-OF-THE-SNOW.

<INFO> Genus Chionodoxa, family Liliaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek khiōn ‘snow’ + doxa ‘glory’.

Chios /ks/ a Greek island in the Aegean Sea; pop. 52,000 (est. 2002). Greek name KHIOS.

<DERIVATIVES> Chian n. & adj.

chip n. 1 a small piece of something removed in the course of chopping, cutting, or breaking a hard material such as wood or stone: granite chips.

- a hole or mark left by the removal of such a piece.

- [mass noun] BRITISH wood or woody fibre split into thin strips and used for weaving hats or baskets.

2 BRITISH a long rectangular piece of deep-fried potato.

- (also potato chip) NORTH AMERICAN a potato crisp.

3 short for MICROCHIP.

4 a counter used in certain gambling games to represent money: a poker chip.

5 (in football, golf, and other sports) a short lofted kick or shot.

■ v. (chips, chipping, chipped) [with obj.] 1 cut or break (a small piece) from a hard material: we had to chip ice off the upper deck.

- [no obj.] (of a material or object) break at the edge or on the surface: the paint had chipped off the gate.

- cut pieces off (a hard material) to shape it or break it up: craftsmen chipped the blocks of flint to the required shape | [no obj.] she chipped away at the ground outside the door.

- BRITISH cut (a potato) into strips.

2 (usually as adj. chipped) BRITISH cut (a potato) into chips.

3 (in football, golf, and other sports) kick or strike (a ball or shot) to produce a short lofted shot or pass: he chipped a superb shot over the keeper.

<PHRASES>

□ a chip off the old block INFORMAL someone who resembles their parent in character or appearance.

□ a chip on one's shoulder INFORMAL a deeply ingrained grievance.

□ have had one's chips BRITISH INFORMAL be dead or defeated.

□ when the chips are down INFORMAL when a very serious situation arises.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ chip away at gradually and relentlessly make something smaller or weaker: rivals may chip away at one's profits by undercutting prices.

□ chip in (or chip something in) 1 contribute something as one's share of a joint activity, cost, etc.: Rollie chipped in with nine saves and five wins | the council will chip in a further £30,000 a year.

2 INFORMAL make an interjection: [with direct speech] ‘He's right,’ Gloria chipped in.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: related to Old English forcippian ‘cut off’.

chip and PIN n. [mass noun] a way of paying for goods by debit or credit card whereby one enters one's personal identification number in an electronic device rather than signing a slip.

chipboard n. [mass noun] material made in rigid sheets from compressed wood chips and resin, often coated or veneered, used in furniture, buildings, etc.

Chipewyan /tpəwən/ n. (pl. same or Chipewyans) 1 a member of a Dene people of NW Canada. Compare with CHIPPEWA.

2 [mass noun] the Athabaskan language of the Chipewyan, with about 8,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Chipewyan or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Cree, literally ‘(wearing) pointed-skin (garments)’.

chip heater n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a domestic water heater that burns wood chips.

chipmaker n. a company that manufactures microchips.

chipmunk n. a burrowing ground squirrel with cheek pouches and light and dark stripes running down the body, found in North America and northern Eurasia.

<INFO> Genus Tamias, family Sciuridae: many species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Ojibwa.

chipolata n. BRITISH a small thin sausage.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from Italian cipollata ‘a dish of onions’, from cipolla ‘onion’.

chipotle /tpətle/ n. a smoked hot chilli pepper used in Mexican cooking.

<ORIGIN> Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl.

Chippendale^1 /tp(ə)ndel/ Thomas (1718–79), English furniture-maker and designer. He produced furniture in a neoclassical vein, with elements of the French rococo, chinoiserie, and Gothic revival styles, and his book of furniture designs The Gentleman and Cabinetmaker's Director (1754) was highly influential.

Chippendale^2 /tp(ə)ndel/ adj. (of furniture) designed, made by, or in the style of Thomas Chippendale.

chipper^1 adj. INFORMAL cheerful and lively.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from northern English dialect kipper ‘lively’.

chipper^2 n. 1 a person or thing that turns something into chips.

- a machine for chipping timber.

2 IRISH INFORMAL a fish-and-chip shop.

Chippewa /tpəw -wα/ n. (pl. same) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for OJIBWA. Compare with CHIPEWYAN.

<ORIGIN> alteration of OJIBWA.

chipping n. BRITISH a small fragment of stone, wood, or similar material.

chipping sparrow n. a common American songbird related to the buntings, with a chestnut crown and a white stripe over the eye.

<INFO> Spizella passerina, family Emberizidae (subfamily Emberizinae).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: chipping from US chip ‘chirp’, with reference to the bird's repetitive song.

chippy INFORMAL n. (also chippie) (plural chippies) 1 BRITISH a fish-and-chip shop.

2 BRITISH a carpenter.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a promiscuous young woman, especially a prostitute.

■ adj. touchy and irritable.

- NORTH AMERICAN (of an ice-hockey game) rough and belligerent with numerous penalties.

chipset n. a collection of integrated circuits which are designed to function together as a unit, especially to perform a particular task within a computer system.

chip shot n. [GOLF] a stroke at which the ball is or must be chipped into the air.

Chirac /ərak/ French /iRak/ Jacques (René) (b.1932), French statesman, Prime Minister 1974–6 and 1986–8 and President 1995–2007.

chiral /kr(ə)l/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] asymmetric in such a way that the structure and its mirror image are not superimposable.

<DERIVATIVES> chirality n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kheir ‘hand’ + -AL.

chi-rho n. a monogram of chi (X) and rho (P) as the first two letters of Greek Khristos Christ.

Chirico /krkə/ Giorgio de (1888–1978), Greek-born Italian painter. His disconnected and unsettling dream images exerted a significant influence on surrealism.

chiro- /krə/ (also cheiro-) combining form of the hand or hands: chiromancy.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kheir ‘hand’.

chirography /krrəfi/ n. [mass noun] handwriting, especially as distinct from typography.

<DERIVATIVES> chirographic adj.

chiromancy /krə()mansi/ n. [mass noun] the prediction of a person's future from interpreting the lines on the palms of their hands; palmistry.

Chiron /kərn/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a learned centaur who acted as teacher to Jason, Achilles, and many other heroes.

2 [ASTRONOMY] asteroid 2060, discovered in 1977, which is unique in having an orbit lying mainly between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus. It is believed to have a diameter of 370 km.

chironomid /krnəmd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an insect of a family (Chironomidae) which comprises the non-biting midges.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Chironomidae (plural), from the genus name Chironomus, from Greek kheironomos ‘pantomime dancer’.

chiropody /krpədi/ n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH the treatment of the feet and their ailments.

<DERIVATIVES> chiropodist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CHIRO- ‘hand’ + Greek pous, pod- ‘foot’.

chiropractic /krə()praktk/ n. [mass noun] a system of complementary medicine based on the diagnosis and manipulative treatment of misalignments of the joints, especially those of the spinal column, which are believed to cause other disorders by affecting the nerves, muscles, and organs.

<DERIVATIVES> chiropractor n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CHIRO- ‘hand’ + Greek praktikos ‘practical’, from prattein ‘do’.

Chiroptera /krpt(ə)rə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of mammals that comprises the bats. See also MEGACHIROPTERA, MICROCHIROPTERA.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from CHIRO- ‘hand’ + Greek pteron ‘wing’.

chiropteran [ZOOLOGY] n. a mammal of the order Chiroptera; a bat.

■ adj. relating to or denoting chiropterans.

chirp v. [no obj.] 1 (of a small bird or an insect) make a short, sharp, high-pitched sound.

- [with direct speech] (of a person) say something in a lively and cheerful way: ‘Good morning!’ chirped Alex.

2 [with obj.] S. AFRICAN speak to (someone) in a taunting way.

■ n. a short, sharp, high-pitched sound.

<DERIVATIVES> chirper n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: imitative.

chirpy adj. (chirpier, chirpiest) INFORMAL cheerful and lively.

<DERIVATIVES> chirpily adv. chirpiness n.

chirr /tə/ (also churr) v. [no obj.] (of an insect) make a prolonged low trilling sound.

■ n. a low trilling sound.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: imitative.

chirrup v. (chirrups, chirruping, chirruped) [no obj.] (of a small bird) make repeated short, high-pitched sounds.

- [with direct speech] (of a person) say something in a high-pitched voice: ‘Yes, Miss Honey,’ chirruped eighteen voices.

■ n. a short, high-pitched sound.

<DERIVATIVES> chirrupy adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: alteration of CHIRP, by trilling the -r-.

chiru /tru/ n. (pl. same) a sandy-coloured Tibetan gazelle with black horns. Also called TIBETAN ANTELOPE.

<INFO> Pantholops hodgsoni, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably from Tibetan.

chisel /tz(ə)l/ n. a long-bladed hand tool with a bevelled cutting edge and a handle which is struck with a hammer or mallet, used to cut or shape wood, stone, or metal.

■ v. (chisels, chiselling, chiselled; US chisels, chiseling, chiseled) [with obj.] 1 cut or shape (something) with a chisel: chisel a hole through the brickwork.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN cheat or swindle (someone) out of something: he's chiselled me out of my dues.

<DERIVATIVES> chiseller n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Northern French, based on Latin cis- (as in late Latin cisorium), variant of caes-, stem of caedere ‘to cut’. Compare with SCISSORS.

chiselled adj. (of a man's facial features) strongly and clearly defined: the chiselled features of a male model.

Chişinău /kna/ the capital of Moldova; pop. 711,700 (est. 2002). Russian name KISHINYOV.

chi-square test /kskwε test/ n. a statistical method assessing the goodness of fit between a set of observed values and those expected theoretically. (Symbol: χ^2)

chit^1 n. BRITISH DEROGATORY an impudent or arrogant young woman: she is a mere chit of a girl.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a whelp, cub, or kitten): perhaps related to dialect chit ‘sprout’.

chit^2 n. a short official note, typically recording a sum owed.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Anglo-Indian, from Hindi cihī ‘note, pass’.

chit^3 v. (chits, chitting, chitted) [with obj.] BRITISH cause (a potato) to sprout by placing it in a cool light place.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from dialect chit ‘a shoot, sprout’.

chital /tit(ə)l/ n. a deer having lyre-shaped antlers and a white-spotted fawn coat, native to India and Sri Lanka.

<INFO> Cervus axis, family Cervidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Hindi cītal, from Sanskrit citrala ‘spotted’, from citra ‘spot, mark’.

chitarrone /ktərəne -ni/ n. a very large lute similar to a theorbo, used in Italy in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘large guitar’.

chit-chat INFORMAL n. [mass noun] inconsequential conversation.

■ v. [no obj.] talk about trivial matters: I can't stand around chit-chatting.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: reduplication of chat^1.

chit fund n. (in the Indian subcontinent) an institution which accepts savings at interest and lends money for house and other purchases.

<ORIGIN> chit from CHIT^2.

chitin /ktn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a fibrous substance consisting of polysaccharides, which is the major constituent in the exoskeleton of arthropods and the cell walls of fungi.

<DERIVATIVES> chitinous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French chitine, formed irregularly from Greek khitōn (see CHITON).

chiton /ktn -t(ə)n/ n. 1 a long woollen tunic worn in ancient Greece.

2 a marine mollusc that has an oval flattened body with a shell of overlapping plates.

<INFO> Class Polyplacophora.

<ORIGIN> from Greek khitōn ‘tunic’.

■ Sense 2 is a modern Latin genus name.

Chittagong /ttə/ a seaport in SE Bangladesh, on the Bay of Bengal; pop. 2,546,400 (est. 2002).

chitter v. [no obj.] 1 make a twittering or chattering sound.

2 SCOTTISH & DIALECT shiver with cold: they stand chittering at bus stops.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: imitative; compare with CHATTER.

chitterlings /ttəlz/ plural n. the smaller intestines of a pig, cooked as food.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps related to synonymous German Kutteln.

chitty n. (pl. chitties) British informal term for chit^2.

chivalrous /v(ə)lrəs/ adj. (of a man or his behaviour) courteous and gallant, especially towards women.

- relating to the historical concept of chivalry.

<DERIVATIVES> chivalrously adv. chivalrousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘characteristic of a medieval knight’): from Old French chevalerous, from chevalier (see CHEVALIER).

chivalry /v(ə)lri/ n. [mass noun] 1 the medieval knightly system with its religious, moral, and social code.

- the combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, namely courage, honour, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help the weak.

- courteous behaviour, especially that of a man towards women: he still retained a sense of chivalry towards women.

2 ARCHAIC knights, noblemen, and horsemen collectively.

<DERIVATIVES> chivalric adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chevalerie, from medieval Latin caballerius, for late Latin caballarius ‘horseman’ (see CHEVALIER).

chives plural n. a small Eurasian plant related to the onion, with purple-pink flowers and long tubular leaves which are used as a culinary herb: freshly chopped chives | (as modifier chive) chive and garlic dressing.

<INFO> Allium schoenoprasum, family Liliaceae (or Alliaceae).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, dialect variant of cive, from Latin cepa ‘onion’.

chivvy (also chivy) v. (chivvies, chivvying, chivvied) [with obj.] chiefly BRITISH tell (someone) repeatedly to do something: an association which chivvies government into action.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: probably from the ballad Chevy Chase, celebrating a skirmish (probably the battle of Otterburn, 1388) on the Scottish border. Originally a noun denoting a hunting cry, the term later meant ‘a pursuit’, hence the verb ‘to chase, worry’ (mid 19th century).

Chkalov /tkαlf/ former name (1938–57) for Orenburg.

Chladni figures /kladni/ (also Chladni patterns) plural n. the patterns formed when a sand-covered surface is made to vibrate.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Ernst Chladni (1756–1827), German physicist.

chlamydia /kləmdə/ n. (pl. same or chlamydiae /-di/) a very small parasitic bacterium which, like a virus, requires the biochemical mechanisms of another cell in order to reproduce. Bacteria of this type cause various diseases including trachoma, psittacosis, and non-specific urethritis.

<INFO> Genus Chlamydia and order Chlamydiales.

<DERIVATIVES> chlamydial adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: modern Latin (plural), from Greek khlamus, khlamud- ‘cloak’.

chlamydomonas /klamdəmənəs/ n. (pl. same) [BIOLOGY] a common single-celled green alga which typically has two flagella for swimming, living in water and moist soil.

<INFO> Genus Chlamydomonas, division Chlorophyta (or phylum Chlorophyta, kingdom Protista).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek khlamus, khlamud- ‘cloak’ + monas (see MONAD).

chlamydospore /klamdə()sp/ n. [BOTANY] (in certain fungi) a thick-walled hyphal cell which functions like a spore.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek khlamus, khlamud- ‘mantle’ + SPORE.

chlamys /klams/ n. a short cloak worn by men in ancient Greece.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek khlamus ‘mantle’.

chloasma /kləazmə/ n. [mass noun] a temporary condition, typically caused by hormonal changes, in which large brown patches form on the skin.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek khloazein ‘become green’.

chlor- combining form variant spelling of CHLORO- before a vowel (as in chloracne).

chloracne /klrakni/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a skin disease resembling severe acne, caused by exposure to chlorinated chemicals.

chloral /klral/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless, viscous liquid made by chlorinating acetaldehyde.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CCl_3CHO.

■ short for CHLORAL HYDRATE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, blend of chlore ‘chlorine’ and alcool ‘alcohol’.

chloral hydrate n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless crystalline solid made from chloral and used as a sedative.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CCl_3CH(OH)2.

chlorambucil /klrambjsl/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a cytotoxic drug used in the treatment of cancer.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from chlor(oethyl)am(inophenyl)bu(tyric acid), the systematic name, + -cil.

chloramine /klrəmin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a group of antiseptics and disinfectants which are sulphonamide derivatives containing chlorine bonded to nitrogen.

chloramphenicol /klramfεnkl/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an antibiotic used against serious infections such as typhoid fever.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from CHLORO-

■ (representing CHLORINE) + am(ide) + PHENO- + ni(tro-) + (gly)col.

chlorate /klret/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of chloric acid.

chlordane /klden/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic viscous toxic compound used as an insecticide.

<INFO> A chlorinated derivative of indene; chem. formula: C_10H_6Cl_8.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from CHLOR-

■ (representing CHLORINE) + (in)dene + -ANE^2.

chlordiazepoxide /kldazpksd/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a tranquillizer of the benzodiazepine group, used chiefly to treat anxiety and alcoholism. Also called LIBRIUM (TRADEMARK).

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from CHLOR- + diazo + EPOXIDE.

chlorella /klərεlə/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] a common single-celled green alga of both terrestrial and aquatic habitats, responsible for turning stagnant water an opaque green.

<INFO> Genus Chlorella, division Chlorophyta (or phylum Chlorophyta, kingdom Protista).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, diminutive of Greek khlōros ‘green’.

chlorhexidine /klhεksdin/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic compound used as a mild antiseptic.

<INFO> A biguanide derivative; chem. formula: C_22H_30Cl_2N_10.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from CHLOR-

■ (representing CHLORINE) + hex(ane) + -id(e) + (am)ine.

chloric acid /klrk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid acid with strong oxidizing properties.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HClO_3.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: chloric from CHLORINE + -IC.

chloride /klrd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound of chlorine with another element or group, especially a salt of the anion Cl− or an organic compound with chlorine bonded to an alkyl group.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CHLORINE + -IDE.

chlorinate /klrnet kl-/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. chlorinated) impregnate or treat with chlorine: chlorinated water.

<DERIVATIVES> chlorination n. chlorinator n.

chlorine /klrin/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 17, a toxic, irritant, pale green gas. (Symbol: Cl)

A member of the halogen group, chlorine occurs in nature mainly as sodium chloride in seawater and salt deposits. The gas was used as a poison gas in the First World War. Chlorine is added to water supplies as a disinfectant.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named by Sir Humphrey Davy, from Greek khlōros ‘green’ + -INE^4.

chlorite^1 /klrt/ n. [mass noun] a dark green mineral consisting of a basic hydrated aluminosilicate of magnesium and iron. It occurs as a constituent of many rocks, typically forming flat crystals resembling mica.

<DERIVATIVES> chloritic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via Latin from Greek khlōritis, a green precious stone.

chlorite^2 /klrt/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt of chlorous acid, containing the anion ClO_2−.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CHLORINE + -ITE^1.

chloritoid /klrtd/ n. [mass noun] a greenish-grey or black mineral resembling mica, consisting chiefly of a basic aluminosilicate of iron and found in metamorphosed clay sediments.

chloro- (usually chlor- before a vowel) combining form 1 [BIOLOGY] & [MINERALOGY] green.

2 [CHEMISTRY] representing CHLORINE: chloroquine.

<ORIGIN> from Greek khlōros ‘green’.

chlorodyne /klrə()dn kl-/ n. [mass noun] a preparation of chloroform and morphine formerly used to relieve pain.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: blend of CHLOROFORM and ANODYNE.

chloroform n. [mass noun] a colourless, volatile, sweet-smelling liquid used as a solvent and formerly as a general anaesthetic.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CHCl_3.

■ v. [with obj.] make (someone) unconscious with chloroform.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CHLORO-

■ (representing CHLORINE) + form- from FORMIC ACID.

chlorophyll /klrəfl kl-/ n. [mass noun] a green pigment, present in all green plants and in cyanobacteria, which is responsible for the absorption of light to provide energy for photosynthesis.

<DERIVATIVES> chlorophyllous adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coined in French from Greek khlōros ‘green’ + phullon ‘leaf’.

Chlorophyta /klrə()ftə kl-/ plural n. [BOTANY] a division of lower plants that comprises the green algae. They are frequently treated as a phylum of the kingdom Protista.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek khlōros ‘green’ + phuton ‘plant’.

chlorophyte n. [BOTANY] a lower plant of the division Chlorophyta, which comprises the green algae.

chloroplast /klrə()plast -plαst kl-/ n. [BOTANY] a plastid in green plant cells which contains chlorophyll and in which photosynthesis takes place.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Greek khlōros ‘green’ + plastos ‘formed’.

chloroprene /klrə()prn kl-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid made from acetylene and hydrochloric acid and polymerized to form neoprene.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_2=CClCH=CH_2.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from CHLORO- + a shortened form of ISOPRENE.

chloroquine /klrə()kwin kl-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic drug related to quinoline, used against malaria.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from CHLORO- + quin(olin)e.

chlorosis /klrəss/ n. [mass noun] (plural chloroses) 1 [BOTANY] loss of the normal green coloration of leaves of plants, caused by iron deficiency in lime-rich soils, disease, or lack of light.

2 MEDICINE anaemia caused by iron deficiency, especially in adolescent girls, causing a pale, faintly greenish complexion.

<DERIVATIVES> chlorotic adj.

chlorothiazide /klrə()θəzd kl-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic drug used to treat fluid retention and high blood pressure.

chlorous acid /klrəs/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a weak acid with oxidizing properties, formed when chlorine dioxide dissolves in water.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HClO_2.

chlorpromazine /klprəməzn -zin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic drug used as a tranquillizer, sedative, and anti-emetic.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from CHLORO- + prom(eth)azine.

chlortetracycline /kltεtrəsklin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an antibiotic of the tetracycline group, active against many bacterial and fungal infections.

ChM abbr. Master of Surgery.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Chirurgiae Magister.

choanocyte /kəənə()st/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a flagellated cell with a collar of protoplasm at the base of the flagellum, numbers of which line the internal chambers of sponges.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek khoanē ‘funnel’ + -CYTE.

choc n. BRITISH INFORMAL a chocolate.

choccy n. (pl. choccies) [mass noun] INFORMAL chocolate.

- [count noun] a chocolate sweet.

chocho /tətə/ n. (pl. chochos)

■ West Indian term for CHOKO.

choc ice n. BRITISH a small bar of ice cream with a thin coating of chocolate.

chock n. a wedge or block placed against a wheel or rounded object, to prevent it from moving.

- a support for a rounded structure, such as a cask or the hull of a boat.

■ v. [with obj.] prevent the movement of (a wheel or vehicle) with a chock: the front wheel will need to be chocked.

- support (a boat, cask, etc.) on chocks.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from an Old Northern French variant of Old French çouche, çoche ‘block, log’, of unknown ultimate origin.

chocka adj. British short for CHOCK-A-BLOCK.

chock-a-block adj. [predic.] INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH crammed full of people or things: the manual is chock-a-block with information.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally in nautical use, with reference to tackle having the two blocks run close together): from chock (in CHOCK-FULL) and BLOCK.

chocker adj. [predic.] INFORMAL 1 BRITISH tired of or disgusted with something: I'm a little chocker with this place.

2 (AUSTRALIAN also chockers) BRITISH full: the church was chocker with flowers.

<ORIGIN> Second World War (originally naval slang): from CHOCK-A-BLOCK.

chock-full adj. [predic.] INFORMAL filled to overflowing: my case is chock-full of notes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin; later associated with CHOCK.

chockstone n. [MOUNTAINEERING] a stone that has become wedged in a vertical cleft.

chocoholic (also chocaholic) n. INFORMAL a person who is addicted to or very fond of chocolate.

chocolate n. [mass noun] a food in the form of a paste or solid block made from roasted and ground cacao seeds, typically sweetened and eaten as confectionery: a bar of chocolate | [as modifier] a chocolate biscuit.

- [count noun] a sweet made of or covered with chocolate: a box of chocolates.

- a drink made by mixing milk or water with chocolate.

- a deep brown colour: the former Great Western colours of chocolate and cream | [as modifier] his chocolate brown eyes.

<DERIVATIVES> chocolatey (also chocolaty) adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘a drink made with chocolate’): from French chocolat or Spanish chocolate, from Nahuatl chocolatl ‘food made from cacao seeds’, influenced by unrelated cacaua-atl ‘drink made from cacao’.

chocolate-box adj. BRITISH (of a view or picture) pretty in a conventional or idealized way: chocolate-box cottages lining narrow streets.

<ORIGIN> from the use of attractive images to decorate boxes of chocolates.

chocolate chip n. [usually as modifier] a small piece of chocolate used in biscuits, cakes, and ice cream: chocolate-chip cookies.

chocolate spot n. [mass noun] a fungal disease affecting field and broad beans, characterized by dark brown spots on all parts of the plant.

<INFO> This is caused by the fungus Botrytis fabae, subdivision Deuteromycotina (or Ascomycotina).

chocolatier /tkəlatə/ French /klatje/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) a maker or seller of chocolate.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French.

Choctaw /tkt/ n. (pl. same or Choctaws) 1 a member of an American Indian people now living mainly in Mississippi.

2 [mass noun] the Muskogean language of the Choctaw, closely related to Chickasaw and now almost extinct.

3 (in skating) a step from one edge of a skate to the other edge of the other skate in the opposite direction.

■ adj. relating to the Choctaw or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Choctaw čahta.

choice n. an act of choosing between two or more possibilities: the choice between good and evil.

- [mass noun] the right or ability to choose: I had to do it, I had no choice.

- a range of possibilities from which one or more may be chosen: you can have a sofa made in a choice of forty fabrics.

- a thing or person which is chosen: this disk drive is the perfect choice for your computer.

■ adj. 1 (especially of food) of very good quality: he picked some choice early plums.

2 (of words or language) rude and abusive: he had a few choice words at his command.

<PHRASES>

□ by choice of one's own accord.

□ of choice selected as one's favourite or the best: champagne was his drink of choice.

□ of one's choice that one chooses or has chosen: the college of her choice.

<DERIVATIVES> choicely adv. choiceness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French chois, from choisir ‘choose’, of Germanic origin and related to CHOOSE.

choil /tl/ n. the end of a knife's cutting edge which is nearer to the handle.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

choir n. an organized group of singers, especially one that takes part in church services or performs in public.

- the part of a cathedral or large church between the altar and the nave, used by the choir and clergy.

- a group of instruments of one family playing together: a clarinet choir.

<ORIGIN> Middle English quer, quere, from Old French quer, from Latin chorus (see CHORUS). The spelling change in the 17th century was due to association with Latin chorus and modern French choeur.

choirboy (or choirgirl) n. a boy (or girl) who sings in a church or cathedral choir.

choirman n. (pl. choirmen) BRITISH a man who sings in a church or cathedral choir.

choirmaster n. the conductor of a choir.

choir organ n. a separate division of many large organs, played using a third manual (keyboard), and typically having distinctively toned stops.

choir school n. a school which is attached to a cathedral or college and specializes in training choirboys.

choir stalls plural n. fixed seating in the choir of a church or chapel.

choisya /tzə/ n. an evergreen Mexican shrub with sweet-scented white flowers, grown as an ornamental.

<INFO> Choisya ternata, family Rutaceae.

<ORIGIN> named after Jacques D. Choisy (1799–1859), Swiss botanist.

choke^1 v. 1 [no obj.] (of a person or animal) have severe difficulty in breathing because of a constricted or obstructed throat or a lack of air: Willie choked on a mouthful of tea.

- [with obj.] prevent (a person or animal) from breathing in such a way.

- [with obj.] retard the growth of (a plant) by depriving it of light, air, or nourishment: the bracken will choke the wild gladiolus.

- [with obj.] arrest or inhibit the occurrence or development of: higher rates of interest choke off investment demand.

2 [with obj.] fill (a space) so as to make movement difficult or impossible: the roads were choked with traffic.

3 [with obj.] make (someone) speechless with a strong feeling or emotion: he was choked with fury.

- (usually be choked up) cause (someone) to feel tearful or extremely upset: I was so choked up I started crying and couldn't sing any more.

- suppress a strong emotion or the expression of such an emotion: Liz was choking back her anger.

4 [with obj.] enrich the fuel mixture in (a petrol engine) by reducing the intake of air.

■ n. 1 a valve in the carburettor of a petrol engine that is used to reduce the amount of air in the fuel mixture when the engine is started.

- a knob which controls such a valve.

2 a narrowed part of a shotgun bore near the muzzle, serving to restrict the spread of the shot.

3 an inductance coil used to smooth the variations of an alternating current or to alter its phase.

4 an act or the sound of a person or animal having difficulty in breathing: a little choke of laughter.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old English ācēocian (verb), from cēoce (see CHEEK).

choke^2 n. the inedible mass of silky fibres at the centre of a globe artichoke.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: probably a confusion of the ending of artichoke with choke^1.

chokeberry n. (pl. chokeberries) a North American shrub of the rose family, with white flowers and red autumn foliage, cultivated as an ornamental.

<INFO> Genus Aronia, family Rosaceae.

- the bitter scarlet berry-like fruit of the chokeberry.

choke chain n. a chain formed into a loop by passing one end through a ring on the other, placed round a dog's neck to exert control by causing pressure on the windpipe when the dog pulls.

choke cherry n. a North American cherry with astringent fruit which is edible when cooked.

<INFO> Prunus virginiana, family Rosaceae.

choke-damp n. [mass noun] choking or suffocating gas, typically carbon dioxide, that is found in mines and other underground spaces.

chokehold n. a tight grip round a person's neck, used to restrain them by restricting their breathing: the police have banned chokeholds | FIGURATIVE the southern delegates had the convention in a chokehold.

choke point n. NORTH AMERICAN a point of congestion or blockage: the tunnel is a choke point at rush hour.

choker n. 1 a necklace or band of fabric that fits closely around the neck.

- DATED a clerical or other high collar.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a cable looped round a log to drag it.

chokey (also choky) n. (pl. chokeys or chokies) [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED prison.

- [mass noun] imprisonment: three months' chokey.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘customs or toll house’): Anglo-Indian, from Hindi caukī ; influenced by choke^1.

choko /təkə/ n. (pl. chokos) AUSTRALIAN/NZ the fruit of the chayote plant, eaten as a vegetable in the Caribbean, Australia, and New Zealand.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Spanish chocho, from a Brazilian Indian word. The current spelling dates from the early 20th cent.

chokra /təkrə/ n. chiefly DEROGATORY (in the Indian subcontinent) a boy, especially one employed as a servant.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi chokrā.

Chokwe /tkwe/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) and northern Angola.

2 [mass noun] the Bantu language of the Chokwe, with over a million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Chokwe or their language.

choky^1 adj. having or causing difficulty in breathing: the whole piazza was choky with tear gas.

- breathless with emotion: ‘Nick,’ she said, choky suddenly.

chola /tələ/ n. a female cholo.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: American Spanish (see CHOLO).

cholangiography /klandrəfi/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE X-ray examination of the bile ducts, used to locate and identify an obstruction.

<DERIVATIVES> cholangiogram n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: coined in Spanish from Greek khole ‘bile’ + angeion ‘vessel’ + -graphia (see -GRAPHY).

chole- /kli/ (also chol- before a vowel) combining form MEDICINE & [CHEMISTRY] relating to bile or the bile ducts: cholesterol.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kholē ‘gall, bile’.

cholecalciferol /klkalsf(ə)rl/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] one of the D vitamins, a sterol essential for the deposition of calcium in bones and formed by the action of sunlight on dehydrocholesterol in the skin. Also called VITAMIN D3.

cholecyst- /klsst/ combining form relating to the gall bladder: cholecystectomy.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin cholecystis ‘gall bladder’.

cholecystectomy n. (pl. cholecystectomies) [mass noun] surgical removal of the gall bladder.

cholecystitis n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the gall bladder.

cholecystography /klsstrəfi/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE X-ray examination of the gall bladder, used especially to detect the presence of gallstones.

cholecystokinin /klsstə()knn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hormone which is secreted by cells in the duodenum and stimulates the release of bile into the intestine and the secretion of enzymes by the pancreas.

cholelithiasis /kllθəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the formation of gallstones.

cholent /tl(ə)nt -/ n. [mass noun] a Jewish Sabbath dish of slowly baked meat and vegetables, prepared on a Friday and cooked overnight.

<ORIGIN> from Yiddish tsholnt.

choler /klə/ n. [mass noun] (in medieval science and medicine) one of the four bodily humours, identified with bile and believed to be associated with a peevish or irascible temperament. Also called YELLOW BILE.

- ARCHAIC anger or irascibility.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also denoting diarrhoea): from Old French colere ‘bile, anger’, from Latin cholera ‘diarrhoea’ (from Greek kholera), which in late Latin acquired the senses ‘bile or anger’, from Greek kholē ‘bile’.

cholera /klərə/ n. [mass noun] an infectious and often fatal bacterial disease of the small intestine, typically contracted from infected water supplies and causing severe vomiting and diarrhoea.

<INFO> The disease is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. See VIBRIO.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting bile and later applied to various ailments involving vomiting and diarrhoea): from Latin (see CHOLER). The current sense dates from the early 19th cent.

choleraic /klərek/ adj. ARCHAIC infected with cholera.

choleric /klərk/ adj. bad-tempered or irritable.

- (in medieval medicine) having choler as the predominant bodily humour.

<DERIVATIVES> cholerically adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘bilious’): from Old French cholerique, via Latin from Greek kholerikos, from kholera (see CHOLER).

cholesterol /kəlεstərl/ n. [mass noun] a compound of the sterol type found in most body tissues. Cholesterol and its derivatives are important constituents of cell membranes and precursors of other steroid compounds, but high concentrations in the blood are thought to promote atherosclerosis.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_27H_45OH.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kholē ‘bile’ + stereos ‘stiff’ + -OL.

choli /təli/ n. (pl. cholis) a short-sleeved bodice worn under a sari by Indian women.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi colī.

choliamb /kəlam(b)/ n. [PROSODY] another term for SCAZON.

<DERIVATIVES> choliambic /kəlambk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via late Latin from Greek khōliambos, from khōlos ‘lame’ + iambos (see IAMBUS).

cholic acid /kəlk kl-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound produced by oxidation of cholesterol. It is a steroidal fatty acid and its salts are present in bile.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kholikos, from kholē ‘bile’.

choline /kəlin -ln/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a strongly basic compound important in the synthesis and transport of lipids in the body.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HON(CH_3)3CH_2CH_2OH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: coined in German from Greek kholē ‘bile’.

cholinergic /kəlnədk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to or denoting nerve cells in which acetylcholine acts as a neurotransmitter. Contrasted with ADRENERGIC.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from CHOLINE + Greek ergon ‘work’ + -IC.

cholinesterase /kəlnεstərez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme, especially acetylcholinesterase, which hydrolyses esters of choline.

cholla /tə/ n. a cactus with a cylindrical stem, native to Mexico and the south-western US.

<INFO> Genus Opuntia, family Cactaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Mexican Spanish use of Spanish cholla ‘skull, head’, of unknown origin.

cholo /tələ/ n. (pl. cholos) a Latin American man with American Indian blood; a mestizo.

- US DEROGATORY a lower-class Mexican, especially in an urban area.

- US a member of a Mexican street gang.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: American Spanish, from Cholollán (now Cholula), in Mexico.

chomp v. munch or chew noisily or vigorously: she chomped on a roll.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: imitative.

Chomsky /tmski/ (Avram) Noam (b.1928), American theoretical linguist, noted for expounding the theory of generative grammar. He also demonstrated that linguistic behaviour is innate, not learned, and that all languages share the same underlying grammatical base. Chomsky is known also for his opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War and the Gulf War.

<DERIVATIVES> Chomskyan (also Chomskian) adj.

Chondrichthyes /kndrkθiz/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of fishes that includes those with a cartilaginous skeleton. Compare with OSTEICHTHYES.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek khondros ‘cartilage’ + ikhthus ‘fish’.

chondrite /kndrt/ n. a stony meteorite containing small mineral granules (chondrules).

<DERIVATIVES> chondritic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek khondros ‘granule’ + -ITE^1.

chondro- /kndrə()/ combining form relating to cartilage: chondrocyte.

<ORIGIN> from Greek khondros ‘grain or cartilage’.

chondrocyte /kndrə()st/ n. [BIOLOGY] a cell which has secreted the matrix of cartilage and become embedded in it.

chondroitin /kndrətn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a mucopolysaccharide compound which is a major constituent of cartilage and other connective tissue.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CHONDRO- + -ITE^1 + -IN^1.

chondrule /kndrul/ n. a spheroidal mineral grain present in large numbers in some stony meteorites.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CHONDRITE + -ULE.

Chongjin /tdn/ a port on the NE coast of North Korea; pop. 674,000 (est. 2002).

Chongqing /tt/ (also Chungking) a city in Sichuan province in central China; pop. 6,974,300 (est. 2002). It was the capital of China from 1938 to 1946.

choo-choo (also choo-choo train) n. a child's word for a railway train or locomotive.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): imitative.

choof /tf/ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL go or move in a specified direction: I used to drink beer at home with Dad before he choofed off.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: form of chuff^1, used figuratively.

chook /tk/ (also chookie) n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL 1 a chicken or fowl.

2 DEROGATORY an older woman.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: probably from English dialect chuck ‘chicken’, of imitative origin.

choose v. (past chose; past participle chosen) [with obj.] pick out (someone or something) as being the best or most appropriate of two or more alternatives: he chose a seat facing the door | [no obj.] there are many versions to choose from.

- [no obj.] decide on a course of action: [with infinitive] he chose to go | I'll stay as long as I choose.

<PHRASES>

□ cannot choose but do something FORMAL have no alternative to doing something.

□ there is little (or nothing) to choose between there is little or no difference between.

<DERIVATIVES> chooser n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cēosan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kiezen.

choosy adj. (choosier, choosiest) INFORMAL taking excessive care when making a choice: she's become very choosy about food.

<DERIVATIVES> choosily adv. choosiness n.

chop^1 v. (chops, chopping, chopped) 1 [with obj.] cut (something) into pieces with repeated sharp blows of an axe or knife: they chopped up the pulpit for firewood | finely chop 200g of skipjack tuna.

- (chop something off) remove something by cutting: a paper guillotine chopped off all four fingers.

- cut through the base of (a tree or similar plant) with blows from an axe or other implement, in order to fell it: the boy chopped down eight trees.

- strike (something) with a short heavy blow, as if cutting at something: Benson chopped the ball onto the stumps.

2 abolish or reduce the size of (something) in a way regarded as ruthless: their training courses are to be chopped.

■ n. 1 a downward cutting blow or movement, typically with the hand: an effective chop to the back of the neck.

2 a thick slice of meat, especially pork or lamb, adjacent to and often including a rib.

3 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a person's share of something.

4 [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN crushed or ground grain used as animal feed.

5 [in sing.] the broken motion of water, owing to the action of the wind against the tide: we started our run into a two-foot chop.

<PHRASES>

□ the chop BRITISH INFORMAL the dismissal of someone from employment: hundreds more workers have been given the chop.

- the cancellation of something: all these projects are destined for the chop.

- the action of killing someone or the fact of being killed.

□ chop logic argue in a tiresomely pedantic way; quibble. [<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from a dialect use of chop meaning ‘bandy words’.]

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of chap^1.

chop^2 v. (chops, chopping, chopped) (in phrase chop and CHANGE) BRITISH INFORMAL change one's opinions or behaviour repeatedly and abruptly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘barter, exchange’): perhaps related to Old English cēap ‘bargaining, trade’; compare with chap- in CHAPMAN.

chop^3 n. ARCHAIC a trademark; a brand of goods.

<PHRASES>

□ not much chop AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL unsatisfactory: that veranda's not much chop in bad weather.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Hindi chāp ‘stamp, brand’ (see CHAAP).

chop-chop adv. & excl. quickly; quick: ‘Two pints, chop-chop,’ Jimmy called.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: pidgin English, based on Chinese dialect kuaì-kuaì. Compare with CHOPSTICK.

chophouse n. a restaurant that specializes in steaks, chops, and similar fare.

Chopin^1 /əpa/ Frédéric (François) (1810–49), Polish-born French composer and pianist; Polish name Fryderyk Franciszek Szopen. Writing almost exclusively for the piano, he composed numerous mazurkas and polonaises inspired by Polish folk music, as well as nocturnes, preludes, and two piano concertos (1829; 1830).

Chopin^2 /əpan/ Kate (O'Flaherty) (1851–1904), American novelist and short-story writer. Notable works: Bayou Folk (1894), A Night in Acidie (1897), and The Awakening (1899).

chopper n. 1 a short axe with a large blade.

- a butcher's cleaver: a meat chopper.

- a machine for chopping something: a straw chopper.

- a device for regularly interrupting an electric current or a beam of light or particles.

- (choppers) INFORMAL teeth.

2 INFORMAL a helicopter.

3 INFORMAL a type of motorcycle with high handlebars and the front-wheel fork extended forwards.

4 BRITISH VULGAR SLANG a man's penis.

chopping block n. a block for chopping wood or food.

- HISTORICAL an executioner's block.

<PHRASES>

□ on the chopping block likely to be abolished or drastically reduced.

chopping board n. BRITISH a board on which vegetables and other types of food are chopped.

choppy adj. (choppier, choppiest) 1 (of a sea, lake, or river) having many small waves.

2 having a disjointed or jerky quality: the choppy, electronic beat of hip hop.

<DERIVATIVES> choppily adv. choppiness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘full of chaps or clefts’): from CHOP^1 + -Y^1.

chops plural n. INFORMAL 1 a person's or animal's mouth or jaws: a smack in the chops.

- a person's cheeks: his wobbling chops.

2 the technical skill of a jazz or rock musician: when I'm on tour my chops go down.

<PHRASES>

□ bust one's chops NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL exert oneself.

□ bust someone's chops NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL nag or criticize someone.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of chap^3.

chop shop n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a place where stolen vehicles are dismantled so that the parts can be sold or used to repair other stolen vehicles.

chopsocky /tpski/ n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL kung fu or a similar martial art, especially as depicted in violent action films: chopsocky epics from Hong Kong.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: perhaps humorously suggested by CHOP SUEY.

chopstick n. (usually chopsticks) each of a pair of small, thin, tapered sticks of wood, ivory, or plastic, held together in one hand and used as eating utensils especially by the Chinese and the Japanese.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: pidgin English, from chop ‘quick’ + STICK^1, translating Chinese dialect kuaìzi, literally ‘nimble ones’. Compare with CHOP-CHOP.

chop suey /tpsui/ n. [mass noun] a Chinese-style dish of meat stewed and fried with bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and onions, and served with rice.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Chinese (Cantonese dialect) tsaâp suì ‘mixed bits’.

choral adj. composed for or sung by a choir or chorus: a choral work.

- engaged in or concerned with singing: a choral scholar.

<DERIVATIVES> chorally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin choralis, from Latin chorus (see CHORUS).

chorale n. 1 a musical composition consisting of or resembling a harmonized version of a simple, stately hymn tune.

- a hymn tune of this kind.

2 US a choir or choral society.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Choral(gesang), translating medieval Latin cantus choralis.

chord^1 n. a group of (typically three or more) notes sounded together, as a basis of harmony: the triumphal opening chords | a G major chord.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. chording) play, sing, or arrange notes in chords.

<DERIVATIVES> chordal adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English cord, from ACCORD. The spelling change in the 18th century was due to confusion with chord^2. The original sense was ‘agreement, reconciliation’, later ‘a musical concord or harmonious sound’; the current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.

chord^2 n. 1 [MATHEMATICS] a straight line joining the ends of an arc.

2 [AERONAUTICS] the width of an aerofoil from leading to trailing edge.

3 [ENGINEERING] each of the two principal members of a truss.

4 [ANATOMY] variant spelling of CORD: the spinal chord.

5 LITERARY a string on a harp or other instrument.

<PHRASES>

□ strike (or touch) a chord cause someone to feel sympathy, emotion, or enthusiasm: the issue of food safety strikes a chord with almost everyone. [<ORIGIN> with figurative reference to the emotions being the ‘strings’ of the mind visualized as a musical instrument.]

□ strike (or touch) the right chord skilfully appeal to or arouse a particular emotion in others: Dickens knew how to strike the right chord in the hearts of his readers.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the anatomical sense): a later spelling (influenced by Latin chorda ‘rope’) of CORD.

Chordata /kdetə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large phylum of animals that includes the vertebrates together with the sea squirts and lancelets. They are distinguished by the possession of a notochord at some stage during their development.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Latin chorda (see chord^2), on the pattern of words such as Vertebrata.

chordate /kdet/ [ZOOLOGY] n. an animal of the large phylum Chordata, comprising the vertebrates together with the sea squirts and lancelets.

■ adj. relating to or denoting chordates.

chordophone /kdəfən/ n. [MUSIC], TECHNICAL a stringed instrument.

chordotonal /kdə()tən(ə)l/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (in insects) denoting sense organs which are responsive to mechanical and sound vibrations.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CHORD^2 + TONAL.

chore n. a routine task, especially a household one.

- a tedious but necessary task: he sees interviews as a chore.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally dialect and US): variant of obsolete char or chare (see CHARWOMAN).

chorea /krə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a neurological disorder characterized by jerky involuntary movements affecting especially the shoulders, hips, and face. See also HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE, SYDENHAM'S CHOREA.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via Latin from Greek khoreia ‘dancing in unison’, from khoros ‘chorus’.

choreograph /krərαf/ v. [with obj.] compose the sequence of steps and moves for (a ballet or other performance of dance).

- plan and control (an event or operation): the committee choreographs the movement of troops.

<DERIVATIVES> choreographer n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: back-formation from CHOREOGRAPHY.

choreography /krrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the sequence of steps and movements in dance or figure skating, especially in a ballet or other staged dance: the rumbustious choreography reflects the themes of the original play.

- the art or practice of designing such sequences.

<DERIVATIVES> choreographic adj. choreographically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘written notation of dancing’): from Greek khoreia ‘dancing in unison’ (from khoros ‘chorus’) + -GRAPHY.

choreology /krlədi/ n. [mass noun] the notation of dance movement.

<DERIVATIVES> choreologist n.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Greek khoreia ‘dancing in unison’ (from khoros ‘chorus’) + -LOGY.

choriambus /krambəs/ n. (pl. choriambi /-b/) a metrical foot consisting of two short (or unstressed) syllables between two long (or stressed) ones.

<DERIVATIVES> choriambic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via late Latin from Greek khoriambos, from khoreios ‘of the dance’ + iambos (see IAMBUS).

choric /krk krk/ adj. belonging to, spoken by, or resembling a chorus in drama or recitation.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via late Latin from Greek khorikos, from khoros ‘chorus’.

chorine /krin/ n. a chorus girl.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): from CHORUS + -INE^3.

chorio- /krə/ combining form representing CHORION or CHOROID.

chorioallantoic /krəaləntək krə-/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to or denoting fused chorionic and allantoic membranes around a fetus.

choriocarcinoma /krə()kαsnəmə krə-/ n. (pl. choriocarcinomas or choriocarcinomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a malignant tumour of the uterus which originates in the fetal chorion.

chorion /krən/ n. [ANATOMY] the outermost membrane surrounding an embryo of a reptile, bird, or mammal. In mammals it contributes to the formation of the placenta.

<DERIVATIVES> chorionic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Greek khorion.

chorionic gonadotrophin /krnk/ n. [mass noun] a hormone secreted during pregnancy by the placenta which stimulates continued production of progesterone by the ovaries.

chorionic villus sampling n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a test made in early pregnancy to detect congenital abnormalities in the fetus, in which a tissue sample is taken from the villi of the chorion.

chorister n. 1 a member of a choir, especially a choirboy or choirgirl.

2 US a person who leads the singing of a church choir or congregation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English queristre, from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French cueriste, from quer (see CHOIR). The change in the first syllable in the 16th century was due to association with obsolete chorist ‘member of a choir or chorus’, but the older form quirister long survived.

chorizo /tərizə/ Spanish /təriθə -risə/ n. (pl. chorizos) a spicy Spanish pork sausage.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

chorography /krrəfi/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL the systematic description and mapping of particular regions.

<DERIVATIVES> chorographer n. chorographic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek khōrographia, from khōra or khōros ‘region’.

choroid /krd kr-/ adj. resembling the chorion, particularly in containing many blood vessels.

■ n. (also choroid coat) the pigmented vascular layer of the eyeball between the retina and the sclera.

<DERIVATIVES> choroidal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek khoroeidēs (adjective), alteration of khorioeidēs, from khorion (see CHORION).

choroid plexus /krd kr-/ n. (pl. same or choroid plexuses) a network of blood vessels in each ventricle of the brain, producing the cerebrospinal fluid.

choropleth map /krə()plεθ/ n. a map which uses differences in shading, colouring, or the placing of symbols within predefined areas to indicate the average values of a particular quantity in those areas. Compare with ISOPLETH.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: choropleth from Greek khōra ‘region’ + plēthos ‘multitude’.

chorten /tt(ə)n/ n. (chiefly in Tibet) a Buddhist shrine, typically a saint's tomb or a monument to the Buddha.

<ORIGIN> Tibetan.

chortle v. [no obj.] laugh in a noisy, gleeful way: he chortled at his own execrable pun.

■ n. a noisy, gleeful laugh: Thomas gave a chortle.

<ORIGIN> 1871: coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass; probably a blend of CHUCKLE and SNORT.

chorus n. (pl. choruses) 1 a part of a song which is repeated after each verse.

- a piece of choral music, especially one forming part of a larger work such as an opera.

2 a large organized group of singers, especially one which performs with an orchestra or opera company.

- a group of singers or dancers performing together in a supporting role in a musical or opera.

3 a simultaneous utterance of something by many people: a growing chorus of complaint | ‘Good morning,’ we replied in chorus.

4 (in ancient Greek tragedy) a group of performers who comment together on the main action.

- a single character who speaks the prologue and other linking parts of the play, especially in Elizabethan drama.

- a section of text spoken by the chorus in drama.

5 a device used with an amplified musical instrument to give the impression that more than one instrument is being played: [as modifier] a chorus pedal.

■ v. (choruses, chorusing, chorused) [with obj.] (of a group of people) say the same thing at the same time: [with direct speech] ‘Morning, Sister,’ the nurses chorused.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a character speaking the prologue of a play): from Latin, from Greek khoros.

chorus girl n. a young woman who sings or dances in the chorus of a musical.

chose past of CHOOSE.

chosen past participle of CHOOSE

■ adj. having been selected as the best or most appropriate: he is by no means a forerunner in his chosen field.

<PHRASES>

□ chosen few a small group of people who enjoy special privileges or treatment, typically in a way thought to be unfair.

□ chosen people the Jewish people considered (in Jewish and Christian tradition) as having been selected by God for a special relationship with him.

- (in Christian use) those destined for salvation; believing Christians.

chota /tətə/ adj. INDIAN small or young.

- lower in rank or importance.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi choā.

choucroute /ukrut/ n. [mass noun] pickled cabbage; sauerkraut.

<ORIGIN> French, from German dialect Surkrut ‘sauerkraut’, influenced by French chou ‘cabbage’.

Chou En-lai /tə εnl/ variant of ZHOU ENLAI.

chough /tf/ n. 1 a black Eurasian and North African bird of the crow family, with a downcurved bill and broad, rounded wings, typically frequenting mountains and sea cliffs.

<INFO> Genus Pyrrhocorax (and Pseudopodoces), family Corvidae: three species, especially the (red-billed) chough (P. pyrrhocorax).

2 (also white-winged chough) a black and white Australian bird of the mud-nester family.

<INFO> Corcorax melanorhamphos, family Corcoracidae (or Grallinidae).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting the jackdaw): probably imitative.

choux pastry /u/ n. [mass noun] very light pastry made with egg, typically used for eclairs and profiteroles.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from choux or chou, denoting a round cream-filled pastry (from French chou (plural choux) ‘cabbage, rosette’, from Latin caulis) + PASTRY.

chow /ta/ n. 1 [mass noun] INFORMAL food.

2 (also chow chow) a dog of a sturdy Chinese breed with a broad muzzle, a tail curled over the back, a bluish-black tongue, and typically a dense thick coat.

■ v. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL eat: [no obj.] he chowed down on lobster.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: shortened from CHOW CHOW.

chow chow n. 1 another term for chow (sense 2 of the noun).

2 [mass noun] a Chinese preserve of ginger, orange peel, and other ingredients, in syrup.

3 [mass noun] a mixed vegetable pickle.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: pidgin English, of unknown ultimate origin.

chowder n. [mass noun] a rich soup typically containing fish, clams, or corn with potatoes and onions: clam chowder.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps from French chaudière ‘stew pot’, related to Old Northern French caudron (see CAULDRON).

chowderhead n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a stupid person.

<DERIVATIVES> chowderheaded adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably a variant of early 17th-cent. jolter-head ‘thickheaded person’.

chowhound n. US INFORMAL a very enthusiastic eater.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: (originally US military slang) from CHOW + HOUND.

chowk /tak/ n. [usually in names] (in the Indian subcontinent) an open market area in a city at the junction of two roads: Chandni Chowk.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi cauk.

chowki /tki/ n. Indian 1 a police station or jail.

2 a low wooden seat or stool.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi caukī (see CHOKEY).

chowkidar /tkdα/ (also chokidar /tkdα/) n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a watchman or gatekeeper.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu caukīdār, from caukī ‘toll house’ + -dār ‘keeper’.

chow mein /ta men/ n. [mass noun] a Chinese-style dish of fried noodles with shredded meat or seafood and vegetables.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Chinese chǎo miàn ‘stir-fried noodles’.

CHP abbr. combined heat and power, a system in which steam produced in a power station as a by-product of electricity generation is used to heat nearby buildings.

Chr. abbr. Chronicles (in biblical references).

chrestomathy /krεstməθi/ n. (pl. chrestomathies) FORMAL a selection of passages from an author or authors, designed to help in learning a language.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek khrēstomatheia, from khrēstos ‘useful’ + -matheia ‘learning’.

Chrétien /kretja/ French /kRetjε/ (Joseph-Jacques) Jean (b.1934), Canadian Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1993–2003.

Chrétien de Troyes /kretja də trw/ French /kRetjε də tRwa/ (12th century), French poet. His courtly romances on Arthurian themes include Lancelot (c.1177–81) and Perceval (1181–90, unfinished).

Chrimbo (also Crimbo) n. BRITISH INFORMAL Christmas.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: child's alteration.

chrism /krz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a mixture of oil and balsam, consecrated and used for anointing at baptism and in other rites of Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican Churches.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from medieval Latin crisma, ecclesiastical Latin chrisma, from Greek khrisma ‘anointing’, from khriein ‘anoint’.

chrisom /krz(ə)m/ (also chrisom-cloth) n. HISTORICAL a white robe put on a child at baptism, and used as its shroud if it died within the month.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: alteration of CHRISM, representing a popular pronunciation with two syllables.

Chrissake /krsek/ (also Chrissakes) n. (in phrase for Chrissake) INFORMAL for Christ's sake (used as an exclamation of annoyance or exasperation): for Chrissake, listen to me!

<ORIGIN> 1920s: representing a pronunciation.

Chrissie (also Chrissy) n. BRITISH INFORMAL Christmas.

Christ n. the title, also treated as a name, given to Jesus.

■ exclam. an oath used to express irritation, dismay, or surprise.

<PHRASES>

□ before Christ full form of BC.

<DERIVATIVES> Christhood n. Christlike adj. Christly adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English Crīst, from Latin Christus, from Greek Khristos, noun use of an adjective meaning ‘anointed’, from khriein ‘anoint’, translating Hebrew māšīa ‘Messiah’.

Christadelphian /krstədεlfən/ n. a member of a Christian sect, founded in America in 1848, which claims to return to the beliefs and practices of the earliest disciples and holds that Christ will return in power to set up a worldwide theocracy beginning at Jerusalem.

■ adj. of or adhering to the Christadelphian sect and its beliefs.

<ORIGIN> from late Greek Khristadelphos ‘in brotherhood with Christ’ (from Greek Khristos ‘Christ’ + adelphos ‘brother’) + -IAN.

Christchurch a city on the South Island, New Zealand; pop. 234,297 (2001).

christen v. [with obj.] 1 give (a baby) a Christian name at baptism as a sign of admission to a Christian Church: [with obj. and complement] their second daughter was christened Jeanette.

- give a name to (someone or something) which reflects a notable characteristic: [with obj. and complement] we have christened our regular train home the ghost train.

2 INFORMAL use for the first time.

<DERIVATIVES> christener n.

<ORIGIN> Old English crīstnian ‘make Christian’, from crīsten ‘Christian’, from Latin Christianus, from Christus ‘Christ’.

Christendom n. [mass noun] DATED the worldwide body or society of Christians.

- the Christian world: the greatest church in Christendom.

<ORIGIN> Old English crīstendōm, from crīsten (see CHRISTEN) + -dōm (see -DOM).

christening n. a Christian ceremony at which a baby is christened; a baptism.

Christer /krstə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a sanctimonious or ostentatiously pious Christian.

Christian^1 /krstən krstən/ Fletcher (c.1764–c.1793), English seaman and mutineer. As first mate under Captain Bligh on HMS Bounty, in April 1789 Christian seized the ship and cast Bligh and others adrift. In 1790 the mutineers settled on Pitcairn Island, where Christian was probably killed by Tahitians.

Christian^2 /krstən -t(ə)n/ adj. relating to or professing Christianity or its teachings: the Christian Church.

- INFORMAL having qualities associated with Christians, especially those of decency, kindness, and fairness.

■ n. a person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Christianity.

<DERIVATIVES> Christianization (also Christianisation) n. Christianize (also Christianise) v. Christianly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin Christianus, from Christus ‘Christ’.

Christian Aid a charity supported by most of the Christian Churches in the UK and operating chiefly in developing countries, where it works for disaster relief and supports development projects.

Christian Brothers a Roman Catholic lay teaching order founded in France in 1684.

Christian era n. (the Christian era) the period of time which begins with the traditional date of Christ's birth.

Christiania /krstαnə/ (also Kristiania) former name (1624–1924) for Oslo.

Christianity n. [mass noun] the religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ, or its beliefs and practices.

- Christian quality or character.

Christianity is today the world's most widespread religion, with more than a billion members, mainly divided between the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox Churches. It originated among the Jewish followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who believed that he was the promised Messiah (or ‘Christ’), but the Christian Church soon became an independent organization, largely through the missionary efforts of St Paul. In 313 Constantine ended official persecution in the Roman Empire and in 380 Theodosius I recognized it as the state religion. Most Christians believe in one God in three Persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) and that Jesus is the Son of God who rose from the dead after being crucified; a Christian hopes to attain eternal life after death through faith in Jesus Christ and tries to live by his teachings as recorded in the New Testament.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French crestiente, from crestien ‘Christian’, influenced by late Latin christianitas, from Latin Christianus, from Christus ‘Christ’.

Christian name n. a first name, especially one given at baptism.

<USAGE> In recognition of the fact that English-speaking societies have many religions and cultures, not just Christian ones, the term Christian name has largely given way, at least in official contexts, to alternative terms such as given name, first name, or forename.

Christian Science n. [mass noun] the beliefs and practices of the Church of Christ Scientist, a Christian sect founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879. Members hold that only God and the mind have ultimate reality, and that sin and illness are illusions which can be overcome by prayer and faith.

<DERIVATIVES> Christian Scientist n.

Christie^1 Dame Agatha (1890–1976), English writer of detective fiction. She wrote over seventy novels, many of which feature the Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot or the resourceful Miss Marple. Notable works: Murder on the Orient Express (1934), Death on the Nile (1937), and The Mousetrap (play, 1952).

Christie^2 Linford (b.1960), Jamaican-born British sprinter who won the Olympic gold medal in the 100 metres in 1992 and the world championship title at this distance in 1993.

Christie^3 n. (pl. Christies) [SKIING], DATED a sudden turn in which the skis are kept parallel, used for changing direction fast or stopping short.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (earlier as Christiania): named after CHRISTIANIA in Norway.

Christingle /krst(ə)l/ n. a lighted candle symbolizing Christ as the light of the world, held by children at a special Advent service originating in the Moravian Church.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: probably from German dialect Christkindl ‘Christ child, Christmas gift’.

Christmas n. (pl. Christmases) the annual Christian festival celebrating Christ's birth, held on 25 December in the Western Church.

- the period immediately before and after 25 December: we had guests over Christmas.

■ exclam. INFORMAL expressing surprise, dismay, or despair.

<DERIVATIVES> Christmassy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English Crīstes mæsse (see CHRIST, Mass).

Christmas beetle n. S. AFRICAN any of a number of cicadas whose males produce a shrill mating song during the summer.

Christmas box n. BRITISH a present given at Christmas to tradespeople and employees.

Christmas cactus n. a South American cactus with flattened segmented stems and red, pink, or white flowers, grown as a house plant.

<INFO> Schlumbergera bridgesii, family Cactaceae.

<ORIGIN> so named because it flowers at about the northern midwinter.

Christmas cake n. BRITISH a rich fruit cake covered with marzipan and icing, eaten at Christmas.

Christmas card n. a greetings card sent at Christmas.

Christmas Day n. the day on which the festival of Christmas is celebrated, 25 December.

Christmas disease n. [mass noun] a form of haemophilia caused by deficiency of the blood-clotting factor IX rather than the more common factor VIII.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from the name of Stephen Christmas, the first patient examined in detail.

Christmas Eve the day or the evening before Christmas Day, 24 December.

Christmas flower n. S. AFRICAN the hydrangea, which in South Africa blooms at Christmas.

Christmas Island 1 an island in the Indian Ocean 350 km (200 miles) south of Java, administered as an external territory of Australia since 1958; pop. 474 (est. 2002).

2 former name (until 1981) for KIRITIMATI.

Christmas pudding n. BRITISH a rich boiled pudding eaten at Christmas, made with flour, suet, and dried fruit.

Christmas rose n. 1 a small white-flowered winter-blooming hellebore, grown as a house plant.

<INFO> Helleborus niger, family Ranunculaceae.

2 S. African another term for CHRISTMAS FLOWER.

Christmas stocking n. a real or ornamental stocking hung up by children on Christmas Eve for Father Christmas to fill with presents.

Christmas tree n. an evergreen or artificial tree decorated with lights, tinsel, and other ornaments at Christmas.

Christo- combining form relating to Christ: Christocentric.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Christus or Greek Khristos ‘Christ’.

Christocentric adj. having Christ as its centre: a thoroughly Christocentric theology.

Christology n. [mass noun] the branch of Christian theology relating to the person, nature, and role of Christ.

<DERIVATIVES> Christological adj. Christologically adv.

Christopher, St a legendary Christian martyr, adopted as the patron saint of travellers, since it is said that he once carried Jesus Christ as a child across a river.

christophine /krstəfin/ (also christophene) n. another term for chayote (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> probably based on the French given name Christophe.

Christ's thorn n. a thorny shrub popularly supposed to have formed Christ's crown of thorns, in particular:

<INFO>

- either of two shrubs related to the buckthorn (Paliurus spina-christi and Ziziphus spina-christi, family Rhamnaceae).

- another term for crown of thorns (sense 2)

chroma /krəmə/ n. [mass noun] purity or intensity of colour.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek khrōma ‘colour’.

chromaffin /krə()mafn/ adj. [attr.] [PHYSIOLOGY] denoting granules or vesicles containing adrenalin and noradrenaline, and the secretory cells of the adrenal medulla in which they are found.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CHROMO-1 ‘chromium’ + Latin affinis ‘akin’ (because readily stained brown by chromates).

chromakey /krəməki/ n. [mass noun] a digital technique by which a block of a particular colour in a video image can be replaced by another colour or image, enabling, for example, a weather forecaster to appear against a background of a computer-generated weather map.

■ v. (chromakeys, chromakeying, chromakeyed) [with obj.] manipulate (an image) using this technique.

chromate /krəmet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt in which the anion contains both chromium and oxygen, especially one of the anion CrO_42−.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CHROMIC + -ATE^1.

chromatic adj. 1 [MUSIC] relating to or using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key in which a passage is written.

- (of a scale) ascending or descending by semitones.

- (of an instrument) able to play all the notes of the chromatic scale.

2 relating to or produced by colour.

<DERIVATIVES> chromatically adv. chromaticism n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French chromatique or Latin chromaticus, from Greek khrōmatikos, from khrōma, khrōmat- ‘colour, chromatic scale’.

chromatic aberration n. [mass noun] [OPTICS] the effect produced by the refraction of different wavelengths of light through slightly different angles, resulting in a failure to focus.

chromaticity /krəmətsti/ n. [mass noun] the quality of colour, independent of brightness.

chromatid /krəmətd/ n. [BIOLOGY] each of the two thread-like strands into which a chromosome divides longitudinally during cell division. Each contains a double helix of DNA.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek khrōma, khrōmat- ‘colour’ + -ID^2.

chromatin /krəmətn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the material of which the chromosomes of organisms other than bacteria (i.e. eukaryotes) are composed, consisting of protein, RNA, and DNA.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Greek khrōma, khrōmat- ‘colour’.

chromato- /krəmətə/ (also chromo-) combining form colour; of or in colours: chromatopsia.

<ORIGIN> from Greek khrōma, khrōmat- ‘colour’.

chromatogram /krə()matəram/ n. a visible record (such as a graph) showing the result of separating the components of a mixture by chromatography.

chromatograph n. an apparatus for performing chromatography.

■ another term for CHROMATOGRAM.

chromatography /krəmətrəfi/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a technique for the separation of a mixture by passing it in solution or suspension through a medium in which the components move at different rates.

<DERIVATIVES> chromatographic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from German Chromatographie (see CHROMATO-, -graphy), early separations being displayed as a number of coloured bands or spots.

chromatopsia /krəmətpsə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormally coloured vision, a rare symptom with various causes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CHROMATO- ‘colour’ + Greek -opsia ‘seeing’.

chrome n. [mass noun] chromium plate as a decorative or protective finish on motor-vehicle fittings and other objects: [as modifier] a chrome bumper.

- [as modifier] denoting compounds or alloys of chromium: chrome dyes.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Greek khrōma ‘colour’ (some chromium compounds having brilliant colours).

chrome alum n. [mass noun] a reddish-purple crystalline compound used in solution in photographic processing and as a mordant in dyeing.

<INFO> Chem. formula: K_2SO_4Cr_2(SO_4)3.24H_2O.

chromed adj. chromium-plated.

chrome leather n. [mass noun] leather tanned with chromium salts.

chrome steel n. [mass noun] a hard fine-grained steel containing chromium, used for making tools.

chrome yellow n. [mass noun] a bright yellow pigment made from lead chromate.

chromic /krəmk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] of chromium with a higher valency, usually three. Compare with CHROMOUS.

chromic acid n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a corrosive and strongly oxidizing acid existing only in solutions of chromium trioxide.

<INFO> Chem. formula: H_2CrO_4.

chromide n. a small deep-bodied fish of India and Sri Lanka, found in brackish water.

<INFO> Genus Etroplus, family Cichlidae: the orange chromide (E. maculatus) and the green chromide (E. suratensis).

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from modern Latin Chromides (former order name), formed irregularly from Chromis (genus name), from Latin chromis ‘sea fish’.

chrominance /krəmnəns/ n. [mass noun] the colorimetric difference between a given colour in a television picture and a standard colour of equal luminance.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek khrōma ‘colour’, on the pattern of luminance.

chromite /krəmt/ n. [mass noun] the principal ore of chromium, a brownish-black oxide of chromium and iron.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CHROME or CHROMIUM + -ITE^1.

chromium n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 24, a hard white metal used in stainless steel and other alloys. (Symbol: Cr)

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CHROME + -IUM.

chromium plate n. [mass noun] a decorative or protective coating of metallic chromium.

■ v. (chromium-plate) [with obj.] electroplate (something) with chromium.

chromium steel n. another term for CHROME STEEL.

chromo /krəmə/ n. (pl. chromos) North American shortened form of CHROMOLITHOGRAPH.

chromo-1 /krəmə/ combining form [CHEMISTRY] representing CHROMIUM.

chromogen /krəmə()d(ə)n/ n. a substance which can be readily converted into a dye or other coloured compound.

chromogenic adj. 1 involving the production of colour or pigments.

2 [PHOTOGRAPHY] denoting a process of developing film which uses couplers to produce black-and-white images of very high definition.

chromolithograph HISTORICAL n. a coloured picture printed by lithography, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

■ v. [with obj.] produce (a picture) by lithography.

<DERIVATIVES> chromolithographer n. chromolithographic adj. chromolithography n.

chromoly /krəmli/ n. [mass noun] a form of steel containing chromium and MOLYBDENUM, used to make strong, lightweight components such as bicycle frames.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of CHROMIUM and molybdenum.

chromophore /krəməf/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an atom or group whose presence is responsible for the colour of a compound.

<DERIVATIVES> chromophoric adj.

chromoplast /krəməplast -plαst/ n. [BOTANY] a coloured plastid other than a chloroplast, typically containing a yellow or orange pigment.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CHROMO-2 ‘colour’ + Greek plastos ‘formed’.

chromosome n. [BIOLOGY] a thread-like structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes.

Each chromosome consists of a DNA double helix bearing a linear sequence of genes, coiled and recoiled around aggregated proteins (histones). Their number varies from species to species: humans have 22 pairs plus the two sex chromosomes (two X chromosomes in females, one X and one Y in males). During cell division each DNA strand is duplicated, and the chromosomes condense to become visible as distinct pairs of chromatids joined at the centromere.

<DERIVATIVES> chromosomal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Greek khrōma ‘colour’ + sōma ‘body’.

chromosome map n. [GENETICS] a diagram showing the relative positions of genes along the length of a chromosome.

chromosome number n. [GENETICS] the characteristic number of chromosomes found in the cell nuclei of organisms of a particular species.

chromosphere n. [ASTRONOMY] a reddish gaseous layer immediately above the photosphere of the sun or another star which, together with the corona, constitutes its outer atmosphere.

<DERIVATIVES> chromospheric adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CHROMO-2 ‘colour’ + SPHERE.

chromous adj. [CHEMISTRY] of chromium with a valency of two. Compare with CHROMIC.

Chron. abbr. Chronicles (in biblical references).

chronic adj. 1 (of an illness) persisting for a long time or constantly recurring: chronic bronchitis. Often contrasted with ACUTE.

- (of a person) having such an illness: a chronic asthmatic.

- (of a problem) long-lasting: the school suffers from chronic overcrowding.

- (of a person) having a bad habit: a chronic liar.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL of a very poor quality: the film was absolutely chronic.

<DERIVATIVES> chronically adv. chronicity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French chronique, via Latin from Greek khronikos ‘of time’, from khronos ‘time’.

chronic fatigue syndrome n. [mass noun] a medical condition of unknown cause, with fever, aching, and prolonged tiredness and depression, typically occurring after a viral infection.

chronicle n. a factual written account of important or historical events in the order of their occurrence.

- a fictitious or factual work describing a series of events.

■ v. [with obj.] record (a series of events) in a factual and detailed way: his work chronicles 20th-century migration.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French cronicle, variant of Old French cronique, via Latin from Greek khronika ‘annals’, from khronikos (see CHRONIC).

chronicler n. a person who writes accounts of important or historical events: a chronicler of 18th-century American life.

Chronicles the name of two books of the Bible, recording the history of Israel and Judah until the return from Exile (536 BC).

chrono- /krnə/ combining form relating to time: chronometry.

<ORIGIN> from Greek khronos ‘time’.

chronobiology n. [mass noun] the branch of biology concerned with cyclical physiological phenomena.

<DERIVATIVES> chronobiologist n.

chronograph n. an instrument for recording time with great accuracy.

- a stopwatch.

<DERIVATIVES> chronographic adj.

chronological adj. 1 relating to the establishment of dates of past events: the diary provided a chronological framework for the events.

2 (of a record of events) following the order in which they occurred: the entries are in chronological order.

- calculated in terms of the passage of time: medical decisions should be based on the individual's biological age, not chronological age.

<DERIVATIVES> chronologically adv.

chronology /krənlədi/ n. (pl. chronologies) [mass noun] 1 the study of historical records to establish the dates of past events.

2 the arrangement of events or dates in the order of their occurrence: the novel abandons the conventions of normal chronology.

- [count noun] a list displaying such an arrangement.

<DERIVATIVES> chronologist n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from modern Latin chronologia, from Greek khronos ‘time’ + -logia (see -LOGY).

chronometer /krənmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring time accurately in spite of motion or variations in temperature, humidity, and air pressure.

chronometry n. [mass noun] the science of accurate time measurement.

<DERIVATIVES> chronometric adj. chronometrical adj. chronometrically adv.

chronostratigraphy /krnə()strətrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of geology concerned with establishing the absolute ages of strata.

<DERIVATIVES> chronostratigraphic adj.

chronotherapy /krnə()θεrəpi/ n. [mass noun] the treatment of an illness or disorder by administering a drug at a time of day believed to be in harmony with the body's natural rhythms.

chrysalid /krs(ə)ld/ n. another term for CHRYSALIS.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin chrysal(l)is, chrysal(l)id- (see CHRYSALIS).

chrysalis /krs(ə)ls/ n. (pl. chrysalises) a quiescent insect pupa, especially of a butterfly or moth.

- the hard outer case enclosing this.

- FIGURATIVE a transitional state: she emerged from the chrysalis of self-conscious adolescence.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin chrysal(l)is, chrysal(l)id-, from Greek khrusallis, from khrusos ‘gold’ (because of the gold colour or metallic sheen of some pupae).

chrysanthemum /krsanθməm -z-/ n. (pl. chrysanthemums) a plant of the daisy family with brightly coloured ornamental flowers, existing in many cultivated varieties.

<INFO> Genera Chrysanthemum or (most cultivated species) Dendranthema, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting the corn marigold): from Latin, from Greek khrusanthemon, from khrusos ‘gold’ + anthemon ‘flower’.

chryselephantine /krsεlfantn/ adj. (of ancient Greek sculpture) overlaid with gold and ivory.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek khruselephantinos, from khrusos ‘gold’ + elephas, elephant- ‘elephant’ or ‘ivory’.

chrysoberyl /krsə()bεrl/ n. [mass noun] a greenish or yellowish-green oxide of beryllium and aluminium which occurs as tabular crystals, sometimes of gem quality.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin chrysoberyllus, from Greek khrusos ‘gold’ + bērullos ‘beryl’.

chrysocolla /krsə()klə/ n. [mass noun] a greenish-blue mineral consisting of hydrated copper silicate, occurring as opaline crusts and masses.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the Greek sense): from Latin, from Greek khrusokolla, denoting a mineral used in ancient times for soldering gold.

chrysolite /krsəlt/ n. [mass noun] a yellowish-green or brownish variety of olivine, used as a gemstone.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French crisolite, from medieval Latin crisolitus, from Latin chrysolithus, based on Greek khrusos ‘gold’ + lithos ‘stone’.

chrysomelid /krsə()mεld -mild/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a beetle of a family (Chrysomelidae) that comprises the leaf beetles and their relatives.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Chrysomelidae (plural), from Chrysomela (genus name), from Greek khrusomēlon, literally ‘golden apple’, influenced by khrusomēlolonthion ‘little golden chafer’.

chrysoprase /krsə()prez/ n. [mass noun] an apple-green gemstone consisting of a variety of chalcedony that contains nickel.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a precious stone in the New Testament): from Old French crisopace, via Latin from Greek khrusoprasos, from khrusos ‘gold’ + prason ‘leek’.

Chrysostom, St John /krsəstəm/ (c.347–407), Doctor of the Church, bishop of Constantinople. He attempted to reform the corrupt state of the court, clergy, and people; this offended many, including the Empress Eudoxia, who banished him in 403. His name means ‘golden-mouthed’ in Greek. Feast day, 27 January.

chrysotile /krsə()tl/ n. [mass noun] a fibrous form of the mineral serpentine. Also called WHITE ASBESTOS.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek khrusos ‘gold’ + tilos ‘fibre’.

chthonic /(k)θnk/ (also chthonian /(k)θənən/) adj. relating to or inhabiting the underworld: a chthonic deity.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek khthōn ‘earth’ + -IC.

chub n. (pl. same or chubs) a thick-bodied European river fish with a grey-green back and white underparts.

<INFO> Leuciscus cephalus, family Cyprinidae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

Chubb n. TRADEMARK a lock with a device for fixing the bolt immovably to prevent it from being picked.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Charles Chubb (1773–1845), the London locksmith who invented it.

chubby adj. (chubbier, chubbiest) plump and rounded: a pretty child with chubby cheeks.

<DERIVATIVES> chubbily adv. chubbiness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘short and thickset, like a chub’): from CHUB.

Chubu /tubu/ a mountainous region of Japan, on the island of Honshu; capital, Nagoya.

chuck^1 INFORMAL v. [with obj.] 1 throw (something) carelessly or casually: someone chucked a brick through the window | FIGURATIVE he was chucking his money about.

- [CRICKET] (of a bowler) deliver (a ball) with an unlawful action.

- (often chuck something away/out) throw (something) away: they make a living out of stuff people chuck away.

- (chuck someone out) force someone to leave a building.

2 end a relationship with (a partner): Mary chucked him for another guy.

- give up (a job or activity): Richard chucked in his course.

- (chuck it) DATED stop doing something.

3 [no obj.] (chuck up) vomit: I nearly chucked up.

■ n. 1 a throw.

2 (the chuck) BRITISH a dismissal or rejection.

<PHRASES>

□ chuck it down BRITISH rain heavily.

<DERIVATIVES> chucker n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as a verb): from CHUCK^2.

chuck^2 v. [with obj.] touch (someone) playfully under the chin.

■ n. a playful touch under the chin.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun): probably from Old French chuquer, later choquer ‘to knock, bump’, of unknown ultimate origin.

chuck^3 n. 1 a device for holding a workpiece in a lathe or a tool in a drill, typically having three or four jaws that move radially in and out.

2 [mass noun] (also chuck steak) a cut of beef that extends from the neck to the ribs, typically used for stewing.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century, as a variant of CHOCK; see also chunk^1.

chuck^4 n. N. English INFORMAL used as a friendly form of address: ‘Can I help you at all, chuck?’.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: alteration of chick^1.

chuck-a-luck n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a gambling game played with dice.

chucker-out n. INFORMAL a person employed to expel troublemakers from a place of entertainment.

chuckhole n. NORTH AMERICAN a hole or rut in a road or track.

chuck key n. a small metal device for tightening the chuck of a drill.

chuckle v. [no obj.] laugh quietly or inwardly: I chuckled at the astonishment on her face.

■ n. a quiet or suppressed laugh.

<DERIVATIVES> chuckler n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘laugh convulsively’): from chuck meaning ‘to cluck’ in late Middle English.

chucklehead n. INFORMAL a stupid person.

<DERIVATIVES> chuckleheaded adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from early 18th-cent. chuckle ‘big and clumsy’, probably related to chuck^3 (sense 2).

chucklesome adj. causing mild amusement; humorous.

chuck wagon n. NORTH AMERICAN a wagon with cooking facilities providing food on a ranch or by a roadside.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: chuck, in the informal sense ‘food’.

chuckwalla /tkwlə/ n. a large dark-bodied lizard, the male of which has a light yellow tail, native to the deserts of the south-western US and Mexico.

<INFO> Sauromalus obesus, family Iguanidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Mexican Spanish chacahuala, from American Indian.

chuck-will's-widow n. a large nightjar native to eastern North America.

<INFO> Caprimulgus carolinensis, family Caprimulgidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: imitative of its call.

chuddies /tdz/ plural n. INFORMAL (chiefly among British Asians) underpants.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: Anglo-Indian, perhaps an alteration of CHURIDARS.

chuddy (also chutty) n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL or DIALECT chewing gum.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: probably an alteration of chewed.

chufa /tufə/ n. an Old World sedge which yields an edible tuber, cultivated in some marshy regions of Spain and Italy. Also called TIGER NUT.

<INFO> Cyperus esculentus (var. sativus), family Cyperaceae.

- [mass noun] the tuber of this plant, which may be roasted or made into flour or juice.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish.

chuff^1 v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a steam engine) move with a regular sharp puffing sound.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: imitative.

chuff^2 n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person's buttocks or anus.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: origin uncertain.

chuffed adj. [predic.] BRITISH INFORMAL very pleased: I'm dead chuffed to have won.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from dialect chuff ‘plump or pleased’.

chuffing adj. N. English INFORMAL used for emphasis or as a mild expletive: the whole chuffing world's gone mad.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: perhaps related to chuff^2.

chug^1 v. (chugs, chugging, chugged) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a vehicle or boat) move slowly making regular muffled explosive sounds, as of an engine running slowly: a cabin cruiser was chugging down the river.

- [no obj.] make a series of such sounds: he could hear the pipes chugging.

■ n. a muffled explosive sound or sounds: the chug of a motor boat.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (as a noun): imitative.

chug^2 (also chugalug) v. (chugs, chugging, chugged) [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL consume (a drink) in large gulps without pausing: she chugged a Diet Pepsi.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: imitative.

chugger n. INFORMAL a person who approaches passers-by in the street asking for donations or subscriptions to a particular charity.

<ORIGIN> blend of CHARITY and mugger^1.

Chugoku /tuəku/ a region of Japan, on the island of Honshu; capital, Hiroshima.

chukar /tkα/ (also chukor or chukar partridge) n. a Eurasian partridge similar to the red-legged partridge, but with a clucking call like a domestic hen.

<INFO> Genus Alectoris, family Phasianidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Sanskrit cakora.

Chukchi /tkti/ n. (pl. same or Chukchis) 1 a member of an indigenous people of extreme NE Siberia.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Chukchi, which belongs to a small family also including Koryak.

■ adj. relating to the Chukchi or their language.

<ORIGIN> Russian (plural).

Chukchi Sea /tkti/ part of the Arctic Ocean lying between North America and Asia and to the north of the Bering Strait.

chukka /tkə/ (US also chukker) n. each of a number of periods (typically six, of 7^1/2 minutes each) into which play in a game of polo is divided.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Hindi cakkar, from Sanskrit cakra ‘circle or wheel’.

chum^1 INFORMAL n. 1 a close friend.

2 used as a friendly or familiar form of address between men or boys: it's your own fault, chum.

■ v. (chums, chumming, chummed) [no obj.] form a friendship with someone: his sister chummed up with Sally.

- [with obj.] SCOTTISH accompany (someone) somewhere: I'll chum you down the road.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally Oxford University slang, denoting a room-mate): probably short for chamber-fellow. Compare with COMRADE and CRONY.

chum^2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. [mass noun] chopped fish and other material thrown overboard as angling bait.

- refuse from fish, especially that remaining after oil has been expressed.

■ v. (chums, chumming, chummed) [no obj.] fish using chum as bait.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

chum^3 (also chum salmon) n. (pl. same or chums) a large North Pacific salmon that is commercially important as a food fish.

<INFO> Oncorhynchus keta, family Salmonidae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Chinook Jargon tzum (samun), literally ‘spotted (salmon)’.

Chumash /tuma/ n. (pl. same or Chumashes) 1 a member of an American Indian people inhabiting coastal parts of southern California.

2 [mass noun] the extinct Hokan language of the Chumash.

■ adj. relating to the Chumash or their language.

chumble v. [with obj.] DIALECT nibble; chew.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably imitative.

chummy adj. (chummier, chummiest) on friendly terms; friendly: she's become rather chummy with Ted recently.

<DERIVATIVES> chummily adv. chumminess n.

chump n. 1 INFORMAL a foolish person.

2 BRITISH the thick end of something, especially a loin of lamb or mutton.

<PHRASES>

□ off one's chump BRITISH INFORMAL mad.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘thick lump of wood’): probably a blend of chunk^1 and lump^1 or STUMP.

chump change n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a small or insignificant amount of money.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: originally black English.

Chün /tun/ n. [mass noun] a type of thickly glazed, typically bluish or purplish grey stoneware originally made at Chün Chou in Honan province, China, during the Song dynasty.

chunder INFORMAL, chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ v. [no obj.] vomit.

■ n. [mass noun] vomit.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: probably from rhyming slang Chunder Loo ‘spew’, from the name of a cartoon character Chunder Loo of Akim Foo, who appeared in advertisements for Cobra boot polish in the Sydney Bulletin in the early 20th cent.

Chungking /tk/ variant of CHONGQING.

Chung-shan /tan/ variant of ZHONGSHAN.

chunk^1 n. a thick, solid piece of something: huge chunks of masonry littered the street.

- [in sing.] a significant amount of something: she invested a chunk of her inheritance in the stock market.

■ v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN divide (something) into chunks: chunk four pounds of pears.

- (in psychology or linguistic analysis) group together (connected items or words) so that they can be stored or processed as single concepts.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: apparently an alteration of chuck^3.

chunk^2 v. [no obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN move with or make a muffled, metallic sound: the door chunked behind them.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: imitative.

chunky adj. (chunkier, chunkiest) 1 (of a person) short and sturdy.

- bulky and thick: a chunky bracelet.

2 (of food) containing chunks or thick pieces of something: a chunky soup.

<DERIVATIVES> chunkily adv. chunkiness n.

Chunnel n. INFORMAL short for CHANNEL TUNNEL.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (but rare before the 1950s): blend.

chunni /tni/ n. (pl. chunnis)

■ another term for DUPATTA.

<ORIGIN> from Punjabi.

chunter v. [no obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL 1 talk or grumble monotonously: she chuntered on about her problems.

2 [with adverbial of direction] move along slowly and noisily: the car came chuntering up the track.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: probably imitative.

chup /tp/ exclam. INDIAN be quiet!

<ORIGIN> from Hindi cuprao.

chupacabra /tupəkabrə/ n. an animal said to exist in parts of Latin America, where it supposedly attacks animals, especially goats.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘goatsucker’, from chupar ‘to suck’ + cabra ‘goat’.

chuppah /xpə/ (also chuppa) n. (pl. chuppot /xpət/) a canopy beneath which Jewish marriage ceremonies are performed.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Hebrew uppāh ‘cover, canopy’.

Chuquisaca /tukisαkə/ former name (1539–1840) for Sucre^1.

church n. a building used for public Christian worship: they came to church with me.

- (Church) a particular Christian organization with its own clergy, buildings, and distinctive doctrines: the Church of England.

- (the Church) the hierarchy of clergy of such an organization: Isobel would enter the Church as a deacon.

- [mass noun] institutionalized religion as a political or social force: the separation of church and state.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC take (a woman who has recently given birth) to church for a service of thanksgiving.

<ORIGIN> Old English cir(i)ce, cyr(i)ce, related to Dutch kerk and German Kirche, based on medieval Greek kurikon, from Greek kuriakon (dōma) ‘Lord's (house)’, from kurios ‘master or lord’. Compare with KIRK.

Church Army a voluntary Anglican organization concerned with social welfare. It was founded in 1882 on the model of the Salvation Army, for evangelistic purposes.

Church Commissioners a body managing the finances of the Church of England.

Churches of Christ a number of Protestant denominations, chiefly in the US, originating in the Disciples of Christ but later separating over doctrinal issues.

churchgoer n. a person who goes to church regularly.

<DERIVATIVES> churchgoing n. & adj.

Churchill^1 Caryl (b.1938), English dramatist. She is best known for the satire Serious Money (1986); written in rhyming couplets, it deals with 1980s speculators and the ethics of high finance.

Churchill^2 Sir Winston (Leonard Spencer) (1874–1965), British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1940–5 and 1951–5.

He served as Home Secretary (1910–11) under the Liberals and as First Lord of the Admiralty 1911–15, but lost this post after the unsuccessful Allied attack on the Turks in the Dardanelles. A consistent opponent of appeasement between the wars, he replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister of the coalition government in 1940 and led Britain throughout the war, forging and maintaining the alliance which defeated the Axis Powers. His writings include The Second World War (1948–53) and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956–8); he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.

<DERIVATIVES> Churchillian adj.

churchkey n. NORTH AMERICAN a metal device with a bottle opener at one end and a triangular head at the other for punching a hole in cans.

churchman n. (pl. churchmen) a male member of the Christian clergy or of a Church.

Church Militant n. (the Church Militant) the whole body of living Christian believers, regarded as striving to combat evil on earth.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: contrasted with the Church Triumphant in heaven.

Church of England the English branch of the Western Christian Church, which combines Catholic and Protestant traditions, rejects the Pope's authority, and has the monarch as its titular head. The English Church was part of the Catholic Church until the Reformation of the 16th century; after Henry VIII failed to obtain a divorce from Catherine of Aragon he repudiated papal supremacy, bringing the Church under the control of the Crown.

Church of Scotland the national (Presbyterian) Christian Church in Scotland. In 1560 John Knox reformed the established Church along Presbyterian lines, but there were repeated attempts by the Stuart monarchs to impose episcopalianism, and the Church of Scotland was not finally established as Presbyterian until 1690.

church planting n. [mass noun] the practice of establishing a core of Christian worshippers in a parish, with the intention that they should develop into a thriving congregation.

church school n. (in the UK) a school founded by or associated with the Church of England.

- (in the US) a private school supported by a Church or parish.

Church Slavonic n. [mass noun] the liturgical language used in the Orthodox Church in Russia, Serbia, and some other countries.

Churchward /tətwəd/ George Jackson (1857–1933), English railway engineer. The standard 4-6-0 locomotives that he built at the Swindon works of the Great Western Railway were the basis of many later designs.

churchwarden n. 1 either of the two elected lay representatives in an Anglican parish, formally responsible for movable church property and for keeping order in church.

- US a church administrator.

2 BRITISH a long-stemmed clay pipe.

churchwoman n. (pl. churchwomen) a female member of the Christian clergy or of a Church.

churchy adj. (churchier, churchiest) 1 (of a person) excessively pious and often narrow-minded.

2 resembling a church: Gothic design looks too churchy.

<DERIVATIVES> churchiness n.

churchyard n. an enclosed area surrounding a church, especially as used for burials.

churidars /trdαz/ (also churidar) plural n. tight trousers worn by people from the Indian subcontinent, typically with a kameez or kurta.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi cūīdār ‘having a series of gathered rows’ (i.e. at the bottom of the trouser legs, traditionally worn too long and tucked up).

churinga /trə/ n. (pl. same or churingas) (among Australian Aborigines) a sacred object.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Arrernte, literally ‘object from the dreaming’.

churl n. 1 a rude and mean-spirited person.

- ARCHAIC a miser.

2 ARCHAIC a peasant.

<ORIGIN> Old English ceorl, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch kerel and German Kerl ‘fellow’, also to CARL.

churlish adj. rude in a mean-spirited and surly way: it seems churlish to complain.

<DERIVATIVES> churlishly adv. churlishness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cierlisc, ceorlisc (see CHURL, -ish^1).

churn n. 1 a machine for making butter by agitating milk or cream.

2 BRITISH a large metal container for milk.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 agitate (milk or cream) in a machine in order to produce butter: the cream is ripened before it is churned.

- produce (butter) in such a way.

2 (with reference to liquid) move or cause to move about vigorously: [no obj.] the seas churned | FIGURATIVE her stomach was churning at the thought of the ordeal | [with obj.] in high winds most of the loch is churned up.

- break up the surface of (an area of ground): the earth had been churned up where vehicles had passed through.

3 (churn something out) produce something mechanically and in large quantities: artists continued to churn out uninteresting works.

4 (of a broker) encourage frequent turnover of (investments) in order to generate commission.

<ORIGIN> Old English cyrin, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Low German kerne and Old Norse kirna.

churn rate n. the annual percentage rate at which customers discontinue using a service, especially cable and satellite television.

churrascaria /traskərə/ n. a restaurant specializing in churrasco.

<ORIGIN> South American Spanish.

churrasco /traskə/ n. [mass noun] a South American dish of steak barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire.

<ORIGIN> South American Spanish, probably from Spanish dialect churrascar ‘to burn’, related to Spanish soccarar ‘to scorch’.

Churrigueresque /tərərεsk/ adj. [ARCHITECTURE] relating to the lavishly ornamented late Spanish baroque style: a Churrigueresque church.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name José Benito de Churriguera (1665–1725), a Spanish architect who worked in this style.

chute^1 (also shoot) n. a sloping channel or slide for conveying things to a lower level.

- a water slide into a swimming pool.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally a North American usage): from French, ‘fall’ (of water or rocks), from Old French cheoite, feminine past participle of cheoir ‘to fall’, from Latin cadere; influenced by SHOOT.

chute^2 n. INFORMAL a parachute.

- [SAILING] a spinnaker.

<DERIVATIVES> chutist n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: shortened form.

chutes and ladders plural n. US term for SNAKES AND LADDERS.

chutney n. (pl. chutneys) [mass noun] a spicy condiment of Indian origin, made of fruits or vegetables with vinegar, spices, and sugar.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Hindi canī.

chutzpah /xtspə h-/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL extreme self-confidence or audacity (usually used approvingly): love him or hate him, you have to admire Cohen's chutzpah.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Yiddish, from Aramaic u pā.

Chuvash /tuvα/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people living mainly in Chuvashia.

2 [mass noun] the Turkic language of the Chuvash, with over a million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Chuvash or their language.

Chuvashia /tuvαə/ an autonomous republic in European Russia, east of Nizhni Novgorod; pop. 1,340,000 (1990); capital, Cheboksary.

chyle /kl/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] a milky fluid containing fat droplets which drains from the lacteals of the small intestine into the lymphatic system during digestion.

<DERIVATIVES> chylous adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin chylus, from Greek khūlos ‘juice’ (see CHYME).

chylomicron /klə()mkrn/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a droplet of fat present in the blood or lymph after absorption from the small intestine.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from chylo- (combining form of CHYLE) + MICRON.

chyme /km/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the pulpy acidic fluid which passes from the stomach to the small intestine, consisting of gastric juices and partly digested food.

<DERIVATIVES> chymous adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin chymus, from Greek khūmos ‘juice’ (compare with CHYLE). The Greek words khūlos and khūmos are from the same root and more or less identical in sense.

chymotrypsin /kmə()trpsn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a digestive enzyme which breaks down proteins in the small intestine. It is secreted by the pancreas and converted into an active form by trypsin.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from chymo- (combining form of CHYME) + TRYPSIN.

chypre /ipr(ə)/ n. [mass noun] a heady perfume made from sandalwood.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, literally ‘Cyprus’, perhaps where it was first made.

chyron /krn/ n. US TRADEMARK an electronically generated caption superimposed on a television or cinema screen.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: origin uncertain.

CI abbr.

- Channel Islands.

- Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) (international vehicle registration).

Ci abbr. curie.

CIA abbr. Central Intelligence Agency.

ciabatta /təbαtə/ n. [mass noun] a flattish, open-textured Italian bread with a floury crust, made with olive oil.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘slipper’ (from its shape).

ciao /ta/ exclam. INFORMAL used as a greeting at meeting or parting.

<ORIGIN> Italian, dialect alteration of schiavo ‘(I am your) slave’, from medieval Latin sclavus ‘slave’.

Cibber /sbə/ Colley (1671–1757), English comic actor, dramatist, and theatre manager. After his much-ridiculed appointment as Poet Laureate in 1730 he wrote an Apology for the Life of Mr Colley Cibber, Comedian (1740).

ciborium /sbrəm/ n. (pl. ciboria /-rə/) 1 a receptacle shaped like a shrine or a cup with an arched cover, used in the Christian Church to hold the Eucharist.

2 a canopy over an altar in a church, standing on four pillars.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via medieval Latin from Greek kibōrion ‘seed vessel of the water lily or a cup made from it’.

■ Sense 1 is probably influenced by Latin cibus ‘food’.

cicada /skαdə/ n. a large bug with long transparent wings, found chiefly in warm countries. The male cicada makes a loud, shrill droning noise after dark by vibrating two membranes on its abdomen.

<INFO> Family Cicadidae, suborder Homoptera: many genera.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin cicada, cicala.

cicatrix /skətrks/ (also cicatrice /skətrs/) n. (pl. cicatrices /-trsiz/) the scar of a healed wound.

- [BOTANY] a mark on a stem left after a leaf or other part has become detached.

<DERIVATIVES> cicatricial /skətr(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as cicatrice): from Latin cicatrix or Old French cicatrice.

cicatrize /skətrz/ (also cicatrise) v. (with reference to a wound) heal by scar formation: [no obj.] his wound had cicatrized.

<DERIVATIVES> cicatrization n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cicatriser, from cicatrice ‘scar’ (see CICATRIX).

cicely /ssli/ (also sweet cicely) n. (pl. cicelies) an aromatic white-flowered plant of the parsley family, with fern-like leaves.

<INFO> Genera Myrrhis and Osmorhiza, family Umbelliferae: several species, in particular the European M. odorata, grown as a culinary and medicinal herb.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin seselis, from Greek. The spelling change was due to association with the given name Cicely.

Cicero /ssərə/ Marcus Tullius (106–43 BC), Roman statesman, orator, and writer. As an orator and writer Cicero established a model for Latin prose; his surviving works include speeches, treatises on rhetoric, philosophical works, and letters. A supporter of Pompey against Julius Caesar, in the Philippics (43 BC) he attacked Mark Antony, who had him put to death.

cicerone /ttərəni ss-/ n. (pl. ciceroni pronunc. same) a guide who gives information about places of interest to sightseers.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Italian, from Latin Cicero, Ciceron- (see CICERO), apparently alluding humorously to his eloquence and learning.

Ciceronian /ssərənən/ adj. characteristic of the work and thought of Cicero.

- (of speech or writing) in an eloquent and rhythmic style similar to that of Cicero.

cichlid /skld/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a perch-like freshwater fish of a large tropical family (Cichlidae) which includes the angelfishes, discuses, mouthbrooders, and tilapia.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Cichlidae (plural), from Greek kikhlē, denoting a kind of fish.

cicisbeo /ttzbeə/ n. (pl. cicisbei or cicisbeos) a married woman's male companion or lover.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: Italian, of unknown origin.

CID abbr. (in the UK) Criminal Investigation Department.

Cid, El /εl sd/ Spanish /el θi si/ (also the Cid) Count of Bivar (c.1043–99), Spanish soldier; born Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar. A champion of Christianity against the Moors, in 1094 he captured Valencia, which he went on to rule. He is immortalized in the Spanish Poema del Cid (12th century) and in Corneille's play Le Cid (1637).

-cide combining form 1 denoting a person or substance that kills: insecticide | regicide.

2 denoting an act of killing: suicide.

<DERIVATIVES> -cidal combining form in corresponding adjectives. -cidally combining form in corresponding adverbs.

<ORIGIN> via French;

■ sense 1 from Latin -cida;

■ sense 2 from Latin -cidium, both from caedere ‘kill’.

cider n. [mass noun] BRITISH an alcoholic drink made from fermented apple juice.

- (also sweet cider) NORTH AMERICAN an unfermented drink made by crushing fruit, typically apples.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French sidre, via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek sikera, from Hebrew šēār ‘strong drink’.

cider gum n. a fast-growing, hardy Tasmanian eucalyptus, widely grown in northern Europe.

<INFO> Eucalyptus gunnii, family Myrtaceae.

cider press n. a press for crushing apples to make cider.

ci-devant /sidəv/ French /sidvα/ adj. [attr.] from or in an earlier time; former: her ci-devant pupil, now her lover.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘heretofore’.

c.i.f. abbr. cost, insurance, freight (as included in a price).

cig n. INFORMAL a cigarette or cigar.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

cigar n. a cylinder of tobacco rolled in tobacco leaves for smoking.

<PHRASES>

□ close but no cigar NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (of an attempt) almost but not quite successful. [<ORIGIN> referring to a cigar received in congratulation.]

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French cigare, or from Spanish cigarro, probably from Mayan sik'ar ‘smoking’.

cigarette (US also cigaret) n. a thin cylinder of finely cut tobacco rolled in paper for smoking.

- a similar cylinder containing a narcotic or herbal substance.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, diminutive of cigare (see CIGAR).

cigarette beetle n. a small reddish beetle that infests tobacco and other stored products. Also called TOBACCO BEETLE.

<INFO> Lasioderma serricorne, family Anobiidae.

cigarette card n. BRITISH a small collectable card with a picture on it, formerly included in packets of cigarettes.

cigarette end n. BRITISH the unsmoked remainder of a cigarette.

cigarette machine n. a slot machine that dispenses cigarettes.

cigarette pants plural n. women's trousers with straight, very narrow legs.

cigarette paper n. a piece of thin paper with a gummed edge for rolling tobacco in to make a cigarette.

cigarillo /sərlə/ n. (pl. cigarillos) a small cigar.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, diminutive of cigarro (see CIGAR).

ciggy n. (pl. ciggies) INFORMAL a cigarette.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: abbreviation.

ciguatera /swətεrə/ n. [mass noun] poisoning by neurotoxins as a result of eating the flesh of tropical marine fish that carries a toxic dinoflagellate.

<INFO> This is caused by Gambierdiscus toxicus, division (or phylum) Dinophyta.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from American Spanish, from cigua ‘sea snail’.

cilantro /slantrə/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN coriander used as a seasoning or garnish.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Spanish, from Latin coliandrum ‘coriander’.

cilia plural form of CILIUM.

ciliary /sləri/ adj. 1 [BIOLOGY] relating to or involving cilia.

2 [ANATOMY] relating to the eyelashes or eyelids.

ciliary body n. [ANATOMY] the part of the eye that connects the iris to the choroid. It consists of the ciliary muscle (which alters the curvature of the lens), a series of radial ciliary process (from which the lens is suspended by ligaments), and the ciliary ring (which adjoins the choroid).

ciliate /slet/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a single-celled animal of a large and diverse phylum distinguished by the possession of cilia or ciliary structures.

<INFO> Phylum Ciliophora, kingdom Protista (formerly class Ciliata, phylum Protozoa).

■ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of an organism, cell, or surface) bearing cilia.

- [BOTANY] (of a margin) having a fringe of hairs.

<DERIVATIVES> ciliated adj. ciliation n.

cilice /sls/ n. [mass noun] haircloth.

- [count noun] a garment made of haircloth.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from Latin cilicium, from Greek kilikion, from Kilikia, the Greek name for CILICIA in Asia Minor (because the cloth was originally made of Cilician goats' hair).

Cilicia /slə/ an ancient region on the coast of SE Asia Minor, corresponding to the present-day province of Adana, Turkey.

<DERIVATIVES> Cilician adj. & n.

Cilician Gates a mountain pass in the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey, historically forming part of a route linking Anatolia with the Mediterranean coast.

cilium /sləm/ n. (usually in plural cilia /-lə/) 1 [BIOLOGY] a short microscopic hair-like vibrating structure found in large numbers on the surface of certain cells, either causing currents in the surrounding fluid, or, in some protozoans and other small organisms, providing propulsion.

2 [ANATOMY] an eyelash.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘eyelash’): from Latin.

cimbalom /smb(ə)l(ə)m/ n. a large Hungarian dulcimer (musical instrument).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Hungarian, from Italian cembalo, cimbalo, from Latin cymbalum (see CYMBAL).

cimetidine /smεtdin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an antihistamine drug which is used to treat stomach acidity and peptic ulcers. It is a sulphur-containing derivative of imidazole.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from ci- (alteration of cy- in cyano-) + met(hyl) + -IDE + -INE^4.

Cimmerian /smərən/ n. 1 a member of an ancient nomadic people who overran Asia Minor in the 7th century BC.

2 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a member of a mythical people living in perpetual mist and darkness near the land of the dead.

■ adj. relating to the Cimmerians.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Kimmerios + -AN.

C.-in-C. abbr. Commander-in-Chief.

cinch n. 1 INFORMAL an extremely easy task: the program was a cinch to use.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a sure thing; a certainty: he was a cinch to take a prize.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a girth for a Western saddle or pack of a type used mainly in Mexico and the western US.

■ v. [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 secure (a garment) with a belt.

- fix (a saddle) securely by means of a girth.

2 INFORMAL make certain of: his advice cinched her decision to accept the offer.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2 of the noun): from Spanish cincha ‘girth’.

cinchona /skənə/ n. an evergreen South American tree or shrub with fragrant flowers, cultivated for its bark.

<INFO> Genus Cinchona, family Rubiaceae: several species.

- [mass noun] the dried bark of the cinchona, which is a source of quinine and other medicinal substances.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: modern Latin, named after the Countess of Chinchón (died 1641), who was treated with a similar drug in South America.

cinchonine /skənin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a compound with antipyretic properties which occurs with quinine in cinchona bark.

<INFO> An alkaloid; chem. formula: C_19H_22ON_2.

Cincinnati /snsnati/ an industrial city in Ohio, on the Ohio River; pop. 331,285 (2000).

cincture /sktə/ n. 1 LITERARY a girdle or belt.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] a ring at either end of a column shaft.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘encircling or enclosure’): from Latin cinctura, from cinct- ‘encircled’, from the verb cingere.

cinder n. 1 a small piece of partly burnt coal or wood that has stopped giving off flames but still has combustible matter in it.

- (cinders) ashes.

2 [mass noun] waste matter produced by smelting or refining ore; slag.

<PHRASES>

□ burnt to a cinder completely burnt.

<DERIVATIVES> cindery adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English sinder ‘slag’, of Germanic origin; related to German Sinter. The similar but unconnected French cendre (from Latin cinis ‘ashes’) has influenced both the sense development and the spelling. Compare with SINTER.

cinder block n. North American term for BREEZE BLOCK.

cinder cone n. a cone formed round a volcanic vent by fragments of lava thrown out during eruptions.

Cinderella a girl in various traditional European fairy tales. In the version by Charles Perrault she is exploited as a servant by her family but enabled by a fairy godmother to attend a royal ball. She meets and captivates Prince Charming but has to flee at midnight, leaving the prince to identify her by the glass slipper which she leaves behind.

- [as n.] a person or thing that is undeservedly neglected or ignored: is research into breast cancer to remain the Cinderella of medicine?

<ORIGIN> from CINDER + the diminutive suffix -ella, on the pattern of French Cendrillon, from cendre ‘cinders’.

cinder track n. a running track laid with fine cinders.

cine adj. BRITISH cinematographic: a cine camera.

cine- combining form representing CINEMATOGRAPHIC (see CINEMATOGRAPHY).

cineaste /snast/ (also cineast) n. a person who is fond of or knowledgeable about the cinema.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from French cinéaste, from ciné (from cinéma), on the pattern of enthousiaste ‘enthusiast’.

cinema n. chiefly BRITISH a theatre where films are shown for public entertainment.

- [mass noun] the production of films as an art or industry: one of the giants of British cinema.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French cinéma, abbreviation of cinématographe (see CINEMATOGRAPH).

CinemaScope n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a cinematographic process in which special lenses are used to compress a wide image into a standard frame and then expand it again during projection. It results in an image that is almost two and a half times as wide as it is high.

cinematheque /snmətεk/ n. 1 a film library or archive.

2 a small cinema.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from French cinémathèque, from cinéma ‘cinema’, on the pattern of bibliothèque ‘library’.

cinematic adj. relating to the cinema: cinematic output.

- having qualities characteristic of films: the cinematic feel of their video.

<DERIVATIVES> cinematically adv.

cinematograph /snmatərαf/ (also kinematograph) n. HISTORICAL, chiefly BRITISH an apparatus for showing motion-picture films.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French cinématographe, from Greek kinēma, kinēmat- ‘movement’, from kinein ‘to move’.

cinematography /snmətrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the art of photography and camerawork in film-making.

<DERIVATIVES> cinematographer n. cinematographic adj. cinematographically adv.

cinéma-vérité /snməvεrte/ French /sinemaveRite/ n. [mass noun] a style of film-making characterized by realistic, typically documentary films which avoid artificiality and artistic effect and are generally made with simple equipment.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘cinema truth’.

cinephile n. a person who is fond of the cinema.

<DERIVATIVES> cinephilia n.

cineplex n. TRADEMARK, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a cinema with several separate screens; a multiplex.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of CINEMA and COMPLEX.

cineraria /snərεrə/ n. a plant of the daisy family with compact masses of bright flowers, cultivated as a winter-flowering pot plant.

<INFO> Genus Pericallis (formerly Senecio or Cineraria), family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, feminine of Latin cinerarius ‘of ashes’, from cinis, ciner- ‘ashes’ (because of the ash-coloured down on the leaves).

cinerarium /snərεrəm/ n. (pl. cinerariums) a place where a cinerary urn is kept.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from late Latin, neuter (used as a noun) of cinerarius ‘of ashes’.

cinerary urn /snərəri/ n. an urn for holding a person's ashes after cremation, especially as used by Classical and prehistoric cultures.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: cinerary from Latin cinerarius ‘of ashes’.

cinereous /snərəs/ adj. (especially of hair or feathers) ash-grey.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin cinereus ‘similar to ashes’ (from cinis, ciner- ‘ashes’) + -OUS.

cinereous vulture n. another term for black vulture (sense 1).

Cingalese /səliz/ n. & adj. archaic spelling of SINHALESE.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French Cinghalais, from Sanskrit Sihala ‘Sri Lanka’ + -ESE.

cingulum /sjləm/ n. (pl. cingula /-lə/) [ANATOMY] 1 a curved bundle of nerve fibres in each hemisphere of the brain.

2 a ridge of enamel on the base or margin of the crown of a tooth.

<DERIVATIVES> cingulate adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, ‘belt’, from cingere ‘gird’.

cinnabar /snəbα/ n. 1 [mass noun] a bright red mineral consisting of mercury sulphide, sometimes used as a pigment.

- the bright red colour of cinnabar.

2 (also cinnabar moth) a day-flying moth with black and red wings, whose black and yellow caterpillars feed on groundsel and ragwort.

<INFO> Tyria jacobaeae, family Arctiidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin cinnabaris, from Greek kinnabari, of oriental origin.

cinnamon n. 1 [mass noun] an aromatic spice made from the peeled, dried, and rolled bark of a SE Asian tree.

- a yellowish-brown colour resembling that of cinnamon.

2 the tree which yields cinnamon.

<INFO> Genus Cinnamomum, family Lauraceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cinnamome (from Greek kinnamōmon), and Latin cinnamon (from Greek kinnamon), both from a Semitic language and perhaps based on Malay.

cinnamon bear n. a North American black bear of a variety with reddish-brown hair.

cinnamon fern n. a large North American fern with cinnamon-coloured fronds.

<INFO> Osmunda cinnamomea, family Osmundaceae.

cinnamon toast n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN buttered toast spread with ground cinnamon and sugar.

cinque /sk/ (also cinq) n. 1 the five on dice.

2 (cinques) [BELL-RINGING] a system of change-ringing using eleven bells, with five pairs changing places each time.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cinc, cink, from Latin quinque ‘five’.

cinquecento /tkwtεntə/ n. (the cinquecento) the 16th century as a period of Italian art, architecture, or literature, with a reversion to classical forms.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘500’ (shortened from milcinquecento ‘1500’) used with reference to the years 1500–99.

cinquefoil /skfl/ n. 1 a widely distributed herbaceous plant of the rose family, with compound leaves of five leaflets and five-petalled yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Potentilla, family Rosaceae.

2 [ART] an ornamental design of five lobes arranged in a circle, e.g. in architectural tracery or heraldry.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin quinquefolium, from quinque ‘five’ + folium ‘leaf’.

Cinque Ports /sk pts/ a group of medieval ports in Kent and East Sussex in SE England, which were formerly allowed trading privileges in exchange for providing the bulk of England's navy. The five original Cinque Ports were Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, Romney, and Hythe; later Rye and Winchelsea were added.

<ORIGIN> from Old French cink porz, from Latin quinque portus ‘five ports’.

CIO abbr. Congress of Industrial Organizations.

cipher^1 /sfə/ (also cypher) n. 1 a secret or disguised way of writing; a code: he wrote cryptic notes in a cipher | [mass noun] the information may be given in cipher.

- something written in a code.

- a key to a code.

2 DATED a zero; a figure 0.

- FIGURATIVE a person of no importance, especially one who does the bidding of others and seems to have no will of their own.

3 a monogram.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] put (a message) into secret writing; encode.

2 [no obj.] ARCHAIC do arithmetic.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘symbol for zero’ and ‘Arabic numeral’): from Old French cifre, based on Arabic ifr ‘zero’.

cipher^2 n. a continuous sounding of an organ pipe, caused by a mechanical defect.

■ v. [no obj.] (of an organ pipe) sound continuously.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps from CIPHER^1.

cipolin /spəln/ n. [mass noun] an Italian marble with veins of talc, mica, or quartz, showing alternating white and green streaks.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Italian cipollino, from cipolla ‘onion’ (because its structure, having thin veins of other minerals, resembles onion skin).

circa /səkə/ prep. (often preceding a date) approximately: the church was built circa 1860.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Latin.

circadian /səkedən/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] (of biological processes) recurring naturally on a twenty-four-hour cycle, even in the absence of light fluctuations: a circadian rhythm.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: formed irregularly from Latin circa ‘about’ + dies ‘day’.

Circassian /səkasən/ n. 1 a member of a group of mainly Sunni Muslim peoples of the NW Caucasus.

2 [mass noun] either of two North Caucasian languages of the Circassians, Adyghe and Kabardian. Also called CHERKESS.

■ adj. relating to the Circassians or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Circassia, Latinized form of Russian Cherkes, denoting a district in the northern Caucasus.

Circe /səsi/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] an enchantress who lived on the island of Aeaea. When Odysseus visited the island his companions were changed into pigs by her potions, but he protected himself with the mythical herb moly and forced her to restore his men to human form.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Kirkē.

circinate /səsnət -et/ adj. 1 [BOTANY] denoting leaves or fronds that are rolled up with the tip in the centre, for example the young frond of a fern.

2 MEDICINE circular in appearance.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin circinatus, past participle of circinare ‘make round’, from circinus ‘pair of compasses’.

Circinus /səsnəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a small and faint southern constellation (the Compasses), in the Milky Way next to Centaurus.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

circle n. 1 a round plane figure whose boundary (the circumference) consists of points equidistant from a fixed point (the centre).

- something in the shape of a circle: the lamp spread a circle of light | they all sat round in a circle.

- a dark circular mark below each eye caused by illness or tiredness.

- BRITISH a curved upper tier of seats in a theatre or cinema.

- [HOCKEY] short for STRIKING CIRCLE.

2 a group of people with a shared profession, interests, or acquaintances: she did not normally move in such exalted circles.

■ v. [with obj.] move all the way around, in particularly fly around repeatedly: they were circling Athens airport | (as adj. circling) a circling helicopter | [no obj.] we circled round the island.

- form a ring around: the abbey was circled by a huge wall.

- draw a line around: circle the correct answers.

<PHRASES>

□ circle the wagons NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL unite in defence of a common interest. [<ORIGIN> with reference to the defensive position of a wagon train under attack.]

□ come (or turn) full circle return to a past position or situation, especially in a way considered to be inevitable. [<ORIGIN> with reference to Shakespeare's King Lear V. iii. 165, ‘The Wheele is come full circle’: by association with the wheel represented in mythology and literature as turned by Fortune and symbolizing mutability.]

□ go (or run) round in circles INFORMAL do something for a long time without achieving anything but purposeless repetition: the discussion went round and round in circles.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Old French cercle, from Latin circulus ‘small ring’, diminutive of circus ‘ring’.

circle dance n. a country dance or folk dance in which dancers form a circle.

circlet n. a circular band, typically one made of precious metal, worn on the head as an ornament.

- a small circular arrangement or object.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from CIRCLE + -ET^1, perhaps reinforced by archaic French cerclet.

circlip /səklp/ n. BRITISH a metal ring sprung into a slot or groove in a bar to hold something in place.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: blend of CIRCLE or CIRCULAR and clip^1.

circs plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL circumstances: anyone would have done the same under the circs.

circuit n. 1 a roughly circular line, route, or movement that starts and finishes at the same place: I ran a circuit of the village.

- BRITISH a track used for motor racing, horse racing, or athletics.

2 an established itinerary of events or venues used for a particular activity, typically involving sport or public performance: the alternative cabaret circuit.

- a series of athletic exercises performed consecutively in one training session: [as modifier] circuit training.

- a regular journey made by a judge around a particular district to hear cases in court: [as modifier] a circuit judge.

- a district of this type.

- a group of local Methodist Churches forming an administrative unit.

3 a complete and closed path around which a circulating electric current can flow.

- a system of electrical conductors and components forming an electrical circuit.

■ v. [with obj.] move all the way around (a place or thing).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin circuitus, from circuire, variant of circumire ‘go round’, from circum ‘around’ + ire ‘go’.

circuit board n. a thin rigid board containing an electric circuit; a printed circuit.

circuit-breaker n. an automatic device for stopping the flow of current in an electric circuit as a safety measure.

circuitous adj. (of a route or journey) longer than the most direct way: the canal followed a circuitous route | FIGURATIVE a circuitous line of reasoning.

<DERIVATIVES> circuitously adv. circuitousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin circuitosus, from circuitus ‘a way around’ (see CIRCUIT).

circuit rider n. NORTH AMERICAN HISTORICAL a clergyman who travelled on horseback from church to church, especially within a rural Methodist circuit.

circuitry n. (pl. circuitries) [mass noun] electric circuits collectively: solid state circuitry.

- a circuit or system of circuits performing a particular function in an electronic device: switching circuitry.

circular adj. 1 having the form of a circle: the building features a circular atrium.

- (of a movement or journey) starting and finishing at the same place and often following roughly the circumference of an imaginary circle: a circular walk.

2 [LOGIC] (of an argument) already containing an assumption of what is to be proved, and therefore fallacious.

3 [attr.] (of a letter or advertisement) for distribution to a large number of people.

■ n. a letter or advertisement which is distributed to a large number of people.

<DERIVATIVES> circularity n. circularly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French circulier, from late Latin circularis, from Latin circulus ‘small ring’ (see CIRCLE).

circular breathing n. [mass noun] a technique of inhaling through the nose while blowing air through the lips from the cheeks, used to maintain constant exhalation especially by players of certain wind instruments.

circularize (also circularise) v. [with obj.] 1 distribute a large number of letters or leaflets to (a group of people) in order to advertise something or canvas opinion.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] make (a stretch of DNA) into a circular loop.

<DERIVATIVES> circularization n.

circular polarization n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] polarization of an electromagnetic wave in which either the electric or the magnetic vector executes a circle perpendicular to the path of propagation with a frequency equal to that of the wave. It is frequently used in satellite communications.

circular saw n. a power saw with a rapidly rotating toothed disc.

circulate v. 1 move continuously or freely through a closed system or area: [no obj.] antibodies circulate in the bloodstream | [with obj.] the fan circulates hot air around the oven.

- [no obj.] move around a social function in order to talk to many different people.

2 pass from place to place or person to person: [no obj.] rumours of his arrest circulated | [with obj.] they were circulating the list to conservation groups.

- [with obj.] send copies of a letter or leaflet to (a group of people): tutors were circulated with the handout.

<DERIVATIVES> circulator n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as an alchemical term meaning ‘distil something in a closed container, allowing condensed vapour to return to the original liquid’): from Latin circulat- ‘moved in a circular path’, from the verb circulare, from circulus ‘small ring’ (see CIRCLE).

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 17th cent.

circulating library n. HISTORICAL a small library with books lent for a small fee to subscribers.

circulating medium n. a commodity used in commercial exchange, especially coins or gold.

circulation n. [mass noun] 1 movement to and fro or around something, especially that of fluid in a closed system: an extra pump for good water circulation.

- the continuous motion by which the blood travels through all parts of the body under the action of the heart.

2 the public availability or knowledge of something: his music has achieved wide circulation.

- the movement, exchange, or availability of money in a country: the new-look coins go into circulation today.

- [in sing.] the number of copies sold of a newspaper or magazine: the magazine had a large circulation.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or out of) circulation available (or unavailable) to the public: there is a huge volume of video material in circulation.

- (of a person) seen (or not seen) in public: Anne had made a good recovery and was back in circulation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting continuous distillation of a liquid): from Latin circulatio(n-), from the verb circulare (see CIRCULATE).

circulatory adj. relating to the circulation of blood or sap.

circum- /səkəm/ prefix about; around (functioning within the word as an adverb as in circumambulate, or as a preposition as in circumpolar).

<ORIGIN> from Latin circum ‘round’.

circumambient /səkəmambənt/ adj. LITERARY or FORMAL surrounding: circumambient gases.

<DERIVATIVES> circumambience n.

circumambulate /səkəmambjlet/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL walk all the way round: they used to circumambulate the perimeter wall.

<DERIVATIVES> circumambulation n. circumambulatory adj.

circumcircle n. [GEOMETRY] a circle touching all the vertices of a triangle or polygon.

circumcise /səkəmsz/ v. [with obj.] cut off the foreskin of (a young boy or man, especially a baby) as a religious rite, especially in Judaism and Islam, or as a medical treatment.

- cut off the clitoris, and sometimes the labia, of (a girl or young woman) as a traditional practice among some peoples.

<DERIVATIVES> circumciser n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French circonciser, or from Latin circumcis- ‘cut around’, from the verb circumcidere, from circum ‘around, about’ + caedere ‘to cut’.

circumcision n. 1 [mass noun] the action or practice of circumcising a young boy or man.

- (also female circumcision) (among some peoples) the traditional practice of cutting off the clitoris and sometimes the labia of girls or young women.

2 (Circumcision) (in church use) the feast of the Circumcision of Christ, 1 January.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from late Latin circumcisio(n-), from the verb circumcidere (see CIRCUMCISE).

circumference /səkmf(ə)r(ə)ns/ n. the enclosing boundary of a curved geometric figure, especially a circle.

- the distance around something: babies who have small head circumferences | [mass noun] a rope two inches in circumference.

<DERIVATIVES> circumferential adj. circumferentially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French circonference, from Latin circumferentia, from circum ‘around, about’ + ferre ‘carry, bear’.

circumflex /səkəmflεks/ n. (also circumflex accent) a mark (^) placed over a vowel in some languages to indicate contraction, length, or a particular quality.

■ adj. [ANATOMY] bending round something else; curved: circumflex coronary arteries.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin circumflexus (from circum ‘around, about’ + flectere ‘to bend’), translating Greek perispōmenos ‘drawn around’.

circumfluent /səkmflənt/ adj. RARE flowing round; surrounding.

<DERIVATIVES> circumfluence n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin circumfluent- ‘flowing around’, from the verb circumfluere, from circum ‘around, about’ + fluere ‘to flow’.

circumfuse /səkəmfjuz/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC pour (a liquid) so as to cause it to surround something: Earth with her nether Ocean circumfused.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin circumfus- ‘poured around’, from the verb circumfundere, from circum ‘around’ + fundere ‘pour’.

circumjacent /səkəmdes(ə)nt/ adj. ARCHAIC surrounding.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin circumjacent- ‘lying round about, bordering upon’, from the verb circumjacere, from circum ‘around’ + jacere ‘to lie’.

circumlocution /səkəmləkju(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the use of many words where fewer would do, especially in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive: his admission came after years of circumlocution | [count noun] he used a number of poetic circumlocutions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin circumlocutio(n-) (translating Greek periphrasis), from circum ‘around’ + locutio(n-) from loqui ‘speak’.

circumlocutory /səkəmlkjt(ə)ri/ adj. using many words where fewer would do, especially in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive; long-winded: he has a meandering, circumlocutory speaking style.

circumlunar adj. moving or situated around the moon: a circumlunar flight.

circumnavigate v. [with obj.] sail all the way around (something, especially the world).

- HUMOROUS go around or across (something): he helped her to circumnavigate a frozen puddle.

<DERIVATIVES> circumnavigation n. circumnavigator n.

circumpolar /səkəmpələ/ adj. situated around or inhabiting one of the earth's poles: circumpolar arctic areas.

- [ASTRONOMY] (of a star or motion) above the horizon at all times in a given latitude: the Plough is circumpolar from Britain.

circumscribe v. [with obj.] 1 restrict (something) within limits: the minister's powers are circumscribed both by tradition and the organization of local government.

2 [GEOMETRY] draw (a figure) round another, touching it at points but not cutting it. Compare with INSCRIBE.

<DERIVATIVES> circumscriber n. circumscription n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin circumscribere, from circum ‘around’ + scribere ‘write’.

circumsolar /səkəmsələ/ adj. moving or situated around the sun.

circumspect adj. wary and unwilling to take risks: the officials were very circumspect in their statements.

<DERIVATIVES> circumspectly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin circumspectus, from circumspicere ‘look around’, from circum ‘around, about’ + specere ‘look’.

circumspection n. [mass noun] the quality of being wary and unwilling to take risks; prudence: circumspection is required in the day-to-day exercise of administrative powers.

circumstance n. 1 (usually circumstances) a fact or condition connected with or relevant to an event or action: we wanted to marry but circumstances didn't permit.

- an event or fact that causes or helps to cause something to happen, typically something undesirable: he was found dead but there were no suspicious circumstances | [mass noun] they were thrown together by circumstance.

2 (circumstances) one's state of financial or material welfare: the artists are living in reduced circumstances.

3 ARCHAIC ceremony and public display: pomp and circumstance.

<PHRASES>

□ circumstances alter cases PROVERB one's opinion or treatment of someone or something may vary according to the prevailing circumstances.

□ under (or in) the circumstances given the difficult nature of the situation: she had every right to be cross under the circumstances.

□ under (or in) no circumstances never, whatever the situation is or might be.

<DERIVATIVES> circumstanced adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French circonstance or Latin circumstantia, from circumstare ‘encircle, encompass’, from circum ‘around’ + stare ‘stand’.

circumstantial adj. 1 pointing indirectly towards someone's guilt but not conclusively proving it: the prosecution will have to rely on circumstantial evidence.

2 (of a description) containing full details: the picture was so circumstantial that it began to be convincing.

<DERIVATIVES> circumstantiality n. circumstantially adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin circumstantia (see CIRCUMSTANCE) + -AL.

circumterrestrial adj. moving or situated around the earth: circumterrestrial space.

circumvallate /səkəmvalet/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY surround with or as if with a rampart: the walls were circumvallated with a ditch.

■ adj. 1 LITERARY surrounded or surrounding as if by a rampart: circumvallate mountains.

2 [ANATOMY] denoting certain papillae near the back of the tongue, surrounded by taste receptors.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as an adjective): from Latin circumvallat- ‘surrounded with a rampart’, from the verb circumvallare, from circum ‘around’ + vallare, from vallum ‘rampart’. The verb dates from the early 19th cent.

circumvent /səkəmvεnt/ v. [with obj.] 1 find a way around (an obstacle).

- overcome (a problem or difficulty) in a clever and surreptitious way: it was always possible to circumvent the regulations.

2 ARCHAIC deceive; outwit.

<DERIVATIVES> circumvention n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin circumvent- ‘skirted around’, from the verb circumvenire, from circum ‘around’ + venire ‘come’.

circumvolution /səkəmvəlu(ə)n/ n. a winding movement, especially of one thing round another.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin circumvolut- ‘rolled around’, from the verb circumvolvere, from circum ‘around’ + volvere ‘roll’.

circus n. (pl. circuses) 1 a travelling company of acrobats, clowns, and other entertainers which gives performances, typically in a large tent, in a series of different places.

- INFORMAL a public scene of frenetic, noisy, or confused activity: a media circus.

2 (in ancient Rome) a rounded or oval arena lined with tiers of seats, used for equestrian and other sports and games.

3 [in place names] BRITISH a rounded open space in a town where several streets converge: Piccadilly Circus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (with reference to the arena of Roman antiquity): from Latin, ‘ring or circus’. The sense ‘travelling company of performers’ dates from the late 18th cent.

ciré /sire/ n. [mass noun] a fabric with a smooth shiny surface obtained by waxing and heating.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: French, literally ‘waxed’.

Cirencester /srənsεstə/ a town in Gloucestershire; pop. 16,700 (est. 1998). It was a major town in Roman Britain, when it was known as Corinium Dobunorum.

cire perdue /sə pədju/ n. [mass noun] a method of bronze casting using a clay core and a wax coating placed in a mould. The wax is melted in the mould and drained out, and bronze poured into the space left, producing a hollow bronze figure when the core is discarded. Also called LOST WAX.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘lost wax’.

cirl bunting /səl/ n. an Old World bunting related to the yellowhammer, the male of which has a distinctive facial pattern and a black throat.

<INFO> Emberiza cirlus, family Emberizidae (subfamily Emberizinae).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: cirl from Italian cirlo, probably from zirlare ‘whistle as a thrush’.

cirque /sək/ n. 1 [GEOLOGY] a half-open steep-sided hollow at the head of a valley or on a mountainside, formed by glacial erosion. Also called CORRIE or CWM.

2 LITERARY a ring, circlet, or circle.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in sense 2): from French, from Latin circus.

cirrhosis /srəss/ n. [mass noun] a chronic disease of the liver marked by degeneration of cells, inflammation, and fibrous thickening of tissue. It is typically a result of alcoholism or hepatitis.

<DERIVATIVES> cirrhotic /srtk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek kirrhos ‘tawny’ (because this is the colour of the liver in many cases).

cirriped (also cirripede /srpid/) n. [ZOOLOGY] a crustacean of the class Cirripedia; a barnacle.

Cirripedia /srpidə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of crustaceans that comprises the barnacles.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Latin cirrus ‘a curl’ (because of the form of the legs) + pes, ped- ‘foot’.

cirrocumulus /srəkjumjləs/ n. [mass noun] cloud forming a broken layer of small fleecy clouds at high altitude (usually 5 to 13 km, 16,500 to 45,000 ft), typically with a rippled or granulated appearance (as in a mackerel sky).

cirrostratus /srəstrαtəs -stretəs/ n. [mass noun] cloud forming a thin, more or less uniform semi-translucent layer at high altitude (usually 5 to 13 km, 16,500 to 45,000 ft).

cirrus /srəs/ n. (pl. cirri /-r/) 1 [mass noun] cloud forming wispy filamentous tufted streaks or ‘mare's tails’ at high altitude (usually 5 to 13 km, 16,500 to 45,000 ft).

2 [ZOOLOGY] a slender tendril or hair-like filament, such as the appendage of a barnacle, the barbel of a fish, or the intromittent organ of an earthworm.

- [BOTANY] a tendril.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘tendril’): from Latin, literally ‘a curl’.

CIS abbr. Commonwealth of Independent States.

cis /ss/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] denoting or relating to a molecular structure in which two particular atoms or groups lie on the same side of a given plane in the molecule, in particular denoting an isomer in which substituents at opposite ends of a carbon–carbon double bond are on the same side of the bond: the cis isomer of stilbene. Compare with TRANS.

<ORIGIN> independent usage of CIS-.

cis- prefix 1 on this side of; on the side nearer to the speaker: cisatlantic. Often contrasted with TRANS- or ULTRA-.

- HISTORICAL on the side nearer to Rome: cisalpine.

- (of time) closer to the present: cis-Elizabethan.

2 [CHEMISTRY] (usually cis-) denoting molecules with cis arrangements of substituents: cis-1,2-dichloroethene.

<ORIGIN> from Latin cis ‘on this side of’.

cisalpine /ssalpn/ adj. on the southern side of the Alps.

cisatlantic /ssətlantk/ adj. on the same side of the Atlantic as the speaker.

cisco /sskə/ n. (pl. ciscoes) a freshwater whitefish of northern countries, most species of which are important food fishes.

<INFO> Genus Coregonus, family Salmonidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

Ciskei /ssk/ a former homeland established in South Africa for the Xhosa people, now part of the province of Eastern Cape. See also HOMELAND.

cislunar /sslunə/ adj. between the earth and the moon: the darkness of cislunar space.

cisplatin /ssplatn/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a cytotoxic drug used in cancer chemotherapy.

<INFO> A coordination compound of platinum; chem. formula: Pt(NH_3)2Cl_2.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from CIS- (sense 2) + PLATINUM.

cispontine /sspntn/ adj. ARCHAIC on the north side of the Thames bridges in London (originally the better-known side).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CIS- + Latin pons, pont- ‘bridge’.

cissing /ss/ n. [mass noun] (in decorating) failure of paint to adhere properly to a surface.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

cissus /ssəs/ n. a woody climbing vine of a genus that includes the kangaroo vine.

<INFO> Genus Cissus, family Vitaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin: from Greek kissos ‘ivy’.

cist^1 /sst/ (also kist) n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a coffin or burial chamber made from stone or a hollowed tree.

<ORIGIN> Welsh, literally ‘chest’.

cist^2 /sst/ n. a box used in ancient Greece for sacred utensils.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin cista, from Greek kistē ‘box’.

Cistercian /sstə(ə)n/ n. a monk or nun of an order founded in 1098 as a stricter branch of the Benedictines. The monks are now divided into two observances, the strict observance, whose adherents are known popularly as Trappists, and the common observance, which has certain relaxations.

■ adj. relating to the Cistercians: a Cistercian abbey.

<ORIGIN> from French cistercien, from Cistercium, the Latin name of Cîteaux near Dijon in France, where the order was founded.

cistern n. a tank for storing water, especially one supplying taps or as part of a flushing toilet.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cisterne, from Latin cisterna, from cista ‘box’ (see cist^2).

cisticola /sstkələ sstkələ/ n. a small Old World warbler with brownish streaked plumage, found mainly in Africa.

<INFO> Genus Cisticola, family Sylviidae: numerous species. See also FAN-TAILED WARBLER.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kistos ‘flowering shrub’ + Latin -col- ‘dwelling in’ (from the verb colere).

cistron /sstrn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a section of a DNA or RNA molecule that codes for a specific polypeptide in protein synthesis.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from CIS- (SENSE 2) + TRANS-

■ (because of the possibility of two genes being on the same or different chromosomes) + -ON.

cistus /sstəs/ n. a southern European shrub with large white or red flowers, from which the resin ladanum may be extracted. Also called ROCK ROSE.

<INFO> Genus Cistus, family Cistaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kistos.

citadel /stəd(ə)l -dεl/ n. 1 a fortress, typically one on high ground above a city.

2 a meeting hall of the Salvation Army.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French citadelle, or from Italian cittadella, based on Latin civitas ‘city’ (see CITY).

citation /ste(ə)n/ n. 1 a quotation from or reference to a book, paper, or author, especially in a scholarly work: the majority of the citations are to work published during the past twenty years.

- [LAW] a reference to a previous case, used as guidance in the trying of comparable cases or in support of an argument.

2 a mention of a praiseworthy act in an official report, especially that of a member of the armed forces in wartime.

- a note accompanying an award, describing the reasons for it: a Nobel citation.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a summons to appear in court: a traffic citation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French, from Latin citatio(n-), from citare ‘cite’.

cite /st/ v. [with obj.] 1 refer to (a passage, book, or author) as evidence for or justification of an argument or statement, especially in a scholarly work.

- mention as an example: medics have been cited as a key example of a modern breed of technical expert.

2 praise (someone, typically a member of the armed forces) in an official report for a courageous act.

3 summon (someone) to appear in court.

■ n. US a citation.

<DERIVATIVES> citable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3 of the verb, originally with reference to a court of ecclesiastical law): from Old French citer, from Latin citare, from ciere, cire ‘to call’.

CITES /stiz/ abbr. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

citified adj. chiefly DEROGATORY characteristic of an urban environment: we must look like citified dandies to them.

citizen n. a legally recognized subject or national of a state or commonwealth, either native or naturalized: a British citizen.

- an inhabitant of a particular town or city: the good citizens of Edinburgh.

<PHRASES>

□ citizen of the world a person who is at home in any country.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French citezein, alteration (probably influenced by deinzein ‘denizen’) of Old French citeain, based on Latin civitas ‘city’ (see CITY).

citizen journalism n. [mass noun] the collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, by the use of mobile phones, digital cameras, blogs, etc.

<DERIVATIVES> citizen journalist

citizenry n. [mass noun] the citizens of a place regarded collectively: the legal obligations of the citizenry.

Citizens' Advice Bureau n. (in the UK) an office at which the public can receive free advice and information on civil matters.

citizen's arrest n. an arrest by an ordinary person without a warrant, allowable in certain cases.

Citizens' Band (abbr.: CB) n. [mass noun] a range of radio frequencies which are allocated for local communication by private individuals, especially by hand-held or vehicle radio: [as modifier] Citizens' Band radio.

Citizen's Charter n. a document setting out the rights of citizens, especially a British government document of 1991 that guaranteed citizens the right of redress on occasions where a public service failed to meet certain standards.

citizenship n. [mass noun] the position or status of being a citizen of a particular country: the refugees could be granted dual citizenship.

Citlaltépetl /sitlaltepεt(ə)l/ the highest peak in Mexico, in the east of the country, north of the city of Orizaba. It rises to a height of 5,699 m (18,503 ft) and is an extinct volcano. Spanish name PICO DE ORIZABA.

<ORIGIN> Aztec, literally ‘star mountain’.

citole /stəl/ n. a lute-like medieval stringed instrument, forerunner of the cittern.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, based on Latin cithara (see CITTERN).

citral /stral/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a fragrant liquid occurring in citrus and lemon grass oils and used in flavourings and perfumes.

<INFO> A terpene; chem. formula: C_10H_16O.

citrate /stret/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of citric acid.

citric adj. derived from or related to citrus fruit: a citric flavour.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin citrus ‘citron tree’ + -IC.

citric acid n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a sharp-tasting crystalline acid present in the juice of lemons and other sour fruits. It is made commercially by the fermentation of sugar and used as a flavouring and setting agent.

<INFO> A tribasic acid; chem. formula: C_6H_8O_7.

citriculture /strkltə/ n. [mass noun] the cultivation of citrus fruit trees.

citril /strl/ (also citril finch) n. a small European and African finch related to the canary, with generally yellowish-green plumage.

<INFO> Genus Serinus, family Fringillidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: apparently from Italian citrinella, diminutive of citrina ‘citrine-coloured (bird)’.

citrine /strn/ n. [mass noun] a glassy yellow variety of quartz.

- a light greenish-yellow.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French citrin ‘lemon-coloured’, from medieval Latin citrinus, from Latin citrus ‘citron tree’.

citron /str(ə)n/ n. a shrubby Asian tree bearing fruits which resemble large lemons with less acid flesh and thick fragrant peel.

<INFO> Citrus medica, family Rutaceae; one of the ancestors of modern commercial citrus fruits.

- the fruit of the citron tree.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting the fruit): from French, from Latin citrus ‘citron tree’, on the pattern of limon ‘lemon’.

citronella n. 1 (also citronella oil) [mass noun] a fragrant natural oil used as an insect repellent and in perfume and soap manufacture.

2 the South Asian grass from which citronella oil is obtained.

<INFO> Cymbopogon nardus, family Gramineae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from CITRON + the diminutive suffix -ella.

citrus n. (pl. citruses) a tree of a genus that includes citron, lemon, lime, orange, and grapefruit. Native to Asia, citrus trees are cultivated in warm countries for their fruit.

<INFO> Genus Citrus, family Rutaceae.

- (also citrus fruit) a fruit from a citrus tree.

<DERIVATIVES> citrous adj. citrusy adj.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘citron tree, thuja’.

cittern /st(ə)n/ n. a stringed instrument similar to a lute, with a flattened back and wire strings, used in 16th- and 17th-century Europe.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin cithara, from Greek kithara, denoting a kind of harp. The spelling has been influenced by GITTERN.

city n. (pl. cities) 1 a large town: one of Italy's most beautiful cities | [as modifier] the city centre.

- BRITISH a town created a city by charter and usually containing a cathedral.

- NORTH AMERICAN a municipal centre incorporated by the state or province.

- [with modifier] INFORMAL a place or situation characterized by a specified attribute: the staff were in turmoil—it was panic city.

2 (the City)

■ short for CITY OF LONDON.

- the financial and commercial institutions located in the City of London: the Budget got a stony reception from the City | [as modifier] a City analyst.

<DERIVATIVES> cityward adj. & adv. citywards adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cite, from Latin civitas, from civis ‘citizen’. Originally denoting a town, and often used as a Latin equivalent to Old English burh ‘borough’, the term was later applied to the more important English boroughs. The connection between city and cathedral grew up under the Norman kings, as the episcopal sees (many had been established in villages) were removed to the chief borough of the diocese.

City and Guilds Institute (in the UK) an institute based in London which is responsible for courses and examinations in technical and craft subjects, generally at a lower level than university degrees.

City Company n. (in the UK) a corporation descended from an ancient trade guild of London.

city desk n. 1 BRITISH the department of a newspaper dealing with business news.

2 NORTH AMERICAN the department of a newspaper dealing with local news.

city editor n. 1 BRITISH a person dealing with financial news in a newspaper.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a person dealing with local news in a newspaper.

city father n. a person concerned with or experienced in the administration of a city: the city fathers decided to build a museum.

city gent n. BRITISH INFORMAL a businessman working in the financial district of the City of London.

city hall n. NORTH AMERICAN municipal offices or officers collectively.

city manager n. NORTH AMERICAN (in some cities) an official directing the administration of a city.

City of God Paradise, perceived as an ideal community in heaven.

- the Christian Church. [<ORIGIN> from The City of God by St Augustine.]

City of London the part of London situated within the ancient boundaries and governed by the Lord Mayor and the Corporation.

city planning n. US term for TOWN PLANNING.

cityscape n. the visual appearance of a city or urban area; a city landscape.

- a picture of a city.

city slicker n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a person with the sophistication and values generally associated with urban dwellers.

city state n. chiefly HISTORICAL a city that with its surrounding territory forms an independent state.

City Technology College n. (in the UK) a type of secondary school set up through partnerships between the government and business to teach technology and science in inner-city areas.

citywide adj. & adv. extending throughout a city: [as adj.] a citywide computer network | [as adv.] sales citywide reached a four-year high.

Ciudad Bolívar /sjudad blivα/ Spanish /sjua bəliβar θjua/ a city in SE Venezuela, on the Orinoco River; pop. 358,500 (est. 2002). Formerly called Angostura, its name was changed in 1846 to honour the country's liberator, Simón Bolívar.

Ciudad Trujillo /truhijə -hiljə/ former name (1936–61) for Santo Domingo.

Ciudad Victoria /vktrə/ Spanish /βiktərja/ a city in NE Mexico, capital of the state of Tamaulipas; pop. 249,000 (2000).

civet /svt/ n. (also civet cat) 1 a slender nocturnal carnivorous mammal with a barred and spotted coat and well-developed anal scent glands, native to Africa and Asia.

<INFO> Family Viverridae (the civet family): several genera and species. The civet family also includes the genets, linsang, and fossa, and formerly included the mongooses.

- [mass noun] a strong musky perfume obtained from the secretions of the civet's scent glands.

2 US the ring-tailed cat or cacomistle.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French civette, from Italian zibetto, from medieval Latin zibethum, from Arabic zabād, denoting the perfume.

civic adj. relating to a city or town, especially its administration; municipal: a meeting of civic and business leaders.

- relating to the duties or activities of people in relation to their town, city, or local area: he was active in the civic life of Swindon.

<DERIVATIVES> civically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French civique or Latin civicus, from civis ‘citizen’. The original use was in civic garland, crown, etc., translating Latin corona civica, denoting a garland of oak leaves and acorns given in ancient Rome to a person who saved a fellow citizen's life.

civic centre n. 1 BRITISH the area in the centre of a town where municipal offices and other public buildings are situated.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a large public building or complex for meetings, sports, and entertainments.

civics plural n. [usually treated as sing.] chiefly BRITISH the study of the rights and duties of citizenship.

civil adj. 1 [attr.] relating to ordinary citizens and their concerns, as distinct from military or ecclesiastical matters: civil aviation.

- (of conflict) occurring between citizens of the same country.

- [LAW] relating to private relations between members of a community; non-criminal: a civil action | a civil court.

2 courteous and polite: they were comparatively civil to their daughter.

3 (of time) fixed by custom or law rather than being natural or astronomical: civil twilight.

<DERIVATIVES> civilly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin civilis, from civis ‘citizen’.

civil commotion n. [LAW] a riot or similar disturbance.

civil defence n. [mass noun] the organization and training of civilians to be prepared for attacks in wartime.

civil disobedience n. [mass noun] the refusal to comply with certain laws considered unjust, as a peaceful form of political protest.

civil engineer n. an engineer who designs and maintains roads, bridges, dams, and similar structures.

<DERIVATIVES> civil engineering n.

civilian n. a person not in the armed services or the police force.

■ adj. relating to civilians: civilian clothes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a practitioner of civil law): from Old French civilien, in the phrase droit civilien ‘civil law’. The current sense arose in the early 19th cent.

civilianize (also civilianise) v. [with obj.] make (something) non-military in character or function.

<DERIVATIVES> civilianization n.

civility n. (pl. civilities) [mass noun] formal politeness and courtesy in behaviour or speech: I hope we can treat each other with civility and respect.

- (civilities) polite remarks used in formal conversation: she was exchanging civilities with his mother.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French civilite, from Latin civilitas, from civilis ‘relating to citizens’ (see CIVIL). In early use the term denoted the state of being a citizen and hence good citizenship or orderly behaviour. The sense ‘politeness’ arose in the mid 16th cent.

civilization (also civilisation) n. [mass noun] the stage of human social development and organization which is considered most advanced: the Victorians equated the railways with progress and civilization.

- the process by which a society or place reaches this stage.

- the society, culture, and way of life of a particular area: the great books of Western civilization | [count noun] the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

- the comfort and convenience of modern life, regarded as available only in towns and cities: in the UK nowhere is very far from civilization.

civilize (also civilise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. civilized) bring (a place or people) to a stage of social development considered to be more advanced: a civilized society.

- (as adj. civilized) polite and good-mannered: such an affront to civilized behaviour will no longer be tolerated.

<DERIVATIVES> civilizer n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French civiliser, from civil ‘civil’.

civil law n. [mass noun] 1 the system of law concerned with private relations between members of a community rather than criminal, military, or religious affairs. Contrasted with CRIMINAL LAW.

2 the system of law predominant on the European continent, historically influenced by that of ancient Rome. Compare with COMMON LAW.

civil liberty n. [mass noun] the state of being subject only to laws established for the good of the community, especially with regard to freedom of action and speech.

- (civil liberties) a person's rights to be subject only to laws established for the good of the community.

<DERIVATIVES> civil libertarian n.

Civil List n. (in the UK) a fixed annual allowance voted by Parliament to meet the official expenses incurred by the Queen in her role as head of state.

civil marriage n. a marriage solemnized as a civil contract without religious ceremony.

civil partnership (also civil union) n. (in some countries) a legally recognized union of a same-sex couple, with rights similar to those of marriage.

civil rights plural n. the rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality.

civil servant n. a member of the civil service.

civil service n. the permanent professional branches of a state's administration, excluding military and judicial branches and elected politicians.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: originally applied to the part of the work of the British East India Company performed by staff who did not belong to the army or navy.

civil war n. a war between citizens of the same country.

civil wrong n. [LAW] an infringement of a person's rights, especially a tort.

civvy INFORMAL n. (pl. civvies) a civilian, as distinct from a member of the police force or armed services.

- (civvies) civilian clothes, as opposed to uniform: the Chief Constable came along in civvies.

■ adj. [attr.] relating to civilians: fliers who left the services for civvy airlines.

<PHRASES>

□ Civvy Street BRITISH INFORMAL civilian life: ex-service people starting life on Civvy Street.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

CJ abbr. Chief Justice.

CJD abbr. Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.

CL abbr.

- chemiluminescence.

- Sri Lanka (international vehicle registration). [<ORIGIN> from Ceylon.]

Cl symbol the chemical element chlorine.

cl abbr. centilitre: 70 cl bottles.

clabber chiefly US n. [mass noun] milk that has naturally clotted on souring.

■ v. curdle or cause to curdle.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: shortening of BONNY CLABBER.

clachan /klax(ə)n/ n. (in Scotland or Northern Ireland) a small village or hamlet.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Scottish Gaelic and Irish clachán.

clack v. make a sharp sound or series of sounds as a result of a hard object striking another: [no obj.] he heard the sound of her heels clacking across flagstones | [with obj.] he clacked the bones together.

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC chatter loudly: he will sit clacking for hours.

■ n. a sharp sound or series of sounds: the clack of her high heels.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC loud chatter.

<DERIVATIVES> clacker n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: imitative.

clacket /klakt/ v. (clackets, clacketing, clacketed) [no obj.] make a series of sharp sounds as a result of a hard object striking another.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French claquet, from claquer ‘to clack’.

Clackmannanshire /klakmanənə -ə/ a council area and former county of central Scotland; administrative centre, Alloa.

Clactonian /klaktənən/ adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a Lower Palaeolithic culture represented by flint implements found at Clacton-on-Sea in SE England, dated to about 250,000–200,000 years ago.

- (as n. the Clactonian) the Clactonian culture or period.

clad^1 archaic or literary past participle of CLOTHE

■ adj. 1 clothed: they were clad in T-shirts and shorts | [in combination] leather-clad boys.

2 covered with cladding: [in combination] copper-clad boards.

clad^2 v. (clads, cladding; past and past participle cladded or clad) [with obj.] encase (a structure) with a covering or coating.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘clothe’): apparently from CLAD^1.

Claddagh ring /kladə/ n. a ring in the form of two hands clasping a heart, traditionally given in Ireland as a token of love.

<ORIGIN> from the name of a small fishing village on the edge of Galway city.

cladding n. [mass noun] a covering or coating on a structure or material: timber cladding.

clade /kled/ n. [BIOLOGY] a group of organisms believed to comprise all the evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek klados ‘branch’.

cladistics /klədstks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] [BIOLOGY] a method of classification of animals and plants that aims to identify and take account of only those shared characteristics which can be deduced to have originated in the common ancestor of a group of species during evolution, not those arising by convergence.

<DERIVATIVES> cladism /kladz(ə)m/ n. cladistic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from CLADE + -IST + -ICS.

clado- /kledə kladə/ combining form relating to a branch or branching: cladogram.

<ORIGIN> from Greek klados ‘branch or shoot’.

Cladocera /kləds(ə)rə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of minute branchiopod crustaceans which includes the water fleas. They typically have a transparent shell enclosing the trunk, and large antennae which are used for swimming.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek klados ‘branch or root’ + keras ‘horn’ (because of the branched antennae).

cladoceran [ZOOLOGY] n. a minute branchiopod crustacean of the order Cladocera, which includes the water fleas.

■ adj. relating to or denoting cladocerans.

cladode /kledəd/ n. [BOTANY] a flattened leaf-like stem.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kladōdēs ‘with many shoots’, from klados ‘shoot’.

cladogenesis /kledə()dεnss kladə()-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the formation of a new group of organisms or higher taxon by evolutionary divergence from an ancestral form.

<DERIVATIVES> cladogenetic adj.

cladogram /kledə()ram kladə()-/ n. [BIOLOGY] a branching diagram showing the cladistic relationship between a number of species.

clafoutis /klafuti/ n. (pl. same) a type of flan made of fruit, typically cherries, baked in a sweet batter.

<ORIGIN> French, from dialect clafir ‘to stuff’.

claggy adj. BRITISH DIALECT tending to form clots; sticky: claggy mud.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps of Scandinavian origin; compare with Danish klag ‘sticky mud’.

claim v. 1 [reporting v.] state or assert that something is the case, typically without providing evidence or proof: [with clause] the Prime Minister claimed that he was concerned about Third World debt | [with direct speech] ‘I'm entitled to be conceited,’ he claimed | [with obj.] not every employee is eligible to claim unfair dismissal.

- [with obj.] assert that one has gained or achieved (something): his supporters claimed victory in the presidential elections.

2 [with obj.] formally request or demand; say that one owns or has earned (something): if no one claims the items, they will become Crown property.

- [with obj.] make a demand for (money) under the terms of an insurance policy: [no obj.] the premiums are reduced by fifty per cent if you don't claim on the policy.

- call for (someone's notice and thought): a most unwelcome event claimed his attention.

3 cause the loss of (someone's life).

■ n. 1 an assertion that something is true: [with clause] he was dogged by the claim that he had CIA links.

- (also statement of claim) a statement of the novel features in a patent.

2 a demand or request for something considered one's due: the court had denied their claims to asylum.

- an application for compensation under the terms of an insurance policy.

- a right or title to something: they have first claim on the assets of the trust.

- a piece of land allotted to or taken by someone in order to be mined.

<PHRASES>

□ claim to fame a reason for being regarded as unusual or noteworthy: the town's only claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Elgar.

<DERIVATIVES> claimable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French claime (noun), clamer (verb), from Latin clamare ‘call out’.

claimant n. a person making a claim, especially in a lawsuit or for a state benefit.

claimer n. [RACING] 1 (NORTH AMERICAN also claiming race) a race in which every horse participating is for sale at a stipulated price related to the weight that the horse carries.

2 a jockey who claims a weight allowance in a race.

Clair /klε/ French /klεR/ René (1898–1981), French film director; born René Lucien Chomette. His films typically contain elements of surrealism underpinned by satire; they include Un Chapeau de paille d'Italie (1927), Sous les toits de Paris (1930), and Les Belles de nuit (1952).

clairaudience /klεrdəns/ n. [mass noun] the supposed faculty of perceiving, as if by hearing, what is inaudible.

<DERIVATIVES> clairaudient adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French clair ‘clear’ + AUDIENCE, on the pattern of clairvoyance.

clair-de-lune /klεdəlun/ n. [mass noun] a soft white or pale blue-grey colour.

- a Chinese porcelain glaze of this colour.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘moonlight’.

clairvoyance n. [mass noun] the supposed faculty of perceiving things or events in the future or beyond normal sensory contact.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French. from clair ‘clear’ + voir ‘to see’.

clairvoyant n. a person who claims to have a supernatural ability to perceive events in the future or beyond normal sensory contact.

■ adj. having or exhibiting clairvoyance: he didn't tell me about it and I'm not clairvoyant.

<DERIVATIVES> clairvoyantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘clear-sighted, perceptive’): from French, from clair ‘clear’ + voyant ‘seeing’ (from voir ‘to see’). The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

clam n. 1 a marine bivalve mollusc with shells of equal size.

<INFO> Subclass Heterodonta: several families and numerous species, including the edible North American hardshell clam (see QUAHOG) and softshell clam. See also GIANT CLAM.

- INFORMAL any of a number of edible bivalve molluscs, e.g. a scallop.

2 US INFORMAL a dollar.

■ v. (clams, clamming, clammed) [no obj.] 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN dig for or collect clams.

2 (clam up) INFORMAL abruptly stop talking.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: apparently from earlier clam ‘a clamp’, from Old English clam, clamm ‘a bond or bondage’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch klemme, German Klemme, also to clamp^1.

clamant /klem(ə)nt klam-/ adj. urgently demanding attention: the proper use of biotechnology has become a clamant question.

<DERIVATIVES> clamantly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin clamant- ‘crying out’, from the verb clamare.

clambake n. NORTH AMERICAN a social gathering outdoors, especially for eating clams and other seafood.

clamber v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] climb or move in an awkward and laborious way, typically using both hands and feet: I clambered out of the trench.

■ n. an awkward and laborious climb or movement: a clamber up the cliff path.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from clamb, obsolete past tense of CLIMB.

clamdiggers plural n. close-fitting calf-length trousers for women.

clammy adj. (clammier, clammiest) unpleasantly damp and sticky or slimy to touch: his skin felt cold and clammy.

- (of air or atmosphere) damp and unpleasant: the clammy atmosphere of the cave.

<DERIVATIVES> clammily adv. clamminess n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from dialect clam ‘to be sticky or adhere’, of Germanic origin; related to CLAY.

clamorous adj. making a loud and confused noise: a jostling, clamorous mob.

- expressing or characterized by vehement protests or demands: the clamorous radical wing of the party.

<DERIVATIVES> clamorously adv. clamorousness n.

clamour (US clamor) n. [in sing.] a loud and confused noise, especially that of people shouting: the questions rose to a clamour.

- a strongly expressed protest or demand from a large number of people: the growing public clamour for more policemen on the beat.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a group of people) shout loudly and insistently: the surging crowds clamoured for attention.

- make a vehement protest or demand: scientists are clamouring for a ban on all chlorine substances.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin clamor, from clamare ‘cry out’.

clamp^1 n. 1 a brace, band, or clasp for strengthening or holding things together.

■ short for WHEEL CLAMP.

2 an electric circuit which serves to maintain the voltage limits of a signal at prescribed levels.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial of place] fasten (something) in place with a clamp: the sander is clamped on to the edge of a workbench.

- fasten (two things) firmly together: the two frames are clamped together.

- hold (something) tightly against another thing: Maggie had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

- [with obj.] immobilize (an unlawfully parked car) by fixing a wheel clamp to one of its wheels.

2 [with obj.] maintain the voltage limits of (an electrical signal) at prescribed values.

3 [no obj.] (clamp down) suppress or prevent something in an oppressive or harsh manner: the authorities have also clamped down on public demonstrations.

<DERIVATIVES> clamper n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Dutch or Low German origin and related to CLAM.

clamp^2 n. British 1 a heap of potatoes or other root vegetables stored under straw or earth.

2 a three-sided structure used to store silage.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a pile of bricks for firing): probably from Dutch klamp ‘heap’; related to CLUMP.

clampdown n. INFORMAL a concerted or harsh attempt to suppress something: a clampdown on crime.

clamshell n. the shell of a clam, formed of two roughly equal valves with a hinge.

- something, such as a mobile phone, with hinged parts that open and shut like a clamshell: [as modifier] a clamshell cellular phone.

clan n. a close-knit group of interrelated families, especially in the Scottish Highlands.

- a large family: the Watts clan is one of racing's oldest families.

- a group of people with a strong common interest: New York's garrulous clan of artists.

<DERIVATIVES> clanship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Scottish Gaelic clann ‘offspring, family’, from Old Irish cland, from Latin planta ‘sprout’.

clandestine /klandεstn klandεstn/ adj. kept secret or done secretively, especially because illicit: she deserved better than these clandestine meetings.

<DERIVATIVES> clandestinely adv. clandestinity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French clandestin or Latin clandestinus, from clam ‘secretly’.

clang n. a loud, resonant metallic sound or series of sounds: the steel door slammed shut with a clang.

■ v. make or cause to make a clang: [no obj.] the bell of a fire engine clanged | [with obj.] the belfry still clangs its bell at 9 p.m.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: imitative, influenced by Latin clangere ‘resound’.

clanger n. BRITISH INFORMAL an absurd or embarrassing blunder: the minister had dropped a massive political clanger.

clangour /klaə/ (US clangor) n. [in sing.] a continuous loud banging or ringing sound.

<DERIVATIVES> clangorous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin clangor, from clangere ‘resound’.

clank n. a loud, sharp sound or series of sounds, as is made by pieces of metal being struck together.

■ v. make or cause to make a clank: [no obj.] I could hear the chain clanking | [with obj.] he clanked his heavy ring of keys.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (but rare before the mid 17th century): imitative.

clannish adj. chiefly DEROGATORY (of a group or their activities) tending to exclude others outside the group.

<DERIVATIVES> clannishly adv. clannishness n.

clansman (or clanswoman) n. (pl. clansmen or clanswomen) a member of a clan.

clap^1 v. (claps, clapping, clapped) [with obj.] 1 strike the palms of (one's hands) together repeatedly, typically in order to applaud someone or something: Agnes clapped her hands in glee | [no obj.] the crowd was clapping and cheering.

- show approval of (a person or action) by clapping: Louisa clapped his performance.

- (of a bird) flap (its wings) audibly.

2 slap (someone) encouragingly on the back or shoulder: as they parted, he clapped Owen on the back.

- place (a hand) briefly against or over one's mouth or forehead as a gesture of dismay or regret: he swore and clapped a hand to his forehead.

3 (clap something on) abruptly impose a restrictive or punitive measure: most countries clapped on tariffs to protect their farmers.

■ n. 1 an act of striking together the palms of the hands.

- a friendly slap or pat on the back or shoulder.

2 an explosive sound, especially of thunder: a clap of thunder echoed through the valley.

<PHRASES>

□ clap eyes on see EYE.

□ clap hold of INFORMAL grab someone or something roughly or abruptly.

□ clap someone in jail (or irons) put someone in prison (or in chains).

<ORIGIN> Old English clappan ‘throb, beat’, of imitative origin.

■ Sense 1 of the verb dates from late Middle English.

clap^2 n. [mass noun] (usually the clap) INFORMAL a venereal disease, especially gonorrhoea.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old French clapoir ‘venereal bubo’.

clapboard /klapbd klabəd/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a long, thin, flat piece of wood with edges horizontally overlapping in series, used to cover the outer walls of buildings: [as modifier] neat clapboard houses.

- INFORMAL a house with outer walls covered in clapboards.

<DERIVATIVES> clapboarded adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting a piece of oak used for barrel staves or wainscot): partial translation of Low German klappholt ‘barrel stave’, from klappen ‘to crack’ + holt ‘wood’.

clapped-out adj. BRITISH INFORMAL worn out from age or heavy use and unable to work or operate: a clapped-out old van.

clapper n. the tongue or striker of a bell.

<PHRASES>

□ like the clappers BRITISH INFORMAL very fast or very hard: she ran off like the clappers.

clapperboard n. a pair of hinged boards that are struck together at the beginning of filming to synchronize the starting of picture and sound machinery.

clapper bridge n. a simple bridge consisting of slabs of stone or planks laid across a series of rocks or piles of stones.

clapper rail n. a large greyish rail (bird) of American coastal marshes, which has a distinctive clattering rattle-like call.

<INFO> Rallus longirostris, family Rallidae.

Clapton Eric (b.1945), English blues and rock guitarist, singer, and composer, known particularly for the song ‘Layla’ (1972) and for his group Cream (1966–8).

claptrap n. [mass noun] absurd or nonsensical talk or ideas: such sentiments are just pious claptrap.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting something designed to elicit applause): from CLAP^1 + TRAP^1.

claque /klak klαk/ n. 1 a group of sycophantic followers: the President was surrounded by a claque of scheming bureaucrats.

2 a group of people hired to applaud (or heckle) a performer or public speaker.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from claquer ‘to clap’. The practice of paying members of an audience for their support originated at the Paris opera.

claqueur /klakə klα-/ n. a member of a claque.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from claquer ‘to clap’.

clarabella /klarəbεlə/ n. an organ stop with the quality of a flute.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the feminine forms of Latin clarus ‘clear’ and bellus ‘pretty’.

Clare^1 a county of the Republic of Ireland, on the west coast in the province of Munster; county town, Ennis.

Clare^2 John (1793–1864), English poet, who wrote in celebration of the natural world. In 1837 he was certified insane and spent the rest of his life in an asylum. Notable works: Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (1820) and The Rural Muse (1835).

clarence n. HISTORICAL a closed horse-drawn carriage with four wheels, seating four inside and two outside next to the coachman.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named in honour of the Duke of Clarence, later William IV.

Clarenceux /klar(ə)nsu/ n. [HERALDRY] (in the UK) the title given to the second King of Arms, with jurisdiction south of the Trent. See KING OF ARMS.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, named after the dukedom of Clarence created for the second son of Edward II, married to the heiress of Clare in Suffolk.

Clarendon /klarənd(ə)n/ Edward Hyde, Earl of (1609–74), English statesman and historian, chief adviser to Charles II and Chancellor of Oxford University 1660–7. Notable works: History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England (published posthumously 1702–4).

Clare of Assisi, St (1194–1253), Italian saint and abbess. With St Francis she founded the order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano (‘Poor Clares’), of which she was abbess. Feast day, 11 (formerly 12) August.

claret /klarət/ n. [mass noun] a red wine from Bordeaux, or wine of a similar character made elsewhere.

- a deep purplish-red colour.

- ARCHAIC, INFORMAL blood.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting a light red or yellowish wine, as distinct from a red or white): from Old French (vin) claret and medieval Latin claratum (vinum) ‘clarified (wine)’, from Latin clarus ‘clear’.

clarification /klarfke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action of making a statement or situation less confused and more comprehensible: please advise us if you require further clarification | [count noun] the remaining changes are small clarifications.

<DERIVATIVES> clarificatory adj.

clarify /klarf/ v. (clarifies, clarifying, clarified) [with obj.] 1 make (a statement or situation) less confused and more comprehensible: the report managed to clarify the government's position.

2 (often as adj. clarified) melt (butter) in order to separate out the impurities.

<DERIVATIVES> clarifier n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘set forth clearly’ and ‘make pure and clean’): from Old French clarifier, from late Latin clarificare, from Latin clarus ‘clear’.

clarinet n. a woodwind instrument with a single-reed mouthpiece, a cylindrical tube of dark wood with a flared end, and holes stopped by keys.

- an organ stop with a tone resembling that of a clarinet.

<DERIVATIVES> clarinettist (US clarinetist) n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French clarinette, diminutive of clarine, denoting a kind of bell; related to CLARION.

clarion /klarən/ n. HISTORICAL a shrill narrow-tubed war trumpet.

- an organ stop with a quality resembling that of a clarion.

■ adj. LITERARY loud and clear: clarion trumpeters.

<PHRASES>

□ clarion call a strongly expressed demand or request for action: he issued a clarion call to young people to join the Party.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from medieval Latin clario(n-), from Latin clarus ‘clear’.

clarity n. [mass noun] the quality of being clear, in particular:

- the quality of being coherent and intelligible: for the sake of clarity, each of these strategies is dealt with separately.

- the quality of being easy to see or hear; sharpness of image or sound: the clarity of the picture.

- the quality of being certain or definite: it was clarity of purpose that he needed.

- the quality of transparency or purity: the crystal clarity of water.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘glory, divine splendour’): from Latin claritas, from clarus ‘clear’. The current sense dates from the early 17th cent.

Clark^1 Helen (b.1950), New Zealand Labour stateswoman, Prime Minister of New Zealand 1999–2008.

Clark^2 William (1770–1838), American explorer. With Meriwether Lewis, he commanded an expedition (1804–6) across the North American continent.

Clarke Sir Arthur C. (1917–2008), English writer of science fiction; full name Arthur Charles Clarke. He co-wrote (with Stanley Kubrick) the screenplay for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

clarkia /klαkə/ n. a North American plant with showy white, pink, or purple flowers, cultivated as a border plant in gardens.

<INFO> Genus Clarkia, family Onagraceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after William Clark^1, who discovered it.

clarsach /klαrsəx klαsək/ n. a small harp with wire strings, used in the folk and early music of Scotland and Ireland. Also called CELTIC HARP.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Scottish Gaelic, perhaps based on clar ‘table, board’.

clart /klαt/ (also clarts) n. [mass noun] SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH sticky mud; filth.

<DERIVATIVES> clarty adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as a verb in the sense ‘smear, plaster’): of unknown origin.

clary /klεri/ n. [mass noun] an aromatic herbaceous plant of the mint family, some kinds of which are used as culinary and medicinal herbs.

<INFO> Genus Salvia, family Labiatae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete French clarie, from medieval Latin sclarea.

clash n. 1 a violent confrontation: there have been minor clashes with security forces.

- an incompatibility leading to disagreement: a personality clash.

2 a mismatch of colours: a clash of tweeds and a striped shirt.

3 an inconvenient coincidence of the timing of events or activities: it is hoped that clashes of dates will be avoided.

4 a loud jarring sound, as of metal objects being struck together: a clash of cymbals.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 meet and come into violent conflict: protestors demanding self-rule clashed with police.

- have a forceful disagreement: the prime minister clashed with other Commonwealth leaders.

- be incompatible or at odds: his thriftiness clashed with Ross's largesse.

2 (of colours) appear discordant or ugly when placed close to each other: (as adj. clashing) suits in clashing colours.

3 inconveniently occur at the same time: we play our home games when they do not clash with those of Liverpool or Everton.

4 [with obj.] strike (cymbals) together, producing a loud discordant sound.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: imitative.

clasp v. [with obj.] 1 grasp (something) tightly with one's hand: he clasped her arm.

- place (one's arms) around something so as to hold it tightly: Kate's arms were clasped around her knees.

- hold (someone) tightly: he clasped Joanne in his arms.

2 ARCHAIC fasten (something) with a small brooch or similar device.

■ n. 1 a device with interlocking parts used for fastening things together: a gold bracelet with a turquoise clasp.

- a silver bar on a medal ribbon, inscribed with the name of the battle at which the wearer was present.

2 [in sing.] an embrace.

- a grasp or handshake: he took her hand in a firm clasp.

<PHRASES>

□ clasp hands shake hands with fervour or affection.

□ clasp one's hands press one's hands together with the fingers interlaced.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

claspers plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a pair of appendages under the abdomen of a male shark or ray, or at the end of the abdomen of a male insect, used to hold the female during copulation.

clasp knife n. a knife with a blade that folds into the handle.

class n. 1 a set or category of things having some property or attribute in common and differentiated from others by kind, type, or quality: it has good accommodation for a hotel of this class | a new class of heart drug.

- [BIOLOGY] a principal taxonomic grouping that ranks above order and below phylum or division, such as Mammalia or Insecta.

- BRITISH a division of candidates according to merit in a university examination.

2 [mass noun] a system of ordering society whereby people are divided into sets based on perceived social or economic status: people who are socially disenfranchised by class | [as modifier] the class system.

- [count noun] a social division based on social or economic status: the ruling class.

- (the classes) ARCHAIC the rich or educated.

- INFORMAL impressive stylishness in appearance or behaviour: she's got class—she looks like a princess.

3 a group of students or pupils who are taught together.

- an occasion when pupils meet with their teacher for instruction; a lesson: I was late for a class.

- a course of instruction: I took classes in Indian music.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN all of the college or school students of a particular year: the class of 1999.

■ v. [with obj.] (often be classed as) assign or regard as belonging to a particular category: conduct which is classed as criminal.

■ adj. [attr.] INFORMAL showing stylish excellence: he's a class player.

<PHRASES>

□ class A (or B or C) drug an illegal narcotic drug classified as being of the most harmful and addictive (or a less harmful and addictive) kind, possession or sale of which incurs corresponding legal penalties.

□ class act INFORMAL a person or thing displaying impressive and stylish excellence.

□ in a class of its (or one's) own unequalled, especially in excellence or performance: British advertising is in a class of its own for inventiveness.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 3 of the noun): from Latin classis ‘a division of the Roman people, a grade, or a class of pupils’.

class action n. [LAW], NORTH AMERICAN a lawsuit filed or defended by an individual acting on behalf of a group.

class consciousness n. [mass noun] awareness of one's place in a system of social class, especially (in Marxist terms) as it relates to the class struggle.

<DERIVATIVES> class-conscious adj.

classic adj. 1 judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind: a classic novel | a classic car.

- (of a garment or design) of a simple, elegant style not greatly subject to changes in fashion: this classic navy blazer.

2 very typical of its kind: I had all the classic symptoms of flu.

■ n. 1 a work of art of recognized and established value: his books have become classics.

- a garment of a simple, elegant, and long-lasting style.

- a thing which is memorable and a very good example of its kind: he's hoping that tomorrow's game will be a classic.

2 (Classics) a subject at school or university which involves the study of ancient Greek and Latin literature, philosophy, and history.

- (the classics) the works of ancient Greek and Latin writers and philosophers.

- DATED a scholar of ancient Greek and Latin.

3 (Classic) a major sports tournament or competition, especially in golf or tennis.

- (in the UK) each of the five main flat races of the horse-racing season.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French classique or Latin classicus ‘belonging to a class or division’, later ‘of the highest class’, from classis (see CLASS).

classical adj. 1 relating to ancient Greek or Latin literature, art, or culture: classical mythology | classical Latin.

- (of art or architecture) influenced by ancient Greek or Roman forms or principles.

2 representing an exemplary standard within a traditional and long-established form or style: classical ballet.

- relating to the first significant period of an area of study: classical mechanics.

3 [PHYSICS] relating to or based upon concepts and theories which preceded the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics; Newtonian: classical physics.

<DERIVATIVES> classicalism n. classicality n. classically adv. [as submodifier] the classically beautiful lines of her face

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘outstanding of its kind’): from Latin classicus ‘belonging to a class’ (see CLASSIC) + -AL.

classical conditioning n. [mass noun] [PSYCHOLOGY] a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired: a response which is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.

classical music n. [mass noun] serious music following long-established principles rather than a folk, jazz, or popular tradition.

- (more specifically) music written in the European tradition during a period lasting approximately from 1750 to 1830, when forms such as the symphony, concerto, and sonata were standardized.

classicism n. [mass noun] the following of ancient Greek or Roman principles and style in art and literature, generally associated with harmony, restraint, and adherence to recognized standards of form and craftsmanship, especially from the Renaissance to the 18th century. Often contrasted with ROMANTICISM.

- the following of traditional and long-established theories or styles.

classicist n. 1 a person who studies Classics (ancient Greek and Latin).

2 a follower of classicism in the arts.

classicize (also classicise) v. [no obj.] (usually as adj. classicizing) imitate a classical style: the classicizing strains in Guercino's art.

Classico /klaskə/ adj. [postpositive] (of Italian wine) produced in the region from which the type takes its name, and thus of a higher standard than a regional wine without the designation: Chianti Classico.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

classification n. [mass noun] the action or process of classifying something: the classification of disease according to symptoms.

- [count noun] a category into which something is put.

classified adj. 1 arranged in classes or categories: a classified catalogue of books.

- [attr.] (of newspaper or magazine advertisements) organized in categories according to what is being advertised.

- BRITISH (of a road) assigned to a category according to its importance within the overall system of road numbering.

2 (of information or documents) designated as officially secret and accessible only to authorized people: classified information on nuclear experiments.

■ n. (classifieds) small advertisements placed in a newspaper and organized in categories.

classifier n. a person or thing that classifies something.

- [LINGUISTICS] an affix or word that indicates the semantic class to which a word belongs: the English negative classifier ‘un-’.

classify v. (classifies, classifying, classified) [with obj.] 1 arrange (a group of people or things) in classes or categories according to shared qualities or characteristics: mountain peaks are classified according to their shape.

- assign to a particular class or category: elements are usually classified as metals or non-metals.

2 designate (documents or information) as officially secret: government officials classified 6.3 million documents in 1992.

<DERIVATIVES> classifiable adj. classificatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: back-formation from CLASSIFICATION, from French, from classe ‘class’, from Latin classis ‘division’.

classifying adj. [GRAMMAR] (of an adjective) describing the class that a head noun belongs to and characterized by not having a comparative or superlative (for example American, mortal). Contrasted with GRADABLE, QUALITATIVE.

class interval n. [STATISTICS] the size of each class into which a range of a variable is divided, as represented by the divisions of a histogram or bar chart.

classism n. [mass noun] prejudice against people belonging to a particular social class.

<DERIVATIVES> classist adj. & n.

classless adj. (of a society) not divided into social classes.

- not showing obvious signs of belonging to a particular social class: his voice was classless.

<DERIVATIVES> classlessness n.

class list n. a list of the candidates who have taken an examination, showing the class or mark achieved by each.

classmate n. a fellow member of a class at school, college, or university.

classroom n. a room in which a class of pupils or students is taught.

class struggle (also class war) n. (in Marxist ideology) the conflict of interests between the workers and the ruling class in a capitalist society, regarded as inevitably violent.

classwork n. [mass noun] schoolwork that is done in class.

classy adj. (classier, classiest) INFORMAL stylish and sophisticated: the hotel is classy but relaxed.

<DERIVATIVES> classily adv. classiness n.

clast /klast/ n. [GEOLOGY] a constituent fragment of a clastic rock.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: back-formation from CLASTIC.

clastic adj. [GEOLOGY] denoting rocks composed of broken pieces of older rocks.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French clastique, from Greek klastos ‘broken in pieces’.

clathrate /klaθret/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound in which molecules of one component are physically trapped within the crystal structure of another.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Latin clathratus, from clathri ‘lattice bars’, from Greek klēthra.

clatter n. [in sing.] a continuous rattling sound as of hard objects falling or striking each other: the horse spun round with a clatter of hooves.

■ v. make or cause to make a continuous rattling sound: [no obj.] her coffee cup clattered in the saucer | [with obj.] she clattered cups and saucers on to a tray.

<ORIGIN> Old English (as a verb), of imitative origin.

Claude Lorrain /kld ləren/ (also Lorraine)

- (1600–82), French painter; born Claude Gellée. His classical landscapes are notable for their rendering of light and atmosphere. Notable works: Ascanius and the Stag (1682).

claudication /kldke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE limping.

- (also intermittent claudication) a condition in which cramping pain in the leg is induced by exercise, typically caused by obstruction of the arteries.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin claudicatio(n-), from the verb claudicare ‘to limp’, from claudus ‘lame’.

Claudius /kldəs/ (10 BC–AD 54), Roman emperor 41–54; full name Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus. His reign was noted for its restoration of order after Caligula's decadence and for its expansion of the Empire, in particular the invasion of Britain in AD 43. His fourth wife, Agrippina, is said to have poisoned him.

clause n. 1 a unit of grammatical organization next below the sentence in rank and in traditional grammar said to consist of a subject and predicate. See also MAIN CLAUSE, SUBORDINATE CLAUSE.

2 a particular and separate article, stipulation, or proviso in a treaty, bill, or contract.

<DERIVATIVES> clausal adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French clause, based on Latin claus- ‘shut, closed’, from the verb claudere.

Clausewitz /klazəvts/ Karl von (1780–1831), Prussian general and military theorist. His study On War (1833) had a marked influence on strategic studies in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Clausius /klazs/ Rudolf (1822–88), German physicist, one of the founders of modern thermodynamics. He was the first, in 1850, to formulate the second law of thermodynamics, developing the concept of a system's available thermal energy and coining the term entropy for it.

claustral /klstr(ə)l/ adj. 1 relating to a cloister or religious house: claustral buildings.

2 LITERARY enveloping; confining: this claustral heat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin claustralis, from Latin claustrum ‘lock, enclosed place’ (see CLOISTER).

claustration /klstre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY confinement, as if in a cloister.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin claustrum ‘lock, bolt’ + -ATION.

claustrophobia /klstrəfəbə/ n. [mass noun] extreme or irrational fear of confined places.

<DERIVATIVES> claustrophobe n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin claustrum ‘lock, bolt’ + -PHOBIA.

claustrophobic adj. (of a person) suffering from claustrophobia: crowds always made him feel claustrophobic.

- (of a place or situation) inducing claustrophobia: the claustrophobic interior of the cruiser.

■ n. a person who suffers from claustrophobia.

<DERIVATIVES> claustrophobically adv.

clavate /klevet/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] club-shaped; thicker at the apex than the base.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin clavatus, from Latin clava ‘club’.

clave archaic past of cleave^2.

claves /klevz klαvz/ plural n. a pair of hardwood sticks used to make a hollow sound when struck together.

- (clave) [mass noun] a syncopated rhythm typical of some Latin American music.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Latin American Spanish, from Spanish clave ‘keystone’, from Latin clavis ‘key’.

clavichord /klavkd/ n. a small rectangular keyboard instrument with a soft tone, used especially in private homes from the early 15th to early 19th centuries.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin clavichordium, from Latin clavis ‘key’ + chorda ‘string’.

clavicle /klavk(ə)l/ n. technical term for COLLARBONE.

<DERIVATIVES> clavicular /kləvkjlə/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin clavicula ‘small key’, diminutive of clavis (because of its shape).

clavier /klavə kləvə/ n. [MUSIC] a keyboard instrument.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from German Klavier, from French clavier, from medieval Latin claviarius ‘key-bearer’, from Latin clavis ‘key’.

claviform /klavfm/ adj. TECHNICAL another term for CLAVATE.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin clava ‘club’ + -IFORM.

claw n. a curved pointed horny nail on each digit of the foot in birds, lizards, and some mammals.

- either of a pair of small hooked appendages on an insect's foot.

- the pincer of a crab, scorpion, or other arthropod.

- a mechanical device resembling a claw, used for gripping or lifting.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] scratch or tear something with the claws or the fingernails: the kitten was clawing at Lowell's trouser leg | [with obj.] her hands clawed his shoulders.

- clutch at something with the hands: his fingers clawed at the air.

- [with obj.] SCOTTISH scratch (a part of one's body) gently so as to relieve itching.

2 [with obj.] (claw something back) BRITISH regain a lost advantage or position laboriously and gradually: a hostile majority were committed to clawing back power from the president.

- (of a government) recover money paid out in the form of an allowance or benefit, typically by taxation.

3 [no obj.] [NAUTICAL] (of a sailing ship) beat to windward: the ability to claw off a lee shore.

<PHRASES>

□ get one's claws into INFORMAL enter into a possessive relationship with: she's already got her claws into the handyman.

<DERIVATIVES> clawed adj. clawless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English clawu (noun), clawian (verb), of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch klauw and German Klaue.

clawback n. BRITISH an act of retrieving money already paid out, typically by taxation.

clawed toad n. an aquatic toad with a flattened body and claws on the hind toes.

<INFO> Xenopus and other genera, family Pipidae: several species. See also XENOPUS.

claw foot n. (pl. claw feet) 1 a foot on a piece of furniture, shaped to resemble a claw.

2 MEDICINE an excessively arched foot with an unnaturally high instep.

- [mass noun] a disease causing such a distortion of the foot. Also called PES CAVUS.

claw hammer n. a hammer with one side of the head split and curved, used for extracting nails.

clay n. 1 [mass noun] a stiff, sticky fine-grained earth that can be moulded when wet, and is dried and baked to make bricks, pottery, and ceramics.

- TECHNICAL sediment with particles smaller than silt, typically less than 0.002 mm.

- a hardened clay surface for a tennis court: [as modifier] a clay court.

- LITERARY the substance of the human body: this lifeless clay.

2 a European moth with yellowish-brown wings.

<INFO> Several species in the family Noctuidae.

<DERIVATIVES> clayey adj. clayish adj. clay-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English clg, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch klei, also to cleave^2 and CLIMB.

claymation n. [mass noun] (TRADEMARK in the US) a method of film animation using adjustable clay figures and stop-motion photography.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of CLAY and ANIMATION.

clay mineral n. any of a group of minerals which occur as colloidal crystals in clay. They are all hydrated aluminosilicates having layered crystal structures.

claymore n. 1 a broadsword formerly used by Scottish Highlanders, typically double-edged.

2 a type of anti-personnel mine.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Scottish Gaelic claidheamh ‘sword’ + mór ‘great’.

claypan n. AUSTRALIAN a shallow depression or hollow in the ground with an impermeable clay base which holds water after rain.

clay pigeon n. BRITISH a saucer-shaped piece of baked clay or other material thrown up in the air from a trap as a target for shooting.

clay pipe n. a tobacco pipe made of hardened clay.

-cle suffix forming nouns such as article, particle, which were originally diminutives.

<ORIGIN> via French from Latin -culus, -cula, -culum.

clean adj. 1 free from dirt, marks, or stains: the room was spotlessly clean | keep the wound clean.

- having been washed since last worn or used: a clean blouse.

- [attr.] (of paper) not yet marked by writing or drawing: he copied the advert on to a clean sheet of paper.

- (of a person) attentive to personal hygiene: by nature he was clean and neat.

- free from pollutants or unpleasant substances: we will create a cleaner, safer environment.

- free from or producing relatively little radioactive contamination.

2 morally uncontaminated; pure; innocent: clean living.

- not sexually offensive or obscene: it's all good clean fun.

- showing or having no record of offences or crimes: a clean driving licence is essential for the job.

- played or done according to the rules: we are not completely sure that the elections will be clean and fair.

- [predic.] INFORMAL not possessing or containing anything illegal, especially drugs or stolen goods: I searched him and his luggage, and he was clean.

- [predic.] INFORMAL (of a person) not taking or having taken drugs or alcohol.

- free from ceremonial defilement, according to Mosaic Law or other religious codes.

3 free from irregularities; having a smooth edge or surface: a clean fracture of the leg.

- having a simple, well-defined, and pleasing shape: the clean lines and pared-down planes of modernism.

- (of an action) smoothly and skilfully done: he took a clean catch.

4 (of a taste, sound, or smell) giving a clear and distinctive impression to the senses; sharp and fresh: clean, fresh, natural flavours.

■ adv. 1 so as to be free from dirt, marks, or unwanted matter: the room had been washed clean.

2 INFORMAL used to emphasize the completeness of a reported action, condition, or experience: he was knocked clean off his feet | I clean forgot her birthday.

■ v. [with obj.] make clean; remove dirt, marks, or stains from: clean your teeth properly after meals | I cleaned up my room | (as n. cleaning) Anne will help with the cleaning.

- remove the innards of (fish or poultry) prior to cooking.

■ n. [in sing.] an act of cleaning something: he gave the room a clean.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) clean as a whistle see WHISTLE.

□ clean and jerk a weightlifting exercise in which a weight is raised above the head following an initial lift to shoulder level.

□ clean BILL OF HEALTH see bill of health.

□ clean someone's clock NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL give someone a beating.

- defeat or surpass someone decisively.

□ clean house NORTH AMERICAN do housework.

- eliminate corruption or inefficiency.

□ clean one's plate eat up all the food put on one's plate.

□ a clean sheet (or slate) an absence of existing restraints or commitments: no government starts with a clean sheet.

- (keep a clean sheet) (in a football match) prevent the opposing side from scoring.

□ clean up one's act INFORMAL begin to behave in a better way, especially by giving up alcohol, drugs, or illegal activities.

□ come clean INFORMAL be completely honest; keep nothing hidden: the Chancellor must come clean about his plans for increasing taxation.

□ have clean hands be uninvolved and blameless with regard to an immoral act: no one involved in the conflict has clean hands.

□ keep one's hands clean not involve oneself in an immoral act.

□ keep one's NOSE clean see NOSE.

□ make a clean breast of it confess fully one's mistakes or wrongdoings.

□ make a clean job of something INFORMAL do something thoroughly.

□ make a clean sweep 1 remove all unwanted people or things ready to start afresh.

2 win all of a group of similar or related sporting competitions, events, or matches.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ clean someone out INFORMAL use up or take all someone's money: they were cleaned out by the Englishman at the baccarat table.

□ clean up INFORMAL make a substantial gain or profit.

- win all the prizes available in a sporting competition.

□ clean something up restore order or morality to: the police chief was given the job of cleaning up a notorious district.

<DERIVATIVES> cleanable adj. cleanish adj. cleanness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English clne, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German klein ‘small’.

clean-cut adj. sharply outlined: the normally clean-cut edge between sea and land has become blurred.

- (of a person, especially a man) appearing neat and respectable: the part called for a clean-cut, conventional actor.

cleaner n. a person or thing that cleans something, in particular:

- a person employed to clean the interior of a building.

- (the cleaners) a shop where clothes and fabrics are dry-cleaned: my suit's at the cleaners.

- a device for cleaning, such as a vacuum cleaner.

- a chemical substance used for cleaning: an oven cleaner.

<PHRASES>

□ take someone to the cleaners INFORMAL take all someone's money or possessions in a dishonest or unfair way.

- inflict a crushing defeat on someone: his team were taken to the cleaners by the Australians in the first Test.

cleaner fish n. a small fish, especially a striped wrasse, that is permitted to remove parasites from the skin, gills, and mouth of larger fishes, to their mutual benefit.

<INFO> Genus Labroides, family Labridae: several species.

clean-limbed adj. (of a person) slim and well formed.

clean-living adj. not indulging in anything unhealthy or immoral.

cleanly adv. /klinli/ 1 without difficulty or impediment; smoothly and efficiently: he vaulted cleanly through the open window.

2 in a way that produces no dirt, noxious gases, or other pollutants: the engine burns very cleanly.

■ adj. /klεnli/ (cleanlier, cleanliest) ARCHAIC habitually clean and careful to avoid dirt.

<DERIVATIVES> cleanliness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English clnlīce (adverb), clnlīc (adjective): see CLEAN, -ly^1, -ly^2.

clean room n. an environment free from dust and other contaminants, used chiefly for the manufacture of electronic components.

cleanse v. [with obj.] make (something, especially the skin) thoroughly clean: this preparation will cleanse and tighten the skin | (as adj. cleansing) a cleansing cream.

- rid of something unpleasant or defiling: the mission to cleanse America of subversives.

- free (someone) from sin or guilt.

- ARCHAIC (in biblical translations) cure (a leper).

<ORIGIN> Old English clnsian (verb), from clne (see CLEAN).

cleanser n. a substance that cleanses something, especially a cosmetic product for cleansing the skin.

clean-shaven adj. (of a man) without a beard or moustache.

cleansing department n. BRITISH a department of local government that collects refuse or rubbish.

cleanskin n. another term for CLEARSKIN.

clean-up n. 1 an act of cleaning a place: an environmental clean-up.

- an act of putting an end to immorality or crime.

2 [usually as modifier] [BASEBALL] the fourth position in a team's batting order, usually reserved for a strong batter whose hits are likely to enable any runner who is on base to score.

clear adj. 1 easy to perceive, understand, or interpret: clear and precise directions | her handwriting was clear | am I making myself clear?

- leaving no doubt; obvious or unambiguous: it was clear that they were in a trap | a clear case of poisoning.

- having or feeling no doubt or confusion: every pupil must be clear about what is expected.

2 (of a substance) transparent; unclouded: the clear glass of the French windows | a stream of clear water.

- free of cloud, mist, or rain: the day was fine and clear.

- (of a person's skin) free from blemishes.

- (of a colour) pure and intense: clear blue delphiniums.

- ARCHAIC (of a fire) burning with little smoke: a bright, clear flame.

3 free of any obstructions or unwanted objects: with a clear road ahead he shifted into high gear | I had a clear view in both directions.

- (of a period of time) free of any appointments or commitments: the following Saturday, Mattie had a clear day.

- [predic.] (of a person) free of something undesirable or unpleasant: after 18 months of treatment he was clear of TB.

- (of a person's mind) free of anything that impairs logical thought: in the morning, with a clear head, she would tackle all her problems.

- (of a person's conscience) free of guilt.

4 (clear of) not touching; away from: the lorry was wedged in the ditch, one wheel clear of the ground.

5 [attr.] complete; full: you must give seven clear days' notice of the meeting.

- (of a sum of money) net: a clear profit of £1,100.

6 [PHONETICS] denoting a palatalized form of the sound of the letter l (as in leaf in south-eastern English speech). Often contrasted with DARK.

■ adv. 1 so as to be out of the way of or away from: he leapt clear of the car | stand clear, I'll start the plane up.

- so as not to be obstructed or cluttered: the floor had been swept clear of litter.

2 completely: he had time to get clear away.

- (clear to) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN all the way to: you could see clear to the bottom of the lagoon.

■ v. 1 make or become clear, in particular:

- [with obj.] remove an obstruction or unwanted item or items from: the drive had been cleared of snow | Carolyn cleared the table and washed up.

- [with obj.] cause people to leave (a building or place): the wardens shouted a warning and cleared the streets.

- [no obj.] gradually go away or disappear: the fever clears in two to four weeks | the mist had cleared away.

- [no obj.] become free of cloud or rain: we'll go out if the weather clears.

- [no obj.] (of a person's face or expression) assume a happier aspect following confusion or distress: for a moment, Sam was confused; then his expression cleared.

2 [with obj.] remove (an obstruction or unwanted item) from somewhere: Karen cleared the dirty plates | park staff cleared away dead trees.

- (in soccer and other sports) send (the ball) away from the area near one's goal.

- discharge (a debt).

3 [with obj.] get past or over (something) safely or without touching it: the plane rose high enough to clear the trees | she cleared 1.50 metres in the high jump.

4 [with obj.] officially show or declare (someone) to be innocent: his sport's ruling body had cleared him of cheating.

5 [with obj.] give official approval or authorization to: I cleared him to return to his squadron.

- satisfy the necessary requirements to pass through (customs): I can help her to clear customs quickly.

- (with reference to a cheque) pass through a clearing house so that the money goes into the payee's account: [with obj.] the cheque could not be cleared until Monday.

6 [with obj.] earn or gain (an amount of money) as a net profit: I would hope to clear £50,000 profit from each match.

<PHRASES>

□ clear the air make the air less humid.

- defuse an angry or tense situation by frank discussion: it's time a few things were said to clear the air.

□ (as) clear as a bell see bell^1.

□ (as) clear as day very easy to see or understand.

□ (as) clear as mud INFORMAL not at all easy to understand.

□ clear the decks prepare for an event or course of action by dealing with anything that might hinder progress.

□ clear one's lines [RUGBY] & [SOCCER] make a kick sending the ball well upfield from near one's own goal line.

□ clear the name of show to be innocent: the spokesman released a statement attempting to clear his client's name.

□ clear one's throat cough slightly so as to speak more clearly, attract attention, or to express hesitancy before saying something awkward.

□ clear the way remove an obstacle or hindrance to allow progress: the ruling could be enough to clear the way for impeachment proceedings | [in imperative] Stand back, there! Clear the way!

□ in clear not in code.

□ in the clear 1 no longer in danger or under suspicion: the information put her in the clear.

2 with nothing to hinder one in achieving something.

□ out of a clear sky as a complete surprise: his moods blew up suddenly out of a clear sky.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ clear off (or out) [usually in imperative] INFORMAL go away: ‘Clear off!’ he yelled.

□ clear up 1 (of an illness or other medical condition) become cured: all my health problems cleared up.

2 (of the weather) become brighter.

- (of rain) stop.

□ clear something up 1 (also clear up) tidy something up by removing rubbish or other unwanted items: Thomas decided to clear up his cottage | he asked the youths to clear up their litter | I keep meaning to come down here and clear up.

2 solve or explain something: he wanted to clear up some misconceptions.

3 cure an illness or other medical condition: folk customs prescribed sage tea to clear up measles.

<DERIVATIVES> clearable adj. clearness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cler, from Latin clarus.

clearance n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of clearing or of being dispersed: cleaning of the machine should include clearance of blockages | there will be sunny intervals after clearance of any early mist.

- the removal of buildings, people, or trees from land so as to free it for alternative uses: slum clearance accelerated during the 1960s | [count noun] forest clearances.

- (also house clearance) the removal of contents from a house.

- [count noun] (in soccer and other sports) a kick or hit that sends the ball away from one's goal.

- [count noun] [SNOOKER] the potting of all the balls remaining on the table in a single break.

2 official authorization for something to proceed or take place: the aircraft hadn't got diplomatic clearance to land in Mexico.

- (also security clearance) official permission for someone to have access to classified information: these people don't have clearance.

- permission for an aircraft to take off or land at an airport: he took off without air traffic clearance.

- the process of clearing cheques through a clearing house.

3 clear space allowed for a thing to move past or under another: always give cyclists plenty of clearance.

clearance sale n. a sale of goods at reduced prices to get rid of superfluous stock or because the shop is closing down.

clearcole /kləkəl/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a mixture of size and whiting or white lead, formerly used as a primer for distemper.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French claire colle ‘clear glue’.

clear-cut adj. 1 sharply defined; easy to perceive or understand: we now had a clear-cut objective.

2 (of an area) from which every tree has been cut down and removed.

■ v. (also clear-fell) [with obj.] cut down and remove every tree from (an area).

clearer n. 1 BRITISH a clearing bank.

2 a person or thing that clears away obstructions.

clear-eyed adj. having unclouded, bright eyes: a handsome, clear-eyed young man.

- having a shrewd understanding and no illusions: he was clear-eyed about the film industry.

clear-headed adj. alert and thinking logically and coherently.

<DERIVATIVES> clear-headedness n.

clearing^1 n. an open space in a forest, especially one cleared for cultivation.

clearing^2 n. [mass noun] BRITISH a system used by universities to fill the remaining available undergraduate places before the start of the academic year.

clearing bank n. BRITISH a bank which is a member of a clearing house.

clearing house n. a bankers' establishment where cheques and bills from member banks are exchanged, so that only the balances need be paid in cash.

- an agency or organization which collects and distributes something, especially information.

clearly adv. in a clear manner; with clarity: her ability to write clearly | [as submodifier] on white paper, the seeds are clearly visible.

- [sentence adv.] without doubt; obviously: clearly, things have changed in the last six weeks.

clear-out n. chiefly BRITISH a removal and disposal of unwanted items or material.

clear-sighted adj. thinking clearly and sensibly: a clear-sighted sense of what is appropriate.

<DERIVATIVES> clear-sightedness n.

clearskin (also cleanskin) n. Australian/NZ 1 an unbranded animal.

2 INFORMAL a person without a police record.

clear-up n. 1 a removal and tidying away of rubbish or obstructions.

2 [mass noun] the solving of crimes by the police: [as modifier] Welsh police had one of the most successful clear-up rates.

clearway n. BRITISH a main road other than a motorway on which vehicles are not normally permitted to stop.

clearwing (also clearwing moth) n. a day-flying moth which has narrow mainly transparent wings and mimics a wasp or bee in appearance.

<INFO> Family Sesiidae: several genera and many species, including the hornet moth.

cleat /klit/ n. 1 a T-shaped piece of metal or wood on a boat or ship, to which ropes are attached.

2 each of a number of projections on the sole of a shoe, designed to prevent the wearer losing their footing.

- (cleats) NORTH AMERICAN athletic shoes with cleats on the soles.

- a projecting wedge on a spar or other part of a ship, to prevent slipping.

- a small wedge, especially one on a plough or scythe.

<DERIVATIVES> cleated adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘wedge’): of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch kloot ‘ball, sphere’ and German Kloss ‘clod, dumpling’, also to CLOT and CLOUT.

cleavage n. 1 a sharp division; a split: the old cleavage between the forces of the right and left.

- [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] cell division, especially of a fertilized egg cell.

- [mass noun] the splitting of rocks or crystals in a preferred plane or direction.

2 the hollow between a woman's breasts when supported, especially as exposed by a low-cut garment.

cleave^1 v. (past clove or cleft or cleaved; past participle cloven or cleft or cleaved) [with obj.] split or sever (something), especially along a natural line or grain: the large chopper his father used to cleave wood for the fire.

- split (a molecule) by breaking a particular chemical bond.

- [no obj.] [BIOLOGY] (of a cell) divide.

- make a way through (something) forcefully, as if by splitting it apart: they watched a coot cleave the smooth water | [no obj.] an unstoppable warrior clove through their ranks.

<DERIVATIVES> cleavable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English clēofan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch klieven and German klieben.

cleave^2 v. [no obj.] (cleave to) LITERARY stick fast to: Rose's mouth was dry, her tongue cleaving to the roof of her mouth.

- adhere strongly to (a particular pursuit or belief): part of why we cleave to sports is that excellence is so measurable.

- become very strongly involved with or emotionally attached to (someone): it was his choice to cleave to the Brownings.

<ORIGIN> Old English cleofian, clifian, clīfan, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch kleven and German kleben, also to CLAY and CLIMB.

cleaver n. a tool with a heavy, broad blade, used by butchers for chopping meat.

cleavers plural n. [treated as sing. or plural]

■ another term for GOOSEGRASS.

<ORIGIN> Old English clīfe, related to cleave^2.

Cleese /kliz/ John (Marwood) (b.1939), English comic actor and writer, famous for Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–74) and the situation comedy Fawlty Towers (1975, 1979).

clef n. [MUSIC] any of several symbols placed at the left hand end of a stave, indicating the pitch of the notes written on it.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from Latin clavis ‘key’.

cleft^1 past participle of cleave^1

■ adj. split, divided, or partially divided into two: a cleft chin.

<PHRASES>

□ be (or be caught) in a cleft stick be in a situation in which any action one takes will have adverse consequences.

cleft^2 n. 1 a fissure or split, especially in rock or the ground.

- a vertical indentation in the middle of a person's forehead or chin.

- a deep division between two parts of the body.

2 (also cleft sentence) [GRAMMAR] a sentence in which an element is emphasized by being put in a separate clause, with the use of an empty introductory word such as it or that, e.g. it's money we want; it was today that I saw him; that was the King you were talking to.

<ORIGIN> Middle English clift: of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kluft and German Kluft, also to cleave^1. The form of the word was altered in the 16th century by association with cleft^1.

cleft lip n. a congenital split in the upper lip on one or both sides of the centre, often associated with a cleft palate.

<USAGE> Cleft lip is the standard accepted term and should be used instead of harelip, which can cause offence.

cleft palate n. a congenital split in the roof of the mouth.

cleg /klε/ n. British another term for HORSEFLY.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Norse kleggi.

Cleisthenes /klsθəniz/ (c.570 BC–c.508 BC), Athenian statesman. His reforms consolidated the Athenian democratic process begun by Solon and influenced the policies of Pericles.

cleistogamy /klstəmi/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] self-fertilization that occurs within a permanently closed flower.

<DERIVATIVES> cleistogamous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kleistos ‘closed’ + -gamy (from gamos ‘marriage’).

clematis /klεməts kləmets/ n. a climbing plant of the buttercup family which bears white, pink, or purple flowers and feathery seeds. Several kinds are cultivated as ornamentals.

<INFO> Genus Clematis, family Ranunculaceae.

<ORIGIN> Latin (also denoting the periwinkle), from Greek klēmatis, from klēma ‘vine branch’.

Clemenceau /klεmənsə/ French /klεmαsə/ Georges (Eugène Benjamin) (1841–1929), French statesman, Prime Minister 1906–9 and 1917–20. At the Versailles peace talks he pushed hard for a punitive settlement with Germany.

clemency n. [mass noun] mercy; lenience: an appeal for clemency.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin clementia, from clemens, clement- ‘clement’.

clement adj. 1 (of weather) mild.

2 (of a person or their actions) merciful.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Latin clemens, clement-.

Clement, St (1st century AD), pope (bishop of Rome) c.88–c.97, probably the third after St Peter; known as St Clement of Rome. Feast day, 23 November.

clementine /klεm(ə)ntn -tin/ n. a tangerine of a deep orange-red North African variety which is grown around the Mediterranean and in South Africa.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from French clémentine, from the male given name Clément.

Clement of Alexandria, St (c.150–c.215), Greek theologian; Latin name Titus Flavius Clemens. His main contribution to theological scholarship was to relate the ideas of Greek philosophy to the Christian faith. Feast day, 5 December.

clenbuterol /klεnbjutərl/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic drug used in the treatment of asthma and respiratory diseases and also in veterinary obstetrics. It also promotes the growth of muscle and has been used illegally by athletes to enhance performance.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from c(h)l(oro-) + (ph)en(yl) + but(yl) + er + -OL.

clench v. (with reference to the fingers or hand) close into a tight ball, especially as a manifestation of extreme anger: [with obj.] she clenched her fists, struggling for control | [no obj.] Ian's right hand clenched into a fist | (as adj. clenched) he struck the wall with his clenched fist.

- (with reference to the teeth) press or be pressed tightly together, especially with anger or determination or so as to suppress a strong emotion: he clenched his teeth, fighting waves of nausea.

- [with obj.] grasp (something) tightly and firmly: he clenched the steering wheel so hard that the car wobbled.

- [no obj.] (of a muscular part of the body) tighten or contract sharply, especially with strong emotion: Mark felt his stomach clench in alarm.

■ n. [in sing.] a contraction or tightening of part of the body: she saw the anger rise, saw the clench of his fists.

<ORIGIN> Old English (in the sense of clinch ‘fix securely’): of Germanic origin; related to CLING.

cleome /kləmi/ n. a plant of a chiefly tropical genus which includes the spider flower, noted for their long stamens.

<INFO> Genus Cleome, family Capparidaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek, denoting a different plant.

Cleopatra /kləpatrə/ (also Cleopatra VII)

- (69–30 BC), queen of Egypt 47–30 BC, the last Ptolemaic ruler. After a brief liaison with Julius Caesar she formed a political and romantic alliance with Mark Antony. Their ambitions ultimately brought them into conflict with Rome, and she and Antony were defeated at the battle of Actium in 31 BC. She is reputed to have committed suicide by allowing herself to be bitten by an asp.

cleopatra /kləpatrə/ n. a European butterfly related to the brimstone, with wings that vary from pale cream to orange-yellow.

<INFO> Gonepteryx cleopatra, family Pieridae.

Cleopatra's Needles a pair of granite obelisks erected at Heliopolis by Tuthmosis III c.1475 BC. They were taken from Egypt in 1878, one being set up on the Thames Embankment in London and the other in Central Park, New York. They have no known historical connection with Cleopatra.

clepsydra /klεpsdrə/ n. (pl. clepsydras or clepsydrae /-dri/) an ancient time-measuring device worked by a flow of water.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek klepsudra, based on kleptein ‘steal’ + hudōr ‘water’.

clerestory /kləstri/ (US also clearstory) n. (pl. clerestories) the upper part of the nave, choir, and transepts of a large church, containing a series of windows.

- a series of similar windows in another large building.

- a raised section of roof running down the centre of a railway carriage, with small windows or ventilators.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from CLEAR + STOREY.

clerestory window n. each of a series of windows in a clerestory.

- a window with no crosspiece dividing the light.

clergy /klədi/ n. (pl. clergies) [usually treated as plural] the body of all people ordained for religious duties, especially in the Christian Church: all marriages were to be solemnized by the clergy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, based on ecclesiastical Latin clericus ‘clergyman’ (see CLERIC).

clergyman (also clergywoman) n. (pl. clergymen or clergywomen) a male (or female) priest or minister of a Christian church.

cleric n. a priest or religious leader, especially a Christian or Muslim one.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from ecclesiastical Latin clericus ‘clergyman’, from Greek klērikos ‘belonging to the Christian clergy’, from klēros ‘lot, heritage’ (Acts 1:26).

clerical adj. 1 concerned with or relating to work in an office, especially routine documentation and administrative tasks: clerical duties.

2 relating to the clergy: he was still attired in his clerical outfit.

<DERIVATIVES> clericalism n.

■ clerical (sense 2)

□ clericalist n.

■ clerical (sense 2)

□ clerically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2): from ecclesiastical Latin clericalis, from clericus ‘clergyman’ (see CLERIC).

clerical collar n. a stiff upright white collar which fastens at the back, worn by the clergy in some churches.

clerical error n. a mistake made in copying or writing out a document.

clerihew /klεrhju/ n. a short comic or nonsensical verse, typically in two rhyming couplets with lines of unequal length and referring to a famous person.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: named after Edmund Clerihew Bentley, who invented it.

clerisy /klεrsi/ n. [usually treated as plural] learned or literary people regarded as a social group or class.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: apparently influenced by German Klerisei, based on Greek klēros ‘heritage’ (see CLERIC).

clerk /klαk/ n. 1 a person employed in an office or bank to keep records, accounts, and undertake other routine administrative duties.

- an official in charge of the records of a local council or court: a clerk to the magistrates.

- a senior official in Parliament.

- a lay officer of a cathedral, parish church, college chapel, etc.: a chapter clerk.

2 (also desk clerk) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a receptionist in a hotel.

- an assistant in a shop.

3 (also clerk in holy orders) FORMAL a member of the clergy.

4 ARCHAIC a literate or scholarly person.

■ v. [no obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN work as a clerk.

<PHRASES>

□ Clerk of the Closet (in the UK) the sovereign's principal chaplain.

□ clerk of the course an official who assists the judges in horse racing or motor racing.

□ clerk of (the) works BRITISH a person who oversees building work in progress.

<DERIVATIVES> clerkess n. (chiefly SCOTTISH) clerkish adj. clerkship n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cleric, clerc (in the sense ‘ordained minister, literate person’), from ecclesiastical Latin clericus ‘clergyman’ (see CLERIC); reinforced by Old French clerc, from the same source.

■ Sense 1 of the noun dates from the early 16th cent.

clerkly adj. ARCHAIC 1 relating or appropriate to a clerk: a list drawn up in a clerkly hand.

2 scholarly; learned.

Clermont-Ferrand /klεm fεr/ French /klεRm fεRα/ an industrial city in central France, capital of the Auvergne region, at the centre of the Massif Central; pop. 137,140 (1999).

Cleveland^1 /klivlənd/ 1 a former county on the North Sea coast of NE England, formed in 1974 from parts of Durham and North Yorkshire and replaced in 1996 by the unitary councils of Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, and Redcar and Cleveland.

2 a major port and industrial city in NE Ohio, situated on Lake Erie; pop 478,403 (2000).

Cleveland^2 /klivlənd/ (Stephen) Grover (1837–1908), American Democratic statesman, 22nd and 24th President of the US 1885–9 and 1893–7.

Cleveland bay n. a bay horse of a strong breed originating in the north of England, formerly popular as carriage horses.

clever adj. (cleverer, cleverest) 1 quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas; intelligent: she was an extremely clever and studious young woman | how clever of him to think of this!

- skilled at doing or achieving something; talented: he was very clever at getting what he wanted | both Grandma and Mother were clever with their hands.

- showing skill and originality; ingenious: a simple but clever idea for helping people learn computing | he taught the dog to perform some very clever tricks.

- [usually with negative] INFORMAL sensible; well advised: Joe had a feeling it wasn't too clever, leaving Dolly alone.

2 [predic.] [with negative] BRITISH INFORMAL healthy or well: I was up and about by this time though still not too clever.

<PHRASES>

□ too clever by half INFORMAL (of a person) annoyingly proud of their intelligence or skill, and liable to overreach themselves.

<DERIVATIVES> cleverly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘quick to catch hold’, only recorded in this period): perhaps of Dutch or Low German origin, and related to cleave^2. In the late 16th century the term came to mean (probably through dialect use) ‘manually skilful’; the sense ‘possessing mental agility’ dates from the early 18th cent.

clever-clever adj. DEROGATORY excessively anxious to appear impressively clever or intelligent: her silly little clever-clever theories of love and marriage.

clever Dick (also clever clogs) n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person who is irritatingly and ostentatiously knowledgeable or intelligent.

cleverness n. [mass noun] the quality of being clever; intelligence or shrewdness: people marvelled at his cleverness | the cleverness of her strategy.

clevis /klεvs/ n. a U-shaped or forked metal connector to which another part can be fastened by means of a bolt or pin passing through the ends of the connector.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps related to cleave^1.

clew /klu/ n. 1 the lower or after corner of a sail.

2 (clews) [NAUTICAL] the cords by which a hammock is suspended.

3 ARCHAIC a ball of thread.

4 archaic variant of CLUE.

■ v. [with obj.] (clew a sail up (or down)) [NAUTICAL] raise (or lower) a sail by the clews when furling (or unfurling).

<ORIGIN> Old English cliwen, cleowen (denoting a rounded mass, also a ball of thread), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kluwen. All senses are also recorded for the form CLUE.

clianthus /klanθəs kl-/ n. an Australasian plant of the pea family, which bears drooping clusters of large scarlet flowers. Also called GLORY PEA.

<INFO> Genus Clianthus, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, apparently from Greek kleos, klei- ‘glory’ + anthos ‘flower’.

cliché /klie/ (also cliche) n. 1 a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.

- a very predictable or unoriginal thing or person.

2 [PRINTING], chiefly BRITISH a stereotype or electrotype.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, past participle (used as a noun) of clicher ‘to stereotype’.

clichéd (also cliched) adj. showing a lack of originality; based on frequently repeated phrases or opinions: he has a horror of clichéd images of African-American life.

click n. a short, sharp sound as of a switch being operated or of two hard objects coming smartly into contact: she heard the click of the door.

- [PHONETICS] a speech sound produced as a type of plosive by sudden withdrawal of the tongue from the soft palate, front teeth, or back teeth and hard palate, occurring in some southern African and other languages.

- [COMPUTING] an act of pressing one of the buttons on a mouse.

■ v. 1 make or cause to make a click: [no obj.] the key clicked in the lock and the door opened | Martha clicked her tongue | (as adj. clicking) the clicking cameras outside the church.

- [COMPUTING] press one of the buttons on a mouse to select a function or item on the screen: [no obj.] you can click on an underlined word to jump to another section | [with obj.] click the left mouse button twice.

2 [no obj.] INFORMAL become suddenly clear or understandable: I wasn't used to such good treatment, then it clicked: we were wearing suits.

- become friendly at the first meeting: I couldn't help notice how pretty and intelligent she was and we just clicked.

<PHRASES>

□ click one's fingers see FINGER.

□ click into place become suddenly clear and understandable: given this info, everything soon clicks into place.

□ clicks and mortar used to refer to a traditional business that has expanded its activities to operate also on the Internet.

<DERIVATIVES> clicky adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a verb): imitative.

clickable adj. [COMPUTING] (of text or images) able to be clicked on with a mouse to produce a reaction.

click beetle n. a long, narrow beetle which can spring up with a click as a means of startling predators and escaping. Its larva is the wireworm. Also called SKIPJACK.

<INFO> Family Elateridae: numerous genera.

click-clack n. a repeated clicking sound as of shoe heels on a hard surface.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move with such a sound: a woman in high heels click-clacked past.

clicker n. a device which clicks.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a remote control keypad.

click rate (also click-through rate) n. [COMPUTING] the number of users who follow a hypertext link to a particular commercial site, as a percentage of those who download the web page on which the link appears.

clickstream n. [COMPUTING] a series of mouse clicks made by a user while accessing the Internet, especially as monitored to assess a person's interests for marketing purposes.

client n. 1 a person or organization using the services of a lawyer or other professional person or company: insurance tailor-made to a client's specific requirements.

- a person being dealt with by social or medical services: a client referred for counselling.

2 [COMPUTING] (in a network) a desktop computer or workstation that is capable of obtaining information and applications from a server.

- (also client application or program) a program that is capable of obtaining a service provided by another program.

3 (in ancient Rome) a plebeian under the protection of a patrician.

- ARCHAIC a dependant; a hanger-on.

<DERIVATIVES> clientship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin cliens, client-, variant of cluens ‘heeding’, from cluere ‘hear or obey’. The term originally denoted a person under the protection and patronage of another, hence a person ‘protected’ by a legal adviser (sense 1).

clientele /klintεl/ n. [treated as sing. or plural] clients collectively: the solicitor's clientele.

- the customers of a shop, bar, or place of entertainment: the dancers don't mix with the clientele.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘clientship, patronage’): via French from Latin clientela ‘clientship’, from cliens, client- (see CLIENT).

clientelism /klintεlz(ə)m/ (also clientism /kləntz(ə)m/) n. [mass noun] a social order which depends on relations of patronage.

<DERIVATIVES> clientelistic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Italian clientelismo ‘patronage system’.

client-server adj. [COMPUTING] denoting a computer system in which a central server provides data to a number of networked workstations.

Clifden nonpareil n. a large European moth of mostly subdued coloration, with a pale blue band on the underwing.

<INFO> Catocala fraxini, family Noctuidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Clifden (now Cliveden), the name of a village in Buckinghamshire, England, and NONPAREIL.

cliff n. a steep rock face, especially at the edge of the sea: a coast path along the top of rugged cliffs.

<DERIVATIVES> cliff-like adj. cliffy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English clif, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch klif.

cliffhanger n. a dramatic and exciting ending to an episode of a serial, leaving the audience in suspense and anxious not to miss the next episode.

- a story or event with a strong element of suspense: the match was a cliffhanger right up to the final whistle.

<DERIVATIVES> cliffhanging adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from early film serials in which episodes ended with characters in desperate situations such as hanging off the edge of a cliff.

Clift (Edward) Montgomery (1920–66), American actor. He received four Oscar nominations for films including A Place in the Sun (1951) and From Here to Eternity (1953).

climacteric /klmakt(ə)rk klmaktεrk/ n. 1 a critical period or event.

2 MEDICINE the period of life when fertility and sexual activity are in decline; (in women) menopause.

3 [BOTANY] the ripening period of certain fruits such as apples, involving increased metabolism and only possible while still on the tree.

■ adj. 1 having extreme and far-reaching implications or results; critical.

2 MEDICINE occurring at, characteristic of, or undergoing the climacteric; (in women) menopausal.

3 [BOTANY] (of a fruit) undergoing a climacteric.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘constituting a critical period in life’): from French climactérique or via Latin from Greek klimaktērikos, from klimaktēr ‘critical period’, from klimax ‘ladder, climax’.

climactic /klmaktk/ adj. acting as a culmination or resolution to a series of events; forming an exciting climax: the film's climactic scenes.

<DERIVATIVES> climactically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: formed irregularly from CLIMAX + -IC, probably influenced by CLIMACTERIC.

climate n. the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period: our cold, wet climate | [mass noun] agricultural development is constrained by climate.

- a region with a particular climate: he had grown up in a hot climate.

- the prevailing trend of public opinion or of another aspect of life: the current economic climate.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French climat or late Latin clima, climat-, from Greek klima ‘slope, zone’, from klinein ‘to slope’. The term originally denoted a zone of the earth between two lines of latitude, then any region of the earth, and later, a region considered with reference to its atmospheric conditions. Compare with CLIME.

climate change n. [mass noun] the change in global climate patterns apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards, attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.

climate control n. another term for AIR CONDITIONING.

climatic n. relating to climate: under certain climatic conditions, desert locusts increase in number.

<DERIVATIVES> climatical adj. climatically adv.

climatology n. [mass noun] the scientific study of climate.

<DERIVATIVES> climatological adj. climatologically adv. climatologist n.

climax n. the most intense, exciting, or important point of something; the culmination: she was nearing the climax of her speech | a thrilling climax to the game.

- an orgasm.

- [ECOLOGY] the final stage in a succession in a given environment, at which a plant community reaches a state of equilibrium.

- [RHETORIC] a sequence of propositions or ideas in order of increasing importance, force, or effectiveness of expression.

■ v. [no obj.] culminate in an exciting or impressive event; reach a climax: the day climaxed with a gala concert.

- [with obj.] bring (something) to a climax: three goals in the last two minutes climaxed a thrilling game.

- have an orgasm.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in rhetoric): from late Latin, from Greek klimax ‘ladder, climax’. The sense ‘culmination’ arose in the late 18th cent.

climb v. 1 [with obj.] go or come up a (slope or staircase); ascend: we began to climb the hill | [no obj.] the air became colder as they climbed higher | he climbed up the steps slowly.

- [no obj.] (of an aircraft or the sun) go upwards: we decided to climb to 6,000 feet.

- [no obj.] (of a road or track) slope upwards: the track climbed steeply up a narrow, twisting valley.

- (of a plant) grow up (a wall, tree, or trellis) by clinging with tendrils or by twining: when ivy climbs a wall it infiltrates any crack | [no obj.] there were roses climbing up the walls.

- [no obj.] increase in scale, value, or power: deer numbers have been climbing steadily | the stock market climbed 23.9 points.

- move to a higher position in (a chart or table): the book climbed to number 18 on the New York Times bestseller list.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move with effort, especially into or out of a confined space; clamber: Howard started to climb out of the front seat.

- (climb into) put on (clothes): he climbed into his suit.

3 [no obj.] (climb down) withdraw from a position taken up in argument or negotiation: he was forced to climb down over the central package in the bill.

■ n. an ascent, especially of a mountain or hill, by climbing: this walk involves a long moorland climb | FIGURATIVE the climb out of recession.

- a mountain, hill, or slope that is climbed: he was too full of alcohol to negotiate the climb safely.

- a recognized route up a mountain or cliff: this may be the hardest rock climb in the world.

- an aircraft's flight upwards: we levelled out from the climb at 600 feet | [mass noun] the rate of climb can be set by the pilot.

- a rise or increase in value, rank, or power: an above-average climb in prices.

<PHRASES>

□ be climbing the walls INFORMAL feel frustrated, helpless, and trapped: his job soon had him climbing the walls.

□ have a mountain to climb be facing a very difficult task.

<DERIVATIVES> climbable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English climban, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German klimmen, also to CLAY and cleave^2.

climbdown n. a withdrawal from a position taken up in argument or negotiation: a humiliating climbdown by the government over economic policy.

climber n. a person or animal that climbs: leopards are great tree climbers.

- a mountaineer: a rock climber.

- a climbing plant.

climbing n. [mass noun] the sport or activity of climbing mountains or cliffs.

climbing frame n. BRITISH a structure of joined bars or logs for children to climb on.

climbing irons plural n. a set of spikes attached to boots for climbing trees or ice slopes.

climbing perch n. a small edible freshwater fish which is able to breathe air and move over land, native to Africa and Asia.

<INFO> Family Anabantidae: three genera and several species.

climbing wall n. a wall at a sports centre or in a gymnasium fitted with attachments to simulate a rock face for climbing practice.

climb-out n. the part of a flight of an aircraft after take-off and before it reaches a level altitude.

clime /klm/ n. (usually climes) chiefly LITERARY a region considered with reference to its climate: long holidays in sunnier climes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin clima ‘zone’ (see CLIMATE).

clinch v. [with obj.] 1 confirm or settle (a contract or bargain): the Texan wanted to impress him to clinch a business deal.

- conclusively settle (an argument or debate): these findings clinched the matter.

- confirm the winning or achievement of (a match, competition, or victory): Johnson scored the goals which clinched victory.

2 [no obj.] grapple at close quarters, especially (of boxers) so as to be too closely engaged for full-arm blows.

- (of two people) embrace.

3 secure (a nail or rivet) by driving the point sideways when it has penetrated.

- fasten (a rope or angling line) with a clinch knot.

■ n. 1 a struggle or scuffle at close quarters.

- an embrace, especially an amorous one: we went into a passionate clinch on the sofa.

2 (also clinch knot) a knot used to fasten ropes or angling lines, using a half hitch with the end seized back on its own part.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the senses ‘something that grips’ and ‘fix securely’): variant of CLENCH.

clincher n. a fact, argument, or event that settles a matter conclusively: Sixsmith scored the clincher after 81 minutes.

Cline /kln/ Patsy (1932–63), American country singer; born Virginia Petterson Hensley. She had hits with songs such as ‘Crazy’ (1961) and ‘Sweet Dreams of You’ (1963) before dying in an air crash.

cline /kln/ n. a continuum with an infinite number of gradations from one extreme to the other: a point along a cline of activity.

- [BIOLOGY] a gradation in one or more characteristics within a species or other taxon, especially between different populations.

<DERIVATIVES> clinal adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek klinein ‘to slope’.

cling v. (past and past participle clung) [no obj.] (cling to/on to/on) hold on tightly to: she clung to Joe's arm | we sat on the sofa clinging on to one another | FIGURATIVE she clung on to life.

- adhere or stick firmly or closely to; be hard to part or remove from: the smell of smoke clung to their clothes | the fabric clung to her smooth skin.

- remain very close to: the fish cling to the line of the weed.

- remain persistently or stubbornly faithful to: she clung resolutely to her convictions.

- be overly dependent on (someone) emotionally: you are clinging to him for security.

■ n. (also cling peach) a clingstone peach.

<DERIVATIVES> clinger n.

<ORIGIN> Old English clingan ‘stick together’, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Dutch klingen ‘adhere’, Middle High German klingen ‘climb’, also to CLENCH.

cling film n. [mass noun] BRITISH a thin transparent plastic film that adheres to surfaces and to itself, used as a wrapping or covering for food.

clingfish n. (pl. same or clingfishes) a small fish occurring mainly in shallow or intertidal water, with a sucker for attachment to rocks and other surfaces.

<INFO> Family Gobiesocidae: several genera and species.

clinging adj. 1 (of a garment) fitting closely to the body and showing its shape: she was wearing a clinging black dress.

2 too dependent on someone emotionally: she wasn't the clinging type.

clingstone n. a peach or nectarine of a variety in which the flesh adheres to the stone. Contrasted with freestone (sense 2).

clingy adj. (clingier, clingiest) 1 (of a garment) liable to cling; clinging: a clingy top.

2 (of a person) too emotionally dependent: at about 18 months my son became very clingy.

<DERIVATIVES> clinginess n.

clinic n. 1 a place or hospital department where outpatients are given medical treatment or advice, especially of a specialist nature: an antenatal clinic.

- chiefly BRITISH an occasion or time when medical treatment or advice is given: we're now holding regular clinics.

- a gathering at a hospital bedside for the teaching of medicine or surgery.

2 a conference or short course on a particular subject: a drum clinic.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in the sense ‘teaching of medicine at the bedside’): from French clinique, from Greek klinikē (tekhnē) ‘bedside (art)’, from klinē ‘bed’.

clinical adj. 1 relating to the observation and treatment of actual patients rather than theoretical or laboratory studies: clinical medicine | clinical drug trials.

- (of a disease or condition) causing observable and recognizable symptoms: clinical depression.

2 very efficient and without feeling; coldly detached: nothing was left to chance—everything was clinical.

- (of a room or building) bare, functional, and clean.

<DERIVATIVES> clinically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek klinikē ‘bedside’ (see CLINIC) + -AL.

clinical death n. [mass noun] death as judged by the medical observation of cessation of vital functions. It is typically identified with the cessation of heartbeat and respiration, though modern resuscitation methods and life-support systems have required the introduction of the alternative concept of brain death.

clinical psychology n. [mass noun] the branch of psychology concerned with the assessment and treatment of mental illness and behavioural problems.

<DERIVATIVES> clinical psychologist n.

clinical thermometer n. a small medical thermometer with a short but finely calibrated range, for taking a person's temperature.

clinician n. a doctor having direct contact with patients rather than being involved with theoretical or laboratory studies.

clink^1 n. a sharp ringing sound, such as that made by striking metal or glass: the clink of ice in tall glasses.

■ v. make or cause to make a clink: [no obj.] his ring clinked against the crystal | [with obj.] I heard Suzie clink a piece of crockery | (as adj. clinking) clinking chains.

- [with obj.] strike (one's glass) against another's to express friendly feelings before drinking: she clinked her glass against mine.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): probably from Middle Dutch klinken.

clink^2 n. [in sing.] INFORMAL prison: some bloke he'd met in clink.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally denoting a prison in Southwark, London): of unknown origin.

clinker^1 n. [mass noun] the stony residue from burnt coal or from a furnace.

- (also clinker brick) [count noun] a brick with a vitrified surface.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from obsolete Dutch klinckaerd (earlier form of klinker), from klinken ‘to clink’.

clinker^2 n. INFORMAL 1 NORTH AMERICAN something that is unsatisfactory, of poor quality, or a failure: marketing couldn't save such clinkers as these films.

2 BRITISH DATED something or someone excellent or outstanding: she was a real clinker.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting a person or thing that clinks): from CLINK^1 + -ER^1.

■ Sense 2 dates from the mid 19th century, sense 1 from the 1930s.

clinker-built adj. (of a boat) having external planks which overlap downwards and are secured with clinched nails. Compare with CARVEL-BUILT.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: clinker from clink (northern English variant of CLINCH).

clinometer /klnmtə kl-/ n. [SURVEYING] an instrument used for measuring the angle or elevation of slopes.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek klinein ‘to slope’ + -METER.

clinopyroxene /klnə()prksin/ n. [mass noun] a mineral of the pyroxene group crystallizing in the monoclinic system.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from clino- in the sense ‘monoclinic’ + PYROXENE.

clint n. a block forming part of a natural limestone pavement, separated from others by fissures (grikes).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of Scandinavian origin; related to Danish klint ‘cliff’ and Swedish klint ‘summit, cliff’.

Clinton Bill (b.1946), American Democratic statesman, 42nd President of the US 1993–2001; full name William Jefferson Clinton. Re-elected in 1996, he was impeached in 1998 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, but was acquitted.

<DERIVATIVES> Clintonite adj. & n.

Clio /klə/ [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the Muse of history.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kleiein ‘celebrate’.

cliometrics /klə()mεtrks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] a technique for the interpretation of economic history, based on the statistical analysis of large-scale numerical data from population censuses, parish registers, and similar sources.

<DERIVATIVES> cliometric adj. cliometrician n.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally US): from CLIO, on the pattern of words such as econometrics.

clip^1 n. 1 a flexible or spring-loaded device for holding an object or objects together or in place.

- a piece of jewellery fastened by a clip.

- a clip for holding banknotes.

2 a metal holder containing cartridges for an automatic firearm.

■ v. (clips, clipping, clipped) [with adverbial of place] fasten or be fastened with a clip or clips: [with obj.] she clipped on a pair of diamond earrings | [no obj.] the panels simply clip on to the framework.

<ORIGIN> Old English clyppan (verb), of West Germanic origin. The noun use dates from the late 15th cent.

clip^2 v. (clips, clipping, clipped) [with obj.] 1 cut short or trim (hair, vegetation, etc.) with shears or scissors: I was clipping the hedge.

- trim or remove the hair or wool of (an animal).

- (clip something off) cut off a thing or part of a thing with shears or scissors: Philip clipped off another piece of wire | FIGURATIVE she clipped nearly two seconds off the old record.

- cut (a section) from a newspaper or periodical: a photograph clipped from a magazine.

- illicitly pare the edge of (a coin).

- BRITISH remove a small piece of (a bus or train ticket) to show that it has been used.

- [COMPUTING] process (an image) so as to remove the parts outside a certain area.

- [ELECTRONICS] truncate the amplitude of (a signal) above or below predetermined levels.

2 BRITISH strike smartly or with a glancing blow: the car clipped the kerb | he'll clip your ear.

3 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN swindle or rob: in all the years he ran the place, he was clipped only three times.

4 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] INFORMAL, chiefly US move quickly: we clip down the track.

■ n. 1 an act of clipping or trimming something: I gave him a full clip.

- the quantity of wool clipped from a sheep or flock.

2 a short sequence taken from a film or broadcast: clips from earlier shows | a film clip.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL a smart or glancing blow: I'd give him a clip round the ear.

4 [in sing.] INFORMAL a specified speed or rate of movement, especially when rapid: we crossed the dance floor at an amazingly fast clip.

<PHRASES>

□ at a clip US INFORMAL at a time; all at once: I spent several days with him, eight hours at a clip.

□ clip the wings of trim the feathers of (a bird) so as to disable it from flight.

- prevent (someone) from acting freely; check the aspirations of: he finally clipped the wings of his high-flying chief of staff.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse klippa, probably imitative.

clip art n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] pre-drawn pictures and symbols provided with word-processing software and drawing packages.

clipboard n. a small board with a spring clip at the top, used for holding papers and providing support for writing.

- [COMPUTING] a temporary storage area where material cut or copied from a file is kept before being pasted into another file.

clip-clop n. [in sing.] the sound of a horse's hoofs beating on a hard surface.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move with a clip-clop: the horses clip-clopped slowly along the street.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: imitative.

clip joint n. INFORMAL a nightclub or bar that charges exorbitant prices.

clip-on adj. attached by a clip so as to be easy to fasten or remove: a clip-on bow tie.

■ n. (clip-ons) things, especially sunglasses or earrings, that are attached by clips.

clipped adj. (of speech) having short, sharp vowel sounds and clear pronunciation: his cold clipped tones.

clipper n. 1 (also clippers) an instrument for cutting or trimming small pieces off things: hedge clippers.

2 (also clipper ship) a fast sailing ship, especially one of 19th-century design with concave bows and raked masts.

3 [ELECTRONICS] another term for LIMITER.

- (also clipper chip) a microchip which inserts an identifying code into encrypted transmissions that allows them to be deciphered by a third party having access to a Government-held key.

clippie n. (pl. clippies) BRITISH INFORMAL a bus conductress.

clipping n. (usually clippings) a small piece trimmed from something: hedge clippings and grass cuttings.

- an article cut from a newspaper or magazine.

clique /klik/ n. a small close-knit group of people who do not readily allow others to join them.

<DERIVATIVES> cliquey adj. (cliquier, cliquiest) cliquish adj. cliquishness n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Old French cliquer ‘make a noise’; the modern sense is related to CLAQUE.

CLit abbr. (in the UK) Companion of Literature.

clit n. VULGAR SLANG short for CLITORIS.

clitic /kltk/ n. [GRAMMAR] an unstressed word that normally occurs only in combination with another word, for example 'm in I'm.

<DERIVATIVES> cliticization /kltkze(ə)n/ (also cliticisation) n. cliticize (also cliticise) v.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from (en)clitic and (pro)clitic.

clitoridectomy /klt(ə)rdεktəmi/ n. (pl. clitoridectomies) [mass noun] excision of the clitoris; female circumcision.

clitoris /klt(ə)rs/ n. a small, sensitive, erectile part of the female genitals at the anterior end of the vulva.

<DERIVATIVES> clitoral adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek kleitoris.

clitter v. [no obj.] make a thin rattling sound.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: imitative.

Clive Robert, 1st Baron Clive of Plassey (1725–74), British general and colonial administrator; known as Clive of India. In 1757 he recaptured Calcutta (now Kolkata), following the Black Hole incident, and gained control of Bengal. He served as governor of Bengal 1765–7, but was implicated in the East India company's corruption scandals and committed suicide.

clivia /klvə/ n. a southern African plant of the lily family, with dark green strap-like leaves and trumpet-shaped orange, red, or yellow flowers. Also called KAFFIR LILY.

<INFO> Genus Clivia, family Liliaceae (or Amaryllidaceae).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Clive, the maiden name of Charlotte, Duchess of Northumberland (1787–1866).

Cllr abbr. (in the UK) Councillor.

cloaca /kləekə/ n. (pl. cloacae /-si -ki/) 1 [ZOOLOGY] a common cavity at the end of the digestive tract for the release of both excretory and genital products in vertebrates (except most mammals) and certain invertebrates.

2 ARCHAIC a sewer.

<DERIVATIVES> cloacal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘sewer’): from Latin, related to cluere ‘cleanse’. The first sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

cloak n. 1 a sleeveless outdoor overgarment that hangs loosely from the shoulders.

- something serving to hide or disguise something: preparations had taken place under a cloak of secrecy.

2 (cloaks) BRITISH a cloakroom.

■ v. [with obj.] dress in a cloak: they sat cloaked and hooded.

- hide, cover, or disguise (something): she cloaked her embarrassment by rushing into speech.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cloke, dialect variant of cloche ‘bell, cloak’ (from its bell shape), from medieval Latin clocca ‘bell’. Compare with clock^1.

cloak-and-dagger adj. involving or characterized by mystery, intrigue, or espionage: a cloak-and-dagger operation.

cloakroom n. 1 a room in a public building where outdoor clothes or luggage may be left.

2 BRITISH a room that contains a toilet or toilets.

clobber^1 n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL clothing, personal belongings, or equipment: I found all his clobber in the locker.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

clobber^2 v. [with obj.] INFORMAL hit (someone) hard: if he does that I'll clobber him!

- treat or deal with harshly: the recession clobbered other parts of the business.

- defeat heavily.

<ORIGIN> Second World War (apparently air force slang): of unknown origin.

clobber^3 v. [with obj.] add enamelled decoration to (porcelain).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

clochard /klα/ French /klaR/ n. (pl. clochards pronunc. same) (in France) a beggar; a vagrant.

<ORIGIN> French, from clocher ‘to limp’.

cloche /kl klə/ n. 1 a small translucent cover for protecting or forcing outdoor plants.

2 (also cloche hat) a woman's close-fitting bell-shaped hat.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, literally ‘bell’ (see CLOAK).

clock^1 n. 1 a mechanical or electrical device for measuring time, indicating hours, minutes, and sometimes seconds by hands on a round dial or by displayed figures.

- (the clock) time taken as a factor in an activity, especially in competitive sports: this stage is played against the clock.

- INFORMAL a measuring device such as a speedometer, taximeter, or milometer: a car with over 82,000 miles on the clock.

- [COMPUTING] an electronic device used to initiate and synchronize internal operations.

2 BRITISH a downy spherical seed head, especially that of a dandelion.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL a person's face.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 attain or register (a specified time, distance, or speed): Thomas has clocked up forty years service | [no obj.] this is a generous CD, clocking in at more than 60 minutes.

- achieve (a victory): he clocked up his first win of the year.

- record as attaining a specified time or rate: the tower operators clocked a gust at 185 mph.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL notice or watch: I noticed him clocking her in the mirror.

3 INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH hit (someone), especially on the head: someone clocked him for no good reason.

4 BRITISH INFORMAL wind back the milometer of (a car) illegally in order to make the vehicle appear to have travelled fewer miles than it really has.

<PHRASES>

□ round (or around) the clock all day and all night: I've got a team working around the clock | [as adj.] round-the-clock surveillance.

□ turn (or put) back the clock return to the past or to a previous way of doing things.

□ watch the clock another way of saying CLOCK-WATCH.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ clock in (or British on) register one's arrival at work by means of an automatic recording clock: staff should clock in on arrival.

□ clock out (or British off) register one's departure from work by means of an automatic recording clock: the night shift were clocking off.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch klocke, based on medieval Latin clocca ‘bell’.

clock^2 n. an ornamental pattern woven or embroidered on the side of a stocking or sock near the ankle.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

clocker n. INFORMAL 1 BRITISH a person who illegally winds back the milometer of a car.

2 US a drug dealer, especially one who sells cocaine or crack.

clock golf n. [mass noun] a lawn game in which the players putt to a hole in the centre of a circle from successive points on its circumference.

clockmaker n. a person who makes and repairs clocks and watches.

<DERIVATIVES> clockmaking n.

clock radio n. a combined bedside radio and alarm clock, which can be set so that the radio will come on at the desired time.

clock speed n. the operating speed of a computer or its microprocessor, expressed in cycles per second (megahertz).

clock tower n. a tower, typically forming part of a church or civic building, with a large clock at the top.

clock-watch v. [no obj.] (often as n. clock-watching) (of an employee) be overly keen not to work more than one's allotted hours.

<DERIVATIVES> clock-watcher n.

clockwise adv. & adj. in a curve corresponding in direction to the movement of the hands of a clock: [as adv.] turn the knob clockwise | [as adj.] a clockwise direction.

clockwork n. [mass noun] a mechanism with a spring and toothed gearwheels, used to drive a mechanical clock, toy, or other device: quartz watches are more accurate than those driven by clockwork.

■ adj. [attr.] driven by clockwork: a clockwork motor.

- very smooth and regular: the clockwork precision of the galaxy.

- repetitive and predictable: it was a clockwork existence for the children.

<PHRASES>

□ as regular as clockwork very regularly; repeatedly and predictably.

□ like clockwork very smoothly and easily: the event ran like clockwork.

- with mechanical regularity: these hens lay like clockwork.

clod n. 1 a lump of earth or clay.

2 INFORMAL a stupid person.

3 [mass noun] BRITISH a coarse cut of meat from the lower neck of an ox.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of CLOT.

cloddish adj. foolish, awkward, or clumsy.

<DERIVATIVES> cloddishly adv. cloddishness n.

clodhopper n. INFORMAL 1 a large, heavy shoe.

2 a foolish, awkward, or clumsy person.

clodhopping adj. INFORMAL foolish, awkward, or clumsy.

clodpole n. INFORMAL, DATED a foolish, awkward, or clumsy person.

clog n. 1 a shoe with a thick wooden sole.

2 an encumbrance or impediment: they found the tax to be an unacceptable clog on the market.

■ v. (clogs, clogging, clogged) block or become blocked with an accumulation of thick, wet matter: [with obj.] the gutters were clogged up with leaves | [no obj.] too much fatty food makes your arteries clog up | (as adj. clogged) clogged drains.

- fill up or crowd (something) so as to obstruct passage: tourists' cars clog the roads into Cornwall.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘block of wood to impede an animal's movement’): of unknown origin.

clog dance n. a dance performed in clogs with rhythmic beating of the feet, especially as a traditional dance in Ireland, Scotland, and the North of England.

<DERIVATIVES> clog dancer n. clog dancing n.

clogger n. 1 a person who makes clogs.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a footballer who habitually fouls other players when tackling.

cloggy adj. (cloggier, cloggiest) thick and sticky: cloggy mud.

cloisonné /klwαzne -zne/ n. [mass noun] enamel work in which the different colours are separated by strips of flattened wire placed edgeways on a metal backing.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, literally ‘partitioned’, past participle of cloisonner, from cloison ‘a partition or division’.

cloister /klstə/ n. a covered walk in a convent, monastery, college, or cathedral, typically with a colonnade open to a quadrangle on one side.

- a convent or monastery.

- (the cloister) monastic life: he was inclined more to the cloister than the sword.

■ v. [with obj.] seclude or shut up in a convent or monastery: the monastery was where the Brothers would cloister themselves to meditate.

<DERIVATIVES> cloistral adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘place of religious seclusion’): from Old French cloistre, from Latin claustrum, clostrum ‘lock, enclosed place’, from claudere, ‘to close’.

cloistered adj. 1 enclosed by or having a cloister: a cloistered walkway.

2 kept away from the outside world; sheltered: a cloistered upbringing.

clomiphene /kləmfin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic non-steroidal drug used to treat infertility in women by stimulating ovulation.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from chlo(ro-) + (a)mi(ne) + phen(yl).

clomp v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] walk with a heavy tread: she clomped down the steps.

■ n. [in sing.] the sound of a heavy tread: the clomp of booted feet.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: imitative; compare with CLUMP.

clone n. 1 [BIOLOGY] an organism or cell, or group of organisms or cells, produced asexually from one ancestor or stock, to which they are genetically identical.

- a person or thing regarded as an exact copy of another: guitarists who are labelled Hendrix clones.

- a microcomputer designed to simulate exactly the operation of another, typically more expensive, model: an IBM PC clone.

2 INFORMAL (within gay culture) a homosexual man who adopts an exaggeratedly macho appearance and style of dress.

■ v. [with obj.] propagate (an organism or cell) as a clone: of the hundreds of new plants cloned the best ones are selected.

- make an identical copy of.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] replicate (a fragment of DNA placed in an organism) so that there is sufficient to analyse or use in protein production.

- illegally copy the security codes from (a mobile phone) to one or more others as a way of obtaining free calls.

<DERIVATIVES> clonal adj. clonality n. cloner n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek klōn ‘twig’.

clonk n. [in sing.] an abrupt, heavy sound of impact.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] move with or make a clonk.

2 [with obj.] INFORMAL hit: I'll clonk you on the head.

<DERIVATIVES> clonky adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: imitative.

Clonmel /klnmεl/ the county town of Tipperary, in the Republic of Ireland; pop. 16,700 (est. 2002).

clonus /klənəs/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE muscular spasm involving repeated, often rhythmic, contractions.

<DERIVATIVES> clonic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek klonos ‘turmoil’.

clop n. [in sing.] a sound or series of sounds made by a horse's hoofs on a hard surface.

■ v. (clops, clopping, clopped) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a horse) move with a clop: the animal clopped on at a steady pace.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: imitative.

cloqué /kləke/ n. [mass noun] a fabric with an irregularly raised or embossed surface.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘blistered’. It was first recorded (1920s) in the anglicized form cloky; use of the French form dates from the 1950s.

close^1 /kləs/ adj. 1 only a short distance away or apart in space or time: the hotel is close to the sea | her birthday and mine were close together | why don't we go straight to the shops, as we're so close?

- with very little or no space in between; dense: cloth with a close weave | this work occupies over 1,300 pages of close print.

- (close to) very near to (being or doing something): on a good day the climate in LA is close to perfection | she was close to tears.

- (with reference to a competitive situation) involving only a small margin between winner and loser: the race will be a close contest | she finished a close second.

2 [attr.] denoting a family member who is part of a person's immediate family, typically a parent or sibling: the family history of cancer in close relatives.

- on very affectionate or intimate terms: they had always been very close, with no secrets at all.

- (of a connection or resemblance) strong: the college has close links with many other institutions.

3 (of observation, examination, etc.) done in a careful and thorough way: pay close attention to what your body is telling you about yourself.

4 carefully guarded: his whereabouts are a close secret.

5 not willing to give away money or information; secretive: you're very close about your work, aren't you?

6 uncomfortably humid or airless: a close, hazy day | it was very close in the dressing room.

7 [PHONETICS] another term for high (sense 7 of the adjective).

■ adv. (often close to) very near to someone or something; with very little space between: they stood close to the door | he was holding her close.

■ n. [often in names] BRITISH a residential street without through access: she lives at 12 Goodwood Close.

- the precinct surrounding a cathedral.

- a playing field at certain traditional English public schools.

- SCOTTISH an entry from the street to a common stairway or to a court at the back of a building.

<PHRASES>

□ at (or in) close quarters very or uncomfortably close to someone or something: he witnessed the atrocities of war at close quarters | housing shortages force people to live in close quarters.

□ close by very near; nearby: her father lives quite close by.

□ close shave (also close call) INFORMAL a narrow escape from danger or disaster.

□ close to (or close on) (of an amount) almost; very nearly: he spent close to 30 years in jail.

□ close to the bone see BONE.

□ close to one's HEART see HEART.

□ close to HOME see HOME.

□ close up very near: close up she was no less pretty.

□ come close almost achieve or do: he came close to calling the Prime Minister a liar.

□ too close for comfort dangerously or uncomfortably near: he sat on the edge of the bed, far too close for comfort | FIGURATIVE an issue being discussed with a sufferer may be too close for comfort to the counsellor's personal experience.

<DERIVATIVES> closely adv. closeness n. closish adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French clos (as noun and adjective), from Latin clausum ‘enclosure’ and clausus ‘closed’, past participle of claudere.

close^2 /kləz/ v. 1 move so as to cover an opening: [no obj.] she jumped on to the train just as the doors were closing | [with obj.] she closed the door quietly. I kept closing my eyes and nodding off. | they had to close the window because of the insects.

- [with obj.] block up (a hole or opening): close the hole with a plug of cotton wool | FIGURATIVE Stephen closed his ears to the sound.

- [with obj.] bring two parts of (something) together so as to block its opening or bring it into a folded state: Loretta closed her mouth | Rex closed the book.

- [no obj.] (close around/over) come into contact with (something) so as to encircle and hold it: my fist closed around the weapon.

- [with obj.] make (an electric circuit) continuous: this will cause a relay to operate and close the circuit.

2 bring or come to an end: [with obj.] the members were thanked for attending and the meeting was closed | [no obj.] the concert closed with ‘Silent Night’ | (as adj. closing) the closing stages of the election campaign.

- [no obj.] finish speaking or writing: we close with a point about truth | (as adj. closing) Nellie's closing words.

- [with obj.] bring (a business transaction) to a satisfactory conclusion: right now we are trying to close the deal with our sponsors.

3 [no obj.] (of a business, organization, or institution) cease to be in operation or accessible to the public, either permanently or at the end of a working day or other period of time: the factory is to close with the loss of 150 jobs | [with obj.] a hoax call which closed the city's stations for 4 hours.

- [with obj.] remove all the funds from (a bank or building society account) and cease to use it.

- [with obj.] [COMPUTING] make (a file) inaccessible after use, so that it is securely stored until required again.

4 [no obj.] gradually get nearer to someone or something: he tried to walk faster, but each time the man closed up on him again.

■ n. [in sing.] 1 the end of an event or of a period of time or activity: the afternoon drew to a close.

- (the close) the end of a day's trading on a stock market: by the close the Dow Jones average was down 13.52 points at 2,759.84.

- (the close) the end of a day's play in a cricket match.

- [MUSIC] the conclusion of a phrase; a cadence.

2 the shutting of something, especially a door: the door jerked to a close behind them.

<PHRASES>

□ close the door on (or to) see DOOR.

□ close one's EYEs to see EYE.

□ close one's MIND to see MIND.

□ close ranks see rank^1.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ close down (or close something down) cease or cause to cease business or operation, especially permanently: the government promised to close down the nuclear plants within twenty years.

- (close down) BRITISH (of a broadcasting station) end transmission until the next day.

□ close in come nearer to someone being pursued: the police were closing in on them.

- gradually surround, especially with the effect of hindering movement or vision: the weather has now closed in so an attempt on the summit is unlikely.

- (of days) get successively shorter with the approach of the winter solstice: November was closing in.

□ close something out NORTH AMERICAN bring something to an end.

□ close up (of a person's face) become blank and emotionless or hostile: he didn't like her laughter and his face closed up angrily.

□ close up 1 (also close something up) cease or cause to cease operation or being used: the solicitor advised me to close the house up for the time being.

2 (close up) (of an opening) grow smaller or become blocked by something: she felt her throat close up.

□ close with come near, especially so as to engage with (an enemy force).

<DERIVATIVES> closable adj. closer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French clos-, stem of clore, from Latin claudere ‘to shut’.

close-coupled adj. chiefly BRITISH (of two parts of a structure) attached or fixed close together.

close-cropped adj. (of hair or grass) cut very short.

closed adj. 1 not open: rooms with closed doors lined the hallway | he sat with his eyes closed.

- (of a society or system) not communicating with or influenced by others.

- limited to certain people; not open or available to all: the UN Security Council met in closed session.

- unwilling to accept new ideas: you're facing the situation with a closed mind.

2 (of a business) having ceased trading, especially for a short period: he put the ‘Closed’ sign up on the door.

3 [MATHEMATICS] (of a set) having the property that the result of a specified operation on any element of the set is itself a member of the set.

- (of a set) containing all its limit points.

- [GEOMETRY] (of a curve or figure) formed from a single unbroken line.

<PHRASES>

□ behind closed doors taking place secretly or without public knowledge.

□ closed book a subject or person about which one knows nothing: accounting has always been a closed book to me.

closed caption n. one of a series of subtitles to a television programme, accessible through a decoder.

■ v. (closed-caption) (with obj. usually as n. closed-captioning) provide (a programme) with closed captions.

closed-circuit television (abbr.: CCTV) n. [mass noun] a television system in which video signals are transmitted from one or more cameras by cable to a set of monitors, used especially for security purposes.

closed-end adj. having a predetermined and fixed extent: a closed-end contract.

- NORTH AMERICAN denoting an investment trust or company that issues a fixed number of shares.

closed-in adj. oppressively enclosed or lacking in space: her distress at being in closed-in places.

close-down n. [in sing.] a cessation of work or business, especially on a permanent basis.

- BRITISH the end of broadcasting on television or radio until the next day.

closed season n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for CLOSE SEASON.

closed shop n. a place of work where all employees must belong to an agreed trade union. Compare with UNION SHOP.

closed syllable n. a syllable ending in a consonant.

closed universe n. [ASTRONOMY] the condition in which there is sufficient matter in the universe to halt the expansion driven by the Big Bang and cause eventual re-collapse.

close encounter n. a supposed encounter with a UFO or with aliens.

<PHRASES>

□ close encounter of the first (or second etc.) kind used to describe encounters involving increasing degrees of complexity and apparent exposure of the witness to aliens.

close-fisted adj. unwilling to spend money; mean.

close-fitting adj. (of a garment) fitting tightly and showing the contours of the body.

close-grained adj. having tightly packed fibres, crystals, or other structural elements.

close harmony n. [mass noun] [MUSIC] harmony in which the notes of the chord are close together, typically in vocal music.

close-hauled adj. & adv. [NAUTICAL] (of a ship) with the sails hauled aft to sail close to the wind.

close-in adj. only a short distance away: a close-in shot.

- NORTH AMERICAN near to the centre of a town or city: close-in parking.

close-knit adj. bound together by strong relationships and common interests: a close-knit community.

close-mouthed (also close-lipped) adj. reticent; discreet.

close range n. a short distance between someone or something and a target: Wilkinson scored from close range | they were shot at close range | [as modifier] a close-range shot.

close reach n. [NAUTICAL] a situation in sailing in which the wind blows from slightly in front of the beam: we sailed on a close reach directly for Sharp's Island.

close-run adj. won or lost by a very small margin: the motion failed to obtain an absolute majority of 249 but it was a close-run thing.

close season n. (also closed season) BRITISH a period in the year when fishing or the killing of particular game is officially forbidden.

- a part of the year when a particular sport is not played.

close-set adj. (of two or more things) having little space in between: a large man with close-set eyes.

close-stool n. HISTORICAL a covered chamber pot enclosed in a wooden stool.

closet n. 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a cupboard or wardrobe, especially one tall enough to walk into.

- a small room, especially one used for storing things.

2 ARCHAIC a toilet.

3 (the closet) used to refer to a state of secrecy or concealment, especially about one's homosexuality: lesbians who had come out of the closet.

■ adj. [attr.] secret; covert: a closet feminist.

■ v. (closets, closeting, closeted) [with obj.] shut (someone) away, especially in private conference or study: he was closeted with the king | he returned home and closeted himself in his room.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a private or small room): from Old French, diminutive of clos ‘closed’ (see close^1).

closeted adj. keeping something secret, especially the fact of being homosexual.

closet play (also closet drama) n. a play to be read rather than acted.

close-up n. a photograph or film image taken at close range and showing the subject on a large scale: a close-up of her face | they see themselves in close-up.

- an intimate and detailed description or study: [as modifier] the book's close-up account of the violence.

closing date n. the last date by which something must be submitted for consideration, especially a job application.

closing order n. [LAW] an order by a local authority prohibiting the use of premises for specified purposes.

closing price n. the price of a security at the end of the day's business in a financial market.

closing time n. the regular time at which a pub, shop, or other place closes to the public each day.

clostridium /klstrdəm/ n. (pl. clostridia /-də/) [BIOLOGY] an anaerobic bacterium of a large genus that includes many pathogenic species, e.g. those causing tetanus, gas gangrene, botulism, and other forms of food poisoning.

<INFO> Genus Clostridium: typically rod-shaped and Gram-positive.

<DERIVATIVES> clostridial adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, based on Greek klōstēr ‘spindle’.

closure n. 1 an act or process of closing something, especially an institution, thoroughfare, or frontier, or of being closed: road closures | [mass noun] hospitals that face closure.

- a thing that closes or seals something, such as a cap or tie.

2 [mass noun] (in a legislative assembly) a procedure for ending a debate and taking a vote: [as modifier] a closure motion.

3 [mass noun] a feeling that an emotional or traumatic experience has been resolved.

■ v. [with obj.] apply the closure to (a debate or speaker) in a legislative assembly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin clausura, from claus- ‘closed’, from the verb claudere.

clot n. 1 a thick mass of coagulated liquid, especially blood, or of material stuck together: a blood clot | a clot of dead leaves.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a foolish or clumsy person: Watch where you're going, you clot!

■ v. (clots, clotting, clotted) form or cause to form clots: [no obj.] drugs that help blood to clot | [with obj.] a blood protein known as factor VIII clots blood.

- [with obj.] cover (something) with sticky matter: its nostrils were clotted with blood.

<ORIGIN> Old English clott, clot, of Germanic origin; related to German Klotz.

clotbur /kltbə/ n. a herbaceous plant of the daisy family with burred fruits, native to tropical America but now found all over the world.

<INFO> Genus Xanthium, family Compositae: two or three species.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a burdock.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from dialect clote ‘burdock’ + BURR.

cloth n. (pl. cloths) 1 [mass noun] woven or felted fabric made from wool, cotton, or a similar fibre: a broad piece of pleated cloth | [as modifier] a cloth bag.

2 a piece of cloth for cleaning or covering something, e.g. a dishcloth or a tablecloth: wipe clean with a damp cloth.

3 (the cloth) the clergy; the clerical profession: has he given up all ideas of the cloth?

<ORIGIN> Old English clāth, related to Dutch kleed and German Kleid, of unknown ultimate origin.

cloth cap n. BRITISH a man's flat woollen cap with a peak.

- [as modifier] relating to or associated with the working class: Labour's traditional cloth-cap image.

clothe v. (past and past participle clothed or ARCHAIC or LITERARY clad) [with obj.] put clothes on (oneself or someone); dress: Francesca was clothed in white | she took off her shoes and lay down fully clothed | (as adj., with submodifier clothed) a partially clothed body.

- provide (someone) with clothes: they already had eight children to feed and clothe.

- FIGURATIVE endow with a particular quality: it is clothed with an aura of respectability.

<ORIGIN> Old English (only recorded in the past participle geclāded), from clāth (see CLOTH).

cloth-eared adj. BRITISH INFORMAL unable to hear or understand clearly.

clothes plural n. 1 items worn to cover the body: he stripped off his clothes | baby clothes | [as modifier] a clothes shop.

2 bedclothes.

<ORIGIN> Old English clāthas, plural of clāth (see CLOTH).

clothes horse n. a frame on which washed clothes are hung to air indoors.

- INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY a person, typically a woman, who is excessively concerned with wearing fashionable clothes.

clothes line n. a rope or wire on which washed clothes are hung to dry.

■ v. (clothesline) [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (chiefly in football and other sports) knock down (a runner) by placing one's outstretched arm in their path at neck level.

clothes moth n. a small, drab moth whose larvae feed on a range of animal fibres and can be destructive to clothing and other domestic textiles.

<INFO> Family Tineidae: several species.

clothes peg (NORTH AMERICAN also clothespin) n. BRITISH a wooden or plastic clip for securing clothes to a clothes line.

clothier /kləə/ n. a person or company that makes or sells clothes or cloth.

<ORIGIN> Middle English clother, from CLOTH. The change in the ending was due to association with -IER.

clothing n. [mass noun] clothes collectively: bring warm clothing and waterproofs.

Clotho /kləθə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] one of the three Fates.

<ORIGIN> Greek, literally ‘she who spins’.

cloth of gold n. [mass noun] fabric made of silk or wool interwoven with gold threads.

clotted cream n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH thick cream obtained by heating milk slowly and then allowing it to cool while the cream content rises to the top in coagulated lumps.

clotting factor n. [PHYSIOLOGY] any of a number of substances in blood plasma which are involved in the clotting process, such as factor VIII.

cloture /klətjə/ n. & v. US term for closure (sense 2 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French clôture, from Old French closure (see CLOSURE).

clou /klu/ n. the chief attraction, point of greatest interest, or central idea of a thing.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘nail’.

cloud n. 1 a visible mass of condensed watery vapour floating in the atmosphere, typically high above the general level of the ground: the sun had disappeared behind a cloud | [mass noun] the sky was almost free of cloud.

- an indistinct or billowing mass, especially of smoke or dust: a cloud of dust.

- a large number of insects or birds moving together: clouds of orange butterflies.

- an opaque patch within a transparent substance.

2 used to refer to a state or cause of gloom, suspicion, trouble, or worry: the only cloud on the immediate horizon is raising a mortgage.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (of the sky) become overcast or gloomy: the blue skies clouded over abruptly.

2 make or become less clear or transparent: [with obj.] blood pumped out, clouding the water | [no obj.] her eyes clouded with tears.

- [with obj.] make (a matter or mental process) unclear or uncertain: don't allow your personal feelings to cloud your judgement.

- [with obj.] spoil (something): the general election was clouded by violence.

3 [no obj.] (of someone's face or eyes) show worry, sorrow, or anger: his expression clouded over.

- [with obj.] (of such an emotion) show in (someone's face): suspicion clouded her face.

<PHRASES>

□ every cloud has a silver lining see SILVER.

□ in the clouds out of touch with reality: this clergyman was in the clouds.

□ on cloud nine (or seven) extremely happy. [<ORIGIN> with reference to a ten-part classification of clouds in which ‘nine’ was next to the highest.]

□ under a cloud under suspicion or discredited.

□ with one's head in the clouds (of a person) out of touch with reality; daydreaming.

<DERIVATIVES> cloudless adj. cloudlessly adv. cloudlet n.

<ORIGIN> Old English clūd ‘mass of rock or earth’; probably related to CLOT.

■ Sense 1 of the noun dates from Middle English.

cloud base n. [in sing.] the level or altitude of the lowest part of a general mass of clouds.

cloudberry n. (pl. cloudberries) a dwarf bramble with white flowers and edible orange fruit, which grows on the mountains and moorlands of northern Eurasia and northern North America.

<INFO> Rubus chamaemorus, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: apparently from the noun CLOUD in the obsolete sense ‘hill’ + BERRY.

cloudburst n. a sudden violent rainstorm.

cloud chamber n. [PHYSICS] a device containing air or gas supersaturated with water vapour, used to detect charged particles, X-rays, and gamma rays by the condensation trails which they produce.

cloud cover n. [in sing.] a mass of cloud covering all or most of the sky.

cloud cuckoo land n. [mass noun] a state of absurdly over-optimistic fantasy: anyone who believes that the Bill will be effective is living in cloud cuckoo land.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: translation of Greek Nephelokokkugia, the name of the city built by the birds in Aristophanes' comedy Birds, from nephelē ‘cloud’ + kokkux ‘cuckoo’.

clouded leopard n. a large spotted cat found in forests in SE Asia.

<INFO> Neofelis nebulosa, family Felidae.

clouded yellow n. a migratory Old World butterfly which has yellowish wings with black margins.

<INFO> Genus Colias, family Pieridae: several species, in particular C. croceus.

cloud hopping n. [mass noun] the flying of an aircraft from cloud to cloud for concealment.

cloudland n. LITERARY an imaginary or utopian place.

cloudscape n. a large cloud formation considered in terms of its visual effect.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CLOUD, on the pattern of words such as landscape.

cloud seeding n. [mass noun] the dropping of crystals into clouds to cause rain.

cloudy adj. (cloudier, cloudiest) 1 (of the sky or weather) covered with or characterized by clouds: a very grey, cloudy day.

2 (of a liquid) not transparent or clear: the pond water is slightly cloudy.

- (of a person's eyes) misted with tears: she stared at him, her eyes cloudy.

- uncertain; unclear: the issue becomes more cloudy.

<DERIVATIVES> cloudily adv. cloudiness n.

Clough /klf/ Arthur Hugh (1819–61), English poet. He is especially remembered for longer poems such as Amours de Voyage (1858).

clough /klf/ n. N. ENGLISH a steep valley or ravine.

<ORIGIN> Old English clōh (recorded in place names), of Germanic origin; related to German dialect Klinge.

clout n. 1 INFORMAL a heavy blow with the hand or a hard object: a clout round the ear.

2 [mass noun] INFORMAL influence or power, especially in politics or business: I knew she carried a lot of clout.

3 ARCHAIC a piece of CLOTh or article of clothing.

4 [ARCHERY] a target twelve times the usual size, placed flat on the ground with a flag marking its centre and used in long-distance shooting.

5 short for CLOUT NAIL.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 INFORMAL hit (someone or something) hard: I clouted him round the head.

2 ARCHAIC mend with a patch.

<PHRASES>

□ ne'er cast a clout till May be out PROVERB do not discard your winter clothes until the end of May. [<ORIGIN> clout in clout (sense 3 of the noun).]

<ORIGIN> Old English clūt (in the sense ‘a patch or metal plate’); related to Dutch kluit ‘lump, clod’, also to CLEAT and clot. The shift of sense to ‘heavy blow’, which dates from late Middle English, is difficult to explain; possibly the change occurred first in the verb (from ‘put a patch on’ to ‘hit hard’).

clout nail n. a nail with a large flat head, used chiefly for securing roofing felt.

clove^1 n. 1 the dried flower bud of a tropical tree, used as an aromatic spice.

- (oil of cloves) [mass noun] aromatic analgesic oil extracted from cloves and used medicinally to relieve dental pain.

2 the Indonesian tree from which cloves are obtained.

<INFO> Syzygium aromaticum (also called Eugenia caryophyllus), family Myrtaceae.

3 (also clove pink or clove gillyflower) a clove-scented pink which is the original type from which the carnation and other double pinks have been bred.

<INFO> Dianthus caryophyllus, family Caryophyllaceae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French clou de girofle, literally ‘nail of gillyflower’ (from its shape), GILLYFLOWER being originally the name of the spice and later applied to the similarly scented pink.

clove^2 n. any of the small bulbs making up a compound bulb of garlic, shallot, etc.

<ORIGIN> Old English clufu, of Germanic origin, corresponding to the first element of German Knoblauch (altered from Old High German klovolouh), and the base of cleave^1.

clove^3 past of cleave^1.

clove hitch n. a knot by which a rope is secured by passing it twice round a spar or another rope that it crosses at right angles in such a way that both ends pass under the loop of rope at the front.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: clove, past tense of cleave^1 (because the rope appears as separate parallel lines at the back of the knot).

cloven past participle of cleave^1

■ adj. split or divided in two.

cloven hoof (also cloven foot) n. the divided hoof or foot of ruminants such as cattle, sheep, goats, and deer.

- a similar foot ascribed to a satyr, the god Pan, or to the Devil, sometimes used as a symbol or mark of the latter.

<DERIVATIVES> cloven-footed adj. cloven-hoofed adj.

clover n. [mass noun] a herbaceous plant of the pea family, with dense globular flower heads and leaves which are typically three-lobed. It is an important fodder and rotational crop.

<INFO> Genus Trifolium, family Leguminosae: many species.

<PHRASES>

□ in clover in ease and luxury: if your sister married the old codger we could be in clover.

<ORIGIN> Old English clāfre, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch klaver and German Klee.

cloverleaf n. NORTH AMERICAN a junction of roads intersecting at different levels with connecting sections forming the pattern of a four-leaved clover.

Clovis^1 /kləvs/ (465–511), king of the Franks 481–511. He extended Merovingian rule to Gaul and Germany, making Paris his capital. After his conversion to Christianity he championed orthodoxy against the Arian Visigoths, finally defeating them in the battle of Poitiers (507).

Clovis^2 /kləvs/ n. [usually as modifier] [ARCHAEOLOGY] a Palaeo-Indian culture of Central and North America, dated to about 11,500–11,000 years ago and earlier. The culture is distinguished by heavy leaf-shaped stone spearheads (Clovis points). Compare with FOLSOM.

<ORIGIN> first found near Clovis in eastern New Mexico, US.

clown n. 1 a comic entertainer, especially one in a circus, wearing a traditional costume and exaggerated make-up.

- a playful, extrovert person: Martin was always the class clown.

- a foolish or incompetent person: we need a serious government, not a bunch of clowns.

2 ARCHAIC an unsophisticated country person; a rustic.

■ v. [no obj.] behave in a comical or playful way: Harvey clowned around pretending to be a dog.

<DERIVATIVES> clownish adj. clownishly adv. clownishness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2 of the noun): perhaps of Low German origin.

clownfish n. (pl. same or clownfishes) a small tropical marine fish with bold vertical stripes or other bright coloration. It lives in close association with anemones and is protected from their stings by mucus. Also called ANEMONE FISH.

<INFO> Genera Amphiprion and Premnas, family Pomacentridae: several species.

cloy v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. cloying) disgust or sicken (someone) with an excess of sweetness, richness, or sentiment: a romantic, rather cloying story | [no obj.] the first sip gives a malty taste that never cloys.

<DERIVATIVES> cloyingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: shortening of obsolete accloy ‘stop up, choke’, from Old French encloyer ‘drive a nail into’, from medieval Latin inclavare, from clavus ‘a nail’.

clozapine /kləzəpin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a sedative drug of the benzodiazepine group, used to treat schizophrenia.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from c(h)lo(ro)- + elements of BENZODIAZEPINE.

cloze test /kləz/ n. a procedure in which a subject is asked to supply words that have been removed from a passage as a test of their ability to comprehend text.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: cloze representing a spoken abbreviation of CLOSURE.

club^1 n. 1 [treated as sing. or plural] an association dedicated to a particular interest or activity: I belong to a photographic club | [as modifier] the club secretary.

- the premises of such an association.

- an organization offering members social amenities, meals, and temporary residence: we had dinner at his club.

- [usually with modifier] a commercial organization offering members special benefits: a shopping club.

- [with adj. or noun modifier] a group of people or nations having something in common: the wild man of the movies refused to join the teetotal club.

2 [treated as sing. or plural] an organization constituted to play matches in a particular sport: a football club.

3 a nightclub playing fashionable dance music.

■ v. (clubs, clubbing, clubbed) [no obj.] 1 (club together) BRITISH combine with others so as to collect a sum of money for a particular purpose: friends and colleagues clubbed together to buy him a present.

2 INFORMAL go out to nightclubs: she enjoys going clubbing in Oxford.

<PHRASES>

□ in the club (or the pudding club) BRITISH INFORMAL pregnant.

□ join the club [in imperative] INFORMAL used as an observation that someone else is in a similar difficult situation to oneself: if you're confused, join the club!

<DERIVATIVES> clubber n. INFORMAL club^1 (sense 2 of the verb)

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a verb): formed obscurely from CLUB^2.

club^2 n. 1 a heavy stick with a thick end, used as a weapon.

■ short for GOLF CLUB.

2 (clubs) one of the four suits in a conventional pack of playing cards, denoted by a black trefoil.

- a card of such a suit.

■ v. (clubs, clubbing, clubbed) [with obj.] beat (a person or animal) with a club or similar implement: the islanders clubbed whales to death.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse clubba, variant of klumba; related to CLUMP.

clubbable adj. suitable for membership of a club because of one's sociability or popularity.

<DERIVATIVES> clubbability n.

clubby adj. (clubbier, clubbiest) INFORMAL friendly and sociable with fellow members of a group but not with outsiders.

club car n. NORTH AMERICAN a railway carriage equipped with a lounge and other amenities.

club class n. [mass noun] BRITISH the intermediate class of seating on an aircraft, intended especially for business travellers.

club foot n. 1 a deformed foot which is twisted so that the sole cannot be placed flat on the ground. Also called TALIPES.

2 a woodland toadstool with a greyish-brown cap, pale yellow gills, and a stem with a swollen woolly base, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Clitocybe clavipes, family Tricholomataceae, class Hymenomycetes.

<DERIVATIVES> club-footed adj.

clubhouse n. a building having a bar and other facilities for the members of a club.

clubland n. [mass noun] BRITISH an area of a town or city with many nightclubs.

- the world of nightclubs and nightclubbers.

clubman n. (pl. clubmen) a man who is a member of a gentleman's club.

clubmate n. a fellow member of a sports club.

clubmoss n. a low-growing flowerless plant that resembles a large moss, having branching stems with undivided leaves.

<INFO> Class Lycopsida, division Pteridophyta: three living families, in particular Lycopodiaceae and Selaginellaceae (the lesser clubmosses).

clubroot n. [mass noun] a fungal disease of cabbages, turnips, and related plants, in which the root becomes swollen and distorted by a single large gall or groups of smaller ones.

<INFO> The fungus is Plasmodiophora brassicae, subdivision Mastigomycotina.

clubrush n. a tall rush-like water plant of the sedge family. Also called BULRUSH.

<INFO> Scirpus and related genera, family Cyperaceae, in particular the common S. (or Schoenoplectus) lacustris, used for weaving.

club sandwich n. a sandwich consisting typically of chicken and bacon, tomato, lettuce, and dressing, with two layers of filling between three slices of bread.

club soda n. TRADEMARK North American term for soda (sense 1).

cluck v. [no obj.] (of a hen) make a short, low sound.

- [with obj.] (of a person) make such a sound with (one's tongue) to express concern or disapproval: Carmichael clucked his tongue irritably.

- [no obj.] (cluck over/around) express fussy concern about: Pauline became worried about her health and constantly clucked over her.

■ n. 1 the short, low sound made by a hen.

- a similar sound made by a person to express annoyance: Loretta gave a cluck of impatience.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a foolish person.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: imitative, corresponding to Danish klukke, Swedish klucka.

clucky adj. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL (of a hen) sitting or ready to sit on eggs.

- (of a woman) broody: Mum's gone clucky.

clue n. 1 a piece of evidence or information used in the detection of a crime: police officers are still searching for clues.

- a fact or idea that serves to reveal something or solve a problem: archaeological evidence can give clues about the past.

2 a word or words giving an indication as to what is to be inserted in a particular space in a crossword.

■ v. (clues, clueing, clued) [with obj.] (clue someone in) INFORMAL inform someone about a particular matter: Stella had clued her in about Peter.

<PHRASES>

□ have a clue [usually with negative] INFORMAL know about something or about how to do something: I didn't have a clue what was happening.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of CLEW. The original sense was ‘a ball of thread’; hence one used to guide a person out of a labyrinth.

■ Sense 1 of the noun dates from the early 17th cent.

clued-up (North American clued-in) adj. INFORMAL well informed about a particular subject.

clueful adj. INFORMAL having knowledge or understanding of something; well informed: clueful helpline operators.

clueless adj. having no knowledge, understanding, or ability: you're clueless about how to deal with the world.

<DERIVATIVES> cluelessly adv. cluelessness n.

Cluj–Napoca /klunαpkə/ a city in west central Romania; pop. 332,200 (est. 2002). The city was founded by 12th-century German-speaking colonists; by the 19th century it belonged to Hungary and was the cultural centre of Transylvania. The name was changed from Cluj in the mid 1970s to incorporate the name of a nearby ancient settlement. Hungarian name Kolozsvár; German name KLAUSENBURG.

Clumber spaniel /klmbə/ n. a spaniel of a slow, heavily built breed.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire.

clump n. 1 a small group of trees or plants growing closely together: a clump of ferns.

- a small, compact group of people: they sat on the wall in clumps of two and three.

- a compacted mass or lump of something: clumps of earth.

- [PHYSIOLOGY] an agglutinated mass of blood cells or bacteria, especially as an indicator of the presence of an antibody to them.

2 another term for CLOMP.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 form a clump or clumps: the particles tend to clump together.

2 another term for clomp.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a heap or lump): partly imitative, reinforced by Middle Low German klumpe and Middle Dutch klompe; related to club^2.

clumpy adj. (clumpier, clumpiest) 1 (also clompy) (clompier, clompiest) BRITISH (of shoes or boots) heavy and inelegant.

2 forming or showing a tendency to form clumps.

clumsy adj. (clumsier, clumsiest) awkward in movement or in handling things: the cold made his fingers clumsy.

- done awkwardly or without skill: a very clumsy attempt to park.

- difficult to handle or use; unwieldy: clumsy devices | the legal procedure is far too clumsy.

- lacking social skills; tactless: his choice of words was clumsy.

<DERIVATIVES> clumsily adv. clumsiness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete clumse ‘make or be numb’, probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish klumsig.

clunch n. [mass noun] BRITISH soft limestone capable of being easily worked.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from dialect clunch ‘lumpy, thickset’.

clung past and past participle of CLING.

Cluniac /klunak/ adj. relating to a reformed Benedictine monastic order founded at Cluny in eastern France in 910.

■ n. a monk of the Cluniac order.

clunk n. 1 a dull sound such as that made by heavy metal objects striking together.

2 US INFORMAL a stupid or foolish person.

■ v. [no obj.] move with or make such a sound: the machinery clunked into life.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally Scots, as a verb): imitative; compare with CLANK, clink^1, and CLONK.

clunker n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a dilapidated vehicle or machine.

- a thing that is totally unsuccessful: novel after novel and not a clunker among them.

clunky adj. (clunkier, clunkiest) INFORMAL 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN solid, heavy, and old-fashioned: even last year's laptops look clunky.

- (of shoes) clumpy: clunky Dr Martens.

2 making a clunking sound: clunky conveyor belts.

clupeoid /klupd/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a marine fish of a group that includes the herring family together with the anchovies and related fish.

<INFO> Order Clupeiformes or suborder Clupeoidei.

■ adj. relating to fish of this group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Clupeoidei (plural), from Latin clupea, the name of a river fish.

cluster n. a group of similar things or people positioned or occurring closely together: clusters of creamy-white flowers | they stood there in a frightened cluster.

- (also consonant cluster) [LINGUISTICS] a group of consonants pronounced in immediate succession, as str in strong.

- a natural subgroup of a population, used for statistical sampling or analysis.

- [CHEMISTRY] a group of atoms of the same element, typically a metal, bonded closely together in a molecule.

■ v. [no obj.] form a cluster or clusters: the children clustered round her skirts.

- [STATISTICS] (of data points) have similar numerical values: students tended to have marks clustering around 70 per cent.

<ORIGIN> Old English clyster; probably related to CLOT.

cluster bean n. another term for GUAR.

cluster bomb n. a bomb which releases a number of projectiles on impact.

clustered adj. growing or situated in a group: the spires and clustered roofs of the old town.

- [ARCHITECTURE] (of pillars or columns) positioned close together, or arranged round or half-detached from a pier.

cluster fly n. a fly which enters buildings in large numbers while looking for a place to overwinter.

<INFO> Pollenia rudis (family Calliphoridae), and the smaller Thaumatomyia notata (family Chloropidae).

cluster headache n. a type of severe headache in which the pain is usually limited to one side of the head, tending to recur over a period of several weeks.

cluster pine n. another term for MARITIME PINE.

clutch^1 v. [with obj.] grasp (something) tightly: he stood clutching a microphone | FIGURATIVE Mrs Longhill clutched at the idea.

■ n. 1 a tight grasp: she made a clutch at his body.

- (someone's clutches) a person's power or control, especially when regarded as inescapable: Tom had fallen into Amanda's clutches.

2 a mechanism for connecting and disconnecting an engine and the transmission system in a vehicle, or the working parts of any machine.

- the pedal operating such a mechanism in a vehicle.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a clutch bag.

<PHRASES>

□ clutch at straws see STRAW.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘bend, crook’): variant of obsolete clitch ‘close the hand’, from Old English clyccan ‘crook, clench’, of Germanic origin.

clutch^2 n. a group of eggs fertilized at the same time, laid in a single session and (in birds) incubated together.

- a brood of chicks.

- a small group of people or things: a clutch of brightly painted holiday homes.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: probably a southern variant of northern English dialect cletch, related to Middle English cleck ‘to hatch’, from Old Norse klekja.

clutch bag (North American clutch) n. a slim, flat handbag without handles or a strap.

Clutha /kluθə/ a gold-bearing river at the southern end of the South Island, New Zealand. It flows 338 km (213 miles) to the Pacific Ocean.

clutter v. [with obj.] cover or fill (something) with an untidy collection of things: the room was cluttered with his bric-a-brac.

■ n. [mass noun] a collection of things lying about in an untidy state: the attic is full of clutter.

- [in sing.] an untidy state: the room was in a clutter of smelly untidiness.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of dialect clotter ‘to clot’, influenced by CLUSTER and CLATTER.

Clwyd /klud/ a former county of NE Wales, replaced in 1996 by Denbighshire and Flintshire.

Clyde a river in western central Scotland which flows 170 km (106 miles) from the Southern Uplands to the Firth of Clyde, formerly famous for the shipbuilding industries along its banks.

Clyde, Firth of the estuary of the River Clyde in western Scotland which separates southern Scotland to the east from the southern extremities of the Highlands to the north-west.

Clydesdale n. 1 a horse of a heavy, powerful breed, used for pulling heavy loads.

2 a dog of a small breed of terrier.

<ORIGIN> from the name of the area around the River CLYDE in Scotland, where they were originally bred.

clypeus /klpəs/ n. (pl. clypei /-p/) [ZOOLOGY] a broad plate at the front of an insect's head.

<DERIVATIVES> clypeal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘round shield’.

clyster /klstə/ n. archaic term for ENEMA.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French clystere or Latin clyster, from Greek klustēr ‘syringe’, from kluzein ‘wash out’.

Clytemnestra /kltmnεstrə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] wife of Agamemnon. She conspired with her lover Aegisthus to murder Agamemnon on his return from the Trojan War, and was murdered in retribution by her son Orestes and her daughter Electra.

CM abbr.

- command module.

- common metre.

- Member of the Order of Canada.

Cm symbol the chemical element curium.

cm abbr. centimetre(s).

Cm. abbr. (in the UK) Command Paper (sixth series, 1986–).

Cmd. abbr. (in the UK) Command Paper (fourth series, 1918–56).

Cmdr abbr. Commander.

Cmdre abbr. Commodore.

CMEA abbr. Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

CMG abbr. (in the UK) Companion (of the Order) of St Michael and St George.

Cmnd. abbr. (in the UK) Command Paper (fifth series, 1956–86).

CMOS n. [often as modifier] [ELECTRONICS] a technology for making low power integrated circuits.

- a chip built using such technology.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor.

CMV abbr. cytomegalovirus.

CNAA abbr. (formerly in the UK) Council for National Academic Awards.

CND abbr. (in the UK) Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

cnemial crest /(k)niməl/ n. [ZOOLOGY] (in the legs of many mammals, birds, and dinosaurs) a ridge at the front of the head of the tibia or tibiotarsus to which the main extensor muscle of the thigh is attached.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: cnemial, from Greek knēmē ‘tibia’ + -AL.

CNG abbr. compressed natural gas.

Cnidaria /(k)ndεrə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals that comprises the coelenterates.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek knidē ‘nettle’.

cnidarian [ZOOLOGY] n. an aquatic invertebrate animal of the phylum Cnidaria, which comprises the coelenterates.

■ adj. relating to or denoting cnidarians.

CNN abbr. Cable News Network.

cnr abbr. corner.

CNS abbr. central nervous system.

CN Tower a tower in Toronto, Canada, the tallest self-supporting man-made structure in the world when it was completed in 1976. It stands 553 m (1,815 ft) high including a 100 m (328 ft) communications mast.

<ORIGIN> CN from Canadian National (Railways).

Cnut variant of CANUTE.

CO abbr.

- Colombia (international vehicle registration).

- Colorado (in official postal use).

- Commanding Officer.

- conscientious objector.

Co symbol the chemical element cobalt.

Co. abbr.

- company: the Consett Iron Co.

- county: Co. Cork.

<PHRASES>

□ and Co. /kə/

- used as part of the titles of businesses to designate the partner or partners not named.

- (also and co.) INFORMAL and the rest of them: I waited for Mark and Co. to arrive.

c/o abbr. care of.

co- /kə/ prefix 1 (forming nouns) joint; mutual; common: co-driver | co-education.

2 (forming adjectives) jointly; mutually: coequal.

3 (forming verbs) together with another or others: co-produce.

4 [MATHEMATICS] of the complement of an angle: cosine.

- the complement of: co-latitude.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, originally a form of COM-.

CoA abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] coenzyme A.

coacervate /kəasəvet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a colloid-rich viscous liquid phase which may separate from a colloidal solution on addition of a third component.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: back-formation from coacervation, based on Latin cum ‘(together) with’ + acervus ‘heap’.

coach^1 n. 1 BRITISH a comfortably equipped single-decker bus used for longer journeys: [as modifier] a coach trip.

2 BRITISH a railway carriage.

- North American (also coach class) the cheapest class of seating in an aircraft or train.

3 a closed horse-drawn carriage.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] travel by coach: fly or coach to the shores of the Mediterranean.

■ adv. NORTH AMERICAN in economy class accommodation in an aircraft or train.

<PHRASES>

□ drive a coach and horses through BRITISH make (something) ineffective: he's driving a coach and horses through our environmental legislation.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 3 of the noun): from French coche, from Hungarian kocsi (szekér) ‘(wagon) from Kocs’, a town in Hungary.

coach^2 n. 1 an instructor or trainer in sport.

- a private tutor who gives extra teaching.

2 Australian another term for COACHER.

■ v. [with obj.] train or instruct (a team or player): he moved on to coach the England team.

- give (someone) extra teaching: she was coached for stardom by her mother.

- teach (a subject or sport) as a coach: he teaches history and coaches rugby.

- give (someone) instructions as to what to do or say in a particular situation: he had improperly coached a witness to testify more credibly.

- give (someone) professional advice on how to attain their goals.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as a verb): figuratively from COACH^1.

■ Sense 2 of the noun dates from the late 19th cent.

coach bolt n. BRITISH a large bolt with a round head, used for fixing wooden panels to masonry or to one another.

coach-built adj. BRITISH (of a vehicle) having specially or individually built bodywork.

<DERIVATIVES> coachbuilder n.

coacher n. AUSTRALIAN a docile cow or bullock used as a decoy to attract wild cattle.

coach house n. a building in which a carriage is or was kept.

coaching inn n. HISTORICAL an inn along a route followed by horse-drawn coaches, at which horses could be changed.

coachload n. BRITISH a group of people travelling in a coach: coachloads of tourists trudging round Oxford.

coachman n. (pl. coachmen) a driver of a horse-drawn carriage.

coachroof n. a raised part of the cabin roof of a yacht.

coach station n. BRITISH an area or building from or at which coaches leave or arrive on a regular basis.

coachwhip n. 1 (also coachwhip snake) a harmless fast-moving North American snake, whose scales form a pattern said to resemble a braided whip.

<INFO> Masticophis flagellum, family Colubridae.

2 (also coachwhip bird) AUSTRALIAN the whipbird.

coachwood n. a slender tree of the rainforests of Australia and New Guinea, with close-grained timber that is used for cabinetmaking and veneers.

<INFO> Ceratopetalum apetalum, family Cunoniaceae.

coachwork n. [mass noun] the bodywork of a road or railway vehicle.

coadjutor /kəadtə/ n. a bishop appointed to assist and often to succeed a diocesan bishop.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin coadjutor, from co- (from Latin cum ‘together with’) + adjutor ‘assistant’ (from adjuvare ‘to help’).

coagulant /kəajlənt/ n. a substance that causes blood or another liquid to coagulate.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin coagulant- ‘curdling’, from the verb coagulare (see COAGULATE).

coagulase /kəajlez -s/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a bacterial enzyme which brings about the coagulation of blood or plasma and is produced by disease-causing forms of staphylococcus.

coagulate /kəajlet/ v. [no obj.] (of a fluid, especially blood) change to a solid or semi-solid state: blood had coagulated round the edges of the gash.

- [with obj.] cause (a fluid) to change to a solid or semi-solid state: adrenalin coagulates the blood.

<DERIVATIVES> coagulable adj. coagulation n. coagulative adj. coagulator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin coagulat- ‘curdled’, from the verb coagulare, from coagulum ‘rennet’.

coagulum /kəajləm/ n. (pl. coagula /-lə/) a mass of coagulated matter.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a coagulant): from Latin, literally ‘rennet’.

Coahuila /kəəwilə/ a state of northern Mexico, on the border with the US; capital, Saltillo.

coal n. [mass noun] a combustible black or dark brown rock consisting chiefly of carbonized plant matter, found mainly in underground seams and used as fuel.

- [count noun] BRITISH a piece of coal.

- [count noun] a red-hot piece of coal or other material in a fire: the glowing coals.

■ v. [with obj.] provide with a supply of coal: (as n. coaling) the coaling and watering of the engine.

- [no obj.] mine or extract coal: we have now finished coaling at the site.

<PHRASES>

□ coals to Newcastle something supplied to a place where it is already plentiful.

□ haul someone over the coals BRITISH reprimand someone severely.

<DERIVATIVES> coaly adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English col (in the senses ‘glowing ember’ and ‘charred remnant’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kool and German Kohle. The sense ‘combustible mineral used as fuel’ dates from Middle English.

coal-black adj. completely black: a woman with coal-black eyes.

coaler n. 1 a ship that transports coal.

2 a large mechanized structure for loading coal on to a ship, railway wagon, or steam locomotive.

coalesce /kəəlεs/ v. [no obj.] come together to form one mass or whole: the puddles had coalesced into shallow streams.

- [with obj.] combine (elements) in a mass or whole: his idea served to coalesce all that happened into one connected whole.

<DERIVATIVES> coalescence n. coalescent adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin coalescere ‘grow together’, from co- (from cum ‘with’) + alescere ‘grow up’ (from alere ‘nourish’).

coalface n. an exposed surface of coal in a mine.

<PHRASES>

□ at the coalface BRITISH engaged in work at an active rather than a theoretical level in a particular field.

coalfield n. an extensive area containing a number of underground coal strata.

coal-fired adj. using coal as fuel: a coal-fired power station.

coalfish n. (pl. same or coalfishes)

■ another term for SAITHE.

coal gas n. [mass noun] a mixture of gases (chiefly hydrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide) obtained by the destructive distillation of coal and formerly used for lighting and heating.

coal-hole n. BRITISH a compartment or small cellar used for storing coal.

coalhouse n. a building used for storing coal.

coalition /kəəl(ə)n/ n. a temporary alliance for combined action, especially of political parties forming a government: a coalition between Liberals and Conservatives | [mass noun] they had a taste of government in coalition with the Social Democrats.

<DERIVATIVES> coalitionist n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘fusion’): from medieval Latin coalitio(n-), from the verb coalescere (see COALESCE). Usage in politics dates from the late 18th cent.

coalman n. (pl. coalmen) a man who delivers coal to people's houses.

coal measures plural n. [GEOLOGY] a series of strata of the Carboniferous period, including coal seams.

coalmouse (also colemouse) n. (pl. coalmice)

■ another term for COAL TIT.

<ORIGIN> Old English colmāse, from col ‘charred remnant’ + māse ‘titmouse’. Compare with TITMOUSE.

Coalport n. [mass noun] a kind of porcelain, frequently decorated with floral designs, produced at Coalport in Shropshire, England, from the late 18th century.

coal pot n. chiefly W. INDIAN a cooking device consisting of an iron grid over a raised iron bowl that holds burning charcoal.

Coalsack [ASTRONOMY] a dark nebula of dust near the Southern Cross that gives the appearance of a gap in the stars of the Milky Way.

coal tar n. [mass noun] a thick black liquid produced by distilling bituminous coal, containing benzene, naphthalene, phenols, aniline, and many other organic chemicals.

coal tit (also cole tit) n. a small Eurasian and North African tit (songbird) with a grey back, black cap and throat, and white cheeks.

<INFO> Parus ater, family Paridae.

coaming /kəm/ (also coamings) n. a raised border round the cockpit or hatch of a yacht or other boat to keep out water.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin.

coaptation /kəapte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the adaptation or adjustment of things or people to each other.

2 MEDICINE the drawing together of the separated tissue in a wound or fracture.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin coaptatio(n-), from the verb coaptare, from co- (from Latin cum ‘with, together’) + aptare (from aptus ‘apt’).

coarctate /kəαktet/ adj. chiefly [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] pressed close together; contracted; compressed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin coarctatus, past participle of coarctare ‘press or draw together’.

coarctation n. [mass noun] MEDICINE congenital narrowing of a short section of the aorta.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin coarctatio(n-), from the verb coarctare (see COARCTATE).

coarse adj. 1 rough or harsh in texture: a coarse woollen cloth.

- consisting of large grains or particles: coarse sand.

- (of grains or particles) large.

- (of a person's features) not elegantly formed or proportioned.

- (of food or drink) of inferior quality.

2 (of a person or their speech) rude or vulgar.

3 BRITISH relating to the sport of angling for coarse fish: coarse anglers.

<DERIVATIVES> coarsish adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘ordinary or inferior’): origin uncertain; until the 17th century identical in spelling with COURSE, and possibly derived from the latter in the sense ‘ordinary manner’.

coarse fish n. (pl. same) BRITISH any freshwater fish other than salmon and trout. Compare with GAME FISH.

coarsely adv. 1 in a coarse manner: Carter laughed coarsely.

2 into large and irregularly shaped pieces: chop the mushrooms coarsely | coarsely grated cheese.

coarsen v. 1 make or become rough: [with obj.] her hands were coarsened by outside work | [no obj.] his facial features appeared to coarsen with age.

2 make or become vulgar or unpleasant: [with obj.] her experience has not coarsened her or made her cynical.

coarseness /ksnəs/ n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being rough or harsh: the coarseness of her hair.

- the quality of being coarse in texture: you can set the desired coarseness of your flour.

2 rudeness; vulgarity: he disliked the coarseness of the men around him.

coarticulation /kəαtkjle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [PHONETICS] the articulation of two or more speech sounds together, so that one influences the other.

coast n. 1 the part of the land adjoining or near the sea: the west coast of Africa | they sailed further up the coast.

- (the Coast) NORTH AMERICAN the Pacific coast of North America.

2 the easy movement of a vehicle without the use of power.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (of a person or vehicle) move easily without using power: they were coasting down a long hill.

- be successful without making much effort: Colchester coasted to victory.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] sail along the coast, especially in order to carry cargo: (as adj. coasting) a coasting schooner.

<PHRASES>

□ the coast is clear there is no danger of being observed or caught.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘side of the body’), from Old French coste (noun), costeier (verb), from Latin costa ‘rib, flank, side’.

■ Sense 1 of the noun arose from the phrase coast of the sea ‘side of the sea’.

coastal adj. of or near a coast: coastal erosion | coastal waters.

coaster n. 1 a small mat for a bottle or glass.

2 a ship used to carry cargo along the coast from port to port.

3 [with adj.] a person who inhabits a specified coast: a West coaster.

4 NORTH AMERICAN a toboggan.

5 short for ROLLER COASTER.

coastguard n. (the coastguard) an organization keeping watch on coastal waters in order to assist people or ships in danger and to prevent smuggling.

- chiefly BRITISH a member of the coastguard organization.

coastland n. [mass noun] (also coastlands) an expanse of land near the sea.

coastline n. [mass noun] the land along a coast: the hotel has wonderful views of the rugged coastline.

coast to coast adj. & adv. all the way across an island or continent: [as adv.] the game was telecast coast to coast | (as adj. coast-to-coast) a coast-to-coast journey.

coastwise adj. & adv. along or connected with the coast: [as adj.] a small coastwise steamer | [as adv.] the cargo was ferried coastwise.

coat n. 1 an outer garment with sleeves, worn outdoors and typically extending below the hips: a winter coat | [as modifier] his coat pocket.

- a protective outer garment worn indoors: a laboratory coat.

- a man's jacket, especially as worn when hunting or by soldiers.

- a woman's tailored jacket, worn with a skirt or dress.

2 an animal's covering of fur or hair.

3 an outer layer or covering.

- a single application of paint or similar material on a surface: apply a final top coat of varnish.

- a structure, especially a membrane, enclosing or lining an organ.

- the skin or husk of a fruit or seed.

■ v. [with obj.] provide with a layer or covering of something: her right leg was coated in plaster | coat each part with a thin oil | (as adj., in combination -coated) plastic-coated wire.

- (of a substance) form a covering to: a film of dust coated the floor.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cote, of unknown ultimate origin.

coat armour n. [mass noun] heraldic arms.

coat check n. NORTH AMERICAN a cloakroom with an attendant.

<DERIVATIVES> coat-checker n.

coat dress n. a woman's tailored dress that resembles a coat.

coatee /kəti/ n. BRITISH a woman's or infant's short coat.

coati /kəαti/ n. (pl. coatis) a raccoon-like animal found mainly in Central and South America, with a long flexible snout and a ringed tail. Also called COATIMUNDI.

<INFO> Genera Nasua and Nasuella, family Procyonidae: three or four species.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish and Portuguese, from Tupi kua'ti, from cua ‘belt’ + tim ‘nose’.

coatimundi /kəαtmndi/ n. (pl. coatimundis)

■ another term for COATI.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Portuguese, from Tupi kuatimu'ne, from kua'ti (see COATI) + mu'ne ‘snare or trick’. The coatimundi was originally thought to be a different species from the coati.

coating n. 1 a thin layer or covering of something: a coating of paint.

2 [mass noun] material used for making coats.

coat of arms n. the distinctive heraldic bearings or shield of a person, family, corporation, or country.

coat of mail n. HISTORICAL a jacket covered with or composed of metal rings or plates, serving as armour.

coatroom n. NORTH AMERICAN a cloakroom.

Coats Land a region of Antarctica, to the east of the Antarctic Peninsula.

coat stand (NORTH AMERICAN also coatrack) n. a stand with hooks on which to hang coats, hats, etc.

coat-tail n. (usually coat-tails) each of the flaps formed by the back of a tailcoat.

<PHRASES>

□ on someone's coat-tails undeservedly benefiting from another's success: he was elected on the coat-tails of his predecessor.

co-author n. a joint author.

■ v. [with obj.] be a joint author of (a book, paper, or report).

coax^1 /kəks/ v. [with obj.] persuade (someone) gradually or by flattery to do something: the trainees were coaxed into doing boring work | [with direct speech] ‘Come on now,’ I coaxed.

- (coax something from/out of) use such persuasion to obtain something from (someone): we coaxed our fare money out of my father.

- [with obj. and adverbial] arrange (something) carefully into a particular shape or position: her lovely hair had been coaxed into ringlets.

<DERIVATIVES> coaxer n. coaxingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete cokes ‘simpleton’, of unknown origin. The original sense was ‘fondle’, hence ‘persuade by caresses or flattery’, the underlying sense being ‘make a simpleton of’.

coax^2 /kəaks/ INFORMAL n. [mass noun] coaxial cable.

■ adj. coaxial.

coaxial /kəaksəl/ adj. having a common axis.

- (of a cable or line) transmitting by means of two concentric conductors separated by an insulator.

<DERIVATIVES> coaxially adv.

cob^1 n. 1 BRITISH a round loaf of bread.

2 (also corncob) the central cylindrical woody part of the maize ear to which the grains are attached.

3 (also cobnut) a hazelnut or filbert.

4 a powerfully built, short-legged horse.

5 a male swan.

6 BRITISH a roundish lump of coal.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a strong man or leader): of unknown origin. The underlying general sense appears to be ‘rounded, sturdy’.

cob^2 n. [mass noun] BRITISH a mixture of compressed clay and straw used, especially in former times, for building walls.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin.

cob^3 n. (in phrase have or get a cob on) BRITISH INFORMAL be or get annoyed.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

cobalamin /kə()baləmn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of cobalt-containing substances including cyanocobalamin (vitamin B_12).

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of COBALT and VITAMIN.

cobalt /kəblt -lt/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 27, a hard silvery-white magnetic metal. (Symbol: Co)

- cobalt blue: [as modifier] a cobalt sky.

Cobalt is chiefly obtained as a by-product from nickel and copper ores. It is a transition metal similar in many respects to nickel and is mainly used as a component of magnetic alloys and those designed for use at high temperatures.

<DERIVATIVES> cobaltic /kə()bltk -blt-/ adj. cobaltous /kə()bltəs -blt-/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from German Kobalt ‘imp, demon’ (from the belief that cobalt was harmful to the ores with which it occurred).

cobalt blue n. [mass noun] a deep blue pigment containing cobalt and aluminium oxides.

- the deep blue colour of this pigment.

cobber n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a companion or friend (often used as a form of address between men): G'day cobbers!

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps related to English dialect cob ‘take a liking to’.

Cobbett William (1763–1835), English writer and political reformer. He started his political life as a Tory, but later became a radical and in 1802 founded the periodical Cobbett's Political Register. Notable works: Rural Rides (1830).

cobble^1 n. a small round stone used to cover road surfaces.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from COB^1 + -LE^2.

cobble^2 v. [with obj.] 1 (cobble something together) roughly assemble or produce something from available parts or elements: the film was imperfectly cobbled together from two separate stories.

2 DATED repair (shoes).

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: back-formation from COBBLER.

cobbled adj. (of an area or roadway) paved with cobbles.

cobbler n. 1 a person whose job is mending shoes.

2 [mass noun] an iced drink made with wine or sherry, sugar, and lemon.

3 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a fruit pie with a rich, thick, cake-like crust.

4 (cobblers) BRITISH INFORMAL a man's testicles. [<ORIGIN> from rhyming slang cobbler's awls ‘balls’.]

- nonsense: I thought it was a load of cobblers.

5 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL the last sheep to be shorn. [<ORIGIN> late 19th century: pun in allusion to the cobbler's last.]

<PHRASES>

□ let the cobbler stick to his last PROVERB people should only concern themselves with things they know something about. [<ORIGIN> translating Latin ne sutor ultra crepidam.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

cobblestone n. another term for cobble^1.

cobby adj. (of horses, dogs, and other animals) shortish and thickset; stocky.

Cobden /kbd(ə)n/ Richard (1804–65), English political reformer, one of the leading spokesmen of the free-trade movement in Britain. From 1838, together with John Bright, he led the Anti-Corn-Law League in its successful campaign for the repeal of the Corn Laws (1846).

COBE /kəbi/ a NASA satellite launched in 1989 to map the background microwave radiation in a search for evidence of the Big Bang.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of Cosmic Background Explorer.

co-belligerent n. any of two or more nations engaged in war as allies.

<DERIVATIVES> co-belligerence n.

cobia /kəbə/ n. (pl. same) a large edible game fish that lives in open waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and West Pacific oceans. Also called SERGEANT FISH.

<INFO> Rachycentron canadum, family Rachycentridae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

coble /kəb(ə)l/ n. a flat-bottomed fishing boat of a type used in Scotland and NE England.

<ORIGIN> Old English, perhaps of Celtic origin and related to Welsh ceubal ‘ferry boat, skiff’.

COBOL /kəbl/ n. [mass noun] a computer programming language designed for use in commerce.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from co(mmon) b(usiness) o(riented) l(anguage).

cobra /kəbrə kbrə/ n. a highly venomous African or Asian snake that spreads the skin of its neck into a hood when disturbed.

<INFO> Naja and two other genera, family Elapidae: several species, in particular the spectacled cobra.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Portuguese cobra de capello, literally ‘snake with hood’, based on Latin colubra ‘snake’.

co-branded adj. (of a product or service) marketed under or carrying two or more brand names.

<DERIVATIVES> co-branding n.

cobweb n. a spider's web, especially when old and dusty.

- [ZOOLOGY] a tangled three-dimensional spider's web.

- something resembling a cobweb in delicacy or intricacy: the city fans south in a cobweb of canals.

<PHRASES>

□ blow (or clear) away the cobwebs banish a state of lethargy; refresh oneself.

<DERIVATIVES> cobwebbed adj. cobwebby adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English coppeweb, copweb, from obsolete coppe ‘spider’ + WEB.

coca /kəkə/ n. a tropical American shrub grown for its leaves, which are the source of cocaine.

<INFO> Erythroxylum coca, family Erythroxylaceae.

- [mass noun] the dried leaves of the coca shrub, which are mixed with lime and chewed as a stimulant by the indigenous people of western South America.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish, from Aymara kuka or Quechua koka.

Coca-Cola n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a carbonated non-alcoholic drink.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from COCA and COLA.

cocaine /kə()ken/ n. [mass noun] an addictive drug derived from coca or prepared synthetically, used as an illegal stimulant and sometimes medicinally as a local anaesthetic.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_17H_21NO_4.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from COCA + -INE^4.

coccidia /kksdə/ plural n. [BIOLOGY] parasitic protozoa of a group that includes those that cause diseases such as coccidiosis and toxoplasmosis.

<INFO> Suborder Eimeriorina, phylum Sporozoa.

<DERIVATIVES> coccidian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin (former order name), from Greek kokkis, diminutive of kokkos ‘berry’.

coccidioidomycosis /kksddəmkəss/ n. [mass noun] a serious fungal disease of the lungs and other tissues, endemic in the warmer, arid regions of America.

<INFO> The fungus is Coccidioides immitis, subdivision Deuteromycotina.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from modern Latin Coccidioides (part of the binomial of the fungus) + MYCOSIS.

coccidiosis /kksdəss/ n. [mass noun] a disease of birds and mammals that chiefly affects the intestines, caused by coccidia.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from coccidium (singular of modern Latin Coccidia; see COCCIDIA) + -OSIS.

coccinellid /kksnεld/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a beetle of a family (Coccinellidae) that includes the ladybirds.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Coccinellidae (plural), from the genus name Coccinella, from Latin coccineus ‘scarlet’.

coccolith /kkəlθ/ n. [BIOLOGY] a minute rounded calcareous platelet, numbers of which form the spherical shells of coccolithophores.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kokkos ‘grain or berry’ + lithos ‘stone’.

coccolithophore /kkə()lθəf/ n. [BIOLOGY] a single-celled marine flagellate that secretes a calcareous shell, forming an important constituent of the phytoplankton.

<INFO> Order Coccolithophorida, phylum Haptophyta.

<DERIVATIVES> coccolithophorid n. & adj.

coccus /kkəs/ n. (pl. cocci /kk(s) kk(s)i/) [BIOLOGY] any spherical or roughly spherical bacterium.

<DERIVATIVES> coccal adj. coccoid adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting a scale insect): modern Latin, from Greek kokkos ‘berry’. Compare with COCHINEAL.

coccyx /kksks/ n. (pl. coccyges /-diz/ or coccyxes) a small triangular bone at the base of the spinal column in humans and some apes, formed of fused vestigial vertebrae.

<DERIVATIVES> coccygeal /kksdəl/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek kokkux ‘cuckoo’ (because the shape of the human bone resembles the cuckoo's bill).

Cochabamba /ktəbambə/ a city in Bolivia, situated at the centre of a rich agricultural region; pop. 516,683 (2001).

co-chair n. a person who chairs a meeting jointly with another or others.

■ v. [with obj.] chair (a meeting) in this way.

Cochin^1 /kətn ktn/ a seaport and naval base on the Malabar Coast of SW India, in the state of Kerala; pop. 596,500 (2001).

Cochin^2 /kətn ktn/ (also Cochin China) n. a chicken of an Asian breed with feathery legs.

Cochin-China /kətn ktn/ the former name for the southern region of what is now Vietnam. Part of French Indo-China from 1862, in 1946 it became a French overseas territory, then merged officially with Vietnam in 1949.

cochineal /ktnil ktnil/ n. 1 [mass noun] a scarlet dye used for colouring food, made from the crushed dried bodies of a female scale insect.

- a similar dye made from the oak kermes insect (see KERMES).

2 (cochineal insect) the scale insect that is used for cochineal, native to Mexico and formerly cultivated on cacti.

<INFO> Dactylopius coccus, family Dactylopiidae, suborder Homoptera.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French cochenille or Spanish cochinilla, from Latin coccinus ‘scarlet’, from Greek kokkos ‘berry’ (the insect bodies were mistaken for grains or berries). Compare with COCCUS, kermes.

cochlea /kklə/ n. (pl. cochleae /-kli/) the spiral cavity of the inner ear containing the organ of Corti, which produces nerve impulses in response to sound vibrations.

<DERIVATIVES> cochlear adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (used to denote spiral objects): from Latin, ‘snail shell or screw’, from Greek kokhlias. The current sense dates from the late 17th cent.

cochoa /kətəə kətəə/ n. an Asian thrush of evergreen forests, typically with predominantly purplish or green plumage and a pale blue crown.

<INFO> Genus Cochoa, family Turdidae: four species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from a Nepali name.

Cochran^1 /kkrən/ Sir Charles Blake (1872–1951), English theatrical producer, noted for musical revues including Noël Coward's Bitter Sweet (1929) and Cavalcade (1931). He was also agent for Houdini.

Cochran^2 /kkrən/ Eddie (1938–60), American rock-and-roll singer and songwriter; born Edward Cochrane. He was killed in a car crash during a British tour. Notable songs: ‘Summertime Blues’ (1958), ‘Three Steps to Heaven’ (1960).

Cochran^3 /kkrən/ Jacqueline (1910–80), American aviator, the first woman to break the sound barrier (1953).

cock^1 n. 1 BRITISH a male bird, especially of a domestic fowl.

- [in combination] used in names of birds, especially game birds, e.g. watercock.

- BRITISH a male lobster, crab, or salmon.

- British INFORMAL a friendly form of address among men: please yourself, cock.

2 VULGAR SLANG a man's penis.

3 [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL nonsense: that's all a lot of cock.

4 a firing lever in a gun which can be raised to be released by the trigger.

5 a stopcock.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 tilt (something) in a particular direction: she cocked her head slightly to one side.

- bend a (limb or joint) at an angle: Madge threw herself into the armchair and cocked her legs over the side.

- (of a male dog) lift (a back leg) in order to urinate.

2 raise the cock of (a gun) in order to make it ready for firing.

3 (cock something up) BRITISH INFORMAL ruin something as a result of incompetence or inefficiency: the party cocked up the Euro-elections.

<PHRASES>

□ at full cock (of a gun) with the cock lifted to the position at which the trigger will act.

□ cock one's ear (of a dog) raise its ears to an erect position.

- (of a person) listen attentively to or for something.

□ cock one's eye glance in a quizzical or knowing manner with a raised eyebrow.

□ cock of the walk someone who dominates others within a group.

□ cock a snook see snook^1.

<ORIGIN> Old English cocc, from medieval Latin coccus; reinforced in Middle English by Old French coq.

cock^2 n. DATED a small pile of hay, straw, or other material, with vertical sides and a rounded top.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC pile (hay or other material) into such a shape.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to Norwegian kok ‘heap, lump’, Danish kok ‘haycock’, and Swedish koka ‘clod’.

cockabully /kkəbli/ n. (pl. cockabullies) NZ a small blunt-nosed freshwater fish related to the sleepers.

<INFO> Genus Gobiomorphus, family Gobiidae (or Eleotridae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Maori kokopu.

cockade /kked/ n. a rosette or knot of ribbons worn in a hat as a badge of office, or as part of a livery.

<DERIVATIVES> cockaded adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French cocarde, originally in bonnet à la coquarde, from the feminine of obsolete coquard ‘saucy’.

cock-a-doodle-doo exclam. used to represent the sound made by a cock when it crows.

cock-a-hoop adj. extremely and obviously pleased, especially about an achievement.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from the phrase set cock a hoop, of unknown origin, apparently denoting the action of turning on the tap and allowing liquor to flow (prior to a drinking session).

cock-a-leekie n. [mass noun] a soup traditionally made in Scotland with chicken and LEEKs.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from COCK^1 and leek.

cockalorum /kkəlrəm/ n. (pl. cockalorums) INFORMAL, DATED a self-important man.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: an arbitrary formation from COCK^1.

cockamamie /kkəmemi/ (also cockamamy) adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL ridiculous; implausible: a cockamamie theory.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally denoting a design left by a transfer): probably an alteration of DECALCOMANIA.

cock and bull story n. INFORMAL an implausible story used as an explanation or excuse.

cockapoo /kkəpu/ n. a dog that is a cross-breed of an American cocker spaniel and a miniature poodle.

cockatiel /kkətil/ n. a slender long-crested Australian parrot related to the cockatoos, with a mainly grey body, white shoulders, and a yellow and orange face.

<INFO> Nymphicus hollandicus, family Cacatuidae (or Psittacidae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Dutch kaketielje, probably a diminutive of kaketoe ‘cockatoo’.

cockatoo /kkətu/ n. 1 a parrot with an erectile crest, found in Australia, eastern Indonesia, and neighbouring islands.

<INFO> Family Cacatuidae (or Psittacidae): several genera and numerous species.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a small-scale farmer.

3 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a lookout posted by those engaged in illegal activity.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Dutch kaketoe, from Malay kakatua, the spelling influenced by cock^1.

■ Sense 2, sense 3 date from the 19th cent.

cockatrice /kkətrs -trs/ n.

■ another term for basilisk (sense 1).

- [HERALDRY] a mythical animal depicted as a two-legged dragon (or wyvern) with a cock's head.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cocatris, from Latin calcatrix ‘tracker’ (from calcare ‘to tread or track’), translating Greek ikhneumōn (see ICHNEUMON).

cockboat n. a small boat towed behind a larger vessel.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete cock ‘small boat’ (from Old French coque, based on Latin caudex, codex ‘block of wood’) + BOAT.

cockchafer /kktefə/ n. a large brown European beetle which flies at dusk and is a destructive plant pest, both as an adult and a larva. Also called MAY BUG.

<INFO> Melolontha melolontha, family Scarabaeidae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from COCK^1 (expressing size or vigour) + CHAFER.

Cockcroft Sir John Douglas (1897–1967), English physicist. In 1932 he succeeded (with E. T. S. Walton) in splitting the atom, ushering in the whole field of nuclear and particle physics. Nobel Prize for Physics (1951, shared with Walton).

cockcrow n. LITERARY dawn.

cocked hat n. a brimless triangular hat pointed at the front, back, and top.

- HISTORICAL a hat with a wide brim permanently turned up towards the crown, such as a tricorne.

<PHRASES>

□ knock something into a cocked hat utterly defeat or outdo something.

cocker (also cocker spaniel) n. a small spaniel of a breed with a silky coat.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from COCK^1 + -ER^1 (the dog was bred to flush out game birds such as woodcock).

cockerel n. a young domestic cock.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: diminutive of cock^1.

Cockerell Sir Christopher Sydney (1910–99), English engineer, the inventor of the hovercraft.

cockeye bob (also cockeyed bob) n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a cyclone or a thunderstorm.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably an alteration of an Aboriginal word.

cockeyed adj. INFORMAL 1 crooked or askew; not level: cockeyed camera angles.

- absurd; impractical: do you expect us to believe a cockeyed story like that?

2 (of a person or their eyes) having a squint.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: apparently from the verb cock^1 and EYE.

cockfighting n. [mass noun] the sport (illegal in the UK and some other countries) of setting two cocks to fight each other.

<DERIVATIVES> cockfight n.

cockle^1 n. 1 an edible burrowing bivalve mollusc with a strong ribbed shell.

<INFO> Genus Cardium, family Cardiidae.

2 (also cockleshell) LITERARY a small, shallow boat.

<PHRASES>

□ warm the cockles of one's heart give one a comforting feeling of contentment.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coquille ‘shell’, based on Greek konkhulion, from konkhē ‘conch’.

cockle^2 v. [no obj.] (of paper) form wrinkles or puckers.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French coquiller ‘blister (bread in cooking)’, from coquille ‘shell’ (see cockle^1).

cocklebur n. a herbaceous plant of the daisy family with broad leaves and burred fruits, native to tropical America.

<INFO> Genus Xanthium, family Compositae: two or three species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from COCKLE^2 + BURR.

cockling n. [mass noun] BRITISH the activity or occupation of gathering cockles.

<DERIVATIVES> cockler n.

cockloft n. a small upper loft under the ridge of a roof.

cockney /kkni/ n. (pl. cockneys) 1 a native of East London, traditionally one born within hearing of Bow Bells.

- [mass noun] the dialect or accent typical of cockneys.

2 AUSTRALIAN a young snapper fish (Chrysophrys auratus).

■ adj. of or characteristic of cockneys or their dialect or accent: cockney humour.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a pampered child): origin uncertain; it is apparently not the same word as Middle English cokeney ‘cock's egg’, denoting a small misshapen egg (probably from COCK^1 + obsolete ey ‘egg’). A later sense was ‘a town-dweller regarded as affected or puny’, from which the current sense arose in the early 17th cent.

cockneyism n. a feature or style of speech or idiom characteristic of cockneys.

cock-of-the-rock n. (pl. cocks-of-the-rock) a crested cotinga (bird) found in the tropical forests of South America. The male has brilliant orange or red plumage used in communal display.

<INFO> Genus Rupicola, family Cotingidae: two species.

cockpit n. 1 a compartment for the pilot, and sometimes also the crew, in an aircraft or spacecraft.

- the driver's compartment in a racing car.

- a space for the helmsman in some small yachts.

2 a place where cockfights are held.

- a place where a battle or other conflict takes place.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from COCK^1 + PIT^1.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 20th century and derives from an early 18th-cent. nautical term denoting an area in the aft lower deck of a man-of-war where the wounded were taken, later coming to mean ‘the ‘pit’ or well from which a yacht is steered’; hence the place housing the controls of other vehicles.

cockroach /kkrət/ n. a beetle-like scavenging insect with long antennae and legs. Several tropical kinds have become established worldwide as household pests.

<INFO> Suborder Blattodea, order Dictyoptera: many genera and species, including the common cockroach (Blatta orientalis) and the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as cacaroch): from Spanish cucaracha. The spelling change was due to association with cock^1 and roach^1.

cockscomb n. 1 the crest or comb of a domestic cock.

2 (also coxcomb) a tropical plant with a crest of tiny yellow, orange, or red flowers, grown as a pot plant.

<INFO> Celosia cristata, family Amaranthaceae.

3 a brightly coloured orchid of southern North America, related to the coralroots. Also called CORALROOT.

<INFO> Genus Hexalectris, family Orchidaceae.

cocksfoot n. (pl. cocksfoots) BRITISH a pasture grass with broad leaves and green or purplish flowering spikes.

<INFO> Dactylis glomerata, family Gramineae.

cockshy /kk/ n. (pl. cockshies) BRITISH DATED a target for throwing sticks or stones at as a game.

- an object of ridicule or criticism.

<ORIGIN> from the original use of a replica of a cockerel as a target.

cocksman n. (pl. cocksmen) US VULGAR SLANG a man who is reputed to be extremely virile or sexually accomplished.

<DERIVATIVES> cocksmanship n.

cock sparrow n. DATED a lively, quarrelsome person.

cockspur n. 1 the spur on the leg of a cock.

2 AUSTRALIAN a European plant of the daisy family with yellow thistle-like flower heads that has become naturalized in Australia.

<INFO> Centaurea melitensis, family Compositae.

cockspur thorn n. a North American hawthorn which is grown for its rich orange autumn foliage.

<INFO> Crataegus crus-galli, family Rosaceae.

cocksucker n. VULGAR SLANG, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a contemptible person (used as a general term of abuse).

<DERIVATIVES> cocksucking adj.

cocksure adj. confident in an excessive or arrogant way.

<DERIVATIVES> cocksurely adv. cocksureness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from archaic cock (a euphemism for God) + SURE; later associated with cock^1.

cocktail n. 1 an alcoholic drink consisting of a spirit or spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as fruit juice or cream: [as modifier] a cocktail bar.

- a mixture of substances or factors, especially when dangerous or unpleasant: he was killed by a cocktail of drink and drugs.

2 a dish consisting of small pieces of food, typically served cold as an hors d'oeuvre: a prawn cocktail.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from COCK^1 + TAIL^1. The original use was as an adjective describing a creature with a tail like that of a cock, specifically a horse with a docked tail; hence (because hunters and coach-horses were generally docked) a racehorse which was not a thoroughbred, having a cock-tailed horse in its pedigree (early 19th century).

■ Sense 1 (originally US, also early 19th century) is perhaps analogous, from the idea of an adulterated spirit.

cocktail dress n. a smart dress suitable for formal social occasions.

cocktail stick n. BRITISH a small pointed stick on which olives, cherries, or similar items of food may be served.

cock-teaser /kktizə/ (also cock-tease) n. VULGAR SLANG a woman who leads a man to the mistaken belief that she is likely to have sexual intercourse with him.

cock-up n. BRITISH INFORMAL something done badly or inefficiently: we've made a total cock-up of it.

cocky^1 adj. (cockier, cockiest) conceited or confident in a bold or cheeky way.

<DERIVATIVES> cockily adv. cockiness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘lecherous’): from COCK^1 + -Y^1.

cocky^2 n. (pl. cockies) Australian/NZ informal term for COCKATOO.

coco n. (pl. cocos) 1 [usually as modifier] coconut: a coco palm.

2 [mass noun] W. INDIAN the root of the taro.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting the nut): from Spanish and Portuguese, literally ‘grinning face’ (because of the appearance of the base of the coconut).

cocoa n. [mass noun] a powder made from roasted and ground cacao seeds.

- a hot drink made from cocoa powder mixed with milk or water.

<PHRASES>

□ I should cocoa (or coco) BRITISH RHYMING SLANG I should say so.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting cacao seed): alteration of CACAO.

cocoa bean n. a cacao seed.

cocoa butter n. [mass noun] a fatty substance obtained from cocoa beans, used in the manufacture of confectionery and cosmetics.

cocoanut n. old-fashioned spelling of COCONUT.

cocobolo /kəkə()bələ/ n. (pl. cocobolos) a tropical American tree with hard reddish timber that is used to make cutlery handles.

<INFO> Dalbergia retusa, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via Spanish from Arawak kakabali.

coco de mer /kəkədəmε/ n. a tall palm tree native to the Seychelles. Also called DOUBLE COCONUT.

<INFO> Lodoicea maldivica, family Palmae.

- the immense nut of this palm tree, which is encased in a hard woody shell and is the largest known seed.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French coco-de-mer, literally ‘coco from the sea’ (because the tree was first known from nuts found floating in the sea).

coconut n. 1 the large oval brown seed of a tropical palm, consisting of a hard woody husk surrounded by fibre, lined with edible white flesh and containing a clear liquid.

- [mass noun] the flesh of a coconut, often used as food.

2 (also coconut palm or tree) the tall palm tree that yields the coconut, which has become naturalized throughout the tropics. The tree is also a source of copra, coir, and other products.

<INFO> Cocos nucifera, family Palmae.

coconut butter n. [mass noun] a solid fat obtained from the flesh of the coconut, and used in the manufacture of soap, candles, ointment, etc.

coconut crab n. another term for ROBBER CRAB.

<ORIGIN> so named because it climbs trees to reach coconuts.

coconut ice n. [mass noun] BRITISH a sweet made from sugar and desiccated coconut.

coconut matting n. [mass noun] matting made of fibre from coconut husks.

coconut milk n. [mass noun] the watery white liquid found inside a coconut.

coconut shy n. BRITISH a fairground sideshow where balls are thrown at coconuts in an attempt to knock them off stands.

cocoon /kəkun/ n. 1 a silky case spun by the larvae of many insects for protection as pupae.

- something that envelops someone in a protective or comforting way: a cocoon of bedclothes | FIGURATIVE a warm cocoon of love.

2 a covering that prevents the corrosion of metal equipment.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 envelop in a protective or comforting way: we felt cold even though we were cocooned in our sleeping bags | FIGURATIVE she was cocooned in soft, warm silence.

- [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN retreat from the stressful conditions of public life into the cosy private world of the family: Americans are spending more time cocooning at home.

2 spray with a protective coating.

<DERIVATIVES> cocooner n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French cocon, from medieval Provençal coucoun ‘eggshell, cocoon’, diminutive of coca ‘shell’. The verb dates from the mid 19th cent.

Cocos Islands /kəkəs/ a group of twenty-seven small coral islands in the Indian Ocean, administered as an external territory of Australia since 1955; pop. 632 (est. 2002). The islands were discovered in 1609 by Captain William Keeling of the East India Company. Also called KEELING ISLANDS.

cocotte /kkt/ n. 1 (usually in phrase en cocotte / kkt/) a small heatproof dish in which individual portions of food can be cooked and served. [<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French cocasse, from Latin cucuma ‘cooking container’.]

2 DATED a fashionable prostitute. [<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from a child's name for a hen.]

co-counselling n. [mass noun] a form of personal or psychological counselling in which two or more people alternate the roles of therapist and patient.

cocoyam /kəkəjam/ n. (in West Africa) either of two plants of the arum family with edible corms, i.e. taro (also old cocoyam) and tannia (also new cocoyam).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: probably from COCO (SENSE 2) + YAM.

Cocteau /kktə/ Jean (1889–1963), French dramatist, novelist, and film director. His plays are noted for their striking blend of poetry, irony, and fantasy. Notable works: La Machine infernale (play, 1934), La Belle et la bête (film, 1946), and Les Enfants terribles (novel, 1929).

cocus wood /kəkəs/ n. [mass noun] hard, heavy timber which blackens with age and is used for musical instruments.

<INFO> This timber is obtained from the Jamaican ebony (Brya ebenus, family Leguminosae).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: cocus, of unknown origin.

COD abbr.

- cash on delivery.

- NORTH AMERICAN collect on delivery.

cod^1 (also codfish) n. (pl. same) a large marine fish with a small barbel on the chin.

<INFO> Family Gadidae (the cod family): many genera and species, in particular the North Atlantic Gadus morhua, of great importance as a food fish. The cod family also includes the haddock, ling, pollack, whiting, and other food fishes.

- used in names of similar or related fishes, e.g. rock cod, tomcod.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin; one suggestion is that the word is the same as Old English cod(d) ‘bag’, because of the fish's appearance.

cod^2 BRITISH INFORMAL adj. not authentic; fake: a cod Mittel-European accent.

■ n. 1 a joke or hoax.

2 IRISH a foolish person: he's making a cod of himself.

■ v. (cods, codding, codded) [with obj.] play a joke or trick on (someone): he was definitely codding them.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting a person of a specified kind): of uncertain origin.

cod^3 n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED nonsense.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: abbreviation of CODSWALLOP.

coda /kədə/ n. [MUSIC] the concluding passage of a piece or movement, typically forming an addition to the basic structure.

- the concluding section of a dance, especially of a pas de deux or the finale of a ballet in which the dancers parade before the audience.

- a concluding event, remark, or section: his new novel is a kind of coda to his previous books.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Italian, from Latin cauda ‘tail’.

coddle v. [with obj.] 1 treat (someone) in an indulgent or overprotective way: I was coddled and cosseted.

2 cook (an egg) in water below boiling point.

<DERIVATIVES> coddler n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘boil (fruit) gently’): origin uncertain;

■ sense 1 is probably a dialect variant of obsolete caudle ‘administer invalids' gruel’, based on Latin caldum ‘hot drink’, from calidus ‘warm’.

code n. 1 a system of words, letters, figures, or symbols used to represent others, especially for the purposes of secrecy: the Americans cracked their diplomatic code | [mass noun] messages written in code.

- a phrase or concept used to represent another in an indirect way: researching ‘the family’ is usually a code for studying women.

- a series of letters, numbers, or symbols assigned to something for the purposes of classification or identification.

■ short for DIALLING CODE.

2 [mass noun] [COMPUTING] program instructions: assembly code.

3 a systematic collection of laws or statutes: a revision of the penal code.

- a set of conventions or moral principles governing behaviour in a particular sphere: a strict dress code | a stern code of honour.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] convert (the words of a message) into a code so as to convey a secret meaning: only Mitch knew how to read the message—even the name was coded.

- express the meaning of (a statement) in an indirect way: (as adj. coded) journalists made coded allusions to his deficiencies.

- assign a code to (something) for purposes of classification or identification: she coded the samples and sent them for dissection.

2 [no obj.] (code for) [BIOCHEMISTRY] be the genetic code for (an amino acid or protein): genes that code for human growth hormone.

- be the genetic determiner of (a characteristic).

3 [with obj.] write code for (a computer program).

<PHRASES>

□ bring something up to code NORTH AMERICAN renovate or update an old building in line with the latest building regulations.

<DERIVATIVES> coder n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin codex, codic- (see CODEX). The term originally denoted a systematic collection of statutes made by Justinian or another of the later Roman emperors; compare with sense 3 of the noun (mid 18th century), the earliest modern sense.

codec /kədεk/ n. [ELECTRONICS] a device that compresses data to enable faster transmission or that decompresses received data.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of coder (see CODE) and DECODEr (see DECODE).

codeine /kədin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a sleep-inducing and analgesic drug derived from morphine.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_18H_21NO_3.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kōdeia ‘poppy head’ + -INE^4.

code name n. a word used for secrecy or convenience instead of the usual name.

<DERIVATIVES> code-named adj.

codependency n. [mass noun] excessive emotional or psychological reliance on a partner, typically one with an illness or addiction who requires support.

<DERIVATIVES> codependence n. codependent adj. & n.

code-sharing n. [mass noun] agreement between two or more airlines to list certain flights in a reservation system under each other's names.

<DERIVATIVES> code-share v.

co-determination n. [mass noun] cooperation between management and workers in decision-making, especially by the representation of workers on management boards.

codex /kədεks/ n. (pl. codices /kədsiz kd-/ or codexes) 1 an ancient manuscript text in book form.

2 an official list of medicines, chemicals, etc.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a collection of statutes): from Latin, literally ‘block of wood’, later denoting a block split into leaves or tablets for writing on, hence a book.

codfish n. (pl. same or codfishes)

■ another term for cod^1.

codger n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY an elderly man: old codgers harping on about yesteryear.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps a variant of cadger (see CADGE).

codices plural form of CODEX.

codicil /kdsl kə-/ n. an addition or supplement that explains, modifies, or revokes a will or part of one.

<DERIVATIVES> codicillary /kdsləri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin codicillus, diminutive of codex, codic- (see CODEX).

codicology /kədklədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of manuscripts and their interrelationships.

<DERIVATIVES> codicological adj.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from French codicologie, from Latin codex, codic- (see CODEX).

codify /kədf/ v. (codifies, codifying, codified) [with obj.] arrange (laws or rules) into a systematic code.

- arrange according to a plan or system: this would codify existing intergovernmental cooperation on drugs.

<DERIVATIVES> codification n. codifier n.

coding n. [mass noun] 1 the process of assigning a code to something for classification or identification.

- [count noun] a code assigned for such a purpose.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] the process of coding genetically for an amino acid, protein, or characteristic.

codling^1 n. an immature cod.

codling^2 n. any of several varieties of cooking apple having a long tapering shape.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French quer de lion ‘lionheart’.

codling moth n. a small greyish moth whose larvae feed on apples.

<INFO> Cydia pomonella, family Tortricidae.

cod liver oil n. [mass noun] oil pressed from the liver of cod, which is rich in vitamins D and A.

codology /kdlədi/ n. [mass noun] IRISH INFORMAL foolish or untrue talk or writing; nonsense.

codomain /kədə()men/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a set that includes all the possible values of a given function.

codon /kədn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a sequence of three nucleotides which together form a unit of genetic code in a DNA or RNA molecule.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from CODE + -ON.

codpiece n. a pouch attached to a man's breeches or close-fitting hose to cover the genitals, worn in the 15th and 16th centuries.

<ORIGIN> from earlier cod ‘scrotum’ (from Old English codd ‘bag, pod’) + PIECE.

co-driver n. a person who shares the driving of a vehicle with another, especially in a race or rally.

codswallop n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL nonsense.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: perhaps named after Hiram Codd, who invented a bottle for fizzy drinks (1875); the derivation remains unconfirmed.

cod war n. INFORMAL any of several disputes between Britain and Iceland in the period 1958–76, concerning fishing rights in waters around Iceland.

Coe Sebastian, Baron Coe of Ranmore (b.1956), British middle-distance runner and Conservative politician, an Olympic gold medal winner in the 1,500 metres in 1980 and 1984.

coed /kəεd kəεd/ INFORMAL n. NORTH AMERICAN DATED a female student at a co-educational institution.

■ adj. (of an institution or system) co-educational.

co-education n. [mass noun] the education of pupils of both sexes together.

<DERIVATIVES> co-educational adj.

coefficient /kəf(ə)nt/ n. 1 [MATHEMATICS] a numerical or constant quantity placed before and multiplying the variable in an algebraic expression (e.g. 4 in 4xy).

2 [PHYSICS] a multiplier or factor that measures a particular property: the drag coefficient.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘cooperating to produce a result’): from modern Latin coefficient-, from com- ‘together’ + efficient- ‘accomplishing’ (see EFFICIENT).

coelacanth /siləkanθ/ n. a large bony marine fish with a three-lobed tail fin and fleshy pectoral fins. It was known only from fossils until one was found alive in 1938; since then others have been found near the Comoro Islands in the Indian Ocean and off Sulawesi, Indonesia.

<INFO> Latimeria chalumnae, family Latimeriidae (or Coelacanthidae), subclass Crossopterygii.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Coelacanthus (genus name), from Greek koilos ‘hollow’ + akantha ‘spine’ (its fins have hollow spines).

coelenterate /silεnt(ə)rət -ret/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an aquatic invertebrate animal of a phylum that includes jellyfishes, corals, and sea anemones. They typically have a tube- or cup-shaped body with a single opening ringed with tentacles that bear stinging cells (nematocysts). Also called CNIDARIAN.

<INFO> Phylum Cnidaria (formerly Coelenterata): four classes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Coelenterata, from Greek koilos ‘hollow’ + enteron ‘intestine’.

coeliac /silak/ (US celiac) adj. 1 [ANATOMY] relating to the abdomen.

2 MEDICINE relating to or affected by coeliac disease.

■ n. MEDICINE a person with coeliac disease.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin coeliacus, from Greek koiliakos, from koilia ‘belly’.

coeliac disease n. [mass noun] a disease in which chronic failure to digest food is triggered by hypersensitivity of the small intestine to gluten.

coelom /siləm/ n. (pl. coeloms or coelomata /-ləmətə/) [ZOOLOGY] the principal body cavity in most animals, located between the intestinal canal and the body wall.

<DERIVATIVES> coelomate adj. & n. coelomic /səlmk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek koilōma ‘cavity’.

coelostat /silə()stat/ n. [ASTRONOMY] an instrument with a rotating mirror that continuously reflects the light from the same area of sky, used for monitoring the path of a celestial object.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: formed irregularly from Latin caelum ‘sky’ + -STAT.

coelurosaur /sljərəs/ n. a small, slender bipedal carnivorous dinosaur with long forelimbs, believed to be an evolutionary ancestor of birds.

<INFO> Infraorder Coelurosauria, suborder Theropoda, order Saurischia: many genera.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek koilos ‘hollow’ + oura ‘tail’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

coenobite /sinəbt/ (also cenobite) n. a member of a monastic community.

<DERIVATIVES> coenobitic /-btk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cenobite or ecclesiastical Latin coenobita, via late Latin from Greek koinobion ‘convent’, from koinos ‘common’ + bios ‘life’.

coenocyte /sinəst/ n. [BOTANY] a body of algal or fungal cytoplasm containing several nuclei, enclosed in a single membrane.

<DERIVATIVES> coenocytic /-stk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek koinos ‘common’ + -CYTE.

coenzyme /kəεnzm/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a non-protein compound that is necessary for the functioning of an enzyme.

coenzyme A n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a coenzyme derived from pantothenic acid, important in respiration and other biochemical reactions.

<ORIGIN> A from acylation (see ACYLATE).

coenzyme Q n. another term for UBIQUINONE.

<ORIGIN> Q from QUINONE.

coequal adj. having the same rank or importance: coequal partners.

■ n. a person or thing equal with another.

<DERIVATIVES> coequality /kəkwlti/ n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin coaequalis ‘of the same age’, from co- ‘jointly’ + aequalis (see EQUAL).

coerce /kəəs/ v. [with obj.] persuade (an unwilling person) to do something by using force or threats: he was coerced into giving evidence.

- obtain (something) by such means: their confessions were allegedly coerced by torture.

<DERIVATIVES> coercible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin coercere ‘restrain’, from co- ‘together’ + arcere ‘restrain’.

coercion /kəə(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action or practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats: it wasn't slavery because no coercion was used.

coercive adj. relating to or using force or threats: coercive measures.

<DERIVATIVES> coercively adv. coerciveness n.

coercive force n. [PHYSICS] another term for COERCIVITY.

coercivity /kəəsvti/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the resistance of a magnetic material to changes in magnetization, equivalent to the field intensity necessary to demagnetize the fully magnetized material.

coeternal adj. existing with something else eternally: creation is not coeternal with God.

<DERIVATIVES> coeternally adv.

Coetzee /ktsə/ J. M. (b.1940), South African novelist; full name John Maxwell Coetzee. He won the Booker Prize with Life and Times of Michael K (1983) and Disgrace (1999), becoming the first author to win the prize twice, and in 2003 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

coeval /kəiv(ə)l/ adj. having the same age or date of origin; contemporary: these lavas were coeval with the volcanic activity.

■ n. a person of roughly the same age as oneself; a contemporary.

<DERIVATIVES> coevality n. coevally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun): from late Latin coaevus, from co- ‘jointly’ + Latin aevum ‘age’.

co-evolution n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the influence of closely associated species on each other in their evolution.

<DERIVATIVES> co-evolutionary adj. co-evolve v.

coexist v. [no obj.] exist at the same time or in the same place: dwarf mammoths may have survived in north-east Siberia to coexist with the Egyptian pharaohs.

- (of nations or peoples) exist in harmony despite different ideologies or interests: the task of diplomacy was to help different states to coexist.

<DERIVATIVES> coexistence n. coexistent adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin coexistere, from co- ‘together’ + existere ‘exist’, from ex- ‘out’ + sister ‘take a stand’.

coextensive adj. extending over the same area, extent, or time.

- (of a term) denoting the same referent as another.

cofactor n. 1 a contributory cause of a disease.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance (other than the substrate) whose presence is essential for the activity of an enzyme.

3 [MATHEMATICS] the quantity obtained from a determinant or a square matrix by removal of the row and column containing a specified element.

C of E abbr. Church of England.

coffee n. [mass noun] 1 a hot drink made from the roasted and ground bean-like seeds of a tropical shrub: a cup of coffee | [as modifier] a coffee pot.

- [count noun] a cup of coffee: we went out for a coffee.

- coffee seeds roasted and ground, or a powder made from them: a jar of instant coffee.

- a pale brown colour like that of milky coffee: coffee-coloured skin.

2 the shrub which yields coffee seeds, native to the Old World tropics.

<INFO> Genus Coffea, family Rubiaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Turkish kahveh, from Arabic qahwa, probably via Dutch koffie.

coffee bar n. a bar or cafe serving coffee and light refreshments.

coffee bean n. a bean-like seed of the coffee shrub.

coffee cake n. NORTH AMERICAN a cake or sweet bread flavoured with cinnamon or topped or filled with cinnamon sugar, eaten usually with coffee.

coffee cup n. a cup, typically a small one, in which coffee is served.

coffee essence n. [mass noun] BRITISH a concentrated extract of coffee, usually also containing chicory.

coffee house n. 1 a place serving coffee and other refreshments.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a place where coffee is served and people gather for poetry readings, music, and other informal entertainment.

coffee klatch (also coffee klatsch /kfi klat/) n. another term for KAFFEEKLATSCH.

coffee morning n. BRITISH a morning social gathering at which coffee is served, typically one held in someone's house to raise money for charity.

coffee shop n. a small, informal restaurant, found especially in a hotel or department store.

coffee table n. a small, low table.

coffee-table book n. a large, expensive, lavishly illustrated book, intended especially for casual reading.

coffer n. 1 a strongbox or small chest for holding valuables.

- (coffers) the funds or financial reserves of an organization: there is not enough money in the coffers to finance the reforms.

2 a decorative sunken panel in a ceiling.

<DERIVATIVES> coffered adj.

■ coffer (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coffre ‘chest’, via Latin from Greek kophinos ‘basket’.

cofferdam n. a watertight enclosure pumped dry to permit construction work below the waterline, as when building bridges or repairing a ship.

cofferer n. HISTORICAL one of the treasurers of the royal household.

coffin n. a long, narrow box, typically of wood, in which a dead body is buried or cremated.

- INFORMAL an old and unsafe aircraft or ship.

■ v. (coffins, coffining, coffined) [with obj.] put (a dead body) in a coffin.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general sense ‘box, casket’): from Old French cofin ‘little basket or case’, from Latin cophinus (see COFFER).

coffin bone n. the terminal bone in a horse's hoof (the distal phalanx).

coffin nail n. INFORMAL a cigarette.

coffle /kf(ə)l/ n. LITERARY a line of animals or slaves fastened or driven along together.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Arabic qāfila ‘caravan’.

coffret /kfrt/ n. a small box or container.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French, ‘small chest’, diminutive of coffre (see COFFER).

co-founder n. a joint founder.

<DERIVATIVES> co-found v.

cog^1 n. a wheel or bar with a series of projections on its edge, which transfers motion by engaging with projections on another wheel or bar: FIGURATIVE she was only a very small cog in a big machine.

- each of such a series of projections.

<DERIVATIVES> cogged adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish kugge and Norwegian kug.

cog^2 n. a broadly built medieval ship with a rounded prow and stern.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: related to Middle Dutch kogge, Old French cogue.

cog^3 v. [with obj.] IRISH INFORMAL copy (someone else's work) illicitly or without acknowledgement: he's away cogging his homework from Aggie's wee girl.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in senses ‘practise tricks in throwing dice’ and ‘cheat’): of unknown origin.

cogency /kəd(ə)nsi/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being clear, logical, and convincing; lucidity: the cogency of this argument.

cogeneration n. [mass noun] the generation of electricity and useful heat jointly, especially the utilization of the steam left over from electricity generation for heating.

cogent /kəd(ə)nt/ adj. (of an argument or case) clear, logical, and convincing.

<DERIVATIVES> cogently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin cogent- ‘compelling’, from the verb cogere, from co- ‘together’ + agere ‘drive’.

cogitable adj. RARE able to be grasped by the mind; conceivable.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin cogitabilis, from the verb cogitare (see COGITATE).

cogitate /kdtet/ v. [no obj.] FORMAL think deeply about something; meditate or reflect: he stroked his beard and retired to cogitate.

<DERIVATIVES> cogitative adj. cogitator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin cogitat- ‘considered’, from the verb cogitare, from co- ‘together’ + agitare ‘turn over, consider’.

cogitation /kdte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action of thinking deeply about something; contemplation: Sorry, did I interrupt your cogitation?

cogito /kətə -d-/ n. (usually the cogito) [PHILOSOPHY] the principle establishing the existence of a being from the fact of its thinking or awareness.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘I think’, in Descartes's formula (1641) cogito, ergo sum ‘I think therefore I am’.

cognac /knjak/ n. [mass noun] a high-quality brandy, strictly speaking that distilled in Cognac in western France.

cognate /knet/ adj. 1 [LINGUISTICS] (of a word) having the same linguistic derivation as another (e.g. English father, German Vater, Latin pater).

2 FORMAL related; connected: cognate subjects such as physics and chemistry.

- related to or descended from a common ancestor. Compare with AGNATE.

■ n. 1 [LINGUISTICS] a cognate word.

2 [LAW] a blood relative, especially on the mother's side.

<DERIVATIVES> cognately adv. cognateness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin cognatus, from co- ‘together with’ + natus ‘born’.

cognate object n. [GRAMMAR] a direct object that has the same linguistic derivation as the verb which governs it, as in ‘sing a song’.

- a direct object that makes explicit a semantic concept that is already present in the semantics of the verb which governs it, as in ‘eat some food’.

cognition /kn(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

- [count noun] a perception, sensation, idea, or intuition resulting from this.

<DERIVATIVES> cognitional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin cognitio(-), from cognoscere ‘get to know’.

cognitive /kntv/ adj. relating to cognition.

<DERIVATIVES> cognitively adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin cognitivus, from cognit- ‘known’, from the verb cognoscere.

cognitive behavioural therapy (also cognitive therapy) n. [mass noun] a type of psychotherapy in which negative patterns of thought about the self and the world are challenged in order to alter unwanted behaviour patterns or treat mood disorders such as depression.

cognitive dissonance n. [mass noun] [PSYCHOLOGY] the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioural decisions and attitude change.

cognitive grammar n. [mass noun] a theory of grammar that seeks to characterize, in a psychologically realistic way, those structures and abilities that constitute a speaker's grasp of linguistic convention, and to relate them to other cognitive processes.

cognitive map n. a mental representation of one's physical environment.

cognitive science n. [mass noun] the study of thought, learning, and mental organization, which draws on aspects of psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and computer modelling.

<DERIVATIVES> cognitive scientist n.

cognitivist n. a person who believes or works in cognitive grammar.

■ adj. relating to cognitive grammar.

<DERIVATIVES> cognitivism n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (in the sense ‘believing that moral judgements are true or false statements about moral facts’): from COGNITIVE + -IST.

cognizable /k()nzəb(ə)l/ (also cognisable) adj. 1 FORMAL perceptible; clearly identifiable.

2 [LAW] within the jurisdiction of a court.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from COGNIZANCE + -ABLE.

cognizance /k()nz(ə)ns/ (also cognisance) n. 1 [mass noun] FORMAL knowledge or awareness: the Renaissance cognizance of Greece was limited.

- [LAW] the action of taking judicial notice.

2 [HERALDRY] a distinctive emblem or badge formerly worn by retainers of a noble house.

<PHRASES>

□ take cognizance of FORMAL attend to; take account of.

<ORIGIN> Middle English conisance, from Old French conoisance, based on Latin cognoscere ‘get to know’. The spelling with g, influenced by Latin, arose in the 15th century and gradually affected the pronunciation.

cognizant /k()nz(ə)nt/ (also cognisant) adj. FORMAL having knowledge or awareness: statesmen must be cognizant of the political boundaries within which they work.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably directly from COGNIZANCE.

cognize /knz/ (also cognise) v. [with obj.] FORMAL know or become aware of.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from COGNIZANCE, on the pattern of words such as recognize.

cognomen /knəmən/ n. an extra personal name given to an ancient Roman citizen, functioning rather like a nickname and typically passed down from father to son.

- a name; a nickname.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from co- ‘together with’ + gnomen, nomen ‘name’.

cognoscenti /knəεnti knjəεnti/ plural n. people who are especially well informed about a particular subject: it's worth taking a tip from the fashion cognoscenti.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Italian, literally ‘people who know’, from Latin cognoscent- ‘getting to know’, from the verb cognoscere.

cog railway n. another term for RACK RAILWAY.

cogwheel n. another term for cog^1.

cohabit v. (cohabits, cohabiting, cohabited) [no obj.] 1 live together and have a sexual relationship without being married.

2 coexist: animals that can cohabit with humans thrive.

<DERIVATIVES> cohabitant n. cohabitation n. cohabitee n. cohabiter n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin cohabitare, from co- ‘together’ + habitare ‘dwell’.

Cohen /kəən/ Leonard (b.1934), Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, and novelist. His works include the poetry collection Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956) and the album The Songs of Leonard Cohen (1968).

cohere /kə()hə/ v. [no obj.] 1 form a unified whole: he made the series of fictions cohere into a convincing sequence.

2 (of an argument or theory) be logically consistent: this view does not cohere with their other beliefs.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin cohaerere, from co- ‘together’ + haerere ‘to stick’.

coherence n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being logical and consistent: this raises further questions on the coherence of state policy.

2 the quality of forming a unified whole: the group began to lose coherence and the artists took separate directions.

<DERIVATIVES> coherency n.

coherent adj. 1 (of an argument, theory, or policy) logical and consistent: they failed to develop a coherent economic strategy.

- (of a person) able to speak clearly and logically: she was lucid and coherent and did not appear to be injured.

2 forming a unified whole: the arts could be systematized into one coherent body of knowledge.

3 [PHYSICS] (of waves) having a constant phase relationship.

<DERIVATIVES> coherently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘logically related to’): from Latin cohaerent- ‘sticking together’, from the verb cohaerere (see COHERE).

coherer /kə()hirə/ n. an early form of radio detector consisting of a glass tube loosely filled with metal filings whose bulk electrical resistance decreased in the presence of radio waves.

cohesion /kə()hi(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action or fact of forming a united whole: the work at present lacks cohesion.

- [PHYSICS] the sticking together of particles of the same substance.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin cohaes- ‘cleaved together’, from the verb cohaerere (see COHERE), on the pattern of adhesion.

cohesive adj. characterized by or causing cohesion.

<DERIVATIVES> cohesively adv. cohesiveness n.

Cohn /kən/ Ferdinand Julius (1828–98), German botanist, a founder of bacteriology and the first to devise a systematic classification of bacteria into genera and species.

coho /kəhə/ (also coho salmon or cohoe) n. (pl. same, cohos, or cohoes) a deep-bodied North Pacific salmon with small black spots. Also called SILVER SALMON.

<INFO> Oncorhynchus kisutch, family Salmonidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably from Salish.

cohort /kəht/ n. 1 [treated as sing. or plural] an ancient Roman military unit, comprising six centuries, equal to one tenth of a legion.

2 [treated as sing. or plural] a group of people with a shared characteristic: a cohort of civil servants patiently drafting legislation.

- a group of people with a common statistical characteristic: the 1940–4 birth cohort of women.

3 DEROGATORY a supporter or companion.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cohorte, or from Latin cohors, cohort- ‘yard, retinue’. Compare with COURT.

<USAGE> The earliest sense of cohort is ‘a unit of men within the Roman army’. In the mid 20th century a new sense developed in the US, meaning ‘a companion or colleague’, as in young Jack arrived with three of his cohorts. Although this use is well established (it accounts for the majority of the total citations for this word in the Oxford English Corpus), there are still some people who object to it on the grounds that cohort should only be used for groups of people (as in its first sense), never for individuals.

cohosh /kəh/ n. either of two medicinal plants native to North America:

<INFO>

- (also black cohosh) a plant of the buttercup family, with small white flowers (Cimicifuga racemosa, family Ranunculaceae).

- (also blue cohosh) a plant of the barberry family (Caulophyllum thalictroides, family Berberidaceae).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Eastern Abnaki.

co-host n. a person who hosts an event or broadcast with another or others.

■ v. [with obj.] host (an event or broadcast) together with another or others.

cohune /kəhun/ (also cahoun) n. a Central American palm whose nut is a valuable source of oil.

<INFO> Orbignya cohune, family Palmae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Miskito.

COI abbr. (in the UK) Central Office of Information.

coif /kf/ n. 1 a woman's close-fitting cap, now only worn under a veil by nuns.

- HISTORICAL a metal skullcap worn under armour.

2 also /kwαf/ INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN short for COIFFURE.

■ v. /kwαf kwf/ (coifs, coiffing, coiffed; US also coifs, coifing, coifed) [with obj.] style or arrange (someone's hair).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coife ‘headdress’, from late Latin cofia ‘helmet’.

coiffeur /kwαfə kw-/ n. a hairdresser.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from coiffer ‘arrange the hair’, in Old French ‘cover with a coif’ (see COIF).

coiffeuse /kwαfəz kw-/ n. a female hairdresser.

coiffure /kwαfjə kw-/ n. a person's hairstyle.

<DERIVATIVES> coiffured adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: French, from coiffer ‘arrange the hair’, in Old French ‘cover with a coif’ (see COIF).

coign /kn/ n. a projecting corner or angle of a wall.

<PHRASES>

□ coign of vantage a favourable position for observation or action. [<ORIGIN> from Shakespeare's Macbeth (I. iv. 7), popularized by Sir Walter Scott. .]

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of COIN.

coil^1 n. a length of something wound in a joined sequence of concentric rings: a coil of rope.

- a single ring in such a sequence: the snake wrapped its coils around her.

- an intrauterine contraceptive device in the form of a coil.

- an electrical device consisting of a coiled wire, for converting the level of a voltage, producing a magnetic field, or adding inductance to a circuit: a relay coil.

- such a device used for transmitting high voltage to the spark plugs of an internal-combustion engine.

- a slow-burning spiral made from the dried paste of pyrethrum powder, which produces a smoke that deters mosquitoes.

■ v. [with obj.] arrange (something long and flexible) in a coil: he began to coil up the heavy ropes | he coiled a lock of her hair around his finger.

- [no obj., with adverbial] move or twist into such a shape: smoke coiled lazily towards the ceiling.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as a verb): from Old French coillir, from Latin colligere ‘gather together’ (see collect^1).

coil^2 n. ARCHAIC or DIALECT a confusion or turmoil.

<PHRASES>

□ shuffle off this mortal coil chiefly HUMOROUS die. [<ORIGIN> from Shakespeare's Hamlet (III. i. 67).]

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

Coimbatore /kmbət/ a city in the state of Tamil Nadu, in southern India; pop. 923,100 (2001).

Coimbra /kəmbrə kmbrə/ a university city in central Portugal; pop. 103,000 (est. 2001).

coin n. a flat disc or piece of metal with an official stamp, used as money.

- [mass noun] money in the form of coins: large amounts of coin and precious metal.

- (coins) one of the suits in some tarot packs, corresponding to pentacles in others.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (coins) by stamping metal.

- make (metal) into coins.

- British INFORMAL earn a lot of (money) quickly and easily: the company was coining it in at the rate of £90 a second.

2 invent (a new word or phrase): he coined the term ‘desktop publishing’.

<PHRASES>

□ the other side of the coin the opposite aspect of a matter.

□ pay someone back in their own coin retaliate by similar behaviour.

□ to coin a phrase said when introducing a new expression or a variation on a familiar one.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coin ‘wedge, corner, die’, coigner ‘to mint’, from Latin cuneus ‘wedge’. The original sense was ‘cornerstone’, later ‘angle or wedge’ (senses now spelled QUOIN); in late Middle English the term denoted a die for stamping money, or a piece of money produced by such a die.

coinage n. [mass noun] 1 coins collectively: the volume of coinage in circulation.

- the action or process of producing coins from metal.

- [count noun] a system or type of coins in use: decimal coinage.

2 the invention of a new word or phrase: the word is of Derrida's own coinage.

- [count noun] a newly invented word or phrase.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French coigniage, from coignier ‘to mint’ (see COIN).

coin box n. BRITISH a public telephone operated by inserting coins.

coincide /kənsd/ v. [no obj.] 1 occur at the same time: publication is timed to coincide with a major exhibition.

- be present at the same place and at the same time: on Friday afternoons we generally coincided.

- correspond in position; meet: the two long-distance walks briefly coincide here.

2 correspond in nature; tally: the interests of employers and employees do not always coincide.

- be in agreement: the members of the College coincide in this opinion.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘occupy the same space’): from medieval Latin coincidere, from co- ‘together with’ + incidere ‘fall upon or into’.

coincidence n. 1 a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection: it was a coincidence that she was wearing a jersey like Laura's | [mass noun] they met by coincidence.

2 [mass noun] the fact of corresponding in nature or in time of occurrence: the coincidence of interest between the mining companies and certain politicians.

3 [PHYSICS] the presence of ionizing particles or other objects in two or more detectors simultaneously, or of two or more signals simultaneously in a circuit.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘occupation of the same space’): from medieval Latin coincidentia, from coincidere ‘coincide, agree’ (see COINCIDE).

coincident adj. 1 occurring together in space or time: the fall in the stock market was coincident with the slowdown in economic activity.

2 in agreement or harmony: the stake of defence attorneys is not always coincident with that of their clients.

<DERIVATIVES> coincidently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin coincident- ‘coinciding’, from the verb coincidere (see COINCIDE).

coincidental adj. 1 resulting from a coincidence; happening by chance: any resemblance between their reports is purely coincidental.

2 happening or existing at the same time: it's convenient that his plan is coincidental with the group's closure.

<DERIVATIVES> coincidentally adv. [sentence adv.] coincidentally, we had both left our jobs on the same day

coiner n. 1 HISTORICAL a person who coins money, in particular a maker of counterfeit coins.

2 a person who invents a new word or phrase.

coin-op n. a machine which is operated by the insertion of coins.

Cointreau /kwntrə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a colourless orange-flavoured liqueur.

<ORIGIN> named after the Cointreau family, liqueur producers based in Angers, France.

coir /kə/ n. [mass noun] fibre from the outer husk of the coconut, used in potting compost and for making ropes and matting.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Malayalam kayau ‘cord, coir’.

coition /kə(ə)n/ n. another term for COITUS.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘meeting or uniting’): from Latin coitio(n-), from the verb coire, from co- ‘together’ + ire ‘go’.

coitus /kətəs/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL sexual intercourse.

<DERIVATIVES> coital adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, from coire ‘go together’ (see COITION).

coitus interruptus /ntərptəs/ n. [mass noun] sexual intercourse in which the penis is withdrawn before ejaculation.

<ORIGIN> from COITUS + Latin interruptus ‘interrupted’.

coitus reservatus /rεzəvαtəs/ n. [mass noun] the postponement or avoidance of ejaculation, to prolong sexual intercourse.

<ORIGIN> from COITUS + Latin reservatus ‘reserved, kept’.

cojones /kəhənez/ plural n. 1 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a man's testicles.

2 courage; guts: only he's got the cojones to go after the general direct.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

Coke n. TRADEMARK short for COCA-COLA.

coke^1 n. [mass noun] a solid fuel made by heating coal in the absence of air so that the volatile components are driven off.

- carbon residue left after the incomplete combustion of petrol or other fuels.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as n. coking) convert (coal) into coke.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘charcoal’): of unknown origin. The current sense dates from the mid 17th cent.

coke^2 n. informal term for COCAINE.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

Coke-bottle n. [as modifier] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL denoting very thick lenses for glasses, or glasses with such lenses.

coked adj. INFORMAL having taken a large amount of cocaine: he was obviously drunk or coked up.

coking coal n. [mass noun] coal suitable for making into coke.

col n. 1 the lowest point of a ridge or saddle between two peaks, typically providing a pass from one side of a mountain range to another.

2 [METEOROLOGY] a region of slightly elevated pressure between two anticyclones.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, literally ‘neck’, from Latin collum.

Col. abbr.

- Colonel.

- the Epistle to the Colossians (in biblical references).

col. abbr. column.

col- prefix variant spelling of COM-. assimilated before l (as in collocate, collude).

cola n. 1 [mass noun] a brown carbonated drink that is flavoured with an extract of cola nuts, or with a similar flavouring.

2 (also kola) a small evergreen African tree which is cultivated in the tropics for its seeds (cola nuts). [<ORIGIN> from Temne k'ola ‘cola nut’.]

<INFO> Genus Cola, family Sterculiaceae: several species.

colander /kləndə kl-/ n. a perforated bowl used to strain off liquid from food after washing or cooking.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: based on Latin colare ‘to strain’.

cola nut (also kola nut) n. the seed of the cola tree, which contains caffeine and is chewed or made into a drink.

co-latitude n. [ASTRONOMY] the difference between a given latitude and 90°.

Colbert /klbε/ French /klbεR/ Jean Baptiste (1619–83), French statesman, chief minister to Louis XIV 1665–83. He was responsible for reforming the country's finances and the navy, and for boosting industry and commerce.

colcannon /klkanən/ n. [mass noun] an Irish and Scottish dish of cabbage and potatoes boiled and mashed together.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from COLE; the origin of the second element is uncertain but it is said that cannonballs were used to mash such vegetables as spinach.

Colchester /kəltstə/ a town in Essex; pop. 100,000 (est. 2002). It was a prominent town in Roman Britain, when it was known as Camulodunum.

colchicine /kltsin klk-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a yellow compound present in the corms of colchicums, used to relieve pain in cases of gout.

<INFO> An alkaloid; chem. formula: C_22H_25NO_6.

colchicum /kltkəm klk-/ n. (pl. colchicums) a plant of a genus that includes the autumn crocuses.

<INFO> Genus Colchicum, family Liliaceae.

- [mass noun] the dried corm or seed of meadow saffron, which has analgesic properties and is used medicinally.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, from Greek kolkhikon ‘of Colchis’, alluding to the skills as a poisoner of the sorceress Medea of Colchis in classical mythology.

Colchis /klks/ an ancient region south of the Caucasus mountains at the eastern end of the Black Sea. In classical mythology it was the goal of Jason's expedition for the Golden Fleece. Greek name KOLKHIS.

cold adj. 1 of or at a low or relatively low temperature, especially when compared with the human body: a freezing cold day | it's cold outside | a sharp, cold wind.

- (of a person) feeling uncomfortably cold: she was cold, and I put some more wood on the fire.

- (of food or drink) served or consumed without being heated or after cooling: a cold drink | serve hot or cold.

- feeling or characterized by fear or horror: a cold shiver of fear.

- [as complement] INFORMAL unconscious: she was out cold.

- dead: lying cold and stiff in a coffin.

2 lacking affection or warmth of feeling; unemotional: how cold and calculating he was | her cold black eyes.

- not affected by emotion; objective: cold statistics.

- sexually unresponsive; frigid.

- depressing or dispiriting; not suggestive of warmth: a cold light streamed through the window.

- (of a colour) containing pale blue or grey.

3 (of the scent or trail of a hunted person or animal) no longer fresh and easy to follow: the trail went cold.

- [predic.] (in children's games) far from finding or guessing what is sought.

4 [as complement] without preparation or rehearsal: they went into the test cold.

- INFORMAL at one's mercy: they had him cold.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] a low temperature; cold weather; a cold environment: my teeth chattered with the cold | they nearly died of cold.

2 a common infection in which the mucous membrane of the nose and throat becomes inflamed, typically causing running at the nose, sneezing, and a sore throat.

■ adv. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL completely; entirely: we stopped cold behind a turn in the staircase.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) cold as ice (or stone or the grave etc.) very cold: her hand was as cold as ice.

□ catch a cold (also catch cold) become infected with a cold.

- encounter difficulties.

□ cold comfort poor or inadequate consolation: another drop in the inflation rate was cold comfort for the 2.74 million jobless.

□ cold feet loss of nerve or confidence: after arranging to meet I got cold feet and phoned her saying I was busy.

□ the cold shoulder a show of intentional unfriendliness; rejection: the new England manager gave him the cold shoulder.

□ cold-shoulder someone reject or be deliberately unfriendly to someone.

□ cold steel weapons such as swords or knives collectively.

□ in cold blood without feeling or mercy; ruthlessly: the government forces killed them in cold blood.

□ in the cold light of day when one has had time to consider a situation objectively: in the cold light of day it all seemed so ridiculous.

□ out in the cold ignored; neglected: the talks left the French out in the cold.

□ throw (or pour) cold water on be discouraging or negative about.

<DERIVATIVES> coldish adj. coldness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cald, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch koud and German kalt, also to Latin gelu ‘frost’.

cold-blooded adj. 1 denoting animals whose body temperature varies with that of the environment (e.g. fish); poikilothermic.

2 without emotion or pity; deliberately cruel or callous: a cold-blooded murder.

<DERIVATIVES> cold-bloodedly adv. cold-bloodedness n.

cold-call v. [with obj.] make an unsolicited visit or telephone call to (someone), in an attempt to sell goods or services.

■ n. (cold call) an unsolicited call of this kind.

<DERIVATIVES> cold-caller n.

cold cash n. North American term for HARD CASH.

cold cathode n. [ELECTRONICS] a cathode that emits electrons without being heated.

cold chisel n. a chisel used for cutting metal.

cold-cock v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL knock (someone) out, typically with a blow to the head.

cold cream n. [mass noun] a cosmetic preparation used for cleansing and softening the skin.

cold cuts plural n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN slices of cold cooked meats.

cold deck n. 1 US INFORMAL a deck of cards which has been dishonestly arranged beforehand.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a pile of logs stored away from the immediate area where logging is taking place.

cold-drawn adj. (of metal) drawn out into a wire or bar while cold.

<DERIVATIVES> cold-drawing n.

cold frame n. a frame with a glass top in which small plants are grown and protected without artificial heat.

cold front n. [METEOROLOGY] the boundary of an advancing mass of cold air, in particular the trailing edge of the warm sector of a low-pressure system.

cold fusion n. [mass noun] nuclear fusion supposedly occurring at or close to room temperature.

cold-hearted adj. lacking affection or warmth; unfeeling.

<DERIVATIVES> cold-heartedly adv. cold-heartedness n.

coldie n. (pl. coldies) AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a chilled can or bottle of beer.

Colditz /kəldts kl-/ a medieval castle near Leipzig, used as a top-security camp for Allied prisoners in the Second World War.

cold light n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] light accompanied by little or no heat; luminescence.

coldly adv. without affection or warmth of feeling; unemotionally: Doyle looked at her coldly | [as submodifier] a coldly contemptuous tone.

cold-moulded adj. (of an object) moulded from a resin that hardens without being heated.

<DERIVATIVES> cold-moulding n.

cold-rolled adj. [METALLURGY] (of metal) having been rolled into sheets while cold, resulting in a smooth, hard finish.

<DERIVATIVES> cold-rolling n.

cold-short adj. (of a metal) brittle in its cold state.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Swedish kallskör, from kall ‘cold’ + skör ‘brittle’, later associated with SHORT in the same sense.

cold sore n. an inflamed blister in or near the mouth, caused by infection with the herpes simplex virus.

cold start n. an act of starting an engine or other machine at the ambient temperature.

■ v. (cold-start) [with obj.] start (an engine or machine) at the ambient temperature.

cold storage n. [mass noun] the keeping of something in a refrigerator or other cold place for preservation.

- FIGURATIVE the temporary postponement of something: the project went into cold storage.

cold store n. a large refrigerated room for preserving food at very low temperatures.

cold sweat n. a state of sweating induced by fear, anxiety, or illness: the very thought of exams brought her out in a cold sweat.

cold table n. BRITISH a selection of dishes of cold food in a restaurant or at a formal meal.

cold turkey INFORMAL n. [mass noun] the abrupt and complete cessation of taking a drug to which one is addicted: I had to go cold turkey.

- the symptoms caused by this: suddenly stopping the drug may result in cold turkey.

■ adv. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN in a sudden and abrupt manner: I had to quit drinking cold turkey.

cold war n. a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular:

■ (the Cold War) the state of hostility that existed between the Soviet bloc countries and the Western powers from 1945 to 1990.

cold warrior n. a person who promotes a cold war.

cold-weld v. [with obj.] join (a piece of metal) to another without the use of heat, by forcing them together so hard that the surface oxide films are disrupted and adhesion occurs.

cold-work v. [with obj.] shape (metal) while it is cold.

■ n. (cold work) [mass noun] the shaping of metal while it is cold.

Cole Nat King (1919–65), American singer and pianist; born Nathaniel Adams Coles. He became the first black man to have his own series both on radio (1948–9) and television (1956–7). Notable songs: ‘Mona Lisa’ (1950), ‘Ramblin' Rose’ (1962).

cole n. chiefly ARCHAIC a brassica, especially cabbage, kale, or rape.

<ORIGIN> Old English cāwel, caul, related to Dutch kool and German Kohl, from Latin caulis ‘stem, cabbage’; reinforced in Middle English by forms from Old Norse kál. Compare with KALE.

colectomy /kə()lεktəmi/ n. (pl. colectomies) [mass noun] surgical removal of all or part of the colon.

Coleman Ornette (b.1930), American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer, whose music is noted for its lack of harmony and chordal structure.

colemanite /kəlmənt/ n. [mass noun] a white crystalline mineral, typically occurring as glassy prisms, consisting of hydrated calcium borate.

<ORIGIN> named after William T. Coleman (1824–93) + -ITE^1.

Coleman lantern (also Coleman lamp) n. NORTH AMERICAN TRADEMARK a type of bright gasoline lamp used by campers.

Coleoptera /klpt(ə)rə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of insects that comprises the beetles (including weevils), forming the largest order of animals on the earth.

- (coleoptera) insects of this order; beetles.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek koleopteros, from koleos ‘sheath’ + pteron ‘wing’.

coleopteran [ENTOMOLOGY] n. an insect of the order Coleoptera; a beetle.

■ adj. relating to or denoting coleopterans.

<DERIVATIVES> coleopterous adj.

coleopterist /klptərst/ n. a person who studies or collects beetles.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from COLEOPTERA + -IST.

coleoptile /klptl/ n. [BOTANY] a sheath protecting a young shoot tip in a grass or cereal.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek koleon ‘sheath’ + ptilon ‘feather’.

coleorhiza /klə()rzə/ n. (pl. coleorhizae /-rzi/) [BOTANY] a sheath protecting the root of a germinating grass or cereal grain.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from koleos ‘sheath’ + rhiza ‘root’.

Coleraine /kəlren/ a town in the north of Northern Ireland, on the River Bann in County Londonderry; pop. 25,500 (est. 2002).

Coleridge /kələrd/ Samuel Taylor (1772–1834), English poet, critic, and philosopher. His Lyrical Ballads (1798), written with William Wordsworth, marked the start of English romanticism and included ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. Other notable poems: ‘Christabel’ and ‘Kubla Khan’ (both 1816).

coleslaw n. [mass noun] a salad dish of shredded raw cabbage, carrots, and other vegetables mixed with mayonnaise.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally US): from Dutch koolsla, from kool ‘cabbage’ + sla (see SLAW).

Colette /klεt/ (1873–1954), French novelist; born Sidonie Gabrielle Claudine. Notable novels Chéri (1920) and La Fin de Chéri (1926).

coleus /kələs/ n. a tropical SE Asian plant of the mint family with brightly coloured variegated leaves, popular as a house plant.

<INFO> Genus Solenostemon (formerly Coleus), family Labiatae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek koleos ‘sheath’ (because of the way the stamens are joined together, resembling a sheath).

colewort /kəlwət/ n. ARCHAIC another term for COLE.

coley /kəli/ n. (pl. coleys)

■ another term for SAITHE.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: perhaps from COALFISH.

colic n. [mass noun] severe pain in the abdomen caused by wind or obstruction in the intestines and suffered especially by babies.

<DERIVATIVES> colicky adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French colique, from late Latin colicus, from colon (see colon^2).

colicin /klsn/ n. [BIOLOGY] a bacteriocin produced by a coliform bacterium.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from French colicine (from coli, denoting a bacterium) + -IN^1.

colic root n. a North American plant of the lily family, with a rosette of leaves and a spike of small goblet-shaped white flowers, formerly used in the treatment of colic.

<INFO> Aletris farinosa, family Liliaceae.

coliform /klfm/ adj. [BIOLOGY] belonging to a group of rod-shaped bacteria typified by E. coli.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from modern Latin coli ‘of the colon’ + -IFORM.

Colima /klimə/ 1 a state of SW Mexico, on the Pacific coast.

2 the capital city of Colima; pop. 119,600 (2000).

colinearity /kəlnarti/ n. [mass noun] [GENETICS] the relationship between the linear sequence of nucleic acid bases in the DNA of the gene and the sequence of amino acids in the protein encoded by the DNA.

coliseum /klsiəm/ (also colosseum) n. [in names] a large theatre, cinema, or stadium: the London Coliseum.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from medieval Latin, alteration of Latin colosseum (see COLOSSEUM).

colitis /kəlts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the lining of the colon.

Coll an island in the Inner Hebrides, to the west of the isle of Mull.

Coll. abbr.

- Collected or Collection (used in written references to published works or sources).

- College.

collaborate /kəlabəret/ v. [no obj.] 1 work jointly on an activity or project: he collaborated with him on numerous hotel projects.

2 cooperate traitorously with an enemy: during the last war they collaborated with the Nazis.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin collaborat- ‘worked with’, from the verb collaborare, from col- ‘together’ + laborare ‘to work’.

collaboration n. [mass noun] 1 the action of working with someone to produce something: he wrote a book in collaboration with his son.

- [count noun] something produced in this way: his recent opera was a collaboration with Lessing.

2 traitorous cooperation with an enemy: he faces charges of collaboration.

<DERIVATIVES> collaborationist n. & adj.

■ collaboration (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin collaboratio(n-), from collaborare ‘work together’.

collaborative adj. produced by or involving two or more parties working together: collaborative research.

<DERIVATIVES> collaboratively adv.

collaborator /kəlabəretə/ n. 1 a person who works jointly on an activity or project; an associate: his collaborator on the book.

2 a person who cooperates traitorously with an enemy; a defector: he was a collaborator during the occupation.

collage /klα kəlα/ n. [mass noun] a form of art in which various materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric are arranged and stuck to a backing.

- [count noun] a composition made in this way.

- [count noun] a collection or combination of various things: a collage of musical genres.

<DERIVATIVES> collagist n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, literally ‘gluing’.

collagen /kləd(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] the main structural protein found in animal connective tissue, yielding gelatin when boiled.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French collagène, from Greek kolla ‘glue’ + French -gène (see -GEN).

collapsar /kəlapsα/ n. [ASTRONOMY] an old star that has collapsed under its own gravity to form a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from COLLAPSE, on the pattern of words such as pulsar.

collapse v. [no obj.] 1 (of a structure) suddenly fall down or give way: the roof collapsed on top of me.

- [with obj.] cause (something) to fall down or give way: it feels as if the slightest pressure would collapse it | FIGURATIVE many people tend to collapse the distinction between the two concepts.

- (usually as adj. collapsed) (of a lung or blood vessel) fall inwards and become flat and empty.

2 (of a person) fall down and become unconscious as a result of illness or injury: he collapsed from loss of blood.

- INFORMAL sit or lie down as a result of exhaustion: exhausted, he collapsed on the bed.

3 fail suddenly and completely: the talks collapsed last week over territorial issues.

- (of a price or currency) drop suddenly in value.

4 fold or be foldable into a small space: [no obj.] some cots collapse down to fit into a holdall.

■ n. an instance of a structure falling down or giving way: the collapse of a railway bridge | [mass noun] the church roof is in danger of collapse.

- a sudden failure of an institution or undertaking: the collapse of a number of prominent banks.

- a physical or mental breakdown: he suffered a collapse from overwork | [mass noun] she's lying there in a state of collapse.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as collapsed): from medical Latin collapsus, past participle of collabi, from col- ‘together’ + labi ‘to slip’.

collapsible adj. (of an object) able to be folded into a small space: a collapsible bed.

<DERIVATIVES> collapsibility n.

collar n. 1 the part around the neck of a shirt, blouse, jacket or coat, either upright or turned over.

- a band put around the neck of a domestic animal, used to restrain or control it.

2 a connecting band or pipe in machinery.

3 BRITISH a piece of meat rolled up and tied.

- a cut of bacon taken from the neck of a pig.

4 the part of a plant where the stem joins the roots.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL seize or apprehend (someone): police collared the culprit.

- approach (someone) in order to talk to them: he collared a departing guest for some last words.

<DERIVATIVES> collared adj. [in combination] a fur-collared jacket collarless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French colier, from Latin collare ‘band for the neck, collar’, from collum ‘neck’.

collar beam n. a horizontal piece of squared timber connecting two rafters and forming with them an A-shaped roof truss.

collarbone n. either of the pair of bones joining the breastbone to the shoulder blades. Also called CLAVICLE.

collard /klαd/ (also collards or collard greens) n. DIALECT or NORTH AMERICAN a cabbage of a variety that does not develop a heart.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: reduced form of colewort, in the same sense, from COLE + WORT.

collared dove n. an Old World dove related to the turtle dove, with buff, grey, or brown plumage and a narrow black band around the back of the neck.

<INFO> Genus Streptopelia, family Columbidae: several species, in particular the sandy grey S. decaocto.

collared lizard n. a lizard with a distinctive black-and-white collar, found in dry rocky areas in the southern US and Mexico.

<INFO> Crotaphytus collaris, family Iguanidae.

collar stud n. a stud used to fasten a detachable collar to a shirt.

collate /kəlet/ v. [with obj.] 1 collect and combine (texts, information, or data).

- compare and analyse (two or more sources of information): these accounts he collated with his own experience.

- [PRINTING] verify the number and order of (the sheets of a book).

2 appoint (a clergyman) to a benefice.

<DERIVATIVES> collator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘confer a benefice upon’): from Latin collat- ‘brought together’, from the verb conferre (see CONFER).

collateral /kəlat(ə)r(ə)l/ n. 1 [mass noun] something pledged as security for repayment of a loan, to be forfeited in the event of a default.

2 a person having the same ancestor as another but through a different line.

■ adj. 1 descended from the same stock but by a different line: a collateral descendant of Robert Burns.

2 additional but subordinate; secondary: the collateral meanings of a word.

3 situated side by side; parallel: collateral veins.

<DERIVATIVES> collaterality n. collaterally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from medieval Latin collateralis, from col- ‘together with’ + lateralis (from latus, later- ‘side’).

■ Sense 1 of the noun (originally US) is from the phrase collateral security, denoting something pledged in addition to the main obligation of a contract.

collateral contract n. [LAW] a subsidiary contract which induces a person to enter into a main contract or which depends upon the main contract for its existence.

collateral damage n. [mass noun] EUPHEMISTIC inadvertent casualties and destruction in civilian areas in the course of military operations.

collateralize (also collateralise) v. [with obj.] provide something as collateral for (a loan).

collation /kəle(ə)n/ n. 1 [mass noun] the action of collating something: data management and collation.

2 FORMAL a light informal meal.

- (in the Roman Catholic Church) a light meal allowed during a fast.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin collatio(n-), from conferre (see CONFER). Originally (in the plural) the term denoted John Cassian's Collationes Patrum in Scetica Eremo Commorantium ‘Conferences of, or with, the Egyptian Hermits’ (AD 415–20), from which a reading would be given in Benedictine communities prior to a light meal (see SENSE 2).

colleague n. a person with whom one works in a profession or business.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French collègue, from Latin collega ‘partner in office’, from col- ‘together with’ + legare ‘depute’.

collect^1 /kəlεkt/ v. [with obj.] 1 bring or gather together (a number of things): he went round the office collecting old coffee cups.

- [no obj.] come together and form a group: a small crowd collected at the back door.

- systematically seek and acquire (items of a particular kind) as a hobby: I've started collecting stamps.

- accumulate over a period of time: collect rainwater to use on the garden.

2 call for and take away; fetch: the children were collected from school.

- call for and obtain (payments) from a number of people: he collected their rent each week.

- go somewhere and receive (something) as a right or award: she came to Oxford to collect her honorary degree.

- ask for and receive (charitable donations): they were collecting money for the war effort.

3 (collect oneself) regain control of oneself, typically after a shock.

- concentrate (one's thoughts).

4 ARCHAIC conclude; infer: [with clause] by all best conjectures, I collect Thou art to be my fatal enemy.

5 cause (a horse) to bring its hind legs further forward as it moves.

6 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL collide with: he lost control of the truck and collected two cats.

■ adv. & adj. NORTH AMERICAN (with reference to a telephone call) to be paid for by the person receiving it: [as adv.] I called my mother collect.

■ n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a winning bet.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French collecter or medieval Latin collectare, from Latin collect- ‘gathered together’, from the verb colligere, from col- ‘together’ + legere ‘choose or collect’.

collect^2 /klεkt -lkt/ n. (in church use) a short prayer, especially one assigned to a particular day or season.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French collecte, from Latin collecta ‘gathering’, feminine past participle of colligere ‘gather together’ (see collect^1).

collectable /kəlεktəb(ə)l/ (also collectible) adj. 1 (often collectible) (of an item) worth collecting; of interest to a collector.

2 able to be collected: a hire car, collectable on your arrival.

■ n. (usually collectibles) an item valued and sought by collectors.

<DERIVATIVES> collectability /-blti/ n.

collectanea /klεktαnə -ten-/ plural n. [also treated as sing.] passages, remarks, and other pieces of text collected from various sources.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: Latin, neuter plural of collectaneus ‘gathered together’.

collected adj. 1 (of a person) calm and self-controlled: outwardly they are cool, calm, and collected.

2 [attr.] (of individual works) brought together in one volume or edition: the collected works of Shakespeare.

- (of a volume or edition) containing all the works of a particular person or category.

<DERIVATIVES> collectedly adv.

■ collected (sense 1)

collection n. 1 [mass noun] the action or process of collecting someone or something: the collection of data | refuse collection | she left the envelope in the office for collection.

- [count noun] a regular removal of mail for dispatch or of refuse for disposal.

- [count noun] an instance of collecting money in a church service or for a charity.

- [count noun] a sum collected in this way.

2 a group of things or people: a rambling collection of houses.

- a group of accumulated items of a particular kind: a record collection.

- a book or recording containing various texts, poems, songs, etc.: a collection of essays.

- a range of new clothes produced by a fashion house: a preview of their autumn collection.

3 (collections) BRITISH college examinations held at the beginning or end of a term, especially at Oxford University.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin collectio(n-), from colligere ‘gather together’ (see collect^1).

collective adj. done by people acting as a group: a collective protest.

- relating to or shared by all the members of a group: ministers who share collective responsibility.

- taken as a whole; aggregate: the collective power of the workforce.

■ n. a cooperative enterprise.

- a collective farm.

<DERIVATIVES> collectively adv. collectiveness n. collectivity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘representing many individuals’): from Old French collectif, -ive or Latin collectivus, from collect- ‘gathered together’, from the verb colligere (see collect^1).

collective bargaining n. [mass noun] negotiation of wages and other conditions of employment by an organized body of employees.

collective farm n. a jointly operated amalgamation of several smallholdings, especially one owned by the state.

collective memory n. [mass noun] the memory of a group of people, passed from one generation to the next.

collective noun n. [GRAMMAR] a count noun that denotes a group of individuals (e.g. assembly, family, crew).

<USAGE> A collective noun can be used with either a singular verb (my family was always hard-working) or a plural verb (his family were disappointed in him). Generally speaking, in Britain it is more usual for collective nouns to be followed by a plural verb while in the US the opposite is true. Notice that, if the verb is singular, any following pronouns must be too: the government is prepared to act, but not until it knows the outcome of the latest talks (not … until they know the outcome …).

collective ownership n. [mass noun] ownership of something, typically land or industrial assets, by all members of a group for the mutual benefit of all.

collective security n. [mass noun] the cooperation of several countries in an alliance to strengthen the security of each.

collective unconscious n. (in Jungian psychology) the part of the unconscious mind which is derived from ancestral memory and experience and is common to all humankind, as distinct from the individual's unconscious.

collectivism n. [mass noun] the practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it.

- the ownership of land and the means of production by the people or the state, as a political principle or system.

<DERIVATIVES> collectivist adj. & n. collectivistic adj.

collectivize (also collectivise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. collectivized) organize (an industry or activity) on the basis of public or state ownership: collectivized agriculture.

<DERIVATIVES> collectivization n.

collector /kəlεktə/ n. 1 a person who collects things of a specified type, professionally or as a hobby: an art collector.

2 an official who is responsible for collecting money owed to an organization: a tax collector.

- an official who collects tickets from bus or train passengers.

3 (in some South Asian countries) the chief administrative official of a district.

4 [ELECTRONICS] the region in a bipolar transistor that absorbs charge carriers.

collector's item (also collector's piece) n. an object valued by collectors, because it is rare, beautiful, or has some special interest.

colleen /klin klin/ n. IRISH a girl or young woman.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Irish cailin, diminutive of caile ‘countrywoman’.

college n. 1 an educational institution or establishment, in particular:

- one providing higher education or specialized professional or vocational training: colleges of further education | I'm at college, studying graphic design.

- (in Britain) any of the independent institutions into which certain universities are separated, each having its own teaching staff, students, and buildings.

- BRITISH a private secondary school: [in names] Eton College.

- US a university offering a limited curriculum or teaching only to a bachelor's degree.

- the teaching staff and students of a college considered collectively: the college was shocked by his death.

2 an organized group of professional people with particular aims, duties, and privileges: [in names] the Royal College of Physicians.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin collegium ‘partnership’, from collega ‘partner in office’, from col- ‘together with’ + legare ‘depute’.

College of Arms (also College of Heralds)

- (in the UK) a corporation which officially records and grants armorial bearings. Formed in 1484, it comprises three Kings of Arms, six heralds, and four pursuivants. Also called HERALDS' COLLEGE.

College of Cardinals the body of cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, founded in the 11th century and since 1179 responsible for the election of the Pope. Also called SACRED COLLEGE.

college of education n. an institution where schoolteachers are trained.

college pudding n. BRITISH a small baked or steamed suet pudding with dried fruit.

collegia plural form of COLLEGIUM.

collegial /kəlidəl -d(ə)l/ adj. 1 another term for collegiate (sense 1).

2 relating to or involving shared responsibility, as among a group of colleagues.

<DERIVATIVES> collegiality n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French collegial or late Latin collegialis, from collegium ‘partnership’ (see COLLEGE).

collegian /kəlidən -d(ə)n/ n. a member of a college, especially within a university.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin collegianus, from collegium ‘partnership’ (see COLLEGE).

collegiate /kəlid()ət/ adj. 1 belonging or relating to a college or its students: collegiate life.

2 BRITISH (of a university) composed of different colleges.

<DERIVATIVES> collegiately adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin collegiatus, from collegium ‘partnership’ (see COLLEGE).

collegiate church n. a church endowed for a chapter of canons but without a bishop's see.

- US & SCOTTISH a church or group of churches established under two or more pastors.

collegiate Gothic n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a style of neo-Gothic architecture used for some US university buildings.

collegium /kəlidəm/ n. (pl. collegia /kəlidə -də/) 1 (in full collegium musicum) (plural collegia musica) a society of amateur musicians, especially one attached to a German or US university.

2 HISTORICAL an advisory or administrative board in Russia.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘association’.

col legno /kl lεnjə/ adv. (of a passage of music for a bowed instrument) played by hitting the strings with the back of the bow.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘with the wood (of the bow)’.

Collembola /kəlεmbələ/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of insects that comprises the springtails.

- (collembola) insects of this order; springtails.

<DERIVATIVES> collembolan n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek kolla ‘glue’ + embolon ‘peg, stopper’ (with reference to the sticky substance secreted by the ventral tube of the insects).

collenchyma /kəlεkmə/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] tissue strengthened by the thickening of cell walls, as in young shoots.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kolla ‘glue’ + enkhuma ‘infusion’.

Colles fracture /kls/ n. MEDICINE a fracture of the radius in the wrist, with a characteristic backward displacement of the hand.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Abraham Colles (1773–1843), Irish surgeon.

collet /klt/ n. 1 a segmented band put round a shaft and tightened so as to grip it.

2 a small collar in a clock to which the inner end of a balance spring is attached.

3 a flange or socket for setting a gem in jewellery.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a piece of armour to protect the neck): from Old French, diminutive of col ‘neck’, from Latin collum.

colliculus /kəlkjləs/ n. (pl. colliculi /-l -li/) [ANATOMY] any of a number of small swellings in the roof of the midbrain, involved in vision and hearing.

<DERIVATIVES> collicular adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, diminutive of collis ‘hill’.

collide v. [no obj.] hit by accident when moving: she collided with someone | two suburban trains collided.

- come into conflict or opposition: in his work, politics and metaphysics collide.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘cause to collide’): from Latin collidere, from col- ‘together’ + laedere ‘to strike’.

collider n. [PHYSICS] an accelerator in which two beams of particles are made to collide.

collie n. (pl. collies) a sheepdog of a breed originating in Scotland, having a long pointed nose and long thick hair.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: perhaps from COAL (the breed originally being black).

collier /klə/ n. chiefly BRITISH 1 a coal miner.

2 a ship carrying coal.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from COAL + -IER. The original sense was ‘maker of charcoal’, who usually brought it to market, hence ‘person selling charcoal’, later ‘person selling coal’, whence the current senses.

colliery n. (pl. collieries) chiefly BRITISH a coal mine and the buildings and equipment associated with it.

colligate /klet/ v. [LINGUISTICS] be or cause to be juxtaposed or grouped in a syntactic relation: [no obj.] the two grammatical items are said to colligate.

<DERIVATIVES> colligation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the Latin sense): from Latin colligat- ‘bound together’, from the verb colligare, from col- ‘together’ + ligare ‘bind’. The current sense dates from the 1960s.

colligative /kələtv/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] relating to the binding together of molecules.

collimate /klmet/ v. [with obj.] make (rays of light or particles) accurately parallel: (as adj. collimated) a collimated electron beam.

- accurately set the alignment of (an optical or other system).

<DERIVATIVES> collimation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin collimare, an erroneous reading (in some editions of Cicero) of collineare ‘align or aim’, from col- ‘together with’ + linea ‘line’.

collimator n. a device for producing a parallel beam of rays or radiation.

- a small fixed telescope used for adjusting the line of sight of an astronomical telescope.

collinear /kəlnə/ adj. [GEOMETRY] (of points) lying in the same straight line.

<DERIVATIVES> collinearity n.

Collins^1 Joan (Henrietta) (b.1933), English actress, a sex symbol in films such as Our Girl Friday (1953) and known more recently for the television series Dynasty (1981–9).

Collins^2 Michael (1890–1922), Irish nationalist leader and politician. A Member of Parliament for Sinn Fein, he was one of the negotiators of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. He commanded the Irish Free State forces in the civil war and became head of state but was assassinated ten days later.

Collins^3 (William) Wilkie (1824–89), English novelist, noted for his detective stories The Woman in White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868).

collision n. 1 an instance of one moving object or person striking violently against another: a mid-air collision between two aircraft | [mass noun] his car was in collision with a lorry.

- a conflict between opposing ideas, interests, or factions: a collision of two diverse cultures and languages.

2 [COMPUTING] an instance of two or more records being assigned the same location in memory.

- an instance of simultaneous transmission by more than one node of a network.

<PHRASES>

□ on (a) collision course adopting an approach that is certain to lead to conflict with another person or group: nurses are on a collision course with the government.

<DERIVATIVES> collisional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin collisio(n-), from Latin collidere ‘strike together’ (see COLLIDE).

collocate v. /kləket/ 1 [no obj.] [LINGUISTICS] (of a word) be habitually juxtaposed with another with a frequency greater than chance: ‘maiden’ collocates with ‘voyage’.

2 [with obj.] RARE place side by side or in a particular relation.

■ n. /kləkət/ [LINGUISTICS] a word that is habitually juxtaposed with another with a frequency greater than chance: collocates for the word ‘mortgage’ include ‘lend’ and ‘property’.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in sense 2 of the verb): from Latin collocat- ‘placed together’, from the verb collocare, from col- ‘together’ + locare ‘to place’.

■ Sense 1 of the verb dates from the 1950s.

collocation n. [mass noun] 1 [LINGUISTICS] the habitual juxtaposition of a particular word with another word or words with a frequency greater than chance: the words have a similar range of collocation.

- [count noun] a pair or group of words that are juxtaposed in such a way: ‘strong tea’ and ‘heavy drinker’ are typical English collocations.

2 the action of placing things side by side or in position: the collocation of the two pieces.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin collocatio(n-), from collocare ‘place together’ (see COLLOCATE).

collocutor /kləkjutə kəlkjtə/ n. RARE a person who takes part in a conversation.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin, from collocut- ‘conversed’, from the verb colloqui.

collodion /kələdən/ n. [mass noun] a syrupy solution of nitrocellulose in a mixture of alcohol and ether, used for coating things, chiefly in surgery.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kollōdēs ‘glue-like’, from kolla ‘glue’.

collogue /klə/ v. (collogues, colloguing, collogued) [no obj.] ARCHAIC talk confidentially or conspiratorially.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘flatter, pretend to agree with or believe’): probably an alteration of obsolete colleague ‘conspire’, by association with Latin colloqui ‘to converse’.

colloid /kld/ n. a homogeneous non-crystalline substance consisting of large molecules or ultramicroscopic particles of one substance dispersed through a second substance. Colloids include gels, sols, and emulsions; the particles do not settle, and cannot be separated out by ordinary filtering or centrifuging like those in a suspension.

- [mass noun] [ANATOMY] & MEDICINE a substance of gelatinous consistency.

■ adj. relating to or characterized by a colloid or colloids.

<DERIVATIVES> colloidal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kolla ‘glue’ + -OID.

collop /kləp/ n. DIALECT & NORTH AMERICAN a slice of meat: three collops of bacon.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish kalops ‘meat stew’.

colloquial /kələkwəl/ adj. (of language) used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary.

<DERIVATIVES> colloquially adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin colloquium ‘conversation’ + -AL.

colloquialism n. a word or phrase that is not formal or literary and is used in ordinary or familiar conversation.

- [mass noun] the use of such words or phrases.

colloquium /kələkwəm/ n. (pl. colloquiums or colloquia /-kwə/) an academic conference or seminar.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a conversation): from Latin, from colloqui ‘to converse’, from col- ‘together’ + loqui ‘to talk’.

colloquy /kləkwi/ n. (pl. colloquies) 1 FORMAL a conversation: they broke off their colloquy at once | [mass noun] he found her in earnest colloquy with the postman.

2 a gathering for discussion of theological questions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin colloquium ‘conversation’.

collotype /klətp/ n. [mass noun] [PRINTING] a process for making high-quality prints from a sheet of light-sensitive gelatin exposed photographically to the image without using a screen.

- [count noun] a print made by such a process.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kolla ‘glue’ + TYPE.

collude /kəl(j)ud/ v. [no obj.] come to a secret understanding; conspire: the president accused his opponents of colluding with foreigners.

<DERIVATIVES> colluder n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin colludere ‘have a secret agreement’, from col- ‘together’ + ludere ‘to play’.

collusion n. [mass noun] secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy in order to deceive others: the armed forces were working in collusion with drug traffickers.

- [LAW] such cooperation or conspiracy between ostensible opponents in a lawsuit.

<DERIVATIVES> collusive adj. collusively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin collusio(n-), from colludere ‘have a secret agreement’ (see COLLUDE).

colluvium /kəl(j)uvəm/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] material which accumulates at the foot of a steep slope.

<DERIVATIVES> colluvial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from Latin colluvies ‘confluence of matter’, from colluere ‘to rinse’, from col- ‘together’ + luere ‘to wash’.

collyrium /kəlrəm/ n. (pl. collyria /-rə/) 1 ARCHAIC a medicated eyewash.

2 [mass noun] a kind of dark eyeshadow, used especially in Eastern countries.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: Latin, from Greek kollurion ‘poultice’, from kollura ‘coarse bread roll’.

collywobbles plural n. INFORMAL, chiefly HUMOROUS stomach pain or queasiness: an attack of collywobbles.

- intense anxiety or nervousness: such organizations give him the collywobbles.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: fanciful formation from COLIC and WOBBLE.

Colo abbr. Colorado.

colobine /kləbn/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an Old World monkey of a mainly leaf-eating group that includes the colobus monkeys, langurs, and leaf monkeys.

<INFO> Subfamily Colobinae, family Cercopithicidae.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from modern Latin Colobinae, based on Greek kolobos ‘cut short’.

coloboma /kləbəmə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a congenital malformation of the eye causing defects in the lens, iris, or retina.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek kolobōma ‘part removed in mutilation’, from kolobos ‘cut short’.

colobus /kləbəs/ (also colobus monkey) n. (pl. same) a slender leaf-eating African monkey with silky fur, a long tail, and very small or absent thumbs.

<INFO> Genera Colobus and Procolobus, family Cercopithecidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kolobos ‘cut short’.

co-locate v. (be co-located) share a location or facility with something else: a United Kingdom battalion would be co-located with the home-base battalion.

colocynth /kləsnθ/ n. a tropical Old World climbing plant of the gourd family, which bears a pulpy fruit. Also called BITTER APPLE.

<INFO> Citrullus colocynthis, family Cucurbitaceae.

- the fruit of the colocynth plant.

- [mass noun] a bitter purgative drug obtained from this fruit.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek kolokunthis.

Cologne /kələn/ an industrial and university city in western Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia; pop. 966,800 (est. 2002). Founded by the Romans and situated on the River Rhine, Cologne is notable for its medieval cathedral. German name Köln.

cologne /kələn/ n. [mass noun] eau de cologne or similarly scented toilet water.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after COLOGNE in Germany.

Colombia /kəlmbə/ a country in the extreme NW of South America, having a coastline on both the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean; pop. 41,008,227 (est. 2002); official language, Spanish; capital, Bogotá. Colombia was conquered by the Spanish in the early 16th century and achieved independence in the early 19th century.

<DERIVATIVES> Colombian adj. & n.

Colombo /kəlmbə/ the capital and chief port of Sri Lanka; pop. 642,000 (2001).

colon^1 /kələn/ n. a punctuation mark (:) used to precede a list of items, a quotation, or an expansion or explanation.

- this mark used to indicate a statement of proportion between two numbers: 10:1.

- this mark used to separate hours from minutes (and minutes from seconds) in a numerical statement of time: 4:30 p.m.

- this mark used to indicate the number of the chapter and verse respectively in biblical references: Exodus 3:2.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a term in rhetoric denoting a section of a complex sentence, or a pause before it): via Latin from Greek kōlon ‘limb, clause’.

colon^2 /kələn -ln/ n. [ANATOMY] the main part of the large intestine, which passes from the caecum to the rectum and absorbs water and electrolytes from food which has remained undigested.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek kolon.

Colón /kln/ the chief port of Panama, at the Caribbean end of the Panama Canal; pop. 42,100 (2000). It was founded in 1850 by the American William Aspinwall (1807–55), after whom it was originally named.

colón /kln/ n. (pl. colones /-lnεz/) the basic monetary unit of Costa Rica and El Salvador, equal to 100 centimos in Costa Rica and 100 centavos in El Salvador.

<ORIGIN> from Cristóbal Colón, the Spanish name of Christopher Columbus (see Columbus^2).

colonel /kən(ə)l/ n. a rank of officer in the army and in the US air force, above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier or brigadier general.

- INFORMAL short for LIEUTENANT COLONEL.

<DERIVATIVES> colonelcy n. (pl. colonelcies)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from obsolete French coronel (earlier form of colonel), from Italian colonnello ‘column of soldiers’, from colonna ‘column’, from Latin columna. The form coronel, source of the modern pronunciation, was usual until the mid 17th cent.

Colonel Blimp n. another term for blimp (sense 1).

colonel-in-chief n. (pl. colonels-in-chief) a title given to the honorary head of a regiment in the British army.

colonial adj. 1 relating to or characteristic of a colony or colonies: British colonial rule | colonial expansion.

- denoting a predominantly neoclassical style of architecture characteristic of the period of the British colonies in America before independence, featuring a modification of the Queen Anne style.

2 (of animals or plants) living in colonies.

■ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of a colony.

2 a house built in colonial style.

<DERIVATIVES> colonially adv.

colonialism n. [mass noun] the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.

<DERIVATIVES> colonialist n. & adj.

colonic /kəlnk/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to or affecting the colon.

■ n. INFORMAL an act of colonic irrigation.

colonic irrigation n. [mass noun] the practice of injecting water via the anus to flush out the colon, used as a therapeutic treatment.

colonist n. a settler in or inhabitant of a colony.

colonize (also colonise) v. [with obj.] send settlers to (a place) and establish political control over it: the Greeks colonized Sicily and southern Italy.

- settle among and establish control over (the indigenous people of an area).

- appropriate (a place or domain) for one's own use: a small town in a part of the Hudson Valley fast being colonized by weekenders.

- [ECOLOGY] (of a plant or animal) establish itself in (an area).

<DERIVATIVES> colonization n. colonizer n.

colonnade /kləned/ n. a row of evenly spaced columns supporting a roof, an entablature, or arches.

<DERIVATIVES> colonnaded adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from colonne ‘column’, from Latin columna.

colonoscope /kəlnəskəp/ n. MEDICINE a flexible fibre-optic instrument inserted through the anus in order to examine the colon.

<DERIVATIVES> colonoscopy n. (pl. colonoscopies)

colony n. (pl. colonies) 1 a country or area under the full or partial political control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country.

- a group of people living in such a country or area, consisting of the original settlers and their descendants and successors.

- (the colonies) all the foreign countries or areas formerly under British political control.

- (the colonies) the thirteen areas on the east coast of North America that gained independence from Britain and founded the United States of America.

2 a group of people of one nationality or race living in a foreign place: the British colony in New York.

- a place where a group of people with the same occupation or interest live together: a nudist colony.

3 [BIOLOGY] a community of animals or plants of one kind living close together or forming a physically connected structure: a colony of seals.

- a group of fungi or bacteria grown from a single spore or cell on a culture medium.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a settlement formed mainly of retired soldiers, acting as a garrison in newly conquered territory in the Roman Empire): from Latin colonia ‘settlement, farm’, from colonus ‘settler, farmer’, from colere ‘cultivate’.

colony-stimulating factor n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance secreted by bone marrow which promotes the growth and differentiation of stem cells into colonies of specific blood cells.

colophon /kləf(ə)n/ n. a publisher's emblem or imprint on the title page of a book.

- HISTORICAL a statement at the end of a book, typically with a printer's emblem, giving information about its authorship and printing.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a finishing touch): via late Latin from Greek kolophōn ‘summit or finishing touch’.

colophony /kəlfəni kləfəni/ n. another term for ROSIN.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin colophonia (resina) ‘(resin) from Colophon’, a town in Lydia, Asia Minor.

Colorado /klərαdə/ 1 a river which rises in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado and flows generally south-westwards for 2,333 km (1,468 miles) to the Gulf of California, passing through the Grand Canyon.

2 a state in the central US; pop. 4,301,261 (2000); capital, Denver. Colorado extends from the Great Plains in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west. Part of it was acquired by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the rest ceded by Mexico in 1848. It became the 38th state in 1876.

<DERIVATIVES> Coloradan n. & adj.

Colorado beetle n. a yellow- and black-striped leaf beetle native to America, whose larvae are highly destructive to potato plants.

<INFO> Leptinotarsa decemlineata, family Chrysomelidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after the state of COLORADO.

coloration (also colouration) n. 1 the appearance of something with regard to colour: some bacterial structures take on a purple coloration.

- the natural colouring of animals or plants: the red coloration of many maples.

- a scheme of applying colour in art.

2 the pervading character or tone of something: the productions have taken on a political coloration.

- a variety of musical or vocal expression: the subtle colorations of big-box speakers.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin coloratio(n-), from colorare ‘to colour’.

coloratura /klərətjərə/ n. [mass noun] elaborate ornamentation of a vocal melody, especially in operatic singing.

- (also coloratura soprano) [count noun] a soprano skilled in coloratura singing.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘colouring’, from Latin colorare ‘to colour’.

colorectal /kələrεkt(ə)l/ adj. relating to or affecting the colon and the rectum.

colorific /klərfk kl-/ (also colourific) adj. RARE having much colour: the colorific radiance of costume.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French colorifique or modern Latin colorificus, from Latin color ‘colour’.

colorimeter /klərmtə kl-/ n. an instrument for measuring the intensity of colour.

<DERIVATIVES> colorimetric adj. colorimetry n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin color ‘colour’ + -METER.

colorize (BRITISH also colourize) v. [with obj.] add colour to (a black-and-white film).

<DERIVATIVES> colorization n. (TRADEMARK in the US) colorizer n. (TRADEMARK in the US)

colossal adj. 1 extremely large or great: a colossal amount of mail | a colossal mistake.

- [SCULPTURE] (of a statue) at least twice life size.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] (of an order) having more than one storey of columns.

<DERIVATIVES> colossally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from colosse, from Latin colossus (see COLOSSUS).

Colosseum /kləsiəm/ n. the name since medieval times of the Amphitheatrum Flavium, a vast amphitheatre in Rome, begun c.75 AD.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, neuter of colosseus ‘gigantic’, from colossus (see COLOSSUS).

Colossians, Epistle to the /kəl(ə)nz/ a book of the New Testament, an epistle of St Paul to the Church at Colossae in Phrygia.

colossus /kəlsəs/ n. (pl. colossi /-s/ or colossuses) a statue that is much bigger than life size.

- a person or thing of enormous size, importance, or ability: the Russian Empire was the colossus of European politics.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek kolossos (applied by Herodotus to the statues of Egyptian temples).

Colossus of Rhodes a huge bronze statue of the sun god Helios, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Built c.292–280 BC, it stood beside the harbour entrance at Rhodes for about fifty years.

colostomy /kəlstəmi/ n. (pl. colostomies) a surgical operation in which the colon is shortened to remove a damaged part and the cut end diverted to an opening in the abdominal wall.

- an opening so formed: [as modifier] a colostomy bag.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from COLON^2 + Greek stoma ‘mouth’.

colostrum /kəlstrəm/ n. [mass noun] the first secretion from the mammary glands after giving birth, rich in antibodies.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin.

colour (US color) n. 1 [mass noun] the property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits light: the lights flickered and changed colour.

- [count noun] one, or any mixture, of the constituents into which light can be separated in a spectrum or rainbow, sometimes including (loosely) black and white: a rich brown colour | a range of bright colours.

- the use of all colours, not only black and white, in photography or television: he has shot the whole film in colour | [as modifier] colour television.

- rosiness or redness of the face as an indication of health or of embarrassment, anger, etc.: there was some colour back in his face | colour flooded her skin as she realized what he meant.

- a substance used to give something a particular colour: lip colour.

- [count noun] FIGURATIVE a shade of meaning: many events in her past had taken on a different colour.

- [count noun] [HERALDRY] any of the major conventional colours used in coats of arms (gules, vert, sable, azure, purpure), especially as opposed to the metals, furs, and stains.

- [count noun] [SNOOKER] any of the balls other than the white cue ball and the reds.

2 [mass noun] pigmentation of the skin, especially as an indication of someone's race: discrimination on the basis of colour.

- [count noun] a group of people considered as being distinguished by skin pigmentation: all colours and nationalities.

3 [mass noun] vivid appearance resulting from the juxtaposition of many bright things: for colour, plant groups of winter-flowering pansies.

- features that lend a particularly interesting quality to something: a town full of colour and character.

- variety of musical tone or expression: orchestral colour.

4 (colours) an item or items of a particular colour worn to identify or distinguish an individual or a member of a group, in particular a jockey or a member of a sports team.

- (also school colours) a badge, cap, or other item in the distinctive colours of a particular school, awarded to a pupil selected to represent the school in a sport.

- chiefly BRITISH the flag of a country, or of a regiment or ship.

5 [mass noun] [PHYSICS] a quantized property of quarks which can take three values (designated blue, green, and red) for each flavour.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] change the colour of (something) by painting, dyeing, or shading it: he coloured her hair with a selection of blonde and brown shades.

- [no obj.] take on a different colour: the foliage will not colour well if the soil is too rich.

- fill (a shape or outline) with colour: he hated finger-painting and colouring in pictures.

- FIGURATIVE make vivid or picturesque: he has coloured the dance with gestures from cabaret and vaudeville.

2 [no obj.] (of a person or their skin) show embarrassment or shame by becoming red; blush: she coloured slightly.

- [with obj.] cause (a person's skin) to change in colour: rage coloured his pale complexion.

- [with obj.] (of an emotion) imbue (a person's voice) with a particular tone: surprise coloured her voice.

3 [with obj.] influence, especially in a negative way; distort: the experiences had coloured her whole existence.

- misrepresent by distortion or exaggeration: witnesses might colour evidence to make a story saleable.

<PHRASES>

□ lend (or give) colour to make something seem true or probable: this lent colour and credibility to his defence.

□ sail under false colours disguise one's true nature or intentions.

□ show one's true colours reveal one's real character or intentions, especially when these are disreputable or dishonourable.

□ under colour of under the pretext of.

□ with flying colours see FLYING.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French colour (noun), colourer (verb), from Latin color (noun), colorare (verb).

colourable (US colorable) adj. 1 capable of being coloured: colourable illustrations.

2 appearing to be correct or justified, but in fact not so: a colourable legal claim.

- counterfeit.

colourant (US colorant) n. a dye, pigment, or other substance that colours something.

colour bar n. a social system in which black people are denied access to the same rights, opportunities, and facilities as white people.

colour-blind adj. unable to distinguish certain colours, or (rarely in humans) any colours at all. See PROTANOPIA.

<DERIVATIVES> colour blindness n.

colour code n. a system of marking things with different colours as a means of identification.

■ v. (colour-code) [with obj.] mark (things) with different colours as a means of identification: each unit is colour-coded for clarity.

coloured (US colored) adj. 1 having a colour or colours, especially as opposed to being black, white, or neutral: brightly coloured birds are easier to see | [in combination] a peach-coloured sofa.

- imbued with an emotive or exaggerated quality: highly coloured examples were used by both sides.

2 (also Coloured) DATED or OFFENSIVE wholly or partly of non-white descent.

- S. AFRICAN used as an ethnic label for people of mixed ethnic origin, including Khoisan, African, Malay, Chinese, and white.

■ n. 1 (also Coloured) DATED or OFFENSIVE a person who is wholly or partly of non-white descent.

- S. AFRICAN a person of mixed descent usually speaking Afrikaans or English as their mother tongue.

2 (coloureds) clothes, sheets, etc. that are any colour but white.

<USAGE> Coloured referring to skin colour is first recorded in the early 17th century and was adopted in the US by emancipated slaves as a term of racial pride after the end of the American Civil War. In Britain it was the accepted term until the 1960s, when it was superseded (as in the US) by black. The term coloured lost favour among blacks during this period and is now widely regarded as offensive except in historical contexts.
In South Africa the term coloured (also written Coloured) has a different history. It is used to refer to people of mixed-race parentage rather than, as elsewhere, to refer to African peoples and their descendants (i.e. as a synonym for black). Under apartheid it was imposed as an official racial designation. However, in modern use the term is not generally considered offensive or derogatory.

colour fast adj. dyed in colours that will not fade or be washed out.

<DERIVATIVES> colour fastness n.

colour-field painting n. [mass noun] a style of American abstract painting prominent from the late 1940s to the 1960s which features large expanses of unmodulated colour covering the greater part of the canvas. Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko were considered its chief exponents.

colour filter n. a photographic filter that absorbs light of certain colours.

colourful (US colorful) adj. 1 having much or varied colour; bright: a colourful array of fruit.

2 full of interest; lively and exciting: a controversial and colourful character | a colourful account.

- involving variously disreputable activities: the financier had had a colourful career.

- (of language) vulgar or rude: she made it clear, in colourful language, that she did not wish to talk to the police.

<DERIVATIVES> colourfully adv. colourfulness n.

colouring (US coloring) n. [mass noun] 1 the process of changing the colour of something by painting, dyeing, or shading it.

- the filling in of a shape or outline with colour: [as modifier] a colouring book.

2 appearance with regard to colour: the toad's colouring blended perfectly with its surroundings.

- the natural hues of a person's skin, hair, and eyes: her fair colouring.

- the pervading character or tone of something: her performance was strong on dramatic colouring.

3 matter used to give a particular colour to something, especially food.

colourist (US colorist) n. an artist or designer who uses colour in a special or skilful way.

- a person who tints black-and-white films.

- a hairdresser who specializes in dyeing people's hair.

colouristic (US coloristic) adj. showing special use of colour: his great colouristic wallpapers.

- having or showing a variety of musical or vocal expression: the choir's colouristic resources.

<DERIVATIVES> colouristically adv.

colourless (US colorless) adj. 1 (especially of a gas or liquid) without colour.

- dull or pale in hue: her colourless cheeks.

2 lacking distinctive character or interest; dull: the book is rather colourless, like its author.

<DERIVATIVES> colourlessly adv. colourlessness n.

colour phase n. a genetic or seasonal variation in the colour of the skin, pelt, or feathers of an animal.

colourpoint n. a cat of a long-haired breed having a pale coat with dark points, and blue eyes, developed by crossing Persian and Siamese cats.

colour reversal n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] [PHOTOGRAPHY] the process of producing a positive image directly from another positive: colour reversal films.

colour scheme n. an arrangement or combination of colours, especially one used in interior decoration: a brown or gold colour scheme.

<DERIVATIVES> colour scheming n.

colour separation n. [mass noun] [PHOTOGRAPHY] & [PRINTING] the production of separate negative images of the same subject taken through green, red, and blue filters, which are combined to reproduce the full colour of the original.

- [count noun] an image produced in this way.

colour sergeant n. a rank of non-commissioned officer in the Army and Royal Marines, above sergeant and below warrant officer.

<ORIGIN> with reference to the sergeant's responsibility for carrying one of the regiment's colours in a guard of honour.

colour supplement n. BRITISH a magazine printed in colour and issued with a newspaper, especially at weekends.

colour temperature n. [ASTRONOMY] & [PHYSICS] the temperature at which a black body would emit radiation of the same colour as a given object.

colour therapy n. [mass noun] a system of alternative medicine based on the use of colour, especially projected coloured light.

colour wash n. [mass noun] coloured distemper.

■ v. (colour-wash) [with obj.] paint (something) with coloured distemper.

colourway (US colorway) n. any of a range of combinations of colours in which a style or design is available: our sweater comes in two colourways.

colour wheel n. a circle with different coloured sectors used to show the relationship between colours.

colporteur /klptə klptə/ n. a person who sells books, newspapers, and similar literature.

- someone employed by a religious society to distribute bibles and other religious tracts.

<DERIVATIVES> colportage /klptd/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, from the verb colporter, probably an alteration of comporter, from Latin comportare ‘carry with one’.

colposcope /klpəskəp/ n. a surgical instrument used to examine the vagina and the cervix of the womb.

<DERIVATIVES> colposcopy /klpskəpi/ n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek kolpos ‘womb’ + -SCOPE.

Colt^1 /kəlt/ Samuel (1814–62), American inventor. He is remembered chiefly for the revolver named after him, which he patented in 1836.

Colt^2 /kəlt/ n. TRADEMARK a type of revolver.

colt /kəlt/ n. a young uncastrated male horse, in particular one less than four years old.

- BRITISH a member of a junior sports team: England Colts.

<ORIGIN> Old English; perhaps related to Swedish kult, applied to boys or half-grown animals.

coltan /kltan/ n. [mass noun] a dull metallic mineral which is a combination of columbite and tantalite and which is refined to produce tantalum.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from COLUMBITE + TANTALITE.

coltish adj. energetic but awkward in one's movements or behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> coltishly adv. coltishness n.

Coltrane /kltren/ John (William) (1926–67), American jazz saxophonist. He was a leading figure in avant-garde jazz, bridging the gap between the harmonically dense jazz of the 1950s and the free jazz that evolved in the 1960s.

coltsfoot n. (pl. coltsfoots) a Eurasian plant of the daisy family, with yellow flowers which appear in the early spring before the large heart-shaped leaves. It is used in herbal medicine for the treatment of coughs and respiratory disorders.

<INFO> Tussilago farfara, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: translating medieval Latin pes pulli ‘foal's foot’, with reference to the shape of the leaves.

colubrid /kljbrd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a snake of a very large family (Colubridae) which includes the majority of harmless species, such as grass snakes and garter snakes. The few venomous species have grooved fangs in the rear of the upper jaw.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Colubridae (plural), from Latin coluber ‘snake’.

colubrine /kljbrn/ adj. relating to or resembling a snake.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin colubrinus, from coluber ‘snake’.

colugo /kəluə/ n. (pl. colugos)

■ another term for FLYING LEMUR.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

Columba /kəlmbə/ [ASTRONOMY] a small and faint southern constellation (the Dove), near Canis Major. It is sometimes said to represent the dove that Noah sent out from the Ark.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Columba, St /kəlmbə/ (c.521–97), Irish abbot and missionary. He established the monastery at Iona in c.563 and converted the Picts to Christianity. Feast day, 9 June.

columbarium /kl(ə)mbεrəm/ n. (pl. columbaria) a room or building with niches for funeral urns to be stored.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘pigeon-house’, from columba ‘pigeon’.

Columbia /kəlmbə/ 1 a river in NW North America which rises in the Rocky Mountains of SE British Columbia, Canada, and flows 1,953 km (1,230 miles) generally southwards into the US, where it turns westwards to enter the Pacific south of Seattle.

2 the state capital of South Carolina; pop. 116,278 (2000).

Columbia, District of see DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Columbia University a university in New York City, one of the most prestigious in the US. It was founded in 1754.

Columbine /kləmbn/ a character in Italian commedia dell'arte, the mistress of Harlequin.

<ORIGIN> from French Colombine, from Italian Colombina, feminine of colombino ‘dovelike’, from colombo ‘dove’.

columbine /kləmbn/ n. an aquilegia which has long-spurred flowers that are typically purplish blue.

<INFO> Genus Aquilegia, family Ranunculaceae, especially A. vulgaris and its hybrids.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French colombine, from medieval Latin colombina (herba) ‘dovelike (plant)’, from Latin columba ‘dove’ (from the supposed resemblance of the flower to a cluster of five doves).

columbite /kəlmbt/ n. [mass noun] a black mineral, typically occurring as dense tabular crystals, consisting of an oxide of iron, manganese, niobium, and tantalum. It is the chief ore of niobium.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from COLUMBIUM + -ITE^1.

columbium /kəlmbəm/ n. old-fashioned term for NIOBIUM.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, from Columbia, a poetic name for America from the name of Christopher Columbus (see Columbus^2).

Columbus^1 the state capital of Ohio; pop. 711,470 (2000).

Columbus^2 Christopher (1451–1506), Italian-born Spanish explorer, credited as being the first European to reach the Americas; Spanish name Cristóbal Colón.

Columbus persuaded the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, to sponsor an expedition to sail across the Atlantic in search of Asia and to prove that the world was round. In 1492 he set sail with three small ships and reached the New World (in fact various Caribbean islands). He made three further voyages between 1493 and 1504, reaching the South American mainland in 1498.

Columbus Day n. (in the US) a legal holiday commemorating Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492. It is observed by most states on the second Monday of October.

columella /kljmεlə/ n. (pl. columellae /-li/) 1 [ZOOLOGY] an ossicle (small bone) of the middle ear of birds, reptiles, and amphibians.

- [ANATOMY] the pillar around which the cochlea spirals.

2 [ZOOLOGY] the axis of a spiral shell.

3 [BOTANY] the axis of the spore-producing body of some lower plants.

<DERIVATIVES> columellar adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin, ‘small column’.

column n. 1 an upright pillar, typically cylindrical, supporting an arch, entablature, or other structure or standing alone as a monument.

- a similar vertical, roughly cylindrical thing: a great column of smoke.

- an upright shaft for controlling a machine or vehicle: a Spitfire control column.

2 a vertical division of a page or text.

- a vertical arrangement of figures or other information.

- a regular section of a newspaper or magazine devoted to a particular subject or written by a particular person.

3 one or more lines of people or vehicles moving in the same direction: a column of tanks moved north-west | we walked in a column.

- [MILITARY] a narrow-fronted deep formation of troops in successive lines.

- a military force or convoy of ships.

<DERIVATIVES> columnar adj. columned adj. [often in combination] a four-columned portico

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: partly from Old French columpne, reinforced by its source, Latin columna ‘pillar’.

columnated /kləmnetd/ adj. supported on or having columns: a columnated church interior.

column inch n. a one-inch length of a column in a newspaper or magazine.

columnist /kləm(n)st/ n. a journalist contributing regularly to a newspaper or magazine.

colure /kəljə/ n. [ASTRONOMY] either of two great circles intersecting at right angles at the celestial poles and passing through the ecliptic at either the equinoxes or the solstices.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin coluri (plural), from Greek kolourai (grammai) ‘truncated (lines)’, from kolouros ‘truncated’, so named because the lower part is permanently cut off from view.

coly /kəli/ n. (pl. colies)

■ another term for MOUSEBIRD.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Colius, from Greek kolios, denoting a type of woodpecker.

colza /klzə/ n. another term for rape^2.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Walloon French kolza, from Low German kōlsāt, Dutch koolzaad, from kool ‘cole’ + zaad ‘seed’.

com- (also co-, col-, con-, or cor-) prefix with; together; jointly; altogether: combine | command | collude.

<ORIGIN> from Latin cum ‘with’.

<USAGE> Com- is used before b, m, p, also occasionally before vowels and f. The following variant forms occur: co- especially before vowels, h, and gn; col- before l; cor- before r; and con- before other consonants.

coma^1 /kəmə/ n. a prolonged state of deep unconsciousness, caused especially by severe injury or illness: she went into a coma.

- HUMOROUS a state of extreme lethargy or sleepiness.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek kōma ‘deep sleep’; related to koitē ‘bed’ and keisthai ‘lie down’.

coma^2 /kəmə/ n. (pl. comae /-mi/) [ASTRONOMY] a diffuse cloud of gas and dust surrounding the nucleus of a comet.

- [mass noun] [OPTICS] aberration which causes the image of an off-axis point to be flared like a comet.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in botanical sense ‘tuft of hairs on seed’): via Latin from Greek komē ‘hair of the head’.

Coma Berenices /kəmə bεrnsiz/ [ASTRONOMY] a small inconspicuous northern constellation (Berenice's Hair), said to represent the tresses of Queen Berenice. It contains a large number of galaxies.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Comanche /kəmanti/ n. (pl. same or Comanches) 1 a member of an American Indian people of the south-western US. The Comanche were among the first to acquire horses (from the Spanish) and resisted white settlers fiercely.

2 [mass noun] the Uto-Aztecan language of the Comanche, now virtually extinct.

■ adj. relating to the Comanche or their language.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Comanche.

Comaneci /kmənεt/ Nadia (b.1961), Romanian-born American gymnast. In 1976 she became the first Olympic competitor to be awarded the maximum score of 10.00.

comatose /kəmətəs -z/ adj. relating to or in a state of coma: she had been comatose for seven months | a comatose patient.

- HUMOROUS extremely lethargic or sleepy.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek kōma, kōmat- ‘deep sleep’ + -OSE^1.

comb n. 1 a strip of plastic, metal, or wood with a row of narrow teeth, used for untangling or arranging the hair.

- [in sing.] an act of untangling or arranging the hair with comb: she gave her hair a comb.

- a short curved type of comb, worn by women to hold the hair in place or as an adornment.

2 something resembling a comb in function or structure, in particular:

- a device for separating and dressing textile fibres.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ the lower, fixed cutting piece of a sheep-shearing machine.

- a row of brass points for collecting the electricity in an electrostatic generator.

3 the red fleshy crest on the head of a domestic fowl, especially a cock.

4 short for honeycomb (sense 1 of the noun).

■ v. [with obj.] 1 untangle or arrange (the hair) by drawing a comb through it: she combed her hair and put some lipstick on | (as adj., with submodifier combed) neatly combed hair.

- (comb something out) remove something in the hair by drawing a comb through it: she combed the burrs out of the dog's coat.

2 prepare (wool, flax, or cotton) for manufacture with a comb.

- (usually as adj. combed) treat (a fabric) in such a way: the socks are made of soft combed cotton.

3 search carefully and systematically: police combed the area for the murder weapon | [no obj.] his mother combed through the cardboard boxes.

<DERIVATIVES> comb-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English camb, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kam and German Kamm.

combat n. [mass noun] fighting between armed forces: five Hurricanes were shot down in combat | [count noun] pilots re-enacted the aerial combats of yesteryear | [as modifier] a combat zone.

- non-violent conflict or opposition: electoral combat.

■ v. (combats, combating or combatting, combated or combatted) [with obj.] take action to reduce or prevent (something bad or undesirable): an effort to combat drug trafficking.

- ARCHAIC engage in a fight with; oppose in battle.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting a fight between two people or parties): from French combattre (verb), from late Latin combattere, from com- ‘together with’ + battere, variant of Latin batuere ‘to fight’.

combatant /kmbət(ə)nt km-/ n. a person or nation engaged in fighting during a war.

- a person engaged in conflict or competition with another.

■ adj. engaged in fighting during a war: all the combatant armies went to war with machine guns.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective used in heraldry to describe two lions facing one another with raised forepaws): from Old French, present participle of combatre ‘to fight’ (see COMBAT).

combat dress n. [mass noun] uniform of a type intended to be worn by soldiers in actual combat.

combat fatigue n. 1 more recent term for SHELL SHOCK.

2 (combat fatigues) combat dress.

combative /kmbətv km-/ adj. ready or eager to fight or argue: he made some enemies with his combative style.

<DERIVATIVES> combatively adv. combativeness n.

combat trousers plural n. loose trousers with large patch pockets halfway down each leg, typically made of hard-wearing cotton.

comb-back n. a high-backed Windsor chair with a straight top rail: [as modifier] a comb-back rocker.

combe /kum/ (also coomb or coombe) n. BRITISH a short valley or hollow on a hillside or coastline, especially in southern England.

- [GEOLOGY] a dry valley in a limestone or chalk escarpment.

<ORIGIN> Old English cumb, occurring in charters in the names of places in southern England, many of which survive; of Celtic origin, related to CWM.

comber^1 /kəmə/ n. 1 a long curling sea wave.

2 a person or machine that prepares cotton or wool for manufacture by separating and straightening the fibres.

comber^2 /kmbə/ n. a small fish that gapes when dead, occurring in shallow waters from the western English Channel to the Mediterranean. Also called GAPER.

<INFO> Serranus cabrilla, family Serranidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: of unknown origin.

combfish n. (pl. same or combfishes) a fish of the NE Pacific, with small rough scales and long spines in the comb-like dorsal fin.

<INFO> Family Zaniolepididae and genus Zaniolepis: several species.

combi n. a machine or appliance with two or more functions: [as modifier] a combi oven.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: abbreviation of COMBINATION.

combination n. 1 a joining or merging of different parts or qualities in which the component elements are individually distinct: a magnificent combination of drama, dance, and music | the combination of recession and falling property values proved fatal to the business community | this colour combination is stunningly effective.

- [mass noun] the state of being joined or merged in such a way: these four factors work together in combination.

- a particular arrangement of different elements: the canvases may be arranged in any number of combinations.

- (in sport) a coordinated and effective sequence of moves: a good uppercut/hook combination.

- [as modifier] denoting an object or process that unites different uses, functions, or ingredients: combination remedies contain painkiller, decongestant, and cough soother.

- [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the joining of substances in a compound with new properties.

2 a sequence of numbers or letters used to open a combination lock.

3 BRITISH a motorcycle with a sidecar attached.

4 (combinations) BRITISH DATED a single undergarment covering the body and legs.

5 [MATHEMATICS] a selection of a given number of elements from a larger number without regard to their arrangement.

<DERIVATIVES> combinational adj. combinative adj. combinatorial adj. ([MATHEMATICS]) combinatorially adv. ([MATHEMATICS]) combinatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin combinatio(n-), from the verb combinare ‘join two by two’ (see combine^1).

combinational circuit n. [ELECTRONICS] a circuit whose output is dependent only on the state of its inputs. Compare with SEQUENTIAL CIRCUIT.

combination lock n. a lock that is opened by rotating a set of marked or numbered dials to show a specific sequence.

combination oven n. an oven operating by both conventional heating and microwaves.

combination skin n. [mass noun] a type of facial complexion characterized by an oily forehead, nose, and chin and relatively dry cheeks.

combination therapy n. [mass noun] treatment in which a patient is given two or more drugs (or other therapeutic agents) for a single disease.

combinatorics /kmbnətrks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of mathematics dealing with combinations of objects belonging to a finite set in accordance with certain constraints, such as those of graph theory.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from combinatorial (see COMBINATION), influenced by German Kombinatorik.

combine^1 v. /kəmbn/ 1 join or merge to form a single unit or substance: [with obj.] combine the flour with the margarine and salt | a new product which combines the benefits of a hairspray and a gel | [no obj., with infinitive] high tides and winds combined to bring chaos to the east coast.

- [no obj.] [CHEMISTRY] unite to form a compound: oxygen and hydrogen do not combine at room temperatures | oxygen combines with haemoglobin.

2 [no obj.] unite for a common purpose: [with infinitive] groups of teachers combined to tackle a variety of problems.

- [with obj.] engage in simultaneously: an ideal place to combine shopping and sightseeing.

■ n. /kmbn/ a group of people or companies acting together for a commercial purpose: one of the world's biggest food and personal products combines.

<DERIVATIVES> combinable adj. combiner n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French combiner or late Latin combinare ‘join two by two’, from com- ‘together’ + Latin bini ‘two together’.

combine^2 /kmbn/ v. [with obj.] BRITISH harvest (a crop) by means of a combine harvester.

■ n. a combine harvester.

combined pill n. an oral contraceptive containing both an oestrogen and a progestogen.

combine harvester n. BRITISH an agricultural machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans a cereal crop in one operation.

combings plural n. hairs removed as a result of combing.

combing wool n. [mass noun] long-stapled wool with straight, parallel fibres, suitable for combing and making into high-quality fabrics, in particular worsted. Compare with CARDING WOOL.

combining form n. [GRAMMAR] a form of a word normally used in compounds in combination with another element to form a word (e.g. Anglo- ‘English’ in Anglo-Irish, bio- ‘life’ in [BIOLOGY], -graphy ‘writing’ in biography).

<USAGE> In this dictionary, combining form is used to denote an element that contributes to the particular sense of words (as with bio- and -graphy in biography), as distinct from a prefix or suffix that adjusts the sense of or determines the function of words (as with un-, -able, and -ation).

comb jelly n. a marine animal with a jellyfish-like body bearing rows of fused cilia for propulsion. They are typically small planktonic animals and are noted for their luminescence. Also called CTENOPHORE.

<INFO> Phylum Ctenophora: two classes.

combo n. (pl. combos) INFORMAL 1 a small jazz, rock, or pop band.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a combination, typically of different foods: a surf 'n' turf combo.

3 a guitar amplifier with an integral speaker rather than a separate one.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): abbreviation of COMBINATION + -O.

comb-over n. a strip of hair combed over a bald patch on a man's head in an attempt to conceal it.

combs /kmz/ plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a single undergarment covering the body and legs.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: abbreviation of combination garments.

combust /kəmbst/ v. [with obj.] consume or destroy by fire: when fossil fuels are combusted, oxides are emitted into the atmosphere.

- [no obj.] be consumed or destroyed by fire.

<DERIVATIVES> combustor n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from obsolete combust ‘burnt, calcined’, from Latin combustus, past participle of comburere ‘burn up’.

combustible /kəmbstb(ə)l/ adj. able to catch fire and burn easily: a combustible gas.

- FIGURATIVE excitable; easily annoyed: a volatile and combustible personality.

■ n. a combustible substance.

<DERIVATIVES> combustibility n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old French, from late Latin combustibilis, from Latin combust- ‘burnt up’, from the verb comburere.

combustion n. [mass noun] the process of burning something: the combustion of fossil fuels | [as modifier] a large combustion plant.

- [CHEMISTRY] rapid chemical combination of a substance with oxygen, involving the production of heat and light.

<DERIVATIVES> combustive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin combustio(n-), from Latin comburere ‘burn up’.

combustion chamber n. an enclosed space in which combustion takes place, especially in an engine or furnace.

come v. (past came; past participle come) 1 [no obj., usually with adverbial of direction] move or travel towards or into a place thought of as near or familiar to the speaker: Jess came into the kitchen | they came here as immigrants | he came rushing out.

- arrive at a specified place: we walked along till we came to a stream | it was very late when she came back | my trunk hasn't come yet.

- (of a thing) reach or extend to a specified point: women in slim dresses that came all the way to their shoes | the path comes straight down.

- (be coming) approach: someone was coming | she heard the train coming.

- travel in order to be with a specified person, to do a specified thing, or to be present at an event: the police came | come and live with me | [with infinitive] the electrician came to mend the cooker | FIGURATIVE we have certainly come a long way since Aristotle.

- [with present participle] join someone in participating in a specified activity or course of action: do you want to come fishing tomorrow?

- (come along/on) make progress; develop: he's coming along nicely | she asked them how their garden was coming on.

- (in imperative also come, come!) said to someone when correcting or reassuring someone: Come, come, child, don't thank me.

2 [no obj.] occur; happen; take place: twilight had not yet come | his father waited for a phone call that never came | a chance like this doesn't come along every day.

- be heard, perceived, or experienced: a voice came from the kitchen | it came as a great shock.

- [with adverbial] (of a quality) become apparent or noticeable through actions or performance: as an actor your style and personality must come through.

- (come across or British over or US off) (of a person) appear or sound in a specified way; give a specified impression: he'd always come across as a decent sort.

- (of a thought or memory) enter one's mind: the basic idea came to me while reading an article | a passage from a novel came back to Adam.

3 [no obj., with complement] take or occupy a specified position in space, order, or priority: prisons come well down the list of priorities | I make sure my kids come first.

- achieve a specified place in a race or contest: she came second among sixty contestants.

4 [no obj., with complement] pass into a specified state, especially one of separation or disunion: his shirt had come undone.

- (come to/into) reach or be brought to a specified situation or result: you will come to no harm | staff who come into contact with the public | the vehicle came to rest against a traffic signal.

- [with infinitive] eventually reach a certain condition or state of mind: he had come to realize she was no puppet.

5 [no obj., with adverbial] be sold, available, or found in a specified form: the cars come with a variety of extras | the shirts come in three sizes.

6 [no obj.] INFORMAL have an orgasm.

■ prep. INFORMAL when a specified time is reached or event happens: I don't think that they'll be far away from honours come the new season.

■ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL semen ejaculated at an orgasm.

<PHRASES>

□ as —— as they come used to describe someone or something that is a supreme example of the quality specified: Smith is as tough as they come.

□ come again? INFORMAL used to ask someone to repeat or explain something they have said.

□ come and go arrive and then depart again; move around freely.

- exist or be present for a limited time; be transitory: kings and queens may come and go, but the Crown goes on forever.

□ come from behind win after lagging.

□ come off it [in imperative] INFORMAL said when vigorously expressing disbelief.

□ come right INFORMAL have a good outcome; end well.

□ come the —— INFORMAL play the part of; behave like: don't come the innocent with me.

□ come to nothing have no significant or successful result in the end.

□ come to pass chiefly LITERARY happen; occur: it came to pass that she had two sons.

□ come to that (or if it comes to that) BRITISH INFORMAL in fact (said to introduce an additional point): there isn't a clock on the mantelpiece—come to that, there isn't a mantelpiece!

□ come to think of it on reflection (said when an idea or point occurs to one while one is speaking).

□ come what may no matter what happens.

□ have it coming (to one) INFORMAL be due for retribution on account of something bad that one has done: his uppity sister-in-law had it coming to her.

□ how come? INFORMAL said when asking how or why something happened or is the case: how come you never married, Jimmy?

□ to come (following a noun) in the future: films that would inspire generations to come | in years to come.

□ where someone is coming from INFORMAL someone's meaning, motivation, or personality.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ come about 1 happen; take place: the relative speed with which emancipation came about.

2 (of a ship) change direction.

□ come across 1 meet or find by chance: I came across these old photos recently.

2 INFORMAL hand over or provide what is wanted: she has come across with some details.

□ come along [in imperative] said when encouraging someone or telling them to hurry up.

□ come around see COME ROUND.

□ come at launch oneself at (someone) to attack them.

□ come away be left with a specified feeling, impression, or result after doing something: she came away feeling upset.

□ come back 1 (in sport) recover from a deficit: the Mets came back from a 3–0 deficit.

2 reply or respond to someone, especially vigorously: he came back at Judy with a vengeance.

□ come before be dealt with by (a judge or court): it is the most controversial issue to come before the Supreme Court.

□ come between interfere with or disturb the relationship of (two people): I let my stupid pride come between us.

□ come by 1 NORTH AMERICAN call casually and briefly as a visitor: his friends came by | she came by the house.

2 manage to acquire or obtain (something).

□ come down 1 (of a building or other structure) collapse or be demolished.

- (of an aircraft) crash or crash-land.

2 be handed down by tradition or inheritance: the name has come down from the last century.

3 reach a decision or recommendation in favour of one side or another: advisers and inspectors came down on our side.

4 BRITISH leave a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge, after finishing one's studies.

5 INFORMAL experience the lessening of an excited or euphoric feeling, especially one produced by a narcotic drug.

□ come down on criticize or punish (someone) harshly: she came down on me like a ton of bricks.

□ come down to (of a situation or outcome) be dependent on (a specified factor): it came down to her word against Guy's.

□ come down with begin to suffer from (a specified illness): I came down with influenza.

□ come for 1 arrive to arrest or detain (someone).

2 launch oneself at (someone) to attack them: he came for me with his fists.

□ come forward volunteer oneself for a task or post or to give evidence about a crime.

□ come from originate in; have as its source: the word caviar comes from Italian.

- be the result of: a dignity that comes from being in control.

- have as one's place of birth or residence: I come from Sheffield.

- be descended from: she comes from a family of Muslim scholars.

□ come in 1 join or become involved in an enterprise: that's where Jack comes in | I agreed to come in on the project.

- have a useful role or function: this is where grammar comes in.

- [with complement] prove to have a specified good quality: a car comes in handy for day trips from the city.

2 [with complement] finish a race in a specified position: the favourite came in first.

3 (of money) be earned or received regularly.

4 [in imperative] begin speaking or make contact, especially in radio communication: come in, London.

5 (of a tide) rise; flow.

□ come in for receive or be the object of (a reaction), typically a negative one: he has come in for a lot of criticism.

□ come into suddenly receive (money or property), especially by inheriting it.

□ come of result from: no good will come of it.

- be descended from: she came of Dorset stock.

□ come off 1 (of an action) succeed; be accomplished.

- fare in a specified way in a contest: Geoffrey always came off worse in an argument.

2 become detached or be detachable from something.

- fall from a horse or cycle that one is riding.

3 stop taking or being addicted to (a drug or form of medication).

4 BRITISH INFORMAL have an orgasm.

□ come on 1 (of a state or condition) start to arrive or happen: she felt a mild case of the sniffles coming on | [with infinitive] it was coming on to rain.

2 (also come upon) meet or find by chance.

3 [in imperative] said when encouraging someone to do something or to hurry up or when one feels that someone is wrong or foolish: Come on! We must hurry!

□ come on to INFORMAL make sexual advances towards.

□ come out 1 (of a fact) emerge; become known: it came out that the accused had illegally registered to vote.

- develop or happen as a result: something good can come out of something that went wrong.

- (of a photograph) be produced satisfactorily or in a specified way: I hope my photographs come out all right.

- (of the result of a calculation or measurement) emerge at a specified figure: rough cider usually comes out at about eight per cent alcohol.

- (of patience or a similar card game) be played to a finish with all cards dealt with.

2 (of a book or other work) appear; be released or published.

3 declare oneself as being for or against something: residents have come out against the proposals.

4 [with complement] achieve a specified placing in an examination or contest: he deservedly came out the winner on points.

- acquit oneself in a specified way: surprisingly, it's Penn who comes out best.

5 (of a stain) be removed or able to be removed.

6 BRITISH go on strike.

7 INFORMAL openly declare that one is homosexual. [<ORIGIN> from the phrase come out of the closet (see CLOSET (SENSE 3 OF THE NOUN)).]

8 BRITISH DATED (of a young upper-class woman) make one's debut in society.

□ come out in BRITISH (of a person's skin) break out in (spots or a similar condition).

□ come out with say (something) in a sudden, rude, or incautious way.

□ come over 1 (of a feeling or manner) begin to affect (someone): a great weariness came over me.

- [with complement] INFORMAL (of a person) suddenly start to feel a specified way: they come over all misty-eyed with nostalgia.

2 change to another side or point of view.

□ come round chiefly BRITISH (chiefly US also come around) 1 recover consciousness: I'd just come round from a drunken stupor.

2 be converted to another person's opinion: I came round to her point of view.

3 (of a date or regular occurrence) recur; be imminent again: Friday had come round so quickly.

□ come through 1 succeed in surviving or dealing with (an illness or ordeal): she's come through the operation very well.

2 (of a message) be sent and received.

- (of an official decree) be processed and notified.

□ come to 1 (also come to oneself) recover consciousness.

2 (of an expense) reach in total; amount to: the bill came to £20,000.

3 (of a ship) come to a stop.

□ come under 1 be classified as or among: they all come under the general heading of opinion polls.

2 be subject to (an influence or authority).

- be subjected to (pressure or aggression): his vehicle came under mortar fire.

□ come up 1 (of an issue, situation, or problem) occur or present itself, especially unexpectedly.

- (of a specified time or event) approach or draw near: she's got exams coming up.

- (of a legal case) reach the time when it is scheduled to be dealt with.

2 become brighter in a specified way as a result of being polished or cleaned.

3 BRITISH begin one's studies at a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge.

□ come up against be faced with or opposed by: I'd come up against this kind of problem before.

□ come up with produce (something), especially when pressured or challenged: he keeps coming up with all kinds of lame excuses.

□ come upon 1 attack (someone or something) by surprise.

2 see come on (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> Old English cuman, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch komen and German kommen.

<USAGE> The use of come followed by and, as in come and see for yourself, dates back to Old English, but is seen by some as incorrect or only suitable for informal English: for more details see usage at and.

come-along n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a hand-operated winch.

comeback n. 1 a return by a well-known person, especially an entertainer or sports player, to the activity in which they have formerly been successful: the heavyweight champion is set to make his comeback in England | [as modifier] a comeback tour.

- a return to fashion of an item, activity, or style: trouser suits are making a comeback.

2 INFORMAL a quick reply to a critical remark.

- [mass noun] the opportunity to seek redress: there's no comeback if he messes up your case.

3 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a sheep bred from cross-bred and pure-bred parents for both wool and meat.

Comecon /kmkn/ an economic association of east European countries founded in 1949 and analogous to the European Economic Community. With the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, the association was dissolved in 1991.

<ORIGIN> contraction of COUNCIL FOR MUTUAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE.

comedian n. an entertainer on stage or television whose act is designed to make an audience laugh.

- a comic actor or playwright.

- often IRONIC a person who is or thinks themselves to be amusing or entertaining.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a comic playwright): from French comédien, from Old French comedie (see COMEDY). The sense ‘entertainer’ dates from the late 19th cent.

Comédie-Française /kmεdifrsez/ French /kmedi fRαsεz/ the French national theatre (used for both comedy and tragedy), in Paris, founded in 1680 by Louis XIV.

comedienne /kəmidεn -mε-/ n. a female comedian.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French comédienne, feminine of comédien (see COMEDIAN).

comedo /kmdə kəmidə/ n. (pl. comedones /-dəniz/)

■ technical term for blackhead (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘glutton’, from comedere ‘eat up’, from com- ‘altogether’ + edere ‘eat’. Used formerly as a name for parasitic worms, the term here alludes to the worm-like matter which can be squeezed from a blackhead.

comedogenic /kmdə()dεnk/ adj. tending to cause blackheads by blocking the pores of the skin.

comedown n. INFORMAL 1 a loss of status or importance: Patrol duty? Bit of a comedown for a sergeant.

2 a feeling of disappointment or depression.

- a lessening of the sensations generated by a narcotic drug as its effects wear off.

comedy n. (pl. comedies) 1 [mass noun] professional entertainment consisting of jokes and sketches, intended to make an audience laugh.

- [count noun] a film, play, or broadcast programme intended to make an audience laugh: [as modifier] a comedy film.

- the style or genre of such types of entertainment.

- the humorous or amusing aspects of something: advertising people see the comedy in their work.

2 a play characterized by its humorous or satirical tone and its depiction of amusing people or incidents, in which the characters ultimately triumph over adversity: Shakespeare's comedies.

- the dramatic genre represented by such plays: satiric comedy. Compare with tragedy (sense 2).

<DERIVATIVES> comedic /kəmidk -mε-/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a genre of drama, also denoting a narrative poem with a happy ending, as in Dante's Divine Comedy): from Old French comedie, via Latin from Greek kōmōidia, from kōmōidos ‘comic poet’, from kōmos ‘revel’ + aoidos ‘singer’.

comedy of manners n. a play, novel, or film that gives a satirical portrayal of behaviour in a particular social group.

come-hither adj. INFORMAL (of a woman or her manner) playfully showing or expressing sexual interest; coquettish: nymphs with come-hither looks.

comely adj. (comelier, comeliest) ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS (typically of a woman) pleasant to look at; attractive.

- agreeable; suitable.

<DERIVATIVES> comeliness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably shortened from becomely ‘fitting, becoming’, from BECOME.

come-on n. INFORMAL a gesture or remark that is intended to attract someone sexually: she was giving me the come-on.

- a marketing ploy, such as a free or cheap offer.

come-outer n. US, chiefly HISTORICAL a person who dissociates themselves from an organization.

comer n. 1 a person who arrives somewhere: feeding every comer is still a sacred duty.

2 [in sing.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person or thing likely to succeed: many in the party see tax relief as a comer.

COMESA abbr. Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

comess /kmεs/ n. W. INDIAN a confused or noisy situation.

<ORIGIN> from French Creole commece ‘confusion’, from French commerce ‘commerce’.

comestible /kəmεstb(ə)l/ FORMAL or HUMOROUS n. (usually comestibles) an item of food: a fridge groaning with comestibles.

■ adj. edible.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French, from medieval Latin comestibilis, from Latin comest- ‘eaten up’, from the verb comedere, from com- ‘altogether’ + edere ‘eat’.

comet /kmt/ n. a celestial object consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust and, when near the sun, a ‘tail’ of gas and dust particles pointing away from the sun.

Originating in the remotest regions of the solar system, most comets follow regular eccentric orbits and appear in the inner solar system as periodic comets, some of which break up and can be the origin of annual meteor showers. They were formerly considered to be supernatural omens.

<DERIVATIVES> cometary adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English, from Latin cometa, from Greek komētēs ‘long-haired (star)’, from komē ‘hair’; reinforced by Old French comete.

comeuppance n. [in sing.] INFORMAL a punishment or fate that someone deserves: he got his comeuppance in the end.

comfit /kmft/ n. DATED a sweet consisting of a nut, seed, or other centre coated in sugar.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French confit, from Latin confectum ‘something prepared’, neuter past participle of conficere ‘put together’ (see CONFECT).

comfort n. [mass noun] 1 a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint: there is enough room for four people to travel in comfort.

- (comforts) things that contribute to physical ease and well-being: the low upholstered chair was one of the room's few comforts.

- prosperity and the pleasant lifestyle secured by it: my father left us enough to live in comfort.

2 consolation for grief or anxiety: a few words of comfort | they should take comfort that help is available.

- [in sing.] a person or thing that gives consolation or alleviates a difficult situation: his friendship was a great comfort.

3 US DIALECT a warm quilt.

■ v. [with obj.] make (someone) feel less unhappy; console: her friend tried to comfort her.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun, in the senses ‘strengthening, support, consolation’; as a verb, in the senses ‘strengthen, give support, console’): from Old French confort (noun), conforter (verb), from late Latin confortare ‘strengthen’, from com- (expressing intensive force) + Latin fortis ‘strong’. The sense ‘something producing physical ease’ arose in the mid 17th cent.

comfortable adj. 1 (especially of clothes or furnishings) providing physical ease and relaxation.

- (of a person) physically relaxed and free from constraint: he would not be comfortable in any other clothes.

- (of a hospital patient) not in pain or in danger.

- free from stress or tension: they appear very comfortable in each other's company | few of us are comfortable with confrontations.

- free from financial worry; having an adequate standard of living.

2 as large as is needed or wanted: a comfortable income.

- with a wide margin: a comfortable victory.

■ n. US DIALECT a warm quilt.

<DERIVATIVES> comfortableness n. comfortably adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘pleasant, pleasing’): from Anglo-Norman French confortable, from conforter ‘to comfort’ (see COMFORT).

comfort eating n. [mass noun] eating to make oneself feel happier, rather than to satisfy hunger.

comforter n. 1 a person or thing that provides consolation.

- BRITISH a baby's dummy.

2 DATED a woollen scarf.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a warm quilt.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French comforteor, from conforter ‘to comfort’ (see COMFORT).

comfort food n. [mass noun] food that provides consolation or a feeling of well-being, typically having a high sugar or carbohydrate content and associated with childhood or home cooking.

comforting adj. giving consolation for grief or anxiety; soothing: his comforting presence.

<DERIVATIVES> comfortingly adv.

comfortless adj. 1 offering no means of relaxation and pleasure: a comfortless prison.

2 having or offering no consolation: he had left her comfortless.

comfort station n. North American, EUPHEMISTIC a public toilet.

comfort zone n. a situation where one feels safe or at ease: the trip is an attempt to take the students out of their comfort zone.

- a settled method of working that requires little effort and yields only barely acceptable results: if you stay within your comfort zone you will never improve.

comfrey /kmfri/ n. (pl. comfreys) a Eurasian plant of the borage family, which has large hairy leaves and clusters of purplish or white bell-shaped flowers.

<INFO> Genus Symphytum, family Boraginaceae: several species, in particular the common comfrey (S. officinale), which is used in herbal medicine (see BONESET).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French cumfirie, based on Latin conferva, from confervere ‘heal’ (literally ‘boil together’, referring to the plant's medicinal use).

comfy adj. (comfier, comfiest) INFORMAL comfortable.

<DERIVATIVES> comfily adv. comfiness n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: abbreviation.

comic adj. causing or meant to cause laughter: a comic monologue.

- relating to or in the style of comedy: a comic actor | comic drama.

■ n. 1 a comedian.

2 a periodical containing comic strips, intended chiefly for children.

- (comics) NORTH AMERICAN comic strips.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek kōmikos, from kōmos ‘revel’.

comical adj. amusing, especially in a ludicrous or absurd way: a series of comical misunderstandings.

<DERIVATIVES> comicality n. (ARCHAIC) comically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘relating to or in the style of comedy’): from Latin comicus (see COMIC) + -AL.

Comice /kms/ n. a large yellow dessert pear of a late-fruiting variety that is cultivated commercially.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, literally ‘association, cooperative’, referring to the Comice Horticole of Angers, France, where this variety was developed.

comic opera n. an opera that portrays humorous situations and characters, enhanced by much spoken dialogue.

comic relief n. [mass noun] humorous content in a dramatic or literary work intended to offset more serious episodes.

- a character or characters providing this.

comic strip n. a sequence of drawings in boxes that tell an amusing story, typically printed in a newspaper or magazine.

coming adj. [attr.] 1 due to happen or just beginning: work is due to start in the coming year.

2 likely to be important or successful in the future: he was the coming man of French racing.

■ n. an arrival or approach: the coming of a new age.

<PHRASES>

□ coming and going (or comings and goings) busy, active movements of many people, especially in and out of a place.

□ not KNOW if one is coming or going INFORMAL be confused, especially as a result of being very busy.

Comino /kminə/ the smallest of the three main islands of Malta.

COMINT /kmnt/ abbr. communications intelligence.

Comintern /kmntən/ the Third International, a communist organization (1919–43). See international (sense 2 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> from Russian Komintern, blend of kom(munisticheskiĭ) ‘communist’ and intern(atsional) ‘international’.

comital /kmt(ə)l/ adj. chiefly HISTORICAL relating to a count or earl.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from medieval Latin comitalis, from comes, comit- ‘a count’.

comity /kmti/ n. (pl. comities) FORMAL 1 an association of nations for their mutual benefit.

- (also comity of nations) [mass noun] the mutual recognition by nations of the laws and customs of others.

2 [mass noun] courtesy and considerate behaviour towards others.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from Latin comitas, from comis ‘courteous’.

comm n.

■ short for COMMUNICATION: [as modifier] a comm link. See also COMMS.

comma n. 1 a punctuation mark (,) indicating a pause between parts of a sentence or separating items in a list.

2 [MUSIC] a minute interval or difference of pitch.

3 (also comma butterfly) a widespread butterfly that has orange and brown wings with ragged edges, and a white comma-shaped mark on the underside of the hindwing.

<INFO> Polygonia c-album, subfamily Nymphalinae, family Nymphalidae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally as a term in rhetoric denoting a group of words shorter than a colon; see colon^1): via Latin from Greek komma ‘piece cut off, short clause’, from koptein ‘cut’.

command v. 1 [reporting v.] give an authoritative or peremptory order: [with obj. and infinitive] a gruff voice commanded us to enter | [with direct speech] ‘Stop arguing!’ he commanded | [with clause] he commanded that work should cease | [with obj.] my mother commands my presence.

- [with obj.] [MILITARY] have authority over; be in charge of (a unit).

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC control or restrain (oneself or one's feelings): he commanded himself with an effort.

2 [with obj.] dominate (a strategic position) from a superior height: the fortress commands the shortest Channel crossing.

3 [with obj.] be in a strong enough position to have or secure: they command a majority in Parliament | he commanded considerable personal loyalty.

■ n. 1 an authoritative order: he obeyed her commands without question.

- [mass noun] authority, especially over armed forces: an officer took command | who's in command?

- [treated as sing. or plural] [MILITARY] a group of officers exercising control over a particular group or operation.

- [MILITARY] a body of troops or a district under the control of a particular officer.

2 [in sing.] the ability to use or control something: he had a brilliant command of English.

3 [COMPUTING] an instruction or signal causing a computer to perform one of its basic functions.

<PHRASES>

□ at someone's command at someone's disposal to use or instruct: I shall defend myself with all the eloquence at my command.

□ word of command [MILITARY] an order for a movement in a drill.

- a prearranged spoken signal for the start of an operation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French comander ‘to command’, from late Latin commandare, from com- (expressing intensive force) + mandare ‘commit, command’. Compare with COMMEND.

command and control n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] chiefly [MILITARY] the running of an armed force or other organization: a command-and-control bunker.

commandant /kməndant kməndant -dαnt/ n. an officer in charge of a particular force or institution: the camp commandant.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French commandant, or Italian or Spanish commandante, all from late Latin commandare ‘to command’ (see COMMAND).

command-driven adj. [COMPUTING] (of a program or computer) operated by means of commands keyed in by the user or issued by another program or computer.

command economy n. another term for PLANNED ECONOMY.

commandeer /kməndə/ v. [with obj.] officially take possession or control of (something), especially for military purposes: a nearby house had been commandeered by the army.

- take possession of (something) by force: the truck was commandeered by a mob.

- [with obj. and infinitive] enlist (someone) to help in a task: he commandeered the men to find a table.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Afrikaans kommandeer, from Dutch commanderen, from French commander ‘to command’ (see COMMAND).

commander n. 1 a person in authority, especially over a body of troops or a military operation: the commander of a paratroop regiment.

- a rank of naval officer, above lieutenant commander and below captain.

- an officer in charge of a Metropolitan Police district in London.

2 a member of a higher class in some orders of knighthood. See also KNIGHT COMMANDER.

<DERIVATIVES> commandership n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French comandeor, from late Latin commandare (see COMMAND).

commander-in-chief n. (pl. commanders-in-chief) an officer in charge of all of the armed forces of a country, or a major subdivision of them.

- a politician or head of state in supreme command of a country's armed forces.

Commander of the Faithful n. one of the titles of a caliph.

commanding adj. 1 (in military contexts) having a position of authority: a commanding officer.

- indicating or expressing authority; imposing: a man of commanding presence | her style is commanding.

- possessing or giving superior strength: a commanding 13–6 lead.

2 (of a place or position) dominating from above; giving a wide view of an area.

<DERIVATIVES> commandingly adv.

command language n. [COMPUTING] a source language composed chiefly of a set of commands or operators, used especially for communicating with the operating system of a computer.

command line n. an interface for typing commands directly to a computer's operating system.

commandment n. a divine rule, especially one of the Ten Commandments.

- HUMOROUS a rule to be observed as strictly as one of the Ten Commandments.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French comandement, from comander ‘to command’ (see COMMAND).

command module n. the detachable control compartment of a manned spacecraft.

commando n. (pl. commandos) a soldier specially trained for carrying out raids.

- a unit of commandos.

<PHRASES>

□ go commando INFORMAL wear no underpants.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (denoting a militia, originally consisting of Boers in South Africa): from Portuguese (earlier form of comando), from commandar ‘to command’, from late Latin commandare (see COMMAND).

commando knife n. a long, slender knife suitable for hand-to-hand combat.

Command Paper n. (in the UK) a document laid before Parliament by order of the Crown, though in practice by the government.

command performance (also Royal Command Performance) n. (in the UK) a presentation of a play, concert, film, or other show at the request of royalty, who usually attend.

command post n. the place from which a unit commander controls a military unit.

comme ci, comme ça /km si km sα/ French /km si km sa/ adv. used, especially in answer to a question, to convey that something is neither very good nor very bad.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘like this, like that’.

commedia dell'arte /kmedə dεlαte/ Italian /kəmmεdja dellarte/ n. [mass noun] an improvised kind of popular comedy in Italian theatres in the 16th–18th centuries, based on stock characters. Actors adapted their comic dialogue and action according to a few basic plots (commonly love intrigues) and to topical issues.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘comedy of art’.

comme il faut /km il fə/ French /km il fə/ adj. correct in behaviour or etiquette.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘as is necessary’.

commemorate v. [with obj.] recall and show respect for (someone or something): a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the war dead | a stone commemorating a boy who died at sea.

- mark or celebrate (an event or person) by doing or producing something: the victory was commemorated in songs.

<DERIVATIVES> commemorator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin commemorat- ‘brought to remembrance’, from the verb commemorare, from com- ‘altogether’ + memorare ‘relate’ (from memor ‘mindful’).

commemoration n. [mass noun] the action or fact of commemorating a dead person or past event: local martyrs received public commemoration | the window was ordered by the duchess in commemoration of her son.

- [count noun] a ceremony or celebration in which a person or event is remembered.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin commemoratio(n-), from the verb commemorare ‘bring to remembrance’ (see COMMEMORATE).

commemorative adj. acting as a memorial of an event or person.

■ n. an object such as a stamp or coin made to mark an event or honour a person.

commence v. begin: [with obj.] his design team commenced work | [no obj.] a public inquiry is due to commence on the 16th.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French commencier, comencier, based on Latin com- (expressing intensive force) + initiare ‘begin’.

commencement n. 1 the beginning of something: the commencement of the trial | [mass noun] the date of commencement.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a ceremony in which degrees or diplomas are conferred on university or high-school students: [as modifier] a commencement address.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from the verb commencier (see COMMENCE).

commend v. [with obj.] 1 praise formally or officially: he was commended by the judge for his courageous actions.

2 present as suitable for approval or acceptance; recommend: I commend her to you without reservation.

- make (something) acceptable or pleasing: the emphasis on peace will commend itself to all | most one-roomed flats have little to commend them.

3 (commend someone/thing to) ARCHAIC or FORMAL entrust someone or something to: as they set out on their journey I commend them to your care.

- (commend someone to) pass on someone's good wishes to.

<PHRASES>

□ highly commended BRITISH failing to win a prize but nevertheless considered meritorious.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin commendare, from com- (expressing intensive force) + mandare ‘commit, entrust’. Compare with COMMAND.

commendable adj. deserving praise: he showed commendable restraint.

<DERIVATIVES> commendably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin commendabilis, from commendare (see COMMEND).

commendation n. [mass noun] formal or official praise: the film deserved the highest commendation | [count noun] the book gives commendations for initiative.

- [count noun] an award given for very good performance: the detectives received commendations for bravery.

- [count noun] a very good result in an examination or competition.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin commendatio(n-), from commendare ‘commit to the care of’ (see COMMEND). Originally (in the plural) the term denoted a liturgical office ending with a prayer commending the souls of the dead to God.

Commendatore /kmεndətre/ n. (pl. Commendatori /-ri/) a knight of an Italian order of chivalry.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from Latin commendator, based on commendare ‘entrust’.

commendatory /kmεndət(ə)ri/ adj. ARCHAIC serving to present something as suitable for approval or acceptance.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin commendatorius, from Latin commendare ‘commit to the care of’ (see COMMEND).

commensal /kəmεns(ə)l/ [BIOLOGY] adj. relating to or exhibiting commensalism.

■ n. a commensal organism, such as many bacteria.

<DERIVATIVES> commensality /kmənsalti/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from medieval Latin commensalis, from com- ‘sharing’ + mensa ‘a table’.

commensalism n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] an association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm.

commensurable /kəmεn(ə)rəb(ə)l -sjə-/ adj. 1 measurable by the same standard: the finite is not commensurable with the infinite.

2 (commensurable to) RARE proportionate to.

3 [MATHEMATICS] (of numbers) in a ratio equal to a ratio of integers.

<DERIVATIVES> commensurability n. commensurably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin commensurabilis, from com- ‘together’ + mensurabilis, from mensurare ‘to measure’.

commensurate /kəmεn(ə)rət -sjə-/ adj. corresponding in size or degree; in proportion: salary will be commensurate with age and experience | such heavy responsibility must receive commensurate reward.

<DERIVATIVES> commensurately adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin commensuratus, from com- ‘together’ + mensuratus, past participle of mensurare ‘to measure’.

comment n. a remark expressing an opinion or reaction: you asked for comments on the new proposals | [mass noun] the plans were sent to the council for comment.

- [mass noun] discussion, especially of a critical nature, of an issue or event: the exhibition has aroused comment.

- an indirect expression of the views of the writer of a play, book, film, etc.: she denies that the film is a comment on the perils of celebrity.

- an explanatory note in a book or other written text.

- ARCHAIC a written explanation or commentary.

- [COMPUTING] a piece of text placed within a program to help other users to understand it, which the computer ignores when running the program.

■ v. [reporting v.] express an opinion or reaction in speech or writing: [with clause] teachers commented that children of all abilities would benefit | [no obj.] the company would not comment on the venture | [with direct speech] ‘She's an independent soul,’ he commented.

- [with obj.] [COMPUTING] place a piece of explanatory text within (a program) to assist other users.

<PHRASES>

□ no comment used in refusing to answer a question, especially in a sensitive situation.

<DERIVATIVES> commenter n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘expository treatise’ and ‘explanatory note’): from Latin commentum ‘contrivance’ (in late Latin also ‘interpretation’), neuter past participle of comminisci ‘devise’.

commentariat /kməntεrət/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN members of the news media considered as a class.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: blend of COMMENTARY and PROLETARIAT.

commentary n. (pl. commentaries) the expression of opinions or offering of explanations about an event or situation: an editorial commentary | [mass noun] a narrative overlaid with commentary.

- a descriptive spoken account (especially on radio or television) of an event or a performance as it happens.

- a set of explanatory or critical notes on a text: a commentary on the Old Testament.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin commentarius, commentarium (adjective, used as a noun), from commentari, frequentative of comminisci ‘devise’.

commentate v. [no obj.] report on an event as it occurs, especially for a news or sports broadcast; provide a commentary: they commentate on live Monday matches.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: back-formation from COMMENTATOR.

commentator n. a person who comments on events or on a text.

- a person who commentates on a sports match or other event.

commerce n. [mass noun] 1 the activity of buying and selling, especially on a large scale: the changes in taxation are of benefit to commerce.

2 DATED social dealings between people.

3 ARCHAIC sexual intercourse.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from French, or from Latin commercium ‘trade, trading’, from com- ‘together’ + mercium (from merx, merc- ‘merchandise’).

commercial adj. 1 concerned with or engaged in commerce: a commercial agreement.

2 making or intended to make a profit: commercial products.

- having profit rather than artistic or other value as a primary aim: their work is too commercial.

3 (of television or radio) funded by the revenue from broadcast advertisements.

4 (of chemicals) supplied in bulk and not of the highest purity.

■ n. 1 a television or radio advertisement.

2 BRITISH DATED a travelling sales representative.

<DERIVATIVES> commerciality n. commercially adv.

commercial art n. [mass noun] art used in advertising and selling.

commercial bank n. a bank that offers services to the general public and to companies.

commercial bill n. a bill of exchange issued by a commercial organization to raise money for short-term needs.

commercial break n. an interruption in the transmission of a broadcast programme, or an intermission between programmes, during which advertisements are broadcast.

commercialism n. [mass noun] emphasis on the maximizing of profit: concern about state enterprise deficits prompted efforts for greater commercialism.

- DEROGATORY concern with the making of profit at the expense of artistic or other value: the cut-throat commercialism of the Paris art world.

commercialize (also commercialise) v. [with obj.] manage or exploit (an organization, activity, etc.) in a way designed to make a profit: the museum has been commercialized.

<DERIVATIVES> commercialization n.

commercialized adj. designed principally for financial gain; profit-orientated: Christmas is overly commercialized.

commercial paper n. [mass noun] short-term unsecured promissory notes issued by companies.

commercial traveller n. BRITISH DATED a travelling sales representative.

commercial vehicle n. a vehicle used for carrying goods or fare-paying passengers.

commère /kmε/ n. British a female compère.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, literally ‘godmother’, feminine of compère.

Commie INFORMAL, DEROGATORY n. (pl. Commies) a communist.

■ adj. communist.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: abbreviation.

commination /kmne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action of threatening divine vengeance.

- the recital of divine threats against sinners in the Anglican Liturgy for Ash Wednesday.

- [count noun] the service that includes this.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin comminatio(n-), from the verb comminari, from com- (expressing intensive force) + minari ‘threaten’.

comminatory /kmnət(ə)ri/ adj. RARE threatening, punitive, or vengeful.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from medieval Latin comminatorius, from comminat- ‘threatened’, from the verb comminari (see COMMINATION).

commingle /km(ə)l/ v. LITERARY mix; blend: [no obj.] the part of the brain where the senses commingle | [with obj.] his humanitarian stance was commingled with a desire for survival.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from COM- ‘together’ + MINGLE.

comminuted /kmnjutd/ adj. TECHNICAL reduced to minute particles or fragments.

- MEDICINE (of a fracture) producing multiple bone splinters.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: past participle of comminute, from Latin comminut- ‘broken into pieces’, from the verb comminuere, from com- ‘together’ + minuere ‘lessen’.

comminution /kmnju(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL the action of reducing a material, especially a mineral ore, to minute particles or fragments.

commis /kmi/ (also commis chef) n. (pl. same /kmi kmz/) a junior chef.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from French, ‘deputy, clerk’, past participle of commettre ‘entrust’, from Latin committere (see COMMIT).

commiserate /kəmzəret/ v. [no obj.] express or feel sympathy or pity; sympathize: she went over to commiserate with Rose on her unfortunate circumstances.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC feel or express pity for (someone): she did not exult in her rival's fall, but, on the contrary, commiserated her.

<DERIVATIVES> commiserative adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin commiserat- ‘commiserated’, from the verb commiserari, from com- ‘with’ + miserari ‘to lament’ (from miser ‘wretched’).

commiseration /kəmzəren/ n. [mass noun] sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others; compassion: the other actors offered him clumsy commiseration.

- (commiserations) expressions of sympathy and sorrow for another: our commiserations to those who didn't win.

commish /kəm/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL short for COMMISSIONER.

commissaire /kmsε/ French /kmisεR/ n. a senior police officer in France.

- (in France) an official at a cycle race or other sporting event.

<ORIGIN> French.

commissar /kmsα/ n. an official of the Communist Party, especially in the former Soviet Union or present-day China, responsible for political education and organization.

- a head of a government department in the former Soviet Union before 1946.

- FIGURATIVE a strict or prescriptive figure of authority: our academic commissars.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (Russian Revolution): from Russian komissar, from French commissaire, from medieval Latin commissarius (see COMMISSARY).

commissariat /kmsεrət/ n. 1 chiefly [MILITARY] a department for the supply of food and equipment.

2 a government department of the USSR before 1946.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a Scots legal term denoting the jurisdiction of a commissary, often spelled commissariot): from French commissariat, reinforced by medieval Latin commissariatus, both from medieval Latin commissarius ‘person in charge’, from Latin committere ‘entrust’.

commissary /kms(ə)ri/ n. (pl. commissaries) 1 a deputy or delegate.

- a representative or deputy of a bishop.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a restaurant or food store in a military base, prison, or other institution.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin commissarius ‘person in charge’, from Latin commiss- ‘joined, entrusted’, from the verb committere (see COMMIT).

commission n. 1 an instruction, command, or role given to a person or group: one of his first commissions was to redesign the Great Exhibition building | [with infinitive] he received a commission to act as an informer.

- an order for something, especially a work of art, to be produced specially.

- a work produced in response to such an order.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC the authority to perform a task or certain duties: the divine Commission of Christ.

2 a group of people entrusted by a government or other official body with authority to do something: a commission was appointed to investigate allegations of police violence.

3 a sum, typically a set percentage of the value involved, paid to an agent in a commercial transaction: foreign banks may charge a commission | he sold cosmetics on commission.

4 a warrant conferring the rank of officer in an army, navy, or air force.

5 [mass noun] the action of committing a crime or offence.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 order or authorize the production of (something): the portrait was commissioned by his widow in 1792.

- [with obj. and infinitive] order or authorize (a person or organization) to do or produce something: they commissioned an architect to manage the building project | he was commissioned to do a series of drawings.

2 bring (something newly produced) into working condition: we had a few hiccups getting the heating equipment commissioned | the aircraft carrier was commissioned in 1945.

3 appoint (someone) to the rank of officer in an army, navy, or air force: he was commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers | (as adj. commissioned) a commissioned officer.

<PHRASES>

□ in commission in use or in service.

□ out of commission not in service; not in working order.

- (of a person) unable to work or function normally, especially through illness or injury.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin commissio(n-), from committere ‘entrust’ (see COMMIT).

commission agent n. BRITISH a person who transacts business on commission, typically on behalf of a principal from another country.

commissionaire /kəmənε/ n. BRITISH a uniformed door attendant at a hotel, theatre, or other building.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from medieval Latin commissarius ‘person in charge’, from Latin committere ‘entrust’ (see COMMIT).

commissioner n. a person appointed to a role on or by a commission.

- a representative of the supreme authority in an area.

- the head of the Metropolitan Police in London.

- NORTH AMERICAN a person appointed to regulate a particular sport: a baseball commissioner.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin commissionarius, from Latin commissio (see COMMISSION).

commissioner for oaths n. BRITISH a solicitor authorized to administer an oath to a person making an affidavit.

commission of the peace n. British, chiefly HISTORICAL the Justices of the Peace in a particular jurisdiction considered collectively.

commissure /kmsjə/ n. [ANATOMY] 1 the joint between two bones.

2 a band of nerve tissue connecting the hemispheres of the brain, the two sides of the spinal cord, etc.

3 the line where the upper and lower lips or eyelids meet.

<DERIVATIVES> commissural /kmsjər(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin commissura ‘junction’, from committere ‘join’ (see COMMIT).

commit v. (commits, committing, committed) [with obj.] 1 perpetrate or carry out (a mistake, crime, or immoral act): he committed an uncharacteristic error.

2 pledge or bind (a person or an organization) to a certain course or policy: they were reluctant to commit themselves to an opinion | [with obj. and infinitive] the treaty commits each party to defend the other | [no obj.] try it out before you commit to a purchase.

- (be committed to) be dedicated to (something): we are committed to the fundamental principles of democracy.

- pledge or set aside (resources) for future use: manufacturers will have to commit substantial funds to developing new engines.

- (commit oneself to) resolve to remain in a long-term emotional relationship with (someone): she didn't love him enough to commit herself to him | [no obj.] once I commit I tend to get scared.

- (be committed to) be in a long-term emotional relationship with (someone).

3 (commit something to) transfer something to (a state or place where it can be kept or preserved): he composed a letter but didn't commit it to paper | she committed each tiny feature to memory.

- consign (someone) officially to prison, especially on remand: he was committed to prison for contempt of court.

- send (a person or case) for trial in a higher court: the magistrate decided to commit him for trial.

- send (someone) to be confined in a psychiatric hospital.

- refer (a parliamentary or legislative bill) to a committee.

<DERIVATIVES> committable adj. committer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin committere ‘join, entrust’ (in medieval Latin ‘put into custody’), from com- ‘with’ + mittere ‘put or send’.

commitment n. 1 [mass noun] the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause or activity: the company's commitment to quality | I could not fault my players for commitment.

- [count noun] a pledge or undertaking: I cannot make such a commitment at the moment.

2 an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action: with so many business commitments time for recreation was limited.

committal n. [mass noun] 1 the action of sending a person to prison or a psychiatric hospital: his committal to prison | [count noun] the high level of committals | [as modifier] committal proceedings.

2 the burial of a dead body.

committed adj. 1 pledged or bound to a certain course or policy; dedicated: a committed environmentalist.

2 in or denoting a long-term emotional relationship: a committed relationship |Esther has a committed boyfriend.

committee n. 1 /kəmti/ [treated as sing. or plural] a group of people appointed for a specific function by a larger group and typically consisting of members of that group: the housing committee | [as modifier] a committee meeting.

- (in the UK) a committee appointed by Parliament to consider the details of proposed legislation: there was much scrutiny in committee.

- (Committee of the whole House) (in the UK) the whole House of Commons when sitting as a committee.

2 /kmti/ [LAW] a person entrusted with the charge of another person or another person's property.

- chiefly US a person who has been judicially committed to the charge of another because of insanity or mental disability.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the general sense ‘person to whom something has been entrusted’): from COMMIT + -EE.

committeeman (or committeewoman) n. (pl. committeemen or committeewomen) (in the US) a local political party leader.

Committee of Public Safety a French governing body set up in April 1793, during the Revolution. Under the influence of Robespierre it initiated the Terror but it was dissolved in 1795.

committee stage n. BRITISH the third of five stages of a bill's progress through Parliament when it may be debated and amended.

commix /kmks/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC mix; mingle: beat them till they be thoroughly commixed.

<DERIVATIVES> commixture n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as the past participle commixt): from Latin commixtus, from com- ‘together with’ + mixtus ‘mixed’.

commo n. [mass noun] US INFORMAL communication.

commode n. 1 a piece of furniture containing a concealed chamber pot.

- NORTH AMERICAN a toilet.

- North American HISTORICAL a movable washstand.

2 a chest of drawers or chiffonier of a decorative type popular in the 18th century.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in sense 2): from French, literally ‘convenient, suitable’, from Latin commodus.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 19th cent.

commodify /kəmdf/ v. (commodifies, commodifying, commodified) [with obj.] turn into or treat as a mere commodity: (as adj. commodified) art has become commodified.

<DERIVATIVES> commodification n.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from COMMODITY + -FY.

commodious /kəmədəs/ adj. 1 FORMAL roomy and comfortable: they moved to a more commodious dwelling.

2 ARCHAIC convenient.

<DERIVATIVES> commodiously adv. commodiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘beneficial, useful’): from French commodieux or medieval Latin commodiosus, based on Latin commodus ‘convenient’.

commoditize (also commoditise) v. another term for COMMODIFY.

<DERIVATIVES> commoditization n.

commodity /kəmdti/ n. (pl. commodities) a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such as copper or coffee.

- a useful or valuable thing: water is a precious commodity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French commodite or Latin commoditas, from commodus (see COMMODIOUS).

commodore /kməd/ n. a naval rank above captain and below rear admiral, generally given temporarily to an officer commanding a squadron or division of a fleet.

- the president of a yacht club.

- the senior captain of a shipping line.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: probably from Dutch komandeur, from French commandeur ‘commander’.

common adj. (commoner, commonest) 1 occurring, found, or done often; prevalent: salt and pepper are the two most common seasonings | it's common for a woman to be depressed after giving birth.

- (of an animal or plant) found or living in relatively large numbers; not rare.

- denoting the most widespread or typical species of an animal or plant: the common gull.

- ordinary; of ordinary qualities; without special rank or position: the dwellings of common people | a common soldier.

- (of a quality) of a sort or level to be generally expected: common decency.

- of the most familiar type: the common or vernacular name.

2 shared by, coming from, or done by two or more people, groups, or things: the two republics' common border | problems common to both communities.

- belonging to or involving the whole of a community or the public at large: common land.

- [MATHEMATICS] belonging to two or more quantities.

3 BRITISH showing a lack of taste and refinement supposedly typical of the lower classes; vulgar: she's so common.

4 [GRAMMAR] (in Latin, Dutch, and certain other languages) of or denoting a gender of nouns that are conventionally regarded as masculine or feminine, contrasting with neuter.

- (in English) denoting a noun that refers to individuals of either sex (e.g. teacher).

5 [PROSODY] (of a syllable) able to be either short or long.

6 [LAW] (of a crime) of lesser severity: common assault.

■ n. 1 a piece of open land for public use.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL common sense.

3 (in the Christian Church) a form of service used for each of a group of occasions.

4 (also right of common) [ENGLISH LAW] a person's right over another's land, e.g. for pasturage or mineral extraction.

<PHRASES>

□ common form what is usually done; accepted procedure.

□ the common good the benefit or interests of all: it is time our elected officials stood up for the common good.

□ common ground a point accepted or shared by each of two or more parties: artists from different cultural backgrounds found common ground.

□ common knowledge something known by most people.

□ common or garden BRITISH INFORMAL of the usual or ordinary type: a common or garden family saloon car.

□ common property a thing or things held jointly.

- something known by most people.

□ the common touch the ability to get on with or appeal to ordinary people.

□ have something in common have a specified amount or degree of shared interests or characteristics: they had one thing in common, an obsession with rock and roll.

□ in common in joint use or possession; shared: a sect that had wives in common.

- [LAW] held or owned by two or more people each having undivided possession but with distinct, separately transferable interests.

□ in common with in the same way as: in common with other officers I had to undertake guard duties.

□ out of the common BRITISH rarely occurring; unusual.

<DERIVATIVES> commonness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French comun (adjective), from Latin communis.

commonable adj. British, chiefly HISTORICAL (of land) allowed to be jointly used or owned.

- (of an animal) allowed to be pastured on public land.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from obsolete common ‘to exercise right of common’ + -ABLE.

commonage n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH 1 the right of pasturing animals on common land.

- land held in common.

2 the common people; the commonalty.

Common Agricultural Policy the system in the EU for establishing common prices for most agricultural products within the European Union, a single fund for price supports, and levies on imports.

commonality n. (pl. commonalities) 1 [mass noun] the state of sharing features or attributes: the explanations show a high degree of commonality in their reasoning | [in sing.] a commonality of interest ensures cooperation.

2 (the commonality)

■ another term for COMMONALTY.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): variant of COMMONALTY.

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 16th century, but was rarely used before the 1950s.

commonalty /kmən(ə)lti/ n. [treated as plural] (the commonalty) chiefly HISTORICAL people without special rank or position, usually viewed as an estate of the realm: a petition by the earls, barons, and commonalty of the realm.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French comunalte, from medieval Latin communalitas, from Latin communis ‘common, general’ (see COMMON).

common carrier n. a person or company undertaking to transport any goods or passengers on regular routes at agreed rates.

- NORTH AMERICAN a company providing public telecommunications facilities.

common chord n. [MUSIC] a triad containing a root, a major or minor third, and a perfect fifth.

common cold n. (the common cold)

■ another term for cold (sense 2 of the noun).

common council n. a town or city council, now only in London and some parts of Canada and the US.

common denominator n. [MATHEMATICS] a common multiple of the denominators of several fractions. See also LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR, LEAST COMMON DENOMINATOR.

- a feature shared by all members of a group: the common denominator in these companies is the awareness of the importance of quality.

Common Entrance n. BRITISH an examination taken, usually at 13, by pupils wishing to enter public schools.

commoner n. 1 one of the ordinary or common people, as opposed to the aristocracy or to royalty.

2 a person who has a right over another's land, e.g. for pasturage or mineral extraction.

3 (at some British universities) an undergraduate who does not have a scholarship.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a citizen or burgess): from medieval Latin communarius, from communa, communia ‘community’, based on Latin communis (see COMMON).

Common Era n. (the Common Era)

■ another term for CHRISTIAN ERA.

common gull n. a migratory gull with greenish-grey legs, found locally in northern and eastern Eurasia and NW North America.

<INFO> Larus canus, family Laridae.

commonhold n. [mass noun] BRITISH a system of freehold tenure of a unit within a multi-occupancy building, but with shared responsibility for common services.

common jury n. BRITISH HISTORICAL a jury for which no qualification of property or social standing was required. Compare with SPECIAL JURY.

common law n. 1 [mass noun] the part of English law that is derived from custom and judicial precedent rather than statutes. Compare with CASE LAW, STATUTE LAW.

- the body of English law as adopted and adapted by the different States of the US. Compare with CIVIL LAW.

2 [as modifier] denoting a partner in a marriage recognized in some jurisdictions (excluding the UK) as valid by common law, though not brought about by a civil or ecclesiastical ceremony: a common-law husband.

- denoting a partner in a relationship in which a man and woman cohabit for a period long enough to suggest stability.

common logarithm n. a logarithm to the base 10.

commonly adv. very often; frequently: a commonly used industrial chemical | shift workers commonly complain of not getting enough sleep.

common market n. a group of countries imposing few or no duties on trade with one another and a common tariff on trade with other countries.

- (the Common Market) a name for the European Economic Community or European Union, used especially in the 1960s and 1970s.

common metre n. [mass noun] a metrical pattern for hymns in which the stanzas have four lines containing eight and six syllables alternately.

common noun n. [GRAMMAR] a noun denoting a class of objects or a concept as opposed to a particular individual. Often contrasted with PROPER NOUN.

commonplace adj. not unusual; ordinary: unemployment was commonplace in his trade.

- not interesting or original; trite: the usual commonplace remarks.

■ n. 1 a usual or ordinary thing: bombing has become almost a commonplace of public life there.

- a trite saying or topic; a platitude: it is a commonplace to talk of the young being alienated.

2 a notable passage in a work copied into a commonplace book.

<DERIVATIVES> commonplaceness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally common place): translation of Latin locus communis, rendering Greek koinos topos ‘general theme’.

commonplace book n. a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

Common Pleas (in full Court of Common Pleas) [LAW], HISTORICAL a court for hearing civil cases between subjects or citizens not involving Crown or state.

Common Prayer the Church of England liturgy, originally set forth in the Book of Common Prayer of Edward VI (1549) and revised in 1662.

common rat n. another term for BROWN RAT.

common room n. chiefly BRITISH a room in a school or college for use of students or staff outside teaching hours.

commons plural n. 1 (the Commons) short for HOUSE OF COMMONS.

- HISTORICAL the common people regarded as a part of a political system, especially in Britain.

2 [treated as sing.] land or resources belonging to or affecting the whole of a community.

- US a dining hall in a school or college.

3 ARCHAIC provisions shared in common; rations.

<PHRASES>

□ short commons ARCHAIC insufficient allocation of food: a life of short commons.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: plural of COMMON.

common seal^1 n. a seal with a mottled grey-brown coat and a concave profile, found along North Atlantic and North Pacific coasts.

<INFO> Phoca vitulina, family Phocidae.

common seal^2 n. an official seal of a corporate body.

common sense n. [mass noun] good sense and sound judgement in practical matters: it is all a matter of common sense | [as modifier] a common-sense approach.

<DERIVATIVES> commonsensical adj.

Common Serjeant n. (in the UK) a circuit judge of the Central Criminal Court with duties in the City of London.

common stock plural n. (also common stocks) [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN ordinary shares.

common time n. [mass noun] [MUSIC] a rhythmic pattern in which there are two or four beats, especially four crotchets, in a bar.

commonweal /kmənwil/ n. (the commonweal) ARCHAIC the welfare of the public.

commonwealth n. 1 an independent state or community, especially a democratic republic.

- an aggregate or grouping of states or other bodies.

- a community of shared interests in a non-political field: the Christian commonwealth | the commonwealth of letters.

- a self-governing unit voluntarily grouped with the US, such as Puerto Rico.

- a formal title of some of the states of the US, especially Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

- the title of the federated Australian states.

- (the Commonwealth) the republican period of government in Britain between the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.

2 (the Commonwealth) (in full the Commonwealth of Nations) an international association consisting of the UK together with states that were previously part of the British Empire, and dependencies.

3 (the commonwealth) ARCHAIC the general good.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as two words, denoting public welfare; compare with COMMONWEAL): from COMMON + WEALTH.

Commonwealth Day n. the second Monday in March, on which the British Commonwealth is celebrated. It was instituted to commemorate assistance given to Britain by the colonies during the Boer War (1899–1902). Formerly called EMPIRE DAY.

Commonwealth Games an amateur sports competition held every four years between member countries of the Commonwealth.

Commonwealth of Independent States (abbr.: CIS) a confederation of independent states, formerly constituent republics of the Soviet Union, established in 1991. The member states are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

commotion n. a state of confused and noisy disturbance: she was distracted by a commotion across the street | [mass noun] they set off firecrackers to make a lot of commotion.

- [mass noun] civil insurrection: damage caused by civil commotion.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin commotio(n-), from com- ‘altogether’ + motio (see MOTION).

comms plural n. [usually as modifier] communications: comms software.

communal /kmjn(ə)l kəmju-/ adj. 1 shared by all members of a community; for common use: a communal bathroom and kitchen.

- involving the sharing of work and property: communal living.

- relating to or done by a community: communal pride in impressive local buildings.

2 (of conflict) between different communities, especially those having different religions or ethnic origins: violent communal riots.

<DERIVATIVES> communality n. communally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the sense ‘relating to a commune, especially the Paris Commune’): from French, from late Latin communalis, from communis (see COMMON).

communalism n. [mass noun] 1 a principle of political organization based on federated communes.

- the principle or practice of living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities.

2 allegiance to one's own ethnic group rather than to the wider society.

<DERIVATIVES> communalist adj. & n. communalistic adj.

communalize (also communalise) v. [with obj.] RARE organize (something) on the basis of shared ownership: attempts to communalize farming.

<DERIVATIVES> communalization n.

communard /kmjnαd/ n. a member of a commune.

- (Communard) HISTORICAL a supporter of the Paris Commune.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from COMMUNE^1.

commune^1 /kmjun/ n. 1 a group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities.

- a communal settlement in a communist country.

2 the smallest French territorial division for administrative purposes.

- a similar division elsewhere.

3 (the Commune) the group which seized the municipal government of Paris in the French Revolution and played a leading part in the Reign of Terror until suppressed in 1794.

- (also the Paris Commune) the municipal government organized on communalistic principles that was elected in Paris in 1871. It was soon brutally suppressed by government troops.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in sense 2): from French, from medieval Latin communia, neuter plural of Latin communis (see COMMON).

commune^2 /kəmjun/ v. [no obj.] (commune with) share one's intimate thoughts or feelings with (someone), especially on a spiritual level: the purpose of praying is to commune with God.

- feel in close spiritual contact with: he spent an hour communing with nature on the bank of a stream.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French comuner ‘to share’, from comun (see COMMON).

communicable adj. able to be communicated to others: the value of the product must be communicable to the potential consumers.

- (of a disease) able to be transmitted from one sufferer to another; contagious or infectious.

<DERIVATIVES> communicability n. communicably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘communicating, having communication’): from Old French, from late Latin communicabilis, from the verb communicare ‘to share’ (see COMMUNICATE).

communicant n. 1 a person who receives Holy Communion.

2 ARCHAIC a person who imparts information.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin communicant- ‘sharing’, from the verb communicare (see COMMUNICATE).

communicate v. [no obj.] 1 share or exchange information, news, or ideas: the prisoner was forbidden to communicate with his family.

- [with obj.] impart or pass on (information, news, or ideas): he communicated his findings to the inspector.

- [with obj.] convey or transmit (an emotion or feeling) in a non-verbal way: the ability of good teachers to communicate their own enthusiasm | his sudden fear communicated itself.

- succeed in conveying one's ideas or in evoking understanding in others: a politician must have the ability to communicate.

2 [with obj.] pass on (an infectious disease) to another person or animal.

- transmit (heat or motion): the heat is communicated through a small brass grating.

3 (often as adj. communicating) (of two rooms) have a common connecting door: he went into the communicating room to pick up the phone.

4 receive Holy Communion.

<DERIVATIVES> communicator n. communicatory adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin communicat- ‘shared’, from the verb communicare, from communis (see COMMON).

communication n. 1 [mass noun] the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium: television is an effective means of communication | at the moment I am in communication with London.

- [count noun] a letter or message containing information or news.

- the successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings: there was a lack of communication between Pamela and her parents.

- social contact: she gave him some hope of her return, or at least of their future communication.

2 (communications) means of sending or receiving information, such as telephone lines or computers: satellite communications | [as modifier] a communications network.

- [treated as sing.] the field of study concerned with the transmission of information.

3 (communications) means of travelling or of transporting goods, such as roads or railways: a city providing excellent road and rail communications.

<DERIVATIVES> communicational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French comunicacion, from Latin communicatio(n-), from the verb communicare ‘to share’ (see COMMUNICATE).

communication cord n. British another term for EMERGENCY CORD.

communications satellite (also communication satellite) n. a satellite placed in orbit round the earth in order to relay television, radio, and telephone signals.

communication theory (also communications theory) n. [mass noun] the branch of knowledge dealing with the principles and methods by which information is conveyed.

communicative adj. willing, eager, or able to talk or impart information: Lew was a very communicative chap.

- relating to the conveyance or exchange of information: the communicative process in literary texts.

<DERIVATIVES> communicatively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin communicativus, from communicat- ‘shared’, from the verb communicare (see COMMUNICATE).

communion n. 1 [mass noun] the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially on a mental or spiritual level: in this churchyard communion with the dead was almost palpable | [in sing.] for a moment there was a blessed communion between them.

- shared participation in a mental or spiritual experience: the Coronation marked a high spot of national communion.

2 (often Communion or Holy Communion) the service of Christian worship at which bread and wine are consecrated and shared. See EUCHARIST.

- the consecrated bread and wine administered and received at Communion: the priests gave him Holy Communion.

3 a relationship of recognition and acceptance between Christian Churches or denominations, or between individual Christians or Christian communities and a Church: the Eastern Churches are not in communion with Rome.

- [count noun] a group of Christian communities or Churches which recognize one another's ministries or that of a central authority. See also ANGLICAN COMMUNION.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin communio(n-), from communis (see COMMON).

communion of saints n. a fellowship between Christians living and dead.

communiqué /kəmjunke/ (also communique) n. an official announcement or statement, especially one made to the media.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, past participle of communiquer ‘communicate’.

communism n. [mass noun] a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. See also MARXISM.

The most familiar form of communism is that established by the Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and it has generally been understood in terms of the system practised by the former Soviet Union and its allies in eastern Europe, in China since 1949, and in some developing countries such as Cuba, Vietnam, and North Korea. In this form of communism it was held that the state would wither away after the overthrow of the capitalist system. In practice, however, the state grew to control all aspects of communist society. Communism in eastern Europe collapsed in the late 1980s and early 1990s against a background of failure to meet people's economic expectations, a shift to more democracy in political life, and increasing nationalism such as that which led to the break-up of the Soviet Union.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French communisme, from commun (see COMMON).

Communism Peak former name (1962–98) for Ismail Samani Peak.

communist n. a person who supports or believes in the principles of communism: I was very left-wing but I was never a communist.

■ adj. adhering to or based on the principles of communism: a French communist writer.

<DERIVATIVES> communistic adj.

communitarianism n. [mass noun] a theory or system of social organization based on small self-governing communities.

- an ideology which emphasizes the responsibility of the individual to the community and the social importance of the family unit.

<DERIVATIVES> communitarian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from COMMUNITY + -ARIAN, on the pattern of words such as unitarian.

community n. (pl. communities) 1 a group of people living together in one place, especially one practising common ownership: a community of nuns.

- a particular area or place considered together with its inhabitants: a rural community | local communities.

- (the community) the people of a district or country considered collectively, especially in the context of social values and responsibilities; society: preparing prisoners for life back in the community.

- [as modifier] denoting a worker or resource designed to serve the people of a particular area: community health services.

2 [usually with modifier] a group of people having a religion, race, profession, or other particular characteristic in common: Montreal 's Italian community | the scientific community.

- a body of nations or states unified by common interests: [in names] the European Community.

3 [mass noun] the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common: the sense of community that organized religion can provide.

- [in sing.] a similarity or identity: the law presupposes a community of interest between an employer and employees.

- joint ownership or liability: the community of goods.

4 [ECOLOGY] a group of interdependent plants or animals growing or living together in natural conditions or occupying a specified habitat: communities of insectivorous birds.

<PHRASES>

□ the international community the countries of the world considered collectively.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French comunete, reinforced by its source, Latin communitas, from communis (see COMMON).

community care (also care in the community) n. [mass noun] long-term care for people who are mentally ill, elderly, or disabled which is provided within the community rather than in hospitals or institutions, especially as implemented in the UK under the National Health Service and Community Care Act of 1990.

community centre n. a place where people from a particular neighbourhood can meet for social events, education classes, or recreational activities.

community charge n. [mass noun] (in the UK) a tax, introduced by the Conservative government in 1990 (1989 in Scotland), levied locally on every adult in a community. It was replaced in 1993 by the council tax. Informally called POLL TAX.

community chest n. a fund for charitable activities among the people in a particular area.

community college n. 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a college providing further and higher education for people living in a particular area.

2 BRITISH a secondary school whose educational and recreational facilities are available to adults in the local community.

community home n. BRITISH a centre for housing young offenders and other young people in need of custodial care.

community hospital n. a non-specialized hospital serving a local area.

community of property n. [mass noun] (in South Africa) a marriage contract in which the possessions of the partners are merged in a joint estate and disposed of by means of a joint will.

community order n. [LAW] a non-custodial sentence which requires an offender to perform community service, observe a curfew, undergo treatment for drug or alcohol addiction, etc., instead of going to prison.

community policing n. [mass noun] the system of allocating police officers to particular areas so that they become familiar with the local inhabitants.

community sentence n. [LAW] a sentence whereby an offender is required to perform community service.

community service n. [mass noun] voluntary work intended to help people in a particular area.

- [ENGLISH LAW] unpaid work, intended to be of social use, that an offender is required to do instead of going to prison: [as modifier] a community-service order.

community singing n. [mass noun] singing by a large crowd or group, especially of old popular songs or hymns.

community spirit n. [mass noun] a feeling of involvement in and concern for one's local community: there has been a loss of community spirit.

community worker n. a person who works among the people of a particular area to promote their welfare.

communize /kmjnz/ (also communise) v. [with obj.] RARE cause (a country or economic activity) to be organized on the principles of communism.

<DERIVATIVES> communization n.

commutable /kəmjutəb(ə)l/ adj. 1 (of a place or journey) allowing regular commuting to and from work: commutable country homes.

2 RARE capable of being exchanged or converted.

<DERIVATIVES> commutability n.

commutate /kmjtet/ v. [with obj.] regulate or reverse the direction of (an alternating electric current), especially to make it a direct current.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin commutat- ‘changed altogether, exchanged, interchanged’, from the verb commutare (see COMMUTE).

commutation n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of commuting a judicial sentence.

- the conversion of a legal obligation or entitlement into another form, e.g. the replacement of an annuity or series of payments by a single payment.

2 the process of commutating an electric current.

3 [MATHEMATICS] the property of having a commutative relation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘exchange, barter’, later ‘alteration’): from Latin commutatio(n-), from commutare ‘exchange, interchange’ (see COMMUTE).

■ Sense 1 dates from the late 16th cent.

commutative /kəmjutətv kmjtətv/ adj. 1 [MATHEMATICS] involving the condition that a group of quantities connected by operators gives the same result whatever the order of the quantities involved, e.g. a × b = b × a.

2 RARE relating to or involving substitution or exchange.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘relating to transactions between people’): from French commutatif, -ive or medieval Latin commutativus, from commutat- ‘exchanged’, from the verb commutare (see COMMUTE).

commutator /kmjtetə/ n. an attachment, connected with the armature of a motor or dynamo, through which electrical connection is made and which ensures the current flows as direct current.

- a device for reversing the direction of flow of electric current.

commute v. 1 [no obj.] travel some distance between one's home and place of work on a regular basis: he commuted from Corby to Kentish Town.

2 [with obj.] reduce (a judicial sentence, especially a sentence of death) to another less severe one: the governor commuted the sentence to fifteen years' imprisonment.

- (commute something for/into) change one kind of payment or obligation for (another): tithes were commuted into an annual sum varying with the price of corn.

- replace (an annuity or other series of payments) with a single payment.

3 [no obj.] [MATHEMATICS] (of two operations or quantities) have a commutative relation: operators which do not commute with each other.

■ n. a regular journey of some distance to and from one's place of work.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘interchange (two things)’): from Latin commutare, from com- ‘altogether’ + mutare ‘to change’.

■ Sense 1 of the verb originally meant to buy and use a commutation ticket, the US term for a season ticket (because the daily fare is commuted to a single payment).

commuter n. a person who travels some distance to work on a regular basis: a fault on the line caused widespread delays for commuters.

commuter belt n. BRITISH the area surrounding a city from which a large number of people travel to work each day.

Como, Lake /kəmə/ a lake in the foothills of the Alps in northern Italy.

Comodoro Rivadavia /kmədrə rivədαvə/ Spanish /kəməərə riβadaβja/ a port in Argentina situated on the Atlantic coast of Patagonia; pop. 157,600 (est. 2002).

co-morbid adj. MEDICINE relating to or denoting a medical condition that co-occurs with another.

<DERIVATIVES> co-morbidity n.

Comorin, Cape /kmərn/ a cape at the southern tip of India, in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Comoros /kmərəz/ a country consisting of a group of islands in the Indian Ocean north of Madagascar; pop. 614,382 (est. 2002); languages, French (official), Arabic (official), Comoran Swahili; capital, Moroni. The islands were first visited by the English at the end of the 16th century. At that time and for long afterwards Arab influence was dominant. In the mid 19th century they came under French protection, until in 1974 all but one of the four major islands voted for independence.

<DERIVATIVES> Comoran adj. & n.

comp INFORMAL n. short for:

- BRITISH a competition.

- BRITISH a comprehensive school.

- BRITISH a compositor.

- a composition.

- a compilation.

- NORTH AMERICAN a complimentary ticket or voucher.

- [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN compensation.

- a musical accompaniment.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] play music as an accompaniment, especially in jazz or blues.

2 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN give (something) away free, especially as part of a promotion: the management did graciously comp our wine selection.

3 [with obj.]

■ short for COMPOSITE.

■ adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN complimentary; free: the average fan was unable to get comp press tickets.

compact^1 adj. /kəmpakt/ 1 closely and neatly packed together; dense: a compact cluster of houses.

- having all the necessary components or features neatly fitted into a small space: this compact car has plenty of boot space.

- (of a person or animal) small, strong, and well proportioned.

- (of speech or writing) concise in expression: a compact summary of the play.

2 (compact of) ARCHAIC composed or made up of: towns compact of wooden houses.

■ v. /kəmpakt/ [with obj.] exert force on (something) so that it becomes more dense; compress: the rubbish was taken to the depot to be compacted | (as adj. compacted) compacted earth.

- [no obj.] become compressed by the exertion of force: the snow hardened and compacted.

- ARCHAIC form (something) by pressing its component parts firmly together: the foundation of the walls, compacted of Granite and Lime.

- express in fewer words; condense: the ideas are compacted into two sentences.

■ n. /kmpakt/ 1 a small flat case containing face powder, a mirror, and a powder puff.

2 something that is a small and conveniently shaped example of its kind, in particular a compact camera.

3 [METALLURGY] a mass of powdered metal compacted together in preparation for sintering.

<DERIVATIVES> compaction n. compactly adv. compactness n. compactor n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin compact- ‘closely put together, joined’, from the verb compingere, from com- ‘together’ + pangere ‘fasten’.

compact^2 /kmpakt/ n. a formal agreement or contract between two or more parties.

■ v. [with obj.] make or enter into (a formal agreement) with another party or parties: the Democratic Party compacted an alliance with dissident groups.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin compactum, past participle of compacisci, from com- ‘with’ + pacisci ‘make a covenant’. Compare with PACT.

compact camera n. a small, simple 35 mm camera with automatic focusing and exposure.

compact car n. NORTH AMERICAN a medium-sized car.

compact disc (abbr.: CD) n. a small plastic disc on which music or other digital information is stored in the form of a pattern of metal-coated pits from which it can be read using laser light reflected off the disc.

compadre /kmpαdre/ n. (pl. compadres) INFORMAL, chiefly US a way of addressing or referring to a friend or companion.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘godfather’, hence ‘benefactor, friend’. Compare with compère and GOSSIP.

compand /kəmpand/ v. [with obj.] reduce the signal-to-noise ratio of (a signal) using a compander.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: back-formation from COMPANDER.

compander (also compandor) n. a device that improves the signal-to-noise ratio of an electrical signal by compressing the range of amplitudes of the signal before transmission, and then expanding it on reproduction or reception.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of COMPRESSOR and EXPANDER (see EXPAND).

companion^1 n. 1 a person or animal with whom one spends a lot of time or with whom one travels: his travelling companion | FIGURATIVE fear became my constant companion.

- a person who shares the experiences of another, especially when these are unpleasant or unwelcome: my companions in misfortune.

- a person's long-term sexual partner outside marriage.

- a person, usually a woman, employed to live with and assist another.

- [ASTRONOMY] a star, galaxy, or other celestial object that is close to or associated with another.

2 each of a pair of things intended to complement or match each other: [as modifier] a companion volume.

- [usually in names] a book that provides information about a particular subject: the Oxford Companion to English Literature.

- British DATED a piece of equipment containing several objects used in a particular activity: a traveller's companion.

3 (Companion) a member of the lowest grade of certain orders of knighthood: a Companion of the Order of Canada.

■ v. [with obj.] FORMAL accompany: he is companioned by a pageboy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French compaignon, literally ‘one who breaks bread with another’, based on Latin com- ‘together with’ + panis ‘bread’.

companion^2 n. a covering over the hatchway leading to a ship's companionway.

- ARCHAIC a raised frame with windows on the quarterdeck of a ship to allow light into the decks below.

■ short for COMPANIONWAY.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from obsolete Dutch kompanje (earlier form of kampanje) ‘quarterdeck’, from Old French compagne, from Italian (camera della) compagna ‘(storeroom for) provisions’.

companionable adj. friendly and sociable: a companionable young man.

<DERIVATIVES> companionableness n. companionably adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: alteration of obsolete companiable, influenced by companion^1.

companion animal n. a pet or other domestic animal.

companionate /kəmpanjənət/ adj. FORMAL (of a marriage or relationship) between partners or spouses as equal companions.

companion-in-arms n. a fellow soldier.

companion ladder n. another term for COMPANIONWAY.

Companion of Honour (abbr.: CH) n. (in the UK) a member of an order of knighthood founded in 1917.

Companion of Literature n. (in the UK) a holder of an honour awarded by the Royal Society of Literature and founded in 1961.

companion planting n. [mass noun] the close planting of different plants that enhance each other's growth or protect each other from pests.

<DERIVATIVES> companion plant n.

companion set n. BRITISH a collection of fireside implements on a stand.

companionship n. [mass noun] a feeling of fellowship or friendship: the love and companionship of a husband.

companionway n. a set of steps leading from a ship's deck down to a cabin or lower deck.

company n. (pl. companies) 1 a commercial business: a shipping company | [in names] the Ford Motor Company | [as modifier] a company director.

2 [mass noun] the fact or condition of being with another or others, especially in a way that provides friendship and enjoyment: I really enjoy his company.

- a person or people seen as a source of a specified kind of such friendship and enjoyment: she is excellent company.

- the person or group of people whose society one is currently sharing: he was silent among such distinguished company.

- a visiting person or group of people: I'm expecting company.

3 a number of individuals gathered together: the Mayor addressed the assembled company.

- a body of soldiers, especially the smallest subdivision of an infantry battalion, typically commanded by a major or captain: B Company of the Cheshire Regiment.

- a group of actors, singers, or dancers who perform together: a national opera company.

- BRITISH a group of Guides.

■ v. (companies, companying, companied) [no obj.] (company with) LITERARY associate with; keep company with: these men which have companied with us all this time.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC accompany (someone): the fair dame, companied by Statius and myself.

<PHRASES>

□ and company used after a person's name to denote those people usually associated with them.

□ be in good company be in the same situation as someone important or respected.

□ in company with another person or a group of people: he feels at ease in company.

□ in company with together with: the US dollar went through a bad patch in 1986, in company with the oil market.

□ keep (or ARCHAIC bear) someone company accompany or spend time with someone in order to prevent them feeling lonely or bored.

- engage in the same activity as someone else in order to be sociable: I'll have a drink myself, just to keep you company.

□ keep company with associate with habitually: she began keeping company with a real-estate developer.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2 of the noun, sense 3 of the noun): from Old French compainie; related to compaignon (see companion^1).

company car n. a car provided by a firm for the business and private use of an employee.

company officer n. an army officer serving within an infantry company.

company promoter n. see PROMOTER.

company sergeant major n. the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer of an infantry company.

comparable /kmp(ə)rəb(ə)l/ adj. able to be likened to another; similar: the situation in Holland is comparable to that in England.

- of equivalent quality; worthy of comparison: nobody is comparable with this athlete.

<DERIVATIVES> comparability n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin comparabilis, from the verb comparare (see COMPARE).

<USAGE> Although the correct pronunciation in standard English is with the stress on the first syllable rather than the second (comparable), an alternative pronunciation with the stress on the second syllable (comparable) is gaining in currency.

comparably /kmp(ə)rəbli/ adv. in a similar way or to a similar degree: a comparably priced CD player.

comparatist /kəmparətst/ n. a person who carries out comparative study, especially of language or literature.

comparative /kəmparətv/ adj. 1 measured or judged by estimating the similarity or dissimilarity between one thing and another; relative: he returned to the comparative comfort of his own home.

2 involving the systematic observation of the similarities or dissimilarities between two or more branches of science or subjects of study: comparative religion.

3 [GRAMMAR] (of an adjective or adverb) expressing a higher degree of a quality, but not the highest possible (e.g. braver; more fiercely). Contrasted with POSITIVE, SUPERLATIVE.

- (of a clause) involving comparison (e.g. he's not as good as he was).

■ n. [GRAMMAR] a comparative adjective or adverb.

- (the comparative) the middle degree of comparison.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3 of the adjective): from Latin comparativus, from comparare ‘to pair, match’ (see COMPARE).

comparative advantage n. [ECONOMICS] the ability of an individual or group to carry out a particular economic activity (such as making a specific product) more efficiently than another activity.

comparative linguistics plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of similarities and differences between languages, in particular the comparison of related languages with a view to reconstructing forms in their lost parent languages.

comparatively adv. [as submodifier] to a moderate degree as compared to something else; relatively: inflation was comparatively low.

comparator /kəmparətə/ n. a device for comparing something measurable with a reference or standard.

- an electronic circuit for comparing two electrical signals.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin comparat- ‘paired, matched’, from the verb comparare (see COMPARE), + -OR^1.

compare v. [with obj.] 1 estimate, measure, or note the similarity or dissimilarity between: individual schools compared their facilities with those of others in the area | the survey compares prices in different countries | total attendance figures were 28,000, compared to 40,000 at last year's event.

- (compare something to) point out or describe the resemblances with; liken to: her novel was compared to the work of Daniel Defoe.

- (compare something to) draw an analogy between one thing and (another) for the purposes of explanation or clarification: he compared the religions to different paths towards the peak of the same mountain.

- [no obj., with adverbial] have a specified relationship with another thing or person in terms of nature or quality: salaries compare favourably with those of other professions.

- [no obj., usually with negative] be of an equal or similar nature or quality: the dried stuff just can't compare with the taste and aroma of fresh basil.

2 [GRAMMAR] form the comparative and superlative degrees of (an adjective or an adverb): words of one syllable are usually compared by ‘-er’ and ‘-est’.

■ n. (in phrase beyond or without compare) LITERARY of a quality or nature surpassing all others of the same kind: a diamond beyond compare.

<PHRASES>

□ compare notes exchange ideas, opinions, or information about a particular subject.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French comparer, from Latin comparare, from compar ‘like, equal’, from com- ‘with’ + par ‘equal’.

<USAGE> Is there any difference between compare with and compare to, and is one more correct than the other? There is a slight difference, in that it is usual to use to rather than with when describing the resemblance, by analogy, of two quite different things, as in critics compared Ellington's music to the music of Beethoven and Brahms. In the sense ‘estimate the similarity or dissimilarity between’, it is traditionally held that with is more correct than to, as in schools compared their facilities with those of others in the area. However, in practice the distinction is not clear-cut and both compare with and compare to can be used in either context.

comparison n. 1 a consideration or estimate of the similarities or dissimilarities between two things or people: they drew a comparison between Gandhi's teaching and that of other teachers | [mass noun] the two books invite comparison with one another.

- an analogy: perhaps the best comparison is that of seasickness.

- [mass noun] the quality of being similar or equivalent: when it comes to achievements this season, there's no comparison between Linfield and Bangor.

2 [mass noun] [GRAMMAR] the formation of the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs.

<PHRASES>

□ bear (or stand) comparison be of sufficient quality to be likened favourably to someone or something of the same kind.

□ beyond comparison surpassing all others of the same kind.

□ in (or by) comparison when compared: the Prime Minister's support staff is tiny in comparison with that of a US President.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French comparesoun, from Latin comparatio(n-), from comparare ‘to pair, match’ (see COMPARE).

compartment n. 1 a separate section or part of a structure or container: there's some ice cream in the freezer compartment.

- a division of a railway carriage marked by partitions: a first-class compartment.

- a division of a ship's hull: the aft cargo compartment.

- FIGURATIVE an area in which something can be considered in isolation from other things: religion and politics should be kept in different compartments.

2 [HERALDRY] a grassy mound or other support depicted below a shield.

■ v. [with obj.] divide (something) into separate parts or sections: the buildings are to be compartmented by fire walls.

<DERIVATIVES> compartmentation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French compartiment, from Italian compartimento, from compartire, from late Latin compartiri ‘divide’.

compartmental adj. characterized by division into separate sections: the compartmental interior of the church.

<DERIVATIVES> compartmentally adv.

compartmentalize (also compartmentalise) v. [with obj.] divide into discrete sections or categories: he had the ability to compartmentalize his life.

<DERIVATIVES> compartmentalism n. compartmentalization n.

compartment syndrome n. MEDICINE a condition resulting from increased pressure within a confined body space, especially of the leg or forearm.

compass n. 1 an instrument containing a magnetized pointer which shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it.

2 (also compasses or a pair of compasses) an instrument for drawing circles and arcs and measuring distances between points, consisting of two arms linked by a movable joint, one arm ending in a point and the other usually carrying a pencil or pen.

3 [in sing.] the range or scope of something: the event had political repercussions which are beyond the compass of this book | goods and services which fall within the compass of the free market.

- the enclosing limits of an area: this region had within its compass many types of agriculture.

- the range of notes that can be produced by a voice or a musical instrument: the cellos were playing in a rather sombre part of their compass.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC 1 go round (something) in a circular course: the ship wherein Magellan compassed the world.

- surround or hem in on all sides: we were compassed round by a thick fog.

2 contrive to accomplish (something): he compassed his end only by the exercise of violence.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French compas (noun), compasser (verb), based on Latin com- ‘together’ + passus ‘a step or pace’. Several senses (‘measure’, ‘artifice’, ‘circumscribed area’, and ‘pair of compasses’) which appeared in Middle English are also found in Old French, but their development and origin are uncertain. The transference of sense to the magnetic compass is held to have occurred in the related Italian word compasso, from the circular shape of the compass box.

compass card n. a circular rotating card showing the 32 principal bearings, forming the indicator of a magnetic compass.

compassion n. [mass noun] sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others: the victims should be treated with compassion.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin compassio(n-), from compati ‘suffer with’.

compassionate adj. feeling or showing sympathy and concern for others.

<DERIVATIVES> compassionately adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from COMPASSION + -ATE^2, influenced by archaic French compassioné ‘feeling pity’.

compassionate leave n. [mass noun] BRITISH a period of absence from work granted to someone as the result of particular personal circumstances, especially the death of a close relative.

compassion fatigue n. [mass noun] indifference to charitable appeals on behalf of suffering people, experienced as a result of the frequency or number of such appeals.

compass rose n. a graduated circle printed on a map or chart from which bearings can be taken.

compass saw n. a handsaw with a narrow blade for cutting curves.

compass window n. a bay window with a semicircular curve.

compatibility n. [mass noun] a state in which two things are able to exist or occur together without problems or conflict: he argues for the compatibility of science and religion.

- a feeling of sympathy and friendship; like-mindedness: they felt the bond of true compatibility.

- [COMPUTING] the ability of one computer, piece of software, etc. to work with another. software compatibility is another important factor to consider.

compatible adj. (often compatible with) (of two things) able to exist or occur together without problems or conflict: the careers structure here is not compatible with having a family.

- (of two people) able to have a harmonious relationship; well suited: it's a pity we're not compatible.

- (of one thing) consistent with another: the symptoms were compatible with gastritis or a peptic ulcer.

- [COMPUTING] (of a computer, piece of software, etc.) able to be used with a specified piece of equipment or software without special adaptation or modification: the printer is fully compatible with all leading software.

■ n. a computer that can use software designed for another make or type.

<DERIVATIVES> compatibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, from medieval Latin compatibilis, from compati ‘suffer with’.

compatriot /kəmpatrət -pet-/ n. a fellow citizen or national of a country.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French compatriote, from late Latin compatriota (translating Greek sumpatriōtēs), from com- ‘together with’ + patriota (see PATRIOT).

compeer /kəmpə/ n. FORMAL a person of equal rank, status, or ability.

- ARCHAIC a companion or associate.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French comper, from com- ‘with’ + per, from Latin par ‘equal’ (compare with peer^2).

compel v. (compels, compelling, compelled) [with obj. and infinitive] force or oblige (someone) to do something: a sense of duty compelled Harry to answer her questions.

- [with obj.] bring about (something) by the use of force or pressure: they may compel a witness's attendance at court by issue of a summons | his striking appearance compelled attention.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] LITERARY force to come or go in a particular direction: by heav'n's high will compell'd from shore to shore.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin compellere, from com- ‘together’ + pellere ‘drive’.

compellable adj. [LAW] (of a witness) able to be made to attend court or give evidence.

compelling adj. evoking interest, attention, or admiration in a powerfully irresistible way: his eyes were strangely compelling | a compelling film.

- not able to be refuted; inspiring conviction: there is compelling evidence that the recession is ending | a compelling argument.

- not able to be resisted; overwhelming: the temptation to give up was compelling.

<DERIVATIVES> compellingly adv.

compendious adj. FORMAL containing or presenting the essential facts of something in a comprehensive but concise way: a compendious study.

<DERIVATIVES> compendiously adv. compendiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French compendieux, from Latin compendiosus ‘advantageous, brief’, from compendium ‘profit, saving, abbreviation’.

compendium n. (pl. compendiums or compendia /-də/) a collection of concise but detailed information about a particular subject, especially in a book or other publication.

- a collection or set of similar items.

- a package of stationery for writing letters.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin, ‘profit, saving’ (literally ‘what is weighed together’), from compendere, from com- ‘together’ + pendere ‘weigh’.

compensable /kəmpεnsəb(ə)l/ adj. (of a loss or hardship) for which compensation can be obtained.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: French, from compenser, from Latin compensare ‘weigh (something) against (another)’.

compensate v. 1 [with obj.] give (someone) something, typically money, in recognition of loss, suffering, or injury incurred; recompense: payments were made to farmers to compensate them for cuts in subsidies.

2 [no obj.] (compensate for) reduce or counteract (something unwelcome or unpleasant) by exerting an opposite force or effect: the manager is hoping for victory to compensate for the team's dismal league campaign.

- act so as to neutralize or correct (a deficiency or abnormality in a physical property or effect): the output voltage rises, compensating for the original fall.

<DERIVATIVES> compensative adj. compensator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘counterbalance’): from Latin compensat- ‘weighed against’, from the verb compensare, from com- ‘together’ + pensare (frequentative of pendere ‘weigh’).

compensation n. [mass noun] 1 something, typically money, awarded to someone in recognition of loss, suffering, or injury: he is seeking compensation for injuries suffered at work | [as modifier] a compensation claim.

- the action or process of making such an award: the compensation of victims.

- something that counterbalances or makes up for an undesirable or unwelcome state of affairs: the grey streets of London were small compensation for the loss of her beloved Africa | [count noun] getting older has some compensations.

2 the process of concealing or offsetting a psychological difficulty by developing in another direction.

3 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the money received by an employee from an employer as a salary or wages: send your CV and current compensation to Executive Search Consultant.

<DERIVATIVES> compensational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin compensatio(n-), from the verb compensare ‘weigh against’ (see COMPENSATE).

compensation pendulum n. [PHYSICS] a pendulum constructed from metals with differing coefficients of expansion in order to neutralize the effects of temperature variation.

compensation water n. [mass noun] water supplied from a reservoir to a stream in time of drought.

compensatory adj. (of a payment) intended to recompense someone who has experienced loss, suffering, or injury: $50 million in compensatory damages.

- reducing or offsetting the unpleasant or unwelcome effects of something: the government is taking compensatory actions to keep the interest rate constant.

compère /kmpε/ British n. a person who introduces the performers or contestants in a variety show.

■ v. [with obj.] act as a compère for (a variety show).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, literally ‘godfather’, from medieval Latin compater, from com- ‘together with’ + Latin pater ‘father’.

compete v. [no obj.] strive to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others: universities are competing for applicants | he competed with a number of other candidates | (as adj. competing) competing political ideologies.

- [usually with negative] be able to rival another or others: no one can compete with his physical prowess.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin competere, in its late sense ‘strive or contend for (something)’, from com- ‘together’ + petere ‘aim at, seek’.

competence (also competency) n. 1 [mass noun] the ability to do something successfully or efficiently: courses to improve the competence of staff | the players displayed varying degrees of competence.

- the legal authority of a court or other body to deal with a particular matter: the court's competence has been accepted to cover these matters.

- (also linguistic or language competence) [LINGUISTICS] a person's subconscious knowledge of the rules governing the formation of speech in their first language. Often contrasted with PERFORMANCE.

- [BIOLOGY] & MEDICINE effective performance of the normal function.

2 DATED an income large enough to live on, typically an unearned one: he found himself with an ample competence and no obligations.

competent adj. having the necessary ability, knowledge, or skill to do something successfully: a highly competent surgeon | [with infinitive] make sure the firm is competent to carry out the work.

- (of a person) efficient and capable: an infinitely competent mother of three.

- acceptable and satisfactory, though not outstanding: she spoke quite competent French.

- (of a court or other body) accepted as having legal authority to deal with a particular matter: the London Stock Exchange is the competent authority under the Financial Services Act.

- [BIOLOGY] & MEDICINE capable of performing the normal function effectively.

<DERIVATIVES> competently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘suitable, adequate’): from Latin competent-, from the verb competere in its earlier sense ‘be fit or proper’ (see COMPETE).

competition n. [mass noun] the activity or condition of striving to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others: there is fierce competition between banks | the competition for university places is greater than ever this year.

- [count noun] an event or contest in which people take part in order to establish superiority or supremacy in a particular area: a beauty competition.

- [in sing.] the person or people over whom one is attempting to establish one's supremacy or superiority; the opposition: I walked round to check out the competition.

- [ECOLOGY] interaction between animal or plant species, or individual organisms, that are attempting to gain a share of a limited environmental resource.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin competitio(n-) ‘rivalry’, from competere ‘strive for’ (see COMPETE).

competitive adj. 1 relating to or characterized by competition: a competitive sport | the intensely competitive newspaper industry.

- having or displaying a strong desire to be more successful than others: she had a competitive streak.

2 as good as or better than others of a comparable nature: a car industry competitive with any in the world.

- (of prices) low enough to compare well with those of rival traders: we offer prompt service at competitive rates.

<DERIVATIVES> competitively adv. competitiveness n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin competit- ‘striven for’, from the verb competere (see COMPETE), + -IVE.

competitive exclusion n. [mass noun] [ECOLOGY] the inevitable elimination from a habitat of one of two different species with identical needs for resources.

competitor n. a person who takes part in a sporting contest.

- an organization or country engaged in commercial or economic competition with others: our main industrial competitors.

compilation n. 1 [mass noun] the action or process of producing something, especially a list or book, by assembling information collected from other sources: great care has been taken in the compilation of this guidebook.

2 a thing, especially a book, record, or broadcast programme, that is put together by assembling previously separate items: there are thirty-three stories in this compilation | [as modifier] a compilation album.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin compilatio(n-), from compilare ‘to plunder’ (see COMPILE).

compile v. [with obj.] 1 produce (a list or book) by assembling information collected from other sources: the local authority must compile a list of the names and addresses of taxpayers.

- collect (information) in order to produce a list or book: the figures were compiled from a survey of 2,000 schoolchildren.

- accumulate (a specified score): the world champion compiled a break of 101.

2 [COMPUTING] convert (a program) into a machine-code or lower-level form in which the program can be executed.

<DERIVATIVES> compiler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French compiler or its apparent source, Latin compilare ‘plunder or plagiarize’.

comping n. [mass noun] 1 BRITISH INFORMAL the practice of entering competitions, especially those promoting consumer products.

2 the action of playing a musical accompaniment, especially in jazz or blues.

3 the process of making composite images, especially electronically.

<DERIVATIVES> comper n.

■ comping (sense 1)

complacency (also complacence) n. [mass noun] a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements: the figures are better, but there are no grounds for complacency.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin complacentia, from Latin complacere ‘to please’.

complacent /kəmples(ə)nt/ adj. showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements: you can't afford to be complacent about security.

<DERIVATIVES> complacently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘pleasant’): from Latin complacent- ‘pleasing’, from the verb complacere.

<USAGE> Complacent and complaisant are two words which are similar in pronunciation and which both come from the Latin verb complacere ‘to please’, but which in English do not mean the same thing. Complacent is the commoner word and means ‘smug and self-satisfied’. Complaisant, on the other hand, means ‘willing to please’, as in the local people proved complaisant and cordial. Writers often use complaisant when they mean complacent: just under half of the citations for complaisant in the Oxford English Corpus exhibit this confusion.

complain v. 1 [reporting v.] express dissatisfaction or annoyance about something: [with clause] local authorities complained that they lacked sufficient resources | [with direct speech] ‘You never listen to me,’ Larry complained | [no obj.] we all complained bitterly about the food.

- [no obj.] (of a structure or mechanism) groan or creak under strain.

- [no obj.] LITERARY make a mournful sound: let the warbling flute complain.

2 [no obj.] (complain of) state that one is suffering from (a pain or other symptom of illness): her husband began to complain of headaches.

<DERIVATIVES> complainer n. complainingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French complaindre, from medieval Latin complangere ‘bewail’, from Latin com- (expressing intensive force) + plangere ‘to lament’.

complainant n. [LAW], BRITISH a plaintiff in certain lawsuits.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French complaignant, present participle of complaindre ‘to lament’ (see COMPLAIN).

complaint n. 1 a statement that something is unsatisfactory or unacceptable: I intend to make an official complaint | there were complaints that the building was an eyesore.

- a reason for dissatisfaction: I have no complaints about the hotel.

- [mass noun] the expression of dissatisfaction: a letter of complaint | he hasn't any cause for complaint.

- [LAW] the plaintiff's reasons for proceeding in a civil action.

2 an illness or medical condition, especially a relatively minor one: she is receiving treatment for her skin complaint.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French complainte, feminine past participle of complaindre ‘to lament’ (see COMPLAIN).

complaisant /kəmplez(ə)nt/ adj. willing to please others or to accept what they do or say without protest: he went to join his apparently complaisant wife for Christmas.

<DERIVATIVES> complaisance n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: French, from complaire ‘acquiesce in order to please’, from Latin complacere ‘to please’.

<USAGE> Complaisant does not mean the same as complacent. See usage at complacent.

compleat adj. & v.

■ archaic spelling of COMPLETE.

complected /kəmplεktd/ adj. [in combination] NORTH AMERICAN having a specified complexion: the lighter-complected invaders from the north.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: apparently from COMPLEXION.

complement n. /kmplm(ə)nt/ 1 a thing that contributes extra features to something else in such a way as to improve or emphasize its quality: local ales provide the perfect complement to fine food.

2 [in sing.] a number or quantity of something, especially that required to make a group complete: at the moment we have a full complement of staff.

- the number of people required to crew a ship: almost half the ship's complement of 322 were wounded.

- [GEOMETRY] the amount in degrees by which a given angle is less than 90°.

- [MATHEMATICS] the members of a set or class that are not members of a given subset.

3 [GRAMMAR] one or more words, phrases, or clauses governed by a verb (or by a nominalization or a predicative adjective) that complete the meaning of the predicate. In generative grammar, all the constituents of a sentence that are governed by a verb form the complement.

- (in systemic grammar) an adjective or noun that has the same reference as either the subject (as mad in he is mad) or the object (as mad in he drove her mad or manager in they appointed him manager).

4 [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] a group of proteins present in blood plasma and tissue fluid which combine with an antigen–antibody complex to bring about the lysis of foreign cells.

■ v. /kmplmεnt/ [with obj.] contribute extra features to (someone or something) in such a way as to improve or emphasize their qualities: a classic blazer complements a look that's smart or casual.

- add to or make complete: the proposals complement the incentives already available.

<PHRASES>

□ in her complement [HERALDRY] (of the moon) depicted as full.

<DERIVATIVES> complemental adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘completion’): from Latin complementum, from complere ‘fill up’ (see COMPLETE). Compare with COMPLIMENT.

<USAGE> Complement and compliment (together with related words such as complementary and complimentary) are frequently confused. They are pronounced in the same way but have quite different meanings: as a verb complement means ‘add to (something) in a way that enhances or improves’, as in a classic blazer complements a look that's smart or casual, while compliment means ‘admire and praise (someone) for something’, as in he complimented her on her appearance. Mistakes are common, particularly where complimentary is meant but complementary is written, as in honeymooners receive complementary fruit and flowers.

complementarity n. (pl. complementarities) [mass noun] a relationship or situation in which two or more different things improve or emphasize each other's qualities: a culture based on the complementarity of men and women.

- [PHYSICS] the concept that two contrasted theories, such as the wave and particle theories of light, may be able to explain a set of phenomena, although each separately only accounts for some aspects.

complementary adj. 1 (of two or more different things) combining in such a way as to form a complete whole or to improve or emphasize each other's qualities: the second TV network was complementary to the BBC.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] (of gene sequences, nucleotides, etc.) related by the rules of base pairing.

2 [attr.] relating to complementary medicine.

<DERIVATIVES> complementarily adv. complementariness n.

complementary angle n. either of two angles whose sum is 90°.

complementary colour n. a colour that combined with a given colour makes white or black.

complementary distribution n. [mass noun] the occurrence of phenomena such as speech sounds in mutually exclusive contexts.

complementary DNA n. [mass noun] synthetic DNA in which the sequence of bases is complementary to that of a given example of DNA.

complementary function n. [MATHEMATICS] the part of the general solution of a linear differential equation which is the general solution of the associated homogeneous equation obtained by substituting zero for the terms not containing the dependent variable.

complementary medicine n. [mass noun] BRITISH any of a range of medical therapies that fall beyond the scope of conventional medicine but may be used alongside it in the treatment of disease and ill health. Examples include acupuncture and osteopathy. See also ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE.

complementation n. 1 [mass noun] the action of complementing something.

2 [GRAMMAR] all the clause constituents that are governed by a verb, nominalization, or adjective.

3 [GENETICS] the phenomenon by which the effects of two different non-allelic mutations in a gene are partly or entirely cancelled out when they occur together.

complement fixation test n. MEDICINE a test for infection with a micro-organism which involves measuring the amount of complement available in serum to bind with an antibody–antigen complex.

complementizer (also complementiser) n. [GRAMMAR] a word or morpheme that marks an embedded clause as functioning as a complement, typically a subordinating conjunction or infinitival to.

complete adj. 1 having all the necessary or appropriate parts: a complete list of courses offered by the university | no woman's wardrobe is complete without this pretty top.

- entire; full: I only managed one complete term at school | the complete works of Shakespeare.

- (complete with) having (something) as an additional part or feature: the house comes complete with gas central heating and double glazing.

- [predic.] having run its full course; finished: the restoration of the chapel is complete.

2 [attr.] (often used for emphasis) to the greatest extent or degree; total: a complete ban on smoking | their marriage came as a complete surprise to me.

- (also compleat) chiefly HUMOROUS skilled at every aspect of a particular activity; consummate: his range of skills made him the complete footballer. [<ORIGIN> the spelling compleat is a revival of the 17th century use as in Walton's The Compleat Angler.]

■ v. [with obj.] 1 finish making or doing: he completed his PhD in 1993.

- [no obj.] BRITISH conclude the sale of a property.

- [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] (of a quarterback) successfully throw (a forward pass) to a receiver.

2 provide with the item or items necessary to make (something) full or entire: complete your collection of Britain's brightest gardening magazine | quarry tiles and faded rugs complete the look.

- write the required information on (a form or questionnaire): please complete the attached forms.

<DERIVATIVES> completeness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French complet or Latin completus, past participle of complere ‘fill up, finish, fulfil’, from com- (expressing intensive force) + plere ‘fill’.

<USAGE> On the question of the use of adjectives like complete, equal, and unique with submodifiers such as very or more see usage at unique.

completely adv. totally; utterly: the fire completely destroyed the building | [as submodifier] you must be completely mad!

completion n. [mass noun] the action or process of completing or finishing something: funds for the completion of the new building.

- the state of being finished: work on the new golf course is nearing completion | [as modifier] the completion date is early next year.

- BRITISH the final stage in the sale of a property, at which point it legally changes ownership: the risk stays with the seller until completion.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin completio(n-), from complere ‘fill up’ (see COMPLETE).

completist n. an obsessive, typically indiscriminate, collector or fan of something.

completive n. [GRAMMAR] a word or morpheme which adds a sense of completeness to a word or phrase (e.g. in the phrase break up, up is a completive).

complex adj. 1 consisting of many different and connected parts: a complex network of water channels.

- not easy to analyse or understand; complicated or intricate: a complex personality | the situation is more complex than it appears.

2 [MATHEMATICS] denoting or involving numbers or quantities containing both a real and an imaginary part.

3 [CHEMISTRY] denoting an ion or molecule in which one or more groups are linked to a metal atom by coordinate bonds.

■ n. 1 a group or system of different things that are linked in a close or complicated way; a network: a complex of mountain roads.

- a group of similar buildings or facilities on the same site: a leisure complex | a complex of hotels.

2 [PSYCHIATRY] a related group of repressed or partly repressed emotionally significant ideas which cause psychic conflict leading to abnormal mental states or behaviour.

- INFORMAL a strong or disproportionate concern or anxiety about something: there's no point having a complex about losing your hair.

3 [CHEMISTRY] an ion or molecule in which one or more groups are linked to a metal atom by coordinate bonds.

- any loosely bonded species formed by the association of two molecules: cross-linked protein–DNA complexes.

■ v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] make (an atom or compound) form a complex with another: the DNA was complexed with the nuclear extract.

<DERIVATIVES> complexation n. ([CHEMISTRY]) complexly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘group of related elements’): from Latin complexus, past participle (used as a noun) of complectere ‘embrace, comprise’, later associated with complexus ‘plaited’; the adjective is partly via French complexe.

complex conjugate n. [MATHEMATICS] each of two complex numbers having their real parts identical and their imaginary parts of equal magnitude but opposite sign.

complexion n. 1 the natural colour, texture, and appearance of a person's skin, especially of the face: an attractive girl with a pale complexion.

2 the general aspect or character of something: the complexion of the game changed | successive governments of all complexions.

<DERIVATIVES> complexioned adj. [in combination] they were both fair-complexioned

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin complexio(n-) ‘combination’ (in late Latin ‘physical constitution’), from complectere ‘embrace, comprise’. The term originally denoted physical constitution or temperament determined by the combination of the four bodily humours, hence sense 1 (late 16th century) as a visible sign of this.

complexity n. (pl. complexities) [mass noun] the state or quality of being intricate or complicated: an issue of great complexity.

- [count noun] (usually complexities) a factor involved in a complicated process or situation: the complexities of family life.

complex sentence n. a sentence containing a subordinate clause or clauses.

compliance /kəmpləns/ n. [mass noun] 1 the action or fact of complying with a wish or command: the ways in which the state maintains order and compliance.

- excessive acquiescence: the appalling compliance with government views shown by the commission.

2 (compliance with) the state or fact of according with or meeting rules or standards: all imports of timber are in compliance with regulations.

3 [PHYSICS] the property of a material of undergoing elastic deformation or (of a gas) change in volume when subjected to an applied force. It is equal to the reciprocal of stiffness.

- MEDICINE the ability of an organ to distend in response to applied pressure.

compliance officer n. a person who is employed to ensure that a company does not contravene any statutes or regulations which apply to its activities.

compliant adj. 1 disposed to agree with others or obey rules, especially to an excessive degree; acquiescent: a compliant labour force.

2 (often compliant with) meeting or in accordance with rules or standards: food which is compliant with safety regulations.

3 [PHYSICS] & MEDICINE having the property of compliance.

<DERIVATIVES> compliantly adv.

complicate /kmplket/ v. [with obj.] make (something) more complicated: increased choice will complicate matters for the consumer | (as adj. complicating) a complicating factor.

- MEDICINE introduce complications in (an existing condition): smoking may complicate pregnancy | (as adj. complicating) patients with complicating biliary calculi.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘combine, entangle, intertwine’): from Latin complicat- ‘folded together’, from the verb complicare, from com- ‘together’ + plicare ‘to fold’.

complicated adj. 1 consisting of many interconnecting parts or elements; intricate: a complicated stereo system.

- involving many different and confusing aspects: a long and complicated saga.

2 MEDICINE involving complications: complicated appendicitis.

<DERIVATIVES> complicatedly adv.

complication n. 1 a circumstance that complicates something; a difficulty: there is a complication concerning ownership of the site.

- [mass noun] an involved or confused condition or state: to add further complication, English-speakers use a different name.

2 MEDICINE a secondary disease or condition aggravating an already existing one: she developed complications after the surgery.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin complicatio(n-), from Latin complicare ‘fold together’ (see COMPLICATE).

complicit /kəmplst/ adj. involved with others in an unlawful activity: the careers of those complicit in the cover-up were blighted.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: back-formation from COMPLICITY.

complicity n. [mass noun] the fact or condition of being involved with others in an unlawful activity: they were accused of complicity in the attempt to overthrow the government.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Middle English complice ‘an associate’, from Old French, from late Latin complex, complic- ‘allied’, from Latin complicare ‘fold together’ (see COMPLICATE). Compare with ACCOMPLICE.

compliment n. /kmplm(ə)nt/ a polite expression of praise or admiration: she paid me an enormous compliment.

- an act or circumstance that implies praise or respect: it's a compliment to the bride to dress up on her special day.

- (compliments) congratulations or praise expressed to someone: my compliments on your cooking.

- (compliments) formal greetings, especially when sent as a message: carry my compliments to your kinsmen.

■ v. /kmplmεnt/ [with obj.] politely congratulate or praise (someone) for something: he complimented Erika on her appearance.

- praise (something) politely: the manager was heard to compliment the other team's good play.

- (compliment someone with) ARCHAIC present someone with (something) as a mark of courtesy: Prince George expected to be complimented with a seat in the royal coach.

<PHRASES>

□ compliments of the season used as a seasonal greeting at Christmas or the New Year.

□ pay one's compliments send or express formal greetings.

□ return the compliment give a compliment in return for another.

- retaliate or respond in kind.

□ with one's compliments used to express the fact that what one is giving is free: all drinks will be supplied with our compliments.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French compliment (noun), complimenter (verb), from Italian complimento ‘fulfilment of the requirements of courtesy’, from Latin complementum ‘completion, fulfilment’ (reflected in the earlier English spelling complement, gradually replaced by the French form between 1655 and 1715).

<USAGE> Compliment (together with complimentary) is quite different in meaning from complement (and complementary). See usage at complement.

complimentary adj. 1 expressing a compliment; praising or approving: Jennie was very complimentary about Kath's riding | complimentary remarks.

2 given or supplied free of charge: a complimentary bottle of wine.

compliments slip (also compliment slip) n. BRITISH a small piece of paper on which a company's name, address, and logo are printed and which is sent out with goods or information, typically in place of a covering letter.

compline /kmpln -n/ n. a service of evening prayers forming part of the Divine Office of the Western Christian Church, traditionally said (or chanted) before retiring for the night.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French complie, feminine past participle of obsolete complir ‘to complete’, from Latin complere ‘fill up’ (see COMPLETE). The ending -ine was probably influenced by Old French matines ‘matins’.

comply /kəmpl/ v. (complies, complying, complied) [no obj.] (often comply with) act in accordance with a wish or command: we are unable to comply with your request.

- (of an article) meet specified standards: all second-hand furniture must comply with the new regulations.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian complire, Catalan complir, Spanish cumplir, from Latin complere ‘fill up, fulfil’ (see COMPLETE). The original sense was ‘fulfil, accomplish’, later ‘fulfil the requirements of courtesy’, hence ‘to be agreeable, to oblige or obey’. Compare with COMPLIMENT.

compo^1 n. (pl. compos) [mass noun] 1 a material made up of a mixture of different substances.

2 (also compo rations) BRITISH military rations consisting of a supply of tinned food designed to last a specified number of days and carried in a pack.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: abbreviation of COMPOSITE.

compo^2 n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL money paid to an employee as compensation for an industrial injury.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: abbreviation of COMPENSATION.

component /kəmpənənt/ n. a part or element of a larger whole, especially a part of a machine or vehicle.

- each of two or more forces, velocities, or other vectors acting in different directions which are together equivalent to a given vector.

■ adj. [attr.] constituting part of a larger whole; constituent: the component elements of the armed forces.

<DERIVATIVES> componentize (also componentise) v.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin component- ‘putting together’, from the verb componere, from com- ‘together’ + ponere ‘put’. Compare with compound^1.

componential analysis /kmpənεn(ə)l ənalss/ n. [mass noun] [LINGUISTICS] the analysis of the meaning of a word or other linguistic unit into discrete semantic components.

compony /kmpni/ adj. [usually postpositive] [HERALDRY] divided into a single row of squares in alternating tinctures: a bordure compony.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French componé, from Old French compondre, from Latin componere ‘put together’.

comport^1 /kəmpt/ v. 1 (comport oneself) FORMAL conduct oneself; behave: articulate students who comported themselves well in television interviews.

2 [no obj.] (comport with) ARCHAIC accord or agree with.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘tolerate’): from Latin comportare, from com- ‘together’ + portare ‘carry, bear’.

comport^2 /kmpt/ n. another term for compote (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: apparently an abbreviation of French comportier, variant of compotier ‘dessert dish’.

comportment n. [mass noun] behaviour; bearing: he displayed precisely the comportment expected of the rightful king.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French comportement, from the verb comporter, from Latin comportare (see comport^1).

compose v. [with obj.] 1 write or create (a work of art, especially music or poetry): he composed the First Violin Sonata four years earlier.

- phrase (a letter or piece of writing) with great care and thought: the first sentence is so hard to compose.

- form (a whole) by ordering or arranging the parts, especially in an artistic way: compose and draw a still life.

2 (of elements) constitute or make up (a whole, or a specified part of it): the National Congress is composed of ten senators | Christians compose 40 per cent of the state's population.

3 calm or settle (oneself or one's features or thoughts): she tried to compose herself.

- ARCHAIC settle (a dispute): the king, with some difficulty, composed this difference.

4 prepare (a text) for printing by manually, mechanically, or electronically setting up the letters and other characters in the order to be printed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘put together, construct’): from Old French composer, from Latin componere (see COMPONENT), but influenced by Latin compositus ‘composed’ and Old French poser ‘to place’.

<USAGE> For an explanation of the differences between compose and comprise see usage at comprise.

composed adj. having one's feelings and expression under control; calm: a very talented and composed young player.

<DERIVATIVES> composedly adv.

composer n. a person who writes music, especially as a professional occupation.

composite /kmpəzt/ adj. 1 made up of several parts or elements: this soup is one of those composite dishes which you gradually build up.

- (of a constructional material) made up of recognizable constituents: modern composite materials.

- (of a railway carriage) having compartments of more than one class or function.

- [MATHEMATICS] (of an integer) being the product of two or more factors greater than unity; not prime.

2 (Composite) relating to or denoting a classical order of architecture consisting of elements of the Ionic and Corinthian orders.

3 usually /kmpəzt/ [BOTANY] relating to or denoting plants of the daisy family (Compositae).

■ n. 1 a thing made up of several parts or elements: the English legal system is a composite of legislation and judicial precedent.

- a composite constructional material.

- /kmpəzt/ a motion for debate composed of two or more related resolutions.

2 usually /kmpəzt/ [BOTANY] a plant of the daisy family (Compositae).

3 (Composite) [mass noun] the Composite order of architecture.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as n. compositing) combine (two or more images) to make a single picture: photographic compositing by computer.

<DERIVATIVES> compositely adv. compositeness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (describing a number having more than one digit): via French from Latin compositus, past participle of componere ‘put together’.

composition n. 1 [mass noun] the nature of something's ingredients or constituents; the way in which a whole or mixture is made up: the social composition of villages.

- the action of putting things together; formation or construction: the composition of a new government was announced in November.

- [count noun] a thing composed of various elements: a theory is a composition of interrelated facts.

- ARCHAIC mental constitution; character: persons who have a touch of madness in their composition.

- [often as modifier] a compound artificial substance or material: composition tiles.

- [MATHEMATICS] the successive application of functions to a variable, the value of the first function being the argument of the second, and so on: composition of functions, when defined, is associative.

- [PHYSICS] the process of finding the resultant of a number of forces.

2 a creative work, especially a poem or piece of music: Chopin's most romantic compositions.

- [mass noun] the action or art of producing such a work: the technical aspects of composition.

- an essay, especially one written by a school or college student.

- the artistic arrangement of the parts of a picture: none of the other photographs shared this particular composition.

3 [mass noun] the preparation of text for printing by setting up characters or by establishing its style and appearance electronically.

4 a legal agreement to pay a sum in lieu of a larger debt or other obligation: he had been released by deed on making a composition with the creditors.

- a sum paid in lieu of a larger debt.

<DERIVATIVES> compositional adj. compositionally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin compositio(n-), from componere ‘put together’.

compositor /kəmpztə/ n. [PRINTING] a person who arranges type for printing or keys text into a composing machine.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally Scots, denoting an umpire or arbiter): from Anglo-Norman French compositour, from Latin compositor, from composit- ‘put together’, from the verb componere (see COMPOSITION).

compos mentis /kmps mεnts/ adj. [predic.] having full control of one's mind: are you sure he was totally compos mentis?

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Latin.

compossible adj. RARE (of one thing) compatible or possible in conjunction with another.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Old French, from medieval Latin compossibilis, from com- ‘together with’ + possibilis (see POSSIBLE).

compost n. [mass noun] decayed organic material used as a fertilizer for growing plants.

- a mixture of compost or similar material with loam soil used as a growing medium.

■ v. [with obj.] make (vegetable matter or manure) into compost.

- treat (soil) with compost.

<DERIVATIVES> compostable adj. composter n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French composte, from Latin composita, compositum ‘something put together’, feminine and neuter past participle of componere.

compost heap (NORTH AMERICAN also compost pile) n. a pile of garden and organic kitchen refuse which decomposes to produce compost.

composure n. [mass noun] the state or feeling of being calm and in control of oneself: she was struggling to regain her composure.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘composing, composition’): from COMPOSE + -URE.

compote /kmpət -t/ n. 1 [mass noun] fruit preserved or cooked in syrup.

2 a bowl-shaped dessert dish with a stem.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from Old French composte ‘mixture’ (see COMPOST).

compound^1 n. /kmpand/ a thing that is composed of two or more separate elements; a mixture: the air smelled like a compound of diesel and petrol fumes.

- (also chemical compound) a substance formed from two or more elements chemically united in fixed proportions: a compound of hydrogen and oxygen | lead compounds.

- a word made up of two or more existing words.

■ adj. /kmpənd/ made up or consisting of several parts or elements: a compound noun.

- (of interest) payable on both capital and the accumulated interest: compound interest. Compare with SIMPLE.

- [BIOLOGY] (especially of a leaf, flower, or eye) consisting of two or more simple parts or individuals in combination.

■ v. /kəmpand/ [with obj.] 1 make up (a composite whole); constitute: a dialect compounded of Spanish and Dutch.

- mix or combine (ingredients or constituents): the groundnuts were compounded into cattle food.

- reckon (interest) on previously accumulated interest: the yield at which the interest is compounded.

2 make (something bad) worse; intensify the negative aspects of: prisoners' lack of contact with the outside world compounds their problems.

3 [LAW] forbear from prosecuting (a felony) in exchange for money or other consideration.

- settle (a debt or other matter) in this way: he compounded the case with the defendant for a cash payment.

<DERIVATIVES> compoundable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English compoune (verb), from Old French compoun-, present tense stem of compondre, from Latin componere ‘put together’. The final -d was added in the 16th century on the pattern of expound and propound.

<USAGE> The sense of the verb compound meaning ‘make (something bad) worse’, as in this compounds their problems, has an interesting history. It arose through a misinterpretation of the legal phrase compound a felony, which, strictly speaking, means ‘forbear from prosecuting a felony in exchange for money or other consideration’. This led to the use of compound in legal contexts to mean ‘make something bad worse’, which then became accepted in general usage as well.

compound^2 /kmpand/ n. a large open area enclosed by a fence, for example around a factory or large house or within a prison.

- S. AFRICAN an area containing single-sex living quarters for migrant workers, especially miners.

■ another term for pound^3.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (referring to such an area in SE Asia): from Portuguese campon or Dutch kampoeng, from Malay kampong ‘enclosure, hamlet’; compare with KAMPONG.

compounder n. a person who mixes or combines ingredients in order to produce an animal feed, medicine, or other substance.

compound eye n. an eye consisting of an array of numerous small visual units, as found in insects and crustaceans. Contrasted with SIMPLE EYE.

compound fracture n. an injury in which a broken bone pierces the skin, causing a risk of infection.

compound interval n. [MUSIC] an interval greater than an octave.

compound sentence n. a sentence with more than one subject or predicate.

compound time n. [mass noun] [MUSIC] musical rhythm or metre in which each beat in a bar is subdivided into three smaller units, so having the value of a dotted note. Compare with SIMPLE TIME.

comprador /kmprəd/ (also compradore) n. a person who acts as an agent for foreign organizations engaged in investment, trade, or economic or political exploitation.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a local person employed in a European household in SE Asia or India to make small purchases and keep the household accounts): from Portuguese, ‘buyer’, from late Latin comparator, from Latin comparare ‘to purchase’, from com- ‘with’ + parare ‘provide’.

comprehend /kmprhεnd/ v. [with obj.] 1 [often with negative] grasp mentally; understand: he couldn't comprehend her reasons for marrying Lovat | [with clause] I simply couldn't comprehend what had happened.

2 FORMAL include, comprise, or encompass: a divine order comprehending all men.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French comprehender, or Latin comprehendere, from com- ‘together’ + prehendere ‘grasp’.

comprehensible adj. able to be understood; intelligible: clear and comprehensible English.

<DERIVATIVES> comprehensibility n. comprehensibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French compréhensible or Latin comprehensibilis, from comprehens- ‘seized, comprised’, from the verb comprehendere (see COMPREHEND).

comprehension n. [mass noun] 1 the ability to understand something: some won't have the least comprehension of what I'm trying to do | the comprehension of spoken language.

- BRITISH the setting of questions on a set text to test understanding, as a school exercise.

2 ARCHAIC inclusion.

- HISTORICAL the inclusion of Nonconformists within the Established Church of England (as proposed in the 17th to 19th centuries but not adopted).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French compréhension or Latin comprehensio(n-), from the verb comprehendere ‘seize, comprise’ (see COMPREHEND).

comprehensive adj. 1 including or dealing with all or nearly all elements or aspects of something: a comprehensive list of sources.

- of large content or scope; wide-ranging: a comprehensive collection of photographs.

- (of a victory or defeat) achieved or suffered by a large margin: a comprehensive victory for Swansea.

- (of motor-vehicle insurance) providing cover for most risks, including damage to the policyholder's own vehicle.

2 BRITISH relating to or denoting a system of secondary education in which children of all abilities from a particular area are educated in one school: a comprehensive school.

3 ARCHAIC relating to understanding.

■ n. BRITISH a comprehensive school.

<DERIVATIVES> comprehensively adv. comprehensiveness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French compréhensif, -ive, from late Latin comprehensivus, from the verb comprehendere ‘grasp mentally’.

compresence n. [mass noun] chiefly [PHILOSOPHY] the simultaneous presence together of properties or experienced qualities.

<DERIVATIVES> compresent adj.

compress v. /kəmprεs/ [with obj.] flatten by pressure; squeeze or press: the skirt can be folded and compressed into a relatively small bag | (as adj. compressed) compressed gas.

- [no obj.] be squeezed or pressed together or into a smaller space: her face compressed into a frown.

- (as adj. compressed) chiefly [BIOLOGY] having a narrow shape as if flattened, especially sideways: most sea snakes have a compressed tail.

- squeeze or press (two things) together: Viola compressed her lips together grimly.

- express in a shorter form; abridge: in this chapter we compress into summary form the main findings.

- reduce the dynamic range of (a sound signal).

- [COMPUTING] alter the form of (data) to reduce the amount of storage necessary.

■ n. /kmprεs/ a pad of lint or other absorbent material pressed on to part of the body to relieve inflammation or stop bleeding: a cold compress.

<DERIVATIVES> compressibility /-blti/ n. compressible /kəmprεsb(ə)l/ adj. compressive /kəmprεsv/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French compresser or late Latin compressare, frequentative of Latin comprimere, from com- ‘together’ + premere ‘to press’; or directly from compress- ‘pressed together’, from the verb comprimere.

compressed air n. [mass noun] air that is at more than atmospheric pressure.

compression n. [mass noun] the action of compressing or being compressed.

- the reduction in volume (causing an increase in pressure) of the fuel mixture in an internal-combustion engine before ignition.

<DERIVATIVES> compressional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin compressio(n-), from comprimere ‘press together’ (see COMPRESS).

compression joint n. a joint between two pipes made by tightening a threaded nut on to a metal ring, the compression thus caused creating the seal.

compression ratio n. the ratio of the maximum to minimum volume in the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine.

compressive strength n. the resistance of a material to breaking under compression. Compare with TENSILE STRENGTH.

compressor n. an instrument or device for compressing something.

- a machine used to supply air or other gas at increased pressure, e.g. to power a gas turbine.

- an electrical device which reduces the dynamic range of a sound signal.

comprise v. [with obj.] consist of; be made up of: the country comprises twenty states.

- make up or constitute (a whole): this single breed comprises 50 per cent of the Swiss cattle population | (be comprised of) documents are comprised of words.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, ‘comprised’, feminine past participle of comprendre, from Old French comprehender (see COMPREHEND).

<USAGE> 1 According to traditional usage, comprise means ‘consist of’, as in the country comprises twenty states, and should not be used to mean ‘constitute or make up (a whole)’, as in this single breed comprises 50 per cent of the Swiss cattle population. But confusion has arisen because of uses in the passive, which have been formed by analogy with words like compose: when comprise is used in the active (as in the country comprises twenty states) it is, oddly, more or less synonymous with the passive use of the second sense (as in the country is comprised of twenty states). Such passive uses of comprise are common and are fast becoming part of standard English. Other erroneous forms, such as the property comprises of bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, should not be used in standard English.
2 On the differences between comprise and include see usage at include.

compromise n. 1 an agreement or settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions: eventually they reached a compromise | [mass noun] the secret of a happy marriage is compromise.

- an intermediate state between conflicting alternatives reached by mutual concession: a compromise between the freedom of the individual and the need to ensure orderly government.

2 [mass noun] the expedient acceptance of standards that are lower than is desirable: sexism should be tackled without compromise.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 settle a dispute by mutual concession: in the end we compromised and deferred the issue.

2 expediently accept standards that are lower than is desirable: we were not prepared to compromise on safety.

- [with obj.] weaken or harm by accepting standards that are lower than is desirable: he won't accept any decisions which compromise his principles.

- [with obj.] bring into disrepute or danger by indiscreet, foolish, or reckless behaviour: situations in which his troops could be compromised.

<DERIVATIVES> compromiser n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting mutual consent to arbitration): from Old French compromis, from late Latin compromissum ‘a consent to arbitration’, neuter past participle of compromittere, from com- ‘together’ + promittere (see PROMISE).

compromising adj. (of information or a situation) revealing an embarrassing or incriminating secret about someone.

compte rendu /kt rαdju/ French /kt RαdY/ n. (pl. comptes rendus pronunc. same) a formal report or review.

- (Comptes Rendus) the published proceedings of a French academy.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, literally ‘account rendered’.

Compton^1 Arthur Holly (1892–1962), American physicist. He observed the Compton effect and thus demonstrated the dual particle and wave properties of electromagnetic radiation and matter, as predicted by quantum theory. Nobel Prize for Physics (1927).

Compton^2 Denis (Charles Scott) (1918–97), English cricketer and footballer. He played cricket for Middlesex and England, and football for Arsenal and England.

Compton-Burnett /kmptənbənεt -bənt/ Dame Ivy (1884–1969), English novelist. Notable novels: Brothers and Sisters (1929), A Family and a Fortune (1939), and Manservant and Maidservant (1947).

Compton effect n. [PHYSICS] an increase in wavelength of X-rays or gamma rays that occurs when they are scattered.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after A. H. Compton (see Compton^1).

comptroller /kəntrələ kmp-/ n. a controller (used in the title of some financial officers).

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: variant of CONTROLLER, by erroneous association with French compte ‘calculation’ or its source, late Latin computus.

compulsion n. 1 [mass noun] the action or state of forcing or being forced to do something; constraint: the payment was made under compulsion.

2 an irresistible urge to behave in a certain way: he felt a compulsion to babble on about what had happened.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin compulsio(n-), from compellere ‘to drive, force’ (see COMPEL).

compulsive adj. 1 resulting from or relating to an irresistible urge: compulsive eating.

- (of a person) acting as a result of an irresistible urge: a compulsive liar.

2 irresistibly interesting or exciting; compelling: this play is compulsive viewing.

<DERIVATIVES> compulsively adv. compulsiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘compulsory’): from medieval Latin compulsivus, from compuls- ‘driven, forced’, from the verb compellere (see COMPEL).

■ Sense 1 (originally a term in psychology) dates from the early 20th cent.

compulsory adj. required by law or a rule; obligatory: compulsory military service | it was compulsory to attend mass.

- involving or exercising compulsion; coercive: the abuse of compulsory powers.

<DERIVATIVES> compulsorily adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as a noun denoting a legal mandate which had to be obeyed): from medieval Latin compulsorius, from compuls- ‘driven, forced’, from the verb compellere (see COMPEL).

compulsory purchase n. [mass noun] BRITISH the officially enforced purchase of privately owned land or property for public use: [as modifier] the City Council has applied for a compulsory purchase order.

compunction n. [mass noun] [usually with negative] a feeling of guilt or moral scruple that prevents or follows the doing of something bad: they used their tanks without compunction.

<DERIVATIVES> compunctious adj. compunctiously adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French componction, from ecclesiastical Latin compunctio(n-), from Latin compungere ‘prick sharply’, from com- (expressing intensive force) + pungere ‘to prick’.

compurgation /kmpəe(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [LAW], HISTORICAL acquittal from a charge or accusation obtained by statements of innocence given by witnesses under oath.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin compurgatio(n-), from Latin compurgare, from com- (expressing intensive force) + purgare ‘purify’ (from purus ‘pure’).

compurgator /kmpəetə/ n. [LAW], HISTORICAL a sworn witness to the innocence or good character of an accused person.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: medieval Latin, from Latin com- ‘together with’ + purgator, from purgare ‘purify’ (see COMPURGATION).

computation n. 1 [mass noun] the action of mathematical calculation: methods of computation | [count noun] statistical computations.

2 the use of computers, especially as a subject of research or study.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin computatio(n-), from the verb computare (see COMPUTE).

computational adj. 1 using or relating to computers: the computational analysis of English.

2 relating to the process of mathematical calculation: the exam only really tested computational ability.

<DERIVATIVES> computationally adv.

computational linguistics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of linguistics in which the techniques of computer science are applied to the analysis and synthesis of language and speech.

compute v. [with obj.] reckon or calculate (a figure or amount): the hire charge is computed on a daily basis.

- [no obj., with negative] INFORMAL seem reasonable; make sense: the idea of a woman alone in a pub did not compute. [<ORIGIN> from the phrase does not compute, once used as an error message in computing.]

<DERIVATIVES> computability n. computable adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French computer or Latin computare, from com- ‘together’ + putare ‘to settle (an account)’.

computer n. an electronic device which is capable of receiving information (data) in a particular form and of performing a sequence of operations in accordance with a predetermined but variable set of procedural instructions (program) to produce a result in the form of information or signals.

- a person who makes calculations, especially with a calculating machine.

computerate /kəmpjutərət/ adj. INFORMAL another term for COMPUTER-LITERATE.

computer conferencing n. [mass noun] the use of computer and telecommunications technology to hold discussions between three or more people operating computers in separate locations.

computer dating n. [mass noun] the use of computer databases to identify potentially compatible partners for people.

computer game n. a game played using a computer, typically a video game.

computerize (also computerise) v. [with obj.] (often as adj. computerized) convert (a system, device, etc.) to be operated by computer: the advantages of computerized accounting.

- convert (information) to a form which is stored or processed by computer: a computerized register of dogs.

<DERIVATIVES> computerization n.

computer-literate adj. (of a person) having sufficient knowledge and skill to be able to use computers; familiar with the operation of computers.

<DERIVATIVES> computer literacy n.

computer science n. [mass noun] the study of the principles and use of computers.

computing n. [mass noun] the use or operation of computers: developments in mathematics and computing | [as modifier] computing facilities.

comrade n. (among men) a colleague or a fellow member of an organization.

- (also comrade-in-arms) a fellow soldier or serviceman.

- a fellow socialist or communist (often as a form of address).

- (in South Africa) a young militant supporter of the African National Congress.

<DERIVATIVES> comradely adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally also camerade): from French camerade, camarade (originally feminine), from Spanish camarada ‘room-mate’, from Latin camera ‘chamber’. Compare with chum^1.

comradeship n. [mass noun] the company and friendship of others with common aims: his greatest joy came from comradeship with others in the team.

Comsat n. TRADEMARK a communications satellite.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend.

Comte /kmt/ French /kt/ Auguste (1798–1857), French philosopher, one of the founders of sociology. Comte's positivist philosophy attempted to define the laws of social evolution and to found a genuine social science that could be used for social reconstruction.

con^1 INFORMAL v. (cons, conning, conned) [with obj.] persuade (someone) to do or believe something by lying to them: I conned him into giving me your home number | she was jailed for conning her aunt out of £500,000.

■ n. an instance of deceiving or tricking someone: the Charter is a glossy public relations con.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US): abbreviation of CONFIDENCE, as in confidence trick.

con^2 n. a disadvantage of or argument against something: borrowers have to weigh up the pros and cons of each mortgage offer.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin contra ‘against’.

con^3 n. INFORMAL a convict.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

con^4 (US also conn) [NAUTICAL] v. (cons, conning, conned) [with obj.] direct the steering of (a ship): he hadn't conned anything bigger than a Boston whaler.

■ n. (the con) the action or post of conning a ship.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: apparently a weakened form of obsolete cond ‘conduct, guide’, from Old French conduire, from Latin conducere (see CONDUCE).

con^5 v. (cons, conning, conned) [with obj.] ARCHAIC study attentively or learn by heart (a piece of writing): the girls conned their pages with a great show of industry.

<ORIGIN> Middle English cunne, conne, con, variants of can^1.

con^6 n. INFORMAL a convention, especially one for science-fiction enthusiasts.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: abbreviation.

Con. abbr.

- British Conservative (denoting the political affiliation of a Member of Parliament): Teddy Taylor, MP (Con).

- constable (as part of a police officer's title).

con- prefix variant spelling of COM-. assimilated before c, d, f, g, j, n, q, s, t, v, and sometimes before vowels (as in concord, condescend, confide, etc.).

<ORIGIN> Latin variant of com-.

conacre /knekə/ n. [mass noun] (in Ireland) the letting by a tenant of small portions of land prepared for crops or grazing.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CORN^1 + ACRE.

Conakry /knəkri/ the capital and chief port of Guinea; pop. 1,587,600 (est. 2002).

con amore /kn amre/ adv. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) with tenderness.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘with love’.

conation /kəne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] & [PSYCHOLOGY] the mental faculty of purpose, desire, or will to perform an action; volition.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting an attempt or endeavour): from Latin conatio(n-), from conari ‘to try’.

conative /knətv/ adj. 1 [PHILOSOPHY] & [PSYCHOLOGY] of or involving conation.

2 [GRAMMAR] denoting a word or structure that expresses attempted action as opposed to action itself, for example at in he was kicking at the bicycle.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin conat- ‘endeavoured’ (from the verb conari) + -IVE.

con brio /kn briə/ adv. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) with vigour.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

concatenate /kənkatnet/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL or TECHNICAL link (things) together in a chain or series: some words may be concatenated, such that certain sounds are omitted.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as an adjective): from late Latin concatenat- ‘linked together’, from the verb concatenare, from con- ‘together’ + catenare, from catena ‘chain’.

concatenation n. a series of interconnected things: a concatenation of events which had finally led to the murder.

- [mass noun] the action of linking things together in a series, or the condition of being linked in such a way.

concave /knkev/ adj. having an outline or surface that curves inwards like the interior of a circle or sphere. Compare with convex (sense 1).

<DERIVATIVES> concavely adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin concavus, from con- ‘together’ + cavus ‘hollow’.

concavity /knkavti/ n. (pl. concavities) [mass noun] the state or quality of being concave.

- [count noun] a concave surface or thing.

concavo-concave /knkevə/ adj. another term for BICONCAVE.

concavo-convex adj. (of a lens) concave on one side and convex on the other and thickest at the periphery.

conceal v. [with obj.] not allow to be seen; hide: a line of sand dunes concealed the distant sea.

- prevent (something) from being known; keep secret: they were at great pains to conceal that information from the public.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French conceler, from Latin concelare, from con- ‘completely’ + celare ‘hide’.

concealed adj. kept secret; hidden: a concealed weapon | he spoke with barely concealed anger.

concealer n. a flesh-toned cosmetic stick used to cover spots, blemishes, and dark under-eye circles.

concealment n. [mass noun] the action of hiding something or preventing it from being known: the concealment of the weapons | the deliberate concealment of material facts.

- something that acts as a hiding place; cover: he darted forwards from the concealment of the bushes.

concede v. 1 [reporting v.] admit or agree that something is true after first denying or resisting it: [with clause] I had to concede that I'd overreacted | [with direct speech] ‘All right then,’ she conceded.

- [with obj.] admit (defeat) in a match or contest: reluctantly, Ellen conceded defeat.

- [with obj.] admit defeat in (a match or contest): they conceded the match to their opponents.

2 [with obj.] surrender or yield (a possession, right, or privilege): in 475 the emperor conceded the Auvergne to Euric.

- (in sport) fail to prevent an opponent scoring (a goal or point): they have conceded only one goal in seven matches.

- allow (a lead or advantage) to slip: he took an early lead which he never conceded.

<DERIVATIVES> conceder n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French concéder or Latin concedere, from con- ‘completely’ + cedere ‘yield’.

conceit n. 1 [mass noun] excessive pride in oneself: he was puffed up with conceit.

2 an ingenious or fanciful comparison or metaphor: the idea of the wind's singing is a prime romantic conceit.

- an artistic effect or device: the director's brilliant conceit was to film this tale in black and white.

- a fanciful notion: he is alarmed by the widespread conceit that he spent most of the 1980s drunk.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘notion’, also ‘quaintly decorative article’): from CONCEIVE, on the pattern of pairs such as deceive, deceit.

conceited adj. excessively proud of oneself; vain: Fred's so conceited he'd never believe anyone would refuse him.

<DERIVATIVES> conceitedly adv. conceitedness n.

conceivable adj. capable of being imagined or grasped mentally: a mass uprising was entirely conceivable | in every conceivable way that action was entirely wrong | the body was photographed from every conceivable angle.

<DERIVATIVES> conceivability n.

conceivably adv. [sentence adv.] it is conceivable or imaginable that: it may conceivably cause liver disease.

conceive v. [with obj.] 1 create (an embryo) by fertilizing an egg: she was conceived when her father was 49.

- [no obj.] (of a woman) become pregnant: five months ago Wendy conceived.

2 form or devise (a plan or idea) in the mind: the dam project was originally conceived in 1977 | (as adj., with submodifier conceived) a brilliantly conceived and executed robbery.

- form a mental representation of; imagine: without society an individual cannot be conceived as having rights | [no obj.] we could not conceive of such things happening to us.

- LITERARY become affected by (a feeling): I had conceived a passion for another.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French concevoir, from Latin concipere, from com- ‘together’ + capere ‘take’.

concelebrate /knsεlbret/ v. [with obj.] [CHRISTIAN] officiate jointly at (a Mass): the pro-nuncio will concelebrate Mass with bishops from Wales.

<DERIVATIVES> concelebrant n. concelebration n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin concelebrat- ‘celebrated together’, from the verb concelebrare, from con- ‘together’ + celebrare (see CELEBRATE).

concentrate v. 1 [no obj.] focus all one's attention on a particular object or activity: she couldn't concentrate on the film | [with obj.] a threatened tax rise concentrates the mind wonderfully.

- (concentrate on/upon) do or deal with (one particular thing) above all others: Luke wants to concentrate on his film career.

2 [with obj.] gather (people or things) together in numbers or a mass to one point: the nation's wealth was concentrated in the hands of the governing elite.

- [no obj.] come together in this way: troops were concentrating at the western front.

3 [with obj.] increase the strength or proportion of (a substance or solution) by removing or reducing the other diluting agent or by selective accumulation of atoms or molecules.

■ n. [mass noun] a substance made by removing or reducing the diluting agent; a concentrated form of something: apple juice concentrate.

<DERIVATIVES> concentrative adj. concentrator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘bring towards a centre’): Latinized form of CONCENTRE, or from French concentrer ‘to concentrate’.

■ Sense 1 of the verb dates from the early 20th cent.

concentrated adj. 1 wholly directed to one thing; intense: a concentrated campaign.

2 (of a substance or solution) having had the diluting agent removed or reduced: pure concentrated fruit juice.

<DERIVATIVES> concentratedly adv.

concentration n. 1 [mass noun] the action or power of focusing all one's attention: she was frowning in concentration.

- (concentration on/upon) dealing with one particular thing above all others: concentration on the needs of the young can mean that the elderly are forgotten.

2 a close gathering of people or things: the island has the greatest concentration of seabirds in the north-west.

- [mass noun] the action of gathering together closely: the concentration of power in the hands of nobles.

3 the relative amount of a particular substance contained within a solution or mixture or in a particular volume of space: the gas can collect in dangerous concentrations.

- [mass noun] the action of strengthening a solution by the removal or reduction of the diluting agent or by the selective accumulation of atoms or molecules.

concentration camp n. a place in which large numbers of people, especially political prisoners or members of persecuted minorities, are deliberately imprisoned in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities, sometimes to provide forced labour or to await mass execution. The term is most strongly associated with the several hundred camps established by the Nazis in Germany and occupied Europe 1933–45, among the most infamous being Dachau, Belsen, and Auschwitz.

concentre (US concenter) v. [with obj.] concentrate (something) in a small space or area: the property of this country is concentred in a very few hands.

- [no obj.] come together at a common centre: here the produce of this extensive territory concentres.

- ARCHAIC bring (two or more things) towards a common centre: a passion in which soul and body were concentred.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French concentrer, from Latin con- ‘together’ + centrum ‘centre’.

concentric adj. of or denoting circles, arcs, or other shapes which share the same centre, the larger often completely surrounding the smaller.

<DERIVATIVES> concentrically adv. concentricity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French concentrique or medieval Latin concentricus, from con- ‘together’ + centrum ‘centre’.

Concepción /knsεpsn/ Spanish /kənsepsjən -θepθjən/ an industrial city in south central Chile; pop. 404,600 (est. 2002).

concept n. an abstract idea: structuralism is a difficult concept | the concept of justice.

- an idea or invention to help sell or publicize a commodity: a new concept in corporate hospitality.

- [as modifier] (of a car or other vehicle) produced as an experimental model to test the viability of innovative design features: a concept car for next month's Geneva motor show.

- [PHILOSOPHY] an idea or mental image which corresponds to some distinct entity or class of entities, or to its essential features, or determines the application of a term (especially a predicate), and thus plays a part in the use of reason or language.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘thought, imagination’): from Latin conceptum ‘something conceived’, from Latin concept- ‘conceived’, from concipere (see CONCEIVE).

concept album n. a rock album featuring a cycle of songs expressing a particular theme or idea.

conception n. [mass noun] 1 the action of conceiving a child or of one being conceived: an unfertilized egg before conception | [count noun] a rise in premarital conceptions.

2 the forming or devising of a plan or idea: the time between a product's conception and its launch.

- [count noun] the way in which something is perceived or regarded: our conception of how language relates to reality.

- [count noun] an abstract idea; a concept: the conception of a balance of power.

- [count noun] a plan or intention: reconstructing Bach's original conceptions.

- ability to imagine; understanding: the administration had no conception of women's problems.

<DERIVATIVES> conceptional adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin conceptio(n-), from the verb concipere (see CONCEIVE).

conceptual adj. relating to or based on mental concepts: philosophy deals with conceptual difficulties.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin conceptualis, from Latin concept- ‘conceived’, from the verb concipere (see CONCEPT).

conceptual art n. [mass noun] art in which the idea or concept presented by the artist is considered more important than the finished product, if any such exists.

conceptualism n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the theory that universals can be said to exist, but only as concepts in the mind.

<DERIVATIVES> conceptualist n.

conceptualize (also conceptualise) v. [with obj.] form a concept or idea of (something): sex was conceptualized as an overpowering force in the individual.

<DERIVATIVES> conceptualization n.

conceptually adv. in terms of a concept or abstract idea: [sentence adv.] conceptually, this is a complex process | a conceptually simple task.

conceptus /kənsεptəs/ n. (pl. conceptuses) TECHNICAL the embryo in the womb, especially during the early stages of pregnancy.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, ‘conception, embryo’, from concept- ‘conceived’, from the verb concipere.

concern v. [with obj.] 1 relate to; be about: the story concerns a friend of mine | the report is mainly concerned with 1984 onwards.

- be relevant or important to; affect or involve: she was prying into that which did not concern her | many thanks to all concerned.

- (concern oneself with) interest or involve oneself in: it is not necessary for us to concern ourselves with this point.

- (be concerned in) FORMAL have a specific connection with or responsibility for: those concerned in industry, academia, and government.

- (be concerned with/to do something) regard it as important to do something: I was mainly concerned with making something that children could enjoy.

2 make (someone) anxious or worried: the roof of the barn concerns me because eventually it will fall in | don't concern yourself, old boy—my lips are sealed.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] anxiety; worry: Carole gazed at her with concern.

- [count noun] a cause of anxiety or worry: environmental concerns.

2 a matter of interest or importance to someone: housing is the concern of the Housing Executive | [mass noun] the prospect should be of concern to us all.

3 a business: the town's only travel agent was a small, debt-ridden concern.

4 INFORMAL, DATED a complicated or awkward object.

<PHRASES>

□ as (or so) far as —— is concerned as regards the interests or case of ——: the measures are irrelevant as far as inflation is concerned.

□ have no concern with FORMAL have nothing to do with: drama seemed to have no concern with ‘truth’ at all.

□ to whom it may concern used at the beginning of a letter, notice, or testimonial when the identity of the reader or readers is unknown.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French concerner or late Latin concernere (in medieval Latin ‘be relevant to’), from con- (expressing intensive force) + cernere ‘sift, discern’.

concerned adj. worried, troubled, or anxious: the villagers are concerned about burglaries.

<DERIVATIVES> concernedly adv.

concerning prep. on the subject of or in connection with; about: further revelations concerning his role in the affair.

concernment n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC importance: matters of great public concernment.

- [count noun] a matter of interest or importance to someone; a concern: if the captain has a family or any absorbing concernment of that sort.

concert n. /knsət/ 1 a musical performance given in public, typically by several performers or of several compositions: a pop concert | [as modifier] a concert pianist.

- [as modifier] relating to or denoting the performance of music written for opera, ballet, or theatre on its own without the accompanying dramatic action: the concert version of the fourth interlude from the opera.

2 [mass noun] FORMAL agreement or harmony: critics' inability to describe with any precision and concert the characteristics of literature.

- [LAW] joint action, especially in the committing of a crime.

■ v. /kənsət/ [with obj.] FORMAL arrange (something) by mutual agreement or coordination: they started meeting regularly to concert their parliamentary tactics.

<PHRASES>

□ in concert 1 acting jointly: we must take action in concert with our European partners.

2 (of music or a performer) giving a public performance; live: they saw Pink Floyd in concert.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘unite’): from French concerter, from Italian concertare ‘harmonize’. The noun use, dating from the early 17th century (in the sense ‘a combination of voices or sounds’), is from French concert, from Italian concerto, from concertare.

concertante /kntətante -tanti/ adj. 1 denoting a piece of music containing one or more solo parts, typically of less prominence than in a concerto. See also SINFONIA CONCERTANTE.

2 denoting prominent instrumental parts present throughout a piece of music, especially in baroque and early classical compositions.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘harmonizing’, from concertare ‘harmonize’.

concerted adj. 1 [attr.] jointly arranged or carried out; coordinated: a concerted attempt to preserve religious unity.

- done with great effort or determination: you must make a concerted effort to curb this.

2 (of music) arranged in several parts of equal importance.

concert grand n. the largest size of grand piano, up to 2.75 m long, used for concerts.

concertina /knsətinə/ n. a small musical instrument played by stretching and squeezing a central bellows between the hands to blow air over reeds, each note being sounded by a button. Compare with ACCORDION.

- [as modifier] opening or closing in multiple folds: concertina doors.

■ v. (concertinas, concertinaing, concertinaed or concertina'd) [with obj.] extend, compress, or collapse in folds like those of a concertina: the car had concertinaed against the rear of the truck.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CONCERT + -INA.

concertino /kntətinə/ n. (pl. concertinos) 1 a simple or short concerto.

2 a solo instrument or solo instruments playing with an orchestra.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Italian, diminutive of concerto (see CONCERTO).

concertize /knsətz/ v. [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN give a concert or concerts.

concertmaster n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the leading first-violin player in some orchestras.

concerto /kəntətə -tεtə/ n. (pl. concertos or concerti) a musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: Italian, from concertare ‘harmonize’.

concerto grosso /rsə/ n. (pl. concerti grossi /-si/) a musical composition for a group of solo instruments accompanied by an orchestra. The term is used mainly of baroque works.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: Italian, literally ‘big concerto’.

concert overture n. a piece of music in the style of an overture but intended for independent performance.

concert party n. 1 a group of performers giving variety concerts.

2 [STOCK EXCHANGE] a number of parties who separately invest in a company with the concealed intention of using their holdings as a single block.

concert performance n. BRITISH a performance of a piece of music written for an opera, ballet, piece of theatre, religious service, etc., at a concert without the accompanying dramatic action or liturgy.

concert pitch n. [mass noun] [MUSIC] an internationally agreed standard for the tuning of musical instruments, in which the note A above middle C has a frequency of 440 Hz.

- FIGURATIVE a state of readiness, efficiency, and keenness: slightly unnerved by the contretemps, I was not at concert pitch.

concession n. 1 a thing that is granted, especially in response to demands: the government was unwilling to make any further concessions.

- [mass noun] the action of conceding or granting something: this strict rule was relaxed by concession.

- (a concession to) a gesture made in recognition of a demand or prevailing standard: her only concession to fashion was her ornate silver ring.

2 a preferential allowance or rate given by an organization: tax concessions.

- BRITISH a reduction in the price of something for a certain category of person.

3 the right to use land or other property for a specified purpose, granted by a government, company, or other controlling body: new logging concessions.

- a commercial operation set up by agreement within the premises of a larger concern.

- the right, given by a company, to sell goods, especially in a particular place.

- CANADIAN a piece of land into which surveyed land is divided.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin concessio(n-), from the verb concedere (see CONCEDE).

concessionaire /kənsεənε/ (also concessionnaire) n. the holder of a concession or grant, especially for the use of land or commercial premises or for trading rights.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French concessionnaire, from Latin concessio (see CONCESSION).

concessional adj. (of a rate or allowance) constituting a concession: a concessional interest rate.

concessionary adj. BRITISH relating to or constituting a concession or reduced rate: concessionary bus passes.

concessive adj. 1 characterized by or tending to concession: we must look for a more concessive approach.

2 [GRAMMAR] (of a preposition or conjunction) introducing a phrase or clause denoting a circumstance which might be expected to preclude the action of the main clause, but does not (e.g. in spite of, although).

- (of a phrase or clause) introduced by a concessive preposition or conjunction.

conch /kk kn(t)/ n. (pl. conchs /kks/ or conches /kntz/) 1 (also conch shell) a tropical marine mollusc with a robust spiral shell which may bear long projections and have a flared lip.

<INFO> Strombus and other genera, family Strombidae, class Gastropoda.

- a shell of this kind blown like a trumpet to produce a hollow-sounding musical note, often depicted as played by Tritons.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] the roof of a semicircular apse, shaped like half a dome.

3 another term for CONCHA.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin concha ‘shellfish, shell’, from Greek konkhē ‘mussel, cockle, or shell-like cavity’.

concha /kkə/ n. (pl. conchae /-ki/) [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] a part resembling a spiral shell, in particular:

- the depression in the external ear leading to its central opening.

- (also nasal concha) any of several thin, scroll-like (turbinate) bones in the sides of the nasal cavity.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin (see CONCH).

conchie /kni/ n. (pl. conchies) BRITISH INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a conscientious objector.

<ORIGIN> First World War: abbreviation.

conchiglie /knkilje/ plural n. pasta in the form of small conch shells.

<ORIGIN> Italian, plural of conchiglia ‘conch shell’.

conchiolin /kntə()ln/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] a tough, insoluble protein secreted by molluscs, forming the organic matrix of the shell within which calcium carbonate is deposited.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin concha ‘shell’ + the diminutive suffix -iola + -IN^1.

conchoid /kkd/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a plane quartic curve consisting of two separate branches either side of and asymptotic to a central straight line (the asymptote), such that if a line is drawn from a fixed point (the pole) to intersect both branches, the part of the line falling between the two branches is of constant length and is exactly bisected by the asymptote.

<INFO> Such curves are represented by the general equation (x − a)2(x^2 + y^2) = b^2x^2, where a is the distance between the pole and the asymptote, and b is the constant length. The branch on the same side of the asymptote as the pole typically has a cusp or loop.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from CONCH + -OID.

conchoidal /kkd(ə)l/ adj. chiefly [MINERAL] denoting a type of fracture in a solid (such as flint) which results in a smooth rounded surface resembling the shape of a scallop shell.

conchology /kklədi/ n. [mass noun] the scientific study or collection of mollusc shells.

<DERIVATIVES> conchological adj. conchologist n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek konkhē ‘shell’ + -LOGY.

concierge /knsε/ n. 1 (especially in France) a resident caretaker of a block of flats or a small hotel.

2 a hotel employee whose job is to assist guests by booking tours, making theatre and restaurant reservations, etc.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting the warden of a house, castle, prison, or palace): French, probably based on Latin conservus ‘fellow slave’.

conciliar /kənslə/ adj. relating to or proceeding from a council, especially an ecclesiastical one: conciliar decrees.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin consiliarius ‘counsellor’, from Latin concilium (see COUNCIL).

conciliate /kənslet/ v. [with obj.] 1 stop (someone) being angry or discontented; placate: concessions were made to conciliate the peasantry.

- [no obj.] act as a mediator: he sought to conciliate in the dispute.

- FORMAL reconcile; make compatible: all complaints about charges will be conciliated if possible.

2 ARCHAIC gain (esteem or goodwill): the arts which conciliate popularity.

<DERIVATIVES> conciliative adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from Latin conciliat- ‘combined, gained’, from the verb conciliare, from concilium (see COUNCIL).

conciliation /kənslen/ n. [mass noun] the action of stopping someone being angry; placation: he held his hands up in a gesture of conciliation.

- the action of mediating between two disputing people or groups: many disputes are settled through conciliation by the official body.

conciliator /kənsletə(r)/ n. a person who acts as a mediator between two disputing people or groups: he was seen as a conciliator, who would heal divisions in the party.

conciliatory adj. intended or likely to placate or pacify: a conciliatory approach.

concinnity /kənsnti/ n. [mass noun] RARE the skilful and harmonious arrangement or fitting together of the different parts of something.

- studied elegance of literary or artistic style.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin concinnitas, from concinnus ‘skilfully put together’.

concise adj. giving a lot of information clearly and in a few words; brief but comprehensive: a concise account of the country's history.

<DERIVATIVES> concisely adv. conciseness n. concision n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French concis or Latin concisus, past participle of concidere ‘cut up, cut down’, from con- ‘completely’ + caedere ‘to cut’.

conclave /kklev/ n. a private meeting.

- (in the Roman Catholic Church) the assembly of cardinals for the election of a pope.

- the meeting place for a conclave.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a private room): via French from Latin conclave ‘lockable room’, from con- ‘with’ + clavis ‘key’.

conclude v. 1 bring or come to an end: [with obj.] they conclude their study with these words | [no obj.] the talk concluded with slides.

- [with obj.] formally and finally settle or arrange (an agreement): an attempt to conclude a ceasefire.

2 [with clause] arrive at a judgement or opinion by reasoning: the doctors concluded that Esther had suffered a stroke | what do you conclude from all this?

- [with direct speech] say in conclusion: ‘It's a wicked old world,’ she concluded.

- [with infinitive] US DATED decide to do something: we found some bread, which we concluded to eat.

<PHRASES>

□ conclude missives [SCOTS LAW] (of a buyer) sign a contract with the vendor of a property or piece of land to signify change of ownership.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘convince’): from Latin concludere, from con- ‘completely’ + claudere ‘to shut’.

conclusion n. 1 the end or finish of an event, process, or text: the conclusion of World War Two.

- the summing-up of an argument or text.

- [mass noun] the formal and final arrangement of an agreement: the conclusion of a free-trade accord.

2 a judgement or decision reached by reasoning: each research group came to a similar conclusion.

- [LOGIC] a proposition that is reached from given premises.

<PHRASES>

□ in conclusion lastly; to sum up: in conclusion, it is clear that the market is maturing.

□ jump (or leap) to conclusions make a hasty judgement before considering all the facts.

□ try conclusions with FORMAL engage in a trial of skill or argument with.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin conclusio(n-), from the verb concludere (see CONCLUDE).

conclusive adj. (of evidence or argument) having or likely to have the effect of proving a case; decisive: conclusive evidence | the findings were by no means conclusive.

- (of a victory) achieved easily or by a large margin.

<DERIVATIVES> conclusively adv. conclusiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘summing up’): from late Latin conclusivus, from Latin conclus- ‘closed up’, from the verb concludere (see CONCLUSION).

concoct /kənkkt/ v. [with obj.] make (a dish or meal) by combining various ingredients: she began to concoct a dinner likely to appeal to him.

- create or devise (a story or plan): his cronies concocted a simple plan.

<DERIVATIVES> concocter (also concoctor) n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin concoct-, literally ‘cooked together’, from concoquere. The original sense was ‘refine metals or minerals by heating’, later ‘cook’.

concoction n. a mixture of various ingredients or elements: the facade is a strange concoction of northern Mannerism and Italian Baroque.

- an elaborate story, especially a fabricated one: her story is an improbable concoction.

- an elaborate or showy garment or hat.

concomitance /kənkmt(ə)ns/ (also concomitancy) n. [mass noun] the fact of existing or occurring together with something else.

- [THEOLOGY] the doctrine that the body and blood of Christ are each present in both the bread and the wine of the Eucharist.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin concomitantia, from the verb concomitari ‘accompany’ (see CONCOMITANT).

concomitant /kənkmt(ə)nt/ FORMAL adj. naturally accompanying or associated: she loved travel, with all its concomitant worries | concomitant with his obsession with dirt was a desire for order.

■ n. a phenomenon that naturally accompanies or follows something: he sought promotion without the necessary concomitant of hard work.

<DERIVATIVES> concomitantly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin concomitant- ‘accompanying’, from concomitari, from con- ‘together with’ + comitari, from Latin comes ‘companion’.

Concord^1 /kkd/ 1 the state capital of New Hampshire; pop. 40,687 (2000).

2 a town in NE Massachusetts; pop. 15,559 (2000). Battles there and at Lexington in April 1775 marked the start of the War of American Independence.

Concord^2 /kkd/ n. [mass noun] a variety of dessert grape developed at Concord, Massachusetts.

concord n. [mass noun] 1 FORMAL agreement or harmony between people or groups: a pact of peace and concord.

- [count noun] a treaty.

2 [GRAMMAR] agreement between words in gender, number, case, person, or any other grammatical category which affects the forms of the words.

3 [count noun] [MUSIC] a chord that is pleasing or satisfactory in itself.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French concorde, from Latin concordia, from concors ‘of one mind’, from con- ‘together’ + cor, cord- ‘heart’.

concordance /kənkd(ə)ns/ n. 1 an alphabetical list of the words (especially the important ones) present in a text or texts, usually with citations of the passages concerned or with the context displayed on a computer screen: a concordance to the Bible.

2 [mass noun] FORMAL agreement or consistency: the concordance between the teams' research results.

3 MEDICINE the inheritance by two related individuals (especially twins) of the same genetic characteristic, such as susceptibility to a disease.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. concordanced) make a concordance of: the value of concordanced information.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin concordantia, from concordant- ‘being of one mind’ (see CONCORDANT).

concordant adj. 1 in agreement; consistent: the answers were roughly concordant.

- [MUSIC] in harmony.

- [GEOLOGY] corresponding in direction with the planes of adjacent or underlying strata.

2 MEDICINE (of twins) inheriting the same genetic characteristic.

<DERIVATIVES> concordantly adv.

concordat /kənkdat/ n. an agreement or treaty, especially one between the Vatican and a secular government relating to matters of mutual interest.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, or from Latin concordatum ‘something agreed upon’, neuter past participle of concordare ‘be of one mind’ (see CONCORD).

Concorde /kkd/ a supersonic airliner able to cruise at twice the speed of sound. Produced through Anglo-French cooperation, it made its maiden flight in 1969.

concours /kkə/ (also concours d'élégance /dεles/) n. (pl. same) an exhibition or parade of vintage or classic motor vehicles in which prizes are awarded for those in the best or most original condition.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘contest (of elegance)’.

concourse n. 1 a large open area inside or in front of a public building: a station concourse.

2 FORMAL a crowd or assembly of people: a vast concourse of onlookers.

- [mass noun] the action of coming together or meeting: the concourse of bodies.

■ another term for CONCOURS.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French concours, from Latin concursus, from concurs- ‘run together, met’, from the verb concurrere (see CONCUR).

■ Sense 1 (originally US) dates from the mid 19th cent.

concrescence /kənkrεs(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the coalescence or growing together of parts originally separate.

<DERIVATIVES> concrescent adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the senses ‘growth by assimilation’ and ‘a concretion’): from CON- ‘together’ + -crescence, on the pattern of words such as excrescence. The current sense dates from the late 19th cent.

concrete adj. /kkrit/ existing in a material or physical form; not abstract: concrete objects like stones.

- specific; definite: I haven't got any concrete proof.

- (of a noun) denoting a material object as opposed to an abstract quality, state, or action.

■ n. [mass noun] a building material made from a mixture of broken stone or gravel, sand, cement, and water, which can be spread or poured into moulds and forms a stone-like mass on hardening: slabs of concrete | [as modifier] concrete blocks.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 /kkrit/ cover (an area) with concrete: the precious English countryside may soon be concreted over.

- [with obj. and adverbial of place] fix in position with concrete: the post is concreted into the ground.

2 /kənkrit/ ARCHAIC form (something) into a mass; solidify.

- make real or concrete instead of abstract: concreting God into actual form of man.

<PHRASES>

□ be set in concrete (of a policy or idea) be fixed and unalterable: I do not regard the constitution as set in concrete.

□ in the concrete FORMAL in reality or in practice.

<DERIVATIVES> concretely adv. concreteness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘solidified’): from French concret or Latin concretus, past participle of concrescere ‘grow together’. Early use was also as a grammatical term designating a quality belonging to a substance (usually expressed by an adjective such as white in white paper) as opposed to the quality itself (expressed by an abstract noun such as whiteness); later concrete came to be used to refer to nouns embodying attributes (e.g. fool, hero), as opposed to the attributes themselves (e.g. foolishness, heroism), and this is the basis of the modern use as the opposite of ‘abstract’. The noun sense ‘building material’ dates from the mid 19th cent.

concrete jungle n. a city or urban area which has a high density of large, unattractive, modern buildings and is perceived as an unpleasant living environment.

concrete mixer n. a cement mixer.

concrete music n. another term for musique concrète.

concrete poetry n. [mass noun] poetry in which the meaning or effect is conveyed partly or wholly by visual means, using patterns of words or letters and other typographical devices.

concrete universal n. (in idealist philosophy) an abstraction which is manifest in a developing or organized set of instances, so having the qualities of both the universal and the particular.

concretion n. a hard solid mass formed by the local accumulation of matter, especially within the body or within a mass of sediment.

- [mass noun] the formation of such a mass.

<DERIVATIVES> concretionary adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin concretio(n-), from concrescere ‘grow together’.

concretize /kkrtz/ (also concretise) v. [with obj.] make (an idea or concept) real; give specific or definite form to: the theme park is an attempt to concretize our fantasies about America.

<DERIVATIVES> concretization n.

concubinage /knkjubnd/ n. [mass noun] chiefly HISTORICAL the practice of keeping a concubine, or the state of being a concubine.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, from Old French concubine (see CONCUBINE).

concubine /kkjbn/ n. chiefly HISTORICAL (in polygamous societies) a woman who lives with a man but has lower status than his wife or wives.

- ARCHAIC a mistress.

<DERIVATIVES> concubinary /kənkjubn(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin concubina, from con- ‘with’ + cubare ‘to lie’.

concupiscence /kənkjups(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL strong sexual desire; lust.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from late Latin concupiscentia, from Latin concupiscent- ‘beginning to desire’, from the verb concupiscere, from con- (expressing intensive force) + cupere ‘to desire’.

concupiscent adj. FORMAL filled with sexual desire; lustful: concupiscent dreams.

concur v. (concurs, concurring, concurred) [no obj.] 1 be of the same opinion; agree: the authors concurred with the majority | [with direct speech] ‘That's right,’ the chairman concurred.

- (concur with) agree with (a decision or opinion): we strongly concur with this recommendation.

2 happen or occur at the same time; coincide: in tests, cytogenetic determination has been found to concur with enzymatic determination.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the senses ‘collide’ and ‘act in combination’): from Latin concurrere ‘run together, assemble in crowds’, from con- ‘together with’ + currere ‘to run’.

concurrent adj. 1 existing, happening, or done at the same time: there are three concurrent art fairs around the city.

- (of two or more prison sentences) to be served at the same time.

- [MATHEMATICS] (of three or more lines) meeting at or tending towards one point.

2 agreeing or consistent.

<DERIVATIVES> concurrence n. concurrently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin concurrent- ‘running together, meeting’, from the verb concurrere (see CONCUR).

concuss /kənks/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. concussed) hit the head of (a person or animal), causing them to become temporarily unconscious or confused: Michael was a bit concussed.

<DERIVATIVES> concussive adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘shake violently’): from Latin concuss- ‘dashed together, violently shaken’, from the verb concutere, from con- ‘together’ + quatere ‘shake’.

concussion n. 1 [mass noun] temporary unconsciousness or confusion and other symptoms caused by a blow on the head.

2 a violent shock as from a heavy blow: the ground shuddered with the concussion of the blast.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin concussio(n-), from the verb concutere ‘dash together, shake’ (see CONCUSS).

condemn v. [with obj.] 1 express complete disapproval of; censure: most leaders roundly condemned the attack | the plan was condemned by campaigners.

2 sentence (someone) to a particular punishment, especially death: the rebels had been condemned to death | (as adj. condemned) the condemned men.

- (of circumstances) force (someone) to endure or accept something unpleasant: the physical ailments that condemned him to a lonely childhood.

- prove or show to be guilty or unsatisfactory: she could see in his eyes that her stumble had condemned her.

3 officially declare (something) to be unfit for use: the pool has been condemned as a health hazard.

<DERIVATIVES> condemnable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French condemner, from Latin condemnare, from con- (expressing intensive force) + damnare ‘inflict loss on’ (see DAMN).

condemnation n. [mass noun] 1 the expression of very strong disapproval; censure: there was strong international condemnation of the attack.

2 the action of condemning someone to a punishment; sentencing.

condemnatory /kndəmnet(ə)ri/ adj. expressing strong disapproval; censorious: condemnatory statements.

condemned cell n. BRITISH a prison cell in which a prisoner who has received a death sentence is kept.

condensate /knd(ə)nset/ n. [mass noun] liquid collected by condensation.

- [count noun] [CHEMISTRY] a compound produced by a condensation reaction.

condensation n. [mass noun] 1 water which collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it.

2 the conversion of a vapour or gas to a liquid.

- (also condensation reaction) [count noun] [CHEMISTRY] a reaction in which two molecules combine to form a larger molecule, producing a small molecule such as H_2O as a by-product.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] the fusion of two or more images or ideas into a single composite or new image, as a primary process in unconscious thought exemplified in dreams.

3 [count noun] a concise version of something, especially a text: a readable condensation of the recent literature.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin condensatio(n-), from condensare ‘press close together’ (see CONDENSE).

condense v. 1 [with obj.] make (something) denser or more concentrated: the morning play on Saturday was condensed into a half-hour package.

- express (written or spoken material) in fewer words; make concise: he condensed the three plays into a three-hour drama.

2 change or cause to change from a gas or vapour to a liquid: [no obj.] the moisture vapour in the air condenses into droplets of water | [with obj.] the cold air was condensing his breath.

<DERIVATIVES> condensable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French condenser or Latin condensare, from condensus ‘very thick’, from con- ‘completely’ + densus ‘dense’.

condensed adj. made denser or more concise; compressed or concentrated: a condensed version of the report.

- (of a liquid) thickened by heating to reduce the water content; concentrated: condensed soup.

condensed milk n. [mass noun] milk that has been thickened by evaporation and sweetened, sold in tins.

condenser n. 1 an apparatus or container for condensing vapour.

2 a lens or system of lenses for collecting and directing light.

3 another term for CAPACITOR.

condescend v. [no obj.] show that one feels superior; be patronizing: take care not to condescend to your reader.

- [with infinitive] do something in such a way as to emphasize that one clearly regards it as below one's dignity or level of importance: he condescended to see me at my hotel.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘give way, defer’): from Old French condescendre, from ecclesiastical Latin condescendere, from con- ‘together’ + descendere ‘descend’.

condescending adj. having or showing an attitude of patronizing superiority: she thought the teachers were arrogant and condescending | a condescending smile.

<DERIVATIVES> condescendingly adv.

condescension n. [mass noun] an attitude of patronizing superiority; disdain: a tone of condescension | I'm treated with condescension.

condign /kəndn/ adj. FORMAL (of punishment or retribution) appropriate to the crime or wrongdoing; fitting and deserved.

<DERIVATIVES> condignly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘worthy, appropriate’): from Old French condigne, from Latin condignus, from con- ‘altogether’ + dignus ‘worthy’.

condiment n. a substance such as salt, mustard, or pickle that is used to add flavour to food.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin condimentum, from condire ‘to pickle’.

condition n. 1 [mass noun] [usually with adj.] the state of something with regard to its appearance, quality, or working order: the wiring is in good condition | [in sing.] the bridge is in an extremely dangerous condition.

- a person's or animal's state of health or physical fitness: the baby was in good condition at birth | [in sing.] she was in a serious condition.

- [count noun] [often with modifier] an illness or other medical problem: a heart condition.

- [in sing.] the situation in life of a particular group: the sorrows of the human condition.

- ARCHAIC social position: those of humbler condition.

2 (conditions) the circumstances or factors affecting the way in which people live or work, especially with regard to their well-being: harsh working and living conditions.

- the factors or prevailing situation influencing the performance or outcome of a process: present market conditions.

- the prevailing state of the weather, ground, or sea at a particular time, especially as it affects a sporting event: the appalling conditions determined the style of play.

3 a situation that must exist before something else is possible or permitted: for a member to borrow money, three conditions have to be met | all personnel should comply with this policy as a condition of employment.

- US an unsatisfactory grade indicating that a student must pass an examination or undertake additional work within a stated time to receive credit for a course.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 have a significant influence on or determine (the manner or outcome of something): national choices are conditioned by the international political economy.

- train or accustom to behave in a certain way or to accept certain circumstances: our minds are heavily conditioned and circumscribed by habit | [with obj. and infinitive] they are beliefs which he has been conditioned to accept | (as n. conditioning) social conditioning.

2 bring (something) into the desired state for use: a product for conditioning leather.

- (often as adj. conditioned) make (a person or animal) fit and healthy: he was six feet two of perfectly conditioned muscle and bone.

- (often as adj. conditioned) bring (beer) to maturation after fermentation while the yeast is still present: [in combination] cask-conditioned real ales.

- [no obj.] (of a beer) undergo such a process: brews that are allowed to condition in the bottle.

3 apply a conditioner to (the hair): I condition my hair regularly.

4 set prior requirements on (something) before it can occur or be done: Congressmen have sought to limit and condition military and economic aid.

- US give (a student) an unsatisfactory grade or condition.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or out of) condition in a fit (or unfit) physical state.

□ in no condition to do something certainly not fit or well enough to do something: you're in no condition to tackle the stairs.

□ on condition that with the stipulation that: I got three years' probation, on condition that I stay at the hostel for a year.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French condicion (noun), condicionner (verb), from Latin condicio(n-) ‘agreement’, from condicere ‘agree upon’, from con- ‘with’ + dicere ‘say’.

conditional adj. 1 subject to one or more conditions or requirements being met: the consortium have made a conditional offer | Western aid was only granted conditional on further reform.

2 [GRAMMAR] (of a clause, phrase, conjunction, or verb form) expressing a condition.

■ n. 1 [GRAMMAR] & [PHILOSOPHY] a conditional clause or conjunction.

- a sentence containing a conditional clause.

2 [mass noun] [GRAMMAR] the conditional mood of a verb, for example should in if I should die.

<DERIVATIVES> conditionality n. conditionally adv.

conditional discharge n. an order made by a criminal court whereby an offender will not be sentenced for an offence unless a further offence is committed within a stated period.

conditional probability n. [STATISTICS] the probability of an event (A), given that another (B) has already occurred.

conditional sale n. the sale of goods according to a contract under which ownership does not pass to the buyer until after a set time, usually after payment of the last instalment of the purchase price, although the buyer has possession and is committed to acquiring ownership.

condition code n. [COMPUTING] a group of bits indicating the condition of something inside a computer, often used to decide which instructions the computer will subsequently execute.

conditioned response (also conditioned reflex) n. [PSYCHOLOGY] an automatic response established by training to an ordinarily neutral stimulus.

conditioner n. a substance or appliance used to improve the condition of something: add a water conditioner to neutralize chlorine.

- a liquid applied to the hair after shampooing to improve its condition.

condo /kndə/ n. (pl. condos) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL short for condominium (sense 1): a high-rise condo.

condole /kəndəl/ v. [no obj.] (condole with) express sympathy for (someone); grieve with: the priest came to condole with Madeleine.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Christian Latin condolere, from con- ‘with’ + dolere ‘grieve, suffer’.

condolence n. (usually condolences) an expression of sympathy, especially on the occasion of the death of a person's relative or close friend: we offer our sincere condolences to his widow | [mass noun] letters of condolence.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from CONDOLE, influenced by French condoléance.

condom n. a thin rubber sheath worn on a man's penis during sexual intercourse as a contraceptive or as a protection against infection.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: of unknown origin; often said to be named after a physician who invented it, but no such person has been traced.

condominium /kndəmnəm/ n. (pl. condominiums) 1 NORTH AMERICAN a building or complex of buildings containing a number of individually owned apartments or houses.

- each of the individual apartments or houses in a condominium.

- [mass noun] the system of ownership by which condominiums operate, in which owners have full title to the individual apartment or house and an undivided interest in the shared parts of the property.

2 [mass noun] the joint control of a state's affairs by other states.

- [count noun] a state so governed.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, from con- ‘together with’ + dominium ‘right of ownership’ (see DOMINION).

■ Sense 1 dates from the 1960s.

condone /kəndən/ v. [with obj.] [often with negative] accept (behaviour that is considered morally wrong or offensive): the college cannot condone any behaviour that involves illicit drugs.

- approve or sanction (something), especially with reluctance: those arrested were released and the exhibition was officially condoned a few weeks later.

<DERIVATIVES> condonation /kndəne(ə)n/ n. condoner n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin condonare ‘refrain from punishing’, from con- ‘altogether’ + donare ‘give’.

condor n. a very large New World vulture with a bare head and mainly black plumage, living in mountainous country and spending much time soaring on massive outstretched wings.

<INFO> Two species in the family Cathartidae: the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) of South America, and the California (or Californian) condor (Gymnogyps californianus), which is probably extinct in the wild.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish cóndor, from Quechua kuntur.

condottiere /kndtjεre -ri/ n. (pl. condottieri pronunc. same) HISTORICAL a leader or member of a troop of mercenaries, especially in Italy.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from condotto ‘troop under contract’, from condotta ‘a contract’, from condurre ‘conduct’, from Latin conducere (see CONDUCT).

conduce v. [no obj.] (conduce to) FORMAL help to bring about (a particular situation or outcome): nothing would conduce more to the unity of the nation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘lead or bring’): from Latin conducere ‘bring together’ (see CONDUCT).

conducive adj. (usually conducive to) making a certain situation or outcome likely or possible: the harsh lights and cameras were hardly conducive to a relaxed atmosphere.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from CONDUCE, on the pattern of words such as conductive.

conduct n. /kndkt/ [mass noun] 1 the manner in which a person behaves, especially in a particular place or situation: they were arrested for disorderly conduct | a code of conduct for directors of listed companies.

2 the manner in which an organization or activity is managed or directed: the conduct of the elections.

- ARCHAIC the action of leading; guidance: travelling through the world under the conduct of chance.

■ v. /kəndkt/ [with obj.] 1 organize and carry out: in the second trial he conducted his own defence | surveys conducted among students.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] lead or guide (someone) to or around a particular place: he conducted us through his personal gallery of the Civil War | (as adj. conducted) a conducted tour.

3 [PHYSICS] transmit (a form of energy such as heat or electricity) by conduction: heat is conducted to the surface.

4 direct the performance of (a piece of music or an orchestra, choir, etc.): the concert is to be conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

5 (conduct oneself) behave in a specified way: he conducted himself with the utmost propriety.

<DERIVATIVES> conductibility /kəndktblti/ n. conductible /kəndktb(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin conduct- ‘brought together’, from the verb conducere. The term originally denoted a provision for safe passage, surviving in SAFE CONDUCT; later the verb sense ‘lead, guide’ arose, hence ‘manage’ and ‘management’ (late Middle English), later ‘management of oneself, behaviour’ (mid 16th century). The original form of the word was conduit, which was preserved only in the sense ‘channel’ (see CONDUIT); in other uses the spelling was influenced by Latin.

conductance n. [mass noun] the degree to which an object conducts electricity, calculated as the ratio of the current which flows to the potential difference present. This is the reciprocal of the resistance, and is measured in siemens or mhos.

conduct disorder n. [mass noun] chiefly US a range of antisocial types of behaviour displayed in childhood or adolescence.

conduction n. [mass noun] the process by which heat or electricity is directly transmitted through the material of a substance when there is a difference of temperature or of electrical potential between adjoining regions, without movement of the material.

- the process by which sound waves travel through a medium.

- the transmission of impulses along nerves.

- the conveying of fluid through a channel.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the senses ‘provision for safe passage’ and ‘leadership’): from Latin conductio(n-), from the verb conducere (see CONDUCT).

conduction band n. [PHYSICS] a delocalized band of energy levels in a crystalline solid which is partly filled with electrons. These electrons have great mobility and are responsible for electrical conductivity.

conductive adj. having the property of conducting something (especially heat or electricity): a conductive material.

- relating to conduction.

<DERIVATIVES> conductively adv.

conductive education n. [mass noun] BRITISH a system of training for people with motor disorders, especially children, which aims to reduce their dependence on artificial aids and facilitate active participation in society.

conductivity n. (pl. conductivities) [mass noun] (also electrical conductivity) the degree to which a specified material conducts electricity, calculated as the ratio of the current density in the material to the electric field which causes the flow of current.

- (also thermal conductivity) the rate at which heat passes through a specified material, expressed as the amount of heat that flows per unit time through a unit area with a temperature gradient of one degree per unit distance.

conductor n. 1 a person who directs the performance of an orchestra or choir.

2 BRITISH a person who collects fares and sells tickets on a bus.

- NORTH AMERICAN a guard on a train.

3 [PHYSICS] a material or device that conducts or transmits heat or electricity, especially when regarded in terms of its capacity to do this: most polymers are poor conductors.

■ short for LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR.

4 BRITISH a person who is trained to provide conductive education.

<DERIVATIVES> conductorship n.

■ conductor (sense 1)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a military leader): via Old French from Latin conductor, from conducere ‘bring together’ (see CONDUCT).

conductor rail n. a rail transmitting current to an electric train or other vehicle.

conductress n. a female conductor, especially in a bus or other passenger vehicle.

conduct sheet n. a military form designed to record someone's offences and punishments.

conductus /kəndktəs/ n. (pl. conducti /-t/) a musical setting of a metrical Latin text, of the 12th or 13th century.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin, from Latin conducere ‘bring together’ (see CONDUCT).

conduit /kndjt kndt/ n. 1 a channel for conveying water or other fluid.

- FIGURATIVE a person or organization that acts as a channel for the transmission of something: as an actor you have to be a conduit for other people's words.

2 a tube or trough for protecting electric wiring.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin conductus, from Latin conducere ‘bring together’ (see CONDUCT).

condylarth /kndlαθ/ n. a fossil herbivorous mammal of the early Tertiary period, ancestral to the ungulates.

<INFO> Order Condylarthra: several families.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Condylarthra (plural), from Greek kondulos ‘knuckle’ + arthron ‘joint’.

condyle /kndl -dl/ n. [ANATOMY] a rounded protuberance at the end of some bones, forming an articulation with another bone.

<DERIVATIVES> condylar adj. condyloid adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Latin condylus, from Greek kondulos ‘knuckle’.

condyloma /kndləmə/ n. (pl. condylomas or condylomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a raised growth on the skin resembling a wart, typically in the genital region, caused by viral infection or syphilis and transmissible by contact.

<DERIVATIVES> condylomatous adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek kondulōma ‘callous lump’, from kondulos ‘knuckle’.

cone n. 1 a solid or hollow object which tapers from a circular or roughly circular base to a point.

- [MATHEMATICS] a surface or solid figure generated by the straight lines which pass from a circle or other closed curve to a single point (the vertex) not in the same plane as the curve.

- a conical mountain, especially one of volcanic origin.

- (also traffic cone) a plastic cone-shaped object that is used to separate off or close sections of a road.

- a coned-shaped wafer container in which ice cream is served.

- (also pyrometric cone) a ceramic pyramid that melts at a known temperature and is used to indicate the temperature of a kiln.

2 the dry fruit of a conifer, typically tapering to a rounded end and formed of a tight array of overlapping scales on a central axis which separate to release the seeds.

- a flower resembling a pine cone, especially that of the hop plant.

3 [ANATOMY] one of two types of light-sensitive cell in the retina of the eye, responding mainly to bright light and responsible for sharpness of vision and colour perception. Compare with rod (sense 5).

■ v. [with obj.] (cone something off) BRITISH separate off or mark a road with traffic cones: part of the road has been coned off.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an apex or vertex): from French cône, via Latin from Greek kōnos.

cone biopsy n. a surgical procedure in which a cone-shaped segment of tissue from the uterus is removed for examination.

coned adj. 1 conical in shape.

2 wound on a cone: a coned yarn.

coneflower n. a North American plant of the daisy family, which has flowers with cone-like centres.

<INFO> Rudbeckia, Echinacea, and other genera, family Compositae.

conehead n. a small bush cricket that is mostly active by day and sings for long periods without stopping.

<INFO> Genus Conocephalus, family Tettigoniidae.

cone shell n. a predatory mollusc of warm seas, with a conical, typically intricately patterned, shell. It captures prey by injecting venom, which can be lethal to humans, and the shells are popular with collectors.

<INFO> Genus Conus, family Conidae, class Gastropoda: numerous species.

Conestoga wagon /knstəə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN HISTORICAL a large wagon used for long-distance travel.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: named after Conestoga, a town in Pennsylvania, US.

coney /kəni/ (also cony) n. (pl. coneys) 1 British & [HERALDRY] a rabbit.

- NORTH AMERICAN a pika.

- (in biblical use) a hyrax.

2 a small grouper (fish) found on the coasts of the tropical western Atlantic, with variable coloration.

<INFO> Epinephelus fulvus, family Serranidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French conin, from Latin cuniculus.

Coney Island a resort and amusement park on the Atlantic coast in Brooklyn, New York City, on the south shore of Long Island.

confab INFORMAL n. an informal private conversation or discussion.

- NORTH AMERICAN a meeting or conference of members of a particular group.

■ v. (confabs, confabbing, confabbed) [no obj.] engage in informal private conversation: Peter was confabbing with a curly-haired guy.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: abbreviation of confabulation (see CONFABULATE).

confabulate /kənfabjlet/ v. [no obj.] 1 FORMAL engage in conversation; talk: she could be heard on the telephone confabulating with someone.

2 [PSYCHIATRY] fabricate imaginary experiences as compensation for loss of memory.

<DERIVATIVES> confabulation n. confabulatory adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin confabulat- ‘chatted together’, from the verb confabulari, from con- ‘together’ + fabulari (from fabula ‘fable’).

confect /kənfεkt/ v. [with obj.] make (something elaborate or dainty) from various elements: a trifle confected from angelica and piped cream.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin confect- ‘put together’, from the verb conficere, from con- ‘together’ + facere ‘make’.

confection n. 1 an elaborate sweet dish or delicacy: a fruit confection.

- an elaborately constructed thing, especially a frivolous one: his elaborate pop confections.

- an elaborate article of women's dress: Therese was magnificent in a swirling confection of crimson.

2 [mass noun] the action of mixing or compounding something: the confection of a syllabub.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general sense ‘something made by mixing’, especially a medicinal preparation): via Old French from Latin confectio(n-), from conficere ‘put together’ (see CONFECT).

confectioner n. a person whose trade is making or selling confectionery.

confectioner's custard n. [mass noun] thick, sweet custard used as a filling for cakes and pastries.

confectioner's sugar n. US term for ICING SUGAR.

confectionery n. (pl. confectioneries) [mass noun] sweets and chocolates considered collectively.

confederacy n. (pl. confederacies) a league or alliance, especially of confederate states.

- (the Confederacy)

■ another term for CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

- a union of people or groups formed for an unlawful purpose.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French confederacie, based on Latin confoederare ‘join together in league’ (see CONFEDERATION).

confederal adj. relating to or denoting a confederation.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from CONFEDERATION, on the pattern of federal.

confederate adj. /kənfεd(ə)rət/ [attr.] joined by an agreement or treaty: some local groups united to form confederate councils.

- (Confederate) relating to the Confederate States of America: the Confederate flag.

■ n. /kənfεd(ə)rət/ 1 a person one works with, especially in something secret or illegal; an accomplice.

2 (Confederate) a supporter of the Confederate States of America.

■ v. /kənfεdəret/ [with obj.] (usually as adj. confederated) bring (states or groups of people) into an alliance: Switzerland is a model for the new confederated Europe.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late (ecclesiastical) Latin confoederatus, from con- ‘together’ + foederatus (see FEDERATE).

Confederate States of America (also the Confederacy) the eleven Southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia) which seceded from the United States in 1860–1, thus precipitating the American Civil War.

confederation n. an organization which consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league: a confederation of trade unions.

- a more or less permanent union of states with some or most political power vested in a central authority.

- [mass noun] the action of confederating or the state of being confederated: a referendum on confederation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French confederacion or late Latin confederatio(n-), from Latin confoederare, from con- ‘together’ + foederare ‘join in league with’ (from foedus ‘league, treaty’).

Confederation of British Industry (abbr.: CBI)

- (in the UK) an organization to promote the prosperity of British business.

confer /kənfə/ v. (confers, conferring, conferred) 1 [with obj.] grant (a title, degree, benefit, or right): the Minister may have exceeded the powers conferred on him by Parliament.

2 [no obj.] have discussions; exchange opinions: the officials were conferring with allies.

<DERIVATIVES> conferment n.

■ confer (sense 1)

□ conferrable adj.

□ conferral n.

■ (only in confer (sense 1))

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘bring together’, also in sense 2): from Latin conferre, from con- ‘together’ + ferre ‘bring’.

conferee n. 1 a person who attends a conference.

2 a person on whom something is conferred.

Conference n. a dessert pear of a firm-fleshed variety.

conference n. 1 a formal meeting of people with a shared interest, typically one that takes place over several days: an international conference on the environment | the Labour Party Conference.

- a formal meeting for discussion.

- [usually as modifier] a linking of several telephones or computers, so that each user may communicate with the others simultaneously: a conference call.

2 a commercial association for the regulation of an area of activity or the exchange of information.

- an association of sports teams which play each other.

- the governing body of some Christian Churches, especially Methodist Churches.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. conferencing) take part in a conference or conference call: video conferencing.

<PHRASES>

□ in conference in a meeting.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the general sense ‘conversation, talk’): from French conférence or medieval Latin conferentia, from Latin conferre ‘bring together’ (see CONFER).

Conference on Disarmament a committee with forty nations as members that seeks to negotiate multilateral disarmament.

confess v. [reporting v.] admit that one has committed a crime or done something wrong: [with clause] he confessed that he had attacked the old man | [no obj.] he wants to confess to Caroline's murder | [with direct speech] ‘I damaged your car,’ she confessed.

- acknowledge something reluctantly, typically because one feels slightly ashamed or embarrassed: [with clause] I must confess that I half believed you | [no obj.] he confessed to a lifelong passion for food.

- declare one's sins formally to a priest: [with obj.] I could not confess all my sins to the priest | [no obj.] he gave himself up after confessing to a priest.

- [with obj.] (of a priest) hear the confession of (someone) in such a way: St Ambrose would weep bitter tears when confessing a sinner.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French confesser, from Latin confessus, past participle of confiteri ‘acknowledge’, from con- (expressing intensive force) + fateri ‘declare, avow’.

confessant n. a person who confesses to a priest; a penitent.

confessedly adv. by one's own admission: many therapists have had clients who, confessedly or otherwise, have fallen in love with them.

confession n. 1 a formal statement admitting that one is guilty of a crime: he signed a confession to both the murders | [mass noun] proof of this crime must be established by confession.

- an acknowledgement that one has done something about which one is ashamed or embarrassed: by his own confession, he had strayed perilously close to alcoholism.

- a formal admission of one's sins with repentance and desire of absolution, especially privately to a priest as a religious duty: she still had not been to confession. See also SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION.

2 (also confession of faith) a statement setting out essential religious doctrine.

- (also Confession) the religious body or Church sharing a confession of faith.

- a statement of one's principles: his words are a political confession of faith.

<DERIVATIVES> confessionary adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin confessio(n-), from confiteri ‘acknowledge’ (see CONFESS).

confessional n. 1 an enclosed stall in a church divided by a screen or curtain in which a priest sits to hear confessions.

2 an acknowledgement that one has done something shameful or embarrassing; a confession.

■ adj. 1 (of speech or writing) in which a person reveals private thoughts or admits to past incidents, especially ones about which they feel ashamed or embarrassed: the autobiography is remarkably confessional | his confessional outpourings.

- relating to religious confession: the priest leaned forward in his best confessional manner.

2 relating to confessions of faith or doctrinal systems: the confessional approach to religious education.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): the adjective from CONFESSION + -AL; the noun via French from Italian confessionale, from medieval Latin, neuter of confessionalis, from Latin confessio(n-), from confiteri ‘acknowledge’ (see CONFESS).

<DERIVATIVES> confessionally adv.

confessor n. 1 a priest who hears confessions and gives absolution and spiritual counsel.

2 a person who avows religious faith in the face of opposition, but does not suffer martyrdom.

3 a person who makes a confession.

<ORIGIN> Old English (in sense 2): from Old French confessour, from ecclesiastical Latin confessor, from Latin confess- ‘acknowledged’ (see CONFESS).

confetti n. [mass noun] small pieces of coloured paper traditionally thrown over a bride and bridegroom by their wedding guests after the marriage ceremony has taken place.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally denoting the real or imitation sweets thrown during Italian carnivals): from Italian, literally ‘sweets’, from Latin confectum ‘something prepared’, neuter past participle of conficere ‘put together’ (see CONFECT).

confidant /knfdant knfdant -dαnt/ n. (fem. confidante pronunc. same) a person with whom one shares a secret or private matter, trusting them not to repeat it to others.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: alteration of CONFIDENT (as a noun in the same sense in the early 17th century), probably to represent the pronunciation of French confidente ‘having full trust’.

confide /kənfd/ v. [reporting v.] tell someone about a secret or private matter while trusting them not to repeat it to others: [with obj.] he confided his fears to his mother | [with clause] he confided that stress had caused him to lose a stone in weight | [with direct speech] ‘I have been afraid,’ she confided | (as adj. confiding) she was in a confiding mood.

- [no obj.] (confide in) trust (someone) enough to tell them of a secret or private matter: [with clause] he confided in friends that he and his wife planned to separate.

- [with obj.] (confide something to) DATED entrust something to (someone) in order for them to look after it: the property of others confided to their care was unjustifiably risked.

<DERIVATIVES> confidingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘place trust (in)’): from Latin confidere ‘have full trust’. The sense ‘impart as a secret’ dates from the mid 18th cent.

confidence n. [mass noun] 1 the feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something: we had every confidence in the staff | he had gained the young man's confidence.

- the state of feeling certain about the truth of something: I can say with confidence that I have never before driven up this street.

- a feeling of self-assurance arising from an appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities: she's brimming with confidence | [in sing.] he would walk up those steps with a confidence he didn't feel.

2 the telling of private matters or secrets with mutual trust: someone with whom you may raise your suspicions in confidence.

- [count noun] (often confidences) a secret or private matter told to someone under a condition of trust: the girls exchanged confidences about their parents.

<PHRASES>

□ in someone's confidence in a position of trust with someone.

□ take someone into one's confidence tell someone one's secrets.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin confidentia, from confidere ‘have full trust’ (see CONFIDENT).

confidence interval n. [STATISTICS] a range of values so defined that there is a specified probability that the value of a parameter lies within it.

confidence level n. [STATISTICS] the probability that the value of a parameter falls within a specified range of values.

confidence man n. old-fashioned term for CON MAN.

confidence trick (North American confidence game) n. an act of cheating or tricking someone by gaining their trust and persuading them to believe something that is not true.

confidence trickster n. BRITISH a person who sets out to defraud or deceive people by persuading them to believe something that is not true.

confident adj. 1 feeling or showing confidence in oneself or one's abilities or qualities: she was a confident, outgoing girl | people who are confident in their identity.

2 feeling or showing certainty about something: this time they're confident of a happy ending | I am not very confident about tonight's game.

■ n. ARCHAIC a confidant.

<DERIVATIVES> confidently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French confident(e), from Italian confidente, from Latin confident- ‘having full trust’, from the verb confidere, from con- (expressing intensive force) + fidere ‘trust’.

confidential adj. intended to be kept secret: confidential information.

- (of a person's tone of voice) indicating that what one says is private or secret: he dropped his voice to a confidential whisper.

- [attr.] entrusted with private or restricted information: a confidential secretary.

<DERIVATIVES> confidentiality n.

confidentially adv. in a way that is intended to be private or secret; privately: all queries will be treated confidentially.

configuration /kənfəre(ə)n -j-/ n. 1 an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular form, figure, or combination: the unrepeatable configuration of the stars at the moment of your birth | the broad configuration of the economy remains capitalist.

- [COMPUTING] an arrangement or manner of interconnection of items of computer hardware or software.

- [CHEMISTRY] the fixed three-dimensional relationship of the atoms in a molecule, defined by the bonds between them. Compare with CONFORMATION.

2 [PSYCHOLOGY] another term for GESTALT.

<DERIVATIVES> configurational adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting the relative position of celestial objects): from late Latin configuratio(n-), from Latin configurare ‘shape after a pattern’ (see CONFIGURE).

configure v. [with obj.] arrange or put together in a particular form or configuration: two of the aircraft will be configured as VIP transports.

- [COMPUTING] arrange or order (a computer system or an element of it) so as to fit it for a designated task: the memory can be configured as a virtual drive.

<DERIVATIVES> configurable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the Latin sense): from Latin configurare ‘shape after a pattern’, from con- ‘together’ + figurare ‘to shape’ (from figura ‘shape or figure’).

confine v. /kənfn/ [with obj.] (confine someone/thing to) keep or restrict someone or something within certain limits of (space, scope, or time): he does not confine his message to high politics | you've confined yourself to what you know.

- (confine someone to/in) restrain or forbid someone from leaving (a place): the troops were confined to their barracks.

- (be confined to) (of a person) be unable to leave (one's bed, home, or a wheelchair) because of illness or disability: he was confined to bed for four days with a bad dose of flu.

- (be confined) DATED (of a woman) remain in bed for a period before, during, and after giving birth: she was confined for nearly a month.

■ n. /knfn/ (confines) the borders or boundaries of a place, especially with regard to their restricting freedom of movement: within the confines of the hall escape was difficult.

- the limits of something abstract, especially a sphere of activity: the narrow confines of political life.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): from French confins (plural n.), from Latin confinia, from confinis ‘bordering’, from con- ‘together’ + finis ‘end, limit’ (plural fines ‘territory’). The verb senses are from French confiner, based on Latin confinis.

confined adj. (of a space) restricted in area or volume; cramped: her fear of confined spaces.

confinement n. [mass noun] 1 the action of confining or state of being confined: he was immediately released from his confinement.

2 DATED the condition of being in childbirth: the pros and cons of home versus hospital confinement | [count noun] my grandmother's last six confinements.

confirm v. [with obj.] 1 establish the truth or correctness of (something previously believed or suspected to be the case): if these fears are confirmed, the outlook for the economy will be dire | [with clause] the report confirms that a diet rich in vitamin C can help to prevent cataracts.

- [reporting v.] state with assurance that a report or fact is true: [with clause] he confirmed that the general was in the hands of the rebels | [with direct speech] ‘It is indeed proper coffee,’ I confirmed.

- (confirm someone in) reinforce someone in (an opinion or feeling): he fuelled his misogyny by cultivating women who confirmed him in this view.

- make (a provisional arrangement or appointment) definite: Mr Baker's assistant telephoned to confirm his appointment with the chairman.

- make (a decision or an agreement) formally valid: the organization has confirmed the appointment of Mr Collins as managing director.

- declare (someone) formally to be appointed to a particular post: he was confirmed as the new EC peace envoy.

2 administer the religious rite of confirmation to: he had been baptized and confirmed.

<DERIVATIVES> confirmative adj. confirmatory adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French confermer, from Latin confirmare, from con- ‘together’ + firmare ‘strengthen’ (from firmus ‘firm’).

confirmand /knfəmand/ n. a person who is to undergo the religious rite of confirmation.

confirmation n. [mass noun] 1 the action of confirming something or the state of being confirmed: high unemployment figures were further confirmation that the economy was in recession.

2 (in the Christian Church) the rite at which a baptized person, especially one baptized as an infant, affirms Christian belief and is admitted as a full member of the Church.

- the Jewish ceremony of bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin confirmatio(n-), from confirmare ‘make firm, establish’ (see CONFIRM).

confirmed adj. (of a person) firmly established in a particular habit, belief, or way of life and unlikely to change their ways: a confirmed bachelor | a confirmed teetotaller.

confiscate /knfsket/ v. [with obj.] take or seize (someone's property) with authority: the guards confiscated his camera | (as adj. confiscated) confiscated equipment.

- appropriate (something, especially land) to the public treasury as a penalty.

<DERIVATIVES> confiscator n. confiscatory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin confiscat- ‘put away in a chest, consigned to the public treasury’, from the verb confiscare, based on con- ‘together’ + fiscus ‘chest, treasury’.

confiscation /knfske(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action of taking or seizing someone's property with authority; seizure: a court ordered the confiscation of her property.

confit /knfi/ n. [mass noun] duck or other meat cooked very slowly in its own fat.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘conserved’, from confire ‘prepare’.

Confiteor /knft/ n. a form of prayer confessing sins, used in the Roman Catholic Mass and some other sacraments.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘I confess’, from the formula Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti ‘I confess to Almighty God’.

conflab n. & v. INFORMAL another term for CONFAB.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: alteration.

conflagration /knfləre(ə)n/ n. an extensive fire which destroys a great deal of land or property.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting consumption by fire): from Latin conflagratio(n-), from the verb conflagrare, from con- (expressing intensive force) + flagrare ‘to blaze’.

conflate v. [with obj.] combine (two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, etc.) into one: the urban crisis conflates a number of different economic, political, and social issues.

<DERIVATIVES> conflation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘fuse or melt down metal’): from Latin conflat- ‘kindled, fused’, from the verb conflare, from con- ‘together’ + flare ‘to blow’.

conflict n. /knflkt/ a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one: the eternal conflict between the sexes | [mass noun] doctors often come into conflict with politicians.

- a prolonged armed struggle: regional conflicts.

- [mass noun] a state of mind in which a person experiences a clash of opposing feelings or needs: bewildered by her own inner conflict, she could only stand there feeling vulnerable.

- a serious incompatibility between two or more opinions, principles, or interests: there was a conflict between his business and domestic life.

■ v. /kənflkt/ [no obj.] be incompatible or at variance; clash: parents' and children's interests sometimes conflict | the date for the match conflicted with a religious festival.

- (as adj. conflicted) NORTH AMERICAN having or showing confused and mutually inconsistent feelings: he remains a little conflicted about Marlene.

<DERIVATIVES> conflictual adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin conflict- ‘struck together, fought’, from the verb confligere, from con- ‘together’ + fligere ‘to strike’; the noun is via Latin conflictus ‘a contest’.

conflict diamond n. (in Africa) a rough diamond traded illicitly to finance an armed struggle.

conflicting /kənflkt/ adj. incompatible or at variance; contradictory: there are conflicting accounts of what occurred.

confluence /knfləns/ n. the junction of two rivers, especially rivers of approximately equal width.

- an act or process of merging: a major confluence of the world's financial markets.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin confluentia, from Latin confluere ‘flow together’ (see CONFLUENT).

confluent adj. flowing together or merging.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin confluent- ‘flowing together’, from confluere, from con- ‘together’ + fluere ‘to flow’.

conflux /knflks/ n. another term for CONFLUENCE.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin confluxus, from con- ‘together’ + fluxus (see FLUX).

confocal /knfək(ə)l/ adj. having a common focus or foci: confocal ellipses.

- denoting or using a microscope whose imaging system only collects light from a small spot on the specimen, giving greater resolution.

conform v. [no obj.] comply with rules, standards, or laws: the kitchen does not conform to hygiene regulations | the changes were introduced to conform with international classifications.

- (of a person) behave according to socially acceptable conventions or standards: the pressure to conform.

- be similar in form or type; agree: the countryside should conform to a certain idea of the picturesque.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘make (something) like another thing’): from Old French conformer, from Latin conformare, from con- ‘together’ + formare ‘to form’.

conformable adj. (usually conformable to) (of a person) disposed or accustomed to conform to what is acceptable.

- similar in form or nature; consistent: the human adoption of practices which are conformable to biological constraints.

- [GEOLOGY] (of strata in contact) deposited in a continuous sequence, and having the same direction of stratification.

<DERIVATIVES> conformability n. conformably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘compliant (to) or tractable’): from medieval Latin conformabilis, from Latin conformare ‘to form, fashion’ (see CONFORM).

conformal adj. (of a map or a mathematical mapping) preserving the correct angles between directions within small areas (though distorting distances).

<DERIVATIVES> conformally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘conformable’): from late Latin conformalis, from con- ‘together’ + formalis ‘formal’. The current sense was coined in German.

conformance n. another term for CONFORMITY.

conformation n. the shape or structure of something, especially an animal.

- [CHEMISTRY] any of the spatial arrangements which the atoms in a molecule may adopt and freely convert between, especially by rotation about individual single bonds. Compare with CONFIGURATION.

<DERIVATIVES> conformational adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘conforming, adaptation’): from Latin conformatio(n-), from conformare ‘to shape, fashion’ (see CONFORM).

conformer n. [CHEMISTRY] a form of a compound having a particular molecular conformation.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of conformational (see CONFORMATION) and ISOMER.

conformist n. a person who conforms to accepted behaviour or established practices.

- British HISTORICAL a person who conforms to the practices of the Church of England.

■ adj. conforming to accepted behaviour or established practices; conventional: the poet became more conformist in his later years.

<DERIVATIVES> conformism n.

conformity n. [mass noun] compliance with standards, rules, or laws: conformity to regulations | the goods were in conformity with the contract.

- behaviour in accordance with socially accepted conventions: a word of praise or an encouraging smile provide rewards for conformity to social norms.

- British HISTORICAL compliance with the practices of the Church of England.

- similarity in form or type; agreement in character: these changes are intended to ensure conformity between all schemes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French conformite or late Latin conformitas, from conformare ‘to form, fashion’ (see CONFORM).

confound v. [with obj.] 1 cause surprise or confusion in (someone), especially by not according with their expectations: the inflation figure confounded economic analysts.

- prove (a theory or expectation) wrong: the rise in prices confounded expectations.

- defeat (a plan, aim, or hope): we will confound these tactics by the pressure groups.

- ARCHAIC overthrow (an enemy).

2 mix up (something) with something else: he was forever confounding managerialism with idealism.

■ exclam. DATED used to express anger or annoyance: oh confound it, where is the thing?

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French confondre, from Latin confundere ‘pour together, mix up’. Compare with CONFUSE.

confounded adj. [attr.] INFORMAL, DATED used for emphasis, especially to express anger or annoyance: he was a confounded nuisance.

<DERIVATIVES> confoundedly adv.

confraternity n. (pl. confraternities) a brotherhood, especially with a religious or charitable purpose.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French confraternite, from medieval Latin confraternitas, from confrater (see CONFRèRE).

confrère /knfrε/ n. a fellow member of a profession: Pooley's police confrères.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, from medieval Latin confrater, from con- ‘together with’ + frater ‘brother’.

confront v. [with obj.] come face to face with (someone) with hostile or argumentative intent: 300 policemen confronted an equal number of union supporters.

- (of a problem or difficulty) present itself to (someone) so that action must be taken: the new government was confronted with many profound difficulties.

- face up to and deal with (a problem or difficulty): we knew we couldn't ignore the race issue and decided we'd confront it head on.

- compel (someone) to face or consider something, especially by way of accusation: Merrill confronted him with her suspicions.

- appear or be placed in front of (someone) so as to unsettle or threaten them: we were confronted with pictures of moving skeletons.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French confronter, from medieval Latin confrontare, from Latin con- ‘with’ + frons, front- ‘face’.

confrontation n. a hostile or argumentative situation or meeting between opposing parties: a confrontation with the legislature | [mass noun] four months of violent confrontation between government and opposition forces.

- a situation where two players or sides compete to win a sporting contest: the race promised a classic confrontation between the two top runners in the world.

<DERIVATIVES> confrontational adj.

Confucian /kənfju(ə)n/ adj. relating to Confucius or Confucianism.

■ n. an adherent of Confucianism.

Confucianism /kənfjuənz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a system of philosophical and ethical teachings founded by Confucius and developed by Mencius.

<DERIVATIVES> Confucianist n. & adj.

Confucius /kənfjuəs/ (551–479 BC), Chinese philosopher; Latinized name of Kongfuze (K'ung Fu-tzu) ‘Kong the master’. His ideas about the importance of practical moral values, collected by his disciples in the Analects, formed the basis of the philosophy of Confucianism.

confusable adj. able or liable to be confused with something else: convocation was by 1327 no longer confusable with parliament.

■ n. a word or phrase that is easily confused with another in meaning or usage, such as mitigate, which is often confused with militate.

<DERIVATIVES> confusability n.

confuse v. [with obj.] make (someone) bewildered or perplexed: past and present blurred together, confusing her still further.

- make (something) more complex or less easy to understand: the points made by the authors confuse rather than clarify the issue.

- identify wrongly; mistake: a lot of people confuse a stroke with a heart attack | purchasers might confuse the two products.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘rout, bring to ruin’): from Old French confus, from Latin confusus, past participle of confundere ‘mingle together’ (see CONFOUND). Originally all senses of the verb were passive, and therefore appeared only as the past participle confused; the active voice occurred rarely until the 19th century when it began to replace confound.

confused adj. 1 (of a person) unable to think clearly; bewildered: she was utterly confused about what had happened.

- showing bewilderment: a confused expression crossed her face.

- not in possession of all one's mental faculties, especially because of old age: interviewing confused old people does take longer.

2 lacking order and so difficult to understand: the confused information supplied by authorities | reports about the incident were rather confused.

- lacking clear distinction of elements; jumbled: the sound of a sort of confused hammering and shouting.

<DERIVATIVES> confusedly adv.

confusing adj. bewildering or perplexing: he found being in Egypt very confusing.

<DERIVATIVES> confusingly adv.

confusion n. [mass noun] 1 uncertainty about what is happening, intended, or required: there seems to be some confusion about which system does what | he cleared up the confusion over the party's policy.

- a situation of panic or disorder: the guaranteed income bond market was thrown into confusion.

- [in sing.] a disorderly jumble: all I can see is a confusion of brown cardboard boxes.

2 the state of being bewildered or unclear in one's mind about something: she looked about her in confusion.

- the mistaking of one person or thing for another: there is some confusion between ‘unlawful’ and ‘illegal’ | [count noun] most of the errors are reasonable confusions between similar words.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin confusio(n-), from the verb confundere ‘mingle together’ (see CONFUSE).

confute v. [with obj.] FORMAL prove (a person or an assertion or accusation) to be wrong: restorers who sought to confute this view were accused of ignorance.

<DERIVATIVES> confutation n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin confutare ‘restrain, answer conclusively’, from con- ‘altogether’ + the base of refutare ‘refute’.

conga /kə/ n. 1 a Latin American dance of African origin, usually with several people in a single line, one behind the other.

2 (also conga drum) a tall, narrow, low-toned drum beaten with the hands.

■ v. (congas, congaing, congaed or conga'd) [no obj.] perform the conga.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Latin American Spanish, from Spanish, feminine of congo ‘Congolese’.

congé /ke/ n. an unceremonious dismissal or rejection of someone.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘permission to do something’): from Old French congie, from Latin commeatus ‘leave of absence’, from commeare ‘go and come’. The word is now usually treated as equivalent to modern French.

congeal /kəndil/ v. [no obj.] become semi-solid, especially on cooling: the blood had congealed into blobs | (as adj. congealed) a lump of congealed moussaka.

- take shape or coalesce, especially to form a satisfying whole: the ballet failed to congeal as a single oeuvre.

<DERIVATIVES> congealable adj. congealment n. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French congeler, from Latin congelare, from con- ‘together’ + gelare ‘freeze’ (from gelu ‘frost’).

congee /kndi/ n. [mass noun] (in Chinese cookery) broth or porridge made from rice.

<ORIGIN> from Tamil kañci.

congelation /kndəle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the process of congealing or the state of being congealed: the component of metals that causes their congelation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin congelatio(n-), from the verb congelare ‘freeze together’ (see CONGEAL).

congener /kndnə kəndinə/ n. 1 a thing or person of the same kind or category as another.

- an animal or plant of the same genus as another: these birds or their congeners may be found in East Africa.

2 a minor chemical constituent, especially one which gives a distinctive character to a wine or spirit or is responsible for some of its physiological effects.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, from con- ‘together with’ + genus, gener- ‘race, stock’.

congeneric /kndnεrk/ adj. (of an animal or plant species) belonging to the same genus: this animal is congeneric with the later species.

- of a related nature or origin.

<DERIVATIVES> congenerous /kəndεn(ə)rəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin congener (see CONGENER) + -IC.

congenial /kəndinəl/ adj. (of a person) pleasing or liked on account of having qualities or interests that are similar to one's own: his need for some congenial company.

- (of a thing) pleasant or agreeable because suited to one's taste or inclination: he went back to a climate more congenial to his cold stony soul.

<DERIVATIVES> congeniality n. congenially adv.

congenital /kəndεnt(ə)l/ adj. (of a disease or physical abnormality) present from birth: a congenital malformation of the heart.

- (of a person) having a particular trait from birth or by firmly established habit: a congenital liar.

<DERIVATIVES> congenitally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin congenitus, from con- ‘together’ + genitus (past participle of gignere ‘beget’) + -AL.

conger /kə/ (also conger eel) n. a large edible predatory eel of shallow coastal waters.

<INFO> Conger and other genera, family Congridae: several species, in particular the European C. conger and the American C. oceanica.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French congre, via Latin from Greek gongros.

congeries /kndəriz kndəriz/ n. (pl. same) a disorderly collection; a jumble: a congeries of European states.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin congeries ‘heap, pile’, from congerere ‘heap up’.

congested adj. 1 (of a road or place) so crowded with traffic or people as to hinder or prevent freedom of movement: the congested streets of the West End | the road was congested with refugees.

2 (of a part of the body) abnormally full of blood: congested arteries.

- (of the respiratory tract) blocked with mucus so as to hinder breathing: his nose was congested.

<DERIVATIVES> congest v.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as congest in the sense ‘heap up, accumulate’): from Latin congerere ‘heap up’, from con- ‘together’ + gerere ‘bring’.

congestion /kəndεst(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the state of being congested: the new bridge should ease congestion in the area.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin congestio(n-), from congere ‘heap up’, from con- ‘together’ + gerere ‘bring’.

congestion charge n. BRITISH a charge made to drive into an area, typically a city centre, that suffers heavy traffic.

<DERIVATIVES> congestion-charging n.

congestive adj. MEDICINE involving or produced by congestion of a part of the body: congestive heart failure.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from congest (see CONGESTED) + -IVE.

conglobulate /knlbjlet/ v. [no obj.] RARE join closely together: these people's feeble sense of self-respect prompts them to conglobulate in collectives.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin globulus ‘globule’, on the pattern of earlier conglobate ‘make into a ball’.

conglomerate n. /kənlm(ə)rət/ 1 a thing consisting of a number of different and distinct parts or items that are grouped together: the Earth is a specialized conglomerate of organisms.

- a large corporation formed by the merging of separate and diverse firms: a media conglomerate.

2 [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a coarse-grained sedimentary rock composed of rounded fragments embedded in a matrix of cementing material such as silica: the sediments vary from coarse conglomerate to fine silt and clay.

■ adj. /kənlm(ə)rət/ relating to a conglomerate, especially a large corporation: conglomerate firms.

■ v. /kənlməret/ [no obj.] gather together into a compact mass: atoms which conglomerate at the centre.

- form a conglomerate by merging diverse firms.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective describing something gathered up into a rounded mass): from Latin conglomeratus, past participle of conglomerare, from con- ‘together’ + glomus, glomer- ‘ball’. The geological sense dates from the early 19th century; the other noun senses are later.

conglomeration /kəlməre(ə)n/ n. 1 a number of different things, parts or items that are grouped together; collection: a loose conglomeration of pieces.

2 [mass noun] the process of forming a conglomerate: the practice of media conglomeration.

Congo /kə/ 1 a major river of central Africa, which rises as the Lualaba to the south of Kisangani in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) and flows 4,630 km (2,880 miles) in a great curve westwards, turning south-westwards to form the border with the Congo before emptying into the Atlantic. Also called ZAIRE RIVER.

2 an equatorial country in Africa, with a short Atlantic coastline; pop. 2,958,448 (est. 2002); languages, French (official), Kikongo, and other Bantu languages; capital, Brazzaville. Also called THE CONGO, Republic of the Congo, Congo-Brazzaville.

The region was colonized in the 19th century by France, and as Middle Congo formed part of the larger territory of French Congo (later, French Equatorial Africa). The country became independent in 1960.

Congo, Democratic Republic of the a large equatorial country in central Africa with a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean; pop. 55,225,478 (est. 2002); languages, French (official), Kongo, Lingala, Swahili, and others; capital, Kinshasa. Also called CONGO-KINSHASA. Former name (1971–97) Zaire.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a former Belgian colony, which was known as the Congo Free State (1885–1908) and the Belgian Congo (1908–60). Independence in 1960 was followed by civil war and UN intervention. General Mobutu seized control in a coup in 1965 and changed the name of the country from the Republic of the Congo to Zaire in 1971. The country experienced a huge influx of refugees following the violence in Rwanda in 1994, and the first of three destructive civil wars broke out in 1996. Mobutu was overthrown in 1997 by Laurent Kabila, who changed the country's name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Congolese /kəliz/ adj. relating to Congo or the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire).

■ n. (pl. same) 1 a native or inhabitant of Congo or the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire).

2 [mass noun] any of the Bantu languages spoken in the Congo region, in particular Kikongo.

<ORIGIN> from French Congolais.

Congo red n. [mass noun] a red-brown azo dye which becomes blue in acidic conditions, used as a chemical indicator and as a stain in histology.

congrats plural n. INFORMAL congratulations: [as exclamation] congrats on your exams, Cal!

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

congratulate v. [with obj.] give (someone) one's good wishes when something special or pleasant has happened to them: he had taken the chance to congratulate him on his marriage.

- praise (someone) for an achievement: the operators are to be congratulated for the service that they provide.

- (congratulate oneself) feel pride or satisfaction: she congratulated herself on her powers of deduction.

<DERIVATIVES> congratulator n. congratulatory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin congratulat- ‘congratulated’, from the verb congratulari, from con- ‘with’ + gratulari ‘show joy’ (from gratus ‘pleasing’).

congratulation n. (congratulations) words expressing one's praise for an achievement or good wishes on a special occasion: our congratulations to the winners | [as exclamation] congratulations on a job well done!

- [mass noun] the expression of such praise or good wishes: he began pumping the hand of his son in congratulation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin congratulatio(n-), from the verb congratulari (see CONGRATULATE).

congregant /kr(ə)nt/ n. a member of a congregation, especially that of a church or synagogue.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin congregant- ‘collecting (into a flock), uniting’, from the verb congregare (see CONGREGATE).

congregate v. [no obj.] gather into a crowd or mass: some 4,000 demonstrators had congregated at a border point.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin congregat- ‘collected (into a flock), united’, from the verb congregare, from con- ‘together’ + gregare (from grex, greg- ‘a flock’).

congregation n. 1 a group of people assembled for religious worship.

- a group of people regularly attending a particular place of worship: he was a member of the Emmanuel Chapel congregation.

2 a gathering or collection of people, animals, or things: large congregations of birds may cause public harm.

- [mass noun] the action of gathering together in a crowd: drought conditions lead to the congregation of animals around watering points.

3 (often Congregation) (in the Roman Catholic Church) a permanent committee of the College of Cardinals: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

- BRITISH (in some universities) a general assembly of resident senior members.

4 a group of people obeying a common religious rule but under less solemn vows than members of the older religious orders: the sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady.

- a group of communities within a religious order sharing particular historical or regional links.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2, sense 3, sense 4): from Latin congregatio(n-), from congregare ‘collect (into a flock)’ (see CONGREGATE).

congregational adj. 1 relating to a congregation: congregational singing.

2 (Congregational) of or adhering to Congregationalism: the Congregational Church.

Congregationalism n. [mass noun] a system of organization among Christian churches whereby individual local churches are largely self-governing.

<DERIVATIVES> Congregationalist n. & adj.

congress n. 1 a formal meeting or series of meetings for discussion between delegates, especially those from a political party, trade union, or from within a particular sphere of activity: an international congress of mathematicians.

2 (Congress) a national legislative body, especially that of the US. The US Congress, which meets at the Capitol in Washington DC, was established by the Constitution of 1787 and is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

3 (often in names) a political society or organization.

4 [mass noun] the action of coming together: sexual congress.

<DERIVATIVES> congressional adj. congressionally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an encounter during battle): from Latin congressus, from congredi ‘meet’, from con- ‘together’ + gradi ‘walk’.

congressman (or congresswoman) n. (pl. congressmen or congresswomen) a member of the US Congress (also used as a form of address).

Congress of Industrial Organizations (abbr.: CIO) a federation of North American trade unions, organized largely by industry rather than craft. In 1955 it merged with the American Federation of Labor to form the AFL-CIO.

Congreve /kriv/ William (1670–1729), English dramatist. A close associate of Swift, Pope, and Steele, he wrote plays such as Love for Love (1695) and The Way of the World (1700), which epitomize the wit and satire of Restoration comedy.

congruence /krəns/ n. [mass noun] agreement or harmony; compatibility: the results show quite good congruence with recent studies.

<DERIVATIVES> congruency n.

congruent /krənt/ adj. 1 in agreement or harmony: the rules may not be congruent with the requirements of the law | institutional and departmental objectives are very largely congruent.

2 [GEOMETRY] (of figures) identical in form; coinciding exactly when superimposed.

<DERIVATIVES> congruently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin congruent- ‘agreeing, meeting together’, from the verb congruere, from con- ‘together’ + ruere ‘fall or rush’.

congruous /krəs/ adj. in agreement or harmony: this explanation is congruous with earlier observations.

<DERIVATIVES> congruity /knruti kən-/ n. congruously adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin congruus, from congruere ‘agree’ (see CONGRUENT), + -OUS.

conic /knk/ [MATHEMATICS] adj. of a cone.

■ n. short for CONIC SECTION.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from modern Latin conicus, from Greek kōnikos, from kōnos ‘cone’.

conical adj. having the shape of a cone.

<DERIVATIVES> conically adv.

conical projection (also conic projection) n. a map projection in which an area of the earth is projected on to a cone, of which the vertex is usually above one of the poles.

conics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of mathematics concerned with conic sections.

conic section n. a figure formed by the intersection of a plane and a circular cone. Depending on the angle of the plane with respect to the cone, a conic section may be a circle, an ellipse, a parabola, or a hyperbola.

conidiophore /kəndə()f/ n. [BOTANY] (in certain fungi) a conidium-bearing hypha or filament.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from conidio- (combining form of CONIDIUM) + -PHORE.

conidium /kəndəm/ n. (pl. conidia /-də/) [BOTANY] a spore produced asexually by various fungi at the tip of a specialized hypha.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek konis ‘dust’ + the diminutive suffix -idium.

conifer /knfə kən-/ n. a tree which bears cones and needle-like or scale-like leaves that are typically evergreen. Conifers are of major importance as the source of softwood, and also supply resins and turpentine.

<INFO> Order Coniferales, class Coniferopsida, subdivision Gymnospermae: several families, including the pines and firs (Pinaceae) and the cypresses (Cupressaceae).

<DERIVATIVES> coniferous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘cone-bearing’, from conus (see CONE).

coniform /kənfm/ adj. RARE having the shape of a cone.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin conus ‘cone’ + -IFORM.

coniine /kənin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a volatile poisonous compound found in hemlock and other plants. It affects the motor nerves, causing paralysis and asphyxia.

<INFO> An alkaloid, 2-propylpiperidine; chem. formula: C_8H_17N.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin conium (from Greek kōneion ‘hemlock’) + -INE^4.

conjectural adj. based on or involving conjecture: the evidence was deemed too conjectural.

<DERIVATIVES> conjecturally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via French from Latin conjecturalis, from conjectura ‘inference’ (see CONJECTURE).

conjecture /kəndεktə/ n. an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information: conjectures about the newcomer were many and varied | [mass noun] a matter for conjecture.

- an unproven mathematical or scientific theorem.

- [mass noun] (in textual criticism) the suggestion of a reading of a text not present in the original source.

■ v. [reporting v.] form an opinion or supposition about (something) on the basis of incomplete information: [with clause] many conjectured that she had a second husband in mind.

- (in textual criticism) propose (a reading).

<DERIVATIVES> conjecturable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘to divine’ and ‘divination’): from Old French, or from Latin conjectura, from conicere ‘put together in thought’, from con- ‘together’ + jacere ‘throw’.

conjoin v. [with obj.] FORMAL join; combine: an approach which conjoins theory and method.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French conjoindre, from Latin conjungere, from con- ‘together’ + jungere ‘to join’.

conjoined twins plural n. technical term for SIAMESE TWINS.

conjoint adj. [attr.] combining all or both people or things involved.

<DERIVATIVES> conjointly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, past participle of conjoindre (see CONJOIN).

conjugal /knd(ə)l/ adj. relating to marriage or the relationship between husband and wife: conjugal loyalty.

<DERIVATIVES> conjugality n. conjugally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin conjugalis, from conjux, conjug- ‘spouse’, from con- ‘together’ + jugum ‘a yoke’.

conjugal rights plural n. the rights, especially to sexual relations, regarded as exercisable in law by each partner in a marriage.

conjugate v. /kndet/ 1 [with obj.] [GRAMMAR] give the different forms of (a verb in an inflected language such as Latin) as they vary according to voice, mood, tense, number, and person.

2 [no obj.] [BIOLOGY] (of bacteria or unicellular organisms) become temporarily united in order to exchange genetic material: E. coli only conjugate when one of the cells possesses fertility genes.

- (of gametes) become fused.

3 [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] be combined with or joined to reversibly: bilirubin is then conjugated by liver enzymes and excreted in the bile.

■ adj. /kndət/ TECHNICAL coupled, connected, or related, in particular:

- [CHEMISTRY] (of an acid or base) related to the corresponding base or acid by loss or gain of a proton.

- [MATHEMATICS] joined in a reciprocal relation, especially having the same real parts and equal magnitudes but opposite signs of imaginary parts.

- [GEOMETRY] (of angles) adding up to 360°; (of arcs) combining to form a complete circle.

- [BIOLOGY] (of gametes) fused.

■ n. /kndət/ 1 chiefly [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance formed by the reversible combination of two or more others.

2 a mathematical value or entity having a reciprocal relation with another. See also COMPLEX CONJUGATE.

<DERIVATIVES> conjugacy n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as an adjective): from Latin conjugat- ‘yoked together’, from the verb conjugare, from con- ‘together’ + jugum ‘yoke’.

conjugated adj. 1 [CHEMISTRY] relating to or denoting double or triple bonds in a molecule which are separated by a single bond, across which some sharing of electrons occurs.

2 chiefly [BIOCHEMISTRY] (of a substance) reversibly combined with another: conjugated bile salts.

conjugate diameter n. [ANATOMY] the distance between the front and rear of the pelvis.

conjugation n. [mass noun] 1 [GRAMMAR] the variation of the form of a verb in an inflected language such as Latin, by which the voice, mood, tense, number, and person are identified.

- [count noun] the class in which a verb is put according to the manner of this variation: a past participle of the first conjugation.

2 TECHNICAL the formation or existence of a link between things, in particular:

- [BIOLOGY] the temporary union of two bacteria or unicellular organisms for the exchange of genetic material.

- [BIOLOGY] the fusion of two gametes, especially when they are of a similar size.

- chiefly [BIOCHEMISTRY] the combination of two substances: toxic compounds eliminated from the body by conjugation with glutathione.

- [CHEMISTRY] the sharing of electron density between nearby multiple bonds in a molecule.

- [MATHEMATICS] the solution of a problem by transforming it into an equivalent problem of a different form, solving this, and then reversing the transformation.

<DERIVATIVES> conjugational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 1): from Latin conjugatio(n-), from conjugare ‘join together’ (see CONJUGATE).

conjunct adj. /kənd(k)t/ joined together, combined, or associated.

- [MUSIC] relating to the movement of a melody between adjacent notes of the scale.

- [ASTROLOGY] in conjunction with.

■ n. /knd(k)t/ each of two or more things which are joined or associated.

- [LOGIC] each of the terms of a conjunctive proposition.

- [GRAMMAR] an adverbial whose function is to join two sentences or other discourse units (e.g. however, anyway, in the first place).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin conjunctus, past participle of conjungere ‘join together’ (see CONJOIN).

conjunction n. 1 [GRAMMAR] a word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause (e.g. and, but, if).

2 an instance of two or more events or things occurring at the same point in time or space: a conjunction of favourable political and economic circumstances.

- [ASTRONOMY] & [ASTROLOGY] an alignment of two planets or other celestial objects so that they appear to be in the same, or nearly the same, place in the sky.

<PHRASES>

□ in conjunction together: herbal medicine was used in conjunction with acupuncture and massage.

<DERIVATIVES> conjunctional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin conjunctio(n-), from the verb conjungere (see CONJOIN).

conjunctiva /knd(k)tvə kənd(k)tvə/ n. (pl. conjunctivae /-i/) [ANATOMY] the mucous membrane that covers the front of the eye and lines the inside of the eyelids.

<DERIVATIVES> conjunctival adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin (membrana) conjunctiva ‘conjunctive (membrane)’, from late Latin conjunctivus, from conjungere ‘join together’ (see CONJOIN).

conjunctive adj. 1 relating to or forming a connection or combination of things: the conjunctive tissue.

- involving the combination or co-occurrence of two or more conditions or properties.

2 [GRAMMAR] of the nature of or relating to a conjunction.

■ n. [GRAMMAR] a word or expression acting as a conjunction.

<DERIVATIVES> conjunctively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin conjunctivus, from conjungere ‘join together’ (see CONJUNCT).

conjunctivitis /kənd(k)tvts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye.

conjuncture n. a combination of events: the happy conjuncture of two facts.

- a state of affairs: the wider political conjuncture.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from CONJUNCTION, by substitution of the suffix; influenced by obsolete French conjuncture, from Italian congiuntura, based on Latin conjungere ‘join together’ (see CONJOIN).

conjunto /knhntə/ n. (pl. conjuntos) (in Latin America or Hispanic communities) a small musical group or band.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘an ensemble, group’.

conjuration /kndəre(ə)n knd(ə)-/ n. a magic incantation or spell.

- [mass noun] the performance of something supernatural by means of a magic incantation or spell.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘conspiracy, the swearing of an oath together’): via Old French from Latin conjuratio(n-), from conjurare (see CONJURE).

conjure /kndə/ v. 1 [with obj.] (often conjure something up) cause (a spirit or ghost) to appear by means of a magic ritual: they hoped to conjure up the spirit of their dead friend.

- make (something) appear unexpectedly or seemingly from nowhere: Anne conjured up a delicious home-made hotpot.

- call (an image) to the mind: she had forgotten how to conjure up the image of her mother's face.

- (of a word, sound, smell, etc.) cause someone to think of (something): a special tune that conjures up a particular time and place.

2 /kəndə kənd/ [with obj. and infinitive] ARCHAIC implore (someone) to do something.

<PHRASES>

□ a name to conjure with used to indicate that a particular person is very important or well regarded: on the merger scene his is a name to conjure with.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘oblige by oath’): from Old French conjurer ‘to plot or exorcize’, from Latin conjurare ‘band together by an oath, conspire’ (in medieval Latin ‘invoke’), from con- ‘together’ + jurare ‘swear’.

conjuring n. [mass noun] the performance of tricks which are seemingly magical, typically involving sleight of hand: [as modifier] a conjuring trick.

conjuror (also conjurer) n. a performer of conjuring tricks.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: partly from CONJURE, partly from Old French conjureor, conjurere, from medieval Latin conjurator, from Latin conjurare ‘conspire’ (see CONJURE).

conk^1 v. [no obj.] (conk out) INFORMAL (of a machine) break down: my car conked out.

- (of a person) faint or go to sleep: he conked out on the rear seat.

- die.

<ORIGIN> First World War: of unknown origin.

conk^2 INFORMAL n. 1 BRITISH a person's nose.

2 DATED a person's head.

■ v. [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN hit (someone) on the head: the clown conked him.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps an alteration of CONCH.

conker n. BRITISH the hard, shiny dark brown nut of a horse chestnut tree.

- (conkers) [treated as sing.] a children's game in which each has a conker on the end of a string and takes turns in trying to break another's with it.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (a dialect word denoting a snail shell, with which the game, or a form of it, was originally played): perhaps from CONCH, but associated with (and frequently spelled) CONQUER in the 19th and early 20th cents: an alternative name was conquerors.

con man n. INFORMAL a man who cheats or tricks someone by means of a confidence trick.

con moto /kn mətə/ adv. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) with movement: andante con moto.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

Conn. abbr. Connecticut.

Connacht /knt/ (also Connaught) a province in the west of the Republic of Ireland.

connate /knet/ adj. 1 [PHILOSOPHY] (especially of ideas or principles) existing in a person or thing from birth; innate.

2 [BIOLOGY] (of parts) united so as to form a single part.

3 [GEOLOGY] (of water) trapped in sedimentary rock during its deposition.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin connatus, past participle of connasci, from con- ‘together’ + nasci ‘be born’.

connatural adj. belonging naturally; innate.

<DERIVATIVES> connaturally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin connaturalis, from con- ‘together’ + Latin naturalis ‘natural’.

connect v. [with obj.] 1 bring together or into contact so that a real or notional link is established: the electrodes were connected to a recording device | (as adj. connected) a connected series of cargo holds.

- join together so as to provide access and communication: all the buildings are connected by underground passages | [no obj.] the motorway connects with major routes from all parts of the country.

- link to a power or water supply: by 1892 most of the village had been connected to the mains.

- put (someone) into contact by telephone: I was quickly connected to the police.

- [no obj.] (of a train, bus, aircraft, etc.) be timed to arrive at its destination just before another train, bus, etc., departs so that passengers can transfer: the bus connects with trains from Windermere station | (as adj. connecting) we missed the connecting flight to the USA.

2 associate or relate (something) in some respect: employees are rewarded with bonuses connected to their firm's performance | jobs connected with the environment.

- provide or have a link or relationship with: there was no evidence to connect Jefferson with the theft | [no obj.] the desire for religious faith connects up with profound needs at the core of our existence.

- [no obj.] form a relationship or feel an affinity: he can't connect with anyone any more.

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL (of a blow) hit the intended target: the blow connected and he felt a burst of pain.

<DERIVATIVES> connectable adj. connectedly adv. connectedness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘be united physically’; rare before the 18th century): from Latin connectere, from con- ‘together’ + nectere ‘bind’.

Connecticut /kənεtkət/ 1 a state in the north-eastern US, on the Atlantic coast; capital, Hartford; pop. 3,405,565 (2000). It was one of the original thirteen states of the Union and ratified the draft US Constitution in 1788.

2 the longest river in New England, rising in northern New Hampshire and flowing south for 655 km (407 miles) to enter Long Island Sound.

connecting rod n. a rod connecting two moving parts in a mechanism, especially that between the piston and the crankpin (or equivalent parts) in an engine or pump.

connection (BRITISH also connexion) n. 1 a relationship in which a person or thing is linked or associated with something else: the connections between social attitudes and productivity | sufferers deny that their problems have any connection with drugs.

- [mass noun] the action of linking one thing with another: connection to the Internet.

- [mass noun] the placing of parts of an electric circuit in contact so that a current may flow.

- a link between electrical components or pipes: ensure that all connections between the wires are properly made.

- a link between two telephones: she replaced the receiver before the connection was made.

- an arrangement or opportunity for catching a connecting train, bus, aircraft, etc.: ferry connections are sporadic in the low season.

- a connecting train, bus, etc.: we had to wait for our connection to Frankfurt.

- (connections) people with whom one has social or professional contact or to whom one is related, especially those with influence and able to offer one help: he had connections with the music industry.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a supplier of narcotics.

- a narcotics sale or purchase.

3 chiefly HISTORICAL an association of Methodist Churches.

<PHRASES>

□ in connection with with reference to; concerning: detectives are questioning two men in connection with alleged criminal damage.

□ in this (or that) connection with reference to this (or that): the local Marine Surveyor should be able to assist in this connection.

<DERIVATIVES> connectional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin connexio(n-), from connectere (see CONNECT). The spelling -ct (18th century) is from connect, on the pattern of pairs such as collect, collection.

connectionism n. [mass noun] an artificial intelligence approach to cognition in which multiple connections between nodes (equivalent to brain cells) form a massive interactive network in which many processes take place simultaneously and certain processes, operating in parallel, are grouped together in hierarchies that bring about results such as thought or action. Also called PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING.

connective adj. connecting: connective words and phrases.

■ n. 1 [GRAMMAR] a word or phrase whose function is to link other linguistic units.

2 [ANATOMY] a bundle of nerve fibres connecting two nerve centres or ganglia, especially in invertebrate animals.

connective tissue n. [mass noun] [ANATOMY] tissue that connects, supports, binds, or separates other tissues or organs, typically having relatively few cells embedded in an amorphous matrix, often with collagen or other fibres, and including cartilaginous, fatty, and elastic tissues.

connectivity n. [mass noun] the state of being connected or interconnected.

- [COMPUTING] capacity for the interconnection of platforms, systems, and applications.

connector n. a thing which links two or more things together: a pipe connector.

- a device for keeping two parts of an electric circuit in contact.

Connemara /knmαrə/ a mountainous coastal region of Galway, in the west of the Republic of Ireland.

Connery /knəri/ Sir Sean (b.1930), Scottish film actor best known for his portrayal of James Bond; born Thomas Connery.

conning tower /kn/ n. the superstructure of a submarine, from which it can be commanded when on the surface and which contains the periscope.

conniption /kənp(ə)n/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a fit of rage or hysterics: his client was having conniptions on the phone.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably an invented word.

connivance n. [mass noun] willingness to allow or be secretly involved in an immoral or illegal act: this infringement of the law had taken place with the connivance of officials.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (also in the Latin sense ‘winking’): from French connivence or Latin conniventia, from connivere ‘shut the eyes (to)’ (see CONNIVE).

connive /kənv/ v. [no obj.] (connive at/in) secretly allow (something immoral, illegal, or harmful) to occur: government officials were prepared to connive in impeding the course of justice.

- (usually connive to do something) conspire to do something immoral, illegal, or harmful: she connived with a senior official to rig the results of last year's election.

<DERIVATIVES> conniver n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French conniver or Latin connivere ‘shut the eyes (to)’, from con- ‘together’ + an unrecorded word related to nictare ‘to wink’.

conniving /kənv/ adj. given to or involved in conspiring to do something immoral, illegal, or harmful: a heartless and conniving woman.

connoisseur /knəsə/ n. an expert judge in matters of taste: a connoisseur of music.

<DERIVATIVES> connoisseurship n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from obsolete French, from conoistre ‘know’.

Connolly^1 /knəli/ Cyril (Vernon) (1903–74), English writer and journalist. His works include one novel, The Rock Pool (1936), and collections of essays, aphorisms, and reflections, among which are Enemies of Promise (1938) and The Unquiet Grave (1944).

Connolly^2 /knəli/ Maureen Catherine (1934–69), American tennis player; known as Little Mo. She was 16 when she first won the US singles title and 17 when she took the Wimbledon title. In 1953 she became the first woman to win the grand slam before being forced to retire in 1954 after a riding accident.

Connolly^3 /knəli/ Billy (b.1942), Scottish comedian. At first a folk singer, he developed his earthy stand-up act on British television before moving on to a successful career in the US.

Connors /knəz/ Jimmy (b.1952), American tennis player; full name James Scott Connors. He won Wimbledon in 1974 and 1982, and the US Open championship five times.

connotation /knəte(ə)n/ n. an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning: the word ‘discipline’ has unhappy connotations of punishment and repression.

- [mass noun] the implying of such ideas or feelings: the work functions both by analogy and by connotation.

- [PHILOSOPHY] the abstract meaning or intension of a term, which forms a principle determining which objects or concepts it applies to. Often contrasted with DENOTATION.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin connotatio(n-), from connotare ‘mark in addition’ (see CONNOTE).

connote /kənət/ v. [with obj.] (of a word) imply or suggest (an idea or feeling) in addition to the literal or primary meaning: the term ‘modern science’ usually connotes a complete openness to empirical testing.

- (of a fact) imply as a consequence or condition: spinsterhood connoted failure.

<DERIVATIVES> connotative /knətetv kənətətv/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin connotare ‘mark in addition’, from con- ‘together with’ + notare ‘to note’ (from nota ‘a mark’).

<USAGE> Connote does not mean the same as denote. Whereas denote refers to the literal, primary meaning of something, connote refers to other characteristics suggested or implied by that thing. Thus, one might say that a word like mother denotes ‘a woman who is a parent’ but connotes qualities such as protection and affection.

connubial /kənjubəl/ adj. LITERARY relating to marriage or the relationship of husband and wife; conjugal: their connubial bed.

<DERIVATIVES> connubiality n. connubially adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin connubialis, from connubium ‘marriage’, from con- ‘with’ + nubere ‘marry’.

conodont /kənədnt/ n. (also conodont animal) a fossil marine animal of the Cambrian to Triassic periods, having a long worm-like body, numerous small teeth, and a pair of eyes. It is now believed to be the earliest vertebrate.

<INFO> Class Conodonta, phylum Chordata: numerous families.

- (also conodont element) a tooth of the conodont, often found as a fossil.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Conodonta (plural), from Greek kōnos ‘cone’ + odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

conoid /kənd/ chiefly [ZOOLOGY] adj. (also conoidal) approximately conical in shape.

■ n. a conoid object.

conquer v. [with obj.] overcome and take control of (a place or people) by military force: he conquered Cyprus | FIGURATIVE they've conquered new markets in Japan.

- successfully overcome (a problem or weakness): a fear she never managed to conquer.

- climb (a mountain) successfully: the second Briton to conquer Everest.

<DERIVATIVES> conquerable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the general sense ‘acquire, attain’): from Old French conquerre, based on Latin conquirere ‘gain, win’, from con- (expressing completion) + quaerere ‘seek’.

conqueror n. a person who conquers a place or people; a vanquisher: a people ruled over by a foreign conqueror | FIGURATIVE a chance for revenge against his Olympic conqueror.

conquest n. [mass noun] the subjugation and assumption of control of a place or people by military force: the conquest of the Aztecs by the Spanish.

- [count noun] a territory which has been gained in such a way: colonial conquests.

- (the Conquest) the invasion and assumption of control of England by William of Normandy in 1066.

- the overcoming of a problem or weakness: the conquest of inflation.

- the successful ascent of a mountain, especially one not previously climbed: the conquest of Everest.

- [count noun] a person whose affection or favour has been won.

<PHRASES>

□ make a conquest of win the affections of.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French conquest(e), based on Latin conquirere (see CONQUER).

conquistador /knkwstəd -kst-/ n. (pl. conquistadores /-drez/ or conquistadors) a conqueror, especially one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Spanish.

Conrad Joseph (1857–1924), Polish-born British novelist; born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. Much of his work, including his story Heart of Darkness (1902) and the novel Nostromo (1904), explores the darkness within human nature.

con rod n. British informal term for CONNECTING ROD.

Cons. abbr. Conservative.

consanguine /knsawn/ adj. another term for CONSANGUINEOUS.

consanguineous /knsawnəs/ adj. relating to or denoting people descended from the same ancestor: consanguineous marriages may give rise to recessive syndromes.

<DERIVATIVES> consanguinity n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin consanguineus ‘of the same blood’ (from con- ‘together’ + sanguis ‘blood’) + -OUS.

conscience n. a person's moral sense of right and wrong, viewed as acting as a guide to one's behaviour: he had a guilty conscience about his desires | [mass noun] Ben was suffering a pang of conscience.

<PHRASES>

□ in (all) conscience given the fact that this is probably wrong; in fairness: how can we in all conscience justify the charging of fees for such a service?

□ on one's conscience weighing heavily and guiltily on one's mind: an act of providence had prevented him from having a death on his conscience.

<DERIVATIVES> conscienceless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘inner thoughts or knowledge’): via Old French from Latin conscientia, from conscient- ‘being privy to’, from the verb conscire, from con- ‘with’ + scire ‘know’.

conscience clause n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a clause in a law providing for exemption or other allowances on the grounds of moral or religious conscience.

conscience money n. [mass noun] money paid because of feelings of guilt, especially about a payment that one has evaded.

conscience-stricken adj. made uneasy by a guilty conscience: she was still conscience-stricken over her outburst.

conscientious /knεnəs/ adj. 1 wishing to do one's work or duty well and thoroughly: a conscientious man, he took his duties very seriously.

2 relating to a person's conscience: the individual is denied even the opportunity to break the law on conscientious grounds.

<DERIVATIVES> conscientiously adv. conscientiousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French consciencieux, from medieval Latin conscientiosus, from Latin conscientia (see CONSCIENCE).

conscientious objector n. a person who for reasons of conscience objects to serving in the armed forces.

<DERIVATIVES> conscientious objection n.

conscious adj. 1 aware of and responding to one's surroundings: although I was in pain, I was conscious.

2 having knowledge of something: we are conscious of the extent of the problem.

- [in combination] concerned with or worried about a particular matter: they were growing increasingly security-conscious.

3 (of an action or feeling) deliberate and intentional: a conscious effort to walk properly.

- (of the mind or a thought) directly perceptible to and under the control of the person concerned.

<DERIVATIVES> consciously adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘being aware of wrongdoing’): from Latin conscius ‘knowing with others or in oneself’ (from conscire ‘be privy to’) + -OUS.

consciousness n. 1 [mass noun] the state of being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings: she failed to regain consciousness and died two days later.

2 a person's awareness or perception of something: her acute consciousness of Luke's presence.

- the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world.

consciousness-raising n. [mass noun] the activity of seeking to make people more aware of personal, social, or political issues: [as modifier] a consciousness-raising group.

conscript v. /kənskrpt/ [with obj.] enlist (someone) compulsorily, typically into the armed services: they were conscripted into the army.

■ n. /knskrpt/ a person enlisted compulsorily.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as a noun): from French conscrit, from Latin conscriptus, past participle of conscribere ‘enrol’. The verb is a back-formation from CONSCRIPTION.

conscription n. [mass noun] compulsory enlistment for state service, typically into the armed forces.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: via French (conscription was introduced in France in 1798), from late Latin conscriptio(n-) ‘levying of troops’, from Latin conscribere ‘write down together, enrol’, from con- ‘together’ + scribere ‘write’.

consecrate /knskret/ v. [with obj.] make or declare (something, typically a church) sacred; dedicate formally to a religious purpose: the present Holy Trinity church was consecrated in 1845 | (as adj. consecrated) consecrated ground.

- (in Christian belief) declare (bread and wine) to be or represent the body and blood of Christ: (as adj. consecrated) they received the host but not the consecrated wine.

- ordain (someone) to a sacred office, typically that of bishop: [with obj. and complement] he was consecrated bishop of York.

- INFORMAL devote (something) exclusively to a particular purpose: the gun room was a male preserve, consecrated to sport.

<DERIVATIVES> consecration n. consecrator n. consecratory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin consecrat- ‘dedicated, devoted as sacred’, from the verb consecrare, from con- (expressing intensive force) + sacrare ‘dedicate’, from sacer ‘sacred’.

consecutive /kənsεkjtv/ adj. 1 following each other continuously: five consecutive months of serious decline.

- in unbroken or logical sequence.

2 [GRAMMAR] expressing consequence or result: a consecutive clause.

3 [MUSIC] denoting intervals of the same kind (especially fifths or octaves) occurring in succession between two parts or voices.

<DERIVATIVES> consecutively adv. consecutiveness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French consécutif, -ive, from medieval Latin consecutivus, from Latin consecut- ‘followed closely’, from the verb consequi.

consensual /kənsεnsjəl -əl/ adj. relating to or involving consent or consensus: consensual sexual activity.

<DERIVATIVES> consensually adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin consensus ‘agreement’ (from consens- ‘felt together, agreed’, from the verb consentire) + -AL.

consensus /kənsεnsəs/ n. [usually in sing.] a general agreement: [with clause] there is a growing consensus that the current regime has failed | [as modifier] a consensus view.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘agreement’, from consens- ‘agreed’, from the verb consentire.

consensus sequence n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a sequence of DNA having similar structure and function in different organisms.

consent n. [mass noun] permission for something to happen or agreement to do something: no change may be made without the consent of all the partners.

■ v. [no obj.] give permission for something to happen: he consented to a search by a detective.

- [with infinitive] agree to do something: he had consented to serve as external assessor on the panel.

<PHRASES>

□ by common consent with the agreement of all.

□ informed consent permission granted in full knowledge of the possible consequences, typically that which is given by a patient to a doctor for treatment with knowledge of the possible risks and benefits.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French consente (noun), consentir (verb), from Latin consentire, from con- ‘together’ + sentire ‘feel’.

consentient /kənsεn(ə)nt/ adj. ARCHAIC of the same opinion in a matter; in agreement.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin consentient- ‘agreeing’, from the verb consentire (see CONSENT).

consenting adult n. an adult who willingly agrees to engage in a sexual act.

consequence n. 1 a result or effect, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant: abrupt withdrawal of drug treatment can have serious consequences | many have been laid off from work as a consequence of government policies.

2 [mass noun] [usually with negative] importance or relevance: the past is of no consequence.

- DATED social distinction: a woman of consequence.

3 (consequences) [treated as sing.] a game in which a narrative is made up by the players in turn, each ignorant of what has already been contributed.

<PHRASES>

□ in consequence as a result.

□ take (or bear) the consequences accept responsibility for the negative results or effects of one's choice or action.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin consequentia, from consequent- ‘following closely’, from the verb consequi.

consequent adj. 1 following as a result or effect: the social problems of pupils and their consequent educational difficulties | you've got a university place consequent on your exam results.

- ARCHAIC logically consistent.

2 [GEOLOGY] (of a stream or valley) having a direction or character determined by the original slope of the land before erosion.

■ n. 1 [LOGIC] the second part of a conditional proposition, whose truth is stated to be implied by that of the antecedent.

2 [MUSIC] the second or imitating voice or part in a canon.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin consequent- ‘overtaking, following closely’, from the verb consequi.

consequential adj. 1 following as a result or effect: a loss of confidence and a consequential withdrawal of funds.

- [LAW] resulting from an act, but not immediately and directly: consequential damages.

2 important; significant: the new congress lacked consequential leaders.

<DERIVATIVES> consequentiality n. consequentially adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin consequentia (see CONSEQUENCE) + -AL.

consequentialism n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the doctrine that the morality of an action is to be judged solely by its consequences.

<DERIVATIVES> consequentialist adj. & n.

consequently adv. as a result: flexible workers find themselves in great demand, and consequently gain high salaries.

conservancy /kənsəv(ə)nsi/ n. (pl. conservancies) 1 [in names] a body concerned with the preservation of natural resources: the Nature Conservancy.

- a commission controlling a port, river, or catchment area.

2 [mass noun] the conservation of wildlife and the environment.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: alteration of obsolete conservacy, from Anglo-Norman French conservacie, via Anglo-Latin from Latin conservatio (see CONSERVATION).

conservation n. [mass noun] 1 the action of conserving something, in particular:

- preservation, protection, or restoration of the natural environment and of wildlife.

- preservation and repair of archaeological, historical, and cultural sites and artefacts.

- prevention of wasteful use of a resource.

2 [PHYSICS] the principle by which the total value of a physical quantity or parameter (such as energy, mass, linear or angular momentum) remains constant in a system which is not subject to external influence.

<DERIVATIVES> conservational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin conservatio(n-), from the verb conservare (see CONSERVE).

conservation area n. BRITISH an area of notable environmental or historical interest or importance which is protected by law against undesirable changes.

conservationist n. a person who advocates or acts for the protection and preservation of the environment and wildlife: [as modifier] conservationist groups.

conservative adj. 1 averse to change or innovation and holding traditional values: they were very conservative in their outlook.

- (of dress or taste) sober and conventional: a conservative suit.

2 (in a political context) favouring free enterprise, private ownership, and socially conservative ideas.

- (Conservative) relating to the Conservative Party of Great Britain or a similar party elsewhere.

3 (of an estimate) purposely low for the sake of caution: police placed the value of the haul at a conservative £500,000.

4 (of surgery or medical treatment) intended to control rather than eliminate a condition, with existing tissue preserved as far as possible.

■ n. 1 a person who is averse to change and holds traditional values.

2 (Conservative) a supporter or member of the Conservative Party of Great Britain or a similar party elsewhere.

<DERIVATIVES> conservatism n. conservatively adv. conservativeness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘aiming to preserve’): from late Latin conservativus, from conservat- ‘conserved’, from the verb conservare (see CONSERVE). Current senses date from the mid 19th cent.

Conservative Judaism n. [mass noun] a form of Judaism, particularly prevalent in North America, which seeks to preserve Jewish tradition and ritual but has a more flexible approach to the interpretation of the law than Orthodox Judaism.

Conservative Party n. a political party promoting free enterprise and private ownership, in particular a major British party that since the Second World War has been in power 1951–64, 1970–4, and 1979–97. It emerged from the old Tory Party under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s.

conservatoire /kənsəvətwα/ n. BRITISH a college for the study of classical music or other arts, typically in the continental European tradition.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, from Italian conservatorio, from late Latin conservatorium, from conservare ‘to preserve’ (see CONSERVE). Compare with CONSERVATORY.

conservator /knsəvetə kənsəvətə/ n. a person responsible for the repair and preservation of things of cultural or environmental interest, such as buildings or works of art.

conservatorium /kənsəvətrəm/ n. (pl. conservatoriums or conservatoria)

■ Australian term for CONSERVATOIRE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Konservatorium and modern Latin.

conservatory n. (pl. conservatories) 1 BRITISH a room with a glass roof and walls, attached to a house at one side and used as a sun lounge or for growing delicate plants.

2 North American another term for CONSERVATOIRE.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting something that preserves): from late Latin conservatorium, from conservare ‘to preserve’ (see CONSERVE).

conserve /kənsəv/ v. [with obj.] protect (something, especially something of environmental or cultural importance) from harm or destruction: the funds raised will help conserve endangered meadowlands.

- prevent the wasteful overuse of (a resource): industry should conserve more water.

- [PHYSICS] maintain (a quantity such as energy) at a constant overall total.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] retain (a particular amino acid, nucleotide, or sequence of these) unchanged in different protein or DNA molecules.

■ n. also /knsəv/ [mass noun] a preparation made by preserving fruit with sugar; jam or marmalade.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French conserver (verb), conserve (noun), from Latin conservare ‘to preserve’, from con- ‘together’ + servare ‘to keep’.

consider v. [with obj.] 1 think carefully about (something), typically before making a decision: each application is considered on its merits | (as adj. considered) I may not have time to give a considered reply to suggestions.

- believe to be; think: [with obj. and infinitive] at first women were considered to be at low risk from HIV | [with clause] I don't consider that I'm to blame.

- [with obj. and complement] regard (someone or something) as having a specified quality: I consider him irresponsible.

- take (something) into account when making a judgement: one service area is not enough when you consider the number of cars using this motorway.

2 look attentively at: the old man considered his granddaughter thoughtfully.

<PHRASES>

□ all things considered taking everything into account.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French considerer, from Latin considerare ‘examine’, perhaps based on sidus, sider- ‘star’.

considerable adj. notably large in size, amount, or extent: a position of considerable influence.

- (of a person) having merit or distinction: Snow was a limited, but still considerable, novelist.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘capable of being considered’): from medieval Latin considerabilis ‘worthy of consideration’, from Latin considerare (see CONSIDER).

considerably adv. by a notably large amount or to a notably large extent; greatly: things have improved considerably over the last few years | [as submodifier] a considerably higher density.

considerate adj. 1 careful not to inconvenience or harm others: she was unfailingly kind and considerate.

2 ARCHAIC showing careful thought: be considerate over your handwriting.

<DERIVATIVES> considerately adv. considerateness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘showing careful thought’): from Latin consideratus, past participle of considerare ‘examine’ (see CONSIDER).

consideration n. 1 [mass noun] careful thought, typically over a period of time.

- [count noun] a fact or a motive taken into account in deciding something: the idea was motivated by political considerations.

- thoughtfulness and sensitivity towards others: companies should show more consideration for their employees.

2 a payment or reward: you can buy the books for a small consideration.

- [LAW] (in a contractual agreement) anything given or promised or forborne by one party in exchange for the promise or undertaking of another.

3 ARCHAIC importance; esteem.

<PHRASES>

□ in consideration of in return for; on account of: he paid them in consideration of their services.

□ take into consideration take into account.

□ under consideration being thought about: the abolition of the House of Lords was under consideration.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin consideratio(n-), from considerare ‘examine’.

considering prep. & conjunction taking into consideration: [as prep.] considering the circumstances, Simon was remarkably phlegmatic | [as conjunction] considering that he was the youngest on the field he played well.

■ adv. INFORMAL taking everything into account: they weren't feeling too bad, considering.

consigliere /knsljεre/ n. (pl. consiglieri pronunc. same) a member of a Mafia family who serves as an adviser to the leader and resolves disputes within the family.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘a member of a council’.

consign /kənsn/ v. [with obj.] deliver (something) to a person's keeping: he consigned three paintings to Sotheby's.

- send (goods) by a public carrier.

- (consign someone/thing to) put someone or something in (a place) in order to be rid of it or them: she consigned the letter to the waste-paper basket.

<DERIVATIVES> consignee n. consignor n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘mark with the sign of the cross’, especially at baptism or confirmation, as a sign of dedication to God): from French consigner or Latin consignare ‘mark with a seal’.

consignment n. a batch of goods destined for or delivered to someone: a consignment of drugs.

- [mass noun] the action of consigning or delivering something.

consignment store n. NORTH AMERICAN a shop that sells second-hand items on behalf of the original owner, who receives a percentage of the selling price.

consilience /kənsləns/ n. [mass noun] agreement between the approaches to a topic of different academic subjects, especially science and the humanities.

<DERIVATIVES> consilient adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CON- + Latin -silient-, -siliens ‘jumping’ (as in resilient-

■ resilient), after CONCURRENT.

consist v. /kənsst/ [no obj.] 1 (consist of) be composed or made up of: the crew consists of five men.

- (consist in) have as an essential feature: his poetry consisted in the use of emotive language.

2 (consist with) ARCHAIC be consistent with: the information perfectly consists with our friend's account.

■ n. /knsst/ [RAILWAYS] the set of vehicles forming a complete train.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘be located or inherent in’): from Latin consistere ‘stand firm or still, exist’, from con- ‘together’ + sistere ‘stand (still)’.

consistency (also consistence) n. (pl. consistencies) [mass noun] 1 consistent behaviour or treatment: the consistency of measurement techniques.

- the quality of achieving a level of performance which does not vary greatly in quality over time.

2 the way in which a substance holds together; thickness or viscosity: the sauce has the consistency of creamed butter.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting permanence of form): from late Latin consistentia, from consistent- ‘standing firm’ (see CONSISTENT).

consistent adj. 1 acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be fair or accurate: the parents are being consistent and firm in their reactions | a consistent worldwide application of its policies.

- unchanging in nature, standard, or effect over time: he is Rangers' most consistent player this season | the mixtures are of consistent quality.

2 (of an argument or set of ideas) not containing any logical contradictions: a consistent explanation.

3 [predic.] compatible or in agreement with something: the injuries are consistent with falling from a great height.

<DERIVATIVES> consistently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘consisting or composed of’): from Latin consistent- ‘standing firm or still, existing’, from the verb consistere (see CONSIST).

consistory /kənsst(ə)ri/ n. (pl. consistories) a church council or court, in particular:

- (in the Roman Catholic Church) the council of cardinals, with or without the Pope.

- (also consistory court) (in the Church of England) a court presided over by a bishop, for the administration of ecclesiastical law in a diocese.

- (in other Churches) a local administrative body.

<DERIVATIVES> consistorial /knsstrəl/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting a non-ecclesiastical council): from Anglo-Norman French consistorie, from late Latin consistorium, from consistere ‘stand firm’ (see CONSIST).

consociation n. 1 a political system formed by the cooperation of different, especially antagonistic, social groups on the basis of shared power.

- [ECOLOGY] a small climax community of plants having a characteristic dominant species.

- [ZOOLOGY] a group of animals of the same species which interact more or less equally with each other.

2 [mass noun] DATED close association or fellowship.

<DERIVATIVES> consociational adj. consociationalism n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘associating, combination’): from Latin consociatio(n-), from the verb consociare, from con- ‘together’ + sociare ‘to associate’ (from socius ‘fellow’).

consolation /knsəle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the comfort received by a person after a loss or disappointment: there was consolation in knowing that others were worse off.

- [count noun] a person or thing providing consolation: the Church was the main consolation in a short and hard life.

<DERIVATIVES> consolatory /kənslət(ə)ri -səl-/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin consolatio(n-), from the verb consolari (see console^1).

consolation prize n. a prize given to a competitor who just fails to win or who has come last.

console^1 /kənsəl/ v. [with obj.] comfort (someone) at a time of grief or disappointment: she tried to console him but he pushed her gently away | you can console yourself with the thought that you did your best | (as adj. consoling) he put a consoling arm around her shoulder.

<DERIVATIVES> consolable adj. consoler n. consolingly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (replacing earlier consolate): from French consoler, from Latin consolari, from con- ‘with’ + solari ‘soothe’.

console^2 /knsəl/ n. 1 a panel or unit accommodating a set of controls for electronic or mechanical equipment.

- a cabinet for television or radio equipment.

- (also games console) a small machine for playing computerized video games.

- the cabinet or enclosure containing the keyboards, stops, pedals, etc., of an organ.

2 an ornamented bracket or corbel supporting a shelf or table top.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 2): from French, perhaps from consolider, from Latin consolidare (see CONSOLIDATE).

console table n. a table top supported by ornamented brackets against a wall.

consolidate /kənsldet/ v. [with obj.] 1 make (something) physically stronger or more solid: the first phase of the project is to consolidate the outside walls.

- strengthen (one's position or power): the company consolidated its position in the international market.

2 combine (a number of things) into a single more effective or coherent whole: all manufacturing activities have been consolidated in new premises.

- combine (a number of financial accounts or funds) into a single overall account or set of accounts.

- chiefly BRITISH combine (separate pieces of legislation) into a single legislative act.

<DERIVATIVES> consolidation n. consolidator n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘combine into a whole’): from Latin consolidare, from con- ‘together’ + solidare ‘make firm’ (from solidus ‘solid’).

Consolidated Fund the account held by the Exchequer of the British government at the Bank of England into which public monies (such as tax receipts) are paid and from which major payments are made, other than those dependent on periodic parliamentary approval.

Consols /kns(ə)lz/ plural n. British government securities without redemption date and with fixed annual interest.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: contraction of consolidated annuities.

consommé /kənsme/ n. [mass noun] a clear soup made with concentrated stock.

<ORIGIN> French, past participle of consommer ‘consume or consummate’, from Latin consummare ‘make complete’ (see CONSUMMATE).

consonance /kns(ə)nəns/ n. [mass noun] agreement or compatibility between opinions or actions: consonance between conservation measures and existing agricultural practice | a constitution in consonance with the people's customs.

- the recurrence of similar-sounding consonants in close proximity, especially in prosody.

- [MUSIC] a combination of notes which are in harmony with each other due to the relationship between their frequencies.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin consonantia, from consonant- ‘sounding together’, from the verb consonare (see CONSONANT).

consonant /kns(ə)nənt/ n. a basic speech sound in which the breath is at least partly obstructed and which can be combined with a vowel to form a syllable. Contrasted with VOWEL.

- a letter representing a consonant.

■ adj. 1 [attr.] denoting or relating to a consonant: a consonant phoneme.

2 (consonant with) in agreement or harmony with: the findings are consonant with other research.

- [MUSIC] making a harmonious interval or chord: the bass is consonant with all the upper notes.

<DERIVATIVES> consonantal adj. consonantly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘letter representing a consonant’): via Old French from Latin consonare ‘sound together’, from con- ‘with’ + sonare ‘to sound’ (from sonus ‘sound’).

con sordino /kn sdinə/ adv. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) with the use of a mute.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

consort^1 n. /knst/ 1 a wife, husband, or companion, in particular the spouse of a reigning monarch.

2 a ship sailing in company with another.

■ v. /kənst/ [no obj.] (consort with) habitually associate with (someone), typically with the disapproval of others: you chose to consort with the enemy.

- (consort with/to) ARCHAIC agree or be in harmony with.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a companion or colleague): via French from Latin consors ‘sharing, partner’, from con- ‘together with’ + sors, sort- ‘lot, destiny’. The verb senses are probably influenced by similar senses (now obsolete) of the verb sort.

consort^2 /knst/ n. a small group of musicians performing together, typically playing instrumental music of the Renaissance period.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: earlier form of CONCERT.

consortium /kənstəm/ n. (pl. consortia /-tə -ə/ or consortiums) 1 an association, typically of several companies.

2 [mass noun] [LAW] the right of association and companionship with one's husband or wife.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the sense ‘partnership’): from Latin, from consors ‘sharing, partner’ (see consort^1).

conspecific /knspəsfk/ [BIOLOGY] adj. (of animals or plants) belonging to the same species.

■ n. (usually conspecifics) a member of the same species: the rabbit was isolated from male conspecifics.

<DERIVATIVES> conspecificity n.

conspectus /kənspεktəs/ n. a summary or overview of a subject.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, past participle (used as a noun) of conspicere ‘look at attentively’.

conspicuous /kənspkjəs/ adj. clearly visible: he was very thin, with a conspicuous Adam's apple.

- attracting notice or attention: he showed conspicuous bravery.

<PHRASES>

□ conspicuous by one's absence obviously not present where one or it should be. [<ORIGIN> from a speech made by Lord John Russell in an address to electors (1859): taken from Tacitus (Annals iii. 76).]

<DERIVATIVES> conspicuity n. conspicuously adv. conspicuousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin conspicuus (from conspicere ‘look at attentively’, from con- (expressing intensive force) + spicere ‘look at’) + -OUS.

conspiracist n. a person who supports a conspiracy theory.

conspiracy n. (pl. conspiracies) a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful: a conspiracy to destroy the government.

- [mass noun] the action of plotting or conspiring: they were cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

<PHRASES>

□ a conspiracy of silence an agreement to say nothing about an issue that should be generally known.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French conspiracie, alteration of Old French conspiration, based on Latin conspirare ‘agree, plot’ (see CONSPIRE).

conspiracy theory n. a belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for an unexplained event.

conspirator n. a person who takes part in a conspiracy.

<DERIVATIVES> conspiratorial adj. conspiratorially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French conspirateur, from Latin conspirator, from conspirat- ‘agreed, plotted’, from the verb conspirare (see CONSPIRE).

conspire v. [no obj.] make secret plans jointly to commit an unlawful or harmful act: they conspired against him | [with infinitive] they deny conspiring to defraud the Inland Revenue.

- [with infinitive] (of events or circumstances) seem to be working together to bring about a particular negative result: everything conspires to exacerbate the situation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French conspirer, from Latin conspirare ‘agree, plot’, from con- ‘together with’ + spirare ‘breathe’.

Const. abbr. constable.

Constable /knstəb(ə)l kn-/ John (1776–1837), English painter. Among his best-known works are early paintings like Flatford Mill (1817) and The Hay Wain (1821), inspired by the landscape of his native Suffolk.

constable /knstəb(ə)l kn-/ n. 1 BRITISH a police officer.

- (also police constable) a police officer of the lowest rank.

2 the governor of a royal castle.

- HISTORICAL the highest-ranking official in a royal household.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French conestable, from late Latin comes stabuli ‘count (head officer) of the stable’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 19th cent.

constabulary /kənstabjləri/ n. (pl. constabularies) BRITISH a police force covering a particular area or city: the Royal Irish Constabulary.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting the district under the charge of a constable): from medieval Latin constabularia (dignitas) ‘(rank) of constable’, from constabulus, based on Latin comes stabuli (see CONSTABLE).

Constance, Lake a lake in SE Germany on the north side of the Swiss Alps, at the meeting point of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, forming part of the course of the River Rhine. German name BODENSEE.

constancy n. [mass noun] the quality of being faithful and dependable.

- the quality of being enduring and unchanging: the constancy of the tradition.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin constantia, from constant- ‘standing firm’ (see CONSTANT).

constant adj. occurring continuously over a period of time: the constant background noise of the city.

- remaining the same over a period of time: these discs rotate at a constant speed.

- (of a person) unchangingly faithful and dependable.

■ n. a situation that does not change: the condition of struggle remained a constant.

- [MATHEMATICS] a quantity or parameter that does not change its value whatever the value of the variables, under a given set of conditions.

- [PHYSICS] a number expressing a relation or property which remains the same in all circumstances, or for the same substance under the same conditions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘staying resolute or faithful’): from Old French, from Latin constant- ‘standing firm’, from the verb constare, from con- ‘with’ + stare ‘stand’. The noun senses date from the mid 19th cent.

Constanţa /knstantsə/ (also Constanza) the chief port of Romania, on the Black Sea; pop. 337,800 (est. 2002). Founded in the 7th century BC by the Greeks, it was under Roman rule from 72 BC. Formerly called Tomis, it was renamed after Constantine the Great in the 4th century.

constantan /knst(ə)ntan/ n. [mass noun] a copper–nickel alloy used in electrical work for its high resistance.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CONSTANT + -AN.

Constantine^1 /knstəntn/ a city in NE Algeria; pop. 515,800 (est. 2002). The capital of the Roman province of Numidia, it was destroyed in 311 but rebuilt by Constantine the Great and given his name.

Constantine^2 /knstəntn/ (c.274–337), Roman emperor 306–37; known as Constantine the Great. He was the first Roman emperor to be converted to Christianity and in 324 made Christianity a state religion. In 330 he moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium, renaming it Constantinopolis (Constantinople). In the Orthodox Church he is venerated as a saint.

Constantinople /knstantnəp(ə)l/ the former name for Istanbul from AD 330 (when it was given its name by Constantine the Great) to the capture of the city by the Turks in 1453.

constantly adv. continuously over a period of time; always: the world is constantly changing | he was constantly on her mind.

constative /knstətv kənstetv/ [LINGUISTICS] adj. denoting a speech act or sentence that is a statement declaring something to be the case. Often contrasted with PERFORMATIVE.

■ n. a constative speech act or sentence.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin constat- ‘established’ (from the verb constare) + -IVE.

constellate /knstəlet/ v. LITERARY form or cause to form into a cluster or group; gather together: [no obj.] the towns and valleys where people constellate | [with obj.] their stories were never constellated.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin constellatus, from con- ‘together’ + stellatus ‘arranged like a star’.

constellation n. a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure.

- a group of associated or similar people or things: no two patients ever show exactly the same constellation of symptoms.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as an astrological term denoting the relative positions of the ‘stars’ (planets), supposed to influence events): via Old French from late Latin constellatio(n-), based on Latin stella ‘star’.

consternate /knstənet/ v. [with obj.] fill (someone) with anxiety: (as adj. consternated) ‘Oh dear,’ said Georgiana, looking a little consternated.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin consternat- ‘terrified, prostrated’, from the verb consternare.

consternation n. [mass noun] a feeling of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected: to her consternation her car wouldn't start.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin consternatio(n-), from the verb consternare ‘lay prostrate, terrify’ (see CONSTERNATE).

constipated /knstpetd/ adj. affected with constipation: regular heroin users can become constipated | FIGURATIVE emotionally constipated men.

<DERIVATIVES> constipate v.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin constipat- ‘crowded or pressed together’, from the verb constipare, from con- ‘together’ + stipare ‘press, cram’.

constipation n. [mass noun] a condition in which there is difficulty in emptying the bowels, usually associated with hardened faeces.

- FIGURATIVE a high level of constraint or restriction: literary constipation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘contraction of body tissues’): from late Latin constipatio(n-), from the verb constipare (see CONSTIPATED).

constituency /kənsttjənsi/ n. (pl. constituencies) a group of voters in a specified area who elect a representative to a legislative body: most politicians are more interested in the voice of their constituency.

- chiefly BRITISH the area represented in this way: a parliamentary candidate in the Hampstead and Highgate constituency.

- a group of people with shared interests or political opinions: the right needed to move beyond its blue-blood constituency.

constituent adj. [attr.] 1 being a part of a whole: the constituent minerals of the rock.

2 being a voting member of an organization and having the power to appoint or elect: the constituent body has a right of veto.

- able to make or change a political constitution: a constituent assembly.

■ n. 1 a member of an area which elects a representative to a legislative body.

2 a component part of something: the essential constituents of the human diet.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a noun denoting a person who appoints another as agent): from Latin constituent- (partly via French constituant) ‘establishing, appointing’, from the verb constituere (see CONSTITUTE).

constitute /knsttjut/ v. [with obj.] 1 be (a part) of a whole: lone parents constitute a great proportion of the poor.

- combine to form (a whole): there were enough members present to constitute a quorum.

- be or be equivalent to (something): his failure to act constituted a breach of duty.

2 give legal or constitutional form to (an institution); establish by law.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin constitut- ‘established, appointed’, from the verb constituere, from con- ‘together’ + statuere ‘set up’.

constitution n. 1 a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed.

- (the Constitution) the basic written set of principles and precedents of federal government in the US, which came into operation in 1789 and has since been modified by twenty-six amendments.

- HISTORICAL a decree, ordinance, or law.

2 [mass noun] the composition of something: the genetic constitution of a species.

- the action of forming or establishing something: the constitution of a police authority.

3 a person's physical state as regards vitality, health, and strength: pregnancy had weakened her constitution.

- a person's character.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a law, or a body of laws or customs): from Latin constitutio(n-), from constituere ‘establish, appoint’ (see CONSTITUTE).

constitutional adj. 1 relating to an established set of principles governing a state: a constitutional amendment.

- in accordance with a constitution: a constitutional monarchy.

2 relating to someone's nature or physical condition: a constitutional weakness.

■ n. DATED a walk taken regularly to maintain or restore good health.

<DERIVATIVES> constitutionality n. constitutionally adv.

constitutionalism n. [mass noun] constitutional government.

- adherence to a constitutional system of government.

<DERIVATIVES> constitutionalist n.

constitutionalize (also constitutionalise) v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN make subject to the provisions of a country's constitution: divorce is not constitutionalized.

Constitution State informal name for CONNECTICUT.

constitutive adj. 1 having the power to establish or give organized existence to something: the state began to exercise a new and constitutive function.

2 forming a part or constituent of something: poverty is a constitutive element of a particular form of economic growth.

- forming an essential element of something: language is constitutive of thought.

3 [BIOCHEMISTRY] relating to an enzyme or enzyme system that is continuously produced in an organism, regardless of the needs of cells.

<DERIVATIVES> constitutively adv.

constrain v. [with obj.] compel or force (someone) to follow a particular course of action: [with obj. and infinitive] children are constrained to work in the way the book dictates.

- (as adj. constrained) appearing forced or overly controlled: he was acting in a constrained manner.

- severely restrict the scope, extent, or activity of: agricultural development is considerably constrained by climate.

- ARCHAIC bring about (something) by compulsion: Calypso in her caves constrained his stay.

- LITERARY confine forcibly; imprison.

<DERIVATIVES> constrainedly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French constraindre, from Latin constringere ‘bind tightly together’.

constraint n. a limitation or restriction: time constraints make it impossible to do everything | the availability of water is the main constraint on food production.

- [mass noun] stiffness of manner and inhibition in relations between people: they would be able to talk without constraint.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘coercion’): from Old French constreinte, feminine past participle of constraindre (see CONSTRAIN).

constrict v. [with obj.] make narrower, especially by encircling pressure: chemicals that constrict the blood vessels | (as adj. constricted) constricted air passages.

- [no obj.] become narrower: he felt his throat constrict.

- (of a snake) coil round (prey) in order to asphyxiate it.

- inhibit or restrict: the fear and the reality of crime constrict many people's lives.

<DERIVATIVES> constrictive adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin constrict- ‘bound tightly together’, from the verb constringere (see CONSTRAIN).

constriction n. [mass noun] the action of making something narrower by pressure or of becoming narrower; tightening: asthma is a constriction of the airways.

- [count noun] a place where something has become tighter or narrower; an obstruction: flow was impeded at bends and constrictions.

constrictor n. 1 a snake that kills by coiling round its prey and asphyxiating it.

<INFO> Families Boidae and Pythonidae, and some members of other families (in particular Colubridae).

2 (also constrictor muscle) [ANATOMY] a muscle whose contraction narrows a vessel or passage.

- each of the muscles which constrict the pharynx.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, from constrict- ‘bound tightly together’, from the verb constringere (see CONSTRAIN).

construct v. /kənstrkt/ [with obj.] build or make (something, typically a building, road, or machine): a company that constructs oil rigs.

- form (an idea or theory) by bringing together various conceptual elements: poetics should construct a theory of literary discourse.

- [GRAMMAR] form (a sentence) according to grammatical rules.

- [GEOMETRY] draw or delineate (a geometrical figure) accurately to given conditions.

■ n. /knstrkt/ an idea or theory containing various conceptual elements, typically one considered to be subjective and not based on empirical evidence: history is largely an ideological construct.

- [LINGUISTICS] a group of words forming a phrase.

- a physical thing which is deliberately built or formed.

<DERIVATIVES> constructor n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin construct- ‘heaped together, built’, from the verb construere, from con- ‘together’ + struere ‘pile, build’.

construction n. [mass noun] 1 the action of building something, typically a large structure: there was a skyscraper under construction.

- the industry of constructing buildings, roads, etc.

- the style or method used in the building of something: the mill is of brick construction.

- [count noun] a building or other structure.

2 the creation of an abstract entity: language plays a large part in our construction of reality.

- [count noun] an interpretation or explanation: you could put an honest construction upon their conduct.

- [GRAMMAR] the arrangement of words according to syntactical rules: sentence construction.

<DERIVATIVES> constructional adj. constructionally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin constructio(n-), from construere ‘heap together’ (see CONSTRUCT).

constructionism n. another term for CONSTRUCTIVISM.

constructionist n. 1 another term for CONSTRUCTIVIST (see CONSTRUCTIVISM).

2 US a person who puts a particular interpretation upon a legal document, especially the US Constitution.

construction paper n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a type of thick coloured paper used for making models, designs, and other craftwork.

construction site n. a building site.

constructive adj. 1 having or intended to have a useful or beneficial purpose: constructive advice.

2 [LAW] not obvious or stated explicitly; derived by inference: constructive liability.

3 [MATHEMATICS] relating to, based on, or denoting mathematical proofs which show how an entity may in principle be constructed or arrived at in a finite number of steps.

<DERIVATIVES> constructively adv. constructiveness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 2): from late Latin constructivus, from Latin construct- ‘heap together’, from the verb construere (see CONSTRUCT).

constructive dismissal n. [mass noun] the changing of an employee's job or working conditions with the aim of forcing their resignation.

constructivism n. [mass noun] 1 [ART] a style or movement in which assorted mechanical objects are combined into abstract mobile structural forms. The movement originated in Russia in the 1920s and has influenced many aspects of modern architecture and design. [<ORIGIN> transliterating Russian konstruktivizm.]

2 [MATHEMATICS] a view which admits as valid only constructive proofs and entities demonstrable by them, implying that the latter have no independent existence.

<DERIVATIVES> constructivist n. & adj.

construe v. (construes, construing, construed) [with obj.] 1 interpret (a word or action) in a particular way: his words could hardly be construed as an apology.

2 DATED analyse the syntax of (a text, sentence, or word): both verbs can be construed with either infinitive.

- translate (a passage or author) word for word, typically aloud.

<DERIVATIVES> construable adj. construal n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin construere (see CONSTRUCT), in late Latin ‘analyse the construction of a sentence’.

consubstantial adj. of the same substance or essence (used especially of the three persons of the Trinity in Christian theology): Christ is consubstantial with the Father.

<DERIVATIVES> consubstantiality n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin consubstantialis (translating Greek homoousios ‘of one substance’), from con- ‘with’ + substantialis (see SUBSTANTIAL).

consubstantiation /knsəbstane(ə)n -s-/ n. [mass noun] [CHRISTIAN] the doctrine, especially in Lutheran belief, that the substance of the bread and wine coexists with the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. Compare with TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from modern Latin consubstantiatio(n-), from con- ‘together’, on the pattern of transubstantiatio(n-) ‘transubstantiation’.

consuetude /knswtjud/ n. chiefly SCOTTISH a custom, especially one having legal force.

<DERIVATIVES> consuetudinary /-tjudn(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin consuetudo (see CUSTOM).

consul /kns(ə)l/ n. 1 an official appointed by a state to live in a foreign city and protect the state's citizens and interests there.

2 (in ancient Rome) each of the two annually elected chief magistrates who jointly ruled the republic.

- any of the three chief magistrates of the first French republic (1799–1804).

<DERIVATIVES> consular /knsjlə/ adj. consulship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an ancient Roman magistrate): from Latin, related to consulere ‘take counsel’.

consulate n. 1 the building in which a consul's duties are carried out.

2 HISTORICAL the period of office of a Roman consul.

- (the consulate) the system of government by consuls in ancient Rome.

3 (the Consulate) the government of the first French republic (1799–1804) by three consuls.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the government of Rome by consuls): from Latin consulatus, from consul (see CONSUL).

consul general n. (pl. consuls general) a consul of the highest status.

consult v. [with obj.] seek information or advice from (someone, especially an expert or professional): if you consult a solicitor, making a will is a simple procedure.

- have discussions with (someone), typically before undertaking a course of action: patients are entitled to be consulted about their treatment | [no obj.] the government must consult with interested bodies.

- refer for information to (a book, diary, or watch).

<DERIVATIVES> consultative adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘confer’): from French consulter, from Latin consultare, frequentative of consulere ‘take counsel’.

consultancy n. (pl. consultancies) a professional practice that gives expert advice within a particular field: [as modifier] a management consultancy firm.

- [mass noun] the work of giving such advice.

consultant n. 1 a person who provides expert advice professionally.

2 [often as modifier] BRITISH a hospital doctor of senior rank within a specific field: a consultant paediatrician.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘a person who consults’): probably from French, from Latin consultare (see CONSULT).

consultation n. [mass noun] the action or process of formally consulting or discussing: they improved standards in consultation with consumer representatives | [count noun] consultations between all sections of the party.

- [count noun] a meeting with an expert, such as a medical doctor, in order to seek advice.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin consultatio(n-), from the verb consultare (see CONSULT).

consultee n. a person who is formally consulted or asked for advice on a matter.

consulting adj. (of a senior person in a professional or technical field) engaged in the business of giving advice to others working in the same field: a consulting engineer.

consulting room n. a room in which a doctor or other therapeutic practitioner examines patients.

consumable adj. (of an item for sale) intended to be used up and then replaced.

■ n. (usually consumables) a commodity that is intended to be used up relatively quickly: drugs and other medical consumables.

consume v. [with obj.] 1 eat, drink, or ingest (food or drink): people consume a good deal of sugar in drinks.

- (of a fire) completely destroy: the fire spread rapidly, consuming many homes.

- use up (a resource): this process consumes enormous amounts of energy.

2 buy (goods or services).

3 (of a feeling) completely fill the mind of (someone): Carolyn was consumed with guilt.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin consumere, from con- ‘altogether’ + sumere ‘take up’; reinforced by French consumer.

consumer n. a person who purchases goods and services for personal use: [as modifier] consumer demand.

- a person or thing that eats or uses something.

consumer durables plural n. BRITISH manufactured items, typically cars or household appliances, that are expected to have a relatively long useful life after purchase.

consumer goods plural n. goods bought and used by consumers, rather than by manufacturers for producing other goods. Often contrasted with CAPITAL GOODS.

consumerism n. [mass noun] 1 the protection or promotion of the interests of consumers.

2 often DEROGATORY the preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods.

<DERIVATIVES> consumerist adj. & n. consumeristic adj.

consumer price index n. (in the US) an index of the variation in prices for retail goods and other items.

consumer society n. chiefly DEROGATORY a society in which the buying and selling of goods and services is the most important social and economic activity.

consumer unit n. an apparatus in the electrical supply at the point it enters a domestic property, which contains devices such as a switch and circuit-breakers.

consuming adj. (of a feeling) completely filling one's mind and attention; absorbing: a consuming passion.

<DERIVATIVES> consumingly adv.

consummate v. /knsjmet -sə-/ [with obj.] make (a marriage or relationship) complete by having sexual intercourse: his first wife refused to consummate their marriage.

- complete (a transaction): the property sale is consummated.

■ adj. /kənsmət knsmət/ showing great skill and flair: she dressed with consummate elegance.

<DERIVATIVES> consummately adv. consummator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘completed, accomplished’): from Latin consummat- ‘brought to completion’, from the verb consummare, from con- ‘altogether’ + summa ‘sum total’, feminine of summus ‘highest, supreme’.

consummation n. the action of making a marriage or relationship complete by having sexual intercourse: the eager consummation that follows a long and passionate seduction.

- [mass noun] the point at which something is complete or finalized: the consummation of a sale.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin consummatio(n-), from the verb consummare (see CONSUMMATE).

consumption n. [mass noun] 1 the action of using up a resource: industrialized countries should reduce their energy consumption.

- the action of eating or drinking something: liquor is sold for consumption off the premises.

- [in sing.] an amount of something which is used up or ingested: a daily consumption of 15 cigarettes.

- the purchase of goods and services by the public.

- the reception of information or entertainment by a mass audience: his confidential speech was not meant for public consumption.

2 DATED a wasting disease, especially pulmonary tuberculosis.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin consumptio(n-), from the verb consumere (see CONSUME).

consumptive adj. 1 DATED affected with a wasting disease, especially pulmonary tuberculosis.

2 chiefly DEROGATORY relating to the using up of resources: tourism represents an insidious form of consumptive activity.

■ n. DATED a person with a wasting disease, especially pulmonary tuberculosis.

<DERIVATIVES> consumptively adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin consumptivus, from Latin consumpt- ‘consumed’, from the verb consumere (see CONSUME).

cont. abbr.

- contents.

- continued.

contact n. /kntakt/ 1 [mass noun] the state of physical touching: equipment in contact with water can benefit from rubber lining.

- [as modifier] caused by or operating through physical touch: contact dermatitis.

- (contacts) contact lenses.

2 [mass noun] the action of communicating or meeting: she had little contact with family members.

- [count noun] a meeting, communication, or relationship with someone: they have forged contacts with key people in business.

- [count noun] a person who may be approached for information or assistance, especially with regard to one's job: Francesca had good contacts.

- [count noun] a person who has associated with a patient with a contagious disease (and so may carry the infection).

3 [count noun] a connection for the passage of an electric current from one thing to another, or a part or device by which such a connection is made: the sliding contact of the potentiometer.

■ v. /kntakt kəntakt/ [with obj.] 1 communicate with (someone), typically in order to give or receive information.

2 touch: I winced as my blister contacted the floor.

<DERIVATIVES> contactable adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin contactus, from contact- ‘touched, grasped, bordered on’, from the verb contingere, from con- ‘together with’ + tangere ‘to touch’.

contact-breaker n. another term for CIRCUIT-BREAKER.

contact clause n. [GRAMMAR] a relative clause appended without a relative pronoun to the noun phrase that governs it, as in the man I saw yesterday.

contactee n. a person who claims to have been contacted by alien beings, especially through an abduction.

contact flight (also contact flying) n. [mass noun] navigation of an aircraft by the observation of landmarks.

contact lens n. a thin plastic lens placed directly on the surface of the eye to correct visual defects.

contact metamorphism n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] metamorphism due to contact with or proximity to an igneous intrusion.

contact print n. a photographic print made by placing a negative directly on to sensitized paper, glass, or film and illuminating it.

■ v. (contact-print) [with obj.] make a photograph from (a negative) in this way.

contact process n. the major industrial process used to make sulphuric acid, by oxidizing sulphur dioxide in the presence of a solid catalyst and absorbing the resulting sulphur trioxide in water.

contact sheet n. a piece of photographic paper on to which several or all of the negatives on a film have been contact-printed.

contact sport n. a sport in which the participants necessarily come into bodily contact with one another.

contadina /kntədinə/ n. (pl. contadine /-ne/ or contadinas) an Italian peasant girl or peasant woman.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

contadino /kntədinə/ n. (pl. contadini /-ni/ or contadinos) an Italian peasant or countryman.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from contado, denoting the peasant population around a city.

contagion /kənted(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the communication of disease from one person or organism to another by close contact: the rooms held no risk of contagion.

- [count noun] DATED a disease spread in such a way: through personal hygiene the spread of common contagions is discouraged.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a contagious disease): from Latin contagio(n-), from con- ‘together with’ + the base of tangere ‘to touch’.

contagious adj. (of a disease) spread from one person or organism to another by direct or indirect contact.

- (of a person) having a disease that can be transmitted by contact with other people.

- FIGURATIVE (of an emotion, feeling, or attitude) likely to spread to and affect others: her enthusiasm is contagious.

<DERIVATIVES> contagiously adv. contagiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin contagiosus, from contagio (see CONTAGION).

<USAGE> In practice, there is little or no difference in meaning between contagious and infectious when applied to disease: both mean, roughly, ‘communicable’. There is, however, a difference in emphasis or focus between the two words. Contagious tends to be focused on the person or animal affected by the disease (precautions are taken with anyone who seems contagious), while infectious emphasizes the agent or organism which carries the disease: there are, for example, plenty of examples in the Oxford English Corpus of infectious agent but none of contagious agent.

contagious abortion n. [mass noun] a type of brucellosis which causes spontaneous abortion in cattle.

contain v. [with obj.] 1 have or hold (someone or something) within: the cigarettes were thought to contain cannabis.

- be made up of (a number of things): documents containing both text and simple graphics can be created.

- (of a number) be divisible by (a factor) without a remainder.

2 control or restrain (oneself or a feeling): he must contain his hatred.

- prevent (a severe problem) from spreading or intensifying: the government has already taken steps to contain the disease.

<DERIVATIVES> containable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French contenir, from Latin continere, from con- ‘altogether’ + tenere ‘to hold’.

container n. an object for holding or transporting something.

- a large metal box of a standard design and size used for the transport of goods by road, rail, sea, or air: [as modifier] a container lorry.

containerize (also containerise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. containerized) pack into or transport by container.

<DERIVATIVES> containerization n.

container ship n. a ship which is designed to carry goods stored in containers.

containment n. [mass noun] the action of keeping something harmful under control or within limits: the containment of the Aids epidemic.

- the action or policy of preventing the expansion of a hostile country or influence: a policy of containment and negotiation was the appropriate course of action.

contaminate v. [with obj.] make (something) impure by exposure to or addition of a poisonous or polluting substance: the site was found to be contaminated by radioactivity | FIGURATIVE the entertainment industry is able to contaminate the mind of the public | (as adj. contaminated) contaminated blood products.

<DERIVATIVES> contaminant n. contamination n. contaminator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin contaminat- ‘made impure’, from the verb contaminare, from contamen ‘contact, pollution’, from con- ‘together with’ + the base of tangere ‘to touch’.

contango /kəntaə/ n. [mass noun] British [STOCK EXCHANGE] the normal situation in which the spot or cash price of a commodity is lower than the forward price. Often contrasted with BACKWARDATION.

- HISTORICAL a percentage paid by a buyer of stock to postpone transfer to a future settling day.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably an arbitrary formation on the pattern of Latin verb forms ending in -o in the first person singular, perhaps with the idea ‘I make contingent’ (see CONTINGENT).

conte /knt/ French /kt/ n. a short story as a form of literary composition.

- a medieval narrative tale.

<ORIGIN> French, based on Latin computare ‘reckon, sum up’.

Conté /knte/ n. [mass noun] a kind of hard, grease-free crayon used as a medium for artwork: [as modifier] Conté pastels.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Nicolas J. Conté (1755–1805), the French inventor who developed it.

contemn /kəntεm/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC treat or regard with contempt.

<DERIVATIVES> contemner /-tεmə -tεmnə/ n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin contemnere, from con- (expressing intensive force) + temnere ‘despise’.

contemplate /kntεmplet -təm-/ v. [with obj.] look thoughtfully for a long time at: he contemplated his image in the mirrors.

- think about: she couldn't even begin to contemplate the future.

- [no obj.] think deeply and at length.

- have in view as a probable intention: he was contemplating action for damages.

<DERIVATIVES> contemplator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin contemplat- ‘surveyed, observed, contemplated’, from the verb contemplari, based on templum ‘place for observation’.

contemplation n. [mass noun] the action of looking thoughtfully at something for a long time: the road is too busy for leisurely contemplation of the scenery.

- deep reflective thought: he would retire to his room for study or contemplation.

- the state of being considered or planned: substantial fitting work is in contemplation.

- religious meditation.

- a form of Christian prayer or meditation in which a person seeks to pass beyond mental images and concepts to a direct experience of the divine.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin contemplatio(n-), from the verb contemplari (see CONTEMPLATE).

contemplative /kəntεmplətv/ adj. expressing or involving prolonged thought: she regarded me with a contemplative eye.

- involving or given to deep silent prayer or religious meditation: contemplative knowledge of God.

■ n. a person whose life is devoted primarily to prayer, especially in a monastery or convent.

<DERIVATIVES> contemplatively adv.

contemporaneous /kəntεmpərenəs kn-/ adj. existing at or occurring in the same period of time: Pythagoras was contemporaneous with Buddha.

<DERIVATIVES> contemporaneity n. contemporaneously adv. contemporaneousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, from con- ‘together with’ + temporaneus (from tempus, tempor- ‘time’) + -OUS.

contemporary /kəntεmp(ə)r(ər)i/ adj. 1 living or occurring at the same time: the event was recorded by a contemporary historian.

- dating from the same time: this series of paintings is contemporary with other works in an early style.

2 belonging to or occurring in the present: the tension and complexities of our contemporary society.

- following modern ideas in style or design: contemporary ceramics by leading potters.

■ n. (pl. contemporaries) a person or thing living or existing at the same time as another: he was a contemporary of Darwin.

- a person of roughly the same age as another: my contemporaries at school.

<DERIVATIVES> contemporarily adv. contemporariness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin contemporarius, from con- ‘together with’ + tempus, tempor- ‘time’ (on the pattern of Latin contemporaneus and late Latin contemporalis).

contempt n. [mass noun] the feeling that a person or a thing is worthless or deserving scorn: Pam stared at the girl with total contempt | he wouldn't answer a woman he held in such contempt.

- disregard for something that should be considered: this action displays an arrogant contempt for the wishes of the majority.

- (also contempt of court) the offence of being disobedient to or disrespectful of a court of law and its officers: several unions were held to be in contempt and were fined.

<PHRASES>

□ beneath contempt utterly worthless or despicable.

□ hold someone in contempt judge someone to have committed the offence of contempt of court.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin contemptus, from contemnere (see CONTEMN).

contemptible adj. deserving contempt; despicable: a display of contemptible cowardice.

<DERIVATIVES> contemptibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin contemptibilis, from Latin contemnere (see CONTEMN).

contemptuous adj. showing contempt; scornful: she was intolerant and contemptuous of the majority of the human race.

<DERIVATIVES> contemptuously adv. contemptuousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘despising law and order’): from medieval Latin contemptuosus, from Latin contemptus ‘contempt’, from contemnere (see CONTEMN).

contend v. 1 [no obj.] (contend with/against) struggle to surmount (a difficulty): she had to contend with his uncertain temper.

- (contend for) compete with others in a struggle to achieve (something): factions within the government were contending for the succession to the presidency.

2 [with clause] assert something as a position in an argument: he contends that the judge was wrong.

<DERIVATIVES> contender n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘compete for (something)’): from Old French contendre or Latin contendere, from con- ‘with’ + tendere ‘stretch, strive’.

content^1 /kəntεnt/ adj. in a state of peaceful happiness: he seemed more content, less bitter.

- willing to accept something; satisfied: he had to be content with third place | [with infinitive] the duke was content to act as Regent.

■ v. [with obj.] satisfy (someone): nothing would content her apart from going off to Barcelona.

- (content oneself with) accept as adequate despite wanting more or better: we contented ourselves with a few small purchases.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] a state of satisfaction: the greater part of the century was a time of content.

2 a member of the British House of Lords who votes for a particular motion.

<PHRASES>

□ to one's heart's content to the full extent of one's desires.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin contentus ‘satisfied’, past participle of continere (see CONTAIN).

content^2 /kntεnt/ n. (also contents) the things that are held or included in something: she unscrewed the top of the flask and drank the contents.

- [in sing.] [with modifier] the amount of a particular constituent occurring in a substance: soya milk has a low fat content.

- (contents) a list of the chapters or sections given at the front of a book or periodical: [as modifier] the contents page.

- [mass noun] the material dealt with in a speech, literary work, etc. as distinct from its form or style: the tone, if not the content, of his book is familiar.

- information made available by a website or other electronic medium: [as modifier] online content providers.

<DERIVATIVES> contentless adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin contentum (plural contenta ‘things contained’), neuter past participle of continere (see CONTAIN).

contented adj. feeling or expressing happiness or satisfaction: I felt warm and contented | she gave a contented little smile.

- willing to accept something; satisfied: I was never contented with half measures.

<DERIVATIVES> contentedly adv. contentedness n.

contention n. 1 [mass noun] heated disagreement: the captured territory was the main area of contention between the two countries.

2 [count noun] an assertion, especially one maintained in argument: Freud's contention that all dreams were wish fulfilment.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or out of) contention having (or not having) a good chance of success in a contest.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin contentio(n-), from contendere ‘strive with’ (see CONTEND).

contentious adj. causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial: a contentious issue.

- involving heated argument: the socio-economic plan had been the subject of contentious debate.

- (of a person) given to provoking argument.

- [LAW] relating to or involving differences between contending parties.

<DERIVATIVES> contentiously adv. contentiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French contentieux, from Latin contentiosus, from content- ‘striven’, from the verb contendere.

contentment n. [mass noun] a state of happiness and satisfaction: he found contentment in living a simple life in the country.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the payment of a claim): from French contentement, from Latin contentus (see content^1).

conterminous /kntəmnəs/ adj. sharing a common boundary: the forty-eight conterminous United States.

- having the same area, context, or meaning: a genealogy conterminous with the history of the USA.

<DERIVATIVES> conterminously adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin conterminus (from con- ‘with’ + terminus ‘boundary’) + -OUS. Compare with COTERMINOUS.

contessa /kntεsə/ n. an Italian countess.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from late Latin comitissa (see COUNTESS).

contest n. /kntεst/ an event in which people compete for supremacy in a sport or other activity, or in a quality: a tennis contest.

- a competition for a political position: a leadership contest.

- a dispute or conflict: a contest between traditional and liberal views.

■ v. /kəntεst/ [with obj.] 1 engage in competition to attain (a position of power): she declared her intention to contest the presidency.

- take part in (a competition or election): a coalition was formed to contest the presidential elections.

2 oppose (an action or theory) as mistaken or wrong: the former chairman contests his dismissal.

- engage in dispute about: the issues have been hotly contested.

<PHRASES>

□ no contest 1 chiefly US another term for NOLO CONTENDERE.

2 a decision by the referee to declare a boxing match invalid on the grounds that one or both of the boxers are not making serious efforts.

- a competition, comparison, or choice of which the outcome is a foregone conclusion: when the two teams faced each other it was no contest.

<DERIVATIVES> contestability n. contestable adj. contester n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a verb in the sense ‘swear to, attest’): from Latin contestari ‘call upon to witness, initiate (by calling witnesses)’, from con- ‘together’ + testare ‘to witness’. The senses ‘wrangle, struggle for’ arose in the early 17th century, whence the current noun and verb senses.

contestant n. a person who takes part in a contest or competition.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, present participle of contester, from Latin contestari ‘call upon to witness’ (see CONTEST).

contestation n. [mass noun] FORMAL the action or process of disputing or arguing.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘solemn appeal or protest’): from Latin contestatio(n-), from contestari ‘call upon to witness’ (see CONTEST); reinforced by French contestation.

context /kntεkst/ n. the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood: the proposals need to be considered in the context of new European directives.

- the parts of something written or spoken that immediately precede and follow a word or passage and clarify its meaning.

<PHRASES>

□ in context considered together with the surrounding words or circumstances.

□ out of context without the surrounding words or circumstances and so not fully understandable.

<DERIVATIVES> contextual adj. contextually adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the construction of a text): from Latin contextus, from con- ‘together’ + texere ‘to weave’.

contextualism n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] a doctrine which emphasizes the importance of the context of enquiry in a particular question.

<DERIVATIVES> contextualist n.

contextualize (also contextualise) v. [with obj.] place or study in context: the excellent introduction summarizes and contextualizes Bowen's career.

<DERIVATIVES> contextualization n.

contiguity /kntjuti/ n. [mass noun] the state of bordering or being in contact with something: nations bound together by geographical contiguity.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] the sequential occurrence or proximity of stimulus and response, causing their association in the mind.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin contiguitas, from Latin contiguus ‘touching’ (see CONTIGUOUS).

contiguous /kəntjəs/ adj. sharing a common border; touching: the Southern Ocean is contiguous with the Atlantic.

- next or together in sequence.

<DERIVATIVES> contiguously adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin contiguus ‘touching’, from the verb contingere ‘be in contact, befall’ (see CONTINGENT), + -OUS.

continent^1 n. any of the world's main continuous expanses of land (Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia, Antarctica).

- (also the Continent) the mainland of Europe as distinct from the British Isles.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a continuous tract of land): from Latin terra continens ‘continuous land’.

continent^2 adj. 1 able to control movements of the bowels and bladder.

2 exercising self-restraint, especially sexually.

<DERIVATIVES> continence n. continently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Latin continent- ‘holding together, restraining oneself’, from continere (see CONTAIN).

continental adj. 1 [attr.] forming or belonging to a continent: continental Antarctica.

2 (also Continental) in, from, or characteristic of mainland Europe: a continental holiday.

■ n. an inhabitant of mainland Europe.

<DERIVATIVES> continentally adv.

Continental Army (in the US) the army raised by the Continental Congress of 1775, with George Washington as commander.

continental breakfast n. a light breakfast, typically consisting of coffee and bread rolls with butter and jam.

continental climate n. a relatively dry climate with very hot summers and very cold winters, characteristic of the central parts of Asia and North America.

Continental Congress (in the US) each of the three congresses held by the American colonies in revolt against British rule in 1774, 1775, and 1776 respectively. The second Congress, convened in the wake of the battles at Lexington and Concord, created a Continental Army, which fought and eventually won the American War of Independence.

continental crust n. [GEOLOGY] the relatively thick part of the earth's crust which forms the large land masses. It is generally older and more complex than the oceanic crust.

continental day n. BRITISH a school day lasting from early morning to early afternoon.

Continental Divide the main series of mountain ridges in North America, chiefly the crests of the Rocky Mountains, which form a watershed separating the rivers flowing eastwards into the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico from those flowing westwards into the Pacific. Also called GREAT DIVIDE.

continental drift n. [mass noun] the gradual movement of the continents across the earth's surface through geological time.

The reality of continental drift was confirmed in the 1960s, leading to the theory of plate tectonics. It is believed that a single supercontinent called Pangaea broke up to form Gondwana and Laurasia, which further split to form the present-day continents. Such movement continues today: South America and Africa, for example, are moving apart at a rate of a few centimetres per year.

continental quilt n. British term for DUVET.

continental shelf n. the area of seabed around a large land mass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the open ocean. The continental shelf is geologically part of the continental crust.

continental slope n. the slope between the outer edge of the continental shelf and the deep ocean floor.

Continental System Napoleon's strategy of blockading Britain (1806–13), by which British ships were prohibited from entering the ports of France and her allies.

contingency /kəntnd(ə)nsi/ n. (pl. contingencies) a future event or circumstance which is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty: a detailed contract which attempts to provide for all possible contingencies.

- a provision for a possible event or circumstance: stores were kept as a contingency against a blockade.

- an incidental expense.

- [mass noun] the absence of certainty in events: the island's public affairs can occasionally be seen to be invaded by contingency.

- [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the absence of necessity; the fact of being so without having to be so.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the philosophical sense): from late Latin contingentia (in its medieval Latin sense ‘circumstance’), from contingere ‘befall’ (see CONTINGENT).

contingency fee n. (in the US) a sum of money that a lawyer receives as a fee only if the case is won.

contingency fund n. a reserve of money set aside to cover possible unforeseen future expenses.

contingency plan n. a plan designed to take account of a possible future event or circumstance.

contingency table n. [STATISTICS] a table showing the distribution of one variable in rows and another in columns, used to study the correlation between the two variables.

contingent /kəntnd(ə)nt/ adj. 1 subject to chance: the contingent nature of the job.

- (of losses, liabilities, etc.) that can be anticipated to arise if a particular event occurs.

2 (contingent on/upon) occurring or existing only if (certain circumstances) are the case; dependent on: his fees were contingent on the success of his search.

3 [PHILOSOPHY] true by virtue of the way things in fact are and not by logical necessity.

■ n. a group of people sharing a common feature, forming part of a larger group.

- a body of troops or police sent to join a larger force.

<DERIVATIVES> contingently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘of uncertain occurrence’): from Latin contingere ‘befall’, from con- ‘together with’ + tangere ‘to touch’. The noun sense was originally ‘something happening by chance’, then ‘a person's share resulting from a division, a quota’; the current sense dates from the early 18th cent.

continual adj. forming a sequence in which the same action or event is repeated frequently: his plane went down after continual attacks.

- having no interruptions: some patients need continual safeguarding.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French continuel, from continuer ‘continue’, from Latin continuare, from continuus (see CONTINUOUS).

<USAGE> For an explanation of the difference between continual and continuous see usage at continuous.

continually adv. 1 repeated frequently in the same way; regularly: this information is continually updated.

2 without interruption; constantly: I was continually moving around.

continuance n. 1 [mass noun] FORMAL the state of remaining in existence or operation: his interests encouraged him to favour the continuance of war.

- the time for which a situation or action lasts: the trademarks shall be used only during the continuance of this agreement.

- the state of remaining in a particular position or condition: the king's ministers depended on his favour for their continuance in office.

2 [US LAW] a postponement or an adjournment.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from continuer ‘continue’, from Latin continuare, from continuus (see CONTINUOUS).

continuant n. 1 [PHONETICS] a consonant which is sounded with the vocal tract only partly closed, allowing the breath to pass through and the sound to be prolonged (as with f, l, m, n, r, s, v).

2 [PHILOSOPHY] & [PSYCHOLOGY] a thing that retains its identity even though its states and relations may change.

■ adj. relating to or denoting a continuant.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as an adjective in the general sense ‘continuing’): from French, from continuer, reinforced by Latin continuant- ‘continuing’, from the verb continuare, from continuus (see CONTINUOUS). Current senses date from the 19th cent.

continuation n. [mass noun] the action of carrying something on over time or the state of being carried on: the continuation of discussions about a permanent peace.

- the state of remaining in a particular position or condition.

- [count noun] [usually in sing.] a part that is attached to and is an extension of something else: once a separate village, it is now a continuation of the suburbs.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin continuatio(n-), from continuare ‘continue’, from continuus (see CONTINUOUS).

continuative /kəntnjətv/ [LINGUISTICS] adj. (of a word or phrase) having the function of moving a discourse or conversation forward.

■ n. a word or phrase of this type (e.g. yes, well, as I was saying).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a noun denoting something which brings about continuity): from late Latin continuativus, from continuat- ‘continued’, from the verb continuare (see CONTINUE).

continuator n. a person or thing that continues something or maintains continuity.

- a person who writes a continuation of another's work.

continue v. (continues, continuing, continued) 1 [no obj.] persist in an activity or process: he was unable to continue with his job | [with infinitive] prices continued to fall during April.

- remain in existence or operation: discussions continued throughout the year.

- remain in a specified position or state: they have indicated their willingness to continue in office | [with complement] the weather continued warm and pleasant | (as adj. continuing) a continuing controversy.

- [with obj.] carry on with (something that one has begun): the Archive has continued its programme of research | (as adj. continued) he asked for their continued support.

- [with adverbial of direction] carry on travelling in the same direction: they continued northwards to Glasgow.

2 recommence or resume after interruption: [with obj.] we continue the story from the point reached in Chapter 1 | [no obj.] the trial continues tomorrow.

- [no obj.] carry on speaking after a pause or interruption: I told him he was obstructing the enquiry and he let me continue | [with direct speech] ‘Pleased to make your acquaintance,’ he continued.

- [with obj.] [US LAW] postpone or adjourn (a legal proceeding): the case was continued without a finding until August 2.

<DERIVATIVES> continuable adj. continuer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French continuer, from Latin continuare, from continuus (see CONTINUOUS).

continued fraction n. [MATHEMATICS] a fraction of infinite length whose denominator is a quantity plus a fraction, which latter fraction has a similar denominator, and so on.

continuing education n. [mass noun] education provided for adults after they have left the formal education system, consisting typically of short or part-time courses.

continuity /kntnjuti/ n. (pl. continuities) [mass noun] 1 the unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over time: a consensus favouring continuity of policy.

- a state of stability and the absence of disruption: they have provided the country with a measure of continuity.

- a connection or line of development with no sharp breaks: a firm line of continuity between pre-war and post-war Britain.

2 the maintenance of continuous action and self-consistent detail in the various scenes of a film or broadcast: [as modifier] a continuity error.

- the linking of broadcast items by a spoken commentary: [as modifier] the BBC continuity announcer.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French continuite, from Latin continuitas, from continuare ‘continue’, from continuus (see CONTINUOUS).

continuo /kəntnjə/ (also basso continuo) n. (pl. continuos) [mass noun] (in baroque music) an accompanying part which includes a bass line and harmonies, typically played on a keyboard instrument and with other instruments such as cello or lute.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: Italian basso continuo ‘continuous bass’.

continuous adj. 1 forming an unbroken whole; without interruption: the whole performance is enacted in one continuous movement.

- forming a series with no exceptions or reversals: there are continuous advances in design and production.

2 [GRAMMAR] another term for progressive (sense 3 of the adjective).

3 [MATHEMATICS] (of a function) of which the graph is a smooth unbroken curve, i.e. one such that as the value of x approaches any given value a, the value of f(x) approaches that of f(a) as a limit.

<DERIVATIVES> continuously adv. continuousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin continuus ‘uninterrupted’, from continere ‘hang together’ (from con- ‘together with’ + tenere ‘hold’) + -OUS.

<USAGE> There is some overlap in meaning between continuous and continual, but the two words are not wholly synonymous. Both can mean roughly ‘without interruption’ (a long and continual war; five years of continuous warfare), but continuous is much more prominent in this sense and, unlike continual, can be used to refer to space as well as time, as in the development forms a continuous line along the coast. Continual, on the other hand, typically means ‘happening frequently, with intervals between’, as in the bus service has been disrupted by continual breakdowns. Overall, continuous occurs much more frequently than continual (around six times more often in the citations for the Oxford English Corpus) and is found in many technical and specialist uses ranging from grammar and education to mathematics.

continuous assessment n. [mass noun] BRITISH the evaluation of a pupil's progress throughout a course of study, as distinct from by examination.

continuous creation n. [mass noun] the creation of matter as a continuing process throughout time, especially as postulated in steady state theories of the universe.

continuous spectrum n. [PHYSICS] an emission spectrum that consists of a continuum of wavelengths.

continuous stationery n. [mass noun] BRITISH stationery, such as invoices and letterheads, printed on a long strip of paper that is often folded zigzag and is perforated so that it can be separated into sheets.

continuous wave n. an electromagnetic wave, especially a radio wave, having a constant amplitude.

continuum n. (pl. continua) a continuous sequence in which adjacent elements are not perceptibly different from each other, but the extremes are quite distinct.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, neuter of continuus (see CONTINUOUS).

contort /kəntt/ v. twist or bend out of the normal shape: [with obj.] a spasm of pain contorted his face | [no obj.] her face contorted with anger | (as adj. contorted) contorted limbs | FIGURATIVE a contorted version of the truth.

<DERIVATIVES> contortion n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin contort- ‘twisted round, brandished’, from the verb contorquere, from con- ‘together’ + torquere ‘twist’.

contortionist n. an entertainer who twists and bends their body into strange and unnatural positions.

contour n. 1 (usually contours) an outline representing or bounding the shape or form of something: she traced the contours of his face with her finger | FIGURATIVE the orchestra tend to smooth the music's contours. short for CONTOUR LINE.

- a line joining points on a diagram at which some property has the same value.

2 a way in which something varies, especially the pitch of music or the pattern of tones in an utterance.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 mould into a specific shape, especially one designed to fit into something else: the compartment has been contoured with smooth rounded corners | (as adj. contoured) the contoured leather seats.

2 mark (a map or diagram) with contour lines: (as adj. contoured) a huge contoured map.

3 (of a road or railway) follow the outline of (a topographical feature), especially along a contour line: the road contours the hillside.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian contorno, from contornare ‘draw in outline’, from con- ‘together’ + tornare ‘to turn’.

contour feather n. any of the mainly small feathers which form the outline of an adult bird's plumage.

contour line n. a line on a map joining points of equal height above or below sea level.

contour map n. a map marked with contour lines.

contour ploughing n. [mass noun] ploughing along the contours of the land in order to minimize soil erosion.

Contra /kntrə/ n. a member of a guerrilla force in Nicaragua which opposed the left-wing Sandinista government 1979–90, and was supported by the US for much of that time.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of Spanish contrarevolucionario ‘counter-revolutionary’.

contra- /kntrə/ prefix 1 against; opposite: contraception | contraflow.

2 [MUSIC] (of an instrument or organ stop) pitched an octave below: contrabass.

<ORIGIN> from Latin contra ‘against’.

contraband /kntrəband/ n. [mass noun] goods that have been imported or exported illegally: customs men had searched the carriages for contraband.

- trade in smuggled goods: the salt trade (and contraband in it) were very active in the town.

- (also contraband of war) goods forbidden to be supplied by neutrals to those engaged in war.

■ adj. imported or exported illegally, either in defiance of a total ban or without payment of duty: contraband brandy.

- relating to traffic in illegal goods: the contraband market.

<DERIVATIVES> contrabandist n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish contrabanda, from Italian contrabando, from contra- ‘against’ + bando ‘proclamation, ban’.

contrabass n. another term for DOUBLE BASS.

■ adj. denoting a musical instrument with a range an octave lower than the normal bass range: a contrabass clarinet.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Italian contrabasso, from contra- ‘pitched an octave below’ + basso (see bass^1).

contrabassoon n. another term for DOUBLE BASSOON.

contraception n. [mass noun] the deliberate use of artificial methods or other techniques to prevent pregnancy as a consequence of sexual intercourse. The major forms of artificial contraception are: barrier methods, of which the commonest is the condom or sheath; the contraceptive pill, which contains synthetic sex hormones which prevent ovulation in the female; intrauterine devices, such as the coil, which prevent the fertilized ovum from implanting in the uterus; and male or female sterilization.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CONTRA- ‘against’ + a shortened form of CONCEPTION.

contraceptive adj. (of a method or device) serving to prevent pregnancy: the contraceptive pill.

- relating to contraception: a book popularizing contraceptive knowledge.

■ n. a device or drug serving to prevent pregnancy.

contract n. /kntrakt/ a written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales, or tenancy, that is intended to be enforceable by law: he has just signed a contract keeping him with the club | [mass noun] much of the produce is grown under contract.

- [mass noun] the branch of law concerned with the making and observation of contracts.

- INFORMAL an arrangement for someone to be killed by a hired assassin: smuggling bosses routinely put out contracts on witnesses.

- [BRIDGE] the declarer's undertaking to win the number of tricks bid with a stated suit as trumps: South can make the contract with correct play.

- DATED a formal agreement to marry.

■ v. /kəntrakt/ 1 [no obj.] decrease in size, number, or range: glass contracts as it cools.

- (of a muscle) become shorter and tighter in order to effect movement of part of the body: the heart contracts about seventy times a minute | [with obj.] exhale and slowly contract your abdominal muscles.

- [with obj.] shorten (a word or phrase) by combination or elision.

2 [no obj.] enter into a formal and legally binding agreement: the local authority will contract with a wide range of agencies to provide services.

- (contract in/into) BRITISH choose to be involved in (a scheme): politically committed members contract into paying the levy.

- (contract out) BRITISH choose to withdraw from or not become involved in a scheme: plans to encourage people to contract out of the pension scheme.

- secure specified rights or undertake specified obligations in a formal and legally binding agreement: a buyer may contract for the right to withhold payment | [with infinitive] the paper had contracted to publish extracts from the diaries.

- [with obj. and infinitive] impose an obligation on (someone) to do something by means of a formal agreement: health authorities contract a hospital to treat a specific number of patients.

- [with obj.] (contract something out) arrange for work to be done by another organization.

- [with obj.] DATED formally enter into (a marriage).

- [with obj.] enter into (a friendship or other relationship): the patterns of social relationships contracted by men and women differ.

3 [with obj.] catch or develop (a disease or infectious agent): three people contracted a killer virus.

4 [with obj.] become liable to pay (a debt): he contracted a debt of £3,300.

<DERIVATIVES> contractee n. contractive adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin contractus, from contract- ‘drawn together, tightened’, from the verb contrahere, from con- ‘together’ + trahere ‘draw’.

contractable adj. (of a disease) able to be caught.

contract bridge n. [mass noun] the standard form of the card game bridge, in which only tricks bid and won count towards the game, as opposed to auction bridge.

contractible adj. able to be shrunk or capable of contracting.

contractile /kəntraktl/ adj. [BIOLOGY] & [PHYSIOLOGY] capable of or producing contraction: the contractile activity of the human colon.

<DERIVATIVES> contractility n.

contractile vacuole n. [ZOOLOGY] a vacuole in some protozoans which expels excess liquid on contraction.

contraction n. [mass noun] the process of becoming smaller: the general contraction of the industry did further damage to morale | [count noun] the manufacturing sector suffered a severe contraction.

- the process in which a muscle becomes or is made shorter and tighter: neurons control the contraction of muscles.

- [count noun] (usually contractions) a shortening of the uterine muscles occurring at intervals before and during childbirth.

- the process of shortening a word by combination or elision.

- [count noun] a word or group of words resulting from shortening an original form: ‘goodbye’ is a contraction of ‘God be with you’.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin contractio(n-), from contrahere ‘draw together’ (see CONTRACT).

contract note n. a certificate confirming the terms of a sale of specified assets or securities between two parties.

contractor n. a person or firm that undertakes a contract to provide materials or labour to perform a service or do a job.

contractorization (also contractorisation) n. [mass noun] BRITISH the provision of a service, especially a public one, by an external contractor rather than by the employees of the body responsible for the service.

<DERIVATIVES> contractorize v.

contractual adj. agreed in a contract: a contractual obligation.

- having similar characteristics to a contract: the contractual nature of the shareholder's rights.

<DERIVATIVES> contractually adv.

contractural adj. 1 MEDICINE relating to or involving contracture.

2 another term for CONTRACTUAL.

contracture /kəntraktə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition of shortening and hardening of muscles, tendons, or other tissue, often leading to deformity and rigidity of joints.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, or from Latin contractura, from Latin contract- ‘drawn together’, from the verb contrahere.

contradance n. a country dance in which the couples form lines facing each other.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: variant of CONTREDANSE.

contradict v. [with obj.] deny the truth of (a statement) by asserting the opposite: the survey appears to contradict the industry's claims | [with clause] he did not contradict what he said last week.

- assert the opposite of a statement made by (someone): he did not contradict her but just said nothing | within five minutes he had contradicted himself twice.

- be in conflict with: the existing layout of the city contradicted the logic of the new centre.

<DERIVATIVES> contradictor n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin contradict- ‘spoken against’, from the verb contradicere, originally contra dicere ‘speak against’.

contradiction n. a combination of statements, ideas, or features which are opposed to one another: the proposed new system suffers from a set of internal contradictions.

- a situation in which inconsistent elements are present: the paradox of using force to overcome force is a real contradiction.

- [mass noun] the statement of a position opposite to one already made: the second sentence appears to be in flat contradiction of the first | [count noun] the experiment provides a contradiction of the hypothesis.

<PHRASES>

□ contradiction in terms a statement or group of words associating incompatible objects or ideas.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin contradictio(n-), from the verb contradicere (see CONTRADICT).

contradictory adj. mutually opposed or inconsistent: the two studies came to contradictory conclusions.

- containing elements which are inconsistent: politically he exhibited contradictory behaviour.

- [LOGIC] (of two propositions) so related that one and only one must be true. Compare with CONTRARY.

■ n. (pl. contradictories) [LOGIC] a contradictory proposition.

<DERIVATIVES> contradictorily adv. contradictoriness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a term in logic): from late Latin contradictorius, from Latin contradict- ‘spoken against’, from the verb contradicere (see CONTRADICT).

contradistinction n. [mass noun] distinction made by contrasting the different qualities of two things: such a process is known as induction, in contradistinction to the deduction process.

contradistinguish v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC distinguish between (two things) by contrasting them.

contrafactive adj. [LINGUISTICS] denoting a verb that assigns to its object (normally a clausal object) the status of not being true, e.g. pretend and wish. Contrasted with FACTIVE, NON-FACTIVE.

contrafactual /kntrəfaktəl -tjəl/ adj. another term for COUNTERFACTUAL.

contraflow n. BRITISH a temporary arrangement where traffic on a road is transferred from its usual side to share the other half of the carriageway with traffic moving in the opposite direction.

contrail /kntrel/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for VAPOUR TRAIL.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: abbreviation of condensation trail.

contraindicate v. [with obj.] MEDICINE (of a condition or circumstance) suggest or indicate that (a particular technique or drug) should not be used in the case in question.

<DERIVATIVES> contraindication n.

contralateral /kntrəlat(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. MEDICINE relating to or denoting the side of the body opposite to that on which a particular structure or condition occurs: the symptom develops in the hand contralateral to the lesion.

contralto /kəntraltə/ n. (pl. contraltos) the lowest female singing voice: she sang in a high contralto.

- a singer with such a voice.

- a part written for such a voice.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Italian, from contra- (in the sense ‘counter to’) + ALTO. Compare with COUNTERTENOR.

contra mundum /kntrə mndəm/ adv. defying or opposing everyone else.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘against the world’.

contraposition n. [mass noun] [LOGIC] conversion of a proposition from all A is B to all not-B is not-A.

<DERIVATIVES> contrapositive adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin contrapositio(n-), from the verb contraponere, from contra- ‘against’ + ponere ‘to place’.

contrapposto /kntrəpstə/ n. (pl. contrapposti /-ti/) [ART] an asymmetrical arrangement of the human figure in which the line of the arms and shoulders contrasts with, while balancing, those of the hips and legs.

<ORIGIN> Italian, past participle of contrapporre, from Latin contraponere ‘place against’.

contra proferentem /kntrə prfərεntεm/ adv. [LAW] (of the interpretation of an ambiguous contract) against the party which proposed or drafted the contract or clause.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘against (the person) mentioning’.

contraption n. a machine or device that appears strange or unnecessarily complicated, and often badly made or unsafe: repairing stereos and making contraptions out of spare electronic bits.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from CONTRIVE (on the pattern of pairs such as conceive, conception), by association with trap^1.

contrapuntal /kntrəpnt(ə)l/ adj. [MUSIC] of or in counterpoint.

<DERIVATIVES> contrapuntally adv. contrapuntist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian contrapunto (see COUNTERPOINT) + -AL.

contrarian /kəntrεrən/ n. a person who opposes or rejects popular opinion, especially in stock exchange dealing.

■ adj. opposing or rejecting popular opinion or current practice: the comment came more from a contrarian disposition than moral conviction.

<DERIVATIVES> contrarianism n.

contrariety /kntrərəti/ n. [mass noun] 1 [LOGIC] contrary opposition.

2 opposition or inconsistency between two things.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French contrariete, from late Latin contrarietas, from contrarius (see CONTRARY).

contrariwise /kəntrεrwz kntrərwz/ adv. in the opposite way or order: it worked contrariwise—first you dialled the number then you put the money in.

- in contrast to something that has just been stated or mentioned: contrariwise, a registered person may vote, even if not entitled to be registered.

contra-rotating adj. rotating in the opposite direction or in opposite directions, especially about the same shaft.

contrary /kntrəri/ adj. 1 opposite in nature, direction, or meaning: he ignored contrary advice and agreed on the deal.

- (of two or more statements, beliefs, etc.) opposed to one another: his mother had given him contrary messages.

- (of a wind) blowing in the opposite direction to one's course; unfavourable.

- [LOGIC] (of two propositions) so related that one or neither but not both must be true. Compare with CONTRADICTORY.

2 /kəntrεri/ perversely inclined to disagree or to do the opposite of what is expected or desired: she is sulky and contrary where her work is concerned.

■ n. (pl. contraries) 1 (the contrary) the opposite: an Act applies only to the United Kingdom unless the contrary is expressed.

2 [LOGIC] a contrary proposition.

<PHRASES>

□ contrary to conflicting with or running counter to: contrary to his expectations, he found the atmosphere exciting.

□ on (or quite) the contrary used to intensify a denial of what has just been implied or stated by suggesting that the opposite is the case: there was no malice in her; on the contrary, she was very kind.

□ to the contrary with the opposite meaning or implication: he continued to drink despite medical advice to the contrary.

<DERIVATIVES> contrarily /kntrərli kəntrεrli/ adv. contrariness /kntrərns kəntrεrns/ n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French contrarie, from Latin contrarius, from contra ‘against’.

contrast n. /kntrαst/ [mass noun] the state of being strikingly different from something else in juxtaposition or close association: the day began cold and blustery, in contrast to almost two weeks of uninterrupted sunshine | [count noun] a contrast between rural and urban trends | Kos is an island of contrasts.

- differences in colour, tone, or shape that contribute to the visual effect of a design or image.

- the difference between tones in a television picture, photograph, etc.

- [in sing.] a thing or person having qualities noticeably different from another: the castle is quite a contrast to other places where the singer has performed.

■ v. /kəntrαst/ [no obj.] differ strikingly: his friend's success contrasted with his own failure | (as adj. contrasting) a contrasting view.

- [with obj.] compare in such a way as to emphasize differences: people contrasted her with her sister.

<DERIVATIVES> contrastingly adv. contrastive adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as a term in fine art, in the sense ‘juxtapose so as to bring out differences in form and colour’): from French contraste (noun), contraster (verb), via Italian from medieval Latin contrastare, from Latin contra- ‘against’ + stare ‘stand’.

contrast medium n. MEDICINE a substance introduced into a part of the body in order to improve the visibility of internal structures during radiography.

contrasty adj. INFORMAL (of a photograph, film, or television picture) showing a high degree of contrast.

contra-suggestible adj. tending to respond to a suggestion by believing or doing the contrary.

contrate wheel /kntret/ n. another term for CROWN WHEEL.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: contrate (a rare adjective meaning ‘opposed, contrary’) from medieval Latin contrata ‘lying opposite’, from Latin contra ‘against’.

contravene /kntrəvin/ v. [with obj.] offend against the prohibition or order of (a law, treaty, or code of conduct): he contravened the Official Secrets Act.

- conflict with (a right, principle, etc.), especially to its detriment: the Privy Council held that the prosecution contravened the rights of the individual.

<DERIVATIVES> contravener n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin contravenire, from Latin contra- ‘against’ + venire ‘come’.

contravention n. an action which offends against a law, treaty, or other ruling: the publishing of misleading advertisements was a contravention of the Act | [mass noun] contravention of parking restrictions | there were repeated raids by one side upon the other in contravention of treaty terms.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via French from medieval Latin contraventio(n-), from late Latin contravenire (see CONTRAVENE).

contredanse /kntrədαns -ds/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) a French form of country dance, originating in the 18th century and related to the quadrille.

■ another term for CONTRADANCE.

<ORIGIN> French, alteration of English country dance, by association with contre ‘against, opposite’.

contre-jour /ktrəə/ French /ktRəR/ adj. & adv. [PHOTOGRAPHY] having or involving the sun or other light source behind the subject: [as adj.] a glorious contre-jour effect.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, from contre ‘against’ + jour ‘daylight’.

contretemps /kntrət/ n. (pl. same /-tz/) a minor dispute or disagreement: she had occasional contretemps with her staff.

- an unexpected and unfortunate occurrence.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally as a fencing term, denoting a thrust made at an inopportune moment): French, originally ‘motion out of time’, from contre- ‘against’ + temps ‘time’.

contribute /kəntrbjut kntrbjut/ v. [with obj.] give (something, especially money) in order to help achieve or provide something: taxpayers had contributed £141.8 million towards the cost of local services | [no obj.] he contributed to a private pension.

- [no obj.] (contribute to) help to cause or bring about: the government imposed a tax on fuels which contributed to global warming.

- supply (an article) for publication in a newspaper, magazine, or journal: he contributed articles to the magazine.

- [no obj.] give one's views in a discussion: he did not contribute to the meetings.

<DERIVATIVES> contributive /kəntrb-/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin contribut- ‘brought together, added’, from the verb contribuere, from con- ‘with’ + tribuere ‘bestow’.

<USAGE> There are two possible pronunciations of the word contribute, one which puts the stress on the -tri- and one which puts it on the con-. The first is held to be the standard, correct pronunciation even though the pronunciation with stress on the con- is older.

contribution /kntrbju(ə)n/ n. a gift or payment to a common fund or collection: the agency is mainly financed from voluntary contributions.

- the part played by a person or thing in bringing about a result or helping something to advance: the major contribution of social scientists to the understanding of political life.

- a piece of writing submitted for publication in a journal, book, etc.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a tax or levy): from late Latin contributio(n-), from Latin contribuere ‘bring together, add’ (see CONTRIBUTE).

contributor /kəntrbjtə/ n. 1 a person who writes articles for a magazine or newspaper.

2 a person who donates to a cause.

3 a causal factor in the existence or occurrence of something.

contributory /kəntrbjt(ə)ri/ adj. 1 playing a part in bringing something about: smoking may be a contributory cause of the disease.

2 (of a pension or insurance scheme) operated by means of a fund into which people pay: contributory benefits.

■ n. (pl. contributories) [LAW], BRITISH a person liable to give money towards the payment of a wound-up company's debts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘contributing to a fund’): from medieval Latin contributorius, from Latin contribut- ‘added’ (see CONTRIBUTION).

contributory negligence n. [mass noun] [LAW] failure of an injured party to act prudently, considered to be a contributory factor in the injury which they have suffered.

con trick n. British informal term for CONFIDENCE TRICK.

contrite /kəntrt kntrt/ adj. feeling or expressing remorse at the recognition that one has done wrong: a contrite tone.

<DERIVATIVES> contritely adv. contriteness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French contrit, from Latin contritus, past participle of conterere ‘grind down, wear away’, from con- ‘together’ + terere ‘rub’.

contrition n. [mass noun] the state of feeling remorseful and penitent.

- (in the Roman Catholic Church) the repentance of past sins during or after confession.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from late Latin contritio(n-), from contrit- ‘ground down’, from the verb conterere (see CONTRITE).

contrivance n. 1 [mass noun] the use of skill to create or bring about something, especially with a consequent effect of artificiality: the requirements of the system, by happy chance and some contrivance, can be summed up in an acronym.

2 [count noun] a device, especially in literary or artistic composition, which gives a sense of artificiality.

- a thing which is created skilfully and inventively to serve a particular purpose: an assortment of electronic equipment and mechanical contrivances.

contrive /kəntrv/ v. [with obj.] create or bring about (an object or a situation) by deliberate use of skill and artifice: his opponents contrived a cabinet crisis | [with infinitive] you contrived to be alone with me despite the supervision.

- [with infinitive] manage to do something foolish or create an undesirable situation: he contrived to flood the flat three times.

<DERIVATIVES> contriver n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French contreuve-, stressed stem of controver ‘imagine, invent’, from medieval Latin contropare ‘compare’.

contrived adj. deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously: the carefully contrived image of party unity.

- created or arranged in a rather artificial way: the ending of the novel is too pat and contrived.

control n. 1 [mass noun] the power to influence or direct people's behaviour or the course of events: the whole operation is under the control of a production manager | the situation was slipping out of her control.

- the restriction of an activity, tendency, or phenomenon: crime control.

- the ability to restrain one's own emotions or actions: she was goaded beyond control.

- [count noun] (often controls) a means of limiting or regulating something: growing controls on local spending.

- [count noun] a switch or other device by which a device or vehicle is regulated: he had the chance to take the controls and fly the glider | the volume control.

- [with modifier] the place from which a system or activity is directed or where a particular item is verified: passport control.

- [COMPUTING] short for CONTROL KEY.

2 a person or thing used as a standard of comparison for checking the results of a survey or experiment: platelet activity was higher in patients with the disease than in the controls.

3 a member of an intelligence organization who personally directs the activities of a spy.

4 [BRIDGE] a high card that will prevent the opponents from establishing a particular suit.

■ v. (controls, controlling, controlled) 1 [with obj.] determine the behaviour or supervise the running of: he was appointed to control the company's marketing strategy.

- maintain influence or authority over: there were never enough masters to control the unruly mobs of boys.

- limit the level, intensity, or numbers of: he had to control his temper.

- (control oneself) remain calm and reasonable despite provocation.

- regulate (a mechanical or scientific process): the airflow is controlled by a fan.

- (as adj. controlled) (of a drug) restricted by law in respect of use and possession: a sentence for possessing controlled substances.

2 [no obj.] (control for) take into account (an extraneous factor that might affect the results of an experiment): no attempt was made to control for variations | (as adj. controlled) a controlled trial.

<PHRASES>

□ in control able to direct a situation, person, or activity.

□ out of control no longer possible to manage.

□ under control (of a danger or emergency) such that people are able to deal with it successfully: it took two hours to bring the blaze under control.

<DERIVATIVES> controllability n. controllable adj. controllably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘check or verify accounts’, especially by referring to a duplicate register): from Anglo-Norman French contreroller ‘keep a copy of a roll of accounts’, from medieval Latin contrarotulare, from contrarotulus ‘copy of a roll’, from contra- ‘against’ + rotulus ‘a roll’. The noun is perhaps via French contrôle.

control account n. an account used to record the balances on a number of subsidiary accounts and to provide a cross-check on them.

control character n. [COMPUTING] a character that does not represent a printable character but serves to initiate a particular action.

control freak n. INFORMAL a person who feels an obsessive need to exercise control over themselves and others and to take command of any situation.

<DERIVATIVES> control freakery n.

control key n. [COMPUTING] a key which alters the function of another key if the two are pressed at the same time.

controller n. a person or thing that directs or regulates something: the Controller of BBC Television Programmes | a temperature controller.

- a person in charge of an organization's finances.

<DERIVATIVES> controllership n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a person who kept a duplicate register of accounts): from Anglo-Norman contrerollour, from contreroller ‘keep a copy of a roll of accounts’ (see CONTROL). Compare with COMPTROLLER.

controlling interest n. the holding by one person or group of a majority of the stock of a business, giving the holder a means of exercising control: the purchase of a controlling interest in a company in California.

control rod n. a rod of a neutron-absorbing substance used to vary the output power of a nuclear reactor.

control tower n. a tall building at an airport from which the movements of air traffic are controlled.

controversial adj. giving rise or likely to give rise to controversy or public disagreement: years of wrangling over a controversial bypass.

<DERIVATIVES> controversialist n. controversially adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin controversialis, from controversia (see CONTROVERSY).

controversy /kntrəvəsi kəntrvəsi/ n. (pl. controversies) [mass noun] prolonged public disagreement or heated discussion: the design of the building has caused controversy | [count noun] the announcement ended a protracted controversy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin controversia, from controversus ‘turned against, disputed’, from contro- (variant of contra- ‘against’) + versus, past participle of vertere ‘to turn’.

<USAGE> There are two possible pronunciations of the word controversy: one puts the stress on the con- and the other puts it on the -trov-. The second pronunciation, though common, is still widely held to be incorrect in standard English.

controvert v. [with obj.] deny the truth of (something): subsequent work from the same laboratory controverted these results.

<DERIVATIVES> controvertible adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin controversus (see CONTROVERSY), on the pattern of pairs such as adversus (see ADVERSE), advertere (see advert^2).

contumacious /kntjmeəs/ adj. ARCHAIC or [LAW] (especially of a defendant's behaviour) stubbornly or wilfully disobedient to authority.

<DERIVATIVES> contumaciously adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin contumax, contumac- (perhaps from con- ‘with’ + tumere ‘to swell’) + -IOUS.

contumacy /kntjməsi/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC or [LAW] stubborn refusal to obey or comply with authority, especially disobedience to a court order or summons.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin contumacia ‘inflexibility’, from contumax (see CONTUMACIOUS).

contumelious /kntjmiləs/ adj. ARCHAIC (of behaviour) scornful and insulting; insolent.

<DERIVATIVES> contumeliously adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French contumelieus, from Latin contumeliosus, from contumelia ‘abuse, insult’ (see CONTUMELY).

contumely /kntjumli -tjumli/ n. (pl. contumelies) [mass noun] ARCHAIC insolent or insulting language or treatment: the Church should not be exposed to gossip and contumely.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French contumelie, from Latin contumelia, perhaps from con- ‘with’ + tumere ‘to swell’.

contuse /kəntjuz/ v. [with obj.] MEDICINE injure (a part of the body) without breaking the skin, forming a bruise.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin contus- ‘bruised, crushed’, from the verb contundere, from con- ‘together’ + tundere ‘beat, thump’.

contusion /kəntju(ə)n/ n. MEDICINE a region of injured tissue or skin in which blood capillaries have been ruptured; a bruise.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, from Latin contusio(n-), from the verb contundere (see CONTUSE).

conundrum /kənndrəm/ n. (pl. conundrums) a confusing and difficult problem or question: one of the most difficult conundrums for the experts.

- a question asked for amusement, typically one with a pun in its answer; a riddle.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin, but first recorded in a work by Thomas Nashe, as a term of abuse for a crank or pedant, later coming to denote a whim or fancy, also a pun. Current senses date from the late 17th cent.

conurbation /knəbe(ə)n/ n. an extended urban area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of a central city.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CON- ‘together’ + Latin urbs, urb- ‘city’ + -ATION.

conure /knjə/ n. a Central and South American parakeet that typically has green plumage with patches of other colours.

<INFO> Aratinga, Pyrrhura, and other genera, family Psittacidae: numerous species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin conurus (former genus name), from Greek kōnos ‘cone’ + oura ‘tail’.

conus /kənəs/ n. (pl. coni /-n/) [ANATOMY] 1 (in full conus arteriosus /αtərəsəs/) the upper front part of the right ventricle of the heart.

2 (in full conus medullaris /mεdəlαrs/) the conical lower extremity of the spinal cord.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘cone’.

convalesce /knvəlεs/ v. [no obj.] recover one's health and strength over a period of time after an illness or medical treatment: he spent eight months convalescing after the stroke.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin convalescere, from con- ‘altogether’ + valescere ‘grow strong’ (from valere ‘be well’).

convalescence n. [mass noun] time spent recovering from an illness or medical treatment; recuperation: a period of convalescence | [count noun] I had a long convalescence ahead.

convalescent adj. (of a person) recovering from an illness or medical treatment.

- [attr.] relating to convalescence: a convalescent home.

■ n. a person who is recovering after an illness or medical treatment.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin convalescent- ‘growing strong, recovering’, from the verb convalescere (see CONVALESCE).

convect /kənvεkt/ v. [with obj.] transport (heat or material) by convection: this gas fire convects heat efficiently | (as adj. convected) convected warmth.

- [no obj.] (of a fluid or fluid body) undergo convection: the fluid starts to convect | (as adj. convecting) the convecting layer.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from CONVECTION.

convection n. [mass noun] the movement caused within a fluid by the tendency of hotter and therefore less dense material to rise, and colder, denser material to sink under the influence of gravity, which consequently results in transfer of heat.

<DERIVATIVES> convectional adj. convective adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from late Latin convectio(n-), from Latin convehere, from con- ‘together’ + vehere ‘carry’.

convection cell n. a self-contained area in a fluid in which upward motion of warmer fluid in the centre is balanced by downward motion of cooler fluid at the periphery.

convection current n. a current in a fluid that results from convection.

convector n. a heating appliance that circulates warm air by convection.

convenance /knvənαns/ n. [mass noun] (also convenances) ARCHAIC conventional propriety.

<ORIGIN> French, from convenir ‘be fitting’, from Latin convenire (see CONVENE).

convene /kənvin/ v. come or bring together for a meeting or activity: [with obj.] he had convened a secret meeting of military personnel | [no obj.] the committee had convened for its final plenary session.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin convenire ‘assemble, agree, fit’, from con- ‘together’ + venire ‘come’.

convener (also convenor) n. a person whose job it is to call people together for meetings of a committee.

- BRITISH a senior trade union official at a workplace.

- the chairman and civic head of some regional Scottish councils.

convenience n. 1 [mass noun] the state of being able to proceed with something without difficulty: services should be run to suit the convenience of customers, not of staff.

- the quality of being useful, easy, or suitable for someone: the success of the food halls in large stores is due to their convenience.

- [count noun] a thing that contributes to an easy and effortless way of life: voicemail was seen as one of the desktop conveniences of the electronic office.

2 [count noun] BRITISH a public toilet.

<PHRASES>

□ at one's convenience at a time or place that suits one.

□ at one's earliest convenience as soon as one can without difficulty.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin convenientia, from convenient- ‘assembling, agreeing’, from the verb convenire (see CONVENE).

convenience food n. a food, typically a complete meal, that has been pre-prepared commercially and so requires minimum further preparation by the consumer.

convenience store n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a shop with extended opening hours, stocking a limited range of household goods and groceries.

conveniency n. rare term for convenience (sense 1).

convenient adj. fitting in well with a person's needs, activities, and plans: I phoned your office to confirm that this date is convenient.

- involving little trouble or effort: the new car park will make shopping much more convenient.

- (convenient for) situated so as to allow easy access to: the site would have to be convenient for London.

- helpfully placed or occurring: guests were relaxing beneath a convenient palm tree.

<DERIVATIVES> conveniently adv. [sentence adv.] he lived, conveniently, in Paris

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘befitting, becoming, suitable’): from Latin convenient- ‘assembling, agreeing, fitting’, from the verb convenire (see CONVENE).

convent n. a Christian community of nuns living together under monastic vows.

- (also convent school) a school attached to and run by a convent.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin conventus ‘assembly, company’, from the verb convenire (see CONVENE). The original spelling was covent (surviving in the place name Covent Garden); the modern form dates from the 16th cent.

conventicle /kənvεntk(ə)l/ n. HISTORICAL a secret or unlawful religious meeting, typically of nonconformists.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘assembly, meeting’, particularly a clandestine or illegal one): from Latin conventiculum ‘(place of) assembly’, diminutive of conventus ‘assembly, company’, from the verb convenire (see CONVENE).

convention n. 1 a way in which something is usually done: to attract the best patrons the movie houses had to ape the conventions and the standards of theatres.

- [mass noun] behaviour that is considered acceptable or polite to most members of a society: he was an upholder of convention and correct form | [count noun] the law is felt to express social conventions.

2 an agreement between states covering particular matters, especially one less formal than a treaty.

3 a large meeting or conference, especially of members of a political party or a particular profession or group: the party held its biennial convention.

- NORTH AMERICAN an assembly of the delegates of a political party to select candidates for office.

- a body set up by agreement to deal with a particular issue.

- HISTORICAL a meeting of Parliament without a summons from the sovereign.

4 [BRIDGE] a bid or system of bidding by which the bidder tries to convey specific information about the hand to their partner, as opposed to seeking to win the auction.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3): via Old French from Latin conventio(n-) ‘meeting, covenant’, from the verb convenire (see CONVENE).

■ Sense 1 dates from the late 18th cent.

conventional adj. 1 based on or in accordance with what is generally done or believed: a conventional morality had dictated behaviour.

- (of a person) greatly or overly concerned with what is generally held to be socially acceptable.

- (of a work of art or literature) following traditional forms and genres rather than drawn directly from nature.

- (of weapons or power) non-nuclear.

2 [BRIDGE] (of a bid) intended to convey a particular meaning according to an agreed convention. Often contrasted with NATURAL.

<DERIVATIVES> conventionalism n. conventionalist n. conventionality n. conventionalize (also conventionalise) v. conventionally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘relating to a formal agreement or convention’): from French conventionnel or late Latin conventionalis, from Latin conventio(n-) ‘meeting, covenant’, from the verb convenire (see CONVENE).

conventioneer n. NORTH AMERICAN a person attending a convention.

conventual /kənvεntəl/ adj. relating or belonging to a convent: the conventual life.

- relating to the less strict order of the Franciscans, living in large convents.

■ n. a person who lives in or is a member of a convent.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin conventualis, from Latin conventus ‘assembly, company’ (see CONVENT).

converge /kənvəd/ v. [no obj.] 1 (of lines) tend to meet at a point: a pair of lines of longitude are parallel at the equator but converge toward the poles.

- come together from different directions so as eventually to meet: convoys from America and the UK traversed thousands of miles to converge in the Atlantic.

- (converge on/upon) come from different directions and meet at (a place): half a million sports fans will converge on the capital for the London Marathon.

- (of a number of things) gradually change so as to become similar or develop something in common: the aims of the two developments can and should converge.

2 [MATHEMATICS] (of a series) approximate in the sum of its terms towards a definite limit.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from late Latin convergere, from con- ‘together’ + Latin vergere ‘incline’.

convergence (also convergency) n. [mass noun] the process or state of converging: the convergence of lines in the distance.

- [BIOLOGY] the tendency of unrelated animals and plants to evolve superficially similar characteristics under similar environmental conditions.

- (also convergence zone) a location where airflows or ocean currents meet, characteristically marked by upwelling (of air) or downwelling (of water).

convergent adj. 1 coming closer together; converging: a convergent boundary | there are a number of convergent reasons for the growth of interest in pragmatics.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] (of thought) tending to follow only well-established patterns.

- [BIOLOGY] relating to or denoting evolutionary convergence.

2 [MATHEMATICS] (of a series) approaching a definite limit as more of its terms are added.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from late Latin convergent- ‘inclining together’, from the verb convergere (see CONVERGE).

conversant adj. [predic.] familiar with or knowledgeable about something: you need someone who is conversant with the new technology.

<DERIVATIVES> conversance n. conversancy n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, present participle of converser (see converse^1). The original sense was ‘habitually spending time in a particular place or with a particular person’.

conversation n. a talk, especially an informal one, between two or more people, in which news and ideas are exchanged: she picked up the phone and held a conversation in French | [mass noun] the two men were deep in conversation.

<PHRASES>

□ make conversation talk for the sake of politeness without having anything to say.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘living among, familiarity, intimacy’): via Old French from Latin conversatio(n-), from the verb conversari (see converse^1).

conversational adj. as used in conversation; not formal: she spoke fluent, conversational English.

- consisting of or relating to conversation: conversational skills.

<DERIVATIVES> conversationally adv.

conversationalist n. a person who is good at or fond of engaging in conversation.

conversation piece n. 1 a painting of a genre in which groups of figures are posed in a landscape or domestic setting, popular especially in the 18th century.

2 an object whose unusual quality makes it a topic of conversation.

conversazione /knvəsatsəne/ n. (pl. conversaziones or conversazioni /-ni/) a scholarly social gathering held for discussion of literature and the arts.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from Latin conversatio (see CONVERSATION).

converse^1 v. /kənvəs/ [no obj.] engage in conversation: she was withdrawn and preoccupied, hardly able to converse with her mother.

■ n. /knvəs/ [mass noun] ARCHAIC conversation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘live among, be familiar with’): from Old French converser, from Latin conversari ‘keep company (with)’, from con- ‘with’ + versare, frequentative of vertere ‘to turn’. The current sense of the verb dates from the early 17th cent.

converse^2 /knvəs/ n. a situation, object, or statement that is the reverse of another or corresponds to it but with certain terms transposed: if spirituality is properly political, the converse is also true: politics is properly spiritual.

- [MATHEMATICS] a theorem whose hypothesis and conclusion are the conclusion and hypothesis of another.

■ adj. having characteristics which are the reverse of something else already mentioned: the only mode of change will be the slow process of growth and the converse process of decay.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin conversus ‘turned about’, past participle of convertere (see CONVERT).

conversely adv. introducing a statement or idea which reverses one that has just been made or referred to: he would have preferred his wife not to work, although conversely he was also proud of what she did.

conversion n. [mass noun] 1 the process of changing or causing something to change from one form to another: the conversion of food into body tissues.

- the adaptation of a building or part of a building for a new use: the conversion of a house into flats | [count noun] they were carrying out a loft conversion.

- [count noun] BRITISH a building that has been adapted for a new use: high-quality cottages and barn conversions.

- [LAW] the changing of real property into personalty, or of joint into separate property, or vice versa.

- [LOGIC] the transposition of the subject and predicate of a proposition according to certain rules to form a new proposition by inference.

2 the fact of changing one's religion or beliefs or the action of persuading someone else to change theirs.

- [CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY] repentance and change to a godly life.

3 [count noun] [RUGBY] a successful kick at goal after a try, scoring two points.

- [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] an act of converting a touchdown or a down.

4 [LAW] the action of wrongfully dealing with goods in a manner inconsistent with the owner's rights: he was found guilty of the fraudulent conversion of clients' monies.

5 [PSYCHIATRY] the manifestation of a mental disturbance as a physical disorder or disease.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘turning of sinners to God’): via Old French from Latin conversio(n-), from convers- ‘turned about’, from the verb convertere (see CONVERT).

conversion factor n. 1 an arithmetical multiplier for converting a quantity expressed in one set of units into an equivalent expressed in another.

2 [ECONOMICS] the manufacturing cost of a product relative to the cost of raw materials.

conversion van n. NORTH AMERICAN a motor vehicle in which the area behind the driver has been converted into a living space.

convert v. /kənvət/ 1 [with obj.] change the form, character, or function of something: modernization has converted the country from a primitive society to a near-industrial one.

- [no obj.] be able to change from one form to another: the seating converts to a double or two single beds.

- change (money, stocks, or units in which a quantity is expressed) into others of a different kind.

- adapt (a building) to make it suitable for a new purpose: the company converted a disused cinema to house twelve machinists | (as adj. converted) a converted Victorian property.

- [LOGIC] transpose the subject and predicate of (a proposition) according to certain rules to form a new proposition by inference.

2 [no obj.] change one's religious faith or other belief: at sixteen he converted to Catholicism.

- [with obj.] persuade (someone) to change their religious faith or other belief: he was converted in his later years to the socialist cause.

3 [with obj.] score from (a penalty kick, pass, or other opportunity) in a sport or game.

- [RUGBY] score extra points after (a try) by a successful kick at goal.

- [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] advance the ball far enough after (a down) to get another try for a first down.

- [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] make an extra score after (a touchdown) by kicking a goal (one point) or running another play into the end zone (two points).

■ n. /knvət/ a person who has been persuaded to change their religious faith or other belief: he is a recent convert to the Church.

<PHRASES>

□ convert something to one's own use [LAW] wrongfully make use of another's property.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘turn round, send in a different direction’): from Old French convertir, based on Latin convertere ‘turn about’, from con- ‘altogether’ + vertere ‘turn’.

converted rice n. [mass noun] North American (TRADEMARK in the US) white rice prepared from brown rice that has been soaked, steamed under pressure, and then dried and milled.

converter (also convertor) n. a person or thing that converts something: the would-be converter of a building to domestic use.

- a device for altering the nature of an electric current or signal, especially from AC to DC or vice versa, or from analogue to digital or vice versa.

- a retort used in steel-making.

■ short for CATALYTIC CONVERTER.

- [COMPUTING] a program that converts data from one format to another.

- a camera lens which changes the focal length of another lens by a set amount.

converter reactor n. a nuclear reactor that converts fertile material into fissile material.

convertible adj. able to be changed in form, function, or character: a convertible sofa | nationalism is too easily convertible into bitterness and selfishness.

- (of currency) able to be converted into other forms, especially into gold or US dollars.

- (of a bond or stock) able to be converted into ordinary or preference shares.

- (of a car) having a folding or detachable roof.

- [LOGIC] (of terms) synonymous.

■ n. 1 a car with a folding or detachable roof.

2 (usually convertibles) a convertible security.

<DERIVATIVES> convertibility n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘interchangeable’): from Old French, from Latin convertibilis, from convertere ‘turn about’ (see CONVERT).

convex /knvεks/ adj. 1 having an outline or surface curved like the exterior of a circle or sphere. Compare with CONCAVE.

2 (of a polygon) not having any interior angles greater than 180°.

<DERIVATIVES> convexity n. convexly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin convexus ‘vaulted, arched’.

convexo-concave /kənvεksə/ adj. (of a lens) convex on one side and concave on the other and thickest in the centre.

convexo-convex adj. another term for BICONVEX.

convey /kənve/ v. 1 [with obj.] transport or carry to a place: pipes were laid to convey water to the house.

- make (an idea, impression, or feeling) known or understandable: the real virtues and diversity of America had never been conveyed in the movies | [with clause] it's impossible to convey how lost I felt.

- communicate (a message or information): Mr Harvey and his daughter have asked me to convey their very kind regards.

2 [LAW] transfer the title to (property).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘escort’; compare with CONVOY): from Old French conveier, from medieval Latin conviare, from con- ‘together’ + Latin via ‘way’.

conveyance n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of transporting or carrying someone or something from one place to another: a busy centre for the conveyance of agricultural produce from the Billingshurst area.

- [count noun] FORMAL or HUMOROUS a means of transport; a vehicle: adventurers attempt the trail using all manner of conveyances, including mountain bikes and motorcycles.

2 [LAW] the legal process of transferring property from one owner to another.

- [count noun] a legal document effecting such a process in the case of an unregistered title.

conveyancing n. [mass noun] the branch of law concerned with the preparation of documents for the conveyance of property.

- the action of preparing documents for the conveyance of property.

<DERIVATIVES> conveyancer n.

conveyor (also conveyer) n. a person or thing that transports or communicates something: a conveyor of information.

- a conveyor belt.

conveyor belt n. a continuous moving band of fabric, rubber, or metal used for transporting objects from one place to another.

convict v. /kənvkt/ declare (someone) to be guilty of a criminal offence by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law: her former boyfriend was convicted of assaulting her | (as adj. convicted) a convicted murderer.

■ n. /knvkt/ a person found guilty of a criminal offence and serving a sentence of imprisonment.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin convict- ‘demonstrated, refuted, convicted’, from the verb convincere (see CONVINCE). The noun is from obsolete convict ‘convicted’.

conviction n. 1 a formal declaration by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law that someone is guilty of a criminal offence: she had a previous conviction for a similar offence.

2 a firmly held belief or opinion: she takes pride in stating her political convictions | [with clause] his conviction that the death was no accident was stronger.

- [mass noun] the quality of showing that one is firmly convinced of what one believes or says: she had been speaking for some five minutes with force and conviction.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin convictio(n-), from the verb convincere (see CONVINCE).

convince v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to believe firmly in the truth of something: Robert's expression had obviously convinced her of his innocence | [with obj. and clause] we had to convince politicians that they needed to do something.

- [with obj. and infinitive] persuade (someone) to do something: she convinced my father to branch out on his own.

<DERIVATIVES> convincer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘overcome, defeat in argument’): from Latin convincere, from con- ‘with’ + vincere ‘conquer’. Compare with CONVICT.

<USAGE> Convince used (with an infinitive) as a synonym for persuade first became common in the 1950s in the US, as in she convinced my father to branch out on his own. Some traditionalists deplore the blurring of distinction between convince and persuade, maintaining that convince should be reserved for situations in which someone's belief is changed but no action is taken as a result (he convinced me that he was right) while persuade should be used for situations in which action results (he persuaded me rather than he convinced me to seek more advice). In practice the newer use is well established.

convinced adj. completely certain about something: she was not entirely convinced of the soundness of his motives | [with clause] I am convinced the war will be over in a matter of months.

- [attr.] firm in one's belief with regard to a particular cause or issue: a convinced pacifist.

convincing adj. capable of causing someone to believe that something is true or real: there is no convincing evidence that advertising influences total alcohol consumption.

- (of a victory or a winner) leaving no margin of doubt; clear: Wales cruised to a convincing win over Ireland.

<DERIVATIVES> convincingly adv.

convivial /kənvvəl/ adj. (of an atmosphere or event) friendly, lively, and enjoyable: a convivial cocktail party.

- (of a person) cheerful and friendly; jovial: she was relaxed and convivial.

<DERIVATIVES> convivially adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘fit for a feast, festive’): from Latin convivialis, from convivium ‘a feast’, from con- ‘with’ + vivere ‘live’.

conviviality /kənvvalti/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being friendly and lively; friendliness: the conviviality of the evening.

convocation /knvəke(ə)n/ n. 1 a large formal assembly of people, in particular:

- (in the Church of England) a representative assembly of clergy of the province of Canterbury or York.

- BRITISH a legislative or deliberative assembly of a university.

- NORTH AMERICAN a formal ceremony for the conferment of university awards.

2 [mass noun] the action of calling people together for a large formal assembly.

<DERIVATIVES> convocational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin convocatio(n-), from the verb convocare (see CONVOKE).

convoke /kənvək/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL call together or summon (an assembly or meeting): she sent messages convoking a Council of Ministers.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin convocare, from con- ‘together’ + vocare ‘call’.

convoluted /knvəl(j)utd/ adj. 1 (especially of an argument, story, or sentence) extremely complex and difficult to follow: the film is let down by a convoluted plot in which nothing really happens.

2 intricately folded, twisted, or coiled: walnuts come in hard and convoluted shells.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: past participle of convolute, from Latin convolutus, past participle of convolvere ‘roll together, intertwine’ (see CONVOLVE).

convolution n. 1 a coil or twist: crosses adorned with elaborate convolutions.

- [mass noun] the state of being or process of becoming coiled or twisted.

2 a thing that is complex and difficult to follow: the convolutions of farm policy.

3 a sinuous fold in the surface of the brain.

4 (also convolution integral) [MATHEMATICS] a function derived from two given functions by integration which expresses how the shape of one is modified by the other.

- a method of determination of the sum of two random variables by integration or summation.

<DERIVATIVES> convolutional adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin convolutio(n-), from convolvere ‘roll together’ (see CONVOLVE).

convolve /kənvlv/ v. [with obj.] 1 RARE roll or coil together; entwine.

2 [MATHEMATICS] combine (one function or series) with another by forming their convolution.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘enclose in folds’): from Latin convolvere ‘roll together’, from con- ‘together’ + volvere ‘roll’.

convolvulus /kənvlvjləs/ n. (pl. convolvuluses) a twining plant with trumpet-shaped flowers, of which some kinds are invasive weeds (see also BINDWEED), and others are cultivated for their bright flowers.

<INFO> Genus Convolvulus, family Convolvulaceae.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘bindweed’, from CONVOLVEre ‘roll together’ (see CONVOLVE).

convoy /knv/ n. a group of ships or vehicles travelling together, typically one accompanied by armed troops, warships, or other vehicles for protection: a convoy of lorries.

■ v. [with obj.] (of a warship or armed troops) accompany (a group of ships or vehicles) for protection.

<PHRASES>

□ in convoy as a group; together: the army trucks had passed through in convoy the previous evening.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally Scots, as a verb in the senses ‘convey’, ‘conduct’, and ‘act as escort’): from French convoyer, from medieval Latin conviare (see CONVEY).

convulsant adj. (chiefly of drugs) producing sudden and involuntary muscle contractions.

■ n. a convulsant drug.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from convulser, from Latin convuls- ‘pulled violently, wrenched’, from the verb convellere (see CONVULSE).

convulse /kənvls/ v. [no obj.] suffer violent involuntary contraction of the muscles, producing contortion of the body or limbs: she convulsed, collapsing to the floor with the pain.

- [with obj.] (of an emotion, laughter, or physical stimulus) cause (someone) to make sudden, violent, uncontrollable movements: she rocked backwards and forwards, convulsed with helpless mirth.

- [with obj.] throw (a country) into violent social or political upheaval: a wave of mass strikes convulsed the Ruhr, Berlin, and central Germany.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin convuls- ‘pulled violently, wrenched’, from the verb convellere, from con- ‘together’ + vellere ‘to pull’.

convulsion n. (often convulsions) 1 a sudden, violent, irregular movement of the body, caused by involuntary contraction of muscles and associated especially with brain disorders such as epilepsy, the presence of certain toxins or other agents in the blood, or fever in children.

- (convulsions) uncontrollable laughter: the audience collapsed in convulsions.

2 an earthquake or other violent or major movement of the earth's crust: the violent convulsions of tectonic plates.

3 a violent social or political upheaval: the convulsions of 1939–45.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally in the sense ‘cramp, spasm’): from Latin convulsio(n-), from the verb convellere (see CONVULSE).

convulsive adj. producing or consisting of sudden, violent, and uncontrollable body movements: a convulsive disease | she gave a convulsive sob.

<DERIVATIVES> convulsively adv.

Conwy /knwi/ (also Conway) a market town and county in North Wales, on the River Conwy; town pop. 14,600 (est. 2000). A railway bridge built by Stephenson in 1848 and a suspension bridge built by Telford in 1826 span the river here.

coo^1 v. (coos, cooing, cooed) [no obj.] (of a pigeon or dove) make a soft murmuring sound: ringdoves cooed among the branches.

- (of a person) speak in a soft gentle voice: she cooed with delight as he unpacked the bags | [with direct speech] ‘I knew I could count on you,’ she cooed.

■ n. a soft murmuring sound made by a dove or pigeon.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: imitative.

coo^2 exclam. BRITISH INFORMAL used to express surprise: ‘Coo, ain't it high!’ Mary squeaked.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: imitative.

co-occur v. [no obj.] occur together or simultaneously.

<DERIVATIVES> co-occurrence n.

cooee INFORMAL exclam. used to attract attention, especially at a distance: ‘Cooee!’ The call brought all three heads round.

■ v. (cooees, cooeeing, cooeed) [no obj.] make a call to attract attention.

<PHRASES>

□ within cooee AUSTRALIAN/NZ within reach; near: there's loads of cheap accommodation within cooee of the airport.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: imitative of a signal used by Australian Aborigines and copied by settlers.

Cook^1 Captain James (1728–79), English explorer. On his first expedition to the Pacific (1768–71), he charted the coasts of New Zealand and New Guinea as well as exploring the east coast of Australia and claiming it for Britain. He made two more voyages to the Pacific before being killed in a skirmish with indigenous people in Hawaii.

Cook^2 Peter (Edward) (1937–95), English comedian and actor. A writer and performer of the revue Beyond the Fringe (1959–64), he is remembered also for his television partnership with Dudley Moore. He had a long association with the satirical magazine Private Eye.

Cook^3 Thomas (1808–92), English founder of the travel firm Thomas Cook. In 1841 he organized the first publicly advertised excursion train in England; the success of this venture led him to organize further excursions both in Britain and abroad, laying the foundations for the tourist and travel-agent industry.

cook v. 1 [with obj.] prepare (food, a dish, or a meal) by mixing, combining, and heating the ingredients: shall I cook dinner tonight? | [with two objs] she cooked me eggs and bacon | (as adj. cooked) a cooked breakfast.

- [no obj.] (of food) be heated so that the state required for eating is reached: while the rice is cooking, add the saffron to the stock.

2 [with obj.] INFORMAL alter dishonestly; falsify: a narcotics team who cooked the evidence.

- (cook something up) concoct a clever or devious story, excuse, or plan.

3 [no obj.] (be cooking) INFORMAL be happening or planned: what's cooking on the alternative fuels front?

4 [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL perform or proceed vigorously or very well: the band used to get up on the bandstand and really cook.

■ n. a person who prepares and cooks food, especially as a job or in a specified way: Susan was a school cook | I'm a good cook.

<PHRASES>

□ cook the books INFORMAL alter facts or figures dishonestly or illegally.

□ cook someone's goose INFORMAL spoil someone's plans; cause someone's downfall.

□ too many cooks spoil the broth PROVERB if too many people are involved in a task or activity, it will not be done well.

<ORIGIN> Old English cōc (noun), from popular Latin cocus, from Latin coquus.

Cook, Mount the highest peak in New Zealand, in the Southern Alps in the South Island, rising to a height of 3,764 m (12,349 ft). It is named after Captain James Cook. Official name AORAKI-MOUNT COOK.

cookbook n. a cookery book.

cook-chill adj. [attr.] BRITISH relating to or denoting a procedure whereby food is cooked and refrigerated by the manufacturer ready for reheating by the consumer: cook-chill food | cook-chill processes.

Cooke Sir William Fothergill (1806–79), English inventor. With Sir Charles Wheatstone he invented the electric telegraph alarm.

cooker n. British 1 an appliance used for cooking food, typically consisting of an oven, hob, and grill and powered by gas or electricity.

2 INFORMAL an apple or other fruit that is more suitable for cooking than for eating raw.

cookery n. (pl. cookeries) 1 [mass noun] the practice or skill of preparing and cooking food.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a place in which food is cooked; a kitchen.

cookery book n. chiefly BRITISH a book containing recipes and other information about the preparation and cooking of food.

cookhouse n. a building or area used for cooking, especially in a military camp.

cookie n. (pl. cookies) 1 NORTH AMERICAN a sweet biscuit.

2 [with adj.] INFORMAL a person of a specified kind: she's a tough cookie.

3 SCOTTISH a plain bun.

4 [COMPUTING] a packet of data sent by an Internet server to a browser, which is returned by the browser each time it subsequently accesses the same server, used to identify the user or track their access to the server.

<PHRASES>

□ that's the way the cookie crumbles INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN that's the way the situation is, and it must be accepted, however undesirable.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Dutch koekje ‘little cake’, diminutive of koek.

cookie cutter n. NORTH AMERICAN a device with sharp edges for cutting biscuit dough into a particular shape.

- [as modifier] denoting something mass-produced or lacking any distinguishing characteristics: a cookie-cutter apartment in a high-rise building.

cookie jar n. NORTH AMERICAN a jar for biscuits or small cakes.

<PHRASES>

□ with one's hand in the cookie jar engaged in surreptitious theft from one's employer: they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

cooking n. [mass noun] the process of preparing food by heating it.

- food that has been prepared in this way: authentic Italian cooking.

- [as modifier] suitable for or used in cooking: cooking chocolate.

Cook Islands a group of fifteen islands in the SW Pacific Ocean between Tonga and French Polynesia, which have the status of a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand; pop. 20,811 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), Rarotongan (a Polynesian language); capital, Avarua, on Rarotonga.

<ORIGIN> named after Captain James Cook (see Cook^1), who visited them in 1773.

cookout n. NORTH AMERICAN a party or gathering where a meal is cooked and eaten outdoors.

cookshop n. 1 ARCHAIC a shop selling cooked food.

2 BRITISH a shop selling cooking equipment.

Cookson /kks(ə)n/ Dame Catherine (Anne) (1906–98), English writer, a prolific author of light romantic fiction.

Cook's tour n. INFORMAL a rapid tour of many places: let me give you the Cook's tour of the works here | FIGURATIVE he then took me on a Cook's tour of his scientific theories.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of the travel agent Thomas Cook (see Cook^3).

Cook Strait the strait separating the South Island and the North Island of New Zealand. It was named after Captain James Cook, who visited it in 1770.

cooktop n. NORTH AMERICAN a cooking unit, usually with hot plates or burners, built into or fixed on the top of a cabinet or other surface.

cookware n. [mass noun] pots, pans, or dishes in which food can be cooked: cast-iron cookware.

cool adj. 1 of or at a fairly low temperature: it'll be a cool afternoon | the wind kept them cool.

- soothing or refreshing because of its low temperature: a long, cool glass of orange juice.

- (especially of clothing) keeping one from becoming too hot: a cool cotton dress.

- (of a colour) containing pale blue, green, or grey tones: the bathroom was all glass and cool, muted blues.

2 showing no friendliness towards a person or enthusiasm for an idea or project: he gave a cool reception to the suggestion for a research centre.

- free from excitement, anxiety, or excessive emotion: he prided himself on keeping a cool head | she seems cool, calm, and collected.

- (of jazz) restrained and relaxed.

3 INFORMAL fashionably attractive or impressive: youngsters are turning to smoking because they think it makes them appear cool.

- excellent: [as exclamation] our office was a sunny room with a computer you didn't even have to plug in. Cool!

- used to express acceptance of or agreement with something: if people want to freak out at our clubs, that's cool.

4 (a cool ——) INFORMAL used to emphasize the size of an amount of money: research for a new drug can cost a cool £50 million.

■ n. [mass noun] (the cool) a fairly low temperature: the cool of the night air.

- a time or place at which the temperature is pleasantly low: the cool of the day.

■ v. become or make less hot: [no obj.] we dived into the river to cool off | [with obj.] cool the pastry for five minutes.

- become or make calm or less excited: [no obj.] after I'd cooled off, I realized I was being irrational | [with obj.] George was trying to cool him down.

- [no obj.] (cool out) INFORMAL relax: a dreamy spot full of sunshine and sea where you could cool out and detox.

<PHRASES>

□ cool it! INFORMAL behave in a less excitable manner: cool it and tell me why you're so ecstatic.

□ cool one's heels see heel^1.

□ keep (or lose) one's cool INFORMAL maintain (or fail to maintain) a calm and controlled attitude: he finally lost his cool with a photographer and threatened to hit him.

<DERIVATIVES> cooled adj. [in combination] a water-cooled engine coolish adj. coolly adv. coolness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cōl (noun), cōlian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch koel, also to COLD.

coolant n. a liquid or gas that is used to remove heat from something.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from COOL, on the pattern of lubricant.

cool bag n. BRITISH a soft insulated container for keeping food and drink cool.

cool box (also cool bag) n. BRITISH a rigid insulated container for keeping food and drink cool.

cooldrink n. S. AFRICAN a soft drink.

cooler n. 1 a container for keeping food or bottles cool.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a refrigerator.

3 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a long drink, especially a mixture of wine, fruit juice, and soda water.

4 (the cooler) INFORMAL prison or a prison cell.

Cooley's anaemia /kulz/ n. another term for THALASSAEMIA.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Thomas B. Cooley (1871–1945), American paediatrician.

cool-headed adj. not easily worried or excited.

coolibah /kulbα/ (also coolabah) n. a North Australian gum tree which typically grows near watercourses and yields very strong, hard timber.

<INFO> Eucalyptus microtheca, family Myrtaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Kamilaroi (and related languages) gulubaa.

Coolidge /kuld/ (John) Calvin (1872–1933), American Republican statesman, 30th President of the US 1923–9.

coolie /kuli/ n. (pl. coolies) DATED an unskilled native labourer in India, China, and some other Asian countries.

- OFFENSIVE a person from the Indian subcontinent or a person of Indian descent.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Hindi and Telugu kūlī ‘day labourer’, probably associated with Urdu ulī ‘slave’.

coolie hat n. a broad conical hat as worn by labourers in some Asian countries.

cooling tower n. a tall, open-topped, cylindrical concrete tower, used for cooling water or condensing steam from an industrial process.

CoolMax n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a polyester fabric which draws perspiration along its fibres away from the skin, used chiefly in sportswear.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: an invented name, probably from COOL + MAX.

coolth /kulθ/ n. [mass noun] 1 pleasantly low temperature: the coolth of the evening.

2 INFORMAL the quality of being fashionable: the pinnacle of 1960s coolth.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (but rare before the 20th century): from COOL + -TH^2.

coon n. 1 North American short for RACCOON.

2 INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE a black person. [<ORIGIN> slang use of sense 1, from an earlier sense ‘(sly) fellow’.]

<PHRASES>

□ for (or in) a coon's age NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DATED a very long time.

cooncan /kunkan/ n. [mass noun] a card game for two players, originally from Mexico, similar to rummy.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably from Spanish con quién ‘with whom?’.

coonhound n. a dog of a black and tan American breed, used to hunt raccoons.

coonskin n. the pelt of a raccoon.

coop n. a cage or pen in which poultry are kept.

- BRITISH a basket used in catching fish.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (usually be cooped up) confine in a small space: being cooped up indoors all day makes him fidgety.

2 put or keep (poultry) in a cage or pen.

<ORIGIN> Middle English cowpe; related to Dutch kuip ‘vat’ and German Kufe ‘cask’, based on Latin cupa. Compare with COOPER.

co-op /kəp/ n. INFORMAL a cooperative society, shop, business, or farm.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation.

Cooper^1 Gary (1901–61), American actor; born Frank James Cooper. He is noted for his performances in such westerns as The Virginian (1929) and High Noon (1952).

Cooper^2 Sir Henry (b.1934), English boxer, the only man to win a Lonsdale belt outright three times. He knocked down Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) in 1963, but a bad cut inflicted by the same opponent in 1966 in his only world title fight hastened his retirement in 1971.

Cooper^3 James Fenimore (1789–1851), American novelist. He is renowned for his tales of American Indians and frontier life, in particular The Last of the Mohicans (1826).

Cooper^4 Susie (1902–95), English ceramic designer and manufacturer; full name Susan Vera Cooper. Her work is noted for its functional shapes and simple, vivid designs.

cooper n. a maker or repairer of casks and barrels.

■ v. [with obj.] make or repair (a cask or barrel).

<ORIGIN> Middle English cowper, from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German kūper, from kūpe ‘tub, vat’, based on Latin cupa. Compare with COOP.

cooperage n. a cooper's business or premises.

- [mass noun] the making of barrels and casks.

cooperate /kəpəret/ (also co-operate) v. [no obj.] work jointly towards the same end: the leaders promised to cooperate in ending the civil war | staff need to cooperate with each other.

- assist someone or comply with their requests: his captor threatened to kill him if he didn't cooperate.

<DERIVATIVES> cooperant n. cooperator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from ecclesiastical Latin cooperat- ‘worked together’, from the verb cooperari, from co- ‘together’ + operari ‘to work’.

cooperation (also co-operation) n. [mass noun] the action or process of working together to the same end: they worked in close cooperation with the British Tourist Authority.

- assistance, especially by complying readily with requests: we should like to ask for your cooperation in the survey.

- [ECONOMICS] the formation and operation of cooperatives.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin cooperatio(n-), from the verb cooperari (see COOPERATE); later reinforced by French coopération.

cooperative (also co-operative) adj. involving mutual assistance in working towards a common goal: every member has clearly defined tasks in a cooperative enterprise.

- willing to be of assistance: they have been extremely considerate, polite, and cooperative.

- (of a farm, business, etc.) owned and run jointly by its members, with profits or benefits shared among them.

■ n. a farm, business, or other organization which is owned and run jointly by its members, who share the profits or benefits.

<DERIVATIVES> cooperatively adv. cooperativeness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin cooperativus, from Latin cooperat- ‘worked together’, from the verb cooperari (see COOPERATE).

cooperative movement n. a movement originating in the industrial areas of northern England and Scotland in the late 18th century, based on the belief that industries and commercial concerns should be owned and controlled by the people working in them, for joint economic benefit.

Cooperative Republic of Guyana official name for GUYANA.

Cooper pair n. [PHYSICS] a loosely bound pair of electrons with opposite spins and moving with the same speed in opposite directions, held to be responsible for the phenomenon of superconductivity.

- a similar bound pair of atoms in a superfluid.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Leon N. Cooper (born 1930), American physicist.

coopery n. (pl. cooperies)

■ another term for COOPERAGE.

coopetition /kəpət(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] collaboration between business competitors, in the hope of mutually beneficial results.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from COOPERATIVE + COMPETITION.

co-opt v. [with obj.] appoint to membership of a committee or other body by invitation of the existing members.

- divert to or use in a role different from the usual or original one: [with obj. and infinitive] social scientists were co-opted to work with the development agencies.

- adopt (an idea or policy) for one's own use: the green parties have had most of their ideas co-opted by bigger parties.

<DERIVATIVES> co-optation n. co-option n. co-optive adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin cooptare, from co- ‘together’ + optare ‘choose’.

coordinate (also co-ordinate) v. /kədnet/ [with obj.] 1 bring the different elements of (a complex activity or organization) into a harmonious or efficient relationship: he had responsibility for coordinating London's transport services.

- [no obj.] negotiate with others in order to work together effectively: you will coordinate with consultants and other departments on a variety of projects.

- [no obj.] match or harmonize attractively: the stud fastenings are coloured to coordinate with the shirt | (as adj. coordinating) a variety of coordinating colours.

2 [CHEMISTRY] form a coordinate bond to (an atom or molecule).

■ adj. /kədnət/ 1 equal in rank or importance: cross references in the catalogue link subjects which may be coordinate.

- [GRAMMAR] (of parts of a compound sentence) equal in rank and fulfilling identical functions.

2 [CHEMISTRY] denoting a type of covalent bond in which one atom provides both the shared electrons.

■ n. /kədnət/ 1 each of a group of numbers used to indicate the position of a point, line, or plane.

2 (coordinates) matching items of clothing.

<DERIVATIVES> coordinative adj. coordinator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the senses ‘of the same rank’ and ‘place in the same rank’): from CO- ‘together’ + Latin ordinare (from ordo ‘order’), on the pattern of subordinate.

Coordinated Universal Time another term for GREENWICH MEAN TIME.

coordinating conjunction n. a conjunction placed between words, phrases, clauses, or sentences of equal rank, e.g. and, but, or. Contrasted with SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION.

coordination /kədne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the organization of the different elements of a complex body or activity so as to enable them to work together effectively: an important managerial task is the control and coordination of activities.

- cooperative effort resulting in an effective relationship: action groups work in coordination with local groups to end rainforest destruction.

- the ability to use different parts of the body together smoothly and efficiently: changing from one foot position to another requires coordination and balance.

2 [CHEMISTRY] the linking of atoms by coordinate bonds.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘placing in the same rank’): from French or from late Latin coordinatio(n-), based on Latin ordo, ordin- ‘order’.

coordination compound n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound containing coordinate bonds, typically between a central metal atom and a number of other atoms or groups.

coordination number n. [CHEMISTRY] the number of atoms or ions immediately surrounding a central atom in a complex or crystal.

coot n. 1 (pl. same) an aquatic bird of the rail family, with blackish plumage, lobed feet, and a bill that extends back on to the forehead as a horny shield.

<INFO> Genus Fulica, family Rallidae: several species, in particular the widespread F. atra, which has a white bill and frontal shield.

2 (usually old coot) INFORMAL a stupid or eccentric person, typically an old man.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Dutch or Low German origin and related to Dutch koet.

cooter n. a North American river turtle with a dull brown shell and typically having yellow stripes on the head.

<INFO> Genus Pseudemys, family Emydidae: several species, in particular P. concinna, some races of which are known as sliders.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

cootie /kuti/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a body louse.

<ORIGIN> First World War: perhaps from Malay kutu, denoting a parasitic biting insect.

co-own v. [with obj.] own (something) jointly.

<DERIVATIVES> co-owner n. co-ownership n.

cop^1 INFORMAL n. 1 a police officer.

2 (also cop-on) [mass noun] IRISH shrewdness; practical intelligence: he had the cop-on to stay clear of Hugh Thornley.

■ v. (cops, copping, copped) [with obj.] 1 catch or arrest (an offender): he was copped for speeding.

- incur (something unwelcome): England's captain copped most of the blame.

- (cop it) BRITISH get into trouble: will you cop it from your dad if you get back late?

- (cop it) BRITISH be killed: he almost copped it in a horrific accident.

2 receive or attain (something welcome): she copped an award for her role in the film.

- US obtain (an illegal drug).

3 NORTH AMERICAN strike (an attitude or pose): I copped an attitude—I acted real tough.

<PHRASES>

□ cop a feel INFORMAL fondle someone sexually, especially in a surreptitious way or without their permission.

□ cop hold of [usually in imperative] BRITISH take hold of: cop hold of the suitcase, I'm off.

□ cop a plea NORTH AMERICAN engage in plea bargaining.

□ it's a fair cop see fair^1.

□ not much cop BRITISH not very good: they say he's not much cop as a coach.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ cop off BRITISH have a sexual encounter: loads of girls think that guys just want to cop off with any girl.

□ cop on IRISH become aware of something: she never copped on—you've no idea of the guilt I went through.

- [as imperative] used as a way of telling someone not to be so stupid: ah, cop on, I was only messin'.

□ cop out avoid doing something that one ought to do: he would not cop out of the difficult tax decisions.

□ cop to US accept or admit to: there are a lot of people in the world who don't cop to their past.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as a verb): perhaps from obsolete cap ‘arrest’, from Old French caper ‘seize’, from Latin capere. The noun is from COPPER^2.

cop^2 n. a conical mass of thread wound on to a spindle.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: possibly from Old English cop ‘summit, top’.

Copacabana Beach /kpəkəbanə/ a resort on the Atlantic coast of Brazil near Rio de Janeiro.

copacetic /kəpəsεtk -sit-/ adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL in excellent order.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

copaiba /kəpbə/ n. [mass noun] an aromatic plant oil or resin used in medicines and perfumes.

<INFO> These resins are obtained from plants of the genus Copaifera.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via Portuguese from Tupi copaiba, Guarani cupaiba.

copal /kəp(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] resin from any of a number of tropical trees, used to make varnish.

<INFO> The resin is obtained from trees in the families Leguminosae (genera Guibourtia, Copaifera, and Trachylobium) and Araucariaceae (genus Agathis).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Spanish from Nahuatl copalli ‘incense’.

Copán /kəpan/ an ancient Mayan city, in western Honduras near the Guatemalan frontier, the southernmost point of the Mayan empire.

coparcenary /kəpαs(ə)n(ə)ri/ n. (pl. coparcenaries) [mass noun] [LAW] joint heirship; the status of a coparcener.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from CO- ‘together’ + parcenary, legal term in the same sense, from Anglo-Norman French parcenarie, from parcener ‘coparcener’ (see COPARCENER).

coparcener /kəpαs(ə)nə/ n. [LAW] a person who shares equally with others in the inheritance of an undivided estate or in the rights to it (in the UK now as equitable interests).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from CO- ‘together’ + parcener, legal term in the same (see PARTNER).

co-parent v. [with obj.] (often as n. co-parenting) (especially of a separated or unmarried couple) share the duties of bringing up (a child).

■ n. a person who co-parents a child.

co-partner n. a partner or associate, especially an equal partner in a business.

<DERIVATIVES> co-partnership n.

COPD abbr. MEDICINE chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, involving constriction of the airways and difficulty or discomfort in breathing.

cope^1 v. [no obj.] deal effectively with something difficult: it all got too much for me and I couldn't cope | the roads are barely adequate to cope with the present traffic.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘meet in battle, come to blows’): from Old French coper, colper, from cop, colp ‘a blow’, via Latin from Greek kolaphos ‘blow with the fist’.

cope^2 n. a long, loose cloak worn by a priest or bishop on ceremonial occasions.

- TECHNICAL or LITERARY a thing resembling or likened to a cloak: the outer shell of clay is called the cope.

■ v. [with obj.] (in building) cover (a joint or structure) with a coping: (as adj. coped) a coped joint.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a long outdoor cloak): from medieval Latin capa, variant of late Latin cappa (see cap^1 and cape^1).

Copenhagen /kəpənhe(ə)n -hα(ə)n/ the capital and chief port of Denmark, a city occupying the eastern part of Zealand and northern part of the island of Amager; pop. 487,969 (1998). Danish name København.

copepod /kəppd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a small or microscopic aquatic crustacean of the large class Copepoda.

Copepoda /kəppədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large class of small aquatic crustaceans, many of which occur in plankton and some of which are parasitic on larger aquatic animals.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kōpē ‘handle, oar’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’ (because of its paddle-like feet).

coper^1 (also horse-coper) n. ARCHAIC a horse-dealer.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Middle English cope ‘buy’, from Dutch, Low German kōpen; related to German kaufen, also to CHEAP.

coper^2 n. a person who deals effectively with difficult situations: Emma was always going to be fine. She was one of life's copers.

Copernican system /kəpənk(ə)n/ (also Copernican theory) n. [ASTRONOMY] the theory that the sun is the centre of the solar system, with the planets (including the earth) orbiting round it. Compare with PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: named after COPERNICUS.

Copernicus /kəpənkəs/ Nicolaus (1473–1543), Polish astronomer; Latinized name of Mikołaj Kopernik. He proposed a model of the solar system in which the planets orbited in perfect circles around the sun, and his work ultimately led to the overthrow of the established geocentric cosmology. He published his astronomical theories in De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (1543).

<DERIVATIVES> Copernican adj.

copestone n. old-fashioned term for COPING STONE.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from COPE^2 + STONE.

copiable adj. able to be copied, especially legitimately.

copier n. a machine that makes exact copies of something, especially documents, video or audio recordings, or software.

co-pilot n. a second pilot in an aircraft.

■ v. [with obj.] act as the co-pilot of (an aircraft).

coping n. the top, typically curved or sloping, course of a brick or stone wall.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from the verb cope^2, originally meaning ‘dress in a cope’, hence ‘to cover’.

coping saw n. a saw with a very narrow blade stretched across a D-shaped frame, used for cutting curves in wood.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: coping from COPE^2, used to describe likeness to a vault, arch, canopy, etc.

coping stone n. a flat stone forming part of a coping.

copious adj. abundant in supply or quantity: she took copious notes.

- ARCHAIC profuse in speech or ideas.

<DERIVATIVES> copiously adv. copiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French copieux or Latin copiosus, from copia ‘plenty’.

copita /kəpitə/ n. a slim stemmed glass that narrows slightly towards the top, used for sherry.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, diminutive of copa ‘cup’, from popular Latin cuppa (see CUP).

coplanar /kəplenə/ adj. [GEOMETRY] in the same plane.

<DERIVATIVES> coplanarity n.

Copland /kəplənd/ Aaron (1900–90), American composer, pianist, and conductor, of Lithuanian descent. He established a distinctive American style in his compositions, borrowing from jazz, folk, and other traditional music. Notable works: Music for the Theater (1925), Appalachian Spring (1944), Fanfare for the Common Man (1942).

Copley /kpli/ John Singleton (1738–1815), American painter. He is noted for his portraits and for paintings such as The Death of Chatham (1779–80), one of the first large-scale paintings of contemporary events.

copolymer /kəplmə/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a polymer made by reaction of two different monomers, with units of more than one kind.

copolymerize (also copolymerise) v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] polymerize together to form a copolymer.

<DERIVATIVES> copolymerization n.

cop-out n. INFORMAL an instance of avoiding a commitment or responsibility.

copper^1 n. 1 [mass noun] a red-brown metal, the chemical element of atomic number 29. (Symbol: Cu)

Copper was the earliest metal to be used by humans, first by itself and then later alloyed with tin to form bronze. A ductile easily worked metal, it is a very good conductor of heat and electricity and is used especially for electrical wiring.

2 (coppers) BRITISH brown coins of low value made of copper or bronze.

3 DATED a large copper or iron container for boiling laundry.

4 [mass noun] a reddish-brown colour like that of copper.

5 [with modifier] a small butterfly with bright reddish-brown wings.

<INFO> Genus Lycaena, family Lycaenidae: many species.

■ v. [with obj.] cover or coat (something) with copper.

<ORIGIN> Old English copor, coper (related to Dutch koper and German Kupfer), based on late Latin cuprum, from Latin cyprium aes ‘Cyprus metal’ (so named because Cyprus was the chief source).

copper^2 n. BRITISH INFORMAL a police officer.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from COP^1 + -ER^1.

Copper Age [ARCHAEOLOGY] the Chalcolithic period, especially in SE Europe.

copperas /kp(ə)rəs/ n. [mass noun] green crystals of hydrated ferrous sulphate, especially as an industrial product.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English coperose, from Old French couperose, from medieval Latin cuperosa, literally ‘flower of copper’, from late Latin cuprum (see copper^1) + rosa ‘rose’, translating Greek khalkanthon.

copper beech n. a beech tree of a variety with purplish-brown leaves.

Copperbelt a mining region of central Zambia with rich deposits of copper, cobalt, and uranium; chief town, Ndola.

copper-bottomed adj. BRITISH thoroughly reliable; certain not to fail: a copper-bottomed guarantee. [<ORIGIN> from earlier usage referring to the copper sheathing of the bottom of a ship.]

copper-fasten v. [with obj.] make (an undertaking or agreement) firm or binding.

copperhead n. any of a number of stout-bodied venomous snakes with coppery-pink or reddish-brown coloration, in particular:

<INFO>

- a North American pit viper (Agkistrodon contortrix, family Viperidae). Also called HIGHLAND MOCCASIN

- an Australian snake of the cobra family (genus Austrelaps, family Elapidae, in particular A. superbus).

coppering n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL the work of a police officer: he doesn't do his coppering by the book.

coppernob n. INFORMAL a red-haired person.

copperplate n. 1 a polished copper plate with a design engraved or etched into it.

- a print made from such a plate.

2 [mass noun] a style of neat, round handwriting, usually slanted and looped, the thick and thin strokes being made by pressure with a flexible metal nib. [<ORIGIN> the copybooks for this writing were originally printed from copperplates.]

■ adj. of or in copperplate writing.

copper pyrites n. another term for CHALCOPYRITE.

coppersmith n. 1 a person who makes things out of copper.

2 (also coppersmith barbet) the crimson-breasted barbet of SE Asia, which has a red breast band, a streaked belly, and a repetitive metallic call.

<INFO> Megalaima hemacephala, family Capitonidae.

copper sulphate n. [mass noun] a blue crystalline solid used in electroplating and as a fungicide.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CuSO_4.5H_2O.

coppery adj. like copper, especially in colour: his hair was fine and coppery.

coppice n. an area of woodland in which the trees or shrubs are periodically cut back to ground level to stimulate growth and provide firewood or timber.

■ v. [with obj.] cut back (a tree or shrub) to ground level periodically to stimulate growth: (as adj. coppiced) coppiced timber.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French copeiz, based on medieval Latin colpus ‘a blow’ (see cope^1). Compare with COPSE.

<PHRASES>

□ coppice with standards chiefly HISTORICAL managed woodland consisting of coppiced shrubs or trees, with scattered trees that are allowed to reach full height.

Coppola /kpələ/ Francis Ford (b.1939), American film director, writer, and producer. Notable films: The Godfather (1972) and its two sequels; Apocalypse Now (1979).

copra /kprə/ n. [mass noun] dried coconut kernels, from which oil is obtained.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Portuguese and Spanish from Malayalam koppara ‘coconut’.

co-precipitation n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the simultaneous precipitation of more than one compound from a solution.

<DERIVATIVES> co-precipitate v.

copro- combining form relating to dung or faeces: coprophagous | coprophilia.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kopros ‘dung’.

coprocessor n. [COMPUTING] a microprocessor designed to supplement the capabilities of the primary processor.

co-produce v. [with obj.] produce (a theatrical work or a radio or television programme) jointly.

<DERIVATIVES> co-producer n. co-production n.

coprolalia /kprə()lelə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] the involuntary and repetitive use of obscene language, as a symptom of mental illness or organic brain disease.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kopros ‘dung’ + lalia ‘speech, chatter’.

coprolite /kprə()lt/ n. [PALAEONTOLOGY] a piece of fossilized dung.

coprophagy /kprfədi/ (also coprophagia /kprə()fedə/) n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] the eating of faeces or dung.

<DERIVATIVES> coprophagic adj. coprophagous adj.

coprophilia /kprə()flə/ n. [mass noun] abnormal interest and pleasure in faeces and defecation.

copse n. a small group of trees.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: shortened from COPPICE.

cop shop n. BRITISH INFORMAL a police station.

Copt /kpt/ n. 1 a native Egyptian in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

2 a member of the Coptic Church.

<ORIGIN> from French Copte or modern Latin Coptus, from Arabic al-qib, al-qub ‘Copts’, from Coptic Gyptios, from Greek Aiguptios ‘Egyptian’.

copter n. informal term for HELICOPTER.

Coptic n. [mass noun] the language of the Copts, which represents the final stage of ancient Egyptian. It now survives only as the liturgical language of the Coptic Church.

■ adj. relating to the Copts or their language.

Coptic Church the native Christian Church in Egypt, traditionally founded by St Mark, and adhering to the Monophysite doctrine rejected by the Council of Chalcedon. Long persecuted after the Muslim Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century, the Coptic community now make up about 5 per cent of Egypt's population.

copula /kpjlə/ n. [LOGIC] & [GRAMMAR] a connecting word, in particular a form of the verb be connecting a subject and complement.

<DERIVATIVES> copular adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, ‘connection, linking of words’, from co- ‘together’ + apere ‘fasten’.

copulate /kpjlet/ v. [no obj.] have sexual intercourse.

<DERIVATIVES> copulatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘join’): from Latin copulat- ‘fastened together’, from the verb copulare, from copula (see COPULA).

copulation /kpjle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] sexual intercourse: males may seek copulation with the breeding female.

copulative adj. 1 [GRAMMAR] (of a word) connecting words or clauses linked in sense. Compare with DISJUNCTIVE.

- connecting a subject and predicate.

2 relating to sexual intercourse.

<DERIVATIVES> copulatively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French copulatif, -ive or late Latin copulativus, from copulat- ‘coupled’, from the verb copulare (see COPULATE).

copy n. (pl. copies) 1 a thing made to be similar or identical to another: the problem is telling which is the original document and which the copy.

2 a single specimen of a particular book, record, or other publication or issue: the record has sold more than a million copies.

3 [mass noun] matter to be printed: copy for the next issue must be submitted by the beginning of the month.

- material for a newspaper or magazine article: it is an unfortunate truth of today's media that bad news makes good copy.

- the text of an advertisement.

■ v. (copies, copying, copied) [with obj.] 1 make a similar or identical version of; reproduce: each form had to be copied and sent to a different department.

- [COMPUTING] reproduce (data stored in one location) in another location: the command will copy a file from one disc to another.

- write out information that one has read or heard: he copied the details into his notebook | I began to copy out the addresses.

- (copy something to) send a copy of a letter or an email to (a third party).

2 imitate the style or behaviour of: lifestyles that were copied from Miami and Fifth Avenue | [no obj.] art students copied from approved old masters.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a transcript or copy of a document): from Old French copie (noun), copier (verb), from Latin copia ‘abundance’ (in medieval Latin ‘transcript’, from such phrases as copiam describendi facere ‘give permission to transcribe’).

copybook n. a book containing models of handwriting for learners to imitate.

■ adj. [attr.] exactly in accordance with established criteria; perfect.

copycat n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY (especially in children's use) a person who copies another's behaviour, dress, or ideas.

- [as modifier] denoting an action, typically a crime, carried out in imitation of another: copycat killings.

copydesk n. NORTH AMERICAN a desk in a newspaper office at which copy is edited for printing.

copy-edit v. [with obj.] edit (text to be printed) by checking its consistency and accuracy.

<DERIVATIVES> copy editor n.

copyhold n. [mass noun] BRITISH HISTORICAL tenure of land based on manorial records.

copyholder n. 1 BRITISH HISTORICAL a person who held land in copyhold.

2 a clasp or stand for holding sheets of text while it is keyed or typed.

copyist n. a person who makes copies, especially of handwritten documents or music.

- a person who imitates the styles of others, especially in art or music: Beatles copyists.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from COPY + -IST; replacing earlier copist, from French copiste or medieval Latin copista, from copiare ‘to copy’, from copia (see COPY).

copyleft n. [mass noun] an arrangement whereby software or artistic work may be used, modified, and distributed freely on condition that anything derived from it is bound by the same conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> copylefted adj.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: after COPYRIGHT.

copyread v. [with obj.] read and edit (text) for a newspaper, magazine, or book.

<DERIVATIVES> copyreader n.

copyright n. [mass noun] the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material.

■ adj. protected by copyright: permission to reproduce photographs and other copyright material.

■ v. [with obj.] secure copyright for: (as adj. copyrighted) copyrighted music downloaded illegally from the Internet.

copyright library n. a library entitled to a free copy of each book published in the UK. The copyright libraries in the British Isles are the British Library, the Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Wales, the National Library of Scotland, and the library of Trinity College, Dublin.

copy typist n. a person whose job is to type transcripts of written drafts.

copywriter n. a person who writes the text of advertisements or publicity material.

<DERIVATIVES> copywriting n.

coq au vin /kk ə va/ n. [mass noun] a casserole of chicken pieces cooked in red wine.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘cock in wine’.

coquetry /kktri kə-/ n. [mass noun] flirtatious behaviour.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French coquetterie, from coqueter ‘to flirt’, from coquet ‘wanton’ (see COQUETTE).

coquette /kkεt/ n. 1 a flirtatious woman.

2 a crested Central and South American hummingbird, typically with green plumage, a reddish crest, and elongated cheek feathers.

<INFO> Lophornis and two other genera, family Trochilidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: French, feminine of coquet ‘wanton’, diminutive of coq ‘cock’.

coquettish /kəkεt/ adj. behaving in a such a way as to suggest a playful sexual attraction; flirtatious: a coquettish grin.

<DERIVATIVES> coquettishly adv. coquettishness n.

coquina /kkinə/ n. 1 [mass noun] a soft limestone of broken shells, used in road-making in the Caribbean and Florida.

2 (also coquina clam) a small bivalve mollusc with a wedge-shaped shell which has a wide variety of colours and patterns.

<INFO> Genus Donax, family Donacidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, literally ‘cockle’, based on Latin concha (see CONCH).

coquito /kkitə/ n. (pl. coquitos) a thick-trunked Chilean palm tree which yields large amounts of sweet sap (palm honey) and fibre.

<INFO> Jubaea chilensis, family Palmae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, diminutive of coco ‘coconut’.

cor exclam. BRITISH INFORMAL expressing surprise, excitement, admiration, or alarm: Cor! That's a beautiful black eye you've got!

<PHRASES>

□ cor blimey see BLIMEY.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: alteration of GOD.

Cor. abbr.

- US coroner.

- Epistle to the Corinthians (in biblical references).

cor- prefix variant spelling of COM-. assimilated before r (as in corrode, corrugate).

Cora /krə/ n. 1 a member of an American Indian people of western Mexico.

2 [mass noun] the Uto-Aztecan language of the Coras, with about 15,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Coras or their language.

coracle /krək(ə)l/ n. (especially in Wales and Ireland) a small round boat made of wickerwork covered with a watertight material, propelled with a paddle.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Welsh corwgl, cwrwgl, related to Scottish Gaelic and Irish curach ‘small boat’; compare with CURRACH.

coracoid /krəkd/ (also coracoid process) n. [ANATOMY] a short projection from the shoulder blade in mammals, to which part of the biceps is attached.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin coracoides, from Greek korakoeidēs ‘raven-like’, from korax ‘raven’ (because of the resemblance to a raven's beak).

coral n. 1 [mass noun] a hard stony substance secreted by certain marine coelenterates as an external skeleton, typically forming large reefs in warm seas.

- precious red coral, used in jewellery.

- the pinkish-red colour of red coral.

2 a sedentary coelenterate of warm and tropical seas, with a calcareous, horny, or soft skeleton. Most corals are colonial and many rely on the presence of green algae in their tissues to obtain energy from sunlight.

<INFO> Several orders in the class Anthozoa, including the ‘true’ or stony corals (order Scleractinia or Madreporaria), which form reefs, the soft corals (order Alcyonacea), which form leathery or fleshy colonies, and the horny corals (order Gorgonacea).

3 [mass noun] the unfertilized roe of a lobster or scallop, which is used as food and becomes reddish when cooked.

<DERIVATIVES> coralloid adj. (chiefly [BIOLOGY] & [ZOOLOGY])

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin corallum, from Greek korallion, kouralion.

coralberry n. (pl. coralberries) an evergreen North American shrub of the honeysuckle family, which has fragrant white flowers followed by deep red berries.

<INFO> Symphoricarpos orbiculatus, family Caprifoliaceae.

coral fungus n. a fungus which produces a fruiting body composed of upright branching finger-like projections which resemble coral, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Genus Clavulina, family Clavariaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

Corallian /kralən/ adj. & n. another term for Oxfordian (sense 1 of the adjective, sense 1 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> from Latin corallium ‘coral’ (with reference to the coral-derived limestone deposits) + -AN.

coralline /krəln/ n. (also coralline alga or coralline seaweed) a branching reddish seaweed with a calcareous jointed stem.

<INFO> Family Corallinaceae, division Rhodophyta, in particular Corallina officinalis, which is common on the coasts of the North Atlantic.

- (in general use) a sedentary colonial marine animal, especially a bryozoan.

■ adj. [GEOLOGY] derived or formed from coral: the islands were volcanic rather than coralline in origin.

- of the pinkish-red colour of precious red coral.

- resembling coral: coralline sponges.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: the noun from Italian corallina, diminutive of corallo ‘coral’, the adjective (mid 17th century) from French corallin or late Latin corallinus, both based on Latin corallum ‘coral’.

corallita /krəlitə/ (also coralita) n. a pink-flowered climbing vine native to Mexico and the Caribbean, grown as an ornamental.

<INFO> Antigonon leptopus, family Polygonaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from American Spanish coralito, diminutive of Spanish coral ‘coral’.

corallite /krəlt/ n. [PALAEONTOLOGY] the cup-like calcareous skeleton of a single coral polyp.

- a fossil coral.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin corallum ‘coral’ + -ITE^1.

coral rag n. [mass noun] rubbly limestone composed chiefly of petrified coral.

coralroot n. 1 (also coralroot orchid) a leafless orchid which has inconspicuous flowers and lacks chlorophyll. It has a pale knobbly rhizome which obtains nourishment from decaying organic matter.

<INFO> Genus Corallorhiza, family Orchidaceae: several species, including the widespread C. trifida.

■ another term for cockscomb (sense 3).

2 (also coralroot bittercress) a Eurasian woodland plant with purple flowers and bud-like swellings (bulbils) at the base of the stem.

<INFO> Cardamine bulbifera, family Cruciferae.

Coral Sea a part of the western Pacific lying between Australia, New Guinea, and Vanuatu, the scene of a naval battle between US and Japanese carriers in 1942.

coral snake n. a brightly coloured venomous snake of the cobra family, typically having conspicuous bands of red, yellow, white, and black.

<INFO> Micrurus and other genera in the family Elapidae: numerous species.

coral spot (also coral spot disease) n. [mass noun] a common fungal disease of trees and shrubs, appearing as numerous minute pink or dark red cushion-like bodies on the twigs and branches and causing dieback.

<INFO> Nectria cinnabarina, family Hypocreaceae, subdivision Ascomycotina.

coral tree n. a tropical or subtropical thorny shrub or tree with showy red or orange flowers.

<INFO> Genus Erythrina, family Leguminosae.

coram populo /krəm ppjlə/ adv. in public.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘in the presence of the people’.

cor anglais /kr αle le/ n. (pl. cors anglais pronunc. same) [MUSIC] an alto woodwind instrument of the oboe family, having a bulbous bell and sounding a fifth lower than the oboe. Also called ENGLISH HORN.

- an organ stop with the quality of a cor anglais.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘English horn’.

corbeil /kbel/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] a representation in stone of a basket of flowers.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French corbeille ‘basket’, from late Latin corbicula ‘small basket’, diminutive of corbis.

corbeille /kbe/ n. an elegant basket of flowers or fruit.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, ‘basket’ (see also CORBEIL).

corbel /kb(ə)l/ n. a projection jutting out from a wall to support a structure above it.

■ v. (corbels, corbelling, corbelled; US corbels, corbeling, corbeled) [with obj.] support (a structure) on corbels: (as adj. corbelled) a very high corbelled vault.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, diminutive of corp ‘crow’, from Latin corvus ‘raven’ (perhaps because of the shape of a corbel, resembling a crow's beak).

corbel table n. a projecting course of bricks or stones resting on corbels.

corbicula /kbkjlə/ n. (pl. corbiculae /-li/) [ZOOLOGY] another term for POLLEN BASKET.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from late Latin.

corbie /kbi/ n. (pl. corbies) SCOTTISH a raven, crow, or rook.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French corb, variant of corp ‘crow’ (see CORBEL).

corbie steps plural n. Scottish term for CROW STEPS.

Corbusian /kbjuzən/ adj. relating to the architect Le Corbusier.

Corcovado /kkəvαdə/ a peak rising to 711 m (2,310 ft) on the south side of Rio de Janeiro. A gigantic statue of Christ, 40 m (131 ft) high, named ‘Christ the Redeemer’, stands on its summit.

Corcyra /ksərə/ ancient Greek name for CORFU.

cord n. 1 [mass noun] thin, flexible string or rope made from several twisted strands: her feet were tied with cord.

- [count noun] a length of cord: a dressing-gown cord.

- [count noun] an anatomical structure resembling a length of cord (e.g. the spinal cord, the umbilical cord).

- [count noun] an electric flex.

2 [mass noun] ribbed fabric, especially corduroy.

- (cords) corduroy trousers: he was dressed in faded black cords.

- a cord-like rib on fabric.

3 a measure of cut wood (usually 128 cu. ft, 3.62 cubic metres).

■ v. [with obj.] attach a cord to.

<PHRASES>

□ cut the (umbilical) cord cease to rely on someone or something protective or supportive and begin to act independently.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Greek khordē ‘gut, string of a musical instrument’.

cordage n. [mass noun] cords or ropes, especially in a ship's rigging.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French, from corde ‘rope’ (see CORD).

cordate /kdet/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] heart-shaped.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘wise, prudent’): from Latin cordatus ‘wise’ (in modern Latin ‘heart-shaped’), from cor, cord- ‘heart’.

Corday /kde/ Charlotte (1768–93), French political assassin; full name Marie Anne Charlotte Corday d'Armont. She became involved with the Girondists and in 1793 assassinated the revolutionary leader Jean Paul Marat in his bath; she was found guilty of treason and guillotined.

corded adj. 1 (of cloth) ribbed.

- (of a tensed muscle) standing out so as to resemble a piece of cord.

2 equipped with a cord or flex: corded and cordless phones.

Cordelier /kdələ/ n. a Franciscan Observant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from cordelle ‘small rope’, diminutive of corde (see CORD). The name derives from the knotted cord worn by the Cordeliers around the waist.

cordgrass n. [mass noun] a coarse wiry coastal grass which is sometimes used to stabilize mudflats.

<INFO> Genus Spartina, family Gramineae.

cordial adj. 1 warm and friendly: the atmosphere was cordial and relaxed.

2 strongly felt: I earned his cordial loathing.

■ n. 1 BRITISH a sweet fruit-flavoured drink.

- North American another term for LIQUEUR.

2 a pleasant-tasting medicine.

<DERIVATIVES> cordiality n. cordially adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘belonging to the heart’): from medieval Latin cordialis, from Latin cor, cord- ‘heart’.

cordierite /kdərt/ n. [mass noun] a dark blue mineral occurring chiefly in metamorphic rocks. It consists of an aluminosilicate of magnesium and iron, and also occurs as a dichroic gem variety.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Pierre L. A. Cordier (1777–1861), French geologist, + -ITE^1.

cordillera /kdljεrə/ n. a system or group of parallel mountain ranges together with the intervening plateaux and other features, especially in the Andes or the Rockies.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Spanish, from cordilla, diminutive of cuerda ‘cord’, from Latin chorda (see CORD).

cording n. [mass noun] cord or braid, especially that used as a decorative fabric trimming.

cordite n. [mass noun] a smokeless explosive made from nitrocellulose, nitroglycerine, and petroleum jelly, used in ammunition.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CORD (because of its string-like appearance) + -ITE^1.

cordless adj. (of an electrical appliance or telephone) working without connection to a mains supply or central unit.

Cordoba /kdəbə/ (also Cordova) 1 a city in Andalusia, southern Spain; pop. 314,034 (est. 2001). Founded by the Carthaginians, it was under Moorish rule from 711 to 1236, and was renowned for its architecture, particularly the Great Mosque. Spanish name Córdoba /kərəβa/.

2 a city in central Argentina; pop. 1,275,585 (est. 1999).

cordoba /kdəbə/ n. the basic monetary unit of Nicaragua, equal to 100 centavos.

<ORIGIN> named after F. Fernández de Córdoba, a 16th-cent. Spanish governor of Nicaragua.

cordon /kd(ə)n/ n. 1 a line or circle of police, soldiers, or guards preventing access to or from an area or building: the crowd was halted in front of the police cordon.

2 a fruit tree trained to grow as a single stem.

3 [ARCHITECTURE] a projecting course of brick or stone on the face of a wall.

■ v. [with obj.] (cordon something off) prevent access to or from an area or building by surrounding it with police or other guards: the city centre was cordoned off after fires were discovered in two stores.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an ornamental braid): from Italian cordone, augmentative of corda, and French cordon, diminutive of corde, both from Latin chorda ‘string, rope’ (see CORD).

■ Sense 3 of the noun, the earliest of the current noun senses, dates from the early 18th cent.

cordon bleu /kd blə/ adj. [COOKERY] of the highest class: a cordon bleu chef.

- [postpositive] denoting a dish consisting of an escalope of veal or chicken rolled, filled with cheese and ham, and then fried in breadcrumbs.

■ n. 1 a cook of the highest class.

2 (cordon-bleu or cordon-bleu finch) an African waxbill that is popular as a cage bird. The male has a blue face, breast, and tail, a brown back, and a red bill.

<INFO> Genus Uraeginthus, family Estrildidae: three species.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (as a noun, often specifically denoting a first-class cook): French, literally ‘blue ribbon’. The blue ribbon once signified the highest order of chivalry in the reign of the Bourbon kings.

cordon sanitaire /kd santε/ n. (pl. cordons sanitaires pronunc. same) a guarded line preventing anyone from leaving an area infected by a disease and thus spreading it.

- a measure designed to prevent communication or the spread of undesirable influences: these rules help to reinforce the cordon sanitaire around Whitehall.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from cordon ‘line, border’ (see CORDON) + sanitaire ‘sanitary’.

cordovan /kdəv(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a kind of soft leather made originally from goatskin and now from horse hide.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish cordován, former spelling of cordobán ‘of Cordoba’, where it was originally made.

Cordtex n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK fuse cable consisting of a core of explosive material in a plastic and textile sheath.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from the noun CORD + TEXTILE.

Cordura /kdjərə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a durable synthetic fabric.

corduroy /kdər -dj-/ n. [mass noun] a thick cotton fabric with velvety ribs.

- (corduroys) trousers made of corduroy.

■ v. [with obj.] make (a road) out of tree trunks.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: probably from CORD ‘ribbed fabric’ + duroy, denoting a kind of lightweight worsted formerly made in the West of England, of unknown origin.

corduroy road n. a road made of tree trunks laid across a swamp.

cordwainer /kdwenə/ n. ARCHAIC a shoemaker (still used in the names of guilds): the Cordwainers' Company.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French cordewaner, from Old French cordewan, ‘of Cordoba’ (see CORDOVAN).

cordwood n. [mass noun] wood that has been cut into uniform lengths, used especially as firewood or for building.

CORE abbr. (in the US) Congress of Racial Equality.

core n. 1 the tough central part of various fruits, containing the seeds: an apple core.

2 the part of something that is central to its existence or character: the plan has the interests of children at its core | [as modifier] managers can concentrate on their core activities.

- an important or unchanging group of people forming the central part of a larger body.

3 the dense central region of a planet, especially the nickel–iron inner part of the earth.

- the central part of a nuclear reactor, which contains the fissile material.

- a tiny ring of magnetic material used in a computer memory to store one bit of data, now superseded by semiconductor memories.

- the inner strand of an electric cable or rope.

- a piece of soft iron forming the centre of an electromagnet or an induction coil.

- an internal mould filling a space to be left hollow in a casting.

- a cylindrical sample of rock, ice, or other material obtained by boring with a hollow drill.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] a piece of flint from which flakes or blades have been removed.

■ v. [with obj.] remove the tough central part and seeds from (a fruit): peel and core the pears.

<PHRASES>

□ to the core to the depths of one's being: she was shaken to the core by his words.

- used to indicate that someone possesses a characteristic to a very high degree: he is a politician to the core.

<DERIVATIVES> corer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

-core combining form denoting types of rock or dance music that have an aggressive presentation: emocore.

<ORIGIN> from CORE, on the pattern of hardcore.

core dump n. [COMPUTING] a dump of the contents of main memory, carried out typically as an aid to debugging.

coreferential adj. [LINGUISTICS] (of two elements or units) having the same reference.

<DERIVATIVES> coreference n.

co-religionist (also coreligionist) n. an adherent of the same religion as another person.

corella /kərεlə/ n. a white Australasian cockatoo with some pink feathers on the face, bare blue skin around the eye, and typically a long bill.

<INFO> Genus Cacatua, family Cacatuidae (or Psittacidae): three species, in particular the widespread little corella (C. sanguinea).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Wiradhuri.

Corelli^1 /kərεli/ Arcangelo (1653–1713), Italian violinist and composer. His best-known works are his trio and solo sonatas for the violin and his concerti grossi (published posthumously in 1714), especially the ‘Christmas’ concerto.

Corelli^2 /kərεli/ Marie (1855–1924), English writer of romantic fiction; pseudonym of Mary Mackay. The sales of her novels Thelma (1887), Barabbas (1893), and The Sorrows of Satan (1895) broke all existing records for book sales, although popularity was not matched by critical acclaim.

coreopsis /krpss/ n. (pl. coreopses) a plant of the daisy family, which is cultivated for its rayed, typically yellow, flowers. Also called TICKSEED.

<INFO> Genus Coreopsis, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek koris ‘bug’ + opsis ‘appearance’ (because of the shape of the seed).

co-respondent (also corespondent) n. a person cited in a divorce case as having committed adultery with the respondent.

co-respondent shoes plural n. DATED, HUMOROUS men's two-toned shoes.

core time n. [mass noun] BRITISH the central part of the working day in a flexitime system, when an employee must be present.

corf /kf/ n. (pl. corves) BRITISH a wagon or large basket formerly used for bringing coal out of a mine.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘basket’): from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch korf, from Latin corbis ‘basket’.

Corfu /kf(j)u/ a Greek island, one of the largest of the Ionian Islands, off the west coast of mainland Greece. It was known in ancient times as Corcyra; pop. 113,000 (est. 2001). Greek name Kérkira.

corgi (also Welsh corgi) n. (pl. corgis) a dog of a short-legged breed with a foxlike head.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Welsh, from cor ‘dwarf’ + ci ‘dog’.

coriaceous /kreəs/ adj. TECHNICAL resembling or having the texture of leather: coriaceous leaves.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from late Latin coriaceus (from Latin corium ‘leather’) + -OUS.

coriander /krandə/ n. [mass noun] an aromatic Mediterranean plant of the parsley family, the leaves and seeds of which are used as culinary herbs.

<INFO> Coriandrum sativum, family Umbelliferae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coriandre, from Latin coriandrum, from Greek koriannon.

Corinth /krnθ/ a city on the north coast of the Peloponnese, Greece; pop. 32,900 (est. 2002). The modern city, built in 1858, is a little to the north-east of the site of an ancient city of the same name, which was a prominent city state in ancient Greece. Greek name Kórinthos.

Corinth, Gulf of an inlet of the Ionian Sea extending between the Peloponnese and central Greece. Also called LEPANTO, GULF OF.

Corinth, Isthmus of a narrow neck of land linking the Peloponnese with central Greece and separating the Gulf of Corinth from the Saronic Gulf.

Corinth Canal a man-made shipping channel across the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Corinth (a distance of 6.4 km, or 4 miles). Opened in 1893, it links the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf.

Corinthian /kərnθən/ adj. 1 belonging or relating to Corinth, especially the ancient city.

- relating to or denoting the most ornate of the classical orders of architecture (used especially by the Romans), characterized by flared capitals with rows of acanthus leaves.

2 involving the highest standards of amateur sportsmanship.

■ n. 1 a native of Corinth.

2 [mass noun] the Corinthian order of architecture.

Corinthians, Epistle to the either of two books of the New Testament, epistles of St Paul to the Church at Corinth.

Coriolanus /krəlenəs/ Gaius (or Gnaeus) Marcius (5th century BC), Roman general, who got his name from the capture of the Volscian town of Corioli. According to legend, after his banishment from Rome he led a Volscian army against the city and was only turned back by the pleas of his mother and wife.

Coriolis effect /krəls/ n. [PHYSICS] an effect whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force (the Coriolis force) acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation. On the earth, the effect tends to deflect moving objects to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern and is important in the formation of cyclonic weather systems.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Gaspard Coriolis (1792–1843), French engineer.

corium /krəm/ n. chiefly [ZOOLOGY] another term for DERMIS.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, ‘skin’.

Cork a county of the Republic of Ireland, on the south coast in the province of Munster.

- its county town, a port on the River Lee; pop. 187,600 (est. 2002).

cork n. 1 [mass noun] a buoyant light brown substance obtained from the outer layer of the bark of the cork oak.

- [BOTANY] a protective layer of dead cells immediately below the bark of woody plants.

2 a bottle stopper made of cork or a similar material.

- a piece of cork used as a float for a fishing line or net.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 close or seal (a bottle) with a cork: the bottles were tightly corked and wired.

- (as adj. corked) (of wine) spoilt by tannin from the cork.

2 draw with burnt cork.

3 illicitly hollow out (a baseball bat) and fill it with cork to make it lighter.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Dutch and Low German kork, from Spanish alcorque ‘cork-soled sandal’, from Arabic al- ‘the’ and (probably) Spanish Arabic qurq, qorq, based on Latin quercus ‘oak, cork oak’.

corkage n. [mass noun] a charge made by a restaurant or hotel for serving wine that has been brought in by a customer.

cork cambium n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] tissue in the stem of a plant that gives rise to cork on its outer surface and a layer of cells containing chlorophyll on its inner.

corker INFORMAL n. an excellent or astonishing person or thing: it was the season's first goal, and a corker.

■ adj. NZ very good; excellent.

corking adj. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED very good; excellent: cars in corking condition.

cork oak n. an evergreen Mediterranean oak, the outer layer of the bark of which is the source of cork, which can be stripped without harming the tree.

<INFO> Quercus suber, family Fagaceae.

corkscrew n. a device for pulling corks from bottles, consisting of a spiral metal rod that is inserted into the cork, and a handle that extracts it.

- [usually as modifier] a thing with a spiral shape or movement: a girl with corkscrew curls.

■ v. [no obj.] move or twist in a spiral motion: the plane was corkscrewing towards the earth.

corkwood n. a shrub or tree which yields light porous timber, in particular:

<INFO>

- a small American tree which produces timber used for fishing floats (Leitneria floridana, family Leitneriaceae).

- a similar tree native to New Zealand (Entelea arborescens, family Tiliaceae).

corky adj. (corkier, corkiest) 1 resembling cork: corky lesions on apples.

2 (of wine) corked.

corm n. a rounded underground storage organ present in plants such as crocuses, gladioli, and cyclamens, consisting of a swollen stem base covered with scale leaves. Compare with bulb (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin cormus, from Greek kormos ‘trunk stripped of its boughs’.

cormel /km(ə)l/ n. a small corm growing at the side of a mature corm.

cormlet n. a small corm growing at the base of a mature corm.

cormorant /km(ə)r(ə)nt/ n. a rather large diving bird with a long neck, long hooked bill, short legs, and mainly dark plumage. It typically breeds on coastal cliffs.

<INFO> Genus Phalacrocorax (and Nannopterum), family Phalacrocoracidae: numerous species, in particular the widespread (great) cormorant (P. carbo).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cormaran, from medieval Latin corvus marinus ‘sea raven’. The final -t is on the pattern of words such as peasant.

corn^1 n. [mass noun] 1 BRITISH the chief cereal crop of a district, especially (in England) wheat or (in Scotland) oats.

- the grain of a cereal crop. North American, Australian, and New Zealand term for MAIZE.

2 INFORMAL something banal or sentimental: the film is pure corn.

<PHRASES>

□ corn on the cob maize when cooked and eaten straight from the cob.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch koren and German Korn.

corn^2 n. a small, painful area of thickened skin on the foot, especially on the toes, caused by pressure.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Anglo-Norman French from Latin cornu ‘horn’.

cornball NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL adj. trite and sentimental: a cornball movie.

■ n. a person with trite or sentimental ideas.

corn beef n. [mass noun] corned beef.

corn borer n. a moth whose larvae feed upon and bore into maize.

<INFO> Several species in the family Pyralidae, in particular the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis), which was accidentally introduced into North America, and Diatraea (or Zeadiatraea) grandiosella of the southern US.

cornbrash n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] an earthy fossiliferous limestone occurring widely in England in a thin formation of Jurassic age.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CORN^1 + BRASH^2.

cornbread n. [mass noun] a type of bread made from maize meal.

corn bunting n. a large thickset Eurasian bunting with brown streaked plumage and a jangling song, inhabiting open grassland and arable land.

<INFO> Emberiza (or Miliaria) calandra, family Emberizidae (subfamily Emberizinae).

corn circle n. another term for CROP CIRCLE.

corn-cob pipe n. US a tobacco pipe with a bowl made from a dried corncob.

corncockle n. a pink-flowered Mediterranean plant introduced into Britain, where it became a cornfield weed. It has since been almost eradicated because its poisonous seeds contaminate flour.

<INFO> Agrostemma githago, family Caryophyllaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from CORN^1 + cockle (from Old English coccul ‘corncockle’, perhaps via Latin from Greek kokkos ‘berry’).

corncrake n. a secretive Eurasian crake inhabiting coarse grasslands, with mainly brown streaked plumage and a distinctive double rasping call. Due to changes in agricultural practices it is now much rarer in the British Isles than formerly. Also called LANDRAIL.

<INFO> Crex crex, family Rallidae.

corn dodger n. US a small fried or baked cornmeal cake.

corn dog n. NORTH AMERICAN a hot dog covered in maize-flour batter, fried, and served on a stick.

corn dolly n. BRITISH a symbolic or decorative model of a human figure, made of plaited straw.

cornea /knə/ n. the transparent layer forming the front of the eye.

<DERIVATIVES> corneal adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin cornea tela ‘horny tissue’, from Latin cornu ‘horn’.

corn earworm n. an American moth caterpillar which is a pest of both maize and cotton. Also called BOLLWORM, COTTON BOLLWORM.

<INFO> Heliothis zea, family Noctuidae.

corned adj. (of food) preserved in brine: corned ham.

corned beef n. [mass noun] 1 BRITISH beef preserved in brine, chopped and pressed and sold in tins.

2 NORTH AMERICAN beef brisket cured in brine and boiled, typically served cold.

Corneille /kne/ French /kRnεj/ Pierre (1606–84), French dramatist, generally regarded as the founder of classical French tragedy. Notable plays: Le Cid (1637), Cinna (1641), and Polyeucte (1643).

cornel /kn(ə)l/ n. a dogwood, especially of a dwarf variety.

<INFO> Genus Cornus, family Cornaceae: several species, including the dwarf C. suecica.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the wood of the cornelian cherry): from Old French corneille, from Latin cornus.

cornelian cherry n. a Eurasian flowering shrub or small tree of the dogwood family, cultivated as an ornamental.

<INFO> Cornus mas, family Cornaceae.

- the edible oval red berry of the cornelian cherry.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: cornelian from CORNEL + -IAN.

corneous /knəs/ adj. FORMAL horn-like; horny: the skeleton is formed of a corneous substance.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin corneus (from cornu ‘horn’) + -OUS.

corner n. 1 a place or angle where two sides or edges meet: Jan sat at one corner of the table.

- the area inside a room or other space near the place where two walls or other surfaces meet: the colour TV in the corner of the room.

- a place where two or more streets meet: the huge bookshop on the corner.

- a sharp bend in a road: they took the corner in a skidding turn.

- [CLIMBING], Brit. a place where two planes of rock meet at an angle of between 60° and 120°.

2 a secluded or remote location or area: fountains are discovered in quiet corners and sleepy squares | FIGURATIVE she couldn't bear journalists prying into every corner of her life.

3 a position in which one dominates the supply of a particular commodity: London doesn't have a corner on film festivals.

4 a difficult or awkward situation: I didn't wait for the prosecutor to try to get me in a corner.

5 (also corner kick) [SOCCER] a place kick taken by the attacking side from a corner of the field after the ball has been sent over the byline by a defender.

- a free hit in field hockey, taken from the corner of the field.

6 [BOXING] & [WRESTLING] each of the diagonally opposite ends of the ring, where a contestant rests between rounds.

- a contestant's supporters or seconds: Hodkinson was encouraged by his corner.

7 BRITISH a triangular cut from the hind end of a side of bacon.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 force (a person or animal) into a place or situation from which it is hard to escape: the man was eventually cornered by police dogs.

- detain (someone) in conversation: I managed to corner Gary for fifteen minutes.

2 control (a market) by dominating the supply of a particular commodity: whether they will corner the market in graphics software remains to be seen.

- establish a corner in (a commodity): you cornered vanadium and made a killing.

3 [no obj.] (of a vehicle) go round a bend in a road: no squeal is evident from the tyres when cornering fast.

<PHRASES>

□ (just) around (or round) the corner very near: there's a chemist round the corner.

□ fight one's corner defend one's position or interests: we need someone in the cabinet to fight our corner.

□ in someone's corner on someone's side; giving someone support and encouragement.

□ on (or at or in) every corner everywhere: there are saloons on every corner.

□ see someone/thing out of (or from) the corner of one's eye see someone or something at the edge of one's field of vision.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, based on Latin cornu ‘horn, tip, corner’.

cornerback n. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a defensive back positioned to the outside of the linebackers.

corner boy n. chiefly IRISH a disreputable man or youth who spends his time loitering on the street.

cornered adj. [in combination] having a specified number of corners: young boys in six-cornered hats.

- having a specified number of parties involved: a three-cornered meeting was being arranged in Hong Kong.

corner forward n. (in hurling) a player in an attacking position on the wing.

corner kick n. another term for corner (sense 5 of the noun).

cornerman n. (pl. cornermen) a person whose job is to assist a boxer or wrestler at the corner between rounds.

corner shop n. BRITISH a small shop selling groceries and general goods in a mainly residential area.

cornerstone n. 1 an important quality or feature on which a particular thing depends or is based: a national minimum wage remained the cornerstone of policy.

2 a stone that forms the base of a corner of a building, joining two walls.

cornerwise adv. at an angle of approximately 45°; diagonally: he laid the cloth cornerwise on the polished table.

cornet^1 /knt/ n. 1 [MUSIC] a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but shorter and wider.

- a compound organ stop with a powerful treble sound.

2 BRITISH a cone-shaped wafer filled with ice cream.

<DERIVATIVES> cornetist /knεtst/ (also cornettist) n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting a wind instrument made of a horn): from Old French, diminutive of a variant of Latin cornu ‘horn’.

cornet^2 /knt/ n. chiefly HISTORICAL the fifth grade of commissioned officer in a cavalry troop, who carried the colours. It is still used in some British cavalry regiments for officers of the rank of second lieutenant.

<DERIVATIVES> cornetcy n. (pl. cornetcies)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French cornette, diminutive of corne (originally a collective term), based on Latin cornua ‘horns’. The word originally denoted a kind of woman's headdress, or a strip of lace hanging down from a headdress against the cheeks; later it referred to the pennon of a cavalry troop, hence the officer who carried the colours.

cornetfish n. (pl. same or cornetfishes) a large marine fish with a long, narrow flute-like snout, an elongated body, and a whip-like extension to the tail. It is common in shallow tropical waters of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific region.

<INFO> Family Fistularidae and genus Fistularia: several species.

cornetto /knεtə/ (also cornett /knt knεt/) n. (pl. cornetti or cornetts) a woodwind instrument of the 16th and 17th centuries, typically curved, with finger holes and a cup-shaped mouthpiece.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Italian, diminutive of corno ‘horn’, from Latin cornu. Compare with cornet^1.

corn exchange n. (in the UK) a building where corn is or was traded, typically a hall now converted for other public use.

corn-fed adj. fed on grain, especially maize: corn-fed chickens.

- US INFORMAL plump; well fed.

- US INFORMAL provincial; unsophisticated: a backward, corn-fed Heartland town.

cornfield n. a field in which corn is being grown.

cornflakes plural n. a breakfast cereal consisting of toasted flakes made from maize flour.

cornflour n. [mass noun] BRITISH finely ground maize flour, used for thickening sauces.

cornflower n. a slender Eurasian plant related to the knapweeds, with flowers that are typically a deep, vivid blue.

<INFO> Genus Centaurea, family Compositae: several species, including the annual Centaurea cyaneus (also called BLUEBOTTLE), formerly a common weed of cornfields, and the perennial C. montana, grown in gardens.

- (also cornflower blue) [mass noun] a deep, vivid blue colour.

Cornhusker State informal name for NEBRASKA.

cornice /kns/ n. 1 an ornamental moulding round the wall of a room just below the ceiling.

- a horizontal moulded projection crowning a building or structure, especially the uppermost member of the entablature of an order, surmounting the frieze.

2 an overhanging mass of hardened snow at the edge of a mountain precipice.

<DERIVATIVES> corniced adj. cornicing n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French corniche, from Italian cornice, perhaps from Latin cornix ‘crow’ (compare with CORBEL), but influenced by Greek korōnis ‘coping stone’.

corniche /kn kni/ n. a road cut into the edge of a cliff, especially one running along a coast.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French (see CORNICE).

Cornish adj. relating to Cornwall or its people or language.

■ n. 1 (as plural n. the Cornish) the people of Cornwall collectively.

2 [mass noun] the ancient Celtic language of Cornwall, belonging to the Brythonic branch of the Celtic language group. It gradually died out in the 17th and 18th centuries, although attempts have been made to revive it.

<DERIVATIVES> Cornishman n. (pl. Cornishmen) Cornishwoman n. (pl. Cornishwomen)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the first element of CORNWALL + -ISH^1.

Cornish cream n. [mass noun] BRITISH clotted cream.

Cornish hen (also Cornish game hen) n. another term for ROCK CORNISH.

Cornish pasty n. BRITISH a pasty containing seasoned meat and vegetables, especially potato.

Corn Laws (in the UK) a series of 19th-century laws introduced to protect British farmers from foreign competition by allowing grain to be imported only after the price of home-grown wheat had risen above a certain level. They had the unintended effect of forcing up bread prices and were eventually repealed in 1846.

corn marigold n. a daisy-like yellow-flowered Eurasian plant which was formerly a common weed of cornfields.

<INFO> Chrysanthemum segetum, family Compositae.

cornmeal n. [mass noun] meal made from corn, especially (in the US) maize flour or (in Scotland) oatmeal.

corn oil n. [mass noun] an oil obtained from the germ of maize, used in cookery and salad dressings.

corn pone North American n. [mass noun] unleavened maize bread.

■ adj. INFORMAL rustic; unsophisticated: country music and corn-pone humor.

corn roast n. CANADIAN a party at which green maize is roasted and eaten.

cornrows plural n. (especially among black people) a style of braiding and plaiting the hair in narrow strips to form geometric patterns on the scalp.

corn salad n. another term for LAMB'S LETTUCE.

cornsilk /knslk/ North American n. [mass noun] the fine thread-like styles on an ear of maize.

■ adj. (of hair) fine and blonde, like cornsilk.

corn snake n. a long North American rat snake with a spear-shaped mark between the eyes.

<INFO> Elaphe guttata, family Colubridae.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: so named because often found in cornfields.

corn snow n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN snow with a rough granular surface resulting from alternate thawing and freezing.

<ORIGIN> from corn in the dialect sense ‘granule’.

cornstarch n. North American term for CORNFLOUR.

cornstone n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a mottled red and green limestone characteristic of the Old and the New Red Sandstone in Britain.

corn syrup n. [mass noun] chiefly US glucose syrup, especially when made from cornflour.

cornu /knju/ n. (pl. cornua /-njə/) [ANATOMY] 1 a horn-shaped projection of the thyroid cartilage or of certain bones (such as the hyoid and the coccyx).

2 either of the two lateral cavities of the womb, into which the Fallopian tubes pass.

3 each of three elongated parts of the lateral ventricles of the brain.

<DERIVATIVES> cornual adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, ‘horn’.

cornucopia /knjkəpə/ n. a symbol of plenty consisting of a goat's horn overflowing with flowers, fruit, and corn.

- an ornamental container shaped like a goat's horn.

- an abundant supply of good things of a specified kind: the festival offers a cornucopia of pleasures.

<DERIVATIVES> cornucopian adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin, from Latin cornu copiae ‘horn of plenty’ (a mythical horn able to provide whatever is desired).

cornus /knəs/ n. a plant of a genus that comprises the dogwoods.

<INFO> Genus Cornus, family Cornaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin, ‘dogwood’.

Cornwall a county occupying the extreme south-western peninsula of England; county town, Truro.

Cornwall, Duchy of an estate vested in the Prince of Wales, consisting of properties in Cornwall and elsewhere in SW England.

corny adj. (cornier, corniest) INFORMAL trite, banal, or mawkishly sentimental: it sounds corny, but as soon as I saw her I knew she was the one.

<DERIVATIVES> cornily adv. corniness n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from an earlier sense ‘rustic, appealing to country folk’.

corolla /kərlə/ n. [BOTANY] the petals of a flower, typically forming a whorl within the sepals and enclosing the reproductive organs. Compare with CALYX.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘little crown’): from Latin, diminutive of corona ‘wreath, crown, chaplet’.

corollary /kərləri/ n. (pl. corollaries) a proposition that follows from (and is often appended to) one already proved.

- a direct or natural consequence or result: the huge increases in unemployment were the corollary of expenditure cuts.

■ adj. forming a proposition that follows from one already proved.

- associated or supplementary: the court did not answer a corollary question.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin corollarium ‘money paid for a garland or chaplet; gratuity’ (in late Latin ‘deduction’), from corolla, diminutive of corona ‘wreath, crown, chaplet’.

coromandel /krəmand(ə)l/ n. 1 (also coromandel wood or coromandel ebony) [mass noun] a fine-grained, greyish-brown ebony streaked with black, used in furniture. Also called CALAMANDER.

2 the Sri Lankan tree that yields coromandel ebony.

<INFO> Diospyros quaesita, family Ebenaceae.

■ adj. denoting a form of oriental lacquerware with intaglio designs.

<ORIGIN> from COROMANDEL COAST, from which oriental lacquerware was originally transported.

Coromandel Coast /krəmand(ə)l/ the southern part of the east coast of India, from Point Calimere to the mouth of the Krishna River.

corona^1 /kərənə/ n. (pl. coronae /-ni/) 1 [ASTRONOMY] the rarefied gaseous envelope of the sun and other stars. The sun's corona is normally visible only during a total solar eclipse, when it is seen as an irregularly shaped pearly glow surrounding the darkened disc of the moon.

- (also corona discharge) [PHYSICS] the glow around a conductor at high potential.

- a small circle of light seen round the sun or moon, due to diffraction by water droplets.

2 [ANATOMY] a crown or crown-like structure.

3 [BOTANY] the cup-shaped or trumpet-shaped outgrowth at the centre of a daffodil or narcissus flower.

4 a circular chandelier in a church.

5 [ARCHITECTURE] a part of a cornice having a broad vertical face.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 5): from Latin, ‘wreath, crown’.

corona^2 /kərənə/ n. a long, straight-sided cigar.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Spanish La Corona, literally ‘the crown’, originally a proprietary name.

Corona Australis /kərənə strels/ [ASTRONOMY] a small southern constellation (the Southern Crown), with no bright stars.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Corona Borealis /brels/ [ASTRONOMY] a northern constellation (the Northern Crown), in which the main stars form a small but prominent arc.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

coronach /krənək -x/ n. (in Scotland or Ireland) a funeral song.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally Scots, denoting the outcry of a crowd): from Scottish Gaelic corranach (Irish coranach), from comh- ‘together’ + rànach ‘outcry’.

coronagraph n. an instrument that blocks out light emitted by the sun's actual surface so that the corona can be observed.

coronal^1 /kərən(ə)l kr(ə)n(ə)l/ adj. 1 [ASTRONOMY] relating to the corona of the sun or another star.

2 [ANATOMY] relating to the crown of the head.

3 [ANATOMY] of or in the coronal plane.

4 [PHONETICS] (of a consonant) formed by raising the tip or blade of the tongue towards the hard palate.

■ n. [PHONETICS] a coronal consonant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective): from Latin coronalis, from corona ‘crown’.

coronal^2 /kr(ə)n(ə)l/ n. a garland or wreath for the head.

- LITERARY a small crown; a coronet.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: apparently from Anglo-Norman French, from corune ‘crown, wreath’ (see CROWN).

coronal bone n. former term for FRONTAL BONE.

coronal plane n. [ANATOMY] an imaginary plane dividing the body into dorsal and ventral parts.

coronal suture n. [ANATOMY] the transverse suture in the skull separating the frontal bone from the parietal bones.

coronary adj. [ANATOMY] relating to or denoting the arteries which surround and supply the heart.

- relating to or denoting a structure which encircles a part of the body.

■ n. (pl. coronaries)

■ short for CORONARY THROMBOSIS.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘resembling a crown’): from Latin coronarius, from corona ‘wreath, crown’.

coronary thrombosis n. a blockage of the flow of blood to the heart, caused by a blood clot in a coronary artery.

coronation n. the ceremony of crowning a sovereign or a sovereign's consort.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin coronatio(n-), from coronare ‘to crown, adorn with a garland’, from corona (see CROWN).

coronation chicken n. [mass noun] a cold dish of cooked chicken served in a sauce flavoured with apricots and curry powder.

<ORIGIN> so named because the dish was created for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

Coronation stone another term for STONE OF SCONE.

coronavirus /kərənəvrəs/ n. MEDICINE any of a group of RNA viruses that cause a variety of diseases in humans and other animals.

coroner /kr(ə)nə/ n. an official who holds inquests into violent, sudden, or suspicious deaths, and (in Britain) inquiries into cases of treasure trove.

- HISTORICAL an official responsible for safeguarding the private property of the Crown.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French coruner, from corune ‘a crown’ (see CROWN); reflecting the Latin title custos placitorum coronae ‘guardian of the pleas of the Crown’.

coronet /kr(ə)nt/ n. 1 a small or relatively simple crown, especially as worn by lesser royalty and peers or peeresses.

- a circular decoration for the head, especially one made of flowers.

2 a ring of bone at the base of a deer's antler.

3 the band of tissue on the lowest part of a horse's pastern, containing the horn-producing cells from which the hoof grows.

<DERIVATIVES> coroneted adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French coronete ‘small crown or garland’, diminutive of corone (see CROWN).

coronial /kərənəl/ adj. relating to a coroner.

coronoid process n. [ANATOMY] 1 a flattened triangular projection above the angle of the jaw where the temporalis muscle is attached.

2 a projection from the front of the ulna forming part of the articulation of the elbow.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: coronoid from Greek korōnē (denoting something hooked) + -OID.

Corot /krə/ French /kRə/ (Jean-Baptiste) Camille (1796–1875), French landscape painter, who worked in an essentially classical style despite his contact with the Barbizon School. Corot had a significant influence on the Impressionists.

Corp. abbr.

- North American Corporation: IBM Corp.

- (Corp) INFORMAL Corporal: been abroad before, Corp?

corpora plural form of CORPUS.

corporal^1 n. 1 a rank of non-commissioned officer in the army, above lance corporal or private first class and below sergeant.

2 (also ship's corporal) BRITISH HISTORICAL a petty officer who attended solely to police matters, under the master-at-arms.

3 North American term for FALLFISH.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, obsolete variant of caporal, from Italian caporale, probably based on Latin corpus, corpor- ‘body (of troops)’, with a change of spelling in Italian due to association with capo ‘head’.

corporal^2 adj. relating to the human body.

<DERIVATIVES> corporally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin corporalis, from corpus, corpor- ‘body’.

corporal^3 n. a cloth on which the chalice and paten are placed during the celebration of the Eucharist.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from medieval Latin corporale (pallium) ‘body (cloth)’, from Latin corpus, corpor- ‘body’.

corporality n. [mass noun] RARE material or corporeal existence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin corporalitas, from Latin corporalis ‘relating to the body’ (see corporal^2).

corporal punishment n. [mass noun] physical punishment, such as caning or flogging.

corporate adj. relating to a large company or group: airlines are very keen on their corporate identity.

- [LAW] (of a large company or group) authorized to act as a single entity and recognized as such in law.

- of or shared by all the members of a group: the service emphasizes the corporate responsibility of the congregation.

■ n. a corporate company or group.

<DERIVATIVES> corporately adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin corporatus, past participle of corporare ‘form into a body’, from corpus, corpor- ‘body’.

corporate hospitality n. [mass noun] the entertaining of clients by companies in order to promote business, especially at sporting or other public events.

corporate raider n. a financier who makes a practice of making hostile takeover bids for companies, either to control their policies or to resell them for a profit.

corporate state n. a state governed by representatives not of geographical areas but of vocational corporations of the employers and employees in each trade, profession, or industry.

corporation n. 1 a large company or group of companies authorized to act as a single entity and recognized as such in law.

2 BRITISH a group of people elected to govern a city, town, or borough.

3 DATED, HUMOROUS a paunch.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin corporatio(n-), from Latin corporare ‘combine in one body’ (see CORPORATE).

corporation tax n. [mass noun] BRITISH tax levied on companies' profits.

corporatism n. [mass noun] the control of a state or organization by large interest groups.

<DERIVATIVES> corporatist adj. & n.

corporative adj. relating to or denoting a state, typically a fascist one, organized into corporations representing employers and employees in various trades or professions.

<DERIVATIVES> corporativism n. corporativist adj. & n.

corporatize (also corporatise) v. [with obj.] convert (a state organization) into an independent commercial company.

<DERIVATIVES> corporatization n.

corporator n. INDIAN an elected member of a municipal corporation.

corporeal /kprəl/ adj. relating to a person's body, especially as opposed to their spirit: he was frank about his corporeal appetites.

- having a body: a corporeal God.

- [LAW] consisting of material objects.

<DERIVATIVES> corporeality /-alti/ n. corporeally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘material’): from late Latin corporealis, from Latin corporeus ‘bodily, physical’, from corpus, corpor- ‘body’.

corporeity /kpəriti -reti/ n. [mass noun] RARE the quality of having a physical body or existence.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French corporéité or medieval Latin corporeitas, from Latin corporeus ‘composed of flesh’, from corpus, corpor- ‘body’.

corposant /kpəzant/ n. ARCHAIC an appearance of St Elmo's fire on a mast, rigging, or other structure.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian corpo santo ‘holy body’.

corps /k/ n. (pl. corps /kz/) [often in names] a main subdivision of an army in the field, consisting of two or more divisions: the 5th Army Corps.

- a branch of an army assigned to a particular kind of work: the Royal Army Medical Corps.

- [with adj. or noun modifier] a body of people engaged in a particular activity: the press corps.

■ short for CORPS DE BALLET.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from Latin corpus ‘body’.

corps de ballet /k də bale/ n. [treated as sing. or plural] the members of a ballet company who dance together as a group.

- the members of the lowest rank of dancers in a ballet company.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French.

corps d'elite /k delit/ n. a select group of people.

<ORIGIN> French.

corpse n. a dead body, especially of a human being rather than an animal.

■ v. [no obj.] THEATRICAL SLANG spoil a piece of acting by forgetting one's lines or laughing uncontrollably.

- [with obj.] cause (an actor) to do this.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting the living body of a person or animal): alteration of CORSE by association with Latin corpus, a change which also took place in French (Old French cors becoming corps). The p was originally silent, as in French; the final e was rare before the 19th century, but now distinguishes corpse from corps.

corpse candle n. a lambent flame seen just above the ground in a churchyard or over a grave, superstitiously regarded as an omen of death.

corpulence /kpjləns/ n. [mass noun] the state of being fat; obesity: her corpulence is the butt of every joke.

<DERIVATIVES> corpulency n.

corpulent /kpjl(ə)nt/ adj. (of a person) fat: a short, somewhat corpulent man.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin corpulentus, from corpus ‘body’.

cor pulmonale /k plmənαli -neli/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal enlargement of the right side of the heart as a result of disease of the lungs or the pulmonary blood vessels.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin cor ‘heart’ and modern Latin pulmonalis (from Latin pulmo(n-) ‘lung’).

corpus /kpəs/ n. (pl. corpora or corpuses) 1 a collection of written texts, especially the entire works of a particular author or a body of writing on a particular subject: the Darwinian corpus.

- a collection of written or spoken material in machine-readable form, assembled for the purpose of linguistic research.

2 [ANATOMY] the main body or mass of a structure.

- the central part of the stomach, between the fundus and the antrum.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a human or animal body): from Latin, literally ‘body’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 18th cent.

corpus callosum /kələsəm/ n. (pl. corpora callosa /-sə/) [ANATOMY] a broad band of nerve fibres joining the two hemispheres of the brain.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from CORPUS and Latin callosum, neuter of callosus ‘tough’.

corpus cavernosum /kavənəsəm/ n. (pl. corpora cavernosa /-sə/) [ANATOMY] either of two masses of erectile tissue forming the bulk of the penis and the clitoris.

<ORIGIN> from CORPUS and Latin cavernosum, neuter of cavernosus ‘containing hollows’.

Corpus Christi^1 /kpəs krsti/ n. a feast of the Western Christian Church commemorating the institution of the Eucharist, observed on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘body of Christ’.

Corpus Christi^2 /kpəs krsti/ a city and port in southern Texas; pop. 277,454 (2000). It is situated on Corpus Christi Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico.

corpuscle /kps(ə)l/ n. [BIOLOGY] a minute body or cell in an organism, especially a red or white cell in the blood of vertebrates.

- HISTORICAL a minute particle regarded as the basic constituent of matter or light.

<DERIVATIVES> corpuscular /kpskjlə/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin corpusculum ‘small body’, diminutive of corpus.

corpus delicti /dlkt/ n. [LAW] the facts and circumstances constituting a crime.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘body of offence’.

corpus luteum /lutəm/ n. (pl. corpora lutea /lutə/) [ANATOMY] a hormone-secreting structure that develops in an ovary after an ovum has been discharged but degenerates after a few days unless pregnancy has begun.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from CORPUS and Latin luteum, neuter of luteus ‘yellow’.

corpus spongiosum /spndəsəm/ n. (pl. corpora spongiosa /-sə/) [ANATOMY] a mass of erectile tissue alongside the corpora cavernosa of the penis and terminating in the glans.

<ORIGIN> from CORPUS and Latin spongiosum, neuter of spongiosus ‘porous’.

corpus striatum /stretəm/ n. (pl. corpora striata /-tə/) [ANATOMY] part of the basal ganglia of the brain, comprising the caudate and lentiform nuclei.

<ORIGIN> from CORPUS and Latin striatum, neuter of striatus ‘grooved’.

corral /kərαl/ n. North American 1 a pen for livestock, especially cattle or horses, on a farm or ranch.

2 HISTORICAL a defensive enclosure formed of wagons in an encampment.

■ v. (corrals, corralling, corralled) [with obj.] 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN put or keep (livestock) in a corral.

- gather (a group of people or things) together: the organizers were corralling the crowd into marching formation.

2 NORTH AMERICAN HISTORICAL form (wagons) into a corral.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish and Old Portuguese (now curral), perhaps based on Latin currere ‘to run’. Compare with KRAAL.

correct adj. free from error; in accordance with fact or truth: make sure you have been given the correct information.

- [predic.] not mistaken in one's opinion or judgement; right: [with infinitive] the government was correct to follow a course of defeating inflation.

- meeting the requirements of or most appropriate for a particular situation or activity: cut the top and bottom tracks to the correct length with a hacksaw.

- (of a person or their appearance or behaviour) conforming to accepted social standards; proper: he was a polite man, invariably correct and pleasant with Mrs Collins.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN conforming to a particular political or ideological orthodoxy. See also POLITICALLY CORRECT.

■ v. [with obj.] put right (an error or fault): the Council issued a statement correcting some points in the press reports.

- mark the errors in (a written or printed text): he corrected Dixon's writing for publication.

- tell (someone) that they are mistaken: he had assumed she was married and she had not corrected him.

- counteract or rectify: the steel industry's current overcapacity will be corrected this year.

- adjust (an instrument) to function accurately or accord with a standard: motorists can have their headlights tested and corrected at a reduced price on Saturday.

- adjust (a numerical result or reading) to allow for departure from standard conditions: data were corrected for radionuclide decay.

<DERIVATIVES> correctable adj. correctness n. corrector n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): from Latin correct- ‘made straight, amended’, from the verb corrigere, from cor- ‘together’ + regere ‘guide’. The adjective is via French.

correction n. [mass noun] the action or process of correcting something: I checked the typing for errors and sent it back for correction.

- [count noun] a change that rectifies an error or inaccuracy: he made a few corrections to my homework.

- [count noun] a quantity adjusting a numerical result to allow for a departure from standard conditions.

- North American or DATED punishment, especially that of criminals in prison intended to rectify their behaviour.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin correctio(n-), from corrigere ‘make straight, bring into order’ (see CORRECT).

correctional adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN relating to the punishment of criminals in a way intended to rectify their behaviour: a correctional institution.

correction fluid n. [mass noun] an opaque liquid painted over a typed or written error so as to allow for the insertion of the correct character.

correctitude /kərεkttjud/ n. [mass noun] correctness, especially conscious correctness in one's behaviour.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of CORRECT and RECTITUDE.

corrective adj. designed to correct or counteract something harmful or undesirable: management were informed so that corrective action could be taken.

■ n. a thing intended to correct or counteract something else: the move might be a corrective to some inefficient practices within hospitals.

<DERIVATIVES> correctively adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French correctif, -ive or late Latin correctivus, from Latin correct- ‘brought into order’ from the verb corrigere (see CORRECT).

correctly adv. in a way that is true, factual or appropriate; accurately: she correctly answered eight questions.

- in a way that is socially acceptable; properly: she had acted correctly.

Correggio /krεdə/ Antonio Allegri da (c.1494–1534), Italian painter; born Antonio Allegri. The soft, sensual style of his devotional and mythological paintings influenced the rococo of the 18th century. He is best known for his frescoes in Parma cathedral.

correlate /krəlet -r-/ v. [no obj.] have a mutual relationship or connection, in which one thing affects or depends on another: the study found that success in the educational system correlates highly with class.

- [with obj.] establish such a relationship or connection between: we should correlate general trends in public opinion with trends in the content of television news.

■ n. each of two or more related or complementary things: strategies to promote health should pay greater attention to financial hardship and other correlates of poverty.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a noun): back-formation from CORRELATION and CORRELATIVE.

correlation n. a mutual relationship or connection between two or more things: research showed a clear correlation between recession and levels of property crime | [mass noun] there was no correlation between the number of visits to the clinic and the treatment outcome.

- [mass noun] the process of establishing a relationship or connection between two or more things.

- [mass noun] [STATISTICS] interdependence of variable quantities.

- [STATISTICS] a quantity measuring the extent of such interdependence.

<DERIVATIVES> correlational adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin correlatio(n-), from cor- ‘together’ + relatio (see RELATION).

correlation coefficient n. [STATISTICS] a number between +1 and −1 calculated so as to represent the linear interdependence of two variables or sets of data. (Symbol: r)

correlative /kərεlətv/ adj. having a mutual relationship; corresponding: rights, whether moral or legal, can involve correlative duties.

- [GRAMMAR] (of words such as neither and nor) corresponding to each other and regularly used together.

■ n. a word or concept that has a mutual relationship with another word or concept: the child's right to education is a correlative of the parent's duty to send the child to school.

<DERIVATIVES> correlatively adv. correlativity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin correlativus, from cor- ‘together’ + late Latin relativus (see RELATIVE).

correspond v. [no obj.] 1 have a close similarity; match or agree almost exactly: the carved heads described in the poem correspond to a drawing of Edgcote House | communication is successful when the ideas in the minds of the speaker and hearer correspond.

- be analogous or equivalent in character, form, or function: the rank of Feldwebel in the German forces nominally corresponded to the British rank of sergeant.

2 communicate by exchanging letters: Margaret corresponded with him until his death | the doctor and I corresponded for more than two decades.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French correspondre, from medieval Latin correspondere, from cor- ‘together’ + Latin respondere (see RESPOND).

correspondence n. 1 a close similarity, connection, or equivalence: there is a simple correspondence between the distance of a focused object from the eye and the size of its image on the retina.

2 [mass noun] communication by exchanging letters: the organization engaged in detailed correspondence with local MPs.

- letters sent or received: his wife dealt with his private correspondence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin correspondentia, from correspondent- ‘corresponding’ (see CORRESPONDENT).

correspondence college (also correspondence school) n. a college offering correspondence courses.

correspondence column n. BRITISH the part of a newspaper, magazine, or journal that contains letters from readers.

correspondence course n. a course of study in which student and tutors communicate by post.

correspondence principle [PHYSICS] n. the principle that states that for very large quantum numbers the laws of quantum theory merge with those of classical physics.

correspondence school n. another term for CORRESPONDENCE COLLEGE.

correspondence theory [PHILOSOPHY] n. the theory that states that the definition or criterion of truth is that true propositions correspond to the facts.

correspondent n. 1 a person who writes letters on a regular basis: she wasn't much of a correspondent.

2 [often with adj. or noun modifier] a person employed to report for a newspaper or broadcasting organization: a cricket correspondent.

■ adj. corresponding.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Old French correspondant or medieval Latin correspondent- ‘corresponding’, from the verb correspondere (see CORRESPOND).

corresponding adj. analogous or equivalent in character, form, or function; comparable: the corresponding Jamaican word is ‘bada’.

<DERIVATIVES> correspondingly adv.

corresponding angles plural n. [MATHEMATICS] the angles which occupy the same relative position at each intersection where a straight line crosses two others. If the two lines are parallel, the corresponding angles are equal.

corresponding member n. an honorary member of a learned society who has no voice in the society's affairs, especially one living some distance from the its headquarters.

corrida /kridə/ n. a bullfight.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Spanish corrida de toros ‘running of bulls’.

corridor n. a long passage in a building from which doors lead into rooms.

- BRITISH a passage along the side of some railway carriages, from which doors lead into compartments.

- a belt of land linking two other areas or following a road or river: the security forces established corridors for humanitarian supplies.

<PHRASES>

□ the corridors of power the senior levels of government or administration. [<ORIGIN> from the name of C. P. Snow's novel The Corridors of Power (1964).]

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a military term denoting a strip of land along the outer edge of a ditch, protected by a parapet): from French, from Italian corridore, alteration (by association with corridore ‘runner’) of corridoio ‘running place’, from correre ‘to run’, from Latin currere. The current sense dates from the early 19th cent.

corrie /kri/ n. (pl. corries) a cirque, especially one in the mountains of Scotland.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Scottish Gaelic and Irish coire ‘cauldron, hollow’.

Corriedale /krdel/ n. a sheep of a New Zealand breed kept for both wool and meat.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after an estate in northern Otago, New Zealand.

corrigendum /krdεndəm/ n. (pl. corrigenda /-də/) a thing to be corrected, typically an error in a printed book.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: Latin, neuter gerundive of corrigere ‘bring into order’ (see CORRECT).

corrigible /krdb(ə)l/ adj. capable of being corrected, rectified, or reformed.

<DERIVATIVES> corrigibility n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘liable to or deserving punishment’): via French from medieval Latin corrigibilis, from Latin corrigere ‘to correct’.

corroborate /kərbəret/ v. [with obj.] confirm or give support to (a statement, theory, or finding): the witness had corroborated the boy's account of the attack.

<DERIVATIVES> corroborative adj. corroborator n. corroboratory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘make physically stronger’): from Latin corroborat- ‘strengthened’, from the verb corroborare, from cor- ‘together’ + roborare, from robur ‘strength’.

corroboration /kərbəre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] evidence which confirms or supports a statement, theory, or finding; confirmation: there is no independent corroboration for this.

corroboree /kərbəri/ n. an Australian Aboriginal dance ceremony which may take the form of a sacred ritual or an informal gathering.

- chiefly AUSTRALIAN a party or other lively social gathering.

<ORIGIN> from Dharuk garaabara, denoting a style of dancing.

corrode /kərəd/ v. [with obj.] destroy or damage (metal, stone, or other materials) slowly by chemical action: acid rain poisons fish and corrodes buildings.

- [no obj.] (of metal or other materials) be destroyed or damaged in this way: over the years copper pipework corrodes.

- FIGURATIVE destroy or weaken (something) gradually: the self-centred climate corrodes ideals and concerns about social justice.

<DERIVATIVES> corrodible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin corrodere, from cor- (expressing intensive force) + rodere ‘gnaw’.

corrody /krədi/ n. (pl. corrodies) HISTORICAL a pension or provision for maintenance, especially as given regularly by a religious house.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French corodie, from a Romance word meaning ‘preparation’.

corrosion n. [mass noun] the process of corroding or being corroded: each aircraft part is sprayed with oil to prevent corrosion.

- damage caused by such a process: engineers found the corrosion when checking the bridge.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin corrosio(n-), from Latin corrodere ‘gnaw through’ (see CORRODE).

corrosive adj. tending to cause corrosion: the corrosive effects of salt water.

■ n. a corrosive substance.

<DERIVATIVES> corrosively adv. corrosiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French corosif, -ive, from medieval Latin corrosivus, from Latin corros- ‘gnawed through’, from the verb corrodere (see CORRODE).

corrosive sublimate n. old-fashioned term for MERCURIC CHLORIDE.

corrugate /kret/ v. contract or cause to contract into wrinkles or folds: [no obj.] Micky's brow corrugated in a simian frown.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin corrugat- ‘wrinkled’, from the verb corrugare, from cor- (expressing intensive force) + rugare (from ruga ‘a wrinkle’).

corrugated adj. (of a material or surface) shaped into a series of parallel ridges and grooves so as to give added rigidity and strength: corrugated cardboard.

<DERIVATIVES> corrugation n.

corrugated iron n. [mass noun] a building material consisting of iron or steel sheeting bent into a corrugated form.

corrupt adj. 1 having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain: unscrupulous logging companies assisted by corrupt officials.

- evil or morally depraved: the old corrupt order.

2 (of a text or a computer database or program) made unreliable by errors or alterations.

3 ARCHAIC (of organic or inorganic matter) in a state of decay; rotten or putrid.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 cause to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain: there is a continuing fear of firms corrupting politicians in the search for contracts.

- cause to become morally depraved: he has corrupted the boy.

2 change or debase by making errors or unintentional alterations: a backup copy will be needed if the original copy becomes corrupted | Epicurus's teachings have since been much corrupted.

3 ARCHAIC infect; contaminate.

<DERIVATIVES> corrupter n. corruptibility n. corruptible adj. corruptive adj. corruptly adv. corruptness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere ‘mar, bribe, destroy’, from cor- ‘altogether’ + rumpere ‘to break’.

corruption n. [mass noun] 1 dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery: the journalist who wants to expose corruption in high places.

- the action or effect of making someone or something morally depraved.

2 the process by which a word or expression is changed from its original state to one regarded as erroneous or debased: a record of a word's corruption | [count noun] the term ‘hobgoblin’ is thought to be a corruption of ‘Robgoblin’.

- the process by which a computer database or program becomes debased by alteration or the introduction of errors.

3 ARCHAIC the process of decay; putrefaction.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin corruptio(n-), from corrumpere ‘mar, bribe, destroy’ (see CORRUPT).

corrupt practice n. a fraudulent activity, especially an attempt to rig an election.

corsac fox /ksak/ n. a russet-grey fox found on the steppes of central Asia.

<INFO> Vulpes corsac, family Canidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: corsac from Russian korsak, from Turkic karsak.

corsage /ksα ksα/ n. 1 a spray of flowers worn pinned to a woman's clothes.

2 the upper part of a woman's dress.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in sense 2): French, from Old French cors ‘body’, from Latin corpus.

corsair /ksε ksε/ n. ARCHAIC a pirate.

- a privateer, especially one operating along the southern shore of the Mediterranean in the 17th century.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French corsaire, from medieval Latin cursarius, from cursus ‘a raid, plunder’, special use of Latin cursus ‘course’, from currere ‘to run’.

Corse /kRs/ French name for CORSICA.

corse /ks/ n. ARCHAIC a corpse.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cors ‘body’, from Latin corpus. Compare with CORPSE.

corselet n. 1 /ks(ə)lt/ HISTORICAL a piece of armour covering the trunk.

2 variant spelling of CORSELETTE.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French corslet, diminutive of cors ‘body’.

corselette /ks(ə)lεt ks(ə)lεt/ (also corselet) n. a woman's foundation garment combining corset and bra.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from corselet (see CORSELET).

corset n. a woman's tightly fitting undergarment extending from below the chest to the hips, worn to shape the figure.

- a similar garment worn by men or women to support a weak or injured back.

- HISTORICAL a tightly fitting laced or stiffened outer bodice.

<DERIVATIVES> corseted adj. corsetry n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, diminutive of cors ‘body’, from Latin corpus. The sense ‘close-fitting undergarment’ dates from the late 18th century, by which time the sense ‘bodice’ had mainly historical reference.

corsetière /kstjε/ n. a woman who makes or fits corsets.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, feminine of corsetier, from corset (see CORSET).

Corsica /kskə/ a mountainous island off the west coast of Italy, forming an administrative region of France; pop. 260,196 (1999); chief towns, Bastia (northern department) and Ajaccio (southern department). It was the birthplace of Napoleon I. French name CORSE.

Corsican adj. relating to Corsica, its people, or their language.

■ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Corsica.

2 [mass noun] the language of Corsica, which originated as a dialect of Italian.

corso /ksə/ n. (pl. corsos) (in Italy and some other Mediterranean countries) a social promenade.

- a street used for social promenades, or where races and parades were formerly held.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘main street’, from Latin cursus ‘a course’.

Cort /kt/ Henry (1740–1800), English ironmaster. He patented a process for producing iron bars by passing iron through grooved rollers, thus avoiding a hammering stage.

cortège /kte -tε/ n. a solemn procession, especially for a funeral.

- a person's entourage or retinue.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian corteggio, from corteggiare ‘attend court’, from corte ‘court’, from Latin cohors, cohort- ‘retinue’.

Cortes /ktεs -z/ Spanish /kərtes/ the legislative assembly of Spain and formerly of Portugal.

<ORIGIN> Spanish and Portuguese, plural of corte ‘court’, from Latin cohors, cohort- ‘yard, retinue’.

Cortés /ktεz/ Spanish /kərtes/ (also Cortez) Hernando (1485–1547), first of the Spanish conquistadores. Cortés overthrew the Aztec empire, conquering its capital, Tenochtitlán, in 1519 and deposing the emperor, Montezuma. In 1521 he destroyed Tenochtitlán completely and established Mexico City as the new capital of Mexico (then called New Spain).

cortex /ktεks/ n. (pl. cortices /-tsiz/) 1 [ANATOMY] the outer layer of the cerebrum (the cerebral cortex), composed of folded grey matter and playing an important role in consciousness.

- an outer layer of another organ or body part such as a kidney (the renal cortex), the cerebellum, or a hair.

2 [BOTANY] an outer layer of tissue immediately below the epidermis of a stem or root.

<DERIVATIVES> cortical adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, literally ‘bark’.

corticate /ktket/ adj. [BOTANY] having a cortex, bark, or rind.

<DERIVATIVES> cortication n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin corticatus, from cortex, cortic- ‘bark’.

cortico- combining form representing CORTEX, used especially with reference to the adrenal and cerebral cortices.

<ORIGIN> from Latin cortex, cortic- ‘bark’.

corticofugal /ktkəfju(ə)l/ (also corticifugal /ktsfju(ə)l/) adj. [ANATOMY] (of a nerve fibre) originating in and running from the cerebral cortex.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CORTICO- ‘cortex’ + Latin fugere ‘run from’.

corticosteroid /ktkəstərd -stεrd/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of steroid hormones produced in the adrenal cortex or made synthetically. There are two kinds: glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids. They have various metabolic functions and some are used to treat inflammation.

corticosterone /ktkəstεrən/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hormone secreted by the adrenal cortex, one of the glucocorticoids.

corticotrophin /ktkə()trəfn/ (also corticotropin /-pn/) n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for ADRENOCORTICOTROPHIC HORMONE.

cortile /ktile/ Italian /kərtile/ n. (pl. cortili /-li/ or cortiles) (in Italy) an enclosed area, typically roofless and arcaded, within or attached to a building.

<ORIGIN> Italian, derivative of corte ‘court’.

cortina /ktnə -tinə/ n. [BOTANY] (in some toadstools) a thin web-like veil extending from the edge of the cap to the stalk.

<DERIVATIVES> cortinate adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from late Latin, literally ‘curtain’.

cortisol /ktsl/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for HYDROCORTISONE.

cortisone /ktzən/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hormone produced by the adrenal cortex. One of the glucocorticoids, it is also made synthetically for use as an anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy agent.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from elements of its chemical name 17-hydroxy-11-dehydrocorticosterone.

corundum /kərndəm/ n. [mass noun] extremely hard crystallized alumina, used as an abrasive. Ruby and sapphire are varieties of corundum.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Tamil kuruntam and Telugu kuruvindam.

Corunna /kərnə/ a port in NW Spain; pop. 241,000 (est. 2002). It was the point of departure for the Armada in 1588 and the site of a battle in 1809 in the Peninsular War, at which British forces under Sir John Moore defeated the French. Spanish name La Coruña.

coruscant /krsk(ə)nt/ adj. LITERARY glittering; sparkling.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin coruscant- ‘vibrating, glittering’, from the verb coruscare.

coruscate /krəsket/ v. [no obj.] LITERARY (of light) flash or sparkle: the light was coruscating through the walls.

<DERIVATIVES> coruscation n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin coruscat- ‘glittered’, from the verb coruscare.

corvée /kve/ n. HISTORICAL a day's unpaid labour owed by a vassal to his feudal lord.

- [mass noun] forced labour exacted in lieu of taxes, in particular that on public roads in France before 1776.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, based on Latin corrogare ‘ask for, collect’. Rare in English before the late 18th cent.

corves plural form of CORF.

corvette /kvεt/ n. a small warship designed for convoy escort duty.

- HISTORICAL a type of sailing warship with one tier of guns.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Dutch korf, denoting a kind of ship, + the diminutive suffix -ette.

corvid /kvd/ n. [BIRD] a bird of the crow family (Corvidae); a crow.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from modern Latin Corvidae (plural), from Latin corvus ‘raven’.

corvina^1 /kvinə/ n. [mass noun] a variety of wine grape native to the Veneto region of NE Italy, used to make Valpolicella and Bardolino.

<ORIGIN> Italian (feminine adjective), literally ‘raven-black’.

corvina^2 /kvinə/ n. a marine food and game fish of the drum family, found on the Pacific coasts of California and Mexico and sometimes living in fresh water.

<INFO> Genus Cynoscion, family Sciaenidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Spanish and Portuguese.

corvine /kvn/ adj. of or like a raven or crow, especially in colour.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin corvinus, from corvus ‘raven’.

Corvus /kvəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a small southern constellation (the Crow or Raven), south of Virgo.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

corybantic /krbantk/ adj. wild; frenzied.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Corybantes, Latin name of the priests of Cybele, a Phrygian goddess of nature who performed wild dances, from Greek Korubantes + -IC.

corydalis /kərdəls/ n. a herbaceous plant with spurred tubular flowers, found in north temperate regions.

<INFO> Genus Corydalis, family Fumariaceae: many species, including yellow corydalis (C. lutea), a garden escape which has become naturalized in Britain.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek korudallis ‘crested lark’, alluding to a similarity between the flower and the bird's spur.

corymb /krmb/ n. [BOTANY] a flower cluster whose lower stalks are proportionally longer so that the flowers form a flat or slightly convex head.

<DERIVATIVES> corymbose adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French corymbe or Latin corymbus, from Greek korumbos ‘cluster’.

corynebacterium /krnbaktərəm kərn-/ n. (pl. corynebacteria /-rə/) a bacterium which sometimes causes disease in humans and other animals, including diphtheria.

<INFO> Genus Corynebacterium; Gram-positive non-motile club-shaped rods.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek korunē ‘club’ + BACTERIUM.

coryphée /krfe/ n. a leading dancer in a corps de ballet.

<ORIGIN> French, via Latin from Greek koruphaios ‘leader of a chorus’, from koruphē ‘head’.

coryza /kərzə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE catarrhal inflammation of the mucous membrane in the nose, caused especially by a cold or by hay fever.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin, from Greek koruza ‘nasal mucus’.

cos^1 /ks/ (also cos lettuce) n. BRITISH a lettuce of a variety with crisp narrow leaves that form a tall head.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: named after the Aegean island of COS, where it originated.

cos^2 /kz ks/ abbr. cosine.

cos^3 /kz kəz/ (also 'cos or coz) conj. BRITISH INFORMAL short for BECAUSE.

Cosa Nostra /kəzə nstrə/ a US criminal organization resembling and related to the Mafia.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘our affair’.

coscoroba swan /kskərəbə/ n. a small South American swan with white plumage and bright pink legs and feet.

<INFO> Coscoroba coscoroba, family Anatidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coscoroba from the modern Latin taxonomic name, of unknown origin.

cosec /kəsεk/ abbr. cosecant.

cosecant /kəsik(ə)nt -sεk-/ n. [MATHEMATICS] the ratio of the hypotenuse (in a right-angled triangle) to the side opposite an acute angle; the reciprocal of sine.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from modern Latin cosecant-, from CO- ‘mutually’ + Latin secant- ‘cutting’ (from the verb secare). Compare with SECANT.

coset /kəsεt/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a set composed of all the products obtained by multiplying each element of a subgroup in turn by one particular element of the group containing the subgroup.

cosh^1 BRITISH INFORMAL n. a thick, heavy stick or bar used as a weapon.

■ v. [with obj.] hit (someone) on the head with a cosh.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

cosh^2 /k kset/ abbr. [MATHEMATICS] hyperbolic cosine.

<ORIGIN> from COS^2 + -h for hyperbolic. Compare with COTH.

COSHH abbr. BRITISH control of substances hazardous for health, a body of regulations introduced in Britain to govern the storage and use of such substances.

co-signatory n. a person or state signing a treaty or other document jointly with others.

Cosimo de' Medici /kzmə/ (1389–1464), Italian statesman and banker; known as Cosimo the Elder. He laid the foundations for the Medici family's power in Florence, becoming the city's ruler in 1434 and using his considerable wealth to promote the arts and learning.

cosine /kəsn/ n. [MATHEMATICS] the trigonometric function that is equal to the ratio of the side adjacent to an acute angle (in a right-angled triangle) to the hypotenuse.

co-sleeping n. [mass noun] the practice of parents and young children sleeping in the same bed.

<DERIVATIVES> co-sleep v.

cosmeceutical /kzməsjutk(ə)l/ n. a cosmetic that has or is claimed to have medicinal properties.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of COSMETIC and PHARMACEUTICAL.

cosmetic adj. 1 relating to treatment intended to restore or improve a person's appearance: cosmetic surgery.

- serving to improve the appearance of the body, especially the face: cosmetic creams.

2 affecting only the appearance of something rather than its substance: the reform package was merely a cosmetic exercise.

■ n. (usually cosmetics) a preparation applied to the body, especially the face, to improve its appearance.

<DERIVATIVES> cosmetically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun denoting the art of beautifying the body): from French cosmétique, from Greek kosmētikos, from kosmein ‘arrange or adorn’, from kosmos ‘order or adornment’.

cosmetician /kzmət(ə)n/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a person who sells or applies cosmetics as an occupation.

cosmetology /kzmtlədi/ n. [mass noun] the professional skill or practice of beautifying the face, hair, and skin.

<DERIVATIVES> cosmetological adj. cosmetologist n.

cosmic adj. relating to the universe or cosmos, especially as distinct from the earth: cosmic matter.

<DERIVATIVES> cosmical adj. cosmically adv.

cosmic dust n. [mass noun] small particles of matter distributed throughout space.

cosmic radiation n. [mass noun] radiation consisting of cosmic rays.

cosmic ray n. a highly energetic atomic nucleus or other particle travelling through space at a speed approaching that of light.

cosmo- /kzmə/ combining form relating to the world or the universe: cosmodrome | cosmography.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kosmos ‘order, world’.

cosmodrome /kzmədrəm/ n. (in the countries of the former Soviet Union) a launching site for spacecraft.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from COSMO- + DROME, on the pattern of aerodrome.

cosmogenesis /kzmə()dεnss/ n. the origin or evolution of the universe.

<DERIVATIVES> cosmogenetic adj. cosmogenic adj.

cosmogeny /kzmdəni/ n. (pl. cosmogenies) the origin or evolution of the universe.

cosmogony /kzməni/ n. (pl. cosmogonies) [mass noun] the branch of science that deals with the origin of the universe, especially the solar system.

- [count noun] a theory regarding the origin of the universe: in their cosmogony, the world was thought to be a square, flat surface.

<DERIVATIVES> cosmogonic /-mənk/ adj. cosmogonical /-mənk(ə)l/ adj. cosmogonist n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek kosmogonia, from kosmos ‘order or world’ + -gonia ‘-begetting’.

cosmography n. (pl. cosmographies) [mass noun] the branch of science which deals with the general features of the universe, including the earth.

- [count noun] a description or representation of the universe or the earth.

<DERIVATIVES> cosmographer n. cosmographic adj. cosmographical adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French cosmographie, or via late Latin from Greek kosmographia, from kosmos (see cosmos^1) + -graphia ‘writing’.

cosmological argument n. [PHILOSOPHY] an argument for the existence of God which claims that all things in nature depend on something else for their existence (i.e. are contingent), and that the whole cosmos must therefore itself depend on a being which exists independently or necessarily. Compare with ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT and TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT.

cosmological constant n. [PHYSICS] an arbitrary constant in the field equations of general relativity.

cosmology n. (pl. cosmologies) [mass noun] the science of the origin and development of the universe. Modern cosmology is dominated by the Big Bang theory, which brings together observational astronomy and particle physics.

- [count noun] an account or theory of the origin of the universe.

<DERIVATIVES> cosmological adj. cosmologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French cosmologie or modern Latin cosmologia, from Greek kosmos ‘order or world’ + -logia ‘discourse’.

cosmonaut n. a Russian astronaut.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from COSMOS^1, on the pattern of astronaut and Russian kosmonavt.

cosmopolis /kzmp(ə)ls/ n. a city inhabited by people from many different countries.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kosmos ‘world’ + polis ‘city’.

cosmopolitan /kzməplt(ə)n/ adj. 1 familiar with and at ease in many different countries and cultures: his knowledge of French, Italian, and Spanish made him genuinely cosmopolitan.

- including people from many different countries: immigration transformed the city into a cosmopolitan metropolis.

- having an exciting and glamorous character associated with travel and a mixture of cultures: their designs became a byword for cosmopolitan chic.

2 (of a plant or animal) found all over the world.

■ n. 1 a cosmopolitan person.

2 a cosmopolitan plant or animal.

3 a cocktail made with Cointreau, lemon vodka, cranberry juice, and lime juice.

<DERIVATIVES> cosmopolitanism n. cosmopolitanize (also cosmopolitanise) v.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a noun): from COSMOPOLITE + -AN.

cosmopolite /kzmp(ə)lt/ n. 1 a cosmopolitan person.

2 [ECOLOGY] another term for cosmopolitan (sense 2 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, from Greek kosmopolitēs, from kosmos ‘world’ + politēs ‘citizen’.

cosmos^1 n. (the cosmos) the universe seen as a well-ordered whole: he sat staring deep into the void, reminding himself of man's place in the cosmos.

- a system of thought: the new gender-free intellectual cosmos.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Greek kosmos ‘order or world’.

cosmos^2 n. an ornamental plant of the daisy family, which bears single dahlia-like flowers and is native to Mexico and warm regions of America.

<INFO> Genus Cosmos, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kosmos in the sense ‘ornament’.

COSPAR /kəspα/ abbr. Committee on Space Research.

cosplay /kzple/ n. [mass noun] the practice of dressing up as a character from a film, book, or video game, especially one from the Japanese genres of manga or anime.

■ v. [no obj.] engage in cosplay.

<DERIVATIVES> cosplayer n.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of COSTUME and PLAY.

Cossack /ksak/ n. a member of a people of southern Russia, Ukraine, and Siberia, noted for their horsemanship and military skill.

- a member of a Cossack military unit.

The Cossacks had their origins in the 15th century when refugees from religious persecution, outlaws, adventurers, and escaped serfs banded together in settlements for protection. Under the tsars they were allowed considerable autonomy in return for protecting the frontiers; with the collapse of Soviet rule Cossack groups have reasserted their identity in both Russia and Ukraine.

■ adj. relating to or characteristic of the Cossacks.

<ORIGIN> from Russian kazak from Turkic, ‘vagabond, nomad’; later influenced by French Cosaque (see also KAZAKH).

cosset v. (cossets, cosseting, cosseted) [with obj.] care for and protect in an overindulgent way: all her life she'd been cosseted by her family.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a noun denoting a lamb brought up by hand, later a spoiled child): probably from Anglo-Norman French coscet ‘cottager’, from Old English cotsta ‘cottar’.

cossie (also cozzie) n. (pl. cossies) INFORMAL a swimming costume or a pair of swimming trunks.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: alteration of the first element of COSTUME.

Cossyra /kəsərə/ Roman name for PANTELLERIA.

cost v. (past and past participle cost) [with obj.] 1 (of an object or action) require the payment of (a specified sum of money) before it can be acquired or done: each issue of the magazine costs £1 | [with two objs] the journey will cost her £25.

- cause the loss or unpleasant consequence of: [with two objs] driving at more than double the speed limit cost the woman her driving licence.

- INFORMAL be expensive for (someone): if you want to own an island, it'll cost you.

2 (past and past participle costed) estimate the price of: it is their job to plan and cost a media schedule for the campaign.

■ n. an amount that has to be paid or spent to buy or obtain something: we are able to cover the cost of the event | health-care costs | [mass noun] the tunnel has been built at no cost to the state.

- the effort, loss, or sacrifice necessary to achieve or obtain something: the government succeeded in diverting resources away from consumption at considerable cost to its political popularity.

- (costs) legal expenses, especially those allowed in favour of the winning party or against the losing party in a suit.

<PHRASES>

□ at all costs (or at any cost) regardless of the price to be paid or the effort needed: he was anxious to avoid war at all costs.

□ at cost at cost price; without profit to the seller.

□ cost an arm and a leg see arm^1.

□ cost someone dear (or dearly) involve someone in a serious loss or a heavy penalty: they were really bad mistakes on my part and they cost us dear.

□ to someone's cost with loss or disadvantage to someone: without programmes to play on it, the cleverest machine is useless—as some hardware manufacturers already know to their cost.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coust (noun), couster (verb), based on Latin constare ‘stand firm, stand at a price’.

Costa /kstə/ Lúcio (1902–98), French-born Brazilian architect, town planner, and architectural historian. He achieved a worldwide reputation with his design for Brazil's new capital, Brasilia, which was chosen by an international jury in 1956.

costa n. (pl. costae /ksti/) [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] a rib, midrib, or rib-like structure.

- [ZOOLOGY] the main vein running along the leading edge of an insect's wing.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin.

Costa Blanca /kstə blakə/ a resort region on the Mediterranean coast of SE Spain.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘white coast’.

Costa Brava /brαvə/ Spanish /braβa/ a resort region to the north of Barcelona, on the Mediterranean coast of NE Spain.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘wild coast’.

cost accounting n. [mass noun] the recording of all the costs incurred in a business in a way that can be used to improve its management.

<DERIVATIVES> cost accountant n.

Costa del Sol /dεl sl/ a resort region on the Mediterranean coast of southern Spain.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘coast of the sun’.

costal /kst(ə)l/ adj. relating to the ribs.

- [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] relating to a costa.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from modern Latin costalis, from Latin costa ‘rib’.

co-star n. a cinema or stage star appearing with another or others of equal importance.

■ v. [no obj.] appear in a production as a co-star: Rickman co-starred with Bruce Willis in the movie.

- [with obj.] (of a production) include as a co-star: his new TV show co-stars John Schneider.

Costard /kstəd kst-/ n. 1 BRITISH a cooking apple of a large ribbed variety.

2 ARCHAIC, HUMOROUS a person's head.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, from coste ‘rib’, from Latin costa.

Costa Rica /rikə/ a republic in Central America on the Isthmus of Panama; pop. 3,834,934 (est. 2002); official language, Spanish; capital, San José.

Colonized by Spain in the early 16th century, Costa Rica achieved independence in 1823 and emerged as a separate country in 1838 after fourteen years within the United Provinces of Central America.

<DERIVATIVES> Costa Rican adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘rich coast’.

costate /kstet/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] ribbed; possessing a costa.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin costatus, from costa ‘rib’.

cost–benefit adj. relating to or denoting a process that assesses the relation between the cost of an undertaking and the value of the resulting benefits: a cost–benefit analysis.

cost centre n. a part of an organization to which costs may be charged for accounting purposes.

cost-cutting n. [mass noun] the reduction of costs, especially in a business.

<DERIVATIVES> cost-cutter n.

cost-effective adj. effective or productive in relation to its cost: the most cost-effective way to invest in the stock market.

<DERIVATIVES> cost-effectively adv. cost-effectiveness n.

cost-efficient adj. another term for COST-EFFECTIVE.

<DERIVATIVES> cost-efficiency n.

coster n. short for COSTERMONGER.

costermonger /kstəmə/ n. BRITISH DATED a person who sells goods, especially fruit and vegetables, from a handcart in the street.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting an apple seller): from COSTARD + -MONGER.

costing n. (often costings) the proposed or estimated cost of producing or undertaking something: he obtained costings for manual keyboarding of the records.

- [mass noun] the process of determining such a cost: detailed costing can make the difference between an excellent idea and a ruinous one.

costive /kstv/ adj. 1 constipated.

2 slow or reluctant in speech or action; unforthcoming: if he did ask her she would become costive.

<DERIVATIVES> costively adv. costiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin constipatus ‘pressed together’ (see CONSTIPATED).

costly adj. (costlier, costliest) costing a lot; expensive: major problems requiring costly repairs.

- causing suffering, loss, or disadvantage: the government's biggest and most costly mistake.

<DERIVATIVES> costliness n.

costmary /kstmεri/ n. (pl. costmaries) an aromatic plant of the daisy family, formerly used in medicine and for flavouring ale prior to the use of hops. Also called ALECOST.

<INFO> Balsamita major, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete cost (via Latin from Greek kostos, via Arabic from Sanskrit kuha, denoting an aromatic plant) + Mary, the mother of Christ (with whom it was associated in medieval times because of its medicinal qualities).

cost-of-carry n. [FINANCE] the difference between the cost and the financial benefit of holding a particular asset for a specified period.

cost of living n. the level of prices relating to a range of everyday items.

cost-of-living index n. another term for RETAIL PRICE INDEX.

cost-plus adj. relating to or denoting a method of pricing a service or product in which a fixed profit factor is added to the costs.

cost price n. the price at which goods are or have been bought by a merchant or retailer.

cost-push adj. relating to or denoting inflation caused by increased labour or raw material costs. Contrasted with DEMAND-PULL.

costume n. a set of clothes in a style typical of a particular country or historical period: authentic Elizabethan costumes | [mass noun] dancers in national costume.

- a set of clothes worn by an actor or performer for a particular role.

- BRITISH a swimming costume.

- British DATED a woman's matching jacket and skirt: a chic black costume and white fur wrap.

■ v. [with obj.] dress (someone) in a particular set of clothes: an all-woman troupe elaborately costumed in clinging silver lamé.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Italian costume ‘custom, fashion, habit’, from Latin consuetudo (see CUSTOM).

costume drama n. a television or cinema production set in a particular historical period, in which the actors wear costumes typical of that period.

costume jewellery n. [mass noun] jewellery made with inexpensive materials or imitation gems.

costumier /kstjumə/ (US also costumer /-mə/) n. BRITISH a person or company that makes or supplies theatrical or fancy-dress costumes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from costumer ‘dress in a costume’ (see COSTUME).

cosy (US cozy) adj. (cosier, cosiest; cozier, coziest) giving a feeling of comfort, warmth, and relaxation: the flickering lamp gave the room a cosy lived-in air.

- (of a relationship or conversation) intimate and relaxed.

- not seeking or offering challenge or difficulty; complacent: a cosy assumption among audit firms that they would never go bust.

- INFORMAL, DEROGATORY (of a transaction or arrangement) beneficial to all those involved and possibly somewhat corrupt: a cosy deal.

■ n. (pl. cosies) 1 a cover to keep a teapot or a boiled egg hot.

2 BRITISH a canopied corner seat for two.

■ v. (cosies, cosying, cosied) [with obj.] INFORMAL make (someone) feel comfortable or complacent: she cosied him and made out she found him irresistible.

- [no obj.] (cosy up to) snuggle up to.

- [no obj.] (cosy up to) ingratiate oneself with: he decided to resign rather than cosy up to hardliners in the party.

<DERIVATIVES> cosily adv. cosiness n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (originally Scots): of unknown origin.

cot^1 n. BRITISH a small bed with high barred sides for a baby or very young child.

- a plain narrow bed.

- NORTH AMERICAN a camp bed.

- [NAUTICAL] a bed resembling a hammock hung from deck beams, formerly used by officers.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally Anglo-Indian, denoting a light bedstead): from Hindi khā ‘bedstead, hammock’.

cot^2 n. 1 a small shelter for livestock.

2 ARCHAIC a small, simple cottage.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; compare with Old Norse kytja ‘hovel’; related to COTE.

cot^3 abbr. [MATHEMATICS] cotangent.

cotangent /kətand(ə)nt/ n. [MATHEMATICS] (in a right-angled triangle) the ratio of the side (other than the hypotenuse) adjacent to a particular acute angle to the side opposite the angle.

cot-case n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a person who is too ill to leave their bed.

- a person who is incapacitated by alcohol.

- an eccentric or mad person.

cot death n. BRITISH the unexplained death of a baby in its sleep.

cote n. a shelter for mammals or birds, especially pigeons.

<ORIGIN> Old English (in the sense ‘cottage’), of Germanic origin; related to cot^2.

Côte d'Ivoire /kət divwα kət divwaR/ a country in West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea; pop. 16,804,784 (est. 2002); languages, French (official), West African languages; capital, Yamoussoukro. Also called IVORY COAST.

The area was explored by the Portuguese in the late 15th century. Subsequently it was disputed by traders from various European countries, who mainly sought ivory and slaves. It was made a French protectorate in 1842 and became a fully independent republic in 1960.

cote-hardie /kəthαdi/ n. (pl. cote-hardies) HISTORICAL a medieval close-fitting tunic with sleeves, worn by both sexes.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from cote ‘coat’ + hardie (feminine) ‘bold’.

coterie /kət(ə)ri/ n. (pl. coteries) a small group of people with shared interests or tastes, especially one that is exclusive of other people: a coterie of friends and advisers.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, earlier denoting an association of tenants, based on Middle Low German kote ‘cote’.

coterminous /kətəmnəs/ adj. having the same boundaries or extent in space, time, or meaning: the coterminous Borough and Parliamentary Constituency of Blyth Valley.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: alteration of CONTERMINOUS.

coth /kθ ktet/ abbr. hyperbolic cotangent.

<ORIGIN> from COT^3 + -h for hyperbolic.

co-tidal line n. a line on a map connecting points at which a tidal level, especially high tide, occurs simultaneously.

cotillion /kətljən/ n. 1 an elaborate 18th-century French dance based on the contredanse.

- US a quadrille.

2 US a formal ball, especially one at which debutantes are presented.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French cotillon, literally ‘petticoat dance’, diminutive of cotte, from Old French cote.

cotinga /kətə/ n. a perching bird found in the forests of Central and South America, the male of which is frequently brilliantly coloured.

<INFO> Family Cotingidae (the cotinga family): several genera, especially Cotinga, and numerous species. The cotinga family also includes the bellbirds, umbrellabirds, and cocks-of-the-rock, and is sometimes placed within the family Tyrannidae.

<ORIGIN> via French from Tupi cutinga.

Cotman /ktmən/ John Sell (1782–1842), English watercolourist and landscape painter, regarded as one of the leading figures of the Norwich School.

cotoneaster /kətənastə/ n. a small-leaved shrub of the rose family, cultivated as a hedging plant or for its bright red berries which often remain on the plant throughout the winter.

<INFO> Genus Cotoneaster, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: modern Latin, from Latin cotoneum (see QUINCE) + -ASTER.

Cotonou /ktənu/ the largest city, chief port, and chief commercial and political centre of Benin, on the coast of West Africa; pop. 720,100 (est. 2002).

Cotopaxi /ktəpaksi/ the highest active volcano in the world, rising to 5,896 m (19,142 ft) in the Andes of central Ecuador. Its name is Quechuan and means ‘shining peak’.

co-trimoxazole /kətrmksəzəl/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a mixture of the drugs sulphamethoxazole and trimethoprim, used to treat bacterial infections synergistically.

Cotswold /ktswəld/ n. 1 a sheep of a breed with fine wool, often used to produce cross-bred lambs.

2 [mass noun] Double Gloucester cheese containing chives and onions.

■ adj. relating to the Cotswolds.

Cotswold Hills (also the Cotswolds) a range of limestone hills in SW England, largely in the county of Gloucestershire.

cotta /ktə/ n. a short garment resembling a surplice, worn typically by Catholic priests and servers.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian; ultimately related to COAT.

cottage n. 1 a small house, typically one in the country.

- a simple house forming part of a farm, used by a worker.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL (in the context of casual homosexual encounters) a public toilet.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. cottaging) BRITISH INFORMAL perform homosexual acts in a public toilet.

<DERIVATIVES> cottagey adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French cotage and Anglo-Latin cotagium, from COT^2 or COTE.

cottage cheese n. [mass noun] soft, lumpy white cheese made from the curds of skimmed milk.

cottage garden n. an informal garden stocked typically with colourful flowering plants.

cottage hospital n. BRITISH a small hospital in a country area.

cottage industry n. a business or manufacturing activity carried on in people's homes.

cottage loaf n. BRITISH a loaf consisting of two round sections of bread, the smaller of which is on top of the larger.

cottage pie n. BRITISH a dish of minced meat topped with browned mashed potato.

cottager n. BRITISH a person living in a cottage.

- NORTH AMERICAN a person holidaying in a cottage.

cottar /ktə/ (also cotter) n. HISTORICAL (in Scotland and Ireland) a farm labourer or tenant occupying a cottage in return for labour.

<ORIGIN> late Old English, from COT^2 + -AR^4.

Cottbus /ktbs/ an industrial city in SE Germany, in Brandenburg, on the River Spree; pop. 107,000 (est. 2002).

cotter pin (also cotter) n. a metal pin used to fasten two parts of a mechanism together.

- a split pin that is opened out after being passed through a hole.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: of unknown origin.

cottier /ktə/ n. 1 ARCHAIC a rural labourer living in a cottage.

2 HISTORICAL an Irish peasant holding land by cottier tenure.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cotier, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to cot^2.

cottier tenure n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL (in Ireland) the letting of land in small portions direct to the labourers, at a rent fixed by competition.

cottise /kts/ (also cotise) n. [HERALDRY] a narrow band adjacent and parallel to an ordinary such as a bend or chevron.

<DERIVATIVES> cottised adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French cotice ‘leather thong’.

cotton n. [mass noun] 1 a soft white fibrous substance which surrounds the seeds of the cotton plant and is made into textile fibre and thread for sewing.

- [often as modifier] textile fabric made from cotton fibre: a white cotton blouse.

- thread made from cotton fibre.

- NORTH AMERICAN cotton wool.

2 (also cotton plant) the tropical and subtropical plant which is commercially grown to make cotton fabric and thread. Oil and a protein-rich flour are also obtained from the seeds.

<INFO> Genus Gossypium, family Malvaceae: many species and forms.

■ v. [no obj.] INFORMAL 1 (cotton on) begin to understand: he cottoned on to what I was trying to say.

2 (cotton to) NORTH AMERICAN have a liking for: his rivals didn't cotton to all the attention he was getting.

<DERIVATIVES> cottony adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French coton, from Arabic qun.

cotton batting n. North American term for cotton wool (sense 1).

cotton bud n. BRITISH a small wad of cotton wool on a short, thin stick, used for cosmetic purposes or cleaning the ears.

cotton cake n. [mass noun] compressed cotton seed, used as food for cattle.

cotton candy n. North American term for CANDYFLOSS.

cotton gin n. a machine for separating cotton from its seeds.

cotton grass n. [mass noun] a sedge which typically grows on wet moorlands in the northern hemisphere, producing tufts of long white silky hairs which aid in the dispersal of the seeds. Also called BOG COTTON.

<INFO> Genus Eriophorum, family Cyperaceae.

cotton lavender n. a small aromatic shrubby plant of the daisy family, with silvery or greenish lavender-like foliage and yellow button flowers. Native to the Mediterranean area, it has insecticidal properties.

<INFO> Genus Santolina, family Compositae: several species, in particular S. chamaecyparissus.

cotton-leaf worm n. the larva of a migratory tropical moth which feeds on the leaves of the cotton plant and was formerly a major pest in North America.

<INFO> Alabama argillacea, family Noctuidae.

cottonmouth (also cottonmouth moccasin) n. a large, dangerous semiaquatic pit viper which inhabits lowland swamps and waterways of the south-eastern US. When threatening it opens its mouth wide to display the white interior. Also called WATER MOCCASIN.

<INFO> Agkistrodon piscivorus, family Viperidae.

cotton-picking adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used for emphasis: just a cotton-picking minute!

cotton rat n. a short-tailed rat found in grassland and scrub from North America to Guyana.

<INFO> Genus Sigmodon, family Muridae: several species.

cotton spinner n. a dark sea cucumber of shallow seas which ejects long sticky threads from the anus when disturbed.

<INFO> Holothuria forskali, class Holothuroidea.

cotton stainer n. a North American bug which feeds on cotton bolls, causing reddish staining of the fibres.

<INFO> Genus Dysdercus, family Pyrrhocoridae, suborder Heteroptera: several species, in particular D. suturellus.

cotton state n. any of the states of the southern US of which cotton is or was a major product.

- (Cotton State)

■ informal name for ALABAMA.

cotton swab n. North American term for COTTON BUD.

cottontail n. an American rabbit which has a speckled brownish coat and a white underside to the tail.

<INFO> Genus Sylvilagus, family Leporidae: several species.

cotton waste n. [mass noun] scraps of waste cotton yarn, used typically to clean machinery.

cottonweed n. [mass noun] a yellow-flowered aromatic plant of the daisy family, with silvery felted leaves and stems. It grows on sandy beaches, chiefly in southern and western Europe.

<INFO> Otanthus maritimus, family Compositae.

cottonwood n. 1 a North American poplar with seeds covered in white cottony hairs.

<INFO> Genus Populus, family Salicaceae: several species, including P. deltoides.

2 any of a number of downy-leaved Australasian shrubs:

<INFO>

- an evergreen shrub of the buckthorn family (Pomaderris phylicifolia, family Rhamnaceae).

- a shrub of the daisy family (Bedfordia salicina, family Compositae).

cotton wool n. [mass noun] 1 BRITISH fluffy wadding of a kind originally made from raw cotton, used for cleaning the skin or bathing wounds.

2 US raw cotton.

<PHRASES>

□ wrap someone in cotton wool be overprotective towards someone.

cottony-cushion scale n. [mass noun] an Australian scale insect with a large fluted cottony egg sac, infesting citrus trees. It threatened to destroy the Californian citrus industry until it was controlled by the introduction of the Australian vedalia beetle.

<INFO> Icerya purchasi, family Margarodidae, suborder Homoptera.

cotyledon /ktlid(ə)n/ n. 1 [BOTANY] an embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first leaves to appear from a germinating seed.

2 a succulent plant of the stonecrop family, some kinds of which are grown as ornamentals.

<INFO> Genus Cotyledon and related genera, family Crassulaceae: several species.

<DERIVATIVES> cotyledonary adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a patch of villi on the placenta of mammals): from Latin, ‘navelwort’ (which has cup-shaped leaves), from Greek kotulēdōn ‘cup-shaped cavity’, from kotulē ‘cup’.

coucal /kuk(ə)l kkαl/ n. an ungainly long-tailed Old World bird that is a large ground-dwelling member of the cuckoo family.

<INFO> Genus Centropus (and Coua), family Cuculidae: numerous species, including the Australasian pheasant coucal (Centropus phasianinus).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, perhaps a blend of coucou ‘cuckoo’ and alouette ‘lark’.

couch^1 /kat/ n. a long upholstered piece of furniture for several people to sit on.

- a reclining seat with a headrest at one end on which a psychoanalyst's subject or doctor's patient lies while undergoing treatment.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 express (something) in language of a specified style: the assurances were couched in general terms.

2 LITERARY lay down: two fair creatures, couched side by side in deepest grass.

3 ARCHAIC lower (a spear) to the position for attack.

4 (usually as n. couching) chiefly HISTORICAL treat (a cataract) by pushing the lens of the eye downwards and backwards, out of line with the pupil.

5 (in embroidery) fix (a thread) to a fabric by stitching it down flat with another thread: gold and silver threads couched by hand.

<PHRASES>

□ on the couch undergoing psychoanalysis or psychiatric treatment.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun denoting something to sleep on; as a verb in the sense ‘lay something down’): from Old French couche (noun), coucher (verb), from Latin collocare ‘place together’ (see COLLOCATE).

couch^2 /kat kut/ (also couch grass) n. [mass noun] a coarse grass with long creeping roots, which can be a serious weed in gardens.

<INFO> Genera Elymus and Agropyron, family Gramineae: several species, in particular the Eurasian common couch (E. repens).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: variant of QUITCH.

couchant /kat(ə)nt/ adj. [usually postpositive] [HERALDRY] (of an animal) lying with the body resting on the legs and the head raised: two lions couchant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: French, ‘lying’, present participle of coucher (see couch^1).

couchette /kuεt/ n. a railway carriage with seats convertible into sleeping berths.

- a berth in such a carriage.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: French, literally ‘little bed’, diminutive of couche ‘a couch’.

couch potato n. INFORMAL a person who takes little or no exercise and watches a lot of television.

coudé /kude/ adj. relating to or denoting a telescope in which the rays are bent to a focus at a fixed point off the axis.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘bent at right angles’, past participle of couder, from coude ‘elbow’, from Latin cubitum.

cougar /kuə/ n. North American term for PUMA.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French couguar, abbreviation of modern Latin cuguarcarana, from Guarani guaçuarana.

cough v. 1 [no obj.] expel air from the lungs with a sudden sharp sound: he tried to speak and started to cough.

- (of an engine) make a sudden harsh noise, especially as a sign of malfunction.

- [with obj.] force (something, especially blood) out of the lungs or throat by coughing: he coughed up bloodstained fluid.

- [with obj.] (cough something out) say something in an abrupt way: he coughed out his orders.

2 [with obj.] (cough something up) INFORMAL give something reluctantly, especially money or information that is due or required: the company coughed up $40 m in settlement of the legal claims.

- [no obj.] BRITISH reveal information; confess: once he realized we knew, he was ready to cough fast enough.

■ n. an act or sound of coughing: she gave a discreet cough.

- a condition of the respiratory organs causing coughing: he looked feverish and had a bad cough.

<DERIVATIVES> cougher n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of imitative origin; related to Dutch kuchen ‘to cough’ and German keuchen ‘to pant’.

cough drop (also cough sweet) n. a medicated lozenge sucked to relieve a cough.

cough mixture n. [mass noun] BRITISH liquid medicine taken to relieve a cough.

could modal v.

■ past of can^1.

- used to indicate possibility: they could be right | I would go if I could afford it.

- used in making suggestions or polite requests: you could always ring him up | could I use the phone?

- used to indicate annoyance because of something that has not been done: they could have told me!

- used to indicate a strong inclination to do something: he irritates me so much that I could scream.

<USAGE> For a discussion on the use of could of instead of could have see usage at have.

couldn't contraction could not.

coulee /kuli/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a deep ravine.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French coulée ‘(lava) flow’, from couler ‘to flow’, from Latin colare ‘to strain or flow’, from colum ‘strainer’.

coulibiac /kulbjak/ (also koulibiac) n. a Russian pie of fish or meat, cabbage or other vegetables, and herbs.

<ORIGIN> from Russian kulebyaka.

coulis /kuli/ n. (pl. same) a thin fruit or vegetable purée, used as a sauce.

<ORIGIN> French, from couler ‘to flow’.

coulisse /kulis/ n. a flat piece of scenery at the side of the stage in a theatre.

- (the coulisses) the spaces between these pieces of scenery; the wings.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, feminine of coulis ‘sliding’, based on Latin colare ‘to flow’.

couloir /kulwα/ n. a steep, narrow gully on a mountainside.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, ‘gully or corridor’, from couler ‘to flow’.

coulomb /kulm/ (abbr.: C) n. [PHYSICS] the SI unit of electric charge, equal to the quantity of electricity conveyed in one second by a current of one ampere.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1736–1806), French military engineer.

Coulomb's law /kulmz/ n. [PHYSICS] a law stating that like charges repel and opposite charges attract, with a force proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: named after C.-A. de Coulomb (see COULOMB).

coulrophobia /klrəfəbə/ n. [mass noun] RARE extreme or irrational fear of clowns.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from Greek kolobatheron ‘stilt’ + -PHOBIA.

coulter /kəltə/ (US colter) n. a vertical cutting blade fixed in front of a ploughshare.

- the part of a seed drill that makes the furrow for the seed.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin culter ‘knife or ploughshare’.

coumarin /kumərn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a vanilla-scented compound found in many plants, formerly used for flavouring food.

<INFO> A bicyclic lactone; chem. formula: C_9H_6O_2.

- [count noun] any derivative of this.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French coumarine, from coumarou, via Portuguese and Spanish from Tupi cumarú ‘tonka bean’.

coumarone /kumərən/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound present in coal tar, used to make thermoplastic resins for paints and varnishes.

<INFO> A bicyclic compound with fused benzene and furan rings; chem. formula: C_8H_6O.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from COUMARIN + -ONE.

council n. an advisory, deliberative, or administrative body of people formally constituted and meeting regularly: an official human rights council.

- a body of people elected to manage the affairs of a city, county, or other municipal district.

- [as modifier] BRITISH denoting housing provided by a local council at a subsidized rent: a council flat.

- an ecclesiastical assembly.

- a meeting for consultation or advice: that evening, she held a family council.

<ORIGIN> Old English (in the sense ‘ecclesiastical assembly’): from Anglo-Norman French cuncile, from Latin concilium ‘convocation, assembly’, from con- ‘together’ + calare ‘summon’. Compare with COUNSEL.

council estate n. BRITISH an area of houses built and rented out to tenants by a local council.

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance HISTORICAL fuller form of COMECON.

<ORIGIN> translating Russian Sovet ékonomicheskoĭ vzaimopomoshchi.

council house n. BRITISH a house owned by a local council and rented out to tenants.

councillor (US also councilor) n. a member of a council.

<DERIVATIVES> councillorship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: alteration of COUNSELLOR, by association with COUNCIL.

<USAGE> On the difference between councillor and counsellor see usage at counsellor.

councilman (or councilwoman) n. (pl. councilmen or councilwomen) US a member of a council, especially a municipal one.

council of war n. a gathering of military officers in wartime.

- a meeting held to plan a response to an emergency.

council tax n. [mass noun] a tax levied on households by local authorities in Britain, based on the estimated value of a property and the number of people living in it.

counsel n. 1 [mass noun] advice, especially that given formally.

- ARCHAIC consultation, especially to seek or give advice.

2 (pl. same) a barrister or other legal adviser conducting a case: the counsel for the defence.

■ v. (counsels, counselling, counselled; US counsels, counseling, counseled) [with obj.] give advice to (someone): careers officers should counsel young people in making their career decisions.

- give professional help and advice to (someone) to resolve personal or psychological problems: he was being counselled for depression.

- recommend (a course of action): the athlete's coach counselled caution.

<PHRASES>

□ a counsel of despair an action to be taken when all else fails.

□ a counsel of perfection advice that is ideal but not feasible.

□ keep one's own counsel say nothing about what one thinks or plans: she doubted what he said but kept her own counsel.

□ take counsel discuss a problem.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French counseil (noun), conseiller (verb), from Latin consilium ‘consultation, advice’, related to consulere (see CONSULT). Compare with COUNCIL.

counselling (US counseling) n. [mass noun] the provision of professional assistance and guidance in resolving personal or psychological problems: bereavement counselling.

counsellor (US counselor) n. 1 a person trained to give guidance on personal or psychological problems: a marriage counsellor.

- [with modifier] a person who gives advice on a specified subject: a debt counsellor.

2 a senior officer in the diplomatic service.

3 (also counselor-at-law) US & IRISH a barrister.

4 NORTH AMERICAN a supervisor at a children's summer camp.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general sense ‘adviser’): from Old French conseiller, from Latin consiliarius, and Old French conseillour, from Latin consiliator, both from consilium ‘consultation or advice’.

<USAGE> Confusion often arises between the words counsellor and councillor. A counsellor is a person who gives advice or counsel, especially on personal problems (a marriage counsellor), whereas a councillor is a member of a city, county, or other council (she stood as a Labour candidate for city councillor).

Counsellor of State n. (in the UK) a temporary regent during a sovereign's absence.

count^1 v. 1 [with obj.] determine the total number of (a collection of items): I started to count the stars I could see | they counted up their change.

- [no obj.] recite numbers in ascending order: hold the position as you count to five.

- [no obj.] (count down) recite or display numbers backwards to zero to indicate the time remaining before the launch of a rocket or the start of an operation.

- [no obj.] (count down) prepare for a significant event in the short time remaining before it: with more orders expected, the company is counting down to a bumper Christmas.

2 [with obj.] take into account; include: the staff has shrunk to four, or five if you count the European director.

- regard or be regarded as possessing a specified quality or fulfilling a specified role: she met some rebuffs from people she had counted as her friends | [with obj. and complement] I count myself fortunate to have known him | [no obj.] results which are consistent with all models cannot count as evidence for any of them.

3 [no obj.] be significant: it did not matter what the audience thought—it was the critics that counted.

- (of a factor) play a part in influencing opinion for or against someone or something: he hopes his sporting attitude will count in his favour.

- (count for) be worth (a specified amount): he has no power base and his views count for little.

- (count towards) be included in an assessment of (a final result or amount): reduced rate contributions do not count towards your pension.

4 [no obj.] (count on/upon) rely on: whatever you're doing, you can count on me.

■ n. 1 an act of determining the total number of something: at the last count, fifteen applications were still outstanding | the party's only candidate was eliminated at the first count.

- the total determined by counting: there was a moderate increase in the white cell count in both patients.

2 an act of reciting numbers in ascending order, up to the specified number: hold the position for a count of seven.

- an act of reciting numbers up to ten by the referee when a boxer is knocked down, the boxer being considered knocked out if still down when ten is reached.

3 a point for discussion or consideration: the programme remained vulnerable on a number of counts.

- [LAW] a separate charge in an indictment: he pleaded guilty to five counts of murder.

4 the measure of the fineness of a yarn expressed as the weight of a given length or the length of a given weight.

- a measure of the fineness of a woven fabric expressed as the number of warp or weft threads in a given length.

<PHRASES>

□ beat the count (of a boxer who has been knocked down) get up before the referee counts to ten.

□ count one's blessings be grateful for what one has.

□ count the cost experience the adverse consequences of something, typically a foolish action.

□ count the days (or hours) be impatient for time to pass: they counted the days until they came home on leave.

□ count something on the fingers of one hand used to emphasize the small number of a particular thing: you can count the exceptions on the fingers of one hand.

□ count the pennies see PENNY.

□ count SHEEP see SHEEP.

□ don't count your chickens before they're hatched PROVERB don't be too confident in anticipating success or good fortune before it is certain.

□ keep count (or a count) take note of the number or amount of something: you can protect yourself by keeping a count of what you drink.

□ lose count forget how many of something there are, especially because the number is so high: I've lost count of the hundreds of miles I've covered.

□ out (or NORTH AMERICAN also down) for the count [BOXING] defeated by being knocked to the ground and unable to rise within ten seconds.

- unconscious or soundly asleep.

- defeated.

□ take the count [BOXING] be knocked out.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ count someone in INFORMAL include someone in an activity or the plans for it: if the project gets started, count me in.

□ count someone out 1 complete a count of ten seconds over a fallen boxer to indicate defeat.

2 INFORMAL exclude someone from an activity: if this is a guessing game you can count me out.

□ count something out 1 take items one by one from a stock of something, especially money, keeping a note of how many one takes: opening the wallet I counted out 19 dollars.

2 BRITISH procure the adjournment of the House of Commons when fewer than 40 members are present.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun): from Old French counte (noun), counter (verb), from the verb computare ‘calculate’ (see COMPUTE).

count^2 n. a foreign nobleman whose rank corresponds to that of an earl.

<DERIVATIVES> countship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French conte, from Latin comes, comit- ‘companion, overseer, attendant’ (in late Latin ‘person holding a state office’), from com- ‘together with’ + it- ‘gone’ (from the verb ire ‘go’).

countable adj. able to be counted.

<DERIVATIVES> countably adv.

countable noun n. another term for COUNT NOUN.

countback n. a method of deciding the winner of a tied game or competition by awarding it to the contestant with the better score in the later part.

countdown n. an act of counting numerals in reverse order to zero, especially before the launching of a rocket or missile: the missiles' launch crews would begin their final countdown.

- the period of time leading up to a significant event and the procedures carried out during this time: the countdown to your holiday.

- a digital display that counts down.

countenance /kant(ə)nəns -tn-/ n. 1 a person's face or facial expression: his impenetrable eyes and inscrutable countenance give little away.

2 [mass noun] support or approval: she was giving her specific countenance to the occasion.

■ v. [with obj.] admit as acceptable or possible: he was reluctant to countenance the use of force.

<PHRASES>

□ keep one's countenance maintain one's composure, especially by refraining from laughter.

□ keep someone in countenance help someone to remain calm and confident.

□ out of countenance disconcerted or unpleasantly surprised.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French contenance ‘bearing, behaviour’, from contenir (see CONTAIN). The early sense was ‘bearing, demeanour’, also ‘facial expression’, hence ‘the face’.

counter^1 n. 1 a long flat-topped fitment across which business is conducted in a shop or bank or refreshments are served in a cafeteria.

- NORTH AMERICAN a worktop.

2 a small disc used in board games for keeping the score or as a place marker.

- a token representing a coin.

- a factor used to give one party an advantage in negotiations: the proposal has become a crucial bargaining counter over prices.

3 a device used for counting: the counter tells you how many pictures you have taken.

- a person who counts something, for example votes in an election.

- [PHYSICS] an apparatus used for counting individual ionizing particles or events.

<PHRASES>

□ behind the counter serving in a shop or bank.

□ over the counter by ordinary retail purchase, with no need for a prescription or licence: [as modifier] over-the-counter medicines.

- (of share transactions) taking place outside the stock exchange system.

□ under the counter (or table) (with reference to goods bought or sold) surreptitiously and typically illegally: hard porn is legally banned, but still available under the counter | [as modifier] an under-the-counter deal.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French conteor, from medieval Latin computatorium, from Latin computare (see COMPUTE).

counter^2 v. [with obj.] speak or act in opposition to: the second argument is more difficult to counter.

- [no obj.] respond to hostile speech or action: the possibility of the enemy being able to counter with similar missiles was remote.

- [no obj.] [BOXING] give a return blow while parrying: he countered with a left hook.

■ adv. (counter to) in the opposite direction or in opposition to: his writing ran counter to the dominant trends of the decade.

■ adj. responding to something of the same kind, especially in opposition: after years of argument and counter argument there is no conclusive answer. See also COUNTER-.

■ n. 1 [usually in sing.] a thing which opposes or prevents something else: the stimulus to employers' organization was partly a counter to growing union power.

- an answer to an argument or criticism: he anticipates an objection and plans his counter.

- [BOXING] a blow given while parrying; a counterpunch.

2 the curved part of the stern of a ship projecting aft above the waterline.

3 [PRINTING] the white space enclosed by a letter such as O or c.

<PHRASES>

□ go (or British hunt or run) counter run or ride against the direction taken by a quarry.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French contre, from Latin contra ‘against’, or directly from COUNTER-.

counter^3 n. the back part of a shoe or boot, enclosing the heel.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation of counterfort ‘buttress’, from French contrefort.

counter- prefix denoting opposition, retaliation, or rivalry: counter-attack | counter-espionage.

- denoting movement or effect in the opposite direction: counterpoise.

- denoting correspondence, duplication, or substitution: counterpart.

<ORIGIN> from Anglo-Norman French countre-, Old French contre, from Latin contra ‘against’.

counteract v. [with obj.] act against (something) in order to reduce its force or neutralize it: should we deliberately intervene in the climate system to counteract global warming?

<DERIVATIVES> counteraction n. counteractive adj.

counter-attack n. an attack made in response to one by an opponent.

■ v. [no obj.] attack in response: as deputies tried to dislodge him, he counter-attacked by forcing through elections.

<DERIVATIVES> counter-attacker n.

counter-attraction n. a rival attraction: it is a pity that this book may not triumph over the counter-attractions on the booksellers' shelves.

counterbalance n. /kantəbal(ə)ns/ a weight that balances another weight.

- a factor having the opposite effect to that of another and so preventing it from exercising a disproportionate influence: his restoration to power was intended as a counterbalance to his rival's influence.

■ v. /kantəbal(ə)ns/ [with obj.] (of a weight) balance (another weight).

- neutralize or cancel by exerting an opposite influence: the extra cost of mail order may be counterbalanced by its convenience.

counterblast n. a strongly worded reply to someone else's views: a counterblast to the growing propaganda of the Left.

counterbore n. a drilled hole that has a wider section at the top.

- a drill whose bit has a uniform smaller diameter near the tip, for drilling counterbores in one operation.

■ v. [with obj.] drill a counterbore in (an object).

counterchange v. [with obj.] LITERARY chequer with contrasting colours.

- [HERALDRY] interchange the tinctures of (a charge) with that of a divided field.

■ n. [mass noun] 1 change that is equivalent in degree but opposite in effect to a previous change.

2 patterning in which a dark motif on a light ground alternates with the same motif light on a dark ground.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a heraldic term): from French contrechanger, from contre (expressing substitution) + changer ‘to change’.

countercharge n. 1 an accusation made in turn by someone against their accuser: charges and countercharges concerning producers, quotas, and affidavits.

2 a charge by police or an armed force in response to one made against them.

countercheck n. 1 a second check for security or accuracy.

2 ARCHAIC a restraint.

3 ARCHAIC a sharp or incisive retort.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC stop (something) by acting to cancel or counteract it.

counterclaim n. a claim made to rebut a previous claim.

- [LAW] a claim made by a defendant against a plaintiff.

■ v. [no obj.] chiefly [LAW] make a counterclaim for something.

counterclockwise adv. & adj.

■ North American term for ANTICLOCKWISE.

counter-conditioning n. [mass noun] a technique employed in animal training and the treatment of phobias and similar conditions in humans, in which behaviour incompatible with a habitual undesirable pattern is induced. Compare with DECONDITIONING.

counterculture n. a way of life and set of attitudes opposed to or at variance with the prevailing social norm: the idealists of the 60s counterculture.

<DERIVATIVES> countercultural adj.

countercurrent n. a current flowing in an opposite direction to another.

■ adv. in or with opposite directions of flow.

counter-espionage n. [mass noun] activities designed to prevent or thwart spying by an enemy.

counterfactual [PHILOSOPHY] adj. relating to or expressing what has not happened or is not the case.

■ n. a counterfactual conditional statement (e.g. If kangaroos had no tails, they would topple over).

counterfeit adj. made in exact imitation of something valuable with the intention to deceive or defraud: counterfeit £10 notes.

- ARCHAIC pretended; sham: the counterfeit and the worthless Poor do a world of mischief to the cause of beneficence.

■ n. a fraudulent imitation of something else: he knew the tapes to be counterfeits.

■ v. [with obj.] imitate fraudulently: my signature is extremely hard to counterfeit.

- pretend to feel or possess (an emotion or quality): no pretence could have counterfeited such terror.

- LITERARY resemble closely: sleep counterfeited Death so well.

<DERIVATIVES> counterfeiter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): from Anglo-Norman French countrefeter, from Old French contrefait, past participle of contrefaire, from Latin contra- ‘in opposition’ + facere ‘make’.

counterfoil n. BRITISH the part of a cheque, receipt, ticket, or other document that is torn off and kept as a record by the person issuing it.

counter-insurgency n. [mass noun] military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionaries: [as modifier] a counter-insurgency force.

counter-intelligence n. another term for COUNTER-ESPIONAGE.

counter-intuitive adj. contrary to intuition or to common-sense expectation.

<DERIVATIVES> counter-intuitively adv.

counterirritant n. chiefly HISTORICAL something such as heat or an ointment that is used to produce surface irritation of the skin, thereby counteracting underlying pain or discomfort.

<DERIVATIVES> counterirritation n.

counter-jumper n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a shop assistant.

countermand /kantəmαnd/ v. [with obj.] revoke or cancel (an order): an order to arrest the strike leaders had been countermanded.

- revoke or cancel an order issued by (another person): he was already countermanding her.

- declare (voting) invalid.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French contremander (verb), contremand (noun), from medieval Latin contramandare, from contra- ‘against’ + mandare ‘to order’.

countermarch v. [no obj.] march in the opposite direction or back along the same route.

■ n. an act or instance of marching in the opposite direction.

countermark n. an additional mark placed on something already marked, especially for increased security.

countermeasure n. an action taken to counteract a danger or threat.

countermelody n. (pl. countermelodies) a subordinate melody accompanying a principal one.

countermine n. [MILITARY] an excavation dug to intercept another dug by an enemy.

countermove n. a move or other action made in opposition to another.

<DERIVATIVES> countermovement n.

counteroffensive n. an attack made in response to one from an enemy, typically on a large scale or for a prolonged period.

counter-offer n. an offer made in response to another.

counterpane n. DATED a bedspread.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: alteration of COUNTERPOINT, from Old French contrepointe, based on medieval Latin culcitra puncta ‘quilted mattress’ (puncta, literally meaning ‘pricked’, from the verb pungere). The change in the ending was due to association with PANE in an obsolete sense ‘cloth’.

counterpart n. 1 a person or thing that corresponds to or has the same function as another person or thing in a different place or situation: the minister held talks with his French counterpart.

2 [LAW] one of two copies of a legal document.

counterpart fund n. a sum of money accrued in a local currency arising from goods or services received from abroad.

counterparty n. an opposite party in a contract or financial transaction.

counterplot n. a plot intended to thwart another plot.

counterpoint n. 1 [mass noun] [MUSIC] the technique of setting, writing, or playing a melody or melodies in conjunction with another, according to fixed rules.

- [count noun] a melody played in conjunction with another.

2 a thing that forms a pleasing or notable contrast to something else: the sauce made a piquant counterpoint to the ham.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 [MUSIC] add counterpoint to (a melody): the orchestra counterpoints the vocal part.

2 emphasize by contrast: the cream walls and maple floors are counterpointed by black accents.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French contrepoint, from medieval Latin contrapunctum ‘(song) pricked or marked over against (the original melody)’, from contra- ‘against’ + punctum, from pungere ‘to prick’.

counterpoise n. a factor or force that balances or neutralizes another: the organization sees the power of Brussels as a counterpoise to that of London.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC a state of equilibrium.

- a counterbalancing weight.

■ v. [with obj.] have an opposing and balancing effect on: they make a delightful couple, his gentle intellectuality counterpoised by her firm practicality.

- bring into contrast: the stories counterpoise a young recruit with an old-timer.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French contrepois from contre ‘against’ + pois from Latin pensum ‘weight’. Compare with poise^1. The verb, originally counterpeise, from Old French contrepeser, was altered under the influence of the noun in the 16th cent.

counterpose v. [with obj.] set against or in opposition to.

<DERIVATIVES> counterposition n.

counterproductive adj. having the opposite of the desired effect: child experts fear the Executive's plans may prove counterproductive.

counterproliferation n. [mass noun] action intended to prevent an increase or spread in the possession of nuclear weapons.

counterpunch [BOXING] n. a punch thrown in return for one received.

■ v. [no obj.] throw a counterpunch.

<DERIVATIVES> counterpuncher n.

Counter-Reformation the reform of the Church of Rome in the 16th and 17th centuries which was stimulated by the Protestant Reformation.

Measures to oppose the spread of the Reformation were resolved on at the Council of Trent (1545–63) and the Jesuit order became the spearhead of the Counter-Reformation, both within Europe and abroad. Although most of northern Europe remained Protestant, southern Germany and Poland were brought back to the Roman Catholic Church.

counter-revolution n. a revolution opposing a former one or reversing its results.

<DERIVATIVES> counter-revolutionary adj. & n.

counterrotate v. [no obj.] rotate in opposite directions, especially about the same axis.

<DERIVATIVES> counterrotation n.

counterscarp n. the outer wall of a ditch in a fortification.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French contrescarpe, from Italian controscarpa; compare with SCARP.

countershading n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] protective coloration used by some animals in which parts normally in shadow are light and those exposed to the sky are dark.

<DERIVATIVES> countershaded adj.

countershaft n. a machine driveshaft that transmits motion from the main shaft to where it is required, such as the drive axle in a vehicle.

countersign v. [with obj.] add a signature to (a document already signed by another person): each cheque had to be signed and countersigned.

■ n. ARCHAIC a signal or password given in reply to a soldier on guard.

<DERIVATIVES> countersignature n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a noun): from French contresigner (verb), contresigne (noun), from Italian contrassegno, based on Latin signum ‘sign’.

countersink v. (past and past participle countersunk) [with obj.] enlarge and bevel the rim of (a drilled hole) so that a screw, nail, or bolt can be inserted flush with the surface.

- drive (a screw, nail, or bolt) into such a hole.

counterspy /kantəsp/ n. (pl. counterspies) a spy engaged in counter-espionage.

counterstain [BIOLOGY] n. an additional dye used in a microscopy specimen to produce a contrasting background or to make clearer the distinction between different kinds of tissue.

■ v. [with obj.] treat (a specimen) with a counterstain.

counterstroke n. an attack carried out in retaliation.

countersubject n. [MUSIC] a second or subsidiary subject, especially accompanying the subject or its answer in a fugue.

countertenor n. [MUSIC] the highest male adult singing voice (sometimes distinguished from the male alto voice by its strong, pure tone).

- a singer with such a voice.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French contre-teneur, from obsolete Italian contratenore, based on Latin tenor (see tenor^1).

counterterrorism n. [mass noun] political or military activities designed to prevent or thwart terrorism.

<DERIVATIVES> counterterrorist n.

countertop n. North American term for WORKTOP.

countertrade n. [mass noun] international trade by exchange of goods rather than by currency purchase.

counter-transference n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] the emotional reaction of the analyst to the subject's contribution.

countervail /kantəvel/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. countervailing) offset the effect of (something) by countering it with something of equal force: the dominance of the party was mediated by a number of countervailing factors.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘be equivalent to in value’): from Anglo-Norman French contrevaloir, from Latin contra valere ‘be of worth against’.

countervailing duty n. an import tax imposed on certain goods in order to prevent dumping or counter export subsidies.

countervalue n. BRITISH an equivalent or equal, especially in military strategy: [as modifier] countervalue weapons.

counterweight n. another term for COUNTERBALANCE.

countess n. the wife or widow of a count or earl.

- a woman holding the rank of count or earl in her own right.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French contesse, from late Latin comitissa, feminine of comes (see count^2).

countian n. [with modifier] chiefly US an inhabitant of a particular county: Sussex countians.

counting prep. taking account of when reaching a total; including: there were three of us in the family, or four counting my pet rabbit | the college had 139 employees, not counting those engaged in routine clerical work.

counting house n. HISTORICAL an office or building in which the accounts and money of a person or company were kept.

countless adj. too many to be counted; very many: she'd apologized countless times before.

count noun n. [GRAMMAR] a noun that can form a plural and, in the singular, can be used with the indefinite article (e.g. books, a book). Contrasted with MASS NOUN.

Count Palatine n. (pl. Counts Palatine) HISTORICAL a feudal lord having royal authority within a region of a kingdom.

- a high official of the Holy Roman Empire with royal authority within his domain.

<ORIGIN> see palatine^1.

countrified (also countryfied) adj. reminiscent or characteristic of the country, especially in being unsophisticated: a countrified cottage garden | her tweeds were far too countrified.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: past participle of countrify ‘make rural’.

country n. (pl. countries) 1 a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory: the country's increasingly precarious economic position | Spain, Italy, and other European countries.

- (the country) the people of a nation: the whole country took to the streets.

2 (often the country) districts and small settlements outside large urban areas or the capital: the airfield is right out in the country | [as modifier] a country lane.

3 [mass noun] an area or region with regard to its physical features: a tract of wild country.

- a region associated with a particular person, work, or television programme: an old mansion in Stevenson's ‘Kidnapped’ country.

<PHRASES>

□ across country not keeping to roads.

□ go (or appeal) to the country BRITISH test public opinion by dissolving Parliament and holding a general election.

□ one's line of country BRITISH a subject in which one is skilled or knowledgeable: anagrams are not in my line of country.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cuntree, from medieval Latin contrata (terra) ‘(land) lying opposite’, from Latin contra ‘against, opposite’.

country and western n. another term for COUNTRY MUSIC.

country blues n. [mass noun] a simple form of blues in which the singer is accompanied by an acoustic guitar.

country club n. a club with sporting and social facilities, set in a rural area.

country cousin n. a person with an unsophisticated and provincial appearance or manners.

country dance n. a traditional type of social English dance, in particular one performed by couples facing each other in long lines.

countryfied adj. variant of COUNTRIFIED.

country gentleman n. a rich man of good social standing who owns and lives on an estate in a rural area.

country house n. BRITISH a large house in the country, typically the seat of a wealthy or aristocratic family.

countrymade adj. INDIAN (especially of a weapon) manufactured by an illegal cottage industry.

countryman (or countrywoman) n. (pl. countrymen or countrywomen) 1 a person living or born in a rural area.

2 a person from the same country as someone else: they trust a fellow countryman.

country mile n. INFORMAL a very long way: he hit the ball a country mile.

country music n. [mass noun] a form of popular music originating in the rural southern US. It is a mixture of ballads and dance tunes played characteristically on fiddle, banjo, guitar, and pedal steel guitar. Also called COUNTRY AND WESTERN.

country party n. HISTORICAL a political party supporting agricultural rather than manufacturing interests.

country rock^1 n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the rock which encloses a mineral deposit, igneous intrusion, or other feature.

country rock^2 n. [mass noun] a type of popular music that is a blend of rock and country music.

country seat n. BRITISH a large country house and estate belonging to an aristocratic family.

countryside n. [mass noun] the land and scenery of a rural area: they explored the surrounding countryside.

countrywide adj. & adv. extending throughout a nation: [as adj.] a countrywide tour | [as adv.] these units travel countrywide.

county n. (pl. counties) a territorial division of some countries, forming the chief unit of local administration.

- BRITISH a sporting team playing for a county.

- US a political and administrative division of a state.

- [as modifier] BRITISH relating to or characteristic of aristocratic people with an ancestral home in a particular county: a county grande dame.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French conte, from Latin comitatus, from comes, comit- (see count^2). The word seems first to have denoted a periodical meeting held to transact shire business.

county borough n. (in Wales and formerly in England and Northern Ireland) a town having the administrative status of a county.

county clerk n. (in the US) an elected county official who is responsible for local elections and maintaining public records.

county commissioner n. BRITISH a Justice of the Peace on the commission of a county.

county corporate n. BRITISH HISTORICAL a city or town ranking as an administrative county.

county council n. (in the UK) the elected governing body of an administrative county.

<DERIVATIVES> county councillor n.

county court n. (in England and Wales) a judicial court for civil cases.

- US a court for civil and criminal cases.

county cricket n. [mass noun] first-class cricket played in the UK between the eighteen professional teams contesting the County Championship.

County Palatine HISTORICAL n. (in England and Ireland) a county in which royal privileges and exclusive rights of jurisdiction were held by its earl or lord.

<ORIGIN> see palatine^1.

county school n. (in the UK) a school that is established and funded by the local education authority.

county town (North American county seat) n. the town that is the administrative capital of a county.

coup /ku/ n. (pl. coups /kuz/) 1 (also coup d'état) a sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government: he was overthrown in an army coup.

2 an instance of successfully achieving something difficult: it was a major coup to get such a prestigious contract.

- an unusual or unexpected but successful tactic in card play.

3 [BILLIARDS] a direct pocketing of the cue ball, which is a foul stroke.

4 HISTORICAL (among North American Indians) an act of touching an enemy, as a deed of bravery, or an act of first touching an item of the enemy's in order to claim it.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from medieval Latin colpus ‘blow’ (see cope^1).

coup de foudre /ku də fudr(ə)/ French /ku də fudR/ n. (pl. coups de foudre pronunc. same) a sudden unforeseen event, in particular an instance of love at first sight.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘stroke of lightning’.

coup de grâce /ku də rαs/ French /ku də Ras/ n. (pl. coups de grâce pronunc. same) a final blow or shot given to kill a wounded person or animal: he administered the coup de grâce with a knife | FIGURATIVE Howarth delivered the coup de grâce with a penalty two minutes from time.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘stroke of grace’.

coup de main /ku də ma/ French /ku də mε/ n. (pl. coups de main pronunc. same) a sudden surprise attack, especially one made by an army during war.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘stroke of hand’.

coup de maître /ku də mεtr(ə)/ French /ku də mεtR/ n. (pl. coups de maître pronunc. same) a master stroke.

<ORIGIN> French.

coup d'état /ku detα/ French /ku deta/ n. (pl. coups d'état pronunc. same)

■ another term for coup (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘blow of state’.

coup de théâtre /ku də teαtr(ə)/ French /ku də teαtR/ n. (pl. coups de théâtre pronunc. same) 1 a dramatically sudden action or turn of events, especially in a play.

2 a successful theatrical production.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘blow of theatre’.

coup d'œil /ku də/ French /ku dœj/ n. (pl. coups d'œil pronunc. same) a glance that takes in a comprehensive view.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘stroke of eye’.

coupe /kup/ n. a shallow glass or glass dish, typically with a stem, in which desserts or champagne are served.

- a dessert served in such a dish.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘goblet’.

coupé /kupe/ (also coupe /kup/) n. 1 a car with a fixed roof, two doors, and a sloping rear.

2 HISTORICAL a four-wheeled enclosed carriage for two passengers and a driver.

3 (in South Africa) an end compartment in a railway carriage, with seats on only one side.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): from French carrosse coupé, literally ‘cut carriage’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 20th cent.

couped /kupt/ adj. [usually postpositive] [HERALDRY] cut off or truncated in a straight line.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French couper ‘to cut’ + -ED^2.

Couperin /kupəra/ French /kupRε/ François (1668–1733), French composer, organist, and harpsichordist. A composer at the court of Louis XIV, he is principally known for his harpsichord works.

couple n. 1 two people or things of the same sort considered together: a couple of girls were playing marbles.

- a pair of partners in a dance or game.

- (plural couple) a pair of hunting dogs.

- (couples) two collars joined together and used for holding hounds together.

- a pair of rafters.

- [MECHANICS] a pair of equal and parallel forces acting in opposite directions, and tending to cause rotation about an axis perpendicular to the plane containing them.

2 [treated as sing. or plural] two people who are married or otherwise closely associated romantically or sexually.

3 INFORMAL an indefinite small number: [as pronoun] he hoped she'd be better in a couple of days | we got some eggs—would you like a couple? | [as determiner] just a couple more questions | North American clean the stains with a couple squirts dishwashing liquid.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] link or combine (something) with something else: a sense of hope is coupled with a palpable sense of loss.

- connect (a railway vehicle or a piece of equipment) to another: a cable is coupled up to one of the wheels.

- connect (two electrical components) using electromagnetic induction, electrostatic charge, or an optical link: (as adj. coupled) networks of coupled oscillators.

- [no obj.] (couple up) join to form a pair.

2 [no obj.] mate or have sexual intercourse.

<DERIVATIVES> coupledom n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cople (noun), copler (verb), from Latin copula (noun), copulare (verb), from co- ‘together’ + apere ‘fasten’. Compare with COPULA and COPULATE.

coupler n. a thing that connects two things, especially mechanical components or systems: a hydraulic coupler.

- [MUSIC] a device in an organ for connecting two manuals, or a manual with pedals, so that they both sound when only one is played.

- (also octave coupler) [MUSIC] a device in an organ for connecting notes with their octaves above or below.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] a compound in a developer or an emulsion which combines with the products of development to form an insoluble dye, part of the image.

- (also acoustic coupler) a modem which converts digital signals from a computer into audible sound signals and vice versa, so that the former can be transmitted and received over telephone lines.

couplet n. a pair of successive lines of verse, typically rhyming and of the same length.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, diminutive of couple, from Old French cople (see COUPLE).

coupling n. 1 a device for connecting parts of machinery.

- a fitting on the end of a railway vehicle for connecting it to another.

2 [mass noun] the pairing of two items: the coupling of tribunals with ministerial enquiries.

- an interaction between two electrical components by electromagnetic induction, electrostatic charge, or optical link.

3 [mass noun] the action of mating or having sexual intercourse.

4 two people in a romantic relationship; a couple.

coupling constant n. [PHYSICS] a constant representing the strength of the interaction between a particle and a field.

coupling rod n. a rod which couples the driving wheels of a locomotive, enabling them to act as a unit.

couply (also coupley) adj. INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY relating to or characteristic of a couple in a romantic or sexual relationship, especially when the relationship is regarded as particularly intimate or socially exclusive.

coupon n. 1 a voucher entitling the holder to a discount off a particular product.

- a detachable ticket entitling the holder to a ration of food, clothes, or other goods, especially in wartime.

- a detachable portion of a bond which is given up in return for a payment of interest.

- the nominal rate of interest on a fixed-interest security.

2 a form in a newspaper or magazine which may be sent as an application for a purchase or information.

- BRITISH an entry form for a football pool or other competition.

3 SCOTTISH & IRISH a person's face: he had a big beaming smile on his coupon.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting a detachable portion of a stock certificate): from French, literally ‘piece cut off’, from couper ‘cut’, from Old French colper (see cope^1).

coupon-clipper n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person with a large number of interest-bearing bonds.

courage n. [mass noun] the ability to do something that frightens one; bravery: she called on all her courage to face the ordeal.

- strength in the face of pain or grief: he fought his illness with great courage.

<PHRASES>

□ have the courage of one's convictions act on one's beliefs despite danger or disapproval.

□ pluck up (or screw up or take) courage make an effort to do something that frightens one.

□ take one's courage in both hands nerve oneself to do something that frightens one.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting the heart, as the seat of feelings): from Old French corage, from Latin cor ‘heart’.

courageous adj. not deterred by danger or pain; brave: her courageous human rights work.

<DERIVATIVES> courageously adv. courageousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French corageus, from corage (see COURAGE).

courant /krant/ adj. [usually postpositive] [HERALDRY] represented as running.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: French, ‘running’, present participle of courir.

courante /krt -rαnt/ n. a 16th-century court dance consisting of short advances and retreats, later developed into a rapid gliding dance in quick triple time.

- a piece of music written for or in the style of such a dance, typically one forming a movement of a suite.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: French, literally ‘running’, feminine present participle of courir.

Courbet /kəbe/ French /kuRbε/ Gustave (1819–77), French painter. A leader of the 19th-century realist school of painting, he favoured an unidealized choice of subject matter that did not exclude the ugly or vulgar. Notable works: Burial at Ornans (1850) and Painter in his Studio (1855).

courbette /kəbεt/ n. (in classical riding) a movement in which the horse performs a series of jumps on the hind legs without the forelegs touching the ground.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: French, from Italian corvetta ‘little curve’, based on Latin curvus ‘curved’.

coureur de bois /kurə də bw/ n. (pl. coureurs de bois pronunc. same) HISTORICAL (in Canada and the northern US) a woodsman or trader of French origin.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘wood-runner’.

courgette /kəεt/ n. BRITISH the immature fruit of a vegetable marrow, in particular one of a variety developed for harvesting and eating at an early stage of growth. Called ZUCCHINI in North America.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from French, diminutive of courge ‘gourd’, from Latin cucurbita.

courier /krə/ n. 1 a company or employee of a company that transports commercial packages and documents: the cheque was dispatched by courier | [as modifier] a courier service.

- a messenger for an underground or espionage organization.

2 chiefly BRITISH a person employed to guide and assist a group of tourists.

■ v. [with obj.] send (goods or documents) by courier: your order can be couriered to you in three days.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a person sent to run with a message): originally from Old French coreor; later from French courier (now courrier), from Italian corriere; based on Latin currere ‘to run’.

courol /kurl/ n. another term for CUCKOO-ROLLER.

<ORIGIN> contraction.

Courrèges /kəre -rε/ French /kuRε/ André (b.1923), French fashion designer. He is famous for his futuristic and youth-oriented styles, in particular the use of plastic and metal and unisex fashion such as trouser suits for women.

course n. 1 the route or direction followed by a ship, aircraft, road, or river: the road adopts a tortuous course along the coast | the new fleet changed course to join the other ships.

- the way in which something progresses or develops: the course of history.

- (also course of action) [count noun] a procedure adopted to deal with a situation: my decision had seemed to be the wisest course open to me at the time.

2 a dish, or a set of dishes served together, forming one of the successive parts of a meal: guests are offered a choice of main course | [in combination] a four-course meal.

3 an area of land set aside and prepared for racing, golf, or another sport.

4 a series of lectures or lessons in a particular subject, leading to an examination or qualification: a business studies course.

- MEDICINE a series of repeated treatments or doses of medication: the doctor prescribed a course of antibiotics.

- [BELL-RINGING] a series of changes which brings the bells back to their original order, or the changes of a particular bell.

5 a continuous horizontal layer of brick, stone, or other material in a wall.

6 a pursuit of game (especially hares) with greyhounds by sight rather than scent.

7 a sail on the lowest yards of a square-rigged ship.

■ v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of liquid) move without obstruction; flow: tears were coursing down her cheeks | FIGURATIVE exultation coursed through him.

2 [with obj.] pursue (game, especially hares) with greyhounds using sight rather than scent: many of the hares coursed escaped unharmed | [no obj.] she would course for hares with her greyhounds.

<PHRASES>

□ the course of nature events or processes which are normal and to be expected: each man would, in the course of nature, have his private opinions.

□ in (the) course of —— 1 undergoing the specified process: a new text book was in course of preparation.

2 during the specified period or activity: he was a friend to many people in the course of his life.

□ in (or over) the course of time as time goes by: the property will deteriorate in the course of time.

□ of course used to introduce an idea or action as being obvious or to be expected: the point is of course that the puzzle itself is misleading.

- used to give or emphasize agreement or permission: ‘Can I see you for a minute?’ ‘Of course.’.

- introducing a qualification or admission: of course we've been in touch by phone, but I wanted to see things for myself.

□ off course not following the intended route.

□ on course following the intended route: he battled to keep the ship on course | FIGURATIVE to get back on course, I relied on one of my stock questions.

- (on course for/to do something) likely to achieve something: he was on course for victory.

□ run (or take) its course complete its natural development without interference: his illness had to run its course to the crisis.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cours, from Latin cursus, from curs- ‘run’, from the verb currere.

coursebook n. BRITISH a textbook designed for use on a particular course of study.

courser^1 n. LITERARY a swift horse.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French corsier, based on Latin cursus (see COURSE).

courser^2 n. a fast-running plover-like bird related to the pratincoles, typically found in open country in Africa and Asia.

<INFO> Genera Cursorius and Rhinoptilus, family Glareolidae: several species, in particular the desert-dwelling cream-coloured courser (C. cursor).

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin Cursorius ‘adapted for running’, from cursor ‘runner’, from the verb currere (see COURSE).

courser^3 n. a person who hunts animals such as hares with greyhounds using sight rather than scent.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from COURSER^1.

courseware n. [mass noun] computer programs or other material designed for use in an educational or training course.

coursework n. [mass noun] written or practical work done by a student during a course of study, usually assessed in order to count towards a final mark or grade.

coursing n. [mass noun] the sport of hunting game animals such as hares with greyhounds using sight rather than scent.

court n. 1 (also court of law) a body of people presided over by a judge, judges, or magistrate, and acting as a tribunal in civil and criminal cases: she will take the matter to court | [as modifier] a court case.

- the place where a court meets.

2 a quadrangular area, either open or covered, marked out for ball games such as tennis or squash: a squash court.

- a quadrangular area surrounded by a building or group of buildings.

- (Court) used in the names of large houses or blocks of flats: Hampton Court.

3 the courtiers, retinue, and household of a sovereign: the emperor is shown with his court.

- a sovereign and his or her councillors, constituting a ruling power: relations between the king and the imperial court.

- a sovereign's residence.

4 the qualified members of a company or a corporation.

- a meeting of the members of a company or a corporation.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] DATED be involved with (someone) romantically, with the intention of marrying: he was courting a girl from the neighbouring farm | [no obj.] we went to the cinema when we were courting.

- (of a male bird or other animal) try to attract (a mate).

2 pay special attention to (someone) in an attempt to win their support or favour: Western politicians courted the leaders of the newly independent states.

- try hard to win (favourable attention): he never had to court the approval of the political elite.

- risk incurring (misfortune) because of one's behaviour: he has often courted controversy.

<PHRASES>

□ go to court take legal action.

□ in court appearing as a party or an advocate in a court of law.

□ out of court 1 before a legal hearing can take place: they are trying to settle the squabble out of court | [as modifier] an out-of-court settlement.

2 not worthy of consideration: the price would put it out of court for most private buyers.

□ pay court to pay flattering attention to (someone) in order to win favour.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cort, from Latin cohors, cohort- ‘yard or retinue’. The verb is influenced by Old Italian corteare, Old French courtoyer. Compare with COHORT.

Courtauld /ktəld/ Samuel (1876–1947), English industrialist. He was a director of his family's silk firm and a collector of French Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings. He presented his collection to the University of London, endowed the Courtauld Institute of Art, and bequeathed to it his house in Portman Square, London.

court bouillon /kt bujn/ n. [mass noun] a stock made from wine and vegetables, typically used in fish dishes.

<ORIGIN> French, from court ‘short’ and BOUILLON.

court card n. BRITISH a playing card that is a king, queen, or jack of a suit.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: alteration of 16th-cent. coat card, so named because of the decorative dress of the figures depicted.

court circular n. (usually the Court Circular) BRITISH a daily report of the activities and public engagements of royal family members, published in some newspapers.

court cupboard n. a 16th- or 17th-century sideboard for displaying plate and other decorative objects, especially one consisting of three open shelves and sometimes a small cupboard in the upper half.

courteous /kətjəs/ adj. polite, respectful, or considerate in manner.

<DERIVATIVES> courteously adv. courteousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (meaning ‘having manners fit for a royal court’): from Old French corteis, based on Latin cohors ‘yard, retinue’ (see COURT). The change in the ending in the 16th century was due to association with words ending in -EOUS.

courtesan /ktzan kt-/ n. chiefly LITERARY a prostitute, especially one with wealthy or upper-class clients.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French courtisane, from obsolete Italian cortigiana, feminine of cortigiano ‘courtier’, from corte (see COURT).

courtesy /kətsi/ n. (pl. courtesies) 1 [mass noun] the showing of politeness in one's attitude and behaviour towards others: he treated the players with courtesy and good humour.

- [as modifier] (especially of transport) supplied free of charge to people who are already paying for another service: a courtesy car.

2 ARCHAIC a curtsy.

<PHRASES>

□ by courtesy as a favour rather than by right.

□ (by) courtesy of given or allowed by: photograph courtesy of the Evening Star.

- INFORMAL as a result of: he booked his place in the final courtesy of a remarkable victory.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cortesie, from corteis (see COURTEOUS).

courtesy light n. a small light in a car that is automatically switched on when one of the doors is opened.

courtesy title n. a title given to someone, especially the son or daughter of a peer, that has no legal validity.

courthouse n. 1 a building in which a judicial court is held.

2 US a building containing the administrative offices of a county.

courtier /ktə/ n. a person who attends a royal court as a companion or adviser to the king or queen.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Anglo-Norman French from Old French cortoyer ‘be present at court’, from cort (see COURT).

courtly adj. (courtlier, courtliest) very polite or refined, as befitting a royal court: he gave a courtly bow.

<DERIVATIVES> courtliness n.

courtly love n. [mass noun] a highly conventionalized medieval tradition of love between a knight and a married noblewoman, first developed by the troubadours of southern France and extensively employed in European literature of the time. The love of the knight for his lady was regarded as an ennobling passion and the relationship was typically unconsummated.

court martial n. (pl. courts martial or court martials) a judicial court for trying members of the armed services accused of offences against military law.

■ v. (court-martial) (court-martials, court-martialling, court-martialled; US court-martials, court-martialing, court-martialed) [with obj.] try (someone) by a court martial: they were court-martialled and imprisoned.

Court of Appeal n. (in England and Wales) a court of law that hears appeals against both civil and criminal judgements from the Crown Courts, High Court, and County Courts.

- (court of appeals) US a court of law in a federal circuit or state to which appeals are taken.

Court of Claims n. US a federal court that tries claims against the government.

court of first instance n. a court in which legal proceedings are begun or first heard.

court of inquiry n. a tribunal appointed to investigate a matter and decide whether a court martial is warranted.

Court of Protection (in the UK) the department of the Supreme Court attending to the affairs of people who are mentally ill or disabled.

court of record n. a court whose proceedings are recorded and available as evidence of fact.

court of review n. a court before which sentences previously imposed come for revision.

Court of St James's the British sovereign's court.

Court of Session the supreme civil court in Scotland.

court of summary jurisdiction n. BRITISH a court, especially a magistrate's court, that tries summary offences without a jury.

court order n. a direction issued by a court or a judge requiring a person to do or not do something.

court plaster n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL sticking plaster made of silk or other cloth with an adhesive such as isinglass.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: so named because it was formerly used by ladies at court for beauty spots.

Courtrai /kuRtRε/ French name for KORTRIJK.

court roll n. BRITISH HISTORICAL the record kept by a manorial court of rent paid and property held by tenants.

courtroom n. the place or room in which a court of law meets.

courtship n. a period during which a couple develop a romantic relationship before getting married.

- [mass noun] the development of a romantic relationship prior to marriage.

- [mass noun] the behaviour of male birds and other animals aimed at attracting a mate.

- [mass noun] the action of attempting to win a person's favour or support: the country's courtship of foreign investors.

court shoe n. BRITISH a woman's plain, lightweight shoe that has a low-cut upper, no fastening, and typically a medium heel.

court tennis n. North American term for REAL TENNIS.

courtyard n. an unroofed area that is completely or partially enclosed by walls or buildings, typically one forming part of a castle or large house.

couscous /ksks kuskus/ n. [mass noun] a type of North African semolina in granules made from crushed durum wheat.

- a spicy dish made by steaming or soaking couscous and adding meat, vegetables, or fruit.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, from Arabic kuskus, from kaskasa ‘to pound’, probably of Berber origin.

cousin n. (also first cousin) a child of one's uncle or aunt.

- a person belonging to the same extended family.

- a thing related or analogous to another: the new motorbikes are not proving as popular as their four-wheeled cousins.

- (usually cousins) a person of a kindred race or nation: our American cousins.

- HISTORICAL a title formerly used by a sovereign in addressing another sovereign or a noble of their own country.

<PHRASES>

□ first cousin once removed 1 a child of one's first cousin.

2 one's parent's first cousin.

□ first cousin twice removed 1 a grandchild of one's first cousin.

2 one's grandparent's first cousin.

□ second cousin a child of one's parent's first cousin.

□ second cousin once removed 1 a child of one's second cousin.

2 one's parent's second cousin.

□ third cousin a child of one's parent's second cousin.

<DERIVATIVES> cousinhood n. cousinly adj. cousinship n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cosin, from Latin consobrinus ‘mother's sister's child’, from con- ‘with’ + sobrinus ‘second cousin’ (from soror ‘sister’).

cousin-german n. (pl. cousins-german)

■ old-fashioned term for COUSIN.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from French cousin germain (see COUSIN, german).

Cousteau /kustə/ French /kustə/ Jacques-Yves (1910–97), French oceanographer and film director. He devised the scuba apparatus, but is known primarily for several feature films and popular television series on marine life.

couth /kuθ/ adj. [predic.] HUMOROUS cultured, refined, and well mannered: it is more couth to hold your shrimp genteelly by the tail when eating.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from UNCOUTH.

couthy /kuθi/ (also couthie) adj. SCOTTISH (of a person) warm and friendly.

- (of a place) cosy and comfortable: a couthy wee tavern.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: apparently from Old English cūth ‘known’ + -Y^1 (also -ie).

couture /kutjə/ n. [mass noun] the design and manufacture of fashionable clothes to a client's specific requirements and measurements.

- fashionable made-to-measure clothes: they were dressed in size eight printed-silk couture.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: French, ‘sewing, dressmaking’.

couturier /kutjəre/ n. a fashion designer who manufactures and sells clothes that have been tailored to a client's specific requirements and measurements.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, from COUTURE.

couturière /kutjərε/ n. a female couturier.

couvade /kuvαd/ n. [mass noun] the custom in some cultures in which a man takes to his bed and goes through certain rituals when his child is being born, as though he were physically affected by the birth.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from couver ‘to hatch’, from Latin cubare ‘lie down’. The adoption of the term in French was due to a misunderstanding of the phrase faire la couvade ‘sit doing nothing’, used by earlier writers.

couvert /kuvε/ n. another term for cover (sense 5 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, past participle (used as a noun) of couvrir ‘to cover’.

couverture /kuvətjə/ n. [mass noun] chocolate made with extra cocoa butter to give a high gloss, used for covering sweets and cakes.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: French, literally ‘covering’, from couvrir ‘to cover’.

covalent /kəvel(ə)nt/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] relating to or denoting chemical bonds formed by the sharing of electrons between atoms. Often contrasted with IONIC.

<DERIVATIVES> covalence n. covalency n. covalently adv.

covariance /kəvεrəns/ n. 1 [mass noun] [MATHEMATICS] the property of a function of retaining its form when the variables are linearly transformed.

2 [STATISTICS] the mean value of the product of the deviations of two variates from their respective means.

covariant [MATHEMATICS] n. a function of the coefficients and variables of a given function which is invariant under a linear transformation except for a factor equal to a power of the determinant of the transformation.

■ adj. changing in such a way that mathematical interrelations with another simultaneously changing quantity or set of quantities remain unchanged.

covariation n. [mass noun] [MATHEMATICS] correlated variation.

cove^1 n. 1 a small sheltered bay.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] a concave arch or arched moulding, especially one formed at the junction of a wall with a ceiling.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. coved) [ARCHITECTURE] provide (a room, ceiling, etc.) with a cove.

<ORIGIN> Old English cofa ‘chamber, cave’, of Germanic origin; related to German Koben ‘pigsty, pen’. Sense 1 of the noun dates from the late 16th cent.

cove^2 n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a man: he is a perfectly amiable cove.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps from Romany kova ‘thing or person’.

covelline /kəvεln/ n. another term for COVELLITE.

covellite /kəvεlt/ n. [mass noun] a blue mineral consisting of copper sulphide, typically occurring as a coating on other copper minerals.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Nicolò Covelli (1790–1829), Italian chemist, + -ITE^1.

coven /kv(ə)n/ n. a group or meeting of witches.

- often DEROGATORY a secret or close-knit group of associates: covens of militants within the party.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: variant of COVIN.

covenant /kv(ə)nənt/ n. an agreement.

- [LAW] a formal agreement, contract, or promise in writing, especially one undertaking to make regular payments to a charity.

- [LAW] a clause in a contract drawn up by deed.

- [THEOLOGY] an agreement which brings about a relationship of commitment between God and his people. The Jewish faith is based on the biblical covenants made with Abraham, Moses, and David.

■ v. [no obj.] agree by lease, deed, or other legal contract: [with infinitive] the landlord covenants to repair the property.

- [with obj.] BRITISH undertake to give (a sum of money) regularly to charity by means of a covenant.

<PHRASES>

□ Old Covenant [CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY] the covenant between God and Israel in the Old Testament.

□ New Covenant [CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY] the covenant between God and the followers of Christ.

<DERIVATIVES> covenantal adj. covenantor n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, present participle of covenir ‘agree’, from Latin convenire (see CONVENE).

Covenanter /kv(ə)nəntə/ n. (in 17th-century Scotland) an adherent of the National Covenant (1638) or of the Solemn League and Covenant (1643), upholding the organization of the Scottish Presbyterian Church.

covenant of grace n. (in Reformation theology) the covenant between God and humanity which was established by Christ at the Atonement.

Covent Garden a district in central London, originally the convent garden of the Abbey of Westminster. It was the site for 300 years of London's chief fruit and vegetable market, which in 1974 was moved to Nine Elms, Battersea. The first Covent Garden Theatre was opened in 1732; since 1946 it has been the home of the national opera and ballet companies, based at the Royal Opera House (built 1888).

Coventry /kv(ə)ntri kv-/ an industrial city in the west Midlands of England; pop. 300,844 (2001).

<PHRASES>

□ send someone to Coventry chiefly BRITISH refuse to associate with or speak to someone. [<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: sometimes said to stem from the extreme unpopularity of soldiers stationed in Coventry, who were cut off socially by the citizens, or because Royalist prisoners were sent there during the English Civil War, the city being staunchly Parliamentarian.]

cover v. 1 put something on top of or in front of (something) in order to protect or conceal it: the table had been covered with a checked tablecloth | her husband had covered up his bald patch.

- envelop in a layer of something, especially dirt: he was covered in mud | FIGURATIVE she was covered in confusion.

- scatter a layer of loose material over (a floor or other surface), leaving it obscured: the barn floor was covered in straw.

- lie over or adhere to (a surface), as decoration or to conceal something: masonry paint will cover hairline cracks.

2 extend over (an area): the grounds covered eight acres.

- travel (a specified distance): it took them four days to cover 150 miles.

3 deal with (a subject) by describing or analysing its most important aspects or events: a sequence of novels that will cover the period from 1968 to the present.

- investigate, report on, or show pictures of (an event): Channel 4 are covering the match.

- have responsibility for or provide services to (a particular area): development officers whose work would cover a large area.

- (of a rule or law) apply to (a person or situation).

4 (of a sum of money) be enough to pay (a cost): there are grants to cover the cost of materials for loft insulation.

- (of insurance) protect against a liability, loss, or accident involving financial consequences: your contents are now covered against accidental loss or damage in transit.

- (cover oneself) take precautionary measures so as to protect oneself against future blame or liability: one reason doctors take temperatures is to cover themselves against negligence claims.

5 disguise the sound or fact of (something) with another sound or action: Louise laughed to cover her embarrassment.

- [no obj.] (cover for) disguise the illicit absence or wrongdoing of (someone) in order to spare them punishment: if the sergeant wants to know where you are, I'll cover for you.

- [no obj.] (cover for) temporarily take over the job of (a colleague) in their absence.

- (cover something up) try to hide the fact of illegal or illicit activity.

6 aim a gun at (someone) in order to prevent them from moving or escaping.

- protect (an exposed person) by shooting at an enemy: (as adj. covering) we retreated behind spurts of covering fire.

- (of a fortress, gun, or cannon) have (an area) within range.

- chiefly [CRICKET] stand behind (another player) to stop any missed balls.

- (in team games) take up a position ready to defend against (an opposing player).

- [BASEBALL] be in position at (a base) ready to catch the ball.

7 record or perform a new version of (a song) originally performed by someone else: other artists who have covered the song include U2.

8 (of a male animal, especially a stallion) copulate with (a female animal).

9 [BRIDGE] play a higher card on (a high card) in a trick.

■ n. 1 a thing which lies on, over, or around something, especially in order to protect or conceal it: a seat cover | a duvet cover.

- a thin solid object that seals a container or hole; a lid: a manhole cover.

- a thick protective outer part or page of a book or magazine: the year that Crime and Punishment appeared in hard covers.

- (the covers) bedclothes: she burrowed down beneath the covers.

2 [mass noun] shelter or protection sought by people in danger: the sirens wailed and we ran for cover.

- undergrowth or trees used as a shelter by hunted animals: the standing crops of game cover. See also covert (sense 1 of the noun).

- military support given when someone is being attacked: they agreed to provide additional naval cover.

- an activity or organization used as a means of concealing an illegal or secret activity: the restaurant was run as a cover for a money-laundering operation.

- [in sing.] an identity adopted by a spy to conceal their true activities: he was worried that their cover was blown.

3 [mass noun] BRITISH protection by insurance against a liability, loss, or accident: your policy provides cover against damage by subsidence.

4 (also cover version) a recording or performance of a song previously recorded by a different artist.

5 a place setting at a table in a restaurant. [<ORIGIN> rendering French couvert.]

6 [CRICKET] short for COVER POINT.

- (the covers) an area of the field consisting of cover point and extra cover.

7 [ECOLOGY] the amount of ground covered by a vertical projection of the vegetation, usually expressed as a percentage.

<PHRASES>

□ break cover suddenly leave a place of shelter, especially vegetation, when being hunted or pursued.

□ cover all the bases INFORMAL deal with something thoroughly: we thought our legal department had covered all the bases in our terms and conditions.

□ cover one's back (or North American ass) INFORMAL foresee and avoid the possibility of attack or criticism.

□ cover one's position purchase securities in order to be able to fulfil a commitment to sell.

□ cover one's tracks conceal evidence of one's activities.

□ cover the waterfront NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL cover every aspect of something: while half the dishes are Italian, the kitchen covers the waterfront from Greece to Morocco.

□ from cover to cover from beginning to end of a book or magazine.

□ take cover protect oneself from attack by ducking down into or under a shelter: if the bombing starts, take cover in the basement.

□ under cover under a roof or other shelter.

□ under cover of concealed by: the yacht made landfall under cover of darkness.

- while pretending to do: Moran watched every move under cover of reading the newspaper.

□ under plain cover in an envelope or parcel without any marks to identify the sender.

□ under separate cover in a separate envelope.

<DERIVATIVES> coverable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French covrir, from Latin cooperire, from co- (expressing intensive force) + operire ‘to cover’. The noun is partly a variant of COVERT.

coverage n. [mass noun] 1 the extent to which something deals with something else: the grammar did not offer total coverage of the language.

- the treatment of an issue by the media: the programme won an award for its news coverage.

- the area reached by a broadcasting station or advertising medium: a network of eighty transmitters would give nationwide coverage.

2 the area that can be covered by a specified volume or weight of a substance: coverage is 6.5 square metres per litre.

3 US the amount of protection given by an insurance policy.

4 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] the manner in which a defender or a defensive team cover a player, an area, or a play.

coverall n. (usually coveralls) NORTH AMERICAN overalls.

cover charge n. a flat fee paid for admission to a restaurant, bar, club, etc.

cover crop n. a crop grown for the protection and enrichment of the soil.

Coverdale /kvədel/ Miles (1488–1568), English biblical scholar. He translated the first complete printed English Bible (1535), published in Zurich while he was in exile for preaching against confession and images. He also edited the Great Bible of 1539.

cover drive n. [CRICKET] a drive past cover point.

cover girl n. a female model whose picture appears on magazine covers.

cover glass n. another term for COVERSLIP.

covering n. a thing used to protect, decorate, or conceal something else: a vinyl floor covering.

- [usually in sing.] a layer of something that covers something else: the sky was obscured by a covering of cloud.

covering letter (also covering note, North American cover letter) n. BRITISH a letter sent with, and explaining the contents of, another document or a parcel of goods.

coverlet n. a bedspread.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French covrelet, from Old French covrir ‘to cover’ + lit ‘bed’.

cover note n. BRITISH a temporary certificate showing that a person has a current insurance policy.

cover point n. [CRICKET] a fielding position a little in front of the batsman on the off side and halfway to the boundary.

- a fielder at this position.

coverslip n. a small, thin piece of glass used to cover and protect a specimen on a microscope slide.

cover story n. 1 a magazine article that is illustrated or advertised on the front cover.

2 a fictitious account invented to conceal a person's identity or reasons for doing something.

covert adj. /kvət kəvət/ not openly acknowledged or displayed: covert operations against the dictatorship.

■ n. /kvət kvə/ 1 a thicket in which game can hide.

2 [ORNITHOLOGY] a feather covering the base of a main flight or tail feather of a bird.

<DERIVATIVES> covertly adv. covertness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general senses ‘covered’ and ‘a cover’): from Old French, ‘covered’, past participle of covrir (see COVER).

covert coat n. BRITISH a short, light overcoat designed to be worn for outdoor sports such as shooting and riding.

coverture /kvətjə/ n. 1 [mass noun] LITERARY protective or concealing covering.

2 [LAW], HISTORICAL the legal status of a married woman, considered to be under her husband's protection and authority.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting a coverlet or garment): from Old French, from covrir ‘to cover’.

cover-up n. an attempt to prevent people discovering the truth about a serious mistake or crime.

covet /kvt/ v. (covets, coveting, coveted) [with obj.] yearn to possess (something, especially something belonging to another): I covet one of their bubblejet printers | (as adj. coveted) I gave up a coveted job, that of editor-in-chief.

<DERIVATIVES> covetable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cuveitier, based on Latin cupiditas (see CUPIDITY).

covetous adj. having or showing a great desire to possess something belonging to someone else: she fingered the linen with covetous hands.

<DERIVATIVES> covetously adv. covetousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coveitous, based on Latin cupiditas (see CUPIDITY).

covey /kvi/ n. (pl. coveys) a small flock of birds, especially partridge.

- a small group of people or things: coveys of actors rushed through the rooms.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French covee, feminine past participle of cover, from Latin cubare ‘lie down’.

covin /kvn/ (also covine) n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC fraud; deception.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a company or band): from Old French, from medieval Latin convenium, from Latin convenire (see CONVENE). Compare with COVEN.

coving n. another term for cove^1 (sense 2 of the noun).

cow^1 n. 1 a fully grown female animal of a domesticated breed of ox, kept to produce milk or beef: a dairy cow.

- (loosely) a domestic bovine animal, regardless of sex or age.

- (in farming) a female domestic bovine animal which has borne more than one calf. Compare with HEIFER.

- the female of certain other large animals, for example elephant, rhinoceros, whale, or seal.

2 INFORMAL an unpleasant or disliked woman.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ an unpleasant person or thing.

<PHRASES>

□ have a cow NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL become angry, excited, or agitated: don't have a cow—it's no big deal.

□ till the cows come home INFORMAL for an indefinitely long time: those two could talk till the cows came home.

<ORIGIN> Old English cū, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch koe and German Kuh, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin bos and Greek bous.

cow^2 v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to submit to one's wishes by intimidation: the intellectuals had been cowed into silence.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from Old Norse kúga ‘oppress’.

cowabunga /kaəbə kαwə-/ exclam. INFORMAL used to express delight or satisfaction: Cowabunga! It's an actor's dream.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally surfers' slang): popularized by cartoons and the films Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Coward Sir Noël (Pierce) (1899–1973), English dramatist, actor, and composer. He is remembered for witty, satirical plays, such as Hay Fever (1925) and Private Lives (1930), as well as revues and musicals featuring songs such as ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ (1932).

coward n. a person who is contemptibly lacking in the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things.

■ adj. 1 LITERARY excessively afraid of danger or pain.

2 [HERALDRY] (of an animal) depicted with the tail between the hind legs.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French couard, based on Latin cauda ‘tail’, possibly with reference to a frightened animal with its tail between its legs, reflected in sense 2 of the adjective (early 16th century).

cowardice n. [mass noun] lack of bravery.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French couardise, from couard (see COWARD).

cowardly adj. lacking courage: he was a weak, cowardly man.

- (of an action) carried out against a person who is unable to retaliate: a cowardly attack on a helpless victim.

■ adv. ARCHAIC in a way which shows a lack of courage.

<DERIVATIVES> cowardliness n.

cowardy adj. (in phrase cowardy custard) BRITISH INFORMAL a cowardly person (often used as a taunt by children).

cowbane n. any of a number of tall poisonous plants of the parsley family, growing in swampy or wet habitats.

<INFO>

- another term for WATER HEMLOCK

- a North American plant (Oxypolis rigidior, family Umbelliferae).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from COW^1 + BANE, because it is poisonous to grazing cattle.

cowbell n. a bell hung round a cow's neck to indicate its whereabouts.

- a similar bell used as a percussion instrument, typically without a clapper and struck with a stick.

cowberry n. (pl. cowberries) a low-growing evergreen dwarf shrub of the heather family, which bears dark red berries and grows in northern upland habitats. See also LINGONBERRY.

<INFO> Vaccinium vitis-idaea, family Ericaceae.

- the edible acid berry of the cowberry plant.

cowbird n. a New World songbird with dark plumage and a relatively short bill, typically laying its eggs in other birds' nests.

<INFO> Genus Molothrus (and Scaphidura), family Icteridae: several species, in particular the widespread brown-headed (or common) cowbird (M. ater).

cowboy n. 1 (especially in the western US) a man who herds and tends cattle, performing much of his work on horseback.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a dishonest or careless person in business, especially an unqualified one.

■ v. [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL work as a cowboy.

cowboy boot n. a high-heeled boot of a style originally worn by cowboys, typically with a pointed toe and decorative stitching.

cow camp n. NORTH AMERICAN a seasonal camp apart from the main buildings of a ranch, used during a cattle round-up.

cowcatcher n. NORTH AMERICAN a metal frame at the front of a locomotive for pushing aside cattle or other obstacles on the line.

cow chip n. NORTH AMERICAN a dried cowpat.

cow cocky n. (pl. cow cockies) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a small dairy farmer.

<ORIGIN> from COW^1 + COCKY^2.

Cowdrey /kadre kadri/ (Michael) Colin, Lord Cowdrey of Tonbridge (1932–2000), English cricketer, Kent and England captain. He scored 107 centuries, 22 of them in Test cricket.

Cowen Brian (b.1960), Irish Fianna Fáil statesman, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) since 2008.

cower v. [no obj.] crouch down in fear: children cowered in terror as the shoot-out erupted.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German kūren ‘lie in wait’, of unknown ultimate origin.

Cowes /kaz/ a town on the Isle of Wight, southern England; pop. 17,700 (est. 1998). It is internationally famous as a yachting centre.

cowfish n. (pl. same or cowfishes) 1 a boxfish with horn-like spines on the head.

<INFO> Several genera and species in the family Ostraciontidae, in particular Lactoria diaphana.

2 a marine mammal, especially a manatee.

cow flop (also cow flap) n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a cowpat.

cowgirl n. a woman who herds and tends cattle; a female cowboy.

cowherd n. a person who tends grazing cattle.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from COW^1 + obsolete herd ‘herdsman’.

cowhide n. [mass noun] leather made from the hide of a cow.

- a whip made from cowhide.

cow-house n. BRITISH a shed or shelter for cows.

Cowichan sweater /katən/ n. (in Canada) a thick sweater made with unbleached wool and decorated with symbols taken from the mythology of the Cowichan Indians of southern Vancouver Island.

cowl n. 1 a large loose hood, especially one forming part of a monk's habit.

- a monk's hooded, sleeveless habit.

- a cloak with wide sleeves worn by members of Benedictine orders.

2 the hood-shaped covering of a chimney or ventilation shaft.

3 another term for COWLING.

<DERIVATIVES> cowled adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English cugele, cūle, from ecclesiastical Latin cuculla, from Latin cucullus ‘hood of a cloak’.

cowlick n. a lock of hair hanging or projecting over a person's forehead.

cowling n. the removable cover of a vehicle or aircraft engine.

cowl neck n. a neckline on a woman's garment that hangs in draped folds.

cowman n. (pl. cowmen) a person who is employed to tend grazing cattle.

- NORTH AMERICAN a cowboy.

co-worker n. a fellow worker.

cow parsley n. a European hedgerow plant of the parsley family, which has fern-like leaves and large heads of tiny white flowers, giving the appearance of lace. Also called QUEEN ANNE'S LACE.

<INFO> Anthriscus sylvestris, family Umbelliferae.

cow parsnip n. another term for HOGWEED.

cowpat n. BRITISH a flat round deposit of cow dung.

cowpea n. a plant of the pea family native to the Old World tropics, cultivated for its edible pods and seeds.

<INFO> Vigna unguiculata, family Leguminosae.

- the seed of the cowpea as food.

Cowper /kupə/ William (1731–1800), English poet, best known for his long poem The Task (1785) and the comic ballad John Gilpin (1782). In 1779 he wrote Olney Hymns with the evangelical minister John Newton (1725–1807).

Cowper's gland n. [ANATOMY] either of a pair of small glands which open into the urethra at the base of the penis and secrete a constituent of seminal fluid.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: named after William Cowper (1666–1709), English anatomist.

cow pie n. NORTH AMERICAN a cowpat.

cowpoke n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a cowboy.

cowpox n. [mass noun] a viral disease of cows' udders which, when contracted by humans through contact, resembles mild smallpox, and was the basis of the first smallpox vaccines.

cowpuncher n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a cowboy.

cowrie /ka(ə)ri/ (also cowry) n. (pl. cowries) a marine mollusc which has a glossy, brightly patterned domed shell with a long, narrow opening.

<INFO> Genus Cypraea, family Cypraeidae, class Gastropoda: numerous species, including the small money cowrie (C. moneta).

- the flattened yellowish shell of the money cowrie, formerly used as money in parts of Africa and the Indo-Pacific area.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Hindi kauī.

co-write v. [with obj.] write (something) together with another person.

<DERIVATIVES> co-writer n.

cow shark n. a dull grey or brown shark that lives mainly in deep water, especially in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean.

<INFO> Hexanchus griseus, family Hexanchidae.

cowshed n. a farm building in which cattle are kept when not at pasture, or in which they are milked.

cowslip n. 1 a European primula with clusters of drooping fragrant yellow flowers in spring, growing on dry grassy banks and in pasture.

<INFO> Primula veris, family Primulaceae.

2 any of a number of herbaceous plants, in particular:

<INFO>

- North American term for MARSH MARIGOLD

- (also Virginia cowslip) a North American plant with blue flowers (Mertensia virginica, family Boraginaceae).

<ORIGIN> Old English cūslyppe, from cū ‘cow’ + slipa, slyppe ‘slime’, i.e. cow slobber or dung.

cow town n. NORTH AMERICAN a town or city in a cattle-raising area of western North America.

- a small, isolated, or unsophisticated town.

cow tree n. a tropical American tree yielding a juice which looks and tastes like cow's milk.

<INFO> Several species, in particular the Venezuelan Brosimum utile (family Moraceae).

cow wheat n. a yellowish-flowered plant of the figwort family, partly parasitic on the roots of other plants and found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Genus Melampyrum, family Scrophulariaceae: several species, including common cow wheat (M. pratense).

Cox (in full Cox's orange pippin) n. an English eating apple of a variety with a red-tinged green skin.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after R. Cox (died 1845), the English amateur fruit grower who first grew it (1825).

cox n. a coxswain, especially of a racing boat.

■ v. [with obj.] act as a coxswain for (a racing boat or crew): the winning eight was coxed by a woman | (as adj. coxed) the coxed pairs.

<DERIVATIVES> coxless adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation.

coxa /kksə/ n. (pl. coxae /-si/) 1 [ANATOMY] the hip bone or hip joint.

2 [ENTOMOLOGY] the first or basal segment of the leg of an insect.

<DERIVATIVES> coxal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, ‘hip’.

coxcomb /kkskəm/ n. 1 ARCHAIC a vain and conceited man; a dandy.

2 variant spelling of cockscomb (sense 2)).

<DERIVATIVES> coxcombry /-kəmri/ n. (pl. coxcombries)

■ coxcomb (sense 1)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a simpleton): variant of COCKSCOMB, in the sense ‘jester's cap’ (resembling a cockscomb), hence ‘a jester, a fool’.

coxopodite /kkspədt/ n. [ZOOLOGY] the segment nearest the body in the leg of an arthropod, especially a crustacean.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin coxa ‘hip’ + Greek pous, pod- ‘foot’ + -ITE^1.

Coxsackie virus /kksaki kk-/ n. MEDICINE any of a group of enteroviruses which cause various respiratory, neurological, and muscular diseases in humans.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after Coxsackie, New York State, where the first cases were diagnosed.

Cox's Bazar a port and resort town on the Bay of Bengal, near Chittagong, southern Bangladesh; pop. 106,600 (est. 2002).

coxswain /kks(ə)n/ n. the person who steers a ship's boat, racing boat, or other boat.

- the helmsman and skipper of a lifeboat.

- the senior petty officer in a small ship or submarine in the Royal Navy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from obsolete cock (see COCKBOAT) + SWAIN. Compare with BOATSWAIN.

Coy abbr. chiefly [MILITARY] Company.

coy adj. (coyer, coyest) 1 (especially of a woman) making a pretence of shyness or modesty which is intended to be alluring: she treated him to a coy smile of invitation.

2 reluctant to give details about something regarded as sensitive: he is coy about his age.

<DERIVATIVES> coyly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coi, quei, from Latin quietus (see QUIET). The original sense was ‘quiet, still’ (especially in behaviour), later ‘modestly retiring’, and hence (of a woman) ‘affecting to be unresponsive to advances’.

coydog n. NORTH AMERICAN a hybrid between a coyote and a dog.

coyness n. [mass noun] 1 (especially in a woman) the quality of feigning shyness or modesty in an attempt to seem alluring.

2 the quality of being reluctant to give details about something regarded as sensitive; reticence: his coyness about his sexual orientation.

coyote /kət kəti/ n. (pl. same or coyotes) 1 a wolf-like wild dog native to North America. Also called BRUSH WOLF or PRAIRIE WOLF in North America.

<INFO> Canis latrans, family Canidae.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person who smuggles people from Latin America across the US border, typically for a very high fee.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl coyotl.

Coyote State informal name for SOUTH DAKOTA.

coypu /kpu/ n. (pl. coypus) a large semiaquatic beaver-like rodent, native to South America. It is kept in captivity for its fur and has become naturalized in many other areas.

<INFO> Myocastor coypus, the only member of the family Myocastoridae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Araucanian.

coz^1 /kz/ n. ARCHAIC or North American an informal word for ‘cousin’, used especially as a term of address.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: abbreviation.

cozen /kz(ə)n/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY trick or deceive: do not think to cozen your contemporaries.

- obtain by deception: he was able to cozen a profit.

<DERIVATIVES> cozenage n. cozener n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps from obsolete Italian cozzonare ‘to cheat’, from cozzone ‘middleman, broker’, from Latin cocio ‘dealer’.

Cozumel /kəzəmεl/ a resort island in the Caribbean, off the NE coast of the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.

CP abbr.

- cerebral palsy.

- [FINANCE] commercial paper.

- [LAW], HISTORICAL (Rolls of the Court of) Common Pleas.

- Communist Party.

- (in South Africa) Conservative Party.

cp. abbr. compare.

c.p. abbr. candlepower.

CPA abbr. US certified public accountant.

CPI abbr. (in the US) consumer price index.

Cpl abbr. Corporal.

CPO abbr. Chief Petty Officer.

CPR abbr. cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

CPS abbr. (in the UK) Crown Prosecution Service.

cps (also c.p.s.) abbr.

- [COMPUTING] characters per second.

- cycles per second.

CPU abbr. [COMPUTING] central processing unit.

CPVC abbr. chlorinated polyvinyl chloride, a plastic material used to make water pipes.

CPVE abbr. (in the UK) Certificate of Pre-Vocational Education, a qualification introduced in 1986 for students aged 16 or over who complete a one-year course of preparation for work or for further vocational study or training.

CR abbr.

- Community of the Resurrection.

- Costa Rica (international vehicle registration).

Cr^1 symbol the chemical element chromium.

Cr^2 abbr.

- Councillor.

- credit.

crab^1 n. 1 a crustacean, found chiefly on seashores, with a broad carapace, stalked eyes, and five pairs of legs, the first pair of which are modified as pincers.

<INFO> Many families in the order Decapoda, class Malacostraca.

- [mass noun] the flesh of a crab as food.

- (the Crab) the zodiacal sign or constellation Cancer.

2 (also crab louse) a louse that infests human body hair, especially in the genital region, causing extreme irritation.

<INFO> Phthirus pubis, family Pediculidae, order Anoplura.

- (crabs) INFORMAL an infestation of crab lice.

3 a machine with pincer-like arms for lifting heavy weights.

■ v. (crabs, crabbing, crabbed) 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move sideways or obliquely: he began crabbing sideways across the roof.

- [with obj.] steer (an aircraft or ship) slightly sideways to compensate for a crosswind or current.

2 [no obj.] fish for crabs.

<PHRASES>

□ catch a crab [ROWING] make a faulty stroke in which the oar is jammed under water or misses the water altogether.

<DERIVATIVES> crabber n. crablike adj. & adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English crabba, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch krabbe, and more distantly to Dutch kreeft and German Krebs; also to crab^3.

crab^2 n. short for CRAB APPLE.

crab^3 v. (crabs, crabbing, crabbed) INFORMAL 1 [no obj.] grumble about something petty: on picnics, I would crab about sand in my food.

2 [with obj.] DATED act so as to spoil (something).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (referring to hawks, meaning ‘claw or fight each other’): from Low German krabben; related to crab^1.

crab apple n. (also crab) 1 a small sour apple.

2 (also crab tree or crab-apple tree) the small tree that bears the crab apple.

<INFO> Genus Malus, family Rosaceae: several species and hybrids, in particular the wild Eurasian crab apple (M. sylvestris).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: crab perhaps an alteration (influenced by crab^1 or CRABBED) of Scots and northern English scrab, in the same sense, probably of Scandinavian origin.

Crabbe /krab/ George (1754–1832), English poet, best known for grimly realistic narrative poems, such as ‘The Village’ (1783) and ‘The Borough’ (1810); the latter included tales of Peter Grimes and Ellen Orford and later provided the subject matter for Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes (1945).

crabbed adj. 1 (of handwriting) very small and difficult to decipher.

- (of style) contorted and difficult to understand: crabbed legal language.

2 bad-tempered: a crabbed, unhappy middle age.

<DERIVATIVES> crabbedly adv. crabbedness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘perverse, wayward’): from CRAB^1, because of the crab's sideways gait and habit of snapping.

crabby adj. (crabbier, crabbiest) irritable.

<DERIVATIVES> crabbily adv. crabbiness n.

crab canon n. another term for CANON CANCRIZANS.

crabeater seal n. a slender grey Antarctic seal which lives on the pack ice, feeding mainly on krill.

<INFO> Lobodon carcinophagus, family Phocidae.

crabgrass n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a creeping grass that can become a serious weed.

<INFO> Digitaria and other genera, family Gramineae: several species, in particular D. sanguinalis and D. ciliaris.

crabmeat n. [mass noun] the flesh of a crab as food.

Crab Nebula [ASTRONOMY] an irregular patch of luminous gas in the constellation Taurus, believed to be the remnant of a supernova explosion seen by Chinese astronomers in 1054. At its centre is the first pulsar to be observed visually, and the nebula is a strong source of high-energy radiation.

crab pot n. a wicker trap for crabs.

crab spider n. a spider with long front legs, moving with a crablike sideways motion and typically lying in wait in vegetation and flowers for passing prey.

<INFO> Family Thomisidae: several genera.

crab stick n. a stick of mixed compressed fish pieces, rectangular in section, and including and flavoured with crab.

crabwise adv. & adj. (of movement) sideways, typically in an awkward way: [as adv.] supermarket trolleys that only go crabwise | [as adj.] crabwise steps.

crack n. 1 a line on the surface of something along which it has split without breaking apart: a hairline crack down the middle of the glass.

- a narrow space between two surfaces which have broken or been moved apart: he climbed into a crack between two rocks | the door opened a tiny crack.

- FIGURATIVE a vulnerable point; a flaw: the company spotted a crack in their rival's defences.

2 a sudden sharp or explosive noise: a loud crack of thunder.

- a sharp audible blow: she gave the thief a crack over the head with her rolling pin.

3 INFORMAL a joke, typically a critical or unkind one.

4 (also craic) [mass noun] chiefly IRISH enjoyable social activity; a good time: he loved the crack, the laughing.

- [count noun] SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a conversation: they are having a great crack about shooting.

5 [in sing.] INFORMAL an attempt to achieve something: I fancy having a crack at winning a fourth title.

- a chance to attack or compete with someone: he wanted to have a crack at the enemy.

6 (also crack cocaine) [mass noun] a potent hard crystalline form of cocaine broken into small pieces and inhaled or smoked.

■ v. 1 break or cause to break without a complete separation of the parts: [no obj.] the ice all over the bog had cracked | [with obj.] take care not to crack the glass.

- break or cause to break open or apart: [no obj., with adverbial] a chunk of the cliff had cracked off in a storm | FIGURATIVE his face cracked into a smile | [with obj.] she cracked an egg into the frying pan.

- FIGURATIVE give way or cause to give way under torture, pressure, or strain: [no obj.] the witnesses cracked and the truth came out | [with obj.] no one can crack them—they believe their cover story.

- [no obj.] (crack up) INFORMAL suffer an emotional breakdown under pressure.

- [no obj.] (crack up) INFORMAL burst into laughter.

2 make or cause to make a sudden sharp or explosive sound: [no obj.] a shot cracked across the ridge | [with obj.] he cracked his whip and galloped away.

- [no obj.] knock hard against something: she winced as her knees cracked against metal.

- [with obj.] hit (someone or something) hard: she cracked him across the forehead.

- [no obj.] (of a person's voice) suddenly change in pitch, especially through strain: ‘I want to get away,’ she said, her voice cracking.

3 [with obj.] INFORMAL find a solution to; decipher or interpret: the code will help you crack the messages.

- break into (a safe).

4 [no obj.] (crack down on) INFORMAL take severe measures against: the police will crack down on criminals.

5 [no obj.] (crack on) BRITISH INFORMAL proceed or progress quickly: we'll crack on with the rest of the job this month.

- (crack on to) AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL seek to form a sexual relationship with (someone).

6 [with obj.] tell (a joke).

7 [with obj.] decompose (hydrocarbons) by heat and pressure with or without a catalyst to produce lighter hydrocarbons, especially in oil refining.

■ adj. [attr.] very good or skilful: he is a crack shot | crack troops.

<PHRASES>

□ crack a book NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL open a book and read it; study.

□ crack a bottle open a bottle, especially of wine, and drink it.

□ crack a crib ARCHAIC, INFORMAL break into a house.

□ crack of dawn a time very early in the morning; daybreak.

□ crack of doom a peal of thunder announcing the Day of Judgement.

□ crack of the whip BRITISH INFORMAL a chance to try or participate in something: individuals who feel that they have not had a fair crack of the whip.

□ be cracked up to be [with negative] INFORMAL be asserted to be (used to indicate that someone or something has been described too favourably): life on tour is not as glamorous as it's cracked up to be.

□ crack wise NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL make jokes.

□ get cracking INFORMAL act quickly and decisively: most tickets have been snapped up, so get cracking if you want one.

□ slip (or fall) through the cracks another way of saying SLIP THROUGH THE NET (see net^1).

<DERIVATIVES> cracky adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English cracian ‘make an explosive noise’; of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kraken and German krachen.

■ Sense 4 of the noun is from Irish craic ‘entertaining conversation’.

crackbrained adj. INFORMAL extremely foolish; crazy: a crackbrained idea.

crackdown n. [usually in sing.] a series of severe measures to restrict undesirable or illegal people or behaviour: a crackdown on car crime.

cracked adj. 1 damaged and showing lines on the surface from having split without coming apart: the old pipes were cracked and leaking.

- (of a person's voice) having an unusual harshness or pitch, especially through strain.

2 [predic.] INFORMAL crazy; insane: you must think my family are cracked.

cracked wheat n. [mass noun] grains of wheat that have been crushed into small pieces.

cracker n. 1 a decorated paper cylinder which, when pulled apart, makes a sharp noise and releases a small toy or other novelty.

- a firework exploding with a sharp noise.

2 a thin dry biscuit, typically eaten with cheese.

- a light crisp made of rice or tapioca flour: prawn crackers.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL a fine example of something: don't miss this cracker of a CD.

- an attractive person, especially a woman.

4 US OFFENSIVE another term for POOR WHITE.

5 an installation for cracking hydrocarbons.

6 a person who breaks into a computer system, typically for an illegal purpose.

cracker-barrel adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN (of an outlook or point of view) plain, simple, and unsophisticated: his cracker-barrel philosophy.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: with reference to the barrels of soda crackers once found in country stores, around which informal discussions would take place between customers.

crackerjack NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL adj. exceptionally good: a crackerjack eye surgeon.

■ n. an exceptionally good person or thing.

crackers adj. [predic.] BRITISH INFORMAL insane: if Luke wasn't here I'd go crackers.

- extremely angry: when he saw the mess he went crackers.

crackhead n. INFORMAL a person who habitually takes or is addicted to crack cocaine.

cracking adj. [attr.] BRITISH INFORMAL excellent: he is in cracking form to win this race | [as submodifier] a cracking good story.

- fast and exciting: the story rips along at a cracking pace.

crack-jaw adj. ARCHAIC, INFORMAL (of a word) difficult to pronounce.

crackle v. [no obj.] make a rapid succession of short sharp noises: the fire suddenly crackled and spat sparks.

- FIGURATIVE give a sense of great tension or animation: attraction and antagonism were crackling between them.

■ n. 1 a sound made up of a rapid succession of short sharp noises: there was a crackle and a whine from the microphone.

2 [mass noun] a pattern of minute surface cracks on paintwork, varnish, glazed ceramics, or glass.

<DERIVATIVES> crackly adj. (cracklier, crackliest)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from CRACK + -LE^4.

crackling n. [mass noun] 1 (US also cracklings) the crisp fatty skin of roast pork.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE attractive women regarded collectively as objects of sexual desire.

cracknel /krakn(ə)l/ n. 1 a light, crisp, savoury biscuit.

2 a brittle sweet made from set melted sugar, typically containing nuts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: alteration of Old French craquelin, from Middle Dutch krākelinc, from krāken ‘to crack’.

crackpot INFORMAL n. an eccentric or foolish person.

■ adj. [attr.] eccentric; impractical: his head's full of crackpot ideas.

cracksman n. (pl. cracksmen) INFORMAL, DATED a burglar, especially a safe-breaker.

crack-up n. [usually in sing.] INFORMAL 1 an emotional breakdown.

2 an act of breaking up or splitting apart.

crack willow n. a large Eurasian willow with long glossy leaves, growing typically in damp or riverside habitats. The brittle branches break off easily, often taking root and producing new growth.

<INFO> Salix fragilis, family Salicaceae.

Cracow /kraka/ an industrial and university city in southern Poland, on the River Vistula; pop 741,510 (est. 2000). It was the capital of Poland from 1320 until replaced by Warsaw in 1609. Polish name Kraków.

-cracy combining form denoting a particular form of government, rule, or influence: autocracy | democracy.

<ORIGIN> from French -cratie, via medieval Latin from Greek -kratia ‘power, rule’.

cradle n. 1 a baby's bed or cot, typically one mounted on rockers.

- (the cradle) FIGURATIVE infancy: the welfare state was set up to provide care from the cradle to the grave.

2 FIGURATIVE a place or process in which something originates or flourishes: the Middle East is generally held to be the cradle of agriculture.

3 a framework resembling a cradle, in particular:

- a framework on which a boat rests during construction or repairs.

- BRITISH a framework on which a worker is suspended to work on a ceiling, ship, or the side of a high building.

- the part of a telephone on which the receiver rests when not in use.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 hold gently and protectively: she cradled his head in her arms.

2 place (a telephone receiver) in its cradle.

<ORIGIN> Old English cradol, of uncertain origin; perhaps related to German Kratte ‘basket’.

cradleboard n. (among North American Indians) a board to which an infant is strapped.

cradle cap n. [mass noun] a skin condition sometimes seen in babies caused by excessive production of sebum, characterized by areas of yellowish or brownish scales on the top of the head.

cradle-snatcher n. DEROGATORY a person who marries or has a sexual relationship with a much younger person.

cradle song n. a lullaby.

cradling n. [ARCHITECTURE] a wooden or iron framework, typically one used as a structural support in a ceiling.

craft n. 1 an activity involving skill in making things by hand: the craft of cobbling | [mass noun] art and craft.

- (crafts) work or objects made by hand: the shop sells local crafts | (as modifier craft) a craft fair.

- [in sing.] the skills needed for one's work: the artist learned his craft in Holland.

- the members of a skilled profession.

- (the Craft) the brotherhood of Freemasons.

2 [mass noun] skill used in deceiving others: her cousin was not her equal in guile and evasive craft.

3 (pl. same) a boat or ship: sailing craft.

- an aircraft or spaceship.

■ v. [with obj.] exercise skill in making (something): he crafted the chair lovingly | (as adj., with submodifier crafted) a beautifully crafted object.

<DERIVATIVES> crafter n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cræft ‘strength, skill’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kracht, German Kraft, and Swedish kraft ‘strength’.

■ Sense 3 of the noun, originally in the expression small craft ‘small trading vessels’, may be elliptical, referring to vessels requiring a small amount of ‘craft’ or skill to handle, as opposed to large ocean-going ships.

craft beer (also craft brew) n. US a beer with a distinctive flavour, produced and distributed in a particular region.

craft guild n. HISTORICAL an association of workers of the same trade for mutual benefit.

craft knife n. British another term for UTILITY KNIFE.

craftsman (or craftswoman) n. (pl. craftsmen or craftswomen) a worker skilled in a particular craft.

- [usually as title] (in the UK) a qualified private soldier in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers: Craftsman Browne.

craftsmanship n. [mass noun] skill in a particular craft: I admire his engineering skills and craftsmanship.

- the quality of design and work shown in something made by hand; artistry: a piece of fine craftsmanship.

craftsperson n. (pl. craftspeople) a person who is skilled at making things by hand (used as a neutral alternative).

craft union n. a trade union of people of the same skilled craft.

craftwork n. [mass noun] the making of things by hand as a profession or leisure activity.

- work produced in such a way.

<DERIVATIVES> craftworker n.

crafty adj. (craftier, craftiest) 1 clever at achieving one's aims by indirect or deceitful methods: a crafty crook faked an injury to escape from prison.

- involving or relating to indirect or deceitful methods: he sneaked off to a toilet for a crafty smoke.

2 INFORMAL involving or relating to the making of objects by hand: a market full of crafty pots and interesting earrings.

<DERIVATIVES> craftily adv. craftiness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cræftig ‘strong, powerful’, later ‘skilful’ (see CRAFT, -y^1).

crag n. 1 a steep or rugged cliff or rock face.

2 [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a shelly sandstone occurring in eastern England.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of Celtic origin.

■ Sense 2, dating from the mid 18th century, may have been a different word originally.

crag and tail n. [GEOLOGY] a rocky outcrop with a tapering ridge of glacial deposits extending to one side.

craggy adj. (craggier, craggiest) (of a landscape) having many crags: a craggy coastline.

- (of a cliff or rock face) rough and uneven.

- (of a man's face) rugged and rough-textured in an attractive way.

<DERIVATIVES> craggily adv. cragginess n.

cragsman n. (pl. cragsmen) a skilled rock climber.

Craiova /krəjəvə/ a city in SW Romania; pop. 317,600 (est. 2002).

crake n. a bird of the rail family with a short bill, such as the corncrake.

<INFO> Family Rallidae: several genera, in particular Porzana, and numerous species.

- the rasping cry of the corncrake.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting a crow or raven): from Old Norse kráka, krákr, of imitative origin.

cram v. (crams, cramming, crammed) 1 [with obj.] completely fill (a place or container) to the point of overflowing: the ashtray by the bed was crammed with cigarette butts.

- force too many (people or things) into a place or container: it's amazing how you've managed to cram everyone in | FIGURATIVE he had crammed so much into his short life.

- [no obj.] (of a number of people) enter a place that is too small to accommodate all of them: they all crammed into the car.

2 [no obj.] study intensively over a short period of time just before an examination: lectures were called off so students could cram for the semester finals.

<ORIGIN> Old English crammian, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch krammen ‘to cramp or clamp’.

crambo n. [mass noun] a game in which a player gives a word or line of verse to which each of the other players must find a rhyme.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a particular fashion in drinking): from earlier crambe ‘cabbage’, used figuratively to denote something distasteful that is repeated, apparently from Latin crambe repetita ‘cabbage served up again’, applied by Juvenal to any distasteful repetition.

cram-full adj. [predic.] very full; packed: all the roads were cram-full of cars.

crammer n. BRITISH a person or institution that prepares pupils for an examination intensively over a short period of time.

cramp n. 1 [mass noun] painful involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscles, typically caused by fatigue or strain: an attack of cramp | [count noun] he suffered severe cramps in his foot.

- (cramps) NORTH AMERICAN abdominal pain caused by menstruation.

2 a tool, typically shaped like a capital G, for clamping two objects together for gluing or other work.

- (also cramp-iron) a metal bar with bent ends for holding masonry together.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] inhibit the development of: tighter rules will cramp economic growth.

2 [with obj.] fasten with a cramp or cramps: cramp the gates to the posts.

3 [no obj.] suffer from sudden and painful contractions of a muscle or muscles.

<PHRASES>

□ cramp someone's style INFORMAL prevent a person from acting freely or naturally.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch krampe; sense 1 of the noun is via Old French crampe.

cramp balls plural n. a European fungus which produces a shiny spherical black fruiting body on dead or dying wood, especially ash. Also called KING ALFRED'S CAKES.

<INFO> Daldinia concentrica, family Xylariaceae, subdivision Ascomycotina.

<ORIGIN> so named because it was once believed to be a charm against cramp and ague.

cramped adj. 1 suffering from cramp.

2 uncomfortably small or restricted: staff had to work in cramped conditions.

- inhibiting the development of someone or something: he felt cramped in a large organization.

- (of handwriting) small and difficult to read.

crampon /krampn -pən/ n. (usually crampons) 1 a metal plate with spikes fixed to a boot for walking on ice or rock climbing.

2

■ archaic term for GRAPPLING HOOK.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French, of Germanic origin.

cran n. HISTORICAL a measure of fresh herrings, equivalent to 37^1/2 gallons.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Scottish Gaelic crann, perhaps the same word as crann ‘lot’, denoting the share of fish given to each member of the crew.

Cranach /kranək/ German /kranax/ two German painters. Lucas (1472–1553, known as Cranach the Elder) was a member of the Danube School who was noted for his early religious pictures, such as The Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1504). He also painted portraits, including several of Martin Luther. His son Lucas (1515–86, known as Cranach the Younger) continued working in the same tradition as his father.

cranage /krend/ n. [mass noun] the use of a crane or cranes.

- fees paid for using a crane or cranes.

cranberry n. (pl. cranberries) 1 a small red acid berry used in cooking.

2 the evergreen dwarf shrub of the heather family which yields the cranberry.

<INFO> Genus Vaccinium, family Ericaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally North American): from German Kranbeere or Low German kranebeere ‘crane-berry’.

cranberry bush n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a shrub of the honeysuckle family, with round clusters of white flowers followed by red berries.

<INFO> Genus Viburnum, family Caprifoliaceae: the American cranberry bush (V. trilobum), with edible berries, and the guelder rose or European cranberry bush.

Crane^1 (Harold) Hart (1899–1932), American poet. He published only two books before committing suicide: the collection White Buildings (1926) and The Bridge (1930), a mystical epic poem concerned with American life and consciousness.

Crane^2 Stephen (1871–1900), American writer. His reputation rests on his novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895), a study of an inexperienced soldier in the American Civil War. It was hailed as a masterpiece of psychological realism, even though Crane himself had no personal experience of war.

crane^1 n. a large, tall machine used for moving heavy objects by suspending them from a projecting arm or beam.

- a moving platform supporting a television or film camera.

■ v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] stretch out one's body or neck in order to see something: she craned forward to look more clearly.

- [with obj.] stretch out (one's neck) so as to see something.

2 [with obj. and adverbial] move (a heavy object) with a crane: the wheelhouse module is craned into position on the hull.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: figuratively from CRANE^2 (the same sense development occurred in the related German Kran and Dutch kraan (see crane^2), and in French grue). The verb dates from the late 16th cent.

crane^2 n. a tall, long-legged, long-necked bird, typically with white or grey plumage and often with tail plumes and patches of bare red skin on the head. Cranes are noted for their elaborate courtship dances.

<INFO> Family Gruidae: four genera, in particular Grus, and several species, including the Eurasian common crane (G. grus).

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kraan and German Kran, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin grus and Greek geranos.

crane fly n. a slender two-winged fly with very long legs. The larva of some kinds is the leatherjacket. Also called DADDY-LONG-LEGS in Britain.

<INFO> Family Tipulidae: many genera and species, in particular the large and common Tipula maxima.

cranesbill n. a herbaceous plant which typically has lobed leaves and purple, violet, or pink five-petalled flowers.

<INFO> Genus Geranium, family Geraniaceae: several species, including the common bluish-purple flowered meadow cranesbill (G. pratense).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: so named because of the long spur on the fruit, thought to resemble a crane's beak.

cranial /krenəl/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to the skull or cranium.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CRANIUM + -AL.

cranial index n. another term for CEPHALIC INDEX.

cranial nerve n. [ANATOMY] each of twelve pairs of nerves which arise directly from the brain, not from the spinal cord, and pass through separate apertures in the skull.

They are (with conventional roman numbering) the olfactory (I), optic (II), oculomotor (III), trochlear (IV), trigeminal (V), abducens (VI), facial (VII), vestibulocochlear (VIII), glossopharyngeal (IX), vagus (X), accessory (XI), and hypoglossal (XII) nerves.

craniate /krenət/ [ZOOLOGY] n. an animal that possesses a skull. Compare with VERTEBRATE.

<INFO> Subphylum Craniata, phylum Chordata; used instead of Vertebrata in some classification schemes.

■ adj. relating to the craniates.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin craniatus, from medieval Latin cranium (see CRANIUM).

cranio- /krenə/ combining form relating to the cranium: craniotomy.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kranion ‘skull’.

craniology /krenlədi/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL the scientific study of the shape and size of the skulls of different human races.

■ another term for PHRENOLOGY.

<DERIVATIVES> craniological adj. craniologist n.

craniometry /krenmtri/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL the scientific measurement of skulls, especially in relation to craniology.

<DERIVATIVES> craniometric adj.

craniopagus /krenpəəs/ n. (pl. craniopagi /-/) [usually as modifier] a pair of conjoined twins attached at the head.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CRANIO- + Greek ‘that which is fixed’.

craniosacral therapy /krenəsekr(ə)l -sak-/ n. [mass noun] a system of alternative medicine intended to relieve pain and tension by gentle manipulations of the skull regarded as harmonizing with a natural rhythm in the central nervous system.

craniotomy /krentəmi/ n. [mass noun] surgical removal of a portion of the skull.

- surgical perforation of the skull of a dead fetus to ease delivery.

cranium /krenəm/ n. (pl. craniums or crania /-nə/) [ANATOMY] the skull, especially the part enclosing the brain.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via medieval Latin from Greek kranion ‘skull’.

crank^1 v. [with obj.] 1 turn the crankshaft of (an internal-combustion engine) in order to start the engine.

- turn (a handle) in order to start an engine.

- (crank something up) INFORMAL increase the intensity of something: the volume is cranked up a notch.

- (crank something out) INFORMAL, DEROGATORY produce something regularly and routinely: an army of researchers cranked out worthy studies.

2 (usually as adj. cranked) give a bend to (a shaft, bar, etc.).

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL inject a narcotic drug: he's been cranking up on smack.

■ n. a part of an axle or shaft bent out at right angles, for converting reciprocal to circular motion and vice versa.

<ORIGIN> Old English cranc (recorded in crancstæf, denoting a weaver's implement), related to crincan (see CRINGE).

crank^2 n. 1 an eccentric person, especially one who is obsessed by a particular subject.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a bad-tempered person. [<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: back-formation from CRANKY.]

3 LITERARY a fanciful turn of speech. [<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps from a base meaning ‘bent together, curled up’, shared by Old English cranc (see crank^1).]

crank^3 adj. [NAUTICAL], ARCHAIC (of a sailing ship) liable to heel over.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps from dialect crank ‘weak, shaky’ (compare with CRANKY or crank^1).

crankcase n. a case or covering enclosing a crankshaft.

crankpin n. a pin by which a connecting rod is attached to a crank.

crankshaft n. a shaft driven by a crank.

cranky adj. (crankier, crankiest) 1 BRITISH INFORMAL eccentric or strange: a cranky scheme to pipe ground-level ozone into the stratosphere.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN bad-tempered; irritable: he was cranky after eight hours of working.

3 (of a machine) working erratically: after a juddering landing the cranky plane eased up the runway.

<DERIVATIVES> crankily adv. crankiness n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘sickly, in poor health’): perhaps from obsolete (counterfeit) crank ‘a rogue feigning sickness’, from Dutch or German krank ‘sick’.

Cranmer /kranmə/ Thomas (1489–1556), English Protestant cleric and martyr. After helping to negotiate Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, he was appointed the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532. He was responsible for liturgical reform and the compilation of the Book of Common Prayer (1549). In the reign of Mary Tudor Cranmer was tried for treason and heresy and burnt at the stake.

crannog /kranə/ n. an ancient fortified dwelling constructed in a lake or marsh in Scotland or Ireland.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Irish crannóg, Scottish Gaelic crannag ‘timber structure’, from crann ‘tree, beam’.

cranny n. (pl. crannies) a small, narrow space or opening.

<PHRASES>

□ every nook and cranny see NOOK.

<DERIVATIVES> crannied adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French crane ‘notched’, from cran, from popular Latin crena ‘notch’.

crap^1 VULGAR SLANG n. [mass noun] 1 nonsense; rubbish.

2 excrement.

- [in sing.] an act of defecation.

■ v. (craps, crapping, crapped) [no obj.] 1 defecate.

2 (crap on) talk at length in a foolish or boring way.

■ adj. BRITISH extremely poor in quality.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: related to Dutch krappe, from krappen ‘pluck or cut off’, and perhaps also to Old French crappe ‘siftings’, Anglo-Latin crappa ‘chaff’. The original sense was ‘chaff’, later ‘residue from rendering fat’, also ‘dregs of beer’. Current senses date from the late 19th cent.

crap^2 North American n. a losing throw of 2, 3, or 12 in craps.

■ v. [no obj.] (crap out) INFORMAL make a losing throw at craps.

- give up an activity because of fear or fatigue: when entrepreneurs get to $1 billion they crap out and turn their companies over to others.

- fail in an attempt: the Rams almost crapped out late in the game.

- (of a machine) break down: his teleprompter crapped out.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CRAPS.

crape n. [mass noun] 1 variant spelling of crêpe.

2 black silk, formerly used for mourning clothes.

- [count noun] a band of black silk formerly worn round a person's hat as a sign of mourning.

<DERIVATIVES> crapy adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French crêpe (see CRêPE).

crape fern n. a tall New Zealand fern with dark green fronds.

<INFO> Leptopteris superba, family Osmundaceae.

crape hair n. [mass noun] BRITISH artificial hair used by actors, chiefly for false beards and moustaches.

crape myrtle (also crepe myrtle) n. an ornamental Chinese shrub or small tree with pink, white, or purplish crinkled petals.

<INFO> Lagerstroemia indica, family Lythraceae.

crap game n. NORTH AMERICAN a game of craps.

crap hat n. VULGAR SLANG (in the British army) a term used by paratroopers and commandos to refer to a soldier from a regiment in the rest of the army.

<ORIGIN> probably with derogatory reference to the standard khaki-coloured (now dark blue) berets, in contrast to the prized red and green berets of the special regiments.

crapper n. VULGAR SLANG a toilet.

crappie n. (pl. crappies) a North American freshwater fish of the sunfish family, the male of which builds a nest and guards the eggs and young.

<INFO> Genus Pomoxis, family Centrarchidae: several species, including the white crappie (P. annularis).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

crappy adj. (crappier, crappiest) VULGAR SLANG of extremely poor quality.

craps plural n. [treated as sing.] a gambling game played with two dice, chiefly in North America. A throw of 7 or 11 is a winning throw, 2, 3, or 12 is a losing throw. See also crap^2.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from CRAB^1 or crab's eyes, denoting the lowest throw (two ones) at dice.

crapshoot n. NORTH AMERICAN a game of craps.

- INFORMAL a risky or uncertain matter: skiing here can be a bit of a crapshoot at any time.

<DERIVATIVES> crapshooter n.

crapulent /krapjl(ə)nt/ adj. LITERARY relating to the drinking of alcohol or drunkenness.

<DERIVATIVES> crapulence n. crapulous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin crapulentus ‘very drunk’, from Latin crapula ‘inebriation’, from Greek kraipalē ‘drunken headache’.

craquelure /krakljə krakljə/ n. [mass noun] a network of fine cracks in the paint or varnish of a painting.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, from craqueler ‘to crackle’.

crash^1 v. 1 [no obj.] (of a vehicle) collide violently with an obstacle or another vehicle: a racing car had crashed, wrecking a safety barrier | the stolen car she was riding in crashed into a tree.

- [with obj.] cause (a vehicle) to collide violently with something.

- (of an aircraft) fall from the sky and hit the land or sea: a jet crashed 200 yards from the school.

- [with obj.] cause (an aircraft) to fall from the sky.

2 move or cause to move with force, speed, and sudden loud noise: [no obj., with adverbial of direction] huge waves crashed down on to us | [with obj. and adverbial of direction] she crashed down the telephone receiver.

- [no obj.] make a sudden loud noise: the thunder crashed.

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL (of shares, a business, etc.) suddenly drop in value or fail: the shares crashed to 329p.

- be heavily defeated in a sporting competition: Barcelona crashed out of the European Cup.

4 [no obj.] (of a computer, computing system, or software) fail suddenly.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (of a patient) suffer a cardiac arrest.

5 [with obj.] INFORMAL enter (a party) without an invitation; gatecrash.

- illegally pass (a red traffic light).

6 [no obj.] INFORMAL go to sleep, especially suddenly or in an improvised setting: what was it you said just before I crashed out?

■ n. 1 a violent collision, typically of one vehicle with another or with an object: a car crash.

- an instance of an aircraft falling from the sky to hit the land or sea.

2 a sudden loud noise as of something breaking or hitting another object: he slammed the phone down with a crash.

3 a sudden disastrous drop in the value or price of something: the 1987 stock-market crash.

- the sudden failure of a business.

4 a sudden failure which puts a computer system out of action.

■ adj. [attr.] done rapidly or urgently and involving a concentrated effort: a crash course in Italian | a crash diet.

■ adv. with a sudden loud sound: crash went the bolt.

<PHRASES>

□ crash and burn NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL come to grief or fail spectacularly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: imitative, perhaps partly suggested by CRAZE and DASH.

crash^2 n. [mass noun] DATED a coarse plain linen, woollen, or cotton fabric.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Russian krashenina ‘dyed coarse linen’.

crash barrier n. BRITISH a strong fence at the side of a road or in the middle of a dual carriageway or motorway, intended to reduce the risk of serious accidents.

crash-dive v. [no obj.] (of a submarine) dive rapidly and steeply to a deeper level in an emergency.

- (of an aircraft) plunge steeply downwards into a crash.

■ n. (crash dive) a steep dive by a submarine or aircraft.

crash helmet n. a helmet worn by a motorcyclist to protect the head in case of a crash.

crashing adj. INFORMAL complete; total (used for emphasis): a crashing bore.

<DERIVATIVES> crashingly adv.

crash-land v. [no obj.] (of an aircraft) land roughly in an emergency, typically without lowering the undercarriage: (as n. crash-landing) his plane made a crash-landing on a motorway.

crash pad n. 1 INFORMAL a place to sleep, especially for a single night or in an emergency.

2 a thick piece of shock-absorbing material for the protection of the occupants of an aircraft cockpit or motor vehicle.

crash team n. (in a hospital) a team of medical practitioners that stand by to resuscitate patients who have suffered cardiac or respiratory failure.

crash-test v. [with obj.] deliberately crash (a new vehicle) under controlled conditions in order to evaluate and improve its ability to withstand impact.

■ n. (crash test) an instance of crash-testing a vehicle.

crash trolley (North American crash cart) n. (in a hospital) a trolley carrying medicine and equipment for use in emergency resuscitations.

crashworthiness n. [mass noun] the degree to which a vehicle will protect its occupants from the effects of an accident.

<DERIVATIVES> crashworthy adj.

crasis /kress/ n. (pl. crases /-siz/) [PHONETICS] a contraction of two adjacent vowels into one long vowel or diphthong, for example the reduction of words in ancient Greek from three syllables to two.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a medical term denoting the blending of physical qualities giving rise to a particular state of health): from Greek krasis ‘mixture’.

crass adj. showing no intelligence or sensitivity: the crass assumptions that men make about women | an act of crass stupidity.

<DERIVATIVES> crassitude n. crassly adv. crassness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘dense or coarse’): from Latin crassus ‘solid, thick’.

Crassus /krasəs/ Marcus Licinius (c.115–53 BC), Roman politician. After defeating Spartacus in 71 BC, Crassus joined Caesar and Pompey in the First Triumvirate in 60. In 55 he was made consul and given a special command in Syria, where, after some successes, he was defeated and killed.

-crat combining form denoting a member or supporter of a particular form of government or rule: plutocrat | technocrat.

<ORIGIN> from French -crate, from adjectives ending in -cratique (see -CRATIC).

cratch n. DIALECT a long open trough or rack used for holding food for farm animals out of doors.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French creche; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to CRIB.

crate n. 1 a slatted wooden case used for transporting goods: a crate of bananas.

- a square rigid container divided into small units, used for transporting or storing bottles: a milk crate.

2 INFORMAL an old and dilapidated vehicle.

■ v. [with obj.] pack (something) in a crate for transportation.

<DERIVATIVES> crateful n. (pl. cratefuls)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps related to Dutch krat ‘tailboard of a wagon’, earlier ‘box of a coach’, of unknown origin.

Crater /kretə/ [ASTRONOMY] a small and faint southern constellation (the Cup), between Hydra and Leo, said to represent the goblet of Apollo.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek, ‘mixing bowl’.

crater n. 1 a large bowl-shaped cavity in the ground or on a celestial object, typically one caused by an explosion or the impact of a meteorite.

- a large hollow forming the mouth of a volcano.

2 a large bowl used in ancient Greece for mixing wine.

■ v. [with obj.] form a crater in (the ground or a planet): pilots returned to the airfields to crater the runways | (as adj. cratered) the heavily cratered areas of the moon.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting the hollow forming the mouth of a volcano): via Latin from Greek kratēr ‘mixing-bowl’, from krasis ‘mixture’.

Crater Lake a lake filling a volcanic crater in the Cascade mountains of SW Oregon. With a depth of more than 600 m (1,968 ft) it is the deepest lake in the US.

-cratic combining form relating to a particular kind of government or rule: bureaucratic | democratic.

<DERIVATIVES> -cratically combining form in corresponding adverbs.

<ORIGIN> from French -cratique, from -cratie (see -CRACY).

C rations plural n. NORTH AMERICAN a type of tinned food formerly used by American soldiers.

<ORIGIN> C for combat.

craton /kratn/ n. [GEOLOGY] a large stable block of the earth's crust forming the nucleus of a continent.

<DERIVATIVES> cratonic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: alteration of kratogen in the same sense, from Greek kratos ‘strength’.

cratur /kretə/ n. non-standard spelling of CREATURE, used in representing Irish speech: choked to death on her dentures, poor cratur.

cravat n. a short, wide strip of fabric worn by men round the neck and tucked inside an open-necked shirt.

<DERIVATIVES> cravatted adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French cravate, from Cravate ‘Croat’ (from German Krabat, from Serbian and Croatian Hrvat), because of the scarf worn by Croatian mercenaries in France.

crave v. [with obj.] feel a powerful desire for (something): if only she had shown her daughter the love she craved | [no obj.] Will craved for family life.

- ARCHAIC ask for: I must crave your indulgence.

<DERIVATIVES> craver n.

<ORIGIN> Old English crafian (in the sense ‘demand, claim as a right’), of Germanic origin; related to Swedish kräva, Danish kræve ‘demand’. The current sense dates from late Middle English.

craven adj. contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly: a craven abdication of his moral duty.

■ n. ARCHAIC a cowardly person.

<DERIVATIVES> cravenly adv. cravenness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English cravant ‘defeated’, perhaps via Anglo-Norman French from Old French cravante, past participle of cravanter ‘crush, overwhelm’, based on Latin crepare ‘burst’. The change in the ending in the 17th century was due to association with past participles ending in -en (see -en^3).

craving n. a powerful desire for something: a craving for chocolate.

craw n. DATED the crop of a bird or insect.

<PHRASES>

□ stick in one's craw see stick^2.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from or related to Middle Dutch crāghe or Middle Low German krage ‘neck, throat’.

crawdad /krdad/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a freshwater crayfish.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: fanciful alteration of CRAWFISH.

crawfish n. (pl. same or crawfishes)

■ another term for SPINY LOBSTER.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a freshwater crayfish.

■ v. [no obj.] US INFORMAL retreat from a position.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: variant of CRAYFISH.

Crawford^1 /krfəd/ Joan (1908–77), American actress; born Lucille le Sueur. Her film career lasted for over forty years, during which she played the female lead in films such as Mildred Pierce (1945) and in later years mature roles such as that in the horror film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

Crawford^2 /krfəd/ Osbert Guy Stanhope (1886–1957), British archaeologist. He pioneered the use of aerial photography in the detection of previously undiscovered or buried archaeological sites and monuments.

crawl v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move forward on the hands and knees or by dragging the body close to the ground: they crawled from under the table.

- (of an insect or small animal) move slowly along a surface: the tiny spider was crawling up Nicky's arm.

- (of a vehicle) move at an unusually slow pace: the traffic was crawling along.

- TECHNICAL (of paint or other liquid) move after application to form an uneven layer over the surface below.

2 [no obj.] INFORMAL behave obsequiously or ingratiatingly in the hope of gaining someone's favour: a reporter's job can involve crawling to objectionable people.

3 (be crawling with) be covered or crowded with (insects or people), to an extent that is objectionable: the floor was dirty and crawling with bugs.

■ n. [in sing.] 1 an act of moving on one's hands and knees or dragging one's body along the ground: they began the crawl back to their own lines.

- a slow rate of movement, typically that of a vehicle: he reduced his speed to a crawl.

2 a swimming stroke involving alternate overarm movements and rapid kicks of the legs.

<PHRASES>

□ make someone's skin crawl cause someone to feel an unpleasant sensation resembling something moving over the skin, as a symptom of fear or disgust.

<DERIVATIVES> crawlingly adv. crawly adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin; possibly related to Swedish kravla and Danish kravle.

crawlboard n. a board used as a means of access to a confined space.

crawler n. 1 a thing that crawls or moves at a slow pace, especially an insect.

- a tractor or other vehicle moving on an endless caterpillar track.

- [COMPUTING] a program that searches the Internet in order to create an index of data.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a person who behaves obsequiously in the hope of gaining favour.

crawling peg n. a point on a scale of exchange rates in which a currency's value is allowed to go up or down frequently by small amounts within overall limits.

crawl space n. an area of limited height under a floor or roof, giving access to wiring and plumbing.

cray n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a crayfish.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

crayfish n. (pl. same or crayfishes) (also freshwater crayfish) a nocturnal freshwater crustacean that resembles a small lobster and inhabits streams and rivers.

<INFO> Several genera in the infraorder Astacidea, class Malacostraca, including Astacus of Europe and Cambarus of North America.

- (also marine crayfish)

■ another term for SPINY LOBSTER.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French crevice, of Germanic origin and related to German Krebs (see crab^1). In the 16th century or earlier the second syllable was altered by association with fish^1.

crayon n. a pencil or stick of coloured chalk or wax, used for drawing.

■ v. [with obj.] draw with a crayon or crayons: Will crayoned a picture on a legal pad | [no obj.] a child crayoning in a colouring book.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from craie ‘chalk’, from Latin creta.

craze n. an enthusiasm for a particular activity or object which appears suddenly and achieves widespread but short-lived popularity: the new craze for step aerobics.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (usually as adj. crazed) make (someone) wildly insane or out of control: a crazed killer.

2 produce a network of fine cracks on (a surface): the loch was frozen over but crazed with cracks.

- [no obj.] develop fine cracks.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘break, produce cracks’): perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish krasa ‘crunch’.

crazy INFORMAL adj. (crazier, craziest) 1 mad, especially as manifested in wild or aggressive behaviour: Stella went crazy and assaulted a visitor | a crazy look.

- extremely angry: the noise was driving me crazy.

- foolish: it was crazy to hope that good might come out of this mess.

2 extremely enthusiastic: I'm crazy about Cindy | [in combination] a football-crazy bunch of boys.

3 (of an angle) appearing absurdly out of place or unlikely: the monument leant at a crazy angle.

- ARCHAIC (of a ship or building) full of cracks or flaws; unsound.

■ n. (pl. crazies) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a mad person.

<PHRASES>

□ like crazy to a great degree: I was laughing like crazy.

<DERIVATIVES> crazily adv. craziness n.

crazy bone n. US term for FUNNY BONE.

Crazy Horse (c.1849–77), Sioux chief; Sioux name Ta-Sunko-Witko. A leading figure in the resistance to white settlement on American Indian land, he was at the centre of the confederation that defeated General Custer at Little Bighorn (1876). He surrendered in 1877 and was killed in custody.

crazy paving n. [mass noun] BRITISH paving made of irregular pieces of flat stone.

crazy quilt n. a patchwork quilt of a type traditionally made in North America, with patches of randomly varying sizes, shapes, colours, and fabrics.

- FIGURATIVE a disorganized collection of things: colonial America was a crazy quilt of laws.

CRC abbr.

- (in printing) camera-ready copy.

- (in computing) cyclic redundancy check or code.

creak v. [no obj.] 1 (of an object, typically a wooden one) make a scraping or squeaking sound when being moved or when pressure is applied: the stairs creaked as she went up them | [with complement] the garden gate creaked open.

2 show weakness or frailty under strain: the system started to creak.

■ n. a scraping or squeaking sound.

<DERIVATIVES> creakingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘croak’): imitative.

creaky adj. (creakier, creakiest) 1 making or liable to make a creaking sound when being moved or when pressure is applied: I climbed the creaky stairs.

- (of a voice) producing a harsh, high-pitched sound.

2 old-fashioned or decrepit: the country's creaky legal system.

<DERIVATIVES> creakily adv. creakiness n.

cream n. [mass noun] 1 the thick white or pale yellow fatty liquid which rises to the top when milk is left to stand and which can be eaten as an accompaniment to desserts or used as a cooking ingredient: strawberries and cream | [as modifier] a cream cake.

- a sauce, soup, dessert, or other dish containing cream or having a creamy consistency: a tin of cream of mushroom soup.

- [count noun] a sweet of a specified flavour which is creamy in texture: a peppermint cream.

- [count noun] a biscuit with a creamy filling: a custard cream.

2 a thick liquid or semi-solid cosmetic or medical preparation applied to the skin: shaving cream | [count noun] moisturizing creams.

3 the very best of a group of people or things: the paper's readership is the cream of American society.

4 a very pale yellow or off-white colour: the dress is available in white or cream | [as modifier] a cream linen jacket.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 work (butter, typically with sugar) to form a smooth paste.

- (usually as adj. creamed) mash (a cooked vegetable) with milk or cream: creamed turnips.

- add cream to (coffee).

2 (cream off) take the best of (a group of people or things), especially in a way that is considered unfair: the schools cream off some of the more able pupils.

- make (an excessive profit) on a transaction.

3 rub a cosmetic cream into (the skin): Madge was creaming her face in front of the mirror.

4 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN defeat (someone) heavily in a sporting contest.

- collide heavily with (someone), especially in a car: she got creamed by a speeding car.

5 [no obj.] VULGAR SLANG (of a person) be sexually aroused to the point of producing sexual secretions.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cresme, from a blend of late Latin cramum (probably of Gaulish origin) and ecclesiastical Latin chrisma (see CHRISM).

cream bun n. BRITISH a bun filled or topped with cream.

cream cheese n. [mass noun] soft, rich cheese made from unskimmed milk and cream.

cream cracker n. BRITISH a dry unsweetened biscuit eaten chiefly with cheese.

creamer n. 1 [mass noun] a cream or milk substitute for adding to coffee or tea.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a jug for cream.

3 HISTORICAL a flat dish used for skimming the cream off milk.

4 a machine used for separating cream from milk.

creamery n. (pl. creameries) a factory that produces butter and cheese.

- DATED a shop where dairy products are sold.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CREAM, on the pattern of French crémerie.

cream horn n. a pastry shaped like a horn and filled with cream and jam.

cream of tartar n. [mass noun] a white crystalline acidic compound obtained as a by-product of wine fermentation and used chiefly in baking powder.

<INFO> Alternative name: potassium hydrogen tartrate; chem. formula: HOOC(CHOH)2COOK.

cream puff n. 1 a cake made of puff pastry filled with cream.

2 INFORMAL a weak or ineffectual person.

- DEROGATORY a male homosexual.

3 [as modifier] US denoting something of little consequence or difficulty: a cream-puff assignment.

4 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a second-hand car or other item maintained in excellent condition.

cream sherry n. [mass noun] a full-bodied mellow sweet sherry.

cream soda n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a carbonated vanilla-flavoured soft drink.

cream tea n. BRITISH a meal taken in the afternoon consisting of tea to drink with scones, jam, and cream.

creamware n. [mass noun] glazed earthenware pottery of a rich cream colour, developed by Josiah Wedgwood in about 1760.

creamy adj. (creamier, creamiest) resembling cream in consistency or colour: beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and creamy | creamy white flowers.

- containing a lot of cream: a thick, creamy dressing.

<DERIVATIVES> creamily adv. creaminess n.

creance /kriəns/ n. [FALCONRY] a long fine cord attached to a hawk's leash to prevent escape during training.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French créance ‘faith’, also denoting a cord to retain a bird of peu de créance (‘of little faith’ i.e. which cannot yet be relied upon).

crease n. 1 a line or ridge produced on paper or cloth by folding, pressing, or crushing: khaki trousers with knife-edge creases.

- a wrinkle or furrow in the skin, especially of the face, caused by age or a particular facial expression.

2 [CRICKET] any of a number of lines marked on the pitch at specified places. See POPPING CREASE, BOWLING CREASE, RETURN CREASE.

- (the crease) the position of a batsman during their innings: England were 15 for 3 overnight, with Stewart and Russell at the crease.

3 (the crease) an area around the goal in ice hockey or lacrosse which the players may not enter unless the puck or the ball has already done so.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make a crease in (cloth or paper): he sank into the chair, careful not to crease his dinner jacket | (as adj. creased) a creased piece of paper.

- [no obj.] (of a facial feature) be marked by creases, typically as an expression of an emotion: his eyes creased in amusement.

2 (crease up or crease someone up) BRITISH INFORMAL burst out or cause to burst out laughing: [no obj.] Jo could imitate anybody and always made him crease up.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL hit or punch (someone) hard: clap or I'll crease you.

4 (of a bullet) graze (someone or something): a bullet creased his thigh.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably a variant of CREST.

create v. 1 [with obj.] bring (something) into existence: he created a thirty-acre lake | over 170 jobs were created.

- cause (something) to happen as a result of one's actions: divorce created only problems for children.

- (of an actor) originate (a role) by playing a character for the first time.

- [with obj. and complement] invest (someone) with a title of nobility: he was created a baronet.

2 [no obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL make a fuss; complain: little kids create because they hate being ignored.

<DERIVATIVES> creatable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘form out of nothing’, used of a divine or supernatural being): from Latin creat- ‘produced’, from the verb creare.

creatine /kriətin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound formed in protein metabolism and present in much living tissue. It is involved in the supply of energy for muscular contraction.

<INFO> A guanidine derivative, usually present as a phosphate; chem. formula: C_4H_9N_3O_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: formed irregularly from Greek kreas ‘meat’ + -INE^4.

creatinine /kratnin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound which is produced by metabolism of creatine and excreted in the urine.

<INFO> An anhydride of creatine; chem. formula: C_7H_4N_3O.

creation n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of bringing something into existence: creation of a coalition government | job creation.

- [count noun] a thing which has been made or invented, especially something showing artistic talent: she treats fictional creations as if they were real people.

2 (the Creation) the creating of the universe, especially when regarded as an act of God.

- [mass noun] everything created; the universe: our alienation from the rest of Creation.

3 the action of investing someone with a title of nobility.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin creatio(n-), from the verb creare (see CREATE).

creationism n. [mass noun] the belief that the universe and living organisms originate from specific acts of divine creation, as in the biblical account, rather than by natural processes such as evolution.

■ another term for CREATION SCIENCE.

<DERIVATIVES> creationist n. & adj.

creation science n. [mass noun] the reinterpretation of scientific knowledge in accord with belief in the literal truth of the Bible, especially regarding the origin of matter, life, and humankind.

creative adj. relating to or involving the use of the imagination or original ideas to create something: change unleashes people's creative energy | creative writing.

- having good imagination or original ideas: a creative team of designers.

■ n. INFORMAL a person whose job involves creative work.

<DERIVATIVES> creatively adv. creativeness n.

creative accountancy (also creative accounting) n. [mass noun] INFORMAL the exploitation of loopholes in financial regulation in order to gain advantage or present figures in a misleadingly favourable light.

creativity n. [mass noun] the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness: firms are keen to encourage creativity.

creator n. a person or thing that brings something into existence.

- (the Creator) used as a name for God.

creature n. 1 an animal, as distinct from a human being: night sounds of birds and other creatures.

- an animal or person: as fellow creatures on this planet, animals deserve respect.

- a fictional or imaginary being: a creature from outer space.

- [with adj.] a person of a specified kind: you heartless creature!

2 a person or organization considered to be under the complete control of another: the village teacher was expected to be the creature of his employer.

3 ARCHAIC anything living or existing: dress, jewels, and other transitory creatures.

<PHRASES>

□ creature of habit a person who follows an unvarying routine: he's a creature of habit—he keeps to the places he knows.

<DERIVATIVES> creaturely adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘something created’): via Old French from late Latin creatura, from the verb creare (see CREATE).

creature comforts plural n. material comforts that contribute to physical ease and well-being, such as good food and accommodation.

crèche /krε kre/ n. 1 BRITISH a nursery where babies and young children are cared for during the working day.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a representation of the nativity scene.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in sense 2): French (see also CRATCH).

Crécy, Battle of /krεsi/ a battle between the English and the French in 1346 near the village of Crécy-en-Ponthieu in Picardy, at which the forces of Edward III defeated those of Philip VI. It was the first major English victory of the Hundred Years War.

cred n. informal term for STREET CREDIBILITY.

credal /krid(ə)l/ (also creedal) adj. relating to a statement of Christian or other religious belief.

credence /krid(ə)ns/ n. 1 [mass noun] belief in or acceptance of something as true: psychoanalysis finds little credence among laymen.

- the likelihood of something being true; plausibility: being called upon by the media as an expert lends credence to one's opinions.

2 [usually as modifier] a small side table, shelf, or niche in a church for holding the elements of the Eucharist before they are consecrated: a credence table.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin credentia, from Latin credent- ‘believing’, from the verb credere.

credential /krdεn(ə)l/ n. (usually credentials) a qualification, achievement, quality, or aspect of a person's background, especially when used to indicate their suitability for something: recruitment is based mainly on academic credentials.

- a document proving a person's identity or qualifications.

- a letter of introduction given by a government to an ambassador before a new posting.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. credentialed) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN provide with credentials.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin credentialis, from credentia (see CREDENCE). The original use was as an adjective in the sense ‘giving credence to, recommending’, frequently in credential letters or papers, hence credentials (mid 17th century).

credenza /krdεnzə/ n. a sideboard or cupboard.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Italian, from medieval Latin credentia (see CREDENCE).

credibility n. [mass noun] the quality of being trusted and believed in: the government's loss of credibility.

- the quality of being convincing or believable: the book's anecdotes have scant regard for credibility.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin credibilitas, from Latin credibilis (see CREDIBLE).

credibility gap n. an apparent difference between what is said or promised and what happens or is true.

credible adj. able to be believed; convincing: few people found his story credible | a credible witness.

- capable of persuading people that something will happen or be successful: a credible threat.

<DERIVATIVES> credibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin credibilis, from credere ‘believe’.

<USAGE> Confusion often arises between the words credible and creditable. Credible chiefly means ‘able to be believed; convincing’ (few people found his story credible), while creditable means ‘deserving acknowledgement and praise but not necessarily outstanding’ (a very creditable 2–4 defeat).

credit n. 1 [mass noun] the ability of a customer to obtain goods or services before payment, based on the trust that payment will be made in the future: I've got unlimited credit.

- the money lent or borrowed under a credit arrangement: the bank refused to extend their credit | [as modifier] he exceeded his credit limit.

2 an entry recording a sum received, listed on the right-hand side or column of an account. The opposite of DEBIT.

- a payment received: you need to record debits or credits made to your account.

3 [mass noun] public acknowledgement or praise, given or received when a person's responsibility for an action or idea becomes apparent: the Prime Minister was quick to claim the credit for abolishing the tax.

- [in sing.] a source of pride: the fans are a credit to the club.

- (also credit title) [count noun] (usually credits) an item in a list displayed at the beginning or end of a film or television programme, acknowledging a contributor's role: the closing credits finished rolling.

4 [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the acknowledgement of a student's completion of a course or activity that counts towards a degree or diploma as maintained in a school's records: a student can earn one unit of academic credit.

- [count noun] a unit of study counting towards a degree or diploma: the National Certificate consists of twelve credits.

- [count noun] BRITISH a grade above a pass in an examination.

- acknowledgement of merit in an examination which is reflected in the marks awarded: candidates will receive credit for accuracy and style.

5 [mass noun] ARCHAIC the quality of being believed or credited: the abstract philosophy of Cicero has lost its credit.

- good reputation.

■ v. (credits, crediting, credited) [with obj.] 1 publicly acknowledge a contributor's role in the production of (something published or broadcast): the screenplay is credited to one American and two Japanese writers.

- (credit someone with) ascribe (an achievement or good quality) to someone: he is credited with painting one hundred and twenty-five canvases.

2 add (an amount of money) to an account: this deferred tax can be credited to the profit and loss account.

3 [often with modal] BRITISH believe (something surprising or unlikely): you would hardly credit it—but it was true.

<PHRASES>

□ be in credit (of an account) have money in it.

□ credit where credit is due praise given when it is deserved, even if one is reluctant to give it.

□ do someone credit (or do credit to someone) make someone worthy of praise or respect: your concern does you credit.

□ give someone credit for commend someone for (a quality or achievement), especially with reluctance or surprise: please give me credit for some sense.

□ have something to one's credit have achieved something notable: he has 65 Tournament wins to his credit.

□ on credit with an arrangement to pay later.

□ on the credit side as a good aspect of the situation: on the credit side, the text is highly readable.

□ to one's credit used to indicate that something praiseworthy has been achieved, especially despite difficulties: to his credit, he'd made a real effort with the carving.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally in the senses ‘belief’, ‘credibility’): from French crédit, probably via Italian credito from Latin creditum, neuter past participle of credere ‘believe, trust’.

creditable adj. (of a performance, effort, or action) deserving public acknowledgement and praise but not necessarily outstanding or successful: a very creditable 2–4 defeat.

<DERIVATIVES> creditability n. creditably adv.

<USAGE> On the difference between creditable and credible see usage at credible.

credit account n. British another term for CHARGE ACCOUNT.

credit card n. a small plastic card issued by a bank, building society, etc., allowing the holder to purchase goods or services on credit.

credit crunch n. a sudden sharp reduction in the availability of money or credit from banks and other lenders: the beleaguered company has become the latest victim of the credit crunch.

credit insurance n. [mass noun] insurance taken out to protect against bad debts.

credit line n. another term for LINE OF CREDIT (see line^1 (noun)).

credit note n. BRITISH a receipt given by a shop to a customer who has returned goods, which can be offset against future purchases.

creditor n. a person or company to whom money is owing.

credit rating n. an estimate of the ability of a person or organization to fulfil their financial commitments, based on previous dealings.

- [mass noun] the process of assessing this.

credit reference agency (also credit agency) n. a company which collects information relating to the credit ratings of individuals and makes it available to hire-purchase companies, finance houses, etc.

credit standing n. the reputation of a person or organization with regard to capability and promptness in meeting financial obligations.

credit transfer n. [mass noun] 1 a system whereby successfully completed units of study contributing towards a degree or diploma can be transferred from one course to another.

2 BRITISH a direct payment of money from one bank account to another.

credit union n. a non-profit-making money cooperative whose members can borrow from pooled deposits at low interest rates.

creditworthy adj. (of a person or company) considered suitable to receive credit, especially because of being reliable in paying money back in the past.

<DERIVATIVES> creditworthiness n.

credo /kridə kre-/ n. (pl. credos) a statement of the beliefs or aims which guide someone's actions: he announced his credo in his first editorial.

- (Credo) a creed of the Christian Church in Latin.

- (Credo) a musical setting of the Nicene Creed, typically as part of a mass.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: Latin, ‘I believe’. Compare with CREED.

credulity /krdjulti/ n. [mass noun] a tendency to be too ready to believe that something is real or true.

credulous /krεdjləs/ adj. having or showing too great a readiness to believe things.

<DERIVATIVES> credulously adv. credulousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the general sense ‘inclined to believe’): from Latin credulus (from credere ‘believe’) + -OUS.

Cree /kri/ n. (pl. same or Crees) 1 a member of an American Indian people living in a vast area of central Canada.

2 [mass noun] the Algonquian language of the Cree, closely related to Montagnais. It has about 60,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Cree or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Canadian French Cris, abbreviation of Cristinaux, from Algonquian.

creed n. a system of religious belief; a faith: people of many creeds and cultures.

- (often the Creed) a formal statement of Christian beliefs, especially the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed.

- a set of beliefs or aims which guide someone's actions: liberalism was more than a political creed.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin credo.

Creek /krik/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a confederacy of American Indian peoples of the south-eastern US in the 16th to 19th centuries; their descendants now live mainly in Oklahoma.

2 [mass noun] the Muskogean language that was spoken by members of the Creek confederacy.

■ adj. relating to or denoting this confederacy.

<ORIGIN> from CREEK, because they lived beside the waterways of the flatlands of Georgia and Alabama.

creek n. chiefly BRITISH a narrow, sheltered waterway, especially an inlet in a shoreline or channel in a marsh.

- NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ a stream or minor tributary of a river.

<PHRASES>

□ be up the creek INFORMAL 1 (also be up the creek without a paddle) be in severe difficulty or trouble, especially with no means of extricating oneself from it.

2 BRITISH be stupid or misguided.

□ be up shit creek see SHIT.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French crique or from Old Norse kriki ‘nook’; perhaps reinforced by Middle Dutch krēke; of unknown ultimate origin.

creel n. 1 a large wicker basket for holding fish.

- a lobster pot made of wickerwork.

2 a rack holding bobbins or spools when spinning.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 1; originally Scots and northern English): of unknown origin.

■ Sense 2 dates from the mid 19th cent.

creep v. (past and past participle crept /krεpt/) [no obj.] 1 [usually with adverbial of direction] move slowly and carefully in order to avoid being heard or noticed: he crept downstairs, hardly making any noise | they were taught how to creep up on an enemy.

- (of a thing) move very slowly and inexorably: the fog was creeping up from the marsh.

- (of a plant) grow along the ground or other surface by means of extending stems or branches.

- (of a plastic solid) undergo gradual deformation under stress.

2 (creep in/into) (of a negative characteristic or fact) occur or develop gradually and almost imperceptibly: errors crept into his game | (as adj. creeping) the creeping privatization of the health service.

- (creep up) increase slowly but steadily in number or amount: gas prices have been creeping up for a while.

3 (creep to) BRITISH INFORMAL behave obsequiously towards (someone) in the hope of advancement.

■ n. 1 INFORMAL a detestable person.

- a person who behaves obsequiously in the hope of advancement.

2 [mass noun] slow steady movement, especially when imperceptible: an attempt to prevent this slow creep of costs.

- the tendency of a car with automatic transmission to move when in gear without the accelerator being pressed.

- the gradual downward movement of disintegrated rock or soil due to gravity.

- the gradual deformation of a plastic solid under stress.

3 BRITISH an opening in a hedge or wall for an animal to pass through.

- a feeding enclosure for young animals, with a long, narrow entrance.

4 [mass noun] BRITISH solid food given to young farm animals in order to wean them.

<PHRASES>

□ give someone the creeps INFORMAL induce a feeling of revulsion or fear in someone.

□ make one's flesh creep cause one to feel disgust and have a sensation like that of something crawling over the skin.

<ORIGIN> Old English crēopan ‘move with the body close to the ground’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kruipen. Sense 1 of the verb dates from Middle English.

creeper n. 1 [BOTANY] any plant that grows along the ground, around another plant, or up a wall by means of extending stems or branches.

2 [with modifier] any of a number of small birds that creep around in trees or vegetation:

<INFO>

- (brown creeper) North American the American treecreeper (Certhia americana, family Certhiidae).

- (brown creeper) NZ a New Zealand songbird (Mohoua (or Finschia) novaeseelandiae, family Pachycephalidae or Acanthizidae).

- a Philippine songbird (family Rhabdornithidae and genus Rhabdornis: two species).

- a Hawaiian honeycreeper (genus Paroreomyza, family Drepanididae: three species).

3 INFORMAL (creepers)

■ short for BROTHEL CREEPERS.

creepie n. (pl. creepies) chiefly SCOTTISH a low stool.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from the verb CREEP + -IE.

creeping Jenny n. a trailing evergreen European plant with round glossy leaves and yellow flowers, growing in damp places and by water. Also called MONEYWORT.

<INFO> Lysimachia nummularia, family Primulaceae.

creeping Jesus n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person who is obsequious or hypocritically pious.

creeping paralysis n. less technical term for LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA.

creepy adj. (creepier, creepiest) INFORMAL causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease: the creepy feelings one often gets in a strange house.

<DERIVATIVES> creepily adv. creepiness n.

creepy-crawly n. (pl. creepy-crawlies) INFORMAL a spider, worm, or other small flightless creature, especially when considered unpleasant or frightening.

creese n. archaic spelling of KRIS.

crema /kremə/ n. [mass noun] a brownish foam that forms on the top of freshly made espresso coffee.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘cream’.

cremaster /krmastə/ n. 1 (also cremaster muscle) [ANATOMY] the muscle of the spermatic cord, by which the testicle can be partially raised.

2 [ENTOMOLOGY] the hook-like tip of a butterfly pupa, serving as an anchorage point.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek kremastēr, from krema- ‘hang’.

cremate v. dispose of (a dead person's body) by burning it to ashes, typically after a funeral ceremony: she had refused to have her husband cremated.

<DERIVATIVES> cremation n. cremator n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (as cremation): from Latin cremare ‘burn’.

crematorium /krεmətrəm/ n. (pl. crematoria or crematoriums) a place where a dead person's body is cremated.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from cremare ‘burn’.

crematory /krεmət(ə)ri/ adj. relating to cremation.

■ n. (pl. crematories)

■ North American term for CREMATORIUM.

creme /krim/ n. a substance or product with a thick, creamy consistency: self-tanning creme.

<ORIGIN> from French crème, ‘cream’.

crème anglaise /krεm lez/ n. [mass noun] a rich egg custard.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘English cream’.

crème brûlée /krεm brule/ n. (pl. crèmes brûlées pronunc. same or crème brûlées /-lez/) [mass noun] a dessert of custard topped with caramelized sugar.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘burnt cream’.

crème caramel /krεm karəmεl karəmεl/ n. (pl. crèmes caramel pronunc. same or crème caramels) [mass noun] a custard dessert made with whipped cream and eggs and topped with caramel.

<ORIGIN> French.

crème de cacao /krεm də kəkeə -ka/ n. [mass noun] a chocolate-flavoured liqueur.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘cream of cacao’.

crème de cassis /krεm də kasis/ n. see cassis^1.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘cream of blackcurrant’.

crème de la crème /krεm də la krεm/ French /kRεm də la kRεm/ n. the best person or thing of a particular kind: the crème de la crème of the dancers have left the country.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘cream of the cream’.

crème de menthe /krεm də mnθ mt/ n. [mass noun] a peppermint-flavoured liqueur.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘cream of mint’.

crème fraiche /krεm frε/ n. [mass noun] a type of thick cream made from double cream with the addition of buttermilk, sour cream, or yogurt.

<ORIGIN> from French crème fraîche, literally ‘fresh cream’.

Cremona /krmənə krε-/ a city in Lombardy, in northern Italy; pop. 69,444 (2001). Between the 16th and the 18th century the city was home to three renowned families of violin-makers: the Amati, the Guarneri, and the Stradivari.

crenate /krinet/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] (especially of a leaf or shell) having a round-toothed or scalloped edge. Compare with CRENULATE.

<DERIVATIVES> crenated adj. crenation n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (earlier as crenated): from modern Latin crenatus, from popular Latin crena ‘notch’.

crenel /krεn(ə)l/ (also crenelle /krnεl/) n. an indentation in the battlements of a fort or castle, used for shooting or firing missiles through.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French, based on popular Latin crena ‘notch’.

crenellate /krεn(ə)let/ (also crenelate) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. crenellated) chiefly HISTORICAL provide (a wall of a building) with battlements.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French créneler, from Old French crenel (see CRENEL).

crenellations plural n. the battlements of a castle or other building.

crenulate /krεnjlet/ adj. TECHNICAL (especially of a leaf, shell, or shoreline) having a finely scalloped or notched outline or edge. Compare with CRENATE.

<DERIVATIVES> crenulated adj. crenulation n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin crenulatus, from crenula, diminutive of crena ‘notch’.

creodont /kriədnt/ n. a fossil carnivorous mammal of the early Tertiary period, ancestral to modern carnivores.

<INFO> Order Creodonta: several families.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Creodonta (plural), from Greek kreas ‘flesh’ + odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

Creole /kriəl/ (also creole) n. 1 a person of mixed European and black descent, especially in the Caribbean.

2 a descendant of Spanish or other European settlers in the Caribbean or Central or South America.

- a white descendant of French settlers in Louisiana and other parts of the southern US.

3 a mother tongue formed from the contact of a European language (especially English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese) with local languages (especially African languages spoken by slaves in the West Indies): a Portuguese-based Creole.

■ adj. relating to a Creole or Creoles.

<ORIGIN> from French créole, criole, from Spanish criollo, probably from Portuguese crioulo ‘black person born in Brazil’, from criar ‘to breed’, from Latin creare ‘produce, create’.

creolize /kriə()lz krl-/ (also creolise) v. [with obj.] form (a Creole language) from the contact of a European language with a local language: (as adj. creolized) a creolized variety of French.

<DERIVATIVES> creolization /-ze(ə)n/ n.

creosol /kriəsl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid which is the chief constituent of wood-tar creosote.

<INFO> Alternative name: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol; chem. formula: C_8H_10O_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CREOSOTE + -OL.

creosote n. (also creosote oil) [mass noun] a dark brown oil containing various phenols and other organic compounds, distilled from coal tar and used as a wood preservative.

- a colourless, pungent, oily liquid, containing creosol and other compounds, distilled from wood tar and used as an antiseptic.

■ v. [with obj.] treat (wood) with creosote.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: coined in German from Greek kreas ‘flesh’ + sōtēr ‘preserver’, with reference to its antiseptic properties.

creosote bush n. a shrub native to arid parts of Mexico and the western US. Its leaves smell of creosote and when steeped in boiling water they yield an antiseptic lotion.

<INFO> Larrea tridentata, family Zygophyllaceae.

crêpe /krep/ n. 1 [mass noun] (also crape) a light, thin fabric with a wrinkled surface: [as modifier] a crêpe bandage.

- (also crêpe rubber) hard-wearing wrinkled rubber, used for the soles of shoes.

2 also /krεp/ a thin pancake.

<DERIVATIVES> crêpey (also crêpy) adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, from Old French crespe ‘curled, frizzed’, from Latin crispus.

crêpe de Chine /də in/ n. [mass noun] a fine crêpe of silk or similar fabric.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘crêpe of China’.

crêpe paper n. [mass noun] thin, crinkled paper resembling crêpe, used especially for making decorations.

crêperie /krepəri krεp-/ French /kRεpRi/ n. (pl. crêperies) a small restaurant, typically one in France, in which a variety of crêpes are served.

<ORIGIN> French.

crêpe Suzette n. (pl. crêpes Suzette pronunc. same) a thin dessert pancake flamed and served in alcohol.

crépinette /krepnεt/ French /kRepinεt/ n. a flat sausage consisting of minced meat and savoury stuffing wrapped in pieces of pork caul.

<ORIGIN> French, diminutive of crêpine ‘caul’.

crepitate /krεptet/ v. [no obj.] make a crackling sound: the night crepitates with an airy whistling cacophony.

<DERIVATIVES> crepitant adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘break wind’): from Latin crepitat- ‘crackled, rustled’, from the verb crepitare, from crepare ‘to rattle’.

crepitation n. 1 a crackling or rattling sound: pistol-like crepitations.

- MEDICINE a crackling sound made when breathing with an inflamed lung, detected using a stethoscope.

2 [mass noun] [ENTOMOLOGY] the explosive ejection of irritant fluid from the abdomen of a bombardier beetle.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French crépitation or Latin crepitatio(n-), from the verb crepitare (see CREPITATE).

crepitus /krεptəs/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a grating sound or sensation produced by friction between bone and cartilage or the fractured parts of a bone.

- the production of crepitations in the lungs; rale.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, from crepare ‘rattle’.

crépon /krepən/ n. [mass noun] a fabric resembling crêpe, but heavier and with a more pronounced crinkled effect.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French.

crept past and past participle of CREEP.

crepuscular /krpskjlə krε-/ adj. resembling or relating to twilight.

- [ZOOLOGY] (of an animal) appearing or active in twilight.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin crepusculum ‘twilight’ + -AR^1.

Cres. abbr. crescent.

cresc. (also cres.) abbr. [MUSIC] crescendo.

crescendo /krεndə/ n. 1 (pl. crescendos or crescendi /-di/) [MUSIC] a gradual increase in loudness in a piece of music.

- [MUSIC] a passage of music marked or performed with a crescendo.

- the loudest point reached in a gradually increasing sound: the port engine revs rose to a crescendo.

2 a progressive increase in intensity: a crescendo of misery.

- the most intense point reached: the hysteria reached a crescendo around the spring festival.

■ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] with a gradual increase in loudness.

■ v. (crescendoes, crescendoing, crescendoed) [no obj.] increase in loudness or intensity: the reluctant cheers began to crescendo.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Italian, present participle of crescere ‘to increase’, from Latin crescere ‘grow’.

crescent /krεz(ə)nt -s-/ n. 1 the curved sickle shape of the waxing or waning moon.

- a representation of a crescent used as an emblem of Islam or of Turkey.

- (the Crescent) chiefly HISTORICAL the political power of Islam or of the Ottoman Empire.

2 a thing which has the shape of a single curve that is broad in the centre and tapers to a point at each end: a three-mile crescent of golden sand.

- [usually in names] chiefly BRITISH a street or terrace of houses forming an arc: we lived at Westway Crescent.

- [HERALDRY] a charge in the form of a crescent, typically with the points upward.

3 a moth or butterfly which bears crescent-shaped markings on the wings, in particular:

<INFO>

- an orange or brown American butterfly with a silvery mark on the underside of the hindwing (genus Phyciodes, subfamily Melitaeinae, family Nymphalidae).

- a brownish European moth with a pale mark on the forewing (several species in the family Noctuidae, in particular Celaena leucostigma).

■ adj. 1 [attr.] having the shape of a crescent: a crescent moon.

2 LITERARY growing, increasing, or developing.

<DERIVATIVES> crescentic /-sεntk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English cressant, from Old French creissant, from Latin crescere ‘grow’. The spelling change in the 17th century was due to the influence of the Latin.

crescent wrench n. NORTH AMERICAN an adjustable spanner designed to grip hexagonal nuts, with an adjusting screw fitted in the crescent-shaped head of the spanner.

cresol /krisl/ n. [CHEMISTRY] each of three isomeric crystalline compounds present in coal-tar creosote, used as disinfectants.

<INFO> the ortho-, meta-, and para-methyl derivatives of phenol; chem. formula: CH_3C_6H_4OH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CREOSOTE + -OL.

cress n. [mass noun] a plant of the cabbage family, typically having small white flowers and pungent leaves. Some kinds are edible and are eaten raw as salad.

<INFO> Barbarea and other genera, family Cruciferae: several species, including garden cress (used in mustard and cress) and watercress.

<ORIGIN> Old English cresse, cærse, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch kers and German Kresse.

cresset /krεst/ n. HISTORICAL a metal container of oil, grease, wood, or coal set alight for illumination and typically mounted on a pole.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from craisse, variant of graisse ‘oil, grease’.

Cressida /krεsdə/ (in medieval legends of the Trojan War) the daughter of Calchas, a priest. She was faithless to her lover Troilus, a son of Priam.

Crest (in the UK) a computer system for buying and selling shares, introduced in 1996.

<ORIGIN> an arbitrary formation.

crest n. 1 a comb or tuft of feathers, fur, or skin on the head of a bird or other animal.

- a plume of feathers on a helmet.

2 the top of a mountain or hill: she reached the crest of the hill.

- [ANATOMY] a ridge along the surface of a bone.

- the upper line of the neck of a horse or other mammal.

3 the curling foamy top of a wave.

4 [HERALDRY] a distinctive device representing a family or corporate body, borne above the shield of a coat of arms (originally as worn on a helmet) or separately reproduced, for example on writing paper.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] reach the top of (a hill or wave).

- [no obj.] US (of a river, flood, etc.) rise to its highest level.

2 [no obj.] (of a wave) form a curling foamy top.

3 (be crested with) have attached at the top: his helmet was crested with a fan of spikes.

<PHRASES>

□ on the crest of a wave at a very successful point: his career is on the crest of a wave at present.

<DERIVATIVES> crestless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French creste, from Latin crista ‘tuft, plume’.

Cresta Run a hazardously winding, steeply banked channel of ice built each year at the Cresta Valley, St Moritz, Switzerland, as a tobogganing course, on which competitors race on light toboggans in a characteristic head-first position. Such a run was first built in 1884.

crested adj. 1 (of a bird or other animal) having a comb or tuft of feathers, fur, or skin on the head: the crested drake mandarin duck | [in combination] a plush-crested jay.

2 emblazoned with a coat of arms or other emblem: crested notepaper.

crested newt (also great crested newt) n. a large Eurasian newt, the male of which has a tall crest along the back and tail during the breeding season. Also called WARTY NEWT.

<INFO> Triturus cristatus, family Salamandridae.

crested tit n. a small European tit (songbird) with a short crest, living chiefly in coniferous woodland.

<INFO> Parus cristatus, family Paridae.

crestfallen adj. sad and disappointed: he came back empty-handed and crestfallen.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: originally with reference to a mammal or bird having a fallen or drooping crest.

crestfish n. (pl. same or crestfishes) a very elongated silvery marine fish with a crimson dorsal fin running the full length of its body and a forehead that projects forward into a long filament.

<INFO> Lophotus lacepedei, family Lophotidae.

cresting n. [mass noun] an ornamental decoration at the ridge of a roof or top of a wall.

cresyl /krisl -sl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting a radical –OC_6H_4CH_3, derived from a cresol.

Cretaceous /krteəs/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the last period of the Mesozoic era, between the Jurassic and Tertiary periods.

- (as n. the Cretaceous) the Cretaceous period or the system of rocks deposited during it.

The Cretaceous lasted from about 146 to 65 million years ago. The climate was warm and the sea level rose; the period is characterized especially in NW Europe by the deposition of chalk. The first flowering plants emerged and the domination of the dinosaurs continued, although they died out quite abruptly towards the end of it.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin cretaceus (from creta ‘chalk’) + -OUS.

Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary (also K/T boundary) [GEOLOGY] the division between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, about 65 million years ago.

A widespread layer of sediment dating from this time has been shown since 1980 to be enriched in iridium and other elements and to contain minerals showing evidence of thermal shock and carbon deposits indicative of extensive fires. This appears to indicate the catastrophic impact of one or more large meteorites, and geologists have identified a formation at Chicxulub in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, as a probable impact site. A resulting drastic climate change has been suggested as the cause of the extinction of dinosaurs and many other organisms at this time, but this remains controversial.

Crete /krit/ a Greek island in the eastern Mediterranean; pop. 601,159 (2001); capital, Heraklion. It is noted for the remains of the Minoan civilization which flourished there in the 2nd millennium BC. It fell to Rome in 67 BC and was subsequently ruled by Byzantines, Venetians, and Turks. Crete played an important role in the Greek struggle for independence from the Turks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, becoming administratively part of an independent Greece in 1913. Greek name Kríti.

<DERIVATIVES> Cretan adj. & n.

cretic /kritk/ n. [PROSODY] a metrical foot containing one short or unstressed syllable between two long or stressed ones.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin Creticus, from Greek Krētikos, from Krētē ‘Crete’.

cretin /krεtn/ n. 1 a stupid person (used as a general term of abuse).

2 MEDICINE, DATED a person who is physically deformed and has learning difficulties because of congenital thyroid deficiency.

<DERIVATIVES> cretinism n. cretinous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French crétin, from Swiss French crestin ‘Christian’ (from Latin Christianus), here used to mean ‘human being’, apparently as a reminder that, though deformed, cretins were human and not beasts.

cretonne /krεtn krεtn/ n. [mass noun] a heavy cotton fabric, typically with a floral pattern printed on one or both sides, used for upholstery.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, of unknown origin.

Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease /krtsfεltjakb/ n. [mass noun] a fatal degenerative disease affecting nerve cells in the brain, causing mental, physical, and sensory disturbances such as dementia and seizures. It is believed to be caused by prions and hence to be related to BSE and other spongiform encephalopathies such as kuru and scrapie.

<PHRASES>

□ new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease a form of the disease characterized by an early age of onset and possibly linked to BSE.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after H. G. Creutzfeldt (1885–1964) and A. Jakob (1882–1927), the German neurologists who first described cases of the disease in 1920–1. Creutzfeldt is credited with the first description of the disease in 1920, although the case is atypical by current diagnostic criteria; a year later Jakob described four cases, at least two of whom had clinical features suggestive of CJD as it is currently described.

crevasse /krvas/ n. a deep open crack, especially one in a glacier.

- NORTH AMERICAN a breach in the embankment of a river or canal.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Old French crevace (see CREVICE).

crevette /krəvεt/ n. a shrimp or prawn, especially as an item on a menu.

<ORIGIN> French.

crevice /krεvs/ n. a narrow opening or fissure, especially in a rock or wall.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French crevace, from crever ‘to burst’, from Latin crepare ‘to rattle, crack’.

crew^1 n. 1 [treated as sing. or plural] a group of people who work on and operate a ship, aircraft, train, etc.

- such a group other than the officers: the ship's captain and crew may be brought to trial.

- a group of people who work closely together: a film crew.

- INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY a group of people associated in some way: a crew of assorted computer geeks.

- INFORMAL, chiefly US a group of rappers, break dancers, or graffiti artists performing or operating together.

2 [mass noun] US the sport of rowing.

■ v. [with obj.] provide (a craft or vehicle) with a group of people to operate it: normally the boat is crewed by five people.

- [no obj.] act as a member of a crew, subordinate to a captain: I've never crewed for a world-famous yachtsman before.

<DERIVATIVES> crewman n. (pl. crewmen)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French creue ‘augmentation, increase’, feminine past participle of croistre ‘grow’, from Latin crescere. The original sense was ‘band of soldiers serving as reinforcements’; hence it came to denote any organized armed band or, generally, a company of people (late 16th century).

crew^2 past of crow^2.

crew cut n. a very short haircut for men and boys.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: apparently first adopted as a style by boat crews of Harvard and Yale universities.

Crewe /kru/ a town and major railway junction in Cheshire; pop. 63,351 (1991).

crewel /kruəl/ n. a thin, loosely twisted, worsted yarn used for tapestry and embroidery.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: of unknown origin.

crewel work n. [mass noun] embroidery or tapestry worked in crewels on linen or cloth.

crew neck n. a close-fitting round neckline on a sweater or T-shirt: [as modifier] a crew-neck sweater.

- a sweater with a crew neck.

<DERIVATIVES> crew-necked adj.

crib n. 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a child's bed with barred or latticed sides; a cot.

- a barred container or rack for animal fodder; a manger.

- BRITISH a model of the Nativity of Christ, with a manger as a bed.

2 INFORMAL a translation of a text for use by students, especially in a surreptitious way: an English crib of Caesar's Gallic Wars.

- a thing that has been plagiarized: is the song a crib from Mozart's ‘Don Giovanni’?

3 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an apartment or house.

4 [mass noun] short for CRIBBAGE.

- [count noun] the cards discarded by the players at cribbage, counting to the dealer.

5 (also cribwork) a heavy timber framework used in foundations for a building or to line a mineshaft.

6 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a light meal; a snack.

■ v. (cribs, cribbing, cribbed) [with obj.] 1 BRITISH INFORMAL copy (another person's work) illicitly or without acknowledgement: he was doing an exam and didn't want anybody to crib the answers from him | [no obj.] he often cribbed from other researchers.

- ARCHAIC steal.

2 ARCHAIC restrain: he had been so cabined, cribbed, and confined by office.

3 BRITISH DATED grumble.

<DERIVATIVES> cribber n.

<ORIGIN> Old English (in the sense ‘manger’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch krib, kribbe and German Krippe.

cribbage n. [mass noun] a card game, usually for two players, in which the objective is to play so that the pip value of one's cards played reaches exactly 15 or 31. Points are also scored for various card combinations.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: related to CRIB; according to John Aubrey, the game was invented by the English poet Sir John Suckling; it seems to have been developed from an older game called Noddy.

crib-biting n. [mass noun] a repetitive habit of some horses which involves the biting and chewing of wood in the stable, causing excessive wear to the front teeth.

crib death n. North American term for COT DEATH.

cribellum /krbεləm/ n. (pl. cribella /-lə/) [ZOOLOGY] (in some spiders) an additional spinning organ with numerous fine pores, situated in front of the spinnerets.

<DERIVATIVES> cribellate adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from late Latin, diminutive of cribrum ‘sieve’.

cribo /kribə krbə/ n. (pl. cribos)

■ another term for INDIGO SNAKE.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

cribriform /krbrfm/ adj. [ANATOMY] denoting an anatomical structure that is pierced by numerous small holes, in particular the plate of the ethmoid bone through which the olfactory nerves pass.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin cribrum ‘sieve’ + -IFORM.

Crichton /krt(ə)n/ James (1560–c.1585), Scottish adventurer; known as the Admirable Crichton. Crichton was an accomplished swordsman, poet, and scholar. He served in the French army and made a considerable impression on French and Italian universities with his skills as a polyglot orator.

Crick Francis Harry Compton (1916–2004), English biophysicist. Together with J. D. Watson he proposed the double helix structure of the DNA molecule, thus broadly explaining how genetic information is carried in living organisms and how genes replicate. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1962, shared with Watson and M. H. F. Wilkins).

crick n. a painful stiff feeling in the neck or back.

■ v. [with obj.] twist or strain (one's neck or back), causing painful stiffness: (as adj. cricked) he suffered a cricked neck during tackling practice.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

cricket^1 n. [mass noun] an open-air game played on a large grass field with ball, bats, and two wickets, between teams of eleven players, the object of the game being to score more runs than the opposition.

Cricket is played mainly in Britain and in territories formerly under British rule, such as Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, New Zealand, and the Indian subcontinent. The full game with two innings per side can last several days; shorter single-innings matches are usual at amateur level and have become popular at professional level since the 1960s.

<PHRASES>

□ not cricket BRITISH INFORMAL something contrary to traditional standards of fairness or rectitude.

<DERIVATIVES> cricketer n. cricketing adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

cricket^2 n. an insect related to the grasshoppers but with shorter legs. The male produces a characteristic musical chirping sound.

<INFO> Family Gryllidae: many genera and species, including the field cricket and the house cricket.

- used in names of insects of related families, e.g. bush cricket, mole cricket.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French criquet, from criquer ‘to crackle’, of imitative origin.

cricoid /krkd/ n. (also cricoid cartilage) [ANATOMY] the ring-shaped cartilage of the larynx.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin cricoides ‘ring-shaped’, from Greek krikoeidēs, from krikos ‘ring’.

cricothyroid /krkə()θrd/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to the cricoid and thyroid cartilages.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kriko- (combining form of krikos ‘ring’) + THYROID.

cri de cœur /kri də kə/ French /kRi də køR/ n. (pl. cris de cœur pronunc. same) a passionate appeal, complaint, or protest.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘cry from the heart’.

cried past and past participle of CRY.

crier n. an officer who makes public announcements in a court of justice.

■ short for TOWN CRIER.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French criere, from crier ‘to shout’.

crikey exclam. BRITISH INFORMAL an expression of surprise: Crikey! I never thought I'd see you again.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: euphemism for CHRIST.

crim n. & adj. INFORMAL, chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ short for CRIMINAL.

crime n. an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law: shoplifting was a serious crime.

- [mass noun] illegal activities: the victims of crime.

- an action or activity considered to be evil, shameful, or wrong: they condemned apartheid as a crime against humanity | it's a crime to keep a creature like Willy in a tank.

■ v. [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL (especially in the army) charge with or find guilty of an offence: they found the note and I got crimed for it.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘wickedness, sin’): via Old French from Latin crimen ‘judgement, offence’, based on cernere ‘to judge’.

Crimea /krmiə/ (usually the Crimea) a peninsula of Ukraine lying between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It was the scene of the Crimean War in the 1850s. The majority of the population is Russian.

<DERIVATIVES> Crimean adj.

Crimean War a war (1853–6) between Russia and an alliance of Great Britain, France, Sardinia, and Turkey. Russian aggression against Turkey led to war in 1853, with Turkey's European allies intervening to destroy Russian naval power in the Black Sea in 1854 and eventually capture the fortress city of Sebastopol in 1855 after a lengthy siege.

crime-fighting n. [mass noun] the action of working to reduce the incidence of crime.

<DERIVATIVES> crime-fighter n.

crimen injuria /krmən ndurə/ n. S. African [LAW] a wilful injury to someone's dignity, caused by the use of obscene or racially offensive language or gestures.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from crimen ‘accusation’ + injuria ‘indignity’.

crime passionnel /krim pasjənεl/ n. (pl. crimes passionnels pronunc. same) a crime, typically a murder, committed in a fit of sexual jealousy.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘crime of passion’.

crime sheet n. BRITISH a form on which police record details of a reported crime.

- (in the armed forces) a record of someone's offences and punishments under military law.

crime wave n. a sudden increase in the number of crimes committed in a country or area.

crime writer n. a writer of detective stories or thrillers.

criminal n. a person who has committed a crime: these men are dangerous criminals.

■ adj. 1 relating to crime: he is charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage.

- [LAW] relating to crime as opposed to civil matters: a criminal court.

2 INFORMAL (of an action or situation) deplorable and shocking: he may never fulfil his potential, and that would be a criminal waste.

<DERIVATIVES> criminality /-nalti/ n. criminally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from late Latin criminalis, from Latin crimen, crimin- (see CRIME).

criminal conversation n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL adultery, especially as formerly constituting grounds for the recovery of legal damages by a husband from his wife's adulterous partner.

criminalistics plural n. [treated as sing.]

■ another term for FORENSICS.

criminalize (also criminalise) v. [with obj.] turn (an activity) into a criminal offence by making it illegal: his view is that the state should not criminalize drug use but discourage it.

- turn (someone) into a criminal by making their activities illegal: these punitive measures would further criminalize travellers for their way of life.

<DERIVATIVES> criminalization /-ze(ə)n/ n.

criminal law n. [mass noun] a system of law concerned with the punishment of offenders. Contrasted with CIVIL LAW.

criminal libel n. [mass noun] [LAW] the offence of making a malicious defamatory statement in a permanent form.

criminal record n. a list of a person's previous criminal convictions: the caution wouldn't go on his criminal record.

- a history of being convicted for crime: he admits he has a criminal record.

criminogenic /krmnədεnk/ adj. (of a system, situation, or place) causing or likely to cause criminal behaviour: the criminogenic nature of homelessness.

criminology /krmnlədi/ n. [mass noun] the scientific study of crime and criminals.

<DERIVATIVES> criminological adj. criminologist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin crimen, crimin- ‘crime’ + -LOGY.

crimp v. [with obj.] 1 compress (something) into small folds or ridges: she crimped the edge of the pie.

- connect (a wire or cable) by squeezing the end or ends: pliers will crimp wires together.

- (often as adj. crimped) make waves in (someone's hair) with a hot iron: crimped blonde hair.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL have a limiting or adverse effect on (something): his zeal about his career can crimp the rest of his life.

■ n. 1 a folded or compressed edge.

- a small connecting piece for crimping wires or lines together.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a restriction or limitation: the crimp on take-home pay has been even tighter since taxes were raised.

<PHRASES>

□ put a crimp in NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL have an adverse effect on: well, that puts a crimp in my theory.

<DERIVATIVES> crimpy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English gecrympan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch krimpen ‘shrink, wrinkle’. Of rare occurrence before the 18th century, the word was perhaps reintroduced from Low German or Dutch.

crimper n. 1 a person or thing that crimps.

2 INFORMAL a hairdresser.

Crimplene /krmplin/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a synthetic crease-resistant fibre and fabric.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: probably from the noun CRIMP + a shortened form of TERYLENE.

crimson /krmz(ə)n/ adj. of a rich deep red colour inclining to purple: she blushed crimson with embarrassment.

■ n. [mass noun] a rich deep red colour inclining to purple.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a person's face) become flushed, especially through embarrassment: my face crimsoned and my hands began to shake.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete French cramoisin or Old Spanish cremesin, based on Arabic qirmizī, from qirmiz (see KERMES). Compare with CARMINE.

cringe /krn(d)/ v. (cringes, cringing, cringed) [no obj.] bend one's head and body in fear or apprehension or in a servile manner: he cringed away from the blow | (as adj. cringing) we are surrounded by cringing yes-men and sycophants.

- experience an inward shiver of embarrassment or disgust: I cringed at the fellow's stupidity.

■ n. an act of cringing.

<DERIVATIVES> cringer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English crenge, crenche, related to Old English cringan, crincan ‘bend, yield, fall in battle’, of Germanic origin and related to Dutch krengen ‘heel over’ and German krank ‘sick’, also to crank^1.

cringe-making adj. another term for CRINGEWORTHY.

cringeworthy adj. INFORMAL causing feelings of embarrassment or awkwardness: the play's cast was excellent, but the dialogue was unforgivably cringeworthy.

cringle n. [NAUTICAL] a ring of rope containing a thimble, for another rope to pass through.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Low German kringel, diminutive of kring ‘ring’.

crinkle v. form into small surface creases or wrinkles: [no obj.] Rose's face crinkled in bewilderment | [with obj.] he smiled boyishly, crinkling his eyes | (as adj. crinkled) a skirt in crinkled fabric.

■ n. a wrinkle or crease on the surface of something: there was a crinkle of suspicion on her forehead.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: related to Old English crincan (see CRINGE).

crinkle-cut adj. (especially of chips) cut with wavy edges.

crinkly adj. (crinklier, crinkliest) full of creases or wrinkles; wrinkled: brown crinkly paper.

crinkum-crankum /krkəmkrakəm/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC elaborate decoration or detail.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: fanciful reduplication of the nouns crank^1 and crank^2.

crinoid /krnd krnd/ [ZOOLOGY] n. an echinoderm of the class Crinoidea, which comprises the sea lilies and feather stars.

■ adj. relating to or denoting crinoids.

<DERIVATIVES> crinoidal /-nd(ə)l/ adj.

Crinoidea /krndə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of echinoderms that comprises the sea lilies and feather stars. They have slender feathery arms and (in some kinds) a stalk for attachment, and were abundant in the Palaeozoic era.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek krinoeidēs ‘lily-like’, from krinon ‘lily’.

crinoline /krn(ə)ln/ n. HISTORICAL 1 a stiffened or hooped petticoat worn to make a long skirt stand out.

2 [mass noun] a stiff fabric made of horsehair and cotton or linen thread, used for stiffening petticoats or as a lining.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally in sense 2, early crinolines being made of such material): from French, formed irregularly from Latin crinis ‘hair’ + linum ‘thread’.

criollo /krlə -ljə/ n. (pl. criollos) 1 a person from Spanish South or Central America, especially one of pure Spanish descent.

- a horse or other domestic animal of a South or Central American breed.

2 (also criollo tree) a cacao tree of a variety producing thin-shelled beans of high quality.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Spanish, literally ‘native to the locality’ (see CREOLE).

crip n. 1 OFFENSIVE, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a disabled person.

2 (usually Crip) a member of a Los Angeles street gang.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of CRIPPLE.

cripes /krps/ exclam. INFORMAL used as a euphemism for Christ.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: alteration of CHRIST.

Crippen /krpn/ Hawley Harvey (1862–1910), American-born British murderer; known as Doctor Crippen. Crippen poisoned his wife at their London home and sailed to Canada with his former secretary. His arrest in Canada was achieved through the intervention of radio-telegraphy, the first case of its use in apprehending a criminal; Crippen was later hanged.

cripple n. ARCHAIC or OFFENSIVE a person who is unable to walk or move properly through disability or because of injury to their back or legs.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 cause (someone) to become unable to walk or move properly: a young student was crippled for life | (as adj. crippling) a crippling disease.

- cause severe and disabling damage to (a machine).

2 cause a severe and almost insuperable problem for: developing countries are crippled by their debts.

<DERIVATIVES> crippler n.

<ORIGIN> Old English: from two words, crypel and crēopel, both of Germanic origin and related to CREEP.

<USAGE> The word cripple has long been in use to refer to ‘a person unable to walk through illness or disability’ and is recorded (in the Lindisfarne Gospels) as early as AD 950. In the 20th century the term acquired offensive connotations and has now been largely replaced by broader terms such as ‘disabled person’.

crippled adj. (of a person) unable to walk or move properly; disabled: a crippled old man.

- (of a machine) severely damaged: the pilot displayed skill and nerve in landing the crippled plane.

<USAGE> See usage at cripple.

crise de nerfs /kriz də nε(f)/ French /kRiz də nεRf/ n. (pl. crises de nerfs pronunc. same) DATED an attack of anxiety: I had a crise de nerfs before the first performance.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘crisis of nerves’.

crisis n. (pl. crises) a time of intense difficulty or danger: the current economic crisis | [mass noun] the monarchy was in crisis.

- a time when a difficult or important decision must be made: [as modifier] the situation has reached crisis point.

- the turning point of a disease when an important change takes place, indicating either recovery or death.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the turning point of a disease): medical Latin, from Greek krisis ‘decision’, from krinein ‘decide’. The general sense ‘decisive point’ dates from the early 17th cent.

crisis management n. [mass noun] the practice of taking managerial action only when a crisis has developed.

crisp adj. 1 (of a substance) firm, dry, and brittle: crisp bacon | the snow is lovely and crisp.

- (of a fruit or vegetable) firm and juicy: a crisp lettuce.

- (of paper or cloth) stiff and uncreased: £65 in crisp new notes.

- (of hair) having tight curls.

2 (of the weather) cool, fresh, and invigorating: a crisp autumn day.

3 (of a way of speaking) briskly decisive and matter-of-fact, without hesitation or unnecessary detail: her answer was crisp.

■ n. (also potato crisp) BRITISH a wafer-thin slice of potato fried or baked until crisp and eaten as a snack.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 give (something, especially food) a crisp surface by placing it in an oven or under a grill: crisp the pitta in the oven.

- [no obj.] (of food) acquire a crisp surface in this way.

2 ARCHAIC curl (something) into short, stiff, wavy folds or crinkles.

<PHRASES>

□ burn something to a crisp burn something completely, leaving only a charred remnant.

<DERIVATIVES> crisply adv. crispness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English (referring to hair in the sense ‘curly’): from Latin crispus ‘curled’. Other senses may result from symbolic interpretation of the sound of the word.

crispate adj. [BOTANY] (especially of a leaf) having a wavy or curly edge.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin crispatus, past participle of crispare ‘to curl’.

crispbread n. a thin, crisp biscuit made from crushed rye or wheat.

crisper n. a compartment at the bottom of a refrigerator for storing fruit and vegetables.

crispy adj. (crispier, crispiest) (of food) having a firm, dry, and brittle surface or texture: crispy fried bacon.

<DERIVATIVES> crispiness n.

criss adj. W. INDIAN smart or fashionable.

<ORIGIN> alteration of CRISP.

crissal thrasher /krs(ə)l/ n. a large grey thrasher (songbird) with a red patch under the tail, found in the south-western US and Mexico.

<INFO> Toxostoma dorsale (or crissale), family Mimidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: crissal from modern Latin crissum (denoting the vent region of a bird) + -AL.

criss-cross n. a pattern of intersecting straight lines or paths: the blotting paper was marked with a criss-cross of different inks.

■ adj. containing a number of straight lines or paths which intersect each other: the streets ran in a regular criss-cross pattern | [as adv.] the swords were strung criss-cross on his back.

■ v. [with obj.] form a pattern of intersecting lines or paths on (a place): the green hill was criss-crossed with a network of sheep tracks | [no obj.] the smaller streets criss-crossed in a grid pattern.

- move or travel around (a place) by going back and forth repeatedly: the President criss-crossed America.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a figure of a cross preceding the alphabet in a hornbook): from Christ-cross (in the same sense in late Middle English), from Christ's cross. The form was later treated as a reduplication of CROSS.

crista /krstə/ n. (pl. cristae /-ti/) 1 [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] a ridge or crest.

2 [BIOLOGY] each of the partial partitions in a mitochondrion formed by infolding of the inner membrane.

<DERIVATIVES> cristate adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, ‘tuft, plume, crest’.

cristobalite /krstəbəlt/ n. [mass noun] a form of silica which is the main component of opal and also occurs as small octahedral crystals.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Cerro San Cristóbal in Mexico, where it was discovered, + -ITE^1.

crit n. INFORMAL short for CRITICISM or critic.

- BRITISH a review of a literary or artistic work or production.

criterion /krtərən/ n. (pl. criteria /-rə/) a principle or standard by which something may be judged or decided: they award a green label to products that meet certain environmental criteria.

<DERIVATIVES> criterial adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek kritērion ‘means of judging’, from kritēs (see CRITIC).

<USAGE> Strictly speaking, the singular form (following the original Greek) is criterion and the plural form is criteria. It is a common mistake, however, to use criteria as if it were a singular, as in a further criteria needs to be considered.

critic n. 1 a person who expresses an unfavourable opinion of something: critics of the new legislation say it is too broad.

2 a person who judges the merits of literary or artistic works, especially one who does so professionally: a film critic.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin criticus, from Greek kritikos, from kritēs ‘a judge’, from krinein ‘judge, decide’.

critical adj. 1 expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgements: I was very critical of the previous regime.

2 expressing or involving an analysis of the merits and faults of a work of literature, music, or art: she never won the critical acclaim she sought.

- (of a text) incorporating a detailed and scholarly analysis and commentary: a critical edition of a Bach sonata.

3 (of a situation or problem) having the potential to become disastrous; at a point of crisis: the flood waters had not receded and the situation was still critical.

- extremely ill and at risk of death: she was critical but stable in Middlesbrough General Hospital.

- having a decisive or crucial importance in the success or failure of something: temperature is a critical factor in successful fruit storage | [in combination] time-critical tasks.

4 [MATHEMATICS] & [PHYSICS] relating to or denoting a point of transition from one state to another.

5 (of a nuclear reactor or fuel) maintaining a self-sustaining chain reaction: the reactor is due to go critical in October.

<DERIVATIVES> criticality n.

■ critical (sense 3, sense 4)

□ critically adv. [as submodifier] he's critically ill

□ criticalness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘relating to the crisis of a disease’): from late Latin criticus (see CRITIC).

critical angle n. [OPTICS] the angle of incidence beyond which rays of light passing through a denser medium to the surface of a less dense medium are no longer refracted but totally reflected.

critical damping n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] damping just sufficient to prevent oscillations.

critical list n. [in sing.] a list of those who are critically ill in hospital.

critical mass n. [in sing.] [PHYSICS] the minimum amount of fissile material needed to maintain a nuclear chain reaction.

- FIGURATIVE the minimum size or amount of resources required to start or maintain a venture: some of our new industries are now reaching critical mass.

critical path n. the sequence of stages determining the minimum time needed for an operation, especially when analysed on a computer for a large organization.

critical path analysis n. [mass noun] the mathematical network analysis technique of planning complex working procedures with reference to the critical path of each alternative system.

critical period n. [PSYCHOLOGY] a period during someone's development in which a particular skill or characteristic is believed to be most readily acquired.

critical point n. 1 [CHEMISTRY] a point on a phase diagram at which both the liquid and gas phases of a substance have the same density, and are therefore indistinguishable.

2 [MATHEMATICS] US term for STATIONARY POINT.

critical pressure n. [CHEMISTRY] the pressure of a gas or vapour in its critical state.

critical state n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the state of a substance when it is at the critical point, i.e. at critical temperature and pressure.

critical temperature n. [CHEMISTRY] the temperature of a gas in its critical state, above which it cannot be liquefied by pressure alone.

critical theory n. [mass noun] a philosophical approach to culture, and especially to literature, that considers the social, historical, and ideological forces and structures which produce and constrain it.

critical volume n. [CHEMISTRY] the volume occupied by a unit mass of a gas or vapour in its critical state.

criticaster /krtkastə krtkastə/ n. RARE a minor or inferior critic.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from CRITIC + -ASTER.

criticism n. [mass noun] 1 the expression of disapproval of someone or something on the basis of perceived faults or mistakes: he received a lot of criticism | [count noun] he ignored the criticisms of his friends.

2 the analysis and judgement of the merits and faults of a literary or artistic work: alternative methods of criticism supported by well-developed literary theories.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from CRITIC or Latin criticus + -ISM.

criticize (also criticise) v. [with obj.] 1 indicate the faults of (someone or something) in a disapproving way: the opposition criticized the government's failure to consult adequately | technicians were criticized for defective workmanship.

2 form and express a judgement of (a literary or artistic work): a literary text may be criticized on two grounds: the semantic and the expressive.

<DERIVATIVES> criticizable adj. criticizer n.

critique /krtik/ n. a detailed analysis and assessment of something, especially a literary, philosophical, or political theory.

■ v. (critiques, critiquing, critiqued) [with obj.] evaluate (a theory or practice) in a detailed and analytical way: the authors critique the methods and practices used in the research.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a noun): from French, based on Greek kritikē tekhnē ‘critical art’.

critter n. INFORMAL or DIALECT, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a living creature; an animal.

- [usually with adj.] a person of a particular kind: the old critter used to live in a shack.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: variant of CREATURE.

CRM abbr. customer relationship management, denoting strategies and software that enable a company to optimize its customer relations.

croak n. a characteristic deep hoarse sound made by a frog or a crow.

- a sound resembling a croak: Lorton tried to laugh—it came out as a croak.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a frog or crow) make a characteristic deep hoarse sound.

- (of a person) make a sound similar to a croak when speaking or laughing: [with direct speech] ‘Thank you,’ I croaked.

2 INFORMAL die: the dog finally croaked in 1987.

- [with obj.] kill (someone): there are a few people down there who'd like to croak him.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): imitative.

croaker n. a person or animal that croaks.

■ another term for drum^3.

croaky adj. (croakier, croakiest) (of a person's voice) deep and hoarse.

<DERIVATIVES> croakily adv.

Croat /krəat/ n. 1 a native or national of Croatia, or a person of Croatian descent.

2 [mass noun] the Southern Slavic language of the Croats, almost identical to Serbian but written in the Roman alphabet. See SERBO-CROAT.

■ adj. relating to the Croats or their language.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin Croatae (plural), from Serbian and Croatian Hrvat.

Croatia /krəeə/ a country in SE Europe, formerly a constituent republic of Yugoslavia; pop. 4,390,751 (est. 2002); language, Croatian; capital, Zagreb. Croatian name HRVATSKA.

Apart from a period of Turkish rule in the 16th–17th centuries, Croatia largely remained linked with Hungary until 1918, when it joined the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). After a period in the Second World War as a Nazi puppet state (1941–5), Croatia became part of Yugoslavia once more and remained a constituent republic until it declared itself independent in 1991. The secession of Croatia led to war between Croats and the Serb minority, and with Serbia; a ceasefire was called in 1992.

Croatian n. & adj.

■ another term for CROAT.

croc n. INFORMAL a crocodile.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

Croce /krəte/ Italian /krəte/ Benedetto (1866–1952), Italian philosopher and politician. In his ‘Philosophy of Spirit’ he denied the physical reality of a work of art and identified philosophical endeavour with a methodological approach to history. A former Minister of Education, he helped to rebuild democracy in Italy after the fall of Mussolini.

crochet /krəe -i/ n. [mass noun] a handicraft in which yarn is made up into a textured fabric by means of a hooked needle: [as modifier] a crochet hook.

- crocheted fabric or items: the bikini is tiny, three triangles of cotton crochet.

■ v. (crochets /krəez/, crocheting /-e/, crocheted /-ed/) [with obj.] make (a garment or piece of fabric) using crochet: she had crocheted the shawl herself | [no obj.] her mother had stopped crocheting.

<DERIVATIVES> crocheter /krəeə/ n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, diminutive of croc ‘hook’, from Old Norse krókr.

croci plural form of CROCUS.

crocidolite /krə()sdəlt/ n. [mass noun] a fibrous blue or green mineral consisting of a silicate of iron and sodium. Also called BLUE ASBESTOS.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek krokis, krokid- ‘nap of cloth’ + -LITE.

crock^1 INFORMAL n. BRITISH an old person who is considered to be feeble and useless.

- an old and worn-out vehicle.

■ v. [with obj.] BRITISH injure (part of the body): he crocked a shoulder in the test against South Africa.

- (as adj. crocked) NORTH AMERICAN drunk: his party guests were pretty crocked.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps from Flemish, and probably related to CRACK. Originally a Scots term for an old ewe, it came in the late 19th century to denote an old or broken-down horse.

crock^2 n. 1 an earthenware pot or jar.

- a broken piece of earthenware.

- a plate, cup, or other item of crockery.

2 (also VULGAR SLANG crock of shit) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN something considered to be complete nonsense.

<ORIGIN> Old English croc, crocca, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse krukka and probably to Dutch kruik and German Krug.

crockery n. [mass noun] plates, dishes, cups, and other similar items, especially ones made of earthenware or china.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from obsolete crocker ‘potter’, from CROCK^2.

crocket /krkt/ n. (in Gothic architecture) a small carved ornament, typically a bud or curled leaf, on the inclined side of a pinnacle, arch, etc.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a curl or roll of hair): from Old Northern French, variant of Old French crochet (see CROTCHET). The current sense dates from the late 17th century, but crotchet was used in the same sense from late Middle English until the 19th cent.

Crockett /krkt/ Davy (1786–1836), American frontiersman, soldier, and politician; full name David Crockett. He was a member of the House of Representatives 1827–35 and cultivated the image of a rough backwoods legislator. On leaving politics he returned to the frontier, where he took up the cause of Texan independence and was killed at the siege of the Alamo.

Crockford Crockford's Clerical Directory, a reference book of Anglican clergy in the British Isles first issued in 1860.

<ORIGIN> named after John Crockford (1823–65), its first publisher.

Crockpot n. NORTH AMERICAN TRADEMARK a large electric cooking pot, used to cook stews and other dishes slowly.

crocodile n. 1 a large predatory semiaquatic reptile with long jaws, long tail, short legs, and a horny textured skin.

<INFO> Family Crocodylidae: three genera, in particular Crocodylus, and several species.

- [mass noun] leather made from crocodile skin, used especially to make bags and shoes.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a line of schoolchildren walking in pairs.

<ORIGIN> Middle English cocodrille, cokadrill, from Old French cocodrille, via medieval Latin from Latin crocodilus, from Greek krokodilos ‘worm of the stones’, from krokē ‘pebble’ + drilos ‘worm’. The spelling was changed in the 16th century to conform with the Latin and Greek forms.

crocodile bird n. the Egyptian plover, which is said to feed on insects parasitic on crocodiles.

crocodile clip n. chiefly BRITISH a sprung metal clip with long, serrated jaws, used attached to an electric cable for making a temporary connection to a battery or other component.

crocodile tears plural n. tears or expressions of sorrow that are insincere.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: said to be so named from a belief that crocodiles wept while devouring or luring their prey.

crocodilian /krkədlən/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a large predatory semiaquatic reptile of an order that comprises the crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gharial. Crocodilians are distinguished by long jaws, short legs, and a powerful tail.

<INFO> Order Crocodylia: three families.

■ adj. relating to crocodilians.

crocoite /krəkət/ n. [mass noun] a rare bright orange mineral consisting of lead chromate.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: originally as French crocoise, from Greek krokoeis ‘saffron-coloured’, from krokos ‘crocus’. The spelling was altered to crocoisite, then crocoite.

crocosmia /krə()kzmə/ n. a plant of a genus that includes montbretia.

<INFO> Genus Crocosmia, family Iridaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek krokos ‘saffron’.

crocus /krəkəs/ n. (pl. crocuses or croci /-k -ki/) a small spring-flowering Eurasian plant of the iris family, which grows from a corm and bears bright yellow, purple, or white flowers. See also AUTUMN CROCUS.

<INFO> Genus Crocus, family Iridaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also denoting saffron, obtained from a species of crocus): via Latin from Greek krokos, of Semitic origin and related to Hebrew karkōm and Arabic kurkum.

croeso /krs/ exclam. WELSH welcome!

<ORIGIN> Welsh.

Croesus /krisəs/ (6th century BC), last king of Lydia c.560–546 BC. Renowned for his great wealth, he subjugated the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor before being overthrown by Cyrus the Great.

- (as n. a Croesus) a person of great wealth.

croft British n. a small rented farm, especially one in Scotland, comprising a plot of arable land attached to a house and with a right of pasturage held in common with other such farms.

- an enclosed field used for tillage or pasture, typically attached to a house and worked by the occupier.

■ v. [with obj.] farm (land) as a croft or crofts.

<ORIGIN> Old English: of unknown origin.

crofter n. BRITISH a person who farms a croft.

crofting n. [mass noun] BRITISH the practice or system of farming in crofts: [as modifier] a crofting community.

Crohn's disease /krənz/ n. [mass noun] a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestines, especially the colon and ileum, associated with ulcers and fistulae.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Burrill B. Crohn (1884–1983), American pathologist, who was among the first to describe it.

croissant /krwas/ n. a French crescent-shaped roll made of sweet flaky yeast dough, eaten for breakfast.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French (see CRESCENT). The term had occasionally been recorded earlier as a variant of crescent.

Cro-Magnon man /krəmanj man -manən/ n. [mass noun] the earliest form of modern human in Europe, associated with the Aurignacian flint industry. The group's appearance c.35,000 years ago marked the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic and the apparent decline and disappearance of Neanderthal man; the group persisted at least into the Neolithic period.

<ORIGIN> Cro-Magnon, the name of a hill in the Dordogne, France, where remains were found in 1868.

Cromarty Firth /krməti/ an inlet of the Moray Firth on the coast of Highland region, northern Scotland. The shipping forecast area Cromarty extends far beyond this, covering Scottish coastal waters roughly from Aberdeen in the south to John o'Groats in the north.

crombec /krmbεk/ n. a small African warbler with a very short tail, and grey or green upper parts with rufous or white underparts.

<INFO> Genus Sylvietta, family Sylviidae: several species, in particular the (northern) crombec (S. brachyura).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, from Dutch krom ‘crooked’ + bek ‘beak’.

Crome /krəm/ John (1768–1821), English painter. Founder and leading member of the Norwich School, he later developed a distinctive romantic style of his own, exemplified in such landscapes as Slate Quarries (undated).

Cromerian /krəmərən/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting an interglacial period in the Middle Pleistocene of Britain and northern Europe, preceding the Elster (Anglian) glaciation.

- (as n. the Cromerian) the Cromerian interglacial period or the system of fossil-rich deposits laid down during it.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Cromer, in Norfolk, site of an outcrop of fossil-rich deposits from this period, + -IAN.

cromlech /krmlεk/ n. 1 (in Wales) a megalithic tomb consisting of a large flat stone laid on upright ones; a dolmen.

2 (in Brittany) a circle of standing stones.

<ORIGIN> Welsh, from crom, feminine of crwm ‘arched’ + llech ‘flat stone’;

■ sense 2 is via French from Breton krommlec'h.

cromoglycate /krəmə()lset/ (also sodium cromoglycate) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, inhaled to prevent asthmatic attacks and allergic reactions.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from an alteration of chromone (a bicyclic ketone) + glyc(erol) + -ATE^1.

Crompton^1 /krmpt(ə)n/ Richmal (1890–1969), English writer; pseudonym of Richmal Crompton Lamburn. She made her name with Just William (1922), a collection of stories for children about a mischievous schoolboy, William Brown. She published a further thirty-seven collections based on the same character, as well as some fifty books for adults.

Crompton^2 /krmpt(ə)n/ Samuel (1753–1827), English inventor. Famed for his invention of the spinning mule, he lacked the means to obtain a patent and sold his rights to a Bolton industrialist for £67. The House of Commons subsequently gave him £5,000 in compensation.

Cromwell^1 /krmwεl/ Oliver (1599–1658), English general and statesman, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth 1653–8. Cromwell was the leader of the victorious Parliamentary forces (or Roundheads) in the English Civil War. As head of state he styled himself Lord Protector, and refused Parliament's offer of the Crown in 1657. His rule was notable for its puritan reforms in the Church of England. He was briefly succeeded by his son Richard (1626–1712), who was forced into exile in 1659.

Cromwell^2 /krmwεl/ Thomas (c.1485–1540), English statesman, chief minister to Henry VIII 1531–40. He presided over the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon (1533) and his break with the Roman Catholic Church as well as the dissolution of the monasteries and the 1534 Act of Supremacy. He fell from favour over Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves and was executed on a charge of treason.

cron n. [usually as modifier] [COMPUTING] a command to an operating system or server for a job that is to be executed at a specified time: a cron job.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from CHRONOLOGICAL.

crone n. an ugly old woman.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Middle Dutch croonje, caroonje ‘carcass, old ewe’ from Old Northern French caroigne ‘carrion, cantankerous woman’ (see CARRION).

Cronin /krənn/ A. J. (1896–1981), Scottish novelist; full name Archibald Joseph Cronin. His novels, including The Citadel (1937), often reflect his early experiences as a doctor and were successfully adapted for radio and television as Dr Finlay's Casebook in the 1960s and 1990s.

croning /krən/ n. (especially among feminists in the US and Australasia) a celebration or ceremony to honour older women.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of CRONE + crowning from CROWN.

cronk adj. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL, DATED unfit or unsound.

- fraudulent.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably related to crank^3.

Cronus /krnəs krən-/ (also Kronos) [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the supreme god until dethroned by Zeus. The youngest son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth), Cronus overthrew and castrated his father and then married his sister Rhea. Because he was fated to be overcome by one of his male children, Cronus swallowed all of them as soon as they were born, but when Zeus was born Rhea deceived him and hid the baby away. Roman equivalent SATURN.

crony /krəni/ n. (pl. cronies) INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY a close friend or companion: he went gambling with his cronies.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally Cambridge university slang): from Greek khronios ‘long-lasting’ (here used to mean ‘contemporary’), from khronos ‘time’. Compare with chum^1.

cronyism (also croneyism) n. [mass noun] DEROGATORY the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.

crook n. 1 the hooked staff of a shepherd.

- a bishop's crozier.

- a bend in something, especially at the elbow in a person's arm: her head was cradled in the crook of Luke's left arm.

- a piece of extra tubing which can be fitted to a brass instrument to lower the pitch by a set interval.

2 INFORMAL a person who is dishonest or a criminal.

■ v. [with obj.] bend (something, especially a finger as a signal): he crooked a finger for the waitress.

■ adj. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL bad, unpleasant, or unsatisfactory: it was pretty crook on the land in the early 1970s.

- (of a person or a part of the body) unwell or injured: a crook knee.

- dishonest; illegal: some pretty crook things went on there.

<PHRASES>

□ be crook on AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL be annoyed by: you're crook on me because I didn't walk out with you.

□ go crook AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL lose one's temper.

<DERIVATIVES> crookery n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘hooked tool or weapon’): from Old Norse krókr ‘hook’. A noun sense ‘deceit, guile, trickery’ (compare with CROOKED) was recorded in Middle English but was obsolete by the 17th century The Australian senses are abbreviations of CROOKED.

crookback n. ARCHAIC a person with a hunchback.

<DERIVATIVES> crookbacked adj.

crooked /krkd/ adj. (crookeder, crookedest) 1 bent or twisted out of shape or out of place: his teeth were yellow and crooked.

2 INFORMAL dishonest; illegal: a crooked business deal.

3 (usually crooked on) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL annoyed; exasperated: ‘It's not you I'm crooked on,’ he assured Vivien. [<ORIGIN> 1940s: from the phrase go CROOK ‘become angry’.]

<DERIVATIVES> crookedly adv. crookedness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from CROOK, probably modelled on Old Norse krókóttr ‘crooked, cunning’.

Crookes Sir William (1832–1919), English physicist and chemist. In 1861 he discovered the element thallium. This led him indirectly to the invention of the radiometer in 1875. He later developed a vacuum tube (the precursor of the X-ray tube) and in 1903 invented the spinthariscope.

crookneck (also crookneck squash) n. NORTH AMERICAN a squash of a club-shaped variety with a curved neck and warty skin.

croon v. [no obj.] hum or sing in a soft, low voice, especially in a sentimental manner: she was crooning to the child | [with obj.] the female vocalist crooned smoky blues into the microphone.

- [with direct speech] say in a soft, low voice: ‘Goodbye, you lovely darling,’ she crooned.

■ n. [in sing.] a soft, low voice or tone: he sang in a gentle, highly expressive croon.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (originally Scots and northern English): from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch krōnen ‘groan, lament’. The use of croon in standard English was probably popularized by Robert Burns.

crooner n. a singer, typically a male one, who sings sentimental songs in a soft, low voice.

crop n. 1 a cultivated plant that is grown on a large scale commercially, especially a cereal, fruit, or vegetable: the main crops were oats and barley.

- an amount of produce harvested at one time: a heavy crop of fruit.

- an abundance of something, especially a person's hair: he had a thick crop of wiry hair.

- the total number of young farm animals born in a particular year on one farm.

2 a group or amount of related people or things appearing or occurring at one time: the current crop of politicians.

3 a hairstyle in which the hair is cut very short.

4

■ short for RIDING CROP or HUNTING CROP.

5 a pouch in a bird's gullet where food is stored or prepared for digestion.

- an organ resembling a pouch in an insect or earthworm.

6 the entire tanned hide of an animal.

■ v. (crops, cropping, cropped) 1 [with obj.] cut (something, especially a person's hair) very short: (as adj. cropped) cropped blonde hair.

- (of an animal) bite off and eat the tops of (plants): the horse was gratefully cropping the grass.

- cut the edges of (a photograph) in order to produce a better picture or to fit a given space.

2 [with obj.] harvest (plants or their produce) from a particular area: hay would have been cropped several times through the summer.

- sow or plant (land) with plants that will produce food or fodder, especially on a large commercial scale: the southern areas are cropped in cotton | (as adj., with submodifier cropped) intensively cropped areas.

- [no obj.] (of land or a plant) yield a harvest of plants or produce: the parsley will need protection to continue cropping through the winter.

3 [no obj.] (crop up) appear, occur, or come to one's notice unexpectedly: some urgent business had cropped up.

4 [no obj.] (crop out) (of rock) appear or be exposed at the surface of the earth.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to German Kropf. From Old English to the late 18th century there existed a sense ‘flower head, ear of corn’, giving rise to sense 1 of the noun and senses referring to the top of something, whence sense 4 of the noun.

crop circle n. an area of standing crops which has been flattened in the form of a circle or more complex pattern. No general cause of crop circles has been identified although various natural and unorthodox explanations have been put forward; many are known to have been hoaxes.

crop dusting n. [mass noun] the spraying of powdered insecticide or fertilizer on crops, especially from the air.

<DERIVATIVES> crop duster n.

crop-eared adj. HISTORICAL 1 having the tops of the ears cut off.

2 (especially of a Roundhead in the English Civil War) having the hair cut very short.

cropland n. [mass noun] (also croplands) land used for growing crops.

crop-over n. [mass noun] a West Indian celebration marking the end of the sugar-cane harvest.

cropper n. 1 a plant which yields a specified crop: the white-fleshed varieties are the heaviest croppers.

2 a machine or person that cuts or trims something.

3 chiefly US a person who raises a crop, especially as a sharecropper.

<PHRASES>

□ come a cropper BRITISH INFORMAL fall heavily.

- suffer a defeat or disaster: the club's challenge for the championship has come a cropper.

crop top (also cropped top) n. a woman's casual sleeveless or short-sleeved garment or undergarment for the upper body, cut short so that it reveals the stomach.

croquembouche /krkmbu/ n. a decorative dessert consisting of choux pastry and crystallized fruit or other confectionery items arranged in a cone and held together by a caramel sauce.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘crunch in the mouth’.

croque-monsieur /krk məsjə/ n. a fried or grilled cheese and ham sandwich.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘bite (a) man’.

croquet /krəke -ki/ n. [mass noun] a game played on a lawn, in which wooden balls are driven through a series of square-topped hoops by means of mallets: [as modifier] a croquet lawn.

- [count noun] an act of croqueting a ball.

■ v. (croquets /krəkez/, croqueting /-ke/, croqueted /-ked/) [with obj.] drive away (an opponent's ball) by holding one's own ball against it and striking this with the mallet. A player is entitled to do this after their ball has struck an opponent's.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps a dialect form of French crochet ‘hook’.

croquette /krə()kεt/ n. a small ball or roll of vegetables, minced meat, or fish, fried in breadcrumbs: a potato croquette.

<ORIGIN> French, from croquer ‘to crunch’.

crore /kr/ n. (pl. same, crores) INDIAN ten million; one hundred lakhs, especially of rupees, units of measurement, or people.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi karo, based on Sanskrit koi ‘ten millions’.

Crosby Bing (1904–77), American singer and actor; born Harry Lillis Crosby. His songs include ‘White Christmas’ (from the film Holiday Inn, 1942). He also starred in a series of films (1940–62) with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour (1914–96).

cross n. 1 a mark, object, or figure formed by two short intersecting lines or pieces (+ or ×): place a cross against the preferred choice.

- a cross (×) used to show that something is incorrect or unsatisfactory.

2 an upright post with a transverse bar, as used in antiquity for crucifixion.

- (the Cross) the cross on which Christ was crucified.

- a cross as an emblem of Christianity: she wore a cross around her neck. short for SIGN OF THE CROSS (see SIGN).

- a staff surmounted by a cross carried in religious processions and on ceremonial occasions before an archbishop.

3 something unavoidable that has to be endured: she's just a cross we have to bear.

4 a cross-shaped decoration awarded for personal valour or indicating rank in some orders of knighthood: the Military Cross.

5 (the Cross) the constellation Crux. Also called SOUTHERN CROSS.

6 an animal or plant resulting from cross-breeding; a hybrid: a Galloway and shorthorn cross.

- (a cross between) a mixture or compromise of two things: the system is a cross between a monorail and a conventional railway.

7 [SOCCER] a pass of the ball across the field towards the centre close to one's opponents' goal.

8 [BOXING] a blow given with a crosswise movement of the fist: a right cross.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 go or extend across or to the other side of (an area, stretch of water, etc.): she has crossed the Atlantic twice | two paths crossed the field | FIGURATIVE a shadow of apprehension crossed her face | [no obj.] we crossed over the bridge.

- go across or climb over (an obstacle or boundary): he attempted to cross the border into Jordan | [no obj.] we crossed over a stile.

- [no obj.] (cross over) (especially of an artist or an artistic style or work) begin to appeal to a different audience, especially a wider one: a talented animator who crossed over to live action.

2 [no obj.] pass in an opposite or different direction; intersect: the two lines cross at 90°.

- [with obj.] cause to intersect or lie crosswise: cross the cables in opposing directions | Michele sat back and crossed her arms.

- (of a letter) be dispatched before receipt of another from the person being written to: our letters crossed.

3 draw a line or lines across; mark with a cross: voters should ask one question before they cross today's ballot paper.

- BRITISH mark or annotate (a cheque), typically by drawing a pair of parallel lines across it, to indicate that it must be paid into a named bank account.

- (cross someone/thing off) delete a name or item on a list as being no longer required or involved: Liz crossed off the days on the calendar.

- (cross something out/through) delete an incorrect or inapplicable word or phrase by drawing a line through it.

4 (cross oneself) (of a person) make the sign of the cross in front of one's chest as a sign of Christian reverence or to invoke divine protection.

5 [SOCCER] pass (the ball) across the field towards the centre when attacking.

6 cause (an animal of one species, breed, or variety) to breed with one of another species, breed, or variety: many animals of the breed were crossed with the closely related Guernsey.

- cross-fertilize (a plant): a hybrid tea was crossed with a polyantha rose.

7 oppose or stand in the way of (someone): no one dared cross him.

■ adj. annoyed: he seemed to be very cross about something.

<PHRASES>

□ as cross as two sticks BRITISH very annoyed or irritated.

□ at cross purposes misunderstanding or having different aims from one another: we had been talking at cross purposes.

□ cross one's fingers (or keep one's fingers crossed) put one finger across another as a sign of hoping for good luck.

□ cross the floor BRITISH join the opposing side in Parliament.

□ cross my heart (and hope to die) used to emphasize the truthfulness and sincerity of what one is saying.

□ cross one's mind (of a thought) occur to one, especially transiently: it had not crossed Flora's mind that they might need payment.

□ cross someone's palm with silver HUMOROUS pay someone for a favour or service, especially before having one's fortune told.

□ cross someone's path be met or encountered.

□ cross swords have an argument or dispute.

□ crossed line a telephone connection that has been wrongly made with the result that another call or calls can be heard.

□ get one's wires (or lines) crossed become wrongly connected by telephone.

- have a misunderstanding.

<DERIVATIVES> crosser n. crossly adv. crossness n.

<ORIGIN> late Old English (in the sense ‘monument in the form of a cross’): from Old Norse kross, from Old Irish cros, from Latin crux.

cross- combining form 1 denoting movement or position across something: cross-channel.

- denoting interaction: cross-pollinate.

- passing from side to side; transverse: crosspiece.

2 describing the form or figure of a cross: crossbones.

cross-assembler n. [COMPUTING] an assembler which can convert instructions into machine code for a computer other than that on which it is run.

crossbar n. 1 the horizontal bar between the two upright posts of a football goal.

2 the horizontal metal bar between the handlebars and saddle on a man's or boy's bicycle.

cross-beam n. a transverse beam.

cross-bedding n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] layering within a stratum and at an angle to the main bedding plane.

cross bench n. a bench in the House of Lords occupied by members who are independent of any political party.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-bencher n.

crossbill n. a thickset finch with a crossed bill adapted for extracting seeds from the cones of conifers. The plumage is typically red in the male and olive green in the female.

<INFO> Genus Loxia, family Fringillidae: four species, in particular the widespread red (or common) crossbill (L. curvirostra).

crossbones n. see SKULL AND CROSSBONES at skull.

crossbow n. a medieval bow of a kind that is fixed across a wooden support and has a groove for the bolt and a mechanism for drawing and releasing the string.

<DERIVATIVES> crossbowman n. (pl. crossbowmen)

cross-breed v. [with obj.] produce (an animal or plant) by mating or hybridizing two different species, breeds, or varieties: (as adj. cross-bred) a cross-bred puppy.

- hybridize (a breed, species, or variety) with another.

- [no obj.] (of an animal or plant) breed with a different breed, species, or variety.

■ n. an animal or plant produced by cross-breeding: [as modifier] a cross-breed Labrador.

cross-check v. [with obj.] 1 verify (figures or information) by using an alternative source or method: always try to cross-check your bearings | (as n. cross-checking) no cross-checking has been done.

2 [ICE HOCKEY] obstruct (an opponent) illegally with the stick held horizontally in both hands.

■ n. an instance of cross-checking figures or information: as a cross-check they were also asked to give their date of birth.

cross-colour (US cross-color) n. [mass noun] coloured flashes of interference in a colour television receiver caused by the misinterpretation of high-frequency luminance detail as colour information.

cross-compiler n. [COMPUTING] a compiler which can convert instructions into machine code or low-level code for a computer other than that on which it is run.

cross-connection n. a connection made between two or more distinct things, typically parts of different networks or circuits.

cross-contamination n. [mass noun] the process by which bacteria or other micro-organisms are unintentionally transferred from one substance or object to another, with harmful effect.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-contaminate v.

cross-correlate v. [with obj.] compare (a sequence of data) against another.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-correlation n.

cross-country adj. 1 across fields or countryside, as opposed to on roads or tracks: cross-country walking.

- relating to or denoting skiing over relatively flat countryside, as opposed to down mountain slopes.

2 not keeping to main or direct roads, routes, or railway lines: an awkward, cross-country journey by train | [as adv.] we drove cross-country to a family reunion.

- chiefly US travelling to many different parts of a country: a whirlwind cross-country tour.

■ n. [mass noun] the sport of cross-country running, riding, skiing, or motoring: skiing in the Rockies is a pleasant mix of downhill and cross-country.

cross cousin n. each of two cousins who are children of a brother and sister.

cross-cultural adj. relating to different cultures or comparison between them: cross-cultural understanding.

cross-current n. 1 a current in a river or sea which flows across another.

2 a situation or tendency marked by conflict with another: strong cross-currents of debate.

cross-curricular adj. BRITISH involving curricula in more than one educational subject.

cross-cut v. [with obj.] 1 cut (wood or stone) across its main grain or axis.

2 alternate (one sequence) with another when editing a film.

■ n. 1 a diagonal cut, especially one across the main grain or axis of wood or stone.

2 an instance of alternating between two or more sequences when editing a film.

■ adj. (of a file) having two sets of grooves crossing each other diagonally.

cross-cut saw n. a saw with a handle at each end, used by two people for cutting across the grain of timber.

cross-dating n. [mass noun] [ARCHAEOLOGY] the dating of objects by correlation with the chronology of another culture or site.

cross-dress v. [no obj.] wear clothing typical of the opposite sex.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-dresser n.

crosse /krs/ n. the stick used in women's field lacrosse.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Old French croce ‘bishop's crook’, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to CRUTCH.

cross-examine v. [with obj.] question (a witness called by the other party) in a court of law to challenge or extend testimony already given. Compare with EXAMINATION-IN-CHIEF.

- question (someone) aggressively or in great detail: I was cross-examined over the breakfast table.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-examination n. cross-examiner n.

cross-eyed adj. having one or both eyes turned inwards towards the nose, either from focusing on something very close, through temporary loss of control of focus, or as a permanent condition (convergent strabismus).

cross-fade v. [no obj.] (in sound or film editing) make a picture or sound appear or be heard gradually as another disappears or becomes silent.

■ n. an instance of cross-fading.

cross-fertilize (also cross-fertilise) v. 1 [with obj.] fertilize (a plant) using pollen from another plant of the same species.

- [no obj.] (of two plants) fertilize each other.

2 stimulate the development of (something) with an exchange of ideas or information: sessions between the two groups cross-fertilize ideas and provide insights.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-fertilization n.

crossfire n. [mass noun] gunfire from two or more directions passing through the same area: a photographer was killed in crossfire | FIGURATIVE the sponsors are caught in the crossfire of the battle between the world champion and his team boss.

crossflow n. a type of engine cylinder head where the intake ports are on the opposite side of the engine from the exhaust ports.

cross-grain adj. [attr.] running across the regular grain in timber: cross-grain swelling.

cross-grained adj. 1 (of timber) having a grain that runs across the regular grain.

2 stubbornly contrary or bad-tempered: Bruce was a cross-grained and boastful individual.

cross guard n. a guard on a sword or dagger consisting of a short transverse bar.

cross hairs plural n. a pair of fine wires crossing at right angles at the focus of an optical instrument or gunsight, for use in positioning, aiming, or measuring.

cross-hatch v. [with obj.] (often as n. cross-hatching) (in drawing or graphics) shade (an area) with intersecting sets of parallel lines.

cross head n. 1 a bar or block between the piston rod and connecting rod in a steam engine.

2 a screw with an indented cross shape in its head.

3 (also cross heading) a heading to a paragraph printed across a column in the body of a newspaper article.

cross index n. a note or cross reference in a book or list which refers the reader to other material.

■ v. (cross-index) [with obj.] index (something) under another heading as a cross reference: (as adj. cross-indexed) a cross-indexed file.

cross infection n. [mass noun] the transfer of infection, especially to a hospital patient with a different infection or between different species of animal or plant.

crossing n. 1 a place where roads or railway lines cross.

2 a place at which one may safely cross something, especially a street.

3 [mass noun] the action of crossing something: the crossing of the Pennines.

- a journey across water in a ship: a short ferry crossing.

4 [ARCHITECTURE] the intersection of a church nave and the transepts.

crossing over n. [mass noun] [GENETICS] the exchange of genes between homologous chromosomes, resulting in a mixture of parental characteristics in offspring.

cross-legged adj. & adv. (of a seated person) with the legs crossed at the ankles and the knees bent outwards: [as adv.] John sat cross-legged on the floor.

cross light n. a light positioned to illuminate the parts of a photographic subject which the main lighting leaves in shade.

cross link n. a chemical bond between different chains of atoms in a polymer or other complex molecule.

■ v. (cross-link) make or become linked with a cross link.

- [with obj.] connect (something) by a series of transverse links.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-linkage n.

crossmatch MEDICINE v. [with obj.] test the compatibility of (a donor's and a recipient's blood or tissue).

■ n. an instance of crossmatching.

cross member n. a transverse piece which adds support to a structure.

cross of Lorraine n. another term for LORRAINE CROSS.

crossopterygian /krsptərdən/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a lobe-finned fish, such as the coelacanth.

■ adj. relating to such fishes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Crossopterygii, from Greek krossos ‘tassel’ + pterux, pterug- ‘fin’.

crossover n. 1 a point or place of crossing from one side to the other.

2 [mass noun] the process of achieving success in a different field or style, especially in popular music: [as modifier] a jazz–classical crossover album.

3 [as modifier] relating to or denoting trials of medical treatment in which experimental subjects and control groups are exchanged after a set period: a crossover study.

crossover distortion n. [mass noun] [ELECTRONICS] distortion occurring where a signal changes from positive to negative or vice versa.

crossover network n. a filter in a loudspeaker unit that divides the signal and delivers different parts to bass and treble speakers.

cross-ownership n. [mass noun] the ownership by one corporation of different companies with related interests or commercial aims.

cross-party adj. involving or relating to two or more political parties: a cross-party committee of MPs.

crosspatch n. INFORMAL a bad-tempered person.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from the adjective CROSS + obsolete patch ‘fool, clown’, perhaps from Italian pazzo ‘madman’.

cross peen (also cross pein) n. a hammer having a peen that lies crossways to the length of the shaft.

crosspiece n. a beam or bar fixed or placed across something else.

cross-platform adj. [COMPUTING] able to be used on different types of computers or with different software packages: a cross-platform game.

cross-ply adj. BRITISH (of a tyre) having fabric layers with their threads running diagonally, crosswise to each other.

cross-point adj. (of a screwdriver) having a cross-shaped point for turning cross-head screws.

cross-pollinate v. [with obj.] pollinate (a flower or plant) with pollen from another flower or plant.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-pollination n.

cross-posting n. [mass noun] 1 the transfer of an employee or officer to a different department, industry, or regiment.

2 the simultaneous sending of a message to more than one newsgroup on the Internet in such a way that the receiving software at individual sites can detect and ignore duplicates.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-post v. & n.

cross-pressure v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN expose (someone) to different, incompatible opinions: the executive has been cross-pressured by the interests of the states and the electorate.

cross product n. another term for VECTOR PRODUCT.

cross-promotion n. [mass noun] the cooperative marketing by two or more companies of one another's products.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-promote v.

cross-question v. [with obj.] question (someone) in great detail: the Chancellor was cross-questioned by the finance committee | (as n. cross-questioning) the cross-questioning of Lopez.

cross-rate n. an exchange rate between two currencies computed by reference to a third currency, usually the US dollar.

cross reaction n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] the reaction of an antibody with an antigen other than the one which gave rise to it.

cross-refer v. refer to another text or part of a text, typically in order to elaborate on a point: [no obj.] the database cross-refers to the printed book | [with obj.] the entry cross-refers readers to ‘Style’.

cross reference n. a reference to another text or part of a text, typically given in order to elaborate on a point.

■ v. (cross-reference) [with obj.] provide with cross references: entries are fully cross-referenced.

cross-rhythm n. [MUSIC] a rhythm used simultaneously with another rhythm or rhythms.

crossroads n. (pl. same) 1 an intersection of two or more roads.

- (crossroad) NORTH AMERICAN a road that crosses a main road or joins two main roads.

2 a point at which a crucial decision must be made which will have far-reaching consequences: by 1998 I was at the crossroads.

cross-ruff n. a sequence of play in bridge or whist in which partners alternately trump each other's leads.

■ v. [no obj.] alternately trump particular suits in such a way.

cross section n. 1 a surface or shape exposed by making a straight cut through something, especially at right angles to an axis: the cross section of an octahedron is a square | in cross section the sailfish's body looks like a tapering spear.

- a thin strip of organic tissue or other material removed by making two such cuts.

2 a typical or representative sample of a larger group: a cross section of our senior managers.

3 [PHYSICS] a quantity having the dimensions of an area which expresses the probability of a given interaction between particles.

■ v. (cross-section) [with obj.] make a cross section of.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-sectional adj.

cross-sectoral adj. relating to or affecting more than one group, area, or section: cross-sectoral collaboration.

cross-sell v. [with obj.] sell (a different product or service) to an existing customer: their database is used to cross-sell financial services.

cross-slide n. a sliding part on a lathe or planing machine which is supported by the saddle and carries the tool in a direction at right angles to the bed of the machine.

cross stitch [NEEDLEWORK] n. a stitch formed of two stitches crossing each other.

- [mass noun] needlework done using cross stitches.

■ v. (cross-stitch) [with obj.] sew or embroider using cross stitch: (as adj. cross-stitched) a cross-stitched pillow.

cross-subsidize (also cross-subsidise) v. [with obj.] subsidize (a business or activity) out of the profits of another business or activity.

<DERIVATIVES> cross-subsidization n. cross-subsidy n.

crosstalk n. [mass noun] 1 unwanted transfer of signals between communication channels.

2 witty conversation; repartee.

cross tie n. US a railway sleeper.

cross-train v. [no obj.] learn another skill, especially one related to one's current job.

cross-training n. [mass noun] training in two or more sports in order to improve fitness and performance, especially in a main sport.

crosstrees plural n. a pair of horizontal struts attached to a sailing ship's mast to spread the rigging, especially at the head of a topmast.

cross-voting n. [mass noun] (especially in a parliament) voting for a party one does not belong to, or for more than one party.

crosswalk n. North American and Australian term for PEDESTRIAN CROSSING.

crossways adv. another term for CROSSWISE.

crosswind n. a wind blowing across one's direction of travel.

crosswise adv. in the form of a cross: their arms were held out crosswise.

- diagonally or transversely: wash the potatoes and halve them crosswise.

crossword (also crossword puzzle) n. a puzzle consisting of a grid of squares and blanks into which words crossing vertically and horizontally are written according to clues.

<ORIGIN> said to have been invented by the journalist Arthur Wynne, whose puzzle (called a ‘word-cross’) appeared in a Sunday newspaper, the New York World, on 21 December 1913.

crosswort /krswət/ n. a yellow-flowered European plant related to the bedstraws, with leaves arranged in a cross or whorl of four.

<INFO> Cruciata laevipes, family Rubiaceae.

crostini /krstini/ plural n. small pieces of toasted or fried bread served with a topping as a starter or canapé.

<ORIGIN> Italian, plural of crostino ‘little crust’.

crotale /krət(ə)l/ n. (usually crotales) a small tuned cymbal.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: French, from Latin crotalum, denoting an ancient type of castanet, from Greek krotalon.

crotch n. 1 the part of the human body between the legs where they join the torso.

- the part of a garment that passes between the legs.

2 a fork in a tree, road, or river.

<DERIVATIVES> crotched adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting an agricultural or garden fork, also a crutch): perhaps related to Old French croche ‘crozier, shepherd's crook’, based on Old Norse krókr ‘hook’; partly also a variant of CRUTCH.

crotchet /krtt/ n. 1 [MUSIC], BRITISH a note having the time value of a quarter of a semibreve or half a minim, represented by a large solid dot with a plain stem. Also called QUARTER NOTE.

2 a perverse or unfounded belief or notion: the natural crotchets of inveterate bachelors.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘hook’): from Old French crochet, diminutive of croc ‘hook’, from Old Norse krókr.

crotchety adj. irritable: he was tired and crotchety.

<DERIVATIVES> crotchetiness n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CROTCHET (sense 2) + -Y^1.

crotchless adj. (of a garment) leaving the genitals uncovered.

croton /krət(ə)n/ n. 1 a strong-scented tree, shrub, or herbaceous plant of the spurge family, native to tropical and warm regions. Several kinds yield timber and other commercially important products.

<INFO> Genus Croton, family Euphorbiaceae: numerous species, including C. laccifer, the host plant for the lac insect.

2 a small evergreen tree or shrub of the Indo-Pacific region, which is grown for its colourful ornamental foliage.

<INFO> Genus Codiaeum, family Euphorbiaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek krotōn ‘sheep tick’ (from the shape of the seeds of the croton in sense 1).

croton oil n. [mass noun] a foul-smelling oil, formerly used as a purgative, obtained from the seeds of a tropical Asian croton tree.

<INFO> The tree is Croton tiglium (family Euphorbiaceae).

crottin /krta/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) a small, round goat's cheese.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘piece of horse dung’.

crottle /krt(ə)l/ (also crotal) n. a common lichen found on rocks, used in Scotland to make a golden-brown or reddish-brown dye for staining wool for making tweed.

<INFO> Parmelia saxatilis (order Parmeliales) and other species.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Scottish Gaelic and Irish crotal, crotan.

crouch v. [no obj.] adopt a position where the knees are bent and the upper body is brought forward and down, typically in order to avoid detection or to defend oneself: we crouched down in the trench | (be crouched) Leo was crouched before the fire.

■ n. [in sing.] a crouching stance or posture.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps from Old French crochir ‘be bent’, from croche (see CROTCH).

croup^1 /krup/ n. [mass noun] inflammation of the larynx and trachea in children, associated with infection and causing breathing difficulties.

<DERIVATIVES> croupy adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from dialect croup ‘to croak’, of imitative origin.

croup^2 /krup/ n. the rump or hindquarters, especially of a horse.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French croupe, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to CROP.

croupade /krped/ n. a movement performed in classical riding, in which the horse leaps from the ground with its legs tucked under its body.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: French, from Italian groppata, from groppa ‘croup’.

croupier /krupə -pe/ n. 1 the person in charge of a gaming table, responsible for gathering in and paying out money or tokens.

2 HISTORICAL the assistant chairman at a public dinner, seated at the lower end of the table.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting a person standing behind a gambler to give advice): French, from Old French cropier ‘pillion rider, rider on the croup’, related to Old French croupe (see croup^2). Compare with CRUPPER.

croustade /krstαd/ n. a crisp piece of bread or pastry hollowed to receive a savoury filling.

<ORIGIN> French, from Old French crouste or Italian crostata ‘tart’ (from crosta ‘crust’).

croute /krut/ n. a piece of toasted bread on which savoury snacks can be served. See also EN CROUTE.

<ORIGIN> French croûte (see CRUST).

crouton /krutn/ n. a small piece of fried or toasted bread served with soup or used as a garnish.

<ORIGIN> from French croûton, from croûte (see CRUST).

Crow n. (pl. same or Crows) 1 a member of an American Indian people inhabiting eastern Montana.

2 [mass noun] the Siouan language of the Crow, with about 5,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Crow or their language.

<ORIGIN> suggested by French gens de corbeaux, translating Siouan apsáaloke ‘crow people’.

crow^1 n. 1 a large perching bird with mostly glossy black plumage, a heavy bill, and a raucous voice.

<INFO> Genus Corvus, family Corvidae (the crow family): several species, including the carrion crow (C. corone) and the American crow (C. brachyrhynchos). The crow family also includes the ravens, jays, magpies, choughs, and nutcrackers.

2 INFORMAL, DEROGATORY an old or ugly woman.

<PHRASES>

□ as the crow flies in a straight line: Easingwold was 22 miles away as the crow flies.

□ eat crow NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be humiliated by having to admit one's defeats or mistakes.

<ORIGIN> Old English crāwe, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch kraai and German Krähe, also to crow^2.

crow^2 v. (past crowed or crew) [no obj.] 1 (of a cock) utter its characteristic loud cry.

2 (of a person) express great pride or triumph, especially in a tone of gloating satisfaction: Ruby crowed with delight | avoid crowing about your success | [with direct speech] ‘I knew you 'd be back,’ she crowed.

■ n. 1 [usually in sing.] the cry of a cock.

2 a sound made by a person expressing great pride or triumph: she gave a little crow of triumph.

<ORIGIN> Old English crāwan, of West Germanic origin; related to German krähen, also to crow^1; ultimately imitative.

crowbait n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DEROGATORY an old horse.

crowbar n. an iron bar with a flattened end, used as a lever.

■ v. (crowbars, crowbarring, crowbarred) [with obj. and complement] use a crowbar to open (something): he crowbarred the box open.

crowberry n. (pl. crowberries) a creeping heather-like dwarf shrub with small leaves and black berries, growing on moorland.

<INFO> Empetrum nigrum, family Empetraceae.

- the edible but flavourless black berry of the crowberry.

crowd n. a large number of people gathered together in a disorganized or unruly way: a huge crowd gathered in the street outside.

- an audience, especially one at a sporting event: they played before a 25,000 crowd | [as modifier] a match marred by crowd trouble.

- INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY a group of people who are linked by a common interest or activity: I've broken away from that whole junkie crowd.

- (the crowd) the mass or multitude of ordinary people: make yourself stand out from the crowd.

- a large number of things regarded collectively: the crowd of tall buildings.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (of a number of people) fill (a space) almost completely, leaving little or no room for movement: the dance floor was crowded with revellers.

- [no obj.] (crowd into) (of a number of people) move into (a restricted space): they crowded into the cockpit.

- [no obj.] (crowd round) (of a group of people) form a tightly packed mass around: photographers crowded round him.

2 move too close to (someone): don't crowd her, she needs air.

- [no obj.] (crowd in on) overwhelm and preoccupy (someone): as demands crowd in on you it becomes difficult to keep things in perspective.

3 (crowd someone/thing out) exclude someone or something by taking their place: rampant plants will crowd out the less vigorous.

<ORIGIN> Old English crūdan ‘press, hasten’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kruien ‘push in a wheelbarrow’. In Middle English the senses ‘move by pushing’ and ‘push one's way’ arose, leading to the sense ‘congregate’, and hence (mid 16th century) to the noun.

crowded adj. (of a space) full of people, leaving little or no room for movement; packed: a very crowded room | the crowded streets of Southwark.

<DERIVATIVES> crowdedness n.

crowdie /kradi/ (also crowdy) n. [mass noun] a soft Scottish cheese made from buttermilk or sour milk.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CRUD + -IE.

crowd-pleaser n. a person or thing with great popular appeal: once again, the group has produced an album which is bound to be a crowd-pleaser.

<DERIVATIVES> crowd-pleasing adj.

crowd-puller n. INFORMAL an event, person, or display that attracts a large audience.

<DERIVATIVES> crowd-pulling adj.

crowdsourcing n. [mass noun] the practice whereby an organization enlists a variety of freelancers, paid or unpaid, to work on a specific task or problem.

crowd-surf v. [no obj.] be passed in a prone position over the heads of the audience at a rock concert, typically after having jumped from the stage.

croweater n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a South Australian.

crowfoot n. (pl. crowfoots) a herbaceous plant related to the buttercups, typically having lobed or divided leaves and white or yellow flowers. Many kinds are aquatic with flowers held above the water.

<INFO> Genus Ranunculus, family Ranunculaceae: many species, in particular the European water crowfoot (R. aquatilis).

crow hop n. a short jump with both feet together.

- NORTH AMERICAN a jump by a horse with its back arched and its legs stiffened.

crown n. 1 a circular ornamental headdress worn by a monarch as a symbol of authority, usually made of or decorated with precious metals and jewels.

- (the Crown) the monarchy or reigning monarch: their loyalty to the Church came before their loyalty to the Crown.

- an ornament, emblem, or badge shaped like a crown.

- a wreath of leaves or flowers, especially that worn as an emblem of victory in ancient Greece or Rome.

2 an award or distinction gained by a victory or achievement, especially in sport: the world heavyweight crown.

3 the top or highest part of something: the crown of the hill.

- the top part of a person's head or a hat.

- the part of a plant just above and below the ground from which the roots and shoots branch out.

- the upper branching or spreading part of a tree or other plant.

- the upper part of a cut gem, above the girdle.

4 the part of a tooth projecting from the gum.

- an artificial replacement or covering for the upper part of a tooth.

5 (also crown piece) a British coin with a face value of five shillings or 25 pence, now minted only for commemorative purposes.

- a foreign coin with a name meaning ‘crown’, especially the krona or krone.

6 (in full metric crown) [mass noun] a paper size, 384 × 504 mm.

- (in full crown octavo) a book size, 186 × 123 mm.

- (in full crown quarto) a book size, 246 × 189 mm.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 ceremonially place a crown on the head of (someone) in order to invest them as a monarch: he went to Rome to be crowned | [with complement] she was crowned queen in 1953.

- [with obj. and complement] declare or acknowledge (someone) as the best, especially at a sport: he was crowned world champion last September.

- (in draughts) promote (a piece) to king by placing another on top of it.

2 rest on or form the top of: the distant knoll was crowned with trees.

3 be the triumphant culmination of (an effort or endeavour, especially a prolonged one): years of struggle were crowned by a state visit to Paris | (as adj. crowning) the crowning moment of a worthy career.

4 fit a crown to (a tooth).

5 INFORMAL hit on the head: she contained the urge to crown him.

6 [no obj.] (of a baby's head during labour) fully appear in the vaginal opening prior to emerging.

<PHRASES>

□ crowning glory the best and most notable aspect of something: the scene is the crowning glory of this marvellously entertaining show.

- chiefly HUMOROUS a person's hair.

□ to crown it all BRITISH as the final event in a series of particularly fortunate or unfortunate events: it was cold and raining, and, to crown it all, we had to walk home.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French corune (noun), coruner (verb), Old French corone (noun), coroner (verb), from Latin corona ‘wreath, chaplet’.

Crown Agents plural n. a body appointed by the British government to provide commercial and financial services, originally to British colonies, now to foreign governments and international bodies. It is responsible to the Minister for Overseas Development and its full title (as re-established in 1979) is the Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administrations.

crown and anchor n. [mass noun] a gambling game played with three dice each bearing a crown, an anchor, and the four card suits, and played on a board similarly marked.

Crown attorney n. Canadian term for CROWN PROSECUTOR.

crown cap n. another term for CROWN CORK.

Crown Colony n. a British colony whose legislature and administration is controlled by the Crown, represented by a governor. Some British dependencies within the Commonwealth still retain the designation, with varying degrees of self-government.

crown cork n. a metal bottle cap with a crimped edge.

Crown Court n. (in England and Wales) a court of criminal jurisdiction, which deals with serious offences and appeals referred from the magistrates' courts.

Crown Derby n. [mass noun] a kind of soft-paste porcelain made at Derby and often marked with a crown above the letter ‘D’.

crowned crane n. an African crane with a yellowish bristly crest, a mainly black or dark grey body, much white on the wings, and pink and white cheeks.

<INFO> Genus Balearica, family Gruidae: two species, in particular the (black) crowned crane (B. pavonina).

crowned head n. a king or queen.

crowned pigeon n. the largest known pigeon, which has mainly bluish plumage and a tall erect crest, found in New Guinea. Also called GOURA.

<INFO> Genus Goura, family Columbidae: three species.

crown ether n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a class of organic compounds whose molecules are large rings containing a number of ether linkages.

crown fire n. a forest fire that spreads from treetop to treetop.

crown gall n. [mass noun] a bacterial disease of plants, especially fruit bushes and trees, which is characterized by large tumour-like galls on the roots and lower trunk.

<INFO> This disease is caused by the soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

- [count noun] a gall of this type.

crown glass n. [mass noun] glass made without lead or iron, originally in a circular sheet. Formerly used in windows, it is now used as optical glass of low refractive index.

crown green n. BRITISH a kind of bowling green which rises slightly towards the middle: [as modifier] crown green bowls.

crown imperial n. an Asian fritillary (plant) with a cluster of bell-like flowers at the top of a tall, largely bare stem.

<INFO> Fritillaria imperialis, family Liliaceae.

Crown jewels plural n. the crown and other ornaments and jewellery worn or carried by the sovereign on certain state occasions.

Crown land n. [mass noun] (also Crown lands) land belonging to the British Crown.

- land belonging to the state in some parts of the Commonwealth.

crown moulding n. US term for cornice (sense 1).

Crown Office n. (in the UK) an office of the Supreme Court responsible for listing cases to be tried in the High Court.

crown of thorns n. 1 a large spiky starfish of the tropical Indo-Pacific, feeding on coral and sometimes causing great damage to reefs.

<INFO> Acanthaster planci, class Asteroidea.

2 a Madagascan shrub of the spurge family, with bright red flowers and many slender thorns. It is a popular house plant and is sometimes used for hedging in the tropics. Also called CHRIST'S THORN.

<INFO> Euphorbia milii, family Euphorbiaceae.

- any of a number of thorny plants, especially Christ's thorn (Ziziphus spina-christi).

<ORIGIN> by association with Christ's crown of thorns.

Crown prince n. (in some countries) a male heir to a throne.

Crown princess n. the wife of a Crown prince.

- (in some countries) a female heir to a throne.

Crown Prosecution Service (abbr.: CPS)

- (in England and Wales) an independent organization which decides whether cases brought by the police proceed to the criminal court. Its head is the Director of Public Prosecutions, with each region having its own Chief Crown Prosecutor.

Crown prosecutor n. (in England, Wales, and Canada) a lawyer who acts for the Crown, especially a prosecutor in a criminal court. In Canada also called CROWN ATTORNEY.

crown roast n. a roast of rib pieces of pork or lamb arranged like a crown in a circle with the bones pointing upwards.

crown saw n. another term for HOLE SAW.

crown wheel n. a gearwheel or cogwheel with teeth that project from the face of the wheel at right angles, used especially in the gears of motor vehicles.

crow-pheasant n. a coucal, especially the greater coucal, which has black plumage with chestnut wings and back and is found in South Asia.

<INFO> Genus Centropus, family Cuculidae, especially C. sinensis.

crow quill n. a quill pen made from a large feather of a crow's wing, formerly used for fine writing.

- (also crow-quill pen) a small, fine pen for map drawing.

crow's foot n. (pl. crow's feet) 1 a branching wrinkle at the outer corner of a person's eye.

2 a mark, symbol, or design formed of lines diverging from a point, resembling a bird's footprint.

3 HISTORICAL a military caltrop.

crowsfoot spanner n. an adjustable spanner.

crow's-nest n. a shelter or platform fixed at the masthead of a vessel as a place for a lookout to stand.

crow steps plural n. step-like projections on the sloping part of a gable, common in Flemish architecture and 16th- and 17th-century Scottish buildings.

<DERIVATIVES> crow-stepped adj.

croze /krəz/ n. a groove at the end of a cask or barrel to receive the edge of the head.

- a cooper's tool for making croze grooves.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps from French creux, creuse ‘hollow’.

Crozet Islands /krəze/ a group of five small islands in the southern Indian Ocean, under French administration.

crozier /krəzə/ (also crosier) n. 1 a hooked staff carried by a bishop as a symbol of pastoral office.

2 the curled top of a young fern.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting the person who carried a processional cross in front of an archbishop): partly from Old French croisier ‘cross-bearer’, from crois ‘cross’, based on Latin crux; reinforced by Old French crocier ‘bearer of a bishop's crook’, from croce (see CROSSE).

CRT abbr. cathode ray tube.

cru /kru/ French /kRY/ n. (pl. crus pronunc. same) (in France) a vineyard or group of vineyards, especially one of recognized superior quality. See also GRAND CRU, PREMIER CRU.

<ORIGIN> French, from crû, literally ‘growth’, past participle of croître.

crubeen /krubin/ n. IRISH a boiled pig's trotter as food.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Irish crúibín, diminutive of crúb ‘claw, hoof’.

cruces plural form of CRUX.

crucial /kru(ə)l/ adj. decisive or critical, especially in the success or failure of something: negotiations were at a crucial stage.

- of great importance: this game is crucial to our survival.

- INFORMAL excellent.

<DERIVATIVES> cruciality /-alti/ n. crucially adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘cross-shaped’): from French, from Latin crux, cruc- ‘cross’. The sense ‘decisive’ is from Francis Bacon's Latin phrase instantia crucis ‘crucial instance’, which he explained as a metaphor from a crux or fingerpost marking a fork at a crossroad; Newton and Boyle took up the metaphor in experimentum crucis ‘crucial experiment’.

crucian /kru(ə)n/ (also crucian carp) n. a small olive-green to reddish-brown European carp of still or slow-moving waters, important as a farmed fish in eastern Europe.

<INFO> Carassius carassius, family Cyprinidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Low German karusse, karutze, perhaps based on Latin coracinus, from Greek korax ‘raven’, also denoting a black fish found in the Nile.

cruciate /kruət -et/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [BOTANY] cross-shaped.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin cruciatus, from crux, cruc- ‘cross’.

cruciate ligament n. [ANATOMY] either of a pair of ligaments in the knee which cross each other and connect the femur to the tibia.

crucible /krusb(ə)l/ n. a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures.

- a situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new: their relationship was forged in the crucible of war.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin crucibulum ‘night lamp, crucible’ (perhaps originally a lamp hanging in front of a crucifix), from Latin crux, cruc- ‘cross’.

crucifer /krusfə/ n. 1 [BOTANY] a cruciferous plant, with four petals arranged in a cross.

2 a person carrying a cross or crucifix in a procession.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Christian Latin, from Latin crux, cruc- ‘cross’.

cruciferous /krusf(ə)rəs/ adj. [BOTANY] relating to or denoting plants of the cabbage family (Cruciferae).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Cruciferae (plural), from Latin crux, cruc- ‘cross’ + -fer ‘bearing’ (because the flowers have four equal petals arranged crosswise), + -OUS.

crucifix /krusfks/ n. a representation of a cross with a figure of Christ on it.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin crucifixus, from Latin cruci fixus ‘fixed to a cross’. Compare with CRUCIFY.

crucifixion /krusfk(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] an ancient form of execution in which a person was nailed or bound to a cross.

- (the Crucifixion) the killing of Jesus Christ by crucifixion.

- (Crucifixion) an artistic representation or musical composition based on the Crucifixion.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin crucifixio(n-), from the verb crucifigere (see CRUCIFY).

cruciform /krusfm/ adj. having the shape of a cross: a cruciform sword.

- (of a church) having a cross-shaped plan with a nave and transepts.

■ n. a thing shaped like a cross.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin crux, cruc- ‘cross’ + -IFORM.

crucify /krusf/ v. (crucifies, crucifying, crucified) [with obj.] 1 HISTORICAL put (someone) to death by nailing or binding them to a cross: two thieves were crucified with Jesus.

- cause anguish to (someone): she'd been crucified by his departure.

2 INFORMAL criticize (someone) severely and unrelentingly: our fans would crucify us if we lost.

<DERIVATIVES> crucifier n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French crucifier, from late Latin crucifigere, from Latin crux, cruc- ‘cross’ + figere ‘fix’. Compare with CRUCIFIX.

cruciverbalist /krusvəb(ə)lst/ n. a person who enjoys or is skilled at solving crosswords.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Latin crux, cruci- ‘cross’ and VERBALIST.

cruck /krk/ n. BRITISH either of a pair of curved timbers extending from ground level to the transverse beam or ridge of a roof and forming a structure frame in a medieval timber-framed house: [as modifier] a cruck barn.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: variant of CROOK.

crud n. [mass noun] INFORMAL 1 a substance which is considered unpleasant or disgusting, typically because of its dirtiness.

- heavy snow on which it is difficult to ski.

2 nonsense: the usual crud which passes itself off as a smart twenty-something comedy.

3 [count noun] a contemptible person.

<DERIVATIVES> cruddy adj. (cruddier, cruddiest)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of CURD (the original sense). The earliest modern senses, ‘filth’ and ‘nonsense’ (originally US), date from the 1940s.

crude adj. 1 in a natural or raw state; not yet processed or refined: crude oil.

- [STATISTICS] (of figures) not adjusted or corrected: the crude mortality rate.

- (of an estimate or guess) likely to be only approximately accurate.

2 constructed in a rudimentary or makeshift way: a relatively crude nuclear weapon.

- (of an action) showing little finesse or subtlety and as a result unlikely to succeed: the measure was condemned by economists as crude and ill-conceived.

3 offensively coarse or rude, especially in relation to sexual matters: a crude joke.

■ n. [mass noun] natural mineral oil: the ship was carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude.

<DERIVATIVES> crudely adv. crudeness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin crudus ‘raw, rough’.

crudités /krudte/ plural n. mixed raw vegetables served as an hors d'oeuvre, typically with a sauce into which they may be dipped.

<ORIGIN> plural of French crudité ‘rawness, crudity’, from Latin crudus ‘raw, rough’.

crudity n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being rudimentary or makeshift; primitiveness: he criticises the crudity of design.

2 the quality of being offensively coarse or rude; vulgarity: the crudity of the language.

cruel adj. (crueller, cruellest; US crueler, cruelest) wilfully causing pain or suffering to others, or feeling no concern about it: people who are cruel to animals | a cruel remark.

- causing pain or suffering: the winters are long, hard, and cruel.

■ v. (cruels, cruelling, cruelled) [with obj.] AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL spoil or ruin (an opportunity or a chance of success): Ernie nearly cruelled the whole thing by laughing. [<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps influenced by the idiom queer someone's pitch (see QUEER).]

<PHRASES>

□ be cruel to be kind act towards someone in a way which seems harsh but will ultimately be of benefit to them.

<DERIVATIVES> cruelly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin CRUDElis, related to crudus (see CRUDE).

cruelty n. (pl. cruelties) [mass noun] cruel behaviour or attitudes: he has treated her with extreme cruelty | we can't stand cruelty to animals | [count noun] the cruelties of forced assimilation and genocide.

- [LAW] behaviour which causes physical or mental harm to another, especially a spouse, whether intentionally or not.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French crualte, based on Latin crudelitas, from crudelis (see CRUEL).

cruelty-free adj. (of cosmetics or other commercial products) manufactured or developed by methods which do not involve cruelty to animals.

cruet /krut/ n. 1 a small container or set of containers for salt, pepper, oil, or vinegar for use at a dining table.

2 (in church use) a small container for the wine or water to be used in the celebration of the Eucharist.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Anglo-Norman French, diminutive of Old French crue ‘pot’, from Old Saxon krūka; related to crock^2.

Cruft /krft/ Charles (1852–1939), English showman. In 1886 he initiated the first dog show in London. The Cruft's shows, held annually, have helped to raise standards in dog breeding.

Cruikshank /krkak/ George (1792–1878), English painter, illustrator, and caricaturist. The most eminent political cartoonist of his day, he was known for exposing the private life of the Prince Regent. His later work includes illustrations for Charles Dickens's Sketches by Boz (1836), and a series of etchings supporting the temperance movement.

cruise v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial] sail about in an area without a precise destination, especially for pleasure: they were cruising off the California coast | [with obj.] she cruised the canals of France in a barge.

- take a holiday on a ship or boat following a predetermined course, usually calling in at several places.

- travel or move slowly around without a specific destination in mind: a police van cruised past us | [with obj.] teenagers were aimlessly cruising the mall.

2 [no obj.] (of a motor vehicle or aircraft) travel smoothly at a moderate or economical speed.

3 [no obj., with adverbial] achieve an objective with ease, especially in sport: Millwall cruised to a 2–0 win over Leicester.

4 [no obj.] INFORMAL wander about in search of a sexual partner: he spends his time cruising and just hanging out in New Orleans | [with obj.] he cruised the gay bars of Los Angeles.

■ n. a voyage on a ship or boat taken for pleasure or as a holiday and usually calling in at several places: a cruise down the Nile | [as modifier] a cruise liner.

<PHRASES>

□ cruising for a bruising INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN heading or looking for trouble.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a verb): probably from Dutch kruisen ‘to cross’, from kruis ‘cross’, from Latin crux.

cruise control n. a device in a motor vehicle which can be switched on to maintain a selected constant speed without the use of the accelerator pedal.

cruise missile n. a low-flying missile which is guided to its target by an on-board computer.

cruiser n. 1 a relatively fast warship larger than a destroyer and less heavily armed than a battleship.

2 a yacht or motor boat with passenger accommodation, designed for leisure use.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a police patrol car.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Dutch kruiser, from kruisen (see CRUISE).

cruiserweight n. chiefly BRITISH another term for LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT.

cruising chute n. [NAUTICAL] a type of spinnaker that is designed to be more stable but less efficient than a normal spinnaker.

cruising speed n. a speed for a particular vehicle, ship, or aircraft, usually somewhat below maximum, that is comfortable and economical.

cruiskeen /krukin/ n. IRISH a small jug.

<ORIGIN> Irish crúiscín.

cruller /krlə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a small cake made of rich dough twisted or curled and fried in deep fat.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Dutch kruller, from krullen ‘to curl’.

crumb n. 1 a small fragment of bread, cake, or biscuit.

- [mass noun] the soft inner part of a loaf of bread.

2 a very small amount of something: the Budget provided few crumbs of comfort.

3 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an objectionable or contemptible person: he's an absolute crumb.

4 (also crumb rubber) [mass noun] granulated rubber, usually made from recycled car tyres.

■ v. [with obj.] cover (food) with breadcrumbs: (as adj. crumbed) crispy crumbed mushrooms with garlic dip.

<PHRASES>

□ crumbs from ——'s table an unfair and inadequate share of something large.

<ORIGIN> Old English cruma, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kruim and German Krume. The final -b was added in the 16th century, perhaps from CRUMBLE but also influenced by words such as dumb, where the original final -b is retained although no longer pronounced.

crumble v. [no obj.] break or fall apart into small fragments, especially as part of a process of deterioration: the plaster started to crumble | (as adj. crumbling) their crumbling ancestral home.

- [with obj.] cause (something) to break apart into small fragments: the easiest way to crumble blue cheese.

- (of something abstract) disintegrate gradually over a period of time: the party's fragile unity began to crumble.

■ n. [mass noun] BRITISH a mixture of flour and fat that is rubbed to the texture of breadcrumbs and cooked as a topping for fruit.

- a pudding made with crumble and fruit: apple crumble.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from an Old English word related to CRUMB.

crumbly adj. (crumblier, crumbliest) consisting of or easily breaking into small fragments: the cheese has a sharp flavour and is crumbly and moist.

■ n. (pl. crumblies) INFORMAL, HUMOROUS or DEROGATORY an old person: the high proportion of crumblies in the population.

<DERIVATIVES> crumbliness n.

crumbs exclam. BRITISH INFORMAL used to express dismay or surprise: ‘Crumbs,’ said Emily, ‘how embarrassing.’.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: euphemism for Christ.

crumb structure n. [mass noun] the porous structure or condition of soil when its particles are moderately aggregated.

crumby adj. (crumbier, crumbiest) 1 resembling or covered in crumbs.

2 variant spelling of CRUMMY.

crummy (also crumby) INFORMAL adj. (crummier, crummiest; crumbier, crumbiest) dirty, unpleasant, or of poor quality: a crummy little room.

- unwell: I've been feeling pretty crummy the last few days.

■ n. NORTH AMERICAN a truck used to transport loggers to and from work.

<DERIVATIVES> crummily adv. crumminess n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (earlier in the literal senses ‘crumbly’ and ‘like or covered with crumbs’): variant of CRUMBY.

crump n. a loud thudding sound, especially one made by an exploding bomb or shell.

■ v. [no obj.] make such a sound.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: imitative. The original sense (as a verb) was ‘munch, crunch’, later ‘hit hard’ (used initially as a term in the game of cricket), and then the military sense ‘bombard’ (First World War).

crumpet n. 1 a thick, flat, savoury cake with a soft, porous texture, made from a yeast mixture cooked on a griddle and eaten toasted and buttered.

2 [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL people, especially women, regarded as objects of sexual desire: fat chance of our running into any crumpet | [in sing.] he's the thinking woman's crumpet.

3 ARCHAIC, INFORMAL a person's head.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

■ Sense 2 dates from the 1930s.

crumple v. [with obj.] crush (something, typically paper or cloth) so that it becomes creased and wrinkled: he crumpled up the paper bag | (as adj. crumpled) a crumpled sheet.

- [no obj.] become creased, bent, or crooked: the bumper crumpled as it glanced off the wall.

- [no obj.] (of a person) suddenly flop down to the ground: she crumpled to the floor in a dead faint | FIGURATIVE her composure crumpled.

- [no obj.] (of a person's face) suddenly sag and show an expression of desolation: the child's face crumpled and he began to howl.

■ n. a crushed fold, crease, or wrinkle.

<DERIVATIVES> crumply adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from obsolete crump ‘make or become curved’, from Old English crump ‘bent, crooked’, of West Germanic origin; related to German krumm.

crumple zone n. a part of a motor vehicle, especially the extreme front and rear, designed to crumple easily in a crash and absorb the main force of an impact.

crunch v. [with obj.] 1 crush (a hard or brittle foodstuff) with the teeth, making a loud but muffled grinding sound: she paused to crunch a ginger biscuit.

- [no obj.] make a crunching sound, especially when walking or driving over gravel or an icy surface.

2 (especially of a computer) process (large quantities of information): the program crunches data from 14,000 sensors to decipher evolving patterns.

■ n. 1 [usually in sing.] a loud muffled grinding sound like that of something hard or brittle being crushed: Marco's fist struck Brian's nose with a crunch.

2 (the crunch) INFORMAL a crucial point or situation, typically one at which a decision with important consequences must be made: when it comes to the crunch you chicken out.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a severe shortage of money or credit: the agencies are facing a financial crunch.

3 a physical exercise designed to strengthen the abdominal muscles; a sit-up.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (as a verb): variant of 17th-cent. cranch (probably imitative), by association with CRUSH and MUNCH.

cruncher n. INFORMAL 1 a critical or vital point; a crucial or difficult question.

2 a computer, system, or person able to perform very large or complex operations: a global information cruncher. See also NUMBER CRUNCHER.

crunchy adj. (crunchier, crunchiest) 1 making a sharp noise when bitten or crushed: bake until the topping is crunchy.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL politically liberal and environmentally aware: a song that incorporates whale-singing seems pretty crunchy.

<DERIVATIVES> crunchily adv. crunchiness n.

crupper /krpə/ n. a strap buckled to the back of a saddle and looped under the horse's tail to prevent the saddle or harness from slipping forward.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cropiere, related to croupe (see croup^2). Compare with CROUPIER.

crura plural form of CRUS.

crura cerebri plural form of CRUS CEREBRI.

crural /krər(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] relating to the leg or the thigh.

- relating to any part called ‘crus’, for example, the crura cerebri.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin cruralis, from crus, crur- ‘leg’.

crus /krs/ n. (pl. crura /krərə/) [ANATOMY] an elongated part of an anatomical structure, especially one which occurs in the body as a pair. See CRUS CEREBRI.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, ‘leg’.

crusade /krused/ n. 1 (Crusade) each of a series of medieval military expeditions made by Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries.

- a war instigated for alleged religious ends.

2 a vigorous campaign for political, social, or religious change: a crusade against crime.

■ v. [no obj.] (often as adj. crusading) lead or take part in a vigorous campaign for social, political, or religious change: a crusading stance on poverty.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally as croisade): from French croisade, an alteration (influenced by Spanish cruzado) of earlier croisée, literally ‘the state of being marked with the cross’, based on Latin crux, cruc- ‘cross’; in the 17th century the form crusado, from Spanish cruzado, was introduced. The blending of these two forms led to the current spelling, first recorded in the early 18th cent.

crusader /krusedə/ n. 1 (Crusader) a fighter in the medieval Crusades.

2 a person who campaigns vigorously for political, social, or religious change; a campaigner: crusaders for early detection and treatment of mental illnesses.

crus cerebri /sεrbr/ n. (pl. crura cerebri) [ANATOMY] either of two symmetrical tracts of nerve fibres at the base of the midbrain, linking the pons and the cerebral hemispheres.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘leg of the brain’.

cruse /kruz/ n. ARCHAIC an earthenware pot or jar.

<ORIGIN> Old English crūse, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kroes and German Krause; reinforced in Middle English by Low German krūs.

crush v. [with obj.] 1 deform, pulverize, or force inwards by compressing forcefully: you can crush a pill between two spoons | a labourer was crushed to death by a lorry | (as adj. crushed) the crushed remains of a Ford Cortina.

- crease or crumple (cloth or paper).

2 violently subdue (opposition or a rebellion): the government had taken elaborate precautions to crush any resistance.

3 make (someone) feel overwhelmingly disappointed or embarrassed: I was crushed—was I not good enough? | (as adj. crushing) the news came as a crushing blow.

■ n. 1 [usually in sing.] a crowd of people pressed closely together: a number of youngsters fainted in the crush.

2 INFORMAL a brief but intense infatuation for someone: she did have a crush on Dr Russell.

3 [mass noun] a drink made from the juice of pressed fruit: lemon crush.

4 (also crush pen) a fenced passage with one narrow end, used for handling cattle or sheep.

<DERIVATIVES> crushable adj. crusher n. crushingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cruissir, ‘gnash (teeth) or crack’, of unknown origin.

crush bar n. BRITISH a bar in a theatre or opera house selling drinks to the audience in the interval.

crush barrier n. BRITISH a barrier, especially a temporary one, for restraining a crowd.

crushed velvet n. [mass noun] velvet which has its nap pointing in different directions in irregular patches.

crush zone n. another term for CRUMPLE ZONE.

crusie /kruzi/ (also cruisie) n. (pl. crusies) SCOTTISH HISTORICAL a small oil lamp with a handle.

- a triangular candlestick.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: perhaps representing French creuset ‘crucible’.

crust n. 1 the tough outer part of a loaf of bread: a sandwich with the crusts cut off | [mass noun] I tore off several pieces of crust from the loaf.

- a hard, dry scrap of bread: a kindly old woman might give her a crust.

2 a hardened layer, coating, or deposit on the surface of something soft: a crust of snow.

- a layer of pastry covering a pie.

- the outermost layer of rock of which a planet consists, especially the part of the earth above the mantle: the earth's crust.

- a deposit of tartrates and other substances formed in wine aged in the bottle, especially port.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL a living or livelihood: I've been earning a crust wherever I can.

■ v. [no obj.] form into a hard outer layer: the blisters eventually crust over.

- [with obj.] cover with a hard outer layer: the burns crusted his cheek.

<DERIVATIVES> crustal adj. ([GEOLOGY])

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French crouste, from Latin crusta ‘rind, shell, crust’.

Crustacea /krste(ə)/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large group of mainly aquatic arthropods which include crabs, lobsters, shrimps, woodlice, barnacles, and many minute forms. They are very diverse, but most have four or more pairs of limbs and several other appendages.

<INFO> Subphylum (or phylum) Crustacea.

- (crustacea) arthropods of this group.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from crusta (see CRUST).

crustacean [ZOOLOGY] n. an arthropod of the large, mainly aquatic group Crustacea, such as a crab, lobster, shrimp, or barnacle.

■ adj. relating to or denoting crustaceans.

<DERIVATIVES> crustaceous adj.

crusted adj. 1 having or forming a hard outer layer: she washed away the crusted blood.

- denoting a style of unfiltered, blended port which deposits a sediment in the bottle.

2 old-fashioned or venerable: a crusted establishment figure.

crustose /krstəs/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a lichen or alga) forming or resembling a crust.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin crustosus, from crusta (see CRUST).

crusty adj. (crustier, crustiest) 1 having or acting as a hard outer layer or covering: crusty bread | Lake Manyara was ringed by crusty salt deposits.

2 (especially of an old person) easily irritated: a crusty old Scots judge.

■ n. (also crustie) (plural crusties) INFORMAL a young person who is homeless or travels constantly, has a shabby appearance, and rejects conventional values.

<DERIVATIVES> crustily adv. crustiness n.

crutch n. 1 a long stick with a crosspiece at the top, used as a support under the armpit by a lame person.

- [in sing.] a thing used for support or reassurance: they use the Internet as a crutch for their loneliness.

2 the crotch of the body or a garment.

<ORIGIN> Old English crycc, cryc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kruk and German Krücke.

Crutched Friars an order of mendicant friars established in Italy by 1169, which spread to England, France, and the Low Countries in the 13th century and was suppressed in 1656.

<ORIGIN> crutched (earlier crouched), from Latin crux, cruc- ‘cross’, referring to the cross worn on the top of their staves, and later on the front of their habits.

Crux /krks/ [ASTRONOMY] the smallest constellation (the Cross or Southern Cross), but the most familiar one to observers in the southern hemisphere. It contains the bright star Acrux, the ‘Jewel Box’ star cluster, and most of the Coalsack nebula. Formerly called Crux Australis.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

crux /krks/ n. (pl. cruxes or cruces /krusiz/) (the crux) the decisive or most important point at issue: the crux of the matter is that attitudes have changed.

- a particular point of difficulty: both cruces can be resolved by a consideration of the manuscripts.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a representation of a cross, chiefly in crux ansata ‘ankh’, literally ‘cross with a handle’): from Latin, literally ‘cross’.

Cruyff /krf/ Johan (b.1947), Dutch footballer and football manager. An attacking midfielder, he was a member of the Ajax team that won three consecutive European Cup Finals (1971–3) and captained the Netherlands in their World Cup Final defeat by West Germany (1974).

cry v. (cries, crying, cried) [no obj.] 1 shed tears in distress, pain, or sorrow: don't cry—it'll be all right | [with obj.] you'll cry tears of joy.

2 shout or scream in fear, pain, or grief: the little girl fell down and cried for mummy.

- [with direct speech] say something loudly in an excited or anguished tone of voice: ‘Where will it end?’ he cried out.

- [with obj.] (of a hawker) proclaim (wares) for sale in the street.

3 (cry out for) demand as a self-evident requirement or solution: the scheme cries out for reform.

4 (cry someone/thing up or down) DATED praise (or disparage) someone or something.

5 (of a bird or other animal) make a loud characteristic call: the wild birds cried out over the water.

6 (cry off) BRITISH INFORMAL go back on a promise or fail to keep to an arrangement: we were going to Spain together and he cried off at the last moment.

■ n. (pl. cries) 1 a loud inarticulate shout or scream expressing a powerful feeling or emotion: a cry of despair.

- a loud excited utterance of a word or words: there was a cry of ‘Silence!’.

- the call of a hawker selling wares on the street.

- an urgent appeal or entreaty: fund-raisers have issued a cry for help.

- a demand or opinion expressed by many people: peace became the popular cry.

2 the loud characteristic call of a bird or other animal.

3 a spell of shedding tears: I still have a cry, sometimes, when I realize that my mother is dead.

<PHRASES>

□ cry one's eyes (or heart) out weep bitterly and at length.

□ cry for the moon ask for what is unattainable or impossible.

□ cry foul protest strongly about a real or imagined wrong or injustice.

□ cry from the heart a passionate and honest appeal or protest.

□ cry stinking fish BRITISH disparage one's own efforts or products.

□ cry wolf see WOLF.

□ for crying out loud INFORMAL used to express one's irritation or impatience: why do you have to take everything so personally, for crying out loud?

□ in full cry (of hounds) baying in keen pursuit.

- expressing an opinion loudly and forcefully: the prime minister was in full cry with warnings against the plots of the Americans.

□ it's no use crying over spilt MILK see MILK.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘ask for earnestly or loudly’): from Old French crier (verb), cri (noun), from Latin quiritare ‘raise a public outcry’, literally ‘call on the Quirites (Roman citizens) for help’.

crybaby n. (pl. crybabies) a person, especially a child, who sheds tears frequently or readily.

cryer n. archaic spelling of CRIER.

crying adj. [attr.] very great: it would be a crying shame to let some other woman have it.

cryo- /krə/ combining form involving or producing cold, especially extreme cold: cryostat | cryosurgery.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kruos ‘frost’.

cryobiology n. [mass noun] the branch of biology which deals with the properties of organisms and tissues at low temperatures.

<DERIVATIVES> cryobiological adj. cryobiologist n.

cryogen /krə()d(ə)n/ n. a substance used to produce very low temperatures.

cryogenics /krə()dεnks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] 1 the branch of physics dealing with the production and effects of very low temperatures.

2 another term for CRYONICS.

<DERIVATIVES> cryogenic adj.

cryoglobulin /krə()lbjln/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein which occurs in the blood in certain disorders. It can be precipitated out of solution below 10°C, causing obstruction in the fingers and toes.

cryolite /krəlt/ n. [mass noun] a white or colourless mineral consisting of a fluoride of sodium and aluminium. It is added to bauxite as a flux in aluminium smelting.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CRYO- ‘cold, frost’ (because the main deposits are found in Greenland) + -LITE.

cryonics /krnks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the practice or technique of deep-freezing the bodies of those who have died of an incurable disease, in the hope of a future cure.

<DERIVATIVES> cryonic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: contraction of CRYOGENICS.

cryoprecipitate /krəprsptət/ n. chiefly [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance precipitated from a solution, especially from the blood, at low temperatures.

- [mass noun] MEDICINE an extract rich in a blood-clotting factor obtained as a residue when frozen blood plasma is thawed.

cryopreserve v. [with obj.] [BIOLOGY] & MEDICINE preserve (cells or tissues) by cooling them below the freezing point of water.

<DERIVATIVES> cryopreservation n.

cryoprotectant n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a substance that prevents the freezing of tissues, or prevents damage to cells during freezing.

cryostat /krə()stat/ n. 1 an apparatus for maintaining a very low temperature.

2 a cold chamber in which frozen tissue is divided with a microtome.

cryosurgery n. [mass noun] surgery using the local application of intense cold to destroy unwanted tissue.

cryotherapy n. [mass noun] the use of extreme cold in surgery or other medical treatment.

crypt n. 1 an underground room or vault beneath a church, used as a chapel or burial place.

2 [ANATOMY] a small tubular gland, pit, or recess.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘cavern’): from Latin crypta, from Greek kruptē ‘a vault’, from kruptos ‘hidden’.

cryptanalysis n. [mass noun] the art or process of deciphering coded messages without being told the key.

<DERIVATIVES> cryptanalyst n. cryptanalytic adj. cryptanalytical adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from CRYPTO- + ANALYSIS.

cryptic adj. 1 having a meaning that is mysterious or obscure: he found his boss's utterances too cryptic.

- (of a crossword) having difficult clues which indicate the solutions indirectly.

2 [ZOOLOGY] (of coloration or markings) serving to camouflage an animal in its natural environment.

<DERIVATIVES> cryptically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin crypticus, from Greek kruptikos, from kruptos ‘hidden’.

■ Sense 2 dates from the late 19th cent.

cryptid /krptd/ n. an animal whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the yeti.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from CRYPTO- + -ID^3.

crypto- /krptə/ combining form concealed; secret: cryptogram.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kruptos ‘hidden’.

cryptobiont /krptəbnt/ n. [BIOLOGY] an organism capable of cryptobiosis.

cryptobiosis /krptə()bəss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] a physiological state in which metabolic activity is reduced to an undetectable level without disappearing altogether. It is known in certain plant and animal groups adapted to survive periods of extremely dry conditions.

cryptobiotic adj. [BIOLOGY] 1 relating to or capable of cryptobiosis.

2 denoting primitive organisms of the kind presumed to have existed in earlier geological periods but to have left no trace of their existence.

cryptococcosis /krptə()kəkəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE infestation with a yeast-like fungus, resulting in tumours in the lungs and sometimes spreading to the brain. It occurs chiefly in the United States. Also called TORULOSIS.

<INFO> The fungus is Cryptococcus neoformans, subdivision Deuteromycotina (or class Teliomycetes).

<DERIVATIVES> cryptococcal adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from modern Latin Cryptococcus (part of the binomial of the fungus) + -OSIS.

cryptocrystalline adj. having a crystalline structure visible only when magnified.

cryptogam /krptə()am/ n. [BOTANY], DATED a plant that has no true flowers or seeds, including ferns, mosses, liverworts, lichens, algae, and fungi.

<DERIVATIVES> cryptogamous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French cryptogame, from modern Latin cryptogamae (plantae), denoting non-flowering plants, from Greek kruptos ‘hidden’ + gamos ‘marriage’ (because the means of reproduction was not apparent).

cryptogamic adj. 1 [BOTANY] relating to or denoting cryptogams.

2 [ECOLOGY] (of a desert soil or surface crust) covered with or consisting of a fragile black layer of cyanobacteria, mosses, and lichens, which is often important in preventing erosion.

cryptogenic /krptədεnk/ adj. (of a disease) of obscure or uncertain origin.

cryptogram /krptə()ram/ n. a text written in code.

cryptography n. [mass noun] the art of writing or solving codes.

<DERIVATIVES> cryptographer n. cryptographic adj. cryptographically adv.

cryptology n. [mass noun] the study of codes, or the art of writing and solving them.

<DERIVATIVES> cryptological adj. cryptologist n.

cryptomeria /krptə()mərə/ n. a tall conical coniferous tree with long, curved, spirally arranged leaves and short cones. Native to China and Japan, it is grown for timber in Japan. Also called JAPANESE CEDAR.

<INFO> Cryptomeria japonica, family Taxodiaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from CRYPTO- ‘hidden’ + Greek meros ‘part’ (because the seeds are concealed by scales).

cryptonym /krptənm/ n. a code name.

<DERIVATIVES> cryptonymous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CRYPTO- ‘hidden’ + -ONYM.

cryptorchid /krptkd/ n. MEDICINE a person suffering from cryptorchidism.

cryptorchidism n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which one or both of the testes fail to descend from the abdomen into the scrotum.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CRYPTO- ‘hidden’ + Greek orkhis, orkhid- ‘testicle’ + -ISM.

cryptosporidiosis /krptə()spərdəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an intestinal condition caused by infection with cryptosporidium, causing diarrhoea and vomiting.

cryptosporidium /krptə()sprdəm/ n. (pl. cryptosporidia) a parasitic coccidian protozoan found in the intestinal tract of many vertebrates, where it sometimes causes disease.

<INFO> Genus Cryptosporidium, phylum Sporozoa.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CRYPTO- ‘concealed’ + modern Latin sporidium ‘small spore’.

Cryptozoic /krptəzək/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the period (the Precambrian) in which rocks contain no, or only slight, traces of living organisms. Compare with PHANEROZOIC.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek kruptos ‘hidden’ + zōē ‘life’ + -IC.

cryptozoic /krptəzək/ adj. [ECOLOGY] (of small invertebrates) living on the ground but hidden in the leaf litter under stones or pieces of wood.

<DERIVATIVES> cryptozoa plural n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kruptos ‘hidden’ + zōē ‘life’ + -IC.

cryptozoology n. [mass noun] the search for and study of animals whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the Loch Ness monster and the yeti.

<DERIVATIVES> cryptozoological adj. cryptozoologist n.

crystal n. 1 a piece of a homogeneous solid substance having a natural geometrically regular form with symmetrically arranged plane faces.

- [CHEMISTRY] any solid consisting of a symmetrical, ordered, three-dimensional aggregation of atoms or molecules.

- [ELECTRONICS] a crystalline piece of semiconductor used as an oscillator or transducer.

- [mass noun] a clear transparent mineral, especially quartz.

2 (also crystal glass) [mass noun] highly transparent glass with a high refractive index: [as modifier] a crystal chandelier.

- articles made of crystal glass: a collection of crystal.

- [count noun] the glass over a watch face.

3 [as modifier] clear and transparent like crystal: the clean crystal waters of the lake.

<PHRASES>

□ crystal clear completely transparent and unclouded.

- unambiguous; easily understood.

<ORIGIN> late Old English (denoting ice or a mineral resembling it), from Old French cristal, from Latin crystallum, from Greek krustallos ‘ice, crystal’. The chemistry sense dates from the early 17th cent.

crystal axis n. each of three axes used to define the edges of the unit cell of a crystal.

crystal ball n. a solid globe of glass or rock crystal, used by fortune-tellers and clairvoyants for crystal-gazing.

crystal class n. each of thirty-two categories of crystals classified according to the possible combinations of symmetry elements possessed by the crystal lattice.

crystal form n. a set of crystal faces defined according to their relationship to the crystal axes.

crystal-gazing n. [mass noun] looking intently into a crystal ball with the aim of seeing images relating to future or distant events.

- attempting to forecast the future.

crystal healing (also crystal therapy) n. [mass noun] the use of the supposed healing powers of crystals in alternative medicine.

crystal lattice n. the symmetrical three-dimensional arrangement of atoms inside a crystal.

crystallin /krst(ə)ln/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein of the globulin class present in the lens of the eye.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin crystallum ‘crystal’ + -IN^1.

crystalline /krst(ə)ln/ adj. having the structure and form of a crystal; composed of crystals: a crystalline rock.

- LITERARY very clear: he writes a crystalline prose.

<DERIVATIVES> crystallinity n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cristallin, via Latin from Greek krustallinos, from krustallos (see CRYSTAL).

crystalline lens n. the transparent elastic structure behind the iris by which light is focused on to the retina of the eye.

crystalline sphere n. HISTORICAL (in ancient and medieval astronomy) a transparent sphere of the heavens postulated to lie between the fixed stars and the primum mobile and to account for the precession of the equinox and other motions.

crystallite /krst(ə)lt/ n. an individual perfect crystal or region of regular crystalline structure in the substance of a material, typically of a metal or a partly crystalline polymer.

- a very small crystal.

crystallize (also crystallise) v. 1 form or cause to form crystals: [no obj.] when most liquids freeze they crystallize.

2 (usually as adj. crystallized) coat and impregnate (fruit or petals) with sugar as a means of preserving them: a box of crystallized fruits.

3 make or become definite and clear: vague feelings of unrest crystallized into something more concrete | [with obj.] writing can help to crystallize your thoughts.

4 [FINANCE] convert or be converted from a floating charge into a fixed charge.

<DERIVATIVES> crystallizable adj. crystallization n.

crystallography /krstəlrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of science concerned with the structure and properties of crystals.

<DERIVATIVES> crystallographer n. crystallographic adj. crystallographically adv.

crystalloid adj. resembling a crystal in shape or structure.

■ n. 1 [BOTANY] a small crystal-like mass of protein in a plant cell.

2 [CHEMISTRY] a substance that, when dissolved, forms a true solution rather than a colloid and is able to pass through a semipermeable membrane.

Crystal Palace a large building of prefabricated iron and glass resembling a giant greenhouse, designed by Joseph Paxton for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, London, and re-erected at Sydenham near Croydon; it was accidentally burnt down in 1936.

crystal set (also crystal radio) n. a simple early form of radio receiver with a crystal touching a metal wire as the rectifier (instead of a valve or transistor), and no amplifier or loudspeaker, necessitating headphones or an earphone.

crystal system n. each of seven categories of crystals (cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, trigonal, hexagonal, monoclinic, and triclinic) classified according to the possible relations of the crystal axes.

crystal therapy n. another term for CRYSTAL HEALING.

crystal violet n. [mass noun] a synthetic violet dye, related to rosaniline, used as a stain in microscopy and as an antiseptic in the treatment of skin infections.

CS abbr.

- British chartered surveyor.

- Civil Service.

- Court of Session.

Cs symbol the chemical element caesium.

c/s abbr. cycles per second.

CSA abbr. Child Support Agency.

csardas /tαda zαdəs/ (also czardas) n. (pl. same) a Hungarian dance with a slow introduction and a fast, wild finish.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Hungarian csárdás, from csárda ‘inn’.

CSC abbr. BRITISH Civil Service Commission.

CSE abbr. Certificate of Secondary Education.

C-section n. NORTH AMERICAN a Caesarean section.

CS gas n. [mass noun] a powerful form of tear gas used particularly in the control of riots.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from the initials of Ben B. Corson (1896–1987) and Roger W. Stoughton (1906–57), the American chemists who discovered the properties of the chemical in 1928.

CSIRO abbr. (in Australia) Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

CSM abbr.

- command and service modules (see COMMAND MODULE).

- (in the UK) Committee on Safety of Medicines.

- Company Sergeant Major.

CST abbr. Central Standard Time (see CENTRAL TIME).

CSU abbr. (in the UK) Civil Service Union.

CT abbr.

- computerized (or computed) tomography.

- Connecticut (in official postal use).

ct abbr.

- carat: 18 ct gold.

- cent.

CTC abbr.

- City Technology College.

- (in the UK) Cyclists' Touring Club.

ctenidium /tndəm/ n. (pl. ctenidia /-də/) [ZOOLOGY] a comb-like structure, especially a respiratory organ or gill in a mollusc, consisting of an axis with a row of projecting filaments.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century; modern Latin, from Greek ktenidion, diminutive of kteis, kten- ‘comb’.

ctenoid /tind/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of fish scales) having many tiny projections on the edge like the teeth of a comb, as in many bony fishes. Compare with GANOID and PLACOID.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kteis, kten- ‘comb’ + -OID.

Ctenophora /tinfərə tε-/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small phylum of aquatic invertebrates that comprises the comb jellies.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek kteis, kten- ‘comb’ + pherein ‘to bear’.

ctenophore /tinəf tε-/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an aquatic invertebrate of the phylum Ctenophora, which comprises the comb jellies.

Ctesiphon /tεsf(ə)n/ an ancient city on the Tigris near Baghdad, capital of the Parthian kingdom from c.224 and then of Persia under the Sassanian dynasty. It was taken by the Arabs in 636 and destroyed in the 8th century.

C2C abbr. consumer-to-consumer, denoting transactions conducted via the Internet between consumers.

CTS abbr. carpal tunnel syndrome.

CTT abbr. capital transfer tax.

CU abbr. Christian Union.

Cu symbol the chemical element copper.

<ORIGIN> from late Latin cuprum.

cu. abbr. cubic (in units of measurement: for example, cu. ft. = cubic feet).

cuadrilla /kwdriljə -drijə/ n. a matador's team.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Spanish.

cuatro /kwatrə/ n. (pl. cuatros) a small guitar, typically with four (or five) single or paired strings, used in Latin American and Caribbean folk music, especially in Puerto Rico.

<ORIGIN> Latin American Spanish, literally ‘four’.

cub n. 1 the young of a fox, bear, lion, or other carnivorous mammal.

- ARCHAIC a young man, especially one who is awkward or bad-mannered.

2 (Cubs) a junior branch of the Scout Association, for boys aged about 8 to 11.

- (also Cub Scout) a member of this organization.

■ v. (cubs, cubbing, cubbed) [no obj.] 1 give birth to cubs: both share the same earth during the first ten days after cubbing.

2 hunt fox cubs: members of the Grafton Hunt were out cubbing.

<DERIVATIVES> cubhood n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

Cuba /kjubə/ a Caribbean country, the largest and furthest west of the islands of the West Indies, situated at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico; pop. 11,224,321 (est. 2002); official language, Spanish; capital, Havana.

A Spanish colony, Cuba became nominally independent after the Spanish–American War of 1898 and achieved full autonomy in 1934. Fidel Castro led a communist revolution in 1959, and held the presidency until replaced by his brother Raúl Castro in 2008. The country suffered under a U.S. trade embargo and, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc, lost much of its trade.

<DERIVATIVES> Cuban adj. & n.

cubage n. cubic content or capacity.

Cuba libre /k(j)ubə libre/ n. (pl. Cuba libres) a long drink typically containing lime juice and rum.

<ORIGIN> American Spanish, ‘free Cuba’.

Cubango /kjubaə/ another name for OKAVANGO.

Cuban heel n. a moderately high straight-sided heel on a shoe or boot.

Cuban Missile Crisis an international crisis in October 1962, the closest approach to nuclear war at any time between the US and the USSR. When the US discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, President John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; the Soviet leader Khrushchev acceded to the US demands a week later.

cubature /kjubətə/ n. [mass noun] the determination of the volume of a solid.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from the verb CUBE, on the pattern of quadrature.

cubby n. (pl. cubbies) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a cubbyhole.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally Scots, denoting a straw basket): related to dialect cub ‘stall, pen, hutch’, of Low German origin.

cubbyhole n. a small enclosed space or room.

- S. AFRICAN a glove compartment in a car.

cube n. 1 a symmetrical three-dimensional shape, either solid or hollow, contained by six equal squares.

- a block of something with six sides: a sugar cube.

2 [MATHEMATICS] the product of a number multiplied by its square, represented by a superscript figure 3: a body increasing in weight by the cube of its length.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 [MATHEMATICS] raise (a number or value) to its cube.

2 cut (food) into small cubes: I bought sirloin from the butcher and cubed it myself.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French, or via Latin from Greek kubos.

cubeb /kjubεb/ n. a tropical shrub of the pepper family, which bears pungent berries.

<INFO> Genus Piper, family Piperaceae: several species.

- [mass noun] the dried unripe berries of the cubeb, used medicinally and to flavour cigarettes.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cubebe, from Spanish Arabic kubēba, from Arabic kubāba.

cube farm n. chiefly US a large office divided into cubicles for individual workers.

cube root n. the number which produces a given number when cubed.

cubic /kjubk/ adj. 1 having the shape of a cube: a cubic room.

- denoting a crystal system or three-dimensional geometrical arrangement having three equal axes at right angles.

2 denoting a unit of measurement equal to the volume of a cube whose side is one of the linear units specified: 15 billion cubic metres of water.

3 involving the cube (and no higher power) of a quantity or variable: a cubic equation.

■ n. [MATHEMATICS] a cubic equation, or a curve described by one.

<DERIVATIVES> cubical adj. cubically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘involving the cube (and no higher power)’): from Old French cubique, or via Latin from Greek kubikos, from kobos ‘cube’.

cubic capacity n. the volume contained by a hollow structure, expressed in litres, cubic centimetres, or other cubic units.

cubic content n. the volume of a solid, often expressed in cubic metres.

cubicle n. a small partitioned-off area of a room, for example one containing a shower or toilet.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘bedroom’): from Latin cubiculum, from cubare ‘lie down’.

cubiform adj. TECHNICAL cube-shaped: the columns are thick and have cubiform capitals.

cubism n. [mass noun] an early 20th-century style and movement in art, especially painting, in which perspective with a single viewpoint was abandoned and use was made of simple geometric shapes, interlocking planes, and, later, collage.

Cubism was a reaction against traditional modes of representation and Impressionist concerns with light and colour. The style, created by Picasso and Braque and first named by the French critic Louis Vauxcelles in 1908, was inspired by the later work of Cézanne and by African sculpture.

<DERIVATIVES> cubist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French cubisme, from cube (see CUBE).

cubit /kjubt/ n. an ancient measure of length, approximately equal to the length of a forearm. It was typically about 18 inches or 44 cm, though there was a long cubit of about 21 inches or 52 cm.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin cubitum ‘elbow, forearm, cubit’.

cubital /kjubt(ə)l/ adj. 1 [ANATOMY] of the forearm or the elbow: the cubital vein.

2 [ENTOMOLOGY] of the cubitus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin cubitalis, from cubitus ‘cubit’.

cubitus /kjubtəs/ n. [ZOOLOGY] the fifth longitudinal vein from the anterior edge of an insect's wing.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin.

cuboid /kjubd/ adj. more or less cubic in shape: the school was a hideous cuboid erection of brick and glass.

■ n. 1 [GEOMETRY] a solid which has six rectangular faces at right angles to each other.

2 (also cuboid bone) [ANATOMY] a squat tarsal bone on the outer side of the foot, articulating with the heel bone and the fourth and fifth metatarsals.

<DERIVATIVES> cuboidal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from modern Latin cuboides, from Greek kuboeidēs, from kubos (see CUBE).

cub reporter n. INFORMAL a young or inexperienced newspaper reporter.

cucking-stool /kkstul/ n. HISTORICAL a chair to which disorderly women were tied and then ducked into water or subjected to public ridicule as a punishment.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from obsolete cuck ‘defecate’, of Scandinavian origin; so named because a stool containing a chamber pot was often used for the purpose.

cuckold /kk(ə)ld/ n. DATED the husband of an adulteress, often regarded as an object of derision.

■ v. [with obj.] (of a man) make (another man) a cuckold by having a sexual relationship with his wife.

- (of a man's wife) make (her husband) a cuckold.

<DERIVATIVES> cuckoldry n.

<ORIGIN> late Old English, from Old French cucuault, from cucu ‘cuckoo’ (from the cuckoo's habit of laying its egg in another bird's nest). The equivalent words in French and other languages applied to both the bird and the adulterer; cuckold has never been applied to the bird in English.

cuckoo n. a long-tailed, medium-sized bird, typically with a grey or brown back and barred or pale underparts. Many cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of small songbirds.

<INFO> Family Cuculidae (the cuckoo family): numerous genera and species, especially the (Eurasian) cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), the male of which has a well-known two-note call. The cuckoo family also includes the coucals, roadrunners, malkohas, and anis.

■ adj. INFORMAL crazy: people think you're cuckoo.

<PHRASES>

□ cuckoo in the nest an unwelcome intruder in a place or situation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cucu, imitative of its call.

cuckoo bee n. a bee which lays its eggs in the nest of another kind of bee, the young being raised and fed by the host.

<INFO> Nomada and related genera (which parasitize solitary bees), and Psithyrus (which parasitize bumblebees), family Apidae.

cuckoo clock n. a clock that strikes the hour with a sound like a cuckoo's call and typically has a mechanical cuckoo that emerges with each note.

cuckooflower n. a spring-flowering herbaceous European plant with pale lilac flowers, growing in damp meadows and by streams. Also called LADY'S SMOCK.

<INFO> Cardamine pratensis, family Cruciferae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: so named because it flowers at the time of year when the cuckoo is first heard calling.

cuckoo pint n. the common European wild arum of woodland and hedgerows, with a pale spathe and a purple or green spadix followed by bright red berries. Also called LORDS AND LADIES or JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.

<INFO> Arum maculatum, family Araceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from earlier cuckoo-pintle, from PINTLE in the obsolete sense ‘penis’ (because of the shape of the spadix).

cuckoo-roller n. a bird resembling a roller, with an iridescent green cap, back, wings, and tail, found only in Madagascar. Also called COUROL.

<INFO> Leptosomus discolor, the only member of the family Leptosomatidae.

cuckoo-shrike n. a shrike-like Old World songbird, somewhat resembling a cuckoo when in flight, and typically with grey, black, or white plumage.

<INFO> Family Campephagidae (the cuckoo-shrike family): several genera, especially Coracina and Campephaga, and numerous species. The cuckoo-shrike family also includes the cicadabirds, greybirds, minivets, and trillers.

cuckoo spit n. [mass noun] whitish froth found in compact masses on leaves and plant stems, exuded by the larvae of froghoppers.

cuckoo wasp n. a wasp which lays its eggs in the nest of a bee or another kind of wasp, in particular:

<INFO>

- a ruby-tailed wasp.

- a true wasp lacking a worker caste, whose larvae are fed by the social wasp host (several species in the family Vespidae, including Vespula austriaca).

cucumber n. 1 a long, green-skinned fruit with watery flesh, usually eaten raw in salads or pickled.

2 the climbing plant of the gourd family which yields cucumbers, native to the Chinese Himalayan region. It is widely cultivated but very rare in the wild.

<INFO> Cucumis sativus, family Cucurbitaceae.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) cool as a cucumber untroubled by heat or exertion.

- calm and relaxed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cocombre, coucombre, from Latin cucumis, cucumer-.

cucumber mosaic n. [mass noun] a virus disease affecting plants of the gourd family, spread by beetles and aphids and causing mottling and stunting.

cucurbit /kjkəbt/ n. chiefly US a plant of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), which includes melon, pumpkin, squash, and cucumber.

<DERIVATIVES> cucurbitaceous adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cucurbite, from Latin cucurbita.

cud n. [mass noun] partly digested food returned from the first stomach of ruminants to the mouth for further chewing.

<PHRASES>

□ chew the cud 1 (of a ruminant animal) further chew partly digested food.

2 think or talk reflectively.

<ORIGIN> Old English cwidu, cudu, of Germanic origin; related to German Kitt ‘cement, putty’ and Swedish kåda ‘resin’.

cuddle v. [with obj.] hold close in one's arms as a way of showing love or affection: he cuddles the baby close | they were cuddling each other in the back seat | [no obj.] the pair have been spotted kissing and cuddling.

- [no obj., with adverbial] lie or sit close: Rebecca cuddled up to Mum | they cuddled together to keep out the cold.

- [no obj.] (cuddle up to) INFORMAL ingratiate oneself with: they start cuddling up to the Liberals for support.

■ n. a prolonged and affectionate hug.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (rare before the 18th century): of unknown origin.

cuddlesome adj. endearing and pleasant to cuddle: cuddlesome lion cubs and strokeable deer.

cuddly adj. (cuddlier, cuddliest) endearing and pleasant to cuddle, especially as a result of being soft or plump: she was short and cuddly.

- BRITISH denoting a toy, especially a model of an animal, that is padded or spongy and covered in soft fabric.

cuddy n. (pl. cuddies) DIALECT, chiefly SCOTTISH 1 a donkey.

2 a stupid person: you great soft cuddy!

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps a pet form of the given name Cuthbert, once popular in Scotland and northern England.

cudgel /kd(ə)l/ n. a short, thick stick used as a weapon.

■ v. (cudgels, cudgelling, cudgelled; US cudgels, cudgeling, cudgeled) [with obj.] beat with a cudgel.

<PHRASES>

□ cudgel one's brain (or brains) BRITISH think hard about a problem.

□ take up the cudgels start to defend or support someone or something strongly: there was no one else to take up the cudgels on their behalf.

<ORIGIN> Old English cycgel, of unknown origin.

Cudlipp /kdlp/ Hugh, Baron Cudlipp of Aldingbourne (1913–98), British newspaper editor. Editorial director of the Daily Mirror, he introduced the formula that combined sensationalized reporting of sex and crime with populist politics, dramatically increasing the paper's circulation.

cudweed n. [mass noun] a plant of the daisy family, with hairy or downy leaves and inconspicuous flowers.

<INFO> Genera Gnaphalium and Filago, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from CUD + WEED, said to be given to cattle who had lost their cud.

cue^1 n. 1 a thing said or done that serves as a signal to an actor or other performer to enter or to begin their speech or performance.

- a signal for action: his success was the cue for the rest of Fleet Street to forge ahead.

- a circumstance or piece of information which aids the memory in retrieving details not recalled spontaneously.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] a feature of something perceived that is used in the brain's interpretation of the perception: expectancy is communicated both by auditory and visual cues.

- a hint or indication about how to behave in particular circumstances: my teacher joked about such attitudes and I followed her cue.

2 [mass noun] a facility for playing through an audio or video recording very rapidly until a desired starting point is reached.

■ v. (cues, cueing or cuing, cued) [with obj.] 1 give a cue to or for: Ros and Guil, cued by Hamlet, also bow deeply.

- act as a prompt or reminder: have a list of needs and questions on paper to cue you.

2 set a piece of audio or video equipment in readiness to play (a particular part of the recorded material): there was a pause while she cued up the next tape.

<PHRASES>

□ on cue at the correct moment: right on cue the door opened.

□ take one's cue from follow the example or advice of: McGee did not move and Julia took her cue from him.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

cue^2 n. a long straight tapering wooden rod for striking the ball in snooker, billiards, etc.

■ v. (cues, cueing or cuing, cued) [no obj.] use a cue to strike the ball.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting a long plait or pigtail): variant of QUEUE.

cue ball n. the ball, usually a white one, that is to be struck with the cue in snooker, billiards, etc.

cue bid n. [BRIDGE] a bid intended to give specific information about the content of the hand to the bidder's partner rather than to advance the auction.

cueca /kwεkə/ n. a lively South American dance.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: American Spanish, from zamacueca, also denoting a dance performed especially in Chile.

cue card n. a card held beside a camera for a television broadcaster to read from while appearing as if looking into the camera.

Cuenca /kwεkə/ a city in the Andes in southern Ecuador; pop. 277,000 (est. 2002). Founded in 1557, it is known as the ‘marble city’ because of its many fine buildings.

Cuernavaca /kwεnəvakə/ Spanish /kwernaβaka/ a resort town in central Mexico, at an altitude of 1,542 m (5,060 ft), capital of the state of Morelos; pop. 327,200 (2000).

cuesta /kwεstə/ n. [GEOLOGY] a ridge with a gentle slope (dip) on one side and a steep slope (scarp) on the other.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally a US term for a steep slope at the edge of a plain): from Spanish, ‘slope’, from Latin costa ‘rib, flank’.

cuff^1 n. 1 the end part of a sleeve, where the material of the sleeve is turned back or a separate band is sewn on.

- the part of a glove covering the wrist.

- NORTH AMERICAN a trouser turn-up.

- the top part of a boot, typically padded or turned down.

2 (cuffs) INFORMAL handcuffs.

3 an inflatable bag wrapped round the arm when blood pressure is measured.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL secure with handcuffs: the man's hands were cuffed behind his back.

<PHRASES>

□ off the cuff INFORMAL without preparation: they posed some difficult questions to answer off the cuff | [as modifier] an off-the-cuff remark. [<ORIGIN> as if from impromptu notes made on one's shirt cuffs.]

<DERIVATIVES> cuffed adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a glove or mitten): of unknown origin.

cuff^2 v. [with obj.] strike (someone) with an open hand, especially on the head: he cuffed him playfully on the ear.

■ n. [usually in sing.] a blow given with an open hand.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

cufflink n. (usually cufflinks) a device for fastening together the sides of a shirt cuff, typically a pair of linked studs or a single plate connected to a short swivelling rod, passed through a hole in each side of the cuff.

Cuiabá /kujəbα/ 1 a river port in west central Brazil, on the Cuiabá River, capital of the state of Mato Grosso; pop. 475,632 (2000).

2 a river of western Brazil, which rises in the Mato Grosso plateau and flows for 483 km (300 miles) to join the São Lourenço River near the border with Bolivia.

cui bono? /kwi bnə bə-/ exclam. who stands, or stood, to gain (from a crime, and so might have been responsible for it)?

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘to whom (is it) a benefit?’.

cuirass /kwras/ n. 1 HISTORICAL a piece of armour consisting of breastplate and backplate fastened together.

2 MEDICINE an artificial ventilator which encloses the body, leaving the limbs free, and forces air in and out of the lungs by changes in pressure.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cuirace, based on late Latin coriaceus (adjective), from corium ‘leather’ (of which a cuirass was originally made).

cuirassier /kwrəsiə/ French /kHiRasje/ n. HISTORICAL a cavalry soldier wearing a cuirass.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: French, from cuirasse, from Old French cuirace (see CUIRASS).

cuisine /kwzin/ n. [mass noun] a style or method of cooking, especially as characteristic of a particular country, region, or establishment: much Venetian cuisine is based on seafood.

- food cooked in a certain way: we spent the evening sampling the local cuisine.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, literally ‘kitchen’, from Latin coquina, from coquere ‘to cook’.

cuisse /kws/ (also cuish /kw/) n. (usually cuisses or cuishes) HISTORICAL a piece of armour for the thigh.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the plural): from Old French cuisseaux, plural of cuissel, from late Latin coxale, from coxa ‘hip’.

Culbertson /klbəts(ə)n/ Ely (1891–1955), American bridge player. An authority on contract bridge, he revolutionized the game by formalizing a system of bidding. This helped to establish this form of the game in preference to auction bridge.

culchie /kl(t)i/ n. (pl. culchies) IRISH INFORMAL an unsophisticated country person.

<ORIGIN> apparently an alteration of Kiltimagh (Irish Coillte Mach), the name of a country town in County Mayo, Ireland.

Culdee /kldi/ n. an Irish or Scottish monk of the 8th to 12th centuries, living as a recluse usually in a group of thirteen (on the analogy of Christ and his Apostles). The tradition ceased as the Celtic Church was brought under Roman Catholic rule.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin culdeus, alteration, influenced by Latin cultores Dei ‘worshippers of God’, of kelledei (plural, found in early Scottish records), from Old Irish céle dé, literally ‘companion of God’.

cul-de-sac /kldəsak kl-/ n. (pl. culs-de-sac or cul-de-sacs pronunc. same or /-saks/) a street or passage closed at one end.

- a route or course leading nowhere: was the new post a career cul-de-sac?

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally in anatomy): French, literally ‘bottom of a sack’.

-cule suffix forming nouns such as molecule, reticule, which were originally diminutives.

<ORIGIN> from French -cule or Latin -culus, -cula, -culum.

culex /kjulεks/ (also culex mosquito) n. (pl. culices /-lsiz/) a mosquito of a genus which includes a number of kinds commonly found in cooler regions. They do not transmit malaria, but can pass on a variety of other parasites including those causing filariasis. Compare with ANOPHELES.

<INFO> Genus Culex, subfamily Culicinae, family Culicidae.

<DERIVATIVES> culicine /kjulsn -sin/ adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘gnat’.

Culiacán Rosales /kljəkαn rəzαlεz/ a city in NW Mexico, capital of the state of Sinaloa; pop. 540,800 (2000).

culinary adj. of or for cooking: culinary skills | savour the culinary delights of the region.

<DERIVATIVES> culinarily adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin culinarius, from culina ‘kitchen’.

cull v. [with obj.] 1 reduce the population of (a wild animal) by selective slaughter: some of the culled deer will be used for scientific research | (as n. culling) kangaroo culling.

- send (an inferior or surplus farm animal) to be slaughtered.

2 select from a large quantity; obtain from a variety of sources: anecdotes culled from Greek and Roman history.

■ n. a selective slaughter of animals.

- an inferior or surplus livestock animal selected for culling.

<DERIVATIVES> culler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coillier, based on Latin colligere (see collect^1).

Cullen skink n. [mass noun] a Scottish soup made from smoked haddock, potatoes, onions, and milk.

<ORIGIN> from the name of Cullen, a village on the Moray Firth in NE Scotland, + Scots skink ‘soup made from shin of beef’, probably from Middle Low German Schinke ‘ham’.

cullet /klt/ n. [mass noun] recycled broken or waste glass used in glass-making.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: variant of COLLET, in the obsolete sense ‘glass left on the blowing-iron when the finished article is removed’.

Culloden, Battle of /kəld(ə)n/ the final engagement of the Jacobite uprising of 1745–6, fought on a moor near Inverness, the last pitched battle on British soil. The Hanoverian army under the Duke of Cumberland crushed the small and poorly supplied Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart, and a ruthless pursuit after the battle effectively prevented any chance of saving the Jacobite cause.

cully /kli/ n. (pl. cullies) archaic® informal (often as a form of address) a man; a friend.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a person who is imposed upon): of unknown origin.

Culm /klm/ n. [mass noun] 1 [GEOLOGY] a series of Carboniferous strata in SW England, mainly shale and limestone with some thin coal seams.

2 (culm) ARCHAIC coal dust or slack.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘soot, smut’, now only Scots): probably related to COAL.

culm /klm/ n. the hollow stem of a grass or cereal plant, especially that bearing the flower.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin culmus ‘stalk’.

culmen /klmεn/ n. (pl. culmina /-mnə/) 1 [ORNITHOLOGY] the upper ridge of a bird's bill.

2 [ANATOMY] a small region in the brain on the anterior surface of the cerebellum.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘top, summit’): from Latin, contraction of columen ‘top, summit’.

culminant adj. at or forming the top or highest point.

culminate /klmnet/ v. [no obj.] 1 reach a climax or point of highest development: weeks of violence culminated in the brutal murder of a magistrate.

- [with obj.] be the climax or point of highest development of: her book culminated a research project on the symmetry studies of Escher.

2 ARCHAIC or [ASTROLOGY] (of a celestial body) reach or be at the meridian.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in astronomy and astrology): from late Latin culminat- ‘exalted’, from the verb culminare, from culmen ‘summit’.

culmination n. [usually in sing.] 1 the highest or climactic point of something, especially as attained after a long time: the deal marked the culmination of years of negotiation.

2 ARCHAIC or [ASTROLOGY] the reaching of the meridian by a celestial body.

culottes /kjult(s)/ plural n. women's knee-length trousers, cut with full legs to resemble a skirt.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, ‘knee breeches’, diminutive of cul ‘rump’, from Latin culus.

culpability n. [mass noun] responsibility for a fault or wrong; blame: a level of moral culpability.

culpable adj. deserving blame: mercy killings are less culpable than ‘ordinary’ murders.

<DERIVATIVES> culpably adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘deserving punishment’): from Old French coupable, culpable, from Latin culpabilis, from culpare ‘to blame’, from culpa ‘fault, blame’.

culpable homicide n. [mass noun] [LAW] (in some jurisdictions, including Scotland, South Africa, and India) an act which has resulted in a person's death but is held not to amount to murder.

Culpeper /klpεpə/ Nicholas (1616–54), English herbalist. His Complete Herbal (1653) popularized herbalism and, despite embracing ideas of astrology and the doctrine of signatures, was important in the development of botany and pharmacology.

culprit n. a person who is responsible for a crime or other misdeed.

- the cause of a problem or defect: low-level ozone pollution is the real culprit.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally in the formula Culprit, how will you be tried?, said by the Clerk of the Crown to a prisoner pleading not guilty): perhaps from a misinterpretation of the written abbreviation cul. prist for Anglo-Norman French Culpable: prest d'averrer notre bille ‘(You are) guilty: (We are) ready to prove our indictment’; in later use influenced by Latin culpa ‘fault, blame’.

cult n. 1 a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object: the cult of St Olaf.

- a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or as imposing excessive control over members: a network of Satan-worshipping cults.

- a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular thing: the cult of the pursuit of money as an end in itself.

2 a person or thing that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society: the series has become a bit of a cult in the UK | [as modifier] a cult film.

<DERIVATIVES> cultic adj. cultish adj. cultishness n. cultism n. cultist n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally denoting homage paid to a divinity): from French culte or Latin cultus ‘worship’, from cult- ‘inhabited, cultivated, worshipped’, from the verb colere.

cultch /klt/ (also culch) n. [mass noun] the mass of stones, broken shells, and grit of which an oyster bed is formed.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: of unknown origin.

cultigen /kltd(ə)n/ n. [BOTANY] a plant species or variety known only in cultivation, especially one with no known wild ancestor.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from cultivated (past participle of CULTIVATE) + -GEN.

cultivar /kltvα/ n. [BOTANY] a plant variety that has been produced in cultivation by selective breeding. Cultivars are usually designated in the style Taxus baccata ‘Variegata’. See also variety (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> 1920s: blend of CULTIVATE and VARIETY.

cultivate v. [with obj.] 1 prepare and use (land) for crops or gardening.

- break up (soil) in preparation for sowing or planting.

- raise or grow (plants), especially on a large scale for commercial purposes.

2 [BIOLOGY] grow or maintain (living cells or tissue) in culture.

3 try to acquire or develop (a quality or skill): he cultivated an air of indifference.

- try to win the friendship or favour of (someone): it helps if you go out of your way to cultivate the local people.

- try to improve or develop (one's mind).

<DERIVATIVES> cultivable adj. cultivatable adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin cultivat- ‘prepared for crops’, from the verb cultivare, from cultiva (terra) ‘arable (land)’, from colere ‘cultivate, inhabit’.

cultivated adj. refined and well educated: he was a remarkably cultivated and educated man.

cultivation n. [mass noun] 1 the action of cultivating land, or the state of being cultivated: the cultivation of arable crops | the economy was based largely on rice cultivation.

2 the process of trying to acquire or develop a quality or skill: the cultivation of good staff–management relations.

3 refinement and good education: a man of cultivation and taste.

cultivator n. a person or thing that cultivates something: they were herders of cattle and cultivators of corn.

- a mechanical implement for breaking up the ground and uprooting weeds.

cultural adj. 1 relating to the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a society: the cultural diversity of British society.

2 relating to the arts and to intellectual achievements: a cultural festival.

<DERIVATIVES> culturally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin cultura ‘tillage’ + -AL.

cultural attaché n. an embassy official whose function is to promote cultural relations between their own country and the one to which they are accredited.

Cultural Revolution a political upheaval in China between 1966 and 1976 intended to bring about a return to revolutionary Maoist beliefs. Largely carried forward by the Red Guard, it resulted in attacks on intellectuals, a large-scale purge in party posts, and the appearance of a personality cult around Mao Zedong. It led to considerable economic dislocation and was gradually brought to a halt by premier Zhou Enlai.

culturati /kltərαti/ plural n. well-educated people who appreciate the arts.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of CULTURE and LITERATI.

culture n. [mass noun] 1 the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively: 20th century popular culture.

- a refined understanding or appreciation of culture: men of culture.

2 the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society: Afro-Caribbean culture | [count noun] people from many different cultures.

- [with modifier] the attitudes and behaviour characteristic of a particular social group: the emerging drug culture.

3 [BIOLOGY] the cultivation of bacteria, tissue cells, etc. in an artificial medium containing nutrients: the cells proliferate readily in culture.

- [count noun] a preparation of cells obtained by culture: the bacterium was isolated in two blood cultures.

4 the cultivation of plants: this variety of lettuce is popular for its ease of culture.

■ v. [with obj.] [BIOLOGY] maintain (tissue cells, bacteria, etc.) in conditions suitable for growth.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a cultivated piece of land): the noun from French culture or directly from Latin cultura ‘growing, cultivation’; the verb from obsolete French culturer or medieval Latin culturare, both based on Latin colere ‘tend, cultivate’ (see CULTIVATE). In late Middle English the sense was ‘cultivation of the soil’ and from this (early 16th century), arose ‘cultivation (of the mind, faculties, or manners)’;

■ sense 1 of the noun dates from the early 19th cent.

cultured adj. 1 characterized by refined taste and manners and good education: a cultured and intelligent man.

2 [BIOLOGY] (of tissue cells, bacteria, etc.) grown or propagated in an artificial medium.

3 (of a pearl) formed round a foreign body inserted into an oyster.

culture jamming n. [mass noun] the practice of criticizing and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands or computer hacking.

<DERIVATIVES> culture jammer n.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: coined by the US band Negativland.

culture shock n. [mass noun] the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone when they are suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes.

culture vulture n. INFORMAL a person who is very interested in the arts.

culture war n. a conflict between groups with different ideals, beliefs, philosophies, etc.

cultus /kltəs/ n. TECHNICAL a system or variety of religious worship.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Latin (see CULT).

culverin /klv(ə)rn/ n. 1 a 16th- or 17th-century cannon with a relatively long barrel for its bore.

2 a kind of handgun of the 15th and 16th centuries.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2): from Old French coulevrine, from couleuvre ‘snake’, based on Latin colubra.

culvert /klvət/ n. a tunnel carrying a stream or open drain under a road or railway.

■ v. [with obj.] channel (a stream or drain) through a culvert.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

cum^1 /km/ prep. [usually in combination] combined with; also used as (used to describe things with a dual nature or function): a study-cum-bedroom.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Latin.

cum^2 /km/ n. INFORMAL variant spelling of COME.

cumber /kmbə/ v. [with obj.] DATED hamper or hinder: they were cumbered with greatcoats and swords.

- obstruct (a path or space): the road was clean and dry and not still cumbered by slush.

■ n. ARCHAIC a hindrance, obstruction, or burden: a cumber of limestone rocks.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘overthrow, destroy’): probably from ENCUMBER.

Cumberland^1 /kmbələnd/ a former county of NW England. In 1974 it was united with Westmorland and part of Lancashire to form Cumbria.

Cumberland^2 /kmbələnd/ William Augustus, Duke of (1721–65), English military commander, third son of George II. He gained great notoriety (and his nickname ‘the Butcher’) for the severity of his suppression of the Jacobite clans in the aftermath of his victory at the Battle of Culloden (1746).

Cumberland sauce n. [mass noun] a piquant sauce served as a relish with game and cold meats. It is typically made from redcurrant jelly flavoured with orange, mustard, and port.

Cumberland sausage n. [mass noun] BRITISH a type of coarse sausage traditionally made in a continuous strip and cooked and served as a spiral.

Cumbernauld /kmbənld/ a town in central Scotland, in North Lanarkshire; pop. 44,000 (est. 2002). It was built as a new town in 1955.

cumbersome adj. large or heavy and therefore difficult to carry or use; unwieldy: cumbersome diving suits.

- slow or complicated and therefore inefficient: organizations with cumbersome hierarchical structures.

<DERIVATIVES> cumbersomely adv. cumbersomeness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘difficult to get through’): from CUMBER + -SOME^1.

cumbia /kmbə/ n. [mass noun] a kind of dance music of Colombian origin, similar to salsa.

- [count noun] a dance performed to cumbia.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Colombian Spanish, perhaps from Spanish cumbé.

Cumbria /kmbrə/ a county of NW England; county town, Carlisle. Cumbria was an ancient British kingdom, and the name continued to be used for the hilly north-western region of England containing the Lake District. The county of Cumbria was formed in 1974, largely from the former counties of Westmorland and Cumberland.

<DERIVATIVES> Cumbrian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin, from Welsh Cymry ‘Welshman’.

cumbrous /kmbrəs/ adj. literary term for CUMBERSOME.

<DERIVATIVES> cumbrously adv. cumbrousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘difficult to get through’): from CUMBER + -OUS.

cum dividend adv. (of share purchases) with a dividend about to be paid.

cumec n. a cubic metre per second, as a unit of rate of flow of water.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from cubic metres per second.

cumene /kjumin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a liquid hydrocarbon made catalytically from benzene, chiefly as an intermediate in phenol synthesis.

<INFO> Alternative name: isopropyl benzene; chem. formula: C_6H_5CH(CH_3)2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin cuminum ‘cumin’ + -ENE.

cum grano salis /km rαnə sαls/ adv. (in phrase take something cum grano salis)

■ another way of saying TAKE SOMETHING WITH A PINCH OF SALT (see SALT).

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘with a grain of salt’.

cumin /kjumn/ (also cummin) n. [mass noun] 1 the aromatic seeds of a plant of the parsley family, used as a spice, especially ground and used in curry powder.

2 the small, slender plant which bears cumin seeds, occurring from the Mediterranean to central Asia.

<INFO> Cuminum cyminum, family Umbelliferae.

<ORIGIN> Old English cymen, from Latin cuminum, from Greek kuminon, probably of Semitic origin and related to Hebrew kammōn and Arabic kammūn; superseded in Middle English by forms from Old French cumon, comin, also from Latin.

cum laude /km ldi km lade/ adv. & adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN with distinction (with reference to university degrees and diplomas).

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘with praise’.

cummerbund /kməbnd/ n. a sash worn around the waist, especially as part of a man's formal evening suit.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Urdu and Persian kamar-band, from kamar ‘waist, loins’ and -bandi ‘band’. The sash was formerly worn in the Indian subcontinent by domestic workers and low-status office workers.

cummings e. e. (1894–1962), American poet and novelist; full name Edward Estlin Cummings. His poems are characterized by their experimental typography (most notably in the avoidance of capital letters), technical skill, frank vocabulary, and the sharpness of his satire.

cummingtonite /kmtənt/ n. [mass noun] a mineral occurring typically as brownish fibrous crystals in some metamorphic rocks. It is a magnesium-rich iron silicate of the amphibole group.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Cummington, a town in Massachusetts, US, + -ITE^1.

cumulate v. /kjumjlet/ 1 [with obj.] gather together and combine: the systems cumulate data over a period of years.

- [no obj.] be gathered together and combined: all unpaid dividend payments cumulate and are paid when earnings are sufficient.

2 (as adj. cumulated) [CHEMISTRY] denoting two double bonds attached to the same carbon atom.

■ n. /kjumjlət/ [GEOLOGY] an igneous rock formed by gravitational settling of particles in a magma.

<DERIVATIVES> cumulation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a verb in the sense ‘gather in a heap’): from Latin cumulat- ‘heaped’, from the verb cumulare, from cumulus ‘a heap’. Current senses date from the early 20th cent.

cumulative adj. increasing or increased in quantity, degree, or force by successive additions: the cumulative effect of two years of drought.

<DERIVATIVES> cumulatively adv. cumulativeness n.

cumulative distribution function n. [STATISTICS] a function whose value is the probability that a corresponding continuous random variable has a value less than or equal to the argument of the function.

cumulative error n. [STATISTICS] an error that increases with the size of the sample revealing it.

cumulative preference share n. a preference share whose annual fixed-rate dividend, if it cannot be paid in any year, accrues until it can.

cumulative voting n. [mass noun] a system of voting in an election in which each voter is allowed a number of votes, and may give them all to one candidate or divide them among several.

cumulonimbus /kjumjlənmbəs/ n. (pl. cumulonimbi /-b/) [mass noun] [METEOROLOGY] cloud forming a towering mass with a flat base at fairly low altitude and often a flat top, as in thunderstorms.

cumulus /kjumjləs/ n. (pl. cumuli /-l -li/) [mass noun] [METEOROLOGY] cloud forming rounded masses heaped on each other above a flat base at fairly low altitude.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a heap or an accumulation): from Latin, ‘heap’.

Cunard /kjunαd/ Sir Samuel (1787–1865), Canadian-born British shipowner. One of the pioneers of the regular transatlantic passenger service, he founded the steamship company which still bears his name with the aid of a contract to carry the mail between Britain and Canada. The first such voyage for the company was made in 1840.

cuneate /kjunət/ adj. chiefly [ANATOMY] & [BOTANY] wedge-shaped.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin cuneus ‘wedge’ + -ATE^2.

cuneiform /kjunfm kjunefm/ adj. 1 denoting or relating to the wedge-shaped characters used in the ancient writing systems of Mesopotamia, Persia, and Ugarit, surviving mainly on clay tablets: a cuneiform inscription.

2 [ANATOMY] denoting three bones of the tarsus (ankle) between the navicular bone and the metatarsals.

3 chiefly [BIOLOGY] wedge-shaped: the eggs are cuneiform.

■ n. [mass noun] cuneiform writing.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French cunéiforme or modern Latin cuneiformis, from Latin cuneus ‘wedge’.

Cunene /kjunenə/ a river of Angola, which rises near the city of Huambo and flows 250 km (156 miles) southwards as far as the frontier with Namibia, which then follows it westwards to the Atlantic.

cu-nim n. short for CUMULONIMBUS.

cunjevoi /kndv/ n. 1 a tall Australian plant of the arum family, with edible corms.

<INFO> Alocasia macrorrhiza, family Araceae.

2 an Australian sea squirt used as fishing bait.

<INFO> Pyura praeputialis, class Ascidiacea.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (in sense 1): of Aboriginal (probably Queensland) origin.

■ Sense 2 dates from the early 20th cent.

cunner /knə/ n. an edible greenish-grey wrasse (fish) which lives along the Atlantic coast of North America.

<INFO> Tautogolabrus adspersus, family Labridae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps associated with archaic conder, denoting a lookout who alerts the crew of fishing boats to the direction taken by shoals of herring.

cunnilingus /knləs/ n. [mass noun] stimulation of the female genitals using the tongue or lips.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, from cunnus ‘vulva’ + lingere ‘lick’.

cunning adj. 1 having or showing skill in achieving one's ends by deceit or evasion: a cunning look came into his eyes.

- ingenious: plants have evolved cunning defences.

2 NORTH AMERICAN attractive or quaint: Baby will look too cunning for anything in that pink print.

■ n. [mass noun] skill in achieving one's ends by deceit: a statesman to whom cunning had come as second nature.

- ingenuity: what resources of energy and cunning it took just to survive.

<DERIVATIVES> cunningly adv. cunningness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old Norse kunnandi ‘knowledge’, from kunna ‘know’ (related to can^1), or perhaps from Middle English cunne, an obsolete variant of can^1. The original sense was ‘(possessing) erudition or skill’ and had no implication of deceit; the sense ‘deceitfulness’ dates from late Middle English.

Cunningham /knəm/ Merce (1919–2009), American dancer and choreographer. A dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company (1939–45), he formed his own company in 1953 and explored new abstract directions for modern dance.

Cunobelinus /kjunə()bəlnəs/ variant of CYMBELINE.

cunt n. VULGAR SLANG a woman's genitals.

- an unpleasant or stupid person.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of Germanic origin; related to Norwegian and Swedish dialect kunta, and Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, and Danish dialect kunte.

CUP abbr. Cambridge University Press.

cup n. 1 a small bowl-shaped container for drinking from, typically having a handle.

- the contents of a cup: a cup of tea.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a measure of capacity used in cookery, equal to half a US pint (0.237 litre): a cup of butter.

- (in church use) a chalice used at the Eucharist.

2 an ornamental trophy in the form of a cup, usually made of gold or silver and having a stem and two handles, awarded as a prize in a sports contest.

- (Cup) a contest in which the winners are awarded a cup: playing in the Cup is the best thing ever.

3 a cup-shaped thing.

- either of the two parts of a bra shaped to contain or support one breast: she had grown from an A to a C cup in just six months.

- [GOLF] the hole on a putting green, or the metal container in it.

4 [mass noun] a mixed drink made from fruit juices and typically containing wine or cider.

5 (cups) one of the suits in a tarot pack.

■ v. (cups, cupping, cupped) [with obj.] 1 form (one's hand or hands) into the curved shape of a cup: ‘Hey!’ Dad shouted, with his hands cupped around his mouth.

- place the curved hand or hands around: he cupped her face in his hands.

2 MEDICINE, HISTORICAL bleed (someone) by using a glass in which a partial vacuum is formed by heating: Dr Ross ordered me to be cupped.

<PHRASES>

□ in one's cups INFORMAL drunk.

□ not one's cup of tea INFORMAL not what one likes or is interested in: cats were not her cup of tea.

<DERIVATIVES> cupful n. (pl. cupfuls)

<ORIGIN> Old English: from popular Latin cuppa, probably from Latin cupa ‘tub’.

cup-and-ring adj. denoting marks cut in megalithic monuments consisting of a circular depression surrounded by concentric rings.

cup-bearer n. chiefly HISTORICAL a person who serves wine, especially in a royal or noble household.

cupboard n. a recess or piece of furniture with a door and usually shelves, used for storage: a broom cupboard.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a table or sideboard on which cups, plates, etc. were displayed): from CUP + BOARD.

cupboard love n. [mass noun] BRITISH affection that is feigned in order to obtain something.

cupcake n. 1 a small cake baked in a cup-shaped foil or paper container and typically iced.

2 US INFORMAL an attractive woman (often as a term of address).

- a weak or effeminate man.

cup coral n. a small brightly coloured solitary coral with tentacles that end in small knobs, sometimes found in colder seas.

<INFO> Genus Caryophyllia, order Scleractinia (or Madreporaria): several species.

cupel /kjup(ə)l/ n. a shallow, porous container in which gold or silver can be refined or assayed by melting with a blast of hot air which oxidizes lead or other base metals.

■ v. (cupels, cupelling, cupelled; US cupels, cupeling, cupeled) [with obj.] assay or refine (a metal) in a cupel.

<DERIVATIVES> cupellation n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun): from French coupelle, diminutive of coupe ‘goblet’.

Cup Final n. BRITISH the final match in a sports competition in which the winners are awarded a cup.

cup fungus n. a fungus in which the spore-producing layer forms the lining of a shallow cup.

<INFO> Several families in the orders Helotiales and Pezizales, subdivision Ascomycotina.

Cupid [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the god of love. He is represented as a naked winged boy with a bow and arrows, with which he wounds his victims. Greek equivalent EROS.

- (as n. also cupid) a representation of a naked winged child, typically carrying a bow.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Cupido, personification of cupido ‘love, desire’, from cupere ‘to desire’.

cupidity /kjupdti/ n. [mass noun] greed for money or possessions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French cupidite or Latin cupiditas, from cupidus ‘desirous’, from cupere ‘to desire’. Compare with COVET.

Cupid's bow n. a shape like that of the double-curved bow often shown carried by Cupid, especially at the top edge of a person's upper lip.

cupid's dart n. a herbaceous plant of the daisy family, with white, blue, or lilac flowers.

<INFO> Catananche caerulea, family Compositae.

cup lichen n. a greenish-grey lichen with small cup-like structures arising from its spreading lobes, found typically on heathland and moorland.

<INFO> Genus Cladonia, order Cladoniales: many species.

cupola /kjupələ/ n. 1 a rounded dome forming or adorning a roof or ceiling.

2 a gun turret.

3 (also cupola furnace) a cylindrical furnace for refining metals, with openings at the bottom for blowing in air and originally with a dome leading to a chimney above.

<DERIVATIVES> cupolaed /-ləd/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: Italian, from late Latin cupula ‘small cask or burying vault’, diminutive of cupa ‘cask’.

cuppa BRITISH INFORMAL n. a cup of tea: a good strong cuppa.

■ contraction cup of: let's have another cuppa tea.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: alteration.

cupping n. [mass noun] (in Chinese medicine) a therapy in which heated glass cups are applied to the skin along the meridians of the body, creating suction and believed to stimulate the flow of energy.

cuppy adj. (of ground) full of shallow depressions.

cupr- combining form variant spelling of CUPRO-. shortened before a vowel (as in cuprammonium).

cuprammonium /kjuprəmənəm/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] a complex ion, Cu(NH_3)42+, formed in solution when ammonia is added to copper salts. The solution is deep blue and is used to dissolve cellulose.

cupreous /kjuprəs/ adj. of or like copper.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin cupreus (from cuprum ‘copper’) + -OUS.

cupric /kjuprk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] of copper with a valency of two; of copper(II). Compare with CUPROUS.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from late Latin cuprum ‘copper’ + -IC.

cuprite /kjuprt/ n. [mass noun] a dark red or brownish black mineral consisting of cuprous oxide.

cupro /k(j)uprə/ n. [mass noun] a type of rayon made by dissolving cotton cellulose with cuprammonium salts and spinning the resulting solution into filaments.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: an invented word, probably from CUPRAMMONIUM.

cupro- /kjuprə/ (also cupr-) combining form relating to copper: cupro-nickel.

<ORIGIN> from late Latin cuprum.

cupro-nickel n. [mass noun] an alloy of copper and nickel, especially in the proportions 3:1 as used in ‘silver’ coins.

cuprous /kjuprəs/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] of copper with a valency of one; of copper(I).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: partly directly from late Latin cuprum ‘copper’ (reinforced by CUPRIC) + -OUS.

cup tie n. BRITISH a match in a competition for which the prize is a cup.

cup-tied adj. BRITISH (of a soccer player) ineligible to play for one's club in a cup competition as a result of having played for another club in an earlier round.

cupule /kjupjul/ n. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] a cup-shaped organ, structure, or receptacle in a plant or animal.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin cupula (see CUPOLA).

cur /kə/ n. an aggressive or unkempt dog, especially a mongrel.

- INFORMAL a contemptible man.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general sense ‘dog’): probably originally in cur-dog, perhaps from Old Norse kurr ‘grumbling’.

curable adj. 1 (of a disease or condition) able to be cured: most skin cancers are completely curable.

2 (of plastic, varnish, etc.) able to be hardened by some additive or other agent.

<DERIVATIVES> curability n. curably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin curabilis, from Latin curare (see CURE).

Curaçao /kjərəsə -seə/ the largest island of the Netherlands Antilles, situated in the Caribbean Sea 60 km (37 miles) north of the Venezuelan coast; pop. 186,300 (est. 2002); chief town, Willemstad.

curaçao /kjərəsə/ n. (pl. curaçaos) [mass noun] a liqueur flavoured with the peel of bitter oranges.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Curaçao, where the oranges are grown.

curacy n. (pl. curacies) the office of a curate, or the tenure of this: he served his curacy in Northampton.

curandero /kjərəndεrə/ Spanish /kuranerə/ n. (pl. curanderos fem. curandera /-dεrə/ Spanish /-era/) (in Spain and Latin America) a healer who uses folk remedies.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from curar ‘to cure’, from Latin curare.

curare /kjrαri/ n. [mass noun] a bitter resinous substance obtained from the bark and stems of some South American plants. It paralyses the motor nerves and is traditionally used by some Indian peoples to poison their arrows and blowpipe darts.

<INFO> Curare is obtained from Curarea species and Chondodendron tomentosum (family Menispermaceae), and Strychnos toxifera (family Loganiaceae).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from a Carib word, partly via Spanish and Portuguese.

curassow /kjərəsə/ n. a large crested pheasant-like bird of the guan family, found in tropical American forests. The male is typically black in colour.

<INFO> Genus Crax (and Nothocrax), family Cracidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: anglicized form of Curaçao.

curate^1 /kjərət/ n. (also assistant curate) a member of the clergy engaged as assistant to a vicar, rector, or parish priest.

- ARCHAIC a minister with pastoral responsibility.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from medieval Latin curatus, from Latin cura ‘care’.

curate^2 /kj(ə)ret/ v. [with obj.] select, organize, and look after the items in (a collection or exhibition): both exhibitions are curated by the Centre's director.

<DERIVATIVES> curation n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from CURATOR.

curate-in-charge n. another term for PRIEST-IN-CHARGE.

curate's egg n. BRITISH a thing that is partly good and partly bad: this book is a bit of a curate's egg.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from a cartoon in Punch (1895) depicting a meek curate who, given a stale egg at the bishop's table, assures his host that ‘parts of it are excellent’.

curative adj. able to cure disease: the curative properties of herbs.

■ n. a curative medicine or agent.

<DERIVATIVES> curatively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘relating to cures’): from French curatif, -ive, from medieval Latin curativus, from Latin curare (see CURE).

curator n. a keeper or custodian of a museum or other collection.

<DERIVATIVES> curatorial adj. curatorship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an ecclesiastical pastor, also (still a Scots legal term) the guardian of a minor): from Old French curateur or, in later use, directly from Latin curator, from curare (see CURE). The current sense dates from the mid 17th cent.

curb n. 1 a check or restraint on something: plans to introduce tougher curbs on insider dealing.

2 (also curb bit) a type of bit with a strap or chain attached which passes under a horse's lower jaw, used as a check.

3 North American variant spelling of KERB.

4 a swelling on the back of a horse's hock, caused by spraining a ligament.

■ v. [with obj.] restrain or keep in check: she promised she would curb her temper.

- restrain (a horse) by means of a curb.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting a strap fastened to the bit): from Old French courber ‘bend, bow’, from Latin curvare (see CURVE).

curb chain n. a small chain which is attached to a curb bit and lies in the groove on a horse's chin.

curb cut n. North American term for DROPPED KERB.

curb roof n. a roof of which each face has two slopes, the lower one steeper than the upper.

- BRITISH a mansard roof.

curbstone n.

■ US spelling of KERBSTONE.

- [as modifier] INFORMAL unqualified; amateur: curbstone commentators.

curculio /kəkjulə/ n. (pl. curculios) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a beetle of the weevil family, especially one which is a pest of fruit trees.

<INFO> Several genera and species in the family Curculionidae, including the plum curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, used as the genus name for weevils in the 18th century, now restricted to the nut weevils.

curcuma /kəkjmə/ n. a tropical Asian plant of a genus that includes turmeric, zedoary, and other species that yield spices, dyes, and medicinal products.

<INFO> Genus Curcuma, family Zingiberaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Arabic kurkum ‘saffron’, from Sanskrit kukuma (so named because the colour of the spices resembles that of saffron).

curd n. 1 [mass noun] (also curds) a soft, white substance formed when milk coagulates, used as the basis for cheese.

- a fatty substance found between the flakes of poached salmon.

2 the edible head of a cauliflower.

<DERIVATIVES> curdy adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

curd cheese n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH a mild, soft, smooth cheese made from skimmed milk curd.

curdle v. separate or cause to separate into curds or lumps: [no obj.] take care not to let the soup boil or it will curdle | [with obj.] rennet is used for making cheese by curdling milk.

<PHRASES>

□ make one's blood curdle fill one with horror.

<DERIVATIVES> curdler n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: frequentative of obsolete curd ‘congeal’.

cure v. [with obj.] 1 relieve (a person or animal) of the symptoms of a disease or condition: he was cured of the disease.

- eliminate (a disease or condition) with medical treatment: this technology could be used to cure diabetes.

- solve (a problem): a bid to trace and cure the gearbox problems.

2 preserve (meat, fish, tobacco, or an animal skin) by salting, drying, or smoking: (as adj., in combination -cured) home-cured ham.

- harden (rubber, plastic, concrete, etc.) after manufacture by a chemical process such as vulcanization.

- [no obj.] undergo hardening by a chemical process.

■ n. 1 a substance or treatment that cures a disease or condition: the search for a cure for the common cold.

- [mass noun] restoration to health: he was beyond cure.

- a solution to a problem: the cure is to improve the clutch operation.

2 [mass noun] the process of curing rubber, plastic, or other material.

3 [mass noun] a Christian minister's pastoral charge or area of responsibility for spiritual ministry: a benefice involving the cure of souls.

- [count noun] a parish.

<DERIVATIVES> curer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun): from Old French curer (verb), cure (noun), both from Latin curare ‘take care of’, from cura ‘care’. The original noun senses were ‘care, concern, responsibility’, in particular spiritual care (hence sense 3 of the noun). In late Middle English the senses ‘medical care’ and ‘successful medical treatment’ arose, and hence ‘remedy’.

curé /kjəre/ French /kYRe/ n. a parish priest in a French-speaking country.

<ORIGIN> French, from medieval Latin curatus (see curate^1).

cure-all n. a medicine or other remedy that will supposedly cure any ailment.

- a solution to any problem.

curettage /kjərεtd kjərtα/ n. [mass noun] [SURGERY] the use of a curette, especially on the lining of the uterus. See DILATATION AND CURETTAGE.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from CURETTE.

curette /kjərεt/ n. a small surgical instrument used to remove material by a scraping action, especially from the uterus.

■ v. [with obj.] clean or scrape with a curette.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (as a noun): from French, from curer ‘cleanse’, from Latin curare (see CURE).

curfew /kəfju/ n. a regulation requiring people to remain indoors between specified hours, typically at night: a dusk-to-dawn curfew | [mass noun] the whole area was immediately placed under curfew.

- the hour designated as the beginning of a curfew.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a regulation requiring people to extinguish fires at a fixed hour in the evening, or a bell rung at that hour): from Old French cuevrefeu, from cuvrir ‘to cover’ + feu ‘fire’. The current sense dates from the late 19th cent.

Curia /kjərə/ the papal court at the Vatican, by which the Roman Catholic Church is governed. It comprises various Congregations, Tribunals, and other commissions and departments.

<DERIVATIVES> Curial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin curia, denoting a division of an ancient Roman tribe, also (by extension) the senate of cities other than Rome; later the term came to denote a feudal or Roman Catholic court of justice, whence the current sense.

Curie /kjəri/ Marie (1867–1934), Polish-born French physicist, and Pierre (1859–1906), French physicist, pioneers of radioactivity. Working together on the mineral pitchblende, they discovered the elements polonium and radium, for which they shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics with A.-H. Becquerel. After her husband's accidental death Marie received another Nobel Prize (for chemistry) in 1911 for her isolation of radium. She died of leukaemia, caused by prolonged exposure to radioactive materials.

curie /kjəri/ (abbr.: Ci) n. (pl. curies) a unit of radioactivity, corresponding to 3.7 × 10^10 disintegrations per second.

- the quantity of radioactive substance that emits one curie of activity.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Pierre and Marie CURIE.

curio /kjərə/ n. (pl. curios) a rare, unusual, or intriguing object.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation of CURIOSITY.

curiosa /kjərəsə/ plural n. curiosities, especially erotic or pornographic books or articles.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, neuter plural of curiosus (see CURIOUS).

curiosity n. (pl. curiosities) 1 [mass noun] a strong desire to know or learn something: filled with curiosity, she peered through the window.

2 an unusual or interesting object or fact: he showed them some of the curiosities of the house.

<PHRASES>

□ curiosity killed the cat PROVERB being inquisitive about other people's affairs may get you into trouble.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French curiousete, from Latin curiositas, from curiosus (see CURIOUS).

curious adj. 1 eager to know or learn something: I began to be curious about the whereabouts of the bride and groom | she was curious to know what had happened.

- expressing curiosity: a curious stare.

2 strange; unusual: a curious sensation overwhelmed her.

- EUPHEMISTIC (of books) erotic or pornographic.

<DERIVATIVES> curiously adv. [sentence adv.] curiously, I find snooker riveting curiousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French curios, from Latin curiosus ‘careful’, from cura ‘care’.

■ Sense 2 dates from the early 18th cent.

Curitiba /kərtibə/ a city in southern Brazil, capital of the state of Paraná; pop. 1,586,898 (2000).

curium /kjərəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 96, a radioactive metal of the actinide series. Curium does not occur naturally and was first made by bombarding plutonium with helium ions. (Symbol: Cm)

<ORIGIN> 1940s: modern Latin, from the name of Marie and Pierre CURIE.

curl v. 1 form or cause to form into a curved or spiral shape: [no obj.] her fingers curled round the microphone | a slice of ham had begun to curl up at the edges | [with obj.] she used to curl her hair with rags.

- [no obj.] (curl up) sit or lie with the knees drawn up: she curled up and went to sleep.

- move or cause to move in a spiral or curved course: [no obj., with adverbial of direction] a wisp of smoke curling across the sky.

- (with reference to one's mouth or upper lip) raise or cause to raise slightly on one side as an expression of contempt or disapproval: [no obj.] Maria saw his lip curl sardonically.

2 (in weight training) lift (a weight) using only the hands, wrists, and forearms.

3 [no obj.] play at the game of curling.

■ n. 1 something in the shape of a spiral or coil, especially a lock of hair: her blonde hair was a mass of tangled curls | a curl of blue smoke.

- a curling movement: the sneering curl of his lip.

- (with reference to a person's hair) a state or condition of being curled: your hair has a natural curl | [mass noun] large perm rods give volume and control rather than lots of curl.

■ see LEAF CURL.

2 a weightlifting exercise involving movement of only the hands, wrists, and forearms: a dumb-bell curl.

3 [MATHEMATICS] a function giving a measure of the rotation of a vector field.

<PHRASES>

□ make someone's hair curl INFORMAL shock or horrify someone.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete crulle ‘curly’, from Middle Dutch krul.

curler n. 1 (usually curlers) a roller or clasp around which a lock of hair is wrapped to curl it.

2 a player in the game of curling.

curlew /kəl(j)u/ n. (pl. same or curlews) a large wading bird of the sandpiper family, with a long downcurved bill, brown streaked plumage, and frequently a distinctive ascending two-note call. See also STONE CURLEW.

<INFO> Genus Numenius, family Scolopacidae: several species, in particular N. arquata of Eurasia.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French courlieu, alteration (by association with courliu ‘courier’, from courre ‘run’ + lieu ‘place’) of imitative courlis.

curlicue /kəlkju/ n. a decorative curl or twist in calligraphy or in the design of an object.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CURLY + CUE^2 (in the sense ‘pigtail’), or -cue representing the letter q.

curling n. [mass noun] a game played on ice, especially in Scotland and Canada, in which large round flat stones are slid across the surface towards a mark. Members of a team use brooms to sweep the surface of the ice in the path of the stone to control its speed and direction.

curling stone n. a large polished circular stone, with a handle on top, used in the game of curling.

curling tongs (also curling iron or curling pins) plural n. a device incorporating a heated rod used for rolling a person's hair into curls.

curly adj. (curlier, curliest) made, growing, or arranged in curls or curves: my hair is just naturally thick and curly.

<DERIVATIVES> curliness n.

curly bracket n. another term for brace (sense 4 of the noun).

curly kale n. [mass noun] kale of a variety with dark green tightly curled leaves.

curly-wurly adj. INFORMAL twisting and curling.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: reduplication of CURLY.

curmudgeon /kəmd(ə)n/ n. a bad-tempered or surly person.

<DERIVATIVES> curmudgeonliness n. curmudgeonly adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

currach /krə(x)/ (also curragh) n. Irish and Scottish term for CORACLE.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Irish and Scottish Gaelic curach ‘small boat’. Compare with CORACLE.

curragh^2 /krə(x)/ n. (in Ireland and the Isle of Man) a stretch of marshy waste ground.

- (the Curragh) a level stretch of open ground in County Kildare, Ireland, famous for its racecourse and military camp.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Irish currach ‘marsh’, Manx curragh ‘bog, fen’.

currant n. 1 a small dried fruit made from a small seedless variety of grape originally grown in the eastern Mediterranean region and much used in cookery.

2 a Eurasian shrub which produces small edible black, red, or white berries.

<INFO> Genus Ribes, family Grossulariaceae: several species, including blackcurrant and redcurrant.

- a berry from a currant shrub.

<ORIGIN> Middle English raisons of Corauntz, translating Anglo-Norman French raisins de Corauntz ‘grapes of Corinth’ (the original source).

currant gall n. a spherical red or purple gall which forms on the leaves or male catkins of oak trees in response to the developing larva of a gall wasp. It results from eggs laid in the spring and alternates within the annual cycle with the spangle gall.

<INFO> The wasp is Neuroterus quercusbaccarum, family Cynipidae.

currawong /krəw/ n. a crow-like songbird of the Australian butcher-bird family, with mainly black or grey plumage, a robust straight bill, and a resonant call. Also called BELL MAGPIE.

<INFO> Genus Strepera, family Cracticidae: three species.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from an Aboriginal word.

currency n. (pl. currencies) 1 a system of money in general use in a particular country: the dollar was a strong currency | [mass noun] travellers cheques in foreign currency.

2 [mass noun] the fact or quality of being generally accepted or in use: the term gained wider currency after the turn of the century.

- the time during which something is in use or operation: no claim had been made during the currency of the policy.

current adj. belonging to the present time; happening or being used or done now: keep abreast of current events | I started my current job in 2001.

- in common or general use: the other meaning of the word is still current.

■ n. 1 a body of water or air moving in a definite direction, especially through a surrounding body of water or air in which there is less movement: ocean currents.

2 a flow of electricity which results from the ordered directional movement of electrically charged particles.

- a quantity representing the rate of flow of electric charge, usually measured in amperes.

3 the general tendency or course of events or opinion: the student movement formed a distinct current of protest.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the adjective sense ‘running, flowing’): from Old French corant ‘running’, from courre ‘run’, from Latin currere ‘run’.

current account n. BRITISH an account with a bank or building society from which money may be withdrawn without notice, typically an active account catering for frequent deposits and withdrawals by cheque.

current affairs plural n. events of political or social interest and importance happening in the world at the present time.

current assets plural n. cash and other assets that are expected to be converted to cash within a year. Compare with FIXED ASSETS.

current cost accounting n. [mass noun] a method of accounting in which assets are valued on the basis of their current replacement cost, and increases in their value as a result of inflation are excluded from calculations of profit.

current density n. [PHYSICS] the amount of electric current flowing per unit cross-sectional area of a material.

current liabilities plural n. amounts due to be paid to creditors within twelve months.

currently adv. at the present time: the EC is currently attempting greater economic integration.

curricle /krk(ə)l/ n. HISTORICAL a light, open, two-wheeled carriage pulled by two horses side by side.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin curriculum ‘course, racing chariot’, from currere ‘to run’.

curriculum /krkjləm/ n. (pl. curricula or curriculums) the subjects comprising a course of study in a school or college.

<DERIVATIVES> curricular adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin (see CURRICLE).

curriculum vitae /vit vti/ (abbr.: CV) n. (pl. curricula vitae) a brief account of a person's education, qualifications, and previous occupations, typically sent with a job application.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: Latin, ‘course of life’.

currier /krə/ n. a person who curries leather.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French corier, from Latin coriarius, from corium ‘leather’.

currish /kər/ adj. ARCHAIC like a cur; bad-tempered.

<DERIVATIVES> currishly adv. currishness n.

Curry John (Anthony) (1949–94), English ice skater. He won a succession of championships, including the British, European, and World titles, taking the gold medal for men's figure skating in his second winter Olympic Games in 1976.

curry^1 n. (pl. curries) a dish of meat, vegetables, etc., cooked in an Indian-style sauce of strong spices.

■ v. (curries, currying, curried) [with obj.] (usually as adj. curried) prepare or flavour with a sauce of hot-tasting spices: curried chicken.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Tamil kai.

curry^2 v. (curries, currying, curried) [with obj.] 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN groom (a horse) with a curry comb.

2 HISTORICAL treat (tanned leather) to improve its properties.

3 ARCHAIC thrash; beat.

<PHRASES>

□ curry favour ingratiate oneself with someone through obsequious behaviour: a wimpish attempt to curry favour with the new bosses. [<ORIGIN> alteration of Middle English curry favel, from the name (Favel or Fauvel) of a chestnut horse in a 14th-cent. French romance who became a symbol of cunning and duplicity; hence ‘to rub down Favel’ meant to use the cunning which he personified.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French correier, ultimately of Germanic origin.

curry comb n. a metal device with serrated ridges, used for removing dirt from a body brush with which a horse is being groomed.

- a similar device of flexible rubber, used for grooming horses.

curry leaf n. a shrub or small tree native to India and Sri Lanka, the leaves of which are widely used in Indian cooking.

<INFO> Murraya koenigii, family Rutaceae.

curry plant n. a small shrubby plant of the daisy family, which has narrow silver-grey leaves and small yellow flowers and emits a strong smell of curry.

<INFO> Helichrysum angustifolium, family Compositae.

curry powder n. [mass noun] a mixture of finely ground spices, such as turmeric, ginger, and coriander, used for making curry.

curse n. 1 a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something: she'd put a curse on him.

- [usually in sing.] a cause of harm or misery: impatience is the curse of our day and age.

2 an offensive word or phrase used to express anger or annoyance: at every blow there was a curse.

3 (the curse) INFORMAL menstruation.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] invoke or use a curse against: it often seemed as if the family had been cursed.

- (be cursed with) be afflicted with: many owners have been cursed with a series of bankruptcies.

2 [no obj.] utter offensive words in anger or annoyance: he cursed loudly as he burned his hand.

- [with obj.] address with offensive words: I cursed myself for my carelessness.

<DERIVATIVES> curser n.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of unknown origin.

cursed /kəsd kəst/ adj. [attr.] INFORMAL, DATED used to express annoyance or irritation: his cursed tidy-mindedness.

<DERIVATIVES> cursedly adv. cursedness n.

cursillo /kəsijə -siljə/ n. (pl. cursillos) a short informal spiritual retreat by a group of Roman Catholics, especially in Spain or Latin America.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: Spanish, ‘little course’.

cursive /kəsv/ adj. written with the characters joined: cursive script.

■ n. [mass noun] cursive writing.

<DERIVATIVES> cursively adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from medieval Latin cursivus, from Latin curs- ‘run’, from the verb currere.

cursor n. 1 a movable indicator on a computer screen identifying the point that will be affected by input from the user.

2 chiefly HISTORICAL the transparent slide engraved with a hairline that is part of a slide rule and is used for marking a point on the rule while bringing a point on the central sliding portion up to it.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a runner or running messenger): from Latin, ‘runner’, from curs- (see CURSIVE).

■ Sense 2 dates from the late 16th cent.

cursorial /kəsrəl/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] having limbs adapted for running.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin cursor (see CURSOR) + -IAL.

cursory /kəs(ə)ri/ adj. hasty and therefore not thorough or detailed: a cursory glance at the figures.

<DERIVATIVES> cursorily adv. cursoriness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin cursorius ‘of a runner’, from cursor (see CURSOR).

curst adj. archaic spelling of CURSED.

curt adj. rudely brief: his reply was curt.

<DERIVATIVES> curtly adv. curtness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘short, shortened’): from Latin curtus ‘cut short, abridged’.

curtail /kətel/ v. [with obj.] reduce in extent or quantity; impose a restriction on: civil liberties were further curtailed.

- (curtail someone of) ARCHAIC deprive someone of (something): I that am curtailed of this fair proportion.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from obsolete curtal ‘horse with a docked tail’, from French courtault, from court ‘short’, from Latin curtus. The change in the ending was due to association with tail^1 and perhaps also with French tailler ‘to cut’.

curtailment /kətelm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] the action or fact of reducing or restricting something: the curtailment of human rights.

curtain n. 1 a piece of material suspended at the top to form a screen, typically movable sideways along a rail and found as one of a pair at a window: she drew the curtains and lit the fire | FIGURATIVE through the curtain of falling snow, she could just make out gravestones.

2 (the curtain) a screen of heavy cloth or other material that can be raised or lowered at the front of a stage.

- a raising or lowering of the curtain at the beginning or end of an act or scene: the art is to hold your audience right from the opening curtain.

3 (curtains) INFORMAL a disastrous outcome: it looked like curtains for me.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. curtained) provide with a curtain or curtains: a curtained window.

- conceal or screen with a curtain: a curtained-off side room.

<PHRASES>

□ bring down the curtain on bring to an end: her decision brought down the curtain on a glittering 30-year career.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cortine, from late Latin cortina, translation of Greek aulaia, from aulē ‘court’.

curtain call n. the appearance of one or more performers on stage after a performance to acknowledge the audience's applause.

curtain fire (also chiefly US curtain of fire) n. [mass noun] BRITISH rapid, continuous artillery or machine-gun fire on a designated line or area.

curtain lecture n. DATED an instance of a wife reprimanding her husband in private.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: originally a reprimand given behind bed curtains.

curtain-raiser n. an entertainment or other event happening just before a longer or more important one: Bach's Sinfonia in B flat was an ideal curtain-raiser to Mozart's last piano concerto.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: originally used in the theatre to denote a short opening piece performed before a play.

curtain ring n. a ring, typically one of brass or wood, used to fasten a curtain to a rail or rod.

curtain-sider n. a lorry or trailer having fabric sides.

curtain speech n. a speech of thanks or appreciation to an audience, made after a performance by an actor playing a leading role, typically from the front of the stage with the curtains closed.

curtain-up n. [in sing.] the beginning of a stage performance: curtain-up is at 8 p.m.

curtain wall n. a fortified wall around a medieval castle, typically one linking towers together.

- a wall which encloses the space within a building but does not support the roof.

curtal /kət(ə)l/ adj. ARCHAIC shortened, abridged, or curtailed.

■ n. HISTORICAL a dulcian or bassoon of the late 16th to early 18th century.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting a short-barrelled cannon): from French courtault, from court ‘short’ + the pejorative suffix -ault. In both English and French the noun denoted various items characterized by something short, especially an animal with a docked tail, which probably gave rise to the adjective sense.

curtana /kətαnə -tenə/ n. BRITISH the unpointed sword carried in front of English sovereigns at their coronation to represent mercy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Latin curtana (spatha) ‘shortened (sword)’, from Old French cortain, the name of the sword belonging to ROLAND (the point of which was damaged when it was thrust into a block of steel), from cort ‘short’, from Latin curtus ‘cut short’.

curtilage /kət()ld/ n. an area of land attached to a house and forming one enclosure with it: the roads within the curtilage of the development site.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, variant of Old French courtillage, from courtil ‘small court’, from cort ‘court’.

Curtin /kətn/ John (Joseph Ambrose) (1885–1945), Australian Labor statesman, Prime Minister 1941–5.

Curtiss /kəts/ Glenn (Hammond) (1878–1930), American air pioneer and aircraft designer. In 1908 Curtiss made the first public American flight of 1.0 km (0.6 miles). He built his first aeroplane in 1909, and invented the aileron and demonstrated the first practical seaplane two years later.

curtsy (also curtsey) n. (pl. curtsies or curtseys) a woman's or girl's formal greeting made by bending the knees with one foot in front of the other: she bobbed a curtsy to him.

■ v. (curtsies, curtsying, curtsied or curtseys, curtseying, curtseyed) [no obj.] perform a curtsy: his sisters had curtsied to the vicar.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: variant of COURTESY. Both forms were used to denote the expression of respect or courtesy by a gesture, especially in phrases such as do courtesy, make courtesy, and from this arose the current use (late 16th century).

curule /kjərul/ adj. HISTORICAL denoting or relating to the authority exercised by the senior magistrates in ancient Rome, chiefly the consul and praetor, who were entitled to use the sella curulis (‘curule seat’, a kind of folding chair).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin curulis, from currus ‘chariot’ (in which the chief magistrate was conveyed to the seat of office), from currere ‘to run’.

curvaceous /kəveəs/ adj. (especially of a woman or a woman's figure) having an attractively curved shape.

<DERIVATIVES> curvaceously adv. curvaceousness n.

curvature /kəvətə/ n. [mass noun] the fact of being curved or the degree to which something is curved: spinal curvature | the curvature of the earth.

- [GEOMETRY] the degree to which a curve deviates from a straight line, or a curved surface deviates from a plane.

- a numerical quantity expressing curvature.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin curvatura, from curvare (see CURVE).

curve n. a line or outline which gradually deviates from being straight for some or all of its length: the parapet wall sweeps down in a bold curve.

- NORTH AMERICAN a place where a road deviates from a straight path: the vehicle rounded a curve.

- (curves) a curving contour of a woman's figure.

- a line on a graph (whether straight or curved) showing how one quantity varies with respect to another: the population curve.

- (also curve ball) [BASEBALL] a delivery in which the pitcher causes the ball to deviate from a straight path by imparting spin.

■ v. form or cause to form a curve: [no obj.] her mouth curved in a smile | [with obj.] starting with arms outstretched, curve the body sideways.

<PHRASES>

□ ahead of (or behind) the curve (especially of a business or politician) ahead of (or lagging behind) current thinking or trends: we are continually looking for ways to stay ahead of the curve and provide added value to our consumers.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin curvare ‘to bend’, from curvus ‘bent’. The noun dates from the late 17th cent.

curved adj. having the form of a curve; bent: birds with long curved bills.

curvet /kəvεt/ n. a graceful or energetic leap.

■ v. (curvets, curvetting, curvetted or curvets, curveting, curveted) [no obj.] RARE leap gracefully or energetically.

- (of a horse) perform a courbette.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian corvetta, diminutive of corva, earlier form of curva ‘a curve’, from Latin curvus ‘bent’.

curvilinear /kəvlnə/ adj. contained by or consisting of a curved line or lines: these designs employ flowing, curvilinear forms.

<DERIVATIVES> curvilinearly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin curvus ‘bent, curved’, on the pattern of rectilinear.

curvy adj. (curvier, curviest) having curves: curvy lines.

- INFORMAL (of a woman's figure) shapely and voluptuous.

<DERIVATIVES> curviness n.

cuscus /ksks/ n. a tree-dwelling marsupial with a rounded head and prehensile tail, native to New Guinea and northern Australia.

<INFO> Four genera in the family Phalangeridae: several species, including the spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus) and the grey cuscus (Phalanger orientalis). See also PHALANGER.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via French and Dutch from a local name in the Molucca Islands.

cusec /kjusεk/ n. a unit of flow (especially of water) equal to one cubic foot per second.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of cubic foot per second.

Cush /k/ 1 (in the Bible) the eldest son of Ham and grandson of Noah (Gen. 10:6).

2 the southern part of ancient Nubia, first mentioned in Egyptian records of the Middle Kingdom. In the Bible it is the country of the descendants of Cush.

cush /k/ n. INFORMAL a cushion on a billiard table.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

cushat /kət/ n. DIALECT, chiefly SCOTTISH a wood pigeon.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of unknown origin.

cushaw /k ku/ (also cushaw squash) n. US a large winter squash of a variety with a curved neck.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

cush-cush /kk/ (also cush-cush yam) n. a tropical American yam which produces a number of tubers on each plant.

<INFO> Dioscorea trifida, family Dioscoreaceae.

- [mass noun] the edible tuber of the cush-cush, eaten as a vegetable.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps ultimately of African origin.

Cushing /k/ Peter (1913–94), English actor, known particularly for his roles in Hammer horror films.

Cushing's disease n. [mass noun] Cushing's syndrome as caused by a tumour of the pituitary gland.

Cushing's syndrome n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a metabolic disorder caused by overproduction of corticosteroid hormones by the adrenal cortex and often involving obesity and high blood pressure.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Harvey W. Cushing (1869–1939), American surgeon.

cushion n. 1 a bag of cloth stuffed with a mass of soft material, used as a comfortable support for sitting or leaning on.

2 something providing support or protection against impact: underlay forms a cushion between carpet and floor.

- the elastic lining of the sides of a billiard table, from which the ball rebounds.

- the layer of air supporting a hovercraft or similar vehicle.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 soften the effect of an impact on: the bag cushions equipment from inevitable knocks.

2 mitigate the adverse effects of: to cushion the blow, wages and pensions were increased.

<DERIVATIVES> cushioned adj. cushiony adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cuissin, based on a Latin word meaning ‘cushion for the hip’, from coxa ‘hip, thigh’. The Romans also had a word cubital ‘elbow cushion’, from cubitus ‘elbow’.

cushion capital n. [ARCHITECTURE] a capital resembling a cushion pressed down by a weight, seen particularly in Romanesque churches.

cushion star n. a small shallow-water starfish with a broad body and very short blunt arms. Also called STARLET.

<INFO> Asterina and related genera, class Asteroidea, in particular A. gibbosa of the NE Atlantic.

Cushitic /ktk/ n. [mass noun] a group of East African languages of the Afro-Asiatic family spoken mainly in Ethiopia and Somalia, including Somali and Oromo.

■ adj. relating to this group of languages.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CUSH + -ITIC.

cushty /kti/ adj. BRITISH INFORMAL very good or pleasing: he's got a cushty set-up.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Romany kushto, kushti ‘good’, perhaps influenced by CUSHY.

cushy adj. (cushier, cushiest) INFORMAL 1 (of a job or situation) undemanding, easy, or secure: he doesn't have anything like the cushy life you professors have | the Caribbean posting is not a cushy number.

2 NORTH AMERICAN (of furniture) comfortable.

<DERIVATIVES> cushiness n.

<ORIGIN> First World War (originally Anglo-Indian): from Urdu ushī ‘pleasure’, from Persian uš.

cusimanse /kusmansi/ (also kusimanse) n. a small gregarious mongoose with a dark brown coat and a long mobile snout, native to West Africa.

<INFO> Crossarchus obscurus, family Herpestidae. Alternative name: long-nosed mongoose.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th cent: probably a local word in West Africa.

cusk /ksk/ n. another term for TORSK.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin.

cusk-eel n. a small eel-like fish with a tapering body and fins that form a pointed tail, typically found in deep water.

<INFO> Family Ophidiidae: numerous genera.

cusp /ksp/ n. 1 a pointed end where two curves meet, in particular:

- [ARCHITECTURE] a moulded projection at the point of a small arch in Gothic tracery.

- a cone-shaped prominence on the surface of a tooth.

- [ANATOMY] a pocket or fold in the wall of the heart or a major blood vessel that fills and distends if the blood flows backwards, so forming part of a valve.

- [MATHEMATICS] a point at which the direction of a curve is abruptly reversed.

- each of the pointed ends of the crescent moon.

- [BOTANY] a sharp rigid point of a leaf.

2 [ASTROLOGY] the initial point of an astrological sign or house: he was Aries on the cusp with Taurus.

3 a point of transition between two different states: those on the cusp of adulthood.

<DERIVATIVES> cuspate adj. cusped adj. cuspidate adj. cuspidal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from Latin cuspis ‘point or apex’.

cuspid n. a tooth with a single cusp or point; a canine tooth.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin cuspis, cuspid- ‘point or apex’.

cuspidor /kspd/ n. US a spittoon.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Portuguese, ‘spitter’, from cuspir ‘to spit’, from Latin conspuere.

cusping n. [mass noun] [ARCHITECTURE] a formation consisting of cusps.

cuss INFORMAL n. 1 an annoying or stubborn person or animal: he was certainly an unsociable cuss.

2 another term for curse (sense 2 of the noun).

■ v. another term for curse (sense 2 of the verb).

cussed /ksd/ adj. INFORMAL awkward; annoying: why do you have to be so cussed?

<DERIVATIVES> cussedly adv. cussedness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): variant of CURSED.

cuss word n. INFORMAL a swear word.

custard n. [mass noun] a dessert or sweet sauce made with milk and eggs, or milk and a proprietary powder.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English crustarde, custarde (denoting an open pie containing meat or fruit in a spiced or sweetened sauce thickened with eggs), from Old French crouste (see CRUST).

custard apple n. 1 a large fleshy tropical fruit with a sweet yellow pulp. See also CHERIMOYA, BULLOCK'S HEART, SWEETSOP.

2 the tree which bears the custard apple, native to Central and South America.

<INFO> Genus Annona, family Annonaceae: several species.

custard cream n. BRITISH a biscuit with a vanilla-flavoured cream filling.

custard marrow n. BRITISH a summer squash of a variety which has flattened round fruits with scalloped edges.

custard pie n. an open pie containing cold set custard.

- a custard pie, or a flat container of foam, used for throwing in someone's face in slapstick comedy.

custard powder n. [mass noun] a preparation of flavoured cornflour for making custard.

Custer /kstə/ George (Armstrong) (1839–76), American cavalry general. He served with distinction in the American Civil War but led his men to their deaths in a clash (popularly known as Custer's Last Stand) with the Sioux at Little Bighorn in Montana.

custodian /kstədən/ n. a person who has responsibility for taking care of or protecting something: the custodian of the Great Seal in Canada is always the Secretary of State.

<DERIVATIVES> custodianship n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from CUSTODY, on the pattern of guardian.

custody /kstədi/ n. [mass noun] 1 the protective care or guardianship of someone or something: the property was placed in the custody of a trustee.

- [LAW] parental responsibility, especially as allocated to one of two divorcing parents: he was trying to get custody of their child.

2 imprisonment: my father was being taken into custody.

<DERIVATIVES> custodial /kstədəl/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin custodia, from custos ‘guardian’.

custom n. 1 a traditional and widely accepted way of behaving or doing something that is specific to a particular society, place, or time: the old English custom of dancing round the maypole | [mass noun] custom demanded that a person should have gifts for the child.

- [in sing.] a thing that one does habitually: it is our custom to visit the Lake District in October.

- [LAW] established usage having the force of law or right.

2 [mass noun] BRITISH regular dealings with a shop or business by customers: if you keep me waiting, I will take my custom elsewhere.

■ adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN made or done to order; custom-made: a custom guitar.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coustume, based on Latin consuetudo, from consuetus, past participle of consuescere ‘accustom’, from con- (expressing intensive force) + suescere ‘become accustomed’.

customarily adv. in a way which follows customs or usual practices; usually: the leaves are customarily used for animal fodder.

customary adj. according to the customs or usual practices associated with a particular society, place, or set of circumstances: it is customary to mark an occasion like this with a toast.

- [attr.] according to a person's habitual practice: I put the kettle on for our customary cup of coffee.

- [LAW] established by or based on custom rather than common law or statute.

- (in South Africa) relating to black African traditional custom or law.

■ n. (pl. customaries) HISTORICAL another term for CUSTUMAL.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): from medieval Latin custumarius, from custuma, from Anglo-Norman French custume (see CUSTOM).

custom-built adj. built or made to a particular customer's order.

customer n. 1 a person who buys goods or services from a shop or business: Mr Harrison was a regular customer at the Golden Lion.

2 [with adj.] a person of a specified kind with whom one has to deal: he's a tough customer.

customer-facing adj. dealing directly with customers: a customer-facing role.

custom house (also customs house) n. chiefly HISTORICAL the office at a port or frontier where customs duty is collected.

customize (also customise) v. [with obj.] modify (something) to suit a particular individual or task: the software can be customized to the developing needs of your students | (as adj. customized) many caterers offer private tastings and customized menus.

<DERIVATIVES> customizable adj. customization n.

custom-made adj. made or done to order for a particular customer.

customs plural n. the official department that administers and collects the duties levied by a government on imported goods: cocaine seizures by customs have risen this year | [as modifier] a customs officer.

- the place at a port, airport, or frontier where officials check incoming goods, travellers, or luggage: we were through customs with a minimum of formalities.

- (usually customs duties) the duties levied by a government on imported goods.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: originally in the singular, denoting a customary due paid to a ruler, later duty levied on goods on their way to market.

customs union n. a group of states that have agreed to charge the same import duties as each other and usually to allow free trade between themselves.

custos rotulorum /ksts rətjlrəm/ n. (pl. custodes rotulorum /kstədiz/) (in England and Wales) the principal Justice of the Peace of a county, who has nominal custody of the records of the commission of the peace. The function is usually fulfilled by the Lord Lieutenant.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

custumal /kstjm(ə)l/ (also customal) n. HISTORICAL a written account of the customs of a manor or other local community or large establishment.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin custumale ‘customs book’, neuter of custumalis, from custuma ‘custom’.

cut v. (cutting; past and past participle cut) [with obj.] 1 make an opening, incision, or wound in (something) with a sharp-edged tool or object: he cut his big toe on a sharp stone | when fruit is cut open, it goes brown.

2 remove (something) from something larger by using a sharp implement: I cut his photograph out of the paper | some prisoners had their right hands cut off.

- castrate (an animal, especially a horse).

- (cut something out) make something by cutting: I cut out some squares of paper.

- (cut something out) remove, exclude, or stop eating or doing something undesirable: start today by cutting out fatty foods.

- (cut something out) NORTH AMERICAN separate an animal from the main herd.

3 divide into pieces with a knife or other sharp implement: cut the beef into thin slices | he cut his food up into teeny pieces.

- make divisions in (something): land that has been cut up by streams into forested areas.

- separate (something) into two; sever: they cut the rope before he choked.

- (cut something down) cause something to fall by cutting it through at the base.

- (cut someone down) (of a weapon, bullet, or disease) kill or injure someone: Barker had been cut down by a sniper's bullet.

4 make or form (something) by using a sharp tool to remove material: workmen cut a hole in the pipe.

- make or design (a garment) in a particular way: (as adj., with submodifier cut) an impeccably cut suit.

- make (a path, tunnel, or other route) by excavation, digging, or chopping: plans to cut a road through a rainforest | [no obj.] investigators called for a machete to cut through the bush.

- make (a sound recording).

5 trim or reduce the length of (grass, hair, etc.) by using a sharp implement: Ted was cutting the lawn | cut back all the year's growth to about four leaves.

6 reduce the amount or quantity of: buyers will bargain hard to cut the cost of the house they want | I should cut down my sugar intake | [no obj.] they've cut back on costs.

- abridge (a text, film, or performance) by removing material: he had to cut unnecessary additions made to the opening scene.

- [COMPUTING] delete (part of a text or other display) so as to insert a copy of it elsewhere. See also CUT AND PASTE below.

- end or interrupt the provision of (a supply): we resolved to cut oil supplies to territories controlled by the rebels | if the pump develops a fault, the electrical supply is immediately cut off.

- switch off (an engine or a light).

- NORTH AMERICAN absent oneself from (something one should normally attend, especially school): Rodney was cutting class.

7 (cut something off) block the usual means of access to a place: the caves were cut off from the outside world by a landslide.

8 INFORMAL ignore or refuse to recognize (someone): they cut her in public.

9 (of a line) cross or intersect (another line).

- [no obj.] (cut across) pass or traverse, especially so as to shorten one's route: the following aircraft cut across to join him.

- [no obj.] (cut across) have an effect regardless of (divisions or boundaries between groups): subcultures which cut across national and political boundaries.

- [no obj.] (cut along) INFORMAL, DATED leave or move hurriedly.

10 [no obj., often in imperative] stop filming or recording.

- [with adverbial] move to another shot in a film: cut to a dentist's surgery.

- [with obj.] make (a film) into a coherent whole by removing parts or placing them in a different order.

11 [no obj.] divide a pack of playing cards by lifting a portion from the top, either to reveal a card at random or to place the top portion under the bottom portion.

12 strike or kick (a ball) with an abrupt, typically downward motion: Cook cut the ball back to him.

- [GOLF] slice (the ball).

- [CRICKET] hit (the ball) to the off side with the bat held almost horizontally; play such a stroke against (the bowler).

- [no obj.] [CRICKET] (of the ball) turn sharply on pitching.

13 mix (an illegal drug) with another substance: speed cut with rat poison.

14 (cut it) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL come up to expectations; meet requirements: this CD player doesn't quite cut it. [<ORIGIN> shortened form of the idiom cut the mustard.]

■ n. 1 an act of cutting, in particular:

- [in sing.] a haircut: his hair was in need of a cut.

- a stroke or blow given by a sharp-edged implement or by a whip or cane: he could skin an animal with a single cut of the knife.

- FIGURATIVE a wounding remark or act.

- [often with modifier] a reduction in amount or size: she took a 20% pay cut | a cut in interest rates.

- BRITISH a power cut.

- an act of cutting part of a book, play, etc.: they would not publish the book unless the author was willing to make cuts.

- an immediate transition from one scene to another in a film.

- [TENNIS] & [CRICKET] a stroke made with an abrupt, typically horizontal or downward action.

2 a result of cutting something, in particular:

- a long, narrow incision in the skin made by something sharp: blood ran from a cut on his jaw.

- a long, narrow opening or incision made in a surface or piece of material: make a single cut along the top of each potato.

- a piece of meat cut from a carcass: a good lean cut of beef.

- [in sing.] INFORMAL a share of the profits from something: the directors are demanding their cut.

- a recording of a piece of music: a cut from his forthcoming album.

- a version of a film after editing.

- a passage cut or dug out, as a railway cutting or a new channel made for a river or other waterway.

3 [in sing.] the way or style in which something, especially a garment or someone's hair, is cut: the elegant cut of his dinner jacket.

<PHRASES>

□ be cut out for (or to be) [usually with negative] INFORMAL have exactly the right qualities for a particular role or job: I'm just not cut out to be a policeman.

□ a cut above INFORMAL noticeably superior to: she's a cut above the rest.

□ cut and dried [often with negative] (of a situation) completely settled: the championship is not as cut and dried as everyone thinks. [<ORIGIN> early 18th century: originally used to distinguish the herbs of herbalists' shops from growing herbs.]

□ cut and paste [COMPUTING] move (text) by cutting it from one part of the text and inserting it in another.

□ cut and run INFORMAL make a speedy departure from a difficult situation rather than deal with it. [<ORIGIN> originally a nautical phrase, meaning ‘cut the anchor cable because of some emergency and make sail immediately’.]

□ cut and thrust a lively and competitive atmosphere or environment: the cut and thrust of political debate.

- a situation or sphere of activity regarded as carried out under adversarial conditions: the ruthless cut and thrust of the business world. [<ORIGIN> originally a phrase in fencing.]

□ cut both ways (of a point or statement) serve both sides of an argument.

- (of an action or process) have both good and bad effects: the triumphs of civilization cut both ways.

□ cut the corner take the shortest course by going across and not around a corner.

□ cut corners do something perfunctorily so as to save time or money.

□ cut the crap [often in imperative] VULGAR SLANG get to the point; state the real situation.

□ cut a dash BRITISH be stylish or impressive in one's dress or behaviour.

□ cut someone dead completely ignore someone.

□ cut a deal NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL come to an arrangement, especially in business; make a deal.

□ cut someone down to size INFORMAL deflate someone's exaggerated sense of self-worth.

□ cut something down to size reduce the size or power of something, for example an organization, which is regarded as having become too large or powerful.

□ cut a —— figure present oneself or appear in a particular way: David has cut a dashing figure on the international social scene.

□ cut from the same cloth of the same nature; similar.

□ cut in line NORTH AMERICAN jump the queue.

□ cut it fine see fine^1.

□ cut it out [usually in imperative] INFORMAL used to ask someone to stop doing or saying something that is annoying or offensive.

□ cut loose distance or free oneself from a person, group, or system: he was a young teenager, already cutting loose from his family.

- begin to act without restraint: when Mannion cut loose the home side collapsed to 127 all out.

□ cut someone/thing loose (or free) free someone or something from something which holds or restricts them: he'd cut loose the horses.

□ cut one's losses abandon an enterprise or course of action that is clearly going to be unprofitable or unsuccessful before one suffers more loss or harm.

□ cut the mustard INFORMAL come up to expectations; reach the required standard: I didn't cut the mustard as a hockey player.

□ cut no ice INFORMAL have no influence or effect: your holier-than-thou attitude cuts no ice with me.

□ cut someone off (or down) in their prime bring someone's life or career to an abrupt end while they are at the peak of their abilities.

□ cut someone/thing short interrupt someone or something; bring an abrupt or premature end to something said or done: Peter cut him short rudely.

□ cut someone to pieces kill or severely injure someone.

- FIGURATIVE totally defeat someone.

□ cut a (or the) rug NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL dance, especially in an energetic or accomplished way.

□ cut one's teeth acquire initial practice or experience of a particular sphere of activity: the brothers cut their professional teeth at Lusardi's before starting their own restaurant.

□ cut a tooth (of a baby) have a tooth appear through the gum.

□ cut to the chase NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL come to the point: cut to the chase—what is it you want us to do? [<ORIGIN> cut in the sense ‘move to another part of the film’, expressing the notion of ignoring any preliminaries.]

□ cut up rough BRITISH INFORMAL behave in an aggressive, quarrelsome, or awkward way.

□ cut up well ARCHAIC bequeath a large fortune.

□ cut your coat according to your cloth PROVERB undertake only what you have the money or ability to do and no more.

□ have one's WORK cut out see WORK.

□ make the cut [usually with negative] [GOLF] equal or better a required score, thus avoiding elimination from the last two rounds of a four-round tournament.

□ miss the cut [GOLF] fail to equal or better a required score, thus being eliminated from the last two rounds of a four-round tournament.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ cut in 1 interrupt someone while they are speaking: ‘It's urgent,’ Raoul cut in.

2 pull in too closely in front of another vehicle after having overtaken it: she cut in on a station wagon, forcing the driver to brake.

3 (of a motor or other mechanical device) begin operating, especially when triggered automatically by an electrical signal.

4 DATED interrupt a dancing couple to take over from one partner.

□ cut someone in INFORMAL include someone in a deal and give them a share of the profits.

□ cut into interrupt the course of: Victoria's words cut into her thoughts.

□ cut someone off 1 interrupt someone while they are speaking.

- interrupt someone during a telephone call by breaking the connection.

2 prevent someone from receiving or being provided with something, especially power or water.

3 reject someone as one's heir; disinherit someone: Gabrielle's family cut her off without a penny.

4 prevent someone from having access to somewhere or someone; isolate someone from something they previously had connections with: the couple were cut off by a fast-moving tide.

□ cut out 1 (of a motor or engine) suddenly stop operating.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (of a person) leave quickly, especially so as to avoid a boring or awkward situation.

□ cut someone out exclude someone: his mother cut him out of her will.

□ cut up 1 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL behave in a mischievous or unruly manner: kids cutting up in a classroom.

2 INFORMAL (of a horse race) have a particular selection of runners: the race has cut up badly with no other opposition from England.

□ cut someone up 1 INFORMAL (of a driver) overtake someone and pull in too closely in front of them.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL criticize someone severely: my kids cut him up about his appetite all the time.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (probably existing, although not recorded, in Old English); probably of Germanic origin and related to Norwegian kutte and Icelandic kuta ‘cut with a small knife’, kuti ‘small blunt knife’.

cut-and-come-again n. [usually as modifier] a garden plant, especially a green vegetable or a flower, that can be repeatedly cut or harvested: cut-and-come-again spinach.

cut-and-cover n. [mass noun] a method of building a tunnel by making a cutting which is then lined and covered over.

cutaneous /kjutenəs/ adj. relating to or affecting the skin: cutaneous pigmentation.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from modern Latin cutaneus (from Latin cutis ‘skin’) + -OUS.

cutaway adj. 1 denoting a coat or jacket with the front cut away below the waist.

2 denoting a diagram or drawing with some external parts left out to reveal the interior.

■ n. a shot or scene in a film which is of a different subject from those to which it is joined in editing.

cutback n. an act or instance of reducing something, especially expenditure: cutbacks in defence spending.

cutch /kt/ n. see CATECHU.

cut-down adj. reduced in scope or length: it's a cut-down version of a DTP program.

cute adj. 1 attractive in a pretty or endearing way: she had a cute little nose.

- North American INFORMAL sexually attractive.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL ingenious, shrewd, or quick-witted: she had a real cute idea.

- Irish INFORMAL cunning; wily: the two brothers were cute enough to find a couple of rich women and marry them.

<DERIVATIVES> cutely adv. cuteness n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘clever, shrewd’): shortening of ACUTE.

cutesy adj. (cutesier, cutesiest) INFORMAL cute to a sentimental or mawkish extent: the film's cutesy shots of children playing in the streets.

cut glass n. [mass noun] 1 glass ornamented with patterns cut into it by grinding and polishing.

2 [as modifier] characterized by precise and careful enunciation: a cut-glass accent.

Cuthbert, St (d.687), English monk. He lived as a hermit on Farne Island before becoming bishop of Lindisfarne. Feast day, 20 March.

cuticle /kjutk(ə)l/ n. 1 the dead skin at the base of a fingernail or toenail.

2 the outer cellular layer of a hair.

3 [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] a protective and waxy or hard layer covering the epidermis of a plant, invertebrate, or shell.

- [ZOOLOGY] another term for EPIDERMIS.

<DERIVATIVES> cuticular /-tkjlə/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting a membrane of the body): from Latin cuticula, diminutive of cutis ‘skin’.

cutie n. (pl. cuties) INFORMAL an attractive or endearing person, especially a young woman.

cutin /kjutn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a waxy water-repellent substance in the cuticle of plants, consisting of highly polymerized esters of fatty acids.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CUTIS + -IN^1.

cut-in n. a shot in a film that is edited into another shot or scene.

cutis /kjuts/ n. [mass noun] [ANATOMY] the true skin or dermis.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, ‘skin’.

cutlass /ktləs/ n. a short sword with a slightly curved blade, formerly used by sailors.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French coutelas, based on Latin cultellus ‘small knife’ (see CUTLER).

cutlassfish n. (pl. same or cutlassfishes) a long, slender marine fish with sharp teeth and a dorsal fin running the length of the back.

<INFO> Family Trichiuridae: several species, including the Atlantic Trichiurus lepturus (also called SNAKEFISH), an important food fish in the tropics.

cutler n. a person who makes or sells cutlery.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coutelier, from coutel ‘knife’, from Latin cultellus, diminutive of culter ‘knife, ploughshare’. Compare with COULTER.

cutlery n. [mass noun] knives, forks, and spoons used for eating or serving food.

- NORTH AMERICAN cutting utensils, especially knives.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French coutellerie, from coutelier (see CUTLER).

cutlet n. a portion of meat, usually served grilled or fried and often covered in breadcrumbs.

- BRITISH a lamb or veal chop from just behind the neck.

- a flat croquette of minced meat, nuts, or pulses, typically covered in breadcrumbs and shaped like a veal chop.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French côtelette, earlier costelette, diminutive of coste ‘rib’, from Latin costa.

cutline n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN the caption to a photograph or other illustration.

2 (in squash) the line above which a served ball must strike the front wall.

cut lunch n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a packed lunch.

cut-off n. 1 a point or level which is a designated limit of something: 2,500 g is the standard cut-off below which infants are categorized as ‘low birthweight’ | [as modifier] the cut-off date to register is July 2.

2 an act of stopping or interrupting the supply of something: a cut-off of aid would be a disaster.

- a device for producing an interruption in flow of a power or fuel supply.

- a sudden drop in amplification or responsiveness of an electric device at a certain frequency.

- [mass noun] the stopping of the supply of steam to the cylinders of a steam engine when the piston has travelled a set percentage of its stroke.

3 (cut-offs) shorts made by cutting off the legs of a pair of jeans or other trousers and leaving the edges unhemmed.

4 NORTH AMERICAN a short cut.

cut-out n. 1 a shape cut out of board or another material.

- FIGURATIVE a person perceived as characterless or lacking in individuality.

2 a hole cut in something for decoration or to allow the insertion of something else.

3 a device that automatically breaks an electric circuit for safety and either resets itself or can be reset.

cutover n. a rapid transition from one phase of a business enterprise or project to another.

■ adj. [attr.] (of land) having had its saleable timber felled and removed.

cut-price (NORTH AMERICAN also cut-rate) adj. for sale at a reduced or unusually low price: cut-price footwear.

- offering goods at reduced prices: cut-price supermarkets.

cutpurse n. archaic term for PICKPOCKET.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: with reference to stealing by cutting purses suspended from a waistband.

cutscene n. (in computer games) a scene that develops the storyline and is often shown on completion of a certain level, or when the player's character dies.

cutter n. 1 [often with adj. or noun modifier] a tool for cutting something, especially one intended for cutting a particular thing or for producing a particular shape: a biscuit cutter | (cutters) a pair of bolt cutters.

2 a person who cuts or edits film.

3 a person in a tailoring establishment who takes measurements and cuts the cloth.

4 a light, fast coastal patrol boat.

- a ship's boat used for carrying light stores or passengers.

- HISTORICAL a small fore-and-aft rigged sailing boat with one mast, more than one headsail, and a running bowsprit, used as a fast auxiliary.

- a yacht with one mainsail and two foresails.

5 [CRICKET] & [BASEBALL] a ball that deviates sharply on pitching.

6 NORTH AMERICAN a light horse-drawn sleigh.

7 a pig heavier than a porker but lighter than a baconer.

cut-throat n. 1 DATED a murderer or other violent criminal.

2 short for CUT-THROAT RAZOR.

3 (also cut-throat trout) a trout of western North America, with red or orange markings under the jaw.

<INFO> Salmo clarki, family Salmonidae.

■ adj. 1 (of a competitive situation or activity) fierce and intense; involving the use of ruthless measures: the cut-throat world of fashion.

- (of a person) using ruthless methods in a competitive situation: the greedy cut-throat manufacturers he worked for.

2 denoting a form of whist (or other card game normally for four) played by three players.

cut-throat razor n. BRITISH a razor having a long blade set in a handle, usually folding like a penknife.

cutting n. 1 (often cuttings) a piece cut off from something, especially what remains when something is being trimmed or prepared: grass cuttings.

- BRITISH an article or other piece cut from a newspaper or periodical.

- a piece cut from a plant for propagation.

2 BRITISH an open passage excavated through higher ground for a railway, road, or canal.

■ adj. capable of cutting something: the cutting blades of the hedge trimmer.

- (of a comment) causing emotional pain; hurtful: a cutting remark.

- (of the wind) bitterly cold.

<DERIVATIVES> cuttingly adv.

cutting edge n. 1 the edge of a tool's blade.

2 [in sing.] the latest or most advanced stage in the development of something: researchers at the cutting edge of molecular biology.

3 [in sing.] a dynamic or invigorating quality: the party's campaign began to lose its cutting edge.

■ adj. (cutting-edge) highly advanced; innovative or pioneering: cutting-edge technology.

cutting grass n. 1 [mass noun] an Australian and New Zealand sedge with sharp-edged leaves or stems.

<INFO> Genus Gahnia, family Cyperaceae.

2 another term for CANE RAT.

cutting horse n. NORTH AMERICAN a horse trained in separating cattle from a herd.

cutting room n. a room in a film studio where film is cut and edited: [as modifier] such a scene would end up on the cutting-room floor.

cuttle n. a cuttlefish.

<ORIGIN> Old English cudele ‘cuttlefish’, of Germanic origin; related to codd ‘bag’, with reference to its ink bag.

cuttlebone n. the flattened oval internal skeleton of the cuttlefish, which is made of white lightweight chalky material. It is used as a dietary supplement for cage birds and for making casts for precious metal items.

cuttlefish n. (pl. same or cuttlefishes) a swimming marine mollusc that resembles a broad-bodied squid, having eight arms and two long tentacles that are used for grabbing prey. Its internal skeleton is the familiar cuttlebone, which it uses for adjusting buoyancy.

<INFO> Order Sepioidea, class Cephalopoda: Sepia and other genera.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from CUTTLE + FISH^1.

cutty Scottish & N. English adj. short, either naturally so or through being cut down: they carried wee cutty ladders.

■ n. (pl. cutties) a short tobacco pipe.

Cutty Sark /kt sαk/ the only survivor of the British tea clippers, launched in 1869 and now preserved as a museum ship at Greenwich, London.

<ORIGIN> from Robert Burns's Tam o' Shanter, a poem about a Scottish farmer chased by a young witch who wore only her ‘cutty sark’ (= short shift).

cutty-stool n. SCOTTISH HISTORICAL a stool on which an offender was publicly rebuked during a church service.

cut up adj. [predic.] 1 (of soft ground) rutted and uneven after the passage of heavy vehicles or animals.

2 INFORMAL (of a person) very distressed: she was pretty cut up about them leaving.

■ n. (cut-up) 1 a film or sound recording made by cutting and editing material from pre-existing recordings.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person who is fond of making jokes or playing the fool.

cutwater n. 1 the forward edge of a ship's prow.

2 a wedge-shaped projection on the pier of a bridge, which divides the flow of water and prevents debris from becoming trapped against the pier.

cutwork n. [mass noun] embroidery in which parts of the fabric ground are cut out and the edges oversewn or elaborately stitched.

cutworm n. a moth caterpillar that lives in the upper layers of the soil and eats through the stems of young plants at ground level.

<INFO> Several species in the family Noctuidae, in particular the large yellow underwing (see YELLOW UNDERWING).

cuvée /kjuve/ French /kYve/ n. a type, blend, or batch of wine, especially champagne.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, ‘vatful’, from cuve ‘cask’, from Latin cupa.

cuvette /kjuvεt/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a straight-sided clear container for holding liquid samples in a spectrophotometer or other instrument.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, diminutive of cuve ‘cask’, from Latin cupa.

Cuvier /kuve/ French /kYvje/ Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron (1769–1832), French naturalist. Cuvier founded the science of palaeontology and made pioneering studies in comparative anatomy and classification.

Cuzco /kskə/ Spanish /kuskə kuθkə/ a city in the Andes in southern Peru; pop. 282,600 (est. 2002). It was the capital of the Inca empire until the Spanish conquest in 1533.

CV abbr. curriculum vitae.

cv. abbr. cultivated variety.

CVO abbr. (in the UK) Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.

CVS abbr. chorionic villus sampling.

CVT abbr. continuously variable transmission.

Cwlth abbr. Commonwealth.

cwm /km/ n. a cirque, especially one in the mountains of Wales.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Welsh; related to COMBE.

Cwmbran /kmbrαn/ a town in SE Wales, administrative centre of Monmouthshire; pop. 46,600 (est. 2002).

CWO abbr. Chief Warrant Officer.

c.w.o. abbr. cash with order.

cwr abbr. continuous welded rail.

CWS abbr. Cooperative Wholesale Society.

cwt abbr. hundredweight.

<ORIGIN> from Latin centum ‘a hundred’.

cwtch /kt/ n. Welsh 1 a cupboard or cubbyhole.

2 a cuddle or hug.

<ORIGIN> Welsh, from cwts, related to couch^1.

CY abbr. Cyprus (international vehicle registration).

-cy suffix 1 denoting state or condition: bankruptcy.

2 denoting rank or status: baronetcy.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -cia, -tia and Greek -k(e)ia, -t(e)ia.

cyan /sən/ n. [mass noun] a greenish-blue colour which is one of the primary subtractive colours, complementary to red.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kuaneos ‘dark blue’.

cyanamide /sanəmd/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a weakly acidic crystalline compound made as an intermediate in the production of ammonia.

<INFO> Alternative name: cyanogen amide; chem. formula: CH_2N_2.

- a salt of this containing the anion CN_22−, especially the calcium salt used as a fertilizer.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: blend of CYANOGEN and AMIDE.

cyanate /sənet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of cyanic acid.

cyanic /sank/ adj. 1 [CHEMISTRY] of cyanogen.

2 RARE blue; azure.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CYAN + -IC.

cyanic acid n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless, poisonous, volatile, strongly acidic liquid.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HOCN. See also FULMINIC ACID, ISOCYANIC ACID.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CYANOGEN.

cyanide /sənd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of hydrocyanic acid, containing the anion CN− or the group –CN. The salts are generally extremely toxic. Compare with NITRILE.

- [mass noun] sodium or potassium cyanide used as a poison or in the extraction of gold and silver.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from CYANOGEN + -IDE.

cyano- combining form 1 relating to the colour blue, especially dark blue: cyanosis.

2 representing CYANIDE.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kuan(e)os ‘dark blue’.

cyanoacrylate /sənəakrlet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a class of compounds which are cyanide derivatives of acrylates. They are easily polymerized and are used to make quick-setting adhesives.

Cyanobacteria /sənəbaktərə/ plural n. [BIOLOGY] a division of micro-organisms that are related to the bacteria but are capable of photosynthesis. They are prokaryotic and represent the earliest known form of life on the earth.

<INFO> Division Cyanobacteria, kingdom Monera.

- (cyanobacteria) micro-organisms of the Cyanobacteria division; blue-green algae.

<DERIVATIVES> cyanobacterial adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek kuaneos ‘dark blue’ + plural of BACTERIUM.

cyanocobalamin /sənə()kəbaləmn/ n. [mass noun] a vitamin derived from foods of animal origin such as liver, fish, and eggs, a deficiency of which can cause pernicious anaemia. It contains a cyanide group bonded to the central cobalt atom of a cobalamin molecule. Also called VITAMIN B12.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from CYANOGEN and cobalamin (blend of COBALT and vitamin).

cyanogen /sanəd(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless flammable highly poisonous gas made by oxidizing hydrogen cyanide.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_2N_2.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French cyanogène, from Greek kuanos ‘dark blue mineral’ + -gène (see -GEN), so named because it is a constituent of Prussian blue.

cyanogenesis /sənə()dεnss/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the production of hydrogen cyanide by certain plants, such as cherry laurel and bracken, as a response to wounding or a deterrent to herbivores.

cyanogenic /sənədεnk/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a plant) capable of cyanogenesis.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] containing a cyanide group in the molecule.

cyanohydrin /sənə()hdrn/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing a carbon atom linked to both a cyanide group and a hydroxyl group.

cyanophyte /sənə()ft/ n. [BIOLOGY] a micro-organism of the division Cyanobacteria.

cyanosis /sənəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a bluish discoloration of the skin due to poor circulation or inadequate oxygenation of the blood.

<DERIVATIVES> cyanotic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek kuanōsis ‘blueness’, from kuaneos ‘dark blue’.

cyanotype /sənə()tp/ n. a photographic blueprint.

cyathium /saθəm/ n. (pl. cyathia /-ə/) [BOTANY] the characteristic inflorescence of the spurges, resembling a single flower. It consists of a cup-shaped involucre of fused bracts enclosing several greatly reduced male flowers and a single female flower.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek kuathion, diminutive of kuathos ‘cup’.

Cybele /sbli/ [MYTHOLOGY] a mother goddess worshipped especially in Phrygia and later in Greece (where she was associated with Demeter), Rome, and the Roman provinces, with her consort Attis.

cyber /sbə/ adj. relating to or characteristic of the culture of computers, information technology, and virtual reality: the cyber age.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: abbreviation of CYBERNETICS.

cyber- /sbə/ combining form relating to electronic communication networks and virtual reality: cyberpunk | cyberspace.

<ORIGIN> back-formation from CYBERNETICS.

cybercafe n. a cafe where customers can sit at computer terminals and log on to the Internet while eating and drinking.

cybercrime n. [mass noun] criminal activities carried out by means of computers or the Internet.

<DERIVATIVES> cybercriminal n.

cybernaut n. 1 an expert or habitual user of the Internet.

2 a person who uses computer technology and sensory devices to experience virtual reality.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (in the senses ‘robot’ and ‘cyborg’): from CYBER-, on the pattern of astronaut.

cybernetics plural n. [treated as sing.] the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things.

<DERIVATIVES> cybernetic adj. cybernetician n. cyberneticist n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek kubernētēs ‘steersman’, from kubernan ‘to steer’.

cyberphobia n. [mass noun] extreme or irrational fear of computers or technology.

<DERIVATIVES> cyberphobic adj. & n.

cyberpunk n. [mass noun] a genre of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technology.

- [count noun] a person who accesses computer networks illegally.

cybersex n. [mass noun] sexual arousal using computer technology, especially by wearing virtual reality equipment or by exchanging messages with another person via the Internet.

cyberslacker n. INFORMAL a person who uses their employer's Internet and email facilities for personal activities during working hours.

<DERIVATIVES> cyberslacking n.

cyberspace n. [mass noun] the notional environment in which communication over computer networks occurs.

cybersquatting n. [mass noun] the practice of registering names, especially well-known company or brand names, as Internet domains, in the hope of reselling them at a profit.

<DERIVATIVES> cybersquatter n.

cyberstalking n. [mass noun] the repeated use of electronic communications to harass or frighten someone, for example by sending threatening emails.

<DERIVATIVES> cyberstalker n.

cyberterrorism n. [mass noun] the politically motivated use of computers and information technology to cause severe disruption or widespread fear.

<DERIVATIVES> cyberterrorist n.

cyberwar n. [mass noun] the use of computers to disrupt the activities of an enemy country, especially the deliberate attacking of communication systems.

cyborg /sb/ n. a fictional or hypothetical person whose physical abilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements built into the body.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of CYBER- and ORGANISM.

cycad /skad/ n. a palm-like plant of tropical and subtropical regions, bearing large male or female cones. Cycads were abundant during the Triassic and Jurassic eras, but have since been in decline.

<INFO> Class Cycadopsida, subdivision Gymnospermae: twenty species in the genus Cycas and family Cycadaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Cycas, Cycad- (order name), from supposed Greek kukas, scribal error for koikas, plural of koix ‘Egyptian palm’.

Cyclades /sklədiz/ a large group of islands in the southern Aegean Sea, regarded in antiquity as circling around the sacred island of Delos. The Cyclades form a department of modern Greece. Greek name Kikládhes.

<ORIGIN> Latin, based on Greek kuklos ‘circle’.

Cycladic /skladk s-/ adj. relating to the Cyclades.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a Bronze Age civilization that flourished in the Cyclades, dated to c.3000 to c.1050 BC.

- (as n. the Cycladic) the Cycladic culture or period.

cyclamate /skləmet sk-/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt of a synthetic acid which is a cyclohexyl derivative of sulphamic acid. Sodium and calcium cyclamates were formerly used as artificial sweeteners.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: contraction of cyclohexylsulphamate.

cyclamen /skləmən/ n. (pl. same or cyclamens) a European plant of the primrose family, having pink, red, or white flowers with backward-curving petals and grown as a winter-flowering pot plant.

<INFO> Genus Cyclamen, family Primulaceae: several species.

- [mass noun] a pinkish-purple colour.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin cyclaminos, from Greek kuklaminos, perhaps from kuklos ‘circle’, with reference to its bulbous roots.

cycle n. 1 [often with adj. or noun modifier] a series of events that are regularly repeated in the same order: the recurrent cycle of harvest failure, food shortages, and price increases.

- the period of time taken to complete a cycle of events: the cells are shed over a cycle of twenty-eight days.

- TECHNICAL a recurring series of successive operations or states, such as in the working of an internal-combustion engine, or in the alternation of an electric current or a wave.

- [BIOLOGY] a recurring series of events or metabolic processes in the lifetime of a plant or animal: the storks' breeding cycle.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] a series of successive metabolic reactions in which one of the products is regenerated and reused.

- [ECOLOGY] the movement of a simple substance through the soil, rocks, water, atmosphere, and living organisms of the earth. See CARBON CYCLE, NITROGEN CYCLE.

- [COMPUTING] a single set of hardware operations, especially that by which memory is accessed and an item is transferred to or from it, to the point at which the memory may be accessed again.

- [PHYSICS] a cycle per second; one hertz.

2 a complete set or series: the painting is one of a cycle of seven.

- a series of songs, stories, plays, or poems composed around a particular theme, and usually intended to be performed or read in sequence: Wagner's Ring Cycle.

3 a bicycle or tricycle.

- [in sing.] a ride on a bicycle: a 112-mile cycle.

■ v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] ride a bicycle: she cycled to work every day.

2 [no obj.] move in or follow a regularly repeated sequence of events: economies cycle regularly between boom and slump.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin cyclus, from Greek kuklos ‘circle’.

cycle lane n. BRITISH a division of a road marked off with painted lines, for use by cyclists.

cycle of erosion n. [GEOLOGY], DATED an idealized course of landscape evolution, passing from youthful stages, marked by steep gradients, to old age, when the landscape is reduced to a peneplain.

cycle rickshaw (also bicycle rickshaw) n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a three-wheeled bicycle for public hire, with a covered seat for passengers behind the driver.

cycle track (also cycleway, cycle path) n. BRITISH a path or road for bicycles and not motor vehicles.

cyclic /sklk sk-/ adj. 1 occurring in cycles; regularly repeated: the cyclic pattern of the last two decades.

- [MATHEMATICS] (of a group) having the property that each element of the group can be expressed as a power of one particular element.

- denoting a musical or literary composition with a recurrent theme or structural device.

2 [MATHEMATICS] relating to a circle or other closed curve.

- [GEOMETRY] (of a polygon) having all its vertices lying on a circle.

3 [CHEMISTRY] (of a compound) having a molecular structure containing one or more closed rings of atoms.

4 [BOTANY] (of a flower) having its parts arranged in whorls.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French cyclique or Latin cyclicus, from Greek kuklikos, from kuklos ‘circle’.

cyclical /sklk(ə)l/ adj. occurring in cycles; recurrent: the cyclical nature of the cement industry.

<DERIVATIVES> cyclically adv.

cyclic AMP n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a cyclic form of adenosine monophosphate (adenylic acid) which plays a major role in controlling many enzyme-catalysed processes in living cells.

cyclic redundancy check (also cyclic redundancy code) (abbr.: CRC) n. [COMPUTING] a code added to data which is used to detect errors occurring during transmission, storage, or retrieval.

cyclin /skln/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a number of proteins associated with the cycle of cell division which are thought to initiate certain processes of mitosis.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from CYCLE + -IN^1.

cycling n. [mass noun] the sport or activity of riding a bicycle. Cycle racing has three main forms: road racing (typically over long distances), pursuit (on an oval track), and cyclo-cross (over rough, open country).

Cycliophora /sklphərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a new phylum that has been proposed for a minute marine invertebrate (Symbion pandora) that was discovered in 1995 attached to the mouthparts of lobsters. It is related to the phyla Bryozoa and Entoprocta.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek kuklios ‘circular’ + pherein ‘to bear’.

cyclist n. a person who rides a bicycle.

cyclize /sklz/ (also cyclise) v. [CHEMISTRY] undergo or cause to undergo a reaction in which one part of a molecule becomes linked to another to form a closed ring.

<DERIVATIVES> cyclization n.

cyclo- /sklə/ combining form 1 circular: cyclorama.

2 relating to a cycle or cycling: cyclo-cross.

3 CYCLIC: cycloalkane.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kuklos ‘circle’, or directly from CYCLE or cyclic.

cycloaddition n. [CHEMISTRY] an addition reaction in which a cyclic molecule is formed.

cycloalkane n. [CHEMISTRY] a hydrocarbon with a molecule containing a ring of carbon atoms joined by single bonds.

cyclo-cross n. [mass noun] cross-country racing on bicycles.

cyclohexane n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless flammable liquid cycloalkane obtained from petroleum or by hydrogenating benzene, and used as a solvent and paint remover.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_12.

cyclohexyl /sklə()hεksl -sl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the cyclic hydrocarbon radical –C_6H_11, derived from cyclohexane.

cycloid /skld/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a curve (resembling a series of arches) traced by a point on a circle being rolled along a straight line.

<DERIVATIVES> cycloidal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek kukloeidēs ‘circular’, from kuklos ‘circle’.

cyclometer /sklmtə/ n. 1 an instrument for measuring circular arcs.

2 an instrument attached to a bicycle for measuring the distance it travels.

cyclone /sklən/ n. [METEOROLOGY] a system of winds rotating inwards to an area of low barometric pressure, with an anticlockwise (northern hemisphere) or clockwise (southern hemisphere) circulation; a depression.

■ another term for TROPICAL STORM.

<DERIVATIVES> cyclonic adj. cyclonically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably from Greek kuklōma ‘wheel, coil of a snake’, from kuklos ‘circle’. The change of spelling from -m to -n is unexplained.

cycloparaffin n. [CHEMISTRY] another term for CYCLOALKANE.

cyclopean /skləpiən skləpən/ (also cyclopian) adj. 1 denoting a type of ancient masonry made with massive irregular blocks: cyclopean stone walls. [<ORIGIN> by association with the great size of the Cyclops.]

2 of or resembling a Cyclops: a cyclopean eye.

cyclopedia /sklə()pidə/ (also cyclopaedia) n. ARCHAIC (except in book titles) an encyclopedia: Bailey's Cyclopedia of Horticulture.

<DERIVATIVES> cyclopedic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: shortening of ENCYCLOPEDIA.

cyclophosphamide /sklə()fsfəmd/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic cytotoxic drug used in treating leukaemia and lymphoma and as an immunosuppressive agent.

cyclopropane n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a flammable gaseous synthetic compound whose molecule contains a ring of three carbon atoms. It has some use as a general anaesthetic.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_3H_6.

Cyclops /sklps/ n. 1 (pl. Cyclops or Cyclopes /skləpiz/) [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a member of a race of savage one-eyed giants. In the Odyssey, Odysseus escaped death by blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus.

2 (cyclops) a minute predatory freshwater crustacean which has a cylindrical body with a single central eye.

<INFO> Genus Cyclops and other genera, order Cyclopoida.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Kuklōps, literally ‘round-eyed’, from kuklos ‘circle’ + ōps ‘eye’.

cyclorama /sklərαmə/ n. a circular picture of a 360° scene, viewed from inside.

- a cloth stretched tight in an arc around the back of a stage set, often used to depict the sky.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CYCLO-, on the pattern of words such as panorama.

cyclosporin /sklə()sprn/ (also cyclosporin A, cyclosporine) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a drug with immunosuppressive properties used to prevent the rejection of grafts and transplants. A cyclic peptide, it is obtained from a fungus.

<INFO> This drug is obtained from the fungus Trichoderma polysporum.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from CYCLO- + -sporin (from Latin spora ‘spore’) + -IN^1.

cyclostome /sklə()stəm/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an eel-like jawless vertebrate with a round sucking mouth, of a former group that included the lampreys and hagfishes.

<INFO> Subclass Cyclostomata, now incorporated in the superclass Agnatha.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from CYCLO- + Greek stoma ‘mouth’.

cyclostyle /sklə()stl/ n. an early device for duplicating handwriting, in which a pen with a small toothed wheel pricks holes in a sheet of waxed paper, which is then used as a stencil.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. cyclostyled) duplicate with a cyclostyle: a cyclostyled leaflet.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CYCLO- ‘circular’ + the noun STYLE.

cyclothymia /sklə()θmə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY], DATED a mental state characterized by marked swings of mood between depression and elation; manic-depressive tendency.

<DERIVATIVES> cyclothymic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from CYCLO- + Greek thumos ‘temper’.

cyclotron /sklətrn/ n. [PHYSICS] an apparatus in which charged atomic and subatomic particles are accelerated by an alternating electric field while following an outward spiral or circular path in a magnetic field.

cyder n. archaic spelling of CIDER.

cygnet /snt/ n. a young swan.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French cignet, diminutive of Old French cigne ‘swan’, based on Latin cycnus, from Greek kuknos.

Cygnus /snəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a prominent northern constellation (the Swan), said to represent a flying swan that was the form adopted by Zeus on one occasion. It contains the bright star Deneb.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

cylinder /slndə/ n. 1 a solid geometrical figure with straight parallel sides and a circular or oval section.

2 a solid or hollow body, object, or part having the shape of a cylinder.

3 a piston chamber in a steam or internal-combustion engine.

4 a cylindrical container for liquefied gas under pressure.

5 a rotating metal roller in a printing press.

6 [ARCHAEOLOGY] a cylinder seal.

<DERIVATIVES> cylindric adj. cylindrical adj. cylindrically /-lndrk(ə)li/ adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin cylindrus, from Greek kulindros ‘roller’, from kulindein ‘to roll’.

cylinder head n. the end cover of a cylinder in an internal-combustion engine, against which the piston compresses the cylinder's contents.

cylinder lock n. a lock with the keyhole and tumbler mechanism contained in a cylinder.

cylinder seal n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a small barrel-shaped stone object with a hole down the centre and bearing an incised design or cuneiform inscription, originally for rolling on clay when soft to indicate ownership or authenticate a document, used chiefly in Mesopotamia from the late 4th to the 1st millennium BC.

cymbal /smb(ə)l/ n. a musical instrument consisting of a slightly concave round brass plate which is either struck against another one or struck with a stick to make a ringing or clashing sound.

<DERIVATIVES> cymbalist n.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin cymbalum, from Greek kumbalon, from kumbē ‘cup’; readopted in Middle English from Old French cymbale.

Cymbeline /smbəlin/ (also Cunobelinus)

- (died c.42 AD), British chieftain. A powerful ruler, he made Camulodunum (Colchester) his capital, and established a mint there. He was the subject of a medieval fable used by Shakespeare for his play Cymbeline.

cymbidium /smbdəm/ n. (pl. cymbidiums) a tropical orchid with long, narrow leaves and arching stems bearing several flowers, growing chiefly as an epiphyte from Asia to Australasia and widely grown for buttonholes.

<INFO> Genus Cymbidium, family Orchidaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kumbē ‘cup’.

cyme /sm/ n. [BOTANY] a flower cluster with a central stem bearing a single terminal flower that develops first, the other flowers in the cluster developing as terminal buds of lateral stems. Compare with RACEME.

<DERIVATIVES> cymose adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting the unopened head of a plant): from French, literally ‘summit’, from a popular variant of Latin cyma.

Cymraeg /kmr/ n. [mass noun] the Welsh language.

<ORIGIN> Welsh.

Cymric /kmrk/ adj. Welsh in language or culture.

■ n. [mass noun] the Welsh language.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Welsh Cymru ‘Wales’, Cymry ‘the Welsh’, + -IC.

Cymru /kmri/ Welsh name for WALES.

Cynewulf /knwlf/ (late 8th–9th centuries), Anglo-Saxon poet. Modern scholarship attributes four poems to him: Juliana, Elene, The Fates of the Apostles, and Christ II.

cynic /snk/ n. 1 a person who believes that people are motivated purely by self-interest rather than acting for honourable or unselfish reasons: some cynics thought that the controversy was all a publicity stunt.

- a person who questions whether something will happen or whether it is worthwhile: the cynics were silenced when the factory opened.

2 (Cynic) a member of a school of ancient Greek philosophers founded by Antisthenes, marked by an ostentatious contempt for ease and pleasure. The movement flourished in the 3rd century BC and revived in the 1st century AD.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from Latin cynicus, from Greek kunikos; probably originally from Kunosarges, the name of a gymnasium where Antisthenes taught, but popularly taken to mean ‘doglike, churlish’, kuōn, kun-, ‘dog’ becoming a nickname for a Cynic.

cynical adj. 1 believing that people are motivated purely by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity: he was brutally cynical and hardened to every sob story under the sun.

- doubtful as to whether something will happen or whether it is worthwhile: most residents are cynical about efforts to clean mobsters out of their city.

- contemptuous; mocking: he gave a cynical laugh.

2 concerned only with one's own interests and typically disregarding accepted standards in order to achieve them: a cynical manipulation of public opinion.

<DERIVATIVES> cynically adv.

cynicism /snsz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] 1 an inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest; scepticism: public cynicism about politics.

- an inclination to question whether something will happen or whether it is worthwhile; pessimism: cynicism about the future.

2 (Cynicism) a school of ancient Greek philosophers, the Cynics.

cyno- /snə/ combining form relating to dogs: cynodont.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kuōn, kun- ‘dog’.

cynodont /snə()dnt/ n. a fossil carnivorous mammal-like reptile of the late Permian and Triassic periods, with well-developed specialized teeth.

<INFO> Suborder Cynodontia, order Therapsida: several families.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kuōn, kun- ‘dog’ + odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

cynosure /snəzjə sn- -sjə/ n. [in sing.] a person or thing that is the centre of attention or admiration: Kirk was the cynosure of all eyes.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from Latin cynosura, from Greek kunosoura ‘dog's tail’ (also ‘Ursa Minor’), from kuōn, kun- ‘dog’ + oura ‘tail’. The term originally denoted the constellation Ursa Minor, or the pole star which it contains, long used as a guide by navigators.

cyphel /sf(ə)l/ (also mossy cyphel) n. a European mountain plant of the pink family, which forms cushion-like mounds and bears small greenish flowers.

<INFO> Minuartia sedoides, family Caryophyllaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the houseleek): apparently from Greek kuphella ‘hollows of the ears’.

cypherpunk n. a person who uses encryption when accessing a computer network in order to ensure privacy, especially from government authorities.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: on the pattern of cyberpunk.

cy-pres /si pre/ adv. & adj. [LAW] as near as possible to the testator's or donor's intentions when these cannot be precisely followed.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from a late Anglo-Norman French variant of French si près ‘so near’.

cypress n. (also cypress tree) an evergreen coniferous tree with small rounded woody cones and flattened shoots bearing small scale-like leaves.

<INFO> Cupressus, Chamaecyparis, and other genera, family Cupressaceae: many species, including the columnar Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), common throughout southern Europe.

- a cypress tree, or branches from it, as a symbol of mourning.

- used in names of coniferous trees of other families that resemble the cypress, e.g. swamp cypress.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French cipres, from late Latin cypressus, from Greek kuparissos.

Cyprian, St /sprən/ (d.258), Carthaginian bishop and martyr. The author of a work on the nature of true unity in the Church in its relation to the episcopate, he was martyred in the reign of the Roman emperor Valerian. Feast day, 16 or 26 September.

cyprinid /sprnd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a fish of the carp family (Cyprinidae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Cyprinidae (plural), based on Greek kuprinos ‘carp’.

cyprinoid /sprnd/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a fish of a large group which includes the carps, suckers, and loaches, and (in some classification schemes) the characins.

<INFO> Order Cypriniformes or superfamily Cyprinoidea.

■ adj. relating to fish of the cyprinoid group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Cyprinoidea, based on Latin cyprinus ‘carp’ (from Greek kuprinos).

Cypriot n. 1 a native or national of Cyprus.

2 [mass noun] the dialect of Greek used in Cyprus.

■ adj. relating to Cyprus or its people or the Greek dialect used there.

- denoting an ancient syllabic script related to the Minoan and Mycenaean scripts, which was used to write the Cypriot dialect of Greek from the 6th to the 3rd centuries BC.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Kupriōtes, from Kupros ‘Cyprus’.

cypripedium /sprpidəm/ n. (pl. cypripediums) an orchid of a genus which comprises the lady's slippers.

<INFO> Genus Cypripedium, family Orchidaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek Kupris ‘Aphrodite’ + pedilon ‘slipper’.

Cyprus /sprəs/ an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean about 80 km (50 miles) south of the Turkish coast; pop. 767,314 (est. 2002); official languages, Greek and Turkish; capital, Nicosia.

A Greek colony in ancient times, Cyprus was held by the Turks from 1571 until 1878, when it was placed under British administration. After virtual civil war between the Greek Cypriots (some of whom favour enosis or union with Greece) and the Turkish Cypriots, Cyprus became an independent Commonwealth republic in 1960. In 1974 Turkish forces took over the northern part of the island, which proclaimed itself the independent Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983 but has not received international recognition. The Greek Cypriot–controlled Republic of Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004.

cypsela /spslə/ n. (pl. cypselae /-li/) [BOTANY] a dry single-seeded fruit formed from a double ovary of which only one develops into a seed, as in the daisy family.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek kupselē ‘hollow vessel’.

Cyrano de Bergerac /srənə də bεərak/ French /siRanə də bεRəRak/ Savinien (1619–55), French soldier, duellist, and writer. He is chiefly remembered for the large number of duels that he fought (many on account of his proverbially large nose), as immortalized in a play by Edmond Rostand (Cyrano de Bergerac, 1897).

Cyrenaic /sərnek/ adj. denoting the hedonistic school of philosophy founded c.400 BC by Aristippus the Elder of Cyrene, which holds that pleasure is the highest good and that virtue is to be equated with the ability to enjoy.

■ n. a follower of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy.

<DERIVATIVES> Cyrenaicism n.

Cyrenaica /sərnekə/ a region of NE Libya, bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, settled by the Greeks c.640 BC.

Cyrene /srini/ an ancient Greek city in North Africa, near the coast in Cyrenaica. From the 4th century BC it was a great intellectual centre with a noted medical school.

Cyril, St (826–69), Greek missionary. The invention of the Cyrillic alphabet is ascribed to him. Feast day (in the Eastern Church) 11 May; (in the Western Church) 14 February.

Cyrillic /srlk/ adj. denoting the alphabet used by many Slavic peoples, chiefly those with a historical allegiance to the Orthodox Church. Ultimately derived from Greek uncials, it is now used for Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Ukrainian, and some other Slavic languages.

■ n. [mass noun] the Cyrillic alphabet.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after St Cyril (see CYRIL, ST).

Cyril of Alexandria, St (d.444), Doctor of the Church and patriarch of Alexandria. A champion of orthodoxy, he is best known for his vehement opposition to the views of the patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, whose condemnation he secured at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Feast day, 9 February.

Cyrus^1 /srəs/ (died c.530 BC), king of Persia 559–530 BC and founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, father of Cambyses; known as Cyrus the Great. He defeated the Median empire in 550 BC and went on to conquer Asia Minor, Babylonia, Syria, Palestine, and most of the Iranian plateau.

Cyrus^2 /srəs/ (d.401 BC), Persian prince; known as Cyrus the Younger. On the death of his father, Darius II, in 405 BC, Cyrus led an army of mercenaries against his elder brother, who had succeeded to the throne as Artaxerxes II. His campaign is recounted by the historian Xenophon.

cyst /sst/ n. 1 [BIOLOGY] a thin-walled hollow organ or cavity in an animal or plant, containing a liquid secretion; a sac, vesicle, or bladder.

2 MEDICINE a membranous sac or cavity of abnormal character in the body, containing fluid.

3 a tough protective capsule enclosing the larva of a parasitic worm or the resting stage of an organism.

- [ZOOLOGY]

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from late Latin cystis, from Greek kustis ‘bladder’.

cystectomy /sstεktəmi/ n. (pl. cystectomies) 1 a surgical operation to remove the urinary bladder.

2 a surgical operation to remove an abnormal cyst: an ovarian cystectomy.

cysteine /sstin -tn -ten -tin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a sulphur-containing amino acid which occurs in keratins and other proteins, often in the form of cystine, and is a constituent of many enzymes.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HSCH_2CH(NH_2)COOH.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from CYSTINE + -eine (variant of -ine^4).

cystic adj. 1 MEDICINE relating to or characterized by cysts.

- [ZOOLOGY] (of a parasite or other organism) enclosed in a cyst.

2 relating to the urinary bladder or the gall bladder: the cystic artery.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally referring to the gall bladder): from French cystique or modern Latin cysticus, from late Latin cystis (see CYST).

cysticercus /sstsəkəs/ n. (pl. cysticerci /-s/) [ZOOLOGY] a larval tapeworm at a stage in which the scolex is inverted in a sac, typically found encysted in the muscle tissue of the host.

<DERIVATIVES> cysticercoid adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin (originally the name of a supposed genus), from Greek kustis ‘bladder’ + kerkos ‘tail’.

cystic fibrosis n. [mass noun] a hereditary disorder affecting the exocrine glands. It causes the production of abnormally thick mucus, leading to the blockage of the pancreatic ducts, intestines, and bronchi and often resulting in respiratory infection.

cystine /sstin -tn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound which is an oxidized dimer of cysteine and is the form in which cysteine often occurs in organic tissue.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_12N_2O_4S_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kustis ‘bladder’ (because it was first isolated from urinary calculi) + -INE^4.

cystitis /sstts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the urinary bladder. It is often caused by infection and is usually accompanied by frequent painful urination.

cysto- /sstə/ combining form relating to the urinary bladder: cystotomy.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kustis ‘bladder’.

cystoscope /sstəskəp/ n. MEDICINE an instrument inserted into the urethra for examining the urinary bladder.

<DERIVATIVES> cystoscopic adj. cystoscopy n.

cystotomy /ssttəmi/ n. (pl. cystotomies) a surgical incision into the urinary bladder.

-cyte combining form [BIOLOGY] denoting a mature cell: lymphocyte. Compare with -BLAST.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kutos ‘vessel’.

Cytherea /sθəriə/ n. another name for APHRODITE.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Cythera ‘Kithira’, the name of an Ionian island.

Cytherean /sθəriən/ adj. [ASTRONOMY] relating to the planet Venus: the Cytherean atmosphere.

- [MYTHOLOGY] relating to the goddess Cytherea.

cytidine /stdin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a nucleoside composed of cytosine linked to ribose, obtained from RNA by hydrolysis.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from CYTO- + -IDE + -INE^4.

cytisus /stsəs stsəs/ n. a plant of a large genus of shrubs, mostly native to southern Europe, which includes some brooms.

<INFO> Genus Cytisus, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek kutisos.

cyto- /stə/ combining form [BIOLOGY] of a cell or cells: cytology | cytoplasm.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kutos ‘vessel’.

cytoarchitectonics /stəαktεktnks/ plural n. [treated as sing. or plural]

■ another term for CYTOARCHITECTURE.

<DERIVATIVES> cytoarchitectonic adj.

cytoarchitecture /stəαktεktə/ n. [mass noun] [ANATOMY] the arrangement of cells in a tissue, especially in specific areas of the cerebral cortex characterized by the arrangement of their cells and each associated with particular functions. Also called CYTOARCHITECTONICS.

- the study of cytoarchitecture.

<DERIVATIVES> cytoarchitectural adj.

cytocentrifuge /stəsεntrfjud/ [BIOLOGY] n. a centrifuge used for depositing cells suspended in a liquid on a slide for microscopic examination.

■ v. [with obj.] deposit (cells) on a slide using a cytocentrifuge.

cytochrome n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a number of compounds consisting of haem bonded to a protein. Cytochromes function as electron transfer agents in many metabolic pathways, especially cellular respiration.

cytogenetics /stədənεtks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] [BIOLOGY] the study of inheritance in relation to the structure and function of chromosomes.

<DERIVATIVES> cytogenetic adj. cytogenetical adj. cytogenetically adv. cytogeneticist n.

cytokine /stə()kn/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] any of a number of substances, such as interferon, interleukin, and growth factors, which are secreted by certain cells of the immune system and have an effect on other cells.

cytokinesis /stə()kniss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the cytoplasmic division of a cell at the end of mitosis or meiosis, bringing about the separation into two daughter cells.

cytokinin /stəknn/ n. another term for kinin (sense 2).

cytology /stlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branches of biology and medicine concerned with the structure and function of plant and animal cells.

<DERIVATIVES> cytological adj. cytologically adv. cytologist n.

cytolysis /stlss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the dissolution or disruption of cells, especially by an external agent.

<DERIVATIVES> cytolytic adj.

cytomegalic /stə()malk/ adj. MEDICINE characterized by enlarged cells, especially with reference to a disease caused by a cytomegalovirus.

cytomegalovirus /stə()mε(ə)lə()vrəs/ (abbr.: CMV) n. MEDICINE a kind of herpesvirus which usually produces very mild symptoms in an infected person but may cause severe neurological damage in people with weakened immune systems and in the newborn.

cytophotometry /stə()fə()tmtri/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the investigation of the contents of cells by measuring the light they allow through after staining.

<DERIVATIVES> cytophotometer n. cytophotometric adj.

cytoplasm /stə()plaz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the material or protoplasm within a living cell, excluding the nucleus.

<DERIVATIVES> cytoplasmic adj.

cytoplasmic inheritance n. [mass noun] inheritance of traits, usually via the maternal line, controlled by an extrachromosomal element.

cytosine /stəsin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound found in living tissue as a constituent base of DNA. It is paired with guanine in double-stranded DNA.

<INFO> A pyrimidine derivative; chem. formula: C_4H_5N_3O.

cytoskeleton n. [BIOLOGY] a microscopic network of protein filaments and tubules in the cytoplasm of many living cells, giving them shape and coherence.

<DERIVATIVES> cytoskeletal adj.

cytosol /stə()sl/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the aqueous component of the cytoplasm of a cell, within which various organelles and particles are suspended.

<DERIVATIVES> cytosolic adj.

cytotoxic adj. toxic to living cells.

<DERIVATIVES> cytotoxicity n.

Czech /tεk/ n. 1 a native or national of the Czech Republic or (formerly) Czechoslovakia, or a person of Czech descent.

2 [mass noun] the Western Slavic language spoken in the Czech Republic, closely related to Slovak. It has over 10 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Czechs or their language.

<ORIGIN> Polish spelling of Czech Čech.

Czechoslovakia /tεkə()sləvakə/ a former country in central Europe, now divided between the Czech Republic and Slovakia; capital, Prague.

Czechoslovakia was created out of the northern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the First World War. It was crushed by the Nazi takeover of the Sudetenland in 1938 and the rest of the country in 1939. After the Second World War Czechoslovakia fell under Soviet domination, an attempt at liberalization being crushed by military intervention in 1968, until the ‘velvet revolution’ of 1989. The two parts separated on 1 January 1993.

<DERIVATIVES> Czechoslovak /-sləvak/ n. & adj. Czechoslovakian adj. & n.

Czech Republic a country in central Europe; pop. 10,256,760 (est. 2002); official language, Czech; capital, Prague.

Formerly one of the two constituent republics of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic became independent on the partition of that country on 1 January 1993. It comprises the former provinces of Bohemia, Silesia, and Moravia.

Czerny /tεni/ Karl (1791–1857), Austrian pianist, teacher, and composer. The bulk of his output is made up of more than 1,000 exercises and studies for the piano.

Częstochowa /tεnstəkəvə/ an industrial city in south central Poland; pop. 255,549 (est. 2000). It is famous for its shrine housing a painting of the black Madonna.

D^1 (also d) n. (pl. Ds or D's) 1 the fourth letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the fourth in a set of items, categories, sizes, etc.

- the fourth-highest category of academic mark.

- (d) [CHESS] denoting the fourth file from the left, as viewed from White's side of the board.

- denoting the second-lowest-earning socio-economic category for marketing purposes, including semi-skilled and unskilled personnel.

2 (D) (also dee) a shape like that of a capital D: [in combination] the D-shaped handle.

- (D) a semicircle marked on a billiard table in the baulk area, with its diameter part of the baulk line, within which a player must place the cue ball when breaking off or restarting from hand.

3 (usually D) [MUSIC] the second note of the diatonic scale of C major.

- a key based on a scale with D as its keynote.

4 the Roman numeral for 500. [<ORIGIN> understood as half of CI, an earlier form of M (= 1,000).]

D^2 abbr.

- (in the US) Democrat or Democratic.

- depth (in the sense of the dimension of an object from front to back).

- [CHEMISTRY] dextrorotatory: D-glucose.

- (with a numeral) dimension(s) or dimensional: a 3-D model.

- (in tables of sports results) drawn.

- (on an automatic gear shift) drive.

- Germany (international vehicle registration). [<ORIGIN> from German Deutschland.]

■ symbol

- [PHYSICS] electric flux density.

- [CHEMISTRY] the hydrogen isotope deuterium.

d abbr.

- (in genealogies) daughter.

- day(s).

- [in combination] (in units of measurement) deci-.

- (in travel timetables) departs.

- (d.) died (used to indicate a date of death): Barents, Willem (d.1597).

- BRITISH penny or pence (of pre-decimal currency): £20 10s 6d. [<ORIGIN> from Latin denarius ‘penny’.]

- [CHEMISTRY] denoting electrons and orbitals possessing two units of angular momentum: d-electrons. [<ORIGIN> d from diffuse, originally applied to lines in atomic spectra.]

■ symbol

- [MATHEMATICS] diameter.

- [MATHEMATICS] denoting a small increment in a given variable: dy/dx.

'd contraction had: they'd already gone.

- would: I'd expect that.

DA abbr.

- US district attorney.

- INFORMAL duck's arse.

da^1 determiner non-standard spelling of THE, used in representing informal American speech.

da^2 abbr. [in combination] (in units of measurement) deca-.

D/A abbr. [ELECTRONICS] digital to analogue.

DAB abbr. digital audio broadcasting.

dab^1 v. (dabs, dabbing, dabbed) [with obj.] 1 press against (something) lightly several times with a piece of absorbent material in order to clean or dry it or to apply a substance: he dabbed his mouth with his napkin | [no obj.] she dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.

- apply (a substance) with light quick strokes: she dabbed disinfectant on the cut.

2 DIALECT strike with a light blow.

■ n. 1 a small amount of something: she licked a dab of chocolate from her finger.

- a brief application of a piece of absorbent material to a surface: apply concealer with light dabs.

2 (dabs) BRITISH INFORMAL fingerprints.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: symbolic of a light striking movement; compare with DABBLE and DIB.

dab^2 n. a small, commercially important flatfish found chiefly in the North Atlantic.

<INFO> Limanda and other genera, family Pleuronectidae (several species, in particular the European L. limanda).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

dabber n. a rounded pad used in printing to apply ink to a surface.

dabble v. 1 [with obj.] immerse (one's hands or feet) partially in water and move them around gently: they dabbled their feet in the rock pools.

- [no obj.] (of a duck or other waterbird) move the bill around in shallow water while feeding: teal dabble in the shallows.

2 [no obj.] take part in an activity in a casual or superficial way: he dabbled in left-wing politics.

<DERIVATIVES> dabbler n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from obsolete Dutch dabbelen, or a frequentative of the verb dab^1.

dabbling duck n. a freshwater duck which typically feeds in shallow water by dabbling and upending, such as the mallard, teal, and pintail. Compare with DIVING DUCK.

<INFO> Tribe Anatini, family Anatidae: genus Anas (numerous species).

dabchick n. a small grebe, especially the little grebe.

<INFO> Genera Tachybaptus and Podilymbus, family Podicipedidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as dapchick or dopchick): the first element is perhaps related to DIP and DEEP.

dab hand n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person who is an expert at a particular activity: Liam is a dab hand at golf.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

DAC abbr. [ELECTRONICS] digital to analogue converter.

da capo /dα kαpə/ [MUSIC] adv. (especially as a direction) repeat from the beginning. Compare with DAL SEGNO.

■ adj. [attr.] including the repetition of a passage at the beginning: da capo arias.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘from the head’.

dace /des/ n. (pl. same) a small freshwater fish related to the carp, typically living in running water.

<INFO> Leuciscus and other genera, family Cyprinidae: several species, in particular L. leuciscus of northern Eurasia.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French dars (see DART).

dacha /datə/ (also datcha) n. a country house or cottage in Russia, typically used as a second or holiday home.

<ORIGIN> Russian, originally ‘grant (of land)’.

Dachau /daka/ German /daxa/ a Nazi concentration camp in southern Bavaria, from 1933 to 1945.

dachshund /dakshnd -s(ə)nd/ n. a dog of a very short-legged, long-bodied breed.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, literally ‘badger dog’ (the breed being originally used to dig badgers out of their setts).

Dacia /deə desə/ an ancient country of SE Europe in what is now NW Romania. It was annexed by Trajan in AD 106 as a province of the Roman Empire.

<DERIVATIVES> Dacian adj. & n.

dacite /dest/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a volcanic rock resembling andesite but containing free quartz.

<DERIVATIVES> dacitic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the name of the Roman province of DACIA (as it was first found in the Carpathian Mountains) + -ITE^1.

dacoit /dəkt/ n. (in India or Burma (Myanmar)) a member of a band of armed robbers.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi akait, from akaitī ‘robbery by a gang’.

dacoity /dəkti/ n. (pl. dacoities) (in India or Burma (Myanmar)) an act of violent robbery committed by an armed gang.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi akaitī.

Dacron /dakrn/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a synthetic polyester (polyethylene terephthalate) with tough, elastic properties, used as a textile fabric.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: an invented name.

dactyl /daktl/ n. [PROSODY] a metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables or (in Greek and Latin) one long syllable followed by two short syllables.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek daktulos, literally ‘finger’ (the three bones of the finger corresponding to the three syllables).

dactylic [PROSODY] adj. of or using dactyls: dactylic rhythm.

■ n. (usually dactylics) dactylic verse.

dactylic hexameter n. [PROSODY] a hexameter consisting of five dactyls and either a spondee or trochee, in which any of the first four dactyls, and sometimes the fifth, may be replaced by a spondee.

dad n. INFORMAL one's father.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps imitative of a young child's first syllables da, da.

Dada /dαdα/ n. an early 20th-century movement in art, literature, music, and film, repudiating and mocking artistic and social conventions and emphasizing the illogical and absurd.

Dada was launched in Zurich in 1916 by Tristan Tzara and others, soon merging with a similar group in New York. It favoured montage, collage, and the ready-made. Leading figures: Jean Arp, André Breton, Max Ernst, Man Ray, and Marcel Duchamp.

<DERIVATIVES> Dadaism n. Dadaist n. & adj. Dadaistic adj.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘hobby horse’, the title of a review published in Zurich in 1916.

dada^1 /dadə/ n. INFORMAL one's father.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps imitative of a young child's first syllables (see DAD).

dada^2 /dαdα/ n. INDIAN an older brother or male cousin.

- a respectful form of address for an older male.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dādā.

dadah /dαdα/ n. [mass noun] (in Malaysia) illegal drugs.

<ORIGIN> Malay, ‘medicine, drugs’.

Dadd Richard (1817–86), English painter. After killing his father while suffering a mental breakdown, he was confined in asylums, where he produced a series of visionary paintings.

daddy n. (pl. daddies) INFORMAL one's father.

- the oldest, best, or biggest example of something: the daddy of all potholes.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from DAD + -Y^2.

daddy-long-legs n. (pl. same) INFORMAL 1 BRITISH a crane fly.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a harvestman.

dado /dedə/ n. (pl. dados) 1 the lower part of the wall of a room, below about waist height, when decorated differently from the upper part.

■ short for DADO RAIL.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a groove cut in the face of a board, into which the edge of another board is fixed.

3 [ARCHITECTURE] the part of a pedestal between the base and the cornice.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting the main part of a pedestal, above the base): from Italian, literally ‘dice or cube’, from Latin datum ‘something given, starting point’ (see DATUM).

dado rail n. a decorative waist-high moulding round the wall of a room, which also protects the wall from damage.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli /dαdrə nαə həveli/ a Union Territory in western India, on the Arabian Sea; pop. 220,500 (2001); capital, Silvassa.

Daedalic /didəlk/ adj. relating to or denoting an ancient Greek (chiefly Dorian) sculptural style of the 7th century BC.

<ORIGIN> from the name DAEDALUS + -IC.

Daedalus /didələs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a craftsman, considered the inventor of carpentry, who is said to have built the labyrinth for Minos, king of Crete. Minos imprisoned him and his son Icarus, but they escaped using wings which Daedalus made and fastened with wax. Icarus, however, flew too near the sun and was killed.

daemon^1 /dimən/ (also daimon) n. 1 (in ancient Greek belief) a divinity or supernatural being of a nature between gods and humans.

- an inner or attendant spirit or inspiring force.

2 archaic spelling of demon^1.

<DERIVATIVES> daemonic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: common spelling of demon^1 until the 19th cent.

daemon^2 /dimən/ (also demon) n. [COMPUTING] a background process that handles requests for services such as print spooling and file transfers, and is dormant when not required.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: perhaps from d(isk) a(nd) e(xecution) mon(itor) or from de(vice) mon(itor), or a transferred use of demon^1.

daffodil n. a bulbous European plant which typically bears bright yellow flowers with a long trumpet-shaped centre (corona).

<INFO> Genus Narcissus, family Liliaceae (or Amaryllidaceae): several species, in particular the common Narcissus pseudonarcissus and its varieties.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Middle English affodill, from medieval Latin affodilus, variant of Latin asphodilus (see ASPHODEL). The initial d- is unexplained.

daffodil yellow n. [mass noun] a shade of bright yellow.

daffy adj. (daffier, daffiest) INFORMAL silly; mildly eccentric: another one of his daffy dad's catchphrases.

<DERIVATIVES> daffiness n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from northern English dialect daff ‘simpleton’ + -Y^1; perhaps related to DAFT.

daft adj. BRITISH INFORMAL silly; foolish: don't ask such daft questions.

- (daft about) infatuated with: I was daft about him.

<ORIGIN> Old English gedæfte ‘mild, meek’, of Germanic origin; related to Gothic gabadan ‘become or be fitting’.

dag n. 1 (usually dags) AUSTRALIAN/NZ a lock of wool matted with dung hanging from the hindquarters of a sheep.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an entertainingly eccentric person; a character.

3 AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a conservative or unfashionable person.

- an untidy or dirty-looking person.

- an awkward adolescent.

■ v. (dags, dagging, dagged) [with obj.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ cut dags from (a sheep).

<PHRASES>

□ rattle one's dags AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL hurry up.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a hanging pointed part of something): possibly related to tag^1.

■ Sense 1 of the noun dates from the early 17th century;

■ sense 2 of the noun is a transferred use of English dialect meaning ‘a challenge’.

da Gama /də αmə/ Vasco (c.1469–1524), Portuguese explorer. He led the first European expedition round the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, sighting and naming Natal on Christmas Day before crossing the Indian Ocean and arriving in Calicut in 1498. He also established colonies in Mozambique.

Dagestan /dastαn -stan/ an autonomous republic in SW Russia, on the western shore of the Caspian Sea; pop. 2,184,400 (est. 2002); capital, Makhachkala.

Dagestanian /dastαnən -stanən/ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Dagestan.

2 [mass noun] the family of North Caucasian languages spoken in Dagestan, of which the principal member is Avar. None has more than a few thousand speakers.

■ adj. 1 relating to Dagestan or its inhabitants.

2 relating to or denoting the family of languages spoken in Dagestan.

dagga /daxə/ n. [mass noun] S. AFRICAN cannabis.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Afrikaans, from Khoikhoi dachab.

dagger n. 1 a short knife with a pointed and edged blade, used as a weapon.

- [PRINTING] another term for OBELUS.

2 a moth with a dark dagger-shaped marking on the forewing.

<INFO> Genus Acronicta, family Noctuidae: several species.

<PHRASES>

□ be at daggers drawn BRITISH (of two people) be bitterly hostile towards each other.

□ look daggers at glare very angrily at.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps from obsolete dag ‘pierce, stab’, influenced by Old French dague ‘long dagger’.

daggerboard n. a kind of centreboard which slides vertically through the keel of a sailing boat.

daggy adj. (daggier, daggiest) INFORMAL, chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ (especially of clothes) scruffy.

- not stylish; unfashionable: a daggy disco track.

dago /deə/ n. (pl. dagos or dagoes) INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE a Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian-speaking person.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the Spanish given name Diego (equivalent to James).

Dagon /den/ (in the Bible) a national deity of the ancient Philistines, represented as a fish-tailed man.

<ORIGIN> via Latin and Greek from Hebrew dāōn, perhaps from dāān ‘corn’, but said (according to folk etymology) to be from dā ‘fish’.

Daguerre /dəε/ French /daεR/ Louis-Jacques-Mandé (1789–1851), French physicist, painter, and inventor of the first practical photographic process. He went into partnership with Joseph-Nicéphore Niépce (1765–1833) to improve the latter's heliography process, and in 1839 he presented his daguerreotype process to the French Academy of Sciences.

daguerreotype /dəεrətp/ (also daguerrotype) n. a photograph taken by an early photographic process employing an iodine-sensitized silvered plate and mercury vapour.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French daguerréotype, named after L.-J.-M.

■ Daguerre.

Dagwood sandwich (also Dagwood) n. US a thick sandwich with a variety of different fillings.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Dagwood Bumstead, a comic-strip character who makes and eats this type of sandwich.

dah /dα/ n. (in the Morse system) another term for DASH.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: imitative.

dahabeeyah /dαhəbijə/ n. a large passenger boat used on the Nile, typically with lateen sails.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Arabic, literally ‘golden’, denoting the gilded state barge formerly used by the Muslim rulers of Egypt.

dahi /dəhi/ n. Indian term for YOGURT.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dahī ‘curds’.

dahi vada /vdə/ n. [mass noun] an Indian dish consisting of balls made from ground lentils, which are deep-fried and served in a yogurt sauce.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dahī ‘curds’ and vaā ‘ball of ground lentils’.

Dahl /dαl/ Roald (1916–90), British writer, of Norwegian descent. His fiction and drama, such as the short-story collection Tales of the Unexpected (1979), typically include macabre plots and unexpected outcomes. Notable works for children: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), The BFG (1982).

dahlia /delə/ n. a tuberous-rooted Mexican plant of the daisy family, which is cultivated for its brightly coloured single or double flowers.

<INFO> Genus Dahlia, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named in honour of Andreas Dahl (1751–89), Swedish botanist.

Dahomey /dəhəmi/ former name (until 1975) for BENIN.

dai /d/ n. (pl. dais) INDIAN a midwife or wet nurse.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu, from Persian dāyah.

daikon /dk(ə)n -kn/ n. another term for MOOLI.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from dai ‘large’ + kon ‘root’.

Dáil /dl/ Irish /dal/ (in full Dáil Éireann /εr(ə)n/ Irish /erən/) the lower house of Parliament in the Republic of Ireland, composed of 166 members (called Teachtai Dála). It was first established in 1919, when Irish republicans proclaimed an Irish state.

<ORIGIN> Irish, ‘assembly (of Ireland)’.

daily adj. done, produced, or occurring every day or every weekday: a daily newspaper.

- relating to the period of a single day: boats can be hired for a daily rate.

■ adv. every day: the museum is open daily.

■ n. (pl. dailies) INFORMAL 1 a newspaper published every day except Sunday.

2 (also daily help) BRITISH DATED a woman who is employed to clean someone else's house each day.

3 (dailies) the first prints from cinematographic takes; the rushes.

<PHRASES>

□ daily life the activities and experiences that constitute a person's normal existence: the routines of my daily life.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from DAY + -LY^1, -ly^2.

daily double n. [RACING] a single bet on the winners of two named races in a day.

daily dozen n. INFORMAL, DATED regular exercises, especially those done first thing in the morning.

Daimler /demlə/ German /daml/ Gottlieb (1834–1900), German engineer and motor manufacturer. An employee of Nikolaus Otto, he produced a small engine using the Otto cycle in 1884 and made it propel a bicycle using petrol vapour. He founded the Daimler motor company in 1890.

daimon /dmən/ n. variant spelling of daemon^1.

<DERIVATIVES> daimonic /-mənk -mnk/ adj.

daimyo /dmə dmjə/ (also daimio) n. (pl. daimyos) HISTORICAL (in feudal Japan) one of the great lords who were vassals of the shogun.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from dai ‘great’ + myō ‘name’.

dainty adj. (daintier, daintiest) 1 delicately small and pretty: a dainty lace handkerchief.

- (of a person) delicate and graceful in build or movement.

2 (of food) particularly good to eat: a dainty morsel.

3 fastidious, especially concerning food: a dainty appetite.

■ n. (pl. dainties) something good to eat; a delicacy.

<DERIVATIVES> daintily adv. daintiness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as noun): from Old French daintie, deintie ‘choice morsel, pleasure’, from Latin dignitas ‘worthiness or beauty’, from dignus ‘worthy’.

daiquiri /dkri dak-/ n. (pl. daiquiris) a cocktail containing rum and lime juice.

<ORIGIN> named after Daiquiri, a rum-producing district in Cuba.

Dairen /drεn/ former name for DALIAN.

dairy n. (pl. dairies) 1 a building or room for the processing, storage, and distribution of milk and milk products.

- a shop where milk and milk products are sold.

- [mass noun] milk and milk products collectively: I rely on soya as a substitute for dairy.

2 (also corner dairy) NZ a small grocery shop.

■ adj. [attr.] containing or made from milk: dairy products.

- concerned with the production of milk: a dairy farmer.

<ORIGIN> Middle English deierie, from deie ‘dairymaid’ (in Old English dge ‘female servant’), of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse deigja, also to DOUGH and to the second element of Old English hlfdige (see LADY).

dairying n. [mass noun] the business of producing, storing, and distributing milk and its products.

dairymaid n. ARCHAIC a woman employed in a dairy.

dairyman n. (pl. dairymen) a man who is employed in a dairy or sells dairy products.

dais /des des/ n. a low platform for a lectern or throne.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting a raised table for distinguished guests): from Old French deis, from Latin discus ‘disc or dish’ (later ‘table’). Little used after the Middle English period, the word was revived by antiquarians in the early 19th century with the disyllabic pronunciation.

daisy n. (pl. daisies) a small European grassland plant which has flowers with a yellow disc and white rays.

<INFO> Bellis perennis, family Compositae (or Asteraceae; the daisy family). The plants of this large family (known as composites) are distinguished by having composite flower heads consisting of numerous disc florets, ray florets, or both; they include many weeds (dandelions, thistles) and garden flowers (asters, chrysanthemums, dahlias).

- used in names of other plants of the same family, e.g. Michaelmas daisy, Shasta daisy.

<PHRASES>

□ be (as) fresh as a daisy be healthy and full of energy.

□ be pushing up (the) daisies INFORMAL be dead and buried.

<ORIGIN> Old English dæges ēage ‘day's eye’ (because the flower opens in the morning and closes at night).

daisy bush n. a shrubby evergreen Australasian plant of the daisy family, which typically has grey-green leaves and bears fragrant flower heads.

<INFO> Genus Olearia, family Compositae.

daisy chain n. a string of daisies threaded together by their stems.

- FIGURATIVE a series of associated or connected people or things: a daisy chain of coloured lights.

■ v. (daisy-chain) [with obj.] [COMPUTING] connect (several devices) together in a linear series.

<DERIVATIVES> daisy-chainable adj.

daisy-cutter n. INFORMAL 1 (in cricket and baseball) a ball hit or bowled so as to roll along the ground.

2 an immensely powerful aerial thermobaric bomb.

daisy wheel n. a device used as a printer in word processors and typewriters, consisting of a disc of spokes extending radially from a central hub, each terminating in a printing character.

dak /dαk dk/ n. [mass noun] the postal service in the Indian subcontinent, originally delivered by a system of relay runners.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi āk.

Dak. abbr. Dakota.

Dakar /dakα/ the capital of Senegal, a port on the Atlantic coast of West Africa; pop. 2,384,000 (est. 2002).

dak bungalow n. a travellers' rest house in the Indian subcontinent, originally on a dak route.

Dakota^1 /dəkətə/ a former territory of the US, organized in 1889 into the states of North Dakota and South Dakota.

<DERIVATIVES> Dakotan n. & adj.

Dakota^2 /dəkətə/ n. (pl. same or Dakotas) 1 a member of a North American Indian people of the northern Mississippi valley and the surrounding plains.

2 [mass noun] the Siouan language of the Dakota, spoken by about 15,000 people. Also called SIOUX.

■ adj. relating to the Dakota or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Dakota, literally ‘allies’.

daks plural n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL trousers.

<ORIGIN> a proprietary name.

dal^1 abbr. decalitre(s).

Dalai Lama /dal lαmə/ n. the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism and, until the establishment of Chinese communist rule, the spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet.

Each Dalai Lama is believed to be the reincarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. reappearing in a child when the incumbent Dalai Lama dies. The present Dalai Lama, the fourteenth incarnation, escaped to India in 1959 following the Chinese invasion of Tibet and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

<ORIGIN> from Tibetan, literally ‘ocean monk’, so named because he is regarded as ‘the ocean of compassion’.

dalasi /dαlαsi/ n. (pl. same or dalasis) the basic monetary unit of Gambia, equal to 100 butut.

<ORIGIN> a local word.

Dale Sir Henry Hallett (1875–1968), English physiologist and pharmacologist. He investigated the role of histamine in anaphylactic shock and allergy, and the role of acetylcholine as a natural neurotransmitter. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1936).

dale n. a valley, especially in northern England.

<ORIGIN> Old English dæl, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse dalr, Dutch dal, and German Tal, also to DELL.

dalek /dαlεk/ n. a member of a race of hostile alien machine-organisms which appeared in the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who from 1963.

<ORIGIN> a word invented by the author Terry Nation after a volume of an encyclopedia covering the alphabetical sequence dal–lek.

d'Alembert /daləmbε/ French /dalαbεR/ Jean le Rond (1717–83), French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. His most famous work was the Traité de dynamique (1743), in which he developed his own laws of motion. From 1746 to 1758 he was Diderot's chief collaborator on the Encyclopédie.

Dalesman n. (pl. Dalesmen) an inhabitant of the Yorkshire Dales in northern England.

Dales pony n. BRITISH a large stocky pony of a breed which is typically black.

Dalglish /dalli/ Kenny (b.1951), Scottish footballer and manager; full name Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish. An attacker for Celtic, Liverpool, and Scotland, he has managed Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle, and Celtic.

Dalhousie /dalhazi/ James Andrew Broun Ramsay, 1st Marquess of (1812–60), British colonial administrator, a progressive Governor General of India 1847–56.

Dalí /dαli/ Salvador (1904–89), Spanish painter. A surrealist, he portrayed dream images with almost photographic realism against backgrounds of arid Catalan landscapes. Dalí also collaborated with Buñuel in the production of the film Un Chien andalou (1928). Notable works: The Persistence of Memory (1931).

<DERIVATIVES> Daliesque adj.

Dalian /dαlan/ a port and shipbuilding centre on the Liaodong Peninsula in NE China, now part of the urban complex of Luda. Former name DAIREN.

Dalit /dlt/ n. (in the traditional Indian caste system) a member of the lowest caste. See also UNTOUCHABLE, SCHEDULED CASTE.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit dalita ‘oppressed’.

Dallapiccola /daləpkələ/ Luigi (1904–75), Italian composer. He combined serialism with lyrical polyphonic writing. Notable works: Songs of Prison (1938–41).

Dallas /daləs/ a city in NE Texas, noted as a centre of the oil industry; pop. 1,118,580 (2000).

dalliance /daləns/ n. a casual romantic or sexual relationship.

- a period of brief or casual involvement with something: Berkeley was my last dalliance with the education system.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘conversation’): from DALLY + -ANCE.

Dall sheep /dαl/ (also Dall's sheep) n. a wild North American sheep found in mountainous country from Alaska to British Columbia. Also called WHITE SHEEP.

<INFO> Ovis dalli, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after William H. Dall (1845–1927), American naturalist.

dally v. (dallies, dallying, dallied) [no obj.] 1 act or move slowly: she'd dallied upstairs long enough to put on a little make-up.

2 (dally with) have a casual romantic or sexual liaison with: he should stop dallying with film stars.

- show a casual interest in: the company was dallying with the idea of opening a new office.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French dalier ‘to chat’, of unknown origin.

Dalmatia /dalmeə/ an ancient region in what is now SW Croatia, comprising mountains and a narrow coastal plain along the Adriatic, together with offshore islands. It once formed part of the Roman province of Illyricum.

Dalmatian n. 1 a dog of a large, white short-haired breed with dark spots.

2 a native or inhabitant of Dalmatia.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): the dog is believed to have originated in Dalmatia in the 18th cent.

dalmatic /dalmatk/ n. a wide-sleeved long, loose vestment open at the sides, worn by deacons and bishops, and by monarchs at their coronation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French dalmatique or late Latin dalmatica, from dalmatica (vestis) ‘(robe) of (white) Dalmatian wool’, from Dalmaticus ‘of Dalmatia’.

Dalradian /dalrαdən/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a series of late Precambrian metamorphic rocks, occurring in Scotland and Ireland.

- (as n. the Dalradian) the Dalradian series of rocks.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Dalrad-, from DALRIADA (by alteration), + -IAN.

Dalriada /dalrədə/ an ancient Gaelic kingdom in northern Ireland whose people (the Scots) established a colony in SW Scotland from about the late 5th century. By the 9th century Irish Dalriada had declined but the people of Scottish Dalriada gradually acquired dominion over the whole of Scotland.

dal segno /dal sεnjə/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) repeat from the point marked by a sign. Compare with DA CAPO.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘from the sign’.

Dalton /dlt(ə)n/ John (1766–1844), English chemist, father of modern atomic theory. He defined an atom as the smallest part of a substance that could participate in a chemical reaction and argued that elements are composed of atoms. He stated that elements combine in definite proportion and produced the first table of comparative atomic weights.

dalton /dlt(ə)n/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a unit used in expressing the molecular weight of proteins, equivalent to atomic mass unit.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after John DALTON.

daltonism n. another term for PROTANOPIA, a form of colour blindness.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of John DALTON + -ISM.

Dalton's law n. [CHEMISTRY] a law stating that the pressure exerted by a mixture of gases in a fixed volume is equal to the sum of the pressures that would be exerted by each gas alone in the same volume.

dam^1 abbr. decametre(s).

dam^2 n. 1 a barrier constructed to hold back water and raise its level, forming a reservoir used to generate electricity or as a water supply.

- a barrier of branches in a stream, constructed by a beaver to provide a deep pool and a lodge.

- chiefly S. AFRICAN an artificial pond or reservoir where rain or spring water is collected for storage.

2 (also dental dam) a rubber sheet used to keep saliva from the teeth during dental operations, or as a prophylactic device during cunnilingus and anilingus.

■ v. (dams, damming, dammed) [with obj.] build a dam across (a river or lake).

- hold back or obstruct (something): the closed lock gates dammed up the canal.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch; related to Dutch dam and German Damm, also to Old English fordemman ‘close up’.

dam^3 n. the female parent of an animal, especially a domestic mammal.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a human mother): alteration of DAME.

dama gazelle /dαmə/ n. a large long-legged gazelle with a mainly whitish coat, native to the southern and western Sahara (where it is now very rare). Also called ADDRA GAZELLE.

<INFO> Gazella dama, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin dama ‘fallow deer’ (the specific epithet of its Latin name).

damage n. 1 [mass noun] physical harm that impairs the value, usefulness, or normal function of something.

- detrimental effects: the damage to his reputation was considerable.

2 (damages) a sum of money claimed or awarded in compensation for a loss or an injury: she was awarded $284,000 in damages.

■ v. [with obj.] inflict physical harm on (something) so as to impair its value, usefulness, or normal function: the car was badly damaged in the accident.

- have a detrimental effect on: the scandal could seriously damage his career.

<PHRASES>

□ the damage is done used to indicate that it is too late to prevent the occurrence of something unfortunate or undesirable.

□ what's the damage? INFORMAL, HUMOROUS used to ask the cost of something.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from dam, damne ‘loss or damage’, from Latin damnum ‘loss or hurt’; compare with DAMN.

damage control n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for DAMAGE LIMITATION.

damaged goods plural n. INFORMAL a person who is regarded as inadequate or impaired in some way.

damage feasant /fiz(ə)nt/ [ENGLISH LAW] n. [mass noun] damage done on one person's land by another person's trespassing animal, which justifies the landowner in retaining the animal until compensated.

■ adv. on grounds of damage caused to land or property.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old French damage fesant ‘doing damage’.

damage limitation n. [mass noun] action taken to limit the damaging effects of an accident or error.

damaging adj. causing physical damage: new cars are less damaging to the environment.

- having a detrimental effect on someone or something: damaging allegations of corruption.

<DERIVATIVES> damagingly adv.

Daman and Diu /dəmαn diu/ a Union Territory in India, on the west coast north of Mumbai (Bombay); pop. 158,100 (2001); capital, Daman. It consists of the district of Daman and the island of Diu, and until 1987 was administered with Goa.

Damara /dəmαrə/ n. (pl. same or Damaras) a member of a people inhabiting mountainous parts of Namibia and speaking the Nama language.

■ adj. relating to the Damara.

<ORIGIN> the name in Nama.

Damaraland /dəmαrəland/ a plateau region of central Namibia inhabited chiefly by the Damara and Herero peoples.

Damascene /daməsin daməsin/ adj. 1 relating to the city of Damascus.

- relating to or resembling the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus: a transformation of Damascene proportions.

2 HISTORICAL relating to Damascus steel or its manufacture.

3 (often damascene) relating to or denoting a process of inlaying a metal object with gold or silver decoration.

■ n. a native or inhabitant of Damascus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): via Latin from Greek Damaskēnos ‘of Damascus’.

damascened /daməsind daməsind/ adj. 1 (of iron or steel) given a wavy pattern by hammer-welding and repeated heating and forging.

2 (of a metal object) inlaid with gold or silver decoration.

Damascus /dəmαskəs -maskəs/ the capital of Syria since the country's independence in 1946; pop. 1,803,700 (est. 2002). It has existed as a city for over 4,000 years.

Damascus steel n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL steel given a wavy pattern by hammer-welding strips of steel and iron followed by repeated heating and forging, used chiefly for knife and sword blades. Such items were often marketed in Damascus during the medieval period.

damask /daməsk/ n. 1 [mass noun] a rich, heavy silk or linen fabric with a pattern woven into it, used for table linen and upholstery.

2 short for DAMASK ROSE.

3 (also damask steel) [mass noun] HISTORICAL another term for DAMASCUS STEEL.

■ adj. LITERARY having the velvety pink or light red colour of a damask rose.

■ v. [with obj.] LITERARY decorate with or as if with a variegated pattern: flowers damask the fragrant seat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Damaske, early form of the name of Damascus, where the fabric was first produced.

damask rose n. a sweet-scented rose of an old variety, having pink or light red velvety petals which are used to make attar.

<INFO> Rosa damascena, family Rosaceae.

dame n. 1 (Dame) (in the UK) the title given to a woman with the rank of Knight Commander or holder of the Grand Cross in the Orders of Chivalry.

2 ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS an elderly or mature woman.

- North American INFORMAL a woman.

- (also pantomime dame) BRITISH a comic middle-aged female character in modern pantomime, usually played by a man.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a female ruler): via Old French from Latin domina ‘mistress’.

dame school n. HISTORICAL a small primary school run by elderly women, especially in their own homes.

damfool INFORMAL, DATED adj. [attr.] thoroughly foolish.

■ n. a foolish person.

damiana /demαnə/ n. a small shrub native to tropical America, whose leaves are used in herbal medicine and in the production of a liqueur, and also reputedly possess aphrodisiac qualities.

<INFO> Turnera diffusa, family Turneraceae.

<ORIGIN> American Spanish.

Damietta /damεtə/ the eastern branch of the Nile delta. Arabic name DUMYAT.

- a port at the mouth of the Damietta; pop. 90,200 (est. 2002).

dammar /damə/ (also damar) n. [mass noun] resin obtained from any of a number of tropical, chiefly Indo-Malaysian trees, used to make varnish.

<INFO> The resin is obtained from trees in the families Araucariaceae (genus Agathis), Dipterocarpaceae (genera Hopea, Shorea, and Vatica), and Burseraceae (genus Canarium).

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Malay damar ‘resin’.

dammit exclam. used to express anger or frustration.

<PHRASES>

□ as near as dammit as close to being accurate as makes no difference.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: alteration of damn it.

damn /dam/ v. [with obj.] 1 (BE damned) (in Christian belief) be condemned by God to suffer eternal punishment in hell.

- be doomed to misfortune or failure: the enterprise was damned.

2 criticize strongly: the book damns her husband.

- curse (someone or something): she cleared her throat, damning it for its huskiness | damn him for making this sound trivial.

■ exclam. INFORMAL expressing anger or frustration: Damn! I completely forgot!

■ adj. [attr.] INFORMAL used for emphasis, especially to express anger or frustration: turn that damn thing off! | [as submodifier] don't be so damn silly!

<PHRASES>

□ as near as damn it as close to being accurate as makes no difference.

□ —— be damned used to express defiance or rejection of someone or something previously mentioned: glory be damned!

□ damn all BRITISH INFORMAL nothing at all.

□ damn someone/thing with faint praise praise someone or something so unenthusiastically as to imply condemnation.

□ I'm (or I'll be) damned if INFORMAL used to express a strong negative: I'm damned if I know.

□ not be worth a damn INFORMAL have no value at all.

□ not give a damn see GIVE.

□ well I'll be (or I'm) damned INFORMAL used to express surprise.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French dam(p)ner, from Latin dam(p)nare ‘inflict loss on’, from damnum ‘loss, damage’.

damna /damnə/ plural form of DAMNUM.

damnable /damnəb(ə)l/ adj. 1 very bad or unpleasant: leave this damnable place behind.

2 subject to or worthy of divine condemnation: suicide was thought damnable in the Middle Ages.

<DERIVATIVES> damnably adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French dam(p)nable, from Latin dam(p)nabilis, from dam(p)nare ‘inflict loss on’ (see DAMN).

damnation /damne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] condemnation to eternal punishment in hell.

■ exclam. expressing anger or frustration.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin dam(p)natio(n-), from the verb dam(p)nare ‘inflict loss on’ (see DAMN).

damnatory /damnət(ə)ri/ adj. conveying or causing censure or damnation.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin damnatorius, from dam(p)nat- ‘caused to suffer loss’, from the verb dam(p)nare (see DAMN).

damned /damd/ adj. 1 (in Christian belief) condemned by God to suffer eternal punishment in hell: damned sinners | (as plural n. the damned) the spirits of the damned.

2 [attr.] INFORMAL used for emphasis, especially to express anger or frustration: it's none of your damned business | [as submodifier] she's too damned arrogant.

- (damnedest) NORTH AMERICAN used to emphasize the surprising nature of something: the damnedest thing I ever saw.

<PHRASES>

□ do (or try) one's damnedest INFORMAL do or try one's utmost.

damnify /damnf/ v. (damnifies, damnifying, damnified) [with obj.] [LAW], RARE cause injury to.

<DERIVATIVES> damnification n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old French damnefier, dam(p)nifier, from late Latin damnificare ‘injure, condemn’, from Latin damnificus ‘hurtful’, from damnus ‘loss, damage’.

damning adj. (of a circumstance or piece of evidence) strongly suggesting guilt or error.

- extremely critical: a damning indictment of the government's record.

<DERIVATIVES> damningly adv.

damnum /damnəm/ n. (pl. damna /-nə/) [LAW] a loss.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘hurt, harm, or damage’.

Damocles /daməkliz/ a legendary courtier who extravagantly praised the happiness of Dionysius I, ruler of Syracuse. To show him how precarious this happiness was, Dionysius seated him at a banquet with a sword hung by a single hair over his head.

<PHRASES>

□ sword of Damocles used to refer to an extremely precarious situation.

<DERIVATIVES> Damoclean adj.

Damon /demən/ a legendary Syracusan of the 4th century BC whose friend Pythias (also called Phintias) was sentenced to death by Dionysius I. Damon stood bail for Pythias, who returned just in time to save him, and was himself reprieved.

damp adj. slightly wet.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] moisture diffused through the air or a solid substance or condensed on a surface, typically with detrimental or unpleasant effects.

- (damps) ARCHAIC damp air or atmosphere.

2 ARCHAIC a discouragement or check: shame gave a damp to her triumph.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (something) slightly wet: damp a small area with water.

2 (damp something down) make a fire burn less strongly by reducing the flow of air to it.

- control or restrain a feeling or a situation: she tried to damp down her feelings of despair.

3 reduce or stop the vibration of (the strings of a piano or other musical instrument) so as to reduce the volume of sound.

- [PHYSICS] progressively reduce the amplitude of (an oscillation or vibration).

<DERIVATIVES> dampish adj. damply adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the noun sense ‘noxious inhalation’): of West Germanic origin; related to a Middle Low German word meaning ‘vapour, steam, smoke’.

damp course (also damp-proof course) n. BRITISH a layer of waterproof material in the wall of a building near the ground, to prevent rising damp.

damp-dry v. [with obj.] dry (something wet) until it is only damp.

dampen v. [with obj.] 1 make slightly wet: the fine rain dampened her face.

2 make less strong or intense: nothing could dampen her enthusiasm.

- reduce the amplitude of (a sound source): slider switches on the mixers can dampen the drums.

dampener n. a thing that has a restraining or subduing effect: television and booze, those twin dampeners of the revolutionary spirit.

<PHRASES>

□ put a dampener on another way of saying PUT A DAMPER ON (see DAMPER).

damper n. 1 a person or thing that has a subduing or inhibiting effect.

- [MUSIC] a pad silencing a piano string except when removed by means of a pedal or by the note being struck.

- a device for reducing mechanical vibration, in particular a shock absorber on a motor vehicle.

- a conductor used to reduce oscillation in an electric motor or generator.

- a movable metal plate in a flue or chimney, used to regulate the draught and so control the rate of combustion.

2 chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ an unleavened loaf or cake of flour and water baked in wood ashes. [<ORIGIN> in the sense ‘something that takes the edge off the appetite’.]

<PHRASES>

□ put a damper on have a subduing or inhibiting effect on: he put a damper on her youthful excitement.

Dampier /dampə/ William (1652–1715), English explorer and adventurer. He is notable for having sailed round the world twice. In 1683 he set out from Panama, crossing the Pacific and reaching England again in 1691; in 1699 the government commissioned him to explore the NW coast of Australia.

damping n. [mass noun] 1 TECHNICAL a reduction in the amplitude of an oscillation as a result of energy being drained from the system to overcome frictional or other resistive forces.

- a method of bringing about a reduction in oscillatory peaks in an electric current or voltage using an energy-absorbing or resistance circuit.

2 (damping off) the death of young seedlings as a result of a fungal infection encouraged by damp conditions.

<INFO> The disease is caused by fungi of the genera Pythium (subdivision Mastigomycotina) or Fusarium (subdivision Deuteromycotina).

dampness n. [mass noun] the state or condition of being slightly wet: the dampness in the air.

damp-proof adj. impervious to damp.

■ v. [with obj.] make impervious to damp by using a damp course.

damp squib n. BRITISH a situation or event which is much less impressive than expected.

damsel /damz(ə)l/ n. ARCHAIC or LITERARY a young unmarried woman.

<PHRASES>

□ damsel in distress HUMOROUS a young woman in trouble.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French dameisele, damisele, based on Latin domina ‘mistress’.

damsel bug n. a slender long-legged bug that is a predator of other insects.

<INFO> Family Nabidae, suborder Heteroptera: several genera.

damselfish n. (pl. same or damselfishes) a small brightly coloured tropical marine fish that lives in or near coral reefs.

<INFO> Chromis and other genera, family Pomacentridae: numerous species.

damselfly n. (pl. damselflies) a slender insect related to the dragonflies, typically resting with the wings folded back along the body.

<INFO> Suborder Zygoptera, order Odonata: several families.

damson /damz(ə)n/ n. 1 a small purple-black plum-like fruit.

- [mass noun] a dark purple colour.

2 (also damson tree) the small deciduous tree which bears damsons, probably derived from the bullace.

<INFO> Prunus domestica subsp. insititia (or P. damascena), family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English damascene, from Latin damascenum (prunum) ‘(plum) of Damascus’. Compare with DAMASCENE and DAMASK.

damson cheese n. [mass noun] a solid preserve made from damsons and sugar.

Dan (in the Bible) a Hebrew patriarch, son of Jacob and Bilhah (Gen. 30:6).

- the tribe of Israel traditionally descended from Dan.

- an ancient town in the north of Canaan, where the tribe of Dan settled. It marked the northern limit of the ancient Hebrew kingdom of Israel (Judges 20).

dan^1 n. any of ten degrees of advanced proficiency in judo or karate.

- a person who has achieved a dan.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Japanese.

dan^2 (also dan buoy) n. a small temporary marker buoy with a lightweight flagpole.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

Dan. abbr. Daniel (in biblical references).

Dana^1 /denə/ James Dwight (1813–95), American naturalist, geologist, and mineralogist. He founded an important classification of minerals based on chemistry and physics. His view of the earth as a unit was an evolutionary one, but he was slow to accept Darwin's theory of evolution.

Dana^2 /denə/ Richard Henry (1815–82), American adventurer, lawyer, and writer, known for his account of his voyage from Boston round Cape Horn to California, Two Years before the Mast (1840).

Danae /danei/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos. An oracle foretold that she would bear a son who would kill her father. Attempting to evade this Acrisius imprisoned her, but Zeus visited her in the form of a shower of gold and she conceived Perseus, who killed Acrisius by accident.

danaid /daned/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a large strikingly marked butterfly of a group that includes the monarch (milkweed) and plain tiger, found chiefly in the tropics of Africa and the Far East.

<INFO> Subfamily Danainae, family Nymphalidae (formerly family Danaidae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Danaidae, arbitrary use of the Latin name of the daughters of Danaus.

Danaids /danedz/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the daughters of Danaus, king of Argos, who were compelled to marry the sons of his brother Aegyptus but murdered their husbands on the wedding night, except for one, Hypermnestra, who helped her husband to escape. The remaining Danaids were punished in Hades by being set to fill a leaky jar with water.

Danakil /danəkl dənαk(ə)l/ n. & adj. another term for AFAR.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic danāqil, plural of danqalī.

Danakil Depression a long low-lying desert region of NE Ethiopia and northern Djibouti, between the Red Sea and the Great Rift Valley.

Da Nang /dα na/ a port and city in central Vietnam, on the South China Sea; pop. 446,000 (est. 2002). During the Vietnam War it was used as a US military base. Former name TOURANE.

dance v. [no obj.] 1 move rhythmically to music, typically following a set sequence of steps: all the men wanted her to dance with them.

- [with obj.] perform (a particular dance or a role in a ballet): they danced a tango.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] lead (a dancing partner) in a particular direction: I danced her out of the room.

2 [with adverbial of direction] (of a person) move in a quick and lively way: Sheila danced in gaily.

- move up and down lightly and quickly in the air: midges danced over the stream.

- (of someone's eyes) sparkle with pleasure or excitement.

■ n. 1 a series of steps and movements that match the speed and rhythm of a piece of music.

- an act of dancing: they rolled back the carpet and had a dance.

- a particular sequence of steps and movements constituting a particular form of dancing.

- [mass noun] steps and movements of this type considered as an activity or art form: the rules of classical dance.

- a social gathering at which people dance.

- a piece of music for dancing to: the last dance had been played.

2 (also dance music) [mass noun] a type of popular music intended for dancing to in clubs, typically having a repetitive beat and a synthesized backing track that features sound samples.

<PHRASES>

□ dance attendance on chiefly BRITISH do one's utmost to please someone by attending to all their requests.

□ dance to someone's tune comply completely with someone's demands.

□ lead someone a dance (or a merry dance) BRITISH cause someone a great deal of trouble or worry.

<DERIVATIVES> danceable adj. dancey adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French dancer (verb), dance (noun), of unknown origin.

dance band n. a band that plays music suitable for dancing to, especially swing.

dance card n. DATED a card bearing the names of a woman's prospective partners at a formal dance.

dance floor n. an area of uncarpeted floor in a nightclub, disco, or restaurant reserved for dancing.

- [as modifier] denoting a type of music particularly popular as an accompaniment to dancing.

dance hall n. 1 a large public hall or building where people pay to enter and dance.

2 (dancehall) [mass noun] an uptempo style of dance music derived from reggae, in which a DJ improvises lyrics over a recorded backing track or to the accompaniment of live musicians.

dance of death n. a medieval allegorical representation in which a personified Death leads all types of people to the grave, intended to emphasize the equality of all before death.

dancer n. a person who dances or whose profession is dancing.

dancercise (also dancercize) n. [mass noun] a system of aerobic exercise using dance movements.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of DANCE and EXERCISE.

dancetté /dansəte/ (also dancetty) adj. [usually postpositive] [HERALDRY] having deep zigzag indentations.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: alteration of French denché, based on Latin dens, dent- ‘tooth’.

dancing n. [mass noun] the activity of dancing for pleasure or in order to entertain others.

dancing girl n. a female professional dancer, especially a member of the chorus in a musical.

danda /dndə/ n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a large stick used as a weapon by a policeman or guard.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi aā, from Sanskrit daa.

D and C abbr. dilatation and curettage.

dandelion n. a widely distributed weed of the daisy family, with a rosette of leaves and large bright yellow flowers followed by globular heads of seeds with downy tufts.

<INFO> Genus Taraxacum, family Compositae: several species, in particular T. officinale, which has edible leaves.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French dent-de-lion, translation of medieval Latin dens leonis ‘lion's tooth’ (because of the jagged shape of the leaves).

dandelion clock n. BRITISH the downy spherical seed head of a dandelion.

<ORIGIN> from the child's game of blowing away the seeds to find out what time it is.

dandelion coffee n. [mass noun] a hot drink made from dried and powdered dandelion roots.

dandelion greens plural n. NORTH AMERICAN fresh dandelion leaves used as a salad vegetable or herb.

dander^1 n. (in phrase get/have one's dander up) INFORMAL lose one's temper.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): of unknown origin.

dander^2 n. [mass noun] flakes of skin in an animal's fur or hair.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: related to DANDRUFF.

dander^3 chiefly SCOTTISH n. a stroll.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] stroll: he dandered in to change his coat.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: frequentative form; perhaps related to dialect dadder ‘quake’ and daddle ‘dawdle’.

dandiacal /dandək(ə)l/ adj. relating to or characteristic of a dandy.

Dandie Dinmont /dand dnmənt/ n. a terrier of a breed from the Scottish Borders, with short legs, a long body, and a rough coat.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after a character in Sir Walter Scott's Guy Mannering who owned a special breed of terriers.

dandified adj. (of a man) showing excessive concern about his clothes or appearance.

- self-consciously sophisticated or elaborate: he writes a dandified prose.

dandiprat n. ARCHAIC, INFORMAL a young or insignificant person.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting a coin worth three halfpence): of unknown origin.

dandiya raas /dandə rαs/ n. [mass noun] a type of traditional Gujarati dance in which pairs of dancers hold a short stick in each hand and strike one another's sticks in time to the music.

<ORIGIN> Gujarati, from dandiya ‘sticks’ (from dai ‘stick’) and raas ‘dance’.

dandle v. [with obj.] move (a baby or young child) up and down in a playful or affectionate way.

- move (something) lightly up and down: dandling the halter rope, he gently urged the pony's head up.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

Dandong /dand/ a port in Liaoning province, NE China, near the mouth of the Yalu River, on the border with North Korea; pop. 1,488,300 (est. 2002). Former name ANTUNG.

dandruff n. [mass noun] small pieces of dead skin in a person's hair.

<DERIVATIVES> dandruffy adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: the first element is unknown; the second (-ruff) is perhaps related to Middle English rove ‘quality of being scurfy’.

dandy n. (pl. dandies) 1 a man unduly concerned with looking stylish and fashionable.

2 INFORMAL, DATED an excellent thing of its kind.

■ adj. (dandier, dandiest) 1 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL excellent: things are all fine and dandy.

2 relating to or characteristic of a dandy.

<DERIVATIVES> dandyish adj. dandyism n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps a shortened form of 17th-cent. Jack-a-dandy ‘conceited fellow’ (the last element representing Dandy, a pet form of the given name Andrew).

dandy brush n. a coarse brush used for grooming a horse.

Dane n. a native or national of Denmark, or a person of Danish descent.

- HISTORICAL one of the Viking invaders of the British Isles in the 9th–11th centuries.

<ORIGIN> Old English Dene; superseded in Middle English by forms influenced by Old Norse Danir and late Latin Dani (both plural).

Danegeld /denεld/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a land tax levied in Anglo-Saxon England during the reign of King Ethelred to raise funds for protection against Danish invaders.

- taxes collected for national defence by the Norman kings until 1162.

<ORIGIN> late Old English, from Old Norse Danir ‘Danes’ + gjald ‘payment’.

Danelaw /denl/ the part of northern and eastern England occupied or administered by Danes from the late 9th century until after the Norman Conquest.

<ORIGIN> late Old English Dena lagu ‘Danes' law’.

danewort /denwət/ n. a dwarf Eurasian elder with a strong, unpleasant smell and berries yielding a blue dye.

<INFO> Sambucus ebulus, family Caprifoliaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: so named from the folklore that the plant sprang up where Danish blood was spilt in battle.

Danforth anchor /danfəθ/ n. a type of lightweight anchor with flat flukes.

dang adj., excl., & v. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL euphemism for DAMN: [as adj.] just get the dang car started!

danger n. [mass noun] the possibility of suffering harm or injury: his life was in danger.

- [count noun] a cause or likely cause of harm or injury: the dangers of smoking.

- the possibility of something unwelcome or unpleasant happening: she was in danger of being exploited | there was no danger of the champagne running out.

- BRITISH the status of a railway signal indicating that the line is not clear and that a train should not proceed.

<PHRASES>

□ out of danger (of a person who has suffered a serious injury or illness) not expected to die.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘jurisdiction or power’, specifically ‘power to harm’): from Old French dangier, based on Latin dominus ‘lord’.

danger list n. BRITISH a list of those who are dangerously ill in a hospital.

danger money (North American danger pay) n. [mass noun] extra payment for working under dangerous conditions.

dangerous adj. able or likely to cause harm or injury: a dangerous animal | insecticides which are dangerous to the environment.

- likely to cause problems or to have adverse consequences: it is dangerous to convict on his evidence.

<DERIVATIVES> dangerously adv. dangerousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘arrogant’, ‘fastidious’, and ‘difficult to please’): from Old French dangereus, from dangier (see DANGER).

dangle v. [no obj., with adverbial of place] hang or swing loosely: saucepans dangled from a rail | [with obj.] they were dangling their legs over the water.

- [with obj.] offer (an enticing incentive) to someone: the defence portfolio could be the carrot to dangle before him.

<PHRASES>

□ keep someone dangling keep someone in an uncertain position.

<DERIVATIVES> dangler n. dangly adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: symbolic of something loose and pendulous, corresponding to Danish dangle, Swedish dangla, but the origin is unclear.

dangling adj. hanging or swinging loosely: a pair of dangling earrings.

dangling participle n. [GRAMMAR] a participle intended to modify a noun which is not actually present in the text.

<USAGE> A participle is a word formed as an inflection of the verb, such as arriving or arrived. A dangling participle is one which is left ‘hanging’ because, in the grammar of the clause, it does not relate to the noun it should. In the sentence arriving at the station, she picked up her case the construction is correct because the participle arriving and the subject she relate to each other (she is the one doing the arriving). But in the following sentence, a dangling participle has been created: arriving at the station, the sun came out. We know, logically, that it is not the sun which is arriving but grammatically that is exactly the link which has been created. Such errors are frequent, even in written English, and can give rise to genuine confusion.

Daniel a Hebrew prophet (6th century BC), who spent his life as a captive at the court of Babylon. In the Bible he interpreted the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and was delivered by God from the lions' den into which he had been thrown as the result of a trick; in the apocryphal Book of Susanna he is portrayed as a wise judge (Sus. 45–64).

- a book of the Bible containing Daniel's prophecies. It was probably written at the outbreak of persecution of the Jews under Seleucid rule c.167 BC.

Daniell cell /danj(ə)l/ n. a primary voltaic cell with a copper anode and a zinc-amalgam cathode, giving a standard electromotive force when either copper sulphate or sulphuric acid is used as the electrolyte.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after John Daniell (1790–1845), the British physicist who invented it.

danio /danə/ n. (pl. danios) a small, brightly coloured freshwater fish of the Indian subcontinent and SE Asia.

<INFO> Genera Danio and Brachydanio, family Cyprinidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (genus name).

Danish /den/ adj. relating to Denmark or its people or language.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the Scandinavian language spoken in Denmark, which is also the official language of Greenland and the Faroes. It is spoken by over 5 million people.

2 (as plural n. the Danish) the people of Denmark.

3 INFORMAL a Danish pastry.

<ORIGIN> Old English Denisc, of Germanic origin; superseded in Middle English by forms influenced by Old French daneis and medieval Latin Danensis (from late Latin Dani ‘Danes’).

Danish blue n. [mass noun] a soft, salty, strongly flavoured white cheese with blue veins.

Danish oil n. [mass noun] a mixture of tung oil, other vegetable oils, and chemicals to quicken drying, used to treat wood.

Danish pastry n. a cake of sweetened yeast pastry with toppings or fillings such as icing, fruit, or nuts.

dank adj. unpleasantly damp and cold: huge dank caverns.

<DERIVATIVES> dankly adv. dankness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish dank ‘marshy spot’.

Danmark /danmar/ Danish name for DENMARK.

d'Annunzio /danntsə/ Gabriele (1863–1938), Italian novelist, dramatist, and poet. He is best known for his ‘Romances of the Rose’ trilogy, including The Triumph of Death (1894), which shows the influence of Nietzsche.

Dano-Norwegian /denənwid(ə)n/ n. another term for Bokmål.

danse macabre /dαns məkαbr(ə)/ n. another term for DANCE OF DEATH.

<ORIGIN> French, recorded from late Middle English in anglicized forms such as dance of Machabray, dance of Macaber (see also MACABRE).

danseur /dαsə/ n. a male ballet dancer.

<ORIGIN> French, from danser ‘to dance’.

danseur noble /dαsə nbl(ə)/ n. a principal male ballet dancer, especially one who is particularly suited by bearing or physique to princely roles.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘noble dancer’.

danseuse /dαsəz/ n. a female ballet dancer.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘female dancer’.

Dante /dante/ (1265–1321), Italian poet; full name Dante Alighieri. His reputation rests chiefly on The Divine Comedy (c.1309–20), an epic poem describing his spiritual journey through Hell and Purgatory and finally to Paradise. His love for Beatrice Portinari is described in Vita nuova (c.1290–4).

Dantean /dantən dantiən/ adj. of or reminiscent of the poetry of Dante, especially in invoking his vision of hell in The Divine Comedy.

■ n. an admirer or student of Dante or his writing.

Dantesque /dantεsk/ (also Dante-esque) adj. another term for DANTEAN.

danthonia /danθənə/ n. [mass noun] a widely distributed tufted grass that grows on poor soils and is of low palatability to grazing animals.

<INFO> Genus Danthonia, family Gramineae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Étienne Danthoine, 19th-cent. French botanist.

Danton /dantən/ French /dαt/ Georges (Jacques) (1759–94), French revolutionary. A noted orator, he won great popularity in the early days of the French Revolution. He was initially an ally of Robespierre but later revolted against the severity of the Revolutionary Tribunal and was executed on Robespierre's orders.

Danube /danjub/ a river which rises in the Black Forest in SW Germany and flows about 2,850 km (1,770 miles) into the Black Sea. It is the second-longest river in Europe after the Volga; the cities of Vienna, Budapest, and Belgrade are situated on it. German name Donau^1.

<DERIVATIVES> Danubian /danjubən/ adj.

Danube School a group of landscape painters working in the Danube region in the early 16th century. Its members included Altdorfer and Cranach the Elder.

Danubian principalities the former European principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. In 1861 they united to form the state of Romania.

Danzig /dantsç/ German name for Gdańsk.

dap v. (daps, dapping, dapped) [no obj.] fish by letting the fly (but not the line) bob lightly on the water.

■ n. 1 (usually the dap) a fishing fly used in this way.

2 (daps) DIALECT rubber-soled shoes.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a verb): symbolic of a flicking movement, similar to dab^1.

Daphne /dafni/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a nymph who was turned into a laurel bush to save her from the amorous pursuit of Apollo.

daphne /dafni/ n. a small, typically evergreen Eurasian shrub with sweet-scented flowers.

<INFO> Genus Daphne, family Thymelaeaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the laurel or bay tree): from Greek daphnē, from the name of the nymph DAPHNE.

daphnia /dafnə/ n. (pl. same) a minute semi-transparent freshwater crustacean with long antennae and a prominent single eye. Also called WATER FLEA.

<INFO> Genus Daphnia, order Cladocera.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek Daphnē, from the name of the nymph DAPHNE.

Daphnis /dafns/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a Sicilian shepherd who, according to one version of the legend, was struck with blindness for his infidelity to the nymph Echenaïs. He consoled himself with pastoral poetry, of which he was the originator.

Da Ponte /dα pnte/ Lorenzo (1749–1838), Italian poet and librettist; born Emmanuele Conegliano. He became poet to the Court Opera in Vienna in 1784 and wrote the libretti for Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte (1790).

dapper adj. (of a man) neat and trim in dress and appearance: he looked very dapper in a dark silk suit.

<DERIVATIVES> dapperly adv. dapperness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from a Middle Low German or Middle Dutch word meaning ‘strong, stout’.

dapple v. [with obj.] mark with spots or rounded patches: the floor was dappled with pale moonlight.

■ n. 1 a patch or spot of colour or light.

2 an animal with a dappled coat.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (earlier as an adjective): perhaps related to Old Norse depill ‘spot’.

dappled adj. marked with spots or rounded patches: the horse's dappled flank.

dapple grey adj. (of a horse) grey or white with darker ring-like markings.

■ n. a dapple-grey horse.

Dapsang /dps/ another name for K2.

dapsone /dapsən/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a sulphur compound with bacteriostatic action, used in the treatment of leprosy.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (H_2NC_6H_4)2SO_2.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from elements of its alternative systematic name dipara-aminophenyl sulphone.

Daqing /dαt/ (also Taching) a major industrial city in NE China, in Heilongjiang province; pop. 1,231,700 (est. 2002).

DAR abbr. Daughters of the American Revolution.

darbies /dαbz/ plural n. ARCHAIC, INFORMAL handcuffs.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: allusive use of Father Darby's bands, a rigid form of agreement which put debtors in the power of moneylenders, possibly from the name of a 16th-cent. usurer.

Darby and Joan n. BRITISH a devoted old married couple.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from a poem (1735) in the Gentleman's Magazine, which contained the lines ‘Old Darby, with Joan by his side … They're never happy asunder.’.

Darby and Joan club n. BRITISH a club for senior citizens.

Dard /dαd/ n. 1 a member of a group of peoples inhabiting eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and Kashmir.

2 [mass noun] the group of Indic languages spoken by the Dards, including Kashmiri.

■ adj. relating to the Dards or their languages.

<DERIVATIVES> Dardic n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> the name in Dard.

Dardanelles /dαdənεlz/ a narrow strait between Europe and Asiatic Turkey (called the Hellespont in classical times), linking the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea. It is 60 km (38 miles) long. In 1915 it was the scene of an unsuccessful attack on Turkey by Allied troops (see GALLIPOLI).

dare v. (3rd sing. present usually dare before an expressed or implied infinitive) 1 (as modal usually with infinitive with or without to often with negative) have the courage to do something: a story he dare not write down | she leaned forward as far as she dared.

- (how dare you) used to express indignation at something: how dare you talk to me like that!

- (don't you dare) used to order someone threateningly not to do something: don't you dare touch me.

2 [with obj. and infinitive] defy or challenge (someone) to do something: she was daring him to disagree | [with obj.] swap with me, I dare you.

3 [with obj.] LITERARY take the risk of; brave: few dared his wrath.

■ n. a challenge, especially to prove courage: she ran across a main road for a dare.

<PHRASES>

□ I dare say (or daresay) used to indicate that one believes something is probable: I dare say you've heard about her.

<DERIVATIVES> darer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English durran, of Germanic origin; related to Gothic gadaursan, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek tharsein and Sanskrit dh- ‘be bold’.

daredevil n. a reckless person who enjoys doing dangerous things.

■ adj. reckless and daring.

<DERIVATIVES> daredevilry n.

Dar es Salaam /dαr εs səlαm/ the chief port and former capital of Tanzania; pop. 2,421,900 (est. 2002). It was founded in 1866 by the sultan of Zanzibar. Its Arabic name means ‘haven of peace’.

Darfur /dαfə/ a region in the west of Sudan, an independent kingdom until 1874. In 2003 a rebellion against the Sudanese government began, and many thousands have died or been displaced in the subsequent conflict.

dargah /dəα/ n. the tomb or shrine of a Muslim saint.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu, from Persian.

Dari /dαri/ n. [mass noun] the form of Persian spoken in Afghanistan.

<ORIGIN> from Persian.

Darien /dεrən dar-/ a sparsely populated province of eastern Panama. The name was formerly applied to the whole of the Isthmus of Panama.

Darien, Gulf of part of the Caribbean Sea between Panama and Colombia.

daring adj. (of a person or action) adventurous or audaciously bold: a daring crime.

- causing outrage or surprise by being boldly unconventional: a pretty girl in daring clothes.

■ n. [mass noun] adventurous courage.

<DERIVATIVES> daringly adv.

dariole /darəl/ n. (also dariole mould) (in French cooking) a small, flowerpot-shaped mould in which an individual sweet or savoury dish is cooked and served.

- an individual savoury or sweet dish cooked and served in a dariole mould.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French.

Darius I /dərəs/ (c.550–486 BC), king of Persia 521–486 BC; known as Darius the Great. After a revolt by the Greek cities in Ionia (499–494 BC) he invaded Greece but was defeated at Marathon (490 BC).

Darjeeling^1 /dαdil/ (also Darjiling) a hill station at an altitude of 2,150 m (7,054 ft) in West Bengal, NE India, near the Sikkim border; pop. 107,500 (2001).

Darjeeling^2 /dαdil/ n. [mass noun] a high-quality tea grown in the mountainous regions of northern India.

dark adj. 1 with little or no light: it's too dark to see much.

- (of a theatre) closed; not in use.

2 (of a colour or object) not reflecting much light; approaching black in shade: dark green.

- (of someone's skin, hair, or eyes) brown or black in colour.

- (of a person) having such skin, hair, or eyes.

3 (of a period or situation) characterized by great unhappiness or unpleasantness: the dark days of the war.

- deeply pessimistic: a dark vision of the future.

- (of an expression) angry.

- suggestive of or arising from evil; sinister: so many dark deeds had been committed.

4 hidden from knowledge; mysterious: a dark secret.

- (darkest) HUMOROUS (of a region) most remote, inaccessible, or uncivilized: he lives somewhere in darkest Essex.

- ARCHAIC ignorant; unenlightened: he is dark on certain points of scripture.

5 [PHONETICS] denoting a velarized form of the sound of the letter l (as in pull in south-eastern English speech). Often contrasted with CLEAR.

■ n. 1 (the dark) the absence of light in a place: Carolyn was sitting in the dark.

- [mass noun] nightfall: I'll be home before dark.

2 a dark colour or shade, especially in a painting.

<PHRASES>

□ the darkest hour is just before the dawn PROVERB when things seem to be at their worst they are about to start improving.

□ in the dark in a state of ignorance.

□ keep something dark BRITISH keep something secret.

□ a shot (or stab) in the dark an act whose outcome cannot be foreseen; a guess.

<DERIVATIVES> darkish adj. darksome adj. (LITERARY)

<ORIGIN> Old English deorc, of Germanic origin, probably distantly related to German tarnen ‘conceal’.

dark adaptation n. [mass noun] the adjustment of the eye to low light intensities, involving reflex dilation of the pupil and activation of the rod cells in preference to the cone cells.

<DERIVATIVES> dark-adapted adj.

Dark Ages 1 the period in western Europe between the fall of the Roman Empire and the high Middle Ages, c.500–1100 AD, during which Germanic tribes swept through Europe and North Africa, often attacking and destroying towns and settlements. It was judged to have been a time of relative unenlightenment, though scholarship was kept alive in the monasteries and learning was encouraged at the courts of Charlemagne and Alfred the Great.

- a period of supposed unenlightenment: a throwback to the dark ages of computing.

- (the dark ages) HUMOROUS or DEROGATORY an obscure or little-regarded period in the past, especially as characterizing an outdated attitude or practice: the judge is living in the dark ages.

2 [ARCHAEOLOGY] a period in Greece and the Aegean from the end of the Bronze Age until the beginning of the historical period. There was no building of palaces and fortresses, and the art of writing was apparently lost.

dark chocolate n. another term for PLAIN CHOCOLATE.

Dark Continent HISTORICAL a name given to Africa at a time when it was little known to Europeans.

dark current n. the residual electric current flowing in a photoelectric device when there is no incident illumination.

darken v. 1 make or become dark or darker: [no obj.] the sky was darkening rapidly | [with obj.] darken the eyebrows with black powder | (as adj. darkened) a darkened room.

2 make or become angry, unhappy, or gloomy: [no obj.] his mood darkened | [with obj.] the abuse darkened the rest of their lives.

- [no obj.] (of someone's eyes or expression) show anger or another strong negative emotion.

- [with obj.] (of such an emotion) show in (someone's eyes or expression): misery darkened her gaze.

<PHRASES>

□ never darken someone's door keep away from someone's home permanently.

<DERIVATIVES> darkener n.

dark-field microscopy n. [mass noun] a type of light microscopy which produces brightly illuminated objects on a dark background.

dark glasses plural n. glasses with tinted lenses, worn to protect or conceal a person's eyes.

Darkhan /dαkαn/ an industrial and mining city in northern Mongolia, established in 1961; pop. 65,791 (2000).

dark horse n. a person about whom little is known, especially someone with unexpected abilities or potential.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: originally racing slang.

darkie (also darky) n. (pl. darkies) OFFENSIVE, INFORMAL a black person.

dark line n. [PHYSICS] an absorption line in an electromagnetic spectrum, appearing as a black line at visible wavelengths.

darkling adj. LITERARY growing dark or characterized by darkness: the darkling sky.

darkling beetle n. a dark-coloured nocturnal beetle, typically with reduced or absent wings.

<INFO> Family Tenebrionidae: numerous genera and species.

darkly adv. 1 in a threatening, mysterious, or ominous way: ‘You can't trust him,’ said Jacob darkly.

- in a pessimistic way: I wondered darkly if I was wasting my time.

2 with a dark colour: a figure silhouetted darkly against the trees.

dark matter n. [mass noun] [ASTRONOMY] (in some cosmological theories) non-luminous material which is postulated to exist in space and which could take either of two forms: weakly interacting particles (cold dark matter) or high-energy randomly moving particles created soon after the Big Bang (hot dark matter).

dark nebula n. [ASTRONOMY] a non-luminous nebula of dust and gas which is observable because it obscures light from other sources.

darkness n. [mass noun] 1 the partial or total absence of light: the office was in darkness.

- night: they began to make camp before darkness fell.

- the quality of being dark in colour: the darkness of his jacket.

2 wickedness or evil: the forces of darkness.

- unhappiness or gloom: moments of darkness were rare.

- secrecy or mystery: they drew a veil of darkness across the proceedings.

darknet n. [COMPUTING] a computer network with restricted access that is used chiefly for illegal peer-to-peer file sharing.

dark night of the soul n. a period of spiritual desolation suffered by a mystic in which all sense of consolation is removed.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: used to translate Spanish Noche oscura, the title of a poem by the mystic St John of the Cross.

dark reaction n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] the cycle of reactions (the Calvin cycle) which occurs in the second phase of photosynthesis and does not require the presence of light. It involves the fixation of carbon dioxide and its reduction to carbohydrate and the dissociation of water, using chemical energy stored in ATP.

darkroom n. a room for developing photographs, in which normal light is excluded.

dark star n. [ASTRONOMY] a starlike object which emits little or no visible light. Its existence is inferred from other evidence, such as the eclipsing of other stars.

Darling Grace (1815–42), English heroine. The daughter of a lighthouse keeper on the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland, she achieved fame in September 1838 when she and her father rowed through a storm to rescue the survivors of the wrecked ship Forfarshire.

darling n. used as an affectionate form of address to a beloved person: good night, darling.

- a lovable or endearing person: he's such a darling.

- a person who is particularly popular with a certain group: he is the darling of Labour's left wing.

■ adj. beloved: his darling wife.

- (in affected use) pretty; charming: a darling little pillbox hat.

<PHRASES>

□ be a darling used as a friendly or encouraging preface to a request: be a darling and don't mention I'm here.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēorling (see DEAR, -ling).

Darling River a river of SE Australia, flowing 2,757 km (1,712 miles) in a generally south-westward course to join the Murray River.

Darlington an industrial town and unitary authority in NE England; pop. 88,000 (est. 2002).

Darmstadt /dαmtat/ German /darmtat/ an industrial town in Hesse, western Germany; pop. 136,700 (est. 2002).

darmstadtium /dαmstatəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 110, a radioactive element produced artificially. (Symbol: Ds)

<ORIGIN> early 21st century: named after the German city of Darmstadt (where it was discovered) + -IUM.

darn^1 v. [with obj.] mend (a hole in knitted material) by interweaving yarn with a needle: I don't expect you to darn my socks.

- embroider (material) with a large running stitch.

■ n. a place in a garment that has been darned.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps from dialect dern ‘to hide’, which is from Old English diernan, of West Germanic origin; compare with Middle Dutch dernen ‘stop holes in (a dyke)’.

darn^2 (US also durn) v., adj., & excl. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN euphemism for DAMN: [as v.] darn it all, Poppa | [as adj.] he was a darn sight younger than Jill.

darned (US also durned) adj. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN euphemism for DAMNED: you have to work a darned sight harder.

<DERIVATIVES> darnedest adj.

darnel /dαn(ə)l/ n. a Eurasian ryegrass.

<INFO> Genus Lolium, family Gramineae: several species.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin; apparently related to French (Walloon dialect) darnelle.

darner n. NORTH AMERICAN a large slender-bodied dragonfly. Also called DARNING NEEDLE, DEVIL'S DARNING NEEDLE.

<INFO> Family Aeshnidae: several genera.

darning n. [mass noun] the skill or activity of darning.

- articles being darned or needing to be darned.

darning mushroom (also darning egg) n. a mushroom-shaped (or egg-shaped) piece of wood or other smooth hard material used to stretch and support material being darned.

darning needle n. 1 a long sewing needle with a large eye, used in darning.

2 North American another term for DARNER.

Darnley /dαnli/ Henry Stewart (or Stuart), Lord (1545–67), Scottish nobleman, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots and father of James I of England. He was implicated in the murder of his wife's secretary Rizzio in 1566, and was later killed in a mysterious gunpowder explosion in Edinburgh.

DARPA /dαpə/ abbr. US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

darshan /dα(ə)n/ n. [HINDUISM] an opportunity to see or an occasion of seeing a holy person or the image of a deity.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit darśana ‘sight or seeing’.

Dart Raymond Arthur (1893–1988), Australian-born South African anthropologist and anatomist. In 1925 he found the first specimen of a hominid for which he coined the genus name Australopithecus.

dart n. 1 a small pointed missile that can be thrown or fired.

- a small pointed missile with a feather or plastic flight, used in the game of darts.

- [ZOOLOGY] a dart-like calcareous organ of a snail forming part of the reproductive system, exchanged during copulation.

2 an act of running somewhere suddenly and rapidly: the cat made a dart for the door.

- a sudden, intense pang of a particular emotion: a dart of panic.

3 a tapered tuck stitched in a garment in order to shape it.

■ v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move or run somewhere suddenly or rapidly: she darted across the street.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] cast (a look or one's eyes) suddenly and rapidly in a particular direction: she darted a glance across the table.

2 [with obj.] shoot (an animal) with a dart, typically in order to administer a drug.

- ARCHAIC throw (a missile).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, accusative of darz, dars, from a West Germanic word meaning ‘spear, lance’.

dartboard n. a circular board marked with numbered segments, used as a target in the game of darts.

darter n. 1 a long-necked fish-eating bird related to the cormorants, typically found in fresh water, where they frequently swim submerged to the neck. Also called ANHINGA, SNAKEBIRD.

<INFO> Family Anhingidae and genus Anhinga: four species.

2 a small fast-moving North American freshwater fish.

<INFO> Genera Etheostoma and Percina, family Percidae: numerous species.

3 (also darter dragonfly) a broad-bodied dragonfly that typically darts out from a perch to grab prey.

<INFO> Libellulidae and related families: several genera.

Dartford warbler /dαtfəd/ n. a long-tailed non-migratory warbler with grey upper parts and purplish-brown underparts, found in western Europe and North Africa.

<INFO> Sylvia undata, family Sylviidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Dartford in Kent, England, where the bird was first seen.

Dartmoor /dαtm -mə/ a moorland district in Devon that was a royal forest in Saxon times, now a national park.

Dartmoor pony n. a pony of a small hardy breed with a long shaggy coat in winter.

Dartmouth /dαtməθ/ a port in Devon; pop. 5,600 (est. 1998). It is the site of the Royal Naval College.

darts plural n. [usually treated as sing.] an indoor game in which small pointed missiles with feather or plastic flights are thrown at a circular target marked with numbers in order to score points.

Darwin^1 /dαwn/ the capital of Northern Territory, Australia; pop. 108,200 (2001).

Darwin^2 /dαwn/ Charles (Robert) (1809–82), English natural historian and geologist, proponent of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin was the naturalist on HMS Beagle for her voyage around the southern hemisphere (1831–6), during which he collected the material which became the basis for his ideas on natural selection. His works On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871) had a fundamental effect on our concepts of nature and humanity's place within it.

Darwin^3 /dαwn/ Erasmus (1731–1802), English physician, scientist, inventor, and poet. Darwin is chiefly remembered for his scientific and technical writing, much of which appeared in the form of long poems. These include Zoonomia (1794–96), which proposed a Lamarckian view of evolution. He was the grandfather of Charles Darwin and Francis Galton.

Darwinian adj. relating to Darwinism.

■ n. an adherent of Darwinism.

Darwinism n. [mass noun] the theory of the evolution of species by natural selection advanced by Charles Darwin.

Darwin argued that since offspring tend to vary slightly from their parents, mutations which make an organism better adapted to its environment will be encouraged and developed by the pressures of natural selection, leading to the evolution of new species differing widely from one another and from their common ancestors. Darwinism was later developed by the findings of Mendelian genetics (see NEO-DARWINIAN).

<DERIVATIVES> Darwinist n. & adj.

Darwin's finches plural n. a group of songbirds related to the buntings and found on the Galapagos Islands, discovered by Charles Darwin and used by him to illustrate his theory of natural selection. They are believed to have evolved from a common ancestor and have developed a variety of bills to suit various modes of life. Also called GALAPAGOS FINCHES.

<INFO> Family Emberizidae (subfamily Emberizinae): four to six genera, especially Geospiza (the ground finches) and Camarhynchus (the tree finches).

Dasein /dαzn/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] (in Hegelianism) existence or determinate being; (in existentialism) human existence.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: German, from dasein ‘exist’, from da ‘there’ + sein ‘be’.

dash v. 1 [no obj., usually with adverbial of direction] run or travel somewhere in a great hurry: I dashed into the garden | I must dash, I'm late.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] strike or fling (something) somewhere with great force, especially so as to have a destructive effect; hurl: the ship was dashed upon the rocks.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] strike forcefully against something: a gust of rain dashed against the bricks.

- [with obj.] destroy or frustrate (hopes or expectations): the budget dashed hopes of an increase in funding.

- [with obj.] cause (someone) to lose confidence; dispirit: I won't tell Stuart—I think he'd be dashed.

3 [with obj.] (dash something off) write something hurriedly and without much premeditation.

■ exclam. BRITISH INFORMAL used to express mild annoyance: dash it all, I am in charge.

■ n. 1 an act of running somewhere suddenly and hastily: she made a dash for the door.

- a journey or period of time characterized by urgency or eager haste: a 20-mile dash to the airport.

- NORTH AMERICAN a short, fast race run in one heat; a sprint.

2 a small quantity of a liquid added to something else: whisky with a dash of soda.

- a small amount of a quality that adds piquancy or distinctiveness to something else: a casual atmosphere with a dash of sophistication.

3 a horizontal stroke in writing or printing to mark a pause or break in sense or to represent omitted letters or words.

- the longer signal of the two used in Morse code. Compare with dot^1.

- [MUSIC] a short vertical mark placed above or beneath a note to indicate that it is to be performed in a very staccato manner.

4 [mass noun] impetuous or flamboyant vigour and confidence; panache.

5 INFORMAL short for DASHBOARD.

<DERIVATIVES> dasher n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘strike forcibly against’): probably symbolic of forceful movement and related to Swedish and Danish daska.

dashboard n. 1 the panel facing the driver of a vehicle or the pilot of an aircraft, containing instruments and controls.

2 HISTORICAL a board of wood or leather in front of a carriage, to keep out mud.

dashed adj. [attr.] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED used for emphasis: it's a dashed shame | [as submodifier] she was dashed rude.

dasheen /dain/ n. another term for TARO.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally West Indian): of unknown origin.

dashiki /dαki/ n. (pl. dashikis) a loose brightly coloured shirt or tunic, originally from West Africa.

<ORIGIN> from Yoruba or Hausa.

dashing adj. (of a man) attractive, adventurous, and full of confidence: a dashing young pilot.

- stylish and fashionable: a dashing black fedora.

<DERIVATIVES> dashingly adv.

dashpot n. a device for damping shock or vibration.

dassie /dasi/ n. (pl. dassies) 1 a hyrax (mammal), especially the rock hyrax of southern Africa.

<INFO> Family Procaviidae, in particular Procavia capensis.

2 S. AFRICAN a silvery marine fish with dark fins and a black spot on the tail, found around African and Mediterranean coasts.

<INFO> Diplodus sargus, family Sparidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Afrikaans, from South African Dutch dasje, diminutive of Dutch das ‘badger’; the fish is said to have been named because of a perceived resemblance (in its habit of frequenting rocks, or from its shy nature) to the rock hyrax.

dastard /dastəd dα-/ n. DATED or HUMOROUS a dishonourable or despicable man.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘stupid person’): probably from dazed, influenced by dotard and bastard.

dastardly adj. DATED or HUMOROUS wicked and cruel: pirates and their dastardly deeds.

<DERIVATIVES> dastardliness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘dull or stupid’): from DASTARD in the obsolete sense ‘base coward’.

dastur /dəstə/ (also dastoor) n. INDIAN a chief priest of the Parsees.

<ORIGIN> Persian, from Old Persian dastōbār.

dasyure /dasjə/ n. another term for QUOLL.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from modern Latin dasyurus, from Greek dasus ‘rough, hairy’ + oura ‘tail’.

DAT abbr. digital audiotape.

data /detə/ n. [mass noun] facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis: there is very little data available.

- the quantities, characters, or symbols on which operations are performed by a computer, which may be stored and transmitted in the form of electrical signals and recorded on magnetic, optical, or mechanical recording media.

- [PHILOSOPHY] things known or assumed as facts, making the basis of reasoning or calculation.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a term in philosophy): from Latin, plural of DATUM.

<USAGE> In Latin, data is the plural of datum and, historically and in specialized scientific fields, it is also treated as a plural in English, taking a plural verb, as in the data were collected and classified. In modern non-scientific use, however, despite the complaints of traditionalists, it is often not treated as a plural. Instead, it is treated as a mass noun, similar to a word like information, which cannot normally have a plural and which takes a singular verb. Sentences such as data was (as well as data were) collected over a number of years are now widely accepted in standard English.

databank n. a large repository of computer data on a particular topic, sometimes formed from more than one database, and accessible by many users.

database n. a structured set of data held in a computer, especially one that is accessible in various ways.

database management system n. [COMPUTING] software that handles the storage, retrieval, and updating of data in a computer system.

datable (also dateable) adj. able to be dated to a particular time: the mosaic is datable to the second century.

data capture n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] the action or process of gathering data, especially from an automatic device, control system, or sensor.

datacomms (also datacoms) plural n. data communications.

data dictionary n. [COMPUTING] a set of information describing the contents, format, and structure of a database and the relationship between its elements, used to control access to and manipulation of the database.

dataglove n. [COMPUTING] a device worn like a glove, which allows the manual manipulation of images in virtual reality.

data link n. a telecommunications link over which data is transmitted.

data mining n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] the practice of examining large pre-existing databases in order to generate new information.

data processing n. [mass noun] the carrying out of operations on data, especially by a computer, to retrieve, transform, or classify information.

<DERIVATIVES> data processor n.

data protection n. [mass noun] legal control over access to and use of data stored in computers.

data set n. [COMPUTING] a collection of related sets of information that is composed of separate elements but can be manipulated as a unit by a computer.

data smog n. [mass noun] INFORMAL an overwhelming excess of information, especially that obtained as the result of an Internet search.

data terminal n. a terminal at which a person can enter data into a computer-based system or receive data from one.

dataveillance n. [mass noun] the practice of monitoring the online activity of a person or group.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: blend of DATA and SURVEILLANCE.

data warehouse n. a large store of data accumulated from a wide range of sources within a company and used to guide management decisions.

<DERIVATIVES> data warehousing n.

date^1 n. 1 the day of the month or year as specified by a number: what's the date today? | please give your name, address, and date of birth.

- a particular day or year when a given event occurred or will occur: 1066 is the most famous date in English history.

- (dates) the years of a particular person's birth and death or of the beginning and end of a particular period or event.

- the period of time to which an artefact or structure belongs: the church is the largest of its date.

2 INFORMAL a social or romantic appointment or engagement.

- a person with whom one has a date: my date isn't going to show, it seems.

- a musical or theatrical engagement or performance, especially as part of a tour.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 establish or ascertain the date of (an object or event): they date the paintings to 1460–70.

- mark with a date: sign and date the document.

- [no obj.] (date from or back to) originate at a particular time; have existed since: the controversy dates back to 1986.

2 reveal (someone) as being old-fashioned: jazzy—does that word date me?

- [no obj.] seem old-fashioned: the coat may be pricey but it will never date.

3 INFORMAL go out with (someone in whom one is romantically or sexually interested): my sister's pretty judgemental about the girls I date | [no obj.] they have been dating for more than a year.

<PHRASES>

□ to date (INDIAN also till date) until now: their finest work to date.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin data, feminine past participle of dare ‘give’; from the Latin formula used in dating letters, data (epistola) ‘(letter) given or delivered’, to record a particular time or place.

date^2 n. 1 a sweet, dark brown oval fruit containing a hard stone, usually eaten dried.

2 (also date palm) a tall palm tree which bears clusters of dates, native to western Asia and North Africa.

<INFO> Phoenix dactylifera, family Palmae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, via Latin from Greek daktulos ‘finger’ (because of the finger-like shape of its leaves).

datebook n. NORTH AMERICAN an engagement diary.

dated adj. 1 marked with a date: a signed and dated painting.

2 old-fashioned: a dated expression.

dateless adj. 1 not clearly belonging to any particular period, therefore not likely to go out of date.

2 having no marked date.

dateline n. a line at the head of a dispatch or newspaper article showing the date and place of writing.

Date Line (also International Date Line) an imaginary North–South line through the Pacific Ocean, adopted in 1884, to the east of which the date is a day earlier than it is to the west. It lies chiefly along the meridian furthest from Greenwich (i.e. longitude 180°), with diversions to pass around some island groups.

date mussel n. a brown, cigar-shaped bivalve mollusc which bores into limestone and coral.

<INFO> Genus Lithophaga, family Mytilidae.

date plum n. another term for PERSIMMON.

date rape n. [mass noun] rape of a woman by the man she is dating, or with whom she has gone on a date.

■ v. [with obj.] rape (a woman) in this way.

date stamp n. a stamped mark indicating a date, used on food packaging, posted envelopes, etc.

- an adjustable stamp used to make a date stamp.

■ v. (date-stamp) [with obj.] mark with a date stamp.

dating agency n. a service which arranges introductions for people seeking romantic partners.

dative /detv/ [GRAMMAR] adj. (in Latin, Greek, German, and some other languages) denoting a case of nouns and pronouns, and words in grammatical agreement with them, indicating an indirect object or recipient.

■ n. a noun or other word in the dative case.

- (the dative) the dative case.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin (casus) dativus ‘(case) of giving’, from dat- ‘given’, from the verb dare.

Datong /dαt/ a city in northern China in Shanxi province; pop. 1,368,400 (est. 2002).

Datuk /dαtək/ n. (in Malaysia) a title of respect.

<ORIGIN> Malay.

datum /detəm/ n. (pl. data)

■ See also DATA. 1 a piece of information.

- an assumption or premise from which inferences may be drawn. See also SENSE DATUM.

2 a fixed starting point of a scale or operation. See also ORDNANCE DATUM.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘something given’, neuter past participle of dare ‘give’.

datum line (also datum level) n. a standard of comparison or point of reference.

- [SURVEYING] an assumed surface used as a reference for the measurement of heights and depths.

- a line to which dimensions are referred on engineering drawings, and from which measurements are calculated.

datura /dətjərə/ n. a shrubby annual plant with large, erect, trumpet-shaped flowers, native to southern North America. They contain toxic or narcotic alkaloids and are used as hallucinogens by some American Indian peoples.

<INFO> Genus Datura, family Solanaceae: several species, including the thorn apple or jimson weed.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Hindi dhatūrā, from Sanskrit dhustur.

daub /db/ v. [with obj.] carelessly coat or smear (a surface) with a thick or sticky substance: the walls were daubed with splashes of paint.

- spread (a thick or sticky substance) on a surface in such a way: a canvas with paint daubed on it.

- paint (words or drawings) on a surface in such a way: they daubed graffiti on the walls.

■ n. 1 a patch or smear of a thick or sticky substance: a daub of paint.

- a painting executed without much skill.

2 [mass noun] plaster, clay, or another substance used for coating a surface, especially when mixed with straw and applied to laths or wattles to form a wall.

<DERIVATIVES> dauber n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French dauber, from Latin dealbare ‘whiten, whitewash’, based on albus ‘white’.

daube /dəb/ n. a stew of meat, typically beef, braised slowly in wine.

<PHRASES>

□ en daube (of meat) braised slowly in wine.

<ORIGIN> French; compare with Italian addobbo ‘seasoning’.

Daubenton's bat /dbəntənz dbεntənz/ n. a small brown myotis bat that typically flies low over water, found throughout Eurasia.

<INFO> Myotis daubentonii, family Vespertilionidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton (1716–1800), French naturalist and physician.

Daubigny /dəbnji/ French /dəbii/ Charles François (1817–78), French landscape painter. He was a member of the Barbizon School and is often regarded as a linking figure between this group and the Impressionists.

Daudet /dəde/ French /dədε/ Alphonse (1840–97), French novelist and dramatist. He is best known for his sketches of life in his native Provence, particularly the Lettres de mon moulin (1869).

daughter n. 1 a girl or woman in relation to either or both of her parents.

- a female offspring of an animal.

- a female descendant: we are the sons and daughters of Adam.

- a woman considered as the product of a particular person, influence, or environment: she was a daughter of the vicarage in manner and appearance.

- ARCHAIC used as a term of affectionate address to a woman or girl, typically by an older person.

2 [PHYSICS] a nuclide formed by the radioactive decay of another.

<DERIVATIVES> daughterhood n. daughterly adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English dohtor, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dochter and German Tochter, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek thugatēr.

daughterboard (also daughtercard) n. [ELECTRONICS] a small printed circuit board that attaches to a larger one.

daughter cell n. [BIOLOGY] a cell formed by the division or budding of another.

daughter-in-law n. (pl. daughters-in-law) the wife of one's son.

Daughters of the American Revolution (abbr.: DAR)

- (in the US) a patriotic society whose aims include encouraging education and the study of US history and which tends to be politically conservative. Membership is limited to female descendants of those who aided the cause of independence.

Daumier /dəme/ French /dəmje/ Honoré (1808–78), French painter and lithographer. From the 1830s he worked as a cartoonist for periodicals such as Charivari, where he produced lithographs satirizing French society and politics.

daunorubicin /dnə()rubsn/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic antibiotic that interferes with DNA synthesis and is used in the treatment of acute leukaemia and other cancers.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Daunia, in southern Italy where it was developed, + -rubi- ‘red’ + -MYCIN.

daunt /dnt/ v. [with obj.] make (someone) feel intimidated or apprehensive: some people are daunted by technology.

<PHRASES>

□ nothing daunted without having been made fearful or apprehensive: nothing daunted, the committee set to work.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French danter, from Latin domitare, frequentative of domare ‘to tame’.

daunting adj. seeming difficult to deal with in prospect; intimidating: a daunting task.

<DERIVATIVES> dauntingly adv.

dauntless adj. showing fearlessness and determination: dauntless bravery.

<DERIVATIVES> dauntlessly adv. dauntlessness n.

dauphin /dfn dəfa/ French /dəfε/ n. HISTORICAL the eldest son of the King of France.

<ORIGIN> French, from the family name of the lords of the Dauphiné, an area of SE France: ultimately a nickname meaning ‘dolphin’. In 1349 the future Charles V acquired the lands and the title; when king he ceded them to his eldest son, establishing the practice of passing both title and lands to the Crown prince.

Dauphiné /dəfne/ French /dəfine/ a region and former province of SE France. Its capital was Grenoble.

dauphinois /dəfnw/ (also dauphinoise /-nwz/) adj. (of potatoes or other vegetables) sliced and cooked in milk, typically with a topping of cheese.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘from the province of Dauphiné’.

Davao /dαvαə/ a seaport in the southern Philippines, on the island of Mindanao; pop. 873,800 (est. 2002). Founded in 1849, it is the largest city on the island and the third-largest city in the Philippines.

daven /dαv(ə)n/ v. (davens, davening, davened) [no obj.] (in Judaism) recite the prescribed liturgical prayers.

<ORIGIN> Yiddish.

davenport /dav(ə)npt/ n. 1 BRITISH an ornamental writing desk with drawers and a sloping surface for writing. [<ORIGIN> probably named after Captain Davenport, for whom early examples of this type of desk were made in the late 18th cent.]

2 NORTH AMERICAN a large heavily upholstered sofa. [<ORIGIN> perhaps from a manufacturer's name.]

David^1 /devd/ (died c.962 BC), king of Judah and Israel c.1000–c.962 BC. In the biblical account he was the youngest son of Jesse who killed the Philistine Goliath and, on Saul's death, became king, making Jerusalem his capital. He is traditionally regarded as the author of the Psalms, though this has been disputed.

David^2 /devd/ the name of two kings of Scotland:

- David I (c.1084–1153), sixth son of Malcolm III, reigned 1124–53. In 1136 he invaded England in support of his niece Matilda's claim to the throne, but was defeated at the Battle of the Standard in 1138.

- David II (1324–71), son of Robert the Bruce, reigned 1329–71. His reign witnessed a renewal of fighting with England, with Edward III supporting the pretender Edward de Baliol. His death without issue left the throne to the Stuarts.

David^3 /devd/ Elizabeth (1913–92), British cookery writer. She played a leading role in introducing Mediterranean cuisine to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s.

David^4 /david/ French /david/ Jacques-Louis (1748–1825), French painter, famous for neoclassical paintings such as The Oath of the Horatii (1784). He became actively involved in the French Revolution, voting for the death of Louis XVI and supporting Robespierre.

David, St (6th century), Welsh monk; Welsh name Dewi. Since the 12th century he has been regarded as the patron saint of Wales. Little is known of his life, but it is generally accepted that he transferred the centre of Welsh ecclesiastical administration from Caerleon to Mynyw (now St David's). Feast day, 1 March.

Davies^1 Sir Peter Maxwell (b.1934), English composer and conductor, influenced particularly by serialism and early English music. Notable works: Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969) and Taverner (1970).

Davies^2 W. H. (1871–1940), Welsh poet; full name William Henry Davies. He emigrated to the US and lived as a vagrant and labourer, writing The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908) about his experiences.

Davies^3 (William) Robertson (1913–95), Canadian novelist, dramatist, and journalist. He won international recognition with his Deptford trilogy of novels, comprising Fifth Business (1970), The Manticore (1972), and World of Wonders (1975).

Davis^1 Bette (1908–89), American actress; born Ruth Elizabeth Davis. She established her Hollywood career playing a number of strong, independent female characters in such films as Dangerous (1935). Her flair for suggesting the macabre and menacing emerged in later films, such as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

Davis^2 the name of two English billiards and snooker players. Joe (1901–78) held the world championship from 1927 until his retirement in 1946. He was also world billiards champion 1928–32. His brother Fred (1913–98) was world snooker champion (1948–9; 1951–6) and world billiards champion (1980).

Davis^3 Miles (Dewey) (1926–91), American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader. In the 1950s he played and recorded arrangements in a new style which became known as ‘cool’ jazz, heard on albums such as Kind of Blue (1959). In the 1960s he pioneered the fusion of jazz and rock.

Davis^4 Steve (b.1957), English snooker player. He was UK Professional Champion (1980–1; 1984–7) and World Professional Champion (1981; 1983–4; 1987–9).

Davis Cup an annual tennis championship for men, first held in 1900, between teams from different countries.

<ORIGIN> named after Dwight F. Davis (1879–1945), the American doubles champion who donated the trophy.

Davisson /devs(ə)n/ Clinton Joseph (1881–1958), American physicist. Davisson, together with L. H. Germer (1896–1971), discovered electron diffraction, thus confirming de Broglie's theory of the wave nature of electrons. Nobel Prize for Physics (1937).

Davis Strait a sea passage 645 km (400 miles) long separating Greenland from Baffin Island and connecting Baffin Bay with the Atlantic Ocean.

<ORIGIN> named after John Davis (1550–1605), the English explorer who sailed through it in 1587.

davit /davt dev-/ n. a small crane on board a ship, especially one of a pair for suspending or lowering a lifeboat.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French daviot, diminutive of david, denoting a kind of carpenter's tool.

Davos /dαvs/ a resort and winter-sports centre in eastern Switzerland; pop. 12,500 (est. 2002).

Davy Sir Humphry (1778–1829), English chemist, a pioneer of electrochemistry. He discovered nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and the elements sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, and barium. He also identified and named the element chlorine, determined the properties of iodine, and demonstrated that diamond was a form of carbon. In 1815 he invented the miner's safety lamp.

Davy Jones's locker n. INFORMAL the bottom of the sea, especially regarded as the grave of those drowned at sea.

<ORIGIN> extension of early 18th-cent. nautical slang Davy Jones, denoting the evil spirit of the sea.

Davy lamp n. a miner's portable safety lamp with the flame enclosed by wire gauze to reduce the risk of an explosion of gas.

daw n. another term for JACKDAW.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of Germanic origin; related to German Dohle.

dawdle v. [no obj.] waste time; be slow: she mustn't dawdle—she had to make the call now.

- [with adverbial of direction] move slowly and idly in a particular direction: Ruth dawdled back through the wood.

<DERIVATIVES> dawdler n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: related to dialect daddle, doddle ‘dally’.

Dawkins Richard (b.1941), English biologist. Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene (1976) did much to popularize the theory of sociobiology. In The Blind Watchmaker (1986) Dawkins discussed evolution by natural selection and suggested that the theory could answer the fundamental question of why life exists.

dawn n. the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise: he set off at dawn.

- the beginning of a phenomenon or period of time, especially one perceived as auspicious: the dawn of civilization.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a day) begin: [with complement] Thursday dawned bright and sunny.

- come into existence: a new age was dawning in the Tory party.

2 become evident to the mind; be perceived or understood: the awful truth was beginning to dawn on him | (as adj. dawning) he smiled with dawning recognition.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a verb): back-formation from Middle English dawning.

dawn chorus n. BRITISH the singing of a large number of birds before dawn each day, particularly during the breeding season.

dawning n. LITERARY dawn.

- the beginning or first appearance of something: the dawnings of civilization.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: alteration of earlier dawing, from Old English dagian ‘to dawn’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dagen and German tagen, also to DAY.

dawn raid n. a surprise visit at dawn, especially by police searching for criminals or illicit goods.

- [STOCK EXCHANGE], BRITISH an attempt to acquire a substantial portion of a company's shares at the start of a day's trading, typically as a preliminary to a takeover bid.

dawn redwood n. a coniferous tree with deciduous needles, known only as a fossil until it was found growing in SW China in 1941.

<INFO> Metasequoia glyptostroboides, family Taxodiaceae.

DAX /daks/ abbr. Deutsche Aktienindex, the German stock exchange.

Day Doris (b.1924), American actress and singer; born Doris Kappelhoff. She became a film star in the 1950s with roles in light-hearted musicals, comedies, and romances such as Calamity Jane (1953) and Pillow Talk (1959).

day n. 1 each of the twenty-four-hour periods, reckoned from one midnight to the next, into which a week, month, or year is divided, and corresponding to a rotation of the earth on its axis.

- the part of a day when it is light; the time between sunrise and sunset: the animals hunt by day.

- the part of a day spent working: he works an eight-hour day.

- [ASTRONOMY] a single rotation of a planet in relation to its primary.

- [ASTRONOMY] the period on a planet when its primary star is above the horizon.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC or LITERARY daylight: by the time they had all gone it was broad day.

2 (also days) a particular period of the past; an era: in Shakespeare's day | the laws were very strict in those days.

- (the day) the present time: the political issues of the day.

- (usually with modifier days) a particular period in a person's life or career: my student days.

- (one's day) the most active or successful period of a person's life or career: he had been a star in his day.

- (one's days) the remaining period of someone's life: she cared for him for the rest of his days.

<PHRASES>

□ all in a day's work (of something unusual or difficult) accepted as part of someone's normal routine or as a matter of course: dodging sharks is all in a day's work for some scientists.

□ any day INFORMAL 1 at any time or under any circumstances (used to express a strong opinion or preference): they could outfight the police any day.

2 very soon: she's expected to give birth any day now.

□ at the end of the day see END.

□ by the day gradually and steadily: the campaign is growing by the day.

□ call it a day decide or agree to stop doing something.

□ day after day on each successive day over a long period: the rain poured down day after day.

□ day and night all the time: the district is patrolled day and night.

□ day by day on each successive day; gradually and steadily.

□ day in, day out continuously or repeatedly over a long period of time.

□ day of reckoning the time when past mistakes or misdeeds must be punished or paid for. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to Judgement Day, on which (in some beliefs) the judgement of mankind is expected to take place.]

□ don't give up the day job INFORMAL used as a humorous way of recommending someone not to pursue something at which they are unlikely to be successful.

□ from day one from the very beginning: children need a firm hand from day one.

□ have had one's (or its) day be no longer popular, successful, or influential: power dressing has had its day.

□ if he (or she etc.) is a day at least (appended to a statement about a person's age): he must be seventy if he's a day.

□ in this day and age at the present time.

□ not someone's day used to convey that someone has experienced a day of successive misfortunes.

□ one day (or some day or one of these days) at some time in the future: our wishes will come true one of these days.

□ one of those days a day when several things go wrong.

□ that will be the day INFORMAL that is very unlikely.

□ these days at present: he's drinking far too much these days.

□ those were the days used to assert that a particular past time was better than the present.

□ to the day exactly: it's four years to the day since he was killed.

□ to this day at the present time as in the past; still: the tradition continues to this day.

<ORIGIN> Old English dæg, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dag and German Tag.

Dayak /dak/ (also Dyak) n. (pl. same or Dayaks) 1 a member of a group of indigenous peoples inhabiting parts of Borneo, including the Iban (or Sea Dayak) of the north, the Land Dayak of the south-west, and the Punan.

2 [mass noun] the group of Austronesian languages spoken by the Dayak.

■ adj. relating to the Dayak or their languages.

<ORIGIN> Malay, literally ‘up-country’.

Dayan /dajαn/ Moshe (1915–81), Israeli statesman and general. As Minister of Defence he oversaw Israel's victory in the Six Day War and as Foreign Minister he played a prominent role in negotiations towards the Camp David agreements of 1979.

dayan /dajαn/ (also Dayan) n. (pl. dayanim /dajαnm/) [JUDAISM] a senior rabbi, especially one who acts as a religious judge in a Jewish community.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew dayyān, from dān ‘to judge’.

daybed n. NORTH AMERICAN a couch that can be made up into a bed.

dayboat n. another term for DAYSAILOR.

daybook n. 1 an account book in which a day's transactions are entered for later transfer to a ledger.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a diary.

day boy n. BRITISH a boy who lives at home but attends a school where other pupils board.

daybreak n. the time in the morning when daylight first appears; dawn: she set off at daybreak.

day care n. [mass noun] daytime care for people who cannot be fully independent, such as children or elderly people.

- [count noun] (daycare) NORTH AMERICAN a day centre.

day centre (also day-care centre) n. BRITISH a place providing care and recreation facilities for those who cannot be fully independent.

daydream n. a series of pleasant thoughts that distract one's attention from the present.

■ v. [no obj.] indulge in a daydream: stop daydreaming and pay attention.

<DERIVATIVES> daydreamer n.

day flower n. a plant of warm climates with short-lived flowers that are typically blue.

<INFO> Genus Commelina, family Commelinaceae.

day girl n. BRITISH a girl who lives at home but attends a school where other pupils board.

Day-Glo (also dayglo) n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a fluorescent paint or other colouring.

■ adj. very bright or fluorescent in colour.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of DAY and GLOW.

day labourer n. an unskilled labourer paid by the day.

Day Lewis C. (1904–72), English poet and critic; full name Cecil Day Lewis. His early verse, such as Transitional Poems (1929), reflects the influence of revolutionary thinking. After 1940, however, he increasingly became a figure of the Establishment and was Poet Laureate 1968–72.

daylight n. [mass noun] the natural light of the day: [as modifier] the daylight hours.

- the first appearance of light in the morning; dawn: I returned at daylight.

- FIGURATIVE an appreciable distance or difference between one person or thing and another: the growing daylight between himself and the leading jockey.

<PHRASES>

□ —— the living daylights out of do the specified thing to someone with great severity: he beat the living daylights out of them.

□ see daylight begin to understand what was previously puzzling or unclear.

daylighting n. [mass noun] the illumination of buildings by natural light.

daylight robbery n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL blatant and unfair overcharging.

daylight saving time (also daylight time) n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN time as adjusted to achieve longer evening daylight in summer by setting the clocks an hour ahead of the standard time. Compare with SUMMER TIME.

day lily n. a Eurasian lily which bears large yellow, red, or orange flowers, each flower lasting only one day.

<INFO> Genus Hemerocallis, family Liliaceae.

day-long adj. lasting a whole day: a day-long seminar.

daymare n. a frightening hallucinatory condition experienced while awake.

Day of Atonement another term for YOM KIPPUR.

day off n. (pl. days off) a day's holiday from work or school, on what would normally be a working day.

Day of Judgement another term for JUDGEMENT DAY.

day of rest n. a day in the week set aside from normal work or activity, typically Sunday on religious grounds.

day out n. (pl. days out) BRITISH a trip or excursion for a day.

daypack n. a small rucksack.

day release n. [mass noun] BRITISH a system of allowing employees days off work to go on educational courses: she goes to college on day release.

day return n. BRITISH a reduced-price fare for a journey on public transport out and back in one day.

day room n. a room, especially a communal room in an institution, used during the day.

daysack n. British another term for DAYPACK.

daysail v. [no obj.] sail a yacht for a single day.

daysailor (US also daysailer) n. a sailing boat without a cabin, designed for use during the day only.

day school n. 1 a non-residential school, typically a fee-paying one.

2 BRITISH a short educational course on a particular subject.

day shift n. a period of time worked during the daylight hours in a hospital, factory, etc.

- [treated as sing. or plural] the employees who work during the day shift.

dayside n. [ASTRONOMY] the side of a planet that is facing its primary star.

Days of Awe plural n. another term for HIGH HOLIDAYS.

dayspring n. ARCHAIC dawn.

day surgery n. [mass noun] minor surgery that does not require the patient to stay in hospital overnight.

daytime n. the time of the day between sunrise and sunset: she was alone in the daytime | [as modifier] a daytime telephone number.

daytimer n. TRADEMARK, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an appointment diary or an electronic organizer.

day-to-day adj. [attr.] happening regularly every day: the day-to-day management of the classroom.

- ordinary; everyday: our day-to-day domestic life.

- short-term; without consideration for the future: the struggle for day-to-day survival.

■ adv. on a daily basis: the information to be traded is determined day-to-day.

Dayton /det(ə)n/ a city in western Ohio; pop. 166,179 (2000). It was the home of the aviation pioneers the Wright brothers and is still a centre of aerospace research.

day trading n. [mass noun] [STOCK EXCHANGE] a form of share dealing in which individuals buy and sell shares over the Internet over a period of a single day's trading, with the intention of profiting from small price fluctuations.

<DERIVATIVES> day trader n.

day trip n. a journey or excursion completed in one day.

<DERIVATIVES> day tripper n. (British)

daywear n. [mass noun] articles of casual clothing suitable for informal or everyday occasions.

daywork n. [mass noun] casual work paid for on a daily basis.

<DERIVATIVES> dayworker n.

daze v. [with obj.] (especially of an emotional or physical shock) make (someone) unable to think or react properly: she was dazed by his revelations | (as adj. dazed) a dazed expression.

■ n. [in sing.] a state of stunned confusion or bewilderment: he was walking around in a daze.

<DERIVATIVES> dazedly /-zdli/ adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: back-formation from dazed (adjective), from Old Norse dasathr ‘weary’; compare with Swedish dasa ‘lie idle’.

dazibao /dαdzəba/ n. (pl. same) (in the People's Republic of China) a wall poster written in large characters, expressing a political opinion.

<ORIGIN> Chinese, from dà ‘big’ + zi ‘character’ + bào ‘newspaper or poster’.

dazzle v. [with obj.] (of a bright light) blind (a person or their eyes) temporarily: she was dazzled by the headlights.

- amaze or overwhelm (someone) with a particular impressive quality: I was dazzled by the beauty and breadth of the exhibition.

■ n. [mass noun] brightness that blinds someone temporarily: I screwed my eyes up against the dazzle.

<DERIVATIVES> dazzlement n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘be dazzled’): frequentative of the verb DAZE.

dazzler n. a person or thing that dazzles, in particular a person who is highly impressive or skilful.

dazzling adj. extremely bright, especially so as to blind the eyes temporarily: the sunlight was dazzling | FIGURATIVE a dazzling smile.

- extremely impressive, beautiful, or skilful: a dazzling display of football.

<DERIVATIVES> dazzlingly adv.

Db symbol the chemical element dubnium.

dB abbr. decibel(s).

dba abbr. doing business as: Bruce Newman, dba Newman Graphics.

DBE abbr. (in the UK) Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

DBMS abbr. database management system.

DBS abbr.

- direct broadcasting by satellite.

- direct-broadcast satellite.

dbx n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK electronic circuitry designed to increase the dynamic range of reproduced sound and reduce noise in the system.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from DB ‘decibel’ + x (representing expander).

DC abbr.

- [MUSIC] da capo.

- (also d.c.) direct current.

- District of Columbia: Washington DC.

- District Commissioner.

DCA abbr. (in the UK) Department for Constitutional Affairs.

DCB abbr. (in the UK) Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath.

DCL abbr. (in the UK) Doctor of Civil Law.

DCM abbr. (in the UK) Distinguished Conduct Medal, awarded for bravery.

DCMG abbr. (in the UK) Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.

DCMS abbr. (in the UK) Department for Culture, Media, and Sport.

DCVO abbr. (in the UK) Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.

DD abbr. Doctor of Divinity.

D-Day n. the day (6 June 1944) in the Second World War on which Allied forces invaded northern France by means of beach landings in Normandy.

- the day on which an important operation is to begin or a change to take effect.

<ORIGIN> from D for day + DAY. Compare with H-HOUR.

DDC abbr. dideoxycytidine.

DDE n. [COMPUTING] a standard allowing data to be shared between different programs.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: abbreviation of Dynamic Data Exchange.

DDI abbr.

- dideoxyinosine.

- divisional detective inspector.

DDoS abbr. [COMPUTING] distributed denial of service, denoting the intentional paralysing of a computer network by flooding it with data sent simultaneously from many individual computers.

DDR abbr. German Democratic Republic.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of German Deutsche Demokratische Republik.

DDT abbr.

- dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a synthetic organic compound used as an insecticide. Like other chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons, DDT tends to persist in the environment and become concentrated in animals at the head of the food chain. Its use is now banned in many countries.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CCl_3CH(C_6H_4Cl)2.

DE abbr.

- Delaware (in official postal use).

- (formerly in the UK) Department of Employment.

de- prefix 1 (forming verbs and their derivatives) down; away: descend | deduct.

- completely: denude | derelict.

2 (added to verbs and their derivatives) denoting removal or reversal: deaerate | de-ice.

3 denoting formation from: deverbal.

<ORIGIN> from Latin de ‘off, from’;

■ sense 2 via Old French des- from Latin dis-.

DEA abbr. US Drug Enforcement Administration.

deaccession /diəksε(ə)n/ v. [with obj.] officially remove (an item) from a library, museum, or art gallery in order to sell it.

■ n. [mass noun] the official removal of an item from a library, museum, or art gallery in order to sell it.

deacon /dik(ə)n/ n. (in Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox Churches) an ordained minister of an order ranking below that of priest.

- (in some Nonconformist Churches) a lay officer appointed to assist a minister, especially in secular affairs.

- HISTORICAL (in the early church) a minister appointed to administer charity.

■ v. [with obj.] appoint or ordain as a deacon.

<DERIVATIVES> deaconship n.

<ORIGIN> Old English diacon, via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek diakonos ‘servant’ (in ecclesiastical Greek ‘Christian minister’).

deaconess /dikənεs/ n. (in the early Church and some modern Churches) a woman with duties similar to those of a deacon.

deactivate v. [with obj.] make (something) inactive by disconnecting or destroying it: the switch deactivates the alarm.

<DERIVATIVES> deactivation n. deactivator n.

dead adj. 1 no longer alive: a dead body | [as complement] he was shot dead by terrorists | (as plural n. the dead) there was no time to bury the dead with decency.

- (of a part of the body) having lost sensation; numb.

- lacking emotion, sympathy, or sensitivity: a cold, dead voice.

- no longer current, relevant, or important: pollution had become a dead issue.

- devoid of living things: a dead planet.

- (of a place or time) characterized by a lack of activity or excitement: Brussels isn't dead after dark, if you know where to look.

- (of money) not financially productive.

- (of sound) without resonance; dull.

- (of a colour) not glossy or bright.

- (of a piece of equipment) no longer functioning: the phone had gone dead.

- (of an electric circuit or conductor) carrying or transmitting no current: the batteries are dead.

- no longer alight: the fire had been dead for some days.

- (of a glass or bottle) empty or no longer being used.

- (of the ball in a game) out of play. See also DEAD BALL.

- (of a cricket pitch or other surface) lacking springiness or bounce.

2 [attr.] complete; absolute: we sat in dead silence.

■ adv. [often as submodifier] absolutely; completely: you're dead right | he was dead against the idea.

- exactly: they arrived dead on time.

- straight; directly: red flares were seen dead ahead.

- British INFORMAL very: omelettes are dead easy to prepare.

<PHRASES>

□ dead and buried over; finished: the incident is dead and buried.

□ (as) dead as a (or the) DODO see DODO.

□ (as) dead as a DOORNAIL see DOORNAIL.

□ (as) dead as MUTTON see MUTTON.

□ dead from the neck up INFORMAL stupid.

□ dead in the water (of a ship) unable to move.

- unable to function effectively: the economy is dead in the water.

□ dead meat INFORMAL used to suggest someone is in serious trouble: if anyone finds out, you're dead meat.

□ the dead of night the quietest, darkest part of the night.

□ the dead of winter the coldest part of winter.

□ dead on exactly right: her judgement was dead on.

□ dead on one's feet INFORMAL extremely tired.

□ dead to the world INFORMAL fast asleep.

□ from the dead from a state of death: according to Christian belief, Jesus rose from the dead three days later.

- from a period of obscurity or inactivity: the cartoon brought animation back from the dead.

□ make a dead set at see set^2.

□ over my dead BODY see BODY.

□ wouldn't be seen (or caught) dead INFORMAL used to express strong dislike for a particular thing: I wouldn't be seen dead in a navy suit | she wouldn't be seen dead shopping with her mother.

<DERIVATIVES> deadness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēad, of Germanic origin: related to Dutch dood and German tot, also to die^1.

dead ball n. (in ball games) a ball that has gone out of play or is declared to be out of play.

- [as modifier] [SOCCER] involving a restart of the game by kicking a stationary ball, e.g. by a free kick: dead-ball situations.

dead-ball line n. 1 [RUGBY] a line behind the goal line, beyond which the ball is out of play.

2 [SOCCER] the byline.

dead bat n. [CRICKET] a bat held loosely so that the ball falls to the ground immediately when struck.

deadbeat adj. 1 (dead beat) INFORMAL completely exhausted: I must go to bed—I'm dead beat.

2 (of a clock escapement or other mechanism) without recoil.

■ n. INFORMAL an idle, feckless, or disreputable person.

- NORTH AMERICAN a person who tries to evade paying their debts.

deadbolt n. a bolt engaged by turning a knob or key, rather than by spring action.

dead cat bounce n. [STOCK EXCHANGE] a temporary recovery in share prices after a substantial fall, caused by speculators buying in order to cover their positions.

dead centre n. the position of a crank when it is in line with the connecting rod and not exerting torque.

dead duck n. INFORMAL a person or thing that is defunct or has no chance of success: travel promotions are a dead duck as far as marketing directors are concerned.

<ORIGIN> from the old saying ‘never waste powder on a dead duck’.

deaden v. [with obj.] make (a noise or sensation) less strong or intense: ether was used to deaden the pain.

- deprive of the power of sensation: diabetes can deaden the nerve endings.

- deprive of force or vitality; stultify: the syllabus has deadened the teaching process | (as adj. deadening) a deadening routine.

- make (someone) insensitive to something: laughter might deaden us to the moral issue.

<DERIVATIVES> deadener n.

dead end n. an end of a road or passage from which no exit is possible.

- a road or passage having such an end.

- a situation offering no prospects of progress or development: [as modifier] a dead-end job.

■ v. [no obj.] (dead-end) NORTH AMERICAN (of a road or passage) come to a dead end: he kept walking, until the corridor dead-ended.

deadeye n. 1 [SAILING] a circular wooden block with a groove round the circumference to take a lanyard, used singly or in pairs to tighten a shroud.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an expert marksman.

deadfall n. North American 1 a trap consisting of a heavy weight positioned to fall on an animal.

2 [mass noun] a tangled mass of fallen trees and brush.

- [count noun] a fallen tree.

3 INFORMAL a disreputable drinking place.

dead hand n. an undesirable persisting influence: the dead hand of state control.

deadhead n. 1 BRITISH a faded flower head.

2 INFORMAL a boring or unenterprising person.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a passenger or member of an audience with a free ticket.

3 a sunken or partially submerged log.

4 (Deadhead) INFORMAL a fan of the rock group the Grateful Dead.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] remove dead flower heads from (a plant): deadhead and spray rose bushes.

2 [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (of a commercial driver) complete a trip in a train or other vehicle with no passengers or cargo: they deadhead back to Denver on eastbound trains.

dead heat n. a situation in which two or more competitors in a race are exactly level.

■ v. (dead-heat) [no obj.] run or finish a race exactly level.

dead leg n. 1 an injury caused by a numbing blow with the knee to a person's upper leg.

2 a length of pipe running from a hot water cylinder to the hot taps.

■ v. (dead-leg) [with obj.] INFORMAL give (someone) a numbing blow to the upper leg with one's knee.

dead letter n. 1 a law or treaty which has not been repealed but is ineffectual or defunct in practice.

- a thing which is unimportant or obsolete: theoretical reasoning is a dead letter to a child.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an unclaimed or undelivered piece of mail.

dead letter box n. a place where messages can be left and collected without the sender and recipient meeting.

dead lift n. [WEIGHTLIFTING] a lift made from a standing position, without the use of a bench or other equipment.

deadlight n. 1 a protective cover or shutter fitted over a porthole or window on a ship.

2 US a skylight designed not to be opened.

deadline n. 1 the latest time or date by which something should be completed.

2 HISTORICAL a line drawn around a prison beyond which prisoners were liable to be shot.

dead load n. the intrinsic weight of a structure or vehicle, excluding the weight of passengers or goods. Often contrasted with LIVE LOAD.

deadlock n. 1 [in sing.] a situation, typically one involving opposing parties, in which no progress can be made.

2 BRITISH a type of lock requiring a key to open and close it, as distinct from a spring lock.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 [no obj.] cause (a situation or opposing parties) to come to a point where no progress can be made because of fundamental disagreement: the meeting is deadlocked.

2 BRITISH secure (a door) with a deadlock.

dead loss n. a venture or situation which produces no profit.

- INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH a person or thing that is completely useless.

deadly adj. (deadlier, deadliest) 1 causing or able to cause death: a deadly weapon.

- filled with hate: his voice was cold and deadly.

- extremely accurate, effective, or skilful: his aim is deadly.

- British INFORMAL extremely boring: my end of the theatre is deadly at the moment.

- [attr.] complete; total: she was in deadly earnest.

2 IRISH & AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL very good; excellent: it's a great town and the pubs are deadly.

■ adv. [as submodifier] in a way resembling or suggesting death; as if dead: her skin was deadly pale.

- extremely: a deadly serious remark.

<DERIVATIVES> deadliness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēadlīc ‘mortal, in danger of death’ (see DEAD, -ly^1).

deadly nightshade n. a poisonous bushy Eurasian plant with drooping purple flowers and black cherry-like fruit. Also called BELLADONNA.

<INFO> Atropa belladonna, family Solanaceae.

deadly sin n. (in Christian tradition) a sin regarded as leading to damnation, especially one of a traditional list of seven. See THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS at seven.

dead man n. 1 INFORMAL a bottle after the contents have been drunk.

2 (also deadman) an object buried in or secured to the ground for the purpose of providing anchorage or leverage.

dead man's fingers plural n. 1 a European colonial soft coral which has spongy lobes stiffened by calcareous spines, said to resemble the fingers of a corpse.

<INFO> Alcyonium digitatum, order Alcyonacea.

2 a fungus that produces clumps of dull black, irregular, finger-like fruiting bodies at the bases of dead tree stumps in Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Xylaria polymorpha, family Xylariaceae, subdivision Ascomycotina.

3 INFORMAL the finger-like divisions of a lobster's or crab's gills.

dead man's handle (also dead man's pedal) n. (in a train) a lever which acts as a safety device by shutting off power when not held in place by the driver.

dead march n. a slow, solemn piece of music suitable for a funeral procession.

dead-nettle n. a Eurasian and North African plant of the mint family, with leaves that resemble those of a nettle but lack stinging hairs.

<INFO> Lamium and related genera, family Labiatae: several species, including the common white dead-nettle (L. album).

deadpan adj. impassive or expressionless: she delivered her monologue in a deadpan voice.

■ adv. in a deadpan manner.

■ v. (dead-pan) (dead-pans, dead-panning, dead-panned) [with direct speech] say something amusing while affecting a serious manner: ‘I'm an undercover dentist,’ he dead-panned.

dead reckoning n. [mass noun] the process of calculating one's position, especially at sea, by estimating the direction and distance travelled rather than by using landmarks or astronomical observations.

deadrise n. the vertical distance between a line horizontal to the keel of a boat and its chine.

Dead Sea a salt lake or inland sea in the Jordan valley, on the Israel–Jordan border. Its surface is 400 m (1,300 ft) below sea level.

Dead Sea scrolls a collection of Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts discovered in pottery storage jars in caves near Qumran between 1947 and 1956. Thought to have been hidden by the Essenes or a similar Jewish sect shortly before the revolt against Roman rule AD 66–70, the scrolls include texts of many books of the Old Testament; they are some 1,000 years older than previously known versions.

dead shot n. an extremely accurate marksman or markswoman.

deadstick landing n. an unpowered landing of an aircraft.

deadstock n. [mass noun] the machinery used on a farm, as opposed to the livestock.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: on the pattern of livestock.

dead time n. [mass noun] time in which someone or something is inactive or unable to act productively.

- [PHYSICS] the period after the recording of a particle or pulse when a detector is unable to record another.

dead water n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN still water without any current.

deadweight n. the weight of an inert person or thing.

- a heavy or oppressive burden.

- the total weight of cargo, stores, etc. which a ship carries or can carry.

■ another term for DEAD LOAD.

- [mass noun] [FARMING] animals sold by the estimated weight of saleable meat that they will yield.

- [usually as modifier] [ECONOMICS] losses incurred because of the inefficient allocation of resources, especially through taxation or restriction: a deadweight burden.

- [usually as modifier] a debt not covered by assets.

dead white n. [mass noun] a flat, lustreless white.

dead white European male (also dead white male) n. INFORMAL, chiefly US a writer, philosopher, or other significant figure whose importance and talents may have been exaggerated by virtue of his belonging to a historically dominant gender and ethnic group.

dead wood n. [mass noun] parts of a tree or branch which are dead.

- people or things that are no longer useful or productive: a lot of the company's dead wood was removed by voluntary redundancy.

dead zone n. 1 a place or period in which nothing happens or in which no life exists.

2 a place where it is not possible to receive a mobile-phone or radio signal.

deaerate /diεret/ v. [with obj.] remove dissolved air from (a substance).

<DERIVATIVES> deaeration n.

deaf adj. lacking the power of hearing or having impaired hearing: I'm a bit deaf so you'll have to speak up | (as plural n. the deaf) subtitles for the deaf.

- unwilling or unable to hear or pay attention to something: she is deaf to all advice.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) deaf as a post having very bad hearing.

□ fall on deaf ears (of a statement or request) be ignored.

□ turn a deaf ear refuse to listen or respond to a statement or request.

<DERIVATIVES> deafness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēaf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch doof and German taub, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek tuphlos ‘blind’.

deaf aid n. BRITISH a hearing aid.

deaf-blind adj. having a severe impairment of both hearing and vision.

deafen v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to lose the power of hearing permanently or temporarily: we were deafened by the explosion.

- (deafen someone to) (of a sound) cause someone to be unaware of (other sounds): the noise deafened him to Ron's approach.

deafening adj. (of a noise) so loud as to make it impossible to hear anything else: the music reached a deafening crescendo.

<DERIVATIVES> deafeningly adv.

deafferentation /diaf(ə)r(ə)nte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the interruption or destruction of the afferent connections of nerve cells, performed especially in animal experiments to demonstrate the spontaneity of locomotor movement.

<DERIVATIVES> deafferented adj.

deaf mute n. a person who is both deaf and unable to speak.

■ adj. (of a person) both deaf and unable to speak.

<USAGE> In modern use deaf mute has acquired offensive connotations (implying, wrongly, that such people are without the capacity for communication). It should be avoided in favour of other terms such as profoundly deaf.

Deakin /dikn/ Alfred (1856–1919), Australian Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1903–4, 1905–8, and 1909–10.

deal^1 v. (past and past participle dealt) 1 [with obj.] distribute (cards) in an orderly rotation to players for a game or round: the cards were dealt for the last hand | [with two objs] FIGURATIVE fate dealt her a different hand | [no obj.] he shuffled and dealt.

- (deal someone in) include a new player in a card game by giving them cards.

- distribute or mete out (something) to a person or group: the punishments dealt out to the rioters were hideous.

2 [no obj.] take part in commercial trading of a particular commodity: directors were prohibited from dealing in the company's shares.

- be concerned with: journalism that deals in small-town chit-chat.

- INFORMAL buy and sell illegal drugs.

3 [no obj.] (deal with) take measures concerning (someone or something), especially with the intention of putting something right: the government had been unable to deal with the economic crisis.

- cope with or control (a difficult person or situation): you'll have to find a way of dealing with those feelings.

- [with adverbial] treat (someone) in a particular way: life had dealt very harshly with her.

- have commercial relations with: the bank deals directly with the private sector.

- have as a subject; discuss: the novel deals with several different topics.

4 [with two objs] inflict (a blow) on (someone or something): hopes of an economic recovery were dealt another blow.

■ n. 1 an agreement entered into by two or more parties for their mutual benefit, especially in a business or political context: the government was ready to do a deal with the opposition.

- [with adj.] a particular form of treatment given or received: working mothers get a bad deal.

2 [in sing.] the process of distributing the cards to players in a card game.

- a player's turn to distribute cards.

- the round of play following this.

- the set of hands dealt to the players.

<PHRASES>

□ a big deal INFORMAL [usually with negative] a thing considered important: they don't make a big deal out of minor irritations.

- (big deal) used to express one's contempt for something regarded as impressive or important by another person.

□ a deal of DATED a large amount of: he lost a deal of blood.

□ a good (or great) deal a large amount: I don't know a great deal about politics.

- to a considerable extent: she had got to know him a good deal better.

□ a square deal a fair arrangement.

□ it's a deal INFORMAL used to express one's assent to an agreement.

<ORIGIN> Old English dlan ‘divide’, ‘participate’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch deel and German Teil ‘part’ (noun), also to dole^1. The sense ‘divide’ gave rise to ‘distribute’, hence sense 1 of the verb, sense 4 of the verb; the sense ‘participate’ gave rise to ‘have dealings with’, hence sense 2 of the verb, sense 3 of the verb.

deal^2 n. [mass noun] fir or pine wood as a building material.

- [count noun] a plank of such wood.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch dele ‘plank’.

deal-breaker n. (in business and politics) a factor or issue which, if unresolved during negotiations, would cause one party to withdraw from a deal.

de-alcoholize (also de-alcoholise) v. [with obj.] remove the alcohol from (a normally alcoholic drink).

<DERIVATIVES> de-alcoholization n.

dealer n. 1 a person who buys and sells goods: a dealer in foreign stamps.

- a person who buys and sells shares, securities, or other financial assets as a principal (rather than as a broker or agent). See also BROKER-DEALER.

2 the player who distributes the cards at the start of a game.

<DERIVATIVES> dealership n.

■ dealer (sense 1)

dealfish n. (pl. same or dealfishes) a long, slender silvery fish with a dorsal fin running the length of the body, living in the NE Atlantic.

<INFO> Trachipterus arcticus, family Trachipteridae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DEAL^2 in the sense ‘board’ (with reference to its shape) + FISH^1.

dealign v. [no obj.] (of a voter) withdraw allegiance to a political party.

<DERIVATIVES> dealignment n.

dealing n. 1 (dealings) business relations or transactions: they had dealings with an insurance company.

- a personal connection or association with someone: my dealings with the gentler sex.

2 the activity of buying and selling a particular commodity: share dealings | drug dealing.

dealt past participle of deal^1.

deamination /damne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] the removal of an amino group from an amino acid or other compound.

<DERIVATIVES> deaminated adj.

Dean^2 James (1931–55), American actor; born James Byron. Although he starred in only three films before dying in a car accident, he became a cult figure closely identified with the title role of Rebel Without a Cause (1955), symbolizing for many the disaffected youth of the post-war era.

dean^1 n. 1 the head of the chapter of a cathedral or collegiate church.

- (also rural dean, area dean) BRITISH a member of the clergy exercising supervision over a group of parochial clergy within a division of an archdeaconry.

2 the head of a university faculty or department or of a medical school.

- (in a college or university, especially Oxford or Cambridge) a senior member of a college, with disciplinary and advisory functions.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French deien, from late Latin decanus ‘chief of a group of ten’, from decem ‘ten’. Compare with DOYEN.

deanery n. (pl. deaneries) 1 BRITISH the group of parishes presided over by a rural dean.

2 the official residence of a dean.

- the position or office of a dean.

de-anglicize (also de-anglicise) v. [with obj.] remove English characteristics or influence from.

<DERIVATIVES> de-anglicization n.

Dean of Faculty n. the president of the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland.

dean's list n. NORTH AMERICAN a list of students recognized for academic achievement during a term by the dean of the college they attend.

dear adj. 1 regarded with deep affection: a dear friend | he is very dear to me.

- used in speech as a polite or affectionate form of address: Martin, my dear fellow.

- used in the polite form of address at the start of a letter.

- endearing; sweet: a dear little puppy.

2 chiefly BRITISH expensive: five pounds—that's a bit dear!

■ n. used as an affectionate or friendly form of address: don't you worry, dear.

- a sweet or endearing person: Harry's a dear.

■ adv. chiefly BRITISH at a high cost: they buy property cheaply and sell dear.

■ exclam. used in expressions of surprise, dismay, or sympathy: oh dear, I've upset you.

<PHRASES>

□ for dear life see LIFE.

<DERIVATIVES> dearness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēore, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dier ‘beloved’, also to Dutch duur and German teuer ‘expensive’.

dearest adj. 1 most loved or cherished: one of my dearest friends.

2 most expensive: beer is dearest in Germany.

■ n. used as an affectionate form of address.

dearie n. (pl. dearies) INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH used as a friendly or condescending form of address.

<PHRASES>

□ dearie me! used to express surprise or dismay.

Dear John letter (also Dear John) n. INFORMAL a letter from a woman to a man, ending a romantic or sexual relationship.

dearly adv. 1 very much: he loved his parents dearly.

2 with much loss or suffering; at great cost: freedom to worship our religion has been bought dearly.

dearth /dəθ/ n. a scarcity or lack of something: there is a dearth of evidence.

- ARCHAIC a situation where food is in short supply.

<ORIGIN> Middle English derthe (see DEAR, -th^2).

deasil /dεs(ə)l djε(ə)l/ (also deisal) adv. DATED, chiefly SCOTTISH in the direction of the sun's apparent course, considered as lucky; clockwise.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Scottish Gaelic deiseil.

death n. [mass noun] the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism: he had been depressed since the death of his father | [count noun] an increase in deaths from skin cancer | I don't believe in life after death.

- the state of being dead: even in death, she was beautiful.

- the permanent ending of vital processes in a cell or tissue.

- (Death) the personification of the power that destroys life, often represented in art and literature as a skeleton or an old man holding a scythe. Also called THE GRIM REAPER.

- the destruction or permanent end of something: the death of her hopes.

- a damaging or destructive state of affairs: to be driven to a dance by one's father would be social death.

<PHRASES>

□ as sure as death quite certain.

□ at death's door (especially in hyperbolic use) so ill that one may die.

□ be the death of (often used hyperbolically or humorously) cause someone's death: you'll be the death of me with all your questions.

□ be in at the death be present when a hunted animal is caught and killed.

- be present when something fails or comes to an end.

□ catch one's death (of cold) INFORMAL catch a severe cold or chill.

□ do someone to death kill someone.

□ do something to death perform or repeat something so frequently that it becomes tediously familiar: a subject that has been done to death by generations of painters.

□ a fate worse than death a terrible experience.

□ like death warmed up (or North American over) INFORMAL extremely tired or ill.

□ a matter of life and death see LIFE.

□ put someone to death kill someone, especially with official sanction.

□ till (or until) death us do part for as long as each of a couple live: to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, till death us do part. [<ORIGIN> from the marriage service in the Book of Common Prayer.]

□ to death used of a particular action or process that results in someone's death: he was stabbed to death.

- used to emphasize the extreme nature of a specific action, feeling, or state of mind: I'm sick to death of you.

□ to the death until dead: a fight to the death.

<DERIVATIVES> deathlike adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēath, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dood and German Tod, also to die^1.

death adder n. a venomous Australian snake which has a thin worm-like tail that it uses to lure birds and other prey.

<INFO> Genus Acanthophis, family Elapidae: three species.

deathbed n. the bed where someone is dying or has died.

- used in reference to the time when someone is dying or died: [as modifier] a deathbed confession.

death blow n. a stroke with a hand or weapon that causes death.

- an event or circumstance which abruptly ends something: this feature of quantum mechanics dealt a death blow to the theory.

death camp n. a prison camp for political prisoners or prisoners of war in which many die from poor conditions and treatment.

death cap n. a deadly poisonous toadstool with a pale olive-green cap and white gills, growing in broadleaved woodland in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Amanita phalloides, family Amanitaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

death cell n. a cell occupied by a prisoner who has been condemned to death or who awaits execution.

death certificate n. an official statement, signed by a doctor, of the cause, date, and place of a person's death.

death-dealing adj. capable of causing death: death-dealing drugs.

death duty n. [mass noun] (in the UK) a tax levied on property after the owner's death (replaced officially in 1975 by capital transfer tax and in 1986 by inheritance tax).

death futures plural n. US INFORMAL life insurance policies of terminally ill people, purchased by a third party at less than their mature value as a form of short-term investment. See also VIATICAL SETTLEMENT.

death grant n. (in the UK) a state grant towards funeral expenses (abolished under the Social Security Act 1986).

death house n. a house in which someone has died.

- a place for storing bodies prior to burial or cremation.

- US INFORMAL the building in which prisoners are kept in preparation for execution.

death instinct n. [PSYCHIATRY] an innate desire for self-annihilation, proposed by certain psychologists. Compare with LIFE INSTINCT.

death knell n. the tolling of a bell to mark someone's death.

- FIGURATIVE used to refer to the imminent destruction or failure of something: the chaos may sound the death knell for the UN peace plan.

deathless adj. chiefly LITERARY or HUMOROUS immortal: pages of deathless prose.

<DERIVATIVES> deathlessness n.

deathly adj. (deathlier, deathliest) resembling or suggestive of death: a deathly hush fell over the breakfast table | [as submodifier] his face was deathly pale.

- ARCHAIC or LITERARY relating to or causing death: an eagle carrying a snake in its deathly grasp.

death mask n. a plaster cast taken of a dead person's face, used to make a mask or model.

death metal n. [mass noun] a form of heavy metal music using lyrics preoccupied with death, suffering, and destruction.

death-or-glory adj. brave to the point of foolhardiness; reckless: a death-or-glory approach to political problems.

death penalty n. (the death penalty) punishment by execution.

death rate n. the ratio of deaths to the population of a particular area or during a particular period of time, usually calculated as the number of deaths per one thousand people per year.

death rattle n. a gurgling sound sometimes heard in a dying person's throat.

death ray n. (in science fiction) a beam or ray capable of killing.

death roll n. British old-fashioned term for DEATH TOLL.

death row n. a prison block or section for those sentenced to death: a convicted killer on death row.

death's head n. a human skull as a symbol of mortality.

death's head hawkmoth n. a large dark European hawkmoth which has a skull-like marking on the thorax.

<INFO> Acherontia atropos, family Sphingidae.

death song n. a song sung before or after someone's death or to commemorate the dead.

death squad n. an armed paramilitary group formed to kill political opponents.

death tax n. US term for INHERITANCE TAX.

death toll n. the number of deaths resulting from a particular cause.

deathtrap n. a place, structure, or vehicle that is potentially very dangerous.

Death Valley a deep arid desert basin below sea level in SE California and SW Nevada, the hottest and driest part of North America.

death warrant n. an official order for the execution of a condemned person.

death-watch beetle n. a small beetle whose larvae bore into dead wood and structural timbers, causing considerable damage. The adult makes a tapping sound like a watch ticking, formerly believed to portend death.

<INFO> Xestobium rufovillosum, family Anobiidae.

death wish n. an unconscious desire for one's own death.

deattribute /diətrbjut/ v. [with obj.] cease to attribute (a work of art) to a particular artist.

<DERIVATIVES> deattribution n.

deb n. INFORMAL short for DEBUTANTE.

debacle /debαk(ə)l/ n. a sudden and ignominious failure; a fiasco.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French débâcle, from débâcler ‘unleash’, from dé- ‘un-’ + bâcler ‘to bar’ (from Latin baculum ‘staff’).

debag /diba/ v. (debags, debagging, debagged) [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL take the trousers off (someone) as a joke or punishment.

deballast v. [with obj.] remove ballast from (a ship) in order to increase its buoyancy.

debar v. (debars, debarring, debarred) [with obj.] exclude or prohibit (someone) officially from doing something: first-round candidates were debarred from standing.

<DERIVATIVES> debarment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French débarrer, from Old French desbarrer ‘unbar’, from des- (expressing reversal) + barrer ‘to bar’.

debark^1 v. [no obj.] leave a ship or aircraft.

- [with obj.] unload (cargo or troops) from a ship or aircraft.

<DERIVATIVES> debarkation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French débarquer.

debark^2 v. [with obj.] remove (the bark) from a tree.

debase /dbes/ v. 1 [with obj.] reduce (something) in quality or value; degrade: the love episodes debase the dignity of the drama.

- lower the moral character of (someone): war debases people.

2 HISTORICAL lower the value of (coinage) by reducing the content of precious metal.

<DERIVATIVES> debasement n. debaser n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘humiliate, belittle’): from DE- ‘down’ + the obsolete verb base (compare with ABASE), expressing the notion ‘bring down completely’.

debased adj. reduced in quality or value: the debased traditions of sportsmanship.

debatable adj. open to discussion or argument: it is debatable whether the country is coming out of recession.

- HISTORICAL (of land) on the border between two countries and claimed by each.

<DERIVATIVES> debatably adv.

debate n. a formal discussion on a particular matter in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward and which usually ends with a vote.

- an argument about a particular subject, especially one in which many people are involved: the national debate on abortion | [mass noun] there has been much debate about prices.

■ v. [with obj.] argue about (a subject), especially in a formal manner: MPs debated the issue in the Commons | [no obj.] members of the society debated for five nights.

- [with clause] consider a possible course of action in one's mind before reaching a decision: he debated whether he should leave the matter alone or speak to her.

<PHRASES>

□ be open to debate be unproven and requiring further discussion.

□ under debate being discussed or disputed.

<DERIVATIVES> debater n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin dis- (expressing reversal) + battere ‘to fight’.

debauch /dbt/ v. [with obj.] destroy or debase the moral purity of; corrupt.

- DATED seduce (a woman).

■ n. a bout of excessive indulgence in sex, alcohol, or drugs.

<DERIVATIVES> debaucher n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French débaucher (verb) ‘turn away from one's duty’, from Old French desbaucher, of uncertain ultimate origin.

debauched adj. indulging in or characterized by excessive indulgence in sex, alcohol, or drugs: a debauched lifestyle.

debauchee /dbti -i/ n. a person given to excessive indulgence in sex, alcohol, or drugs.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French débauché ‘turned away from duty’, past participle of débaucher (see DEBAUCH).

debauchery n. [mass noun] excessive indulgence in sex, alcohol, or drugs.

debby adj. INFORMAL characteristic of a debutante: a debby girlfriend.

debeak v. [with obj.] remove the upper part of the beak of (a bird) to prevent it injuring other birds.

de Beauvoir /də bəvwα/ French /də bəvwaR/ Simone (1908–86), French existentialist philosopher, novelist, and feminist. Her best-known work is The Second Sex (1949), a central book of the ‘second wave’ of feminism. She is strongly associated with Jean-Paul Sartre, with whom she had a lifelong association.

debenture /dbεntə/ n. BRITISH a long-term security yielding a fixed rate of interest, issued by a company and secured against assets.

- (also debenture bond) NORTH AMERICAN an unsecured loan certificate issued by a company.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a voucher issued by a royal household, giving the right to claim payment for goods or services): from Latin debentur ‘are owing’ (from debere ‘owe’), used as the first word of a certificate recording a debt. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

debilitate /dbltet/ v. [with obj.] make (someone) very weak and infirm: he was severely debilitated by a stomach upset | (as adj. debilitated) a debilitated patient.

- hinder, delay, or weaken: hard drugs destroy families and debilitate communities.

<DERIVATIVES> debilitation n. debilitative adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin debilitat- ‘weakened’, from the verb debilitare, from debilitas (see DEBILITY).

debilitating adj. (of a disease or condition) making someone very weak and infirm: debilitating back pain.

- tending to weaken something: the debilitating effects of underinvestment.

<DERIVATIVES> debilitatingly adv.

debility n. (pl. debilities) [mass noun] physical weakness, especially as a result of illness.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French debilite, from Latin debilitas, from debilis ‘weak’.

debit n. an entry recording a sum owed, listed on the left-hand side or column of an account. The opposite of CREDIT.

- a payment made or owed.

■ v. (debits, debiting, debited) [with obj.] (of a bank or other financial organization) remove (an amount of money) from a customer's account: $10,000 was debited from their account.

- remove an amount of money from (a bank account): cash terminals automatically debit a customer's bank account.

<PHRASES>

□ be in debit (of an account) show a net balance of money owed to others.

□ the debit side the unsatisfactory aspect of a situation: on the debit side, they predict a rise in book prices.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘debt’): from French débit, from Latin debitum ‘something owed’ (see DEBT). The verb sense dates from the 17th century; the current noun sense from the late 18th cent.

debitage /dεbtα/ n. [mass noun] [ARCHAEOLOGY] waste material produced in the making of prehistoric stone implements.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from French débitage ‘cutting of stone’, from débiter ‘discharge, dispense’.

debit card n. a card allowing the holder to transfer money electronically from their bank account when making a purchase.

deblur v. (deblurs, deblurring, deblurred) [with obj.] TECHNICAL make (a blurred image) sharper.

debonair adj. (of a man) confident, stylish, and charming.

<DERIVATIVES> debonairly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘meek or courteous’): from Old French debonaire, from de bon aire ‘of good disposition’.

debone v. [with obj.] (often as adj. deboned) remove the bones from (meat or fish) before cooking.

Deborah /dεbərə dεbrə/ a biblical prophet and leader who inspired the Israelite army to defeat the Canaanites (Judges 4–5). The ‘Song of Deborah’, a song of victory attributed to her, is thought to be one of the oldest sections of the Bible.

debouch /dbat -bu/ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] emerge from a confined space into a wide, open area: the stream finally debouches into a silent pool.

<DERIVATIVES> debouchment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French déboucher, from dé- (expressing removal) + bouche ‘mouth’ (from Latin bucca ‘cheek’).

Debrecen /dεbrətsεn/ an industrial and commercial city in eastern Hungary; pop. 208,900 (est. 2002).

Debrett /dəbrεt/ John (c.1750–1822), English publisher. He compiled The Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland (first issued in 1803), which is regarded as the authority on the British nobility.

debridement /debridm dbridm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the removal of damaged tissue or foreign objects from a wound.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from débrider, literally ‘remove the bridle from’, based on bride ‘bridle’ (of Germanic origin).

debrief v. [with obj.] question (someone, typically a soldier or spy) about a completed mission or undertaking: the government debriefed him over a span of four years | (as n. debriefing) during his debriefing he exposed two Russian spies.

■ n. a series of questions about a completed mission or undertaking.

<DERIVATIVES> debriefer n.

debris /dεbri debri/ n. [mass noun] scattered pieces of rubbish or remains.

- loose natural material consisting especially of broken pieces of rock.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French débris, from obsolete débriser ‘break down’.

de Broglie /də brəli/ French /də bRj/ Louis-Victor, Prince (1892–1987), French physicist. He was the first to suggest that subatomic particles can also have the properties of waves, and his name is now applied to such a wave. He further developed the study of wave mechanics, which was fundamental to the subsequent development of quantum mechanics. Nobel Prize for Physics (1929).

debruise /dbruz/ v. [with obj.] [HERALDRY] partly obscure (another charge).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French debruisier, debrisier, from DE- + bruiser, brisier (modern briser), ‘break’.

debt n. a sum of money that is owed or due: I paid off my debts | [mass noun] a way to reduce Third World debt.

- [mass noun] the state of owing money: the firm is heavily in debt.

- a feeling of gratitude for a service or favour: I would like to acknowledge my debt to my teachers.

<PHRASES>

□ be in someone's debt owe gratitude to someone for a service or favour.

<ORIGIN> Middle English dette: from Old French, based on Latin debitum ‘something owed’, past participle of debere ‘owe’. The spelling change in French and English was by association with the Latin word.

debt collector n. a person who is employed to collect debts for creditors.

debt counsellor n. a person who offers professional advice on methods of debt repayment.

debt of honour n. a debt that is not legally recoverable, especially a sum lost in gambling.

debtor n. a person, country, or organization that owes money.

debt security n. a negotiable or tradable liability or loan.

debt swap (also debt-for-nature swap) n. an arrangement whereby a foreign debt owed by a developing country is transferred to a particular organization, typically in return for the country's committing itself to specified conservation measures.

debug v. (debugs, debugging, debugged) [with obj.] 1 identify and remove errors from (computer hardware or software): games are the worst to debug | (as n. debugging) software debugging.

2 detect and remove concealed microphones from (an area).

3 NORTH AMERICAN remove insects from (something), especially with a pesticide.

■ n. [mass noun] the process of identifying and removing errors from computer hardware or software.

debugger n. a computer program that assists in the detection and correction of errors in other computer programs.

debunk v. [with obj.] expose the falseness or hollowness of (an idea or belief): she debunks all the usual rubbish about acting.

- reduce the inflated reputation of (someone): comedy takes delight in debunking heroes.

<DERIVATIVES> debunker n. debunkery n.

deburr /dibə/ (also debur) v. (deburrs, deburring, deburred) [with obj.] neaten and smooth the rough edges or ridges of (an object, typically one made of metal).

debus /dibs/ v. (debuses, debussing, debussed) [no obj.] British, chiefly MILITARY SLANG alight from a motor vehicle.

- [with obj.] unload (personnel or stores) from a vehicle.

Debussy /dəb(j)usi/ French /dəbYsi/ (Achille) Claude (1862–1918), French composer and critic. Debussy carried the ideas of Impressionist art and symbolist poetry into music, using melodies based on the whole-tone scale and delicate harmonies exploiting overtones. Notable works: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894).

debut /debju -bu/ n. a person's first appearance or performance in a particular capacity or role: the film marked his debut as a director.

- [as modifier] denoting the first recording or publication of a group, singer, or writer: a debut album.

- DATED the first appearance of a debutante in society.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial] perform in public for the first time: the Rolling Stones debuted at the Marquee.

- (of a new product) be launched: the model is expected to debut at $19,000.

- [with obj.] (of a company) launch (a new product): the company is to debut new software.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French début, from débuter ‘lead off’.

debutant /dεbjut de-/ n. a man making his first public appearance, especially in sport.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French débutant ‘leading off’, from the verb débuter.

debutante /dεbjtαnt de-/ n. an upper-class young woman making her first appearance in fashionable society.

- a woman making her first public appearance, especially in sport.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French débutante (feminine) ‘leading off’, from the verb débuter.

Debye /dəb/ Peter Joseph William (1884–1966), Dutch-born American chemical physicist. Debye is best known for establishing the existence of permanent electric dipole moments in many molecules, demonstrating the use of these to determine molecular size and shape, and modifying Einstein's theory of specific heats as applied to solids. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1936).

debye /dəb/ (also debye unit) n. [CHEMISTRY] a unit used to express electric dipole moments of molecules. One debye is equal to 3.336 × 10−30 coulomb metre.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after P. J.

■ Debye.

Dec. abbr. December.

dec. abbr.

- deceased.

- [CRICKET] declared.

deca- /dεkə/ (also dec- before a vowel) combining form (used commonly in units of measurement) ten; having ten: decahedron | decane.

<ORIGIN> from Greek deka ‘ten’.

decade /dεked dked/ n. 1 a period of ten years.

- a period of ten years beginning with a year ending in 0.

2 each of the five divisions of each chapter of the rosary.

3 a range of electrical resistances, frequencies, or other quantities spanning from one to ten times a base value.

<DERIVATIVES> decadal adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting each of ten parts of a literary work): via Old French and late Latin from Greek deka ‘ten’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 17th cent.

<USAGE> There are two possible pronunciations for decade: one puts the stress on the dec- while the other puts the stress on the -cade (sounds like decayed). The second pronunciation is disapproved of by some traditionalists but is now regarded as a standard, acceptable alternative.

decadence /dεkəd(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] the process or manifestation of moral or cultural decline: he denounced Western decadence.

- luxurious self-indulgence: cream cakes on a Wednesday—pure decadence.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French décadence, from medieval Latin decadentia; related to DECAY.

decadent adj. characterized by or reflecting a state of moral or cultural decline.

- luxuriously self-indulgent: a decadent soak in a scented bath.

■ n. a person who is luxuriously self-indulgent.

- (often Decadent) a member of a group of late 19th-century French and English poets associated with the Aesthetic Movement.

<DERIVATIVES> decadently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French décadent, from medieval Latin decadentia (see DECADENCE).

decaf /dikaf/ (also decaff) n. [mass noun] INFORMAL (TRADEMARK in the UK) decaffeinated coffee.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: abbreviation.

decaffeinated /dikafnetd/ adj. (of coffee or tea) having had most or all of the caffeine removed.

<DERIVATIVES> decaffeinate v. decaffeination n.

decagon /dεkə(ə)n/ n. a plane figure with ten straight sides and angles.

<DERIVATIVES> decagonal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via medieval Latin from Greek dekagōnon, neuter (used as a noun) of dekagōnos ‘ten-angled’.

decahedron /dεkəhidr(ə)n -hεd-/ n. (pl. decahedra or decahedrons) a solid figure with ten plane faces.

<DERIVATIVES> decahedral adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from DECA- ‘ten’ + -HEDRON, on the pattern of words such as polyhedron.

decal /dikal/ n. a design prepared on special paper for durable transfer on to another surface such as glass or porcelain.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: abbreviation of DECALCOMANIA.

decalcified adj. (of rock or bone) containing a reduced quantity of calcium salts.

<DERIVATIVES> decalcification n. decalcifier n. decalcify v. (decalcifies, decalcifying, decalcified)

decalcomania /dkalkə()menə/ n. [mass noun] the process of transferring designs from prepared paper on to glass or porcelain.

- a technique used by some surrealist artists which involves pressing paint between sheets of paper.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French décalcomanie, from décalquer ‘transfer a tracing’ + -manie ‘-mania’ (with reference to the enthusiasm for the process in the 1860s).

decalitre (US decaliter, dekaliter) (abbr.: dal; US also dkl) n. a metric unit of capacity, equal to 10 litres.

Decalogue /dεkəl/ n. (the Decalogue) the Ten Commandments.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French and ecclesiastical Latin from Greek dekalogos (biblos) ‘(book of) the Ten Commandments’, from hoi deka logoi ‘the Ten Commandments’ (literally ‘the ten sayings’).

Decameron /dkamərən/ a work by Boccaccio, written between 1348 and 1358, containing a hundred tales supposedly told in ten days by a party of ten young people who had fled from the Black Death in Florence. The work was influential on later writers such as Chaucer and Shakespeare.

decametre (US decameter, dekameter) (abbr.: dam; US also dkm) n. a metric unit of length, equal to 10 metres.

<DERIVATIVES> decametric adj.

decamp v. [no obj.] 1 leave a place suddenly or secretly: now he has decamped to Hollywood.

2 break up or leave a military camp.

<DERIVATIVES> decampment n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French décamper, from dé- (expressing removal) + camp ‘camp’.

decan /dεk(ə)n/ n. [ASTROLOGY] each of three equal ten-degree divisions of a sign of the zodiac.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin decanus ‘chief of a group of ten’ (see dean^1).

decanal /dken(ə)l dεk(ə)n(ə)l/ adj. relating to a dean or deanery.

- relating to or denoting the south side of the choir of a church, the side on which the dean sits. The opposite of CANTORIAL.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from medieval Latin decanalis, from late Latin decanus (see dean^1).

decane /dεken/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid hydrocarbon of the alkane series, present in petroleum spirit.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_10H_22.

decani /dken/ n. the section of a church or cathedral choir conventionally placed on the south side and taking the first or higher part in antiphonal singing. The opposite of CANTORIS.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘of the dean’ (see dean^1).

decant /dkant/ v. [with obj.] gradually pour (wine, port, or another liquid) from one container into another, typically in order to separate out sediment: he decanted the rich red liquid into some glasses.

- discharge or transfer (passengers) to another place: tour coaches decant eager customers directly into the store.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin decanthare, from Latin de- ‘away from’ + canthus ‘edge, rim’ (used to denote the angular lip of a beaker), from Greek kanthos ‘corner of the eye’.

decanter n. a stoppered glass container into which wine or spirit is decanted.

decapitate /dkaptet/ v. [with obj.] cut off the head of (someone): (as adj. decapitated) a decapitated body.

- FIGURATIVE attempt to undermine (a group or organization) by removing its leaders: the Church had been decapitated by the arrest and deportation of all its bishops.

<DERIVATIVES> decapitation n. decapitator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin decapitat- ‘decapitated’, from the verb decapitare, from de- (expressing removal) + caput, capit- ‘head’.

decapod /dεkəpd/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a crustacean of the order Decapoda, such as a shrimp, crab, or lobster.

■ adj. relating to or denoting decapods.

Decapoda /dεkəpədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] 1 an order of crustaceans which includes shrimps, crabs, and lobsters. They have five pairs of walking legs and are typically marine.

2 a former order of cephalopod molluscs which includes squids and cuttlefishes, which have eight arms and two long tentacles. Compare with OCTOPODA.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from DECA- ‘ten’ + Greek pous, pod- ‘foot’.

decapsulate v. [with obj.] [SURGERY] remove the capsule or covering from (a kidney or other organ).

<DERIVATIVES> decapsulation n.

decarbonize (also decarbonise) v. [with obj.] remove carbon or carbonaceous deposits from (an engine or other metal object).

<DERIVATIVES> decarbonization n. decarbonizer n.

decarboxylase /dikαbkslez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme that catalyses the decarboxylation of a particular organic molecule.

decarboxylate /dikαbkslet/ v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] eliminate a carboxylic acid group from (an organic compound).

<DERIVATIVES> decarboxylation n.

decarburize /dikαbjrz/ (also decarburise) v. [with obj.] [METALLURGY] remove carbon from (iron or steel).

<DERIVATIVES> decarburization n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DE- (expressing removal) + CARBURIZE, on the pattern of French décarburer.

decastyle /dεkəstl/ [ARCHITECTURE] adj. (of a temple or portico) having ten columns.

■ n. a ten-columned portico.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek dekastulos ‘having ten columns’, from deka ‘ten’ + stulos ‘column’.

decasyllabic /dεkəslabk/ adj. [PROSODY] (of a metrical line) consisting of ten syllables.

decathlon /dkaθln -lən/ n. an athletic event taking place over two days, in which each competitor takes part in the same prescribed ten events (100 metres sprint, long jump, shot-put, high jump, 400 metres, 110 metres hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1,500 metres).

<DERIVATIVES> decathlete n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DECA- ‘ten’ + Greek athlon ‘contest’.

decay v. [no obj.] (of organic matter) rot or decompose through the action of bacteria and fungi: the body had begun to decay | (as adj. decayed) decayed animal and plant matter | (as adj. decaying) the odour of decaying fish.

- [with obj.] cause to rot or decompose: the fungus will decay soft timber.

- fall into disrepair; deteriorate: facilities decay when money is not spent on refurbishment.

- decline in quality, power, or vigour: the moral authority of the party was decaying.

- [PHYSICS] (of a radioactive substance, particle, etc.) undergo change to a different form by emitting radiation.

- TECHNICAL (of a physical quantity) undergo a gradual decrease.

■ n. [mass noun] the state or process of rotting or decomposition: hardwood is more resistant to decay than softwood | tooth decay.

- rotten matter or tissue: fluoride heals small spots of decay.

- structural or physical deterioration: the old barn rapidly fell into decay.

- the process of declining in quality, power, or vigour: the problems of urban decay.

- [PHYSICS] the change of a radioactive substance, particle, etc. into another by the emission of radiation.

- TECHNICAL gradual decrease in the magnitude of a physical quantity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French decair, based on Latin decidere ‘fall down or off’, from de- ‘from’ + cadere ‘fall’.

Deccan /dεkən/ a triangular plateau in southern India, bounded by the Malabar Coast in the west, the Coromandel Coast in the east, and by the Vindhaya mountains in the north.

decease n. [in sing.] FORMAL or [LAW] a person's death: he held the post until his untimely decease in 1991.

■ v. [no obj.] ARCHAIC die.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French deces, from Latin decessus ‘death’, past participle (used as a noun) of decedere ‘to die’.

deceased FORMAL or [LAW] n. (the deceased) the recently dead person in question.

■ adj. recently dead: the deceased man's family | [postpositive] the will of Christopher Smith deceased.

decedent /dsid(ə)nt/ n. [LAW] a deceased person.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin decedent- ‘dying’, from the verb decedere (see DECEASE).

deceit n. [mass noun] the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth: hypocrisy and deceit were anathema to her.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, past participle (used as a noun) of deceveir ‘deceive’.

deceitful adj. deceiving or misleading others: a deceitful politician.

<DERIVATIVES> deceitfully adv. deceitfulness n.

deceive v. [with obj.] deliberately cause (someone) to believe something that is not true, especially for personal gain: I didn't intend to deceive people into thinking it was French champagne.

- (of a thing) give (someone) a mistaken impression: the area may seem to offer nothing of interest, but don't be deceived.

- (deceive oneself) fail to admit to oneself that something is true.

- be sexually unfaithful to (one's regular partner): he had deceived her with another woman.

<DERIVATIVES> deceivable adj. deceiver n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French deceivre, from Latin decipere ‘catch, ensnare, cheat’.

decelerate /disεləret/ v. reduce or cause to reduce in speed: [no obj.] the train began to decelerate.

<DERIVATIVES> deceleration n. decelerator n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DE- (expressing removal) + a shortened form of ACCELERATE.

December n. the twelfth month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the first month of winter: the fuel shortage worsened during December.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin, from decem ‘ten’ (being originally the tenth month of the Roman year).

Decembrist /dsεmbrst/ n. a member of a group of Russian revolutionaries who in December 1825 led an unsuccessful revolt against Tsar Nicholas I.

decency n. (pl. decencies) 1 [mass noun] behaviour that conforms to accepted standards of morality or respectability: she had the decency to come and confess.

- behaviour or appearance that avoids impropriety or immodesty: a loose dress, rather too low-cut for decency.

- (decencies) the requirements of accepted or respectable behaviour: an appeal to common decencies.

2 (decencies) things required for a reasonable standard of life: I can't afford any of the decencies of life.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘appropriateness, fitness’): from Latin decentia, from decent- ‘being fitting’ (see DECENT).

decennial /dsεnəl/ adj. recurring every ten years: the decennial census.

- lasting for or relating to a period of ten years: decennial insurance.

<DERIVATIVES> decennially adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin decennium ‘a decade’, from decennis ‘of ten years’ (from decem ‘ten’ + annus ‘year’), + -AL.

decennium n. (pl. decennia or decenniums) RARE a decade.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, from decem ‘ten’ + annus ‘year’.

decent adj. 1 conforming with generally accepted standards of respectable or moral behaviour: a decent clean-living individual.

- appropriate; fitting: they would meet again after a decent interval.

- not likely to shock or embarrass others: a decent high-necked dress.

- INFORMAL sufficiently clothed to see visitors: ‘Hello, miss? Are you decent?’.

2 [attr.] of an acceptable standard; satisfactory: people need decent homes.

- good: there's a few decent players in the team.

- British INFORMAL kind, obliging, or generous: that's awfully decent of you.

<PHRASES>

□ do the decent thing take the most honourable or appropriate course of action, even if is not necessarily in one's own interests: after his defeat he should do the decent thing and step down.

<DERIVATIVES> decently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘suitable, appropriate’): from Latin decent- ‘being fitting’, from the verb decere.

decentralize (also decentralise) v. [with obj.] (often as adj. decentralized) transfer (authority) from central to local government: Canada has one of the most decentralized governments in the world.

- move departments of (a large organization) away from a single administrative centre to other locations.

<DERIVATIVES> decentralist n. & adj. decentralization n.

decentre (US decenter) v. [with obj.] displace from the centre or from a central position.

deception n. [mass noun] the action of deceiving someone: obtaining property by deception.

- [count noun] a thing that deceives: a range of elaborate deceptions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin deceptio(n-), from decipere ‘deceive’.

deceptive adj. giving an appearance or impression different from the true one; misleading: he put the question with deceptive casualness.

<DERIVATIVES> deceptiveness n.

deceptively adv. [usually as submodifier] in a way or to an extent that gives a misleading impression:

- to a lesser extent than appears the case: the idea was deceptively simple.

- to a greater extent than appears the case: the airy and deceptively spacious lounge.

<USAGE> Deceptively belongs to a very small set of words whose meaning is genuinely ambiguous in that it can be used in similar contexts to mean both one thing and also its complete opposite. A deceptively smooth surface is one which appears smooth but in fact is not smooth at all, while a deceptively spacious room is one that does not look spacious but is in fact more spacious than it appears. But what is a deceptively steep gradient? Or a person who is described as deceptively strong? To avoid confusion, it is probably best to reword and not to use deceptively in such contexts at all.

decerebrate /disεrbret/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. decerebrated) [BIOLOGY] remove the cerebrum from (a laboratory animal).

<DERIVATIVES> decerebration n.

decertify v. (decertifies, decertifying, decertified) [with obj.] remove a certificate or certification from.

<DERIVATIVES> decertification n.

de-Christianize (also de-Christianise) v. [with obj.] remove Christian influences or characteristics from.

<DERIVATIVES> de-Christianization n.

deci- combining form (used commonly in units of measurement) one tenth: decilitre.

<ORIGIN> from Latin decimus ‘tenth’.

decibel /dεsbεl/ (abbr.: dB) n. a unit used to measure the intensity of a sound or the power level of an electrical signal by comparing it with a given level on a logarithmic scale.

- (in general use) a degree of loudness: his voice went up several decibels.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DECI- ‘ten’ + BEL (the unit being one tenth of a bel).

decide v. [with obj.] come or bring to a resolution in the mind as a result of consideration: [with clause] she decided that she liked him | [with infinitive] I've decided to stay on a bit | this business about the letter decided me.

- [no obj.] make a choice from a number of alternatives: she had decided on her plan of action | I've decided against having children.

- [no obj.] give a judgement concerning a matter or legal case: the courts decided in favour of the New York claimants | [with obj.] the judge will decide the case.

- come to a decision about (something): the council will decide the fate of the homes.

- resolve or settle (a question or contest): an exciting game was decided by a 65th-minute goal.

<DERIVATIVES> decidable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘bring to a settlement’): from French décider, from Latin decidere ‘determine’, from de- ‘off’ + caedere ‘cut’.

decided adj. [attr.] (of a quality) definite; unquestionable: the sunshine is a decided improvement.

- (of a person) having clear opinions; resolute.

- (of a legal case) having been resolved.

<DERIVATIVES> decidedness n.

decidedly adv. 1 [usually as submodifier] undoubtedly; undeniably: he looked decidedly uncomfortable.

2 BRITISH in a decisive and confident way: ‘No,’ Donna said decidedly.

decider n. a game, goal, point, etc. that settles a contest or series of contests: a tense promotion decider against Wolves.

deciding adj. serving to resolve or settle something: taxes could be the deciding factor for millions of floating voters.

decidua /dsdjə/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the thick layer of modified mucous membrane which lines the uterus during pregnancy and is shed with the afterbirth.

<DERIVATIVES> decidual adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin decidua (membrana), literally ‘falling off (membrane)’.

deciduous /dsdjəs/ adj. (of a tree or shrub) shedding its leaves annually. Often contrasted with EVERGREEN.

- INFORMAL (of a tree or shrub) broadleaved.

- denoting the milk teeth of a mammal, which are shed after a time.

<DERIVATIVES> deciduously adv. deciduousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin deciduus (from decidere ‘fall down or off’) + -OUS.

decigram /dεsram/ (also decigramme) (abbr.: dg) n. a metric unit of mass, equal to one tenth of a gram.

decile /dεsl/ n. [STATISTICS] each of ten equal groups into which a population can be divided according to the distribution of values of a particular variable: the lowest income decile of the population.

- each of the nine values of the random variable which divide a population into ten such groups.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French décile, from a medieval Latin derivative of Latin decem ‘ten’.

decilitre (US deciliter) (abbr.: dl) n. a metric unit of capacity, equal to one tenth of a litre.

decimal adj. relating to or denoting a system of numbers and arithmetic based on the number ten, tenth parts, and powers of ten: decimal arithmetic.

- relating to or denoting a system of currency, weights and measures, or other units in which the smaller units are related to the principal units as powers of ten: decimal coinage.

■ n. (also decimal fraction) a fraction whose denominator is a power of ten and whose numerator is expressed by figures placed to the right of a decimal point.

- [mass noun] the system of decimal numerical notation.

<DERIVATIVES> decimally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from modern Latin decimalis (adjective), from Latin decimus ‘tenth’.

decimalize (also decimalise) v. [with obj.] convert (a system of coinage or weights and measures) to a decimal system.

<DERIVATIVES> decimalization n.

decimal place n. the position of a digit to the right of a decimal point.

decimal point n. a full point or dot placed after the figure representing units in a decimal fraction.

decimate /dεsmet/ v. [with obj.] 1 kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of: the inhabitants of the country had been decimated.

- drastically reduce the strength or effectiveness of (something): public transport has been decimated.

2 HISTORICAL kill one in every ten of (a group of people, originally a mutinous Roman legion) as a punishment for the whole group.

<DERIVATIVES> decimation n. decimator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin decimat- ‘taken as a tenth’, from the verb decimare, from decimus ‘tenth’. In Middle English the term decimation denoted the levying of a tithe, and later the tax imposed by Cromwell on the Royalists (1655).

<USAGE> Historically, the meaning of the word decimate is ‘kill one in every ten of (a group of people)’. This sense has been more or less totally superseded by the later, more general sense ‘kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of’, as in the virus has decimated the population. Some traditionalists argue that this and other later senses are incorrect, but it is clear that this is now part of standard English.

decimetre (US decimeter) (abbr.: dm) n. a metric unit of length, equal to one tenth of a metre.

<DERIVATIVES> decimetric adj.

decipher /dsfə/ v. [with obj.] convert (a text written in code, or a coded signal) into normal language.

- succeed in understanding, interpreting, or identifying (something): [with clause] visual signals help us decipher what is being communicated.

<DERIVATIVES> decipherable adj. decipherment n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from DE- (expressing reversal) + CIPHER^1, on the pattern of French déchiffrer.

decision n. a conclusion or resolution reached after consideration: I'll make the decision on my own | the editor's decision is final.

- [mass noun] the action or process of deciding something or of resolving a question: the information was used as the basis for decision.

- [mass noun] the ability or tendency to make decisions quickly; decisiveness: she was a woman of decision.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin decisio(n-), from decidere ‘determine’ (see DECIDE).

decision problem n. [LOGIC] the problem of finding a way to decide whether a formula or class of formulas is true or provable within a given system of axioms.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: translation of German Entscheidungsproblem.

decision support system n. [COMPUTING] a set of related computer programs and the data required to assist with analysis and decision-making within an organization.

decision theory n. [mass noun] the mathematical study of strategies for optimal decision-making between options involving different risks or expectations of gain or loss depending on the outcome. Compare with GAME THEORY.

decisive adj. 1 settling an issue; producing a definite result: the archers played a decisive part in the victory | a decisive battle.

2 having or showing the ability to make decisions quickly and effectively.

<DERIVATIVES> decisively adv. decisiveness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French décisif, -ive, from medieval Latin decisivus, from decis- ‘determined’, from the verb decidere (see DECIDE).

Decius /disəs/ Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus (c.201–51), Roman emperor 249–51. He was the first Roman emperor to promote systematic persecution of the Christians in the empire.

<DERIVATIVES> Decian adj.

deck n. 1 a floor of a ship, especially the upper, open level extending for the full length of the vessel: he stood on the deck of his flagship | the lower decks.

- a floor or platform resembling or compared to a ship's deck: the upper deck of the car park.

- a floor of a double-decker bus.

- North American short for sun deck (sense 2).

- (the deck) INFORMAL the ground or floor: there was a big thud when I hit the deck.

- the flat part of a skateboard or snowboard.

2 a component or unit for playing or recording records, tapes, or compact discs: a cassette deck | every serious DJ needs a set of decks.

3 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a pack of cards.

- North American INFORMAL a packet of narcotics.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 decorate or adorn brightly or festively: Ingrid was decked out in her Sunday best.

2 INFORMAL knock (someone) to the ground with a punch.

<PHRASES>

□ not playing with a full deck NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL mentally deficient.

□ on deck on or on to a ship's main deck: she stood on deck for hours.

- North American INFORMAL ready for action or work.

<DERIVATIVES> decked adj. [in combination] a three-decked vessel

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle Dutch dec ‘covering, roof, cloak’, dekken ‘to cover’. Originally denoting canvas used to make a covering (especially on a ship), the term came to mean the covering itself, later denoting a solid surface serving as roof and floor.

deckchair n. a folding chair of wood and canvas, typically used by the sea or on the deck of passenger ships.

-decker combining form having a specified number of decks or layers: double-decker.

deckhand n. a member of a ship's crew whose duties include cleaning, mooring, and cargo handling.

deckhead n. the underside of the deck of a ship.

deckhouse n. a cabin on the deck of a ship or boat, used for navigation or accommodation.

decking n. [mass noun] the material of the deck of a ship, floor, or platform.

deckle /dεk(ə)l/ n. (also deckle strap) a device in a papermaking machine for limiting the size of the sheet, consisting of a continuous belt on either side of the wire.

- a frame on the mould used to shape the pulp when making paper by hand.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from German Deckel, diminutive of Decke ‘covering’.

deckle edge n. the rough uncut edge of a sheet of paper, formed by a deckle.

<DERIVATIVES> deckle-edged adj.

deck quoits plural n. [treated as sing.] BRITISH a game in which rope quoits are aimed at a peg, played especially on cruise ships.

deck shoe n. a flat canvas or leather shoe with rubber soles.

deck tennis n. a game in which a quoit of rope or rubber is tossed to and fro over a net, played especially on cruise ships.

declaim v. [reporting v.] utter or deliver words in a rhetorical or impassioned way, as if to an audience: [with obj.] she declaimed her views | [no obj.] a preacher declaiming from the pulpit | an opportunity to declaim against the evils of society.

<DERIVATIVES> declaimer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French déclamer or Latin declamare, from de- (expressing thoroughness) + clamare ‘to shout’.

declamation n. [mass noun] the action or art of declaiming: Shakespearean declamation | [count noun] declamations of patriotism.

- [count noun] a rhetorical exercise or set speech.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘a set speech’): from Latin declamatio(n-), from the verb declamare (see DECLAIM).

declamatory /dklamət(ə)ri/ adj. vehement or impassioned in expression: a long declamatory speech.

declarant /dklεr(ə)nt/ chiefly [LAW] n. a person or party who makes a formal declaration.

■ adj. making or having made a formal declaration.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French déclarant, present participle of déclarer, from Latin declarare ‘make quite clear’ (see DECLARE).

declaration n. 1 a formal or explicit statement or announcement: a declaration of love.

- the formal announcement of the beginning of a state or condition: the declaration of war.

- a written public announcement of intentions or of the terms of an agreement.

- (also declaration of the poll) BRITISH a public official announcement of the votes cast for candidates in an election.

- [LAW] a plaintiff's statement of claims in proceedings.

- [LAW] an affirmation made in place of an oath.

- the naming of trumps in bridge, whist, or a similar card game.

- an announcement of a combination held in certain card games.

2 [CRICKET] an act of declaring an innings closed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin declaratio(n-), from declarare ‘make quite clear’ (see DECLARE).

Declaration of Independence a document declaring the US to be independent of the British Crown, signed on 4 July 1776 by the Congressional representatives of thirteen states, including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams.

Declaration of Rights a statute passed by the English Parliament in 1689, which established the joint monarchy of William and Mary and which was designed to ensure that the Crown would not act without Parliament's consent. It was later incorporated in the Bill of Rights.

declarative /dklarətv/ adj. 1 of the nature of or making a declaration: declarative statements.

- [GRAMMAR] (of a sentence or phrase) taking the form of a simple statement.

2 [COMPUTING] denoting high-level programming languages which can be used to solve problems without requiring the programmer to specify an exact procedure to be followed.

■ n. a statement in the form of a declaration.

- [GRAMMAR] a declarative sentence or phrase.

<DERIVATIVES> declaratively adv.

declarator /dklarətə/ (also action for declarator) n. [LAW] an action whereby a legal right or status is declared but nothing further is done.

declare v. 1 [reporting v.] say something in a solemn and emphatic manner: [with clause] the prime minister declared that the programme of austerity had paid off | [with direct speech] ‘I was under too much pressure,’ he declared.

- [with obj.] formally announce the beginning of (a state or condition): Spain declared war on Britain in 1796.

- [with obj. and complement] pronounce or assert (a person or thing) to be something specified: the mansion was declared a fire hazard.

- [no obj.] (declare for/against) BRITISH openly align oneself for or against (a party or position) in a dispute: the president had declared for denuclearization of Europe.

- (declare oneself) reveal one's intentions or identity.

- [no obj.] announce oneself as a candidate for an election: he declared last April.

- (declare oneself) ARCHAIC express feelings of love to someone: she waited in vain for him to declare himself.

2 [with obj.] acknowledge possession of (taxable income or dutiable goods).

3 [no obj.] [CRICKET] close an innings voluntarily before all the wickets have fallen: Pakistan declared at 446 for four.

4 [with obj.] announce that one holds (certain combinations of cards) in a card game.

- name (the trump suit) in a card game.

<PHRASES>

□ well, I declare (or I do declare) an exclamation of incredulity, surprise, or vexation.

<DERIVATIVES> declarable adj. declaratory adj. declared adj. declaredly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin declarare, from de- ‘thoroughly’ + clarare ‘make clear’ (from clarus ‘clear’).

declarer n. [BRIDGE] the player whose bid establishes the suit of the contract and who must therefore play both their own hand and the exposed hand of the dummy.

declass v. [with obj.] remove (someone) from their original social class.

déclassé /deklase/ (also déclassée) adj. having fallen in social status: his parents were poor and déclassé.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, ‘removed from one's class, degraded’, past participle of déclasser.

declassify v. (declassifies, declassifying, declassified) [with obj.] officially declare (information or documents) to be no longer secret: government documents were declassified.

<DERIVATIVES> declassification n.

declaw /dikl/ v. [with obj.] remove the claws from (an animal, typically a cat).

declension /dklεn(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 (in the grammar of Latin, Greek, and certain other languages) the variation of the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, by which its grammatical case, number, and gender are identified.

- [count noun] the class to which a noun or adjective is assigned according to the manner of this variation.

2 ARCHAIC a condition of decline or moral deterioration: the declension of the new generation.

<DERIVATIVES> declensional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English declinson, from Old French declinaison, from decliner ‘to decline’. The change in the ending was probably due to association with words such as ascension.

de Clerambault's syndrome /də klεrəmbəz/ n. [PSYCHIATRY] another term for EROTOMANIA.

<ORIGIN> from the name of Gatin de Clérambault (1872–1934), French psychiatrist, who first described it.

declination /dεklne(ə)n/ n. 1 [ASTRONOMY] the angular distance of a point north or south of the celestial equator. Compare with RIGHT ASCENSION and CELESTIAL LATITUDE.

- the angular deviation of a compass needle from true north (because the magnetic north pole and the geographic north pole do not coincide).

2 [LINGUISTICS] another term for DOWNDRIFT.

3 US formal refusal: [as modifier] the mandatory vaccine declination form.

<DERIVATIVES> declinational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin declinatio(n-), from the verb declinare (see DECLINE).

declination axis n. [ASTRONOMY] the axis of an equatorially mounted telescope which is at right angles to the polar axis, about which the telescope is turned in order to view points at different declinations but at a constant right ascension.

decline v. 1 [no obj.] become smaller, fewer, or less; decrease: the birth rate continued to decline.

- diminish in strength or quality; deteriorate: her health began to decline | (as adj. declining) declining industries.

2 [with obj.] politely refuse (an invitation or offer): Caroline declined the coffee | [with infinitive] the company declined to comment.

3 [no obj.] (especially of the sun) move downwards.

- ARCHAIC bend down; droop.

4 [with obj.] (in the grammar of Latin, Greek, and certain other languages) state the forms of (a noun, pronoun, or adjective) corresponding to case, number, and gender.

■ n. a gradual and continuous loss of strength, numbers, or value: a serious decline in bird numbers | [mass noun] a civilization in decline.

- ARCHAIC the sun's gradual setting.

- ARCHAIC a disease in which the bodily strength gradually fails, especially tuberculosis.

<PHRASES>

□ one's declining years the period of one's old age.

<DERIVATIVES> declinable adj. decliner n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French decliner, from Latin declinare ‘bend down, turn aside’, from de- ‘down’ + clinare ‘to bend’.

declivity /dklvti/ n. (pl. declivities) FORMAL a downward slope: a thickly wooded declivity.

<DERIVATIVES> declivitous adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin declivitas, from declivis ‘sloping down’, from de- ‘down’ + clivus ‘a slope’.

declutch v. [no obj.] disengage the clutch of a motor. See also DOUBLE-DECLUTCH.

declutter v. [with obj.] remove unnecessary items from (an untidy or overcrowded place): there's no better time to declutter your home.

deco n. 1 /dεkə/

■ short for ART DECO.

2 /dikə/

■ (in scuba-diving) short for DECOMPRESSION.

decoct /dkkt/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC extract the essence from (something) by heating or boiling it.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘cook, heat up’): from Latin decoct- ‘boiled down’, from the verb decoquere, from de- ‘down’ + coquere ‘cook’.

decoction n. a concentrated liquor resulting from heating or boiling a substance, especially a medicinal preparation made from a plant: a decoction of a root.

- [mass noun] the action or process of extracting the essence of something.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin decoctio(n-), from decoquere ‘boil down’ (see DECOCT).

decode v. [with obj.] convert (a coded message) into intelligible language.

- analyse and interpret (a communication or image): a handbook to help parents decode street language.

- convert (audio or video signals) into a different or usable form, for example to analogue from digital in sound reproduction.

<DERIVATIVES> decodable adj. decoder n.

decoke v. /dikək/ [with obj.] BRITISH remove carbon or carbonaceous material from (an internal-combustion engine).

decollate^1 /dklet dεkəlet/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC behead (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> decollation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin decollat- ‘beheaded’, from the verb decollare, from de- (expressing removal) + collum ‘neck’.

decollate^2 /dikəlet/ v. [no obj.] mechanically separate sheets of paper into different piles.

<DERIVATIVES> decollation n. decollator n.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from DE- ‘away from’ + COLLATE.

decollement /deklm/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a process in which some strata become partly detached from those underneath and slide over them, causing folding and deformation.

- (also decollement zone) [count noun] a boundary separating deformed strata from underlying strata which are not similarly deformed.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from décoller ‘unstick’.

décolletage /dekltα dekltα/ n. a low neckline on a woman's dress or top.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, from décolleter ‘expose the neck’, from dé- (expressing removal) + collet ‘collar of a dress’.

décolleté /deklte/ (also décolletée) adj. (of a woman's dress or top) having a low neckline.

■ n. a low neckline on a woman's dress or top.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, past participle of décolleter ‘expose the neck’.

decolonize (also decolonise) v. [with obj.] (of a state) withdraw from (a colony), leaving it independent: Spain seemed in no hurry to decolonize those lands.

<DERIVATIVES> decolonization n.

decolorize (also decolorise) v. [with obj.] remove the colour from.

<DERIVATIVES> decolorization n.

decommission v. [with obj.] withdraw (something, especially weapons or military equipment) from service.

- make (a nuclear reactor) inoperative and dismantle it safely.

decommunize (also decommunise) v. [with obj.] remove the features or influence of communism from.

<DERIVATIVES> decommunization n.

decompensation n. 1 [mass noun] MEDICINE the failure of an organ (especially the liver or heart) to compensate for the functional overload resulting from disease.

2 [PSYCHIATRY] the failure to generate effective psychological coping mechanisms in response to stress, resulting in personality disturbance.

<DERIVATIVES> decompensated adj.

decompile v. [with obj.] produce source code from (compiled code).

<DERIVATIVES> decompilation n. decompiler n.

decompose v. 1 make or become rotten; decay: [no obj.] the body had begun to decompose | (as adj. decomposing) decomposing fungi | [with obj.] dead plant matter can be completely decomposed by micro-organisms.

2 (with reference to a chemical compound) break down or cause to break down into component elements or simpler constituents.

3 [with obj.] [MATHEMATICS] express (a number or function) as a combination of simpler components.

<DERIVATIVES> decomposable adj. decomposer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in the sense ‘separate into simpler constituents’): from French décomposer, from de- (expressing reversal) + composer.

decomposition n. [mass noun] the state or process of rotting; decay: the decomposition of organic waste.

decompress /dikəmprεs/ v. [with obj.] 1 subject (a diver) to decompression.

2 expand (compressed computer data) to its normal size so that it can be read and processed by a computer.

3 [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL calm down and relax: Michael sits for a minute to decompress before walking home.

decompression n. [mass noun] 1 reduction in air pressure: decompression of the aircraft cabin.

- a gradual reduction of air pressure on a person who has been experiencing high pressure while diving.

2 the process of expanding computer data to its normal size so that it can be read by a computer.

decompression chamber n. a small room in which the air pressure can be varied, used chiefly to allow deep-sea divers to adjust gradually to normal air pressure.

decompression sickness n. [mass noun] a condition that results when too rapid decompression causes nitrogen bubbles to form in the tissues of the body. It is suffered particularly by divers (who often call it the bends), and can cause pain in the muscles and joints, cramp, numbness, nausea, and paralysis. Also called CAISSON DISEASE.

decompressor n. BRITISH a device for reducing pressure in the engine of a motor vehicle.

deconditioned adj. having lost fitness or muscle tone, especially through lack of exercise.

<DERIVATIVES> decondition v.

deconditioning n. [PSYCHIATRY] the reform or reversal of previously conditioned behaviour, especially in the treatment of phobia and other anxiety disorders in which the fear response to certain stimuli is brought under control. Compare with COUNTER-CONDITIONING.

decongest v. [with obj.] relieve the congestion of (something).

<DERIVATIVES> decongestion n.

decongestant adj. (chiefly of a medicine) used to relieve nasal congestion.

■ n. a decongestant medicine.

deconsecrate v. [with obj.] transfer (a building) from sacred to secular use: the church was deconsecrated in the early nineteenth century.

<DERIVATIVES> deconsecration n.

deconstruct /dik(ə)nstrkt/ v. [with obj.] analyse (a text or linguistic or conceptual system) by deconstruction.

- (in general use) dismantle: I want to deconstruct this myth that poverty breeds crime.

<DERIVATIVES> deconstructive adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from DECONSTRUCTION.

deconstruction n. [mass noun] a method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language which emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality of meaning, and the assumptions implicit in forms of expression.

Deconstruction focuses on a text as such rather than as an expression of the author's intention, stressing the limitlessness (or impossibility) of interpretation and rejecting the Western philosophical tradition of seeking certainty through reasoning by privileging certain types of interpretation and repressing others. It was effectively named and popularized by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida from the late 1960s and taken up particularly by US literary critics.

<DERIVATIVES> deconstructionism n. deconstructionist adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally in the general sense ‘taking to pieces’): from DE- (expressing reversal) + CONSTRUCTION.

decontaminate v. [with obj.] neutralize or remove dangerous substances, radioactivity, or germs from (an area, object, or person): they tried to decontaminate nearby villages.

<DERIVATIVES> decontamination n.

decontextualize (also decontextualise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. decontextualized) consider (something) in isolation from its context.

<DERIVATIVES> decontextualization n.

decontrol v. (decontrols, decontrolling, decontrolled) [with obj.] release (a commodity, market, etc.) from controls or restrictions.

■ n. [mass noun] the action of decontrolling something.

deconvolution n. [mass noun] a process of resolving something into its constituent elements or removing complication.

- [MATHEMATICS] the resolution of a convolution function into the functions from which it was formed in order to separate their effects.

- (also deconvolution analysis) the improvement of resolution of images or other data by a mathematical algorithm designed to separate the information from artefacts which result from the method of collecting it.

decor /dek dε-/ n. the furnishing and decoration of a room.

- the decoration and scenery of a stage.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French décor, from the verb décorer, from Latin decorare ‘embellish’ (see DECORATE).

decorate v. [with obj.] 1 make (something) look more attractive by adding ornament to it: the town was decorated with Christmas lights.

- chiefly BRITISH apply paint or wallpaper in (a room or building): the five bedrooms are individually decorated.

2 confer an award or medal on (a member of the armed forces): he was decorated for outstanding bravery.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘to grace or honour’): from Latin decoratus ‘embellished’ (past participle of decorare), from decus, decor- ‘beauty, honour, or embellishment’.

Decorated adj. denoting a stage of English Gothic church architecture typical of the 14th century (between Early English and Perpendicular), with increasing use of decoration and geometrical, curvilinear, and reticulated tracery.

decoration n. 1 [mass noun] the process or art of decorating something: the lavish decoration of cloth with gilt | interior decoration.

- ornamentation: inside there was little decoration.

- chiefly BRITISH paint or wallpaper applied when decorating a room: an authority on English furniture and decoration.

- [count noun] a thing that serves as an ornament: Christmas tree decorations.

2 a medal or award conferred as an honour.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin decoratio(n-), from the verb decorare (see DECORATE).

Decoration Day n. US another term for MEMORIAL DAY.

decorative /dεk(ə)rətv/ adj. serving to make something look more attractive; ornamental: a well-appointed house with original decorative features.

- relating to decoration: a decorative artist.

- INFORMAL (of a woman) attractive.

<DERIVATIVES> decoratively adv. decorativeness n.

decorative arts plural n. the arts concerned with the production of objects which are both useful and beautiful.

decorator n. a person who decorates, in particular:

- chiefly BRITISH a person whose job is to decorate the interior of buildings by painting the walls and hanging wallpaper.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person whose job is to design the interior of houses by choosing colours, carpets, and furnishings.

decorous /dεk(ə)rəs/ adj. in keeping with good taste and propriety; polite and restrained: Charlotte gave David a decorous kiss.

<DERIVATIVES> decorously adv. decorousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘appropriate, seemly’): from Latin decorus ‘seemly’ + -OUS.

decorticate /diktket/ v. [with obj.] 1 TECHNICAL remove the bark, rind, or husk from.

2 subject to surgical decortication.

■ adj. [BIOLOGY] & [PSYCHOLOGY] (of an animal) having had the cortex of the brain removed or separated.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin decorticat- ‘stripped of its bark’, from the verb decorticare, from de- (expressing removal) + cortex, cortic- ‘bark’.

decortication n. [mass noun] the removal of the outer layer or cortex from a structure, especially the kidney, brain, or other organ.

- MEDICINE the operation of removing fibrous scar tissue that prevents expansion of the lung.

decorum /dkrəm/ n. [mass noun] behaviour in keeping with good taste and propriety.

- etiquette: he had no idea of funeral decorum.

- (decorums) ARCHAIC particular requirements of good taste and propriety.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a literary term, denoting suitability of style): from Latin, neuter of the adjective decorus ‘seemly’.

découpage /dekupα dkupα/ n. [mass noun] the decoration of the surface of an object with paper cut-outs.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: French, from découper ‘cut out’.

decouple v. [with obj.] 1 separate, disengage, or dissociate (something) from something else.

- make the interaction between (electrical components) so weak that there is little transfer of energy between them, especially to remove unwanted AC distortion or oscillations in circuits with a common power supply.

2 muffle the sound or shock of (a nuclear explosion) by causing it to take place in an underground cavity.

decoy n. /dik dk/ 1 a bird or mammal, or an imitation of one, used by hunters to attract other birds or mammals: [as modifier] a decoy duck.

- a person or thing used to mislead or lure someone into a trap.

2 a pond from which narrow netted channels lead, into which wild duck may be enticed for capture.

■ v. /dk dik/ [with obj. and adverbial of direction] lure or entice (a person or animal) away from their intended course, typically into a trap: they would try to decoy the enemy towards the hidden group.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (earlier as coy): from Dutch de kooi ‘the decoy’, from Middle Dutch de kouw ‘the cage’, from Latin cavea ‘cage’.

■ Sense 2 of the noun is from the practice of using tamed ducks to lead wild ones along channels into captivity.

decrease v. /dkris/ make or become smaller or fewer in size, amount, intensity, or degree: [no obj.] the population of the area has decreased radically | [with obj.] the aisles were decreased in height.

■ n. /dikris/ an instance of becoming smaller or fewer: a decrease in births | [mass noun] the rate of decrease became greater.

<PHRASES>

□ on the decrease becoming less common or widespread; decreasing.

<DERIVATIVES> decreasingly adv. [as submodifier] voters have proved decreasingly willing to support the party

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French decreis (noun), decreistre (verb), based on Latin decrescere, from de- ‘down’ + crescere ‘grow’.

decree n. an official order that has the force of law.

- [mass noun] the issuing of a decree: the king ruled by decree.

- a judgement or decision of certain law courts, especially in matrimonial cases.

■ v. (decrees, decreeing, decreed) [with obj.] order (something) by decree: [with clause] the president decreed that the military was to be streamlined.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting an edict issued by an ecclesiastical council to settle a point of doctrine or discipline): from Old French decre, decret, from Latin decretum ‘something decided’, from decernere ‘decide’.

decree absolute n. (pl. decrees absolute) [LAW] a court of law's final order officially ending a marriage, enabling either party to remarry.

decree nisi n. (pl. decrees nisi) [LAW] an order by a court of law stating the date on which a marriage will end unless a good reason not to grant a divorce is produced.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Latin nisi ‘unless’.

decrement /dεkrm(ə)nt/ n. TECHNICAL a reduction or diminution.

- an amount by which something is reduced or diminished: the dose was reduced by 10 mg weekly decrements.

- [PHYSICS] the ratio of the amplitudes in successive cycles of a damped oscillation.

■ v. [with obj.] chiefly [COMPUTING] cause a discrete reduction in (a numerical quantity).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun): from Latin decrementum ‘diminution’, from the stem of decrescere ‘to decrease’.

decrepit /dkrεpt/ adj. worn out or ruined because of age or neglect: a row of decrepit houses.

- (of a person) elderly and infirm: a rather decrepit old man.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin decrepitus, from de- ‘down’ + crepitus, past participle of crepare ‘rattle, creak’.

decrepitate /dkrεptet/ v. [no obj.] TECHNICAL (of a solid, especially a crystal) disintegrate audibly when heated.

<DERIVATIVES> decrepitation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from DE- ‘away’ + Latin crepitat- ‘crackled’, from the verb crepitare, frequentative of crepare ‘rattle’ (see DECREPIT).

decrepitude n. [mass noun] the state of being decrepit: he had passed directly from middle age into decrepitude.

decrescendo /dikrεndə/ n. (pl. decrescendos), adv. & adj. another term for DIMINUENDO.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: Italian, literally ‘decreasing’.

decrescent /dkrεs(ə)nt/ adj. (of the moon) waning.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin decrescent- ‘growing less’, from the verb decrescere (see DECREASE).

decretal /dkrit(ə)l/ n. a papal decree concerning a point of canon law.

■ adj. of the nature of a decree.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from late Latin decretale, neuter of decretalis (adjective), from Latin decret- ‘decided’, from the verb decernere.

Decretum /dkritəm/ n. a collection of decisions and judgements in canon law.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘something decreed’.

decriminalize (also decriminalise) v. [with obj.] cease to treat (something) as illegal: a battle to decriminalize cannabis.

<DERIVATIVES> decriminalization n.

decry /dkr/ v. (decries, decrying, decried) [with obj.] publicly denounce: they decried human rights abuses.

<DERIVATIVES> decrier n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘decrease the value of coins by royal proclamation’): from DE- ‘down’ + CRY, on the pattern of French décrier ‘cry down’.

decrypt /dikrpt/ v. [with obj.] make (a coded or unclear message) intelligible: the computer can be used to encrypt and decrypt sensitive transmissions.

■ n. a text that has been decoded.

<DERIVATIVES> decryption n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from DE- (expressing reversal) + crypt as in encrypt.

decubitus /dkjubtəs/ n. [mass noun] chiefly MEDICINE the posture adopted by a person who is lying down: [as modifier] lumbar puncture with the patient in the lateral decubitus position.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin decumbere ‘lie down’, on the pattern of words such as accubitus ‘reclining at table’.

decubitus ulcer n. technical term for BEDSORE.

decumbent /dkmb(ə)nt/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a plant) lying along the ground or along a surface, with the extremity curving upwards.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin decumbent- ‘lying down’, from the verb decumbere, based on de- ‘down’ + a verb related to cubare ‘to lie’.

decurrent /dkr(ə)nt/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a fungus gill, leaf, etc.) extending down the stem below the point of attachment.

- (of a shrub or the crown of a tree) having several roughly equal branches.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin decurrent- ‘running down’, from the verb decurrere.

decurved adj. [BIOLOGY] (especially of a bird's bill) curved downwards.

decussate TECHNICAL v. /dkset dεkəset/ [no obj.] (of two or more things) cross or intersect each other to form an X.

■ adj. /dksət/ shaped like an X.

- [BOTANY] (of leaves) arranged in opposite pairs, each pair being at right angles to the pair below.

<DERIVATIVES> decussation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a verb): from Latin decussatus, past participle of decussare ‘divide crosswise’, from decussis (describing the figure X, i.e. the Roman numeral for the number 10), from decem ‘ten’.

decyl /dsl -sl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting an alkyl radical –C_10H_21, derived from decane.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek deka- ‘ten’ + -YL.

dedans /dəd/ n. (in real tennis) an open gallery for spectators at the service side of a court.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: French, literally ‘inside’.

Dedekind /dedəknd/ German /dedəknt/ Richard (1831–1916), German mathematician, one of the founders of abstract algebra and modern mathematics.

dedendum /ddεndəm/ n. [ENGINEERING] the radial distance from the pitch circle of a cogwheel or wormwheel to the bottom of the tooth space or groove. Compare with ADDENDUM.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin, ‘thing that can be surrendered’, neuter gerundive of dedere.

dedicate v. [with obj.] (usually dedicate something to) devote (time or effort) to a particular task or purpose: Joan has dedicated her life to animals.

- devote (something) to a particular subject: volume four is dedicated to wasps.

- cite or nominate (a book or other artistic work) as being issued or performed in someone's honour: the novel is dedicated to the memory of my mother.

- ceremonially assign (a church or other building) to a deity or saint: the parish church is dedicated to St Paul.

<DERIVATIVES> dedicatee n. dedicator n. dedicatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘devote to sacred use by solemn rites’): from Latin dedicat- ‘devoted, consecrated’, from the verb dedicare.

dedicated adj. 1 devoted to a task or purpose: a team of dedicated doctors.

2 exclusively allocated to or intended for a particular purpose: a dedicated high-speed rail link from the Channel Tunnel.

<DERIVATIVES> dedicatedly adv.

dedication n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being dedicated or committed to a task or purpose: his dedication to his duties.

2 the action of dedicating a church or other building to a deity or saint: the dedication of a new city church.

- [count noun] an inscription or form of words dedicating a building, book, artwork, etc. to a person or deity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dedicatio(n-), from dedicare ‘devote, consecrate’ (see DEDICATE).

de dicto /de dktə di/ adj. [PHILOSOPHY] relating to the form of an assertion or expression itself, rather than any property of a thing it refers to. Compare with DE RE.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘from what is said’.

dedifferentiate /didfərεnet/ v. [no obj.] [BIOLOGY] (of a cell or tissue) undergo a reversal of differentiation and lose specialized characteristics.

<DERIVATIVES> dedifferentiation n.

deduce v. [with obj.] 1 arrive at (a fact or a conclusion) by reasoning; draw as a logical conclusion: little can be safely deduced from these figures | [with clause] they deduced that the fish died because of water pollution.

2 ARCHAIC trace the course or derivation of: he cannot deduce his descent wholly by heirs male.

<DERIVATIVES> deducible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘lead or convey’): from Latin deducere, from de- ‘down’ + ducere ‘lead’.

deduct v. [with obj.] subtract or take away (an amount or part) from a total: tax has been deducted from the payments.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin deduct- ‘taken or led away’, from the verb deducere. Deduct and deduce were not distinguished in sense until the mid 17th cent.

deductible adj. able to be deducted, especially from taxable income or tax to be paid. See also TAX-DEDUCTIBLE.

■ n. NORTH AMERICAN the part of an insurance claim to be paid by the insured; an excess.

<DERIVATIVES> deductibility n.

deduction n. [mass noun] 1 the action of deducting or subtracting something: the dividend will be paid without deduction of tax.

- [count noun] an amount that is or may be deducted from something, especially from taxable income or tax to be paid: tax deductions.

2 the inference of particular instances by reference to a general law or principle: the detective must uncover the murderer by deduction from facts | [count noun] we do not yet know if these deductions are correct. Often contrasted with INDUCTION.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin deductio(n-), from the verb deducere (see DEDUCE).

deductive adj. characterized by or based on the inference of particular instances from a general law: deductive reasoning | I used my deductive powers.

<DERIVATIVES> deductively adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin deductivus, from deduct- ‘deduced’, from the verb deducere (see DEDUCE).

de Duve /də duv/ French /də dYv/ Christian René (b.1917), British-born Belgian biochemist. A pioneer in the study of cell biology, he won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1974.

Dee^1 1 a river in NE Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen.

2 a river which rises in North Wales and flows past Chester and on into the Irish Sea.

Dee^2 John (1527–1608), English alchemist, mathematician, and geographer. He was Elizabeth I's astrologer and in later life he absorbed himself in alchemy and acquired notoriety as a sorcerer.

dee n. the letter D.

deed n. 1 an action that is performed intentionally or consciously: doing good deeds.

2 (often deeds) a legal document that is signed and delivered, especially one regarding the ownership of property or legal rights. See also TITLE DEED.

■ v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN convey or transfer (property or rights) by legal deed.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēd, dd, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch daad and German Tat, from an Indo-European root shared by do^1.

deed of covenant n. BRITISH an agreement to pay a regular amount of money, particularly when this enables the recipient (typically a charity) to reclaim any tax paid by the donor on the amount.

deed poll n. [LAW] a legal deed made and executed by one party only, especially to formalize a change of a person's name: he changed his name by deed poll.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: so named because the parchment was ‘polled’ or cut cleanly, not indented at the edges as in the case of a deed made by two parties.

deedy adj. DIALECT or ARCHAIC industrious, effective, or earnest.

deejay INFORMAL n. a disc jockey.

■ v. [no obj.] perform as a disc jockey, typically in a club.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally US): representing the pronunciation of DJ.

deem v. [with obj. and complement] FORMAL regard or consider in a specified way: the event was deemed a great success | [with obj. and infinitive] the strike was deemed to be illegal.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēman (also in the sense ‘act as judge’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch doeman, also to DOOM.

de-emphasize (also de-emphasise) v. [with obj.] reduce the importance or prominence given to (something).

<DERIVATIVES> de-emphasis n.

deemster /dimstə/ n. a judge (of whom there are two) in the Isle of Man judiciary.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally a general word for a judge): from DEEM + -STER. The current sense dates from the early 17th cent.

de-energize (also de-energise) v. [with obj.] disconnect (an electric circuit) from a power supply.

deep adj. 1 extending far down from the top or surface: a deep gorge | the lake was deep and cold.

- extending or situated far in from the outer edge or surface: a deep alcove | deep in the woods.

- [predic.] (after a measurement and in questions) extending a specified distance from the top, surface, or outer edge: the well was 200 feet deep.

- [in combination] as far up or down as a specified point: they stood waist-deep in the water.

- [predic.] in a specified number of ranks one behind another: [in combination] they were standing three-deep at the bar.

- taking in or giving out a lot of air: she took a deep breath.

- [CRICKET] (of a fielding position) relatively distant from the batsman; near the boundary: deep midwicket.

- (in ball games) to or from a position far down or across the field: a deep cross from Neill.

2 very intense or extreme: she was in deep trouble | a deep sleep.

- (of an emotion or feeling) intensely felt: deep disappointment.

- profound or penetrating in awareness or understanding: a deep analysis.

- difficult to understand: this is all getting too deep for me.

- (deep in) fully absorbed or involved in (a state or activity): they were deep in their own thoughts.

- (of a person) unpredictable and secretive: that Thomas is a deep one.

3 (of sound) low in pitch and full in tone; not shrill: a deep, resonant voice.

4 (of colour) dark and intense: a deep pink.

■ n. 1 (the deep) LITERARY the sea: denizens of the deep.

- (usually deeps) a deep part of the sea: the dark and menacing deeps | FIGURATIVE the deeps of her imagination.

2 (the deep) [CRICKET] the part of the field distant from the batsman.

■ adv. far down or in; deeply: he travelled deep into the forest | FIGURATIVE his passion runs deep.

- (in sport) distant from the batsman or forward line of one's team: he swung the ball in deep.

<PHRASES>

□ the deep end the end of a swimming pool where the water is deepest.

□ dig deep INFORMAL use one's physical, mental, or financial resources.

□ go off the deep end INFORMAL give way immediately to an emotional outburst, especially of anger.

- chiefly US go mad; behave extremely strangely: they looked at me as if I had gone off the deep end.

□ in deep inextricably involved in or committed to a situation.

□ in deep water (or waters) INFORMAL in trouble or difficulty: he landed in deep water when he began the affair.

□ jump (or be thrown) in at the deep end INFORMAL face a difficult problem or undertaking with little or no preparation or prior experience.

<DERIVATIVES> deepness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēop (adjective), dīope, dēope (adverb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch diep and German tief, also to DIP.

deep-bodied adj. (of an animal, especially a fish) having a body which is deeper (from back to belly) than it is wide.

deep-cycle adj. NORTH AMERICAN denoting a type of electric battery that can be totally discharged and recharged several times.

deep-discount adj. denoting financial securities carrying a low rate of interest relative to prevailing market rates and issued at a discount to their redemption value, so mainly providing capital gain rather than income.

- NORTH AMERICAN heavily discounted; greatly reduced in price: deep-discount pricing has kept air fares affordable.

deep-dish adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 (of a pie) baked in a deep dish to allow for a large filling: deep-dish apple pie.

- (also deep-pan) (of a pizza) cooked in a deep dish and having a thick dough base.

2 INFORMAL extreme or thoroughgoing: deep-dish conservatism.

deep-drawn adj. (of metal) shaped by being forced through a die when cold.

deep-dyed adj. INFORMAL thoroughgoing; complete: a deep-dyed Beatles fan.

deep ecology n. [mass noun] an environmental movement and philosophy which regards human life as just one of many equal components of a global ecosystem.

deepen v. make or become deep or deeper: [no obj.] the crisis deepened | (as adj. deepening) a deepening depression.

deep freeze n. (also deep freezer) a refrigerator in which food can be quickly frozen and kept for long periods at a very low temperature.

■ v. (deep-freeze) [with obj.] (often as adj. deep-frozen) store (something) in a deep freeze.

deep-fry v. [with obj.] (often as adj. deep-fried) fry (food) in an amount of fat or oil sufficient to cover it completely: deep-fried scampi.

deep kiss n. DATED a kiss involving insertion of the tongue into the partner's mouth.

deep-laid adj. (of a scheme) elaborate and secret: a deep-laid plot.

deeply adv. 1 far down or in: he breathed deeply.

2 intensely: Richard felt her loss very deeply | [as submodifier] she was deeply hurt.

deep-mined adj. (of coal) obtained from far below the surface of the ground, not from opencast mines.

<DERIVATIVES> deep mining n.

deep mourning n. [mass noun] a state of mourning, conventionally expressed by wearing only black clothing.

- the black clothing worn by someone in deep mourning.

deep-mouthed adj. ARCHAIC (of a dog) having a deep-sounding bark.

deep-rooted adj. firmly embedded in thought, behaviour, or culture, and so having a persistent influence: her deep-rooted fears and anxieties.

<DERIVATIVES> deep-rootedness n.

deep sea n. [usually as modifier] the deeper parts of the ocean, especially those beyond the edge of the continental shelf: deep-sea diving.

deep-seated adj. firmly established at a deep or profound level: an opportunity for tackling the deep-seated causes of crime.

deep-set adj. 1 embedded or positioned firmly or deeply: the young man had deep-set eyes.

2 long-established and profound: the deep-set interrelations between religion and politics.

deep-six v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL destroy or dispose of (something) irretrievably: someone had deliberately deep-sixed evidence.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (as the deep six ‘the grave’): perhaps from the custom of burial at sea at a depth of six fathoms.

Deep South the south-eastern region of the US regarded as embodying traditional Southern culture and traditions.

deep space n. another term for OUTER SPACE.

deep structure n. [mass noun] (in transformational grammar) the underlying logical relationships of the elements of a phrase or sentence. Contrasted with SURFACE STRUCTURE.

deep throat n. a person who anonymously supplies information about covert or illegal action in the organization where they work.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: the title of a pornographic film of 1972, first applied in this sense as the name (‘Deep Throat’) of an informant in the Watergate scandal.

deep-vein thrombosis n. [mass noun] thrombosis in a vein lying deep below the skin, especially in the legs, often precipitated by immobility during illness or long-distance travel.

deer n. (pl. same) a hoofed grazing or browsing animal, with branched bony antlers that are shed annually and typically borne only by the male.

<INFO> Family Cervidae: several genera and many species.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēor, also originally denoting any quadruped, used in the (now archaic) phrase small deer meaning ‘small creatures collectively’; of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dier, German Tier.

deer fly n. 1 a bloodsucking louse fly which is a parasite of deer. It loses its wings on finding a host, and the female gives birth to fully grown larvae.

<INFO> Lipoptena cervi, family Hippoboscidae.

2 a bloodsucking horsefly which attacks humans and other large mammals. It can transmit various diseases, including tularaemia.

<INFO> Genus Chrysops, family Tabanidae: several species, including C. callidus, widespread throughout North America.

deergrass n. a small sedge related to cotton grass, growing in tufts on wet moors and bogs.

<INFO> Trichophorum cespitosum (or Scirpus cespitosus), family Cyperaceae.

deerhound n. a large dog of a rough-haired breed, resembling the greyhound.

deer lick n. NORTH AMERICAN a place where deer come to lick salt.

deer mouse n. a mainly nocturnal mouse found in a wide range of habitats in North and Central America.

<INFO> Genus Peromyscus, family Muridae: numerous species.

deerskin n. [mass noun] leather made from deer's skin.

deerstalker n. 1 a soft cloth cap, originally worn for hunting, with peaks in front and behind and ear flaps which can be tied together over the top.

2 a person who stalks deer.

de-escalate v. [with obj.] reduce the intensity of (a conflict or potentially violent situation).

<DERIVATIVES> de-escalation n.

def adj. chiefly BLACK SLANG excellent: a truly def tattoo.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: probably an alteration of DEATH (used in Jamaican English as an intensifier), or shortened from DEFINITIVE or DEFINITE.

deface v. [with obj.] spoil the surface or appearance of (something), for example by drawing or writing on it: he defaced library books.

<DERIVATIVES> defacement n. defacer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French desfacier, from des- (expressing removal) + face ‘face’.

de facto /de faktə di/ adv. in fact, whether by right or not: the country was de facto divided between two states. Often contrasted with DE JURE.

■ adj. existing or holding a specified position in fact but not necessarily by legal right: a de facto one-party system.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘of fact’.

defalcate /difalket/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL embezzle (funds with which one has been entrusted).

<DERIVATIVES> defalcation n. defalcator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘deduct, subtract’): from medieval Latin defalcat- ‘lopped’, from the verb defalcare, from de- ‘away from, off’ + Latin falx, falc- ‘sickle’.

defamation /dεfəme(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action of damaging the good reputation of someone; slander or libel: she sued him for defamation.

defamatory /dfamət(ə)ri/ adj. (of remarks, writing, etc.) damaging the good reputation of someone; slanderous or libellous: a defamatory allegation.

defame v. [with obj.] damage the good reputation of (someone); slander or libel: he claimed that the article defamed his family.

<DERIVATIVES> defamer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French diffamer, from Latin diffamare ‘spread evil report’, from dis- (expressing removal) + fama ‘report’.

defamiliarize (also defamiliarise) v. [with obj.] make (something) unfamiliar or strange: art serves to defamiliarize our experience of our own present.

defang v. [with obj.] make (something) harmless or ineffectual: the president had largely defanged the opposition.

defat v. (defats, defatting, defatted) [with obj.] (usually as adj. defatted) remove fat from (food).

default n. 1 [mass noun] failure to fulfil an obligation, especially to repay a loan or appear in a law court: the company will have to restructure its debts to avoid default.

2 [in sing.] a preselected option adopted by a computer program or other mechanism when no alternative is specified by the user or programmer.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 fail to fulfil an obligation, especially to repay a loan or to appear in a law court: some had defaulted on student loans.

- [with obj.] declare (a party) to have defaulted and give judgement against that party: two semi-finalists were defaulted.

2 (default to) (of a computer program or other mechanism) revert automatically to (a preselected option): when you start a fresh letter the system will default to its own style.

<PHRASES>

□ by default because of a lack of opposition.

- through lack of positive action rather than conscious choice: he became an actor by default.

□ go by default [LAW] (of a case) be decided in favour of one party because of lack of opposition by the other party.

□ in default guilty of failing to repay a loan or appear in a law court.

□ in default of in the absence of: in default of agreement the rent was to be determined by a surveyor.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French defaut, from defaillir ‘to fail’, based on Latin fallere ‘disappoint, deceive’.

defaulter n. a person who fails to fulfil a duty, obligation, or undertaking.

- chiefly BRITISH a member of the armed forces guilty of a military offence.

defeasance /dfiz(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] the action or process of rendering something null and void.

- [count noun] a clause or condition which, if fulfilled, renders a deed or contract null and void.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a legal term): from Old French defesance, from defaire, desfaire ‘undo’ (see DEFEAT).

defeasible /dfizb(ə)l/ adj. chiefly [LAW] & [PHILOSOPHY] open in principle to revision, valid objection, forfeiture, or annulment.

<DERIVATIVES> defeasibility n. defeasibly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Anglo-Norman French from the stem of Old French desfesant ‘undoing’ (see also DEFEASANCE).

defeat v. [with obj.] win a victory over (someone) in a battle or other contest; overcome or beat: Garibaldi defeated the Neapolitan army.

- prevent (someone) from achieving an aim: she was defeated by the last steep hill.

- prevent (an aim) from being achieved: don't cheat by allowing your body to droop—this defeats the object of the exercise.

- reject or block (a motion or proposal): the amendment was defeated.

- be impossible for (someone) to understand: this line of reasoning defeats me, I must confess.

- [LAW] render null and void; annul.

■ n. an instance of defeating or being defeated: a 1–0 defeat by Grimsby | [mass noun] she had still not quite admitted defeat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘undo, destroy, annul’): from Old French desfait ‘undone’, past participle of desfaire, from medieval Latin disfacere ‘undo’.

defeated adj. having been beaten in a battle or other contest: the defeated army.

- demoralized and overcome by adversity.

<DERIVATIVES> defeatedly adv.

defeatist n. a person who expects or is excessively ready to accept failure.

■ adj. demonstrating expectation or acceptance of failure: we have a duty not to be so defeatist.

<DERIVATIVES> defeatism n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French défaitiste, from défaite ‘defeat’.

defecate /dεfket dif-/ (BRITISH also defaecate) v. [no obj.] discharge faeces from the body.

<DERIVATIVES> defecator n. defecatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘clear of dregs, purify’): from Latin defaecat- ‘cleared of dregs’, from the verb defaecare, from de- (expressing removal) + faex, faec- ‘dregs’. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

defecation /dεfke(ə)n/ (BRITISH also defaecation) n. [mass noun] the discharge of faeces from the body. the ulcer causes pain that occurs during defecation.

defect^1 n. /difεkt dfεkt/ a shortcoming, imperfection, or lack: genetic defects | [mass noun] the property is free from defect.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun, influenced by Old French defect ‘deficiency’): from Latin defectus, past participle of deficere ‘desert or fail’, from de- (expressing reversal) + facere ‘do’.

defect^2 /dfεkt/ v. [no obj.] abandon one's country or cause in favour of an opposing one: he defected to the Soviet Union after the war.

<DERIVATIVES> defector n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin defect- ‘failed’, from the verb deficere (see defect^1).

defection n. [mass noun] the desertion of one's country or cause in favour of an opposing one: his defection from the Labour Party | [count noun] a number of defections by leading ballet dancers.

defective adj. 1 imperfect or faulty: complaints over defective goods.

- lacking or deficient: dystrophin is commonly defective in muscle tissue.

- [GRAMMAR] (of a word) not having all the inflections normal for the part of speech.

2 DATED or OFFENSIVE having mental disabilities.

■ n. DATED or OFFENSIVE a person with mental disabilities.

<DERIVATIVES> defectively adv. defectiveness n.

defeminize (also defeminise) v. [with obj.] deprive of feminine characteristics.

defence (US defense) n. 1 [mass noun] the action of defending from or resisting attack: methods of defence against this kind of attack | she came to the defence of the eccentric professor | he spoke in defence of a disciplined approach.

- [count noun] an instance of defending a title or seat in a contest or election: his first title defence against Jones.

- military measures or resources for protecting a country: the minister of defence | [as modifier] defence policy.

- a means of protecting something from attack: wire netting is the best defence against rabbits.

- (defences) fortifications or barriers against attack: coastal defences.

2 the case presented by or on behalf of the party accused of a crime or being sued in a civil lawsuit.

- (the defence) [treated as sing. or plural] the counsel for the defendant in a lawsuit: the defence requested more time to prepare their case.

3 (in sport) the action or role of defending one's goal or wicket against the opposition: Wolves were pressed back into defence.

- (the defence) the players in a team who defend the goal.

<PHRASES>

□ defence in depth the arrangement of defensive lines or fortifications so that they can defend each other.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French defens, from late Latin defensum (neuter), defensa (feminine), past participles of defendere ‘defend’.

Defence Force the South African armed services, consisting of the army, navy, air force, and medical service.

defenceless (US defenseless) adj. without defence or protection; totally vulnerable: attacks on defenceless civilians.

<DERIVATIVES> defencelessness n.

defenceman (US defenseman) n. (pl. defencemen) (in ice hockey and lacrosse) a player in a defensive position.

defence mechanism n. an automatic reaction of the body against disease-causing organisms.

- a mental process initiated unconsciously to avoid experiencing conflict or anxiety.

defend v. [with obj.] 1 resist an attack made on (someone or something); protect from harm or danger: we shall defend our island, whatever the cost.

- speak or write in favour of (an action or person); attempt to justify: he defended his policy of imposing high rates.

- compete to retain (a title or seat) in a contest or election: he won the party's nomination to defend the Welsh seat | (as adj. defending) the defending champion.

2 conduct the case for (the party being accused or sued) in a lawsuit: he is a lawyer who specializes in defending political prisoners.

3 [no obj.] (in sport) protect one's goal or wicket rather than attempt to score against one's opponents.

<DERIVATIVES> defendable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French defendre, from Latin defendere, from de- ‘off’ + -fendere ‘to strike’. Compare with OFFEND.

defendant n. an individual, company, or institution sued or accused in a court of law. Compare with PLAINTIFF.

defender n. 1 a person who defends someone or something: a determined defender of British interests.

- [BRIDGE] either member of the partnership that did not win the auction. Compare with DECLARER.

2 (in sport) a player whose task it is to protect their own side's goal.

Defender of the Faith n. a title conferred on Henry VIII by Pope Leo X in 1521. It was recognized by Parliament as an official title of the English monarch in 1544, and has been borne by all subsequent sovereigns.

<ORIGIN> translation of Latin Fidei Defensor.

defenestration n. [mass noun] FORMAL or HUMOROUS the action of throwing someone out of a window.

- (the Defenestration of Prague)

■ see PRAGUE.

<DERIVATIVES> defenestrate v.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from modern Latin defenestratio(n-), from de- ‘down from’ + Latin fenestra ‘window’.

defensible adj. 1 justifiable by argument: a morally defensible penal system.

2 able to be protected: a fort with a defensible yard at its feet.

<DERIVATIVES> defensibility n. defensibly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘capable of giving protective defence’): from late Latin defensibilis, from Latin defendere (see DEFEND).

defensive adj. 1 used or intended to defend or protect: defensive barriers.

- (in sport) relating to or intended as defence.

2 very anxious to challenge or avoid criticism: he was very defensive about that side of his life.

<PHRASES>

□ on the defensive expecting or resisting criticism or attack: British forces were on the defensive.

<DERIVATIVES> defensively adv. defensiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French défensif, -ive, from medieval Latin defensivus, from Latin defens- ‘warded off’, from the verb defendere (see DEFEND).

defensive end n. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] either of the two defensive players positioned at the end of the line of the scrimmage.

defer^1 /dfə/ v. (defers, deferring, deferred) [with obj.] put off (an action or event) to a later time; postpone: they deferred the decision until February.

- [LAW] (of a judge) postpone (a sentence) so that the circumstances or conduct of the defendant can be further assessed: the judge deferred sentence until 5 April for background reports.

- US HISTORICAL postpone the conscription of (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> deferrable adj. deferral n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘put on one side’): from Old French differer ‘defer or differ’, from Latin differre, from dis- ‘apart’ + ferre ‘bring, carry’. Compare with defer^2 and DIFFER.

defer^2 /dfə/ v. (defers, deferring, deferred) [no obj.] (defer to) submit to or acknowledge the merit of: he deferred to Tim's superior knowledge.

<DERIVATIVES> deferrer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French deferer, from Latin deferre ‘carry away, refer (a matter)’, from de- ‘away from’ + ferre ‘bring, carry’. Compare with defer^1.

deference n. [mass noun] polite submission and respect: he addressed her with the deference due to age.

<PHRASES>

□ in deference to out of respect for; in consideration of.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French déférence, from déférer ‘refer’ (see defer^2).

deferent^1 /dεf(ə)r(ə)nt/ adj. another term for DEFERENTIAL.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from DEFER^2 and DEFERENCE.

deferent^2 /dεf(ə)r(ə)nt/ n. (in the Ptolemaic system of astronomy) the large circular orbit followed by the centre of the small epicycle in which a planet was thought to move.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin deferent- ‘carrying away’, from the verb deferre.

deferential adj. showing deference; respectful: people were always deferential to him.

<DERIVATIVES> deferentially adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from DEFERENCE, on the pattern of pairs such as prudence, prudential.

deferment n. [mass noun] the action or fact of putting something off to a later time; postponement: deferment of the decision.

- US HISTORICAL the postponement of a person's conscription: [count noun] he was granted five deferments from the draft.

deferred annuity n. an annuity which commences only after a lapse of some specified time after the final purchase premium has been paid.

defervescence /dfəvεs(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the abatement of a fever as indicated by a decrease in bodily temperature.

<DERIVATIVES> defervesce v.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin defervescent- ‘ceasing to boil’, from the verb defervescere.

defiance n. [mass noun] open resistance; bold disobedience: an act of defiance | the demonstration was held in defiance of official warnings.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting the renunciation of an allegiance or friendship): from Old French, from defier ‘defy’.

defiant adj. showing defiance: a defiant gesture.

<DERIVATIVES> defiantly adv.

defibrillation /difbrle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the stopping of fibrillation of the heart by administering a controlled electric shock, to allow restoration of the normal rhythm.

<DERIVATIVES> defibrillate v.

defibrillator n. MEDICINE an apparatus used to control heart fibrillation by application of an electric current to the chest wall or heart.

deficiency n. (pl. deficiencies) a lack or shortage: deficiencies in material resources.

- a failing or shortcoming: for all its deficiencies it remains his most powerful play.

- the amount by which something, especially revenue, falls short; a deficit: a budget deficiency of $96 billion.

deficiency disease n. a disease caused by the lack of an element in the diet, usually a particular vitamin or mineral.

deficiency payment n. a payment made, typically by a government body, to cover a financial deficit incurred in the course of an activity such as farming.

deficient /df(ə)nt/ adj. 1 not having enough of a specified quality or ingredient: this diet is deficient in vitamin B.

- insufficient or inadequate: the documentary evidence is deficient.

2 (also mentally deficient) OFFENSIVE having mental disabilities.

<DERIVATIVES> deficiently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally in the theological phrase deficient cause, denoting a failure or deficiency that has a particular consequence): from Latin deficient- ‘failing’, from the verb deficere (see defect^1).

deficit /dεfst di-/ n. the amount by which something, especially a sum of money, is too small.

- an excess of expenditure or liabilities over income or assets in a given period: an annual operating deficit | [mass noun] the balance of payments is again in deficit.

- (in sport) the amount or score by which a team or individual is losing: a 3–0 deficit.

- TECHNICAL a deficiency or failing, especially in a neurological or psychological function: deficits in speech comprehension.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via French from Latin deficit ‘it is lacking’, from the verb deficere (see defect^1).

deficit financing n. [mass noun] government funding of spending by borrowing.

deficit spending n. [mass noun] government spending, in excess of revenue, of funds raised by borrowing rather than from taxation.

defilade /dεfled/ [MILITARY] n. [mass noun] the protection of forces against enemy observation or gunfire.

■ v. [with obj.] protect (forces) against enemy observation or gunfire.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French défiler ‘protect from the enemy’ + -ADE^1.

defile^1 /dfl/ v. [with obj.] damage the purity or appearance of; mar or spoil: the land was defiled by a previous owner.

- desecrate or profane (something sacred): the tomb had been defiled and looted.

- ARCHAIC rape or sexually assault (a woman).

<DERIVATIVES> defiler n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: alteration of obsolete defoul, from Old French defouler ‘trample down’, influenced by obsolete befile ‘befoul, defile’.

defile^2 /dfl/ n. also /difl/ a steep-sided narrow gorge or passage (originally one requiring troops to march in single file).

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] ARCHAIC (of troops) march in single file.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French défilé (noun), défiler (verb), from dé ‘away from’ + file ‘column, file’.

defilement n. [mass noun] the action of defiling or the state of being defiled. the heinous defilement of their most sacred site. [count noun] the purification of all defilements.

definable adj. able to be defined: it may not serve a definable purpose.

define v. [with obj.] 1 state or describe exactly the nature, scope, or meaning of: the contract will seek to define the client's obligations.

- give the meaning of (a word or phrase), especially in a dictionary.

- make up or establish the character or essence of: for some, the football club defines their identity.

2 mark out the boundary or limits of: (as adj. defined) clearly defined boundaries.

- make clear the outline of; delineate: she defined her eyes by applying eyeshadow to her eyelids.

<DERIVATIVES> definer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘bring to an end’): from Old French definer, from a variant of Latin definire, from de- (expressing completion) + finire ‘finish’ (from finis ‘end’).

definiendum /dfnεndəm/ n. (pl. definienda) a word, phrase, or symbol which is the subject of a definition, especially in a dictionary entry, or which is introduced into a logical system by being defined. Contrasted with DEFINIENS.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, ‘that which is to be defined’, from the verb definire (see DEFINE).

definiens /dfnεnz/ n. (pl. definientia) a word, phrase, or symbolic expression used to define something, especially in a dictionary entry, or introducing a word or symbol into a logical system by providing a statement of its meaning. Contrasted with DEFINIENDUM.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from medieval Latin, ‘defining’, present participle of definire (see DEFINE).

defining moment n. an event which typifies or determines all subsequent related occurrences.

definite adj. clearly stated or decided; not vague or doubtful: we had no definite plans.

- clearly true or real; unambiguous: no definite proof has emerged.

- [predic.] (of a person) certain or sure about something: you're very definite about that!

- clear or undeniable (used for emphasis): under the circumstances, air conditioning is a definite asset.

- having exact and discernible physical limits or form.

<DERIVATIVES> definiteness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin definitus ‘defined, set within limits’, past participle of definire (see DEFINE).

<USAGE> For an explanation of the difference between definite and definitive see usage at definitive.

definite article n. [GRAMMAR] a determiner (the in English) that introduces a noun phrase and implies that the thing mentioned has already been mentioned, or is common knowledge, or is about to be defined (as in the book on the table; the art of government; the famous public school in Berkshire). Compare with INDEFINITE ARTICLE.

definite description n. chiefly [PHILOSOPHY] a noun phrase introduced by the definite article or its equivalent, and denoting a particular entity or phenomenon.

definite integral n. [MATHEMATICS] an integral expressed as the difference between the values of the integral at specified upper and lower limits of the independent variable.

definitely adv. without doubt (used for emphasis): I shall definitely be at the airport to meet you.

definition n. 1 a statement of the exact meaning of a word, especially in a dictionary.

- an exact statement or description of the nature, scope, or meaning of something: our definition of what constitutes poetry.

- [mass noun] the action or process of defining something.

2 [mass noun] the degree of distinctness in outline of an object, image, or sound.

- the capacity of a device to make images distinct in outline: [in combination] high-definition television.

<PHRASES>

□ by definition by its very nature; intrinsically: the assumption is that travel will, by definition, lead to creative insight.

<DERIVATIVES> definitional adj. definitionally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin definitio(n-), from the verb definire ‘set bounds to’ (see DEFINE).

definitive adj. 1 (of a conclusion or agreement) done or reached decisively and with authority: a definitive decision.

- (of a book or other text) the most authoritative of its kind: the definitive biography of Prince Charles.

2 (of a postage stamp) for general use and typically of standard design, not special or commemorative.

■ n. a definitive postage stamp.

<DERIVATIVES> definitively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French definitif, -ive, from Latin definitivus, from definit- ‘set within limits’, from the verb definire (see DEFINE).

<USAGE> Definitive is often used, rather imprecisely, when definite is actually intended, to mean simply ‘clearly decided’. Although definitive and definite have a clear overlap in meaning, definitive has the additional sense of ‘having an authoritative basis’. Thus, a definitive decision is one which is not only conclusive but also carries the stamp of authority or is a benchmark for the future, while a definite decision is simply one which has been made clearly and is without doubt.

definitive host n. [BIOLOGY] an organism which supports the adult or sexually reproductive form of a parasite. Compare with INTERMEDIATE HOST.

deflagrate /dεfləret/ v. [CHEMISTRY], DATED burn or cause to burn away with a sudden flame and rapid, sharp combustion: [with obj.] the current will deflagrate some of the particles.

<DERIVATIVES> deflagrator n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin deflagrat- ‘burnt up’, from the verb deflagrare, from de- ‘away, thoroughly’ + flagrare ‘to burn’.

deflagration n. [mass noun] the action of heating a substance until it burns away rapidly.

- TECHNICAL combustion which propagates through a gas or across the surface of an explosive at subsonic speeds, driven by the transfer of heat. Compare with DETONATION.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin deflagratio(n-), from the verb deflagrare (see DEFLAGRATE).

deflate v. [with obj.] 1 let air or gas out of (a tyre, balloon, or similar object): he deflated one of the tyres.

- [no obj.] be emptied of air or gas: the balloon deflated.

2 make (someone) suddenly lose confidence or feel dispirited: (as adj. deflated) the news left him feeling utterly deflated.

3 [ECONOMICS] bring about a general reduction of price levels in (an economy).

<DERIVATIVES> deflator n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DE- (expressing reversal) + -flate (as in inflate).

deflation n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of deflating or being deflated: the deflation of the illusion that the 1960s were a perpetual party.

2 [ECONOMICS] reduction of the general level of prices in an economy.

3 [GEOLOGY] the removal of particles of rock, sand, etc. by the wind.

<DERIVATIVES> deflationist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (in the sense ‘release of air from something inflated’): from DEFLATE;

■ sense 3 via German from Latin deflat- ‘blown away’, from the verb deflare.

deflationary adj. characterized by or tending to cause economic deflation.

deflect v. [with obj., and usually with adverbial of direction] cause (something) to change direction; turn aside from a straight course: the bullet was deflected harmlessly into the ceiling | FIGURATIVE he attempted to deflect attention away from his private life.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of an object) change direction after hitting something: the ball deflected off Knight's body.

- cause (someone) to deviate from an intended purpose: she refused to be deflected from anything she had set her mind on.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin deflectere, from de- ‘away from’ + flectere ‘to bend’.

deflection (also deflexion) n. [mass noun] the action or process of deflecting or being deflected: the deflection of the light beam | [count noun] his volley took a deflection off a United defender.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin deflexio(n-), from deflectere ‘bend away’ (see DEFLECT).

deflector n. a device that deflects something, in particular:

- a plate or other attachment for deflecting a flow of air, water, heat, etc.

- an electrode in a cathode ray tube whose magnetic field is used to deflect a beam of electrons on to a phosphor screen to form an image.

deflesh v. [with obj.] remove the flesh from.

deflexed adj. TECHNICAL bent or curving downwards or backwards: a deflexed beak.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (earlier as deflex): from Latin deflexus ‘bent away’ (past participle of deflectere) + -ED^1.

deflocculate /diflkjlet/ v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] break up the floccules of (a substance suspended in a liquid) into fine particles, producing a dispersion.

<DERIVATIVES> deflocculation n.

defloration /diflre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] DATED or LITERARY the taking of a woman's virginity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin defloratio(n-), from the verb deflorare (see DEFLOWER).

deflower v. [with obj.] DATED or LITERARY deprive (a woman) of her virginity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desflourer, from a variant of late Latin deflorare, from de- (expressing removal) + Latin flos, flor- ‘a flower’.

defocus v. (defocuses, defocusing, defocused or defocusses, defocussing, defocussed) [with obj.] cause (an image, lens, or beam) to go out of focus.

Defoe /dfə/ Daniel (1660–1731), English novelist and journalist. His best-known novel, Robinson Crusoe (1719), is loosely based on the true story of the shipwrecked sailor Alexander Selkirk; it has a claim to being the first English novel. Other notable works: Moll Flanders (novel, 1722) and A Journal of the Plague Year (historical fiction, 1722).

defogger n. NORTH AMERICAN a device for demisting a vehicle windscreen.

defoliant n. a chemical that removes the leaves from trees and plants, used in warfare.

defoliate /difəlet/ v. [with obj.] remove leaves from (a tree, plant, or area of land), for agricultural purposes or as a military tactic.

<DERIVATIVES> defoliation n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from late Latin defoliat- ‘stripped of leaves’, from the verb defoliare, from de- (expressing removal) + folium ‘leaf’.

defoliator n. 1 an adult or larval insect which strips all the leaves from a tree or shrub.

2 a machine that removes the leaves from a root crop.

deforce /dfs/ v. [with obj.] [LAW] deprive (someone) wrongfully or forcibly of their rightful property.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French deforcer, from de- (expressing removal) + forcer ‘to force’.

deforest v. [with obj.] clear (an area) of forests or trees.

<DERIVATIVES> deforestation n.

De Forest /də frst/ Lee (1873–1961), American physicist and electrical engineer. He designed a triode valve that was crucial to the development of radio communication, television, and computers.

deform v. [with obj.] distort the shape or form of; make misshapen: he was physically deformed by a rare bone disease.

- [no obj.] become distorted or misshapen; undergo deformation.

<DERIVATIVES> deformable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desformer, via medieval Latin from Latin deformare, from de- (expressing reversal) + forma ‘a shape’.

deformation /difme(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action or process of deforming or distorting.

- the result of a distorting process: the deformation will be temporary.

- [count noun] an altered form of a word, especially one used to avoid overt profanity (e.g. dang for damn).

<DERIVATIVES> deformational adj.

deformed adj. (of a person or part of the body) not having the normal or natural shape or form; misshapen: his deformed hands.

deformity n. (pl. deformities) a deformed part, especially of the body; a malformation: deformities of the hands or feet.

- [mass noun] the state of being deformed or misshapen: respiratory problems caused by spinal deformity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desformite, from Latin deformitas, from deformis ‘misshapen’.

DEFRA abbr. (in the UK) Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs.

defrag v. (defrags, defragging, defragged) [COMPUTING] short for DEFRAGMENT.

defragment /diframεnt/ v. [with obj.] [COMPUTING] reduce the fragmentation of (a file) by concatenating parts stored in separate locations on a disk.

<DERIVATIVES> defragmentation n. defragmenter n.

defraud v. [with obj.] illegally obtain money from (someone) by deception: he used a second identity to defraud the bank of thousands of pounds.

<DERIVATIVES> defrauder n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French defrauder or Latin defraudare, from de- ‘from’ + fraudare ‘to cheat’ (from fraus, fraud- ‘fraud’).

defray /dfre/ v. [with obj.] provide money to pay (a cost or expense): the proceeds from the raffle help to defray the expenses of the evening.

<DERIVATIVES> defrayable adj. defrayal n. defrayment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘spend money’): from French défrayer, from dé- (expressing removal) + obsolete frai ‘cost, expenses’ (from medieval Latin fredum ‘a fine for breach of the peace’).

defrock v. [with obj.] deprive (a person in holy orders) of ecclesiastical status.

- deprive (someone) of professional status or membership of a prestigious group.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French défroquer, from dé- (expressing removal) + froc ‘frock’.

defrost v. [with obj.] free (the interior of a refrigerator or freezer) of accumulated ice, usually by turning it off for a period.

- [no obj.] (of a refrigerator or freezer) become free of accumulated ice in this way: she opened the door to let the fridge defrost.

- thaw (frozen food) before cooking it: defrost the turkey slowly.

- NORTH AMERICAN remove frost or ice from (the windscreen of a motor vehicle).

<DERIVATIVES> defroster n.

deft adj. neatly skilful and quick in one's movements: a deft piece of footwork.

- demonstrating skill and cleverness: the script was both deft and literate.

<DERIVATIVES> deftly adv. deftness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: variant of DAFT, in the obsolete sense ‘meek’.

defterdar /dεftədα/ n. (in the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey) a finance officer or treasurer, especially a provincial accountant general.

<ORIGIN> Turkish, from Persian daftardār, from daftar ‘register’ + -dār ‘holder’.

defunct /df(k)t/ adj. no longer existing or functioning: the now defunct Somerset & Dorset railway line.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘deceased’): from Latin defunctus ‘dead’, past participle of defungi ‘carry out, finish’, from de- (expressing reversal) + fungi ‘perform’.

defund v. [with obj.] US prevent from continuing to receive funds: the California Legislature has defunded the Industrial Welfare Commission.

defuse v. [with obj.] remove the fuse from (an explosive device) in order to prevent it from exploding.

- make (a situation) less tense or dangerous: a scheme that teaches officers how to defuse potentially explosive situations.

<USAGE> On the potential confusion between defuse and diffuse see usage at diffuse.

defy v. (defies, defying, defied) 1 [with obj.] openly resist or refuse to obey: a woman who defies convention.

- be of such a kind or nature that (a specified attitude or action) is almost impossible: his actions defy belief | the outfit defied adequate description.

2 [with obj. and infinitive] appear to be challenging (someone) to do or prove something: he glowered at her, defying her to mock him.

- ARCHAIC challenge (someone) to fight.

<DERIVATIVES> defier n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘renounce an allegiance’ and ‘challenge to combat’): from Old French desfier, based on Latin dis- (expressing reversal) + fidus ‘faithful’.

deg. abbr. degree(s).

dégagé /deαe -ae/ adj. unconcerned or unconstrained; relaxed.

■ n. (pl. pronunc. same) [BALLET] a movement in which weight is shifted from one foot to the other in preparation for the execution of a step.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: French, past participle of dégager ‘set free’.

Degas /deα/ French /dəα/ (Hilaire Germain) Edgar (1834–1917), French painter and sculptor. An Impressionist painter, Degas is best known for his paintings of ballet dancers.

degas /dias/ v. (degases, degassing, degassed) make or become free of unwanted or excess gas.

de Gaulle /də əl/ French /də əl/ Charles (André Joseph Marie) (1890–1970), French general and statesman, head of government 1944–6, President 1959–69. A wartime organizer of the Free French movement, he is remembered particularly for his assertive foreign policy and for quelling the student uprisings and strikes of May 1968.

degauss /dias/ v. [with obj.] 1 [ELECTRONICS] remove unwanted magnetism from (a television or monitor) in order to correct colour disturbance.

2 HISTORICAL neutralize the magnetic field of (a ship) by encircling it with a conductor carrying electric currents.

<DERIVATIVES> degausser n.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from DE- + GAUSS.

degeneracy n. [mass noun] the state or quality of being degenerate: the degeneracy of later Roman work.

degenerate adj. /ddεn(ə)rət/ 1 having lost the physical, mental, or moral qualities considered normal and desirable; showing evidence of decline: a degenerate form of a higher civilization.

2 TECHNICAL lacking some usual or expected property or quality, in particular:

- [MATHEMATICS] (of a type of equation, curve, etc.) equivalent to a simpler type, especially when a variable or parameter is set to zero.

- [PHYSICS] (of an energy level) corresponding to more than one quantum state.

- [PHYSICS] (of matter) at densities so high that gravitational contraction is counteracted, either by the Pauli exclusion principle or by an analogous quantum effect between closely packed neutrons.

- [BIOLOGY] having reverted to a simpler form as a result of losing a complex or adaptive structure present in the ancestral form.

■ n. /ddεn(ə)rət/ an immoral or corrupt person.

■ v. /ddεnəret/ [no obj.] decline or deteriorate physically, mentally, or morally: the quality of life had degenerated | the debate degenerated into a brawl.

<DERIVATIVES> degenerately adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin degeneratus ‘no longer of its kind’, from the verb degenerare, from degener ‘debased’, from de- ‘away from’ + genus, gener- ‘race, kind’.

degeneration n. [mass noun] the state or process of being or becoming degenerate; decline or deterioration: overgrazing has caused serious degeneration of grassland.

- MEDICINE deterioration and loss of function in the cells of a tissue or organ: degeneration of the muscle fibres.

degenerative adj. (of a disease) characterized by progressive deterioration and loss of function in the organs or tissues.

degenerescence /ddεnərεs(ə)ns/ n. another term for DEGENERATION.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French dégénérescence, from dégénérer ‘to degenerate’.

deglaciation /dilese(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the disappearance of ice from a previously glaciated region.

deglamorize (also deglamorise) v. [with obj.] make less glamorous or attractive.

<DERIVATIVES> deglamorization n.

deglaze v. [with obj.] make a gravy or sauce by adding liquid to the cooking juices and food particles in (a pan in which meat has been cooked).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French déglacer.

deglutition /dilut(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL the action or process of swallowing.

<DERIVATIVES> deglutitive adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French déglutition or modern Latin deglutitio(n-), from deglutire ‘swallow down’.

degradation /dεrəde(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the condition or process of degrading or being degraded: a trail of human misery and degradation.

2 [GEOLOGY] the wearing down of rock by disintegration.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French, or from ecclesiastical Latin degradatio(n-), from the verb degradare (see DEGRADE).

degrade v. [with obj.] 1 treat or regard (someone) with contempt or disrespect: she thought that many supposedly erotic pictures degraded women.

- lower the character or quality of: vast areas of natural habitats have been degraded.

2 break down or deteriorate chemically: the bacteria will degrade hydrocarbons.

- [PHYSICS] reduce (energy) to a less readily convertible form.

- [GEOLOGY] wear down (rock) and cause it to disintegrate.

3 ARCHAIC reduce (someone) to a lower rank, especially as a punishment.

<DERIVATIVES> degradability n. degradable adj. degradative adj. degrader n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French degrader, from ecclesiastical Latin degradare, from de- ‘down, away from’ + Latin gradus ‘step or grade’.

degraded adj. treated or regarded with contempt or disrespect: she had felt cheap and degraded.

- reduced in quality; inferior: it will grow successfully even on degraded land.

degrading adj. causing a loss of self-respect; humiliating: the prisoners were subjected to cruel and degrading treatment.

<DERIVATIVES> degradingly adv.

degranulate v. [no obj.] [PHYSIOLOGY] (of a cell) lose or release granules of a substance, typically as part of an immune reaction.

<DERIVATIVES> degranulation n.

degrease v. [with obj.] remove excess grease or fat from.

<DERIVATIVES> degreasant n. degreaser n.

degree n. 1 the amount, level, or extent to which something happens or is present: a degree of caution is probably wise | [mass noun] a question of degree.

2 a unit of measurement of angles, one ninetieth of a right angle or the angle subtended by one three-hundred-and-sixtieth of the circumference of a circle: set at an angle of 45 degrees. (Symbol: °)

3 a unit in any of various scales of temperature, intensity, or hardness: water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. (Symbol: °)

4 a stage in a scale or series, in particular:

- [in combination] each of a set of grades (usually three) used to classify burns according to their severity. See FIRST-DEGREE, SECOND-DEGREE, THIRD-DEGREE.

- [in combination] a legal grade of crime or offence, especially murder: second-degree murder.

- [often in combination] a step in direct genealogical descent: second-degree relatives.

- [MUSIC] a position in a musical scale, counting upwards from the tonic or fundamental note: the lowered third degree of the scale.

- [MATHEMATICS] the class into which an equation falls according to the highest power of unknowns or variables present: an equation of the second degree.

- [GRAMMAR] any of the three steps on the scale of comparison of gradable adjectives and adverbs, namely positive, comparative, and superlative.

- a rank in an order of freemasonry.

5 an academic rank conferred by a college or university after examination or after completion of a course, or conferred as an honour on a distinguished person: a degree in zoology.

6 [mass noun] ARCHAIC social or official rank: persons of unequal degree.

<PHRASES>

□ by degrees a little at a time; gradually.

□ to a degree to some extent: to a degree, it is possible to educate oneself.

- DATED to a considerable extent: the pressure you were put under must have been frustrating to a degree.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘step’, ‘tier’, ‘rank’, or ‘relative state’): from Old French, based on Latin de- ‘down’ + gradus ‘step or grade’.

degree day n. 1 a day on which academic degrees are formally awarded.

2 a unit used to determine the heating requirements of buildings, representing a fall of one degree below a specified average outdoor temperature (usually 18°C or 65°F) for one day.

degree of freedom n. each of a number of independently variable factors affecting the range of states in which a system may exist, in particular any of the directions in which independent motion can occur.

degressive /drεsv/ adj. reducing by gradual amounts.

- (of taxation) at successively lower rates on lower amounts.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin degress- ‘descended’ (from the verb degredi, from de- ‘down’ + gradi ‘walk’) + -IVE.

degu /deu/ n. a rat-like rodent with a long silky coat, found in southern South America.

<INFO> Genus Octodon, family Octodontidae: three species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from American Spanish, from South American Indian deuñ.

degust /dst/ v. [with obj.] RARE taste (something) carefully to appreciate it fully.

<DERIVATIVES> degustation n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin degustare, from de- ‘completely’ + gustare ‘to taste’.

de haut en bas /də ət bα/ French /də ət α ba/ adv. & adj. in a condescending or superior manner: [as adv.] he never addressed his students de haut en bas.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘from above to below’.

de Havilland /də havlənd/ Sir Geoffrey (1882–1965), English aircraft designer and manufacturer. He designed and built many aircraft, including the Mosquito of the Second World War.

dehisce /dhs/ v. [no obj.] TECHNICAL (of a pod or seed vessel, or a cut or wound) gape or burst open.

<DERIVATIVES> dehiscence n. dehiscent adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin dehiscere, from de- ‘away’ + hiscere ‘begin to gape’ (from hiare ‘gape’).

de Hooch /də hut/ (also de Hoogh) Pieter (c.1629–c.1684), Dutch genre painter. He is noted for his depictions of domestic interior and courtyard scenes.

dehorn v. [with obj.] remove the horns from (an animal).

dehors /də dəh/ prep. [LAW] other than, not including, or outside the scope of.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from an Old French usage as a preposition (in modern French functioning as an adverb and noun).

Dehra Dun /dεrə dun/ a city in northern India, capital of the state of Uttaranchal; pop. 447,800 (2001).

dehull v. another term for hull^2.

dehumanize (also dehumanise) v. [with obj.] deprive of positive human qualities: (as adj. dehumanizing) the dehumanizing effects of war.

<DERIVATIVES> dehumanization n.

dehumidify v. (dehumidifies, dehumidifying, dehumidified) [with obj.] remove moisture from (the air or a gas).

<DERIVATIVES> dehumidification n. dehumidifier n.

dehusk v. [with obj.] remove the husk or husks from (grain).

dehydrate /dihdret dihdret/ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. dehydrated) cause (a person or their body) to lose a large amount of water: his body temperature was high and he had become dehydrated.

- [no obj.] lose a large amount of water from the body.

- remove water from (food) in order to preserve and store it: dehydrated mashed potatoes.

<DERIVATIVES> dehydration n. dehydrator n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DE- (expressing removal) + Greek hudros, hudr- ‘water’.

dehydrocholesterol /dihdrə()kəlεstərl/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a derivative of cholesterol present in the skin. It can be converted to cholecalciferol (vitamin D_3) by the action of ultraviolet radiation.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_27H_44O.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from dehydro- ‘that has lost hydrogen’ + CHOLESTEROL.

dehydrogenase /dihdrdənez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme that catalyses the removal of hydrogen atoms from a particular molecule, particularly in the electron transport chain reactions of cell respiration in conjunction with the coenzymes NAD and FAD.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DE- (expressing removal) + HYDROGEN + -ASE.

dehydrogenate v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] remove a hydrogen atom or atoms from (a compound).

<DERIVATIVES> dehydrogenation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DE- (expressing removal) + HYDROGEN + -ATE^3.

Deianira /diənərə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the wife of Hercules, who was tricked into smearing poison on a garment thereby causing his death.

de-ice v. [with obj.] remove ice from.

<DERIVATIVES> de-icer n.

deicide /desd di-/ n. the killer of a god.

- [mass noun] the killing of a god.

<DERIVATIVES> deicidal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from ecclesiastical Latin deicida ‘killer of a god’, or directly from Latin deus ‘god’ + -CIDE.

deictic /dektk dktk/ [LINGUISTICS] adj. relating to or denoting a word or expression whose meaning is dependent on the context in which it is used (such as here, you, me, that one there, or next Tuesday). Also called INDEXICAL.

■ n. a deictic word or expression.

<DERIVATIVES> deictically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek deiktikos, deiktos ‘capable of proof’, from deiknunai ‘to show’.

deid /did/ adj. Scottish form of DEAD.

deify /def di-/ v. (deifies, deifying, deified) [with obj.] worship or regard as a god: she was deified by the early Romans as a fertility goddess.

<DERIVATIVES> deification n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘make godlike in character’): from Old French deifier, from ecclesiastical Latin deificare, from deus ‘god’.

Deighton /det(ə)n/ Len (b.1929), English writer; full name Leonard Cyril Deighton. His reputation is based on his spy thrillers, several of which have been adapted as films and for television.

deign /den/ v. [no obj., with infinitive] do something that one considers to be beneath one's dignity: she did not deign to answer the maid's question.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC condescend to give (something): he had deigned an apology.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French degnier, from Latin dignare, dignari ‘deem worthy’, from dignus ‘worthy’.

Dei gratia /dei rαtə -ə/ adv. by the grace of God.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

deil /dil/ n. Scottish form of DEVIL.

Deimos /dems/ [ASTRONOMY] the outer of the two small satellites of Mars, discovered in 1877 (15 km long and 12 km across).

<ORIGIN> named after one of the sons of Ares in Greek mythology.

de-index v. [with obj.] end the indexation to inflation of (pensions or other benefits).

deindustrialization (also deindustrialisation) n. [mass noun] the reduction of industrial activity or capacity in a region or economy.

<DERIVATIVES> deindustrialize v.

deink v. [with obj.] remove ink from (paper being recycled).

deinonychus /dnnkəs/ n. a dromaeosaurid dinosaur of the mid Cretaceous period, growing up to 3.3 m (11 ft) in length.

<INFO> Genus Deinonychus, family Dromaeosauridae, suborder Theropoda.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek deinos ‘terrible’ + onux, onukh- ‘claw’.

deinotherium /dnə()θərəm/ (also deinothere /dnə()θə/) n. (pl. deinotheria or deinotheriums) a fossil elephant-like mammal found mainly in the Pliocene epoch, that had tusks in the lower jaw that curved downwards and backwards.

<INFO> Genus Deinotherium, suborder Deinotherioidea, order Proboscidea.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek deinos ‘terrible’ + thērion ‘wild beast’.

deinstall (also deinstal) v. (deinstalls or deinstals, deinstalling, deinstalled) [with obj.] remove (an application or file) from a computer.

<DERIVATIVES> deinstallation n. deinstaller n.

deinstitutionalize (also deinstitutionalise) v. [with obj.] discharge (a long-term inmate) from an institution such as a psychiatric hospital or prison.

<DERIVATIVES> deinstitutionalization n.

deionize /diənz/ (also deionise) v. [with obj.] remove the ions or ionic constituents from (a substance, especially water).

<DERIVATIVES> deionization n. deionizer n.

Deirdre /dədri/ [IRISH MYTHOLOGY] a tragic heroine of whom it was prophesied that her beauty would bring banishment and death to heroes. King Conchobar of Ulster wanted to marry her, but she fell in love with Naoise, son of Usnach, who with his brothers carried her off to Scotland. They were lured back by Conchobar and treacherously slain, and Deirdre took her own life.

deism /dez(ə)m di-/ n. [mass noun] belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. Compare with THEISM.

<DERIVATIVES> deist n. deistic adj. deistical adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin deus ‘god’ + -ISM.

deity /deti di-/ n. (pl. deities) a god or goddess (in a polytheistic religion): a deity of ancient Greece.

- [mass noun] divine status, quality, or nature: a ruler driven by delusions of deity.

- (usually the Deity) the creator and supreme being (in a monotheistic religion such as Christianity).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting the divine nature of God): from Old French deite, from ecclesiastical Latin deitas (translating Greek theotēs), from deus ‘god’.

deixis /dekss dkss/ n. [mass noun] [LINGUISTICS] the function or use of deictic words, forms, or expressions.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek, literally ‘reference’, from deiknunai ‘to show’.

déjà vu /deα vu/ French /dea vY/ n. [mass noun] a feeling of having already experienced the present situation.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, literally ‘already seen’.

deject v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC make sad or dispirited; depress: nothing dejects a trader like the interruption of his profits.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘overthrow, abase, degrade’): from Latin deject- ‘thrown down’, from the verb deicere, from de- ‘down’ + jacere ‘to throw’.

dejected adj. sad and depressed; dispirited: he stood in the street looking dejected.

<DERIVATIVES> dejectedly adv.

dejection n. [mass noun] a sad and depressed state; low spirits: he was slumped in deep dejection.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dejectio(n-), from deicere ‘throw down’ (see DEJECT).

dejunk v. [with obj.] INFORMAL clear (a room or other space) by disposing of clutter and unwanted possessions: dejunk the house before you move | FIGURATIVE how to dejunk your life.

de jure /de jəre di dəri/ adv. according to rightful entitlement or claim; by right. Often contrasted with DE FACTO.

■ adj. existing or holding a specified position by legal right: he had been de jure king since his father's death.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘of law’.

deke /dik/ [ICE HOCKEY] n. a deceptive movement or feint that induces an opponent to move out of position.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial] draw (a player) out of position by such a movement.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: shortened form of DECOY.

Dekker /dεkə/ Thomas (c.1570–1632), English dramatist, author of the revenge tragedy The Witch of Edmonton (1623), in which he collaborated with John Ford and William Rowley, and The Honest Whore (1604; 1630) with Thomas Middleton.

dekko /dεkə/ n. [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL a quick look or glance: come and have a dekko at this.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally used by the British army in India): from Hindi dekho ‘look!’, imperative of dekhnā.

de Klerk /də klεk/ F. W. (b.1936), South African statesman, State President 1989–94; full name Frederik Willem de Klerk. As State President he freed Nelson Mandela in 1990, lifted the ban on membership of the ANC, and opened the negotiations that led to the first democratic elections in 1994. Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela (1993).

de Kooning /də kun/ Willem (1904–97), Dutch-born American painter, a leading exponent of abstract expressionism. The female form became a central theme in his later work, notably in the Women series (1950–3).

del n. [MATHEMATICS] an operator used in vector analysis. (Symbol: Δ)

<INFO> del is defined as iδ/δx + Jδ/δy + Kδ/δz, where i, j, and k are vectors directed respectively along the Cartesian axes x, y, and z.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of delta^1, from the representation of the operator as an inverted capital delta.

Del. abbr. Delaware.

Delacroix /dεləkrwα/ French /dəlakRwa/ (Ferdinand Victor) Eugène (1798–1863), French painter, the chief painter of the French romantic school. He is known for his use of vivid colour, free drawing, and exotic, violent, or macabre subject matter. Notable works: The Massacre at Chios (1824).

de la Mare /də la mε/ Walter (John) (1873–1956), English poet, known particularly for his verse for children. Notable works: The Listeners (1912).

delaminate /dilamnet/ v. [with obj.] TECHNICAL divide into layers.

<DERIVATIVES> delamination n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DE- ‘away’ + Latin lamina ‘thin plate’ + -ATE^3.

delate /dlet/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC report (an offence or crime).

- inform against or denounce (someone): they deliberated together on delating her as a witch.

<DERIVATIVES> delation n. delator n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin delat- ‘referred, carried away’, from the verb deferre (see defer^2).

Delaunay /dəlne/ French /dələne/ Robert (1885–1941), French painter. For most of his career he experimented with the abstract qualities of colour, and he painted some of the first purely abstract pictures. He was one of the founder members of Orphism together with Sonia Delaunay-Terk.

Delaunay-Terk /dəlnetεk/ French /dələnetεRk/ Sonia (1885–1979), Russian-born French painter and textile designer, wife of Robert Delaunay. She created abstract paintings based on harmonies of form and colour.

Delaware^1 /dεləwε/ 1 a river of the north-eastern US. Rising in the Catskill Mountains in New York State, it flows some 450 km (280 miles) southwards to northern Delaware, where it meets the Atlantic at Delaware Bay. For much of its length it forms the eastern border of Pennsylvania.

2 a state of the US on the Atlantic coast, one of the original thirteen states of the Union (1787); pop. 783,600 (2000); capital, Dover.

<DERIVATIVES> Delawarean n. & adj.

Delaware^2 /dεləwε/ n. (pl. same or Delawares) 1 a member of an American Indian people formerly inhabiting the Delaware River valley of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.

2 [mass noun] either of two Algonquian languages (Munsi and Unami), both now extinct, spoken by the Delaware.

■ adj. relating to the Delaware or their languages.

<ORIGIN> named after the River Delaware (see Delaware^1).

delay v. [with obj.] make (someone or something) late or slow: the train was delayed.

- [no obj.] be late or slow; loiter: time being of the essence, they delayed no longer.

- postpone or defer (an action): he may decide to delay the next cut in interest rates.

■ n. a period of time by which something is late or postponed: a two-hour delay | long delays in obtaining passports.

- [mass noun] the action of delaying or being delayed: I set off without delay.

- [ELECTRONICS] the time interval between the propagation of an electrical signal and its reception.

- an electronic device which introduces a delay, especially in an audio signal.

<DERIVATIVES> delayer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French delayer (verb).

delayed-action adj. [attr.] operating or effective after a predetermined length of time: delayed-action bombs.

delayering n. [mass noun] the action or process of reducing the number of levels in the hierarchy of employees in an organization.

<DERIVATIVES> delayer v.

delaying tactics plural n. tactics designed to defer or postpone something in order to gain an advantage for oneself.

delay line n. a device producing a specific desired delay in the transmission of a signal.

dele /dili/ v. (deles, deleing, deled) [with obj.] delete or mark (a part of a text) for deletion.

■ n. a proofreader's sign indicating matter to be deleted.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘blot out! efface!’, imperative of delere.

delectable adj. (of food or drink) delicious: delectable handmade chocolates.

- HUMOROUS extremely attractive: the delectable Ms Davis.

<DERIVATIVES> delectability n. delectably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin delectabilis, from delectare ‘to charm’ (see DELIGHT).

delectation /dilεkte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL, chiefly HUMOROUS pleasure and delight: they had all manner of rock 'n' roll goodies for our delectation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin delectatio(n-), from delectare ‘to charm’ (see DELIGHT).

delegacy /dεləsi/ n. (pl. delegacies) [treated as sing. or plural] a body of delegates; a committee or delegation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from DELEGATE, on the pattern of the pair prelate, prelacy.

delegate n. /dεlət/ a person sent or authorized to represent others, in particular an elected representative sent to a conference.

- a member of a committee.

■ v. /dεlet/ [with obj.] entrust (a task or responsibility) to another person, typically one who is less senior than oneself: she must delegate duties so as to free herself for more important tasks | the power delegated to him must never be misused.

- [with obj. and infinitive] send or authorize (someone) to do something as a representative: Edward was delegated to meet new arrivals.

<DERIVATIVES> delegable /dεləb(ə)l/ adj. delegator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin delegatus ‘sent on a commission’, from the verb delegare, from de- ‘down’ + legare ‘depute’.

delegation n. 1 [treated as sing. or plural] a body of delegates or representatives; a deputation: a delegation of teachers.

2 [mass noun] the action or process of delegating or being delegated: the delegation of power to the district councils.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting the action or process of delegating; also in the sense ‘delegated power’): from Latin delegatio(n-), from delegare ‘send on a commission’ (see DELEGATE).

delegitimate v. another term for DELEGITIMIZE.

delegitimatize (also delegitimatise) v. another term for DELEGITIMIZE.

delegitimize (also delegitimise) v. [with obj.] withdraw legitimate status or authority from: the country has been delegitimized by the world community.

<DERIVATIVES> delegitimization n.

delete v. [with obj.] remove or obliterate (written or printed matter), especially by drawing a line through it: the passage was deleted.

- remove (data) from a computer's memory.

- remove (a product, especially a recording) from the catalogue of those available for purchase: their EMI release has already been deleted.

- (be deleted) [GENETICS] (of a section of genetic code, or its product) be lost or excised from a nucleic acid or protein sequence.

■ n. a command or key on a computer which erases text.

<DERIVATIVES> deletion n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘destroy’): from Latin delet- ‘blotted out, effaced’, from the verb delere.

deleterious /dεltərəs/ adj. FORMAL causing harm or damage: divorce is assumed to have deleterious effects on children.

<DERIVATIVES> deleteriously adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via medieval Latin from Greek dēlētērios ‘noxious’ + -OUS.

delexical /dilεksk(ə)l/ adj. [LINGUISTICS] (of a verb) having little or no meaning in its own right, for example take in take a photograph.

Delfont /dεlfnt/ Bernard, Baron Delfont of Stepney (1909–94), Russian-born British impresario; born Boris Winogradsky. From the early 1940s onwards he presented more than 200 shows in London's West End.

Delft /dεlft/ a town in the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland; pop. 97,100 (est. 2002). The home of the painters Pieter de Hooch and Jan Vermeer, it is noted for its pottery.

<ORIGIN> originally Delf, from Dutch delf ‘ditch’, still the name of the town's main canal.

delft /dεlft/ n. [mass noun] English or Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, typically decorated by hand in blue on a white background.

<DERIVATIVES> delftware n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally Delf ware): see DELFT, where the pottery originated.

Delhi /dεli/ (also Old Delhi) a walled city on the River Jumna in north central India, which was made the capital of the Mogul empire in 1638 by Shah Jahan (1592–1666). See also NEW DELHI.

Delhi belly n. [mass noun] INFORMAL an upset stomach accompanied by diarrhoea, especially as suffered by visitors to India.

deli n. (pl. delis) INFORMAL short for DELICATESSEN.

Delian /dilən/ adj. relating to Delos.

■ n. a native or inhabitant of Delos.

Delian League an alliance of ancient Greek city states, dominated by Athens, that joined in 478–447 BC against the Persians. The league was disbanded on the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War (404 BC), but again united under Athens' leadership against Spartan aggression in 377–338 BC. Also called the ATHENIAN EMPIRE.

deliberate adj. /dlb(ə)rət/ 1 done consciously and intentionally: a deliberate attempt to provoke conflict.

2 careful and unhurried: a conscientious and deliberate worker.

- fully considered; not impulsive: a deliberate decision.

■ v. /dlbəret/ [no obj.] engage in long and careful consideration: she deliberated over the menu.

- [with obj.] consider (a question) carefully: jurors deliberated the fate of those charged | [with clause] they deliberated what they should do with him.

<DERIVATIVES> deliberateness n. deliberator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Latin deliberatus, ‘considered carefully’, past participle of deliberare, from de- ‘down’ + librare ‘weigh’ (from libra ‘scales’).

deliberately adv. 1 consciously and intentionally; on purpose: the fire was started deliberately.

2 in a careful and unhurried way: slowly and deliberately he rose from the armchair.

deliberation n. [mass noun] 1 long and careful consideration or discussion: after much deliberation we arrived at a compromise | [count noun] the commission's deliberations.

2 slow and careful movement or thought: he replaced the glass on the table with deliberation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin deliberatio(n-), from deliberare ‘consider carefully’ (see DELIBERATE).

deliberative adj. relating to or intended for consideration or discussion: a deliberative assembly.

<DERIVATIVES> deliberatively adv.

Delibes /dəlib/ French /dəlib/ (Clément Philibert) Léo (1836–91), French composer and organist. His best-known works are the ballets Coppélia (1870) and Sylvia (1876).

delicacy n. (pl. delicacies) [mass noun] 1 fineness or intricacy of texture or structure: miniature pearls of exquisite delicacy.

2 susceptibility to illness or adverse conditions; fragility.

3 tact and consideration: I have to treat this matter with the utmost delicacy.

4 [count noun] a choice or expensive food: traditional Japanese delicacies.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘voluptuousness’ and ‘luxuriousness’): from DELICATE + -ACY.

delicate adj. 1 very fine in texture or structure; of intricate workmanship or quality: a delicate lace shawl.

- (of colour) subtle and subdued: delicate pastel shades.

- (of food or drink) subtly and pleasantly flavoured: a delicate, sweet flavour.

2 easily broken or damaged; fragile: delicate china.

- susceptible to illness or adverse conditions: his delicate health.

- (of a state or condition) easily upset or affected: owls have a delicate balance with their habitat.

3 requiring sensitive or careful handling: delicate negotiations.

- tactful and considerate: a delicate approach is needed.

- skilful and finely judged; deft: his delicate ball-playing skills.

- (of an instrument) highly sensitive.

■ n. INFORMAL a delicate fabric or garment.

<PHRASES>

□ in a delicate condition ARCHAIC pregnant.

<DERIVATIVES> delicately adv. delicateness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘delightful, charming’): from French délicat or Latin delicatus, of unknown origin. Senses also expressed in Middle English (now obsolete) include ‘voluptuous’, ‘self-indulgent’, ‘fastidious’, and ‘effeminate’.

delicatessen /dεlkətεs(ə)n/ n. a shop selling cooked meats, cheeses, and unusual or foreign prepared foods.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US, denoting prepared foods for sale): from German Delikatessen or Dutch delicatessen, from French délicatesse ‘delicateness’, from délicat (see DELICATE).

delicense (also delicence) v. [with obj.] deprive of a licence.

delicious adj. highly pleasant to the taste: delicious home-baked brown bread.

- delightful: a delicious irony.

<DERIVATIVES> deliciously adv. deliciousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘characterized by sensuous indulgence’): via Old French from late Latin deliciosus, from Latin deliciae (plural) ‘delight, pleasure’.

delict /dlkt dilkt/ n. [LAW] a violation of the law; a tort.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin delictum ‘something showing fault’, neuter past participle of delinquere (see DELINQUENT).

delight v. [with obj.] please (someone) greatly: an experience guaranteed to delight both young and old.

- [no obj.] (delight in) take great pleasure in: they delight in playing tricks.

■ n. [mass noun] great pleasure: she took great delight in telling your story.

- [count noun] a cause or source of great pleasure: the trees here are a delight.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French delitier (verb), delit (noun), from Latin delectare ‘to charm’, frequentative of delicere. The -gh- was added in the 16th century by association with light^1.

delighted adj. feeling or showing great pleasure: a delighted smile | [with infinitive] we were delighted to see her.

<DERIVATIVES> delightedly adv.

delightful adj. causing delight; charming: a delightful secluded garden.

<DERIVATIVES> delightfully adv. delightfulness n.

Delilah /dllə/ (in the Bible) a woman who betrayed Samson to the Philistines (Judges 16) by revealing to them that the secret of his strength lay in his long hair.

delimit /dlmt/ v. (delimits, delimiting, delimited) [with obj.] determine the limits or boundaries of: agreements delimiting fishing zones.

<DERIVATIVES> delimitation n. delimiter n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French délimiter, from Latin delimitare, from de- ‘down, completely’ + limitare (from limes, limit- ‘boundary, limit’).

delineate /dlnet/ v. [with obj.] 1 describe or portray (something) precisely: the law should delineate and prohibit behaviour which is socially abhorrent.

2 indicate the exact position of (a border or boundary).

<DERIVATIVES> delineator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘trace the outline of something’): from Latin delineat- ‘outlined’, from the verb delineare, from de- ‘out, completely’ + lineare (from linea ‘line’).

delineation /dlne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the action of describing or portraying something precisely: the artist's exquisite delineation of costume and jewellery.

2 the action of indicating the exact position of a border or boundary. the eventual delineation of the border between the two state.

delink v. [with obj.] (often as n. delinking) break the connection between (something) and something else: the possibility of delinking from the international economic system.

delinquency n. (pl. delinquencies) [mass noun] 1 minor crime, especially that committed by young people: social causes of crime and delinquency.

2 FORMAL neglect of one's duty.

- [count noun] chiefly US a failure to pay an outstanding debt by the due date.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from ecclesiastical Latin delinquentia, from Latin delinquent- ‘offending’ (see DELINQUENT).

delinquent /dlkw(ə)nt/ adj. 1 (typically of a young person) tending to commit crime, particularly minor crime: delinquent teenagers.

2 FORMAL failing in one's duty.

- NORTH AMERICAN in arrears: delinquent accounts.

■ n. a delinquent person: juvenile delinquents.

<DERIVATIVES> delinquently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin delinquent- ‘offending’, from the verb delinquere, from de- ‘away’ + linquere ‘to leave’.

deliquesce /dεlkwεs/ v. [no obj.] (of organic matter) become liquid, typically during decomposition.

- [CHEMISTRY] (of a solid) become liquid by absorbing moisture from the air.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin deliquescere ‘dissolve’, from de- ‘down’ + liquescere ‘become liquid’ (from liquere ‘be liquid’).

deliquescent adj. becoming liquid, or having a tendency to become liquid.

- [CHEMISTRY] (of a solid) tending to absorb moisture from the air and dissolve in it.

<DERIVATIVES> deliquescence n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin deliquescent- ‘dissolving’, from the verb deliquescere (see DELIQUESCE).

delirious adj. in an acutely disturbed state of mind characterized by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence; affected by delirium.

- in a state of wild excitement or ecstasy: there was a great roar from the delirious crowd.

<DERIVATIVES> deliriously adv. [as submodifier] Rose was deliriously happy

delirium /dlrəm/ n. [mass noun] an acutely disturbed state of mind characterized by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence, occurring in intoxication, fever, and other disorders.

- wild excitement or ecstasy.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, from delirare ‘deviate, be deranged’ (literally ‘deviate from the furrow’), from de- ‘away’ + lira ‘ridge between furrows’.

delirium tremens /trimεnz trε-/ n. [mass noun] a psychotic condition typical of withdrawal in chronic alcoholics, involving tremors, hallucinations, anxiety, and disorientation.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, ‘trembling delirium’.

delish adj. INFORMAL delicious.

delist v. [with obj.] remove from a list, in particular:

- remove (a security) from the official register of a stock exchange.

- remove (a product) from the list of those sold by a particular retailer.

Delius /diləs/ Frederick (1862–1934), English composer, of German and Scandinavian descent. He is best known for pastoral works such as Brigg Fair (1907), but he also wrote songs, concertos, and choral and theatre music.

deliver v. [with obj.] 1 bring and hand over (a letter, parcel, or goods) to the proper recipient or address: the products should be delivered on time | [no obj.] we'll deliver direct to your door.

2 provide (something promised or expected): he had been able to deliver votes in huge numbers | [no obj.] she's waiting for him to deliver on his promise.

- formally hand over (someone): there was a reward if you were delivered unharmed to the nearest British post.

- (deliver someone/thing up) surrender someone or something: had he feared she would deliver him up to the police?

- [LAW] acknowledge that one intends to be bound by (a deed), either explicitly by declaration or implicitly by formal handover.

3 launch or aim (a blow, ball, or attack): he delivered a punch to the man's belly | FIGURATIVE the company has delivered a body blow to this city.

4 state in a formal manner: he will deliver a lecture on endangered species | he delivered himself of a sermon.

- (of a judge or court) give (a judgement or verdict): the court was due to deliver its verdict.

5 assist in the birth of: the village midwife delivered the baby.

- (also be delivered of) give birth to: she was delivered of her second child.

- assist (a woman) in giving birth.

6 (deliver someone/thing from) save, rescue, or set someone or something free from: deliver us from the nightmare of junk paper.

<PHRASES>

□ deliver the goods INFORMAL provide that which is promised or expected.

<DERIVATIVES> deliverer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French delivrer, based on Latin de- ‘away’ + liberare ‘set free’.

deliverable adj. able to be delivered: goods in a deliverable state.

■ n. (usually deliverables) a thing able to be provided, especially as a product of a development process.

deliverance n. 1 [mass noun] the action of being rescued or set free: prayers for deliverance.

2 a formal or authoritative utterance.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French delivrance, from the verb delivrer (see DELIVER).

delivery n. (pl. deliveries) [mass noun] 1 the action of delivering letters, parcels, or goods: allow up to 28 days for delivery | [count noun] there will be around 15 deliveries a week.

- [count noun] an item or items delivered on a particular occasion: new deliveries are stacked behind older stock.

2 the process of giving birth: injuries sustained during delivery | [count noun] practically all deliveries take place in hospital.

3 [count noun] an act of throwing, bowling, or kicking a ball, especially a cricket ball: he reached 59 runs off only 42 deliveries.

4 the manner or style of giving a speech: her delivery was stilted.

5 the supply or provision of something: a mechanism for rapid delivery of bile into the duodenum.

6 [LAW] the acknowledgement by the maker of a deed that they intend to be bound by it.

<PHRASES>

□ take delivery of receive (something purchased): we took delivery of the software in February.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French delivree, feminine past participle of delivrer (see DELIVER).

dell n. LITERARY a small valley, usually among trees: lush green valleys and wooded dells.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch del and German dialect Telle, also to DALE.

della Quercia /dεlə kwεtə/ Italian /della kwerta/ Jacopo (c.1374–1438), Italian sculptor. He is noted for his tomb of Ilaria del Carretto in Lucca cathedral (c.1406) and for the biblical reliefs on the portal of San Petronio in Bologna (1425–35).

della Robbia /rbə/ Luca (1400–82), Italian sculptor and ceramicist. He is best known for his relief panels in Florence cathedral and his colour-glazed terracotta figures.

delocalize (also delocalise) v. [with obj.] detach or remove from a particular place or location: (as adj. delocalized) delocalized cortical activity.

- (be delocalized) [CHEMISTRY] (of electrons) be shared among more than two atoms in a molecule.

<DERIVATIVES> delocalization n.

Delors /dəl/ French /dəlR/ Jacques (Lucien Jean) (b.1925), French socialist politician, president of the European Commission 1985–94. During his presidency he pressed for closer European union and oversaw the introduction of a single market within the European Community, which came into effect on 1 January 1993.

Delos /dils/ a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, regarded as the centre of the Cyclades. Now virtually uninhabited, in classical times it was considered to be sacred to Apollo, and according to legend was the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. Greek name Dhílos.

delouse /dilas/ v. [with obj.] treat (a person or animal) to rid them of lice and other parasitic insects.

delph n. [mass noun] IRISH plates, dishes, and other similar items; crockery.

<ORIGIN> variant of DELFT.

Delphi /dεlfi -f/ one of the most important religious sanctuaries of the ancient Greek world, dedicated to Apollo and situated on the lower southern slopes of Mount Parnassus above the Gulf of Corinth. It was the seat of the Delphic Oracle, whose riddling responses to a wide range of questions were delivered by the Pythia. Greek name Dhelfoí.

Delphic /dεlfk/ (also Delphian /-fən/) adj. relating to the ancient Greek oracle at Delphi.

- deliberately obscure or ambiguous.

delphinium /dεlfnəm/ n. (pl. delphiniums) a popular garden plant of the buttercup family, which bears tall spikes of blue flowers.

<INFO> Genus Delphinium, family Ranunculaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek delphinion ‘larkspur’, from delphin ‘dolphin’ (because of the shape of the spur, thought to resemble a dolphin's back).

Delphinus /dεlfnəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a small constellation (the Dolphin), just north of the celestial equator near Cygnus.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

delta^1 n. 1 the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (Δ, δ), transliterated as ‘d’.

- BRITISH a fourth-class mark given for an essay, examination paper, or other piece of work.

- [as modifier] the fourth in a series of items, categories, etc.: delta hepatitis.

- (Delta) [followed by Latin genitive] [ASTRONOMY] the fourth (usually fourth-brightest) star in a constellation: Delta Cephei.

2 a code word representing the letter D, used in radio communication.

3 (also delta connection) a triangular arrangement of electrical three-phase windings.

■ symbol

- (δ) [MATHEMATICS] variation of a variable or function.

- (Δ) [MATHEMATICS] a finite increment.

- (δ) [ASTRONOMY] declination.

<ORIGIN> Greek, from Phoenician daleth.

delta^2 n. a triangular tract of sediment deposited at the mouth of a river, typically where it diverges into several outlets.

<DERIVATIVES> deltaic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: originally specifically as the Delta (of the River Nile), from the shape of the Greek letter (see delta^1).

Delta Force an elite American military force whose main responsibilities are rescue operations and special forces work.

delta rays plural n. [PHYSICS] rays of low penetrative power consisting of slow electrons or other particles ejected from atoms by the impact of ionizing radiation.

delta rhythm n. [mass noun] electrical activity of the brain at a frequency of around 1–8 Hz, typical of sleep. The resulting oscillations, detected using an electroencephalograph, are called delta waves.

delta-v (also delta-vee) n. [mass noun] INFORMAL acceleration: four hundred knots of delta-v.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from DELTA^1 (as a mathematical symbol denoting variation) + v for velocity.

delta wing n. a single triangular swept-back wing fitted on some jet aircraft.

<DERIVATIVES> delta-winged adj.

deltiologist /dεltlədst/ n. a person who collects postcards as a hobby.

<DERIVATIVES> deltiology n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek deltion (diminutive of deltos ‘writing tablet’) + -LOGIST.

deltoid /dεltd/ adj. TECHNICAL triangular: a tree with large deltoid leaves.

■ n. (also deltoid muscle) a thick triangular muscle covering the shoulder joint and used for raising the arm away from the body.

- each of the three parts of a deltoid muscle, attached at the front, side, and rear of the shoulder: the anterior deltoid.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French deltoïde, or via modern Latin from Greek deltoeidēs.

delude /dl(j)ud/ v. [with obj.] make (someone) believe something that is not true: too many theorists have deluded the public | (as adj. deluded) the poor deluded creature.

<DERIVATIVES> deludedly adv. deluder n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin deludere ‘to mock’, from de- (with pejorative force) + ludere ‘to play’.

deluge /dεljud/ n. a severe flood.

- (the Deluge) the biblical Flood (recorded in Genesis 6–8).

- a heavy fall of rain: a deluge of rain hit the plains.

- a great quantity of something arriving at the same time: a deluge of complaints.

■ v. [with obj.] overwhelm with a flood.

- inundate with a great quantity of something: he has been deluged with offers of work.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, variant of diluve, from Latin diluvium, from diluere ‘wash away’.

delusion n. an idiosyncratic belief or impression maintained despite being contradicted by reality or rational argument, typically as a symptom of mental disorder: the delusion of being watched.

- [mass noun] the action of deluding or the state of being deluded: what a capacity television has for delusion.

<PHRASES>

□ delusions of grandeur a false impression of one's own importance.

<DERIVATIVES> delusional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘act of deluding or of being deluded’): from late Latin delusio(n-), from the verb deludere (see DELUDE).

delusive adj. giving a false or misleading impression: a delusive perception of opportunity for all.

<DERIVATIVES> delusively adv.

delusory /dl(j)us(ə)ri -z-/ adj. another term for DELUSIVE.

delustre (US deluster) v. [with obj.] remove the lustre from (a textile), typically by chemical treatment.

de luxe /d lks lks/ adj. luxurious or sumptuous; of a superior kind: a de luxe hotel.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, literally ‘of luxury’.

delve v. [no obj.] 1 reach inside a receptacle and search for something: she delved in her pocket.

- research or make painstaking enquiries into something: the society is determined to delve deeper into the matter.

2 ARCHAIC dig; excavate.

<DERIVATIVES> delver n.

<ORIGIN> Old English delfan ‘dig’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch delven.

Dem. abbr. US Democrat.

demagnetize (also demagnetise) v. [with obj.] remove magnetic properties from.

<DERIVATIVES> demagnetization n. demagnetizer n.

demagogue /dεmə/ n. a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument.

- (in ancient Greece and Rome) a leader or orator who espoused the cause of the common people.

<DERIVATIVES> demagogic /-k/ adj. demagoguery /-(ə)ri/ n. demagogy n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek dēmagōgos, from dēmos ‘the people’ + agōgos ‘leading’ (from agein ‘to lead’).

de Maintenon see MAINTENON.

demand n. an insistent and peremptory request, made as of right: a series of demands for far-reaching reforms.

- (usually demands) pressing requirements: he's got enough demands on his time already.

- [mass noun] the desire of consumers, clients, employers, etc. for a particular commodity, service, or other item: a recent slump in demand | [count noun] a demand for specialists.

■ v. [reporting v.] ask authoritatively or brusquely: [with direct speech] ‘Where is she?’ he demanded | [with clause] the police demanded that he give them the names.

- [with obj.] insist on having: an outraged public demanded retribution | too much was being demanded of the top players.

- require; need: a complex activity demanding detailed knowledge.

<PHRASES>

□ in demand sought after: all these skills are much in demand.

□ on demand as soon as or whenever required: a combination boiler provides hot water on demand.

<DERIVATIVES> demander n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun): from Old French demande (noun), demander (verb), from Latin demandare ‘hand over, entrust’ (in medieval Latin ‘demand’), from de- ‘formally’ + mandare ‘to order’.

demand curve n. a graph showing how the demand for a commodity or service varies with changes in its price.

demanding adj. (of a task) requiring much skill or effort: she has a busy and demanding job.

- (of a person) making others work hard or meet high standards; not easily satisfied.

<DERIVATIVES> demandingly adv.

demand-led (also demand-driven) adj. [ECONOMICS] caused or determined by demand from consumers or clients.

demand-pull adj. relating to or denoting inflation caused by an excess of demand over supply. Contrasted with COST-PUSH.

demantoid /dmantd/ n. [mass noun] a lustrous green variety of andradite (garnet).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, from Demant ‘diamond’.

demarcate /dimαket/ v. [with obj.] set the boundaries or limits of: plots of land demarcated by barbed wire.

- separate or distinguish from: art was being demarcated from the more objective science.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: back-formation from DEMARCATION.

demarcation n. [mass noun] the action of fixing the boundary or limits of something: the demarcation of the maritime border.

- [count noun] a dividing line.

- BRITISH the practice of requiring that specific jobs be assigned to members of particular trade unions: strikes over job demarcation.

<DERIVATIVES> demarcator n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Spanish demarcación, from demarcar ‘mark the bounds of’, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to mark^1. Originally used in the phrase line of demarcation (Spanish línea de demarcación, Portuguese linha de demarcação), the word denoted a line dividing the New World between the Spanish and Portuguese, laid down by the Pope in 1493.

démarche /demα/ n. a political step or initiative: foreign policy démarches.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: French, from démarcher ‘take steps’.

demark /dimαk/ v. another term for DEMARCATE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DEMARCATION, on the pattern of the verb mark.

demassify /dimasf/ v. (demassifies, demassifying, demassified) [with obj.] divide or break up (a social or political unit) into its component parts.

<DERIVATIVES> demassification n.

dematerialize (also dematerialise) v. [no obj.] become free of physical substance.

- (in science fiction) disappear by means of some imagined technological process: he watched the time machine dematerialize.

- [with obj.] replace (physical records or certificates) with a paperless computerized system.

<DERIVATIVES> dematerialization n.

deme /dim/ n. 1 a political division of Attica in ancient Greece.

- an administrative division in modern Greece.

2 [BIOLOGY] a subdivision of a population consisting of closely related plants, animals, or people, typically breeding mainly within the group.

<ORIGIN> from Greek dēmos ‘people’;

■ sense 2 is an extended use dating from the 1930s.

demean^1 /dmin/ v. [with obj.] cause a severe loss in the dignity of and respect for (someone or something): I had demeaned the profession.

- (demean oneself) do something that is beneath one's dignity.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from DE- ‘away, down’ + the adjective mean^2, on the pattern of debase.

demean^2 /dmin/ v. (demean oneself) ARCHAIC conduct oneself in a particular way: no man demeaned himself so honourably.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘manage, control’): from Old French demener ‘to lead’, based on Latin de- ‘away’ + minare ‘drive (animals), drive on with threats’ (from minari ‘threaten’).

demeaning adj. causing someone to lose their dignity and the respect of others: the poster was not demeaning to women.

<DERIVATIVES> demeaningly adv.

demeanour (US demeanor) n. [mass noun] outward behaviour or bearing: his happy demeanour.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from DEMEAN^2, probably influenced by obsolete havour ‘behaviour’.

de' Medici^4 Giovanni, the name of Pope Leo X (see Leo^1).

dement /dmεnt/ n. ARCHAIC a person suffering from dementia.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘demented’): from French dément or Latin demens, dement- ‘insane’. The noun use dates from the late 19th cent.

demented adj. suffering from dementia.

- INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH behaving irrationally due to anger, distress, or excitement: she was demented with worry.

<DERIVATIVES> dementedly adv. dementedness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: past participle of earlier dement ‘drive mad’, from Old French dementer or late Latin dementare, from demens ‘out of one's mind’.

démenti /demti/ n. an official denial of a published statement.

<ORIGIN> French, from démentir ‘contradict or accuse of lying’.

dementia /dmεnə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a chronic or persistent disorder of the mental processes caused by brain disease or injury and marked by memory disorders, personality changes, and impaired reasoning.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin, from demens, dement- ‘out of one's mind’.

dementia praecox /prikks/ n. archaic term for SCHIZOPHRENIA.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘early insanity’.

Demerara /dεmərεrə -rαrə/ 1 a river of northern Guyana. Rising in the Guiana Highlands, it flows about 320 km (200 miles) northwards to the Atlantic.

2 a former Dutch colony in South America, now part of Guyana.

demerara /dεmərεrə -rαrə/ n. [mass noun] 1 (also demerara sugar) BRITISH light brown cane sugar coming originally and chiefly from Guyana.

2 (also demerara rum) a dark rum fermented from molasses, made in Guyana.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after the region of DEMERARA.

demerge v. [with obj.] BRITISH separate (a business) from another, particularly to dissolve an earlier merger.

demerger n. BRITISH the separation of a large company into two or more smaller organizations, particularly as the dissolution of an earlier merger.

demerit n. 1 a fault or disadvantage: the merits and demerits of these proposals.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a mark awarded against someone for a fault or offence.

<DERIVATIVES> demeritorious /-trəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘merit’): from Old French desmerite or Latin demeritum ‘something deserved’, neuter past participle of demereri, from de- ‘thoroughly’ (also understood in medieval Latin as denoting reversal) + mereri ‘to merit’.

Demerol /dεmərl/ n. trademark for PETHIDINE.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: of unknown origin.

demersal /dməs(ə)l/ adj. (chiefly of fish) living close to the floor of the sea or a lake. Often contrasted with PELAGIC.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin demersus (past participle of demergere ‘submerge, sink’, from de- ‘down’ + mergere ‘plunge’) + -AL.

demesne /dmen dmin/ n. HISTORICAL 1 a piece of land attached to a manor and retained by the owner for their own use.

- the lands of an estate.

- ARCHAIC a region or domain: she may one day queen it over that fair demesne.

2 [mass noun] [LAW] possession of real property in one's own right.

<PHRASES>

□ held in demesne (of an estate) occupied by the owner, not by tenants.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French demeine (later Anglo-Norman French demesne) ‘belonging to a lord’, from Latin dominicus, from dominus ‘lord, master’. Compare with DOMAIN.

Demeter /dmitə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the corn goddess, daughter of Cronus and Rhea and mother of Persephone. She is associated with Cybele and her symbol is typically an ear of corn. The Eleusinian mysteries were held in honour of her. Roman equivalent CERES. See also PERSEPHONE.

demi- prefix 1 half; half-size: demisemiquaver.

2 partially; in an inferior degree: demigod.

<ORIGIN> via French from medieval Latin dimedius ‘half’, from earlier dimidius.

demi-caractère /dεmkarəktε/ n. (pl. same) [mass noun] a style of ballet having elements of character dance, but executed with steps based on the classical technique.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘half character’.

demi-glace /dεmlas/ (also demi-glaze) n. a rich, glossy brown sauce from which the liquid has been partly evaporated, typically flavoured with wine and served with meat.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘half glaze’.

demigod (or demigoddess) n. a being with partial or lesser divine status, such as a minor deity, the offspring of a god and a mortal, or a mortal raised to divine rank.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: translating Latin semideus.

demijohn n. a bulbous narrow-necked bottle holding from 3 to 10 gallons of liquid, typically enclosed in a wicker cover.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: probably an alteration of French dame-jeanne ‘Lady Jane’, by association with DEMI- ‘half-sized’ and the given name John.

demilitarize (also demilitarise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. demilitarized) remove all military forces from (an area): a demilitarized zone.

<DERIVATIVES> demilitarization n.

de Mille /də ml/ Cecil B. (1881–1959), American film producer and director, famous for his spectacular epics; full name Cecil Blount de Mille. Notable films: The Ten Commandments (1923; remade 1956) and Samson and Delilah (1949).

demilune /dεmlun/ n. a crescent or half-circle, or a thing of this shape.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French demi-lune, literally ‘half-moon’.

demi-mondaine /dεmmnden/ French /dəmimdεn/ n. a woman considered to belong to the demi-monde.

<ORIGIN> French.

demi-monde /dεmmnd/ French /dəmimd/ n. (in 19th-century France) a class of women considered to be of doubtful social standing and morality.

- a group of people on the fringes of respectable society: the demi-monde of arms deals.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘half-world’.

demine v. [with obj.] remove explosive mines from: the army is working to demine the border.

<DERIVATIVES> deminer n.

demineralize (also demineralise) v. [with obj.] (often as adj. demineralized) remove salts from (water).

- deprive (teeth or bones) of essential minerals.

<DERIVATIVES> demineralization n.

demi-pension /dεmpsj/ n. [mass noun] hotel accommodation with bed, breakfast, and one main meal per day.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘half board’.

demirep /dεmrεp/ n. ARCHAIC a woman whose chastity is considered doubtful.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: abbreviation of demi-reputable.

demise /dmz/ n. [in sing.] 1 a person's death: Mr Grisenthwaite's tragic demise.

- the end or failure of an enterprise or institution: the demise of industry.

2 [mass noun] [LAW] conveyance or transfer of property or a title by will or lease.

■ v. [with obj.] [LAW] convey or grant (an estate) by will or lease.

- transmit (a sovereign's title) by death or abdication.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a legal term): from Anglo-Norman French, past participle (used as a noun) of Old French desmettre ‘dismiss’, (in reflexive) ‘abdicate’, based on Latin dimittere (see DISMISS).

demi-sec /dεmsεk/ French /dəmisεk/ adj. (of wine) medium dry.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘half-dry’.

demisemiquaver /dεmsεmkwevə/ n. [MUSIC], chiefly BRITISH a note having the time value of half a semiquaver, represented by a large dot with a three-hooked stem. Also called THIRTY-SECOND NOTE.

demist /dimst/ v. [with obj.] BRITISH clear condensation from (a vehicle's windscreen).

<DERIVATIVES> demister n.

demit /dmt/ v. (demits, demitting, demitted) [with obj.] FORMAL resign from (an office or position).

<DERIVATIVES> demission n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘dismiss’): from French démettre, from dé- ‘away from’ + mettre ‘put’.

demitasse /dεmtas/ n. a small coffee cup.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, literally ‘half-cup’.

demiurge /diməd dεm-/ n. a being responsible for the creation of the universe, in particular:

- (in Platonic philosophy) the Maker or Creator of the world.

- (in Gnosticism and other theological systems) a heavenly being, subordinate to the Supreme Being, that is considered to be the controller of the material world and antagonistic to all that is purely spiritual.

<DERIVATIVES> demiurgic /-ədk/ adj. demiurgical adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a magistrate in certain ancient Greek states): via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek dēmiourgos ‘craftsman’, from dēmios ‘public’ (from dēmos ‘people’) + -ergos ‘working’.

demo INFORMAL n. (pl. demos) 1 chiefly BRITISH a public demonstration: a peace demo.

2 a demonstration of the capabilities of something, typically computer software or a musical group: [as modifier] a demo tape.

■ v. (demos, demoing, demoed) [with obj.] demonstrate the capabilities of (software or equipment).

- record (a song) for demonstration purposes: they've already demoed twelve new songs.

demob /dimb/ BRITISH INFORMAL v. (demobs, demobbing, demobbed) [with obj.] demobilize (troops).

■ n. [mass noun] demobilization: we were waiting for our demob.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (following the First World War): abbreviation.

demob-happy adj. feeling elated because one is about to leave a stressful or responsible job or situation: she admitted feeling very demob-happy when he finally left the front benches in 1999.

demobilize /diməblz/ (also demobilise) v. [with obj.] take (troops) out of active service, typically at the end of a war: he was demobilized in February 1946.

- [no obj.] cease military operations: Germany demanded that they demobilize within twelve hours.

<DERIVATIVES> demobilization n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French démobiliser, from dé- (expressing reversal) + mobiliser ‘mobilize’.

democracy /dmkrəsi/ n. (pl. democracies) [mass noun] a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives: a system of parliamentary democracy.

- [count noun] a state governed in such a way: a multiparty democracy.

- control of an organization or group by the majority of its members: the intended extension of industrial democracy.

- the practice or principles of social equality: demands for greater democracy.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French démocratie, via late Latin from Greek dēmokratia, from dēmos ‘the people’ + -kratia ‘power, rule’.

democrat n. 1 an advocate or supporter of democracy.

2 (Democrat) (in the US) a member of the Democratic Party.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally denoting an opponent of the aristocrats in the French Revolution of 1790): from French démocrate, on the pattern of aristocrate ‘aristocrat’.

democratic adj. 1 relating to or supporting democracy or its principles: democratic countries | democratic government.

- favouring or characterized by social equality; egalitarian: cycling is a very democratic activity which can be enjoyed by anyone.

2 (Democratic) (in the US) relating to the Democratic Party.

<DERIVATIVES> democratically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French démocratique, via medieval Latin from Greek dēmokratikos, from dēmokratia (see DEMOCRACY).

democratic centralism n. [mass noun] the Leninist organizational system in which policy is decided centrally and is binding on all members.

Democratic Party one of the two main US political parties (the other being the Republican Party), which follows a broadly liberal programme, tending to support social reform and minority rights.

Democratic Republican Party a US political party founded in 1792 by Thomas Jefferson, a forerunner of the modern Democratic Party.

democratize /dmkrətz/ (also democratise) v. [with obj.] introduce a democratic system or democratic principles to: public institutions need to be democratized.

- make (something) accessible to everyone: mass production has not democratized fashion.

<DERIVATIVES> democratization n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French démocratiser.

Democritus /dmkrtəs/ (c.460–c.370 BC), Greek philosopher. He developed the atomic theory originated by his teacher, Leucippus, which explained natural phenomena in terms of the arrangement and rearrangement of atoms moving in a void.

démodé /deməde/ adj. out of fashion.

<ORIGIN> French, past participle of démoder ‘go out of fashion’.

demodectic mange /dimə()dεktk/ n. [mass noun] a form of mange caused by follicle mites and tending to affect chiefly the head and foreparts. Compare with SARCOPTIC MANGE.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: demodectic from modern Latin Demodex (from Greek dēmos ‘fat’ + dēx ‘woodworm’) + -IC.

demodulate v. [with obj.] [ELECTRONICS] extract or separate (a modulating signal) from its carrier.

<DERIVATIVES> demodulation n. demodulator n.

demographic /dεmərafk/ adj. relating to the structure of populations: the demographic trend is towards an older population.

■ n. a particular sector of a population: the drink is popular with a young demographic.

<DERIVATIVES> demographical adj. demographically adv.

demographics plural n. statistical data relating to the population and particular groups within it: the demographics of book buyers.

demography /dmrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the study of statistics such as births, deaths, income, or the incidence of disease, which illustrate the changing structure of human populations.

- the composition of a particular human population: Europe's demography is changing.

<DERIVATIVES> demographer n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek dēmos ‘the people’ + -GRAPHY.

Demoi plural form of DEMOS.

demoiselle /dεmwαzεl/ n. 1 (also demoiselle crane) a small Old World crane with a black head and breast and white ear tufts, breeding in SE Europe and central Asia.

<INFO> Anthropoides virgo, family Gruidae.

2 a damselfly, especially an agrion.

3 a damselfish.

4 ARCHAIC or LITERARY a young woman.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in sense 4): from French, from Old French dameisele ‘damsel’.

de Moivre's theorem /də mwαvr(ə)/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a theorem which states that (cos Θ + i sin Θ)n = cos nΘ + i sin nΘ, where i is the square root of −1.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: named after Abraham de Moivre (1667–1754) French-born mathematician, fellow of the Royal Society.

demolish /dml/ v. [with obj.] pull or knock down (a building).

- comprehensively refute (an argument or its proponent): I looked forward keenly to demolishing my opponent.

- INFORMAL overwhelmingly defeat (a player or team): Arsenal demolished City 3–0.

- British HUMOROUS eat up (food) quickly: Brown was busy demolishing a sausage roll.

<DERIVATIVES> demolisher n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French démoliss-, lengthened stem of démolir, from Latin demoliri, from de- (expressing reversal) + moliri ‘construct’ (from moles ‘mass’).

demolition n. [mass noun] the action or process of demolishing or being demolished: the monument was saved from demolition.

- INFORMAL an overwhelming defeat.

<DERIVATIVES> demolitionist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via French from Latin demolitio(n-), from the verb demoliri (see DEMOLISH).

demolition derby n. NORTH AMERICAN a competition in which cars are driven into each other until only one car is left running.

demon^1 n. 1 an evil spirit or devil, especially one thought to possess a person or act as a tormentor in hell.

- a cruel, evil, or unmanageable person: I was a little demon, I can tell you.

- a powerful, often destructive compulsion or obsession: he is plagued by demons which go back to his childhood.

- something very insidious and harmful: the demon of sexism | [as modifier] the demon drink.

2 [often as modifier] a forceful or skilful performer of a specified activity: a friend of mine is a demon cook.

3 another term for daemon^1 (sense 1).

<PHRASES>

□ like a demon in a very forceful, fierce, or skilful way: he worked like a demon.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from medieval Latin, from Latin daemon, from Greek daimōn ‘deity, genius’;

■ in sense 1 also from Latin daemonium ‘lesser or evil spirit’, from Greek daemonion, diminutive of daimōn.

demon^2 n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a police officer.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from Van Diemen's Land, an early name for Tasmania, or based on dee (slang term for detective) + MAN.

demonetize /dimntz -mn-/ (also demonetise) v. [with obj.] deprive (a coin or precious metal) of its status as money.

<DERIVATIVES> demonetization n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French démonétiser, from dé- (expressing reversal) + Latin moneta ‘money’.

demoniac /dmənak/ adj. relating to or characteristic of a demon or demons: a goddess with both divine and demoniac qualities | demoniac rage.

■ n. a person supposedly possessed by an evil spirit.

<DERIVATIVES> demoniacal /dimənək(ə)l/ adj. demoniacally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French demoniaque, from ecclesiastical Latin daemoniacus, from daemonium ‘lesser or evil spirit’ (see demon^1).

demonic /dmnk/ adj. relating to or characteristic of demons or evil spirits: demonic possession | her laughter was demonic.

<DERIVATIVES> demonically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via late Latin from Greek daimonikos, from daimōn (see demon^1).

demonism /dimənz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] 1 belief in the power of demons.

2 action or behaviour that seems too cruel or wicked to be human: the demonism of warfare.

demonize (also demonise) v. [with obj.] portray as wicked and threatening: he was demonized by the right-wing press.

<DERIVATIVES> demonization n.

demono- /dimənə/ combining form relating to demons: demonolatry.

<ORIGIN> from Greek daimon ‘demon’.

demonolatry /dimənlətri/ n. [mass noun] the worship of demons.

demonology n. (pl. demonologies) [mass noun] the study of demons or demonic belief.

- a set of beliefs about people or things regarded as harmful or unwelcome.

<DERIVATIVES> demonological adj. demonologist n.

demonopolize (also demonopolise) v. [with obj.] introduce competition into (a market or economy) by privatizing previously nationalized assets.

<DERIVATIVES> demonopolization n.

demonstrable /dmnstrəb(ə)l dεmən-/ adj. clearly apparent or capable of being logically proved: the demonstrable injustices of racism.

<DERIVATIVES> demonstrability n. demonstrably /dεmənstrəbli/ adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin demonstrabilis, from demonstrare ‘point out’.

demonstrate v. 1 [with obj.] clearly show the existence or truth of (something) by giving proof or evidence: their shameful silence demonstrates their ineptitude.

- show (a feeling or quality) by one's actions: she began to demonstrate a new-found confidence.

2 [with obj.] give a practical exhibition and explanation of (how a machine, skill, or craft works or is performed): computerized design methods will be demonstrated | [with clause] she demonstrated how to cook chops.

3 [no obj.] take part in a public demonstration: thousands demonstrated in favour of the government.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘point out’): from Latin demonstrat- ‘pointed out’, from the verb demonstrare.

demonstration n. 1 an act of showing that something exists or is true by giving proof or evidence: his demonstration of the need for computer corpora in language study is convincing | [mass noun] acts of faith are not capable of mathematical demonstration.

- an outward show of a feeling or quality: physical demonstrations of affection.

2 a practical exhibition and explanation of how something works or is performed: a microwave cookery demonstration.

3 a public meeting or march protesting against something or expressing views on a political issue.

<DERIVATIVES> demonstrational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the senses ‘proof provided by logic’ and ‘sign, indication’): from Latin demonstratio(n-), from demonstrare ‘point out’ (see DEMONSTRATE).

■ Sense 3 dates from the mid 19th cent.

demonstrative /dmnstrətv/ adj. 1 (of a person) unrestrained in showing feelings, especially those of affection.

2 serving as conclusive evidence of something.

- involving demonstration, especially by scientific means: the possibility of a demonstrative science of ethics.

3 [GRAMMAR] (of a determiner or pronoun) indicating the person or thing referred to (e.g. this, that, those).

■ n. [GRAMMAR] a demonstrative determiner or pronoun.

<DERIVATIVES> demonstratively adv. demonstrativeness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘serving as conclusive evidence of’ and ‘making manifest’): from Old French demonstratif, -ive, from Latin demonstrativus, from demonstrare ‘point out’ (see DEMONSTRATE).

demonstrator n. 1 a participant in a public protest meeting or march.

2 a person who shows how a piece of equipment works or how a skill or craft is performed.

- a piece of merchandise which can be tested by potential buyers.

de Montespan Marquise de, see MONTESPAN.

demoralize (also demoralise) v. [with obj.] 1 cause (someone) to lose confidence or hope: the General Strike had demoralized the trade unions.

2 ARCHAIC corrupt the morals of (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> demoralization n. demoralizing adj. demoralizingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French démoraliser (a word of the French Revolution), from dé- (expressing reversal) + moral ‘moral’, from Latin moralis.

demoralized (also demoralised) adj. having lost confidence or hope; disheartened: a weak and demoralized president.

De Morgan's laws plural n. [MATHEMATICS] two laws in Boolean algebra and set theory which state that AND and OR, or union and intersection, are dual. They are used to simplify the design of electronic circuits.

<INFO> The laws can be expressed in Boolean logic as: NOT (a AND b) = NOT a OR NOT b; NOT (a OR b) = NOT a AND NOT b.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Augustus De Morgan (1806–71), English mathematician, but already known (by logicians) as principles in the Middle Ages.

Demos /dims/ n. (pl. Demoi /dim/) the common people of an ancient Greek state.

- the populace of a democracy as a political unit.

<ORIGIN> from Greek dēmos.

Demosthenes /dmsθəniz/ (384–322 BC), Athenian orator and statesman. He is best known for his political speeches on the need to resist the aggressive tendencies of Philip II of Macedon (the Philippics).

demote v. [with obj.] move (someone) to a lower position or rank, usually as a punishment: the head of the army was demoted to deputy defence secretary.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DE- ‘down’ + a shortened form of PROMOTE.

demotic /dmtk/ adj. denoting or relating to the kind of language used by ordinary people; colloquial: a demotic idiom.

- relating to or denoting the form of modern Greek used in everyday speech and writing. Compare with KATHAREVOUSA.

- relating to or denoting a simplified, cursive form of ancient Egyptian script, dating from c.650 BC and replaced by Greek in the Ptolemaic period. Compare with HIERATIC.

■ n. [mass noun] ordinary colloquial speech.

- demotic Greek.

- demotic Egyptian script.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the sense ‘relating to the Egyptian demotic’): from Greek dēmotikos ‘popular’, from dēmotēs ‘one of the people’, from dēmos ‘the people’.

demotion n. [mass noun] reduction in rank or status: she could remain on the staff if she accepted demotion to ordinary lecturer | [count noun] too many demotions would weaken morale.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DEMOTE, on the pattern of promotion.

demotivate v. [with obj.] make (someone) less eager to work or study: some children disrupt classes and demotivate other pupils.

<DERIVATIVES> demotivation n.

demountable adj. able to be dismantled or removed from its setting and readily reassembled or repositioned.

<DERIVATIVES> demount v.

Dempsey /dεmpsi/ Jack (1895–1983), American boxer; full name William Harrison Dempsey. He was world heavyweight champion 1919–26.

demulcent /dmls(ə)nt/ MEDICINE adj. (of a substance) relieving inflammation or irritation.

■ n. a substance that relieves irritation of the mucous membranes in the mouth by forming a protective film.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin demulcent- ‘stroking caressingly’, from the verb demulcere, from de- ‘away’ + mulcere ‘soothe’.

demur /dmə/ v. (demurs, demurring, demurred) [no obj.] raise objections or show reluctance: normally she would have accepted the challenge, but she demurred.

- [LAW], DATED put forward a demurrer.

■ n. [mass noun] [usually with negative] the action of objecting to or hesitating over something: they accepted this ruling without demur.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘linger, delay’): from Old French demourer (verb), demeure (noun), based on Latin de- ‘away, completely’ + morari ‘delay’.

demure /dmjə dmj/ adj. (demurer, demurest) (of a woman or her behaviour) reserved, modest, and shy.

- (of clothing) suggesting that a woman is demure.

<DERIVATIVES> demurely adv. demureness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘sober, serious, reserved’): perhaps from Old French demoure, past participle of demourer ‘remain’ (see DEMUR); influenced by Old French mur ‘grave’, from Latin maturus ‘ripe or mature’. The sense ‘reserved, shy’ dates from the late 17th cent.

demurrable /dmərəb(ə)l/ adj. DATED, chiefly [LAW] open to demurrer.

demurrage /dmrd/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] a charge payable to the owner of a chartered ship on failure to load or discharge the ship within the time agreed.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (also in the general sense ‘delay’): from Old French demourage, from the verb demourer (see DEMUR).

demurral /dmər(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] the action of demurring: words of demurral.

demurrer /dmərə/ n. [LAW], DATED an objection granting the factual basis of an opponent's point but dismissing it as irrelevant or invalid.

- FORMAL an objection.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Anglo-Norman French (infinitive used as a noun), from Old French demourer ‘remain, stay’ (see DEMUR).

demutualize /dimjutəlz -tjə-/ (also demutualise) v. [no obj.] (of a mutual organization such as a building society) change from being owned by its members to a different kind of ownership.

<DERIVATIVES> demutualization n.

demy /dm/ (also metric demy) n. [mass noun] a paper size, 564 × 444 mm.

- (also demy octavo) a book size, 216 × 138 mm.

- (also demy quarto) a book size, 276 × 219 mm.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘half-sized’): from DEMI-, or from its source, French demi ‘half’.

demyelinate /diməlnet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. demyelinating) MEDICINE cause the loss or destruction of myelin in (nerve tissue): a chronic demyelinating disease.

<DERIVATIVES> demyelination n.

demystify v. (demystifies, demystifying, demystified) [with obj.] make (a difficult subject) clearer and easier to understand: this book attempts to demystify technology.

<DERIVATIVES> demystification n.

demythologize (also demythologise) v. [with obj.] reinterpret (a subject) so that it is free of mythical elements: the biographer undertakes to demythologize a man who is for many a modern saint.

- reinterpret what are considered to be mythological elements of (the Bible).

den n. 1 a wild mammal's hidden home; a lair.

- INFORMAL a room or hideout where a person can go to relax or be private.

- a place where people meet in secret, typically to engage in an illicit activity: an opium den | a den of iniquity.

2 chiefly US a small subdivision of a Cub Scout pack.

■ v. (dens, denning, denned) [no obj.] (of a wild animal) live in a den: the cubs denned in the late autumn.

<ORIGIN> Old English denn, of Germanic origin; related to German Tenne ‘threshing floor’, also to dene^1.

Denali /dnαli/ another name for Mount McKinley (see MCKINLEY, MOUNT).

denar /dinə/ n. the basic monetary unit of the republic of Macedonia.

<ORIGIN> based on Latin denarius; compare with DINAR.

denarius /dnεrəs dnαrəs/ n. (pl. denarii /-r -ri/) an ancient Roman silver coin, originally worth ten asses.

- a unit of weight equal to that of a silver denarius.

- an ancient Roman gold coin worth 25 silver denarii.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘containing ten’, from the phrase denarius nummus ‘coin worth ten asses’ (see as^2), from deni ‘in tens’, from decem ‘ten’.

denary /din(ə)ri/ adj. less common term for DECIMAL: denary numbers.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin denarius ‘containing ten’ (see DENARIUS).

denationalize (also denationalise) v. [with obj.] 1 transfer (a nationalized industry or institution) from public to private ownership.

2 deprive (a country or person) of nationality or national characteristics.

<DERIVATIVES> denationalization n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in sense 2): from French dénationaliser (a word of the French Revolution), from dé- (expressing reversal) + nationaliser ‘nationalize’.

denaturalize (also denaturalise) v. [with obj.] 1 make (something) unnatural.

2 deprive (someone) of citizenship of a country.

<DERIVATIVES> denaturalization n.

denaturant /dinetər(ə)nt/ n. 1 a substance which causes denaturation of proteins or other biological compounds.

2 a toxic or foul-smelling substance added to alcohol to make it unfit for drinking.

denature /dinetə/ v. [with obj.] 1 (often as adj. denatured) take away or alter the natural qualities of: many forms of packaged and denatured culture.

2 make (alcohol) unfit for drinking by the addition of toxic or foul-tasting substances.

3 [BIOCHEMISTRY] destroy the characteristic properties of (a protein or other biological macromolecule) by heat, acidity, or other effect which disrupts its molecular conformation.

<DERIVATIVES> denaturation n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French dénaturer, from dé- (expressing reversal) + nature ‘nature’.

denazify v. (denazifies, denazifying, denazified) [with obj.] remove Nazi influence from.

<DERIVATIVES> denazification n.

Denbighshire /dεnbə -ə/ a county of North Wales; administrative centre, Ruthin. It was divided between Clwyd and Gwynedd between 1974 and 1996.

Dench /dεnt/ Dame Judi (b.1934), English actress; full name Judith Olivia Dench. She has performed with the Old Vic Company (1957–61) and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and appeared in numerous West End, film, and television productions; she won an Oscar for her role in Shakespeare in Love (1999).

dendrimer /dεndrmə/ n. a synthetic polymer with a branching, tree-like structure.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from Greek dendron ‘tree’ + -I- + -MER.

dendrite /dεndrt/ n. 1 [PHYSIOLOGY] a short branched extension of a nerve cell, along which impulses received from other cells at synapses are transmitted to the cell body. Compare with AXON.

2 a crystal or crystalline mass with a branching, tree-like structure.

- a natural tree-like or moss-like marking on a rock or mineral.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Greek dendritēs ‘tree-like’, from dendron ‘tree’.

dendritic /dεndrtk/ adj. TECHNICAL having a branched form resembling a tree.

- [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to a dendrite or dendrites.

- (of a solid) consisting of crystalline dendrites: dendritic salt.

<DERIVATIVES> dendritically adv.

dendro- /dεndrə/ combining form relating to a tree or trees: dendrology.

<ORIGIN> from Greek dendron ‘tree’.

dendrochronology n. [mass noun] the science or technique of dating events, environmental change, and archaeological artefacts by using the characteristic patterns of annual growth rings in timber and tree trunks.

<DERIVATIVES> dendrochronological adj. dendrochronologist n.

dendrogram /dεndrə()ram/ n. a tree diagram, especially one showing taxonomic relationships.

dendroid /dεndrd/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of a plant, marine invertebrate, or structure) tree-shaped; branching.

■ n. [PALAEONTOLOGY] a graptolite of a type that formed much-branched colonies, found chiefly in the Ordovician and Silurian periods.

<INFO> Order Dendroidea, class Graptolithina.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DENDRO- ‘tree’ + -OID.

dendrology /dεndrlədi/ n. [mass noun] the scientific study of trees.

<DERIVATIVES> dendrological adj. dendrologist n.

dendron /dεndrn/ n. another term for dendrite (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DENDRITE, on the pattern of words such as axon.

Dene /dεne dεni/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a group of American Indian peoples of the Canadian North-West and Alaska.

2 [mass noun] any of the Athabaskan languages of the Dene.

■ adj. relating to the Dene or their languages.

<ORIGIN> from French Déné, from an Athabaskan word meaning ‘people’.

dene^1 /din/ (also dean) n. [usually in place names] BRITISH a vale, especially the deep, narrow, wooded valley of a small river: Rottingdean | Deepdene.

<ORIGIN> Old English denu, of Germanic origin; related to DEN.

dene^2 /din/ n. DIALECT a bare sandy tract or low sandhill by the sea.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps of Germanic origin and related to DUNE.

Deneb /dεnεb/ [ASTRONOMY] the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus, a yellow supergiant.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic, literally ‘tail’ (i.e. of the ‘swan’).

Denebola /dnεbələ/ [ASTRONOMY] the second-brightest star in the constellation Leo.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic dhanab al(-asad) ‘(lion's) tail’.

denervate /dinəvet/ v. [with obj.] MEDICINE remove or cut off the nerve supply from (a body part or organ): (as adj. denervated) the denervated muscle fibres.

<DERIVATIVES> denervation n.

Deneuve /dənəv/ French /dənœv/ Catherine (b.1943), French actress; born Catherine Dorléac. Notable films: Repulsion (1965) and Belle de jour (1967).

dengue /dεi/ (also dengue fever) n. [mass noun] a debilitating viral disease of the tropics, transmitted by mosquitoes, and causing sudden fever and acute pains in the joints.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from West Indian Spanish, from Kiswahili dinga (in full kidingapopo), influenced by Spanish dengue ‘fastidiousness’ (with reference to the dislike of movement by affected patients).

Deng Xiaoping /dε ap d/ (also Teng Hsiao-p'ing)

- (1904–97), Chinese communist statesman, Vice-Premier 1973–6 and 1977–80; Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party 1977–80. Discredited during the Cultural Revolution, he was reinstated in 1977, becoming the effective leader of China. He worked to modernize the economy and improve relations with the West.

Den Haag Dutch /dεn hax/ Dutch name for The Hague (see HAGUE).

deni /dεni/ n. a monetary unit of the republic of Macedonia, equal to one hundredth of a denar.

<ORIGIN> Macedonian, from DENAR.

deniable adj. able to be denied.

<DERIVATIVES> deniability n. deniably adv.

denial n. [mass noun] the action of denying something: she shook her head in denial.

- [count noun] a statement that something is not true: his pious denials of responsibility.

- the refusal of something requested or desired: the denial of insurance to people with certain medical conditions.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] refusal to acknowledge an unacceptable truth or emotion or to admit it into consciousness, used as a defence mechanism: I was an addict in denial.

denier^1 /dεnə/ n. 1 a unit of weight by which the fineness of silk, rayon, or nylon yarn is measured, equal to the weight in grams of 9,000 metres of the yarn and often used to describe the thickness of hosiery: 15-denier stockings.

2 a former French coin, equal to one twelfth of a sou, which was withdrawn in the 19th century.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin denarius (see DENARIUS).

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 19th cent.

denier^2 /dnə/ n. a person who denies something: a prominent denier of global warming.

denigrate /dεnret/ v. [with obj.] criticize unfairly; disparage: doom and gloom merchants who denigrate their own country.

<DERIVATIVES> denigration n. denigrator n. denigratory /-ret(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘blacken, make dark’): from Latin denigrat- ‘blackened’, from the verb denigrare, from de- ‘away, completely’ + nigrare (from niger ‘black’).

denim n. [mass noun] a hard-wearing cotton twill fabric, typically blue and used for jeans and other clothing.

- (denims) jeans or other garments made of denim: a pair of denims.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as serge denim): from French serge de Nîmes, denoting a kind of serge from the town of Nîmes.

De Niro /də nərə/ Robert (b.1943), American actor. He has starred in many films, often playing tough characters and frequently working with director Martin Scorsese. He has won Oscars for The Godfather Part II (1974) and Raging Bull (1980).

Denis /dəni/ French /dəni/ Maurice (1870–1943), French painter, designer, and art theorist. A member of the Nabi Group, he wrote many works on art, including Théories (1913) and Nouvelles Théories (1921).

Denis, St /dεns/ French /dəni/ (also Denys)

- (died c.250), Italian-born French bishop, patron saint of France; Roman name Dionysius. According to tradition he was one of a group of seven missionaries sent from Rome to convert Gaul; he became bishop of Paris and was martyred in the reign of the emperor Valerian. Feast day, 9 October.

denitrify /dintrf/ v. (denitrifies, denitrifying, denitrified) [with obj.] (chiefly of bacteria) remove the nitrates or nitrites from (soil, air, or water) by chemical reduction.

<DERIVATIVES> denitrification n.

denizen /dεnz(ə)n/ n. FORMAL or HUMOROUS a person, animal, or plant that lives or is found in a particular place: denizens of field and forest.

- British HISTORICAL a foreigner allowed certain rights in their adopted country.

<DERIVATIVES> denizenship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English deynseyn, via Anglo-Norman French from Old French deinz ‘within’ (from Latin de ‘from’ + intus ‘within’) + -ein (from Latin -aneus ‘-aneous’). The change in the form of the word was due to association with CITIZEN.

Denmark a Scandinavian country consisting of the greater part of the Jutland peninsula and several neighbouring islands, between the North Sea and the Baltic; pop. 5,368,854 (est. 2002); official language, Danish; capital, Copenhagen. Danish name DANMARK.

Denmark emerged as a separate country during the Viking period of the 10th and 11th centuries. In the 14th century Denmark and Norway were united under a Danish king, the union being joined between 1389–97 and 1523 by Sweden; Norway was ceded to Sweden in 1814. Although neutral, Denmark was occupied by Germany for much of the Second World War. Denmark joined the EC in 1973.

den mother n. US the female leader of a den of Cub Scouts.

denominal /dnmnəl/ adj. (of a word) derived from a noun.

■ n. a word that is derived from a noun.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from DE- (SENSE 3) + NOMINAL.

denominate /dnmnet/ v. 1 (be denominated) (of sums of money) be expressed in a specified monetary unit: the borrowings were denominated in US dollars.

2 [with obj. and complement] FORMAL call; name.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Latin denominat- ‘named’, from the verb denominare, from de- ‘away, formally’ + nominare ‘to name’ (from nomen, nomin- ‘name’).

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 20th cent.

denomination n. 1 a recognized autonomous branch of the Christian Church.

- a branch of any religion: Orthodox Jewish denominations.

2 the face value of a banknote, coin, or postage stamp: [as modifier] high-denomination banknotes.

- the rank of a playing card within a suit, or of a suit relative to others: two cards of the same denomination.

3 FORMAL a name or designation.

- [mass noun] the action of naming or classifying something.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3): from Latin denominatio(n-), from the verb denominare (see DENOMINATE).

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 17th cent.

denominational adj. relating to or according to the principles of a particular religious denomination: denominational schools.

<DERIVATIVES> denominationalism n.

denominative /dnmnətv/ adj. old-fashioned term for DENOMINAL.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a noun in the grammatical sense): from late Latin denominativus, from denominat- ‘named’, from the verb denominare (see DENOMINATE).

denominator n. [MATHEMATICS] the number below the line in a vulgar fraction; a divisor.

- a figure representing the total population in terms of which statistical values are expressed.

de nos jours /də nə ə/ French /də nə uR/ adj. [postpositive] contemporary: he is a kind of Oscar Wilde de nos jours.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘of our days’.

denotation n. [mass noun] the action of indicating or referring to something by means of a word, symbol, etc.

- [count noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the object or concept to which a term refers, or the set of objects of which a predicate is true. Often contrasted with CONNOTATION.

<DERIVATIVES> denotational adj.

denote /dnət/ v. [with obj.] be a sign of; indicate: this mark denotes purity and quality.

- stand as a name or symbol for: the level of output per firm is denoted by X.

<DERIVATIVES> denotative /-tətv/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘be a sign of, mark out’): from French dénoter or Latin denotare, from de- ‘away, thoroughly’ + notare ‘observe, note’ (from nota ‘a mark’).

<USAGE> For an explanation of the difference between denote and connote see usage at connote.

denouement /denum/ (also dénouement) n. the final part of a play, film, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.

- the outcome of a situation, when something is decided or made clear: I waited by the eighteenth green to see the denouement.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French dénouement, from dénouer ‘unknot’.

denounce v. [with obj.] publicly declare to be wrong or evil: the Assembly denounced the use of violence | he was widely denounced as a traitor.

- inform against: priests denounced him to the King for heresy.

<DERIVATIVES> denouncement n. denouncer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘proclaim’, also ‘proclaim someone to be wicked, a rebel, etc.’): from Old French denoncier, from Latin denuntiare ‘give official information’, based on nuntius ‘messenger’.

de novo /de nəvə di/ adv. & adj. starting from the beginning; anew: [as adv.] in a pure meritocracy, everyone must begin de novo | [as adj.] a general strategy for de novo protein design.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘from new’.

Denpasar /dεnpαsα/ the chief city of the island of Bali, a seaport on the south coast; pop. 491,500 (est. 2002).

dense adj. 1 closely compacted in substance: as the storm cleared, a dense fog came down.

- having the constituent parts crowded closely together: she made her way through the dense undergrowth.

2 INFORMAL (of a person) stupid.

3 (of a text) hard to understand because of its complexity of ideas.

<DERIVATIVES> densely adv. denseness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin densus.

densify v. (densifies, densifying, densified) [with obj.] (often as adj. densified) make (something) more dense: densified hardboard.

<DERIVATIVES> densification n.

densimeter /dεnsmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring density, especially of liquids.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin densus ‘dense’ + -METER.

densitometer /dεnstmtə/ n. 1 a device for measuring the density of a material.

2 an instrument for measuring the photographic density of an image on a film or photographic print.

<DERIVATIVES> densitometric adj. densitometrically adv. densitometry n.

density n. (pl. densities) [mass noun] 1 the degree of compactness of a substance: a reduction in bone density.

- (also packing density) [COMPUTING] a measure of the amount of information on a storage medium: [as modifier, in combination] a low-density floppy disk.

- [PHYSICS] the quantity of mass per unit volume of a substance.

- the opacity of a photographic image.

2 the quantity of people or things in a given area or space: areas of low population density | [count noun] a density of 10,000 per square mile.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French densité or Latin densitas, from densus ‘dense’.

density function n. short for PROBABILITY DENSITY FUNCTION.

dent n. 1 a slight hollow in a hard even surface made by a blow or pressure.

2 a reduction in amount or size: he has barely made a dent in the poverty rate.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 mark with a dent: he hit a concrete bollard, denting the wing.

2 have an adverse effect on; diminish: this neither deterred him nor dented his enthusiasm.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (designating a blow with a weapon): variant of DINT.

dental adj. 1 [attr.] relating to the teeth: dental health.

- relating to dentistry.

2 [PHONETICS] (of a consonant) pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the upper front teeth (as th) or the alveolar ridge (as n, d, t).

■ n. [PHONETICS] a dental consonant.

<DERIVATIVES> dentalize (also dentalise) v. ([PHONETICS]) dentally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin dentalis, from Latin dens, dent- ‘tooth’.

dental floss n. [mass noun] a soft thread of floss silk or similar material used to clean between the teeth.

dental formula n. [ZOOLOGY] a formula expressing the number and kinds of teeth possessed by a mammal. A dental formula is usually written in the form of four ‘fractions’, one for each type of tooth, with the upper and lower lines describing the upper and lower jaws respectively.

dental hygienist n. an ancillary dental worker specializing in scaling and polishing teeth, and giving advice on oral hygiene.

<DERIVATIVES> dental hygiene n.

dentalium /dεnteləm/ n.

- [mass noun] tusk shells used as ornaments or (formerly) as currency, especially by some American Indian peoples.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from late Latin dentalis (see DENTAL).

dental surgeon n. a dentist.

dental technician (also dental mechanic) n. a person who makes and repairs artificial teeth.

dentary /dεnt(ə)ri/ n. (pl. dentaries) [ZOOLOGY] the anterior bone of the lower jaw which bears the teeth. In mammals it forms the whole of the lower jaw (or mandible).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from late Latin dentarius, from Latin dens, dent- ‘tooth’.

dentate /dεntet/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] having a tooth-like or serrated edge.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dentatus, from dens, dent- ‘tooth’.

dentelle /dεntεl/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) [mass noun] ornamental tooling used in bookbinding, resembling lace edging.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, ‘lace’, from dent ‘tooth’ + the diminutive suffix -elle.

dentex n. (pl. same or dentexes) a sea bream of the genus Dentex, especially D. dentex of the Mediterranean and the North African Atlantic coast.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (genus name), from Latin.

denticle /dεntk(ə)l/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a small tooth or tooth-like projection.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a pointer on an astrolabe): from Latin denticulus, diminutive of dens, dent- ‘tooth’.

denticulate /dεntkjlət/ adj. having small teeth or tooth-like projections; finely toothed.

<DERIVATIVES> denticulated adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin denticulatus, from denticulus ‘small tooth’ (see DENTICLE).

dentifrice /dεntfrs/ n. a paste or powder for cleaning the teeth.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, from Latin dentifricium, from dens, dent- ‘tooth’ + fricare ‘to rub’.

dentil /dεntl/ n. [often as modifier] (in classical architecture) one of a number of small rectangular blocks resembling teeth, used as a decoration under the moulding of a cornice: a dentil frieze.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian dentello or obsolete French dentille, diminutive of dent ‘tooth’, from Latin dens, dent-.

dentilingual /dεntlw(ə)l/ adj. [PHONETICS] (of a consonant) pronounced with the teeth and the tongue; dental.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin dens, dent- ‘tooth’ + LINGUAL.

dentine /dεntin/ (US dentin /-tn/) n. [mass noun] hard dense bony tissue forming the bulk of a tooth, beneath the enamel.

<DERIVATIVES> dentinal /dεntn(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin dens, dent- ‘tooth’ + -INE^4.

dentist n. a person who is qualified to treat diseases and other conditions that affect the teeth and gums, especially the repair and extraction of teeth and the insertion of artificial ones.

<DERIVATIVES> dentistry n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French dentiste, from dent ‘tooth’, from Latin dens, dent-.

dentition /dεnt(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the arrangement or condition of the teeth in a particular species or individual.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting the development of teeth): from Latin dentitio(n-), from dentire ‘teethe’, from dens, dent- ‘tooth’.

denture /dεntə/ n. (usually dentures) a removable plate or frame holding one or more artificial teeth.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from dent ‘tooth’, from Latin dens, dent-.

denturist n. a person who makes dentures.

denuclearize (also denuclearise) v. [with obj.] remove nuclear weapons from.

<DERIVATIVES> denuclearization n.

denude v. [with obj.] strip (something) of its covering, possessions, or assets: almost overnight the Arctic was denuded of animals.

<DERIVATIVES> denudation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin denudare, from de- ‘completely’ + nudare ‘to bare’ (from nudus ‘naked’).

denumerable /dnjum(ə)rəb(ə)l/ adj. [MATHEMATICS] able to be counted by a one-to-one correspondence with the infinite set of integers.

<DERIVATIVES> denumerability n. denumerably adv.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from late Latin denumerare ‘count out’ + -ABLE.

denunciation /dnnse(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] public condemnation of someone or something.

- the action of informing against someone.

<DERIVATIVES> denunciator n. denunciatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin denuntiatio(n-), from the verb denuntiare (see DENOUNCE). The original sense was ‘public announcement’, also ‘formal accusation’; the main sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

Denver /dεnvə/ a city in Colorado, the state capital; pop. 554,636 (2000). Situated at an altitude of 1,608 m (5,280 ft) on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, Denver was developed in the 1870s as a silver-mining town.

Denver boot n. NORTH AMERICAN a wheel clamp.

deny /dn/ v. (denies, denying, denied) [with obj.] state that one refuses to admit the truth or existence of: both firms deny any responsibility for the tragedy.

- [with two objs] refuse to give (something requested or desired) to (someone): the inquiry was denied access to intelligence sources.

- (deny oneself) refuse to let oneself have something that one desires: he had denied himself sexually for years.

- ARCHAIC refuse access to (someone).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French deni-, stressed stem of deneier, from Latin denegare, from de- ‘formally’ + negare ‘say no’.

Denys, St see DENIS, ST.

deoch an doris /dx (ə)n drs dk/ (also doch an dorris) n. SCOTTISH & IRISH a final drink taken before parting.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Scottish Gaelic deoch an doruis ‘drink at the door’.

deodar /diə()dα/ n. a tall, broadly conical cedar which has drooping branches and bears large barrel-shaped cones, native to the Himalayas.

<INFO> Cedrus deodara, family Pinaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Hindi deodār, from Sanskrit devadāru ‘divine tree’.

deodorant /dəd(ə)r(ə)nt/ n. a substance which removes or conceals unpleasant smells, especially bodily odours.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DE- (expressing removal) + Latin odor ‘smell’ + -ANT.

deodorize (also deodorise) v. [with obj.] remove or conceal an unpleasant smell in: people used dried flowers to deodorize their homes.

<DERIVATIVES> deodorization n. deodorizer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DE- (expressing removal) + Latin odor ‘smell’ + -IZE.

Deo gratias /deə rαtəs -əs/ exclam. thanks be to God.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

deontic /dntk/ adj. [PHILOSOPHY] relating to duty and obligation as ethical concepts.

- [LINGUISTICS] expressing duty or obligation.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from Greek deont- ‘being right’ (from dei ‘it is right’) + -IC.

deontology /dintlədi/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the study of the nature of duty and obligation.

<DERIVATIVES> deontological adj. deontologist n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek deont- ‘being right’ (from dei ‘it is right’) + -LOGY.

Deo volente /deə vlεnte/ adv. God willing; if nothing prevents it.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

deoxidize /diksdz/ v. [with obj.] remove combined oxygen from (a substance, usually a metal).

<DERIVATIVES> deoxidation n. deoxidizer n.

deoxycorticosterone /diksktkəstεrən/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a corticosteroid hormone involved in regulating the salt and water balance of the body.

deoxygenate /diksdənet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. deoxygenated) remove oxygen from: deoxygenated air.

<DERIVATIVES> deoxygenation n.

deoxyribonuclease /diksrbənjuklez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for DNASE.

deoxyribonucleic acid /dksrbənjuklek/ n. see DNA.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: deoxyribonucleic from a blend of DEOXYRIBOSE and NUCLEIC ACID.

deoxyribose /dksrbəz -s/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a sugar derived from ribose by replacement of a hydroxyl group by hydrogen.

<INFO> Chem. formula; C_5H_10O_4. There are several isomers; the isomer 2-deoxyribose is a constituent of DNA.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from DE- (expressing reduction) + OXY-2 + RIBOSE.

dep. abbr.

- departs.

- deputy.

Depardieu /dεpαdjə/ French /dəpaRdjø/ Gérard (b.1948), French actor. Notable films: Danton (1982), Jean de Florette (1986), and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990).

depart v. [no obj.] leave, especially in order to start a journey: they departed for Germany | a contingent was departing from Cairo.

- (depart from) deviate from (an accepted, prescribed, or usual course of action): he departed from the precedent set by many.

- [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN leave (one's job).

<PHRASES>

□ depart this life ARCHAIC die.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French departir, based on Latin dispertire ‘to divide’. The original sense was ‘separate’, also ‘take leave of each other’, hence ‘go away’.

departed adj. dead: a dear departed relative | (as n. the departed) prayers for the departed.

department n. a division of a large organization such as a government, university, or business, dealing with a specific area of activity: the council's finance department.

- an administrative district in France and other countries.

- (one's department) INFORMAL an area of special expertise or responsibility: that's not my department.

- [with modifier] INFORMAL a specified aspect or quality: he was a bit lacking in the height department.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French departement, from departir (see DEPART). The original sense was ‘division or distribution’, later ‘separation’, hence ‘a separate part’ (core sense, mid 18th century).

departmental adj. concerned with or belonging to a department of an organization: a departmental meeting.

<DERIVATIVES> departmentally adv.

departmentalism n. [mass noun] adherence to departmental methods or structure.

departmentalize (also departmentalise) v. [with obj.] divide (an organization or its work) into departments.

<DERIVATIVES> departmentalization n.

department store n. a large shop stocking many varieties of goods in different departments.

departure n. [mass noun] the action of leaving, especially to start a journey: the day of departure | [count noun] she made a hasty departure.

- [count noun] a deviation from an accepted, prescribed, or usual course of action: the album is not a radical departure from the band's previous work.

- [NAUTICAL] the amount of a ship's change of longitude.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French departeure, from the verb departir (see DEPART).

depasture v. [with obj.] BRITISH put (an animal) to graze on pasture.

<DERIVATIVES> depasturage n.

depauperate /dpp(ə)rət/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of a flora, fauna, or ecosystem) lacking in numbers or variety of species: oceanic islands are generally depauperate in mayflies.

- (of a plant or animal) imperfectly developed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘impoverished’): from medieval Latin depauperatus, past participle of depauperare, from de- ‘completely’ + pauperare ‘make poor’ (from pauper ‘poor’).

dépaysé /depeze/ French /depeize/ (also dépaysée) adj. removed from one's habitual surroundings.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘(removed) from one's own country’.

depend v. [no obj.] 1 (depend on/upon) be controlled or determined by: differences in earnings depended on a wide variety of factors.

2 (depend on/upon) be able to trust; rely on: we can depend on her to deliver a quality product.

- need for financial or other support: a town which had depended heavily upon the wool industry.

- be grammatically dependent on.

3 ARCHAIC or LITERARY hang down: his tongue depended from open jaws.

<PHRASES>

□ depending on according to: makes 8–10 burgers (depending on size).

□ it (or that) (all) depends used to express uncertainty in answering a question: How many people use each screen? It all depends.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3; also in the sense ‘wait or be in suspense’): from Old French dependre, from Latin dependere, from de- ‘down’ + pendere ‘hang’.

<USAGE> In informal use, it is quite common for the on to be dropped in sentences such as it all depends how you look at it (rather than it all depends on how you look at it), but in well-formed written English the on should always be retained.

dependable adj. trustworthy and reliable.

<DERIVATIVES> dependability n. dependably adv.

dependant (also dependent) n. a person who relies on another, especially a family member, for financial support.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a dependency): from Old French, literally ‘hanging down from’, present participle of dependre (see DEPEND).

<USAGE> Until recently, the correct spelling of the noun in British English was dependant, as in a single man with no dependants. However, in modern British (and US) English, the variant dependent is now standard. The adjective is always spelled -ent, never -ant, as in we are dependent on his goodwill.

dependence n. [mass noun] the state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else: Japan's dependence on imported oil.

- reliance on someone or something for financial support: the dependence of our medical schools on grant funds.

- addiction to drink or drugs: alcohol dependence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘hanging down or something that hangs down’): from Old French dependance, from the verb dependre (see DEPEND).

dependency n. (pl. dependencies) 1 a country or province controlled by another.

2 [mass noun] dependence: the country's dependency on the oil industry.

dependency culture n. a way of life characterized by dependency on state benefits.

dependent adj. 1 (dependent on/upon) contingent on or determined by: the various benefits will be dependent on length of service.

2 requiring someone or something for financial or other support: an economy heavily dependent on oil exports | households with dependent children.

- unable to do without: people dependent on drugs.

3 [GRAMMAR] (of a clause, phrase, or word) subordinate to another clause, phrase, or word.

■ n. variant spelling of DEPENDANT.

<DERIVATIVES> dependently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English dependant ‘hanging down’, from Old French, present participle of dependre (see DEPEND). The spelling change in the 16th century was due to association with the Latin participial stem dependent-.

<USAGE> On the distinction between dependent and dependant see usage at dependant.

dependent variable n. [MATHEMATICS] a variable (often denoted by y) whose value depends on that of another. Also called RESPONSE VARIABLE.

depersonalization /dipəs(ə)n(ə)lze(ə)n/ (also depersonalisation) n. [mass noun] the action of divesting someone or something of human characteristics or individuality.

- [PSYCHIATRY] a state in which one's thoughts and feelings seem unreal or not to belong to oneself.

depersonalize (also depersonalise) v. [with obj.] divest of human characteristics or individuality.

dephlogisticated /diflədstketd/ adj. [CHEMISTRY], HISTORICAL deprived of ‘phlogiston’. Oxygen was originally called dephlogisticated air by Joseph Priestley.

depict /dpkt/ v. [with obj.] represent by a drawing, painting, or other art form.

- portray in words; describe: youth is depicted as a time of vitality and good health.

<DERIVATIVES> depicter n. depictive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin depict- ‘portrayed’, from the verb depingere, from de- ‘completely’ + pingere ‘to paint’.

depiction n. [mass noun] the action of depicting something, especially in a work of art: the painting's horrific depiction of war | [count noun] Michelangelo's depictions of the male nude.

depigment /dipm(ə)nt/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. depigmented) reduce or remove the pigmentation of (the skin).

<DERIVATIVES> depigmentation n.

depilate /dεplet/ v. [with obj.] remove the hair from: they scrubbed and depilated her | (as adj. depilated) his permanently depilated and tattooed skull.

<DERIVATIVES> depilation n. depilator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin depilat- ‘stripped of hair’, from the verb depilare, from de- (expressing removal) + pilare (from pilus ‘hair’).

depilatory /dplət(ə)ri/ adj. used to remove unwanted hair.

■ n. (pl. depilatories) a cream or lotion for removing unwanted hair.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin depilatorius, from depilat- ‘stripped of hair’, from the verb depilare (see DEPILATE).

de Pisan /də pizan/ (also de Pizan) Christine (c.1364–c.1430), Italian writer, resident in France from 1369. The first professional woman writer in France, she is best known for her works in defence of women's virtues and achievements, such as Le Livre des trois vertus (1406).

deplane v. [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN disembark from an aircraft: we landed and deplaned.

deplete /dplit/ v. [with obj.] reduce the number or quantity of: fish stocks are severely depleted.

- [no obj.] diminish in number or quantity: supplies are depleting fast.

<DERIVATIVES> depleter n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin deplet- ‘emptied out’, from the verb deplere, from de- (expressing reversal) + plere ‘fill’ (from plenus ‘full’).

depleted uranium n. [mass noun] uranium from which most of the fissile isotope uranium-235 has been removed.

depletion n. [mass noun] reduction in the number or quantity of something: the depletion of the ozone layer.

depletion allowance n. NORTH AMERICAN a tax concession allowable to a company whose normal business activities (in particular oil extraction) reduce the value of its own assets.

deplorable /dplrəb(ə)l/ adj. deserving strong condemnation; completely unacceptable: children living in deplorable conditions.

- shockingly bad in quality: her spelling was deplorable.

<DERIVATIVES> deplorably adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French déplorable or late Latin deplorabilis, from the verb deplorare (see DEPLORE).

deplore /dpl/ v. [with obj.] feel or express strong condemnation of (something): we deplore all violence.

<DERIVATIVES> deploringly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘weep for, regret deeply’): from French déplorer or Italian deplorare, from Latin deplorare, from de- ‘away, thoroughly’ + plorare ‘bewail’.

deploy /dpl/ v. [with obj.] 1 move (troops) into position for military action: forces were deployed at strategic locations.

- [no obj.] (of troops) move into position for military action: the air force began to deploy forward.

2 bring into effective action: small states can often deploy resources more freely.

<DERIVATIVES> deployable adj. deployment n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French déployer, from Latin displicare and late Latin deplicare ‘unfold or explain’, from dis-, de- ‘un-’ + plicare ‘to fold’. Compare with DISPLAY.

deplume v. [with obj.] remove feathers from (a bird).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desplumer or medieval Latin deplumare, from des-, de- (expressing reversal) + Latin pluma ‘feather’.

depolarize /dipələrz/ (also depolarise) v. [with obj.] [PHYSICS] reduce or remove the polarization of: the threshold necessary to depolarize the membrane.

<DERIVATIVES> depolarization n.

depoliticize (also depoliticise) v. [with obj.] remove from political activity or influence: we have to depoliticize sex education.

<DERIVATIVES> depoliticization n.

depolymerize /diplmərz/ (also depolymerise) v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] break (a polymer) down into monomers or other smaller units.

- [no obj.] undergo this process.

<DERIVATIVES> depolymerization n.

deponent /dpənənt/ adj. [GRAMMAR] (of a verb, especially in Latin or Greek) passive or middle in form but active in meaning.

■ n. 1 [GRAMMAR] a deponent verb.

2 [LAW] a person who makes a deposition or affidavit under oath.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin deponent- ‘laying aside, putting down’ (in medieval Latin ‘testifying’), from the verb deponere, from de- ‘down’ + ponere ‘place’. The use in grammar arose from the notion that the verb had ‘laid aside’ the passive sense (although in fact these verbs were originally reflexive).

depopulate v. [with obj.] substantially reduce the population of (an area): the disease could depopulate a town the size of Bournemouth.

<DERIVATIVES> depopulation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘ravage, lay waste’): from Latin depopulat- ‘ravaged’, from the verb depopulari, from de- ‘completely’ + populari ‘lay waste’ (from populus ‘people’).

deport v. 1 [with obj.] expel (a foreigner) from a country, typically on the grounds of illegal status or for having committed a crime: he was deported for violation of immigration laws.

- exile (a native) to another country.

2 (deport oneself) ARCHAIC conduct oneself in a specified manner: he has deported himself with great dignity.

<DERIVATIVES> deportable adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from French déporter, from Latin deportare, from de- ‘away’ + portare ‘carry’.

deportation n. [mass noun] the action of deporting a foreigner from a country: asylum seekers facing deportation | [as modifier] a deportation order. [count noun] mass deportations took place over many months.

deportee /dipti/ n. a person who has been or is being expelled from a country.

deportment n. [mass noun] 1 BRITISH the way a person stands and walks, particularly as an element of etiquette: poise is directly concerned with good deportment.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person's behaviour or manners: there are team rules governing deportment on and off the field.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting behaviour in general): from French déportement, from the verb déporter (see DEPORT).

depose v. [with obj.] 1 remove from office suddenly and forcefully: he had been deposed by a military coup.

2 [LAW] testify to or give (evidence) under oath, typically in a written statement: every affidavit shall state which of the facts deposed to are within the deponent's knowledge.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French deposer, from Latin deponere (see DEPONENT), but influenced by Latin depositus and Old French poser ‘to place’.

deposit n. 1 a sum of money paid into a bank or building society account.

2 a sum payable as a first instalment on the purchase of something or as a pledge for a contract, the balance being payable later: we've saved enough for a deposit on a house.

- a returnable sum payable on the hire or rental of something, to cover possible loss or damage.

- (in the UK) a sum of money lodged by an election candidate and forfeited if they fail to receive a certain proportion of the votes.

3 a layer or mass of accumulated matter: the deposits of salt on the paintwork.

- a natural underground layer of rock, coal, or other material.

4 [mass noun] the action of placing something in a specified place.

■ v. (deposits, depositing, deposited) 1 [with obj. and usually with adverbial of place] put or set down (something or someone) in a specific place: he deposited a pile of school books on the kitchen table.

- (of water, the wind, or other natural agency) lay down (matter) gradually as a layer or covering: beds where salt is deposited by the tide.

- lay (an egg).

2 [with obj.] place (something) somewhere for safe keeping: a vault in which guests may deposit valuable property.

- pay (a sum of money) into a bank or building society account: the money had been deposited in a Swiss bank account.

- pay (a sum) as a first instalment or as a pledge for a contract: I had to deposit 10% of the price of the house.

<PHRASES>

□ on deposit (of money) placed in a deposit account.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (especially in the phrases in deposit or on deposit): from Latin depositum (noun), medieval Latin depositare (verb), both from Latin deposit- ‘laid aside’, from the verb deponere.

deposit account n. BRITISH a bank account that pays interest and is usually not able to be drawn on without notice or loss of interest.

depositary (also depository) n. (pl. depositaries) a person to whom something is lodged in trust.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin depositarius, from the verb deponere (see DEPOSIT).

deposition /dεpəz(ə)n di-/ n. [mass noun] 1 the action of deposing someone, especially a monarch: Edward V's deposition.

2 [LAW] the giving of sworn evidence: the deposition of four expert witnesses.

- [count noun] a formal, usually written, statement to be used as evidence.

3 the action of depositing something: pebbles formed by the deposition of calcium in solution.

4 (the Deposition) the removal of the body of Christ from the Cross.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin depositio(n-), from the verb deponere (see DEPOSIT).

depositor n. a person who keeps money in a bank or building society account.

depository n. (pl. depositories) 1 a place where things are stored.

2 variant spelling of DEPOSITARY.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a depositary): from late Latin depositorium, from deposit- ‘laid aside’, from the verb deponere (see DEPOSIT).

depot /dεpə/ n. 1 a place for the storage of large quantities of equipment, food, or goods: an arms depot.

2 a place where buses, trains, or other vehicles are housed and maintained and from which they are dispatched for service.

- NORTH AMERICAN a railway or bus station.

3 [MILITARY] a place where recruits are trained or other troops are assembled.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘act of depositing’): from French dépôt, from Latin depositum ‘something deposited’ (see DEPOSIT).

depower v. [with obj.] [NAUTICAL] adjust or alter (a sail) so that the wind no longer fills it.

deprave /dprev/ v. [with obj.] make (someone) immoral or wicked: this book would deprave and corrupt young children.

<DERIVATIVES> depravation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘pervert the meaning or intention of something’): from Old French depraver or Latin depravare, from de- ‘down, thoroughly’ + pravus ‘crooked, perverse’.

depraved adj. morally corrupt: he was a depraved lecher | this city is depraved.

depravity /dpravti/ n. (pl. depravities) [mass noun] moral corruption: a tale of wickedness and depravity hard to credit | [count noun] I wondered what depravities had occurred in that place.

- [CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY] the innate corruption of human nature, due to original sin.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: alteration (influenced by DEPRAVE) of obsolete pravity, from Latin pravitas, from pravus ‘crooked, perverse’.

deprecate /dεprket/ v. [with obj.] 1 express disapproval of: what I deprecate is persistent indulgence | (as adj. deprecating) he sniffed in a deprecating way.

2 another term for depreciate (sense 2): he deprecates the value of children's television.

<DERIVATIVES> deprecatingly adv. deprecation n. deprecative /dεprkətv/ adj. deprecator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘pray against’): from Latin deprecat- ‘prayed against (as being evil)’, from the verb deprecari, from de- (expressing reversal) + precari ‘pray’.

<USAGE> The similarity of spelling and meaning of deprecate and depreciate has led to confusions in the use, with deprecate being used simply as a synonym for depreciate in the sense ‘disparage or belittle’. This use is now well established and is widely accepted in standard English.

deprecatory adj. expressing disapproval; disapproving.

- apologetic or appeasing: a deprecatory smile.

depreciate /dpriet -s-/ v. 1 [no obj.] diminish in value over a period of time: the latest cars will depreciate heavily in the first year.

- [with obj.] reduce the recorded value in a company's books of (an asset) each year over a predetermined period.

2 [with obj.] disparage or belittle (something): she was already depreciating her own aesthetic taste.

<DERIVATIVES> depreciable adj. depreciative adj. depreciatively adv. depreciatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from late Latin depreciat- ‘lowered in price, undervalued’, from the verb depreciare, from Latin de- ‘down’ + pretium ‘price’.

depreciation n. [mass noun] a reduction in the value of an asset over time, due in particular to wear and tear.

- a decrease in the value of a currency relative to other currencies.

depredation /dεprde(ə)n/ n. (usually depredations) an act of attacking or plundering: protecting grain from the depredations of rats and mice.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘plundering, robbery’, (plural) ‘ravages’): from French déprédation, from late Latin depraedatio(n-), from depraedari ‘plunder’.

depredator /dεprdetə/ n. ARCHAIC a person or thing that makes depredations, especially a predatory animal.

<DERIVATIVES> depredatory /dεprdet(ə)ri dprεdət(ə)ri/ adj.

depress v. [with obj.] 1 make (someone) feel utterly dispirited or dejected: that first day at school depressed me.

2 reduce the level or strength of activity in (something, especially an economic or biological system): fear of inflation in America depressed bond markets | alcohol depresses the nervous system.

3 push or pull (something) down into a lower position: depress the lever.

<DERIVATIVES> depressible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French depresser, from late Latin depressare, frequentative of deprimere ‘press down’.

depressant adj. (chiefly of a drug) reducing functional or nervous activity.

■ n. a depressant drug.

- an influence that depresses economic activity: higher taxation is a depressant.

depressed adj. 1 (of a person) in a state of unhappiness or despondency.

- (of a person) suffering from clinical depression.

2 (of a place or economic activity) suffering the damaging effects of a lack of demand or employment: depressed inner-city areas.

3 (of an object or part of an object) in a lower position, having been pushed down: a depressed fracture of the skull.

depressing adj. 1 causing or resulting in a feeling of miserable dejection: that thought is too depressing for words.

2 causing a damaging reduction in economic activity: the mortgage rate increase will have a depressing effect on the housing market.

<DERIVATIVES> depressingly adv.

depression n. 1 [mass noun] severe, typically prolonged, feelings of despondency and dejection.

- MEDICINE a mental condition characterized by severe feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy, typically accompanied by a lack of energy and interest in life: she suffered from clinical depression.

2 a long and severe recession in an economy or market: the depression in the housing market.

- (the Depression or the Great Depression) the financial and industrial slump of 1929 and subsequent years.

3 [mass noun] the action of lowering something or pressing something down: depression of the plunger delivers two units of insulin.

- [count noun] a sunken place or hollow on a surface: the original shallow depressions were slowly converted to creeks.

4 [METEOROLOGY] a region of lower atmospheric pressure, especially a cyclonic weather system.

5 [ASTRONOMY] & [GEOGRAPHY] the angular distance of an object below the horizon or a horizontal plane.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin depressio(n-), from deprimere ‘press down’ (see DEPRESS).

depressive adj. causing feelings of severe despondency and dejection.

- MEDICINE relating to or tending to suffer from clinical depression: a depressive illness.

- causing a reduction in strength, effectiveness, or value: steroids have a depressive effect on the immune system.

■ n. MEDICINE a person suffering from or with a tendency to suffer from depression.

depressor n. 1 [ANATOMY] (also depressor muscle) a muscle whose contraction pulls down a part of the body.

- any of several specific muscles in the face: [followed by Latin genitive] depressor anguli oris.

2 [PHYSIOLOGY] a nerve whose stimulation results in a lowering of blood pressure.

3 an instrument for pressing something down.

depressurize (also depressurise) v. [with obj.] release the pressure of the gas inside (a pressurized vehicle or container).

- [no obj.] (of a pressurized vehicle or container) lose pressure.

<DERIVATIVES> depressurization n.

deprivation /dεprve(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the damaging lack of material benefits considered to be basic necessities in a society: low wages mean that 3.75 million people suffer serious deprivation.

- the lack or denial of something considered to be a necessity: sleep deprivation.

- ARCHAIC the action of depriving someone of office, especially an ecclesiastical office.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘removal from office’): from medieval Latin deprivatio(n-), from the verb deprivare (see DEPRIVE).

deprive /dprv/ v. [with obj.] prevent (a person or place) from having or using something: the city was deprived of its water supplies.

- ARCHAIC depose (someone, especially a clergyman) from office.

<DERIVATIVES> deprival n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘depose from office’): from Old French depriver, from medieval Latin deprivare, from de- ‘away, completely’ + privare (see PRIVATE).

deprived adj. suffering a severe and damaging lack of basic material and cultural benefits: the charity cares for destitute and deprived children.

- (of a person) lacking a specified benefit that is considered important: the men felt sexually deprived.

de profundis /de prəfnds/ adv. used to convey that one's most heartfelt feelings of sorrow or anguish are being expressed.

■ n. a heartfelt cry of appeal.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘from the depths’, the opening words of Psalm 130.

deprogramme (US deprogram) v. (deprogrammes, deprogramming, deprogrammed; US deprograms, deprograming, deprogramed) [with obj.] release (someone) from apparent brainwashing, typically that of a religious cult, by the systematic reindoctrination of conventional values.

deproteinize /diprətinz/ v. [with obj.] remove the protein from (a substance), usually as a stage in chemical purification.

<DERIVATIVES> deproteinization n.

Dept abbr. Department.

depth n. [mass noun] 1 the distance from the top or surface to the bottom of something: water of no more than 12 feet in depth.

- the distance from the front to the back of something: the depth of the wardrobe.

- the distance from the top or surface of something to a specified lower point within it: [in sing.] loosen the soil to a depth of 8 inches.

- the apparent existence of three dimensions in a picture or other two-dimensional representation: texture in a picture gives it depth.

2 the quality of being intense or extreme: he was surprised by the depth of Eloise's vindictiveness | the government failed to understand the depth of the problems.

- complexity and profundity of thought: the book has unexpected depth.

- extensive and detailed study or knowledge: third-year courses typically go into more depth.

3 intensity of colour: strong lighting will accentuate the depth of colour.

4 (the depths) a point far below the surface: he lifted the manhole cover and peered into the depths beneath.

- a time considered to be the worst point within a bad period: 4 a.m. in the depths of winter.

- a time when one's negative feelings are at their most intense: she was in the depths of despair.

- a remote and inaccessible place: I wish I didn't live in the depths of Devon.

<PHRASES>

□ hidden depths admirable but previously unnoticed qualities: his solo spots reveal hidden depths.

□ in depth comprehensively and thoroughly: research students pursue a specific aspect of a subject in depth. See also IN-DEPTH.

□ out of one's depth in water too deep to stand in.

- FIGURATIVE in a situation that is beyond one's capabilities: they soon realized they were out of their depth in Division One.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from DEEP + -TH^2, on the pattern of pairs such as long, length.

depth charge n. an explosive charge designed to be dropped from a ship or aircraft and to explode under water at a preset depth, used for attacking submarines.

depth finder n. an echo sounder or other device for measuring water depth.

depth gauge n. a device fitted to a drill bit to ensure that the hole drilled does not exceed the required depth.

depthless adj. 1 too deep to be measured: a depthless gorge.

2 shallow and superficial.

<DERIVATIVES> depthlessly adv.

depth of field n. (in photography) the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects giving a focused image.

depth of focus n. 1 another term for DEPTH OF FIELD.

2 the distance between the two extreme axial points behind a lens at which an image is judged to be in focus.

depth psychology n. [mass noun] the study of unconscious mental processes and motives, especially in psychoanalytic theory and practice.

depth sounder n. another term for ECHO SOUNDER.

depurate /dpjəret dεpjret/ v. [with obj.] RARE free (something) of impurities.

<DERIVATIVES> depuration n. depurative adj. & n. depurator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin depurat- ‘purified’, from the verb depurare, from de- ‘completely’ + purare ‘purify’ (from purus ‘pure’).

deputation n. a group of people appointed to undertake a mission or take part in a formal process on behalf of a larger group: he had been a member of a deputation to Napoleon III.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘appointment to an office or function’): from late Latin deputatio(n-), from the verb deputare (see DEPUTE).

depute v. /dpjut/ [with obj. and infinitive] appoint or instruct (someone) to perform a task for which one is responsible: she was deputed to look after him while Clare was away.

- [with obj.] delegate (authority or a task).

■ n. /dεpjut/ SCOTTISH a person appointed to act in an official capacity or as a representative of another official: [as modifier] a depute chairman.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin deputare ‘consider to be, assign’, from de- ‘away’ + putare ‘consider’.

deputize /dεpjtz/ (also deputise) v. [no obj.] temporarily act or speak on behalf of someone else: the post-holder is required to deputize for the manager in their absence.

- [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN make (someone) a deputy.

deputy n. (pl. deputies) a person who is appointed to undertake the duties of a superior in the superior's absence.

- a parliamentary representative in certain countries.

- BRITISH a coal mine official responsible for safety.

<PHRASES>

□ by deputy HISTORICAL instructing another person to act in one's stead; by proxy.

<DERIVATIVES> deputyship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French depute, from late Latin deputatus, past participle of deputare (see DEPUTE).

deputy lieutenant n. (in the UK) the deputy of the Lord Lieutenant of a county.

dequeue v. (dequeues, dequeuing or dequeueing, dequeued) [with obj.] [COMPUTING] remove (an item of data awaiting processing) from a queue of such items.

De Quincey /də kwnsi/ Thomas (1785–1859), English essayist and critic. He achieved fame with his Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1822), a study of his addiction to opium and its psychological effects.

deracinate /drasnet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. deracinated) uproot (someone) from their natural geographical, social, or cultural environment: a deracinated writer who has complicated relations with his working-class background.

<DERIVATIVES> deracination n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French déraciner, from dé- (expressing removal) + racine ‘root’ (based on Latin radix).

déraciné /derasne/ French /deRasine/ adj. (of a person) deracinated: the self-consciousness of déraciné Americans.

■ n. a person who has been or feels deracinated.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘uprooted’.

derail v. [with obj.] cause (a train or tram) to leave its tracks accidentally: a train was derailed after it collided with a herd of cattle.

- [no obj.] (of a train or tram) accidentally leave the tracks.

- [with obj.] FIGURATIVE obstruct (a process) by diverting it from its intended course: the plot is seen by some as an attempt to derail the negotiations.

<DERIVATIVES> derailment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French dérailler, from dé- (expressing removal) + rail ‘rail’.

derailleur /drel(j)ə/ n. a bicycle gear which works by lifting the chain from one sprocket wheel to another of a different size.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from French, from dérailler ‘derail’.

Derain /dəra/ French /dəRε/ André (1880–1954), French painter, one of the exponents of Fauvism. He also designed theatre sets and costumes, notably for the Ballets Russes.

derange v. [with obj.] 1 make (someone) insane: that business last month must have deranged him a bit.

- cause (something) to act irregularly: stress deranges the immune system.

2 ARCHAIC intrude on; disturb: I am sorry to have deranged you for so small a matter.

<DERIVATIVES> derangement n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French déranger, from Old French desrengier, literally ‘move from orderly rows’.

deranged adj. mad; insane: a deranged gunman.

derate v. [with obj.] 1 BRITISH (under the former rates system) remove part or all of the burden of rates from (a property or business).

2 reduce the power rating of (a component or device): the engines were derated to 90 horse power.

deration v. [with obj.] free (a commodity) of rationing restrictions.

Derbent /dəbεnt/ a city in southern Russia, in Dagestan on the western shore of the Caspian Sea; pop. 95,500 (est. 2002).

Derby^1 /dαbi/ a city in the Midlands of England, on the River Derwent; pop. 221,716 (2001).

Derby^2 /dαbi/ Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of (1799–1869), British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1852, 1858–9, and 1866–8. In his last term as Prime Minister he carried the second Reform Act (1867) through Parliament.

Derby^3 /dαbi/ n. (pl. Derbies) 1 an annual flat race for three-year-old horses, founded in 1780 by the 12th Earl of Derby and run on Epsom Downs in England in late May or early June.

- a similar race elsewhere: the Irish Derby.

- [often in names] (also derby) an important sporting contest: the showjumping Derby at Hickstead.

- (derby; also local derby) BRITISH a sports match between two rival teams from the same area.

2 (derby) NORTH AMERICAN a bowler hat. [<ORIGIN> said to be from American demand for a hat of the type worn at the Epsom Derby.]

3 a boot or shoe having the eyelet tabs stitched on top of the vamp.

Derby^4 /dαbi/ n. [mass noun] a hard cheese made from skimmed milk, chiefly in Derbyshire.

Derby Day n. the day on which the Derby is run.

Derbyshire /dαbə -ə/ a county of north central England; county town, Matlock.

de re /de re di/ adj. [PHILOSOPHY] relating to the properties of things mentioned in an assertion or expression, rather than to the assertion or expression itself. Compare with DE DICTO.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘about the thing’.

derealization (also derealisation) n. [mass noun] a feeling that one's surroundings are not real, especially as a symptom of mental disturbance.

<DERIVATIVES> derealized adj.

derecho /dretə/ n. (pl. derechos) US a storm system that moves a long distance rapidly and brings winds which can devastate an area several miles wide.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Spanish, literally ‘direct, straight’.

derecognize (also derecognise) v. [with obj.] withdraw recognition of (an organization or country).

<DERIVATIVES> derecognition n.

dereference /dirεfərəns/ v. [with obj.] [COMPUTING] obtain the address of a data item held in another location from (a pointer).

deregister v. [with obj.] remove from a register: scores of patients have been deregistered by the practices.

- [no obj.] remove one's name from a register.

<DERIVATIVES> deregistration n.

de règle /də rεl(ə)/ French /də Rεl/ adj. required by custom; proper: it shall be de règle for guests to come in afternoon dresses.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘of rule’.

deregulate v. [with obj.] remove regulations or restrictions from: the trucking industry was deregulated in the early 1980s.

<DERIVATIVES> deregulation n. deregulatory adj.

derelict adj. 1 in a very poor condition as a result of disuse and neglect: a derelict Georgian mansion | the barge lay derelict for years.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN shamefully negligent of one's duties or obligations: he was derelict in his duty to his country.

■ n. 1 a person without a home, job, or property.

2 a ship or other piece of property abandoned by the owner and in poor condition.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin derelictus ‘abandoned’, past participle of derelinquere, from de- ‘completely’ + relinquere ‘forsake’.

dereliction n. [mass noun] 1 the state of having been abandoned and become dilapidated: a 15th-century farmhouse has been saved from dereliction.

2 (dereliction of duty) the shameful failure to fulfil one's obligations.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin derelictio(n-), from the verb derelinquere (see DERELICT).

derepress /dirprεs/ v. [with obj.] [BIOCHEMISTRY] & [GENETICS] activate (enzymes, genes, etc.) from an inoperative or latent state.

<DERIVATIVES> derepression n.

derequisition v. [with obj.] DATED return (requisitioned property) to its former owner.

derestrict v. [with obj.] remove restrictions from.

<DERIVATIVES> derestriction n.

deride /drd/ v. [with obj.] express contempt for; ridicule: the decision was derided by environmentalists.

<DERIVATIVES> derider n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin deridere ‘scoff at’.

de rigueur /də rə/ adj. required by etiquette or current fashion: it was de rigueur for bands to grow their hair long.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, literally ‘in strictness’.

derision /dr(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] contemptuous ridicule or mockery: my stories were greeted with derision and disbelief.

<PHRASES>

□ hold (or have) in derision ARCHAIC regard with mockery.

<DERIVATIVES> derisible /drzb(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin derisio(n-), from deridere ‘scoff at’.

derisive /drsv -z-/ adj. expressing contempt or ridicule: he gave a harsh, derisive laugh.

<DERIVATIVES> derisively adv. derisiveness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from DERISION, on the pattern of the pair decision, decisive.

derisory /drs(ə)ri -z-/ adj. 1 ridiculously small or inadequate: they were given a derisory pay rise.

2 another term for DERISIVE: his derisory gaze swept over her.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘derisive’): from late Latin derisorius, from deris- ‘scoffed at’, from the verb deridere (see DERISION).

<USAGE> Although the words derisory and derisive share similar roots they have different core meanings. Derisory usually means ‘ridiculously small or inadequate’, as in a derisory pay offer or the security arrangements were derisory. Derisive, on the other hand, is used to mean ‘showing contempt’, as in he gave a derisive laugh.

derivate /dεrvət -et/ n. something derived, especially a product obtained chemically from a raw material.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin derivat- ‘derived’, from the verb derivare (see DERIVE).

derivation n. [mass noun] the action of obtaining something from a source or origin: the derivation of scientific laws from observation.

- the formation of a word from another word or from a root in the same or another language.

- [LINGUISTICS] the set of stages that link a sentence in a natural language to its underlying logical form.

- [count noun] [MATHEMATICS] a sequence of statements showing that a formula, theorem, etc., is a consequence of previously accepted statements.

- [MATHEMATICS] the process of deducing a new formula, theorem, etc., from previously accepted statements.

<DERIVATIVES> derivational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the drawing of a fluid, especially pus or blood; also in the sense ‘formation of a word from another word’): from Latin derivatio(n-), from the verb derivare (see DERIVE).

derivative /drvətv/ adj. 1 imitative of the work of another artist, writer, etc., and usually disapproved of for that reason: an artist who is not in the slightest bit derivative.

- originating from, based on, or influenced by: Darwin's work is derivative of the moral philosophers.

2 [attr.] (of a financial product) having a value deriving from an underlying variable asset: equity-based derivative products.

■ n. 1 something which is based on another source: the aircraft is a derivative of the Falcon 20G.

- a word derived from another or from a root in the same or another language.

- a substance that is derived chemically from a specified compound: crack is a highly addictive cocaine derivative.

2 (often derivatives) a financial product (such as a future, option, or warrant) whose value derives from and is dependent on the value of an underlying asset.

3 [MATHEMATICS] an expression representing the rate of change of a function with respect to an independent variable.

<DERIVATIVES> derivatively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the adjective sense ‘having the power to draw off’, and in the noun sense ‘a word derived from another’): from French dérivatif, -ive, from Latin derivativus, from derivare (see DERIVE).

derive /drv/ v. [with obj.] (derive something from) obtain something from (a specified source): they derived great comfort from this assurance.

- (derive something from) base a concept on an extension or modification of (another concept): some maintain that he derived the idea of civil disobedience from Thoreau.

- [no obj.] (derive from) (of a word) have (a specified word, usually of another language) as a root or origin: the word ‘punch’ derives from the Hindustani ‘pancha’ | [with obj.] the word ‘man’ is derived from the Sanskrit ‘manas’.

- [no obj.] (derive from) arise from or originate in (a specified source): words whose spelling derives from Dr Johnson's incorrect etymology.

- (be derived from) [LINGUISTICS] (of a sentence in a natural language) be linked by a set of stages to (its underlying logical form).

- (be derived from) (of a substance) be formed or prepared by (a chemical or physical process affecting another substance): strong acids are derived from the combustion of fossil fuels.

- [MATHEMATICS] obtain (a function or equation) from another by a sequence of logical steps, for example by differentiation.

<DERIVATIVES> derivable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘draw a fluid through or into a channel’): from Old French deriver or Latin derivare, from de- ‘down, away’ + rivus ‘brook, stream’.

derived demand n. [ECONOMICS] a demand for a commodity, service, etc. which is a consequence of the demand for something else.

derived fossil n. a fossil redeposited in a sediment which is younger than the one in which it first occurred.

derm /dəm/ n. another term for DERMIS.

derma /dəmə/ n. another term for DERMIS.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek ‘skin’.

dermabrasion /dəməbre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] (in cosmetic surgery) the removal of superficial layers of skin with a rapidly revolving abrasive tool.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek derma ‘skin’ + ABRASION.

Dermaptera /dəmaptərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of insects that comprises the earwigs.

<DERIVATIVES> dermapteran n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek derma ‘skin’ + pteron ‘wing’.

dermatitis /dəmətts/ n. [mass noun] a condition of the skin in which it becomes red, swollen, and sore, sometimes with small blisters, resulting from direct irritation of the skin by an external agent or an allergic reaction to it. Compare with ECZEMA.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek derma, dermat- ‘skin’ + -ITIS.

dermato- /dəmətə/ combining form relating to the skin: dermatomycosis.

<ORIGIN> from Greek derma, dermat- ‘skin, hide’.

dermatoglyphics /dəmətə()lfks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of skin markings or patterns on fingers, hands, and feet, and its application, especially in criminology.

<DERIVATIVES> dermatoglyphic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from DERMATO- ‘skin’ + Greek gluphikos ‘carved’ (from gluphē ‘carving’).

dermatology /dəmətlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of skin disorders.

<DERIVATIVES> dermatologic adj. dermatological adj. dermatologically adv. dermatologist n.

dermatome /dəmətəm/ n. [ANATOMY] the lateral wall of each somite in a vertebrate embryo, giving rise to the connective tissue of the skin. Compare with MYOTOME, SCLEROTOME.

- [PHYSIOLOGY] an area of the skin supplied by nerves from a single spinal root.

dermatomycosis /dəmətə()mkəss/ n. (pl. dermatomycoses /-siz/) [mass noun] a fungal infection of the skin, especially by a dermatophyte.

dermatomyositis /dəmətə()mə()sts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the skin and underlying muscle tissue, involving degeneration of collagen, discoloration, and swelling, typically occurring as an autoimmune condition or associated with internal cancer.

dermatophyte /dəmətə()ft/ n. a pathogenic fungus that grows on skin, mucous membranes, hair, nails, feathers, and other body surfaces, causing ringworm and related diseases.

<INFO> Trichophyton and other genera, subdivision Deuteromycotina.

<DERIVATIVES> dermatophytic adj.

dermatophytosis /dəmətə()ftəss/ n. (pl. dermatophytoses /-siz/)

■ another term for DERMATOMYCOSIS.

dermatosis /dəmətəss/ n. (pl. dermatoses /-siz/) [mass noun] a disease of the skin, especially one that does not cause inflammation.

dermestid /dəmεstd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a small beetle of a family (Dermestidae) that includes many kinds which are destructive (especially as larvae) to hides, skin, fur, wool, and other animal substances.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Dermestidae (plural), from the genus name Dermestes, formed irregularly from Greek derma ‘skin’ + esthiein ‘eat’.

dermis /dəms/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL the skin.

- [ANATOMY] the thick layer of living tissue below the epidermis which forms the true skin, containing blood capillaries, nerve endings, sweat glands, hair follicles, and other structures.

<DERIVATIVES> dermal adj. dermic adj. (RARE)

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, suggested by epidermis.

dermoid cyst n. MEDICINE an abnormal growth (teratoma) containing epidermis, hair follicles, and sebaceous glands, derived from residual embryonic cells.

Dermoptera /dəmptərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small order of mammals which comprises the flying lemurs or colugos.

<DERIVATIVES> dermopteran n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek derma ‘skin’ + pteron ‘wing’.

dernier cri /dənje kri/ n. (the/le dernier cri) the very latest fashion.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘last cry’.

derogate /dεrəet/ v. FORMAL 1 [no obj.] (derogate from) detract from: this does not derogate from his duty to act honestly and faithfully.

2 [no obj.] (derogate from) deviate from (a set of rules or agreed form of behaviour): one country has derogated from the Rome Convention.

3 [with obj.] disparage (someone or something): it is typical of him to derogate the powers of reason.

<DERIVATIVES> derogative adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin derogat- ‘abrogated’, from the verb derogare, from de- ‘aside, away’ + rogare ‘ask’.

derogation n. 1 an exemption from or relaxation of a rule or law: countries assuming a derogation from EC law.

2 [mass noun] the perception or treatment of someone or something as being of little worth: the derogation of women.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘impairment of the force of’): from Latin derogatio(n-), from the verb derogare (see DEROGATE).

derogatory /drət(ə)ri/ adj. showing a critical or disrespectful attitude: she tells me I'm fat and is always making derogatory remarks.

<DERIVATIVES> derogatorily adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘impairing in force or effect’): from late Latin derogatorius, from derogat- ‘abrogated’, from the verb derogare (see DEROGATE).

derrick /dεrk/ n. 1 a kind of crane with a movable pivoted arm for moving heavy weights, especially on a ship.

2 the framework over an oil well or similar boring, holding the drilling machinery.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a hangman, also the gallows): from Derrick, the surname of a London hangman.

Derrida /dεrdə/ French /dεRida/ Jacques (1930–2004), French philosopher and critic, the most important figure in deconstructionism. Notable works: Of Grammatology (1967) and Writing and Difference (1967).

<DERIVATIVES> Derridean /dεrdən/ adj. & n.

derrière /dεrε/ n. EUPHEMISTIC a person's buttocks.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, literally ‘behind’.

derring-do /dεrdu/ n. [mass noun] DATED or HUMOROUS action displaying heroic courage: tales of derring-do.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Middle English dorryng do ‘daring to do’, used by Chaucer, and, in a passage by Lydgate based on Chaucer's work, misprinted in 16th-cent. editions as derrynge do; this was misinterpreted by Spenser to mean ‘manhood, chivalry’, and subsequently taken up and popularized by Sir Walter Scott.

derringer /dεrn(d)ə/ n. a small pistol with a large bore, which is very effective at close range.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Henry Deringer (1786–1868), the American gunsmith who invented it.

derris /dεrs/ n. 1 [mass noun] an insecticide containing rotenone, made from the powdered roots of certain tropical plants.

2 a woody climbing plant of the pea family, which has tuberous roots from which the insecticide derris is obtained.

<INFO> Genus Derris, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): modern Latin (genus name), from Greek, ‘leather covering’ (referring to the plant's leathery pods).

derro /dεrə/ n. (pl. derros) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a vagrant, especially one who is dependent on alcohol.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: abbreviation of DERELICT + -O.

Derry see LONDONDERRY.

derry n. (in phrase have a derry on) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL have a strong dislike for.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: apparently from the song refrain derry down, used humorously for down in the sense ‘dislike’.

derv (also DERV) n. [mass noun] BRITISH diesel oil for road vehicles.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (apparently Second World War forces' slang): acronym from diesel-engined road vehicle.

dervish /dəv/ n. a Muslim (specifically Sufi) religious man or woman who has taken vows of poverty and austerity. Dervishes first appeared in the 12th century; they were noted for their wild or ecstatic rituals and were known as dancing, whirling, or howling dervishes according to the practice of their order.

<ORIGIN> from Turkish derviş, from Persian darvīš ‘poor’, (as a noun) ‘religious mendicant’.

DES abbr.

- [COMPUTING] data encryption standard.

- (formerly in the UK) Department of Education and Science.

desacralize /disakrəlz/ (also desacralise) v. [with obj.] remove the religious or sacred status or significance from.

<DERIVATIVES> desacralization n.

desalinate /disalnet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. desalinated) remove salt from (seawater).

<DERIVATIVES> desalination n. desalinator n.

desalinize v. US term for DESALINATE.

<DERIVATIVES> desalinization n.

desalt v. another term for DESALINATE.

desaparecido /dεzəparəsidə/ Spanish /desaparesidə -θidə/ n. (pl. desaparecidos) (especially in South America) a person who has disappeared, presumed killed by members of the armed services or the police.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘disappeared’.

desaturate v. [with obj.] make unsaturated or less saturated.

<DERIVATIVES> desaturation n.

descale v. [with obj.] BRITISH remove deposits of scale from.

<DERIVATIVES> descaler n.

descamisado /dεskamsαdə/ n. (pl. descamisados) (in Latin America) a very poor person.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘shirtless’.

descant n. /dεskant/ 1 [MUSIC] an independent treble melody sung or played above a basic melody.

- ARCHAIC or LITERARY a melodious song.

2 LITERARY a discourse on a theme: his descant of deprivation.

■ v. /dskant dε-/ [no obj.] LITERARY talk tediously or at length: I have descanted on this subject before.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French deschant, from medieval Latin discantus ‘part-song, refrain’.

descant recorder n. the most common size of recorder (musical instrument), with a range of two octaves from the C above middle C upwards.

Descartes /dekαt/ French /dekaRt/ René (1596–1650), French philosopher, mathematician, and man of science.

Aiming to reach totally secure foundations for knowledge, Descartes concluded that everything was open to doubt except his own conscious experience, and his existence as a necessary condition of this: ‘Cogito, ergo sum’ (I think, therefore I am). From this certainty he developed a dualistic theory regarding mind and matter as separate though interacting. In mathematics Descartes developed the use of coordinates to locate a point in two or three dimensions.

descend v. [no obj.] 1 move or fall downwards: the aircraft began to descend.

- [with obj.] move down (a slope or stairs): the vehicle descended a ramp.

- (of a road, path, or flight of steps) slope or lead downwards: a side road descended into the forest | [with obj.] a flight of stairs descended a steep slope.

- move down a scale of quality: (as adj. descending) the categories are listed in descending order of usefulness.

- [MUSIC] (of sound) become lower in pitch: (as adj. descending) a passage of descending chords.

- (descend to) act in a shameful way that is far below one's usual standards: he was scrupulous in refusing to descend to misrepresentation.

- (descend into) (of a situation or group of people) reach (an undesirable state): the army had descended into chaos.

2 (descend on/upon) make a sudden attack on: the militia descended on Rye.

- (descend on/upon) make an unexpected visit to: groups of visiting supporters descended on a local pub.

- (of a feeling) develop suddenly and affect a place or person: an air of gloom descended on Labour Party headquarters.

- (of night or darkness) begin to occur: as the winter darkness descended, the fighting ceased.

3 (be descended from) be a blood relative of (a specified ancestor): John Dalrymple was descended from an ancient Ayrshire family.

- (of an asset) pass by inheritance, typically from parent to child: his lands descended to his eldest son.

<DERIVATIVES> descendent adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French descendre, from Latin descendere, from de- ‘down’ + scandere ‘to climb’.

descendant n. a person, plant, or animal that is descended from a particular ancestor: she's a descendant of Charles Darwin.

- a machine, artefact, system, etc., that has developed from an earlier, more rudimentary version: house music is a descendant of disco.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘descending’): from French, present participle of descendre ‘to descend’ (see DESCEND). The noun dates from the early 17th cent.

descender n. a part of a letter that extends below the level of the base of a letter such as x (as in g and p).

- a letter having a descender.

descendeur /dsεndə/ n. [MOUNTAINEERING] a piece of metal around which a rope is passed, which makes use of friction to slow descent during abseiling.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from French, literally ‘descender’.

descendible adj. [LAW] (of property) eligible to be inherited by a descendant.

descending colon n. [ANATOMY] the part of the large intestine which passes downwards on the left side of the abdomen towards the rectum.

descent n. 1 [usually in sing.] an act of moving downwards, dropping, or falling: the plane had gone into a steep descent.

- a downward slope: a steep, badly eroded descent.

- a moral, social, or psychological decline: the ancient empire's slow descent into barbarism.

2 [mass noun] the origin or background of a person in terms of family or nationality: the settlers were of Cornish descent.

- the transmission of qualities, property, or privileges by inheritance.

3 (descent on) a sudden violent attack: a descent on the Channel ports.

- an unexpected visit.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French descente, from descendre ‘to descend’ (see DESCEND).

descramble v. [with obj.] convert or restore (a signal) to intelligible form.

<DERIVATIVES> descrambler n.

describe v. [with obj.] 1 give a detailed account in words of: he described his experiences in a letter to his parents.

2 mark out or draw (a geometrical figure): on the diameter of a circle an equilateral triangle is described.

- move in a way which follows the outline of (an imaginary geometrical figure): a single light is seen to describe a circle.

<DERIVATIVES> describable adj. describer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin describere, from de- ‘down’ + scribere ‘write’.

description n. 1 a spoken or written account of a person, object, or event: people who had seen him were able to give a description.

- [mass noun] the action of giving a spoken or written account: the emphasis was placed on explanation rather than description.

2 a type or class of people or things: it is laughably easy to buy drugs of all descriptions.

<PHRASES>

□ beyond description to a great and astonishing extent: his face was swollen beyond description.

□ defy description be so unusual or remarkable as to be impossible to describe.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin descriptio(n-), from describere ‘write down’.

descriptive adj. 1 serving or seeking to describe: the text contains some good descriptive passages.

- [GRAMMAR] (of an adjective) assigning a quality rather than restricting the application of the expression modified, e.g. blue as distinct from few.

2 describing or classifying in an objective and non-judgemental way.

- [LINGUISTICS] denoting or relating to an approach to language analysis that describes accents, forms, structures, and usage without making value judgements. Often contrasted with PRESCRIPTIVE.

<DERIVATIVES> descriptively adv. descriptiveness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from late Latin descriptivus, from descript- ‘written down’, from the verb describere (see DESCRIBE).

descriptivism n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the doctrine that the meanings of ethical or aesthetic terms and statements are purely descriptive rather than prescriptive, evaluative, or emotive.

<DERIVATIVES> descriptivist n. & adj.

descriptor n. 1 [LINGUISTICS] a word or expression used to describe or identify something.

2 [COMPUTING] a piece of stored data that indicates how other data is stored.

descry /dskr/ v. (descries, descrying, descried) [with obj.] LITERARY catch sight of: she descried two figures.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: Old French descrier ‘publish, proclaim’, perhaps confused with obsolete descry ‘describe’.

desecrate /dεskret/ v. [with obj.] treat (a sacred place or thing) with violent disrespect: more than 300 graves were desecrated.

- spoil (something which is valued or respected): many lanes are desecrated with yellow lines.

<DERIVATIVES> desecrator n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from DE- (expressing reversal) + a shortened form of CONSECRATE.

desecration n. [mass noun] the action of desecrating something: the desecration of a grave. | the desecration of swathes of Scotland's landscape.

deseed v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. deseeded) remove the seeds from (a plant, vegetable, or fruit).

<DERIVATIVES> deseeder n.

desegregate v. [with obj.] end a policy of racial segregation in: actions to desegregate schools.

<DERIVATIVES> desegregation n.

deselect v. [with obj.] 1 BRITISH (of a local branch of a political party) reject (an existing MP) as a candidate in a forthcoming election.

2 turn off (a selected feature) on a list of options on a computer menu.

<DERIVATIVES> deselection n.

desensitize (also desensitise) v. [with obj.] make less sensitive: creams to desensitize the skin at the site of the injection.

- make (someone) less likely to feel shock or distress at scenes of cruelty or suffering by overexposure to such images: (as adj. desensitized) people who view such movies become desensitized to violence.

- free (someone) from a phobia or neurosis by gradually exposing them to the thing that is feared. See SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION.

<DERIVATIVES> desensitization n. desensitizer n.

desert^1 /dzət/ v. [with obj.] abandon (a person, cause, or organization) in a way considered disloyal or treacherous: he deserted his wife and daughter and went back to England.

- (of people) leave (a place), causing it to appear empty: the tourists have deserted the beaches.

- (of a quality or ability) fail (someone) when most needed: her luck deserted her.

- [no obj.] [MILITARY] illegally leave the armed forces.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French deserter, from late Latin desertare, from Latin desertus ‘left waste’ (see desert^2).

desert^2 /dεzət/ n. a waterless, desolate area of land with little or no vegetation, typically one covered with sand.

- a situation or place considered dull and uninteresting: a cultural desert.

■ adj. [attr.] like a desert: overgrazing has created desert conditions.

- uninhabited and desolate: desert wastes.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from late Latin desertum ‘something left waste’, neuter past participle of deserere ‘leave, forsake’.

desert boot n. a lightweight boot with the upper made from suede.

deserted adj. (of a place) empty of people: deserted beaches of soft sand.

deserter n. a member of the armed forces who deserts: deserters from the army.

desertification /dεzətfke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.

desertion n. [mass noun] the action of deserting a person, cause, or organization: her guilt over her desertion of her husband.

- [MILITARY] the action of illegally leaving the armed forces: three officers were shot for desertion | [count noun] the number of desertions was rising.

desert island n. a remote tropical island, typically an uninhabited one.

desert oak n. an Australian casuarina tree, which typically grows in arid regions.

<INFO> Casuarina decaisneana, family Casuarinaceae.

desert pavement n. [GEOLOGY] a surface layer of closely packed or cemented pebbles, rock fragments, etc., from which fine material has been removed by the wind in arid regions.

desert rat n. INFORMAL a soldier of the 7th British armoured division (with the jerboa as a badge) in the North African desert campaign of 1941–2.

desert rose n. 1 a flower-like aggregate of crystals of a mineral, occurring in arid areas.

2 a succulent plant with pink tubular flowers and a woody stem containing toxic milky sap, native to East Africa and Arabia.

<INFO> Adenium obesum, family Apocynaceae.

3 (also Sturt's desert rose) a dense shrub with pinkish-lilac flowers and black spotted leaves and fruit, native to arid regions of Australia.

<INFO> Gossypium sturtianum, family Malvaceae.

deserts /dzəts/ plural n. what a person deserves with regard to reward or (more usually) punishment: the penal system fails to punish offenders in accordance with their deserts.

<PHRASES>

□ get (or receive) one's just deserts receive what one deserves, especially appropriate punishment: those who caused great torment to others rarely got their just deserts.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French desert, from deservir ‘serve well’ (see DESERVE).

desert varnish n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a dark hard film of oxides formed on exposed rock surfaces in arid regions.

deserve v. [with obj.] do something or have or show qualities worthy of (a reaction which rewards or punishes as appropriate): the referee deserves a pat on the back | [with infinitive] we didn't deserve to win.

<PHRASES>

□ deserve a medal have done something considered especially praiseworthy or heroic.

□ deserve well (or ill) of be worthy of good (or bad) treatment at the hands of.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French deservir, from Latin deservire ‘serve well or zealously’.

deserved adj. rightfully earned because of something done or qualities shown; merited: a deserved standing ovation. | a deserved victory.

deservedly /dzəvdli/ adv. in the way that is deserved; rightfully: a deservedly popular sitcom | they are top of the league, and deservedly so.

deserving adj. worthy of being treated in a particular way, typically of being given assistance: the deserving poor.

<DERIVATIVES> deservingly adv. deservingness n.

desex v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. desexed) 1 deprive (someone) of sexual qualities or attraction: Lawrence portrays feminists as shrill, humourless, and desexed.

2 castrate or spay (an animal).

desexualize (also desexualise) v. [with obj.] deprive of sexual character or the distinctive qualities of a sex.

<DERIVATIVES> desexualization n.

desh /dε/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN a person's or a people's native land: contrary to my visit in December, I have a very positive view about desh now.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi deś.

déshabillé /dεzabije/ (also dishabille) n. [mass noun] the state of being only partly or scantily clothed: the paintings of Venus all shared the same state of déshabillé.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘undressed’.

desi /desi/ (also deshi /dei/) Indian adj. 1 local; indigenous (often used to imply that something is of inferior quality): desi liquor.

- DEROGATORY rustic; unsophisticated.

2 of excellent quality; unadulterated or pure.

■ n. a person of Indian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi birth or descent who lives abroad.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit deśa ‘country, land’.

De Sica /də sikə/ Vittorio (1901–74), Italian film director and actor, a key figure in Italian neo-realist cinema. Notable films: Bicycle Thieves (1948) and Two Women (1960), both of which won Oscars.

desiccant n. a hygroscopic substance used as a drying agent.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin desiccant- ‘making thoroughly dry’, from the verb desiccare.

desiccate /dεsket/ v. [with obj.] 1 (usually as adj. desiccated) remove the moisture from (something), typically in order to preserve it: desiccated coconut.

2 (as adj. desiccated) lacking interest, passion, or energy: a desiccated history of ideas.

<DERIVATIVES> desiccation n. desiccative adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin desiccat- ‘made thoroughly dry’, from the verb desiccare.

desiccator n. a glass container or other apparatus holding a drying agent for removing moisture from specimens and protecting them from water vapour in the air.

desiderate /dzdəret -sd-/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC feel a keen desire for (something lacking or absent): I desiderate the resources of a family.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin desiderat- ‘desired’, from the verb desiderare, perhaps from de- ‘down’ + sidus, sider- ‘star’. Compare with CONSIDER.

desiderative /dzd(ə)rətv -sd-/ adj. [GRAMMAR] (in Latin and other inflected languages) denoting a verb formed from another and expressing a desire to do the act denoted by the root verb (such as Latin esurire ‘want to eat’, from edere ‘eat’).

- having, expressing, or relating to desire.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin desiderativus, from Latin desiderat- ‘desired’, from the verb desiderare (see DESIDERATE).

desideratum /dzdərαtəm -retəm -sd-/ n. (pl. desiderata /-tə/) something that is needed or wanted: integrity was a desideratum.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘something desired’, neuter past participle of desiderare (see DESIDERATE).

design n. 1 a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is made: he has just unveiled his design for the new museum.

- [mass noun] the art or action of conceiving of and producing a plan or drawing of something before it is made: good design can help the reader understand complicated information.

- [mass noun] the arrangement of the features of an artefact, as produced from following a plan or drawing: inside, the design reverts to turn-of-the-century luxe.

2 a decorative pattern: pottery with a lovely blue and white design.

3 [mass noun] purpose or planning that exists behind an action, fact, or object: the appearance of design in the universe.

■ v. [with obj.] decide upon the look and functioning of (a building, garment, or other object), by making a detailed drawing of it: a number of architectural students were designing a factory | (as adj., with submodifier designed) specially designed buildings.

- do or plan (something) with a specific purpose in mind: [with obj. and infinitive] the tax changes were designed to stimulate economic growth.

<PHRASES>

□ by design as a result of a plan; intentionally: I became a presenter by default rather than by design.

□ have designs on aim to obtain (something), typically in an underhand way: he suspected her of having designs on the family fortune.

- INFORMAL have an undisclosed sexual interest in.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘to designate’): from Latin designare ‘to designate’, reinforced by French désigner. The noun is via French from Italian.

designate v. /dεznet/ [with obj.] appoint (someone) to a specified office or post: he was designated as prime minister.

- officially give a specified status or name to: [with obj. and complement] the Wye Valley is designated an area of outstanding natural beauty | certain schools are designated ‘science schools’.

■ adj. /dεznət/ [postpositive] appointed to an office or post but not yet installed: the Director designate.

<DERIVATIVES> designator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as an adjective): from Latin designatus ‘designated’, past participle of designare, based on signum ‘a mark’.

designated driver n. NORTH AMERICAN a person who abstains from alcohol at a social gathering so as to be fit to drive others home.

designated hitter n. [BASEBALL] a non-fielding player named before the start of a game to bat instead of the pitcher anywhere in the batting order.

designation n. [mass noun] the action of choosing someone to hold an office or post: a leader's designation of his own successor.

- the action of choosing a place for a special purpose or giving it a special status: Dibden Bay's designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

- [count noun] an official name, description, or title: quality designations such as ‘Premier Cru’.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘the action of marking’): from Latin designatio(n-), from the verb designare (see DESIGNATE).

designedly adv. deliberately in order to produce a specific effect: the goblet designedly left for him.

designer n. a person who plans the look or workings of something prior to it being made, by preparing drawings or plans: a leading car designer.

- [as modifier] made by a famous and prestigious fashion designer: designer clothes.

- [as modifier] fashionable: designer food.

designer baby n. a baby whose genetic make-up has been selected in order to eradicate a particular defect, or to ensure that a particular gene is present.

designer drug n. a synthetic analogue of an illegal drug, devised to circumvent drug laws.

designing adj. [attr.] acting in a calculating, deceitful way: a designing little minx.

desirability n. [mass noun] the quality of being desirable: we agree on the desirability of a negotiated settlement.

desirable adj. wished for as being an attractive, useful, or necessary course of action: [with infinitive] it is desirable to check that nothing has been forgotten.

- (of a person) arousing sexual desire: you're a very desirable woman.

■ n. a desirable person or thing: the store sells various desirables.

<DERIVATIVES> desirableness n. desirably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, suggested by Latin desiderabilis, from desiderare ‘to desire’ (see DESIDERATE).

desire n. a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen: he resisted public desires for choice in education.

- [mass noun] strong sexual feeling or appetite: they were clinging together in fierce desire.

- something desired.

■ v. [with obj.] strongly wish for or want (something): he never achieved the status he so desired | (as adj. desired) the bribe had its desired effect.

- want (someone) sexually.

- ARCHAIC express a wish to.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French desir (noun), desirer (verb), from Latin desiderare (see DESIDERATE).

Desiree /dzəre/ n. a potato of a pink-skinned variety with yellow waxy flesh.

desirous /dzərəs/ adj. [predic.] having or characterized by desire: the pope was desirous of peace in Europe.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French desireus, based on Latin desiderare ‘to desire’ (see DESIDERATE).

desist /dzst dsst/ v. [no obj.] stop doing something; cease or abstain: each pledged to desist from acts of sabotage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desister, from Latin desistere, from de- ‘down from’ + sistere ‘to stop’ (reduplication of stare ‘to stand’).

desk n. 1 a piece of furniture with a flat or sloping surface and typically with drawers, at which one can read, write, or do other work.

2 a counter in a hotel, bank, or airport at which a customer may check in or obtain information: the reception desk.

3 [with modifier] a specified section of a newspaper or broadcasting organization: he landed a job on the sports desk.

4 [MUSIC] a position in an orchestra at which two players share a music stand: an extra desk of first and second violins.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin desca, probably based on Provençal desca ‘basket’ or Italian desco ‘table, butcher's block’, both based on Latin discus (see DISCUS).

desk-bound adj. restricted to working in an office, rather than in an active, physical capacity: his contempt for the desk-bound staff behind the lines.

desk diary n. a large diary designed for use in an office.

desk dictionary n. NORTH AMERICAN a one-volume dictionary of medium size.

deskill v. [with obj.] reduce the level of skill required to carry out (a job): advances in technology had deskilled numerous working-class jobs.

- make the skills of (a worker) obsolete.

desk job n. a job based at a desk, especially as opposed to one in active military service.

desk jockey n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY a person who works at a desk; an office worker.

desk sergeant n. a sergeant in administrative charge of a police station.

desktop n. the working surface of a desk.

- (also desktop computer) a computer suitable for use at an ordinary desk.

- the working area of a computer screen regarded as a representation of a notional desktop and containing icons representing items such as files.

desktop publishing (abbr.: DTP) n. [mass noun] the production of printed matter by means of a printer linked to a desktop computer, with special software. The system enables reports, advertising matter, etc., to be produced cheaply with a layout and print quality similar to that of typeset books.

desman /dεzmən/ n. a small semiaquatic European mammal related to the mole, with a long tubular muzzle and webbed toes.

<INFO> Family Talpidae: the Russian desman (Desmana moschata) and the Pyrenean desman (Galemys pyrenaicus).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via French and German from Swedish desman-råtta ‘muskrat’, from desman ‘musk’.

desmid /dεzmd/ n. [BIOLOGY] a single-celled freshwater alga which appears to be composed of two rigid cells with a shared nucleus. The presence of desmids is usually an indicator of unpolluted water.

<INFO> Family Desmidiaceae, division Chlorophyta (or phylum Gamophyta, kingdom Protista).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Desmidium (genus name), from Greek desmos ‘band, chain’ (because the algae are often found united in chains or masses).

desmoid /dεzmd/ adj. MEDICINE denoting a type of fibrous tumour of muscle and connective tissue, typically in the abdomen.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek desmos ‘bond’ or desmē ‘bundle’ + -OID.

Des Moines /de mn/ the state capital and largest city of Iowa; pop. 198,682 (2000).

desmosome /dεzməsəm/ n. [BIOLOGY] a structure by which two adjacent cells are attached, formed from protein plaques in the cell membranes linked by filaments.

<DERIVATIVES> desmosomal adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek desmos ‘bond, chain’ + -SOME^3.

desolate adj. /dεs(ə)lət/ 1 (of a place) uninhabited and giving an impression of bleak emptiness: a desolate Pennine moor.

2 feeling or showing great unhappiness or loneliness: I suddenly felt desolate and bereft.

■ v. /dεsəlet/ [with obj.] 1 make (a place) appear bleakly empty: the droughts that desolated the dry plains.

2 make (someone) feel utterly wretched and unhappy: he was desolated by the deaths of his treasured friends.

<DERIVATIVES> desolately adv. desolateness n. desolator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin desolatus ‘abandoned’, past participle of desolare, from de- ‘thoroughly’ + solus ‘alone’.

desolation n. [mass noun] 1 a state of complete emptiness or destruction: the stony desolation of the desert.

2 great unhappiness or loneliness: in choked desolation, she watched him leave.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin desolatio(n-), from Latin desolare ‘to abandon’ (see DESOLATE).

desolder v. [with obj.] remove solder from.

desorb /disb/ v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] cause the release of (an adsorbed substance) from a surface.

- [no obj.] (of an adsorbed substance) become released.

<DERIVATIVES> desorbent adj. & n. desorber n. desorption n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: back-formation from desorption (from de- ‘away’ + adsorption).

despair n. [mass noun] the complete loss or absence of hope: a voice full of self-hatred and despair | in despair, I hit the bottle.

■ v. [no obj.] lose or be without hope: we should not despair | she despaired of finding a good restaurant nearby.

<PHRASES>

□ be the despair of cause to lose hope: such students can be the despair of conscientious teachers.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: the noun via Anglo-Norman French from Old French desespeir; the verb from Old French desperer, from Latin desperare, from de- ‘down from’ + sperare ‘to hope’.

despairing adj. showing the loss of all hope: he gave a despairing little shrug.

<DERIVATIVES> despairingly adv.

desperado /dεspərαdə/ n. (pl. desperadoes or desperados) DATED a desperate or reckless person, especially a criminal.

<DERIVATIVES> desperadoism n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: pseudo-Spanish alteration of the obsolete noun desperate. Both desperate and desperado originally denoted a person in despair or in a desperate situation, hence someone made reckless by despair.

desperate adj. 1 feeling or showing a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with: a desperate sadness enveloped Ruth.

- (of an act) tried in despair or when everything else has failed: drugs used in a desperate attempt to save his life.

- (of a situation) extremely serious or dangerous: there is a desperate shortage of teachers.

- (of a person) violent or dangerous: a desperate criminal.

- Irish INFORMAL very bad: that beer's desperate—it's a wonder you've the nerve to offer it for sale.

2 [predic.] (of a person) having a great need or desire for something: I am desperate for a cigarette | [with infinitive] other women are desperate to get back to work.

<PHRASES>

□ desperate diseases must have desperate remedies PROVERB extreme measures are justified as a response to a difficult or dangerous situation.

<DERIVATIVES> desperateness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘in despair’): from Latin desperatus ‘deprived of hope’, past participle of desperare (see DESPAIR).

desperately adv. in a way that shows despair: he looked around desperately.

- used to emphasize the extreme degree of something: he desperately needed a drink | [as submodifier] I am desperately disappointed.

desperation n. [mass noun] a state of despair, typically one which results in rash or extreme behaviour: she wrote to him in desperation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin desperatio(n-), from the verb desperare (see DESPAIR).

despicable /dspkəb(ə)l dεspk-/ adj. deserving hatred and contempt: a despicable crime.

<DERIVATIVES> despicably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin despicabilis, from despicari ‘look down on’.

despise /dspz/ v. [with obj.] feel contempt or a deep repugnance for: he despised himself for being selfish.

<DERIVATIVES> despiser n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French despire, from Latin despicere, from de- ‘down’ + specere ‘look at’.

despite /dspt/ prep. without being affected by; in spite of: he remains a great leader despite age and infirmity.

■ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC 1 contemptuous treatment or behaviour; outrage: the despite done by him to the holy relics.

2 contempt; disdain: the theatre only earns my despite.

<PHRASES>

□ despite oneself used to indicate that one did not intend to do the thing mentioned: despite herself Frau Nordern laughed.

<DERIVATIVES> despiteful adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally used as a noun meaning ‘contempt, scorn’ in the phrase in despite of): from Old French despit, from Latin despectus ‘looking down on’, past participle (used as a noun) of despicere (see DESPISE).

despoil /dspl/ v. [with obj.] steal or violently remove valuable possessions from; plunder: the church was despoiled of its marble wall covering.

<DERIVATIVES> despoiler n. despoilment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French despoillier, from Latin despoliare ‘rob, plunder’ (from spolia ‘spoil’).

despoliation /dspəle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action of despoiling or the condition of being despoiled; plunder: the despoliation of the resources of the natural world.

despond /dspnd/ v. [no obj.] ARCHAIC become dejected and lose confidence.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin despondere ‘give up, abandon’, from de- ‘away’ + spondere ‘to promise’. The word was originally used as a noun in SLOUGH OF DESPOND.

despondency n. [mass noun] low spirits from loss of hope or courage; dejection: an air of despondency.

despondent adj. in low spirits from loss of hope or courage: she grew more and more despondent.

<DERIVATIVES> despondence n. despondently adv.

despot /dεspt/ n. a ruler or other person who holds absolute power, typically one who exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French despote, via medieval Latin from Greek despotēs ‘master, absolute ruler’. Originally (after the Turkish conquest of Constantinople) the term denoted a minor Christian ruler under the Turkish empire. The current sense dates from the late 18th cent.

despotic adj. of or typical of a despot; tyrannical: a despotic regime.

<DERIVATIVES> despotically adv.

despotism /dεspətz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the exercise of absolute power, especially in a cruel and oppressive way: the ideology of enlightened despotism.

- [count noun] a country or political system where the ruler holds absolute power.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French despotisme, from despote (see DESPOT).

des Prez /de pre/ (also des Prés or Deprez) Josquin (c.1440–1521), Flemish musician. A leading Renaissance composer, he wrote eighteen complete masses, 112 motets, and some seventy songs.

desquamate /dεskwəmet/ v. [no obj.] (usually as adj. desquamated) (of a layer of cells, e.g. of the skin) come off in scales or flakes: desquamated cells.

<DERIVATIVES> desquamation n. desquamative /-skwamətv/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘remove the scales from’): from Latin desquamat- ‘scaled’, from the verb desquamare, from de- ‘away from’ + squama ‘a scale’.

des res /dεz rεz/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL a desirable residence (used as a humorous allusion to the language used in housing advertisements).

<ORIGIN> 1980s: abbreviation.

Dessau /dεsa/ an industrial city in Germany, on the River Mulde, in Anhalt about 112 km (70 miles) south-west of Berlin; pop. 82,700 (est. 2002).

dessert /dzət/ n. the sweet course eaten at the end of a meal: a dessert of chocolate mousse.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, past participle of desservir ‘clear the table’, from des- (expressing removal) + servir ‘to serve’.

dessertspoon n. a spoon used for dessert, smaller than a tablespoon and larger than a teaspoon.

- the amount held by a dessertspoon, in the UK considered to be 11.8 millilitres when used as a measurement in cookery.

<DERIVATIVES> dessertspoonful n. (pl. dessertspoonfuls)

dessert wine n. a sweet wine drunk with or following dessert.

destabilize (also destabilise) v. [with obj.] upset the stability of; cause unrest in: the discovery of an affair can destabilize a relationship.

<DERIVATIVES> destabilization n.

de Staël /də stαl/ French /də stal/ Madame (1766–1817), French novelist and critic, a precursor of the French romantics, born Anne Louise Germaine Necker. Her best-known critical work, De l'Allemagne (1810), introduced late 18th-century German writers and thinkers to France.

destain v. [with obj.] [BIOLOGY] selectively remove stain from (a specimen for microscopy, a chromatography gel, etc.) after it has previously been stained.

De Stijl /də stl/ a 20th-century Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by Theo van Doesburg (1883–1931) and Piet Mondrian. The movement favoured an abstract, economical style and was influential on the Bauhaus and constructivist movements.

<ORIGIN> Dutch, literally ‘the style’, originally the name of the movement's periodical.

destination n. the place to which someone or something is going or being sent: Delft is an ideal destination for a relaxing weekend.

- [as modifier] denoting a place that people will make a special trip to visit: a destination restaurant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin destinatio(n-), from destinare ‘make firm, establish’. The original sense was ‘the action of intending someone or something for a purpose’, later ‘being destined for a place’, hence (from the early 19th century) the place itself.

destine /dεstn/ v. [with obj.] intend or choose for a particular purpose or end.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘predetermine, decree’): from Old French destiner, from Latin destinare ‘make firm, establish’.

destined adj. [predic.] (of a person's future) regarded as developing as though according to a pre-existing plan: he was destined for great things | [with infinitive] they were destined to become diplomats.

- (destined to) certain to meet (a particular fate): the Act seems destined to failure.

- (destined for) intended for or travelling towards (a particular place): the shipment of illegal drugs destined for American and European markets.

- [attr.] preordained: your heroine will be united with her destined mate.

destiny n. (pl. destinies) the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future: she was unable to control her own destiny.

- [mass noun] the hidden power believed to control future events; fate: he believed in destiny.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French destinee, from Latin destinata, feminine past participle of destinare ‘make firm, establish’.

destitute /dεsttjut/ adj. extremely poor and lacking the means to provide for oneself: the charity cares for destitute children.

- (destitute of) not having: towns destitute of commerce.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘deserted, abandoned, empty’): from Latin destitutus, past participle of destituere ‘forsake’, from de- ‘away from’ + statuere ‘to place’.

destitution n. [mass noun] poverty so extreme that one lacks the means to provide for oneself: the family faced eviction and destitution.

destock v. [no obj.] BRITISH (of a retailer) reduce the quantity of stock held.

de-stress v. [no obj.] relax after a period of work or tension.

destrier /dεstrə dεstriə/ n. a medieval knight's warhorse.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, based on Latin dextera ‘the right hand’, from dexter ‘on the right’ (because the squire led the knight's horse with his right hand).

destroy v. [with obj.] end the existence of (something) by damaging or attacking it: the room had been destroyed by fire.

- ruin (someone) emotionally or spiritually: he has been determined to destroy her.

- defeat (someone) utterly: Northants have the batting to destroy anyone.

- kill (a sick, savage, or unwanted animal) by humane means: their terrier was destroyed after the attack.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French destruire, based on Latin destruere, from de- (expressing reversal) + struere ‘build’.

destroyer n. 1 a small, fast warship, especially one equipped for a defensive role against submarines and aircraft.

2 a person or thing that destroys something: CFCs are the chief destroyers of the ozone layer.

destroying angel n. a deadly poisonous white toadstool which grows in woodland, native to Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Amanita virosa, family Amanitaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

destruct v. [with obj.] cause deliberate, terminal damage to.

■ n. [in sing.] [usually as modifier] the deliberate causing of terminal damage: press the destruct button.

<DERIVATIVES> destructor n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally US): back-formation from DESTRUCTION.

destructible adj. able to be destroyed: destructible plastic labels.

<DERIVATIVES> destructibility n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (earlier in indestructible): from French, from late Latin destructibilis, from Latin destruct- ‘destroyed’, from the verb destruere (see DESTROY).

destruction n. [mass noun] the action or process of causing so much damage to something that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired: the destruction of the rainforest | the avalanche left a trail of destruction.

- the action or process of killing or being killed: the wanton destruction of human life.

- [in sing.] a cause of someone's ruin: gambling was his destruction.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin destructio(n-), from the verb destruere (see DESTROY).

destructive adj. causing great and irreparable damage: the destructive power of weapons.

- negative and unhelpful: destructive criticism.

<DERIVATIVES> destructively adv. destructiveness n.

destructive distillation n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] decomposition of a solid by heating it in a closed container and collecting the volatile constituents given off.

desuetude /dεswtjud dəsjuətjud/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL a state of disuse: the docks fell into desuetude.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘cessation’): from French, from Latin desuetudo, from desuet- ‘made unaccustomed’, from the verb desuescere, from de- (expressing reversal) + suescere ‘be accustomed’.

desulphurize (also desulphurise, US desulfurize) v. [with obj.] remove sulphur or sulphur compounds from (a substance).

<DERIVATIVES> desulphurization n. desulphurizer n.

desultory /dεs(ə)lt(ə)ri -z-/ adj. lacking a plan, purpose, or enthusiasm: a few people were left, dancing in a desultory fashion.

- (of conversation or speech) going from one subject to another in a half-hearted way: the desultory conversation faded.

- occurring randomly or occasionally: desultory passengers were appearing.

<DERIVATIVES> desultorily adv. desultoriness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (also in the literal sense ‘skipping about’): from Latin desultorius ‘superficial’ (literally ‘relating to a vaulter’), from desultor ‘vaulter’, from the verb desilire.

desuperheater n. a container for reducing the temperature of steam to make it less superheated.

desynchronize (also desynchronise) v. [with obj.] disturb the synchronization of; put out of step or phase.

<DERIVATIVES> desynchronization n.

detach v. [with obj.] 1 disengage (something or part of something) and remove it: he detached the front lamp from its bracket | FIGURATIVE a willingness to detach comment from political allegiance.

- [no obj.] be easily removable: the screen detaches from the keyboard.

2 (detach oneself from) leave or separate oneself from (a group or place): a figure in brown detached itself from the shadows | FIGURATIVE the newspaper detached itself from the political parties.

- (be detached) [MILITARY] (of a group of soldiers or ships) be sent on a separate mission.

<DERIVATIVES> detachability n. detachable adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘discharge a gun’): from French détacher, earlier destacher, from des- (expressing reversal) + attacher ‘attach’.

detached adj. 1 separate or disconnected, in particular:

- (of a house or other building) not joined to another on either side: a four-bedroomed detached house.

- (of a social worker or social work) operating or based in the community rather than in an office: detached youth workers.

2 aloof and objective: he is a detached observer of his own actions.

<DERIVATIVES> detachedly adv.

detached retina n. a retina that has become separated from the underlying choroid tissue at the back of the eye, causing loss of vision in the affected area.

detachment n. 1 [mass noun] the state of being objective or aloof: he felt a sense of detachment from what was going on.

2 [MILITARY] a group of troops, aircraft, or ships sent away on a separate mission: a detachment of Marines | [mass noun] the Squadron went on detachment to Malta.

- a party of people separated from a larger group: a truck containing a detachment of villagers.

3 [mass noun] the action or process of detaching; separation: structural problems resulted in cracking and detachment of the wall.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French détachement, from détacher ‘to detach’ (see DETACH).

detail n. 1 an individual fact or item: we shall consider every detail of the Bill | [mass noun] her meticulous attention to detail.

- a less significant item or fact: he didn't want them to get sidetracked on a detail of policy.

- a minor decorative feature of a building or work of art: a detail on Charlemagne's tomb.

- [mass noun] the style or treatment of minor decorative features: the classical French detail of the building's facade.

- a small part of a picture that is reproduced separately for close study.

- (details) itemized information about someone: the official asked for my father's details.

2 a small detachment of troops or police officers given a special duty: the governor's security detail.

- [often with modifier] a special duty assigned to a detachment of troops or police officers.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 give full information about: the report details proposals to improve public transport.

2 [with obj. and infinitive] assign (someone) to undertake a particular task: the ships were detailed to keep watch.

3 US clean (a motor vehicle) thoroughly.

<PHRASES>

□ go into detail give a full account of something.

□ in detail as regards every feature or aspect; fully: we will have to examine the proposals in detail.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘minor items or events regarded collectively’): from French détail (noun), détailler (verb), from dé- (expressing separation) + tailler ‘to cut’ (based on Latin talea ‘twig, cutting’).

detailed adj. having many details or facts; showing attention to detail: more detailed information was needed.

- (of a work of art) executed with many minor decorative features: an exquisitely detailed carving.

detailing n. [mass noun] small decorative features on a building, garment, or work of art.

detain v. [with obj.] keep (someone) from proceeding by holding them back or making claims on their attention: she made to open the door, but he detained her.

- keep (someone) in official custody, typically for questioning about a crime or in a politically sensitive situation: she was detained without trial for two years.

- officially seize and hold (goods).

<DERIVATIVES> detainment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘be afflicted with sickness or infirmity’): from Old French detenir, from a variant of Latin detinere, from de- ‘away, aside’ + tenere ‘to hold’.

detainee /dteni di-/ n. a person held in custody, especially for political reasons.

detainer n. [LAW] 1 [mass noun] the action of detaining or withholding property.

- the detention of a person in custody.

- [count noun] an order authorizing the continued detention of a person in custody.

2 a person who detains someone or something.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Anglo-Norman French detener ‘detain’ (used as a noun), variant of Old French detenir (see DETAIN).

detangle v. [with obj.] remove tangles from (hair).

detect v. [with obj.] discover or identify the presence or existence of: cancer may soon be detected in its earliest stages.

- discern (something intangible or barely perceptible): Paul detected a faint note of weariness in his father's voice.

- discover or investigate (a crime or its perpetrators): the public can help the police to detect crime.

<DERIVATIVES> detectable adj. detectably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin detect- ‘uncovered’, from the verb detegere, from de- (expressing reversal) + tegere ‘to cover’. The original senses were ‘uncover, expose’ and ‘give someone away’, later ‘expose the real or hidden nature of’; hence the current (partly influenced by DETECTIVE).

detection n. [mass noun] the action or process of identifying the presence of something concealed: the early detection of fetal abnormalities.

- the work of a detective in investigating a crime: modern technology is essential to crime detection.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘revelation of what is concealed’): from late Latin detectio(n-), from Latin detegere ‘uncover’ (see DETECT).

detective n. a person, especially a police officer, whose occupation is to investigate and solve crimes.

- [as modifier] denoting a rank of police officer with investigative duties: a detective inspector.

- [as modifier] concerning crime and its investigation: detective work.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DETECT. The noun was originally short for detective policeman, from an adjectival use of the word in the sense ‘serving to detect’.

detective story (also detective novel) n. a story whose plot revolves around the investigation and solving of a crime.

detector n. [often with modifier] a device or instrument designed to detect the presence of a particular object or substance: methane detectors.

detectorist n. a person who uses a metal detector for a hobby.

detent /dtεnt/ n. a catch in a machine which prevents motion until released.

- a catch that regulates striking in a clock.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting a catch in a clock): from French détente, from Old French destente, from destendre ‘slacken’, from des- (expressing reversal) + Latin tendere ‘to stretch’.

détente /detαnt/ n. [mass noun] the easing of hostility or strained relations, especially between countries: his policy of arms control and detente with the Soviet Union.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, ‘loosening, relaxation’.

detention n. [mass noun] the action of detaining someone or the state of being detained in official custody: the fifteen people arrested were still in police detention.

- the punishment of being kept in school after hours: teachers were divided as to the effectiveness of detention | [count noun] masters gave lines or detentions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘withholding of what is claimed or due’): from late Latin detentio(n-), from Latin detinere ‘hold back’ (see DETAIN).

detention centre n. an institution for the short-term detention of illegal immigrants, refugees, people awaiting trial or sentence, or (formerly in the UK) young offenders.

detenu /dtenju/ (also detenue) n. INDIAN a person held in custody; a detainee.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in British use): from French détenu.

deter /dtə/ v. (deters, deterring, deterred) [with obj.] discourage (someone) from doing something by instilling doubt or fear of the consequences: only a health problem would deter him from seeking re-election.

- prevent the occurrence of: strategists think not only about how to deter war, but about how war might occur.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin deterrere, from de- ‘away from’ + terrere ‘frighten’.

deterge /dtəd/ v. [with obj.] RARE cleanse thoroughly.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French déterger or Latin detergere ‘wipe away’.

detergent n. a water-soluble cleansing agent which combines with impurities and dirt to make them more soluble, and differs from soap in not forming a scum with the salts in hard water.

- any additive with a similar action to a detergent, e.g. an oil-soluble substance which holds dirt in suspension in lubricating oil.

■ adj. relating to detergents or their action.

<DERIVATIVES> detergence n. detergency n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as an adjective): from Latin detergent- ‘wiping away’, from the verb detergere, from de- ‘away from’ + tergere ‘to wipe’.

deteriorate /dtərəret/ v. [no obj.] become progressively worse: relations between the countries had deteriorated sharply | (as adj. deteriorating) deteriorating economic conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> deteriorative adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘make worse’): from late Latin deteriorat- ‘worsened’, from the verb deteriorare, from Latin deterior ‘worse’.

deterioration n. [mass noun] the process of becoming progressively worse: a deterioration in the condition of the patient.

determinable adj. 1 able to be definitely decided or ascertained: a readily determinable market value.

2 [LAW] capable of being brought to an end under given conditions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin determinabilis ‘finite’, from the verb determinare (see DETERMINE).

determinant /dtəmnənt/ n. 1 a factor which decisively affects the nature or outcome of something: pure force of will was the main determinant of his success.

- [BIOLOGY] a gene or other factor which determines the character and development of a cell or cells in an organism, a set of which forms an individual's idiotype.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a quantity obtained by the addition of products of the elements of a square matrix according to a given rule.

■ adj. serving to determine or decide something.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin determinant- ‘determining’, from the verb determinare (see DETERMINE).

determinate /dtəmnət/ adj. having exact and discernible limits or form: the longest determinate prison sentence ever upheld by English courts.

- [BOTANY] (of a flowering shoot) having the main axis ending in a flower bud and therefore no longer extending in length, as in a cyme.

<DERIVATIVES> determinacy n. determinately adv. determinateness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin determinatus ‘limited, determined’, past participle of determinare (see DETERMINE).

determination n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being determined; firmness of purpose: those who succeed because of sheer grit and determination.

2 the process of establishing something exactly by calculation or research: determination of molecular structures.

- [LAW] the settlement of a dispute by the authoritative decision of a judge or arbitrator.

- [count noun] [LAW] a judicial decision or sentence.

3 the controlling or deciding of the nature or outcome of something: genetic sex determination.

4 [LAW] the cessation of an estate or interest.

5 ARCHAIC a tendency to move in a fixed direction.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘settlement of a controversy by a judge or by reasoning’ and ‘authoritative opinion’): via Old French from Latin determinatio(n-), from the verb determinare (see DETERMINE).

determinative /dtəmnətv/ adj. [predic.] chiefly [LAW] serving to define, qualify, or direct: the employer's view is not determinative of the issue.

■ n. [GRAMMAR] another term for DETERMINER.

determine /dtəmn/ v. [with obj.] 1 cause (something) to occur in a particular way or to have a particular nature: it will be her mental attitude that determines her future.

2 firmly decide: [with infinitive] she determined to tackle Stephen the next day | [no obj.] he determined on a withdrawal of his forces.

3 ascertain or establish exactly by research or calculation: our aim is to determine the electric field | [with clause] the point of our study was to determine what is true, not what is practicable.

- [MATHEMATICS] specify the value, position, or form of (a mathematical or geometrical object) uniquely.

4 [LAW], ARCHAIC bring or come to an end.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French determiner, from Latin determinare ‘limit, fix’, from de- ‘completely’ + terminare ‘terminate’.

determined adj. having made a firm decision and being resolved not to change it: [with infinitive] Alina was determined to be heard.

- possessing or displaying resolve: Helen was a determined little girl | a determined effort to reduce inflation.

<DERIVATIVES> determinedly adv. determinedness n.

determiner n. 1 a person or thing that determines or decides something.

2 [GRAMMAR] a modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun or noun group has, for example a, the, every. See also ARTICLE.

determining adj. causing something to occur or be done in a particular way; serving to decide something: money may have been the determining factor in his decision.

determinism n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes regarded as external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions.

<DERIVATIVES> determinist n. & adj. deterministic adj. deterministically adv.

deterrent /dtεr(ə)nt/ n. a thing that discourages or is intended to discourage someone from doing something: cameras are a major deterrent to crime.

- a nuclear weapon or weapons system regarded as deterring an enemy from attack.

■ adj. able or intended to deter: the deterrent effect of heavy prison sentences.

<DERIVATIVES> deterrence n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin deterrent- ‘deterring’, from the verb deterrere (see DETER).

detest v. [with obj.] dislike intensely: she really did detest his mockery.

<DERIVATIVES> detester n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin detestari, from de- ‘down’ + testari ‘witness, call upon to witness’ (from testis ‘a witness’).

detestable adj. deserving intense dislike: I found the film's violence detestable.

<DERIVATIVES> detestably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin detestabilis, from the verb detestari (see DETEST).

detestation /ditεste(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] intense dislike: Wordsworth's detestation of aristocracy.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC a detested person or thing: he is the detestation of the neighbourhood.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin detestatio(n-), from the verb detestari (see DETEST).

dethrone v. [with obj.] remove (a monarch) from power.

- remove from a position of authority or dominance: he dethroned the defending title-holder.

<DERIVATIVES> dethronement n.

detinue /dεtnju/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] the crime of wrongful detention of goods or personal possessions (replaced in the UK by the tort of wrongful interference of goods).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French detenue, past participle (used as a noun) of detenir ‘detain’.

detonate /dεtənet/ v. explode or cause to explode: [no obj.] two other bombs failed to detonate | [with obj.] a trigger that can detonate nuclear weapons.

<DERIVATIVES> detonative adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin detonat- ‘thundered down or forth’, from the verb detonare, from de- ‘down’ + tonare ‘to thunder’.

detonation n. [mass noun] the action of causing a bomb or explosive device to explode.

- [count noun] a loud explosion: a series of deafening detonations was heard.

- TECHNICAL combustion of a substance which is initiated suddenly and propagates extremely rapidly, giving rise to a shock wave. Compare with DEFLAGRATION.

- the premature combustion of fuel in an internal-combustion engine, causing pinking.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French détonation, from the verb détoner, from Latin detonare ‘thunder down’ (see DETONATE).

detonator n. a device or small sensitive charge used to detonate an explosive.

- British another term for FOG SIGNAL.

detorsion /dt(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] (in gastropod molluscs) the evolutionary reversion of a group to a primitive linear body plan. Compare with TORSION.

detour n. a long or roundabout route that is taken to avoid something or to visit somewhere along the way: he had made a detour to a cafe.

- an alternative route for use by traffic when the usual road is temporarily closed.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN take a long or roundabout route: he detoured around the walls.

- [with obj.] avoid by taking a detour: I would detour the endless stream of motor homes.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (as a noun): from French détour ‘change of direction’, from détourner ‘turn away’.

detox INFORMAL n. /ditks/ [mass noun] detoxification: he ended up in detox for three months.

■ v. /ditks/ detoxify.

detoxicate /ditksket/ v. another term for DETOXIFY.

<DERIVATIVES> detoxication n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DE- (expressing removal) + Latin toxicum ‘poison’, on the pattern of intoxicate.

detoxification n. [mass noun] the process of removing toxic substances.

- medical treatment of an alcoholic or drug addict involving abstention from drink or drugs until the bloodstream is free of toxins.

detoxify /ditksf/ v. (detoxifies, detoxifying, detoxified) [with obj.] remove toxic substances from: the process uses chemical reagents to detoxify the oil.

- abstain or help to abstain from drink and drugs until the bloodstream is free of toxins, in order to overcome alcoholism or drug addiction.

- [no obj.] become free of harmful substances: you can help your body detoxify by cutting down on coffee.

<DERIVATIVES> detoxifier n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DE- (expressing removal) + Latin toxicum ‘poison’ + -FY.

detract v. [no obj.] (detract from) diminish the worth or value of (a quality or achievement): these quibbles in no way detract from her achievement.

- [with obj.] take away (a specified amount) from the worth or value of a quality or achievement.

<DERIVATIVES> detraction n. detractive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin detract- ‘drawn away’, from the verb detrahere, from de- ‘away from’ + trahere ‘draw’.

detractor n. a person who disparages someone or something.

detrain v. leave or cause to leave a train.

<DERIVATIVES> detrainment n.

detribalize (also detribalise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. detribalized) remove (someone) from a traditional tribal social structure.

<DERIVATIVES> detribalization n.

detriment /dεtrm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] the state of being harmed or damaged: he is engrossed in his work to the detriment of his married life | light industry can be carried out in a residential area without detriment to its amenities.

- [count noun] a cause of harm or damage: such tests are a detriment to good education.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English in the sense ‘loss sustained by damage’: from Old French, from Latin detrimentum, from detri-, stem of deterere ‘wear away’.

detrimental adj. tending to cause harm: recent policies have been detrimental to the interests of many old people | moving her could have a detrimental effect on her health.

<DERIVATIVES> detrimentally adv.

detrition /dtr(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] RARE the action of wearing something away by friction.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin detritio(n-), from detri-, stem of deterere ‘wear away’.

detritivore /dtrtv/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an animal which feeds on dead organic material, especially plant detritus.

<DERIVATIVES> detritivorous /dεtrtv(ə)rəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from DETRITUS + -vore ‘eating’ (see -VOROUS).

detritus /dtrtəs/ n. [mass noun] waste or debris of any kind: the streets were foul with detritus.

- gravel, sand, silt, or other material produced by erosion.

- organic matter produced by the decomposition of organisms.

<DERIVATIVES> detrital adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘detrition’): from French détritus, from Latin detritus, from deterere ‘wear away’.

Detroit /dtrt/ a major industrial city and Great Lakes shipping centre in SE Michigan; pop. 951,270 (2000). It is the centre of the US automobile industry, containing the headquarters of Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors.

de trop /də trə/ French /də tRə/ adj. not wanted; unwelcome: she had no grasp of the conversation and felt herself de trop.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, literally ‘excessive’.

detrusor /dtrusə/ (also detrusor muscle) n. [ANATOMY] a muscle which forms a layer of the wall of the bladder.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: modern Latin, from Latin detrus- ‘thrust down’, from the verb detrudere.

Dettol /dεtl -t(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a type of surgical or household disinfectant.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: an invented name.

detumescence /ditjmεs(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] the process of subsiding from a state of tension, swelling, or (especially) sexual arousal.

<DERIVATIVES> detumesce v. detumescent adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin detumescere, from de- ‘down, away’ + tumescere ‘to swell’.

detune v. [with obj.] 1 cause (a musical instrument) to become out of tune.

2 (usually as adj. detuned) reduce the performance or efficiency of (a motor vehicle or engine) by adjustment.

3 alter the wavelength of the light emitted by (a laser).

Deucalion /djukelən/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the son of Prometheus. With his wife Pyrrha he survived a flood sent by Zeus to punish human wickedness; they were then instructed to throw stones over their shoulders, and these turned into humans to repopulate the world.

deuce^1 /djus/ n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a thing representing, or represented by, the number two, in particular:

- the two on dice or playing cards.

- a throw of two at dice.

- INFORMAL, DATED a two-dollar bill.

2 [TENNIS] the score of 40 all in a game, at which each player needs two consecutive points to win the game.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French deus ‘two’, from Latin duos.

deuce^2 /djus/ n. (the deuce) INFORMAL used as a euphemism for ‘devil’ in expressions of annoyance, impatience, surprise, etc.: how the deuce are we to make a profit? | what the deuce are you trying to do?

<PHRASES>

□ a (or the) deuce of a —— used to emphasize how bad, difficult, or serious something is.

□ like the deuce very fast: you go up the ladder like the deuce.

□ the deuce to pay trouble to be expected.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Low German duus, probably of the same origin as deuce^1 (two aces at dice being the worst throw).

deuced /djusd djust/ INFORMAL, DATED adj. [attr.] used for emphasis, especially to express disapproval or frustration: I sound like a deuced newspaper reporter | [as submodifier] I'm so deuced fond of you.

<DERIVATIVES> deucedly adv. [as submodifier] they're deucedly hard to find

deurmekaar /djəməkα/ adj. [predic.] S. African INFORMAL in a state of muddle or confusion.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from Dutch dialect variants of door elkaar, literally ‘through one another, interchangeable’.

deus ex machina /des εks maknə diəs εks məinə/ n. an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, translation of Greek theos ek mēkhanēs, ‘god from the machinery’. In Greek theatre, actors representing gods were suspended above the stage, the denouement of the play being brought about by their intervention.

Deut. abbr. Deuteronomy (in biblical references).

deuteragonist /djutəraənst/ n. the person second in importance to the protagonist in a drama.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek deuteragōnistēs, from deuteros ‘second’ + agōnistēs ‘actor’.

deuteranope /djut(ə)rənəp/ n. a person suffering from deuteranopia.

deuteranopia /djut(ə)rənəpə/ n. [mass noun] colour blindness resulting from insensitivity to green light, causing confusion of greens, reds, and yellows. Compare with PROTANOPIA.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DEUTERO- ‘second’ (the colour green being regarded as the second component of colour vision) + AN-1 + -OPIA.

deuterated /djutəretd/ (also deuteriated /djutəretd/) adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of a compound) in which the ordinary isotope of hydrogen has been replaced with deuterium.

<DERIVATIVES> deuteration n.

deuteric /djutərk/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting alteration of the minerals of an igneous rock during the later stages of consolidation.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DEUTERO- ‘secondary’ + -IC.

deuterium /djutərəm/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a stable isotope of hydrogen with a mass approximately twice that of the usual isotope. (Symbol: D)

Deuterium atoms have a neutron as well as a proton in the nucleus, and the isotope is present to about 1 part in 6,000 in naturally occurring hydrogen. It is used as a fuel in thermonuclear bombs, and heavy water (D_2O) is used as a moderator in nuclear reactors.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: modern Latin, from Greek deuteros ‘second’.

deutero- /djutərə/ combining form second: Deutero-Isaiah.

- secondary: deuterocanonical.

<ORIGIN> from Greek deuteros ‘second’.

deuterocanonical /djutərəkənnk(ə)l/ adj. (of sacred books or literary works) forming a secondary canon.

Deutero-Isaiah /djutərəzə/ the supposed later author of Isaiah 40–55.

deuteron /djutərn/ n. the nucleus of a deuterium atom, consisting of a proton and a neutron.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek deuteros ‘second’, on the pattern of proton.

Deuteronomy /djutərnəmi/ the fifth book of the Bible, containing a recapitulation of the Ten Commandments and much of the Mosaic law.

Deutschland /dYtlant/ German name for GERMANY.

Deutschmark /dtmαk/ (also Deutsche Mark /dtə mαk/ German /dYtə mark/) n. (until the introduction of the euro in 2002) the basic monetary unit of Germany, equal to 100 pfennig.

<ORIGIN> from German deutsche Mark ‘German mark’.

deutzia /djutsə dt-/ n. an ornamental shrub with white or pinkish flowers, native to Asia and Central America.

<INFO> Genus Deutzia, family Hydrangeaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Johann van der Deutz, 18th-cent. Dutch patron of botany.

deva /devə/ n. a member of a class of divine beings in the Vedic period, which in Indian religion are benevolent and in Zoroastrianism are evil. Compare with ASURA.

- INDIAN (in general use) a god.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit, literally ‘shining one’, later ‘god’.

devadasi /devədαsi/ n. (pl. devadasis) a hereditary female dancer in a Hindu temple.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit devadāsī, literally ‘female servant of a god’.

de Valera /də vəlεrə/ Eamon (1882–1975), American-born Irish statesman, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) 1937–48, 1951–4, and 1957–9 and President of the Republic of Ireland 1959–73. He was the leader of Sinn Fein 1917–26 and the founder of the Fianna Fáil Party in 1926. As President of the Irish Free State from 1932, de Valera was largely responsible for the new constitution of 1937 which created the state of Eire.

de Valois /də valwα/ Dame Ninette (1898–2001), Irish choreographer, ballet dancer, and teacher; born Edris Stannus. A former soloist with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, she formed the Vic-Wells Ballet (which eventually became the Royal Ballet) and the Sadler's Wells ballet school.

devalorize /divalərz/ (also devalorise) v. [with obj.] RARE devalue.

<DERIVATIVES> devalorization n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French dévaloriser.

devalue v. (devalues, devaluing, devalued) [with obj.] reduce or underestimate the worth or importance of: I resent the way people seem to devalue my achievement.

- [ECONOMICS] reduce the official value of (a currency) in relation to other currencies: the dinar was devalued by 20 per cent.

<DERIVATIVES> devaluation n.

Devanagari /devənα(ə)ri dεv-/ n. [mass noun] the alphabet used for Sanskrit, Hindi, and other Indian languages.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit, literally ‘divine town script’, from deva ‘god’ + nāgarī (from nagara ‘town’), an earlier name of the script.

devastate /dεvəstet/ v. [with obj.] 1 destroy or ruin: the city was devastated by a huge earthquake.

2 cause (someone) severe and overwhelming shock or grief: she was devastated by the loss of Damian.

<DERIVATIVES> devastator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin devastat- ‘laid waste’, from the verb devastare, from de- ‘thoroughly’ + vastare ‘lay waste’.

devastating adj. 1 highly destructive or damaging: a devastating cyclone.

2 causing severe shock, distress, or grief: the news came as a devastating blow.

3 INFORMAL extremely impressive or effective: she had a devastating wit.

<DERIVATIVES> devastatingly adv. [as submodifier] a devastatingly attractive man

devastation n. [mass noun] 1 great destruction or damage: the floods caused widespread devastation.

2 severe and overwhelming shock or grief: she spoke of her devastation at his death.

devein v. [with obj.] remove the main central vein from (a shrimp or prawn).

develop v. (develops, developing, developed) 1 grow or cause to grow and become more mature, advanced, or elaborate: [no obj.] motion pictures were to develop into mass entertainment | (as adj. developing) this is a rapidly developing field | [with obj.] enabling individuals to develop their personal skills.

- [with obj.] convert (land) to a new purpose by constructing buildings or making other use of its resources.

- [with obj.] elaborate (a musical theme) by modification of the melody, harmony, or rhythm.

2 start to exist, experience, or possess: [no obj.] a strange closeness developed | [with obj.] I developed an interest in law | call the doctor if your child develops a rash.

3 [with obj.] treat (a photographic film) with chemicals to make a visible image.

4 [with obj.] [CHESS] bring (a piece) into play from its initial position on a player's back rank.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘unfold, unfurl’): from French développer, based on Latin dis- ‘un-’ + a second element of unknown origin found also in ENVELOP.

developable adj. 1 (of land or property) able to be adapted or improved so as to become profitable.

2 [GEOMETRY] (of a curved surface) capable of being flattened into a plane without overlap or separation, as with a cylinder.

3 [MATHEMATICS] (of a function or expression) capable of being expanded as a series.

developed adj. advanced or elaborated to a specified degree: a fully developed system of public law.

- (of a person or part of the body) having specified physical proportions: a strongman with well-developed muscles.

- (of a country or region) advanced economically and socially: the developed world.

developer n. a person or thing that develops something: a property developer | software developers.

- [with adj.] a person who grows or matures at a specified time or rate: I was a slow developer.

- [mass noun] a chemical agent used for treating photographic film to make a visible image.

developing country n. a poor agricultural country that is seeking to become more advanced economically and socially.

development n. [mass noun] 1 the process of developing or being developed: she traces the development of the novel | the paintings provide evidence of his artistic development.

- a specified state of growth or advancement: the wings attain their full development several hours after birth.

- [count noun] a new and advanced product or idea: the latest developments in information technology.

2 [count noun] an event constituting a new stage in a changing situation: I don't think there have been any new developments since yesterday.

3 the process of converting land to a new purpose by constructing buildings or making use of its resources: land suitable for development.

- [count noun] an area of land with new buildings on it: a major housing development in Essex.

4 the process of starting to be affected by an ailment or feeling: the development of brittle bones.

5 the process of treating photographic film with chemicals to make a visible image.

6 [CHESS] the process of bringing one's pieces into play in the opening phase of a game.

developmental adj. concerned with the development of someone or something: developmental problems | developmental psychology.

- concerned with ontogenetic development, especially embryonic development in animals: developmental biology.

<DERIVATIVES> developmentally adv.

developmental delay n. [mass noun] the condition of a child being less developed mentally or physically than is normal for its age.

development area n. (in the UK) an area in which government assistance is available to encourage business investment, in order to counteract unemployment.

development education n. [mass noun] education aimed at giving an understanding of developing countries and their place in the global socio-economic situation.

development system n. [COMPUTING] a system of software and hardware designed to assist in the development of new software or products.

développé /dev(ə)lpe/ n. (pl. développés pronunc. same) [BALLET] a movement in which one leg is raised and then kept in a fully extended position.

<ORIGIN> French, past participle of développer ‘stretch out, develop’.

Devensian /dvεnzən/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the most recent Pleistocene glaciation in Britain, identified with the Weichselian of northern Europe.

- (as n. the Devensian) the Devensian glaciation or the system of deposits laid down during it.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Latin Devenses ‘people dwelling near the River Dee’ (see Dee^1 (sense 2)) + -IAN.

deverbal /divəb(ə)l/ adj. (of a noun or adjective) derived from a verb.

■ n. a deverbal noun or adjective.

Devi /devi/ [HINDUISM] the supreme goddess, often identified with Parvati and Sakti.

- (devi) INDIAN (in general use) a goddess.

- INDIAN used after the first name of a Hindu woman as a form of respect: Deval Devi.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit.

deviance n. [mass noun] the fact or state of diverging from usual or accepted standards, especially in social or sexual behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> deviancy n.

deviant adj. departing from usual or accepted standards, especially in social or sexual behaviour: deviant behaviour | a deviant ideology.

- DEROGATORY homosexual.

■ n. a deviant person or thing.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin deviant- ‘turning out of the way’, from the verb deviare (see DEVIATE).

deviate v. /divet/ [no obj.] (usually deviate from) depart from an established course: you must not deviate from the agreed route.

- depart from usual or accepted standards: those who deviate from society's values.

■ n. & adj. /divət/

■ old-fashioned term for DEVIANT.

<DERIVATIVES> deviator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘remote’): from late Latin deviat- ‘turned out of the way’, from the verb deviare, from de- ‘away from’ + via ‘way’. The verb dates from the mid 17th cent.

deviation n. [mass noun] 1 the action of departing from an established course or accepted standard: deviation from a norm | sexual deviation | [count noun] deviations from Standard English.

2 [STATISTICS] the amount by which a single measurement differs from a fixed value such as the mean.

3 the deflection of a ship's compass needle caused by iron in the ship.

<DERIVATIVES> deviationism n. deviationist n. deviational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from medieval Latin deviatio(n-), from Latin deviare (see DEVIATE).

device n. 1 a thing made or adapted for a particular purpose, especially a piece of mechanical or electronic equipment: a measuring device.

- a bomb or other explosive weapon: an incendiary device.

2 a plan, method, or trick with a particular aim: writing a letter to a newspaper is a traditional device for signalling dissent.

- a form of words intended to produce a particular effect in speech or a literary work: a rhetorical device.

3 a drawing or design: the decorative device on the invitations.

- an emblematic or heraldic design: their shields bear the device of the Blazing Sun.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC the design or look of something: works of strange device.

<PHRASES>

□ leave someone to their own devices leave someone to do as they wish without supervision.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French devis, based on Latin divis- ‘divided’, from the verb dividere. The original sense was ‘desire or intention’, found now only in leave someone to their own devices (which has become associated with sense 2).

devil n. 1 (usually the Devil) (in Christian and Jewish belief) the supreme spirit of evil; Satan.

- an evil spirit; a demon.

- a very wicked or cruel person: they prefer voting for devils than for decent men.

- (the devil) fighting spirit; wildness: he was dangerous when the devil was in him.

- (the devil) a thing that is very difficult or awkward to do or deal with: it's going to be the very devil to disentangle.

2 [with adj.] INFORMAL a person with specified characteristics: the cunning old devil | you lucky devil.

3 (the devil) expressing surprise or annoyance in various questions or exclamations: ‘Where the devil is he?’.

4 an instrument or machine fitted with sharp teeth or spikes, used for tearing or other destructive work.

5 INFORMAL, DATED a junior assistant of a barrister or other professional. See also PRINTER'S DEVIL.

■ v. (devils, devilling, devilled; US devils, deviling, deviled) 1 [no obj.] INFORMAL, DATED act as a junior assistant for a barrister or other professional.

2 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN harass or worry (someone): he was deviled by a new-found fear.

<PHRASES>

□ be a devil! BRITISH INFORMAL said when encouraging someone to do something that they are hesitating to do: ‘Go on, be a devil and stop being so staid!’.

□ between the devil and the deep blue sea in a difficult situation where there are two equally unpleasant choices.

□ devil a —— ARCHAIC not even one or any: the devil a MAN of you stirred himself over it.

□ the devil can quote scripture for his purpose PROVERB people may conceal unworthy motives by reciting words that sound morally authoritative. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to the Temptation.]

□ the devil finds work for idle hands to do PROVERB if someone doesn't have enough work to occupy them, they are liable to cause or get into trouble.

□ the devil looks after his own PROVERB success or good fortune often seem to come to those who least deserve it.

□ devil-may-care cheerful and reckless: light-hearted, devil-may-care young pilots.

□ a devil of a —— INFORMAL used to emphasize great size or degree: photographic equipment costs a devil of a lot.

□ the devil's dozen thirteen.

□ the devil's in the detail the details of a matter are its most problematic aspect.

□ the devil to pay serious trouble to be dealt with.

□ the devil's own —— INFORMAL used to emphasize the difficulty or seriousness of something: it was the devil's own job to get her to give me money.

□ every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost see MAN.

□ give the devil his due PROVERB if someone or something generally considered bad or undeserving has any redeeming features these should be acknowledged.

□ go to the devil! said in angry rejection or condemnation of someone.

□ like the devil with great speed or energy: he drove like the devil.

□ play the devil with have a damaging or disruptive effect on: this brandy plays the devil with one's emotions!

□ speak (or talk) of the devil said when a person appears just after being mentioned. [<ORIGIN> from the superstition that the devil will appear if his name is spoken.]

<ORIGIN> Old English dēofol (related to Dutch duivel and German Teufel), via late Latin from Greek diabolos ‘accuser, slanderer’ (used in the Septuagint to translate Hebrew śāān ‘Satan’), from diaballein ‘to slander’, from dia ‘across’ + ballein ‘to throw’.

devil dance n. a dance performed as part of Buddhist ritual in Sri Lanka and Tibet, for the invocation, propitiation, or exorcism of spirits.

<DERIVATIVES> devil dancer n.

devilfish n. (pl. same or devilfishes) any of a number of marine creatures that are perceived as having a sinister appearance, in particular a devil ray, a stonefish, or an octopus or squid.

devilish adj. like or appropriate to a devil in evil and cruelty: devilish tortures.

- mischievous and rakish: a wide, devilish grin.

- very difficult to deal with or use: it turned out to be a devilish job.

■ adv. [as submodifier] INFORMAL, DATED very; extremely: a devilish clever chap.

<DERIVATIVES> devilishly adv. devilishness n.

devilled adj. (of food) cooked with hot seasoning: devilled kidneys.

devilling float n. a wooden or plastic block with tips of nails just protruding through its base, used to scratch the surface of plaster lightly to enable more plaster to adhere to it.

devilment n. [mass noun] reckless mischief; wild spirits: his eyes were blazing with devilment.

devil ray n. a large long-tailed ray which has a fleshy horn-like projection on each side of the mouth. It occurs on or near the surface of warm seas and feeds on plankton.

<INFO> Family Mobulidae: two genera and several species, including the manta.

devilry n. [mass noun] wicked activity: some devilry was afoot.

- reckless mischief: a perverse sense of devilry urged her to lead him on.

- black magic; dealings with the devil.

devil's advocate n. a person who expresses a contentious opinion in order to provoke debate or test the strength of the opposing arguments.

- HISTORICAL a person appointed by the Roman Catholic Church to challenge a proposed beatification or canonization, or the verification of a miracle.

devil's bit n. any of a number of wild plants with a very short rootstock, said in folklore to have been bitten off by the devil, in particular:

<INFO>

- (also devil's bit scabious) a blue-flowered plant native to Eurasia and North Africa (Succisa pratensis, family Dipsacaceae).

- North American the blazing star (Chamaelirium luteum, family Liliaceae).

devil's claw n. a plant whose seed pods bear claw-like hooks which can harm livestock.

<INFO> Two genera in the family Pedaliaceae: genus Proboscidea of warm regions of America, used in basketry or grown for their fruit, and Harpagophytum procumbens of southern Africa and Madagascar, used in herbal medicine.

devil's club n. a very spiny straggling shrub of western North America.

<INFO> Oplopanax horridus, family Araliaceae.

devil's coach-horse n. BRITISH a large black predatory rove beetle which raises its hind end and opens its jaws in a threatening manner when disturbed.

<INFO> Staphylinus olens, family Staphylinidae.

devil's darning needle n. North American another term for DARNER.

devil's food cake n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a rich chocolate cake.

devil's grip n. informal term for BORNHOLM DISEASE.

Devil's Island a rocky island off the coast of French Guiana, used from 1852 as a penal settlement, especially for political prisoners. The last prisoner was released in 1953.

devils on horseback plural n. chiefly BRITISH a savoury snack of prunes individually wrapped in slices of bacon, served on toast or croutons.

devil's paintbrush n. NORTH AMERICAN the European orange hawkweed, which has become naturalized in North America.

<INFO> Hieracium aurantiacum, family Compositae.

devil's walking stick n. a prickly angelica tree native to the eastern US. Also called HERCULES' CLUB.

<INFO> Aralia spinosa, family Araliaceae.

deviltry n. archaic variant of DEVILRY.

devious /divəs/ adj. 1 showing a skilful use of underhand tactics to achieve goals: he's as devious as a politician needs to be | they have devious ways of making money.

2 (of a route or journey) longer and less direct than the most straightforward way.

<DERIVATIVES> deviously adv. deviousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin devius (from de- ‘away from’ + via ‘way’) + -OUS. The original sense was ‘remote’; the later sense ‘departing from the direct route’ gave rise to the figurative sense ‘deviating from the straight way’ and hence ‘skilled in underhand tactics’.

devise /dvz/ v. [with obj.] 1 plan or invent (a complex procedure, system, or mechanism) by careful thought: a training programme should be devised | a complicated game of his own devising.

2 [LAW] leave (something, especially real estate) to someone by the terms of a will.

■ n. [LAW] a clause in a will leaving something, especially real estate, to someone.

<DERIVATIVES> devisable adj. devisee n.

■ devise (sense 2 of the verb)

□ deviser n.

□ devisor n.

■ devise (sense 2 of the verb)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: the verb from Old French deviser, from Latin divis- ‘divided’, from the verb dividere (this sense being reflected in the original English sense of the verb); the noun is a variant of DEVICE (in the early sense ‘will, desire’).

devitalize (also devitalise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. devitalized) deprive of strength and vigour: an effective product to treat devitalized skin.

<DERIVATIVES> devitalization n.

devitrify v. (devitrifies, devitrifying, devitrified) (with reference to glass or vitreous rock) become or make hard, opaque, and crystalline.

<DERIVATIVES> devitrification n.

devoice v. [with obj.] [PHONETICS] make (a vowel or voiced consonant) voiceless.

devoid /dvd/ adj. (devoid of) entirely lacking or free from: Lisa kept her voice devoid of emotion.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: past participle of obsolete devoid ‘cast out’, from Old French devoidier.

devoir /dəvwα/ n. ARCHAIC a person's duty: you have done your devoir right well.

<PHRASES>

□ pay one's devoirs pay one's respects formally.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French deveir, from Latin debere ‘owe’. The spelling, and subsequently the pronunciation, was changed under the influence of modern French devoir.

devolution /divəlu(ə)n dεv-/ n. [mass noun] 1 the transfer or delegation of power to a lower level, especially by central government to local or regional administration.

- [LAW] the legal transfer of property from one owner to another.

2 FORMAL descent to a lower or worse state: the devolution of the gentlemanly ideal into a glorification of drunkenness.

- [BIOLOGY] evolutionary degeneration.

<DERIVATIVES> devolutionary adj. devolutionist n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘transference by default’): from late Latin devolutio(n-), from Latin devolvere ‘roll down’ (see DEVOLVE).

devolve /dvlv/ v. 1 [with obj.] transfer or delegate (power) to a lower level, especially from central government to local or regional administration: measures to devolve power to a Scottish assembly | (as adj. devolved) devolved and decentralized government.

- [no obj.] (devolve on/upon/to) (of duties or responsibility) pass to (a body or person at a lower level): his duties devolved on a comrade.

- [no obj.] (devolve on/upon/to) [LAW] (of property) be transferred from one owner to (another), especially by inheritance.

2 [no obj.] (devolve into) FORMAL pass into (a different state, especially a worse one); degenerate: the Empire devolved into separate warring states.

<DERIVATIVES> devolvement n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘roll down’): from Latin devolvere, from de- ‘down’ + volvere ‘to roll’.

Devon^1 (also Devonshire) a county of SW England; county town, Exeter.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin Devonia ‘Devonshire’.

Devon^2 n. an animal of a breed of red beef cattle.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after the county of Devon (see Devon^1).

Devonian /dεvənən d-/ adj. 1 relating to Devon.

2 [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the fourth period of the Palaeozoic era, between the Silurian and Carboniferous periods.

The Devonian period lasted from about 409 to 363 million years ago. During this period fish became abundant, the first amphibians evolved, and the first forests appeared.

■ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Devon.

2 (the Devonian) [GEOLOGY] the Devonian period or the system of rocks deposited during it.

devoré /dəvre/ (also devore) n. [usually as modifier] a velvet fabric with a pattern formed by burning the pile away with acid: a devoré top.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from French dévoré, literally ‘devoured’, past participle of dévorer.

devote v. [with obj.] 1 (devote something to) give all or most of one's time or resources to (a person or activity): I wanted to devote more time to my family | she devoted herself to fund-raising.

- use a certain amount of space or time to cover (a topic).

2 ARCHAIC invoke or pronounce a curse upon.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘dedicate formally, consecrate’): from Latin devot- ‘consecrated’, from the verb devovere, from de- ‘formally’ + vovere ‘to vow’.

devoted adj. 1 very loving or loyal: he was a devoted husband | Leo was devoted to his job.

2 (devoted to) given over to the display, study, or discussion of: there is a museum devoted to her work.

<DERIVATIVES> devotedly adv.

■ devoted (sense 1)

□ devotedness n.

■ devoted (sense 1)

devotee /dεvə()ti/ n. a person who is very interested in and enthusiastic about someone or something: a devotee of Lewis Carroll.

- a strong believer in a particular religion or god: devotees of Krishna.

devotion n. [mass noun] love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person or activity: his devotion to duty never wavered | she was the epitome of wifely devotion.

- religious worship or observance: the order's aim was to live a life of devotion.

- (devotions) prayers or religious observances.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin devotio(n-), from devovere ‘consecrate’ (see DEVOTE).

devotional adj. of or used in religious worship: devotional books.

<DERIVATIVES> devotionally adv.

devour /dvaə/ v. [with obj.] 1 eat (food or prey) hungrily or quickly: he devoured half of his burger in one bite.

- (of fire or a similar force) destroy completely: the hungry flames devoured the old house.

2 read quickly and eagerly: she spent her evenings devouring the classics.

3 (be devoured) be totally absorbed by a powerful feeling: she was devoured by need.

<DERIVATIVES> devourer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French devorer, from Latin devorare, from de- ‘down’ + vorare ‘to swallow’.

devout /dvat/ adj. having or showing deep religious feeling or commitment: she was a devout Catholic | a rabbi's devout prayers.

- totally committed to a cause or belief: the most devout environmentalist.

<DERIVATIVES> devoutly adv. devoutness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French devot, from Latin devotus ‘devoted’, past participle of devovere (see DEVOTE).

de Vries /də vris/ Hugo (1848–1935), Dutch plant physiologist and geneticist. De Vries did much work on osmosis and water relations in plants, coining the term plasmolysis. His subsequent work on heredity and variation contributed substantially to the chromosome theory of heredity.

DEW abbr. distant early warning, a radar system in North America for the early detection of a missile attack.

dew n. [mass noun] tiny drops of water that form on cool surfaces at night, when atmospheric vapour condenses: the grass was wet with dew | [in sing.] a cold, heavy dew dripped from the leaves.

- [in sing.] a beaded or glistening liquid resembling dew: her body had broken out in a fine dew of perspiration.

■ v. [with obj.] LITERARY moisten with drops of liquid: sweat dewed her lashes.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēaw, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dauw and German Tau (noun), tauen (verb).

Dewar /djuə/ Sir James (1842–1923), Scottish chemist and physicist. He is chiefly remembered for his work in cryogenics, in which he devised the vacuum flask, achieved temperatures close to absolute zero, and was the first to produce liquid oxygen and hydrogen in quantity.

dewar /djuə/ n. a double-walled flask of metal or silvered glass with a vacuum between the walls, used to hold liquids at well below ambient temperature.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Sir James DEWAR.

dewater v. [with obj.] drain (a waterlogged or flooded area).

- remove water from (sediment or waste materials).

dewax v. [with obj.] remove wax from: linoleum needs to be dewaxed using a strong solvent.

dewberry n. (pl. dewberries) a trailing European bramble with soft prickles and edible fruit resembling the blackberry, which have a dewy white bloom on the skin.

<INFO> Rubus caesius, family Rosaceae.

- NORTH AMERICAN any of a number of trailing brambles.

- the blue-black fruit of the dewberry.

dewclaw n. a rudimentary inner toe present in some dogs.

- a false hoof on an animal such as a deer, which is formed by its rudimentary side toes.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: apparently from DEW and CLAW.

dewdrop n. a drop of dew.

Dewey /djui/ John (1859–1952), American philosopher and educationist. Working in the pragmatic tradition of William James and C. S. Peirce, he evolved the educational theory that children would learn best by doing.

Dewey decimal classification (also Dewey system) n. an internationally applied decimal system of library classification which uses a three-figure code from 000 to 999 to represent the major branches of knowledge, and allows finer classification to be made by the addition of further figures after a decimal point.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Melvil Dewey (1851–1931), American librarian.

dewfall n. [mass noun] LITERARY the formation of dew, or the time of the evening when dew begins to form.

- the film of dew covering an area.

Dewi /dewi/ Welsh name for St David (see DAVID, ST).

dewlap n. a fold of loose skin hanging from the neck or throat of an animal or bird, especially that present in many cattle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from DEW and lap^1, perhaps influenced by a Scandinavian word (compare with Danish doglæp).

deworm v. [with obj.] treat (an animal) to free it of worms.

<DERIVATIVES> dewormer n.

dew point n. the atmospheric temperature (varying according to pressure and humidity) below which water droplets begin to condense and dew can form.

dew pond n. BRITISH a shallow pond, especially an artificial one made on downs where the water supply from springs or surface drainage is inadequate.

Dewsbury /djuzb(ə)ri/ a textile manufacturing town in northern England, formerly in West Yorkshire; pop. 50,800 (est. 2002).

dew worm n. NORTH AMERICAN an earthworm, in particular one that is used as fishing bait.

<ORIGIN> Old English deaw-wyrm ‘ringworm’; compare with East Frisian dauworm, denoting both ringworm and the earthworm.

dewy adj. (dewier, dewiest) 1 wet with dew.

2 (of a person's skin) appearing soft and lustrous.

- youthful and fresh: the girls have yet to lose their dewy charm.

<DERIVATIVES> dewily adv. dewiness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēawig (see DEW, -y^1).

dewy-eyed adj. having eyes that are moist with tears (used typically to indicate that a person is nostalgic, naive, or sentimental): she gets slightly dewy-eyed as she talks about her family.

dex n. INFORMAL short for DEXEDRINE.

dexamethasone /dεksəmεθəsən -zən/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic drug of the corticosteroid type, used especially as an anti-inflammatory agent.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from dexa- (blend of DECA- and HEXA-) + meth(yl) + -a- + (cortis)one.

Dexedrine /dεksədrin -drn/ n. TRADEMARK a form of amphetamine (see AMPHETAMINE).

<ORIGIN> 1940s: probably from DEXTRO-, on the pattern of Benzedrine.

Dexter /dεkstə/ Colin (b.1930), English writer of detective fiction. He is noted for his Inspector Morse stories, set in Oxford.

dexter^1 /dεkstə/ adj. [attr.] ARCHAIC & [HERALDRY] on or towards the right-hand side (in a coat of arms, from the bearer's point of view, i.e. the left as it is depicted). The opposite of SINISTER.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, ‘on the right’.

dexter^2 /dεkstə/ n. an animal of a small, hardy breed of Irish cattle.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: said to have been named after the breeder.

dexterity /dεkstεrti/ n. [mass noun] skill in performing tasks, especially with the hands: her dexterity with chopsticks | his record testifies to a certain dexterity in politics.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘mental adroitness’): from French dextérité, from Latin dexteritas, from dexter ‘on the right’.

dexterous /dεkst(ə)rəs/ (also dextrous) adj. showing or having skill, especially with the hands: a dexterous keyboard player.

<DERIVATIVES> dexterously adv. dexterousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘mentally adroit’): from Latin dexter ‘on the right’ + -OUS.

dextral /dεkstr(ə)l/ adj. of or on the right side or the right hand (the opposite of SINISTRAL).

- right-handed.

- [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a strike-slip fault in which the motion of the block on the further side of the fault from an observer is towards the right.

- [ZOOLOGY] (of a spiral mollusc shell) with whorls rising to the right and coiling in an anticlockwise direction.

■ n. a right-handed person.

<DERIVATIVES> dextrality /-stralti/ n. dextrally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin dextralis, from Latin dextra ‘the right hand’, from dexter ‘on the right’.

dextran /dεkstran/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a carbohydrate gum formed by the fermentation of sugars and consisting of polymers of glucose.

- MEDICINE a solution containing a hydrolysed form of dextran, used as a substitute for blood plasma.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DEXTRO- + -AN.

dextrin /dεkstrn/ n. [mass noun] a soluble gummy substance obtained by hydrolysis of starch, used as a thickening agent and in adhesives and dietary supplements.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DEXTRO- + -IN^1.

dextro- combining form on or to the right: dextrorotatory.

<ORIGIN> from Latin dexter, dextr- ‘right’.

dextrorotatory /dεkstrərətət(ə)ri/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of a compound) having the property of rotating the plane of a polarized light ray to the right, i.e. clockwise facing the oncoming radiation. The opposite of LAEVOROTATORY.

<DERIVATIVES> dextrorotation n.

dextrose /dεkstrəz -s/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the dextrorotatory form of glucose (and the predominant naturally occurring form).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin dexter, dextr- ‘on the right’ + -OSE^2.

dexy /dεksi/ n. (pl. dexies) [mass noun] INFORMAL Dexedrine.

- [count noun] a tablet of Dexedrine.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: abbreviation.

dezincification /dizkfke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a form of corrosion and weakening of brass objects in which zinc is dissolved out of the brass alloy.

DF abbr.

- Defender of the Faith. [<ORIGIN> from Latin Defensor Fidei.]

- direction finder.

DFC abbr. (in the UK) Distinguished Flying Cross, a decoration for distinguished active service awarded to members of the RAF, instituted in 1918.

DFID abbr. (in the UK) Department for International Development.

Dfl abbr. Dutch florins.

DFM abbr. (in the UK) Distinguished Flying Medal, a decoration awarded to RAF personnel for acts of courage or devotion to duty when not in action against an enemy, instituted in 1918.

DfT abbr. (in the UK) Department for Transport.

DG abbr.

- Dei gratia, by the grace of God.

- Deo gratias, thanks be to God.

- (in the UK) director general.

dg abbr. decigram(s).

DH [BASEBALL] abbr.

- designated hitter.

■ v. (DH's, DHing, DH'd) [no obj.] act as a designated hitter.

dhaba /dαbə/ n. INDIAN a roadside food stall.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi hābā.

Dhaka /dakə/ (also Dacca) the capital of Bangladesh, on the Ganges delta; pop. 8,539,500 (est. 2002).

<DERIVATIVES> Dhakai adj.

dhal /dαl/ (also dal) n. [mass noun] (in Indian cookery) split pulses.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dāl.

dhamma /dαmə dmə/ n. another term for DHARMA, especially among Theravada Buddhists.

<ORIGIN> Pali, from Sanskrit dharma ‘decree or custom’.

Dhanbad /dαnbad/ a city in Bihar, NE India; pop. 1,064,357 (2001).

dhansak /dnsαk/ n. [mass noun] an Indian dish of meat or vegetables cooked with lentils and occasionally spinach: chicken dhansak.

<ORIGIN> Gujarati.

dharma /dαmə dəmə/ n. [mass noun] (in Indian religion) the eternal law of the cosmos, inherent in the very nature of things.

In Hinduism, dharma is seen as the cosmic law both upheld by the gods and expressed in right behaviour by humans, including adherence to the social order. In Buddhism (termed dhamma), it is interpreted as universal truth or law, especially as proclaimed by the Buddha. In Jainism, it is conceived both as virtue and as a kind of fundamental substance, the medium of motion.

<ORIGIN> Sanskrit, literally ‘decree or custom’.

dharmashala /dαməαlə/ (also dharmsala /dαmsαlə/, dharamshala /dαrəmαlə/) n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a building devoted to religious or charitable purposes, especially a rest house for travellers.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit dharmaśālā, from dharma ‘virtue’ + śālā ‘house’.

dharna /dənə -α/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN a mode of compelling payment or compliance, by sitting at the debtor's or offender's door until the demand is complied with.

- [count noun] a peaceful demonstration.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dharnā ‘sitting in restraint, placing’.

Dharuk /drk/ n. [mass noun] an Aboriginal language of the area around Sydney, Australia, now extinct.

Dhaulagiri /daləri/ a mountain massif in the Himalayas, in Nepal, with six peaks, rising to 8,172 m (26,810 ft) at its highest point.

Dhelfoí /εlfi/ Greek name for DELPHI.

dhikr /k(ə)r/ (also zikr /zk(ə)r/) n. [mass noun] [ISLAM] a form of devotion, associated chiefly with Sufism, in which the worshipper is absorbed in the rhythmic repetition of the name of God or his attributes.

- [count noun] a Sufi ceremony in which dhikr is practised.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic ikr ‘remembrance’.

Dhílos /ils/ Greek name for DELOS.

dhobi /dəbi/ n. (pl. dhobis) (in the Indian subcontinent) a washerman or washerwoman.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dhobī, from dhob ‘washing’.

dhobi itch n. [mass noun] INFORMAL itching inflammation of the skin, especially in the groin region, suffered particularly in the tropics and typically caused by certain types of ringworm infection or by allergic dermatitis.

Dhofar /dəfα/ the fertile southern province of Oman.

dhol /dəl/ n. a large, barrel-shaped or cylindrical wooden drum, typically two-headed, used in the Indian subcontinent.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi hol.

dholak /dələk/ n. a medium-sized dhol.

<ORIGIN> Hindi, from hol (see DHOL) + the diminutive suffix -ak.

dhole /dəl/ n. an Asian wild dog with a sandy coat and a black bushy tail, living in packs. Also called RED DOG.

<INFO> Cuon alpinus, family Canidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

dhoni /dəni/ n. (pl. dhonis) a small wooden sailing vessel used in India and SE Asia.

<ORIGIN> from Telugu doni; compare with Persian dōnī ‘yacht’.

dhoti /dəti/ n. (pl. dhotis) INDIAN a loincloth worn by men.

- a garment, worn mainly by men, consisting of a piece of material tied around the waist and extending to cover most of the legs.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dhotī.

dhow /da/ n. a lateen-rigged ship with one or two masts, used chiefly in the Arabian region.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Arabic dāwa, probably related to Marathi dāw.

DHSS abbr. (formerly in the UK) Department of Health and Social Security.

DHT abbr. dihydrotestosterone.

DHTML abbr. [COMPUTING] dynamic HTML.

dhurrie /dri/ (also durrie) n. (pl. dhurries) a heavy cotton rug of Indian origin.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi darī.

dhyana /dαnə/ n. [mass noun] (in Hindu and Buddhist practice) profound meditation which is the penultimate stage of yoga.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit dhyāna.

DI abbr.

- (in the UK) Defence Intelligence.

- (in the UK) Detective Inspector.

- direct injection.

di-1 /d di/ combining form twice; two-; double: dichromatic.

- [CHEMISTRY] containing two atoms, molecules, or groups of a specified kind: dioxide.

<ORIGIN> from Greek dis ‘twice’.

di-2 /di d/ prefix variant spelling of DIS- shortened before l, m, n, r, s (followed by a consonant), and v; also often shortened before g, and sometimes before j.

<ORIGIN> from Latin.

di-3 /d/ prefix variant spelling of DIA- shortened before a vowel (as in dielectric).

dia. abbr. diameter.

dia- (also di- before a vowel) prefix 1 through; across: diameter | diaphanous | diuretic.

2 apart: diakinesis.

<ORIGIN> from Greek dia ‘through’.

diabase /dəbes/ n. [GEOLOGY] another term for DOLERITE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally denoting diorite): from French, formed irregularly as if from di- ‘two’ + base ‘base’ (thus ‘rock with two bases’, referring to the base minerals of diorite), but associated later perhaps with Greek diabasis ‘transition’.

diabetes /dəbitiz/ n. [mass noun] a disorder of the metabolism causing excessive thirst and the production of large amounts of urine.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek, literally ‘siphon’, from diabainein ‘go through’.

diabetes insipidus /nspdəs/ n. [mass noun] a rare form of diabetes caused by a deficiency of the pituitary hormone vasopressin, which regulates kidney function.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DIABETES + Latin insipidus ‘insipid’.

diabetes mellitus /mltəs/ n. [mass noun] the commonest form of diabetes, caused by a deficiency of the pancreatic hormone insulin, which results in a failure to metabolize sugars and starch. Sugars accumulate in the blood and urine, and the by-products of alternative fat metabolism disturb the acid–base balance of the blood, causing a risk of convulsions and coma.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DIABETES + Latin mellitus ‘sweet’.

diabetic adj. having diabetes.

- relating to or designed to relieve diabetes: a diabetic clinic | a diabetic diet.

■ n. a person suffering from diabetes.

diablerie /dαbləri/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being reckless or wild in a charismatic way.

- ARCHAIC sorcery supposedly assisted by the devil.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from diable, from ecclesiastical Latin diabolus ‘devil’.

diabolic /dəblk/ adj. relating to or characteristic of the Devil: the darkness of a diabolic world.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French diabolique or ecclesiastical Latin diabolicus, from diabolus ‘devil’.

diabolical adj. 1 characteristic of the Devil, or so evil as to recall the Devil: his diabolical cunning.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL disgracefully bad or unpleasant: a singer with an absolutely diabolical voice.

<DERIVATIVES> diabolically adv. [as submodifier] a diabolically clever scheme

diabolism /dabəlz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] worship of the Devil.

<DERIVATIVES> diabolist n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from ecclesiastical Latin diabolus or Greek diabolos ‘devil’ + -ISM.

diabolize /dabəlz/ (also diabolise) v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC represent as diabolical.

diabolo /dabələ d-/ n. (pl. diabolos) [mass noun] a game in which a two-headed top is thrown up and caught with a string stretched between two sticks.

- [count noun] the wooden top used in the game of diabolo.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Italian, from ecclesiastical Latin diabolus ‘devil’; the game was formerly called devil on two sticks.

diacetylmorphine /dastlmfin/ n. technical term for HEROIN.

diachronic /dəkrnk/ adj. concerned with the way in which something, especially language, has developed and evolved through time. Often contrasted with SYNCHRONIC.

<DERIVATIVES> diachroneity /dəkrəniti -neti/ n. diachronically adv. diachronistic /dakrənstk/ adj. diachrony /dakrəni/ n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DIA- ‘through’ + Greek khronos ‘time’ + -IC.

diachronism /dakrənz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the occurrence of a feature or phenomenon in different geological periods.

<DERIVATIVES> diachronous adj. diachronously adv.

diaconal /dak(ə)n(ə)l/ adj. relating to a deacon, or to the role of a deacon.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from ecclesiastical Latin diaconalis, from diaconus (see DEACON).

diaconate /dakənet -ət/ n. the office of deacon, or a person's tenure of it.

- a body of deacons collectively.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from ecclesiastical Latin diaconatus, from diaconus (see DEACON).

diacritic /dəkrtk/ n. a sign, such as an accent or cedilla, which when written above or below a letter indicates a difference in pronunciation from the same letter when unmarked or differently marked.

■ adj. (of a mark or sign) indicating a difference in pronunciation.

<DERIVATIVES> diacritical adj. diacritically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek diakritikos, from diakrinein ‘distinguish’, from dia- ‘through’ + krinein ‘to separate’.

diadelphous /dədεlfəs/ adj. [BOTANY] (of stamens) united by their filaments so as to form two groups.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + Greek adelphos ‘brother’ + -OUS.

diadem /dədεm/ n. a jewelled crown or headband worn as a symbol of sovereignty.

- (the diadem) ARCHAIC the authority or dignity symbolized by a crown.

<DERIVATIVES> diademed adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French diademe, via Latin from Greek diadēma ‘the regal headband of the Persian kings’, from diadein ‘bind round’.

Diadochi /dadəki/ the six Macedonian generals of Alexander the Great (Antigonus, Antipater, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus), among whom his empire was eventually divided after his death in 323 BC.

<ORIGIN> from Greek diadokhoi ‘successors’.

diaeresis /dərss -εr-/ (US dieresis) n. (pl. diaereses /-siz/) 1 a mark (¨) placed over a vowel to indicate that it is sounded separately, as in naïve, Brontë.

- [mass noun] the division of a sound into two syllables, especially by sounding a diphthong as two vowels.

2 [PROSODY] a natural rhythmic break in a line of verse where the end of a metrical foot coincides with the end of a phrase.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting the division of one syllable into two): via Latin from Greek diairesis ‘separation’, from diairein ‘take apart’, from dia ‘apart’ + hairein ‘take’.

diagenesis /dədεnss/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the physical and chemical changes occurring during the conversion of sediment to sedimentary rock.

<DERIVATIVES> diagenetic adj. diagenetically adv.

Diaghilev /dalεf/ Sergei (Pavlovich) (1872–1929), Russian ballet impresario. In 1909 he formed the Ballets Russes, which he directed until his death.

diagnose /dənəz -nəz/ v. [with obj.] identify the nature of (an illness or other problem) by examination of the symptoms: two doctors failed to diagnose a punctured lung.

- identify the nature of the medical condition of: she was finally diagnosed as having epilepsy | 20,000 men are diagnosed with skin cancer every year.

<DERIVATIVES> diagnosable adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: back-formation from DIAGNOSIS.

diagnosis /dənəss/ n. (pl. diagnoses /-siz/) [mass noun] 1 the identification of the nature of an illness or other problem by examination of the symptoms: early diagnosis and treatment are essential | [count noun] a diagnosis of Crohn's disease was made.

2 the distinctive characterization in precise terms of a genus, species, or phenomenon.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek, from diagignōskein ‘distinguish, discern’, from dia ‘apart’ + gignōskein ‘recognize, know’.

diagnostic /dənstk/ adj. 1 concerned with the diagnosis of illness or other problems: a diagnostic tool.

- (of a symptom) distinctive, and so indicating the nature of an illness: there are fifteen infections which are diagnostic of Aids.

2 characteristic of a particular species, genus, or phenomenon: the diagnostic character of having not one but two pairs of antennae.

■ n. 1 a distinctive symptom or characteristic.

- [COMPUTING] a program or routine that helps a user to identify errors.

2 (diagnostics) the practice or techniques of diagnosis: advanced medical diagnostics.

<DERIVATIVES> diagnostically adv. diagnostician /-nst(ə)n/ n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek diagnōstikos ‘able to distinguish’, from diagignōskein ‘distinguish’; the noun from hē diagnōstikē tekhnē ‘the art of distinguishing (disease)’.

diagonal /da(ə)n(ə)l/ adj. (of a straight line) joining two opposite corners of a square, rectangle, or other straight-sided shape.

- (of a line) straight and at an angle; slanting: a tie with diagonal stripes.

■ n. a straight line joining two opposite corners of a square, rectangle, or other straight-sided shape.

- [MATHEMATICS] the set of elements of a matrix that lie on a line joining two opposite corners.

- a slanting straight line: the bars of light made diagonals across the entrance | tiles can be laid on the diagonal.

- [CHESS] a slanting row of squares whose colour is the same.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin diagonalis, from Greek diagōnios ‘from angle to angle’, from dia ‘through’ + gōnia ‘angle’.

diagonally adv. in a diagonal direction: now walk diagonally across the field towards a farmhouse.

diagonal matrix n. [MATHEMATICS] a matrix having non-zero elements only in the diagonal running from the upper left to the lower right.

diagram /dəram/ n. a simplified drawing showing the appearance, structure, or workings of something; a schematic representation: a diagram of the living room.

- [GEOMETRY] a figure composed of lines that is used to illustrate a definition or statement or to aid in the proof of a proposition.

- BRITISH a graphical schedule for operating railway locomotives and rolling stock in order to provide a desired service.

■ v. (diagrams, diagramming, diagrammed; US diagrams, diagraming, diagramed) [with obj.] represent (something) in graphic form: the experiment is diagrammed on page fourteen.

- BRITISH schedule the operations of (a locomotive or train) according to a diagram.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin diagramma, from Greek, from diagraphein ‘mark out by lines’, from dia ‘through’ + graphein ‘write’.

diagrammatic /dərəmatk/ adj. of or in the form of a diagram: a diagrammatic representation of the system.

<DERIVATIVES> diagrammatically adv.

diagrid /dərd/ n. BRITISH a supporting framework in a building formed with diagonally intersecting ribs of metal or concrete.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from DIAGONAL + GRID.

diakinesis /dəkniss/ n. (pl. diakineses /-siz/) [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the fifth and last stage of the prophase of meiosis, following diplotene, when the separation of homologous chromosomes is complete and crossing over has occurred.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DIA- ‘through, across’ + Greek kinēsis ‘motion’.

dial n. a face of a clock or watch that is marked to show units of time.

- a similar face or flat plate with a scale and pointer for showing measurements of weight, volume, or pressure.

- a disc with numbered finger holes on a telephone, rotated a particular distance for each digit of the number being called.

- a plate or disc turned to select a setting on a radio, cooker, or other piece of equipment.

- British INFORMAL a person's face.

■ v. (dials, dialling, dialled; US dials, dialing, dialed) [with obj.] call (a telephone number) by turning a dial or using a keypad: she dialled 999 | [no obj.] company employees dial out from their office.

- (dial something up) gain access to a service using a telephone line: plans to enable customers to dial up videos from their living room.

- indicate or regulate by means of a dial: you just dial in your PIN and your account number to access the system.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a mariner's compass): from medieval Latin diale ‘clock dial’, based on Latin dies ‘day’.

dial-a- combining form denoting a service available for booking by telephone: dial-a-ride.

dialect /dəlεkt/ n. a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group: the Lancashire dialect seemed like a foreign language.

- [COMPUTING] a particular version of a programming language.

<DERIVATIVES> dialectal /-lεkt(ə)l/ adj. dialectally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting the art of investigating the truth of opinions): from French dialecte, or via Latin from Greek dialektos ‘discourse, way of speaking’, from dialegesthai ‘converse with’ (see DIALOGUE).

dialectic /dəlεktk/ [PHILOSOPHY] n. [mass noun] (also dialectics) [usually treated as sing.] 1 the art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions.

2 enquiry into metaphysical contradictions and their solutions.

- the existence or action of opposing social forces, concepts, etc.

The ancient Greeks used the term dialectic to refer to various methods of reasoning and discussion in order to discover the truth. More recently, Kant applied the term to the criticism of the contradictions which arise from supposing knowledge of objects beyond the limits of experience, e.g. the soul. Hegel applied the term to the process of thought by which apparent contradictions (which he termed thesis and antithesis) are seen to be part of a higher truth (synthesis).

■ adj. relating to dialectic or dialectics; dialectical.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French dialectique or Latin dialectica, from Greek dialektikē (tekhnē) ‘(art) of debate’, from dialegesthai ‘converse with’ (see DIALOGUE).

dialectical adj. 1 relating to the logical discussion of ideas and opinions: dialectical ingenuity.

2 concerned with or acting through opposing forces: a dialectical opposition between social convention and individual libertarianism.

<DERIVATIVES> dialectically adv.

dialectical materialism n. [mass noun] the Marxist theory (adopted as the official philosophy of the Soviet communists) that political and historical events result from the conflict of social forces and are interpretable as a series of contradictions and their solutions. The conflict is seen as caused by material needs.

<DERIVATIVES> dialectical materialist n. & adj.

dialectician /dəlεkt(ə)n/ n. a person skilled in philosophical debate.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French dialecticien, from Latin dialecticus, based on Greek dialegesthai ‘converse with’.

dialectology /dəlεktlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of linguistics concerned with the study of dialects.

<DERIVATIVES> dialectological /-təldk(ə)l/ adj. dialectologist n.

dial-in adj. another term for DIAL-UP.

dialler (US dialer) n. a device or piece of software for calling telephone numbers automatically: a hand-held computer phone dialler.

dialling code n. BRITISH a sequence of numbers dialled to connect a telephone to an exchange in another area or country.

dialling tone (North American dial tone) n. a sound produced by a telephone that indicates that a caller may start to dial.

dialog box (BRITISH also dialogue box) n. [COMPUTING] a small area on screen in which the user is prompted to provide information or select commands.

dialogic /dəldk/ adj. relating to or in the form of dialogue.

<DERIVATIVES> dialogical adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via late Latin from Greek dialogikos, from dialogos (see DIALOGUE).

dialogism /dalədz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the use in a text of different tones or viewpoints, whose interaction or contradiction are important to the text's interpretation.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin dialogismos, from Greek dialogizesthai ‘to converse’, from dialogos ‘discourse’ (see DIALOGUE).

dialogue (US also dialog) n. a conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or film: the book consisted of a series of dialogues | [mass noun] passages of dialogue.

- a discussion between two or more people or groups, especially one directed towards exploration of a particular subject or resolution of a problem: the USA would enter into a direct dialogue with Vietnam | [mass noun] interfaith dialogue.

■ v. [no obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN take part in a conversation or discussion to resolve a problem: he stated that he wasn't going to dialogue with the guerrillas.

- [with obj.] provide (a film or play) with a dialogue.

<PHRASES>

□ dialogue of the deaf a discussion in which each party is unresponsive to what the others say.

<DERIVATIVES> dialogist n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French dialoge, via Latin from Greek dialogos, from dialegesthai ‘converse with’, from dia ‘through’ + legein ‘speak’.

dial tone n. North American term for DIALLING TONE.

dial-up adj. (of a computer system or service) used remotely via a telephone line.

dialysate /dalzet/ (US also dialyzate) n. [mass noun] the part of a mixture which passes through the membrane in dialysis.

- the solution the dialysate forms with the fluid on the other side of the membrane.

- the fluid used on the other side of the membrane during dialysis to remove impurities.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DIALYSIS + -ATE^1; the term originally denoted the part of the mixture which does not pass through the membrane.

dialyse /dəlz/ (US dialyze) v. [with obj.] purify (a mixture) by means of dialysis.

- treat (a patient) by means of dialysis.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DIALYSIS, on the pattern of analyse.

dialysis /dalss/ n. (pl. dialyses /-siz/) [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the separation of particles in a liquid on the basis of differences in their ability to pass through a membrane.

- MEDICINE the clinical purification of blood by dialysis, as a substitute for the normal function of the kidney.

<DERIVATIVES> dialytic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via Latin from Greek dialusis, from dialuein ‘split, separate’, from dia ‘apart’ + luein ‘set free’.

diamagnetic adj. [PHYSICS] (of a substance or body) tending to become magnetized in a direction at 180° to the applied magnetic field.

<DERIVATIVES> diamagnet n. diamagnetically adv. diamagnetism n.

<ORIGIN> 1846: coined by Faraday, from Greek dia ‘through, across’ + MAGNETIC.

diamanté /dəmnte/ adj. decorated with glass cut to resemble diamonds: a diamanté brooch.

■ n. [mass noun] costume jewellery or fabric made or decorated with glass that is cut to resemble diamonds.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, literally ‘set with diamonds’, past participle of diamanter, from diamant ‘diamond’.

diamantiferous /dəməntf(ə)rəs/ adj. (of a rock formation, region, etc.) producing or yielding diamonds.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French diamantifère, from diamant ‘diamond’ + -fère ‘producing’.

diamantine /dəmantn -in/ adj. made from or reminiscent of diamonds.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘hard as diamond’): from French diamantin, from diamant ‘diamond’.

diameter /damtə/ n. 1 a straight line passing from side to side through the centre of a body or figure, especially a circle or sphere.

- a transverse measurement of something; width or thickness.

2 a unit of linear measurement of magnifying power.

<DERIVATIVES> diametral adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French diametre, via Latin from Greek diametros (grammē) ‘(line) measuring across’, from dia ‘across’ + metron ‘measure’.

diametrical /dəmεtrk(ə)l/ adj. 1 (of opposites) complete; absolute: he's the diametrical opposite of Gabriel.

2 of or along a diameter.

<DERIVATIVES> diametric adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from Greek diametrikos (from diametros ‘measuring across’: see DIAMETER) + -AL.

diametrically adv. (with reference to opposition) completely; directly: [as submodifier] two diametrically opposed viewpoints.

diamine /demin dam- dəmin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound whose molecule contains two amino groups, especially when not part of amide groups.

diamond n. 1 a precious stone consisting of a clear and colourless crystalline form of pure carbon, the hardest naturally occurring substance: [as modifier] a diamond ring.

- a tool with a small diamond for cutting glass.

- (a diamond) BRITISH INFORMAL an excellent or very special person or thing: Fred's a diamond.

Diamonds occur in some igneous rock formations (kimberlite) and alluvial deposits. They are typically octahedral in shape but can be cut in many ways to enhance the internal reflection and refraction of light, producing jewels of sparkling brilliance. Diamonds are also used in cutting tools and abrasives.

2 [often as modifier] a figure with four straight sides of equal length forming two opposite acute angles and two opposite obtuse angles; a rhombus: a sweater with a pale-blue diamond pattern.

- (diamonds) one of the four suits in a conventional pack of playing cards, denoted by a red diamond.

- a card of the suit of diamonds.

3 the area delimited by the four bases of a baseball field, forming a square shape.

- a baseball field.

4 [usually as modifier] a railway crossing in which two tracks cross over each other at an acute angle.

<PHRASES>

□ diamond cut diamond used to describe a situation in which a sharp-witted person meets their match.

□ diamond in the rough North American term for ROUGH DIAMOND.

<DERIVATIVES> diamondiferous /-df(ə)rəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French diamant, from medieval Latin diamas, diamant-, variant of Latin adamans (see ADAMANT).

diamondback n. North American 1 (also diamondback rattlesnake) a common large North American rattlesnake with diamond-shaped markings. Also called DIAMOND RATTLESNAKE.

<INFO> Genus Crotalus, family Viperidae: two species.

2 another term for terrapin (sense 2).

diamondback moth n. a small greyish moth which displays a pattern of diamonds along its back when the wings are folded. The caterpillar can be a pest of brassicas and other cultivated vegetables.

<INFO> Plutella xylostella, family Yponomeutidae.

diamond-bird n. AUSTRALIAN a pardalote, which typically has rows of small white spots on the dark parts of its plumage.

diamond-cut adj. 1 cut with facets like a diamond.

2 cut into the shape of a diamond.

Diamond Head an extinct volcano overlooking the port of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

diamond jubilee n. the sixtieth anniversary of a notable event, especially a sovereign's accession or the foundation of an organization.

diamond python n. a carpet python of a race occurring in the coastal areas of New South Wales.

<INFO> Morelia spilota spilota, family Pythonidae.

diamond rattlesnake n. another term for diamondback (sense 1).

Diamond State informal name for the state of Delaware^1.

diamond wedding n. BRITISH the sixtieth anniversary of a wedding.

diamond willow n. NORTH AMERICAN a willow tree with diamond-shaped depressions on the trunk as a result of fungal attack, resulting in timber with a diamond-shaped pattern of pale sapwood and darker heartwood.

<INFO> Several species in the genus Salix are affected, in particular S. bebbiana.

diamorphine /dmfin/ n. short for DIACETYLMORPHINE (heroin).

Diana /danə/ [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] an early Italian goddess associated with hunting, virginity, and, in later literature, with the moon. Greek equivalent ARTEMIS.

diana /danə/ n. a North American fritillary (butterfly), the male of which is orange and black and the female blue and black.

<INFO> Speyeria diana, subfamily Argynninae, family Nymphalidae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin; associated with the goddess of the moon, because of the silvery crescents on the wings.

Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–97), former wife of Prince Charles; title before marriage Lady Diana Frances Spencer. The daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer, she married Prince Charles in 1981; the couple were divorced in 1996. She became a popular figure through her charity work and glamorous media appearances, and her death in a car crash in Paris gave rise to intense national mourning.

Diana monkey n. a West African monkey that has a black face with a white crescent on the forehead.

<INFO> Cercopithecus diana, family Cercopithecidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after the Roman moon goddess DIANA.

Dianetics /dənεtks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] a system developed by the founder of the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, which aims to relieve psychosomatic disorder by cleansing the mind of harmful mental images.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek dianoētikos ‘relating to thought’ + -ICS.

dianthus /danθəs/ n. (pl. dianthuses) a flowering plant of a genus that includes the pinks and carnations.

<INFO> Genus Dianthus, family Caryophyllaceae.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Dios ‘of Zeus’ + anthos ‘a flower’.

diapason /dəpes(ə)n -z-/ n. 1 (also open diapason or stopped diapason) an organ stop sounding a main register of flue pipes, typically of eight-foot pitch.

2 a grand swelling burst of harmony.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the interval of an octave): via Latin from Greek dia pasōn (khordōn) ‘through all (notes)’.

diapause /dəpz/ [ZOOLOGY] n. [mass noun] a period of suspended development in an insect, other invertebrate, or mammal embryo, especially during unfavourable environmental conditions.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as adj. diapausing) (of an insect or other animal) undergo a period of suspended development.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DIA- ‘through’ + the noun PAUSE.

diapedesis /dəpədiss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the passage of blood cells through the intact walls of the capillaries, typically accompanying inflammation.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: modern Latin, based on Greek dia ‘through’ + pēdan ‘throb or leap’.

diaper /dəpə/ n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a baby's nappy.

2 [mass noun] a linen or cotton fabric woven in a repeating pattern of small diamonds.

- a repeating geometrical or floral pattern used to decorate a surface.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 NORTH AMERICAN put a nappy on (a baby).

2 decorate (a surface) with a repeating geometrical or floral pattern.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French diapre, from medieval Latin diasprum, from medieval Greek diaspros (adjective), from dia ‘across’ + aspros ‘white’. The term seems originally to have denoted a costly fabric, but after the 15th century it was used as in sense 2 of the noun; babies' nappies were originally made from pieces of this fabric, hence sense 1 of the noun (late 16th century).

diaphanous /daf(ə)nəs/ adj. (especially of fabric) light, delicate, and translucent: a diaphanous dress of pale gold.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin diaphanus, from Greek diaphanēs, from dia ‘through’ + phainein ‘to show’.

diaphone /dəfən/ n. a low-pitched fog signal operated by compressed air, characterized by the ‘grunt’ which ends each note.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek dia ‘through’ + phōnē ‘sound’.

diaphorase /dafərez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme of the flavoprotein type, able to oxidize a reduced form of the coenzyme NAD.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek diaphoros ‘different’ + -ASE.

diaphoresis /dəfəriss/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL sweating, especially to an unusual degree as a symptom of disease or a side effect of a drug.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via late Latin from Greek, from diaphorein ‘carry off, sweat out’, from dia ‘through’ + phorein ‘carry’.

diaphoretic /dəfərεtk/ adj. MEDICINE (chiefly of a drug) inducing perspiration.

- (of a person) sweating heavily.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek diaphorētikos, from diaphorein ‘sweat out’.

diaphragm /dəfram/ n. 1 a dome-shaped muscular partition separating the thorax from the abdomen in mammals. It plays a major role in breathing, as its contraction increases the volume of the thorax and so inflates the lungs.

2 a thin sheet of material forming a partition.

- a taut flexible membrane in mechanical or acoustic systems.

3 a thin contraceptive cap fitting over the cervix.

4 a device for varying the effective aperture of the lens in a camera or other optical system.

<DERIVATIVES> diaphragmatic adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin diaphragma, from Greek, from dia ‘through, apart’ + phragma ‘a fence’.

diaphragm pump n. a pump using a flexible diaphragm in place of a piston.

diaphysis /dafss/ n. (pl. diaphyses /-siz/) [ANATOMY] the shaft or central part of a long bone. Compare with EPIPHYSIS.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek diaphusis ‘growing through’, from dia ‘through’ + phusis ‘growth’.

diapir /dəpə/ n. [GEOLOGY] a domed rock formation in which a core of rock has moved upward to pierce the overlying strata.

<DERIVATIVES> diapiric adj. diapirism n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek diapeirainein ‘pierce through’, from dia ‘through’ + peirainein (from peran ‘pierce’).

diapositive /dəpztv/ n. a positive photographic slide or transparency.

diapsid /dapsd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a reptile of a large group characterized by the presence of two temporal openings in the skull, including the lizards, snakes, crocodiles, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs.

<INFO> Sometimes placed in a subclass Diapsida.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from modern Latin Diapsida, from DI-1 ‘two’ + Greek apsis, apsid- ‘arch’.

diarchy /dαki/ (also dyarchy) n. (pl. diarchies) [mass noun] government by two independent authorities (especially in India 1919–35).

<DERIVATIVES> diarchal adj. diarchic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + Greek arkhia ‘rule’, on the pattern of monarchy.

diarist n. a person who writes a diary.

<DERIVATIVES> diaristic adj.

diarize (also diarise) v. [with obj.] BRITISH note (an appointment) in a diary.

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC keep a record of events in a diary.

diarrhoea /dərə/ (US diarrhea) n. [mass noun] a condition in which faeces are discharged from the bowels frequently and in a liquid form.

<DERIVATIVES> diarrhoeal adj. diarrhoeic adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek diarrhoia, from diarrhein ‘flow through’, from dia ‘through’ + rhein ‘to flow’.

diary n. (pl. diaries) a book in which one keeps a daily record of events and experiences.

- BRITISH a book with spaces for each day of the year in which one notes appointments or information.

- a column in a newspaper or magazine giving news or gossip on a particular topic: the City Diary.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin diarium, from dies ‘day’.

Dias /dias/ (also Diaz) Bartolomeu (c.1450–1500), Portuguese navigator and explorer. He was the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope (1488), thereby establishing a sea route from the Atlantic to Asia.

diaspora /dasp(ə)rə/ n. (the diaspora) the dispersion of the Jews beyond Israel.

- Jews living outside Israel.

- the dispersion or spread of any people from their original homeland.

- people who have spread or been dispersed from their homeland.

The main diaspora began in the 8th–6th centuries BC, and even before the sack of Jerusalem in AD 70 the number of Jews dispersed by the diaspora was greater than that living in Israel. Thereafter, Jews were dispersed even more widely throughout the Roman world and beyond.

<DERIVATIVES> diasporic adj.

<ORIGIN> Greek, from diaspeirein ‘disperse’, from dia ‘across’ + speirein ‘scatter’. The term originated in the Septuagint (Deuteronomy 28:25) in the phrase esē diaspora en pasais basileias tēs gēs ‘thou shalt be a dispersion in all kingdoms of the earth’.

diaspore /dəsp/ n. [BOTANY] a spore, seed, or other structure that functions in plant dispersal; a propagule.

diastase /dəstez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for AMYLASE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek diastasis ‘separation’, from dia ‘apart’ + stasis ‘placing’.

diastema /dəstimə dastmə/ n. (pl. diastemata) [ZOOLOGY] a space separating teeth of different functions, especially that between the biting teeth (incisors and canines) and grinding teeth (premolars and molars) in rodents and ungulates.

- a gap between a person's two upper front teeth.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via late Latin from Greek diastēma ‘space between’.

diastereoisomer /dəstεrəsəmə/ n. [CHEMISTRY] each of a pair of stereoisomeric compounds that are not mirror images of one another.

<DERIVATIVES> diastereoisomeric adj.

diastole /dastəli/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the phase of the heartbeat when the heart muscle relaxes and allows the chambers to fill with blood. Often contrasted with SYSTOLE.

<DERIVATIVES> diastolic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek, ‘separation, expansion’, from diastellein, from dia ‘apart’ + stellein ‘to place’.

diathermy /dəθəmi/ n. [mass noun] a medical and surgical technique involving the production of heat in a part of the body by high-frequency electric currents, to stimulate the circulation, relieve pain, destroy unhealthy tissue, or cause bleeding vessels to clot.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DIA- ‘through’ + Greek thermon ‘heat’.

diathesis /daθəss/ n. (pl. diatheses /-siz/) 1 [usually with modifier] MEDICINE a tendency to suffer from a particular medical condition: a bleeding diathesis.

2 [LINGUISTICS] the set of syntactic patterns with which a verb or other word is most typically associated.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek, ‘disposition’, from diatithenai ‘arrange’.

■ Sense 2 dates from the mid 20th cent.

diatom /dətəm/ n. [BIOLOGY] a single-celled alga which has a cell wall of silica. Many kinds are planktonic, and extensive fossil deposits have been found.

<INFO> Class Bacillariophyceae, division Chromophycota or Heterokontophyta (or phylum Bacillariophyta, kingdom Protista).

<DERIVATIVES> diatomaceous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Diatoma (genus name), from Greek diatomos ‘cut in two’, from diatemnein ‘to cut through’.

diatomaceous earth /dətəmeəs/ n. [mass noun] a soft, crumbly, porous sedimentary deposit formed from the fossil remains of diatoms.

diatomic /dətmk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] consisting of two atoms.

diatomite /datəmt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a fine-grained sedimentary rock formed from consolidated diatomaceous earth.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DIATOM + -ITE^1.

diatonic /dətnk/ adj. [MUSIC] (of a scale, interval, etc.) involving only notes proper to the prevailing key without chromatic alteration.

- (of a melody or harmony) constructed from a diatonic scale.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a tetrachord divided into two tones and a lower semitone, or ancient Greek music based on this): from French diatonique, or via late Latin from Greek diatonikos ‘at intervals of a tone’, from dia ‘through’ + tonos ‘tone’.

diatreme /dətrim/ n. [GEOLOGY] a long vertical pipe or plug formed when gas-filled magma forced its way up through overlying strata.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DIA- ‘through’ + Greek trēma ‘perforation’.

diatribe /dətrb/ n. a forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something: a diatribe against consumerism.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a disquisition): from French, via Latin from Greek diatribē ‘spending of time, discourse’, from dia ‘through’ + tribein ‘rub’.

Díaz /diaz/ Spanish /dias diaθ/ Porfirio (1830–1915), Mexican general and statesman, President 1877–80 and 1884–1911.

diazepam /dazpam -ez-/ n. [mass noun] a tranquillizing muscle-relaxant drug used chiefly to relieve anxiety. Also called VALIUM (TRADEMARK).

<INFO> A member of the benzodiazepine group; chem. formula: C_16H_13N_2OCl.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of BENZODIAZEPINE and AMIDE.

diazinon /daznn/ n. [mass noun] an organophosphorus insecticide derived from pyrimidine.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from diazine (see di-1, azine) + -on (suffix of unknown origin).

diazo /dazə -ezə/ (also diazotype) n. [mass noun] a copying or colouring process using a diazo compound decomposed by ultraviolet light: [as modifier] diazo printers.

diazo compound n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing two nitrogen atoms bonded together, especially a diazonium compound.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: diazo from DIAZONIUM.

diazomethane /dazəmiθen -ezə-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a poisonous, reactive yellow gas used as a methylating agent in chemical synthesis.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_2N_2.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from diazo- (indicating the presence of two nitrogen atoms) + METHANE.

diazonium /dəzənəm/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] an organic cation containing the group –N_2+ bonded to an organic group. Aromatic diazonium compounds are typically intensely coloured and include many synthetic dyes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from diazo- (indicating the presence of two nitrogen atoms) + the suffix -onium (from AMMONIUM).

dib v. (dibs, dibbing, dibbed)

■ another term for DAP.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: related to dab^1.

dibasic /dbesk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of an acid) having two replaceable hydrogen atoms.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + BASIC.

dibber n. British term for DIBBLE.

dibble n. a pointed hand tool for making holes in the ground for seeds or young plants.

■ v. [with obj.] make (a hole) in soil with a dibble.

- sow (a seed or plant) with a dibble.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: apparently related to DIB (also used in this sense in dialect).

dibbler n. a marsupial mouse found in SW Australia. It is very rare and possibly extinct.

<INFO> Parantechinus apicalis, family Dasyuridae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from DIBBLE.

diborane /dbren/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a poisonous, reactive gas made by the action of acids on some borides. It is the simplest of the boranes and is an example of electron-deficient bonding.

<INFO> Chem. formula: B_2H_6.

dibs plural n. INFORMAL 1 (usually in phrase have first dibs) the right to share or choose something.

2 DATED money.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting pebbles used in a children's game): from earlier dib-stones, perhaps from DIB.

dice n. (pl. same) 1 a small cube with each side having a different number of spots on it, ranging from one to six, thrown and used in gambling and other games involving chance. See also die^2.

- [mass noun] a game played with dice.

2 small cubes of food: cut the meat into dice.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (often as n. dicing) play or gamble with dice.

2 [with obj.] cut (food or other matter) into small cubes: dice the peppers | (as adj. diced) diced onions.

3 [with obj.] AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL, DATED reject or abandon: he'd better behave, or I'll dice him. [<ORIGIN> 1940s: extended use of dice ‘gamble away’.]

<PHRASES>

□ dice with death take serious risks.

□ no dice INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN used to refuse a request or indicate that there is no chance of success.

<DERIVATIVES> dicer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French des, plural of de (see die^2).

<USAGE> Historically, dice is the plural of die, but in modern standard English dice is both the singular and the plural: throw the dice could mean a reference to either one or more than one dice.

dicentra /dsεntrə/ n. a plant of the genus Dicentra (family Fumariaceae), especially (in gardening) a bleeding heart.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek dikentros, from di- ‘two’ + kentron ‘spur, sharp point’.

dicentric /dsεntrk/ [GENETICS] adj. (of a chromosome) having two centromeres.

■ n. a dicentric chromosome.

dicey adj. (dicier, diciest) INFORMAL unpredictable and potentially dangerous: democracy is a dicey business.

dichasium /dkezəm/ n. (pl. dichasia) [BOTANY] a cyme in which each flowering branch gives rise to two or more branches symmetrically placed.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from DI-1 ‘two’ + Greek khasis ‘separation’.

dichlorvos /dklvs/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a pale yellow liquid used as an insecticide and veterinary anthelmintic.

<INFO> An organophosphorus compound; alternative name: 2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate; chem. formula: (CH_3O)2PO_2CHCCl_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from elements of the systematic name (see above).

dichogamy /dkəmi/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the ripening of the stamens and pistils of a flower at different times, so that self-fertilization is prevented. Compare with homogamy (sense 3).

<DERIVATIVES> dichogamous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek dikho- ‘apart, in two’ + gamos ‘marriage’.

dichotic /dktk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] involving or relating to the simultaneous stimulation of the right and left ear by different sounds.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from Greek dikho- ‘apart’ + ous, ōt- ‘ear’ + -IC.

dichotomize /dktəmz d-/ (also dichotomise) v. [with obj.] regard or represent as divided or opposed: gender is dichotomized to give two and only two categories.

dichotomous /dktəməs d-/ adj. 1 exhibiting or characterized by dichotomy: a dichotomous view of the world.

2 [BOTANY] (of branching) in which the axis is divided into two branches.

<DERIVATIVES> dichotomously adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via late Latin from Greek dikhotomos (from dikho- ‘in two’ + temnein ‘to cut’) + -OUS.

dichotomy /dktəmi d-/ n. (pl. dichotomies) [usually in sing.] 1 a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different: a rigid dichotomy between science and mysticism.

2 [mass noun] [BOTANY] repeated branching into two equal parts.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via modern Latin from Greek dikhotomia, from dikho- ‘in two, apart’ + -tomia (see -TOMY).

dichroic /dkrək/ adj. (of a crystal) showing different colours when viewed from different directions, or (more generally) having different absorption coefficients for light polarized in different directions.

<DERIVATIVES> dichroism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek dikhroos (from di- ‘twice’ + khrōs ‘colour’) + -IC.

dichromate /dkrəmet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt, typically red or orange, containing the anion Cr_2O_72−.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + CHROMATE.

dichromatism /dkrəmətz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] 1 (typically in an animal species) the occurrence of two different kinds of colouring.

2 colour blindness in which only two of the three primary colours can be discerned.

<DERIVATIVES> dichromatic adj.

dick^1 n. VULGAR SLANG 1 a man's penis.

- BRITISH a stupid or contemptible person.

2 [mass noun] [with negative] NORTH AMERICAN anything at all.

■ v. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 [no obj.] INFORMAL waste time; mess around.

2 [with obj.] (of a man) have sexual intercourse with.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the general sense ‘fellow’): pet form of the given name Richard. Sense 1 of the noun dates from the late 18th cent.

dick^2 n. INFORMAL, DATED, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a detective.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: perhaps an arbitrary shortening of DETECTIVE, or from obsolete slang dick ‘look’, from Romany.

dickcissel /dkss(ə)l dkss(ə)l/ n. a sparrow-like North American songbird related to the cardinals, with a black-and-white throat and bright yellow breast.

<INFO> Spiza americana, family Emberizidae (subfamily Cardinalinae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: imitative of its call.

Dickens /dknz/ Charles (John Huffam) (1812–70), English novelist.

His novels are notable for their satirical humour and treatment of contemporary social problems, including the plight of the urban poor and the corruption and inefficiency of the legal system. Memorable characters such as Scrooge and Mr Micawber contributed to his work's popular appeal. Some of his most famous novels are Oliver Twist (1837–8), Nicholas Nickleby (1838–9), A Christmas Carol (1843), David Copperfield (1850), Bleak House (1852–3), and Great Expectations (1860–1).

dickens /dknz/ n. [in sing.] INFORMAL, DATED used for emphasis, or to express annoyance or surprise when asking questions: what the dickens is going on? | they work like the dickens.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: a euphemism for ‘devil’, probably a use of the surname Dickens.

Dickensian /dkεnzən/ adj. of or reminiscent of the novels of Charles Dickens, especially in suggesting the poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters that they portray: the backstreets of Dickensian London.

dicker v. [no obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 engage in petty argument or bargaining: Sam advised him not to dicker over the extra fee.

2 toy or fiddle with: the company was still dickering with its pricing schedule.

<DERIVATIVES> dickerer n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally US): perhaps from obsolete dicker ‘set of ten (hides)’, used as a unit of trade, based on Latin decem ‘ten’.

dickhead n. VULGAR SLANG a stupid, irritating, or ridiculous man.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from DICK^1 + HEAD.

Dickinson Emily (Elizabeth) (1830–86), American poet. Her poems use an elliptical language, emphasizing assonance and alliteration rather than rhyme, reflecting the struggles of her reclusive life.

dickwad /dkwd/ n. VULGAR SLANG a contemptible person.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from DICK^1 + WAD.

dicky^1 (also dickey) n. (pl. dickies or dickeys) INFORMAL 1 a false shirt front.

2 DATED, chiefly BRITISH a folding outside seat at the back of a vehicle.

- HISTORICAL a driver's seat in a carriage.

3 INDIAN the boot of a car.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting a petticoat): each sense probably has different origins; perhaps partly from Dicky, pet form of the given name Richard.

dicky^2 adj. (dickier, dickiest) BRITISH INFORMAL (of a part of the body, a structure, or a device) not strong, healthy, or functioning reliably: a pianist with a dicky heart.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘almost over’): perhaps from the given name Dick, in the old saying as queer as Dick's hatband.

dicky bird n. INFORMAL a child's word for a bird. [<ORIGIN> late 18th century: probably from Dicky, pet form of the given name Richard.]

<PHRASES>

□ not a dicky bird not a word; nothing at all: ‘Did you hear from her?’ ‘Not a dicky bird.’. [<ORIGIN> dicky bird being rhyming slang for ‘word’.]

dicky bow n. INFORMAL a bow tie.

dicot /dkt/ n. short for DICOTYLEDON.

dicotyledon /dktlid(ə)n/ n. [BOTANY] a flowering plant with an embryo that bears two cotyledons (seed leaves). Dicotyledons constitute the larger of the two great divisions of flowering plants, and typically have broad stalked leaves with net-like veins (e.g. daisies, hawthorns, oaks). Compare with MONOCOTYLEDON.

<INFO> Class Dicotyledoneae (or -donae, -dones; sometimes Magnoliopsida), subdivision Angiospermae.

<DERIVATIVES> dicotyledonous adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from modern Latin dicotyledones (plural), from di- ‘two’ + cotyledon (see COTYLEDON).

dicrotic /dkrtk/ adj. MEDICINE denoting a pulse in which a double beat is detectable for each beat of the heart.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek dikrotos ‘beating twice’ + -IC.

dicta plural form of DICTUM.

dictamnus /dktamnəs/ n. 1 another term for DITTANY OF CRETE (see DITTANY).

2 another term for GAS PLANT.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin.

Dictaphone /dktəfən/ n. TRADEMARK a small cassette recorder used to record speech for transcription at a later time.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DICTATE or DICTATION + -PHONE.

dictate v. /dktet/ [with obj.] 1 state or order authoritatively: the tsar's attempts to dictate policy | [no obj.] that doesn't give you the right to dictate to me.

- control or decisively affect; determine: choice is often dictated by availability | [no obj.] a review process can be changed as circumstances dictate.

2 say or read aloud (words to be typed, written down, or recorded on tape): I have four letters to dictate.

■ n. /dktet/ (usually dictates) an order or principle that must be obeyed: the dictates of fashion.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2 of the verb): from Latin dictat- ‘dictated’, from the verb dictare.

dictation n. [mass noun] 1 the action of dictating words to be typed, written down, or recorded on tape: the dictation of letters.

- the activity of taking down a passage that is dictated by a teacher as a test of spelling, writing, or language skills: passages for dictation.

- words that are dictated: the job will involve taking dictation, drafting letters, and arranging meetings.

2 the action of giving orders authoritatively or categorically.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 2): from late Latin dictatio(n-), from the verb dictare (see DICTATE).

dictator n. a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force.

- a person who behaves in an autocratic way.

- (in ancient Rome) a chief magistrate with absolute power, appointed in an emergency.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from dictat- ‘dictated’, from the verb dictare (see DICTATE).

dictatorial adj. of or typical of a ruler with total power: a dictatorial regime.

- having or showing an autocratic manner: his mother-in-law was somewhat dictatorial.

<DERIVATIVES> dictatorially adv.

dictatorship n. [mass noun] government by a dictator: the effects of forty years of dictatorship.

- [count noun] a country governed by a dictator.

- absolute authority in any sphere.

diction n. [mass noun] 1 the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing: Wordsworth campaigned against exaggerated poetic diction.

2 the style of enunciation in speaking or singing: she began imitating his careful diction.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a word or phrase): from Latin dictio(n-), from dicere ‘to say’.

dictionary n. (pl. dictionaries) a book that lists the words of a language in alphabetical order and gives their meaning, or that gives the equivalent words in a different language.

- a reference book on any subject, the items of which are arranged in alphabetical order: a dictionary of quotations.

<PHRASES>

□ have swallowed a dictionary INFORMAL use long and obscure words when speaking.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from medieval Latin dictionarium (manuale) or dictionarius (liber) ‘manual or book of words’, from Latin dictio (see DICTION).

dictum /dktəm/ n. (pl. dicta /-tə/ or dictums) a formal pronouncement from an authoritative source: the dicta of High Court Judges.

- a short statement that expresses a general truth or principle: the old dictum ‘might is right’.

- [LAW] short for OBITER DICTUM.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin, literally ‘something said’, neuter past participle of dicere.

dicty /dkti/ adj. US BLACK SLANG ostentatiously stylish; pretentious: up there in their dicty Detroit suburb living the so-called good life.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

Dictyoptera /dktptərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of insects that comprises the cockroaches and mantises. They have a somewhat flattened form, two pairs of wings, and long spiky legs.

<DERIVATIVES> dictyopteran n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek diktuon ‘net’ + pteron ‘wing’.

dicynodont /dsnədnt/ n. a fossil herbivorous mammal-like reptile of the late Permian and Triassic periods, with beaked jaws and no teeth apart from two tusks in the upper jaw of the male.

<INFO> Dicynodon and other genera, infra-order Dicynodontia, order Therapsida.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Dicynodontia (plural), from Greek di- ‘two’ + kuōn ‘dog’ + odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

did past of do^1.

didactic /ddaktk d-/ adj. intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive: a didactic novel that set out to expose social injustice.

- in the manner of a teacher, particularly so as to appear patronizing: his tone ranged from didactic to backslapping.

<DERIVATIVES> didactically adv. didacticism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek didaktikos, from didaskein ‘teach’.

didanosine /ddanəsin/ n. MEDICINE another term for DIDEOXYINOSINE.

diddle v. INFORMAL 1 [with obj.] cheat or swindle (someone) so as to deprive them of something: he thought he'd been diddled out of his change.

- deliberately falsify: he diddled his income tax returns.

2 [no obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN pass time aimlessly or unproductively: I felt sorry for her, diddling around in her room while her friends were having a good time.

3 [with obj.] VULGAR SLANG, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (of a man) have sexual intercourse with. [<ORIGIN> originally in Scots dialect use in the sense ‘jerk from side to side’, apparently corresponding to dialect didder ‘tremble’.]

<DERIVATIVES> diddler n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably from the name of Jeremy Diddler, a character in the farce Raising the Wind (1803) by the Irish dramatist James Kenney (1780–1849). Diddler constantly borrowed and failed to repay small sums of money: the name may be based on an earlier verb diddle ‘walk unsteadily’.

diddly-squat /ddlskwt/ (also doodly-squat) pron. [usually with negative] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL anything: Hiram didn't care diddly-squat about what Darrel thought.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: probably from US slang doodle ‘excrement’ + SQUAT in the sense ‘defecate’.

diddums /ddəmz/ exclam. BRITISH INFORMAL used to express commiseration to a child or, ironically, to an adult.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from did 'em, i.e. ‘did they?’ (tease you, do that to you, etc.).

diddy^1 n. (pl. diddies) BRITISH INFORMAL a fool.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: alteration of TITTY.

diddy^2 adj. BRITISH INFORMAL little: a diddy word processor.

<ORIGIN> probably a child's corruption of LITTLE.

dideoxycytidine /ddksstdin/ (abbr.: DDC or ddC) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a drug which inhibits the replication of HIV and is used in the treatment of Aids, especially in combination with zidovudine. It is a synthetic analogue of a pyrimidine nucleoside.

dideoxyinosine /ddksnəsin/ (abbr.: DDI or ddI) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a drug which inhibits the replication of HIV and is used in the treatment of Aids, especially in combination with zidovudine. It is a synthetic analogue of a purine nucleoside.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from DI-1 ‘two’ + deoxy- (in the sense ‘that has lost oxygen’) + INOSINE.

Diderot /didərə/ French /didəRə/ Denis (1713–84), French philosopher, writer, and critic. A leading figure of the Enlightenment in France, he was principal editor of the Encyclopédie (1751–76), through which he disseminated and popularized philosophy and scientific knowledge. Other notable works: Le Rêve de D'Alembert (1782) and Le Neveu de Rameau (1805).

didgeridoo /dd(ə)rdu/ (also didjeridu) n. an Australian Aboriginal wind instrument in the form of a long wooden tube, traditionally made from a hollow branch, which is blown to produce a deep, resonant sound, varied by rhythmic accents of timbre and volume.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: imitative; from an Aboriginal language of Arnhem Land.

didi /didi/ n. INDIAN an older sister or older female cousin (often as a proper name or form of address): ‘Just have a look at this luggage, didi.’.

- a respectful form of address to any older woman familiar to the speaker.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dīdī.

didicoi /ddk/ n. (pl. didicois) DIALECT a Gypsy or other nomadic person.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps an alteration of Romany dik akei ‘look here’.

didn't contraction did not.

Dido /ddə/ (in the Aeneid) the queen and founder of Carthage, who fell in love with the shipwrecked Aeneas and killed herself when he deserted her.

dido /ddə/ n. (pl. didoes or didos) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (in phrase cut/cut up didoes) perform mischievous tricks or deeds.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

didst archaic second person singular past of do^1.

Didyma /ddmə/ an ancient sanctuary of Apollo, site of one of the most famous oracles of the Aegean region, close to the west coast of Asia Minor.

didymium /ddməm/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a mixture containing the rare earth elements praseodymium and neodymium, used to colour glass for optical filters. It was originally regarded as a single element.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek didumos ‘twin’ (because it was closely associated with lanthanum) + -ium (used as a suffix for new metals).

die^1 v. (dies, dying, died) [no obj.] 1 (of a person, animal, or plant) stop living: he died of Aids | trees are dying from acid rain | [with obj.] the king died a violent death.

- (die out) become extinct: many species died out.

- be forgotten: her genius has assured her name will never die.

- [with adverbial] become less loud or strong: after a while, the noise died down | at last the storm died away.

- (of a fire or light) stop burning or gleaming.

- INFORMAL (of a machine) stop functioning: three toasters have died on me.

2 INFORMAL be very eager for something: they must be dying for a drink | [with infinitive] he's dying to meet you.

- used to emphasize how strongly one is affected by a particular feeling or emotion: only the thought of Matilda prevented him from dying of boredom | we nearly died laughing when he told us.

3 ARCHAIC have an orgasm.

<PHRASES>

□ die a (or the) death BRITISH INFORMAL come to an end; cease or fail to be popular or successful: the craze for cycling shorts is dying a death.

□ die hard disappear or change very slowly: old habits die hard.

□ die in bed undergo death from natural causes.

□ die in harness die before retirement.

□ die like flies see fly^2.

□ die on one's feet INFORMAL come to a sudden or premature end: critics said the show would die on its feet.

□ die on the vine be unsuccessful at an early stage.

□ die with one's boots on see boot^1.

□ never say die used to encourage someone not to give up hope in a difficult situation.

□ to die for INFORMAL extremely good or desirable: the ice creams are to die for.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse deyja, of Germanic origin; related to DEAD.

die^2 n. 1 singular form of DICE.

2 (pl. dies) a device for cutting or moulding metal into a particular shape.

- an engraved device for stamping a design on coins or medals.

3 [ARCHITECTURE] the cubical part of a pedestal between the base and the cornice; a dado or plinth.

<PHRASES>

□ the die is cast an event has happened or a decision has been taken that cannot be changed.

□ (as) straight as a die absolutely straight.

- entirely open and honest.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French de, from Latin datum ‘something given or played’, neuter past participle of dare.

<USAGE> In modern standard English, the singular die (rather than dice) is uncommon. Dice is used for both the singular and the plural.

dieback n. [mass noun] a condition in which a tree or shrub begins to die from the tip of its leaves or roots backwards, owing to disease or an unfavourable environment.

die-cast adj. (of a metal object) formed by pouring molten metal into a reusable mould: a die-cast aluminium loudspeaker chassis.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as n. die-casting) make (a metal object) by pouring molten metal into a mould.

dieffenbachia /dif(ə)nbakə/ n. a plant of a genus that includes dumb cane and its relatives.

<INFO> Genus Dieffenbachia, family Araceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Ernst Dieffenbach (1811–55), German horticulturalist.

diegesis /dədiss/ n. (pl. diegeses /-siz/) a narrative or plot, typically in a film.

<DERIVATIVES> diegetic /-dεtk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek diēgēsis ‘narrative’.

Diego Garcia /deə αsiə/ the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean, site of a strategic Anglo-American naval base established in 1973.

diehard n. [often as modifier] a person who strongly opposes change or who continues to support something in spite of opposition: my stepfather was a diehard Republican | a diehard Yankees fan.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from die hard (see die^1).

diel /dil/ adj. [BIOLOGY] denoting or involving a period of twenty-four hours: tidal and diel cycles.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Latin dies ‘day’ + -(a)l (see -AL).

dieldrin /dildrn/ n. [mass noun] a toxic insecticide produced by the oxidation of aldrin, now largely banned because of its persistence in the environment.

<INFO> A chlorinated epoxide; chem. formula: C_12H_8Cl_6O.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: blend of the name Diels (see Diels–Alder reaction) + ALDRIN.

dielectric /dlεktrk/ [PHYSICS] adj. having the property of transmitting electric force without conduction; insulating.

■ n. a medium or substance with a dielectric property; an insulator.

<DERIVATIVES> dielectrically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DI-3 + ELECTRIC, literally ‘across which electricity is transmitted (without conduction)’.

dielectric constant n. [PHYSICS] a quantity measuring the ability of a substance to store electrical energy in an electric field.

dielectrophoresis /dlεktrəfəriss/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the migration of uncharged particles towards the position of maximum field strength in a non-uniform electric field.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: blend of DIELECTRIC and ELECTROPHORESIS.

die link n. an established connection between coins struck from the same die.

■ v. [with obj.] (die-link) establish a connection between (coins).

Diels–Alder reaction /dilzldə/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an addition reaction in which a conjugated diene reacts with a compound with a double or triple bond so as to form a six-membered ring.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after Otto Diels (1876–1954), and Kurt Alder (1902–58), German chemists.

Dien Bien Phu /djεn bjεn fu/ a village in NW Vietnam, in 1954 the site of a French military post which was captured by the Vietminh after a 55-day siege.

diencephalon /dεnsεf(ə)ln -kεf-/ n. [ANATOMY] the caudal (posterior) part of the forebrain, containing the epithalamus, thalamus, hypothalamus, and ventral thalamus and the third ventricle. Compare with TELENCEPHALON.

<DERIVATIVES> diencephalic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DI-3 ‘across’ + Greek enkephalos ‘brain’.

diene /din/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an unsaturated hydrocarbon containing two double bonds between carbon atoms.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + -ENE.

Dieppe /dεp/ French /djεp/ a channel port in northern France, from which ferries run to Newhaven and elsewhere; pop. 34,700 (1999). In August 1942 it was the scene of an unsuccessful amphibious raid by a joint force of British and Canadian troops to destroy the German-held port and airfield.

Diesel /diz(ə)l/ Rudolf (Christian Karl) (1858–1913), French-born German engineer, inventor of the diesel engine. In 1892 he patented a design for a new, more efficient internal-combustion engine and developed it, exhibiting the prototype in 1897.

diesel /diz(ə)l/ n. (also diesel engine) an internal-combustion engine in which heat produced by the compression of air in the cylinder is used to ignite the fuel: [as modifier] a diesel locomotive.

- [mass noun] (also diesel oil) a heavy petroleum fraction used as fuel in diesel engines: eleven litres of diesel.

<DERIVATIVES> dieselize (also dieselise) v.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after R.

■ Diesel.

diesel-electric adj. denoting or relating to a locomotive driven by the electric current produced by a diesel-engined generator.

■ n. a diesel-electric locomotive.

diesel-hydraulic adj. denoting or relating to a locomotive driven by a hydraulic transmission system powered by a diesel engine.

■ n. a diesel-hydraulic locomotive.

die-sinker n. a person who engraves dies used to stamp designs on coins or medals.

<DERIVATIVES> die-sinking n.

Dies Irae /diez ər əre/ n. a Latin hymn sung in a Mass for the dead.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘day of wrath’ (the opening words of the hymn).

dies non /diez nn/ n. (pl. same) a day on which no legal business can be done, or which does not count for legal purposes.

<ORIGIN> Latin, short for dies non juridicus ‘non-judicial day’.

die-stamping n. [mass noun] a method of embossing paper or another surface using a die.

- a method of printing using an inked die to produce raised print.

diestock n. a hand tool used in the cutting of external screw threads, consisting of a holder for the die which is turned using long handles.

diet^1 n. 1 the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats: a vegetarian diet | FIGURATIVE screen violence is becoming the staple diet of the video generation.

2 a special course of food to which a person restricts themselves, either to lose weight or for medical reasons: I'm going on a diet.

- [as modifier] (of food or drink) with reduced fat or sugar content: diet soft drinks.

■ v. (diets, dieting, dieted) [no obj.] restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight: I began dieting again.

- [with obj.] put on a special diet.

<DERIVATIVES> dieter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French diete (noun), dieter (verb), via Latin from Greek diaita ‘a way of life’.

diet^2 n. a legislative assembly in certain countries.

- HISTORICAL a regular meeting of the states of a confederation.

- [SCOTS LAW] a meeting or session of a court.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin dieta ‘day's work, wages, etc.’, also ‘meeting of councillors’.

dietary adj. relating to or provided by diet: dietary advice for healthy skin and hair.

■ n. (pl. dietaries) DATED a regulated or restricted diet.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): from medieval Latin dietarium, from Latin diaeta (see diet^1).

dietetic /dətεtk/ adj. concerned with diet and nutrition: experienced dietetic advice.

<DERIVATIVES> dietetically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a noun in the sense ‘dietetics’): via Latin from Greek diaitētikos, from diaita ‘a way of life’.

dietetics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of knowledge concerned with the diet and its effects on health, especially with the practical application of a scientific understanding of nutrition.

diethylene glycol /dεθlin -θ(ə)l-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless soluble liquid used as a solvent and antifreeze.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (C_2H_4OH)2O.

diethylstilboestrol /diθlstlbistrl -εθl/ (US diethylstilbestrol) n. another term for STILBOESTROL.

dietitian /dət(ə)n/ (also dietician) n. an expert on diet and nutrition.

Diet of Worms a meeting of the Holy Roman emperor Charles V's imperial diet at Worms in 1521, at which Martin Luther was summoned to appear. Luther committed himself there to the cause of Protestant reform, and his teaching was formally condemned in the Edict of Worms.

Dietrich /ditrx/ Marlene (1901–92), German-born American actress and singer; born Maria Magdelene Dietrich. She became famous for her part as Lola in The Blue Angel (1930), one of many films she made with Josef von Sternberg. From the 1950s she was also successful as an international cabaret star.

Dieu et mon droit /djə e m drwα/ n. God and my right (the motto of the British monarch).

<ORIGIN> French.

dif- prefix variant spelling of DIS-. assimilated before f (as in diffraction, diffuse.).

<ORIGIN> from Latin, variant of DIS-.

differ v. [no obj.] be unlike or dissimilar: the second set of data differed from the first | tastes differ, especially in cars | (as adj. differing) widely differing circumstances.

- disagree: he differed from his contemporaries in ethical matters.

<PHRASES>

□ agree to differ cease to argue about something because neither party will compromise or be persuaded.

□ beg to differ politely disagree.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘put off, defer’): from Old French differer ‘differ, defer’, from Latin differre, from dis- ‘from, away’ + ferre ‘bring, carry’. Compare with defer^1.

difference n. 1 a point or way in which people or things are dissimilar: the differences between men and women.

- [mass noun] the state or condition of being dissimilar: their difference from one another.

- a quantity by which amounts differ; the remainder left after subtraction of one value from another: the insurance company will pay the difference.

- [HERALDRY] an alteration in a coat of arms to distinguish members or branches of a family.

2 a disagreement, quarrel, or dispute: the couple are patching up their differences.

■ v. [with obj.] [HERALDRY] alter (a coat of arms) to distinguish members or branches of a family.

<PHRASES>

□ make a (or no) difference have a significant effect (or no effect) on a person or situation: the Act will make no difference to my business.

□ with a difference having a new or unusual feature or treatment: a fashion show with a difference.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin differentia (see DIFFERENTIA).

difference threshold n. the least amount by which two sensory stimuli can differ for an individual to perceive them as different.

different adj. 1 not the same as another or each other; unlike in nature, form, or quality: you can play this game in different ways | the car's different from anything else on the market.

- INFORMAL novel and unusual: try something deliciously different.

2 distinct; separate: on two different occasions.

<PHRASES>

□ different strokes for different folks PROVERB different things appeal to different people.

<DERIVATIVES> differently adv. differentness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin different- ‘carrying away, differing’, from the verb differre (see DIFFER).

<USAGE> Different from, different than, and different to: are there any distinctions between these three collocations, and is one more correct than the others? Since the 18th century, different than has been singled out by critics as incorrect. In practice, different from is the most common structure, both in the UK and North America, while different than is almost exclusively used in North America. It is difficult to sustain the view in modern standard English that one is more correct than the others, however. There is little difference in sense between the three, and all of them are used by respected writers.

differentia /dfərεnə/ n. (pl. differentiae /-i/) a distinguishing mark or characteristic.

- chiefly [PHILOSOPHY] an attribute that distinguishes a species of thing from other species of the same genus.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘difference’, from different- ‘carrying away’ (see DIFFERENT).

differentiable /dfərεnəb(ə)l/ adj. able to be differentiated.

<DERIVATIVES> differentiability n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DIFFERENTIATE, on the pattern of pairs such as depreciate, depreciable.

differential /dfərεn(ə)l/ chiefly TECHNICAL adj. [attr.] of, showing, or depending on a difference; varying according to circumstances or relevant factors: the differential achievements of boys and girls.

- constituting a specific difference; distinctive: the differential features between benign and malignant tumours.

- [MATHEMATICS] relating to infinitesimal differences or to the derivatives of functions.

- relating to a difference in a physical quantity: a differential amplifier.

■ n. a difference between amounts of things: the differential between petrol and diesel prices.

- BRITISH a difference in wages between industries or between categories of employees in the same industry: regional differentials in pay.

- [MATHEMATICS] an infinitesimal difference between successive values of a variable.

- (also differential gear) a gear allowing a vehicle's driven wheels to revolve at different speeds in cornering.

<DERIVATIVES> differentially adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin differentialis, from Latin differentia ‘difference’ (see DIFFERENTIA).

differential calculus n. [mass noun] a branch of mathematics concerned with the determination, properties, and application of derivatives and differentials. Compare with INTEGRAL CALCULUS.

differential coefficient n. [MATHEMATICS] another term for DERIVATIVE.

differential diagnosis n. MEDICINE the process of differentiating between two or more conditions which share similar signs or symptoms.

differential equation n. an equation involving derivatives of a function or functions.

differential lock n. a device which disables the differential of a motor vehicle in slippery conditions to improve grip.

differential operator n. [MATHEMATICS] another term for DEL.

differentiate /dfərεnet/ v. [with obj.] 1 recognize or ascertain what makes (someone or something) different: children can differentiate the past from the present.

- [no obj.] (differentiate between) identify differences between (two or more things or people): he is unable to differentiate between fantasy and reality.

- make (someone or something) appear different or distinct: little now differentiates the firm's products from its rivals.

2 TECHNICAL make or become different in the process of growth or development: [with obj.] the receptors are developed and differentiated into sense organs | [no obj.] the cells differentiate into a wide variety of cell types.

3 [MATHEMATICS] transform (a function) into its derivative.

<DERIVATIVES> differentiator n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from medieval Latin differentiat- ‘carried away from’, from the verb differentiare, from differentia (see DIFFERENTIA).

differentiation n. [mass noun] the action or process of differentiating: packaging can be a source of product differentiation.

differently abled adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN disabled.

<USAGE> Differently abled was first proposed (in the 1980s) as an alternative to disabled, handicapped, etc. on the grounds that it gave a more positive message and so avoided discrimination towards people with disabilities. The term has gained little currency, however, and has been criticized as both over-euphemistic and condescending. The accepted term in general use is still disabled.

difficult adj. needing much effort or skill to accomplish, deal with, or understand: she had a difficult decision to make | the questions are too difficult for the children.

- characterized by or causing hardships or problems: a difficult economic climate.

- (of a person) not easy to please or satisfy; awkward: Lily could be difficult.

<DERIVATIVES> difficultly adv. (RARE) difficultness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: back-formation from DIFFICULTY.

difficulty n. (pl. difficulties) [mass noun] the state or condition of being difficult: Guy had no difficulty in making friends | I managed with difficulty to struggle upright.

- [count noun] a thing that is hard to accomplish, deal with, or understand: there is a practical difficulty | a club with financial difficulties.

- (difficulties) a situation that is difficult or dangerous: they went for a swim but got into difficulties.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘requiring effort or skill’ and ‘something difficult’): from Latin difficultas, from dis- (expressing reversal) + facultas ‘ability, opportunity’.

diffidence n. [mass noun] modesty or shyness resulting from a lack of self-confidence: I say this with some diffidence.

diffident adj. modest or shy because of a lack of self-confidence: a diffident youth.

<DERIVATIVES> diffidently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘lacking confidence or trust in someone or something’): from Latin diffident- ‘failing in trust’, from the verb diffidere, from dis- (expressing reversal) + fidere ‘to trust’.

diffract /dfrakt/ v. [with obj.] [PHYSICS] cause to undergo diffraction.

<DERIVATIVES> diffractive adj. diffractively adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin diffract- ‘broken in pieces’, from the verb diffringere, from dis- ‘away, from’ + frangere ‘to break’.

diffraction n. [mass noun] the process by which a beam of light or other system of waves is spread out as a result of passing through a narrow aperture or across an edge, typically accompanied by interference between the wave forms produced.

diffraction grating n. a plate of glass or metal ruled with very close parallel lines, producing a spectrum by diffraction and interference of light.

diffractometer /dfraktmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring diffraction, chiefly used to determine the structure of a crystal by analysis of the diffraction of X-rays.

diffuse v. /dfjuz/ spread over a wide area or between a large number of people: [no obj.] technologies diffuse rapidly | [with obj.] the problem is how to diffuse power without creating anarchy.

- [PHYSICS] intermingle with another substance by movement, typically in a specified direction or at specified speed: [no obj.] oxygen molecules diffuse across the membrane | [with obj.] gas is diffused into the bladder.

- [with obj.] cause (light) to spread evenly to reduce glare and harsh shadows.

■ adj. /dfjus/ 1 spread out over a large area; not concentrated: the diffuse community which centred on the church | the light is more diffuse.

- (of disease) not localized in the body: diffuse hyperplasia.

2 lacking clarity or conciseness: the second argument is more diffuse.

<DERIVATIVES> diffusely /dfjusli/ adv. diffuseness /dfjusns/ n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin diffus- ‘poured out’, from the verb diffundere, from dis- ‘away’ + fundere ‘pour’; the adjective via French diffus or Latin diffusus ‘extensive’, from diffundere.

<USAGE> The verbs diffuse and defuse sound similar but have different meanings. Diffuse means, broadly, ‘disperse’, while defuse means ‘reduce the danger or tension in’. Thus sentences such as Cooper successfully diffused the situation (taken from the British National Corpus) are wrong, while Cooper successfully defused the situation would be correct.

diffuser (also diffusor) n. a thing that diffuses something, in particular:

- an attachment or duct for broadening an airflow and reducing its speed.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] a device which spreads the light from a light source evenly and reduces harsh shadows.

diffusible /dfjuzb(ə)l/ adj. able to intermingle by diffusion: diffusible factors in the cytoplasm.

diffusion n. [mass noun] the spreading of something more widely: the rapid diffusion of ideas and technology.

- the action of spreading the light from a light source evenly to reduce glare and harsh shadows.

- [PHYSICS] the intermingling of substances by the natural movement of their particles: the rate of diffusion of a gas.

- [ANTHROPOLOGY] the dissemination of elements of culture to another region or people.

<DERIVATIVES> diffusionism n. ([ANTHROPOLOGY]) diffusionist adj. & n. ([ANTHROPOLOGY]) diffusive adj. ([PHYSICS])

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘pouring out, effusion’): from Latin diffusio(n-), from diffundere ‘pour out’.

diffusion line (also diffusion range) n. a range of relatively inexpensive ready-to-wear garments produced for the mass market by a fashion designer.

diffusivity /dfjusvti/ n. (pl. diffusivities) [PHYSICS] a measure of the capability of a substance or energy to be diffused or to allow something to pass by diffusion.

dig v. (digging; past and past participle dug) 1 [no obj.] break up and move earth with a tool or machine, or with hands, paws, snout, etc.: the boar had been digging for roots | [with obj.] she had to dig the garden | authorities cause chaos by digging up roads.

- [with obj.] make (a hole, grave, etc.) by digging: he took a spade and dug a hole | (as adj. dug) the newly dug grave.

- [with obj. and adverbial] extract from the ground by breaking up and moving earth: the water board came and dug the cable up.

- (dig in) (of a soldier) protect oneself by digging a trench or similar ground defence.

- (dig in) INFORMAL begin eating heartily.

- [with obj.] excavate (an archaeological site).

2 [with obj.] push or poke sharply: he dug his hands into his pockets.

- [no obj., with adverbial] search or rummage in a specified place: Catherine dug into her handbag and produced her card.

- [no obj.] engage in research; conduct an investigation: he had no compunction about digging into her private affairs.

- (dig something up/out) bring out or discover something after a search or investigation: they dug out last year's notes | have you dug up any information on the captain?

3 [with obj.] INFORMAL like, appreciate, or understand: I really dig heavy rock.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] an act or spell of digging: a thorough dig of the whole plot.

- [count noun] an archaeological excavation.

2 a push or poke with one's elbow, finger, etc.: Ginnie gave her sister a dig in the ribs.

- INFORMAL a remark intended to mock or criticize: she never missed an opportunity to have a dig at him.

<PHRASES>

□ dig the dirt (or dig up dirt) INFORMAL discover and reveal damaging information about someone.

□ dig a hole for oneself (or dig oneself into a hole) get oneself into an awkward or restrictive situation.

□ dig in one's heels (or toes or feet) resist stubbornly; refuse to give in: officials dug their heels in on particular points.

□ dig a pit for see pit^1.

□ dig one's own grave see grave^1.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old English dīc ‘ditch’.

Digambara /dmbərə/ n. a member of one of two principal sects of Jainism, which was formed as a result of doctrinal schism in about AD 80 and continues today in parts of southern India. Male ascetic members of the sect traditionally reject property ownership and do not wear clothes. See also SVETAMBARA.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit Digāmbara, literally ‘sky-clad’.

digamma /damə/ n. the sixth letter of the early Greek alphabet (, ), probably pronounced as ‘w’. It became obsolete before the Classical period.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via Latin from Greek, from di- ‘twice’ + GAMMA (because of the shape of the letter, resembling gamma (Γ) with an extra stroke).

digastric /dastrk/ (also digastric muscle) n. [ANATOMY] each of a pair of muscles which run under the jaw and act to open it.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from modern Latin digastricus, from di- ‘twice’ + Greek gastēr ‘belly’ (because the muscle has two fleshy parts or ‘bellies’ at an angle, connected by a tendon).

digenean /ddniən ddεnən/ [ZOOLOGY] adj. relating to a group of flukes which are internal parasites needing two to four hosts to complete their life cycle. Compare with MONOGENEAN.

■ n. a digenean fluke; a trematode.

<INFO> Subclass Digenea, class Trematoda.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from modern Latin Digenea (from Greek di- ‘twice’ + genea ‘generation, race’) + -AN.

digerati /ddərαti/ plural n. people with expertise or professional involvement in information technology.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of DIGITAL and LITERATI.

digest v. /ddεst d-/ [with obj.] 1 break down (food) in the stomach and intestines into substances that can be used by the body.

- [CHEMISTRY] treat (a substance) with heat, enzymes, or a solvent in order to decompose it or extract essential components.

2 understand or assimilate (information) by a period of reflection: Leonora digested this piece of news with mixed feelings.

- arrange in a systematic or convenient order, especially by reduction: the computer digested your labours into a form understandable by a program.

■ n. /ddεst/ 1 a compilation or summary of material or information: a digest of their findings.

- a periodical consisting of condensed versions of pieces of writing or news published elsewhere.

- a methodical summary of a body of laws.

- (the Digest) the compendium of Roman law compiled in the reign of Justinian.

2 [CHEMISTRY] a substance or mixture obtained by digestion: a digest of cloned DNA.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin digest- ‘distributed, dissolved, digested’, from the verb digerere, from di- ‘apart’ + gerere ‘carry’; the noun from Latin digesta ‘matters methodically arranged’, from digestus ‘divided’, from digerere.

digester n. [CHEMISTRY] a container in which substances are treated with heat, enzymes, or a solvent in order to promote decomposition or extract essential components.

digestible adj. 1 (of food) able to be digested.

2 (of information) easy to understand or follow: her books convey philosophical issues in a lucid and digestible form.

<DERIVATIVES> digestibility n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin digestibilis, from digest- ‘digested’, from the verb digerere (see DIGEST).

digestif /ddεstf diεstif/ n. a drink, especially an alcoholic one, drunk before or after a meal in order to aid the digestion.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘digestive’.

digestion n. [mass noun] the process of digesting food.

- [count noun] a person's capacity to digest food: he suffered with his digestion.

- [CHEMISTRY] the process of treating a substance with heat, enzymes, or a solvent to promote decomposition or extract essential components.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin digestio(n-), from the verb digerere (see DIGEST).

digestive adj. relating to the process of digesting food: digestive disorders.

- (of food or medicine) aiding or promoting the process of digestion: tubes of digestive mints.

■ n. 1 a food, drink, or medicine that aids or promotes the digestion of food.

2 (also digestive biscuit) BRITISH a round semi-sweet biscuit made of wholemeal flour.

<DERIVATIVES> digestively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French digestif, -ive or Latin digestivus, from digest- ‘digested’, from the verb digerere (see DIGEST).

digestive gland n. [ZOOLOGY] a glandular organ of digestion present in crustaceans, molluscs, and certain other invertebrates.

digger n. 1 a person, animal, or large machine that digs earth.

- a miner.

- a person who excavates archaeological sites.

2 (Digger) a member of a group of radical dissenters formed in England in 1649 as an offshoot of the Levellers, believing in a form of agrarian communism in which common land would be made available to the poor.

3 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a man, especially a private soldier (often used as a friendly form of address): how are you, Digger? [<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from digger ‘miner’, reinforced by association with the digging of trenches on the battlefields.]

digger wasp n. a solitary wasp which typically excavates a burrow in sandy soil, filling it with one or more paralysed insects or spiders for its larvae to feed on.

<INFO> Families Sphecidae (which includes sand wasps) and Pompilidae (which includes spider-hunting wasps).

diggings plural n. 1 a site such as a mine or goldfield that has been excavated: hills scarred with peat diggings.

- material that has been dug from the ground.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED lodgings.

digging stick n. a primitive digging implement consisting of a pointed stick, sometimes weighted by a stone.

dight /dt/ adj. ARCHAIC clothed or equipped.

■ v. [with obj.] LITERARY make ready for a use or purpose; prepare.

- SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH wipe clean or dry.

- SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH winnow (corn).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: past participle of archaic dight ‘order, deal with’, based on Latin dictare ‘compose (in language), order’. The wide and varied use of the word in Middle English is reflected dialectally.

digicam n. TRADEMARK a digital camera.

digit /ddt/ n. 1 any of the numerals from 0 to 9, especially when forming part of a number.

2 a finger or thumb.

- [ZOOLOGY] a structure equivalent to a finger or thumb at the end of the limbs of many higher vertebrates.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin digitus ‘finger, toe’;

■ sense 1 arose from the practice of counting on the fingers.

digital adj. 1 relating to or using signals or information represented by discrete values of a physical quantity such as voltage or magnetic polarization: digital TV. Often contrasted with ANALOGUE.

- involving or relating to the use of computer technology: the digital revolution.

2 (of a clock or watch) showing the time by means of displayed digits rather than hands or a pointer.

3 relating to a finger or fingers.

<DERIVATIVES> digitally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin digitalis, from digitus ‘finger, toe’.

digital audiotape (abbr.: DAT) n. [mass noun] magnetic tape which is used to make digital sound recordings of very high quality.

digital camera n. a camera which produces digital images that can be stored in a computer and displayed on screen.

digital divide n. the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet, and those who do not.

digitalin /ddteln/ n. [mass noun] a drug containing the active constituents of digitalis.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DIGITALIS + -IN^1.

digitalis /ddtels/ n. [mass noun] a drug prepared from the dried leaves of foxgloves and containing substances (notably digoxin and digitoxin) that stimulate the heart muscle.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the modern Latin genus name of the foxglove, from digitalis (herba) ‘(plant) relating to the finger’, from digitus ‘finger, toe’; suggested by German Fingerhut ‘thimble or foxglove’.

digitalize^1 (also digitalise) v. another term for DIGITIZE.

<DERIVATIVES> digitalization n.

digitalize^2 (also digitalise) v. [with obj.] MEDICINE administer digitalis or digoxin to (a patient with a heart complaint).

<DERIVATIVES> digitalization n.

digital signature n. [COMPUTING] a digital code (generated and authenticated by public key encryption) which is attached to an electronically transmitted document to verify its contents and the sender's identity.

digital-to-analogue converter n. an electronic device for converting digital signals to analogue form.

digitate /ddtət -et/ adj. TECHNICAL shaped like a spread hand: digitate leaves | a digitate delta.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin digitatus, from digitus ‘finger, toe’.

digitation n. 1 [ZOOLOGY] & [BOTANY] a finger-like protuberance or division.

2 [mass noun] [COMPUTING] the process of converting data to digital form.

digitigrade /ddtred/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of a mammal) walking on its toes and not touching the ground with its heels, as a dog, cat, or rodent. Compare with PLANTIGRADE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin digitus ‘finger, toe’ + -gradus ‘-walking’.

digitize (also digitise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. digitized) convert (pictures or sound) into a digital form that can be processed by a computer.

<DERIVATIVES> digitization n. digitizer n.

digitoxin /ddtksn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a compound with similar properties to digoxin and found with it in the foxglove and similar plants.

diglossia /dlsə/ n. [mass noun] [LINGUISTICS] a situation in which two languages (or two varieties of the same language) are used under different conditions within a community, often by the same speakers. The term is usually applied to languages with distinct ‘high’ and ‘low’ (colloquial) varieties, such as Arabic.

<DERIVATIVES> diglossic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek diglōssos ‘bilingual’, on the pattern of French diglossie.

dignified adj. having or showing a composed or serious manner that is worthy of respect: she maintained a dignified silence | a dignified old lady.

<DERIVATIVES> dignifiedly adv.

dignify v. (dignifies, dignifying, dignified) [with obj.] make (something) seem worthy and impressive: the Americans had dignified their departure with a ceremony.

- give an impressive name to (someone or something unworthy of it): dumps are increasingly dignified as landfills.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French dignefier, from late Latin dignificare, from Latin dignus ‘worthy’.

dignitary /dnt(ə)ri/ n. (pl. dignitaries) a person considered to be important because of high rank or office.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from DIGNITY, on the pattern of the pairs propriety, proprietary.

dignity n. (pl. dignities) [mass noun] 1 the state or quality of being worthy of honour or respect: the dignity of labour.

- [count noun] a high rank or position: he promised dignities to the nobles in return for his rival's murder.

2 a composed or serious manner or style: he bowed with great dignity.

- a sense of pride in oneself; self-respect: it was beneath his dignity to shout.

<PHRASES>

□ stand on one's dignity insist on being treated with due respect.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French dignete, from Latin dignitas, from dignus ‘worthy’.

digoxin /ddksn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a poisonous compound present in the foxglove and other plants. It is a steroid glycoside and is used in small doses as a cardiac stimulant.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: contraction of DIGITOXIN.

digraph /drαf/ n. a combination of two letters representing one sound, as in ph and ey.

- [PRINTING] a character consisting of two joined letters; a ligature.

<DERIVATIVES> digraphic adj.

digress /drεs/ v. [no obj.] leave the main subject temporarily in speech or writing: I have digressed a little from my original plan.

<DERIVATIVES> digresser n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin digress- ‘stepped away’, from the verb digredi, from di- ‘aside’ + gradi ‘to walk’.

digression n. a temporary departure from the main subject in speech or writing: let's return to the main topic after that brief digression.

digressive adj. characterized by digression; tending to depart from the subject.

<DERIVATIVES> digressively adv. digressiveness n.

digs plural n. INFORMAL lodgings.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: short for DIGGINGS, used in the same sense, probably referring to the land where a farmer digs, i.e. works and, by extension, lives.

dihedral /dhidr(ə)l/ adj. having or contained by two plane faces: a dihedral angle.

■ n. 1 an angle formed by two plane faces.

2 [mass noun] [AERONAUTICS] inclination of an aircraft's wing from the horizontal, especially upwards away from the fuselage. Compare with ANHEDRAL.

3 N. Amer. [CLIMBING] a place where two planes of rock meet at an angle of between 60° and 120°.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + -hedral (see -HEDRON).

dihybrid /dhbrd/ n. [GENETICS] a hybrid that is heterozygous for alleles of two different genes: [as modifier] a dihybrid cross.

dihydric /dhdrk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of an alcohol) containing two hydroxyl groups.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + HYDROGEN + -IC.

dihydrotestosterone /dhdrətεststərən/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a male sex hormone which is the active form of testosterone, formed from testosterone in bodily tissue.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from dihydro- (in the sense ‘containing two hydrogen atoms in the molecule’) + TESTOSTERONE.

dihydroxyacetone /dhdrksastən/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a synthetic compound with strong reducing properties, used in lotions for colouring the skin in sunlight.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (CH_2OH)CO.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from dihydroxy- (in the sense ‘containing two hydroxyl groups in the molecule’) + ACETONE.

Dijon /di/ French /di/ an industrial city in east central France, the former capital of Burgundy; pop. 149,867 (1999).

dik-dik /dkdk/ n. (pl. same or dik-diks) a dwarf antelope found on the dry savannah of Africa, the female of which is larger than the male.

<INFO> Genus Madoqua, family Bovidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: a local word in East Africa, imitative of its call.

dikkop /dkəp/ n. S. AFRICAN a stone curlew.

<INFO> The Cape dikkop is the spotted stone curlew (Burhinus capensis).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Afrikaans, from dik ‘thick’ + kop ‘head’.

diktat /dktat/ n. an order or decree imposed by someone in power without popular consent: a diktat from the Bundestag | [mass noun] he can disband the legislature and rule by diktat.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from German, from Latin dictatum ‘something dictated’, neuter past participle of dictare.

DIL abbr. [ELECTRONICS] dual in-line (package). See DIP.

Dilantin /dlantn/ n. US trademark for PHENYTOIN.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from DI-1 ‘two’ + -l- + (hyd)ant(o)in.

dilapidate /dlapdet/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC cause (something) to fall into disrepair or ruin.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘waste, squander’): from Latin dilapidat- ‘demolished, squandered’, from the verb dilapidare, literally ‘scatter as if throwing stones’, from di- ‘apart, abroad’ + lapis, lapid- ‘stone’.

dilapidated adj. (of a building or object) in a state of disrepair or ruin as a result of age or neglect.

dilapidation n. [mass noun] the state or process of falling into decay or being in disrepair: the mill was in a state of dilapidation.

- (dilapidations) repairs required during or at the end of a tenancy or lease.

- [count noun] [LAW] a cause of action to force a tenant to pay for such repairs.

- (in church use) a sum charged against an incumbent for wear and tear during a tenancy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘squandering, waste’): from late Latin dilapidatio(n-), from Latin dilapidare ‘demolish, squander’ (see DILAPIDATE).

dilatancy /dlet(ə)nsi d-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the phenomenon exhibited by some fluids, sols, and gels in which they become more viscous or solid under pressure.

dilatation /dlete(ə)n d- -lə-/ n. [mass noun] chiefly MEDICINE & [PHYSIOLOGY] the action of dilating a vessel or opening or the process of becoming dilated.

- [count noun] a dilated part of a hollow organ or vessel.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin dilatatio(n-), from the verb dilatare (see DILATE).

dilatation and curettage (abbr.: D and C) n. a surgical procedure involving dilatation of the cervix and curettage of the uterus, performed after a miscarriage or for the removal of cysts or tumours.

dilate /dlet d-/ v. 1 make or become wider, larger, or more open: [no obj.] her eyes dilated with horror | [with obj.] the woman dilated her nostrils.

2 [no obj.] (dilate on) speak or write at length on (a subject).

<DERIVATIVES> dilatable adj. dilation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French dilater, from Latin dilatare ‘spread out’, from di- ‘apart’ + latus ‘wide’.

dilator n. a thing that dilates something, in particular:

- (also dilator muscle) [ANATOMY] a muscle whose contraction dilates an organ or aperture, such as the pupil of the eye.

- a surgical instrument for dilating a tube or cavity in the body.

- a vasodilatory drug.

dilatory /dlət(ə)ri/ adj. slow to act: he had been dilatory in appointing a solicitor.

- intended to cause delay: they resorted to dilatory tactics, forcing a postponement of peace talks.

<DERIVATIVES> dilatorily adv. dilatoriness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin dilatorius ‘delaying’, from Latin dilator ‘delayer’, from dilat- ‘deferred’, from the verb differre.

dildo n. (pl. dildos or dildoes) 1 an object shaped like an erect penis used for sexual stimulation.

2 VULGAR SLANG a stupid or ridiculous person.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

dilemma /dlεmə d-/ n. a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially ones that are equally undesirable: he wants to make money, but he also disapproves of it: Den's dilemma in a nutshell.

- INFORMAL a difficult situation or problem: the insoluble dilemma of adolescence.

- [LOGIC] an argument forcing an opponent to choose either of two unfavourable alternatives.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting a form of argument involving a choice between equally unfavourable alternatives): via Latin from Greek dilēmma, from di- ‘twice’ + lēmma ‘premise’.

<USAGE> Some people regard the weakened use of dilemma to mean ‘a difficult situation or problem’ (as in the insoluble dilemma of adolescence) as unacceptable. However, the usage is recorded as early as the first part of the 17th century and is now widespread and becoming far more acceptable, although it is best avoided in formal contexts.

dilettante /dltante -ti/ n. (pl. dilettanti /-ti/ or dilettantes) a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real commitment or knowledge.

- ARCHAIC a person with an amateur interest in the arts.

<DERIVATIVES> dilettantish adj. dilettantism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian, ‘person loving the arts’, from dilettare ‘to delight’, from Latin delectare.

Dili /dili/ the capital and chief port of East Timor, on the northern coast of the island; pop. 51,700.

diligence^1 /dld(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] careful and persistent work or effort.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘close attention, caution’): via Old French from Latin diligentia, from diligent- ‘assiduous’ (see DILIGENT).

diligence^2 /dld(ə)ns/ n. HISTORICAL a public stagecoach.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, shortened from carrosse de diligence ‘coach of speed’.

diligent adj. having or showing care and conscientiousness in one's work or duties: after diligent searching, he found a parcel.

<DERIVATIVES> diligently adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin diligens, diligent- ‘assiduous’, from diligere ‘love, take delight in’.

dill^1 (also dill weed) n. [mass noun] an aromatic annual herb of the parsley family, with fine blue-green leaves and yellow flowers. The leaves or seeds are used for flavouring and for medicinal purposes.

<INFO> Anethum graveolens, family Umbelliferae.

<ORIGIN> Old English dile, dyle; related to Dutch dille and German Dill; of unknown ultimate origin.

dill^2 n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a naive or foolish person.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: apparently a back-formation from DILLY^2.

dill pickle n. [mass noun] pickled cucumber flavoured with dill.

dill water n. [mass noun] an extract distilled from dill, used to relieve flatulence.

dilly^1 n. (pl. dillies) [usually in sing.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an excellent example of a particular type of person or thing: that's a dilly of a breakfast recipe.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘delightful’): alteration of the first syllable of DELIGHTFUL or DELICIOUS.

dilly^2 adj. (dillier, dilliest) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL, DATED odd; foolish.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps a blend of DAFT and SILLY.

dillybag (also dilly) n. AUSTRALIAN a bag or basket of traditional Aboriginal design, made from woven grass or fibre.

<ORIGIN> from Yagara (an extinct Aboriginal language of Queensland) dili ‘coarse grass or reeds; a bag woven of this’ + BAG.

dilly-dally v. (dilly-dallies, dilly-dallying, dilly-dallied) [no obj.] INFORMAL waste time through aimless wandering or indecision: don't dilly-dally for too long.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: reduplication of DALLY.

dilophosaurus /dləfə()srəs/ n. the earliest of the large bipedal dinosaurs, which had two long crests on the head and occurred in the early Jurassic period.

<INFO> Genus Dilophosaurus, infraorder Carnosauria, suborder Theropoda.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek dilophos ‘two-crested’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

diluent /dljənt/ TECHNICAL n. a substance used to dilute something.

■ adj. acting to cause dilution.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting a medicine used to increase the proportion of water in the blood): from Latin diluent- ‘dissolving’, from the verb diluere.

dilute /dl(j)ut d-/ v. [with obj.] make (a liquid) thinner or weaker by adding water or another solvent to it: bleach can be diluted with cold water | (as adj. diluted) diluted fruit juice.

- make (something) weaker in force, content, or value by modification or the addition of other elements: the reforms have been diluted | (as adj. diluted) the report was published in a diluted form.

■ adj. also /dlut/ (of a liquid) made thinner or weaker by having had water or another solvent added to it.

- [CHEMISTRY] (of a solution) having a relatively low concentration of solute: a dilute solution of potassium permanganate.

<DERIVATIVES> diluter n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin dilut- ‘washed away, dissolved’, from the verb diluere.

dilution n. [mass noun] the action of making a liquid more dilute.

- the action of making something weaker in force, content, or value: he is resisting any dilution of dogma.

- [count noun] a liquid that has been diluted.

- [count noun] the degree to which a solution has been diluted: the antibody was applied at a dilution of 1:50.

<DERIVATIVES> dilutive adj. (chiefly [FINANCE])

diluvial /dl(j)uvəl d-/ adj. relating to a flood or floods, especially the biblical Flood.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin diluvialis, from diluvium ‘deluge’, from diluere ‘wash away’.

diluvian /dl(j)uvən d-/ adj. another term for DILUVIAL.

dim adj. (dimmer, dimmest) 1 (of a light, colour, or illuminated object) not shining brightly or clearly: the dim glow of the fire.

- (of an object or shape) made difficult to see by darkness, shade, or distance: a dim figure in the dark kitchen.

- (of a room or other space) made difficult to see in by darkness: long dim corridors.

- (of the eyes) unable to see clearly.

- (of a sound) indistinct or muffled: the dim drone of their voices.

- not clearly recalled or formulated in the mind: dim memories | the matter was in the dim and distant past.

2 (of a situation) not giving cause for hope or optimism: their prospects for the future looked fairly dim.

3 INFORMAL stupid or slow to understand.

■ v. (dims, dimming, dimmed) make or become less bright or distinct: [with obj.] a smoky inferno that dimmed the sun | [no obj.] the lights dimmed and the curtains parted.

- [with obj.] lower the beam of (a vehicle's headlights) to avoid dazzling oncoming drivers.

- make or become less intense: [with obj.] the difficulty in sleeping couldn't dim her happiness.

- make or become less able to see clearly: [no obj.] his eyes dimmed.

<PHRASES>

□ take a dim view of regard with disapproval.

<DERIVATIVES> dimly adv. dimmable adj. dimmish adj. dimness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dim, dimm, of Germanic origin; related to German dialect timmer.

dim. abbr. diminuendo.

DiMaggio /dmadə/ Joe (1914–99), American baseball player; full name Joseph Paul DiMaggio. Star of the New York Yankees team 1936–51, he was renowned for his outstanding batting ability and for his outfield play. He was briefly married to Marilyn Monroe in 1954.

Dimbleby /dmb(ə)lbi/ (Frederick) Richard (1913–65), English broadcaster. He was the BBC's first news correspondent (1936) and was particularly noted for his radio and television commentaries on royal, national, and international events. His sons David (b.1938) and Jonathan (b.1944) have both followed their father into careers in news broadcasting.

dime /dm/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a ten-cent coin.

- INFORMAL a small amount of money: he didn't have a dime.

<PHRASES>

□ a dime a dozen INFORMAL very common and of no particular value: experts in this field are a dime a dozen.

□ drop a (or the) dime on someone INFORMAL inform on someone.

□ get off the dime INFORMAL be decisive and show initiative.

□ on a dime INFORMAL used to refer to a manoeuvre that can be performed within a small area or short distance: boats that can turn on a dime.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French disme, from Latin decima pars ‘tenth part’. The word originally denoted a tithe or tenth part; the modern sense ‘ten cent coin’ dates from the late 18th cent.

dime bag n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a specified amount of an illegal drug, packaged and sold for a fixed price.

dime novel n. NORTH AMERICAN DATED a cheap, popular novel, typically a melodramatic romance or adventure story.

dimension /dmεn(ə)n d-/ n. 1 (usually dimensions) a measurable extent of a particular kind, such as length, breadth, depth, or height: the final dimensions of the pond were 14 ft x 8 ft | [mass noun] the drawing must be precise in dimension.

- a mode of linear extension of which there are three in space and two on a flat surface, which corresponds to one of a set of coordinates specifying the position of a point.

- [PHYSICS] an expression for a derived physical quantity in terms of fundamental quantities such as mass, length, or time, raised to the appropriate power (acceleration, for example, having the dimension of length × time−2).

2 an aspect or feature of a situation: we must focus on the cultural dimensions of the problem.

■ v. [with obj.] cut or shape (something) to particular measurements.

- (usually as adj. dimensioned) mark (a diagram) with measurements.

<DERIVATIVES> dimensional adj. [in combination] multi-dimensional scaling dimensionless adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 1 of the noun): via Old French from Latin dimensio(n-), from dimetiri ‘measure out’.

■ Sense 2 of the noun dates from the 1920s.

dimensional analysis n. [mass noun] [MATHEMATICS] analysis using the fact that physical quantities added to or equated with each other must be expressed in terms of the same fundamental quantities (such as mass, length, or time) for inferences to be made about the relations between them.

dimer /dmə/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a molecule or molecular complex consisting of two identical molecules linked together.

<DERIVATIVES> dimeric adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from DI-1 ‘two’, on the pattern of polymer.

dimercaprol /dməkaprl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless, oily liquid with an unpleasant smell, used as an antidote for poisoning by mercury, arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals.

<INFO> Alternative name: 2,3,-dimercapto-1-propanol; chem. formula: CH_2(SH)CH(SH)CH_2OH.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from elements of the systematic name (see above).

dimerize /dmərz/ (also dimerise) v. [no obj.] [CHEMISTRY] combine with a similar molecule to form a dimer.

<DERIVATIVES> dimerization n.

dimerous /dm(ə)rəs/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] having parts arranged in groups of two.

- consisting of two joints or parts.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from modern Latin dimerus (from Greek dimerēs ‘bipartite’) + -OUS.

dime store n. NORTH AMERICAN a shop selling cheap merchandise (originally one where the maximum price was a dime).

- [as modifier] cheap and inferior: plastic dime-store toys.

- [as modifier] trite; simplistic: the dime-store moralism of yesteryear.

dimeter /dmtə/ n. [PROSODY] a line of verse consisting of two metrical feet.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek dimetros ‘of two measures’, from di- ‘twice’ + metron ‘a measure’.

dimethoate /dmiθəet/ n. [mass noun] a crystalline synthetic organophosphorus compound used in solution as an insecticide.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from DI-1 ‘two’ + METHYL + THIO- + -ATE^1.

dimethyl sulphoxide /dmiθl slfksd -mεθ- -θl/ (US dimethyl sulfoxide) (abbr.: DMSO) n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid used as a solvent and synthetic reagent. It is readily able to penetrate the skin and is used in medicinal preparations for skin application.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (CH_3)2SO.

dimetric /dmεtrk/ adj. (in technical drawing) denoting or incorporating a method of showing projection or perspective using a set of three geometrical axes of which two are of the same scale or dimension but the third is of another.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + Greek metron ‘measure’ + -IC.

dimetrodon /dmitrədn/ n. a large fossil carnivorous mammal-like reptile of the Permian period, with long spines on its back supporting a sail-like crest.

<INFO> Genus Dimetrodon, order Pelycosauria, subclass Synapsida.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from di- ‘twice’ + Greek metron ‘measure’ + odous, odont- ‘tooth’ (taken in the sense ‘two long teeth’).

dimidiate /dmdet/ v. [with obj.] [HERALDRY] (of a coat of arms or charge) adjoin (another) so that only half of each is visible.

- (as adj. dimidiated) (of a charge) having only one half depicted.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin dimidiat- ‘halved’, from the verb dimidiare, from dimidium ‘half’.

dimidiation n. [mass noun] [HERALDRY] the combination of two coats of arms by juxtaposing the dexter half of one and the sinister half of the other on a single shield (a practice largely superseded by impalement).

diminish v. make or become less: [with obj.] the new law is expected to diminish the government's chances | [no obj.] the pain will gradually diminish.

- [with obj.] cause to seem less impressive or valuable: the trial has aged and diminished him.

<PHRASES>

□ (the law of) diminishing returns used to refer to a point at which the level of profits or benefits gained is less than the amount of money or energy invested.

<DERIVATIVES> diminishable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: blend of archaic minish ‘diminish’ (based on Latin minutia ‘smallness’) and obsolete diminue ‘speak disparagingly’ (based on Latin deminuere ‘lessen’ (in late Latin diminuere), from minuere ‘make small’).

diminished adj. 1 made smaller or less: a diminished role for local government.

- [predic.] made to seem less impressive or valuable: she felt diminished by the report.

2 [attr.] [MUSIC] denoting or containing an interval which is one semitone less than the corresponding minor or perfect interval: a diminished fifth.

diminished responsibility n. [mass noun] [LAW] an unbalanced mental state which is considered to make a person less answerable for murder, being recognized as grounds to reduce the charge to that of manslaughter.

diminished seventh n. [MUSIC] 1 the interval which is a semitone less than a minor seventh, e.g. from A to G flat (which in equal tuning sounds the same as a major sixth).

2 (also diminished seventh chord) a chord formed by a note together with those above it at intervals of a minor third, a diminished fifth, and a diminished seventh. The resulting chord consists entirely of superimposed minor thirds, and is much used in modern music in modulating between keys.

diminuendo /dmnjεndə/ [MUSIC] n. (pl. diminuendos or diminuendi /-di/) a decrease in loudness in a piece of music.

- a passage to be performed with a decrease in loudness.

■ adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) with a decrease in loudness: [as adj.] the diminuendo chorus before the final tumult.

■ v. (diminuendos, diminuendoing, diminuendoed) [no obj.] decrease in loudness or intensity.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘diminishing’, from diminuire, from Latin deminuere ‘lessen’ (see DIMINISH).

diminution /dmnju(ə)n/ n. a reduction in the size, extent, or importance of something: a permanent diminution in value | [mass noun] the disease shows no signs of diminution.

- [MUSIC] the shortening of the time values of notes in a melodic part.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin deminutio(n-), from the verb deminuere (see DIMINISH).

diminutive /dmnjtv/ adj. extremely or unusually small: a diminutive figure dressed in black.

- (of a word, name, or suffix) implying smallness, either actual or imputed to convey affection, scorn, etc. (e.g. teeny, -let, -kins).

■ n. a smaller or shorter thing, in particular:

- a diminutive word or suffix.

- a shortened form of a name, typically used informally: ‘Nick’ is a diminutive of ‘Nicholas’.

- [HERALDRY] a charge of the same form as an ordinary but of lesser size or width.

<DERIVATIVES> diminutively adv. diminutiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a grammatical term): from Old French diminutif, -ive, from late Latin diminutivus, from Latin deminut- ‘diminished’, from the verb deminuere (see DIMINISH).

dimissory /dms(ə)ri/ adj. (in the Christian Church) denoting formal permission from a bishop (letters dimissory) for a person from one diocese to be ordained in another, or (formerly) for an ordained person to leave one diocese for another.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a plural n.): from late Latin dimissorius, from dimiss- ‘sent away’, from the verb dimittere. The adjective dates from the late 16th century, the original sense being ‘valedictory’.

dimity /dmti/ n. [mass noun] a hard-wearing cotton fabric woven with stripes or checks.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Italian dimito or medieval Latin dimitum, from Greek dimitos, from di- ‘twice’ + mitos ‘warp thread’; the origin of the final -y is unknown.

DIMM abbr. [COMPUTING] dual in-line memory module.

dimmer n. 1 (also dimmer switch) a device for varying the brightness of an electric light.

2 US a headlight with a low beam.

- (dimmers) small parking lights on a motor vehicle.

dimorphic /dmfk/ adj. chiefly [BIOLOGY] occurring in or representing two distinct forms: in this sexually dimorphic species only the males have wings.

<DERIVATIVES> dimorphism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek dimorphos (from di- ‘twice’ + morphē ‘form’) + -IC.

dimorphotheca /dmfəθikə/ n. a southern African plant of the daisy family, sometimes grown as a border plant.

<INFO> Genus Dimorphotheca, family Compositae.

- (in gardening) any of a number of similar plants of the genus Osteospermum.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek dimorphos ‘having two forms’ + THECA.

dimple n. a small depression in the flesh, either one that exists permanently or one that forms in the cheeks when one smiles.

- a slight depression in the surface of an object: [as modifier] a new golf ball, with a different dimple pattern.

■ v. [with obj.] produce a dimple or dimples in the surface of: rain began to fall, dimpling the water.

- [no obj.] form or show a dimple or dimples: she dimpled at Auguste | (as adj. dimpled) her dimpled thighs.

<DERIVATIVES> dimply adj. (dimplier, dimpliest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of Germanic origin; related to German Tümpel ‘pond’.

dim sum /dm sm/ (also dim sim /sm/) n. [mass noun] a Chinese dish of small steamed or fried savoury dumplings containing various fillings.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese (Cantonese dialect) tim sam, from tim ‘dot’ and sam ‘heart’.

dimwit n. INFORMAL a stupid or silly person.

dim-witted adj. INFORMAL stupid or silly: a dim-witted waiter.

<DERIVATIVES> dim-wittedly adv. dim-wittedness n.

DIN n. any of a series of technical standards originating in Germany and used internationally, especially to designate electrical connections, film speeds, and paper sizes: [as modifier] a DIN socket.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: acronym from Deutsche Industrie-Norm ‘German Industrial Standard’ (as laid down by the Deutsches Institut für Normung ‘German Institute for Standards’).

din n. [in sing.] a loud, unpleasant, and prolonged noise: the fans made an awful din.

■ v. (dins, dinning, dinned) 1 [with obj.] (din something into) make (someone) learn or remember an idea by constant repetition: a runner-up, he dinned into them, was a loser.

2 [no obj.] make a loud, unpleasant, and prolonged noise: the sound dinned irritatingly into Marian's head.

<ORIGIN> Old English dyne, dynn (noun), dynian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Old High German tuni (noun) and Old Norse dynr (noun), dynja ‘come rumbling down’.

dinar /dinα/ n. 1 the basic monetary unit of Serbia, equal to 100 paras.

2 the basic monetary unit of certain countries of the Middle East and North Africa, equal to 1000 fils in Jordan, Bahrain, and Iraq, 1000 dirhams in Libya and 100 centimes in Algeria.

3 a monetary unit of Iran, equal to one hundredth of a rial.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic and Persian dīnār, Turkish and Serbian dinar, via late Greek from Latin denarius (see DENARIUS).

Dinaric Alps /dnark/ a mountain range in the Balkans, running parallel to the Adriatic coast from Slovenia in the north-west, through Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro, to Albania in the south-east.

din-dins (also din-din) n. [mass noun] a child's word for dinner.

dine v. [no obj.] eat dinner: we dined at a restaurant | (as n. dining) a dining area.

- (dine out) eat dinner in a restaurant.

- (dine out on) regularly entertain friends with (a humorous story or interesting fact).

- [with obj.] take (someone) to dinner.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French disner, probably from desjëuner ‘to break fast’, from des- (expressing reversal) + jëun ‘fasting’ (from Latin jejunus).

diner n. 1 a person who is eating, typically a customer in a restaurant.

2 a dining car on a train.

- NORTH AMERICAN a small roadside restaurant with a long counter and booths.

dinero /dnεrə/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL money: their pockets full of dinero.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, ‘coin, money’.

dinette /dnεt/ n. a small room or part of a room used for eating meals.

- NORTH AMERICAN a set of table and chairs for a dining area.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: formed irregularly from DINE + -ETTE.

ding^1 v. [no obj.] make a ringing sound: cash registers were dinging softly.

■ exclam. used to imitate a metallic ringing sound resembling a bell.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: imitative.

ding^2 n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a lively party or celebration.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: perhaps from DING-DONG or WINGDING.

ding^3 n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a mark or dent on the bodywork of a car, boat, or other vehicle.

- Scottish or DIALECT a blow on the head.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN dent (something).

- hit (someone), especially on the head: I dinged him one.

- [no obj.] (ding into) SCOTTISH bump into.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare with Danish dænge ‘beat, bang’.

ding-a-ling n. 1 [in sing.] the ringing sound of a bell.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an eccentric or stupid person.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: imitative.

Ding an sich /d an zx/ German /d an zç/ n. (in Kant's philosophy) a thing as it is in itself, not mediated through perception by the senses or conceptualization, and therefore unknowable.

<ORIGIN> German.

dingbat /dbat/ n. INFORMAL 1 NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ a stupid or eccentric person.

2 (dingbats) AUSTRALIAN/NZ delusions or feelings of unease, particularly those induced by delirium tremens.

3 a typographical device other than a letter or numeral (such as an asterisk), used to signal divisions in text or to replace letters in a euphemistically presented vulgar word.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in early use applied to various vaguely specified objects): origin uncertain; perhaps based on ding^3.

■ Sense 2 is probably by association with have bats in the belfry.

ding-dong n. INFORMAL 1 [in sing.] BRITISH a fierce argument or fight: they had a bit of a ding-dong.

2 DATED a riotous party.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a silly or foolish person.

■ adv. & adj. 1 with the simple alternate chimes of or as of a bell: [as adv.] the church bells go ding-dong | [as adj.] he heard the ding-dong tones on the aircraft.

- [as adv.] BRITISH energetically or wildly: her biological clock is going ding-dong.

2 [as adj.] BRITISH INFORMAL (of a contest) evenly matched and hard fought: the game was an exciting ding-dong battle.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: imitative.

dinger /də/ n. [BASEBALL], INFORMAL a home run.

- US INFORMAL, DATED a thing outstanding of its kind: it was going to be a dinger of a night.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: shortening of HUMDINGER.

dinghy /di di/ n. (pl. dinghies) a small boat for recreation or racing, especially an open boat with a mast and sails.

- a small inflatable rubber boat.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting a rowing boat used on rivers in India): from Hindi igī. The -gh in English serves to indicate the hard g.

dingle n. LITERARY or DIALECT a deep wooded valley or dell.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a deep abyss): of unknown origin. The current sense dates from the mid 17th cent.

dingleberry n. (pl. dingleberries) 1 US INFORMAL a foolish or inept person.

2 VULGAR SLANG a particle of faecal matter attached to anal hair.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from dingle of unknown origin + BERRY.

dingo /də/ n. (pl. dingoes or dingos) 1 a wild or half-domesticated dog with a sandy-coloured coat, found in Australia.

<INFO> Canis dingo, family Canidae.

2 AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a cowardly or treacherous person.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Dharuk din-gu ‘domesticated dingo’;

■ sense 2 dates from the mid 19th century and alludes to the treachery popularly associated with the dingo.

dingus /dəs/ (S. AFRICAN also dinges pronounced same) n. (pl. dinguses) North American & S. African INFORMAL used to refer to something one cannot or does not wish to name specifically.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via Afrikaans from Dutch ding ‘thing’.

dingy /dn(d)i/ adj. (dingier, dingiest) gloomy and drab: a dingy room.

<DERIVATIVES> dingily adv. dinginess n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps based on Old English dynge ‘dung’.

dining car n. a railway carriage equipped as a restaurant.

dining hall n. a large room, typically in a school or other institution, in which people eat meals together.

dining room n. a room in a house or hotel in which meals are eaten.

dining table n. a table on which meals are served in a dining room.

dink^1 n. another term for dinky^2.

dink^2 chiefly [TENNIS] n. a drop shot.

■ v. [with obj.] hit (the ball) with a drop shot.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (originally a North American usage): symbolic of the light action.

Dinka /dkə/ n. (pl. same or Dinkas) 1 a member of a Sudanese people of the Nile basin.

2 [mass noun] the Nilotic language of the Dinka, with about 1.4 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Dinka or their language.

<ORIGIN> from the local word Jieng ‘people’.

dinkum /dkəm/ AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL adj. (of an article or person) genuine, honest, true: a real dinkum bloke.

■ adv. really, truly, honestly.

<PHRASES>

□ fair dinkum used to emphasize or seek confirmation of the genuineness or truth of something: Eric and his assistant are fair dinkum magicians | ‘Burt's just told me he's packing up in a month.’ ‘Fair dinkum?’.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

Dinky n. [as modifier] TRADEMARK denoting a miniature motor vehicle of die-cast metal.

dinky^1 adj. (dinkier, dinkiest) INFORMAL 1 BRITISH (of an object or place) attractively small and neat: a dinky little restaurant.

2 NORTH AMERICAN disappointingly small; insignificant: I can't believe the dinky salaries they pay here.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Scots and northern English dialect dink ‘neat, trim’, of unknown origin.

dinky^2 n. (pl. dinkies) INFORMAL a partner in a well-off working couple with no children.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: acronym from double income, no kids, on the pattern of yuppy.

dinky-di /dkd/ (also dinki-di) adj. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL another term for DINKUM.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DINKUM, with a nonsensical final element.

dinna (also dinnae) v. non-standard spelling of DON'T, used in representing Scottish speech.

<PHRASES>

□ dinna fash see FASH.

dinner n. the main meal of the day, taken either around midday or in the evening.

- a formal evening meal, typically one in honour of a person or event.

<PHRASES>

□ done like (a) dinner AUSTRALIAN/NZ & CANADIAN INFORMAL utterly defeated or outwitted.

□ more —— than someone has had hot dinners BRITISH INFORMAL used to emphasize someone's wide experience of a specified activity or phenomenon: he's seen more battles than you've had hot dinners.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French disner (infinitive used as a noun: see DINE).

dinner dance n. a formal social event in which guests have dinner, followed by dancing.

dinner jacket n. a man's jacket without tails, typically black, worn with a bow tie for formal occasions in the evening.

dinner lady n. BRITISH a woman who serves meals to children in a school.

dinner pail n. DATED, chiefly US a pail in which a labourer's or schoolchild's dinner is carried and kept warm.

<PHRASES>

□ hand in one's dinner pail INFORMAL die.

dinner party n. a social occasion at which guests eat dinner together.

dinner service (also dinner set) n. a set of matching crockery for serving a meal.

dinner suit n. a dinner jacket and trousers, worn with a bow tie on formal occasions.

dinner theatre n. NORTH AMERICAN a theatre in which a meal is included in the price of a ticket.

dinner time n. the time at which dinner is customarily eaten, either around midday or in the evening: I'll be back at dinner time.

dinnerware n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN dishes, utensils, and glassware used at table; tableware.

dinoflagellate /dnə()fladəlet/ n. [BIOLOGY] a single-celled organism with two flagella, occurring in large numbers in marine plankton and also found in fresh water. Some produce toxins that can accumulate in shellfish, resulting in poisoning when eaten.

<INFO> Division Dinophyta or class Dinophyceae, division Chromophycota (or phylum Dinophyta, kingdom Protista).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (as an adjective): from modern Latin Dinoflagellata (plural), from Greek dinos ‘whirling’ + Latin flagellum ‘small whip’ (see FLAGELLUM).

dinosaur /dnəs/ n. 1 a fossil reptile of the Mesozoic era, often reaching an enormous size.

The dinosaurs are placed, according to their hip structure, in two distantly related orders (see ORNITHISCHIAN and SAURISCHIAN). Some of them may have been warm-blooded, and their closest living relatives are the birds. Dinosaurs were all extinct by the end of the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago), possibly as a result of a catastrophic asteroid impact in the Gulf of Mexico.

2 a person or thing that is outdated or has become obsolete because of failure to adapt to changing circumstances.

<DERIVATIVES> dinosaurian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin dinosaurus, from Greek deinos ‘terrible’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

dint n. 1 a dent or hollow in a surface: the soft dints at the top of a coconut.

2 ARCHAIC a blow or stroke, typically one made with a weapon in fighting.

- [mass noun] force of attack; impact: I perceive you feel the dint of pity.

■ v. [with obj.] mark (a surface) with dents or hollows.

<PHRASES>

□ by dint of by means of: he had got to where he was today by dint of sheer hard work.

<ORIGIN> Old English dynt ‘stroke with a weapon’, reinforced in Middle English by the related Old Norse word dyntr; of unknown ultimate origin. Compare with DENT.

diocesan /dss(ə)n/ adj. of or concerning a diocese.

■ n. the bishop of a diocese.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French diocésain, from medieval Latin diocesanus, from Latin dioecesis (see DIOCESE).

diocese /dəss/ n. (pl. dioceses /dəsiz -sizz/) a district under the pastoral care of a bishop in the Christian Church.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French diocise, from late Latin diocesis, from Latin dioecesis ‘governor's jurisdiction, diocese’, from Greek dioikēsis ‘administration, diocese’, from dioikein ‘keep house, administer’.

dioch /dək/ n. a quelea (weaver bird).

<INFO> The black-faced (or Sudan) dioch is the red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably a local African name.

Diocletian /dəkli(ə)n/ (245–313), Roman emperor 284–305; full name Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus. Faced with mounting military problems, in 286 he divided the empire between himself in the east and Maximian in the west. Diocletian launched the final persecution of the Christians (303).

diode /dəd/ n. [ELECTRONICS] a semiconductor device with two terminals, typically allowing the flow of current in one direction only.

- a thermionic valve having two electrodes (an anode and a cathode).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + a shortened form of ELECTRODE.

dioecious /diəs/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of a plant or invertebrate animal) having the male and female reproductive organs in separate individuals. Compare with MONOECIOUS.

<DERIVATIVES> dioecy n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from modern Latin Dioecia (a class in Linnaeus's sexual system), from DI-1 ‘two’ + Greek -oikos ‘house’.

dioestrus /distrəs/ (US diestrus) n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] (in most female mammals) a period of sexual inactivity between recurrent periods of oestrus.

Diogenes /ddniz/ (c.400–c.325 BC), Greek philosopher. The most famous of the Cynics, he lived ascetically in Athens (according to legend, he lived in a tub) and was accordingly nicknamed Kuōn (‘the dog’), from which the Cynics derived their name. He emphasized self-sufficiency and the need for natural, uninhibited behaviour, regardless of social conventions.

diogenite /ddənt/ n. a stony meteorite of a kind consisting largely of pyroxenes and plagioclase.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek Diogenēs ‘descended from Zeus’ + -ITE^1.

diol /dl/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an alcohol containing two hydroxyl groups in its molecule.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from DI-1 ‘two’ + -OL.

Dione /dəni/ [ASTRONOMY] a satellite of Saturn, the twelfth closest to the planet, discovered by Cassini in 1684, being icy with a partly cratered and partly smooth surface (diameter 1,120 km).

<ORIGIN> named after a Titan, the mother of Aphrodite, in Greek mythology.

Dionysiac /dənzak/ (also Dionysian /-zən/) adj. 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] relating to the god Dionysus.

2 relating to the sensual, spontaneous, and emotional aspects of human nature. Compare with APOLLONIAN.

Dionysius /dənsəs/ the name of two rulers of Syracuse:

- Dionysius I (c.430–367 BC), ruled 405–367; known as Dionysius the Elder. A tyrannical ruler, he waged three wars against the Carthaginians for control of Sicily, later becoming the principal power in Greek Italy after the capture of Rhegium (386) and other Greek cities in southern Italy.

- Dionysius II (c.397–c.344 BC), son of Dionysius I, ruled 367–357 and 346–344; known as Dionysius the Younger. He lacked his father's military ambitions and signed a peace treaty with Carthage in 367. Despite his patronage of philosophers, he resisted the attempt by Plato to turn him into a philosopher king.

Dionysius Exiguus /zjəs/ (died c.556), Scythian monk and scholar. He is famous for introducing the system of dates BC and AD that is still in use today, accepting 753 AUC as the year of the Incarnation; this has since been shown to be mistaken. He is said to have taken the nickname Exiguus (‘little’) as a sign of humility.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1st century BC), Greek historian, literary critic, and rhetorician. He lived in Rome from 30 BC and is best known for his detailed history of the city, written in Greek; this covers the period from the earliest times until the outbreak of the first Punic War (264 BC).

Dionysius the Areopagite /arpət/ (1st century AD), Greek churchman. His conversion by St Paul is recorded in Acts 17:34 and according to tradition he went on to become the first bishop of Athens. He was later confused with St Denis and with a mystical theologian, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, who exercised a profound influence on medieval theology.

Dionysus /dənsəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a Greek god, son of Zeus and Semele; his worship entered Greece from Thrace c.1000 BC. Originally a god of the fertility of nature, associated with wild and ecstatic religious rites, in later traditions he is a god of wine who loosens inhibitions and inspires creativity in music and poetry. Also called BACCHUS.

Diophantine equation /dəfantn -tn/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a polynomial equation with integral coefficients for which integral solutions are required.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: named after DIOPHANTUS.

Diophantus /dəfantəs/ (fl. c.250 AD), Greek mathematician. Diophantus was the first to attempt an algebraical notation, showing in Arithmetica how to solve simple and quadratic equations. His work led to Pierre de Fermat's discoveries in the theory of numbers.

diopside /dpsd/ n. [mass noun] a mineral occurring as white to pale green crystals in metamorphic and basic igneous rocks. It consists of a calcium and magnesium silicate of the pyroxene group, often also containing iron and chromium.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, formed irregularly from DI-3 ‘through’ + Greek opsis ‘aspect’, later interpreted as derived from Greek diopsis ‘a view through’.

dioptase /dptez/ n. [mass noun] a rare mineral occurring as emerald green or blue-green crystals. It consists of a hydrated silicate of copper.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, formed irregularly from Greek dioptos ‘transparent’.

dioptre /dptə/ (US diopter) n. a unit of refractive power, which is equal to the reciprocal of the focal length (in metres) of a given lens.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally as diopter, denoting an alidade): from French, from Latin dioptra, from Greek, from di- ‘through’ + optos ‘visible’. The term was used in the early 17th century to denote an ancient form of theodolite; the current sense dates from the late 19th cent.

dioptric /dptrk/ adj. relating to the refraction of light, especially in the organs of sight or in devices which aid or improve the vision.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek dioptrikos, from dioptra, a kind of theodolite (see DIOPTRE).

dioptrics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of optics that deals with refraction.

Dior /di/ French /djR/ Christian (1905–57), French couturier. His first collection (1947), featured narrow-waisted tightly fitted bodices and full pleated skirts; this became known as the New Look. He later created the first A-line garments.

diorama /dərαmə/ n. a model representing a scene with three-dimensional figures, either in miniature or as a large-scale museum exhibit.

- chiefly HISTORICAL a scenic painting, viewed through a peephole, in which changes in colour and direction of illumination simulate changes in the weather, time of day, etc.

- a miniature film set used for special effects or animation.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coined in French from DIA- ‘through’, on the pattern of panorama.

diorite /dərt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a speckled, coarse-grained igneous rock consisting essentially of plagioclase, feldspar, and hornblende or other mafic minerals.

<DERIVATIVES> dioritic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coined in French, formed irregularly from Greek diorizein ‘distinguish’ + -ITE^1.

Dioscuri /dskəri dskjri/ [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the twins Castor and Pollux, born to Leda after her seduction by Zeus. Castor was mortal, but Pollux was immortal; at Pollux's request they shared his immortality between them, spending half their time below the earth in Hades and the other half on Olympus. They are often identified with the constellation Gemini.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Dioskouroi ‘sons of Zeus’.

diosgenin /dsdənn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a steroid compound obtained from Mexican yams and used in the synthesis of steroid hormones.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from dios- (from the modern Latin genus name Dioscorea) + genin, denoting steroids that occur as the non-sugar part of certain glycosides.

dioxane /dksen/ (also dioxan /-an/) n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless toxic liquid used as an organic solvent.

<INFO> A heterocyclic compound with a ring of four carbon and two oxygen atoms; chem. formula: C_4H_8O_2.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + OX- ‘oxygen’ + -AN (or -ane^2).

dioxide /dksd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an oxide containing two atoms of oxygen in its molecule or empirical formula.

dioxin /dksn/ n. [mass noun] a highly toxic compound produced as a by-product in some manufacturing processes, notably herbicide production and paper bleaching. It is a serious and persistent environmental pollutant.

<INFO> A heterocyclic organochlorine compound; alternative name: 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzoparadioxin (abbr.: TCDD); chem. formula: C_12H_4O_2Cl_4.

- [count noun] any of the class of compounds to which dioxin belongs.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + OX- ‘oxygen’ + -IN^1.

DIP abbr.

- [COMPUTING] document image processing, a system for the digital storage and retrieval of documents as scanned images.

- [ELECTRONICS] dual in-line package, a package for an integrated circuit consisting of a rectangular sealed unit with two parallel rows of downward-pointing pins.

dip v. (dips, dipping, dipped) 1 [with obj.] (dip something in/into) put or let something down quickly or briefly in or into (liquid): he dipped a brush in the paint.

- immerse (sheep) in a chemical solution that kills parasites.

- make (a candle) by immersing a wick repeatedly in hot wax.

- INFORMAL, DATED baptize (someone) by immersion in water.

2 [no obj.] (dip into) put a hand or implement into (a bag or container) in order to take something out: Ian dipped into his briefcase and pulled out a photograph.

- spend from or make use of (one's financial resources): you won't have to dip into your savings.

- read only parts of (a publication or document): a reference work to dip into time and time again.

3 [no obj.] sink, drop, or slope downwards: the sun had dipped below the horizon | the road dipped down to the bridge.

- (of a level or amount) become lower or smaller, typically temporarily: the president's popularity has dipped | audiences dipped below 600,000 for the match.

- [with obj.] lower or move (something) downwards: the plane dipped its wings.

- [with obj.] BRITISH lower the beam of (a vehicle's headlights).

4 [no obj.] (dip out) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL miss an opportunity; fail.

5 [with obj.] INFORMAL, DATED pick (someone's pocket).

■ n. 1 a brief swim: they cooled off by taking a dip in the pool.

- a brief immersion in liquid.

■ short for SHEEP DIP.

2 [mass noun] a thick sauce in which pieces of food are dipped before eating: tasty garlic dip.

3 a brief downward slope followed by an upward one: the big hedge at the bottom of the dip.

- an act of sinking or dropping briefly before rising again: a dip in the share price.

4 [mass noun] TECHNICAL the extent to which something is angled downward from the horizontal, in particular:

- (also magnetic dip) the angle made with the horizontal at any point by the earth's magnetic field, or by a magnetic needle in response to this.

- [GEOLOGY] the angle a stratum makes with the horizontal.

- [ASTRONOMY] & [SURVEYING] the apparent depression of the horizon from the line of observation, due to the curvature of the earth.

5 INFORMAL, DATED a pickpocket.

6 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a stupid or foolish person.

7 ARCHAIC a candle made by immersing a wick repeatedly in hot wax.

<PHRASES>

□ dip one's toe into (or in) put one's toe briefly in (water), typically to check the temperature.

- begin to do or test (something) cautiously: the company has already dipped its toe into the market.

<ORIGIN> Old English dyppan, of Germanic origin; related to DEEP.

Dip. abbr. diploma.

DipAD abbr. (in the UK) Diploma in Art and Design.

dip-dye v. [with obj.] immerse (a yarn or fabric) in a special solution in order to colour it.

DipEd abbr. (in the UK) Diploma in Education.

dipeptide /dpεptd/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a peptide composed of two amino-acid residues.

DipHE abbr. (in the UK) Diploma of Higher Education.

diphenhydramine /dfεnhdrəmin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an antihistamine compound used for the symptomatic relief of allergies.

<INFO> A synthetic amine, usually used as a hydrochloride salt; chem. formula: C_17H_21NO.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from diphen- (denoting the presence of two phenyl groups) + HYDR- + AMINE.

diphenylamine /dfinləmin -fεnl-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a synthetic crystalline compound with basic properties, used in making azo dyes and as an insecticide and larvicide.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (C_6H_5)2NH.

diphtheria /dfθərə dp-/ n. [mass noun] an acute and highly contagious bacterial disease causing inflammation of the mucous membranes, formation of a false membrane in the throat which hinders breathing and swallowing, and potentially fatal heart and nerve damage by a bacterial toxin in the blood. It is now rare in developed countries owing to immunization.

<INFO> The disease is caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae: see Klebs–Löffler bacillus.

<DERIVATIVES> diphtherial adj. diphtheritic /-θərtk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from French diphthérie (earlier diphthérite), from Greek diphthera ‘skin, hide’.

<USAGE> In the past, diphtheria was correctly pronounced with an f sound representing the two letters ph (as in telephone, sulphur, and other ph words derived from Greek). In recent years the pronunciation has shifted and today the most common pronunciation, no longer incorrect in standard English, is with a p sound. A very similar shift has taken place with the word diphthong, which is now also widely pronounced with a p rather than an f sound.

diphtheroid /dfθərd dp-/ n. [MICROBIOLOGY] any bacterium of a genus that includes the diphtheria bacillus, especially one that does not cause disease. See CORYNEBACTERIUM.

■ adj. [attr.] MEDICINE similar to diphtheria.

diphthong /dfθ dp-/ n. a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves towards another (as in coin, loud, and side). Often contrasted with MONOPHTHONG, TRIPHTHONG.

- a digraph representing the sound of a diphthong or single vowel (as in feat).

- a compound vowel character; a ligature (such as æ).

<DERIVATIVES> diphthongal /-θ(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French diphtongue, via late Latin from Greek diphthongos, from di- ‘twice’ + phthongos ‘voice, sound’.

<USAGE> For a discussion of the pronunciation of diphthong see usage at diphtheria.

diphthongize /dfθz dp-/ (also diphthongise) v. [with obj.] change (a vowel) into a diphthong.

<DERIVATIVES> diphthongization n.

diphycercal /dfsək(ə)l/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of a fish's tail) approximately symmetrical and with the vertebral column continuing to the tip, as in lampreys. Contrasted with HETEROCERCAL, HOMOCERCAL.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek diphu- ‘of double form’ + kerkos ‘tail’ + -AL.

diplegia /dplidə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE paralysis of corresponding parts on both sides of the body, typically affecting the legs more severely than the arms.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DI-1 ‘two’, on the pattern of hemiplegia and paraplegia.

diplo- combining form 1 double: diplococcus.

2 [GENETICS] diploid.

<ORIGIN> from Greek diplous ‘double’.

diploblastic /dplə()blastk/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] having a body derived from only two embryonic cell layers (ectoderm and endoderm, but no mesoderm), as in sponges and coelenterates.

diplococcus /dplə()kkəs/ n. (pl. diplococci /-k(s) -k(s)i/) a bacterium that occurs as pairs of cocci, e.g. pneumococcus.

diplodocus /dpldəkəs dplə()dəkəs/ n. a huge herbivorous dinosaur of the late Jurassic period, with a long slender neck and tail.

<INFO> Genus Diplodocus, infraorder Sauropoda, order Saurischia.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from DIPLO- ‘double’ + Greek dokos ‘wooden beam’.

diploid /dpld/ [GENETICS] adj. (of a cell or nucleus) containing two complete sets of chromosomes, one from each parent. Compare with HAPLOID.

- (of an organism or part) composed of diploid cells.

■ n. a diploid cell, organism, or species.

<DERIVATIVES> diploidy n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek diplous ‘double’ + -OID.

diploid number n. [GENETICS] the number of chromosomes present in the body cells of a diploid organism.

diploma n. 1 a certificate awarded by an educational establishment to show that someone has successfully completed a course of study.

2 HISTORICAL an official document or charter.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘state paper’): via Latin from Greek diplōma ‘folded paper’, from diploun ‘to fold’, from diplous ‘double’.

diplomacy n. [mass noun] the profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations, typically by a country's representatives abroad: an extensive round of diplomacy in the Middle East.

- the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and tactful way: with perfect diplomacy, he divided his attention between Meryl and Anthea.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French diplomatie, from diplomatique ‘diplomatic’, on the pattern of aristocratie ‘aristocracy’.

diplomat n. an official representing a country abroad.

- a person who can deal with others in a sensitive and tactful way.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French diplomate, back-formation from diplomatique ‘diplomatic’, from Latin diploma (see DIPLOMA).

diplomate /dpləmet/ n. chiefly US a person who holds a diploma, especially a doctor certified as a specialist by a board of examiners.

diplomatic adj. 1 of or concerning diplomacy: diplomatic relations with Britain were broken.

- having or showing an ability to deal with people in a sensitive and tactful way: he tried his best to be diplomatic.

2 (of an edition or copy) exactly reproducing an original version: a diplomatic transcription.

<DERIVATIVES> diplomatically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘relating to official documents’): from modern Latin diplomaticus and French diplomatique, from Latin diploma (see DIPLOMA).

■ Sense 1 (late 18th century) is probably due to the publication of the Codex Juris Gentium Diplomaticus (1695), a collection of originals of important public documents, many of which dealt with international affairs.

diplomatic bag n. BRITISH a container in which official mail is sent to or from an embassy, which is not subject to customs inspection.

diplomatic corps n. the body of diplomats representing other countries in a particular state.

diplomatic immunity n. [mass noun] the privilege of exemption from certain laws and taxes granted to diplomats by the state in which they are working.

diplomatic pouch n. US term for DIPLOMATIC BAG.

diplomatic service n. the government department concerned with the representation of a country abroad.

diplomatist n. old-fashioned term for DIPLOMAT.

diplopia /dpləpə/ n. technical term for DOUBLE VISION.

Diplopoda /dpləpədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of myriapod arthropods that comprises the millipedes.

<DERIVATIVES> diplopod /dpləpd/ n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek diploos ‘double’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’.

diplotene /dplətin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the fourth stage of the prophase of meiosis, following pachytene, during which the paired chromosomes begin to separate into two pairs of chromatids.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from DIPLO- ‘double’ + Greek tainia ‘band’.

Diplura /dplərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of small primitive wingless insects which resemble the true bristletails but have two bristles at the end of the abdomen.

<INFO> Order Diplura, subclass Apterygota, class Insecta (or Hexapoda).

<DERIVATIVES> dipluran n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from DI-1 ‘two’ + Greek pleura ‘side of the body’.

dip net chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. a small fishing net with a long handle.

■ v. (dip-net) [with obj.] catch (fish) using a dip net.

dipole /dpəl/ n. 1 [PHYSICS] a pair of equal and oppositely charged or magnetized poles separated by a distance.

- [CHEMISTRY] a molecule in which a concentration of positive electric charge is separated from a concentration of negative charge.

2 an aerial consisting of a horizontal metal rod with a connecting wire at its centre.

<DERIVATIVES> dipolar adj.

dipole moment n. [PHYSICS] & [CHEMISTRY] the mathematical product of the separation of the ends of a dipole and the magnitude of the charges.

dip pen n. a pen that has to be dipped in ink.

dipper n. 1 a short-tailed songbird related to the wrens, frequenting fast-flowing streams and able to swim, dive, and walk under water to feed.

<INFO> Family Cinclidae and genus Cinclus: five species, in particular the white-throated Eurasian C. cinclus.

2 a ladle or scoop.

3 a person who dips something in liquid.

4 INFORMAL a pickpocket.

5 ARCHAIC, INFORMAL a Baptist or Anabaptist.

dippy adj. (dippier, dippiest) INFORMAL silly and eccentric or scatterbrained: dippy ideas.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

dipshit n. VULGAR SLANG, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a contemptible or inept person.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: perhaps a blend of DIPPY and SHIT.

dip slope n. a gentle slope in the land that follows that of the underlying strata, especially the gentler slope of a cuesta. Often contrasted with SCARP SLOPE.

dipso n. (pl. dipsos) INFORMAL a person suffering from dipsomania; an alcoholic.

dipsomania /dpsə()menə/ n. [mass noun] alcoholism, specifically in a form characterized by intermittent bouts of craving for alcohol.

<DERIVATIVES> dipsomaniac n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek dipso- (from dipsa ‘thirst’) + -MANIA.

dipstick n. 1 a graduated rod for measuring the depth of a liquid, especially oil in a vehicle's engine.

2 INFORMAL a stupid or inept person.

DIP switch n. [COMPUTING] an arrangement of switches in a dual in-line package used to select the operating mode of a device such as a printer.

dip switch n. BRITISH a switch for lowering a vehicle's headlight beams.

Diptera /dpt(ə)rə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large order of insects that comprises the two-winged or true flies, which have the hindwings reduced to form balancing organs (halteres). It includes many biting forms such as mosquitoes and tsetse flies that are vectors of disease.

- (diptera) insects of the order Diptera; flies.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek diptera, neuter plural of dipteros ‘two-winged’, from di- ‘two’ + pteron ‘wing’.

dipteral /dpt(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. [ARCHITECTURE] having a double peristyle.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin dipteros (from Greek, from di- ‘twice’ + pteron ‘wing’) + -AL.

dipteran /dpt(ə)r(ə)n/ [ENTOMOLOGY] n. an insect of the large order Diptera; a fly.

■ adj. relating to or denoting dipterans.

dipterist /dpt(ə)rst/ n. a person who studies or collects flies.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DIPTERA + -IST.

dipterocarp /dpt(ə)rə()kαp/ n. a tall forest tree from which are obtained resins and timber for the export trade, occurring mainly in SE Asia.

<INFO> Family Dipterocarpaceae: numerous species.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Dipterocarpus, from Greek dipteros ‘two-winged’ + karpos ‘fruit’.

dipterous /dpt(ə)rəs/ adj. 1 [ENTOMOLOGY] relating to flies of the order Diptera.

2 [BOTANY] having two wing-like appendages.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin dipterus (from Greek dipteros ‘two-winged’) + -OUS.

diptych /dptk/ n. 1 a painting, especially an altarpiece, on two hinged wooden panels which may be closed like a book.

2 an ancient writing tablet consisting of two hinged leaves with waxed inner sides.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via late Latin from late Greek diptukha ‘pair of writing tablets’, neuter plural of Greek diptukhos ‘folded in two’, from di- ‘twice’ + ptukhē ‘a fold’.

dipyridamole /dprdəməl/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic drug used as a coronary vasodilator to treat angina, and to reduce platelet aggregation and hence the chance of thrombosis.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + pyr(imidine) + (piper)id(ine) + am(ino-) + -OL.

diquat /dkwt/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic compound used in controlling plant growth, often as a non-persistent contact herbicide.

<INFO> A bromide of a quaternary amine; chem. formula: (C_5H_4NCH_2)2Br_2.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from DI-1 ‘two’ + QUATERNARY.

Dirac /drak/ Paul Adrian Maurice (1902–84), English theoretical physicist. He described the properties of the electron, including its spin, and postulated the existence of the positron by applying Einstein's theory of relativity to quantum mechanics. Nobel Prize for Physics (1933).

diram /dərəm/ n. a monetary unit of Tajikistan, equal to one hundredth of a somoni.

<ORIGIN> Tajik.

dire adj. 1 extremely serious or urgent: misuse of drugs can have dire consequences | he was in dire need of help.

- (of a warning or threat) presaging disaster: there were dire warnings from the traffic organizations.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL of a very poor quality: the concert was dire.

<DERIVATIVES> direly adv. direness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin dirus ‘fearful, threatening’.

direct /drεkt d-/ adj. 1 extending or moving from one place to another without changing direction or stopping: there was no direct flight that day.

- [ASTRONOMY] & [ASTROLOGY] (of apparent planetary motion) proceeding from west to east in accord with actual motion.

2 without intervening factors or intermediaries: the complications are a direct result of bacteria spreading | I had no direct contact with Mr Clark.

- (of light or heat) proceeding from a source without being reflected or blocked: ferns like a bright position out of direct sunlight.

- (of genealogy) proceeding in continuous succession from parent to child: a direct descendant of Edward III.

- complete (used for emphasis): attitudes which were in direct contrast to the confrontational perspectives of the past.

3 (of a person or their behaviour) going straight to the point; frank: he is very direct and honest.

- (of evidence or proof) bearing immediately and unambiguously upon the facts at issue: there is no direct evidence that officials accepted bribes.

4 perpendicular to a surface; not oblique: a direct butt joint between surfaces of steel.

■ adv. with no one or nothing in between: they seem reluctant to deal with me direct.

- by a straight route or without breaking a journey: Austrian Airlines are flying direct to Innsbruck again.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 control the operations of; manage or govern: an economic elite directed the nation's affairs.

- supervise and control (a film, play, or other production, or the actors in it).

- train and conduct (a group of musicians).

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] aim (something) in a particular direction or at a particular person: heating ducts to direct warm air to rear-seat passengers | his smile was directed at Lois.

- tell or show (someone) how to get somewhere: can you direct me to the railway station, please?

- address or give instructions for the delivery of (a letter or parcel).

- focus (one's thoughts) on or address (one's efforts) towards something.

- (direct something at/to) address a comment to or aim a criticism at: his criticism was directed at the wastage of ammunition | I suggest that he direct his remarks to the council.

- (direct something at) target a product specifically at (someone): the book is directed at the younger reader.

- ARCHAIC guide or advise in a course or decision: the conscience of the credulous prince was directed by saints and bishops.

3 [with obj. and infinitive] give (someone) an official order or authoritative instruction: the judge directed him to perform community service | [with clause] he directed that no picture from his collection could be sold.

<DERIVATIVES> directness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin directus, past participle of dirigere, from di- ‘distinctly’ or de- ‘down’ + regere ‘put straight’.

direct access n. [mass noun] the facility of retrieving data immediately from any part of a computer file, without having to read the file from the beginning. Compare with RANDOM ACCESS and SEQUENTIAL ACCESS.

direct action n. [mass noun] the use of strikes, demonstrations, or other public forms of protest rather than negotiation to achieve one's demands.

direct banking n. another term for TELEBANKING.

direct current (abbr.: DC or dc) n. an electric current flowing in one direction only. Compare with ALTERNATING CURRENT.

direct debit n. BRITISH & CANADIAN an arrangement made with a bank that allows a third party to transfer money from a person's account on agreed dates, typically in order to pay bills.

direct deposit n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the electronic transfer of money from one bank account to another.

direct dialling n. [mass noun] the facility of making a telephone call without connection by the operator.

<DERIVATIVES> direct-dial adj.

direct discourse n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for DIRECT SPEECH.

direct-drive adj. denoting or relating to mechanical parts driven directly by a motor, without a belt or other device to transmit power.

direct examination n. another term for EXAMINATION-IN-CHIEF.

direct-grant school n. HISTORICAL (in the UK) a fee-paying school that received funds from the government in return for the admission of non-paying pupils nominated by the local authority.

direct injection n. [mass noun] (in diesel engines) the use of a pump to spray fuel into the cylinder at high pressure, without the use of compressed air.

direction /drεk(ə)n d-/ n. 1 a course along which someone or something moves: she set off in the opposite direction | [mass noun] he had a terrible sense of direction.

- the course which must be taken in order to reach a destination: the village is over the moors in a northerly direction.

- a point to or from which a person or thing moves or faces: a house with views in all directions | FIGURATIVE any dialogue between them is a step in the right direction.

- a general way in which someone or something is developing; a trend or tendency: new directions in painting and architecture.

- [mass noun] general aim or purpose: the campaign's lack of direction.

2 [mass noun] the management or guidance of someone or something: under his direction, the college has developed an international reputation.

- the work of directing the actors and other staff in a film, play, or other production.

- (directions) instructions on how to reach a destination or about how to do something: Preston gave him directions to a restaurant not far from the studio.

<PHRASES>

□ sense of direction a person's ability to know without explicit guidance the direction in which they are or should be moving.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Latin directio(n-), from the verb dirigere (see DIRECT).

directional adj. 1 relating to or indicating the direction in which someone or something is situated or moving: directional signs wherever two paths joined.

- relating to, influencing, or exemplifying the latest trends in fashion: a directional womenswear designer.

2 having a particular direction of motion, progression, or orientation: coiling the wire permits directional flow of the magnetic flux.

- relating to, denoting, or designed for the projection, transmission, or reception of light, radio, or sound waves in or from a particular direction or directions: a directional microphone.

<DERIVATIVES> directionality /-nalti/ n. directionally adv.

direction finder n. a system of aerials for locating the source of radio signals, used as an aid to navigation.

directionless adj. lacking in general aim or purpose: music which bordered on directionless experimentalism.

directive n. an official or authoritative instruction: a new EC directive.

■ adj. involving the management or guidance of operations: the authority is seeking a directive role in energy policy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from medieval Latin directivus, from direct- ‘guided, put straight’, from the verb dirigere (see DIRECT).

direct labour n. [mass noun] 1 labour involved in production rather than administration, maintenance, and other support services.

2 labour employed by the authority commissioning the work, not by a contractor.

directly adv. 1 without changing direction or stopping: they went directly to the restaurant.

- at once; immediately: I went directly after breakfast.

- DATED in a little while; soon: I'll be back directly.

2 with nothing or no one in between: the decisions directly affect people's health | the security forces were directly responsible for the massacre.

- exactly in a specified position: the ceiling directly above the door | the houses directly opposite.

3 in a frank way: she spoke simply and directly.

■ conj. BRITISH as soon as: she fell asleep directly she got into bed.

direct mail n. [mass noun] unsolicited commercial literature sent to prospective customers through the post.

<DERIVATIVES> direct mailing n.

direct marketing n. [mass noun] the business of selling products or services directly to the public, e.g. by mail order or telephone selling, rather than through retailers.

direct method n. [in sing.] a system of teaching a foreign language using only that language and without emphasis on the study of grammar.

direct object n. a noun phrase denoting a person or thing that is the recipient of the action of a transitive verb, for example the dog in Jeremy fed the dog. Compare with INDIRECT OBJECT.

Directoire /drεktwα/ French /diRεktwaR/ adj. relating to a neoclassical decorative style intermediate between the more ornate Louis XVI style and the Empire style, prevalent during the French Directory (1795–9).

<ORIGIN> French.

Directoire drawers (also Directoire knickers) plural n. BRITISH HISTORICAL knickers which are straight, full, and knee-length.

director n. a person who is in charge of an activity, department, or organization: the sales director.

- a member of the board of people that manages or oversees the affairs of a business.

- a person who supervises the actors and other staff in a film, play, or similar production.

■ short for MUSICAL DIRECTOR.

<DERIVATIVES> directorial adj. directorship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French directour, from late Latin director ‘governor’, from dirigere ‘to guide’.

directorate n. [treated as sing. or plural] 1 the board of directors of a company.

2 a section of a government department in charge of a particular activity: the Food Safety Directorate.

director general n. (pl. directors general) chiefly BRITISH the chief executive of a large organization.

Director of Public Prosecutions (abbr.: DPP) n. (in the UK) a senior law officer who is head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

director's cut n. a version of a film that reflects the director's original intentions, released after the first studio version.

directory n. (pl. directories) 1 a book listing individuals or organizations alphabetically or thematically with details such as names, addresses, and telephone numbers.

- a board in an organization or large store listing names and locations of departments, individuals, etc.

- [COMPUTING] a file which consists solely of a set of other files (which may themselves be directories).

2 chiefly HISTORICAL a book of directions for the conduct of Christian worship, especially in Presbyterian and Roman Catholic Churches.

3 (the Directory) the revolutionary government in France 1795–9, comprising two councils and a five-member executive. It maintained an aggressive foreign policy, but could not control events at home and was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘something that directs’): from late Latin directorium, from director ‘governor’, from dirigere ‘to guide’.

directory enquiries (North American directory assistance) plural n. a telephone service used to find out someone's telephone number.

direct proportion (also direct ratio) n. [mass noun] the relation between quantities whose ratio is constant: sensors emit an electronic signal in direct proportion to the amount of light detected.

directress (also directrice) n. a female director.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from DIRECTOR + -ESS^1; the variant directrice is an adopted French form.

directrix /drεktrks d-/ n. (pl. directrices /-trsiz/) [GEOMETRY] a fixed line used in describing a curve or surface.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from medieval Latin, literally ‘directress’, based on Latin dirigere ‘to guide’.

direct rule n. [mass noun] a system of government in which a province is controlled by a central government.

direct speech n. [mass noun] the reporting of speech by repeating the actual words of a speaker, for example ‘I'm going’, she said. Contrasted with REPORTED SPEECH.

direct tax n. a tax, such as income tax, which is levied on the income or profits of the person who pays it, rather than on goods or services.

direful adj. ARCHAIC or LITERARY extremely bad; dreadful.

<DERIVATIVES> direfully adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from DIRE + -FUL.

dire wolf n. a large extinct wolf of the Pleistocene epoch, which preyed on large mammals.

<INFO> Canis dirus, family Canidae.

<ORIGIN> dire in the sense ‘threatening’, translating the modern Latin taxonomic name.

dirge /dəd/ n. a lament for the dead, especially one forming part of a funeral rite.

- a mournful song, piece of music, or sound.

- INFORMAL a song or piece of music that is considered too slow, miserable, or boring.

<DERIVATIVES> dirgeful adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting the Office for the Dead): from Latin dirige! (imperative) ‘direct!’, the first word of an antiphon (Ps. 5:8) formerly used in the Latin Office for the Dead.

dirham /dər(h)əm/ n. 1 the basic monetary unit of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, equal to 100 centimes in Morocco and 100 fils in the United Arab Emirates.

2 a monetary unit of Libya and Qatar, equal to one thousandth of a dinar in Libya and one hundredth of a riyal in Qatar.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic, from Greek drakhmē, denoting an Attic weight or coin. Compare with DRACHMA.

dirigible /drdb(ə)l/ n. an airship.

■ adj. capable of being steered, guided, or directed: a dirigible spotlight.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin dirigere ‘to direct’ + -IBLE.

dirigisme /drz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] state control of economic and social matters.

<DERIVATIVES> dirigiste adj.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from French, from the verb diriger, from Latin dirigere ‘to direct’.

diriment impediment /drm(ə)nt/ n. (in ecclesiastical law) a factor which invalidates a marriage, such as the existence of a prior marriage.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: diriment from Latin diriment- ‘interrupting’, from the verb dirimere.

dirk /dək/ n. a short dagger of a kind formerly carried by Scottish Highlanders.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

dirndl /dənd(ə)l/ n. 1 (also dirndl skirt) a full, wide skirt with a tight waistband.

2 a woman's dress in the style of Alpine peasant costume, with a dirndl skirt and a close-fitting bodice.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from south German dialect, diminutive of Dirne ‘girl’.

dirt n. [mass noun] 1 a substance, such as mud or dust, that soils someone or something: Jo wiped the dirt off her face.

- soil or earth: Michael threw a handful of dirt on to the coffin | [as modifier] a dirt road.

- INFORMAL excrement: a lawn covered in dog dirt.

- a state or quality of uncleanliness: the sweat and dirt of industry.

2 INFORMAL information about someone's activities or private life that could prove damaging if revealed: is there any dirt on Desmond?

<PHRASES>

□ do someone dirt INFORMAL harm someone's reputation maliciously.

□ drag the name of someone (or something) through the dirt INFORMAL give someone or something a bad reputation through bad behaviour or damaging revelations.

□ eat dirt INFORMAL suffer insults or humiliation.

□ treat someone like dirt treat someone with a complete lack of respect.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse drit ‘excrement’, an early sense in English.

dirtbag n. US INFORMAL a very unkempt or unpleasant person.

dirt bike n. a motorcycle designed for use on rough terrain, such as unsurfaced roads or tracks, and used especially in scrambling.

dirt cheap adv. & adj. INFORMAL extremely cheap: [as adv.] the auctioneers let us have the stuff dirt cheap | [as adj.] a dirt-cheap price.

dirt farmer n. NORTH AMERICAN a farmer who ekes out a living from a farm on poor land, typically without the help of hired labour.

<DERIVATIVES> dirt farm n.

dirt poor adj. extremely poor: dirt-poor villages.

dirt track n. a course made of rolled cinders for motorcycle racing or of earth for flat racing.

<DERIVATIVES> dirt tracker n.

dirty adj. (dirtier, dirtiest) 1 covered or marked with an unclean substance: a tray of dirty cups and saucers | her boots were dirty.

- causing a person or place to become unclean: farming is a hard, dirty job.

- (of a nuclear weapon) producing considerable radioactive fallout.

2 (of an activity) dishonest; dishonourable: he had a reputation for dirty dealing.

- US INFORMAL using illegal drugs.

- [attr.] INFORMAL used to emphasize one's disgust for someone or something: you dirty rat!

3 concerned with sex in a lewd or obscene way: he told a stream of dirty jokes.

4 (of weather) rough, stormy, and unpleasant.

5 (of a colour) not bright or pure; dull: the sea was a waste of dirty grey.

- (of popular music) having a distorted or rasping tone: Nirvana's dirty guitar sound.

■ adv. [as submodifier] BRITISH INFORMAL used for emphasis: a dirty great slab of stone.

■ v. (dirties, dirtying, dirtied) [with obj.] make dirty: she didn't like him dirtying her nice clean towels.

<PHRASES>

□ the dirty end of the stick INFORMAL the difficult or unpleasant part of a task or situation.

□ do the dirty on someone BRITISH INFORMAL cheat or betray someone.

□ get one's hands dirty (or dirty one's hands) do manual, menial, or other hard work.

- INFORMAL become involved in dishonest or dishonourable activity.

□ play dirty INFORMAL act in a dishonest or unfair way.

□ talk dirty INFORMAL talk about sex in a coarse or salacious way.

<DERIVATIVES> dirtily adv. dirtiness n.

dirty bomb n. a conventional bomb that contains radioactive material.

dirty look n. INFORMAL a facial expression of disapproval, disgust, or anger: they were giving me dirty looks for taking up so much room at the bar.

dirty money n. [mass noun] money obtained unlawfully or immorally.

dirty old man n. INFORMAL an older man who is sexually interested in younger women or girls.

dirty rice n. [mass noun] a Cajun dish consisting of white rice cooked with onions, peppers, chicken livers, and herbs.

dirty trick n. a dishonest or unkind act.

- (dirty tricks) underhand political or commercial activity designed to discredit an opponent.

dirty weekend n. BRITISH INFORMAL a weekend spent away, especially in secret, with a lover.

dirty word n. an offensive or indecent word.

- a thing regarded with dislike or disapproval: VAT is a dirty word among small businesses.

dirty work n. [mass noun] activities or tasks that are unpleasant or dishonest and given to someone else to undertake.

dis /ds/ (also diss) INFORMAL, chiefly US v. (disses, dissing, dissed) [with obj.] speak disrespectfully to: he was expelled for dissing the gym teacher.

■ n. [mass noun] disrespectful talk.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: abbreviation of DISRESPECT.

dis- /ds/ prefix 1 expressing negation: disadvantage | disbelieve.

2 denoting reversal or absence of an action or state: diseconomy | disaffirm.

3 denoting removal of something: disbud.

- denoting separation: discarnate.

- denoting expulsion: disbar.

4 expressing completeness or intensification of an unpleasant or unattractive action: disgruntled.

<ORIGIN> from Latin, sometimes via Old French des-.

disability n. (pl. disabilities) 1 a physical or mental condition that limits a person's movements, senses, or activities: children with severe physical disabilities | [mass noun] differing types of disability.

2 a disadvantage or handicap, especially one imposed or recognized by the law: the plaintiff was under a disability.

disable v. [with obj.] (of a disease, injury, or accident) limit (someone) in their movements, senses, or activities: it's an injury that could disable somebody for life | (as adj. disabling) a progressively disabling disease.

- put out of action: the raiders tried to disable the alarm system.

- (of an action or circumstance) prevent or discourage (someone) from doing something: their choice disables them from pursuing certain avenues.

<DERIVATIVES> disablement n.

disabled adj. (of a person) having a physical or mental condition that limits their movements, senses, or activities: facilities for disabled people | (as plural n. the disabled) the needs of the disabled.

- relating to or specifically designed for people with a physical or mental disability: disabled access is available at all venues.

<USAGE> The word disabled came to be used as the standard term in referring to people with physical or mental disabilities in the second half of the 20th century, and it remains the most generally accepted term in both British and US English today. It superseded outmoded, now often offensive, terms such as crippled, defective, and handicapped and has not been overtaken itself by newer coinages such as differently abled or physically challenged.
Although the usage is very widespread, some people regard the use of the adjective as a plural noun (as in the needs of the disabled) as dehumanizing because it tends to treat people with disabilities as an undifferentiated group, defined merely by their capabilities. To avoid offence, a more acceptable term would be people with disabilities.

disablist adj. discriminating or prejudiced against people who are disabled.

disabuse /dsəbjuz/ v. [with obj.] persuade (someone) that an idea or belief is mistaken: he quickly disabused me of my fanciful notions.

disaccharide /dsakərd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a class of sugars whose molecules contain two monosaccharide residues.

disaccord RARE n. [mass noun] lack of agreement or harmony.

■ v. [no obj.] disagree; be at variance.

disadvantage n. an unfavourable circumstance or condition that reduces the chances of success or effectiveness: a major disadvantage is the limited nature of the data | [mass noun] situations of serious social and economic disadvantage.

■ v. [with obj.] put in an unfavourable position in relation to someone or something else: the pension scheme tends to disadvantage women.

<PHRASES>

□ at a disadvantage in an unfavourable position relative to someone or something else: stringent regulations have put British farmers at a disadvantage.

□ to one's disadvantage so as to cause harm to one's interests or standing: his poor educational track record inevitably worked to his disadvantage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desavantage, from des- (expressing reversal) + avantage ‘advantage’.

disadvantaged adj. (of a person or area) in unfavourable circumstances, especially with regard to financial or social opportunities: disadvantaged groups such as the unemployed | (as plural n. the disadvantaged) we began to help the disadvantaged.

disadvantageous adj. involving or creating unfavourable circumstances that reduce the chances of success or effectiveness: the new employment scheme is disadvantageous to women.

<DERIVATIVES> disadvantageously adv.

disaffected adj. dissatisfied, especially with people in authority or a system of control: a military plot by disaffected elements in the army.

<DERIVATIVES> disaffectedly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: past participle of disaffect, originally in the sense ‘dislike or disorder’ from DIS- (expressing reversal) + AFFECT^2.

disaffection n. [mass noun] a state or feeling of being dissatisfied, especially with people in authority or a system of control: there is growing disaffection with large corporations.

disaffiliate /dsəflet/ v. [with obj.] (of a group or organization) end its official connection with (a subsidiary group): the party disaffiliated the Socialist League.

- [no obj.] (of a subsidiary group) end an official connection with an organization: students' unions who wish to disaffiliate from the NUS.

<DERIVATIVES> disaffiliation n.

disaffirm v. [with obj.] [LAW] reverse (a previous decision).

- repudiate (a settlement).

<DERIVATIVES> disaffirmation n.

disafforest /dsəfrst/ v. [with obj.] 1 another term for DEFOREST.

2 [ENGLISH LAW], HISTORICAL reduce (a district) from the legal status of forest to that of ordinary land.

<DERIVATIVES> disafforestation n. disafforestment n.

■ disafforest (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Anglo-Latin disafforestare.

disaggregate /dsaret/ v. [with obj.] separate (something) into its component parts: a method for disaggregating cells.

<DERIVATIVES> disaggregation n.

disagree v. (disagrees, disagreeing, disagreed) [no obj.] 1 have or express a different opinion: no one was willing to disagree with him | historians often disagree.

- (disagree with) disapprove of: she disagreed with the system of apartheid.

2 (of statements or accounts) be inconsistent or fail to correspond: results which disagree with the findings reported so far.

- (disagree with) (of food, climate, or an experience) have an adverse effect on: the sea crossing disagreed with her.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2, also in the sense ‘refuse to agree to’): from Old French desagreer.

disagreeable adj. unpleasant or unenjoyable: a disagreeable thought | aspects of his work are disagreeable to him.

- unfriendly and bad-tempered: Henry was always a very disagreeable boy.

<DERIVATIVES> disagreeableness n. disagreeably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘discordant, incongruous’): from Old French desagreable, based on agreer ‘agree’.

disagreement n. [mass noun] lack of consensus or approval: there was some disagreement about the details | [count noun] disagreements between parents and adolescents.

- lack of consistency or correspondence: disagreement between the results of the two assessments.

disallow v. [with obj.] refuse to declare valid: he was offside and the goal was disallowed.

<DERIVATIVES> disallowance n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘disown, refuse to accept’): from Old French desalouer.

disambiguate v. [with obj.] remove uncertainty of meaning from (an ambiguous sentence, phrase, or other linguistic unit).

<DERIVATIVES> disambiguation n.

disamenity /dsəminti -mεnti/ n. (pl. disamenities) [mass noun] the unpleasant quality or character of something: two rapidly growing sources of disamenity are air travel and tourism.

disappear v. [no obj.] cease to be visible: he disappeared into the trees | the sun had disappeared.

- cease to exist or be in use: the tension had completely disappeared.

- (of a thing) be mislaid: my wallet seems to have disappeared.

- (of a person) go missing or (in coded political language) be killed: the family disappeared after being taken into custody.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from DIS- (expressing reversal) + APPEAR, on the pattern of French disparaître.

disappearance n. [usually in sing.] an act of someone or something ceasing to be visible.

- an act or the fact of someone or something going missing: the police were investigating her disappearance.

- [mass noun] the process of something ceasing to exist or be in use: the disappearance of grammar schools.

disappearing act n. INFORMAL an instance of someone being impossible to find, especially when they are required to face something unpleasant.

disapply v. (disapplies, disapplying, disapplied) [with obj.] treat (something) as inapplicable: British courts are under obligation to disapply Acts where they conflict with European law.

<DERIVATIVES> disapplication n.

disappoint v. [with obj.] fail to fulfil the hopes or expectations of: I have no wish to disappoint everyone by postponing the visit.

- prevent (hopes or expectations) from being realized: the governing coalition had bitterly disappointed the hopes of its voters.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘deprive of a position’): from Old French desappointer.

disappointed adj. sad or displeased because someone or something has failed to fulfil one's hopes or expectations: I'm disappointed in you, Mary | thousands of disappointed customers were kept waiting.

- (of hopes or expectations) prevented from being realized.

<DERIVATIVES> disappointedly adv.

disappointing adj. failing to fulfil someone's hopes or expectations: the team made a disappointing start | [with clause] it was disappointing that there were relatively few possibilities.

<DERIVATIVES> disappointingly adv. [as submodifier] there was disappointingly little change | [sentence adv.] disappointingly, my German failed to improve

disappointment n. [mass noun] sadness or displeasure caused by the non-fulfilment of one's hopes or expectations: to her disappointment, there was no chance to talk privately with Luke.

- [count noun] a person or thing that causes disappointment: the job proved a disappointment | I was a big disappointment to her.

disapprobation /dsaprəbe(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] strong disapproval, typically on moral grounds: she braved her mother's disapprobation and slipped out to enjoy herself.

disapproval n. [mass noun] possession or expression of an unfavourable opinion: Jill replied with a hint of disapproval in her voice.

disapprove v. [no obj.] have or express an unfavourable opinion: Bob strongly disapproved of drinking and driving.

- [with obj.] officially refuse to agree to: a company may take power to disapprove the transfer of shares.

<DERIVATIVES> disapprover n.

disapproving adj. expressing an unfavourable opinion: he shot a disapproving glance at her.

<DERIVATIVES> disapprovingly adv.

disarm v. [with obj.] 1 take a weapon or weapons away from (a person, force, or country): guerrillas had completely disarmed their forces.

- [no obj.] (of a country or force) give up or reduce its armed forces or weapons: the other militias had disarmed by the agreed deadline.

- remove the fuse from (a bomb), making it safe.

2 allay the hostility or suspicions of: his tact and political skills will disarm critics.

- deprive of the power to hurt: camp humour acts to provoke rather than disarm moral indignation.

■ n. [in sing.] [FENCING] an act of taking a weapon away from someone: a well-executed disarm.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desarmer.

disarmament /dsαməm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] the reduction or withdrawal of military forces and weapons.

disarmer n. a person who advocates or campaigns for the withdrawal of nuclear weapons.

disarming adj. (of manner or behaviour) having the effect of allaying suspicion or hostility, especially through charm: he gave her a disarming smile.

<DERIVATIVES> disarmingly adv.

disarrange v. [with obj.] make untidy or disordered: had any of the statues been removed or disarranged?

<DERIVATIVES> disarrangement n.

disarray n. [mass noun] a state of disorganization or untidiness: her grey hair was in disarray | his plans have been thrown into disarray.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 throw into a state of disorganization or untidiness: the inspection disarrayed the usual schedule.

2 LITERARY undress (someone): attendant damsels to help to disarray her.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French dissairay.

disarticulate v. [with obj.] 1 separate (bones) at the joints: the African egg-eating snake can disarticulate its lower jaw from its upper.

2 disrupt the logic of (an argument or opinion): novels disarticulate theories.

<DERIVATIVES> disarticulation n.

disassemble v. [with obj.] take (something) to pieces: the piston can be disassembled for transport.

- [COMPUTING] translate (a program) from machine code into a symbolic language.

<DERIVATIVES> disassembly n.

disassembler n. [COMPUTING] a program for converting machine code into a low-level symbolic language.

disassociate v. another term for DISSOCIATE.

<DERIVATIVES> disassociation n.

disaster n. a sudden accident or a natural catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life: 159 people died in the disaster | [mass noun] disaster struck within minutes of take-off.

- [as modifier] denoting a genre of films that use natural or accidental catastrophe as the mainspring of plot and setting: a disaster movie.

- an event or fact that has unfortunate consequences: a string of personal disasters | [mass noun] reduced legal aid could spell financial disaster.

- INFORMAL a person or thing that is a complete failure: lunch had turned out to be a total disaster.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian disastro ‘ill-starred event’, from dis- (expressing negation) + astro ‘star’ (from Latin astrum).

disastrous adj. causing great damage: a disastrous fire swept through the museum.

- INFORMAL highly unsuccessful: United made a disastrous start to the season.

<DERIVATIVES> disastrously adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘ill-fated’): from French désastreux, from Italian disastroso, from disastro ‘disaster’.

disavow v. [with obj.] deny any responsibility or support for: the union leaders resisted pressure to disavow picket-line violence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desavouer.

disavowal n. [mass noun] the denial of any responsibility or support for something; repudiation: his disavowal of his previous writings | [count noun] they know this, despite their disavowals.

disband v. (with reference to an organized group) break up or cause to break up.

<DERIVATIVES> disbandment n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete French desbander.

disbar v. (disbars, disbarring, disbarred) [with obj.] 1 expel (a barrister) from the Bar, so that they no longer have the right to practise law.

2 exclude (someone) from something: competitors wearing rings will be disbarred from competition.

<DERIVATIVES> disbarment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from DIS- ‘away’ + BAR^1.

disbelief n. [mass noun] inability or refusal to accept that something is true or real: Laura shook her head in disbelief.

- lack of faith: I'll burn in hell for disbelief.

disbelieve v. [with obj.] be unable to believe: he seemed to disbelieve her.

- [no obj.] have no religious faith: to disbelieve is as much an act of faith as belief.

disbeliever n. a person who refuses to believe something or who lacks religious faith: she intends to prove the disbelievers wrong.

disbelieving adj. feeling or expressing disbelief: the disbelieving look in her eyes.

<DERIVATIVES> disbelievingly adv.

disbenefit n. BRITISH a disadvantage or loss resulting from something.

disbound adj. (of a portion of a book) removed from a bound volume.

disbud v. (disbuds, disbudding, disbudded) [with obj.] remove superfluous or unwanted buds from (a plant).

- [FARMING] remove the horn buds from (a young animal).

disburden v. [with obj.] relieve (someone or something) of a burden or responsibility: I decided to disburden myself of the task.

- ARCHAIC relieve (someone's mind) of worries.

disburse /dsbəs/ v. [with obj.] pay out (money from a fund): $6,700 million of the pledged aid had already been disbursed.

<DERIVATIVES> disbursal n. disburser n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French desbourser, from des- (expressing removal) + bourse ‘purse’.

disbursement n. [mass noun] the payment of money from a fund.

- [count noun] a payment, especially one made by a solicitor to a third party and then claimed back from the client.

disc (US also disk) n. 1 a flat, thin circular object: coins were made by striking a blank disc of metal | a man's body with an identity disc around the neck.

- (disk) an information storage device for a computer in the shape of a round flat plate which can be rotated to give access to all parts of the surface. The data may be stored either magnetically (in a magnetic disk) or optically (in an optical disk such as a CD-ROM). short for COMPACT DISC.

- DATED a gramophone record.

- (discs) one of the suits in some tarot packs, corresponding to coins in others.

2 an object or part resembling a disc in shape or appearance: the smudged yellow disc of the moon.

- (also intervertebral disc) a layer of cartilage separating adjacent vertebrae in the spine: he suffered a prolapsed disc.

- [BOTANY] the central part of the flower of a daisy or other composite plant, consisting of a close-packed cluster of tubular florets.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally referring to the seemingly flat circular form of the sun or moon): from French disque or Latin discus (see DISCUS).

<USAGE> Generally speaking, the British spelling is disc and the US spelling is disk, although there is much overlap and variation between the two. In particular, the spelling for senses relating to computers is nearly always disk, as in floppy disk, disk drive, and so on.

discalced /dskalst/ adj. denoting or belonging to one of several strict orders of Catholic friars or nuns who go barefoot or are shod only in sandals.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: variant, influenced by French déchaux, of earlier discalceated, from Latin discalceatus, from dis- (expressing removal) + calceatus (from calceus ‘shoe’).

discard v. /dskαd/ [with obj.] get rid of (someone or something) as no longer useful or desirable: Hilary bundled up the clothes she had discarded.

- (in bridge, whist, and similar card games) play (a card that is neither of the suit led nor a trump), when one is unable to follow suit.

■ n. /dskαd/ a thing rejected as no longer useful or desirable.

- (in bridge, whist, and similar card games) a card played which is neither of the suit led nor a trump, when one is unable to follow suit.

<DERIVATIVES> discardable /dskαdəb(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally in the sense ‘reject (a playing card)’): from DIS- (expressing removal) + the noun card^1.

discarnate /dskαnət/ adj. (of a person or being) not having a physical body.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DIS- ‘without’ + Latin caro, carn- ‘flesh’ or late Latin carnatus ‘fleshy’.

disc brake n. a type of vehicle brake employing the friction of pads against a disc which is attached to the wheel.

disc camera n. a camera in which the images are formed on a disc, rather than on film.

discectomy /dskεktəmi/ n. [mass noun] surgical removal of the whole or a part of an intervertebral disc.

discern /dsən/ v. [with obj.] recognize or find out: I can discern no difference between the two policies | [with clause] pupils quickly discern what is acceptable to the teacher.

- distinguish (someone or something) with difficulty by sight or with the other senses: she could faintly discern the shape of a skull.

<DERIVATIVES> discerner n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin discernere, from dis- ‘apart’ + cernere ‘to separate’.

discernible adj. able to be discerned; perceptible: the scandal had no discernible effect on his career. | the inscription was barely discernible.

<DERIVATIVES> discernibly adv.

discerning adj. having or showing good judgement: the brasserie attracts discerning customers.

<DERIVATIVES> discerningly adv.

discernment n. [mass noun] the ability to judge well: an astonishing lack of discernment.

discerption /dsəp(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the action of pulling something apart.

<DERIVATIVES> discerptibility n. discerptible adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin discerptio(n-), from Latin discerpere ‘pluck to pieces’.

disc floret n. [BOTANY] (in a composite flower head of the daisy family) any of a number of small tubular and usually fertile florets that form the disc. In rayless plants such as the tansy the flower head is composed entirely of disc florets. Compare with RAY FLORET.

discharge v. /dstαd/ [with obj.] 1 tell (someone) officially that they can or must leave, in particular:

- allow (a patient) to leave hospital because they are judged fit.

- dismiss from the armed forces or police.

- release from the custody or restraint of the law: she was conditionally discharged for two years at Oxford Crown Court.

- relieve (a juror or jury) from serving in a case.

2 allow (a liquid, gas, or other substance) to flow out from where it has been confined: industrial plants discharge highly toxic materials into rivers | [no obj.] the overflow should discharge in an obvious place.

- (of an orifice or diseased tissue) emit (pus or other liquid).

- [PHYSICS] release or neutralize the electric charge of (an electric field, battery, or other object).

- (of a person) fire (a gun or missile).

- [no obj.] (of a firearm) be fired: there was a dull thud as the gun discharged.

- unload (goods or passengers) from a ship: the ferry was discharging passengers | [no obj.] ninety ships were queuing to discharge.

- FIGURATIVE allow (an emotion) to be expressed: he discharged his resentment in the harmless form of memoirs.

3 do all that is required to perform (a duty) or fulfil (a responsibility).

- pay off (a debt).

- release (a party) from a contract or obligation: the insurer is discharged from liability from the day of breach.

- [LAW] relieve (a bankrupt) of residual liability.

4 [LAW] (of a judge or court) cancel (an order of a court).

- cancel (a contract) because of completion or breach: an existing mortgage to be discharged on completion.

■ n. /dstαd dstαd/ [mass noun] 1 the action of discharging someone from a hospital or from the armed forces or police: referrals can be discussed before discharge from hospital | [count noun] offending policemen receive a dishonourable discharge.

- [count noun] an act of releasing someone from the custody or restraint of the law: she was given an absolute discharge after admitting breaking a smoking ban.

2 the action of discharging a liquid, gas, or other substance: those germs might lead to vaginal discharge.

- a substance that has been discharged: industrial discharge has turned the river into an open sewer | [count noun] a greeny-yellow nasal discharge.

- [PHYSICS] the release of electricity from a charged object: slow discharge of a condenser is fundamental to oscillatory circuits.

- [count noun] a flow of electricity through air or other gas, especially when accompanied by emission of light: a sizzling discharge between sky and turret.

- the action of firing a gun or missile: a police permit for discharge of an air gun | [count noun] sounds like discharges of artillery.

- the action of unloading a ship.

3 the action of doing all that is required to fulfil a responsibility or perform a duty: directors must use skill in the discharge of their duties.

- the payment of a debt: money paid in discharge of a claim.

- [LAW] the relief of a bankrupt from residual liability.

4 [LAW] the cancellation of an order of a court.

<DERIVATIVES> dischargeable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘relieve of an obligation’): from Old French descharger, from late Latin discarricare ‘unload’, from dis- (expressing reversal) + carricare ‘to load’ (see CHARGE).

discharge lamp n. a lamp in which the light is produced by a discharge tube.

discharger n. a person or thing that discharges something, in particular:

- a person or organization that allows industrial waste or other harmful substances to be released into the environment.

- a device that releases nerve gas or other substances for military purposes.

- an apparatus for releasing or neutralizing an electric charge.

discharge tube n. a tube containing charged electrodes and filled with a gas in which ionization is induced by an electric field. The gas molecules emit light as they return to the ground state.

disc harrow n. a harrow with cutting edges consisting of a row of concave discs set at an oblique angle.

disciple /dsp(ə)l/ n. a personal follower of Christ during his life, especially one of the twelve Apostles.

- a follower or pupil of a teacher, leader, or philosophy: a disciple of Rousseau.

<DERIVATIVES> discipleship n. disciplic adj. discipular /dspjlə/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin discipulus ‘learner’, from discere ‘learn’; reinforced by Old French deciple.

Disciples of Christ a Protestant denomination, originating among American Presbyterians in the early 19th century and found chiefly in the US, which rejects creeds and regards the Bible as the only basis of faith.

disciplinarian n. a person who believes in or practises firm discipline.

disciplinary adj. concerning or enforcing discipline: a soldier will face disciplinary action after going absent without leave.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (originally with reference to ecclesiastical order): from medieval Latin disciplinarius, from Latin disciplina, from discipulus ‘learner’ (see DISCIPLE).

discipline /dspln/ n. 1 [mass noun] the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour, using punishment to correct disobedience: a lack of proper parental and school discipline.

- the controlled behaviour resulting from such training: he was able to maintain discipline among his men.

- activity that provides mental or physical training: the tariqa offered spiritual discipline | [count noun] Kung fu is a discipline open to old and young.

- [count noun] a system of rules of conduct: he doesn't have to submit to normal disciplines.

2 a branch of knowledge, typically one studied in higher education: sociology is a fairly new discipline.

■ v. [with obj.] train (someone) to obey rules or a code of behaviour, using punishment to correct disobedience: many parents have been afraid to discipline their children.

- punish or rebuke formally for an offence: a member of staff was to be disciplined by management.

- (discipline oneself to do something) train oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way: every month discipline yourself to go through the file.

<DERIVATIVES> disciplinable adj. disciplinal /dspln(ə)l dspln(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘mortification by scourging oneself’): via Old French from Latin disciplina ‘instruction, knowledge’, from discipulus (see DISCIPLE).

disciplined adj. showing a controlled form of behaviour or way of working: a disciplined approach to management.

disc jockey n. a person who introduces and plays recorded popular music, especially on radio or at a club.

disclaim v. [with obj.] refuse to acknowledge; deny: the school disclaimed any responsibility for his death.

- [LAW] renounce a legal claim to (a property or title).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in legal contexts): from Anglo-Norman French desclamer, from des- (expressing reversal) + clamer ‘to claim’ (see CLAIM).

disclaimer n. a statement that denies something, especially responsibility: the novel carries a disclaimer about the characters bearing no relation to living persons.

- [LAW] an act of repudiating a claim, warranty, or bequest.

disclose v. [with obj.] make (secret or new information) known: they disclosed her name to the press.

- allow (something hidden) to be seen: he cleared away the grass and disclosed a narrow opening descending into the darkness.

<DERIVATIVES> discloser n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desclos-, stem of desclore, based on Latin claudere ‘to close’.

disclosure n. [mass noun] the action of making new or secret information known: a judge ordered the disclosure of the government documents.

- [count noun] a fact, especially a secret, that is made known: the government's disclosures about missile programmes.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from DISCLOSE, on the pattern of closure.

disco INFORMAL n. (pl. discos) 1 a club or party at which people dance to pop music.

- the lighting and sound equipment used at a disco: no one knows how to waltz so I've ordered a disco.

2 short for DISCO MUSIC.

■ v. (discoes, discoing, discoed) [no obj.] attend or dance at a disco: she filled every hour of the day playing tennis, or discoing with friends.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally US): abbreviation of DISCOTHEQUE.

discobolus /dskbələs/ n. (pl. discoboli /-l/) a discus-thrower in ancient Greece.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: via Latin from Greek diskobolos, from diskos ‘discus’ + -bolos ‘-throwing’ (from ballein ‘to throw’).

discography /dskrəfi/ n. (pl. discographies) a descriptive catalogue of musical recordings, particularly those of a particular performer or composer.

- all of a performer's or composer's recordings considered as a body of work: his discography is overwhelmingly classical.

- [mass noun] the study of musical recordings and compilation of descriptive catalogues.

<DERIVATIVES> discographer n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from DISC + -GRAPHY, on the pattern of biography.

discoid /dskd/ adj. TECHNICAL shaped like a disc.

■ n. a thing that is shaped like a disc, particularly a type of ancient stone tool.

<DERIVATIVES> discoidal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek diskoeidēs, from diskos (see DISCUS).

discoloration (also discolouration) n. the process of changing to a different, less attractive colour: a bluish discoloration of the skin.

discolour (US discolor) v. change or cause to change to a different, less attractive colour: [no obj.] do not over-knead the dough or it will discolour | [with obj.] too much aluminium can discolour water.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French descolorer or medieval Latin discolorare, from des-, dis- (expressing reversal) + Latin colorare ‘to colour’.

discoloured (US discolored) adj. changed in colour in a way that is less attractive: her beauty was marred by discoloured teeth.

discombobulate /dskəmbbjlet/ v. [with obj.] HUMOROUS, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN disconcert or confuse (someone): (as adj. discombobulated) he is looking a little pained and discombobulated.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably based on DISCOMPOSE or DISCOMFIT.

discomfit /dskmft/ v. (discomfits, discomfiting, discomfited) [with obj.] make (someone) feel uneasy or embarrassed: he was not noticeably discomfited by her tone.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘defeat in battle’): from Old French desconfit, past participle of desconfire, based on Latin dis- (expressing reversal) + conficere ‘put together’ (see CONFECTION).

<USAGE> The words discomfit and discomfort are etymologically unrelated but in modern use their principal meanings as a verb have collapsed into one (‘make (someone) feel uneasy’).

discomfiture /dskmftə(r)/ n. [mass noun] a feeling of unease or embarrassment; awkwardness: much to the discomfiture of the organisers.

discomfort n. [mass noun] slight pain: the patient complained of discomfort in the left calf.

- worry or embarrassment: his remarks caused her discomfort.

- [count noun] something that causes one to feel uncomfortable: the discomforts of too much sun in summer.

■ v. [with obj.] make (someone) feel anxious or embarrassed: the unknown leaker's purpose was to discomfort the Prime Minister.

- (often as adj. discomforting) cause (someone) slight pain: if the patient's condition has discomforting symptoms, these should be controlled.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘dishearten’): from Old French desconforter (verb), desconfort (noun), from des- (expressing reversal) + conforter ‘to comfort’ (see COMFORT).

discommode /dskəməd/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL cause (someone) trouble or inconvenience: I am sorry to have discommoded you.

<DERIVATIVES> discommodious adj. discommodity n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from obsolete French discommoder, variant of incommoder (see INCOMMODE).

discompose v. [with obj.] (often as adj. discomposed) disturb or agitate (someone): she looked a little discomposed as she spoke.

discomposure n. [mass noun] the state or feeling of being disturbed or agitated; agitation: she laughed to mask her discomposure.

disco music n. [mass noun] pop music intended mainly for dancing to at discos, typically soul-influenced and melodic with a regular bass beat and popular particularly in the late 1970s.

disconcert /dskənsət/ v. [with obj.] disturb the composure of; unsettle: the abrupt change of subject disconcerted her | (as adj. disconcerted) Keith looked momentarily disconcerted.

<DERIVATIVES> disconcertedly adv. disconcertion n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘upset the progress of’): from obsolete French desconcerter, from des- (expressing reversal) + concerter ‘bring together’.

disconcerting adj. causing one to feel unsettled: he had a disconcerting habit of offering jobs to people he met at dinner parties.

<DERIVATIVES> disconcertingly adv.

disconfirm v. [with obj.] show that (a belief or hypothesis) is not or may not be true.

<DERIVATIVES> disconfirmation /dsknfəme(ə)n/ n. disconfirmatory adj.

disconformity n. (pl. disconformities) 1 [mass noun] lack of conformity.

2 [GEOLOGY] a break in a sedimentary sequence which does not involve a difference of inclination between the strata on each side of the break. Compare with UNCONFORMITY.

disconnect v. [with obj.] break the connection of or between: if the axle unit is partially disconnected from the body, the car should not be driven.

- put (an electrical device) out of action by detaching it from a power supply.

- interrupt or terminate (a telephone conversation) by breaking the connection: I phoned them in Edinburgh but we got disconnected.

- terminate the connection of (a household) to water, electricity, gas, or telephone, typically because of non-payment of bills.

■ n. an instance of disconnecting or being disconnected: [as modifier] a disconnect message.

- a discrepancy or lack of connection: there can be a disconnect between boardrooms and IT departments when it comes to technology.

<DERIVATIVES> disconnection (also disconnexion) n.

disconnected adj. having had a connection broken: he expected the disconnected phone to start ringing.

- [predic.] (of a person) lacking contact with reality: I drove away, feeling disconnected from the real world.

- (of speech, writing, or thought) lacking a logical sequence: a disconnected narrative.

<DERIVATIVES> disconnectedly adv. disconnectedness n.

disconsolate /dskns(ə)lət/ adj. very unhappy and unable to be comforted: she left Fritz looking disconsolate.

<DERIVATIVES> disconsolately adv. disconsolateness n. disconsolation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin disconsolatus, from dis- (expressing reversal) + Latin consolatus (past participle of consolari ‘to console’).

discontent n. [mass noun] dissatisfaction with one's circumstances; lack of contentment: voters voiced discontent with both parties | [count noun] the discontents of the working class.

- [count noun] a person who is dissatisfied, typically with the prevailing social or political situation: the cause attracted a motley crew of discontents and zealots.

■ adj. dissatisfied.

<DERIVATIVES> discontentment n.

discontented adj. dissatisfied, especially with one's circumstances: I am so discontented with my work | a discontented housewife | (as plural n. the discontented) the ranks of the discontented were swelled by returning soldiers.

<DERIVATIVES> discontentedly adv. discontentedness n.

discontinue v. (discontinues, discontinuing, discontinued) [with obj.] cease from doing or providing (something), especially something that has been provided on a regular basis: the ferry service was discontinued by the proprietors | he discontinued his visits.

- stop making (a particular product).

- cease taking (a newspaper or periodical) or paying (a subscription).

<DERIVATIVES> discontinuance n. discontinuation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘interrupt, disrupt’): via Old French from medieval Latin discontinuare, from Latin dis- ‘not’ + continuare (see CONTINUE).

discontinued adj. (of a product) no longer available or produced: discontinued fabrics.

discontinuity n. (pl. discontinuities) [mass noun] the state of having intervals or gaps; lack of continuity: there is no significant discontinuity between modern and primitive societies.

- [count noun] a break in or lack of continuity: changes in government have resulted in discontinuities in policy.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin discontinuitas, from discontinuus (see DISCONTINUOUS).

discontinuous adj. having intervals or gaps: a person with a discontinuous employment record.

<DERIVATIVES> discontinuously adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘producing discontinuity’): from medieval Latin discontinuus, from dis- ‘not’ + continuus (see CONTINUOUS).

discord n. /dskd/ [mass noun] 1 disagreement between people: a prosperous family who showed no signs of discord.

- lack of agreement or harmony between things: the discord between indigenous and Western cultures.

2 [MUSIC] lack of harmony between notes sounding together: the music faded in discord.

- [count noun] a chord which (in conventional harmonic terms) is regarded as unpleasing or requiring resolution by another.

- [count noun] any interval except unison, an octave, a perfect fifth or fourth, a major or minor third and sixth, or their octaves.

- [count noun] a single note dissonant with another.

■ v. /dskd/ [no obj.] ARCHAIC (of people) disagree: we discorded commonly on two points.

- (of things) be different: the party's views were apt to discord with those of the leading members of the government.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French descord (noun), descorder (verb), from Latin discordare, from discors ‘discordant’, from dis- (expressing negation, reversal) + cor, cord- ‘heart’.

discordant adj. 1 disagreeing or incongruous: the operative principle of democracy is a balance of discordant qualities.

- characterized by conflict: a study of children in discordant homes.

2 (of sounds) harsh and jarring because of a lack of harmony: the singers continued their discordant chanting.

<PHRASES>

□ strike a discordant note appear strange and out of place.

<DERIVATIVES> discordance n. discordancy n. discordantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French descordant, present participle of descorder (see DISCORD).

discotheque /dskətεk/ n. another term for disco (sense 1 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from French discothèque, originally ‘record library’, on the pattern of bibliothèque ‘library’.

discount n. /dskant/ a deduction from the usual cost of something: rail commuters get a discount on season tickets | [mass noun] we introduced a standard level of discount for everyone.

- [FINANCE] a percentage deducted from the face value of a bill of exchange or promissory note when it changes hands before the due date.

■ v. /dskant/ [with obj.] 1 deduct an amount from (the usual price of something): a product may carry a price which cannot easily be discounted.

- reduce (a product or service) in price: one shop has discounted children's trainers.

- buy or sell (a bill of exchange) before its due date at less than its maturity value.

2 regard (a possibility or fact) as being unworthy of consideration because it lacks credibility: I'd heard rumours, but discounted them.

<PHRASES>

□ at a discount below the nominal or usual price. Compare with AT A PREMIUM (see PREMIUM).

<DERIVATIVES> discountable /dskantəb(ə)l/ adj. discounter /dskantə/ n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from obsolete French descompte (noun), descompter (verb), or (in commercial contexts) from Italian (di)scontare, both from medieval Latin discomputare, from Latin dis- (expressing reversal) + computare (see COMPUTE).

discounted cash flow n. [mass noun] [FINANCE] a method of assessing investments taking into account the expected accumulation of interest.

discountenance v. [with obj.] 1 refuse to approve of: the best solution to alcohol abuse is a healthy family life where alcohol consumption is discountenanced.

2 disturb the composure of: Amanda was not discountenanced by the accusation.

discount house n. 1 BRITISH a company that buys and sells bills of exchange.

2 North American another term for DISCOUNT STORE.

discount market n. the section of the financial market which deals in discounted bills of exchange.

discount rate n. [FINANCE] 1 the minimum interest rate set by the US Federal Reserve (and some other national banks) for lending to other banks.

2 a rate used for discounting bills of exchange.

discount store n. a shop that sells goods at less than the normal retail price.

discourage v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to lose confidence or enthusiasm: tedious regulations could discourage investors.

- prevent or try to prevent (something) by showing disapproval or creating difficulties: the plan is designed to discourage the use of private cars.

- persuade (someone) against an action: we want to discourage children from smoking.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French descouragier, from des- (expressing reversal) + corage ‘courage’.

discouraged adj. having lost confidence or enthusiasm; disheartened: he must be feeling pretty discouraged.

discouragement n. 1 [mass noun] a loss of confidence or enthusiasm; dispiritedness: do not give in to discouragement.

2 an attempt to prevent something by showing disapproval or creating difficulties; deterrent: the discouragement of crime.

discouraging adj. causing someone to lose confidence or enthusiasm; depressing: a discouraging experience.

<DERIVATIVES> discouragingly adv.

discourse n. /dsks -ks/ written or spoken communication or debate: [mass noun] the language of political discourse | [count noun] an imagined discourse between two people.

- [count noun] a formal discussion of a topic in speech or writing: a discourse on critical theory.

- [LINGUISTICS] a connected series of utterances; a text or conversation.

■ v. /dsks/ [no obj.] speak or write authoritatively about a topic: she could discourse at great length on the history of Europe.

- engage in conversation: he spent an hour discoursing with his supporters.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the process of reasoning): from Old French discours, from Latin discursus ‘running to and fro’ (in medieval Latin ‘argument’), from the verb discurrere, from dis- ‘away’ + currere ‘to run’; the verb influenced by French discourir.

discourse marker n. [GRAMMAR] a word or phrase whose function is to organize discourse into segments, for example well or I mean.

discourteous adj. showing rudeness and a lack of consideration for other people: it would be unkind and discourteous to decline a visit.

<DERIVATIVES> discourteously adv. discourteousness n.

discourtesy n. (pl. discourtesies) [mass noun] rude and inconsiderate behaviour: he was able to discourage visitors without obvious discourtesy.

- [count noun] an impolite act or remark: the fact that MPs were not kept informed was an extraordinary discourtesy.

discover v. [with obj.] 1 find unexpectedly or during a search: firemen discovered a body in the debris | she discovered her lover in the arms of another woman.

- become aware of (a fact or situation): the courage to discover the truth and possibly be disappointed | [with clause] it was a relief to discover that he wasn't in.

- be the first to find or observe (a place, substance, or scientific phenomenon): Fleming discovered penicillin early in the twentieth century.

- show interest in (an activity or subject) for the first time: a teenager who has recently discovered fashion.

- be the first to recognize the potential of (an actor or performer): I discovered the band back in the mid 70s.

2 ARCHAIC divulge (a secret).

- disclose the identity of (someone): she at last discovered herself to me.

- display (a quality or feeling): with what agility did these military men discover their skill in feats of war.

<DERIVATIVES> discoverable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘make known’): from Old French descovrir, from late Latin discooperire, from Latin dis- (expressing reversal) + cooperire ‘cover completely’ (see COVER).

discovered check n. [CHESS] a check which results when a player moves a piece or pawn so as to put the opponent's king in check from another piece.

discoverer n. the first person to find or explore a place.

- the first person to find or observe a substance or scientific phenomenon: many chemical processes are named after their original discoverers.

Discovery n. a dessert apple of a variety with crisp flesh and bright red skin.

discovery n. (pl. discoveries) [mass noun] 1 the action or process of discovering or being discovered: the discovery of the body | [count noun] he made some startling discoveries.

- [count noun] a person or thing discovered: the drug is not a new discovery.

2 [LAW] the compulsory disclosure, by one party to an action to another, of relevant testimony or documents.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from DISCOVER, on the pattern of the pair recover, recovery.

discovery well n. the first successful oil well in a new field.

discredit v. (discredits, discrediting, discredited) [with obj.] harm the good reputation of: his remarks were taken out of context in an effort to discredit him | (as adj. discredited) a discredited government.

- cause (an idea or account) to seem false or unreliable: his explanation for the phenomenon was soon discredited.

■ n. [mass noun] loss or lack of reputation or respect: they committed crimes which brought discredit upon the administration.

- [count noun] a person or thing that is a source of disgrace: the ships were a discredit to the country.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from DIS- (expressing reversal) + CREDIT, on the pattern of Italian (di)scredito (noun), (di)screditare (verb), and French discrédit (noun), discréditer (verb).

discreditable adj. tending to bring harm to a reputation: allegations of discreditable conduct.

<DERIVATIVES> discreditably adv.

discreet /dskrit/ adj. (discreeter, discreetest) careful and prudent in one's speech or actions, especially in order to keep something confidential or to avoid embarrassment: we made some discreet inquiries.

- intentionally unobtrusive: a discreet cough.

<DERIVATIVES> discreetly adv. discreetness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French discret, from Latin discretus ‘separate’, past participle of discernere ‘discern’, the sense arising from late Latin discretio (see DISCRETION). Compare with DISCRETE.

<USAGE> The words discrete and discreet are pronounced in the same way and share the same origin but they do not mean the same thing. Discrete means ‘separate’, as in a finite number of discrete categories, while discreet means ‘careful and circumspect’, as in you can rely on him to be discreet. Around 10 per cent of citations in the British National Corpus for discrete are misspellings for discreet.

discrepancy /dskrεp(ə)nsi/ n. (pl. discrepancies) an illogical or surprising lack of compatibility or similarity between two or more facts: there's a discrepancy between your account and his.

<DERIVATIVES> discrepant adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin discrepantia, from discrepare ‘be discordant’, from dis- ‘apart, away’ + crepare ‘to creak’.

discrete /dskrit/ adj. individually separate and distinct: speech sounds are produced as a continuous sound signal rather than discrete units.

<DERIVATIVES> discretely adv. discreteness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin discretus ‘separate’; compare with DISCREET.

discretion n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offence or revealing confidential information: she knew she could rely on his discretion | I'll be the soul of discretion.

2 the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation: local authorities should use their discretion in setting the charges | honorary fellowships may be awarded at the discretion of the council.

<PHRASES>

□ discretion is the better part of valour PROVERB it's better to avoid a dangerous situation than to confront it.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘discernment’): via Old French from Latin discretio(n-) ‘separation’ (in late Latin ‘discernment’), from discernere (see DISCERN).

discretionary adj. available for use at the discretion of the user: there has been an increase in year-end discretionary bonuses.

- denoting or relating to investment funds placed with a broker or manager who has discretion to invest them on the client's behalf: discretionary portfolios.

discretionary income n. [mass noun] income remaining after deduction of taxes, social security charges, and basic living costs. Compare with DISPOSABLE INCOME.

discretionary trust n. a trust in which the number of shares of each beneficiary are not fixed by the settlor in the trust deed, but at the discretion of the trustees.

discretize /dskritz/ (also discretise) v. [with obj.] [MATHEMATICS] represent or approximate (a quantity or series) using a discrete quantity or quantities.

<DERIVATIVES> discretization n.

discriminable /dskrmnəb(ə)l/ adj. able to be discriminated; distinguishable: the target contours will not be discriminable from their background.

<DERIVATIVES> discriminability n. discriminably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from DISCRIMINATE, on the pattern of the pair separate, separable.

discriminant /dskrmnənt/ n. a distinguishing feature or characteristic: anaemia is commonly present in patients with both conditions, and is therefore not a helpful discriminant.

- [MATHEMATICS] a function of the coefficients of a polynomial equation whose value gives information about the roots of the polynomial. See also DISCRIMINANT FUNCTION.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in the sense ‘showing discernment’): from Latin discriminant- ‘distinguishing between’, from the verb discriminare (see DISCRIMINATE).

discriminant analysis n. [mass noun] statistical analysis using a discriminant function to assign data to one of two or more groups.

discriminant function n. [STATISTICS] a function of several variates used to assign items into one of two or more groups. The function for a particular set of items is obtained from measurements of the variates of items which belong to a known group.

discriminate /dskrmnet/ v. [no obj.] 1 recognize a distinction; differentiate: babies can discriminate between different facial expressions.

- [with obj.] perceive or constitute the difference in or between: features that discriminate this species from other gastropods.

2 make an unjust or prejudicial distinction in the treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, sex, or age: existing employment policies discriminate against women.

<DERIVATIVES> discriminately adv. discriminative adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin discriminat- ‘distinguished between’, from the verb discriminare, from discrimen ‘distinction’, from the verb discernere (see DISCERN).

discriminating adj. having or showing refined taste or good judgement: he became a discriminating collector and patron of the arts.

<DERIVATIVES> discriminatingly adv.

discrimination n. [mass noun] 1 the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex: victims of racial discrimination | discrimination against homosexuals.

2 recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another: discrimination between right and wrong | [count noun] young children have difficulties in making fine discriminations.

- the ability to judge what is of high quality; good judgement or taste: those who could afford to buy showed little taste or discrimination.

3 [ELECTRONICS] the selection of a signal having a required characteristic, such as frequency or amplitude, by means of a discriminator.

discriminator n. 1 a characteristic which enables people or things to be distinguished from one another: age should not be used as a primary discriminator in recruitment.

2 [ELECTRONICS] a circuit or device which only produces an output when the input exceeds a fixed value.

- a circuit which converts a frequency-modulated signal into an amplitude-modulated one.

discriminatory /dskrmnt(ə)ri dskrmnet(ə)ri/ adj. making or showing an unfair or prejudicial distinction between different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex: discriminatory employment practices.

discursive /dskəsv/ adj. 1 digressing from subject to subject: students often write dull, second-hand, discursive prose.

- (of a style of speech or writing) fluent and expansive: the short story is concentrated, whereas the novel is discursive.

2 relating to discourse or modes of discourse: the attempt to transform utterances from one discursive context to another.

3 [PHILOSOPHY], ARCHAIC proceeding by argument or reasoning rather than by intuition.

<DERIVATIVES> discursively adv. discursiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin discursivus, from Latin discurs-, literally ‘gone hastily to and fro’, from the verb discurrere (see DISCOURSE).

discus /dskəs/ n. (pl. discuses) 1 a heavy thick-centred disc thrown by an athlete, in ancient Greek games or in modern field events.

2 a small colourful South American freshwater fish with a rounded laterally compressed body, native to South America and popular in aquariums.

<INFO> Genus Symphysodon, family Cichlidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek diskos.

discuss v. [with obj.] talk about (something) with a person or people: I discussed the matter with my wife | [with clause] they were discussing where to go for a drink.

- talk or write about (a topic) in detail, taking into account different issues or ideas: in Chapter Six I discuss problems that arise in applying Darwin's ideas.

<DERIVATIVES> discussable adj. discusser n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘dispel, disperse’, also ‘examine by argument’): from Latin discuss- ‘dashed to pieces’, later ‘investigated’, from the verb discutere, from dis- ‘apart’ + quatere ‘shake’.

discussant n. a person who takes part in a discussion, especially a prearranged one.

discussion n. [mass noun] the action or process of talking about something in order to reach a decision or to exchange ideas: the committee acts as a forum for discussion | the EC directive is currently under discussion.

- [count noun] a conversation or debate about a specific topic: discussions about environmental improvement.

- [count noun] a detailed treatment of a topic in speech or writing.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting judicial examination): via Old French from late Latin discussio(n-), from discutere ‘investigate’ (see DISCUSS).

disc wheel n. a bicycle wheel with a central disc in place of spokes.

disdain n. [mass noun] the feeling that someone or something is unworthy of one's consideration or respect: her upper lip curled in disdain | an aristocratic disdain for manual labour.

■ v. [with obj.] consider to be unworthy of one's consideration: he disdained his patients as an inferior rabble.

- refuse to do (something) from feelings of pride or superiority: she remained standing, pointedly disdaining his invitation to sit down | [with infinitive] he disdained to discuss the matter further.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French desdeign (noun), desdeignier (verb), based on Latin dedignari, from de- (expressing reversal) + dignari ‘consider worthy’ (from dignus ‘worthy’).

disdainful adj. showing contempt or lack of respect: with a last disdainful look, she turned towards the door.

<DERIVATIVES> disdainfully adv. disdainfulness n.

disease n. a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury: bacterial meningitis is quite a rare disease | [mass noun] heart disease.

- a particular quality or disposition regarded as adversely affecting a person or group of people: we are suffering from the British disease of self-deprecation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘lack of ease; inconvenience’): from Old French desaise ‘lack of ease’, from des- (expressing reversal) + aise ‘ease’.

diseased adj. suffering from disease: diseased trees.

- abnormal and corrupt: I cannot bear your diseased view of mankind.

diseconomy n. (pl. diseconomies) [ECONOMICS] an economic disadvantage such as an increase in cost arising from an increase in the size of an organization: in an ideal world, these diseconomies of scale would be minimized.

disembark v. [no obj.] leave a ship, aircraft, or train: the passengers began to disembark.

<DERIVATIVES> disembarkation n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French désembarquer, Spanish desembarcar, or Italian disimbarcare, based on Latin barca ‘ship's boat’.

disembarrass v. (disembarrass oneself of/from) free oneself of (a burden or nuisance): shouldn't empires disembarrass themselves of elements which no longer serve a purpose?

- [with obj.] RARE free from embarrassment.

<DERIVATIVES> disembarrassment n.

disembodied adj. separated from or existing without the body: a disembodied ghost.

- (of a sound) lacking any obvious physical source: a disembodied voice at the end of the phone.

disembody v. (disembodies, disembodying, disembodied) [with obj.] separate (something) from its material form: the play of light off the dome's glass further served to disembody it.

<DERIVATIVES> disembodiment n.

disembogue /dsmbə dsεm-/ v. (disembogues, disemboguing, disembogued) [no obj.] LITERARY (of a river or stream) emerge or be discharged in quantity; pour out.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish desembocar, from des- (expressing reversal) + embocar ‘run into a creek or strait’ (based on boca ‘mouth’).

disembowel /dsmbaəl dsεm-/ v. (disembowels, disembowelling, disembowelled; US disembowels, disemboweling, disemboweled) [with obj.] cut open and remove the internal organs of.

<DERIVATIVES> disembowelment n.

disembroil /dsmbrl dsεm-/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC free from confusion: to disembroil a subject that seems to have perplexed even Antiquity.

disempower v. [with obj.] make (a person or group) less powerful or confident: the experience of hospital invariably disempowers women.

<DERIVATIVES> disempowerment n.

disenchant v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to be disappointed: he may have been disenchanted by the loss of his huge following.

<DERIVATIVES> disenchanting adj. disenchantingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French désenchanter, from dés- (expressing reversal) + enchanter (see ENCHANT).

disenchanted adj. disappointed by someone or something previously respected or admired; disillusioned: he became disenchanted with his erstwhile ally | there are a lot of disenchanted music fans out there.

disenchantment n. [mass noun] a feeling of disappointment about someone or something you previously respected or admired; disillusionment: their growing disenchantment with the leadership.

disencumber v. [with obj.] free from or relieve of an encumbrance: the sect claims to disencumber adherents of the untoward effects of past traumas.

disendow v. [with obj.] deprive (someone or something) of an endowment, in particular deprive (a Church) of the property and funds that it receives from the state.

<DERIVATIVES> disendowment n.

disenfranchise /dsnfran(t)z dsεn-/ (also disfranchise) v. [with obj.] deprive (someone) of the right to vote: the law disenfranchised some 3,000 voters on the basis of a residence qualification.

- deprive (someone) of a right or privilege: we strongly oppose any measure which would disenfranchise people from access to legal advice.

- ARCHAIC deprive (a place) of the right to send a representative to Parliament.

<DERIVATIVES> disenfranchisement n.

disengage /dsned dsεn-/ v. 1 [with obj.] separate or release (someone or something) from something to which they are attached or connected: I disengaged his hand from mine | they clung together for a moment, then she disengaged herself.

- [no obj.] become released: the clutch will not disengage.

2 remove (troops) from an area of conflict: the ceasefire gave the commanders a chance to disengage their forces | [no obj.] plans were already afoot for the Americans to disengage from the city.

3 [no obj.] [FENCING] pass the point of one's sword over or under the opponent's sword to change the line of attack.

■ n. [FENCING] a disengaging movement.

disengaged adj. emotionally detached: the students were oddly disengaged, as if they didn't believe they could control their lives.

disengagement n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of withdrawing from involvement in an activity, situation, or group: his disengagement from the provisional government.

- the withdrawal of military forces or the renunciation of military or political influence in an area.

- the process of separating or releasing something or of becoming separated or released: the mechanism prevents accidental disengagement.

- ARCHAIC the breaking off of an engagement to be married.

2 emotional detachment; objectivity: contemporary criticism can afford neutral disengagement.

3 [FENCING] another term for DISENGAGE.

disentailment n. [mass noun] [LAW] the action of freeing property from entail: the disentailment of the Church's landed property.

<DERIVATIVES> disentail v.

disentangle v. [with obj.] free (something or someone) from something that they are entangled with: ‘I must go,’ she said, disentangling her fingers from Gabriel's | FIGURATIVE it was difficult to disentangle fact from fiction.

- remove knots or tangles from (wool, rope, or hair).

<DERIVATIVES> disentanglement n.

disenthral /dsnθrl dsεn-/ (US disenthrall) v. (disenthrals, disenthralling, disenthralled) [with obj.] LITERARY set free: I disenthral my mind from theories.

<DERIVATIVES> disenthralment n.

disentitle v. [with obj.] deprive (someone) of a right: she was disentitled to a redundancy payment.

<DERIVATIVES> disentitlement n.

disentomb v. [with obj.] remove (something) from a tomb: a mummy which we saw disentombed | FIGURATIVE he disentombed a great part of the early history of England.

<DERIVATIVES> disentombment n.

disequilibrium /dsikwlbrəm dsεk-/ n. [mass noun] a loss or lack of equilibrium or stability, especially in relation to supply, demand, and prices.

disestablish v. [with obj.] deprive (an organization, especially a national Church) of its official status.

<DERIVATIVES> disestablishment n.

disesteem n. [mass noun] low esteem or regard: her disesteem for institutionalized medicine now heightened to aversion.

■ v. [with obj.] FORMAL have a low opinion of: novels and short stories have been disesteemed.

diseuse /dizəz/ n. a female artiste entertaining with spoken monologues.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘talker’, feminine of diseur, from dire ‘to say’.

disfavour (US disfavor) n. [mass noun] disapproval or dislike: the headmaster regarded her with disfavour.

- the state of being disliked: coal fell into disfavour because steam engines are noisy and polluting.

■ v. [with obj.] put at a disadvantage or treat as undesirable: the system favours those who employ less labour and disfavours those who employ more.

disfellowship n. [mass noun] exclusion from fellowship, especially as a form of discipline in some Protestant and Mormon Churches.

■ v. (disfellowships, disfellowshipping, disfellowshipped) [with obj.] exclude (someone) from fellowship.

disfigure v. [with obj.] spoil the appearance of: litter disfigures the countryside | (as adj. disfiguring) a disfiguring birthmark.

<DERIVATIVES> disfiguration n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desfigurer, based on Latin figura ‘figure’.

disfigurement n. [mass noun] the action of spoiling the appearance of something or someone; defacement: the disfigurement of this very pleasant area.

- something which spoils the appearance of someone or something; a blemish: a severe facial disfigurement.

disforest v. another term for DISAFFOREST.

<DERIVATIVES> disforestation n.

disfranchise v. another term for DISENFRANCHISE.

disfrock v. another term for DEFROCK.

disgorge v. [with obj.] 1 pour (something) out: the combine disgorged a steady stream of grain.

- (of a building or vehicle) discharge (the occupants): an aircraft disgorging paratroopers.

- bring up or vomit (food).

- yield or give up (funds, especially when dishonestly acquired): they were made to disgorge all the profits made from the record.

- [no obj.] (of a river) empty into a sea: the Nile disgorges into the sea at Rashid.

2 remove the sediment from (a sparkling wine) after fermentation.

<DERIVATIVES> disgorgement n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French desgorger, from des- (expressing removal) + gorge ‘throat’.

disgorger n. [ANGLING] a device for extracting a hook from a fish's throat.

disgrace n. [mass noun] loss of reputation or respect as the result of a dishonourable action: he left the army in disgrace | if he'd gone back it would have brought disgrace on the family.

- [in sing.] a person or thing regarded as shameful and unacceptable: he's a disgrace to the legal profession.

■ v. [with obj.] bring shame or discredit on: you have disgraced the family name | John stiffened his jaw so he wouldn't disgrace himself by crying.

- cause (someone) to fall from favour or a position of power or honour: he has been publicly disgraced for offences for which he was not guilty.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a verb): via French from Italian disgrazia (noun), disgraziare (verb), from dis- (expressing reversal) + Latin gratia ‘grace’.

disgraced adj. having fallen from favour or a position of power or honour; discredited: the disgraced city financier.

disgraceful adj. shockingly unacceptable: a disgraceful waste of money | [with clause] it is disgraceful that they should be denied unemployment benefits.

<DERIVATIVES> disgracefully adv.

disgruntled adj. angry or dissatisfied: judges receive letters from disgruntled members of the public.

<DERIVATIVES> disgruntlement n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from DIS- (as an intensifier) + dialect gruntle ‘utter little grunts’, from GRUNT.

disguise v. [with obj.] give (someone or oneself) a different appearance in order to conceal one's identity: he disguised himself as a girl | Bryn was disguised as a priest | (as adj. disguised) a disguised reporter.

- make (something) unrecognizable by altering its appearance, sound, taste, or smell: does holding a handkerchief over the mouthpiece really disguise your voice?

- conceal the nature or existence of (a feeling or situation): he made no effort to disguise his contempt | (as adj. disguised) his voice was heavy with barely disguised emotion.

■ n. a means of altering one's appearance to conceal one's identity: I put on dark glasses as a disguise.

- [mass noun] the state of having altered one's appearance in order to conceal one's identity: I told them you were a policewoman in disguise.

- [mass noun] the concealing of one's true intentions or feelings: the children looked at her without disguise.

<DERIVATIVES> disguisement n. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (meaning ‘change one's usual style of dress’, with no implication of concealing one's identity): from Old French desguisier.

disgust n. [mass noun] a feeling of revulsion or strong disapproval aroused by something unpleasant or offensive: the sight filled her with disgust | some of the audience walked out in disgust.

■ v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to feel revulsion or strong disapproval: they were disgusted by the violence | (as adj. disgusted) a disgusted look.

<DERIVATIVES> disgustedly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from early modern French desgoust or Italian disgusto, from Latin dis- (expressing reversal) + gustus ‘taste’.

disgustful adj. old-fashioned term for DISGUSTING.

disgusting adj. arousing revulsion or strong indignation: he had the most disgusting rotten teeth | I think the decision is disgusting.

<DERIVATIVES> disgustingly adv. disgustingness n.

dish n. 1 a shallow, flat-bottomed container for cooking or serving food: an ovenproof dish.

- the food contained or served in a dish: a dish of sauté potatoes.

- a particular variety or preparation of food served as part of a meal: fresh fish dishes.

- (the dishes) all the items that have been used in the preparation, serving, and eating of a meal: I left the children to do the dishes.

2 [usually with modifier] a shallow, concave receptacle, especially one intended to hold a particular substance: a soap dish.

- (also dish aerial) a bowl-shaped radio aerial. See also SATELLITE DISH.

3 INFORMAL a sexually attractive person: I gather he's quite a dish.

- (one's dish) DATED a thing that one enjoys or does well: as a public relations man this was my dish and the campaign was right up my street.

4 (the dish) INFORMAL information which is not generally known or available: if he has the real dish I wish he'd tell us.

5 [mass noun] concavity of a spoked wheel resulting from a difference in spoke tension on each side and consequent sideways displacement of the rim in relation to the hub.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (dish something out/up) put food on to a plate or plates before a meal: Steve was dishing up vegetables | [with two objs] she dished him out a plate of stew | FIGURATIVE pop stars who dish up remixes of their old hits.

- (dish something out) dispense something in a casual or indiscriminate way: the banks dished out loans to all and sundry.

- (dish it out) INFORMAL subject others to criticism or punishment: you can dish it out but you can't take it.

- [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL gossip or share intimate information: groups gather to dish about romances.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH utterly destroy or defeat: the election interview dished Labour's chances.

3 give concavity to (a wheel) by tensioning the spokes.

<PHRASES>

□ dish the dirt INFORMAL reveal or spread scandal or gossip.

<DERIVATIVES> dishful n. (pl. dishfuls)

<ORIGIN> Old English disc ‘plate, bowl’ (related to Dutch dis, German Tisch ‘table’), based on Latin discus (see DISCUS).

disharmony n. [mass noun] lack of harmony or agreement.

<DERIVATIVES> disharmonious adj. disharmoniously adv.

dishcloth n. a cloth for washing or drying dishes.

dishcloth gourd n. North American term for LOOFAH.

dishdasha /ddaə/ (also dishdash) n. a long robe with long sleeves, worn by men from the Arabian peninsula.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Arabic dišdāša.

dishearten v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to lose determination or confidence: the farmer was disheartened by the damage to his crops | (as adj. disheartened) a disheartened tone of voice.

<DERIVATIVES> dishearteningly adv. disheartenment n.

dished adj. having the shape of a dish; concave: overloaded timber floors are likely to sag, producing a dished or sloping floor surface.

dishevel v. (dishevels, dishevelling, dishevelled; US dishevels, disheveling, disheveled) [with obj.] make (a person's hair or clothes) untidy.

<ORIGIN> probably a back-formation from DISHEVELLED.

dishevelled /dεv(ə)ld/ (US disheveled) adj. (of a person's hair, clothes, or appearance) untidy; disordered: a man with long dishevelled hair.

<DERIVATIVES> dishevelment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete dishevely, from Old French deschevele, past participle of descheveler (based on chevel ‘hair’, from Latin capillus). The original sense was ‘having the hair uncovered’; later, referring to the hair itself, ‘hanging loose’, hence ‘disordered, untidy’. Compare with UNKEMPT.

dishonest adj. behaving or prone to behave in an untrustworthy, deceitful, or insincere way: he was a dishonest hypocrite prepared to exploit his family.

- intended to mislead or cheat: he gave the editor a dishonest account of events.

<DERIVATIVES> dishonestly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘dishonourable, unchaste’): from Old French deshoneste, Latin dehonestus.

dishonesty n. (pl. dishonesties) [mass noun] deceitfulness shown in someone's character or behaviour: the dismissal of thirty civil servants for dishonesty and misconduct.

- [count noun] a fraudulent or deceitful act: they are tackling the divisions and dishonesties on the campus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘dishonour, sexual misconduct’): from Old French deshoneste ‘indecency’ (see DISHONEST).

dishonour (US dishonor) n. [mass noun] a state of shame or disgrace: the incident brought dishonour upon the police.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 bring shame or disgrace on: the ceremony was undertaken if a pupil had done something to dishonour the school.

- ARCHAIC violate the chastity of (a woman); rape.

2 fail to observe or respect (an agreement or principle): the community has its own principles it can itself honour or dishonour.

- refuse to accept or pay (a cheque or a bill of exchange).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French deshonor (noun), deshonorer (verb), based on Latin honor ‘honour’.

dishonourable (US dishonorable) adj. bringing shame or disgrace on someone or something: his crimes are petty and dishonourable.

<DERIVATIVES> dishonourableness n. dishonourably adv.

dishonourable discharge n. the dismissal of someone from the armed forces as a result of criminal or morally unacceptable actions.

dishpan n. NORTH AMERICAN a bowl in which dishes are washed.

dishrag n. NORTH AMERICAN a dishcloth.

dishwasher n. 1 a machine for washing dishes automatically.

2 a person employed to wash dishes.

<DERIVATIVES> dishwashing n. & adj.

dishwater n. [mass noun] dirty water in which dishes have been washed: FIGURATIVE I sipped the barely brown dishwater he passed off as coffee.

<PHRASES>

□ dull as dishwater see DULL.

dishy adj. (dishier, dishiest) INFORMAL 1 chiefly BRITISH sexually attractive.

2 NORTH AMERICAN scandalous or gossipy: she's the perfect candidate for a dishy biography.

disillusion /dsl(j)u(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be.

■ v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to realize that a belief they hold is false: if they think we have a magic formula to solve the problem, don't disillusion them.

disillusioned adj. disappointed in someone or something that one discovers to be less good than one had believed: the minority groups were completely disillusioned with the party.

disillusionment n. [mass noun] a feeling of disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be: the high abstention rate at the election reflected the voters' growing disillusionment with politics.

disincarnate /dskαnət/ adj. another term for DISCARNATE.

disincentive n. a factor, especially a financial disadvantage, that discourages a particular action: spiralling house prices are beginning to act as a disincentive to development.

■ adj. tending to discourage.

disincentivize (also disincentivise) v. [with obj.] discourage (a person or course of action) by removing an incentive: the greatest risk of all is that such policies disincentivize those on average incomes.

disinclination n. [in sing.] a reluctance or lack of enthusiasm: Lucy felt a strong disinclination to talk about her engagement.

disinclined adj. [predic., with infinitive] unwilling; reluctant: the rural community was disinclined to abandon the old ways.

disincorporate v. [with obj.] dissolve (a corporate body).

disinfect v. [with obj.] clean (something) with a disinfectant in order to destroy bacteria: he disinfected and dressed the cut on his forehead.

<DERIVATIVES> disinfection n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘rid of infection’): from French désinfecter, from dés- (expressing reversal) + infecter ‘to infect’.

disinfectant n. [mass noun] a chemical liquid that destroys bacteria.

■ adj. causing disinfection: cleansing and disinfectant products.

disinfest v. [with obj.] rid (someone or something) of infesting vermin.

<DERIVATIVES> disinfestation n.

disinflation n. [mass noun] [ECONOMICS] reduction in the rate of inflation.

<DERIVATIVES> disinflationary adj.

disinformation n. [mass noun] false information which is intended to mislead, especially propaganda issued by a government organization to a rival power or the media.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: formed on the pattern of Russian dezinformatsiya.

disingenuous /dsndεnjəs/ adj. not candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does: this journalist was being somewhat disingenuous as well as cynical.

<DERIVATIVES> disingenuity n. disingenuously adv. disingenuousness n.

disinherit v. (disinherits, disinheriting, disinherited) [with obj.] change one's will or take other steps to prevent (someone) from inheriting one's property.

<DERIVATIVES> disinheritance n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (superseding earlier disherit): from DIS- (expressing removal) + inherit in the obsolete sense ‘make someone an heir’.

disinhibit v. (disinhibits, disinhibiting, disinhibited) [with obj.] make less inhibited: as well as disinhibiting me, he educated me.

<DERIVATIVES> disinhibition n.

disintegrate /dsntret/ v. [no obj.] 1 break up into small parts as the result of impact or decay: our shoes had to last until they disintegrated on our feet.

- [PHYSICS] undergo or cause to undergo disintegration at a subatomic level.

2 lose strength or cohesion and gradually fail: their marriage disintegrated.

<DERIVATIVES> disintegrative adj. disintegrator n.

disintegration n. [mass noun] 1 the process of losing cohesion or strength: the twin problems of economic failure and social disintegration.

2 the process of coming to pieces: the disintegration of infected cells.

- [PHYSICS] a process in which a nucleus or other subatomic particle emits a smaller particle or divides into smaller particles.

disinter /dsntə/ v. (disinters, disinterring, disinterred) [with obj.] dig up (something that has been buried, especially a corpse).

- FIGURATIVE discover (something that is well hidden): he has disinterred an important collection of writings.

<DERIVATIVES> disinterment n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French désenterrer, from dis- (expressing reversal) + enterrer ‘to inter’.

disinterest n. [mass noun] 1 the state of not being influenced by personal involvement in something; impartiality: I do not claim any scholarly disinterest with this book.

2 lack of interest in something: he chided Dennis for his disinterest in anything that is not his own idea.

disinterested adj. 1 not influenced by considerations of personal advantage: a banker is under an obligation to give disinterested advice.

2 having or feeling no interest in something: her father was so disinterested in her progress that he only visited the school once.

<DERIVATIVES> disinterestedly adv. disinterestedness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: past participle of the rare verb disinterest ‘rid of interest or concern’, from DIS- (expressing removal) + INTEREST.

<USAGE> Nowhere are the battle lines more deeply drawn in usage questions than over the difference between disinterested and uninterested. According to traditional guidelines, disinterested should never be used to mean ‘not interested’ (i.e. it is not a synonym for uninterested) but only to mean ‘impartial’, as in the judgements of disinterested outsiders are likely to be more useful. Ironically, the earliest recorded sense of disinterested is for the disputed sense. Today, the ‘incorrect’ use of disinterested is widespread: around 20 per cent of citations on the British National Corpus for disinterested are for this sense.

disintermediation /dsntəmide(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [ECONOMICS] reduction in the use of banks and savings institutions as intermediaries in the borrowing and investment of money, in favour of direct involvement in the securities market.

<DERIVATIVES> disintermediate v.

disinvent v. [with obj.] undo the invention of: you can't disinvent nuclear power.

disinvest v. [no obj.] withdraw or reduce an investment: the oil industry began to disinvest, and oil share prices have fallen | [with obj.] they opposed the move to disinvest shares.

<DERIVATIVES> disinvestment n.

disinvite v. [with obj.] withdraw or cancel an invitation to: the White House called to disinvite him from the President's party.

disinvoltura /dsnvltjərə/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY self-assurance; lack of constraint.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian, from disinvolto ‘unembarrassed’, from disinvolgere ‘unwind’.

disjecta membra /dsdεktə mεmbrə/ plural n. scattered fragments, especially of written work.

<ORIGIN> Latin, alteration of disjecti membra poetae (used by Horace) ‘limbs of a dismembered poet’.

disjoin v. [with obj.] separate or disunite: they asked that their parish be disjoined from Lewis and added to Harris.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desjoindre, from Latin disjungere, from dis- (expressing reversal) + jungere ‘to join’.

disjoint v. [with obj.] 1 disturb the cohesion or organization of: the loss of the area disjointed military plans.

2 DATED take apart at the joints.

■ adj. [MATHEMATICS] (of two or more sets) having no elements in common.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘disjointed’): from Old French desjoint ‘separated’, from the verb desjoindre (see DISJOIN).

disjointed adj. lacking a coherent sequence or connection: piecing together disjointed fragments of information.

<DERIVATIVES> disjointedly adv. disjointedness n.

disjunct /dsd(k)t/ n. 1 [LOGIC] each of the terms of a disjunctive proposition.

2 [GRAMMAR] another term for SENTENCE ADVERB.

■ adj. disjoined and distinct from one another: a series of disjunct chords.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin disjunctus ‘disjoined, separated’, from the verb disjungere.

disjunction n. 1 a lack of correspondence or consistency: there is a disjunction between the skills taught in education and those demanded in the labour market.

2 [mass noun] [LOGIC] the relation of two distinct alternatives.

- [count noun] a statement expressing the relation of two distinct alternatives (especially one using the word ‘or’).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin disjunctio(n-), from disjungere ‘disjoin’ (see DISJUNCT).

disjunctive adj. 1 lacking connection or consistency: the novel's disjunctive detail.

2 [GRAMMAR] (of a conjunction) expressing a choice between two mutually exclusive possibilities, for example or in she asked if he was going or staying. Compare with COPULATIVE.

- [LOGIC] (of a proposition) expressing alternatives.

■ n. [GRAMMAR] a disjunctive conjunction or other word.

- [LOGIC] a disjunctive proposition.

<DERIVATIVES> disjunctively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective): from Latin disjunctivus, from disjunct- ‘disjoined’ (see DISJUNCT).

disjuncture n. a separation or disconnection: the monstrous disjuncture between his private and his public life.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin disjunctura, from Latin disjunct- ‘disjoined’ (see DISJUNCT).

disk n. US spelling of DISC, also widely used in computing contexts.

disk drive n. a device which allows a computer to read from and write on to computer disks.

diskette n. another term for FLOPPY.

Disko /dskə/ an island with extensive coal deposits on the west coast of Greenland. Its chief settlement is Godhavn.

disk operating system n. see DOS.

dislike v. [with obj.] feel distaste for or hostility towards: she disliked any kind of unnecessary rudeness.

■ n. [mass noun] a feeling of distaste or hostility: he made no secret of his dislike of the police | they had taken a dislike to each other.

- [count noun] a thing to which one feels aversion: I know all his likes and dislikes.

<DERIVATIVES> dislikeable (also dislikable) adj. disliker n.

dislocate /dsləket/ v. [with obj.] disturb the normal position of (a bone in a joint): he dislocated his shoulder in training.

- disturb the organization of; disrupt: trade was dislocated by a famine.

- move from its proper place or position: the symbol is dislocated from its political context.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably a back-formation from DISLOCATION, but perhaps from medieval Latin dislocatus ‘moved from a former position’, from the verb dislocare.

dislocation /dslə()ke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] disturbance from a proper, original, or usual place or state: rapid urban and industrial development brought immense social dislocation in its wake.

- injury or disability caused when the normal position of a joint or other part of the body is disturbed: congenital dislocation of the hip | [count noun] dealing with fractures and dislocations.

- [count noun] [CRYSTALLOGRAPHY] a displacement of part of a crystal lattice structure.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from medieval Latin dislocatio(n-), from the verb dislocare (see DISLOCATE), based on Latin locare ‘to place’.

dislodge v. [with obj.] remove from an established or fixed position: the hoofs of their horses dislodged loose stones | FIGURATIVE this gripping race still offers the opportunity to dislodge the leader.

<DERIVATIVES> dislodgeable adj. dislodgement n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French deslogier, from des- (expressing reversal) + logier ‘encamp’, from loge (see LODGE).

disloyal adj. failing to be loyal to a person, country, or organization to which one has obligations: she was accused of being disloyal to the government.

- (of a remark or thought) demonstrating a lack of loyalty: disloyal mutterings about his leadership.

<DERIVATIVES> disloyally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French desloial, from des- (expressing negation) + loial ‘loyal’.

disloyalty n. [mass noun] the quality of not being loyal to a person, country, or organization; unfaithfulness: an accusation of disloyalty and betrayal.

dismal /dzm(ə)l/ adj. causing a mood of gloom or depression: the dismal weather made the late afternoon seem like evening.

- (of a person or their mood) gloomy.

- INFORMAL pitifully or disgracefully bad: he shuddered as he watched his team's dismal performance.

<PHRASES>

□ the dismals ARCHAIC, INFORMAL low spirits: a fit of the dismals.

□ the dismal science HUMOROUS economics.

<DERIVATIVES> dismally adv. dismalness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from earlier dismal (noun), denoting the two days in each month which in medieval times were believed to be unlucky, from Anglo-Norman French dis mal, from medieval Latin dies mali ‘evil days’.

Dismal Swamp another name for GREAT DISMAL SWAMP.

dismantle v. [with obj.] take to pieces: the engines were dismantled and the bits piled into a heap | FIGURATIVE the old regime was dismantled.

<DERIVATIVES> dismantlement n. dismantler n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘destroy the defensive capability of a fortification’): from Old French desmanteler, from des- (expressing reversal) + manteler ‘fortify’ (from Latin mantellum ‘cloak’).

dismast v. [with obj.] break or force down the mast or masts of (a ship): (as adj. dismasted) a dismasted ship wallowing in stormy seas.

dismay n. [mass noun] concern and distress caused by something unexpected: to his dismay, she left him.

■ v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to feel concern and distress: they were dismayed by the U-turn in policy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, based on Latin dis- (expressing negation) + the Germanic base of may^1.

dismember /dsmεmbə/ v. [with obj.] 1 cut off the limbs of (a person or animal): he watched a doctor dismember the body | (as adj. dismembered) a dismembered corpse.

2 partition or divide up (a territory or organization): the winning powers of World War I set out to dismember the Ottoman Empire.

<DERIVATIVES> dismemberment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French desmembrer, based on Latin dis- ‘apart’ + membrum ‘limb’.

dismiss v. [with obj.] 1 order or allow to leave; send away: she dismissed the taxi at the corner of the road.

- remove from employment or office, typically on the grounds of unsatisfactory performance: the prime minister dismissed five members of his cabinet.

- [no obj.] (of a group assembled under someone's authority) disperse: he told his company to dismiss.

- [CRICKET] end the innings of (a batsman or a side): Australia were dismissed for 118.

2 treat as unworthy of serious consideration: it would be easy to dismiss him as all brawn and no brain.

- deliberately cease to think about: he suspected a double meaning in her words, but dismissed the thought.

- [LAW] refuse further hearing to (a case): the judge dismissed the case for lack of evidence.

<DERIVATIVES> dismissible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin dismiss-, variant of Latin dimiss- ‘sent away’, from the verb dimittere.

dismissal n. 1 the act of ordering or allowing someone to leave: their controversial dismissal from the competition.

- the act of removing someone from employment or office; discharge: the dismissal of an employee | a claim for unfair dismissal.

- [CRICKET] an instance of ending a batsman's innings or of having one's innings ended :the dismissal of a batsman.

2 the act of treating something as unworthy of serious consideration; rejection: the government's dismissal of the report.

- [LAW] a decision not to continue hearing a case: the dismissal of the appeal.

dismissive adj. feeling or showing that something is unworthy of consideration: monetarist theory is dismissive of the need to control local spending | his dismissive attitude towards women left him isolated.

<DERIVATIVES> dismissively adv. dismissiveness n.

dismount v. 1 [no obj.] get off a horse, bicycle, or anything that one is riding.

- [with obj.] cause to fall off a horse, bicycle, etc.: his escort had dismounted a trooper.

2 [with obj.] remove (something) from its support: we have to dismount the pump.

- [COMPUTING] make (a disk or disk drive) unavailable for use.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from DIS- + MOUNT^1, probably on the pattern of Old French desmonter, medieval Latin dismontare.

Disney Walt (1901–66), American animator and film producer; full name Walter Elias Disney. He made his name with the creation of cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first full-length cartoon feature film with sound and colour. Other notable films: Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942).

disobedience n. [mass noun] failure or refusal to obey rules or someone in authority: disobedience to law is sometimes justified.

disobedient adj. refusing to obey rules or someone in authority: Larry was stern with disobedient employees.

<DERIVATIVES> disobediently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desobedient, based on Latin oboedient- ‘obeying’ (see OBEDIENT).

disobey v. [with obj.] fail to obey (rules, a command, or someone in authority): around 1,000 soldiers had disobeyed orders and surrendered.

<DERIVATIVES> disobeyer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desobeir, based on Latin oboedire ‘obey’ (see OBEY).

disoblige v. [with obj.] offend (someone) by not acting in accordance with their wishes: one didn't disoblige them if one could help it.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘release from an obligation’): from French désobliger, based on Latin obligare ‘oblige’.

disobliging adj. deliberately unhelpful; uncooperative.

- unkind: disobliging remarks about colleagues.

disomy /dsəmi/ n. [mass noun] [GENETICS] the condition of having a chromosome represented twice in a chromosomal complement.

<DERIVATIVES> disomic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + -SOME^3 + -Y^3.

disorder n. [mass noun] a state of confusion: the world 's currency markets were in disorder.

- the breakdown of peaceful and law-abiding public behaviour: recurrent food crises led to outbreaks of disorder.

- [count noun] MEDICINE an illness that disrupts normal physical or mental functions: skin disorders | [mass noun] an improved understanding of mental disorder.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. disordered) disrupt the systematic functioning or neat arrangement of: she went to comb her disordered hair | his sleep is disordered.

- MEDICINE disrupt the normal functioning of: a patient who is mentally disordered.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a verb): alteration, influenced by ORDER, of earlier disordain, from Old French desordener, ultimately based on Latin ordinare ‘ordain’.

disorderly adj. lacking organization; untidy: his life was as disorderly as ever | a disorderly pile of books.

- involving or contributing to a breakdown of peaceful and law-abiding behaviour: they had no intention of staging a disorderly protest.

<DERIVATIVES> disorderliness n.

disorderly conduct n. [mass noun] [LAW] unruly behaviour constituting a minor offence.

disorderly house n. [LAW] or ARCHAIC a brothel.

disorganized (also disorganised) adj. not properly planned and controlled: the campaign was hopelessly disorganized.

- unable to plan one's activities efficiently: she's very muddled and disorganized.

<DERIVATIVES> disorganization n. disorganize v.

disorient /dsrεnt/ v. another term for DISORIENTATE.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French désorienter ‘turn from the east’.

disorientate v. [with obj.] (often as adj. disorientated) BRITISH cause (someone) to lose their sense of direction: when he emerged into the street he was totally disorientated.

- make (someone) feel confused: being near him made her feel weak and disorientated.

<DERIVATIVES> disorientation n.

disown v. [with obj.] refuse to acknowledge or maintain any connection with: Lovell's rich family had disowned him because of his marriage.

<DERIVATIVES> disowner n. disownment n.

disparage /dspard/ v. [with obj.] regard or represent as being of little worth: he never missed an opportunity to disparage his competitors.

<DERIVATIVES> disparagement n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘marry someone of unequal rank’, also ‘bring discredit on’): from Old French desparagier ‘marry someone of unequal rank’, based on Latin par ‘equal’.

disparaging /dspard/ adj. expressing the opinion that something is of little worth; derogatory: disparaging remarks about council houses.

<DERIVATIVES> disparagingly adv.

disparate /dsp(ə)rət/ adj. essentially different in kind; not able to be compared: they inhabit disparate worlds of thought.

- containing elements very different from one another: a culturally disparate country.

■ n. (disparates) ARCHAIC things so unlike that there is no basis for comparison.

<DERIVATIVES> disparately adv. disparateness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin disparatus ‘separated’, from the verb disparare, from dis- ‘apart’ + parare ‘to prepare’; influenced in sense by Latin dispar ‘unequal’.

disparity n. (pl. disparities) a great difference: economic disparities between different regions of the country | [mass noun] the arrangements could lead to disparity of treatment between companies.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French disparité, from late Latin disparitas, based on Latin paritas ‘parity’.

dispassionate adj. not influenced by strong emotion, and so able to be rational and impartial: she dealt with life's disasters in a calm, dispassionate way.

<DERIVATIVES> dispassion n. dispassionately adv. dispassionateness n.

dispatch (also despatch) v. [with obj.] 1 send off to a destination or for a purpose: he dispatched messages back to base | [with obj. and infinitive] the government dispatched 150 police to restore order.

2 deal with (a task or opponent) quickly and efficiently: the Welsh team were dispatched comfortably by the opposition.

- kill: he dispatched the animal with one blow.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the sending of someone or something to a destination or for a purpose: a resolution authorizing the dispatch of a peacekeeping force.

- promptness and efficiency: the situation might change, so he should proceed with dispatch.

2 an official report on state or military affairs: in his battle dispatch he described the gunner's bravery.

- a report sent in from abroad by a journalist.

3 [mass noun] the killing of someone or something: the executioner's merciful dispatch of his victims.

<DERIVATIVES> dispatcher n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Italian dispacciare or Spanish despachar ‘expedite’, from dis-, des- (expressing reversal) + the base of Italian impacciare, Spanish empachar ‘hinder’.

dispatch box n. 1 (also dispatch case) chiefly BRITISH a container for official state or military dispatches.

2 (the Dispatch Box) a box in the House of Commons next to which ministers stand when speaking.

dispatch rider n. BRITISH a messenger who delivers urgent business documents or military dispatches by motor cycle or (formerly) on horseback.

dispel /dspεl/ v. (dispels, dispelling, dispelled) [with obj.] make (a doubt, feeling, or belief) disappear: the brightness of the day did nothing to dispel Elaine's dejection.

<DERIVATIVES> dispeller n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dispellere, from dis- ‘apart’ + pellere ‘to drive’.

dispensable adj. able to be replaced or done without; superfluous: the captain's loss of form made him dispensable.

- (of a law or other rule) not mandatory but susceptible of being waived in special cases.

<DERIVATIVES> dispensability n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘permissible in special circumstances’): from medieval Latin dispensabilis, from Latin dispensare (see DISPENSE).

dispensary /dspεns(ə)ri/ n. (pl. dispensaries) 1 a room where medicines are prepared and provided.

2 a clinic provided by public or charitable funds.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin dispensarium, neuter (used as a noun) of dispensarius, from Latin dispensare (see DISPENSE).

dispensation n. 1 [mass noun] exemption from a rule or usual requirement: although she was too young, she was given special dispensation to play before her birthday.

- permission to be exempted from the laws or observances of the Church: he received papal dispensation to hold a number of benefices | [count noun] the pope granted Henry a dispensation to marry Elizabeth of York.

2 a political, religious, or social system prevailing at a particular time: scholarship is conveyed to a wider audience than under the old dispensation.

- (in Christian theology) a divinely ordained system prevailing at a particular period of history: the Mosaic dispensation.

- ARCHAIC an act of divine providence: the laws to which the creator in all his dispensations conforms.

3 [mass noun] the action of distributing or supplying something: regulations controlling dispensation of medications.

<DERIVATIVES> dispensational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dispensatio(n-), from the verb dispensare (see DISPENSE).

dispensationalism n. [mass noun] [CHRISTIAN] belief in a system of historical progression, as revealed in the Bible, consisting of a series of stages in God's self-revelation and plan of salvation.

<DERIVATIVES> dispensationalist n.

dispense /dspεns/ v. 1 [with obj.] distribute or provide (a service or information) to a number of people: orderlies went round dispensing drinks.

- (of a machine or container) supply or release (a product or cash): the machines dispense a range of drinks | (as adj. dispensing) a dispensing machine.

- (of a chemist) make up and give out (medicine) according to a doctor's prescription.

2 [no obj.] (dispense with) manage without or get rid of: let's dispense with the formalities, shall we?

3 (dispense with) give special exemption from (a law or rule): the Secretary of State was empowered to dispense with the nationality requirement in individual cases.

- grant (someone) an exemption from a religious obligation: the pope personally nominated him as bishop, dispensing him from his impediment.

<PHRASES>

□ dispense with someone's services dismiss someone from a job.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin dispensare ‘continue to weigh out or disburse’, from the verb dispendere, based on pendere ‘weigh’.

dispenser n. a person or thing that dispenses something: his role as protector of the weak and dispenser of justice.

- a person who prepares medicines in a dispensary.

- [usually with modifier] an automatic machine or container which is designed to release a specific amount of something: a paper towel dispenser.

dispensing chemist n. BRITISH a person qualified to make up, advise on, and dispense medicine.

dispensing optician n. BRITISH a person qualified to prescribe and dispense as well as to make glasses and contact lenses.

dispersal n. [mass noun] the action or process of distributing or spreading things or people over a wide area: dispersal of pollen by the wind | [count noun] dispersals of archaic populations.

- the splitting up of a group of people, causing them to leave in different directions: the dispersal of the crowd by mounted police.

- the splitting up and selling off of a collection of artefacts or books.

dispersant n. a liquid or gas used to disperse small particles in a medium.

disperse /dspəs/ v. [with obj.] distribute or spread over a wide area: storms can disperse seeds via high altitudes | caravan sites could be dispersed among trees so as to be out of sight.

- go or cause to go in different directions: [no obj.] the crowd dispersed | [with obj.] the police used tear gas to disperse the protesters.

- (with reference to gas, smoke, mist, or cloud) thin out or cause to thin out and disappear: [no obj.] the earlier mist had dispersed | [with obj.] winds dispersed the radioactive cloud high in the atmosphere.

- [PHYSICS] divide (light) into constituents of different wavelengths.

■ adj. [attr.] [CHEMISTRY] denoting a phase dispersed in another phase, as in a colloid.

<DERIVATIVES> disperser n. dispersible adj. dispersive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dispers- ‘scattered’, from the verb dispergere, from dis- ‘widely’ + spargere ‘scatter, strew’.

dispersion n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of distributing things or people over a wide area: some seeds rely on birds for dispersion.

- the state of being dispersed: the study looks at the dispersion of earnings with OECD member countries.

- [ECOLOGY] the pattern of distribution of individuals within a habitat.

- (also the Dispersion) another term for DIASPORA.

- [count noun] a mixture of one substance dispersed in another medium: the virus is transmitted in the dispersion of droplets which results from sneezing or coughing.

2 [PHYSICS] the separation of white light into colours or of any radiation according to wavelength.

3 [STATISTICS] the extent to which values of a variable differ from a fixed value such as the mean.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin dispersio(n-), from Latin dispergere (see DISPERSE).

dispirit /dsprt/ v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to lose enthusiasm or hope: the army was dispirited by the uncomfortable winter conditions.

dispirited /dsprtd/ adj. having lost enthusiasm and hope; disheartened: she was determined to appear unworried in front of her dispirited family.

<DERIVATIVES> dispiritedly adv. dispiritedness n.

dispiriting /dsprt/ adj. causing someone to lose enthusiasm and hope; disheartening: it was a dispiriting occasion.

<DERIVATIVES> dispiritingly adv.

displace v. [with obj.] take over the place, position, or role of: he believes that books may be displaced by the electronic word.

- move (something) from its proper or usual position: he seems to have displaced some vertebrae.

- force (someone) to leave their home, typically because of war, persecution, or natural disaster: thousands of people have been displaced by the civil war.

- remove (someone) from a job or position of authority: his aides were discredited and displaced.

<DERIVATIVES> displacer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French desplacer.

displaced person n. a person who is forced to leave their home country because of war or persecution; a refugee.

displacement n. [mass noun] 1 the action of moving something from its place or position: vertical displacement of the shoreline | [count noun] a displacement of the vertebra at the bottom of the spine.

- the removal of someone or something by someone or something else which takes their place: males may be able to resist displacement by other males.

- the enforced departure of people from their homes, typically because of war, persecution, or natural disaster: the displacement of farmers by guerrilla activity.

- [count noun] the amount by which a thing is moved from a position: a displacement of 6.8 metres along the San Andreas fault.

2 the occupation by a submerged body or part of a body of a volume which would otherwise be occupied by a fluid.

- the volume or weight of fluid that would fill the volume displaced by a floating ship, used as a measure of the ship's size: the submarine has a surface displacement of 2,185 tons.

- TECHNICAL the volume swept by a reciprocating system, as in a pump or engine.

3 [PSYCHOANALYSIS] the unconscious transfer of an intense emotion from one object to another: this phobia was linked with the displacement of fear of his father.

4 [PHYSICS] the component of an electric field due to free separated charges, regardless of any polarizing effects.

- the vector representing such a component.

- the flux density of such an electric field.

displacement activity n. [PSYCHOLOGY] an animal or human activity that seems inappropriate, such as head-scratching when confused, considered to arise unconsciously when a conflict between antagonistic urges cannot be resolved.

displacement pump n. a pump in which liquid is moved out of the pump chamber by a moving surface or by the introduction of compressed air or gas.

display v. [with obj.] put (something) in a prominent place in order that it may readily be seen: the palace used to display a series of tapestries | a notice was displayed in the booking office.

- show (data or an image) on a computer, television, or other screen.

- give a clear demonstration of (a quality, emotion, or skill): both players displayed a great deal of spirit.

- [no obj.] (of a male bird, reptile, or fish) engage in a specialized pattern of behaviour that is intended to attract a mate.

■ n. 1 a performance, show, or event staged for public entertainment: a display of fireworks | [as modifier] an aerobatic display team.

- a collection of objects arranged for public viewing: the museum houses an informative display of rocks | [mass noun] the latest in computer gadgetry was on display.

- a clear demonstration of an emotion, skill, or quality: a hint of malice underlay his display of concern.

- [mass noun] the conspicuous exhibition of one's wealth; ostentation: every clansman was determined to outdo the Campbells in display.

- a specialized pattern of behaviour by the males of certain species of birds, reptiles, and fish that is intended to attract a mate: the teal were indulging in delightful courtship displays.

- [mass noun] [PRINTING] the arrangement and choice of type in a style intended to attract attention.

2 an electronic device for the visual presentation of data or images: the colour display now costs £400.

- [mass noun] the process or facility of presenting data on a computer screen or other device.

- the data or images shown on a computer screen or other device.

<DERIVATIVES> displayer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘unfurl, unfold’): from Old French despleier, from Latin displicare ‘scatter, disperse’ (in medieval Latin ‘unfold’). Compare with DEPLOY.

display case (also display cabinet) n. a case, made all or partly of glass, for displaying items in a shop or museum for observation or inspection.

displayed adj. 1 (of information) shown on a computer screen or other device.

2 [HERALDRY] (of a bird of prey) depicted with the wings extended.

- (of the wings of a bird of prey) extended.

display type n. [mass noun] large, bold, or eye-catching type used for headings or advertisements.

displease v. [with obj.] make (someone) feel annoyed or upset: the tone of the letter displeased him | (as adj. displeasing) it was not entirely displeasing to be the centre of such a drama.

<DERIVATIVES> displeasingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desplaisir, from des- (expressing reversal) + plaisir ‘to please’, from Latin placere.

displeased adj. feeling or showing annoyance and displeasure: he was displeased with your work.

displeasure n. [mass noun] a feeling of annoyance or disapproval: he started hanging around the local pubs, much to the displeasure of his mother.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC annoy; displease: not for worlds would I do aught that might displeasure thee.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desplaisir (see DISPLEASE), influenced by PLEASURE.

disport v. [no obj.] ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS enjoy oneself unrestrainedly; frolic: a painting of ladies disporting themselves by a lake.

■ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC diversion from work or serious matters; recreation or amusement: the King and all his Court were met for solace and disport.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC a pastime, game, or sport.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desporter, from des- ‘away’ + porter ‘carry’ (from Latin portare).

disposable adj. 1 (of an article) intended to be thrown away after use: disposable nappies | a disposable razor.

- (of a person or idea) able to be dispensed with; easily dismissed: the poor performer is motivated by the fear that he or she is highly disposable.

2 (chiefly of financial assets) readily available for the owner's use as required: he made a mental inventory of his disposable assets.

■ n. an article designed to be thrown away after use: don't buy disposables, such as cups and plates.

<DERIVATIVES> disposability n.

disposable income n. [mass noun] income remaining after deduction of taxes and social security charges, available to be spent or saved as one wishes. Compare with DISCRETIONARY INCOME.

disposal n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of getting rid of something: the disposal of radioactive waste | [count noun] consents for disposals at sea.

- [count noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a waste-disposal unit: garbage disposals that never worked.

- the action of overcoming a rival or threat: England's 4-0 disposal of Turkey.

2 the sale of shares, property, or other assets.

3 LITERARY the arrangement of something: she brushed her hair carefully, as if her success lay in the sleek disposal of each gleaming black thread.

<PHRASES>

□ at one's disposal available for one to use whenever or however one wishes: a helicopter was put at their disposal.

□ at someone's disposal ready to assist the person concerned in any way they wish: I am at your disposal until Sunday.

dispose v. 1 [no obj.] (dispose of) get rid of by throwing away or giving or selling to someone else: the waste is disposed of in the North Sea | people now have substantial assets to dispose of after their death.

- INFORMAL kill: she came up with schemes for disposing of her husband.

- overcome (a rival or threat): the Scottish champions were buoyant after they disposed of English champions Leeds.

- INFORMAL consume (food or drink) quickly or enthusiastically: she watched him dispose of a large slice of cheese.

2 incline (someone) towards a particular activity or mood: prolactin, a calming hormone, is released, disposing you towards sleep | [with obj. and infinitive] if you touch the female readers' hearts, it might dispose their husbands to be charitable.

3 [with obj. and adverbial] arrange in a particular position: the chief disposed his attendants in a circle.

- [no obj.] LITERARY determine the course of events: the government proposed, but the trade union movement disposed. [<ORIGIN> from the proverb ‘Man proposes, (but) God disposes’, translating Latin Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit (Thomas à Kempis's De Imitatione Christi I. xix).]

<DERIVATIVES> disposer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French disposer, from Latin disponere ‘arrange’, influenced by dispositus ‘arranged’ and Old French poser ‘to place’.

disposed adj. [predic., usually with infinitive] inclined or willing: James didn't seem disposed to take the hint.

- [with submodifier] having a specified attitude to or towards: he is favourably disposed towards the proposals.

disposition n. 1 a person's inherent qualities of mind and character: a sweet-natured girl of a placid disposition | he has the disposition of a saint.

- [often with infinitive] an inclination or tendency: the Prime Minister has shown a disposition to alter policies | the judge's disposition to clemency.

2 [mass noun] the way in which something is placed or arranged, especially in relation to other things: the plan shows the disposition of the rooms.

- the action of arranging people or things in a particular way: the prerogative gives the state widespread powers regarding the disposition and control of the armed forces.

- (dispositions) the stationing of troops ready for military action: the new strategic dispositions of our forces.

3 [mass noun] [LAW] the distribution or transfer of property or money to someone, especially by bequest: this is a tax which affects the disposition of assets on death.

4 the power to deal with something as one pleases: if Napoleon had had railways at his disposition, he would have been invincible.

- ARCHAIC the determination of events by divine power.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin dispositio(n-), from disponere ‘arrange’ (see DISPOSE).

dispositive /dspzətv/ adj. relating to or bringing about the settlement of an issue or the disposition of property: such litigation will rarely be dispositive of any question.

- (in Scots and US law) dealing with the disposition of property by deed or will: the testator had to make his signature after making the dispositive provisions.

- (in US law) producing a final settlement or determination.

- dealing with the settling of international conflicts by an agreed disposition of disputed territories.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘contributory, conducive’): from Old French, or from medieval Latin dispositivus, from Latin disposit- ‘arranged, disposed’, from the verb disponere (see DISPOSE).

dispositor /dspztə/ n. [ASTROLOGY] the planet which rules the sign in which another planet is located in a particular chart.

dispossess v. [with obj.] deprive (someone) of land, property, or other possessions: they were dispossessed of lands and properties during the Reformation | (as plural n. the dispossessed) a champion of the poor and the dispossessed.

- (in sport) deprive (a player) of the ball: he dispossessed Hendrie and set off on a solo run.

<DERIVATIVES> dispossession n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French despossesser, from des- (expressing reversal) + possesser ‘possess’.

dispraise n. [mass noun] censure; criticism: this engraving has on occasion elicited dispraise for Raphael.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC express censure or criticism of: men cannot praise Dryden without dispraising Coleridge.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French despreisier, based on late Latin depreciare (see DEPRECIATE).

disproof n. [mass noun] a set of facts that prove that something is untrue: Rex was living disproof of the youth-preserving powers imputed to life in the college.

- the action of proving that something is untrue: the answer ought to turn on considerations that are susceptible to verification or disproof.

disproportion n. an instance of being out of proportion with something else: there is a disproportion between the scale of expenditure and any benefit that could possibly result. [mass noun] women undergoing Caesarean section because of feto-pelvic disproportion.

<DERIVATIVES> disproportional adj. disproportionality n. disproportionally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from DIS- (expressing absence) + PROPORTION, on the pattern of French disproportion.

disproportionate^1 /dsprəp(ə)nət/ adj. too large or too small in comparison with something else: people on lower incomes spend a disproportionate amount of their income on fuel | persistent offenders were given sentences that were disproportionate to the offences they had committed.

<DERIVATIVES> disproportionately adv. disproportionateness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from DIS- (expressing absence) + PROPORTIONATE, on the pattern of French disproportionné.

disproportionate^2 /dsprəp(ə)net/ v. [no obj.] [CHEMISTRY] undergo disproportionation: water disproportionates to oxygen and hydrogen.

disproportionation n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a reaction in which a substance is simultaneously oxidized and reduced, giving two different products.

disprove v. [with obj.] prove that (something) is false: he has given the Department of Transport two months to disprove the allegation.

<DERIVATIVES> disprovable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French desprover.

Dispur /dspə/ a city in NE India, capital of the state of Assam.

disputable adj. not established as a fact, and so open to question or debate: whether it can be described as art criticism may be disputable.

<DERIVATIVES> disputably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin disputabilis, from the verb disputare ‘to estimate’, later ‘to dispute’ (see DISPUTE).

disputation n. [mass noun] debate or argument: promoting consensus rather than disputation | [count noun] a lengthy disputation about the rights and wrongs of a particular request.

- formal academic debate: the founding father of logical disputation | [count noun] scholastic disputations.

<DERIVATIVES> disputative adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin disputatio(n-), from the verb disputare (see DISPUTE).

disputatious adj. fond of having heated arguments: it's a congenial hang-out for disputatious academics.

<DERIVATIVES> disputatiously adv. disputatiousness n.

dispute n. /dspjut dspjut/ a disagreement or argument: a territorial dispute between the two countries | [mass noun] the Commission is in dispute with the government.

- a disagreement between management and employees that leads to industrial action: an industrial dispute.

■ v. /dspjut/ [with obj.] 1 argue about (something): the point has been much disputed | [no obj.] he taught and disputed with local poets.

- question whether (a statement or alleged fact) is true or valid: the accusations are not disputed | [with clause] the estate disputes that it is responsible for the embankment.

2 compete for; strive to win: the two drivers crashed while disputing the lead.

- ARCHAIC resist (a landing or advance): I formed my line and prepared to dispute the advance of the foe.

<PHRASES>

□ beyond (or without) dispute certain or certainly: the main part of his argument was beyond dispute.

□ open to dispute not definitely decided.

<DERIVATIVES> disputant n. disputer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin disputare ‘to estimate’ (in late Latin ‘to dispute’), from dis- ‘apart’ + putare ‘reckon’.

disqualification n. [mass noun] the action of disqualifying or the state of being disqualified.

- [count noun] a fact that disqualifies someone from a position or activity: such an offence is no longer a disqualification for office.

disqualify v. (disqualifies, disqualifying, disqualified) [with obj.] declare (someone) ineligible for an office, activity, or competition because of an offence or infringement: he was disqualified from driving for six months | she was disqualified after failing a drugs test | (as adj. disqualified) he was hit by a disqualified driver.

- (of a feature or characteristic) make (someone) unsuitable for an office or activity: a heart murmur disqualified him for military service.

disquiet n. [mass noun] a feeling of worry or unease: public disquiet about animal testing.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. disquieted) make (someone) worried or uneasy: she felt disquieted at the lack of interest the girl had shown.

disquieting adj. inducing feelings of anxiety or worry: he found Jean's gaze disquieting.

<DERIVATIVES> disquietingly adv.

disquietude n. [mass noun] a state of uneasiness or anxiety.

disquisition /dskwz(ə)n/ n. a long or elaborate essay or discussion on a particular subject: nothing can kill a radio show quicker than a disquisition on intertextual analysis.

<DERIVATIVES> disquisitional adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: via French from Latin disquisitio(n-) ‘investigation’, based on quaerere ‘seek’. The original sense was ‘topic for investigation’, whence ‘discourse in which a subject is investigated’ (mid 17th century).

Disraeli /dzreli/ Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81), British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister 1868 and 1874–80. He was largely responsible for the introduction of the second Reform Act (1867). He also ensured that Britain bought a controlling interest in the Suez Canal (1875) and made Queen Victoria Empress of India.

disrate /dsret/ v. [with obj.] reduce (a sailor) to a lower rank.

disregard v. [with obj.] pay no attention to; ignore: the body of evidence is too substantial to disregard.

■ n. [mass noun] the action or state of paying no attention to something: blatant disregard for the law.

<DERIVATIVES> disregardful adj.

disrelish ARCHAIC n. [mass noun] a feeling of dislike or distaste: disrelish for any pursuit is ample reason for abandoning it.

■ v. [with obj.] regard with dislike or distaste: I am not surprised that some members of the House should disrelish your report.

disremember v. [with obj.] US DIALECT fail to remember: mostly what you disremember ain't worth the trouble to call to mind.

disrepair n. [mass noun] poor condition of a building or structure due to neglect: the station gradually fell into disrepair.

disreputable adj. not considered to be respectable in character or appearance: he was heavy, grubby, and vaguely disreputable.

<DERIVATIVES> disreputableness n. disreputably adv.

disrepute /dsrpjut/ n. [mass noun] the state of being held in low esteem by the public: one of the top clubs in the country is bringing the game into disrepute.

disrespect n. [mass noun] lack of respect or courtesy: growing disrespect for the rule of law.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN show a lack of respect for; insult: a young brave who disrespects his elders.

disrespectful adj. showing a lack of respect or courtesy; impolite: a deeply disrespectful attitude towards women.

<DERIVATIVES> disrespectfully adv.

disrobe v. [no obj.] take off one's clothes: she began to disrobe.

- take off official vestments or regalia: they walked to the vestry to disrobe.

- [with obj.] undress (someone).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from DIS- (expressing reversal) + ROBE, perhaps on the pattern of French desrober.

disrupt v. [with obj.] interrupt (an event, activity, or process) by causing a disturbance or problem: flooding disrupted rail services.

- drastically alter or destroy the structure of: alcohol can disrupt the chromosomes of an unfertilized egg.

<DERIVATIVES> disrupter (also disruptor) n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin disrupt- ‘broken apart’, from the verb disrumpere.

disruption n. [mass noun] disturbance or problems which interrupt an event, activity, or process: the scheme was planned to minimize disruption | [count noun] there had been no delays or disruptions to flights.

disruptive adj. causing or tending to cause disruption: disruptive pupils | the hours of work are disruptive to home life.

<DERIVATIVES> disruptively adv. disruptiveness n.

dissatisfaction n. [mass noun] lack of satisfaction: widespread public dissatisfaction with incumbent politicians.

dissatisfied adj. not content or happy with something: his parents are dissatisfied with the quality of tuition on offer | dissatisfied customers.

<DERIVATIVES> dissatisfiedly adv.

dissatisfy v. (dissatisfies, dissatisfying, dissatisfied) [with obj.] fail to satisfy (someone): what is it about these words that dissatisfies you?

dissaving n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the action of spending more than one has earned in a given period.

- (dissavings) the excess amount spent.

<DERIVATIVES> dissaver n.

dissect /dsεkt d-/ v. [with obj.] methodically cut up (a body or plant) in order to study its internal parts.

- analyse (a text or idea) in minute detail: he dissected the Prime Minister's statement and revealed the truth behind it.

<DERIVATIVES> dissector n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin dissect- ‘cut up’, from the verb dissecare, from dis- ‘apart’ + secare ‘to cut’.

dissected adj. 1 having been cut up for anatomical study.

2 having a divided form or structure, in particular:

- [BOTANY] (of a leaf) divided into many deep lobes.

- [GEOLOGY] (of a plateau or upland) divided by a number of deep valleys.

dissection n. [mass noun] the action of dissecting a body or plant to study its internal parts: the dissection of animals for scientific research.

- very detailed analysis of a text or idea: this dissection of modern relationships.

dissemble /dsεmb(ə)l/ v. [no obj.] conceal or disguise one's true feelings or beliefs: an honest, sincere person with no need to dissemble.

- [with obj.] disguise or conceal (a feeling or intention): she smiled, dissembling her true emotion.

<DERIVATIVES> dissemblance n. dissembler n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: alteration (suggested by SEMBLANCE) of obsolete dissimule, via Old French from Latin dissimulare ‘disguise, conceal’.

disseminate /dsεmnet/ v. [with obj.] spread (something, especially information) widely: health authorities should foster good practice by disseminating information.

- (usually as adj. disseminated) spread throughout an organ or the body: disseminated colonic cancer.

<DERIVATIVES> disseminator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin disseminat- ‘scattered’, from the verb disseminare, from dis- ‘abroad’ + semen, semin- ‘seed’.

disseminated sclerosis n. see SCLEROSIS.

dissemination /dsεmnen/ n. [mass noun] the act of spreading something, especially information, widely; circulation: dissemination of public information.

disseminule /dsεmnjul/ n. [BOTANY] a part of a plant that serves to propagate it, such as a seed or a fruit.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: formed irregularly from dissemination (see DISSEMINATE) + -ULE.

dissension /dsεn(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] disagreement that leads to discord: this manoeuvre caused dissension within feminist ranks | [count noun] the mill was the cause of a dissension in 1620.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin dissensio(n-), from the verb dissentire (see DISSENT).

dissensus /dsεnsəs/ n. [mass noun] widespread dissent: the ‘shame’ attached to being held responsible for social dissensus.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from DIS- (expressing reversal) + a shortened form of CONSENSUS, or from Latin dissensus ‘disagreement’.

dissent /dsεnt/ n. [mass noun] the holding or expression of opinions at variance with those commonly or officially held: there was no dissent from this view.

- (also Dissent) refusal to accept the doctrines of an established or orthodox Church; nonconformity.

- (in sport) the offence of expressing disagreement with the referee's decision: he was sent off for dissent.

- [count noun] US a statement by a judge giving reasons as to why he or she disagrees with a decision made by the other judges in a court case.

■ v. [no obj.] hold or express opinions that are at variance with those commonly or officially held: two members dissented from the majority | (as adj. dissenting) there were a couple of dissenting voices.

- disagree with the doctrine of an established or orthodox Church.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dissentire ‘differ in sentiment’.

dissenter n. a person who dissents.

- (Dissenter) BRITISH HISTORICAL a member of a non-established Church; a Nonconformist.

dissentient /dsεnənt -(ə)nt/ adj. in opposition to a majority or official opinion: dissentient voices were castigated as ‘hopeless bureaucrats’.

■ n. a person who opposes a majority or official opinion.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin dissentient- ‘differing in opinion’, from the verb dissentire.

dissepiment /dsεpm(ə)nt/ n. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] a partition in a part or organ; a septum.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin dissaepimentum, from dissaepire ‘make separate’, from dis- (expressing separation) + saepire ‘divide by a hedge’.

dissertation /dsəte(ə)n/ n. a long essay on a particular subject, especially one written for a university degree or diploma.

<DERIVATIVES> dissertational adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘discussion, debate’): from Latin dissertatio(n-), from dissertare ‘continue to discuss’, from disserere ‘examine, discuss’.

disservice n. [usually in sing.] a harmful action: you have done a disservice to the African people by ignoring this fact.

dissever /d(s)sεvə/ v. [with obj.] RARE divide or sever (something): a European tradition which had not been willing to dissever reason from the law of nature.

<DERIVATIVES> disseverance n. disseverment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘separate’): from Old French dessevrer, from late Latin disseparare, from dis- (expressing intensive force) + Latin separare ‘to separate’.

dissidence /dsd(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] protest against official policy.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin dissidentia, from dissident- ‘sitting apart’ (see DISSIDENT).

dissident /dsd(ə)nt/ n. a person who opposes official policy, especially that of an authoritarian state.

■ adj. in opposition to official policy: the measure was supported by dissident Tories.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘differing in opinion or character’): from Latin dissident- ‘sitting apart, disagreeing’, from dis- ‘apart’ + sedere ‘sit’.

dissimilar adj. not the same; different: a collection of dissimilar nations lacking overall homogeneity | the pleasures of the romance novel are not dissimilar from those of the chocolate bar.

<DERIVATIVES> dissimilarly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from DIS- (expressing reversal) + SIMILAR, on the pattern of Latin dissimilis, French dissimilaire.

dissimilarity n. difference; variance: the similarity or dissimilarity between humans and other animals.

dissimilate /dsmlet/ v. [with obj.] [LINGUISTICS] change (a sound or sounds in a word) to another when the word originally had identical sounds near each other (e.g. in taper, which derives from papyrus, the p is dissimilated to t).

- [no obj.] (of a sound) undergo such a change: the first ‘r’ dissimilates to ‘l’.

<DERIVATIVES> dissimilation n. dissimilatory /dsmlət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DIS- (expressing reversal) + Latin similis ‘like, similar’, on the pattern of assimilate.

dissimilitude /dsmltjud/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL dissimilarity or diversity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dissimilitudo, from dissimilis ‘unlike’, from dis- (expressing reversal) + similis ‘like, similar’.

dissimulate /dsmjlet/ v. [with obj.] conceal or disguise (one's thoughts, feelings, or character): a country gentleman who dissimulates his wealth beneath ragged pullovers | [no obj.] now that they have power, they no longer need to dissimulate.

<DERIVATIVES> dissimulator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dissimulat- ‘hidden, concealed’, from the verb dissimulare.

dissimulation /dsmjle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] concealment of one's thoughts, feelings, or character; pretence: an attempt at dissimulation.

dissipate /dspet/ v. 1 (with reference to a feeling or emotion) disappear or cause to disappear: [no obj.] the concern she'd felt for him had wholly dissipated | [with obj.] he wanted to dissipate his anger.

- disperse or scatter: the cloud of smoke dissipated.

2 [with obj.] waste or fritter away (money, energy, or resources).

- [PHYSICS] cause (energy) to be lost through its conversion to heat.

<DERIVATIVES> dissipative adj. dissipator (also dissipater) n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dissipat- ‘scattered’, from the verb dissipare, from dis- ‘apart, widely’ + supare ‘to throw’.

dissipated adj. (of a person or way of life) overindulging in sensual pleasures: dissipated behaviour.

dissipation n. [mass noun] 1 dissipated living: a descent into drunkenness and sexual dissipation.

2 the squandering of money, energy, or resources: the dissipation of the country's mineral wealth.

- [PHYSICS] loss of energy through its conversion into heat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘complete disintegration’): from Latin dissipatio(n-), from the verb dissipare (see DISSIPATE).

dissociable adj. able to be dissociated; separable: language and cognition are not dissociable.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Latin dissociabilis, from dissociare ‘to separate’.

dissociate /dsəet -s-/ v. [with obj.] 1 (especially in abstract contexts) disconnect or separate: the word ‘spiritual’ has become for many dissociated from religion.

- (dissociate oneself from) declare that one is not connected with or a supporter of (someone or something): he took pains to dissociate himself from the religious radicals.

- [PSYCHIATRY] split off (a component of mental activity) to act as an independent part of mental life.

2 [CHEMISTRY] (with reference to a molecule) split into separate smaller atoms, ions, or molecules, especially reversibly: [with obj.] these compounds are dissociated by solar radiation to yield atoms of chlorine.

<DERIVATIVES> dissociative adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin dissociat- ‘separated’, from the verb dissociare, from dis- (expressing reversal) + sociare ‘join together’ (from socius ‘companion’).

dissociated personality n. another term for MULTIPLE-PERSONALITY DISORDER.

dissociation /dsəe(ə)n -s-/ n. [mass noun] the action of disconnecting or separating or the state of being disconnected: we in the West honour a long-standing dissociation between church and state.

- [CHEMISTRY] the splitting of a molecule into smaller molecules, atoms, or ions, especially by a reversible process.

- [PSYCHIATRY] separation of normally related mental processes, resulting in one group functioning independently from the rest, leading in extreme cases to disorders such as multiple personality: [count noun] the dissociations that one can observe in neuropsychological patients.

dissociation constant n. [CHEMISTRY] a quantity expressing the extent to which a particular substance in solution is dissociated into ions, equal to the product of the concentrations of the respective ions divided by the concentration of the undissociated molecule.

dissoluble adj. able to be dissolved, loosened, or disconnected: permitting divorce would render every marriage dissoluble.

<DERIVATIVES> dissolubility n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin dissolubilis, from the verb dissolvere (see DISSOLVE).

dissolute /dsəlut/ adj. (of a person or a way of life) overindulging in sensual pleasures: unfortunately, his heir was feckless and dissolute.

<DERIVATIVES> dissolutely adv. dissoluteness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dissolutus ‘disconnected, loose’, from the verb dissolvere (see DISSOLVE).

dissolution n. [mass noun] 1 the action of formally ending or dismissing an assembly, partnership, or official body: the dissolution of their marriage | [count noun] the Prime Minister asked the queen for a dissolution of Parliament.

- TECHNICAL the action or process of dissolving or being dissolved: minerals susceptible to dissolution.

- disintegration; decomposition: the dissolution of the flesh.

- ARCHAIC death.

2 debauched living; dissipation: an advanced state of dissolution.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dissolutio(n-), from the verb dissolvere (see DISSOLVE).

dissolution of the monasteries the abolition of monasteries in England and Wales by Henry VIII under two Acts (1536, 1539), in order to replenish his treasury by vesting monastic assets in the Crown and to establish royal supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs.

dissolve v. 1 (with reference to a solid) become or cause to become incorporated into a liquid so as to form a solution: [no obj.] glucose dissolves easily in water | [with obj.] dissolve a stock cube in a pint of hot water.

- [no obj.] disappear: my courage dissolved.

- [no obj.] (dissolve into/in) subside uncontrollably into (an expression of strong feelings): she suddenly dissolved into floods of tears.

- [no obj.] (dissolve into/to) (of an image or scene in a film) change gradually to (another): the scene dissolves into a series of shots of the Morgan family.

2 [with obj.] close down or dismiss (an assembly or official body).

- annul or end (a partnership or marriage).

■ n. an act or instance of moving gradually from one image or scene in a film to another.

<DERIVATIVES> dissolvable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘break down into component parts’): from Latin dissolvere, from dis- ‘apart’ + solvere ‘loosen or solve’.

dissolvent n. a substance that dissolves something else: the experience of death could strengthen family ties, rather than act as a dissolvent.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin dissolvent- ‘dissolving’, from the verb dissolvere (see DISSOLVE).

dissonance /ds(ə)nəns/ n. [mass noun] [MUSIC] lack of harmony among musical notes: an unusual degree of dissonance for such choral styles | [count noun] a session full of jangling dissonances.

- lack of agreement or harmony between people or things: the party faithful might be willing to put up with such dissonance among their candidates.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin dissonantia, from Latin dissonant- ‘disagreeing in sound’, from the verb dissonare.

dissonant adj. [MUSIC] lacking harmony: irregular, dissonant chords.

- unsuitable or unusual in combination; clashing: Jackson employs both harmonious and dissonant colour choices.

<DERIVATIVES> dissonantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘clashing’): from Old French, or from Latin dissonant- ‘being discordant’, from the verb dissonare, from dis- ‘apart’ + sonare ‘to sound’.

dissuade /dswed/ v. [with obj.] persuade (someone) not to take a particular course of action: his friends tried to dissuade him from flying.

<DERIVATIVES> dissuader n. dissuasion n. dissuasive adj.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘advise against’): from Latin dissuadere, from dis- (expressing reversal) + suadere ‘advise, persuade’.

dissyllable /dsləb(ə)l/ n. variant spelling of DISYLLABLE.

<DERIVATIVES> dissyllabic adj.

dissymmetry n. (pl. dissymmetries) [mass noun] lack of symmetry.

- TECHNICAL the symmetrical relation of mirror images, the left and right hands, or crystals with two corresponding forms.

<DERIVATIVES> dissymmetric adj. dissymmetrical adj.

distaff /dstαf/ n. 1 a stick or spindle on to which wool or flax is wound for spinning.

2 [as modifier] of or concerning women: marriage is still the passport to distaff power.

<PHRASES>

□ the distaff side the female side of a family: the family title could be passed down through the distaff side. The opposite of THE SPEAR SIDE.

<ORIGIN> Old English distæf: the first element is apparently related to Middle Low German dise, disene ‘distaff, bunch of flax’; the second is staff^1. Sense 2 arose because spinning was traditionally done by women.

distal /dst(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY] situated away from the centre of the body or from the point of attachment: the distal end of the tibia. The opposite of PROXIMAL.

- [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the outer part of an area affected by geological activity.

<DERIVATIVES> distally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from DISTANT, on the pattern of words such as dorsal.

distance n. 1 the length of the space between two points: I cycled the short distance home | you may have to walk long distances.

- [mass noun] the condition of being far off; remoteness: distance makes things look small.

- a far-off point: watching them from a distance.

- (the distance) the more remote part of what is visible or discernible: I heard police sirens in the distance | they sped off into the distance.

- [mass noun] FIGURATIVE the avoidance of familiarity; reserve: a mix of warmth and distance makes a good neighbour.

2 the full length of a race: he claimed the 100 m title in only his second race over the distance.

- Brit. [HORSE RACING] a space of more than twenty lengths between two finishers in a race: he stormed home by a distance in the Handicap Chase.

- (the distance) BRITISH a length of 240 yards from the winning post on a racecourse.

- N. Amer. [HORSE RACING] the distance from the winning post which a horse must have reached when the winner finishes in order to qualify for a subsequent heat.

3 an interval of time: the sort of goal which remains in the memory even at a distance of six years.

- (the distance) [BOXING] the scheduled length of a fight: he has won his first five fights inside the distance.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (someone or something) far off or remote in position or nature: her mother wished to distance her from the rough village children.

- (distance oneself from) declare that one is not connected with or a supporter of (someone or something): he sought to distance himself from the proposals.

2 N. Amer. [HORSE RACING] beat (a horse) by a distance.

<PHRASES>

□ distance lends enchantment to the view PROVERB things look better from further away.

□ go the distance [BOXING] complete a fight without being knocked out.

- (of a boxing match) last the scheduled length.

- [BASEBALL] pitch for the entire length of a game.

- last for a long time: this amplifier system should go the distance.

□ keep one's distance stay far away.

- maintain one's reserve: you had to say nothing and keep your distance.

□ within —— distance near enough to reach by the means specified: her flat is within walking distance.

□ within spitting (or US shouting) distance within a very short distance.

□ within striking distance near enough to hit or achieve something: we are within striking distance of our goal.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘discord, debate’): from Old French or from Latin distantia, from distant- ‘standing apart’, from the verb distare (see DISTANT).

distance learning n. [mass noun] a method of studying in which lectures are broadcast or lessons are conducted by correspondence, without the student needing to attend a school or college.

distance post n. NORTH AMERICAN a post placed at a specified distance before the finishing post on a racecourse, which a horse must have passed when the winner finishes in order to qualify for a subsequent heat.

distance runner n. an athlete who competes in long- or middle-distance races.

distant adj. 1 far away in space or time: distant parts of the world | I remember that distant afternoon.

- [predic.] (after a measurement) at a specified distance: the star is 30,000 light years distant from Earth | the town lay half a mile distant.

- (of a sound) faint because far away: the distant bark of some farm dog.

- FIGURATIVE remote or far apart in resemblance or relationship: a distant acquaintance.

- [attr.] (of a person) not closely related: a distant cousin of the King.

2 (of a person) not intimate; cool or reserved: his children found him strangely distant | she and my father were distant with each other.

- not paying attention; remote: a distant look in his eyes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin distant- ‘standing apart’, from the verb distare, from dis- ‘apart’ + stare ‘stand’.

distantiate /dstanet/ v. [with obj.] set or keep (something) at a distance, especially mentally: Austen's aesthetic forms distantiate ideology.

<DERIVATIVES> distantiation n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: based on Latin distantia ‘distance’.

distantly adv. far away: distantly he heard shouts.

- not closely: they are distantly related to the elephants.

- coolly or remotely: she smiled distantly.

distant signal n. a railway signal giving a warning of the condition of the next home signal.

distaste n. [in sing.] mild dislike or aversion: Harry nurtured a distaste for all things athletic | [mass noun] his mouth twisted with distaste.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from DIS- (expressing reversal) + TASTE, on the pattern of early modern French desgout, Italian disgusto. Compare with DISGUST.

distasteful adj. causing dislike or aversion; disagreeable or unpleasant: he found such cynicism distasteful.

<DERIVATIVES> distastefully adv. distastefulness n.

Di Stefano /d stεfənə/ Alfredo (b.1926), Argentinian-born Spanish footballer. He played as a forward in Argentina and Colombia, then for Spain and Real Madrid, with whom he won the European Cup in each of its first five seasons (1956–60).

distemper^1 /dstεmpə/ n. [mass noun] a kind of paint using glue or size instead of an oil base, for use on walls or for scene-painting.

- a method of mural and poster painting using distemper.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. distempered) paint with distemper: the distempered roof timbers.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as a verb in the senses ‘dilute’ and ‘steep’): from Old French destremper or late Latin distemperare ‘soak’.

distemper^2 /dstεmpə/ n. [mass noun] 1 a viral disease of some animals, especially dogs, causing fever, coughing, and catarrh.

2 ARCHAIC political disorder: an attempt to illuminate the moral roots of the modern world's distemper.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally in the sense ‘bad temper’, later ‘illness’): from Middle English distemper ‘upset, derange’, from late Latin distemperare ‘soak, mix in the wrong proportions’, from dis- ‘thoroughly’ + temperare ‘mingle’. Compare with TEMPER.

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 18th cent.

distempered adj. LITERARY emotionally or psychologically disturbed.

- symptomatic of a general moral and psychological debility: this distempered fog, this old corruption of the nation.

distend /dstεnd/ v. swell or cause to swell by pressure from inside: [no obj.] the abdomen distended rapidly | [with obj.] air is introduced into the stomach to distend it.

<DERIVATIVES> distensibility n. distensible adj. distension n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin distendere, from dis- ‘apart’ + tendere ‘to stretch’.

distended /dstεndd/ adj. swollen due to pressure from inside; bloated: a distended belly.

distich /dstk/ n. [PROSODY] a pair of verse lines; a couplet.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: via Latin from Greek distikhon (metron) ‘(measure) of two lines’, neuter of distikhos, from di- ‘twice’ + stikhos ‘line’.

distichous /dstkəs/ adj. [BOTANY] (of parts) arranged alternately in two opposite vertical rows.

<DERIVATIVES> distichously adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: via Latin from Greek distikhos (see DISTICH) + -OUS.

distil /dstl/ (US distill) v. (distils, distilling, distilled) [with obj.] 1 purify (a liquid) by heating it so that it vaporizes, then cooling and condensing the vapour and collecting the resulting liquid: they managed to distil a small quantity of water | (as adj. distilled) distilled water.

- make (spirits or an essence) by distilling: whisky is distilled from a mash of grains | (as n. distilling) the distilling industry.

- extract the essence of (something) by heating it with a solvent: distil the leaves of some agrimony.

- remove (a volatile constituent) of a mixture by heating: coal tar is made by distilling out the volatile products in coal.

- FIGURATIVE extract the essential meaning or most important aspects of: my travel notes were distilled into a book | (as adj. distilled) the report is a distilled version of the main accounts.

2 [no obj.] LITERARY emanate as a vapour or in minute drops: she drew back from the dank breath that distilled out of the earth.

<DERIVATIVES> distillatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin distillare, variant of destillare, from de- ‘down, away’ + stillare (from stilla ‘a drop’).

distillate /dstlet/ n. something formed by distillation: petroleum distillates | [mass noun] natural gas mixed with distillate.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin distillatus ‘fallen in drops’, from the verb distillare (see DISTIL).

distillation n. [mass noun] the action of purifying a liquid by a process of heating and cooling: the petroleum distillation process.

- the extraction of the essential meaning or most important aspects of something: [count noun] the film is a distillation of personal experiences.

distiller n. a person or company that manufactures spirits: a family-owned whisky distiller.

distillery n. (pl. distilleries) a place where spirits are manufactured.

distinct adj. 1 recognizably different in nature from something else of a similar type: the patterns of spoken language are distinct from those of writing | there are two distinct types of sickle cell disease.

- physically separate: the gallery is divided into five distinct spaces.

2 readily distinguishable by the senses: a distinct smell of nicotine.

- [attr.] (used for emphasis) so clearly apparent to the mind as to be unmistakable; definite: he got the distinct impression that Melissa wasn't best pleased.

<DERIVATIVES> distinctness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘differentiated’): from Latin distinctus ‘separated, distinguished’, from the verb distinguere (see DISTINGUISH).

distinction n. 1 a difference or contrast between similar things or people: there is a sharp distinction between domestic politics and international politics | I was completely unaware of class distinctions.

- [mass noun] the separation of people or things into different groups according to their characteristics: high interest rates strike down, without distinction, small businesses and the unemployed.

2 [mass noun] excellence that sets someone or something apart from others: a novelist of distinction.

- [count noun] a decoration or honour awarded to someone: he gained the highest distinction awarded for excellence in photography.

- [count noun] a grade in an examination denoting excellence: she gained a distinction in her diploma. Compare with MERIT.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘subdivision, category’): via Old French from Latin distinctio(n-), from the verb distinguere (see DISTINGUISH).

distinctive adj. characteristic of one person or thing, and so serving to distinguish it from others: juniper berries give gin its distinctive flavour.

<DERIVATIVES> distinctively adv. distinctiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘serving to differentiate’): from late Latin distinctivus, from Latin distinct- ‘distinguished’ (see DISTINCT).

distinctly adv. in a way that is readily distinguishable by the senses; clearly: reading each word slowly and distinctly.

- [as submodifier] (used for emphasis) in a way that is very noticeable or apparent; decidedly: two distinctly different cultures | he looked distinctly uncomfortable.

distingué /dstae/ adj. (fem. distinguée pronunc. same) having a distinguished manner or appearance: he was lean and distingué, with a small goatee.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘distinguished’, from the verb distinguer.

distinguish /dstw/ v. [with obj.] 1 recognize or treat (someone or something) as different: the child is perfectly capable of distinguishing reality from fantasy.

- [no obj.] recognize or point out a difference: we must distinguish between two kinds of holiday.

- be an identifying characteristic or mark of: what distinguishes sport from games?

2 manage to discern (something barely perceptible): it was too dark to distinguish anything more than their vague shapes.

3 (distinguish oneself) make oneself worthy of respect by one's behaviour or achievements: many distinguished themselves in the fight against Hitler.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: formed irregularly from French distinguer or Latin distinguere, from dis- ‘apart’ + stinguere ‘put out’ (from a base meaning ‘prick’).

distinguishable /dstwəb(ə)l/ adj. clear enough to be recognized or identified as different; discernible: distinguishable features | this particular case is distinguishable from others.

- clear enough to be discerned or perceived: his words were barely distinguishable.

distinguished adj. very successful, authoritative, and commanding great respect: a distinguished American educationist.

- dignified and noble in appearance or manner: that hairstyle makes you look quite distinguished.

Distinguished Service Order n. see DSO.

distinguishing /dstw/ adj. characteristic of one thing or person, so serving to identify it; distinctive: a house with no distinguishing features.

distort /dstt/ v. [with obj.] 1 pull or twist out of shape: a grimace distorted her fine mouth.

- [no obj.] become twisted out of shape: the pipe will distort as you bend it.

2 give a misleading or false account or impression of: many factors can distort the results.

3 change the form of (an electrical signal or sound wave) during transmission, amplification, or other processing: you're distorting the sound by overdriving the amp.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘twist to one side’): from Latin distort- ‘twisted apart’, from the verb distorquere, from dis- ‘apart’ + torquere ‘to twist’.

distorted /dsttd/ adj. 1 pulled or twisted out of shape; contorted.

2 giving a misleading or false account or impression; misrepresented: his report gives a distorted view of the meeting.

3 affected by electrical distortion: distorted guitars.

<DERIVATIVES> distortedly adv. distortedness n.

distortion n. [mass noun] 1 the action of distorting or the state of being distorted: the virus causes distortion of the leaves | [count noun] deliberate distortions of pitch and timbre.

- [count noun] a distorted form or part: a distortion in the eye's shape or structure.

2 the action of giving a misleading account or impression: we're fed up with the media's continuing distortion of our issues.

3 change in the form of an electrical signal or sound wave during processing.

<DERIVATIVES> distortional adj. distortionless adj.

distract /dstrakt/ v. [with obj.] prevent (someone) from concentrating on something: don't allow noise to distract you from your work.

- divert (attention) from something: it was another attempt to distract attention from the truth.

- (distract oneself) divert one's attention from something unpleasant by doing something different or more pleasurable: I tried to distract myself by concentrating on Jane.

- ARCHAIC perplex and bewilder: horror and doubt distract His troubl'd thoughts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘pull in different directions’): from Latin distract- ‘drawn apart’, from the verb distrahere, from dis- ‘apart’ + trahere ‘to draw, drag’.

distracted adj. unable to concentrate because one is preoccupied by something worrying or unpleasant: Charlotte seemed too distracted to give him much attention.

<DERIVATIVES> distractedly adv.

distracting adj. preventing concentration or diverting attention; disturbing: she found his nearness distracting.

<DERIVATIVES> distractingly adv. [as submodifier] some of my classmates are distractingly pretty

distraction n. 1 a thing that prevents someone from concentrating on something else: the firm found passenger travel a distraction from the main business of moving freight.

- a diversion or recreation: there are plenty of distractions such as sailing | [mass noun] he roved the district in search of distraction.

2 [mass noun] extreme agitation of the mind: her uncharacteristic air of distraction.

<PHRASES>

□ to distraction almost to a state of madness: she loved him to distraction.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin distractio(n-), from the verb distrahere (see DISTRACT).

distractor n. a person or thing that distracts: the visual channel is capable of being a powerful distractor.

- an incorrect option in a multiple choice question.

distrain /dstren/ v. [with obj.] [LAW] seize (someone's property) in order to obtain payment of rent or other money owed: legislation has restricted the right to distrain goods found upon the premises.

- seize the property of (someone) in order to obtain payment of money owed: the Crown applied political pressure by distraining debtors.

<DERIVATIVES> distrainer n. distrainment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French destreindre, from Latin distringere ‘stretch apart’, from dis- ‘apart’ + stringere ‘tighten’.

distraint /dstrent/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] the seizure of someone's property in order to obtain payment of money owed, especially rent: many faced heavy fines and the distraint of goods.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from DISTRAIN, on the pattern of constraint.

distrait /dstre dstre/ adj. (fem. distraite /-stret/) [predic.] distracted or absent-minded: he seemed oddly distrait.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, from Old French destrait, past participle of destraire ‘distract’, from Latin distrahere ‘pull apart’ (see DISTRACT).

distraught /dstrt/ adj. very worried and upset: a distraught woman sobbed and screamed for help | he is terribly distraught.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: alteration of the obsolete adjective distract (from Latin distractus ‘pulled apart’), influenced by straught, archaic past participle of STRETCH.

distress n. [mass noun] 1 extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain: to his distress he saw that she was trembling | her fingers flew to her throat in distress.

- the state of a ship or aircraft when in danger or difficulty and needing help: vessels in distress on or near the coast | [as modifier] a distress call.

- difficulty caused by lack of money: a company in financial distress.

- MEDICINE a state of physical strain, especially difficulty in breathing: they said the baby was in distress.

2 [LAW] another term for DISTRAINT.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 cause (someone) anxiety, sorrow, or pain: I didn't mean to distress you | please don't distress yourself.

2 give (furniture or clothing) simulated marks of age and wear: the manner in which leather jackets are industrially distressed.

<DERIVATIVES> distressful adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French destresce (noun), destrecier (verb), based on Latin distringere ‘stretch apart’.

distressed adj. 1 suffering from extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain: I was distressed at the news of his death | the distressed relatives of his victims.

- DATED impoverished: women in distressed circumstances.

- INFORMAL, chiefly US (of property) offered for sale cheaply due to mortgage foreclosure or because it is part of an insolvent estate.

2 (of furniture or clothing) having simulated marks of age and wear: a distressed leather jacket.

distressed area n. a region of high unemployment and poverty.

distressing adj. causing anxiety, sorrow or pain; upsetting: some very distressing news.

<DERIVATIVES> distressingly adv. [as submodifier] the pattern was distressingly familiar

distress rocket n. a rocket fired as a distress signal.

distress signal n. a signal from a ship or aircraft that is in danger.

distress warrant n. [LAW] a warrant authorizing distraint.

distributary /dstrbjt(ə)ri/ n. (pl. distributaries) a branch of a river that does not return to the main stream after leaving it (as in a delta).

distribute /dstrbjut dstrbjut/ v. [with obj.] 1 give a share or a unit of (something) to each of a number of recipients: information leaflets are being distributed to hotels.

- supply (goods) to retailers: the journal is distributed worldwide.

- [PRINTING] separate (metal type that has been set up) and return the characters to their separate compartments in a type case.

2 (be distributed) occur throughout an area: the birds are mainly distributed in marshes and river valleys.

- spread (a load) over an area: the seat is designed to ensure the weight of the passenger is evenly distributed.

- (as adj. distributed) [COMPUTING] (of a computer system) spread over several machines, especially over a network.

3 [LOGIC] use (a term) to include every individual of the class to which it refers.

<DERIVATIVES> distributable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin distribut- ‘divided up’, from the verb distribuere, from dis- ‘apart’ + tribuere ‘assign’.

<USAGE> The word distribute is pronounced either with the stress on the -stri- or with the stress on the dis-. Until recently the latter, with the stress on the first syllable, was considered incorrect in standard British English, but now both pronunciations are standard.

distribution n. [mass noun] 1 the action of sharing something out among a number of recipients: the government released about 74,000 tonnes of rice for distribution among people affected by the cyclone | [count noun] unequal distributions of income and wealth.

- the action or process of supplying goods to retailers.

- [BRIDGE] the different number of cards of each suit in a player's hand.

2 the way in which something is shared out among a group or spread over an area: changes undergone by the area have affected the distribution of its wildlife.

<DERIVATIVES> distributional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin distributio(n-), from the verb distribuere (see DISTRIBUTE).

distribution board n. a panel carrying the fuses, terminals, and other components of a number of subsidiary electric circuits.

distributive /dstrbjtv/ adj. 1 concerned with the supply of goods to retailers: transport and distributive industries.

- concerned with the way in which things are shared between people: the distributive effects of public expenditure.

2 [GRAMMAR] (of a determiner or pronoun) referring to each individual of a class, not to the class collectively, e.g. each, either.

3 [MATHEMATICS] (of an operation) fulfilling the condition that, when it is performed on two or more quantities already combined by another operation, the result is the same as when it is performed on each quantity individually and the products then combined.

■ n. [GRAMMAR] a distributive word.

<DERIVATIVES> distributively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French distributif, -ive or late Latin distributivus, from Latin distribut- ‘divided up’, from the verb distribuere (see DISTRIBUTE).

distributor /dstrbjtə/ n. 1 an agent who supplies goods to retailers: a sports goods distributor.

2 a device in a petrol engine for passing electric current to each spark plug in turn.

district n. an area of a country or city, especially one characterized by a particular feature or activity: a coal-mining district.

- [often as modifier] a region defined for an administrative purpose: a district health authority.

- BRITISH a division of a county or region that elects its own councillors.

■ v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN divide into areas: (as n. districting) the province's system of electoral districting.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting the territory under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord): from French, from medieval Latin districtus ‘(territory of) jurisdiction’, from Latin distringere ‘draw apart’.

district attorney (abbr.: DA) n. (in the US) a public official who acts as prosecutor for the state in a particular district.

district auditor n. (in the UK) a civil servant responsible for auditing the accounts of local authorities.

district court n. (in most US jurisdictions) the federal or state trial court.

district heating n. [mass noun] the supply of heat or hot water from one source to a district or a group of buildings.

district nurse n. (in the UK) a nurse who visits and treats patients in their homes, operating in a specific area or in association with a particular general practice surgery or health centre.

District of Columbia (abbr.: DC) a federal district of the US, coextensive with the city of Washington, situated on the Potomac River with boundaries on the states of Virginia and Maryland.

district surgeon n. (in South Africa) a doctor appointed to serve a particular district.

distro n. (pl. distros) INFORMAL a computer software distribution package.

distrust n. [mass noun] the feeling that someone or something cannot be relied upon: the public's distrust of politicians.

■ v. [with obj.] doubt the honesty or reliability of; regard with suspicion: speculation remained that the Army distrusted the peace process.

<DERIVATIVES> distruster n.

distrustful adj. feeling or showing distrust of someone or something: I have grown up to be distrustful of men.

<DERIVATIVES> distrustfully adv.

disturb v. [with obj.] 1 interfere with the normal arrangement or functioning of: take the rollers out carefully so as not to disturb the curls too much.

2 interrupt the sleep, relaxation, or privacy of: I'll see my patient now and we are not to be disturbed.

3 make (someone) anxious: I am disturbed by the document I have just read.

<DERIVATIVES> disturber n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French destourber, from Latin disturbare, from dis- ‘utterly’ + turbare ‘disturb’ (from turba ‘tumult’).

disturbance n. 1 [mass noun] the interruption of a settled and peaceful condition: a helicopter landing can cause disturbance to residents.

- [count noun] a breakdown of peaceful and law-abiding behaviour: the disturbances were precipitated when four men were refused bail.

- [LAW] interference with rights or property.

2 a state in which normal mental or physical functioning is disrupted: children with learning difficulty and personality disturbance.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French destourbance, from destourber (see DISTURB).

disturbed adj. 1 having had the normal pattern or functioning disrupted: disturbed sleep.

2 having or resulting from emotional and mental problems: the treatment of disturbed children | disturbed behaviour.

disturbing adj. causing anxiety; worrying: disturbing unemployment figures.

<DERIVATIVES> disturbingly adv. [as submodifier] a woman who looked disturbingly familiar

disubstituted /dsbsttjutd/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of a molecule) having two substituent groups.

disulfiram /dslfram/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic compound used in the treatment of alcoholics to make drinking alcohol produce unpleasant after-effects. Also called ANTABUSE (TRADEMARK).

<INFO> Alternative name: tetraethylthiuram disulphide; chem. formula: (C_2H_5)2NCSSCN(C_2H_5)2.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: blend of disulfide (see DISULPHIDE) and thiuram (from THIO- + UREA + AMIDE).

disulphide /dslfd/ (US disulfide) n. [CHEMISTRY] a sulphide containing two atoms of sulphur in its molecule or empirical formula.

- an organic compound containing the group –S–S– bonded to other groups.

disunion n. [mass noun] the breaking up of something such as a federation: his rejection of disunion was consistent with his nationalism.

disunited adj. lacking unity: a disunited nation.

disunity /dsjunti/ n. [mass noun] disagreement and conflict within a group: the disunity among opposition parties.

disuse /dsjus/ n. [mass noun] the state of not being used: his voice was croaky with disuse.

disused adj. no longer being used: they held an exhibition in a disused warehouse.

disutility /dsjutlti/ n. [mass noun] [ECONOMICS] the adverse or harmful effects associated with a particular activity or process, especially when carried out over a long period.

disyllabic /dslabk/ (also dissyllabic) adj. (of a word or metrical foot) consisting of two syllables.

- (of a bird's characteristic call) consisting of two distinct sounds, such as the call of the cuckoo.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French dissyllabique, via Latin from Greek disullabos ‘of two syllables’.

disyllable /dsləb(ə)l dsl-/ (also dissyllable /dsləb(ə)l/) n. [PROSODY] a word or metrical foot consisting of two syllables.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: alteration (influenced by SYLLABLE) of French disyllabe, via Latin from Greek disullabos ‘of two syllables’, from di- ‘two’ + sullabē ‘syllable’.

dit n. (in the Morse system) another term for dot^1.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: imitative.

ditch n. a narrow channel dug at the side of a road or field, to hold or carry away water.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 provide with a ditch or ditches.

- [no obj.] make or repair ditches: (as n. ditching) they would have to pay for hedging and ditching.

2 INFORMAL get rid of or give up: plans for the road were ditched following a public inquiry.

- end a relationship with (someone) peremptorily: she ditched her husband to marry the window cleaner.

- NORTH AMERICAN play truant from (school): maybe she could ditch school and run away.

3 bring (an aircraft) down on water in an emergency: he was picked up by a gunboat after ditching his plane in the Mediterranean.

- [no obj.] (of an aircraft) make a forced landing on water: the aircraft was obliged to ditch in the sea off the North African coast.

- US derail (a train).

<DERIVATIVES> ditcher n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dīc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dijk ‘ditch, dyke’ and German Teich ‘pond, pool’, also to dyke^1.

ditchwater n. [mass noun] stagnant water in a ditch.

diterpene /dtəpin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a group of terpenes found in plant gums and resins, having unsaturated molecules based on a unit with the formula C_20H_32.

<DERIVATIVES> diterpenoid adj. & n.

ditheism /dθz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a belief in two gods, especially as independent and opposed principles of good and evil.

<DERIVATIVES> ditheist n.

dither v. [no obj.] 1 be indecisive: I can't bear people who dither | he was dithering about the election date.

2 [with obj.] [COMPUTING] display or print (a colour image) without sharp edges so that it appears to contain more colours than are really available: (as adj. dithered) dithered bit maps.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] INFORMAL indecisive behaviour: after months of dither ministers had still not agreed.

2 [in sing.] a state of agitation: all of a dither, he prophesied instant chaos.

<DERIVATIVES> ditherer n. dithery adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the dialect sense ‘tremble, quiver’): variant of dialect didder; related to dodder^1.

dithionite /dθənt/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt containing the anion S_2O_42−.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from DI-1 ‘two’ + Greek theion ‘sulphur’ + -ITE^1.

dithizone /dθzən/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a synthetic compound used as a reagent for the analysis and separation of lead and other metals.

<INFO> Alternative name: diphenylthiocarbazone; chem. formula: C_13H_12N_4S.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from elements of the systematic name (see above).

dithyramb /dθram(b)/ n. a wild choral hymn of ancient Greece, especially one dedicated to Dionysus.

- a passionate or inflated speech, poem, or other writing.

<DERIVATIVES> dithyrambic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via Latin from Greek dithurambos, of unknown ultimate origin.

ditransitive /dtranstv -trα- -nz-/ adj. [GRAMMAR] denoting a verb that takes two objects, for example give as in I gave her the book.

dittany /dtəni/ n. [mass noun] (plural dittanies) any of a number of aromatic herbaceous or shrubby plants:

<INFO>

- (also dittany of Crete) a dwarf shrub with white woolly leaves and pink flowers, native to Crete and Greece (Origanum dictamnus, family Labiatae).

- (also American dittany) an American herb used in cookery and herbal medicine (genus Cunila, family Labiatae).

- another term for GAS PLANT

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ditain or medieval Latin ditaneum, from Latin dictamnus, dictamnum, from Greek diktamnon, perhaps from Diktē, the name of a mountain in Crete.

ditto n. (pl. dittos) the same thing again (used in lists and accounts and often indicated by a ditto mark under the word or figure to be repeated).

- INFORMAL used to indicate that something already said is applicable a second time: if one folds his arms, so does the other; if one crosses his legs, ditto.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘in the aforesaid month’): from Tuscan dialect, variant of Italian detto ‘said’, from Latin dictus ‘said’.

dittography /dtrəfi/ n. (pl. dittographies) a mistaken repetition of a letter, word, or phrase by a copyist.

<DERIVATIVES> dittographic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek dittos ‘double’ + -GRAPHY.

ditto marks plural n. two apostrophes (») representing ‘ditto’.

ditty n. (pl. ditties) a short, simple song: a lovely little music-hall ditty.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French dite ‘composition’, from Latin dictatum (neuter) ‘something dictated’, from dictare ‘to dictate’.

ditty bag (also ditty box) n. a receptacle for odds and ends, especially one used by sailors or fishermen.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

ditz n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a scatterbrained person.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: back-formation from DITZY.

ditzy (also ditsy) adj. (ditzier, ditziest; ditsier, ditsiest) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL silly or scatterbrained: don't tell me my ditzy secretary didn't send you an invitation!

<DERIVATIVES> ditziness n.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: of unknown origin.

diuresis /dj(ə)riss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE increased or excessive production of urine. Compare with POLYURIA.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from DI-3 ‘through’ + Greek ourēsis ‘urination’.

diuretic /dj(ə)rεtk/ MEDICINE adj. (chiefly of drugs) causing increased passing of urine.

■ n. a diuretic drug.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French diuretique, or via late Latin from Greek diourētikos, from diourein ‘urinate’, from dia ‘through’ + ouron ‘urine’.

diurnal /dən(ə)l/ adj. 1 of or during the day.

- [ZOOLOGY] (of animals) active in the daytime.

- [BOTANY] (of flowers) open only during the day.

2 daily; of each day: diurnal rhythms.

- [ASTRONOMY] of or resulting from the daily rotation of the earth: diurnal aberration.

<DERIVATIVES> diurnally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a term in astronomy): from late Latin diurnalis, from Latin diurnus ‘daily’, from dies ‘day’.

div^1 abbr. divergence (in mathematical equations).

div^2 n. another term for divvy^2.

Div. abbr. Division.

diva /divə/ n. a celebrated female opera singer.

- a famous female singer of popular music: a pop diva.

- a woman regarded as temperamental or haughty.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via Italian from Latin, literally ‘goddess’.

divagate /dvəet/ v. [no obj.] LITERARY stray or digress: Yeats divagated into Virgil's territory only once.

<DERIVATIVES> divagation n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin divagat- ‘wandered about’, from the verb divagari, from di- ‘widely’ + vagari ‘wander’.

divalent /dvel(ə)nt/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] having a valency of two.

divan /dvan dvan dvan/ n. 1 (also divan bed) BRITISH a bed consisting of a base and mattress but no footboard or headboard.

2 a long, low sofa without a back or arms.

3 HISTORICAL a legislative body, council chamber, or court of justice in the Ottoman Empire or elsewhere in the Middle East.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 3): via French or Italian from Turkish dīvān, from Persian dīwān ‘anthology, register, court, or bench’; compare with DIWAN. As a piece of furniture, a divan was originally (early 18th century) a low bench or raised section of floor against an interior wall, used as a long seat and common in Middle Eastern countries; European imitation of this led to the sense ‘low flat sofa or bed’ (late 19th century).

divaricate /dvarket d-/ v. [no obj.] TECHNICAL or LITERARY stretch or spread apart; diverge widely: her crow's feet are divaricating like deltas.

■ adj. [BOTANY] (of a branch) coming off the stem almost at a right angle.

<DERIVATIVES> divarication n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin divaricat- ‘stretched apart’, from the verb divaricare, from di- (expressing intensive force) + varicare ‘stretch the legs apart’ (from varicus ‘straddling’).

dive v. (past and past participle dived; US also dove /dəv/) [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial of direction] plunge head first into water with one's arms raised over one's head: she walked to the deep end, then she dived in | he dived off the bridge for a bet.

- (of a fish or submarine) go to a deeper level in water: the fish dive down to about 1,400 feet.

- swim under water using breathing equipment: he had been diving in the area to test equipment.

2 (of an aircraft or bird) plunge steeply downwards through the air: arctic skuas which dive at your head as you walk near their territories.

- move quickly or suddenly in a specified direction: a bullet passed close to his head and he dived for cover | (as adj. diving) he scored with a diving header.

- (of prices or profits) drop suddenly: profits before tax dived by 61 per cent.

- INFORMAL put one's hand quickly into a pocket or bag in order to find something: she dived into her bag and extracted a card.

- [SOCCER] (of a player) deliberately fall when challenged in order to deceive the referee into awarding a foul.

■ n. 1 a plunge head first into water: he hit the sea in a shallow dive.

- an instance of swimming or going deeper under water: divers should have a good intake of fluid before each dive.

2 a steep descent by an aircraft or bird: the jumbo jet went into a dive.

- a sudden movement in a specified direction: she made a dive for the fridge to quench her thirst.

- a sudden marked fall in prices or profits: an 11 per cent dive in profits.

- [SOCCER] a deliberate fall by a player, intended to deceive the referee into awarding a foul.

3 INFORMAL a disreputable nightclub or bar: he got into a fight in some dive.

<PHRASES>

□ take a dive [BOXING] pretend to be knocked down or out.

- (of prices, hopes, fortunes, etc.) fall suddenly: profits could take a dive as easily as they could soar.

<ORIGIN> Old English dūfan ‘dive, sink’ and dȳfan ‘immerse’, of Germanic origin; related to DEEP and DIP.

dive-bomb v. [with obj.] bomb (a target) while diving steeply downwards in an aircraft: planes were dive-bombing the aerodrome.

- (of a bird or flying insect) attack (something) by swooping down on it: the crow folded its wings and dive-bombed the vulture.

<DERIVATIVES> dive-bomber n.

diver n. 1 a person who dives as a sport: an Olympic diver.

- a person who wears a diving suit to work under water: a police diver.

2 a large diving waterbird of northern latitudes, with a sleek black or grey head, a straight pointed bill, and short legs set far back under the body. Called loon^2 in North America.

<INFO> Family Gaviidae and genus Gavia: five species, including the great northern diver or common loon (G. immer) of both Canada and Eurasia.

diverge /dvəd d-/ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a road, route, or line) separate from another route and go in a different direction: the flight path diverged from the original flight plan | FIGURATIVE their ways had diverged at university.

- (of an opinion, theory, or approach) differ: the coverage by the columnists diverged from that in the main news stories | (as adj. diverging) diverging concepts of nation-building.

- (diverge from) depart from (a set course or standard): suddenly he diverged from his text.

- develop in a different direction: English Gothic architecture began to diverge from that on the Continent.

2 [MATHEMATICS] (of a series) increase indefinitely as more of its terms are added.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin divergere, from Latin dis- ‘in two ways’ + vergere ‘to turn or incline’.

divergence n. [mass noun] 1 the process or state of diverging: the divergence between primates and other groups.

- [count noun] a difference in opinions, interests, etc.: a fundamental divergence of attitude.

- [count noun] a place where airflows or ocean currents diverge, typically marked by downwelling (of air) or upwelling (of water).

2 [MATHEMATICS] the scalar product of the operator del and a given vector, which gives a measure of the quantity of flux emanating from any point of the vector field or the rate of loss of mass, heat, etc., from it.

divergent adj. 1 tending to be different or develop in different directions: divergent interpretations | varieties of English can remain astonishingly divergent from one another.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] (of thought) using a variety of premises, especially unfamiliar premises, as bases for inference, and avoiding common limiting assumptions in making deductions.

2 [MATHEMATICS] (of a series) increasing indefinitely as more of its terms are added.

<DERIVATIVES> divergency n. divergently adv.

divers /dvəz/ adj. ARCHAIC or LITERARY of varying types; several: in divers places.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin diversus ‘diverse’, from divertere ‘turn in separate ways’ (see DIVERT).

diverse /dvəs dvəs/ adj. showing a great deal of variety; very different: a culturally diverse population | subjects as diverse as architecture, language teaching, and the physical sciences.

<DERIVATIVES> diversely adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: variant of DIVERS.

diversify /dvəsf d-/ v. (diversifies, diversifying, diversified) make or become more diverse or varied: [no obj.] the trilobites diversified into a great number of species | [with obj.] new plants will diversify the habitat.

- [no obj.] (of a company) enlarge or vary its range of products or field of operation: the company expanded rapidly and diversified into computers.

- [with obj.] (often as adj. diversified) enlarge or vary the range of products or the field of operation of (a company): the rise of the diversified corporation.

<DERIVATIVES> diversification n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘show diversity’): via Old French from medieval Latin diversificare ‘make dissimilar’, from Latin diversus, past participle of divertere (see DIVERT).

diversion /dvə(ə)n d-/ n. 1 [mass noun] the action of turning something aside from its course: the diversion of resources from defence to civil research.

- the action of reallocating something: the diversion of funds to the Contras.

- [count noun] BRITISH an alternative route for use by traffic when the usual road is temporarily closed: the road was closed and diversions put into operation.

2 an activity that diverts the mind from tedious or serious concerns; a recreation or pastime: our chief diversion was reading | [mass noun] people in search of diversion.

- something intended to distract attention from something more important: a subsidiary raid was carried out on the airfield to create a diversion.

<DERIVATIVES> diversionary adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin diversio(n-), from Latin divertere ‘turn aside’ (see DIVERT).

diversity /dvəsti d-/ n. (pl. diversities) [mass noun] the state of being diverse: there was considerable diversity in the style of the reports.

- [in sing.] a range of different things: newspapers were obliged to allow a diversity of views to be printed.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French diversite, from Latin diversitas, from diversus ‘diverse’, past participle of divertere ‘turn aside’ (see DIVERT).

divert /dvət d-/ v. [with obj.] 1 cause (someone or something) to change course or turn from one direction to another: a scheme to divert water from the river to irrigate agricultural land.

- [no obj.] (of a vehicle or person) change course: an aircraft has diverted and will be with you shortly.

- reallocate (money or resources) to a different purpose: more of their advertising budget was diverted into promotions.

2 distract (someone) from something: she managed to divert Rose from the dangerous topic of Lady Usk.

- (usually as adj. diverting) draw the attention of (someone) away from tedious or serious concerns; entertain or amuse: a diverting book.

<DERIVATIVES> divertingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from Latin divertere, from di- ‘aside’ + vertere ‘to turn’.

diverticula plural form of DIVERTICULUM.

diverticular /dvətkjlə/ adj. MEDICINE relating to diverticula.

diverticular disease n. [mass noun] a condition in which muscle spasm in the colon (lower intestine) in the presence of diverticula causes abdominal pain and disturbance of bowel function without inflammation.

diverticulitis /dvətkjlts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of a diverticulum, especially in the colon, causing pain and disturbance of bowel function. Compare with DIVERTICULOSIS.

diverticulosis /dvətkjləss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which diverticula are present in the intestine without signs of inflammation. Compare with DIVERTICULITIS.

diverticulum /dvətkjləm/ n. (pl. diverticula /-lə/) [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] a blind tube leading from a cavity or passage.

- MEDICINE an abnormal sac or pouch formed at a weak point in the wall of the alimentary tract.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from medieval Latin, variant of Latin deverticulum ‘byway’, from devertere ‘turn down or aside’.

divertimento /dvətmεntə -vεt-/ n. (pl. divertimenti /-ti/ or divertimentos) [MUSIC] a light and entertaining composition, typically one in the form of a suite for chamber orchestra.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting a diversion or amusement): Italian, literally ‘diversion’.

divertissement /dvətsmənt divεtism/ n. a minor entertainment or diversion: the intellectual divertissements of working men.

- [BALLET] a short dance within a ballet that displays a dancer's technical skill without advancing the plot or character development.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (specifically denoting a short ballet): French, from divertiss-, stem of divertir, from Latin divertere ‘turn in separate ways’.

Dives /dviz/ n. LITERARY used to refer to a typical or hypothetical rich man: there must be rich and poor, Dives says, smacking his claret.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin, used in the Vulgate translation of the Bible (Luke 16).

divest /dvεst d-/ v. [with obj.] (divest someone/thing of) deprive someone of (power, rights, or possessions): men are unlikely to be divested of power without a struggle.

- deprive something of (a particular quality): he has divested the original play of its charm.

- rid oneself of (a business interest or investment): the government's policy of divesting itself of state holdings.

- DATED or HUMOROUS relieve someone of (a garment): she divested him of his coat.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: alteration of devest, from Old French desvestir, from des- (expressing removal) + Latin vestire (from vestis ‘garment’).

divestiture (also divesture) n. another term for DIVESTMENT.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin divestit- ‘divested’ (from the verb divestire) + -URE.

divestment n. [mass noun] the action or process of selling off subsidiary business interests or investments: the importance of divestment | [count noun] proceeds from divestments.

divide v. 1 separate or be separated into parts: [with obj.] consumer magazines can be divided into a number of categories | [no obj.] the cell clusters began to divide rapidly.

- [with obj.] separate (something) into portions and share out among a number of people: Jack divided up the rest of the cash | profits from his single were divided between a number of charities.

- [with obj.] allocate (different parts of one's time or efforts) to different activities or places: the last years of her life were divided between Bermuda and Paris.

- [with obj.] form a boundary between (two people or things): glass panels divide the bar from the TV room.

- (of a legislative assembly) separate or be separated into two groups for voting: [no obj.] the House divided: Ayes 287, Noes 196 | [with obj.] the Party decided to put down an amendment and thus divide the House.

2 disagree or cause to disagree: [with obj.] the question had divided Frenchmen since the Revolution | (as adj. divided) a divided party leadership | [no obj.] cities where politicians frequently divide along racial lines.

3 [with obj.] [MATHEMATICS] find how many times (a number) contains another: 36 divided by 2 equals 18.

- [no obj.] (of a number) be susceptible of division without a remainder: 30 does not divide by 8.

- find how many times (a number) is contained in another: divide 4 into 20.

■ n. a difference or disagreement between two groups, typically producing tension: there was still a profound cultural divide between the parties.

- a boundary between two things: symbolically, the difference of sex is a divide.

- chiefly US a ridge or line of high ground forming the division between two valleys or river systems.

<PHRASES>

□ divide and rule (or conquer) the policy of maintaining control over one's subordinates or opponents by encouraging dissent between them, thereby preventing them from uniting in opposition.

□ divided against itself (of a group which should be coherent) split by factional interests: the regime is profoundly divided against itself.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): from Latin dividere ‘force apart, remove’. The noun dates from the mid 17th cent.

divided highway n. NORTH AMERICAN a dual carriageway.

divided skirt n. DATED culottes.

dividend /dvdεnd/ n. 1 a sum of money paid regularly (typically annually) by a company to its shareholders out of its profits (or reserves).

- a payment divided among a number of people, e.g. winners in a football pool or members of a cooperative.

- an individual's share of a dividend.

- (dividends) a benefit from an action or policy: buying a rail pass may still pay dividends.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a number to be divided by another number.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the general sense ‘portion, share’): from Anglo-Norman French dividende, from Latin dividendum ‘something to be divided’, from the verb dividere (see DIVIDE).

dividend cover n. the ratio of a company's net profits to the total sum allotted in dividends to ordinary shareholders.

dividend warrant (US dividend check) n. a document that shows that a shareholder is entitled to a dividend.

dividend yield n. a dividend expressed as a percentage of a current share price.

divider n. 1 a person or thing that divides a whole into parts.

- (also room divider) a screen or piece of furniture that divides a room into two parts.

- an issue on which opinions are divided: on the Labour side, the big divider was still nuclear weapons.

2 (dividers) a measuring compass, especially one with a screw for making fine adjustments.

dividing line n. the boundary between two areas.

- a distinction or set of distinctions marking the difference between two things that are closely related: the smudged dividing line between drama and reality.

divi-divi /dvdvi/ n. (pl. divi-divis) a small tropical American tree of the pea family.

<INFO> Caesalpinia coriaria, family Leguminosae.

- [mass noun] the curled pods of the divi-divi tree, used as a source of tannin.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via American Spanish from Carib.

divination /dvne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means.

<DERIVATIVES> divinatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin divinatio(n-), from divinare ‘predict’ (see divine^2).

divine^1 adj. (diviner, divinest) 1 of or like God or a god: heroes with divine powers | paintings of shipwrecks being prevented by divine intervention.

- devoted to God; sacred: divine liturgy.

2 INFORMAL very pleasing; delightful: he had the most divine smile.

■ n. 1 DATED a cleric or theologian.

2 (the Divine) providence or God.

<DERIVATIVES> divinely adv. divineness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin divinus, from divus ‘godlike’ (related to deus ‘god’).

divine^2 v. [with obj.] 1 discover (something) by guesswork or intuition: mum had divined my state of mind | [with clause] they had divined that he was a fake.

2 have supernatural or magical insight into (future events): frauds who claimed to divine the future in chickens' entrails.

- discover (water) by dowsing.

<DERIVATIVES> diviner n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French deviner ‘predict’, from Latin divinare, from divinus (see divine^1).

divine right of kings n. the doctrine that kings derive their authority from God not their subjects, from which it follows that rebellion is the worst of political crimes. It was enunciated in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries under the Stuarts and is also associated with the absolutism of Louis XIV of France.

divine service n. [mass noun] public Christian worship.

diving n. [mass noun] 1 the sport or activity of swimming or exploring under water.

2 the sport or activity of diving into water from a diving board.

diving beetle n. a predatory water beetle which has fringed back legs for swimming and which stores air under its wing cases while diving.

<INFO> Family Dytiscidae: numerous genera and species, including the great diving beetle (Dytiscus marginalis).

diving bell n. an open-bottomed chamber supplied with air, in which a person can be let down under water.

diving board n. an elevated board projecting over a swimming pool or other body of water, from which people dive or jump in.

diving duck n. a duck of a type which dives under water for food, such as the pochard, scaup, tufted duck, and goldeneye. Compare with DABBLING DUCK.

<INFO> Tribes Aythyini and Mergini, family Anatidae: several genera, in particular Aythya and Bucephala.

diving suit n. a watertight suit, typically with a helmet and an air supply, worn for working or exploring deep under water.

divining rod n. a stick or rod used for dowsing.

divinity /dvnti/ n. (pl. divinities) [mass noun] 1 the state or quality of being divine: Christ's divinity.

- [count noun] a divine being; a god or goddess: busts of Roman divinities.

- (the Divinity) God.

2 the study of religion; theology: a doctor of divinity.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French divinite, from Latin divinitas, from divinus ‘belonging to a deity’ (see divine^1).

divinize /dvnz/ (also divinise) v. [with obj.] make (someone) divine; deify.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French diviniser, from divin ‘divine’.

divisi /dvisi/ adj. a musical direction indicating that a section of players should be divided into two or more groups each playing a different part: [postpositive] violas divisi.

■ n. (pl. same) a passage written or played in this manner.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘divided’ (plural), from dividere ‘to divide’.

divisible /dvzb(ə)l/ adj. 1 capable of being divided: the marine environment is divisible into a number of areas.

2 [MATHEMATICS] (of a number) containing another number a number of times without a remainder: 24 is divisible by 4.

<DERIVATIVES> divisibility n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin divisibilis, from divis- ‘divided’, from the verb dividere (see DIVIDE).

division n. [mass noun] 1 the action of separating something into parts or the process of being separated: the division of the land into small fields | a gene that helps regulate cell division.

- the distribution of something separated into parts: the division of his estates between the two branches of his family.

- [count noun] an instance of members of a legislative body separating into two groups to vote: the new clause was agreed without a division.

- [LOGIC] the action of dividing a wider class into two or more subclasses.

2 difference or disagreement between two or more groups, typically producing tension: a growing sense of division between north and south | [count noun] a country with ethnic and cultural divisions.

3 the process of dividing one number by another.

- [MATHEMATICS] the process of dividing a matrix, vector, or other quantity by another under specific rules to obtain a quotient.

4 [count noun] each of the parts into which something is divided: the main divisions of the book.

- a major section of an organization, with responsibility for a particular area of activity: a retail division.

- a group of army brigades or regiments: an infantry division.

- a number of teams or competitors grouped together in a sport for competitive purposes according to such characteristics as ability or weight: the club will finish second in Division One.

- a part of a county, country, or city defined for administrative or political purposes: a licensing division of a district.

- BRITISH a part of a county or borough forming a parliamentary constituency.

- [BOTANY] a principal taxonomic category that ranks above class and below kingdom, equivalent to the phylum in zoology.

- [ZOOLOGY] any subsidiary category between major levels of classification.

5 [count noun] a partition: the villagers lived in a communal building and there were no solid divisions between neighbours.

<PHRASES>

□ division of labour the assignment of different parts of a manufacturing process or task to different people in order to improve efficiency.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French devisiun, from Latin divisio(n-), from the verb dividere (see DIVIDE).

divisional adj. 1 relating to an organizational or administrative division: a divisional manager.

2 forming a partition: divisional walls.

<DERIVATIVES> divisionally adv.

divisionalize /dv(ə)n(ə)lz/ (also divisionalise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. divisionalized) subdivide (an organization) into a number of divisions: a large divisionalized Western corporation.

<DERIVATIVES> divisionalization n.

division bell n. (in Britain) a bell rung in Parliament to announce an imminent division.

divisionism n. another term for POINTILLISM.

division sign n. the sign ÷, placed between two numbers showing that the first is to be divided by the second, as in 6 ÷ 3 = 2.

divisive /dvsv/ adj. tending to cause disagreement or hostility between people: the highly divisive issue of abortion.

<DERIVATIVES> divisively adv. divisiveness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a noun denoting something that divides or separates): from late Latin divisivus, from Latin dividere (see DIVIDE).

divisor /dvzə/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a number by which another number is to be divided.

- a number that divides into another without a remainder.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French diviseur or Latin divisor, from dividere (see DIVIDE).

divorce n. the legal dissolution of a marriage by a court or other competent body: her divorce from her first husband | [mass noun] one in three marriages ends in divorce.

- a legal decree dissolving a marriage.

- [in sing.] a separation between things which were or ought to be connected: a divorce between ownership and control in the typical large company.

■ v. [with obj.] legally dissolve one's marriage with (someone): she divorced him in 1965 | [no obj.] they divorced eight years later.

- separate or dissociate (something) from something else, typically with an undesirable effect: religion cannot be divorced from morality.

- (divorce oneself from) dissociate oneself from (something): a desire to divorce myself from history.

<DERIVATIVES> divorcement n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: the noun from Old French divorce, from Latin divortium, based on divertere (see DIVERT); the verb from Old French divorcer, from late Latin divortiare, from divortium.

divorcee /dvsi/ n. (US masc. divorcé, fem. divorcée /-se/) a divorced person.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French divorcé(e) ‘divorced man (or woman)’.

divot /dvət/ n. 1 a piece of turf cut out of the ground by a golf club in making a stroke or by a sports player's boot.

- a small hole made in such a way.

2 chiefly SCOTTISH a piece of turf, as formerly used for roofing cottages.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: of unknown origin.

divulge /dvld d-/ v. [with obj.] make known (private or sensitive information): I am too much of a gentleman to divulge her age.

<DERIVATIVES> divulgation n. divulgence n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘announce publicly’): from Latin divulgare, from di- ‘widely’ + vulgare ‘publish’ (from vulgus ‘common people’).

divvy^1 INFORMAL n. (also divi) (plural divvies) BRITISH a dividend or share, especially of profits earned by a cooperative: the divvy is being held at 8.8p.

■ v. (divvies, divvying, divvied) [with obj.] share out: they divvied up the proceeds.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of DIVIDEND.

divvy^2 BRITISH INFORMAL n. (pl. divvies) a foolish or stupid person.

■ adj. foolish; stupid.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: of unknown origin.

Diwali /dwαli/ (also Divali) n. a Hindu festival with lights, held in the period October to November. It is particularly associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, and marks the beginning of the financial year in India.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dīvālī, from Sanskrit dīpāvali ‘row of lights’, from dīpā ‘lamp’ + vali ‘row’.

diwan /dwαn/ (also dewan) n. 1 (in Islamic societies) a central finance department, chief administrative office, or regional governing body.

2 HISTORICAL a chief treasury official, finance minister, or Prime Minister in some Indian states.

<ORIGIN> Urdu, from Persian dīwān ‘fiscal register’; compare with DIVAN.

Dixie an informal name for the Southern states of the US. It was used in the song ‘Dixie’ (1859), a marching song popular with Confederate soldiers in the American Civil War.

<PHRASES>

□ whistle Dixie US engage in unrealistic fantasies; waste one's time.

dixie n. (pl. dixies) a large iron cooking pot used by campers or soldiers.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Hindi degcī ‘cooking pot’, from Persian degča, diminutive of deg ‘pot’.

Dixiecrat /dkskrat/ n. US INFORMAL any of the Southern Democrats who seceded from the party in 1948 in opposition to its policy of extending civil rights.

Dixieland n. [mass noun] a kind of jazz with a strong two-beat rhythm and collective improvisation, which originated in New Orleans in the early 20th century.

DIY chiefly BRITISH n. [mass noun] the activity of decorating, building, and making fixtures and repairs at home by oneself rather than employing a professional.

■ adj. [attr.] relating to DIY: a DIY store.

- done in person by someone without the relevant qualifications: we intend to have DIY funerals.

<DERIVATIVES> DIY'er n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: abbreviation of DO-IT-YOURSELF.

diya /dijə/ n. INDIAN a small cup-shaped oil lamp made of baked clay.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dīyā.

Diyarbakir /djαbəkə/ a city in SE Turkey, capital of a province of the same name; pop. 570,900 (est. 2002).

dizygotic /dztk/ adj. (of twins) derived from two separate ova, and so not identical.

dizygous /dzəs/ adj. another term for DIZYGOTIC.

dizzy adj. (dizzier, dizziest) having or involving a sensation of spinning around and losing one's balance: Jonathan had begun to suffer dizzy spells | FIGURATIVE he looked around, dizzy with happiness.

- causing a spinning sensation: a sheer, dizzy drop | FIGURATIVE a dizzy range of hues.

- INFORMAL (of a woman) silly: a dizzy blonde.

■ v. (dizzies, dizzying, dizzied) [with obj.] (usually as adj. dizzying) make (someone) feel unsteady, confused, or amazed: the dizzying rate of change | her nearness dizzied him.

<PHRASES>

□ the dizzy heights INFORMAL a position of great importance: the dizzy heights of TV stardom.

<DERIVATIVES> dizzily adv. dizziness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dysig ‘foolish’, of West Germanic origin; related to Low German dusig, dösig ‘giddy’ and Old High German tusic ‘foolish, weak’.

DJ^1 n. a disc jockey.

- a person who uses samples of recorded music to make dance music.

■ v. (DJ's, DJ'ing, DJ'd) [no obj.] perform as a disc jockey, typically in a club.

DJ^2 n. BRITISH a dinner jacket.

djellaba /dεləbə/ (also djellabah or jellaba) n. a loose hooded woollen cloak of a kind traditionally worn by Arabs.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Moroccan Arabic jellāba, jellābiyya.

djembe /εmbə εmbe/ n. a kind of goblet-shaped hand drum originating in West Africa.

<ORIGIN> French djembé, from Mande jembe.

Djerba /dəbə/ (also Jerba) a resort island in the Gulf of Gabès off the coast of Tunisia.

Djibouti /dbuti/ (also Jibuti) a country on the NE coast of Africa; pop. 820,600 (est. 2002); languages, Arabic (official), French (official), Somali and other Cushitic languages.

- the capital of Djibouti, a port at the western end of the Gulf of Aden; pop. 547,100 (est. 2002).

The territory became a French protectorate under the name of French Somaliland in 1897. It was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and Issas in 1946, the Afars and the Issas forming the two main ethnic groups. In 1977 the country achieved independence as the Republic of Djibouti.

<DERIVATIVES> Djiboutian adj. & n.

DK abbr. Denmark (international vehicle registration).

dkl abbr. US dekaliter(s).

dkm abbr. US dekameter(s).

DL abbr.

- Deputy Lieutenant.

- NORTH AMERICAN disabled list, a list of injured sports players who are temporarily unable to play.

dl abbr. decilitre(s).

D-layer n. the lowest layer of the ionosphere, able to reflect low-frequency radio waves.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from an arbitrary use of the letter D.

DLitt abbr. Doctor of Letters.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Doctor Litterarum.

DLL abbr. [COMPUTING] dynamic linked library, a collection of subroutines stored on disk, which can be loaded into memory and executed when accessed by a running program.

D-lock n. a mechanism used to secure a bicycle or motorbike when parked, consisting of a U-shaped bar which is locked to a crosspiece of solid metal.

dlr abbr. dollar.

DM abbr. Deutschmark.

dm abbr. decimetre(s).

DMA abbr. direct memory access, a method allowing a peripheral device to transfer data to or from the memory of a computer system using operations not under the control of the central processor.

D-mark n. short for DEUTSCHMARK.

DMD abbr. Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

DMs abbr. Dr Martens.

DMSO abbr. [CHEMISTRY] dimethyl sulphoxide.

dmu abbr. BRITISH diesel multiple unit.

DMus abbr. Doctor of Music.

DMV abbr. (in the US) Department of Motor Vehicles.

DMZ abbr. NORTH AMERICAN demilitarized zone, an area from which warring parties agree to remove their military forces.

DNA n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] deoxyribonucleic acid, a self-replicating material which is present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes. It is the carrier of genetic information.

Each molecule of DNA consists of two strands coiled round each other to form a double helix, a structure like a spiral ladder. Each rung of the ladder consists of a pair of chemical groups called bases (of which there are four types), which combine in specific pairs so that the sequence on one strand of the double helix is complementary to that on the other: it is the specific sequence of bases which constitutes the genetic information.

DNA fingerprinting (also DNA profiling) n. another term for GENETIC FINGERPRINTING.

DNase /diεnez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which catalyses the hydrolysis of DNA into oligonucleotides and smaller molecules. Also called DEOXYRIBONUCLEASE.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from DNA + -ASE.

DNA virus n. a virus in which the genetic information is stored in the form of DNA (as opposed to RNA).

DNB abbr. Dictionary of National Biography.

Dnieper /dnipə/ a river of eastern Europe, rising in Russia west of Moscow and flowing southwards some 2,200 km (1,370 miles) through Ukraine to the Black Sea. Ukrainian name Dnipro /dniprə/.

Dniester /dnistə/ a river of eastern Europe, rising in the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine and flowing 1,410 km (876 miles) to the Black Sea near Odessa. Russian name Dnestr /dnister/.

Dniprodzerzhinsk /dniprədzənsk/ an industrial city and river port in Ukraine, on the River Dnieper; pop. 256,000 (est. 2001). Former name (until 1936) KAMENSKOYE.

Dnipropetrovsk /dniprəpεtrfsk/ an industrial city and river port in Ukraine, on the River Dnieper; pop. 1,064,000 (est. 2001). It was known as Yekaterinoslav (Ekaterinoslav) until 1926. Russian name Dnepropetrovsk /dprəptrfsk/.

D notice n. BRITISH a government notice issued to news editors requiring them not to publicize certain information for reasons of national security.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: D for defence.

DNR abbr.

- (in the US) Department of Natural Resources.

- do not resuscitate, denoting an instruction not to attempt the resuscitation of a terminally ill patient after cardiac arrest in hospital.

DNS abbr.

- [COMPUTING] domain name server, the system that automatically translates Internet addresses to the numeric machine addresses that computers use.

- domain name system, the hierarchical method by which Internet addresses are constructed.

do^1 v. (does; doing; past did; past participle done) 1 [with obj.] perform (an action, the precise nature of which is often unspecified): something must be done about the city's traffic | she knew what she was doing | what can I do for you? | Brian was looking at the girl, and had been doing so for most of the hearing.

- perform (a particular task): Dad always did the washing up on Sundays.

- work on (something) to bring it to completion or to a required state: it takes them longer to do their hair than me | she's the secretary and does the publicity.

- [no obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL do the cleaning for a person or household: Florrie usually did for the Shermans in the mornings.

- make or have available and provide: many hotels don't do single rooms at all | [with two objs] he decided to do her a pastel sketch of himself.

- solve; work out: Joe was doing sums aloud.

- cook (food) to completion or to a specified degree: if a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean, then your pie is done.

- (often in questions) work at for a living: what does she do?

- learn or study; take as one's subject: I'm doing English, German, and History.

- produce or give a performance of (a particular play, opera, etc.): the Royal Shakespeare Company are doing Macbeth next month.

- INFORMAL imitate (a particular person) in order to entertain people: he not only does Schwarzenegger and Groucho, he becomes them.

- INFORMAL take (a narcotic drug): he doesn't smoke, drink, or do drugs.

- attend to (someone): the barber said he'd do me next.

- VULGAR SLANG have sexual intercourse with.

- (do it) INFORMAL have sexual intercourse.

- (do it) INFORMAL urinate or defecate.

2 [with obj.] achieve or complete, in particular:

- travel (a specified distance): one car I looked at had done 112,000 miles.

- travel at (a specified speed): I was speeding, doing seventy-five.

- make (a particular journey): last time I did Oxford–York return by train it was £50.

- INFORMAL visit as a tourist, especially in a superficial or hurried way: the Americans are allotted only a day to do the Yorkshire Moors.

- spend (a specified period of time) in prison or in a particular occupation: he did five years for manslaughter | Peter has done thirteen years in the RAF.

- [no obj.] INFORMAL finish: you must sit there and wait till I've done | [with present participle] we've done arguing.

- (be done) be over: the special formula continues to beautify your tan when the day is done.

- (be/have done with) BRITISH give up concern for; have finished with: I should sell the place and be done with it | Steve was not done with her.

3 [no obj., with adverbial] act or behave in a specified way: they are free to do as they please | you did well to bring her back.

- make progress or perform in a specified way; get on or fare: when a team is doing badly, it's not easy for a new player to settle in | Mrs Walters, how're you doing?

- [with obj. and complement] have a specified effect on: the walk will do me good.

- [with obj.] result in: the years of stagnation did a lot of harm to the younger generation.

4 [no obj.] be suitable or acceptable: if he's anything like you, he'll do | [with obj.] a couple of quid'll do me.

- suffice or be usable: a strip of white cotton about 20 yards long did for a fence.

5 [with obj.] INFORMAL beat up or kill: one day I'll do him.

- (be done) be ruined: once you falter, you're done.

- rob (a place): this would be an easy place to do and there was plenty of money lying around.

- British INFORMAL swindle: a thousand pounds for one set of photographs—Jacqui had been done.

6 [with obj.] (usually be/get done for) BRITISH INFORMAL prosecute or convict: we got done for conspiracy to cause GBH.

■ auxiliary v. 1 used before a verb (except be, can, may, ought, shall, will) in questions and negative statements: do you have any pets? | did he see me? | I don't smoke | it does not matter.

- used to make tag questions: you write poetry, don't you? | I never seem to say the right thing, do I?

- used in negative commands: don't be silly | do not forget.

2 used to refer back to a verb already mentioned: he looks better than he did before | you wanted to enjoy yourself, and you did | as they get smarter, so do the crooks.

3 used to give emphasis to a positive verb: I do want to act on this | he did look tired.

- used in positive commands to give polite encouragement: do tell me! | do sit down.

4 used with inversion of a subject and verb when an adverbial phrase begins a clause for emphasis: only rarely did they succumb | not only did the play close, the theatre closed.

■ n. (pl. dos or do's) 1 BRITISH INFORMAL a party or other social event: the soccer club Christmas do.

2 (also 'do) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN short for HAIRDO.

3 ARCHAIC, INFORMAL a swindle or hoax.

<PHRASES>

□ be nothing to do with be no business or concern of: it's my decision—it's nothing to do with you.

- be unconnected with: he says his departure is nothing to do with the resignation calls.

□ be to do with be concerned or connected with: the problems are usually to do with family tension.

□ do a —— INFORMAL behave in a manner characteristic of (a specified person): he did a Garbo after his flop in the play.

□ do battle enter into a conflict.

□ don't —— me INFORMAL do not use the word —— to me: ‘Don't morning me. Where the hell've you been all night?’.

□ do one [in imperative] N. English INFORMAL go away: look, just do one, will you!

□ do or die persist, even if death is the result.

- used to describe a critical situation where one's actions may result in victory or defeat: the 72nd hole was do or die.

□ dos and don'ts rules of behaviour: I have no knowledge of the political dos and don'ts.

□ do well for oneself become successful or wealthy.

□ do well out of make a profit out of; benefit from: they're doing well out of scrap metal.

□ have (got) —— to do with be connected with (someone or something) to the extent specified: John's got nothing to do with that terrible murder.

- (have nothing to do with) have no contact or dealings with: Billy and his father have had nothing to do with each other for nearly twenty years.

□ it isn't done BRITISH used to express the opinion that a particular thing contravenes custom or propriety: in such a society it is not done to admit to taking religion seriously.

□ it won't do BRITISH used to express the opinion that a particular person's behaviour is unsatisfactory and cannot be allowed to continue: Can't have that kind of talk—I've told you before, it won't do.

□ no you don't! INFORMAL used to indicate that one intends to prevent someone from doing what they were about to do: Sharon went to get in the taxi. ‘Oh no you don't’, said Steve.

□ that does it! INFORMAL used to indicate that one will not tolerate a particular thing any longer: That does it! Let's go!

□ that's done it! INFORMAL used to express dismay or anger when something has gone wrong.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ do away with INFORMAL put an end to; remove: the desire to do away with racism.

- kill: he didn't have the courage to do away with her.

□ do by DATED treat or deal with in a specified way: do as you would be done by | she did well by them.

□ do someone/thing down BRITISH INFORMAL get the better of someone, typically in an underhand way.

- criticize someone or something: they're always moaning and doing British industry down.

□ do for INFORMAL defeat, ruin, or kill: without that contract we're done for | it was the cold that did for him in the end.

□ do something (or nothing) for INFORMAL enhance (or detract from) the appearance or quality of: whatever the new forum does for industry, it certainly does something for the Minister | that scarf does nothing for you.

□ do someone in INFORMAL kill someone.

- (be done in) INFORMAL be tired out: there was 1 minute 4 seconds to play and the Lions were done in.

□ do something in INFORMAL injure something: I did my back in a few years ago.

□ do someone out of INFORMAL deprive someone of (something) in an underhand or unfair way.

□ do something out BRITISH INFORMAL decorate or furnish a room or building in a particular style, colour, or material: the basement is done out in limed oak.

□ do someone over BRITISH INFORMAL beat someone up.

□ do something over 1 BRITISH INFORMAL ransack a place, especially while searching for something worth stealing.

2 INFORMAL decorate or furnish a room or building.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL repeat something: to absorb the lesson, I had to do it over and over.

□ do up be able to be fastened: a shirt so tight that not all of the buttons did up.

□ do someone up dress someone up, especially in an elaborate or impressive way: Agnes was all done up in a slinky black number.

□ do something up 1 fasten something: she drew on her coat and did up the buttons.

- arrange one's hair in a particular way, especially so as to be pulled back from one's face or shoulders: her dark hair was done up in a pony tail.

- wrap something up: unwieldy packs all done up with string.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL renovate or redecorate a room or building: Mrs Hamilton did the place up for letting.

□ do with [with modal] would find useful or would like to have or do: I could do with a cup of coffee.

- (can't/won't be doing with) BRITISH be unwilling to tolerate or be bothered with: she couldn't be doing with meals for one.

□ do without [with modal] manage without: she could do without food for a day.

- INFORMAL would prefer not to have: I can do without your carping first thing in the morning.

<ORIGIN> Old English dōn, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch doen and German tun, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek tithēmi ‘I place’ and Latin facere ‘make, do’.

do. abbr. DATED ditto.

DOA abbr. dead on arrival, used to describe a person who is declared dead immediately upon their arrival at a hospital.

doable /duəb(ə)l/ adj. INFORMAL within one's powers; feasible: none of the jobs were fun, but they were doable.

dob v. (dobs, dobbing, dobbed) [with obj.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL 1 (dob someone in) inform against someone: Helen dobbed me in to Mum.

- [no obj.] (dob on) inform on; betray.

2 (dob something in) contribute money to a common cause: everyone dobbed in a few dollars.

3 (dob someone in) impose on someone to do something: I dobbed him in to do the cleaning.

<DERIVATIVES> dobber n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: figurative use of dialect dob ‘put down abruptly’, later ‘throw something at a target’.

d.o.b. abbr. date of birth.

dobbin n. a pet name for a draught horse or a farm horse.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: pet form of the given name Robert.

dobby n. (pl. dobbies) a mechanism attached to a loom for weaving small patterns similar to but simpler than those produced by a Jacquard loom.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps an application of the given name Dobbie, from Dob (alteration of the given name Rob). The usage is probably an extension of the earlier sense ‘benevolent elf’ (who performed household tasks secretly).

dobe /dəbi/ n. [mass noun] US INFORMAL adobe.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation.

Dobermann /dəbəmən/ (also Dobermann pinscher /pnə/) (chiefly NORTH AMERICAN also Doberman) n. a large dog of a German breed with powerful jaws and a smooth coat, typically black with tan markings.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of Ludwig Dobermann, 19th-cent. German dog breeder + German Pinscher ‘terrier’.

dobra /dbrə/ n. the basic monetary unit of São Tomé and Principe, equal to 100 centavos.

<ORIGIN> from Portuguese dóbra ‘doubloon’.

Dobrich /dbrt/ a city in NE Bulgaria, the centre for an agricultural region; pop. 100,379 (2001). It was named Tolbukhin 1949–91 after the Soviet marshal Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin.

dobro /dbrə/ n. (pl. dobros) TRADEMARK a type of acoustic guitar with steel resonating discs inside the body under the bridge.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Do(pěra) Bro(thers), the Czech-American inventors of the instrument.

Dobruja /dbrjə/ a district of eastern Romania and NE Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast, bounded on the north and west by the River Danube.

dobsonfly /dbs(ə)nfl/ n. (pl. dobsonflies) a large grey North American winged insect related to the alderflies. Its predatory aquatic larva (the hellgrammite) is often used as fishing bait.

<INFO> Family Corydalidae, order Neuroptera: several genera and species, in particular Corydalis cornutus.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

Dobsonian /dbsənən/ adj. relating to or denoting a low-cost Newtonian reflecting telescope with large aperture and short focal length, or the simple altazimuth mount used for it.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from the name of John Dobson, American amateur astronomer, + -IAN.

Dobson unit (abbr.: DU) n. a unit of measurement for the total amount of ozone in the atmosphere above a point on the earth's surface, one Dobson unit being equivalent to a layer of pure ozone 0.01 mm thick at standard temperature and pressure.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from the name of G. M. B. Dobson (1889–1976), British meteorologist.

doc abbr.

- INFORMAL doctor.

- [COMPUTING] document.

docent /dəs(ə)nt/ n. 1 (in certain US and European universities and colleges) a member of the teaching staff immediately below professorial rank.

2 a person who acts as a guide, typically on a voluntary basis, in a museum, art gallery, or zoo.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via German from Latin docent- ‘teaching’, from docere ‘teach’.

Docetism /dəsitz(ə)m dəstz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the doctrine, important in Gnosticism, that Christ's body was not human but either a phantasm or of real but celestial substance, and that therefore his sufferings were only apparent.

<DERIVATIVES> Docetist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from medieval Latin Docetae (the name, based on Greek dokein ‘seem’, given to a group of 2nd-cent. Christian heretics) + -ISM.

docile /dəsl/ adj. ready to accept control or instruction; submissive: a cheap and docile workforce | she's a black Labrador, gentle and docile.

<DERIVATIVES> docilely adv. docility n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘apt or willing to learn’): from Latin docilis, from docere ‘teach’.

dock^1 n. an enclosed area of water in a port for the loading, unloading, and repair of ships.

- (docks) a group of docks along with wharves and associated buildings.

■ short for DRY DOCK.

- NORTH AMERICAN a jetty or pier where a ship may moor.

- (also loading dock) a platform for loading lorries or goods trains.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a ship) come into a dock and tie up at a wharf: the ship docked at Southampton.

- [with obj.] bring (a ship or boat) into a dock: the yard where the boats were docked and maintained.

- (of a spacecraft) join with a space station or another spacecraft in space.

- attach (a piece of equipment) to another: the user wants to dock a portable into a desktop computer.

<PHRASES>

□ in dock (of a ship) moored in a dock.

- British INFORMAL (of a person) not fully fit and out of action: he grazed my arm and put me in dock for a couple of days.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German docke, of unknown origin.

dock^2 n. the enclosure in a criminal court where a defendant stands or sits: the nine others in the dock face a combination of charges.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably originally slang and related to Flemish dok ‘chicken coop, rabbit hutch’, of unknown origin.

dock^3 n. a coarse weed of temperate regions, with inconspicuous greenish or reddish flowers. The leaves are used to relieve nettle stings.

<INFO> Genus Rumex, family Polygonaceae.

<ORIGIN> Old English docce, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dialect dokke.

dock^4 v. [with obj.] 1 deduct (something, especially an amount of money or a point in a game): the agency enforce payments by docking money from the father's salary | [with two objs] he was docked a penalty point.

2 cut short (an animal's tail): their tails were docked.

■ n. the solid bony or fleshy part of an animal's tail, excluding the hair.

- the stump left after a tail has been docked.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps related to Frisian dok ‘bunch, ball (of string etc.)’ and German Docke ‘doll’. The original noun sense was ‘the solid part of an animal's tail’, whence the verb sense ‘cut short an animal's tail’, later generalized to ‘reduce, deduct’.

dockage n. [mass noun] accommodation or berthing of ships in docks.

dock brief n. chiefly HISTORICAL a brief given directly to a barrister selected from a panel of those present by a prisoner in the dock, without the agency of a solicitor.

docken /dk(ə)n/ n. chiefly SCOTTISH another term for dock^3 (the plant).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: apparently from Old English doccan, plural of docce (see dock^3).

docker n. a person employed in a port to load and unload ships.

docket n. 1 BRITISH a document or label listing the contents of a consignment or package.

- a customs warrant certifying that duty has been paid on goods entering a country.

- a voucher entitling the holder to receive or obtain delivery of goods ordered.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a list of cases for trial or people having cases pending.

- an agenda or list of things to be done.

■ v. (dockets, docketing, docketed) [with obj.] 1 mark (a consignment or package) with a document or label listing the contents.

2 NORTH AMERICAN enter (a case) on a list of those due to be heard.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: perhaps from DOCK^4. The word originally denoted a short summary or abstract; hence, in the early 18th century, ‘a document giving particulars of a consignment’.

docking station n. a device to which a portable computer is connected so that it can be used like a desktop computer, with an external power supply, monitor, data transfer capability, etc.

dockland n. [mass noun] (also docklands) BRITISH the area containing a city's docks: an old fishing village just west of dockland | plans to redevelop London's docklands.

dockominium /dkəmnəm/ n. (pl. dockominiums) US a waterfront condominium with a private mooring.

- a privately owned landing stage at a marina.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from DOCK^1, on the pattern of condominium.

dockside n. the area immediately adjacent to a dock.

dockyard n. an area with docks and equipment for repairing and maintaining ships.

doctor n. 1 a person who is qualified to treat people who are ill: [as title] Doctor Thornhill.

- NORTH AMERICAN a qualified dentist or veterinary surgeon.

- [with modifier] INFORMAL a person employed to make improvements or give advice: the script doctor rewrote the original.

2 (Doctor) a person who holds the highest university degree: he was made a Doctor of Divinity. short for DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH.

- ARCHAIC a teacher or learned person: the wisest doctor is gravelled by the inquisitiveness of a child.

3 [ANGLING] an artificial fishing fly.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 change the content or appearance of (a document or picture) in order to deceive; falsify: the reports could have been doctored.

- alter the content of (food or drink) by adding strong or harmful ingredients: he denied doctoring Stephen's drinks.

- [CRICKET] & [BASEBALL] tamper with (a ball) so as to affect its flight when bowled or pitched.

2 (usually as n. doctoring) INFORMAL treat (someone) medically: he contemplated giving up doctoring.

- remove the sexual organs of (an animal) so that it cannot reproduce.

- repair (a machine).

<PHRASES>

□ be (just) what the doctor ordered INFORMAL be very beneficial or desirable under the circumstances: a 2-0 victory is just what the doctor ordered.

□ go for the doctor AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL make an all-out effort: he will go for the doctor in Parliament next week.

<DERIVATIVES> doctorly adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘learned person’ and ‘Doctor of the Church’): via Old French from Latin doctor ‘teacher’ (from docere ‘teach’).

doctoral /dkt(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. [attr.] relating to or designed to achieve a doctorate: a doctoral thesis.

doctorate /dkt(ə)rət/ n. the highest degree awarded by a university faculty or other approved educational organization: a doctorate in art history.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin doctoratus ‘made a doctor’.

Doctor of Philosophy (abbr.: PhD or DPhil) n. a doctorate in any faculty except medicine or sometimes theology.

- a person holding such a degree.

Doctor of the Church n. one of the early Christian theologians regarded as especially authoritative in the Western Church (particularly St Augustine of Hippo, St Jerome, St Ambrose, and St Gregory the Great) or later so designated by the Pope (e.g. St Thomas Aquinas, St Teresa of Ávila). Compare with FATHERS OF THE CHURCH (see FATHER (SENSE 3 OF THE NOUN)).

doctrinaire /dktrnε/ adj. seeking to impose a doctrine in all circumstances without regard to practical considerations: the administration's doctrinaire economic policy.

■ n. a doctrinaire person.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from doctrine (see DOCTRINE).

doctrinal /dktrn(ə)l/ adj. concerned with a doctrine or doctrines: doctrinal disputes.

<DERIVATIVES> doctrinally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin doctrinalis, from doctrina ‘teaching, learning’ (see DOCTRINE).

doctrine /dktrn/ n. a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church, political party, or other group: the doctrine of predestination.

- US a stated principle of government policy, mainly in foreign or military affairs: the Truman Doctrine.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin doctrina ‘teaching, learning’, from doctor ‘teacher’, from docere ‘teach’.

docudrama /dkjdrαmə/ n. a dramatized television film based on real events.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of DOCUMENTARY and DRAMA.

document n. /dkjm(ə)nt/ a piece of written, printed, or electronic matter that provides information or evidence or that serves as an official record.

■ v. /dkjmεnt/ [with obj.] record (something) in written, photographic, or other form: the photographer spent years documenting the lives of miners.

- support or accompany with documentation.

<DERIVATIVES> documentable adj. documental /-mεnt(ə)l/ adj. documentative adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin documentum ‘lesson, proof’ (in medieval Latin ‘written instruction, official paper’), from docere ‘teach’.

documentalist n. a person engaged in keeping records and providing information.

documentarian /dkjmεntεrən/ n. 1 (also documentarist) a photographer specializing in producing a factual record.

- a director or producer of documentaries.

2 an expert analyst of historical documents.

documentary adj. 1 consisting of or based on official documents: documentary evidence of regular payments from the company.

2 using pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject: a documentary programme about Manchester United.

■ n. (pl. documentaries) a film or television or radio programme that provides a factual report on a particular subject.

documentation n. [mass noun] 1 material that provides official information or evidence or that serves as a record: you will have to complete the relevant documentation.

- the written specification and instructions accompanying a product, especially a computer program or hardware.

2 the process of classifying and annotating texts, photographs, etc.: she arranged the collection and documentation of photographs.

document case n. a lightweight, typically flexible case for carrying papers.

docusoap n. a documentary following people in a particular occupation or location over a period of time.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of DOCUMENTARY and SOAP.

docutainment /dkjtenmənt/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN entertainment provided by films or other presentations that is intended both to inform and entertain.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of DOCUMENTARY and ENTERTAINMENT.

DOD abbr. (in the US) Department of Defense.

dodder^1 v. [no obj.] (often as adj. doddering) tremble or totter, typically because of old age: that doddering old fool.

<DERIVATIVES> dodderer n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: variant of obsolete dialect dadder; related to DITHER.

dodder^2 n. a widely distributed parasitic climbing plant of the convolvulus family, with leafless thread-like stems that are attached to the host plant by means of suckers.

<INFO> Genus Cuscuta, family Convolvulaceae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: related to Middle Low German doder, dodder, Middle High German toter.

doddery adj. slow and unsteady in movement because of weakness in old age.

<DERIVATIVES> dodderiness n.

doddle n. [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL a very easy task: this printer's a doddle to set up and use.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: perhaps from dialect doddle ‘toddle’, of unknown origin.

dodeca- /dədεkə/ combining form (used chiefly in scientific and musical terms) twelve; having twelve: dodecahedron | dodecaphonic.

<ORIGIN> from Greek.

dodecagon /dədεkə(ə)n/ n. a plane figure with twelve straight sides and angles.

<DERIVATIVES> dodecagonal /dədka(ə)n(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek dōdekagōnon, neuter (used as a noun) of dōdekagōnos ‘twelve-angled’.

dodecahedron /dədεkəhidr(ə)n -hεd-/ n. (pl. dodecahedra /-drə/ or dodecahedrons) a three-dimensional shape having twelve plane faces, in particular a regular solid figure with twelve equal pentagonal faces.

<DERIVATIVES> dodecahedral adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek dōdekaedron, neuter (used as a noun) of dōdekaedros ‘twelve-faced’.

Dodecanese /dədkəniz/ a group of twelve islands in the SE Aegean, of which the largest is Rhodes.

dodecaphonic /dədεkəfnk/ adj. [MUSIC] another term for TWELVE-NOTE.

dodge v. [with obj.] 1 avoid (someone or something) by a sudden quick movement: marchers had to dodge missiles thrown by loyalists.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move quickly to one side or out of the way: Adam dodged between the cars.

- avoid (something) in a cunning or dishonest way: he'd caught her dodging fares on the underground.

2 (often as n. dodging) [PHOTOGRAPHY] expose (one area of a print) less than the rest during processing or enlarging.

3 [no obj.] [BELL-RINGING] (of a bell in change-ringing) move one place contrary to the normal sequence, and then back again in the following round.

■ n. 1 a sudden quick movement to avoid someone or something.

- INFORMAL a cunning trick or dishonest act, in particular one intended to avoid something unpleasant: the grant system's widespread use as a tax dodge.

2 [BELL-RINGING] the dodging of a bell in change-ringing.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the senses ‘dither’ and ‘haggle’): of unknown origin.

dodgeball n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a game in which players, in teams, form a circle and try to hit opponents with a large ball.

Dodge City a city in SW Kansas; pop. 25,200 (2000). Established in 1872 as a railhead on the Santa Fe Trail, it rapidly gained a reputation as a rowdy frontier town.

dodgem (also dodgem car) n. BRITISH a small electrically powered car with rubber bumpers all round, driven in an enclosure at a funfair with the aim of bumping into other such cars.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: US proprietary name (as Dodg'em), from the phrase dodge them.

dodger n. 1 [often with modifier] INFORMAL a person who engages in cunning tricks or dishonest practices to avoid something unpleasant: tax dodgers.

- [in combination] BRITISH HUMOROUS a person who dislikes or avoids a specified thing: a greasy-haired soap-dodger.

2 [NAUTICAL] a canvas screen on a ship giving protection from spray.

Dodgson Charles Lutwidge, see CARROLL.

dodgy adj. (dodgier, dodgiest) BRITISH INFORMAL dishonest or unreliable: a dodgy second-hand car salesman.

- potentially dangerous: activities like these could be dodgy for your heart.

- of low quality: Spurs' dodgy defence had thrown away a 2-0 lead.

<DERIVATIVES> dodgily adv. dodginess n.

dodo /dədə/ n. (pl. dodos or dodoes) a large extinct flightless bird with a stout body, stumpy wings, a large head, and a heavy hooked bill. It was found on Mauritius until the end of the 17th century.

<INFO> Raphus cucullatus, family Raphidae.

- INFORMAL an old-fashioned and ineffective person.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) dead as a (or the) dodo INFORMAL completely dead or extinct.

- no longer effective, valid, or interesting: the campaign was as dead as a dodo.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Portuguese doudo ‘simpleton’ (because the bird had no fear of man and was easily killed). Compare with DOTTEREL.

Dodoma /dədəmə/ the capital of Tanzania, in the centre of the country; pop. 157,300 (est. 2002).

DoE abbr. (formerly in the UK) Department of the Environment.

doe n. a female deer, especially a female roe, fallow deer, or reindeer.

- a female hare, rabbit, rat, ferret, or kangaroo.

<ORIGIN> Old English dā, of unknown origin.

doe-eyed adj. (especially of a woman) having large, gentle dark eyes: doe-eyed waifs.

doek /dk/ n. S. AFRICAN a headscarf.

<ORIGIN> South African Dutch, from Dutch, ‘cloth’.

doer n. the person who does something: the doer of the action.

- a person who acts rather than merely talking or thinking: I'm a doer, not a moaner.

- (also hard doer) AUSTRALIAN/NZ a person who is admired because of their courage and toughness.

does third person singular present of do^1.

doeskin /dəskn/ n. [mass noun] leather made from the skin of a doe fallow deer.

- a fine satin-weave woollen cloth resembling doeskin.

doesn't contraction does not.

doest archaic second person singular present of do^1.

doeth archaic third person singular present of do^1.

dof /df/ adj. S. African INFORMAL stupid; uninformed.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans.

doff v. [with obj.] remove (an item of clothing, especially a hat): the manager doffed his hat to her.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: contraction of do off. Compare with don^2.

dog n. 1 a domesticated carnivorous mammal that typically has a long snout, an acute sense of smell, non-retractile claws, and a barking, howling, or whining voice.

<INFO> Canis familiaris, family Canidae (the dog family); probably domesticated from the wolf in the Mesolithic period. The dog family also includes the wolves, coyotes, jackals, and foxes.

- a wild animal of the dog family.

- the male of an animal of the dog family, or of some other mammals such as the otter: [as modifier] a dog fox.

- (the dogs) BRITISH INFORMAL greyhound racing: a night at the dogs.

2 INFORMAL an unpleasant, contemptible, or wicked man.

- [with adj.] DATED used to refer to a person of a specified kind in a tone of playful reproof, commiseration, or congratulation: your historian is a dull dog | you lucky dog!

- used to refer to someone who is abject or miserable, especially because they have been treated harshly: I make him work like a dog | Rab was treated like a dog.

- INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE an unattractive woman.

- Australian/NZ INFORMAL an informer or traitor: one day she's going to turn dog on you.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a thing of poor quality: a dog of a film.

- INFORMAL a horse that is slow or difficult to handle.

3 used in names of dogfishes, e.g. sandy dog, spur-dog.

4 a mechanical device for gripping.

5 (dogs) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL feet.

6 (dogs) [HORSE RACING], US barriers used to keep horses off a particular part of the track.

■ v. (dogs, dogging, dogged) [with obj.] 1 follow (someone) closely and persistently: photographers seemed to dog her every step.

- (of a problem) cause continual trouble for: the twenty-nine-year-old has constantly been dogged by controversy.

2 (dog it) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN act lazily; fail to try one's hardest.

3 grip (something) with a mechanical device: [with obj. and complement] she has dogged the door shut.

<PHRASES>

□ dog and bone BRITISH RHYMING SLANG a telephone.

□ dog-and-pony show NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an elaborate display or presentation.

□ dog eat dog used to refer to a situation of fierce competition in which people are willing to harm each other in order to succeed: New York is a dog-eat-dog society.

□ dog in the manger a person who prevents others from having or using things that they do not need themselves. [<ORIGIN> alluding to the fable of the dog that lay in a manger to prevent the ox and horse from eating the hay.]

□ a dog's age NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a very long time: the best I've seen in a dog's age.

□ dogs bark, but the caravans move on PROVERB people may make a fuss, but it won't change the situation.

□ the dog's bollocks BRITISH VULGAR SLANG a person or thing that is the best of its kind.

□ a dog's dinner (or breakfast) BRITISH INFORMAL a poor piece of work; a mess: we made a real dog's breakfast of it.

□ a dog's life an unhappy existence, full of problems or unfair treatment: he led poor Amy a dog's life.

□ the dogs of war LITERARY the havoc accompanying military conflict. [<ORIGIN> from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (III. 1. 274).]

□ dressed (up) like a dog's dinner BRITISH INFORMAL wearing ridiculously smart or ostentatious clothes.

□ every dog has his (or its) day PROVERB everyone will have good luck or success at some point in their lives.

□ fight like cat and dog fight or quarrel bitterly and continually.

□ give a dog a bad name and hang him PROVERB it's very difficult to lose a bad reputation, even if it's unjustified.

□ go to the dogs INFORMAL deteriorate shockingly: the country is going to the dogs.

□ like a dog with two tails used to emphasize how delighted someone is: ‘Is he pleased?’ ‘Like a dog with two tails.’.

□ not a dog's chance no chance at all.

□ put on the dog NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL behave in a pretentious or ostentatious way: we have to put on the dog for Anne Marie.

□ throw someone to the dogs discard someone as worthless: young people look upon the older person as someone to be thrown to the dogs.

□ you can't teach an old dog new tricks PROVERB you cannot make people change their ways.

□ why keep a dog and bark yourself? PROVERB why pay someone to work for you and then do the work yourself?

<DERIVATIVES> dogdom n. doggish adj. doglike adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English docga, of unknown origin.

dogbane /dben/ n. a shrubby North American plant, typically having bell-shaped flowers and reputed to be poisonous to dogs.

<INFO> Genus Apocynum, family Apocynaceae.

dogberry n. (pl. dogberries) INFORMAL the fruit of the dogwood.

- (also dogberry tree) the dogwood.

- a fruit of poor eating quality from any of a number of other shrubs or small trees, e.g. the American rowan.

dog biscuit n. a hard, thick biscuit for feeding to dogs.

dogbox n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a compartment in a railway carriage without a corridor.

<PHRASES>

□ in the dogbox NZ & S. African INFORMAL in disfavour.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: originally denoting a box for a dog to lie in, later denoting a railway compartment for transporting dogs.

dog cart n. a two-wheeled cart for driving in, with cross seats back to back, originally incorporating a box under the seat for sportsmen's dogs.

dog clutch n. a device for coupling two shafts in order to transmit motion, one part having teeth which engage with slots in another.

dog cockle n. a burrowing bivalve mollusc which has a highly convex, almost spherical, shell.

<INFO> Family Glycimeridae: many species.

dog collar n. INFORMAL a clerical collar.

dog days plural n. chiefly LITERARY the hottest period of the year (reckoned in antiquity from the heliacal rising of Sirius, the Dog Star).

- a period of inactivity or decline: these are indeed dog days for British film production.

doge /dəd/ n. HISTORICAL the chief magistrate of Venice or Genoa.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Venetian Italian doze, based on Latin dux, duc- ‘leader’.

dog-eared adj. (of an object made from paper) having the corners worn or battered with use.

dog-end n. BRITISH INFORMAL a cigarette end.

- the last and least pleasing part of something: the dog-end of a hard day.

dogface n. US INFORMAL, DATED a US soldier, especially an infantryman.

dogfight n. a close combat between military aircraft.

- a ferocious struggle for supremacy between interested parties: the meeting deteriorated into a dogfight.

<DERIVATIVES> dogfighter n. dogfighting n.

dogfish n. (pl. same or dogfishes) 1 a small sand-coloured bottom-dwelling shark with a long tail, common on European coasts. Also called ROUGH HOUND, SANDY DOG.

<INFO> Scyliorhinus canicula, family Scyliorhinidae.

2 [with modifier] a small shark that resembles or is related to the dogfish, sometimes caught for food.

<INFO> Several genera in the families Scyliorhinidae, Squalidae, and Triakidae.

dogged /dd/ adj. having or showing tenacity and grim persistence: success required dogged determination.

<DERIVATIVES> doggedly adv. doggedness n.

dogger^1 n. HISTORICAL a two-masted bluff-bowed Dutch sailing boat, used for fishing.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Dutch.

dogger^2 n. [GEOLOGY] a large spherical concretion occurring in sedimentary rock.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally a dialect word denoting a kind of ironstone): perhaps from DOG.

Dogger Bank a submerged sandbank in the North Sea, about 115 km (70 miles) off the NE coast of England. This part of the central North Sea is covered by the shipping forecast area Dogger.

doggerel /d(ə)r(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] comic verse composed in irregular rhythm.

- verse or words that are badly written or expressed: the last stanza deteriorates into doggerel.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective describing such verse): apparently from DOG (used contemptuously, as in DOG LATIN) + -REL.

Doggett's Coat and Badge /dts/ an orange livery with a silver badge offered as a trophy in an annual rowing contest among Thames watermen in London. It was instituted in 1715 by an Irish comic actor, Thomas Doggett (1620–1721).

doggo adv. (in phrase lie doggo) INFORMAL remain motionless and quiet to escape detection: a dozen officers had been lying doggo for hours.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of obscure origin; apparently from DOG + -O.

doggone /dn/ NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL adj. [attr.] used to express feelings of annoyance, surprise, or pleasure: now just a doggone minute | [as submodifier] it's doggone good to be home.

■ v. [with obj.] damn; darn (used to express surprise, irritation, or anger): from that moment, doggone it if I didn't see a motivation in Joey! | I'll be doggoned if every fourth kid is affected.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably from dog on it, euphemism for God damn it.

doggy adj. (doggier, doggiest) of or like a dog: his doggy brown eyes.

- INFORMAL fond of dogs: it was a doggy household.

■ n. (also doggie) (plural doggies) a child's word for a dog.

<DERIVATIVES> dogginess n.

doggy bag n. a bag used by a restaurant customer or party guest to take home leftover food, supposedly for their dog.

doggy-paddle n. an elementary swimming stroke in which the swimmer beats at the water with the hands in a manner resembling a swimming dog.

■ v. [no obj.] swim using doggy-paddle.

doggy style (also doggy fashion) n. a sexual position in which the woman, usually supporting herself on her hands and knees, is penetrated from behind by the man.

dog handler n. a person who works with trained dogs: a police dog handler.

<DERIVATIVES> dog-handling n.

doghouse n. NORTH AMERICAN a dog's kennel.

- [SAILING] a raised area at the after end of a yacht's coachroof, providing standing room.

<PHRASES>

□ be in the doghouse INFORMAL be in disgrace or disfavour.

dogie /dəi/ n. (pl. dogies) NORTH AMERICAN a motherless or neglected calf.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

dog Latin n. [mass noun] a debased form of Latin.

dog-leg n. a thing that bends sharply, in particular a sharp bend in a road or route.

- [GOLF] a hole where the fairway has a bend.

dog-leg stair (also dog-leg staircase) n. a staircase which has no well and a bend of 180° in it, usually at a landing halfway between floors.

dogma /dmə/ n. a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true: the dogmas of faith | [mass noun] the rejection of political dogma.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via late Latin from Greek dogma ‘opinion’, from dokein ‘seem good, think’.

dogman n. (pl. dogmen) AUSTRALIAN/NZ a person giving directional signals to the operator of a crane, typically while sitting on the crane's load.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from DOG (SENSE 4 OF THE NOUN) + MAN.

dogmatic /dmatk/ adj. inclined to lay down principles as undeniably true: she was not tempted to be dogmatic about what she believed.

<DERIVATIVES> dogmatically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun denoting a philosopher or physician of a school based on a priori assumptions): via late Latin from Greek dogmatikos, from dogma, dogmat- (see DOGMA).

dogmatics plural n. [treated as sing.] a system of principles laid down by an authority, especially the Roman Catholic Church, as undeniably true: it is a work of analysis, not of dogmatics.

dogmatism n. [mass noun] the tendency to lay down principles as undeniably true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others: a culture of dogmatism and fanaticism.

<DERIVATIVES> dogmatist n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via French from medieval Latin dogmatismus, from Latin dogma (see DOGMA).

dogmatize /dmətz/ (also dogmatise) v. [with obj.] represent as an undeniable truth: I find views dogmatized to the point of absurdity.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via French and late Latin from Greek dogmatizein ‘lay down one's opinion’, from dogma (see DOGMA).

dognap v. (dognaps, dognapping, dognapped) [with obj.] INFORMAL steal (a dog), especially in order to sell it.

<DERIVATIVES> dognapper n.

do-gooder n. a well-meaning but unrealistic or interfering philanthropist or reformer.

<DERIVATIVES> do-good adj. & n. do-goodery n. do-gooding n. do-goodism n.

dog-paddle n. & v. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for DOGGY-PADDLE.

dog racing n. another term for GREYHOUND RACING.

Dogrib /drb/ n. 1 a member of a Dene people of NW Canada.

2 [mass noun] the Athabaskan language of the Dogrib, with about 2,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Dogrib or their language.

<ORIGIN> translation of Dogrib Thlingchadinne ‘dog's flank’, from the legend that the people's common ancestor was a dog.

dog-robber n. INFORMAL, chiefly US an army or navy officer's orderly.

dog rose n. a delicately scented Eurasian wild rose with pink or white flowers, which commonly grows in hedgerows.

<INFO> Genus Rosa, family Rosaceae: several closely related species, in particular R. canina.

dogsbody n. (pl. dogsbodies) BRITISH INFORMAL a person who is given menial tasks to do, especially a junior in an office: I got myself a job as typist and general dogsbody on a small magazine.

<DERIVATIVES> dogsbodying n.

dogshore n. each of a pair of blocks of timber positioned on each side of a ship on a slipway to prevent it sliding down before launching.

dogskin n. [mass noun] leather made of or imitating dog's skin, especially as used for gloves.

dog sled n. NORTH AMERICAN a sled designed to be pulled by dogs.

dog's mercury n. a Eurasian plant of the spurge family, with hairy stems and small green flowers, found as a dominant plant of old woodland.

<INFO> Mercurialis perennis, family Euphorbiaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: translating modern Latin Mercurialis canina (former taxonomic name); the plant is poisonous and is contrasted with Mercurialis annua ‘annual mercury’, useful in medicine.

dogstail (also dog's-tail) n. an Old World fodder grass with spiky flower heads.

<INFO> Genus Cynosurus, family Gramineae: several species, in particular crested dogstail (C. cristatus), a common pasture grass.

Dog Star the star Sirius.

<ORIGIN> translating Greek kuon or Latin canicula ‘small dog’, both names of the star; so named as it appears to follow at the heels of Orion (the hunter).

dog's-tooth violet n. a plant of the lily family which has backward-curving pointed petals.

<INFO> Genus Erythronium, family Liliaceae: several species, in particular the Eurasian E. dens-canis, with speckled leaves and pinkish-purple flowers.

dog tag n. a metal tag attached to a dog's collar, typically giving its name and owner's address.

- North American INFORMAL a soldier's metal identity tag.

dog-tired adj. extremely tired; worn out: he'd gone to bed dog-tired.

dog-tooth n. 1 [ARCHITECTURE] a small pointed ornament or moulding forming one of a series radiating like petals from a raised centre, typical of Norman and Early English styles.

2 (also dogstooth) [mass noun] a small check pattern with notched corners suggestive of a canine tooth, used in cloth for jackets and suits.

dogtrot n. [in sing.] a gentle easy trot.

■ v. [no obj.] move at a dogtrot.

dog violet n. a scentless wild violet, typically having purple or lilac flowers.

<INFO> Genus Viola, family Violaceae: several species.

dogwatch n. either of two short watches on a ship (4–6 or 6–8 p.m.).

dog-weary adj. another term for DOG-TIRED.

dog whelk n. a predatory marine mollusc that typically occurs on the shore or in shallow waters.

<INFO> Family Nassariidae, class Gastropoda: Nucella and other genera.

dogwood n. a shrub or small tree of north temperate regions, which yields hard timber and is grown for its decorative foliage, red stems, or colourful berries.

<INFO> Genus Cornus, family Cornaceae: many species.

- used in names of trees which resemble the dogwood or yield similar hard timber.

<ORIGIN> so named because the wood was formerly used to make ‘dogs’ (i.e. skewers).

DoH abbr. (in the UK) Department of Health.

doh^1 /də/ (also do) n. [MUSIC] (in tonic sol-fa) the first and eighth note of a major scale.

- the note C in the fixed-doh system.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian do, an arbitrarily chosen syllable replacing ut, taken from a Latin hymn (see SOLMIZATION).

doh^2 /də/ exclam. INFORMAL used to comment on a foolish or stupid action, especially one's own: I keep crashing cars. Doh! What a dummy!

Doha /dəhα/ the capital of Qatar; pop 308,800 (est. 2002).

DOHC abbr. double overhead camshaft.

dohyo /dəjə/ n. (pl. dohyos) the ring within which sumo wrestling takes place.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, abbreviation of dohyōba ‘wrestling arena’.

DOI abbr. [COMPUTING] digital object identifier, a unique alphanumeric string assigned to a text published online.

doily /dli/ n. (pl. doilies) a small ornamental mat made of lace or paper with a lace pattern, put on a plate under cakes or other sweet food.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Doiley or Doyley, the name of a 17th-cent. London draper. The word originally denoted a woollen material used for summer wear, said to have been introduced by this draper. The current sense (originally doily napkin) dates from the early 18th cent.

doing n. 1 (usually doings) the activities in which a particular person engages: the latest doings of television stars.

- INFORMAL excrement, especially that of a domestic animal.

- [in sing.] INFORMAL a beating or scolding: someone had given her a doing.

2 (doings) [treated as sing. or plural] INFORMAL used to refer to things when one has forgotten their name or when no one word easily covers them: the drawer where he kept the doings.

<PHRASES>

□ be someone's doing be the creation or fault of the person named: he looked at Lisa as though it was all her doing.

□ take some doing be difficult to achieve: it would take some doing to calm him down.

Doisneau /dwnə/ French /dwanə/ Robert (1912–94), French photographer, best known for his photos of the city and inhabitants of Paris, such as ‘The Kiss at the Hôtel de Ville’ (1950).

doit /dt/ n. [in sing.] ARCHAIC a very small amount of money.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Middle Low German doyt, Middle Dutch duit, of unknown origin.

doited /dtd/ adj. SCOTTISH ARCHAIC having the faculties impaired, especially by age.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps an alteration of doted, past participle of DOTE.

do-it-yourself n. & adj. full form of DIY.

<DERIVATIVES> do-it-yourselfer n.

dojo /dədə/ n. (pl. dojos) a room or hall in which judo and other martial arts are practised.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from dō ‘way, pursuit’ + jō ‘a place’.

dol. abbr. dollar or dollars.

Dolby /dlbi dəl-/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an electronic noise-reduction system used in tape recording to reduce hiss.

- an electronic system used to provide stereophonic sound for cinemas and television sets.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Ray M. Dolby (born 1933), the American engineer who devised it.

dolce /dlte/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) sweetly and softly.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘sweet’.

dolce far niente /dlte fα nεnte/ n. [mass noun] pleasant idleness.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘sweet doing nothing’.

Dolcelatte /dltəlαte -lati/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a kind of soft creamy blue-veined cheese from Italy.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘sweet milk’.

dolce vita /dlte vitə/ n. (usually la dolce vita) a life of heedless pleasure and luxury.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘sweet life’.

doldrums /dldrəmz/ plural n. (the doldrums) 1 a state or period of stagnation or depression: the mortgage market has been in the doldrums for three years.

2 an equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean with calms, sudden storms, and light unpredictable winds.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as doldrum ‘dull, sluggish person’): perhaps from DULL, on the pattern of tantrums.

dole^1 n. 1 [mass noun] (usually the dole) BRITISH INFORMAL benefit paid by the state to the unemployed: I was on the dole for three years | [as modifier] my next dole cheque.

- [count noun] DATED a charitable gift of food, clothes, or money.

2 LITERARY a person's lot or destiny.

■ v. [with obj.] (dole something out) distribute shares of something: the scanty portions of food doled out to them.

<ORIGIN> Old English dāl ‘division, portion, or share’, of Germanic origin; related to deal^1. The sense ‘distribution of charitable gifts’ dates from Middle English; the sense ‘unemployment benefit’ dates from the early 20th cent.

dole^2 n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC or LITERARY sorrow; mourning.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French doel ‘mourning’, from popular Latin dolus, from Latin dolere ‘grieve’.

dole-bludger n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a person who chooses to receive unemployment benefit rather than work.

doleful adj. expressing sorrow; mournful: a doleful look.

- causing grief or misfortune: he could be struck off, with doleful consequences.

<DERIVATIVES> dolefully adv. dolefulness n.

dolerite /dlərt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a dark, medium-grained igneous rock, typically with ophitic texture, containing plagioclase, pyroxene, and olivine. It typically occurs in dykes and sills. Also called DIABASE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French dolérite, from Greek doleros ‘deceptive’ (because it is difficult to distinguish from diorite).

doli capax /dl kapaks/ adj. [LAW] deemed capable of forming the intent to commit a crime or tort, especially by reason of age (ten years old or older).

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘capable of evil’.

dolichocephalic /dlkə()sfalk -kεfalk-/ adj. [ANATOMY] having a relatively long skull (typically with the breadth less than 80 (or 75) per cent of the length). Often contrasted with BRACHYCEPHALIC.

<DERIVATIVES> dolichocephaly n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek dolikhos ‘long’ + -CEPHALIC.

doli incapax /dl nkapaks/ adj. [LAW] deemed incapable of forming the intent to commit a crime or tort, especially by reason of age (under ten years old).

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘incapable of evil’.

Dolin /dəln dl-/ Sir Anton (1904–83), English ballet dancer and choreographer; born Sydney Francis Patrick Chippendall Healey-Kay. He was the first artistic director of the London Festival Ballet (1950–61), as well as first soloist.

doline /dlin/ (also dolina /dlinə/) n. [GEOLOGY] a hollow or basin in a karstic region, typically funnel-shaped.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via German from Slovene dolina ‘valley’.

D'Oliveira /dlvərə/ Basil (Lewis) (b.1931), British cricketer and coach, born in South Africa and of Cape coloured origin. South Africa's refusal to allow him into the country led to the cancellation of England's 1968–9 tour and to South Africa's subsequent banishment from Test cricket until the end of apartheid.

Doll Sir (William) Richard (Shaboe) (1912–2005), English physician. With Sir A. Bradford Hill (1897–1991) he was the first to show a statistical link between smoking and lung cancer.

doll^1 n. a small model of a human figure, typically one of a baby or girl, used as a child's toy.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an attractive young woman.

- North American INFORMAL a generous or considerate person: would you be a doll and set the table?

■ v. [with obj.] (doll someone up) INFORMAL dress someone smartly and attractively: I got all dolled up for a party.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a mistress): pet form of the given name Dorothy. The sense ‘small model of a human figure’ dates from the late 17th cent.

doll^2 [HORSE RACING], British n. a temporary barrier on a racecourse or gallop.

■ v. [with obj.] place a barrier in front of (a jump or other part of the course that is to be omitted from a race).

<ORIGIN> 1940s: perhaps a variant of archaic dool ‘boundary marker’.

dollar n. the basic monetary unit of the US, Canada, Australia, and certain countries in the Pacific, Caribbean, SE Asia, Africa, and South America.

<PHRASES>

□ dollars to doughnuts NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used to emphasize one's certainty: I'd bet dollars to doughnuts he's a medical student.

<ORIGIN> from early Flemish or Low German daler, from German T(h)aler, short for Joachimsthaler, a coin from the silver mine of Joachimsthal (‘Joachim's valley’), now Jáchymov in the Czech Republic. The term was later applied to a coin used in the Spanish-American colonies, which was also widely used in the British North American colonies at the time of the American War of Independence, hence adopted as the name of the US monetary unit in the late 18th cent.

dollar area n. the area of the world in which currency is linked to the US dollar.

dollarbird n. the eastern broad-billed roller of Asia and Australasia, which has a conspicuous white coin-like mark on the wing that is visible in flight.

<INFO> Eyrystomus orientalis, family Coraciidae.

dollar diplomacy n. [mass noun] the use of a country's financial power to extend its international influence.

dollar gap n. the amount by which a country's import trade with the dollar area exceeds the corresponding export trade.

dollarization (also dollarisation) n. [mass noun] the process of aligning a country's currency with the US dollar.

- the dominating effect of the US on the economy of a country.

dollar sign (also dollar mark) n. the sign $, representing a dollar.

Dollfuss /dlfs/ Engelbert (1892–1934), Austrian statesman, Chancellor of Austria 1932–4. From 1933 Dollfuss attempted to block Austrian Nazi plans to force the Anschluss by governing without Parliament. He was assassinated by Austrian Nazis.

dollop n. INFORMAL a large, shapeless mass of something, especially soft food: great dollops of cream | FIGURATIVE a dollop of romance here and there.

■ v. (dollops, dolloping, dolloped) [with obj. and adverbial of direction] add (a large mass of something) casually and without measuring: she stopped him from dolloping cream into his coffee.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a clump of grass or weeds in a field): perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to Norwegian dialect dolp ‘lump’.

doll's house (North American dollhouse) n. a miniature toy house used for playing with dolls.

dolly n. (pl. dollies) 1 a child's word for a doll.

- INFORMAL, DATED an attractive but unintelligent young woman.

2 a small platform on wheels used for holding heavy objects, typically film or television cameras.

3 [CRICKET], INFORMAL an easy catch.

4 HISTORICAL a short wooden pole for stirring clothes in a washtub.

■ v. (dollies, dollying, dollied) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a film or television camera) be moved on a mobile platform in a specified direction: the camera dollies back to reveal hundreds of people.

dolly bird n. BRITISH INFORMAL an attractive but unintelligent young woman.

dolly mixtures plural n. BRITISH a mixture of small variously shaped and coloured sweets.

dolly switch n. an electrical on-off switch whose external operating mechanism is a short pivoted lever terminating in a rounded knob, rather than a spring-loaded rocker.

dolly tub n. HISTORICAL a washtub.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from dialect dolly (used as a term for various contrivances thought to resemble a doll in some way) and TUB.

Dolly Varden /vαd(ə)n/ n. 1 (also Dolly Varden hat) a large hat with one side drooping and with a floral trimming, formerly worn by women.

2 a brightly spotted edible charr (fish) occurring in fresh water on both sides of the North Pacific.

<INFO> Salvelinus malma, family Salmonidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of a character in Dickens's Barnaby Rudge, who wore a similar hat.

dolma /dlmə/ n. (pl. dolmas or dolmades /-mαεz/) a Greek and Turkish delicacy in which ingredients such as spiced rice, meat, and bread are wrapped in vine or cabbage leaves.

<ORIGIN> from modern Greek ntolmas or its source, Turkish dolma, from dolmak ‘fill, be filled’.

dolman /dlmən/ n. a long Turkish robe open in front.

- a woman's loose cloak with cape-like sleeves.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: based on Turkish dolama, dolaman.

dolman sleeve n. a loose sleeve cut in one piece with the body of a garment.

dolmen /dlmεn/ n. a megalithic tomb with a large flat stone laid on upright ones, found chiefly in Britain and France.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, perhaps via Breton from Cornish tolmen ‘hole of a stone’.

dolmus /dlm/ n. (in Turkey) a shared taxi.

<ORIGIN> from Turkish dolmuş, literally ‘filled’.

dolomite /dləmt/ n. [mass noun] a translucent mineral consisting of a carbonate of calcium and magnesium, usually also containing iron.

- a sedimentary rock formed chiefly of dolomite.

<DERIVATIVES> dolomitic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from the name of Dolomieu (1750–1801), the French geologist who discovered it, + -ITE^1.

Dolomite Mountains (also the Dolomites) a range of the Alps in northern Italy, so named because the characteristic rock of the region is dolomitic limestone.

dolorimeter /dlərmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring sensitivity to, or levels of, pain.

<DERIVATIVES> dolorimetry n.

dolorous /dl(ə)rəs/ adj. LITERARY feeling or expressing great sorrow or distress.

<DERIVATIVES> dolorously adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French doleros, from late Latin dolorosus, from Latin dolor ‘pain, grief’.

dolostone /dləstən/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] rock consisting of dolomite.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from DOLOMITE + STONE.

dolour /dlə/ (US dolor) n. [mass noun] LITERARY a state of great sorrow or distress: they squatted, hunched in their habitual dolour.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting both physical and mental pain or distress): via Old French from Latin dolor ‘pain, grief’.

dolphin n. 1 a small gregarious toothed whale which typically has a beak-like snout and a curved fin on the back. Dolphins have become well known for their sociable nature and high intelligence.

<INFO> Families Delphinidae (marine) and Platanistidae (the river dolphins): several genera and many species.

2 (also dolphinfish)

■ another term for dorado (sense 1).

3 a bollard, pile, or buoy for mooring boats.

4 a structure for protecting the pier of a bridge.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French dauphin, from Provençal dalfin, from Latin delphinus, from Greek delphin.

dolphinarium /dlfnεrəm/ n. (pl. dolphinariums or dolphinaria) an aquarium in which dolphins are kept and trained for public entertainment.

dolt /dəlt/ n. a stupid person.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps a variant of dulled, past participle of DULL.

doltish /dəlt/ adj. (of a person) stupid; idiotic: a doltish character.

<DERIVATIVES> doltishly adv. doltishness n.

Dom /dm/ n. 1 a title prefixed to the names of some Roman Catholic dignitaries and Benedictine and Carthusian monks: Dom Bede Griffiths.

2 Portuguese form of don^1 (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> from Latin dominus ‘master’.

-dom suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting a state or condition: freedom.

2 denoting rank or status: earldom.

3 denoting a domain: fiefdom.

4 denoting a class of people or the attitudes associated with them, regarded collectively: officialdom.

<ORIGIN> Old English -dōm, originally meaning ‘decree, judgement’.

domain /də()men/ n. 1 an area of territory owned or controlled by a particular ruler or government: the French domains of the Plantagenets.

- a specified sphere of activity or knowledge: the country's isolation in the domain of sport.

2 [COMPUTING] a distinct subset of the Internet with addresses sharing a common suffix.

3 [PHYSICS] a discrete region of magnetism in ferromagnetic material.

4 [MATHEMATICS] the set of possible values of the independent variable or variables of a function.

5 [BIOCHEMISTRY] a distinct region of a complex molecule or structure.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting heritable or landed property): from French domaine, alteration (by association with Latin dominus ‘lord’) of Old French demeine ‘belonging to a lord’ (see DEMESNE).

domaine /dəmen/ n. a vineyard.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘estate’ (see DOMAIN).

domain name n. [COMPUTING] the part of a network address which identifies it as belonging to a particular domain.

domal /dəm(ə)l/ adj. (chiefly of geological features) having the form of a dome.

domanial /dəmenəl/ adj. relating to the control or ownership of an area of territory by a ruler or government.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from medieval Latin domanialis, from domanium ‘lordship’.

dome n. 1 a rounded vault forming the roof of a building or structure, typically with a circular base: the dome of St Paul's Cathedral.

- the revolving openable hemispherical roof of an observatory.

- [in names] NORTH AMERICAN a sports stadium with a domed roof.

2 a thing shaped like a dome, in particular:

- a natural vault or canopy, such as that of the sky or trees: the dome of the sky.

- [GEOLOGY] a rounded uplifted landform or underground structure.

- INFORMAL the top of the head: her Mohican projected from her shaved dome.

3 LITERARY a stately building.

■ v. [no obj.] (often as n. doming) (of stratified rock or a surface) become rounded in formation; swell.

<DERIVATIVES> dome-like adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in sense 3 of the noun): from Latin domus; other senses are via French dôme, from Italian duomo ‘cathedral, dome’.

domed adj. covered with or shaped like a rounded vault: his domed forehead | [in combination] a glass-domed roof.

dome fastener n. a press stud consisting of a rounded portion which clips into a socket, used especially as a fastener for gloves.

Dome of the Rock an Islamic shrine in Jerusalem, for Muslims the third most holy place after Mecca and Medina. It surrounds the sacred rock on which, according to tradition, Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac and from which the prophet Muhammad made his miraculous midnight ascent into heaven (the Night Journey).

Domesday /dumzde/ (also Domesday Book) n. a comprehensive record of the extent, value, ownership, and liabilities of land in England, made in 1086 by order of William I.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: an old spelling of DOOMSDAY, which was apparently applied because the book was regarded as a final authority.

domestic adj. 1 relating to the running of a home or to family relations: domestic chores | domestic violence.

- of or for use in the home rather than in an industrial or office environment: domestic water supplies.

- (of an animal) tame and kept by humans: domestic dogs.

- (of a person) fond of family life and running a home: she was not at all domestic.

2 existing or occurring inside a particular country; not foreign or international: Egypt's domestic affairs.

■ n. 1 (also domestic worker or domestic help) a person who is paid to help with cleaning and other menial tasks in a person's home.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a violent quarrel between family members, especially husband and wife: they are often called to sort out a domestic.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a product not made abroad.

<DERIVATIVES> domestically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French domestique, from Latin domesticus, from domus ‘house’.

domesticate v. [with obj.] tame (an animal) and keep it as a pet or on a farm: mammals were first domesticated for their milk.

- cultivate (a plant) for food.

- HUMOROUS make (someone) fond of and good at home life and the tasks that it involves: you've quite domesticated him.

<DERIVATIVES> domesticable adj. domestication n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin domesticat- ‘domesticated’, from the verb domesticare, from Latin domesticus ‘belonging to the house’ (see DOMESTIC).

domesticated adj. (of an animal) tame and kept as a pet or on a farm: domesticated dogs.

- (of a plant) cultivated for food; naturalized: domesticated crops.

- HUMOROUS (of a man) fond of home life and housework: he is thoroughly domesticated.

domestic bursar n. the person responsible for the administration of the domestic establishment of a college or university.

domesticity n. [mass noun] home or family life: the atmosphere is one of happy domesticity.

domestic partner n. NORTH AMERICAN a person who is living with another in a close personal and sexual relationship.

<DERIVATIVES> domestic partnership n.

domestic science n. BRITISH DATED the study of household skills such as cooking or sewing, especially as taught at school; home economics.

domical /dəmk(ə)l/ adj. another term for DOMED: an octagonal, domical vault.

domicile /dmsl -sl/ n. FORMAL or [LAW] the country that a person treats as their permanent home, or lives in and has a substantial connection with: his wife has a domicile of origin in Germany. Compare with RESIDENCE.

- chiefly US a person's residence or home: the builder I've hired to renovate my new domicile.

- the place at which a company or other body is registered, especially for tax purposes.

■ v. [with adverbial of place] (be domiciled) FORMAL or [LAW] treat a specified country as a permanent home: the tenant is domiciled in the United Kingdom. Compare with reside.

- chiefly US reside or be based: he was domiciled in a frame house in the outskirts of Bogotá.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin domicilium ‘dwelling’, from domus ‘home’.

domiciliary /dmsləri/ adj. concerned with or occurring in someone's home: a study compared domiciliary care with hospital care.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French domiciliaire, from medieval Latin domiciliarius, from Latin domicilium ‘dwelling’ (see DOMICILE).

dominance n. [mass noun] power and influence over others: the worldwide dominance of Hollywood.

- [GENETICS] the phenomenon whereby, in an individual containing two allelic forms of a gene, one is expressed to the exclusion of the other.

- [ECOLOGY] the predominance of one or more species in a plant (or animal) community.

<DERIVATIVES> dominancy n.

dominant adj. having power and influence over others: they are now in an even more dominant position in the market.

- (of a high place) overlooking others.

- [GENETICS] relating to or denoting heritable characteristics which are controlled by genes that are expressed in offspring even when inherited from only one parent. Often contrasted with RECESSIVE.

- [ECOLOGY] denoting the predominant species in a plant (or animal) community.

- (in decision theory) denoting a choice that is at least as good as the alternatives in all circumstances, and better in some: holding back is here a dominant strategy.

■ n. 1 [GENETICS] a dominant trait or gene.

- [ECOLOGY] a dominant species in a plant (or animal) community.

2 [MUSIC] the fifth note of the diatonic scale of any key, or the key based on this, considered in relation to the key of the tonic.

<DERIVATIVES> dominantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin dominant- ‘ruling, governing’, from the verb dominari (see DOMINATE).

dominant seventh n. [MUSIC] the common chord of the dominant note in a key, plus the diminished seventh from that note (e.g. in the key of C, a chord of G-B-D-F). It is important in conventional harmony, as it naturally resolves to the tonic or subdominant.

dominate /dmnet/ v. [with obj.] have power and influence over: the company dominates the market for operating system software.

- be the most important or conspicuous person or thing in: the race was dominated by the 1998 champion.

- have a commanding position over; overlook: a picturesque city dominated by the cathedral tower.

<DERIVATIVES> dominator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin dominat- ‘ruled, governed’, from the verb dominari, from dominus ‘lord, master’.

domination n. [mass noun] 1 the exercise of power or influence over someone or something, or the state of being so controlled: the imperial domination of India.

2 (dominations) (in traditional Christian angelology) the fourth-highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin dominatio(n-), from the verb dominari (see DOMINATE).

dominatrix /dmnetrks/ n. (pl. dominatrices /-trsiz/ or dominatrixes) a dominating woman, especially one who takes the sadistic role in sadomasochistic sexual activities.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (rare before the late 20th century): from Latin, feminine of dominator, from dominat- ‘ruled’, from the verb dominari (see DOMINATE).

dominee /dumni də-/ n. S. AFRICAN a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans and Dutch, from the Latin vocative domine! ‘master!’.

domineer /dmnə/ v. [no obj.] (usually as adj. domineering) assert one's will over another in an arrogant way: Cathy had been a martyr to her gruff, domineering husband.

<DERIVATIVES> domineeringly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Dutch dominieren, from French dominer, from Latin dominari (see DOMINATE).

Domingo /dəmə/ Placido (b.1941), Spanish-born tenor. His performances in operas by Verdi and Puccini have met with particular acclaim.

Dominic, St /dmnk/ (c.1170–1221), Spanish priest and friar; Spanish name Domingo de Guzmán. In 1216 he founded the Order of Friars Preachers at Toulouse in France; its members became known as Dominicans or Black Friars. Feast day, 8 August.

Dominica /dmnikə dəmnkə/ a mountainous island in the Caribbean, the loftiest of the Lesser Antilles and the northernmost and largest of the Windward Islands; pop. 70,158 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), Creole; capital, Roseau. The island came into British possession at the end of the 18th century, becoming an independent republic within the Commonwealth in 1978.

<ORIGIN> named by Columbus, who discovered it on a Sunday (Latin dies dominica ‘the Lord's day’) in 1493.

dominical /dəmnk(ə)l/ adj. 1 of Sunday as the Lord's day.

2 of Jesus Christ as the lord.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from late Latin dominicalis, from Latin dominicus, from dominus ‘lord, master’.

dominical letter n. any of the seven letters A–G used in Church calendars to indicate the date (1–7 January) on which the first Sunday in the year falls, and hence in dating movable feasts.

Dominican^1 /dəmnk(ə)n/ n. a member of the Roman Catholic order of preaching friars founded by St Dominic, or of a religious order for women founded on similar principles.

■ adj. relating to St Dominic or the Dominicans.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin Dominicanus, from Dominicus, the Latin name of Domingo de Guzmán (see DOMINIC, ST).

Dominican^2 /dəmnk(ə)n/ adj. relating to the Dominican Republic or its people.

■ n. a native or national of the Dominican Republic.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish Dominicana, influenced by SANTO DOMINGO.

Dominican^3 /dmnik(ə)n dəmnk(ə)n/ adj. relating to the island of Dominica or its people.

■ n. a native or national of the island of Dominica.

Dominican Republic /dəmnkən/ a country in the Caribbean occupying the eastern part of the island of Hispaniola; pop. 8,721,594 (est. 2002); official language, Spanish; capital, Santo Domingo. The Dominican Republic is the former Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, the part of Hispaniola which Spain retained when it ceded the western portion (now Haiti) to France in 1697. It was proclaimed a republic in 1844.

dominie /dmni/ n. (pl. dominies) 1 SCOTTISH a schoolmaster.

2 chiefly US a pastor or clergyman.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: alteration of Latin domine! (vocative) ‘master!, sir!’, from dominus ‘lord’ (formerly used as a polite form of address to a clergyman or member of one of the professions).

dominion n. 1 [mass noun] sovereignty or control: man's attempt to establish dominion over nature.

■ another term for DOMINIUM.

2 (usually dominions) the territory of a sovereign or government: the Angevin dominions.

- (Dominion) HISTORICAL each of the self-governing territories of the British Commonwealth.

3 (dominions)

■ another term for domination (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin dominio(n-), from Latin dominium, from dominus ‘lord, master’.

dominium /dəmnəm/ n. [mass noun] [LAW], chiefly US ownership and control of property.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin.

Domino /dmnə/ Fats (b.1928), American pianist, singer, and songwriter; born Antoine Domino. His music represents part of the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll. Notable songs: ‘Ain't That a Shame’ (1955) and ‘Blueberry Hill’ (1956).

domino /dmnə/ n. (pl. dominoes) 1 any of 28 small oblong pieces marked with 0–6 pips in each half.

- (dominoes) [treated as sing.] the game played with dominoes, in which they are laid down to form a line, each player in turn trying to find and lay down a domino with a value matched by that of a piece at either end of the line already formed.

2 HISTORICAL a loose cloak, worn with a mask for the upper part of the face at masquerades.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, denoting a hood worn by priests in winter, probably based on Latin dominus ‘lord, master’.

domino effect n. the effect of the domino theory.

domino theory n. the theory that a political event in one country will cause similar events in neighbouring countries, like a falling domino causing an entire row of upended dominoes to fall.

Domitian /dəm(ə)n/ (AD 51–96), son of Vespasian, Roman emperor 81–96; full name Titus Flavius Domitianus. An energetic but autocratic ruler, he embarked on a major building programme, but was assassinated following a lengthy period of terror.

Don /dn/ 1 a river in Russia which rises near Tula, south-east of Moscow, and flows for a distance of 1,958 km (1,224 miles) to the Sea of Azov.

2 a river in Scotland which rises in the Grampians and flows 131 km (82 miles) eastwards to the North Sea at Aberdeen.

3 a river in northern England which rises in the Pennines and flows 112 km (70 miles) eastwards to join the Ouse shortly before it, in turn, joins the Humber.

don^1 n. 1 BRITISH a university teacher, especially a senior member of a college at Oxford or Cambridge.

2 (Don) a Spanish title prefixed to a male forename.

- a Spanish gentleman.

- North American INFORMAL a high-ranking member of the Mafia.

<DERIVATIVES> donship n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in sense 2): from Spanish, from Latin dominus ‘lord, master’. Compare with DONNA.

don^2 v. (dons, donning, donned) [with obj.] put on (an item of clothing): in the dressing room the players donned their football shirts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: contraction of do on. Compare with DOFF.

donate v. [with obj.] give (money or goods) for a good cause, for example to a charity: the proceeds will be donated to an Aids awareness charity.

- allow the removal of (blood or an organ) from one's body for transplantation, transfusion, or research.

- [CHEMISTRY] & [PHYSICS] provide or contribute (electrons or protons).

<DERIVATIVES> donator n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: back-formation from DONATION.

Donatello /dnətεlə/ (1386–1466), Italian sculptor; born Donato di Betto Bardi. He was one of the pioneers of scientific perspective, and is especially famous for his lifelike sculptures, including the bronze David (c.1430–60).

donatio mortis causa /dəneə mts kzə/ n. (pl. donationes mortis causa /dəneəniz/) [LAW] a gift of personal property made by someone who expects to die in the immediate future, taking full effect only after the donor dies.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘gift by reason of death’.

donation n. something that is given to a charity, especially a sum of money: please send your donation of £20 to the Disaster Appeal.

- [mass noun] the action of donating something.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin donatio(n-), from the verb donare, based on donum ‘gift’.

Donatist /dənətst/ n. a member of a schismatic Christian group in North Africa, formed in 311, who held that only those living a blameless life belonged in the Church. They survived until the 7th century.

<DERIVATIVES> Donatism n.

<ORIGIN> from Donatus (died c.355), a Christian prelate in Carthage and the group's leader, + -IST.

donative /dənətv/ RARE n. a donation, especially one given formally or officially as a largesse.

■ adj. given as a donation.

- HISTORICAL (of a benefice) given directly, not presentative.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin donativum ‘gift, largesse’, from donat- ‘given’, from the verb donare (see DONATION).

Donatus /dənetəs/ Aelius (4th century), Roman grammarian. The Ars Grammatica, containing his treatises on Latin grammar, was used in schools in the Middle Ages.

Donau^1 /dəna/ German name for DANUBE.

Donau^2 /dnə/ n. [usually as modifier] [GEOLOGY] a series of Lower Pleistocene glaciations in the Alps, preceding the Günz.

- the system of deposits laid down during this period.

<ORIGIN> German, ‘Danube’.

Donbas /dnbαs/ Ukrainian name for DONETS BASIN.

Doncaster /dkastə/ an industrial town in northern England, a metropolitan district formerly in South Yorkshire; pop. 71,100 (est. 2002).

done past participle of do^1

■ adj. 1 (of food) cooked thoroughly: the turkey will be done to a turn.

2 no longer happening or existing: her hunting days were done.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL socially acceptable: therapy was not the done thing then.

■ exclam. used to indicate that the speaker accepts the terms of an offer: ‘I'll give ten to one he misses by a mile!’ called Reilly. ‘Done!’, said the conductor.

<PHRASES>

□ a done deal a plan or project that has been finalized.

□ done for INFORMAL in a situation so bad that it is impossible to get out: if the guard sees us, we're done for.

□ done in (or up) INFORMAL extremely tired: you look done in.

<DERIVATIVES> doneness n. INFORMAL done (sense 1 of the adjective)).

donee /dəni/ n. a person who receives a gift.

- [LAW] a person who is given a power of appointment.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from DONOR + -EE.

Donegal^1 /dnl/ a county in the extreme north-west of the Republic of Ireland, part of the old province of Ulster; capital, Lifford.

Donegal^2 (also Donegal tweed) n. [mass noun] a tweed characterized by bright flecks randomly distributed on a background that is typically light grey, as originally woven in County Donegal.

doner kebab /dnə dənə/ n. a Turkish dish consisting of spiced lamb cooked on a spit and served in slices, typically with pitta bread.

<ORIGIN> from Turkish döner kebap, from döner ‘rotating’ and kebap ‘roast meat’.

Donets /dnjεts/ a river in eastern Europe, rising near Belgorod in southern Russia and flowing south-eastwards for some 1,000 km (630 miles) through Ukraine before re-entering Russia and joining the Don near Rostov.

Donets Basin a coal-mining and industrial region of SE Ukraine, stretching between the valleys of the Donets and lower Dnieper Rivers. Ukrainian name DONBAS.

Donetsk /dnjεtsk/ the leading city of the Donets Basin in Ukraine; pop. 1,016,000 (est. 2001). The city was called Yuzovka from 1872 until 1924, and Stalin or Stalino from 1924 until 1961.

dong^1 v. 1 [no obj.] (of a bell) make a deep, resonant sound.

2 [with obj.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL hit or punch (someone).

■ n. 1 the deep, resonant sound of a large bell.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a blow; a punch.

3 VULGAR SLANG a man's penis.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: imitative.

dong^2 n. the basic monetary unit of Vietnam, equal to 100 xu.

<ORIGIN> from Vietnamese dông ‘coin’.

donga /də/ n. 1 S. African & AUSTRALIAN/NZ a dry gully, formed by the eroding action of running water.

2 AUSTRALIAN a temporary, usually transportable, dwelling.

3 AUSTRALIAN the bush; the remote countryside.

<ORIGIN>

■ Sense 1 from Xhosa and Zulu udonga;

■ sense 2 is said to stem from an extended usage of the term in the Boer War.

dongle /d(ə)l/ n. [COMPUTING] an electronic device which must be attached to a computer in order to use protected computer software.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: an arbitrary formation.

dong quai /d kwε kw/ n. [mass noun] an aromatic herb native to China and Japan, the root of which is used by herbalists to treat premenstrual syndrome and menopausal symptoms.

<INFO> Angelica sinensis, family Umbelliferae.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese dāngguī.

Donizetti /dntsεti/ Gaetano (1797–1848), Italian composer. His operas include tragedies such as Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) and comedies such as Don Pasquale (1843).

donjon /dnd(ə)n dn-/ n. the great tower or innermost keep of a castle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: variant of DUNGEON.

Don Juan /dn hwαn dn dən/ a legendary Spanish nobleman of dissolute life, famous for seducing women.

- (as n. a Don Juan) a seducer of women; a libertine.

donkey n. (pl. donkeys) 1 a domesticated hoofed mammal of the horse family with long ears and a braying call, used as a beast of burden; an ass.

<INFO> Equus asinus, family Equidae, descended from the wild ass of Africa.

2 INFORMAL a stupid or inept person.

3 INFORMAL an engine.

4 (also donkey stool) a low stool on which an artist sits astride, especially in an art school.

5 [mass noun] a children's card game involving exchanging cards.

<PHRASES>

□ donkey's years BRITISH INFORMAL a very long time: we've been close friends for donkey's years.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally pronounced to rhyme with monkey): perhaps from DUN^1, or from the given name Duncan.

donkey derby n. a race between competitors riding donkeys.

donkey engine n. a small auxiliary engine.

donkey jacket n. BRITISH a heavy jacket which has a patch of waterproof leather or plastic across the shoulders, worn typically by building workers.

donkeyman n. (pl. donkeymen) a man with responsibilities in a ship's engine room: [as modifier] a donkeyman greaser.

donkey work n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL the boring or laborious part of a job; drudgery: supervisors who get a research student to do the donkey work.

Donkin /dkn/ Bryan (1768–1855), English engineer. He developed a method of food preservation by heat sterilization, sealing the food inside a container made of sheet steel and so producing the first tin can.

donna /dnə/ n. an Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese lady.

- (Donna) a courtesy title prefixed to the forename of such a lady.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Italian, from Latin domina ‘mistress’, feminine of dominus ‘lord, master’. Compare with don^1.

Donnan equilibrium /dn(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the equilibrium reached between two ionic solutions separated by a semipermeable membrane when one or more of the kinds of ion present cannot pass through the membrane. The result is a difference in osmotic pressure and electrical potential between the solutions.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Frederick G. Donnan (1870–1956), British physical chemist.

Donne /dn/ John (1572–1631), English poet and preacher. A metaphysical poet, he is most famous for his Satires and Elegies (c.1590–9) and his love poems. He also wrote religious poems and, as dean of St Paul's from 1621, was one of the most celebrated preachers of his age.

donnée /dne/ (also donné) n. 1 a subject or theme of a narrative.

2 a basic fact or assumption.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘given’.

donnish adj. BRITISH resembling a college don, particularly because of having a pedantic, scholarly manner.

<DERIVATIVES> donnishly adv. donnishness n.

donnybrook /dnbrk/ n. NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ a scene of uproar and disorder; a heated argument: raucous ideological donnybrooks.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, formerly famous for its annual fair.

donor /dənə -n/ n. a person who donates something, especially money to charity: an anonymous donor has given £25 | [as modifier] loans from rich donor countries.

- a person who provides blood, an organ, or semen for transplantation, transfusion, etc.

- [CHEMISTRY] an atom or molecule that provides a pair of electrons in forming a coordinate bond.

- [PHYSICS] an impurity atom in a semiconductor which contributes a conducting electron to the material.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French doneur, from Latin donator, from donare ‘give’.

donor card n. a card which a person carries to indicate consent to the use of their organs for transplant surgery in the event of their death.

donor fatigue n. [mass noun]

■ another term for COMPASSION FATIGUE.

do-nothing INFORMAL adj. taking no action; doing nothing: a weak, divided, do-nothing government.

■ n. an idle or feckless person: a shiftless lot of do-nothings.

Don Quixote /dn kihəti dn kwksət/ the hero of a romance (1605–15) by Cervantes, a satirical account of chivalric beliefs and conduct. The character of Don Quixote is typified by a romantic vision and naive, unworldly idealism.

don't contraction do not.

<PHRASES>

□ dos and don'ts see do^1.

don't-know n. a person who disclaims knowledge, especially one who is undecided when replying to an opinion poll or questionnaire.

doobie n. INFORMAL a cannabis cigarette.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally US): of unknown origin.

doobry (also doobrey or doobrie /dubri/) n. (pl. doobries or doobreys /dubrz/) BRITISH INFORMAL another term for DOODAH: you know, the little plastic doobry that covers the connector.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: of unknown origin.

doodad /dudad/ n. North American term for DOODAH.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

doodah /dudα/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL used to refer to something that the speaker cannot name precisely: from the poshest pot pourri to the humblest dangly doodah.

<PHRASES>

□ all of a doodah very agitated: they'll be all of a doodah because of the bombs.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (in the phrase all of a doodah): perhaps from the refrain of the song Camptown Races.

doodle v. [no obj.] scribble absent-mindedly: he was only doodling in the margin.

■ n. a rough drawing made absent-mindedly.

<DERIVATIVES> doodler n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally as a noun denoting a fool, later as a verb in the sense ‘make a fool of, cheat’): from Low German dudeltopf, dudeldopp ‘simpleton’. Current senses date from the 1930s.

doodlebug n. INFORMAL 1 British informal term for V-1.

2 NORTH AMERICAN the larva of an ant lion.

3 US an unscientific device for locating oil or minerals; a divining rod.

- a prospector for oil or minerals.

4 a small car or other vehicle.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): from 17th-cent. doodle ‘ninny’ + BUG.

doodly-squat n. another term for DIDDLY-SQUAT.

doo-doo n. a child's word for excrement, used euphemistically in other contexts: when our fax machine isn't working, we're in deep doo-doo.

doofus /dufs/ (also dufus) n. (pl. doofuses) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a stupid person.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: perhaps an alteration of GOOFUS, or from Scots doof ‘dolt’.

doohickey /duhki/ n. (pl. doohickeys) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a small object or gadget, especially one whose precise name the speaker cannot recall: a garage filled with electronic parts and other valuable dooHICKEYs.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally servicemen's slang): blend of DOODAD and hickey.

doojigger /dudə/ n. US another term for DOOHICKEY.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: blend of DOODAD and jigger^1.

doolally /dulali/ adj. BRITISH INFORMAL temporarily deranged or feeble-minded: Uncle's gone doolally again.

- transported with excitement or pleasure: a return on capital that the City would go doolally over.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: originally doolally tap, Indian army slang, from Deolali (the name of a town with a military sanatorium and a transit camp) + Urdu tap ‘fever’.

Doolittle /dult(ə)l/ Hilda (1886–1961), American poet; pseudonym H.D. Her work shows the influence of Ezra Pound and other imagist poets. Notable works: Sea Garden (1916).

doom n. [mass noun] death, destruction, or some other terrible fate: the aircraft was sent crashing to its doom in the water.

- [in sing.] ARCHAIC (in Christian belief) the Last Judgement. See also CRACK OF DOOM at crack.

■ v. [with obj.] condemn to certain death or destruction: fuel was spilling out of the damaged wing and the aircraft was doomed.

- cause to have an unfortunate and inescapable outcome: her plan was doomed to failure.

<PHRASES>

□ doom and gloom (also gloom and doom) a general feeling of pessimism or despondency: the national feeling of doom and gloom.

<ORIGIN> Old English dōm ‘statute, judgement’, of Germanic origin, from a base meaning ‘to put in place’; related to do^1.

doomed adj. likely to have an unfortunate and inescapable outcome; ill-fated: the moving story of their doomed love affair.

doom-laden adj. conveying a sense of tragedy: a doom-laden speech.

doomsayer n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person who predicts disaster.

<DERIVATIVES> doomsaying n.

doomsday n. the last day of the world's existence.

- (in religious belief) the day of the Last Judgement.

- a time or event of crisis or great danger: [as modifier] in all the concern over greenhouse warming, one doomsday scenario stands out.

<PHRASES>

□ till doomsday INFORMAL forever: we'll be here till doomsday if you go blethering on.

<ORIGIN> Old English dōmes dæg (see DOOM, day).

Doomsday Book n. see DOMESDAY.

doomster n. British another term for DOOMSAYER.

doomwatch n. an organized campaign of vigilance to alert people to the dangers of environmental pollution.

<DERIVATIVES> doomwatcher n.

doomy adj. (doomier, doomiest) suggesting or predicting disaster; ominous: doomy forecasts.

<DERIVATIVES> doomily adv. doominess n.

doona /dunə/ n. AUSTRALIAN TRADEMARK a quilted eiderdown or duvet.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: perhaps from Swedish dun (see down^2).

door n. a hinged, sliding, or revolving barrier at the entrance to a building, room, or vehicle, or in the framework of a cupboard.

- a doorway: she walked through the door.

- used to refer to the distance from one building in a row to another: he lives just a few doors away from the Strongs.

<PHRASES>

□ as one door closes, another opens PROVERB you shouldn't be discouraged by failure, as other opportunities will soon present themselves.

□ at the door on admission to an event rather than in advance: tickets will be available at the door.

□ close (or shut) the door on (or to) exclude the opportunity for: she had closed the door on ever finding out what he was feeling.

□ (from) door to door 1 from start to finish of a journey: the trip from door to door could take more than four hours.

2 visiting all the houses in an area to sell or publicize something: he went from door to door selling insurance policies | [as modifier] a door-to-door salesman.

□ lay something at someone's door regard someone as responsible for something: the failure is laid at the door of the government.

□ leave the door open ensure that there is still an opportunity for something: he is leaving the door open for future change.

□ on the door monitoring admission to a building or event: the uniformed commissionaires on the door.

□ open the door to create an opportunity for: her research has opened the door to a deeper understanding of the subject.

□ out of doors in or into the open air: food tastes even better out of doors.

<DERIVATIVES> doored adj. [in combination] a glass-doored desk

<ORIGIN> Old English duru, dor, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch deur ‘door’ and German Tür ‘door’, Tor ‘gate’; from an Indo-European root shared by Latin foris ‘gate’ and Greek thura ‘door’.

doorbell n. a bell in a building which can be rung by visitors outside to signal their arrival.

do-or-die adj. showing or requiring a determination not to compromise or be deterred: the mercenaries fought with a do-or-die fanaticism.

door frame (also doorcase) n. the frame in a doorway into which a door is fitted.

door furniture n. [mass noun] the handles, lock, and other fixtures on a door.

door head n. the upper part of a door frame.

doorkeeper n. a person on duty at the entrance to a building.

doorknob n. a handle on a door that is turned to release the latch.

doorknock Australian/NZ n. a campaign of door-to-door house visits to collect for a charity or to appeal for support for a political candidate: [as modifier] a doorknock appeal.

■ v. [no obj.] campaign by making door-to-door house visits.

doorman n. (pl. doormen) a man such as a porter, bouncer, or janitor who is on duty at the entrance to a large building.

doormat n. a mat placed in a doorway, on which people can wipe their shoes on entering a building.

- FIGURATIVE a submissive person who allows others to dominate them: to put up with such treatment you must be either a saint or a doormat.

doornail n. a stud set in a door for strength or as an ornament.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) dead as a doornail quite dead.

Doornik /dərnk/ Flemish name for TOURNAI.

door plate n. a plate on the door of a house or room which gives information about the occupant.

doorpost n. each of the two upright parts of a door frame.

Doors an American rock group chiefly remembered for flamboyant lead singer Jim Morrison (1943–71) and for dramatic songs such as ‘Light My Fire’ (1967).

doorstep n. a step leading up to the outer door of a house.

- British INFORMAL a thick slice of bread: [as modifier] doorstep sandwiches.

■ v. (doorsteps, doorstepping, doorstepped) [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL (of a journalist) wait uninvited outside the home of (someone) in order to obtain an interview or photograph: he was being doorstepped by the tabloids.

<PHRASES>

□ on one's (or the) doorstep situated very close by: the airport is on my doorstep so flying is easy.

doorstop (also doorstopper) n. a fixed or heavy object that keeps a door open or stops it from banging against a wall.

- FIGURATIVE a heavy or bulky object, especially a thick book: his sixth novel is a thumping 400-page doorstop.

doorway n. an entrance to a room or building through a door: Beth stood there in the doorway | FIGURATIVE the doorway to success.

dooryard n. NORTH AMERICAN a yard or garden by the door of a house.

doo-wop /duwp/ n. [mass noun] a style of pop music marked by the use of close harmony vocals using nonsense phrases, originating in the US in the 1950s.

<DERIVATIVES> doo-wopper n.

<ORIGIN> imitative.

doozy /duzi/ (also doozie) n. (pl. doozies) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN something outstanding or unique of its kind: it's gonna be a doozy of a black eye.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

dop /dp/ n. S. African INFORMAL a drink, especially of brandy or other spirits.

- a tot of liquor.

<ORIGIN> South African Dutch, ‘shell, husk’.

dopa /dəpə/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound which is present in nervous tissue as a precursor of dopamine, used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. See also L-DOPA.

<INFO> An amino acid; alternative name: dihydroxyphenylalanine; chem. formula: C_9H_11NO_4.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German, acronym from the systematic name.

dopamine /dəpəmin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound present in the body as a neurotransmitter and a precursor of other substances including adrenalin.

<INFO> Alternative name: 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethylAMINE; chem. formula: C_8H_11NO_2.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of DOPA and amine.

dopaminergic /dəpəminədk/ adj. [BIOCHEMISTRY] releasing or involving dopamine as a neurotransmitter.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from DOPAMINE + Greek ergon ‘work’ + -IC.

dopant /dəp(ə)nt/ n. [ELECTRONICS] a substance used to produce a desired electrical characteristic in a semiconductor.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from the verb DOPE + -ANT.

dope n. [mass noun] 1 INFORMAL a drug taken illegally for recreational purposes, especially cannabis or (US) heroin.

- a drug given to a racehorse or greyhound to inhibit or enhance its performance.

- a drug taken by an athlete to improve performance: [as modifier] he failed a dope test.

2 [count noun] INFORMAL a stupid person: though he wasn't an intellectual giant, he was no dope either.

3 INFORMAL information about a subject, especially if not generally known: our reviewer will give you the dope on hot spots around the town.

4 a varnish formerly applied to fabric surfaces of aircraft to strengthen them and keep them airtight.

- a thick liquid used as a lubricant.

- a substance added to petrol to increase its effectiveness.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 administer drugs to (a racehorse, greyhound, or athlete) in order to inhibit or enhance sporting performance: the horse was doped before the race.

- (be doped up) INFORMAL be heavily under the influence of drugs, typically illegal ones: he was so doped up that he can't remember a thing.

- treat (food or drink) with drugs: maybe they had doped her Perrier.

- [no obj.] INFORMAL, DATED regularly take illegal drugs.

2 smear or cover with varnish or other thick liquid: she doped the surface with photographic emulsion.

3 [ELECTRONICS] add an impurity to (a semiconductor) to produce a desired electrical characteristic.

4 (dope something out) INFORMAL, DATED work out something: they met to dope out plans for covering the event.

■ adj. BLACK SLANG very good: that suit is dope!

<DERIVATIVES> doper n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the sense ‘thick liquid’): from Dutch doop ‘sauce’, from doopen ‘to dip, mix’.

dopester /dəpstə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person who collects and supplies information, typically on sporting events or elections: they are inside dopesters with special access to the racing world.

dopey (also dopy) adj. (dopier, dopiest) INFORMAL stupefied by sleep or a drug: she was under sedation and a bit dopey.

- idiotic: did you ever hear such dopey names?

<DERIVATIVES> dopily adv. dopiness n.

dopiaza /dəpαə/ n. [mass noun] an Indian dish consisting of meat cooked with onions and garnished with raw or fried onions: chicken dopiaza.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi do ‘two’ + pyāz ‘onion’.

doppelgänger /dp(ə)laə -εə/ n. an apparition or double of a living person.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, literally ‘double-goer’.

Dopper /dpə/ n. (in South Africa) a member of the Gereformeerde Kerk, a strictly orthodox Calvinistic denomination.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, of unknown origin.

doppie /dpi/ n. S. African INFORMAL a tot of liquor.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, diminutive of dop (see DOP).

Doppler /dplə/ Johann Christian (1803–53), Austrian physicist, famous for his discovery, in 1842, of what is now known as the Doppler effect.

Doppler broadening n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the broadening of spectral lines as a result of the different velocities of the emitting atoms giving rise to different Doppler shifts.

Doppler effect n. [PHYSICS] an increase (or decrease) in the frequency of sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move towards (or away from) each other. The effect causes the sudden change in pitch noticeable in a passing siren, as well as the red shift seen by astronomers.

Doppler shift n. [PHYSICS] a change in frequency due to the Doppler effect.

dor /d/ (also dor beetle) n. a large black dung beetle that makes a droning sound in flight and excavates burrows in which its young develop.

<INFO> Family Geotrupidae: several genera and species, including the common Geotrupes stercorarius.

<ORIGIN> Old English (denoting a bee or buzzing fly), probably imitative.

Dorado /dərαdə/ [ASTRONOMY] a southern constellation (the Goldfish), containing most of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

<ORIGIN> Spanish (see DORADO).

dorado /dərαdə/ n. (pl. dorados) 1 an edible marine fish of warm seas, with silver and bright blue or green coloration when alive. Also called DOLPHIN.

<INFO> Family Coryphaenidae and genus Coryphaena: two species, in particular the large C. hippurus.

2 a South American freshwater fish with a golden body and red fins, popular as a game fish.

<INFO> Salminus maxillosus, family Characidae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish, literally ‘gilded’, from late Latin deauratus, from deaurare ‘to gild over’ (see also dory^1).

do-rag /dura/ n. US BLACK SLANG a scarf or cloth worn to protect one's hairstyle.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from HAIRDO.

dorcas gazelle /dkəs/ n. a small gazelle found on semi-desert plains in North Africa and western Asia.

<INFO> Gazella dorcas, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from modern Latin Gazella dorcas (from Greek dorkas ‘gazelle’).

Dorchester /dtstə/ a town in southern England, the county town of Dorset; pop. 15,700 (est. 1998).

Dordogne /ddn/ French /dRd/ a river of western France which rises in the Auvergne and flows 472 km (297 miles) westwards to meet the Garonne and form the Gironde estuary.

- a department of SW France. It contains caves that have yielded abundant remains of early humans and their artefacts and art, such as that at Lascaux.

Dordrecht /ddrεxt/ an industrial city and river port in the Netherlands, near the mouth of the Rhine (there called the Waal), 20 km (12 miles) south-east of Rotterdam; pop. 122,600 (est. 2002). Also called DORT.

Doré /dre/ French /dRe/ Gustave (1832–83), French book illustrator, known for his woodcut illustrations of books such as Dante's Inferno (1861), Cervantes' Don Quixote (1863), and the Bible (1865–6).

doré /dre -ri/ n. Canadian term for wall eye (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, literally ‘gilded’.

Dorian /drən/ n. a member of a Hellenic people speaking the Doric dialect of Greek, thought to have entered Greece from the north c.1100 BC. They settled in the Peloponnese and later colonized Sicily and southern Italy.

■ adj. relating to the Dorians or to Doris in central Greece.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Dōrios ‘of Doris’ + -IAN.

Dorian mode n. [MUSIC] the mode represented by the natural diatonic scale D–D (containing a minor 3rd and minor 7th).

Doric /drk/ adj. 1 relating to or denoting a classical order of architecture characterized by a plain, sturdy column and a thick square abacus resting on a rounded moulding.

2 relating to the ancient Greek dialect of the Dorians.

- ARCHAIC (of a dialect) broad; rustic.

■ n. [mass noun] 1 the Doric order of architecture.

2 the ancient Greek dialect of the Dorians.

- a broad or rustic dialect, especially the dialect spoken in the north-east of Scotland.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Dōrikos, from Dōrios (see DORIAN).

dorje /dde/ n. (in Tibetan Buddhism) a representation of a thunderbolt in the form of a short double trident or sceptre, symbolizing the male aspect of the spirit and held during invocations and prayers. Compare with VAJRA.

<ORIGIN> Tibetan.

dork n. 1 INFORMAL a contemptible, socially inept person.

2 NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG a man's penis.

<DERIVATIVES> dorkiness n. dorky adj. (dorkier, dorkiest)

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally US): perhaps a variant of DIRK, influenced by dick^1.

dorm n. INFORMAL a dormitory.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

dormant adj. (of an animal) having normal physical functions suspended or slowed down for a period of time; in or as if in a deep sleep: dormant butterflies | FIGURATIVE the event evoked memories that she would rather had lain dormant.

- (of a plant or bud) alive but not actively growing.

- (of a volcano) temporarily inactive.

- (of a disease) causing no symptoms but not cured and liable to recur.

- [usually postpositive] [HERALDRY] (of an animal) depicted lying with its head on its paws.

<DERIVATIVES> dormancy n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘fixed in position’ and ‘latent’): from Old French, ‘sleeping’, present participle of dormir, from Latin dormire ‘to sleep’.

dormer (also dormer window) n. a window that projects vertically from a sloping roof.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting the window of a dormitory or bedroom): from Old French dormeor ‘dormitory’, from dormir ‘to sleep’.

Dormition /dm(ə)n/ n. (in the Orthodox Church) the passing of the Virgin Mary from earthly life.

- the feast held in honour of this on 15 August, corresponding to the Assumption in the Western Church.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French, from Latin dormitio(n-) ‘falling asleep’, from dormire ‘to sleep’.

dormitory /dmt(ə)ri/ n. (pl. dormitories) a large bedroom for a number of people in a school or institution.

- NORTH AMERICAN a university or college hall of residence or hostel.

- [usually as modifier] chiefly BRITISH a small town or suburb providing a residential area for those who work in a nearby city: a dormitory town.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dormitorium, neuter (used as a noun) of dormitorius, from dormire ‘to sleep’.

Dormobile /dməbil/ n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a motor caravan that can be used for sleeping in.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of DORMITORY and AUTOMOBILE.

dormouse n. (pl. dormice) an agile mouse-like rodent with a hairy or bushy tail, found in Africa and Eurasia. Some kinds are noted for spending long periods in hibernation.

<INFO> Family Myoxidae: several genera and species, including the common (or hazel) dorMOUSE (Muscardinus avellanarius) and the fat dormouse.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin, but associated with French dormir or Latin dormire ‘to sleep’ and mouse.

dormy /dmi/ adj. [GOLF] (of a player in match play) ahead by a specified number of holes when the same number of holes remain to be played, and thus in a position at least to draw the match (used preceding a numeral): he reached the 17th hole dormy two.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

doronicum /dərnkəm/ n. (pl. doronicums) a plant of the genus Doronicum in the daisy family, especially (in gardening) leopard's bane.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (Linnaeus), from modern Greek dōronikon, from Persian darūnak.

dorp /dp/ n. S. AFRICAN a small rural town or village (often used to suggest that a place is backward or unimpressive): dreary little dorps.

<ORIGIN> Dutch, ‘village’ (see THORP).

dorsal /ds(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY], [ZOOLOGY], & [BOTANY] on or relating to the upper side or back of an animal, plant, or organ: a dorsal view of the body | the dorsal aorta. Compare with VENTRAL.

<DERIVATIVES> dorsally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin dorsalis, from Latin dorsum ‘back’.

dorsal fin n. [ZOOLOGY] an unpaired fin on the back of a fish or whale, e.g. the tall triangular fin of a shark or killer whale.

Dorset^1 /dst/ a county of SW England; county town, Dorchester.

Dorset^2 /dst/ n. [usually as modifier] [ARCHAEOLOGY] a prehistoric culture which flourished in the American Arctic during the 1st millennium AD and was displaced by the Thule culture.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from the name of Cape Dorset, Baffin Island.

Dorset Down n. a sheep of a breed with a brown face and legs.

Dorset Horn n. a sheep of a breed with a white face and horns on both the ewe and the ram.

dorsi- combining form towards or on the back: dorsiventral.

<ORIGIN> from Latin dorsum ‘back’.

dorsiflex /dsflεks/ v. [with obj.] [PHYSIOLOGY] bend (something, typically the hand or foot) dorsally or towards its upper surface.

<DERIVATIVES> dorsiflexion n.

dorsiflexor /dsflεksə/ n. [ANATOMY] a muscle whose contraction dorsiflexes the hand or foot.

dorsiventral /dsvεntr(ə)l/ adj. chiefly [BOTANY] (of a leaf or other part of a plant) having dissimilar dorsal and ventral surfaces.

■ another term for DORSOVENTRAL.

<DERIVATIVES> dorsiventrality n. dorsiventrally adv.

dorso- combining form relating to the back: dorsoventral.

<ORIGIN> from Latin dorsum ‘back’.

dorsolateral /dsə()lat(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] relating to or involving the dorsal and lateral surfaces.

<DERIVATIVES> dorsolaterally adv.

dorsoventral /dsə()vεntr(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] of, denoting, or extending along an axis joining the dorsal and ventral surfaces.

<DERIVATIVES> dorsoventrally adv.

dorsum /dsəm/ n. (pl. dorsa) [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] the dorsal part of an organism or structure.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (denoting a long hill or ridge): from Latin, ‘back’.

Dort /dt/ another name for DORDRECHT.

Dortmund /dtmnd/ German /drtmnt/ an industrial city in NW Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia; pop. 588,300 (est. 2002).

dory^1 /dri/ n. (pl. dories) a narrow deep-bodied fish with a mouth that can be opened very wide.

<INFO> Several genera and species in the families Zeidae and Oreosomatidae. See also JOHN DORY.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French dorée, feminine past participle of dorer ‘gild’, from late Latin deaurare ‘gild over’, based on Latin aurum ‘gold’. Compare with DORADO.

dory^2 /dri/ n. (pl. dories) a small flat-bottomed rowing boat with a high bow and stern, originally of a kind used for fishing in New England.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps from Miskito dóri ‘dugout’.

doryphore /drf/ n. RARE a pedantic and annoyingly persistent critic.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (introduced by Sir Harold Nicolson): from French, literally ‘Colorado beetle’, from Greek doruphoros ‘spear carrier’.

DOS abbr. [COMPUTING] disk operating system, an operating system originally developed for IBM personal computers.

DoS abbr. denial of service, denoting an interruption in access to a computer network, typically one caused with malicious intent.

dosa /dəsə/ n. (pl. dosas or dosai /dəs/) (in southern Indian cooking) a pancake made from rice flour and ground pulses, typically served with a spiced vegetable filling.

<ORIGIN> from Tamil tōcai.

dos-à-dos /dəzədə/ adj. (of two books) bound together with a shared central board and facing in opposite directions.

■ n. (pl. same) a seat or carriage in which the occupants sit back to back.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘back to back’.

dosage n. the size or frequency of a dose of a medicine or drug: a dosage of 450 milligrams a day | [mass noun] there are recommendations about dosage in elderly patients.

- a level of exposure to or absorption of ionizing radiation.

dose n. a quantity of a medicine or drug taken or recommended to be taken at a particular time: he took a dose of cough mixture.

- an amount of ionizing radiation received or absorbed at one time or over a specified period: a dose of radiation exceeding safety limits.

- INFORMAL a venereal infection.

- INFORMAL a quantity of something unpleasant but necessary: I wanted to give you a dose of the hell you put me through.

■ v. [with obj.] administer a dose to (a person or animal): he dosed himself with vitamins.

- adulterate or blend (a substance) with another substance: the petrol is dosed with lead.

<PHRASES>

□ in small doses INFORMAL when experienced or engaged in a little at a time: computer games are great in small doses.

□ like a dose of salts BRITISH INFORMAL very fast and efficiently: we'll go through this place like a dose of salts and scrub it from top to bottom. [<ORIGIN> from the use of Epsom salts as a laxative.]

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, via late Latin from Greek dosis ‘gift’, from didonai ‘give’.

dose equivalent n. an estimate of the biological effect of a dose of ionizing radiation, calculated by multiplying the dose received by a factor depending on the type of radiation. It is measured in sieverts.

dose-response curve n. MEDICINE the relationship between the size of a dose and the extent of the response to it.

dosh n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL money: cycling saves you a heap of dosh.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: of unknown origin.

dosha /də dəə/ n. (in Ayurvedic medicine) each of three energies believed to circulate in the body and govern physiological activity, their differing proportions determining individual temperament and physical constitution and (when unbalanced) causing a disposition to particular physical and mental disorders.

<ORIGIN> Sanskrit doa, literally ‘fault, disease’.

do-si-do /dəzdə -s-/ (also do-se-do) n. (pl. do-si-dos) (in country dancing) a figure in which two dancers pass round each other back to back and return to their original positions.

■ v. [no obj.] dance a do-si-do.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): alteration of dos-à-dos.

dosimeter /dəsmtə/ n. a device used to measure an absorbed dose of ionizing radiation.

<DERIVATIVES> dosimetric adj. dosimetry n.

Dos Passos /ds pass/ John (Roderigo) (1896–1970), American novelist, chiefly known for his portrayal of American life in such novels as Manhattan Transfer (1925) and USA (1938).

doss BRITISH INFORMAL v. [no obj.] 1 sleep in rough accommodation or on an improvised bed: he dossed down on a friend's floor.

2 spend time idly: all I've seen her do so far is doss around.

■ n. 1 an instance of sleeping in rough accommodation or on an improvised bed.

- ARCHAIC a bed in a cheap lodging house.

2 a situation giving the opportunity for being extremely idle: they thought being a student was a great doss.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps based on Latin dorsum ‘back’.

dossal /ds(ə)l/ n. an ornamental cloth hung behind an altar in a church or at the sides of a chancel.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting an ornamental cloth for covering the back of a seat): from medieval Latin dossale, from late Latin dorsalis ‘on the back’ (see DORSAL).

dosser n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DEROGATORY 1 a person who sleeps rough; a tramp.

2 an idle person.

dosseret /dsərεt/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] an additional block of stone placed above an abacus in the columns of a Byzantine or Romanesque arcade.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, diminutive of dossier ‘back’ (denoting a supporting structure).

dosshouse n. BRITISH INFORMAL a cheap lodging house for homeless people and tramps.

dossier /dsə -e -je/ n. a collection of documents about a particular person, event, or subject: we have a dossier on him | a dossier of complaints.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, denoting a bundle of papers with a label on the back, from dos ‘back’, based on Latin dorsum.

dost /dst/ archaic second person singular present of do^1.

Dostoevsky /dstεfski/ (also Dostoyevsky) Fyodor (Mikhailovich) (1821–81), Russian novelist. Dostoevsky's novels reveal his psychological insight, savage humour, and concern with the religious, political, and moral problems posed by human suffering. Notable novels: Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1868), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880).

DOT abbr. directly observed therapy, a method of supervising patients to ensure that they take medication as directed.

DoT abbr.

- (in Canada and formerly in the UK) Department of Transport.

- (in the US) Department of Transportation.

dot^1 n. a small round mark or spot: a symbol depicted in coloured dots.

- such a mark written or printed as part of an i or j, as one of a series of marks to signify omission, or as a full stop.

- [MUSIC] such a mark used to denote the lengthening of a note or rest by half, or to indicate staccato.

- the shorter signal of the two used in Morse code. Compare with dash (sense 3 of the noun).

- used to refer to an object that appears tiny because it is far away: they were mere dots on the horizon now.

■ v. (dots, dotting, dotted) [with obj.] 1 mark with a small spot or spots: wet spots of rain began to dot his shirt.

- (of a number of items) be scattered over (an area): churches dot the countryside | (be dotted) there appear to be a number of airfields dotted about.

- place a dot over (a letter): you need to dot the i.

- [MUSIC] mark (a note or rest) to show that the time value is increased by half: (as adj. dotted) a dotted minim.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL hit (someone): ‘You want to dot him one,’ he said.

<PHRASES>

□ dot the i's and cross the t's INFORMAL ensure that all details are correct.

□ on the dot INFORMAL exactly on time: he arrived on the dot at nine o'clock.

□ the year dot BRITISH INFORMAL a very long time ago: that wallpaper has been there since the year dot.

<DERIVATIVES> dotter n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dott ‘head of a boil’. The word is recorded only once in Old English, then not until the late 16th century, when it is found in the sense ‘a small lump or clot’, perhaps influenced by Dutch dot ‘a knot’. The sense ‘small mark or spot’ dates from the mid 17th cent.

dot^2 n. ARCHAIC a dowry from which only the interest or annual income was available to the husband.

<ORIGIN> from French, from Latin dos, dot- ‘dowry’ (see DOWER).

dotage /dətd/ n. the period of life in which a person is old and weak: you could live here and look after me in my dotage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from DOTE + -AGE.

dotard /dətəd/ n. an old person, especially one who has become weak or senile.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from DOTE + -ARD.

dot-com (also dot.com) n. a company that conducts its business on the Internet.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from .‘com’ in an Internet address, indicating a commercial site.

dote v. [no obj.] 1 (dote on/upon) be extremely and uncritically fond of: she doted on her two young children.

2 ARCHAIC be silly or feeble-minded, especially as a result of old age: the parson is now old and dotes.

■ n. IRISH INFORMAL a sweet or adorable person: he's gorgeous and the twins are dotes.

<DERIVATIVES> doter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘act or talk foolishly’): of uncertain origin; related to Middle Dutch doten ‘be silly’.

doth /dθ/ archaic third person singular present of do^1.

doting adj. extremely and uncritically fond of someone; adoring: she was spoiled outrageously by her doting father.

<DERIVATIVES> dotingly adv.

dotish adj. ARCHAIC or W. INDIAN stupid or silly: dotish foreign TV programmes.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from obsolete dote ‘folly’ + -ISH^1.

dot matrix n. [usually as modifier] a grid of dots which are filled selectively to produce an image on a screen or paper: a dot matrix printer.

dot-org (also dot.org) n. a non-profit-making organization that conducts its business on the Internet.

<ORIGIN> from ‘.org’ in an Internet address, indicating a non-commercial site.

dot plant n. a garden plant that is planted singly to stand out against the surrounding plants.

dot product n. another term for SCALAR PRODUCT.

dotted line n. a line made up of dots or dashes (often used in reference to the space left for a signature on a contract): Adam signed on the dotted line with a flourish.

dotted note n. [MUSIC] a note written with a dot after it, which has one and a half times the length of the same note without a dot.

dotted rhythm n. [MUSIC] rhythm in which the beat is unequally subdivided into a long dotted note and a short note.

dotterel /dt(ə)r(ə)l/ n. (pl. same, dotterels) a small plover with a brown streaked back and a chestnut or buff belly with black below, breeding in mountainous areas and in the tundra.

<INFO> Genus Eudromias, family Charadriidae: two species.

- [with modifier] AUSTRALIAN/NZ any small plover, especially one of the genus Charadrius.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from DOTE (so named because it is easily caught) + -REL. Compare with DODO.

dottle /dt(ə)l/ n. a remnant of tobacco left in a pipe after smoking.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a plug for a barrel or other container): from DOT^1 + -LE^1.

dotty adj. (dottier, dottiest) BRITISH INFORMAL eccentric or slightly mad: a dotty old lady.

- (dotty about) infatuated with: she's dotty about her husband.

<DERIVATIVES> dottily adv. dottiness n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from obsolete dote ‘simpleton, fool’, apparently from Dutch dote ‘folly’.

Douala /duαlə/ the chief port and largest city of Cameroon; pop. 1,239,100 (est. 2002).

Douay Bible /due dae/ (also Douay version) n. an English translation of the Bible formerly used in the Roman Catholic Church, completed at Douai in France early in the 17th century.

double adj. 1 consisting of two equal, identical, or similar parts or things: double doors.

- having twice the usual size, quantity, or strength: she sipped a double brandy.

- designed to be used by two people: a double bed.

- having two different roles or interpretations, especially in order to deceive or confuse: the furtive double life of a terrorist.

- (of a letter or number) occurring twice in succession: ‘otter’ is spelled with a double t.

- (of a flower) having more than one circle of petals: large double blooms.

- (of a domino) having the same number of pips on each half.

2 [MUSIC] lower in pitch by an octave.

■ predeterminer twice as much or as many: the jail now houses almost double the number of prisoners it was designed for | I'll pay double what I paid last time.

■ adv. at or to twice the amount or extent: you have to be careful, and this counts double for older people.

■ n. 1 a thing which is twice as large as usual or is made up of two standard units or things: join the two sleeping bags together to make a double.

- a double measure of spirits.

- a system of betting in which the winnings and stake from the first bet are transferred to a second.

- [BRIDGE] a call that will increase the penalty points won by the defenders if the declarer fails to make the contract.

- [DARTS] a hit on the narrow ring enclosed by the two outer circles of a dartboard, scoring double.

2 a person who looks exactly like another: you could pass yourself off as his double.

- a person who stands in for an actor in a film.

- an apparition of a living person: she had seen her husband's double.

3 (doubles) (especially in tennis and badminton) a game or competition involving sides made up of two players: the semi-finals of the doubles.

4 [BELL-RINGING] a system of change-ringing using five bells, with two pairs changing places each time.

5 a pair of victories in the same sport in two different competitions: Manchester United won the double twice.

■ pron. a number or amount which is twice as large as a contrasting or usual number or amount: he paid double and had a room all to himself.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] become twice as much or as many: profits doubled in one year.

- [with obj.] make twice as much or as many of (something): Clare doubled her income overnight.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC amount to twice as much as: thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty.

- (double up) use the winnings from a bet as stake for another bet.

- [MILITARY] move at twice the usual speed; run: I doubled across the deck to join the others.

- (double up) share a room: ‘Where's Jimmy going to sleep?’ ‘He can double up with Bertie.’.

- [BRIDGE] make a call increasing the value of the penalty points to be scored on an opponent's bid if it wins the auction and is not fulfilled.

2 [with obj.] fold or bend (paper, cloth, or other material) over on itself: the muslin is doubled and then laid in a sieve over the bowl.

- [no obj.] (double up) bend over or curl up, typically because one is overcome with pain or mirth: Billy started to double up with laughter.

- clench (a fist).

- [no obj.] (usually double back) go back in the direction one has come: he had to double back to collect them.

- [SNOOKER] pot (a ball) by making it rebound off a cushion.

- [NAUTICAL] sail round (a headland): we struck out seaward to double the headland of the cape.

3 [no obj.] be used in or play another, different role: a laser printer doubles as a photocopier.

- [with obj.] (of an actor) play (two parts) in the same piece.

- [MUSIC] play two or more musical instruments.

- [with obj.] [MUSIC] add the same note in a higher or lower octave to (a note).

<PHRASES>

□ at the double (US on the double) at running speed; very fast: he disappeared at the double.

□ bend double bend over into a stooping position.

□ be seeing double seem to see two images of one object.

□ double or quits (US double or nothing) a gamble to decide whether a loss or debt should be doubled or cancelled.

<DERIVATIVES> doubleness n. doubler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin duplus (see DUPLE). The verb is from Old French dobler, from late Latin duplare, from duplus.

double acrostic n. an acrostic in which the first and last letters of each line form a hidden word or words.

double act n. a performance involving two people.

- a pair of entertainers who perform a double act: my father was part of a double act with his brother.

double-acting adj. 1 (of a device or product) combining two different functions.

2 (of an engine) having pistons pushed from both sides alternately.

double-action adj. 1 combining two different functions; double-acting.

2 (of a gun) needing to be cocked and fired as two separate actions.

double agent n. an agent who pretends to act as a spy for one country or organization while in fact acting on behalf of an enemy.

double axe n. an axe with two blades.

double-bank v. [with obj.] chiefly BRITISH arrange in two similar or parallel lines; double.

double bar n. a pair of closely spaced bar lines marking the end of a piece or section of music.

double-barrelled adj. 1 (of a gun) having two barrels.

- having two parts or aspects.

2 BRITISH (of a surname) having two parts joined by a hyphen.

double bass n. the largest and lowest-pitched instrument of the violin family, providing the bass line of the orchestral string section and also used in jazz and some country music.

double bassoon n. a bassoon that is larger and longer than the normal type and sounds an octave lower in pitch.

double bill n. a programme of entertainment with two main items: a double bill of horror movies.

double bind n. a situation in which a person is confronted with two irreconcilable demands or a choice between two undesirable courses of action.

double-bitted axe n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for DOUBLE AXE.

double-blind adj. denoting a test or trial, especially of a drug, in which any information which may influence the behaviour of the tester or the subject is withheld until after the test.

double bluff n. an action or statement that is intended to appear as a bluff but is in fact genuine.

double bogey [GOLF] n. a score of two strokes over par for a hole.

■ v. (double-bogey) [with obj.] complete (a hole) in two strokes over par.

double boiler n. a saucepan with a detachable upper compartment heated by boiling water in the lower one.

double bond n. a chemical bond in which two pairs of electrons are shared between two atoms.

double-book v. [with obj.] inadvertently reserve (something, especially a seat or a hotel room) for two different customers or parties at the same time: the hotel was double-booked.

double-breasted adj. (of a jacket or coat) having a substantial overlap of material at the front and showing two rows of buttons when fastened.

double bridle n. a bridle which has both a curb and a snaffle bit, each with its own set of reins.

double-check v. [with obj.] check (something) for a second time to ensure that it is accurate or safe: he double-checked our credentials | [with clause] double-check that all windows are firmly locked.

double chin n. a roll of fatty flesh below a person's chin.

<DERIVATIVES> double-chinned adj.

double-click v. [no obj.] [COMPUTING] press a mouse button twice in quick succession to select a file, program, or function: to run a window just double-click on the icon.

double-clutch v. North American term for DOUBLE-DECLUTCH.

double coconut n. another term for COCO DE MER.

double concerto n. a concerto for two solo instruments.

double cream n. [mass noun] BRITISH thick cream that contains a lot of milk fat.

double-cross v. [with obj.] deceive or betray (a person with whom one is supposedly cooperating): he was blackmailed into double-crossing his own government.

■ n. a betrayal of someone with whom one is supposedly cooperating.

<DERIVATIVES> double-crosser n.

double-cut adj. another term for CROSS-CUT.

double dagger (also double obelus, double obelisk) n. a symbol (‡) used in printed text to introduce an annotation.

double-dealing n. [mass noun] the practice of working to people's disadvantage behind their backs.

■ adj. working deceitfully to injure others: she is a back-stabbing, double-dealing twister.

<DERIVATIVES> double-dealer n.

double-decker n. something, especially a bus, that has two floors or levels: [as modifier] a double-decker bus | double-decker sandwiches.

double-declutch v. [no obj.] BRITISH release and re-engage the clutch of a vehicle twice when changing gear.

double decomposition n. [CHEMISTRY] a reaction in which two compounds exchange ions, typically with precipitation of an insoluble product.

double digging n. [mass noun] (in gardening) digging of an area in parallel trenches two spits deep, burying the soil of each upper spit in the bottom of the next trench.

double-digit adj. (of a number or variable) between 10 and 99.

■ n. (double digits) North American another term for DOUBLE FIGURES.

double-dip v. [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL obtain an income from two different sources, typically in an illicit way.

<DERIVATIVES> double-dipper n.

double dot [MUSIC] n. two dots placed side by side after a note to indicate that it is to be lengthened by three quarters of its value.

■ v. (double-dot) [with obj.] write or perform (music) with a rhythm of alternating long and short notes in a ratio of seven to one, producing a more marked effect than ordinary dotted rhythm.

double Dutch n. [mass noun] 1 BRITISH INFORMAL language that is impossible to understand; gibberish: instructions written in double Dutch.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a jumping game played with two skipping ropes swung in opposite directions so that they cross rhythmically.

double-dyed adj. (of clothing) dyed twice in order to give a very deep colour.

- (of a person) thoroughly imbued with a particular quality: a double-dyed liberal.

double eagle n. 1 a representation of a two-headed eagle.

- US a gold coin worth twenty dollars.

2 [GOLF] a score of three strokes under par at a hole. Also called ALBATROSS.

double-edged adj. (of a knife or sword) having two cutting edges.

- having two contradictory aspects or possible outcomes: the consequences can be double-edged.

<PHRASES>

□ a double-edged sword a situation or course of action having both positive and negative effects.

double effect n. [mass noun] the good and bad effect of an action, compared according to a principle which seeks to justify the action if the bad effect, though foreseen, is outweighed by the good effect.

double-ender n. a boat in which stern and bow are similarly tapered.

double entendre /dub(ə)l tdr(ə)/ n. (pl. double entendres pronunc. same) a word or phrase open to two interpretations, one of which is usually risqué or indecent.

- [mass noun] humour using such words or phrases.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from obsolete French (now double entente), ‘double understanding’.

double-entry adj. denoting a system of bookkeeping in which each transaction is entered as a debit in one account and a credit in another.

double exposure n. [mass noun] the repeated exposure of a photographic plate or film to light, often producing ghost images.

double-faced adj. 1 having two faces: a double-faced clock.

- (of a fabric or material) finished on both sides so that either may be used as the right side.

2 tending to say one thing and do another; deceitful.

double fault n. [TENNIS] an instance of two consecutive faults in serving, counting as a point against the server.

■ v. (double-fault) [no obj.] serve a double fault.

double feature n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a cinema programme with two full-length films.

double figures plural n. chiefly BRITISH a number or amount between 10 and 99: inflation was in double figures.

double first n. BRITISH a university degree with first-class honours in two subjects or two major examinations.

double flat n. a sign placed before a musical note to indicate that it is to be lowered two semitones.

- a note so marked or lowered.

double-fronted adj. (of a house) with principal windows on either side of the front door.

double fugue n. [MUSIC] a fugue with two subjects, each similarly treated.

double glazing n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH windows which have two layers of glass with a space between them, designed to reduce loss of heat and exclude noise.

<DERIVATIVES> double-glaze v.

Double Gloucester n. [mass noun] a kind of hard cheese originally made in Gloucestershire.

<ORIGIN> so named because the curd is milled twice.

double-handed adj. made to be lifted or held with two hands: double-handed war axes.

- using both hands: a double-handed backhand.

double harness n. a harness worn by two horses working together.

double-headed adj. 1 (of a train) pulled by two locomotives.

2 (of a weapon) having two cutting implements, typically one at each end of the shaft: a double-headed axe.

double-header n. 1 a train pulled by two locomotives coupled together.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a sporting event in which two games or contests are played in succession at the same venue, typically between the same teams or players.

double helix n. a pair of parallel helices intertwined about a common axis, especially that in the structure of the DNA molecule.

double-hung adj. (of a window) consisting of two sliding vertical sashes.

double indemnity n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN provision for payment of double the face amount of an insurance policy under certain conditions, e.g. when death occurs as a result of an accident.

double jeopardy n. [mass noun] [LAW], chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the prosecution or punishment of a person twice for the same offence.

- risk or disadvantage incurred from two sources simultaneously: he is in double jeopardy, unable to speak either language adequately.

double-jointed adj. (of a person) having unusually flexible joints, typically those of the fingers, arms, or legs.

<DERIVATIVES> double-jointedness n.

double knitting n. [mass noun] a grade of yarn of medium thickness, typically used in hand knitting.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: double with reference to the ‘doubling’ of the yarn to four-ply.

double lock n. a type of spring lock which may be used as a deadlock by an extra turn of the key.

■ v. (double-lock) [with obj.] fasten (a door) with two locks, or with a double lock.

double napoleon n. HISTORICAL a gold forty-franc French coin.

double negation n. [PHILOSOPHY] the result of negating the negation of a proposition, and the principle (not admitted in intuitionist logic) that this is equivalent to the proposition itself.

double negative n. [GRAMMAR] a negative statement containing two negative elements (for example didn't say nothing).

- a positive statement in which two negative elements are used to produce the positive force, usually for some particular rhetorical effect, for example there is not nothing to worry about!

<USAGE> According to standard English grammar, a double negative used to express a single negative, such as I don't know nothing (rather than I don't know anything), is incorrect. The rules dictate that the two negative elements cancel each other out to give an affirmative statement, so that I don't know nothing would be interpreted as I know something.
In practice this sort of double negative is widespread in dialect and other non-standard usage and rarely gives rise to confusion as to the intended meaning. Double negatives are standard in certain other languages such as Spanish and they have not always been unacceptable in English, either. It was normal in Old English and Middle English and did not come to be frowned upon until some time after the 16th century, when attempts were made to relate the rules of language to the rules of formal logic.
Modern (correct) uses of the double negative give an added subtlety to statements: saying I am not unconvinced by his argument suggests reservations in the speaker's mind that are not present in its ‘logical’ equivalent: I am convinced by his argument.

double obelus (also double obelisk) n. another term for DOUBLE DAGGER.

double-park v. [with obj.] park (a vehicle) alongside one that is already parked at the side of the road.

double play n. [BASEBALL] a defensive play in which two runners are put out.

double pneumonia n. [mass noun] pneumonia affecting both lungs.

double precision n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] the use of twice the usual number of bits to represent a number, giving greater arithmetic accuracy.

double quick adj. & adv. BRITISH INFORMAL very quick or quickly: [as adj.] I got changed in double quick time | [as adv.] you get upstairs double quick!

double reed n. [MUSIC] a reed with two slightly separated blades, used for playing a wind instrument such as an oboe or bassoon.

double refraction n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] division of a single incident light ray or other electromagnetic wave into two separate rays in an anisotropic medium.

double rhyme n. a rhyme involving two syllables in each rhyming line.

double salt n. [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline salt having the composition of a mixture of two simple salts but with a different crystal structure from either.

double saucepan n. British term for DOUBLE BOILER.

double sharp n. a sign placed before a musical note to indicate that it is to be raised two semitones.

- a note so marked or raised.

double shuffle n. a dance in which a person makes shuffling movements twice with each foot alternately.

double-sided adj. using or able to be used on both sides: double-sided tape.

doublespeak n. [mass noun] deliberately euphemistic, ambiguous, or obscure language: the art of political doublespeak.

double standard n. a rule or principle which is unfairly applied in different ways to different people or groups: the double standards employed to deal with ordinary people and those in the City.

double star n. two stars actually or apparently very close together.

double steal n. [BASEBALL] a play in which two base runners each steal or attempt to steal a base.

double-stopping n. [mass noun] the sounding of two strings at once on a violin or similar bowed instrument.

<DERIVATIVES> double stop n.

Double Summer Time daylight saving time in which clocks are set two hours ahead of standard time, used in Britain during the Second World War.

doublet n. 1 a pair of similar things, in particular two words of the same derivation but having different meanings, for example fashion and faction, cloak and clock.

- (doublets) the same number on two dice thrown at once.

- [PHYSICS] & [CHEMISTRY] a pair of associated lines close together in a spectrum or electrophoretic gel.

- a combination of two simple lenses.

2 a man's short close-fitting padded jacket, commonly worn from the 14th to the 17th century.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, ‘something folded’, also denoting a fur-lined coat, from double ‘double’.

double take n. a delayed reaction to something unexpected, immediately after one's first reaction: Tony glanced at her, then did a double take.

doubletalk n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for DOUBLESPEAK.

double-team North American v. [with obj.] (in ball games) block (an opponent) with two players.

■ n. an act of double-teaming.

doublethink n. [mass noun] the acceptance of contrary opinions or beliefs at the same time, especially as a result of political indoctrination.

<ORIGIN> 1949: coined by George Orwell in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

double time n. [mass noun] 1 a rate of pay equal to double the standard rate, sometimes paid for working on holidays or outside normal working hours.

2 [MILITARY] a regulation running pace.

3 [MUSIC] a rhythm that is twice as fast as an earlier one.

doubleton /db(ə)lt(ə)n/ n. (in card games, especially bridge) a pair of cards which are the only cards of their suit in a hand.

- a pair of people or things.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from DOUBLE, on the pattern of singleton.

double tonguing n. [mass noun] [MUSIC] the use of two alternating movements of the tongue (usually as in sounding t and k) in playing rapid passages on a wind instrument.

double top n. [DARTS] a score of double twenty.

doubletree n. NORTH AMERICAN a crossbar in front of a wagon with a swingletree at each end, enabling two horses to be harnessed.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DOUBLE, on the pattern of singletree.

double vision n. [mass noun] the simultaneous perception of two images, usually overlapping, of a single scene or object.

double whammy n. INFORMAL a twofold blow or setback: a double whammy of taxation and price increases.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: originally with reference to the comic strip Li'l Abner (see WHAMMY).

double-wide n. NORTH AMERICAN a semi-permanent mobile home consisting of two separate units connected on site.

double yellow line n. (in the UK) a pair of yellow lines painted at the side of a road to indicate that parking is not permitted at most times of day.

doubloon /dblun/ n. HISTORICAL a Spanish gold coin.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French doublon or its source, Spanish doblón, from doble ‘double’ (so named because the coin was worth double the value of a pistole).

doublure /dubljə/ n. an ornamental lining, especially one made of leather, on the inside of a book cover.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘lining’, from doubler ‘to line’.

doubly adv. [often as submodifier] to twice the normal extent or degree; especially: we're going to have to work doubly hard.

- two times or in two ways: doubly mutant cells.

doubt n. [mass noun] a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction: some doubt has been cast upon the authenticity of this account | [count noun] they had doubts that they would ever win.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] feel uncertain about: I doubt my ability to do the job | [with clause] I doubt if anyone slept that night.

- question the truth or fact of (something): who can doubt the value and necessity of these services?

- disbelieve or lack faith in (someone): I have no reason to doubt him.

- [no obj.] feel uncertain, especially about one's religious beliefs.

2 [with clause] ARCHAIC fear; be afraid: I doubt not any ones contradicting this Journal.

<PHRASES>

□ beyond doubt allowing no uncertainty: you've proved it beyond doubt.

□ in doubt open to question: the outcome is no longer in doubt.

- feeling uncertain about something: by the age of 14 he was in no doubt about his career aims.

□ no doubt used to indicate the speaker's firm belief that something is true: those who left were attracted, no doubt, by higher pay.

- used to introduce a concession which is subsequently dismissed as unimportant or irrelevant: they no doubt did what they could to help her, but their best proved insufficient.

□ without (a) doubt indisputably: he was without doubt the very worst kind of reporter.

<DERIVATIVES> doubtable adj. doubting adj. doubtingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French doute (noun), douter (verb), from Latin dubitare ‘hesitate’, from dubius ‘doubtful’ (see DUBIOUS).

doubter n. a person who questions or lacks faith in something; a sceptic: he had proved all his doubters wrong.

doubtful adj. 1 feeling uncertain about something: he looked doubtful, but gave a nod | I was doubtful of my judgement.

2 not known with certainty: the fire was of doubtful origin.

- improbable: [with clause] it is doubtful whether these schemes have any lasting effect.

- not established as genuine or acceptable: of doubtful legality.

<DERIVATIVES> doubtfully adv. doubtfulness n.

doubting Thomas n. a person who is sceptical and refuses to believe something without proof.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: with biblical allusion to the apostle Thomas (John 20: 24–29).

doubtless adv. [sentence adv.] certainly; without doubt: the company would doubtless find the reduced competition to their liking.

- presumably or very probably: doubtless you'll solve the problem.

<DERIVATIVES> doubtlessly adv.

douce /dus/ adj. chiefly SCOTTISH sober and sedate: stories which would have outraged their douce minds.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘pleasant, sweet’): from Old French dous, douce, from Latin dulcis ‘sweet’.

douceur /dusə/ French /dusœR/ n. a financial inducement; a bribe: Pericles gave a handsome douceur to the Spartan commanders to withdraw without fighting.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘sweetness’.

douceur de vivre /dusə də vivr(ə)/ French /dusœR də vivR/ (also douceur de vie /vi/ French /vi/) n. [mass noun] a way of living that is pleasant and free from worries.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘sweetness of living (or life)’.

douche /du/ n. a shower of water: I felt better for taking a daily douche.

- a jet of liquid applied to part of the body for cleansing or medicinal purposes.

- a device for washing out the vagina as a contraceptive measure.

■ v. [with obj.] spray or shower with water.

- [no obj.] use a douche as a method of contraception.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (as a noun): via French from Italian doccia ‘conduit pipe’, from docciare ‘pour by drops’, based on Latin ductus ‘leading’ (see DUCT).

douche bag n. a small syringe for douching the vagina, especially as a contraceptive measure.

- North American INFORMAL a loathsome or contemptible person.

douc langur /duk/ (also douc monkey) n. a langur with black, white, and orange fur, native to the tropical rainforests of SE Asia.

<INFO> Pygathrix nemaeus, family Cercopithecidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: douc via French from Vietnamese.

doudou /dudu/ n. W. INDIAN a term of endearment.

<ORIGIN> French Creole, from French doux ‘sweet’.

dough n. [mass noun] 1 a thick, malleable mixture of flour and liquid, used for baking into bread or pastry.

2 INFORMAL money: lots of dough.

<DERIVATIVES> doughiness n. doughy adj. (doughier, doughiest)

<ORIGIN> Old English dāg, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch deeg and German Teig, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘smear, knead’.

doughboy n. 1 a boiled or deep-fried dumpling.

2 US INFORMAL a United States infantryman, especially one in the First World War. [<ORIGIN> said to have been a term applied in the Civil War to the large globular brass buttons on the infantry uniform; also said to derive from the use of pipe clay ‘dough’ to clean the white belts worn by infantrymen.]

doughnut (US also donut) n. a small fried cake of sweetened dough, typically in the shape of a ball or ring.

- a ring-shaped object, in particular a vacuum chamber in some types of particle accelerator.

doughty /dati/ adj. (doughtier, doughtiest) ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS brave and persistent: his doughty spirit kept him going.

<DERIVATIVES> doughtily adv. doughtiness n.

<ORIGIN> late Old English dohtig, variant of dyhtig, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch duchtig and German tüchtig.

Douglas /dləs/ the capital of the Isle of Man; pop. 25,347 (2001).

Douglas fir n. a tall, slender conifer with soft foliage and, in mature trees, deeply fissured bark. It is widely planted as a timber tree.

<INFO> Genus Pseudotsuga, family Pinaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after David Douglas (1798–1834), the Scottish botanist and explorer who introduced it to Europe from North America.

Douglas-Home /dləshjum/ Sir Alec, Baron Home of the Hirsel of Coldstream (1903–95), British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1963–4; born Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home. When Douglas-Home became Prime Minister he relinquished his hereditary peerage.

doula /dulə/ n. a woman giving support, help, and advice to another woman during pregnancy and during and after the birth.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: modern Greek, from Greek doulē ‘female slave’.

Doulton /dəlt(ə)n/ (also Royal Doulton) n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK fine decorative pottery or porcelain made at the factories of John Doulton (1793–1873) or his successors.

doum palm /dum/ (also dom palm) n. a palm tree with a forked trunk, producing edible fruit and a vegetable ivory substitute. It is native to the Nile region of Upper Egypt.

<INFO> Hyphaene thebaica, family Palmae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: doum from Arabic dawm, dūm.

dour /də daə/ adj. relentlessly severe, stern, or gloomy in manner or appearance: a hard, dour, humourless fanatic.

<DERIVATIVES> dourly adv. dourness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally Scots): probably from Scottish Gaelic dúr ‘dull, obstinate, stupid’, perhaps from Latin durus ‘hard’.

Douro /dəru/ a river of the Iberian peninsula, rising in central Spain and flowing west for 900 km (556 miles) through Portugal to the Atlantic Ocean near Oporto. Spanish name DUERO.

douroucouli /dərkuli/ n. (pl. douroucoulis) a large-eyed chiefly nocturnal monkey found in South America. Also called NIGHT MONKEY, OWL MONKEY.

<INFO> Genus Aotus, family Cebidae: two or more species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably a South American Indian name.

douse /das/ v. [with obj.] 1 pour a liquid over; drench: he doused the car with petrol and set it on fire.

2 extinguish (a fire or light): stewards appeared and the fire was doused | FIGURATIVE nothing could douse her sudden euphoria.

3 [SAILING] lower (a sail) quickly.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps imitative, influenced by SOUSE, or perhaps from dialect douse ‘strike, beat’, from Middle Dutch and Low German dossen.

dout /dat/ (also dowt) chiefly SCOTTISH v. [with obj.] extinguish (a fire or light).

■ n. a cigarette end.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as a verb): contraction of do out. The noun dates from the 1940s.

dove^1 /dv/ n. 1 a stocky bird with a small head, short legs, and a cooing voice, feeding on seeds or fruit. Doves are generally smaller and more delicate than pigeons, but many kinds have been given both names.

<INFO> Family Columbidae: numerous genera and species; white doves are a variety of the domestic pigeon.

2 a person who advocates peaceful or conciliatory policies, especially in foreign affairs. Compare with hawk^1 (sense 2 of the noun).

3 (Dove) (in Christian art and poetry) the Holy Spirit (as represented in John 1:32).

<DERIVATIVES> dovelike adj. dovish adj.

■ dove^1 (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse dúfa.

dove^2 /dəv/ North American past of DIVE.

dovecote /dvkt/ (also dovecot) n. a shelter with nest holes for domesticated pigeons.

<PHRASES>

□ flutter the dovecotes (also cause a flutter among the dovecotes) startle or upset a sedate or conventionally minded community.

dove grey n. [mass noun] a light grey.

dovekie /dvki/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for LITTLE AUK.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally denoting the black guillemot, Cepphus grylle, also formerly called the Greenland dove): from a Scots diminutive of dove^1.

Dover 1 a ferry port in Kent, on the coast of the English Channel; pop. 34,500 (est. 2002). It is mainland Britain's nearest point to the Continent, being only 35 km (22 miles) from Calais.

- a shipping forecast area covering the Strait of Dover.

2 the state capital of Delaware; pop. 32,135 (2000).

Dover, Strait of a sea passage between England and France, connecting the English Channel with the North Sea.

Dover sole n. either of two flatfishes which are highly valued as food:

<INFO>

- a true sole that is common in European waters (Solea solea, family Soleidae).

- North American a relative of the lemon sole found in the East Pacific (Microstomus pacificus, family Pleuronectidae).

dove's-foot cranesbill n. a European cranesbill which has white downy hairs on the leaves and spreading stems. The leaves supposedly resemble the foot of a bird.

<INFO> Geranium molle, family Geraniaceae.

dove shell n. a small mollusc with a robust shell, occurring in tropical and subtropical seas.

<INFO> Family Pyrenidae (or Columbellidae), class Gastropoda: Pyrene and other genera.

dovetail n. a joint formed by one or more tapered projections (tenons) on one piece which interlock with corresponding notches or recesses (mortises) in another.

- a tenon used in a dovetail joint, typically wider at its extremity.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] join together by means of a dovetail.

2 fit or cause to fit together easily and conveniently: [with obj.] plan to enable parents to dovetail their career and family commitments | [no obj.] flights that dovetail with the working day.

dovetail saw n. a tenon saw with a small blade and fine teeth, used mainly for making joints.

dove tree n. a slender deciduous Chinese tree with flowers that bear large white bracts said to resemble doves' wings, grown as an ornamental.

<INFO> Davidia involucrata, family Nyssaceae.

Dow /da/ short for DOW JONES INDEX:: the Dow fell sharply that summer.

dowager /daədə/ n. a widow with a title or property derived from her late husband: [as modifier] the dowager duchess | [postpositive] the queen dowager.

- INFORMAL a dignified elderly woman.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French douagiere, from douage ‘dower’, from douer ‘endow’, from Latin dotare ‘endow’ (see DOWER).

dowager's hump n. [mass noun] forward curvature of the spine resulting in a stoop, typically in women with osteoporosis, caused by collapse of the front edges of the thoracic vertebrae.

dowd /dad/ n. a person, typically a woman, of dull, unfashionable appearance.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin. Perhaps reintroduced in the early 19th century as a back-formation from DOWDY.

Dowding /dad/ Hugh (Caswall Tremenheere), Baron (1882–1970), British Marshal of the RAF. He was Commander-in-Chief of the British air defence forces that defeated the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

dowdy adj. (dowdier, dowdiest) (of a person, typically a woman, or their clothes) unfashionable and unstylish in appearance: she could achieve the kind of casual chic which made every other woman around her look dowdy.

<DERIVATIVES> dowdily adv. dowdiness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a noun): from DOWD.

dowel /daəl/ n. a projecting peg used for holding together components of a structure.

■ v. (dowels, dowelling, dowelled; US dowels, doweling, doweled) [with obj.] fasten with a dowel or dowels.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Middle Low German dovel.

dowelling (US doweling) n. [mass noun] cylindrical rods for cutting into dowels.

dower /daə/ n. a widow's share for life of her husband's estate.

- ARCHAIC a dowry.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC give a dowry to.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French douaire, from medieval Latin dotarium, from Latin dotare ‘endow’, from dos, dot- ‘dowry’; related to dare ‘give’.

dower house n. BRITISH a house intended as the residence of a widow, typically one near the main house on her late husband's estate.

dowitcher /datə/ n. a wading bird of the sandpiper family, with a long straight bill, breeding in arctic and subarctic North America and east Asia.

<INFO> Genus Limnodromus, family Scolopacidae: three species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Iroquoian.

Dow Jones index /dadənz/ (also Dow Jones average) an index of figures indicating the relative price of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, based on the average price of selected stocks.

<ORIGIN> from the name of Dow Jones & Co, Inc., a financial news agency founded by Charles H. Dow (1851–1902) and Edward D. Jones (c.1855–1920), American economists whose company compiled the first average of US stock prices in 1884.

Down one of the Six Counties of Northern Ireland, since 1973 an administrative district; chief town, Downpatrick.

down^1 adv. 1 towards or in a lower place or position, especially to or on the ground or another surface: she looked down | the sun started to go down | he put his glass down | he swung the axe to chop down the tree.

- at or to a specified distance below: you can plainly see the bottom 35 feet down.

- downstairs: I went down to put the kettle on.

- expressing movement or position away from the north: they're living down south.

- to or at a place perceived as lower (often expressing casualness or lack of hurry): I'd rather be down at the villa | I'm going down to the pub.

- BRITISH away from the capital or major city: there are eight trains a day, four up and four down.

- BRITISH away from a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge.

- (with reference to food or drink swallowed) in or into the stomach: she couldn't keep anything down.

- so as to lie or be fixed flush or flat: she stuck down a Christmas label.

- [as exclamation] used as a command to a person or animal to sit or lie down: down, boy!

- referring to a crossword answer which reads vertically: how many letters in fifteen down?

2 to or at a lower level of intensity, volume, or activity: keep the noise down | the panic was dying down | at night it would cool down.

- to or at a lower price, value, or rank: output was down by 20 per cent | soup is down from 59p to 49p.

- to a finer consistency, a smaller amount or size, or a simpler or more basic state: I must slim down a bit | a formal statement that can't be edited down | thin down an oil-based paint with spirits.

- from an earlier to a later point in time or order: buildings in England down to 1540 | everyone, from the President down to the bloke selling hot dogs, wants her dead.

3 in or into a weaker or worse position, mood, or condition: the scandal brought down the government | he was down with the flu.

- losing or at a disadvantage by a specified amount: United were 3–0 down.

- used to express progress through a series of tasks or items: one down and only six more to go.

- (of a computer system) out of action or unavailable for use: the system went down yesterday.

- (down with ——) shouted to express strong dislike of a specified person or thing: crowds chanted ‘Down with America!’.

4 in or into writing: Graham noted the numbers down carefully | taking down notes.

- on or on to a list, schedule, or record: I'll put you down for the evening shift.

5 (with reference to partial payment of a sum of money) made initially or on the spot: pay £5 down and the rest at the end of the month.

6 (of sailing) with the current or the wind.

- (of a ship's helm) moved round to leeward so that the rudder is to windward.

7 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] (of the ball or a player in possession) not in play, typically through progress being stopped.

■ prep. 1 from a higher to a lower point of (something): up and down the stairs | tears streaming down her face.

- at or to the part of (a river or stream) that is nearer the sea: a dozen miles or so down the Thames.

- moving or at a point further along the course of (something): he lived down the street | I wandered down the road.

- INFORMAL at or to (a place): she was tired of going down the pub every night.

2 throughout (a period of time): astrologers down the ages.

■ adj. 1 [attr.] directed or moving towards a lower place or position: the down escalator | click on the down arrow.

- relating to or denoting trains travelling away from the main terminus: we travelled on the first down train.

- [PHYSICS] denoting a flavour of quark having a charge of −1/3. Protons and neutrons are thought to be composed of combinations of up and down quarks.

2 [predic.] unhappy; depressed: he's been so down lately.

3 [predic.] (of a computer system) temporarily out of action or unavailable: sorry, but the computer's down.

4 [predic.] US BLACK SLANG supporting or going along with someone or something: you got to be down with me.

- aware of and following the latest fashion: a seriously down, hip-hop homie.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL 1 knock or bring to the ground: 175 enemy aircraft had been downed | he struck Slater on the face, downing him.

2 consume (something, typically a drink): he downed five pints of cider.

- [GOLF] sink (a putt).

■ n. 1 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a chance for a team to advance the ball, ending when the ball carrier is tackled or the ball becomes out of play. A team must advance at least ten yards in a series of four downs in order to keep possession.

2 (downs) INFORMAL unwelcome experiences or events: there had been more downs than ups during his years at Ferrari.

3 INFORMAL a feeling or period of unhappiness or depression: everyone gets their downs, their depressive periods.

<PHRASES>

□ be (or have a) down on BRITISH INFORMAL feel hostile or antagonistic towards.

□ be down to 1 be attributable to (a particular factor or circumstance): he claimed his problems were down to the media.

- be the responsibility of (a particular person): it's down to you to make sure the boiler receives regular servicing.

2 be left with only (the specified amount): I'm down to my last few pounds.

□ down in the mouth INFORMAL unhappy; dejected.

□ down on one's luck INFORMAL experiencing a period of bad luck.

□ down tools BRITISH INFORMAL stop work, especially as a form of industrial action: the union instructed its members to down tools.

□ down to the ground INFORMAL completely; totally.

□ down town into or in the centre of a town: I went down town to do a few errands.

□ have (or put) someone/thing down as judge someone or something to be (a particular type): I never had Jake down as a ladies' man.

<ORIGIN> Old English dūn, dūne, shortened from adūne ‘downward’, from the phrase of dūne ‘off the hill’ (see down^3).

down^2 n. [mass noun] soft, fine, fluffy feathers which form the first covering of a young bird or an insulating layer below the contour feathers of an adult bird.

- such feathers taken from ducks or their nests and used for stuffing cushions, quilts, etc.

- fine, soft hair on the face or body of a person: the little girl had a covering of golden down on her head.

- short, soft hairs on some leaves, fruit, or seeds.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse dúnn.

down^3 n. 1 (usually downs) a gently rolling hill: the gentle green contours of the downs.

- (the Downs) ridges of undulating chalk and limestone hills in southern England, used mainly for pasture.

2 (the Downs) a stretch of sea off the east coast of Kent, sheltered by the Goodwin Sands.

<ORIGIN> Old English dūn ‘hill’ (related to Dutch duin ‘dune’), perhaps ultimately of Celtic origin and related to Old Irish dún and obsolete Welsh din ‘fort’, which are from an Indo-European root shared by TOWN.

down and dirty NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL adj. 1 highly competitive or unprincipled: he's willing to get down and dirty, slinging mud at will and knowing that some of it will stick.

2 explicit; direct: I won't bore you with the down-and-dirty details.

down and out adj. 1 (of a person) without money, a job, or a place to live; destitute: a novel about being down and out in London.

2 (of a boxer) knocked down and unable to continue fighting.

- (of a competitor) facing certain defeat.

■ n. (down-and-out) a person without money, a job, or a place to live: a hostel for down-and-outs.

down at heel adj. 1 (of a shoe) with the heel worn down.

2 having a poor, shabby appearance: down-at-heel areas.

downbeat adj. 1 pessimistic or gloomy: the assessment of the UK's economic prospects is downbeat.

2 relaxed and understated: he responds to her enthusiasm with downbeat bemusement.

■ n. [MUSIC] an accented beat, usually the first of the bar.

downburst /danbəst/ n. a strong downward current of air from a cumulonimbus cloud, which is usually accompanied by intense rain or a thunderstorm.

downcase v. [with obj.] change (an upper-case letter) to a lower-case one.

downcast adj. 1 (of a person's eyes) looking downwards: her modestly downcast eyes.

2 (of a person) feeling despondent.

■ n. a shaft dug in a mine for extra ventilation.

downchange n. a change to a lower gear in a motor vehicle.

■ v. [with obj.] put (a vehicle) into a lower gear.

- [no obj.] change to a lower gear.

downcomer n. a pipe for the downward transport of water or gas from the top of a furnace or boiler.

downconverter n. [ELECTRONICS] a device that converts a signal to a lower frequency, especially in television reception.

<DERIVATIVES> downconversion n.

downcountry adj. & adv. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN in, into, or relating to the low-lying and generally more densely settled part of a country as opposed to hilly regions: [as adj.] a downcountry upstart | [as adv.] the land rolled away a hundred miles downcountry.

downcurved adj. curved downwards.

downcut v. (downcuts, downcutting, past and past participle downcut) [no obj.] [GEOLOGY] (of a river) erode downwards through its bed.

downdraught (US downdraft) n. a downward current or draught of air.

downdrift n. [mass noun] a tendency in certain languages or kinds of utterance for pitch to fall near the end of a phrase, clause, or sentence.

downer n. INFORMAL 1 (usually downers) a depressant or tranquillizing drug, especially a barbiturate.

2 a dispiriting or depressing experience or factor: the thought of the danger his son was in put something of a downer on the situation.

3 a cow or other animal that has fallen down and cannot get to its feet unaided.

downfall n. 1 a loss of power, prosperity, or status: the crisis led to the downfall of the government.

- the cause of a loss of power, prosperity, or status: his intractability will prove to be his downfall.

2 a heavy fall of rain or snow.

downfield adv. 1 North American another term for upfield (sense 1).

2 [PHYSICS] in a direction corresponding to decreasing field strength.

downfold n. [GEOLOGY] a syncline.

downforce n. a force, produced by a combination of air resistance and gravity, that acts on a moving vehicle, having the effect of pressing it down towards the ground and giving it increased stability.

downgrade v. [with obj.] reduce to a lower grade, rank, or level of importance: some jobs had gradually been downgraded from skilled to semi-skilled.

■ n. 1 an instance of reducing someone or something's rank, status, or level of importance.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a downward gradient on a railway or road.

<PHRASES>

□ on the downgrade NORTH AMERICAN in decline: profits are on the downgrade.

downhaul n. [NAUTICAL] a rope used for hauling down a sail, spar, etc.

downhearted adj. discouraged; in low spirits: fans must not be downhearted even though we lost.

<DERIVATIVES> downheartedly adv. downheartedness n.

downhill adv. /danhl/ towards the bottom of a slope: he ran downhill | follow the road downhill.

- FIGURATIVE into a steadily worsening situation: her marriage continued to slide downhill.

■ adj. 1 leading down towards the bottom of a slope: the route is downhill for part of the way.

- FIGURATIVE leading to a steadily worsening situation: the downhill road to delinquency.

2 relating to the sport of skiing downhill: the world downhill champion.

■ n. /danhl/ 1 a downward slope.

2 [SKIING] a downhill race.

- [mass noun] the activity of downhill skiing.

<PHRASES>

□ be downhill all the way 1 be easy in comparison with what came before: two-nil up—it should have been downhill all the way.

2 become worse or less successful: that had been the start of the present trouble—downhill all the way since then.

downhiller n. a skier or cyclist who takes part in downhill races.

downhole adj. & adv. (in the oil industry) used, occurring, or performed in a well or borehole.

down-home adj. NORTH AMERICAN connected with an unpretentious way of life, especially that of rural peoples or areas: some good down-home cooking.

Downing Street a street in Westminster, London, between Whitehall and St James's Park. No. 10 is the official residence of the Prime Minister; No. 11 is the home of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

- used allusively for the British government or the Prime Minister: Downing Street flatly refused to confirm that the summit was off.

downland n. [mass noun] (also downlands) gently rolling hill country, especially in southern England.

downlighter (also downlight) n. a light placed or designed so as to throw illumination downwards.

<DERIVATIVES> downlighting n.

downlink n. a telecommunications link for signals coming to the earth from a satellite, spacecraft, or aircraft.

■ v. [with obj.] relay to the earth (a telecommunications signal or the information it conveys): any TV station can downlink just about any game.

download [COMPUTING] v. [with obj.] copy (data) from one computer system to another or to a disk.

■ n. [mass noun] the act or process of copying data in such a way: [as modifier] a download and upload routine.

- [count noun] a computer file transferred in such a way: a popular download from bulletin boards.

<DERIVATIVES> downloadable adj.

down-low n. (in phrase on the down-low) chiefly BLACK SLANG on the quiet; in secret: he kept his status as a Hell's Angel on the down-low.

- (of a man) concealing his homosexual tendencies.

downmarket adj. & adv. chiefly BRITISH towards or relating to the cheaper or less prestigious sector of the market: [as adj.] an interview for the downmarket tabloids | [as adv.] competition threatens to drive broadcasters further downmarket.

downmost adj. & adv. chiefly BRITISH the furthest down; at or towards the bottom.

down payment n. an initial payment made when something is bought on credit.

downpipe n. BRITISH a pipe to carry rainwater from a roof to a drain or to ground level.

downplay v. [with obj.] make (something) appear less important than it really is: this report downplays the seriousness of global warming.

downpour n. a heavy fall of rain: a sudden downpour had filled the gutters and drains.

downrate v. [with obj.] make lower in value, standard, or importance: he notched up five kills although Fighter Command downrated them to four probables.

downright adj. 1 [attr.] (of something bad or unpleasant) utter; complete (used for emphasis): it's a downright disgrace.

2 so direct in manner as to be blunt: her common sense and downright attitude to life surprised him.

■ adv. [as submodifier] to an extreme degree; thoroughly: he was downright rude.

downriver adv. & adj. towards or situated at a point nearer the mouth of a river: [as adv.] the cabin cruiser started to drift downriver | [as adj.] the downriver side of the bridge.

downscale North American v. [with obj.] reduce in size, scale, or extent: he was unable to downscale his strongly unionized workforce.

■ adj. at the lower end of a scale, especially a social scale; downmarket: these brands appeal to downscale shoppers who are looking for a low price.

downshift v. [no obj.] 1 NORTH AMERICAN change to a lower gear in a motor vehicle or bicycle.

- slow down; slacken off: well before the country slipped into recession, business was downshifting.

2 change a financially rewarding but stressful career or lifestyle for a less pressured and less highly paid but more fulfilling one: increasing numbers of men want to downshift from full-time work.

■ n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a change to a lower gear in a motor vehicle or bicycle.

2 an instance of changing to a less pressured and less highly paid but more fulfilling career or lifestyle.

downside n. the negative aspect of something otherwise regarded as good or desirable: a magazine feature on the downside of fashion modelling.

downsize v. [with obj.] 1 NORTH AMERICAN make (something) smaller: I downsized the rear wheel to 26 inches.

2 make (a company or organization) smaller by shedding staff.

- [no obj.] (of a company) shed staff: recession forced many companies to downsize.

downslope adv. at or towards a lower point on a slope.

■ adj. caused by, occurring, or acting on a downward slope: they can produce strong downslope winds.

■ n. a downward slope.

downspout n. NORTH AMERICAN a downpipe.

Down's syndrome n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a congenital disorder arising from a chromosome defect, causing intellectual impairment and physical abnormalities including short stature and a broad facial profile. It arises from a defect involving chromosome 21, usually an extra copy (trisomy-21).

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after John L. H. Down (1828–96), the English physician who first described it.

<USAGE> Of relatively recent coinage, Down's syndrome is the accepted term in modern use, and former terms such as mongol and mongolism, which are likely to cause offence, should be avoided.

downstage adj. & adv. at or towards the front of a stage: [as adv.] all four run for their lives downstage | [as adj.] the downstage area.

downstairs adv. down a flight of stairs: I tripped over the cat and fell downstairs.

- on or to a lower floor: we were waiting for you downstairs | she called him downstairs.

■ adj. [attr.] situated downstairs: the downstairs loo.

■ n. the ground floor or lower floors of a building: the downstairs was hardly damaged at all.

downstate US adj. & adv. of, in, or to a part of a state that is remote from its large cities, especially the southern part.

■ n. [mass noun] a remote part of a state.

<DERIVATIVES> downstater n.

downstream adv. & adj. situated or moving in the direction in which a stream or river flows: [as adv.] the bridge spanned the river just downstream of the rail line | [as adj.] deforestation could have disastrous consequences for downstream regions.

- [BIOLOGY] situated in or towards the part of a sequence of genetic material where transcription takes place later than at a given point.

- at a stage in the process of gas or oil extraction and production after the raw material is ready for refining.

downstroke n. a stroke made downwards: he writes the figure seven with a line through the downstroke.

downswing n. 1 another term for DOWNTURN.

2 [GOLF] the downward movement of a club when the player is about to hit the ball.

downtempo adj. & adv. [MUSIC] played at a slow tempo.

down-the-line adj. INFORMAL thorough and uncompromising: the party avoids down-the-line support of unions.

downthrow [GEOLOGY] v. (past downthrew; past participle downthrown) [with obj.] displace (a rock formation) downwards.

■ n. a downward displacement of rock strata.

down time n. [mass noun] time during which a machine, especially a computer, is out of action or unavailable for use.

- NORTH AMERICAN time when one is not working or active: everyone needs down time to unwind.

down to earth adj. with no illusions or pretensions; practical and realistic: a down-to-earth view of marriage.

<DERIVATIVES> down-to-earthness n.

downtown chiefly NORTH AMERICAN adj. in or relating to the central part or main business and commercial area of a town or city: downtown Chicago | a downtown bar.

■ adv. in or into a such an area: I drove downtown.

■ n. the downtown area of a town or city: the heart of Pittsburgh's downtown.

<DERIVATIVES> downtowner n.

downtrend n. a downward tendency, especially in economic matters.

downtrodden adj. oppressed or treated badly by people in power: a downtrodden proletarian struggling for social justice.

downturn n. a decline in economic, business, or other activity: a downturn in the housing market.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. downturned) turn (something) downwards: his downturned mouth.

down under INFORMAL adv. in or to Australia or New Zealand: take a flight down under in September.

■ n. (also Down Under) Australia and New Zealand: a girl from down under.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: with reference to the position of these countries on a globe.

downward adv. (also downwards) towards a lower place or level: he was lying face downward | the floor sloped downwards.

■ adj. moving or leading towards a lower place or level: a downward trend in inflation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: shortening of Old English adūnweard.

downwardly adv. towards a lower level; in a downward direction.

<PHRASES>

□ downwardly mobile see MOBILE.

downwarp /danwp/ [GEOLOGY] n. a broad depression of the earth's surface.

■ v. [with obj.] displace (a rock formation) downwards so as to form a downwarp.

downwash n. [mass noun] the downward deflection of an airstream by an aircraft wing or helicopter rotor blade.

downwelling n. [mass noun] the downward movement of fluid, especially in the sea, the atmosphere, or deep in the earth.

■ adj. characterized by or undergoing downwelling.

downwind adv. & adj. in the direction in which the wind is blowing: [as adv.] warnings were issued to people living downwind of the fire | [as adj.] downwind landings.

downwinder /danwndə/ n. chiefly US a person living downwind of a nuclear test site or reactor, where the risk from fallout or radiation leaks is greatest.

downy adj. (downier, downiest) 1 covered with fine, soft hair or feathers: the baby's downy cheek.

- soft and fluffy: pale downy hair.

- filled with soft feathers: a downy pillow.

2 DATED (of a person) shrewd; sharp: I told you she was a downy one.

downy mildew n. [mass noun] mildew on a plant which is marked by a whitish down composed of spore-forming hyphae, penetrating more deeply into the plant than powdery mildew.

<INFO> Family Peronosporaceae, subdivision Mastigomycotina.

downzone v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN assign (land or property) to a zoning grade under which the permitted density of housing and development is reduced.

dowry /da(ə)ri/ n. (pl. dowries) an amount of property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a widow's life interest in her husband's estate): from Anglo-Norman French dowarie, from medieval Latin dotarium (see DOWER).

dowse /daz/ v. [no obj.] practise dowsing: water is easy to dowse for.

- [with obj.] search for or discover by dowsing: he dowsed a spiral of energy on the stone.

<DERIVATIVES> dowser n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

dowsing n. [mass noun] a technique for searching for underground water, minerals, ley lines, or anything invisible, by observing the motion of a pointer (traditionally a forked stick, now often paired bent wires) or the changes in direction of a pendulum, supposedly in response to unseen influences: [as modifier] a dowsing rod.

Dowson /das(ə)n/ Ernest (Christopher) (1867–1900), English poet, associated with the ‘decadent’ school of Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley. His two books of poems, Verses (1896) and Decorations (1899), deal with themes of ennui and world-weariness.

doxastic /dksastk/ adj. [PHILOSOPHY] relating to an individual's beliefs: doxastic worlds.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek doxastikos ‘conjectural’, from doxazein ‘to conjecture’.

doxology /dkslədi/ n. (pl. doxologies) a liturgical formula of praise to God.

<DERIVATIVES> doxological adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via medieval Latin from Greek doxologia, from doxa ‘appearance, glory’ (from dokein ‘seem’) + -logia (see -LOGY).

doxorubicin /dksərubsn/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a bacterial antibiotic that is widely used to treat leukaemia and various other forms of cancer.

<INFO> This is produced by the streptomycete bacterium Streptomyces peucetius caesius.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from deoxy- (in the sense ‘that has lost oxygen’) + Latin rubus ‘red’ + -MYCIN.

doxy /dksi/ n. (pl. doxies) ARCHAIC a lover or mistress.

- a prostitute.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally slang): of unknown origin.

doxycycline /dkssklin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a broad-spectrum antibiotic of the tetracycline group, which has a long half-life in the body.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from d(e)oxy- + TETRACYCLINE.

doyen /dən dwαja/ n. the most respected or prominent person in a particular field: he became the doyen of British physicists.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via French from Old French deien (see dean^1).

doyenne /dεn dεn dwjεn/ n. the most respected or prominent woman in a particular field: she became a doyenne of the London Irish music scene.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, feminine of doyen (see DOYEN).

Doyenne du Comice /dεn d(j)u kms dεn dwjεn/ n. fuller term for COMICE.

Doyle /dl/ Sir Arthur Conan (1859–1930), Scottish novelist and short-story writer, chiefly remembered for his creation of the private detective Sherlock Holmes. Holmes first appeared (with his friend Dr Watson, the narrator of the stories) in A Study in Scarlet (1887), and featured in more than fifty stories and in novels such as The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902).

D'Oyly Carte /dl kαt/ Richard (1844–1901), English impresario and producer. He brought together the librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert and the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, producing many of their operettas in London's Savoy Theatre, which he had established in 1881.

doz. abbr. dozen.

doze v. [no obj.] sleep lightly: he found his mother dozing by the fire.

- (doze off) fall lightly asleep: I dozed off for a few seconds.

■ n. a short, light sleep.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘stupefy, bewilder, or make drowsy’): perhaps related to Danish døse ‘make drowsy’.

dozen n. 1 (pl. same) a group or set of twelve: a dozen bottles of sherry.

- (dozens) INFORMAL a lot: she has dozens of admirers.

2 (the dozens) an exchange of insults engaged in as a game or ritual among black Americans.

<PHRASES>

□ by the dozen in large quantities.

□ talk nineteen to the dozen BRITISH talk incessantly.

<DERIVATIVES> dozenth adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French dozeine, based on Latin duodecim ‘twelve’.

dozer n. INFORMAL short for BULLDOZER.

dozy adj. (dozier, doziest) feeling drowsy and lazy: he grew dozy at the end of a long day.

- British INFORMAL sluggish and not alert; stupid: at breakfast, a dozy waitress brings the wrong things.

<DERIVATIVES> dozily adv. doziness n.

DP abbr.

- data processing.

- displaced person.

dpc abbr. damp-proof course.

DPhil abbr. (in the UK) Doctor of Philosophy.

dpi abbr. [COMPUTING] dots per inch, a measure of the resolution of printers, scanners, etc.

dpm abbr. damp-proof membrane, a sheet of material used to make a structure such as a solid concrete floor damp-proof.

DPP abbr. (in the UK) Director of Public Prosecutions.

DPT abbr. diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus, a combined vaccine given to small children.

Dr abbr.

- debit. [<ORIGIN> formerly representing debtor.]

- (as a title) Doctor: Dr Michael Russell.

- (in street names) Drive.

dr. abbr.

- drachm or drachms.

- drachma or drachmas.

- dram or drams.

drab^1 adj. (drabber, drabbest) 1 lacking brightness or interest; drearily dull: the landscape was drab and grey | her drab suburban existence.

2 of a dull light brown colour: drab camouflage uniforms.

■ n. [mass noun] fabric of a dull light brown colour.

- (drabs) clothes, especially trousers, made of drab: a young man dressed in drabs.

<DERIVATIVES> drably adv. drabness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a noun denoting undyed cloth): probably from Old French drap ‘cloth’ (see DRAPE).

drab^2 n. ARCHAIC 1 a slovenly woman.

2 a prostitute.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: perhaps related to Low German drabbe ‘mire’ and Dutch drab ‘dregs’.

Drabble Margaret (b.1939), English novelist, the younger sister of A. S. Byatt. Notable works: The Millstone (1966), The Ice Age (1977), and The Radiant Way (1987).

drabble v. ARCHAIC make or become wet and dirty by movement into or through muddy water.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Low German drabbelen ‘paddle in water or mire’, from drabbe ‘mire’.

dracaena /drəsinə/ n. a tropical palm-like shrub or tree with ornamental foliage, popular as a greenhouse or indoor plant.

<INFO> Genera Dracaena and Cordyline, family Agavaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek drakaina, feminine of drakōn ‘serpent, dragon’ (the genus Dracaena includes Dracaena draco, the dragon tree).

drachm /dram/ (abbr.: dr.) n. a unit of weight formerly used by apothecaries, equivalent to 60 grains or one eighth of an ounce.

- (also fluid drachm) a liquid measure formerly used by apothecaries, equivalent to 60 minims or one eighth of a fluid ounce.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the ancient Greek drachma): from Old French dragme or late Latin dragma, via Latin from Greek drakhmē (see DRACHMA).

drachma /drakmə/ n. (pl. drachmas or drachmae /-mi/) a former monetary unit of Greece, notionally equal to 100 lepta, replaced in 2002 by the euro.

- a silver coin of ancient Greece.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek drakhmē, an Attic weight and coin. Compare with DIRHAM and DRACHM.

drack /drak/ adj. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL (especially of a woman) unattractive or slovenly.

- dreary and dull.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: said to be from the name of the 1930s film Dracula's Daughter, but possibly related to DRECK.

Draco^1 /drekə/ [ASTRONOMY] a large northern constellation (the Dragon), stretching around the north celestial pole and said to represent the dragon killed by Hercules. It has no bright stars.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Draco^2 /drekə/ (7th century BC), Athenian legislator. His codification of Athenian law was notorious for its severity in that the death penalty was imposed even for trivial crimes.

dracone /drakən/ n. a large flexible sausage-shaped container used for transporting oil and other liquids on water.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Latin draco, dracon-, from Greek drakōn ‘serpent’ (because of its shape).

draconian /drəkənən dre-/ adj. (of laws or their application) excessively harsh and severe.

<DERIVATIVES> draconic /-knk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of Draco (see Draco^2) + -IAN.

Dracula /drakjlə/ the Transylvanian vampire in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula (1897).

<ORIGIN> variant of Drakula, Dragwlya, names given to Vlad Ţepeş (Vlad the Impaler), a 15th-cent. prince of Wallachia renowned for his cruelty.

draegerman /dreəmən/ n. (pl. draegermen) CANADIAN a member of a crew trained for underground rescue work.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: the first element from the name of A. B. Dräger (1870–1928), German inventor of a type of breathing apparatus.

draff /draf/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY dregs or refuse.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from an unrecorded Old English word related to German Treber, Träber ‘husks, grains’, and perhaps also to DRIVEL.

draft n. 1 a preliminary version of a piece of writing: the first draft of the party's manifesto | [as modifier] a draft document.

- a plan, sketch, or rough drawing.

- [mass noun] [COMPUTING] a mode of operation of a printer in which text is produced rapidly but with relatively low definition.

2 a written order to pay a specified sum.

3 (the draft) US compulsory recruitment for military service: 25 million men were subject to the draft.

- NORTH AMERICAN a procedure whereby sports players are made available for selection or reselection by the teams in a league, usually with the earlier choices being given to the weaker teams.

- RARE a group or individual selected from a larger group for a special duty, e.g. for military service.

4 US spelling of DRAUGHT.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 prepare a preliminary version of (a document): I drafted a letter of resignation.

2 select (a person or group of people) and bring them somewhere for a certain purpose: riot police were drafted in to break up the blockade.

- US conscript (someone) for military service.

- NORTH AMERICAN select (a player) for a sports team through the draft.

<DERIVATIVES> drafter n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: phonetic spelling of DRAUGHT.

draft dodger n. NORTH AMERICAN DEROGATORY a person who has avoided compulsory military service.

<DERIVATIVES> draft dodging n.

draftee n. US a person conscripted for military service.

draft pick n. NORTH AMERICAN the right of a sports team to select a player during the annual selection process.

- a player selected during the draft.

draftsman n. (pl. draftsmen) 1 a person who drafts legal documents.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN variant spelling of DRAUGHTSMAN.

drag v. (drags, dragging, dragged) 1 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] pull (someone or something) along forcefully, roughly, or with difficulty: we dragged the boat up the beach.

- take (someone) to or from a place or event, despite their reluctance: my girlfriend is dragging me off to Rhodes for a week.

- (drag oneself) go somewhere wearily, reluctantly, or with difficulty: I have to drag myself out of bed each day.

- move (an image or highlighted text) across a computer screen using a tool such as a mouse.

- [no obj.] (of a person's clothes or an animal's tail) trail along the ground: the nuns walked in meditation, their habits dragging on the grassy verge.

- [no obj.] (drag at) catch hold of and pull (something): desperately, Jinny dragged at his arm.

- [with obj.] (of a ship) trail (an anchor) along the seabed, drifting in the process.

- [no obj.] (of an anchor) fail to hold, causing a ship or boat to drift.

- [with obj.] search the bottom of (a river, lake, or the sea) with grapnels or nets: frogmen had dragged the local river.

2 [with obj.] (drag something up) INFORMAL deliberately mention an unwelcome or unpleasant fact: pieces of evidence about his early life were dragged up.

- (drag something out) extract information from someone against their will: the truth was being dragged out of us.

- (drag someone/thing into) involve someone or something in (a situation or matter), typically when such involvement is inappropriate or unnecessary: he had no right to drag you into this sort of thing.

- (drag something in/into) introduce an irrelevant or inappropriate subject: politics were never dragged into the conversation.

- (drag someone/thing down) bring someone or something to a lower level or standard: the economy will be dragged down by inefficient firms.

- (drag someone up) BRITISH INFORMAL bring up a child badly: would you have her dragged up by a succession of au pairs?

3 [no obj.] (of time) pass slowly and tediously: the day dragged—eventually it was time for bed.

- (drag on) (of a process or situation) continue at tedious and unnecessary length: the dispute between the two families dragged on for some years.

- [with obj.] (drag something out) protract something unnecessarily: he dragged out the process of serving them.

4 [no obj.] (drag on) INFORMAL inhale the smoke from (a cigarette).

5 (drag up) INFORMAL dress up in clothes more conventionally worn by the opposite sex.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the action of pulling something forcefully or with difficulty: the drag of the current.

- the longitudinal retarding force exerted by air or other fluid surrounding a moving object.

- [in sing.] a person or thing that impedes progress or development: Larry was turning out to be a drag on her career.

- [ANGLING] unnatural motion of a fishing fly caused by the pull of the line.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC an iron shoe that can be applied as a brake to the wheel of a cart or wagon.

2 [in sing.] INFORMAL a boring or tiresome person or thing: working nine to five can be a drag.

3 INFORMAL an act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette: he took a long drag on his cigarette.

4 [mass noun] clothing more conventionally worn by the opposite sex, especially women's clothes worn by a man: a fashion show, complete with men in drag.

5 INFORMAL a street or road: the main drag is wide but there are few vehicles.

6 HISTORICAL a private vehicle like a stagecoach, drawn by four horses.

- British INFORMAL, DATED a car: a stately great drag with a smart chauffeur.

7 short for DRAG RACE.

8 a thing that is pulled along the ground or through water, in particular:

- HISTORICAL a harrow used for breaking up the surface of land.

- an apparatus for dredging or for recovering objects from the bottom of a river or lake.

■ another term for DRAGNET.

9 a strong-smelling lure drawn before hounds as a substitute for a fox.

- a hunt using such a lure.

10 [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL influence over other people: they had the education but they didn't have the drag.

11 [MUSIC] one of the basic patterns (rudiments) of drumming, consisting of a stroke preceded by two grace notes usually played with the other stick. See also ruff^4.

<PHRASES>

□ drag and DROP [COMPUTING] move (an image or highlighted text) to another part of the screen using a mouse or similar device.

□ drag one's feet walk slowly and wearily or with difficulty.

- (also drag one's heels) be deliberately slow or reluctant to act: the government has dragged its heels over permanent legislation.

□ drag someone/thing through the MUD see MUD.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old English dragan or Old Norse draga ‘to draw’; the noun partly from Middle Low German dragge ‘grapnel’.

drag anchor n. another term for SEA ANCHOR.

drag chain n. a chain used to retard or steady the motion of a vehicle.

dragée /drαe/ n. a sweet consisting of a centre covered with a coating, such as a sugared almond.

- a small silver ball for decorating a cake.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (also denoting a mixture of spices): French, from Old French dragie (see dredge^2).

dragger n. NORTH AMERICAN a fishing boat that uses a dragnet.

dragging brush n. another term for FLOGGER.

draggle v. [with obj.] make (something) dirty or wet, typically by trailing it through mud or water: (as adj. draggled) she wore a draggled skirt.

- [no obj.] hang untidily: red hairs draggled dispiritedly from her chignon.

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC trail behind others; lag behind.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: diminutive and frequentative of DRAG.

draggle-tailed adj. ARCHAIC having untidily trailing skirts: a draggle-tailed wench.

draggy adj. (draggier, draggiest) INFORMAL dreary and lacking liveliness: a long, draggy, boring Friday afternoon.

drag hound n. a hound used to hunt with a drag.

drag lift n. a type of ski lift which pulls skiers up a slope on their skis.

dragline n. 1 a large excavator with a bucket pulled in by a wire cable.

2 a line of silk produced by a spider and acting as a safety line or (in newly hatched spiders) a parachute.

dragnet n. a net drawn through a river or across ground to trap fish or game.

dragoman /draə()mən/ n. (pl. dragomans or dragomen) an interpreter or guide, especially in countries speaking Arabic, Turkish, or Persian.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete French, from Italian dragomanno, from medieval Greek dragoumanos, from Arabic tarjumān ‘interpreter’.

dragon n. 1 a mythical monster like a giant reptile. In European tradition the dragon is typically fire-breathing and tends to symbolize chaos or evil, whereas in the Far East it is usually a beneficent symbol of fertility, associated with water and the heavens.

- DEROGATORY a fierce and intimidating woman: his wife is a real dragon.

2 (also flying dragon)

■ another term for FLYING LIZARD.

- AUSTRALIAN any lizard of the agama family.

<PHRASES>

□ chase the dragon INFORMAL smoke heroin.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also denoting a large serpent): from Old French, via Latin from Greek drakōn ‘serpent’.

dragon arum n. an arum of the eastern Mediterranean, with a deep purple spathe and spadix and an unpleasant smell.

<INFO> Dracunculus vulgaris, family Araceae.

dragon boat n. 1 a boat of a traditional Chinese design, typically decorated to resemble a dragon, propelled with paddles by a large crew and used for racing.

2 another term for DRAGON SHIP.

dragonet /dra(ə)nt/ n. a marine fish which often lies partly buried in the seabed. The male is brightly coloured.

<INFO> Two genera in the family Callionymidae: several species, in particular the European Callionymus lyra.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a small dragon): from Old French, diminutive of dragon ‘dragon’.

dragonfish n. (pl. same or dragonfishes) a deep-sea fish with a long slender body:

<INFO>

- a fish with fang-like teeth, a barbel on the chin, and luminous organs on the body (families Stomiatidae and Idiacanthidae).

- (Antarctic dragonfish) a fish of southern polar seas with a flattened head (family Bathydraconidae).

dragonfly n. (pl. dragonflies) a fast-flying long-bodied predatory insect with two pairs of large transparent wings which are spread out sideways at rest. The voracious aquatic larvae take up to five years to reach adulthood. Compare with DAMSELFLY.

<INFO> Suborder Anisoptera, order Odonata: several families.

dragonnade /draəned/ n. a form of persecution directed by Louis XIV against French Protestants, in which troops were quartered on them.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from dragon ‘dragon’ (see DRAGOON).

dragon's blood n. [mass noun] a red gum or powder that is derived from the fruit of certain palm trees and from the stem of the dragon tree and related plants.

dragon's head n. [ASTROLOGY] the ascending or north node of the moon's orbit, used in drawing up an astrological chart.

dragon ship n. a Viking longship ornamented with a beaked prow.

dragon's tail n. [ASTROLOGY] the descending or south node of the moon's orbit, used in drawing up an astrological chart.

dragon's teeth plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL concrete obstacles pointing upwards from the ground in rows, used against tanks in the Second World War.

<PHRASES>

□ sow (or plant) dragon's teeth take action that is intended to prevent trouble, but which actually brings it about.

<ORIGIN> with allusion to the teeth of the dragon killed by Cadmus.

dragon tree n. a slow-growing palm-like tree of the agave family, which is native to the Canary Islands and yields dragon's blood.

<INFO> Dracaena draco, family Agavaceae.

dragoon /drəun/ n. a member of any of several cavalry regiments in the British army.

- HISTORICAL a mounted infantryman armed with a carbine.

■ v. [with obj.] coerce (someone) into doing something: she had been dragooned into helping with the housework.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a kind of carbine or musket, thought of as breathing fire): from French dragon ‘dragon’.

drag queen n. INFORMAL a man who ostentatiously dresses up in women's clothes.

drag race n. a race between two cars over a short distance, usually a quarter of a mile, as a test of acceleration.

<DERIVATIVES> drag racer n. drag racing n.

dragster n. a car built or modified to take part in drag races.

drail /drel/ n. [ANGLING] a fish hook and line weighted with lead for dragging below the surface of the water.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting part of a plough): from the obsolete verb drail, an alteration of TRAIL.

drain v. [with obj.] 1 cause the water or other liquid in (something) to run out, leaving it empty or dry: we drained the swimming pool.

- cause or allow (liquid) to run off or out of something: fry the pork and drain off any excess fat.

- make (land) drier by providing channels for water to flow away in: the land was drained and the boggy ground reclaimed.

- (of a river) carry off the superfluous water from (an area): the stream drains a wide moorland above the waterfall.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of water or another liquid) flow away from, out of, or into something: the river drains into the Pacific | FIGURATIVE Polly felt the blood drain from her face.

- [no obj.] become dry or drier as liquid runs off or away: dishes left to drain.

- drink the entire contents of (a glass or other container): the stranger drained his glass of beer.

2 deprive of strength or vitality: his limbs were drained of all energy | Ruth slumped down in her seat, drained by all that had happened.

- cause (a valuable resource) to be lost or used up: my mother's hospital bills are draining my income.

- [no obj., with adverbial] (of a valuable resource) be lost or used up: votes and campaign funds drained away from the Republican candidate.

3 [GOLF], INFORMAL (of a player) hole (a putt).

■ n. 1 a channel or pipe carrying off surplus liquid, especially rainwater or liquid waste.

- BRITISH a frame of metal bars set in a road over the opening to a rainwater channel.

- a tube for drawing off accumulating fluid from a body cavity or an abscess.

- [ELECTRONICS] the part of a field-effect transistor to which the charge carriers flow after passing the gate.

2 [in sing.] a thing that uses up a particular resource: nuclear power is a serious drain on the public purse.

- the continuous loss or expenditure of a particular resource: the drain of talented staff to the United States.

<PHRASES>

□ go down the drain INFORMAL be totally wasted: the government must stop public money going down the drain.

<ORIGIN> Old English drēahnian, drēhnian ‘strain (liquid)’, of Germanic origin; related to DRY.

drainage n. [mass noun] the action or process of draining something: the pot must have holes in the base for good drainage | the drainage of wetlands.

- a system of drains.

drainboard n. North American term for DRAINING BOARD.

draincock n. a valve for draining the water from a boiler.

drainer n. 1 a device used for draining things, in particular:

- a rack placed on a draining board to hold crockery and cutlery while it drains.

- a draining board.

2 a person who drains a flooded area.

draining board n. BRITISH a sloping grooved board or surface on which washed dishes are left to drain into an adjacent sink.

drainpipe n. a pipe for carrying off rainwater or liquid refuse from a building.

- (drainpipes or drainpipe trousers) trousers with very narrow legs.

Draize test n. a pharmacological test in which a substance is introduced into the eye or applied to the skin of a laboratory animal in order to ascertain the likely effect of that substance on the corresponding human tissue.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after John H. Draize (1900–92), the American pharmacologist who helped to develop this type of test.

Drake Sir Francis (c.1540–96), English sailor and explorer. He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe (1577–80), in his ship the Golden Hind. He played an important part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

drake^1 n. a male duck: [as modifier] a drake mallard.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of West Germanic origin; related to Low German drake and German Enterich.

drake^2 n. (in fishing) a natural or artificial mayfly, especially a subadult or a gravid female.

<ORIGIN> Old English draca, from Latin draco ‘dragon’.

Drake equation n. [ASTRONOMY] a speculative equation which gives an estimate of the likelihood of discovering intelligent extraterrestrial life in the galaxy, formulated by the US astronomer Frank Drake in 1961.

Drakensberg Mountains /drαkənzbə/ a range of mountains in southern Africa, stretching in a NE–SW direction for a distance of 1,126 km (700 miles) through Lesotho and parts of South Africa. The highest peak is Thabana Ntlenyana (3,482 m, 11,425 ft).

Drake Passage an area of ocean, noted for its violent storms, connecting the South Atlantic with the South Pacific and separating the southern tip of South America (Cape Horn) from the Antarctic Peninsula.

<ORIGIN> named after Sir Francis DRAKE.

Dralon /dreln/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK, chiefly BRITISH a synthetic textile made from acrylic fibre and used for curtains and upholstery.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: on the pattern of nylon.

DRAM n. [ELECTRONICS] a memory chip that depends upon an applied voltage to keep the stored data.

<ORIGIN> acronym from dynamic random-access memory.

dram^1 /dram/ n. 1 chiefly SCOTTISH a small drink of whisky or other spirits: a wee dram to ward off the winter chill.

2

■ another term for DRACHM.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French drame or medieval Latin drama, variants of dragme and dragma (see DRACHM).

dram^2 /drαm/ n. the basic monetary unit of Armenia, equal to 100 luma.

<ORIGIN> Armenian, literally ‘coin, money’, from Greek drakhmē

■ drachma.

drama n. 1 a play for theatre, radio, or television: a gritty urban drama about growing up in Harlem.

- [mass noun] such works as a genre or style of literature: Renaissance drama.

- [mass noun] the activity of acting: teachers who use drama are working in partnership with pupils | [as modifier] drama school.

2 an exciting, emotional, or unexpected event or circumstance: a hostage drama | [mass noun] an afternoon of high drama at Wembley.

<PHRASES>

□ make a drama out of INFORMAL exaggerate the importance of (a minor problem or incident).

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: via late Latin from Greek drama, from dran ‘do, act’.

drama-documentary n. a television film based on real events.

Dramamine /draməmin/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an antihistamine compound used to counter nausea (especially travel sickness), also used as a recreational drug.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from dram- (of unknown origin) + AMINE.

drama queen n. INFORMAL a person who responds to situations in a melodramatic way.

dramatic adj. 1 [attr.] relating to drama or the performance or study of drama: the dramatic arts | a dramatic society.

2 (of an event or circumstance) sudden and striking: a dramatic increase in recorded crime.

- exciting or impressive: he recalled his dramatic escape from the building | dramatic mountain peaks.

- (of a person or their behaviour) intending or intended to create an effect; theatrical: with a dramatic gesture, she put a hand to her brow.

<DERIVATIVES> dramatically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek dramatikos, from drama, dramat- (see DRAMA).

dramatic monologue n. a poem in the form of a speech or narrative by an imagined person, in which the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character while describing a particular situation or series of events.

dramatics plural n. 1 [treated as sing. or plural] the study or practice of acting in and producing plays: amateur dramatics.

2 theatrically exaggerated or overemotional behaviour: cut out the dramatics.

dramatis personae /draməts pəsən -ni/ plural n. the characters of a play, novel, or narrative.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘persons of the drama’.

dramatist n. a person who writes plays.

dramatize (also dramatise) v. [with obj.] adapt (a novel) or present (a particular incident) as a play or film: a thriller dramatized from the novel by Joan Smith.

- exaggerate the seriousness or importance of (an incident or situation): she had a tendency to dramatize things.

<DERIVATIVES> dramatization /-ze(ə)n/ n.

dramaturge /dramətəd/ (also dramaturg) n. 1 a dramatist.

2 a literary editor on the staff of a theatre who liaises with authors and edits texts.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via French and German from Greek dramatourgos, from drama, dramat- ‘drama’ + -ergos ‘worker’.

dramaturgy /dramətədi/ n. [mass noun] the theory and practice of dramatic composition: studies of Shakespeare's dramaturgy.

<DERIVATIVES> dramaturgic adj. dramaturgical adj. dramaturgically adv.

Drambuie /drambui -bji/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a sweet Scotch whisky liqueur.

<ORIGIN> from Scottish Gaelic dram buidheach ‘satisfying drink’.

dramedy /drαmdi/ n. (pl. dramedies) a television programme or film in which the comic elements derive mainly from character and plot development.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: blend of DRAMA and COMEDY.

Drammen /drαmən/ a seaport in SE Norway, on an inlet of Oslofjord; pop. 61,700 (est. 2002).

Drang nach Osten /dra nax st(ə)n/ German /dra nax stn/ n. the former German policy of eastward expansion, especially that espoused under Nazi rule.

<ORIGIN> German, literally ‘pressure towards the east’.

drank past of DRINK.

drape v. [with obj. and adverbial] arrange (cloth or clothing) loosely or casually on or round something: she draped a shawl around her shoulders.

- cover or wrap loosely with folds of cloth: the body was draped in a blanket.

- let (oneself or a part of one's body) rest somewhere in a casual or relaxed way: he draped an arm around her shoulders.

- [no obj.] (of fabric) hang in loose, graceful folds: velvet drapes beautifully.

■ n. 1 (drapes) NORTH AMERICAN long curtains: Katherine pulled back the heavy velvet drapes.

- [usually as modifier] a man's suit consisting of a long jacket and narrow trousers, as worn by a Teddy boy: a drape jacket.

- a cloth for covering parts of a patient's body other than that part on which a surgical operation is being performed.

2 [in sing.] the way in which a garment or fabric hangs: by fixing the band lower down you obtain a fuller drape in the fabric.

<DERIVATIVES> drapey adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: back-formation from DRAPERY, influenced by French draper ‘to drape’. The noun senses date from the early 20th cent.

draper n. BRITISH DATED a person who sells textile fabrics.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a maker of woollen cloth): from Old French drapier, from drap ‘cloth’, from late Latin drappus.

drapery n. (pl. draperies) [mass noun] cloth, curtains, or clothing hanging in loose folds: the hall of the school was hung with green drapery.

- the depiction of folds of cloth in sculpture or painting: the effigy is notable for its flowing drapery.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘cloth, fabrics’): from Old French draperie, from drap ‘cloth’ (see DRAPER).

drastic /drastk drα-/ adj. likely to have a strong or far-reaching effect; radical and extreme: a drastic reduction of staffing levels.

<DERIVATIVES> drastically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally applied to the effect of medicine): from Greek drastikos, from dran ‘do’.

drat exclam. (often drat someone/something) a fairly mild expression of anger or annoyance: ‘Oh, drat Feargal and his suspicions!’.

<DERIVATIVES> dratted adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: shortening of od rat, euphemism for God rot.

draught /drαft/ (US draft) n. 1 a current of cool air in a room or other confined space: heavy curtains at the windows cut out draughts.

2 a single act of drinking or inhaling: she downed the remaining beer in one draught.

- the amount swallowed or inhaled in a draught: he took deep draughts of oxygen into his lungs.

- LITERARY or ARCHAIC a quantity of a liquid with medicinal properties: a sleeping draught.

3 the depth of water needed to float a ship: the shallow draught enabled her to get close inshore.

4 the drawing in of a fishing net.

- the fish taken at one drawing; a catch.

■ v. variant spelling of DRAFT.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 denoting beer or cider served from a barrel or tank rather than from a bottle or can: draught ale.

2 denoting an animal used for pulling heavy loads: a draught horse.

<PHRASES>

□ feel the draught INFORMAL experience an adverse change in one's financial circumstances.

□ on draught (of beer or cider) ready to be drawn from a barrel or tank; not bottled or canned.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘drawing, pulling’; also ‘something drawn, a load’): from Old Norse dráttr, of Germanic origin; related to German Tracht, also to DRAW. Compare with DRAFT.

draughtboard n. BRITISH a square chequered board of 64 small squares identical to a chessboard and used for playing draughts.

draught excluder n. a strip of foam rubber, metal, or other material inserted in a door or window frame to keep out draughts.

draughtproof adj. sealed so as to keep out draughts.

■ v. [with obj.] make (a building, door, or window) draughtproof: (as n. draughtproofing) simple draughtproofing is relatively inexpensive.

draughts n. BRITISH a board game for two players, played on a draughtboard. Each player starts with twelve disc-shaped pieces in three rows along one side of the board, and moves them diagonally with the aim of capturing all the opponent's pieces.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from DRAUGHT; related to obsolete draught in the sense ‘move’ (in chess or any similar game); compare with French trait, from Latin tractus ‘a dragging’.

draughtsman (or draughtswoman) n. (pl. draughtsmen or draughtswomen) 1 a person who makes detailed technical plans or drawings.

2 an artist skilled in drawing.

3 variant spelling of DRAFTSMAN.

<DERIVATIVES> draughtsmanship n.

draughtsperson (US draftsperson) n. (pl. draughtspeople) a draughtsman or draughtswoman (used as a neutral alternative).

draughty (US drafty) adj. (draughtier, draughtiest; draftier, draftiest) (of an enclosed space) cold and uncomfortable because of currents of cool air: anyone would get pneumonia living in that draughty old house.

- (of a door or window) ill-fitting and allowing in currents of cool air.

<DERIVATIVES> draughtily adv. draughtiness n.

Dravidian /drəvdən/ adj. relating to or denoting a family of languages spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, or the peoples who speak them.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the Dravidian family of languages.

2 a member of any of the peoples speaking a Dravidian language.

Dravidian languages were once spoken throughout the Indian subcontinent, but were restricted to the south following the arrival of speakers of Indic languages c.1000 BC. Those still used, by over 160 million people, include Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit drāvia ‘relating to the Tamils’ (from Dravida ‘Tamil’) + -IAN.

draw v. (past drew; past participle drawn) [with obj.] 1 produce (a picture or diagram) by making lines and marks on paper with a pencil, pen, etc.: he drew a map.

- produce an image of (someone or something) by making lines and marks on paper: I asked her to draw me | [no obj.] you're at art college, you must be able to draw.

- trace or produce (a line or mark) on a surface: she drew a wavering line down the board.

2 pull or drag (something such as a vehicle) so as to make it follow behind: a cart drawn by two horses.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] pull or move (something) in a specified direction: I drew back the blanket and uncovered the body.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] gently pull or guide (someone) in a specified direction: ‘David,’ she whispered, drawing him aside.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move somewhere in a slow steady way: the train drew in to the station.

- [no obj., with adverbial] come to or arrive at a point in time or in a process: the campaign drew to a close.

- pull (curtains) shut or open: do you want me to draw the curtains?

- make (wire) by pulling a piece of metal through successively smaller holes.

3 extract (an object) from a container or receptacle: he drew his gun and peered into the gloomy apartment.

4 take or obtain (liquid) from a container or receptacle: a wheel was built to draw water from the well | he drew off a pint of bitter.

- run (a bath): I would have been drawing his bath.

- (draw something from) obtain something from (a particular source): an independent panel of judges drawn from members of the public.

- (draw on) use (one's experience, talents, or skills) as a resource: Sue has a lot of past experience to draw on.

- obtain or withdraw (money) from a bank or other source.

- [HUNTING] search (cover) for game.

- [BRIDGE] (of the declarer) force the defenders to play (cards in a particular suit) by leading cards in that suit.

- (draw on) suck smoke from (a cigarette or pipe).

- [no obj.] (of a chimney, flue, or fire) allow air to flow in and upwards freely, so that a fire can burn: failure of a fire to draw properly can have a number of causes.

- take in (a breath): Mrs Feather drew a long breath.

- [no obj.] (of tea) be left standing so that the flavour is extracted from the leaves: a pot of tea is allowed to draw.

- disembowel: after a mockery of a trial he was hanged, drawn, and quartered.

5 be the cause of (a specified response): he drew criticism for his lavish spending.

- attract (someone) to come to a place or an event: you really drew the crowds with your playing.

- induce (someone) to reveal or do something: he refused to be drawn on what would happen.

- direct or attract (someone's attention) to something: it was an outrage and we had to draw people's attention to it | a bright red instantly draws the eye.

- reach (a conclusion) by deduction or inference from a set of circumstances: the moral to be drawn is that spending wins votes.

- formulate or perceive (a comparison or distinction): the law drew a clear distinction between innocent and fraudulent misrepresentation.

6 finish (a contest or game) with an even score: [with obj. and complement] Brazil had drawn a stormy match 1–1 | [no obj., with complement] they drew 0–0 in 1974.

7 [BOWLS] cause (a bowl) to travel in a curve determined by its bias to the desired point.

- [GOLF] hit (the ball) so that it deviates slightly, usually as a result of spin. Compare with FADE.

8 (of a ship) require (a specified depth of water) to float in: boats that draw only a few inches of water.

9 [no obj.] (of a sail) be filled with wind.

■ n. 1 an act of selecting names randomly to decide winners in a lottery, opponents in a sporting contest, etc.: the draw has been made for this year's tournament.

2 an even score at the conclusion of a game or match: he scored twice to force a 4–4 draw.

- [CRICKET] a game which is left incomplete for lack of time, regardless of the scores. Compare with TIE.

3 a person or thing that is very attractive or interesting: the big city was a powerful draw to youngsters.

4 an act of drawing on a cigarette.

- [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL cannabis: they're dropping Es and smoking draw.

5 an act of pulling a gun from its holster in order to shoot.

6 [GOLF] a shot causing the ball to deviate slightly.

<PHRASES>

□ draw a bead on see BEAD.

□ draw a BLANK see BLANK.

□ draw blood cause someone to bleed, especially in the course of a fight: the blow drew blood from the corner of his mouth.

□ draw someone's fire attract hostile criticism away from a more important target: the concession will go some way to draw the fire of the government's critics.

□ draw the line at set a limit of what one is willing to do or accept: she drew the line at prostitution.

□ draw LOTs see LOT.

□ draw the short STRAW see STRAW.

□ draw stumps [CRICKET] take the stumps out of the ground at close of play.

□ quick on the draw very fast in taking one's gun from its holster.

- very fast in acting or reacting.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ draw back choose not to do something that one was expected to do: the government has drawn back from attempting reform.

□ draw in (of successive days) become shorter because of the changing seasons.

- (of a day) approach its end.

- (of successive evenings or nights) start earlier because of the changing seasons: the nights were drawing in fast.

□ draw on (of a period of time) pass by and approach its end: he remembered sitting in silence with his grandmother as evening drew on.

□ draw something on put an item of clothing on: he drew on his dressing gown.

□ draw out (of successive days) become longer because of the changing seasons.

□ draw someone out gently or subtly persuade someone to talk or become more expansive: she drew me out and flattered me.

□ draw something out make something last longer: the transition was long and drawn out.

□ draw up come to a halt: drivers drew up at the lights.

□ draw something up prepare a plan, agreement, or other document in detail: they instructed an attorney to draw up a sales agreement.

□ draw oneself up make oneself stand in a stiffly upright manner.

<ORIGIN> Old English dragan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dragen and German tragen, also to DRAUGHT.

<USAGE> On the confusion of draw and drawer see usage at drawer.

drawback n. 1 a feature that renders something less acceptable; a disadvantage or problem: the main drawback of fitting catalytic converters is the cost.

2 (also duty drawback) an amount of excise or import duty remitted on goods exported.

drawbar n. 1 a bar on a vehicle to which something can be attached to pull it or be pulled.

2 a bar in a structure that can be removed to allow someone through or to let other parts move.

3 one of a number of bars that may be pulled out to control harmonics on an electric organ.

drawbridge n. HISTORICAL a bridge, especially one over a castle's moat, which is hinged at one end so that it may be raised to prevent people crossing or to allow vessels to pass under it.

drawcard n. INFORMAL a quality or feature that evokes interest or liking; an attraction: most described natural beauty as the country's main drawcard.

drawcord n. another term for DRAWSTRING.

drawdown n. 1 a reduction in the volume of water in a lake or reservoir.

- a reduction in the size or presence of a military force: the unit is the first to leave Germany as part of the drawdown.

2 an act of drawing on available loan facilities.

drawee /dr(r)i/ n. the person or organization, typically a bank, who must pay a draft or bill.

drawer n. 1 /dr/ a box-like storage compartment without a lid, made to slide horizontally in and out of a desk, chest, or other piece of furniture.

2 (drawers /drz/) DATED or HUMOROUS knickers or underpants.

3 /dr(r)ə/ a person who writes a cheque.

4 /dr(r)ə/ a person who produces a drawing or design.

<DERIVATIVES> drawerful n. (pl. drawerfuls)

<USAGE> The word drawer is often spelled incorrectly as draw. As a noun, draw chiefly means ‘an act of selecting names randomly to decide winners’ or ‘an even score at the conclusion of a game’, whereas drawer mainly means ‘a sliding storage compartment’.

draw hoe n. a hoe designed to be used with a pulling action.

drawing n. a picture or diagram made with a pencil, pen, or crayon rather than paint: a series of charcoal drawings on white paper.

- [mass noun] the art or activity of making drawings: she took lessons in drawing.

drawing board n. a large flat board on which paper may be spread for artists or designers to work on.

<PHRASES>

□ back to the drawing board used to indicate that an idea, scheme, or proposal has been unsuccessful and that a new one must be devised: the government must go back to the drawing board and review the whole issue of youth training.

□ on the drawing board (of an idea, scheme, or proposal) under consideration and not yet ready to put into practice: there are plans to enlarge the runway, but at present all this remains on the drawing board.

drawing pin n. BRITISH a short flat-headed pin, used for fastening paper to a wall or other surface.

drawing room n. a room in a large private house in which guests can be received and entertained.

- [as modifier] (of a song or play) characterized by a polite observance of social proprieties: a stock figure of Thirties drawing-room comedy.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a private room attached to a more public one): abbreviation of 16th-cent. withdrawing-room ‘a room to withdraw to’.

drawknife n. (pl. drawknives) a knife consisting of a blade with a handle at each end at right angles to it, which is drawn towards the user to remove wood from a surface.

drawl v. [no obj.] speak in a slow, lazy way with prolonged vowel sounds: [with direct speech] ‘Suits me fine,’ he drawled.

■ n. [in sing.] a slow, lazy way of speaking or an accent with prolonged vowel sounds: a strong Texan drawl.

<DERIVATIVES> drawly adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably originally slang, from Low German or Dutch dralen ‘delay, linger’.

drawn past participle of DRAW

■ adj. (of a person) looking strained from illness, exhaustion, anxiety, or pain: Cathy was pale and drawn and she looked tired out.

drawn butter n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN melted butter.

drawn-out adj. lasting or seeming to last longer than is necessary: after the long drawn-out years of waiting the end of the war was in sight.

drawn work (also drawn-thread-work) n. [mass noun] ornamental work on linen or other fabric, in which threads are drawn out of the fabric to create a pattern of openings and holes.

draw-off (also draw-off pipe) n. a pipe which takes water from the plumbing system to a tap or other points of use.

draw reins plural n. a pair of reins that are attached to a horse's saddle or girth and pass through the bit rings to the rider's hands.

draw sheet n. 1 a sheet that is placed in such a way that it can be taken from under a patient or invalid without disturbing the bedclothes.

2 a list of matches to be played in a tournament.

drawstring n. a string in the seam of the material of a garment or a bag, which can be pulled to tighten or close it.

dray n. a truck or cart without sides, for delivering beer barrels or other heavy loads.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a two-wheeled cart.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a sledge): perhaps from Old English dræge ‘dragnet’, related to dragan ‘to pull’ (see DRAW).

dray horse n. a large, powerful horse used to pull heavy loads.

drayman n. (pl. draymen) a person who delivers beer for a brewery.

DRC abbr. Democratic Republic of the Congo.

dread v. [with obj.] 1 anticipate with great apprehension or fear: Jane was dreading the party | [with infinitive] I dread to think what Russell will say.

2 ARCHAIC regard with great awe or reverence.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] great fear or apprehension: the thought of returning to London filled her with dread | [in sing.] I used to have a dread of Friday afternoons.

2 a sudden take-off and flight of a flock of gulls or other birds.

3 INFORMAL a person with dreadlocks: the band appeals to dreads and baldheads alike.

- (dreads) dreadlocks.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 greatly feared; dreadful: he was stricken with the dread disease and died.

2 ARCHAIC regarded with awe; greatly revered: that dread being we dare oppose.

<ORIGIN> Old English ādrdan, ondrdan, of West Germanic origin; related to Old High German intrātan.

dreaded adj. [attr.] regarded with great fear or apprehension: the dreaded news came that Joe had been wounded | HUMOROUS the dreaded fax machine.

dreadful adj. 1 causing or involving great suffering, fear, or unhappiness; extremely bad or serious: there's been a dreadful accident.

- extremely disagreeable: the weather was dreadful.

- (of a person) unwell or troubled: I feel dreadful—I hate myself | she looked quite dreadful and she was struggling for breath.

2 [attr.] used to emphasize the degree to which something is the case, especially something regarded with sadness or disapproval: this was all a dreadful mistake | you're a dreadful flirt.

<DERIVATIVES> dreadfulness n.

dreadfully chiefly BRITISH adv. 1 [often as submodifier] extremely: you're dreadfully thin | I'm dreadfully sorry!

- very much: I'll miss you dreadfully.

2 very badly: the company has performed dreadfully.

dreadlocks plural n. a Rastafarian hairstyle in which the hair is washed but not combed and twisted while wet into tight braids or ringlets hanging down on all sides.

<DERIVATIVES> dreadlocked adj.

dreadnought /drεdnt/ n. 1 HISTORICAL a type of battleship introduced in the early 20th century, larger and faster than its predecessors and equipped entirely with large-calibre guns. [<ORIGIN> named after Britain's HMS Dreadnought, which was the first to be completed (1906).]

2 ARCHAIC a fearless person.

3 ARCHAIC a heavy overcoat for stormy weather.

dream n. 1 a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep: I had a recurrent dream about falling from great heights.

- [in sing.] a state of mind in which someone is or seems to be unaware of their immediate surroundings: he had been walking around in a dream all day.

2 a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal: I fulfilled a childhood dream when I became champion.

- an unrealistic or self-deluding fantasy: maybe he could get a job and earn some money—but he knew this was just a dream.

- a person or thing perceived as wonderful or perfect: her new man's an absolute dream | it was a dream of a backhand.

■ v. (past and past participle dreamed /drεmt drimd/ or dreamt /drεmt/) [no obj.] 1 experience dreams during sleep: I dreamed about her last night.

- [with obj.] see, hear, or feel (something) in a dream: maybe you dreamed it | [with clause] I dreamed that I was going to be executed.

2 indulge in daydreams or fantasies about something greatly desired: she had dreamed of a trip to America.

- [with obj.] (dream something up) imagine or invent something: he's been dreaming up new ways of attracting customers.

- (in imperative dream on) INFORMAL used as an ironic comment on the unlikely nature of a plan or aspiration: Dean thinks he's going to get the job. Dream on, Babe.

3 [with negative] contemplate the possibility of doing something or that something might be the case: I wouldn't dream of foisting myself on you | [with clause] I never dreamed anyone would take offence.

<PHRASES>

□ beyond one's wildest dreams bigger or better than could be reasonably expected: stockbrokers command salaries beyond the wildest dreams of most workers.

□ in your dreams used ironically to assert that something desired is never likely to happen.

□ in one's wildest dreams [with negative] used to emphasize that a situation is beyond the scope of one's imagination: she could never in her wildest dreams have imagined the summer weather in New York.

□ like a dream INFORMAL very well or successfully: the car is still running like a dream.

<DERIVATIVES> dreamful adj. (LITERARY) dreamless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of Germanic origin, related to Dutch droom and German Traum, and probably also to Old English drēam ‘joy, music’.

dreamboat n. INFORMAL a very attractive person, especially a man.

dreamcatcher n. a small hoop containing a horsehair mesh decorated with feathers and beads, believed by American Indians to give its owner good dreams.

dreamer n. 1 a person who dreams or is dreaming.

2 a person who is unpractical or idealistic: a rebellious young dreamer.

Dreaming n. (in the mythology of some Australian Aboriginal peoples) Dreamtime or Alcheringa, especially as manifested in the natural world and celebrated in ritual.

dreamland n. 1 [mass noun] sleep regarded as a world of dreams: she tries to lull herself into dreamland.

2 an imagined and unrealistically ideal world: a digital dreamland where you'll pay bills with a click of the mouse.

dreamlike adj. having the qualities of a dream; unreal: she snapped out of her dreamlike state.

dreamscape n. a landscape or scene with the strangeness or mystery characteristic of dreams.

dream team n. a team of people perceived as the perfect combination for a particular purpose: the two have been linked as the dream team that will revitalize New York Democrats.

dream ticket n. BRITISH a pair of candidates standing together for political office who are ideally matched to attract widespread support.

Dreamtime n. another term for ALCHERINGA.

dreamwork n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] the processes by which the unconscious mind alters the manifest content of dreams in order to conceal their real meaning from the dreamer.

dreamworld n. a fantastic or idealized view of life: somebody who can live in a romantic dreamworld.

dreamy adj. (dreamier, dreamiest) 1 having a magical or pleasantly unreal quality; dreamlike: the atmosphere is tranquil and dreamy | a slow dreamy melody.

- INFORMAL delightful; gorgeous: I bet he was really dreamy.

2 given to or indulging in daydreaming: a dreamy boy who grew up absorbed in poetry.

<DERIVATIVES> dreamily adv. dreaminess n.

drear /drə/ adj. literary term for DREARY.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: abbreviation.

dreary adj. (drearier, dreariest) depressingly dull and bleak or repetitive: the dreary round of working, eating, and trying to sleep.

<DERIVATIVES> drearily adv. dreariness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English drēorig ‘gory, cruel’, also ‘melancholy’, from drēor ‘gore’, of Germanic origin; related to German traurig ‘sorrowful’, also to DROWSY, and probably to DRIZZLE.

dreck /drεk/ (also drek) n. [mass noun] INFORMAL rubbish; trash: this so-called art is pure dreck.

<DERIVATIVES> dreckish adj. drecky adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Yiddish drek ‘filth, dregs’, from a Germanic base shared by Old English threax; probably related to Greek skatos ‘dung’.

dredge^1 v. [with obj.] clear the bed of (a harbour, river, or other area of water) by scooping out mud, weeds, and rubbish with a dredge.

- bring up or clear (something) from a river, harbour, or other area of water with a dredge: mud was dredged out of the harbour | [no obj.] they start to dredge for oysters in November.

- (dredge something up) bring something unwelcome and forgotten or obscure to people's attention: I don't understand why you had to dredge up this story.

■ n. an apparatus for bringing up objects or mud from a river or seabed by scooping or dragging.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a noun; originally in dredge-boat): perhaps related to Middle Dutch dregghe ‘grappling hook’.

dredge^2 v. [with obj.] sprinkle (food) with a powdered substance such as flour or sugar: dredge the bananas with sugar and cinnamon.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete dredge ‘sweetmeat, mixture of spices’, from Old French dragie, perhaps via Latin from Greek tragēmata ‘spices’. Compare with dragée.

dredger n. a boat designed for dredging harbours or other bodies of water.

dree /dri/ v. (drees, dreeing, dreed) [with obj.] Scottish or ARCHAIC endure (something burdensome or painful).

<PHRASES>

□ dree one's weird submit to one's destiny.

<ORIGIN> Old English drēogan, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse drýgja ‘practise, perpetrate’.

D-region n. another term for D-LAYER.

dregs plural n. the remnants of a liquid left in a container, together with any sediment: coffee dregs.

- the most worthless part or parts of something: the dregs of society.

<DERIVATIVES> dreggy adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish drägg (plural).

dreich /drix/ adj. SCOTTISH (especially of weather) dreary; bleak: a cold, dreich early April day.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘patient, long-suffering’): of Germanic origin, corresponding to Old Norse drjúgr ‘enduring, lasting’.

dreidel /dred(ə)l/ (also dreidl) n. NORTH AMERICAN a small four-sided spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each side, used in Jewish gambling games, especially at Hanukkah.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Yiddish dreydl; compare with German drehen ‘to turn’.

Dreiser /drsə/ Theodore (Herman Albert) (1871–1945), American novelist. His first novel, Sister Carrie (1900), caused controversy for its frank treatment of the heroine's sexuality and ambition. Other notable works: America is Worth Saving (1941).

drench v. [with obj.] 1 wet thoroughly; soak: I fell in the stream and was drenched.

- cover (something) liberally or thoroughly: cool patios drenched in flowers | (as adj., in combination -drenched) a sun-drenched clearing.

2 forcibly administer a drug in liquid form orally to (an animal).

■ n. a dose of medicine administered to an animal.

- ARCHAIC a draught of a medicinal or poisonous liquid.

<ORIGIN> Old English drencan ‘force to drink’, drenc ‘a drink or draught’, of Germanic origin; related to German tränken (verb), Trank (noun), also to DRINK.

Drenthe /drεntə/ a sparsely populated agricultural province in the NE Netherlands; capital, Assen.

Dresden^1 /drεzdən/ German /dresdn/ a city in eastern Germany, the capital of Saxony, on the River Elbe; pop. 413,600 (est. 2002). Famous for its baroque architecture, it was almost totally destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945.

Dresden^2 /drεzd(ə)n/ (also Dresden china) n. [mass noun] porcelain ware with elaborate decoration and delicate colourings, made originally at Dresden and (since 1710) at nearby Meissen.

dress v. 1 [no obj.] put on one's clothes: Graham showered and dressed quickly | I'll go and get dressed.

- [with adverbial] wear clothes in a particular way or of a particular type: she's nice-looking and dresses well | (be dressed) he was dressed in jeans and a thick sweater.

- [with obj.] put clothes on (someone): they dressed her in a white hospital gown.

- put on clothes appropriate for a formal occasion: we dressed for dinner every night.

2 [with obj.] decorate (something) in an artistic or attractive way: she'd enjoyed dressing the tree when the children were little.

- decorate (a ship) with flags for a special occasion.

3 [with obj.] treat or prepare (something) in a certain way, in particular:

- clean, treat, or apply a dressing to (a wound).

- clean and prepare (food, especially poultry or shellfish) for cooking or eating: (as adj. dressed) dressed crab.

- add a dressing to (a salad).

- apply a fertilizer to (an area of ground or a plant).

- complete the preparation or manufacture of (leather or fabric) by treating its surface in some way.

- smooth the surface of (stone): (as adj. dressed) dressed Cotswold stone.

- arrange or style (hair).

4 [with obj.] [MILITARY] draw up (troops) in the proper alignment.

- [no obj.] (of troops) come into proper alignment.

5 (of a man) have the genitals habitually on one or the other side of the fork of the trousers: do you dress to the left?

6 [with obj.] make (an artificial fly) for use in fishing.

■ n. 1 a one-piece garment for a woman or girl that covers the body and extends down over the legs.

2 [mass noun] clothing of a specified kind for men or women: traditional African dress.

- [as modifier] denoting military uniform or other clothing used on formal or ceremonial occasions: a dress suit.

<PHRASES>

□ dressed overall (of a ship) decorated with a continuous line of flags from bow to stern.

□ dressed to kill wearing glamorous clothes intended to create a striking impression.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ dress down dress informally: Sue dressed down in old jeans and a white blouse.

□ dress someone down INFORMAL reprimand someone.

□ dress up dress in smart or formal clothes.

- dress in a special costume for fun or as part of an entertainment: he dressed up as a gorilla.

□ dress something up present something in such a way that it appears better than it really is: the company dressed up the figures a little.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘put straight’): from Old French dresser ‘arrange, prepare’, based on Latin directus ‘direct, straight’.

dressage /drεsα(d)/ n. [mass noun] the art of riding and training a horse in a manner that develops obedience, flexibility, and balance.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from French, literally ‘training’, from dresser ‘to train’.

dress circle n. BRITISH the first level of seats above the ground floor in a theatre.

- US the front section of the first level of seats above the ground floor in a theatre.

dress coat n. a coat with long tails at the back, worn by men on very formal occasions.

dresser^1 n. a sideboard with shelves above for storing and displaying plates and kitchen utensils.

- NORTH AMERICAN a chest of drawers.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a kitchen sideboard or table on which food was prepared): from Old French dresseur, from dresser ‘prepare’ (see DRESS).

dresser^2 n. 1 [with adj.] a person who dresses in a specified way: a snappy dresser.

2 a person whose job is to look after theatrical costumes and help actors to dress.

3 BRITISH a person who assists a surgeon during operations.

4 a person who prepares, treats, or finishes a material or piece of equipment.

dressing n. 1 (also salad dressing) [mass noun] a sauce for salads, typically one consisting of oil and vinegar with herbs or other flavourings.

- NORTH AMERICAN stuffing: turkey with apple dressing.

2 a piece of material used to cover and protect a wound.

3 [mass noun] size or stiffening used in the finishing of fabrics.

4 a fertilizing substance such as compost or manure spread over or ploughed into land.

dressing case n. HISTORICAL a case used for toiletries.

dressing-down n. [in sing.] INFORMAL a severe reprimand: the secretary received a public dressing-down.

dressing gown n. a long, loose robe, typically worn after getting out of bed or bathing.

dressing room n. a room in which actors or sports players change clothes before and after their performance or game.

- a small room attached to a bedroom, used for dressing in and to store clothes.

dressing station n. a place for giving emergency treatment to troops injured in battle.

dressing table n. a table with a mirror and drawers, used while dressing or applying make-up.

dress length n. a piece of material long enough to make a dress.

dressmaker n. a person whose job is making women's clothes.

<DERIVATIVES> dressmaking n.

dress parade n. a military parade in full dress uniform.

dress rehearsal n. the final rehearsal of a live show, in which everything is done as it would be in a real performance.

dress sense n. [mass noun] a good instinct for selecting garments which suit the wearer.

dress shield (also dress preserver) n. a piece of waterproof material fastened in the armpit of a dress to protect it from perspiration.

dress shirt n. a man's white shirt worn with a bow tie and a dinner jacket on formal occasions.

- NORTH AMERICAN a man's long-sleeved shirt, suitable for wearing with a tie.

dressy adj. (dressier, dressiest) INFORMAL (of clothes) suitable for a smart or formal occasion.

drew past of DRAW.

drey /dre/ n. (pl. dreys) the nest of a squirrel, typically in the form of a mass of twigs in a tree.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin.

Dreyfus /drefəs/ Alfred (1859–1935), French army officer, of Jewish descent. In 1894 he was falsely accused of providing military secrets to the Germans; his trial and imprisonment caused a major political crisis in France. He was eventually rehabilitated in 1906.

dribble v. 1 [no obj. and usually with adverbial of direction] (of a liquid) fall slowly in drops or a thin stream: rain dribbled down the window.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] pour (a liquid) slowly in a thin stream: he dribbled cream into his coffee.

- [no obj.] allow saliva to run from the mouth: his mouth was open and he was dribbling.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] (in soccer, hockey, and basketball) take (the ball) forwards past opponents with slight touches of the feet or the stick, or (in basketball) by continuous bouncing: he attempted to dribble the ball from the goal area.

■ n. 1 a thin stream of liquid; a trickle: a dribble of blood.

- [mass noun] saliva running from the mouth.

2 (in soccer, hockey, and basketball) an act of taking the ball forward with repeated slight touches or bounces.

<DERIVATIVES> dribbler n. dribbly adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: frequentative of obsolete drib, variant of DRIP. The original sense was ‘shoot an arrow short or wide of its target’, which was also a sense of drib.

driblet n. a thin stream or small drop of liquid: driblets of spittle run from her mouth.

- a small or insignificant amount: the prisoners were let out in driblets.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘small sum of money’): from obsolete drib (see DRIBBLE) + -LET.

dribs and drabs plural n. (in dribs and drabs) INFORMAL in small scattered or sporadic amounts: more folk followed in dribs and drabs.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from obsolete drib (see DRIBBLE) and drab (by reduplication).

dried past and past participle of DRY.

drier^1 adj. comparative of DRY.

driest adj. superlative of DRY.

drift v. [no obj.] 1 be carried slowly by a current of air or water: the cabin cruiser started to drift downstream | FIGURATIVE excited voices drifted down the hall.

- [with adverbial of direction] walk slowly, aimlessly, or casually: people began to drift away.

- [with adverbial] move passively, aimlessly, or involuntarily into a certain situation or condition: I was drifting off to sleep | Lewis and his father drifted apart.

- (of a person or their attention) digress or stray to another subject: I noticed my audience's attention drifting.

2 (especially of snow or leaves) be blown into heaps by the wind: fallen leaves start to drift in the gutters | (as adj. drifting) long stretches of drifting snow.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] a continuous slow movement from one place to another: there was a drift to the towns.

- [mass noun] the deviation of a vessel, aircraft, or projectile from its intended or expected course as the result of currents or winds: the pilot had not noticed any appreciable drift.

- a steady movement or development from one thing towards another that is perceived as unwelcome: the drift towards a more repressive style of policing.

- [mass noun] a state of inaction or indecision.

- [MOTOR RACING] a controlled skid, used in taking bends at high speeds.

2 [in sing.] the general intention or meaning of an argument or someone's remarks: he didn't understand much Greek, but he got her drift.

3 a large mass of snow, leaves, or other material piled up or carried along by the wind.

- [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] glacial and fluvioglacial deposits left by retreating ice sheets.

- a large spread of flowering plants growing together: a drift of daffodils.

4 [MINING] a horizontal or inclined passage following a mineral vein or coal seam.

5 BRITISH HISTORICAL an act of driving cattle or sheep.

- an act of herding cattle within a forest to a particular place on an appointed day in order to determine ownership or to levy fines.

6 S. AFRICAN a ford.

<DERIVATIVES> drifty adj. (driftier, driftiest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘mass of snow, leaves, etc.’): originally from Old Norse drift ‘snowdrift, something driven’; in later use from Middle Dutch drift ‘course, current’, and (in sense 6 of the noun) South African Dutch drift ‘ford’; related to DRIVE.

drifter n. 1 a person who is continually moving from place to place, without any fixed home or job.

2 a fishing boat equipped with a drift net.

driftfish n. (pl. same or driftfishes) a slender-bodied bottom-dwelling fish found in the deeper waters of warm seas.

<INFO> Family Nomeidae (or Stromateidae): several genera, in particular Ariomma.

drift ice n. [mass noun] detached pieces of ice drifting with the wind or ocean currents.

drift net n. a large net for herring and similar fish, kept upright by weights at the bottom and floats at the top and allowed to drift with the tide.

<DERIVATIVES> drift netter n. drift netting n.

drift pin n. a steel pin driven into a hole in a piece of metal to enlarge, shape, or align the hole.

driftway n. BRITISH HISTORICAL a broad route along which cattle or sheep used to be driven to market.

driftwood n. [mass noun] pieces of wood which are floating on the sea or have been washed ashore.

drill^1 n. 1 a tool or machine with a rotating cutting tip or reciprocating hammer or chisel, used for making holes.

- a tool with a rotating tip used by a dentist for cutting away part of a tooth before filling it.

2 [mass noun] instruction or training in military exercises: parade-ground drill.

- intensive instruction or training in something, typically by means of repeated exercises: tables can be mastered by drill and practice | [count noun] language-learning drills.

- [count noun] a rehearsal of the procedure to be followed in an emergency: air-raid drills.

- (the drill) INFORMAL the correct or recognized procedure or way of doing something: he didn't know the drill.

3 a predatory mollusc that bores into the shells of other molluscs in order to feed on the soft tissue.

<INFO> Family Muricidae, class Gastropoda: several genera and species, in particular the American oyster drill (Urosalpinx cinerea), which is a serious pest of oyster beds.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 produce (a hole) in something by or as if by boring with a drill: drill holes through the tiles for the masonry pins.

- make a hole in (something) by boring with a drill: a power tool for drilling wood.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] make a hole in or through something by using a drill: do not attempt to drill through a joist | FIGURATIVE his eyes drilled into her.

- [no obj.] sink a borehole in order to obtain oil or water: BP has been licensed to drill for oil in the area | (as n. drilling) drilling should begin next year.

- (of a dentist) cut away part of (a tooth) before filling it.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] INFORMAL (of a sports player) hit (a shot) hard and in a straight line: he drilled a right-foot volley into the back of the net.

2 subject (someone) to military training exercises: a sergeant was drilling new recruits.

- [no obj.] (of a person) take part in military training exercises: the troops were drilling.

- instruct (someone) in something by the means of repeated exercises or practice: I reacted instinctively because I had been drilled to do just that.

- (drill something into) cause (someone) to learn something by repeating it regularly: his mother had drilled into him the need to pay for one's sins.

3 [no obj.] (drill down) [COMPUTING] access data which is in a lower level of a hierarchically structured database.

<DERIVATIVES> driller n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Middle Dutch drillen ‘bore, turn in a circle’.

drill^2 n. a machine which makes small furrows, sows seed in them, and then covers the seed with earth.

- a small furrow made by a drill.

- a row of plants sown in a drill: drills of lettuces.

■ v. [with obj.] sow (seed) with a drill: crops drilled in autumn.

- plant (the ground) in furrows: (as n. drilling) accurate ridging and drilling make hoeing much easier.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as a noun in the sense ‘small furrow’): perhaps from DRILL^1.

drill^3 n. a dark brown baboon with a short tail and a naked blue or purple rump, found in the rainforests of West Africa.

<INFO> Mandrillus leucophaeus, family Cercopithecidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: probably a local word. Compare with MANDRILL.

drill^4 n. [mass noun] a coarse twilled cotton or linen fabric.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: abbreviation of earlier drilling, from German Drillich, from Latin trilix ‘triple-twilled’, from tri- ‘three’ + licium ‘thread’.

drilling rig n. a large structure with equipment for drilling an oil well.

drill press n. a machine tool for drilling holes, set on a fixed stand.

drill sergeant n. a non-commissioned officer who trains soldiers in military parade exercises.

drill stem n. a rotating rod or cylinder used in drilling.

drill string n. a structure consisting of coupled lengths of pipe or casing, which occupies the hole made in drilling for oil or gas.

drily /drli/ (also dryly) adv. 1 in a matter-of-fact or ironically humorous way: ‘How very observant’, he said drily.

2 in a dry way or condition: Evans swallowed drily.

drink v. (past drank; past participle drunk) [with obj.] 1 take (a liquid) into the mouth and swallow: we sat by the fire, drinking our tea | [no obj.] he drank thirstily.

- [no obj.] consume or be in the habit of consuming alcohol: she doesn't drink or smoke | (as n. drinking) Les was ordered to cut down his drinking.

- [no obj.] (drink up) quickly consume the rest of a drink.

- INFORMAL (of a plant or a porous substance) absorb (moisture).

- [no obj.] (of wine) have a specified flavour or character when drunk: this wine is really drinking beautifully.

2 (drink something in) watch or listen to something with eager pleasure or interest: she strolled to the window to drink in the view.

■ n. a liquid that can be swallowed as refreshment or nourishment: fizzy drinks | [mass noun] a table covered with food and drink.

- a quantity of liquid swallowed at one go: he had a drink of water.

- [mass noun] alcohol, or the habitual or excessive consumption of alcohol: the effects of too much drink | they both took to drink.

- a glass of liquid, especially when alcoholic: we went for a drink.

- (drinks) a social gathering at which alcoholic drinks are served: would you like to come for drinks on Sunday?

- (the drink) INFORMAL the sea or another large area of water.

<PHRASES>

□ be drinking in the last chance saloon BRITISH INFORMAL be in a difficult situation in which there is one final chance to put it right.

□ drink and drive drive a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

□ drink deep take a large draught or draughts of something: FIGURATIVE he learnt to drink deep of the Catholic tradition.

□ drink someone's health express one's good wishes for someone by raising one's glass and drinking a small amount.

□ drink (a toast) to celebrate or wish for the good fortune of someone or something by raising one's glass and drinking a small amount.

□ drink someone under the table INFORMAL consume as much alcohol as one's drinking companion without becoming as drunk.

□ I'll drink to that uttered to express one's agreement with or approval of a statement.

□ in drink when intoxicated: we've hit each other before, in drink.

<ORIGIN> Old English drincan (verb), drinc (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch drinken and German trinken.

drinkable adj. (of a liquid) fit to drink; potable: a supply of drinkable water.

- INFORMAL (of a drink) pleasant to taste; palatable: a very drinkable red wine.

drink-driving n. [mass noun] BRITISH the crime of driving a vehicle with an excess of alcohol in the blood.

<DERIVATIVES> drink-driver n.

drinker n. 1 a person who drinks a particular drink: coffee drinkers.

- a person who drinks alcohol, especially to excess: a heavy drinker.

2 (also drinker moth) a large brownish European moth, the caterpillar of which bears irritant hairs and is noted for drinking dew.

<INFO> Euthrix potatoria, family Lasiocampidae.

3 a container from which an animal can drink.

drinking chocolate n. [mass noun] BRITISH a mixture of cocoa powder, milk solids, and sugar, added to hot milk to make a chocolate drink.

drinking fountain n. a device producing a small jet of water for drinking.

drinking horn n. chiefly HISTORICAL a drinking container carved from an animal's horn.

drinking song n. a hearty song, typically concerning drink and having bawdy lyrics, which is sung while drinking alcohol.

drinking-up time n. [mass noun] (in the UK) a short period (now twenty minutes) legally allowed for finishing drinks bought before closing time in a pub or bar.

drinking water n. [mass noun] water pure enough for drinking.

drip v. (drips, dripping, dripped) [no obj.] let fall or be so wet as to shed small drops of liquid: the tap won't stop dripping | his hands were dripping with blood.

- [with adverbial] (of liquid) fall in small drops: water dripped from her clothing.

- [with obj.] cause or allow (a liquid) to fall in small drops: the candle was dripping wax down one side.

- FIGURATIVE display a copious amount or degree of a particular quality or thing: the women were dripping with gold and diamonds | [with obj.] his voice dripped sarcasm.

■ n. 1 a small drop of a liquid: she put the bucket on top of the dresser to catch the drips.

- the action or sound of liquid falling steadily in small drops: the drip, drip, drip of the leak in the roof.

- (also drip feed) MEDICINE an apparatus which passes fluid, nutrients, or drugs drop by drop into a patient's body on a continuous basis, usually intravenously: he had been on a drip for several days.

2 INFORMAL a weak and ineffectual person.

3 [ARCHITECTURE] a projection on a moulding, channelled to prevent rain from running down the wall below. Compare with DRIPSTONE.

<ORIGIN> Old English dryppan, drȳpen, of Germanic origin; related to Danish dryppe, also to DROP.

drip-dry adj. (of a fabric or garment) capable of drying without creasing when hung up after washing: drip-dry shirts.

■ v. [no obj.] (of fabric or a garment) become dry without forming creases when hung up after washing.

- [with obj.] dry (fabric or a garment) without creases by hanging it up: it's easy to wash and simple to drip-dry.

drip feed n. a device for introducing fluid drop by drop into a system, for example lubricating oil into an engine.

- a medicinal drip.

■ v. (drip-feed) [with obj.] introduce (fluid) drop by drop: the oiler drip-feeds oil on to all drive chains.

- supply (a patient) with fluid, nutrients, or drugs through a drip.

- provide gradually and in small amounts: their correspondence is being drip-fed to newspapers.

drip mat n. BRITISH a small mat placed under a glass to protect the surface on which the glass is resting.

drip moulding n. another term for dripstone (sense 1).

dripping n. [mass noun] (North American drippings) fat that has melted and dripped from roasting meat, used in cooking or eaten cold as a spread.

- (drippings) NORTH AMERICAN wax, fat, or other liquid produced from something by the effect of heat.

■ adj. very wet: [as submodifier] dripping wet hair.

drippy adj. (drippier, drippiest) 1 INFORMAL weak, ineffectual, or sloppily sentimental: a drippy love song.

2 tending to drip: drippy food.

<DERIVATIVES> drippily adv. drippiness n.

dripstone n. 1 [ARCHITECTURE] a moulding over a door or window which deflects rain.

2 [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] rock deposited by precipitation from dripping water, such as that which forms stalactites and stalagmites.

drive v. (past drove; past participle driven) 1 [no obj., usually with adverbial of direction] operate and control the direction and speed of a motor vehicle: he got into his car and drove off | they drove back into town.

- [with obj.] own or use (a specified type of private car): Sue drives an estate car.

- [no obj.] be licensed or competent to drive a motor vehicle: I take it you can drive?

- [with obj.] convey (someone) in a vehicle, especially a private car: his wife drove him to Regent's Park.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] propel or carry along by force in a specified direction: the wind will drive you onshore.

- [no obj.] (of wind, rain, or snow) move or fall with great force: the snow drove against him.

- [with obj.] (of a source of power) provide the energy to set and keep (an engine or piece of machinery) in motion: turbines driven by steam.

- [with obj.] [ELECTRONICS] (of a device) power or operate (another device): the interface can be used to drive a printer.

- [with obj.] force (a stake or nail) into place by hitting or pushing it: nails are driven through the boards.

- [with obj. and adverbial] bore (a tunnel).

- [with obj.] (in ball games) hit or kick (the ball) hard with a free swing of the bat, racket, or foot.

- [with obj.] [GOLF] strike (a ball) from the tee, typically with a driver.

3 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] urge or force (animals or people) to move in a specified direction: they drove a flock of sheep through the centre of the city.

- compel to leave: he wanted to drive me away.

4 [with obj.] (of a fact or feeling) compel (someone) to act in a particular way, especially one that is considered undesirable or inappropriate: [with obj. and infinitive] some people are driven to murder their tormentors | (as adj. driven) my husband is a driven man.

- [with obj.] bring (someone) forcibly into a specified negative state: the thought drove him to despair | [with obj. and complement] my laziness drives my wife crazy.

- [with obj.] force (someone) to work to an excessive extent: you're driving yourself too hard.

■ n. 1 a trip or journey in a car: they went for a drive in the country.

- [in names] a street or road: Hammond Drive.

- (also driveway) a short road leading from a public road to a house.

2 [PSYCHOLOGY] an innate, biologically determined urge to attain a goal or satisfy a need: her emotional and sexual drives.

- [mass noun] determination and ambition to achieve something: his drive helped Leeds to four cup finals.

3 an organized effort by a number of people to achieve a purpose: a recruitment drive by the police.

- BRITISH an organized gathering to play whist or another game, involving many players: a whist drive.

4 [mass noun] the transmission of power to machinery or to the wheels of a motor vehicle.

- (in a car with automatic transmission) the position of the gear selector in which the car will move forward, changing gears automatically as required: he threw the car into drive.

- [count noun] [COMPUTING] short for DISK DRIVE.

5 (in ball games) a forceful stroke made with a free swing of the bat, racket, or foot against the ball.

- [GOLF] a shot from the tee.

6 an act of driving a group of animals to a particular destination.

<PHRASES>

□ drive something home see HOME.

□ let drive attack with blows, missiles, or criticism. I let drive with all the most forceful arguments I could lay my tongue to.

□ what someone is driving at the point that someone is attempting to make: I don't understand what you're driving at.

<DERIVATIVES> drivability (also driveability) n. drivable (also driveable) adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English drīfan ‘urge (a person or animal) to go forward’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch drijven and German treiben.

drive bay n. [COMPUTING] a space inside a computer in which a floppy disk, hard disk, or disk drive can be accommodated.

drive belt n. a belt that transmits drive from a motor, engine, or line shaft to a moving part or machine tool.

drive-by chiefly NORTH AMERICAN adj. (of a shooting or other act) carried out from a passing vehicle: a drive-by shooting.

■ n. a shooting carried out from a passing vehicle.

drive-by-wire n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] a semi-automatic and normally computer-regulated system for controlling the engine, handling, suspension, and other functions of a motor vehicle.

drive chain n. an endless chain with links that engage with toothed wheels in order to transmit power from one shaft to another in an engine or machine tool.

drive-in adj. denoting a facility such as a cinema or restaurant that one can visit without leaving one's car: a drive-in cinema.

■ n. a drive-in facility.

drivel /drv(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] nonsense: don't talk such drivel!

■ v. (drivels, drivelling, drivelled; US drivels, driveling, driveled) [no obj.] 1 talk nonsense: he was drivelling on about the glory days.

2 ARCHAIC let saliva or mucus flow from the mouth or nose.

<DERIVATIVES> driveller (US driveler) n.

<ORIGIN> Old English dreflian (in sense 2 of the verb), of uncertain origin; perhaps related to DRAFF.

driveline /drvln/ n. another term for DRIVETRAIN.

driven past participle of DRIVE

■ adj. 1 [in combination] operated, moved, or controlled by a specified person or source of power: a chauffeur-driven limousine | wind-driven sand.

- motivated or determined by a specified factor or feeling: a market-driven response to customer needs.

2 (of snow) piled into drifts or made smooth by the wind.

drive-on (also drive-on/drive-off) adj. denoting a ferry or train on to and from which motor vehicles may be driven.

driver n. 1 a person who drives a vehicle: a taxi driver | learner drivers.

- a person who drives a specified kind of animal: mule drivers.

2 a wheel or other part in a mechanism that receives power directly and transmits motion to other parts.

- [ELECTRONICS] a device or part of a circuit that provides power for output.

- [COMPUTING] a program that controls the operation of a device such as a printer or scanner.

3 a factor which brings about or sustains a particular phenomenon: the hope of achieving such monopolies becomes the main driver of investment.

4 a golf club with a flat face and wooden head, used for driving from the tee.

<PHRASES>

□ in the driver's seat see IN THE DRIVING SEAT at driving.

<DERIVATIVES> driverless adj.

driver ant n. another term for ARMY ANT.

driver's license n. North American term for DRIVING LICENCE.

driver's test n. North American term for DRIVING TEST.

driveshaft n. a rotating shaft which transmits torque in an engine.

drive-through North American adj. denoting a restaurant or other facility in which one can be served without leaving one's car.

■ n. a drive-through facility.

drive time n. (especially in broadcasting) the parts of the day when many people commute by car: [as modifier] drive-time radio.

drivetrain n. the system in a motor vehicle which connects the transmission to the drive axles.

driving adj. (of rain or snow) blown by the wind with great force: driving rain.

- having a strong and controlling influence: he was the driving force behind the plan | a driving ambition.

■ n. [mass noun] the control and operation of a motor vehicle: he was convicted of reckless driving.

<PHRASES>

□ in the driving (or driver's) seat in control of a situation.

driving licence (North American driver's license) n. a document permitting a person to drive a motor vehicle: I've got a full, clean driving licence.

driving range n. an area where golfers can practise drives.

driving test (North American driver's test) n. an official test of a motorist's competence which must be passed in order to get a driving licence.

driving wheel n. 1 any of the large wheels of a locomotive, to which power is applied either directly or via coupling rods.

2 a wheel transmitting motive power in machinery.

drizzle n. 1 [mass noun] light rain falling in very fine drops: Scotland will be cloudy with patchy drizzle | [in sing.] a steady drizzle has been falling since 3 a.m.

2 [in sing.] [COOKERY] a thin stream of a liquid ingredient trickled over something.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (it drizzles, it is drizzling, etc.) rain lightly: it's started to drizzle.

2 [with obj.] [COOKERY] cause a thin stream of (a liquid ingredient) to trickle over food: drizzle the clarified butter over the top.

<DERIVATIVES> drizzly adj. (drizzlier, drizzliest)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably based on Old English drēosan ‘to fall’, of Germanic origin; probably related to DREARY.

DRM abbr. digital rights management.

Dr Martens /mαtnz/ (also Doc Martens or DMs) plural n. TRADEMARK a type of heavy lace-up boot or shoe with an air-cushioned sole.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Klaus Maertens, German inventor of the sole.

Drogheda /drdə/ a port in the NE Republic of Ireland; pop. 26,400 (est. 20021). In 1649 the inhabitants were massacred after refusing to surrender to Oliver Cromwell's forces.

drogue /drə/ n. a conical or funnel-shaped device with open ends, towed behind a boat, aircraft, or other moving object to reduce speed or improve stability.

- an object resembling a drogue, used as an aerial target for gunnery practice or as a windsock.

- (in tanker aircraft) a funnel-shaped part on the end of the hose into which a probe is inserted by an aircraft being refuelled in flight.

- (also drogue parachute) a small parachute used as a brake or to pull out a larger parachute or other object from an aircraft in flight or a fast-moving vehicle.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (originally a whaling term denoting a piece of stout board attached to a harpoon line, used to slow down or mark the position of a harpooned whale): perhaps related to DRAG.

droid /drd/ n. (in science fiction) a robot.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: shortening of ANDROID.

droit /drt/ n. [LAW], HISTORICAL a right or due.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, based on Latin directus ‘straight, right, direct’.

droit de seigneur /drw də sεnjə/ n. [mass noun] the alleged right of a medieval feudal lord to have sexual intercourse with a vassal's bride on her wedding night.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘lord's right’.

droll /drəl/ adj. curious or unusual in a way that provokes dry amusement: his unique brand of droll self-mockery.

■ n. ARCHAIC a jester or entertainer; a buffoon.

<DERIVATIVES> drollery n. drollness n. drolly /drəlli/ adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as an adjective): from French drôle, perhaps from Middle Dutch drolle ‘imp, goblin’.

dromaeosaurid /drəmə()srd/ (also dromaeosaur /drəmə()s/) n. a carnivorous bipedal dinosaur of a late Cretaceous family which included deinonychus and the velociraptors. They had a large slashing claw on each hind foot.

<INFO> Family Dromaeosauridae, suborder Theropoda, order Saurischia.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from modern Latin Dromaeosauridae, based on Greek dromaios ‘swift-running’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

drome n. INFORMAL, DATED an aerodrome.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: shortened form.

-drome combining form 1 denoting a place for running or racing: aerodrome.

2 denoting something that runs or proceeds in a certain way: palindrome.

<ORIGIN> from Greek dromos ‘course, running’ (see DROMOS).

dromedary /drmd(ə)ri drm-/ n. (pl. dromedaries) an Arabian camel, especially one of a light and swift breed trained for riding or racing.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French dromedaire or late Latin dromedarius (camelus) ‘swift camel’, based on Greek dromas, dromad- ‘runner’.

dromond /drmənd drm-/ n. HISTORICAL a large medieval ship of a kind used for war or commerce, chiefly in the Mediterranean.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French and late Latin from late Greek dromōn ‘light vessel’, from Greek dromos ‘running’.

dromos /drms/ n. (pl. dromoi /-m/) an avenue or passage leading into an ancient Greek temple or tomb, especially one between rows of columns or statues.

<ORIGIN> Greek, ‘course, running, avenue’; related to dramein ‘to run’.

drone v. [no obj.] make a continuous low humming sound: in the far distance a machine droned.

- speak tediously in a dull monotonous tone: he reached for another beer while Jim droned on.

- [with adverbial of direction] move with a continuous humming sound: traffic droned up and down the street.

■ n. 1 a continuous low humming sound: he nodded off to the drone of the car engine.

- INFORMAL a monotonous speech: only twenty minutes of the hour-long drone had passed.

2 a continuous musical note of low pitch.

- a musical instrument, or part of one, sounding a continuous note of low pitch, in particular (also drone pipe) a pipe in a bagpipe or (also drone string) a string in an instrument such as a hurdy-gurdy or a sitar.

3 a male bee in a colony of social bees, which does no work but can fertilize a queen.

- FIGURATIVE a person who does no useful work and lives off others.

4 a remote-controlled pilotless aircraft or missile.

<ORIGIN> Old English drān, drn ‘male bee’, from a West Germanic verb meaning ‘resound, boom’; related to Dutch dreunen ‘to drone’, German dröhnen ‘to roar’, and Swedish dröna ‘to drowse’.

drone fly n. a hoverfly that resembles a honeybee. Its larva is the rat-tailed maggot.

<INFO> Eristalis tenax, family Syrphidae.

drongo /drə/ n. (pl. drongos or drongoes) 1 a songbird with glossy black plumage and typically a long forked tail and a crest, found in Africa, southern Asia, and Australia.

<INFO> Family Dicruridae and genus Dicrurus: several species.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ a stupid or incompetent person.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Malagasy.

■ Sense 2 is said to be from the name of an Australian racehorse of the 1920s which consistently finished last or near last.

droob /drub/ n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL an unprepossessing or contemptible person.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: perhaps related to DROOP.

droog /dru/ n. INFORMAL a young man belonging to a street gang.

<ORIGIN> 1962: coined by Anthony Burgess in A Clockwork Orange; alteration of Russian drug ‘friend’.

drookit /drkt/ (also droukit) adj. SCOTTISH extremely wet; drenched.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: origin uncertain; cf. Old Norse drukna ‘to be drowned’.

drool v. [no obj.] drop saliva uncontrollably from the mouth: the baby begins to drool, then to cough.

- INFORMAL make an excessive and obvious show of pleasure or desire: I could imagine him as a schoolmaster being drooled over by the girls.

■ n. [mass noun] saliva falling from the mouth.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: contraction of DRIVEL.

droop v. [no obj.] bend or hang downwards limply: a long black cloak drooped from his shoulders.

- sag down from or as if from weariness or dejection: his eyelids drooped and he became drowsy.

- [with obj.] cause to bend or hang downwards: James hid his face in his hands and drooped his head.

■ n. [in sing.] an act or instance of drooping; a limp or weary attitude: the exhausted droop of her shoulders.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse drúpa ‘hang the head’; related to DRIP and DROP.

droop-snoot n. INFORMAL a downward-sloping nose of an aircraft or motor vehicle, especially one that is of variable pitch, giving an efficient aerodynamic profile.

<DERIVATIVES> droop-snooted adj.

droopy adj. (droopier, droopiest) hanging down limply; drooping: a droopy moustache.

- lacking strength or spirit: she was a lovely girl in a rather droopy, Pre-Raphaelite way.

<DERIVATIVES> droopily adv. droopiness n.

drop v. (drops, dropping, dropped) [with obj.] 1 let or make (something) fall vertically: the fire was caused by someone dropping a lighted cigarette | they dropped bombs on Caen during the raid.

- deliver (supplies or troops) by parachute: the airlift dropped food into the camp.

- [RUGBY] score (a goal) by a drop kick: (as adj. dropped) Botha responded with a superb dropped goal.

- (of an animal) give birth to (young).

- INFORMAL take (a drug, especially LSD) orally: he dropped a lot of acid in the Sixties.

2 [no obj. and usually with adverbial] fall vertically: the spoon dropped with a clatter from her hand.

- (of a person) allow oneself to fall; let oneself down without jumping: they escaped by climbing out of the window and dropping to the ground.

- (of a person or animal) sink to or towards the ground: he dropped to his knees in the mud.

- INFORMAL collapse or die from exhaustion: he looked ready to drop.

- (of ground) slope steeply down: the land drops away to the river.

3 make or become lower, weaker, or less: [with obj.] he dropped his voice as she came into the room | [no obj.] pre-tax profits dropped by 37 per cent | tourism has dropped off in the last few years.

4 abandon or discontinue (a course of action or study): the charges against him were dropped last year.

- discard or exclude (someone or something): they were dropped from the team in the reshuffle.

- INFORMAL stop associating with: I was under pressure from family and friends to drop Barbara.

5 set down or unload (a passenger or goods), especially on the way to somewhere else: he dropped the load off at a dealer's | his mum dropped him outside and drove off to work.

- [with obj. and adverbial] put or leave in a particular place without ceremony or formality: just drop it in the post when you've got time.

- mention in passing, typically in order to impress: she dropped a remark about having been included in the selection.

- British INFORMAL (of a DJ) select and play (a record): various guest DJs drop quality tunes both old and new.

- INFORMAL release ( a musical recording).

6 (in sport) fail to win (a point or a match): the club have yet to drop a point in the Second Division.

- INFORMAL lose (money) through gambling: he reckoned I'd dropped forty thousand pounds.

7 [BRIDGE] force or be forced to play (a relatively high card) as a loser under an opponent's higher card, because it is the only card in its suit held in the hand.

■ n. 1 a small round or pear-shaped portion of liquid that hangs or falls or adheres to a surface: the first drops of rain splashed on the ground.

- [often with negative] a very small amount of liquid: there was not a drop of water in sight.

- [usually with negative] a small drink of alcoholic liquor: he doesn't touch a drop during the week.

- (drops) liquid medication to be measured or applied in very small amounts: eye drops.

2 [usually in sing.] an instance of falling or dropping: they left within five minutes of the drop of the curtain.

- an act of dropping supplies or troops by parachute: the planes finally managed to make the drop.

- a fall in amount, quality, or rate: a significant drop in consumer spending.

- an abrupt or steep fall or slope: standing on the lip of a sixty-foot drop.

- (the drop) INFORMAL the relegation of a sports team to a lower league or division.

- (the drop) [BRIDGE] the playing of a high card underneath an opponent's higher card, because it is the only card in its suit held in the hand.

3 something that drops or is dropped, in particular:

- a section of theatrical scenery lowered from the flies; a drop cloth or drop curtain.

- a trapdoor on a gallows, the opening of which causes the prisoner to fall and thus be hanged.

- (the drop) execution by hanging.

4 [usually with modifier] a sweet or lozenge: a chocolate drop.

5 INFORMAL a delivery: I got to the depot and made the drop.

- US a letter box.

- a hiding place for stolen, illicit, or secret things: the lavatory's water cistern could be used as a letter drop.

<PHRASES>

□ at the drop of a hat INFORMAL without hesitation or good reason: he used to be very bashful, blushing at the drop of a hat.

□ drop asleep fall gently asleep, especially without intending to.

□ drop the ball NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL make a mistake; mishandle things: I really dropped the ball on this one.

□ drop a brick BRITISH INFORMAL make an indiscreet or embarrassing remark: he dropped a brick when he admitted that he knew where we were going.

□ drop a curtsy BRITISH make a curtsy.

□ drop dead die suddenly and unexpectedly: she had seen her father drop dead of a heart attack.

- [in imperative] INFORMAL used as an expression of intense scorn or dislike.

□ drop a (or the) dime on US INFORMAL inform on (someone) to the police.

□ drop one's guard abandon one's habitual defensive or protective stance.

□ drop a hint (or drop hints) give a hint or hints as if casually or unconsciously: he was dropping hints that in future he would be taking a back seat in politics.

□ a drop in the ocean (or North American bucket) a very small amount compared with what is needed or expected: the £550 million saving is likely to be a drop in the ocean.

□ drop someone a line send someone a note or letter in a casual manner: drop me a line at the usual address.

□ drop names another term for NAME-DROP (see NAME-DROPPING).

□ drop one's serve (in tennis) lose a game in which one is serving.

□ drop a stitch let a stitch fall off the end of a knitting needle.

□ drop one's trousers deliberately let one's trousers fall down, especially in a public place.

□ have the drop on INFORMAL have the advantage over: if your enemy gets the drop on you he can kill you.

□ have had a drop too much INFORMAL be drunk: obstreperous squaddies who have had a drop too much.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ drop back/behind fall back or get left behind: the colt was struggling to stay with the pace and started to drop back.

□ drop by/in call informally and briefly as a visitor: they would unexpectedly drop in on us.

□ drop into 1 call casually and informally at (a place): he'd actually considered dropping into one of the pickup bars.

2 pass quickly and easily into (a habitual state or manner): she couldn't help dropping into a Geordie accent.

□ drop off fall asleep easily, especially without intending to: struggle as she might, she kept dropping off.

□ drop out 1 cease to participate in a race or competition.

2 abandon a course of study: she had dropped out of college.

3 reject conventional society to pursue an alternative lifestyle.

4 [RUGBY] restart play with a drop kick.

- score a drop goal.

<DERIVATIVES> droppable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English dropa (noun), droppian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to German Tropfen ‘a drop’, tropfen ‘to drip’, also to DRIP and DROOP.

drop capital (also drop initial) n. a large capital letter at the beginning of a section of text, occupying more than the depth of one line.

drop cloth n. 1 another term for DROP CURTAIN.

2 North American term for DUST SHEET.

drop curtain n. a curtain or painted cloth lowered vertically on to a theatre stage.

drop-dead adj. INFORMAL used to emphasize how attractive someone or something is: her drop-dead good looks | [as submodifier] a drop-dead gorgeous Hollywood icon.

drop-down adj. dropping down or unfolding when required: a drop-down bed.

- [COMPUTING] (of a menu) appearing below a menu title when it is selected, and remaining until used or dismissed. Compare with PULL-DOWN.

drop-forged adj. (of a metal object) made by forcing hot metal into or through a die with a drop hammer.

<DERIVATIVES> drop-forging n.

drop goal n. [RUGBY] a goal scored in open play by drop-kicking the ball over the crossbar, scoring three points (rugby union) or one point (rugby league).

drop hammer n. a large, heavy weight raised mechanically and allowed to drop, as used in drop-forging and piledriving.

drop handlebars (also dropped handlebars) plural n. bicycle handlebars of which the handles are bent below the rest of the bar, used especially on racing cycles.

drophead n. BRITISH a car having a fabric roof that can be folded down; a convertible.

drop-in adj. 1 visited on an informal basis without booking or appointments: a drop-in disco.

2 (of an object such as a chair seat) designed to drop into position.

drop-in centre n. a place run by a welfare agency or charity where people may call casually for advice or assistance.

drop initial n. another term for DROP CAPITAL.

drop kick n. (chiefly in rugby) a kick made by dropping the ball and kicking it as it bounces up from the ground.

- (chiefly in martial arts) a flying kick made against an opponent while dropping to the ground.

■ v. (drop-kick) [with obj.] kick using a drop kick.

drop-leaf adj. (of a table) having a hinged flap.

droplet n. a very small drop of a liquid: droplets of water.

drop-off n. 1 a decline or decrease: a sudden drop-off in tourism.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a sheer downward slope; a cliff: dizzy drop-offs on either side.

dropout n. 1 a person who has abandoned a course of study or who has rejected conventional society to pursue an alternative lifestyle: a college dropout.

2 [RUGBY] the restarting of play with a drop kick.

3 a momentary loss of recorded audio signal or an error in reading data on a magnetic tape or disk, usually due to a flaw in the coating.

4 (usually dropouts) a U-shaped slot at the end of a fork or stay on a bicycle, made to receive the axle and enabling the wheel to be changed rapidly.

dropped kerb n. BRITISH a small ramp built into the kerb of a pavement to make it easier for people using pushchairs or wheelchairs to pass from the pavement to the road.

dropper n. 1 a short glass tube with a rubber bulb at one end and a tiny hole at the other, for measuring out drops of medicine or other liquids.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ & S. AFRICAN a light vertical stave in a fence, especially a lath used to separate the wires of a wire fence.

3 [FISHING] a subsidiary line or loop of filament attached to a main line or leader.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘a person who lets something drop’);

■ sense 1 is first recorded in the late 19th century.

droppings plural n. the excrement of certain animals, such as rodents, sheep, birds, and insects.

drop scene n. a drop curtain used as part of stage scenery, especially one in front of which a scene is played while the setting is changed behind.

- the last scene of a play.

drop scone n. a small, thick pancake made by dropping spoonfuls of batter on to a griddle or other heated surface.

dropseed n. [mass noun] a grass that readily drops its seeds.

<INFO> Genus Sporobolus, family Gramineae: several species, including the widespread North American sand dropseed (S. cryptandrus), which has a high yield of edible grain.

drop-ship v. (drop-ships, drop-shipping, drop-shipped) [with obj.] provide (goods) by direct delivery from the manufacturer to the retailer or customer.

<DERIVATIVES> drop shipment n.

drop shot n. (chiefly in tennis or squash) a softly hit shot, usually with backspin, which drops abruptly to the ground.

drop shoulder (also dropped shoulder) n. a style of shoulder on a garment cut so that the seam is positioned on the upper arm rather than the shoulder.

dropsical /drpsk(ə)l/ adj. affected with or characteristic of dropsy; oedematous.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from DROPSY^1, replacing earlier hydropic(al), via Latin from Greek hudrōps ‘dropsy’.

dropside adj. (of a cot or a truck) having a side that drops down to open.

■ n. a side that drops down in this way.

drop-stitch adj. denoting an openwork pattern in knitted garments made by dropping a made stitch at intervals.

dropsy^1 /drpsi/ n. (pl. dropsies)

■ old-fashioned or less technical term for OEDEMA.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: shortening of idropesie, earlier form of obsolete hydropsy, via Old French and Latin from Greek hudrōps ‘dropsy’, from hudōr ‘water’.

dropsy^2 /drpsi/ n. (pl. dropsies) BRITISH INFORMAL a tip or bribe: McCloy's little dropsy for services rendered.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: slang, elaborated form of slang drop ‘a bribe’.

drop tank n. an external fuel tank on an aircraft which can be jettisoned when empty.

drop test n. a test of the strength of an object, in which it is dropped under standard conditions or a set weight is dropped on it from a given height.

<DERIVATIVES> drop-testing n.

drop-top n. another term for DROPHEAD.

drop waist (also dropped waist) n. a style of waistline on a dress cut so that the seam is positioned at the hips rather than the waist.

dropwort n. a Eurasian grassland plant with small white flowers and divided leaves, related to meadowsweet.

<INFO> Filipendula vulgaris, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: so named because it has small drop-like fibrous tubers on its roots.

drop zone (also dropping zone) n. a designated area into which troops or supplies are dropped by parachute or in which skydivers land.

drosera /drs(ə)rə/ n. a sundew (insectivorous plant).

<INFO> Genus Drosera, family Droseraceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek droseros ‘dewy’ (from the appearance of the glistening hairs on the leaves).

droshky /drki/ n. (pl. droshkies) HISTORICAL a low four-wheeled open carriage of a kind formerly used in Russia.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Russian drozhki, diminutive of drogi ‘wagon’, from droga ‘shaft, carriage pole’.

drosophila /drsflə/ n. a small fruit fly, used extensively in genetic research because of its large chromosomes, numerous varieties, and rapid rate of reproduction.

<INFO> Genus Drosophila, family Drosophilidae: several species, in particular D. melanogaster.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek drosos ‘dew, moisture’ + philos ‘loving’.

dross n. [mass noun] 1 something regarded as worthless; rubbish: there are bargains if you have the patience to sift through the dross.

2 foreign matter, dregs, or mineral waste, in particular scum formed on the surface of molten metal.

<DERIVATIVES> drossy adj. (drossier, drossiest)

<ORIGIN> Old English drōs (in the sense ‘scum on molten metal’); related to Dutch droesem and German Drusen ‘dregs, lees’.

Drottningholm /drtnhlm/ the winter palace of the Swedish royal family, on an island to the west of Stockholm.

drought /drat/ n. a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water.

- [usually with modifier] a prolonged absence of something specified: he ended a five-game goal drought.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC thirst.

<ORIGIN> late Old English drūgath ‘dryness’, of Germanic origin; compare with Dutch droogte; related to DRY.

drouth /draθ/ n. dialect or literary form of DROUGHT.

<DERIVATIVES> drouthy adj.

Drouzhba /drubə/ a resort town on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. Also called SVETI KONSTANTIN.

drove^1 past of DRIVE.

drove^2 n. a herd or flock of animals being driven in a body: a drove of cattle.

- a large number of people or things doing or undergoing the same thing: tourists have stayed away in droves this summer.

■ v. [with obj.] HISTORICAL drive (livestock, especially cattle) to market.

<DERIVATIVES> drover n.

<ORIGIN> Old English drāf, related to drīfan ‘to drive’.

drove road n. an ancient roadway along which cattle were driven to market.

drown v. [no obj.] die through submersion in and inhalation of water: a motorist drowned when her car plunged off the edge of a quay | (be drowned) two fishermen were drowned when their motor boat capsized.

- [with obj.] deliberately kill (a person or animal) by drowning: he immediately drowned four of the dogs.

- [with obj.] submerge or flood (an area): when the ice melted the valleys were drowned.

- [with obj.] (of a sound) make (another sound) inaudible by being much louder: his voice was drowned out by the approaching engine noise.

<PHRASES>

□ drown one's sorrows forget one's problems by getting drunk.

□ like a drowned rat extremely wet and bedraggled.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally northern): related to Old Norse drukkna ‘to be drowned’, also to DRINK.

drowned valley n. a valley partly or wholly submerged by a rise in sea level.

drowse /draz/ v. [no obj.] be half asleep; doze intermittently: he was beginning to drowse in his chair.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC make sleepy.

- ARCHAIC be sluggish or inactive.

■ n. [in sing.] a light sleep; a condition of being half asleep.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: back-formation from DROWSY.

drowsiness n. [mass noun] a feeling of being sleepy and lethargic; sleepiness: this drug can cause drowsiness.

drowsy adj. (drowsier, drowsiest) sleepy and lethargic; half asleep: the wine had made her drowsy.

- causing sleepiness: the drowsy heat of the meadows.

- (of a place) peaceful and quiet: a drowsy suburb called Surrey Hills.

<DERIVATIVES> drowsily adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: probably from the stem of Old English drūsian ‘be languid or slow’, of Germanic origin; related to DREARY.

drub v. (drubs, drubbing, drubbed) [with obj.] hit or beat (someone) repeatedly.

- INFORMAL defeat thoroughly in a match or contest: the Cleveland Indians drubbed Baltimore 9–0.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: probably from Arabic araba ‘to beat, bastinado’. The first recorded uses in English are by travellers in the Near East referring specifically to the punishment of bastinado.

drubbing n. a beating; a thrashing: I'll give the scoundrels a drubbing if I can!

- INFORMAL a resounding defeat in a match or contest.

drudge n. a person made to do hard menial or dull work: she was little more than a drudge round the house.

■ v. [no obj.] ARCHAIC do hard menial work.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun): of unknown origin; perhaps related to DRAG.

drudgery n. [mass noun] hard menial or dull work: domestic drudgery.

drug n. a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body: a new drug aimed at sufferers from Parkinson's disease.

- a substance taken for its narcotic or stimulant effects, often illegally.

■ v. (drugs, drugging, drugged) [with obj.] administer a drug to (someone) in order to induce stupor or insensibility: they were drugged to keep them quiet.

- add a drug to (food or drink).

<PHRASES>

□ do drugs INFORMAL take illegal drugs.

□ on drugs taking medically prescribed drugs: on drugs for high blood pressure.

- under the influence of or habitually taking illegal drugs.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French drogue, possibly from Middle Dutch droge vate, literally ‘dry vats’, referring to the contents (i.e. dry goods).

drug abuse n. [mass noun] the habitual taking of illegal drugs.

drug addict n. a person who is addicted to an illegal drug.

drug baron (also drugs baron) n. a person who controls an organization dealing in illegal drugs.

drugged adj. (of a person) unconscious or in a stupor as a result of taking or being given a drug: in his drugged state.

- (of food or drink) adulterated with a drug: he offered them drugged wine.

drugget /drt/ n. [mass noun] a floor covering made of a coarse woven fabric.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French droguet, from drogue in the sense ‘poor-quality article’.

druggist n. NORTH AMERICAN a pharmacist or retailer of medicinal drugs.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French droguiste, from drogue ‘drug’.

druggy INFORMAL adj. (druggier, druggiest) caused by, involving, or given to taking illegal drugs: a druggy haze | the druggy world of rock and roll.

■ n. (also druggie) (plural druggies) a drug addict or habitual user of drugs.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as an adjective): from DRUG + -Y^1. The noun dates from the 1960s.

drug squad (also drugs squad) n. chiefly BRITISH a division of a police force investigating crimes involving illegal drugs.

drugstore n. NORTH AMERICAN a pharmacy which also sells toiletries and other articles.

drugstore beetle n. another term for BISCUIT BEETLE.

drug test n. a test performed on blood or urine to determine the presence or absence of proscribed drugs and used especially to detect athletes using performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids.

Druid /drud/ n. a priest, magician, or soothsayer in the ancient Celtic religion.

- a member of a present-day group claiming to represent or be derived from this religion.

<DERIVATIVES> Druidic adj. Druidical adj. Druidism n.

<ORIGIN> from Latin druidae, druides (plural), from Gaulish; related to Irish draoidh ‘magician, sorcerer’.

drum^1 n. 1 a percussion instrument sounded by being struck with sticks or the hands, typically cylindrical, barrel-shaped, or bowl-shaped, with a taut membrane over one or both ends.

- (drums) a drum kit.

- (drums) the percussion section of a band or orchestra.

- [in sing.] a sound made by or resembling that of a drum: the drum of their feet.

- HISTORICAL a military drummer.

2 a cylindrical container or receptacle: a drum of powdered bleach.

- a rotating cylindrical part in a washing machine, in which the washing is placed.

- [ARCHITECTURE] the circular vertical wall supporting a dome.

- [ARCHITECTURE] a stone block forming part of a column.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a tramp's bundle of belongings.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL a house or flat.

4 an evening or afternoon tea party of a kind that was popular in the late 18th and early 19th century.

5 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a piece of reliable inside information: he had got the drum that the police wouldn't lock us up. [<ORIGIN> early 20th century: perhaps by association with the musical instrument used to give a signal.]

■ v. (drums, drumming, drummed) 1 [no obj.] play on a drum.

- make a continuous rhythmic noise: she felt the blood drumming in her ears | (as n. drumming) the drumming of hooves.

- [with obj.] beat (the fingers, feet, etc.) repeatedly on a surface, especially as a sign of impatience or annoyance: waiting around an empty table, drumming their fingers.

- (of a woodpecker) strike the bill rapidly on a dead trunk or branch, especially as a sound indicating a territorial claim.

- (of a snipe) vibrate the outer tail feathers in a diving display flight, making a throbbing sound.

2 [with obj.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL, DATED give (someone) reliable information or a warning: I'm drumming you, if they come I'm going. [<ORIGIN> see sense 5 of the noun.]

<PHRASES>

□ beat (or bang) the drum of (or for) be ostentatiously in support of: he bangs the drum of the free market.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ drum something into make (someone) learn something by constant repetition: it had been drummed into them to dress correctly.

□ drum someone out expel or dismiss someone with ignominy from a place or institution: he was drummed out of the air force. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to the formal military drum beat accompanying dismissal from a regiment.]

□ drum something up attempt to obtain something by canvassing or soliciting: the organizers are hoping to drum up support from local businesses.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Dutch or Low German tromme, of imitative origin.

drum^2 n. SCOTTISH & IRISH a long, narrow hill, especially one separating two parallel valleys.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Scottish Gaelic and Irish druim ‘ridge’.

drum^3 (also drumfish) n. (pl. same or drums) a fish that makes a drumming sound by vibrating its swim bladder, found mainly in estuarine and shallow coastal waters. Also called CROAKER.

<INFO> Family Sciaenidae (the drum family): many species, including the black drum (Pogonias cromis) of the western Atlantic. The drum family also includes the mulloway and a number of marine fishes that resemble salmon (e.g. the weakfish).

drum and bass n. [mass noun] a type of dance music characterized by bare instrumentation consisting largely of electronic drums and bass, originating in Britain during the early 1990s.

drumbeat n. a stroke or pattern of strokes on a drum: she was aware of a constant, faint drumbeat.

drum brake n. a type of vehicle brake in which brake shoes press against the inside of a drum on the wheel.

drumfire n. [mass noun] heavy continuous rapid artillery fire.

drumhead n. 1 the membrane or skin of a drum.

2 a winter cabbage of a flat-topped variety.

3 chiefly HISTORICAL the circular top of a ship's capstan, with holes into which bars are placed to turn it.

■ adj. [attr.] carried out by or as if by an army in the field; improvised or summary: a drumhead court martial.

drum kit n. a set of drums, cymbals, and other percussion instruments, used with drumsticks in jazz and popular music. The most basic components are a foot-operated bass drum, a snare drum, a suspended cymbal, and one or more tom-toms.

drumlin /drmln/ n. [GEOLOGY] a low oval mound or small hill, typically one of a group, consisting of compacted boulder clay moulded by past glacial action.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably from DRUM^2 + -lin from -LING.

drum machine n. a programmable electronic device able to imitate the sounds of a drum kit.

drum major n. 1 a non-commissioned officer commanding the drummers of a regimental band.

2 the male leader of a marching band, who often twirls a baton.

- a male member of a baton-twirling parading group.

drum majorette n. the female leader of a marching band, who often twirls a baton.

- a female member of a marching band or other parading group.

drummer n. 1 a person who plays a drum or drums.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly US a travelling sales representative: a drummer in electronic software. [<ORIGIN> from DRUM SOMETHING UP (see drum^1).]

3 (also silver drummer) a deep-bodied marine fish with dark longitudinal stripes, found in shallow coastal waters of Australia.

<INFO> Kyphosus sydneyanus, family Kyphosidae.

4 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a thief or burglar.

drum pad n. an electronic device with one or more flat pads which imitate the sounds of a drum kit when struck.

drum roll n. a rapid succession of beats sounded on a drum, often used to introduce an announcement or event.

drumstick n. 1 a stick, typically with a shaped or padded head, used for beating a drum.

2 the lower joint of the leg of a cooked chicken, turkey, or other fowl.

drumstick primrose (also drumstick primula) n. a Himalayan primula with a globular head of flowers on an erect stem.

<INFO> Primula denticulata, family Primulaceae.

drunk past participle of DRINK

■ adj. [predic.] affected by alcohol to the extent of losing control of one's faculties or behaviour: he was so drunk he lurched from wall to wall | she was drunk on vodka.

- (drunk with) overcome with (a strong emotion): the crowd was high on euphoria and drunk with patriotism.

■ n. a person who is drunk or who habitually drinks to excess.

- INFORMAL a drinking bout; a period of drunkenness: he used to go on these blind drunks.

<PHRASES>

□ drunk and disorderly creating a public disturbance under the influence of alcohol.

□ (as) drunk as a lord (or skunk) extremely drunk.

drunkard n. a person who is habitually drunk.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German drunkert.

drunk-driving (also drunken-driving) n. North American term for DRINK-DRIVING.

<DERIVATIVES> drunk-driver n.

drunken adj. [attr.] drunk or intoxicated: gangs of drunken youths roamed the streets.

- habitually or frequently drunk: his violent, drunken father.

- caused by or showing the effects of drink: the man's drunken, slurred speech.

<DERIVATIVES> drunkenly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English, archaic past participle of DRINK.

drunkenness n. [mass noun] the state of being drunk; intoxication: a growing problem of drunkenness.

drunk tank n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a large prison cell for the detention of drunks.

drupe /drup/ n. 1 [BOTANY] a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed, e.g. a plum, cherry, almond, or olive.

2 a small marine mollusc with a thick knobbly shell, found mainly in the Indo-Pacific.

<INFO> Genus Drupa, family Muricidae, class Gastropoda.

<DERIVATIVES> drupaceous adj.

■ drupe (sense 1)

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin drupa ‘overripe olive’, from Greek druppa ‘olive’.

drupel /drup(ə)l/ n. [BOTANY] any of the small individual drupes forming a fleshy aggregate fruit such as a blackberry or raspberry.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin drupella, diminutive of drupa ‘overripe olive’ (see DRUPE).

drupelet /druplt/ n. another term for DRUPEL.

Drury Lane /drəri/ the site in London of the Theatre Royal, one of London's most famous theatres.

druse /druz/ n. 1 [GEOLOGY] a rock cavity lined with a crust of projecting crystals.

- the crust of crystals lining such a cavity.

2 [BOTANY] a rounded cluster of calcium oxalate crystals found in some plant cells.

<DERIVATIVES> drusy adj. ([GEOLOGY])

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: via French from German Druse ‘weathered ore’.

druther /drə/ NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. (usually one's druthers) one's preference in a matter: if I had my druthers, I would prefer to be a writer.

■ adv. rather; by preference.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from a US regional pronunciation of I'd rather, contraction of would rather.

Druze /druz/ (also Druse) n. (pl. same, Druzes, or Druses) a member of a political and religious sect of Islamic origin, living chiefly in Lebanon and Syria. The Druze broke away from the Ismaili Muslims in the 11th century; they are regarded as heretical by the Muslim community at large.

<ORIGIN> from French, from Arabic durūz (plural), from the name of one of their founders, Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Darazī (died 1019).

dry adj. (drier, driest) 1 free from moisture or liquid; not wet or moist: the jacket kept me warm and dry | he wiped the table dry with his shirt.

- (of paint, ink, etc.) having lost all wetness or moisture over a period of time: wait until the paint is dry.

- for use without liquid: the conversion of dry latrines into the flushing type.

- with little or no rainfall or humidity: the West Coast has had two dry winters in a row.

- (of a river, lake, or stream) empty of water as a result of lack of rainfall: the river is always dry at this time of year.

- (of a source) not yielding a supply of water or oil: a dry well.

- thirsty or thirst-making: working in the hot sun is making me dry.

- (of a cow or other domestic animal) no longer producing milk.

- without grease or other moisturizer or lubricator: cream conditioners for dry hair.

- (of bread or toast) without butter or other spreads: only dry bread and water.

2 (of information, writing, etc.) dully factual: the dry facts of the matter.

- unemotional, undemonstrative, or impassive: it transformed him from a dry administrator into the people's hero.

3 (of a joke or sense of humour) subtle and expressed in a matter-of-fact way: he delighted his friends with a dry, covert sense of humour.

4 prohibiting the sale or consumption of alcoholic drink: the country is strictly dry, in accordance with Islamic law.

- (of a person) no longer addicted to or drinking alcohol: I heard much talk about how sobriety was more than staying straight or dry.

5 (of an alcoholic drink) not sweet: a dry, medium-bodied red wine.

6 British relating to political ‘dries’

■ sense 3 of the noun; rigidly monetarist.

■ v. (dries, drying, dried) [no obj.] 1 become dry: waiting for the paint to dry | do not let the soil dry out | pools are left as the rivers dry up.

- [with obj.] cause to become dry: they had washed and dried their hair.

- [with obj.] wipe tears from (the eyes): she dried her eyes and blew her nose.

- (also British dry up) wipe dishes dry with a cloth after they have been washed.

- [with obj.] (usually as adj. dried) preserve by allowing or encouraging evaporation of moisture from: dried flowers.

- [with obj.] (dry an animal off) cease milking and reduce the rations of a cow or other animal so that it stops producing milk.

2 THEATRICAL SLANG forget one's lines: a colleague of mine once dried in the middle of a scene.

■ n. (pl. dries or drys) 1 the process or an instance of drying.

2 (the dry) chiefly AUSTRALIAN the dry season: the grass was yellowing and the dry had started.

- AUSTRALIAN a tract of waterless country: the forty-mile dry.

3 (usually dries) BRITISH a Conservative politician (especially in the 1980s) in favour of strict monetarist policies.

4 US a person in favour of the prohibition of alcohol.

<PHRASES>

□ come up dry NORTH AMERICAN be unsuccessful: experiments have so far come up dry.

□ (as) dry as a bone extremely dry.

□ (as) dry as dust extremely dry.

- extremely dull; lacking emotion, expression, or interest: what the students learned was as dry as dust.

□ there wasn't a dry eye (in the house) (with reference to a play, film, or similar event) everyone in the audience was moved to tears.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ dry out INFORMAL overcome alcoholism: he intends to dry out and get his life back together again.

□ dry up 1 INFORMAL cease talking: then he dried up, and Phil couldn't get another word out of him.

2 (of something perceived as a continuous flow or source) decrease and stop: his commissions began to dry up.

<DERIVATIVES> dryish adj. dryness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English drȳge (adjective), drȳgan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Middle Low German dröge, Dutch droog, and German trocken.

dryad /drəd -ad/ n. 1 (in folklore and Greek mythology) a nymph inhabiting a tree or wood.

2 a dark brown Eurasian butterfly with two prominent bluish eyespots on each forewing.

<INFO> Minois dryas, subfamily Satyrinae, family Nymphalidae.

<ORIGIN> via Old French and Latin from Greek druas, druad- ‘tree nymph’, from drus ‘tree’.

dryad's saddle n. a common bracket fungus having a scaly yellowish-brown upper surface, found in both Eurasia and North America and edible when young.

<INFO> Polyporus squamosus, family Polyporaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

dryas /drəs/ n. 1 a plant of a genus that comprises the mountain avens.

<INFO> Genus Dryas, family Rosaceae.

2 (Dryas) [GEOLOGY] the first and third climatic stages of the late-glacial period in northern Europe, in which cold conditions prevailed and plants of the genus Dryas were abundant. The Older Dryas (about 15,000 to 12,000 years ago) followed the last ice retreat, and the Younger Dryas (about 10,800 to 10,000 years ago) followed the Allerød stage.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek druas (see DRYAD). The plant (sense 1) has leaves that resemble those of the oak (hence the association with dryads, being originally nymphs of the oak).

dry battery n. an electric battery consisting of one or more dry cells.

dry bulb n. an ordinary exposed thermometer bulb, especially as used in conjunction with a wet bulb.

dry cell n. an electric cell in which the electrolyte is absorbed in a solid to form a paste, preventing spillage.

dry-clean v. [with obj.] clean (a garment) with an organic solvent, without using water: I had my winter coat dry-cleaned recently | (as n. dry-cleaning) premises which offered dry-cleaning.

<DERIVATIVES> dry-cleaner n.

dry cough n. a cough not accompanied by phlegm production.

dry-cure v. [with obj.] cure (meat or fish) with salt rather than in liquid.

Dryden /drd(ə)n/ John (1631–1700), English poet, critic, and dramatist of the Augustan Age. He is best known for Marriage à la mode (comedy, 1673), All for Love (a tragedy based on Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, 1678), and Absalom and Achitophel (verse satire in heroic couplets, 1681).

dry distillation n. another term for DESTRUCTIVE DISTILLATION.

dry dock n. a dock which can be drained of water to allow the inspection and repair of a ship's hull.

■ v. (dry-dock) [with obj.] place (a ship) in a dry dock.

dryer (also drier) n. 1 a machine or device for drying something, especially the hair or laundry.

2 a substance mixed with oil paint or ink to promote drying.

dry eye n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the conjunctiva and cornea of the eye, due to inadequate tear secretion.

dry-eyed adj. (of a person) not crying: Jill was dry-eyed and stoical under assault.

dry farming n. another term for DRYLAND FARMING.

dry fly n. an artificial fishing fly which is made to float lightly on the water.

dry-fry v. [with obj.] fry (food) in a pan without fat or oil.

dry goods plural n. 1 solid commodities traded in bulk, such as tea, sugar, and grain.

2 NORTH AMERICAN drapery and haberdashery.

dry hole n. a well drilled for oil or gas but yielding none.

dry ice n. [mass noun] solid carbon dioxide.

- the cold dense white mist produced by this in air, used for theatrical effects.

drying oil n. an oil that thickens or hardens on exposure to air, especially one used by artists in mixing paint.

dry land n. [mass noun] land as opposed to the sea or another body of water.

dryland farming (also dry farming) n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a method of farming in semi-arid areas using drought-resistant crops and conserving moisture.

drylands plural n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an arid area; a region with low rainfall.

dry lease n. an arrangement covering the hire of an aircraft which does not include provision of a flight crew.

■ v. (dry-lease) [with obj.] hire (an aircraft) on the basis of a dry lease.

dry lining n. a lining to an interior wall that does not need to be plastered.

dry measure n. a measure of volume for loose dry goods such as grain, tea, and sugar.

dry milk n. [mass noun] US milk that has been preserved by evaporation and reduction to powder.

dry mounting n. [mass noun] [PHOTOGRAPHY] a process in which a print is bonded to a mount using a layer of shellac in a hot press.

dry-nurse n. ARCHAIC a woman who looks after a baby but does not breastfeed it.

Dryopithecus /drəpθkəs/ n. a fossil anthropoid ape of the middle Miocene to early Pliocene periods, of a genus including the supposed common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans.

<INFO> Genus Dryopithecus, family Pongidae.

<DERIVATIVES> dryopithecine /-sin/ n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek drus ‘tree’ + pithēkos ‘ape’.

dry painting n. another term for SAND PAINTING.

dry plate n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a glass plate coated with a light-sensitive gelatin-based emulsion, used formerly as an improvement on the earlier wet plate.

dry point n. a steel needle for engraving on a bare copper plate without acid.

- an engraving or print produced with a dry point needle.

- [mass noun] engraving by means of a dry point needle.

dry-roasted (also dry-roast) adj. roasted without fat or oil: dry-roasted peanuts.

dry rot n. 1 [mass noun] fungal timber decay occurring in poorly ventilated conditions in buildings, resulting in cracking and powdering of the wood.

2 (also dry rot fungus) the fungus that causes dry rot decay.

<INFO> Serpula lacrymans, family Corticiaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

dry run n. INFORMAL a rehearsal of a performance or procedure before the real one: the president went through a dry run of his speech.

dry-salt v. another term for DRY-CURE.

dry-salter n. BRITISH HISTORICAL a dealer in dyes, gums, and drugs, and sometimes also in pickles and other preserved foodstuffs.

dry shampoo n. [mass noun] a shampoo in powder form, used without the addition of water.

dry shave n. a shave without shaving foam, typically one using an electric razor.

■ v. (dry-shave) [no obj.] shave without using shaving foam.

<DERIVATIVES> dry-shaver n.

dry-shod adj. & adv. without wetting one's shoes.

dry sink n. NORTH AMERICAN an antique kitchen cabinet with an inset basin.

dry slope (also dry-ski slope) n. an artificial ski slope used for practice and training.

drystone adj. [attr.] BRITISH (of a stone wall) built without using mortar.

drysuit n. a waterproof rubber suit worn for water sports and diving, under which warm clothes can be worn.

dry valley n. a valley cut by water erosion but containing no permanent surface stream, typically one occurring in an area of porous rock such as limestone.

drywall n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN plasterboard.

dry wash n. US the dry bed of an intermittent stream.

dry well n. 1 a shaft or chamber constructed in the ground in order to aid drainage, sometimes containing pumping equipment.

2 another term for DRY HOLE.

DS abbr.

- [MUSIC] dal segno.

- [MILITARY] directing staff.

- document signed.

Ds symbol the chemical element darmstadtium.

DSC abbr. (in the UK) Distinguished Service Cross, a decoration for distinguished active service at sea, instituted in 1914.

DSc abbr. Doctor of Science.

DSL abbr. digital subscriber line, a technology for the high-speed transmission of digital information over standard telephone lines.

DSM abbr. (in the UK) Distinguished Service Medal, a medal for distinguished service at sea, instituted in 1914.

DSO abbr. (in the UK) Distinguished Service Order, a decoration for distinguished service awarded to officers of the army and navy, instituted in 1886.

DSP abbr.

- (in genealogy) died without issue. [<ORIGIN> from Latin decessit sine prole.]

- (in computing and sound reproduction) digital signal processor or processing.

DSS abbr.

- decision support system.

- (formerly in the UK) Department of Social Security.

DST abbr. daylight saving time.

DTD abbr. [COMPUTING] document type definition, a document that defines the tagging structure of an SGML or XML document.

DTI abbr. (in the UK) Department of Trade and Industry.

DTP abbr. desktop publishing.

DTs plural n. (usually the DTs) INFORMAL delirium tremens.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation, originally in the singular form DT (now rare).

DTV abbr. digital television.

DU abbr.

- depleted uranium.

- Dobson unit(s).

dual adj. 1 [attr.] consisting of two parts, elements, or aspects: their dual role at work and home | dual-language texts in English and Italian.

- [GRAMMAR] (in some languages) denoting an inflection that refers to exactly two people or things (as distinct from singular and plural).

- (in an aircraft) using dual controls.

2 (often dual to) [MATHEMATICS] (of a theorem, expression, etc.) related to another by the interchange of particular pairs of terms, such as ‘point’ and ‘line’.

■ n. 1 [GRAMMAR] a dual form of a word.

- [mass noun] the dual number.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a theorem, expression, etc., that is dual to another.

■ v. (duals, dualling, dualled) [with obj.] BRITISH convert (a road) into a dual carriageway.

<DERIVATIVES> dualize (also dualise) v. dually adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun denoting either of the two middle incisor teeth in each jaw): from Latin dualis, from duo ‘two’.

dual carriageway n. BRITISH a road with a dividing strip between the traffic in opposite directions and usually two or more lanes in each direction.

dual control adj. (of an aircraft or vehicle) having two sets of controls, one of which is used by the instructor: a dual-control pilot trainer.

■ n. (usually dual controls) two such sets of controls in an aircraft or vehicle.

dual in-line package n. see DIP.

dualism n. [mass noun] 1 the division of something conceptually into two opposed or contrasted aspects, or the state of being so divided: a dualism between man and nature.

- [PHILOSOPHY] a theory or system of thought that regards a domain of reality in terms of two independent principles, especially mind and matter (Cartesian dualism). Compare with IDEALISM, MATERIALISM, MONISM.

- the religious doctrine that the universe contains opposed powers of good and evil, especially seen as balanced equals.

- (in Christian theology) the doctrine that Christ had two coexisting natures, human and divine.

2 the quality or condition of being dual; duality.

<DERIVATIVES> dualist n. & adj. dualistic adj. dualistically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from DUAL, on the pattern of French dualisme.

duality n. (pl. dualities) 1 [mass noun] the quality or condition of being dual: this duality of purpose was discernible in the appointments.

- [MATHEMATICS] the property of two theorems, expressions, etc., of being dual to each other.

- [PHYSICS] the quantum-mechanical property of being regardable as both a wave and a particle.

2 an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something; a dualism: he photographs capitalize on the dualities of light and dark, stillness and movement.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin dualitas, from dualis (see DUAL).

dual nationality n. [mass noun] citizenship of two countries concurrently.

dual-purpose adj. serving two purposes or functions: a dual-purpose hand and nail cream.

dual-use adj. chiefly US (of technology or equipment) designed or suitable for both civilian and military purposes.

dub^1 v. (dubs, dubbing, dubbed) 1 [with obj. and complement] give an unofficial name or nickname to: the media dubbed anorexia ‘the slimming disease’.

- make (someone) a knight by the ritual touching of the shoulder with a sword: he should be dubbed Sir Hubert.

2 [with obj.] dress (an artificial fishing fly) with strands of fur or wool or with other material.

- incorporate (fur, wool, or other materials) into a fishing fly.

3 [with obj.] smear (leather) with grease. Compare with DUBBIN.

<ORIGIN> late Old English (in the sense ‘make a knight’): from Old French adober ‘equip with armour’, of unknown origin. Sense 2 is from the obsolete meaning ‘dress or adorn’.

dub^2 v. (dubs, dubbing, dubbed) [with obj.] 1 provide (a film) with a soundtrack in a different language from the original: the film will be dubbed into French and Flemish.

- add (sound effects or music) to a film or recording: background sound can be dubbed in at the editing stage.

2 make a copy of (a sound or video recording).

- transfer (a recording) from one medium to another.

- combine (two or more sound recordings) into one composite soundtrack.

■ n. 1 an instance of dubbing sound effects or music: the level of the dub can be controlled manually.

2 [mass noun] a style of popular music originating from the remixing of recorded music (especially reggae), typically with the removal of some vocals and instruments and the accentuation of bass guitar.

<DERIVATIVES> dubby adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: abbreviation of DOUBLE.

dub^3 INFORMAL n. US an inexperienced or unskilful person.

■ v. (dubs, dubbing, dubbed) [with obj.] [GOLF] misplay (a shot).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from DUB^1 in the obsolete technical sense ‘make blunt’.

dub^4 v. (dubs, dubbing, dubbed) [no obj.] (dub in/up) N. English INFORMAL pay up; make a contribution.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

Dubai /d(j)ub/ a member state of the United Arab Emirates; pop. 912,700 (est. 2002).

- its capital city, a port on the Persian Gulf; pop. 906,100 (est. 2002).

Du Barry /d(j)u bari/ French /dY baRi/ Marie Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse (1743–93), French courtier and mistress of Louis XV. During the French Revolution she was arrested by the Revolutionary Tribunal and guillotined.

dubbin /dbn/ British n. [mass noun] prepared grease used for softening and waterproofing leather.

■ v. (dubbins, dubbining, dubbined) [with obj.] apply dubbin to (leather).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: alteration of dubbing, present participle of dub^1 (sense 3).

dubbing n. [mass noun] material used for the bodies of artificial fishing flies, especially fur or wool on waxed silk.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from DUB^1 + -ING^1.

Dubček /dbtεk/ Alexander (1921–92), Czechoslovak statesman, First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party 1968–9. Dubček was the driving force behind the political reforms of 1968, which prompted the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and his removal from office. After the collapse of communism in 1989 he was elected speaker of the Federal Assembly in the new Czechoslovak parliament.

dubiety /djubti/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL the state or quality of being doubtful; uncertainty: his enemies made much of the dubiety of his paternity.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from late Latin dubietas, from Latin dubium ‘a doubt’.

dubious /djubəs/ adj. 1 hesitating or doubting: I was rather dubious about the whole idea.

2 not to be relied upon; suspect: extremely dubious assumptions.

- morally suspect: timeshare has been brought into disrepute by dubious sales methods.

- of questionable value: he holds the dubious distinction of being relegated with every club he has played for.

<DERIVATIVES> dubiously adv. dubiousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from Latin dubiosus, from dubium ‘a doubt’, neuter of dubius ‘doubtful’.

dubitable /djubtəb(ə)l/ adj. RARE (of a belief, conclusion, etc.) open to doubt.

<DERIVATIVES> dubitability n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin dubitabilis, from dubitare ‘to doubt’.

dubitation /djubte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL doubt or hesitation: a judgement fenced around with proper scholarly dubitation.

<DERIVATIVES> dubitative adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin dubitatio(n-), from dubitare ‘to doubt’.

Dublin /dbln/ the capital city of the Republic of Ireland, situated on the Irish Sea at the mouth of the River Liffey; pop. 495,101 (2002). It was the birthplace of many writers, including Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, and James Joyce. Irish name Baile Átha Cliath.

- a county of the Republic of Ireland, in the province of Leinster; county town, Dublin.

<DERIVATIVES> Dubliner n.

Dublin Bay prawn n.

■ another term for NORWAY LOBSTER.

- (Dublin Bay prawns) scampi.

dubnium /dbnəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 105, a very unstable element made by high-energy atomic collisions. (Symbol: Db)

■ See also HAHNIUM, JOLIOTIUM.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: modern Latin, from Dubna in Russia, site of the Joint Nuclear Institute.

Du Bois /du bz/ W. E. B. (1868–1963), American writer, sociologist, and political activist; full name William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. He was an important figure in campaigning for equality for black Americans and co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909.

Dubonnet /d(j)ubne/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a type of sweet red vermouth made in France.

<ORIGIN> from the name of a family of French wine merchants.

Dubrovnik /dbrvnk/ a port and resort on the Adriatic coast of Croatia; pop. 43,770 (2001). Its historic centre was damaged by Serb bombardment in the war of 1991–2, but has been restored. Italian name (until 1918) RAGUSA.

Dubuffet /dubufe/ French /dYbYfε/ Jean (1901–85), French painter. He rejected traditional techniques, incorporating materials such as sand and plaster in his paintings and producing sculptures made from rubbish.

ducal /djuk(ə)l/ adj. like or relating to a duke or dukedom: the ducal palace in Rouen.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French, from duc ‘duke’.

ducat /dkət/ n. 1 a gold coin formerly current in most European countries.

- (ducats) INFORMAL money.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an admission ticket.

<ORIGIN> from Italian ducato, originally referring to a silver coin minted by the Duke of Apulia in 1190: from medieval Latin ducatus (see DUCHY).

■ Sense 2 dates from the late 19th cent.

Duccio /dutə/ Italian /duttjə/ (c.1255–c.1320), Italian painter, founder of the Sienese school of painting; full name Duccio di Buoninsegna. The only fully documented surviving work by him is the Maestà for the high altar of Siena cathedral (completed 1311).

Duce /dute/ (Il Duce) the title assumed by Benito Mussolini in 1922.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘leader’.

duces plural form of DUX.

Duchamp /dju/ French /dYα/ Marcel (1887–1968), French-born artist, a US citizen from 1955. A leading figure of the Dada movement and originator of conceptual art, he invented ‘ready-mades’, mass-produced articles selected at random and displayed as works of art—most famously a bicycle wheel and a urinal.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy /duεn/ (abbr.: DMD) n. [mass noun] a severe form of muscular dystrophy caused by a genetic defect and usually affecting boys.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after G. B. A. Duchenne (1806–75), the French neurologist who first described it.

duchess n. the wife or widow of a duke.

- a woman holding a rank equivalent to duke in her own right.

- British INFORMAL (especially among cockneys) an affectionate form of address used by a man to a girl or woman.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin ducissa, from Latin dux, duc- (see DUKE).

duchesse /duεs dts -εs/ n. 1 (also duchesse satin) [mass noun] a soft, heavy, glossy kind of satin, usually of silk.

2 a chaise longue resembling two armchairs linked by a stool.

3 (also duchesse dressing table) a dressing table with a pivoting mirror.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in sense 2): from French, literally ‘duchess’.

duchesse lace n. [mass noun] a kind of Brussels pillow lace characterized by bold floral patterns worked with a fine thread.

duchesse potatoes plural n. mashed potatoes mixed with egg yolk, formed into small shapes and baked.

duchy /dti/ n. (pl. duchies) the territory of a duke or duchess; a dukedom.

- (the Duchy) the royal dukedom of Cornwall or Lancaster.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French duche, from medieval Latin ducatus, from Latin dux, duc- (see DUKE).

duck^1 n. (pl. same or ducks) 1 a waterbird with a broad blunt bill, short legs, webbed feet, and a waddling gait.

<INFO> Family Anatidae (the duck family); domesticated ducks are mainly descended from the mallard or wild duck. The duck family also includes geese and swans, from which ducks are distinguished by their generally smaller size and shorter necks.

- a female duck. Contrasted with drake^1.

- a duck as food: [mass noun] a tangy stew of duck, lamb, and sausage.

2 a pure white thin-shelled bivalve mollusc found off the Atlantic coasts of America.

<INFO> Genus Anatina, family Mactridae.

3 another term for DUKW.

<PHRASES>

□ get (or have) one's ducks in a row NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL get (or have) one's facts straight; get (or have) everything organized.

□ like water off a duck's back referring to a potentially hurtful remark which has no apparent effect on the person involved: it was like water off a duck's back to Nick, but I'm sure it upset Paul.

□ take to something like a duck to water take to something very readily: he shows every sign of taking to University politics like a duck to water.

<ORIGIN> Old English duce, from the Germanic base of duck^2 (expressing the notion of ‘diving bird’).

duck^2 v. 1 [no obj.] lower the head or the body quickly to avoid a blow or missile or so as not to be seen: spectators ducked for cover | [with obj.] he ducked his head and entered.

- [with obj.] avoid (a blow or missile) by moving quickly: he ducked a punch from an angry first baseman.

- [with obj.] INFORMAL evade or avoid (an unwelcome duty or undertaking): a responsibility which a less courageous man might well have ducked | [no obj.] I was engaged twice and ducked out both times.

2 [with obj.] push or plunge (someone) under water, either playfully or as a punishment: Rufus grabbed him from behind to duck him under the surface.

3 [no obj.] [BRIDGE] refrain from playing a winning card on a particular trick for tactical reasons.

■ n. [in sing.] a quick lowering of the head.

<PHRASES>

□ duck and dive BRITISH use one's ingenuity to deal with or evade a situation.

<DERIVATIVES> ducker n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of Germanic origin; related to Dutch duiken and German tauchen ‘dive, dip, plunge’, also to duck^1.

duck^3 n. [CRICKET] a batsman's score of nought: he was out for a duck.

<PHRASES>

□ break one's duck [CRICKET] score the first run of one's innings.

- BRITISH make one's first score or achieve a particular feat for the first time.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: short for duck's egg, used for the figure 0 because of its similar outline.

duck^4 (also ducks) n. BRITISH INFORMAL dear; darling (used as an informal or affectionate form of address, especially among cockneys).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from DUCK^1.

duck^5 n. [mass noun] a strong linen or cotton fabric, used chiefly for work clothes and sails.

- (ducks) trousers made of such a fabric.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Middle Dutch doek ‘linen, linen cloth’; related to German Tuch ‘cloth’.

duckbill n. an animal with jaws resembling a duck's bill, e.g. a platypus or a duck-billed dinosaur.

■ adj. [attr.] shaped like a duck's bill: duckbill pliers.

duck-billed dinosaur n. another term for HADROSAUR.

duck-billed platypus n. see PLATYPUS.

duckboard n. (usually duckboards) a board consisting of a number of wooden slats joined together, placed so as to form a path over muddy ground or in a trench.

duck-dive v. [no obj.] dive head first under the water while swimming.

■ n. a dive made head first while swimming.

duck-egg blue n. [mass noun] a soft, turquoise-blue shade.

duck hawk n. NORTH AMERICAN DATED the peregrine falcon.

ducking stool n. HISTORICAL a chair fastened to the end of a pole, used formerly to plunge offenders into a pond or river as a punishment.

duckling n. a young duck.

- [mass noun] the flesh of a young duck as food.

duck mussel n. a freshwater bivalve mollusc that is smaller and darker than the related swan mussel, found in rivers with sandy or gravelly beds.

<INFO> Anodonta anatina, family Unionidae.

duckpin n. US a short, squat bowling pin.

- (duckpins) [treated as sing.] a game played with duckpins.

ducks and drakes n. [mass noun] a game of throwing flat stones so that they skim along the surface of water.

<PHRASES>

□ play ducks and drakes with trifle with; treat frivolously.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from the movement of the stone over the water.

duck's arse (North American duck's ass) (abbr.: DA) n. INFORMAL a man's hairstyle, associated especially with the 1950s, in which the hair is slicked back on both sides and tapered at the nape.

duck-shove v. [with obj.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL avoid or evade (a responsibility or issue).

duck soup n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an easy task, or someone easy to overcome: we had some great battles, but against me he was duck soup.

ducktail n. North American term for DUCK'S ARSE.

duckwalk v. [no obj.] walk with the body in a squatting posture.

■ n. a walk with the body in a squatting posture.

duckweed n. [mass noun] a tiny aquatic flowering plant that floats in large quantities on still water, often forming an apparently continuous green layer on the surface.

<INFO> Family Lemnaceae, in particular the genus Lemna.

Duckworth–Lewis adj. denoting a method of determining the runs total needed to win a one-day cricket match that is affected by rain or other interruptions.

<ORIGIN> named after the English statisticians Frank Duckworth (born 1939) and Tony Lewis (born 1942), who invented the method.

ducky INFORMAL n. (pl. duckies) BRITISH dear (used as a form of address): come and sit down, ducky.

■ adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN charming; delightful: everything here is just ducky.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from DUCK^4.

duct n. a tube or passageway in a building or machine for air, liquid, cables, etc.

- (in the body) a vessel for conveying lymph or glandular secretions such as tears or bile.

- (in a plant) a vessel for conveying water, sap, or air.

■ v. [with obj.] convey through a duct: a ventilation system that must be ducted through the wall.

<DERIVATIVES> ductal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘course’ or ‘direction’): from Latin ductus ‘leading, aqueduct’ from duct- ‘led’, from the verb ducere.

ductile /dktl/ adj. (of a metal) able to be drawn out into a thin wire.

- able to be deformed without losing toughness; pliable, not brittle.

<DERIVATIVES> ductility n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘malleable’): from Latin ductilis, from duct- ‘led’, from the verb ducere.

ducting n. [mass noun] a system of ducts.

- tubing or piping forming such a system.

ductless adj. [ANATOMY] denoting a gland that secretes directly into the bloodstream, such as an endocrine gland or a lymph gland.

duct tape n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN strong cloth-backed waterproof adhesive tape.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: originally used for repairing leaks in ducted ventilation and heating systems.

ductule /dktjul/ n. [ANATOMY] a minute duct.

<DERIVATIVES> ductular adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Latin, diminutive of ductus ‘leading’.

ductus /dktəs/ n. (pl. ducti) [ANATOMY] a duct.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘leading’.

ductwork n. [mass noun] a system or network of ducts.

dud INFORMAL n. 1 a thing that fails to work properly or is otherwise unsatisfactory or worthless: all three bombs were duds.

- an ineffectual person.

2 (duds) clothes: buy yourself some new duds.

■ adj. not working or meeting standards; faulty: a dud ignition switch.

- counterfeit: she was charged with issuing dud cheques.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘item of clothing’): of unknown origin.

dude /d(j)ud/ INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. a man; a guy (often as a form of address): hey dude, what's up? | if some dude smacked me, I'd smack him back.

- a stylish and confident person: cool dudes.

- DATED a dandy.

■ v. [no obj.] (dude up) dress up elaborately: my brother was all duded up in silver and burgundy.

<DERIVATIVES> dudish adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (denoting a dandy): probably from German dialect Dude ‘fool’.

dude ranch n. (in the western US) a cattle ranch converted to a holiday centre for tourists.

dudgeon /dd(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a feeling of offence or deep resentment: the manager walked out in high dudgeon.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

Dudley^1 /ddli/ an industrial town in the west Midlands of England, near Birmingham; pop. 195,900 (est. 2002).

Dudley^2 /ddli/ Robert, Earl of Leicester (c.1532–88), English nobleman, military commander, and favourite of Elizabeth I.

due adj. 1 [predic.] expected at or planned for at a certain time: the baby's due in August | he is due back soon | [with infinitive] talks are due to adjourn tomorrow.

- (of a payment) required at a certain time: the May instalment was due.

- (of a person) having reached a point where the thing mentioned is required or owed: she was due for a rise.

- (of a thing) required or owed as a legal or moral obligation: he was only taking back what was due to him | you must pay any income tax due.

2 [attr.] of the proper quality or extent: driving without due care and attention.

■ n. 1 (one's due/dues) one's right; what is owed to one: he thought it was his due.

2 (dues) an obligatory payment; a fee: he had paid trade union dues for years.

■ adv. (with reference to a point of the compass) exactly; directly: we'll head due south again on the same road.

<PHRASES>

□ due to 1 caused by or ascribable to: his death was not due to any lack of care.

2 because of; owing to: he had to withdraw due to a knee injury.

□ give someone their due be fair to someone.

□ in due course at the appropriate time: the range will be extended in due course.

□ pay one's dues fulfil one's obligations.

- experience difficulties before achieving success: this drummer has paid his dues with the best.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘payable’): from Old French deu ‘owed’, based on Latin debitus ‘owed’, from debere ‘owe’.

<USAGE> Due to in the sense ‘because of’, as in he had to retire due to an injury, has been condemned as incorrect on the grounds that due is an adjective and should not be used as a preposition; owing to is often recommended as a better alternative. However, the prepositional use, first recorded at the end of the 19th century, is now common in all types of literature and is regarded as part of standard English.

due date n. the date on which something falls due, especially the payment of a bill or the expected birth of a baby.

due diligence n. [mass noun] [LAW] reasonable steps that a person takes to avoid committing a tort or offence, especially in buying or selling something.

duel n. chiefly HISTORICAL a prearranged contest with deadly weapons between two people in order to settle a point of honour.

- (in modern use) a contest between two parties: he won by a short head after a great final-furlong duel.

■ v. (duels, duelling, duelled; US duels, dueling, dueled) [no obj.] fight a duel or duels.

<DERIVATIVES> dueller (US dueler) n. duellist (US duelist) n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin duellum, archaic and literary form of bellum ‘war’, used in medieval Latin with the meaning ‘combat between two persons’, partly influenced by dualis ‘of two’. The original sense was ‘single combat used to decide a judicial dispute’; the sense ‘contest to decide a point of honour’ dates from the early 17th cent.

duende /duεnde/ n. [mass noun] a quality of passion and inspiration.

- [count noun] a spirit.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Spanish, contraction of duen de casa, from dueño de casa ‘owner of the house’.

duenna /duεnə/ n. an older woman acting as a governess and companion in charge of girls, especially in a Spanish family; a chaperone.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: earlier form of Spanish dueña, from Latin domina ‘lady, mistress’.

due process (also due process of law) n. [mass noun] fair treatment through the normal judicial system, especially a citizen's entitlement to notice of a charge and a hearing before an impartial judge.

Duero /dwerə/ Spanish name for DOURO.

duet n. a performance by two singers, instrumentalists, or dancers.

- a musical composition for two performers.

■ v. (duets, duetting, duetted) [no obj.] perform a duet.

<DERIVATIVES> duettist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian duetto, diminutive of duo ‘duet’, from Latin duo ‘two’.

Dufay /djuf/ French /dYfaj/ Guillaume (c.1400–74), French composer. He made a significant contribution to the development of Renaissance polyphony.

duff^1 n. [usually with modifier] a flour pudding boiled or steamed in a cloth bag: a currant duff.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: northern English form of DOUGH.

duff^2 adj. BRITISH INFORMAL of very poor quality: duff lyrics.

- incorrect or false: she played a couple of duff notes.

■ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN & SCOTTISH decaying vegetable matter covering the ground under trees.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (denoting something worthless): of unknown origin.

duff^3 v. [with obj.] INFORMAL 1 (duff someone up) BRITISH beat someone up. [<ORIGIN> 1960s: of uncertain origin.]

2 AUSTRALIAN steal and alter brands on (cattle). [<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably a back-formation from DUFFER^2.]

3 [GOLF] mishit (a shot). [<ORIGIN> early 19th century: back-formation from DUFFER^1.]

duff^4 n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person's buttocks: I did not get where I am today by sitting on my duff.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

duff^5 n. (in phrase up the duff) BRITISH INFORMAL pregnant: it looks like he's got her up the duff.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally Australian): perhaps related to duff^1.

duffel (also duffle) n. [mass noun] 1 a coarse woollen cloth with a thick nap.

2 NORTH AMERICAN sporting or camping equipment.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Duffel, the name of a town in Belgium where the cloth was originally made.

duffel bag n. a cylindrical canvas bag closed by a drawstring and carried over the shoulder.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): from DUFFEL (SENSE 2), originally denoting a bag for equipment.

duffel coat n. a coat made of duffel, typically hooded and fastened with toggles.

duffer^1 n. INFORMAL 1 an incompetent or stupid person: a complete duffer at languages.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ an unproductive mine.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Scots dowfart ‘stupid person’, from douf ‘spiritless’.

duffer^2 n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a person who steals and alters the brands on cattle.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin; in use earlier as thieves' slang for ‘someone who sells trashy articles as if they were valuable’.

Duffy Carol Ann (b.1955), Scottish poet, Poet Laureate since 2009. She is the first woman to hold the post.

Du Fu /du/ variant of TU FU.

Dufy /djufi/ French /dYfi/ Raoul (1877–1953), French painter and textile designer. His characteristic style involved calligraphic outlines sketched on brilliant background washes.

dug^1 past and past participle of DIG.

dug^2 n. (usually dugs) the udder, teat, or nipple of a female animal.

- ARCHAIC a woman's breast.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: possibly of Old Norse origin and related to Swedish dägga, Danish dægge ‘suckle’.

dugite /djut/ n. a highly venomous snake found in SW Australia, similar to the related brown snakes.

<INFO> Pseudonaja affinis, family Elapidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Nyungar dukayj.

dugong /du dju-/ n. (pl. same or dugongs) a sea cow found on the coasts of the Indian Ocean from eastern Africa to northern Australia. It is distinguished from the manatees by its forked tail.

<INFO> Dugong dugon, family Dugongidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: based on Malay duyong.

dugout n. 1 a trench that is dug and roofed over as a shelter for troops.

- an underground air-raid or nuclear shelter.

- a low shelter at the side of a sports field for a team's coaches and substitutes.

2 (also dugout canoe) a canoe made from a hollowed tree trunk.

duh /də/ exclam. another way of saying doh^2.

DUI abbr. US driving under the influence (of drugs or alcohol).

duiker /dkə/ n. (pl. same or duikers) 1 a small African antelope that typically has a tuft of hair between the horns, found mainly in forests.

<INFO> Cephalophus and other genera, family Bovidae: several species, including the common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia), which is unusual in occurring in open savannah, and the very small blue duiker (Philantomba monticola), prized for its skin.

2 S. AFRICAN a cormorant.

<INFO> Genus Phalacrocorax, family Phalacrocoracidae; several species, in particular the long-tailed cormorant, P. africanus.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from South African Dutch, from Dutch, literally ‘diver’, from the antelope's habit of plunging through bushes when pursued; related to duck^2.

Duisburg /djusbə/ German /dYsbrk/ an industrial city in NW Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia; pop. 517,000 (est. 2002).

du jour /d(j)u ə/ French /dY uR/ adj. [postpositive] INFORMAL used to describe something that is enjoying great but probably short-lived popularity or publicity: black comedy is the genre du jour.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘of the day’.

duke n. 1 a male holding the highest hereditary title in the British and certain other peerages.

- chiefly HISTORICAL (in some parts of Europe) a male ruler of a small independent state.

2 (dukes) INFORMAL the fists, especially when raised in a fighting attitude. [<ORIGIN> from rhyming slang Duke of Yorks ‘forks’ (= fingers).]

■ v. [no obj.] (duke it out) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL fight it out.

<ORIGIN> Old English (denoting the ruler of a duchy), from Old French duc, from Latin dux, duc- ‘leader’; related to ducere ‘to lead’.

duke cherry n. a cultivated cherry which is a hybrid between the sweet cherry and the sour cherry.

<INFO> Prunus × gondouinii, family Rosaceae.

dukedom n. a territory ruled by a duke.

- the rank of duke.

dukun /dukn/ n. SE ASIAN a traditional healer believed to have spiritual and occult powers; a shaman.

<ORIGIN> Indonesian.

DUKW n. an amphibious transport vehicle, especially as used by the Allies during the Second World War. Also called DUCK^1.

<ORIGIN> an official designation, being a combination of factory-applied letters referring to features of the vehicle.

dulcamara /dlkəmεrə/ n. [mass noun] an extract of woody nightshade, used in homeopathy especially for treating skin diseases and chest complaints.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin (used as a specific epithet in Solanum dulcamara), from Latin dulcis ‘sweet’ + amara ‘bitter’.

dulcet /dlst/ adj. (especially of sound) sweet and soothing (often used ironically): record the dulcet tones of your family and friends.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English doucet, from Old French doucet, diminutive of doux, from Latin dulcis ‘sweet’. The Latin form influenced the modern spelling.

dulcian /dlsən/ n. 1 an early type of bassoon made in one piece.

2 any of various organ stops, typically with 8-foot funnel-shaped flue pipes or 8- or 16-foot reed pipes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Dulzian, or a variant of DULCIANA.

dulciana /dlsαnə/ n. an organ stop, typically with small conical open metal pipes.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via medieval Latin from Latin dulcis ‘sweet’.

dulcify /dlsf/ v. (dulcifies, dulcifying, dulcified) [with obj.] RARE sweeten: cider pap dulcified with molasses.

- calm or soothe: the exquisite melody dulcifies whatever pain the singer's words express.

<DERIVATIVES> dulcification n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘sweeten’): from Latin dulcificare ‘sweeten’, from dulcis ‘sweet’.

dulcimer /dlsmə/ n. a musical instrument with a sounding board or box, typically trapezoid in shape, over which strings of graduated length are stretched, played by plucking or especially by being struck with hand-held hammers. The term hammered dulcimer is sometimes used, especially in the US, to distinguish these from plucked instruments such as the Appalachian dulcimer.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French doulcemer, probably from Latin dulce melos ‘sweet melody’.

dulcitone /dlstən/ n. a musical keyboard instrument in which a series of steel tuning forks are struck by hammers. It was invented in the late 19th century and was superseded by the celesta.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined by T. Machell, the instrument's inventor, from Latin dulcis ‘sweet’ + tonus ‘tone’.

dulia /djlə/ n. [mass noun] (in Roman Catholic theology) the reverence accorded to saints and angels. Compare with LATRIA.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via medieval Latin from Greek douleia ‘servitude’, from doulos ‘slave’.

dull adj. 1 lacking interest or excitement: your diet doesn't have to be dull and boring.

- ARCHAIC (of a person) feeling bored and dispirited.

2 lacking brightness, vividness, or sheen: his face glowed in the dull lamplight | his black hair looked dull.

- (of the weather) overcast; gloomy: next morning dawned dull.

- (of sound) not clear; muffled: a dull thud of hooves.

- (of pain) indistinctly felt; not acute: there was a dull pain in his lower jaw.

- (of an edge or blade) blunt.

- (of activity) sluggish or slow-moving: shares closed weaker after a day of dull trading.

3 (of a person) slow to understand; stupid: the voice of a teacher talking to a rather dull child.

- ARCHAIC (of a person's senses) not perceiving things distinctly.

■ v. make or become dull or less intense: [with obj.] time dulls the memory | [no obj.] Albert's eyes dulled a little.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) dull as dishwater (or ditchwater) BRITISH extremely dull.

□ dull the edge of cause to be less keenly felt; reduce the intensity of: she'd have to find something to dull the edges of the pain.

<DERIVATIVES> dullish adj. dullness (also dulness) n. dully /dlli/ adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English dol ‘stupid’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dol ‘crazy’ and German toll ‘mad, fantastic, wonderful’.

dullard /dləd/ n. a slow or stupid person.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Dutch dullaert, from dul ‘dull’.

Dulles /dls/ John Foster (1888–1959), American Republican statesman and international lawyer. He was the US adviser at the founding of the United Nations in 1945 and negotiated the peace treaty with Japan in 1951.

dullsville INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. [mass noun] a dull or monotonous place or condition.

■ adj. dull or monotonous: she has transformed their dullsville life.

dull-witted adj. slow to understand; stupid.

dulosis /djləsis/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] the practice by slave-making ants of capturing the pupae of other ant species and rearing them as workers of their own colony.

<DERIVATIVES> dulotic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek doulōsis ‘slavery’, from doulos ‘slave’.

dulse /dls/ n. [mass noun] a dark red edible seaweed with flattened branching fronds.

<INFO> Rhodymenia palmata, division Rhodophyta.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Irish and Scottish Gaelic duileasg.

Duluth /dəluθ/ a port in NE Minnesota, at the western end of Lake Superior; pop. 86,918 (2000).

duly adv. in accordance with what is required or appropriate; following proper procedure or arrangement: a document duly signed and authorized by the inspector | the ceremony duly began at midnight.

- as might be expected or predicted: I used the tent and was duly impressed.

dum /dm/ adj. INDIAN cooked with steam: dum aloo.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dam.

Duma /dumə/ n. a legislative body in the ruling assembly of Russia and of some other republics of the former Soviet Union.

‘Duma’ originally denoted pre-19th century advisory municipal councils in Russia. It later referred to any of four elected legislative bodies established due to popular demand in Russia between 1906 and 1917. After the collapse of communism in 1991 a new Duma was set up as the lower chamber of the Russian parliament.

Dumas /djumα/ French /dYmα/ the name of two French novelists and dramatists:

- Alexandre (1802–70); known as Dumas père. Although he was a pioneer of the romantic theatre in France, his reputation now rests on his historical adventure novels The Three Musketeers (1844–5) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1844–5).

- Alexandre (1824–95), son of Dumas père; known as Dumas fils. He wrote the novel (and play) La Dame aux camélias (1848), which formed the basis of Verdi's opera La Traviata (1853).

Du Maurier^1 /dju mre/ Dame Daphne (1907–89), English novelist, granddaughter of George du Maurier. Many of her popular novels and period romances are set in the West Country of England, where she spent most of her life. Notable works: Jamaica Inn (1936) and Rebecca (1938).

Du Maurier^2 /dju mre/ George (Louis Palmella Busson) (1834–96), French-born novelist, cartoonist, and illustrator. He is chiefly remembered for his novel Trilby (1894), which included the character Svengali and gave rise to the word Svengali for a person with a hypnotic influence on another.

dumb adj. 1 (of a person) unable to speak, most typically because of congenital deafness: he was born deaf, dumb, and blind.

- (of animals) unable to speak as a natural state and thus regarded as helpless or deserving pity.

- [predic.] temporarily unable or unwilling to speak: she stood dumb while he poured out a stream of abuse.

- [attr.] resulting in or expressed by speechlessness: they stared in dumb amazement.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN stupid: a dumb question.

3 (of a computer terminal) able only to transmit data to or receive data from a computer; having no independent processing capability. Often contrasted with INTELLIGENT.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (dumb something down) INFORMAL simplify or reduce the intellectual content of something so as to make it accessible to a larger number of people: the producers categorically deny that they're dumbing down the show.

- [no obj.] (dumb down) become less intellectually challenging: the need to dumb down for mass audiences.

2 LITERARY make dumb or unheard; silence: a splendour that dazed the mind and dumbed the tongue.

<DERIVATIVES> dumbly adv. dumbness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse dumbr and Gothic dumbs ‘mute’, also to Dutch dom ‘stupid’ and German dumm ‘stupid’.

<USAGE> Although dumb meaning ‘not able to speak’ is the older sense, it has been overwhelmed by the newer sense (meaning ‘stupid’) to such an extent that the use of the first sense is now almost certain to cause offence. Alternatives such as speech-impaired should be used instead.

Dumbarton /dmbαt(ə)n/ a town in Scotland on the Clyde west of Glasgow, in West Dunbartonshire; pop. 20,800 (est. 2002).

dumb-ass adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL stupid; brainless: dumb-ass politicians.

dumb-bell n. 1 a short bar with a weight at each end, used typically in pairs for exercise or muscle-building.

- [as modifier] shaped like a dumb-bell: a dumb-bell molecule.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a stupid person.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: originally denoting an apparatus similar to that used to ring a church bell (but without the bell, so noiseless or ‘dumb’);

■ sense 2 (dating from the 1920s) is an extended use by association with DUMB ‘stupid’.

dumb blonde n. INFORMAL a blonde-haired woman perceived in a stereotypical way as being attractive but unintelligent.

dumb cane n. a thick-stemmed plant with large variegated leaves, native to tropical America and widely grown as a house plant.

<INFO> Genus Dieffenbachia, family Araceae: several species, in particular the Caribbean D. seguine, which has a poisonous sap that swells the tongue and destroys the power of speech.

dumbfound v. [with obj.] greatly astonish or amaze: she was dumbfounded at the sight that met her eyes | [as adj] a dumbfounded look on her face.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: blend of DUMB and CONFOUND.

dumbhead n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a stupid person.

dumb iron n. HISTORICAL a curved side piece of a vehicle chassis, to which the front springs are attached.

dumbo n. (pl. dumbos) INFORMAL a stupid person.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally US): from DUMB + -O, popularized by the 1941 cartoon film Dumbo.

dumb piano n. a dummy piano keyboard for exercising the fingers.

dumbshow n. [mass noun] gestures used to convey a meaning or message without speech; mime: they demonstrated in dumbshow how the tea should be made.

- [count noun] a piece of dramatic mime: there were gags, spoofs, and dumbshows.

- [count noun] (especially in English drama of the 16th and 17th centuries) a part of a play acted in mime to summarize, supplement, or comment on the main action.

dumbsize v. [no obj.] chiefly US (of a company) reduce staff numbers to levels so low that work can no longer be carried out effectively.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: humorously, on the pattern of downsize.

dumbstruck adj. so shocked or surprised as to be unable to speak: he was dumbstruck with terror.

dumb waiter n. 1 a small lift for carrying things, especially food and crockery, between the floors of a building.

2 BRITISH a movable table, typically with revolving shelves, used in a dining room.

dumdum (also dumdum bullet) n. a kind of soft-nosed bullet that expands on impact and inflicts laceration.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Dum Dum, name of a town and arsenal in eastern India where such bullets were first produced.

dum-dum n. INFORMAL a stupid person.

<ORIGIN> 1970s (originally US): reduplication of DUMB.

Dumfries /dmfris/ a market town in SW Scotland, administrative centre of Dumfries and Galloway; pop. 32,400 (est. 2002).

Dumfries and Galloway a council area in SW Scotland, formed in 1975; administrative centre, Dumfries.

Dumfriesshire /dmfrisə -ə/ a former county of SW Scotland, which became part of Dumfries and Galloway region in 1975.

dumka /dmkə/ n. (pl. dumkas or dumky /dmki/) a piece of Slavic music, originating as a folk ballad or lament, typically melancholy with contrasting lively sections.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via Czech and Polish from Ukrainian.

dummy n. (pl. dummies) 1 a model or replica of a human being: a waxwork dummy.

- a figure used for displaying or fitting clothes: a tailor's dummy.

- a ventriloquist's doll.

2 an object designed to resemble and serve as a substitute for the real or usual one: tests using stuffed owls and wooden dummies | [as modifier] a dummy torpedo.

- BRITISH a rubber or plastic teat for a baby to suck on.

- a prototype or mock-up, especially of a book or the layout of a page.

- a blank round of ammunition.

- [as modifier] [GRAMMAR] denoting a word that has no semantic content but is used to maintain grammatical structure: a dummy subject as in ‘it is’ or ‘there are’.

3 (chiefly in rugby and soccer) a feigned pass or kick intended to deceive an opponent.

4 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a stupid person.

5 [BRIDGE] the declarer's partner, whose cards are exposed on the table after the opening lead and played by the declarer.

- [BRIDGE] the exposed hand of the declarer's partner.

- an imaginary fourth player in whist: [as modifier] dummy whist.

■ v. (dummies, dummying, dummied) [no obj.] 1 (chiefly in rugby and soccer) feign a pass or kick in order to deceive an opponent: Blanco dummied past a static defence.

2 (dummy up) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL keep quiet; give no information.

<PHRASES>

□ sell someone a dummy (chiefly in rugby and soccer) deceive an opponent by feigning a pass or kick.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from DUMB + -Y^1. The original sense was ‘a person who cannot speak’, then ‘an imaginary fourth player in whist’ (mid 18th century), whence ‘a substitute for the real thing’ and ‘a model of a human being’ (mid 19th century).

dummy run n. BRITISH a practice or trial.

dumortierite /djmtərt/ n. [mass noun] a rare blue or violet mineral occurring typically as needles and fibrous masses in gneiss and schist. It consists of an aluminium and iron borosilicate.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of V.-E. Dumortier (1802–76), French geologist, + -ITE^1.

dump n. 1 a site for depositing rubbish.

- [usually with modifier] a place where a particular kind of waste, especially dangerous waste, is left: a nuclear waste dump.

- a heap of rubbish left at a dump.

2 INFORMAL an unpleasant or dreary place: why are you living in a dump like this?

3 [COMPUTING] a copying of stored data to a different location, performed typically as a protection against loss.

- a printout or list of the contents of a computer's memory, occurring typically after a system failure.

4 INFORMAL an act of defecation.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 deposit or dispose of (rubbish, waste, or unwanted material), typically in a careless or hurried way: trucks dumped 1,900 tons of refuse here.

- abandon (something) hurriedly in order to make an escape: the couple dumped the car and fled.

- put (something) down heavily or carelessly: she dumped her knapsack on the floor.

- INFORMAL abandon or desert (someone): Zoë was heartbroken when her boyfriend dumped her.

- send (goods unsaleable in the home market) to a foreign market for sale at a low price: these countries have been dumping cheap fertilizers on the UK market.

- INFORMAL sell off (assets) rapidly: investors dumped shares in scores of other consumer-goods firms.

2 [COMPUTING] copy (stored data) to a different location, especially so as to protect against loss.

- print out or list the contents of (a store), especially after a system failure.

3 (dump on) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL criticize or abuse (someone); treat badly: you get dumped on just because of your name.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old Norse; related to Danish dumpe and Norwegian dumpa ‘fall suddenly’ (the original sense in English); in later use partly imitative; compare with THUMP.

dump bin n. a promotional box in a shop for displaying books or other items.

dumper n. 1 a person or thing that dumps something.

- (also dumper truck) BRITISH a truck with a body that tilts or opens at the back for unloading.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a large wave that breaks and hurls the swimmer or surfer on to the beach.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a large metal container for rubbish.

- (the dumper) INFORMAL used in reference to a bad or unwanted state: his career's in the dumper.

dumping ground n. a place where rubbish or unwanted material is left.

dumping syndrome n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a group of symptoms, including weakness, abdominal discomfort, and sometimes abnormally rapid bowel evacuation, occurring after meals in some patients who have undergone gastric surgery.

dumpling n. a small savoury ball of dough (usually made with suet) which may be boiled, fried, or baked in a casserole.

- a pudding consisting of apple or other fruit enclosed in a sweet dough and baked.

- a small, fat person: he was a 250-pound dumpling.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: apparently from the rare adjective dump ‘of the consistency of dough’, although dumpling is recorded much earlier.

dumps plural n. (in phrase (down) in the dumps) INFORMAL (of a person) depressed or unhappy.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally singular in the sense ‘a dazed or puzzled state’): probably a figurative use of Middle Dutch domp ‘haze, mist’.

dumpster n. NORTH AMERICAN a very large container for rubbish; a skip.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: originally Dempster Dumpster, proprietary name (based on DUMP) given by the American manufacturers, Dempster Brothers of Knoxville, Tennessee.

dump truck n. NORTH AMERICAN a dumper truck.

dumpy adj. (dumpier, dumpiest) (of a person) short and stout: her plain, dumpy sister.

<DERIVATIVES> dumpily adv. dumpiness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from DUMPLING + -Y^1.

Dumyat /dmjαt/ Arabic name for DAMIETTA.

dun^1 adj. of a dull greyish-brown colour: a dun cow.

- LITERARY dark or dusky: when the dun evening comes.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] a dull greyish-brown colour.

2 a horse with a sandy or sandy-grey coat, black mane, tail, and lower legs, and a dark dorsal stripe.

3 a subadult mayfly, which has drab coloration and opaque wings.

- an artificial fishing fly imitating this.

<ORIGIN> Old English dun, dunn, of Germanic origin; probably related to DUSK.

dun^2 v. (duns, dunning, dunned) [with obj.] make persistent demands on (someone), especially for payment of a debt.

■ n. ARCHAIC a debt collector or an insistent creditor.

- a demand for payment.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun): from obsolete Dunkirk privateer, from the French port of DUNKIRK.

dun^3 n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a stone-built fortified settlement in Scotland or Ireland, of a kind built from the late Iron Age to the early Middle Ages. The word is a frequent place-name element in Scotland and Ireland.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Irish dún, Scottish Gaelic dùn ‘hill or hill fort’.

dunam /dnəm/ n. a measure of land area used in parts of the former Turkish empire, including Israel (where it is equal to about 900 square metres).

<ORIGIN> from modern Hebrew dûnām or Arabic dūnum, from Turkish dönüm, from dönmek ‘go round’.

Dunbar /dnbα/ William (c.1456–c.1513), Scottish poet. He was the author of satires such as the political allegory ‘The Thrissill and the Rois’ (‘The Thistle and the Rose’, 1503) and of elegies such as ‘Lament for the Makaris’.

dun-bar /dnbα/ n. a variable European moth with darker lines and bands on the wings, found in wooded districts.

<INFO> Cosmia trapezina, family Noctuidae.

Dunbartonshire /dnbαt(ə)nə -ə/ (also Dumbartonshire) a former county of west central Scotland, on the Clyde, divided into East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire council areas.

Duncan Isadora (1878–1927), American dancer and teacher. She was a pioneer of modern dance, famous for her ‘free’ barefoot dancing. She died through being accidentally strangled when her scarf became entangled in the wheels of a car.

Duncan I (c.1010–40), king of Scotland 1034–40. He was killed in battle by Macbeth.

dunce n. a person who is slow at learning; a stupid person.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: originally an epithet for a follower of John DUNS SCOTUS, whose followers were ridiculed by 16th-cent. humanists and reformers as enemies of learning.

dunce's cap (NORTH AMERICAN also dunce cap) n. a paper cone formerly put on the head of a dunce at school as a mark of disgrace.

Dundalk /dndk/ the county town of Louth, in the Republic of Ireland, a port on the east coast; pop. 31,500 (est. 2002).

Dundee a city in eastern Scotland, on the north side of the Firth of Tay; pop. 148,500 (est. 2002).

Dundee cake n. chiefly BRITISH a rich fruit cake, typically decorated on top with almonds.

dunderhead n. INFORMAL a stupid person.

<DERIVATIVES> dunderheaded adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: compare with obsolete Scots dunder, dunner ‘resounding noise’; related to DIN.

dune n. a mound or ridge of sand or other loose sediment formed by the wind, especially on the sea coast or in a desert: a sand dune.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Middle Dutch dūne; related to Old English dūn ‘hill’ (see down^3).

dune buggy n. another term for BEACH BUGGY.

Dunedin /dnidn/ a city and port in the South Island, New Zealand, founded in 1848 by Scottish settlers; pop. 118,038 (2001).

Dunfermline /dnfəmln/ a town in Fife, Scotland, near the Firth of Forth; pop. 56,500 (est. 2002).

dung n. [mass noun] the excrement of animals; manure.

■ v. [no obj.] (of an animal) defecate.

- [with obj.] drop or spread dung on (a piece of ground).

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to German Dung, Swedish dynga, Icelandic dyngja ‘dung, dunghill, heap’, and Danish dynge ‘heap’.

dungaree /dəri/ n. 1 (dungarees) chiefly BRITISH a garment consisting of trousers with a bib held up by straps over the shoulders, made of calico, denim, or a similar material and worn as casual or working clothes.

- NORTH AMERICAN hard-wearing denim trousers.

2 [mass noun] a kind of coarse Indian calico.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in sense 2): from Hindi dugrī.

Dungarvan /dnαv(ə)n/ a town on the south coast of the Republic of Ireland, the administrative centre of Waterford; pop. 7,500 (est. 2002).

dung beetle n. a beetle whose larvae feed on dung, especially a scarab. The larger kinds place the dung in a hole before the eggs are laid, and some of them roll it along in a ball.

<INFO> Superfamily Scarabaeoidea, in particular families Scarabaeidae and Geotrupidae.

Dungeness crab /dndənεs/ n. a large crab found off the west coast of North America, where it is popular as food.

<INFO> Cancer magister, family Cancridae.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from Dungeness, the name of a fishing village on the coast of Washington State.

dungeon n. 1 a strong underground prison cell, especially in a castle.

2 archaic term for DONJON.

■ v. [with obj.] LITERARY imprison (someone) in a dungeon.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also with the sense ‘castle keep’): from Old French (perhaps originally with the sense ‘lord's tower’ or ‘mistress tower’), based on Latin dominus ‘lord, master’. Compare with DONJON.

Dungeons and Dragons n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a fantasy role-playing game set in an imaginary world based loosely on medieval myth.

dung fly n. a hairy fly that lays its eggs in fresh dung.

<INFO> Families Scathophagidae and Sphaeroceridae: several species.

dunghill (also dungheap) n. a heap of dung or refuse, especially in a farmyard.

dungworm n. an earthworm found in dung or compost, used by anglers as bait.

Dunhuang /dnhwa/ a town in NW China, in Gansu province, located on the old Silk Road near the site of the earliest known Buddhist cave shrines (4th century AD).

dunite /dnt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a green to brownish coarse-grained igneous rock consisting largely of olivine.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of Dun Mountain, New Zealand, + -ITE^1.

dunk v. 1 [with obj.] dip (bread or other food) into a drink or soup before eating it: I dunked a biscuit into the cup of scalding tea.

- immerse or dip in water: he was dunked head first in the cold swimming pool.

2 [no obj.] [BASKETBALL] score by shooting the ball down through the basket with the hands above the rim.

■ n. [BASKETBALL] a shot downwards into the basket with the hands above the rim.

<DERIVATIVES> dunker n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Pennsylvanian German dunke ‘dip’, from German tunken ‘dip or plunge’.

Dunkard /dkəd/ n. another term for DUNKER.

Dunker /dkə/ n. a member of the German Baptist Brethren, a sect of Baptist Christians founded in 1708 but living in the US since the 1720s.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Pennsylvanian German, from dunke (see DUNK).

Dunkirk /dnkək/ a port in northern France; pop. 70,850 (1999). French name Dunkerque /dœkεRk/.

Dunkirk was the scene of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force in 1940. Forced to retreat to the Channel by the German breakthrough at Sedan, 335,000 Allied troops were evacuated by warships, requisitioned civilian ships, and a host of small boats, under constant attack from the air.

Dun Laoghaire /dn ləri lεrə/ Irish /dun lirə/ a ferry port and resort town in the Republic of Ireland, near Dublin; pop. 56,839 (1998).

dunlin /dnln/ n. (pl. same or dunlins) a migratory sandpiper with a downcurved bill and (in the breeding season) a reddish-brown back and black belly. It is the commonest small wader of the northern hemisphere.

<INFO> Calidris alpina, family Scolopacidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably from DUN^1 + -LING, from the greyish-brown winter colouring of its upper parts.

Dunlop^1 /dnlp/ John Boyd (1840–1921), Scottish inventor. He developed the first successful pneumatic bicycle tyre (1888), manufactured by the company named after him.

Dunlop^2 /dnlp dnlp/ (also Dunlop cheese) n. [mass noun] a full-cream hard cheese originally made in Dunlop, near Ayr in Scotland.

Dunmow flitch /dnmə/ a side of bacon awarded at Great Dunmow in Essex on Whit Monday to any married couple who will swear that they have not quarrelled or repented of their marriage vows for at least a year and a day.

dunnage /dnd/ n. [mass noun] 1 loose wood, matting, or similar material used to keep a cargo in position in a ship's hold.

2 INFORMAL a person's belongings, especially those brought on board ship.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

dunnage bag n. a kitbag.

dunnart /dnαt/ n. a mouse-like insectivorous marsupial with a pointed snout and prominent eyes, found in Australia and New Guinea. Also called MARSUPIAL MOUSE.

<INFO> Genus Sminthopsis, family Dasyuridae: many species, including the common dunnart (S. murina).

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Nyungar danart.

Dunnet Head /dnt/ a headland on the north coast of Scotland, between Thurso and John o'Groats. It is the most northerly point on the British mainland.

dunno /dnə dənə/ contraction (I) do not know.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: representing an informal pronunciation.

dunnock /dnək/ n. a small European songbird of the accentor family, with a dark grey head and a reddish-brown back. Also called HEDGE SPARROW.

<INFO> Prunella modularis, family Prunellidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: apparently from DUN^1

■ (from its brown and grey plumage) + -OCK.

dunny /dni/ n. (pl. dunnies) 1 SCOTTISH an underground passage or cellar, especially in a tenement.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a toilet.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the sense ‘dung’): from dialect dunnekin ‘privy’, probably from DUNG + archaic slang ken ‘house’.

■ Sense 1 is perhaps a different word.

Duns Scotus /dnz skətəs/ John (c.1265–1308), Scottish theologian and scholar. A profoundly influential figure in the Middle Ages, he was the first major theologian to defend the theory of the Immaculate Conception, and opposed St Thomas Aquinas in arguing that faith was a matter of will rather than something dependent on logical proofs.

Dunstable /dnstəb(ə)l/ John (c.1390–1453), English composer. He was a significant early exponent of counterpoint.

Dunstan, St /dnstən/ (c.909–88), Anglo-Saxon prelate. As Archbishop of Canterbury he introduced the strict Benedictine rule into England and succeeded in restoring monastic life. Feast day, 19 May.

dunt /dnt/ chiefly NORTH AMERICAN & Scottish v. [with obj.] bump into or hit heavily.

■ n. a heavy dull-sounding blow.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps a variant of DINT.

duo n. (pl. duos) 1 a pair of people or things, especially in music or entertainment: the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.

2 [MUSIC] a duet: two duos for violin and viola.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): via Italian from Latin duo ‘two’.

duo- combining form two; having two: duopoly | duotone.

<ORIGIN> from Latin.

duodecimal /djuə()dεsm(ə)l/ adj. relating to or denoting a system of counting or numerical notation that has twelve as a base.

■ n. [mass noun] the system of duodecimal notation.

<DERIVATIVES> duodecimally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin duodecimus ‘twelfth’ (from duodecim ‘twelve’) + -AL.

duodecimo /djuə()dεsmə/ n. (pl. duodecimos) a size of book in which each leaf is one twelfth of the size of the printing sheet.

- a book of this size.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin (in) duodecimo ‘in a twelfth’, from duodecimus ‘twelfth’.

duodenary /djuədinəri/ adj. RARE relating to or based on the number twelve.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin duodenarius ‘containing twelve’, based on duodecim ‘twelve’.

duodenitis /djuədints/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the duodenum.

duodeno- /djədinə/ (also duoden- before a vowel) combining form [ANATOMY] & MEDICINE relating to the duodenum: duodenitis.

duodenum /djuədinəm/ n. (pl. duodenums or duodena /-dinə/) [ANATOMY] the first part of the small intestine immediately beyond the stomach, leading to the jejunum.

<DERIVATIVES> duodenal adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin, from duodeni ‘in twelves’, its length being equivalent to the breadth of approximately twelve fingers.

duologue /djəl/ n. a play or part of a play with speaking roles for only two actors.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from DUO-, on the pattern of monologue.

duomo /dwəmə/ n. (pl. duomos) an Italian cathedral.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘dome’.

duopoly /djpəli/ n. (pl. duopolies) a situation in which two suppliers dominate the market for a commodity or service.

<DERIVATIVES> duopolistic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from DUO-, on the pattern of monopoly.

duotone /djuətən/ n. a half-tone illustration made from a single original with two different colours at different screen angles.

- [mass noun] the technique or process of making such illustrations: the best images that duotone can produce.

dupatta /dptə/ n. a length of material worn arranged in two folds over the chest and thrown back around the shoulders, typically with a salwar kameez, by women from the Indian subcontinent.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi dupaā.

dupe^1 v. [with obj.] deceive; trick: the newspaper was duped into publishing an untrue story.

■ n. a victim of deception: men who were simply the dupes of their unscrupulous leaders.

<DERIVATIVES> dupable adj. duper n. dupery n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from dialect French dupe ‘hoopoe’, from the bird's supposedly stupid appearance.

dupe^2 v. & n.

■ short for DUPLICATE, especially in photography.

dupion /djupən/ (also silk dupion) n. [mass noun] a rough slubbed silk fabric woven from the threads of double cocoons.

- an imitation of this with other fibres.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the sense ‘double cocoon’): from French doupion, from Italian doppione, from doppio ‘double’.

duple /djup(ə)l/ adj. [MUSIC] (of rhythm) based on two main beats to the bar: duple time.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin duplus, from duo ‘two’.

duplet /djuplt/ n. a set of two things.

- [MUSIC] a pair of equal notes to be performed in the time of three.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a dicing term in the sense of doublets (see DOUBLET): from Latin duplus ‘duple’, on the pattern of doublet. Current senses date from the 1920s.

duplex /djuplεks/ n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a residential building divided into two apartments.

- a flat on two floors.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN a semi-detached house.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] a double-stranded polynucleotide molecule.

■ adj. 1 having two parts.

- (of paper or board) having two differently coloured layers or sides.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] consisting of two polynucleotide strands linked side by side.

2 (of a printer or its software) capable of printing on both sides of the paper.

3 (of a communications system, computer circuit, etc.) allowing the transmission of two signals simultaneously in opposite directions.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as an adjective): from Latin duplex, duplic-, from duo ‘two’ + plicare ‘to fold’. The noun dates from the 1920s.

duplicate adj. /djuplkət/ [attr.] 1 exactly like something else, especially through having been copied: a duplicate set of keys.

2 TECHNICAL having two corresponding or identical parts.

■ n. /djuplkət/ 1 one of two or more identical things: books may be disposed of if they are duplicates.

- a copy of an original: locksmiths can make duplicates of most keys.

2 short for DUPLICATE BRIDGE.

3 ARCHAIC a pawnbroker's ticket.

■ v. /djuplket/ [with obj.] make or be an exact copy of: information sheets had to be typed and duplicated | they have not been able to duplicate his successes.

- multiply by two; double: the normal amount of DNA has been duplicated thousands of times.

- do (something) again unnecessarily: most of these proposals duplicated work already done.

<PHRASES>

□ in duplicate twice in exactly the same way.

- consisting of two exact copies: forms to complete in duplicate.

<DERIVATIVES> duplicable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘having two corresponding parts’): from Latin duplicat- ‘doubled’, from the verb duplicare, from duplic- ‘twofold’ (see DUPLEX).

duplicate bridge n. [mass noun] a competitive form of bridge in which the same hands are played successively by different partnerships.

duplication n. [mass noun] the action or process of duplicating something: an attempt to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort.

- [count noun] [GENETICS] a DNA segment in a chromosome which is a copy of another segment.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (used in the mathematical sense ‘multiplication by two’): from Old French, or from Latin duplicatio(n-), from duplicare ‘to double’ (see DUPLICATE).

duplicator n. a machine or device for making copies of something, in particular a machine that makes copies of documents by means of fluid ink and a stencil.

duplicitous adj. 1 deceitful: a duplicitous philanderer.

2 [LAW] (of a charge or plea) containing more than one allegation.

<DERIVATIVES> duplicitously adv.

duplicity /djuplsti dj-/ n. [mass noun] 1 deceitfulness: the president was accused of duplicity in his dealings with Congress.

2 ARCHAIC the state of being double.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French duplicite or late Latin duplicitas, from Latin duplic- ‘twofold’ (see DUPLEX).

dupondius /djupndəs/ n. (pl. dupondii /-d/) a bronze or brass coin of the Roman Empire, equal to two asses or half a sesterce.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from duo ‘two’ + pondo ‘by weight’.

duppy /dpi/ n. (pl. duppies) W. INDIAN a malevolent spirit or ghost.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: probably of West African origin.

du Pré /d(j)u pre/ Jacqueline (1945–87), English cellist. She made her solo debut at the age of 16 and became famous for her interpretations of cello concertos. Her performing career was halted in 1972 by multiple sclerosis.

Dupuytren's contracture /djpwitrəns/ (also Dupuytren's disease) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which there is fixed forward curvature of one or more fingers, caused by the development of a fibrous connection between the finger tendons and the skin of the palm.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Baron Guillaume Dupuytren (1777–1835), the French surgeon who first described the condition.

Duque de Caxias /duke də kəiə/ a city in SE Brazil, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro; pop. 767,724 (2000).

dura^1 /djərə/ (in full dura mater) n. [ANATOMY] the tough outermost membrane enveloping the brain and spinal cord.

<DERIVATIVES> dural adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from medieval Latin, literally ‘hard mother’, translation of Arabic al-'umm al-jāfiya ‘coarse mother’.

durability n. [mass noun] the ability to withstand wear, pressure, or damage: the reliability and durability of plastics.

durable adj. able to withstand wear, pressure, or damage; hard-wearing: porcelain enamel is strong and durable | FIGURATIVE a durable peace can be achieved.

- INFORMAL (of a person) having endurance: the durable Smith lasted the full eight rounds.

■ n. (durables)

■ short for CONSUMER DURABLES.

<DERIVATIVES> durableness n. durably adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘steadfast’): via Old French from Latin durabilis, from durare ‘to last’ (see DURATION).

durable goods plural n. North American term for CONSUMER DURABLES.

Duralumin /djraljmn/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a hard, light alloy of aluminium with copper and other elements.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: perhaps from Latin durus ‘hard’ + ALUMINIUM, but probably influenced by Düren, the name of the Rhineland town where such alloys were first produced.

duramen /djremεn/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the heartwood of a tree.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘hardness’, from durare ‘harden’.

durance n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC imprisonment or confinement.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘continuance’): from Old French, from durer ‘to last’, from Latin durare. The sense ‘imprisonment’ is first recorded in the early 16th century.

Durango /djraə/ a state of north central Mexico.

- its capital city; pop. 1,448,700 (2000). Full name VICTORIA DE DURANGO.

Duras /djərα/ French /dYRa/ Marguerite (1914–96), French novelist, film director, and dramatist; pseudonym of Marguerite Donnadieu. She is best known for the screenplay to Alain Resnais' film Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and for her semi-autobiographical novel L'Amant (1984).

duration n. the time during which something continues: bicycle hire for the duration of your holiday | a flight of over eight hours' duration.

<PHRASES>

□ for the duration until the end of something, especially a war.

- INFORMAL for a very long time: once she sits down on that settee, she'll be there for the duration.

<DERIVATIVES> durational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin duratio(n-), from durare ‘to last’, from durus ‘hard’.

durative /djərətv/ adj. [GRAMMAR] denoting or relating to continuing action. Contrasted with PUNCTUAL.

Durazzo /durattsə/ Italian name for Durrës.

Durban a seaport and resort in South Africa, on the coast of KwaZulu-Natal; pop. 2,354,900 (est. 2002). Former name (until 1835) PORT NATAL.

durbar /dəbα/ n. HISTORICAL the court of an Indian ruler.

- a public reception held by an Indian prince or a British governor or viceroy in India.

<ORIGIN> Urdu, from Persian darbār ‘court’.

durchkomponiert /dəxkmpnət/ German /drçkmpənirt/ adj. [MUSIC] (of a composition, especially a song) not based on repeated sections or verses, especially having different music for each verse. Also called THROUGH-COMPOSED.

<ORIGIN> from German, from durch ‘through’ + komponiert ‘composed’ (because the music is different throughout).

Dürer /djərə/ German /dYr/ Albrecht (1471–1528), German engraver and painter. He was the leading German artist of the Renaissance, important for his technically advanced woodcuts and copper engravings and also noted for his watercolours and drawings.

duress /dj(ə)rεs djərεs/ n. [mass noun] threats, violence, constraints, or other action used to coerce someone into doing something against their will or better judgement: confessions extracted under duress.

- [LAW] constraint illegally exercised to force someone to perform an act.

- ARCHAIC forcible restraint or imprisonment.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘harshness, severity, cruel treatment’): via Old French from Latin duritia, from durus ‘hard’.

Durex n. (pl. same) BRITISH TRADEMARK a contraceptive sheath; a condom.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: name invented by the manufacturers, probably based on Latin durare ‘to last’.

Durey /djəre/ French /dYRe/ Louis (1888–1979), French composer. A member until 1921 of the group Les Six, he later wrote music of a deliberate mass appeal, in accordance with communist doctrines on art. Notable works: La Longue marche (cantata, 1949).

Durga /dəə/ [HINDUISM] a fierce goddess, wife of Shiva, often identified with Kali. She is usually depicted riding a tiger or lion and slaying the buffalo demon, and with eight or ten arms.

Durgapur /dəəpə/ a city in NE India, in the state of West Bengal; pop. 493,000 (2001).

Durham /drəm/ a city on the River Wear; pop. 90,300 (est. 1998). It is famous for its 11th-century cathedral, which contains the tomb of the Venerable Bede, and its university.

- (also County Durham) a county of NE England; county town, Durham.

Durham quilt n. a quilt made by sewing together a piece of fabric, an inner wad, and a lining, the stitches making decorative patterns.

durian /dərən/ n. 1 a spiny oval tropical fruit containing a creamy pulp. Despite its fetid smell it is highly valued for its flavour.

2 (also durian tree) the large tree that bears the durian, native to Malaysia.

<INFO> Durio zibethinus, family Bombaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Malay durian, from duri ‘thorn’.

duricrust /djərkrst/ n. [GEOLOGY] a hard mineral crust formed at or near the surface of soil in semi-arid regions by the evaporation of groundwater.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Latin durus ‘hard’ + CRUST.

during prep. throughout the course or duration of (a period of time): the restaurant is open during the day | the period during which he grew to adulthood.

- at a particular point in the course of: the stabbing took place during a row at a party.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: present participle of the obsolete verb dure ‘last, endure, extend’, via Old French from Latin durare ‘to last’ (see DURATION).

Durkheim /dəkhm/ French /dYRkεm/ Émile (1858–1917), French sociologist, one of the founders of modern sociology. He became the first professor of sociology at the Sorbonne (1913). Notable works: The Division of Labour in Society (1893) and Suicide (1897).

durmast oak /dəmαst/ n. another term for SESSILE OAK.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: durmast perhaps originally an error for dunmast, from DUN^1 + MAST^2.

durn v., excl., adj. & adv.

■ US dialect form of darn^2.

durned adj. & adv.

■ US dialect form of DARNED.

Duroc /djərk/ n. a pig of a reddish breed developed in North America.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from the name of a stallion that is said to have been bought by the breeder Isaac Frink on the same day as the pigs from which he developed the breed.

durra /drə dərə/ n. [mass noun] grain sorghum of the principal variety grown from NE Africa to India.

<INFO> Sorghum bicolor (var. durra), family Gramineae; white durra is var. (cernuum).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Arabic ura, urra.

Durrell^1 /drəl/ Gerald (Malcolm) (1925–95), English zoologist and writer, younger brother of Lawrence Durrell. In 1958 he founded a zoo (later the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust) devoted to the conservation and captive breeding of endangered species. Notable works: My Family and Other Animals (1956).

Durrell^2 /drəl/ Lawrence (George) (1912–90), English novelist, poet, and travel writer, brother of Gerald Durrell. He spent much of his life abroad, particularly in the Mediterranean. Notable works: Alexandria Quartet (four novels, 1957–60) and Prospero's Cell (travel, 1945).

Durrës /drəs/ a port and resort in Albania, on the Adriatic coast; pop. 112,300 (est. 2002). Italian name DURAZZO.

durry n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a cigarette.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: of unknown origin.

durst archaic or regional past of DARE.

durum /djərəm/ (also durum wheat) n. [mass noun] a kind of hard wheat grown in arid regions, having bearded ears and yielding flour that is used to make pasta.

<INFO> Triticum durum, family Gramineae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin, neuter of durus ‘hard’, used in the species name since 1798.

durwan /dəwαn/ n. INDIAN a porter or doorkeeper.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Urdu darwān, from Persian.

durzi /dəzi/ n. (pl. durzis) INDIAN a tailor.

<ORIGIN> Urdu, from Persian darzī, from darz ‘sewing’.

Duse /d(j)uze/ Eleonora (1858–1924), Italian actress, best known for her tragic roles, particularly in plays by Ibsen and Gabriele d'Annunzio.

Dushanbe /duanbe/ the capital of Tajikistan; pop. 562,000 (2000). Former name (1929–61) Stalinabad.

dusk n. the darker stage of twilight: dusk was falling rapidly | working the land from dawn to dusk.

- [mass noun] LITERARY semi-darkness: the dusk of the vestry.

■ v. [no obj.] LITERARY grow dark: (as adj. dusking) he saw the lights blaze in the dusking sky.

■ adj. LITERARY shadowy, dim, or dark.

<ORIGIN> Old English dox ‘dark, swarthy’ and doxian ‘darken in colour’, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German tusin ‘darkish’; compare with dun^1 The noun dates from the early 17th century The change in form from -x to -sk occurred in Middle English.

dusky adj. (duskier, duskiest) darkish in colour: dusky red | a dusky complexion.

- DATED used in euphemistic or poetic reference to black or other dark-skinned people: a dusky Moorish maiden.

- LITERARY dim: dusky light came from a small window.

- [attr.] used in names of animals with dark coloration, e.g. dusky dolphin, dusky warbler.

<DERIVATIVES> duskily adv. duskiness n.

Dussehra /dərə/ (also Dasehra, Dusserah) n. the tenth and final day of the Hindu festival of Navaratri, usually in October. In southern India it especially commemorates the victory of the god Rama over the demon king Ravana.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi daśahrā, from Sanskrit daśaharā.

Düsseldorf /ds(ə)ldf/ German /dYsldrf/ an industrial city of NW Germany, on the Rhine, capital of North Rhine-Westphalia; pop. 568,300 (2002 est.).

dust n. 1 [mass noun] fine, dry powder consisting of tiny particles of earth or waste matter lying on the ground or on surfaces or carried in the air: the car sent up clouds of dust.

- [with modifier] any material in the form of tiny particles: coal dust.

- [in sing.] a fine powder: he ground it into a fine dust.

- [in sing.] a cloud of dust.

- LITERARY a dead person's remains: scatter my dust and ashes.

- LITERARY the mortal human body: the soul, that dwells within your dust.

2 [in sing.] an act of dusting: a quick dust, to get rid of the cobwebs.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 remove the dust or dirt from the surface of (something) by wiping or brushing it: I broke the vase I had been dusting | pick yourself up and dust yourself down | [no obj.] she washed and dusted and tidied.

- (dust something down/off) bring something out for use again after a long period of neglect: a number of aircraft will be dusted off and returned to flight.

2 cover lightly with a powdered substance: roll out on a surface dusted with icing sugar.

- sprinkle (a powdered substance) on to something: orange powder was dusted over the upper body.

3 US INFORMAL beat up or kill someone: the officers dusted him up a little bit.

<PHRASES>

□ be done and dusted INFORMAL (of a project) be completely finished or ready.

□ dust and ashes used to convey a feeling of great disappointment or disillusion about something: the party would be dust and ashes if he couldn't come.

□ the dust settles things quieten down: she hoped that the dust would settle quickly and the episode be forgotten.

□ eat someone's dust NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL fall far behind someone in a competitive situation.

□ gather (or collect) dust remain unused: some professors let their computers gather dust.

□ leave someone/thing in the dust surpass someone or something easily: today's modems leave their predecessors in the dust.

□ not see someone for dust find that a person has made a hasty departure.

□ kick up (a) dust INFORMAL create a disturbance.

<DERIVATIVES> dustless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English dūst, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch duist ‘chaff’.

dustball n. NORTH AMERICAN a ball of dust and fluff.

dust bath n. a bird's act of rolling in dust to clean its feathers.

dustbin n. BRITISH a container for household refuse, especially one kept outside.

dustbin man n. (pl. dustbin men) BRITISH a dustman.

dust bowl n. an area of land where vegetation has been lost and soil reduced to dust and eroded, especially as a consequence of drought or unsuitable farming practice.

- (the Dust Bowl) an area of Oklahoma and other prairie states of the US affected by severe soil erosion in the early 1930s.

dust bunny n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a ball of dust and fluff.

Dustbuster n. TRADEMARK, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a hand-held vacuum cleaner.

dustcart n. BRITISH a vehicle used for collecting household refuse.

dustcoat n. a coat worn for protection against dust.

■ another term for duster (sense 2).

dust cover n. a dust jacket or dust sheet.

dust devil n. a small whirlwind or air vortex over land, visible as a column of dust and debris.

duster n. 1 a cloth or pad for dusting furniture.

2 (also duster coat) a woman's loose, lightweight full-length coat without buttons, of a style originally worn in the 1920s when travelling in an open car.

- NORTH AMERICAN a short, light housecoat.

3 US INFORMAL a dust storm.

dustheap n. a heap of household refuse.

dusting powder n. [mass noun] powder for dusting over something, in particular talcum powder.

dust jacket n. a removable paper cover, generally with a decorative design, used to protect a book from dirt or damage.

dustman n. (pl. dustmen) BRITISH a man employed to remove household refuse from dustbins.

dustpan n. a flat hand-held receptacle into which dust and waste can be swept from the floor.

dust sheet n. BRITISH a large sheet for covering furniture or flooring to protect it from dust or while decorating.

dust shot n. [mass noun] the smallest size of gunshot.

dust storm n. a strong, turbulent wind which carries clouds of fine dust, soil, and sand over a large area.

dust trap n. something on, in, or under which dust readily gathers.

dust-up n. INFORMAL a fight or quarrel: he'd had a dust-up with Vera.

dust wrapper n. another term for DUST JACKET.

dusty adj. (dustier, dustiest) covered with, full of, or resembling dust: dusty old records | a hot, dusty road.

- (of a colour) dull or muted: patches of pale gold and dusty pink.

- staid and uninteresting: a dusty old bore.

<PHRASES>

□ a dusty answer BRITISH a curt and unhelpful reply.

□ not so dusty BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED (of a person's health or situation) fairly good.

<DERIVATIVES> dustily adv. dustiness n.

dusty miller n. a plant of the daisy family with whitish or greyish foliage.

<INFO> Several species in the family Compositae, in particular the cultivated Artemisia stellerana of North America and Senecio cineraria of the Mediterranean.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named from the fine powder on the flowers and leaves.

Dutch adj. relating to the Netherlands or its people or their language.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the language of the Netherlands, spoken by some 20 million people.

2 (as plural n. the Dutch) the people of the Netherlands collectively.

Dutch belongs to the West Germanic branch of Indo-European languages and is most closely related to German and English. It is also the official language of Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, and is spoken in northern Belgium, where it is called Flemish.

<PHRASES>

□ go Dutch share the cost of something, especially a meal, equally.

□ in Dutch US INFORMAL, DATED in trouble: he's been getting in Dutch at school.

<ORIGIN> from Middle Dutch dutsch ‘Dutch, Netherlandish, German’: the English word originally denoted speakers of both High and Low German, but became more specific after the United Provinces adopted the Low German of Holland as the national language on independence in 1579.

dutch n. (usually one's old dutch) BRITISH INFORMAL (especially among cockneys) one's wife.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of DUCHESS.

Dutch auction n. a method of selling in which the price is reduced until a buyer is found.

Dutch barn n. BRITISH a farm building with a curved roof set over a steel, timber, or concrete frame without walls, used for storing hay.

Dutch cap n. 1 a woman's lace cap with triangular flaps on each side, worn as part of Dutch traditional dress.

2 see cap^1 (sense 4 of the noun).

Dutch clover n. another term for WHITE CLOVER.

Dutch courage n. [mass noun] strength or confidence gained from drinking alcohol: I'll have a couple of drinks to give me Dutch courage.

Dutch doll n. BRITISH a jointed wooden doll.

Dutch door n. NORTH AMERICAN a stable door.

Dutch East India Company a Dutch trading company founded in 1602 to protect Dutch trading interests in the Indian Ocean.

Dutch East Indies former name (until 1949) for INDONESIA.

Dutch elm disease n. [mass noun] a fungal disease of elm trees that is spread by elm bark beetles. A virulent strain of the fungus which arose in North America has destroyed the majority of elms in southern Britain.

<INFO> The fungus is Ceratocystis ulmi, subdivision Ascomycotina.

Dutch Guiana former name (until 1948) for SURINAME.

Dutch hoe n. a hoe used with a pushing action just under the surface of the soil.

dutchie n. W. INDIAN a large, heavy cooking pot.

<ORIGIN> from DUTCH OVEN.

Dutch interior n. a painting of the interior of a Dutch house in a style characteristic of the work of 17th-century genre painters.

Dutch light n. a cold frame in which the glass is a single large pane.

Dutchman (or Dutchwoman) n. (pl. Dutchmen or Dutchwomen) a native or national of the Netherlands, or a person of Dutch descent.

- S. African DEROGATORY an Afrikaner.

<PHRASES>

□ I'm a Dutchman BRITISH used to express one's disbelief or as a way of underlining an emphatic assertion: if she's seventeen, I'm a Dutchman.

Dutchman's breeches n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a plant related to bleeding heart, but typically having pale yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Dicentra, family Fumariaceae: several species, in particular D. spectabilis.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: so named because of the shape of the spurred flower.

Dutchman's pipe n. a vigorous climbing vine with hooked tubular flowers, native to eastern North America.

<INFO> Aristolochia durior, family Aristolochiaceae.

Dutch metal n. [mass noun] an alloy of copper and zinc used in imitation of gold leaf.

Dutch New Guinea former name (until 1963) for IRIAN JAYA.

Dutch oven n. a covered earthenware or cast-iron container for cooking casseroles.

- chiefly HISTORICAL a large cooking pot or metal box serving as a simple oven, heated by being placed under or next to hot coals.

- S. AFRICAN a brick or clay oven traditionally built into the side of a kitchen hearth or as a free-standing structure outside a house.

Dutch Reformed Church a branch of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, formed during the Reformation. It was replaced in 1816 by the Netherlands Reformed Church.

- the dominant branch of the Protestant Church among Afrikaners in South Africa.

Dutch tile n. a kind of glazed white tile painted with traditional Dutch motifs in blue or brown.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. Dutch-tiled) decorate with such tiles: Dutch-tiled fireplaces.

Dutch treat n. an outing, meal, or other special occasion at which each participant pays for their share of the expenses.

Dutch uncle n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person giving firm but benevolent advice.

Dutch West India Company a Dutch trading company founded in 1621 to develop Dutch trading interests in western India, South America, and West Africa.

Dutch wife n. a bolster used for resting the legs in bed.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: extended use of the term, earlier describing a rattan open frame used in the Dutch Indies to support the limbs in bed.

duteous /djutəs/ adj. ARCHAIC dutiful: a duteous vassal.

<DERIVATIVES> duteously adv. duteousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from DUTY, on the pattern of words such as bounteous.

dutiable /djutəb(ə)l/ adj. liable to customs or other duties: dutiable goods.

dutiful adj. conscientiously or obediently fulfilling one's duty: a dutiful daughter.

- motivated by duty rather than desire or enthusiasm: dutiful applause | a dutiful visit.

<DERIVATIVES> dutifully adv. dutifulness n.

duty n. (pl. duties) 1 a moral or legal obligation; a responsibility: it's my duty to uphold the law | she was determined to do her duty as a citizen | [mass noun] a strong sense of duty.

- [as modifier] (of a visit or other undertaking) done from a sense of moral obligation rather than for pleasure: a fifteen-minute duty visit.

2 (often duties) a task or action that one is required to perform as part of one's job: the queen's official duties | your duties will include operating the switchboard | [mass noun] Juliet reported for duty.

- [as modifier] (of a person) engaged in their regular work: a duty nurse.

- [mass noun] (also duties) performance of prescribed church services by a priest or minister: he was willing to take Sunday duties.

3 a payment levied on the import, export, manufacture, or sale of goods: a 6 per cent duty on imports | [mass noun] goods subject to excise duty.

- BRITISH a payment levied on the transfer of property, for licences, and for the legal recognition of documents.

4 TECHNICAL the measure of an engine's effectiveness in units of work done per unit of fuel.

<PHRASES>

□ do duty as (or for) serve or act as a substitute for something else: the rusting shack which did duty as the bridge.

□ on (or off) duty engaged (or not engaged) in one's regular work: the doorman had gone off duty and the lobby was unattended.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French duete, from Old French deu (see DUE).

duty-bound adj. [with infinitive] morally or legally obliged to do something: legitimate news stories which the press is duty-bound to report.

duty cycle n. the cycle of operation of a machine or other device which operates intermittently rather than continuously.

duty-free adj. & adv. exempt from payment of duty: [as adj.] the permitted number of duty-free goods | [as adv.] most EC goods enter almost duty-free.

- [as adj.] (of a shop or area) selling or trading in goods that are exempt from payment of duty.

■ n. [mass noun] (also duty-frees) goods that are exempt from payment of duty: a bag of duty-free.

duty officer n. an officer, especially in the police or armed forces, who is on duty at a particular time.

duty-paid adj. on which the cost of duty has been met: limits on duty-paid goods.

duumvir /djumvə/ n. (in ancient Rome) each of two magistrates or officials holding a joint office.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from duum virum ‘of the two men’.

duumvirate /djumvrət/ n. a coalition of two people having joint authority or influence.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin duumviratus.

Duvalier /djuvale/ François (1907–71), Haitian statesman, President 1957–71; known as Papa Doc. His regime was noted for its oppressive nature, opponents being assassinated or forced into exile by his security force, the Tontons Macoutes. He was succeeded by his son Jean-Claude (b.1951), known as Baby Doc, who was overthrown in 1986.

duvet /d(j)uve/ n. chiefly BRITISH a soft quilt filled with down, feathers, or a synthetic fibre, used instead of an upper sheet and blankets.

- (also duvet jacket) a thick down-filled jacket worn by mountaineers.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, literally ‘down’ (see down^2).

duvet day n. INFORMAL an unscheduled extra day's leave from work, taken to alleviate stress or pressure and sanctioned by one's employer.

dux /dks/ n. (pl. duces /djusiz/) chiefly SCOTTISH the top pupil in a school or class.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting the leading voice or instrument in a fugue or canon): from Latin, ‘leader’.

duxelles /dks(ə)lz dksεl/ n. [mass noun] a preparation of mushrooms sautéed with onions, shallots, garlic, and parsley and used to make stuffing or sauce.

<ORIGIN> named after the Marquis d'Uxelles, a 17th-cent. French nobleman.

DV abbr. FORMAL Deo volente: this time next week (DV) I shall be among the mountains.

DVD n. (pl. DVDs) a type of compact disc able to store large amounts of data, especially high-resolution audio-visual material.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: abbreviation of digital versatile disc (originally of digital video disc).

DVD-R n. a DVD which can be recorded on once only.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of DVD recordable.

DVD-ROM n. a DVD used in a computer for displaying data.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation from DVD read-only memory.

DVD-RW (also DVD-RAM) n. a DVD on which recordings can be made and erased a number of times.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of DVD rewritable (or random-access memory).

DVLA abbr. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

Dvořák /dvak -αk/ Antonín (1841–1904), Czech composer. Combining folk elements with the Viennese musical tradition, he wrote chamber music, operas, and songs, but is best known for his ninth symphony (‘From the New World’, 1892–5).

DVT abbr. deep-vein thrombosis.

dwaal /dwαl/ n. S. African INFORMAL a dreamy, dazed, or absent-minded state: you're in a real dwaal!

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans.

dwale /dwel/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC deadly nightshade or belladonna.

- a soporific drink formerly made from this.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Danish dvale ‘deep sleep, stupor’, dvaledrik ‘sleeping draught’.

dwam /dwαm/ n. chiefly SCOTTISH a state of semi-consciousness or reverie.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from the Germanic base of DWELL; compare with Middle Dutch dwelm ‘stupefaction’, also with Old English dwolma ‘confusion’.

dwarf n. (pl. dwarfs or dwarves) 1 (in folklore or fantasy literature) a member of a mythical race of short, stocky human-like creatures who are generally skilled in mining and metalworking.

- an abnormally small person.

- [as modifier] denoting something, especially an animal or plant, which is much smaller than the usual size for its type or species: a dwarf conifer.

2 (also dwarf star) [ASTRONOMY] a star of relatively small size and low luminosity, including the majority of main sequence stars.

■ v. [with obj.] cause to seem small or insignificant in comparison: the buildings surround and dwarf All Saints church.

- stunt the growth or development of: (as adj. dwarfed) the dwarfed but solid branch of a tree.

<DERIVATIVES> dwarfish adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English dweorg, dweorh, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dwerg and German Zwerg.

<USAGE> In the sense ‘an abnormally small person’, dwarf is normally considered offensive. However, there are no accepted alternatives in the general language, since terms such as person of restricted growth have gained little currency.

dwarfism n. [mass noun] (in medical or technical contexts) unusually or abnormally low stature or small size.

dwarf planet n. [ASTRONOMY] a celestial body resembling a small planet but lacking certain technical criteria that are required for it to be classed as such.

dweeb n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a boring, studious, or socially inept person.

<DERIVATIVES> dweebish adj. dweeby adj. (dweebier, dweebiest)

<ORIGIN> 1980s: perhaps a blend of DWARF and early 20th-cent. feeb ‘a feeble-minded person’ (from FEEBLE).

dwell v. (past and past participle dwelt or dwelled) [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial of place] FORMAL live in or at a specified place: groups of gypsies still dwell in these caves | (as adj., in combination -dwelling) bottom-dwelling fish.

2 (dwell on/upon) think, speak, or write at length about (a particular subject, especially one that is a source of unhappiness, anxiety, or dissatisfaction): I've got better things to do than dwell on the past.

- (dwell on/upon) (of one's eyes or attention) linger on (a particular object or place): she let her eyes dwell on them for a moment.

■ n. TECHNICAL a slight regular pause in the motion of a machine.

<DERIVATIVES> dweller n. [in combination] city-dwellers

<ORIGIN> Old English dwellan ‘lead astray, hinder, delay’ (in Middle English ‘tarry, remain in a place’), of Germanic origin; related to Middle Dutch dwellen ‘stun, perplex’ and Old Norse dvelja ‘delay, tarry, stay’.

dwelling (also dwelling place) n. FORMAL a house, flat, or other place of residence.

dwelling house n. [LAW] a house used as a residence rather than for business.

dwell time n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL time spent in the same position, area, stage of a process, etc.

DWEM abbr. dead white European male.

DWI abbr. US driving while intoxicated.

dwindle v. [no obj.] diminish gradually in size, amount, or strength: traffic has dwindled to a trickle | (as adj. dwindling) dwindling resources.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: frequentative of Scots and dialect dwine ‘fade away’, from Old English dwīnan, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Dutch dwīnen and Old Norse dvína.

DWM abbr. dead white male.

DWP abbr. (in the UK) Department for Work and Pensions.

dwt abbr.

- deadweight tonnage: a 40,000 dwt slipway.

- pennyweight.

DY abbr. Benin (international vehicle registration).

<ORIGIN> from DAHOMEY.

Dy symbol the chemical element dysprosium.

dyad /dad/ n. TECHNICAL something that consists of two elements or parts.

- [MATHEMATICS] an operator which is a combination of two vectors.

<DERIVATIVES> dyadic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally denoting the number two or a pair): from late Latin dyas, dyad-, from Greek duas, from duo ‘two’. Current senses date from the late 19th cent.

dybbuk /dbk/ n. (pl. dybbuks or dybbukim /-km/) (in Jewish folklore) a malevolent wandering spirit that enters and possesses the body of a living person until exorcized.

<ORIGIN> from Yiddish dibek, from Hebrew dibbūq, from dāaq ‘cling’.

dye n. [mass noun] a natural or synthetic substance used to add a colour to or change the colour of something: blonde hair dye | [count noun] a black dye.

■ v. (dyes, dyeing, dyed) [with obj.] add a colour to or change the colour of (something) by soaking it in a solution impregnated with a dye: [with complement] I dyed my hair blonde | (as adj. dyed) dyed black hair.

- [no obj.] take colour well or badly during such a process: it's good material—it should dye well.

<PHRASES>

□ dyed in the wool unchanging in a particular belief or opinion; inveterate: she's a true blue dyed-in-the-wool Conservative. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to the fact that yarn was dyed in the raw state, producing a more even and permanent colour.]

<DERIVATIVES> dyeable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English dēag (noun), dēagian (verb). The noun is not recorded from Old English to the late 16th century, when it was re-formed from the verb.

dye laser n. a tunable laser using the fluorescence of an organic dye.

dyeline n. [usually as modifier] a diazo copying or colouring process.

dyer n. a person whose trade is the dyeing of cloth or other material.

dyer's greenweed n. [mass noun] a bushy yellow-flowered Eurasian plant of the pea family, which has become naturalized in North America. The flowers were formerly used to make a yellow or green dye.

<INFO> Genista tinctoria, family Leguminosae.

dyer's oak n. another term for VALONIA.

dyer's rocket n. another term for weld^2.

dyestuff n. a substance yielding a dye or that can be used as a dye, especially when in solution.

Dyfed /dvεd/ a former county of SW Wales 1974–96, which included the present counties of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire.

dying adj. on the point of death: he visited his dying mother.

- occurring at or connected with the time that someone dies: he strained to catch her dying words.

- gradually ceasing to exist or function; in decline and about to disappear: the making of valves is a dying art | the dying embers of the fire.

- (of a period of time) final; closing: the dying moments of the match.

<PHRASES>

□ to (or until) one's dying day for the rest of one's life: he will regret that decision to his dying day.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: present participle of die^1.

dyke^1 (also dike) n. 1 a long wall or embankment built to prevent flooding from the sea.

- [often in place names] a low wall or earthwork serving as a boundary or defence: Offa's Dyke.

- a causeway.

2 a ditch or watercourse.

3 [GEOLOGY] an intrusion of igneous rock cutting across existing strata. Compare with SILL.

4 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL, DATED a toilet.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. dyked) provide (land) with a wall or embankment to prevent flooding.

<PHRASES>

□ put one's finger in the dyke attempt to stem the advance of something undesirable. [<ORIGIN> from a story of a small Dutch boy who saved his community from flooding, by placing his finger in a hole in a dyke.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a trench or ditch): from Old Norse dík, related to DITCH.

■ Sense 1 of the noun has been influenced by Middle Low German dīk ‘dam’ and Middle Dutch dijc ‘ditch, dam’.

dyke^2 (also dike) n. INFORMAL a lesbian.

<DERIVATIVES> dykey adj. (dykier, dykiest)

<ORIGIN> 1940s (earlier as BULLDYKE): of unknown origin.

Dylan /dlən/ Bob (b.1941), American singer and songwriter; born Robert Allen Zimmerman. The leader of an urban folk-music revival in the 1960s, he became known for political and protest songs such as ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964). Notable albums: Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blood on the Tracks (1975).

dyn abbr. dyne.

dynamic /dnamk/ adj. 1 (of a process or system) characterized by constant change, activity, or progress: a dynamic economy.

- (of a person) positive in attitude and full of energy and new ideas: a dynamic young advertising executive.

- [PHYSICS] relating to forces producing motion. Often contrasted with STATIC.

- [LINGUISTICS] (of a verb) expressing an action, activity, event, or process. Contrasted with STATIVE.

2 [ELECTRONICS] (of a memory device) needing to be refreshed by the periodic application of a voltage.

3 [MUSIC] relating to the volume of sound produced by an instrument, voice, or recording.

■ n. 1 a force that stimulates change or progress within a system or process: evaluation is part of the basic dynamic of the project.

2 [MUSIC] another term for dynamics (sense 3).

<DERIVATIVES> dynamical adj. dynamically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (as a term in physics): from French dynamique, from Greek dunamikos, from dunamis ‘power’.

dynamic equilibrium n. a state of balance between continuing processes.

dynamic metamorphism n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] metamorphism produced by mechanical forces.

dynamic pricing n. [mass noun] the practice of pricing items at a level determined by a particular customer's perceived ability to pay.

dynamic range n. the range of acceptable or possible volumes of sound occurring in the course of a piece of music or a performance.

- the ratio of the largest to the smallest intensity of sound that can be reliably transmitted or reproduced by a particular sound system, measured in decibels.

dynamics plural n. 1 [treated as sing.] the branch of mechanics concerned with the motion of bodies under the action of forces. Compare with STATICS.

- [usually with modifier] the branch of any science in which forces or changes are considered: chemical dynamics.

2 the forces or properties which stimulate growth, development, or change within a system or process: the dynamics of changing social relations.

3 [MUSIC] the varying levels of volume of sound in different parts of a musical performance.

<DERIVATIVES> dynamicist n.

■ dynamics (sense 1)

dynamic viscosity n. a quantity measuring the force needed to overcome internal friction in a fluid.

dynamism n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being characterized by vigorous activity and progress: the dynamism and strength of the economy.

- the quality of being dynamic and positive in attitude: he was known for his dynamism and strong views.

2 [PHILOSOPHY], chiefly HISTORICAL the theory that phenomena of matter or mind are due to the action of forces rather than to motion or matter.

<DERIVATIVES> dynamist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek dunamis ‘power’ + -ISM.

dynamite n. [mass noun] a high explosive consisting of nitroglycerine mixed with an absorbent material and typically moulded into sticks.

- FIGURATIVE something that could generate extreme reactions or have devastating repercussions: that roads policy is political dynamite.

- INFORMAL an extremely impressive or exciting person or thing: both her albums are dynamite | [as modifier] a chick with a dynamite figure.

- INFORMAL, DATED a narcotic, especially heroin.

■ v. [with obj.] blow up (something) with dynamite.

<DERIVATIVES> dynamiter n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek dunamis ‘power’ + -ITE^1.

dynamize (also dynamise) v. [with obj.] give power or energy to; make dynamic.

<DERIVATIVES> dynamization n.

dynamo n. (pl. dynamos) chiefly BRITISH a machine for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy, typically by means of rotating coils of copper wire in a magnetic field.

- INFORMAL an extremely energetic person: she was a dynamo in London politics.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of dynamo-electric machine, from Greek dunamis ‘power’.

dynamometer /dnəmmtə/ n. an instrument which measures the power output of an engine.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French dynamomètre, from Greek dunamis ‘power’ + French -mètre ‘(instrument) measuring’.

dynast /dnəst dnəst -nast/ n. a member of a powerful family, especially a hereditary ruler.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via Latin from Greek dunastēs, from dunasthai ‘be able’.

dynasty /dnəsti/ n. (pl. dynasties) a line of hereditary rulers of a country: the Tang dynasty.

- a succession of people from the same family who play a prominent role in business, politics, or another field: the Guinness dynasty.

<DERIVATIVES> dynastic /dnastk dnastk/ adj. dynastically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French dynastie, or via late Latin from Greek dunasteia ‘lordship, power’, from dunastēs (see DYNAST).

dyne /dn/ n. [PHYSICS] a unit of force that, acting on a mass of one gram, increases its velocity by one centimetre per second every second along the direction that it acts.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from Greek dunamis ‘force, power’.

dyno n. (pl. dynos) 1 short for DYNAMOMETER.

2 [CLIMBING] a rapid move across a rock face in order to reach a hold.

■ v. (dynos, dynoing, dyno'd or dynoed) 1 [with obj.] measure (the output of an engine) with a dynamometer.

2 [no obj.] (in mountaineering) climb using dynos.

dynode /dnəd/ n. [ELECTRONICS] an intermediate electrode which emits additional electrons in a photomultiplier or similar amplifying device.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek dunamis ‘power’ + -ODE^2.

dys- /ds/ combining form bad; difficult (used especially in medical terms): dyspepsia | dysphasia.

<ORIGIN> from Greek dus-; related to German zer-, also to Old English to-.

dysaesthesia /dssθizə/ (US dysesthesia) n. (pl. dysaesthesiae /-zi/ or dysaesthesias) MEDICINE an abnormal unpleasant sensation felt when touched, caused by damage to peripheral nerves.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek dusaisthēsia, from DYS- ‘bad’ + aisthēsis ‘sensation’ + -IA^1.

dysarthria /dsαθrə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE difficult or unclear articulation of speech that is otherwise linguistically normal.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DYS- ‘difficult’ + Greek arthron ‘joint or articulation’.

dyscalculia /dskalkjulə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] severe difficulty in making arithmetical calculations, as a result of brain disorder.

dyscrasia /dskrezə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an abnormal or disordered state of the body or of a bodily part.

<DERIVATIVES> dyscrasic adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an imbalance of physical qualities): via late Latin from Greek duskrasia ‘bad combination’, from dus- ‘bad’ + krasis ‘mixture’.

dysentery /ds(ə)nt(ə)ri/ n. [mass noun] infection of the intestines resulting in severe diarrhoea with the presence of blood and mucus in the faeces.

<INFO> Amoebic dysentery is caused by the protozoan Entamoeba histolytica, mainly in warm climates, and spread by contaminated water and food; bacterial dysentery is caused by bacteria of the genus Shigella and can also spread by contact (see SHIGELLA).

<DERIVATIVES> dysenteric /-tεrk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French dissenterie, or via Latin from Greek dusenteria, from dusenteros ‘afflicted in the bowels’, from dus- ‘bad’ + entera ‘bowels’.

dysfunction n. [mass noun] abnormality or impairment in the operation of a specified bodily organ or system: bowel dysfunction.

- disruption of normal social relations: inner-city dysfunction.

dysfunctional adj. not operating normally or properly: the telephones are dysfunctional.

- unable to deal adequately with normal social relations: an emotionally dysfunctional businessman | dysfunctional families.

<DERIVATIVES> dysfunctionally adv.

dysgenic /dsdεnk/ adj. exerting a detrimental effect on later generations through the inheritance of undesirable characteristics: dysgenic breeding.

dysgraphia /dsrafə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] inability to write coherently, as a symptom of brain disease or damage.

<DERIVATIVES> dysgraphic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from DYS- ‘difficult’ + Greek -graphia ‘writing’.

dyskinesia /dskniziə -k-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormality or impairment of voluntary movement.

dyslalia /dslelə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inability to articulate comprehensible speech, especially when associated with the use of private words or sounds.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from DYS- ‘difficult’ + Greek lalia ‘speech’.

dyslexia /dslεksə/ n. [mass noun] a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.

<DERIVATIVES> dyslectic adj. & n. dyslexic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from DYS- ‘difficult’ + Greek lexis ‘speech’ (apparently by confusion of Greek legein ‘to speak’ and Latin legere ‘to read’).

dysmenorrhoea /dsmεnəriə/ (US dysmenorrhea) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE painful menstruation, typically involving abdominal cramps.

dysmorphia /dsmfə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE deformity or abnormality in the shape or size of a specified part of the body: muscle dysmorphia.

<DERIVATIVES> dysmorphic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek dusmorphia ‘misshapenness, ugliness’, from dus-

■ dys- + morphē ‘form’.

dyspareunia /dspərunə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE difficult or painful sexual intercourse.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from DYS- ‘difficult’ + Greek pareunos ‘lying with’.

dyspepsia /dspεpsə/ n. [mass noun] indigestion.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: via Latin from Greek duspepsia, from duspeptos ‘difficult to digest’.

dyspeptic adj. having indigestion or a consequent air of irritable bad temper.

■ n. a person who suffers from indigestion or bad temper.

dysphagia /dsfedə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE difficulty or discomfort in swallowing, as a symptom of disease: progressive dysphagia.

dysphasia /dsfezə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] language disorder marked by deficiency in the generation of speech, and sometimes also in its comprehension, due to brain disease or damage.

<DERIVATIVES> dysphasic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek dusphatos ‘hard to utter’, from dus- ‘difficult’ + phatos ‘spoken’.

dysphemism /dsfmz(ə)m/ n. a derogatory or unpleasant term used instead of a pleasant or neutral one. The opposite of EUPHEMISM.

dysphonia /dsfənə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE difficulty in speaking due to a physical disorder of the mouth, tongue, throat, or vocal cords.

dysphoria /dsfrə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] a state of unease or generalized dissatisfaction with life. The opposite of EUPHORIA.

<DERIVATIVES> dysphoric adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek dusphoria, from dusphoros ‘hard to bear’.

dysplasia /dsplezə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the enlargement of an organ or tissue by the proliferation of cells of an abnormal type, as a developmental disorder or an early stage in the development of cancer.

<DERIVATIVES> dysplastic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from DYS- ‘bad’ + Greek plasis ‘formation’.

dyspnoea /dspniə/ (US dyspnea) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE difficult or laboured breathing.

<DERIVATIVES> dyspnoeic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via Latin from Greek duspnoia, from dus- ‘difficult’ + pnoē ‘breathing’.

dyspraxia /dspraksə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a developmental disorder of the brain in childhood causing difficulty in activities requiring coordination and movement.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek dus- ‘bad or difficult’ + praxis ‘action’.

dysprosium /dsprəzəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 66, a soft silvery-white metal of the lanthanide series. (Symbol: Dy)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek dusprositos ‘hard to get at’ + -IUM.

dysrhythmia /dsrmə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormality in a physiological rhythm, especially in the activity of the brain or heart.

<DERIVATIVES> dysrhythmic adj. dysrhythmical adj.

dysthymia /dsθmə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] persistent mild depression.

<DERIVATIVES> dysthymic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek dusthumia.

dystocia /dstəə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE & [VETERINARY] difficult birth, typically caused by a large or awkwardly positioned fetus, by smallness of the maternal pelvis, or by failure of the uterus and cervix to contract and expand normally.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek dustokia, from dus- ‘difficult’ + tokos ‘childbirth’.

dystonia /dstənə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a state of abnormal muscle tone resulting in muscular spasm and abnormal posture, typically due to neurological disease or a side effect of drug therapy.

<DERIVATIVES> dystonic adj.

dystopia /dstəpə/ n. an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. The opposite of UTOPIA.

<DERIVATIVES> dystopian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from DYS- ‘bad’ + UTOPIA.

dystrophia myotonica /dstrəfə mətnkə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a form of muscular dystrophy in which myotonia also occurs.

dystrophic /dstrəfk -trfk/ adj. 1 MEDICINE affected by or relating to dystrophy, especially muscular dystrophy.

2 [ECOLOGY] (of a lake) having brown acidic water that is low in oxygen and supports little life, owing to high levels of dissolved humus. Compare with EUTROPHIC and OLIGOTROPHIC.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek dus- ‘bad’ + -trophia ‘nourishment’ + -IC.

dystrophin /dstrəfn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein found in skeletal muscle, which is absent in sufferers from muscular dystrophy.

dystrophy /dstrəfi/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE & [VETERINARY] a disorder in which an organ or tissue of the body wastes away. See also MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin dystrophia, from Greek dus- ‘bad’ + -trophia ‘nourishment’.

dysuria /dsjərə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE painful or difficult urination.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek dusouria, from dus- ‘difficult’ + ouron ‘urine’.

dytiscid /dtskd -sd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a beetle of a family (Dytiscidae) that comprises most water beetles.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Dytiscidae, from Dytiscus (genus name), from Greek dutikos ‘able to dive’, from duein ‘dive’.

DZ abbr.

- Algeria (international vehicle registration). [<ORIGIN> from Arabic Djazïr.]

- drop zone.

Dzaoudzi /dzadzi/ the former capital of the French island of Mayotte and of the Comoros; pop. 14,300 (est. 2002).

Dzaudzhikau /dzadka/ former name (1944–54) for Vladikavkaz.

Dzerzhinsk /dzənsk/ a city in west central Russia, west of Nizhni Novgorod; pop. 277,000 (est. 2002). Former names CHERNORECHYE and RASTYAPINO.

Dzerzhinsky /dzənski/ Feliks (Edmundovich) (1877–1926), Russian Bolshevik leader, of Polish descent. He was the organizer and first head of the post-revolutionary Soviet security police (the Cheka, later the OGPU).

dzo /ə zə/ (also dzho or zho) n. (pl. same or dzos) a hybrid of a cow and a yak.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Tibetan dso.

Dzongkha /zkə/ n. [mass noun] the official language of Bhutan, closely related to Tibetan.

<ORIGIN> Tibetan.

E^1 (also e) n. (pl. Es or E's) 1 the fifth letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the fifth in a set of items, categories, sizes, etc.

- the fifth-highest class of academic mark.

- (e) [CHESS] denoting the fifth file from the left, as viewed from White's side of the board.

- denoting the lowest-earning socio-economic category for marketing purposes.

2 (E) a shape like that of a capital E: [in combination] an E-shaped stately home.

3 (E) [MUSIC] the third note of the diatonic scale of C major.

- a key based on a scale with E as its keynote.

E^2 abbr.

- East or Eastern: 139° E.

- INFORMAL the drug Ecstasy or a tablet of Ecstasy.

- [in combination] denoting products, in particular food additives, which comply with EU regulations. See also E-NUMBER.

- [in combination] (in units of measurement) exa- (10^18).

- Spain (international vehicle registration). [<ORIGIN> from Spanish España.]

■ symbol [PHYSICS] electric field strength.

- electromotive force.

- energy: E = mc^2.

<PHRASES>

□ the three Es economy, efficiency, and effectiveness.

e symbol

- (€) euro or euros.

- (also e−) [CHEMISTRY] an electron.

- (e) [MATHEMATICS] the transcendental number that is the base of Napierian or natural logarithms, approximately equal to 2.71828.

e-1 prefix variant spelling of ex-1 (as in elect, emit).

e-2 prefix denoting the use of electronic data transfer in cyberspace, especially through the Internet: e-cash | e-zine.

<ORIGIN> from ELECTRONIC, on the pattern of email.

ea. abbr. each: T-shirts for £9.95 ea.

each determiner & pronoun used to refer to every one of two or more people or things, regarded and identified separately: [as determiner] each battery is in a separate compartment | each one of us was asked what went on | [as pronoun] Derek had money from each of his five uncles | they each have their own personality.

■ adv. to, for, or by every one of a group (used after a noun or an amount): the cameras cost £35 each | Paul and Bill have a glass each.

<PHRASES>

□ each and every every single (used for emphasis): taking each and every opportunity.

<ORIGIN> Old English lc; related to Dutch elk and German jeglich, based on a West Germanic phrase meaning ‘ever alike’ (see aye^2, alike).

each other pron. used to refer to each member of a group when each does something to or for other members: they communicate with each other in French.

each-way adj. & adv. BRITISH (of a bet) divided into two equal wagers, one backing a horse or other competitor to win and the other backing it to finish in the first three.

- [as adj.] to come first, second, or third in a race, considered from a betting point of view: Travado has an each-way chance.

eager adj. strongly wanting to do or have something: the man was eager to please | young intellectuals eager for knowledge.

- (of a person's expression or tone of voice) keenly expectant or interested: small eager faces looked up and listened.

<PHRASES>

□ eager beaver INFORMAL a keen and enthusiastic person who works very hard.

<DERIVATIVES> eagerly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘pungent, sour’): from Old French aigre ‘keen’, from Latin acer, acr- ‘sharp, pungent’.

eagerness n. [mass noun] enthusiasm to do or to have something; keenness: the player showed eagerness to play.

eagle n. 1 a large bird of prey with a massive hooked bill and long broad wings, known for its keen sight and powerful soaring flight.

<INFO> Family Accipitridae: several genera, in particular Aquila.

- a figure of an eagle, especially as a symbol of the US.

2 [GOLF] a score of two strokes under par at a hole. [<ORIGIN> suggested by BIRDIE.]

3 US a former gold coin worth ten dollars.

■ v. [with obj.] [GOLF] play (a hole) in two strokes under par: he eagled the last to share fourth place.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aigle, from Latin aquila.

eagle eye n. a keen or close watch: she was keeping an eagle eye on Leni.

<DERIVATIVES> eagle-eyed adj.

eagle owl n. a very large Old World owl with ear tufts and a deep hoot.

<INFO> Genus Bubo, family Strigidae: several species.

eagle ray n. a large marine ray with long pointed pectoral fins, a long tail, and a distinct head.

<INFO> Family Myliobatidae: genera Myliobatis and Aetobatus, and several species.

eaglet n. a young eagle.

eagre /eə i-/ n. dialect term for bore^3.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin.

EAK abbr. Kenya (international vehicle registration).

<ORIGIN> from East Africa Kenya.

Eakins /iknz/ Thomas (1844–1916), American painter and photographer noted for his portraits and genre pictures of life in Philadelphia. His picture The Gross Clinic (1875) aroused controversy because of its explicit depiction of surgery.

Ealing Studios a film studio in Ealing, West London, active 1929–55, but remembered chiefly for the comedies it made in the post-war decade.

-ean suffix forming adjectives and nouns such as Antipodean and Pythagorean.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -aeus, -eus or Greek -aios, -eios, + -AN.

ear^1 n. the organ of hearing and balance in humans and other vertebrates, especially the external part of this.

- an organ sensitive to sound in other animals.

- [in sing.] an ability to recognize, appreciate, and reproduce sounds, especially music or language: an ear for rhythm and melody.

- used to refer to a person's willingness to listen to others: she offers a sympathetic ear to worried pet owners.

The ear of a mammal is composed of three parts. The outer or external ear consists of a fleshy external flap and a tube leading to the eardrum or tympanum. The middle ear is an air-filled cavity connected to the throat, containing three small linked bones that transmit vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear. The inner ear is a complex fluid-filled labyrinth including the spiral cochlea (where vibrations are converted to nerve impulses) and the three semicircular canals (forming the organ of balance).

<PHRASES>

□ be all ears INFORMAL be listening eagerly.

□ bring something (down) about one's ears bring misfortune on oneself: she brought her world crashing about her ears.

□ one's ears are burning one is subconsciously aware of being talked about or criticized.

□ grin (or smile) from ear to ear smile broadly.

□ have something coming out of one's ears INFORMAL have a substantial amount of something: that man's got money coming out of his ears.

□ have someone's ear have access to and influence with someone: he claimed to have the prime minister's ear.

□ have (or keep) an ear to the ground be well informed about events and trends.

□ in one ear and out the other heard but quickly forgotten: whatever he tells me seems to go in one ear and out the other.

□ listen with half an ear not give one's full attention.

□ be out on one's ear INFORMAL be dismissed ignominiously.

□ up to one's ears in INFORMAL very busy with: I'm up to my ears in work here.

<DERIVATIVES> eared adj. [in combination] long-eared earless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English ēare, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch oor and German Ohr, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin auris and Greek ous.

ear^2 n. the seed-bearing head or spike of a cereal plant.

- NORTH AMERICAN a head of maize.

<ORIGIN> Old English ēar, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aar and German Ähre.

earache n. [mass noun] pain inside the ear. Also called OTALGIA.

earbashing n. INFORMAL a lengthy and reproachful speech: I picked up the phone and gave him an earbashing.

<DERIVATIVES> earbash v.

earbud n. (usually earbuds) a very small headphone, worn inside the ear.

ear candy n. [mass noun] INFORMAL light popular music that is pleasant and entertaining but intellectually undemanding.

ear defenders plural n. plugs or earmuffs which protect the eardrums from loud or persistent noise.

eardrum n. the membrane of the middle ear, which vibrates in response to sound waves; the tympanic membrane.

ear flap n. 1 a flap of material on a hat or cap, covering the ear.

2 a part of an animal's outer ear which extends out from the head as a fleshy flap or lobe.

earful n. [in sing.] INFORMAL 1 a prolonged and angry reprimand: executives got an earful about poor rail connections.

2 a loud blast of sound: an earful of white noise.

Earhart /εhαt/ Amelia (1897–1937), American aviator. In 1932 she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic solo. Her aircraft disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a subsequent round-the-world flight with the loss of Earhart and her navigator.

earhole n. the external opening of the ear.

- INFORMAL a person's ear: a clip round the earhole.

earl n. a British nobleman ranking above a viscount and below a marquess.

<ORIGIN> Old English eorl, of Germanic origin. The word earl originally denoted a man of noble rank, as opposed to a churl, also specifically a hereditary nobleman next above the rank of thane. It was later an equivalent of JARL and, under Canute and his successors, applied to the governor of divisions of England such as Wessex. In the late Old English period, as the Saxon court came under Norman influence, the word was applied to any nobleman bearing the continental title of count.

earldom n. the rank or title of an earl.

- HISTORICAL the territory governed by an earl.

earless lizard n. a small, long-legged burrowing lizard without visible external ear openings, native to North America.

<INFO> Holbrookia texana, family Iguanidae.

Earl Grey n. [mass noun] a kind of China tea flavoured with bergamot.

<ORIGIN> probably named after the 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845), said to have been given the recipe by a Chinese mandarin.

Earl Marshal n. (in the UK) the officer presiding over the College of Arms, with ceremonial duties on various royal occasions.

ear lobe n. a soft, rounded fleshy part hanging from the lower margin of the ear.

earlock n. a lock of hair over or above the ear.

Earl Palatine n. (pl. Earls Palatine) HISTORICAL an earl having royal authority within his country or domain.

early adj. (earlier, earliest) 1 happening or done before the usual or expected time: we ate an early lunch.

2 belonging or happening near the beginning of a particular period: an early goal secured victory | she's in her early fifties.

- done or occurring near the beginning of the day: we agreed to meet at 6 am to get an early start.

- denoting or belonging to the beginning of a historical period or cultural movement: early Impressionism.

- occurring at the beginning of a sequence: the earlier chapters of the book.

- (of a plant or crop) flowering or ripening before other varieties: early potatoes.

■ adv. before the usual or expected time: I want to finish work early today.

- near the beginning of a period: we lost a couple of games early in the season.

- near the beginning of the day: I wrote this piece early one morning.

- (earlier) before the present time or before the time one is referring to: you met my husband earlier.

■ n. (earlies) 1 potatoes which are ready to be harvested before the main crop.

2 INFORMAL early shifts: she is on earlies.

<PHRASES>

□ at the earliest not before the time or date specified.

□ early bird HUMOROUS a person who rises, arrives, or acts before the usual or expected time.

□ the early bird catches the worm PROVERB the person who takes the earliest opportunity to do something will gain the advantage over others.

□ early doors BRITISH INFORMAL early on, especially in a game or contest: you should try to wind up their star player early doors. [<ORIGIN> apparently originally with reference to admission to a music hall some time before the start of the performance.]

□ an early grave a premature or untimely death: he worked himself into an early grave.

□ the early hours the time after midnight and before dawn.

□ an early night an occasion when someone goes to bed before the usual time.

□ early (or earlier) on at an early (or earlier) stage in a period: they discovered early on that the published data were wrong.

□ it's (or these are) early days BRITISH INFORMAL it is too soon to be sure how a situation will develop.

<DERIVATIVES> earliness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English (as an adverb) rlīce (see ERE, -ly^2), influenced by Old Norse árliga. The adjective use dates from Middle English.

early adopter n. a person who starts using a product or technology as soon as it becomes available.

early closing n. [mass noun] BRITISH the practice of shutting business premises on a particular afternoon every week.

Early English adj. denoting the earliest stage of English Gothic church architecture, typical of the late 12th and 13th centuries and marked by the use of pointed arches and simple lancet windows without tracery.

early leaver n. a person who leaves early, especially a person who abandons a pension plan before the expected date.

early music n. [mass noun] medieval, Renaissance, and early baroque music, especially as revived and played on period instruments.

early retirement n. [mass noun] the practice of leaving employment before the statutory age, especially on favourable financial terms.

earmark v. [with obj.] 1 designate (funds or resources) for a particular purpose: the cash had been earmarked for a big expansion of the programme.

- designate a particular outcome for (someone or something): the yard has been earmarked for a complete overhaul.

2 mark the ear of (a domesticated animal) as a sign of ownership or identity.

■ n. 1 a characteristic or identifying feature: this car has all the earmarks of a classic.

2 a mark on the ear of a domesticated animal indicating ownership or identity.

earmuffs plural n. a pair of soft fabric coverings, connected by a band across the top of the head, that are worn over the ears to protect them from cold or noise.

earn v. [with obj.] 1 obtain (money) in return for labour or services: he earns his living as a lorry driver | [with two objs] earn yourself a few pounds.

- [with two objs] (of an activity) cause (someone) to obtain (money): this latest win earned them $50,000 in prize money.

- (of capital invested) gain (money) as interest or profit.

- (earn something out) (of an author, book, recording artist, etc.) generate sufficient income through sales to equal the amount paid in an advance or royalty.

2 gain deservedly in return for one's behaviour or achievements: through the years she has earned affection and esteem.

<PHRASES>

□ earn one's corn BRITISH INFORMAL put in a lot of effort to show that one deserves one's wages.

□ earn one's keep work in return for food and accommodation.

- be worth the time or money spent on one.

<ORIGIN> Old English earnian, of West Germanic origin, from a base shared by Old English esne ‘labourer’.

earned income n. [mass noun] money derived from paid work.

earned run n. [BASEBALL] a run scored without the aid of errors by the team in the field (i.e. by hits, walks, and outs that advance base runners).

earner n. [with adj. or noun modifier] a person who obtains money of a specified kind or level in return for labour or services: higher rates of income tax for high earners.

- an activity or product that brings in income of a specified kind or level: tobacco is a major foreign currency earner.

<PHRASES>

□ a nice little earner BRITISH INFORMAL a profitable activity.

earnest^1 /ənst/ adj. resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction: an earnest student | two girls were in earnest conversation.

<PHRASES>

□ in earnest to a greater extent or more intensely than before: work began again in earnest.

- (of a person) sincere and serious in intention.

<DERIVATIVES> earnestness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English eornoste (adjective), eornost (noun), of Germanic origin; related to German Ernst (noun).

earnest^2 /ənst/ n. [in sing.] a thing intended or regarded as a sign or promise of what is to come: the very deliberateness of their disguise is an earnest of their real aloofness.

<ORIGIN> Middle English ernes, literally ‘instalment paid to confirm a contract’, based on Old French erres, from Latin arra, shortened form of arrabo ‘a pledge’. The spelling was influenced by words ending in -NESS; the final -t is probably by association with earnest^1.

earnestly /ənstli/ adv. with sincere and intense conviction; seriously: they earnestly hope to come back in the summer.

earnest money n. [mass noun] chiefly US money paid to confirm a contract.

earnings plural n. money obtained in return for labour or services.

- income derived from an investment or product: export earnings.

earn-out n. a provision written into some financial transactions whereby the seller of a business will receive additional payments based on the future performance of the business sold.

Earp /əp/ Wyatt (Berry Stapp) (1848–1929), American gambler and marshal. He is famous for the gunfight at the OK Corral (1881), in which Wyatt with his brothers and his friend Doc Holliday fought the Clanton brothers at Tombstone, Arizona.

earphone n. (usually earphones) an electrical device worn on the ear to receive radio or telephone communications or to listen to a radio or tape recorder.

earpiece n. 1 the part of a telephone, radio receiver, or other aural device that is applied to the ear during use.

2 the part of a pair of glasses that fits around the ear.

ear-piercing adj. loud and shrill: the alarm emits an ear-piercing screech.

■ n. [mass noun] the practice of making holes in the lobes or edges of the ears to allow the wearing of earrings.

earplug n. (usually earplugs) a piece of wax, rubber, or cotton wool placed in the ear as protection against noise, water, or cold air.

earring n. a piece of jewellery worn on the lobe or edge of the ear.

ear shell n. another term for ABALONE.

earshot n. [mass noun] the range or distance over which one can hear or be heard: she waited until he was out of earshot before continuing.

ear-splitting adj. extremely loud: an ear-splitting crack of thunder.

earth n. 1 (also Earth) the planet on which we live; the world: the diversity of life on earth.

- the surface of the world as distinct from the sky or the sea: the pilot brought the plane gently back to earth.

- the present abode of humankind, as distinct from heaven or hell.

The earth is the third planet from the sun in the solar system, orbiting between Venus and Mars at an average distance of 149.6 million km from the sun, and has one natural satellite, the moon. It has an equatorial diameter of 12,756 km, an average density 5.5 times that of water, and is believed to have formed about 4,600 million years ago. The earth, which is three-quarters covered by oceans and has a dense atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen, is the only planet known to support life.

2 [mass noun] the substance of the land surface; soil: a layer of earth.

- [count noun] used in names of stable, dense, non-volatile inorganic substances, e.g. fuller's earth.

- LITERARY the substance of the human body.

3 [mass noun] BRITISH electrical connection to the ground, regarded as having zero electrical potential: ensure metal fittings are electrically bonded to earth.

4 the underground lair of a badger or fox.

5 one of the four elements in ancient and medieval philosophy and in astrology (considered essential to the nature of the signs Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn).

■ v. [with obj.] 1 BRITISH connect (an electrical device) with the ground: the front metal panels must be soundly earthed.

2 [HUNTING] drive (a fox) to its underground lair.

- [no obj.] (of a fox) run to its underground lair.

3 (earth something up) cover the root and lower stem of a plant with heaped-up earth.

<PHRASES>

□ bring (or come) back (down) to earth cause to return (or return) to reality after a period of daydreaming or excitement.

□ the earth BRITISH a very large amount: her hat cost the earth.

□ the earth moved (or did the earth move for you?) HUMOROUS one had (or did you have?) an orgasm.

□ go to earth (of a hunted animal) hide in an underground burrow.

- FIGURATIVE go into hiding: he'd gone to earth after that meeting.

□ like nothing on earth INFORMAL very strange: they looked like nothing on earth.

□ on earth used for emphasis, especially in questions and negative statements: who on earth would venture out in weather like this?

<ORIGIN> Old English eorthe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aarde and German Erde.

earth ball n. a fungus that forms a leathery yellowish-brown warty sphere which ruptures when mature to release the spores, growing typically on acid sandy soil in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Genus Scleroderma, family Sclerodermataceae, class Gasteromycetes: several species.

earthbound adj. 1 restricted to the earth: a flightless earthbound bird.

- limited to material existence as distinct from a spiritual or heavenly one: her earthbound view of the sacrament.

2 moving towards the earth: an earthbound spaceship.

earth closet n. BRITISH a basic type of toilet with dry earth used to cover excrement.

earthen adj. [attr.] (of a floor or structure) made of compressed earth: earthen mounds.

- (of a pot) made of baked or fired clay.

earthenware n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] pottery made of clay fired to a porous state which can be made impervious to liquids by the use of a glaze: an earthenware jug.

earthlight n. another term for EARTHSHINE.

earthling n. (in science fiction) a word used by aliens to refer to an inhabitant of the earth.

earth loop n. an unwanted electric current path in a circuit resulting in stray signals or interference, occurring for example when two earthed points in the same circuit have different potentials.

earthly adj. (earthlier, earthliest) 1 relating to the earth or human life: water is liquid at normal earthly temperatures.

- relating to humankind's material existence as distinct from a spiritual or heavenly one: all earthly happiness is but vanity.

2 [with negative] INFORMAL used for emphasis: there was no earthly reason why she should not come too.

<PHRASES>

□ not STAND (or HAVE) an earthly BRITISH INFORMAL have no chance at all: she wouldn't stand an earthly if she tried to outrun him.

<DERIVATIVES> earthliness n.

earth mother n. (in mythology and primitive religion) a goddess symbolizing fertility and the source of life.

- an archetypally nurturing and maternal woman.

earth mover n. a vehicle or machine designed to excavate large quantities of soil.

<DERIVATIVES> earth moving n.

earthnut n. 1 a Eurasian plant of the parsley family, which has an edible roundish tuber and is found in woodland and acid pasture. Also called PIGNUT, HOGNUT.

<INFO> Conopodium majus, family Umbelliferae.

- the almond-flavoured tuber of the earthnut.

2 British another term for PEANUT.

earthquake n. a sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's crust or volcanic action.

- a great upheaval: a political earthquake.

earth science n. [mass noun] the branch of science dealing with the physical constitution of the earth and its atmosphere.

- (earth sciences) the various branches of earth science, e.g. geology or meteorology.

earth-shattering (also earth-shaking) adj. (in hyperbolic use) very important, shocking, or traumatic: tell me this earth-shattering news of yours.

<DERIVATIVES> earth-shatteringly adv.

earthshine (also earthlight) n. [mass noun] [ASTRONOMY] the glow caused by sunlight reflected by the earth on the darker portion of a crescent moon.

earthstar n. a brownish woodland fungus with a spherical spore-containing fruiting body surrounded by a fleshy star-shaped structure, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Family Geastraceae, class Gasteromycetes: Geastrum and other genera.

earth station n. a radio station located on the earth and used for relaying signals from satellites.

earthward (also earthwards) adv. & adj. towards the earth: [as adv.] when his parachute failed to open he fell earthward at 120 mph | [as adj.] the bird's earthward plummet.

earthwork n. a large artificial bank of soil, especially one made as a defence in ancient times.

earthworm n. a burrowing annelid worm that lives in the soil, important in aerating and draining the soil and in burying organic matter.

<INFO> Family Lumbricidae, class Oligochaeta: Lumbricus, Allolobophora, and other genera.

earthy adj. (earthier, earthiest) 1 resembling or suggestive of earth or soil: an earthy smell.

2 (of a person or their language) direct and uninhibited, especially about sexual subjects or bodily functions.

<DERIVATIVES> earthily adv. earthiness n.

ear trumpet n. a trumpet-shaped device formerly used as a hearing aid.

ear tuft n. each of a pair of tufts of longer feathers on the top of the head of some owls.

earwax n. [mass noun] the protective yellow waxy substance secreted in the passage of the outer ear. Also called CERUMEN.

earwig n. a small elongated insect with a pair of terminal appendages that resemble pincers.

<INFO> Order Dermaptera: several families.

■ v. (earwigs, earwigging, earwigged) [no obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL eavesdrop on a conversation: he looked behind him to see if anyone was earwigging.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC influence (someone) by secret means.

<ORIGIN> Old English ēarwicga, from ēare ‘ear’ + wicga ‘earwig’ (probably related to wiggle); the insect was once thought to crawl into the human ear.

earwitness n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a witness whose testimony is based on what they personally heard.

earworm /əwəm/ n. a catchy song or tune that runs continually through a person's mind.

ease n. [mass noun] absence of difficulty or effort: she gave up smoking with ease | ease of use.

- freedom from worries or problems: a life of wealth and ease.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] make (something unpleasant or intense) less serious or severe: a huge road-building programme to ease congestion.

- [no obj.] become less serious or severe: the pain doesn't usually ease off for several hours.

- [no obj.] (ease off/up) do something with more moderation: I'd ease up on the hard stuff if I were you.

- make (something) happen more easily; facilitate: Tokyo's dominance of government was deemed to ease efficient contact-making.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move carefully or gradually: I eased down the slope with care | [with obj. and adverbial of direction] she eased off her shoes.

- [with obj.] (ease someone into) introduce someone gradually to (an activity): he brought in someone new and eased them into the job.

- [with obj.] (ease someone out) gradually exclude someone from a post, especially by devious or subtle manoeuvres: after the scandal he was eased out of his job.

- (ease something away/down/off) [NAUTICAL] slacken a rope or sail slowly or gently.

3 [no obj.] (of share prices, interest rates, etc.) decrease in value or amount: shares eased 6p to 224p.

<PHRASES>

□ at (one's) ease free from worry or awkwardness; relaxed: she was never quite at ease with Phil.

- (at ease) [MILITARY] in a relaxed attitude with the feet apart and the hands behind the back (often as a command).

□ ease someone's mind alleviate someone's anxiety.

<DERIVATIVES> easer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aise, based on Latin adjacens ‘lying close by’, present participle of adjacere. The verb is originally from Old French aisier, from the phrase a aise ‘at ease’; in later use from the noun.

easeful adj. LITERARY providing comfort or peace: life was easeful at that time.

easel /iz(ə)l/ n. a wooden frame for holding an artist's work while it is being painted or drawn.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Dutch ezel ‘ass’. The word ‘horse’ is used in English in a similar way to denote a supporting frame.

easement /izm(ə)nt/ n. 1 [LAW] a right to cross or otherwise use someone else's land for a specified purpose.

2 [mass noun] LITERARY the state or feeling of comfort or peace: time brings easement.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French aisement, from aisier (see EASE).

easily adv. 1 without difficulty or effort: he climbed the mountain easily | Bradford is easily accessible by road.

- more quickly or frequently than is usual: they get bored easily.

2 without doubt; by far: he was easily the bravest man I've ever met.

- very probably: the body could easily be that of an actress.

east n. (usually the east) 1 the direction towards the point of the horizon where the sun rises at the equinoxes, on the right-hand side of a person facing north: a gale was blowing from the east | the Atlantic Ocean to the east of Florida.

- the compass point corresponding to this.

2 the eastern part of the world or of a specified country, region, or town: a factory in the east of the city.

- (the East) the regions or countries lying to the east of Europe, especially China, Japan, and India: the protection of trade routes to the East.

- (the East) HISTORICAL the former communist states of eastern Europe.

3 (East) [as name] [BRIDGE] the player sitting to the left of North and partnering West.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 lying towards, near, or facing the east: the hospital's east wing.

- (of a wind) blowing from the east.

2 of or denoting the eastern part of a specified region, town, or country: East Fife | East African.

3 situated in the part of a church containing the altar or high altar, usually the actual east.

■ adv. to or towards the east: travelling east, he met two men | the river rises east of Brentford.

<ORIGIN> Old English ēast-, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch oost and German ost, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin aurora, Greek auōs ‘dawn’.

East Africa the eastern part of the African continent, especially the countries of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

East Anglia /alə/ a region of eastern England consisting of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and parts of Essex and Cambridgeshire.

East Bengal the part of the former Indian province of Bengal that was ceded to Pakistan in 1947, forming the greater part of the province of East Pakistan. It gained independence as Bangladesh in 1971.

eastbound adj. leading or travelling towards the east: eastbound trains.

Eastbourne a town on the south coast of England, in East Sussex; pop. 90,400 (est. 1998).

East Cape a peninsular region of the North Island, New Zealand. Its tip forms the most easterly point of the island.

East Coast Fever n. [mass noun] a feverish disease of cattle, prevalent in Africa and usually fatal.

<INFO> This disease is caused by a parasitic protozoan of the genus Theileria (phylum Sporozoa, kingdom Protista), which lives in the host's blood cells and is transmitted by the bite of the tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (family Ixodidae).

East End the part of London east of the City as far as the River Lea, including the Docklands.

<DERIVATIVES> East Ender n.

Easter n. the most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church, celebrating the resurrection of Christ and held (in the Western Church) between 21 March and 25 April, on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the northern spring equinox.

- the weekend from Good Friday to EASTer Monday.

<ORIGIN> Old English ēastre; of Germanic origin and related to German Ostern and east; perhaps from Ēastre, the name of a goddess associated with spring.

Easter bunny n. an imaginary rabbit said to bring gifts to children at Easter.

Easter Day (also Easter Sunday) n. the day on which the festival of Easter is celebrated.

Easter egg n. 1 an artificial chocolate egg or decorated hard-boiled egg given at Easter.

2 an unexpected or undocumented feature in a piece of computer software or on a DVD, included as a joke or a bonus.

Easter Eve n. the day immediately preceding Easter Day. Also called HOLY SATURDAY.

Easter Island an island in the SE Pacific west of Chile; pop. 2,100 (est. 2002). It has been administered by Chile since 1888. The island, first settled by Polynesians in about AD 400, is famous for its large monolithic statues of human heads, believed to date from the period 1000 to 1600.

Easter lily n. NORTH AMERICAN a spring-flowering lily.

<INFO> Genus Lilium, family Liliaceae: several species, in particular the tall, white-flowered Japanese lily L. longiflorum.

easterly adj. & adv. in an eastward position or direction: [as adj.] he ordered an easterly course.

- (of a wind) blowing from the east: [as adj.] the light easterly breeze.

■ n. (pl. easterlies) a wind blowing from the east.

Easter Monday n. the day after Easter Sunday, a public holiday in several countries.

eastern adj. 1 [attr.] situated in, directed towards, or facing the east: the eastern slopes of the mountain | eastern Spain.

- (of a wind) blowing from the east.

2 (Eastern) living in or originating from the regions or countries to the east of Europe: an Eastern mystic.

- relating to or characteristic of the East or its inhabitants: Eastern philosophy and culture.

<DERIVATIVES> easternmost adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English ēasterne (as EAST, -ern).

Eastern bloc the countries of eastern and central Europe which were under Soviet domination from the end of the Second World War until the collapse of the Soviet communist system in 1989–91.

Eastern Cape a province of south-eastern South Africa, formerly part of Cape Province; capital, Bhisho.

Eastern Church (also Eastern Orthodox Church) another name for ORTHODOX CHURCH.

- any of the Christian Churches originating in eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Eastern Desert another name for ARABIAN DESERT.

Eastern Empire the eastern part of the Roman Empire, after its division in AD 395. See also BYZANTINE EMPIRE.

easterner n. a native or inhabitant of the east of a region or country, especially of Europe or the US.

Eastern hemisphere the half of the earth containing Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Eastern time 1 the standard time in a zone including the eastern states of the US and parts of Canada, specifically:

<INFO>

- (Eastern Standard Time, abbreviation: EST) standard time based on the mean solar time at the meridian 75° W, five hours behind GMT.

- (Eastern Daylight Time, abbreviation: EDT) Eastern time during daylight saving time, four hours behind GMT.

2 the standard time in a zone including eastern Australia, based on the mean solar time at the meridian 150° E. It is ten hours ahead of GMT, or nine hours ahead when summer time is observed.

Easter Rising the uprising in Dublin and other cities in Ireland against British rule, Easter 1916. It ended with the surrender of the protesters, most of whose leaders were subsequently executed, but was a contributory factor in the establishment of the Irish Free State (1921).

Easter Saturday n. (in general use) the Saturday preceding Easter Day. In formal church use called HOLY SATURDAY or EASTER EVE.

Easter Sunday n. another term for EASTER DAY.

Eastertide n. the Easter period.

East Flanders a province of northern Belgium; capital, Ghent. See also FLANDERS.

East Germanic n. the extinct eastern group of Germanic languages, including Gothic.

■ adj. relating to this group of languages.

East India another name for East Indies (sense 2).

East India Company a trading company formed in 1600 to develop commerce in the newly colonized areas of SE Asia and India. In the 18th century it took administrative control of Bengal and other areas of India, and held it until the British Crown took over in 1858 in the wake of the Indian Mutiny.

East Indiaman n. HISTORICAL a trading ship belonging to the East India Company.

East Indies 1 the islands of SE Asia, especially the Malay Archipelago.

2 ARCHAIC the whole of SE Asia to the east of and including India.

<DERIVATIVES> East Indian adj.

easting n. [mass noun] distance travelled or measured eastward, especially at sea.

- [count noun] a figure or line representing eastward distance on a map (expressed by convention as the first part of a grid reference, before northing).

East Kilbride /klbrd/ a town in west central Scotland, in South Lanarkshire; pop. 69,600 (est. 2002).

East London a port and resort in South Africa, on the coast of Eastern Cape; pop. 236,100 (est. 2002).

East Lothian a council area and former county of east central Scotland.

Eastman George (1854–1932), American inventor and manufacturer of photographic equipment. He invented flexible roll film coated with light-sensitive emulsion, and, in 1888, the Kodak camera for use with it.

east-north-east n. the direction or compass point midway between east and north-east.

East Prussia the north-eastern part of the former kingdom of Prussia, on the Baltic coast, later part of Germany and divided after the Second World War between the Soviet Union and Poland.

East Riding of Yorkshire a unitary authority in NE England, formerly one of the traditional ridings or divisions of the county of Yorkshire.

East River an arm of the Hudson River in New York City, separating Manhattan and the Bronx from Brooklyn and Queens.

East Sea the name in Korea for the JAPAN, SEA OF.

East Siberian Sea a part of the Arctic Ocean lying between the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island, to the north of eastern Siberia.

East Side a part of Manhattan in New York City, lying between the East River and Fifth Avenue.

east-south-east n. the direction or compass point midway between east and south-east.

East Sussex a county of SE England; county town, Lewes.

East Timor a country occupying the eastern part of the island of Timor in the southern Malay Archipelago; pop. 1,078,000; capital, Dili; languages, Portuguese, Indonesian, English, and indigenous languages. Official name TIMOR LESTE.

Formerly a Portuguese colony, the region declared itself independent in 1975. In 1976 it was invaded by Indonesia, which annexed and claimed it as the 27th state of Indonesia, a claim which was never recognized by the United Nations. The region became the scene of bitter fighting and of alleged mass killings by the Indonesian government and military forces. East Timor gained full independence following a referendum in 1999 and a formal declaration by the United Nations in 2002.

<DERIVATIVES> East Timorese n. & adj.

eastward adj. lying towards, near, or facing the east.

■ adv. (also eastwards) towards the east: limestone plateaux extend eastward towards the river.

■ n. (the eastward) the direction or region towards the east: the wind has come round to the eastward.

<DERIVATIVES> eastwardly adv.

Eastwood Clint (b.1930), American film actor and director. He became famous with his role in A Fistful of Dollars (1964), the first cult spaghetti western; other successful films include Dirty Harry (1971). Films directed include Bird (1988) and the western Unforgiven (1992).

easy adj. (easier, easiest) 1 achieved without great effort; presenting few difficulties: an easy way of retrieving information.

2 (of a period of time or way of life) free from worries or problems: promises of an easy life in the New World.

- (of a person) lacking anxiety or awkwardness; relaxed: her easy and agreeable manner | he never felt easy with her.

3 [attr.] vulnerable to attack or criticism: as a taxi driver he was an easy target.

- INFORMAL, DEROGATORY (of a woman) very receptive to sexual advances: her reputation at school for being easy.

■ adv. ARCHAIC or US without difficulty or effort: we all scared real easy in those days.

■ exclam. be careful: easy, girl—you'll knock me over!

<PHRASES>

□ be easier said than done be more easily talked about than put into practice: going on an economy drive is easier said than done.

□ (as) easy as pie see pie^1.

□ easy come, easy go used especially in spoken English to indicate that a relationship or possession acquired without effort may be abandoned or lost without regret.

□ easy does it used especially in spoken English to advise someone to approach a task carefully and slowly.

□ easy on the eye (or ear) INFORMAL pleasant to look at (or listen to).

□ go (or be) easy on INFORMAL 1 refrain from being harsh with or critical of (someone).

2 be sparing in one's use or consumption of: go easy on fatty foods.

□ have it easy INFORMAL have no difficulties; be fortunate.

□ I'm easy INFORMAL said by someone when offered a choice to indicate that they have no particular preference.

□ of easy virtue DATED or HUMOROUS (of a woman) sexually promiscuous.

□ sleep (or rest) easy go to sleep without (or be untroubled by) worries: this insurance policy will let you rest easy.

□ stand easy! [MILITARY] used to instruct soldiers standing at ease that they may relax their attitude further.

□ take the easy way out extricate oneself from a difficult situation by choosing the simplest rather than the most honourable course of action.

□ take it easy 1 proceed in a calm and relaxed manner.

2 make little effort; rest.

<DERIVATIVES> easiness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘comfortable, tranquil’): from Old French aisie, past participle of aisier ‘put at ease, facilitate’ (see EASE).

easy-care adj. [attr.] (chiefly of man-made fabrics) requiring little effort to launder, and typically no ironing.

easy chair n. a large, comfortable chair, typically an armchair.

easy game n. another term for EASY MEAT (see MEAT).

easy-going adj. relaxed and tolerant in attitude or manner: a relaxed, easy-going atmosphere.

easy listening n. [mass noun] popular music that is tuneful and undemanding.

easy money n. [mass noun] money obtained by dubious means or for little work.

easy-peasy adj. BRITISH INFORMAL very straightforward and easy (used by or as if by children): easy-peasy questions.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: reduplication of EASY.

easy street n. [mass noun] INFORMAL a state of financial comfort or security: £50,000 a year will put one on easy street.

easy touch n. another term for SOFT TOUCH (see SOFT).

EAT abbr. Tanzania (international vehicle registration).

<ORIGIN> from East Africa Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika).

eat v. (past ate /εt et/; past participle eaten) [with obj.] put (food) into the mouth and chew and swallow it: he was eating a hot dog | eat up all your peas | [no obj.] she watched her son as he ate.

- have (a meal): we ate dinner in a noisy cafe.

- [no obj.] (eat out) have a meal in a restaurant.

- [no obj.] (eat in) have a meal at home.

- VULGAR SLANG, chiefly US perform fellatio or cunnilingus on (someone).

■ n. (eats) INFORMAL light food or snacks.

<PHRASES>

□ eat someone alive INFORMAL (of insects) bite someone many times: we were eaten alive by mosquitoes.

- exploit someone's weakness and completely dominate them.

□ eat crow see crow^1.

□ eat DIRT see DIRT.

□ eat someone's DUST see DUST.

□ eat one's heart out suffer from excessive longing for someone or something unattainable.

- [in imperative] INFORMAL used to indicate that one thinks someone will feel great jealousy or regret: eat your heart out, those who missed the trip.

□ eat HUMBLE pie see HUMBLE.

□ eat like a bird (or a horse) INFORMAL eat very little (or a lot).

□ eat someone out of house and home INFORMAL eat a lot of someone else's food.

□ eat one's words retract what one has said, especially in a humiliated way: they will eat their words when I win.

□ have someone eating out of one's hand have someone completely under one's control.

□ I'll eat my hat INFORMAL used to indicate that one thinks that something is extremely unlikely to happen: if he comes back, I'll eat my hat.

□ what's eating you (or him or her)? INFORMAL what is worrying or annoying you (or him or her)?

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ eat something away (or eat away at) erode or destroy something gradually: the acid began to eat away at the edge of her tunic | FIGURATIVE the knowledge of his affair still ate away at her.

□ eat into another way of saying EAT AWAY AT.

- use up (profits, resources, or time): sales were hard hit by high interest rates eating into disposable income.

□ eat someone up (usually as adj. eaten up) dominate the thoughts of someone completely: I'm eaten up with guilt.

□ eat something up use resources or time in very large quantities: an operating system that eats up 200Mb of disk space.

<ORIGIN> Old English etan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch eten and German essen, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin edere and Greek edein.

eatable adj. fit to be consumed as food: eatable fruits.

■ n. (eatables) items of food: parcels of eatables and gifts.

eater n. 1 [with adj. or noun modifier] a person or animal who consumes food in a specified way or of a specified kind: I'm still a big eater.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL an eating apple.

eatery n. (pl. eateries) INFORMAL a restaurant or cafe.

eat-in adj. NORTH AMERICAN (of a kitchen) designed for eating in as well as cooking.

eating apple n. an apple that is suitable for eating raw.

eating disorder n. any of a range of psychological disorders characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits (such as anorexia nervosa).

eating house n. a restaurant.

EAU abbr. Uganda (international vehicle registration).

<ORIGIN> from East Africa Uganda.

eau de cologne /ə də kələn/ n. (pl. eaux de cologne pronunc. same) [mass noun] a toilet water with a strong scent, originally made in Cologne.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, literally ‘water of Cologne’.

eau de Nil /ə də nil/ n. [mass noun] a pale greenish colour.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French eau-de-Nil, literally ‘water of the Nile’ (from the supposed resemblance in colour).

eau de toilette /ə də twαlet/ n. (pl. eaux de toilette pronunc. same) [mass noun] a dilute form of perfume; toilet water.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, ‘toilet water’.

eau de vie /ə də vi/ n. (pl. eaux de vie pronunc. same) [mass noun] brandy.

<ORIGIN> from French eau-de-vie, literally ‘water of life’.

eaves plural n. the part of a roof that meets or overhangs the walls of a building.

<ORIGIN> Old English efes (singular); of Germanic origin; related to German dialect Obsen, also probably to OVER.

eavesdrop v. (eavesdrops, eavesdropping, eavesdropped) [no obj.] secretly listen to a conversation: my father eavesdropped on my phone calls.

<DERIVATIVES> eavesdropper n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: back-formation from eavesdropper (late Middle English) ‘a person who listens from under the eaves’, from the obsolete noun eavesdrop ‘the ground on to which water drips from the eaves’, probably from Old Norse upsardropi, from ups ‘eaves’ + dropi ‘a drop’.

eavestrough n. CANADIAN a gutter fixed beneath the edge of a roof.

ebb n. (usually the ebb) the movement of the tide out to sea: the tide was on the ebb | [as modifier] the ebb tide.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of tidewater) move away from the land; recede: the tide began to ebb. Compare with FLOW.

2 (of an emotion or quality) gradually decrease: my enthusiasm was ebbing away.

<PHRASES>

□ at a low ebb in a weakened or depressed state: the country was at a low ebb due to the recent war.

□ ebb and flow a recurrent pattern of coming and going or decline and regrowth.

<ORIGIN> Old English ebba (noun), ebbian (verb), of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch ebbe (noun), ebben (verb), and ultimately to OF which had the primary sense ‘away from’.

EBD abbr. emotional and behavioural difficulties (or disorder).

EBITDA abbr. earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

Ebla /εblə/ a city in ancient Syria, situated to the south-west of Aleppo. It became very powerful in the mid 3rd millennium BC, when it dominated a region corresponding to modern Lebanon, northern Syria, and SE Turkey.

E-boat n. a German torpedo boat used in the Second World War.

<ORIGIN> from E- for enemy + BOAT.

Ebola fever /ibələ əbələ/ n. [mass noun] an infectious and generally fatal disease marked by fever and severe internal bleeding, spread through contact with infected body fluids by a filovirus (Ebola virus), whose normal host species is unknown.

<ORIGIN> 1976: named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), near which the disease was first observed.

ebon /εb(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY dark brown or black; ebony: [as modifier] the ebon acid of the Styx.

Ebonics /εbnks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] American black English regarded as a language in its own right rather than as a dialect of standard English.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of EBONY and PHONICS.

ebonite n. another term for VULCANITE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from EBONY + -ITE^1.

ebonized (also ebonised) adj. (of furniture) given the appearance of ebony: an ebonized casket.

<DERIVATIVES> ebonize v.

ebony /εb(ə)ni/ n. 1 [mass noun] heavy blackish or very dark brown timber from a mainly tropical tree.

- [mass noun] a very dark brown or black colour: [as modifier] his ebony hair.

2 a tree of tropical and warm-temperate regions which produces such timber.

<INFO> Genera Diospyros and Euclea, family Ebenaceae: numerous species, in particular D. ebenum.

- used in names of trees of other families which produce timber similar to ebony, e.g. Jamaican (or American) ebony.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from earlier ebon (via Old French and Latin from Greek ebenos ‘ebony tree’), perhaps on the pattern of ivory.

e-book n. an electronic version of a printed book which can be read on a personal computer or hand-held device designed specifically for this purpose.

Eboracum /brəkəm ibərαkəm/ Roman name for YORK.

EBRD abbr. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (founded in 1991 to provide financial assistance to the former communist countries of eastern Europe).

Ebro /ibrə εb-/ the principal river of NE Spain, rising in the mountains of Cantabria and flowing 910 km (570 miles) south-eastwards into the Mediterranean Sea.

ebullience /bləns/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being cheerful and full of energy; exuberance: the ebullience of happy children.

ebullient /bljənt -bl-/ adj. 1 cheerful and full of energy: she sounded ebullient and happy.

2 ARCHAIC (of liquid or matter) boiling or agitated as if boiling: misted and ebullient seas.

<DERIVATIVES> ebulliently adv. ebulliency n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘boiling’): from Latin ebullient- ‘boiling up’, from the verb ebullire, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + bullire ‘to boil’.

ebullition /εbəl(ə)n -b-/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL or ARCHAIC the action of bubbling or boiling.

- [count noun] a sudden outburst of emotion or violence: an ebullition of pure hatred.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a state of agitation of the bodily humours): from late Latin ebullitio(n-), from ebullire ‘boil up’ (see EBULLIENT).

e-business n. another term for E-COMMERCE.

EBV abbr. Epstein–Barr virus.

EC abbr.

- East Central (London postal district).

- Ecuador (international vehicle registration).

- European Commission.

- European Community.

- executive committee.

ecad /ikad/ n. [ECOLOGY] an organism that is modified by its environment.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek oikos ‘house’ + -AD^1.

écarté n. [mass noun] 1 /ekαte/ a card game for two players, originating in 19th-century France, in which thirty-two cards are used and certain cards may be discarded in exchange for others.

2 /ekαte/ [BALLET] a position in which the dancer, facing diagonally towards the audience, extends one leg in the air to the side with the arm of the same side raised above the head and the other arm extended to the side.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, past participle of écarter ‘discard, throw out’, from é ‘out’ + carte ‘card’.

e-cash n. [mass noun] electronic financial transactions conducted in cyberspace via computer networks.

ECB abbr. England and Wales Cricket Board.

ecbolic /εkblk/ MEDICINE adj. inducing contractions of the uterus leading to expulsion of a fetus.

■ n. an agent that induces such contractions.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Greek ekbolē ‘expulsion’ + -IC.

Ecce Homo /εke hmə həmə/ n. [ART] a painting of Christ wearing the crown of thorns.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘behold the man’, the words of Pontius Pilate to the Jews after Jesus was crowned with thorns (John 19:5).

eccentric /ksεntrk εk-/ adj. 1 (of a person or their behaviour) unconventional and slightly strange: he noted her eccentric appearance.

2 TECHNICAL not placed centrally or not having its axis or other part placed centrally: a servo driving an eccentric cam.

- (of a circle) not centred on the same point as another.

- (of an orbit) not circular.

■ n. 1 a person of unconventional and slightly strange views or behaviour: he's seen as a local eccentric.

2 a disc or wheel mounted eccentrically on a revolving shaft in order to transform rotation into backward-and-forward motion, e.g. a cam in an internal-combustion engine.

<DERIVATIVES> eccentrically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun denoting a circle or orbit not having the earth precisely at its centre): via late Latin from Greek ekkentros, from ek ‘out of’ + kentron ‘centre’.

eccentric anomaly n. [ASTRONOMY] the actual anomaly of a planet in an elliptical orbit. Compare with MEAN ANOMALY.

eccentricity /εksεntrsti/ n. (pl. eccentricities) [mass noun] 1 the quality of being eccentric.

- [count noun] (usually eccentricities) an eccentric act or habit: her eccentricities were amusing rather than irritating.

2 TECHNICAL deviation of a curve or orbit from circularity.

- [count noun] a measure of the extent of deviation from circularity: Halley's Comet has an eccentricity of about 0.9675.

ecchymosis /εkməss/ n. (pl. ecchymoses /-siz/) MEDICINE a discoloration of the skin resulting from bleeding underneath, typically caused by bruising.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: modern Latin, from Greek ekkhumōsis ‘escape of blood’, from ekkhumonathai ‘force out blood’.

Eccles /εk(ə)lz/ Sir John Carew (1903–97), Australian physiologist, who demonstrated the way in which nerve impulses are conducted by means of chemical neurotransmitters. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1963).

Eccles. abbr. Ecclesiastes (in biblical references).

Eccles cake n. BRITISH a round flat cake of sweetened pastry filled with currants.

<ORIGIN> named after the town of Eccles near Manchester, England.

ecclesial /kliz(ə)l/ adj. FORMAL relating to or constituting a Church or denomination: the modernization of ecclesial buildings.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (rare before the 1960s): via Old French from Greek ekklēsia ‘assembly, church’ (see ECCLESIASTIC).

ecclesiarch /klizαk/ n. ARCHAIC a ruler of a Church.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek ekklēsia ‘church’ + arkhos ‘leader’.

Ecclesiastes /klizastiz/ a book of the Bible traditionally attributed to Solomon, consisting largely of reflections on the vanity of human life.

ecclesiastic FORMAL n. a priest or clergyman.

■ adj. another term for ECCLESIASTICAL.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French ecclésiastique, or via late Latin from Greek ekklēsiastikos, from ekklēsiastēs ‘member of an assembly’, from ekklēsia ‘assembly, church’, based on ekkalein ‘summon out’.

ecclesiastical adj. relating to the Christian Church or its clergy: the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

<DERIVATIVES> ecclesiastically adv.

ecclesiasticism n. [mass noun] adherence or over-attention to details of Church practice: the ecclesiasticism that so often gets in the way of the gospel.

Ecclesiasticus /klizastkəs/ a book of the Apocrypha containing moral and practical maxims, probably composed or compiled in the early 2nd century BC.

ecclesiology /klizlədi/ n. [mass noun] 1 the study of churches, especially church building and decoration.

2 theology as applied to the nature and structure of the Christian Church.

<DERIVATIVES> ecclesiological adj. ecclesiologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek ekklēsia ‘assembly, church’ + -LOGY.

Ecclus abbr. Ecclesiasticus (in biblical references).

eccrine /εkrn -krn/ adj. MEDICINE relating to or denoting multicellular glands which do not lose cytoplasm in their secretions, especially the sweat glands. Compare with APOCRINE.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek ekkrinein ‘secrete’, from ek- ‘out’ + krinein ‘sift, separate’.

ecdysiast /εkdzast/ n. HUMOROUS a striptease performer.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek ekdusis ‘shedding’, on the pattern of enthusiast.

ecdysis /εkdss εkdss/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] the process of shedding the old skin (in reptiles) or casting off the outer cuticle (in insects and other arthropods).

<DERIVATIVES> ecdysial /εkdzəl/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek ekdusis, from ekduein ‘put off’, from ek- ‘out, off’ + duein ‘put’.

ecdysone /εkdsən εkdsən/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a steroid hormone that controls moulting in insects and other arthropods.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek ekdusis ‘shedding’ + -ONE.

ECG abbr. electrocardiogram or electrocardiograph.

échappé /eape/ adj. [postpositive] [BALLET] (of a movement) progressing from a closed position (first, third, or fifth) to an open position (second or fourth) of the feet.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘escaped’.

echelon /εəln e-/ n. 1 a level or rank in an organization, a profession, or society: the upper echelons of the business world.

2 [MILITARY] a formation of troops, ships, aircraft, or vehicles in parallel rows with the end of each row projecting further than the one in front.

- [often with modifier] a part of a military force differentiated by position in battle or by function: the rear echelon.

■ v. [with obj.] [MILITARY] arrange in an echelon formation.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in sense 2 of the noun): from French échelon, from échelle ‘ladder’, from Latin scala.

echeveria /εtvərə/ n. a succulent plant with rosettes of fleshy colourful leaves, native to warm regions of America and popular as pot plants.

<INFO> Genus Echeveria, family Crassulaceae: numerous species and cultivars.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Anastasio Echeveri or Echeverría, 19th-cent. Mexican botanical illustrator.

echidna /kdnə/ n. a spiny insectivorous egg-laying mammal with a long snout and claws, native to Australia and New Guinea. Also called SPINY ANTEATER.

<INFO> Family Tachyglossidae, order Monotremata: two genera and species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek ekhidna ‘viper’, also the name of a mythical creature which gave birth to the Hydra; compare with ekhinos ‘sea urchin, hedgehog’.

echinacea /εknesə/ n. a North American plant of the daisy family, whose flowers have a raised cone-like centre which appears to consist of soft spines. It is used in herbal medicine, largely for its antibiotic and wound-healing properties.

<INFO> Genus Echinacea, family Compositae: several species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek ekhinos ‘hedgehog’.

echinoderm /knə()dəm εkn-/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a marine invertebrate of the phylum Echinodermata, such as a starfish, sea urchin, or sea cucumber.

Echinodermata /knə()dəmαtə εkn- -dəmətə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a phylum of marine invertebrates which includes starfishes, sea urchins, brittlestars, crinoids, and sea cucumbers. They have fivefold radial symmetry, a calcareous skeleton, and tube feet operated by fluid pressure.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek ekhinos ‘hedgehog, sea urchin’ + derma ‘skin’.

echinoid /εknd/ [ZOOLOGY] n. an echinoderm of the class Echinoidea; a sea urchin.

■ adj. relating to or denoting echinoids.

Echinoidea /εkndə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of echinoderms that comprises the sea urchins.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from ECHINUS.

echinus /knəs/ n. 1 [ZOOLOGY] a sea urchin.

<INFO> Genus Echinus, class Echinoidea: several species.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] a rounded moulding below an abacus on a Doric or Ionic capital.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek ekhinos ‘hedgehog, sea urchin’.

Echiura /εkj(ə)rə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small phylum of worm-like marine invertebrates that comprises the spoonworms.

<DERIVATIVES> echiuran n. & adj. echiuroid n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (earlier Echiuroidea), from Greek ekhis ‘viper’ + oura ‘tail’.

Echo /εkə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a nymph deprived of speech by Hera in order to stop her chatter, and left able only to repeat what others had said.

echo n. 1 (pl. echoes) a sound or sounds caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface back to the listener: the walls threw back the echoes of his footsteps.

- a reflected radio or radar beam.

- [mass noun] the deliberate introduction of reverberation into a sound recording.

- [LINGUISTICS] the repetition in structure and content of one speaker's utterance by another.

2 a close parallel to an idea, feeling, or event: his love for her found an echo in her own feelings.

- a characteristic that is suggestive of something else: the cheese has a sharp rich aftertaste with echoes of salty, earthy pastures.

3 ARCHAIC a person who slavishly repeats the words or opinions of another.

4 [BRIDGE] a play by a defender of a higher card in a suit followed by a lower one in a subsequent trick, used as a signal to request a further lead of that suit by their partner.

5 a code word representing the letter E, used in radio communication.

6 used in names of newspapers: the South Wales Echo.

■ v. (echoes, echoing, echoed) 1 [no obj., with adverbial] (of a sound) be repeated or reverberate after the original sound has stopped: their footsteps echoed on the metal catwalks.

- (of a place) resound with or reflect back a sound: the house echoed with shouts.

- [with obj.] repeat (someone's words or opinions), typically to express agreement: these criticisms are echoed in a number of other studies | [with direct speech] ‘A trip?’ she echoed.

2 [with obj.] (of an object or event) be reminiscent of or have shared characteristics with: a blue suit that echoed the colour of her eyes.

3 [with obj.] [COMPUTING] send a copy of (an input signal or character) back to its source or to a screen for display.

4 [no obj.] [BRIDGE] (of a defender) play a higher card followed by a lower one in the same suit, as a signal to request one's partner to lead that suit.

<PHRASES>

□ applaud (or cheer) someone to the echo applaud (or cheer) someone enthusiastically.

<DERIVATIVES> echoer n. echoey adj. echoless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French or Latin, from Greek ēkhō, related to ēkhē ‘a sound’.

echocardiogram /εkəkαdə()ram/ n. MEDICINE a test of the action of the heart using ultrasound waves to produce a visual display, for the diagnosis or monitoring of heart disease.

echocardiography /εkəkαdrəfi/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the use of ultrasound waves to investigate the action of the heart.

<DERIVATIVES> echocardiograph n. echocardiographic adj.

echo chamber n. an enclosed space for producing reverberation of sound.

echogram n. a recording of depth or distance under water made by an echo sounder.

echograph n. an instrument for recording echograms; an automated echo sounder.

echoic /εkək/ adj. of or like an echo.

- [LINGUISTICS] representing a sound by imitation.

<DERIVATIVES> echoically adv.

echolalia /εkəlelə/ n. [mass noun] 1 [PSYCHIATRY] meaningless repetition of another person's spoken words as a symptom of psychiatric disorder.

2 repetition of speech by a child learning to talk.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek ēkhō ‘echo’ + lalia ‘speech’.

echolocation /εkə()lə()ke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the location of objects by reflected sound, in particular that used by animals such as dolphins and bats.

echopraxia /εkəpraksə/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] meaningless repetition or imitation of the movements of others as a symptom of psychiatric disorder.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: modern Latin, from Greek ēkhō ‘echo’ + praxis ‘action’.

echo sounder n. a device for determining the depth of the seabed or detecting objects in water by measuring the time taken for sound echoes to return to the listener.

<DERIVATIVES> echo-sounding n.

echovirus (also ECHO virus) n. MEDICINE any of a group of enteroviruses which can cause respiratory infections and a mild form of meningitis.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from echo (acronym from enteric cytopathogenic human orphan, because the virus was not originally assignable to any known disease) + VIRUS.

echt /εxt/ adj. authentic and typical: Bart was an echt baseball fan.

■ adv. [as submodifier] authentically and typically: echt-Viennese artists.

<ORIGIN> German.

eclair /eklε -/ n. a long, thin individual cake of choux pastry filled with cream and topped with chocolate icing.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French éclair, literally ‘lightning’.

éclaircissement /eklεsism/ n. LITERARY an enlightening explanation of something that has hitherto been obscure or inexplicable.

<ORIGIN> French, from éclaircir ‘clear up’, from é (expressing a change of state) + clair (see CLEAR).

eclampsia /klam(p)sə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which one or more convulsions occur in a pregnant woman suffering from high blood pressure, often followed by coma and posing a threat to the health of mother and baby. See also PRE-ECLAMPSIA.

<DERIVATIVES> eclamptic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from French éclampsie, from Greek eklampsis ‘sudden development’, from eklampein ‘shine out’.

éclat /eklα/ n. [mass noun] brilliant display or effect: he finished his recital with great éclat.

- social distinction or conspicuous success: she was quite unaware of the éclat of being ambassadress there.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from éclater ‘burst out’.

eclectic /klεktk/ adj. 1 deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources: universities offering an eclectic mix of courses.

2 (Eclectic) [PHILOSOPHY] denoting or belonging to a class of ancient philosophers who did not belong to or found any recognized school of thought but selected doctrines from various schools of thought.

■ n. a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

<DERIVATIVES> eclectically adv. eclecticism n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as a term in philosophy): from Greek eklektikos, from eklegein ‘pick out’, from ek ‘out’ + legein ‘choose’.

eclipse /klps/ n. 1 an obscuring of the light from one celestial body by the passage of another between it and the observer or between it and its source of illumination: an eclipse of the sun.

- a loss of significance or power in relation to another person or thing: the election result marked the eclipse of the traditional right.

2 [ORNITHOLOGY] a phase during which the distinctive markings of a bird (especially a male duck) are obscured by moulting of the breeding plumage.

■ v. [with obj.] (of a celestial body) obscure the light from or to (another celestial body): Jupiter was eclipsed by the Moon.

- deprive (someone or something) of significance or power: the economy has eclipsed the environment as the main issue.

- LITERARY obscure or block out (light): a sea of blue sky violently eclipsed by showers.

<PHRASES>

□ in eclipse 1 losing or having lost significance or power: his political power was in eclipse.

2 [BIRD] (especially of a male duck) in its eclipse plumage.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French e(s)clipse (noun), eclipser (verb), via Latin from Greek ekleipsis, from ekleipein ‘fail to appear, be eclipsed’, from ek ‘out’ + leipein ‘to leave’.

eclipsing binary n. [ASTRONOMY] a binary star whose brightness varies periodically as the two components pass one in front of the other.

ecliptic /klptk/ n. [ASTRONOMY] a great circle on the celestial sphere representing the sun's apparent path during the year, so called because lunar and solar eclipses can only occur when the moon crosses it.

■ adj. of an eclipse or the ecliptic.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek ekleiptikos, from ekleipein ‘fail to appear’ (see ECLIPSE).

eclogite /εkldt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a metamorphic rock containing granular minerals, typically garnet and pyroxene.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Greek eklogē ‘selection’ (with reference to the selective content of the rock) + -ITE^1.

eclogue /εkl/ n. a short poem, especially a pastoral dialogue.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek eklogē ‘selection’, from eklegein ‘pick out’.

eclose /kləz/ v. [no obj.] [ZOOLOGY] (of an insect) emerge as an adult from the pupa or as a larva from the egg.

<DERIVATIVES> eclosion n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (as eclosion): from French éclore ‘to hatch’, based on Latin ex- ‘out’ + claudere ‘to close’.

ECM abbr. electronic countermeasures.

ECN abbr. electronic communications network.

Eco /εkə/ Umberto (b.1932), Italian novelist and semiotician. Notable works: The Name of the Rose (novel, 1981), Travels in Hyperreality (writings on semiotics, 1986), and Foucault's Pendulum (1989).

eco- /ikə εkə/ combining form representing ECOLOGY.

ecocentrism n. another term for BIOCENTRISM.

<DERIVATIVES> ecocentric adj.

ecocide n. [mass noun] destruction of the natural environment, especially when deliberate.

ecofeminism n. [mass noun] a philosophical and political theory and movement which combines ecological concerns with feminist ones, regarding both as resulting from male domination of society.

<DERIVATIVES> ecofeminist n.

ecofreak n. INFORMAL a person who is very concerned about preserving the environment.

eco-friendly adj. not harmful to the environment: I use only eco-friendly products.

eco-labelling n. [mass noun] the practice of marking products with a distinctive label so that consumers know that their manufacture conforms to recognized environmental standards.

<DERIVATIVES> eco-label n.

E. coli /kəl/ n. [mass noun] a bacterium commonly found in the intestines of humans and other animals, some strains of which can cause severe food poisoning.

<INFO> Escherichia coli; a motile Gram-negative bacillus.

ecolodge /ikəld/ n. a type of tourist accommodation designed to have the minimum possible impact on the natural environment in which it is situated.

ecological footprint n. the impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.

ecology /klədi ε-/ n. [mass noun] the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.

- (Ecology) the political movement concerned with protection of the environment.

<DERIVATIVES> ecological adj. ecologically adv. ecologist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally as oecology): from Greek oikos ‘house’ + -LOGY.

e-commerce n. [mass noun] commercial transactions conducted electronically on the Internet.

econobox /knəbks/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a car that is small and economical rather than luxurious or stylish.

econometrics /knəmεtrks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of economics concerned with the use of mathematical methods (especially statistics) in describing economic systems.

<DERIVATIVES> econometric adj. econometrician /-mətr(ə)n/ n. econometrist n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from ECONOMY, on the pattern of words such as biometrics.

economic /ikənmk εk-/ adj. 1 relating to economics or the economy: the government's economic policy.

- (of a subject) considered in relation to trade, industry, and the creation of wealth: economic history.

2 justified in terms of profitability: many organizations must become larger if they are to remain economic.

- requiring fewer resources or costing less money: solar power may provide a more economic solution.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French and Latin from Greek oikonomikos, from oikonomia (see ECONOMY). Originally a noun, the word denoted household management or a person skilled in this, hence the early sense of the adjective (late 16th century) ‘relating to household management’. Modern senses date from the mid 19th cent.

economical adj. giving good value or return in relation to the money, time, or effort expended: a small, economical car.

- (of a person or lifestyle) careful not to waste money or resources.

- using no more of something than is necessary: the cast are economical with their actions.

<PHRASES>

□ be economical with the truth EUPHEMISTIC lie or deliberately withhold information. [<ORIGIN> from a statement given in evidence by Sir Robert Armstrong, British cabinet secretary, in the ‘Spycatcher’ trial (1986), conducted to prevent publication of a book by a former MI5 employee.]

economically adv. 1 in a way that relates to economics or finance: [sentence adv.] the region is important economically.

2 in a way that involves careful use of money or resources: the new building was erected as economically as possible.

3 in a way that uses no more of something than is necessary.

Economic and Social Committee (abbr.: ESC) a consultative body of the European Union, set up in 1957 and composed of representatives of the member states. It meets in Brussels.

economic good n. [ECONOMICS] a product or service which can command a price when sold.

economic migrant n. a person who travels from one country or area to another in order to improve their standard of living.

economic rent n. [ECONOMICS] the extra amount earned by a resource (e.g. land, capital, or labour) by virtue of its present use.

economics plural n. [often treated as sing.] 1 the branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth.

2 the condition of a region or group as regards material prosperity: he is responsible for the island's modest economics.

economism /knəmz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] belief in the primacy of economic causes or factors.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French économisme, based on Greek oikonomia ‘household management’ (see ECONOMY).

economist n. an expert in economics.

economize (also economise) v. [no obj.] spend less; reduce one's expenses: I have to economize where I can | people on low incomes may try to economize on fuel.

<DERIVATIVES> economization n. economizer n.

economy n. (pl. economies) 1 the state of a country or region in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services and the supply of money: he favours tax cuts to stimulate the economy.

- a particular system or stage of an economy: a free-market economy.

2 [mass noun] careful management of available resources: fuel economy.

- [as modifier] offering good value for money: an economy pack of soap flakes.

- sparing or careful use of something: a technique based on economy of effort.

- [count noun] (usually economies) a financial saving: there were many economies to be made by giving up our London offices.

3 (also economy class) the cheapest class of air or rail travel.

<PHRASES>

□ economy of scale a proportionate saving in costs gained by an increased level of production.

□ economy of scope a proportionate saving gained by producing two or more distinct goods, when the cost of doing so is less than that of producing each separately.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘management of material resources’): from French économie, or via Latin from Greek oikonomia ‘household management’, based on oikos ‘house’ + nemein ‘manage’. Current senses date from the 17th cent.

economy-class syndrome n. [mass noun] deep-vein thrombosis said to be caused by periods of prolonged immobility on long-haul flights.

economy-size (also economy-sized) adj. of a size which offers a large quantity for a proportionally lower cost: an economy-size container.

écorché /εke/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) a painting or sculpture of a human figure with the skin removed to display the musculature.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘flayed’.

ecoregion n. an area defined in terms of its natural features and environment.

ecosphere n. the biosphere of the earth or other planet, especially when the interaction between the living and non-living components is emphasized.

- [ASTRONOMY] the region of space around a star where conditions are such that planets are theoretically capable of sustaining life.

ecossaise /εksez/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) an energetic country dance in duple time in which couples form lines facing each other.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, feminine of écossais ‘Scottish’; the connection with Scotland is unclear.

ecosystem n. [ECOLOGY] a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

ecotage /ikətα ε-/ n. [mass noun] sabotage carried out for ecological reasons.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of ecological (see ECOLOGY) and SABOTAGE.

ecoterrorism n. [mass noun] violence carried out to further environmentalist ends.

- the action of causing deliberate environmental damage in order to further political ends.

<DERIVATIVES> ecoterrorist n.

ecotone /ikə()tən εk-/ n. [ECOLOGY] a region of transition between two biological communities.

<DERIVATIVES> ecotonal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ECO- + Greek tonos ‘tension’.

ecotourism n. [mass noun] tourism directed towards exotic natural environments, intended to support conservation efforts and observe wildlife.

<DERIVATIVES> ecotour n. & v. ecotourist n.

ecotoxicology n. [mass noun] the branch of science that deals with the nature, effects, and interactions of substances that are harmful to the environment.

<DERIVATIVES> ecotoxicological adj. ecotoxicologist n.

ecotype n. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] a distinct form or race of a plant or animal species occupying a particular habitat.

eco-warrior n. a person actively involved in preventing damage to the environment.

ecru /ekru εkru/ n. [mass noun] the light fawn colour of unbleached linen.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French écru ‘unbleached’.

ECSC abbr. European Coal and Steel Community.

ecstasize (also ecstasise) v. [no obj.] go into ecstasies.

ecstasy /εkstəsi/ n. (pl. ecstasies) [mass noun] 1 an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement: there was a look of ecstasy on his face | [count noun] they went into ecstasies over the view.

2 an emotional or religious frenzy or trance-like state, originally one involving an experience of mystic self-transcendence.

3 (Ecstasy) an illegal amphetamine-based synthetic drug with euphoric effects, originally produced as an appetite suppressant. Also called MDMA.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French extasie, via late Latin from Greek ekstasis ‘standing outside oneself’, based on ek- ‘out’ + histanai ‘to place’.

ecstatic /kstatk εk-/ adj. 1 feeling or expressing overwhelming happiness or joyful excitement: ecstatic fans filled the stadium.

2 involving an experience of mystic self-transcendence: an ecstatic vision of God.

■ n. a person subject to mystical experiences.

<DERIVATIVES> ecstatically adv.

ECT abbr. electroconvulsive therapy.

ecto- combining form outer; external: ectoderm.

<ORIGIN> from Greek ektos ‘outside’.

ectoderm /εktə()dəm/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] & [ANATOMY] the outermost layer of cells or tissue of an embryo in early development, or the parts derived from this, which include the epidermis, nerve tissue, and nephridia. Compare with ENDODERM and MESODERM.

<DERIVATIVES> ectodermal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ECTO- ‘outside’ + Greek derma ‘skin’.

ectogenesis /εktə()dεnss/ n. [mass noun] (chiefly in science fiction) the development of embryos in artificial conditions outside the womb.

ectomorph /εktə()mf/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a person with a lean and delicate build of body. Compare with ENDOMORPH and MESOMORPH.

<DERIVATIVES> ectomorphic adj. ectomorphy n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: ecto- from ectodermal (being the layer of the embryo giving rise to physical characteristics which predominate) + -MORPH.

-ectomy combining form denoting surgical removal of a specified part of the body: appendectomy.

<ORIGIN> from Greek ektomē ‘excision’, from ek ‘out’ + temnein ‘to cut’.

ectoparasite /εktəparəst/ n. [BIOLOGY] a parasite, such as a flea, that lives on the outside of its host. Compare with ENDOPARASITE.

<DERIVATIVES> ectoparasitic adj.

ectopic /εktpk/ adj. MEDICINE in an abnormal place or position.

■ n. an ectopic pregnancy.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin ectopia ‘presence of tissue, cells, etc. in an abnormal place’ (from Greek ektopos ‘out of place’) + -IC.

ectopic beat n. another term for EXTRASYSTOLE.

ectopic pregnancy n. a pregnancy in which the fetus develops outside the womb, typically in a Fallopian tube.

ectoplasm /εktə()plaz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] 1 [BIOLOGY], DATED the more viscous, clear outer layer of the cytoplasm in amoeboid cells. Compare with ENDOPLASM.

2 a supernatural viscous substance that supposedly exudes from the body of a medium during a spiritualistic trance and forms the material for the manifestation of spirits.

<DERIVATIVES> ectoplasmic adj.

Ectoprocta /εktə()prktə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] another term for BRYOZOA.

<DERIVATIVES> ectoproct n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from ektos ‘outside or external’ + prōktos ‘anus’.

ectotherm /εktəθəm/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an animal that is dependent on external sources of body heat. Often contrasted with ENDOTHERM. Compare with POIKILOTHERM.

<DERIVATIVES> ectothermic adj. ectothermy n.

ectropion /εktrəpən/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition, typically a consequence of advanced age, in which the eyelid is turned outwards away from the eyeball.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek, from ek- ‘out’ + trepein ‘to turn’.

ecu /εkju i- e- -ku/ (also ECU) n. (pl. same or ecus)

■ former term for euro^1.

<ORIGIN> acronym from European currency unit.

Ecuador /εkwəd/ Spanish /ekwaər/ an equatorial republic in South America, on the Pacific coast; pop. 13,447,494 (est. 2002); languages, Spanish (official), Quechua; capital, Quito.

Ranges and plateaux of the Andes separate the coastal plain from the tropical forests of the Amazon basin. Formerly part of the Inca empire, Ecuador was conquered by the Spanish in 1534 and remained part of Spain's American empire until, after the first uprising against Spanish rule in 1809, independence was gained in 1822.

<DERIVATIVES> Ecuadorian (also Ecuadorean) adj. & n.

ecumenical /ikjmεnk(ə)l εk-/ adj. representing a number of different Christian Churches.

- promoting or relating to unity among the world's Christian Churches: the ecumenical movement.

<DERIVATIVES> ecumenically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘belonging to the universal Church’): via late Latin from Greek oikoumenikos from oikoumenē ‘the (inhabited) earth’.

Ecumenical Patriarch n. a title of the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople.

ecumenism /kjumənz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the principle or aim of promoting unity among the world's Christian Churches.

eczema /εksmə εkzmə/ n. [mass noun] a medical condition in which patches of skin become rough and inflamed with blisters which cause itching and bleeding.

<DERIVATIVES> eczematous /εkzimətəs εkzεm-/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek ekzema, from ekzein ‘boil over, break out’, from ek- ‘out’ + zein ‘boil’.

ed. abbr.

- edited by.

- edition.

- editor.

-ed^1 suffix forming adjectives: 1 (added to nouns) having; possessing; affected by: talented | diseased.

- (added to nouns) characteristic of: ragged.

2 from phrases consisting of adjective and noun: bad-tempered | three-sided.

<ORIGIN> Old English -ede.

-ed^2 suffix forming: 1 the past tense and past participle of weak verbs: landed | walked.

2 participial adjectives: wounded.

<ORIGIN> Old English -ed, -ad, -od.

edacious /deəs/ adj. RARE relating to or given to eating.

<DERIVATIVES> edacity n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin edax, edac- (from edere ‘eat’) + -IOUS.

Edam^1 /idam/ a town in the Netherlands, to the north-east of Amsterdam; pop. 27,800 (est. 2002) (with Volendam).

Edam^2 /idam/ n. [mass noun] a round Dutch cheese, typically pale yellow with a red wax coating.

edamame /εdəmαme/ n. [mass noun] a Japanese dish of salted green soybeans boiled in their pods, typically served as a snack or appetizer.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, literally ‘beans on a branch’.

edaphic /dafk/ adj. [ECOLOGY] of, produced by, or influenced by the soil.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Greek edaphos ‘floor’ + -IC.

edaphosaurus /dafəsrəs/ n. a large herbivorous synapsid reptile of the late Carboniferous and early Permian periods, with long knobbly spines on its back supporting a sail-like crest.

<INFO> Genus Edaphosaurus, order Pelycosuria, subclass Synapsida.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek edaphos ‘floor’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

Edberg /εdbə/ Stefan (b.1966), Swedish tennis player. He won the Australian Open in 1985 and won Wimbledon in 1990 and 1991.

Edda /εdə/ either of two 13th-century Icelandic books, the Elder or Poetic Edda (a collection of Old Norse poems on Norse legends) and the Younger or Prose Edda (a handbook to Icelandic poetry by Snorri Sturluson). The Eddas are the chief source of knowledge of Scandinavian mythology.

<ORIGIN> either from the name of the great-grandmother in the Old Norse poem Rigsthul, or from Old Norse óthr ‘poetry’.

Eddington Sir Arthur Stanley (1882–1944), English astronomer, considered the founder of astrophysics. He used Einstein's theory of relativity to explain the bending of light by gravity that he observed in the 1919 solar eclipse.

eddo /εdə/ n. (pl. eddoes) a taro corm or plant of a West Indian variety with many edible cormlets.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of West African origin.

Eddy Mary Baker (1821–1910), American religious leader and founder of the Christian Science movement. Long a victim to various ailments, she believed herself cured by a faith healer, Phineas Quimby, and later evolved her own system of spiritual healing.

eddy n. (pl. eddies) a circular movement of water causing a small whirlpool.

- a circular movement of wind, fog, or smoke.

■ v. (eddies, eddying, eddied) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of water, air, or smoke) move in a circular way: the mists from the river eddied round the banks.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from the Germanic base of the Old English prefix ed- ‘again, back’.

eddy current n. a localized electric current induced in a conductor by a varying magnetic field.

Eddystone Rocks /εdstən/ a rocky reef off the coast of Cornwall, 22 km (14 miles) SW of Plymouth. The reef was the site of the earliest lighthouse (1699) built on rocks fully exposed to the sea.

edelweiss /ed(ə)lvs/ n. a European mountain plant which has woolly white bracts around its small flowers and downy grey-green leaves.

<INFO> Leontopodium alpinum, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, from edel ‘noble’ + weiss ‘white’.

Eden^1 /id(ə)n/ (Robert) Anthony, 1st Earl of Avon (1897–1977), British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1955–7. His premiership was dominated by the Suez crisis of 1956; widespread opposition to Britain's role in this led to his resignation.

Eden^2 /id(ə)n/ (also Garden of Eden) the place where Adam and Eve lived in the biblical account of the Creation, from which they were expelled for disobediently eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

- (as n. an Eden) a place or state of great happiness; an unspoilt paradise: the lost Eden of his childhood.

<DERIVATIVES> Edenic /dεnk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> from late Latin (Vulgate), Greek Ēdēn (Septuagint), and Hebrew ‘Ēen; perhaps related to Akkadian edinu, from Sumerian eden ‘plain, desert’ (but believed to be related to Hebrew ‘ēen ‘delight’).

Edentata /idəntαtə -tetə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] another term for XENARTHRA.

edentate /idəntet/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a mammal of an order distinguished by the lack of incisor and canine teeth, including the anteaters, sloths, and armadillos, all of which are native to Central and South America.

<INFO> Order Xenarthra (or Edentata).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin edentatus, past participle of edentare ‘make toothless’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + dens, dent- ‘tooth’.

edentulous /dεntjləs/ adj. MEDICINE & [ZOOLOGY] lacking teeth.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin edentulus, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + dens, dent- ‘tooth’ + -ULOUS.

Edgar /εdə/ (944–75), king of England 959–75, younger brother of Edwy. He became king of Northumbria and Mercia in 957 when these regions renounced their allegiance to Edwy, succeeding to the throne of England on Edwy's death.

edge n. 1 the outside limit of an object, area, or surface: a willow tree at the water's edge | she perched on the edge of a desk.

- an area next to a steep drop: the cliff edge.

- [in sing.] the point immediately before something unpleasant or momentous occurs: the economy was teetering on the edge of recession.

2 the sharpened side of the blade of a cutting implement or weapon.

- [in sing.] an intense, sharp, or striking quality: a flamenco singer brings a primitive edge to the music | there was an edge of menace in his voice.

3 [in sing.] a quality or factor which gives superiority over close rivals: his cars have the edge over his rivals'.

4 the line along which two surfaces of a solid meet.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 provide with a border or edge: the pool is edged with paving.

2 [with adverbial of direction] move or cause to move gradually or furtively in a particular direction: [no obj.] she tried to edge away from him | [with obj.] Hazel quietly edged him away from the others | FIGURATIVE she was edged out of the organization by the director.

3 [with obj.] INFORMAL defeat by a small margin: United edged out Rovers 4–2 on penalties.

4 give an intense or sharp quality to: the bitterness that edged her voice.

5 [CRICKET] strike (the ball) with the edge of the bat; strike a ball delivered by (the bowler) with the edge of the bat.

6 [no obj.] ski with one's weight on the edges of one's skis.

<PHRASES>

□ on edge tense, nervous, or irritable.

□ on the edge of one's seat INFORMAL very excited and giving one's full attention to something.

□ set someone's teeth on edge (especially of a harsh sound) cause someone to feel intense discomfort or irritation.

□ take the edge off reduce the intensity or effect of (something unpleasant or severe): the tablets will take the edge off the pain.

<DERIVATIVES> edged adj. [in combination] a black-edged handkerchief edgeless adj. edger n.

<ORIGIN> Old English ecg ‘sharpened side of a blade’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch egge and German Ecke, also to Old Norse eggja (see egg^2), from an Indo-European root shared by Latin acies ‘edge’ and Greek akis ‘point’.

edge city n. NORTH AMERICAN a relatively large urban area situated on the outskirts of a city, typically beside a major road.

<ORIGIN> 1991: coined by J. Garreau in a book of the same name.

edge connector n. an electrical connector with a row of contacts, fitted to the edge of a printed circuit board to facilitate connection to external circuits.

Edgehill, Battle of /εdhl/ the first pitched battle of the English Civil War (1642), fought at the village of Edgehill in the west Midlands. The Parliamentary army attempted to halt the Royalist army's march on London; the battle ended with no clear winner and with heavy losses on both sides.

edge tool n. a handworked or machine-operated cutting tool.

edgeways (US edgewise) adv. with the edge uppermost or towards the viewer.

<PHRASES>

□ get a word in edgeways [usually with negative] contribute to a conversation with difficulty because the other speaker talks incessantly.

Edgeworth /εdwəθ/ Maria (1767–1849), English-born Irish novelist. Notable works: Castle Rackrent (1800) and Belinda (1801).

edging n. [mass noun] something forming an edge or border: a chemise with lace edging.

- the process of providing something with an edge or border.

edgy adj. (edgier, edgiest) 1 tense, nervous, or irritable: he became edgy and defensive.

- (of a musical performance or piece of writing) having an intense or sharp quality.

2 INFORMAL at the forefront of a trend; cutting-edge: their songs combine good music and smart, edgy ideas.

<DERIVATIVES> edgily adv. edginess n.

EDI abbr. electronic data interchange (a standard for exchanging information between computer systems).

edible /εdb(ə)l/ adj. fit to be eaten (often used to contrast with unpalatable or poisonous varieties): the shrub has small edible berries.

■ n. (edibles) items of food.

<DERIVATIVES> edibility n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin edibilis, from Latin edere ‘eat’.

edible crab n. a large pinkish-brown European crab with black-tipped pincers, typically found in inshore waters and caught for food.

<INFO> Cancer pagurus, family Cancridae.

edible dormouse n. another term for FAT DORMOUSE.

edible frog n. a large green aquatic frog of mainland Europe, popular as food in some regions.

<INFO> Rana esculenta, family Ranidae.

edible-nest swiftlet n. a small Asian swift whose nest, constructed from solidified saliva, is used to make Chinese bird's-nest soup.

<INFO> Genus Aerodramus (or Collocalia), family Apodidae: two species.

edible snail n. a large snail which is widely collected or cultured for food, occurring chiefly in southern Europe.

<INFO> Helix pomatia, family Helicidae.

edict /idkt/ n. an official order or proclamation issued by a person in authority.

<DERIVATIVES> edictal /dkt(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin edictum ‘something proclaimed’, neuter past participle of edicere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + dicere ‘say, tell’.

edification /εdfke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL the moral or intellectual instruction or improvement of someone: a video was filmed for the edification of clients.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin aedificatio(n-), from aedificare ‘build’ (see EDIFY).

edifice /εdfs/ n. FORMAL 1 a large, imposing building.

2 a complex system of beliefs: the concepts on which the edifice of capitalism was built.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin aedificium, from aedis ‘dwelling’ + facere ‘make’.

edify /εdf/ v. (edifies, edifying, edified) [with obj.] FORMAL instruct or improve (someone) morally or intellectually.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French edifier, from Latin aedificare ‘build’, from aedis ‘dwelling’ + facere ‘make’ (compare with EDIFICE). The word originally meant ‘construct a building’, also ‘strengthen’, hence to ‘build up’ morally.

edifying adj. providing moral or intellectual instruction: edifying literature.

- [with negative] used to express one's disapproval of something: seeing a person blind drunk is not an edifying sight.

<DERIVATIVES> edifyingly adv.

Edinburgh /εdnbərə/ the capital of Scotland, lying on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth; pop. 380,500 (est. 2002). The city grew up round the 11th-century castle built by Malcolm III on a rocky ridge which dominates the landscape.

Edinburgh, Duke of see PHILIP, PRINCE.

Edinburgh Festival (also Edinburgh International Festival) an international festival of the arts held annually in Edinburgh since 1947. In addition to the main programme a flourishing fringe festival has developed.

Edison /εds(ə)n/ Thomas (Alva) (1847–1931), American inventor. He took out the first of more than a thousand patents at the age of 21. His inventions include automatic telegraph systems, the carbon microphone for telephones, the phonograph, and the carbon filament lamp.

edit v. (edits, editing, edited) [with obj.] 1 prepare (written material) for publication by correcting, condensing, or otherwise modifying it: Volume I was edited by J. Johnson.

- choose material for (a film or radio or television programme) and arrange it to form a coherent whole: (as adj. edited) edited highlights of the match.

- change (online text) on a word processor or computer.

- (edit something out) remove unnecessary or inappropriate material from a text, film, or radio or television programme.

2 be editor of (a newspaper or magazine).

■ n. a change or correction made as a result of editing.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as a verb): partly a back-formation from EDITOR, reinforced by French éditer ‘to edit’ (from édition ‘edition’).

editable adj. (of text or software) in a format that can be edited by the user.

edition n. 1 a particular form or version of a published text: a paperback edition.

- a particular version of a text maintained by regular revision: a first edition.

2 the total number of copies of a book, newspaper, or other published material issued at one time.

3 a particular instance of a regular radio or television programme: the Monday edition will be repeated on Wednesdays.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French édition, from Latin editio(n-), from edere ‘put out’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + dare ‘give’.

editio princeps /də prnsεps/ n. (pl. editiones principes /dəniz prnspiz/) the first printed edition of a book.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from editio(n-) ‘edition’ and princeps ‘chief, leader’ (from primus ‘first’).

editor n. a person who is in charge of and determines the final content of a newspaper, magazine, or multi-author book.

- a person who commissions or prepares written or recorded material for publication or broadcast.

- a computer program enabling the user to alter or move online text.

<DERIVATIVES> editorship n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘producer (of games), publisher’, from edit- ‘produced, put out’, from the verb edere.

editorial adj. relating to the commissioning or preparing of material for publication: the editorial team.

- relating to the part of a newspaper or magazine which contains news, information, or comment as opposed to advertising.

■ n. a newspaper article expressing the editor's opinion on a topical issue.

- [mass noun] the parts of a newspaper or magazine which are not advertising.

<DERIVATIVES> editorialist n. editorially adv.

editorialize (also editorialise) v. [no obj.] (of a newspaper, editor, or broadcasting organization) express opinions rather than just report the news.

editress n. DATED or HUMOROUS a female editor.

editrix n. another term for EDITRESS.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EDITOR + -TRIX.

edit suite n. a room containing equipment, or a set of equipment, for electronically editing video-recorded material.

-edly suffix (forming adverbs) in a manner characterized by the action expressed by the formative verb: agitatedly.

Edmonton /εdmənt(ə)n/ the capital of Alberta, Canada; pop. 693,700 (est. 2002).

Edmund /εdmənd/ the name of two kings of England:

- Edmund I (921–46), reigned 939–46. After succeeding Athelstan Edmund spent much of his reign trying to win his northern lands back from Norse control.

- Edmund II (c.980–1016), son of Ethelred the Unready, reigned 1016; known as Edmund Ironside. Edmund led the resistance to Canute's forces in 1015, but was eventually defeated and forced to divide the kingdom with Canute. On Edmund's death Canute became king of all England.

Edmund, St (c.1175–1240), English churchman and teacher, Archbishop of Canterbury 1234–40; born Edmund Rich Feast day, 16 November.

Edmund Campion, St see Campion^2.

Edmund the Martyr, St (c.841–70), king of East Anglia 855–70. After the defeat of his army by the invading Danes in 870, tradition holds that he was captured and shot with arrows for refusing to reject the Christian faith or to share power with his pagan conqueror. Feast day, 20 November.

edn abbr. edition.

Edo^1 former name for TOKYO.

Edo^2 /εdə/ n. (pl. same or Edos) 1 a member of a people inhabiting the district of Benin in Nigeria.

2 [mass noun] the Benue-Congo language of the Edo, with about 1 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Edo or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name of Benin City in Edo.

Edomite /idəmt/ n. a member of an ancient people living in Edom, a region south of the Dead Sea, in biblical times, traditionally believed to be descended from Esau.

EDP abbr. electronic data processing.

EDT abbr. Eastern Daylight Time (see EASTERN TIME).

EDTA abbr.

- [CHEMISTRY] ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid, a crystalline acid with a strong tendency to form chelates with metal ions.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (CH_2COOH)2NCH_2CH_2N(CH_2COOH)2.

educable /εdkəb(ə)l/ adj. able to be educated: we must have teachers who believe that every child is educable.

<DERIVATIVES> educability n.

educate /εdjket/ v. [with obj.] give intellectual, moral, and social instruction to (someone), typically at a school or university: she was educated at a boarding school.

- provide or pay for instruction for (one's child), especially at a school.

- give (someone) training in or information on a particular subject: a plan to educate the young on the dangers of drugs | [with obj. and infinitive] the need to educate people to conserve water.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin educat- ‘led out’, from the verb educare, related to educere ‘lead out’ (see EDUCE).

educated adj. having been educated: [in combination] a Harvard-educated lawyer.

- resulting from or having had a good education: educated tastes.

educated guess n. a guess based on knowledge and experience and therefore likely to be correct.

education n. [mass noun] 1 the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university: a course of education.

- the theory and practice of teaching: colleges of education.

- [count noun] a body of knowledge acquired while being educated: his education is encyclopedic and eclectic.

- information about or training in a particular subject: health education.

2 (an education) an enlightening experience: Petrus is a good workman, it is an education to watch him.

<DERIVATIVES> educationist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin educatio(n-), from the verb educare (see EDUCATE).

educational adj. relating to the provision of education.

- intended or serving to educate or enlighten: seeing an analyst was a very educational experience.

<DERIVATIVES> educationalist n. educationally adv.

educative /εdkətv/ adj. intended or serving to educate or enlighten; educational: a useful educative tool.

educator /εdketə/ n. a person who provides instruction or education; a teacher: the perspective of a professional educator.

educe /djus/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL bring out or develop (something latent or potential): out of love obedience is to be educed.

- infer (something) from data: more information can be educed from these statistics.

<DERIVATIVES> eduction n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin educere ‘lead out’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + ducere ‘to lead’.

edulcorate /dlkəret/ v. [with obj.] RARE make (something) more acceptable or palatable.

<DERIVATIVES> edulcoration n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin edulcorat- ‘sweetened’, from the verb edulcorare, from Latin e (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + dulcor ‘sweetness’.

edutainment /εdjtenm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] computer games, television programmes, or other material, intended to be both educational and enjoyable.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of EDUCATION and ENTERTAINMENT.

Edw. abbr. Edward.

Edward the name of six kings of England and also one of Great Britain and Ireland and one of the United Kingdom:

- Edward I (1239–1307), son of Henry III, reigned 1272–1307; known as the Hammer of the Scots. His campaign against Prince Llewelyn ended with the annexation of Wales in 1284, but he failed to conquer Scotland, where resistance was led by Sir William Wallace and later Robert the Bruce.

- Edward II (1284–1327), son of Edward I, reigned 1307–27. In 1314 he was defeated by Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn. In 1326 Edward's wife, Isabella of France, and her lover, Roger de Mortimer, invaded England; Edward was deposed in favour of his son and murdered.

- Edward III (1312–77), son of Edward II, reigned 1327–77. In 1330 he took control of his kingdom, banishing Isabella and executing Mortimer. He supported Edward de Baliol, the pretender to the Scottish throne, and started the Hundred Years War.

- Edward IV (1442–83), son of Richard, Duke of York, reigned 1461–83. He became king after defeating the Lancastrian Henry VI. Edward was briefly forced into exile in 1470–1 by the Earl of Warwick but regained his position with victory at Tewkesbury in 1471.

- Edward V (1470–c.1483), son of Edward IV, reigned 1483 but not crowned. Edward and his brother Richard (known as the Princes in the Tower) were probably murdered and the throne was taken by their uncle, Richard III.

- Edward VI (1537–53), son of Henry VIII, reigned 1547–53. His reign saw the establishment of Protestantism as the state religion.

- Edward VII (1841–1910), son of Queen Victoria, reigned 1901–10. Although he played little part in government on coming to the throne, his popularity helped revitalize the monarchy.

- Edward VIII (1894–1972), son of George V, reigned 1936 but not crowned. Edward abdicated eleven months after coming to the throne in order to marry the American divorcee Mrs Wallis Simpson.

Edward, Lake a lake on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), linked to Lake Albert by the Semliki River.

Edward, Prince Edward Antony Richard Louis, Earl of Wessex (b.1964), third son of Elizabeth II. He married Sophie Rhys-Jones (b.1965) in 1999.

Edward, Prince of Wales see BLACK PRINCE.

Edwardian /εdwdən/ adj. relating to or characteristic of the reign of King Edward VII: the Edwardian era | a fine Edwardian house.

■ n. a person who lived during this period.

Edwardiana /εdwdαnə/ plural n. articles, especially collectors' items, from the reign of Edward VII.

Edwards^1 Gareth (Owen) (b.1947), Welsh rugby union player. An international player from 1967 to 1978, he was the youngest-ever Welsh captain when appointed in 1968.

Edwards^2 Jonathan (David) (b.1966), English athlete. He won a gold medal in the triple jump in the 1992 World Cup and in 1995 became the first person to break the 18-metre barrier in that event.

Edward the Confessor, St (c.1003–66), son of Ethelred the Unready, king of England 1042–66. Famed for his piety, Edward founded Westminster Abbey, where he was eventually buried. Feast day, 13 October.

Edward the Elder (c.870–924), son of Alfred the Great, king of Wessex 899–924. His military successes against the Danes made it possible for his son Athelstan to become the first king of all England in 925.

Edward the Martyr, St (c.963–78), son of Edgar, king of England 975–8. Edward was faced by a challenge for the throne from supporters of his half-brother, Ethelred, who eventually had him murdered at Corfe Castle in Dorset. Feast day, 18 March.

Edwy /εdwi/ (also Eadwig)

- (d.959), king of England 955–7. He was probably only 15 years old when he became king; after Mercia and Northumbria renounced him in favour of his brother Edgar, he ruled over only the lands south of the Thames.

ee exclam. northern English form of oh^1.

-ee suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting the person affected directly or indirectly by the action of the formative verb: employee.

2 denoting a person described as or concerned with: absentee.

3 denoting an object of relatively smaller size: bootee.

<ORIGIN> from Anglo-Norman French -é, from Latin -atus (past participial ending). Some forms are anglicized modern French nouns (e.g. refugee from réfugié).

EEA abbr. European Economic Area, a free-trade zone created in 1994, composed of the states of the European Union together with Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein.

EEC abbr. European Economic Community.

EEG abbr. electroencephalogram, electroencephalograph, or electroencephalography.

eejit /idt/ n. INFORMAL Irish and Scottish form of IDIOT.

eek exclam. INFORMAL used to express alarm, horror, or surprise.

eel n. a snake-like fish with a slender elongated body and poorly developed fins, proverbial for its slipperiness.

<INFO> Order Anguilliformes: many families, in particular Anguillidae, which comprises mainly freshwater eels that breed in the sea, including the common Anguilla anguilla of Europe and A. rostrata of America.

- used in names of unrelated fishes that resemble the true eels, e.g. electric eel, moray eel.

<DERIVATIVES> eel-like adj. eely adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English l, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aal and German Aal.

Eelam /iləm/ the proposed homeland of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, for which the Tamil Tigers separatist group have been fighting since the early 1980s.

eelgrass n. [mass noun] 1 a marine plant with long ribbon-like leaves which grows in European coastal waters.

<INFO> Zostera marina, family Zosteraceae.

2 North American term for TAPE-GRASS.

eelpout /ilpat/ n. a small broad-headed fish of cool or cold seas, having an elongated body and the dorsal and anal fins continuous with the tail.

<INFO> Family Zoarcidae: numerous genera and species, including the northern European viviparous blenny (Zoarces viviparus).

<ORIGIN> Old English lepūta (see EEL, pout^2).

eelworm n. a nematode, especially a small soil nematode that can become a serious pest of crops and ornamental plants.

Eem /im/ n. [usually as modifier] [GEOLOGY] the most recent interglacial period of the Pleistocene in northern Europe, preceding the Weichsel glaciation and corresponding to the Ipswichian in Britain.

- the system of deposits laid down at this time.

<DERIVATIVES> Eemian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of a river in the Netherlands.

e'en^1 /in/ adv. literary form of even^1.

e'en^2 /in/ n. Scottish form of even^2.

-een suffix IRISH forming diminutive nouns such as colleen.

<ORIGIN> from the Irish diminutive suffix -ín.

eensy /insi/ (also eensy-weensy) adj. INFORMAL extremely small; tiny.

EEPROM n. [COMPUTING] a read-only memory whose contents can be erased and reprogrammed using a pulsed voltage.

<ORIGIN> acronym from electrically erasable programmable ROM.

e'er /ε/ adv. literary form of EVER.

-eer suffix 1 (forming nouns) denoting a person concerned with or engaged in an activity: auctioneer.

2 (forming verbs) denoting concern or involvement with an activity: electioneer.

<ORIGIN> from French -ier, from Latin -arius; verbs are often back-formations (e.g. electioneer from electioneering).

eerie /əri/ adj. (eerier, eeriest) strange and frightening: an eerie green glow in the sky.

<DERIVATIVES> eerily adv. [as submodifier] it was eerily quiet eeriness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally northern English and Scots in the sense ‘fearful’): probably from Old English earg ‘cowardly’, of Germanic origin; related to German arg.

Eeyorish /ir/ (also Eeyoreish) adj. BRITISH pessimistic or gloomy: they were an Eeyorish bunch, always looking on the dark side of life.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from Eeyore, the name of a donkey in A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh, characterized by his gloomy outlook on life.

ef- prefix variant spelling of ex-1. assimilated before f (as in efface, effloresce).

EFA abbr. essential fatty acid.

eff n. & v. British used as a euphemism for ‘fuck’.

<PHRASES>

□ eff and blind INFORMAL use expletives; swear. [<ORIGIN> blind from its use in expletives such as blind me (see BLIMEY).]

<DERIVATIVES> effing adj. & adv.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: the letter F represented as a word.

effable /εfəb(ə)l/ adj. RARE able to be described in words.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin effabilis, from effari ‘utter’.

efface /fes/ v. [with obj.] 1 erase (a mark) from a surface: with time, the words are effaced by the rain.

- cause (a memory or emotion) to disappear completely.

2 (efface oneself) make oneself appear insignificant or inconspicuous.

<DERIVATIVES> effacement n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘pardon or be absolved from (an offence)’): from French effacer, from e- (from Latin ex- ‘away from’) + face ‘face’.

effect n. 1 a change which is a result or consequence of an action or other cause: the lethal effects of hard drugs | [mass noun] politicians have some effect on the lives of ordinary people.

- [mass noun] the state of being or becoming operative: the ban is to take effect in six months | he resigned with effect from 1 June.

- [mass noun] the extent to which something succeeds or is operative: wind power can be used to great effect.

- [with modifier] [PHYSICS] a physical phenomenon, typically named after its discoverer: the Renner effect.

- an impression produced in the mind of a person: gentle music can have a soothing effect.

2 (effects) the lighting, sound, or scenery used in a play, film, or broadcast: the production relied too much on spectacular effects.

3 (effects) personal belongings: the insurance covers personal effects.

■ v. [with obj.] cause (something) to happen; bring about: the prime minister effected many policy changes.

<PHRASES>

□ for effect in order to impress people: I suspect he's controversial for effect.

□ in effect in force: a moratorium in effect since 1985 has been lifted.

- in practice, even if not formally acknowledged: the minister's powers allow him, in effect, to ban programmes.

□ to the effect that used to refer to the general meaning of something written or spoken: some comments to the effect that my essay was a little light on analysis.

□ to that effect having that result, purpose, or meaning: she thought it a foolish rule and put a notice to that effect in a newspaper.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin effectus, from efficere ‘accomplish’, from ex- ‘out, thoroughly’ + facere ‘do, make’.

■ Sense 3 of the noun, ‘personal belongings’, arose from the obsolete sense ‘something acquired on completion of an action’.

<USAGE> For an explanation of the difference between effect and affect see usage at affect^1.

effective adj. 1 successful in producing a desired or intended result: effective solutions to environmental problems.

- (of a law, rule, or policy) operative: the regulation will be effective from January.

2 [attr.] existing in fact, though not formally acknowledged as such: she has been under effective house arrest since September.

- assessed according to actual rather than face value: an effective price of £176 million.

■ n. a soldier fit and available for service.

<DERIVATIVES> effectively adv. [sentence adv.] effectively, this means that companies will be able to avoid regulations effectivity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin effectivus, from efficere ‘accomplish’ (see EFFECT).

effective demand n. [ECONOMICS] the level of demand that represents a real intention to purchase by people with the means to pay.

effectiveness n. [mass noun] the degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result; success: the effectiveness of the treatment.

effective temperature n. [PHYSICS] the temperature of an object calculated from the radiation it emits, assuming black-body behaviour.

effector n. [BIOLOGY] an organ or cell that acts in response to a stimulus: [as modifier] effector cells.

effectual /fεktəl -tjəl/ adj. (of something inanimate or abstract) successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective: tobacco smoke is the most effectual protection against the midge.

- [LAW] (of a legal document) valid or binding.

<DERIVATIVES> effectuality n. effectually adv. effectualness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin effectualis, from Latin effectus (see EFFECT).

effectuate /fεktet -tj-/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL put into force or operation: school choice would effectuate a transfer of power from government to individuals.

<DERIVATIVES> effectuation n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin effectuat- ‘caused to happen’, from the verb effectuare, from Latin effectus (see EFFECT).

effeminate /fεmnət/ adj. DEROGATORY (of a man) having characteristics regarded as typical of a woman; unmanly.

<DERIVATIVES> effeminacy n. effeminately adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin effeminatus, past participle of effeminare ‘make feminine’, from ex- (expressing a change of state) + femina ‘woman’.

effendi /εfεndi/ n. (pl. effendis) a man of high education or social standing in an eastern Mediterranean or Arab country.

- HISTORICAL a title of respect or courtesy in Turkey.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Turkish efendi, from modern Greek aphentēs, from Greek authentēs ‘lord, master’.

efferent /εf(ə)r(ə)nt/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] conducted or conducting outwards or away from something (for nerves, the central nervous system; for blood vessels, the organ supplied). The opposite of AFFERENT.

■ n. an efferent nerve fibre or vessel.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin efferent- ‘carrying out’, from the verb efferre, from ex- ‘out’ + ferre ‘carry’.

effervesce /εfəvεs/ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a liquid) give off bubbles.

2 be vivacious and enthusiastic.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin effervescere, from ex- ‘out, up’ + fervescere ‘begin to boil’ (from fervere ‘be hot, boil’).

effervescence n. [mass noun] 1 bubbles in a liquid; fizz: the effervescence of sparkling wine.

2 vivacity and enthusiasm: he was filled with such effervescence.

effervescent adj. 1 (of a liquid) giving off bubbles; fizzy.

2 vivacious and enthusiastic.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin effervescent- ‘boiling up’, from the verb effervescere (see EFFERVESCE).

effete /fit/ adj. affected, over-refined, and ineffectual: effete trendies from art college.

- no longer capable of effective action: the authority of an effete aristocracy began to dwindle.

- (of a man) weak or effeminate.

<DERIVATIVES> effetely adv. effeteness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘no longer fertile’): from Latin effetus ‘worn out by bearing young’, from ex- ‘out’ + fetus ‘breeding’; related to FETUS.

efficacious /εfkeəs/ adj. FORMAL (of something inanimate or abstract) successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective: this treatment was efficacious in some cases.

<DERIVATIVES> efficaciously adv. efficaciousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin efficax, efficac- (from efficere ‘accomplish’: see EFFECT) + -IOUS.

efficacy /εfkəsi/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL the ability to produce a desired or intended result: there is little information on the efficacy of this treatment.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin efficacia, from efficax, efficac- (see EFFICACIOUS).

efficiency n. (pl. efficiencies) [mass noun] the state or quality of being efficient: greater energy efficiency.

- [count noun] an action designed to achieve efficiency: the reforms will lead to efficiencies and savings.

- [count noun] TECHNICAL the ratio of the useful work performed by a machine or in a process to the total energy expended or heat taken in.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘the fact of being an efficient cause’): from Latin efficientia, from efficere ‘accomplish’ (see EFFECT).

efficient adj. 1 (of a system or machine) achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense: more efficient processing of information.

- [in combination] preventing the wasteful use of a particular resource: an energy-efficient heating system.

2 (of a person) working in a well-organized and competent way.

<DERIVATIVES> efficiently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘making, causing’, usually in EFFICIENT CAUSE): from Latin efficient- ‘accomplishing’, from the verb efficere (see EFFECT). The current sense dates from the late 18th cent.

efficient cause n. [PHILOSOPHY] an agent that brings a thing into being or initiates a change.

effigy /εfdi/ n. (pl. effigies) a sculpture or model of a person: a tomb effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

- a roughly made model of a person that is made in order to be damaged or destroyed as a protest.

<PHRASES>

□ burn someone in effigy burn a model of a person as a protest.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin effigies, from effingere ‘to fashion (artistically)’, from ex- ‘out’ + fingere ‘to shape’.

effleurage /εflərα/ n. [mass noun] a form of massage involving a repeated circular stroking movement made with the palm of the hand.

■ v. [with obj.] massage with a circular stroking movement: effleurage the shoulders and press gently.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from effleurer ‘skim the surface, stroke lightly’, literally ‘remove the flower or ‘outer beauty’ of something’.

effloresce /εflərεs/ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a substance) lose moisture and turn to a fine powder on exposure to air.

- (of salts) come to the surface of brickwork, rock, or other material and crystallize there.

- (of a surface) become covered with salt particles.

2 reach an optimum stage of development: simple concepts that effloresce into testable conclusions.

<DERIVATIVES> efflorescence n. efflorescent adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin efflorescere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + florescere ‘begin to bloom’ (from florere ‘to bloom’, from flos, flor- ‘flower’).

effluence /εfləns/ n. a substance that flows out from something.

- [mass noun] the action of flowing out.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin effluentia, from Latin effluere ‘flow out’, from ex- ‘out’ + fluere ‘to flow’.

effluent n. [mass noun] liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river or the sea: industrial effluent | [count noun] contamination with trade effluents.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the adjective sense ‘flowing out’): from Latin effluent- ‘flowing out’, from the verb effluere (see EFFLUENCE). The noun dates from the mid 19th cent.

effluvium /fluvəm/ n. (pl. effluvia /-və/) an unpleasant or harmful odour or discharge: smoke and effluvia from factory chimneys.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, from effluere: ‘flow out’.

efflux /εflks/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL the flowing out of a substance or particle.

- material that is flowing out.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin effluxus, from effluere ‘flow out’.

effluxion /flk(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 [LAW] the expiration of a limited-time agreement or contract.

2 ARCHAIC the action of flowing out.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, or from late Latin effluxio(n-), from effluere ‘flow out’.

effort n. 1 a vigorous or determined attempt: in an effort to reduce inflation, the government increased interest rates.

- the result of an attempt: he was a keen gardener, winning many prizes for his efforts.

- [mass noun] strenuous physical or mental exertion: the doctor spared no effort in helping my father.

- [with modifier] the activities of a group of people with a common purpose: the war effort.

2 TECHNICAL a force exerted by a machine or in a process.

<DERIVATIVES> effortful adj. effortfully adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French, from Old French esforcier, based on Latin ex- ‘out’ + fortis ‘strong’.

effortless adj. requiring no physical or mental exertion.

- achieved with admirable ease: her effortless sense of style.

<DERIVATIVES> effortlessly adv. effortlessness n.

effrontery /frnt(ə)ri/ n. [mass noun] insolent or impertinent behaviour: one juror had the effrontery to challenge the coroner's decision.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French effronterie, based on late Latin effrons, effront- ‘shameless, barefaced’, from ex- ‘out’ + frons ‘forehead’.

effulgent /fld(ə)nt/ adj. LITERARY shining brightly; radiant.

- (of a person or their expression) emanating joy or goodness.

<DERIVATIVES> effulgence n. effulgently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (earlier (mid 17th century) as effulgence): from Latin effulgent- ‘shining brightly’, from the verb effulgere, from ex- ‘out’ + fulgere ‘to shine’.

effuse /fjuz/ v. 1 [with obj.] give off (a liquid, light, smell, or quality).

2 [no obj.] talk in an unrestrained, excited manner: this was the type of material that they effused about.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin effusus, past participle of effundere ‘pour out’, from ex- ‘out’ + fundere ‘pour’.

effusion n. 1 an instance of giving off something such as a liquid or gas: a massive effusion of poisonous gas | [mass noun] he studied the rates of effusion of gases.

- MEDICINE an escape of fluid into a body cavity.

2 an act of talking or writing in an unrestrained or heartfelt way: literary effusions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin effusio(n-), from effundere ‘pour out’ (see EFFUSE).

effusive adj. 1 showing or expressing gratitude, pleasure, or approval in an unrestrained or heartfelt manner: an effusive welcome.

2 [GEOLOGY] (of igneous rock) poured out when molten and later solidified.

- relating to the eruption of large volumes of molten rock: effusive volcanism.

<DERIVATIVES> effusively adv. effusiveness n.

Efik /εfk/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people of southern Nigeria.

2 [mass noun] the Benue-Congo language of the Efik, closely related to Ibibio. It is used as a lingua franca and has about 3.5 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Efik or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Efik.

e-fit n. BRITISH an electronic picture of the face of a person being sought by the police, created by a computer program from composite photographs of facial features.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from E-2 and fit^1 (noun), on the pattern of PHOTOFIT.

EFL abbr. English as a foreign language.

eft /εft/ n. DIALECT a newt.

- [ZOOLOGY] the juvenile stage of a newt.

<ORIGIN> Old English efeta, of unknown origin. Compare with NEWT.

EFTA abbr. for European Free Trade Association.

EFTPOS /εftpz/ abbr. electronic funds transfer at point of sale.

e.g. abbr. for example.

<ORIGIN> from Latin exempli gratia ‘for the sake of example’.

egad /ad/ exclam. ARCHAIC expressing surprise, anger, or affirmation.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: representing earlier A God.

egalitarian /altεrən/ adj. believing in or based on the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities: a fairer, more egalitarian society.

■ n. a person who advocates or supports the principle of equality for all people.

<DERIVATIVES> egalitarianism n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French égalitaire, from égal ‘equal’, from Latin aequalis (see EQUAL).

Egbert /εbət/ (d.839), king of Wessex 802–39. In 825 he won a decisive victory that temporarily brought Mercian supremacy to an end and foreshadowed the supremacy that Wessex later secured over all England.

Eger /εə/ a spa town in the north of Hungary, noted for the ‘Bull's Blood’ red wine produced in the surrounding region; pop. 61,600 (est. 2002).

egest v. [with obj.] FORMAL (of a cell or organism) excrete (waste matter).

<DERIVATIVES> egestion n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as egestion): from Latin egest-, from the verb egerere ‘expel’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + gerere ‘bear, carry’.

egg^1 n. 1 an oval or round object laid by a female bird, reptile, fish, or invertebrate, usually containing a developing embryo. The eggs of birds are enclosed in a chalky shell, while those of reptiles are in a leathery membrane.

- an infertile bird's egg, especially one from a chicken, used for food.

- a thing resembling a bird's egg in shape: chocolate eggs.

2 [BIOLOGY] the female reproductive cell in animals and plants; an ovum.

3 [ARCHITECTURE] a decorative oval moulding, used alternately with triangular shapes: [as modifier] egg and dart moulding.

4 [with adj.] INFORMAL, DATED a person of a specified kind: the biography portrays him as a thoroughly bad egg.

<PHRASES>

□ don't put all your eggs in one basket PROVERB don't risk everything on the success of one venture.

□ go suck an egg [as imperative] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used as an expression of anger or scorn.

□ kill the goose that lays the golden eggs destroy a reliable and valuable source of income. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to one of Aesop's fables.]

□ lay an egg NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be completely unsuccessful.

□ with egg on one's face INFORMAL appearing foolish or ridiculous: don't underestimate this team, or you'll be left with egg on your face.

<DERIVATIVES> eggless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (superseding earlier ey, from Old English g): from Old Norse.

egg^2 v. [with obj.] (egg someone on) encourage someone to do something foolish or risky.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse eggja ‘incite’.

egg-and-spoon race n. a race, typically run by children, in which each runner has to hold an egg balanced in a spoon.

eggar /εə/ n. a large brownish moth which is often active during the day.

<INFO> Many species in the family Lasiocampidae, including the oak eggar (L. quercus).

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: probably from EGG^1

■ (from the shape of the caterpillar's cocoon) + -ER^1.

egg beater n. 1 a kitchen utensil used for beating ingredients such as eggs or cream.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a helicopter.

egg-bound adj. (of a hen) unable through weakness or disease to expel its eggs.

egg cream n. US a drink consisting of milk and soda water, flavoured with syrup.

egg cup n. a small cup for holding a boiled egg upright while it is being eaten.

egg custard n. [mass noun] a custard made with milk and eggs, typically sweetened and baked.

egg-eating snake n. an Old World snake which swallows birds' eggs.

<INFO> Subfamily Dasypeltinae, family Colubridae: genus Dasypeltis (of Africa), and Elachistodon westermanni (of India).

egger n. a collector of birds' eggs.

egghead n. INFORMAL a highly academic or studious person; an intellectual.

<ORIGIN> by analogy with a bald head.

eggnog (BRITISH also egg flip) n. [mass noun] a drink consisting of rum, brandy, or other alcohol mixed with beaten egg, milk, and sugar.

eggplant n. North American another term for AUBERGINE.

egg roll n. NORTH AMERICAN a Chinese-style snack similar to a spring roll, consisting of diced meat or prawns and shredded vegetables wrapped in a dough made with egg and deep-fried.

eggs and bacon n. [mass noun] any of a number of plants with yellow flowers marked with orange, red, or brown, supposedly suggestive of eggs and bacon, in particular:

<INFO>

- bird's-foot trefoil.

- a shrubby Australian bush plant (Bossiaea and other genera, family Leguminosae).

eggs Benedict plural n. a dish consisting of poached eggs and sliced ham on toasted muffins, covered with hollandaise sauce.

eggshell n. 1 the thin, hard outer layer of an egg, especially a hen's egg.

2 [as modifier] (of china) of extreme thinness and delicacy: eggshell porcelains.

3 [mass noun] (also eggshell paint) a paint that dries with a slight sheen.

egg tempera n. [mass noun] an emulsion of pigment and egg yolk, used in tempera painting.

egg timer n. a device for timing the cooking of a boiled egg, traditionally a sealed glass container with a narrow neck in the middle through which, when the flask is inverted, sand flows for a fixed amount of time.

egg tooth n. a hard white protuberance on the beak or jaw of an embryo bird or reptile that is used for breaking out of the shell and is later lost.

egg white n. the clear, viscous substance round the yolk of an egg that turns white when cooked or beaten. Also called ALBUMEN.

eggy^1 adj. (eggier, eggiest) rich in or covered with egg: cod fried in an eggy batter.

eggy^2 adj. (eggier, eggiest) BRITISH INFORMAL annoyed; irritated.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from EGG^2 + -Y^1.

eglantine /εləntn/ n. another term for SWEET BRIAR.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Provençal aiglentina, based on Latin acus ‘needle’ or aculeus ‘prickle’.

EGM abbr. extraordinary general meeting.

Egmont, Mount /εmənt/ a volcanic peak in the North Island, New Zealand, rising to a height of 2,518 m (8,260 ft). Official name TARANAKI.

ego /iə ε-/ n. (pl. egos) a person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance: he needed a boost to his ego.

- [PSYCHOANALYSIS] the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity. Compare with ID and SUPEREGO.

- [PHILOSOPHY] (in metaphysics) a conscious thinking subject.

<DERIVATIVES> egoless adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘I’.

egocentric /εə()sεntrk i-/ adj. thinking only of oneself, without regard for the feelings or desires of others; self-centred: egocentric loners with an overinflated sense of self-worth.

- centred in or arising from a person's own individual existence or perspective: egocentric spatial perception.

■ n. an egocentric person.

<DERIVATIVES> egocentrically adv. egocentricity /-sεntrsti/ n. egocentrism n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EGO, on the pattern of words such as geocentric.

ego-ideal n. [PSYCHIATRY] (in Freudian theory) the part of the mind which imposes on itself concepts of ideal behaviour developed from parental and social standards.

egoism /εəz(ə)m i-/ n. [mass noun] 1 another term for EGOTISM.

2 [PHILOSOPHY] an ethical theory that treats self-interest as the foundation of morality.

<DERIVATIVES> egoist n. egoistic adj. egoistical adj. egoistically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French égoïsme and modern Latin egoismus, from Latin ego ‘I’.

<USAGE> The words egoism and egotism are frequently treated as interchangeable, but there are distinctions which are worth noting. Egotism, the more commonly used term, means ‘the fact of being excessively conceited or absorbed in oneself’. Strictly speaking, egoism is a term used in Ethics to mean ‘a theory that treats self-interest as the foundation of moral behaviour’, although this sense is not dominant today; around 90 per cent of the citations for egoism on the Oxford English Corpus are for the meaning ‘excessive conceit’.

egomania /εə()menə i-/ n. [mass noun] obsessive egotism or self-centredness.

<DERIVATIVES> egomaniac n. egomaniacal adj.

ego-psychology n. [mass noun] [PSYCHOLOGY] a system of psychoanalytic developmental psychology concerned especially with personality.

<DERIVATIVES> ego-psychologist n.

egosurf v. [no obj.] INFORMAL search the Internet for instances of one's own name or links to one's own website.

egotism /εətz(ə)m i-/ n. [mass noun] the fact of being excessively conceited or absorbed in oneself: in his arrogance and egotism, he underestimated Gill.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French égoïste, from Latin ego ‘I’.

<USAGE> On the difference between egotism and egoism see usage at egoism.

egotist /εətst/ n. a person who is excessively conceited or absorbed in themselves; self-seeker: he is a self-absorbed egotist.

egotistical /εətstk(ə)l/ adj. excessively conceited or absorbed in oneself; self-centred: he's selfish, egotistical and arrogant.

<DERIVATIVES> egotistic adj. egotistically adv.

ego trip n. INFORMAL an activity done in order to increase one's sense of self-importance: driving that car was the biggest ego trip I'd ever had.

egregious /ridəs/ adj. 1 outstandingly bad; shocking: egregious abuses of copyright.

2 ARCHAIC remarkably good.

<DERIVATIVES> egregiously adv. egregiousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from Latin egregius ‘illustrious’, literally ‘standing out from the flock’, from ex- ‘out’ + grex, greg- ‘flock’. Sense 1 (late 16th century) probably arose as an ironical use.

egress /irεs/ n. [mass noun] 1 FORMAL the action of going out of or leaving a place: direct means of access and egress for passengers.

- [count noun] a way out: a narrow egress.

2 [ASTRONOMY] another term for EMERSION.

■ v. [with obj.] chiefly US go out of or leave (a place).

<DERIVATIVES> egression n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin egressus ‘gone out’, from the verb egredi, from ex- ‘out’ + gradi ‘to step’.

egressive /rεsv/ adj. [PHONETICS] (of a speech sound) produced using the normal outward-flowing airstream.

egret /irt ε-/ n. a heron with mainly white plumage, having long plumes in the breeding season.

<INFO> Genus Egretta (and Bubulcus), family Ardeidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French aigrette, from Provençal aigreta, from the Germanic base of HERON.

Egypt /idpt/ a country in NE Africa bordering on the Mediterranean Sea; pop. 70,712,345 (est. 2002); official language, Arabic; capital, Cairo.

The population of Egypt is concentrated chiefly along the fertile valley of the River Nile, the rest of the country being largely desert. Egypt's history spans 5,000 years: the ancient kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were ruled successively by thirty-one dynasties, which may be divided into the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. Egypt was a centre of Hellenistic culture and then a Roman province before coming under Islamic rule and then becoming part of the Ottoman Empire. Modern Egypt became independent in 1922. From 1958 to 1961 Egypt was united with Syria as the United Arab Republic, a title it retained until 1971. Wars with Israel were fought in 1967 (the Six Day War) and 1973 (the Yom Kippur or October War); the countries signed a peace treaty in 1979.

Egyptian adj. relating to Egypt or its people.

- relating to the culture or language of ancient Egypt: an Egyptian obelisk.

■ n. 1 a native of ancient or modern Egypt, or a person of Egyptian descent.

2 [mass noun] the Afro-Asiatic language used in ancient Egypt, attested from c.3000 BC. It is represented in its oldest stages by hieroglyphic inscriptions and in its latest form by Coptic; it has been replaced in modern use by Arabic.

<DERIVATIVES> Egyptianization n. Egyptianize (also Egyptianise) v.

Egyptian cobra n. a large nocturnal African cobra with a thick body and large head. Also called ASP.

<INFO> Naja haje, family Elapidae.

Egyptian goose n. a large African goose with a dark patch around the eye and either reddish-brown or greyish-brown upper parts.

<INFO> Alopochen aegyptiacus, family Anatidae.

Egyptian mongoose n. a mongoose occurring over much of Africa and parts of SW Asia and Iberia, noted for its destruction of crocodile eggs. Also called ICHNEUMON.

<INFO> Herpestes ichneumon, family Herpestidae.

Egyptian plover n. an African bird of the courser family, with a striking pattern of black and white over a mainly bluish back and buff-coloured underparts. Also called CROCODILE BIRD.

<INFO> Pluvianus aegyptius, family Glareolidae.

Egyptian vulture n. a small white vulture with black wing tips, common in much of southern Eurasia and Africa.

<INFO> Neophron percnopterus, family Accipitridae.

Egyptology /idptlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of the language, history, and culture of ancient Egypt.

<DERIVATIVES> Egyptological adj. Egyptologist n.

eh exclam. used to represent a sound made in speech, especially one used to express enquiry, surprise, or to elicit agreement: ‘Eh? What's this?’.

<PHRASES>

□ eh up N. ENGLISH used as a greeting, to express surprise, or to attract someone's attention: eh up, I'm talking to you!

<ORIGIN> natural utterance: first recorded in English in the mid 16th century.

Ehrenburg /εrənbə/ Ilya (Grigorevich) (1891–1967), Russian novelist and journalist. He became famous during the Second World War for his anti-German propaganda in Pravda and Red Star. His novels include The Thaw (1954), a work criticizing Stalinism.

Ehrlich /εlx/ German /elç/ Paul (1854–1915), German medical scientist. One of the founders of modern immunology and chemotherapy, he developed techniques for staining specific tissues, believing that a disease organism could be destroyed by an appropriate magic bullet. The effective treatment of syphilis in 1911 proved his theories.

-eian /ən/ suffix forming adjectives and nouns corresponding to nouns ending in -ey or -y (such as Bodleian corresponding to Bodley).

Eichmann /xmən/ German /açman/ (Karl) Adolf (1906–62), German Nazi administrator who was responsible for administering the concentration camps. In 1960 he was traced by Israeli agents and executed after trial in Israel.

eicosapentaenoic acid /ksəpεntinək/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a polyunsaturated fatty acid found especially in fish oils.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_19H_29COOH.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Greek eicosa- ‘twenty’ (the number of carbon atoms in the molecule) + PENTA- ‘five’ (the number of unsaturated bonds) + -ENE + -oic on the pattern of methanoic.

Eid /id/ (also Id) n. a Muslim festival, in particular:

- (in full Eid ul-Fitr /idlftrə/) the feast marking the end of the fast of Ramadan. Also called LESSER BAIRAM.

- (in full Eid ul-Adha /idulαdə/) the festival marking the culmination of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorating the sacrifice of Abraham. Also called GREATER BAIRAM.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic ‘īd ‘feast’, from Aramaic.

eider /də/ (also eider duck) n. (pl. same or eiders) a northern sea duck, of which the male is mainly black-and-white with a coloured head, and the female brown.

<INFO> Genus Somateria (and Polysticta), family Anatidae: four species.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Icelandic æthur, from Old Norse æthr.

eiderdown n. 1 BRITISH a quilt filled with down (originally from the eider) or some other soft material.

2 (eider down) [mass noun] small, soft feathers from the breast of the female eider.

eidetic /dεtk/ adj. [PSYCHOLOGY] relating to or denoting mental images having unusual vividness and detail, as if actually visible.

<DERIVATIVES> eidetically adv.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: coined in German from Greek eidētikos, from eidos ‘form’.

eidolon /dəln/ n. (pl. eidolons or eidola /-lə/) LITERARY 1 an idealized person or thing.

2 a spectre or phantom.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek eidōlon, from eidos ‘form’.

eidos /ds/ n. [mass noun] [ANTHROPOLOGY] the distinctive expression of the cognitive or intellectual character of a culture or social group.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek, literally ‘form, type, idea’, partly in contrast to ETHOS.

Eiffel /f(ə)l/ French /εfεl/ Alexandre Gustave (1832–1923), French engineer, best known as the designer and builder of the Eiffel Tower and architect of the inner structure of the Statue of Liberty.

Eiffel Tower a wrought-iron structure erected in Paris for the World Exhibition of 1889. With a height of 300 metres (984 ft), it was the tallest man-made structure for many years.

eigen- /(ə)n/ combining form [MATHEMATICS] & [PHYSICS] proper; characteristic: eigenfunction.

<ORIGIN> from German eigen ‘own’.

eigenfrequency n. (pl. eigenfrequencies) [MATHEMATICS] & [PHYSICS] one of the natural resonant frequencies of a system.

eigenfunction n. [MATHEMATICS] & [PHYSICS] each of a set of independent functions which are the solutions to a given differential equation.

eigenstate n. [PHYSICS] a quantum-mechanical state corresponding to an eigenvalue of a wave equation.

eigenvalue n. [MATHEMATICS] & [PHYSICS] 1 each of a set of values of a parameter for which a differential equation has a non-zero solution (an eigenfunction) under given conditions.

2 any number such that a given matrix minus that number times the identity matrix has zero determinant.

eigenvector n. [MATHEMATICS] & [PHYSICS] a vector which when operated on by a given operator gives a scalar multiple of itself.

Eiger /ə/ a mountain peak in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, which rises to 3,970 m (13,101 ft).

Eigg /ε/ an island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland to the south of Skye.

eight cardinal number equivalent to the product of two and four; one more than seven, or two less than ten; 8: a committee of eight members | eight of them were unemployed | eight were acquitted. (Roman numeral: viii or VIII)

- a group of eight people or things: the win placed Canada closer to the final eight.

- eight years old: children as young as eight.

- eight o'clock: the play is to begin at eight.

- a size of garment or other merchandise denoted by eight.

- an eight-oared rowing boat or its crew.

- a playing card with eight pips.

<PHRASES>

□ have one over the eight BRITISH INFORMAL have one drink too many. [<ORIGIN> probably from the assumption that the average person can drink eight pints of beer without getting drunk.]

<ORIGIN> Old English ehta, eahta, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German acht, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin octo and Greek oktō.

eight ball n. North American 1 (also eight-ball pool) [mass noun] a variety of the game of pool.

- [count noun] the black ball, numbered eight, in eight ball.

2 INFORMAL a portion of an illegal drug weighing an eighth of an ounce (3.54 g).

<PHRASES>

□ behind the eight ball INFORMAL at a disadvantage.

eighteen cardinal number equivalent to the product of two and nine; one more than seventeen, or eight more than ten; 18: she wrote eighteen novels | out of sixty batches checked, eighteen were incorrect | eighteen of the guests were gathered. (Roman numeral: xviii or XVIII)

- a set or team of eighteen individuals.

- eighteen years old: he was barely eighteen.

- a size of garment or other merchandise denoted by eighteen.

- (18) BRITISH (of a film) classified as suitable for people of 18 years and over.

<DERIVATIVES> eighteenth ordinal number

<ORIGIN> Old English e(a)htatēne (see EIGHT, -teen).

eighteenmo n. (pl. eighteenmos)

■ another term for OCTODECIMO.

eightfold adj. eight times as great or as numerous: an eightfold increase in expenditure.

- having eight parts or elements: an eightfold shape.

■ adv. by eight times; to eight times the number or amount: claims have grown eightfold in ten years.

eightfold path [BUDDHISM] the path to nirvana, comprising eight aspects in which an aspirant must become practised. See BUDDHISM.

eighth ordinal number 1 constituting number eight in a sequence; 8th: in the eighth century | the eighth of September | seven men admitted conspiracy, an eighth admitted assisting an offender.

- the eighth finisher or position in a race or competition: she finished eighth of the eleven runners.

2 each of eight equal parts into which something is or may be divided: an eighth of an inch.

<DERIVATIVES> eighthly adv.

eighth note n. [MUSIC], NORTH AMERICAN a quaver.

eights plural n. a race for eight-oared rowing boats.

eightsome (also eightsome reel) n. a lively Scottish dance for eight people.

eighty cardinal number (pl. eighties) equivalent to the product of eight and ten; ten less than ninety; 80: eighty miles north | a buffet for eighty | eighty of the nurses fled. (Roman numeral: lxxx or LXXX)

- (eighties) the numbers from 80 to 89, especially the years of a century or of a person's life: his grandmother was in her eighties.

- eighty years old: he was over eighty at the time.

- eighty miles an hour: roaring down the highway doing eighty.

<DERIVATIVES> eightieth ordinal number eightyfold adj. & adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English hunde(a)htatig, from hund (of uncertain origin) + e(a)hta ‘eight’ + -tig (see -ty^2); the first element was lost early in the Middle English period.

eighty-six v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL reject, discard, or destroy: the only reason she hadn't eighty-sixed him before now was out of affection for his son.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (as a noun, used in restaurants and bars to indicate that a menu item is unavailable or that a customer is not to be served): perhaps rhyming slang for nix^1.

Eijkman /ekmən/ Christiaan (1858–1930), Dutch physician. Eijkman's work resulted in a simple cure for the disease beriberi and led to the discovery of the vitamin thiamine. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1929).

Eilat /elat/ (also Elat) a port and resort in Israel, at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba; pop. 41,100 (2000). Founded in 1949 near the ruins of biblical Elath, it is Israel's only outlet to the Red Sea.

eina /enα/ S. African exclam. used as an expression of pain or distress.

■ n. [mass noun] pain or trouble: first aid without the eina.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, perhaps from Khoikhoi llé, interjection expressing pain, + llná, interjection expressing surprise, or perhaps from a nasalized pronunciation of Nama interjection llei.

Eindhoven /ndhəv(ə)n/ a city in the south of the Netherlands; pop. 201,300 (est. 2002). The city is a major producer of electrical and electronic goods.

Einfühlung /nfulə/ German /anfYl/ n. [mass noun] empathy.

<ORIGIN> German, from ein- ‘into’ + Fühlung ‘feeling’.

einkorn /nkn/ n. [mass noun] an old kind of wheat with small bearded ears and spikelets that each contain one slender grain, used as fodder in prehistoric times but now rarely grown.

<INFO> Triticum monococcum, family Gramineae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German, from ein ‘one’ + Korn ‘seed’.

Einstein /nstn/ Albert (1879–1955), German-born American theoretical physicist, founder of the theory of relativity.

- (as n. an Einstein) a genius.

Einstein is often regarded as the greatest scientist of the 20th century. In 1905 he published his special theory of relativity and in 1915 he succeeded in incorporating gravitation in his general theory of relativity, which was vindicated when one of its predictions was observed during the solar eclipse of 1919. However, Einstein searched without success for a unified field theory embracing electromagnetism, gravitation, relativity, and quantum mechanics. He influenced the decision to build an atom bomb but after the war he spoke out passionately against nuclear weapons.

<DERIVATIVES> Einsteinian adj.

einsteinium /nstnəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 99, a radioactive metal of the actinide series. Einsteinium does not occur naturally and was discovered in 1953 in debris from the first hydrogen bomb explosion. (Symbol: Es)

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from the name of Albert EINSTEIN + -IUM.

Einthoven /nthəv(ə)n/ Willem (1860–1927), Dutch physiologist. He devised the first electrocardiograph, through which he was able to identify specific muscular contractions in the heart.

Eire /εrə/ the Gaelic name for Ireland, the official name of the Republic of Ireland from 1937 to 1949.

Eirene /rini/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the goddess of peace. Roman equivalent PAX.

Eisenhower /z(ə)nhaə/ Dwight David (1890–1969), American general and Republican statesman, 34th President of the US 1953–61; known as Ike. In the Second World War he was Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in western Europe 1943–5. As President, he adopted a hard line towards communism.

Eisenstadt /z(ə)ntat/ a city in eastern Austria, capital of the state of Burgenland; pop. 11,394 (2001).

Eisenstein /z(ə)nstn/ Sergei (Mikhailovich) (1898–1948), Soviet film director, born in Latvia. He is chiefly known for The Battleship Potemkin (1925), a commemoration of the Russian Revolution of 1905 celebrated for its pioneering use of montage.

eisteddfod /stεdvəd/ Welsh /stεvd/ n. (pl. eisteddfods or eisteddfodau /-vd/) a competitive festival of music and poetry in Wales.

<ORIGIN> Welsh, literally ‘session’, from eistedd ‘sit’.

Eiswein /svn/ n. (pl. Eisweine /-nə/ or Eisweins) [mass noun] wine made from ripe grapes picked while covered with frost.

<ORIGIN> from German, from Eis ‘ice’ + Wein ‘wine’.

either /ə i-/ conj. & adv. 1 used before the first of two (or occasionally more) given alternatives (the other being introduced by ‘or’): either I accompany you to your room or I wait here | available in either black or white.

2 [adv., with negative] used to indicate a similarity or link with a statement just made: You don't like him, do you? I don't either | it won't do any harm, but won't really help either.

- for that matter; moreover: I was too tired to go. And I couldn't have paid, either.

■ determiner & pronoun one or the other of two people or things: [as determiner] there were no children of either marriage | [as pronoun] their mortgage will be repaid if either of them dies.

- [determiner] each of two: the road was straight, with fields on either side.

<PHRASES>

□ either way whichever of two given alternatives is the case.

<ORIGIN> Old English gther, contracted form of g(e)hwæther, of Germanic origin; ultimately related to aye^1 and WHETHER.

<USAGE> In good English writing style, it is important that either and or are correctly placed so that the structures following each word balance and mirror each other. Thus, sentences such as either I accompany you or I wait here and I'm going to buy either a new camera or a new video are correct, whereas sentences such as either I accompany you or John and I'm either going to buy a new camera or a video are not well-balanced sentences and should not be used in written English.

either/or n. [usually as modifier] an unavoidable choice between alternatives: an either/or situation.

ejaculate v. /dakjlet/ 1 [no obj.] (of a man or male animal) eject semen from the body at the moment of sexual climax.

2 [with direct speech] DATED say something quickly and suddenly: ‘That will do!’ he ejaculated.

■ n. /dakjlət/ [mass noun] semen that has been ejected from the body.

<DERIVATIVES> ejaculator n. ejaculatory /dakjlət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin ejaculat- ‘darted out’, from the verb ejaculari, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + jaculari ‘to dart’ (from jaculum ‘dart, javelin’, from jacere ‘to throw’).

ejaculation /dakjle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the action of ejecting semen from the body.

2 DATED something said quickly and suddenly.

eject v. [with obj.] 1 force or throw (something) out in a violent or sudden way: lumps of viscous lava were ejected from the volcano.

- cause (something) to be expelled from a machine.

- [no obj.] (of a pilot) escape from an aircraft by being explosively propelled out of it: he put the plane in a nosedive and ejected.

2 compel (someone) to leave a place: angry supporters were forcibly ejected from the court.

- dismiss (someone) from office: he was ejected from office in July.

3 emit; give off: plants utilize carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that animals eject.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin eject- ‘thrown out’, from the verb eicere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + jacere ‘to throw’.

ejecta /dεktə/ plural n. [often treated as sing.] [GEOLOGY] & [ASTRONOMY] material that is forced or thrown out, especially as a result of volcanic eruption, meteoritic impact, or stellar explosion.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, ‘things thrown out’, neuter plural of ejectus ‘thrown out’, from eicere (see EJECT).

ejection n. [mass noun] 1 the action of forcing or throwing something out; emission: an explosive ejection of ash.

2 the action of forcing someone to leave a place or position; expulsion: the forcible ejection of a table of rowdy drunks.

ejection seat n. a device that causes the ejection of a pilot from an aircraft in an emergency.

ejective /dεktv/ [PHONETICS] adj. denoting a type of consonant in some languages (e.g. Hausa) produced by sudden release of pressure from the glottis.

■ n. an ejective consonant.

ejectment n. [mass noun] [LAW], chiefly HISTORICAL the eviction of a tenant from property.

- the process by which an evicted tenant seeks to recover possession and damages: he brought an action in ejectment against the rector.

ejector n. a device that causes something to be removed or to drop out.

ejector seat n. another term for EJECTION SEAT.

ejido /εhidə/ n. (pl. ejidos) (in Mexico) a piece of land farmed communally under a system supported by the state.

<ORIGIN> Mexican Spanish, from Spanish, denoting common land on the road leading out of the village.

ejusdem generis /e(j)sdεm dεnεrs/ (also eiusdem generis) adj. & adv. [LAW] of or as the same kind.

- [as adj.] denoting a rule for interpreting statutes and other writings by assuming that a general term describing a list of specific terms denotes other things that are like the specific elements.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

ekdam /εkm/ adv. INDIAN INFORMAL completely; totally: his bravado was ekdam finished.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi ek ‘one’ + Urdu dam ‘breath’.

eke^1 /ik/ v. [with obj.] (eke something out) make an amount or supply of something last longer by using or consuming it frugally: the remains of yesterday's stew could be eked out to make another meal.

- manage to make a living with difficulty: many traders barely eked out a living.

<ORIGIN> Old English ēacian, ēcan (in the sense ‘increase’), of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse auka.

eke^2 /ik/ adv. archaic term for ALSO.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin.

ekka /εkə/ n. INDIAN a small one-horse vehicle.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi ikkā, from Sanskrit eka ‘one’.

Ekman /εkmən/ Vagn Walfrid (1874–1954), Swedish oceanographer. He recognized the importance of the Coriolis effect on ocean currents, showing that it can be responsible for surface water moving at an angle to the prevailing wind direction.

El n. (the El) (in the US) an elevated railway, especially that in Chicago.

- a train running on an elevated railway.

el-Aaiún /εlun/ Arabic name for LA'YOUN.

elaborate adj. /lab(ə)rət/ involving many carefully arranged parts or details; detailed and complicated in design and planning: elaborate security precautions | elaborate wrought-iron gates.

- (of an action) lengthy and exaggerated: he made an elaborate pretence of yawning.

■ v. /labəret/ 1 [with obj.] develop or present (a theory, policy, or system) in further detail: the theory was proposed by Cope and elaborated by Osborn.

- [no obj.] add more detail concerning what has already been said: he would not elaborate on his news.

2 [with obj.] [BIOLOGY] (of a natural agency) produce (a substance) from its elements or simpler constituents.

<DERIVATIVES> elaborately adv. elaborateness n. elaboration n. elaborative adj. elaborator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘produced by effort of labour’, also in sense 2 of the verb): from Latin elaborat- ‘worked out’, from the verb elaborare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + labor ‘work’.

El Alamein, Battle of /εl aləmen/ a battle of the Second World War fought in 1942 at El Alamein in Egypt, 90 km (60 miles) west of Alexandria. The German Afrika Korps under Rommel was halted in its advance towards the Nile by the British 8th Army under Montgomery, giving a decisive British victory.

Elam /ilam/ an ancient state in SW Iran, established in the 4th millennium BC. Susa was one of its chief cities.

Elamite n. 1 a native or inhabitant of ancient Elam.

2 [mass noun] the agglutinative language spoken in ancient Elam from the 3rd millennium to the 4th century BC, of which a few records in pictographic and cuneiform script survive.

■ adj. relating to the ancient Elamites or their language.

elan /el elan/ n. [mass noun] energy, style, and enthusiasm: they performed with uncommon elan onstage.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French élan, from élancer ‘to dart’, from é- ‘out’ + lancer ‘to throw’.

eland /ilənd/ n. a large spiral-horned African antelope which lives in open woodland and grassland.

<INFO> Genus Tragelaphus, family Bovidae: the giant eland (T. derbianus) and the common eland (T. oryx).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via Afrikaans from Dutch, ‘elk’, from obsolete German Elend, from Lithuanian élnis.

elapse v. [no obj.] (of time) pass or go by: weeks elapsed before anyone was charged with the attack.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘slip away’): from Latin elaps- ‘slipped away’, from the verb elabi, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out, away’ + labi ‘to glide, slip’.

elasipod /laspd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an aberrant deep-water sea cucumber that lacks a respiratory tree. Most live on the seabed and have leg-like appendages, while some swim by means of webbed papillae.

<INFO> Order Elasipodida, class Holothuroidea.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Elasipoda, from Greek elasmos ‘beaten metal’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’.

elasmobranch /lazmə()brak/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a cartilaginous fish of a group that comprises the sharks, rays, and skates. Compare with SELACHIAN.

<INFO> Subclass Elasmobranchii, class Chondrichthyes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Elasmobranchii (plural), from Greek elasmos ‘beaten metal’ + brankhia ‘gills’.

elasmosaur /lazmə()s/ n. a Cretaceous plesiosaur with a long neck shaped like that of a swan.

<INFO> Family Elasmosauridae, infraorder Plesiosauria: several genera, including Elasmosaurus.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Elasmosaurus, from Greek elasmos ‘beaten metal’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

elastane /lasten/ n. [mass noun] an elastic polyurethane material, used for hosiery, underwear, and other close-fitting clothing.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from ELASTIC + -ANE^2.

elastase /lastez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a pancreatic enzyme which digests elastin.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from ELASTIC + -ASE.

elastic /lastk/ adj. 1 (of an object or material) able to resume its normal shape spontaneously after being stretched or compressed.

2 able to encompass much variety and change; flexible and adaptable: the definition of nationality is elastic in this cosmopolitan country.

3 [ECONOMICS] (of demand or supply) sensitive to changes in price or income.

4 [PHYSICS] (of a collision) involving no decrease of kinetic energy.

■ n. [mass noun] cord, tape, or fabric, woven with strips of rubber, which returns to its original length or shape after being stretched.

<DERIVATIVES> elastically adv. elasticize (also elasticise) v.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally describing a gas in the sense ‘expanding spontaneously to fill the available space’): from modern Latin elasticus, from Greek elastikos ‘propulsive’, from elaunein ‘to drive’.

elasticated adj. BRITISH (of a garment or material) made elastic by the insertion of rubber thread or tape: trousers with elasticated waists.

elastic band n. BRITISH a rubber band.

elastic fibre n. [ANATOMY] a yellowish fibre composed chiefly of elastin and occurring in networks or sheets which give elasticity to tissues in the body.

elasticity /εlaststi i- -/ n. [mass noun] 1 the ability of an object or material to resume its normal shape after being stretched or compressed; stretchiness: aging can decrease the elasticity of your skin.

2 ability to change and adapt; adaptability.

3 [ECONOMICS] the degree to which a demand or supply is sensitive to changes in price or income. the price elasticity of electricity demand.

elastic limit n. [PHYSICS] the maximum extent to which a solid may be stretched without permanent alteration of size or shape.

elastic modulus n. [PHYSICS] the ratio of the force exerted upon a substance or body to the resultant deformation.

elastin /lastn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an elastic, fibrous glycoprotein found in connective tissue.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ELASTIC + -IN^1.

elastomer /lastəmə/ n. a natural or synthetic polymer having elastic properties, e.g. rubber.

<DERIVATIVES> elastomeric adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from ELASTIC + -MER.

Elastoplast /lastəplast -plαst/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK adhesive sticking plaster for covering cuts and wounds.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from a blend of ELASTIC and PLASTER.

elate /let/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. elated) make (someone) ecstatically happy: I felt elated at beating Dennis.

■ adj. ARCHAIC in high spirits; exultant or proud: their elate and animated faces.

<DERIVATIVES> elatedly adv. elatedness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Latin elat- ‘raised’, from the verb efferre, from ex- ‘out, from’ + ferre ‘to bear’. The verb dates from the late 16th cent.

elation n. [mass noun] great happiness and exhilaration: Richard's elation at regaining his health was short-lived.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French elacion, from Latin elat- ‘raised’, from the verb efferre (see ELATE).

E-layer n. a layer of the ionosphere able to reflect medium-frequency radio waves.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: arbitrary use of the letter E, + LAYER.

Elba /εlbə/ a small island off the west coast of Italy, famous as the place of Napoleon's first exile (1814–15).

Elbasan /εlbəsαn/ an industrial town in central Albania; pop. 101,700 (est. 2002).

Elbe /εlb εlbə/ a river of central Europe, flowing 1,159 km (720 miles) from the Czech Republic through Dresden, Magdeburg, and Hamburg to the North Sea.

el-Beqa'a another name for BEKAA.

Elbert, Mount /εlbət/ a mountain in Colorado, to the east of the resort town of Aspen. Rising to 4,399 m (14,431 ft), it is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains.

elbow n. the joint between the forearm and the upper arm.

- the part of the sleeve of a garment covering the elbow.

- a thing resembling an elbow, in particular a piece of piping bent through an angle.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial] 1 push or strike (someone) with one's elbow: one player had elbowed another in the face.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move by pushing past people with one's elbows: he elbowed his way through the crush.

2 treat (a person or idea) dismissively: the issues which concerned them tended to be elbowed aside by men.

<PHRASES>

□ at one's elbow close at hand; nearby.

□ elbow-to-elbow very close together.

□ give someone the elbow BRITISH INFORMAL reject or dismiss someone.

□ up to one's elbows in INFORMAL with one's hands plunged in (something).

- deeply involved in (a task or activity).

<ORIGIN> Old English elboga, elnboga, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch elleboog and German Ellenbogen (see also ell^1, bow^1).

elbow grease n. [mass noun] INFORMAL hard physical work, especially vigorous polishing or cleaning: nothing would shift it however much elbow grease we used.

elbow room n. [mass noun] INFORMAL adequate space to move or work in.

Elbrus /εlbrus/ a peak in the Caucasus mountains, on the border between Russia and Georgia. Rising to 5,642 m (18,481 ft), it is the highest mountain in Europe.

Elburz Mountains /εlbəz/ a mountain range in NW Iran, close to the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. Damavand is the highest peak, rising to 5,604 m (18,386 ft).

Elche /εlte/ a town in the province of Alicante in SE Spain; pop. 199,800 (est. 2002).

eld /εld/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY old age.

- former times; the past.

<ORIGIN> Old English ieldu, eldu, of Germanic origin; related to elder^1 and OLD.

elder^1 adj. (of one or more out of a group of associated people) of a greater age: my elder daughter | the elder of the two sons.

- (the Elder) used to distinguish between related famous people with the same name: Pitt the Elder.

■ n. 1 (one's elders) people who are older than one: schoolchildren were no less fascinated than their elders.

- (one's elder) a person who is older than one by a specified length of time: she was two years his elder.

2 (often elders) a leader or senior figure in a tribe or other group: a council of village elders.

- an official in the early Christian Church, or of various Protestant Churches and sects.

- HISTORICAL a member of a senate or governing body.

<DERIVATIVES> eldership n.

<ORIGIN> OLD English ieldra, eldra, of Germanic origin; related to German älter, also to ELD and old.

elder^2 n. a small tree or shrub with pithy stems, white flowers, and bluish-black or red berries.

<INFO> Genus Sambucus, family Caprifoliaceae: numerous species, in particular the common Eurasian S. nigra.

- used in names of plants that resemble the elder in leaf or flower, e.g. ground elder.

<ORIGIN> Old English ellærn; related to Middle Low German ellern, elderne.

elderberry n. (pl. elderberries) 1 the bluish-black or red berry of the elder, used for making jelly or wine.

2 an elder tree or shrub.

Elder Brother n. (pl. Elder Brethren) (in the UK) each of the thirteen senior members of Trinity House.

eldercare n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the care of elderly people who are unable to look after themselves.

elderflower n. the flower of the elder, used to make wines, cordials, and other drinks.

elder hand n. (in card games for two players, e.g. piquet) the player dealt to.

elderly adj. (of a person) old or ageing: an elderly relative | (as plural n. the elderly) specialist services for the elderly.

<DERIVATIVES> elderliness n.

elder statesman n. an experienced and well-respected politician or other public figure.

eldest adj. (of one out of a group of related or otherwise associated people) of the greatest age; oldest: Swift left the company to his eldest son, Charles.

<ORIGIN> Old English ieldest, eldest, of Germanic origin; related to German ältest, also to ELD and OLD.

eldest hand n. (in card games for three or more players) the first player dealt to, usually the player immediately to the left of the dealer.

el-Djem /εldεm/ a town in eastern Tunisia, noted for its well-preserved Roman amphitheatre.

El Dorado /εl dərαdə/ the name of a fictitious country or city abounding in gold, formerly believed to exist somewhere in the region of the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers.

- [as n.] (also eldorado) (plural El Dorados or eldorados) a place of great abundance.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘the gilded one’.

eldritch /εl(d)rt/ adj. weird and sinister or ghostly: an eldritch screech.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally Scots): perhaps related to ELF.

Eleanor of Aquitaine (c.1122–1204), daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, queen of France 1137–52 and of England 1154–89. She was married to Louis VII of France from 1137; in 1152, with the annulment of their marriage, she married the future Henry II of England.

Eleatic /εlatk/ adj. relating to Elea, an ancient Greek city in SW Italy, or the school of philosophers which flourished there in about the 5th century BC, including Xenophanes, Parmenides, and Zeno.

■ n. an Eleatic philosopher.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin Eleaticus, from Elea.

elecampane /εlkampen/ n. a plant which has yellow daisy-like flowers with long slender petals and bitter aromatic roots that are used in herbal medicine, native to central Asia.

<INFO> Inula helenium, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin enula (from Greek helenion ‘elecampane’) + campana probably meaning ‘of the fields’, (from campus ‘field’).

elect /lεkt/ v. 1 [with obj.] choose (someone) to hold public office or some other position by voting: he was elected as councillor | the members who were elected to the committee | [with obj. and complement] they elected him leader.

- [CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY] (of God) choose (someone) in preference to others for salvation.

2 [with infinitive] opt for or choose to do something: more people elected to work at home.

■ adj. (usually as plural n. the elect) (of a person) chosen or singled out: one of the century's elect.

- [CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY] chosen by God for salvation.

- [postpositive] chosen for a position but not yet in office: the President-Elect.

<DERIVATIVES> electability n. electable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin elect- ‘picked out’, from the verb eligere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + legere ‘to pick’.

election n. a formal and organized choice by vote of a person for a political office or other position: the 1998 local elections | [mass noun] he agreed to stand for election.

- [mass noun] the action of electing or the fact of being elected: his election to the House of Representatives.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin electio(n-), from eligere ‘pick out’ (see ELECT).

electioneer v. [no obj.] (usually as n. electioneering) (of a politician or political campaigner) take part actively and energetically in a campaign to be elected to public office: the election will not be lost or won as the result of a few weeks of electioneering.

■ n. a campaigning politician during an election.

elective adj. 1 related to or working by means of election: an elective democracy.

- (of a person or office) appointed or filled by election: he had never held elective office | the National Assembly, with 125 elective members.

- (of a body or position) possessing or giving the power to elect: powerful Emperors manipulated the elective body.

2 (of surgical or medical treatment) chosen by the patient rather than urgently necessary.

- (of a course of study) chosen by the student rather than compulsory.

■ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an optional course of study.

<DERIVATIVES> electively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French electif, -ive, from late Latin electivus, from elect- ‘picked out’, from the verb eligere (see ELECT).

elective affinity n. a correspondence with, or feeling of sympathy or attraction towards, a particular idea, attitude, or person.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (as elective attraction): originally a technical term for the preferential combination of chemical substances, it was widely used figuratively in the 19th century, notably by Goethe (in his novel Die Wahlverwandschaften ‘Elective Affinities’) and by Weber (in describing the correspondence between aspects of Protestantism and capitalism).

elector n. 1 a person who has the right to vote in an election, especially one for members of a national parliament.

- (in the US) a member of the electoral college.

2 [usually as title] HISTORICAL a German prince entitled to take part in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor.

<DERIVATIVES> electorship n.

electoral adj. relating to elections or electors: electoral reform.

<DERIVATIVES> electorally adv.

electoral college n. a body of electors chosen by a larger group.

- (in the US) a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the President and Vice-President.

electoral roll (also electoral register) n. in the UK, an official list of the people in a district who are entitled to vote in an election.

electorate /lεkt(ə)rət/ n. 1 [treated as sing. or plural] all the people in a country or area who are entitled to vote in an election.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ the area represented by one Member of Parliament.

3 HISTORICAL the office or territories of a German elector.

Electra /lεktrə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. She persuaded her brother Orestes to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus (their mother's lover) in revenge for the murder of Agamemnon.

Electra complex n. [PSYCHIATRY] old-fashioned term for the Oedipus complex as manifested in young girls.

electress /lεktrs/ n. [usually as title] HISTORICAL the wife of a German elector.

electret /lεktrt/ n. [PHYSICS] a permanently polarized piece of dielectric material, analogous to a permanent magnet.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of ELECTRICITY and MAGNET.

electric /lεktrk/ adj. 1 of, worked by, charged with, or producing electricity: an electric cooker.

2 having or producing a sudden sense of thrilling excitement: the atmosphere was electric.

■ n. 1 (electrics) BRITISH the system of electric wiring and parts in a house or vehicle: there's something wrong with the electrics.

2 an electric train or other vehicle.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin electricus, from Latin electrum ‘amber’, from Greek ēlektron (because rubbing amber causes electrostatic phenomena).

electrical adj. concerned with, operating by, or producing electricity: electrical appliances.

- (of a company or shop) manufacturing or selling electrical appliances.

■ n. (electricals) electrical equipment or circuitry.

- shares in companies manufacturing electrical goods.

<DERIVATIVES> electrically adv.

electrical storm n. (also electric storm) a thunderstorm or other violent disturbance of the electrical condition of the atmosphere.

electric-arc furnace n. a furnace which uses an electric arc as a heat source, especially for steel-making.

electric blanket n. an electrically wired blanket used for heating a bed.

electric blue n. [mass noun] a steely or brilliant light blue.

electric chair n. a chair in which convicted criminals are executed by electrocution, especially in parts of the US.

electric eel n. a large eel-like freshwater fish of South America, using pulses of electricity to kill prey, assist in navigation, and for defence.

<INFO> Electrophorus electricus, the only member of the family Electrophoridae.

electric eye n. INFORMAL a photoelectric cell operating a relay when the beam of light illuminating it is obscured.

electric fence n. a fence through which an electric current can be passed, giving an electric shock to any person or animal touching it.

electric field n. [PHYSICS] a region around a charged particle or object within which a force would be exerted on other charged particles or objects.

electric fire n. BRITISH an electrically operated incandescent or convector heater, typically a portable one for domestic use.

electric guitar n. a guitar with a built-in pickup or pickups which convert sound vibrations into electrical signals for amplification.

electrician n. a person who installs and maintains electrical equipment.

electricity /lεktrsti εl- il-/ n. [mass noun] 1 a form of energy resulting from the existence of charged particles (such as electrons or protons), either statically as an accumulation of charge or dynamically as a current.

- the supply of electric current to a building for heating, lighting, or powering appliances: the electricity was back on | [as modifier] the regional electricity companies.

2 a state or feeling of thrilling excitement: the atmosphere was charged with a dangerous sexual electricity.

electric organ n. [ZOOLOGY] an organ in certain fishes which is used to produce an electrical discharge for stunning prey, sense the surroundings, or as a defence.

electric ray n. a sluggish bottom-dwelling marine ray that typically lives in shallow water and can produce an electric shock for the capture of prey and for defence. Also called TORPEDO RAY.

<INFO> Family Torpedinidae: several genera, in particular Torpedo, and many species.

electric shaver (also electric razor) n. an electrical device for shaving, with oscillating or rotating blades behind a metal guard.

electric shock n. a sudden discharge of electricity through a part of the body.

electrify v. (electrifies, electrifying, electrified) [with obj.] 1 charge (a medium) with electricity; pass an electric current through: (as adj. electrified) an electrified fence.

- convert (a machine or system, especially a railway line) to the use of electrical power.

2 (often as adj. electrifying) cause a sudden sense of thrilling excitement in (someone): an electrifying performance.

<DERIVATIVES> electrification n. electrifier n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from ELECTRIC + -FY.

electro /lεktrə/ n. (pl. electros) 1 short for ELECTROTYPE or ELECTROPLATE.

2 [mass noun] a style of dance music with a fast beat and synthesized backing track.

electro- combining form 1 relating to or caused by electricity; involving electricity and …: electroconvulsive | electromagnetism.

2 relating to music characterized by the use of synthesizers or electronically created sounds: electro-pop.

electro-acoustic adj. involving the direct conversion of electrical into acoustic energy or vice versa.

- (of a guitar) having both a pickup and a reverberating hollow body.

■ n. an electro-acoustic guitar.

electrocardiogram /lεktrəkαdəram/ (abbr.: ECG) n. MEDICINE a record or display of a person's heartbeat produced by electrocardiography.

electrocardiograph /lεktrəkαdərαf/ (abbr.: ECG) n. a machine used for electrocardiography.

electrocardiography /lεktrəkαdrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the measurement of electrical activity in the heart and its recording as a visual trace (on paper or on an oscilloscope screen), using electrodes placed on the skin of the limbs and chest.

<DERIVATIVES> electrocardiographic adj.

electrocautery /lεktrəktəri/ n. [mass noun] cautery using a needle or other instrument that is electrically heated.

electrochemistry n. [mass noun] the branch of chemistry that deals with the relations between electrical and chemical phenomena.

<DERIVATIVES> electrochemical adj. electrochemically adv. electrochemist n.

electrochromism /lεktrə()krəmz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the property of certain dyes of changing colour when placed in an electric field.

<DERIVATIVES> electrochromic adj.

electrocoagulation /lεktrəkəajle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the coagulation of blood or other tissues by the local application of an electric current to produce concentrated heat.

electroconvulsive adj. relating to the treatment of mental illness by the application of electric shocks to the brain.

electrocorticogram /lεktrə()ktkə()ram/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a chart or record of the electrical activity of the brain made using electrodes in direct contact with it.

electrocute v. [with obj.] injure or kill (someone) by electric shock: a man was electrocuted on the rail track.

<DERIVATIVES> electrocution n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ELECTRO-, on the pattern of execute.

electrocyte /lεktrə()st/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a modified muscle or nerve cell that generates electricity in the electric organ of certain fishes.

electrode /lεktrəd/ n. a conductor through which electricity enters or leaves an object, substance, or region.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ELECTRIC + Greek hodos ‘way’, on the pattern of anode and cathode.

electrodermal /lεktrə()dəməl/ adj. relating to measurement of the electrical conductivity of the skin, especially as an indicator of someone's emotional responses.

electrodialysis /lεktrədalss/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] dialysis in which the movement of ions is aided by an electric field applied across the semipermeable membrane.

electrodynamics plural n. [usually treated as sing.] the branch of mechanics concerned with the interaction of electric currents with magnetic fields or with other electric currents.

<DERIVATIVES> electrodynamic adj.

electroencephalogram /lεktrənsεf(ə)ləram -kεf-/ n. a test or record of brain activity produced by electroencephalography.

electroencephalograph /lεktrənsεf(ə)lərαf -kεf-/ n. a machine used for electroencephalography.

electroencephalography /lεktrənsεfəlrəfi -kεf-/ n. [mass noun] the measurement of electrical activity in different parts of the brain and its recording as a visual trace (on paper or on an oscilloscope screen).

electrofish v. [with obj.] fish (a stretch of water) using electrocution or a weak electric field.

electrogenic /lεktrə()dεnk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] producing a change in the electrical potential of a cell.

electrojet n. an intense electric current which occurs in a narrow belt in the lower ionosphere, especially in the region of strong auroral displays.

electrokinetic adj. relating to the flow of electricity.

electroless /lεktrəls/ adj. relating to or denoting nickel plating using chemical means, as opposed to electroplating.

electrolier /lεktrələ/ n. a chandelier in which the lights are electrical.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ELECTRO-, on the pattern of chandelier.

electroluminescence /lεktrəlumnεs(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] luminescence produced electrically, especially by the application of a voltage.

<DERIVATIVES> electroluminescent adj.

electrolyse /lεktrəlz/ (US electrolyze) v. [with obj.] subject to or treat by electrolysis.

<DERIVATIVES> electrolyser n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ELECTROLYSIS, on the pattern of analyse.

electrolysis /lεktrlss εl-/ n. [mass noun] 1 [CHEMISTRY] chemical decomposition produced by passing an electric current through a liquid or solution containing ions.

2 the removal of hair roots or small blemishes on the skin by the application of heat using an electric current.

<DERIVATIVES> electrolytic /lεktrə()ltk/ adj. electrolytical adj. electrolytically adv.

electrolyte /lεktrəlt/ n. 1 a liquid or gel which contains ions and can be decomposed by electrolysis, e.g. that present in a battery.

2 (electrolytes) [PHYSIOLOGY] the ionized or ionizable constituents of a living cell, blood, or other organic matter.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ELECTRO- + Greek lutos ‘released’ (from luein ‘loosen’).

electromagnet n. [PHYSICS] a soft metal core made into a magnet by the passage of electric current through a coil surrounding it.

electromagnetic adj. relating to the interrelation of electric currents or fields and magnetic fields.

<DERIVATIVES> electromagnetically adv.

electromagnetic radiation n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] a kind of radiation including visible light, radio waves, gamma rays, and X-rays, in which electric and magnetic fields vary simultaneously.

electromagnetic spectrum n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the range of wavelengths or frequencies over which electromagnetic radiation extends.

electromagnetic units plural n. [PHYSICS] a largely disused system of electrical units derived primarily from the magnetic properties of electric currents.

electromagnetism n. [mass noun] the phenomenon of the interaction of electric currents or fields and magnetic fields.

- the branch of physics concerned with electromagnetism.

electromechanical adj. relating to or denoting a mechanical device which is electrically operated.

electrometer /lεktrmtə/ n. [PHYSICS] an instrument for measuring electrical potential without drawing any current from the circuit.

<DERIVATIVES> electrometric adj. electrometry n.

electromotive /lεktrəmətv/ adj. [PHYSICS] producing or tending to produce an electric current.

electromotive force (abbr.: emf) n. [PHYSICS] a difference in potential that tends to give rise to an electric current.

electromyogram /lεktrə()mə()ram/ n. MEDICINE a record or display produced by electromyography.

electromyography /lεktrə()mrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the recording of the electrical activity of muscle tissue, or its representation as a visual display or audible signal, using electrodes attached to the skin or inserted into the muscle.

<DERIVATIVES> electromyograph n. electromyographic adj. electromyographically adv.

electron /lεktrn/ n. [PHYSICS] a stable subatomic particle with a charge of negative electricity, found in all atoms and acting as the primary carrier of electricity in solids.

The electron's mass is about 9 × 10−28g, 1,836 times less than that of the proton. Electrons orbit the positively charged nuclei of atoms and are responsible for binding atoms together in molecules, as well as for the electrical, thermal, optical, and magnetic properties of solids. Electric currents in metals and in semiconductors consist of a flow of electrons, and light, radio waves, X-rays, and much heat radiation are all produced by accelerating and decelerating electrons.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ELECTRIC + -ON.

electron beam n. [PHYSICS] a stream of electrons in a gas or vacuum.

electron diffraction n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the diffraction of a beam of electrons by atoms or molecules, used especially for determining crystal structures.

electronegative adj. 1 [PHYSICS] electrically negative.

2 [CHEMISTRY] (of an element) tending to acquire electrons and form negative ions in chemical reactions.

<DERIVATIVES> electronegativity n.

electron gun n. [PHYSICS] a device for producing a narrow stream of electrons from a heated cathode.

electronic adj. 1 (of a device) having or operating with components such as microchips and transistors that control and direct electric currents: an electronic calculator | an electronic organ.

- (of music) produced by electronic instruments.

- relating to electronics: a degree in electronic engineering.

2 relating to electrons.

3 carried out using a computer or other electronic device, especially over a network: electronic shopping.

<DERIVATIVES> electronically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ELECTRON + -IC.

electronica /lεktrnkə/ n. [mass noun] 1 a popular style of music deriving from techno and rave and having a more ambient, esoteric, or cerebral quality.

2 electronic devices or technology considered collectively.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from ELECTRONIC + -A^2.

electronic flash n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a flash from a gas-discharge tube, used in high-speed photography.

electronic mail n. another term for EMAIL.

electronic organizer n. a pocket-sized computer used for storing and retrieving information such as addresses and appointments.

electronic publishing n. [mass noun] the issuing of books and other material in machine-readable form rather than on paper.

electronics plural n. [usually treated as sing.] the branch of physics and technology concerned with the design of circuits using transistors and microchips, and with the behaviour and movement of electrons in a semiconductor, conductor, vacuum, or gas.

- [treated as plural] circuits or devices using transistors, microchips, and other components.

electronic tagging n. [mass noun] the attaching of electronic markers to people or goods for monitoring purposes, e.g. to track offenders under house arrest or to deter shoplifters.

electron lens n. [PHYSICS] a device for focusing a stream of electrons by means of electric or magnetic fields.

electron microscope n. [PHYSICS] a microscope with high magnification and resolution, employing electron beams in place of light and using electron lenses.

electron optics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of physics that deals with the behaviour of electrons and electron beams in magnetic and electric fields.

electron pair n. 1 [CHEMISTRY] two electrons occupying the same orbital in an atom or molecule.

2 [PHYSICS] an electron and a positron produced in a high-energy reaction.

electron spin resonance (abbr.: ESR) n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] a spectroscopic method of locating electrons within the molecules of a paramagnetic substance.

electron tube n. [PHYSICS] an evacuated or gas-filled tube in which a current of electrons flows between electrodes.

electronvolt (abbr.: eV) n. [PHYSICS] a unit of energy equal to the work done on an electron in accelerating it through a potential difference of one volt.

electro-oculogram /lεktrəkjələ()ram/ n. a record produced by electro-oculography.

electro-oculography /lεktrəkjəlrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the measurement of the electrical potential between electrodes placed at points close to the eye, used to investigate eye movements especially in physiological research.

<DERIVATIVES> electro-oculographic adj.

electro-optics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of science that deals with the effect of electric fields on light and on the optical properties of substances.

<DERIVATIVES> electro-optic adj. electro-optical adj.

electro-osmosis n. [mass noun] osmosis under the influence of an electric field.

<DERIVATIVES> electro-osmotic adj.

electrophilic /lεktrə()flk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of a molecule or group) having a tendency to attract or acquire electrons. Often contrasted with NUCLEOPHILIC.

<DERIVATIVES> electrophile n.

electrophoresis /lεktrə()fəriss/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] & [CHEMISTRY] the movement of charged particles in a fluid or gel under the influence of an electric field.

<DERIVATIVES> electrophorese v. electrophoretic adj. electrophoretically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ELECTRO- + Greek phorēsis ‘being carried’.

electrophorus /lεktrf(ə)rəs εl-/ n. [PHYSICS] a device for repeatedly generating static electricity by induction.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from ELECTRO- + Greek -phoros ‘bearing’.

electrophysiology /lεktrəfzlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of physiology that deals with the electrical phenomena associated with nervous and other bodily activity.

<DERIVATIVES> electrophysiological adj. electrophysiologically adv. electrophysiologist n.

electroplate /lεktrə()plet lεktrə()plet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as n. electroplating) coat (a metal object) by electrolytic deposition with chromium, silver, or another metal.

■ n. [mass noun] electroplated articles.

<DERIVATIVES> electroplater n.

electroplax /lεktrəplaks/ (also electroplaque /-plak/) n. [ZOOLOGY] each of a number of flattened plates of protoplasm that make up the electric organ of certain fishes, e.g. the electric eel.

electroplexy /lεktrəplεksi/ n. [mass noun] BRITISH DATED electroconvulsive therapy.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ELECTRO- + APOPLEXY.

electropolish /lεktrəpl/ v. [with obj.] (often as n. electropolishing) give a shiny surface to (metal) using electrolysis.

electroporation /lεktrə()pəre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the action or process of introducing DNA or chromosomes into bacteria or other cells using a pulse of electricity to open the pores in the cell membranes briefly.

<DERIVATIVES> electroporate v.

electropositive adj. 1 [PHYSICS] electrically positive.

2 [CHEMISTRY] (of an element) tending to lose electrons and form positive ions in chemical reactions.

electroreception n. [mass noun] the detection by an aquatic animal of electric fields or currents.

<DERIVATIVES> electroreceptor n.

electroretinogram /lεktrərεtnə()ram/ n. a record of the electrical activity of the retina, used in medical diagnosis and research.

electroscope n. [PHYSICS] an instrument for detecting and measuring electricity, especially as an indication of the ionization of air by radioactivity.

<DERIVATIVES> electroscopic adj.

electro-selective pattern (abbr.: ESP) n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a mode of automatic light-metering in a camera which compensates for differences in the brightness of the central and peripheral portions of the image.

electroshock adj. denoting or relating to medical treatment by means of electric shocks: electroshock therapy.

electrostatic adj. [PHYSICS] relating to stationary electric charges or fields as opposed to electric currents.

<DERIVATIVES> electrostatically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ELECTRO- + STATIC, on the pattern of hydrostatic.

electrostatic precipitator n. a device that removes suspended dust particles from a gas or exhaust by applying a high-voltage electrostatic charge and collecting the particles on charged plates.

electrostatics plural n. [treated as sing.] [PHYSICS] the study of stationary electric charges or fields as opposed to electric currents.

electrostatic units plural n. a system of units based primarily on the forces between electric charges.

electrosurgery n. [mass noun] surgery using a high-frequency electric current to heat and so cut tissue with great precision.

<DERIVATIVES> electrosurgical adj.

electrotechnology n. [mass noun] the science of the application of electricity in technology.

<DERIVATIVES> electrotechnic adj. electrotechnical adj. electrotechnics n.

electrotherapy n. [mass noun] the use of electric currents passed through the body to stimulate nerves and muscles, chiefly in the treatment of various forms of paralysis.

<DERIVATIVES> electrotherapeutic adj. electrotherapeutical adj. electrotherapist n.

electrothermal adj. [PHYSICS] relating to heat derived from electricity.

electrotype v. [with obj.] (often as n. electrotyping) make a copy of (something) by the electrolytic deposition of copper on a mould.

■ n. an electrotyped copy.

<DERIVATIVES> electrotyper n.

electrovalent /lεktrə()vel(ə)nt/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of bonding) resulting from electrostatic attraction between positive and negative ions; ionic.

<DERIVATIVES> electrovalence n. electrovalency n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from ELECTRO- + -valent, on the pattern of trivalent.

electroweak adj. [PHYSICS] relating to or denoting electromagnetic and weak interactions regarded as manifestations of the same interaction.

electrum /lεktrəm/ n. [mass noun] a natural or artificial alloy of gold with at least 20 per cent of silver, used for jewellery, especially in ancient times.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek ēlektron ‘amber, electrum’.

electuary /lεktj(ə)ri/ n. (pl. electuaries) ARCHAIC a medicinal substance mixed with honey or another sweet substance.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin electuarium, probably from Greek ekleikton, from ekleikhein ‘lick up’.

eleemosynary /εlimsnəri -mz-/ adj. FORMAL relating to or dependent on charity; charitable.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a noun denoting a place where alms were distributed): from medieval Latin eleemosynarius, from late Latin eleemosyna ‘alms’, from Greek eleēmosunē ‘compassion’ (see ALMS).

elegance n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being graceful and stylish in appearance or manner: a slender woman with grace and elegance.

2 the quality of being pleasingly ingenious and simple; neatness: the simplicity and elegance of the solution.

elegant adj. 1 graceful and stylish in appearance or manner: she will look elegant in black | an elegant, comfortable house.

2 (of a scientific theory or solution to a problem) pleasingly ingenious and simple: the grand unified theory is compact and elegant in mathematical terms.

<DERIVATIVES> elegantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French, or from Latin elegans, elegant-, related to eligere ‘choose, select’ (see ELECT).

elegant variation n. [mass noun] the stylistic fault of studiedly finding different ways to denote the same thing in a piece of writing, merely to avoid repetition.

elegiac /εldək/ adj. relating to or characteristic of an elegy: haunting and elegiac poems.

- wistfully mournful.

■ plural n. (elegiacs) verses in an elegiac metre.

<DERIVATIVES> elegiacally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French élégiaque, or via late Latin, from Greek elegeiakos, from elegeia (see ELEGY).

elegiac couplet n. a pair of lines consisting of a dactylic hexameter and a pentameter, especially in Greek and Latin verse.

elegize /εldz/ (also elegise) v. [no obj.] write in a wistfully mournful way.

<DERIVATIVES> elegist n.

elegy /εldi/ n. (pl. elegies) 1 (in modern literature) a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.

2 (in Greek and Latin verse) a poem written in elegiac couplets, as notably by Catullus and Propertius.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French élégie, or via Latin, from Greek elegeia, from elegos ‘mournful poem’.

element n. 1 an essential or characteristic part of something abstract: the death had all the elements of a great tabloid story | there are four elements to the proposal.

- a small but significant amount of a feeling or quality: it was the element of danger he loved in flying.

- (elements) the rudiments of a subject: legal training may include the elements of economics and political science.

- (usually with modifier often elements) a group of people of a particular kind within a larger group: extreme right-wing elements in the army.

- [MATHEMATICS] & [LOGIC] an entity that is a single member of a set.

2 (also chemical element) each of more than one hundred substances that cannot be chemically interconverted or broken down into simpler substances and are primary constituents of matter. Each element is distinguished by its atomic number, i.e. the number of protons in the nuclei of its atoms.

3 any of the four substances (earth, water, air, and fire) regarded as the fundamental constituents of the world in ancient and medieval philosophy.

4 (the elements) strong winds, heavy rain, or other kinds of bad weather: there was no barrier against the elements.

5 a person's or animal's natural or preferred environment: raised in Hawaii, the sea is his natural element | FIGURATIVE he was always in his element when working around the house.

6 a part in an electric kettle, heater, or cooker which contains a wire through which an electric current is passed to provide heat.

7 (elements) (in church use) the bread and wine of the Eucharist.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting fundamental constituents of the world or celestial objects): via Old French from Latin elementum ‘principle, rudiment’, translating Greek stoikheion ‘step, component part’.

elemental /εlmεnt(ə)l/ adj. 1 forming an essential or typical feature; fundamental: failure is always apparent at this elemental level.

- concerned with chemical elements or other basic components: elemental analysis.

- denoting uncombined chemical elements: elemental sulphur.

2 related to or embodying the powers of nature: a thunderstorm is the inevitable outcome of battling elemental forces.

- (of an emotion) powerful and primitive: a magical, elemental desire.

■ n. a supernatural entity or force thought to be physically manifested by occult means.

<DERIVATIVES> elementalism n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from medieval Latin elementalis, from elementum ‘principle, rudiment’ (see ELEMENT).

elementary adj. 1 relating to the rudiments of a subject: an elementary astronomy course.

- of the most basic kind: the elementary rights of citizenship.

- straightforward and uncomplicated: a series of elementary exercises.

2 not decomposable into elements or other primary constituents.

<DERIVATIVES> elementarily adv. elementariness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘composed of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water’): from Latin elementarius, from elementum ‘principle, rudiment’ (see ELEMENT). Current senses date from the mid 16th cent.

elementary school n. NORTH AMERICAN a primary school for the first six or eight grades.

- British HISTORICAL a school where children were taught between the ages of five and thirteen.

elemi /εləmi/ n. [mass noun] an oleoresin obtained from a tropical tree and used in varnishes, ointments, and aromatherapy.

<INFO> This resin is obtained from several trees in the family Burseraceae, in particular Bursera simaruba (producing American elemi) and Canarium luzanicum (producing Manila elemi).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps from Arabic al-lāmī.

elenchus /lεkəs/ n. (pl. elenchi /-k/) [LOGIC] a logical refutation.

- (also Socratic elenchus) [mass noun] the Socratic method of eliciting truth by question and answer, especially as used to refute an argument.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (superseding late Middle English elench): via Latin from Greek elenkhos.

Eleonora's falcon /εlənrəz/ n. a long-winged falcon that breeds on rocky islands and cliffs in the Mediterranean area, either resembling a dark hobby or with all-black plumage.

<INFO> Falco eleonorae, family Falconidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Eleonora of Arborea (c.1350–1404), a princess of Sardinia.

elephant n. (pl. same or elephants) 1 a very large plant-eating mammal with a prehensile trunk, long curved ivory tusks, and large ears, native to Africa and southern Asia. It is the largest living land animal.

<INFO> Family Elephantidae, order Proboscidea: two species. See AFRICAN ELEPHANT, INDIAN ELEPHANT.

2 a size of paper, typically 28 × 23 inches (approximately 711 × 584 mm).

<PHRASES>

□ the elephant in the room a major problem or controversial issue which is obviously present but is avoided as a subject for discussion: they've steadfastly ignored the elephant in the room: the ever-growing debt burden on graduates.

<DERIVATIVES> elephantoid /εlfantd/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French elefant, via Latin from Greek elephas, elephant- ‘ivory, elephant’.

elephant bird n. a heavily built giant flightless bird, found in Madagascar until it was exterminated in about AD 1000. The eggs, which are still found occasionally, are the largest known. Also called AEPYORNIS.

<INFO> Family Aepyornithidae, genera Aepyornis and Mullerornis: several species, including A. maximus, which is the heaviest known bird.

elephant fish n. a fish with a trunk-like snout or proboscis.

<INFO>

- a chimaera with a hook-like process on the snout (family Callorhinchidae and genus Callorhinchus).

- another term for ELEPHANT-SNOUT FISH

elephant grass n. [mass noun] a tall robust tropical African grass which is used for fodder and paper.

<INFO> Pennisetum purpureum, family Gramineae.

elephant hawkmoth n. a large pinkish hawkmoth with greenish-bronze markings. The foreparts of the caterpillar have eyespots and sometimes resemble an elephant's trunk.

<INFO> Genus Deilephila, family Sphingidae: several species, in particular the common D. elpenor.

elephantiasis /εlf(ə)ntəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which a limb or other part of the body becomes grossly enlarged due to obstruction of the lymphatic vessels, typically by the nematode parasites which cause filariasis.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek, from elephas, elephant- ‘elephant’ + -IASIS.

elephantine /εlfantn/ adj. of, resembling, or characteristic of an elephant or elephants, especially in being large, clumsy, or awkward: there was an elephantine thud from the bathroom.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via Latin from Greek elephantinos, from elephas, elephant- ‘elephant’.

Elephant Pass a narrow strip of land at the north end of Sri Lanka, linking the Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the island.

elephant seal n. a large seal that breeds on the west coast of North America and the islands around Antarctica. The male is much larger than the female and has a very thick neck and an inflatable snout.

<INFO> Genus Mirounga, family Phocidae: two species.

elephant shrew n. a small insectivorous African mammal with a long mobile snout, long hindlimbs, and a rat-like tail.

<INFO> Family Macroscelididae and order Macroscelidea: four genera and many species; sometimes placed in the order Insectivora.

elephant-snout fish n. an edible African freshwater fish with a downcurved snout that is typically elongated and trunk-like. Also called ELEPHANT FISH.

<INFO> Family Mormyridae: several genera, in particular Mormyrus.

Eleusinian mysteries /εljusnən/ plural n. the annual rites performed by the ancient Greeks at the village of Eleusis near Athens in honour of Demeter and Persephone.

elevate /εlvet/ v. [with obj.] 1 raise or lift (something) to a higher position: the exercise will naturally elevate your chest and head.

- (of a priest) hold up (a consecrated host or chalice) for adoration.

- raise the axis of (a piece of artillery) to increase its range.

2 raise to a more important or impressive level: he was elevated to Secretary of State | he has elevated bad taste into an art form.

- increase the level of (something).

<DERIVATIVES> elevatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin elevat- ‘raised’, from the verb elevare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out, away’ + levare ‘lighten’ (from levis ‘light’).

elevated adj. situated or placed higher than the surrounding area: this hotel has an elevated position above the village | the elevated section of the M4.

- (of a level or amount) higher or greater than normal: an elevated temperature.

- of a high intellectual or moral level: the elevated canon of great literary texts.

- having a high rank or social standing: these parish gentry were conscious of their elevated status.

elevation n. 1 [mass noun] the action or fact of raising or being raised to a higher or more important level, state, or position: her sudden elevation to the cabinet.

- increase in the level of something.

- the raising of the consecrated elements for adoration at Mass.

- [BALLET] the ability of a dancer to attain height in jumps.

2 [mass noun] height above a given level, especially sea level: the area has a topography that ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 metres in elevation.

- [count noun] a high place or position: an elevation of 300 metres.

- the angle of something with the horizontal, especially of a gun or of the direction of a celestial object.

3 a particular side of a building: a burglar alarm was displayed on the front elevation.

- a scale drawing showing the vertical projection of one side of a building. Compare with plan (sense 3 of the noun).

<DERIVATIVES> elevational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin elevatio(n-), from elevare ‘raise’ (see ELEVATE).

elevator n. 1 North American term for lift (sense 1 of the noun).

2 a machine consisting of an endless belt with scoops attached, used for raising grain to an upper storey for storage: a grain elevator.

- NORTH AMERICAN a tall building used for storing grain.

3 a hinged flap on the tailplane of an aircraft, typically one of a pair, used to control the motion of the aircraft about its lateral axis.

4 a muscle whose contraction raises a part of the body: elevators of the upper lip.

5 (also elevator shoe) a shoe with a raised insole designed to make the wearer appear taller.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a muscle): modern Latin, from Latin elevare ‘raise’; in later use directly from ELEVATE.

elevator pitch n. INFORMAL, chiefly US a succinct and persuasive sales pitch.

<ORIGIN> from the idea of having to impress a senior executive during a brief ride in a lift (elevator).

eleven cardinal number equivalent to the sum of six and five; one more than ten; 11: the room was about eleven feet wide | eighteen schools were founded, eleven of them in London. (Roman numeral: xi or XI)

- eleven years old: the eldest is only eleven.

- eleven o'clock: she often worked until eleven at night.

- a size of garment or other merchandise denoted by eleven.

- a group or unit of eleven people or things.

- a sports team of eleven players: at cricket I played in the first eleven.

<DERIVATIVES> elevenfold adj. & adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English endleofon, from the base of ONE + a second element (probably expressing the sense ‘left over’) occurring also in TWELVE; of Germanic origin and related to Dutch and German elf.

eleven-plus n. chiefly HISTORICAL (in the UK) an examination taken at the age of 11–12 to determine the type of secondary school a child should enter.

elevenses plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL a short break for light refreshments, usually with tea or coffee, taken at about eleven o'clock in the morning.

eleventh ordinal number 1 constituting number eleven in a sequence; 11th: the eleventh century | February the eleventh.

- [MUSIC] an interval or chord spanning an octave and a fourth in the diatonic scale, or a note separated from another by this interval.

2 each of eleven equal parts into which something is or may be divided.

<PHRASES>

□ the eleventh hour the latest possible moment: the decision to send Eddie with the team was made at the eleventh hour.

elevon /εlvn/ n. [AERONAUTICS] the movable part of the trailing edge of a delta wing.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: blend of ELEVATOR and AILERON (because the elevon combines the functions of both).

ELF abbr. extremely low frequency.

elf n. (pl. elves) a supernatural creature of folk tales, typically represented as a small, delicate, elusive figure in human form with pointed ears, magical powers, and a capricious nature.

<DERIVATIVES> elfish adj. elven adj. (LITERARY) elvish adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to German Alp ‘nightmare’.

elf cup (also scarlet elf cup) n. a fungus of decaying wood, producing small groups of shallow short-stemmed cups with a scarlet interior, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Sarcoscypha coccinea, family Sarcosomataceae, subdivision Ascomycotina.

elfin adj. (of a person or their face) small and delicate, typically with a mischievous charm: her black hair suited her elfin face.

■ n. 1 ARCHAIC an elf.

2 a small North American butterfly that is typically brownish with markings on the wing margins that give the impression of scalloped edges.

<INFO> Genus Incisalia, family Lycaenidae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from ELF, probably suggested by Middle English elvene ‘of elves’, and by Elphin, the name of a character in Arthurian romance.

elf owl n. a tiny owl that nests in cacti and trees in the arid country of the southern US and Mexico.

<INFO> Micrathene whitneyi, family Strigidae.

Elgar /εlα/ Sir Edward (William) (1857–1934), English composer. He is known particularly for the Enigma Variations (1899), the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius (1900), and for patriotic pieces such as the five Pomp and Circumstance marches (1901–30).

Elgin Marbles a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures and architectural fragments, chiefly from the Parthenon in Athens, brought to England by the diplomat and art connoisseur Thomas Bruce (1766–1841), the 7th Earl of Elgin.

Carved under the direction of Phidias in the 5th century BC, the sculptures were brought from Greece between 1803 and 1812, when the country was under Turkish control. They are currently housed in the British Museum, but are the subject of a repatriation request from the Greek government, who do not accept the legality of the Turkish sale.

el-Giza /εldizə/ another name for GIZA.

Elgon, Mount /εln/ an extinct volcano on the border between Kenya and Uganda, rising to 4,321 m (14,178 ft).

El Greco /εl rεkə/ (1541–1614), Cretan-born Spanish painter; born Domenikos Theotokopoulos. El Greco's portraits and religious works are characterized by distorted perspective, elongated figures, and strident use of colour.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘the Greek’.

Eli /il/ (in the Bible) a priest who acted as a teacher to the prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 1–3).

Elia /ilə/ the pseudonym adopted by Charles Lamb in his Essays of Elia (1823) and Last Essays of Elia (1833).

elicit /lst/ v. (elicits, eliciting, elicited) [with obj.] evoke or draw out (a reaction, answer, or fact) from someone: I tried to elicit a smile from Joanna | the work elicited enormous public interest.

- ARCHAIC draw forth (something that is latent or potential) into existence: a corrupt heart elicits in an hour all that is bad in us.

<DERIVATIVES> elicitation n. elicitor n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin elicit- ‘drawn out by trickery or magic’, from the verb elicere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + lacere ‘entice, deceive’.

elide /ld/ v. [with obj.] 1 omit (a sound or syllable) when speaking: (as adj. elided) elided consonants.

2 join together; merge: whole periods of time are elided into a few seconds of screen time.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘annul’, chiefly as a Scots legal term): from Latin elidere ‘crush out’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + laedere ‘to dash’.

eligible /εldb(ə)l/ adj. (often eligible for/to do something) having the right to do or obtain something; satisfying the appropriate conditions: customers who are eligible for discounts | eligible candidates.

- (of a person) desirable or suitable as a partner in marriage: the world's most eligible bachelor.

<DERIVATIVES> eligibility n. eligibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from late Latin eligibilis, from Latin eligere ‘choose’ (see ELECT).

Elijah /ldə/ (9th century BC), a Hebrew prophet in the time of Jezebel who maintained the worship of Jehovah against that of Baal and other pagan gods.

eliminate /lmnet/ v. [with obj.] 1 completely remove or get rid of (something): a policy that would eliminate inflation.

- exclude (someone or something) from consideration or further participation: the police have eliminated Lawrence from their inquiries | (as adj. eliminating) teams who had fought their way through the eliminating rounds.

2 expel (waste matter) from the body: this diet claims to eliminate toxins from the body.

3 [MATHEMATICS] remove (a variable) from an equation, typically by substituting another which is shown by another equation to be equivalent.

4 [CHEMISTRY] generate (a simple substance) as a product in the course of a reaction involving larger molecules.

<DERIVATIVES> eliminable adj. elimination n. eliminator n. eliminatory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘drive out’): from Latin eliminat- ‘turned out of doors’, from the verb eliminare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + limen, limin- ‘threshold’.

elimination diet n. a procedure used to identify foods which a person is intolerant of, in which all suspected foods are excluded from the diet and then reintroduced one at a time.

ELINT /lnt/ n. [mass noun] covert intelligence-gathering by electronic means.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally US): blend of ELECTRONIC and INTELLIGENCE.

Eliot^1 /εlət/ George (1819–80), English novelist; pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans. Her novels of provincial life are characterized by their exploration of moral problems and their development of the psychological analysis that marks the modern novel. Notable works: Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), and Middlemarch (1871–2).

Eliot^2 /εlət/ T. S. (1888–1965), American-born British poet, critic, and dramatist; full name Thomas Stearns Eliot. Associated with the rise of literary modernism, he was established as the voice of a disillusioned generation by The Waste Land (1922). Four Quartets (1943) revealed his increasing involvement with Christianity. Nobel Prize for Literature (1948).

ELISA /lzə/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Elisabethville /lzəbəθvl/ former name (until 1966) for LUBUMBASHI.

Elisha /lə/ (9th century BC), a Hebrew prophet, disciple and successor of Elijah.

elision /l(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the omission of a sound or syllable when speaking (as in I'm, let's).

- [count noun] an omission of a passage in a book, speech, or film: the movie's elisions and distortions have been carefully thought out.

2 the process of joining together or merging things, especially abstract ideas: unease at the elision of so many vital questions.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin elisio(n-), from Latin elidere ‘crush out’ (see ELIDE).

Elista /εlstə/ a city in SW Russia, capital of the autonomous republic of Kalmykia; pop. 105,000 (est. 2002).

elite /elit -/ n. 1 a group of people considered to be superior in a particular society or organization: the country's educated elite | [as modifier] an elite combat force.

2 [mass noun] a size of letter in typewriting, with 12 characters to the inch (about 4.7 to the centimetre).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French élite ‘selection, choice’, from élire ‘to elect’, from a variant of Latin eligere (see ELECT).

■ Sense 2 dates from the early 20th cent.

elitism n. [mass noun] the belief that a society or system should be led by an elite.

- the dominance of a society or system by an elite.

- the superior attitude or behaviour associated with an elite: he accused her of racism and white elitism.

<DERIVATIVES> elitist adj. & n.

elixir /lksə -sə/ n. 1 a magical or medicinal potion: an elixir guaranteed to induce love.

- a preparation supposedly able to change metals into gold, sought by alchemists.

- (also elixir of life) a preparation supposedly able to prolong life indefinitely.

2 a particular type of medicinal solution: a cough elixir.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via medieval Latin from Arabic al-'iksīr, from al ‘the’ + 'iksīr from Greek xērion ‘powder for drying wounds’ (from xēros ‘dry’).

Elizabeth I (1533–1603), daughter of Henry VIII, queen of England and Ireland 1558–1603. Succeeding her Catholic sister Mary I, Elizabeth re-established a moderate form of Protestantism as the state religion. Her reign was dominated by the threat of a Catholic restoration and by war with Spain, culminating in the Armada of 1588. Although frequently courted, she never married.

Elizabeth II (b.1926), daughter of George VI, queen of the United Kingdom since 1952; born Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. She married Prince Philip in 1947; they have four children, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward.

Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900–2002), wife of George VI; born Lady Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon. She married George VI in 1923, when he was Duke of York; they had two daughters, Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret.

Elizabethan /lzəbiθ(ə)n/ adj. relating to or characteristic of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I: an Elizabethan manor house.

■ n. a person alive during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

elk /εlk/ n. (pl. same or elks) 1 British term for MOOSE.

2 North American term for WAPITI.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: probably from Old English elh, eolh, with substitution of k for h.

elkhorn coral n. a coral with sturdy antler-like branches, found in shallow waters throughout the Caribbean.

<INFO> Acropora palmata, order Scleractinia.

elk hound n. a large hunting dog of a Scandinavian breed with a shaggy grey coat.

ell^1 n. a former measure of length (equivalent to six hand breadths) used mainly for textiles, locally variable but typically about 45 inches in England and 37 inches in Scotland.

<ORIGIN> Old English eln, of Germanic origin; from an Indo-European root shared by Latin ulna (see ULNA). Compare with ELBOW and also with CUBIT (the measure was originally linked to the length of the human arm or forearm).

ellagic acid /εladk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a compound extracted from oak galls and various fruits and nuts. It has some ability to inhibit blood flow and retard the growth of cancer cells.

<INFO> A tetracyclic phenol; chem. formula: C_14H_6O_8.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: ellagic from French ellagique (an anagram of galle ‘gall nut’ + -ique), thus avoiding the form gallique, already in use.

Ellesmere Island /εlzmə/ the northernmost island of the Canadian Arctic.

<ORIGIN> named after the British statesman Francis Egerton, Earl of Ellesmere (1800–57).

Ellesmere Port a port in NW England on the estuary of the River Mersey; pop. 64,600 (est. 2002).

Ellice Islands /εls/ former name for TUVALU.

Ellington /εltən/ Duke (1899–1974), American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader; born Edward Kennedy Ellington. Coming to fame in the early 1930s, Ellington wrote over 900 compositions and was one of the first popular musicians to write extended pieces. Notable works: Mood Indigo (1930).

ellipse /lps/ n. a regular oval shape, traced by a point moving in a plane so that the sum of its distances from two other points (the foci) is constant, or resulting when a cone is cut by an oblique plane which does not intersect the base.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via French from Latin ellipsis (see ELLIPSIS).

ellipsis /lpss/ n. (pl. ellipses /-siz/) the omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues.

- a set of dots (…) indicating such an omission.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek elleipsis, from elleipein ‘leave out’.

ellipsoid /lpsd/ n. a three-dimensional figure symmetrical about each of three perpendicular axes, whose plane sections normal to one axis are circles and all the other plane sections are ellipses.

<DERIVATIVES> ellipsoidal adj.

elliptic adj. relating to or having the form of an ellipse.

<DERIVATIVES> ellipticity n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek elleiptikos ‘defective’, from elleipein ‘leave out, fall short’.

elliptical adj. 1 (of speech or writing) using or involving ellipsis, especially so as to be difficult to understand.

2 another term for ELLIPTIC.

<DERIVATIVES> elliptically adv.

Ellis (Henry) Havelock (1859–1939), English psychologist and writer, remembered as the pioneer of the scientific study of sex. His major work was the six-volume Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897–1910, with a seventh volume added in 1928).

Ellis Island an island in the bay of New York that from 1892 until 1943 served as an entry point for immigrants to the US, and later (until 1954) as a detention centre for people awaiting deportation.

Ellsworth /εlzwəθ/ Lincoln (1880–1951), American explorer. He participated in a number of polar expeditions and was the first person to fly over both the North (1926) and South (1935) Poles.

Ellsworth Land a plateau region of Antarctica between the Walgreen Coast and Palmer Land. It rises at the Vinson Massif, the highest point in Antarctica, to 5,140 m (16,863 ft).

elm (also elm tree) n. a tall deciduous tree which typically has rough serrated leaves and propagates from root suckers.

<INFO> Genus Ulmus, family Ulmaceae: several species, including the English elm (U. procera).

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to German dialect Ilm, and Swedish and Norwegian alm.

El Niño /εl ninjə/ n. (pl. El Niños) an irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years, characterized by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late December. The effects of El Niño include reversal of wind patterns across the Pacific, drought in Australasia, and unseasonal heavy rain in South America.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘the (Christ) child’, because of the occurrence near Christmas.

elocution /εləkju(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the skill of clear and expressive speech, especially of distinct pronunciation and articulation.

<DERIVATIVES> elocutionary adj. elocutionist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting oratorical or literary style): from Latin elocutio(n-), from eloqui ‘speak out’ (see ELOQUENCE).

elodea /εlə()diə lədə/ n. [mass noun] an aquatic plant of a genus that includes Canadian pondweed.

<INFO> Genus Elodea, family Hydrocharitaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek helōdēs ‘marshy’.

Elohim /εləhm εləhim/ n. a name for God used frequently in the Hebrew Bible.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ĕlōhīm (plural).

Elohist /εləhst/ the postulated author or authors of parts of the Hexateuch in which God is regularly named Elohim. Compare with YAHWIST.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ĕlōhīm (see ELOHIM) + -IST.

elongate /ilet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. elongated) make (something) longer, especially unusually so in relation to its width: a slender, elongated neck.

- [no obj.] chiefly [BIOLOGY] become longer.

■ adj. [BIOLOGY] long in relation to width; elongated: elongate fishes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘move away’): from late Latin elongat- ‘placed at a distance’, from the verb elongare, from Latin e- (variant of ex-) ‘away’ + longe ‘far off’, longus ‘long’.

elongation n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of lengthening something.

- an elongated part.

- the amount of extension of an object under stress, usually expressed as a percentage of the original length.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the angular separation of a planet from the sun or of a satellite from a planet, as seen by an observer.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin elongatio(n-), from elongare ‘place at a distance’ (see ELONGATE).

elope v. [no obj.] run away secretly in order to get married: later he eloped with one of the housemaids.

<DERIVATIVES> elopement n. eloper n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the general sense ‘abscond, run away’): from Anglo-Norman French aloper, perhaps related to LEAP.

eloquence /εləkwəns/ n. [mass noun] fluent or persuasive speaking or writing: a preacher of great power and eloquence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin eloquentia, from eloqui ‘speak out’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + loqui ‘speak’.

eloquent adj. fluent or persuasive in speaking or writing: an eloquent speech.

- clearly expressing or indicating something: the bus journey alone is eloquent of class inequality.

<DERIVATIVES> eloquently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin eloquent- ‘speaking out’, from the verb eloqui (see ELOQUENCE).

El Paso /εl pasə/ a city in western Texas on the Rio Grande, on the border with Mexico; pop. 563,662 (2000).

El Salvador /εl salvəd/ Spanish /el salβaər/ a country in Central America, on the Pacific coast; pop. 6,353,681 (est. 2002); official language, Spanish; capital, San Salvador.

The territory was conquered by the Spanish in 1524 and gained its independence in 1821. Between 1979 and 1992 the country was devastated by a civil war marked by the activities of right-wing death squads and resistance by left-wing guerrillas; a UN-brokered peace accord was agreed in 1992.

Elsan /εlsan/ n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a type of transportable chemical toilet.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: apparently from the initials of Ephraim Louis Jackson (its manufacturer) and SANITATION.

else adv. 1 [with indefinite pronoun or adv.] in addition; besides: anything else you need to know? | what else is there to do? | they will offer low prices but little else.

2 [with indefinite pronoun or adv.] different; instead: isn't there anyone else you could ask? | it's fate, destiny, or whatever else you like to call it.

<PHRASES>

□ or else used to introduce the second of two alternatives: he always had a cold or else was getting over an earache.

- in circumstances different from those mentioned: they can't want it, or else they'd request it.

- used as a warning or threat: you go along with this or else you're going to jail | she'd better shape up, or else.

<ORIGIN> Old English elles, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Dutch els and Swedish eljest.

elsewhere adv. in, at, or to some other place or other places: he is seeking employment elsewhere.

■ pron. some other place: all Hawaiian plants originally came from elsewhere.

<ORIGIN> Old English elles hwr (see ELSE, where).

Elsinore /εlsn/ a port on the NE coast of the island of Zealand, Denmark; pop. 44,860 (1998). It is the site of the 16th-century Kronborg Castle, which is the setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet. Danish name Helsingør.

Elster /εlstə/ n. [usually as modifier] [GEOLOGY] a Pleistocene glaciation in northern Europe, corresponding to the Anglian of Britain (and possibly the Mindel of the Alps).

- the system of deposits laid down at the time of the Elster glaciation.

<DERIVATIVES> Elsterian /εlstərən/ adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: the name of a tributary of the River Elbe in Germany.

ELT abbr. English language teaching.

Elton /εlt(ə)n/ Charles Sutherland (1900–91), English zoologist. Elton pioneered the study of animal ecology, and his research into rodent populations found practical application in vermin control.

Éluard /εlα/ French /elYaR/ Paul (1895–1952), French poet; pseudonym of Eugène Grindel. He was a leading figure in the surrealist movement.

eluate /εljuət -et/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a solution obtained by elution.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Latin eluere ‘wash out’ + -ATE^1.

elucidate /l(j)usdet/ v. [with obj.] make (something) clear; explain: work such as theirs will help to elucidate this matter | [with clause] in what follows I shall try to elucidate what I believe the problems to be.

<DERIVATIVES> elucidative adj. elucidator n. elucidatory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin elucidat- ‘made clear’, from the verb elucidare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + lucidus ‘lucid’.

elucidation /l(j)usde(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] explanation that makes something clear; clarification: work that led to the elucidation of the structure of proteins.

elude /l(j)ud/ v. [with obj.] 1 escape from or avoid (a danger, enemy, or pursuer), typically in a skilful or cunning way: he tried to elude the security men by sneaking through a back door.

- avoid compliance with (a law or penalty).

2 (of an achievement or something desired) fail to be attained by (someone): sleep still eluded her.

- (of an idea or fact) fail to be understood or remembered by (someone): the logic of this eluded most people.

<DERIVATIVES> elusion n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘delude, baffle’): from Latin eludere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out, away from’ + ludere ‘to play’.

eluent /εljənt/ (also eluant) n. [CHEMISTRY] a fluid used to elute a substance.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Latin eluent- ‘washing out’, from the verb eluere (see ELUTE).

Elul /ill εll/ n. (in the Jewish calendar) the twelfth month of the civil and sixth of the religious year, usually coinciding with parts of August and September.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ’ĕlūl.

el-Uqsur /εlksə/ (also al-Uqsur) Arabic name for LUXOR.

elusive adj. difficult to find, catch, or achieve: success will become ever more elusive.

- difficult to remember: the elusive thought he had had moments before.

<DERIVATIVES> elusively adv. elusiveness n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin elus- ‘eluded’ (from the verb eludere) + -IVE.

elute /l(j)ut/ v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] remove (an adsorbed substance) by washing with a solvent, especially in chromatography.

<DERIVATIVES> elution n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Latin elut- ‘washed out’, from the verb eluere, suggested by German eluieren.

elutriate /l(j)utret/ v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] separate (lighter and heavier particles in a mixture) by suspension in an upward flow of liquid or gas.

<DERIVATIVES> elutriation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin elutriat- ‘washed out’, from the verb elutriare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + lutriare ‘to wash’.

elvan /εlv(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] hard intrusive igneous rock found in Cornwall, typically quartz porphyry.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps via Cornish from Welsh elfen ‘element’.

elver /εlvə/ n. a young eel, especially when undergoing mass migration upriver from the sea.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: variant of dialect eel-fare ‘the passage of young eels up a river’, also ‘a brood of young eels’, from EEL + FARE in its original sense ‘a journey’.

elves plural form of ELF.

Ely /ili/ a cathedral city in the fenland of Cambridgeshire, on the River Ouse; pop. 10,500 (est. 2002).

Ely, Isle of a former county of England extending over the northern part of present-day Cambridgeshire. Before widespread drainage it formed a fertile ‘island’ in the surrounding fenland.

Elysée Palace /elize/ a building in Paris which has been the official residence of the French President since 1870. It was built in 1718 and was occupied by Madame de Pompadour, Napoleon I, and Napoleon III. French name Palais de l'Elysée.

Elysian /lzən/ adj. relating to or characteristic of heaven or paradise: Elysian visions.

<PHRASES>

□ the Elysian Fields another name for ELYSIUM.

Elysium /lzəm/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the place at the ends of the earth to which certain favoured heroes were conveyed by the gods after death.

- (as n. an Elysium) a place or state of perfect happiness.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Elusion (pedion) ‘(plain) of the blessed’.

elytron /εltrn/ n. (pl. elytra /-trə/) [ZOOLOGY] each of the two wing cases of a beetle.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting a sheath or covering, specifically that of the spinal cord): from Greek elutron ‘sheath’.

Elzevir /εlzəvə/ a family of Dutch printers. Fifteen members were active 1581–1712; Bonaventure (1583–1652) and Abraham (1592–1652) managed the firm in its prime.

em n. [PRINTING] a unit for measuring the width of printed matter, equal to the height of the type size being used.

- a unit of measurement equal to twelve points.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: the letter M represented as a word, since it is approximately this width.

'em pron. short for THEM, especially in informal use: let 'em know who's boss.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: originally a form of hem, dative and accusative third person plural pronoun in Middle English; now regarded as an abbreviation of THEM.

em- /m εm/ prefix variant spelling of en-1, en-2. assimilated before b, p (as in emblazon, emplacement).

emaciated /mesetd me-/ adj. abnormally thin or weak, especially because of illness or a lack of food: she was so emaciated she could hardly stand.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin emaciat- ‘made thin’, from the verb emaciare, from e- (variant of ex-, expressing a change of state) + macies ‘leanness’.

emaciation /mese(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the state of being abnormally thin or weak: thin to the point of emaciation.

email (also e-mail) n. [mass noun] messages distributed by electronic means from one computer user to one or more recipients via a network: reading email has become the first task of the morning | [count noun] we received thousands of emails.

- the system of sending messages by electronic means: a contract communicated by email.

■ v. [with obj.] send an email to (someone).

- send (a message) by email.

<DERIVATIVES> emailer n.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: abbreviation of ELECTRONIC MAIL.

emalangeni plural form of LILANGENI.

emanate /εmənet/ v. [no obj.] (emanate from) (of a feeling, quality, or sensation) issue or spread out from (a source): warmth emanated from the fireplace | she felt an undeniable charm emanating from him.

- originate from; be produced by: the proposals emanated from a committee.

- [with obj.] give out or emit (a feeling, quality, or sensation): he emanated a powerful brooding air.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin emanat- ‘flowed out’, from the verb emanare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + manare ‘to flow’.

emanation n. 1 something which originates or issues from a source: she saw the insults as emanations of his own tortured personality | the commission is an emanation of the state.

- [mass noun] the action or process of issuing from a source: the risk of radon gas emanation.

- a substance or form of radiation given off by something: vaporous emanations wreathe the mill's foundations.

- [CHEMISTRY], ARCHAIC a radioactive gas formed by radioactive decay of a solid.

2 (in various mystical traditions) a being or force which is a manifestation of God.

emancipate /manspet/ v. [with obj.] set free, especially from legal, social, or political restrictions: the citizen must be emancipated from the obsessive secrecy of government.

- [LAW] set (a child) free from the authority of its parents.

- free (someone) from slavery.

<DERIVATIVES> emancipator n. emancipatory adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin emancipat- ‘transferred as property’, from the verb emancipare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + mancipium ‘slave’.

emancipated /manspetd/ adj. free from legal, social, or political restrictions; liberated: emancipated young women.

emancipation /manspe(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions; liberation: the social and political emancipation of women.

- the freeing of someone from slavery. the early struggle for emancipation from slavery.

Emancipation Proclamation (in the American Civil War) the announcement made by President Lincoln on 22 September 1862 emancipating all black slaves in states still engaged in rebellion against the Federal Union. Although implementation was strictly beyond Lincoln's powers, the declaration turned the war into a crusade against slavery.

emasculate /maskjlet/ v. [with obj.] 1 (usually as adj. emasculated) deprive (a man) of his male role or identity: he feels emasculated, because he cannot control his sons' behaviour.

- ARCHAIC castrate (a man or male animal).

- [BOTANY] remove the anthers from (a flower).

2 make (someone or something) weaker or less effective: the refusal to allow them to testify effectively emasculated the committee.

<DERIVATIVES> emasculation n. emasculator n. emasculatory /-lət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin emasculat- ‘castrated’, from the verb emasculare, from e- (variant of ex-, expressing a change of state) + masculus ‘male’.

embalm /mbαm εm-/ v. [with obj.] 1 (often as n. embalming) preserve (a corpse) from decay, originally with spices and now usually by arterial injection of a preservative: the Egyptian method of embalming.

- preserve (someone or something) in an unaltered state: the band was all about revitalizing pop greats and embalming their legacy.

2 ARCHAIC give a pleasant fragrance to: the buxom air, embalm'd with odours.

<DERIVATIVES> embalmer n. embalmment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French embaumer, from em- ‘in’ + baume ‘balm’, variant of basme (see BALM).

embank v. [with obj.] construct a wall or bank of earth or stone in order to contain the course or flow of (a river).

- construct a bank of earth or stone to carry (a road or railway) over low ground.

embankment n. a wall or bank of earth or stone built to prevent a river flooding an area.

- a bank of earth or stone built to carry a road or railway over an area of low ground.

embargo /εmbαə m-/ n. (pl. embargoes) 1 an official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country: an embargo on grain sales | an arms embargo.

- an official ban on any activity.

2 HISTORICAL an order of a state forbidding foreign ships to enter, or any ships to leave, its ports: an embargo laid by our Emperor upon all vessels whatsoever.

■ v. (embargoes, embargoing, embargoed) [with obj.] 1 impose an official ban on (trade or a country or commodity): all of these countries have been embargoed by the US.

- officially ban the publication of: documents of national security importance are routinely embargoed.

2 ARCHAIC seize (a ship or goods) for state service.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish, from embargar ‘arrest’, based on Latin in- ‘in, within’ + barra ‘a bar’.

embark v. [no obj.] 1 go on board a ship or aircraft: he embarked for India in 1817.

- [with obj.] put or take on board a ship or aircraft: the passengers were ready to be embarked.

2 (embark on/upon) begin (a course of action): she embarked on a new career.

<DERIVATIVES> embarkation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French embarquer, from em- ‘in’ + barque ‘bark, ship’.

embarras de richesses /mbarα də riεs/ (also embarras de choix /wα/) n. more options or resources than one knows what to do with: he had presented us with an embarras de richesses of history and culture.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘embarrassment of riches (or choice)’.

embarrass /mbarəs εm-/ v. [with obj.] 1 cause (someone) to feel awkward, self-conscious, or ashamed: she wouldn't embarrass either of them by making a scene.

- (be embarrassed) be caused financial difficulties: he would be embarrassed by estate duty.

2 ARCHAIC hamper or impede (a person or action): the state of the rivers will embarrass the enemy.

- ARCHAIC make difficult or intricate; complicate.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): from French embarrasser, from Spanish embarazar, probably from Portuguese embaraçar (from baraço ‘halter’).

embarrassed adj. feeling or showing embarrassment: I felt quite embarrassed whenever I talked to her | an embarrassed silence.

- having or showing financial difficulties.

<DERIVATIVES> embarrassedly adv.

embarrassing adj. causing embarrassment: an embarrassing muddle.

<DERIVATIVES> embarrassingly adv.

embarrassment n. [mass noun] a feeling of self-consciousness, shame, or awkwardness: I turned red with embarrassment.

- [count noun] a person or thing causing feelings of embarrassment: he was an embarrassment who was safely left ignored | her extreme views might be an embarrassment to the movement.

- financial difficulty: his temporary financial embarrassment.

embassage /εmbəsd/ n. ARCHAIC the business or message of an envoy.

- a deputation sent to or on behalf of a head of state.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting the action of sending an envoy): from Old French ambasse ‘message or embassy’ + -AGE.

embassy n. (pl. embassies) 1 the official residence or offices of an ambassador: the Chilean embassy in Moscow.

- the staff working in such a building.

2 chiefly HISTORICAL a deputation or mission sent by one ruler or state to another.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally also as ambassy denoting the position of ambassador): from Old French ambasse, based on Latin ambactus ‘servant’. Compare with AMBASSADOR.

embattle v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC 1 make (an army) ready for battle: it was three o'clock before the king's army was embattled.

2 fortify (a building or place) against attack.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French embataillier.

embattled adj. 1 (of a place or people) involved in or prepared for war, especially because surrounded by enemy forces: the embattled northern province.

- (of a person) beset by problems or difficulties: the worst may not be over for the embattled Chancellor.

2 (of a building or part of a building) having battlements: the church has a low embattled tower.

- [postpositive] [HERALDRY] divided or edged by a line of square notches like battlements in outline.

embay v. [with obj.] 1 (of the wind) force (a boat) into a bay: ships were embayed between two headlands.

2 chiefly [GEOLOGY] enclose (something) in a recess or hollow.

3 (as adj. embayed) formed into bays: the embayed island.

embayment n. a recess in a coastline forming a bay.

embed (also imbed) v. (embeds, embedding, embedded) [with obj.] 1 fix (an object) firmly and deeply in a surrounding mass: he had an operation to remove a nail embedded in his chest.

- implant (an idea or feeling) so that it becomes ingrained within a particular context: the Victorian values embedded in Tennyson's poetry.

- [LINGUISTICS] place (a phrase or clause) within another clause or sentence.

- [COMPUTING] incorporate (a text or code) within the body of a file or document.

- (often as adj. embedded) design and build (a microprocessor) as an integral part of a system or device.

2 attach (a journalist) to a military unit during a conflict.

■ n. a journalist who is attached to a military unit during a conflict.

<DERIVATIVES> embedment n.

embellish v. [with obj.] make (something) more attractive by the addition of decorative details or features: blue silk embellished with golden embroidery.

- make (a statement or story) more interesting by adding extra details that are often untrue: followers often embellish stories about their heroes.

<DERIVATIVES> embellisher n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French embelliss-, lengthened stem of embellir, based on bel ‘handsome’, from Latin bellus.

embellishment n. a decorative detail or feature added to something to make it more attractive: architectural embellishments.

- a detail, especially one that is untrue, added to a statement or story to make it more interesting.

- [mass noun] the action of adding decorative details.

ember /εmbə/ n. (usually embers) a small piece of burning or glowing coal or wood in a dying fire: the dying embers in the grate | FIGURATIVE the flickering embers of nationalism.

<ORIGIN> Old English myrge, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German eimuria ‘pyre’, Danish emmer, Swedish mörja ‘embers’. The b was added in English for ease of pronunciation.

Ember day n. any of a number of days reserved for fasting and prayer in the Western Christian Church. Ember days traditionally comprise the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following St Lucy's Day (13 December), the first Sunday in Lent, Pentecost (Whitsun), and Holy Cross Day (14 September), though other days are observed locally.

<ORIGIN> Old English ymbren, perhaps an alteration of ymbryne ‘period’, from ymb ‘about’ + ryne ‘course’, perhaps influenced in part by ecclesiastical Latin quatuor tempora ‘four periods’ (on which the equivalent German Quatember is based).

embezzle v. [with obj.] steal or misappropriate (money placed in one's trust or belonging to the organization for which one works): she had embezzled $5,600,000 in company funds.

<DERIVATIVES> embezzler n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘steal’): from Anglo-Norman French embesiler, from besiler in the same sense (compare with Old French besillier ‘maltreat, ravage’), of unknown ultimate origin. The current sense dates from the late 16th cent.

embezzlement n. [mass noun] theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one's trust or belonging to one's employer: charges of fraud and embezzlement.

Embioptera /εmbptərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small order of insects that comprises the web-spinners.

<DERIVATIVES> embiopteran n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Embia (genus name) + Greek pteron ‘wing’.

embitter v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. embittered) make (someone) feel bitter or resentful: he died an embittered man.

<DERIVATIVES> embitterment n.

emblazon /mblez(ə)n εm-/ v. [with obj. and adverbial of place] conspicuously inscribe or display a design on: T-shirts emblazoned with the names of baseball teams.

- depict (a heraldic device) on something: the Queen's coat of arms is emblazoned on the door panel.

- ARCHAIC celebrate or extol publicly: their success was emblazoned.

<DERIVATIVES> emblazonment n.

emblem /εmbləm/ n. a heraldic device or symbolic object as a distinctive badge of a nation, organization, or family: America's national emblem, the bald eagle.

- (emblem of) a thing serving as a symbol of a particular quality or concept: our child would be a dazzling emblem of our love.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a verb): from Latin emblema ‘inlaid work, raised ornament’, from Greek emblēma ‘insertion’, from emballein ‘throw in, insert’, from em- ‘in’ + ballein ‘to throw’.

emblematic /εmbləmatk/ adj. serving as a symbol of a particular quality or concept; symbolic: this case is emblematic of a larger problem.

<DERIVATIVES> emblematical adj. emblematically adv.

emblematist /εmblεmətst/ n. a creator or user of emblems, especially in allegorical pictures.

emblematize /εmblεmətz/ (also emblematise) v. [with obj.] FORMAL serve as a symbol of (a quality or concept).

emblem book n. a book of a kind popular in medieval and Renaissance Europe, containing drawings accompanied by allegorical interpretations.

emblements /εmblm(ə)nts/ plural n. [LAW], RARE the profit from crops that one has sown, regarded as personal property.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French emblaement, from emblaier ‘sow with corn’ (based on blé ‘corn’).

embodiment n. a tangible or visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling: she seemed to be a living embodiment of vitality.

- [mass noun] the representation or expression of something in a tangible or visible form: it was in Germany alone that his hope seemed capable of embodiment.

embody /mbdi εm-/ v. (embodies, embodying, embodied) [with obj.] 1 be an expression of or give a tangible or visible form to (an idea, quality, or feeling): a national team that embodies competitive spirit and skill.

- provide (a spirit) with a physical form.

2 include or contain (something) as a constituent part: the changes in law embodied in the Children Act.

3 ARCHAIC form (people) into a body, especially for military purposes.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from EM- + BODY, on the pattern of Latin incorporare.

embolden v. [with obj.] 1 give (someone) the courage or confidence to do something: emboldened by the claret, he pressed his knee against hers.

2 cause (a piece of text) to appear in a bold typeface: centre, embolden, and underline the heading.

embolectomy /εmbəlεktəmi/ n. (pl. embolectomies) [mass noun] surgical removal of an embolus.

embolism /εmbəlz(ə)m/ n. MEDICINE obstruction of an artery, typically by a clot of blood or an air bubble.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via late Latin from Greek embolismos, from emballein ‘insert’.

embolization /εmbəlze(ə)n/ (also embolisation) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the artificial or natural formation or development of an embolus.

embolus /εmbələs/ n. (pl. emboli /-l i/) a blood clot, air bubble, piece of fatty deposit, or other object which has been carried in the bloodstream to lodge in a vessel and cause an embolism.

<DERIVATIVES> embolic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting something inserted or moving within another, specifically the plunger of a syringe): from Latin, literally ‘piston’, from Greek embolos ‘peg, stopper’. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

embonpoint /mbpwa/ n. the plump or fleshy part of a person's body, in particular a woman's bosom.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French en bon point ‘in good condition’.

embosom v. [with obj.] LITERARY take or press (someone or something) to one's bosom; embrace.

- surround (something) protectively.

emboss v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. embossed) carve or mould a design on (a surface) so that it stands out in relief: an embossed brass dish.

<DERIVATIVES> embosser n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the Old French base of obsolete French embosser, from em- ‘into’ + boce ‘protuberance’.

embouchure /mbə/ n. 1 [mass noun] [MUSIC] the way in which a player applies their mouth to the mouthpiece of a brass or wind instrument, especially as it affects the production of the sound.

- [count noun] the mouthpiece of a flute or a similar instrument.

2 ARCHAIC the mouth of a river or valley.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, from s'emboucher ‘discharge itself by the mouth’, from emboucher ‘put in or to the mouth’, from em- ‘into’ + bouche ‘mouth’.

embourgeoisement /bəwαzm/ French /αbuRwazmα/ n. the proliferation in a society of values perceived as characteristic of the middle class, especially of materialism.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: French, from embourgeoiser ‘become or make bourgeois’.

embowel /mba(ə)l εm-/ v. archaic term for DISEMBOWEL.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old French emboweler, alteration of esboueler, from es- ‘out’ + bouel ‘bowel’.

embower /mbaə εm-/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY surround or shelter (a place or a person), especially with trees or climbing plants: the house stood remote, embowered in trees.

embrace v. 1 [with obj.] hold (someone) closely in one's arms, especially as a sign of affection: Aunt Sophie embraced her warmly | [no obj.] the two embraced, holding each other tightly.

2 accept (a belief, theory, or change) willingly and enthusiastically: besides traditional methods, artists are embracing new technology.

3 include or contain (something) as a constituent part: his career embraces a number of activities—composing, playing, and acting.

■ n. 1 an act of holding someone closely in one's arms: they were locked in an embrace.

- used to refer to something which is regarded as surrounding, holding, or restricting someone: totalitarianism has meant that no interest falls outside the embrace of the state.

2 [in sing.] an act of accepting something willingly or enthusiastically: their eager embrace of foreign influences.

<DERIVATIVES> embraceable adj. embracement n. embracer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘encircle, surround, enclose’; formerly also as imbrace): from Old French embracer, based on Latin in- ‘in’ + bracchium ‘arm’.

embrasure /mbreə εm-/ n. an opening in a wall or parapet which is bevelled or splayed out on the inside, typically one around a window or door.

<DERIVATIVES> embrasured adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from obsolete embraser (earlier form of ébraser) ‘widen a door or window opening’, of unknown ultimate origin.

embrittle v. make or become brittle.

<DERIVATIVES> embrittlement n.

embrocation /εmbrəke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a liquid used for rubbing on the body to relieve pain from sprains and strains.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin embrocatio(n-), from the verb embrocare, based on Greek embrokhē ‘lotion’.

embroider v. 1 [with obj.] decorate (cloth) by sewing patterns on it with thread: she embroidered a tablecloth | (as adj. embroidered) an embroidered handkerchief | [no obj.] she was teaching the girls how to embroider.

- sew (a design) on cloth with thread: (as adj. embroidered) a chunky sweater with embroidered flowers.

2 add fictitious or exaggerated details to (an account) to make it more interesting: she embroidered her stories with colourful detail.

<DERIVATIVES> embroiderer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French enbrouder, from en- ‘in, on’ + Old French brouder, broisder ‘decorate with embroidery’, of Germanic origin.

embroidery n. (pl. embroideries) [mass noun] 1 the art or pastime of embroidering cloth.

- cloth decorated with embroidered designs.

2 embellishment or exaggeration in the description of an event: fanciful embroidery of the facts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French enbrouderie, from enbrouder ‘embroider’.

embroil v. [with obj.] involve (someone) deeply in an argument, conflict, or difficult situation: the organization is currently embroiled in running battles with pressure groups | the film's about a journalist who becomes embroiled with a nightclub owner.

- ARCHAIC bring into a state of confusion or disorder.

<DERIVATIVES> embroilment n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French embrouiller ‘to muddle’.

embryo /εmbrə/ n. (pl. embryos) 1 an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development.

- an unborn human, especially in the first eight weeks from conception, after implantation but before all the organs are developed. Compare with FETUS.

2 [BOTANY] the part of a seed which develops into a plant, consisting (in the mature embryo of a higher plant) of a plumule, a radicle, and one or two cotyledons.

3 a thing at a rudimentary stage that shows potential for development: a simple commodity economy is merely the embryo of a capitalist economy | [as modifier] an embryo central bank.

<PHRASES>

□ in embryo at a rudimentary stage with the potential for development.

<DERIVATIVES> embryonal /εmbrən(ə)l/ adj. embryoid adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek embruon ‘fetus’, from em- ‘into’ + bruein ‘swell, grow’.

embryo- combining form representing EMBRYO.

embryogenesis /εmbrə()dεnss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the formation and development of an embryo.

<DERIVATIVES> embryogenic adj. embryogeny /εmbrdəni/ n.

embryology /εmbrlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of biology and medicine concerned with the study of embryos and their development.

<DERIVATIVES> embryologic adj. embryological adj. embryologically adv. embryologist n.

embryonic /εmbrnk/ adj. 1 relating to an embryo.

2 (of a system, idea, or organization) in a rudimentary stage with potential for development: the plan is still in its embryonic stages.

<DERIVATIVES> embryonically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from late Latin embryo, embryon- ‘embryo’ + -IC.

embus /mbs εm-/ v. (embuses, embusing, embused or embuses, embussing, embussed) [MILITARY] board or put onto a bus.

emcee /εmsi/ INFORMAL n. 1 a master of ceremonies.

2 an MC at a club or party.

■ v. (emcees, emceeing, emceed) 1 [with obj.] act as a master of ceremonies at (an entertainment or large social occasion).

2 [no obj.] perform as an MC: (as n. emceeing) a three-hour-long mix of DJ'ing and emceeing.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (originally US): representing a pronunciation of MC.

em dash n. another term for EM RULE.

-eme suffix [LINGUISTICS] forming nouns denoting linguistic units that are in systemic contrast with one other: grapheme | phoneme.

<ORIGIN> abstracted from PHONEME.

emend /mεnd/ v. [with obj.] make corrections and revisions to (a text).

- alter (something that is incorrect): the year of his death might need to be emended to 652.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin emendare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + menda ‘a fault’. Compare with AMEND.

emendation /imεnde(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the process of making a revision or correction to a text.

- [count noun] a correction or revision to a text: here are some suggested emendations.

emerald n. 1 a bright green precious stone consisting of a chromium-rich variety of beryl: [as modifier] an emerald necklace.

2 [mass noun] (also emerald green) a bright green colour: the sea glistened in shades of emerald and jade.

3 (also emerald moth) a slender-bodied green moth, the colour of which tends to fade as the moth ages.

<INFO> Several genera in the family Geometridae.

4 a hawker dragonfly with a metallic green body.

<INFO> Cordulia and other genera, family Corduliidae.

5 a small hummingbird with bright metallic green plumage and darker wings and tail, found mainly in the area of the Caribbean and Central America.

<INFO> Three genera, in particular Chlorostilbon and Amazilia, family Trochilidae: numerous species.

■ adj. bright green in colour: beyond the airport lay emerald hills.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French e(s)meraud, ultimately via Latin from Greek (s)maragdos, via Prakrit from Semitic (compare with Hebrew bāreqe , from bāraq ‘flash, sparkle’).

emerald-cut adj. (of a gem) cut in a square shape with stepped facets.

Emerald Isle a name for Ireland.

emerge /məd/ v. [no obj.] 1 move out of or away from something and become visible: black ravens emerged from the fog.

- (of an insect or other invertebrate) break out from an egg, cocoon, or pupal case.

2 become apparent or prominent: United have emerged as the bookies' clear favourite | (as adj. emerging) established and emerging artists.

- (of facts) become known: reports of a deadlock emerged during preliminary discussions | [with clause] it emerged that the PM and the Chancellor are still at loggerheads.

3 recover from or survive a difficult situation: the economy has started to emerge from recession.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘become known, come to light’): from Latin emergere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out, forth’ + mergere ‘to dip’.

emergence n. [mass noun] 1 the process of coming into existence or prominence: the emergence of the environmental movement.

2 the process of becoming visible after being concealed: I misjudged the timing of my emergence.

- the escape of an insect or other invertebrate from an egg, cocoon, or pupal case.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘unforeseen occurrence’): from medieval Latin emergentia, from Latin emergere ‘bring to light’ (see EMERGE).

emergency n. (pl. emergencies) 1 a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action: personal alarms for use in an emergency | [mass noun] survival packs were carried in case of emergency.

- [as modifier] arising from or used in an emergency: an emergency exit.

- a person with a medical condition requiring immediate treatment.

- NORTH AMERICAN the department in a hospital which provides immediate treatment: a doctor in emergency cleaned the wound.

2 (the Emergency) IRISH HISTORICAL the Second World War.

3 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a reserve runner in horse racing.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin emergentia, from Latin emergere ‘arise, bring to light’ (see EMERGE).

emergency cord n. a cord or chain on a train which a passenger may pull in an emergency, causing the train to brake.

emergency room n. NORTH AMERICAN the casualty department of a hospital.

emergency services plural n. BRITISH the public organizations that respond to and deal with emergencies when they occur, especially the ambulance service, the police, and the fire brigade.

emergent adj. 1 in the process of coming into being or becoming prominent: the emergent democracies of eastern Europe.

- [PHILOSOPHY] (of a property) arising as an effect of complex causes and not analysable simply as the sum of their effects.

2 [ECOLOGY] of or denoting a plant which is taller than the surrounding vegetation, especially a tall tree in a forest.

- of or denoting a water plant with leaves and flowers that appear above the water surface.

■ n. 1 [PHILOSOPHY] an emergent property.

2 [ECOLOGY] an emergent tree or other plant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘occurring unexpectedly’): from Latin emergent- ‘arising from’, from the verb emergere (see EMERGE).

emeritus /mεrtəs i-/ adj. (of the former holder of an office, especially a university professor) having retired but allowed to retain their title as an honour: emeritus professor of microbiology | [postpositive] the National Gallery's director emeritus.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, past participle of emereri ‘earn one's discharge by service’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of, from’ + mereri ‘earn’.

emerse /məs/ adj. [BOTANY] denoting or characteristic of an aquatic plant reaching above the surface of the water. Contrasted with SUBMERSE.

<DERIVATIVES> emersed adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as emersed): from Latin emersus ‘arisen’, past participle of emergere (see EMERGE).

emersion n. [mass noun] 1 the process of emerging from water after being submerged.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the reappearance of a celestial body after its eclipse or occultation.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin emersio(n-), from Latin emergere (see EMERGE).

Emerson /εməs(ə)n/ Ralph Waldo (1803–82), American philosopher and poet. He evolved the concept of Transcendentalism, which found expression in his essay Nature (1836).

emery /εm(ə)ri/ n. [mass noun] a greyish-black form of corundum containing iron oxide or other impurities, used in powdered form as an abrasive.

- [as modifier] denoting materials coated with emery for polishing, smoothing, or grinding: emery paper.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French émeri, from Old French esmeri, from Italian smeriglio, based on Greek smuris, smiris ‘polishing powder’.

emery board n. a strip of thin wood or card coated with emery or another abrasive and used as a nail file.

Emesa /εməsə/ a city in ancient Syria, on the River Orontes on the site of present-day Homs. It was famous for its temple to the sun god Elah-Gabal.

emesis /εmss/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL the action or process of vomiting.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek, from emein ‘to vomit’.

emetic /mεtk/ adj. (of a substance) causing vomiting.

■ n. a medicine or other substance which causes vomiting.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek emetikos, from emein ‘to vomit’.

emetine /εmtin/ n. [mass noun] an alkaloid present in ipecacuanha and formerly used in the treatment of amoebic infections and as an emetic in aversion therapy.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek emetos ‘vomiting’ + -INE^4.

EMF abbr.

- electromagnetic field(s).

- (emf) electromotive force.

- European Monetary Fund.

EMG abbr. electromyogram or electromyography.

emic /imk/ adj. [ANTHROPOLOGY] studying or describing a particular language or culture in terms of its internal elements and their functioning rather than in terms of any existing external scheme. Often contrasted with ETIC.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: abstracted from such words as phonemic (see PHONEME) and SYSTEMIC.

emigrant n. a person who leaves their own country in order to settle permanently in another.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin emigrant- ‘migrating from’, from the verb emigrare (see EMIGRATE).

emigrate /εmret/ v. [no obj.] leave one's own country in order to settle permanently in another: Rose's parents emigrated to Australia.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin emigrat- ‘emigrated’, from the verb emigrare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + migrare ‘migrate’.

emigration /εmren/ n. [mass noun] the act of leaving one's own country to settle permanently in another; moving abroad: mass emigration from Ireland to the United States.

émigré /εmre/ n. a person who has left their own country in order to settle in another, typically for political reasons.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally denoting a person escaping the French Revolution): French, past participle of émigrer ‘emigrate’.

Emi Koussi /emi kusi/ a volcanic mountain in the Sahara, in northern Chad, the highest peak in the Tibesti Mountains.

Emilia-Romagna /εmiljərəmαnjə/ Italian /emilia rəmaa/ a region of northern Italy; capital, Bologna.

eminence /εmnəns/ n. 1 [mass noun] fame or acknowledged superiority within a particular sphere: her eminence in cinematography.

2 [count noun] an important or distinguished person: the Lord Chancellor canvassed the views of various legal eminences.

- (His/Your Eminence) a title or form of address given to a Roman Catholic cardinal: His Eminence, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

3 FORMAL or LITERARY a piece of rising ground: an eminence commanding the River Emme.

- [ANATOMY] a slight projection from the surface of the body.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin eminentia, from eminere ‘jut, project’.

éminence grise /εmns riz/ n. (pl. éminences grises pronunc. same) a person who exercises power or influence in a certain sphere without holding an official position.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: French, literally ‘grey eminence’. The term was originally applied to Cardinal Richelieu's grey-cloaked private secretary, Père Joseph (1577–1638).

eminent adj. 1 (of a person) famous and respected within a particular sphere: one of the world's most eminent statisticians.

2 [attr.] (of a positive quality) present to a notable degree: the book's scholarship and eminent readability.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin eminent- ‘jutting, projecting’, from the verb eminere.

eminent domain n. [mass noun] [LAW] the right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation. In the UK it is used chiefly of international law, whereas in the US it is used of federal and state governments.

eminently adv. [often as submodifier] to a notable degree; very: an eminently readable textbook.

emir /εmiə/ (also amir) n. a title of various Muslim (mainly Arab) rulers: HRH the Emir of Kuwait.

- HISTORICAL a Muslim (usually Arab) military commander or local chief.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a male descendant of Muhammad): from French émir, from Arabic 'amīr (see AMIR).

emirate /εmrət/ n. the rank, lands, or reign of an emir.

emissary /εms(ə)ri/ n. (pl. emissaries) a person sent as a diplomatic representative on a special mission.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin emissarius ‘scout, spy’, from emittere ‘send out’ (see EMIT).

emission /m(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the production and discharge of something, especially gas or radiation: the effects of lead emission on health | [count noun] cuts in carbon dioxide emissions.

- [count noun] an ejaculation of semen.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘emanation’): from Latin emissio(n-), from emiss- ‘sent out’, from the verb emittere (see EMIT).

emission nebula n. [ASTRONOMY] a nebula that shines with its own light.

emission spectrum n. a spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a source. Compare with ABSORPTION SPECTRUM.

emissions trading n. [mass noun] a system by which countries and organizations receive permits to produce a specified amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which they may trade with others.

emissive adj. TECHNICAL having the power to radiate something, especially light, heat, or radiation.

<DERIVATIVES> emissivity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘that is emitted’): from Latin emiss- ‘emitted, sent out’ (from the verb emittere) + -IVE.

emit v. (emits, emitting, emitted) [with obj.] produce and discharge (something, especially gas or radiation): even the best cars emit carbon dioxide.

- make (a sound): she emitted a sound like laughter.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin emittere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + mittere ‘send’.

emitter n. a thing which emits something.

- [ELECTRONICS] the region in a bipolar transistor that produces carriers of current.

Emmanuel /manjəl/ (also Immanuel) the name given to Christ as the deliverer of Judah prophesied by Isaiah (Isa. 7:14, 8:8; Matt. 1:23).

emmenagogue /minə ε-/ n. MEDICINE a substance that stimulates or increases menstrual flow.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek emmēna ‘menses’ + agōgos ‘eliciting’.

Emmental /εməntαl/ (also Emmenthal) n. [mass noun] a kind of hard Swiss cheese with many holes in it, similar to Gruyère.

<ORIGIN> from German Emmentaler, from Emmental, the name of a valley in Switzerland where the cheese was originally made.

emmer /εmə/ n. [mass noun] a long-established species of wheat with bearded ears and spikelets that each contain two grains, now grown mainly for fodder and breakfast cereals. Compare with EINKORN, spelt^2.

<INFO> Triticum dicoccum, family Gramineae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German, from Old High German amer ‘spelt’.

emmet /εmt/ n. DIALECT an ant.

<ORIGIN> Old English mete (see ANT).

Emmy n. (pl. Emmys) (in the US) a statuette awarded annually to an outstanding television programme or performer.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: said to be from Immy, short for image orthicon tube (a kind of television camera tube).

emo /imə/ (also emocore /imək/) n. [mass noun] a style of rock music resembling punk but having more complex arrangements and lyrics that deal with more emotional subjects.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: short for emotional hardcore.

emollient /mlənt/ adj. 1 having the quality of softening or soothing the skin.

2 attempting to avoid confrontation or anger; calming or conciliatory: the president's emollient approach to differences.

■ n. a preparation that softens the skin.

<DERIVATIVES> emollience n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin emollient- ‘making soft’, from the verb emollire, from e- (variant of ex- ‘out’) + mollis ‘soft’.

emolument /mljm(ə)nt ε-/ n. (usually emoluments) FORMAL a salary, fee, or profit from employment or office: the directors' emoluments.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin emolumentum, originally probably ‘payment to a miller for grinding corn’, from emolere ‘grind up’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out, thoroughly’ + molere ‘grind’.

Emona /mənə/ Roman name for LJUBLJANA.

emote /mət/ v. [no obj.] (especially of an actor) portray emotion in a theatrical manner.

<DERIVATIVES> emoter n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): back-formation from EMOTION.

emoticon /mətkn -mt-/ n. a representation of a facial expression such as a smile or frown, formed by various combinations of keyboard characters and used in electronic communications to convey the writer's feelings or intended tone.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of EMOTION and ICON.

emotion n. a strong feeling deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others: she was attempting to control her emotions | [mass noun] his voice was shaky with emotion.

- [mass noun] instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge: responses have to be based on historical insight, not simply on emotion.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a public disturbance): from French émotion, from émouvoir ‘excite’, based on Latin emovere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + movere ‘move’. The current sense dates from the early 19th cent.

emotional adj. relating to a person's emotions: gaining emotional support from relatives.

- arousing or characterized by intense feeling: an emotional speech.

- (of a person) having feelings that are easily excited and openly displayed: he was a strongly emotional young man.

<DERIVATIVES> emotionalism n. emotionalist n. & adj. emotionality n. emotionalize (also emotionalise) v. emotionally adv.

emotionless adj. not showing any emotion; unemotional: her voice was flat and emotionless.

emotive adj. arousing or able to arouse intense feeling: animal experimentation is an emotive subject | the issue has proved highly emotive.

- expressing a person's feelings rather than being neutrally descriptive: the comparisons are emotive rather than analytic.

<DERIVATIVES> emotively adv. emotiveness n. emotivity /imətvti/ n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin emot- ‘moved’, from the verb emovere (see EMOTION).

<USAGE> The words emotive and emotional share similarities but are not simply interchangeable. Emotive is used to mean ‘arousing intense feeling’, while emotional tends to mean ‘characterized by intense feeling’. Thus an emotive issue is one which is likely to arouse people's passions, while an emotional response is one which is itself full of passion. In sentences such as we took our emotive farewells the word emotive has been used in a context where emotional would be more appropriate.

emotivism n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] an ethical theory which regards ethical and value judgements as expressions of feeling or attitude and prescriptions of action, rather than assertions or reports of anything.

<DERIVATIVES> emotivist n.

empanada /εmpənαdə/ n. a Spanish or Latin American pastry turnover filled with a variety of savoury ingredients and baked or fried.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, feminine past participle (used as a noun) of empanar ‘roll in pastry’, based on Latin panis ‘bread’.

empanel v. variant spelling of IMPANEL.

<DERIVATIVES> empanelment n.

empath /εmpaθ/ n. (chiefly in science fiction) a person with the paranormal ability to perceive the mental or emotional state of another individual.

empathize (also empathise) v. [no obj.] understand and share the feelings of another: counsellors need to be able to empathize with people.

empathy /εmpəθi/ n. [mass noun] the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

<DERIVATIVES> empathetic adj. empathetically adv. empathic /εmpaθk/ adj. empathically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek empatheia (from em- ‘in’ + pathos ‘feeling’) translating German Einfühlung.

<USAGE> Confusion often arises between the words empathy and sympathy. Empathy means ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another’ (as in both authors have the skill to make you feel empathy with their heroines), whereas sympathy means ‘feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune’ (as in they had great sympathy for the flood victims).

Empedocles /εmpεdəkliz/ (c.493–c.433 BC), Greek philosopher, born in Sicily. He taught that the universe is composed of fire, air, water, and earth, which mingle and separate under the influence of the opposing principles of Love and Strife. According to legend he leapt into the crater of Mount Etna in order that he might be thought a god.

empennage /εmpεnd/ n. [AERONAUTICS] an arrangement of stabilizing surfaces at the tail of an aircraft.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, from empenner ‘to feather an arrow’, from em- ‘in’ + penne ‘a feather’ (from Latin penna).

emperor n. 1 a sovereign ruler of an empire.

2 an orange and brown North American butterfly with a swift dodging flight, breeding chiefly on hackberries.

<INFO> Genus Asterocampa, subfamily Apaturinae, family Nymphalidae: several species, in particular the tawny emperor (A. clyton). See also PURPLE EMPEROR.

<DERIVATIVES> emperorship n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (especially representing the title given to the head of the Roman Empire): from Old French emperere, from Latin imperator ‘military commander’, from imperare ‘to command’, from in- ‘towards’ + parare ‘prepare, contrive’.

emperor moth n. a large moth of the silk moth family with eyespots on all four wings.

<INFO> Saturnia and other genera, family Saturniidae: several species, in particular the common European S. pavonia.

emperor penguin n. the largest penguin, which has a yellow patch on each side of the head and rears its young during the Antarctic winter.

<INFO> Aptenodytes forsteri, family Spheniscidae.

emphasis /εmfəss/ n. (pl. emphases /-siz/) [mass noun] 1 special importance, value, or prominence given to something: they placed great emphasis on the individual's freedom | [count noun] different emphases and viewpoints.

2 stress given to a word or words when speaking to indicate particular importance.

- vigour or intensity of expression: he spoke with emphasis and with complete conviction.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek, originally ‘appearance, show’, later denoting a figure of speech in which more is implied than is said (the original sense in English), from emphainein ‘exhibit’, from em- ‘in, within’ + phainein ‘to show’.

emphasize (also emphasise) v. [with obj.] 1 give special importance or value to (something) in speaking or writing: they emphasize the need for daily, one-to-one contact between parent and child | [with clause] I would emphasize that I am not an economist.

2 lay stress on (a word or phrase) when speaking.

3 make (something) more clearly defined: a hip-length jacket which emphasized her shape.

emphatic adj. 1 expressing something forcibly and clearly: the children were emphatic that they would like to repeat the experience | an emphatic movement of his hand.

- (of an action or its result) definite and clear: an emphatic World Cup win.

2 (of a word or syllable) bearing the stress.

- [LINGUISTICS] (of certain Arabic consonants) pronounced with both dental articulation and constriction of the pharynx.

■ n. [LINGUISTICS] an emphatic consonant.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: via late Latin from Greek emphatikos, from emphasis (see EMPHASIS).

emphatically adv. in a forceful way.

- [as submodifier] without doubt; clearly: Jane, though born in California, feels emphatically English | [sentence adv.] Greg is emphatically not a slacker.

emphysema /εmfsimə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE 1 (also pulmonary emphysema) a condition in which the air sacs of the lungs are damaged and enlarged, causing breathlessness.

2 a condition in which air is abnormally present within the body tissues.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 2): via late Latin from Greek emphusēma, from emphusan ‘puff up’.

empire n. 1 an extensive group of states or countries ruled over by a single monarch, an oligarchy, or a sovereign state: [in names] the Roman Empire.

- [mass noun] supreme political power over several countries when exercised by a single authority: he encouraged the Greeks in their dream of empire in Asia Minor.

2 an extensive sphere of activity controlled by one person or group: the kitchen had once been the school dinner ladies' empire.

- a large commercial organization owned or controlled by one person or group: her business empire grew.

■ adj. (Empire) [attr.] 1 denoting a style of furniture, decoration, or dress fashionable chiefly during the First Empire in France. The decorative style was neoclassical but marked by an interest in Egyptian and other ancient motifs.

2 BRITISH DATED denoting produce from the Commonwealth.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin imperium, related to imperare ‘to command’ (see EMPEROR).

empire-building n. [mass noun] the practice of obtaining more power, responsibility, or staff within an organization for the purposes of self-aggrandizement.

<DERIVATIVES> empire builder n.

Empire Day n. former name of COMMONWEALTH DAY.

empire line n. [usually as modifier] a style of women's clothing characterized by a waistline cut just under the bust and typically a low neckline, first popular during the First Empire: empire-line dresses.

Empire State informal name for the state of NEW YORK.

Empire State Building a skyscraper on Fifth Avenue, New York City, which was for several years the tallest building in the world. When first erected in 1931 it measured 381 m (1,250 ft); the addition of a television mast in 1951 brought its height to 449 m (1,472 ft).

Empire State of the South informal name for the US state of GEORGIA.

empiric /εmprk m-/ adj. another term for EMPIRICAL.

■ n. ARCHAIC a person who, in medicine or other sciences, relies solely on observation and experiment.

- a quack doctor.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek empeirikos, from empeiria ‘experience’, from empeiros ‘skilled’ (based on peira ‘trial, experiment’).

empirical adj. based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic: they provided considerable empirical evidence to support their argument.

<DERIVATIVES> empirically adv.

empirical formula n. [CHEMISTRY] a formula giving the proportions of the elements present in a compound but not the actual numbers or arrangement of atoms.

empiricism /εmprsz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the theory that all knowledge is based on experience derived from the senses. Stimulated by the rise of experimental science, it developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, expounded in particular by John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume. Compare with PHENOMENALISM.

<DERIVATIVES> empiricist n. & adj.

emplacement n. 1 a structure on or in which something is firmly placed.

- a platform or defended position where a gun is placed for firing.

2 [mass noun] chiefly [GEOLOGY] the process or state of setting something in place or being set in place.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from em- ‘in’ + place ‘a place’.

emplane (also enplane) v. go or put on board an aircraft.

employ v. [with obj.] 1 give work to (someone) and pay them for it: the firm employs 150 people | [with obj. and infinitive] temporary staff can be employed to undertake the work | (as adj. employed) 83 percent of employed people were working in full-time jobs.

- keep occupied: the newcomers are employed in developing the technology into a product.

2 make use of: the methods they have employed to collect the data.

■ n. [in sing.] the state of being employed for wages or a salary: I started work in the employ of a grocer.

- ARCHAIC employment: her place of employ.

<DERIVATIVES> employability n. employable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as imploy): from Old French employer, based on Latin implicari ‘be involved in or attached to’, passive form of implicare (see IMPLY). In the 16th and 17th century the word also had the senses ‘enfold, entangle’ and ‘imply’, derived directly from Latin; compare with IMPLICATE.

employee n. a person employed for wages or salary, especially at non-executive level.

employer n. a person or organization that employs people.

employment n. [mass noun] 1 the state of having paid work: a fall in the numbers in full-time employment.

- the action of giving work to someone.

- [count noun] a person's trade or profession.

2 the utilization of something: economies can be made by the full employment of existing facilities.

employment agency n. a business that finds employers or employees for those seeking them.

employment office n. (in the UK) a government employment agency.

emporium /εmprəm m-/ n. (pl. emporia /-rə/ or emporiums) a large retail store selling a wide variety of goods.

- ARCHAIC a centre of commerce; a market.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin, from Greek emporion, from emporos ‘merchant’, based on a stem meaning ‘to journey’.

empower v. [with obj. and infinitive] give (someone) the authority or power to do something: members are empowered to audit the accounts of limited companies.

- [with obj.] make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights: movements to empower the poor.

<DERIVATIVES> empowerment n.

empress /εmprs/ n. a female emperor.

- the wife or widow of an emperor.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French emperesse, feminine of emperere (see EMPEROR).

empressement /prεsm/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC animated eagerness or friendliness; effusion.

<ORIGIN> from French, from empresser ‘rush eagerly’.

Empson /εmps(ə)n/ Sir William (1906–84), English poet and literary critic. His influential literary criticism includes Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930).

emptiness n. [mass noun] 1 the state of containing nothing: the vast emptiness of space.

2 the quality of lacking meaning or sincerity; meaninglessness: he realizes the emptiness of his statement.

3 the quality of having no value or purpose; futility: feelings of emptiness and loneliness.

empty adj. (emptier, emptiest) 1 containing nothing; not filled or occupied: she put down her empty cup | the room was empty of furniture.

- [MATHEMATICS] (of a set) containing no members or elements.

2 (of words or a gesture) lacking meaning or sincerity.

3 having no value or purpose: her life felt empty and meaningless.

■ v. (empties, emptying, emptied) [with obj.] remove all the contents of (a container): we empty the till at closing time | pockets were emptied of loose change.

- remove (the contents) from a container: he emptied out the contents of his briefcase.

- [no obj.] (of a place) be vacated by people in it: the pub suddenly seemed to empty.

- [no obj.] (empty into) (of a river) flow into (the sea or a lake).

■ n. (pl. empties) INFORMAL a bottle or glass left empty of its contents.

<PHRASES>

□ be running on empty have exhausted all of one's resources.

□ empty vessels make most noise (or sound) PROVERB those with least wisdom or knowledge are always the most talkative.

□ on an empty stomach see STOMACH.

<DERIVATIVES> emptily adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English mtig, metig ‘at leisure, empty’, from metta ‘leisure’, perhaps from ā ‘no, not’ + mōt ‘meeting’ (see MOOT).

empty calories plural n. calories derived from food containing no nutrients.

empty-handed adj. [predic.] having failed to obtain or achieve what one wanted: the burglars fled empty-handed.

empty-headed adj. unintelligent and foolish: an empty-headed bimbo.

empty nester n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a parent whose children have grown up and left home.

Empty Quarter another name for RUB' AL-KHALI.

empurple v. make or become purple: [no obj.] his face empurpled with fury.

empyema /εmpimə/ n. MEDICINE the collection of pus in a cavity in the body, especially in the pleural cavity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek empuēma, from empuein ‘suppurate’, from em- ‘in’ + puon ‘pus’.

empyrean /εmpriən -p- εmprən/ adj. of or relating to heaven.

■ n. (the empyrean) the highest part of heaven, thought by the ancients to be the realm of pure fire.

- LITERARY the visible heavens; the sky.

<DERIVATIVES> empyreal /εmpriəl -p- εmprəl/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): via medieval Latin from Greek empurios, from en- ‘in’ + pur ‘fire’. The noun dates from the mid 17th cent.

em rule /εm rul/ n. BRITISH a long dash used in punctuation.

EMS abbr. European Monetary System.

EMU abbr. Economic and Monetary Union.

emu^1 n. a large flightless fast-running Australian bird resembling the ostrich, with shaggy grey or brown plumage, bare blue skin on the head and neck, and three-toed feet.

<INFO> Dromaius novaehollandiae, the only member of the family Dromaiidae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Portuguese ema. The word originally denoted the cassowary, later the greater rhea; current usage dates from the early 19th cent.

emu^2 abbr.

- British electric multiple unit.

- electromagnetic unit(s).

emu bush n. an Australian shrub that typically has reddish flowers and small oval fruits which are sometimes eaten by emus.

<INFO> Genus Eremophila, family Myoporaceae: several species.

emulate /εmjlet/ v. [with obj.] match or surpass (a person or achievement), typically by imitation: most rulers wished to emulate Alexander the Great.

- imitate: hers is not a hairstyle I wish to emulate.

- [COMPUTING] reproduce the function or action of (a different computer or software system).

<DERIVATIVES> emulation n. emulative adj. emulator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin aemulat- ‘rivalled, equalled’, from the verb aemulari, from aemulus ‘rival’.

emulous /εmjləs/ adj. FORMAL seeking to emulate someone or something.

- motivated by a spirit of rivalry: emulous young writers.

<DERIVATIVES> emulously adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘imitating’): from Latin aemulus ‘rival’. Current senses date from the mid 16th cent.

emulsifier n. 1 a substance that stabilizes an emulsion, in particular an additive used to stabilize processed foods.

2 an apparatus used for making an emulsion by stirring or shaking a substance.

emulsify /mlsf/ v. (emulsifies, emulsifying, emulsified) make into or become an emulsion: [with obj.] mustard helps to emulsify a vinaigrette.

<DERIVATIVES> emulsifiable adj. emulsification n.

emulsion /ml(ə)n/ n. 1 a fine dispersion of minute droplets of one liquid in another in which it is not soluble or miscible.

- a fine dispersion of one liquid or puréed food substance in another: ravioli with pea and ginger emulsion.

2 (also emulsion paint) [mass noun] BRITISH a type of paint used for walls, consisting of pigment bound in a synthetic resin which forms an emulsion with water.

- a light-sensitive coating for photographic films and plates, containing crystals of a silver compound dispersed in a medium such as gelatin.

■ v. [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL paint with emulsion.

<DERIVATIVES> emulsive adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a milky liquid made by crushing almonds in water): from modern Latin emulsio(n-), from the verb emulgere ‘milk out’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + mulgere ‘to milk’.

emu-wren n. a small Australian songbird of the fairy wren family, with a very long thin cocked tail consisting of only six feathers that have a coarse open structure resembling that of emu feathers.

<INFO> Genus Stipiturus, family Maluridae: three species.

en n. [PRINTING] a unit of measurement equal to half an em and approximately the average width of typeset characters, used especially for estimating the total amount of space a text will require.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: the letter N represented as a word, since it is approximately this width.

en-1 (also em-) prefix 1 (added to nouns) forming verbs meaning ‘put into or on’: engulf | embed.

2 (added to nouns and adjectives) forming verbs (often with the suffix -en) meaning ‘bring into the condition of’: embolden | encrust.

3 (added to verbs) in; into; on: ensnare.

- as an intensifier: entangle.

<ORIGIN> from French, from Latin in-. See also in-2, a commonly found by-form.

en-2 (also em-) prefix within; inside: empathy | energy | enthusiasm.

<ORIGIN> from Greek.

-en^1 suffix forming verbs: 1 (from adjectives) denoting the development, creation, or intensification of a state: widen | deepen.

2 from nouns (such as strengthen from strength).

<ORIGIN> Old English -nian, of Germanic origin.

-en^2 suffix (also -n) forming adjectives from nouns: 1 made or consisting of: earthen | woollen.

2 resembling: golden.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin.

-en^3 (also -n) suffix forming past participles of strong verbs: 1 as a regular inflection: spoken.

2 as an adjective: mistaken | torn.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin.

-en^4 suffix forming the plural of a few nouns such as children, oxen.

<ORIGIN> Middle English reduction of the earlier suffix -an.

-en^5 suffix forming diminutives of nouns (such as chicken, maiden).

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin.

-en^6 suffix 1 forming feminine nouns: vixen.

2 forming abstract nouns: burden.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin.

enable v. 1 [with obj. and infinitive] give (someone) the authority or means to do something: the evidence would enable us to arrive at firm conclusions.

- make it possible for: the route was built to enable trucks to get around a waterfall.

2 [with obj.] chiefly [COMPUTING] make (a device or system) operational; activate.

- (as adj., in combination -enabled) adapted for use with the specified application or system: WAP-enabled mobile phones.

<DERIVATIVES> enablement n. enabler n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as inable): from EN-1, in-2, + ABLE.

enabling act n. a statute empowering a person or body to take certain action, especially to make regulations, rules, or orders.

enact v. [with obj.] 1 make (a bill or other proposal) law: legislation was enacted to attract international companies.

2 put into practice (an idea or suggestion).

3 act out (a role or play) on stage.

- (be enacted) take place: walkers stopped to watch, aware that some tragedy was being enacted.

<DERIVATIVES> enactable adj. enaction n. enactive adj. enactor n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as inact): from EN-1, in-2, + ACT, suggested by medieval Latin inactare, inactitare.

enactment n. 1 [mass noun] the process of passing legislation.

- [count noun] a law that is passed.

2 an instance of acting something out: the story becomes an enactment of his fantasies.

- [mass noun] [PSYCHOANALYSIS] the controlled expression and acceptance of repressed emotions or impulses in behaviour during therapy.

enamel n. [mass noun] 1 an opaque or semi-transparent glossy substance that is a type of glass, applied by vitrification to metallic or other hard surfaces for ornament or as a protective coating.

- [count noun] a work of art executed in enamel.

2 the hard glossy substance that covers the crown of a tooth.

3 (also enamel paint) a paint that dries to give a smooth, hard coat.

4 DATED nail varnish.

■ v. (enamels, enamelling, enamelled; US enamels, enameling, enameled) [with obj.] (often as adj. enamelled) coat or decorate (a metallic or hard object) with enamel: an enamelled roasting tin.

<DERIVATIVES> enameller n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as a verb; formerly also as inamel): from Anglo-Norman French enamailler, from en- ‘in, on’ + amail ‘enamel’, ultimately of Germanic origin.

enamelware n. [mass noun] enamelled kitchenware.

enamelwork n. [mass noun] the craft of inlaying or decorating metal objects with enamel.

enamour /namə ε-/ (US enamor) v. (be enamoured of/with/by) be filled with love for: it is not difficult to see why Edward is enamoured of her.

- have a liking or admiration for: she was truly enamoured of New York.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (formerly also as inamour): from Old French enamourer, from en- ‘in’ + amour ‘love’.

enanthema /εnənθimə/ n. MEDICINE an ulcer or eruption occurring on a mucus-secreting surface such as the inside of the mouth.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from EN-2 ‘within’ + a shortened form of EXANTHEMA.

enantiodromia /nantə()drəmə ε-/ n. [mass noun] RARE the tendency of things to change into their opposites, especially as a supposed governing principle of natural cycles and of psychological development.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek, literally ‘running in opposite ways’.

enantiomer /nantə()mə ε-/ n. [CHEMISTRY] each of a pair of molecules that are mirror images of each other.

<DERIVATIVES> enantiomeric adj. enantiomerically adv.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek enantios ‘opposite’ + -MER.

enantiomorph /nantə()mf ε-/ n. each of two crystalline or other geometrical forms which are mirror images of each other.

<DERIVATIVES> enantiomorphic adj. enantiomorphism n. enantiomorphous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek enantios ‘opposite’ + -MORPH.

enargite /εnαt/ n. [mass noun] a dark grey mineral consisting of a sulphide of copper and arsenic.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek enargēs ‘clear’ (referring to evident cleavage) + -ITE^1.

enarthrosis /εnαθrəss/ n. (pl. enarthroses /-siz/) [ANATOMY] a ball-and-socket joint.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek enarthrōsis, from enarthros ‘jointed’, from en- ‘inside’ + arthron ‘joint’.

enation /ne(ə)n/ n. [BOTANY] an outgrowth from the surface of a leaf or other part of a plant.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin enatio(n-), from enasci ‘issue forth’.

en bloc / blk/ adv. all together or all at the same time: various private museums offered to purchase the trove en bloc.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French.

en brosse / brs/ adj. [postpositive] (of a person's hair) cut in a short and bristly style.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘in the form of a brush’.

enc. abbr.

- enclosed.

- enclosure.

Encaenia /εnsinə/ n. an annual celebration at Oxford University in memory of founders and benefactors.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via Latin from Greek enkainia ‘dedication festival’ (based on kainos ‘new’).

encage v. [with obj.] LITERARY confine in or as in a cage.

encamp v. [no obj.] settle in or establish a camp: we encamped for the night by a river.

encampment n. a place with temporary accommodation consisting of huts or tents, typically for troops or nomads.

- a prehistoric enclosed or fortified site, especially an Iron Age hill fort.

- [mass noun] the action of setting up a camp.

encapsidate /nkapsdet εn-/ v. [with obj.] [BIOCHEMISTRY] enclose (a gene or virus particle) in a protein shell.

<DERIVATIVES> encapsidation n.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from EN-1 + CAPSID^2 + -ATE^3.

encapsulate /nkapsjlet εn-/ v. [with obj.] 1 enclose (something) in or as if in a capsule: the company would encapsulate the asbestos waste in concrete pellets.

- [COMPUTING] enclose (a message or signal) in a set of codes which allow transfer across networks.

- [COMPUTING] provide an interface for (a piece of software or hardware) to allow or simplify access for the user.

2 express the essential features of (something) succinctly: the conclusion is encapsulated in one sentence.

<DERIVATIVES> encapsulation n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (also as incapsulate): from EN-1, in-2 ‘into’ + Latin capsula (see CAPSULE).

encase (also incase) v. [with obj.] enclose or cover in a case or close-fitting surround: each was encased in a plastic shrink-wrap.

<DERIVATIVES> encasement n.

encash v. [with obj.] BRITISH convert (a cheque, money order, bond, etc.) into money.

<DERIVATIVES> encashable adj. encashment n.

encaustic /εnkstk/ adj. (in painting and ceramics) decorated by burning in colours as an inlay, especially using coloured clays or pigments mixed with hot wax.

■ n. [mass noun] the art or process of encaustic painting.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek enkaustikos, from enkaiein ‘burn in’, from en- ‘in’ + kaiein ‘to burn’.

-ence suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting a quality or an instance of it: impertinence.

2 denoting an action or its result: reference | reminiscence.

<ORIGIN> from French -ence, from Latin -entia, -antia (from present participial stems -ent-, -ant-). Since the 16th century many inconsistencies have occurred in the use of -ence and -ance.

enceinte^1 /sat/ n. ARCHAIC an enclosure or the enclosing wall of a fortified place.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Latin incincta, feminine past participle of incingere ‘gird in’, from in- ‘in’ + cingere ‘to gird’.

enceinte^2 /sat/ adj. ARCHAIC pregnant.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French.

Enceladus /εnsεlədəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a satellite of Saturn, the eighth closest to the planet and probably composed mainly of ice, discovered by W. Herschel in 1789 (diameter 500 km).

<ORIGIN> named after a Greek mythological giant killed by Athene.

encephalic /εnsfalk εnkεf(ə)lk/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to, affecting, or situated in the brain.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek enkephalos ‘brain’ (from en- ‘in’ + kephalē ‘head’) + -IC.

encephalitis /εnsεfəlts -kεfə-/ n. [mass noun] inflammation of the brain, caused by infection or an allergic reaction.

<DERIVATIVES> encephalitic adj.

encephalitis lethargica /lθαdkə/ n. [mass noun] a form of encephalitis caused by a virus and characterized by headache and drowsiness leading to coma. Also called SLEEPY SICKNESS.

encephalization (also encephalisation) n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] an evolutionary increase in the complexity or relative size of the brain, involving a shift of function from non-cortical parts of the brain to the cortex.

encephalo- /εnsεf(ə)lə -kεf-/ combining form relating to the brain: encephalopathy.

<ORIGIN> from Greek enkephalos.

encephalogram /εnsεf(ə)lə()ram -kεf-/ n. MEDICINE an image, trace, or other record of the structure or electrical activity of the brain.

encephalography /εnsεfəlrəfi -kεfə-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE any of various techniques for recording the structure or electrical activity of the brain.

<DERIVATIVES> encephalograph n. encephalographic adj.

encephalomyelitis /εnsεf(ə)ləməlts -kεf-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, typically due to acute viral infection.

encephalon /εnsεfəln -kεf-/ n. [ANATOMY] the brain.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Greek enkephalon ‘what is inside the head’, from en- ‘inside’ + kephalē ‘head’.

encephalopathy /εnsεfəlpəθi -kεf-/ n. (pl. encephalopathies) MEDICINE a disease in which the functioning of the brain is affected by some agent or condition (such as viral infection or toxins in the blood).

enchain v. [with obj.] LITERARY bind with or as with chains.

<DERIVATIVES> enchainment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French enchainer, based on Latin catena ‘chain’.

enchaînement /εnm/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) [BALLET] a linked sequence of steps or movements constituting a phrase.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, ‘chaining together’.

enchant v. [with obj.] fill (someone) with great delight; charm: Isabel was enchanted with the idea.

- (often as adj. enchanted) put (someone or something) under a spell: an enchanted garden.

<DERIVATIVES> enchantedly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘put under a spell’ and ‘delude’; formerly also as inchant): from French enchanter, from Latin incantare, from in- ‘in’ + cantare ‘sing’.

enchanter n. a person who uses magic or sorcery, especially to put someone or something under a spell.

enchanter's nightshade n. a woodland plant with small white flowers and fruit with hooked bristles, native to Eurasia and the eastern US.

<INFO> Circaea lutetiana, family Onagraceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: believed by early botanists to be the herb used by Circe to charm Odysseus' companions.

enchanting adj. delightfully charming or attractive: enchanting views | Dinah looked enchanting.

<DERIVATIVES> enchantingly adv.

enchantment n. [mass noun] 1 a feeling of great pleasure; delight: the enchantment of the mountains.

2 the state of being under a spell; magic: a world of mystery and enchantment.

enchantress n. a woman who uses magic to put someone or something under a spell.

- a woman who is captivatingly attractive.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French enchanteresse, from enchanter (see ENCHANT).

enchase /ntes εn-/ v. [with obj.] decorate (a piece of jewellery or work of art) by inlaying, engraving, or carving.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French enchasser ‘set gems, encase’, from en- ‘in’ + chasse ‘a case’.

enchilada /εntlαdə/ n. a tortilla served with chilli sauce and a filling of meat or cheese.

<PHRASES>

□ the big enchilada NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person or thing of great importance.

□ the whole enchilada NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL the whole situation; everything.

<ORIGIN> Latin American Spanish, feminine past participle of enchilar ‘season with chilli’.

enchiridion /εnkrdən/ n. (pl. enchiridions or enchiridia /-də/) FORMAL a book containing essential information on a subject.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek enkheiridion, from en- ‘within’ + kheir ‘hand’ + the diminutive suffix -idion.

encipher v. [with obj.] convert (a message or piece of text) into a coded form.

<DERIVATIVES> encipherment n.

encircle v. [with obj.] form a circle around; surround: the town is encircled by fortified walls.

<DERIVATIVES> encirclement n.

encl. (also enc.) abbr.

- enclosed.

- enclosure.

en clair / klε/ adj. & adv. (especially of a telegram or official message) in ordinary language, rather than in code or cipher.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘in clear’.

enclasp v. [with obj.] FORMAL hold tightly in one's arms.

enclave /εnklev/ n. a portion of territory surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethnically distinct.

- a place or group that is different in character from those surrounding it: the engineering department is traditionally a male enclave.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Old French enclaver ‘enclose, dovetail’, based on Latin clavis ‘key’.

enclitic /nkltk εn-/ n. [LINGUISTICS] a word pronounced with so little emphasis that it is shortened and forms part of the preceding word, for example n't in can't. Compare with PROCLITIC.

<DERIVATIVES> enclitically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via late Latin from Greek enklitikos, from enklinein ‘lean on’, from en- ‘in, on’ + klinein ‘to lean’.

enclose (also inclose) v. [with obj.] 1 surround or close off on all sides: the entire estate was enclosed with walls | (as adj. enclosed) a dark enclosed space.

- HISTORICAL fence in (common land) so as to make it private property.

- (usually as adj. enclosed) seclude (a religious order or other community) from the outside world.

2 place (something) in an envelope together with a letter.

3 (enclose something in/within) place an object inside (a container).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘shut in, imprison’): from Old French enclos, past participle of enclore, based on Latin includere ‘shut in’.

enclosure /nkləə εn-/ (also inclosure) n. 1 an area that is surrounded by a barrier: a deer enclosure.

- BRITISH a section of a racecourse for a specified activity or group of people: the members' enclosure.

- a barrier that surrounds an area.

2 a document or object placed in an envelope together with a letter.

3 [mass noun] HISTORICAL the process or policy of fencing in wasteland or common land so as to make it private property, as pursued in much of Britain in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

4 the state of being enclosed, especially in a religious community.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from legal Anglo-Norman French and Old French, from enclos ‘closed in’ (see ENCLOSE).

encode v. [with obj.] convert into a coded form.

- [COMPUTING] convert (information or an instruction) into a digital form.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] (of a gene) be responsible for producing (a substance or behaviour).

<DERIVATIVES> encoder n.

encomiast /εnkəmast/ n. FORMAL a person who publicly praises or flatters someone else.

<DERIVATIVES> encomiastic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek enkōmiastēs, from enkōmiazein ‘to praise’, from enkōmion (see ENCOMIUM).

encomienda /εnkmεndə/ n. HISTORICAL a grant by the Spanish Crown to a colonist in America conferring the right to demand tribute and forced labour from the Indian inhabitants of an area.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, ‘commission, charge’.

encomium /εnkəməm/ n. (pl. encomiums or encomia) FORMAL a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: Latin, from Greek enkōmion ‘eulogy’, from en- ‘within’ + komos ‘revel’.

encompass /nkmpəs εn-/ v. 1 [with obj.] surround and have or hold within: this area of London encompasses Piccadilly to the north and St James's Park to the south.

- include comprehensively: no studies encompass all sectors of medical care.

2 ARCHAIC cause to take place: an act designed to encompass the death of the king.

<DERIVATIVES> encompassment n.

encopresis /εnkəpriss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE involuntary defecation, especially associated with emotional disturbance or psychiatric disorder.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek en- ‘in’ + kopros ‘dung’.

encore /k/ n. a repeated or additional performance of an item at the end of a concert, as called for by an audience.

■ exclam. again! (as called by an audience at the end of a concert).

■ v. [with obj.] call for a repeated or additional performance of (an item) at the end of a concert.

- [no obj.] (of a performer) give an encore.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: French, literally ‘still, again’.

encounter v. [with obj.] 1 unexpectedly be faced with or experience (something hostile or difficult): we have encountered one small problem.

2 meet (someone) unexpectedly.

■ n. an unexpected or casual meeting with someone or something: she felt totally unnerved by the encounter.

- a confrontation or unpleasant struggle: his close encounter with death.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘meet as an adversary’ and ‘a meeting of adversaries’; formerly also as incounter): from Old French encontrer (verb), encontre (noun), based on Latin in- ‘in’ + contra ‘against’.

encounter group n. chiefly US a group of people who meet to gain psychological benefit through close contact with one another.

encourage v. [with obj.] give support, confidence, or hope to (someone): we were encouraged by the success of this venture.

- [with obj. and infinitive] persuade (someone) to do or continue to do something by giving support and advice: pupils are encouraged to be creative.

- stimulate the development of (an activity, state, or belief): the intention is to encourage new writing talent.

<DERIVATIVES> encourager n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (formerly also as incourage): from French encourager, from en- ‘in’ + corage ‘courage’.

encouragement n. [mass noun] the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope: thank you for all your support and encouragement.

- persuasion to do or to continue something: incentives and encouragement to play sports.

- the act of trying to stimulate the development of an activity, state, or belief: the encouragement of foreign investment.

encouraging adj. giving someone support or confidence; supportive: she gave me an encouraging smile.

- positive and giving hope for future success; promising: the results are very encouraging.

<DERIVATIVES> encouragingly adv. [as sentence adv.] encouragingly, there is more research being done today | [as submodifier] the level of activity continues to be encouragingly high

encroach v. [no obj.] (usually encroach on/upon) intrude on (a person's territory, rights, personal life, etc.): rather than encroach on his privacy she might have kept to her room.

- advance gradually beyond usual or acceptable limits: the sea has encroached all round the coast.

<DERIVATIVES> encroacher n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘obtain unlawfully, seize’; formerly also as incroach): from Old French encrochier ‘seize, fasten upon’, from en- ‘in, on’ + crochier (from croc ‘hook’, from Old Norse krókr).

encroachment n. [mass noun] intrusion on a person's territory, rights, etc.: minor encroachments on our individual liberties.

- a gradual advance beyond usual or acceptable limits: urban encroachment of habitat.

en croute / krut/ adj. & adv. in a pastry crust: [as postpositive adjective] salmon en croute.

<ORIGIN> French en croûte.

encrust /nkrst εn-/ (also incrust) v. [with obj.] cover or decorate (something) with a hard surface layer: the mussels encrust navigation buoys | (as adj. encrusted) the dried and encrusted blood.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘cause to form a crust’): from French incruster or encroûter, both from Latin incrustare, from in- ‘into’ + crusta ‘a crust’.

encrustation (also incrustation) n. [mass noun] the action of encrusting or state of being encrusted.

- [count noun] a crust or hard coating on the surface of something.

- [count noun] [ARCHITECTURE] a facing of marble on a building.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally as incrustation): from late Latin incrustatio(n-), from the verb incrustare (see ENCRUST).

encrypt /εnkrpt/ v. [with obj.] convert (information or data) into a code, especially to prevent unauthorized access.

- (encrypt something in) conceal data in (something) by converting it into a code.

<DERIVATIVES> encryption n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally US): from EN-1 ‘in’ + Greek kruptos ‘hidden’.

encumber /nkmbə εn-/ v. [with obj.] restrict or impede (someone or something) in such a way that free action or movement is difficult: she was encumbered by her heavy skirts | they had arrived encumbered with families.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘cause trouble to, entangle’; formerly also as incumber): from Old French encombrer ‘block up’, from en- ‘in’ + combre ‘river barrage’.

encumbrance n. an impediment or burden.

- [LAW] a mortgage or other claim on property or assets.

- ARCHAIC a person, especially a child, who is dependent on someone else for support.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting an encumbered state; formerly also as incumbrance): from Old French encombrance, from encombrer ‘block up’ (see ENCUMBER).

-ency suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting a quality: efficiency.

2 denoting a state: presidency.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -entia (compare with -ENCE).

encyclical /εnsklk(ə)l n- -sk-/ n. a papal letter sent to all bishops of the Roman Catholic Church.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as an adjective): via late Latin from Greek enkuklios ‘circular, general’, from en- ‘in’ + kuklos ‘a circle’.

encyclopedia /εnsklə()pidə n-/ (also encyclopaedia) n. a book or set of books giving information on many subjects or on many aspects of one subject and typically arranged alphabetically.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: modern Latin, from pseudo-Greek enkuklopaideia for enkuklios paideia ‘all-round education’.

encyclopedic /εnsklə()pidk n-/ (also encyclopaedic) adj. 1 comprehensive in terms of information: he has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of food.

2 relating to encyclopedias or information suitable for an encyclopedia: a dictionary with encyclopedic material.

encyclopedism (also encyclopaedism) n. [mass noun] comprehensive learning or knowledge.

encyclopedist (also encyclopaedist) n. a person who writes, edits, or contributes to an encyclopedia.

encyst /nsst εn-/ v. [ZOOLOGY] enclose or become enclosed in a cyst.

<DERIVATIVES> encystation n. encystment n.

end n. 1 a final part of something, especially a period of time, an activity, or a story: the end of the year | Mario led the race from beginning to end.

- a termination of a state or situation: the party called for an end to violence | one notice will be effective to bring the tenancy to an end.

- a person's death: I saw him in hospital a few days before the end.

- ARCHAIC (in biblical use) an ultimate state or condition: the end of that man is peace.

2 the furthest or most extreme part of something: the church at the end of the road | [as modifier] the end house.

- BRITISH a small piece that is left after use: an ashtray full of cigarette ends.

- a specified extreme of a scale: homebuyers at the lower end of the market.

- either of two places linked by a telephone call, letter, or journey: ‘Hello,’ said a voice at the other end.

- either of the halves of a sports field or court defended by one team or player.

3 a part or person's share of an activity: you're going to honour your end of the deal.

4 a goal or desired result: each would use the other to further his own ends | to this end, schools were set up for peasant women.

5 (in bowls and curling) a session of play in one particular direction across the playing area.

6 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a lineman positioned nearest the sideline.

■ v. come or bring to a final point; finish: [no obj.] when the war ended, policy changed | the chapter ends with a case study | [with obj.] she wanted to end the relationship.

- [no obj.] reach a point and go no further: the surfaced road ends at the farm.

- [no obj.] perform a final act: the man ended by attacking a police officer.

- [no obj.] (end in) have as its final part or result: the match ended in a draw.

- [no obj.] (end up) eventually come to a specified place or situation: I ended up in Eritrea | you could end up with a higher income.

<PHRASES>

□ all ends up INFORMAL completely.

□ at the end of the day BRITISH INFORMAL when everything is taken into consideration: at the end of the day I'm responsible for what happens in the school.

□ be at (or have come to) an end be finished or completed: negotiations were virtually at an end.

- (of a supply of something) become exhausted: our patience has come to an end.

□ be at the end of be close to having no more of (something): she was at the end of her patience.

□ be the end BRITISH INFORMAL be the limit of what one can tolerate: you really are the end!

□ come to (or meet) a sticky end BRITISH be led by one's own actions to ruin or an unpleasant death.

□ end one's days (or life) spend the final part of one's life in a specified place or state: she ended her days in London.

□ an end in itself a goal that is pursued in its own right to the exclusion of others.

□ end in tears BRITISH have an unhappy or unpleasant outcome: this treaty will end in tears.

□ end it all commit suicide.

□ the end justifies the means wrong or unfair methods may be used if the overall goal is good.

□ the end of the road (or line) the point beyond which progress or survival cannot continue: if the damages award is not lowered it could be the end of the road for the publisher.

□ the end of one's tether (or North American rope) BRITISH having no patience or energy left to cope with something: these individuals have reached the end of their tether.

□ the end of the world the termination of life on the earth.

- INFORMAL a complete disaster: it's not the end of the world if we draw.

□ end on with the end of an object facing towards one: seen end on, their sharp summits point like arrows.

- with the end of an object touching that of another: stone tiles had been layered end on with incredible skill.

□ end to end in a row with the end of one object touching that of another.

□ get (or have) one's end away BRITISH VULGAR SLANG have sexual intercourse.

□ in the end eventually or on reflection: in the end, I saw that she was right.

□ keep (or hold) one's end up BRITISH INFORMAL perform well in a difficult or competitive situation.

□ make an end of cause (someone or something) to stop existing or die.

□ make (both) ends meet earn enough just enough money to live on.

□ never (or not) HEAR the end of be continually reminded of (an unpleasant topic or cause of annoyance): a criminal court which admitted such a defence would never hear the end of it.

□ no end INFORMAL to a great extent; very much: this cheered me up no end.

□ no end of INFORMAL a great deal of: emotions can cause no end of problems.

□ on end 1 continuing without stopping for a specified period of time: sometimes they'll be gone for days on end.

2 in an upright position: he brushed his hair, leaving a tuft standing on end.

□ put an end to cause (someone or something) to stop existing or die: injury put an end to his career | he decided to put an end to himself.

□ the sharp end INFORMAL 1 the most important or influential part of an activity or process: he was born at the sharp end of history.

- the most risky or unpleasant part of a system or activity: businessmen are at the sharp end of the recession.

2 BRITISH HUMOROUS the bow of a ship.

□ a —— to end all ——s INFORMAL used to emphasize how impressive or successful something is of its kind: she is going to throw a party to end all parties.

□ without end without a limit or boundary: a war without end.

□ world without end forever or infinitely. the long summer days stretched ahead, world without end.

<ORIGIN> Old English ende (noun), endian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch einde (noun), einden (verb) and German Ende (noun), enden (verb).

-end suffix denoting a person or thing to be treated in a specified way: dividend | reverend.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -endus, gerundive ending.

endanger v. [with obj.] put (someone or something) at risk or in danger: he was driving in a manner likely to endanger life.

<DERIVATIVES> endangerment n.

endangered adj. (of a species) seriously at risk of extinction.

end-around n. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] an offensive play in which an end carries the ball round the opposing flank.

endarterectomy /εndαtərεktəmi/ n. (pl. endarterectomies) [mass noun] surgical removal of part of the inner lining of an artery, together with any obstructive deposits, most often carried out on the carotid artery or on vessels supplying the legs.

endarteritis /εndαtərts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the inner lining of an artery.

en dash n. another term for EN RULE.

endear /ndə εn-/ v. [with obj.] cause to be loved or liked: Flora's spirit and character endeared her to everyone who met her.

endearing adj. inspiring affection: an endearing little grin.

<DERIVATIVES> endearingly adv.

endearment n. a word or phrase expressing love or affection.

- [mass noun] love or affection: a term of endearment.

endeavour /ndεvə εn-/ (US endeavor) v. [no obj., with infinitive] try hard to do or achieve something: he is endeavouring to help the Third World.

■ n. an attempt to achieve a goal: [with infinitive] an endeavour to reduce serious injury.

- [mass noun] earnest, prolonged, and industrious effort: enthusiasm is a vital ingredient in all human endeavour.

- an enterprise or undertaking: a portfolio of business endeavours.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘exert oneself’): from the phrase put oneself in devoir ‘do one's utmost’ (see DEVOIR).

endemic /εndεmk/ adj. 1 (of a disease or condition) regularly found among particular people or in a certain area: complacency is endemic in industry today.

- [attr.] (of an area) in which a particular disease is regularly found: the persistence of infection on pastures in endemic areas.

2 (of a plant or animal) native or restricted to a certain place: a marsupial endemic to north-eastern Australia.

■ n. an endemic plant or animal.

<DERIVATIVES> endemically adv. endemicity /εndmsti/ n. endemism /εndmz(ə)m/ n.

■ endemic (sense 2 of the adjective)

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a noun): from French endémique or modern Latin endemicus, from Greek endēmios ‘native’ (based on dēmos ‘people’).

Enderby Land /εndəbi/ a part of Antarctica claimed by Australia.

<ORIGIN> named by its discoverer, the English navigator John Biscoe (1794–1843), after the London whaling firm Enderby Brothers, where he was employed.

endergonic /εndənk/ adj. [BIOCHEMISTRY] (of a metabolic or chemical process) accompanied by or requiring the absorption of energy, the products being of greater free energy than the reactants. The opposite of EXERGONIC.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from ENDO- ‘within’ + Greek ergon ‘work’ + -IC.

Enders /εndəz/ John Franklin (1897–1985), American virologist. With Frederick C. Robbins (1916–92) and Thomas H. Weller (1915–2008) he devised a method of growing viruses in tissue cultures which led to the development of vaccines against mumps, polio, and measles. The three scientists shared a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1954.

endgame n. the final stage of a game such as chess or bridge, when few pieces or cards remain.

endgate n. NORTH AMERICAN a tailboard.

end grain n. the grain of wood seen when it is cut across the growth rings.

endian adj. (in phrase big-endian or little-endian) [COMPUTING] denoting a system of ordering bytes in a word, or bits in a byte, in which the most significant (or least significant) item is put first.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from Swift's Gulliver's Travels, in which big-endians and little-endians ate boiled eggs by breaking the ‘big’ end or ‘little’ end respectively.

ending n. an end or final part of something: the ending of the Cold War.

- the furthest part of something: a nerve ending.

- the final part of a word, constituting a grammatical inflection or formative element.

<ORIGIN> Old English endung ‘termination, completion’ (see END, -ing^1).

endite /εndt/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an inwardly directed lobe on a limb segment of an arthropod, especially on the protopodite of a crustacean limb.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ENDO- ‘within’ + -ITE^1.

endive /εndv -dv/ n. 1 BRITISH an edible Mediterranean plant, the bitter leaves of which may be used in salads.

<INFO> Cichorium endivia, family Compositae. The varieties of endive are placed in two groups: curly endive, with curled leaves, and Batavian endive, with smooth leaves.

2 (also Belgian endive) NORTH AMERICAN a chicory crown.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also denoting the sowthistle): via Old French from medieval Latin endivia, based on Greek entubon.

endless adj. having or seeming to have no end or limit: endless ocean wastes | the list is endless.

- countless; innumerable: we smoked endless cigarettes.

- (of a belt, chain, or tape) having the ends joined to form a loop allowing continuous action.

<DERIVATIVES> endlessly adv. endlessness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English endelēas (see END, -less).

endless screw n. the threaded cylinder in a worm gear.

endmember n. [GEOLOGY] a mineral or rock representing one end of a series having a range of composition.

endmost adj. nearest to the end.

endnote n. a note printed at the end of a book or section of a book.

endo- combining form internal; within: endoderm | endogenous.

<ORIGIN> from Greek endon ‘within’.

endocardial /εndə()kαdəl/ adj. [ANATOMY] & MEDICINE 1 relating to the endocardium.

2 inside the heart.

endocarditis /εndəkαdts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the endocardium.

<DERIVATIVES> endocarditic adj.

endocardium /εndəkαdəm/ n. the thin, smooth membrane which lines the inside of the chambers of the heart and forms the surface of the valves.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from ENDO- ‘within’ + Greek kardia ‘heart’.

endocarp /εndə()kαp/ n. [BOTANY] the innermost layer of the pericarp which surrounds a seed in a fruit. It may be membranous (as in apples) or woody (as in the stone of a peach or cherry).

<DERIVATIVES> endocarpic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from ENDO- ‘within’ + a shortened form of PERICARP.

endocentric /εndəsεntrk/ adj. [LINGUISTICS] denoting or being a construction in which the whole has the same syntactic function as the head, for example big black dogs. Contrasted with EXOCENTRIC.

endocrine /εndə()krn -krn/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to or denoting glands which secrete hormones or other products directly into the blood: the endocrine system.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ENDO- ‘within’ + Greek krinein ‘sift’.

endocrinology /εndəkrnlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of physiology and medicine concerned with endocrine glands and hormones.

<DERIVATIVES> endocrinological adj. endocrinologist n.

endocytosis /εndəstəss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the taking in of matter by a living cell by invagination of its membrane to form a vacuole.

<DERIVATIVES> endocytotic adj.

endoderm /εndə()dəm/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] & [ANATOMY] the innermost layer of cells or tissue of an embryo in early development, or the parts derived from this, which include the lining of the gut and associated structures. Compare with ECTODERM and MESODERM.

<DERIVATIVES> endodermal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ENDO- ‘within’ + Greek derma ‘skin’.

endodermis n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] an inner layer of cells in the cortex of a root and of some stems, surrounding a vascular bundle.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ENDO- ‘within’ + modern Latin dermis ‘skin’.

endogamy /εndəmi/ n. [mass noun] 1 [ANTHROPOLOGY] the custom of marrying only within the limits of a local community, clan, or tribe. Compare with EXOGAMY.

2 [BIOLOGY] the fusion of reproductive cells from related individuals; inbreeding; self-pollination.

<DERIVATIVES> endogamous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ENDO- ‘within’ + Greek gamos ‘marriage’, on the pattern of polygamy.

endogenic /εndədεnk/ adj. [GEOLOGY] formed or occurring beneath the surface of the earth. Often contrasted with EXOGENIC.

endogenous /εnddnəs n-/ adj. having an internal cause or origin. Often contrasted with EXOGENOUS.

- [BIOLOGY] growing or originating from within an organism: endogenous gene sequences.

- chiefly [PSYCHIATRY] (of a disease or symptom) not attributable to any external or environmental factor: endogenous depression.

- confined within a group or society.

<DERIVATIVES> endogenously adv.

endolithic /εndə()lθk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] living in or penetrating into stone: endolithic algae.

endolymph /εndə()lmf/ n. [mass noun] [ANATOMY] the fluid in the membranous labyrinth of the ear.

endometriosis /εndə()mitrəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition resulting from the appearance of endometrial tissue outside the womb and causing pelvic pain, especially associated with menstruation.

endometritis /εndə()mtrts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the endometrium.

endometrium /εndə()mitrəm/ n. [ANATOMY] the mucous membrane lining the womb, which thickens during the menstrual cycle in preparation for possible implantation of an embryo.

<DERIVATIVES> endometrial adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from ENDO- ‘within’ + Greek mētra ‘womb’.

endomorph /εndə()mf/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a person with a soft round build of body and a high proportion of fat tissue. Compare with ECTOMORPH and MESOMORPH.

<DERIVATIVES> endomorphic adj. endomorphy n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: endo- from endodermal (being the layer of the embryo giving rise to the physical characteristics which predominate) + -MORPH.

endonuclease /εndənjklez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which cleaves a polynucleotide chain by separating nucleotides other than the two end ones.

endoparasite n. [BIOLOGY] a parasite, such as a tapeworm, that lives inside its host. Compare with ECTOPARASITE.

<DERIVATIVES> endoparasitic adj.

endopeptidase /εndəpεptdez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which breaks peptide bonds other than terminal ones in a peptide chain.

endophora /εndfərə/ n. [mass noun] [LINGUISTICS] the set of relationships among words having the same reference within a text, contributing to textual cohesion; anaphora and cataphora. Compare with EXOPHORA.

<DERIVATIVES> endophoric /εndəfrk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from ENDO- ‘within’, on the pattern of anaphora.

endophyte /εndəft/ n. [BOTANY] a plant, especially a fungus, which lives inside another plant.

<DERIVATIVES> endophytic adj.

endoplasm /εndə()plaz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY], DATED the more fluid, granular inner layer of the cytoplasm in amoeboid cells. Compare with ectoplasm (sense 1).

endoplasmic reticulum /εndəplazmk/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] a network of membranous tubules within the cytoplasm of a eukaryotic cell, continuous with the nuclear membrane. It usually has ribosomes attached and is involved in protein and lipid synthesis.

endopodite /εndpədt/ (also endopod /εndə()pd/) n. [ZOOLOGY] the inner branch of the biramous limb or appendage of a crustacean. Compare with EXOPODITE, PROTOPODITE.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ENDO- ‘within’ + Greek pous, pod- ‘foot’ + -ITE^1.

end organ n. 1 [ANATOMY] a specialized, encapsulated ending of a peripheral sensory nerve, which acts as a receptor for a stimulus.

2 another term for TARGET ORGAN.

endorphin /εndfn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of hormones secreted within the brain and nervous system and having a number of physiological functions. They are peptides which activate the body's opiate receptors, causing an analgesic effect.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of ENDOGENOUS and MORPHINE.

endorse /nds εn-/ (US & [LAW] also indorse) v. [with obj.] 1 declare one's public approval or support of: the report was endorsed by the college.

- recommend (a product) in an advertisement.

2 sign (a cheque or bill of exchange) on the back to make it payable to someone other than the stated payee or to accept responsibility for paying it.

- write (a comment) on a document: the speed and accuracy achieved will be endorsed on the certificate.

3 (in the UK) mark (a driving licence) with the penalty points given as a punishment for a driving offence.

4 (endorse someone out) (in South Africa under apartheid) order a black person to leave an urban area for failing to meet certain requirements of the Native Laws Amendment Act.

<DERIVATIVES> endorsable adj. endorser n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘write on the back of’; formerly also as indorse): from medieval Latin indorsare, from Latin in- ‘in, on’ + dorsum ‘back’.

endorsee /εndsi/ n. a person to whom a cheque or bill of exchange is made payable instead of the stated payee.

endorsement (US & [LAW] also indorsement) n. 1 [mass noun] the action of endorsing someone or something.

2 (in the UK) a note on a driving licence recording the penalty points incurred for a driving offence.

3 a clause in an insurance policy detailing an exemption from or change in cover.

endoscope /εndəskəp/ n. MEDICINE an instrument which can be introduced into the body to give a view of its internal parts.

<DERIVATIVES> endoscopic adj. endoscopically adv. endoscopist /εndskəpst/ n. endoscopy n.

endoskeleton n. [ZOOLOGY] an internal skeleton, such as the bony or cartilaginous skeleton of vertebrates. Compare with EXOSKELETON.

<DERIVATIVES> endoskeletal adj.

endosperm n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the part of a seed which acts as a food store for the developing plant embryo, usually containing starch with protein and other nutrients.

endospore n. [BIOLOGY] a resistant asexual spore that develops inside some bacteria cells.

- the inner layer of the membrane or wall of some spores and pollen grains.

endosymbiosis /εndəsmbəss -b-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] symbiosis in which one of the symbiotic organisms lives inside the other.

<DERIVATIVES> endosymbiont n. endosymbiotic adj.

endothelium /εndə()θiləm/ n. [mass noun] [ANATOMY] the tissue which forms a single layer of cells lining various organs and cavities of the body, especially the blood vessels, heart, and lymphatic vessels. It is formed from the embryonic mesoderm. Compare with EPITHELIUM.

<DERIVATIVES> endothelial adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from ENDO- ‘within’ + Greek thēlē ‘nipple’.

endotherm /εndə()θəm/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an animal that is dependent on or capable of the internal generation of heat. Often contrasted with ECTOTHERM. Compare with HOMEOTHERM.

<DERIVATIVES> endothermy n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from ENDO- ‘within’, on the pattern of homeotherm.

endothermic adj. 1 [CHEMISTRY] (of a reaction or process) accompanied by or requiring the absorption of heat. The opposite of EXOTHERMIC.

- (of a compound) requiring a net input of heat for its formation from its constituent elements.

2 [ZOOLOGY] (of an animal) dependent on or capable of the internal generation of heat.

<DERIVATIVES> endothermal adj.

endotoxin /εndətksn/ n. [MICROBIOLOGY] a toxin present inside a bacterial cell that is released when it disintegrates. Compare with EXOTOXIN.

endotracheal /εndə()trekəl -trəkiəl/ adj. [ANATOMY] situated or occurring within or performed by way of the trachea.

<DERIVATIVES> endotracheally adv.

endow /nda εn-/ v. [with obj.] 1 give or bequeath an income or property to (a person or institution): he endowed the Church with lands.

- establish (a university post, annual prize, etc.) by donating the funds needed to maintain it.

2 provide with a quality, ability, or asset: he was endowed with tremendous physical strength.

- (be endowed) INFORMAL have breasts or a penis of specified size: the girl on page three is well endowed.

<DERIVATIVES> endower n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘provide a dower or dowry’; formerly also as indow): from legal Anglo-Norman French endouer, from en- ‘in, towards’ + Old French douer ‘give as a gift’ (from Latin dotare: see DOWER).

endowment n. 1 [mass noun] the action of endowing something or someone: he tried to promote the endowment of a Chair of Psychiatry.

- [count noun] an income or form of property given or bequeathed to someone.

2 (usually endowments) a quality or ability possessed or inherited by someone.

3 [usually as modifier] a form of life insurance involving payment of a fixed sum to the insured person on a specified date, or to their estate should they die before this date: an endowment policy.

endowment mortgage n. BRITISH a mortgage linked to an endowment insurance policy which is intended to repay the capital sum on maturity.

endpaper n. a leaf of paper at the beginning or end of a book, especially one fixed to the inside of the cover.

end plate n. 1 a flattened piece at or forming the end of something such as a motor or dynamo.

2 [ANATOMY] each of the discoid expansions of a motor nerve where its branches terminate on a muscle fibre.

endplay [BRIDGE] n. a way of playing in the last few tricks which forces an opponent to make a disadvantageous lead.

■ v. [with obj.] force (an opponent) to make an endplay.

end point n. the final stage of a period or process.

end product n. the final result of an activity or process, especially the finished article in a manufacturing process.

end result n. the final result or outcome of an activity or process.

endrin /εndrn/ n. [mass noun] a toxic insecticide which is a stereoisomer of dieldrin.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from ENDO- ‘within’ + a shortened form of DIELDRIN.

end run n. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] an attempt by the ball carrier to run around the end of the defensive line.

- NORTH AMERICAN an evasive tactic or manoeuvre.

■ v. (end-run) [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN evade; circumvent: an attempt to end-run regulations for fire protection.

end-scraper n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a prehistoric flint tool with a single working edge at one end of a blade or flake, at right angles to the long axis.

end standard n. a standard of length in the form of a metal bar or block whose end faces are the standard distance apart.

end-stopped adj. (of verse) having a pause at the end of each line.

endue /ndju εn-/ (also indue) v. (endues, enduing, endued) [with obj.] LITERARY endow or provide with a quality or ability: our sight would be endued with a far greater sharpness.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘induct into an ecclesiastical living’): from Old French enduire, partly from Latin inducere ‘lead in’ (see INDUCE), reinforced by the sense of Latin induere ‘put on clothes’.

endurable adj. able to be endured; bearable: my journey was long but endurable.

endurance n. [mass noun] 1 the ability to endure an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way: she was close to the limit of her endurance.

2 the capacity of something to last or to withstand wear and tear.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘continued existence, ability to last’; formerly also as indurance): from Old French, from endurer ‘make hard’ (see ENDURE).

endure /ndjə εn- -dj/ v. 1 [with obj.] suffer (something painful or difficult) patiently: it seemed impossible that anyone could endure such pain.

2 [no obj.] remain in existence; last: these cities have endured through time.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French endurer, from Latin indurare ‘harden’, from in- ‘in’ + durus ‘hard’.

enduring /ndr εn-/ adj. lasting over a period of time; durable: he formed a number of enduring relationships with women.

<DERIVATIVES> enduringly adv.

enduro /ndjərə εn-/ n. (pl. enduros) a long-distance race for motor vehicles or bicycles, typically over rough terrain, designed to test endurance.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ENDURANCE + the informal suffix -O.

end-user n. the person who actually uses a particular product.

endways (also endwise) adv. with the end facing upwards, forwards, or towards the viewer: a little town looking endways on to the river.

- in a row with the end of one object touching that of another: strips of rubber cemented endways.

Endymion /εndmən/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a remarkably beautiful young man, loved by the Moon (Selene). According to one story, he was put in an eternal sleep by Zeus for having fallen in love with Hera, and was then visited every night by Selene.

end zone n. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] the rectangular area at the end of the field into which the ball must be carried or passed to score a touchdown.

ENE abbr. east-north-east.

-ene suffix 1 denoting an inhabitant: Nazarene.

2 [CHEMISTRY] forming names of unsaturated hydrocarbons containing a double bond: benzene.

<ORIGIN> from Greek -ēnos.

en échelon /n e(ə)l/ adj. & adv. chiefly [GEOLOGY] in approximately parallel formation at an oblique angle to a particular direction.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘in rung formation’.

enema /εnmə/ n. (pl. enemas or enemata /nεmətə/) a procedure in which liquid or gas is injected into the rectum, to expel its contents or to introduce drugs or permit X-ray imaging.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek, from enienai ‘send or put in’, from en- ‘in’ + hienai ‘send’.

enemy n. (pl. enemies) a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.

- (the enemy) [treated as sing. or plural] a hostile nation or its armed forces, especially in time of war: the enemy shot down four helicopters | [as modifier] enemy aircraft.

- a thing that harms or weakens something else: routine is the enemy of art.

<PHRASES>

□ be one's own worst enemy act in a way contrary to one's own interests.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French enemi, from Latin inimicus, from in- ‘not’ + amicus ‘friend’.

Eneolithic /inə()lθk/ adj. & n. another term for CHALCOLITHIC.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin aeneus ‘of bronze or copper’ + Greek lithos ‘stone’ + -IC.

energetic /εnədεtk/ adj. 1 showing or involving great activity or vitality: moderately energetic exercise.

2 [PHYSICS] relating to or characterized by energy (in the technical sense): energetic X-rays.

<DERIVATIVES> energetically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘powerfully effective’): from Greek energētikos, from energein ‘operate, work in or upon’ (based on ergon ‘work’).

energetics plural n. 1 the properties of something in terms of energy.

2 [treated as sing.] the branch of science which deals with the properties of energy and the way in which it is redistributed in physical, chemical, or biological processes.

energize (also energise) v. [with obj.] give vitality and enthusiasm to: people were energized by his ideas.

- supply energy, typically kinetic or electrical energy, to (something).

<DERIVATIVES> energizer n.

energumen /εnəjumən/ n. ARCHAIC a person believed to be possessed by the devil or a spirit.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (also denoting an enthusiast or fanatic): via late Latin from Greek energoumenos, passive participle of energein ‘work in or upon’.

energy n. (pl. energies) [mass noun] 1 the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity: changes in the levels of vitamins can affect energy and well-being.

- (energies) a person's physical and mental powers.

2 power derived from the utilization of physical or chemical resources, especially to provide light and heat or to work machines: nuclear energy.

3 [PHYSICS] the property of matter and radiation which is manifest as a capacity to perform work (such as causing motion or the interaction of molecules).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting force or vigour of expression): from French énergie, or via late Latin from Greek energeia, from en- ‘in, within’ + ergon ‘work’.

energy audit n. an assessment of the energy needs and efficiency of a building or buildings.

enervate v. /εnəvet/ [with obj.] (often as adj. enervated or enervating) make (someone) feel drained of energy or vitality: enervating heat.

■ adj. /nəvət/ LITERARY lacking in energy or vitality: the enervate slightness of his frail form.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin enervat- ‘weakened (by extraction of the sinews)’, from the verb enervare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + nervus ‘sinew’.

enervation /εnəve(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a feeling of being drained of energy or vitality; fatigue: a sense of enervation.

en face / fas/ adv. & adj. facing forwards.

<ORIGIN> French.

en famille / fami/ adv. with one's family, or as a family: when they went out en famille, Steven always drove.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘in family’.

enfant gâté /f ate/ n. DATED a person who is excessively flattered or indulged.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘spoilt child’.

enfant terrible /f tεribl(ə)/ n. (pl. enfants terribles pronunc. same) a person who behaves in an unconventional or controversial way.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘terrible child’.

enfeeble v. [with obj.] (often as adj. enfeebled) make weak or feeble: trade unions are in an enfeebled state.

<DERIVATIVES> enfeeblement n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French enfeblir, from en- (expressing a change of state) + feble ‘feeble’.

enfeoff /nfif -fεf εn-/ v. [with obj.] (under the feudal system) give (someone) freehold property or land in exchange for their pledged service.

<DERIVATIVES> enfeoffment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French enfeoffer, from Old French en- ‘in’ + fief ‘fief’. Compare with FEOFFMENT.

en fête / fεt/ adv. & adj. holding or prepared for a party or celebration.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘in festival’.

enfetter v. [with obj.] LITERARY restrain (someone) with shackles.

enfilade /εnfled/ n. 1 a volley of gunfire directed along a line from end to end.

2 a suite of rooms with doorways in line with each other.

■ v. [with obj.] direct a volley of gunfire along the length of (a target).

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting the position of a military post commanding the length of a line): from French, from enfiler ‘thread on a string, pierce from end to end’, from en- ‘in, on’ + fil ‘thread’.

enflesh v. [with obj.] LITERARY give bodily form to; make real or concrete.

<DERIVATIVES> enfleshment n.

enfleurage /flərα/ n. [mass noun] the extraction of essential oils and perfumes from flowers using odourless animal or vegetable fats.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from enfleurer ‘saturate with the perfume from flowers’.

enflurane /εnfləren/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a volatile organic liquid used as a general anaesthetic.

<INFO> A halogenated ether; chem. formula: CHF_2OCF_2CHFCl.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from en- (of unknown origin) + FLUORO- + -ANE^2.

enfold /nfəld εn-/ v. [with obj.] surround; envelop: he shut off the engine and silence enfolded them.

- hold or clasp (someone) lovingly in one's arms.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘involve, entail, imply’; formerly also as infold): from EN-1, in-2 ‘within’ + FOLD^1.

enforce v. [with obj.] compel observance of or compliance with (a law, rule, or obligation): the role of the police is to enforce the law.

- cause (something) to happen by necessity or force: there is no outside agency to enforce cooperation between the players.

- ARCHAIC press home (a demand or argument).

<DERIVATIVES> enforceability n. enforceable adj. enforcer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘strive’ and ‘impel by force’; formerly also as inforce): from Old French enforcir, enforcier, based on Latin in- ‘in’ + fortis ‘strong’.

enforced adj. caused by necessity or force; compulsory: a period of enforced idleness.

<DERIVATIVES> enforcedly adv.

enforcement n. [mass noun] the act of compelling observance of or compliance with a law, rule, or obligation: the strict enforcement of environmental regulations.

enforcement notice n. [LAW] a notification to remedy a breach of planning legislation.

enfranchise /nfran(t)z εn-/ v. [with obj.] 1 give the right to vote to: a proposal that foreigners should be enfranchised for local elections.

- HISTORICAL give (a town) the right to be represented in Parliament.

2 HISTORICAL free (a slave).

<DERIVATIVES> enfranchisement n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as infranchise): from Old French enfranchiss-, lengthened stem of enfranchir, from en- (expressing a change of state) + franc, franche ‘free’.

ENG abbr. electronic news-gathering.

engage v. 1 [with obj.] occupy or attract (someone's interest or attention): he ploughed on, trying to outline his plans and engage Sutton's attention | I told him I was otherwise engaged.

- (engage someone in) involve someone in (a conversation or discussion).

2 [no obj.] (engage in or be engaged in) participate or become involved in: organizations engage in a variety of activities | some are actively engaged in crime.

- (engage with) establish a meaningful contact or connection with: the teams needed to engage with local communities.

3 [with obj.] arrange to employ or hire (someone): he was engaged as a trainee copywriter.

- [with infinitive] pledge or enter into a contract to do something: he engaged to pay them £10,000 against a bond.

- DATED reserve (accommodation, a place, etc.) in advance.

4 (with reference to a part of a machine or engine) move into position so as to come into operation: [with obj.] the clutch will not engage | [with obj.] the driver engaged the gears and pulled out into the road.

5 [with obj.] (of fencers or swordsmen) bring (weapons) together preparatory to fighting.

- [with obj.] enter into combat with (an enemy).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as ingage): from French engager, ultimately from the base of gage^1. The word originally meant ‘to pawn or pledge something’, later ‘pledge oneself (to do something)’, hence ‘enter into a contract’ (mid 16th century), ‘involve oneself in an activity’, ‘enter into combat’ (mid 17th century), giving rise to the notion ‘involve someone or something else’.

engagé /ae/ adj. (of a writer or artist) committed to a particular aim or cause.

<ORIGIN> French, past participle of engager (see ENGAGE).

engaged adj. 1 [predic.] busy; occupied.

- BRITISH (of a telephone line) unavailable because already in use.

- (of a toilet) already in use.

2 having formally agreed to marry.

3 [ARCHITECTURE] (of a column) attached to or partly let into a wall.

engagement n. 1 a formal agreement to get married.

- the duration of an agreement to get married: a good long engagement to give you time to be sure.

2 an arrangement to do something or go somewhere at a fixed time: a dinner engagement.

3 [mass noun] the action of engaging or being engaged: Britain's continued engagement in open trading.

4 a fight or battle between armed forces.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the general sense ‘a legal or moral obligation’): French, from engager ‘to pledge’ (see ENGAGE).

engagement ring n. a ring given by a man to a woman when they agree to marry.

engaging adj. charming and attractive: an engaging smile.

<DERIVATIVES> engagingly adv.

Engelmann spruce /ε(ə)lmən/ (also Engelmann's spruce) n. a tall spruce found in the mountains of western North America and Mexico.

<INFO> Picea engelmannii, family Pinaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after George Engelmann (1809–84), American botanist.

Engels /ε(ə)lz/ Friedrich (1820–95), German socialist and political philosopher. He collaborated with Marx in the writing of the Communist Manifesto (1848) and translated and edited Marx's later work. Engels's own writings include The Condition of the Working Classes in England in 1844 (1845).

engender /ndεndə εn-/ v. [with obj.] cause or give rise to (a feeling, situation, or condition): the issue engendered continuing controversy.

- ARCHAIC (of a father) beget (offspring).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (formerly also as ingender): from Old French engendrer, from Latin ingenerare, from in- ‘in’ + generare ‘beget’ (see GENERATE).

engine n. 1 a machine with moving parts that converts power into motion.

- a thing that is the agent or instrument of a particular process: exports used to be the engine of growth.

2 (also railway engine) a locomotive.

- a fire engine.

- HISTORICAL a mechanical device or instrument, especially one used in warfare: a siege engine.

<DERIVATIVES> engined adj. [in combination] a twin-engined helicopter engineless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (formerly also as ingine): from Old French engin, from Latin ingenium ‘talent, device’, from in- ‘in’ + gignere ‘beget’; compare with INGENIOUS. The original sense was ‘ingenuity, cunning’ (surviving in Scots as ingine), hence ‘the product of ingenuity, a plot or snare’, also ‘tool, weapon’, later specifically denoting a large mechanical weapon; whence a machine (mid 17th century), used commonly later in combinations such as steam engine, internal-combustion engine.

engine driver n. BRITISH DATED a person who drives a railway locomotive.

engineer n. 1 a person who designs, builds, or maintains engines, machines, or structures.

2 a person who controls an engine, especially on an aircraft or ship.

- NORTH AMERICAN a train driver.

3 a skilful contriver or originator of something: the prime engineer of the approach.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 design and build (a machine or structure): the men who engineered the tunnel.

- modify (an organism) by manipulating its genetic material: (as adj., with submodifier engineered) genetically engineered plants.

2 skilfully arrange for (something) to occur: she engineered another meeting with him.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a designer and constructor of fortifications and weapons; formerly also as ingineer): in early use from Old French engigneor, from medieval Latin ingeniator, from ingeniare ‘contrive, devise’, from Latin ingenium (see ENGINE); in later use from French ingénieur or Italian ingegnere, also based on Latin ingenium, with the ending influenced by -EER.

engineering n. [mass noun] 1 the branch of science and technology concerned with the design, building, and use of engines, machines, and structures.

2 a field of study or activity concerned with modification or development in a particular area: software engineering.

engineering brick n. a brick made of semi-vitreous material, which is strong and impervious to water or frost.

engineering science (also engineering sciences) n. [mass noun] the parts of science concerned with the physical and mathematical basis of engineering and machine technology.

engine room n. the part of a ship or building in which the engines are housed.

enginery /εndn(ə)ri/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC engines collectively; machinery.

engine turning n. [mass noun] the decoration of metal or ceramic objects with regular engraved patterns using a lathe.

<DERIVATIVES> engine-turned adj.

engirdle (also engird) v. [with obj.] LITERARY surround; encircle: railways engirdled this tract of country.

englacial /nle(ə)l -səl εn-/ adj. situated, occurring, or formed inside a glacier.

England a country forming the largest and southernmost part of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom, and containing the capital, London; pop. 49,138,831 (2001).

England was conquered by the Romans in the first century AD, when it was inhabited by Celtic peoples, and was a Roman province until the early 5th century. During the 3rd–7th centuries Germanic-speaking tribes, traditionally known as Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, established a number of independent kingdoms. England emerged as a distinct political entity in the 9th century before being conquered by William, Duke of Normandy, in 1066.

English adj. relating to England or its people or language.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the language of England, now widely used in many varieties throughout the world.

2 (as plural n. the English) the people of England.

3 [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN spin or side given to a ball, especially in pool or billiards.

English is the principal language of Great Britain, the US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries. There are some 400 million native speakers, and it is the medium of communication for many millions more; it is the most widely used second language in the world. It belongs to the West Germanic group of Indo-European languages, though its vocabulary has been much influenced by Norman French and Latin.

<DERIVATIVES> Englishness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English Englisc (see ANGLE, -ish^1). The word originally denoted the early Germanic settlers of Britain (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes), or their language (now called OLD ENGLISH).

English bond n. [mass noun] [BUILDING] a bond used in brickwork consisting of alternate courses of stretchers and headers.

English breakfast n. a substantial breakfast including hot cooked food such as bacon and eggs.

English Canadian n. a Canadian whose principal language is English.

■ adj. relating to English-speaking Canadians.

English Channel the sea channel separating southern England from northern France. It is 35 km (22 miles) wide at its narrowest point. A railway tunnel beneath it linking England and France was opened in 1994 (the Channel Tunnel).

English Civil War the war between Charles I and his Parliamentary opponents, 1642–9.

Civil war broke out after Charles refused to accede to a series of demands made by Parliament. The king's forces (the Royalists or Cavaliers) were decisively defeated by the Parliamentary forces (or Roundheads) at the Battle of Naseby (1645), and an attempt by Charles to regain power in alliance with the Scots was defeated in 1648. Charles himself was tried and executed by Parliament in 1649.

English Heritage (in the UK) a body responsible since 1983 for England's ancient monuments, listed buildings, and conservation areas.

English horn n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for COR ANGLAIS.

Englishman n. (pl. Englishmen) a male native or national of England, or a man of English descent.

<PHRASES>

□ an Englishman's home is his castle BRITISH PROVERB an English person's home is a place where they may do as they please and from which they may exclude anyone they choose.

English muffin n. North American term for muffin (sense 2).

English mustard n. [mass noun] a kind of mustard made from mustard seeds milled to a powder, having a very hot taste and typically bright yellow in colour.

English Pale (also the Pale) 1 a small area round Calais, the only part of France remaining in English hands after the Hundred Years War. It was recaptured by France in 1558.

2 that part of Ireland over which England exercised jurisdiction before the whole country was conquered. Centred on Dublin, it varied in extent at different times from the reign of Henry II until the full conquest under Elizabeth I.

<ORIGIN> Pale from PALE^2.

English rose n. an attractive English girl with a delicate, fair-skinned complexion regarded as typically English.

English setter n. a setter of a breed with a long white or partly white coat.

Englishwoman n. (pl. Englishwomen) a female native or national of England, or a woman of English descent.

englobe v. [with obj.] LITERARY enclose in or shape into a globe.

engorge /nd εn-/ v. 1 [with obj.] cause to swell with blood, water, or another fluid: the river was engorged by a day-long deluge.

2 (engorge oneself) ARCHAIC eat to excess.

<DERIVATIVES> engorgement n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘gorge; eat or fill to excess’): from Old French engorgier ‘feed to excess’, from en- ‘into’ + gorge ‘throat’.

engraft (also ingraft) v. another term for graft^1.

<DERIVATIVES> engraftment n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (formerly also as engraff, ingraft): from EN-1, in-2 ‘into’ + GRAFT^1.

engrailed adj. chiefly [HERALDRY] having semicircular indentations along the edge. Compare with INVECTED.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as verb engrail): from Old French engresler ‘make thin’, from en- (expressing a change of state) + gresle ‘thin’, from Latin gracilis.

engram /εnram/ n. a hypothetical permanent change in the brain accounting for the existence of memory; a memory trace.

<DERIVATIVES> engrammatic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: coined in German from Greek en- ‘within’ + gramma ‘letter of the alphabet’.

engrave v. [with obj.] cut or carve (a text or design) on the surface of a hard object: my name was engraved on the ring.

- cut or carve a text or design on (a hard object).

- cut (a design) as lines on a metal plate for printing.

- (be engraved on or in) be permanently fixed in (one's memory or mind): the image would be forever engraved in his memory.

<PHRASES>

□ be engraved in stone see STONE.

<DERIVATIVES> engraver n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (formerly also as ingrave): from EN-1, in-2 ‘in, on’ + GRAVE^3, influenced by obsolete French engraver.

engraving n. a print made from an engraved plate, block, or other surface.

- [mass noun] the process or art of engraving a design on a hard surface, especially to make a print.

engross /nrəs εn-/ v. [with obj.] 1 (often be engrossed in) absorb all the attention or interest of: they seemed to be engrossed in conversation | the notes totally engrossed him | (as adj. engrossing) the most engrossing parts of the book.

- ARCHAIC gain or keep exclusive possession of.

2 [LAW] produce (a legal document, especially a deed or statute) in its final form.

<DERIVATIVES> engrossingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as ingross): based on en-1, in-2 ‘in’ + late Latin grossus ‘large’. Sense 1 is from Old French en gros, from medieval Latin in grosso ‘wholesale’; sense 2 comes from Anglo-Norman French engrosser, medieval Latin ingrossare, from Old French grosse, medieval Latin grossa ‘large writing’, with reference to clerks writing out documents in large, clear writing.

engrossment n. [LAW] the final version of a legal document, especially a deed or statute.

engulf v. [with obj.] 1 (of a natural force) sweep over (something) so as to surround or cover it completely: the cafe was engulfed in flames | FIGURATIVE Europe might be engulfed by war.

2 powerfully affect (someone); overwhelm: a feeling of anguish so great that it threatened to engulf him.

<DERIVATIVES> engulfment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (formerly also as ingulf): from EN-1, in-2 ‘in, on’ + GULF.

enhance /nhαns -hans εn-/ v. [with obj.] intensify, increase, or further improve the quality, value, or extent of: his refusal does nothing to enhance his reputation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (formerly also as inhance): from Anglo-Norman French enhauncer, based on Latin in- (expressing intensive force) + altus ‘high’. The word originally meant ‘elevate’ (literally and figuratively), later ‘exaggerate, make appear greater’, also ‘raise the value or price of something’. Current senses date from the early 16th cent.

enhancement /nhαnsm(ə)nt εn-/ n. an increase or improvement in quality, value, or extent: this programme of enhancements will improve daily experience of passengers | [mass noun] the enhancement of civic amenities.

enhancer n. a person or thing that enhances something: a sweetener and flavour enhancer.

- [GENETICS] a DNA sequence that increases the level of transcription of a gene that is located nearby on the same chromosome.

enharmonic /εnhαmnk/ adj. [MUSIC] relating to or denoting notes which are the same in pitch (in modern tuning) though bearing different names (e.g. F sharp and G flat or B and C flat).

- of or having intervals smaller than a semitone (e.g. between notes such as F sharp and G flat, in systems of tuning which distinguish them).

<DERIVATIVES> enharmonically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (designating ancient Greek music based on a tetrachord divided into two quarter-tones and a major third): via late Latin from Greek enarmonikos, from en- ‘in’ + harmonia ‘harmony’.

enigma /nmə/ n. a person or thing that is mysterious or difficult to understand: Madeleine was still an enigma to him.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek ainigma, from ainissesthai ‘speak allusively’, from ainos ‘fable’.

enigmatic /εnmatk/ adj. difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious: he took the money with an enigmatic smile.

<DERIVATIVES> enigmatical adj. enigmatically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French énigmatique or late Latin aenigmaticus, based on Greek ainigma ‘riddle’ (see ENIGMA).

enisle /εnl n-/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY isolate on or as if on an island.

Eniwetok /εniwətk εnwitk/ (also Enewetak) an uninhabited island in the North Pacific, one of the Marshall Islands. Cleared of its native population, it was used by the US as a testing ground for atom bombs from 1948 to 1954.

enjambed /ndam εn-/ adj. (of a line, couplet, or stanza of verse) ending part-way through a sentence or clause which continues in the next.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French enjamber ‘stride over’ + -ED^2.

enjambement /ndam(b)m(ə)nt εn- bm/ (also enjambment) n. [mass noun] (in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from enjamber ‘stride over, go beyond’, from en- ‘in’ + jambe ‘leg’.

enjoin v. [with obj. and infinitive] instruct or urge (someone) to do something: the code enjoined members to trade fairly.

- [with obj.] prescribe (an action or attitude) to be performed or adopted: the charitable deeds enjoined on him by religion.

- [with obj.] (enjoin someone from) [LAW] prohibit someone from performing (a particular action) by issuing an injunction.

<DERIVATIVES> enjoinment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (formerly also as injoin): from Old French enjoindre, from Latin injungere ‘join, attach, impose’, from in- ‘in, towards’ + jungere ‘to join’.

enjoinder n. [LAW] a prohibition ordered by an injunction.

enjoy v. [with obj.] 1 take delight or pleasure in (an activity or occasion): I enjoy watching good films.

- (enjoy oneself) have a pleasant time: I could never enjoy myself, knowing you were in your room alone.

2 possess and benefit from: the security forces enjoy legal immunity from prosecution.

<DERIVATIVES> enjoyer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French enjoier ‘give joy to’ or enjoïr ‘enjoy’, both based on Latin gaudere ‘rejoice’.

enjoyable adj. (of an activity or occasion) giving delight or pleasure: they had an enjoyable afternoon.

<DERIVATIVES> enjoyability n. enjoyableness n. enjoyably adv.

enjoyment n. [mass noun] 1 the state or process of taking pleasure in something: the enjoyment of a good wine.

- [count noun] a thing that gives pleasure: one of his particular enjoyments was campfire singing.

2 the action of possessing and benefiting from something.

enkephalin /εnkεf(ə)ln/ (also encephalin) n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] either of two peptide compounds occurring naturally in the brain, related to the endorphins and having similar physiological effects.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Greek enkephalos ‘brain’ (from en- ‘in’ + kephalē ‘head’) + -IN^1.

enkindle v. [with obj.] LITERARY 1 set on fire.

2 arouse or inspire (an emotion): fresh remembrance of vexation must still enkindle rage.

enlace v. [with obj.] LITERARY entwine or entangle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French enlacier, based on Latin laqueus ‘noose’.

enlarge v. 1 make or become larger or more extensive: [with obj.] recently my son enlarged our garden pond | (as adj. enlarged) an enlarged spleen.

- [with obj.] develop a larger print of (a photograph).

2 [no obj.] (enlarge on/upon) speak or write about (something) in greater detail: I would like to enlarge on this theme.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (formerly also as inlarge): from Old French enlarger, from en- (expressing a change of state) + large ‘large’.

enlargement n. 1 [mass noun] the action or state of enlarging or being enlarged.

2 a photograph that is larger than the original negative or an earlier print.

enlarger n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] an apparatus for enlarging or reducing negatives or positives.

enlighten v. [with obj.] 1 give (someone) greater knowledge and understanding about a subject or situation: Christopher had not enlightened Francis as to their relationship.

- give (someone) spiritual knowledge or insight.

2 ARCHAIC shed light on (an object).

<DERIVATIVES> enlightener n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘make luminous’; formerly also as inlighten): in early use from Old English inlīhtan ‘to shine’; later from EN-1, in-2

■ (as an intensifier) + LIGHTEN^2 or the noun light^1.

enlightened adj. having or showing a rational, modern, and well-informed outlook: the more enlightened employers offer better terms.

- spiritually aware.

enlightenment n. 1 [mass noun] the action of enlightening or the state of being enlightened: Robbie looked to me for enlightenment.

- the action or state of attaining or having attained spiritual knowledge or insight, in particular (in Buddhism) that awareness which frees a person from the cycle of rebirth.

2 (the Enlightenment) a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It was heavily influenced by 17th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton, and its prominent figures included Kant, Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Adam Smith.

enlist v. enrol or be enrolled in the armed services: [no obj.] he enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service | [with obj.] hundreds of thousands of recruits had been enlisted.

- [with obj.] engage (a person or their help or support): the company enlisted the help of independent consultants.

<DERIVATIVES> enlistee n. enlister n. enlistment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (formerly also as inlist): from EN-1, in-2 ‘in, on’ + LIST^1, perhaps suggested by Dutch inlijsten ‘put on a list’.

enlisted man n. US a member of the armed forces below the rank of officer.

enliven v. [with obj.] make (something) more entertaining, interesting, or appealing: the wartime routine was enlivened by a series of concerts.

- make (someone) more cheerful or animated: the visit had clearly enlivened my mother.

<DERIVATIVES> enlivener n. enlivenment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘restore to life, give life to’; formerly also as inliven): from 16th-cent. enlive, inlive (in the same sense), from EN-1, in-2

■ (as an intensifier) + LIFE.

en masse / mas/ adv. in a group; all together: the cabinet immediately resigned en masse.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, ‘in a mass’.

enmesh v. [with obj.] (usually be enmeshed in) cause to become entangled in something: whales enmeshed in drift nets | FIGURATIVE he is enmeshed in an adulterous affair.

<DERIVATIVES> enmeshment n.

enmity n. (pl. enmities) [mass noun] a state or feeling of active opposition or hostility: decades of enmity between the two countries | [count noun] family feuds and enmities.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French enemi(s)tie, based on Latin inimicus (see ENEMY).

ennead /εnad/ n. RARE a group or set of nine.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Greek enneas, ennead-, from ennea ‘nine’.

enneagram /εnəram/ n. a nine-sided figure used in a particular system of analysis to represent the spectrum of possible personality types.

<ORIGIN> from Greek ennea ‘nine’ + -GRAM^1.

Ennis /εns/ the county town of Clare, in the Republic of Ireland; pop. 18,977 (2002).

Enniskillen /εnskln/ a town in Northern Ireland; pop. 12,050 (est. 2002). The old spelling Inniskilling is preserved as a regimental name in the British army, commemorating the defence of Enniskillen by its townsmen against the supporters of the deposed King James II in 1689.

Ennius /εnəs/ Quintus (239–169 BC), Roman epic poet and dramatist. He was largely responsible for the creation of a native Roman literature based on Greek models, but only fragments of his many works survive.

ennoble v. [with obj.] 1 give (someone) a noble rank or title.

2 lend greater dignity or nobility of character to: the theatre is a moral instrument to ennoble the mind.

<DERIVATIVES> ennoblement n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (formerly also as innoble): from French ennoblir, from en- (expressing a change of state) + noble ‘noble’.

ennui /nwi/ n. [mass noun] a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, from Latin in odio(n-), from mihi in odio est ‘it is hateful to me’. Compare with ANNOY.

Enoch /ink/ 1 (in the Bible) the eldest son of Cain.

- the first city, built by Cain (Gen. 4:17).

2 a Hebrew patriarch, father of Methuselah.

enoki /nək/ (also enoki mushroom) n. an edible Japanese mushroom, growing in clusters, with slender stems and small caps.

<INFO> Flammulina velutipes, family Agaricaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from Japanese enoki-take, from enoki ‘nettle tree’ + take ‘mushroom’.

enormity n. (pl. enormities) 1 [mass noun] (the enormity of) the great or extreme scale, seriousness, or extent of something perceived as bad or morally wrong: a thorough search disclosed the full enormity of the crime.

- (in neutral use) large size or scale: the enormity of his intellect.

2 a grave crime or sin: the enormities of war.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin enormitas, from enormis, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + norma ‘pattern, standard’. The word originally meant ‘deviation from legal or moral rectitude’ and ‘transgression’. Current senses have been influenced by ENORMOUS.

<USAGE> It is not uncommon for enormity to be used as a synonym for hugeness or immensity, as in the enormity of French hypermarkets. There are some people who regard this use as wrong, arguing that enormity in its original sense meant ‘a crime’ and should therefore continue to be used only of contexts in which a negative moral judgement is implied. The use is now broadly accepted in standard English, however.

enormous adj. very large in size, quantity, or extent: enormous sums of money | the possibilities are enormous.

<DERIVATIVES> enormousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin enormis ‘unusual, huge’ (see ENORMITY) + -OUS.

enormously adv. to a very great degree or extent; considerably: quality of life varies enormously from one place to another | [as submodifier] she has been enormously successful.

enosis /nəss εnəss/ n. [mass noun] the political union of Cyprus and Greece, as an aim or ideal of certain Greeks and Cypriots.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from modern Greek henōsis, from hena ‘one’.

enough determiner & pronoun as much or as many as required: [as determiner] too much work and not enough people to do it | there was just enough room for two cars | [as pronoun] getting enough of the right things to eat | [as postpositive adjective] there will be time enough to tell you when we meet.

- used to indicate that one is unwilling to tolerate any more of something undesirable: [as determiner] we've got enough problems without that | [as pronoun] I've had enough of this arguing | that's enough, pack it in.

■ adv. to the required degree or extent (used after an adjective, adverb, or verb): before he was old enough to shave | you're not big enough for basketball.

- to a moderate degree; fairly: he can get there easily enough | he seems nice enough.

- [with sentence adv.] used for emphasis: curiously enough, there is no mention of him.

<PHRASES>

□ enough is as good as a feast PROVERB moderation is more satisfying than excess.

□ enough is enough no more will be tolerated.

□ enough said there is no need to say more; all is understood.

<ORIGIN> Old English genōg, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch genoeg and German genug.

en papillote / papjt/ adj. & adv. (of food) cooked and served in a paper wrapper: [as postpositive adjective] fish en papillote.

<ORIGIN> French.

en passant / pasαnt pas/ adv. 1 by the way; incidentally: the singular distinction of being mentioned, en passant, in an Act of Parliament.

2 [CHESS] by the en passant rule.

<PHRASES>

□ en passant rule (or law) [CHESS] the rule that a pawn making a first move of two squares instead of one may nevertheless be immediately captured by an opposing pawn on the fifth rank.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: French, literally ‘in passing’.

en pension / psj/ adv. & adj. as a boarder or lodger in a small hotel or private house.

<ORIGIN> French (see pension^2).

en plein air / plεn ε/ adv. (chiefly with reference to painting) in the open air. See also PLEIN-AIR.

en pointe adj. & adv. see ON POINTE at pointe.

en poste / pst/ adv. in an official diplomatic position at a particular place.

<ORIGIN> French.

en primeur / prmə/ French /α pRimœR/ adj. & adv. (of wine) newly produced and made available.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘as being new’.

enprint /εnprnt/ n. BRITISH a standard-sized photographic print produced by printing the whole of a negative to a moderate enlargement.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from enlarged print.

en prise / priz/ adj. [predic.] [CHESS] (of a piece or pawn) in a position to be taken.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French.

enqueue v. (enqueues, enqueuing or enqueueing, enqueued) [with obj.] [COMPUTING] add (an item of data awaiting processing) to a queue of such items.

enquire v. [reporting v.] ask for information from someone: [no obj.] he enquired about cottages for sale | [with clause] I enquired where he lived | [with direct speech] ‘How well do you know Berlin?’ he enquired of Hencke.

- [no obj.] (enquire after) ask about the health and well-being of (someone): Angus enquired after her parents.

- [no obj.] (enquire for) ask to see or speak to (someone).

- [no obj.] (enquire into) investigate; look into: the task of political sociology is to enquire into the causes of political events.

<DERIVATIVES> enquirer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English enquere, from Old French enquerre, based on Latin inquirere (based on quaerere ‘seek’).

<USAGE> Usage guides have traditionally drawn a distinction between enquire and inquire, implying that, in British English at least, enquire is used for general senses of ‘ask’, while inquire is reserved for uses meaning ‘make a formal investigation’. In practice, however, enquire (and enquiry) is more common in British English while inquire (and inquiry) is more common in US English, but otherwise there is no readily discernible distinction in the way the two words are used.

enquiring adj. showing an interest in learning new things: an open, enquiring mind.

- (of a look) suggesting that information is sought: he sent her an enquiring glance.

<DERIVATIVES> enquiringly adv.

enquiry n. (pl. enquiries) an act of asking for information: the police were making enquiries in all the neighbouring pubs | [mass noun] her mind was buzzing with possible lines of enquiry.

- an official investigation.

enquiry agent n. BRITISH DATED a private detective.

enrage v. [with obj.] make (someone) very angry: the students were enraged at these new rules.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (formerly also as inrage): from French enrager, from en- ‘into’ + rage ‘rage, anger’.

enraged adj. very angry; furious: an enraged mob screamed abuse.

en rapport / rap/ adv. having a close and harmonious relationship.

<ORIGIN> French (see RAPPORT).

enrapt adj. fascinated; enthralled: the enrapt audience.

enrapture v. [with obj.] give intense pleasure or joy to: Ruth was enraptured by the sleeping child.

enrich v. [with obj.] 1 improve or enhance the quality or value of: her exposure to museums enriched her life in France.

- (usually as adj. enriched) increase the proportion of a particular isotope in (an element), especially that of the fissile isotope U-235 in uranium so as to make it more powerful or explosive: enriched uranium.

2 make (someone) wealthy or wealthier: top party members had enriched themselves.

<DERIVATIVES> enrichment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘make wealthy’): from Old French enrichir, from en- ‘in’ + riche ‘rich’.

enrobe v. [with obj.] 1 FORMAL dress in a robe or vestment.

2 coat (an item of food) in chocolate, a sauce, etc.

enrol /nrəl εn-/ (US enroll) v. (enrols, enrolling, enrolled) 1 [no obj.] officially register as a member of an institution or a student on a course: he enrolled in drama school | [with obj.] all entrants will be enrolled on new-style courses.

- [with obj.] recruit (someone) to perform a service: a campaign to enrol more foster carers.

- ARCHAIC write the name of (someone) on a list or register.

2 [with obj.] [LAW], HISTORICAL enter (a deed or other document) among the rolls of a court of justice.

<DERIVATIVES> enrollee n. enroller n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as inroll): from Old French enroller, from en- ‘in’ + rolle ‘a roll’ (names being originally written on a roll of parchment).

enrolment (US enrollment) n. [mass noun] the action of enrolling or being enrolled: the amount due must be paid on enrolment in October | [count noun] enrolments for teacher training have dropped off sharply.

- [count noun] NORTH AMERICAN the number of people enrolled at a school or college.

en route /n rut/ adv. during the course of a journey; on the way: he stopped in Turkey en route to Geneva.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French (see ROUTE).

en rule /εn rul/ n. BRITISH a short dash, the width of an en, used in punctuation.

ENSA /εnsə/ an organization which arranged variety entertainment for the British armed services during the Second World War.

<ORIGIN> acronym from Entertainments National Service Association.

Enschede /εnskəde/ a city in the Netherlands; pop. 149,600 (est. 2002).

ensconce /nskns εn-/ v. [with obj. and adverbial of place] establish or settle (someone) in a comfortable, safe place: Agnes ensconced herself in their bedroom.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the senses ‘fortify’ and ‘shelter within or behind a fortification’; formerly also as insconce): from EN-1, in-2 ‘in’ + SCONCE^2.

ensemble /nsmb(ə)l/ n. 1 a group of musicians, actors, or dancers who perform together: a Bulgarian folk ensemble.

- a piece of music or passage written for performance by a whole cast, choir, or group of instruments.

- [mass noun] the coordination between performers executing an ensemble passage: a high level of tuning and ensemble is guaranteed.

2 a group of items viewed as a whole rather than individually: the buildings in the square present a charming provincial ensemble.

- [usually in sing.] a set of clothes chosen to harmonize when worn together.

- chiefly [PHYSICS] a group of similar systems, or different states of the same system, often considered statistically.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adverb (long rare) meaning ‘at the same time’): from French, based on Latin insimul, from in- ‘in’ + simul ‘at the same time’. The noun dates from the mid 18th cent.

ensheath v. [with obj.] chiefly [BIOLOGY] enclose (an organism, tissue, structure, etc.) in a sheath.

<DERIVATIVES> ensheathment n.

enshrine v. [with obj. and adverbial of place] place (a revered or precious object) in an appropriate receptacle: relics are enshrined under altars.

- preserve (a right, tradition, or idea) in a form that ensures it will be protected and respected: the right of all workers to strike was enshrined in the new constitution.

<DERIVATIVES> enshrinement n.

enshroud /nrad εn-/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY envelop completely and hide from view: heavy grey clouds enshrouded the city.

ensiform /εnsfm/ adj. chiefly [BOTANY] shaped like a sword blade; long and narrow with sharp edges and a pointed tip.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin ensis ‘sword’ + -FORM.

ensiform cartilage n. another term for XIPHOID PROCESS.

ensign /εnsn/ n. 1 a flag or standard, especially a military or naval one indicating nationality.

- ARCHAIC a sign or emblem of a particular thing: all the ensigns of our greatness.

2 HISTORICAL a standard-bearer.

3 the lowest rank of commissioned officer in the US and some other navies, above chief warrant officer and below lieutenant.

- HISTORICAL the lowest rank of commissioned infantry officer in the British army.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French enseigne, from Latin insignia ‘signs of office’ (see INSIGNIA). Compare with ancient^2.

ensilage /εnsld εnsld/ n. another term for SILAGE.

■ v. another term for ENSILE.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from ensiler (see ENSILE).

ensile /εnsl/ v. [with obj.] put (grass or another crop) into a silo or silage clamp in order to preserve it as silage.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French ensiler, from Spanish ensilar, from en- ‘in’ + silo ‘silo’.

enslave v. [with obj.] make (someone) a slave.

- cause (someone) to lose their freedom of choice or action: they were enslaved by their need to take drugs.

<DERIVATIVES> enslaver n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘make (a person) subject to a superstition, passion, etc.’; formerly also as inslave): from EN-1, in-2

■ (as an intensifier) + SLAVE.

enslavement n. [mass noun] the action of making someone a slave; subjugation: the enslavement of millions of Africans.

ensnare v. [with obj.] catch in or as in a trap: they were ensnared in city centre traffic.

<DERIVATIVES> ensnarement n.

ensnarl v. [with obj.] cause to become caught up in complex difficulties or problems.

Ensor /εns/ James (Sydney), Baron (1860–1949), Belgian painter and engraver, noted for his macabre subjects. His work is significant both for symbolism and for the development of 20th-century expressionism.

ensorcell /nss(ə)l εn-/ (US also ensorcel) v. (ensorcells, ensorcelling, ensorcelled; US ensorcels, ensorceling, ensorceled) [with obj.] LITERARY enchant; fascinate.

<DERIVATIVES> ensorcellment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French ensorceler, alteration of ensorcerer, from sorcier ‘sorcerer’.

ensoul v. [with obj.] endow with a soul.

<DERIVATIVES> ensoulment n.

enstatite /εnstətt/ n. [mass noun] a translucent crystalline mineral that occurs in some igneous rocks and stony meteorites. It consists of magnesium silicate and is a member of the pyroxene group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek enstatēs ‘adversary’ (because of its refractory nature) + -ITE^1.

ensue v. (ensues, ensuing, ensued) [no obj.] happen or occur afterwards or as a result: the difficulties which ensued from their commitment to Cuba | (as adj. ensuing) there were repeated clashes in the ensuing days.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as insue): from Old French ensivre, from Latin insequi, based on sequi ‘follow’.

en suite /n swit/ adj. & adv. BRITISH (of a bathroom) immediately adjoining a bedroom and forming part of the same set of rooms.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘in agreement or harmony’): from French, literally ‘in sequence’.

ensure /n -ə εn-/ v. [with obj.] make certain that (something) will occur or be the case: [with clause] the client must ensure that accurate records are kept.

- make certain of obtaining or providing (something): legislation to ensure equal opportunities for all.

- [no obj.] (ensure against) make sure that (a problem) does not occur.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘convince’ and ‘make safe’): from Anglo-Norman French enseurer, alteration of Old French aseurer, earlier form of assurer (see ASSURE). Compare with INSURE.

<USAGE> On the difference between ensure and insure see usage at insure.

enswathe v. [with obj.] LITERARY envelop or wrap in a garment or piece of fabric.

ENT abbr. ear, nose, and throat (as a department in a hospital).

-ent suffix 1 (forming adjectives) denoting an occurrence of action: refluent.

- denoting a state: convenient.

2 (forming nouns) denoting an agent: coefficient.

<ORIGIN> from French, or from the Latin present participial verb stem -ent- (see also -ANT).

entablature /εntablətə n-/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] the upper part of a classical building supported by columns or a colonnade, comprising the architrave, frieze, and cornice.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (formerly also as intablature): from Italian intavolatura ‘boarding’ (partly via French entablement ‘entablement’), from intavolare ‘board up’ (based on tavola ‘table’).

entablement /εnteb(ə)lm(ə)nt n-/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] a platform supporting a statue, above the dado and base.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘entablature’): from French, based on table ‘table’.

entail v. [with obj.] 1 involve (something) as a necessary or inevitable part or consequence: a situation which entails considerable risks.

- [LOGIC] have as a logically necessary consequence.

2 [LAW] limit the inheritance of (property) over a number of generations so that ownership remains within a particular family or group: her father's estate was entailed on a cousin.

- ARCHAIC cause to experience or possess (something) permanently or inescapably: I cannot get rid of the disgrace which you have entailed upon us.

■ n. [LAW] a limitation of the inheritance of property to certain heirs over a number of generations.

- a property bequeathed under such conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> entailment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (referring to settlement of property; formerly also as intail): from EN-1, in-2 ‘into’ + Old French taille ‘notch, tax’ (see tail^2).

entamoeba /εntəmibə/ (US also entameba) n. (pl. entamoebae /-bi/ or entamoebas) an amoeba that typically lives harmlessly in the gut, though one kind can cause amoebic dysentery.

<INFO> Genus Entamoeba, phylum Rhizopoda, kingdom Protista.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek entos ‘within’ + AMOEBA.

entangle v. [with obj.] cause to become twisted together with or caught in: fish attempt to swim through the mesh and become entangled.

- involve (someone) in difficulties or complicated circumstances from which it is difficult to escape: they were suspicious of becoming entangled in a civil war.

entanglement n. [mass noun] the action or fact of entangling or being entangled: many dolphins die from entanglement in fishing nets.

- [count noun] a complicated or compromising relationship or situation: romantic entanglements.

- [count noun] an extensive barrier, typically made of barbed wire and stakes, erected to impede enemy soldiers or vehicles.

entasis /εntəss/ n. (pl. entases) [ARCHITECTURE] a slight convex curve in the shaft of a column, introduced to correct the visual illusion of concavity produced by a straight shaft.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek, from enteinein ‘to stretch or strain’.

Entebbe /εntεbi/ a town in southern Uganda, on the north shore of Lake Victoria; pop. 57,400 (est. 2002). It was the capital of Uganda during the period of British rule, from 1894 to 1962.

entelechy /εntεləki n-/ n. (pl. entelechies) [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the realization of potential.

- the supposed vital principle that guides the development and functioning of an organism or other system or organization.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek entelekheia (used by Aristotle), from en- ‘within’ + telos ‘end, perfection’ + ekhein ‘be in a certain state’.

entellus /ntεləs εn-/ (also entellus monkey) n. another term for HANUMAN.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of an aged Trojan in Virgil's Aeneid.

entelodont /εntεlədnt/ n. a large pig-like mammal of the Oligocene epoch with two bony knobs on its lower jaw.

<INFO> Suborder Suina, order Artiodactyla.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek entelēs ‘perfect’ + odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

entente /ntnt tt/ (also entente cordiale /kdαl/) n. a friendly understanding or informal alliance between states or factions: the emperor hoped to bring about an entente with Russia.

- a group of states in an informal alliance.

- (the Entente Cordiale) the understanding between Britain and France reached in 1904, forming the basis of Anglo-French cooperation in the First World War.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French entente (cordiale) ‘(friendly) understanding’.

enter v. 1 come or go into (a place): [with obj.] she entered the kitchen | [no obj.] the door opened and Karl entered.

- [no obj.] used as a stage direction to indicate when a character comes on stage: enter Hamlet.

- [with obj.] come or be introduced into: the thought never entered my head.

- [with obj.] penetrate (something): the bullet entered his stomach.

- [with obj.] (of a man) insert the penis into the vagina of (a woman).

2 [with obj.] begin to be involved in: in 1941 America entered the war.

- become a member of or start working in (an institution or profession): he entered the army as a cadet.

- register as a competitor or participant in a tournament, race, or examination: they won every race they entered | the horse was entered in the Martell Cup at Aintree.

- start or reach (a stage or period of time) in an activity or situation: the election campaign entered its final phase.

- [no obj.] (of a particular performer in an ensemble) start or resume playing or singing.

3 write or key (information) in a book, computer, etc.: children can enter the data into the computer.

4 [LAW] submit (a statement) in an official capacity: a solicitor entered a plea of guilty on her behalf.

■ n. (also enter key) a key on a computer keyboard which is used to perform various functions, such as executing a command or selecting options on a menu.

<PHRASES>

□ enter someone's head (or mind) [usually with negative] (of a thought or idea) occur to someone: the thought never entered my head!

□ enter into force come into effect: the treaty entered into force in 1975.

□ enter into the spirit of something begin to enjoy and feel part of a lively event or atmosphere: people entered into the spirit of the occasion.

□ enter someone's life (of a person or thing) start to play a significant part in someone's existence: Shiona had been sixteen when Jake entered her life.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ enter into become involved in (an activity or situation): they have entered into a relationship.

- undertake to bind oneself by (an agreement or other commitment): the council entered into an agreement with a private firm.

- form part of or be a factor in: medical ethics also enter into the question.

□ enter on/upon 1 FORMAL begin (an activity or job); start to pursue (a particular course in life): he entered upon a turbulent political career.

2 [LAW] (as a legal entitlement) go freely into (property) as or as if the owner.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French entrer, from Latin intrare, from intra ‘within’.

enteral /εntər(ə)l/ adj. MEDICINE involving or passing through the intestine, either naturally via the mouth and oesophagus, or through an artificial opening. Often contrasted with PARENTERAL.

<DERIVATIVES> enterally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek enteron ‘intestine’ + -AL, partly as a back-formation from PARENTERAL.

enteric /εntεrk/ adj. relating to or occurring in the intestines.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek enterikos, from enteron ‘intestine’.

enteric fever n. another term for TYPHOID or PARATYPHOID.

enteritis /εntərts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the intestine, especially the small intestine, usually accompanied by diarrhoea.

entero- combining form relating to the intestine: enterovirus.

<ORIGIN> from Greek enteron.

enterococcus /εntərəkk(ə)s/ n. (pl. enterococci /-kk(s) -k(s)i/) a streptococcus of a group that occurs naturally in the intestine but causes inflammation and blood infection if introduced elsewhere in the body (e.g. by injury or surgery).

<INFO> Genus Streptococcus (or Enterococcus); Gram-positive cocci.

enterocoel /εntərəsil/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a coelom or coelomic cavity, present in some invertebrates, which has developed from the wall of the archenteron.

<DERIVATIVES> enterocoelic adj. enterocoely n.

enterocolitis /εntərəkəlts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of both the small intestine and the colon.

enterocyte /εntərə()st/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a cell of the intestinal lining.

enterohepatic /εntərəhpαtk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to or denoting the circulation of bile salts and other secretions from the liver to the intestine, where they are reabsorbed into the blood and returned to the liver.

enteropathy /εntərpəθi/ n. [mass noun] (plural enteropathies) MEDICINE a disease of the intestine, especially the small intestine.

enterostomy /εntərstəmi/ n. (pl. enterostomies) an ileostomy or similar surgical operation in which the small intestine is diverted to an artificial opening in the abdominal wall or in another part of the intestine.

- an opening in the abdominal wall formed in this way.

enterotomy /εntərtəmi/ n. [mass noun] RARE the surgical cutting open of the intestine.

enterotoxaemia /εntərətksimiə/ (US enterotoxemia) n. [mass noun] chiefly [VETERINARY] blood poisoning caused by an enterotoxin.

enterotoxigenic /εntərətksdεnk/ adj. MEDICINE (of bacteria) producing an enterotoxin.

enterotoxin /εntərətksn/ n. MEDICINE a toxin produced in or affecting the intestines, such as those causing food poisoning or cholera.

enterovirus /εntərəvrəs/ n. MEDICINE any of a group of RNA viruses (including those causing polio and hepatitis A) which typically occur in the gastrointestinal tract, sometimes spreading to the central nervous system or other parts of the body.

enterprise n. 1 a project or undertaking, especially a bold or complex one: a joint enterprise between French and Japanese companies.

- [mass noun] initiative and resourcefulness: success came quickly, thanks to a mixture of talent, enterprise, and luck.

2 a business or company: a state-owned enterprise.

- [mass noun] entrepreneurial economic activity.

<DERIVATIVES> enterpriser n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, ‘something undertaken’, feminine past participle (used as a noun) of entreprendre, based on Latin prendere, prehendere ‘to take’.

enterprise zone n. an area in which state incentives such as tax concessions are offered to encourage business investment.

enterprising adj. having or showing initiative and resourcefulness: some enterprising teachers have started their own recycling programmes.

<DERIVATIVES> enterprisingly adv.

entertain v. [with obj.] 1 provide (someone) with amusement or enjoyment: a tremendous game that thoroughly entertained the crowd.

- receive (someone) as a guest and provide them with food and drink: a private dining room where members could entertain groups of friends.

2 give attention or consideration to (an idea or feeling): Washington entertained little hope of an early improvement in relations.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French entretenir, based on Latin inter ‘among’ + tenere ‘to hold’. The word originally meant ‘maintain, continue’, later ‘maintain in a certain condition, treat in a certain way’, also ‘show hospitality’ (late 15th century).

entertainer n. a person, such as a singer, dancer, or comedian, whose job is to entertain others.

entertaining adj. providing amusement or enjoyment: a charming and entertaining companion.

<DERIVATIVES> entertainingly adv.

entertainment n. [mass noun] the action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment: everyone just sits in front of the television for entertainment.

- [count noun] an event, performance, or activity designed to entertain others: a theatrical entertainment.

- the action of receiving a guest or guests and providing them with food and drink.

enthalpy /εnθ(ə)lpi εnθalpi/ n. [PHYSICS] a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the total heat content of a system. It is equal to the internal energy of the system plus the product of pressure and volume. (Symbol: H)

- the change in enthalpy associated with a particular chemical process.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Greek enthalpein ‘warm in’, from en- ‘within’ + thalpein ‘to heat’.

enthral /nθrl εn-/ (US enthrall) v. (enthrals, enthralling, enthralled) [with obj.] 1 capture the fascinated attention of: she had been so enthralled by the adventure that she had hardly noticed the cold.

2 (also inthrall) ARCHAIC enslave.

<DERIVATIVES> enthralment (US enthrallment) n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘enslave’; formerly also as inthrall): from EN-1, in-2

■ (as an intensifier) + THRALL.

enthralling /nθrl εn-/ adj. capturing and holding one's attention; fascinating: an enthralling best-seller.

enthrone v. [with obj.] install (a monarch or bishop) on a throne, especially during a ceremony to mark the beginning of their rule.

<DERIVATIVES> enthronement n.

enthuse /nθjuz εn-/ v. [no obj.] express eager enjoyment, interest, or approval regarding something: they both enthused over my new look.

- [with obj.] make (someone) interested and eagerly appreciative: public art is a tonic that can enthuse alienated youth.

<USAGE> The verb enthuse is formed as a back-formation from the noun enthusiasm and, like many verbs formed from nouns in this way (especially those originating from the US), it is regarded by traditionalists as unacceptable. It is difficult to see why: it is a perfectly respectable means for creating new words in the language (verbs like classify, commentate, and edit were also formed as back-formations from nouns, for example) and enthuse itself has now been in English for over 150 years.

enthusiasm n. [mass noun] 1 intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval: her energy and enthusiasm for life | few expressed enthusiasm about the current leaders.

- [count noun] something that arouses enthusiasm: the three enthusiasms of his life were politics, religion, and books.

2 ARCHAIC, DEROGATORY religious fervour supposedly resulting directly from divine inspiration, typically involving speaking in tongues and wild, uncoordinated movements of the body.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): from French enthousiasme, or via late Latin from Greek enthousiasmos, from enthous ‘possessed by a god, inspired’ (based on theos ‘god’).

enthusiast n. 1 a person who is very interested in a particular activity or subject: a sports car enthusiast.

2 ARCHAIC, DEROGATORY a person of intense and visionary Christian views.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a person believing that he or she is divinely inspired): from French enthousiaste or ecclesiastical Latin enthusiastes ‘member of a heretical sect’, from Greek enthousiastēs ‘person inspired by a god’, from the adjective enthous (see ENTHUSIASM).

enthusiastic adj. having or showing intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval: he could be wildly enthusiastic about a project.

<DERIVATIVES> enthusiastically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek enthousiastikos, from enthous ‘possessed by a god’ (see ENTHUSIASM).

enthymeme /εnθmim/ n. [LOGIC] an argument in which one premise is not explicitly stated.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek enthumēma, from enthumeisthai ‘consider’, from en- ‘within’ + thumos ‘mind’.

entice /nts εn-/ v. [with obj.] attract or tempt by offering pleasure or advantage: a show which should entice a new audience into the theatre | [with obj. and infinitive] the treat is offered to entice the dog to eat.

<DERIVATIVES> enticer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘incite, provoke’; formerly also as intice): from Old French enticier, probably from a base meaning ‘set on fire’, based on an alteration of Latin titio ‘firebrand’.

enticement /ntsm(ə)nt εn-/ n. something used to attract or to tempt someone; a lure: financial enticements.

- [mass noun] the quality of being attractive or tempting: despite the enticement of low prices, sales fell sharply from 2000's record level.

enticing /nts εn-/ adj. attractive or tempting; alluring: an enticing prospect.

<DERIVATIVES> enticingly adv.

entire /ntə εn-/ adj. 1 [attr.] with no part left out; whole: my plans are to travel the entire world.

- without qualification or reservations; absolute: an ideological system with which he is in entire agreement.

2 not broken, damaged, or decayed.

3 (of a male horse) not castrated.

4 [BOTANY] (of a leaf) without indentations or division into leaflets.

■ n. an uncastrated male horse.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as intire): from Old French entier, based on Latin integer ‘untouched, whole’, from in- ‘not’ + tangere ‘to touch’.

entirely adv. completely (often used for emphasis): the traffic seemed to consist entirely of black cabs | [as submodifier] we have an entirely different outlook.

- solely: eight coaches entirely for passenger transport.

entirety n. [mass noun] the whole of something: she would have to stay in her room for the entirety of the weekend.

<PHRASES>

□ in its entirety as a whole; completely: the poem is too long to quote in its entirety here.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French entierete, from Latin integritas, from integer ‘untouched, whole’ (see ENTIRE). Compare with INTEGRITY.

entisol /εntsl/ n. [GEOLOGY] a soil of an order comprising mineral soils that have not yet differentiated into distinct horizons.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from ENTIRE + -SOL.

entitle v. [with obj.] 1 (often be entitled to) give (someone) a legal right or a just claim to receive or do something: employees are normally entitled to redundancy pay | [with obj. and infinitive] the landlord is entitled to require references.

2 give (something) a particular title: a satire entitled ‘The Rise of the Meritocracy’.

- [with obj. and complement] ARCHAIC give (someone) a specified title expressing their rank, office, or character: they entitled him Sultan.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as intitle): via Old French from late Latin intitulare, from in- ‘in’ + Latin titulus ‘title’.

entitlement n. [mass noun] the fact of having a right to something: full entitlement to fees and maintenance should be offered.

- the amount to which a person has a right: annual leave entitlement.

entity /εntti/ n. (pl. entities) a thing with distinct and independent existence: Church and empire were fused in a single entity.

- [mass noun] existence; being: entity and nonentity.

<DERIVATIVES> entitative adj. (chiefly [PHILOSOPHY])

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting a thing's existence): from French entité or medieval Latin entitas, from late Latin ens, ent- ‘being’ (from esse ‘be’).

entomb /ntum εn-/ v. [with obj.] place (a dead body) in a tomb.

- bury or trap within something: many people died, most entombed in collapsed buildings.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as intomb): from Old French entomber, from en- ‘in’ + tombe ‘tomb’.

entombment n. [mass noun] the placing of a dead body in a tomb; interment: the entombment of Christ.

entomo- /εntəmə/ combining form of an insect; relating to insects: entomophagous.

<ORIGIN> from Greek entomon, neuter (denoting an insect) of entomos ‘cut up, segmented’.

entomology /εntəmlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of zoology concerned with the study of insects.

<DERIVATIVES> entomological /εntəməldk(ə)l/ adj. entomologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French entomologie or modern Latin entomologia, from Greek entomon (denoting an insect) + -logia (see -LOGY).

entomophagy /εntəmfədi/ n. [mass noun] the practice of eating insects, especially by people.

<DERIVATIVES> entomophagist n. entomophagous adj.

entomophilous /εntəmfləs/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a plant or flower) pollinated by insects.

<DERIVATIVES> entomophily n.

Entoprocta /εntə()prktə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small phylum of sedentary aquatic invertebrates that resemble moss animals. They have a rounded body on a long stalk, bearing a ring of tentacles for filtering food from the water.

<DERIVATIVES> entoproct n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek entos ‘within’ + prōktos ‘anus’, the anus being within the ring of tentacles.

entoptic /ntptk εn-/ adj. (of visual images) occurring or originating inside the eye.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek entos ‘within’ + OPTIC.

entourage /ntrα nt(ə)rα/ n. a group of people attending or surrounding an important person: an entourage of loyal courtiers.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from entourer ‘to surround’.

entr'acte /ntrakt -/ n. an interval between two acts of a play or opera.

- a piece of music or a dance performed during an interval.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from (earlier form of entracte), from entre ‘between’ + acte ‘act’.

entrails plural n. a person's or animal's intestines or internal organs, especially when removed or exposed.

- the innermost parts of something: digging copper out of the entrails of the earth.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French entrailles, from medieval Latin intralia, alteration of Latin interanea ‘internal things’, based on inter ‘among’.

entrain^1 /ntren εn-/ v. [no obj.] FORMAL board a train.

entrain^2 /ntren εn-/ v. [with obj.] 1 (of a current or fluid) incorporate and sweep along in its flow.

- FORMAL cause or bring about as a consequence.

2 [BIOLOGY] (of a rhythm or something which varies rhythmically) cause (another) gradually to fall into synchronism with it.

<DERIVATIVES> entrainment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘bring on as a consequence’): from French entraîner, from en- ‘in’ + traîner ‘to drag’.

entrain^3 /tra/ n. [mass noun] RARE enthusiasm or animation.

<ORIGIN> French, from the phrase être en train (de) ‘be in the process (of), be in action’.

entrammel /ntram(ə)l εn-/ v. (entrammels, entrammelling, entrammelled; US entrammels, entrammeling, entrammeled) [with obj.] LITERARY entangle; trap.

entrance^1 /εntr(ə)ns/ n. 1 an opening, such as a door, passage, or gate, that allows access to a place.

2 [usually in sing.] an act or instance of entering somewhere: at their abrupt entrance he rose to his feet | their entrance into the political arena.

- [usually in sing.] the coming of an actor or performer on to a stage: her final entrance is as a triumphant princess.

- [mass noun] the right, means, or opportunity to enter somewhere or be a member of an institution, society, or other body: about fifty people attempted to gain entrance | [as modifier] an entrance examination.

<PHRASES>

□ make an (or one's) entrance (of an actor or performer) come on stage.

- enter somewhere in a conspicuous or impressive way: she slowly counted to ten before making her entrance.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘right or opportunity of admission’): from Old French, from entrer ‘enter’.

entrance^2 /ntrαns εn-/ v. [with obj.] fill (someone) with wonder and delight, holding their entire attention: I was entranced by the city's beauty | (as adj. entrancing) an entrancing girl.

- cast a spell on: Orpheus entranced the wild beasts.

<DERIVATIVES> entrancement n. entrancingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (formerly also as intrance): from EN-1, in-2 ‘into’ + TRANCE.

entrant n. a person or group that enters or takes part in something.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a person taking legal possession of land or property): from French, literally ‘entering’, present participle of entrer (see ENTER).

entrap v. (entraps, entrapping, entrapped) [with obj.] catch in or as in a trap: discarded fishing lines can entrap wildlife.

- trick (someone) into committing a crime in order to secure their prosecution.

<DERIVATIVES> entrapment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French entraper, from en- ‘in’ + trappe ‘a trap’.

en travesti / travεsti/ adv. & adj. dressed as a member of the opposite sex for a theatrical role.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘(dressed) in disguise’.

entreat v. 1 [reporting v.] ask someone earnestly or anxiously to do something: [with obj. and infinitive] his friends entreated him not to go | (as adj. entreating) his entreating eyes.

- [with obj.] ask earnestly or anxiously for (something): a message had been sent, entreating aid for the Navahos.

2 [with obj. and adverbial] ARCHAIC treat (someone) in a specified manner: the King, I fear, hath ill entreated her.

<DERIVATIVES> entreatingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘treat, act towards (someone)’; formerly also as intreat): from Old French entraitier, based on traitier ‘to treat’, from Latin tractare ‘to handle’.

entreaty n. (pl. entreaties) an earnest or humble request: the king turned a deaf ear to his entreaties.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘treatment, management’; formerly also as intreaty): from ENTREAT, on the pattern of treaty.

entrechat /trəα/ n. [BALLET] a vertical jump during which the dancer repeatedly crosses the feet and beats them together.

<ORIGIN> French, from Italian (capriola) intrecciata ‘complicated (caper)’.

entrecôte /ntrəkət/ n. a boned steak cut off the sirloin.

<ORIGIN> French, from entre ‘between’ + côte ‘rib’.

entrée /ntre/ n. 1 the main course of a meal.

- BRITISH a dish served between the first and main courses at a formal dinner.

2 the right to enter or join a particular sphere or group: an actress with an entrée into the intellectual society of Berlin.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting a piece of instrumental music forming the first part of a suite): French, feminine past participle of entrer ‘enter’ (see ENTRY).

entremets /ntrəme/ n. a light dish served between two courses of a formal meal.

<ORIGIN> French, from entre ‘between’ + mets ‘dish’.

entrench v. 1 [with obj.] establish (an attitude, habit, or belief) so firmly that change is very difficult or unlikely: ageism is entrenched in our society.

- establish (someone) in a position of great strength or security.

- apply extra legal safeguards to (a right guaranteed by legislation).

2 [with obj.] establish (a military force) in trenches or other fortified positions.

3 [no obj.] (entrench on/upon) ARCHAIC encroach or trespass on.

<DERIVATIVES> entrenchment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘place within a trench’): from EN-1, in-2 ‘into’ + TRENCH.

entrenched adj. (of an attitude, habit, or belief) firmly established and difficult or unlikely to change; ingrained: an entrenched resistance to change.

entre nous /trə nu/ adv. between ourselves; privately: entre nous, the old man's a bit of a case.

<ORIGIN> French.

entrepôt /ntrəpə/ n. a port, city, or other centre to which goods are brought for import and export, and for collection and distribution.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: French, from entreposer ‘to store’, from entre ‘among’ + poser ‘to place’.

entrepreneur /ntrəprənə/ n. a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.

- a promoter in the entertainment industry.

<DERIVATIVES> entrepreneurism n. entrepreneurship n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting the director of a musical institution): from French, from entreprendre ‘undertake’ (see ENTERPRISE).

entrepreneurial /ntrəprənərəl -njərəl/ adj. characterized by the taking off financial risks in the hope of profit; enterprising: an entrepreneurial culture | our entrepreneurial spirit thrives on meeting the next challenge.

<DERIVATIVES> entrepreneurialism n. entrepreneurially adv.

entresol /ntrəsl/ n. a low storey between the ground floor and the first floor of a building; a mezzanine floor.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: French, from Spanish entresuelo, from entre ‘between’ + suelo ‘storey’.

entrism n. variant form of ENTRYISM.

entropion /ntrəpən εn-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which the eyelid is rolled inward against the eyeball, typically caused by muscle spasm or by inflammation or scarring of the conjunctiva (as in diseases such as trachoma), and resulting in irritation of the eye by the lashes (trichiasis).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from EN-2 ‘inside’, on the pattern of ectropion.

entropy /εntrəpi/ n. [mass noun] 1 [PHYSICS] a thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system's thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder or randomness in the system. (Symbol: S)

2 lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder: a marketplace where entropy reigns supreme.

3 (in information theory) a logarithmic measure of the rate of transfer of information in a particular message or language.

<DERIVATIVES> entropic /-trpk/ adj. entropically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from EN-2 ‘inside’ + Greek tropē ‘transformation’.

entrust v. [with obj.] assign the responsibility for doing something to (someone): I've been entrusted with the task of getting him safely back.

- put (something) into someone's care or protection: you persuade people to entrust their savings to you.

<DERIVATIVES> entrustment n.

entry n. (pl. entries) 1 an act of going or coming in: the door was locked, but he forced an entry.

- a place of entrance, such as a door or lobby.

- DIALECT a passage between buildings.

- [mass noun] the right, means, or opportunity to enter a place or be a member of something: people seeking entry to Australia.

- [mass noun] the action of entering something: more young people are postponing their entry into full-time work.

- [MUSIC] the point at which a particular performer in an ensemble starts or resumes playing or singing.

- [BRIDGE] a card providing an opportunity to transfer the lead to a particular hand.

- (also entry into possession) [mass noun] [LAW] the action of taking up the legal right to property.

2 an item written or printed in a diary, list, account book, or reference book.

- [mass noun] the action of recording an item in a diary, list, etc.: sophisticated features to help ensure accurate data entry.

3 a person or thing competing in a race or competition: from the hundreds of entries we received, twelve winners were finally chosen.

- [in sing.] the number of competitors in a particular race or competition.

- [mass noun] the action of participating in a race or competition.

4 the forward part of a ship's hull below the waterline, considered in terms of breadth or narrowness.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French entree, based on Latin intrata, feminine past participle of intrare (see ENTER).

entry form n. an application form for a competition.

entryism (also entrism) n. [mass noun] the infiltration of a political party by members of another group, with the intention of subverting its policies or objectives.

<DERIVATIVES> entryist n.

entry-level adj. (of a product) suitable for a beginner or first-time user; basic: entry-level computers.

- chiefly US at the lowest level in an employment hierarchy.

entryphone n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a type of intercom at the entrance to a building by which visitors are required to identify themselves before the door is unlocked by an internal device.

entryway n. NORTH AMERICAN a way in to somewhere or something; an entrance.

entry wound n. a wound made by a bullet or other missile at the point where it entered the body.

ents plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL social and leisure activities organized for the benefit of students, holidaymakers, etc.: getting involved in running ents can be fun.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: abbreviation of entertainments.

entwine v. [with obj.] wind or twist together; interweave: they lay entwined in each other's arms | FIGURATIVE the nations' histories were closely entwined.

<DERIVATIVES> entwinement n.

enucleate /njuklet/ v. [with obj.] 1 [BIOLOGY] remove the nucleus from (a cell).

2 surgically remove (a tumour or gland, or the eyeball) intact from its surrounding capsule.

■ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of a cell) lacking a nucleus.

<DERIVATIVES> enucleation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘clarify, explain’): from Latin enucleat- ‘extracted, made clear’, from the verb enucleare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + nucleus ‘kernel’ (see NUCLEUS).

E-number n. BRITISH a code number preceded by the letter E, denoting food additives numbered in accordance with EU directives.

- INFORMAL a food additive.

enumerable /njum(ə)rəb(ə)l/ adj. [MATHEMATICS] able to be counted by one-to-one correspondence with the set of all positive integers.

enumerate /njuməret/ v. [with obj.] mention (a number of things) one by one: there is not space to enumerate all his works.

- FORMAL establish the number of: 6,079 residents were enumerated in 241 establishments.

<DERIVATIVES> enumeration n. enumerative adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin enumerat- ‘counted out’, from the verb enumerare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + numerus ‘number’.

enumerator n. a person employed in taking a census of the population.

enunciate /nnset/ v. [with obj.] say or pronounce clearly: she enunciated each word slowly.

- express (a proposition, theory, etc.) in clear or definite terms: a written document enunciating this policy.

<DERIVATIVES> enunciation n. enunciative adj. enunciator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as enunciation): from Latin enuntiat- ‘announced clearly’, from the verb enuntiare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + nuntiare ‘announce’ (from nuntius ‘messenger’).

enure /njə nj/ v. 1 [no obj.] (enure for/to) [LAW] (of a right or other advantage) belong or be available to.

2 variant spelling of INURE.

enuresis /εnjəriss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE involuntary urination, especially by children at night.

<DERIVATIVES> enuretic adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek enourein ‘urinate in’, from en- ‘in’ + ouron ‘urine’.

envelop /nvεləp εn-/ v. (envelops, enveloping, enveloped) [with obj.] wrap up, cover, or surround completely: a figure enveloped in a black cloak | FIGURATIVE a feeling of despair enveloped him.

<DERIVATIVES> envelopment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as invelop(e)): from Old French envoluper, from en- ‘in’ + a second element (also found in DEVELOP) of unknown origin.

envelope /εnvələp n-/ n. 1 a flat paper container with a sealable flap, used to enclose a letter or document.

2 a covering or containing structure or layer: the external envelope of the swimming pool.

- the outer metal or glass housing of a vacuum tube, electric light, etc.

- the structure within a balloon or non-rigid airship containing the gas.

- [MICROBIOLOGY] a membrane which forms the outer layer of certain viruses.

- [ELECTRONICS] a curve joining the successive peaks of a modulated wave.

- [MATHEMATICS] a curve or surface tangent to each of a family of curves or surfaces.

<PHRASES>

□ the back of an envelope used in reference to calculations or plans of the most sketchy kind: a proposal drawn up on the back of an envelope.

□ push the envelope (or the edge of the envelope) approach or extend the limits of what is possible: these are extremely witty and clever stories that consistently push the envelope of TV comedy. [<ORIGIN> originally aviation slang, relating to graphs of aerodynamic performance.]

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘wrapper, enveloping layer’; originally as envelope): from French enveloppe, from envelopper ‘envelop’. The sense ‘covering of a letter’ dates from the early 18th cent.

envenom /nvεnəm εn-/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC put poison on or into; make poisonous.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (formerly also as invenom): from Old French envenimer, from en- ‘in’ + venim ‘venom’.

envenomate v. [with obj.] [ZOOLOGY] & MEDICINE (of a snake, spider, insect, etc.) poison by biting or stinging.

<DERIVATIVES> envenomation n.

en ventre sa mère / vtrə sa mε/ adv. & adj. [LAW] in the mother's womb.

<ORIGIN> French.

Enver Pasha /εnvə pαə/ (1881–1922), Turkish political and military leader. A leader of the Young Turks in 1908, he came to power as part of a ruling triumvirate following a coup d'état in 1913.

enviable /εnvəb(ə)l/ adj. arousing or likely to arouse envy: the firm is in the enviable position of having a full order book.

<DERIVATIVES> enviably adv.

envious adj. feeling or showing envy: I'm envious of their happiness | an envious glance.

<DERIVATIVES> enviously adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French envieus, from envie ‘envy’, on the pattern of Latin invidiosus ‘invidious’.

enviro /nvrə/ n. (pl. enviros)

■ short for ENVIRONMENTALIST.

■ adj. short for environmental.

environ /nvrən εn-/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL surround; enclose.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (formerly also as inviron): from Old French environer, from environ ‘surroundings’, from en ‘in’ + viron ‘circuit’ (from virer ‘to turn, veer’).

environment n. 1 the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates: survival in an often hostile environment.

- [usually with modifier] the setting or conditions in which a particular activity is carried on: a good learning environment.

- [with modifier] [COMPUTING] the overall structure within which a user, computer, or program operates: a desktop development environment.

2 (the environment) the natural world, as a whole or in a particular geographical area, especially as affected by human activity.

environmental adj. 1 relating to the natural world and the impact of human activity on its condition: acid rain may have caused major environmental damage.

- aiming or designed to promote the protection of the natural world: environmental tourism.

2 relating to or arising from a person's surroundings: environmental noise.

<DERIVATIVES> environmentally adv.

environmental audit n. an assessment of the extent to which an organization is observing practices which minimize harm to the environment.

environmentalist n. 1 a person who is concerned about protecting the environment.

2 a person who considers that environment, as opposed to heredity, has the primary influence on the development of a person or group.

<DERIVATIVES> environmentalism n.

Environmentally Sensitive Area (abbr.: ESA) n. (in the UK) an area officially designated as containing landscapes or wildlife that would be threatened by unrestricted development.

environs plural n. the surrounding area or district: the picturesque environs of the loch.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, plural of environ (see ENVIRON).

envisage /nvzd εn-/ v. [with obj.] contemplate or conceive of as a possibility or a desirable future event: the Rome Treaty envisaged free movement across frontiers.

- form a mental picture of (something not yet existing or known): he knew what he liked but had difficulty envisaging it.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French envisager, from en- ‘in’ + visage ‘face’.

envision v. [with obj.] imagine as a future possibility; visualize: she envisioned the admiring glances of guests seeing her home.

envoi /εnv/ (also envoy) n. 1 a short stanza concluding a ballade.

2 LITERARY an author's concluding words.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French envoi, from envoyer ‘send’ (see ENVOY).

envoy /εnv/ n. 1 a messenger or representative, especially one on a diplomatic mission.

2 (also envoy extraordinary) a minister plenipotentiary, ranking below ambassador and above chargé d'affaires.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French envoyé, past participle of envoyer ‘send’, from en voie ‘on the way’, based on Latin via ‘way’.

envy n. (pl. envies) [mass noun] a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck: she felt a twinge of envy for the people on board.

- (the envy of) a person or thing that inspires envy: France has a film industry that is the envy of Europe.

■ v. (envies, envying, envied) [with obj.] desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable thing belonging to (someone else): he envied people who did not have to work at the weekends | [with two objs] I envy Jane her happiness.

- desire for oneself (something belonging to another): a lifestyle which most of us would envy.

<DERIVATIVES> envier n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘hostility, enmity’): from Old French envie (noun), envier (verb), from Latin invidia, from invidere ‘regard maliciously, grudge’, from in- ‘into’ + videre ‘to see’.

enwrap (also inwrap) v. (enwraps, enwrapping, enwrapped) [with obj.] wrap; envelop.

- engross or absorb (someone): they were enwrapped in conversation.

enwreathe (also inwreathe) v. [with obj.] LITERARY surround or envelop (something).

Enzed /εnzεd/ n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL New Zealand or a New Zealander.

<DERIVATIVES> Enzedder n.

<ORIGIN> representing a pronunciation of the initials N Z.

enzootic /εnzətk/ adj. (of a disease) regularly affecting animals in a particular district or at a particular season. Compare with EPIZOOTIC, endemic (sense 1 of the adjective).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from EN-2 ‘within’ + Greek zōion ‘animal’ + -IC.

enzyme /εnzm/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance produced by a living organism which acts as a catalyst to bring about a specific biochemical reaction.

Most enzymes are proteins with large complex molecules whose action depends on their particular molecular shape. Some enzymes control reactions within cells and some, such as the enzymes involved in digestion, outside them.

<DERIVATIVES> enzymatic adj. enzymic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from modern Greek enzumos ‘leavened’, from en- ‘within’ + Greek zumē ‘leaven’.

enzymology n. [mass noun] the branch of biochemistry concerned with enzymes.

<DERIVATIVES> enzymological adj. enzymologist n.

EOC abbr. (in the UK) Equal Opportunities Commission.

Eocene /iə()sin/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the second epoch of the Tertiary period, between the Palaeocene and Oligocene epochs.

- (as n. the Eocene) the Eocene epoch or the system of rocks deposited during it.

The Eocene epoch lasted from 56.5 to 35.4 million years ago. It was a time of rising temperatures, and there was an abundance of mammals, including the first horses, bats, and whales.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek ēōs ‘dawn’ + kainos ‘new’.

EOF abbr. [COMPUTING] end of file.

eohippus /iəhpəs/ n. (pl. eohippuses)

■ former term for HYRACOTHERIUM.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek ēōs ‘dawn’ + hippos ‘horse’.

eo ipso /eə psə/ adv. FORMAL by that very act or quality; thereby: such a grand theory would eo ipso give an account of how we communicate using language.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ablative of id ipsum ‘the thing itself’.

EOKA /eəkə/ a Greek-Cypriot liberation movement active in Cyprus in the 1950s and in the early 1970s, which fought for the independence of Cyprus from Britain and for its eventual union with Greece.

<ORIGIN> acronym from Greek Ethnikē Organōsis Kupriakou Agōnos ‘National Organization of Cypriot Struggle’.

eolith /iə()lθ/ n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a roughly chipped flint found in Tertiary strata, originally thought to be an early artefact but probably of natural origin.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek ēōs ‘dawn’ + lithos ‘stone’.

Eolithic /iə()lθk/ adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY], DATED relating to or denoting a period at the beginning of the Stone Age, preceding the Palaeolithic and characterized by the earliest crude stone tools.

- (as n. the Eolithic) the Eolithic period.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French éolithique, from Greek ēōs ‘dawn’ + lithikos (from lithos ‘stone’).

Eos /is/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the Greek goddess of the dawn. Roman equivalent AURORA.

eosin /iə()sn/ n. [mass noun] a red fluorescent dye that is a bromine derivative of fluorescein, or one of its salts or other derivatives.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek ēōs ‘dawn’ + -IN^1.

eosinophil /iə()snəfl/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a white blood cell containing granules that are readily stained by eosin.

eosinophilia /iə()snəfliə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an increase in the number of eosinophils in the blood, occurring in response to some allergens, drugs, and parasites, and in some types of leukaemia.

eosinophilic adj. 1 [PHYSIOLOGY] (of a cell or its contents) readily stained by eosin.

2 MEDICINE relating to or marked by eosinophilia.

EOT abbr.

- [COMPUTING] end of tape.

- [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] end of transmission.

-eous suffix (forming adjectives) resembling; displaying the nature of: aqueous | erroneous.

<ORIGIN> from the Latin suffix -eus + -OUS.

EP abbr.

- electroplate.

- European Parliament.

- extended-play (of a record or compact disc): an EP of remixes.

- extreme pressure (used in grading lubricants).

Ep. abbr. Epistle.

ep- /εp p ip/ prefix variant spelling of EPI- shortened before a vowel or h (as in eparch, ephod).

e.p. abbr. [CHESS] en passant.

EPA abbr. (in the US) Environmental Protection Agency.

epact /ipakt/ n. the number of days by which the solar year exceeds the lunar year.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting the age of the moon in days at the beginning of the calendar year): from French épacte, via late Latin from Greek epaktai (hēmerai) ‘intercalated (days)’, from epagein ‘bring in’, from epi ‘in addition’ + agein ‘bring’.

eparch /εpαk/ n. the chief bishop of an eparchy.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting the governor of an administrative division of Greece): from Greek eparkhos, from epi ‘above’ + arkhos ‘ruler’.

eparchy /εpαki/ n. (pl. eparchies) a province of the Orthodox Church.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek eparkhia, from eparkhos (see EPARCH).

épater /epate/ French /epate/ v. (in phrase épater les bourgeois) shock people who have attitudes or views perceived as conventional or complacent.

<ORIGIN> French.

epaulette /εpəlεt -pl- εpəlεt/ (US also epaulet) n. an ornamental shoulder piece on an item of clothing, especially on the coat or jacket of a military uniform.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French épaulette, diminutive of épaule ‘shoulder’, from Latin spatula in the late Latin sense ‘shoulder blade’.

epaxial /εpaksəl/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] situated on the dorsal side of an axis: epaxial muscles.

épée /epe εp-/ n. a sharp-pointed duelling sword, used, with the end blunted, in fencing.

<DERIVATIVES> épéeist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, ‘sword’, from Old French espee (see SPAY).

epeirogeny /prdəni/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the regional uplift of an extensive area of the earth's crust.

<DERIVATIVES> epeirogenesis n. epeirogenic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek ēpeiros ‘mainland’ + -GENY.

ependyma /εpεndmə/ n. [mass noun] [ANATOMY] the thin membrane of glial cells lining the ventricles of the brain and the central canal of the spinal cord.

<DERIVATIVES> ependymal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek ependuma, from ependuein ‘put on over’.

epenthesis /εpεnθss/ n. (pl. epentheses /-siz/) [mass noun] the insertion of a sound or letter within a word, e.g. the b in thimble.

<DERIVATIVES> epenthetic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via late Latin from Greek, from epentithenai ‘insert’, from epi ‘in addition’ + en- ‘within’ + tithenai ‘to place’.

epergne /pən/ n. an ornamental centrepiece for a dining table, typically used for holding fruit or flowers.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps an altered form of French épargne ‘saving, economy’.

epexegesis /εpεksdiss/ n. (pl. epexegeses /-siz/) [mass noun] the addition of words to clarify meaning.

<DERIVATIVES> epexegetic /-dεtk/ adj. epexegetical adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek epexēgēsis, from epi ‘in addition’ + exēgēsis ‘explanation’ (see EXEGESIS).

Eph. abbr. Epistle to the Ephesians (in biblical references).

ephah /ifə/ n. an ancient Hebrew dry measure equivalent to the bath (of about 40 litres or 9 gallons).

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew 'ēāh, probably from Egyptian.

ephebe /εfib - εfib/ n. (in ancient Greece) a young man of 18–20 years undergoing military training.

<DERIVATIVES> ephebic adj.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek ephēbos, from epi ‘near to’ + hēbē ‘early manhood’.

ephedra /εfεdrə/ n. an evergreen shrub of warm arid regions which has trailing or climbing stems and tiny scale-like leaves.

<INFO> Family Ephedraceae and genus Ephedra.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin, ‘equisetum’ (which it resembles), from Greek.

ephedrine /εfədrin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a crystalline alkaloid drug obtained from some ephedras. It causes constriction of the blood vessels and widening of the bronchial passages, and is used to relieve asthma and hay fever.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_10H_15NO.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from EPHEDRA + -INE^4.

ephemera /fεm(ə)rə -fim-/ plural n. things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time.

- collectable items that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity: Mickey Mouse ephemera.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: plural of ephemeron, from Greek, neuter of ephēmeros ‘lasting only a day’. As a singular noun the word originally denoted a plant said by ancient writers to last only one day, or an insect with a short lifespan, and hence was applied (late 18th century) to a person or thing of short-lived interest. Current use has been influenced by plurals such as trivia and memorabilia.

ephemeral adj. lasting for a very short time.

- (chiefly of plants) having a very short life cycle.

■ n. an ephemeral plant.

<DERIVATIVES> ephemerality n. ephemerally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek ephēmeros (see EPHEMERA) + -AL.

ephemeris /fεm(ə)rs -fim-/ n. (pl. ephemerides /εfmεrdiz/) [ASTRONOMY] & [ASTROLOGY] a table or data file giving the calculated positions of a celestial object at regular intervals throughout a period.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin, from Greek ephēmeros ‘lasting only a day’.

ephemerist n. a person who collects ephemera.

ephemeris time n. time on a scale defined by the orbital period rather than the axial rotation of the earth.

Ephemeroptera /fεmərptərə -fim-/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of insects that comprises the mayflies.

- (ephemeroptera) insects of the Ephemeroptera order; mayflies.

<DERIVATIVES> ephemeropteran n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Ephemera (genus name) + pteron ‘wing’.

Ephesians, Epistle to the /fi(ə)nz/ a book of the New Testament ascribed to St Paul consisting of an epistle to the Church at Ephesus.

Ephesus /εfsəs/ an ancient Greek city on the west coast of Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey, site of the temple of Diana, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was an important centre of early Christianity; St Paul preached there and St John is traditionally said to have lived there.

ephod /ifd εfd/ n. (in ancient Israel) a sleeveless garment worn by Jewish priests.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Hebrew 'ēō.

ephor /εf/ n. (in ancient Greece) each of five senior Spartan magistrates.

<DERIVATIVES> ephorate n.

<ORIGIN> from Greek ephoros ‘overseer’, from epi ‘above’ + the base of horan ‘see’.

ephyra /εfrə/ n. (pl. ephyrae /-ri/) [ZOOLOGY] a larval jellyfish, after separation from the scyphistoma.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek Ephura, denoting a Nereid and an Oceanid.

epi- (also ep-) prefix 1 upon: epigraph.

2 above: epicontinental.

3 in addition: epiphenomenon.

<ORIGIN> from Greek epi ‘upon, near to, in addition’.

epibenthos /εpbεnθs/ n. [mass noun] [ECOLOGY] the flora and fauna living on the surface of the bottom of a sea or lake.

<DERIVATIVES> epibenthic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek epi ‘upon’ + benthos ‘depth of the sea’.

epiblast /εpblast/ n. [ANATOMY] the outermost layer of an embryo before it differentiates into ectoderm and mesoderm.

epic n. 1 a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the past history of a nation.

- [mass noun] the genre of epics: the romances display gentler emotions not found in Greek epic.

- a long film, book, or other work portraying heroic deeds and adventures or covering an extended period of time: a Hollywood biblical epic.

2 INFORMAL an exceptionally long and arduous task or activity: the business of getting hospital treatment soon became an epic.

■ adj. 1 relating to or characteristic of an epic or epics: our national epic poem Beowulf.

2 heroic or grand in scale or character: his epic journey around the world | a tragedy of epic proportions.

<DERIVATIVES> epical adj. epically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as an adjective): via Latin from Greek epikos, from epos ‘word, song’, related to eipein ‘say’.

epicanthic adj. denoting a fold of skin from the upper eyelid covering the inner angle of the eye, typical in many peoples of eastern Asia and found as a congenital abnormality elsewhere.

epicardium /εpkαdəm/ n. [mass noun] [ANATOMY] a serous membrane that forms the innermost layer of the pericardium, attached to the muscles of the wall of the heart.

<DERIVATIVES> epicardial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from EPI- ‘above’ + Greek kardia ‘heart’, on the pattern of pericardium.

epicarp /εpkαp/ n. [BOTANY] the outermost layer of the pericarp.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from EPI- + a shortened form of PERICARP.

epicedium /εpsidəm/ n. (pl. epicedia /-də/) FORMAL a funeral ode.

<DERIVATIVES> epicedian adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally in the anglicized form epicede and the Greek form epicedeon): from Latin, from Greek epikēdeion, neuter of epokēdeios ‘of a funeral’ (based on kēdos ‘care, grief’).

epicene /εpsin/ adj. having characteristics of both sexes or no characteristics of either sex; of indeterminate sex: the sort of epicene beauty peculiar to boys of a certain age.

- effeminate; effete: the actor infused the role with an epicene languor.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a grammatical term): via late Latin from Greek epikoinos (based on koinos ‘common’).

epicentre (US epicenter) n. the point on the earth's surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake.

- the central point of something, typically a difficult or unpleasant situation: the epicentre of labour militancy was the capital itself.

<DERIVATIVES> epicentral adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek epikentros ‘situated on a centre’, from epi ‘upon’ + kentron ‘centre’.

epicondyle /εpkndl/ n. [ANATOMY] a protuberance above or on the condyle of a long bone, especially either of the two at the elbow end of the humerus.

<DERIVATIVES> epicondylar adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French épicondyle, modern Latin epicondylus (see EPI-, condyle).

epicondylitis /εpkndlts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a painful inflammation of tendons surrounding an epicondyle; tennis elbow.

epicontinental adj. denoting those areas of sea or ocean overlying the continental shelf.

epicormic /εpkmk/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a shoot or branch) growing from a previously dormant bud on the trunk or a limb of a tree.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EPI- ‘upon’ + Greek kormos ‘tree trunk’.

epicotyl /εpktl/ n. [BOTANY] the region of an embryo or seedling stem above the cotyledon.

epicritic /εpkrtk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to or denoting those sensory nerve fibres of the skin which are capable of fine discrimination of touch or temperature stimuli. Often contrasted with PROTOPATHIC.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek epikritikos ‘giving judgement over’, from epi ‘upon or over’ + krinein ‘to judge’.

Epictetus /εpktitəs/ (c.55–c.135 AD), Greek philosopher. Originally a slave, he preached the common brotherhood of man and advocated a Stoic philosophy.

epicure /εpkjə εpkj/ n. a person who takes particular pleasure in fine food and drink.

<DERIVATIVES> epicurism n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a disciple of EPICURUS): via medieval Latin from Greek Epikouros ‘Epicurus’.

Epicurean /εpkj(ə)riən/ n. 1 a disciple or student of the Greek philosopher Epicurus.

2 (epicurean) a person devoted to sensual enjoyment, especially that derived from fine food and drink.

■ adj. 1 relating to Epicurus or his ideas: Epicurean philosophers.

2 (epicurean) relating to or suitable for an epicure: epicurean feasts.

Epicureanism /εpkjəriənz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] an ancient school of philosophy founded in Athens by Epicurus. The school rejected determinism and advocated hedonism (pleasure as the highest good), but of a restrained kind: mental pleasure was regarded more highly than physical, and the ultimate pleasure was held to be freedom from anxiety and mental pain, especially that arising from needless fear of death and of the gods.

Epicurus /εpkjərəs/ (341–270 BC), Greek philosopher, founder of Epicureanism. His physics is based on Democritus' theory of a materialist universe composed of indestructible atoms moving in a void, unregulated by divine providence.

epicuticle /εpkjutk(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] the thin, waxy protective outer layer covering the surfaces of some plants, fungi, and insects and other arthropods.

<DERIVATIVES> epicuticular adj.

epicycle /εpsk(ə)l/ n. [GEOMETRY] a small circle whose centre moves round the circumference of a larger one.

- HISTORICAL an epicycle used to describe planetary orbits in the Ptolemaic system.

<DERIVATIVES> epicyclic adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or via late Latin from Greek epikuklos, from epi ‘upon’ + kuklos ‘circle’.

epicycloid /εpskld/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a curve traced by a point on the circumference of a circle rolling on the exterior of another circle.

<DERIVATIVES> epicycloidal adj.

Epidaurus /εpdrəs/ an ancient Greek city and port on the NE coast of the Peloponnese. Greek name Epídhavros /εpiavrs/.

epideictic /εpdektk -dktk/ adj. FORMAL characterized by or designed to display rhetorical or oratorical skill.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek epideiktikos (based on deiknunai ‘to show’).

epidemic n. a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time: a flu epidemic.

- a sudden, widespread occurrence of an undesirable phenomenon: an epidemic of violent crime.

■ adj. of the nature of an epidemic: shoplifting has reached epidemic proportions. Compare with ENDEMIC, PANDEMIC, EPIZOOTIC.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as an adjective): from French épidémique, from épidémie, via late Latin from Greek epidēmia ‘prevalence of disease’, from epidēmios ‘prevalent’, from epi ‘upon’ + dēmos ‘the people’.

epidemiology /εpdimlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of medicine which deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health.

<DERIVATIVES> epidemiologic adj. epidemiological adj. epidemiologist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek epidēmia ‘prevalence of disease’ + -LOGY.

epidermis /εpdəms/ n. the outer layer of cells covering an organism, in particular:

- [ZOOLOGY] & [ANATOMY] the surface epithelium of the skin of an animal, overlying the dermis.

- [BOTANY] the outer layer of tissue in a plant, except where it is replaced by periderm.

<DERIVATIVES> epidermal adj. epidermic adj. epidermoid adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via late Latin from Greek, from epi ‘upon’ + derma ‘skin’.

epidermolysis /εpdəmlss/ (also epidermolysis bullosa /bləusə/) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE loosening of the epidermis, with extensive blistering of the skin and mucous membranes, occurring either after injury or as a spontaneous and potentially dangerous condition, particularly in children.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek epidermis epidermis + -O- + lusis ‘loosening’.

epidiascope /εpdəskəp/ n. an optical projector capable of giving images of both opaque and transparent objects.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EPI- + DIA- + -SCOPE.

epididymis /εpddms/ n. (pl. epididymides /εpddmdiz/) [ANATOMY] a highly convoluted duct behind the testis, along which sperm passes to the vas deferens.

<DERIVATIVES> epididymal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek epididumis, from epi ‘upon’ + didumos ‘testicle’ (from duo ‘two’).

epidote /εpdət/ n. [mass noun] a lustrous yellow-green crystalline mineral, common in metamorphic rocks. It consists of a basic, hydrated silicate of calcium, aluminium, and iron.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French épidote, from Greek epididonai ‘give additionally’ (because of the length of the crystals).

epidural /εpdjər(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY] & MEDICINE on or around the dura mater, in particular (of an anaesthetic) introduced into the space around the dura mater of the spinal cord.

■ n. an epidural anaesthetic, used especially in childbirth to produce loss of sensation below the waist.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from EPI- ‘upon’ + DURA^1 + -AL.

epifauna n. [mass noun] [ECOLOGY] animals living on the surface of the seabed or a riverbed, or attached to submerged objects or aquatic animals or plants. Compare with INFAUNA.

<DERIVATIVES> epifaunal adj.

epifluorescence /εpflərεs(ə)ns -fl-/ n. [mass noun] [OPTICS] the fluorescence of an object in an optical microscope when irradiated from the viewing side.

epigastrium /εpastrəm/ n. (pl. epigastria /-rə/) [ANATOMY] the part of the upper abdomen immediately over the stomach.

<DERIVATIVES> epigastric adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via late Latin from Greek epigastrion, neuter of epigastrios ‘over the belly’, from epi ‘upon’ + gastēr ‘belly’.

epigeal /εpdiəl/ adj. [BOTANY] growing on or close to the ground. Compare with HYPOGEAL.

- (of seed germination) with one or more seed leaves appearing above the ground.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek epigeios (from epi ‘upon’ + gē ‘earth’) + -AL.

epigene /εpdin/ adj. [GEOLOGY] taking place or produced on the surface of the earth.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French épigène, from Greek epigenēs, from epi ‘upon’ + genēs (see -GEN).

epigenesis /εpdεnss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the theory, now generally held, that an embryo develops progressively from an undifferentiated egg cell. Often contrasted with PREFORMATION.

<DERIVATIVES> epigenesist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from EPI- ‘in addition’ + GENESIS.

epigenetic /εpdnεtk/ adj. 1 [BIOLOGY] resulting from external rather than genetic influences: epigenetic carcinogens.

- relating to or of the nature of epigenesis.

2 [GEOLOGY] formed later than the surrounding or underlying rock formation.

<DERIVATIVES> epigenetically adv. epigenetics plural n.

epiglottis /εplts/ n. a flap of cartilage behind the root of the tongue, which is depressed during swallowing to cover the opening of the windpipe.

<DERIVATIVES> epiglottal adj. epiglottic adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Greek epiglōttis, from epi ‘upon, near to’ + glōtta ‘tongue’.

epigone /εpən/ n. (pl. epigones or epigoni /pən ε-/) a less distinguished follower or imitator of someone, especially an artist or philosopher.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: plurals from French épigones and Latin epigoni, from Greek epigonoi ‘those born afterwards’ (based on gignesthai ‘be born’).

epigram /εpram/ n. a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way.

- a short poem, especially a satirical one, with a witty or ingenious ending.

<DERIVATIVES> epigrammatist n. epigrammatize (also epigrammatise) v.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French épigramme, or Latin epigramma, from Greek, from epi ‘upon, in addition’ + gramma (see -gram^1).

epigrammatic /εprəmatk/ adj. in the style of an epigram; concise, clever, and amusing: an epigrammatic style.

<DERIVATIVES> epigrammatically adv.

epigraph /εprαf/ n. 1 an inscription on a building, statue, or coin.

2 a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting the heading of a document or letter): from Greek epigraphē, from epigraphein ‘write on’.

epigraphy /prəfi ε-/ n. [mass noun] the study and interpretation of ancient inscriptions.

- epigraphs collectively.

<DERIVATIVES> epigrapher n. epigraphic adj. epigraphical adj. epigraphically adv. epigraphist n.

epigynous /pdnəs ε-/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a plant or flower) having the ovary enclosed in the receptacle, with the stamens and other floral parts situated above. Compare with HYPOGYNOUS, PERIGYNOUS.

<DERIVATIVES> epigyny n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin epigynus, from EPI- ‘upon, above’ + Greek gunē ‘woman’ + -OUS.

epilation /εple(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the removal of hair by the roots.

<DERIVATIVES> epilate v. epilator n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French épiler, from é- (expressing removal) + Latin pilus ‘strand of hair’, on the pattern of depilation.

epilepsy /εplεpsi/ n. [mass noun] a neurological disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions, associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French épilepsie, or via late Latin from Greek epilēpsia, from epilambanein ‘seize, attack’, from epi ‘upon’ + lambanein ‘take hold of’.

epileptic /εplεptk/ adj. relating to or suffering from epilepsy: he had an epileptic fit.

■ n. a person who has epilepsy.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French épileptique, via late Latin from Greek epilēptikos, from epilēpsia (see EPILEPSY).

epileptogenic /εplεptə()dεnk/ adj. MEDICINE capable of causing an epileptic attack.

epilimnion /εplmnən/ n. (pl. epilimnia /-nə/) the upper layer of water in a stratified lake.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EPI- ‘above’ + Greek limnion (diminutive of limnē ‘lake’).

epilithic /εplθk/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a plant) growing on the surface of rock.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EPI- ‘upon’ + Greek lithos ‘stone’ + -IC.

epilogue /εpl/ (US also epilog) n. a section or speech at the end of a book or play that serves as a comment on or a conclusion to what has happened.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French épilogue, via Latin from Greek epilogos, from epi ‘in addition’ + logos ‘speech’.

epimedium /εpmidəm/ n. (pl. epimediums) a creeping plant of a genus which includes barrenwort.

<INFO> Genus Epimedium, family Berberidaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek epimēdion.

epimer /εpmə/ n. [CHEMISTRY] each of two isomers with different configurations of atoms about one of several asymmetric carbon atoms present.

<DERIVATIVES> epimeric /-mεrk/ adj. epimerism /pm- ε-/ n.

epimerize /pmərz ε-/ (also epimerise) v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] convert from one epimeric form into the other.

epimeron /εpmrən/ n. (pl. epimerons or epimera) (in insects) the posterior part of the side wall of a thoracic segment.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from EPI- ‘near’ + Greek mēros ‘thigh’.

epimysium /εpmsəm/ n. [mass noun] [ANATOMY] a sheath of fibrous elastic tissue surrounding a muscle.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from EPI- ‘upon’ + Greek mus ‘muscle’.

epinephrine /εpnεfrn -rin/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for ADRENALIN.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from EPI- ‘above’ + Greek nephros ‘kidney’ + -INE^4.

epinician /εpnsən/ adj. denoting an ancient Greek lyric poem celebrating a victory.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek epinikion, neuter (used as a noun) of epinikios ‘relating to victory’, + -AN.

Epipalaeolithic /εppalə()lθk/ (US Epipaleolithic) adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a Stone Age period that shows features of both the Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic and may be transitional between them.

- (as n. the Epipalaeolithic) the Epipalaeolithic period.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EPI- ‘upon, in addition’ + PALAEOLITHIC.

epiphany /pf(ə)ni ε-/ n. (pl. epiphanies) 1 (Epiphany) the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2: 1–12).

- the festival commemorating the Epiphany on 6 January.

2 a moment of sudden and great revelation or realization.

<DERIVATIVES> epiphanic /εpfank/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Greek epiphainein ‘reveal’. The sense relating to the Christian festival is via Old French epiphanie and ecclesiastical Latin epiphania.

epiphenomenon /εpfənmnən/ n. (pl. epiphenomena /-nə/) a secondary effect or by-product, in particular:

- MEDICINE a secondary symptom, occurring simultaneously with a disease or condition but not directly related to it.

- a mental state regarded as a by-product of brain activity.

<DERIVATIVES> epiphenomenal adj.

epiphora /pf(ə)rə/ n. [mass noun] 1 MEDICINE excessive watering of the eye.

2 [RHETORIC] another term for EPISTROPHE.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): via Latin from Greek epi ‘upon’ + pherein ‘to bear or carry’.

epiphyllum /εpfləm/ n. (pl. epiphyllums) a cactus with flattened stems and large, fragrant red or yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Epiphyllum, family Cactaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from EPI- ‘upon’ + Greek phullon ‘leaf’.

epiphysis /pfss ε-/ n. (pl. epiphyses) 1 the end part of a long bone, initially growing separately from the shaft. Compare with DIAPHYSIS.

2 another term for PINEAL.

<DERIVATIVES> epiphyseal adj. /εpfzəl/

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek epiphusis, from epi ‘upon, in addition’ + phusis ‘growth’.

epiphyte /εpft/ n. [BOTANY] a plant that grows on another plant, especially one that is not parasitic, such as the numerous ferns, bromeliads, air plants, and orchids growing on tree trunks in tropical rainforests.

<DERIVATIVES> epiphytal /-ft(ə)l/ adj. epiphytic /-ftk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from EPI- ‘in addition’ + Greek phuton ‘plant’.

EPIRB abbr. emergency position-indicating radio beacon.

Epirus /pərəs/ a coastal region of NW Greece; capital, Ioánnina. Greek name IPIROS.

- an ancient country of which the modern region of Epirus corresponds to the south-western part, extending northwards to Illyria and eastwards to Macedonia and Thessaly.

episcopacy /pskəpəsi ε-/ n. (pl. episcopacies) [mass noun] government of a Church by bishops.

- (the episcopacy) the bishops of a region or church collectively.

- the office of a bishop.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from ecclesiastical Latin episcopatus ‘episcopate’, on the pattern of prelacy.

episcopal /pskəp(ə)l ε-/ adj. of a bishop or bishops: episcopal power.

- (of a Church) governed by or having bishops.

<DERIVATIVES> episcopalism n. episcopally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French épiscopal or ecclesiastical Latin episcopalis, from episcopus ‘bishop’, from Greek episkopos ‘overseer’ (see BISHOP).

Episcopal Church the Anglican Church in Scotland and the US.

episcopalian /pskəpelən ε-/ adj. of or advocating government of a Church by bishops.

- of or belonging to an episcopal Church.

■ n. a person who advocates government of a Church by bishops.

- (Episcopalian) a member of the Episcopal Church.

<DERIVATIVES> episcopalianism n.

episcopate /pskəpət ε-/ n. the office of a bishop.

- (the episcopate) the bishops of a church or region collectively.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from ecclesiastical Latin episcopatus ‘made a bishop’, from episcopus ‘bishop’, from Greek episkopos ‘overseer’ (see BISHOP).

episcope /εpskəp/ n. an optical projector which gives images of opaque objects.

episematic /εpsmatk/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of coloration or markings) serving to help recognition by animals of other individuals of the same species.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from EPI- ‘upon’ + Greek sēma ‘sign’ + -ATIC.

episiotomy /pistəmi ε-/ n. (pl. episiotomies) a surgical cut made at the opening of the vagina during childbirth, to aid a difficult delivery and prevent rupture of tissues.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek epision ‘pubic region’ + -TOMY.

episode n. 1 an event or a group of events occurring as part of a sequence; an incident or period considered in isolation: the whole episode has been a major embarrassment.

- a finite period in which someone is affected by a specified illness: acute psychotic episodes.

2 each of the separate instalments into which a serialized story or radio or television programme is divided.

- [MUSIC] a passage containing distinct material or introducing a new subject.

- a section between two choric songs in Greek tragedy.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting a section between songs in Greek tragedy): from Greek epeisodion, neuter of epeisodios ‘coming in besides’, from epi ‘in addition’ + eisodos ‘entry’ (from eis ‘into’ + hodos ‘way’).

episodic /εpsdk/ adj. 1 containing or consisting of a series of separate parts or events: an episodic narrative.

- occurring occasionally and at irregular intervals: volcanic activity is highly episodic in nature.

2 (of a programme or story) broadcast or published as a series of instalments.

<DERIVATIVES> episodically adv.

episome /εpsəm/ n. [MICROBIOLOGY] a genetic element inside some bacterial cells, especially the DNA of some bacteriophages, that can replicate independently of the host and also in association with a chromosome with which it becomes integrated. Compare with PLASMID.

epistasis /pstəss/ n. [mass noun] [GENETICS] the interaction of genes that are not alleles, in particular the suppression of the effect of one such gene by another.

<DERIVATIVES> epistatic /εpstatk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek, literally ‘stoppage’, from ephistanai ‘to stop’.

epistaxis /εpstakss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE bleeding from the nose.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek, from epistazein ‘bleed from the nose’, from epi ‘upon, in addition’ + stazein ‘to drip’.

epistemic /εpstimk -stεm-/ adj. relating to knowledge or to the degree of its validation.

<DERIVATIVES> epistemically adv.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Greek epistēmē ‘knowledge’ (see EPISTEMOLOGY) + -IC.

epistemology /pstmlədi ε-/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.

<DERIVATIVES> epistemological adj. epistemologically adv. epistemologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek epistēmē ‘knowledge’, from epistasthai ‘know, know how to do’.

episternum /εpstənəm/ n. (pl. episternums or episterna /-nə/) [ZOOLOGY] a bone between the clavicles, especially (in mammals) the upper part of the sternum.

- (in insects) the anterior part of the side wall of a thoracic segment.

epistle /ps(ə)l/ n. FORMAL or HUMOROUS a letter.

- a poem or other literary work in the form of a letter or series of letters.

- (Epistle) a book of the New Testament in the form of a letter from an Apostle: St Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

- an extract from an Epistle (or another New Testament book not a Gospel) that is read in a church service.

<ORIGIN> Old English, via Latin from Greek epistolē, from epistellein ‘send news’, from epi ‘upon, in addition’ + stellein ‘send’. The word was reintroduced in Middle English from Old French.

epistolary /pst(ə)ləri/ adj. relating to the writing of letters.

- (of a literary work) in the form of letters: an epistolary novel.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French épistolaire or Latin epistolaris, from epistola (see EPISTLE).

epistrophe /pstrəfi ε-/ n. [mass noun] the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek epistrophē, from epistrephein ‘to turn around’, from epi ‘in addition’ + strephein ‘to turn’.

epistyle /εpstl/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] an architrave.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the Latin form epistylium): from French épistyle or via Latin, from Greek epistulion, from epi ‘upon’ + stulos ‘pillar’.

epitaph /εptαf -taf/ n. a phrase or form of words written in memory of a person who has died, especially as an inscription on a tombstone.

- something by which a person, time, or event will be remembered: the story makes a sorry epitaph to a great career.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French epitaphe, via Latin from Greek epitaphion ‘funeral oration’, neuter of ephitaphios ‘over or at a tomb’, from epi ‘upon’ + taphos ‘tomb’.

epitaxy /εptaksi/ n. [mass noun] [CRYSTALLOGRAPHY] the natural or artificial growth of crystals on a crystalline substrate that determines their orientation.

<DERIVATIVES> epitaxial adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from French épitaxie, from Greek epi ‘upon’ + taxis ‘arrangement’.

epithalamium /εpθəleməm/ n. (pl. epithalamiums or epithalamia) a song or poem celebrating a marriage.

<DERIVATIVES> epithalamic /-lamk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek epithalamion, from epi ‘upon’ + thalamos ‘bridal chamber’.

epithalamus /εpθaləməs/ n. (pl. epithalami /-m -mi/) [ANATOMY] a part of the dorsal forebrain including the pineal gland and a region in the roof of the third ventricle.

epithelium /εpθiləm/ n. (pl. epithelia /-lə/) [mass noun] [ANATOMY] the thin tissue forming the outer layer of a body's surface and lining the alimentary canal and other hollow structures.

- the part of the epithelium derived from embryonic ectoderm and endoderm, as distinct from endothelium and mesothelium.

<DERIVATIVES> epithelial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: modern Latin, from EPI- ‘above’ + Greek thēlē ‘teat’.

epithet /εpθεt/ n. an adjective or phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned: old men are often unfairly awarded the epithet ‘dirty’.

<DERIVATIVES> epithetic adj. epithetical adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French épithète, or via Latin from Greek epitheton, neuter of epithetos ‘attributed’, from epitithenai ‘add’, from epi ‘upon’ + tithenai ‘to place’.

epitome /ptəmi ε-/ n. 1 (the epitome of) a person or thing that is a perfect example of a particular quality or type: she looked the epitome of elegance and good taste.

2 a summary of a written work; an abstract.

- ARCHAIC a thing representing something else in miniature.

<DERIVATIVES> epitomist n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: via Latin from Greek epitomē, from epitemnein ‘abridge’, from epi ‘in addition’ + temnein ‘to cut’.

epitomize (also epitomise) v. [with obj.] 1 be a perfect example of: the company epitomized the problems faced by British industry.

2 ARCHAIC give a summary of (a written work).

<DERIVATIVES> epitomization n.

epitope /εptəp/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] the part of an antigen molecule to which an antibody attaches itself. Also called ANTIGENIC DETERMINANT.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from EPI- ‘upon’ + Greek topos ‘place’.

epizoic /εpzək/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of a plant or animal) growing or living non-parasitically on the exterior of a living animal.

<DERIVATIVES> epizoite /εpzət/ n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from EPI- ‘upon’ + Greek zōion ‘animal’ + -IC.

epizoon /εpzən/ n. (pl. epizoa /-zəə/) [ZOOLOGY] an animal that lives on the body of another animal, especially as a parasite.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from EPI- ‘upon’ + Greek zōion ‘animal’.

epizootic /εpzətk/ adj. (of a disease) temporarily prevalent and widespread in an animal population. Compare with ENZOOTIC, EPIDEMIC.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as an adjective): from French épizootique, from épizootie, from Greek epi ‘upon’ + zōion ‘animal’.

EPLF abbr. Eritrean People's Liberation Front.

e pluribus unum /e plərbs junm/ n. one out of many (the motto of the US).

<ORIGIN> Latin.

EPNS abbr. electroplated nickel silver.

EPO abbr.

- erythropoietin, especially when isolated as a drug for medical use or for illegal use by athletes.

- European Patent Office.

epoch /ipk εpk/ n. a particular period of time in history or a person's life: the Victorian epoch.

- the beginning of a period in the history of someone or something.

- [GEOLOGY] a division of time that is a subdivision of a period and is itself subdivided into ages, corresponding to a series in chronostratigraphy: the Pliocene epoch.

- [ASTRONOMY] an arbitrarily fixed date relative to which planetary or stellar measurements are expressed.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the Latin form epocha; originally in the general sense of a date from which succeeding years are numbered): from modern Latin epocha, from Greek epokhē ‘stoppage, fixed point of time’, from epekhein ‘stop, take up a position’, from epi ‘upon, near to’ + ekhein ‘stay, be in a certain state’.

epochal /εpk(ə)l/ adj. forming or characterizing an epoch; epoch-making.

epoch-making adj. of major importance; likely to have a significant effect on a particular period of time.

epode /εpəd/ n. 1 a form of lyric poem written in couplets, in which a long line is followed by a shorter one.

2 the third section of an ancient Greek choral ode, or of one division of such an ode.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French épode, or via Latin epodos, from Greek epōidos, from epi ‘upon’ + ōidē (see ODE).

eponym /εpənm/ n. a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc., is named or thought to be named.

- a name or noun formed after a person.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek epōnumos ‘given as a name, giving one's name to someone or something’, from epi ‘upon’ + onoma ‘name’.

eponymous /pnməs/ adj. (of a person) giving their name to something: the eponymous hero of the novel.

- (of a thing) named after a particular person or group: their eponymous debut LP.

<DERIVATIVES> eponymously adv.

EPOS /ipz ips/ abbr. electronic point of sale (used in reference to the electronic recording of information on goods sold by a retailer).

epoxide /pksd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound whose molecule contains a three-membered ring involving an oxygen atom and two carbon atoms.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from EPI- ‘in addition’ + OXIDE.

epoxy /pksi ε-/ n. (pl. epoxies) (also epoxy resin) [mass noun] an adhesive, plastic, or other material made from a class of synthetic thermosetting polymers containing epoxide groups.

■ adj. consisting of epoxy: epoxy cement.

■ v. (epoxies, epoxying, epoxied) [with obj.] glue (something) using epoxy resin.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EPI- ‘in addition’ + OXY-2.

EPROM /iprm/ n. [COMPUTING] a read-only memory whose contents can be erased by ultraviolet light or other means and reprogrammed using a pulsed voltage.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: acronym from erasable programmable ROM.

EPS abbr. earnings per share.

epsilon /εpsln εpsln/ n. the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet (E, ε), transliterated as ‘e’.

- [as modifier] denoting the fifth in a series of items, categories, etc.

- (Epsilon) [followed by Latin genitive] [ASTRONOMY] the fifth star in a constellation: Epsilon Carinae.

■ symbol (ε) permittivity.

<ORIGIN> Greek, ‘bare or simple E’, from psilos ‘bare’.

Epsom /εpsəm/ a town in Surrey, SE England; pop. 70,300 (est. 1998). The annual Derby and Oaks horse races are held at its racecourse on Epsom Downs.

Epsom salts plural n. crystals of hydrated magnesium sulphate used as a purgative or for other medicinal use.

<INFO> Chem. formula: MgSO_4.7H_2O.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: named after the town of EPSOM, where it was first found occurring naturally.

EPSRC abbr. (in the UK) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Epstein^1 /εpstn/ Brian (1934–67), English businessman and music journalist, manager of the Beatles.

Epstein^2 /εpstn/ Sir Jacob (1880–1959), American-born British sculptor. A founder member of the Vorticist group, he later had great success in his modelled portraits of the famous, in particular his Einstein (1933).

Epstein–Barr virus (abbr.: EBV) n. MEDICINE a herpesvirus causing glandular fever and associated with certain cancers, for example Burkitt's lymphoma.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Michael A. Epstein (born 1921), British virologist, and Y. M. Barr (born 1932), Irish-born virologist.

epyllion /plən ε-/ n. (pl. epyllia) a narrative poem that resembles an epic poem in style, but which is notably shorter.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek epullion, diminutive of epos ‘word, song’, from eipein ‘say’.

EQ abbr. (with reference to sound reproduction) equalizer or equalization.

equable /εkwəb(ə)l/ adj. 1 not easily disturbed or angered; calm and even-tempered.

2 not varying or fluctuating greatly: an equable climate.

<DERIVATIVES> equability n. equably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘fair, equitable’): from Latin aequabilis, from aequare ‘make equal’ (see EQUATE).

equal adj. 1 being the same in quantity, size, degree, or value: add equal amounts of water and flour | 1 litre is roughly equal to 1 quart.

- (of people) having the same status, rights, or opportunities.

- uniform in application or effect; without discrimination on any grounds: a dedicated campaigner for equal rights.

- evenly or fairly balanced: it was hardly an equal contest.

2 (equal to) having the ability or resources to meet (a challenge): the players proved equal to the task.

■ n. a person or thing that is the same as another in status or quality: we all treat each other as equals | entertainment facilities without equal in the British Isles.

■ v. (equals, equalling, equalled; US equals, equaling, equaled) [with obj.] be the same as in number or amount: four plus six divided by two equals five | the total debits should equal the total credits.

- match or rival in performance or extent: he equalled the world record of 9.93 seconds.

- be equivalent to: his work is concerned with why private property equals exploitation.

<PHRASES>

□ (the) first among equals the person or thing having the highest status in a group.

□ other (or all) things being equal provided that other factors or circumstances remain the same: it follows that, other things being equal, the price level will rise.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin aequalis, from aequus ‘even, level, equal’.

<USAGE> It is widely held that adjectives such as equal and unique should not be modified and that it is incorrect to say more equal or very unique, on the grounds that these are adjectives which refer to a logical or mathematical absolute. For more discussion of this question, see usage at unique.

equalitarian /kwltεrən i-/ n. another term for EGALITARIAN.

<DERIVATIVES> equalitarianism n.

equality n. 1 [mass noun] the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, or opportunities: an organization aiming to promote racial equality.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a symbolic expression of the fact that two quantities are equal; an equation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin aequalitas, from aequalis (see EQUAL).

Equality State informal name for WYOMING.

equalize (also equalise) v. 1 [with obj.] make the same in quantity, size, or degree throughout a place or group: the purpose is to equalize the workload among tutors.

- make uniform in application or effect: Britain is required to equalize pension rights between men and women.

2 [no obj.] BRITISH level the score in a match by scoring a goal: Morgan equalized ten minutes into the second half.

<DERIVATIVES> equalization n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘be equal to’): from EQUAL + -IZE, partly suggested by French égaliser.

equalizer (also equaliser) n. 1 a thing which has an equalizing effect: education is the great equalizer.

- BRITISH a goal that levels the score in the game.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a weapon, especially a gun.

3 [ELECTRONICS] a passive network designed to modify a frequency response, especially to compensate for distortion.

equally adv. in the same manner or to the same extent: all children should be treated equally | [as submodifier] follow-up discussion is equally important.

- in amounts or parts that are the same in size: the money can be divided equally between you.

- [sentence adv.] in addition and having the same importance (used to introduce a further comment): not all who live in inner cities are poor; equally, many poor people live outside inner cities.

<USAGE> The construction equally as, as in follow-up discussion is equally as important is relatively common but is condemned on the grounds of redundancy. Either word can be used alone and be perfectly correct, e.g. follow-up discussion is equally important or follow-up discussion is as important.

equal opportunities (also equal opportunity) plural n. the right to be treated without discrimination, especially on the grounds of one's sex, race, or age.

equals sign (also equal sign) n. the symbol =.

equanimity /εkwənmti i-/ n. [mass noun] calmness and composure, especially in a difficult situation: she accepted both the good and the bad with equanimity.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (also in the sense ‘fairness, impartiality’): from Latin aequanimitas, from aequus ‘equal’ + animus ‘mind’.

equanimous /kwanməs i-/ adj. calm and composed.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin aequanimus, from aequus ‘equal’ + animus mind.

equant /ikwənt/ n. [ASTRONOMY], HISTORICAL (in the Ptolemaic system) an imaginary circle introduced with the purpose of reconciling the planetary movements with the hypothesis of uniform circular motion.

■ adj. [GEOLOGY] (of a crystal or particle) having its different diameters approximately equal, so as to be roughly cubic or spherical in shape.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin aequant- ‘making equal’, from the verb aequare.

equate /kwet/ v. [with obj.] (often equate something to/with) consider (one thing) to be the same as or equivalent to another: customers equate their name with quality.

- [no obj.] (equate to/with) (of one thing) be the same as or equivalent to (another): that sum equates to half a million pounds today.

- cause (two or more things) to be the same in quantity or value: the level of prices will move to equate supply and demand.

<DERIVATIVES> equatable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘make equal, balance’): from Latin aequat- ‘made level or equal’, from the verb aequare, from aequus (see EQUAL). Current senses date from the mid 19th cent.

equation /kwe(ə)n/ n. 1 [MATHEMATICS] a statement that the values of two mathematical expressions are equal (indicated by the sign =).

2 [mass noun] the process of equating one thing with another: the equation of science with objectivity.

- (the equation) a situation in which several factors must be taken into account: money also came into the equation.

3 [CHEMISTRY] a symbolic representation of the changes which occur in a chemical reaction, expressed in terms of the formulae of the molecules or other species involved.

<PHRASES>

□ equation of the first (or second etc.) order [MATHEMATICS] an equation involving only the first derivative, second derivative, etc.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin aequatio(n-), from aequare ‘make equal’ (see EQUATE).

equational adj. another term for EQUATIVE.

equation of state n. [CHEMISTRY] an equation showing the relationship between the values of the pressure, volume, and temperature of a quantity of a particular substance.

equation of time n. the difference between mean solar time (as shown by clocks) and apparent solar time (indicated by sundials), which varies with the time of year.

equative /kwetv/ adj. [GRAMMAR] denoting or relating to a sentence or other structure in which one term is identified with another, as in the winner is Jill.

equator /kwetə/ n. a line notionally drawn on the earth equidistant from the poles, dividing the earth into northern and southern hemispheres and constituting the parallel of latitude 0°.

- [ASTRONOMY] short for CELESTIAL EQUATOR.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin aequator, in the phrase circulus aequator diei et noctis ‘circle equalizing day and night’, from Latin aequare ‘make equal’ (see EQUATE).

equatorial /εkwətrəl/ adj. of, at, or near the equator: equatorial regions.

<DERIVATIVES> equatorially adv.

Equatorial Guinea a small country of West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea, comprising several offshore islands and a coastal settlement between Cameroon and Gabon; pop. 498,144 (est. 2002); languages, Spanish (official), local Niger–Congo languages, pidgin; capital, Malabo (on the island of Bioko). Formerly a Spanish colony, the country became fully independent in 1968. It is the only independent Spanish-speaking state in the continent of Africa.

<DERIVATIVES> Equatorial Guinean adj. & n.

equatorial mount (also equatorial mounting) n. [ASTRONOMY] a telescope mounting with one axis aligned to the celestial pole, which allows the movement of celestial objects to be followed by motion about this axis alone. Compare with altazimuth (sense 1).

equatorial telescope n. an astronomical telescope on an equatorial mount.

equerry /kwεri εkwəri/ n. (pl. equerries) an officer of the British royal household who attends or assists members of the royal family.

- HISTORICAL an officer of the household of a prince or noble who had charge over the stables.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (formerly also as esquiry): from Old French esquierie ‘company of squires, prince's stables’, from Old French esquier ‘esquire’, perhaps associated with Latin equus ‘horse’. The historical sense is apparently based on Old French esquier d'esquierie ‘squire of stables’.

eques /εkwez/ singular form of EQUITES.

equestrian /kwεstrən ε-/ adj. relating to horse riding: his amazing equestrian skills.

- depicting or representing a person on horseback: an equestrian statue.

■ n. a rider or performer on horseback.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as an adjective): from Latin equester ‘belonging to a horseman’ (from eques ‘horseman, knight’, from equus ‘horse’) + -IAN.

equestrianism n. [mass noun] the skill or sport of horse riding. As an Olympic sport it is divided into three categories: showjumping, dressage, and three-day eventing (combining showjumping, dressage, and cross-country riding).

equestrienne /kwεstrεn/ n. a female rider or performer on horseback.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: alteration of EQUESTRIAN, on the pattern of feminine nouns such as Parisienne.

equi- /ikwi εkwi-/ combining form equal; equally: equiangular | equidistant.

<ORIGIN> from Latin aequi-, from aequus ‘equal’.

equiangular adj. having equal angles.

equiangular spiral n. [GEOMETRY] a spiral such that the angle between the tangent and the radius vector is the same for all points of the spiral. Also called LOGARITHMIC SPIRAL.

equid /εkwd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a mammal of the horse family (Equidae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Equidae (plural), from Latin equus ‘horse’.

equidistant adj. at equal distances: the line joins together all points which are equidistant from the two axes.

<DERIVATIVES> equidistance n. equidistantly adv.

equifinal /εkwfn(ə)l/ adj. TECHNICAL having the same end or result.

<DERIVATIVES> equifinality n.

equilateral /ikwlat(ə)r(ə)l εkw-/ adj. having all its sides of the same length: an equilateral triangle.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French équilateral or late Latin aequilateralis, from aequilaterus ‘equal-sided’ (based on Latin latus, later- ‘side’).

equilibrate /ikwlbret kwl- ikwl-/ v. [with obj.] TECHNICAL bring into or keep in equilibrium.

- [no obj.] approach or attain a state of equilibrium.

<DERIVATIVES> equilibration n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin aequilibrat- ‘made to balance’, from the verb aequilibrare, from aequi- ‘equally’ + libra ‘balance’.

equilibrist /kwlbrst ikwl- ikwlb- εkw-/ n. DATED an acrobat who performs balancing feats, especially a tightrope walker.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from EQUILIBRIUM + -IST.

equilibrium /ikwlbrəm εkw-/ n. (pl. equilibria /-rə/) [mass noun] a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced: the task is the maintenance of social equilibrium.

- a state of physical balance: I stumbled over a rock and recovered my equilibrium.

- a calm state of mind: his intensity could unsettle his equilibrium.

- [CHEMISTRY] a state in which a process and its reverse are occurring at equal rates so that no overall change is taking place: ice is in equilibrium with water.

- [ECONOMICS] a situation in which supply and demand are matched and prices stable.

<DERIVATIVES> equilibrial adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘well-balanced state of mind’): from Latin aequilibrium, from aequi- ‘equal’ + libra ‘balance’.

equine /ikwn ε-/ adj. relating to or affecting horses or other members of the horse family: equine infectious anaemia.

- resembling a horse: her somewhat equine features.

■ n. a horse or other member of the horse family.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin equinus, from equus ‘horse’.

equinoctial /ikwnk(ə)l εkw-/ adj. happening at or near the time of an equinox.

- having a day and night of equal length.

- at or near the equator.

■ n. (also equinoctial line)

■ another term for CELESTIAL EQUATOR.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘relating to equal periods of day and night’): via Old French from Latin aequinoctialis, from aequinoctium (see EQUINOX).

equinoctial point n. either of two points at which the ecliptic cuts the celestial equator.

equinox /ikwnks εkw-/ n. the time or date (twice each year) at which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are of equal length (about 22 September and 20 March).

■ another term for EQUINOCTIAL POINT.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French equinoxe or Latin aequinoctium, from aequi- ‘equal’ + nox, noct- ‘night’.

equip v. (equips, equipping, equipped) [with obj.] supply with the necessary items for a particular purpose: all bedrooms are equipped with a colour TV | they equipped themselves for the campaign.

- prepare (someone) mentally for a particular situation or task: I don't think he's equipped for the modern age.

<DERIVATIVES> equipper n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French équiper, probably from Old Norse skipa ‘to man (a ship)’, from skip ‘ship’.

equipage /εkwpd/ n. 1 [mass noun] ARCHAIC the equipment for a particular purpose.

2 HISTORICAL a carriage and horses with attendants.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting the crew of a ship): from French équipage, from équiper ‘equip’.

equipartition /ikwpαt(ə)n/ (also equipartition of energy) n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the equal distribution of the kinetic energy of a system among its various degrees of freedom.

- the principle that equipartition exists for a system in thermal equilibrium.

<DERIVATIVES> equipartitioned adj.

equipment n. [mass noun] the necessary items for a particular purpose: suppliers of office equipment.

- the process of supplying someone or something with necessary equipment: the construction and equipment of new harbour facilities.

- mental resources: they lacked the intellectual equipment to recognize the jokes.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French équipement, from équiper ‘equip’.

equipoise /εkwpz ikw-/ n. [mass noun] balance of forces or interests: this temporary equipoise of power.

- [count noun] a counterbalance or balancing force: capital flows act as an equipoise to international imbalances in savings.

■ v. [with obj.] balance or counterbalance (something).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from EQUI- ‘equal’ + the noun poise^1, replacing the phrase equal poise.

equipollent /ikwpl(ə)nt εkw-/ adj. ARCHAIC equal or equivalent in power, effect, or significance.

<DERIVATIVES> equipollence n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French equipolent, from Latin aequipollent- ‘of equal value’, from aequi- ‘equally’ + pollere ‘be strong’.

equipotent /ikwpət(ə)nt εkw-/ adj. TECHNICAL (chiefly of chemicals and medicines) equally powerful; having equal potencies.

equipotential adj. [PHYSICS] (of a surface or line) composed of points all at the same potential.

■ n. an equipotential line or surface.

equiprobable adj. [MATHEMATICS] & [LOGIC] (of two or more things) equally likely to occur; having equal probability.

<DERIVATIVES> equiprobability n.

equisetum /εkwsitəm/ n. (pl. equiseta /-tə/ or equisetums) [BOTANY] a plant of a genus that comprises the horsetails.

<INFO> Genus Equisetum, family Equisetaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin equus ‘horse’ + saeta ‘bristle’.

equitable /εkwtəb(ə)l/ adj. 1 fair and impartial: the equitable distribution of resources.

2 [LAW] valid in equity as distinct from law.

<DERIVATIVES> equitability n. equitableness n. equitably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French équitable, from équité (see EQUITY).

equitant /εkwt(ə)nt/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a leaf) having its base folded and partly enclosing the leaf next above it, as in an iris.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin equitant- ‘riding on horseback’, from the verb equitare.

equitation /εkwte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL the art and practice of horsemanship and horse riding.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French équitation or Latin equitatio(n-), from equitare ‘ride a horse’, from eques, equit- ‘horseman’ (from equus ‘horse’).

equites /εkwtez/ plural n. (sing. eques) (in ancient Rome) a class of citizens who originally formed the cavalry of the Roman army and at a later period were a wealthy class of great political importance.

<ORIGIN> Latin, plural of eques ‘horseman’.

equity /εkwti/ n. (pl. equities) [mass noun] 1 the quality of being fair and impartial: equity of treatment.

- [LAW] a branch of law that developed alongside common law and is concerned with fairness and justice, formerly administered in special courts.

2 the value of the shares issued by a company: he owns 62% of the group's equity.

- (equities) stocks and shares that carry no fixed interest.

3 the value of a mortgaged property after deduction of charges against it.

4 (Equity) (in the UK, US, and several other countries) a trade union to which all professional actors must belong: [as modifier] an Equity card.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French equité, from Latin aequitas, from aequus ‘equal’.

equity of redemption n. [mass noun] [LAW] the right of a mortgagor over the mortgaged property, especially the right to redeem the property on payment of the principal, interest, and costs.

equivalence /kwv(ə)l(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] the condition of being equal or equivalent in value, worth, function, etc.

<DERIVATIVES> equivalency n.

equivalence class n. [MATHEMATICS] & [LOGIC] the class of all members of a set that are in a given equivalence relation.

equivalence principle n. [PHYSICS] a basic postulate of general relativity, stating that at any point of space–time the effects of a gravitational field cannot be experimentally distinguished from those due to an accelerated frame of reference.

equivalence relation n. [MATHEMATICS] & [LOGIC] a relation between elements of a set which is reflexive, symmetric, and transitive and which defines exclusive classes whose members bear the relation to each other and not to those in other classes.

equivalent /kwv(ə)l(ə)nt/ adj. equal in value, amount, function, meaning, etc.: one unit is equivalent to one glass of wine.

- (equivalent to) having the same or a similar effect as: some regulations are equivalent to censorship.

- [MATHEMATICS] belonging to the same equivalence class.

■ n. 1 a person or thing that is equal to or corresponds with another in value, amount, function, meaning, etc.: the French equivalent of the Bank of England.

2 (also equivalent weight) [CHEMISTRY] the mass of a particular substance that can combine with or displace one gram of hydrogen or eight grams of oxygen, used in expressing combining powers, especially of elements.

<DERIVATIVES> equivalently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (describing persons who were equal in power or rank): via Old French from late Latin aequivalent- ‘being of equal worth’, from the verb aequivalere, from aequi- ‘equally’ + valere ‘be worth’.

equivocal /kwvək(ə)l/ adj. open to more than one interpretation; ambiguous: the equivocal nature of her remarks.

- (of a person) using ambiguous or evasive language: he has always been equivocal about the meaning of his lyrics.

- uncertain or questionable in nature: the results of the investigation were equivocal.

<DERIVATIVES> equivocality n. equivocally adv. equivocalness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin aequivocus, from Latin aequus ‘equally’ + vocare ‘to call’.

equivocate /kwvəket/ v. [no obj.] use ambiguous language so as to conceal the truth or avoid committing oneself: the government have equivocated too often in the past.

<DERIVATIVES> equivocator n. equivocatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘use a word in more than one sense’): from late Latin aequivocat- ‘called by the same name’, from the verb aequivocare, from aequivocus (see EQUIVOCAL).

equivocation /kwvəke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth or to avoid committing oneself; prevarication: I say this without equivocation.

equivoque /ikwvək εkw-/ (also equivoke) n. RARE an expression capable of having more than one meaning; a pun.

- [mass noun] the fact of having more than one meaning; ambiguity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘equivocal’): from Old French equivoque or late Latin aequivocus (see EQUIVOCAL).

Equuleus /εkwləs/ [ASTRONOMY] a small northern constellation (the Foal or Little Horse), perhaps representing the brother of Pegasus. It has no bright stars.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

ER abbr.

- North American emergency room.

- King Edward. [<ORIGIN> from Latin Edwardus Rex.]

- Queen Elizabeth. [<ORIGIN> from Latin Elizabetha Regina.]

Er symbol the chemical element erbium.

er exclam. expressing hesitation: ‘Would you like some tea?’ ‘Er … yes … thank you.’.

<ORIGIN> natural utterance: first recorded in English in the mid 19th century.

-er^1 suffix 1 denoting a person or thing that performs a specified action or activity: farmer | sprinkler.

2 denoting a person or thing that has a specified attribute or form: foreigner | two-wheeler.

3 denoting a person concerned with a specified thing or subject: milliner | philosopher.

4 denoting a person belonging to a specified place or group: city-dweller | New Yorker.

<ORIGIN> Old English -ere, of Germanic origin.

-er^2 suffix forming the comparative of adjectives (as in bigger) and adverbs (as in faster).

<ORIGIN> Old English suffix -ra (adjectival), -or (adverbial), of Germanic origin.

-er^3 suffix forming nouns used informally, usually by distortion of the root word: footer | rugger.

<ORIGIN> probably an extended use of -er^1; originally Rugby School slang, later adopted at Oxford University, then extended into general use.

-er^4 suffix forming frequentative verbs such as glimmer, patter.

<ORIGIN> Old English -erian, -rian, of Germanic origin.

-er^5 suffix forming nouns: 1 such as sampler. Compare with -ar^1. [<ORIGIN> ending corresponding to Latin -aris.]

- such as butler, danger. [<ORIGIN> ending corresponding to Latin -arius, -arium.]

- such as border. [<ORIGIN> ending corresponding (via Old French -eure) to Latin -atura.]

- such as laver. See laver^2. [<ORIGIN> ending corresponding (via Old French -eor) to Latin -atorium.]

2 equivalent to -or^1.

<ORIGIN> via Old French or Anglo-Norman French (see above).

-er^6 suffix chiefly [LAW] (forming nouns) denoting verbal action or a document effecting such action: disclaimer | misnomer.

<ORIGIN> from Anglo-Norman French (infinitive ending).

era /ərə/ n. a long and distinct period of history: his death marked the end of an era | leading photographers of the Victorian era.

- a system of chronology dating from a particular event: the dawn of the Christian era.

- [GEOLOGY] a major division of time that is a subdivision of an aeon and is itself subdivided into periods: the Mesozoic era.

- ARCHAIC a date or event marking the beginning of a new and distinct period of time.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin aera, denoting a number used as a basis of reckoning, an epoch from which time is reckoned, plural of aes, aer- ‘money, counter’.

eradicate /radket/ v. [with obj.] destroy completely; put an end to: this disease has been eradicated from the world.

<DERIVATIVES> eradicable adj. eradicant n. eradicator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘pull up by the roots’): from Latin eradicat- ‘torn up by the roots’, from the verb eradicare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + radix, radic- ‘root’.

eradicated adj. [postpositive] [HERALDRY] (of a tree or plant) depicted with the roots exposed.

eradication /radke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the complete destruction of something: the eradication of poverty.

erase /rez/ v. [with obj.] rub out or remove (writing or marks): graffiti had been erased from the wall.

- remove all traces of; destroy or obliterate: over twenty years the last vestiges of a rural economy were erased | the magic of the landscape erased all else from her mind.

- remove recorded material from (a magnetic tape or medium); delete (data) from a computer's memory.

<DERIVATIVES> erasable adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally as a heraldic term meaning ‘represent the head or limb of an animal with a jagged edge’): from Latin eras- ‘scraped away’, from the verb eradere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + radere ‘scrape’.

erased adj. [postpositive] [HERALDRY] (of a head or limb) depicted as cut off in a jagged line.

eraser n. a piece of soft rubber or plastic used to rub out something written.

Erasmus /razməs/ Desiderius (c.1469–1536), Dutch humanist and scholar; Dutch name Gerhard Gerhards. He was the foremost Renaissance scholar of northern Europe, paving the way for the Reformation with his satires on the Church, including the Colloquia Familiaria (1518). However, he opposed the violence of the Reformation and condemned Luther in De Libero Arbitrio (1523).

Erastianism /rastənz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the doctrine that the state should have supremacy over the Church in ecclesiastical matters (wrongly attributed to Erastus).

<DERIVATIVES> Erastian n. & adj.

Erastus /rastəs/ (1524–83), Swiss theologian and physician; Swiss name Thomas Lieber; also Liebler or Lüber. Professor of medicine at Heidelberg from 1558, he opposed the imposition of a Calvinistic system of Church government in the city. The doctrine of Erastianism was later wrongly attributed to him.

erasure /reə(r)/ n. [mass noun] the removal of writing, recorded material, or data.

- the removal of all traces of something; obliteration: the erasure of prior history.

Erato /εrətə/ [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the Muse of lyric poetry and hymns.

<ORIGIN> Greek, literally ‘lovely’.

Eratosthenes /εrətsθəniz/ (c.275–194 BC), Greek scholar, geographer, and astronomer. The first systematic geographer of antiquity, he accurately calculated the circumference of the earth and attempted (less successfully) to determine the size and distance of the sun and of the moon.

erbium /əbəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 68, a soft silvery-white metal of the lanthanide series. (Symbol: Er)

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from (Ytt)erb(y), in Sweden, where it was first found. Compare with YTTERBIUM.

ere /ε/ prep. & conjunction LITERARY or ARCHAIC before (in time): [as prep.] we hope you will return ere long.

<ORIGIN> Old English r, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch eer and German eher.

e-reader n. a device or application to facilitate or enhance the reading of electronic material.

Erebus /εrəbəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the primeval god of darkness, son of Chaos.

Erebus, Mount a volcanic peak on Ross Island, Antarctica. Rising to 3,794 m (12,452 ft), it is the world's most southerly active volcano.

<ORIGIN> named after the Erebus, the ship of Sir James Ross's expedition to the Antarctic.

Erech /εrεk/ biblical name for URUK.

Erechtheum /rεkθəm/ a marble temple of the Ionic order built on the Acropolis in Athens c.421–406 BC, with shrines to Athene, Poseidon, and Erechtheus, a legendary king of Athens.

erect adj. rigidly upright or straight: she stood erect with her arms by her sides.

- (of the penis, clitoris, or nipples) enlarged and rigid, especially in sexual excitement.

■ v. [with obj.] put together and set upright (a building, wall, or other structure): the guest house was erected in the eighteenth century | the police had erected roadblocks.

- create or establish (a theory or system): the party that erected the welfare state.

<DERIVATIVES> erectable adj. erectly adv. erectness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin erect- ‘set up’, from the verb erigere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + regere ‘to direct’.

erectile /rεktl/ adj. able to become erect: erectile spines.

- denoting tissues which are capable of becoming temporarily engorged with blood, particularly those of the penis or other sexual organs.

- relating to the capability of the penis or other sexual organs to become erect: men with erectile dysfunction.

erection n. 1 [mass noun] the action of erecting a structure or object: fees will be levied for the erection of monuments.

- [count noun] a building or other upright structure.

2 an enlarged and rigid state of the penis, typically in sexual excitement.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin erectio(n-), from erigere ‘set up’ (see ERECT).

erector n. a person or thing that erects something.

- a muscle which maintains an erect state of a part of the body or an erect posture of the body.

- (Erector) NORTH AMERICAN TRADEMARK a construction toy consisting of components for making model buildings and vehicles.

E-region n. another term for E-LAYER.

eremite /εrmt/ n. a Christian hermit or recluse.

<DERIVATIVES> eremitic adj. eremitical adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French eremite from late Latin eremita (see HERMIT).

erethism /εrθz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] 1 excessive sensitivity or rapid reaction to stimulation of a part of the body, especially the sexual organs.

2 a state of abnormal mental excitement or irritation.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French éréthisme, from Greek erethismos, from erethizein ‘irritate’.

Erevan another name for YEREVAN.

erewhile /εwl/ adv. ARCHAIC a while before; some time ago.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from ERE + WHILE.

erf /əf/ n. (pl. erfs or erven /əv(ə)n/) S. AFRICAN a plot of land.

<ORIGIN> Dutch, originally in the sense ‘inheritance’.

Erfurt /εfət/ German /εrfrt/ an industrial city in central Germany, capital of Thuringia; pop. 195,100 (est. 2002).

erg^1 /ə/ n. [PHYSICS] a unit of work or energy, equal to the work done by a force of one dyne when its point of application moves one centimetre in the direction of action of the force.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek ergon ‘work’.

erg^2 /ə/ n. (pl. ergs or areg /αrε/) an area of shifting sand dunes in the Sahara.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from Arabic ‘irk, ‘erg.

ergative /əətv/ [GRAMMAR] adj. relating to or denoting a case of nouns (in some languages, e.g. Basque and Eskimo) that identifies the doer of an action as the object rather than the subject of a verb.

- (in English) denoting verbs which can be used both transitively and intransitively to describe the same action, with the object in the former case being the subject in the latter, as in I boiled the kettle and the kettle boiled. Compare with INCHOATIVE.

■ n. an ergative word.

- (the ergative) the ergative case.

<DERIVATIVES> ergativity n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek ergatēs ‘worker’ (from ergon ‘work’) + -IVE.

ergo /əə/ adv. therefore: she was the sole beneficiary of the will, ergo the prime suspect.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

ergocalciferol /əə()kalsfərl/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for CALCIFEROL, VITAMIN D2.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of ERGOT and CALCIFEROL.

ergodic /ədk/ adj. [MATHEMATICS] relating to or denoting systems or processes with the property that, given sufficient time, they include or impinge on all points in a given space and can be represented statistically by a reasonably large selection of points.

<DERIVATIVES> ergodicity n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German ergoden, from Greek ergon ‘work’ + hodos ‘way’ + -IC.

ergometer /əmtə/ n. an apparatus which measures work or energy expended during a period of physical exercise.

ergometrine /əə()mεtrin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an alkaloid present in ergot. An amide of lysergic acid, it has oxytocic activity and is given to control bleeding after childbirth.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from ERGOT + Greek mētra ‘womb’ + -INE^4.

ergonomics /əənmks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of people's efficiency in their working environment.

<DERIVATIVES> ergonomic adj. ergonomically adv. ergonomist n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek ergon ‘work’, on the pattern of [ECONOMICS].

ergosphere /əəsfə/ n. [ASTRONOMY] a postulated region round a black hole, from which energy could escape.

ergosterol /əstərl/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound present in ergot and many other fungi. A steroid alcohol, it is converted to vitamin D_2 when irradiated with ultraviolet light.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ERGOT, on the pattern of cholesterol.

ergot /ət/ n. 1 [mass noun] a fungal disease of rye and other cereals in which black elongated fruiting bodies grow in the ears of the cereal. Eating contaminated food can result in ergotism.

<INFO> The fungus is Claviceps purpurea, subdivision Ascomycotina.

- the fruiting bodies of the ergot fungus, used as a source of certain medicinal alkaloids, especially for inducing uterine contractions or controlling post-partum bleeding.

2 a small horny protuberance on the back of each of a horse's fetlocks.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from Old French argot ‘cock's spur’ (because of the appearance produced by the disease).

ergotamine /ətəmin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a compound present in some kinds of ergot. An alkaloid, it causes constriction of blood vessels and is used in the treatment of migraine.

ergotism /əətz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] poisoning produced by eating food affected by ergot, typically resulting in headache, vomiting, diarrhoea, and gangrene of the fingers and toes.

erhu /əhu/ (also erh hu) n. a Chinese two-stringed musical instrument held in the lap and played with a bow.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Chinese èr ‘two’ + hú ‘bowed instrument’.

erica /εrkə/ n. a plant of the genus Erica (family Ericaceae), especially (in gardening) heather.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek ereikē.

ericaceous /εrkeəs/ adj. [BOTANY] relating to or denoting plants of the heather family (Ericaceae).

- (of compost) suitable for heathers and other lime-hating plants.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Ericaceae (plural), from the genus name Erica (see ERICA).

Ericsson^1 /εrks(ə)n/ John (1803–89), Swedish engineer whose inventions included a steam railway locomotive to rival Stephenson's Rocket, and the marine screw propeller (1836).

Ericsson^2 /εrks(ə)n/ (also Ericson or Eriksson) Leif (970–1020), Norse explorer, son of Eric the Red. He sailed westward from Greenland (c.1000) and visited land variously identified as Labrador, Newfoundland, or New England, which he named Vinland because of the vines he claimed to have found growing there.

Eric the Red (c.940–c.1010), Norse explorer. He left Iceland in 982 in search of land to the west, exploring Greenland and establishing a Norse settlement there in 986.

Eridanus /εrdənəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a long straggling southern constellation (the River), said to represent the river into which Phaethon fell when struck by Zeus' thunderbolt.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Erie, Lake /əri/ one of the five Great Lakes of North America, situated on the border between Canada and the US. It is linked to Lake Huron by the Detroit River and to Lake Ontario by the Welland Ship Canal and the Niagara River, which is its only natural outlet.

erigeron /rdərn ε-/ n. a widely distributed herbaceous plant of the daisy family, which is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental.

<INFO> Genus Erigeron, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin, ‘groundsel’ (the original sense in English), from Greek ērigerōn, from ēri ‘early’ + gerōn ‘old man’ (because the plant flowers early in the year, and some species bear grey down).

Erin /εrn ərn/ archaic or literary name for Ireland.

Erinys /εrns/ n. (pl. Erinyes /εrniz/) (in Greek mythology) a Fury.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Erinus.

eristic /εrstk/ FORMAL adj. of or characterized by debate or argument.

- (of an argument or arguer) aiming at winning rather than at reaching the truth.

■ n. a person given to debate or argument.

- [mass noun] the art or practice of debate or argument.

<DERIVATIVES> eristically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek eristikos, from erizein ‘to wrangle’, from eris ‘strife’.

Eritrea /εrtreə/ an independent state in NE Africa, on the Red Sea; pop. 4,465,651 (est. 2002); language, Tigre and Cushitic languages; capital, Asmara.

Eritrea was an Italian colony from 1890 to 1952, when it became part of Ethiopia. After a long guerrilla war it became internally self-governing in 1991 and fully independent in 1993.

<DERIVATIVES> Eritrean adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> from Italian, from Latin Mare Erythraeum ‘the Red Sea’.

erk /ək/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a male member of the RAF of the lowest rank.

■ exclam. expressing panic or dismay: Erk! What's that?

<ORIGIN> 1920s: of unknown origin.

Erlanger /əlaə/ Joseph (1874–1965), American physiologist. Collaborating with Herbert Gasser, he showed that the velocity of a nerve impulse is proportional to the diameter of the fibre. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1944, shared with Gasser).

Erlenmeyer flask /ələnmə/ n. a conical flat-bottomed laboratory flask with a narrow neck.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Emil Erlenmeyer (1825–1909), German chemist.

Erl King /əl k/ n. (in Germanic mythology) a bearded giant or goblin believed to lure little children to the land of death.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from German Erlkönig ‘alder-king’, a mistranslation of Danish ellerkonge ‘king of the elves’.

ERM abbr. Exchange Rate Mechanism.

ermine /əmn/ n. (pl. same or ermines) 1 a stoat, especially when in its white winter coat.

- [mass noun] the white fur of the stoat, used for trimming garments, especially the ceremonial robes of judges or peers.

- [mass noun] [HERALDRY] fur represented as black spots on a white ground, as a heraldic tincture.

2 (also ermine moth) a stout-bodied moth that has cream or white wings with black spots.

<INFO> Genus Spilosoma, family Arctiidae: several species.

<DERIVATIVES> ermined adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hermine, probably from medieval Latin (mus) Armenius ‘Armenian (mouse)’.

ermines /əmnz/ n. [mass noun] [HERALDRY] fur resembling ermine but with white spots on a black ground.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps from Old French hermines, plural of herminet, diminutive of hermine ‘ermine’.

erminois /əmnz/ n. [mass noun] [HERALDRY] fur resembling ermine but with black spots on a gold ground.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French, from hermine ‘ermine’.

-ern suffix forming adjectives such as northern.

<ORIGIN> Old English -erne, of Germanic origin.

erne /ən/ n. LITERARY the sea eagle.

<ORIGIN> Old English earn ‘eagle’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch arend.

Ernie /əni/ n. (in the UK) the computer that randomly selects the prize-winning numbers of Premium Bonds.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: acronym from electronic random number indicator equipment.

Ernst /ənst εnst/ Max (1891–1976), German artist. He was a leader of the Dada movement and developed the techniques of collage, photomontage, and frottage. He is probably best known for surrealist paintings such as L'Eléphant de Célèbes (1921).

erode /rəd/ v. [with obj.] (of wind, water, or other natural agents) gradually wear away (soil, rock, or land): the cliffs on this coast have been eroded by the sea.

- [no obj.] (of soil, rock, or land) be gradually worn away by such natural agents.

- gradually destroy or be gradually destroyed: [with obj.] this humiliation has eroded what confidence Jean has.

- MEDICINE (of a disease) gradually destroy (bodily tissue).

<DERIVATIVES> erodible adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French éroder or Latin erodere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out, away’ + rodere ‘gnaw’.

erogenous /rdnəs ε-/ adj. (of a part of the body) sensitive to sexual stimulation: erogenous zones.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from EROS + -GENOUS.

Eros /ərs/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the god of love, son of Aphrodite. Roman equivalent CUPID.

- [mass noun] sexual love or desire.

- [mass noun] (in Freudian theory) the life instinct. Often contrasted with THANATOS.

- [mass noun] (in Jungian psychology) the principle of personal relatedness in human activities, associated with the anima. Often contrasted with LOGOS.

2 [ASTRONOMY] asteroid 433, discovered in 1898, which comes at times nearer to the earth than any celestial body except the moon.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek, literally ‘sexual love’.

erosion /rə(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents: the problem of soil erosion.

- the gradual destruction or diminution of something: the erosion of support for the party.

- MEDICINE the gradual destruction of tissue or tooth enamel by physical or chemical action.

- [count noun] MEDICINE a place where surface tissue has been gradually destroyed: patients with gastric erosions.

<DERIVATIVES> erosional adj. erosive adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via French from Latin erosio(n-), from erodere ‘wear or gnaw away’ (see ERODE).

erotic /rtk/ adj. relating to or tending to arouse sexual desire or excitement: her book of erotic fantasies.

<DERIVATIVES> erotically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French érotique, from Greek erōtikos, from erōs, erōt- ‘sexual love’.

erotica n. [mass noun] erotic literature or art.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek erōtika, neuter plural of erōtikos (see EROTIC).

eroticism n. [mass noun] the quality or character of being erotic: a disturbing blend of violence and eroticism.

- sexual desire or excitement.

eroticize (also eroticise) v. [with obj.] give (something or someone) erotic qualities.

<DERIVATIVES> eroticization n.

erotism /εrətz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] sexual desire or excitement; eroticism.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek erōs, erōt- ‘sexual love’ + -ISM.

eroto- /rtə/ combining form relating to eroticism: erotomania.

<ORIGIN> from Greek erōs, erōt- ‘sexual love’.

erotogenic /rtədεnk/ (also erotogenous /εrətdnəs/) adj. another term for EROGENOUS.

erotology /εrətlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of sexual love and behaviour.

erotomania /rtə()menə/ n. [mass noun] excessive sexual desire.

- [PSYCHIATRY] a delusion in which a person (typically a woman) believes that another person (typically of higher social status) is in love with them.

<DERIVATIVES> erotomaniac n.

ERP abbr. enterprise resource planning, the management of all the information and resources involved in a company's operations by means of an integrated computer system.

err /ə/ v. [no obj.] FORMAL be mistaken or incorrect; make a mistake: the judge had erred in ruling that the evidence was inadmissible.

- (often as adj. erring) sin; do wrong: he had been as solicitous as an erring husband.

<PHRASES>

□ err on the right side act so that the least harmful of possible mistakes or errors is the most likely to occur.

□ err on the side of display more rather than less of (a specified quality) in one's actions: it is better to err on the side of caution.

□ to err is human, to forgive divine PROVERB it is human nature to make mistakes oneself while finding it hard to forgive others.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘wander, go astray’): from Old French errer, from Latin errare ‘to stray’.

errand n. a short journey undertaken in order to deliver or collect something, especially on someone else's behalf: she asked Tim to run an errand for her.

- the purpose or object of an errand: she knew that if she stated her errand she would not be able to see him.

<PHRASES>

□ errand of mercy a journey or mission carried out to help someone in difficulty or danger.

<ORIGIN> Old English rende ‘message, mission’, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German ārunti, and obscurely to Swedish ärende and Danish ærinde.

errand boy n. DATED a boy employed in a shop or office to make deliveries and run other errands.

errant /εr(ə)nt/ adj. 1 [attr.] FORMAL or HUMOROUS erring or straying from the accepted course or standards: an errant husband coming back from a night on the tiles.

2 [often postpositive] ARCHAIC or LITERARY travelling in search of adventure: that same lady errant. See also KNIGHT ERRANT.

3 [ZOOLOGY] (of a polychaete worm) of a predatory kind that moves about actively and is not confined to a tube or burrow.

<DERIVATIVES> errancy n.

■ errant (sense 1)

□ errantry n.

■ errant (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2):

■ sense 1 from Latin errant- ‘erring’, from the verb errare;

■ sense 2 from Old French errant ‘travelling’, present participle of errer, from late Latin iterare ‘go on a journey’, from iter ‘journey’. Compare with ARRANT.

erratic /ratk/ adj. not even or regular in pattern or movement; unpredictable: her breathing was erratic.

■ n. (also erratic block or boulder) [GEOLOGY] a rock or boulder that differs from the surrounding rock and is believed to have been brought from a distance by glacial action.

<DERIVATIVES> erratically adv. erraticism n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French erratique, from Latin erraticus, from errare ‘to stray, err’.

erratum /εrαtəm/ n. (pl. errata) an error in printing or writing.

- (errata) a list of corrected errors appended to a book or published in a subsequent issue of a journal.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, ‘error’, neuter past participle of errare ‘err’.

Er Rif /ε rf/ another name for RIF MOUNTAINS.

erroneous /rənəs ε-/ adj. wrong; incorrect: employers sometimes make erroneous assumptions.

<DERIVATIVES> erroneously adv. erroneousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin erroneus (from erro(n-) ‘vagabond’, from errare ‘to stray, err’) + -OUS.

error n. a mistake: spelling errors | an error of judgement.

- [mass noun] the state or condition of being wrong in conduct or judgement: goods dispatched to your branch in error | the crash was caused by human error.

- [mass noun] TECHNICAL a measure of the estimated difference between the observed or calculated value of a quantity and its true value.

<PHRASES>

□ see the error of one's ways realize or acknowledge one's wrongdoing.

<DERIVATIVES> errorless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin error, from errare ‘to stray, err’.

error bar n. [MATHEMATICS] a line through a point on a graph, parallel to one of the axes, which represents the uncertainty or error of the corresponding coordinate of the point.

error correction n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] the automatic correction of errors that arise from the incorrect transmission of digital data.

error message n. [COMPUTING] a message displayed on a monitor screen or printout indicating that an incorrect instruction has been given or that there is an error resulting from faulty software or hardware.

-ers suffix forming colloquial nouns and adjectives such as Twickers (for Twickenham), brekkers (for breakfast), preggers (for pregnant), etc.

<ORIGIN> extension of -er^3.

ersatz /əsats ε-/ adj. (of a product) made or used as a substitute, typically an inferior one, for something else: ersatz coffee.

- not real or genuine: ersatz emotion.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, literally ‘replacement’.

Erse /əs/ n. [mass noun] DATED the Scottish or Irish Gaelic language.

<ORIGIN> early Scots form of IRISH.

erst /əst/ adv. ARCHAIC long ago; formerly: the friends whom erst you knew.

<ORIGIN> Old English rest, superlative of r (see ERE).

erstwhile adj. [attr.] former: the erstwhile president of the company.

■ adv. ARCHAIC formerly: Mary Anderson, erstwhile the queen of America's stage.

Erté /εte/ (1892–1990), Russian-born French fashion designer and illustrator; born Romain de Tirtoff. During the First World War his garments became internationally famous through his decorative magazine illustrations, and in the 1920s he became a noted art deco designer.

Ertebølle /εtəbələ/ n. [usually as modifier] [ARCHAEOLOGY] a late Mesolithic culture in the western Baltic (4th millennium BC), the final phases of which show Neolithic influence in the form of permanent coastal fishing and collecting sites and the use of skin boats.

<ORIGIN> named after Ertebølle in Jutland, Denmark.

erubescent /εrbεs(ə)nt/ adj. RARE reddening; blushing.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin erubescent- ‘blushing’, from the verb erubescere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + rubescere ‘redden’ (from rubere ‘be red’).

erucic acid /rusk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a solid compound present in mustard and rape seeds.

<INFO> An unsaturated fatty acid: chem. formula: C_21H_41COOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: erucic from Latin eruca ‘rocket’ (denoting the plant) + -IC.

eructation /irkte(ə)n - ε-/ n. FORMAL a belch.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin eructatio(n-), from the verb eructare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + ructare ‘belch’.

erudite /εrdt/ adj. having or showing great knowledge or learning.

<DERIVATIVES> eruditely adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin eruditus, past participle of erudire ‘instruct, train’ (based on rudis ‘rude, untrained’).

erudition /εrd(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the quality of having or showing great knowledge or learning; scholarship: he writes with great erudition.

erupt v. 1 [no obj.] (of a volcano) become active and eject lava, ash, and gases: Mount Pinatubo began erupting in June.

- be ejected from an active volcano: hot lava erupted from the crust.

- (of an object) explode with fire and noise: smoke bombs erupted everywhere.

2 break out suddenly and dramatically: fierce fighting erupted between the army and guerrillas | noise erupted from the drawing room.

3 give vent to anger, amusement, etc. in a sudden and noisy way: the soldiers erupted in fits of laughter.

4 (of a spot, rash, or other mark) suddenly appear on the skin.

- (of the skin) suddenly develop a spot, rash, or mark.

5 (of a tooth) break through the gums during normal development.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin erupt- ‘broken out’, from the verb erumpere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + rumpere ‘burst out, break’.

eruption n. 1 an act or instance of erupting: the eruption of Vesuvius.

- a sudden outbreak of something, typically something unwelcome or noisy: a sudden eruption of street violence.

2 a spot, rash, or other mark appearing suddenly on the skin.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin eruptio(n-), from the verb erumpere (see ERUPT).

eruptive adj. 1 relating to or formed by volcanic activity: a history of the eruptive activity in an area.

2 producing or characterized by eruptions: an acute eruptive disease.

eruv /εrv/ n. (pl. eruvim, eruvs /εrvm/) [JUDAISM] an urban area enclosed by a wire boundary which symbolically extends the private domain of Jewish households into public areas, permitting activities within it that are normally forbidden in public on the Sabbath.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ‘ērū, from a base meaning ‘mixture’.

erven plural form of ERF.

-ery (also -ry) suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting a class or kind: confectionery | greenery.

2 denoting an occupation, a state, a condition, or behaviour: [ARCHERY] | bravery | slavery.

- with depreciatory reference: knavery | tomfoolery.

3 denoting a place set aside for an activity or a grouping of things, animals, etc.: orangery | rookery.

<ORIGIN> from French -erie, based on Latin -arius and -ator.

eryngium /rndəm/ n. (pl. eryngiums) a plant of the genus Eryngium in the parsley family, especially (in gardening) sea holly.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: modern Latin, from Latin eryngion, from a diminutive of Greek ērungos ‘sea holly’.

eryngo /rə/ n. (pl. eryngos or eryngoes)

■ another term for SEA HOLLY or ERYNGIUM.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian and Spanish eringio, from Latin eryngion (see ERYNGIUM).

erysipelas /εrspləs/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an acute, sometimes recurrent disease caused by a bacterial infection, characterized by large raised red patches on the skin.

<INFO> This is caused by Streptococcus pyogenes, a Gram-positive coccus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek erusipelas; perhaps related to eruthros ‘red’ and pella ‘skin’.

erysipeloid /εrspəld/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE dermatitis of the hands due to bacterial infection, occurring mainly among handlers of meat and fish products.

<INFO> This is caused by Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, a Gram-positive bacterium occurring either as slightly curved rods or as filaments.

erythema /εrθimə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE superficial reddening of the skin, usually in patches, as a result of injury or irritation causing dilatation of the blood capillaries.

<DERIVATIVES> erythemal adj. erythematous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek eruthēma, from eruthainein ‘be red’, from eruthros ‘red’.

erythrism /εrθrz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] a congenital condition of abnormal redness in an animal's fur, plumage, or skin.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek eruthros ‘red’ + -ISM.

erythritol /rθrtl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a sweet substance extracted from certain lichens and algae. It is used medicinally as a vasodilator.

<INFO> A tetrahydric alcohol; chem. formula: C_4H_10O_4.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from erythrite (earlier name for erythritol) + -OL.

erythro- combining form (used commonly in zoological and medical terms) red: erythrocyte.

<ORIGIN> from Greek eruthros ‘red’.

erythroblast /rθrə()blast/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] an immature erythrocyte, containing a nucleus.

<DERIVATIVES> erythroblastic adj.

erythroblastosis /rθrə()blastəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the abnormal presence of erythroblasts in the blood.

- (also erythroblastosis fetalis)

■ another term for HAEMOLYTIC DISEASE OF THE NEWBORN.

erythrocyte /rθrə()st/ n. a red blood cell, which (in humans) is typically a biconcave disc without a nucleus. Erythrocytes contain the pigment haemoglobin, which imparts the red colour to blood, and transport oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from the tissues.

<DERIVATIVES> erythrocytic adj.

erythrogenic /rθrə()dεnk/ adj. MEDICINE (of a bacterial toxin) causing inflammation and reddening of the skin.

erythroid /εrθrd/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to erythrocytes.

erythroleukaemia /rθrə()lukimə/ (US erythroleukemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a rare acute form of leukaemia in which there is proliferation of immature red and white blood cells.

erythromycin /rθrə()msn/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an antibiotic used in the treatment of infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria. It is similar in its effects to penicillin.

<INFO> This is obtained from the streptomycete bacterium Streptomyces erythreus.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from elements of the modern Latin taxonomic name (see above) + -IN^1.

erythronium /εrθrənəm/ n. (pl. erythroniums or erythronia /-ə/) a plant of a genus which includes dog's-tooth violet.

<INFO> Genus Erythronium, family Liliaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek (saturion) eruthronion ‘red-flowered (orchid)’.

erythropoiesis /rθrə()piss/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the production of red blood cells.

<DERIVATIVES> erythropoietic adj.

erythropoietin /rθrə()pεtn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hormone secreted by the kidneys that increases the rate of production of red blood cells in response to falling levels of oxygen in the tissues.

Erzgebirge /εtsəbəə/ German /etsəbrə εrts-/ a range of mountains on the border between Germany and the Czech Republic. Also called the ORE MOUNTAINS.

Erzurum /εzrm/ a city in NE Turkey, capital of a mountainous province of the same name; pop. 333,300 (est. 2002).

ES abbr. El Salvador (international vehicle registration).

Es symbol the chemical element einsteinium.

-es^1 suffix 1 forming plurals of nouns ending in sibilant sounds: boxes | kisses.

2 forming plurals of certain nouns ending in -o: potatoes | heroes.

<ORIGIN> variant of -s^1.

-es^2 suffix forming the third person singular of the present tense: 1 in verbs ending in sibilant sounds: pushes.

2 in verbs ending in -o (but not -oo): goes.

<ORIGIN> variant of -s^2.

ESA abbr.

- (in the UK) Environmentally Sensitive Area.

- European Space Agency.

Esaki /εzαki/ Leo (b.1925), Japanese physicist. He investigated and pioneered the development of quantum-mechanical tunnelling of electrons in semiconductor devices, and designed the tunnel diode (also called the Esaki diode). Nobel Prize for Physics (1973).

Esau /is/ (in the Bible) the elder of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca, who sold his birthright to his brother Jacob and was tricked out of his father's blessing by his brother (Gen. 25, 27).

Esbjerg /εsbjə/ a port in Denmark, on the west coast of Jutland; pop. 73,422 (1998). It has ferry links with Britain and the Faroe Islands.

ESC abbr. Economic and Social Committee.

escabeche /εskəbε εskəbε/ n. [mass noun] a dish of fish that is fried then marinated in vinegar and spices.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

escadrille /εskədrl/ n. a French squadron of aircraft.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘flotilla, flight’.

escalade /εskəled/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL the scaling of fortified walls using ladders, as a form of military attack.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from Spanish escalada, escalado, from medieval Latin scalare ‘to scale, climb’, from Latin scala ‘ladder’.

escalate /εskəlet/ v. [no obj.] increase rapidly: the price of tickets escalated | (as adj. escalating) the escalating cost of health care.

- make or become more intense or serious: [no obj.] the disturbance escalated into a full-scale riot | [with obj.] we do not want to escalate the war.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (in the sense ‘travel on an escalator’): back-formation from ESCALATOR.

escalation /εskəle(ə)n/ n. a rapid increase; a rise: cost escalations.

- an increase in the intensity or seriousness of something; an intensification: an escalation of violence | [mass noun] the present escalation of global warming.

escalator n. a moving staircase consisting of an endlessly circulating belt of steps driven by a motor, which conveys people between the floors of a public building.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US, as a trade name): from escalade ‘climb a wall by ladder’ (from the escalade), on the pattern of elevator.

escalator clause (also escalation clause) n. a clause in a contract that allows for a rise in wages or prices under certain conditions.

escallonia /εskələnə/ n. an evergreen South American shrub with pink or white flowers.

<INFO> Genus Escallonia, family Grossulariaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Escallon, an 18th-cent. Spanish traveller who discovered the plants.

escallop /skaləp ε- -skl-/ n. 1 variant spelling of ESCALOPE.

2

■ another term for scallop (sense 2 of the noun).

3 [HERALDRY] a scallop shell as a charge.

■ v. (escallops, escalloping, escalloped)

■ another term for scallop (sense 3 of the verb).

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2 of the noun): from Old French escalope ‘shell’. Compare with ESCALOPE and SCALLOP.

escalope /skaləp ε- -skl- εskələp/ (also escallop) n. a thin slice of meat without any bone, typically a special cut of veal from the leg that is coated, fried, and served in a sauce.

<ORIGIN> French; compare with ESCALLOP and scallop.

escapade /εskəped εskəped/ n. an act or incident involving excitement, daring, or adventure.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘an escape’): from French, from Provençal or Spanish, from escapar ‘to escape’, based on medieval Latin ex- ‘out of’ + cappa ‘cloak’. Compare with ESCAPE.

escape v. 1 [no obj.] break free from confinement or control: two burglars have just escaped from prison | (as adj. escaped) escaped convicts.

- [with obj.] elude or get free from (someone): he drove along the dual carriageway to escape police.

- succeed in avoiding or eluding something dangerous or unpleasant: the driver escaped with a broken knee | [with obj.] a baby boy narrowly escaped death.

- [with obj.] (of words or sounds) issue involuntarily or inadvertently from (someone): a sob escaped her lips.

2 [with obj.] fail to be noticed or remembered by (someone): the name escaped him | it may have escaped your notice, but this is not a hotel.

3 [no obj.] (of a gas, liquid, or heat) leak from a container.

■ n. 1 an act of breaking free from confinement or control: the gang had made their escape | [mass noun] he could think of no way of escape, short of rudeness.

- an act of avoiding something dangerous or unpleasant: the baby was fine, but it was a lucky escape.

- a means of escaping from somewhere: [as modifier] he had planned his escape route.

2 a form of temporary distraction from reality or routine: romantic novels should present an escape from the dreary realities of life.

3 a leakage of gas, liquid, or heat from a container.

4 (also escape key) [COMPUTING] a key on a computer keyboard which either interrupts the current operation or converts subsequent characters to a control sequence.

5 a garden plant or pet animal that has gone wild and (especially in plants) become naturalized.

<PHRASES>

□ escape the clutches (or grip) of break free from the control or grasp of.

□ make good one's escape succeed in breaking free from confinement: by the time they had given chase, she had made good her escape.

<DERIVATIVES> escapable adj. escaper n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French eschaper, based on medieval Latin ex- ‘out’ + cappa ‘cloak’. Compare with ESCAPADE.

escape clause n. a contract provision which specifies the conditions under which a party can be freed from an obligation.

escapee /εskepi skepi/ n. a person who has escaped from somewhere, especially prison.

escape mechanism n. [PSYCHOLOGY] a mental process which enables a person to avoid acknowledging unpleasant or threatening aspects of reality.

escapement /skepm(ə)nt ε-/ n. 1 a mechanism in a clock or watch that alternately checks and releases the train by a fixed amount and transmits a periodic impulse from the spring or weight to the balance wheel or pendulum.

2 a mechanism in a typewriter that shifts the carriage a small fixed amount to the left after a key is pressed and released.

3 the part of the mechanism in a piano that enables the hammer to fall back as soon as it has struck the string.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French échappement, from échapper ‘to escape’.

escape road n. chiefly BRITISH a slip road, especially on a racing circuit, for a vehicle to turn into if the driver is unable to negotiate a bend or slope safely.

escape velocity n. the lowest velocity which a body must have in order to escape the gravitational attraction of a particular planet or other object.

escape wheel n. a toothed wheel in the escapement of a watch or clock.

escapism n. [mass noun] the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy.

<DERIVATIVES> escapist n. & adj.

escapologist /εskəplədst/ n. an entertainer specializing in freeing themselves from the confinement of such things as ropes, handcuffs, and chains.

<DERIVATIVES> escapology n.

escargot /εskαə -/ n. the edible snail, especially as an item on a menu.

<ORIGIN> French, from Old French escargol, from Provençal escaragol.

escarole /εskərəl/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN an endive of a variety with broad undivided leaves and a slightly bitter flavour, used in salads.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, from Italian scar(i)ola, based on Latin esca ‘food’.

escarpment /skαpm(ə)nt ε-/ n. a long, steep slope, especially one at the edge of a plateau or separating areas of land at different heights.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French escarpement, escarpe ‘scarp’, from Italian scarpa ‘slope’. Compare with SCARP.

Escaut /εskə/ French name for SCHELDT.

-esce suffix forming verbs, often denoting the initiation of action: coalesce | effervesce.

<ORIGIN> from or suggested by Latin verbs ending in -escere.

-escent suffix forming adjectives denoting a developing state or action: coalescent | fluorescent.

<DERIVATIVES> -escence suffix forming corresponding nouns.

<ORIGIN> from French, or from Latin -escent- (present participial stem of verbs ending in -escere).

eschar /εskα/ n. MEDICINE a dry, dark scab or falling away of dead skin, typically caused by a burn, an insect bite, or infection with anthrax.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French eschare or late Latin eschara ‘scar or scab’, from Greek (see also SCAR).

eschatology /εskətlədi/ n. [mass noun] the part of theology concerned with death, judgement, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind.

<DERIVATIVES> eschatological adj. eschatologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek eskhatos ‘last’ + -LOGY.

eschaton /εskətn/ n. (the eschaton) [THEOLOGY] the final event in the divine plan; the end of the world.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek eskhaton, neuter of eskhatos ‘last’.

escheat /stit εs-/ chiefly HISTORICAL n. [mass noun] the reversion of property to the state, or (in feudal law) to a lord, on the owner's dying without legal heirs.

- [count noun] an item of property affected by escheat.

■ v. [no obj.] (of land) revert to a lord or the state by escheat.

- [with obj.] (usually as adj. escheated) hand over (land) as an escheat.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French eschete, based on Latin excidere ‘fall away’, from ex- ‘out of, from’ + cadere ‘to fall’.

Escher /εə/ M. C. (1898–1972), Dutch graphic artist; full name Maurits Corneille Escher. His prints are characterized by their sophisticated use of visual illusion and paradoxical perspective.

eschew /stu εs-/ v. [with obj.] deliberately avoid using; abstain from: he appealed to the crowd to eschew violence.

<DERIVATIVES> eschewal n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French eschiver, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to German scheuen ‘shun’, also to shy^1.

eschscholzia /slzə εlzə/ (also eschscholtzia /-tsə/) n. a North American poppy which is cultivated for its bright yellow, orange, or red flowers.

<INFO> Genus Eschscholzia, family Papaveraceae: several species, in particular the California poppy.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named in honour of Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz (1793–1831), Russian-born botanist and traveller.

Escoffier /εskfe/ Georges-Auguste (1846–1935), French chef. He gained an international reputation while working in London at the Savoy Hotel (1890–9) and later at the Carlton (1899–1919).

escolar /εskəlα/ n. a large, elongated predatory fish occurring in tropical and temperate oceans throughout the world. Also called SNAKE MACKEREL.

<INFO> Family Gempylidae: several genera and species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, literally ‘scholar’, so named because the ringed markings around the eyes resemble spectacles.

Escorial /εskrαl/ a monastery and palace in central Spain, near Madrid, built in the late 16th century by Philip II.

escort n. /εskt/ a person, vehicle, or group accompanying another for protection or as a mark of rank: a police escort | [mass noun] he was driven away under armed escort.

- a man who accompanies a woman to a particular social event.

- a person, typically a woman, who may be hired to accompany someone socially: [as modifier] an escort agency.

- EUPHEMISTIC a prostitute.

■ v. /skt ε-/ [with obj.] accompany (someone or something) somewhere as an escort: he escorted her back to her hotel.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally denoting a body of armed men escorting travellers): from French escorte (noun), escorter (verb), from Italian scorta, feminine past participle of scorgere ‘to conduct, guide’, based on Latin ex- ‘out of’ + corrigere ‘set right’ (see CORRECT).

escoveitch /εskəvt/ (also escovitch) n. West Indian term for ESCABECHE.

escritoire /εskritwα/ n. a small writing desk with drawers and compartments.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from medieval Latin scriptorium ‘writing room’ (see SCRIPTORIUM).

escrow /εskrə/ [LAW] n. a bond, deed, or other document kept in the custody of a third party and taking effect only when a specified condition has been fulfilled.

- [usually as modifier] a deposit or fund held in trust or as a security: an escrow account.

- [mass noun] the state of being kept in custody or trust until a specified condition has been fulfilled: the board holds funds in escrow.

■ v. [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN place in custody or trust until a specified condition has been fulfilled.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old French escroe ‘scrap, scroll’, from medieval Latin scroda, of Germanic origin; related to SHRED.

escudo /εsk(j)udə εk-/ n. (pl. escudos) the basic monetary unit of Portugal and the Cape Verde Islands, equal to 100 centavos (replaced in Portugal by the euro in 2002).

<ORIGIN> Spanish and Portuguese, from Latin scutum ‘shield’.

esculent /εskjlənt/ FORMAL adj. fit to be eaten; edible.

■ n. a thing, especially a vegetable, which is fit to be eaten.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin esculentus, from esca ‘food’, from esse ‘eat’.

escutcheon /skt(ə)n ε-/ n. 1 a shield or emblem bearing a coat of arms.

2 (also escutcheon plate) a flat piece of metal for protection and often ornamentation, around a keyhole, door handle, or light switch.

<PHRASES>

□ a blot on one's escutcheon a stain on one's reputation or character.

□ escutcheon of pretence a small shield within a coat of arms, bearing another coat or device to which the bearer has a claim, especially one to which a man's wife is heiress.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Anglo-Norman French escuchon, based on Latin scutum ‘shield’.

Esd. abbr. Esdras, either in the Apocrypha or the Vulgate (in biblical references).

Esdras /εzdrəs/ 1 either of two books of the Apocrypha. The first is mainly a compilation from Chronicles, Nehemiah, and Ezra; the second is a record of angelic revelation.

2 (in the Vulgate) the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

ESE abbr. east-south-east.

-ese suffix forming adjectives and nouns: 1 denoting an inhabitant or language of a country or city: Maltese | Viennese.

2 often DEROGATORY (especially with reference to language) denoting character or style: journalese | officialese.

<ORIGIN> from Old French -eis, based on Latin -ensis.

esemplastic /εsεmplastk/ adj. RARE moulding into one; unifying.

<DERIVATIVES> esemplastically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek es ‘into’ + hen (neuter of heis ‘one’) + -IC; formed irregularly by Coleridge, probably suggested by German Ineinsbildung, in the same sense.

eserine /εsεrin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] another term for PHYSOSTIGMINE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French ésérine, from Efik esere.

esker /εskə/ n. [GEOLOGY] a long ridge of gravel and other sediment, typically having a winding course, deposited by meltwater from a retreating glacier or ice sheet.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Irish eiscir.

Eskimo n. (pl. same or Eskimos) 1 a member of an indigenous people inhabiting northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and eastern Siberia, and traditionally living by hunting seals and other Arctic animals and birds and by fishing.

2 [mass noun] either of the two main languages of the Eskimo people (Inuit and Yupik), comprising a major division of the Eskimo-Aleut family.

■ adj. relating to the Eskimos or their languages.

<ORIGIN> an Algonquian word, perhaps in the sense ‘people speaking a different language’.

<USAGE> In recent years, the word Eskimo has come to be regarded as offensive (partly through the associations of the now discredited folk etymology ‘one who eats raw flesh’). The peoples inhabiting the regions from the central Canadian Arctic to western Greenland prefer to call themselves Inuit: see usage at Inuit The term Eskimo, however, continues to be the only term which can be properly understood as applying to the people as a whole and is still widely used in anthropological and archaeological contexts.

Eskimo-Aleut n. [mass noun] the family of languages comprising Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut.

■ adj. relating to this family of languages.

Eskimo curlew n. a small New World curlew with a striped head, formerly common in the arctic tundra but now close to extinction.

<INFO> Numenius borealis, family Scolopacidae.

Eskimo pie n. US TRADEMARK a bar of chocolate-coated ice cream.

Eskimo roll n. a complete rollover in canoeing, from upright to capsized to upright.

esky /εski/ n. (pl. eskies) AUSTRALIAN TRADEMARK a portable insulated container for keeping food or drink cool.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: probably from ESKIMO, by association with a cold climate.

ESL abbr. English as a second language.

ESN abbr.

- DATED educationally subnormal.

- electronic serial number, a unique number programmed into a mobile phone which identifies it.

ESOL abbr. English for speakers of other languages.

esoteric /εsətεrk isə-/ adj. intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest: esoteric philosophical debates.

<DERIVATIVES> esoterically adv. esotericism n. esotericist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek esōterikos, from esōterō, comparative of esō ‘within’, from es, eis ‘into’. Compare with EXOTERIC.

esoterica /εsətεrkə isə-/ n. [mass noun] esoteric or highly specialized subjects or publications.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek esōterika, neuter plural of esōterikos ‘esoteric’.

ESP abbr.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] electro-selective pattern.

- electrostatic precipitator.

- extrasensory perception.

esp. abbr. especially.

espada /εspαdə/ n. (pl. same) a scabbardfish, especially as caught for food in Madeira and elsewhere.

<ORIGIN> via Portuguese from Spanish, from Latin spatha ‘sword’.

espadrille /εspədrl εspədrl/ n. a light canvas shoe with a plaited fibre sole.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from Provençal espardi(l)hos, from espart ‘esparto’, from Latin spartum (see ESPARTO).

espalier /spaljə ε-/ n. a fruit tree or ornamental shrub whose branches are trained to grow flat against a wall, supported on a lattice.

- a lattice for an espaliered tree or shrub.

■ v. [with obj.] train (a tree or shrub) to grow flat against a wall.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian spalliera, from spalla ‘shoulder’, from Latin spatula (see SPATULA), in late Latin ‘shoulder blade’.

España /espaa/ Spanish name for SPAIN.

esparto /εspαtə -/ (also esparto grass) n. (pl. espartos) a coarse grass with tough narrow leaves, native to Spain and North Africa. It is used to make ropes, wickerwork, and good-quality paper.

<INFO> Stipa tenacissima, family Gramineae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, via Latin from Greek sparton ‘rope’.

especial /spε(ə)l ε-/ adj. [attr.] 1 better or greater than usual; special: these traditions are of especial interest to feminists.

2 for or belonging chiefly to one person or thing: her outburst was for my especial benefit.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin specialis ‘special’, from species (see SPECIES).

especially adv. 1 used to single out one person or thing over all others: he despised them all, especially Sylvester | a new song, written especially for Jonathan.

2 to a great extent; very much: he didn't especially like dancing | [as submodifier] sleep is especially important in growing children.

<USAGE> There is some overlap in the uses of especially and specially. In the broadest terms, both words mean ‘particularly’ and the preference for one word over the other is linked with particular conventions of use rather than with any deep difference in meaning. For example, there is little to choose between written especially for Jonathan and written specially for Jonathan and neither is more correct than the other. On the other hand, in sentences such as he despised them all, especially Sylvester, substitution of specially is found in informal uses but should not be used in written English, while in the car was specially made for the occasion substitution of especially is somewhat unusual. Overall, especially is by far the commoner of the two, occurring more than thirteen times as frequently as specially in the Oxford English Corpus.

Esperanto /εspərantə/ n. [mass noun] an artificial language devised in 1887 as an international medium of communication, based on roots from the chief European languages. It retains the structure of these languages and has the advantage of grammatical regularity and ease of pronunciation.

<DERIVATIVES> Esperantist n.

<ORIGIN> from the name Dr Esperanto, used as a pen-name by the inventor of the language, Ludwik L. Zamenhof (1858–1917), Polish physician; the literal sense is ‘one who hopes’ (based on Latin sperare ‘to hope’).

espial /sp(ə)l ε-/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the action of watching or catching sight of something or someone: he withdrew from his point of espial.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘spying’): from Old French espiaille, from espier ‘espy’.

espionage /εspənα -d/ n. [mass noun] the practice of spying or of using spies, typically by governments to obtain political and military information.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French espionnage, from espionner ‘to spy’, from espion ‘a spy’.

Espírito Santo /εsprtu santu/ a state of eastern Brazil, on the Atlantic coast; capital, Vitória.

esplanade /εspləned -nαd/ n. a long, open, level area, typically beside the sea, along which people may walk for pleasure.

- an open, level space separating a fortress from a town.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting an area of flat ground on top of a rampart): from French, from Italian spianata, from Latin explanatus ‘flattened, levelled’, from explanare (see EXPLAIN).

espousal /spaz(ə)l ε-/ n. 1 [in sing.] an act of adopting or supporting a cause, belief, or way of life: his espousal of Western ideas.

2 ARCHAIC a marriage or engagement.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French espousaille, from Latin sponsalia ‘betrothal’, neuter plural of sponsalis (adjective), from sponsare ‘espouse, betroth’ (see ESPOUSE).

espouse /spaz ε-/ v. [with obj.] 1 adopt or support (a cause, belief, or way of life): the left has espoused the causes of sexual and racial equality.

2 ARCHAIC marry.

- (be espoused to) (of a woman) be engaged to (a particular man).

<DERIVATIVES> espouser n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘take as a spouse’): from Old French espouser, from Latin sponsare, from sponsus ‘betrothed’, past participle of spondere.

espressivo /εsprεsivə/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) with expression of feeling.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from Latin expressus ‘distinctly presented’.

espresso /εsprεsə/ n. (pl. espressos) a type of strong black coffee made by forcing steam through ground coffee beans.

<USAGE> The often-occurring variant spelling expresso is not found in the original Italian and is strictly incorrect. It was probably formed by analogy with express.

<ORIGIN> from Italian (caffè) espresso, literally ‘pressed out (coffee)’.

esprit /εspri/ French /εspRi/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being lively, vivacious, or witty.

<ORIGIN> French, from Latin spiritus ‘spirit’.

esprit de corps /εspri də k/ French /εspRi də kR/ n. [mass noun] a feeling of pride and mutual loyalty shared by the members of a group.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘spirit of the body’.

esprit de l'escalier /εspri də lεskalje/ French /εspRi də lεskalje/ n. [mass noun] used to refer to the fact that a witty remark or retort often comes to mind after the opportunity to make it has passed.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘wit of the staircase’ (i.e. a witty remark coming to mind on the stairs leading away from a gathering).

espy /sp ε-/ v. (espies, espying, espied) [with obj.] LITERARY catch sight of: she espied her daughter rounding the corner.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French espier, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to Dutch spieden and German spähan. Compare with SPY.

Esq. abbr. Esquire.

-esque suffix (forming adjectives) in the style of; resembling: carnivalesque | Dantesque.

<ORIGIN> from French, via Italian -esco from medieval Latin -iscus.

Esquimau n. (pl. Esquimaux)

■ archaic spelling of ESKIMO.

Esquipulas /εskipulas/ a town in SE Guatemala, near the border with Honduras; pop. 16,800 (est. 2002). Noted for the image of the ‘Black Christ of Esquipulas’ in its church, the town is a centre of pilgrimage.

esquire /skwə ε-/ (abbr.: esq.) n. 1 (Esquire) BRITISH a polite title appended to a man's name when no other title is used, typically in the address of a letter or other documents: J. C. Pearson Esquire.

- NORTH AMERICAN a title appended to the surname of a lawyer (of either sex).

2 HISTORICAL a young nobleman who, in training for knighthood, acted as an attendant to a knight.

- an officer in the service of a king or nobleman.

- [as title] a landed proprietor or country squire.

<PHRASES>

□ esquire of the (king's) body HISTORICAL an officer in charge of dressing and undressing the king.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French esquier, from Latin scutarius ‘shield-bearer’, from scutum ‘shield’; compare with SQUIRE.

■ Sense 2 was the original denotation, sense 1 being at first a courtesy title given to such a person.

ESR abbr. [PHYSICS] electron spin resonance.

ESRC abbr. (in the UK) Economic and Social Research Council.

-ess^1 suffix forming nouns denoting female gender: abbess | adulteress | tigress.

<ORIGIN> from French -esse, via late Latin from Greek -issa.

<USAGE> The suffix -ess has been used since the Middle Ages to form nouns denoting female persons, using a neutral or a male form as the base (as hostess and actress from host and actor, for example). Despite the apparent equivalence between the male and female pairs of forms, they are rarely equivalent in terms of actual use and connotation in modern English (consider the differences in meaning and use between manager and manageress or poet and poetess). In the late 20th century, as the role of women in society changed, some of these feminine forms became problematic and were seen as old-fashioned, sexist, and patronizing (e.g. poetess, authoress, editress). The ‘male’ form is increasingly being used as the ‘neutral’ form, where the gender of the person concerned is simply unspecified.

-ess^2 suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives, such as largess.

<ORIGIN> Middle English via French -esse from Latin -itia.

essay n. /εse/ 1 a short piece of writing on a particular subject.

2 FORMAL an attempt or effort: a misjudged essay in job preservation.

- a trial design of a postage stamp yet to be accepted.

■ v. /εse/ [with obj.] FORMAL attempt or try: Donald essayed a smile.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a verb in the sense ‘test the quality of’): alteration of ASSAY, by association with Old French essayer, based on late Latin exagium ‘weighing’, from the base of exigere ‘ascertain, weigh’; the noun (late 16th century) is from Old French essai ‘trial’.

essayist n. a person who writes essays, especially as a literary genre.

essayistic adj. characteristic of or used in essays.

esse /εsi/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] essential nature or essence. See also IN ESSE.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘to be’ (used as a noun).

Essen /εs(ə)n/ an industrial city in the Ruhr valley, in NW Germany; pop. 589,900 (est. 2002).

essence n. [mass noun] 1 the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something abstract, which determines its character: conflict is the essence of drama.

- [count noun] [PHILOSOPHY] a property or group of properties of something without which it would not exist or be what it is.

2 an extract or concentrate obtained from a plant or other matter and used for flavouring or scent: vanilla essence.

<PHRASES>

□ in essence basically and without regard for peripheral details; fundamentally: in detail the class system is complex but in essence it is simple.

□ of the essence critically important: time will be of the essence during negotiations.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin essentia, from esse ‘be’.

Essene /εsin/ n. a member of an ancient Jewish ascetic sect of the period from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD in Palestine, who lived in highly organized groups and held property in common. The Essenes are widely regarded as the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Esseni (plural), from Greek Essēnoi, perhaps from Aramaic.

essential /sεn(ə)l/ adj. 1 absolutely necessary; extremely important: [with infinitive] it is essential to keep up-to-date records | fibre is an essential ingredient of our diet.

- [attr.] fundamental or central to the nature of something or someone: the essential weakness of the plaintiff's case.

2 (of an amino acid or fatty acid) required for normal growth but not synthesized in the body and therefore necessary in the diet.

3 MEDICINE (of a disease) with no known external stimulus or cause; idiopathic: essential hypertension.

■ n. (usually essentials) a thing that is absolutely necessary: we only had the bare essentials in the way of equipment.

- (essentials) the fundamental elements or characteristics of something: he was quick to grasp the essentials of an opponent's argument.

<DERIVATIVES> essentiality n. essentialness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘in the highest degree’): from late Latin essentialis, from Latin essentia (see ESSENCE).

essentialism n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] a belief that things have a set of characteristics which make them what they are, and that the task of science and philosophy is their discovery and expression; the doctrine that essence is prior to existence. Compare with EXISTENTIALISM.

- the view that all children should be taught on traditional lines the ideas and methods regarded as essential to the prevalent culture.

- the view that categories of people, such as women and men, or heterosexuals and homosexuals, or members of ethnic groups, have intrinsically different and characteristic natures or dispositions.

<DERIVATIVES> essentialist n. & adj.

essentially adv. used to emphasize the basic, fundamental, or intrinsic nature of a person or thing: [sentence adv.] essentially, they are amateurs.

essential oil n. a natural oil typically obtained by distillation and having the characteristic odour of the plant or other source from which it is extracted.

Essequibo /εskibə/ a river in Guyana, rising in the Guiana Highlands and flowing about 965 km (600 miles) northwards to the Atlantic.

Essex a county of eastern England; county town, Chelmsford.

EST abbr. Eastern Standard Time (see EASTERN TIME).

est /εst/ n. [mass noun] a system for self-improvement aimed at developing a person's potential through intensive group awareness and training sessions.

<ORIGIN> 1970s (originally US): acronym from Erhard Seminars Training, from the name of Werner Erhard (born 1935), the American businessman who devised the technique.

est. abbr.

- established.

- estimated.

-est^1 suffix forming the superlative of adjectives (such as shortest, widest), and of adverbs (such as soonest).

<ORIGIN> Old English -ost-, -ust-, -ast-.

-est^2 (also -st) suffix ARCHAIC forming the second person singular of verbs: canst | goest.

<ORIGIN> Old English -est, -ast, -st.

establish v. [with obj.] 1 set up on a firm or permanent basis: the scheme was established in 1975.

- initiate or bring about (contact or communication): the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992.

2 achieve permanent acceptance or recognition for: the principle of the supremacy of national parliaments needs to be firmly established | he had established himself as a film star.

- introduce (a character, set, or location) into a film or play and allow its identification: establish the location with a wide shot.

3 show (something) to be true or certain by determining the facts: [with clause] the police established that the two passports were forgeries.

4 [BRIDGE] ensure that one's remaining cards in (a suit) will be winners (if not trumped) by playing off the high cards in that suit.

<DERIVATIVES> establisher n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (recorded earlier as stablish): from Old French establiss-, lengthened stem of establir, from Latin stabilire ‘make firm’, from stabilis (adjective) ‘stable’.

established adj. 1 having existed or done something for a long time and therefore recognized and generally accepted: the ceremony was an established event in the annual calendar | an established artist.

- (of a plant) having taken root; growing well.

2 (of a Church or religion) recognized by the state as the national Church or religion.

<PHRASES>

□ the Established Church the Church of England or of Scotland.

establishment n. 1 [mass noun] the action of establishing something or being established: the establishment of an independent government.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC a marriage.

2 a business organization, public institution, or household: hotels or catering establishments.

3 (usually the Establishment) a group in a society exercising power and influence over matters of policy, opinion, or taste, and seen as resisting change.

- [with adj. or noun modifier] an influential group within a specified profession or area of activity: rumblings of discontent among the medical establishment.

4 (the Establishment or the Church Establishment) the ecclesiastical system organized by law.

- the Church of England or of Scotland.

establishmentarian /stablm(ə)ntεrən/ adj. adhering to, advocating, or relating to the principle of an established Church.

■ n. a person adhering to or advocating the principle of an established Church.

<DERIVATIVES> establishmentarianism n.

estaminet /εstamne/ French /εstamine/ n. a small cafe selling alcoholic drinks.

<ORIGIN> French, from Walloon staminé ‘byre’, from stamo ‘a pole for tethering a cow’, probably from German Stamm ‘stem’.

estancia /εstansə/ n. a cattle ranch in Latin America or the southern US.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Spanish, literally ‘station’, from medieval Latin stantia, based on Latin stare ‘to stand’.

estate n. 1 an area or amount of land or property, in particular:

- BRITISH an area of land and modern buildings developed for residential, industrial, or commercial purposes.

- an extensive area of land in the country, usually with a large house, owned by one person, family, or organization.

- all the money and property owned by a particular person, especially at death: in his will, he divided his estate between his wife and daughter.

- a property where coffee, rubber, grapes, or other crops are cultivated.

2 (also estate of the realm) a class or order regarded as forming part of the body politic, in particular (in Britain), one of the three groups constituting Parliament, now the Lords spiritual (the heads of the Church), the Lords temporal (the peerage), and the Commons. They are also known as the three estates.

- DATED a particular class or category of people in society: the spiritual welfare of all estates of men.

3 ARCHAIC or LITERARY a particular state, period, or condition in life: programmes for the improvement of man's estate | the holy estate of matrimony.

4 British short for ESTATE CAR.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘state or condition’): from Old French estat, from Latin status ‘state, condition’, from stare ‘to stand’.

estate agency n. BRITISH a company or business that sells and rents out buildings and land for clients.

- [mass noun] the activity or profession of selling and renting out buildings and land for clients.

estate agent n. BRITISH a person whose job involves selling and renting out buildings and land for clients.

estate car n. BRITISH a car with a large carrying area behind the seats, accessed by a door at the rear.

estate duty n. [mass noun] BRITISH HISTORICAL a former death duty levied on property from 1889. It was replaced in 1975 by capital transfer tax and in 1986 by inheritance tax.

Estates General another term for STATES GENERAL.

estate tax n. US another term for INHERITANCE TAX.

esteem n. [mass noun] respect and admiration: he was held in high esteem by colleagues.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 respect and admire: many of these qualities are esteemed by managers | (as adj., with submodifier esteemed) a highly esteemed scholar.

2 FORMAL consider; deem: [with two objs] I should esteem it a favour if you could speak to them.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun in the sense ‘worth, reputation’): from Old French estime (noun), estimer (verb), from Latin aestimare ‘to estimate’. The verb was originally in the Latin sense, also ‘appraise’ (compare with ESTIMATE), used figuratively to mean ‘assess the merit of’. Current senses date from the 16th cent.

ester /εstə/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound made by replacing the hydrogen of an acid by an alkyl or other organic group. Many naturally occurring fats and essential oils are esters of fatty acids.

<DERIVATIVES> esterify /εstεrf/ v. (esterifies, esterifying, esterified)

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, probably from a blend of Essig ‘vinegar’ and Äther ‘ether’.

esterase /εstərez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which hydrolyses particular esters into acids and alcohols or phenols.

Esth. abbr. Esther (in biblical references).

Esther /εstə/ (in the Bible) a woman chosen on account of her beauty by the Persian king Ahasuerus (generally supposed to be Xerxes I) to be his queen. She used her influence with him to save the Israelites in captivity from persecution.

- a book of the Bible containing an account of these events; a part survives only in Greek and is included in the Apocrypha.

Estima /εstimə/ n. a Dutch potato of a yellow-fleshed variety.

estimable /εstməb(ə)l/ adj. worthy of great respect.

<DERIVATIVES> estimably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘able to be estimated or appraised’; earlier in inestimable): via Old French from Latin aestimabilis, from aestimare ‘to estimate’.

estimate v. /εstmet/ [with obj.] roughly calculate or judge the value, number, quantity, or extent of: the aim is to estimate the effects of macroeconomic policy on the economy | [with clause] it is estimated that smoking causes 100,000 premature deaths every year | (as adj. estimated) an estimated cost of $1,000 million.

■ n. /εstmət/ an approximate calculation or judgement of the value, number, quantity, or extent of something: at a rough estimate, staff are recycling a quarter of paper used.

- a written statement indicating the likely price that will be charged for specified work or repairs.

- a judgement of the worth or character of someone or something: his high estimate of the poem.

<DERIVATIVES> estimative /-mətv/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin aestimat- ‘determined, appraised’, from the verb aestimare. The noun originally meant ‘intellectual ability, comprehension’ (only in late Middle English), later ‘valuing, a valuation’ (compare with ESTIMATION). The verb originally meant ‘to think well or badly of someone or something’ (late 15th century), later ‘regard as being, consider to be’ (compare with ESTEEM).

estimation n. 1 a rough calculation of the value, number, quantity, or extent of something: estimations of protein concentrations.

2 [usually in sing.] a judgement of the worth or character of someone or something: the pop star rose in my estimation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘comprehension, intuition’, also ‘valuing, a valuation’): from Latin aestimatio(n-), from aestimare ‘determine, appraise’ (see ESTIMATE).

estimator n. [STATISTICS] a rule, method, or criterion for arriving at an estimate of the value of a parameter.

- a quantity used or evaluated as an estimate of the value of a parameter.

- a person who estimates the price, value, number, quantity, or extent of something.

estoile /stl ε-/ n. [HERALDRY] a star with wavy points or rays, usually six in number.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Old French from Latin stella ‘star’.

Estonia /stənə/ a Baltic country on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland; pop. 1,415,681 (est. 2002); languages, Estonian (official), Russian; capital, Tallinn.

Previously ruled by the Teutonic Knights and then by Sweden, Estonia was ceded to Russia in 1721. It was proclaimed an independent republic in 1918 but was annexed by the USSR in 1940 as a constituent republic, the Estonian SSR. With the break-up of the Soviet Union Estonia regained its independence in 1991.

Estonian adj. relating to Estonia or its people or their language.

■ n. 1 a native or national of Estonia, or a person of Estonian descent.

2 [mass noun] the Finno-Ugric language of Estonia, which is closely related to Finnish and is spoken by about a million people.

estop /stp/ v. (estops, estopping, estopped) [with obj.] (usually be estopped from) [LAW] bar or preclude by estoppel.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘stop up, dam, plug’): from Old French estopper ‘stop up, impede’, from late Latin stuppare, from Latin stuppa ‘tow, oakum’. Compare with STOP and STUFF.

estoppel /stp(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] the principle which precludes a person from asserting something contrary to what is implied by a previous action or statement of that person or by a previous pertinent judicial determination.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French estouppail ‘bung’, from estopper (see ESTOP).

Estoril /εtərl/ a resort on the Atlantic coast of Portugal; pop. 23,575 (2001).

estovers /stəvəz ε-/ plural n. (usually common/right of estovers) British, chiefly HISTORICAL the right to take wood from land one does not own, especially land of which one is the tenant or lessee.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: plural of Anglo-Norman French estover, noun use of a verb meaning ‘be necessary’, based on Latin est opus ‘it is necessary’.

estrange /stren(d) ε-/ v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to be no longer on friendly terms with someone: he became estranged from his father.

- (as adj. estranged) (of a wife or husband) no longer living with their spouse: his estranged wife.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French estranger, from Latin extraneare ‘treat as a stranger’, from extraneus ‘not belonging to the family’, used as a noun to mean ‘stranger’. Compare with STRANGE.

estrangement /stren(d)m(ə)nt ε-/ n. [mass noun] the fact of no longer being on friendly terms or part of a social group: the growing estrangement of the police from their communities.

- the fact of no longer living with one's spouse or partner; separation. a parent's rights in the event of divorce or estrangement.

estreat /strit ε-/ [LAW], chiefly HISTORICAL v. [with obj.] enforce the forfeit of (a surety for bail or other recognizance).

■ n. a copy of a court record for use in the enforcement of a fine or forfeiture of a recognizance.

<DERIVATIVES> estreatment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French estraite, feminine past participle of estraire, from Latin extrahere ‘draw out’ (see EXTRACT).

Estremadura /εtrəmədərə/ a coastal region and former province of west central Portugal.

estuary /εstj(ə)ri/ n. (pl. estuaries) the tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream.

<DERIVATIVES> estuarial adj. estuarine /-rn/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a tidal inlet of any size): from Latin aestuarium ‘tidal part of a shore’, from aestus ‘tide’.

Estuary English n. [mass noun] (in the UK) a type of accent identified as spreading outwards from London and containing features of both received pronunciation and London speech.

estufa /εstufə/ n. 1 a heated chamber in which Madeira wine is stored and matured.

2 US an underground chamber in which a fire is kept permanently alight, used as a place of assembly by Pueblo Indians.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, probably based on Greek tuphos ‘steam or smoke’.

e.s.u. abbr. electrostatic unit(s).

esurient /sjərənt ε-/ adj. ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS hungry or greedy.

<DERIVATIVES> esuriently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin esurient- ‘being hungry’, from the verb esurire, from esse ‘eat’.

Esztergom /εstəm/ a town and river port on the Danube in Hungary; pop. 28,123 (1999).

ET abbr.

- (in North America) Eastern time.

- Egypt (international vehicle registration).

- extraterrestrial.

-et^1 suffix forming nouns which were originally diminutives: baronet | hatchet | tablet.

<ORIGIN> from Old French -et, -ete.

-et^2 (also -ete) suffix forming nouns such as comet, and often denoting people: athlete | poet.

<ORIGIN> from Greek -ētēs.

ETA^1 /itie/ abbr. estimated time of arrival, in particular the time at which an aircraft or ship is expected to arrive at its destination.

ETA^2 /εtə/ a Basque separatist movement in Spain, founded in 1959, which is waging a terrorist campaign for an independent Basque state.

<ORIGIN> Basque acronym, from Euzkadi ta Azkatasuna ‘Basque homeland and liberty’.

eta /itə/ n. the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet (Γ, γ), transliterated as ‘e’ or ‘ē’.

- (Eta) [followed by Latin genitive] [ASTRONOMY] the seventh star in a constellation: Eta Carinae.

<ORIGIN> from Greek ēta.

etagere /εtəε/ (also étagère /εtəε/) n. (pl. same or etageres) a piece of furniture with open shelves for displaying ornaments.

<ORIGIN> French étagère, from étage ‘shelf’.

e-tailer n. a retailer selling goods via electronic transactions on the Internet.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of e-2 and RETAILER (see RETAIL).

et al. /εt al/ abbr. and others (used especially in referring to academic books or articles that have more than one author): the conclusions of Gardner et al.

<ORIGIN> from Latin et alii.

etalon /εtəln/ n. [PHYSICS] a device consisting of two reflecting plates, for producing interfering light beams.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French étalon, literally ‘standard of measurement’.

etc. abbr. et cetera.

et cetera /εtsεt(ə)rə t-/ (also etcetera) adv. used at the end of a list to indicate that further, similar items are included: we're trying to resolve problems of obtaining equipment, drugs, et cetera.

- indicating that a list is too tedious or clichéd to give in full: we've all got to do our duty, pull our weight, et cetera, et cetera.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from et ‘and’ and cetera ‘the rest’ (neuter plural of ceterus ‘left over’).

<USAGE> A common mispronunciation of et cetera involves replacing the t in et with a k. This follows a process known as assimilation by which sounds become easier for the speaker to articulate.

etceteras plural n. unspecified or typical extra items: she began to pack her compact, comb, and other etceteras.

etch v. [with obj.] 1 engrave (metal, glass, or stone) by coating it with a protective layer, drawing on it with a needle, and then covering it with acid to attack the parts the needle has exposed, especially in order to produce prints from it: (as adj. etched) etched glass windows.

- use the etching process to produce (a print or design).

2 (of an acid or other solvent) corrode or eat away the surface of (something).

- selectively dissolve the surface of (a semiconductor or printed circuit) with a solvent, laser, or stream of electrons.

3 cut or carve (a text or design) on a surface: her initials were etched on the table flap.

- mark (a surface) with a carved text or design: a Pictish stone etched with mysterious designs.

- cause to stand out or be clearly defined or visible: the outline of the town was etched against the sky | FIGURATIVE the incident was etched indelibly in her mind.

■ n. [mass noun] the action or process of etching something.

<DERIVATIVES> etcher n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Dutch etsen, from German ätzen, from a base meaning ‘cause to eat’; related to EAT.

etchant /εt(ə)nt/ n. an acid or corrosive chemical used in etching; a mordant.

etching n. a print produced by the process of etching: etchings of animals and wildflowers.

- [mass noun] the art or process of producing etched plates or objects.

-ete suffix variant spelling of -et^2 (as in athlete).

eternal /tən(ə)l i-/ adj. 1 lasting or existing forever; without end: the secret of eternal youth | fear of eternal damnation.

- (of truths, values, or questions) valid for all time; essentially unchanging: eternal truths of art and life.

- INFORMAL seeming to last or persist forever, especially on account of being tedious or annoying: eternal nagging demands | she is an eternal optimist.

2 used to emphasize expressions of admiration, gratitude, etc.: to his eternal credit, he maintained his dignity throughout.

3 (the Eternal) used to refer to an everlasting or universal spirit, as represented by God.

<PHRASES>

□ the Eternal City a name for the city of Rome.

□ eternal life [CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY] spiritual existence after death of the body.

□ eternal triangle see triangle (sense 2).

<DERIVATIVES> eternality /tənalti i-/ n. eternalize (also eternalise) v. eternalness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin aeternalis, from Latin aeternus, from aevum ‘age’.

eternally /tən(ə)li i-/ adv. 1 in a way that continues or lasts forever; permanently: [as submodifier] his eternally optimistic attitude. | we must be eternally vigilant.

- INFORMAL in an annoying or tedious way that seems to last forever; constantly: he was prattling on eternally.

2 [as submodifier] used to emphasize expressions of admiration, gratitude, etc.: I shall be eternally grateful.

eternity n. (pl. eternities) [mass noun] infinite or unending time: their love was sealed for eternity | this state of affairs has lasted for all eternity.

- a state to which time has no application; timelessness.

- [THEOLOGY] endless life after death: immortal souls destined for eternity.

- used euphemistically to refer to death: he could have crashed the car and taken them both to eternity.

- (an eternity) INFORMAL a period of time that seems very long, especially on account of being tedious or annoying: a silence that lasted an eternity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French eternite, from Latin aeternitas, from aeternus ‘without beginning or end’ (see ETERNAL).

eternity ring n. a ring given as a symbol of lasting affection, typically set with an unbroken circle of gems.

eternize /tənz i-/ (also eternise) v. [with obj.] LITERARY make eternal; cause to live or last forever.

Etesian wind /tiən tiz- ti(ə)n/ n. another term for MELTEMI.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Etesian from Latin etesius ‘annual’ (from Greek etēsios, from etos ‘year’) + -AN.

ETH abbr. Ethiopia (international vehicle registration).

eth /ε/ (also edh) n. an Old English letter, or Đ, representing the dental fricatives // and /θ/. It was superseded by the digraph th, but is now used as a phonetic symbol for the voiced dental fricative //. Compare with thorn (sense 3).

<ORIGIN> from Danish edh, perhaps representing the sound of the letter.

-eth^1 suffix variant spelling of -th^1 (as in fiftieth).

-eth^2 (also -th) suffix ARCHAIC forming the third person singular of the present tense of verbs: doeth | saith.

<ORIGIN> Old English -eth, -ath, -th.

ethacrynic acid /εθəkrnk/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a powerful diuretic drug used in the treatment of fluid retention, especially that associated with heart, liver, and kidney disorders.

<INFO> Alternative name: 2,3-dichloro-4-(2-ethylacryloyl)phenoxy)acetic acid; chem. formula: C_13H_12Cl_2O_4.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: ethacrynic from elements of the systematic name (see above).

ethambutol /εθambjtl/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic compound with bacteriostatic properties, used in combination with other drugs in the treatment of tuberculosis.

<INFO> A derivative of ethylenediamine; chem. formula: C_10H_24N_2O_2.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from eth(yl) + am(ine) + but(an)ol.

ethanal /εθ(ə)nal/ n. systematic chemical name for ACETALDEHYDE.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of ETHANE and ALDEHYDE.

ethanamide /θanəmd/ n. systematic chemical name for ACETAMIDE.

ethane /iθen εθ-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless, odourless, flammable gas which is a constituent of petroleum and natural gas. It is the second member of the alkane series.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_2H_6.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ETHER + -ANE^2.

ethanediol /iθendl εθ-/ n. systematic chemical name for ETHYLENE GLYCOL.

ethanoic acid /εθənək/ n. systematic chemical name for ACETIC ACID.

<DERIVATIVES> ethanoate n.

ethanol /εθənl/ n. systematic chemical name for ETHYL ALCOHOL (see ALCOHOL).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: blend of ETHANE and ALCOHOL.

ethchlorvynol /εθklvnl/ n. another name for PLACIDYL.

Ethelred /εθəlrεd/ the name of two English kings:

- Ethelred I (d.871), king of Wessex and Kent 865–71, elder brother of Alfred. His reign was marked by the continuing struggle against the invading Danes. Alfred joined Ethelred's campaigns and succeeded him on his death.

- Ethelred II (c.969–1016), king of England 978–1016; known as Ethelred the Unready. Ethelred's inability to confront the Danes after he succeeded his murdered half-brother St Edward the Martyr led to his payment of tribute to prevent their attacks. In 1013 he briefly lost his throne to the Danish king Sweyn I. [<ORIGIN> Unready, later form of obsolete unredy ‘badly advised’.]

ethene /εθin/ n. systematic chemical name for ETHYLENE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ETHER + -ENE.

ether /iθə/ n. [mass noun] 1 [CHEMISTRY] a pleasant-smelling colourless volatile liquid that is highly flammable. It is used as an anaesthetic and as a solvent or intermediate in industrial processes.

<INFO> Alternative names: diethyl ether, ethoxyethane; chem. formula: C_2H_5OC_2H_5.

- [count noun] any organic compound with a similar structure to ether, having an oxygen atom linking two alkyl or other organic groups: methyl t-butyl ether.

2 (also aether) chiefly LITERARY the clear sky; the upper regions of air beyond the clouds: nasty gases and smoke disperse into the ether.

- (the ether) INFORMAL air regarded as a medium for radio: choral evensong still wafts across the ether.

3 (also aether) [PHYSICS], ARCHAIC a very rarefied and highly elastic substance formerly believed to permeate all space, including the interstices between the particles of matter, and to be the medium whose vibrations constituted light and other electromagnetic radiation.

<DERIVATIVES> etheric /iθεrk iθ(ə)rk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or via Latin from Greek aithēr ‘upper air’, from the base of aithein ‘burn, shine’. Originally the word denoted a substance believed to occupy space beyond the sphere of the moon.

■ Sense 3 arose in the mid 17th century and sense 1 in the mid 18th cent.

ethereal /θərəl/ (also etherial) adj. 1 extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world: her ethereal beauty.

- heavenly or spiritual: ethereal, otherworldly visions.

2 [CHEMISTRY] (of a solution) having diethyl ether as a solvent.

<DERIVATIVES> ethereality n. etherealize (also etherealise) v. ethereally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: via Latin from Greek aitherios (from aithēr ‘ether’) + -AL.

etherize (also etherise) v. [with obj.] chiefly HISTORICAL anaesthetize (a person or animal) with ether.

<DERIVATIVES> etherization n.

Ethernet /iθənεt/ n. [COMPUTING] a system for connecting a number of computer systems to form a local area network, with protocols to control the passing of information and to avoid simultaneous transmission by two or more systems.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of ETHER and NETWORK.

ethic /εθk/ n. [in sing.] a set of moral principles, especially ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field, or form of conduct: the puritan ethic was being replaced by the hedonist ethic.

■ adj. RARE relating to moral principles or the branch of knowledge dealing with these.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting ethics or moral philosophy; also used attributively): from Old French éthique, from Latin ethice, from Greek (hē) ēthikē (tekhnē) ‘(the science of) morals’, based on ēthos (see ETHOS).

ethical adj. 1 relating to moral principles or the branch of knowledge dealing with these: ethical issues in nursing | ethical standards.

- morally correct: can a profitable business ever be ethical?

2 [attr.] (of a medicine) legally available only on a doctor's prescription and usually not advertised to the general public.

<DERIVATIVES> ethicality n. ethically adv. [sentence adv.] is capitalism ethically justifiable?

ethical investment n. [mass noun] investment in companies that meet ethical criteria specified by the investor, typically excluding the armaments and tobacco industries.

ethics plural n. 1 [usually treated as plural] moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity: medical ethics also enter into the question.

2 [usually treated as sing.] the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.

Schools of ethics in Western philosophy can be divided, very roughly, into three sorts. The first, drawing on the work of Aristotle, holds that the virtues (such as justice, charity, and generosity) are dispositions to act in ways that benefit both the person possessing them and that person's society. The second, defended particularly by Kant, makes the concept of duty central to morality: humans are bound, from a knowledge of their duty as rational beings, to obey the categorical imperative to respect other rational beings. Thirdly, utilitarianism asserts that the guiding principle of conduct should be the greatest happiness or benefit of the greatest number.

<DERIVATIVES> ethicist n.

ethidium bromide /εθdəm/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a purple synthetic dye used in the treatment of trypanosome blood infection, to stain DNA, and to destroy the superhelical structure of DNA. It is a derivative of phenanthridine.

Ethiopia /iθəpə/ a country in NE Africa, on the Red Sea; pop. 67,673,031 (est. 2002); languages, Amharic (official), several other Afro-Asiatic languages; capital, Addis Ababa. Former name ABYSSINIA.

Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa, having a recorded civilization that dates from the 2nd millennium BC. Little known to Europeans until the late 19th century, it was invaded and conquered by Italy in 1935. The emperor Haile Selassie was restored by the British in 1941 and ruled until overthrown in a Marxist coup in 1974. The subsequent period was marked by civil war, fighting against separatist guerrillas in Eritrea and Tigray, and by repeated famines; after the fall of the government in 1991 a multiparty system was adopted.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Aethiops, from aithein ‘to burn’ + ōps ‘the face’.

Ethiopian n. 1 a native or national of Ethiopia, or a person of Ethiopian descent.

2 ARCHAIC a black person.

■ adj. 1 relating to Ethiopia or its people.

2 [ZOOLOGY] relating to or denoting a zoogeographical region comprising Africa south of the Sahara, together with the tropical part of the Arabian peninsula and (usually) Madagascar. Distinctive animals include the giraffes, hippopotamuses, aardvark, elephant shrews, tenrecs, and lemurs. Also called AFROTROPICAL.

Ethiopic /iθpk/ n. another term for GE'EZ.

■ adj. in or relating to Ge'ez.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as an adjective): via Latin from Greek aithiopikos, from Aethiops (see ETHIOPIA).

ethmoid /εθmd/ (also ethmoid bone) n. [ANATOMY] a square bone at the root of the nose, forming part of the cranium, and having many perforations through which the olfactory nerves pass to the nose.

<DERIVATIVES> ethmoidal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Greek ēthmoeidēs, from ēthmos ‘a sieve’.

ethnic adj. 1 relating to a population subgroup (within a larger or dominant national or cultural group) with a common national or cultural tradition: ethnic and cultural rights and traditions | leaders of ethnic communities.

- relating to national and cultural origins: pupils from a wide variety of ethnic origins.

- denoting origin by birth or descent rather than by present nationality: ethnic Indian populations.

- characteristic of or belonging to a non-Western cultural tradition: ethnic jewellery | folk and ethnic music.

2 ARCHAIC neither Christian nor Jewish; pagan or heathen.

■ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a member of an ethnic minority.

<DERIVATIVES> ethnically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a person not of the Christian or Jewish faith): via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek ethnikos ‘heathen’, from ethnos ‘nation’. Current senses date from the 19th cent.

<USAGE> In recent years, ethnic has begun to be used in a euphemistic way to refer to non-white people as a whole, as in a radio station which broadcasts to the ethnic community in Birmingham. Although this usage is quite common, especially in journalism, it is better expressed by more accurate terms such as ‘black’, ‘Asian’, etc.

ethnic cleansing n. [mass noun] the mass expulsion or killing of members of one ethnic or religious group in an area by those of another.

ethnicity n. (pl. ethnicities) [mass noun] the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition: the interrelationship between gender, ethnicity, and class | [count noun] the diverse experience of women of different ethnicities.

ethnic minority n. a group within a community which has different national or cultural traditions from the main population.

ethno- /εθnə/ combining form ethnic; ethnological: ethnocentric | ethnology.

<ORIGIN> from Greek ethnos ‘nation’.

ethnoarchaeology n. [mass noun] the study of the social organization and other ethnological features of present-day societies on the basis of their material culture, in order to draw conclusions about past societies from their material remains.

<DERIVATIVES> ethnoarchaeological adj. ethnoarchaeologist n.

ethnobotany n. [mass noun] the scientific study of the traditional knowledge and customs of a people concerning plants and their medical, religious, and other uses.

<DERIVATIVES> ethnobotanic adj. ethnobotanical adj. ethnobotanist n.

ethnocentric adj. evaluating other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture.

<DERIVATIVES> ethnocentrically adv. ethnocentricity n. ethnocentrism n.

ethnocide /εθnə()sd/ n. [mass noun] the deliberate and systematic destruction of the culture of an ethnic group.

ethnocultural adj. relating to or denoting a particular ethnic group.

ethnogenesis /εθnə()dεnss/ n. the formation or emergence of an ethnic group.

ethnography /εθnrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the scientific description of peoples and cultures with their customs, habits, and mutual differences.

<DERIVATIVES> ethnographer n. ethnographic adj. ethnographical adj. ethnographically adv.

ethnohistory n. [mass noun] the branch of anthropology concerned with the history of peoples and cultures, especially non-Western ones.

<DERIVATIVES> ethnohistorian n. ethnohistoric adj. ethnohistorical adj.

ethnolinguistics /εθnəlwstks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of linguistics concerned with the relations between linguistic and cultural behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> ethnolinguist n.

ethnology /εθnlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of the characteristics of different peoples and the differences and relationships between them.

<DERIVATIVES> ethnologic /-nəldk/ adj. ethnological adj. ethnologically adv. ethnologist n.

ethnomethodology /εθnəmεθədlədi/ n. [mass noun] a method of sociological analysis that examines how individuals use everyday conversation to construct a common-sense view of the world.

<DERIVATIVES> ethnomethodological adj. ethnomethodologist n.

ethnomusicology n. [mass noun] the study of the music of different cultures, especially non-Western ones.

<DERIVATIVES> ethnomusicologic adj. ethnomusicological adj. ethnomusicologist n.

ethnoscience n. [mass noun] the study of the different ways the world is perceived and categorized in different cultures.

ethogram /iθəram/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a catalogue or table of all the different kinds of behaviour or activity observed in an animal.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek ēthos ‘nature, disposition’ + -GRAM^1.

ethology /iθlədi/ n. [mass noun] the science of animal behaviour.

- the study of human behaviour and social organization from a biological perspective.

<DERIVATIVES> ethological adj. ethologist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via Latin from Greek ēthologia, from ēthos (see ETHOS).

ethos /iθs/ n. the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its attitudes and aspirations: a challenge to the ethos of the 1960s.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin, from Greek ēthos ‘nature, disposition’, (plural) ‘customs’.

ethoxyethane /iθksiθen/ n. systematic chemical name for DIETHYL ETHER (see ETHER (SENSE 1)).

ethyl /εθl -θl i-/ n. [usually as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the hydrocarbon radical –C_2H_5, derived from ethane and present in many organic compounds: ethyl acetate | an ethyl group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, from Äther ‘ether’ + -YL.

ethyl acetate n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless volatile liquid with a fruity smell, used as a plastics solvent and in flavourings and perfumes.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_3COOC_2H_5.

ethylbenzene n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless flammable liquid hydrocarbon, used in the manufacture of styrene.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_5C_2H_5.

ethylene /εθlin -θ(ə)l-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a flammable hydrocarbon gas of the alkene series, occurring in natural gas, coal gas, and crude oil and given off by ripening fruit. It is used in chemical synthesis, especially in the manufacture of polythene.

<INFO> Alternative name: ethene; chem. formula: C_2H_4.

ethylenediamine /εθlindemin -θ(ə)l- -dam- -dəmin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a viscous liquid used in making detergents and emulsifying agents.

<INFO> Chem. formula: NH_2CH_2CH_2NH_2.

ethylene glycol n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless viscous hygroscopic liquid used as an antifreeze, in the manufacture of polyesters, and in the preservation of ancient waterlogged timbers.

<INFO> Alternative name: ethanediol; chem. formula: CH_2(OH)CH_2OH.

ethylene oxide n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a flammable toxic gas used as an intermediate and fumigant.

<INFO> An epoxide; chem. formula: (CH_2)2O.

ethyne /iθn εθ-/ n. systematic chemical name for ACETYLENE.

etic /εtk/ adj. [ANTHROPOLOGY] studying or describing a particular language or culture in a way that is general, non-structural, and objective in its perspective. Often contrasted with EMIC.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: abstracted from PHONETIC.

-etic suffix forming adjectives and nouns such as pathetic, peripatetic.

<ORIGIN> from Greek -ĕtikos or -ētikos.

etiolated /itəletd/ adj. 1 (of a plant) pale and drawn out due to a lack of light.

2 having lost vigour or substance; feeble: a tone of etiolated nostalgia.

<DERIVATIVES> etiolation n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the verb etiolate (from French étioler, from Norman French étieuler ‘grow into haulm’) + -ED^2.

etiquette /εtkεt εtkεt/ n. [mass noun] the customary code of polite behaviour in society or among members of a particular profession or group.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French étiquette ‘list of ceremonial observances of a court’, also ‘label, etiquette’, from Old French estiquette (see TICKET).

Etna, Mount /εtnə/ a volcano in eastern Sicily, rising to 3,323 m (10,902 ft). It is the highest and most active volcano in Europe.

Eton collar n. a broad, stiff white collar worn outside the coat collar, especially with an Eton jacket.

Eton College /it(ə)n/ a boys' public school in southern England, on the River Thames opposite Windsor, founded in 1440 by Henry VI to prepare scholars for King's College, Cambridge.

Eton crop n. a short hairstyle worn by women in the 1920s.

Etonian /itənən/ n. a past or present member of Eton College: an Old Etonian.

■ adj. relating to or typical of Eton College.

Eton jacket n. a short jacket reaching only to the waist, typically black and having a point at the back, formerly worn by pupils of Eton College.

Etosha Pan /tə/ a depression in the plateau of northern Namibia, filled with salt water and having no outlets, extending over an area of 4,800 sq. km (1,854 sq. miles).

étouffée /etufe/ n. US a spicy Cajun stew made with vegetables and seafood.

etrier /etre/ n. [MOUNTAINEERING] a short rope ladder with a few rungs of wood or metal.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from French étrier ‘stirrup’.

Etruria /trərə/ an ancient state of central Italy, situated between the Rivers Arno and Tiber and corresponding approximately to modern Tuscany and parts of Umbria. It was the centre of the Etruscan civilization.

<DERIVATIVES> Etrurian n. & adj.

Etruscan /trsk(ə)n/ adj. relating to ancient Etruria, its people, or their language. The Etruscan civilization was at its height c.500 BC and was an important influence on the Romans, who had subdued the Etruscans by the end of the 3rd century BC.

■ n. 1 a native of ancient Etruria.

2 [mass noun] the language of ancient Etruria, which was written in an alphabet derived from Greek but is not related to any known language.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Etruscus + -AN.

et seq. (also et seqq.) adv. and what follows (used in page references): see volume 35, p. 329 et seq.

<ORIGIN> from Latin et sequens ‘and the following’, or from et sequentes, et sequentia ‘and the following things’.

-ette suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting relatively small size: kitchenette.

2 denoting an imitation or substitute: flannelette.

3 denoting female gender: suffragette.

<ORIGIN> from Old French -ette, feminine of -et^1.

<USAGE> The use of -ette as a feminine suffix for forming new words is relatively recent: it was first recorded in the word suffragette at the beginning of the 20th century and has since been used to form only a handful of well-established words, including usherette and drum majorette, for example. In the modern context, where the tendency is to use words which are neutral in gender, the suffix -ette is not very productive and new words formed using it tend to be restricted to the deliberately flippant or humorous, as, for example, bimbette and punkette.

étude /etjud etjud/ n. a short musical composition, typically for one instrument, designed as an exercise to improve the technique or demonstrate the skill of the player.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, literally ‘study’.

etui /εtwi/ n. (pl. etuis) DATED a small ornamental case for holding needles, cosmetics, and other articles.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French étui, from Old French estui ‘prison’, from estuier ‘shut up, keep’. Compare with TWEEZERS.

-etum suffix (forming nouns) denoting a collection or plantation of trees or other plants: arboretum | pinetum.

<ORIGIN> from Latin.

etymologize (also etymologise) v. [with obj.] give or trace the etymology of (a word).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin etymologizare, from Latin etymologia (see ETYMOLOGY).

etymology /εtmlədi/ n. (pl. etymologies) [mass noun] the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

- [count noun] the origin of a word and the historical development of its meaning.

<DERIVATIVES> etymological adj. etymologically adv. etymologist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ethimologie, via Latin from Greek etumologia, from etumologos ‘student of etymology’, from etumon, neuter singular of etumos ‘true’.

etymon /εtmn/ n. (pl. etymons or etyma) a word or morpheme from which a later word is derived.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting the original form of a word): via Latin from Greek etumon ‘true thing’ (see ETYMOLOGY).

EU abbr. European Union.

Eu symbol the chemical element europium.

eu- combining form well; easily: eupeptic | euphony.

<ORIGIN> from Greek eu ‘well’, from eus ‘good’.

eubacterium /jubaktərəm/ n. (pl. eubacteria /-rə/) 1 a bacterium of a large group typically having simple cells with rigid cell walls and often flagella for movement. The group comprises the ‘true’ bacteria and cyanobacteria, as distinct from archaea.

<INFO> Division (or subkingdom) Eubacteria, kingdom Monera; this group is sometimes taken to exclude non-rigid forms such as spirochaetes and mycoplasmas.

2 a bacterium found mainly in the intestines of vertebrates and in the soil.

<INFO> Genus Eubacterium; Gram-positive, anaerobic, rod-shaped bacteria.

<DERIVATIVES> eubacterial adj.

Euboea /jubiə/ an island of Greece in the western Aegean Sea, separated from the mainland by only a narrow channel at its capital, Chalcis. Greek name ÉVVOIA.

eucalyptus /jukəlptəs/ (also eucalypt) n. (pl. eucalyptuses or eucalypti /-t/) a fast-growing evergreen Australasian tree that has been widely introduced elsewhere. It is valued for its timber, oil, gum, resin, and as an ornamental tree. Also called GUM^1, GUM TREE.

<INFO> Genus Eucalyptus, family Myrtaceae: numerous species.

- (also eucalyptus oil) [mass noun] the oil from eucalyptus leaves, chiefly used for its medicinal properties.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek eu ‘well’ + kaluptos ‘covered’ (from kaluptein ‘to cover’), because the unopened flower is protected by a cap.

eucatastrophe /jukətastrəfi/ n. RARE a sudden and favourable resolution of events in a story; a happy ending.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: said to have been coined by Tolkien.

Eucharist /juk(ə)rst/ n. the Christian service, ceremony, or sacrament commemorating the Last Supper, in which bread and wine are consecrated and consumed.

- the consecrated elements, especially the bread.

The bread and wine are referred to as the body and blood of Christ, though much theological controversy has focused on how substantially or symbolically this is to be interpreted. The service of worship is also called HOLY COMMUNION or (chiefly in the Protestant tradition) the Lord's Supper or (chiefly in the Catholic tradition) the Mass. See also CONSUBSTANTIATION, TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

<DERIVATIVES> Eucharistic adj. Eucharistical adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French eucariste, based on ecclesiastical Greek eukharistia ‘thanksgiving’, from Greek eukharistos ‘grateful’, from eu ‘well’ + kharizesthai ‘offer graciously’ (from kharis ‘grace’).

euchre /jukə/ n. [mass noun] a North American card game for two to four players, played with the thirty-two highest cards, the aim being to win at least three of the five tricks played.

■ v. [with obj.] (in euchre) gain the advantage over (another player) by preventing them from taking three tricks.

- North American INFORMAL deceive, outwit, or cheat (someone): they euchred Congress out of $50 billion.

- (be euchred) AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL be exhausted or ruined.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from German dialect Jucker(spiel).

euchromatin /jukrəmətn/ n. [mass noun] [GENETICS] chromosome material which does not stain strongly except during cell division. It represents the major genes and is involved in transcription. Compare with HETEROCHROMATIN.

<DERIVATIVES> euchromatic adj.

Euclid /jukld/ (c.300 BC), Greek mathematician. His great work Elements of Geometry, which covered plane geometry, the theory of numbers, irrationals, and solid geometry, was the standard work until other kinds of geometry were discovered in the 19th century.

Euclidean /jukldən/ adj. relating to or denoting the system of geometry based on the work of Euclid and corresponding to the geometry of ordinary experience.

- of such a nature that the postulates of this system of geometry are valid. Compare with NON-EUCLIDEAN.

eucrite /jukrt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a highly basic form of gabbro containing anorthite or bytownite with augite.

- [count noun] a stony meteorite which contains no chondrules and consists mainly of anorthite and augite.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek eukritos ‘easily discerned’, from eu- ‘well’ + kritos ‘separated’ (from krinein ‘to separate’).

eucryphia /jukrfə/ n. a shrub or small tree with glossy dark green leaves and large white flowers, native to Australia and South America.

<INFO> Genus Eucryphia, family Eucryphiaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek eu ‘well’ + -kruphos ‘hidden’ (with reference to its joined sepals).

eudaemonic /judmnk/ (also eudemonic) adj. RARE conducive to happiness.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek eudaimonikos, from eudaimōn ‘happy’ (see EUDAEMONISM).

eudaemonism /judimənz(ə)m/ (also eudemonism) n. [mass noun] a system of ethics that bases moral value on the likelihood of actions producing happiness.

<DERIVATIVES> eudaemonist n. eudaemonistic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek eudaimonismos ‘system of happiness’, from eudaimōn ‘happy’, from eu ‘well’ + daimōn ‘guardian spirit’.

eudiometer /judmtə/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a graduated glass tube in which mixtures of gases can be made to react by an electric spark, used to measure changes in volume during chemical reactions.

<DERIVATIVES> eudiometric adj. eudiometrical adj. eudiometry n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (denoting an instrument used to measure amounts of oxygen, thought to be greater in fine weather): from Greek eudios ‘clear, fine’ (weather), from eu ‘well’ + dios ‘heavenly’.

eugenics /judεnks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the science of improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics.

<DERIVATIVES> eugenic adj. eugenically adv. eugenicist n. & adj. eugenist n. & adj.

Eugénie /jueni/ (1826–1920), Spanish empress of France 1853–70 and wife of Napoleon III; born Eugénia María de Montijo de Guzmán. She contributed much to her husband's court and was an important influence on his foreign policy.

eugenol /judnl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless or pale yellow liquid compound present in oil of cloves and other essential oils and used in perfumery.

<INFO> Alternative name: 4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol; chem. formula: C_10H_12O_2.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from eugenia (genus name of the tree from which oil of cloves is obtained, named in honour of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736)) + -OL.

euglena /julinə/ n. [BIOLOGY] a green single-celled freshwater organism with a flagellum, sometimes forming a green scum on stagnant water.

<INFO> Genus Euglena, division Euglenophyta (or phylum Euglenophyta, kingdom Protista).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from EU- ‘well’ + Greek glēnē ‘eyeball, socket of joint’.

euglenoid /julind/ [BIOLOGY] n. a flagellated single-celled organism of a group that comprises euglena and its relatives.

<INFO> Division (or phylum) Euglenophyta.

■ adj. relating to organisms of this group.

- (of cell locomotion) achieved by peristaltic waves that pass along the cell, characteristic of the euglenoids.

euhedral /juhidr(ə)l/ adj. [GEOLOGY] (of a mineral crystal in a rock) bounded by faces corresponding to its regular crystal form, not constrained by adjacent minerals.

eukaryote /jukarət/ (also eucaryote) n. [BIOLOGY] an organism consisting of a cell or cells in which the genetic material is DNA in the form of chromosomes contained within a distinct nucleus. Eukaryotes include all living organisms other than the eubacteria and archaea. Compare with PROKARYOTE.

<DERIVATIVES> eukaryotic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from EU- ‘easily (formed)’ + KARYO- ‘kernel’ + -OTE as in zygote.

eulachon /juləkn/ n. (pl. same)

■ another term for CANDLEFISH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Lower Chinook.

Euler^1 /lə/ Leonhard (1707–83), Swiss mathematician. Euler attempted to elucidate the nature of functions, and his study of infinite series led his successors, notably Abel and Cauchy, to introduce ideas of convergence and rigorous argument into mathematics.

Euler^2 /lə/ Ulf Svante von (1905–83), Swedish physiologist, the son of Hans Euler-Chelpin. He was the first to discover a prostaglandin, which he isolated from semen. Euler also identified noradrenaline as the principal chemical neurotransmitter of the sympathetic nervous system. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1970).

Euler-Chelpin /ləkεlpn/ Hans Karl August Simon von (1873–1964), German-born Swedish biochemist. He worked mainly on enzymes and vitamins, and explained the role of enzymes in the alcoholic fermentation of sugar. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1929).

Euler's constant n. [MATHEMATICS] a constant used in numerical analysis, approximately equal to 0.577216. It represents the limit of the series 1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 … 1/n − ln n as n tends to infinity. It is not known whether this is a rational number or not.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after L. Euler (see Euler^1).

Euler's formula n. the geometrical formula V − E + F = 2, where V, E, and F are the numbers of vertices, edges, and faces of any simple convex polyhedron or of an equivalent topological graph.

eulogium /julədəm/ n. (pl. eulogia /-də/ or eulogiums)

■ another term for EULOGY.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin, ‘praise’.

eulogize /julədz/ (also eulogise) v. [with obj.] praise highly in speech or writing: he was eulogized as a rock star | a plaque that eulogizes the workers.

<DERIVATIVES> eulogist n. eulogistic adj. eulogistically adv.

eulogy /julədi/ n. (pl. eulogies) a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly, especially a tribute to someone who has just died: a eulogy to the Queen Mother.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘high praise’): from medieval Latin eulogium, eulogia (from Greek eulogia ‘praise’), apparently influenced by Latin elogium ‘inscription on a tomb’ (from Greek elegia ‘elegy’). The current sense dates from the late 16th cent.

Eumenides /jumεndiz/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a name given to the Furies. The Eumenides probably originated as well-disposed deities of fertility, whose name was given to the Furies either by confusion or euphemistically.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek, from eumenēs ‘well disposed’, from eu ‘well’ + menos ‘spirit’.

eunuch /junək/ n. a man who has been castrated, especially (in the past) one employed to guard the women's living areas at an oriental court.

- an ineffectual person: a nation of political eunuchs.

<ORIGIN> Old English, via Latin from Greek eunoukhos, literally ‘bedroom guard’, from eunē ‘bed’ + a second element related to ekhein ‘to hold’.

euonymus /junməs/ n. a shrub or small tree that is widely cultivated for its autumn colours and bright fruit.

<INFO> Genus Euonymus, family Celastraceae: numerous species, including the spindle tree.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (named by Linnaeus), from Latin euonymos, from Greek euōnumos ‘having an auspicious or honoured name’, from eus ‘good’ + onoma ‘name’.

eupeptic /jupεptk/ adj. relating to or having good digestion or a consequent air of healthy good spirits.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘helping digestion’): from Greek eupeptos, from eu ‘well, easily’ + peptein ‘to digest’.

euphausiid /jufzd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a shrimp-like planktonic marine crustacean of an order which includes krill.

<INFO> Order Euphausiaceae, subclass Malacostraca.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Euphausia (genus name from Greek eu ‘well’ + phainein ‘to show’ + ousia ‘substance’) + -ID^2.

euphemism /jufəmz(ə)m/ n. a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing: the jargon has given us ‘downsizing’ as a euphemism for cuts. The opposite of DYSPHEMISM.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek euphēmismos, from euphēmizein ‘use auspicious words’, from eu ‘well’ + phēmē ‘speaking’.

euphemistic adj. using or of the nature of a euphemism: the euphemistic terms she uses to describe her relationships.

<DERIVATIVES> euphemistically adv.

euphemize (also euphemise) v. [with obj.] refer to (something unpleasant or embarrassing) by means of a euphemism.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek euphēmizein ‘use auspicious words’ (see EUPHEMISM).

euphonious /jufənəs/ adj. (of sound, especially speech) pleasing to the ear: a stream of fine, euphonious phrases.

<DERIVATIVES> euphoniously adv.

euphonium /jufənəm/ n. a valved brass musical instrument of tenor pitch, resembling a small tuba.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek euphōnos ‘having a pleasing sound’ + -IUM.

euphony /juf(ə)ni/ n. (pl. euphonies) [mass noun] the quality of being pleasing to the ear.

- the tendency to make phonetic change for ease of pronunciation.

<DERIVATIVES> euphonic adj. euphonize (also euphonise) v.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French euphonie, via late Latin from Greek euphōnia, from euphōnos ‘well sounding’ (based on phōnē ‘sound’).

euphorbia /jufbə/ n. a plant of a genus that comprises the spurges.

<INFO> Genus Euphorbia, family Euphorbiaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin euphorbea, named after Euphorbus, Greek physician to the reputed discoverer of the plant, Juba II of Mauretania (1st century BC).

euphoria /jufrə/ n. [mass noun] a feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness: in his euphoria, he had become convinced he could defeat them.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting well-being produced in a sick person by the use of drugs): modern Latin, from Greek, from euphoros ‘borne well, healthy’, from eu ‘well’ + pherein ‘to bear’.

euphoriant adj. (chiefly of a drug) producing a feeling of euphoria.

■ n. a euphoriant drug.

euphoric adj. characterized by or feeling intense excitement and happiness: a euphoric sense of freedom.

<DERIVATIVES> euphorically adv.

euphrasia /jufrezə/ n. a plant of the genus Euphrasia in the figwort family, especially eyebright.

- [mass noun] a preparation of eyebright used in herbal medicine and homeopathy, especially for treating eye problems.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: via medieval Latin from Greek, literally ‘cheerfulness’, from euphrainein ‘gladden the mind’.

Euphrates /jufretiz/ a river of SW Asia which rises in the mountains of eastern Turkey and flows through Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris, forming the Shatt al-Arab waterway.

euphuism /jufjz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL an artificial, highly elaborate way of writing or speaking.

<DERIVATIVES> euphuist n. euphuistic adj. euphuistically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Euphues, the name of a character in John Lyly's prose romance of the same name (1578–80), from Greek euphuēs ‘well endowed by nature’, from eu ‘well’ + the base of phuē ‘growth’.

euploid /jupld/ adj. [GENETICS] having an equal number of all the chromosomes of the haploid set.

<DERIVATIVES> euploidy n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EU- + -OID as in DIPLOID, haploid.

Eurasia /j(ə)re(ə) -(ə)/ a term used to describe the total continental land mass of Europe and Asia combined.

Eurasian adj. 1 of mixed European (or European-American) and Asian parentage.

2 relating to Eurasia.

■ n. a person of mixed European (or European-American) and Asian parentage.

<USAGE> In the 19th century the word Eurasian was normally used to refer to a person of mixed British and Indian parentage. In its modern uses, however, the term is more often used to refer to a person of mixed white American and SE Asian parentage.

Euratom /j(ə)ratəm/ abbr. European Atomic Energy Community.

eureka /j(ə)rikə/ exclam. a cry of joy or satisfaction when one finds or discovers something.

■ n. [mass noun] an alloy of copper and nickel used for electrical filaments and resistance wire.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek heurēka ‘I have found it’ (from heuriskein ‘find’), said to have been uttered by Archimedes when he hit upon a method of determining the purity of gold. The noun dates from the early 20th cent.

eurhythmic /j(ə)rmk/ adj. RARE (especially of architecture or art) in or relating to harmonious proportion.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: based on Greek euruthmia ‘proportion’ + -IC.

eurhythmics (also eurhythmy; US also eurythmics, eurythmy) plural n. [treated as sing.] a system of rhythmical physical movements to music used to teach musical understanding (especially in Steiner schools) or for therapeutic purposes, evolved by Émile Jaques-Dalcroze.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EU- ‘well’ + RHYTHM + -ICS.

Euripides /j(ə)rpdiz/ (480–c.406 BC), Greek dramatist. His nineteen surviving plays show important innovations in the handling of traditional myths, such as the introduction of realism, an interest in feminine psychology, and the portrayal of abnormal and irrational states of mind. Notable works: Medea, Hippolytus, Electra, Trojan Women, and Bacchae.

Euro /jərə/ adj. INFORMAL relating to Europe or the European Union: a Euro court.

euro^1 n. (pl. euros or euro) the single European currency, which replaced the national currencies of France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Luxembourg, Austria, Finland, the Republic of Ireland, Belgium, and the Netherlands in 2002. Sixteen member states of the European Union now use the euro.

euro^2 n. (pl. euros) the common wallaroo (see WALLAROO).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Adnyamathanha yuru.

Euro- combining form European; European and …: Euro-American.

- relating to Europe or the European Union: a Euro-MP.

Eurobond n. an international bond issued in Europe or elsewhere outside the country in whose currency its value is stated (usually the US or Japan).

Eurocentric adj. focusing on European culture or history to the exclusion of a wider view of the world; implicitly regarding European culture as pre-eminent.

<DERIVATIVES> Eurocentricity n. Eurocentrism n.

Eurocommunism n. [mass noun] a political system advocated by some communist parties in western European countries, which stresses independence from the former Soviet Communist Party and advocates the preservation of many elements of Western liberal democracy.

<DERIVATIVES> Eurocommunist adj. & n.

Eurocrat n. INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY a bureaucrat in the administration of the European Union.

eurocreep n. [mass noun] INFORMAL the gradual acceptance of the euro in European Union countries that have not yet officially adopted it as their national currency.

Eurocurrency n. 1 a form of money held or traded outside the country in whose currency its value is stated (originally US dollars held in Europe).

2 a single currency for use by the member states of the European Union.

Eurodollar n. a US dollar held in Europe or elsewhere outside the US.

euroland /jərə()land/ n. another term for EUROZONE.

Euromarket n. 1 a financial market which deals with Eurocurrencies.

2 the European Union regarded as a single commercial or financial market.

Euro-MP n. a member of the European Parliament.

Europa /j(ə)rəpə/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a princess of Tyre who was courted by Zeus in the form of a bull. She was carried off by him to Crete, where she bore him three sons (Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon).

2 [ASTRONOMY] one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, the sixth-closest satellite to the planet, having a network of dark lines on a bright icy surface (diameter 3,138 km).

Europe a continent of the northern hemisphere, separated from Africa to the south by the Mediterranean Sea and from Asia to the east roughly by the Bosporus, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Ural Mountains. Europe contains approximately 20 per cent of the world's population.

- the European Union: the Prime Minister who took Britain into Europe.

- BRITISH the mainland of continental Europe as distinct from the British Isles: A Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe.

Europe, Council of an association of European states founded in 1949 to safeguard the political and cultural heritage of Europe and promote economic and social cooperation. One of the Council's principal achievements is the European Convention on Human Rights.

European adj. relating to or characteristic of Europe or its inhabitants.

- relating to the European Union: a single European currency.

■ n. a native or inhabitant of Europe.

- a national of a state belonging to the European Union.

- a person who is committed to the European Union: they claimed to be the party of good Europeans.

- a person of European parentage.

<DERIVATIVES> Europeanism n.

<ORIGIN> from French européen, from Latin europaeus, based on Greek Eurōpē ‘Europe’.

European Atomic Energy Community (abbr.: Euratom) an institution established in 1957 to aid the exploitation of nuclear discoveries in Europe.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development a bank established in London in 1991 to help the former communist countries of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union make the transition to the free-market system.

European Coal and Steel Community (abbr.: ECSC) an organization established in 1952 to regulate pricing, transport, and tariffs for the coal and steel industries of the member countries.

European Commission a group, appointed by agreement among the governments of the European Union, which initiates Union action and safeguards its treaties. It meets in Brussels.

European Commission for Human Rights an institution of the Council of Europe, set up under the European Convention on Human Rights to examine complaints of alleged breaches of the Convention. It is based in Strasbourg.

European Community (abbr.: EC) an economic and political association of certain European countries, incorporated since 1993 in the European Union.

The European Community was formed in 1967 from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom); it comprises also the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Court of Justice. Until 1987 it was still commonly known as the EEC. The name ‘European Communities’ is still used in legal contexts where the three distinct organizations are recognized. See also EUROPEAN UNION.

European Convention on Human Rights an international agreement set up by the Council of Europe in 1950 to protect human rights. Under the Convention were established the European Commission for Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.

European Council a grouping of the heads of government of the European Union countries, inaugurated in 1975, which meets two or three times a year.

European Court of Human Rights an institution of the Council of Europe, set up to protect human rights in conjunction with the European Commission for Human Rights. The Court, based in Strasbourg, is called to give judgement in cases where the Commission has failed to secure a settlement.

European Court of Justice an institution of the European Union, with thirteen judges appointed by its member governments, meeting in Luxembourg. Established in 1958, it exists to safeguard the law in the interpretation and application of Community treaties.

European Economic Community (abbr.: EEC) an institution of the European Union, an economic association of western European countries set up by the Treaty of Rome (1957). The original members were France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. See also EUROPEAN COMMUNITY and EUROPEAN UNION.

European Free Trade Association (abbr.: EFTA) a customs union of western European countries, established in 1960 as a trade grouping without the political implications of the European Economic Community. The original members were Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

European Investment Bank a bank set up in 1958 by the Treaty of Rome to finance capital investment projects promoting the balanced development of members of the European Community. It is based in Luxembourg.

Europeanize (also Europeanise) v. [with obj.] (often as adj. Europeanized) give (someone or something) a European character or scope: a highly Europeanized city.

- transfer to the control or responsibility of the European Union.

<DERIVATIVES> Europeanization n.

European Monetary System (abbr.: EMS) a monetary system inaugurated by the European Community in 1979 to coordinate and stabilize the exchange rates of the currencies of member countries, as a prelude to monetary union. It is based on the use of the Exchange Rate Mechanism.

European Monetary Union (abbr.: EMU) a European Union programme intended to work towards full economic unity in Europe based on the phased introduction of a common currency (the euro). The programme was announced in 1989; the second stage came into effect on 1 January 1994 under the terms of the Maastricht Treaty, and in 2002 the euro replaced the currencies of twelve European Union countries (see euro^1).

European Parliament the Parliament of the European Union, originally established in 1952. From 1958 to 1979 it was composed of representatives drawn from the parliaments of member countries, but since 1979 direct elections have taken place every five years. Through the Single European Act (1987) it assumed a degree of sovereignty over national parliaments. It meets in Strasbourg, and its committee is in Brussels.

European plan n. NORTH AMERICAN a system of charging for a hotel room only, without meals. Often contrasted with AMERICAN PLAN.

European Recovery Program official name for the MARSHALL PLAN.

European Space Agency (abbr.: ESA) an organization set up in 1975 to coordinate the national space programmes of the collaborating countries. It is based in Paris.

European Union (abbr.: EU) an economic and political association of certain European countries as a unit with internal free trade and common external tariffs.

The European Union was created on 1 November 1993, with the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty. It encompasses the old European Community (EC) together with two intergovernmental ‘pillars’ for dealing with foreign affairs and with immigration and justice. The terms European Economic Community (EEC) and European Community (EC) continue to be used loosely to refer to what is now the European Union. The European Union consists of 27 member states, 16 of which use the common currency unit, the euro.

Europhile n. a person who admires Europe or is in favour of participation in the European Union.

Europhobe n. a person having a strong dislike of Europe or opposing participation in the European Union.

europium /j(ə)rəpəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 63, a soft silvery-white metal of the lanthanide series. Europium oxide is used with yttrium oxide as a red phosphor in colour television screens. (Symbol: Eu)

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: modern Latin, based on EUROPE.

Europoort /jərəpt/ a major European port in the Netherlands, near Rotterdam.

Europop n. [mass noun] pop music from continental Europe with simple melodies and lyrics, often sung in English.

Eurosceptic n. a person who is opposed to increasing the powers of the European Union.

<DERIVATIVES> Eurosceptical adj. Euroscepticism n.

Eurostar n. TRADEMARK the high-speed passenger rail service that links London with various European cities via the Channel Tunnel.

Eurotrash n. [mass noun] INFORMAL rich European socialites, especially those living or working in the United States.

Eurovision a network of European television production administered by the European Broadcasting Union.

eurozone /jərə()zən/ n. the economic region formed by those member countries of the European Union that have adopted the euro.

eury- combining form denoting a wide variety or range of something specified: eurytopic.

<ORIGIN> from Greek eurus ‘wide’.

euryapsid /jərapsd/ n. a Mesozoic marine reptile of a group characterized by a single upper temporal opening in the skull, including the nothosaurs, plesiosaurs, and ichthyosaurs.

<INFO> Sometimes placed in a subclass Euryapsida, though this taxon is no longer widely recognized.

<ORIGIN> from Greek eurus ‘wide’ + apsis, apsid- ‘arch’.

Eurydice /jərdsi/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the wife of Orpheus. After she was killed by a snake Orpheus secured her release from the underworld on the condition that he did not look back at her on their way back to the world of the living. But Orpheus did look back, whereupon Eurydice disappeared.

euryhaline /jərheln -helin/ adj. [ECOLOGY] (of an aquatic organism) able to tolerate a wide range of salinity. Often contrasted with STENOHALINE.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek eurus ‘wide’ + halinos ‘of salt’.

eurypterid /j(ə)rptərd/ n. a giant fossil marine arthropod of a group occurring in the Palaeozoic era. They are related to horseshoe crabs, and resemble large scorpions with a terminal pair of paddle-shaped swimming appendages.

<INFO> Subclass Eurypterida, class Merostomata, subphylum Chelicerata.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Eurypterus (genus name), from EURY- + Greek pteron ‘wing’ + -ID^2.

eurythermal /jərθəm(ə)l/ adj. [ECOLOGY] (of an organism) able to tolerate a wide range of temperatures. Often contrasted with STENOTHERMAL.

eurytopic /jərtpk/ adj. [ECOLOGY] (of an organism) able to tolerate a wide range of habitats or ecological conditions. Often contrasted with STENOTOPIC.

Eusebio /jusebə/ (b.1942), Mozambican-born Portuguese footballer; born Ferraira da Silva Eusebio. He was a forward who played largely for the Portuguese club Benfica.

Eusebius /jusibəs/ (c.264–c.340 AD), bishop and Church historian; known as Eusebius of Caesarea. His Ecclesiastical History is the principal source for the history of Christianity (especially in the Eastern Church) from the age of the Apostles until 324.

Euskara /juskərə/ n. [mass noun] the Basque language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Basque.

eusocial /jusə(ə)l/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] denoting social organisms (e.g. the honeybee) in which a single female or caste produces the offspring and non-reproductive individuals cooperate in caring for the young.

<DERIVATIVES> eusociality n.

eusol /jusl/ n. [mass noun] an antiseptic solution of chlorinated lime and boric acid.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from E(dinburgh) U(niversity) sol(ution), with reference to the university's Pathology Department, where it was developed.

Eustachian tube /juste(ə)n/ n. [ANATOMY] a narrow passage leading from the pharynx to the cavity of the middle ear, permitting the equalization of pressure on each side of the eardrum.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: named after Bartolomeo Eustachio (died 1574), the Italian anatomist who identified and described it.

eustasy /justəsi/ n. [mass noun] a change of sea level throughout the world, caused typically by movements of parts of the earth's crust or melting of glaciers.

<DERIVATIVES> eustatic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: back-formation from eustatic, coined in German from Greek eu ‘well’ + statikos ‘static’.

Euston Road /justən/ n. [as modifier] relating to or denoting a group of English post-Impressionist realistic painters of the 1930s, whose members included William Coldstream (1908–87) and Victor Pasmore (1908–98).

<ORIGIN> from the name of a road in London, site of a former School of Drawing and Painting (1938–9).

eutectic /jutεktk/ [CHEMISTRY] adj. relating to or denoting a mixture of substances (in fixed proportions) that melts and solidifies at a single temperature that is lower than the melting points of the separate constituents or of any other mixture of them.

■ n. a eutectic mixture.

■ short for EUTECTIC POINT.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek eutēktos ‘easily melting’, from eu ‘well, easily’ + tēkein ‘melt’.

eutectic point (also eutectic temperature) n. [CHEMISTRY] the temperature at which a particular eutectic mixture freezes or melts.

eutectoid /jutεktd/ [METALLURGY] adj. relating to or denoting an alloy which has a minimum transformation temperature between a solid solution and a simple mixture of metals.

■ n. a eutectoid mixture or alloy.

Euterpe /jutəpi/ [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the Muse of flutes.

<ORIGIN> Greek, literally ‘well pleasing’.

euthanasia /juθənezə/ n. [mass noun] the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘easy death’): from Greek, from eu ‘well’ + thanatos ‘death’.

euthanize /juθənz/ (also euthanise) v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN put (an animal) to death humanely.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: formed irregularly from EUTHANASIA + -IZE.

Eutheria /juθərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a major group of mammals that comprises the placentals. Compare with METATHERIA.

<INFO> Infraclass Eutheria, subclass Theria.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from EU- ‘well, prospering’ + Greek thērion ‘wild beast’.

eutherian [ZOOLOGY] n. a mammal of the major group Eutheria, which excludes the marsupials and monotremes.

■ adj. relating to or denoting eutherians.

euthyroid /juθrd/ adj. MEDICINE having a normally functioning thyroid gland.

eutrophic /jutrəfk -trfk/ adj. [ECOLOGY] (of a lake or other body of water) rich in nutrients and so supporting a dense plant population, the decomposition of which kills animal life by depriving it of oxygen. Compare with DYSTROPHIC and OLIGOTROPHIC.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting a medicine promoting good nutrition): from Greek eutrophia, from eu ‘well’ + trephein ‘nourish’. The current sense dates from the 1930s.

eutrophication /jutrəfke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to run-off from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life.

<DERIVATIVES> eutrophicate v.

eV abbr. electronvolt(s).

EVA abbr.

- ethyl vinyl acetate, a material used as cushioning in running shoes, consisting of a rubbery copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate.

- (in space) extravehicular activity.

evacuant /vakjənt/ adj. (of a medicine or treatment) acting to induce some kind of bodily discharge.

■ n. an evacuant medicine, such as a laxative, an emetic, or a sudorific.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin evacuant- ‘emptying (the bowels)’, from the verb evacuare, later in the more general sense ‘remove (contents)’.

evacuate /vakjet/ v. [with obj.] 1 remove (someone) from a place of danger to a safer place: several families were evacuated from their homes.

- leave or cause the occupants to leave (a place of danger): fire alarms forced staff to evacuate the building | [no obj.] nearly five million had to evacuate because of air terror.

- (of troops) withdraw from (a place): the last British troops evacuated the Canal Zone.

2 TECHNICAL remove air, water, or other contents from (a container): when it springs a leak, evacuate the pond.

- empty (the bowels or another bodily organ).

- discharge (faeces or other matter) from the body.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘clear the contents of’): from Latin evacuat- ‘(of the bowels) emptied’, from the verb evacuare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + vacuus ‘empty’.

evacuation n. [mass noun] 1 the action of evacuating a person or a place: there were waves of evacuation during the blitz | [count noun] a full-scale evacuation of the city centre.

2 the action of emptying the bowels or another bodily organ.

- [count noun] a quantity of matter discharged from the bowels or another bodily organ.

- TECHNICAL the action of emptying a container of air, water, or other contents.

evacuative adj. & n.

■ another term for EVACUANT.

evacuee n. a person evacuated from a place of danger.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally in the French form): from French évacué, past participle of évacuer, from Latin evacuare (see EVACUATE).

evade v. [with obj.] escape or avoid (someone or something), especially by guile or trickery: friends helped him to evade capture for a time.

- (of an abstract thing) elude (someone): sleep still evaded her.

- avoid giving a direct answer to (a question): he denied evading the question.

- avoid dealing with or accepting (something unpleasant or morally or legally required): he never sought to evade responsibility for his actions.

- escape paying (tax or duty), especially by illegitimate presentation of one's finances.

- act contrary to the intention of (a law or rule), especially while complying with its letter.

<DERIVATIVES> evadable adj. evader n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French évader, from Latin evadere from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + vadere ‘go’.

evaginate /vadnet/ v. [BIOLOGY] & [PHYSIOLOGY] (with reference to a tubular or pouch-shaped organ or structure) turn or be turned inside out.

<DERIVATIVES> evagination n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin evaginat- ‘unsheathed’, from the verb evaginare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + vagina ‘sheath’.

evaluate v. [with obj.] 1 form an idea of the amount, number, or value of; assess: the study will assist in evaluating the impact of recent changes | [with clause] a system for evaluating how well the firm is performing.

2 [MATHEMATICS] find a numerical expression or equivalent for (an equation, formula, or function).

<DERIVATIVES> evaluative adj. evaluator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (earlier (mid 18th century) as evaluation): from French évaluer, from es- (from Latin ex-) ‘out, from’ + Old French value ‘value’.

evaluation n. [mass noun] the making of a judgement about the amount, number, or value of something; assessment: the evaluation of each method | [count noun] an initial evaluation of the programme.

evanesce /ivənεs εv-/ v. [no obj.] LITERARY pass out of sight, memory, or existence.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin evanescere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + vanus ‘empty’.

evanescent adj. 1 chiefly LITERARY soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing: the evanescent Arctic summer.

2 [PHYSICS] denoting a field or wave which extends into a region where it cannot propagate and whose amplitude therefore decreases with distance.

<DERIVATIVES> evanescence n. evanescently adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘almost imperceptible’): from Latin evanescent- ‘disappearing’, from the verb evanescere (see EVANESCE).

evangel /van(d)εl -(d)(ə)l/ n. 1 ARCHAIC the Christian gospel.

- any of the four Gospels.

2 North American term for EVANGELIST.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘gospel’): from Old French evangile, via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek euangelion ‘good news’, from euangelos ‘bringing good news’, from eu- ‘well’ + angelein ‘announce’.

evangelical adj. of or according to the teaching of the gospel or the Christian religion.

- of or denoting a tradition within Protestant Christianity emphasizing the authority of the Bible, personal conversion, and the doctrine of salvation by faith in the Atonement.

- zealous in advocating or supporting a particular cause: she was evangelical about organic farming.

■ n. a member of the evangelical tradition in the Christian Church.

<DERIVATIVES> evangelic adj. evangelicalism n. evangelically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek euangelikos, from euangelos (see EVANGEL).

evangelism n. [mass noun] the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness.

- zealous advocacy or support of a particular cause.

evangelist n. 1 a person who seeks to convert others to the Christian faith, especially by public preaching.

- a layperson engaged in Christian missionary work.

- a zealous advocate of a particular cause: he has become an evangelist for the European Union.

2 the writer of one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John): St John the Evangelist.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French évangéliste, via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek euangelistēs, from euangelizesthai ‘evangelize’.

evangelistic adj. seeking to convert others to the Christian faith; missionary: an evangelistic preacher.

- zealously advocating a particular cause; campaigning: an almost evangelistic zeal for the product.

evangelize (also evangelise) v. [with obj.] convert or seek to convert (someone) to Christianity.

- [no obj.] preach the gospel.

<DERIVATIVES> evangelization n. evangelizer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin evangelizare, from Greek euangelizesthai, from euangelos (see EVANGEL).

Evans^1 Sir Arthur (John) (1851–1941), English archaeologist. His excavations at Knossos (1899–1935) resulted in the discovery of the Bronze Age civilization of Crete, which he named Minoan after the legendary Cretan king Minos.

Evans^2 Dame Edith (Mary) (1888–1976), English actress. She appeared in a wide range of Shakespearean and contemporary roles but is particularly remembered as Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

Evans^3 Gil (1912–88), Canadian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger; born Ian Ernest Gilmore Green. In 1947 he began a long association with Miles Davis, producing albums such as Porgy and Bess (1958) and Sketches of Spain (1959).

Evans-Pritchard /εv(ə)nzprtəd/ Sir Edward (Evan) (1902–73), English anthropologist. He is noted for his studies of the Azande and Nuer peoples of Sudan, with whom he lived in the 1920s and 1930s.

evaporate /vapəret/ v. turn from liquid into vapour: [no obj.] cook until most of the liquid has evaporated | [with obj.] this gets the oil hot enough to evaporate any moisture.

- lose or cause to lose moisture or solvent as vapour: [with obj.] the solution was evaporated to dryness.

- [no obj.] (of something abstract) cease to exist: the militancy of earlier years had evaporated in the wake of defeat.

<DERIVATIVES> evaporable adj. evaporation n. evaporator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin evaporat- ‘changed into vapour’, from the verb evaporare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + vapor ‘steam, vapour’.

evaporated milk n. [mass noun] a processed form of milk that has had some of the liquid removed by evaporation.

evaporating dish n. [CHEMISTRY] a small ceramic dish in which liquids are heated over a flame so that they evaporate, leaving a solid residue.

evaporative /vap(ə)rətv/ adj. relating to or involving evaporation: evaporative water loss.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin evaporativus, from evaporare ‘change into vapour’ (see EVAPORATE).

evaporative cooling n. [mass noun] reduction in temperature resulting from the evaporation of a liquid, which removes latent heat from the surface from which evaporation takes place. This process is employed in industrial and domestic cooling systems, and is also the physical basis of sweating.

evaporite /vapərt/ n. [GEOLOGY] a natural salt or mineral deposit left after the evaporation of a body of water.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: alteration of EVAPORATE (see also -ite^1).

evapotranspiration /vapətranspre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the process by which water is transferred from the land to the atmosphere by evaporation from the soil and other surfaces and by transpiration from plants.

evasion n. [mass noun] the action of evading something: their adroit evasion of almost all questions.

- [count noun] an indirect answer; a prevaricating excuse: the protestations and evasions of a witness.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘prevaricating excuse’): via Old French from Latin evasio(n-), from evadere (see EVADE).

evasive adj. tending to avoid commitment or self-revelation, especially by responding only indirectly: she was evasive about her phone number.

- directed towards avoidance or escape: they decided to take evasive action.

<DERIVATIVES> evasively adv. evasiveness n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin evas- ‘evaded’ (from the verb evadere) + -IVE.

Eve (in the Bible) the first woman, companion of Adam and mother of Cain and Abel.

eve n. the day or period of time immediately before an event or occasion: on the eve of her departure he gave her a little parcel.

- the evening or day before a religious festival: the service for Passover eve.

- chiefly LITERARY evening: a bitter winter's eve.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘close of day’): short form of even^2.

evection /vεk(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [ASTRONOMY] regular variation in the eccentricity of the moon's orbit around the earth, caused mainly by the sun's attraction.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘elevation, exaltation’): from Latin evectio(n-), from evehere ‘carry out or up’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + vehere ‘carry’.

Eve hypothesis (also African Eve hypothesis) n. the hypothesis (based on study of mitochondrial DNA) that modern humans have a common female ancestor who lived in Africa around 200,000 years ago.

Evelyn /ivln/ John (1620–1706), English diarist and writer. He is remembered chiefly for his Diary (published posthumously in 1818), which describes such important historical events as the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London.

Even /evεn/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of an indigenous people living in the Kamchatka peninsula of eastern Siberia.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Even, a Tungusic language with about 6,000 speakers, closely related to Evenki.

■ adj. relating to the Even or their language.

even^1 adj. (evener, evenest) 1 flat and smooth: prepare the site, then lay an even bed of mortar.

- in the same plane or line; level: run a file along the saw to make all of the teeth even with each other.

2 equal in number, amount, or value: an even gender balance among staff and students.

- equally balanced: the first half of the match was fairly even.

- having little variation in quality; regular: they travelled at an even and leisurely pace.

- (of a person's temper or disposition) equable; calm: she was known to have an even temper and to be difficult to rile.

3 (of a number, such as 2, 6, or 108) divisible by two without a remainder.

- bearing a number that is divisible by two without a remainder: headers can be placed on odd or even pages or both.

■ v. make or become even: [with obj.] she cut the hair again to even up the ends.

■ adv. used to emphasize something surprising or extreme: they have never even heard of the United States | they wore fur hats, even in summer.

- used in comparisons for emphasis: he knows even less about it than I do.

<PHRASES>

□ even as at the very same time as: even as he spoke their baggage was being unloaded.

□ an even break INFORMAL a fair chance: the fact is suckers never get an even break.

□ an even chance an equal likelihood of success or failure: the team has an even chance of winning.

□ even if despite the possibility that; no matter whether: always try everything even if it turns out to be a dud.

- despite the fact that: he is a great President, even if he has many enemies.

□ even now (or then) 1 now (or then) as well as before: even now, after all these years, it upsets me.

2 in spite of what has (or had) happened: even then he never raised his voice to me.

3 at this (or that) very moment: very likely you are even now picking up the telephone to ring.

□ even so in spite of that; nevertheless: not the most exciting of places, but even so I was having a good time.

□ even though despite the fact that: even though he was bigger, he never looked down on me.

□ get (or be) even INFORMAL inflict similar trouble or harm on someone to that which they have inflicted on oneself: I'll get even with you for this.

□ of even date [LAW] or FORMAL of the same date.

□ on an even keel (of a ship or aircraft) not listing or tilting to one side.

- (of a person or situation) functioning normally after a period of difficulty: getting her life back on to an even keel after their break-up had been difficult.

<DERIVATIVES> evenly adv. evenness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English efen (adjective), efne (adverb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch even, effen and German eben.

even^2 n. ARCHAIC or LITERARY the end of the day; evening: bring it to my house this even.

<ORIGIN> Old English fen, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch avont and German Abend.

even-aged adj. [FORESTRY] (of woodland) composed of trees of approximately the same age.

even-handed adj. fair and impartial in treatment or judgement: an even-handed approach to industrial relations.

<DERIVATIVES> even-handedly adv. even-handedness n.

evening n. the period of time at the end of the day, usually from about 6 p.m. to bedtime: it was seven o'clock in the evening | [as modifier] the evening meal.

- an evening characterized by a particular event or activity: some pubs hold Irish music evenings.

- [as modifier] prescribed by fashion as suitable for relatively formal social events held in the evening: a couple in evening dress.

■ adv. (evenings) INFORMAL in the evening; every evening: Saturday evenings he invariably fell asleep.

■ exclam. INFORMAL short for GOOD EVENING.

<ORIGIN> Old English fnung ‘dusk falling, the time around sunset’, from fnian ‘approach evening’, from fen (see even^2).

evening class n. a class held in the evening, forming part of a course for adults.

eveninger /iv(ə)nə/ n. INDIAN INFORMAL an evening newspaper: interviews in a Mumbai eveninger.

evening prayer n. (usually evening prayers) a formal act of worship held in the evening.

- (in the Anglican Church) the service of evensong.

evening primrose n. a plant with pale yellow flowers that open in the evening and yielding seeds from which a medicinal oil is extracted.

<INFO> Genus Oenothera, family Onagraceae: numerous species.

evening star n. (the evening star) the planet Venus, seen shining in the western sky after sunset.

Evenki /evεnki/ n. (pl. same or Evenkis) 1 a member of an indigenous people living scattered through the wastes of northern Siberia. Also called TUNGUS.

2 [mass noun] the Tungusic language of the Evenki, which has about 15,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Evenki or their language.

even money n. [mass noun] (in betting) odds offering an equal chance of winning or losing, with the amount won being the same as the stake: players bet on each throw for even money | [as modifier] Romany King swept past the even-money favourite Paco's Boy.

- [as modifier] (of a chance) equally likely to happen or not; fifty-fifty: above those engines there was an even-money chance of being heard.

evens plural n. British another term for EVEN MONEY: the colt was 4-6 favourite after opening at evens.

evensong n. (in the Christian Church) a service of evening prayers, psalms, and canticles, conducted according to a set form, especially that of the Anglican Church: choral evensong.

<ORIGIN> Old English fensang, originally applied to the pre-Reformation service of vespers (see even^2, song).

even-steven (also even-stevens) adj. & adv. INFORMAL used in reference to fair and equal competition or distribution of resources: [as adv.] I split the money with my wife even-steven.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: rhyming phrase, used as an intensive.

event n. a thing that happens or takes place, especially one of importance: the momentous political events of the late 1980s.

- a planned public or social occasion: staff have been holding a number of events to raise money for charity.

- each of several particular contests making up a sports competition: he repeated the success in the four-lap, 600 cc event.

- [PHYSICS] a single occurrence of a process, e.g. the ionization of one atom.

<PHRASES>

□ in any event (or at all events) whatever happens or may have happened: in any event, I was not in a position to undertake such a task.

□ in the event as it turns (or turned) out: he was sent on this important and, in the event, quite fruitless mission.

□ in the event of —— if —— happens: this will reduce the chance of serious injury in the event of an accident.

□ in the event that if; should it happen that: he planned to start a business, in the event that he lost his job.

□ in that event if that happens: in that event, the US would incline toward a lifting of the arms embargo.

<DERIVATIVES> eventless adj. eventlessness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin eventus, from evenire ‘result, happen’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + venire ‘come’.

even-tempered adj. not easily annoyed or made angry: he was a gentle and even-tempered man.

eventer n. BRITISH a horse or rider that takes part in eventing.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from EVENT, in three-day event (see EVENTING).

eventful adj. marked by interesting or exciting events: his long and eventful life.

<DERIVATIVES> eventfully adv. eventfulness n.

event horizon n. [ASTRONOMY] a notional boundary around a black hole beyond which no light or other radiation can escape.

eventide n. ARCHAIC or LITERARY the end of the day; evening: the moonflower opens its white, trumpet-like flowers at eventide.

<ORIGIN> Old English fentīd (see even^2, tide).

eventing n. [mass noun] an equestrian sport in which competitors must take part in each of several contests, usually cross-country, dressage, and showjumping.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from EVENT, in three-day event, horse trials held on three consecutive days.

eventive /vεntv/ adj. [LINGUISTICS] (of the subject or object of a sentence) denoting an event.

even-toed ungulate n. a hoofed mammal of an order which includes the ruminants, camels, pigs, and hippopotamuses. Mammals of this group have either two or four toes on each foot. Compare with ODD-TOED UNGULATE.

<INFO> Order Artiodactyla: three suborders. See also RUMINANT, TYLOPOD.

eventual /vεn(t)əl/ adj. [attr.] occurring or existing at the end of or as a result of a process or period of time: it's impossible to predict the eventual outcome of the competition.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘relating to an event or events’): from Latin eventus (see EVENT), on the pattern of actual.

eventuality n. (pl. eventualities) a possible event or outcome: be prepared for all eventualities.

eventually adv. [sentence adv.] in the end, especially after a long delay, dispute, or series of problems: eventually, after midnight, I arrived at the hotel.

eventuate /vεn(t)et -tj-/ v. [no obj.] FORMAL occur as a result: you never know what might eventuate.

- (eventuate in) lead to as a result: circumstances that eventuate in crime.

<DERIVATIVES> eventuation n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally US): from EVENT, on the pattern of actuate.

ever adv. 1 [usually with negative or in questions] at any time: nothing ever seemed to ruffle her | don't you ever regret giving up all that money?

- used in comparisons for emphasis: they felt better than ever before | our biggest ever range.

2 at all times; always: ever the man of action, he was impatient with intellectuals | caravan holidays remain as popular as ever | they lived happily ever after | [in combination] he toyed with his ever-present cigar.

3 [with comparative] increasingly; constantly: having to borrow ever larger sums.

4 used for emphasis in questions expressing astonishment or outrage: who ever heard of a grown man being frightened of the dark? | why ever did you do it?

<PHRASES>

□ ever and anon ARCHAIC occasionally: ever and anon the stillness is rent by the scream of a gibbon. [<ORIGIN> from Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost (V. ii. 101).]

□ ever since throughout the period since: she had lived alone ever since her husband died.

□ ever so/such BRITISH INFORMAL very; very much: I am ever so grateful | she's ever such a pretty cat | thanks ever so.

□ for ever see FOREVER.

□ yours ever (also ever yours) a formula used to end an informal letter, before the signature.

<ORIGIN> Old English fre, of unknown origin.

Everest, Mount /εvərst/ a mountain in the Himalayas, on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Rising to 8,848 m (29,028 ft), it is the highest mountain in the world; it was first climbed in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

<ORIGIN> named after Sir George Everest (1790–1866), British surveyor general of India.

Everglades a vast area of marshland and coastal mangrove in southern Florida, part of which is protected as a national park.

evergreen adj. relating to or denoting a plant that retains green leaves throughout the year: the glossy laurel is fully hardy and evergreen | evergreen shrubs. Often contrasted with DECIDUOUS.

- having an enduring freshness, success, or popularity: this symphony is an evergreen favourite.

■ n. a plant that retains green leaves throughout the year: evergreens planted to cut off the east wind.

- a person or thing of enduring freshness, success, or popularity.

evergreen oak n. the holm oak.

Evergreen State informal name for the state of Washington^1.

everlasting adj. lasting forever or a very long time: the damned would suffer everlasting torment | an everlasting reminder of this evening.

■ n. 1 (the everlasting) LITERARY eternity.

2 (also everlasting flower) a flower of the daisy family with a papery texture, retaining its shape and colour after being dried, especially a helichrysum. Also called IMMORTELLE.

<DERIVATIVES> everlastingly adv. everlastingness n.

evermore adv. (chiefly used for rhetorical effect or in ecclesiastical contexts) always: we pray that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us.

Evert /εvət/ Chris (b.1954), American tennis player; full name Christine Marie Evert. She won both the US and French Open championships six times and three Wimbledon titles (1974; 1976; 1981).

evert /vət/ v. [with obj.] [BIOLOGY] & [PHYSIOLOGY] turn (a structure or organ) outwards or inside out.

<DERIVATIVES> eversible adj. eversion n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘upset, overthrow’): from Latin evertere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + vertere ‘to turn’. The current sense dates from the late 18th cent.

every determiner used before a singular noun to refer to all the individual members of a set without exception: the hotel assures every guest of personal attention | [with possessive determiner] the children hung on his every word.

- used before an amount to indicate how often something happens: tours are every thirty minutes | they had every third week off.

- (used for emphasis) all possible; the utmost: you have every reason to be disappointed.

<PHRASES>

□ every bit as (in comparisons) quite as: the planning should be every bit as enjoyable as the event itself.

□ every inch see inch^1.

□ every last (or every single) used to emphasize that every member of a group is included: unbelievers, every last one of them.

□ every man has his price PROVERB everyone is open to bribery if the inducement offered is large enough.

□ every now and again (or now and then) from time to time; occasionally.

□ every other each alternate in a series: I train with weights every other day.

□ every so often from time to time; occasionally.

□ every time without exception: Maris Piper potatoes cook beautifully every time.

□ every which way INFORMAL in all directions: my feet went every which way.

- by all available means: since then he has tried every which way to avoid contact with his ex.

<ORIGIN> Old English fre lc (see EVER, each).

everybody pron. every person: everybody agrees with his views.

everyday adj. [attr.] happening or used every day; daily: everyday chores like shopping and housework.

- commonplace: everyday drugs like aspirin.

Everyman n. an ordinary or typical human being: at £1.80 a dozen, the oysters are Everyman's treat.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: the name of the principal character in a 15th-cent. morality play.

everyone pron. every person: everyone needs time to unwind.

every one pron. each one.

everyplace adv. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL everywhere.

everything pron. 1 all things: they did everything together.

- all things of importance: I lost everything in the crash.

- the most important thing or aspect: money isn't everything.

2 the current situation; life in general: how's everything? | everything is going okay.

<PHRASES>

□ and everything INFORMAL used to refer vaguely to other things associated with what has been mentioned: you'll still get paid and everything.

□ have everything INFORMAL possess every attraction or advantage: she was articulate, she was fun—it seemed to me she had everything.

everywhere adv. in or to all places: I've looked everywhere | everywhere she went she was feted.

- common or widely distributed: sandwich bars are everywhere.

■ n. [mass noun] all places or directions: everywhere was in darkness.

<PHRASES>

□ everywhere else in all other places.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: formerly also as two words.

eve-teasing n. [mass noun] INDIAN the making of unwanted sexual remarks or advances by a man to a woman in a public place.

<DERIVATIVES> eve-teaser n.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from EVE + TEASE.

evict v. [with obj.] expel (someone) from a property, especially with the support of the law: a single mother and her children have been evicted from their home.

<DERIVATIVES> evictor n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘recover property by legal process’): from Latin evict- ‘overcome, defeated’, from the verb evincere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + vincere ‘conquer’.

eviction n. [mass noun] the action of expelling someone from a property; expulsion: the forced eviction of residents.

evidence n. [mass noun] the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid: the study finds little evidence of overt discrimination.

- [LAW] information drawn from personal testimony, a document, or a material object, used to establish facts in a legal investigation or admissible as testimony in a law court: without evidence, they can't bring a charge.

- signs or indications of something: there was no obvious evidence of a break-in.

■ v. [with obj.] be or show evidence of: the quality of the bracelet, as evidenced by the workmanship, is exceptional.

<PHRASES>

□ call someone in evidence [LAW] summon someone as a witness.

□ give evidence [LAW] give information and answer questions formally and in person in a law court or at an inquiry.

□ in evidence noticeable; conspicuous: his dramatic flair is still very much in evidence.

□ turn King's (or Queen's or US state's) evidence [LAW] (of a criminal) give information in court against one's partners in order to receive a less severe punishment.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin evidentia, from evident- ‘obvious to the eye or mind’ (see EVIDENT).

evident adj. clearly seen or understood; obvious: she ate the biscuits with evident enjoyment.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin evidens, evident- ‘obvious to the eye or mind’, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + videre ‘to see’.

evidential /εvdεn(ə)l/ adj. FORMAL of or providing evidence: the evidential bases for her argument.

<DERIVATIVES> evidentiality n. evidentially adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin evidentialis, from Latin evidentia (see EVIDENCE).

evidentiary /εvdεn(ə)ri/ adj. chiefly [LAW] another term for EVIDENTIAL.

evidently adv. 1 in a way that is clearly seen or understood; obviously: a work so evidently laden with significance.

2 [sentence adv.] it would seem that: evidently Mrs Smith thought differently.

- used as an affirmative response: ‘Were they old pals or something?’ ‘Evidently.’.

evil adj. 1 profoundly immoral and wicked: his evil deeds | no man is so evil as to be beyond redemption.

- (of a force or spirit) embodying or associated with the forces of the devil.

- harmful or tending to harm: the evil effects of high taxes.

2 (of a smell or sight) extremely unpleasant: a bathroom with an ineradicably evil smell.

■ n. [mass noun] profound immorality and wickedness, especially when regarded as a supernatural force: his struggle against the forces of evil.

- [count noun] a manifestation of this, especially in people's actions: the evil that took place last Thursday.

- [count noun] something which is harmful or undesirable: sexism, racism, and all other unpleasant social evils.

<PHRASES>

□ the evil eye a gaze or stare superstitiously believed to cause harm.

□ the Evil One ARCHAIC the Devil.

□ put off the evil day (or hour) postpone something unpleasant for as long as possible.

□ speak evil of slander: it is a sin to speak evil of the king.

<DERIVATIVES> evilly adv. evilness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English yfel, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch euvel and German Übel.

evildoer n. a person who commits profoundly immoral and wicked deeds.

<DERIVATIVES> evildoing n.

evince /vns/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL reveal the presence of (a quality or feeling); indicate: the news stories evinced the usual mixture of sympathy and satisfaction.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘prove by argument or evidence’): from Latin evincere ‘overcome, defeat’ (see EVICT).

eviscerate /vsəret/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL disembowel (a person or animal): the goat had been skinned and neatly eviscerated.

- [SURGERY] remove the contents of (the eyeball).

<DERIVATIVES> evisceration n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin eviscerat- ‘disembowelled’, from the verb eviscerare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + viscera ‘internal organs’.

eviternity /ivtənti/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY eternal existence.

<DERIVATIVES> eviternal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin aeviternus ‘eternal’ + -ITY.

evocative /vkətv/ adj. bringing strong images, memories, or feelings to mind: powerfully evocative lyrics | the building's cramped interiors are highly evocative of past centuries.

<DERIVATIVES> evocatively adv. evocativeness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin evocativus, from evocat- ‘called forth’, from the verb evocare (see EVOKE).

evoke /vək/ v. [with obj.] 1 bring or recall (a feeling, memory, or image) to the conscious mind: the sight evoked pleasant memories of his childhood.

- elicit (a response): the Green Paper evoked critical reactions from various bodies.

2 invoke (a spirit or deity).

<DERIVATIVES> evocation n. evoker n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): from Latin evocare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of, from’ + vocare ‘to call’.

evolute /ivəl(j)ut εv-/ n. (also evolute curve) [MATHEMATICS] a curve which is the locus of the centres of curvature of another curve (its involute).

■ adj. [ZOOLOGY] & [BOTANY] rolled outwards at the edges: an evolute shell.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin evolutus, past participle of evolvere ‘roll out’ (see EVOLVE).

evolution /ivəlu(ə)n εv-/ n. [mass noun] 1 the process by which different kinds of living organism are believed to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the earth.

The idea of organic evolution was proposed by some ancient Greek thinkers but was long rejected in Europe as contrary to the literal interpretation of the Bible. Lamarck proposed a theory that organisms became transformed by their efforts to respond to the demands of their environment. Lyell demonstrated that geological deposits were the cumulative product of slow processes over vast ages. This helped Darwin towards a theory of gradual evolution over a long period by the natural selection of those varieties of an organism slightly better adapted to the environment and hence more likely to produce descendants. Combined with the later discoveries of the cellular and molecular basis of genetics, Darwin's theory of evolution has, with some modification, become the dominant unifying concept of modern biology.

2 the gradual development of something: the forms of written languages undergo constant evolution.

3 [CHEMISTRY] the giving off of a gaseous product, or of heat.

4 [count noun] a pattern of movements or manoeuvres: flocks of waders often perform aerial evolutions.

5 [MATHEMATICS], DATED the extraction of a root from a given quantity.

<DERIVATIVES> evolutional adj. evolutionally adv. evolutionarily adv. evolutionary adj. evolutive adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin evolutio(n-) ‘unrolling’, from the verb evolvere (see EVOLVE). Early senses related to movement, first recorded in describing a ‘wheeling’ manoeuvre in the realignment of troops or ships. Current senses stem from a notion of ‘opening out’, giving rise to the sense ‘development’.

evolutionist n. a person who believes in the theories of evolution and natural selection.

■ adj. relating to the theories of evolution and natural selection: an evolutionist model.

<DERIVATIVES> evolutionism n.

evolve v. 1 develop gradually: [no obj.] the company has evolved into a major chemical manufacturer | the Gothic style evolved from the Romanesque | [with obj.] each school must evolve its own way of working.

- (with reference to an organism or biological feature) develop over successive generations as a result of natural selection: [no obj.] the domestic dog is thought to have evolved from the wolf.

2 [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] give off (gas or heat).

<DERIVATIVES> evolvable adj. evolvement n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the general sense ‘make more complex, develop’): from Latin evolvere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + volvere ‘to roll’.

Évros /εvrs/ Greek name for the MARITSA.

Évvoia /εvia/ Greek name for EUBOEA.

evzone /εvzən/ n. a kilted soldier belonging to a select Greek infantry regiment.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Greek euzōnos, from Greek, ‘dressed for exercise’ (from eu- ‘fine’ + zōnē ‘belt’), because of their uniform, which includes a fustanella.

Ewe /ewe/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a West African people of Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Ewe, belonging to the Kwa group. It has about 3 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to or denoting the Ewe or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Ewe.

ewe /ju/ n. a female sheep.

<ORIGIN> Old English eowu, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ooi and German Aue.

ewe neck n. a horse's neck of which the upper outline curves inwards instead of outwards.

<DERIVATIVES> ewe-necked adj.

ewer /juə/ n. a large jug with a wide mouth, formerly used for carrying water.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, variant of Old French aiguiere, based on Latin aquarius ‘of water’, from aqua ‘water’.

eww /əu iu/ exclam. INFORMAL used to express disgust or distaste: eww, how can you eat that?

<ORIGIN> 1970s: imitative.

ex^1 prep. 1 BRITISH (of goods) sold direct from: carpet tiles offered at a special price, ex stock.

- NORTH AMERICAN (of goods) without charges to the purchaser until removed from: ex warehouse.

2 BRITISH not including: the cost is £5,000 ex VAT.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): from Latin, ‘out of’.

ex^2 n. INFORMAL a former husband, wife, or other partner in a relationship: I don't want my ex to spoil what I have now.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: independent usage of ex-1.

Ex. abbr. Exodus (in biblical references).

ex-1 (also e-) prefix 1 out: exclude | excite.

2 upward: extol.

3 thoroughly: excruciate.

4 denoting removal or release: excommunicate | exculpate.

5 forming verbs which denote inducement of a state: exasperate.

6 forming nouns which denote a former state: ex-husband | ex-convict.

<ORIGIN> from Latin ex ‘out of’.

<USAGE> Ex- is also found assimilated as ef- before f.

ex-2 prefix out: exodus | exorcism.

<ORIGIN> from Greek ex ‘out of’.

exa- combining form (used in units of measurement) denoting a factor of 10^18: exajoule.

<ORIGIN> from (h)exa- (see HEXA-), based on the supposed analogy of tera- and tetra-.

exacerbate /zasəbet εksas-/ v. [with obj.] make (a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling) worse: rising inflation was exacerbated by the collapse of oil prices.

<DERIVATIVES> exacerbation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin exacerbat- ‘made harsh’, from the verb exacerbare, from ex- (expressing inducement of a state) + acerbus ‘harsh, bitter’. The noun exacerbation (late Middle English) originally meant ‘provocation to anger’.

exact adj. not approximated in any way; precise: the exact details were still being worked out.

- accurate or correct in all details: an exact replica, two feet tall, was constructed.

- (of a person) accurate and careful about minor details: she was an exact, clever manager.

- (of a subject of study) permitting precise measurements as a basis for rigorously testable theories: psychomedicine isn't an exact science yet.

■ v. [with obj.] demand and obtain (something) from someone: he exacted promises that another Watergate would never be allowed to happen.

- inflict (revenge) on someone.

<DERIVATIVES> exactable adj. exactitude n. exactor n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb): from Latin exact- ‘completed, ascertained, enforced’, from the verb exigere, from ex- ‘thoroughly’ + agere ‘perform’. The adjective dates from the mid 16th century and reflects the Latin exactus ‘precise’.

exacta /zaktə/ n. North American another term for PERFECTA.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from American Spanish quiniela exacta ‘exact quinella’.

exacting adj. making great demands on one's skill, attention, or other resources: the exacting standards laid down by the organic food industry.

<DERIVATIVES> exactingly adv. exactingness n.

exaction n. [mass noun] FORMAL the action of demanding and obtaining something from someone, especially a payment: he supervised the exaction of tolls at various ports.

- [count noun] a sum of money demanded in such a way.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin exactio(n-), from exigere ‘ascertain, perfect, enforce’ (see EXACT).

exactly adv. 1 used to emphasize the accuracy of a figure or description: they met in 1989 and got married exactly two years later.

- in exact terms; without vagueness: what exactly are you looking for?

2 used as a reply to confirm or agree with what has just been said: ‘You mean that you're going to tell me the truth?’ ‘Exactly.’.

<PHRASES>

□ not exactly INFORMAL 1 not at all: that too was not exactly convincing.

2 not quite but close to being: not exactly agitated, but disturbed.

exactness n. [mass noun] the quality of being accurate or correct; precision: it is impossible to calculate with mathematical exactness.

exaggerate /zadəret ε-/ v. [with obj.] represent (something) as being larger, better, or worse than it really is: she was apt to exaggerate any aches and pains | [no obj.] I couldn't sleep for three days—I'm not exaggerating.

- (as adj. exaggerated) enlarged or altered beyond normal proportions: exaggerated features such as a massive head and beetling brows.

<DERIVATIVES> exaggeratedly adv. exaggerative adj. exaggerator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin exaggerat- ‘heaped up’, from the verb exaggerare, from ex- ‘thoroughly’ + aggerare ‘heap up’ (from agger ‘heap’). The word originally meant ‘pile up, accumulate’, later ‘intensify praise or blame’, giving rise to current senses.

exaggeration n. a statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is: it would be an exaggeration to say I had morning sickness, but I did feel queasy.

- [mass noun] the action of making such statements: he was prone to exaggeration.

exalt /zlt ε-/ v. [with obj.] 1 think or speak very highly of (someone or something): the party will continue to exalt their hero.

2 raise to a higher rank or position: this naturally exalts the peasant above his brethren in the same rank of society.

- make noble in character; dignify: romanticism liberated the imagination and exalted the emotions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin exaltare, from ex- ‘out, upward’ + altus ‘high’.

exaltation n. [mass noun] 1 a feeling or state of extreme happiness: she was in a frenzy of exaltation and terror.

2 the action of elevating someone in rank or power: the exaltation of Jesus to the Father's right hand.

3 the action of praising someone or something highly: the exaltation of the army as a place for brotherhood.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘the action of raising high’): from late Latin exaltatio(n-), from Latin exaltare ‘raise aloft’ (see EXALT).

exalté /zlte/ LITERARY n. a person who is elated or impassioned.

■ adj. inspiring or stimulating.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, ‘lifted up’, past participle of exalter.

exalted adj. 1 (of a person or their rank or status) at a high or powerful level: it had taken her years of infighting to reach her present exalted rank.

2 of a noble, elevated, or lofty nature: his exalted hopes of human progress.

3 in a state of extreme happiness: I felt exalted and newly alive.

<DERIVATIVES> exaltedly adv. exaltedness n.

exam n. 1 short for examination (sense 2).

2 [with adj. or noun modifier] NORTH AMERICAN a medical test of a specified kind: routine eye exams.

examination n. 1 a detailed inspection or study: an examination of marketing behaviour | a medical examination is conducted without delay.

- [mass noun] the action or process of conducting such an inspection or study: the role of the planning system has come under increasing critical examination.

2 a formal test of a person's knowledge or proficiency in a subject or skill: he scraped through the examinations at the end of his first year.

3 [LAW] the formal questioning of a defendant or witness in court.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘testing (one's conscience) by a standard’): via Old French from Latin examinatio(n-), from examinare ‘weigh, test’ (see EXAMINE).

examination-in-chief n. [mass noun] [LAW] the questioning of a witness by the party which has called that witness to give evidence, in support of the case being made. Compare with CROSS-EXAMINE.

examination paper n. a set of printed questions used as a test of proficiency or knowledge.

examine v. [with obj.] 1 inspect (someone or something) thoroughly in order to determine their nature or condition: a doctor examined me and said I might need a caesarean | this forced us to examine every facet of our business.

2 test the knowledge or proficiency of (someone) by requiring them to answer questions or perform tasks: the colleges set standards by examining candidates.

3 [LAW] formally question (a defendant or witness) in court. Compare with CROSS-EXAMINE.

<DERIVATIVES> examinable adj. examinee n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French examiner, from Latin examinare ‘weigh, test’, from examen ‘examination’.

examiner n. 1 a person whose job is to inspect something; an inspector: a police vehicle examiner.

2 a person who sets and marks examinations to test people's knowledge or proficiency: exams are marked by external examiners.

example n. 1 a thing characteristic of its kind or illustrating a general rule: advertising provides a good example of an industry where dreams have faded.

- a written problem or exercise designed to illustrate a rule.

2 a person or thing regarded in terms of their fitness to be imitated: it is important that parents should set an example | he followed his brother's example and deserted his family.

■ v. (be exampled) be illustrated or exemplified: the extent of Allied naval support is exampled by the navigational specialists provided.

<PHRASES>

□ for example used to introduce something chosen as a typical case: many, like Hilda, for example, come from very poor backgrounds.

□ make an example of punish as a warning or deterrent to others.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin exemplum, from eximere ‘take out’, from ex- ‘out’ + emere ‘take’. Compare with SAMPLE.

ex ante /εks anti/ adj. & adv. based on forecasts rather than actual results: [as adj.] an ex ante estimate.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin ex ‘from, out of’ + ante ‘before’.

exanthema /ksanθmə εksanθimə/ n. (pl. exanthemata) MEDICINE a skin rash accompanying a disease or fever.

<DERIVATIVES> exanthematic adj. exanthematous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via late Latin from Greek exanthēma ‘eruption’, from ex- ‘out’ + antheein ‘to blossom’ (from anthos ‘flower’).

exaptation /εksapte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the process by which features acquire functions for which they were not originally adapted or selected.

- [count noun] a character or feature which evolved in this way.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from EX-1 + aptation as in ADAPTATION.

exarch /εksαk/ n. 1 (in the Orthodox Church) a bishop lower in rank than a patriarch and having jurisdiction wider than the metropolitan of a diocese.

2 HISTORICAL a governor of a distant province under the Byzantine emperors.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek exarkhos, from ex- ‘out of’ + arkhos ‘ruler’.

exarchate /εksαket/ n. HISTORICAL a Byzantine province governed by an exarch.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin exarchatus, from ecclesiastical Latin exarchus, from Greek (see EXARCH).

exasperate /zasp(ə)ret ε-/ v. [with obj.] irritate intensely; infuriate: this futile process exasperates prison officers.

<DERIVATIVES> exasperatedly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin exasperat- ‘irritated to anger’, from the verb exasperare (based on asper ‘rough’).

exasperating /zαsp(ə)ret ε-/ adj. intensely irritating; infuriating: they suffered a number of exasperating setbacks.

<DERIVATIVES> exasperatingly adv.

exasperation /zαspəre(ə)n ε-/ n. [mass noun] a feeling of intense irritation or annoyance: she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Excalibur /εkskalbə/ (in Arthurian legend) King Arthur's magic sword.

ex cathedra /εks kəθidrə/ adv. & adj. with the full authority of office (especially that of the Pope, implying infallibility as defined in Roman Catholic doctrine).

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘from the (teacher's) chair’, from ex ‘from’ and cathedra ‘seat’ (from Greek kathedra).

excavate /εkskəvet/ v. [with obj.] 1 make (a hole or channel) by digging.

- dig out material from (the ground).

- extract (material) from the ground by digging: a large amount of gravel would be excavated to form the channel.

2 remove earth carefully from (an area) in order to find buried remains: the site was excavated in 1975.

- reveal or extract (buried remains) in this way: clothing and weapons were excavated from the burial site.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin excavat- ‘hollowed out’, from the verb excavare, from ex- ‘out’ + cavare ‘make or become hollow’ (from cavus ‘hollow’).

excavation n. [mass noun] the action of excavating something, especially an archaeological site: the methods of excavation have to be extremely rigorous.

- [count noun] a site that is being or has been excavated.

excavator n. 1 a person who excavates an archaeological site.

2 a large machine for digging and moving earth.

exceed v. [with obj.] be greater in number or size than (a quantity, number, or other measurable thing): production costs have exceeded £60,000.

- go beyond what is allowed or stipulated by (a set limit): the Tribunal's decision clearly exceeds its powers under the statute.

- be better than; surpass: economic growth exceeded expectations this year.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘go over a boundary or specified point’): from Old French exceder, from Latin excedere, from ex- ‘out’ + cedere ‘go’.

exceeding ARCHAIC adj. very great: she spoke warmly of his exceeding kindness.

■ adv. [as submodifier] extremely; exceedingly: an ale of exceeding poor quality.

exceedingly adv. 1 [as submodifier] extremely: the team played exceedingly well.

2 ARCHAIC to a great extent: the supply multiplied exceedingly.

excel /ksεl εk-/ v. (excels, excelling, excelled) [no obj.] be exceptionally good at or proficient in an activity or subject: she excelled at landscape painting.

- (excel oneself) BRITISH perform exceptionally well: the keeper excelled himself to keep out an Elliott header.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin excellere, from ex- ‘out, beyond’ + celsus ‘lofty’.

excellence n. [mass noun] the quality of being outstanding or extremely good: awards for excellence | a centre of academic excellence.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC an outstanding feature or quality.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin excellentia, from the verb excellere ‘surpass’ (see EXCEL).

excellency n. (pl. excellencies) 1 (His, Your, etc. Excellency) a title or form of address given to certain high officials of state, especially ambassadors, or of the Roman Catholic Church: His Excellency the Indian Consul General.

2 ARCHAIC an outstanding feature or quality.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘excellence’): from Latin excellentia, from excellere ‘surpass’ (see EXCEL). Sense 1 dates from the mid 16th cent.

excellent adj. extremely good; outstanding: the lorry was in excellent condition | their results are excellent.

■ exclam. used to indicate approval or pleasure: ‘What a lovely idea! Excellent!’.

<DERIVATIVES> excellently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘outstanding’ in either a good or bad way): from Old French, from Latin excellent- ‘being pre-eminent’, from excellere (see EXCEL). The current appreciatory sense dates from the early 17th cent.

excelsior /εksεls/ n. 1 used in the names of hotels and products to indicate superior quality: they stayed at the Excelsior.

2 [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN softwood shavings used for packing fragile goods or stuffing furniture.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as an exclamation): from Latin, comparative of excelsus, from ex- ‘out, beyond’ + celsus ‘lofty’.

excentric /ksεntrk εk-/ adj. chiefly [BIOLOGY] not placed centrally or arranged symmetrically about a centre: a distinct excentric nucleus.

<DERIVATIVES> excentrically adv.

except prep. not including; other than: I was naked except for my socks | they work every day except Sunday.

■ conj. used before a statement that forms an exception to one just made: I didn't tell him anything, except that I needed the money | our berets were the same except mine was blue.

- ARCHAIC unless: she never offered advice, except it were asked of her.

■ v. [with obj.] FORMAL specify as excluded from a category or group: five classes of advertisement are excepted from control.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin except- ‘taken out’, from the verb excipere, from ex- ‘out of’ + capere ‘take’.

excepted adj. [postpositive] excluded from the category or group specified: most museums (the Getty excepted) have small acquisitions budgets.

excepting prep. FORMAL except for; apart from: excepting a scratched door, the car was in good condition.

exception n. a person or thing that is excluded from a general statement or does not follow a rule: he always plays top tunes, and tonight was no exception | the administrator made an exception in the Colonel's case and waived the normal visiting hours.

<PHRASES>

□ the exception proves the rule PROVERB the fact that some cases do not follow a rule proves that the rule applies in all other cases.

□ take exception to object strongly to: many viewers took great exception to the programme's content.

□ with the exception of except; not including.

□ without exception with no one or nothing excluded.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin exceptio(n-), from excipere ‘take out’ (see EXCEPT).

exceptionable adj. FORMAL open to objection; causing disapproval or offence: his drawings are almost the only exceptionable part of his work.

exceptional adj. unusual; not typical: late claims will only be accepted in exceptional circumstances.

- unusually good; outstanding: a child of exceptional ability.

■ n. (usually exceptionals) an item in a company's accounts arising from its normal activity but much larger or smaller than usual. Compare with EXTRAORDINARY.

<DERIVATIVES> exceptionality n.

exceptionalism n. [mass noun] the belief that something is exceptional, especially the theory that the peaceful capitalism of the US constitutes an exception to the general economic laws governing national historical development.

exceptionally adv. to a greater degree than normal; unusually: [as submodifier] the weather was exceptionally mild for the time of the year.

- only in unusual circumstances: the court allows half an hour in most cases, one hour exceptionally for a very important case.

excerpt n. /εksəpt/ a short extract from a film, broadcast, or piece of music or writing.

■ v. /ksəpt εk-/ [with obj.] take (a short extract) from a text: the notes are excerpted from his forthcoming biography.

- take an excerpt or excerpts from (a text): a book excerpted in this week's Time magazine.

<DERIVATIVES> excerptible adj. excerption n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a verb): from Latin excerpt- ‘plucked out’, from the verb excerpere, from ex- ‘out of’ + carpere ‘to pluck’.

excess /ksεs εk- εksεs/ n. 1 an amount of something that is more than necessary, permitted, or desirable: are you suffering from an excess of stress in your life?

- the amount by which one quantity or number exceeds another.

- [mass noun] the action of exceeding a permitted or acceptable limit: there is no issue as to excess of jurisdiction.

2 [mass noun] lack of moderation, especially in eating or drinking: bouts of alcoholic excess.

- (excesses) outrageous or immoderate behaviour: the worst excesses of the French Revolution.

3 BRITISH a part of an insurance claim to be paid by the insured.

■ adj. [attr.] usually /εksεs/ 1 exceeding a prescribed or desirable amount: trim any excess fat off the meat.

2 BRITISH required as extra payment: the full excess fare had to be paid.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or to) excess exceeding the proper amount or degree: she insisted that he did not drink to excess.

□ in excess of more than: a top speed in excess of 20 knots.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin excessus, from excedere ‘go out, surpass’ (see EXCEED).

excess baggage n. [mass noun] luggage weighing more than the limit allowed on an aircraft and liable to an extra charge.

excessive adj. more than is necessary, normal, or desirable; immoderate: he was drinking excessive amounts of brandy.

<DERIVATIVES> excessiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French excessif, -ive, from medieval Latin excessivus, from Latin excedere ‘surpass’ (see EXCEED).

excessively adv. to a greater degree or in greater amounts than is necessary, normal, or desirable; inordinately: they don't drink excessively | [as submodifier] excessively high taxes.

exchange n. 1 an act of giving one thing and receiving another (especially of the same kind) in return: negotiations should lead to an exchange of land for peace | [mass noun] opportunities for the exchange of information.

- a visit or visits in which two people or groups from different countries stay with each other or do each other's jobs: [as modifier] an exchange visit to Germany.

2 [mass noun] the changing of money to its equivalent in the currency of another country.

- [count noun] a system or market in which commercial transactions involving currency, shares, etc. can be carried out within or between countries.

- [count noun] a building or institution used for the trading of a particular commodity or commodities: the old Corn Exchange.

3 a short conversation or an argument: there was a heated exchange.

4 short for TELEPHONE EXCHANGE.

5 [CHESS] a move or short sequence of moves in which both players capture material of comparable value, or particularly (the exchange) in which one captures a rook in return for a knight or bishop.

■ v. [with obj.] give something and receive something of the same kind in return: we exchanged addresses | he exchanged a concerned glance with Stephen.

- give or receive one thing in place of another: we regret that tickets cannot be exchanged | he exchanges his cigarette ends for food.

- [no obj.] exchange contracts.

<PHRASES>

□ exchange contracts BRITISH (of a buyer) sign a legal contract with the vendor of a property or piece of land, making the purchase legally binding and enforceable.

□ in exchange as a thing exchanged: he carried bags of groceries in exchange for a nickel.

<DERIVATIVES> exchangeability n. exchangeable adj. exchanger n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French eschange (noun), eschangier (verb), based on changer (see CHANGE). The spelling was influenced by Latin ex- ‘out, utterly’ (see ex-1).

exchange control n. a governmental restriction on the movement of currency between countries.

exchange rate (also rate of exchange) n. the value of one currency for the purpose of conversion to another.

Exchange Rate Mechanism (abbr.: ERM) an arrangement within the European Monetary System that allows the value of participating currencies to fluctuate to a defined degree in relation to each other so as to control exchange rates. Each currency is given a rate of exchange with the euro, from which it is allowed to fluctuate by no more than a specified amount; if it moves beyond this the government in question must alter its economic policies or reset the currency's rate with the euro.

exchange transfusion n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the simultaneous removal of a patient's blood and replacement by donated blood, used in treating serious conditions such as haemolytic disease of the newborn.

exchequer /kstεkə εks-/ n. a royal or national treasury.

- (Exchequer) BRITISH the account at the Bank of England in which is held the Consolidated Fund, into which tax receipts and other public monies are paid.

- (Exchequer) BRITISH HISTORICAL the former government office responsible for collecting revenue and making payments on behalf of the sovereign, auditing official accounts, and trying legal cases relating to revenue.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French eschequier, from medieval Latin scaccarium ‘chessboard’, from scaccus (see check^1). The original sense was ‘chessboard’. Current senses derive from the Norman department of state dealing with the royal revenues, named Exchequer from the chequered tablecloth on which accounts were kept by means of counters. The spelling was influenced by Latin ex- ‘out’ (see ex^1). Compare with CHEQUER.

excimer /εksmə/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an unstable excited molecule which is formed by the combination of two smaller molecules and rapidly dissociates with emission of radiation, utilized in some kinds of laser.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of EXCITED and DIMER.

excipient /εkspənt/ n. an inactive substance that serves as the vehicle or medium for a drug or other active substance.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘that takes exception’): from Latin excipient- ‘taking out’, from the verb excipere.

excise^1 /εksz/ n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] a tax levied on certain goods and commodities produced or sold within a country and on licences granted for certain activities: the rate of excise duty on spirits.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. excised) charge excise on (goods): excised goods.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the general sense ‘a tax or toll’): from Middle Dutch excijs, accijs, perhaps based on Latin accensare ‘to tax’, from ad- ‘to’ + census ‘tax’ (see CENSUS).

excise^2 /ksz εk-/ v. [with obj.] cut out surgically: the precision with which surgeons can excise brain tumours | (as adj. excised) excised tissue.

- remove (a section) from a text or piece of music: the clauses were excised from the treaty.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘notch or hollow out’): from Latin excis- ‘cut out’, from the verb excidere, from ex- ‘out of’ + caedere ‘to cut’.

exciseman n. (pl. excisemen) BRITISH HISTORICAL an official responsible for collecting excise duty and preventing infringement of the excise laws (especially by smuggling).

excision /ks(ə)n εk-/ n. [mass noun] the action of excising something: the excision of the carcinoma.

<DERIVATIVES> excisional adj.

excitable adj. 1 responding too readily to something new or stimulating; easily excited: a rather excitable young man.

2 (of tissue or a cell) responsive to stimulation.

<DERIVATIVES> excitability n. excitably adv.

excitant /εkst(ə)nt kst(ə)nt εk-/ n. [BIOLOGY] a substance which elicits an active physiological or behavioural response.

excitation /εkste(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 TECHNICAL the application of energy to something, in particular:

- [PHYSICS] the process in which an atom or other particle adopts a higher energy state when energy is supplied: thermal excitation.

- [PHYSIOLOGY] the state of enhanced activity of a cell, organism, or tissue which results from its stimulation.

- the application of current to the winding of an electromagnet to produce a magnetic field.

- the application of a signal voltage to the control electrode of an electron tube or the base of a transistor.

2 the action of exciting or the state of being excited; excitement: a state of sexual excitation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin excitatio(n-), from excitare ‘rouse, call forth’ (see EXCITE).

excitative /kstətv/ adj. RARE causing excitation.

excitatory /kstət(ə)ri εk-/ adj. chiefly [PHYSIOLOGY] characterized by, causing, or constituting excitation: the excitatory action of these impulses.

excite v. [with obj.] 1 cause (someone) to feel very enthusiastic and eager: flying still excites me | Gould was excited by these discoveries.

- arouse (someone) sexually: his Mediterranean vibrancy excited and stimulated her.

2 give rise to (a feeling or reaction): the ability to excite interest in others.

3 produce a state of increased energy or activity in (a physical or biological system): the energy of an electron is sufficient to excite the atom.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘incite someone to do something’): from Old French exciter or Latin excitare, frequentative of exciere ‘call out or forth’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 19th cent.

excited adj. 1 very enthusiastic and eager: they were excited about the prospect | the excited children.

- sexually aroused.

2 [PHYSICS] of or in an energy state higher than the normal or ground state.

<DERIVATIVES> excitedly adv.

excitement n. [mass noun] a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness: her cheeks were flushed with excitement.

- [count noun] something that arouses such a feeling: the excitements of the previous night.

- sexual arousal.

exciter n. a thing that produces excitation, in particular a device that provides a magnetizing current for the electromagnets in a motor or generator.

exciting adj. causing great enthusiasm and eagerness: one of the most exciting matches I've ever seen.

<DERIVATIVES> excitingly adv. excitingness n.

exciton /εkstn ks- εk-/ n. [PHYSICS] a mobile concentration of energy in a crystal formed by an excited electron and an associated hole.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from EXCITATION + -ON.

exclaim v. [no obj.] cry out suddenly in surprise, strong emotion, or pain: [with direct speech] ‘Well I never,’ she exclaimed | she looked in the mirror, exclaiming in dismay at her appearance.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French exclamer or Latin exclamare, from ex- ‘out’ + clamare ‘to shout’.

exclamation n. a sudden cry or remark expressing surprise, strong emotion, or pain: an exclamation of amazement.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin exclamatio(n-), from exclamare ‘shout out’ (see EXCLAIM).

exclamation mark (North American exclamation point) n. a punctuation mark (!) indicating an exclamation.

exclamatory /ksklamət(ə)ri εk-/ adj. (of a cry or remark) expressing surprise, strong emotion, or pain.

exclave /εksklev/ n. a portion of territory of one state completely surrounded by territory of another or others, as viewed by the home territory. Compare with ENCLAVE.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from EX-1 ‘out’ + a shortened form of ENCLAVE.

exclosure /kskləə εk-/ n. [FORESTRY] an area from which unwanted animals are excluded.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from EX-1 ‘out’ + CLOSURE, on the pattern of enclosure.

exclude v. [with obj.] 1 deny (someone) access to a place, group, or privilege: the public were excluded from the board meeting.

- keep (something) out of a place: apply flux to exclude oxygen.

- expel (a pupil) from school.

2 remove from consideration: one cannot exclude the possibility of a fall in house prices.

- prevent the occurrence of: clauses seeking to exclude liability for loss or damage.

<PHRASES>

□ law (or principle) of the excluded middle [LOGIC] the principle that one (and one only) of two contradictory propositions must be true.

<DERIVATIVES> excludable adj. excluder n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin excludere, from ex- ‘out’ + claudere ‘to shut’.

excluding prep. not taking someone or something into account; except: the holiday cost £180, excluding accommodation.

exclusion n. [mass noun] the process of excluding or the state of being excluded: he had a hand in my exclusion from the committee.

- [count noun] an item or eventuality specifically not covered by an insurance policy or other contract: exclusions can be added to your policy.

<PHRASES>

□ to the exclusion of so as to exclude something specified: don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.

<DERIVATIVES> exclusionary adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin exclusio(n-), from excludere ‘shut out’ (see EXCLUDE).

exclusionary rule n. US [LAW] a law that prohibits the use of illegally obtained evidence in a criminal trial.

exclusion clause n. a contractual provision disclaiming liability for a particular eventuality.

exclusionist adj. acting to bar someone or something from a place, group, or privilege: an exclusionist foreign policy.

■ n. a person favouring the exclusion of someone or something from a place, group, or privilege.

exclusion order n. BRITISH an official order excluding a person from a particular place, especially to prevent a crime being committed.

exclusion principle n. another term for PAULI EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE.

exclusion zone n. an area into which entry is forbidden, especially by ships or aircraft of particular nationalities.

exclusive adj. 1 excluding or not admitting other things: an exclusive focus on success and making money |the list is not exclusive.

- unable to exist or be true if something else exists or is true: mutually exclusive options.

- (of terms) excluding all but what is specified.

2 restricted to the person, group, or area concerned: the couple had exclusive possession of the flat | the problem isn't exclusive to Dublin.

- (of an item or story) not published or broadcast elsewhere: an exclusive interview.

3 catering for or available to only a few, select customers; high class and expensive: one of Britain's most exclusive clubs.

4 (exclusive of) not including: prices are exclusive of VAT.

■ n. an item or story published or broadcast by only one source.

<DERIVATIVES> exclusiveness n. exclusivity n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a noun denoting something that excludes): from medieval Latin exclusivus, from Latin excludere ‘shut out’ (see EXCLUDE).

Exclusive Brethren plural n. the more rigorous of two principal divisions of the Plymouth Brethren (the other is the Open Brethren). The Exclusive Brethren greatly restrict their contact with outsiders and modern technology.

exclusive economic zone n. an area of coastal water and seabed within a certain distance of a country's coastline, to which the country claims exclusive rights for fishing, drilling, and other economic activities.

exclusively adv. to the exclusion of others; only: paints produced exclusively for independent retailers | [as submodifier] exclusively female concerns.

- as the only source: I can exclusively reveal that Gail shares a birthday with Rod Stewart.

exclusive OR n. [ELECTRONICS] a Boolean operator working on two variables that has the value one if one but not both of the variables is one. Also called XOR.

- (also exclusive OR gate) a circuit which produces an output signal when a signal is received through one and only one of its two inputs.

exclusivism n. [mass noun] the action or policy of excluding a person or group from a place, group, or privilege.

<DERIVATIVES> exclusivist adj. & n.

excogitate /kskdtet εks-/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL think out, plan, or devise: all the rubrics, forms, and functions remained to be excogitated.

<DERIVATIVES> excogitation n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin excogitat- ‘found by process of thought’, from the verb excogitare, from ex- ‘out’ + cogitare ‘think’.

excommunicant /εkskəmjunk(ə)nt/ n. an excommunicated person.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: based on ecclesiastical Latin excommunicare (see EXCOMMUNICATE), with irregular use of the suffix -ANT.

excommunicate v. /εkskəmjunket/ [with obj.] officially exclude (someone) from participation in the sacraments and services of the Christian Church.

■ adj. /εkskəmjunkət/ excommunicated.

■ n. /εkskəmjunkət/ an excommunicated person.

<DERIVATIVES> excommunication n. excommunicative adj. excommunicator n. excommunicatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin excommunicat- ‘excluded from communication with the faithful’, from the verb excommunicare, from ex- ‘out’ + Latin communis ‘common to all’, on the pattern of Latin communicare (see COMMUNICATE).

ex-con n. INFORMAL an ex-convict.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

excoriate /kskret εks-/ v. [with obj.] 1 MEDICINE damage or remove part of the surface of (the skin).

2 FORMAL criticize (someone) severely: he excoriated the government for censorship.

<DERIVATIVES> excoriation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin excoriat- ‘skinned’, from the verb excoriare, from ex- ‘out, from’ + corium ‘skin, hide’.

excrement /εkskrm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] waste matter discharged from the bowels; faeces.

<DERIVATIVES> excremental /εkskrmεnt(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French excrément or Latin excrementum, from excernere ‘to sift out’ (see EXCRETE).

excrescence /kskrεs(ə)ns εks-/ n. a distinct outgrowth on a body or plant, resulting from disease or abnormality.

- an unattractive or superfluous object or feature: the building is a sixties excrescence foisted on an otherwise flawless street.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin excrescentia, from excrescere ‘grow out’, from ex- ‘out’ + crescere ‘grow’.

excrescent /kskrεs(ə)nt εks-/ adj. 1 forming or constituting an excrescence.

2 (of a speech sound) added without etymological justification (e.g. the -t at the end of the surname Bryant).

excreta /kskritə εk-/ n. [treated as sing. or plural] waste matter discharged from the body, especially faeces and urine.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, ‘things sifted out’, neuter plural of excretus, past participle of excernere (see EXCRETE).

excrete /kskrit εk-/ v. [with obj.] (of a living organism or cell) separate and expel as waste (a substance, especially a product of metabolism): excess bicarbonate is excreted by the kidney.

<DERIVATIVES> excreter n. excretive adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin excret- ‘sifted out’, from the verb excernere, from ex- ‘out’ + cernere ‘sift’.

excretion n. [mass noun] (in living organisms and cells) the process of eliminating or expelling waste matter.

- [count noun] a product of this process: bodily excretions.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French excrétion or Latin excretio(n-), from excernere ‘sift out’ (see EXCRETE).

excretory adj. relating to or concerned with excretion: the excretory organs.

excruciate /kskruet εk-/ v. [with obj.] RARE torment (someone) physically or mentally: I stand back, excruciated by the possibility.

<DERIVATIVES> excruciation n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin excruciat- ‘tormented’, from the verb excruciare (based on crux, cruc- ‘a cross’).

excruciating adj. intensely painful: excruciating back pain.

- very embarrassing, awkward, or tedious: he explained the procedure in excruciating detail.

<DERIVATIVES> excruciatingly adv. [as submodifier] the sting was excruciatingly painful

exculpate /εksklpet/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL show or declare that (someone) is not guilty of wrongdoing: the article exculpated the mayor.

<DERIVATIVES> exculpation n. exculpatory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin exculpat- ‘freed from blame’, from the verb exculpare, from ex- ‘out, from’ + Latin culpa ‘blame’.

excurrent adj. chiefly [ZOOLOGY] (of a vessel or opening) conveying fluid outwards. The opposite of INCURRENT.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin excurrent- ‘running out’, from the verb excurrere.

excursion n. 1 a short journey or trip, especially one taken as a leisure activity: an excursion to London Zoo.

2 TECHNICAL a movement of something along a path or through an angle.

3 a deviation from a regular activity or course: the firm's disastrous excursion into the US electrical market.

<DERIVATIVES> excursionist n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘act of running out’, also ‘sortie’ in the phrase alarums and excursions (see ALARUM): from Latin excursio(n-), from the verb excurrere ‘run out’, from ex- ‘out’ + currere ‘to run’.

excursive adj. FORMAL tending to deviate from a course or activity; digressive.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin excurs- ‘digressed, run out’ (from the verb excurrere) + -IVE, perhaps influenced by discursive.

excursus /kskəsəs εk-/ n. (pl. same or excursuses) a detailed discussion of a particular point in a book, usually in an appendix.

- a digression in a written text.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, ‘excursion’, from excurrere ‘run out’.

excusable /ksjuzəb(ə)l εk-/ adj. able to be justified or forgiven; forgivable: the error is excusable.

<DERIVATIVES> excusably adv.

excusal n. [mass noun] the action or fact of excusing or being excused, typically from an official duty or requirement: if any members of the jury felt unable to serve that long, they would be considered for excusal.

excuse v. /kskjuz εk-/ [with obj.] 1 seek to lessen the blame attaching to (a fault or offence); try to justify: he did nothing to hide or excuse Jacob's cruelty.

- forgive (someone) for a fault or offence: you must excuse my brother | he could be excused for feeling that he was born at the wrong time.

- overlook or make allowances for: sit down—excuse the mess.

- (of a fact) serve to mitigate (a person or act): his ability excuses most of his faults.

2 release (someone) from a duty or requirement: it will not be possible to excuse you from attendance | [with two objs] may I be excused hockey?

- (used in polite formulas) allow (someone) to leave a room or gathering: and now, if you'll excuse us, duty calls.

- (excuse oneself) say politely that one is leaving.

- (be excused) (used by school pupils) be allowed to leave the room, especially to go to the toilet.

■ n. /kskjus εk-/ 1 a reason or explanation given to justify a fault or offence: there can be no excuse for any further delay | the excuse that half the team failed to turn up.

- a reason put forward to conceal the real reason for an action; a pretext: as an excuse to get out of the house she went to post a letter.

- US a note written by a doctor or parent excusing a pupil from school.

2 (an excuse for) INFORMAL a poor or inadequate example of: that pathetic excuse for a man!

<PHRASES>

□ excuse me used as a polite apology in various contexts, such as when attempting to get someone's attention, asking someone to move so that one may pass, or interrupting a speaker.

- NORTH AMERICAN used to ask someone to repeat what they have just said.

□ make one's excuses say politely that one is leaving or cannot be present.

<DERIVATIVES> excusatory adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French escuser (verb), from Latin excusare ‘to free from blame’, from ex- ‘out’ + causa ‘accusation, cause’.

excuse-me n. INFORMAL a social dance in which participants may interrupt other pairs in order to change partners.

ex-directory adj. BRITISH (of a person or telephone number) not listed in a telephone directory or available through directory enquiries, at the wish of the subscriber.

ex div. abbr. ex dividend.

ex dividend adj. & adv. (of stocks or shares) not including the next dividend.

exeat /εksat/ n. BRITISH a permission from a college, boarding school, or other institution for temporary absence.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, ‘let him or her go out’, third person singular present subjunctive of exire (see EXIT).

exec /zεk ε-/ n. INFORMAL an executive: top Hollywood execs.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

execrable /εkskrəb(ə)l/ adj. extremely bad or unpleasant: execrable cheap wine.

<DERIVATIVES> execrably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘expressing or involving a curse’): via Old French from Latin execrabilis, from exsecrari ‘to curse’ (see EXECRATE).

execrate /εkskret/ v. 1 [with obj.] feel or express great loathing for: they were execrated as dangerous and corrupt.

2 [no obj.] ARCHAIC curse; swear.

<DERIVATIVES> execration n. execrative adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin exsecrat- ‘cursed’, from the verb exsecrari, based on sacrare ‘dedicate’ (from sacer ‘sacred’).

executable /zεkjtəb(ə)l -/ [COMPUTING] adj. (of a file or program) able to be run by a computer.

■ n. an executable file or program.

executant /zεkjt(ə)nt ε-/ FORMAL n. a person who puts something into effect: executants of the royal will.

- an artist or musician.

■ adj. relating to artistic creation or the performance of music: music is both an art and an executant skill.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French exécutant ‘carrying out’, present participle of exécuter (see EXECUTE).

execute /εkskjut/ v. [with obj.] 1 put (a plan, order, or course of action) into effect: the corporation executed a series of financial deals.

- produce (a work of art).

- perform (a skilful action or manoeuvre): they had to execute their dance steps with the greatest precision.

- [LAW] make (a legal instrument) valid by signing or sealing it.

- [LAW] carry out (a judicial sentence, the terms of a will, or other order): police executed a search warrant.

2 carry out a sentence of death on (a legally condemned person): he was convicted of treason and executed.

- kill (someone) as a political act.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French executer, from medieval Latin executare, from Latin exsequi ‘follow up, punish’, from ex- ‘out’ + sequi ‘follow’.

execution n. [mass noun] 1 the carrying out of a plan, order, or course of action: he was fascinated by the entire operation and its execution.

- the technique or style with which an artistic work is produced or carried out: the film is entirely professional in its execution.

- [LAW] the putting into effect of a legal instrument or order.

- [LAW] seizure of the property or person of a debtor in default of payment.

2 the carrying out of a sentence of death on a condemned person: the execution of juveniles is prohibited by international law | [count noun] there were mass arrests and executions.

- the killing of someone as a political act.

executioner n. an official who carries out a sentence of death on a condemned person.

executive /zεkjtv ε-/ adj. [attr.] relating to or having the power to put plans or actions into effect: an executive chairman | executive authority.

- denoting or relating to the part of a political administration with responsibility for putting into effect laws drawn up by the legislature: the executive branch of government. Often contrasted with LEGISLATIVE.

■ n. 1 a person with senior managerial responsibility in a business.

- [as modifier] suitable for a senior business executive: an executive house.

- an executive committee or other body within an organization: the union executive.

2 (the executive) the branch of a government responsible for putting decisions or laws into effect.

<DERIVATIVES> executively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin executivus, from exsequi (see EXECUTE).

executive council n. a council with executive power.

- (Executive Council) (in Australia) a body presided over by the Governor General or Governor and consisting of ministers of the Crown, which gives legal form to cabinet decisions.

executive officer n. an officer with executive power.

- (in naval vessels and some other military contexts) the officer who is second in command to the captain or commanding officer.

executive order n. US [LAW] a rule or order issued by the President to an executive branch of the government and having the force of law.

executive privilege n. [mass noun] the privilege, claimed by the President for the executive branch of the US government, of withholding information in the public interest.

executive session n. US a closed meeting of a governing body.

executor /zεkjtə ε-/ n. 1 [LAW] a person or institution appointed by a testator to carry out the terms of their will.

2 a person who produces something or puts something into effect: the makers and executors of policy.

<DERIVATIVES> executorial /-trəl/ adj. (RARE) executorship n. executory adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Anglo-Norman French from Latin execut- ‘carried out’, from exsequi (see EXECUTE).

executrix /zεkjutrks ε-/ n. (pl. executrices /-trsiz/ or executrixes) [LAW] a female executor of a will.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin, from Latin executor (see EXECUTOR).

exedra /εksdrə ksidrə εk-/ n. (pl. exedrae /-dri/) [ARCHITECTURE] a room, portico, or arcade with a bench or seats where people may converse, especially in ancient Roman and Greek buildings.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek ex- ‘out of’ + hedra ‘seat’.

exegesis /εksdiss/ n. (pl. exegeses /-siz/) [mass noun] critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture: the task of biblical exegesis.

<DERIVATIVES> exegetic /-dεtk/ adj. exegetical adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek exēgēsis, from exēgeisthai ‘interpret’, from ex- ‘out of’ + hēgeisthai ‘to guide, lead’.

exegete /εksdit/ n. a person who interprets text, especially scripture.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Greek exēgētēs, from exēgeisthai ‘interpret’.

exemplar /zεmplə ε-/ n. a person or thing serving as a typical example or appropriate model: the place is an exemplar of multicultural Britain.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French exemplaire, from late Latin exemplarium, from Latin exemplum ‘sample, imitation’ (see EXAMPLE).

exemplary adj. 1 serving as a desirable model; very good: exemplary behaviour.

2 (of a punishment) serving as a warning or deterrent: exemplary sentencing may discourage the violent minority.

- [LAW] (of damages) exceeding the amount needed for simple compensation.

<DERIVATIVES> exemplarily adv. exemplariness n. exemplarity n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin exemplaris, from Latin exemplum ‘sample, imitation’ (see EXAMPLE).

exemplify /zεmplf ε-/ v. (exemplifies, exemplifying, exemplified) [with obj.] 1 be a typical example of: the best dry sherry is exemplified by the fino of Jerez.

2 illustrate or clarify by giving an example.

<DERIVATIVES> exemplification /-fke(ə)n/ n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin exemplificare, from Latin exemplum ‘sample’ (see EXAMPLE).

exemplum /zεmpləm ε-/ n. (pl. exempla) an example or model, especially a story told to illustrate a moral point.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

exempt /zεm(p)t ε-/ adj. free from an obligation or liability imposed on others: these patients are exempt from all charges | [in combination] a tax-exempt savings plan.

■ v. [with obj.] free (a person or organization) from an obligation or liability imposed on others: they were exempted from paying the tax.

■ n. a person who is exempt from something, especially the payment of tax.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin exemptus ‘taken out, freed’, past participle of eximere.

exemption n. [mass noun] the action of freeing or state of being free from an obligation or liability imposed on others: vehicles that may qualify for exemption from tax.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin exemptio(n-), from eximere ‘take out, free’.

exenteration /ksεntəre(ə)n εk-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE complete surgical removal of the eyeball and other contents of the eye socket, usually in cases of malignant cancer.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally in the sense ‘disembowelment’): from Latin exenterat- ‘removed’, from the verb exenterare, (suggested by Greek exenterizein), from ex- ‘out of’ + enteron ‘intestine’.

exequatur /εkskwetə/ n. an official recognition by a government of a consul or other representative of a foreign state, authorizing them to exercise office.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘let him or her perform’.

exequy /εkskwi/ n. (exequies) FORMAL funeral rites: he attended the exequies for the dead pope.

- (exequy) LITERARY a funeral ode.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin exsequias, accusative of exsequiae ‘funeral ceremonies’, from exsequi ‘follow after’.

exercise n. 1 [mass noun] activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness: exercise improves your heart and lung power | [count noun] loosening-up exercises.

2 an activity carried out for a specific purpose: an exercise in public relations.

- [count noun] a task set to practise or test a skill: there are exercises at the end of each book to check comprehension.

- (often exercises) a military drill or training manoeuvre.

- (exercises) NORTH AMERICAN ceremonies: Bar Mitzvah exercises.

3 [mass noun] the use or application of a faculty, right, or process: the exercise of authority.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 use or apply (a faculty, right, or process): control is exercised by the Board | anyone receiving a suspect package should exercise extreme caution.

2 [no obj.] engage in physical activity to sustain or improve health and fitness: she still exercised every day.

- [with obj.] exert (part of the body) to promote or improve muscular strength: raise your knee to exercise the upper leg muscles.

- [with obj.] cause (an animal) to take exercise: she exercised her dogs before breakfast.

3 occupy the thoughts of; worry or perplex: Macdougall was greatly exercised about the exchange rate.

<DERIVATIVES> exercisable adj. exerciser n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘application of a right’): via Old French from Latin exercitium, from exercere ‘keep busy, practise’, from ex- ‘thoroughly’ + arcere ‘keep in or away’.

exercise bike n. a stationary piece of exercise equipment resembling an ordinary bicycle.

exercise book n. 1 BRITISH a booklet with blank pages for students to write schoolwork in.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a book containing printed exercises for the use of students.

exercise price n. [STOCK EXCHANGE] the price per share at which the owner of a traded option is entitled to buy or sell the underlying security.

exercise yard n. an enclosed area used for physical exercise in a prison.

exercycle n. TRADEMARK an exercise bike.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of EXERCISE and BICYCLE.

exergonic /εksənk/ adj. [BIOCHEMISTRY] (of a metabolic or chemical process) accompanied by the release of energy. The opposite of ENDERGONIC.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from EX-2 ‘out of’ + Greek ergon ‘work’ + -IC.

exergue /ksə εksə εksə/ n. a small space or inscription below the principal emblem on a coin or medal, usually on the reverse side.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from medieval Latin exergum, from ex- ‘out’ + Greek ergon ‘work’ (probably as a rendering of French hors d'oeuvre ‘something lying outside the work’).

exert /zət ε-/ v. 1 [with obj.] apply or bring to bear (a force, influence, or quality): the moon exerts a force on the Earth | how much control can he exert over his own life?

2 (exert oneself) make a physical or mental effort: he needs to exert himself to try to find an answer.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘perform, practise’): from Latin exserere ‘put forth’, from ex- ‘out’ + serere ‘bind’.

exertion n. [mass noun] 1 physical or mental effort: she was panting with the exertion | [count noun] a well-earned rest after their exertions.

2 the application of a force, influence, or quality: the exertion of authority.

Exeter /εkstə/ the county town of Devon, on the River Exe; pop. 111,078 (2001). Exeter was founded by the Romans, who called it Isca.

exeunt /εksnt/ v. used as a stage direction in a play to indicate that a group of actors leave the stage: exeunt Hamlet and Polonius.

<PHRASES>

□ exeunt omnes used to indicate that all the actors leave the stage.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: Latin, literally ‘they go out’, third person plural present tense of exire.

exfiltrate v. [with obj.] withdraw (troops or spies) surreptitiously, especially from a dangerous situation.

<DERIVATIVES> exfiltration n.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century (earlier (late 19th century) as exfiltration): perhaps suggested by infiltration, infiltrate.

exfoliant n. a cosmetic product designed to remove dead cells from the surface of the skin.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from EXFOLIATE + -ANT.

exfoliate /ksfəlet εks-/ v. [no obj.] (of a material) be shed from a surface in scales or layers: the bark exfoliates in papery flakes.

- [with obj.] cause to do this: salt solutions exfoliate rocks on evaporating.

- [with obj.] wash or rub (a part of the body) with a granular substance to remove dead skin cells: exfoliate your legs to get rid of dead skin.

- [with obj.] shed (material) in scales or layers: diagnosing cancer from cells exfoliated into the intestine.

<DERIVATIVES> exfoliation n. exfoliative adj. exfoliator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin exfoliat- ‘stripped of leaves’, from the verb exfoliare, from ex- ‘out, from’ + folium ‘leaf’.

ex gratia /εks reə/ adv. & adj. (with reference to payment) done from a sense of moral obligation rather than because of any legal requirement: [as adj.] an ex gratia payment.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘from favour’, from ex ‘from’ and gratia (see GRACE).

exhalation n. [mass noun] the process or action of exhaling.

- [count noun] an expiration of air from the lungs: he let his breath out in a long exhalation of relief.

- [count noun] an amount of vapour or fumes given off by something.

exhale /kshel εks-/ v. breathe out: [no obj.] she sat back and exhaled deeply | [with obj.] he exhaled the smoke towards the ceiling.

- [with obj.] give off (vapour or fumes): the jungle exhaled mists of early morning.

<DERIVATIVES> exhalable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘be given off as vapour’): from Old French exhaler, from Latin exhalare, from ex- ‘out’ + halare ‘breathe’.

exhaust /zst ε-/ v. [with obj.] 1 make (someone) feel very tired: her day out had exhausted her.

2 use up (resources or reserves) completely: the country has exhausted its treasury reserves.

- expound on or explore (a subject or options) so fully that there is nothing further to be said or discovered: she seemed to have exhausted all permissible topics of conversation.

3 expel (gas or steam) from or into a particular place.

■ n. [mass noun] waste gases or air expelled from an engine, turbine, or other machine in the course of its operation: buses spewing out black clouds of exhaust | [as modifier] exhaust fumes.

- [count noun] the system through which such gases are expelled: [as modifier] an exhaust pipe.

<DERIVATIVES> exhauster n. exhaustibility /-blti/ n. exhaustible adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘draw off or out’): from Latin exhaust- ‘drained out’, from the verb exhaurire, from ex- ‘out’ + haurire ‘draw (water), drain’.

exhausted adj. 1 very tired: she returned home, exhausted from work.

2 (of resources or reserves) completely used up: Kirov spat, his patience suddenly exhausted.

- (of a place) no longer productive as a result of being drained of resources: exhausted peat workings.

<DERIVATIVES> exhaustedly adv.

exhausting /zst ε-/ adj. making one feel very tired; very tiring: a long and exhausting journey.

<DERIVATIVES> exhaustingly adv.

exhaustion n. [mass noun] 1 a state of extreme physical or mental tiredness: he was pale with exhaustion.

2 the action of using something up or the state of being used up: the rapid exhaustion of fossil fuel reserves.

3 [LOGIC] the process of establishing a conclusion by eliminating all the alternatives.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin exhaustio(n-), from Latin exhaurire ‘drain out’ (see EXHAUST).

exhaustive adj. including or considering all elements or aspects; fully comprehensive: the guide outlines every bus route in exhaustive detail.

<DERIVATIVES> exhaustively adv. exhaustiveness n.

exhibit /zbt ε-/ v. [with obj.] 1 publicly display (a work of art or item of interest) in an art gallery or museum or at a trade fair: only one sculpture was exhibited in the artist's lifetime.

- [no obj.] (of an artist) display one's work to the public in an art gallery or museum: she was invited to exhibit at several French museums.

- publicly display the work of (an artist) in an art gallery or museum: no foreign painters were exhibited.

2 manifest clearly (a quality or a type of behaviour): he could exhibit a saintlike submissiveness.

- show as a sign or symptom: patients with alcoholic liver disease exhibit many biochemical abnormalities.

■ n. an object or collection of objects on public display in an art gallery or museum or at a trade fair: the museum is rich in exhibits.

- NORTH AMERICAN an exhibition.

- [LAW] a document or other object produced in a court as evidence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘submit for consideration’, also ‘present a document as evidence in court’): from Latin exhibit- ‘held out’, from the verb exhibere, from ex- ‘out’ + habere ‘hold’.

exhibition n. 1 a public display of works of art or items of interest, held in an art gallery or museum or at a trade fair: an exhibition of French sculpture | [mass noun] he never lent his treasures out for exhibition.

2 a display or demonstration of a skill: fields which have been ploughed with a supreme exhibition of the farm worker's skills.

- a display of a quality or emotion: a false exhibition of concern for smaller nations.

3 BRITISH a scholarship awarded to a student at a school or university, usually after a competitive examination.

<PHRASES>

□ make an exhibition of oneself behave in a very foolish or ill-judged way in public.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘maintenance, support’; hence sense 3, mid 17th century): via Old French from late Latin exhibitio(n-), from Latin exhibere ‘hold out’ (see EXHIBIT).

exhibitioner n. BRITISH a student who has been awarded an exhibition (scholarship).

exhibitionism n. [mass noun] extravagant behaviour that is intended to attract attention to oneself.

- [PSYCHIATRY] a mental condition characterized by the compulsion to display one's genitals in public.

exhibitionist n. a person who behaves in an extravagant way in order to attract attention: I am something of an exhibitionist.

■ adj. behaving extravagantly in order to attract attention.

<DERIVATIVES> exhibitionistic adj. exhibitionistically adv.

exhibitor n. a person who displays works of art or other items of interest at an exhibition.

exhilarate /zləret ε-/ v. [with obj.] make (someone) feel very happy, animated, or elated: she was exhilarated by the day's events | (as adj. exhilarated) all this hustle and bustle makes me feel exhilarated.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin exhilarat- ‘made cheerful’, from the verb exhilarare, from ex- (expressing inducement of a state) + hilaris ‘cheerful’.

exhilarating /zləret ε-/ adj. making one feel very happy, animated, or elated; thrilling: an exhilarating two-hour rafting experience.

<DERIVATIVES> exhilaratingly adv.

exhilaration /zləre(ə)n ε-/ n. [mass noun] a feeling of excitement, happiness, or elation: they felt the exhilaration of victory.

exhort /zt ε-/ v. [with obj. and infinitive] strongly encourage or urge (someone) to do something: I exhorted her to be a good child | [with direct speech] ‘Come on, you guys,’ exhorted Linda.

<DERIVATIVES> exhortative adj. exhortatory /-tət(ə)ri/ adj. exhorter n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French exhorter or Latin exhortari, from ex- ‘thoroughly’ + hortari ‘encourage’.

exhortation n. an address or communication emphatically urging someone to do something: exhortations to consumers to switch off electrical appliances | [mass noun] no amount of exhortation had any effect.

exhume /εks(h)jum zjum/ v. [with obj.] dig out (something buried, especially a corpse) from the ground: the bodies were exhumed on the orders of a judge.

- [GEOLOGY] expose (a land surface) that was formerly buried: various landforms have been exhumed from beneath a covering of Triassic sediments.

<DERIVATIVES> exhumation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin exhumare, from ex- ‘out of’ + humus ‘ground’.

ex hypothesi /εks hpθəs/ adv. according to the hypothesis proposed.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from ex ‘from’ and hypothesi, ablative of late Latin hypothesis (see HYPOTHESIS).

exigence /εksd(ə)ns εz-/ n. another term for EXIGENCY.

exigency /εksd(ə)nsi εz- z- εz-/ n. (pl. exigencies) an urgent need or demand: women worked long hours when the exigencies of the family economy demanded it | [mass noun] he put financial exigency before personal sentiment.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin exigentia, from Latin exigere ‘enforce’ (see EXACT).

exigent /εksd(ə)nt εz-/ adj. FORMAL pressing; demanding.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin exigent- ‘completing, ascertaining’, from the verb exigere (see EXACT).

exigible /εksdb(ə)l εz-/ adj. (of a tax, duty, or other payment) able to be charged or levied.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, from exiger ‘demand, exact’, from Latin exigere (see EXACT).

exiguous /zjəs ε-/ adj. FORMAL very small in size or amount: my exiguous musical resources.

<DERIVATIVES> exiguity /-juti/ n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin exiguus ‘scanty’ (from exigere ‘weigh exactly’) + -OUS.

exile n. [mass noun] the state of being barred from one's native country, typically for political or punitive reasons: he knew now that he would die in exile.

- [count noun] a person who lives away from their native country, either from choice or compulsion: the return of political exiles.

■ v. [with obj.] expel and bar (someone) from their native country, typically for political or punitive reasons: a corrupt dictator who had been exiled from his country | (as adj. exiled) supporters of the exiled King.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: the noun partly from Old French exil ‘banishment’ and partly from Old French exile ‘banished person’; the verb from Old French exiler; all based on Latin exilium ‘banishment’, from exul ‘banished person’.

exilic /zlk k- ε- εk-/ adj. relating to a period of exile, especially that of the Jews in Babylon in the 6th century BC.

exine /εksn -n/ n. [BOTANY] the decay-resistant outer coating of a pollen grain or spore.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from EX-2 ‘out’ + Greek is, in- ‘fibre’.

exist v. [no obj.] 1 have objective reality or being: dossiers existed on almost everyone of prominence | there existed no organization to cope with espionage.

- occur or be found, especially in a particular place or situation: two conflicting stereotypes of housework exist in popular thinking.

2 live, especially under adverse conditions: a minority of people exist on unemployment benefit alone | how am I going to exist without you?

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: probably a back-formation from EXISTENCE.

existence n. [mass noun] the fact or state of living or having objective reality: the organization has been in existence for fifteen years.

- continued survival: she kept the company alive when its very existence was threatened.

- [count noun] a way of living: our stressed-out urban existence.

- [count noun] (in certain beliefs) any of a person's successive earthly lives.

- all that exists: he believed in the essential unity of all existence.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC something that exists; a being.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin existentia, from Latin exsistere ‘come into being’, from ex- ‘out’ + sistere ‘take a stand’.

existent adj. FORMAL having reality or existence: the technique has been existent for some years.

existential /εzstεn(ə)l/ adj. relating to existence.

- [PHILOSOPHY] concerned with existentialism.

- [LOGIC] (of a proposition) affirming or implying the existence of a thing.

<DERIVATIVES> existentially adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from late Latin existentialis, from existentia (see EXISTENCE).

existentialism n. [mass noun] a philosophical theory or approach which emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.

<DERIVATIVES> existentialist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> translating Danish existents-forhold ‘condition of existence’ (frequently used by Kierkegaard), from EXISTENTIAL.

existential quantifier n. [LOGIC] a formal expression used in asserting that something exists of which a stated general proposition can be said to be true.

existing adj. [attr.] in existence or operation at the current time: opponents of the existing political system.

exit n. 1 a way out of a building, room, or passenger vehicle: she slipped out by the rear exit | a fire exit.

- a place for traffic to leave a major road or roundabout.

2 an act of leaving a place: he made a hasty exit from the room.

- a departure from a particular situation: Australia's early exit from the World Cup.

- LITERARY a person's death.

■ v. (exits, exiting, exited) [no obj.] go out of or leave a place: he exited from the changing rooms | the bullet entered her back and exited through her chest | [with obj.] queues of vehicles tried to exit the airfield.

- (exit) used as a stage direction in a play to indicate that an actor leaves the stage: exit Pamela.

- leave a particular situation: organizations which do not have freedom to exit from unprofitable markets.

- LITERARY die.

- [COMPUTING] terminate a process or program: this key enables you to temporarily exit from a LIFESPAN option.

- [BRIDGE] relinquish the lead.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a stage direction): from Latin exit ‘he or she goes out’, third person singular present tense of exire, from ex- ‘out’ + ire ‘go’. The noun (late 16th century) is from Latin exitus ‘going out’, from the verb exire, and the other verb uses (early 17th century) derive from it.

exit line n. a line spoken by an actor immediately before leaving the stage.

- a parting remark.

exit poll n. an opinion poll of people leaving a polling station, asking how they voted.

exit visa (also exit permit) n. a document giving authorization to leave a particular country.

exit wound n. a wound made by a bullet or other missile passing out of the body.

ex libris /εks lbrs lib- lb- libris/ adv. used as an inscription on a bookplate to show the name of the book's owner: ex libris Edith Wharton.

■ n. (pl. same) a bookplate inscribed in such a way.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘out of the books or library (of someone)’.

Exmoor /εksm -mə/ an area of moorland in north Devon and west Somerset, SW England, rising to 520 m (1,706 ft) at Dunkery Beacon. The area is designated a national park.

Exmoor pony n. a pony of a small hardy breed, typically bay, brown, or dun in colour with a light muzzle.

ex nihilo /εks nhlə/ adv. FORMAL out of nothing: he went on to create a paradise ex nihilo.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

exo- prefix external; from outside: exodermis.

<ORIGIN> from Greek exō ‘outside’.

exoatmospheric adj. operating or taking place outside the atmosphere.

exobiology n. [mass noun] the branch of science that deals with the possibility and likely nature of life on other planets or in space.

<DERIVATIVES> exobiological adj. exobiologist n.

exocarp /εksəkαp/ n. [BOTANY] the outer layer of the pericarp of a fruit.

exocentric /εksəsεntrk/ adj. [LINGUISTICS] denoting or being a construction which has no explicit head, for example John slept. Contrasted with ENDOCENTRIC.

Exocet /εksə()sεt/ n. TRADEMARK a French-made guided anti-ship missile.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from French, literally ‘flying fish’, via Latin from Greek ekōkoitos ‘fish that comes up on the beach’ (literally ‘out of bed’).

exocrine /εksə()krn -krn/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to or denoting glands which secrete their products through ducts opening on to an epithelium rather than directly into the blood.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EXO- ‘outside’ + Greek krinein ‘sift’.

exocytosis /εksəstəss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] a process by which the contents of a cell vacuole are released to the exterior through fusion of the vacuole membrane with the cell membrane.

<DERIVATIVES> exocytotic adj.

Exod. abbr. Exodus (in biblical references).

exodermis /εksə()dəms/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] a specialized layer in a root beneath the epidermis or velamen.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from EXO- ‘outside’, on the pattern of endodermis, epidermis.

Exodus /εksədəs/ (abbr.: Exod.) the second book of the Bible, which recounts the departure of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, their journey across the Red Sea and through the wilderness led by Moses, and the giving of the Ten Commandments. The events have been variously dated by scholars between about 1580 and 1200 BC.

<ORIGIN> Old English, via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek exodos, from ex- ‘out of’ + hodos ‘way’.

exodus /εksədəs/ n. a mass departure of people: the annual exodus of sun-seeking Canadians to Florida.

- (the Exodus) the departure of the Israelites from Egypt.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek (see EXODUS).

exoenzyme n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which acts outside the cell that produces it.

ex officio /εks əfə/ adv. & adj. by virtue of one's position or status: [as adj.] an ex officio member of the committee.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from ex ‘out of, from’ + officium ‘duty’.

exogamy /ksəmi εk-/ n. [mass noun] 1 [ANTHROPOLOGY] the custom of marrying outside a community, clan, or tribe. Compare with ENDOGAMY.

2 [BIOLOGY] the fusion of reproductive cells from distantly related or unrelated individuals; cross-pollination.

<DERIVATIVES> exogamous adj.

exogenic /εksə()dεnk/ adj. [GEOLOGY] formed or occurring on the surface of the earth. Often contrasted with ENDOGENIC.

exogenous /ksdnəs εk-/ adj. having an external cause or origin. Often contrasted with ENDOGENOUS.

- [BIOLOGY] growing or originating from outside an organism: an exogenous hormone.

- chiefly [PSYCHIATRY] (of a disease or symptom) attributable to an agent or organism outside the body: exogenous depression.

- relating to an external group or society: exogenous marriage.

<DERIVATIVES> exogenously adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin exogena (denoting an exogenous plant, suggested by classical Latin indigena ‘native’) + -OUS.

exon^1 /εksən/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a segment of a DNA or RNA molecule containing information coding for a protein or peptide sequence. Compare with INTRON.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from expressed (see express^1) + -ON.

exon^2 /εksn/ n. BRITISH each of the four officers acting as commanders of the Yeomen of the Guard.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: representing the pronunciation of French exempt ‘free from’, from Latin exempt- ‘taken out’, from the verb eximere, so named because these officers were exempt from normal duties.

exonerate /znəret ε-/ v. [with obj.] 1 (of an official body) absolve (someone) from blame for a fault or wrongdoing: an inquiry exonerated those involved | they should exonerate these men from this crime.

2 (exonerate someone from) release someone from (a duty or obligation).

<DERIVATIVES> exonerative adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin exonerat- ‘freed from a burden’, from the verb exonerare, from ex- ‘from’ + onus, oner- ‘a burden’.

exoneration /znəre(ə)n ε-/ n. [mass noun] 1 the action of officially absolving someone from blame; vindication: the defendants' eventual exoneration.

2 the release of someone from a duty or obligation.

exonuclease /εksənjuklez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which removes successive nucleotides from the end of a polynucleotide molecule.

exopeptidase /εksəpεptdez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which breaks the terminal peptide bond in a peptide chain.

exophora /ksf(ə)rə/ n. [mass noun] [LINGUISTICS] reference in a text to something external to it, which is only fully intelligible in terms of information about the extralinguistic situation. Compare with ENDOPHORA.

<DERIVATIVES> exophoric /εksə()frk/ adj.

exophthalmic /εksfθalmk/ adj. MEDICINE having or characterized by protruding eyes.

exophthalmic goitre n. another term for GRAVES' DISEASE.

exophthalmos /εksfθalms/ (also exophthalmus or exophthalmia /-mə/) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal protrusion of the eyeball or eyeballs.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from modern Latin exophthalmus, from Greek exophthalmos ‘having prominent eyes’, from ex- ‘out’ + ophthalmos ‘eye’.

exoplanet /εksəplant/ n. a planet which orbits a star outside the solar system.

exopodite /εkspədt/ (also exopod /εksə()pd/) n. [ZOOLOGY] the outer branch of the biramous limb or appendage of a crustacean. Compare with ENDOPODITE, PROTOPODITE.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from EXO- ‘outside’ + Greek pous, pod- ‘foot’ + -ITE^1.

exor abbr. an executor (of a will).

exorbitant /zbt(ə)nt/ adj. (of a price or amount charged) unreasonably high: some hotels charge exorbitant rates for phone calls.

<DERIVATIVES> exorbitance n. exorbitantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally describing a legal case that is outside the scope of a law): from late Latin exorbitant- ‘going off the track’, from exorbitare, from ex- ‘out from’ + orbita ‘course, track’.

exorcism n. [mass noun] the expulsion or attempted expulsion of a supposed evil spirit from a person or place.

<DERIVATIVES> exorcist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek exorkismos, from exorkizein ‘exorcize’.

exorcize /εkssz/ (also exorcise) v. [with obj.] drive out or attempt to drive out (a supposed evil spirit) from a person or place: an attempt to exorcize an unquiet spirit.

- rid (a person or place) of a supposed evil spirit: infants were exorcized prior to baptism.

- completely remove (something unpleasant) from one's mind or memory: she wanted to exorcize some of the pain.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French exorciser or ecclesiastical Latin exorcizare, from Greek exorkizein, from ex- ‘out’ + horkos ‘oath’. The word originally meant ‘conjure up an evil spirit’; the current sense dates from the mid 16th century.

exordium /zdəm ε-/ n. (pl. exordiums or exordia) FORMAL the beginning or introductory part, especially of a discourse or treatise.

<DERIVATIVES> exordial adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin, from exordiri ‘begin’, from ex- ‘out, from’ + ordiri ‘begin’.

exoskeleton n. [ZOOLOGY] a rigid external covering for the body in some invertebrate animals, especially arthropods. Compare with ENDOSKELETON.

<DERIVATIVES> exoskeletal adj.

exosphere /εksə()sfə/ n. [ASTRONOMY] the outermost region of a planet's atmosphere.

<DERIVATIVES> exospheric adj.

exostosis /εksstəss/ n. (pl. exostoses /-siz/) MEDICINE a benign outgrowth of cartilaginous tissue on a bone.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek, from ex- ‘out’ + osteon ‘bone’.

exoteric /εksə()tεrk/ adj. FORMAL intended for or likely to be understood by the general public.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via Latin from Greek exōterikos, from exōterō ‘outer’, comparative of exō ‘outside’.

exothermic /εksə()θəmk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of a reaction or process) accompanied by the release of heat. The opposite of endothermic (sense 1).

- (of a compound) formed from its constituent elements with a net release of heat.

<DERIVATIVES> exothermically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French exothermique.

exotic /ztk ε-/ adj. originating in or characteristic of a distant foreign country: exotic birds | they loved to visit exotic places.

- attractive or striking because colourful or out of the ordinary: youths with exotic haircuts | (as n. the exotic) there was a touch of the exotic in her appearance.

- (especially of metals or fuels) of a kind not ordinarily encountered; specially produced.

■ n. an exotic plant or animal: he planted exotics in the sheltered garden.

<DERIVATIVES> exotically adv. exoticism n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek exōtikos ‘foreign’, from exō ‘outside’.

exotica /ztkə ε-/ plural n. objects considered interesting because they are out of the ordinary, especially because they originated in a distant foreign country.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, neuter plural of exoticus ‘foreign’ (see EXOTIC).

exotic dancer n. a striptease dancer.

exotoxin n. [MICROBIOLOGY] a toxin released by a living bacterial cell into its surroundings. Compare with ENDOTOXIN.

exp abbr.

- experience (usually in the context of job advertisements): previous exp an advantage.

- (Exp.) experimental (in titles of periodicals).

- expiry: exp date.

- [MATHEMATICS] the exponential function raising e to the power of the given quantity: it is reduced by exp (−U).

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] exposures.

expand /kspand εk-/ v. become or make larger or more extensive: [no obj.] their business expanded into other hotels | [with obj.] the work began as a short story and was later expanded into a novel.

- [no obj.] [PHYSICS] (of the universe) undergo a continuous change whereby, according to theory based on observed red shifts, all the galaxies recede from one another.

- [no obj.] (expand on) give a fuller version or account of: the minister expanded on the government's proposals.

- [no obj.] FIGURATIVE become less reserved in character or behaviour: Alice opened and expanded in this normality.

<DERIVATIVES> expandability n. expandable adj. expander n. expansibility n. expansible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin expandere ‘to spread out’, from ex- ‘out’ + pandere ‘to spread’.

expanded adj. being or having been enlarged or extended, in particular:

- denoting materials which have a light cellular structure: expanded polystyrene.

- denoting sheet metal slit and stretched into a mesh, used to reinforce concrete and other brittle materials.

- relatively broad in shape: the expanded fins of the ray.

expanse n. a wide continuous area of something: the green expanse of the forest.

- the distance to which something expands or can be expanded: the moth has a wing expanse of 20 to 24 mm.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin expansum ‘something expanded’, neuter past participle of expandere (see EXPAND).

expansile adj. [PHYSICS] relating to or capable of expansion.

expansion n. [mass noun] the action of becoming larger or more extensive: the rapid expansion of suburban London | [count noun] a small expansion of industry.

- the political strategy of extending a state's territory by encroaching on that of other nations: German expansion in the 1930s.

- [count noun] a thing formed by the enlargement or broadening of something: the book is an expansion of a lecture given last year.

- the increase in the volume of fuel on combustion in the cylinder of an engine, or the piston stroke in which this occurs.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin expansio(n-), from Latin expandere (see EXPAND).

expansionary adj. (of a policy or action) intended to result in economic or political expansion: an expansionary budget.

expansion bolt n. a bolt that expands when inserted, no thread being required in the surrounding material.

expansion card (also expansion board) n. [COMPUTING] a circuit board that can be inserted in a computer to give extra facilities or memory.

expansionism n. [mass noun] the policy of territorial or economic expansion.

<DERIVATIVES> expansionist n. & adj. expansionistic adj.

expansion joint n. a joint that makes allowance for thermal expansion of the parts joined without distortion.

expansion slot n. [COMPUTING] a place in a computer where an expansion card can be inserted.

expansive adj. 1 covering a wide area in terms of space or scope; extensive: expansive beaches.

2 (of a person or their manner) relaxed and genially frank and communicative: he was in an expansive mood.

3 tending towards economic or political expansion: expansive domestic economic policies.

<DERIVATIVES> expansively adv. expansiveness n.

expansivity n. [PHYSICS] the amount a material expands or contracts per unit length due to a one-degree change in temperature.

ex parte /εks pαte/ adj. & adv. [LAW] with respect to or in the interests of one side only or of an interested outside party.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘from a side’.

expat n. & adj. INFORMAL short for EXPATRIATE.

expatiate /kspeet εk-/ v. [no obj.] (expatiate on) speak or write in detail about: she expatiated on working-class novelists.

<DERIVATIVES> expatiation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘roam freely’): from Latin exspatiari ‘move beyond one's usual bounds’, from ex- ‘out, from’ + spatiari ‘to walk’ (from spatium ‘space’).

expatriate n. /kspatrət -petrət εks-/ a person who lives outside their native country: American expatriates in London.

- ARCHAIC an exile.

■ adj. /kspatrət -petrət εks-/ denoting or relating to a person living outside their native country: expatriate workers.

■ v. /kspatret -petret εks-/ [no obj.] settle abroad: candidates should be willing to expatriate.

<DERIVATIVES> expatriation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (as a verb): from medieval Latin expatriat- ‘gone out from one's country’, from the verb expatriare, from ex- ‘out’ + patria ‘native country’.

expect v. [with obj.] regard (something) as likely to happen: it's as well to expect the worst | [with obj. and infinitive] the hearing is expected to last a week | [with clause] one might expect that Hollywood would adjust its approach.

- regard (someone) as likely to do or be something: [with obj. and infinitive] they were not expecting him to continue.

- believe that (someone or something) will arrive soon: Celia was expecting a visitor.

- require (something) as rightfully due or appropriate in the circumstances: we expect great things of you.

- require (someone) to fulfil an obligation: [with obj. and infinitive] we expect employers to pay a reasonable salary.

- (I expect) INFORMAL used to indicate that one supposes something to be so but has no firm evidence: they're just friends of his, I expect | [with clause] I expect you know them?

<PHRASES>

□ be expecting (a baby) INFORMAL be pregnant.

□ (only) to be expected completely normal: he had a few lines about the eyes, but at forty-seven that was only to be expected.

□ what can (or do) you expect? used to emphasize that there was nothing unexpected about a person or event, however disappointed one might be.

<DERIVATIVES> expectable adj. expectably adv. expectedly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘defer action, wait’): from Latin exspectare ‘look out for’, from ex- ‘out’ + spectare ‘to look’ (frequentative of specere ‘see’).

expectancy n. (pl. expectancies) [mass noun] the state of thinking or hoping that something, especially something good, will happen: they waited with an air of expectancy | [count noun] our expectancies about the future.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin exspectantia, from exspectare ‘look out for’ (see EXPECT).

expectant adj. having or showing an excited feeling that something is about to happen, especially something good: expectant crowds arrived early.

- [attr.] used to describe a pregnant woman or a man who is about to become a father: an expectant mother.

■ n. ARCHAIC a person who anticipates receiving something, especially high office.

<DERIVATIVES> expectantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin exspectant- ‘expecting’, from the verb exspectare (see EXPECT).

expectation n. 1 a strong belief that something will happen or be the case: reality had not lived up to expectations | [mass noun] I sat down in expectation of a feast of nostalgia.

- a belief that someone will or should achieve something: students had high expectations for their future.

- (expectations) ARCHAIC one's prospects of inheritance.

2 [MATHEMATICS] another term for EXPECTED VALUE.

expected utility n. [MATHEMATICS] & [ECONOMICS] a predicted utility value for one of several options, calculated as the sum of the utility of every possible outcome each multiplied by the probability of its occurrence.

expected value n. [MATHEMATICS] a predicted value of a variable, calculated as the sum of all possible values each multiplied by the probability of its occurrence.

expectorant n. a medicine which promotes the secretion of sputum by the air passages, used to treat coughs.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin expectorant- ‘expelling from the chest’, from the verb expectorare (see EXPECTORATE).

expectorate /kspεktəret εk-/ v. [with obj.] cough or spit out (phlegm) from the throat or lungs.

<DERIVATIVES> expectoration n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘enable sputum to be coughed up’, referring to medicine): from Latin expectorat- ‘expelled from the chest’, from the verb expectorare, from ex- ‘out’ + pectus, pector- ‘breast’.

expediency /kspidənsi εk-/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being convenient and practical despite possibly being improper or immoral; convenience: an act of political expediency.

expedient /kspidənt εk-/ adj. (of an action) convenient and practical although possibly improper or immoral: either side could break the agreement if it were expedient to do so.

- (of an action) suitable or appropriate: holding a public enquiry into the scheme was not expedient.

■ n. a means of attaining an end, especially one that is convenient but possibly improper or immoral: the current policy is a political expedient.

<DERIVATIVES> expedience n. expediently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin expedient- ‘extricating, putting in order’, from the verb expedire (see EXPEDITE).

expedite /εkspdt/ v. [with obj.] make (an action or process) happen sooner or be accomplished more quickly: he promised to expedite economic reforms.

<DERIVATIVES> expediter (also expeditor) n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘perform quickly’): from Latin expedire ‘extricate (originally by freeing the feet), put in order’, from ex- ‘out’ + pes, ped- ‘foot’.

expedition n. 1 a journey undertaken by a group of people with a particular purpose, especially that of exploration, research, or war: an expedition to the jungles of the Orinoco | INFORMAL a shopping expedition.

- the people involved in such a journey: many of the expedition have passed rigorous courses.

2 [mass noun] FORMAL promptness or speed in doing something: the landlord shall remedy the defects with all possible expedition.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin expeditio(n-), from expedire ‘extricate’ (see EXPEDITE). Early senses included ‘prompt supply of something’ and ‘setting out with aggressive intent’. The notions of ‘speed’ and ‘purpose’ are retained in current senses.

■ Sense 1 dates from the late 16th cent.

expeditionary adj. [attr.] of or forming an expedition, especially a military expedition: an expeditionary force.

expeditious /εkspdəs/ adj. done with speed and efficiency: an expeditious investigation.

<DERIVATIVES> expeditiously adv. expeditiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from EXPEDITION + -OUS.

expel v. (expels, expelling, expelled) [with obj.] officially make (someone) leave a school or other organization: she was expelled from school.

- force (someone) to leave a place: eight diplomats were expelled from Norway for espionage.

- force out (something), especially from the body: she expelled a shuddering breath.

<DERIVATIVES> expellable adj. expellee n. expeller n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin expellere, from ex- ‘out’ + pellere ‘to drive’.

expend v. [with obj.] spend or use up (a resource such as money or energy): the energy expended in sport could be directed into other areas.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin expendere, from ex- ‘out’ + pendere ‘weigh, pay’. Compare with SPEND.

expendable adj. of relatively little significance, and therefore able to be abandoned or destroyed: the region is expendable in the wider context of national politics.

- (of an object) designed to be used only once and then abandoned or destroyed: unmanned and expendable launch vehicles.

<DERIVATIVES> expendability n. expendably adv.

expenditure /kspεndtə εk-/ n. [mass noun] the action of spending funds: the expenditure of taxpayers' money.

- an amount of money spent: cuts in public expenditure.

- the use of energy, time, or other resources: work is the expenditure of energy.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from EXPEND, suggested by obsolete expenditor ‘officer in charge of expenditure’, from medieval Latin, from expenditus, irregular past participle of Latin expendere (see EXPEND).

expense n. [mass noun] the cost incurred in or required for something: conference rooms were equipped at great expense | book into the best hotel you can find and hang the expense.

- (expenses) the costs incurred in the performance of one's job or a specific task: his hotel and travel expenses.

- [count noun] a thing on which one is required to spend money: tolls are a daily expense.

■ v. [with obj.] offset (an item of expenditure) as an expense against taxable income.

- INFORMAL charge (something) to an expense account: I can expense the refreshments.

<PHRASES>

□ at someone's expense paid for by someone.

- with someone as the victim, especially of a joke: my friends all had a good laugh at my expense.

□ at the expense of so as to cause harm to or neglect of: the pursuit of profit at the expense of the environment.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, alteration of Old French espense, from late Latin expensa (pecunia) ‘(money) spent’, from Latin expendere ‘pay out’ (see EXPEND).

expense account n. an arrangement under which money spent in the course of business is later reimbursed by one's employer.

expensive adj. costing a lot of money: keeping a horse is expensive | an expensive bottle of wine.

<DERIVATIVES> expensively adv. expensiveness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘lavish, extravagant’): from Latin expens- ‘paid out’, from the verb expendere (see EXPEND), + -IVE.

experience n. 1 [mass noun] practical contact with and observation of facts or events: he had learned his lesson by painful experience | she spoke from experience.

- the knowledge or skill acquired by such means over time, especially that gained in a particular profession: you should have the necessary experience in health management.

2 an event or occurrence which leaves an impression on someone: audition day is an enjoyable experience for any seven-year old.

■ v. [with obj.] encounter or undergo (an event or occurrence): the company is experiencing difficulties.

- feel (an emotion or sensation): an opportunity to experience the excitement of New York.

<DERIVATIVES> experienceable adj. experiencer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin experientia, from experiri ‘try’. Compare with EXPERIMENT and EXPERT.

experienced adj. having gained knowledge or skill in a particular field over time: an experienced social worker | she was experienced in marketing.

experiential /kspərεnt(ə)l εk-/ adj. involving or based on experience and observation: the experiential learning associated with employment.

<DERIVATIVES> experientially adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from EXPERIENCE, on the pattern of words such as inferential.

experiment n. a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact: a laboratory which carried out experiments on pigs | [mass noun] I have tested this by experiment.

- a course of action tentatively adopted without being sure of the outcome: the previous experiment in liberal democracy had ended in disaster.

■ v. [no obj.] perform a scientific procedure, especially in a laboratory, to determine something: experimenting on animals causes suffering.

- try out new ideas or methods: the designers experimented with new ideas in lighting.

<DERIVATIVES> experimentation n. experimenter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin experimentum, from experiri ‘try’. Compare with EXPERIENCE and EXPERT.

experimental adj. 1 (of a new invention or product) based on untested ideas or techniques and not yet established or finalized: an experimental drug.

- relating to scientific experiments: experimental results.

2 (of art or an artistic technique) involving a radically new and innovative style: experimental music.

3 ARCHAIC based on experience as opposed to authority or conjecture: an experimental knowledge of God.

<DERIVATIVES> experimentalism n. experimentalist n. experimentally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘having personal experience’, also ‘experienced, observed’): from medieval Latin experimentalis, from Latin experimentum (see EXPERIMENT).

experimental psychology n. [mass noun] the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific investigation of the responses of individuals to stimuli in controlled situations.

experimenter effect n. an influence exerted by the experimenter's expectations or other characteristics on the results of an experiment, especially in psychology.

expert n. a person who is very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area: an expert in health care | a financial expert.

■ adj. having or involving such knowledge or skill: he had received expert academic advice | I have a friend who is very expert at the language.

<DERIVATIVES> expertly adv. expertness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as an adjective): from French, from Latin expertus, past participle of experiri ‘try’. The noun use dates from the early 19th century Compare with EXPERIENCE and EXPERIMENT.

expertise /εkspətiz/ n. [mass noun] expert skill or knowledge in a particular field: technical expertise.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from expert (see EXPERT).

expertize /εkspətz/ (also expertise) v. [no obj.] give an expert opinion on something.

expert system n. [COMPUTING] a piece of software which uses databases of expert knowledge to offer advice or make decisions in such areas as medical diagnosis.

expiate /εkspet/ v. [with obj.] make amends or reparation for (guilt or wrongdoing): their sins must be expiated by sacrifice.

<DERIVATIVES> expiable adj. expiator n. expiatory /εkspət(ə)ri εkspet(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘end (rage, sorrow, etc.) by suffering it to the full’): from Latin expiat- ‘appeased by sacrifice’, from the verb expiare, from ex- ‘out’ + piare (from pius ‘pious’).

expiation /εkspe(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the act of making amends or reparation for guilt or wrongdoing; atonement: an act of public expiation.

expiration /εkspre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 NORTH AMERICAN the ending of the fixed period for which a contract is valid: the expiration of the lease.

- the end of a period of time: the expiration of three years.

2 TECHNICAL the exhalation of breath from the lungs.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a vapour or exhalation): from Latin exspiratio(n-), from the verb exspirare (see EXPIRE).

expiratory /εksprət(ə)ri/ adj. relating to the exhalation of air from the lungs.

expire /kspə εk-/ v. 1 [no obj.] (of a document, authorization, or agreement) come to the end of the period of validity: his driving licence expired.

- (of a period of time) come to an end: the three-year period has expired.

2 (of a person) die.

3 [with obj.] TECHNICAL exhale (air) from the lungs.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French expirer, from Latin exspirare ‘breathe out’, from ex- ‘out’ + spirare ‘breathe’.

expiry n. [mass noun] 1 BRITISH the end of the period for which something is valid: the expiry of the patent | [as modifier] an expiry date.

- the end of a fixed period of time.

2 ARCHAIC death.

explain v. [reporting v.] make (an idea or situation) clear to someone by describing it in more detail or revealing relevant facts: [with clause] they explained that their lives centred on the religious rituals | [with direct speech] ‘It's a device of great age,’ the professor explained | [with obj.] he explained the situation.

- [with obj.] give a reason so as to justify or excuse (an action or event): Cassie found it necessary to explain her blackened eye | [with clause] he makes athletes explain why they made a mistake | [no obj.] I explained about Maureen calling round.

- (explain something away) minimize the significance of an embarrassing fact or action by giving an excuse or justification.

<PHRASES>

□ explain oneself expand on what one has said in order to make oneself clear.

- excuse or justify one's motives or conduct: he was too panicked to stay and explain himself to the policeman.

<DERIVATIVES> explainable adj. explainer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin explanare, based on planus ‘plain’.

explanandum /εksplənandəm/ n. (pl. explananda /-nandə/) [PHILOSOPHY] another term for EXPLICANDUM.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, ‘something to be explained’, neuter gerundive of explanare.

explanans /εksplənanz/ n. (pl. explanantia /-nantə/) [PHILOSOPHY] another term for EXPLICANS.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: Latin, ‘explaining’, from the verb explanare.

explanation n. a statement or account that makes something clear: the birth rate is central to any explanation of population trends.

- a reason or justification given for an action or belief: Freud tried to make sex the explanation for everything | [mass noun] my application was rejected without explanation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin explanatio(n-), from the verb explanare (see EXPLAIN).

explanatory /ksplanət(ə)ri εk-/ adj. serving to explain something: explanatory notes.

<DERIVATIVES> explanatorily adv.

explant [BIOLOGY] v. /ksplαnt εks-/ [with obj.] (usually as adj. explanted) transfer (living cells, tissues, or organs) from animals or plants to a nutrient medium.

■ n. /εksplαnt/ a cell, organ, or piece of tissue which has been transferred in this way.

<DERIVATIVES> explantation n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from modern Latin explantare, from ex- ‘out’ + plantare ‘to plant’.

expletive /ksplitv εk-/ n. 1 an oath or swear word.

2 [GRAMMAR] a word or phrase used to fill out a sentence or a line of verse without adding to the sense.

■ adj. [GRAMMAR] (of a word or phrase) serving to fill out a sentence or line of verse.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from late Latin expletivus, from explere ‘fill out’, from ex- ‘out’ + plere ‘fill’. The noun sense ‘word used merely to fill out a sentence’ (early 17th century) was applied specifically to a swear word in the early 19th cent.

explicable /ksplkəb(ə)l εk- εksplkəb(ə)l/ adj. able to be accounted for or understood: differences in schools were not explicable in terms of differences in intake.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, or from Latin explicabilis, from explicare (see EXPLICATE).

explicandum /εksplkandəm/ n. (pl. explicanda /-kandə/) [PHILOSOPHY] the fact, thing, or expression which is to be explained or explicated. Compare with EXPLICANS.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Latin, ‘something to be explained’, neuter gerundive of explicare.

explicans /εksplkanz/ n. (pl. explicantia /εksplkantə/) [PHILOSOPHY] the explanation or explication given for a fact, thing, or expression. Compare with EXPLICANDUM.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Latin, present participle of explicare ‘explain’.

explicate /εksplket/ v. [with obj.] analyse and develop (an idea or principle) in detail: an attempt to explicate the relationship between crime and economic forces.

- analyse (a literary work) in order to reveal its meaning.

<DERIVATIVES> explication n. explicative /εksplkətv εksplketv/ adj. explicator n. explicatory /εksplkət(ə)ri εksplket(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin explicat- ‘unfolded’, from the verb explicare, from ex- ‘out’ + plicare ‘to fold’.

explicit /ksplst εk-/ adj. stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt: the arrangement had not been made explicit.

- (of a person) stating something in such a way: let me be explicit.

- describing or representing sexual activity in a graphic fashion: a sexually explicit blockbuster.

■ n. the closing words of a manuscript, early printed book, or chanted liturgical text. Compare with INCIPIT. [<ORIGIN> Middle English: late Latin, ‘here ends’, or abbreviation of explicitus est liber ‘the scroll is unrolled’.]

<DERIVATIVES> explicitly adv. explicitness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as an adjective): from French explicite or Latin explicitus, past participle of explicare ‘unfold’ (see EXPLICATE).

explode v. [no obj.] 1 burst or shatter violently and noisily as a result of rapid combustion, excessive internal pressure, or other process: an ammunition lorry exploded with a roar | [with obj.] Britain had not yet exploded her first nuclear weapon.

- TECHNICAL undergo a violent expansion in which much energy is released as a shock wave: lead ensures that petrol burns rather than explodes.

- (as adj. exploded) (of a diagram) showing the components of a mechanism in the normal relative positions but slightly separated from each other.

2 (of a violent emotion or a situation) arise or develop suddenly: tension which could explode into violence at any time.

- (of a person) suddenly give expression to violent emotion, especially anger: he exploded with rage | [with direct speech] ‘This is ludicrous!’ she exploded.

- (explode into) suddenly begin to move or start a new activity: workers exploded into action as trade revived.

3 increase suddenly in size, number, or extent: the use of this drug exploded in the nineties.

4 [with obj.] show (a belief or theory) to be false or unfounded: the myths that link smoking with glamour need to be exploded.

<DERIVATIVES> exploder n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘reject scornfully’): from Latin explodere ‘drive out by clapping, hiss off the stage’, from ex- ‘out’ + plaudere ‘to clap’.

■ Sense 4 is derived from the original sense of the word.

■ Sense 1 (late 18th century) evolved via an old sense ‘expel with violence and sudden noise’, perhaps influenced by obsolete displode ‘burst with a noise’.

exploit v. /ksplt εk-/ [with obj.] 1 make full use of and derive benefit from (a resource): 500 companies sprang up to exploit this new technology.

2 make use of (a situation) in a way considered unfair or underhand: the company was exploiting a legal loophole.

- benefit unfairly from the work of (someone), typically by overworking or underpaying them: women are exploited in the workplace.

■ n. /εksplt/ a bold or daring feat.

<DERIVATIVES> exploitable adj. exploiter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French esploit (noun), based on Latin explicare ‘unfold’ (see EXPLICATE). The early notion of ‘success, progress’ gave rise to the sense ‘attempt to capture’, ‘military expedition’, hence the current sense of the noun. Verb senses (mid 19th century) are from modern French exploiter.

exploitation /εksplte(ə)n/ n. 1 [mass noun] the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work: the exploitation of migrant workers.

2 the action of making use of and benefiting from resources: the Bronze Age saw exploitation of gold deposits.

- the fact of making use of a situation to gain unfair advantage for oneself: the Government's exploitation of the fear of crime.

exploitative (also exploitive) adj. making use of a situation or treating others unfairly in order to gain an advantage or benefit: an exploitative form of labour.

exploration n. [mass noun] 1 the action of exploring an unfamiliar area: space exploration | [count noun] an exploration of the African interior.

- the action of searching an area for natural resources: onshore oil and gas exploration.

2 thorough examination of a subject: some changes in the care-giving situation may need exploration | [count noun] an exploration of society and human nature.

<DERIVATIVES> explorational adj.

exploratory /ksplrət(ə)ri εk-/ adj. relating to or involving exploration or investigation: surgeons performed an exploratory operation | exploratory talks.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin exploratorius, from Latin explorare (see EXPLORE).

explore v. [with obj.] 1 travel through (an unfamiliar area) in order to learn about it: he explored the Fontainebleau forest | FIGURATIVE explore the world of science and technology.

- [no obj.] (explore for) search for resources such as mineral deposits.

2 inquire into or discuss (a subject) in detail: he sets out to explore fundamental questions.

- examine or evaluate (an option or possibility): the firm will explore joint development projects.

3 examine by touch: her fingers explored his hair.

4 MEDICINE surgically examine (a wound or part of the body) in detail.

<DERIVATIVES> explorative adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘investigate (why)’): from French explorer, from Latin explorare ‘search out’, from ex- ‘out’ + plorare ‘utter a cry’.

explorer n. a person who explores a new or unfamiliar area: a polar explorer.

explosion n. 1 a violent shattering or blowing apart of something, as is caused by a bomb.

- TECHNICAL a violent expansion in which energy is transmitted outwards as a shock wave.

2 a sudden outburst of something such as violent emotion, especially anger: an explosion of anger inside the factory.

3 a sudden increase in amount or extent: an explosion in the adder population.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin explosio(n-) ‘scornful rejection’, from the verb explodere (see EXPLODE).

explosive adj. 1 able or likely to shatter violently or burst apart: an explosive device.

- (of a vocal sound) produced with a sharp release of air.

2 likely to cause an outburst of anger or controversy: Marco's explosive temper | the idea was politically explosive.

3 (of an increase) sudden and dramatic: the explosive growth of personal computers in the 1980s.

■ n. (often explosives) a substance which can be made to explode, especially any of those used in bombs or shells.

<DERIVATIVES> explosively adv. explosiveness n.

explosive bolt n. a bolt that can be released by being blown out of position by an integral explosive charge.

Expo /εkspə/ n. (pl. Expos) a large international exhibition.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (referring to the World Fair held in Montreal in 1967): abbreviation of EXPOSITION.

exponent /kspənənt εk-/ n. 1 a person who supports an idea or theory and tries to persuade people of its truth or benefits: an early exponent of the teachings of Thomas Aquinas.

- a person who demonstrates a particular skill to a high standard: he's the world's leading exponent of country rock guitar.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a quantity representing the power to which a given number or expression is to be raised, usually expressed as a raised symbol beside the number or expression (e.g. 3 in 2^3 = 2 × 2 × 2).

3 [LINGUISTICS] a linguistic unit that realizes another, more abstract unit.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘expounding’): from Latin exponent- ‘putting out’, from the verb exponere (see EXPOUND).

exponential /εkspənεn(ə)l/ adj. 1 (of an increase) becoming more and more rapid: the social security budget was rising at an exponential rate.

2 [MATHEMATICS] of or expressed by a mathematical exponent: an exponential curve.

<DERIVATIVES> exponentially adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French exponentiel, from Latin exponere ‘put out’ (see EXPOUND).

exponential function n. [MATHEMATICS] a function whose value is a constant raised to the power of the argument, especially the function where the constant is e.

exponential growth n. [mass noun] growth whose rate becomes ever more rapid in proportion to the growing total number or size.

exponentiation /εkspənεne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [MATHEMATICS] the operation of raising one quantity to the power of another.

<DERIVATIVES> exponentiate v.

export v. /kspt εk- εk-/ [with obj.] send (goods or services) to another country for sale: nearly all the bananas produced were exported to Britain.

- spread or introduce (ideas and beliefs) to another country: the Greeks exported Hellenic culture around the Mediterranean basin.

- [COMPUTING] transfer (data) in a format that can be used by other programs.

■ n. /εkspt/ (usually exports) a product or service sold abroad: wool and mohair were the principal exports.

- (exports) sales of goods or services abroad, or the revenue from such sales: meat exports.

- [mass noun] the selling and sending out of goods or services to other countries: the export of Western technology.

- [as modifier] of a high standard suitable for export: export ales.

<DERIVATIVES> exportability n. exportable adj. exportation n. exporter n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘take away’): from Latin exportare, from ex- ‘out’ + portare ‘carry’. Current senses date from the 17th cent.

export surplus n. the amount by which the value of a country's exports exceeds that of its imports.

expose v. [with obj.] 1 make (something) visible by uncovering it: at low tide the sands are exposed.

- (as adj. exposed) unprotected, especially from the weather: the coast is very exposed to the south-west.

- (often expose someone to) cause someone to be vulnerable or at risk: many newcomers are exposing themselves to injury.

- (expose someone to) introduce someone to (a subject or area of knowledge): students were exposed to statistics in high school.

- (expose oneself) publicly and indecently display one's genitals.

- leave (a child) in the open to die.

2 reveal the true, objectionable nature of (someone or something): he has been exposed as a liar and a traitor.

- make (something embarrassing or damaging) public: the situation exposed a conflict within the government.

3 subject (photographic film) to light when operating a camera.

<DERIVATIVES> exposer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French exposer, from Latin exponere (see EXPOUND), but influenced by Latin expositus ‘put or set out’ and Old French poser ‘to place’.

exposé /kspəze εk-/ n. a report in the media that reveals something discreditable: a shocking exposé of a medical cover-up.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, ‘shown, set out’, past participle of exposer (see EXPOSE).

exposition n. 1 a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory: a systematic exposition of the idea of biodiversity.

2 a large public exhibition of art or trade goods.

3 [MUSIC] the part of a movement, especially in sonata form, in which the principal themes are first presented.

4 [mass noun] ARCHAIC the action of making something public.

<DERIVATIVES> expositional adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin expositio(n-), from the verb exponere ‘expose, publish, explain’.

expositor /kspztə εk-/ n. a person that explains complicated ideas or theories.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French or late Latin, from Latin exposit- ‘exposed, explained’, from exponere (see EXPOUND).

expository adj. intended to explain or describe something: an expository prologue.

ex post /εks pəst/ adj. & adv. based on actual results rather than forecasts: [as adj.] the ex post trade balance.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from ex ‘from’ and post ‘after’.

ex post facto /εks pəst faktə/ adj. & adv. with retrospective action or force: [as adj.] ex post facto laws.

<ORIGIN> erroneous division of Latin ex postfacto ‘in the light of subsequent events’.

expostulate /kspstjlet εk-/ v. [no obj.] express strong disapproval or disagreement: he found Fox expostulating with a young man.

<DERIVATIVES> expostulation n. expostulator n. expostulatory /-lət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘demand how or why, state a complaint’): from Latin expostulat- ‘demanded’, from the verb expostulare, from ex- ‘out’ + postulare ‘demand’.

exposure n. [mass noun] 1 the state of having no protection from something harmful: the dangers posed by exposure to asbestos.

- a physical condition resulting from being outside in severe weather without adequate protection: they were suffering from exposure.

- experience of something: his exposure to the banking system.

- the action of placing oneself at risk of financial losses, e.g. through making loans or underwriting insurance.

2 the revelation of something secret, especially something embarrassing or damaging: she took her life for fear of exposure as a spy.

- the publicizing of information or an event: scientific findings receive regular exposure in the media.

3 the action of exposing a photographic film to light: a camera which would give a picture immediately after exposure | [count noun] trial exposures made with a UV filter.

- [count noun] the quantity of light reaching a photographic film, as determined by shutter speed and lens aperture.

4 [count noun] the direction in which a building faces; an outlook: the exposure is perfect—a gentle slope to the south-west.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from EXPOSE, on the pattern of words such as enclosure.

exposure meter n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a light meter.

expound v. [with obj.] present and explain (a theory or idea) in detail: he was expounding a powerful argument | [no obj.] he declined to expound on his decision.

- explain the meaning of (a literary or doctrinal work): the abbess expounded the scriptures to her nuns.

<DERIVATIVES> expounder n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English expoune (in the sense ‘explain (what is difficult)’): from Old French espon-, present tense stem of espondre, from Latin exponere ‘expose, publish, explain’, from ex- ‘out’ + ponere ‘put’. The origin of the final -d (recorded from the Middle English period) is uncertain.

express^1 /ksprεs εk-/ v. [with obj.] 1 convey (a thought or feeling) in words or by gestures and conduct: he expressed complete satisfaction.

- (express oneself) say what one thinks or means: with a diplomatic smile, she expressed herself more subtly.

- [MATHEMATICS] represent (a number, relation, or property) by a figure, symbol, or formula: constants can be expressed in terms of the Fourier transform.

2 press out (liquid or air).

3 [GENETICS] cause (an inherited characteristic or gene) to appear in a phenotype: the genes are expressed in a variety of cell lines.

<DERIVATIVES> expresser n. expressible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘press out, obtain by squeezing’, used figuratively to mean ‘extort’): from Old French expresser, based on Latin ex- ‘out’ + pressare ‘to press’.

express^2 /ksprεs εk-/ adj. operating at high speed: an express airmail service.

- denoting a service in which messages or goods are delivered by a special messenger to ensure speed or security: an express letter.

■ adv. by express train or delivery service: I got my wife to send my gloves express to the hotel.

■ n. 1 (also express train) a train that stops at few stations and so travels quickly.

2 a special delivery service: the books arrived by express.

3 an express rifle.

■ v. [with obj.] send by express messenger or delivery: I expressed my clothes to my destination.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as a verb): extension of express^3;

■ sense 1 of the noun from express train, so named because it served a particular destination without intermediate stops, reflecting an earlier sense of express ‘done or made for a special purpose’, later interpreted in the sense ‘rapid’. Senses relating to express delivery date from the institution of this postal service in 1891.

express^3 /ksprεs εk- εksprεs/ adj. stated explicitly, not merely implied: it was his express wish that the celebration should continue.

- specifically identified to the exclusion of anything else: the schools were founded for the express purpose of teaching deaf children.

- ARCHAIC (of a likeness) exact.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French expres, from Latin expressus ‘distinctly presented’, past participle of exprimere ‘press out’, from ex- ‘out’ + primere ‘press’.

expression n. [mass noun] 1 the action of making known one's thoughts or feelings: the prisoners developed a dialect as an everyday means of expression | [count noun] she accepted his expressions of sympathy.

- the conveying of feeling in a work of art or in the performance of a piece of music.

2 [count noun] a look on someone's face that conveys a particular emotion: a sad expression.

3 [count noun] a word or phrase, especially an idiomatic one, used to convey an idea: we have an expression, ‘You don't get owt for nowt.’.

- [MATHEMATICS] a collection of symbols that jointly express a quantity: the expression for the circumference of a circle is 2πr.

4 the production of something by pressing it out: essential oils obtained by distillation or expression.

5 [GENETICS] the appearance in a phenotype of a characteristic or effect attributed to a particular gene.

<DERIVATIVES> expressional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin expressio(n-), from exprimere ‘press out, express’. Compare with express^1.

expressionism n. [mass noun] a style of painting, music, or drama in which the artist or writer seeks to express the inner world of emotion rather than external reality.

Expressionists characteristically reject traditional ideas of beauty or harmony and use distortion, exaggeration, and other non-naturalistic devices in order to express emotional states. The paintings of El Greco and Grünewald exemplify expressionism in this broad sense, but the term is also used of a late 19th and 20th century European and specifically German movement tracing its origins to Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and James Ensor, which insisted on the primacy of the artist's feelings and mood, often incorporating violence and the grotesque.

<DERIVATIVES> expressionist n. & adj. expressionistic adj. expressionistically adv.

expressionless adj. (of a person's face or voice) not conveying any emotion; unemotional: her face was expressionless.

<DERIVATIVES> expressionlessly adv. expressionlessness n.

expression mark n. [MUSIC] a word or phrase on a musical score which indicates the expression required of a performer.

expressive adj. effectively conveying thought or feeling: she has big expressive eyes.

- (expressive of) conveying (a specified quality or idea): the spires are expressive of religious aspiration.

<DERIVATIVES> expressively adv. expressiveness n. expressivity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘tending to press out’): from French expressif, -ive or medieval Latin expressivus, from exprimere ‘press out’ (see express^3). Compare with express^1.

express lift n. a fast-moving lift which does not stop at every floor.

expressly /ksprεsli εk-/ adv. explicitly; clearly: she was expressly forbidden to use the stove.

- for a specific purpose; solely: the house was expressly built for entertaining.

express rifle n. a rifle that discharges a bullet at high speed, used in big-game hunting.

expressway n. NORTH AMERICAN an urban motorway.

expropriate /ksprəpret εks-/ v. [with obj.] (of the state or an authority) take (property) from its owner for public use or benefit: their assets were expropriated by the government.

- dispossess (someone) of property: the measures expropriated the landlords.

<DERIVATIVES> expropriation n. expropriator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin expropriat- ‘taken from the owner’, from the verb expropriare, from ex- ‘out, from’ + proprium ‘property’, neuter singular of proprius ‘own’.

expulsion n. [mass noun] the action of forcing someone to leave an organization: his expulsion from the union | [count noun] a rise in the number of pupil expulsions.

- the action or process of forcing someone to leave a place: the expulsion of two diplomats from the embassy.

- the action of forcing something out of the body.

<DERIVATIVES> expulsive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin expulsio(n-), from expellere ‘drive out’ (see EXPEL).

expunge /kspn(d) εk-/ v. [with obj.] obliterate or remove completely (something unwanted or unpleasant): the kind of man that could expunge an unsatisfactory incident from his memory.

<DERIVATIVES> expunction n. expungement n. expunger n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin expungere ‘mark for deletion by means of points’, from ex- ‘out’ + pungere ‘to prick’.

expurgate /εkspəet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. expurgated) remove matter thought to be objectionable or unsuitable from (a text or account): an expurgated English translation.

<DERIVATIVES> expurgation n. expurgator n. expurgatory /εkspəət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘purge of excrement’): from Latin expurgat- ‘thoroughly cleansed’, from the verb expurgare, from ex- ‘out’ + purgare ‘cleanse’.

exquisite /εkskwzt kskwzt εk-/ adj. 1 extremely beautiful and delicate: exquisite, jewel-like portraits.

2 intensely felt: the most exquisite kind of agony.

- highly sensitive or discriminating: her exquisite taste in painting.

■ n. LITERARY a man who is affectedly concerned with his clothes and appearance; a dandy.

<DERIVATIVES> exquisitely adv. exquisiteness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘precise’): from Latin exquisit- ‘sought out’, from the verb exquirere, from ex- ‘out’ + quaerere ‘seek’.

exsanguination /ksawne(ə)n εk-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the action of draining a person, animal, or organ of blood.

- severe loss of blood.

<DERIVATIVES> exsanguinate v.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin exsanguinatus ‘drained of blood’ (from ex- ‘out’ + sanguis, sanguin- ‘blood’) + -ION.

exsanguine /ksawn εk-/ adj. LITERARY bloodless; anaemic.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from EX-1 ‘out’ + Latin sanguis, sanguin- ‘blood’.

exsert /ksət εk-/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. exserted) [BIOLOGY] cause to protrude: an exserted stigma.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin exsert- ‘put forth’, from the verb exserere (see EXERT).

ex-service adj. BRITISH denoting or relating to former members of the armed forces: ex-service personnel.

ex-serviceman (or ex-servicewoman) n. (pl. ex-servicemen or ex-servicewomen) BRITISH a person who was formerly a member of the armed forces.

ex silentio /εks slεnə/ adj. & adv. (with reference to an argument or theory) based on lack of contrary evidence.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘from silence’.

exsolve /kslv εk-/ v. [no obj.] [GEOLOGY] (of a mineral) separate out from solid solution in a rock.

- [with obj.] (usually as adj. exsolved) form (a mineral) in this way.

<DERIVATIVES> exsolution n.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: (originally as exsolution) from EX-1 + SOLUTION.

ext. abbr.

- extension (in a telephone number).

- exterior.

- external.

extant /kstant εk- εkst(ə)nt/ adj. still in existence; surviving: an extant letter.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘able to be publicly seen or reached’): from Latin exstant- ‘being visible or prominent, existing’, from the verb exstare, from ex- ‘out’ + stare ‘to stand’.

extemporaneous /kstεmpərenəs εk-/ adj. another term for EXTEMPORARY.

<DERIVATIVES> extemporaneously adv. extemporaneousness n.

extemporary /kstεmp(ə)(rə)ri εk-/ adj. spoken or done without preparation: an extemporary prayer.

<DERIVATIVES> extemporarily adv. extemporariness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from EXTEMPORE, on the pattern of temporary.

extempore /kstεmp(ə)ri εk-/ adj. & adv. spoken or done without preparation: [as adj.] extempore public speaking | [as adv.] he recited the poem extempore.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin ex tempore ‘on the spur of the moment’ (literally ‘out of the time’).

extemporize /kstεmpərz εk-/ (also extemporise) v. [no obj.] compose or perform something such as music or a speech without preparation; improvise: he extemporized at the piano | [with obj.] she was extemporizing touching melodies.

<DERIVATIVES> extemporization n.

extend v. [with obj.] 1 cause to cover a wider area; make larger: the car park has been extended.

- cause to last longer: they asked the government to extend its period of deliberation.

- straighten or spread out (the body or a limb) at full length: hold the index finger down with the thumb extended.

- [no obj.] spread from a central point to cover a wider area: the damage extended 400 yards either side of the shop.

- [no obj.] occupy a specified area: the mountains extend over the western end of the island.

- [no obj.] (extend to) be applicable to: her generosity did not extend to all adults.

2 hold (something) out towards someone: I nod and extend my hand.

- offer or make available: she extended an invitation to her to stay.

3 cause (someone or something) to exert the utmost effort: horses have the strength of character to extend themselves to their utmost limit.

<DERIVATIVES> extendability n. extendable adj. extendibility n. extendible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin extendere ‘stretch out’, from ex- ‘out’ + tendere ‘stretch’.

extended adj. made larger; enlarged: an extended kitchen and new balcony.

- lasting longer than is usual or expected; prolonged: an extended period of time.

extended family n. a family which extends beyond the nuclear family to include grandparents and other relatives.

extended-play adj. (of a record) that plays for longer than most singles.

extender n. a person or thing that extends something.

- a substance added to a product such as paint or glue, to dilute its colour or increase its bulk.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] another term for EXTENSION TUBE.

extensible adj. able to be extended; extendable: an extensible architecture designed to accommodate changes.

<DERIVATIVES> extensibility n.

extensile /kstεnsl εk-/ adj. capable of being stretched out or protruded.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin extens- ‘stretched out’ (from the verb extendere) + -ILE.

extension n. 1 a part that is added to something to enlarge or prolong it: the railway's southern extension.

- a room or rooms added to an existing building.

- (extensions) lengths of artificial hair woven into a person's own hair to create a very long hairstyle.

- [mass noun] the action or process of enlarging or extending something: the extension of the President's powers.

- an application of an existing system or activity to a new area: direct marketing is an extension of telephone selling.

- an additional period of time given to someone to hold office or fulfil an obligation.

- BRITISH permission granted to licensed premises for the sale of alcoholic drinks until later than usual.

- [COMPUTING] an optional suffix to a filename, typically consisting of a full stop followed by several characters, indicating the file's content or function.

2 (BRITISH also extension lead or cable; US also extension cord) a length of electric cable which permits the use of appliances at some distance from a fixed socket.

3 a subsidiary telephone on the same line as the main one.

- a subsidiary telephone in a large building, on a line leading from the main switchboard but having its own additional number.

4 [mass noun] the action of moving a limb from a bent to a straight position: seizures with sudden rigid extension of the limbs.

- [BALLET] the ability of a dancer to raise one leg above their waist, especially to the side: she has amazing extension.

- MEDICINE the application of traction to a fractured or dislocated limb or to an injured spinal column to restore it to its normal position.

- the lengthening of a horse's stride at a particular pace.

5 [as modifier] denoting instruction by a university or college arranged for people who are not full-time students: a postgraduate extension course.

6 [LOGIC] the range of a term or concept as measured by the objects which it denotes or contains. Often contrasted with INTENSION.

7 [PHYSICS] & [PHILOSOPHY] the property of occupying space: nature, for Descartes, was pure extension in space.

<PHRASES>

□ by extension taking the same line of argument further: the study shows how television and, by extension, the media, alter political relationships.

<DERIVATIVES> extensional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin extensio(n-), from extendere ‘stretch out’ (see EXTEND).

extension tube n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a tube fitted to a camera between the body and lens to shorten the distance of closest focus of an object so that close-up pictures can be taken.

extensive adj. 1 covering or affecting a large area: an extensive garden.

- large in amount or scale: an extensive collection of silver.

2 (of agriculture) obtaining a relatively small crop from a large area with a minimum of capital and labour: extensive farming techniques. Often contrasted with intensive (sense 1 of the adjective).

<DERIVATIVES> extensively adv. extensiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French extensif, -ive or late Latin extensivus, from extens- ‘stretched out’, from the verb extendere (see EXTEND).

extensometer /εkstεnsmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring the deformation of a material under stress.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin extens- ‘extended’ (from the verb extendere) + -METER.

extensor /kstεnsə εk-/ (also extensor muscle) n. [ANATOMY] a muscle whose contraction extends or straightens a limb or other part of the body. Often contrasted with FLEXOR.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from late Latin, from extens- ‘stretched out’, from the verb extendere (see EXTEND).

extent n. [in sing.] 1 the area covered by something: an enclosure ten acres in extent.

- the size or scale of something: the extent of global warming.

2 the particular degree to which something is or is believed to be the case: everyone will have to compromise to some extent | decision-making was to a large extent outside his control.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘valuation of property, especially for taxation’): from Anglo-Norman French extente, from medieval Latin extenta, feminine past participle of Latin extendere ‘stretch out’ (see EXTEND).

extenuate /kstεnjet εk-/ v. [with obj.] 1 (as adj. extenuating) (of a factor or situation) acting in mitigation to lessen the seriousness of guilt or an offence: hunger and poverty are not treated by the courts as extenuating circumstances.

2 (usually as adj. extenuated) LITERARY make (someone) thin: drawings of extenuated figures.

<DERIVATIVES> extenuation n. extenuatory /-jət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘make thin’): from Latin extenuat- ‘made thin’, from the verb extenuare (based on tenuis ‘thin’).

exterior adj. forming, situated on, or relating to the outside of something: exterior and interior walls.

- coming from outside: exterior noise.

- (in filming) outdoor: exterior locations.

■ n. the outer surface or structure of something: a jar with floral designs on the exterior.

- the outer structure of a building: the museum has a modern exterior.

- a person's behaviour and demeanour, especially when at variance with their true character: beneath that assured exterior, she's vulnerable.

- (in filming) an outdoor scene.

<DERIVATIVES> exteriority n. exteriorly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin, comparative of exter ‘outer’.

exterior angle n. [GEOMETRY] the angle between a side of a rectilinear figure and an adjacent side extended outward.

exteriorize (also exteriorise) v. make exterior; give exterior form to.

<DERIVATIVES> exteriorization (also exteriorisation) n.

exterminate /kstəmnet εk-/ v. [with obj.] destroy completely: leftist ideals had not been totally exterminated.

- kill (a pest): they use poison to exterminate moles.

<DERIVATIVES> exterminator n. exterminatory /-nət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘drive out’): from Latin exterminat- ‘driven out’, from the verb exterminare, from ex- ‘out’ + terminus ‘boundary’. The sense ‘destroy’ (mid 16th century) comes from the Latin of the Vulgate.

extermination /kstəmne(ə)n εk-/ n. [mass noun] killing, especially of a whole group of people or animals: the near extermination of the buffalo herds.

- complete destruction.

extern /kstən εk-/ n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a non-resident doctor or other worker in a hospital.

2 (in a strictly enclosed order of nuns) a sister who does not live exclusively within the enclosure and goes on outside errands.

■ v. [with obj.] SE ASIAN banish (someone considered politically undesirable) from a region or district: he was externed for inciting communal tension in the city.

<DERIVATIVES> externment n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘external’): from French externe or Latin externus, from exter ‘outer’. The word was used by Shakespeare to mean ‘outward appearance’; current noun senses date from the early 17th cent.

external adj. 1 belonging to or forming the outer surface or structure of something: the external walls.

- relating to or denoting a medicine or similar substance for use on the outside of the body: for external application only.

2 coming or derived from a source outside the subject affected: for many the Church was a symbol of external authority | the child learns to form conceptions of the external world.

- coming from or relating to a country or institution other than the main subject: a department of external affairs.

- for or concerning students registered with and taking the examinations of a university but not resident there: external degrees.

3 [COMPUTING] (of hardware) not contained in the main computer; peripheral.

- (of storage) using a disk or tape drive rather than the main memory.

■ n. (externals) the outward features of something: the place has all the appropriate externals, such as chimneys choked with ivy.

- inessential or superficial features.

<DERIVATIVES> externally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin, from Latin exter ‘outer’.

external ear n. the parts of the ear outside the eardrum, especially the pinna.

externalism n. [mass noun] 1 excessive regard for outward form in religion.

2 [PHILOSOPHY] the view that mental events and acts are essentially dependent on the world external to the mind, in opposition to the Cartesian separation of mental and physical worlds.

<DERIVATIVES> externalist n. & adj.

externality /εkstənalti/ n. (pl. externalities) 1 [ECONOMICS] a consequence of an industrial or commercial activity which affects other parties without this being reflected in market prices, such as the pollination of surrounding crops by bees kept for honey.

2 [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the fact of existing outside the perceiving subject.

externalize (also externalise) v. [with obj.] 1 give external existence or form to: elements of the internal construction were externalized on to the facade.

- express (a thought or feeling) in words or actions: an urgent need to externalize the experience.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] project (a mental image or process) on to a figure outside oneself: such neuroses are externalized as interpersonal conflicts.

2 [ECONOMICS] fail or choose not to incorporate (costs) as part of a pricing structure, especially social and environmental costs resulting from a product's manufacture and use.

<DERIVATIVES> externalization n.

exteroceptive /εkstərə()sεptv/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to stimuli that are external to an organism. Compare with INTEROCEPTIVE.

<DERIVATIVES> exteroception n. exteroceptivity n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: probably a blend of EXTERIOR or EXTERNAL and RECEPTIVE.

exteroceptor /εkstərə()sεptə/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a sensory receptor which receives external stimuli. Compare with INTEROCEPTOR.

extinct adj. 1 (of a species, family, or other larger group) having no living members: trilobites and dinosaurs are extinct.

- no longer in existence: the sort of girls' school that is now extinct.

- (of a title of nobility) having no valid claimant.

2 (of a volcano) not having erupted in recorded history.

- no longer alight: his now extinct pipe.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘no longer alight’): from Latin exstinct- ‘extinguished’, from the verb exstinguere (see EXTINGUISH).

extinction n. [mass noun] 1 the state or process of being or becoming extinct: the extinction of the great auk | [count noun] mass extinctions.

- the wiping out of a debt.

2 [PHYSICS] reduction to zero in the intensity of light or other radiation as it passes through a medium, due to absorption, reflection, or scattering.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin exstinctio(n-), from exstinguere ‘quench’ (see EXTINGUISH).

extinguish v. [with obj.] cause (a fire or light) to cease to burn or shine: firemen were soaking everything to extinguish the blaze.

- put an end to; destroy: hope is extinguished little by little.

- subdue or reduce (someone) to silence: a look which would have extinguished any man.

- cancel (a debt) by full payment: the debt was absolutely extinguished.

- [LAW] render (a right or obligation) void.

<DERIVATIVES> extinguishable adj. extinguishment n. ([LAW])

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin exstinguere, from ex- ‘out’ + stinguere ‘quench’. Compare with DISTINGUISH.

extinguisher n. short for FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

extirpate /εkstəpet/ v. [with obj.] eradicate or destroy completely: timber wolves were extirpated from New England more than a century ago.

<DERIVATIVES> extirpation n. extirpator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as extirpation): from Latin exstirpare, from ex- ‘out’ + stirps ‘a stem’.

extol /kstəl εk-/ v. (extols, extolling, extolled) [with obj.] praise enthusiastically: he extolled the virtues of the Russian peoples.

<DERIVATIVES> extoller n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin extollere, from ex- ‘out, upward’ + tollere ‘raise’.

extort /kstt εk-/ v. [with obj] obtain (something) by force, threats, or other unfair means: he attempted to extort money from the company.

<DERIVATIVES> extorter n. extortive adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin extort- ‘wrested’, from the verb extorquere, from ex- ‘out’ + torquere ‘to twist’.

extortion n. [mass noun] the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats.

<DERIVATIVES> extortioner n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from late Latin extortio(n-), from Latin extorquere ‘wrest’ (see EXTORT).

extortionate /kst(ə)nət εk-/ adj. 1 (of a price) much too high; exorbitant: £2,700 for that guitar is extortionate.

2 using or given to extortion: the extortionate power of the unions.

<DERIVATIVES> extortionately adv.

extortionist n. a person who tries to obtain something through force or violence; a racketeer: he is a blackmailer and an extortionist.

extra adj. added to an existing or usual amount or number: they offered him an extra thirty-five cents an hour | a lot of extra work is involved.

■ adv. 1 [as submodifier] to a greater extent than usual; especially: he is trying to be extra good.

2 in addition: installation will cost about £60 extra.

■ n. an item in addition to what is usual or strictly necessary: I had an education with all the extras.

- an item for which an additional charge is made: the price includes all major charges—there are no hidden extras.

- a person engaged temporarily to fill out a crowd scene in a film or play.

- [CRICKET] a run scored other than from a hit with the bat, credited to the batting side rather than to a batsman.

- DATED a special issue of a newspaper.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as an adjective): probably a shortening of EXTRAORDINARY, suggested by similar forms in French and German.

extra- prefix outside; beyond: extracellular | extraterritorial.

- beyond the scope of: extracurricular.

<ORIGIN> via medieval Latin from Latin extra ‘outside’.

extracellular adj. [BIOLOGY] situated or taking place outside a cell or cells: extracellular space in the cortex.

<DERIVATIVES> extracellularly adv.

extrachromosomal element n. [GENETICS] the DNA of a cytoplasmic organelle, such as a mitochondrion or chloroplast, responsible for cytoplasmic inheritance.

extracorporeal /εkstrəkprəl/ adj. chiefly [SURGERY] situated or occurring outside the body.

- denoting a technique of lithotripsy using shock waves generated externally.

extra cover n. [CRICKET] a fielding position between cover point and mid-off but further from the wicket.

- a fielder at this position.

extract v. /kstrakt εk-/ [with obj.] 1 remove or take out, especially by effort or force: the fossils are extracted from the chalk.

- obtain (a substance or resource) from something by a special method: lead was extracted from the copper.

- obtain (something such as money or information) from someone unwilling to give it: I won't let you go without trying to extract a promise from you.

- select (a passage from a text, film, or piece of music) for quotation, performance, or reproduction: the table is extracted from the report.

- derive (an idea) from a body of information: there are few attempts to extract generalities about the nature of the disciplines.

2 [MATHEMATICS] calculate (a root of a number).

■ n. /εkstrakt/ 1 a short passage taken from a text, film, or piece of music: an extract from a historical film.

2 a preparation containing the active ingredient of a substance in concentrated form: natural plant extracts | [mass noun] a shampoo with extract of camomile.

<DERIVATIVES> extractability n. extractable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin extract- ‘drawn out’, from the verb extrahere, from ex- ‘out’ + trahere ‘draw’.

extraction n. [mass noun] 1 the action of extracting something, especially using effort or force: mineral extraction | [count noun] a dental extraction.

2 [with adj.] the ethnic origin of someone's family: a worker of Polish extraction.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin extractio(n-), from Latin extrahere ‘draw out’ (see EXTRACT).

extractive adj. of or involving extraction, especially the extensive extraction of natural resources without provision for their renewal: extractive industry.

extractor n. [often with modifier] a machine or device used to extract something: a juice extractor.

- [as modifier] denoting a device used to extract odours and stale air from an area: the engine room's extractor fans.

extracurricular adj. (of an activity at a school or college) pursued in addition to the normal course of study: extracurricular activities include sports, music, and gym clubs.

- often HUMOROUS outside the normal routine, especially that provided by a job or marriage: Harriet's extracurricular sweetheart.

<DERIVATIVES> extracurricularly adv.

extraditable /εkstrədtəb(ə)l/ adj. (of a crime) making an accused or convicted person liable to extradition: possession of explosives will be an extraditable offence.

- (of an accused or convicted person) liable to extradition.

extradite /εkstrədt/ v. [with obj.] hand over (a person accused or convicted of a crime) to the jurisdiction of the foreign state in which the crime was committed: Brazil refused to extradite him to Britain.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: back-formation from EXTRADITION.

extradition n. [mass noun] the action of extraditing a person accused or convicted of a crime: they fought to prevent his extradition to the US | [count noun] emergency extraditions.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from ex- ‘out, from’ + tradition ‘delivery’.

extrados /kstreds εk-/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] the upper or outer curve of an arch. Often contrasted with INTRADOS.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Latin extra ‘outside’ + French dos ‘back’ (from Latin dorsum).

extradural /εkstrədjər(ə)l/ adj. MEDICINE another term for EPIDURAL.

extrafamilial /εkstrəfəmljəl/ adj. outside the family.

extrafloral adj. [BOTANY] (of a nectary) situated outside a flower, especially on a leaf or stem.

extragalactic /εkstrəəlaktk/ adj. [ASTRONOMY] situated, occurring, or originating outside the Milky Way galaxy: extragalactic radio sources.

extrajudicial adj. [LAW] (of a sentence) not legally authorized: there have been reports of extrajudicial executions.

- (of a settlement, statement, or confession) not made in court.

<DERIVATIVES> extrajudicially adv.

extralegal adj. (of an action or situation) beyond the province of the law.

extralimital /εkstrəlmt(ə)l/ adj. chiefly [BIOLOGY] situated, occurring, or derived from outside a particular area.

extralinguistic /εkstrəlwstk/ adj. not involving or beyond the bounds of language: extralinguistic reality.

extramarital /εkstrəmart(ə)l/ adj. (especially of sexual relations) occurring outside marriage: an extramarital affair.

<DERIVATIVES> extramaritally adv.

extramundane /εkstrəmnden/ adj. RARE outside or beyond the physical world.

extramural /εkstrəmjər(ə)l/ adj. 1 BRITISH (of a course of study) arranged for people who are not full-time members of a university or other educational establishment: extramural education.

- additional to one's work or course of study: extramural activities.

2 outside the walls or boundaries of a town or city: the extramural cemetery in Brighton.

<DERIVATIVES> extramurally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): from Latin extra muros ‘outside the walls’ + -AL.

extramusical adj. extrinsic to a piece of music or outside the field of music.

extraneous /kstrenəs εk-/ adj. 1 irrelevant or unrelated to the subject being dealt with: one is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous material.

2 of external origin: when the transmitter pack is turned off no extraneous noise is heard.

- separate from the object to which it is attached: other insects attach extraneous objects or material to themselves.

<DERIVATIVES> extraneously adv. extraneousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin extraneus + -OUS.

extranet n. an intranet that can be partially accessed by authorized outside users, enabling businesses to exchange information over the Internet in a secure way.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from EXTRA- + NET^1 by analogy with INTRANET.

extraordinaire /kstrədnε/ adj. [postpositive] INFORMAL outstanding in a particular capacity: the noted Hollywood middleman extraordinaire.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: French, ‘extraordinary’.

extraordinary /kstrd(ə)n(ə)ri εk- εkstrədn(ə)ri/ adj. 1 very unusual or remarkable: the extraordinary plumage of the male | [with clause] it is extraordinary that no consultation took place.

- unusually great: young children need extraordinary amounts of attention.

2 [attr.] (of a meeting) specially convened: an extraordinary session of the Congress.

- [postpositive] (of an official) specially employed in addition to the usual staff: an Ambassador Extraordinary.

■ n. (usually extraordinaries) an item in a company's accounts not arising from its normal activities. Compare with EXCEPTIONAL.

<DERIVATIVES> extraordinarily adv. [as submodifier] an extraordinarily beautiful girl extraordinariness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin extraordinarius, from extra ordinem ‘outside the normal course of events’.

extraordinary general meeting (abbr.: EGM) n. BRITISH a meeting of the members or shareholders of a club, company, or other organization, held at short notice, especially in order to consider a particular matter.

extraordinary ray n. [OPTICS] (in double refraction) the light ray that does not obey the ordinary laws of refraction. Compare with ORDINARY RAY.

extraordinary rendition n. see rendition (sense 2).

extrapolate /kstrapəlet εk-/ v. [with obj.] extend the application of (a method or conclusion) to an unknown situation by assuming that existing trends will continue or similar methods will be applicable: the results cannot be extrapolated to other patient groups | [no obj.] it is always dangerous to extrapolate from a sample.

- estimate or conclude (something) in this way: the figures were extrapolated from past trends.

- [MATHEMATICS] extend (a graph, curve, or range of values) by inferring unknown values from trends in the known data.

<DERIVATIVES> extrapolation n. extrapolative adj. extrapolator n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from EXTRA- ‘outside’ + a shortened form of INTERPOLATE.

extraposition /εkstrəpəz(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [GRAMMAR] the placing of a word or group of words outside or at the end of a clause, while retaining the sense. The subject is often postponed and replaced by it at the start, as in it's no use crying over spilt milk rather than crying over spilt milk is no use.

extrapyramidal /εkstrəpramd(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY] & MEDICINE relating to or denoting motor nerves that descend from the cortex to the spine but are not part of the pyramidal system: extrapyramidal symptoms.

extrasensory perception /εkstrəsεns(ə)ri/ (abbr.: ESP) n. [mass noun] the supposed faculty of perceiving things by means other than the known senses, e.g. by telepathy.

extrasolar /εkstrəsələ/ adj. outside the solar system: extrasolar planets.

extrasystole /εkstrəsst(ə)li/ n. MEDICINE a heartbeat outside the normal rhythm, as often occurs in normal individuals.

extraterrestrial /εkstrətərεstrəl/ adj. of or from outside the earth or its atmosphere: searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.

■ n. a hypothetical or fictional being from outer space.

extraterritorial /εkstrətεrtrəl/ adj. (of a law or decree) valid outside a country's territory.

- denoting the freedom of embassy staff from the jurisdiction of the territory of residence.

- situated outside a country's territory: extraterritorial industrial zones.

<DERIVATIVES> extraterritoriality n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin extra territorium ‘outside the territory’ + -AL.

extra time n. [mass noun] BRITISH a further period of play added on to a game if the scores are equal.

extratropical adj. [METEOROLOGY] situated or occurring outside the tropics.

extrauterine /εkstrəjutərn/ adj. MEDICINE existing, formed, or occurring outside the uterus: the first hour of extrauterine life.

extravagance n. [mass noun] lack of restraint in spending money or using resources: his reckless extravagance with other people's money.

- [count noun] a thing on which too much money has been spent or which has used up too many resources: salmon trout is an unnecessary extravagance.

- excessive elaboration: the extravagance of the decor.

<DERIVATIVES> extravagancy n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from medieval Latin extravagant- ‘diverging greatly’, from the verb extravagari (see EXTRAVAGANT).

extravagant /kstravə(ə)nt εk-/ adj. lacking restraint in spending money or using resources: it was rather extravagant to buy both.

- resulting from or showing such a lack of restraint: extravagant gifts like computer games.

- exceeding what is reasonable or appropriate; excessive or elaborate: extravagant claims about the merchandise.

<DERIVATIVES> extravagantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘unusual, unsuitable’): from medieval Latin extravagant- ‘diverging greatly’, from the verb extravagari, from Latin extra- ‘outside’ + vagari ‘wander’.

extravaganza /kstravəanzə εk-/ n. an elaborate and spectacular entertainment or production: an extravaganza of dance in many forms.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in the sense ‘extravagance in language or behaviour’): from Italian estravaganza ‘extravagance’. The change was due to association with words beginning with EXTRA-.

extravasate /kstravəset εk-/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. extravasated) chiefly MEDICINE let or force out (a fluid, especially blood) from the vessel that contains it into the surrounding area.

<DERIVATIVES> extravasation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from EXTRA- ‘outside’ + Latin vas ‘vessel’ + -ATE^3.

extravascular /εkstrəvaskjlə/ adj. MEDICINE situated or occurring outside the vascular system: extravascular fluid.

extravehicular /εkstrəvhkjlə/ adj. relating to work performed in space outside a spacecraft.

extra virgin adj. denoting a particularly fine grade of olive oil made from the first pressing of the olives and containing a maximum of one per cent oleic acid.

extrema plural form of EXTREMUM.

Extremadura /εkstrəməd(j)ərə/ an autonomous region of western Spain, on the border with Portugal; capital, Mérida. Spanish name ESTREMADURA /estremaura/.

extreme adj. 1 reaching a high or the highest degree; very great: extreme cold.

- not usual; exceptional: in extreme cases the soldier may be discharged.

- very severe or serious: expulsion is an extreme sanction.

- (of a person or their opinions) far from moderate, especially politically: groups of his more extreme supporters rioted in front of parliament.

- denoting or relating to a sport performed in a hazardous environment and involving great risk, such as white-water rafting.

2 [attr.] furthest from the centre or a given point: the extreme north-west of Scotland.

■ n. 1 either of two abstract things that are as different from each other as possible: we represented opposite extremes of college society—he a member of the Old Guard, I one of the radicals.

- the highest or most extreme degree of something: extremes of temperature.

- a very severe or serious measure: the extreme of applying for poor relief.

2 [LOGIC] the subject or predicate in a proposition, or the major or minor term in a syllogism (as contrasted with the middle term).

<PHRASES>

□ extremes meet PROVERB opposite extremes have much in common.

□ go (or take something) to extremes take an extreme course of action; do something to an extreme degree: they took a commendable anti-ageist policy to extremes.

□ in the extreme to an extreme degree.

<DERIVATIVES> extremeness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin extremus ‘outermost, utmost’, superlative of exterus ‘outer’.

extremely adv. [as submodifier] to a very great degree; very: this is an extremely difficult thing to do.

extreme unction n. [mass noun] (in the Roman Catholic Church) a former name for the sacrament of anointing of the sick, especially when administered to the dying.

extremism n. [mass noun] the holding of extreme political or religious views; fanaticism: the dangers of religious extremism.

extremist n. chiefly DEROGATORY a person who holds extreme political or religious views, especially one who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action: right-wing extremists | [as modifier] extremist groups.

extremity /kstrεmti εk-/ n. (pl. extremities) 1 the furthest point or limit of something: the peninsula's western extremity.

- (extremities) the hands and feet: tingling and numbness in the extremities.

2 [mass noun] the degree to which something is extreme: the extremity of the violence concerns us.

- a condition of extreme adversity: the terror of an animal in extremity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French extremite or Latin extremitas, from extremus ‘utmost’ (see EXTREME).

extremophile /εkstrεməfl/ n. [BIOLOGY] a micro-organism, especially an archaean, that lives in conditions of extreme temperature, acidity, alkalinity, or chemical concentration.

extremum /kstriməm εk-/ n. (pl. extremums or extrema) [usually as modifier] [MATHEMATICS] the maximum or minimum value of a function.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin, neuter of extremus ‘utmost’ (see EXTREME).

extricate /εkstrket/ v. [with obj.] free (someone or something) from a constraint or difficulty: he was trying to extricate himself from official duties.

<DERIVATIVES> extricable adj. extrication n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘unravel, untangle’): from Latin extricat- ‘unravelled’, from the verb extricare, from ex- ‘out’ + tricae ‘perplexities’.

extrinsic /kstrnsk εk-/ adj. 1 not part of the essential nature of someone or something; coming or operating from outside: a complex interplay of extrinsic and intrinsic factors | reasons extrinsic to the music itself.

2 (of a muscle, such as an eye muscle) having its origin some distance from the part which it moves.

<DERIVATIVES> extrinsically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘outward’): from late Latin extrinsecus ‘outward’, from Latin extrinsecus ‘outwardly’, based on exter ‘outer’; the ending was altered under the influence of -IC.

extropy /εkstrəpi/ n. [mass noun] the pseudoscientific principle that life will expand indefinitely and in an orderly, progressive way throughout the entire universe by the means of human intelligence and technology.

<DERIVATIVES> extropian adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from EX-1 ‘out’ + a shortened form of ENTROPY.

extrorse /εkstrs/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] turned outwards. The opposite of INTRORSE.

- (of anthers) releasing their pollen on the outside of the flower.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from late Latin extrorsus ‘outwards’ (adverb).

extrovert /εkstrəvət/ (also extravert) n. an outgoing, socially confident person.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] a person predominantly concerned with external things or objective considerations. Compare with INTROVERT.

■ adj. relating to, denoting, or typical of an extrovert: his extrovert personality made him the ideal host.

<DERIVATIVES> extroversion n. extroverted adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from extro- (variant of EXTRA-, on the pattern of intro-) + Latin vertere ‘to turn’.

<USAGE> The original spelling extravert is now rare in general use but is found in technical use in psychology.

extrude /kstrud εk-/ v. [with obj.] thrust or force out: lava was being extruded from the volcano.

- shape (a material such as metal or plastic) by forcing it through a die.

<DERIVATIVES> extrudable adj. extrusile adj. extrusion n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin extrudere, from ex- ‘out’ + trudere ‘to thrust’.

extrusive adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting rock that has been extruded at the earth's surface as lava or other volcanic deposits.

exuberance /z(j)ub(ə)r(ə)ns ε-/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being full of energy, excitement, and cheerfulness; ebullience: a sense of youthful exuberance.

- the quality of growing profusely; luxuriance: houseplants growing with wild exuberance.

exuberant /z(j)ub(ə)r(ə)nt ε-/ adj. full of energy, excitement, and cheerfulness: a noisy bunch of exuberant youngsters.

- characterized by a vigorously imaginative artistic style: exuberant, over-the-top sculptures.

- LITERARY growing luxuriantly or profusely: exuberant foliage.

<DERIVATIVES> exuberantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘overflowing, abounding’): from French exubérant, from Latin exuberant- ‘being abundantly fruitful’, from the verb exuberare (based on uber ‘fertile’).

exudate /εzjdet/ n. 1 MEDICINE a mass of cells and fluid that has seeped out of blood vessels or an organ, especially in inflammation.

2 [BOTANY] & [ENTOMOLOGY] a substance secreted by a plant or insect.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin exsudat- ‘exuded’, from the verb exsudare.

exude /zjud ε-/ v. 1 (with reference to moisture or a smell) discharge or be discharged slowly and steadily: [with obj.] the beetle exudes a caustic liquid | [no obj.] slime exudes from the fungus.

2 [with obj.] (of a person) display (an emotion or quality) strongly and openly: Sir Thomas exuded goodwill.

- (of a place) have a strong atmosphere of: the building exudes an air of tranquillity.

<DERIVATIVES> exudation n. exudative /zjudətv ε-/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin exsudare, from ex- ‘out’ + sudare ‘to sweat’.

exult v. [no obj.] show or feel triumphant elation or jubilation: exulting in her escape, Lisa closed the door behind her.

<DERIVATIVES> exultingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin exsultare, frequentative of exsilire ‘leap up’, from ex- ‘out, upward’ + salire ‘to leap’.

exultant adj. triumphantly happy: he waved to the exultant crowds.

<DERIVATIVES> exultancy n. exultantly adv.

exultation n. [mass noun] a feeling of triumphant elation or jubilation; rejoicing: she laughs in exultation.

Exuma Cays /ksumə/ a group of some 350 small islands in the Bahamas.

exurb /εksəb/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a prosperous area beyond a city's suburbs.

<DERIVATIVES> exurban adj. exurbanite n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> 1955: coined by A. C. Spectorsky (1919–72), American author, either from Latin ex ‘out of’ + urbs ‘city’, or as a back-formation from the earlier adjective exurban.

exurbia /εksəbə/ n. [mass noun] the exurbs collectively; the area beyond the suburbs.

<ORIGIN> 1955

■ (originally US, see EXURB) ‘out of’ + -urbia, on the pattern of suburbia.

exuviae /zjuvi ε-/ plural n. [also treated as sing.] [ZOOLOGY] the cast or sloughed skin of an animal, especially of an insect larva.

<DERIVATIVES> exuvial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘animal skins, spoils of the enemy’, from exuere ‘divest oneself of’.

exuviate /zjuvet ε-/ v. [with obj.] TECHNICAL shed (a skin or shell).

<DERIVATIVES> exuviation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from EXUVIAE + -ATE^3.

ex-voto /εks vətə/ n. (pl. ex-votos) an offering given in order to fulfil a vow.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin ex voto ‘from a vow’.

ex-works adj. & adv. BRITISH direct from the factory or place of manufacture.

-ey suffix variant spelling of -y^2 (as in Charley, Limey).

eyas /əs/ n. (pl. eyasses) a young hawk, especially (in falconry) an unfledged nestling taken from the nest for training.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (originally nyas): from French niais, based on Latin nidus ‘nest’. The initial n was lost by wrong division of a nyas; compare with adder^1.

eye n. 1 each of a pair of globular organs of sight in the head of humans and vertebrate animals: my cat is blind in one eye | closing her eyes, she tried to relax.

- the corresponding visual or light-detecting organ of many invertebrate animals.

- the region of the face surrounding the eyes: her eyes were swollen with crying.

- used to refer to someone's power of vision and in descriptions of the direction of someone's gaze: his sharp eyes had missed nothing | I couldn't take my eyes off her.

- used to refer to someone's opinion or attitude towards something: in the eyes of his younger colleagues, Mr Arnett was an eccentric | to European eyes, it may seem that the city is overcrowded.

The basic components of the vertebrate eye are a transparent cornea, an adjustable iris, a lens for focusing, a sensitive retina lining the back of the eye, and a clear fluid- or jelly-filled centre. The most primitive animals only have one or two eyespots, while many other invertebrates have several simple eyes or a pair of compound eyes.

2 a thing resembling an eye in appearance, shape, or relative position, in particular:

- a rounded eye-like marking on an animal, such as those on the tail of a peacock; an eyespot.

- a round, dark spot on a potato from which a new shoot can grow.

- the centre of a flower, especially when distinctively coloured.

- (also eye of the storm or eye of the hurricane) the calm region at the centre of a storm or hurricane.

- (eyes) [NAUTICAL] the extreme forward part of a ship.

3 the small hole in a needle through which the thread is passed.

- a small metal loop into which a hook is fitted as a fastener on a garment.

- [NAUTICAL] a loop at the end of a rope, especially one at the top end of a shroud or stay.

4 S. AFRICAN the source of a spring or river.

■ v. (eyes, eyeing or eying, eyed) [with obj.] look at closely or with interest: Rose eyed him warily.

- (eye someone up) INFORMAL look at someone in a way that reveals a particular, especially sexual, interest: Margot saw the women eyeing up her boyfriend.

<PHRASES>

□ all eyes are on —— used to convey that a particular person or thing is currently the focus of public interest: over the next few weeks all eyes will be on the pound.

□ be all eyes be watching eagerly and attentively.

□ before (or in front of or under) one's (very) eyes right in front of one (used for emphasis): he saw his life's work destroyed before his very eyes.

□ clap (or lay or set) eyes on INFORMAL see: I'd never clapped eyes on the guy before.

□ close (or shut) one's eyes to refuse to acknowledge (something unpleasant): he couldn't close his eyes to the truth—he had cancer.

□ an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth used to refer to the belief that retaliation in kind is the appropriate way to deal with an offence or crime. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Exod. 21: 24.]

□ the eye of the wind (also the wind's eye) the direction from which the wind is blowing.

□ eyes front (or left or right) a military command to turn the head in the direction stated.

□ eyes out on stalks used to emphasize the extreme degree of someone's eager curiosity.

□ a ——'s-eye view a view from the position or standpoint of a ——: seeing a story from a child's-eye view. See also BIRD'S-EYE VIEW, WORM'S-EYE VIEW.

□ get (or keep) one's eye in BRITISH become (or remain) able to make good judgements about a task or activity in which one is engaged: I've got my eye in now; I'm landing them just where I want them.

□ give someone the eye INFORMAL look at someone with clear sexual interest.

□ half an eye used in reference to a slight degree of perception or attention: he kept half an eye on the house as he worked.

□ have an eye for be able to recognize, appreciate, and make good judgements about: applicants should have an eye for detail.

□ have (or keep) one's eye on keep under careful observation.

- (have one's eye on) hope or plan to acquire: there was a vacant bishopric which the Dean had his eye on.

□ have (or with) an eye to have (or having) as one's objective: with an eye to transatlantic business, he made a deal in New York.

- consider (or be considering) prudently: the charity must have an eye to the future.

□ have (or with) an eye to (or for or on) the main chance look or be looking for an opportunity to take advantage of a situation for personal gain: a developer with an eye on the main chance.

□ have eyes bigger than one's stomach (or belly) have asked for or taken more food than one can actually eat.

□ (only) have eyes for be (exclusively) interested in or attracted to: he has eyes for no one but you.

□ have eyes in the back of one's head know what is going on around one even when one cannot see it.

□ hit someone in the eye (or between the eyes) INFORMAL be very obvious or impressive: he wouldn't notice talent if it hit him right between the eyes.

□ keep an eye on keep under careful observation.

□ keep an eye out (or open) look out for something with particular attention.

□ keep one's eyes open (or peeled or British skinned) be on the alert; watch carefully or vigilantly for something.

□ make eyes at someone look at someone with clear sexual interest.

□ more to someone/thing than meets the eye see meet^1.

□ my eye (or all my eye and Betty Martin) British informal® dated used to indicate surprise or disbelief. [<ORIGIN> said to be originally nautical slang.]

□ one in the eye for a disappointment or setback for (someone or something): this success for Manchester is one in the eye for London.

□ open someone's eyes cause someone to realize or discover something: the letter finally opened my eyes to the truth.

□ pull the WOOL over someone's eyes see WOOL.

□ see eye to eye be in full agreement: the boss and I do not always see eye to eye.

□ turn a BLIND eye see BLIND.

□ a twinkle (or gleam) in someone's eye something that is as yet no more than an idea or dream: the scheme is only a gleam in the developer's eye.

□ up to the (or one's) eyes (in) INFORMAL extremely busy.

- used to emphasize the extreme degree of an unpleasant situation: the council is up to its eyes in debt.

□ what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over PROVERB if you're unaware of an unpleasant fact or situation you can't be troubled by it.

□ with one's eyes open fully aware of the possible difficulties or consequences: I went into this job with my eyes open.

□ with one's eyes shut (or closed) 1 without having to make much effort; easily.

2 without considering the possible difficulties or consequences: she didn't go to Hollywood with her eyes closed.

□ with one eye on giving some but not all one's attention to: I sat with one eye on the clock, waiting for my turn.

<DERIVATIVES> eyed adj. [in combination] a brown-eyed girl eyeless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English ēage, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch oog and German Auge.

eyeball n. the round part of the eye of a vertebrate, within the eyelids and socket.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL look or stare at closely: we eyeballed one another.

<PHRASES>

□ eyeball to eyeball face to face with someone, especially in an aggressive way.

□ give someone the hairy eyeball NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL stare at someone in a disapproving or angry way, especially with one's eyelids partially lowered.

□ up to the (or one's) eyeballs INFORMAL used to emphasize the extreme degree of an undesirable situation: he's up to his eyeballs in debt.

eyebath n. BRITISH a small container used for applying cleansing solutions to the eye.

eyeblack n. old-fashioned term for MASCARA.

eye bolt n. a bolt or bar with an eye at the end for attaching a hook or ring to.

eyebright n. [mass noun] a small white-flowered plant of dry fields and heaths, traditionally used as a remedy for eye problems.

<INFO> Genus Euphrasia, family Scrophulariaceae: several species.

eyebrow n. the strip of hair growing on the ridge above a person's eye socket.

<PHRASES>

□ raise one's eyebrows (or an eyebrow) show surprise or mild disapproval.

eyebrow pencil n. a cosmetic pencil for defining or accentuating the eyebrows.

eye candy n. [mass noun] INFORMAL visual images that are superficially attractive and entertaining but intellectually undemanding: this movie looks like tasty eye candy.

eye-catching adj. immediately appealing or noticeable; striking: an eye-catching poster.

<DERIVATIVES> eye-catcher n. eye-catchingly adv.

eye contact n. [mass noun] the state in which two people are aware of looking directly into one another's eyes: make eye contact with your interviewers.

eyecup n. 1 a piece of an optical device such as a microscope, camera, or pair of binoculars which is contoured to provide a comfortable rest against the user's eye.

2 another term for OPTIC CUP.

3 North American term for EYEBATH.

eyeful n. [in sing.] INFORMAL 1 a long steady look at something.

- an eye-catching person or thing: she was quite an eyeful.

2 a quantity or piece of something thrown or blown into the eye: an eyeful of woodworm fluid.

eyeglass n. a single lens for correcting or assisting defective eyesight, especially a monocle.

- (eyeglasses) North American another term for GLASSES.

■ another term for EYEPIECE.

eyehole n. a hole to look through.

eyelash n. each of the short curved hairs growing on the edges of the eyelids, serving to protect the eyes from dust.

eyelet n. 1 a small round hole in leather or cloth for threading a lace, string, or rope through.

- a metal ring used to reinforce such a hole.

- a small hole ornamented with stitching around its edge, used as a form of decoration in embroidery.

2 a small hole or slit in a wall for looking through.

■ v. (eyelets, eyeleting, eyeleted) [with obj.] make eyelets in (fabric).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English oilet, from Old French oillet, diminutive of oil ‘eye’, from Latin oculus. The change in the first syllable in the 17th century was due to association with EYE.

eye level n. [mass noun] the level of the eyes looking straight ahead: pictures hung at eye level.

eyelid n. each of the upper and lower folds of skin which cover the eye when closed.

eyeline n. a person's line of sight.

eyeliner n. [mass noun] a cosmetic applied as a line round the eyes to accentuate them.

eye-opener n. INFORMAL 1 an event or situation that proves to be unexpectedly enlightening: a visit to the docks can be a fascinating eye-opener.

2 NORTH AMERICAN an alcoholic drink taken early in the day.

<DERIVATIVES> eye-opening adj.

eyepatch n. a patch worn to protect an injured eye.

eye pencil n. a cosmetic pencil for defining or accentuating the eyes.

eyepiece n. the lens or group of lenses that is closest to the eye in a microscope, telescope, or other optical instrument. Also called OCULAR.

eye-popping adj. INFORMAL astonishingly large, impressive, or blatant: the company has doubled its assets to an eye-popping $113 billion.

eye rhyme n. a similarity between words in spelling but not in pronunciation, for example love and move.

eyeshade n. a translucent visor used to protect the eyes from strong light.

eyeshadow n. [mass noun] a coloured cosmetic applied to the eyelids or to the skin around the eyes to accentuate them.

eyeshot n. [mass noun] the distance for which one can see: he is within eyeshot.

eyesight n. [mass noun] a person's ability to see: poor eyesight ended his plans for a naval career.

eye socket n. the cavity in the skull which encloses an eyeball with its surrounding muscles. Also called ORBIT.

eyesore n. a thing that is very ugly, especially a building.

eye splice n. a splice made by turning the end of a rope back on itself and interlacing the strands, thereby forming a loop.

eyespot n. 1 [ZOOLOGY] a light-sensitive pigmented spot on the bodies of invertebrates such as flatworms, starfishes, and microscopic crustaceans, and also in some unicellular organisms.

2 a rounded eye-like marking on an animal, especially on the wing of a butterfly or moth.

3 [mass noun] a fungal disease of cereals and other cultivated grasses, characterized by yellowish oval spots on the leaves and stems.

<INFO> The fungus is typically Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides, subdivision Deuteromycotina.

eyestalk n. [ZOOLOGY] a movable stalk that bears an eye near its tip, especially in crabs, shrimps, and related crustaceans, and in some molluscs.

eye strain n. [mass noun] fatigue of the eyes, such as that caused by reading or looking at a computer screen for too long.

Eyetie /t/ adj. & n. (pl. Eyeties) BRITISH INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE Italian or an Italian.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: abbreviation of 19th-cent. Eyetalian, representing a humorous pronunciation of Italian.

eye tooth n. a canine tooth, especially one in the upper jaw.

<PHRASES>

□ give one's eye teeth for (or to be) do anything in order to have or be something: many women would give their eye teeth to be married to him.

eyewash n. [mass noun] 1 cleansing lotion for a person's eye.

2 INFORMAL insincere talk; nonsense: all that stuff about blood being thicker than water was a lot of eyewash.

eyewater n. [mass noun] LITERARY or W. INDIAN water secreted by the eyes; tears.

eyewear n. [mass noun] things worn on the eyes, such as spectacles and contact lenses.

eyewitness n. a person who has seen something happen and can give a first-hand description of it: [as modifier] eyewitness accounts of the London blitz.

eye worm n. either of two parasitic nematode worms which affect the eyes of mammals:

<INFO>

- a filarial worm of equatorial Africa, infesting humans and other primates, causing loiasis and sometimes passing across the cornea (Loa loa, class Phasmida).

- a nematode that occurs in the region of the eyelid and tear duct, found chiefly in hoofed mammals (genus Thelazia, class Phasmida).

eyot /eət/ n. another term for AIT.

eyra /erə/ n. a reddish-brown form of the jaguarundi (cat).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish, from Tupi eirara, irara.

Eyre /ε/ Edward John (1815–1901), British-born Australian explorer and colonial statesman. He undertook explorations in the interior deserts of Australia (1840–1) and later served as Lieutenant Governor of New Zealand and Governor of Jamaica.

eyre /ε/ n. HISTORICAL a circuit court held in medieval England by a judge (a justice in eyre) who rode from county to county.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French eire, from Latin iter ‘journey’.

Eyre, Lake a lake in South Australia, Australia's largest salt lake.

<ORIGIN> named after the explorer E. J.

■ Eyre.

eyrie /əri ri εri/ (NORTH AMERICAN also aerie) n. a large nest of an eagle or other bird of prey, built high in a tree or on a cliff.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from medieval Latin aeria, aerea, eyria, probably from Old French aire, from Latin area ‘level piece of ground’, in late Latin ‘nest of a bird of prey’.

eyrir /erir/ n. (pl. aurar /ørar/) a monetary unit of Iceland, equal to one hundredth of a krona.

<ORIGIN> Icelandic, from Old Norse, literally ‘ounce (of silver etc.), money’, probably from Latin aureus ‘golden, a golden coin’.

Eysenck /sεk/ Hans (Jürgen) (1916–97), German-born British psychologist. He was noted for his strong criticism of Freudian psychoanalysis and for his ideas concerning the assessment of intelligence and personality (published in Race, Intelligence, and Education, 1971).

Ezek. abbr. Ezekiel (in biblical references).

Ezekiel /zikəl/ a Hebrew prophet of the 6th century BC who prophesied the forthcoming destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation and inspired hope for the future well-being of a restored state.

- a book of the Bible containing his prophecies.

e-zine n. a magazine only published in electronic form on a computer network.

Ezra /εzrə/ a Jewish priest and scribe who played a central part in the reform of Judaism in the 5th or 4th century BC, continuing the work of Nehemiah and forbidding mixed marriages.

- a book of the Bible telling of Ezra, the return of the Jews from Babylon, and the rebuilding of the Temple.

F^1 (also f) n. (pl. Fs or F's) 1 the sixth letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the next after E in a set of items, categories, etc.

- the sixth highest or lowest class of academic marks (also used to represent ‘Fail’).

- (f) [CHESS] denoting the sixth file from the left, as viewed from White's side of the board.

2 (usually F) [MUSIC] the fourth note of the diatonic scale of C major.

- a key based on a scale with F as its keynote.

F^2 abbr.

- Fahrenheit: 60°F.

- farad(s).

- [CHEMISTRY] faraday(s).

- (in racing results) favourite.

- female.

- fighter (in designations of US aircraft types): the F117 Stealth fighter.

- [BIOLOGY] filial generation.

- BRITISH fine (used in describing grades of pencil lead): an F pencil.

- (in motor racing) formula: an F1 driver.

- franc(s).

- France (international vehicle registration).

- (in tables of sports results) goals or points for.

■ symbol

- the chemical element fluorine.

- [PHYSICS] force: F=ma.

f abbr.

- [GRAMMAR] feminine.

- [in combination] (in units of measurement) femto- (10−15).

- (in textual references) folio.

- [MUSIC] forte.

- (in racing results) furlong(s).

- [CHEMISTRY] denoting electrons and orbitals possessing three units of angular momentum: f-orbitals. [<ORIGIN> f from fundamental, originally applied to lines in atomic spectra.]

■ symbol

- focal length: apertures of f/5.6 to f/11. See also F-NUMBER.

- [MATHEMATICS] a function of a specified variable: the value of f(x).

- [ELECTRONICS] frequency.

F_1 (also F1) abbr. [BIOLOGY] the first filial generation, i.e. the generation of hybrids arising from a first cross. The second filial generation is designated F_2 (or F2), and so on.

FA abbr.

■ Fanny Adams (sense 1): sweet FA seems to have been done.

- (in the UK) Football Association.

FAA abbr.

- (in the US) Federal Aviation Administration.

- (in the UK) Fleet Air Arm.

fab^1 adj. INFORMAL fabulous; wonderful.

<PHRASES>

□ the Fab Four the Beatles.

<DERIVATIVES> fabbo adj. fabby adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: abbreviation.

fab^2 [ELECTRONICS] n. a microchip manufacturing plant.

- a process in a microchip manufacturing plant.

■ v. (fabs, fabbing, fabbed) [with obj.] produce (a microchip).

Fabergé /fabəe/ Peter Carl (1846–1920), Russian goldsmith and jeweller, of French descent. He is famous for the intricate Easter eggs that he made for Tsar Alexander III and other royal households.

Fabian /febən/ n. a member or supporter of the Fabian Society, an organization of socialists aiming to achieve socialism by gradual rather than revolutionary means.

■ adj. relating to or characteristic of the Fabians: the Fabian movement.

- employing a cautiously persistent and dilatory strategy to wear out an enemy: Fabian tactics.

<DERIVATIVES> Fabianism n. Fabianist n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the name of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (see FABIUS).

Fabius /febəs/ (d.203 BC), Roman general and statesman; full name Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus; known as Fabius Cunctator. After Hannibal's defeat of the Roman army at Cannae in 216 BC, Fabius successfully pursued a strategy of caution and delay in order to wear down the Carthaginian invaders. This earned him his nickname, which means ‘delayer’.

fable /feb(ə)l/ n. a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.

- a supernatural story incorporating elements of myth and legend.

- [mass noun] myth and legend: the unnatural monsters of fable.

- a false statement or belief.

■ v. [no obj.] ARCHAIC tell fictitious tales: I do not dream nor fable.

- [with obj.] invent (an incident, person, or story).

<DERIVATIVES> fabler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fable (noun), from Latin fabula ‘story’, from fari ‘speak’.

fabled adj. [attr.] 1 famous, especially by reputation: a fabled art collection.

2 mythical; imaginary: the fabled kingdom.

fabless adj. denoting or relating to a company which designs microchips but contracts out their production rather than owning its own factory.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from FAB^2 + -LESS.

fabliau /fablə/ n. (pl. fabliaux /-əz/) a metrical tale, typically a bawdily humorous one, of a type found chiefly in early French poetry.

<ORIGIN> from Old French (Picard dialect) fabliaux, plural of fablel ‘short fable’, diminutive of fable.

Fablon n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK flexible self-adhesive plastic sheeting used for covering table tops and working surfaces.

Fabre /fabrə/ French /fαbR/ Jean Henri (1823–1915), French entomologist. Fabre became well known for his meticulous observations of insect behaviour, notably the life cycles of dung beetles, oil beetles, and solitary bees and wasps.

fabric n. [mass noun] 1 cloth produced by weaving or knitting textile fibres: heavy cream fabric | [count noun] stretch fabrics.

2 the walls, floor, and roof of a building.

- the body of a car or aircraft.

- the basic structure of a society, culture, activity, etc.: the multicultural fabric of Canadian society.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French fabrique, from Latin fabrica ‘something skilfully produced’, from faber ‘worker in metal, stone, etc.’ The word originally denoted a building, later a machine, the general sense being ‘something made’, hence sense 1 (mid 18th century, originally denoting any manufactured material).

■ Sense 2 dates from the mid 17th cent.

fabricate v. [with obj.] 1 invent (something) in order to deceive: officers fabricated evidence.

2 construct or manufacture (an industrial product), especially from prepared components: you will have to fabricate an exhaust system.

<DERIVATIVES> fabricator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fabricat- ‘manufactured’, from the verb fabricare, from fabrica ‘something skilfully produced’ (see FABRIC).

fabrication n. [mass noun] the action or process of manufacturing or inventing something: the assembly and fabrication of electronic products.

- [count noun] an invention; a lie: the story was a complete fabrication.

Fabricius /fabrəs/ Johann Christian (1745–1808), Danish entomologist. Fabricius studied for two years under Linnaeus, and named and described some 10,000 new species of insect.

Fabry–Pérot interferometer /fabrpεrə/ n. an interferometer that incorporates an etalon, used chiefly in astronomy.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Charles Fabry (1867–1945) and Alfred Pérot (1863–1925), French physicists.

fabulate /fabjlet/ v. [no obj.] relate invented stories.

<DERIVATIVES> fabulation n. fabulator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin fabulat- ‘narrated as a fable’, from the verb fabulari, from fabula (see FABLE).

fabulist n. a person who composes or relates fables.

- a liar, especially one who invents elaborately dishonest stories.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French fabuliste, from Latin fabula (see FABLE).

fabulous adj. 1 extraordinary, especially extraordinarily large: fabulous riches.

- INFORMAL very good; wonderful: a fabulous two-week holiday.

2 having no basis in reality; mythical: fabulous creatures.

<DERIVATIVES> fabulosity n. fabulously adv. [as submodifier] a fabulously wealthy man fabulousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘known through fable’): from French fabuleux or Latin fabulosus ‘celebrated in fable’, from fabula (see FABLE).

facade /fəsαd/ (also façade) n. 1 the principal front of a building, that faces on to a street or open space.

2 a deceptive outward appearance: her flawless public facade masked private despair.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French façade, from face ‘face’, on the pattern of Italian facciata.

face n. 1 the front part of a person's head from the forehead to the chin, or the corresponding part in an animal.

- an expression shown on the face: the happy faces of these children.

- an aspect of something: the unacceptable face of social drinking.

2 the surface of a thing, especially one that is presented to the view or has a particular function, in particular:

- [GEOMETRY] each of the surfaces of a solid.

- a vertical or sloping side of a mountain or cliff: the north face of the Eiger.

- the side of a planet or moon facing the observer.

- the front of a building.

- the plate of a clock or watch bearing the digits or hands.

- the distinctive side of a playing card.

- the obverse of a coin.

3 [with adj.] a person of a particular type: this season's squad has a lot of old faces in it.

4 short for TYPEFACE.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 be positioned with the face or front towards (someone or something): he turned to face her.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] have the face or front pointing in a specified direction: the house faces due east.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a soldier) turn in a particular direction: the men had faced about to the front.

2 confront and deal with or accept: honesty forced her to face facts | [no obj.] he was too old to face up to the responsibilities of his position.

- have (a difficult situation) in prospect: each defendant faced a maximum sentence of 10 years.

- (of a problem or difficult situation) present itself to and require action from (someone): the difficulties facing British farming.

- (face someone/thing down) overcome someone or something by a show of determination: he climbed atop a tank to face down a coup.

- [no obj.] (face off) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN take up an attitude of confrontation, especially at the start of a fight or game: close to a million soldiers face off in the desert.

3 cover the surface of (something) with a layer of a different material: the external basement walls were faced with granite slabs.

<PHRASES>

□ face down (or downwards) with the face or surface turned towards the ground: he lay face down on his bed.

□ someone's face fits BRITISH someone has the necessary qualities for something: if your face didn't fit they could get rid of you within twelve months.

□ face the music be confronted with the unpleasant consequences of one's actions.

□ the face of the earth used for emphasis, to refer to the existence or disappearance of someone or something: he's just disappeared off the face of the earth.

□ face up (or upwards) with the face or surface turned upwards to view: place the panel face up before cutting.

□ get out of someone's face [usually as imperative] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL stop harassing or annoying someone.

□ have the face to do something BRITISH DATED have the effrontery to do something.

□ in one's face directly at or against one; as one approaches: she slammed the door in my face.

□ in face (or the face) of when confronted with: her resolution in the face of the enemy.

- despite: reform had been introduced in the face of considerable opposition.

□ in-your-face INFORMAL blatantly aggressive or provocative; impossible to ignore or avoid: an in-your-face advertising campaign.

□ lose face be humiliated or come to be less highly respected.

□ loss of face humiliation.

□ make (or pull) a face (or faces) produce a facial expression that shows dislike or some other negative emotion, or that is intended to be amusing: Anna pulled a funny face at the girl.

□ off one's face INFORMAL very drunk or under the influence of illegal drugs.

□ on the face of it without knowing all of the relevant facts; apparently: on the face of it, these improvements look to be insignificant.

□ put a brave (or bold) face on something act as if something unpleasant is not as bad as it really is: he was putting a brave face on it but she knew he was shattered.

□ put one's face on INFORMAL apply make-up to one's face.

□ save face avoid humiliation.

□ save someone's face enable someone to avoid humiliation.

□ set one's face against resist with determination: he had set his face against the idea.

□ throw something back in someone's face reject something in a brusque or ungracious manner: she'd given him her trust and he'd thrown it back in her face.

□ to one's face openly in one's presence: if you've got something to say to me, say it to my face.

<DERIVATIVES> faced adj. [in combination] red-faced

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, based on Latin facies ‘form, appearance, face’.

faceache n. BRITISH INFORMAL an ugly or miserable-looking person.

face card n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for COURT CARD.

face-centred adj. denoting a crystal structure in which there is an atom at each vertex and at the centre of each face of the unit cell.

facecloth n. a small towelling cloth for washing one's face.

- [mass noun] BRITISH smooth-surfaced woollen cloth.

face cream n. [mass noun] cosmetic cream applied to the face to improve the complexion.

face flannel n. BRITISH a facecloth.

faceless adj. (of a person) remote and impersonal; anonymous: the faceless bureaucrats who made the rules.

- (of a building or place) characterless and dull.

<DERIVATIVES> facelessness n.

facelift n. a cosmetic surgical operation to remove unwanted wrinkles by tightening the skin of the face.

- a procedure carried out to improve the appearance of something: the station has undergone a multimillion pound facelift.

face mask n. 1 a protective mask covering the nose and mouth or nose and eyes.

2 another term for FACE PACK.

face-off n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a direct confrontation between two people or groups: a face-off for the championship title.

- [ICE HOCKEY] the start of play, in which the puck is dropped by the referee between two opposing players.

face pack n. BRITISH a cosmetic preparation spread over the face and left for some time to cleanse and improve the condition of the skin.

face paint n. [mass noun] bold-coloured paint used to decorate the face.

<DERIVATIVES> face-painter n. face-painting n.

faceplate n. 1 an enlarged end or attachment on the end of the mandrel on a lathe, with slots and holes on which work can be mounted.

2 the transparent window of a diver's or astronaut's helmet.

3 the part of a cathode ray tube that carries the phosphor screen.

4 a plate protecting a piece of machinery.

face powder n. [mass noun] flesh-tinted cosmetic powder used to improve the appearance of the face by reducing shine and concealing blemishes.

facer n. INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH a blow to the face.

- a sudden difficulty.

face-saving n. [mass noun] the preserving of one's reputation, credibility, or dignity.

<DERIVATIVES> face-saver n.

facet /fast -εt/ n. 1 one side of something many-sided, especially of a cut gem.

2 a particular aspect or feature of something: a philosophy that extends to all facets of the business.

3 [ZOOLOGY] any of the individual units (ommatidia) that make up the compound eye of an insect or crustacean.

<DERIVATIVES> faceted adj. [in combination] a multifaceted approach

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French facette, diminutive of face ‘face, side’ (see FACE).

facetiae /fəsii/ plural n. 1 DATED pornographic literature.

2 ARCHAIC humorous or witty sayings.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin, plural of facetia ‘jest’, from facetus ‘witty’.

face time n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL time spent in face-to-face contact with someone.

- time spent being filmed or photographed by the media.

facetious /fəsiəs/ adj. treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humour; flippant: a facetious remark.

<DERIVATIVES> facetiously adv. facetiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the general sense ‘witty, amusing’): from French facétieux, from facétie, from Latin facetia ‘jest’, from facetus ‘witty’.

face-to-face adj. & adv. (of two people) close together and facing each other: [as adj.] a face-to-face conversation | [as adv.] the two men stood face-to-face.

- [as adv.] in direct confrontation: he brings his readers face-to-face with situations they would rather not confront.

facety /festi/ adj. W. INDIAN rude, arrogant, or excessively bold.

<ORIGIN> probably from obsolete English facey, perhaps influenced by FEISTY.

face validity n. [mass noun] the degree to which a procedure, especially a psychological test or assessment, appears effective in terms of its stated aims.

face value n. the value printed or depicted on a coin, banknote, postage stamp, ticket, etc., especially when less than the actual value.

- the apparent worth or implication of something: her lie was unconvincing, but he took it at face value.

faceworker n. a miner who works at the coalface.

facial /fe(ə)l/ adj. of or affecting the face: facial expressions.

■ n. a beauty treatment for the face.

<DERIVATIVES> facially adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a theological term meaning ‘face to face, open’): from medieval Latin facialis, from facies (see FACE). The current sense of the adjective dates from the early 19th cent.

facialist /fe(ə)lst/ n. a person who gives facials and other beauty treatments for the face.

facial nerve n. [ANATOMY] each of the seventh pair of cranial nerves, supplying the facial muscles and the tongue.

-facient combining form producing a specified action or state: abortifacient.

<ORIGIN> from Latin facient- ‘doing, making’.

facies /feiz/ n. (pl. same) 1 MEDICINE the facial expression of an individual that is typical of a particular disease or condition.

2 [GEOLOGY] the character of a rock expressed by its formation, composition, and fossil content.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting the face): from Latin, ‘form, appearance, face’.

facile /fasl -sl/ adj. 1 ignoring the true complexities of an issue; superficial: facile generalizations.

- (of a person) having a superficial or simplistic knowledge or approach: a man of facile and shallow intellect.

2 (of success, especially in sport) easily achieved: a facile seven-lengths victory.

<DERIVATIVES> facilely adv. facileness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘easily accomplished’): from French, or from Latin facilis ‘easy’, from facere ‘do, make’.

facilitate /fəsltet/ v. [with obj.] make (an action or process) easy or easier: schools were located in the same campus to facilitate the sharing of resources.

<DERIVATIVES> facilitative adj. facilitator n. facilitatory adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French faciliter, from Italian facilitare, from facile ‘easy’, from Latin facilis (see FACILE).

facilitation n. [mass noun] the action of facilitating something.

- [PHYSIOLOGY] the enhancement of the response of a neuron to a stimulus following prior stimulation.

facility n. (pl. facilities) 1 a place, amenity, or piece of equipment provided for a particular purpose: cooking facilities | facilities for car parking | a manufacturing facility.

- a special feature of a service or machine, which offers the opportunity to do or benefit from something: an overdraft facility.

2 [usually in sing.] a natural ability to do or learn something well and easily: he had a facility for languages.

- [mass noun] absence of difficulty or effort: the pianist played with great facility.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting the means or unimpeded opportunity for doing something): from French facilité or Latin facilitas, from facilis ‘easy’ (see FACILE).

facing n. 1 a piece of material sewn on the inside of a garment, especially at the neck and armholes, to strengthen it.

- (facings) the cuffs, collar, and lapels of a military jacket, contrasting in colour with the rest of the garment.

2 an outer layer covering the surface of a wall.

■ adj. [attr.] positioned so as to face: two facing pages | [in combination] a south-facing garden.

facsimile /faksmli/ n. an exact copy, especially of written or printed material.

■ another term for fax^1.

■ v. (facsimiles, facsimileing, facsimiled) [with obj.] make a copy of.

<PHRASES>

□ in facsimile as an exact copy.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally as fac simile, denoting the making of an exact copy, especially of writing): modern Latin, from Latin fac! (imperative of facere ‘make’) and simile (neuter of similis ‘like’).

fact n. a thing that is known or proved to be true: the most commonly known fact about hedgehogs is that they have fleas | [mass noun] a body of fact.

- (facts) information used as evidence or as part of a report or news article.

- (the fact that) used to refer to a particular situation under discussion: despite the fact that I'm so tired, sleep is elusive.

- [mass noun] chiefly [LAW] the truth about events as opposed to interpretation: there was a question of fact as to whether they had received the letter.

<PHRASES>

□ before (or after) the fact before (or after) the committing of a crime: an accessory before the fact.

□ facts and figures precise details.

□ a fact of life something that must be accepted and cannot be changed, however unpalatable: baldness is a fact of life for a lot of men.

□ the facts of life information about sexual functions and practices, especially as given to children.

□ the fact of the matter the truth.

□ in (point of) fact used to emphasize the truth of an assertion, especially one opposite to what might be expected or what has been asserted: the brook trout is in fact a char.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin factum, neuter past participle of facere ‘do’. The original sense was ‘an act’, later ‘a crime’, surviving in the phrase before (or after) the fact. The earliest of the current senses (‘truth, reality’) dates from the late 16th cent.

fact-finding adj. [attr.] (especially of a committee or its activity) having the purpose of establishing the facts of an issue: a fact-finding mission.

<DERIVATIVES> factfinder n.

facticity /faktsti/ n. [mass noun] the quality or condition of being fact: the facticity of death.

faction^1 n. a small organized dissenting group within a larger one, especially in politics: the left-wing faction of the party.

- [mass noun] dissension within an organization.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting the action of doing or making something): via French from Latin factio(n-), from facere ‘do, make’.

faction^2 n. [mass noun] a literary and cinematic genre in which real events are used as a basis for a FICTIONal narrative or dramatization.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of FACT and fiction.

-faction combining form in nouns of action derived from verbs ending in -fy (such as liquefaction from liquefy).

<ORIGIN> from Latin factio(n)-, from facere ‘do, make’.

factional adj. relating or belonging to a faction: factional leaders.

- characterized by dissent: factional conflicts.

<DERIVATIVES> factionalism n. factionally adv.

factionalize (also factionalise) v. [no obj.] (especially of a political party or other organized group) split or divide into factions: there was a tendency for students to factionalize.

factious /fakəs/ adj. relating or inclined to dissension: a factious country.

<DERIVATIVES> factiously adv. factiousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French factieux or Latin factiosus, from factio (see faction^1).

factitious /faktəs/ adj. artificially created or developed: a largely factitious national identity.

<DERIVATIVES> factitiously adv. factitiousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the general sense ‘made by human skill or effort’): from Latin facticius ‘made by art’, from facere ‘do, make’.

factitive /fakttv/ adj. [LINGUISTICS] (of a verb) having a sense of causing a result and taking a complement as well as an object, as in he appointed me captain.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin factitivus, formed irregularly from Latin factitare, frequentative of facere ‘do, make’.

factive adj. [LINGUISTICS] denoting a verb that assigns the status of an established fact to its object (normally a clausal object), e.g. know, regret, resent. Contrasted with CONTRAFACTIVE, NON-FACTIVE.

factoid n. an item of unreliable information that is reported and repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact.

- NORTH AMERICAN a brief or trivial item of news or information.

factor n. 1 a circumstance, fact, or influence that contributes to a result: his skill was a factor in ensuring that so much was achieved | she worked fast, conscious of the time factor.

- [BIOLOGY] a gene that determines a hereditary characteristic: the Rhesus factor.

2 a number or quantity that when multiplied with another produces a given number or expression.

- [MATHEMATICS] a number or algebraic expression by which another is exactly divisible.

3 a level on a scale of measurement: sun cream with a protection factor of 15.

4 [PHYSIOLOGY] any of a number of substances in the blood, mostly identified by numerals, which are involved in coagulation. See FACTOR VIII.

5 an agent who buys and sells goods on commission.

- a company that buys a manufacturer's invoices at a discount and takes responsibility for collecting the payments due on them.

- SCOTTISH a land agent or steward.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (factor something in/out) include (or exclude) something as a relevant element when making a decision: when the psychological costs are factored in, a different picture will emerge.

2 [MATHEMATICS] another term for FACTORIZE.

3 (of a company) sell (its invoices) to a factor.

<DERIVATIVES> factorable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (meaning ‘doer’, also in the Scots sense ‘agent’): from French facteur or Latin factor, from fact- ‘done’, from the verb facere.

factor VIII (also factor eight) n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] a blood protein (a beta globulin) involved in clotting. A deficiency of this causes one of the main forms of haemophilia.

factorage n. [mass noun] the commission or charges payable to a factor.

factor analysis n. [mass noun] [STATISTICS] a process in which the values of observed data are expressed as functions of a number of possible causes in order to find which are the most important.

factor cost n. the cost of an item of goods or a service in terms of the various factors which have played a part in its production or availability, and exclusive of tax costs.

factorial n. [MATHEMATICS] the product of an integer and all the integers below it; e.g. factorial four (4!) is equal to 24. (Symbol: !)

- the product of a series of factors in an arithmetical progression.

■ adj. chiefly [MATHEMATICS] relating to a factor or factorial.

<DERIVATIVES> factorially adv.

factorize (also factorise) v. [MATHEMATICS] (with reference to a number) resolve or be resolvable into factors.

<DERIVATIVES> factorization n.

factory n. (pl. factories) 1 a building or group of buildings where goods are manufactured or assembled chiefly by machine.

- [with modifier] FIGURATIVE a person or organization that produces a great quantity of something specified: the group have become a rock-and-roll hit factory.

2 HISTORICAL an establishment for traders carrying on business in a foreign country.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): via Portuguese feitoria from medieval Latin factoria, from Latin factor (see FACTOR).

■ Sense 1 based on late Latin factorium, literally ‘oil press’.

Factory Acts (in the UK) a series of laws regulating the operation of factories, designed to improve the working conditions of employees, especially women and children.

factory farming n. [mass noun] a system of rearing livestock using highly intensive methods, by which poultry, pigs, or cattle are confined indoors under strictly controlled conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> factory farm n.

factory floor n. the workers in a company or industry, rather than the management.

factory ship n. a fishing or whaling ship, or a ship accompanying a fishing or whaling fleet, with facilities for immediate processing of the catch.

factory shop (chiefly NORTH AMERICAN also factory outlet) n. a shop in which goods, especially surplus stock, are sold directly by the manufacturers at a discount.

factotum /faktətəm/ n. (pl. factotums) an employee who does all kinds of work: he was employed as the general factotum.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally in the phrases dominum (or magister factotum), translating roughly as ‘master of everything’, and Johannes factotem ‘John do-it-all’ or ‘Jack of all trades’): from medieval Latin, from Latin fac! ‘do!’ (imperative of facere) + totum ‘the whole thing’ (neuter of totus).

fact sheet n. a paper giving useful information about a particular issue, especially one discussed on a television or radio programme.

factual /faktəl -tjəl/ adj. concerned with what is actually the case: a mixture of comment and factual information.

- actually occurring: cases mentioned are factual.

<DERIVATIVES> factuality n. factually adv. factualness n.

factum /faktəm/ n. (pl. factums or facta) [LAW], chiefly CANADIAN a statement of the facts of a case.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘something done or made’.

facture /faktə/ n. [mass noun] the quality of the execution of a painting; an artist's characteristic handling of the paint: Manet's sensuous facture.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘construction, workmanship’): via Old French from Latin factura ‘formation, manufacture’, from facere ‘do, make’. The current sense dates from the late 19th cent.

facula /fakjlə/ n. (pl. faculae /-li/) a bright region on the surface of the sun, linked to the subsequent appearance of sunspots in the same area.

- a bright spot on the surface of a planet.

<DERIVATIVES> facular adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, diminutive of fax, fac- ‘torch’.

facultative /fak(ə)ltətv/ adj. occurring optionally in response to circumstances rather than by nature.

- [BIOLOGY] capable of but not restricted to a particular function or mode of life: a facultative parasite. Often contrasted with OBLIGATE.

<DERIVATIVES> facultatively adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French facultatif, -ive, from faculté (see FACULTY).

faculty n. (pl. faculties) 1 an inherent mental or physical power: her critical faculties | the faculty of sight.

- an aptitude for doing something: his faculty for taking the initiative.

2 a group of university departments concerned with a major division of knowledge: the Faculty of Arts | the law faculty.

- [in sing.] the teaching or research staff of a group of university departments, or (North American) of a university or college, viewed as a body.

- DATED the members of a particular profession, especially medicine, considered collectively.

3 a licence or authorization from a Church authority.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French faculte, from Latin facultas, from facilis ‘easy’, from facere ‘make, do’.

Faculty of Advocates (in the UK) the society constituting the Scottish Bar.

FA Cup the major annual knockout competition for soccer clubs in England, first held in 1872.

FAD abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] flavin adenine dinucleotide, a coenzyme derived from riboflavin and important in various metabolic reactions.

fad n. an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived; a craze: some regard green politics as no more than the latest fad.

- an arbitrary like or dislike: his fads about the type of coffee he must have.

<DERIVATIVES> faddish adj. faddishly adv. faddishness n. faddism n. faddist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally dialect): probably the second element of fidfad, contraction of FIDDLE-FADDLE. Compare with FADDY.

faddy adj. (faddier, faddiest) BRITISH having many arbitrary and often unusual likes and dislikes about food: a faddy eater.

<DERIVATIVES> faddily adv. faddiness n.

fade v. [no obj.] 1 gradually grow faint and disappear: the light had faded and dusk was advancing | the noise faded away | FIGURATIVE hopes of peace had faded.

- lose or cause to lose colour or brightness: [no obj.] his fair hair had faded to a dusty grey | [with obj.] (usually as adj. faded) faded jeans.

- (of a flower) lose freshness and wither.

- (fade away) (of a person) gradually become thin and weak, especially to the point of death: without help, those of us who are ill will surely fade away and die.

- (of a racehorse, runner, etc.) lose strength and cease to perform well: she faded near the finish.

- (of a vehicle brake) become temporarily less efficient as a result of frictional heating.

2 [with adverbial] (with reference to film and television images) come or cause to come gradually into or out of view, or to merge into another shot: [no obj.] fade into scenes of rooms strewn with festive remains | [with obj.] some shots have to be faded in.

- (with reference to recorded sound) increase or decrease in volume or merge into another recording: [no obj.] they let you edit the digital data, making it fade in and out | [with obj.] he skilfully fades the guitar lines up and down.

3 [GOLF] (of the ball) deviate to the right (or, for a left-handed golfer, the left), typically as a result of spin given to the ball.

- [with obj.] (of a golfer) cause (the ball) to deviate.

4 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (in craps) match the bet of (another player): Lovejoy faded him for twenty-five cents.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the process of becoming less bright: the sun can cause colour fade.

- [count noun] an act of causing a film or television image to darken and disappear gradually: a fade to black would bring the sequence to a close.

2 [GOLF] a shot causing the ball to deviate to the right (or, for a left-handed golfer, the left).

<DERIVATIVES> fadeless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘grow weak’): from Old French fader, from fade ‘dull, insipid’, probably based on a blend of Latin fatuus ‘silly, insipid’ and vapidus ‘vapid’.

fade-in n. a film-making and broadcasting technique whereby an image is made to appear gradually or the volume of sound is gradually increased from zero.

fade-out n. a film-making and broadcasting technique whereby an image is made to disappear gradually or the sound volume is gradually decreased to zero.

fader n. a device for varying the volume of sound, the intensity of light, or the gain on a video or audio signal.

fade-up n. an instance of increasing the brightness of an image or the volume of a sound.

fado /fαdə/ n. (pl. fados) a type of popular Portuguese song, usually with a melancholy theme and accompanied by mandolins or guitars.

- [mass noun] the music for a fado.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese, literally ‘fate’.

faeces /fisiz/ (US feces) plural n. waste matter remaining after food has been digested, discharged from the bowels; excrement.

<DERIVATIVES> faecal /fik(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, plural of faex ‘dregs’.

Faenza /fαεntsə/ a town in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy; pop. 53,369 (2001). The town gave its name to the type of pottery known as faience.

faerie /feəri fεri/ (also faery) n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC or LITERARY fairyland: the world of faerie.

- [count noun] a fairy.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (introduced by Spenser): pseudo-archaic variant of FAIRY.

faff BRITISH INFORMAL v. [no obj.] spend time in ineffectual activity: we can't faff around forever.

■ n. [in sing.] a great deal of ineffectual activity: there was the usual faff of getting back to the plane.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally dialect in the sense ‘blow in puffs’, describing the wind): imitative. The current sense may have been influenced by dialect faffle ‘stammer, stutter’, later ‘flap in the wind’, which came to mean ‘fuss, dither’ at about the same time as faff (late 19th century).

fag^1 British n. 1 [in sing.] INFORMAL a tiring or unwelcome task: it's too much of a fag to drive all the way there and back again.

2 a junior pupil at a public school who does minor chores for a senior pupil.

■ v. (fags, fagging, fagged) [no obj.] INFORMAL work hard, especially at a tedious task: he didn't have to fag away in a lab to get the right answer.

- (of a public-school pupil) do minor chores for a senior pupil: the lower boys in each house fagged for members of the Library.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a verb in the sense ‘grow weary’): of unknown origin. Compare with flag^4.

fag^2 n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a male homosexual.

<DERIVATIVES> faggy adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s:

■ short for faggot (sense 3 of the noun).

fag^3 n. BRITISH INFORMAL a cigarette.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: elliptically from FAG END.

fag end n. BRITISH INFORMAL a cigarette end.

- the last part of something, especially when regarded as less important or interesting: the fag end of the Indian cricket season.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘remnant’): from 15th-cent. fag ‘a flap’, of unknown origin. The current sense dates from the early 20th cent.

fagged adj. [predic.] chiefly BRITISH extremely tired; exhausted: we were all absolutely fagged out.

faggot /faət/ n. 1 (usually faggots) BRITISH a ball or roll of seasoned chopped liver, baked or fried.

2 (US fagot) a bundle of sticks bound together as fuel.

- a bundle of iron rods bound together for reheating, welding, and hammering into bars.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a male homosexual.

4 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED an unpleasant or contemptible woman.

■ v. (faggots, faggoting, faggoted; US fagots, fagoting, fagoted) [with obj.] 1 ARCHAIC bind in or make into faggots.

2 (in embroidery) join by faggoting.

<DERIVATIVES> faggoty adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘bundle of sticks for fuel’): from Old French fagot, from Italian fagotto, based on Greek phakelos ‘bundle’.

faggoting (US fagoting) n. [mass noun] embroidery in which threads are fastened together in bundles: a black silk dress with tiers of faggoting.

fag hag n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a heterosexual woman who spends much of her time with homosexual men.

fah (also fa) n. [MUSIC] (in tonic sol-fa) the fourth note of a major scale.

- the note F in the fixed-doh system.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: representing (as an arbitrary name for the note) the first syllable of famuli, taken from a Latin hymn (see SOLMIZATION).

fahlerz /fαlεts/ n. [mass noun] a grey crystalline copper-containing mineral, of which tetrahedrite and tennantite are the typical forms.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from German, from fahl ‘ash-coloured’ + Erz ‘ore’.

Fahr. abbr. Fahrenheit.

Fahrenheit /far(ə)nht fα-/ (abbr.: F) adj. [postpositive when used with a numeral] of or denoting a scale of temperature on which water freezes at 32° and boils at 212° under standard conditions.

■ n. (also Fahrenheit scale) this scale of temperature.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: named after Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), German physicist.

faience /fs -s/ n. [mass noun] glazed ceramic ware, in particular decorated tin-glazed earthenware of the type which includes delftware and maiolica.

- [ARCHITECTURE] moulded glazed or unglazed terracotta blocks used structurally or as cladding.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally denoting pottery made at Faenza): from French faïence, from Faïence, the French name for FAENZA.

fail v. [no obj.] 1 be unsuccessful in achieving one's goal: he failed in his attempt to secure election | [with infinitive] they failed to be ranked in the top ten.

- [with obj.] be unsuccessful in (an examination or interview): she failed her finals.

- [with obj.] (of a person or a commodity) be unable to meet the standards set by (a test of quality or eligibility): a player has failed a drugs test.

- [with obj.] judge (a candidate in an examination or test) not to have passed.

2 neglect to do something: [with infinitive] the firm failed to give adequate risk warnings.

- [with infinitive] behave in a way contrary to expectations by not doing something: commuter chaos has again failed to materialize.

- [with obj.] desert or let down (someone): at the last moment her nerve failed her.

3 cease to work properly; break down: a lorry whose brakes had failed.

- become weaker or of poorer quality: the light began to fail | (as adj. failing) his failing health.

- (of rain or a crop or supply) be insufficient when needed or expected.

- (of a business or a person) cease trading because of lack of funds.

■ n. a mark which is not high enough to pass an examination or test.

<PHRASES>

□ without fail with no exception; always: he writes every week without fail.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French faillir (verb), faille (noun), based on Latin fallere ‘deceive’.

failed adj. [attr.] 1 (of an undertaking or a relationship) not achieving its end or not lasting; unsuccessful: a failed coup attempt.

- (of a person) unsuccessful in a particular activity: a failed writer.

- (of a business) unable to continue owing to financial difficulties.

2 (of a mechanism) not functioning properly: an aircraft with a failed engine.

failing n. a weakness, especially in a person's character; a shortcoming: pride is a terrible failing.

■ prep. in the absence of; if not: she longed to be with him and, failing that, to be alone.

faille /fel/ n. [mass noun] a soft, light-woven fabric having a ribbed texture, originally of silk.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a kind of hood or veil worn by women): from Old French. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

failover n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] a procedure by which a system automatically transfers control to a duplicate system when it detects a fault or failure.

fail-safe adj. 1 causing a piece of machinery to revert to a safe condition in the event of a breakdown or malfunction: a forklift truck with a fail-safe device.

2 unlikely or unable to fail: there is no guaranteed fail-safe procedure.

■ n. [usually in sing.] a system or plan that comes into operation in the event of something going wrong or that is in place to prevent such an occurrence.

fáilte /fαltə/ Irish /fαltə/ Scottish & Irish exclam. welcome.

■ n. an act or instance of welcoming someone.

<ORIGIN> Irish.

failure n. [mass noun] 1 lack of success: an economic policy that is doomed to failure.

- [count noun] an unsuccessful person or thing: bad weather had resulted in crop failures.

2 the neglect or omission of expected or required action: their failure to comply with the basic rules.

- [count noun] a lack or deficiency of a desirable quality: a failure of imagination.

3 the action or state of not functioning: symptoms of heart failure | [count noun] a chance engine failure.

- [count noun] a sudden cessation of power.

- [count noun] the collapse of a business.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally as failer, in the senses ‘non-occurrence’ and ‘cessation of supply’): from Anglo-Norman French failer for Old French faillir (see FAIL).

fain ARCHAIC adj. [with infinitive] 1 pleased or willing under the circumstances: the traveller was fain to proceed.

2 compelled by the circumstances; obliged: he was fain to acknowledge that the agreement was sacrosanct.

■ adv. gladly: I am weary and would fain get a little rest.

<ORIGIN> Old English fægen ‘happy, well pleased’, of Germanic origin, from a base meaning ‘rejoice’; related to fawn^2.

fainéant /fene/ n. ARCHAIC an idle or ineffective person.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, from fait ‘does’ + néant ‘nothing’.

faint adj. 1 (of a sight, smell, or sound) barely perceptible: the faint murmur of voices.

- (of a hope or chance) possible but unlikely; slight: there is a faint chance that the enemy may flee.

- lacking conviction or enthusiasm: she sent him a faint answering smile.

2 [predic.] feeling weak and dizzy and close to losing consciousness: the heat made him feel faint.

■ v. [no obj.] lose consciousness for a short time because of a temporarily insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain.

- ARCHAIC grow weak or feeble; decline.

■ n. [in sing.] a sudden loss of consciousness: she hit the floor in a dead faint.

<PHRASES>

□ not HAVE the faintest INFORMAL have no idea: I haven't the faintest what it means.

<DERIVATIVES> faintness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘feigned’, also ‘feeble, cowardly’, surviving in FAINT HEART): from Old French faint, past participle of faindre (see FEIGN). Compare with feint^1.

faint heart n. a person who lacks courage or conviction.

<PHRASES>

□ faint heart never won fair lady PROVERB timidity will prevent you from achieving your objective.

faint-hearted adj. lacking courage; timid: they were feeling faint-hearted at the prospect of war | (as plural n. the faint-hearted) litigation is not for the faint-hearted.

<DERIVATIVES> faint-heartedly adv. faint-heartedness n.

faintly adv. in a faint manner; indistinctly: she smiled faintly.

- [as submodifier] slightly: his faintly ridiculous air.

fair^1 adj. 1 treating people equally without favouritism or discrimination: the group has achieved fair and equal representation for all its members | a fairer distribution of wealth.

- just or appropriate in the circumstances: to be fair, this subject poses special problems | it's not fair to take it out on her.

- ARCHAIC (of a means or procedure) not violent.

2 (of hair or complexion) light; blonde: a pretty girl with long fair hair.

- (of a person) having a light complexion or hair: he's very fair with blue eyes.

3 considerable though not outstanding in size or amount: he did a fair bit of coaching.

- moderately good: he believes he has a fair chance of success.

- Australian/NZ INFORMAL complete; utter: this cow is a fair swine.

4 (of weather) fine and dry: a fair autumn day.

- (of the wind) favourable: they set sail with a fair wind.

5 ARCHAIC beautiful: the fairest of her daughters.

- (of words) specious despite being initially attractive.

■ adv. 1 without cheating or trying to achieve unjust advantage: no one could say he played fair.

2 [as submodifier] DIALECT to a high degree: she'll be fair delighted to see you.

■ n. ARCHAIC a beautiful woman.

■ v. [no obj.] DIALECT (of the weather) become fine: looks like it's fairing off some.

<PHRASES>

□ all's fair in love and war PROVERB in certain highly charged situations, any method of achieving your objective is justifiable.

□ by fair means or foul using whatever means are necessary.

□ fair and square 1 BRITISH with absolute accuracy: he got you fair and square in his gunsight.

2 honestly and straightforwardly: we won the match fair and square.

□ a fair deal equitable treatment.

□ fair DINKUM see DINKUM.

□ fair dos BRITISH INFORMAL used to request just treatment or accept that it has been given: Fair dos—you don't believe I've been idle all this time?

□ fair enough INFORMAL used to admit that something is reasonable or acceptable.

□ fair game a person or thing that is considered a reasonable target for criticism, exploitation, or attack.

□ fair go AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL used for emphasis or to request someone to be reasonable or fair: Fair go! How can I ask a thing like that?

□ fair name DATED a good reputation.

□ the fair (or fairer) sex DATED or HUMOROUS women.

□ fair's fair INFORMAL used to request just treatment or assert that a situation is just: Fair's fair—we were here first.

□ for fair US INFORMAL completely and finally: I hope we'll be rid of him for fair.

□ in a fair way to do something likely to achieve something: you are in a fair way to have cured yourself.

□ it's a fair cop BRITISH INFORMAL an admission that the speaker has been caught doing wrong and deserves punishment.

□ no fair NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL unfair (often used in or as a petulant protestation).

□ be set fair BRITISH (of the weather) be fine and likely to stay fine for a time.

<DERIVATIVES> fairish adj. fairness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fæger ‘pleasing, attractive’, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German fagar.

fair^2 n. 1 a gathering of stalls and amusements for public entertainment.

2 a periodic gathering for the sale of goods.

- an exhibition to promote particular products: the European Fine Art Fair.

- NORTH AMERICAN an annual competitive exhibition of livestock, agricultural products, etc., held by a town, county, or state.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘periodic gathering for the sale of goods’): from Old French feire, from late Latin feria, singular of Latin feriae ‘holy days’ (on which such fairs were often held).

fair^3 v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. faired) streamline (a vehicle, boat, or aircraft) by adding fairings.

<ORIGIN> Old English in the senses ‘beautify’ and ‘appear or become clean’. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

Fairbanks the name of two American actors. Douglas (Elton) (1883–1939, born Julius Ullman) co-founded United Artists in 1919 and became famous for his swashbuckling film roles. His son Douglas (1909–2000, known as Douglas Fairbanks Jr) played similar roles.

fair copy n. written or printed matter transcribed or reproduced after final correction.

Fairfax Thomas, 3rd Baron Fairfax of Cameron (1612–71), English Parliamentary general. He was appointed commander of the New Model Army in 1645 and won the Battle of Naseby. Fairfax later helped to secure the restoration of Charles II.

fairground n. an outdoor area where a fair is held.

fair-haired adj. 1 having light-coloured hair.

2 NORTH AMERICAN (of a person) favourite; cherished: the critics' fair-haired boy of the moment.

fairies' bonnets plural n. a small toadstool with a grooved, yellowish-brown, thimble-shaped cap, growing in large clusters on rotten wood or in soil.

<INFO> Coprinus disseminatus, family Coprinaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

fairing^1 n. an external metal or plastic structure added to increase streamlining on a high-performance car, motorcycle, boat, or aircraft.

fairing^2 n. ARCHAIC a small present bought at a fair.

Fair Isle one of the Shetland Islands, lying about halfway between Orkney and the main Shetland group.

- a shipping forecast area in the NE Atlantic off the north coast of Scotland, including Orkney and Shetland.

- [as n.] [usually as modifier] denoting traditional multicoloured geometric designs used in woollen knitwear: Fair Isle sweaters.

fairlead /fεlid/ n. a ring mounted on a boat to guide a rope, keeping it clear of obstructions and preventing it from cutting or chafing.

fairly adv. 1 with justice: he could not fairly be accused of wasting police time.

2 [usually as submodifier] to a moderately high degree: I was fairly certain she had nothing to do with the affair.

- actually (used to emphasize something surprising or extreme): he fairly snarled at her.

<PHRASES>

□ fairly and squarely another term for FAIR AND SQUARE (see fair^1).

fair-minded adj. impartial in judgement; just: a fair-minded employer.

<DERIVATIVES> fair-mindedly adv. fair-mindedness n.

fair play n. [mass noun] respect for the rules or equal treatment of all concerned.

<PHRASES>

□ fair play to someone BRITISH used as an expression of approval when someone has done something praiseworthy or the right thing under the circumstances: he must have decided to bring the children up himself—fair play to him.

fair trade n. [mass noun] trade in which fair prices are paid to producers in developing countries.

fairwater n. a structure that improves the streamlining of a ship to assist its smooth passage through water.

fairway n. 1 the part of a golf course between a tee and the corresponding green, where the grass is kept short.

2 a navigable channel in a river or harbour.

- a regular course or track followed by ships.

fair-weather friend n. a person whose friendship cannot be relied on in times of difficulty.

fairy n. (pl. fairies) 1 a small imaginary being of human form that has magical powers, especially a female one.

2 a Central and South American hummingbird with a green back and long tail.

<INFO> Genus Heliothryx, family Trochilidae: two species.

3 INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a male homosexual.

<PHRASES>

□ away with the fairies BRITISH INFORMAL giving the impression of being mad, distracted, or in a dreamworld.

<DERIVATIVES> fairylike adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting fairyland, or fairies collectively): from Old French faerie, from fae, ‘a fairy’, from Latin fata ‘the Fates’, plural of fatum (see FATE). Compare with FAY.

fairy cake n. BRITISH a small individual sponge cake, usually with icing or other decoration.

fairy floss n. Australian term for CANDYFLOSS.

fairy fly n. a minute parasitic wasp which lays its eggs in the eggs of other insects.

<INFO> Family Mymaridae, order Hymenoptera: numerous genera.

fairy godmother n. a female character in some fairy stories who has magical powers and brings good fortune to the hero or heroine.

- a person who comes to the aid of someone in difficulty.

fairyland n. the imaginary home of fairies.

- a beautiful place.

- an imagined ideal place.

fairy lights plural n. BRITISH small coloured electric lights used for decoration, especially at festivals such as Christmas.

fairy ring n. a circular area of grass that is darker in colour than the surrounding grass due to the growth of certain fungi. They were popularly believed to have been caused by fairies dancing.

fairy shrimp n. a small transparent crustacean which typically swims on its back, using its legs to filter food particles from the water.

<INFO> Order Anostraca, class Branchiopoda: many species, including brine shrimps.

fairy story n. a children's tale about magical and imaginary beings and lands.

- an untrue account.

fairy tale n. a fairy story.

- [often as modifier] something resembling a fairy story in being magical, idealized, or extremely happy: a fairy-tale romance.

- a fabricated story, especially one intended to deceive.

fairy tern n. a small white tropical tern which lays its single egg on a narrow ledge or on the bare branch of a tree. When flying against a bright sky the wings appear somewhat translucent, allowing the bone structure to be seen.

<INFO> Gygis alba, family Sternidae.

fairy wren n. a small Australian songbird with a long cocked tail, the male of which has partly or mainly blue plumage.

<INFO> Genus Malurus, family Maluridae: several species, in particular the common superb fairy wren or blue wren (M. cyaneus).

Faisal /fs(ə)l/ the name of two kings of Iraq:

- Faisal I (1885–1933), reigned 1921–33. A British-sponsored ruler, he was also supported by fervent Arab nationalists. Under his rule Iraq achieved full independence in 1932.

- Faisal II (1935–58), grandson of Faisal I, reigned 1939–58. He was assassinated in a military coup, after which a republic was established.

Faisalabad /fsələbad/ an industrial city in Punjab, Pakistan; pop. 1,977,200 (1998). Until 1979 it was known as Lyallpur.

faisandé /fεzde/ adj. LITERARY affected; artificial.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘(of game) hung until high’.

fait accompli /fet əkmpli/ French /fεt akpli/ n. [in sing.] a thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept it: the results were presented to shareholders as a fait accompli.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, literally ‘accomplished fact’.

faith n. [mass noun] 1 complete trust or confidence in someone or something: this restores one's faith in politicians.

2 strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.

- [count noun] a particular religion: the Christian faith.

- [count noun] a strongly held belief: men with strong political faiths.

■ exclam. chiefly IRISH said to express surprise or emphasis: faith, I was shown the door myself and came home.

<PHRASES>

□ break (or keep) faith be disloyal (or loyal): an attempt to make us break faith with our customers.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French feid, from Latin fides.

faithful adj. 1 remaining loyal and steadfast: the city has always been faithful to the Conservative party | employees who had notched up decades of faithful service.

- (of a spouse or partner) never having a sexual relationship with anyone else: her husband was faithful to her.

- (of an object) reliable: my faithful compass.

2 true to the facts or the original: the film was faithful to the book.

■ n. (as plural n. the faithful) those who are faithful to a particular religion or political party: a muezzin called the faithful to prayer.

faithfully adv. 1 in a loyal manner.

2 in a manner that is true to the facts or the original: she translated the novel as faithfully as possible.

<PHRASES>

□ yours faithfully BRITISH a formula for ending a formal letter in which the recipient is not addressed by name.

faithfulness n. [mass noun] the quality of being faithful; fidelity: faithfulness in marriage.

faith healing n. [mass noun] healing achieved by religious belief and prayer, rather than by medical treatment.

<DERIVATIVES> faith healer n.

faithless adj. 1 disloyal, especially to a spouse or partner: her faithless lover.

2 without religious faith.

<DERIVATIVES> faithlessly adv. faithlessness n.

faith school n. a school intended for students of a particular religious faith.

fajitas /fəhitəz fəditəz/ plural n. a dish of Mexican origin consisting of strips of spiced beef or chicken, chopped vegetables, and grated cheese, wrapped in a soft tortilla and often served with sour cream.

<ORIGIN> Mexican Spanish, literally ‘little strips’.

fake^1 adj. not genuine; imitation or counterfeit: fake designer clothing | a fake Cockney accent.

- (of a person) claiming to be something that one is not: a fake doctor.

■ n. a thing that is not genuine; a forgery or sham: fakes of Old Masters.

- a person who falsely claims to be something.

■ v. [with obj.] forge or counterfeit (something): she faked her spouse's signature.

- pretend to feel or have (an emotion, illness, or injury): Rob faked suspicion, a jealous concern.

- make (an event) appear to happen: he faked his own death.

- (fake someone out) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL trick or deceive someone.

<DERIVATIVES> faker n. fakery n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally slang): origin uncertain; perhaps ultimately related to German fegen ‘sweep, thrash’. Compare with fig^2.

fake^2 n. & v. variant spelling of flake^4.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb): of unknown origin.

fakie /feki/ n. (pl. fakies) (in skateboarding or snowboarding) a movement in which the board is ridden backwards.

■ adv. with a movement in which the board is ridden backwards.

fakir /fekə fa-/ (also faquir) n. a Muslim (or, loosely, a Hindu) religious ascetic who lives solely on alms.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via French from Arabic faqīr ‘needy man’.

Falabella /faləbεlə/ n. a horse of a miniature breed, the adult of which does not usually exceed 75 cm in height.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: named after Julio Falabella (died 1981), an Argentinian breeder.

falafel /fəlaf(ə)l -lα-/ (also felafel) n. [mass noun] a Middle Eastern dish of spiced mashed chickpeas or other pulses formed into balls or fritters and deep-fried, usually eaten with or in pitta bread.

<ORIGIN> from colloquial Egyptian Arabic falāfil, plural of Arabic fulful, filfil ‘pepper’.

Falange /fəlan(d)/ Spanish /falaxe/ the Spanish Fascist movement that merged with traditional right-wing elements in 1937 to form the ruling party, the Falange Española Tradicionalista, under General Franco. It was formally abolished in 1977.

<DERIVATIVES> Falangism n. Falangist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Latin phalanx, phalang- (see PHALANX).

Falasha /fəlαə/ n. (pl. same or Falashas) a member of a group of people in Ethiopia who hold the Jewish faith but use Ge'ez rather than Hebrew as a liturgical language. The Falashas were not formally recognized as Jews until 1975, and many of them were airlifted to Israel in 1984–5 and after.

<ORIGIN> Amharic, literally ‘exile, immigrant’.

falcate /falket/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] curved like a sickle; hooked: the mandibles are falcate.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin falcatus, from falx, falc- ‘sickle’.

falcated teal n. a small duck that is native to China and NE Asia.

<INFO> Anas falcata, family Anatidae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: named from the long sickle-shaped inner secondary feathers of the male.

falchion /fl(t)(ə)n/ n. HISTORICAL a broad, slightly curved sword with the cutting edge on the convex side.

<ORIGIN> Middle English fauchon, from Old French, based on Latin falx, falc- ‘sickle’. The -l- was added in the 16th century to conform with the Latin spelling.

falciform /falsfm/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] curved like a sickle; hooked: the falciform ligament.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin falx, falc- ‘sickle’ + -IFORM.

falciparum /falspərəm/ (also falciparum malaria) n. [mass noun] the most severe form of malaria: [as modifier] the falciparum parasite.

<INFO> This is caused by infection with Plasmodium falciparum.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: modern Latin, from Latin falx, falc- ‘sickle’ + -parum (from -parus ‘bearing’).

falcon /f(l)k(ə)n flk(ə)n/ n. a diurnal bird of prey with long pointed wings and a notched beak, typically catching prey by diving on it from above. Compare with HAWK^1 (sense 1 of the noun).

<INFO> Family Falconidae, in particular the genus Falco: many species, including the peregrine, hobby, merlin, and kestrel.

- [FALCONRY] a female falcon, especially a peregrine. Compare with TERCEL.

<ORIGIN> Middle English faucon (originally denoting any diurnal bird of prey used in falconry): from Old French, from late Latin falco, from Latin falx, falc- ‘sickle’, or of Germanic origin and related to Dutch valk and German Falke. The -l- was added in the 15th century to conform with the Latin spelling.

falconer n. a person who keeps, trains, or hunts with falcons, hawks, or other birds of prey.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fauconier, from faucon (see FALCON).

falconet /f(l)k(ə)nt/ n. 1 HISTORICAL a light cannon.

2 a very small South Asian (or South American) falcon, typically having bold black-and-white plumage.

<INFO> Genus Microhierax (and Spiziapteryx), family Falconidae: six species.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Italian falconetto, diminutive of falcone ‘falcon’, from Latin falco (see FALCON).

■ Sense 2 is from falcon + -ET^1.

falconry n. [mass noun] the keeping and training of falcons or other birds of prey; the sport of hunting with such birds.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French fauconnerie, from faucon (see FALCON).

Faldo /faldə/ Nick (b.1957), English golfer; full name Nicholas Alexander Faldo. He won the British Open championship in 1987, 1990, and 1992 and the US Masters Tournament in 1989, 1990, and 1996.

faldstool /fldstul/ n. 1 a folding chair used by a bishop when not occupying the throne or when officiating in a church other than his own.

2 a small movable folding desk or stool for kneeling at prayer.

<ORIGIN> late Old English fældestōl, of Germanic origin, from the base of fold^1 and STOOL, influenced by medieval Latin faldistolium, from Germanic.

fale /fαle/ n. a Samoan house with open sides and a thatched roof.

Falkirk /flkək fl-/ a town in central Scotland, administrative centre of Falkirk council area; pop. 34,600 (est. 2002). Edward I defeated the Scots here in 1298.

Falkland Islands /flklənd flk-/ (also the Falklands) a group of islands in the South Atlantic, forming an overseas territory of the UK; pop. 2,967 (est. 2002); capital, Stanley (on East Falkland).

The group consists of two main islands and over a hundred smaller ones, about 500 km (300 miles) east of the Strait of Magellan. The Falklands were occupied and colonized by Britain in 1832–3, following the expulsion of an Argentinian garrison. Argentina refused to recognize British sovereignty and continues to refer to the islands by their old Spanish name, the Malvinas.

Falkland Islands Dependencies an overseas territory of the UK in the South Atlantic, consisting of the South Sandwich Islands and South Georgia, which is administered from the Falkland Islands.

Falklands War an armed conflict between Britain and Argentina in 1982.

On the orders of General Galtieri's military junta, Argentinian forces invaded the Falkland Islands in support of their claim to sovereignty. In response Britain sent a task force of ships and aircraft, which forced the Argentinians to surrender six weeks after its arrival.

fall v. (past fell; past participle fallen) [no obj., with adverbial] 1 move from a higher to a lower level, typically rapidly and without control: bombs could be seen falling from the planes | my purse fell out of my bag | (as adj. falling) she was injured by a falling tree.

- (fall off) become detached and drop to the ground: my sunglasses fell off and broke on the pavement.

- hang down: hair that was allowed to fall to the shoulders.

- (of land) slope downwards: the land fell away in a steep bank.

- [no obj.] (of someone's eyes or glance) be directed downwards.

- [no obj.] (of someone's face) show dismay or disappointment by appearing to droop: her face fell as she thought about her life with George.

2 (of a person) lose one's balance and collapse: she fell down at school today.

- throw oneself to the ground: she fell to her knees and began to weep.

- (of a tree or structure) collapse to the ground: after the earthquake, part of the city fell down.

- (fall over) INFORMAL (of computer hardware or software) stop working suddenly; crash.

3 decrease in number, amount, intensity, or quality: imports fell by 12 per cent | we're worried that standards are falling.

- (of a measuring instrument) show a lower reading: the barometer had fallen a further ten points.

- (fall away) (in sport) play less well.

4 be captured or defeated: their mountain strongholds fell to enemy attack.

- [CRICKET] (of a wicket) be taken by the bowling side.

- die in battle: an English leader who had fallen at the hands of the Danes.

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC yield to temptation: it is their husbands' fault if wives do fall.

5 pass into a specified state, situation, or position: many of the buildings fell into disrepair | [with complement] she fell pregnant.

- occur or take place: when night fell we crawled back to our lines | her birthday fell on May Day.

- (fall to doing something) begin to do something: he fell to musing about how it had happened.

- be drawn accidentally into: you must not fall into this common error.

6 be classified in the way specified: canals fall within the Minister's brief.

■ n. 1 an act of falling or collapsing: his mother had a fall as she alighted from a train.

- [WRESTLING] a move which pins the opponent's shoulders on the ground for a count of three.

- a downward difference in height between parts of a surface.

2 a thing which falls or has fallen: in October came the first fall of snow | a rock fall.

- a sudden onset or arrival: the fall of darkness.

- (usually falls) a waterfall or cascade.

- LITERARY a downward turn in a melody: that strain again, it had a dying fall.

- the way in which something falls or hangs: the fall of her hair.

- (falls) the parts or petals of a flower which bend downwards, especially the outer perianth segments of an iris.

3 a decrease in size, number, rate, or level: a big fall in unemployment.

4 a defeat or downfall: the fall of the government.

- a person's moral decline.

- (the Fall or the Fall of Man) the lapse of humankind into a state of sin, ascribed in traditional Jewish and Christian theology to the disobedience of Adam and Eve as described in Genesis.

5 (also Fall) NORTH AMERICAN autumn.

<PHRASES>

□ fall between two stools see STOOL.

□ fall foul (or North American afoul) of come into conflict with: one of his songs has fallen foul of censorship regulations.

□ fall in (or into) line conform with others. [<ORIGIN> with reference to military formation.]

□ fall in (or out of) LOVE (with someone) see LOVE.

□ fall into place (of a series of events or facts) begin to make sense: once he knew what to look for, the theory fell quickly into place.

□ fall on STONY ground see STONY.

□ fall over oneself to do something INFORMAL be excessively eager to do something: critics fell over themselves to compliment him.

□ fall PREY to see PREY.

□ fall short (of) (of a missile) fail to reach its target.

- be deficient or inadequate: the total vote fell short of the required two-thirds majority.

□ fall to pieces see fall apart below.

□ fall VICTIM to see VICTIM.

□ take the fall NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL incur blame or punishment in the place of another person.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ fall about BRITISH INFORMAL laugh uncontrollably.

□ FALL APART (or to pieces) break up, come apart, or disintegrate: their marriage is likely to fall apart.

- (of a person) lose one's capacity to cope: Angie fell to pieces because she had lost everything.

□ fall back move or turn back; retreat.

□ fall back on have recourse to when in difficulty: they normally fell back on one of three arguments.

□ fall behind fail to keep up with one's competitors.

- fail to meet a commitment to make a regular payment: borrowers falling behind with their mortgage repayments.

□ fall down be inadequate or unsuccessful; fail: the deal fell down because there were a lot of unanswered questions.

□ fall for INFORMAL 1 fall in love with.

2 be deceived by (something): he didn't expect Duncan to fall for a cheap trick like that.

□ fall in take one's place in a military formation: the soldiers fell in by the side of the road.

□ fall in with 1 meet by chance and become involved with: he fell in with thieves.

2 agree to: Rob was happy to fall in with her plans.

□ fall on (or upon) 1 attack fiercely or unexpectedly: the army fell on the besiegers.

- seize enthusiastically: she fell on the sandwiches as though she had not eaten in weeks.

2 (of someone's eyes or gaze) be directed towards: her gaze fell on the mud-stained coverlet.

3 be the responsibility of: the cost of tuition should not fall on the student.

□ fall out 1 (of the hair, teeth, etc.) become detached and drop out.

2 have an argument: he had fallen out with his family.

3 leave one's place in a military formation, or on parade.

4 happen; turn out: matters fell out as Stephen arranged.

□ fall through come to nothing; fail: the project fell through due to lack of money.

□ fall to (of a task) become the duty or responsibility of: it fell to me to write to Shephard.

- (of property) revert to the ownership of.

<ORIGIN> Old English fallan, feallan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vallen and German fallen; the noun is partly from the verb, partly from Old Norse fall ‘downfall, sin’.

Falla /fjə/ Manuel de (1876–1946), Spanish composer and pianist. He composed the ballets Love, the Magician (1915) and The Three-Cornered Hat (1919); the latter was produced by Diaghilev, with designs by Picasso.

fallacious /fəleəs/ adj. based on a mistaken belief: fallacious arguments.

<DERIVATIVES> fallaciously adv. fallaciousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old French fallacieux, from Latin fallaciosus, from fallacia (see FALLACY).

fallacy /faləsi/ n. (pl. fallacies) a mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound arguments: the notion that the camera never lies is a fallacy.

- [LOGIC] a failure in reasoning which renders an argument invalid.

- [mass noun] faulty reasoning: the potential for fallacy which lies behind the notion of self-esteem.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘deception, guile’; gradually superseding Middle English fallace): from Latin fallacia, from fallax, fallac- ‘deceiving’, from fallere ‘deceive’.

fallaway n. [usually as modifier] [BASKETBALL] a shot made while the shooter jumps or falls away from the basket.

fallback n. 1 an alternative plan that may be used in an emergency.

2 a reduction or decrease.

fallen past participle of FALL

■ adj. 1 [THEOLOGY] having sinned: fallen human nature.

- DATED (of a woman) regarded as having lost her honour through engaging in a sexual relationship outside marriage.

2 (of a soldier) killed in battle: fallen heroes.

<DERIVATIVES> fallenness n.

fallen angel n. (in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim tradition) an angel who rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven.

faller n. 1 BRITISH a person or thing that falls, in particular:

- a horse that falls during a race, especially at a fence in a steeplechase.

- a company whose shares have lost value on the stock market.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a person who fells trees for a living.

fallfish n. (pl. same or fallfishes) a North American freshwater fish resembling the chub.

<INFO> Semotilus corporalis, family Cyprinidae.

fall guy n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a scapegoat.

fallibilism /falblz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the principle that propositions concerning empirical knowledge can be accepted even though they cannot be proved with certainty.

<DERIVATIVES> fallibilist n. & adj.

fallible /falb(ə)l/ adj. capable of making mistakes or being wrong: experts can be fallible.

<DERIVATIVES> fallibility n. fallibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin fallibilis, from Latin fallere ‘deceive’.

falling-out n. (pl. fallings-out) a quarrel or disagreement: the two of them had a falling-out.

falling sickness n. [mass noun]

■ archaic term for EPILEPSY.

falling star n. a meteor or shooting star.

fall line n. 1 (the fall line) [SKIING] the route leading straight down any particular part of a slope.

2 a narrow zone that marks the geological boundary between an upland region and a plain, distinguished by the occurrence of falls and rapids where rivers and streams cross it.

fall-off (also falling-off) n. (pl. fall-offs or fallings-off) a decrease in something: a fall-off in work caused by the recession.

Fallopian tube /fələpən/ (also fallopian) n. [ANATOMY] (in a female mammal) either of a pair of tubes along which eggs travel from the ovaries to the uterus.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Fallopius, Latinized form of the name of Gabriello Fallopio (1523–62), the Italian anatomist who first described them.

fallout n. [mass noun] 1 radioactive particles that are carried into the atmosphere after a nuclear explosion and gradually fall back as dust or in precipitation.

- [usually with modifier] airborne substances resulting from an industrial process or accident: acid fallout from power stations.

2 the adverse results of a situation or action: he's prepared to take calculated risks regardless of political fallout.

fallow^1 adj. 1 (of farmland) ploughed and harrowed but left for a period without being sown in order to restore its fertility or to avoid surplus production: incentives for farmers to let land lie fallow.

- (of a period of time) characterized by inaction; unproductive: long fallow periods when nothing seems to happen.

2 (of a sow) not pregnant.

■ n. a piece of fallow land.

■ v. [with obj.] leave (land) fallow for a period.

<DERIVATIVES> fallowness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fealgian ‘to break up land for sowing’, of Germanic origin; related to Low German falgen.

fallow^2 n. [mass noun] a pale brown or reddish yellow colour.

<ORIGIN> Old English falu, fealu, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vaal and German fahl, falb.

fallow deer n. a Eurasian deer with branched palmate antlers, typically having a white-spotted reddish-brown coat in summer.

<INFO> Cervus dama, family Cervidae.

false adj. 1 not according with truth or fact; incorrect: he was feeding false information to his customers | the allegations were false.

- not according with rules or law: false imprisonment.

2 made to imitate something in order to deceive: the trunk had a false bottom | a false passport.

- artificial: false eyelashes.

- not sincere: a horribly false smile.

3 illusory; not actually so: sunscreens give users a false sense of security.

- [attr.] used in names of plants, animals, and gems that superficially resemble the thing properly so called, e.g. false oat.

4 disloyal; unfaithful: a false lover.

<PHRASES>

□ false position a situation in which one is compelled to act in a manner inconsistent with one's true nature or principles.

<DERIVATIVES> falsely adv. falseness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fals ‘fraud, deceit’, from Latin falsum ‘fraud’, neuter past participle of fallere ‘deceive’; reinforced or re-formed in Middle English from Old French fals, faus ‘false’.

false acacia n. a North American tree with compound leaves and dense hanging clusters of fragrant white flowers, widely grown as an ornamental.

<INFO> Robinia pseudoacacia, family Leguminosae.

false alarm n. a warning given about something that fails to happen.

false bedding n. [GEOLOGY] another term for CROSS-BEDDING.

false card [BRIDGE] n. a card played in order to give one's opponents a misleading impression of one's strength in the suit led.

■ v. (false-card) [with obj.] play (a card) in such a way.

false colour n. [mass noun] colour added during the processing of a photographic or computer image to aid interpretation of the subject.

false cypress n. a conifer of a genus that includes Lawson's cypress.

<INFO> Genus Chamaecyparis, family Cupressaceae.

false dawn n. 1 a promising situation which comes to nothing: after so many false dawns, Britain was finally enjoying an export-led boom.

2 a transient light which precedes the rising of the sun by about an hour, commonly seen in Eastern countries.

false economy n. an apparent financial saving that in fact leads to greater expenditure.

false face n. a mask, especially as traditionally worn ceremonially by some North American Indian peoples.

false friend n. a word or expression that has a similar form to one in a person's native language, but a different meaning (for example English magazine and French magasin ‘shop’).

<ORIGIN> translating French faux ami.

false fruit n. a fruit formed from other parts of the plant as well as the ovary, especially the receptacle, such as the strawberry or fig. Also called PSEUDOCARP.

false helleborine (also false hellebore) n. a herbaceous plant of the lily family which resembles a helleborine, with pleated leaves and a tall dense spike of small flowers, found in north temperate regions.

<INFO> Genus Veratrum, family Liliaceae: many species.

falsehood n. [mass noun] the state of being untrue: the truth or falsehood of the many legends which surround her.

- [count noun] a lie.

- lying: the right to sue for malicious falsehood.

false memory n. [PSYCHOLOGY] an apparent recollection of an event which did not actually occur, especially one of childhood sexual abuse arising from suggestion during psychoanalysis: [as modifier] false memory syndrome.

false move n. an unwise or careless action that could have dangerous consequences: one false move would lead to nuclear war.

false pretences plural n. behaviour intended to deceive others: he obtained money by false pretences.

false rib n. another term for FLOATING RIB.

false scorpion n. a minute arachnid which has pincers but no long abdomen or sting, occurring abundantly in leaf litter. Also called PSEUDOSCORPION.

<INFO> Order Pseudoscorpiones.

false start n. an invalid start to a race, usually due to a competitor beginning before the official signal has been given.

- an unsuccessful attempt to begin something.

false step n. a slip or stumble: one false step and we would have fallen in the sea.

- a careless or unwise act; a mistake.

false teeth plural n. another term for DENTURES (see DENTURE).

false topaz n. another term for CITRINE.

falsetto /flsεtə fl-/ n. (pl. falsettos) [MUSIC] a method of voice production used by male singers, especially tenors, to sing notes higher than their normal range: he sang in a piercing falsetto.

- a singer using this method.

- a voice or sound that is unusually high.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Italian, diminutive of falso ‘false’, from Latin falsus (see FALSE).

false vampire n. a large carnivorous bat that includes rodents, reptiles, and other small vertebrates among its prey:

<INFO>

- an Old World bat (three species in the family Megadermatidae, including the large Australian ghost bat, Macroderma gigas).

- a tropical New World bat (Vampyrum spectrum, family Phyllostomidae).

falsework n. [mass noun] temporary framework structures used to support a building during its construction.

falsies plural n. INFORMAL pads of material in women's clothing used to increase the apparent size of the breasts.

- false eyelashes.

falsification /flsfke(ə)n fls-/ n. [mass noun] the action of falsifying information or a theory: an investigation into fraud and the falsification of records.

falsify /flsf fls-/ v. (falsifies, falsifying, falsified) [with obj.] 1 alter (information, a document or evidence) so as to mislead: a laboratory which was alleged to have falsified test results.

2 prove (a statement or theory) to be false: the hypothesis is falsified by the evidence.

- fail to fulfil (a hope, fear, or expectation): changes falsify individual expectations.

<DERIVATIVES> falsifiability n. falsifiable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from French falsifier or medieval Latin falsificare, from Latin falsificus ‘making false’, from falsus ‘false’.

falsity n. [mass noun] the fact of being untrue, incorrect, or insincere: he exposed the falsity of the claim.

Falstaffian /flstαfən fl-/ adj. relating to or resembling Shakespeare's character Sir John Falstaff in being fat, jolly, and debauched: a Falstaffian gusto for life.

Falster /fαlstə/ a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, south of Zealand.

falter /fltə fl-/ v. [no obj.] lose strength or momentum: the music faltered, stopped, and started up again | (as adj. faltering) his faltering career.

- speak hesitantly: [with direct speech] ‘A-Adam?’ he faltered.

- move unsteadily or hesitantly: he faltered and finally stopped in mid-stride.

<DERIVATIVES> falterer n. falteringly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘stammer’ and ‘stagger’): perhaps from the verb fold^1 (which was occasionally used of the faltering of the legs or tongue) + -ter as in totter.

Falun Gong /falən / (also Falun Dafa /dafə/) n. [mass noun] a spiritual exercise and meditation regime with similarities to t'ai chi ch'uan, practised predominantly in China.

- a Taoist-Buddhist sect practising Falun Gong.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: Chinese, literally ‘wheel of law’, from fǎ ‘law’ + lún ‘wheel’ (+ gōng ‘skill’ or dàfǎ ‘great method’).

fame n. [mass noun] the state of being known by many people: the song's success rocketed him to stardom and fame.

<PHRASES>

□ of —— fame having a particular famous association; famous for having or being ——: the village is the birthplace of Mrs Beeton, of cookery fame.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘reputation’, which survives in HOUSE OF ILL FAME): via Old French from Latin fama.

famed adj. known about by many people; renowned: he is famed for his eccentricities.

- ARCHAIC widely reported or rumoured.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: past participle of archaic fame (verb), from Old French famer, from Latin fama.

familia /fəmlə/ n. (pl. familiae /-li/) HISTORICAL a household or religious community under one head, regarded as a unit.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

familial /fəmljəl/ adj. relating to or occurring in a family or its members: the familial Christmas dinner.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, from Latin familia ‘family’.

familiar adj. 1 well known from long or close association: their faces will be familiar to many of you | a familiar voice.

- often encountered or experienced; common: the situation was all too familiar.

- (familiar with) having a good knowledge of: ensure that you are familiar with the heating controls.

2 in close friendship; intimate: she had not realized they were on such familiar terms.

- informal or intimate to an inappropriate degree.

■ n. 1 (also familiar spirit) a demon supposedly attending and obeying a witch, often said to assume the form of an animal.

2 a close friend or associate.

3 (in the Roman Catholic Church) a person rendering certain services in a pope's or bishop's household.

<DERIVATIVES> familiarly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘intimate’, ‘on a family footing’): from Old French familier, from Latin familiaris, from familia ‘household servants, family’, from famulus ‘servant’.

familiarity n. (pl. familiarities) [mass noun] 1 close acquaintance with or knowledge of something: his familiarity with the works of Thomas Hardy.

- the quality of being well known from long or close association: the reassuring familiarity of his parents' home.

2 relaxed friendliness or intimacy between people: familiarity allows us to give each other nicknames.

- inappropriate informality or intimacy: the unnecessary familiarity made me dislike him at once.

<PHRASES>

□ familiarity breeds contempt PROVERB extensive knowledge of or close association with someone or something leads to a loss of respect for them or it.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘close relationship’ and ‘sexual intimacy’): via Old French from Latin familiaritas, from familiaris ‘familiar, intimate’ (see FAMILIAR).

familiarize (also familiarise) v. [with obj.] give (someone) knowledge or understanding of something: the need to familiarize pupils with the microcomputer.

- make (something) better known or more easily grasped: exercises which will help to familiarize the terms used.

<DERIVATIVES> familiarization n.

Familist /famlst/ n. a member of the Christian sect of the 16th and 17th centuries called the Family of Love, which asserted the importance of love and the necessity for absolute obedience to any government.

familist /famlst/ adj. relating to or advocating a social framework centred on family relationships.

<DERIVATIVES> familistic adj.

famille /fami/ n. [mass noun] Chinese enamelled porcelain of particular periods in the 17th and 18th centuries with a specified predominant colour: famille jaune /ən/ (yellow), famille noire /nwα/ (black), famille rose /rəz/ (red), or famille verte /vεt/ (green).

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘family’.

family n. (pl. families) 1 [treated as sing. or plural] a group consisting of two parents and their children living together as a unit.

- a group of people related by blood or marriage: friends and family can provide support | I could not turn him away, for he was family.

- the children of a person or couple being discussed: she has the sole responsibility for a large family.

- INFORMAL a local organizational unit of the Mafia or other large criminal group.

2 all the descendants of a common ancestor: the house has been owned by the same family for 300 years.

- a group of peoples from a common stock.

3 a group of related things.

- [BIOLOGY] a principal taxonomic category that ranks above genus and below order, usually ending in -idae (in zoology) or -aceae (in botany).

- all the languages ultimately derived from a particular early language, regarded as a group: the Austronesian language family.

- [MATHEMATICS] a group of curves or surfaces obtained by varying the value of a constant in the equation generating them.

■ adj. [attr.] designed to be suitable for children as well as adults: a family newspaper.

<PHRASES>

□ the (or one's) family jewels INFORMAL a man's genitals.

□ in the family way INFORMAL pregnant.

□ sell (or sell off) the family silver part with a valuable resource for immediate advantage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the noun; also denoting the servants of a household or the retinue of a nobleman): from Latin familia ‘household servants, family’, from famulus ‘servant’.

family bible n. a bible designed to be used at family prayers, typically one with space on its flyleaves for recording important family events.

family credit n. [mass noun] (in the UK) a regular payment by the state to a family with an income below a certain level.

Family Division (in the UK) the division of the High Court dealing with adoption, divorce, and other family matters.

family man n. a man with a wife (or long-term partner) and children, especially one who enjoys home life.

family name n. a surname.

family planning n. [mass noun] the practice of controlling the number of children one has and the intervals between their births, particularly by means of contraception or voluntary sterilization: [as modifier] family-planning clinics.

- contraception.

family tree n. a diagram showing the relationship between people in several generations of a family.

family values plural n. values supposedly learned within a traditional family unit, typically those of high moral standards and discipline.

famine /famn/ n. [mass noun] extreme scarcity of food: drought resulted in famine throughout the region | [count noun] the famine of 1921–2.

- [count noun] a shortage: the cotton famine of the 1860s.

- ARCHAIC hunger.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from faim ‘hunger’, from Latin fames.

famish v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC reduce (someone) to extreme hunger: they had famished the city into surrender.

- [no obj.] be extremely hungry.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from obsolete fame ‘starve, famish’, from Old French afamer, based on Latin fames ‘hunger’.

famished /famt/ adj. INFORMAL extremely hungry.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: past participle of the verb famish, from Middle English fame ‘starve’, from Old French afamer, based on Latin fames ‘hunger’.

famous adj. 1 known about by many people: a famous star | the country is famous for its natural beauty.

2 INFORMAL excellent: Galway stormed to a famous victory.

<PHRASES>

□ famous for being famous having no recognizable reason for one's fame other than high media exposure.

□ famous for fifteen minutes see FIFTEEN minutes of fame at fifteen.

□ famous last words said as an ironic comment on an overconfident assertion that may later be proved wrong.

<DERIVATIVES> famousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fameus, from Latin famosus ‘famed’, from fama (see FAME).

famously adv. 1 INFORMAL excellently: we got on famously.

2 in a way that is widely known: they have famously reclusive lifestyles.

famulus /famjləs/ n. (pl. famuli /-l -li/) HISTORICAL an assistant or servant, especially one working for a magician or scholar.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, ‘servant’.

fan^1 n. 1 an apparatus with rotating blades that creates a current of air for cooling or ventilation.

- a small sail for keeping the head of a windmill towards the wind.

2 a hand-held device, typically folding and shaped like a segment of a circle when spread out, that is waved so as to cool the person holding it.

- a thing resembling an open fan.

- a fan-shaped alluvial or talus deposit at the foot of a slope.

■ v. (fans, fanning, fanned) 1 [with obj.] cool (someone or something) by waving an object to create a current of air: he fanned himself with his hat.

- (of breath or a breeze) blow gently on: his breath fanned her skin as he leant towards her.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] brush or drive away with a waving movement: a veil of smoke which she fanned away with a jewelled hand.

- [no obj.] [BASEBALL] & [ICE HOCKEY] swing unsuccessfully at the ball or puck.

- [BASEBALL] strike out (a batter).

2 [with obj.] increase the strength of (a fire) by blowing on it or stirring up the air near it: fanned by an easterly wind, the fire spread rapidly.

- cause (a belief or emotion) to become stronger or more widespread: a fury fanned by press coverage.

3 [no obj.] (fan out) disperse or radiate from a central point to cover a wide area: the arriving passengers began to fan out through the town in search of lodgings.

- spread out or cause to spread out into a semicircular shape: [no obj.] a dress made of tiny pleats that fanned out as she walked | [with obj.] a wind fanned her hair out behind her.

<DERIVATIVES> fan-like adj. fanner n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fann (as a noun denoting a device for winnowing grain), fannian (verb), from Latin vannus ‘winnowing fan’. Compare with VANE.

fan^2 n. a person who has a strong interest in or admiration for a particular sport, art form, or famous person: football fans | I'm a fan of this author.

<DERIVATIVES> fandom n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US): abbreviation of FANATIC.

Fanakalo /fanaal fanaal/ (also Fanagalo) n. [mass noun] S. AFRICAN a lingua franca developed and used by the southern African mining companies, composed of frequently corrupted elements of the Nguni languages, English, and Afrikaans.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Nguni fana ka lo, from fana ‘be like’ + the possessive suffix -ka + lo ‘this’.

fanatic /fənatk/ n. a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, especially for an extreme religious or political cause.

- INFORMAL a person with an obsessive interest in and enthusiasm for a particular activity: a fitness fanatic.

■ adj. filled with or expressing excessive zeal: his eyes had a fanatic iciness.

<DERIVATIVES> fanaticize (also fanaticise) v.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as an adjective): from French fanatique or Latin fanaticus ‘of a temple, inspired by a god’, from fanum ‘temple’. The adjective originally described behaviour that might result from possession by a god or demon, hence the earliest sense of the noun ‘a religious maniac’ (mid 17th century).

fanatical adj. filled with excessive and single-minded zeal: fanatical revolutionaries.

- obsessively concerned with something: her husband was fanatical about tidiness.

<DERIVATIVES> fanatically adv.

fanaticism /fənatsz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being fanatical: the dangers of religious fanaticism.

fan base n. [mass noun] the fans of a sports team, pop group, etc. considered as a distinct social grouping.

fan belt n. (in a motor-vehicle engine) a belt that transmits motion from the driveshaft to the radiator fan and the dynamo or alternator.

fanboy n. INFORMAL a male fan, especially one who is obsessive about comics, music, film, or science fiction.

fanciable adj. BRITISH INFORMAL sexually attractive.

fancier n. [with modifier] a connoisseur or enthusiast of something, especially someone who has a special interest in or breeds a particular animal: a pigeon fancier.

fanciful adj. 1 over-imaginative and unrealistic: ever more fanciful proposals were raised.

- existing only in the imagination: fanciful lunar inhabitants.

2 highly ornamental or imaginative in design: a fanciful Art Nouveau bar.

<DERIVATIVES> fancifully adv. fancifulness n.

fan club n. an organized group of fans of a famous person or team.

fancy v. (fancies, fancying, fancied) [with obj.] 1 BRITISH INFORMAL feel a desire or liking for: do you fancy a drink?

- find sexually attractive.

- (fancy oneself) INFORMAL have an unduly high opinion of oneself, or of one's ability in a particular area: he fancied himself as an amateur psychologist.

2 BRITISH regard (a horse, team, or player) as a likely winner: [with obj. and infinitive] I fancy him to win the tournament.

3 [with clause] imagine; think: he fancied he could smell the perfume of roses.

- [in imperative] chiefly BRITISH used to express surprise at something: fancy meeting all those television actors!

■ adj. (fancier, fanciest) 1 elaborate in structure or decoration: the furniture was very fancy | a fancy computerized system.

- sophisticated or expensive in a way that is intended to impress: fancy hotels and restaurants.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (especially of foodstuffs) of high quality: fancy molasses.

- (of a flower) of two or more colours.

- (of an animal) bred to develop particular points of appearance: fancy goldfish.

2 ARCHAIC (of a drawing, painting, or sculpture) created from the imagination rather than from life.

■ n. (pl. fancies) 1 a superficial or transient feeling of liking or attraction: this was no passing fancy, but a feeling he would live by.

- DATED a person or thing that one finds attractive: people jostled to ride alongside their fancy.

- a favourite in a race or other sporting contest: the filly is already a leading fancy for next year's races.

- (the fancy) DATED enthusiasts for a sport, especially boxing or racing, considered collectively.

2 [mass noun] the faculty of imagination: he is prone to flights of fancy.

- [count noun] an unfounded or tentative belief or idea: I've a fancy they want to be alone.

3 (also fancy cake) BRITISH a small iced cake.

4 (in 16th and 17th century music) a composition for keyboard or strings in free or variation form.

<PHRASES>

□ as (or when or where) the fancy takes one according to one's inclination: you could move about as the fancy took you.

□ fancy one's (or someone's) chances believe that one (or someone else) is likely to be successful: we fancy our chances in the replay.

□ take (or catch) someone's fancy appeal to someone.

□ take a fancy to become fond of, especially without an obvious reason.

<DERIVATIVES> fancily adv. fanciness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: contraction of FANTASY.

fancy dress n. [mass noun] an unusual or amusing costume worn to a social event to make someone look like, for example, a famous person or well-known fictional character.

fancy-free adj. not emotionally involved with or committed to anyone: her recent divorce meant that she was footloose and fancy-free.

fancy goods plural n. items for sale that are purely or chiefly ornamental.

fancy man n. INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY a woman's lover.

- ARCHAIC a pimp.

fancy-pants adj. INFORMAL superior or high-class in a pretentious way: a fancy-pants restaurant.

fancy woman (BRITISH also fancy piece) n. INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY a married man's mistress.

fancy-work n. [mass noun] ornamental needlework, crochet, or knitting, as opposed to plain or purely functional stitches.

fan dance n. a dance in which the female performer is apparently nude and remains partly concealed throughout by large fans.

fandangle /fanda(ə)l/ n. ARCHAIC a useless or purely ornamental thing: a solo with no end of shakes and trills and fandangles.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from FANDANGO, influenced by newfangle.

fandango /fandaə/ n. (pl. fandangoes or fandangos) 1 a lively Spanish dance for two people, typically accompanied by castanets or tambourine.

2 an elaborate or complicated process or activity: the Washington inaugural fandango.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Spanish, of unknown origin.

fane n. ARCHAIC a temple or shrine.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fanum.

fanfare n. a short ceremonial tune or flourish played on brass instruments, typically to introduce something or someone important.

- [mass noun] media attention or elaborate ceremony: the studio released this film with great fanfare but no commercial success.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, ultimately of imitative origin.

fanfaronade /fanfarəned -nαd/ n. 1 [mass noun] arrogant or boastful talk.

2 a fanfare.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French fanfaronnade, from fanfaron ‘braggart’, from fanfare (see FANFARE).

fan fiction (also INFORMAL fanfic) n. [mass noun] fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, film, etc.

Fang /fa/ (also Fan) n. (pl. same or Fangs) 1 a member of a people inhabiting parts of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.

2 [mass noun] the Bantu language of the Fang, with over 500,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Fang or their language.

<ORIGIN> French, probably from Fang Pangwe.

fang^1 n. a large sharp tooth, especially a canine tooth of a dog or wolf.

- the tooth of a venomous snake, by which poison is injected.

- the biting mouthpart of a spider.

<DERIVATIVES> fanged adj. fangless adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English (denoting booty or spoils), from Old Norse fang ‘capture, grasp’; compare with VANG. A sense ‘trap, snare’ is recorded from the mid 16th century; both this and the original sense survive in Scots. The current sense (also mid 16th century) reflects the same notion of ‘something that catches and holds’.

fang^2 AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL v. drive at high speed: [no obj.] let's fang up to the beach!

■ n. a high-speed drive in a car.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from the name of J. M.

■ Fangio.

Fangio /fandə/ Juan Manuel (1911–95), Argentinian motor-racing driver. He first won the world championship in 1951 and then held the title from 1954 until 1957.

fango /faə/ n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] mud from thermal springs in Italy, used in curative treatment at spas and health farms: fango mud baths.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: Italian, literally ‘mud’.

fan heater n. an electric heater in which a fan drives air over a hot element and back into the room.

fan-jet n. another term for TURBOFAN.

fankle /fak(ə)l/ v. [with obj.] SCOTTISH entangle: the tape got fankled in the motorbike's front wheels.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Scots fank ‘coil of rope’ + -LE^4.

fanlight n. a small semicircular or rectangular window over a door or another window.

■ another term for SKYLIGHT.

fanny n. (pl. fannies) 1 BRITISH VULGAR SLANG a woman's genitals.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person's buttocks.

■ v. (fannies, fannying, fannied) [no obj.] (fanny about (or around)) BRITISH INFORMAL mess around and waste time.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

Fanny Adams n. BRITISH INFORMAL 1 (also sweet Fanny Adams) nothing at all: I know sweet Fanny Adams about mining.

2 a nautical term for tinned meat or stew.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (in sense 2): black humour, from the name of a murder victim c.1870.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 20th century, and is sometimes understood as a euphemism for fuck all.

fanny pack n. North American term for BUMBAG.

fan palm n. a palm with large lobed fan-shaped leaves.

<INFO> Chamaerops and other genera, family Palmae: many species, including the dwarf (or European) fan palm (C. humilis), which is the only palm native to Europe.

fantabulous /fantabjləs/ adj. INFORMAL excellent; wonderful: a fantabulous prize.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of FANTASTIC and FABULOUS.

fantail n. 1 a fan-shaped tail or end.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the overhanging part of the stern of a boat, especially a warship.

2 (also fantail pigeon) a domestic pigeon of a broad-tailed variety.

3 (also fantail flycatcher) a flycatcher with a long tapering tail that is often fanned out, found mainly in SE Asia and Australasia.

<INFO> Genus Rhipidura, family Monarchidae: numerous species.

<DERIVATIVES> fan-tailed adj.

fan-tailed warbler (also fantail warbler) n. a small Old World warbler with streaked plumage and a stubby boldly marked tail.

<INFO> Genus Cisticola, family Sylviidae: several species, in particular C. juncidis, found from western Europe to Australia. See also CISTICOLA.

fan-tan /fantan/ n. [mass noun] 1 a Chinese gambling game in which players try to guess the remainder after the banker has divided a number of hidden objects into four groups.

2 a card game in which players build on sequences of sevens.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Chinese fān tān, literally ‘repeated divisions’.

fantasia /fantezə fantəziə/ n. a musical composition with a free form and often an improvisatory style.

- a musical composition based on several familiar tunes.

- a thing composed of a mixture of different forms or styles: the theatre is a kind of Moorish and Egyptian fantasia.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Italian, ‘fantasy’, from Latin phantasia (see FANTASY).

fantasize (also fantasise) v. [no obj.] indulge in daydreaming about something desired: he sometimes fantasized about emigrating.

- [with obj.] imagine (something that one wants to happen): one might fantasize the death of someone seen as a threat.

<DERIVATIVES> fantasist n.

fantast /fantast/ (also phantast) n. ARCHAIC or NORTH AMERICAN an impractical, impulsive person; a dreamer.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (formerly also as phantast): originally via medieval Latin from Greek phantastēs ‘boaster’, from phantazein or phantazesthai (see FANTASTIC); in modern use from German Phantast.

fantastic adj. 1 imaginative or fanciful; remote from reality: fantastic hybrid creatures.

- (of an object) seeming more appropriate to the imagination than to reality; strange or exotic: a fantastic, maze-like building.

2 INFORMAL extraordinarily good or attractive: she's got a fantastic body.

- of an extraordinary size or degree: she had spent a fantastic amount of cash.

<DERIVATIVES> fantastical adj.

■ fantastic (sense 1)

□ fantasticality n.

■ fantastic (sense 1)

□ fantastically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘unreal’): from Old French fantastique, via medieval Latin from Greek phantastikos, from phantazein ‘make visible’, phantazesthai ‘have visions, imagine’, from phantos ‘visible’ (related to phainein ‘to show’). From the 16th to the 19th cents the Latinized spelling phantastic was also used.

fantasticate v. [with obj.] RARE make (something) seem fanciful or fantastic.

<DERIVATIVES> fantastication n.

fantasy n. (pl. fantasies) 1 [mass noun] the faculty or activity of imagining impossible or improbable things: his researches had moved into the realms of fantasy.

- [count noun] a fanciful mental image, typically one on which a person often dwells and which reflects their conscious or unconscious wishes: the notion of being independent is a child's ultimate fantasy.

- [count noun] an idea with no basis in reality: it is a misleading fantasy to suggest that the bill can be implemented.

- a genre of imaginative fiction involving magic and adventure, especially in a setting other than the real world.

2 [MUSIC] a fantasia.

■ v. (fantasies, fantasying, fantasied) [with obj.] LITERARY imagine the occurrence of; fantasize about.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fantasie, from Latin phantasia, from Greek ‘imagination, appearance’, later ‘phantom’, from phantazein ‘make visible’. From the 16th to the 19th cents the Latinized spelling phantasy was also used.

fantasy football n. [mass noun] a competition in which participants select imaginary teams from among the players in a league and score points according to the actual performance of their players.

Fante /fanti/ (also Fanti) n. (pl. same or Fantis) 1 a member of a people of southern Ghana.

2 [mass noun] the dialect of Akan spoken by the Fante.

■ adj. relating to the Fante or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Akan.

fantod /fantd/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a state or attack of uneasiness or unreasonableness: people calling me Ray just gives me the fantods.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

fan worm n. a tube-dwelling marine bristle worm which bears a fan-like crown of filaments that are typically brightly coloured and project from the top of the tube, filtering the water for food particles.

<INFO> Families Sabellidae and Serpulidae, class Polychaeta: numerous species, including the peacock worm.

fanzine /fanzin/ n. a magazine, usually produced by amateurs, for fans of a particular performer, group, or form of entertainment.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally US): blend of fan^2 and MAGAZINE.

FAO abbr.

- Food and Agriculture Organization.

- for the attention of.

FAQ n. [COMPUTING] a text file containing a list of questions and answers relating to a particular subject, especially one giving basic information for users of an Internet newsgroup.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: acronym from frequently asked questions.

far adv. (further, furthest or farther, farthest) 1 [often with adverbial] at, to, or by a great distance (used to indicate the extent to which one thing is distant from another): the house was not too far away | the mountains far in the distance glowed in the sun.

2 over a large expanse of space or time: he had not travelled far | FIGURATIVE that's why we have come so far and done as well as we have.

3 by a great deal: he is able to function far better than usual.

■ adj. [attr.] situated at a great distance in space or time: the far reaches of the universe.

- more distant than another object of the same kind: he was standing in the far corner.

- distant from a point seen as central; extreme: the far north of Scotland | the success of the far Right.

<PHRASES>

□ as far as for as great a distance as: the river stretched away as far as he could see.

- for a great enough distance to reach: I decided to walk as far as the village.

- to the extent that: as far as I am concerned it is no big deal.

□ be a far cry from be very different to: he is a far cry from the telegenic legislators who increasingly prowl Capitol Hill.

□ by far by a great amount: this was by far the largest city in the area.

□ far and away by a very large amount: he is far and away the most accomplished player.

□ far and near everywhere.

□ far and wide over a large area.

□ far be it from (or for) me to used to express reluctance to do something which one thinks may be resented: far be it from me to speculate on his reasons.

□ far from tending to the opposite of what is expected: conditions were far from satisfactory.

□ far gone 1 in a bad or worsening state: a few frames from the original film were too far gone to salvage.

- INFORMAL very intoxicated or ill.

2 advanced in time: when he awoke the day was far gone.

□ far off remote in time or space: a far-off country. | shared memories of those far-off days.

□ go far 1 achieve a great deal: everyone was sure he would go far.

2 be worth or amount to much: the money would not go far at this year's prices.

□ go so far as to do something do something regarded as extreme: surely they wouldn't go so far as to break in?

□ go too far exceed the limits of what is reasonable or acceptable.

□ how far 1 used to ask how great a distance is: they wanted to know how far he could travel.

2 to what extent: he was not sure how far she was committed.

□ so far 1 to a certain limited extent: jabs and pills can protect you only so far.

2 (of a trend that seems likely to continue) up to this time: diplomatic activity so far has failed.

□ (in) so far as (or that) to the extent that: the play was a great success so far as attendance was concerned.

□ so far so good progress has been satisfactory up to now.

□ a —— too far a —— regarded as being one step or stage beyond what is safe, sensible, or desirable: the statement appears to be a claim too far.

<ORIGIN> Old English feorr, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ver, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit para and Greek pera ‘further’.

farad /farad/ (abbr.: F) n. the SI unit of electrical capacitance, equal to the capacitance of a capacitor in which one coulomb of charge causes a potential difference of one volt.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: shortening of FARADAY. The term was originally proposed as a unit of electrical charge.

faradaic /farədek/ (also faradic) adj. produced by or associated with electrical induction.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of Michael FARADAY + -IC.

Faraday /farəde/ Michael (1791–1867), English physicist and chemist. He contributed significantly to the field of electromagnetism, discovering electromagnetic induction and demonstrating electromagnetic rotation (the key to the electric dynamo and motor). Faraday also discovered the laws of electrolysis and set the foundations for the classical field theory of electromagnetic behaviour.

faraday /farəde/ (abbr.: F) n. [CHEMISTRY] a unit of electric charge equal to Faraday's constant.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: coined in German from the name of Michael FARADAY.

Faraday cage n. [PHYSICS] an earthed metal screen surrounding a piece of equipment in order to exclude electrostatic influences.

Faraday effect n. [PHYSICS] the rotation of the plane of polarization of electromagnetic waves in certain substances in a magnetic field.

Faraday's constant n. [CHEMISTRY] the quantity of electric charge carried by one mole of electrons (equal to roughly 96,490 coulombs). Compare with FARADAY.

Faraday's law n. 1 [PHYSICS] a law stating that when the magnetic flux linking a circuit changes, an electromotive force is induced in the circuit proportional to the rate of change of the flux linkage.

2 [CHEMISTRY] a law stating that the amount of any substance deposited or liberated during electrolysis is proportional to the quantity of electric charge passed and to the equivalent weight of the substance.

faradic /fəradk/ adj. another term for FARADAIC.

farandole /far(ə)ndəl far(ə)ndəl/ n. HISTORICAL a lively Provençal dance in which the dancers join hands and wind in and out in a chain.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from modern Provençal farandoulo.

farang /fara/ n. (among Thais) a European or other foreigner.

<ORIGIN> Thai, from FRANK^2.

faraway adj. distant in space or time: exotic and faraway locations.

- seeming remote from one's immediate surroundings: she had a faraway look in her eyes.

farce n. a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations.

- [mass noun] the genre of such works.

- an event or situation that is absurd or disorganized: the debate turned into a drunken farce.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French, literally ‘stuffing’, from farcir ‘to stuff’, from Latin farcire. An earlier sense of ‘forcemeat stuffing’ became used metaphorically for comic interludes ‘stuffed’ into the texts of religious plays, which led to the current usage.

farceur /fαsə/ n. a writer of or performer in farces.

- a comedian.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: French, from obsolete farcer ‘act farces’.

farcical adj. relating to or resembling farce, especially because of absurd or ridiculous aspects: he considered the whole idea farcical | a farcical situation.

<DERIVATIVES> farcicality n. farcically adv.

farcy /fαsi/ n. [mass noun] glanders in horses (or a similar disease in cattle) in which there is inflammation of the lymph vessels, causing nodules (farcy buds or buttons).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French farcin, from late Latin farciminum, from farcire ‘to stuff’ (because of the appearance of the swollen nodules).

fardel /fαd(ə)l/ n. ARCHAIC a bundle or collection: a fardel of stories, personages, emotions.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French.

fare n. 1 the money paid for a journey on public transport.

- a passenger paying to travel in a taxi.

2 [mass noun] a range of food of a particular type: traditional Scottish fare | FIGURATIVE television offered Dickensian classics as staple fare.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial] perform in a specified way in a particular situation or over a particular period: the party fared badly in the elections.

- ARCHAIC happen; turn out: beware that it fare not with you as with your predecessor.

2 [with adverbial of direction] ARCHAIC travel: a knight fares forth.

<ORIGIN> Old English fær, faru ‘travelling, a journey or expedition’, faran ‘to travel’, also ‘get on (well or badly)’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch varen and German fahren ‘to travel’, Old Norse ferja ‘ferry boat’, also to FORD. Sense 1 of the noun stems from an earlier meaning ‘a journey for which a price is paid’. Noun sense 2 was originally used with reference to the quality or quantity of food provided, probably from the idea of faring well or badly.

Far East China, Japan, and other countries of east Asia.

<DERIVATIVES> Far Eastern adj.

fare stage n. BRITISH a section of a bus or tram route for which a fixed price is charged.

fare-thee-well (also fare-you-well) n. (in phrase to a fare-thee-well) US to perfection; thoroughly: coated in aspic and decorated to a fare-thee-well.

farewell exclam. used to express good wishes on parting.

■ n. an act of parting or of marking someone's departure: the dinner had been arranged as a farewell.

- [mass noun] parting good wishes: he had come on the pretext of bidding her farewell.

■ v. [with obj.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ mark the departure or retirement of (someone) with a ceremony or party.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the imperative of FARE + the adverb well^1.

Farewell, Cape 1 the southernmost point of Greenland. Danish name KAP FARVEL.

2 the northernmost point of the South Island, New Zealand. The cape was named by Captain James Cook as the last land sighted before he left for Australia in March 1770.

farfalle /fαfale -li/ plural n. small pieces of pasta shaped like bows or butterflies' wings.

<ORIGIN> Italian, plural of farfalla ‘butterfly’.

far-fetched adj. unlikely and unconvincing; implausible: the theory sounded bizarre and far-fetched.

far-flung adj. distant or remote: the far-flung corners of the world.

- widely distributed: newsletters provided an important link to a far-flung membership.

Faridabad /fəridəbad/ an industrial city in northern India, south of Delhi, in the state of Haryana; pop. 1,055,000 (2001).

farina /fərnə fərinə/ n. [mass noun] flour or meal made of cereal grains, nuts, or starchy roots.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC a powdery substance.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from far ‘corn’.

farinaceous /farneəs/ adj. consisting of or containing starch.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin farinaceus, from FARINA.

farkleberry /fαk(ə)lb(ə)ri -bεri/ n. (pl. farkleberries) a shrub or small tree with thick leathery leaves and inedible black berries, native to the south-eastern US.

<INFO> Vaccinium arboreum, family Ericaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: probably an alteration of WHORTLEBERRY.

farl /fαl/ n. a bread roll of Scottish origin made of oatmeal or flour, typically triangular in shape.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from obsolete fardel ‘quarter’, contraction of fourth deal (i.e. deal^1 in the earlier sense ‘portion, share’).

farm n. an area of land and its buildings, used for growing crops and rearing animals.

- a farmhouse: a half-timbered farm.

- [with modifier] a place for breeding a particular type of animal or producing a specified crop: a fish farm.

- [with modifier] a place devoted to producing or promoting something: an energy farm.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] make one's living by growing crops or keeping livestock: he has farmed organically for years.

- [with obj.] use (land) for growing crops and rearing animals.

- [with obj.] breed or grow (a type of livestock or crop) commercially: ostriches are farmed in South Africa and Australia | (as adj. farmed) farmed salmon.

2 [with obj.] (farm someone/thing out) send out or subcontract work to others: it saves time and money to farm out some writing work to specialized companies.

- arrange for a child to be looked after by someone, usually for payment.

- DATED send a sports player temporarily to another team in return for a fee.

3 [with obj.] HISTORICAL allow someone to collect and keep the revenues from (a tax) on payment of a fee.

<DERIVATIVES> farmable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ferme, from medieval Latin firma ‘fixed payment’, from Latin firmare ‘fix, settle’ (in medieval Latin ‘contract for’), from firmus ‘constant, firm’; compare with firm^2. The noun originally denoted a fixed annual amount payable as rent or tax; this is reflected in sense 3 of the verb of the verb, which later gave rise to ‘to subcontract’ (sense 2 of the verb). The noun came to denote a lease, and, in the early 16th century, land leased for farming. The verb sense ‘grow crops or keep livestock’ dates from the early 19th cent.

farman n. another term for FIRMAN.

farmer n. 1 a person who owns or manages a farm.

2 HISTORICAL a person to whom the collection of taxes was contracted for a fee.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fermier, from medieval Latin firmarius, firmator, from firma (see FARM).

■ Sense 1 originally denoted a bailiff or steward who farmed land on the owner's behalf, or a tenant farmer.

farmer's lung n. [mass noun] a type of pneumonitis caused by an allergic reaction to spores in mouldy hay.

farmers' market n. a market where local farmers and growers sell their produce directly to the public.

farmhand n. a worker on a farm.

farmhouse n. a house attached to a farm, especially the main house in which the farmer lives.

farmhouse loaf n. a loaf of white bread, oval or rectangular in shape, with a rounded top.

farming n. [mass noun] the activity or business of growing crops and raising livestock.

farmland n. [mass noun] (also farmlands) land used for farming.

farmstead n. a farm and its buildings.

farm team n. NORTH AMERICAN a minor-league baseball team that provides players as needed to an affiliated major-league team.

farmyard n. a yard surrounded by farm buildings.

- [as modifier] denoting coarse speech or behaviour: he insulted them in farmyard language.

Farnborough /fαnbərə/ a town in southern England, in Hampshire; pop. 54,700 (est. 2002). Noted as a centre of aviation, it is the site of an air show held every other year.

Farne Islands /fαn/ a group of seventeen small islands off the coast of Northumberland, noted for their wildlife.

Farnese^1 /fαneze -zi/ Italian /farnese/ Alessandro, see Paul III.

Farnese^2 /fαneze -zi/ Alessandro, Duke of Parma (1545–92), Italian general and statesman. While in the service of Philip II of Spain he acted as Governor General of the Netherlands (1578–92). He captured Antwerp in 1585, securing the southern Netherlands for Spain.

Faro /fαrə/ a seaport on the south coast of Portugal, capital of the Algarve; pop. 40,355 (2001).

faro /fεrə/ n. [mass noun] a gambling card game in which players bet on the order in which the cards will appear.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (originally as pharaoh or pharo): from French pharaon (see PHARAOH), said to have been the name of the king of hearts.

Faroe Islands /fεrə/ (also Faeroe Islands or the Faroes) a group of islands in the North Atlantic between Iceland and the Shetland Islands, belonging to Denmark but partly autonomous; pop. 46,011 (est. 2002); languages, Faroese (official), Danish; capital, Tórshavn. The shipping forecast area Faroes covers this area of the Atlantic.

Faroese /fεrəiz/ (also Faeroese) adj. relating to the Faroe Islands or their people or language.

■ n. (pl. same) 1 a native or national of the Faroes, or a person of Faroese descent.

2 [mass noun] the official language of the Faroes, a Scandinavian language closely related to Icelandic.

farouche /fəru/ adj. sullen or shy in company.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, alteration of Old French forache, based on Latin foras ‘out of doors’.

Farouk /faruk/ (1920–65), king of Egypt, reigned 1936–52. Farouk's defeat in the Arab–Israeli conflict of 1948, together with the general corruption of his reign, led to a military coup in 1952, masterminded by Nasser. Farouk was forced to abdicate in favour of his infant son, Fuad.

far out adj. unconventional or avant-garde: a far-out psychic technique.

- [often as exclamation] INFORMAL excellent: it's really far out!

Farquhar /fαkə/ George (1678–1707), Irish dramatist. He was a principal figure in Restoration comedy. Notable works: The Recruiting Officer (1706) and The Beaux' Stratagem (1707).

farrago /fərαə/ n. (pl. farragos or US farragoes) a confused mixture: a farrago of fact and myth about Abraham Lincoln.

<DERIVATIVES> farraginous /fərαdnəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘mixed fodder’, from far ‘corn’.

far-reaching adj. having important and widely applicable effects or implications: a series of far-reaching political reforms.

Farrell^1 /farəl/ J. G. (1935–79), English novelist; full name James Gordon Farrell. Notable works: The Siege of Krishnapur (1973) and The Singapore Grip (1978).

Farrell^2 /farəl/ J. T. (1904–79), American novelist; full name James Thomas Farrell. He achieved fame with his trilogy about Studs Lonigan, a young Chicago Catholic of Irish descent, which began with Young Lonigan (1932).

farrier /farə/ n. a smith who shoes horses.

<DERIVATIVES> farriery n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French ferrier, from Latin ferrarius, from ferrum ‘iron, horseshoe’.

farrow n. a litter of pigs.

- an act of giving birth to a litter of pigs.

■ v. [with obj.] (of a sow) give birth to (piglets): the pig is one of a litter of nine farrowed in July.

<ORIGIN> Old English fearh, færh ‘young pig’, of West Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek porkos and Latin porcus ‘pig’.

farruca /fərukə/ n. a type of flamenco dance.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: Spanish, feminine of farruco ‘of Galicia or Asturias’, from Farruco, pet form of the given name Francisco.

farse adj. W. Indian another term for fast^1 (sense 7 of the adjective).

far-seeing adj. having shrewd judgement and an ability to predict and plan for future eventualities.

Farsi /fαsi/ n. [mass noun] the modern Persian language, the official language of Iran, with over 20 million speakers.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic fārsī, from Fārs, from Persian Pārs ‘Persia’. Compare with PARSEE.

far-sighted adj. 1 showing a prudent awareness of future possibilities: far-sighted ideas on education.

2 NORTH AMERICAN long-sighted.

<DERIVATIVES> far-sightedly adv. far-sightedness n.

fart INFORMAL v. [no obj.] 1 emit wind from the anus.

2 (fart around BRITISH also fart about) waste time on silly or trivial things.

■ n. 1 an emission of wind from the anus.

2 a boring or contemptible person: he was such an old fart.

<ORIGIN> Old English (recorded in the verbal noun feorting ‘farting’) of Germanic origin; related to German farzen, furzen.

farthermost adj. variant form of FURTHERMOST.

farthest adj. & adv.

■ variant form of FURTHEST.

farthing n. a former monetary unit and coin of the UK, withdrawn in 1961, equal to a quarter of an old penny.

- [usually with negative] the least possible amount: she didn't care a farthing for the woman.

<ORIGIN> Old English fēorthing, from fēortha ‘fourth’, perhaps on the pattern of Old Norse fjórthungr ‘quarter’.

farthingale /fαel/ n. HISTORICAL a hooped petticoat or circular pad of fabric around the hips, formerly worn under women's skirts to extend and shape them.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (formerly also as vardingale): from French verdugale, alteration of Spanish verdugado, from verdugo ‘rod, stick’, from verde ‘green’.

fartlek /fαtlεk/ n. [mass noun] [ATHLETICS] a system of training for distance runners in which the terrain and pace are continually varied.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Swedish, from fart ‘speed’ + lek ‘play’.

Far West the regions of North America in the Rocky Mountains and along the Pacific coast.

■ former term for MIDWEST.

FAS abbr. fetal alcohol syndrome.

fasces /fasiz/ plural n. HISTORICAL a bundle of rods with a projecting axe blade, carried by a lictor in ancient Rome as a symbol of a magistrate's power, and used as an emblem of authority in Fascist Italy.

<ORIGIN> Latin, plural of fascis ‘bundle’.

fascia /feə -ə/ (also chiefly BRITISH facia except in sense 3) n. 1 a board or other flat piece of material covering the ends of rafters or other fittings.

- BRITISH a signboard on the upper part of a shopfront showing the name of the shop.

- (in classical architecture) a long flat surface between mouldings on an architrave.

2 BRITISH the dashboard of a motor vehicle.

- a board or panel of controls on any piece of equipment.

3 /faə/ (plural fasciae /-i/) [ANATOMY] a thin sheath of fibrous tissue enclosing a muscle or other organ.

4 a covering, typically a detachable one, for the front part of a mobile phone.

<DERIVATIVES> fascial adj.

■ fascia (sense 3)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, ‘band, door frame’, related to FASCES. Compare with fess^1.

fasciated /faetd -ətd/ adj. [BOTANY] showing abnormal fusion of parts or organs, resulting in a flattened ribbon-like structure.

<DERIVATIVES> fasciation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in the sense ‘banded’): from Latin fasciatus (past participle of fasciare ‘swathe’, from fascia ‘band’) + -ED^1.

fascicle /fask(ə)l/ n. 1 (also fascicule /-kjul/) a separately published instalment of a book or other printed work.

2 (also fasciculus /faskjləs/) (plural fasciculi) [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] a bundle of structures, such as nerve or muscle fibres or conducting vessels in plants.

<DERIVATIVES> fascicled adj. fascicular adj. fasciculate /-skjlət/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2): from Latin fasciculus, diminutive of fascis ‘bundle’.

fasciculation /faskjle(ə)n/ n. 1 MEDICINE a brief spontaneous contraction affecting a small number of muscle fibres, often causing a flicker of movement under the skin.

2 [mass noun] chiefly [BIOLOGY] arrangement in bundles.

fasciitis /fasts fa-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the fascia of a muscle or organ.

fascinate v. [with obj.] attract the strong attention and interest of (someone): I've always been fascinated by computers | (as adj. fascinated) a crowd of fascinated onlookers.

- ARCHAIC (especially of a snake) deprive (prey) of the ability to resist or escape by the power of a gaze.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘bewitch’): from Latin fascinat- ‘bewitched’, from the verb fascinare, from fascinum ‘spell, witchcraft’.

fascinating adj. extremely interesting: a fascinating book.

<DERIVATIVES> fascinatingly adv.

fascination n. [mass noun] the power to fascinate someone; fascinating quality: television has always held a fascination for me.

- the state of being fascinated: he had a lifelong fascination with science.

fascinator n. 1 a light, decorative woman's headpiece consisting typically of feathers, flowers, beads, etc. attached to a comb or hairclip.

2 a fascinating person.

fascine /fasin/ n. a bundle of rods or plastic pipes bound together, used in construction or military operations for filling in marshy ground or other obstacles and for strengthening the sides of embankments, ditches, or trenches.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via French from Latin fascina, from fascis ‘bundle’.

fascioliasis /fasələss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE infestation of a human or an animal with the liver fluke.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Fasciola hepatica, the name of the liver fluke (from Latin fasciola ‘small bandage’) + -IASIS.

fascism /faz(ə)m -sz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.

- (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practices.

The term Fascism was first used of the totalitarian right-wing nationalist regime of Mussolini in Italy (1922–43); the regimes of the Nazis in Germany and Franco in Spain were also Fascist. Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one national or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach.

<DERIVATIVES> fascistic adj.

<ORIGIN> from Italian fascismo, from fascio ‘bundle, political group’, from Latin fascis (see FASCES).

fascist /fast/ n. an advocate or follower of fascism.

■ adj. of or relating to fascism: a military coup threw out the old fascist regime.

fash v. (fash oneself) SCOTTISH feel upset or worried: she'll be coming soon, don't fash yourself.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from early modern French fascher, based on Latin fastus ‘disdain, scornful contempt’.

fashion n. 1 a popular or the latest style of clothing, hair, decoration, or behaviour: the latest Parisian fashions.

- [mass noun] the production and marketing of new styles of clothing and cosmetics: [as modifier] a fashion magazine.

2 a manner of doing something: the work is done in a rather casual fashion.

■ v. [with obj.] make into a particular form: the bottles were fashioned from green glass.

- (fashion something into) use materials to produce (something): the skins were fashioned into boots and shoes.

<PHRASES>

□ after a fashion to a certain extent but not perfectly: he could read after a fashion.

□ after (or in) the fashion of in a manner similar to: she took servants for granted after the fashion of wealthy girls.

□ in (or out of) fashion popular (or unpopular) and considered (or not considered) to be smart at the time in question.

<DERIVATIVES> fashioner n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘make, shape, appearance’, also ‘a particular make or style’): from Old French façon, from Latin factio(n-), from facere ‘do, make’.

-fashion combining form in the manner of something specified: the masts extend concertina-fashion.

- in the style associated with a specified place or people: American-fashion.

fashionable adj. characteristic of, influenced by, or representing a current popular style: fashionable clothes.

- (of a person) dressing or behaving according to the current trend.

- (of a place) frequented by fashionable people: a fashionable Manhattan restaurant.

<DERIVATIVES> fashionability n. fashionableness n. fashionably adv.

fashion-forward adj. (of a person or style of clothing) at the cutting edge of fashion: it's become the clothing line of choice for fashion-forward women.

fashionista /faənistə/ n. INFORMAL 1 a designer of haute couture.

2 a devoted follower of fashion.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from FASHION + -ISTA.

fashion plate n. 1 a person who dresses very fashionably.

2 a picture, typically in a magazine, illustrating a new or current fashion in clothes.

fashion victim n. INFORMAL a person who follows popular fashions slavishly.

Fassbinder /fasbndə/ German /fasbnd/ Rainer Werner (1946–82), German film director. His films dealt largely with Germany during the Second World War and post-war West German society. Notable films: The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) and The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979).

fast^1 adj. 1 moving or capable of moving at high speed: a fast and powerful car.

- taking place at high speed; taking a short time: the journey was fast and enjoyable.

- performing or able to perform a particular action quickly: a fast reader.

- [attr.] (of a surface) allowing or producing high-speed movement: a wide, fast road.

2 [predic. or as complement] (of a clock or watch) showing a time ahead of the correct time: I keep my watch fifteen minutes fast.

3 firmly fixed or attached: he made a rope fast to each corner.

- (of friends) close and loyal.

4 [PHOTOGRAPHY] (of a film) needing only a short exposure.

- (of a lens) having a large aperture and therefore suitable for use with short exposure times.

5 (of a dye) not fading in light or when washed.

6 (of a person or their lifestyle) engaging in or involving exciting or shocking activities: the fast life she led in London.

7 (also farse) W. INDIAN (of a person) prone to act in an unacceptably familiar way: Mammy said, ‘Stop asking questions, you too damn farse.’.

■ adv. 1 at high speed: he was driving too fast.

- within a short time: we're going to have to get to the bottom of this fast.

2 so as to be hard to move; securely: the ship was held fast by the anchor chain.

3 so as to be hard to wake: they were too fast asleep to reply.

<PHRASES>

□ fast and furious lively and exciting.

□ fast worker INFORMAL a person who makes rapid progress or achieves results quickly, especially in love affairs.

□ pull a fast one INFORMAL trick someone: he had been trying to pull a fast one on his producer.

<ORIGIN> Old English fæst ‘firmly fixed, steadfast’ and fæste ‘firmly’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vast and German fest ‘firm, solid’ and fast ‘almost’. In Middle English the adverb developed the senses ‘strongly, vigorously’ (compare with run hard), and ‘close, immediate’ (just surviving in the archaic fast by; compare with hard by), hence ‘closely, immediately’ and ‘quickly’; the idea of rapid movement was then reflected in adjectival use.

fast^2 v. [no obj.] abstain from all or some kinds of food or drink, especially as a religious observance.

- (be fasted) TECHNICAL be deprived of all or some kinds of food, especially for medical or experimental reasons.

■ n. an act or period of fasting: a five-day fast.

<ORIGIN> Old English fæstan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vasten and German fasten, also to Old Norse fasta, the source of the noun.

fastback n. a car with a rear that slopes continuously down to the bumper.

fastball n. a baseball pitch thrown at or near a pitcher's maximum speed.

■ another term for FAST-PITCH SOFTBALL.

fast break n. a swift attack from a defensive position in basketball, soccer, and other ball games.

fast breeder (also fast breeder reactor) n. a breeder reactor in which the neutrons causing fission are not slowed by any moderator.

fasten v. 1 [with obj.] close or do up securely: the tunic was fastened with a row of gilt buttons.

- [no obj., with adverbial] be closed or done up in a particular manner: a blue nightie that fastens down the back.

- [with obj. and adverbial] fix or hold in place: she fastened her locket round her neck.

- (fasten something off) secure the end of a thread with stitches or a knot.

2 [no obj.] (fasten on/upon) single out (someone or something) and concentrate on them or it obsessively: the critics fastened upon two sections of the report.

- [with obj.] (fasten something on/upon) direct one's eyes, thoughts, etc. intently at: his gaze was fastened on his daughter | [no obj.] his eyes seemed to fasten on her.

<DERIVATIVES> fastener n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fæstnian ‘make sure’, also ‘immobilize’, of West Germanic origin; related to fast^1.

fastening n. a device that closes or secures something: a fly-front fastening.

Fastext /fαstεkst/ n. [mass noun] a facility in certain televisions to store some teletext pages in advance, displaying them instantly when requested by the user.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: contraction of fast teletext.

fast food n. [mass noun] easily prepared processed food served in snack bars and restaurants as a quick meal or to be taken away: [as modifier] a fast-food restaurant.

fast forward n. a control on a tape or video recorder for winding the tape forward rapidly.

- a facility for cueing audio equipment by allowing the tape to be played at high speed during fast-forward wind and stopped at the desired place.

■ v. (fast-forward) [with obj.] wind (a tape) forward rapidly.

- [no obj.] FIGURATIVE move speedily forward in time: the text fast-forwards to 1990.

fast ice n. [mass noun] ice that covers seawater but is attached to land.

fastidious /fastdəs/ adj. very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail: she dressed with fastidious care.

- very concerned about matters of cleanliness: the child seemed fastidious about getting her fingers dirty.

<DERIVATIVES> fastidiously adv. fastidiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fastidiosus, from fastidium ‘loathing’. The word originally meant ‘disagreeable’, later ‘disgusted’. Current senses date from the 17th cent.

fastigiate /fastdət -et/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a tree or shrub) having the branches more or less parallel to the main stem.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin fastigium ‘tapering point, gable’ + -ATE^2.

fast lane n. a lane of a motorway or dual carriageway for use by traffic that is overtaking or moving more quickly than the rest.

<PHRASES>

□ in the fast lane where life is exciting or highly pressured: his face showed the strain of a life lived in the fast lane.

fastness n. 1 a secure place well protected by natural features: a remote Himalayan mountain fastness.

2 [mass noun] the ability of a material or dye to maintain its colour without fading or washing away: the dyes differ in their fastness to light.

<ORIGIN> Old English fæstnes (see fast^1, -ness).

Fastnet /fαs(t)nεt/ a rocky islet off the SW coast of Ireland.

- a shipping forecast area covering the Celtic Sea off the south coast of Ireland as far as the latitude of the Scilly Isles.

fast neutron n. a neutron with high kinetic energy, especially one released by nuclear fission and not slowed by any moderator.

fast-pitch softball (also fast-pitch) n. [mass noun] a variety of the game of softball, featuring fast underhand pitching.

fast reactor n. a nuclear reactor in which fission is caused mainly by fast neutrons.

fast-talk v. [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN pressurize (someone) into doing something using rapid or misleading speech: heroin dealers tried to fast-talk him into a quick sale | (as adj. fast-talking) a fast-talking confidence trickster.

fast track n. [in sing.] a route or method which provides for more rapid results than usual: a career in the fast track of the Civil Service.

■ v. (fast-track) [with obj.] accelerate the progress of (a person or project): the board voted to fast-track the stadium plan.

fast-twitch adj. [attr.] [PHYSIOLOGY] (of a muscle fibre) contracting rapidly, thus providing strength rather than endurance.

fat n. 1 [mass noun] a natural oily substance occurring in animal bodies, especially when deposited as a layer under the skin or around certain organs.

- a fatty substance made from animal or plant products, used in cooking.

- the presence of excess fat in a person or animal: he was a tall man, running to fat.

2 [CHEMISTRY] any of a group of natural esters of glycerol and various fatty acids, which are solid at room temperature and are the main constituents of animal and vegetable fat. Compare with OIL.

■ adj. (fatter, fattest) 1 (of a person or animal) having a large amount of excess flesh: the driver was a fat wheezing man.

- (of an animal bred for food) made plump for slaughter.

- containing much fat: fat bacon.

- (of coal) containing a high proportion of volatile oils.

2 large in bulk or circumference: a fat cigarette.

- INFORMAL (especially in the context of financial reward) substantial: a fat profit | a fat cheque.

- INFORMAL used ironically to express the belief that something is unlikely or does not exist: fat chance she had of influencing Guy's decisions.

■ v. (fats, fatting, fatted) ARCHAIC make or become fat: (as adj. fatted) a fatted duck.

<PHRASES>

□ the fat is in the fire something has happened that will inevitably cause trouble.

□ kill the fatted calf produce one's best food to celebrate, especially at a prodigal's return. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Luke 15.]

□ live off (or on) the fat of the land have the best of everything.

<DERIVATIVES> fatless adj. fatly adv. fatness n. fattish adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English ftt ‘well fed, plump’, also ‘fatty, oily’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vet and German feist.

Fatah /fatə/ (also al-Fatah) a Palestinian political and military organization founded in 1958 by Yasser Arafat and others to bring about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It dominated the Palestine Liberation Organization from the 1960s, but more recently has been challenged by more extreme groups, and in 2006 was defeated by Hamas in the elections for the Palestinian National Authority.

<ORIGIN> Arabic, literally ‘victory’.

fatal /fet(ə)l/ adj. causing death: a fatal accident.

- leading to failure or disaster: there were three fatal flaws in the strategy.

<DERIVATIVES> fatally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘destined by fate’ and ‘ominous’): from Old French, or from Latin fatalis, from fatum (see FATE).

fatalism n. [mass noun] the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable.

- a submissive attitude to events, resulting from such a belief.

<DERIVATIVES> fatalist n. fatalistic adj. fatalistically adv.

fatality /fətalti fe-/ n. (pl. fatalities) 1 an occurrence of death by accident, in war, or from disease: 80 per cent of pedestrian fatalities occur in built-up areas.

2 [mass noun] helplessness in the face of fate: a sense of fatality gripped her.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting the quality of causing death or disaster): from French fatalité or late Latin fatalitas, from Latin fatalis ‘decreed by fate’, from fatum (see FATE).

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 19th cent.

Fata Morgana /fαtə mαnə/ n. a mirage.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘fairy Morgan’; originally referring to a mirage seen in the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily and attributed to MORGAN LE FAY, whose legend and reputation were carried to Sicily by Norman settlers.

fatback n. 1 [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN fat from the upper part of a side of pork, especially when dried and salted in strips.

2 US informal term for MENHADEN.

fat body n. [ZOOLOGY] each of a number of small white structures in the body of an animal, especially an insect, which act as a store of fats and glycogen.

fat camp n. a residential course for overweight children, promoting exercise and healthy eating to facilitate weight loss.

fat cat n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a wealthy and powerful person, especially a businessman or politician: [as modifier] a fat-cat developer.

fat dormouse n. a squirrel-like burrowing dormouse found in Europe and Asia Minor, sometimes farmed or hunted for food. Also called EDIBLE DORMOUSE.

<INFO> Myoxus glis, family Myoxidae.

fate n. 1 [mass noun] the development of events outside a person's control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power: fate decided his course for him | his injury is a cruel twist of fate.

- [count noun] the course of someone's life, or the outcome of a situation for someone or something, seen as outside their control: he stared at the faces of the committee, trying to guess his fate.

- [in sing.] the inescapable death of a person: the guards led her to her fate.

2 (the Fates) [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the three goddesses who preside over the birth and life of humans. Each person was thought of as a spindle, around which the three Fates (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) would spin the thread of human destiny.

- (Fates)

■ another term for NORNS.

■ v. (be fated) be destined to happen, turn out, or act in a particular way: [with infinitive] the regime was fated to end badly.

<PHRASES>

□ a fate worse than death see DEATH.

□ seal someone's fate make it inevitable that something unpleasant will happen to someone.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Italian fato or (later) from its source, Latin fatum ‘that which has been spoken’, from fari ‘speak’.

fateful adj. having far-reaching and often disastrous consequences or implications: a fateful oversight.

<DERIVATIVES> fatefully adv. fatefulness n.

fat farm n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a health farm for people who are overweight.

fat-free adj. (of a food) not containing animal or vegetable fats: virtually fat-free yogurt.

fathead n. INFORMAL a stupid person.

<DERIVATIVES> fat-headed adj. fat-headedness n.

fat hen n. [mass noun] a herbaceous plant with mealy edible leaves, often considered to be a weed.

<INFO> Chenopodium alba, family Chenopodiaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: said to be so named because the seeds were eaten by poultry.

father n. 1 a man in relation to his child or children.

- a male animal in relation to its offspring.

- (fathers) LITERARY ancestors.

- an important male figure in the origin and early history of something: he's held to be the father of abstract art.

- a man who provides care and protection: the prince is widely regarded as the father of the nation.

- the oldest member or doyen of a society or other body.

- (the Father) (in Christian belief) the first person of the Trinity; God.

- (Father) used as a title of respect for an old and venerable man or for something personified as such a man: Father Thames.

2 (also Father) (often as a title or form of address) a priest: pray for me, father.

3 (Fathers or Fathers of the Church) early Christian theologians (in particular of the first five centuries) whose writings are regarded as especially authoritative.

■ v. [with obj.] be the father of: he fathered three children.

- (usually as n. fathering) treat with the protective care associated with a father: the two males share the fathering of the cubs.

- be the source or originator of: a culture which has fathered half the popular music in the world.

- (father someone/thing on) assign the paternity of a child or responsibility for a book, idea, or action to: a collection of Irish stories was fathered on him.

<PHRASES>

□ how's your father BRITISH INFORMAL used euphemistically to refer to sexual intercourse.

- used euphemistically to refer to a penis.

□ like father, like son PROVERB a son's character or behaviour can be expected to resemble that of his father.

<DERIVATIVES> fatherhood n. fatherless adj. fatherlessness n. fatherlike adj. & adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English fæder, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vader and German Vater, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin pater and Greek patēr.

Father Christmas British an imaginary figure said to bring presents for children on the night before Christmas Day, conventionally pictured as a jolly old man with a long white beard and red clothes. Also called SANTA CLAUS.

father figure n. an older man who is respected for his paternal qualities and may be an emotional substitute for a father.

father-in-law n. (pl. fathers-in-law) the father of one's husband or wife.

fatherland n. a person's native country, especially when referred to in patriotic terms.

- (the Fatherland) HISTORICAL Germany during the period of Hitler's control.

fatherly adj. relating to, resembling, or characteristic of a father, especially in being protective and affectionate: he gave me such a kind and fatherly look.

<DERIVATIVES> fatherliness n.

father of the chapel n. BRITISH the shop steward of a printers' trade union. she appealed to the father of the chapel on the grounds of wrongful dismissal.

Father of the House n. (in the UK) the member of the House of Commons with the longest continuous service.

Father's Day n. a day of the year on which fathers are particularly honoured by their children. It was first observed in the state of Washington in 1910; in the US, South Africa, and Britain, it is usually the third Sunday in June, in Australia, the first Sunday in September.

fathom n. a unit of length equal to six feet (1.8 metres), chiefly used in reference to the depth of water: sonar says that we're in eighteen fathoms.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 [usually with negative] understand (a difficult problem or an enigmatic person) after much thought: the locals could not fathom out the reason behind his new-found prosperity | [with clause] he couldn't fathom why she was being so anxious.

2 measure the depth of (water): an attempt to fathom the ocean.

<DERIVATIVES> fathomable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English fæthm, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vadem, vaam and German Faden ‘six feet’. The original sense was ‘something which embraces’, (plural) ‘the outstretched arms’; hence, a unit of measurement based on the span of the outstretched arms, later standardized to six feet.

Fathometer /famtə/ n. US TRADEMARK a type of echo sounder.

fathomless adj. unable to be measured or understood; extremely deep: staring into a pair of cold, fathomless grey eyes | the fathomless depths of the novel.

fatigue n. 1 [mass noun] extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness: he was nearly dead with fatigue.

- a reduction in the efficiency of a muscle or organ after prolonged activity.

- [with modifier] a lessening in one's response to or enthusiasm for something, caused by overexposure: votes were showing signs of election fatigue.

2 weakness in metal or other materials caused by repeated variations of stress: metal fatigue.

3 (fatigues) menial non-military tasks performed by a soldier, sometimes as a punishment: we're on cookhouse fatigues, sir.

- (also fatigue party) [count noun] a group of soldiers ordered to do menial tasks.

4 (fatigues) loose clothing, typically khaki, olive drab, or camouflaged, of a sort worn by soldiers on active duty: battle fatigues.

■ v. (fatigues, fatiguing, fatigued) [with obj.] cause (someone) to feel exhausted: they were fatigued by their journey.

- reduce the efficiency of (a muscle or organ) by prolonged activity.

- weaken (a metal or other material) by repeated variations of stress.

<DERIVATIVES> fatiguability (also fatigability) n. fatiguable (also fatigable) adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘task that causes weariness’): from French fatigue (noun), fatiguer (verb), from Latin fatigare ‘tire out’, from ad fatim, affatim ‘to satiety or surfeit’.

Fatiha /fαtə fat-/ (also Fatihah) n. the short first sura of the Koran, used by Muslims as an essential element of ritual prayer.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic al-Fātiah ‘the opening (sura)’, from fātia ‘opening’, from fataa ‘to open’.

Fatima /fatmə/ (c.606–32 AD), youngest daughter of the prophet Muhammad and wife of the fourth caliph, Ali. The descendants of Muhammad trace their lineage through her; she is revered especially by Shiite Muslims as the mother of the imams Hasan and Husayn.

Fátima /fatmə/ a village in west central Portugal, north-east of Lisbon; pop. 10,400 (est. 2002). It became a centre of Roman Catholic pilgrimage after the reported sighting in the village in 1917 of the Virgin Mary.

Fatimid /fatmd/ n. a member of a dynasty which ruled in parts of northern Africa, Egypt, and Syria from 909 to 1171, and founded Cairo as its capital in 969.

■ adj. relating to the Fatimids.

<DERIVATIVES> Fatimite n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic Fāima (see FATIMA, from whom the dynasty is said to descend) + -ID^3.

fatling n. a young animal that has been fattened in readiness for slaughter.

fatoush /fatu/ n. a Middle Eastern salad dish consisting of tomatoes, cucumber, and other vegetables together with croutons made from toasted pitta bread.

<ORIGIN> Arabic fattūš.

fatso n. (pl. fatsos) INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a fat person.

fatstock n. [mass noun] BRITISH livestock that has been fattened for slaughter.

fatten v. make or become fat or fatter: [with obj.] he could do with some good food to fatten him up | [no obj.] Irish cattle fatten up quickly.

fattening adj. (of a foodstuff) liable to make a person overweight.

fattism n. [mass noun] prejudice or discrimination against people who are fat.

<DERIVATIVES> fattist n. & adj.

fatty adj. (fattier, fattiest) containing a large amount of fat: go easy on fatty foods | fatty tissue.

- MEDICINE (of a disease or lesion) marked by abnormal deposition of fat in cells: fatty degeneration of the liver.

■ n. (pl. fatties) INFORMAL a fat person (often as a nickname).

<DERIVATIVES> fattiness n.

fatty acid n. [CHEMISTRY] a carboxylic acid consisting of a hydrocarbon chain and a terminal carboxyl group, especially any of those occurring as esters in fats and oils.

fatty oil n. another term for FIXED OIL.

fatuous /fatjəs/ adj. silly and pointless: a fatuous comment.

<DERIVATIVES> fatuity n. (pl. fatuities) fatuously adv. fatuousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin fatuus ‘foolish’ + -OUS.

fatwa /fatwα/ n. a ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a recognized authority.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Arabic fatwā, from 'aftā ‘decide a point of law’. Compare with mufti^1.

faubourg /fəbə/ French /fəbuR/ n. [usually in place names] a suburb, especially one in Paris: the Faubourg Saint-Germain.

<ORIGIN> French (earlier faux-bourg ‘false borough’), perhaps an alteration of forsborc, literally ‘outside the town’, but perhaps based on Middle High German phâlburgere ‘burghers of the pale’, i.e. people living outside the city wall but still inside the palisade.

fauces /fsiz/ plural n. [ANATOMY] the arched opening at the back of the mouth leading to the pharynx.

<DERIVATIVES> faucial /f(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘throat’.

faucet /fst/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a tap.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a bung for the vent hole of a cask, or a tap for drawing liquor from a container): from Old French fausset, from Provençal falset, from falsar ‘to bore’. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

faugh /f/ exclam. expressing disgust: ‘Faugh! This place stinks!’.

<ORIGIN> natural exclamation: first recorded in English in the mid 16th cent.

faujdar /fddα/ (also faujidar) n. INDIAN a police officer.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘Mogul state official in charge of the police’): from Persian fawjdār ‘military commander’, from Arabic fawj ‘troop’ + Persian -dār ‘holding, holder’.

Faulkner /fknə/ William (1897–1962), American novelist. His works deal with the history and legends of the American South and have a strong sense of a society in decline. Notable works: The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), and Absalom! Absalom! (1936). Nobel Prize for Literature (1949).

fault /flt flt/ n. 1 an unattractive or unsatisfactory feature, especially in a piece of work or in a person's character: my worst fault is impatience.

- a break or other defect in an electric circuit or piece of machinery: a fire caused by an electrical fault.

- a misguided action or habit: the fault of the keen therapist is to start to intervene during the assessment phase.

- (in tennis and similar games) a service of the ball not in accordance with the rules.

- (usually faults) (in showjumping) a penalty point imposed for an error.

2 [mass noun] responsibility for an accident or misfortune: if books were not selling, it wasn't the fault of the publishers | it was his fault she had died.

3 [GEOLOGY] an extended break in a rock formation, marked by the relative displacement and discontinuity of strata on either side of a particular plane.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] [usually with negative] criticize for inadequacy or mistakes: her superiors could not fault her dedication to the job | you cannot fault him for the professionalism of his approach.

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC do wrong: the people of Caesarea faulted greatly when they called King Herod a god.

2 (be faulted) [GEOLOGY] (of a rock formation) be broken by a fault or faults: the continental crust has been thinned and faulted as a result of geological processes | (as n. faulting) a complex pattern of faulting.

<PHRASES>

□ at fault 1 responsible for an undesirable situation; in the wrong: we recover compensation from the person at fault.

2 defective: he suspected that his calculator was at fault.

□ find fault make an adverse criticism or objection, sometimes unfairly: he finds fault with everything I do.

□ —— to a fault displaying the specified commendable quality to an almost excessive extent: you're kind and generous to a fault.

<ORIGIN> Middle English faut(e) ‘lack, failing’, from Old French, based on Latin fallere ‘deceive’. The -l- was added (in French and English) in the 15th century to conform with the Latin word, but did not become standard in English until the 17th century, remaining silent in pronunciation until well into the 18th.

fault-finding n. [mass noun] 1 continual criticism, typically concerning trivial things.

2 the investigation of the cause of malfunction in machinery, especially electronic equipment.

<DERIVATIVES> fault-finder n.

faultless adj. free from defect or error: your logic is faultless.

<DERIVATIVES> faultlessly adv. faultlessness n.

faulty adj. (faultier, faultiest) not working or made correctly; having defects: a faulty brake.

- (of reasoning and other mental processes) mistaken or misleading because of flaws: faulty logic.

- having or displaying weaknesses: her character was faulty.

<DERIVATIVES> faultily adv. faultiness n.

faun /fn/ n. [MYTHOLOGY] one of a class of lustful rural gods, represented as a man with a goat's horns, ears, legs, and tail.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the name of the pastoral god FAUNUS.

fauna /fnə/ n. (pl. faunas) [mass noun] the animals of a particular region, habitat, or geological period: the flora and fauna of Siberia | [count noun] the local Mesozoic rocks and their faunas.

- [count noun] a book or other work detailing the animal life of a region.

<DERIVATIVES> faunal adj. faunistic /-nstk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: modern Latin application of Fauna, the name of a rural goddess, sister of FAUNUS.

faunal region n. another term for ZOOGEOGRAPHICAL REGION.

Fauntleroy /fntlər/ (also Little Lord Fauntleroy) n. an excessively well-mannered or elaborately dressed young boy.

<ORIGIN> from the name of the boy hero of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886).

Faunus /fnəs/ [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] an ancient Italian pastoral god, grandson of Saturn, associated with wooded places.

Fauré /fre/ French /fəRe/ Gabriel (Urbain) (1845–1924), French composer and organist. His best-known work is the Requiem (1887) for solo voices, choir, and orchestra; he also wrote songs, piano pieces, chamber music, and incidental music for the theatre.

Faust /fast/ (also Faustus /-təs/)

- (died c.1540), German astronomer and necromancer. Reputed to have sold his soul to the Devil, he became the subject of a drama by Goethe, an opera by Gounod, and a novel by Thomas Mann.

<DERIVATIVES> Faustian adj.

faute de mieux /fət də mjə/ French /fət də mjø/ adv. for want of a better alternative.

<ORIGIN> French.

fauteuil /fətəi/ n. a wooden seat in the form of an armchair with open sides and upholstered arms.

<ORIGIN> French, from Old French faudestuel, from medieval Latin faldistolium (see FALDSTOOL).

Fauve /fəv/ French /fəv/ n. a member of a group of French painters who favoured Fauvism: [as modifier] the Fauve movement.

Fauvism /fəvz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a style of painting with vivid expressionistic and non-naturalistic use of colour that flourished in Paris from 1905 and, although short-lived, had an important influence on subsequent artists, especially the German expressionists. Matisse was regarded as the movement's leading figure.

<DERIVATIVES> Fauvist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> French fauvisme, from fauve ‘wild beast’. The name originated from a remark of the French art critic Louis Vauxcelles at the Salon of 1905; coming across a quattrocento-style statue in the midst of works by Matisse and his associates, he is reputed to have said, ‘Donatello au milieu des fauves!’ (‘Donatello among the wild beasts’).

faux /fə/ adj. made in imitation; artificial: a rope of faux pearls.

- not genuine; fake or false: their faux concern for the well-being of the voters didn't fool many.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘false’.

faux naïf /fə nif/ French /fə naif/ adj. artificially or affectedly simple or naive: faux-naif pastoralism.

■ n. a person who pretends to be ingenuous.

<ORIGIN> from French faux ‘false’ + naïf ‘naive’.

faux pas /fə pα/ French /fə pa/ n. (pl. same) an embarrassing or tactless act or remark in a social situation.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘false step’.

fava bean /fαvə/ (also faba bean) n. North American term for BROAD BEAN.

<ORIGIN> Italian fava, from Latin faba ‘bean’.

fave n. & adj. INFORMAL short for FAVOURITE.

favela /favεlə/ n. a Brazilian shack or shanty town; a slum.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese.

favour (US favor) n. 1 [mass noun] approval, support, or liking for someone or something: training is looked upon with favour by many employers.

- overgenerous preferential treatment: he was accused of showing favour to one of the players.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC a thing such as a badge or knot of ribbons that is given or worn as a mark of liking or support.

2 an act of kindness beyond what is due or usual: I've come to ask you a favour.

- (one's favours) DATED used with reference to a woman allowing a man to have sexual intercourse with her: she had granted her favours to him.

3 (also party favor) NORTH AMERICAN a small inexpensive gift given to guests at a party.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 feel or show approval or preference for: slashing public spending is a policy that few politicians favour.

- give unfairly preferential treatment to: critics argued that the policy favoured the private sector.

- work to the advantage of: natural selection has favoured bats.

2 (favour someone with) (often used in polite requests) give someone (something desired): please favour me with an answer.

3 DATED or NORTH AMERICAN resemble (a parent or other relative) in facial features: she's pretty, and she favours you.

4 treat (an injured limb) gently, not putting one's full weight on it: he favours his sore leg.

<PHRASES>

□ do someone a favour [in imperative] BRITISH INFORMAL used to express brusque dismissal of a remark: ‘Are you some kind of social worker?’ ‘Do me a favour!’.

□ do someone no favours INFORMAL do something that is unhelpful to someone: you won't do yourself any favours by getting worked up.

□ in (or out of) favour meeting with (or having lost) approval: they were not in favour with the party.

□ in one's favour to one's advantage: events were moving in his favour.

□ in favour of 1 to be replaced by: he stepped down as leader in favour of his rival.

2 in support or to the advantage of: members have voted in favour of strike action | the judge decided in favour of the defendant.

<DERIVATIVES> favourer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the noun sense ‘liking, preference’): via Old French from Latin favor, from favere ‘show kindness to’ (related to fovere ‘cherish’).

favourable (US favorable) adj. 1 expressing approval: the exhibitions received favourable reviews.

- giving consent: their demands rarely received a favourable response.

2 to the advantage of someone or something: favourable conditions for vegetation growth | the settlement was favourable to the unions.

- (of a wind) blowing in the direction of travel.

- suggesting a good outcome: a favourable prognosis.

<DERIVATIVES> favourableness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin favorabilis, from favor (see FAVOUR).

favourably (US favorably) adv. 1 with approval: the audience responded very favourably.

2 to the advantage of someone or something: the deal will work out favourably for the company.

favoured (US favored) adj. preferred or recommended: she was his favoured candidate | the most favoured destination of visitors to Canada.

favourite (US favorite) adj. [attr.] preferred to all others of the same kind: their favourite Italian restaurant.

■ n. a person or thing that is preferred to all others of the same kind or is especially well liked: my favourite is tandoori chicken | the song is still a favourite after 20 years.

- the competitor thought most likely to win a game or contest, especially by people betting on the outcome: the team are strong favourites.

<PHRASES>

□ favourite son a famous man who is particularly popular in his native area: Essex's favourite son will open at Lord's to launch the cricket season.

- US a person supported as a presidential candidate by delegates from the candidate's home state.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a noun): from obsolete French favorit, from Italian favorito, past participle of favorire ‘to favour’, from Latin favor (see FAVOUR).

favouritism (US favoritism) n. [mass noun] 1 the practice of giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another.

2 the state or condition of being the competitor thought most likely to win a sporting contest: the horse shares favouritism with her French-trained rival at 6-1.

favrile glass /fəvril/ n. [mass noun] a richly coloured iridescent glass, developed by L. C. Tiffany.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: formed as a trademark from the obsolete adjective fabrile ‘of a craftsman’.

Fawkes /fks/ Guy (1570–1606), English conspirator. He was hanged for his part in the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605. The occasion is commemorated annually on Bonfire Night with fireworks, bonfires, and the burning of a guy.

fawn^1 n. 1 a young deer in its first year.

2 [mass noun] a light brown colour.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a deer) produce young.

<PHRASES>

□ in fawn (of a deer) pregnant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French faon, based on Latin fetus ‘offspring’; compare with FETUS.

fawn^2 v. [no obj.] (of a person) give a servile display of exaggerated flattery or affection, typically in order to gain favour: congressmen fawn over the President.

- (of a dog) show slavish devotion, especially by rubbing against someone: the dogs started fawning on me.

<ORIGIN> Old English fagnian ‘make or be glad’, of Germanic origin; related to FAIN.

fawning adj. displaying exaggerated flattery or affection; obsequious: fawning adoration | fawning interviews with Hollywood celebs.

<DERIVATIVES> fawningly adv.

fax^1 n. an exact copy of a document made by electronic scanning and transmitted as data by telecommunications links.

- [mass noun] the production or transmission of documents in this way: he received the report by fax.

- (also fax machine) a machine for transmitting and receiving such documents.

■ v. [with obj.] send (a document) by fax.

- contact (someone) by fax: to obtain a brochure fax the agent.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: abbreviation of FACSIMILE.

fax^2 plural n. non-standard spelling of ‘facts’: food fax.

fay n. LITERARY a fairy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fae, faie, from Latin fata ‘the Fates’, plural of fatum (see FATE). Compare with FAIRY.

fayalite /feəlt/ n. [mass noun] a black or brown mineral which is an iron-rich form of olivine and occurs in many igneous rocks.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Fayal (the name of an island in the Azores) + -ITE^1.

fayre n. pseudo-archaic spelling of fair^2 and fare (sense 2 of the noun).

faze v. [with obj.] INFORMAL disturb or disconcert (someone): she was not fazed by his show of anger.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): variant of dialect feeze ‘drive or frighten off’, from Old English fēsian, of unknown origin.

fazenda /fəzεndə/ n. an estate or large farm in Portugal, Brazil, and other Portuguese-speaking countries.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese; compare with Spanish hacienda.

fazendeiro /fazεndεrə/ n. (pl. fazendeiros) a person who owns or occupies a fazenda.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese.

FBA abbr. Fellow of the British Academy.

FBI abbr. (in the US) Federal Bureau of Investigation.

FC abbr.

- British Football Club: Liverpool FC.

- (in the UK) Forestry Commission.

FCC abbr. (in the US) Federal Communications Commission.

FCO abbr. (in the UK) Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

FD abbr. Defender of the Faith.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Fidei Defensor.

FDA abbr. (in the US) Food and Drug Administration.

FDC abbr. first-day cover.

FDDI abbr. fibre distributed data interface, a communications, cabling, and hardware standard for high-speed optical-fibre networks.

FDI abbr. foreign direct investment, investment by a company in a country other than that in which the company is based.

FDIC abbr. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a body which underwrites most private bank deposits in the US.

FDR the nickname of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (see Roosevelt^2).

FE abbr. (in the UK) further education.

Fe symbol the chemical element iron.

<ORIGIN> from Latin ferrum.

fealty /fiəlti/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a feudal tenant's or vassal's sworn loyalty to a lord: they owed fealty to the Earl rather than the King.

- formal acknowledgement of loyalty to a lord.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French feau(l)te, fealte, from Latin fidelitas (see FIDELITY).

fear n. [mass noun] an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm: I cowered in fear as bullets whizzed past | fear of unemployment is paralysing the economy | [count noun] he is prey to irrational fears.

- [count noun] (fear for) a feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something or the safety of someone: police launched a hunt for the family amid fears for their safety.

- the likelihood of something unwelcome happening: she observed the other guests without fear of attracting attention.

- ARCHAIC a mixed feeling of dread and reverence: the love and fear of God.

■ v. [with obj.] be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or harmful: I hated him but didn't fear him any more | [with clause] farmers fear that they will lose business.

- [no obj.] (fear for) feel anxiety on behalf of: I fear for the city with this madman let loose in it.

- [with infinitive] avoid doing something because one is afraid: she eventually feared to go out at all.

- used to express regret or apology: I shall buy her book, though not, I fear, the hardback version.

- ARCHAIC regard (God) with reverence and awe.

<PHRASES>

□ for fear of (or that) to avoid the risk of (or that): no one dared refuse the order for fear of losing their job.

□ never fear used to reassure someone: we shall meet again, never fear.

□ no fear BRITISH INFORMAL used as an emphatic expression of denial or refusal: ‘Are you coming with me?’ ‘No fear—it's too exciting here.’.

□ put the fear of God in (or into) someone make someone very frightened.

□ without fear or favour impartially.

<ORIGIN> Old English fr ‘calamity, danger’, fran ‘frighten’, also ‘revere’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gevaar and German Gefahr ‘danger’.

fearful adj. 1 feeling or showing fear or anxiety: they are fearful of the threat of nuclear war | [with clause] he's fearful that his career is over.

- causing or likely to cause people to be afraid; horrifying: a fearful accident.

2 INFORMAL very great: he was in a fearful hurry.

<DERIVATIVES> fearfulness n.

fearfully adv. 1 in an anxious manner; apprehensively: he glanced over his shoulder fearfully.

2 [as submodifier] dreadfully; extremely: she was fearfully worried for the welfare of her family.

fearless adj. showing a lack of fear: a fearless crusader for animal rights.

<DERIVATIVES> fearlessly adv. fearlessness n.

fearsome adj. frightening, especially in appearance: the cat mewed, displaying a fearsome set of teeth.

<DERIVATIVES> fearsomely adv. fearsomeness n.

feart /fət/ (also feared) adj. SCOTTISH afraid: ye're feart to stand out from the crowd.

feasibility n. [mass noun] the state or degree of being easily or conveniently done: the feasibility of screening athletes for cardiac disease.

feasible /fizb(ə)l/ adj. 1 possible and practical to do easily or conveniently: the Dutch have demonstrated that it is perfectly feasible to live below sea level.

2 INFORMAL likely; probable: the most feasible explanation.

<DERIVATIVES> feasibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French faisible, from fais-, stem of faire ‘do, make’, from Latin facere.

<USAGE> The use of feasible to mean ‘likely’ or ‘probable’, as in the most feasible explanation, has been in the language for centuries. It was first recorded in the mid 17th century and is supported by ‘considerable literary authority’, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. However, traditionalists object to the use, regarding it as not justifiable on etymological grounds, and it is therefore advisable to avoid it in formal contexts.

feast n. 1 a large meal, typically a celebratory one: a wedding feast.

- a plentiful supply of something enjoyable: the concert season offers a feast of classical music.

2 an annual religious celebration.

- a day dedicated to a particular saint: the feast of St John.

- BRITISH an annual village festival.

■ v. [no obj.] eat and drink sumptuously: the men would congregate and feast after hunting.

- (feast on) eat large quantities of: we sat feasting on barbecued chicken and beer.

- [with obj.] give (someone) a plentiful and delicious meal: they feasted the deputation.

<PHRASES>

□ ghost (or skeleton) at the feast a person or thing that brings gloom to an otherwise pleasant occasion.

□ feast one's eyes on gaze at with pleasure.

□ feast or famine either too much of something or too little.

<DERIVATIVES> feaster n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French feste (noun), fester (verb), from Latin festa, neuter plural of festus ‘joyous’. Compare with FETE and FIESTA.

feast day n. a day on which a celebration, especially an annual Christian one, is held.

Feast of Dedication n. another name for HANUKKAH.

Feast of Tabernacles n. another name for SUCCOTH.

Feast of Weeks n. another name for SHAVUOTH.

feat n. an achievement that requires great courage, skill, or strength: the new printing presses were considerable feats of engineering.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘action or deed’): from Old French fait, from Latin factum (see FACT).

feather n. any of the flat appendages growing from a bird's skin and forming its plumage, consisting of a partly hollow horny shaft fringed with vanes of barbs.

- (feathers) a fringe of long hair on the legs of a dog, horse, or other animal.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] rotate the blades of (a propeller) about their own axes in such a way as to lessen the air or water resistance.

- vary the angle of attack of (rotor blades).

- [ROWING] turn (an oar) so that it passes through the air edgeways: he turned, feathering one oar slowly.

2 [no obj., with adverbial] float or move like a feather: the green fronds feathered against a blue sky.

3 [with obj.] blend or smooth delicately: feather the paint in, in a series of light strokes.

4 [no obj.] (of ink, lipstick, etc.) separate into tiny lines after application: (as n. feathering) a long-lasting formula that resists feathering and protects the lips.

5 short for FEATHER-CUT.

<PHRASES>

□ a feather in one's cap an achievement to be proud of.

□ feather one's (own) nest make money for oneself in an opportunistic or selfish way.

□ (as) light as a feather extremely light and insubstantial.

<DERIVATIVES> featheriness n. featherless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English fether, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch veer and German Feder, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit patra ‘wing’, Latin penna ‘feather’, and Greek pteron, pterux ‘wing’.

featherback n. a tropical freshwater fish native to South Asia and Africa, with a strongly humped back, a small feather-like dorsal fin, and a long anal fin that runs from the belly to the tail. Also called KNIFEFISH.

<INFO> Family Notopteridae: four genera and several species, in particular the large edible Notopterus chitala of Asia.

feather bed n. a bed that has a mattress stuffed with feathers.

■ v. (feather-bed) [with obj.] chiefly BRITISH provide (someone) with excessively favourable economic or working conditions.

feather-brain n. a silly or absent-minded person.

<DERIVATIVES> feather-brained adj.

feather-cut v. [with obj.] cut (hair) into wispy feather-like points: [as adj.] black feather-cut hair.

■ n. (feathercut) a hairstyle produced by such cutting.

feather duster n. 1 a long-handled brush with a head made of feathers, used for dusting.

2 (also feather duster worm) US another term for FAN WORM.

feathered adj. (of a bird) covered with feathers: [in combination] black-feathered ostriches.

- decorated with feathers: a feathered hat.

feathered friend n. INFORMAL (usually feathered friends) a bird.

feather edge n. a fine edge produced by tapering a board, plank, or other object.

feathering n. [mass noun] 1 the plumage of a bird or part of a bird.

- the feathers of an arrow.

- fringes of hairs on the appendages or body of a dog.

- feather-like markings or structure: traditional finishes such as marbling and feathering.

- [ARCHITECTURE] cusping in tracery.

2 the action of varying the angle of propellers, rotor blades, or oars so as to reduce air or water resistance.

feather-light adj. extremely light: a feather-light touch.

feather star n. an echinoderm (marine invertebrate) with a small disc-like body, long feathery arms for feeding and movement, and short appendages for grasping the surface.

<INFO> Order Comatulida, class Crinoidea.

feather stitch n. [mass noun] ornamental zigzag sewing.

■ v. (feather-stitch) [with obj.] (usually as n. feather-stitching) sew (something) using feather stitch.

feathertail glider n. an Australian pygmy possum with a flap of skin between the fore- and hindlimbs for gliding, and a feathery tail.

<INFO> Acrobates pygmaeus, family Burramyidae. Alternative name: flying mouse.

featherweight n. 1 [mass noun] a weight in boxing and other sports intermediate between bantamweight and lightweight. In the amateur boxing scale it ranges from 54 to 57 kg.

- [count noun] a boxer or other competitor of this weight.

2 a very light person or thing.

- a person or thing not worth serious consideration: he is an intellectual featherweight.

feathery adj. having, covered with, or resembling feathers: wisps of feathery blonde hair.

feature n. 1 a distinctive attribute or aspect of something: a well-appointed house with interesting decorative features | one salient feature of the case has been overlooked.

- (usually features) a part of the face, such as the mouth or eyes, making a significant contribution to its overall appearance: a dark-haired man with strong, regular features.

- [LINGUISTICS] a distinctive characteristic of a linguistic unit, especially a speech sound or vocabulary item, that serves to distinguish it from others of the same type.

2 a newspaper or magazine article or a broadcast programme devoted to the treatment of a particular topic, typically at length: a special feature on children's reference books.

- (also feature film) a full-length film intended as the main item in a cinema programme.

■ v. [with obj.] have as a prominent attribute or aspect: the hotel features a large lounge, a sauna, and a coin-operated solarium.

- have as an important actor or participant: the film featured Glenn Miller and his Orchestra.

- [no obj.] (feature in) be a significant characteristic of or take an important part in: his later paintings feature prominently in the exhibition.

<DERIVATIVES> featured adj. [in combination] fine-featured women featureless adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting the form or proportions of the body, or a physical feature): from Old French faiture ‘form’, from Latin factura (see FACTURE).

feature-length adj. of the length of a typical feature film or programme: a feature-length documentary.

featurette /fitərεt/ n. a short feature film or programme.

Feb. abbr. February.

febrifuge /fεbrfjud/ n. a medicine used to reduce fever.

<DERIVATIVES> febrifugal /fbrfj(ə)l fεbrfju(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French fébrifuge, from Latin febris ‘fever’ + fugare ‘drive away’. Compare with FEVERFEW.

febrile /fibrl/ adj. 1 having or showing the symptoms of a fever: a febrile illness.

2 characterized by a great deal of nervous excitement or energy: the febrile atmosphere of the city.

<DERIVATIVES> febrilely adv. febrility n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French fébrile or medieval Latin febrilis, from Latin febris ‘fever’.

February /fεbrəri fεbjəri/ n. (pl. Februaries) the second month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the last month of winter: even in February the place is busy | the coldest February in 40 years.

<ORIGIN> Middle English feverer, from Old French feverier, based on Latin februarius, from februa, the name of a purification feast held in this month. The spelling change in the 15th century was due to association with the Latin word.

<USAGE> To pronounce February in the way that some people regard as correct is not easy. It requires the explicit pronunciation of both the r following the Feb- and the r in -ary, with an unstressed vowel in between. By a process called dissimilation, in which one sound identical or very similar to an adjacent sound is replaced by a different sound, the r following Feb- has been replaced by a y sound: Feb-yoo- rather than Feb-roo-. This is now the norm, especially in spontaneous speech, and is fast becoming the accepted standard.

Fechner /fεxnə/ German /fεçn/ Gustav Theodor (1801–87), German physicist and psychologist. Fechner hoped to make psychology a truly objective science and coined the termed psychophysics to define his study of the quantitative relationship between degrees of physical stimulation and the resulting sensations.

feck v. IRISH VULGAR SLANG used as a euphemism for ‘fuck’.

<DERIVATIVES> fecking adj. & adv.

feckless adj. lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible: her feckless younger brother.

<DERIVATIVES> fecklessly adv. fecklessness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Scots and northern English dialect feck (from effeck, variant of EFFECT) + -LESS.

feculent /fεkjl(ə)nt/ adj. of or containing dirt, sediment, or waste matter: their feet were forever slipping on feculent bog.

<DERIVATIVES> feculence n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French féculent or Latin faeculentus, from faex, faec- ‘dregs’.

fecund /fεk(ə)nd fik-/ adj. producing or capable of producing an abundance of offspring or new growth; highly fertile: a lush and fecund garden | FIGURATIVE her fecund imagination.

- TECHNICAL capable of bearing children.

<DERIVATIVES> fecundity /fkndti/ n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French fécond or Latin fecundus.

fecundability /fkndəblti/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE & [ZOOLOGY] the probability of a woman or female animal conceiving within a given period of time, especially during a specific month or menstrual cycle.

fecundate /fεk(ə)ndet fik-/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC fertilize.

- LITERARY make fruitful.

<DERIVATIVES> fecundation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin fecundat- ‘made fruitful’, from the verb fecundare, from fecundus ‘fruitful’.

Fed n. US INFORMAL 1 a federal agent or official, especially a member of the FBI.

2 (usually the Fed)

■ short for FEDERAL RESERVE.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of FEDERAL. The abbreviation fed had previously been used in the late 18th century to denote a member of the Federalist Party, who advocated a union of American colonies after the War of Independence.

fed past and past participle of FEED.

fedayeen /fεdəjin fədαjin/ (also fidayeen) plural n. Arab guerrillas operating especially against Israel.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from colloquial Arabic fidā'iyīn, plural of classical Arabic fidā'ī ‘one who gives his life for another or for a cause’, from fadā ‘to ransom someone’. The singular fedai (from Arabic and Persian fidā'ī) had previously been used (late 19th century) to denote an Ismaili Muslim assassin.

federal adj. 1 having or relating to a system of government in which several states form a unity but remain independent in internal affairs: a federal Europe.

2 relating to or denoting the central government as distinguished from the separate units constituting a federation: the health ministry has sole federal responsibility for health care.

- (Federal) US HISTORICAL of the Northern states in the Civil War.

<DERIVATIVES> federalization n. federalize (also federalise) v. federally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin foedus, foeder- ‘league, covenant’ + -AL.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (abbr.: FBI) an agency of the US federal government that deals principally with internal security and counter-intelligence and that also conducts investigations in federal law enforcement. It was established in 1908 as a branch of the Department of Justice, but was substantially reorganized under the controversial directorship (1924–72) of J. Edgar Hoover.

federal case n. US [LAW] a criminal case that falls under the jurisdiction of a federal court.

- INFORMAL a matter of great concern: I'm not trying to make a federal case out of this, Christine, but you've got to do something.

federalism n. [mass noun] the federal principle or system of government.

<DERIVATIVES> federalist n. & adj.

Federalist Party an early political party in the US, joined by George Washington during his presidency (1789–97) and in power until 1801. The party's emphasis on strong central government was extremely important in the early years after independence, but by the 1820s it had been superseded by the Democratic Republican Party.

Federal Republic of Germany 1 former name for West Germany.

2 the official name of Germany.

Federal Reserve (in the US) the banking authority that performs the functions of a central bank and is used to implement the country's monetary policy, providing a national system of reserve cash available to banks.

federate v. /fεdəret/ [no obj.] (of a number of states or organizations) form a single centralized unit, within which each keeps some internal autonomy.

- [with obj.] (usually as adj. federated) form (states or organizations) into such a centralized unit: a federated state consisting of 15 union republics.

■ adj. /fεd(ə)rət/ relating to such an arrangement: federate armies.

<DERIVATIVES> federative adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as an adjective): from late Latin foederatus, based on foedus, foeder- ‘league, covenant’.

Federated States of Micronesia full name for Micronesia (sense 2).

federation n. 1 a group of states with a central government but independence in internal affairs: [in names] the Russian Federation.

- an organization or group within which smaller divisions have some degree of internal autonomy: [in names] the World Chess Federation.

2 [mass noun] the action of forming states or organizations into a single group with centralized control: a first step in the federation of Europe.

<DERIVATIVES> federationist n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French fédération, from late Latin foederatio(n-), from the verb foederare ‘to ally’, from foedus ‘league’.

fedora /fdrə/ n. a low, soft felt hat with a curled brim and the crown creased lengthways.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US): from Fédora, the title of a drama (1882) written by the French dramatist Victorien Sardou (1831–1908).

fed up adj. INFORMAL annoyed, unhappy, or bored, especially with a situation that has existed for a long time: I am fed up with being put down and made to feel stupid.

<PHRASES>

□ fed up to the teeth (or back teeth) extremely annoyed: I'm fed up to the teeth with the mess he's landed us in.

fee n. 1 a payment made to a professional person or to a professional or public body in exchange for advice or services: they were faced with legal fees of £3000.

- money paid as part of a special transaction, for example for a privilege or for admission to something: an annual membership fee.

- (usually fees) money regularly paid to a school or similar institution for continuing services: tuition fees have now reached $9000 a year.

2 [LAW], HISTORICAL an estate of land, especially one held on condition of feudal service.

■ v. (fees, feeing, fee'd or feed) [with obj.] RARE make a payment to (someone) in return for services.

<PHRASES>

□ hold something in fee [LAW], HISTORICAL hold an estate in return for feudal service to a superior.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French feu, fief, from medieval Latin feodum, feudum, ultimately of Germanic origin. Compare with FEU, feud, and FIEF.

feeb n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a feeble-minded person.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of FEEBLE.

feebate n. a system of charges and rebates whereby energy-efficient or environmentally friendly practices are rewarded while failure to adhere to such practices is penalized.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of FEE and rebate^1.

feeble adj. (feebler, feeblest) lacking physical strength, especially as a result of age or illness: by now, he was too feeble to leave his room.

- (of a sound) faint: her feeble cries of pain.

- lacking strength of character: I know it's feeble but I've never been one to stand up for myself.

- failing to convince or impress: a feeble excuse.

<DERIVATIVES> feebleness n. feebly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fieble, earlier fleible, from Latin flebilis ‘lamentable’, from flere ‘weep’.

feeble-minded adj. unable to make intelligent decisions or judgements; foolish or stupid.

- DATED (of a person) having less than average intelligence.

<DERIVATIVES> feeble-mindedly adv. feeble-mindedness n.

feed v. (past and past participle fed /fεd/) [with obj.] 1 give FOOD to: did you remember to feed the cat? | [with two objs] she fed him bits of biscuit.

- [no obj.] (especially of an animal or baby) take food; eat something: the baby will feed according to her needs.

- (feed someone/thing up) BRITISH give a person or animal large amounts of food: you look as though you need feeding up.

- provide an adequate supply of food for: the island's simple agriculture could hardly feed its inhabitants.

- [no obj.] (feed on/off) derive regular nourishment from (a particular substance): the bird feeds on cliff-top vegetation.

- give fertilizer to (a plant).

- put fuel on (a fire).

- encourage the growth of: I could feed my melancholy by reading Romantic poetry.

- INFORMAL satisfy (a drug habit): users who commit crime to feed their habit.

2 supply with material or power: a radial circuit fed by a 20 amp fuse | the pond is fed by a small stream.

- put into a machine: the programs are fed into the computer | Kevin fed coins into the jukebox.

- insert further coins into (a meter) to extend the time for which it operates.

- [with two objs] supply (someone) with (information, ideas, etc.): I think he is feeding his old employer commercial secrets.

- [with two objs] prompt (an actor) with (a line): you were still in the wings feeding Micky his lines.

- (in ball games) pass (the ball) to a player.

3 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] cause to pass gradually and steadily, typically through a confined space: make holes through which to feed the cables.

- [no obj.] (feed through) (of a new factor or development) begin to be effective or influential; have an impact on someone or something: it could take time for higher earnings and dividends to feed through to investors.

4 [no obj.] (feed back) (of an electrical or other system) produce feedback.

■ n. 1 an act of giving food, especially to animals or a baby, or of having food given to one: the baby's morning feed.

- INFORMAL a meal: I gave him a big feed of rashers and eggs and mashed potatoes.

- [mass noun] food for domestic animals: cow feed.

2 a device or pipe for supplying material to a machine: a paper feed.

- the supply of raw material to a machine or device: [as modifier] a feed pipe.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a broadcast distributed by a satellite or network from a central source to a large number of radio or television stations: a satellite feed from Washington.

3 a line or prompt given to an actor on stage.

- an actor who gives a feed to a fellow performer.

<PHRASES>

□ off one's feed INFORMAL having no appetite.

<ORIGIN> Old English fēdan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch voeden and food.

feedback n. [mass noun] 1 information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for improvement.

2 the modification or control of a process or system by its results or effects, for example in a biochemical pathway or behavioural response. See also NEGATIVE FEEDBACK, POSITIVE FEEDBACK.

3 the return of a fraction of the output signal from an amplifier, microphone, or other device to the input of the same device; sound distortion produced by this.

feed dog n. the mechanism in a sewing machine which feeds the material under the needle.

feeder n. 1 a person or animal that eats a particular food or in a particular manner: a plankton feeder.

2 a container filled with food for birds or mammals.

- BRITISH a child's feeding bottle.

- BRITISH a bib for an infant.

- [FISHING] short for SWIMFEEDER.

3 a person or thing that supplies something, in particular:

- a device supplying material to a machine: the automatic sheet feeder holds up to 10 sheets of paper.

- a tributary stream.

- [usually as modifier] a branch road or railway line linking outlying districts with a main communication system.

- a main carrying electricity to a distribution point.

- [usually as modifier] a school, sports team, etc. from which members move on to one more advanced: a sixth-form college and its feeder schools.

feedforward n. [mass noun] the modification or control of a process using its anticipated results or effects.

feeding bottle n. BRITISH a bottle fitted with a teat for giving milk or other drinks to babies and very young children.

feeding frenzy n. an aggressive and competitive group attack on prey by a number of sharks or piranhas.

- FIGURATIVE an episode of frantic competition or rivalry for something: the remark caused a media feeding frenzy.

feedlot n. an area or building where livestock are fed or fattened up.

feedstock n. [mass noun] raw material to supply or fuel a machine or industrial process.

feedstuff n. (usually feedstuffs) a food provided for cattle and other livestock.

feedthrough n. [mass noun] 1 the passage or transfer of something through or beyond a specified point or stage: the feedthrough to further education.

2 an electrical connector used to join two parts of a circuit on opposite sides of something, such as a circuit board or an earthing screen.

fee farm n. [LAW], chiefly HISTORICAL an estate or land held in fee simple subject to a perpetual fixed rent.

- [mass noun] the tenure of land by such means.

- [mass noun] the rent paid for such land.

feel v. (past and past participle felt) [with obj.] 1 be aware of (a person or object) through touching or being touched: she felt someone touch her shoulder | you can feel the soft grass beneath your feet.

- be aware of (something happening) through physical sensation: she felt the ground give way beneath her.

- examine or search by touch: he touched her head and felt her hair | [no obj.] he felt around for the matches.

- [no obj.] be capable of sensation: the dead cannot feel.

- [no obj., with complement] give a sensation of a particular physical quality when touched: the wool feels soft.

- (feel one's way) find one's way by touch rather than sight: he felt his way back to the stairs | FIGURATIVE she was new in the job, still feeling her way.

- (feel something out) INFORMAL investigate something cautiously: they want to feel out the situation.

- (feel someone up) INFORMAL fondle someone surreptitiously and without their consent, for one's own sexual stimulation.

2 experience (an emotion or sensation): I felt a sense of excitement | [no obj., with complement] she started to feel really sick | it felt odd to be alone again | [no obj.] we feel very strongly about freedom of expression.

- [no obj., with complement] consider oneself to be in a particular state or exhibiting particular qualities: he doesn't feel obliged to visit every weekend | she felt such a fool.

- [no obj.] (feel up to) have the strength and energy to do or deal with: after the accident she didn't feel up to driving.

- [usually with negative] (feel oneself) be healthy and well: Ruth was not quite feeling herself.

- be strongly affected by: he didn't feel the loss of his mother so keenly | investors who have felt the effects of the recession.

- [no obj.] (feel for) have compassion for: poor woman—I do feel for her.

3 [with clause] have a belief or impression, especially without an identifiable reason: she felt that the woman positively disliked her.

- hold an opinion: I felt I could make a useful contribution.

■ n. [usually in sing.] 1 an act of touching something to examine it.

- [mass noun] the sense of touch: he worked by feel rather than using his eyes.

2 a sensation given by an object or material when touched: nylon cloth with a cotton feel.

3 the impression given by something: a cafe with a cosmopolitan feel.

<PHRASES>

□ feel one's age become aware that one is growing older and less energetic.

□ feel free (to do something) have no hesitation or shyness (often used as an invitation or for reassurance): feel free to say what you like.

□ feel like (doing) something be inclined to have or do: I feel like celebrating.

□ feel one's oats see OAT.

□ feel the PINCH see PINCH.

□ feel the pulse of see pulse^1.

□ feel SMALL see SMALL.

□ get a (or the) feel for (or of) become accustomed to: you can explore to get a feel of the place.

□ have a feel for have a sensitive appreciation or an intuitive understanding of: you have to have a feel for animals.

□ make oneself (or one's presence) felt have a noticeable effect: the economic crisis began to make itself felt.

<ORIGIN> Old English fēlan, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch voelen and German fühlen.

feeler n. an animal organ such as an antenna or palp that is used for testing things by touch or for searching for food.

- FIGURATIVE a tentative proposal intended to ascertain someone's attitude or opinion: he has already put out feelers to local employers.

feeler gauge n. a gauge consisting of a number of thin blades for measuring narrow gaps or clearances.

feel-good adj. [attr.] causing a feeling of happiness and well-being: a feel-good movie.

<PHRASES>

□ feel-good factor BRITISH a widespread feeling of well-being and financial security, especially viewed as a factor in increased consumer spending.

<DERIVATIVES> feel-goodism n.

feeling n. 1 an emotional state or reaction: a feeling of joy.

- (feelings) the emotional side of someone's character; emotional responses or tendencies to respond: I don't want to hurt her feelings.

- [mass noun] strong emotion: ‘God bless you!’ she said with feeling.

2 an idea or belief, especially a vague or irrational one: [with clause] he had the feeling that he was being watched.

- an attitude or opinion: a feeling grew that justice had not been done | if you have strong feelings about the proposal, you should contact the Office at once.

3 [mass noun] the capacity to experience the sense of touch: a loss of feeling in the hands.

- the sensation of touching or being touched by a particular thing: the feeling of the water against your skin.

4 (feeling for) a sensitivity to or intuitive understanding of: she says I have a feeling for medicine.

■ adj. showing emotion or sensitivity: she was a feeling child.

<PHRASES>

□ one's better feelings one's conscience.

<DERIVATIVES> feelingless adj.

feelingly adv. (of the expression of a feeling or opinion) in a heartfelt way: ‘Thank goodness,’ she said feelingly.

fee simple n. (pl. fees simple) [LAW] a permanent and absolute tenure in land with freedom to dispose of it at will, especially (in full fee simple absolute in possession) a freehold tenure, which is the main type of land ownership.

feet plural form of FOOT.

fee tail n. (pl. fees tail) [LAW], chiefly HISTORICAL a type of tenure in land with restrictions (entailments) regarding the line of heirs to whom it may be willed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French fee tailé (see FEE, tail^2).

feh /fε/ exclam. (in Jewish use) conveying disapproval, displeasure, or disgust: The greatest writer in the English language? Feh!

Fehling's solution /felz/ (also Fehling's reagent) n. [mass noun] an alkaline solution of copper(II) sulphate and a tartrate, used in a laboratory test for sugars.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after the German chemist Hermann von Fehling (1812–85).

feign v. [with obj.] pretend to be affected by (a feeling, state, or injury): she feigned nervousness.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French feign-, stem of feindre, from Latin fingere ‘mould, contrive’. Senses in Middle English (taken from Latin) included ‘make something’, ‘invent a story, excuse, or allegation’, hence ‘make a pretence of a feeling or response’. Compare with FICTION and FIGMENT.

feigned adj. simulated or pretended; insincere: her eyes widened with feigned shock.

feijoa /fe(d)əə fε- fi- -jəə/ n. an evergreen shrub or small tree that bears edible green fruit resembling guavas. It is native to tropical South America and cultivated in New Zealand for its fruit.

<INFO> Genus Feijoa, family Myrtaceae: two species.

- the fruit of the feijoa.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, named after J. da Silva Feijó (1760–1824), Brazilian naturalist.

feijoada /fe(d)waə -də/ n. [mass noun] a Brazilian or Portuguese stew of black beans with pork or other meat and vegetables, served with rice.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese, from feijão, from Latin phaseolus ‘bean’.

feint^1 /fent/ n. a deceptive or pretended blow, thrust, or other movement, especially in boxing or fencing: a brief feint at the opponent's face.

- a mock attack or movement in warfare, made in order to distract or deceive an enemy.

■ v. [no obj.] make a deceptive or distracting movement, especially during a fight: Adam feinted with his right and then swung a left.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French feinte, past participle (used as a noun) of feindre ‘feign’.

feint^2 /fent/ adj. denoting paper printed with faint lines as a guide for handwriting.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: variant of FAINT.

feis /fε/ n. (pl. feiseanna /fεənə/) an Irish or Scottish festival of music and dancing.

<ORIGIN> Irish feis, fess ‘meeting, assembly’.

feisty /fsti/ adj. (feistier, feistiest) INFORMAL having or showing exuberance, strong determination, and a lack of fear: a frail but feisty old lady.

<DERIVATIVES> feistily adv. feistiness n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from earlier feist, fist ‘small dog’, from fisting cur or hound, a derogatory term for a lapdog, from Middle English fist ‘break wind’, of West Germanic origin. Compare with FIZZLE.

Feldenkrais method /fεld(ə)nkrs/ n. a system designed to promote bodily and mental efficiency and well-being by conscious analysis of neuromuscular activity via exercises which improve flexibility and coordination and increase ease and range of motion.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Moshe Feldenkrais (1904–84), Russian-born physicist and mechanical engineer.

feldspar /fεldspα/ (also felspar) n. [mass noun] an abundant rock-forming mineral typically occurring as colourless or pale-coloured crystals and consisting of aluminosilicates of potassium, sodium, and calcium.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: alteration of German Feldspat, Feldspath, from Feld ‘field’ + Spat, Spath ‘spar’ (see spar^3). The form felspar is by mistaken association with German Fels ‘rock’.

feldspathic /fεldspaθk/ adj. [GEOLOGY] (of a mineral or rock) of the nature of or containing feldspar.

feldspathoid /fεl(d)spəθd/ n. [GEOLOGY] any of a group of minerals chemically similar to feldspar but containing less silica, such as nepheline and leucite.

<DERIVATIVES> feldspathoidal /-θd(ə)l/ adj.

felicific /filsfk/ adj. [PHILOSOPHY] relating to or promoting increased happiness: the institution of a rule against murder is in general felicific.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin felicificus, from felix, felic- ‘happy’.

felicitate /flstet/ v. [with obj.] congratulate: the award winner was felicitated by the cultural association.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘regard as or pronounce happy or fortunate’): from late Latin felicitat- ‘made happy’, from the verb felicitare, from Latin felix, felic- ‘happy’.

felicitations plural n. words expressing praise for an achievement or good wishes on a special occasion.

felicitous /flstəs/ adj. well chosen or suited to the circumstances: a felicitous phrase.

- pleasing and fortunate: the view was the room's only felicitous feature.

<DERIVATIVES> felicitously adv. felicitousness n.

felicity n. (pl. felicities) [mass noun] 1 intense happiness: domestic felicity.

2 the ability to find appropriate expression for one's thoughts: he exposed the kernel of the matter with his customary elegance and felicity.

- [count noun] a particularly effective feature of a work of literature or art: a book full of minor felicities.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French felicite, from Latin felicitas, from felix, felic- ‘happy’.

felid /fild/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a mammal of the cat family (Felidae); a wild cat.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Felidae (plural), from Latin feles ‘cat’.

feline /filn/ adj. relating to or affecting cats or other members of the cat family: feline leukaemia.

- resembling or suggestive of a cat: he moved with feline grace.

■ n. a cat or other member of the cat family.

<DERIVATIVES> felinity n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin felinus, from feles ‘cat’.

felix culpa /filks klpə felks klpα/ n. (in Christian theology) the sin of Adam viewed as fortunate, because it brought about the blessedness of the Redemption.

- an apparent error or disaster with happy consequences.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘happy fault’.

Felixstowe /filkstə/ a port on the east coast of England, in Suffolk; pop. 32,600 (est. 2002).

fell^1 past of FALL.

fell^2 v. [with obj.] 1 cut down (a tree).

- knock down: Whitlock felled him with one punch.

2 (also flat-fell) stitch down (the edge of a seam) to lie flat.

■ n. an amount of timber cut.

<ORIGIN> Old English fellan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vellen and German fällen, also to FALL.

fell^3 n. a hill or stretch of high moorland, especially in northern England: [in place names] Cross Fell.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse fjall, fell ‘hill’; probably related to German Fels ‘rock’.

fell^4 adj. LITERARY of terrible evil or ferocity; deadly: the fell disease that was threatening her sister.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or at) one fell swoop all in one go: in one fell swoop they exceeded the total number of tries scored last year. [<ORIGIN> from Shakespeare's Macbeth (IV. iii. 219).]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fel, nominative of felon ‘wicked (person)’ (see felon^1).

fell^5 n. ARCHAIC an animal's hide or skin with its hair.

<ORIGIN> Old English fel, fell, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vel and German Fell, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin pellis and Greek pella ‘skin’.

fella (also fellah) n. 1 non-standard spelling of FELLOW, used in representing speech in various dialects: you can't blame the wee fella.

2 INFORMAL a person's boyfriend or lover: she took a fancy to her best friend's fella.

fellah /fεlə/ n. (pl. fellahin /-hin/) an Egyptian peasant.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic fallā ‘tiller of the soil’, from falaa ‘till the soil’.

fellate /fεlet/ v. [with obj.] perform fellatio on (a man).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin fellat- ‘sucked’, from the verb fellare.

fellatio /fεleə -lαt-/ n. [mass noun] oral stimulation of a man's penis.

<DERIVATIVES> fellator /fεletə/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin fellare ‘to suck’.

feller^1 n. non-standard spelling of FELLOW, used in representing speech in various dialects.

feller^2 n. a person who cuts down trees.

Fellini /fəlini/ Federico (1920–93), Italian film director. He rose to international fame with La Strada (1954), which won an Oscar for best foreign film. Other major films include La Dolce vita (1960), a satire on Rome's high society and winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes.

felloes /fεləz/ (also fellies /fεliz/) plural n. the outer rim of a wheel, to which the spokes are fixed.

<ORIGIN> Old English felg (singular); related to Dutch velg and German Felge; of unknown ultimate origin.

fellow n. 1 INFORMAL a man or boy: he was an extremely obliging fellow.

2 (usually fellows) a person in the same position, involved in the same activity, or otherwise associated with another: he was learning with a rapidity unique among his fellows.

- a thing of the same kind as or otherwise associated with another: the page has been torn away from its fellows.

3 a member of a learned society.

- BRITISH an incorporated senior member of a college: a tutorial fellow.

- (also research fellow) an elected graduate receiving a stipend for a period of research.

- a member of the governing body in some universities.

■ adj. [attr.] sharing a particular activity, quality, or condition with someone or something: they urged the troops not to fire on their fellow citizens.

<ORIGIN> late Old English fēolaga ‘a partner or colleague’ (literally ‘one who lays down money in a joint enterprise’), from Old Norse félagi, from fé ‘cattle, property, money’ + the Germanic base of lay^1.

fellow feeling n. [mass noun] sympathy and fellowship existing between people based on shared experiences or feelings.

fellowship n. 1 [mass noun] friendly association, especially with people who share one's interests: they valued fun and good fellowship as the cement of the community.

- [count noun] a group of people meeting to pursue a shared interest or aim.

- [count noun] a guild or corporation.

2 the status of a fellow of a college or society: a fellowship in mathematics.

fellow-traveller n. a person who travels with another.

- a person who is not a member of a particular group or political party (especially the Communist Party), but who sympathizes with the group's aims and policies.

<DERIVATIVES> fellow-travelling adj.

Fell pony n. a large pony, typically black, of a breed with a long wavy mane and tail.

fell-walking n. [mass noun] the activity of walking or rambling on the fells.

<DERIVATIVES> fell-walker n.

felo de se /filə de se fε-/ n. (pl. felos de se) [mass noun] suicide.

<ORIGIN> from Anglo-Latin, literally ‘felon of himself’; formerly a criminal act in the UK.

felon^1 /fεlən/ n. a person who has committed a felony.

■ adj. [attr.] ARCHAIC cruel; wicked.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, literally ‘wicked, a wicked person’ (oblique case of fel ‘evil’), from medieval Latin fello, fellon-, of unknown origin. Compare with felon^2.

felon^2 /fεlən/ n. archaic term for WHITLOW.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps a specific use of felon^1; medieval Latin fello, fellon- had the same sense.

felonious /fεlənəs f-/ adj. relating to or involved in crime: they turned their felonious talents to the smuggling trade.

- [LAW] relating to or of the nature of felony.

<DERIVATIVES> feloniously adv.

felony n. (pl. felonies) a crime regarded in the US and many other judicial systems as more serious than a misdemeanour: he pleaded guilty to six felonies | [mass noun] an accusation of felony.

In the US the distinction between felonies and misdemeanours usually depends on the penalties or consequences attaching to the crime. In English law felony originally comprised those offences (murder, wounding, arson, rape, and robbery) for which the penalty included forfeiture of land and goods. Forfeiture was abolished in 1870, and in 1967 felonies and misdemeanours were replaced by indictable and non-indictable offences.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French felonie, from felon (see felon^1).

felsic /fεlsk/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a group of light-coloured minerals including feldspar, feldspathoids, quartz, and muscovite. Often contrasted with MAFIC.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from FELDSPAR + a contraction of SILICA.

felt^1 n. [mass noun] a kind of cloth made by rolling and pressing wool or another suitable textile accompanied by the application of moisture or heat, which causes the constituent fibres to mat together to create a smooth surface.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make into felt; mat together.

- [no obj.] become matted: care must be taken in washing, or the wool will shrink and felt.

2 cover with felt: (as adj. felted) a felted roof.

<DERIVATIVES> felty adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vilt, also to FILTER.

felt^2 past and past participle of FEEL.

felt-tip pen (also felt-tipped pen or felt tip) n. a pen with a writing point made of felt or other tightly packed fibres.

felucca /fεlkə/ n. a small boat propelled by oars or lateen sails or both, used on the Nile and formerly more widely in the Mediterranean region.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Italian feluc(c)a, probably from obsolete Spanish faluca, of Arabic origin.

felwort /fεlwət/ n. a European gentian of dry grassland, which produces mauve flowers in the autumn.

<INFO> Gentianella amarella, family Gentianaceae.

<ORIGIN> Old English feldwyrt (see FIELD, wort).

FEMA abbr. (in the US) Federal Emergency Management Agency.

female adj. of or denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) which can be fertilized by male gametes: a herd of female deer.

- relating to or characteristic of women or female animals: a female audience | female names.

- (of a plant or flower) having a pistil but no stamens.

- (of parts of machinery, fittings, etc.) manufactured hollow so that a corresponding male part can be inserted.

■ n. a female person, animal, or plant.

<DERIVATIVES> femaleness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French femelle, from Latin femella, diminutive of femina ‘a woman’. The change in the ending was due to association with MALE, but the words male and female are not linked etymologically.

female condom n. a contraceptive device made of thin rubber, inserted into a woman's vagina before sexual intercourse.

feme covert /fim kvət/ n. [LAW], HISTORICAL a married woman.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Anglo-Norman French, literally ‘a woman covered (i.e. protected by marriage)’.

feme sole /fim səl/ (also femme sole) n. [LAW], HISTORICAL a woman without a husband, especially one that is divorced.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Anglo-Norman French feme soule ‘a woman alone’.

feminal /fεmn(ə)l/ adj. ARCHAIC relating to a woman.

<DERIVATIVES> feminality n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin feminalis, from Latin femina ‘woman’.

feminazi /fεmnαti/ n. (pl. feminazis) DEROGATORY, chiefly US a radical feminist.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of FEMINIST and NAZI.

femineity /fεmniti -neti/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the quality of being feminine.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin femineus ‘womanish’ (from femina ‘woman’) + -ITY.

feminine adj. 1 having qualities or an appearance traditionally associated with women, especially delicacy and prettiness: the snowdrops gave a feminine touch to the table.

- relating to women; female: he enjoys feminine company.

2 [GRAMMAR] of or denoting a gender of nouns and adjectives, conventionally regarded as female.

■ n. (the feminine) 1 the female sex or gender: the association of the arts with the feminine.

2 [GRAMMAR] a feminine word or form.

<DERIVATIVES> femininely adv. feminineness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin femininus, from femina ‘woman’.

feminine rhyme n. [PROSODY] a rhyme between stressed syllables followed by one or more unstressed syllables (e.g. stocking/shocking, glamorous/amorous). Compare with MASCULINE RHYME.

femininity n. [mass noun] the quality of being female; womanliness: she celebrates her femininity by wearing make-up and high heels.

feminism n. [mass noun] the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.

The issue of rights for women first became prominent during the French and American revolutions in the late 18th century. In Britain it was not until the emergence of the suffragette movement in the late 19th century that there was significant political change. A ‘second wave’ of feminism arose in the 1960s, with an emphasis on unity and sisterhood; seminal figures included Betty Friedan and Germaine Greer.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French féminisme.

feminist n. a person who supports feminism.

■ adj. relating to or supporting feminism: feminist literature.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French féministe, from Latin femina ‘woman’.

feminity n. RARE femininity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French feminite, from medieval Latin feminitas, from Latin femina ‘woman’.

feminize (also feminise) v. [with obj.] make (something) more characteristic of or associated with women: as office roles changed, clerical work was increasingly feminized.

<DERIVATIVES> feminization n.

femme /fεm/ (also fem) n. INFORMAL a lesbian who takes a traditionally feminine sexual role. Often contrasted with BUTCH.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: French, ‘woman’.

femme fatale /fam fətαl/ n. (pl. femmes fatales pronunc. same) an attractive and seductive woman, especially one who will ultimately cause distress to a man who becomes involved with her.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: French, literally ‘disastrous woman’.

femto- /fεmtə/ combining form (used in units of measurement) denoting a factor of 10−15: femtosecond.

<ORIGIN> from Danish or Norwegian femten ‘fifteen’.

femur /fimə/ n. (pl. femurs or femora /fεm(ə)rə/) 1 [ANATOMY] the bone of the thigh or upper hindlimb, articulating at the hip and the knee.

2 [ZOOLOGY] the third segment of the leg in insects and some other arthropods, typically the longest and thickest segment.

<DERIVATIVES> femoral /fεm(ə)r(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin femur, femor- ‘thigh’.

fen^1 n. a low and marshy or frequently flooded area of land: a native species of fens and damp meadows | [mass noun] 55 acres of fen.

- (the Fens) the flat low-lying areas of eastern England, mainly in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk, formerly marshland but largely drained for agriculture since the 17th century.

- [mass noun] [ECOLOGY] wetland with alkaline, neutral, or only slightly acid peaty soil. Compare with BOG.

<DERIVATIVES> fenny adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English fen(n), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch veen and German Fenn.

fen^2 n. (pl. same) a monetary unit of China, equal to one hundredth of a yuan.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese fēn ‘a hundredth part’.

fenberry n. (pl. fenberries)

■ another term for CRANBERRY.

fence n. 1 a barrier, railing, or other upright structure, typically of wood or wire, enclosing an area of ground to prevent or control access or escape.

- a large upright obstacle in steeplechasing, showjumping, or cross-country.

2 a guard or guide on a plane, saw, or other tool.

3 INFORMAL a person who deals in stolen goods.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 surround or protect with a fence: our garden was not fully fenced.

- (fence something in/off) enclose or separate an area with a fence: a small plantation of young trees had been fenced off.

- (fence someone/thing out) use a barrier to exclude someone or something: walkers may find themselves fenced out of the moor.

2 INFORMAL buy or sell (stolen goods).

3 [no obj.] engage in the sport of fencing.

- conduct a discussion or argument in an evasive way: twelve months of fencing with McLaren had taken a toll his nerves.

<PHRASES>

□ mend (one's) fences see MEND.

□ over the fence AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL unreasonable or unacceptable.

□ side of the fence used to refer to either of the opposing positions or interests involved in a particular situation: whatever side of the fence you are on, the debate on conventional versus organic farming is not going to disappear.

□ sit on the fence avoid making a decision or choice.

<DERIVATIVES> fenceless adj. fencer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘defending, defence’): shortening of DEFENCE. Compare with FENCIBLE and FEND.

fence post n. a timber or metal post set in the ground as a supporting part of a fence.

fencerow /fεnsrə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN an uncultivated strip of land on each side of and below a fence.

fencible /fεnsb(ə)l/ n. (usually fencibles) HISTORICAL a soldier belonging to a British militia which could be called up only for service on home soil.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘fit or suitable for defence’): shortening of DEFENSIBLE. Compare with FENCE, fend.

fencing n. [mass noun] 1 the sport of fighting with swords, especially foils, épées, or sabres, according to a set of rules, in order to score points against an opponent.

- the action of conducting a discussion or argument in an evasive way.

2 a series of fences: security fencing.

- material used for the construction of fences: chestnut is still in demand for fencing.

- the erection of fences.

- the jumping of fences by a racehorse.

fend v. 1 [no obj.] (fend for oneself) look after and provide for oneself, without any help from others: she left her 14-year-old daughter to fend for herself.

2 [with obj.] (fend someone/thing off) defend oneself from a blow, attack, or attacker: Meredith tried frantically to fend him off | FIGURATIVE he fended off the awkward questions.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘defend’): shortening of DEFEND. Compare with FENCE and FENCIBLE.

Fender /fεndə/ Leo (1907–91), American guitar-maker. He pioneered the production of electric guitars, designing the first solid-body electric guitar to be widely available.

fender n. 1 a low frame bordering a fireplace to prevent burning coals from falling out.

2 a plastic cylinder, tyre, piece of old rope or matting, etc., hung over a ship's side to protect it against impact.

3 NORTH AMERICAN the mudguard or area around the wheel well of a vehicle.

fender bender n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a minor collision between motor vehicles.

fenestella /fεnstεlə/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] a niche in a wall south of a church's altar, holding the piscina and often the credence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, diminutive of fenestra ‘window’.

fenestra /fnεstrə/ n. (pl. fenestrae /-tri/) 1 [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] a small natural hole or opening, especially in a bone. The mammalian middle ear is linked by the fenestra ovalis to the vestibule of the inner ear, and by the fenestra rotunda to the cochlea.

2 MEDICINE an artificial opening.

- an opening in a bandage or cast.

- a perforation in a forceps blade.

- a hole made by surgical fenestration.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (as a botanical term denoting a small scar left by the separation of the seed from the ovary): from Latin, literally ‘window’.

fenestrate /fεnəstrət fnεstrət/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] having small window-like perforations or transparent areas.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin fenestratus ‘provided with openings’, from the verb fenestrare.

fenestrated /fεnəstretd fnεstretd/ adj. 1 provided with a window or windows: the fenestrated heights of nearby buildings.

2 chiefly [ANATOMY] having perforations, apertures, or transparent areas: the capillaries have a fenestrated epithelium.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin fenestrare (see FENESTRATE) + -ED^1.

fenestration /fεnstre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 [ARCHITECTURE] the arrangement of windows in a building.

2 [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] the condition of being fenestrate.

3 MEDICINE a surgical operation in which a new opening is formed, especially in the bony labyrinth of the inner ear to treat certain types of deafness.

fen-fire n. a will-o'-the-wisp.

feng shui /fε ui f we/ n. [mass noun] (in Chinese thought) a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (chi), and whose favourable or unfavourable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings.

<ORIGIN> Chinese, from fēng ‘wind’ and shu ‘water’.

Fenian /finən/ n. 1 a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a 19th-century revolutionary nationalist organization among the Irish in the US and Ireland. The Fenians staged an unsuccessful revolt in Ireland in 1867 and were responsible for isolated revolutionary acts against the British until the early 20th century, when they were gradually eclipsed by the IRA.

2 INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE (chiefly in Northern Ireland) a Protestant name for a Catholic.

<DERIVATIVES> Fenianism n.

<ORIGIN> from Old Irish féne, the name of an ancient Irish people, confused with fíann, fianna (see Fianna Fáil).

fenland n. [mass noun] (also fenlands) land consisting of fens: thousands of acres of fenland.

- (usually the Fenland) the Fens of eastern England.

fennec /fεnεk/ (also fennec fox) n. a small pale fox with large pointed ears, native to the deserts of North Africa and Arabia.

<INFO> Vulpes zerda, family Canidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via Arabic from Persian fanak, fanaj.

fennel /fεn(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] an aromatic yellow-flowered European plant of the parsley family, with feathery leaves.

<INFO> Foeniculum vulgare, family Umbelliferae: two subspecies, a hardy perennial (dulce), the seeds and leaves of which are used as culinary herbs, and the annual Florence (or sweet) fennel (subsp. azoricum), with swollen leaf bases which are eaten as a vegetable.

<ORIGIN> Old English finule, fenol, from Latin faeniculum, diminutive of faenum ‘hay’.

Fennoscandia /fεnəskandə/ a land mass in NW Europe comprising Scandinavia, Finland, and the adjacent area of NE Russia.

fentanyl /fεntənl/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic opiate drug which is a powerful painkiller and tranquillizer.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: apparently from fen- (representing PHEN-) + -t- + an- + -YL.

fenugreek /fεnjrik/ n. [mass noun] a white-flowered herbaceous plant of the pea family, with aromatic seeds that are used for flavouring, especially ground and used in curry powder.

<INFO> Trigonella foenum-graecum, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> Old English fenogrecum (superseded in Middle English by forms from Old French fenugrec), from Latin faenugraecum, from faenum graecum ‘Greek hay’ (the Romans used the dried plant as fodder).

feodary /fjudəri/ n. (pl. feodaries) HISTORICAL a feudal tenant.

feoffee /fεfi fi-/ n. a trustee invested with a freehold estate to hold in possession for a purpose, typically a charitable one.

- HISTORICAL (in feudal law) a person to whom a grant of freehold property is made.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French feoffe ‘enfeoffed’, past participle of feoffer, variant of Old French fieffer (see FEOFFMENT).

feoffment /fifm(ə)nt fεf-/ n. HISTORICAL (in feudal law) a grant of ownership of freehold property to someone.

<DERIVATIVES> feoffor /fεfə/ n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French fieffer ‘put in legal possession’, from fief (see FEE and FIEF).

feral /fεr(ə)l fə-/ adj. (especially of an animal) in a wild state, especially after escape from captivity or domestication: a feral cat.

- resembling a wild animal: a feral snarl.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin fera ‘wild animal’ (from ferus ‘wild’) + -AL.

ferberite /fəbərt/ n. [mass noun] a black mineral consisting of ferrous tungstate, typically occurring as elongated prisms.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Rudolph Ferber (1743–90), Swedish mineralogist, + -ITE^1.

fer de lance /fε də lαns/ n. (pl. fers de lance pronunc. same or fer de lances) a large and dangerous pit viper native to Central and South America.

<INFO> Genus Bothrops, family Viperidae: several species, in particular B. atrox.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, literally ‘iron (head) of a lance’.

Ferdinand /fədnənd/ of Aragon (1452–1516), king of Castile 1474–1516 and of Aragon 1479–1516; known as Ferdinand the Catholic. His marriage to Isabella of Castile in 1469 ensured his accession (as Ferdinand V) to the throne of Castile with her. Ferdinand subsequently succeeded to the throne of Aragon (as Ferdinand II) and was joined as monarch by Isabella. They instituted the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 and supported Columbus's expedition in 1492. Their capture of Granada from the Moors in the same year effectively united Spain as one country.

feretory /fεrət(ə)ri/ n. (pl. feretories) RARE a portable shrine containing the relics of a saint.

- a chapel containing such a shrine.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fiertre, via Latin from Greek pheretron ‘bier’, from pherein ‘bear, carry’.

Ferguson /fəəs(ə)n/ Sir Alex (b.1941), Scottish football manager and footballer; full name Alexander Chapman Ferguson. He became manager of Manchester United in 1986: he took them to a seventh Premier League Championship in 2001, and in 1999 won it as part of a treble with the FA Cup and the European Champions League.

feria /fεrə/ n. (in Spain and Spanish-speaking America) a fair.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Latin, literally ‘holiday’.

ferial /fərəl fε-/ adj. [CHRISTIAN] denoting an ordinary weekday, as opposed to one appointed for a festival or fast.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin ferialis, from Latin feria ‘holiday’. In late Latin feria was used with a prefixed ordinal number to mean ‘day of the week’ (e.g. secunda feria ‘second day, Monday’), but Sunday (Dominicus) and Saturday (Sabbatum) were usually referred to by their names; hence feria came to mean ‘ordinary weekday’.

feringhee /fəri/ (also feringhi) n. 1 chiefly DEROGATORY (in India and parts of the Middle and Far East) a foreigner, especially one with white skin.

2 ARCHAIC a person of Indian–Portuguese parentage.

<ORIGIN> via Urdu from Persian firangī, from the base of Frank^2.

Ferlinghetti /fəlεti/ Lawrence (Monsanto) (b.1919), American poet and publisher; born Lawrence Ferling. Identified with San Francisco's beat movement, he founded the publishing house City Lights, which produced works such as Allen Ginsberg's Howl (1957). Notable works: A Coney Island of the Mind (1958).

Ferm. abbr. Fermanagh.

Fermanagh /fəmanə/ one of the Six Counties of Northern Ireland, since 1973 an administrative district; chief town, Enniskillen.

Fermat /fəmα/ French /fεRma/ Pierre de (1601–65), French mathematician. His work on curves led directly to the general methods of calculus introduced by Newton and Leibniz. He is also recognized as the founder of the theory of numbers.

fermata /fəmαtə/ n. [MUSIC] a pause of unspecified length on a note or rest.

- a sign indicating a prolonged note or rest.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from fermare ‘to stop’.

Fermat's last theorem n. [MATHEMATICS] a conjecture by Fermat that if n is an integer greater than 2, the equation xn + yn = zn has no positive integral solutions. Fermat noted that he had ‘a truly wonderful proof’ of the conjecture, but never wrote it down. In 1995 a general proof was published by the Princeton-based British mathematician Andrew Wiles.

ferment v. /fəmεnt/ 1 [no obj.] (of a substance) undergo fermentation: the drink had fermented, turning some of the juice into alcohol.

- [with obj.] cause the fermentation of (a substance).

2 [with obj.] incite or stir up (trouble or disorder): the politicians and warlords who are fermenting this chaos.

■ n. /fəmεnt/ 1 [mass noun] agitation and excitement among a group of people, typically concerning major change and leading to trouble or violence: a period of political and religious ferment.

2 ARCHAIC a fermenting agent or enzyme.

<DERIVATIVES> fermentable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ferment (noun), fermenter (verb), based on Latin fermentum ‘yeast’, from fervere ‘to boil’.

fermentation n. [mass noun] 1 the chemical breakdown of a substance by bacteria, yeasts, or other micro-organisms, typically involving effervescence and the giving off of heat.

- the process of this kind involved in the making of beers, wines, and spirits, in which sugars are converted to ethyl alcohol.

2 ARCHAIC agitation; excitement: I had found Paris in high fermentation.

<DERIVATIVES> fermentative adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin fermentatio(n-), from Latin fermentare ‘to ferment’ (see FERMENT).

fermenter (US also fermentor) n. a container in which fermentation takes place.

- an organism which causes fermentation.

Fermi /fəmi fεmi/ Italian /fermi/ Enrico (1901–54), Italian-born American atomic physicist, who directed the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in 1942. Nobel Prize for Physics (1938).

fermi /fəmi/ n. (pl. same) a unit of length equal to 10−15 metre (one femtometre), used in nuclear physics. It is similar to the diameter of a proton.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after E.

■ Fermi.

Fermi–Dirac statistics plural n. [treated as sing.] [PHYSICS] a type of quantum statistics used to describe systems of fermions.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: named after E.

■ Fermi and P. A. M.

■ Dirac.

fermion /fəmn/ n. [PHYSICS] a subatomic particle, such as a nucleon, which has half-integral spin and follows the statistical description given by Fermi and Dirac.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from the name of E.

■ Fermi + -ON.

fermium /fəməm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 100, a radioactive metal of the actinide series. Fermium does not occur naturally and was discovered in 1953 in the debris of the first hydrogen bomb explosion. (Symbol: Fm)

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from the name of E.

■ Fermi + -IUM.

fern n. (pl. same or ferns) a flowerless plant which has feathery or leafy fronds and reproduces by spores released from the undersides of the fronds. Ferns have a vascular system for the transport of water and nutrients.

<INFO> Class Filicopsida, division Pteridophyta.

<DERIVATIVES> fernery n. (pl. ferneries) ferny adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English fearn, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch varen and German Farn.

Fernando Póo /fənandə pə/ former name (until 1973) for BIOKO.

fernbird n. a secretive warbler found only in New Zealand, with dark streaked plumage.

<INFO> Megalurus punctatus, family Sylviidae.

fernbrake n. a bed or thicket of ferns.

<ORIGIN> Old English fearnbraca (plural): see FERN, brake^4.

ferocious adj. savagely fierce, cruel, or violent: a ferocious beast | a ferocious battle.

- INFORMAL very great; extreme: a ferocious headache.

<DERIVATIVES> ferociously adv. ferociousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin ferox, feroc- ‘fierce’ + -IOUS.

ferocity n. (pl. ferocities) [mass noun] the state or quality of being ferocious: the ferocity of the storm caught them by surprise | [count noun] she hated him with a ferocity that astonished her.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, or from Latin ferocitas, from ferox, feroc- ‘fierce’.

-ferous (usually -iferous) combining form having, bearing, or containing (a specified thing): Carboniferous | pestiferous.

<DERIVATIVES> -ferously combining form in corresponding adverbs. -ferousness combining form in corresponding nouns.

<ORIGIN> from French -fère or Latin -fer ‘producing’, from ferre ‘to bear’.

ferox /fεrks/ (also ferox trout) n. a brown trout of a very large variety, occurring in large deep lakes in NW Europe.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Salmo ferox, literally ‘fierce salmon’, former name of the variety.

Ferranti /fəranti/ Sebastian Ziani de (1864–1930), English electrical engineer. He was one of the pioneers of electricity generation and distribution in Britain, his chief contribution being the use of high voltages for economical transmission over a distance.

Ferrara /fərαrə/ Italian /ferrara/ a city in northern Italy, capital of a province of the same name; pop. 130,461 (2001). Ferrara grew to prominence in the 13th century under the rule of the powerful Este family.

Ferrari /fərαri/ Italian /ferrari/ Enzo (1898–1988), Italian car designer and manufacturer. In 1929 he founded the company named after him, producing a range of high-quality sports and racing cars. Since the early 1950s Ferraris have won more world championship Grands Prix than any other car.

ferrate /fεret/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt in which the anion contains both iron (typically ferric iron) and oxygen.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin ferrum ‘iron’ + -ATE^1.

Ferrel's law /fεrəlz/ n. [METEOROLOGY] a law stating that Coriolis forces deflect winds and freely moving objects to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after William Ferrel (1817–91), American meteorologist.

ferret /fεrt/ n. 1 a domesticated polecat used chiefly for catching rabbits. It is typically albino in coloration, but sometimes brown. See POLECAT-FERRET.

<INFO> Mustela furo, family Mustelidae; descended mainly from the European polecat.

2 an assiduous search for something: he had a quick ferret around.

■ v. (ferrets, ferreting, ferreted) 1 [no obj.] (of a person) hunt with ferrets, typically for rabbits: (as n. ferreting) ferreting is increasing in popularity.

- [with obj.] clear (a hole or area of ground) of rabbits with ferrets.

2 [no obj.] rummage about in a place or container in search of something: he shambled over to the desk and ferreted around.

- [with obj.] (ferret something out) discover information by means of an assiduous search or investigation: she had the ability to ferret out the facts.

<DERIVATIVES> ferreter n. ferrety adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fuiret, alteration of fuiron, based on late Latin furo ‘thief, ferret’, from Latin fur ‘thief’.

ferret-badger n. a small tree-climbing badger found in SE Asia, having a long tail and a brownish coat with conspicuous facial markings.

<INFO> Genus Melogale, family Mustelidae: three species.

ferri- /fεri/ combining form [CHEMISTRY] of iron with a valency of three; ferric. Compare with FERRO-.

<ORIGIN> from Latin ferrum ‘iron’.

ferriage /fεrd/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the action of transporting someone or something by ferry.

- the fare paid for a journey by ferry.

ferric /fεrk/ adj. relating to iron.

- [CHEMISTRY] of iron with a valency of three; of iron(III). Compare with FERROUS.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin ferrum ‘iron’ + -IC.

ferricyanide n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt containing the anion Fe(CN)63−.

Ferrier /fεrə/ Kathleen (1912–53), English contralto. She is particularly famous for her performance in 1947 of Mahler's song cycle Das Lied von der Erde.

ferrimagnetic adj. [PHYSICS] (of a substance) displaying a weak form of ferromagnetism associated with parallel but opposite alignment of neighbouring atoms. In contrast with antiferromagnetic materials, these alignments do not cancel out and there is a net magnetic moment.

<DERIVATIVES> ferrimagnetism n.

Ferris wheel /fεrs/ n. a fairground ride consisting of a giant vertical revolving wheel with passenger cars suspended on its outer edge.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after George Ferris (1859–96), the American engineer who invented it.

ferrite /fεrt/ n. [mass noun] 1 a ceramic compound consisting of a mixed oxide of iron and one or more other metals which has ferrimagnetic properties and is used in high-frequency electrical components such as aerials.

2 [METALLURGY] a form of pure iron with a body-centred cubic crystal structure, occurring in low-carbon steel.

<DERIVATIVES> ferritic /fεrtk/ adj.

■ ferrite (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin ferrum ‘iron’ + -ITE^1.

ferritin /fεrtn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein produced in mammalian metabolism which serves to store iron in the tissues.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from FERRI- + -t- (for ease of pronunciation) + -IN^1.

ferro- /fεrə/ combining form containing iron: ferroconcrete.

- [CHEMISTRY] of iron with a valency of two; ferrous. Compare with FERRI-.

<ORIGIN> from Latin ferrum ‘iron’.

ferrocene /fεrəsin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an orange crystalline compound whose molecule has a sandwich structure in which two planar cyclic hydrocarbon ligands enclose an iron atom.

<INFO> Chem. formula: Fe(C_5H_5)2.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from FERRO- ‘containing iron’ + -cene from c(yclopentadi)ene.

ferroconcrete n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] concrete reinforced with steel: a ferroconcrete storage tank.

ferrocyanide n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt containing the anion Fe(CN)64−.

ferroelectric [PHYSICS] adj. (of a substance) exhibiting permanent electric polarization which varies in strength with the applied electric field.

■ n. a ferroelectric substance.

<DERIVATIVES> ferroelectricity n.

ferrofluid n. [often as modifier] a fluid containing a magnetic suspension: ferrofluid cooling.

ferromagnesian /fεrə()mani(ə)n -zən/ adj. [GEOLOGY] (of a rock or mineral) containing iron and magnesium as major components.

ferromagnetic adj. [PHYSICS] (of a body or substance) having a high susceptibility to magnetization, the strength of which depends on that of the applied magnetizing field, and which may persist after removal of the applied field. This is the kind of magnetism displayed by iron, and is associated with parallel magnetic alignment of neighbouring atoms.

<DERIVATIVES> ferromagnetism n.

ferrous /fεrəs/ adj. 1 (chiefly of metals) containing or consisting of iron.

2 [CHEMISTRY] of iron with a valency of two; of iron(II). Compare with FERRIC.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin ferrum ‘iron’ + -OUS.

ferrous sulphate n. [mass noun] a pale green iron salt used in inks, tanning, water purification, and treating anaemia.

<INFO> Alternative name: iron(II) sulphate; chem. formula (crystals): FeSO_4.7H_2O.

ferruginous /fεrudnəs/ adj. containing iron oxides or rust: a band of ferruginous limestone.

- reddish brown; rust-coloured: the ferruginous earth of southern Brazil.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin ferrugo, ferrugin- ‘rust, dark red’ (from ferrum ‘iron’) + -OUS.

ferruginous duck n. a Eurasian diving duck related to the pochard, the male of which has mainly dark red-brown breeding plumage.

<INFO> Aythya nyroca, family Anatidae.

ferrule /fεrul fεr(ə)l/ n. a ring or cap, typically a metal one, which strengthens the end of a handle, stick, or tube and prevents it from splitting or wearing.

- a metal band strengthening or forming a joint.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: alteration (probably by association with Latin ferrum ‘iron’) of obsolete verrel, from Old French virelle, from Latin viriola, diminutive of viriae ‘bracelets’.

ferry n. (pl. ferries) (also ferry boat) a boat or ship for conveying passengers and goods, especially over a relatively short distance and as a regular service.

- a service using another mode of transport, especially aircraft, to convey passengers or goods.

■ v. (ferries, ferrying, ferried) [with obj. and adverbial of direction] convey by ferry or other mode of transport, especially on short or regular trips: the British Expeditionary Force was safely ferried across the Channel | ambulances ferried the injured to hospital.

<DERIVATIVES> ferryman n. (pl. ferrymen)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse ferja ‘ferry boat’, of Germanic origin and related to FARE.

fertile /fətl/ adj. 1 (of soil or land) producing or capable of producing abundant vegetation or crops: the fertile coastal plain.

- producing many new and inventive ideas: her fertile imagination.

- (of a situation) encouraging a particular activity or feeling: conditions at the time provided fertile ground for revolutionary movements.

2 (of a person, animal, or plant) able to conceive young or produce seed.

- (of a seed or egg) capable of becoming a new individual.

- [PHYSICS] (of nuclear material) able to become fissile by the capture of neutrons.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from Latin fertilis, from ferre ‘to bear’.

Fertile Crescent a crescent-shaped area of fertile land in the Middle East extending from the eastern Mediterranean coast through the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to the Persian Gulf. It was the centre of the Neolithic development of agriculture (from 7000 BC), and the cradle of the Assyrian, Sumerian, and Babylonian civilizations.

fertility n. [mass noun] the quality of being fertile; productiveness: improve the soil fertility by adding compost.

- the ability to conceive children or young: anxiety and stress affect fertility in both men and women.

fertility cult n. a pagan religious system of some agricultural societies in which seasonal rites are performed with the aim of ensuring good harvests and the future well-being of the community.

fertilization (also fertilisation) n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] 1 the action or process of fertilizing an egg or a female animal or plant, involving the fusion of male and female gametes to form a zygote.

2 the action or process of applying a fertilizer to soil or land.

fertilize (also fertilise) v. [with obj.] 1 cause (an egg, female animal, or plant) to develop a new individual by introducing male reproductive material.

2 make (soil or land) more fertile or productive by adding suitable substances to it.

<DERIVATIVES> fertilizable adj.

fertilizer (also fertiliser) n. a chemical or natural substance added to soil or land to increase its fertility.

Fertö Tó /fεrtø tə/ Hungarian name for NEUSIEDLER SEE.

ferula /fεrjlə/ n. 1 a tall large-leaved Eurasian plant of a genus that includes asafoetida and its relatives.

<INFO> Genus Ferula, family Umbelliferae.

2 rare term for FERULE.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘giant fennel, rod’.

ferule /fεrul/ n. HISTORICAL a flat ruler with a widened end, formerly used for beating children.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the giant fennel): from Latin ferula (see FERULA).

fervent /fəv(ə)nt/ adj. 1 having or displaying a passionate intensity: a fervent supporter of the revolution.

2 ARCHAIC hot, burning, or glowing.

<DERIVATIVES> fervency n. fervently adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin fervent- ‘boiling’, from the verb fervere. Compare with FERVID and FERVOUR.

fervid /fəvd/ adj. 1 intensely enthusiastic or passionate, especially to an excessive degree: his fervid protestations of love.

2 LITERARY hot, burning, or glowing.

<DERIVATIVES> fervidly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘glowing, hot’): from Latin fervidus, from fervere ‘to boil’. Compare with FERVENT and FERVOUR.

fervour /fəvə/ (US fervor) n. 1 [mass noun] intense and passionate feeling: he talked with all the fervour of a new convert.

2 ARCHAIC intense heat.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin fervor, from fervere ‘to boil’. Compare with FERVENT and FERVID.

fescue /fεskju/ n. any of a number of narrow-leaved grasses:

<INFO>

- a perennial grass that is a valuable pasture and fodder species (genus Festuca, family Gramineae).

- an annual grass that typically occurs on drier soils such as on dunes and heathland (genus Vulpia, family Gramineae).

<ORIGIN> Middle English festu, festue ‘straw, twig’, from Old French festu, based on Latin festuca ‘stalk, straw’. The change of -t- to -c- occurred in the 16th century; the current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.

fess^1 /fεs/ (also fesse) n. [HERALDRY] an ordinary in the form of a broad horizontal stripe across the middle of the shield.

<PHRASES>

□ in fess across the middle third of the field.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French fesse, alteration of faisse, from Latin fascia ‘band’. Compare with FASCIA.

fess^2 /fεs/ v. [no obj.] (fess up) INFORMAL confess; own up: ‘Fess up,’ she demanded. ‘What were you doing in Peter's private office?’.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: shortening of CONFESS.

Fessenden /fεs(ə)nd(ə)n/ Reginald Aubrey (1866–1932), Canadian-born American pioneer of radio-telephony, who invented the heterodyne receiver.

fess point n. [HERALDRY] a point at the centre of a shield.

-fest combining form in nouns denoting a festival or gathering of a specified kind: a media-fest | a gabfest.

<ORIGIN> from German Fest ‘festival’.

festa /fεstə/ n. (in Italy and other Mediterranean countries) a religious or other festival.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Italian, ‘festival’, from Latin.

festal adj. chiefly ARCHAIC relating to or characteristic of a celebration or festival: plum pudding was originally served on festal days as a main course.

<DERIVATIVES> festally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: via Old French from late Latin festalis, from Latin festum, (plural) festa ‘feast’.

fester v. [no obj.] (of a wound or sore) become septic; suppurate: (as adj. festering) a festering abscess.

- (of food or rubbish) become rotten and offensive to the senses: piles of mouldy grey paper festered by the sink.

- (of a negative feeling or a problem) become worse or more intense, especially through long-term neglect or indifference: below the surface, the old antagonisms festered.

- (of a person) deteriorate physically and mentally in isolated inactivity: remand prisoners are left to fester in our jails while they wait for trial.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the rare word fester ‘fistula’, later ‘festering sore’, or Old French festrir (verb), both from Old French festre (noun), from Latin fistula ‘pipe, reed, fistula’.

festival n. 1 a day or period of celebration, typically for religious reasons: traditional Jewish festivals.

2 an organized series of concerts, plays, or films, typically one held annually in the same place: a major international festival of song.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as an adjective): via Old French from medieval Latin festivalis, from Latin festivus, from festum, (plural) festa ‘feast’.

Festival of Britain a festival celebrated with lavish exhibitions and shows throughout Britain in May 1951 to mark the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851.

festival of lights n. 1 another term for HANUKKAH.

2 another term for DIWALI.

Festival of the Dead n. another term for BON.

festive adj. relating to a festival, especially Christmas: the festive season is fast approaching.

- cheerful and jovially celebratory: the sombre atmosphere has given way to a festive mood.

<DERIVATIVES> festively adv. festiveness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin festivus, from festum, (plural) festa ‘feast’.

festivity n. (pl. festivities) [mass noun] the celebration of something in a joyful and exuberant way: a time of great rejoicing and festivity.

- (festivities) activities or events celebrating a special occasion: the traditional Christmas and New Year festivities.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French festivite or Latin festivitas, from festivus ‘festive’, from festum, (plural) festa ‘feast’.

festoon /fεstun/ n. 1 a chain or garland of flowers, leaves, or ribbons, hung in a curve as a decoration.

- a carved or moulded ornament representing a festoon.

2 a Eurasian butterfly or moth patterned with dark arcs on a lighter background:

<INFO>

- a large yellowish butterfly with black and red markings (Zerynthia and other genera, family Papilionidae).

- a small brown moth (Apoda avellana, family Limacodidae).

■ v. [with obj.] (often be festooned with) adorn (a place) with chains, garlands, or other decorations: the staffroom was festooned with balloons and streamers.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French feston, from Italian festone ‘festal ornament’, from festum, (plural) festa ‘feast’.

festoon blind n. a window blind consisting of vertical rows of horizontally gathered fabric that may be drawn up into a series of ruches.

Festschrift /fεstrft/ n. (pl. Festschriften or Festschrifts) a collection of writings published in honour of a scholar.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, from Fest ‘celebration’ + Schrift ‘writing’.

FET abbr. field-effect transistor.

feta /fεtə/ (also feta cheese or fetta) n. [mass noun] a white salty Greek cheese made from the milk of ewes or goats.

<ORIGIN> from modern Greek pheta.

fetal /fit(ə)l/ adj. relating to a fetus: nutrients essential for normal fetal growth.

- denoting a posture characteristic of a fetus, with the back curved forwards and the limbs folded in front of the body.

fetal alcohol syndrome n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a congenital syndrome associated with excessive consumption of alcohol by the mother during pregnancy, and characterized by retardation of mental development and of physical growth, particularly of the skull and face.

fetch^1 v. [with obj.] 1 go for and then bring back (someone or something) for someone: he ran to fetch help | [with two objs] she fetched me a cup of tea.

- ARCHAIC bring forth (blood or tears): kind offers fetched tears from me.

- ARCHAIC take a (breath); heave (a sigh).

2 achieve (a particular price) when sold: the land could fetch over a million pounds.

3 [with two objs] INFORMAL inflict (a blow or slap) on (someone): that brute Cullam fetched him a wallop.

4 [no obj.] (fetch up) INFORMAL arrive or come to rest somewhere, typically by accident or unintentionally: all four of them fetched up in the saloon bar of the Rose and Crown.

5 INFORMAL, DATED cause great interest or delight in (someone): that air of his always fetches women.

■ n. 1 the distance travelled by wind or waves across open water.

- the distance a vessel must sail to reach open water.

2 ARCHAIC a stratagem or trick.

<PHRASES>

□ fetch and carry perform a succession of menial tasks for someone as if one was their servant.

<DERIVATIVES> fetcher n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fecc(e)an, variant of fetian, probably related to fatian ‘grasp’, of Germanic origin and related to German fassen.

fetch^2 n. the apparition or double of a living person, formerly believed to be a warning of that person's impending death.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

fetching adj. attractive: a fetching little garment of pink satin.

<DERIVATIVES> fetchingly adv.

fete /fet/ (also fête) n. BRITISH a public function, typically held outdoors and organized to raise funds for a charity, including entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments: a church fete.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a celebration or festival.

■ v. [with obj.] honour or entertain (someone) lavishly: she was an instant celebrity, feted by the media.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘festival, fair’): from French, from Old French feste (see FEAST).

fête champêtre /fεt pεtr(ə)/ French /fεt αpεtR/ n. (pl. fêtes champêtres pronunc. same) an outdoor entertainment such as a garden party.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘rural festival’.

fête galante /fεt alt/ French /fεt alαt/ n. (pl. fêtes galantes pronunc. same) an outdoor entertainment or rural festival, especially as depicted in 18th-century French painting.

- a painting in this genre.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘elegant festival’.

fetich n. archaic spelling of FETISH.

feticide /fitsd/ n. [mass noun] destruction or abortion of a fetus.

fetid /fεtd fit-/ (also foetid) adj. smelling extremely unpleasant: the fetid water of the marsh.

<DERIVATIVES> fetidly adv. fetidness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fetidus (often erroneously spelled foetidus), from fetere ‘to stink’. Compare with FETOR.

fetish /fεt/ n. 1 an inanimate object worshipped for its supposed magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit.

2 a form of sexual desire in which gratification is linked to an abnormal degree to a particular object, item of clothing, part of the body, etc.: Victorian men developed fetishes focusing on feet, shoes, and boots.

- an excessive and irrational devotion or commitment to a particular thing: he had a fetish about purity.

<DERIVATIVES> fetishism n. fetishist n. fetishistic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally denoting an object used by the peoples of West Africa as an amulet or charm): from French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço ‘charm, sorcery’ (originally an adjective meaning ‘made by art’), from Latin facticius (see FACTITIOUS).

fetishize (also fetishise) v. [with obj.] make (something) the object of a sexual fetish: women's bodies are so intensely fetishized.

- have an excessive and irrational commitment to (something): an author who fetishizes privacy.

<DERIVATIVES> fetishization n.

fetlock /fεtlk/ (also fetlock joint) n. the joint of a horse's or other quadruped's leg between the cannon bone and the pastern.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: ultimately of Germanic origin; related to German Fessel ‘fetlock’, also to FOOT.

feto- combining form representing FETUS.

fetor /fitə/ (also foetor) n. a strong, foul smell: the fetor of decay.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin, from fetere ‘to stink’. Compare with FETID.

fetter n. (usually fetters) a chain or manacle used to restrain a prisoner, typically placed around the ankles: he lay bound with fetters of iron.

- a restraint or check on someone's freedom to act: the fetters of convention.

■ v. [with obj.] restrain with chains or manacles, typically around the ankles: (as adj. fettered) a ragged and fettered prisoner.

- confine or restrict (someone): he was not fettered by tradition.

<ORIGIN> Old English feter, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch veter ‘a lace’, from an Indo-European root shared by FOOT.

fetterlock n. a D-shaped fetter for tethering a horse by the leg, now only as represented as a heraldic charge.

fettle n. [mass noun] condition: Marguerite was in fine fettle.

■ v. [with obj.] trim or clean the rough edges of (a metal casting or a piece of pottery) before firing.

- N. ENGLISH make or repair (something).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb in the general sense ‘get ready, prepare’, specifically ‘prepare oneself for battle, gird up’): from dialect fettle ‘strip of material, girdle’, from Old English fetel, of Germanic origin; related to German Fessel ‘chain, band’.

fettler n. 1 BRITISH a person who does repair or maintenance work on a railway.

2 a person who fettles metal castings or pottery.

fettuccine /fεttini/ plural n. pasta made in ribbons.

<ORIGIN> from Italian, plural of fettuccina, diminutive of fetta ‘slice, ribbon’.

fetus /fitəs/ (BRITISH (in non-technical use) also foetus) n. (pl. fetuses) an unborn or unhatched offspring of a mammal, in particular, an unborn human more than eight weeks after conception.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fetus ‘pregnancy, childbirth, offspring’.

<USAGE> The spelling foetus has no etymological basis but is recorded from the 16th century and until recently was the standard British spelling in both technical and non-technical use. In technical usage fetus is now the standard spelling throughout the English-speaking world, but foetus is still found in British English outside technical contexts.

feu /fju/ [SCOTS LAW] n. a perpetual lease at a fixed rent.

- a piece of land held by such a lease.

■ v. (feus, feuing, feued) [with obj.] grant (land) on such a lease.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (originally denoting a feudal tenure in which an annual payment was made in lieu of military service): from Old French (see FEE).

feud n. a prolonged and bitter quarrel or dispute: his long-standing feud with Universal Pictures.

- a state of prolonged mutual hostility, typically between two families or communities, characterized by murderous assaults in revenge for a previous injuries: a savage feud over drugs money.

■ v. [no obj.] take part in such a quarrel or violent conflict: Hoover feuded with the CIA for decades.

<ORIGIN> Middle English fede ‘hostility, ill will’, from Old French feide, from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German vēde, of Germanic origin; related to FOE.

feudal /fjud(ə)l/ adj. according to, resembling, or denoting the system of feudalism.

- absurdly outdated or old-fashioned: his view of patriotism was more than old-fashioned—it was positively feudal.

<DERIVATIVES> feudalization /-ze(ə)n/ n. feudalize (also feudalise) v. feudally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin feudalis, from feudum (see FEE).

feudalism n. [mass noun] the dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord's land and give him homage, labour, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection.

<DERIVATIVES> feudalist n. feudalistic adj.

feudality n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the principles and practice of the feudal system.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French féodalité, from féodal, from medieval Latin feudalis ‘feudal’, from feudum (see FEE).

feudatory /fjudət(ə)ri/ HISTORICAL adj. owing feudal allegiance to another: a feudatory state.

■ n. (pl. feudatories) a person who holds land under the conditions of the feudal system.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin feudatorius, from feudare ‘enfeoff’, from feudum (see FEE).

feu de joie /fə də wα/ n. (pl. feux de joie pronunc. same) a rifle salute fired by soldiers on a ceremonial occasion, each soldier firing in succession along the ranks to make a continuous sound.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘fire of joy’.

feudist n. US a person taking part in a feud.

Feuerbach /fəbαx/ German /fYbax/ Ludwig (Andreas) (1804–72), German materialist philosopher. In his best-known work, The Essence of Christianity (1841), he argued that the dogmas and beliefs of Christianity are figments of human imagination, fulfilling a need inherent in human nature.

feuilleté /fəjəte/ n. a puff pastry case with a sweet or savoury filling.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘flaky’.

feuilleton /fət/ n. a part of a newspaper or magazine devoted to fiction, criticism, or light literature.

- an article printed in a feuilleton.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from feuillet, diminutive of feuille ‘leaf’.

fever n. an abnormally high body temperature, usually accompanied by shivering, headache, and in severe instances, delirium: she had a slight fever | [mass noun] quinine was used to reduce malarial fever.

- a state of nervous excitement or agitation: I was mystified, and in a fever of expectation.

- [mass noun] [with modifier] the excitement felt by a group of people about a particular public event: election fever reaches its climax tomorrow.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC bring about a high body temperature or a state of nervous excitement in: a heart which sin has fevered.

<ORIGIN> Old English fēfor, from Latin febris; reinforced in Middle English by Old French fievre, also from febris.

fevered adj. having or showing the symptoms associated with a dangerously high temperature: they mopped his fevered brow.

- feeling or displaying an excessive degree of nervous excitement, agitation, or energy: my fevered adolescent imagination.

feverfew /fivəfju/ n. a small bushy aromatic Eurasian plant of the daisy family, with feathery leaves and daisy-like flowers, used in herbal medicine to treat headaches.

<INFO> Tanacetum parthenium, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> Old English feferfuge, from Latin febrifuga, from febris ‘fever’ + fugare ‘drive away’. Compare with FEBRIFUGE.

fever grass n. West Indian term for LEMON GRASS.

feverish adj. having or showing the symptoms of a fever: she felt sick and feverish | a feverish cold.

- characterized by or displaying a frenetic excitement or energy: the next couple of weeks were spent in a whirl of feverish activity.

<DERIVATIVES> feverishly adv. feverishness n.

feverous adj. ARCHAIC tending to cause fever.

- feverish.

fever pitch n. [mass noun] a state of extreme excitement: the football crowd was at fever pitch | [in sing.] a fever pitch of nervous excitement.

fever tree n. any of a number of trees which are believed to either cause or cure fever, in particular:

<INFO>

- a North American tree used in the treatment of malaria during the civil war (Pinckneya pubens, family Rubiaceae).

- a southern African tree which was formerly believed to cause malaria (Acacia xanthophloea, family Leguminosae).

few determiner, pronoun, & adj. 1 (a few) a small number of: [as determiner] may I ask a few questions? | [as pronoun] I will recount a few of the stories told me | there are hundreds of applicants but only a few are selected.

2 used to emphasize how small a number of people or things is: [as determiner] he had few friends | [as pronoun] few thought to challenge these assumptions | very few of the titles have any literary merit | a club with as few as 20 members | [comparative] a population of fewer than two million | [as adj.] sewing was one of her few pleasures | [superlative] ask which products have the fewest complaints.

■ n. (as plural n. the few) the minority of people; the elect: art is not just for the few.

- (the Few) BRITISH the RAF pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain. [<ORIGIN> alluding to a speech of Sir Winston Churchill (20 August, 1940).]

<PHRASES>

□ every few once in every small group of (typically units of time): she visits every few weeks.

□ few and far between scarce; infrequent: my inspired moments are few and far between.

□ a good few BRITISH a fairly large number of: we sat there for a good few minutes.

□ have a few INFORMAL drink enough alcohol to be slightly drunk.

□ no fewer than used to emphasize a surprisingly large number: there are no fewer than seventy different brand names.

□ not a few a considerable number: virtually every soul star, and not a few blues singers, learned to sing in church.

□ quite a few a fairly large number: quite a few people got the wrong impression.

□ some few some but not many.

<ORIGIN> Old English fēawe, fēawa, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German fao, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin paucus and Greek pauros ‘small’.

<USAGE> Fewer versus less: strictly speaking, the rule is that fewer, the comparative form of few, is used with words denoting people or countable things (fewer members; fewer books; fewer than ten contestants). Less, on the other hand, is used with mass nouns, denoting things which cannot be counted (less money; less music). In addition, less is normally used with numbers (less than 10,000) and with expressions of measurement or time (less than two weeks; less than four miles away). But to use less with count nouns, as in less people or less words, is incorrect in standard English. It is perhaps one of the most frequent errors made by native speakers of English, although in written sources the error is found less frequently (around 8 per cent in the Oxford English Corpus).

fey /fe/ adj. (feyer, feyest) 1 giving an impression of vague unworldliness or mystery: a rather fey romantic novelist.

2 having supernatural powers of clairvoyance.

3 ARCHAIC, chiefly SCOTTISH fated to die or at the point of death.

<DERIVATIVES> feyly adv. feyness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fge (in the sense ‘fated to die soon’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch veeg and to German feige ‘cowardly’.

Feydeau /fedə/ French /fεdə/ Georges (1862–1921), French dramatist. His name has become a byword for French bedroom farce. He wrote some forty plays, including Hotel Paradiso (1894) and Le Dindon (1896).

Feynman /fnmən/ Richard Phillips (1918–88), American theoretical physicist, noted for his work on quantum electrodynamics. Nobel Prize for Physics (1965).

Feynman diagram n. [PHYSICS] a diagram showing electromagnetic interactions between subatomic particles.

Fez /fεz/ (also Fès) a city in northern Morocco, founded in 808; pop. 921,200 (est. 2002).

fez /fεz/ n. (pl. fezzes) a flat-topped conical red hat with a black tassel on top, worn by men in some Muslim countries (formerly the Turkish national headdress).

<DERIVATIVES> fezzed adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Turkish fes (perhaps via French fez), named after FEZ, once the chief place of manufacture.

ff abbr. [MUSIC] fortissimo.

ff. abbr.

- folios.

- following pages.

Fg Off abbr. (in the UK) Flying Officer.

f-hole n. either of a pair of soundholes resembling an and a reversed in shape, cut in the front of musical instruments of the violin family, and some other stringed instruments such as semi-acoustic electric guitars or mandolins.

FHSA abbr. (in the UK) Family Health Services Authority, a body responsible for running general health services, such as those provided by general practitioners, dentists, and opticians, for a particular area.

FIA the international governing body for motor-racing events.

<ORIGIN> acronym from French Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.

fiacre /fαkrə -kə/ n. HISTORICAL a small four-wheeled carriage for public hire.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, named after the Hôtel de St Fiacre in Paris, where such vehicles were first hired out.

fiancé /fnse -αns- -s-/ n. a man to whom a woman is engaged to be married.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, past participle of fiancer ‘betroth’, from Old French fiance ‘a promise’, based on Latin fidere ‘to trust’.

fiancée /fnse -αns- -s-/ n. a woman to whom a man is engaged to be married.

fianchetto /fəntεtə -kεtə/ [CHESS] n. (pl. fianchettoes) the development of a bishop by moving it one square to a long diagonal of the board.

■ v. (fianchettoes, fianchettoing, fianchettoed) [with obj.] develop (a bishop) in such a way.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian, diminutive of fianco ‘flank’, ultimately of Germanic origin.

Fianna Fáil /fanə fl/ Irish /fiənə fal/ one of the two main political parties of the Republic of Ireland. Larger and traditionally more republican than its rival Fine Gael, it was formed in 1926 in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 by Eamon de Valera together with some of the moderate members of Sinn Fein.

<ORIGIN> Irish, from fianna ‘band of warriors’ (applied to the soldiers of Finn MacCool; compare with FENIAN) and Fáil, genitive of Fál, an ancient name for Ireland. The phrase Fianna Fáil was used in 15th-cent. poetry in the neutral sense ‘people of Ireland’, but the founders of the political party interpreted it to mean ‘soldiers of destiny’.

fiasco /faskə/ n. (pl. fiascos) a complete failure, especially a ludicrous or humiliating one: his plans turned into a fiasco.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian, literally ‘bottle, flask’, in the phrase far fiasco, literally ‘make a bottle’, figuratively ‘fail in a performance’: the reason for the figurative sense is unexplained.

fiat /fiat fat/ n. a formal authorization or proposition; a decree: the reforms left most prices fixed by government fiat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘let it be done’, from fieri ‘be done or made’.

fiat money n. [mass noun] inconvertible paper money made legal tender by a government decree.

fib n. a lie, typically an unimportant one: why did you tell him such a dreadful fib?

■ v. (fibs, fibbing, fibbed) [no obj.] tell a fib.

<DERIVATIVES> fibber n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps a shortening of obsolete fible-fable ‘nonsense’, reduplication of FABLE.

Fibonacci /fbənαti/ Leonardo (c.1170–c.1250), Italian mathematician; known as Fibonacci of Pisa. Fibonacci popularized the use of the ‘new’ Arabic numerals in Europe. He made many original contributions in complex calculations, algebra, and geometry, and pioneered number theory and indeterminate analysis, discovering the Fibonacci series.

Fibonacci series n. [MATHEMATICS] a series of numbers in which each number (Fibonacci number) is the sum of the two preceding numbers. The simplest is the series 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc.

fibre (US fiber) n. 1 a thread or filament from which a vegetable tissue, mineral substance, or textile is formed: the basket comes lined with natural coco fibres.

- a substance formed of fibres: ordinary synthetics don't breathe as well as natural fibres | [mass noun] high strength carbon fibre.

- a thread-like structure forming part of the muscular, nervous, connective, or other tissue in the human or animal body: there were degenerative changes in muscle fibres | FIGURATIVE she wanted him with every fibre of her being.

- (also moral fibre) [mass noun] strength of character: a weak person with no moral fibre.

2 [mass noun] dietary material containing substances such as cellulose, lignin, and pectin, that are resistant to the action of digestive enzymes.

<DERIVATIVES> fibred adj. [in combination] long-fibred wools fibreless adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘lobe of the liver’, (plural) ‘entrails’): via French from Latin fibra ‘fibre, filament, entrails’.

fibreboard (US fiberboard) n. [mass noun] a building material made of wood or other plant fibres compressed into boards.

fibrefill n. [mass noun] synthetic material used for padding and insulation in garments and soft furnishings such as cushions and duvets.

fibreglass (US fiberglass) n. [mass noun] 1 a reinforced plastic material composed of glass fibres embedded in a resin matrix.

2 a textile fabric made from woven glass filaments.

fibre optics plural n. [treated as sing.] the use of thin flexible fibres of glass or other transparent solids to transmit light signals, chiefly for telecommunications or for internal inspection of the body.

- [treated as plural] the fibres and associated devices so used.

<DERIVATIVES> fibre-optic adj.

fibrescope (US fiberscope) n. a fibre-optic device for viewing inaccessible internal structures, especially in the human body.

fibre tip n. a pen with a writing point made of tightly packed fibres which hold the ink.

fibril /fbrl/ n. TECHNICAL a small or slender fibre: each muscle fibre is subdivided into smaller fibrils.

<DERIVATIVES> fibrillar adj. fibrillary adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin fibrilla, diminutive of Latin fibra (see FIBRE).

fibrillate /fbrlet fb-/ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a muscle, especially in the heart) make a quivering movement due to uncoordinated contraction of the individual fibrils.

2 (of a fibre) split up into fibrils.

- [with obj.] break (a fibre) into fibrils.

<DERIVATIVES> fibrillation n.

fibrin /fbrn fb-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an insoluble protein formed from fibrinogen during the clotting of blood. It forms a fibrous mesh that impedes the flow of blood.

<DERIVATIVES> fibrinoid adj. fibrinous adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from FIBRE + -IN^1.

fibrinogen /fbrnəd(ə)n f-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a soluble protein present in blood plasma, from which fibrin is produced by the action of the enzyme thrombin.

fibrinolysis /fbrnlss fb-/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the enzymatic breakdown of the fibrin in blood clots.

<DERIVATIVES> fibrinolytic adj.

fibro /fbrə/ n. (pl. fibros) [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN a mixture of sand, cement, and cellulose fibre, used in sheets for building.

- [count noun] a house constructed mainly of such sheets.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: abbreviation of fibro-cement.

fibro- /fbrə/ combining form relating to or characterized by fibres: fibroblast | fibroma.

<ORIGIN> from Latin fibra ‘fibre’.

fibroadenoma /fbrəadnəmə/ n. (pl. fibroadenomas or fibroadenomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a tumour formed of mixed fibrous and glandular tissue, typically occurring as a benign growth in the breast.

fibroblast /fbrə()blast/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a cell in connective tissue which produces collagen and other fibres.

fibrocystic /fbrə()sstk/ adj. MEDICINE (of a disease) characterized by the development of fibrous tissue and cystic spaces, typically in the pancreas or the breast.

fibroid /fbrd/ adj. of or characterized by fibres or fibrous tissue.

■ n. MEDICINE a benign tumour of muscular and fibrous tissues, typically developing in the wall of the womb.

fibroin /fbrən/ n. [mass noun] a protein which is the chief constituent of silk.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from FIBRO- + -IN^1.

fibrolite /fbrə()lt/ n. another term for SILLIMANITE.

fibroma /fbrəmə/ n. (pl. fibromas or fibromata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a benign fibrous tumour of connective tissue.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin fibra (see FIBRE) + -OMA.

fibromyalgia /fbrəmaldə/ n. [mass noun] a rheumatic condition characterized by muscular or musculoskeletal pain with stiffness and localized tenderness at specific points on the body.

fibrosarcoma /fbrəsαkəmə/ n. (pl. fibrosarcomas or fibrosarcomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a sarcoma in which the predominant cell type is a malignant fibroblast.

<DERIVATIVES> fibrosarcomatous adj.

fibrosis /fbrəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the thickening and scarring of connective tissue, usually as a result of injury.

<DERIVATIVES> fibrotic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin fibra (see FIBRE) + -OSIS.

fibrositis /fbrəsts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of fibrous connective tissue, typically affecting the back and causing stiffness and pain.

<DERIVATIVES> fibrositic adj.

fibrous adj. consisting of or characterized by fibres: a good fibrous root system.

<DERIVATIVES> fibrously adv. fibrousness n.

fibula /fbjlə/ n. (pl. fibulae /-li/ or fibulas) 1 [ANATOMY] the outer and usually smaller of the two bones between the knee and the ankle (or the equivalent joints in other terrestrial vertebrates), parallel with the tibia.

2 [ARCHAEOLOGY] a brooch or clasp.

<DERIVATIVES> fibular adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin, ‘brooch’, perhaps related to figere ‘to fix’. The bone is so named because the shape it makes with the tibia resembles a clasp, the fibula being the pin.

-fic (usually as -ific) suffix (forming adjectives) producing; making: prolific | soporific.

<DERIVATIVES> -fically suffix forming corresponding adverbs.

<ORIGIN> from French -fique or Latin -ficus from facere ‘do, make’.

-fication (usually as -ification) suffix forming nouns of action from verbs ending in -fy (such as simplification from simplify).

<ORIGIN> from French, or from Latin -fication- (from verbs ending in -ficare).

fiche n. short for MICROFICHE.

Fichte /fxtə/ German /fçtə/ Johann Gottlieb (1762–1814), German philosopher. A pupil of Kant, he postulated that the ego is the basic reality and that the world outside it is posited by the ego in defining and delimiting itself. His political addresses had some influence on the development of German nationalism and the overthrow of Napoleon.

fichu /fiu/ n. a small triangular shawl, worn round a woman's shoulders and neck.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from ficher ‘to fix, pin’.

fickle adj. changing frequently, especially as regards one's loyalties or affections: celebs trying to appeal to an increasingly fickle public.

<DERIVATIVES> fickly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English ficol ‘deceitful’, of Germanic origin.

fickleness n. [mass noun] changeability, especially as regards one's loyalties or affections: the fickleness of youth.

fictile /fktl -tl/ adj. TECHNICAL made of earth or clay by a potter.

- relating to pottery or its manufacture.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin fictilis, from fict- ‘formed, contrived’, from the verb fingere.

fiction n. 1 [mass noun] literature in the form of prose, especially novels, that describes imaginary events and people.

2 something that is invented or untrue: they were supposed to be keeping up the fiction that they were happily married.

- a belief or statement which is false, but is often held to be true because it is expedient to do so: the notion of the country being a democracy is a polite fiction.

<DERIVATIVES> fictionist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘invented statement’): via Old French from Latin fictio(n-), from fingere ‘form, contrive’. Compare with FEIGN and FIGMENT.

fictional adj. relating to fiction; invented for the purposes of fiction: fictional texts | a fictional character.

<DERIVATIVES> fictionality n. fictionalization n. fictionalize (also fictionalise) v. fictionally adv.

fictitious /fktəs/ adj. 1 not real or true; imaginary or fabricated: reports of a deal were dismissed as fictitious by the Minister.

2 relating to or denoting the imaginary characters and events found in fiction.

<DERIVATIVES> fictitiously adv. fictitiousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin ficticius (from fingere ‘contrive, form’) + -OUS (see also -itious^2).

fictive adj. created by the imagination: the novel's fictive universe.

- relating to the writing of fiction: the obviously fictive genres, poetry, drama and the novel.

<DERIVATIVES> fictiveness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (but rare before the 19th century): from French fictif, -ive or medieval Latin fictivus, from Latin fingere ‘contrive, form’.

ficus /fikəs fkəs/ n. (pl. same) a tree, shrub, or climber of a large genus that includes the figs and the rubber plant, growing in tropical and warm climates.

<INFO> Genus Ficus, family Moraceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, ‘fig, fig tree’.

fid n. [NAUTICAL] 1 a square wooden or iron bar which takes the weight of a topmast stepped to a lower mast by being passed through holes in both masts.

2 a conical pin or spike used in splicing rope.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin.

fidayeen plural n. variant of FEDAYEEN.

Fid. Def. abbr. Fidei Defensor. See DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.

fiddle n. 1 INFORMAL a violin.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH an act of defrauding, cheating, or falsifying: a major mortgage fiddle.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL a small task that seems awkward and unnecessarily complex: inserting a tape is a bit of a fiddle.

4 [NAUTICAL] a ledge or raised rim that prevents things from rolling or sliding off a table in rough seas.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] touch or fidget with something in a restless or nervous way: Lena fiddled with her cup.

- tinker with something in an attempt to make minor adjustments or improvements: he fiddled with the blind, trying to prevent the sun from shining in her eyes.

- (fiddle around) pass time aimlessly, without doing or achieving anything of substance.

2 [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH falsify (figures, data, or records), typically in order to gain money: everyone is fiddling their expenses.

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL play the violin.

<PHRASES>

□ fiddle while Rome burns be concerned with relatively trivial matters while ignoring the serious or disastrous events going on around one.

□ (as) fit as a fiddle in very good health.

□ on the fiddle INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH engaged in cheating or swindling.

□ play second fiddle have a subordinate role to someone or something; be treated as less important than someone or something: he resented playing second fiddle to his younger brother.

<ORIGIN> Old English fithele, denoting a violin or similar instrument (originally not an informal or depreciatory term), related to Dutch vedel and German Fiedel, based on Latin vitulari ‘celebrate a festival, be joyful’, perhaps from Vitula, the name of a Roman goddess of joy and victory. Compare with VIOL.

fiddle-back n. 1 [usually as modifier] a thing shaped like the back of a violin, with the sides deeply curved inwards, especially the back of a chair or the front of a chasuble.

2 (fiddleback) [mass noun] a rippled effect in the grain of fine wood, often exploited when making the backs of violins: [as modifier] fiddleback mahogany.

fiddle-de-dee n. [mass noun] [often as exclamation] DATED nonsense.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from FIDDLE + a reduplication without meaning.

fiddle-faddle n. [mass noun] trivial matters; nonsense.

■ v. [no obj.] mess about; fuss.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: reduplication of FIDDLE.

fiddlehead n. 1 (also fiddlehead fern or fiddlehead green) NORTH AMERICAN the young, curled, edible frond of certain ferns.

2 a scroll-like carving at a ship's bows.

fiddle pattern n. [mass noun] a design of spoons and forks, with handles shaped like the body of a violin.

fiddler n. 1 INFORMAL a person who plays the violin, especially one who plays folk music.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a person who cheats or swindles, especially one indulging in petty theft.

<ORIGIN> Old English fithelere, from fithele (see FIDDLE).

fiddler crab n. a small amphibious crab, the males of which have one greatly enlarged claw which they wave in territorial display and courtship.

<INFO> Genus Uca, family Ocypodidae.

Fiddler's Green an imaginary paradise to which sailors are conveyed after death, traditionally a place of wine, women, and song.

fiddlestick INFORMAL exclam. (fiddlesticks) nonsense.

■ n. a violin bow.

fiddling adj. annoyingly trivial or petty: fiddling little details.

fiddly adj. (fiddlier, fiddliest) BRITISH INFORMAL complicated or detailed and awkward to do or use: replacing the battery is fiddly.

Fidei Defensor /fd dfεns fidei/ n. Latin term for DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

fideism /fdz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the doctrine that knowledge depends on faith or revelation.

<DERIVATIVES> fideist n. fideistic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin fides ‘faith’ + -ISM.

fidelity /fdεlti/ n. [mass noun] 1 faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support: his fidelity to liberal ideals.

- sexual faithfulness to a spouse or partner.

2 the degree of exactness with which something is copied or reproduced: the 1949 recording provides reasonable fidelity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fidelite or Latin fidelitas, from fidelis ‘faithful’, from fides ‘faith’. Compare with FEALTY.

fidelity insurance n. [mass noun] insurance taken out by an employer against losses incurred through dishonesty by employees.

fidget /fdt/ v. (fidgets, fidgeting, fidgeted) [no obj.] make small movements, especially of the hands and feet, through nervousness or impatience: the audience began to fidget and whisper.

- be impatient or uneasy: [with infinitive] he was fidgeting to get back to his shop.

■ n. a person who fidgets.

- (usually fidgets) a state of mental or physical restlessness or unease: Captain Osborne had the fidgets.

<DERIVATIVES> fidgeter n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from obsolete or dialect fidge ‘to twitch’; perhaps related to Old Norse fikja ‘move briskly, be restless or eager’.

fidget pie n. BRITISH a savoury pie containing onions, apples, bacon, and sometimes potatoes.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as fitchet-pie): perhaps from fitchet, a dialect word for ‘polecat’, because of the strong, unpleasant odour of the pie during cooking. The change in spelling of the first word was due to association with FIDGET.

fidgety adj. inclined to fidget; restless or uneasy: I get nervous and fidgety at the dentist.

<DERIVATIVES> fidgetiness n.

Fido^1 /fdə/ informal® humorous n. a generic name for a pet dog.

<ORIGIN> from Latin fidō ‘I trust’.

Fido^2 /fdə/ HISTORICAL n. a system for enabling aircraft to land, involving the dispersal of fog by means of petrol burners on the ground. It was developed by the Allies during the Second World War.

<ORIGIN> acronym from Fog Intensive Dispersal Operation.

fiducial /fdju(ə)l/ adj. TECHNICAL (especially of a point or line) assumed as a fixed basis of comparison.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin fiducialis, from fiducia ‘trust’, from fidere ‘to trust’.

fiduciary /fdju(ə)ri/ adj. 1 [LAW] involving trust, especially with regard to the relationship between a trustee and a beneficiary: the company has a fiduciary duty to shareholders.

- ARCHAIC held or given in trust: fiduciary estates.

2 [FINANCE] (of a paper currency) depending for its value on securities (as opposed to gold) or the reputation of the issuer.

■ n. (pl. fiduciaries) a trustee.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘something inspiring trust; credentials’): from Latin fiduciarius, from fiducia ‘trust’, from fidere ‘to trust’.

fidus Achates /fdəs əketiz/ n. a faithful friend or devoted follower.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘faithful Achates’ (see ACHATES).

fie /f/ exclam. ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS used to express disgust or outrage.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin fi, an exclamation of disgust at a stench.

fief /fif/ n. 1 [LAW], HISTORICAL an estate of land, especially one held on condition of feudal service; a fee.

2 a person's sphere of operation or control.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French (see FEE).

fiefdom n. 1 [LAW], HISTORICAL a fief.

2 a territory or sphere of operation controlled by a particular person or group: a mafia boss who has turned the town into his private fiefdom.

Field John (1782–1837), Irish composer and pianist. He is noted for the invention of the nocturne and for his twenty compositions in this form.

field n. 1 an area of open land, especially one planted with crops or pasture, typically bounded by hedges or fences: a wheat field | a field of corn.

- a piece of land used for a particular purpose, especially an area marked out for a game or sport: a football field.

- a large area of land or water completely covered in a particular substance, especially snow or ice.

- an area rich in a natural product, typically oil or gas.

- a place where a subject of scientific study or of artistic representation can be observed in its natural location or context.

- (usually the field) an area which is or is to become the scene of a battle or campaign.

- ARCHAIC a battle: many a bloody field was to be fought.

2 a particular branch of study or sphere of activity or interest: we talked to professionals in various fields.

- [COMPUTING] a part of a record, representing an item of data.

- [LINGUISTICS] & [PSYCHOLOGY] a general area of meaning within which individual words make particular distinctions.

3 a space or range within which objects are visible from a particular viewpoint or through a piece of apparatus. See also FIELD OF VISION.

4 (usually the field) all the participants in a contest or sport: he destroyed the rest of the field with a devastating injection of speed.

- [CRICKET] fielders collectively, or the manner in which they are spread over the pitch: he sees the ball early and strokes it through the gap in the field.

- a fielder.

5 [PHYSICS] the region in which a particular condition prevails, especially one in which a force or influence is effective regardless of the presence or absence of a material medium.

- the force exerted or potentially exerted in such an area.

6 [MATHEMATICS] a system subject to two binary operations analogous to those for the multiplication and addition of real numbers, and having similar commutative and distributive laws.

7 [HERALDRY] the surface of an escutcheon or of one of its divisions.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] chiefly [CRICKET] & [BASEBALL] attempt to catch or stop the ball and return it after it has been hit by the batsman or batter, thereby preventing runs being scored or base runners advancing.

- [with obj.] catch or stop (the ball) and return it.

2 [with obj.] send out (a team or individual) to play in a game: Leeds fielded a team of youngsters.

- (of a political party) put up (a candidate) to stand in an election: the Ecology party fielded 109 candidates.

- deploy (an army): Russia was committed to fielding 800,000 men.

3 [with obj.] deal with (a difficult question, telephone call, etc.).

■ adj. [attr.] carried out or working in the natural environment, rather than in a laboratory or office: field observations and interviews.

- (of military equipment) light and mobile for use on campaign: field artillery.

- used in names of animals or plants found in the open country, rather than among buildings or as cultivated varieties, e.g.: field mouse.

- denoting a game played outdoors on a marked field.

<PHRASES>

□ hold the field remain the most important.

□ in the field on campaign; (while) engaged in combat or manoeuvres: troops in the field.

- away from the laboratory, office, or studio; engaged in practical work in a natural environment.

□ keep the field ARCHAIC continue a military campaign.

□ lead the field be the leader in a race.

- be the best or most popular: the brand leads the field in vegetarian ready meals.

□ play the field INFORMAL indulge in a series of sexual relationships without committing oneself to anyone.

□ take the field (of a sports team) go on to a field to begin a game.

- start a military campaign.

<ORIGIN> Old English feld (also denoting a large tract of open country; compare with VELD), of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch veld and German Feld.

field bean n. a bean plant closely related to the broad bean but with smaller seeds, grown to improve soil fertility and for stockfeed.

<INFO> Vicia faba, family Leguminosae.

field book n. a book in which a surveyor writes down measurements and other technical notes taken in the field.

field boot n. a close-fitting, knee-length military boot.

field cornet n. S. African HISTORICAL 1 a civilian official invested with the rank and responsibilities of a military officer and with judicial powers enabling him to act as a local administrator and magistrate.

2 a rank in the army equivalent to that of lieutenant.

<ORIGIN> translating South African Dutch veld kornet, from veld ‘field’ + kornet, specifying a military rank.

fieldcraft n. [mass noun] the techniques involved in living, travelling, or making military or scientific observations in the field, especially while remaining undetected.

field cricket n. a European cricket that lives in a burrow in grassland and has a musical bird-like chirp.

<INFO> Gryllus campestris, family Gryllidae.

field day n. 1 [in sing.] an opportunity for action or success, especially at the expense of others: the newspapers had a field day as the case came to court.

2 [MILITARY] a review or an exercise, especially in manoeuvring.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a day devoted to athletics or other sporting events and contests.

4 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a day set aside for the display of agricultural machinery.

field-effect transistor n. [ELECTRONICS] a transistor in which most current is carried along a channel whose effective resistance can be controlled by a transverse electric field.

field emission n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the emission of electrons from the surface of a conductor under the influence of a strong electrostatic field, as a result of the tunnel effect.

fielder n. chiefly [CRICKET] & [BASEBALL] a player on the fielding team, especially one other than the bowler or pitcher.

field events plural n. athletic sports other than races, such as throwing and jumping events. Compare with TRACK EVENTS.

fieldfare n. a large migratory thrush with a grey head, breeding in northern Eurasia.

<INFO> Turdus pilaris, family Turdidae.

<ORIGIN> late Old English feldefare, perhaps from feld ‘field’ + the base of faran ‘to travel’ (see FARE).

field glasses plural n. binoculars for outdoor use.

field goal n. 1 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a goal scored by a place kick, scoring three points.

2 [BASKETBALL] a goal scored while the clock is running and the ball is in play.

field grey n. [mass noun] a dark shade of grey, the regulation colour of the uniform of a German infantryman.

field guide n. a book for the identification of animals, birds, flowers, or other things in their natural environment.

field hand n. chiefly HISTORICAL a person, especially a US slave, employed as a farm labourer.

field hospital n. a temporary hospital set up near a battlefield to provide emergency care for the wounded.

Fielding Henry (1707–54), English novelist. He provoked the introduction of censorship in theatres with his political satire The Historical Register for 1736. He then turned to writing picaresque novels, notably Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones (1749). Fielding was also responsible for the formation of the Bow Street Runners in 1749.

field mark n. a visible mark or characteristic that can be used in identifying a bird or other animal in the field.

field marshal n. the highest rank of officer in the British army.

field mouse (also long-tailed field mouse) n. another term for WOOD MOUSE.

field mushroom n. the common edible mushroom, which is widely grown commercially.

<INFO> Agaricus campestris, family Agaricaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

field mustard n. another term for CHARLOCK.

field notes plural n. notes made by a person who is engaged in fieldwork.

field officer n. 1 a person in an organization with a position of responsibility involving practical activities in a particular area or region.

2 [MILITARY] a major, lieutenant colonel, or colonel.

field of honour n. the place where a duel or battle is fought.

Field of the Cloth of Gold the scene of a meeting between Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France near Calais in 1520, for which both monarchs erected elaborate temporary palaces, including a sumptuous display of golden cloth. Little of importance was achieved, although the meeting symbolized Henry's determination to play a full part in European dynastic politics.

field of vision n. the entire area that a person or animal is able to see when their eyes are fixed in one position.

field pea n. a pea plant of a variety grown chiefly for stockfeed or as green manure.

field rank n. [mass noun] the rank attained by a military field officer.

Fields^1 Dame Gracie (1898–1979), English singer and comedienne; born Grace Stansfield. During the 1930s she enjoyed great success with English music-hall audiences, and went on to star in a series of popular films.

Fields^2 W. C. (1880–1946), American comedian; born William Claude Dukenfield. Having made his name as a comedy juggler he became a vaudeville star, appearing in the Ziegfeld Follies revues between 1915 and 1921. Notable films: The Bank Dick (1940).

fieldsman n. (pl. fieldsmen) 1 [CRICKET], BRITISH a fielder.

2 an agent or salesman working for a company.

field sports plural n. outdoor sports, especially hunting, shooting, and fishing.

fieldstone n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] stone used in its natural form: a fieldstone fireplace.

field telegraph n. HISTORICAL a movable telegraph for use on campaign.

field test n. a test carried out in the environment in which a product or device is to be used.

■ v. (field-test) [with obj.] test (a product or device) in the environment in which it is to be used.

field theory n. [PHYSICS] a theory that explains physical phenomena in terms of a field and the manner in which it interacts with matter or with other fields.

field trial n. 1 a field test.

2 a competition for gun dogs to test their levels of skill and training in retrieving or pointing.

field trip n. a trip made by students or research workers to study something at first hand.

field vole n. a vole with a dark shaggy coat and short tail, found abundantly in the grasslands of northern Eurasia. Also called SHORT-TAILED VOLE.

<INFO> Microtus arvalis, family Muridae.

field walking n. [mass noun] a technique for finding or studying archaeological sites by walking systematically across a ploughed field collecting artefacts on the surface.

fieldwork n. 1 [mass noun] practical work conducted by a researcher in the natural environment, rather than in a laboratory or office.

2 RARE a temporary fortification.

<DERIVATIVES> fieldworker n.

fiend /find/ n. 1 an evil spirit or demon.

- (the fiend) ARCHAIC the Devil.

- a very wicked or cruel person: Britain's most notorious sex fiend.

2 INFORMAL an enthusiast or devotee of a particular thing: a football fiend.

<DERIVATIVES> fiendlike adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English fēond ‘an enemy, the devil, a demon’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vijand and German Feind ‘enemy’.

fiendish adj. extremely cruel or unpleasant: fiendish methods of torture.

- INFORMAL extremely awkward or complex: a fiendish problem.

<DERIVATIVES> fiendishly adv. [as submodifier] a fiendishly clever plan fiendishness n.

fierce adj. (fiercer, fiercest) having or displaying a violent or ferocious aggressiveness: fierce fighting continued throughout the day.

- (of the weather or temperature) powerful and destructive: fierce storms lashed the country.

- showing a heartfelt and powerful intensity: his fierce loyalty | there was fierce local opposition to the plans.

- (of a mechanism) having a jolting and powerful abruptness of action: the fire door had a fierce pneumatic return.

■ adv. IRISH INFORMAL very; extremely: he was fierce proud.

<PHRASES>

□ something fierce NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL to a great and almost overwhelming extent: I missed the country something fierce.

<DERIVATIVES> fiercely adv. fierceness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fiers ‘fierce, brave, proud’, from Latin ferus ‘untamed’.

fieri facias /fər feas/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] a writ to a sheriff for executing a judgement.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘cause to be made or done’.

fiery adj. (fierier, fieriest) consisting of fire or burning strongly and brightly: the sun was a fiery ball low on the hills | FIGURATIVE fiery dollops of chilli sauce.

- having the bright colour of fire: the car was painted a fiery red.

- having a passionate and quick-tempered nature: a fiery, imaginative Aries.

- showing strong emotion, typically anger: a fiery speech.

<DERIVATIVES> fierily adv. fieriness n.

fiery cross n. a burning wooden cross carried as a symbol by the Ku Klux Klan.

- HISTORICAL a wooden cross, charred and dipped in blood, used among Scottish clans to summon men to battle.

fiesta /fεstə/ n. (in Spanish-speaking countries) a religious festival: the yearly fiesta of San Juan.

- an event marked by festivities or celebration: [in names] the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Latin festum, (plural) festa (see FEAST).

FIFA /fifə/ the international governing body of soccer, formed in 1904 and based in Zurich, Switzerland.

<ORIGIN> acronym from French Fédération Internationale de Football Association.

fi. fa. abbr. fieri facias.

Fife a council area and former county of east central Scotland; administrative centre, Glenrothes.

fife n. a kind of small shrill flute used with the drum in military bands.

■ v. [no obj.] ARCHAIC play the fife.

<DERIVATIVES> fifer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from German Pfeife ‘pipe’, or from French fifre from Swiss German Pfifer ‘piper’.

fife rail n. chiefly HISTORICAL a rail round the mainmast of a sailing ship, holding belaying pins.

- the rail on top of the bulwark at the edge of a sailing ship's poop or forecastle.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: of unknown origin.

FIFO /ffə/ abbr. first in, first out (chiefly with reference to methods of stock valuation and data storage). Compare with LIFO.

fifteen cardinal number 1 equivalent to the product of three and five; one more than fourteen, or five more than ten; 15: all fifteen bedrooms have private facilities | fifteen feet high | fifteen of Howard's troops were killed. (Roman numeral: xv or XV)

- a size of garment or other merchandise denoted by fifteen.

- fifteen years old: she must be fifteen by now.

- a team of fifteen players, especially in rugby.

- (15) BRITISH (of a film) classified as suitable for people of 15 years and over.

2 (the Fifteen) HISTORICAL the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.

<PHRASES>

□ fifteen minutes of fame (or famous for fifteen minutes) used with reference to a brief period of fame enjoyed by an ordinary person. [<ORIGIN> from a remark made by Andy Warhol in 1968, predicting that in the future, everyone would be ‘world famous for fifteen minutes’.]

<ORIGIN> Old English fīftēne, fīftīene (see FIVE, -teen).

fifteenth ordinal number 1 constituting number fifteen in a sequence; 15th: August the fifteenth | the fifteenth century | on the fifteenth floor.

- an organ stop sounding a register of pipes two octaves (fifteen notes) above the diapason.

2 each of fifteen equal parts into which something is or may be divided.

fifth ordinal number 1 constituting number five in a sequence; 5th: the fifth century BC | her mother had just given birth to another child, her fifth | the world's fifth-largest oil exporter | the fifth of November.

- the fifth finisher or position in a race or competition: he finished fifth.

- (in some vehicles) the fifth (and typically highest) in a sequence of gears.

- chiefly BRITISH the fifth form of a school or college.

- fifthly (used to introduce a fifth point or reason): fourth, it can aid the process of life review, and fifth, it is an enjoyable and stimulating experience.

- [MUSIC] an interval spanning five consecutive notes in a diatonic scale, in particular (also perfect fifth) an interval of three tones and a semitone (e.g. C to G): strings tuned a fifth apart.

- [MUSIC] the note which is higher by such an interval than the root of a diatonic scale.

- US INFORMAL a fifth of a gallon, as a measure of alcoholic liquor, or a bottle of this capacity: a fifth of whisky.

2 each of five equal parts into which something is or may be divided.

<PHRASES>

□ take the fifth (in the US) exercise the right guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of refusing to answer questions in order to avoid incriminating oneself.

<DERIVATIVES> fifthly adv.

fifth column n. a group within a country at war who are sympathetic to or working for its enemies.

<DERIVATIVES> fifth columnist n.

<ORIGIN> The term dates from the Spanish Civil War, when General Mola, leading four columns of troops towards Madrid, declared that he had a fifth column inside the city.

fifth-generation adj. denoting a proposed new class of computer or programming language employing artificial intelligence.

Fifth-monarchy-man n. HISTORICAL a member of a 17th-century sect expecting the immediate Second Coming of Christ and repudiating all other government.

<ORIGIN> from Fifth Monarchy, denoting the last of the five great empires prophesied by Daniel (Dan. 2:44).

fifth position n. 1 [BALLET] a posture in which the feet are placed turned outwards, one immediately in front of but touching the other so that the toe of the back foot just protrudes beyond the heel of the front foot.

- a position of the arms in which they are held curved in front of the body, at hip level, waist level, or above the head, with the palms facing the body.

2 [MUSIC] a position of the left hand on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument nearer to the bridge than the fourth position, enabling a higher set of notes to be played.

Fifth Republic the republican regime established in France with de Gaulle's introduction of a new constitution in 1958.

fifth wheel n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 an extra wheel for a four-wheeled vehicle.

- INFORMAL a superfluous person or thing.

2 a coupling between a vehicle used for towing and a trailer.

- (also fifth-wheel trailer) a trailer with accommodation for camping out.

3 HISTORICAL a horizontal turntable over the front axle of a carriage as an extra support to prevent its tipping.

fifty cardinal number (pl. fifties) the number equivalent to the product of five and ten; half of one hundred; 50: only fifty per cent of the aircraft were serviceable | about fifty of us filed in | a fifty-pound salmon. (Roman numeral: l or L)

- (fifties) the numbers from 50 to 59, especially the years of a century or of a person's life: Elvis is the icon of the Fifties.

- fifty years old: she looked about fifty.

- fifty miles an hour: I was doing about fifty.

- a size of garment or other merchandise denoted by fifty.

- a fifty-pound note or fifty-dollar bill.

<DERIVATIVES> fiftieth ordinal number fiftyfold adj. & adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English fīftig (see FIVE, -ty^2).

fifty-fifty adj. the same in share or proportion; equal: fifty-fifty partners.

- used to refer to one of two possibilities that are equally likely to happen: he has a fifty-fifty chance of surviving the operation.

■ adv. in two amounts or parts that are the same in size; equally: they divided the spoil fifty-fifty.

fifty-year rule n. BRITISH HISTORICAL a rule that public records may be open to inspection after a lapse of fifty years. Superseded in the UK in 1968 by the thirty-year rule.

fig^1 n. 1 a soft pear-shaped fruit with sweet dark flesh and many small seeds, eaten fresh or dried.

2 (also fig tree) the deciduous Old World tree or shrub which bears figs.

<INFO> Ficus carica, family Moraceae.

- used in names of other plants of this genus, e.g. strangling fig, weeping fig.

<PHRASES>

□ not GIVE (or CARE) a fig not have the slightest concern about: Elaine didn't give a fig for Joe's comfort or his state of mind.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French figue, from Provençal fig(u)a, based on Latin ficus.

fig^2 INFORMAL n. (in phrase full fig) smart clothes, especially those appropriate to a particular occasion or profession: a soldier walking up the street in full fig.

■ v. (figs, figging, figged) [with obj.] ARCHAIC dress up (someone) to look smart: he was figged out as fine as fivepence, with white trousers and rings and chains.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as a verb): variant of obsolete feague ‘liven up’ (earlier ‘whip’); perhaps related to German fegen ‘sweep, thrash’; compare with fake^1. An early sense of the verb was ‘fill the head with nonsense’; later (early 19th century) ‘cause (a horse) to be lively and carry its tail well (by applying ginger to its anus)’; hence ‘smarten up’.

fig. abbr. figure: see fig.34.

figbird n. a gregarious fruit-eating Australasian bird of the oriole family, the male of which has a green back and a yellow or green breast.

<INFO> Sphecotheres viridis, family Oriolidae; formerly treated as several species.

fight v. (past and past participle fought) 1 [no obj.] take part in a violent struggle involving the exchange of physical blows or the use of weapons: the men were fighting | protesters fought with police | Cameron fought back as hard as he could.

- engage in a war or battle: those who had fought for King and country | [with obj.] the country is still fighting a civil war.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC command, manage, or manoeuvre (troops, a ship, or military equipment) in battle: General Hill fights his troops well.

- quarrel or argue: they were fighting over who pays the bill.

- (fight someone/thing off) defend oneself against an attack by someone or something: Candice fought her assailant off | FIGURATIVE well-fed people are better able to fight off infectious disease.

- [with obj.] take part in a boxing match against (an opponent): McCracken will fight Sheffield's Martin Smith.

2 [with obj.] struggle to overcome, eliminate, or prevent: a churchman who has dedicated his life to fighting racism | the company intends to fight the decision.

- [no obj.] strive to achieve or do something: I will fight for a fairer society | for several days, doctors fought to save his life.

- endeavour vigorously to win (an election or other contest).

- attempt to repress (a feeling or its expression): she had to fight back tears of frustration.

- (fight one's way) move forward with difficulty, especially by pushing through a crowd: she watched him fight his way across the room.

■ n. a violent confrontation or struggle: he'd got into a fight with some bouncers outside a club.

- a boxing match.

- a battle or war: Britain might have given up her fight against Germany.

- a vigorous struggle or campaign for or against something: their fight for control of the company | a long fight against cancer.

- an argument or quarrel: he'd had another fight with Katie.

- [mass noun] the inclination or ability to fight or struggle: Ginny felt the fight trickle out of her.

<PHRASES>

□ fight fire with fire use the weapons or tactics of one's enemy or opponent, even if one finds them distasteful.

□ fight a losing battle be fated to fail in one's efforts: the police are fighting a losing battle against a rising tide of crime.

□ fight shy of be unwilling to undertake or become involved with: MacMillan has never fought shy of controversy.

□ make a fight of it put up a spirited show of resistance in a fight or contest.

□ fight or flight the instinctive physiological response to a threatening situation, which readies one either to resist forcibly or to run away.

□ put up a fight offer resistance to an attack.

<ORIGIN> Old English feohtan (verb), feoht(e), gefeoht (noun), of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vechten, gevecht and German fechten, Gefecht.

fightback n. BRITISH a great effort to gain a position of strength made by a person or group who seem likely to lose a contest: a storming second-half fightback from Chelsea.

fighter n. 1 a person or animal that fights.

- a person who does not easily admit defeat in spite of difficulties or opposition: there'll be months of physiotherapy but medical staff say she's a fighter.

2 a fast military aircraft designed for attacking other aircraft: [as modifier] fighter pilots.

fighter-bomber n. an aircraft serving as both a fighter and bomber.

fighting n. [mass noun] the action of fighting; violence or conflict: terrible fighting broke out in the streets.

■ adj. displaying or engaging in violence, combat, or aggression: he was a fighting man | he put up his fists and took a fighting stance.

fighting chair n. NORTH AMERICAN a fixed chair on a boat used by a person trying to catch large fish.

fighting chance n. a possibility of success if great effort is made: they still have a fighting chance of clinching the title.

fighting fish (also Siamese fighting fish) n. a small labyrinth fish native to Thailand, the males of which fight vigorously. It has been bred in a variety of colours for aquaria.

<INFO> Betta splendens, family Belontiidae.

fighting fit adj. in excellent health: Mary had responded to treatment and seemed fighting fit.

fighting fund n. BRITISH money raised to finance a campaign, especially one supporting a political or social cause.

fighting top n. HISTORICAL a platform high on a warship's mast on which guns or marksmen can be stationed.

fighting words plural n. (also fighting talk) INFORMAL 1 words indicating a willingness to fight or challenge a person or thing.

2 US insulting or provocative words, especially of an ethnic, racial, or sexist nature, considered unacceptable or illegal by certain institutions and afforded less protection than free speech.

fig leaf n. a leaf of a fig tree, often used for concealing the genitals in paintings and sculpture.

- FIGURATIVE a thing intended to conceal a difficulty or embarrassment: the amendment was just a fig leaf intended to cover the cracks in the party.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: with reference to the story of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:7).

figment /fm(ə)nt/ n. a thing that someone believes to be real but that exists only in their imagination: it really was Ross and not a figment of her overheated imagination.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an invented statement or story): from Latin figmentum, related to fingere ‘form, contrive’. Compare with FEIGN and FICTION. The current sense dates from the early 17th cent.

fig parrot n. a very small short-tailed Australasian parrot, with mainly green plumage and a coloured head, feeding on soft fruit. Also called LORILET.

<INFO> Genera Opopsitta and Psittaculirostris, family Psittacidae: five species.

figura /fjərə/ n. (pl. figurae /-ri/) (in literary theory) a person or thing representing or symbolizing a fact or ideal.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘figure’ (representing an early use of figure to denote an emblem or type).

figural /fjr(ə)l/ adj.

■ another term for FIGURATIVE.

- (in postmodernist writing) relating to or denoting a form of signification which relies on imagery and association rather than on rational and linguistic concepts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin figuralis, from figura ‘form, shape’ (see FIGURE).

figurant /fjr(ə)nt/ n. (fem. figurante /fjrt/) a supernumerary actor who has little or nothing to say.

<ORIGIN> French, present participle of figurer ‘to figure’.

figuration /fəre(ə)n -j-/ n. [mass noun] 1 ornamentation by means of figures or designs.

- [MUSIC] the use of florid counterpoint.

2 allegorical representation: the figuration of ‘The Possessed’ is much more complex.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘outline’ and ‘making of arithmetical figures’): from Latin figuratio(n-), from figurare ‘to form or fashion’, from figura (see FIGURE).

figurative adj. 1 departing from a literal use of words; metaphorical: a figurative expression.

2 (of an artist or work of art) representing forms that are recognizably derived from life.

<DERIVATIVES> figuratively adv. figurativeness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from late Latin figurativus, from figurare ‘to form or fashion’, from figura (see FIGURE).

figure /fə/ n. 1 a number, especially one which forms part of official statistics or relates to the financial performance of a company: the trade figures | by 1998, this figure had risen to 14 million.

- a numerical symbol, especially any of the ten in Arabic notation: the figure 7.

- one of a specified number of digits making up a larger number, used to give a rough idea of the order of magnitude: [in combination] a six-figure sum of money.

- an amount of money: a figure of two thousand pounds.

- (figures) arithmetical calculations: she has no head for figures.

2 a person's bodily shape, especially that of a woman and when considered to be attractive: she had always been so proud of her figure.

- a person seen indistinctly or from a distance: a dark figure emerged from the shadows.

- a person of a particular kind, especially one who is important or distinctive in some way: Williams became something of a cult figure.

- a representation of a human or animal form in drawing or sculpture: starkly painted figures.

3 a shape which is defined by one or more lines in two dimensions (such as a circle or a triangle), or one or more surfaces in three dimensions (such as a sphere or a cuboid), either considered mathematically in geometry or used as a decorative design: a red ground with white and blue geometrical figures.

- a diagram or illustrative drawing, especially in a book or magazine: figure 1 shows an ignition circuit.

- (in skating) a movement or series of movements following a prescribed pattern and often beginning and ending at the same point.

- a pattern formed by the movements of a group of people, for example in country dancing, as part of a longer dance or display.

- ARCHAIC the external form or shape of something.

4 [MUSIC] a short succession of notes producing a single impression; a brief melodic or rhythmic formula out of which longer passages are developed.

5 [LOGIC] the form of a syllogism, classified according to the position of the middle term.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 have a significant part or role in a situation or process: the issue of nuclear policy figured prominently in the talks | human rights do not figure high on their agenda.

2 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN calculate or work out (an amount or value) arithmetically: my accountant figured my tax wrong.

3 [with clause] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN think, consider, or expect to be the case: I figured that I didn't have much of a chance | [with obj.] for years, teachers had figured him for a dullard.

- (of a recent event or newly discovered fact) be perfectly understandable and only to be expected: well, she supposed that figured.

4 [with obj.] represent in a diagram or picture.

- (usually as adj. figured) embellish (something) with a pattern: the floors were covered with figured linoleum.

<PHRASES>

□ figure of fun a person who is considered ridiculous.

□ lose (or keep) one's figure lose (or retain) a slim and attractive bodily shape.

□ put a figure on give a price or exact number for.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ figure on NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL expect (something) to happen or be the case: anyone thinking of salmon fishing should figure on paying $200 a day.

□ figure something out INFORMAL solve or discover the cause of a problem: he was trying to figure out why the camera wasn't working.

□ figure someone out reach an understanding of a person's actions, motives, or personality.

<DERIVATIVES> figureless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘distinctive shape of a person or thing’, ‘representation of something material or immaterial’, and ‘numerical symbol’, among others): from Old French figure (noun), figurer (verb), from Latin figura ‘shape, figure, form’; related to fingere ‘form, contrive’.

figured bass n. [MUSIC] a bass line with the intended harmonies indicated by figures rather than written out as chords, typical of continuo parts in baroque music.

figure-ground adj. [attr.] [PSYCHOLOGY] & [ART] relating to or denoting the perception of images by the distinction of objects from a background from which they appear to stand out, especially in contexts where this distinction is ambiguous.

figurehead n. 1 a carving, typically a bust or a full-length figure, set at the prow of an old-fashioned sailing ship.

2 a nominal leader or head without real power.

figure-hugging adj. (of a garment) fitting closely to the contours of a woman's body: a low-cut, figure-hugging dress.

figure of eight (North American figure eight) n. an object or movement having the shape of the number eight.

figure of merit n. a numerical expression taken as representing the performance or efficiency of a given device, material, or procedure.

figure of speech n. a word or phrase used in a non-literal sense for rhetorical or vivid effect.

figure skating n. [mass noun] the sport of skating in prescribed patterns from a stationary position.

<DERIVATIVES> figure skater n.

figurine /fərin -j-/ n. a statuette, especially one of a human form.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Italian figurina, diminutive of figura, from Latin figura (see FIGURE).

fig wasp n. a minute Old World wasp which lays its eggs inside the flower of the wild fig. It was introduced into the New World to effect cross-fertilization of the cultivated fig.

<INFO> Blastophaga psenes, family Agaonidae, superfamily Chalcidoidea.

figwort n. a widely distributed herbaceous plant with purplish-brown two-lobed flowers. It was formerly considered to be effective in the treatment of scrofula.

<INFO> Genus Scrophularia, family Scrophulariaceae (the figwort family): several species. Plants of this family have distinctive two-lobed flowers and include the snapdragons, toadflaxes, foxgloves, mulleins, monkey flowers, and speedwells.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from obsolete fig ‘piles’ + WORT. The word originally denoted the pilewort or lesser celandine, which was used as a treatment for piles; the current sense dates from the late 16th cent.

Fiji /fidi/ a country in the South Pacific consisting of a group of some 840 islands, of which about a hundred are inhabited; pop. 856,436 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), Fijian, Hindi; capital, Suva.

First visited by Abel Tasman in 1643, the Fiji Islands became a British Crown Colony in 1874 and an independent Commonwealth state in 1970. In 1987, following a coup, Fiji became a republic and withdrew from the Commonwealth, rejoining in 1997.

Fijian /fidiən/ adj. relating to Fiji, its people, or their language.

■ n. 1 a native or national of Fiji, or a person of Fijian descent.

2 [mass noun] the Austronesian language of the indigenous people of Fiji.

filament /fləm(ə)nt/ n. 1 a slender thread-like object or fibre, especially one found in animal or plant structures: each myosin filament is usually surrounded by 12 actin filaments.

- [BOTANY] the slender part of a stamen that supports the anther.

- [ASTRONOMY] a narrow streamer from the sun's chromosphere or in its corona.

2 a conducting wire or thread with a high melting point, forming part of an electric bulb or thermionic valve and heated or made incandescent by an electric current.

<DERIVATIVES> filamentary adj. filamented adj. filamentous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from modern Latin filamentum, from late Latin filare ‘to spin’, from Latin filum ‘thread’.

filaria /flεrə/ n. (pl. filariae /-ri/) a thread-like parasitic nematode worm which is transmitted by biting flies and mosquitoes, causing filariasis and related diseases.

<INFO> Superfamily Filarioidea, class Phasmida.

<DERIVATIVES> filarial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Filaria (former genus name), from Latin filum ‘thread’.

filariasis /flεress flərəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a tropical disease caused by the presence of filarial worms, especially in the lymph vessels where heavy infestation can result in elephantiasis.

filature /flətə -tjə/ n. a place where silk is obtained from silkworm cocoons.

- [mass noun] the process of obtaining silk from the cocoons of silkworms.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from Italian filatura, from filare ‘to spin’.

filbert n. 1 a cultivated hazel tree that bears edible oval nuts.

<INFO> Genus Corylus, family Betulaceae: several species, in particular the Kentish cob (Corylus maxima).

- the nut of the filbert tree. Also called COB^1.

2 (also filbert brush) a brush with bristles forming a flattened oval head, used in oil painting.

<ORIGIN> Middle English fylberd, from Anglo-Norman French philbert, dialect French noix de filbert (so named because it is ripe about 20 August, the feast day of St Philibert).

filch /flt/ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL pilfer or steal (something, especially an item of small value) in a casual way: they filched milk off morning doorsteps.

<DERIVATIVES> filcher n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

file^1 n. 1 a folder or box for holding loose papers together and in order for easy reference: a file of correspondence.

- a collection of information about a particular person or thing: MI5 were keeping a file on him.

- [COMPUTING] a collection of data, programs, etc. stored in a computer's memory or on a storage device under a single identifying name: you can save the file to your hard disk.

2 CANADIAN a number of issues and responsibilities relating to a particular policy area: what progress has the Prime Minister made on the unity file?

■ v. [with obj.] place (a document) in a cabinet, box, or folder in a particular order: the contract, when signed, is filed | FIGURATIVE he still had the moment filed away in his memory.

- submit (a legal document, application, or charge) to be placed on record by the appropriate authority: criminal charges were filed against the firm | [no obj.] the company had filed for bankruptcy.

- (of a reporter) send (a story) to a newspaper or news organization.

<PHRASES>

□ on file in a file or filing system.

<DERIVATIVES> filer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb meaning ‘string documents on a thread or wire to keep them in order’): from French filer ‘to string’, fil ‘a thread’, both from Latin filum ‘a thread’. Compare with file^2.

file^2 n. a line of people or things one behind another: files of tourists stream up the narrow lanes of Mont St Michel.

- [MILITARY] a small detachment of troops: a file of English soldiers had ridden out from Perth.

- [CHESS] each of the eight rows of eight squares on a chessboard running away from the player towards the opponent. Compare with rank^1 (sense 2 of the noun).

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a group of people) walk one behind the other, typically in an orderly and solemn manner: the mourners filed into the church.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French file, from filer ‘to string’.

file^3 n. a tool with a roughened surface or surfaces, typically of steel, used for smoothing or shaping a hard material.

■ v. [with obj.] smooth or shape with a file: never file your nails from the centre to the sides.

- (file something away/off) remove something by grinding it off with a file.

<DERIVATIVES> filer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fīl, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vijl and German Feile.

filé /file/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN pounded or powdered sassafras leaves used to flavour and thicken soup, especially gumbo.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, past participle of filer ‘to twist’.

file cabinet n. North American another term for FILING CABINET.

filefish n. (pl. same or filefishes) a fish with a dorsal spine and rough scales, related to the triggerfishes and occurring in tropical and sometimes temperate seas.

<INFO> Numerous genera and species, family Balistidae (or Monacanthidae).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from FILE^3 (because of its rough skin, suggesting the surface of a file).

filename n. an identifying name given to a computer file.

file server n. [COMPUTING] a device which controls access to separately stored files, as part of a multi-user system.

file shell n. a free-swimming bivalve mollusc, the shell of which is typically white and has a rough, ribbed external surface.

<INFO> Family Limidae.

file snake n. 1 a widespread but rarely seen nocturnal African constricting snake which is triangular in cross section with rough scales, giving it the appearance of a three-cornered file.

<INFO> Genus Mehelya, family Colubridae; several species.

2 another term for WART SNAKE.

filet /file flt/ n. 1 French spelling of FILLET, used especially in the names of French or French-sounding dishes: filet de boeuf.

2 [mass noun] a kind of net or lace with a square mesh. [<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, ‘net’.]

filet mignon /file minj/ n. [mass noun] a small tender piece of beef from the end of the undercut.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘dainty fillet’.

filial /fləl/ adj. 1 relating to or due from a son or daughter: a display of filial affection.

2 [BIOLOGY] denoting the offspring of a cross. See also F^1 (sense 1).

<DERIVATIVES> filially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from ecclesiastical Latin filialis, from filius ‘son’, filia ‘daughter’.

filiation /fle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the fact of being the child of a particular parent or parents: relationships based on ties of filiation as opposed to marriage.

- the fact of being descended or derived from something: the filiation of many of his ideas from those developed by Carpenter.

- the relation of one thing to another from which it is derived or descended in some respect: the filiation of Old Norse manuscripts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, from ecclesiastical and medieval Latin filiatio(n-), from Latin filius ‘son’, filia ‘daughter’.

filibeg /flbε/ (also philibeg) n. Scottish, chiefly HISTORICAL a kilt.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Scottish Gaelic feileadh-beag ‘little kilt’, from feileadh ‘plaid’ and beag ‘little’.

filibuster /flbstə/ n. 1 an action such as prolonged speaking which obstructs progress in a legislative assembly in a way that does not technically contravene the required procedures.

2 HISTORICAL a person engaging in unauthorized warfare against a foreign state.

■ v. [no obj.] (often as n. filibustering) act in an obstructive manner in a legislative assembly, especially by speaking at inordinate length: several measures were killed by Republican filibustering.

- [with obj.] obstruct (proposed legislation) with a filibuster.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French flibustier, first applied to pirates who pillaged the Spanish colonies in the West Indies. In the mid 19th century (via Spanish filibustero), the term denoted American adventurers who incited revolution in several Latin American states, whence sense 2 of the noun. The verb was used to describe tactics intended to sabotage US congressional proceedings, whence sense 1 of the noun.

filicide /flsd/ n. [mass noun] the killing of one's son or daughter: maternal filicide.

- [count noun] a person who kills their son or daughter.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century from Latin filius ‘son’, filia ‘daughter’ + -CIDE.

Filicopsida /flkpsdə/ plural n. [BOTANY] a class of pteridophyte plants that comprises the ferns.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Latin filix, filic- ‘fern’ + opsis ‘appearance’.

filiform /flfm/ adj. [BIOLOGY] thread-like: the antennae are filiform.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin filum ‘thread’ + -IFORM.

filigree /flri/ (also filagree) n. [mass noun] ornamental work of fine (typically gold or silver) wire formed into delicate tracery: [as modifier] filigree earrings | FIGURATIVE pine needles draped with a delicate filigree of mist.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (earlier as filigreen, filigrane): from French filigrane, from Italian filigrana (from Latin filum ‘thread’ + granum ‘seed’).

filigreed (also filagreed) adj. ornamented with or resembling filigree work: white filigreed stockings.

filing n. (usually filings) a small particle rubbed off by a file when smoothing or shaping something: iron filings.

filing cabinet n. a large piece of office furniture, typically made of metal, with deep drawers for storing documents.

Filioque /filəkwi/ the word inserted in the Western version of the Nicene Creed to assert the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son as well as from the Father, which is not admitted by the Eastern Church. It was one of the central issues in the Great Schism of 1054.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘and from the Son’.

Filipina /flpinə/ n. a female Filipino.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

Filipino /flpinə/ (also Pilipino) adj. relating to the Philippines, the Filipinos, or their language.

■ n. (pl. Filipinos) 1 a native or national of the Philippines, or a person of Filipino descent.

2 [mass noun] the national language of the Philippines, a standardized form of Tagalog.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from las Islas Filipinas ‘the Philippine Islands’.

Fílippoi /filipi/ Greek name for PHILIPPI.

fill v. 1 [with obj.] cause (a space or container) to become full or almost full: I filled up the bottle with water | the office was filled with reporters.

- block up (a cavity in a tooth) with cement, amalgam, or gold.

- [no obj.] become full: Elinor's eyes filled with tears | the dining car filled up.

- [no obj.] (fill up) fill the fuel tank of a car.

- become an overwhelming presence in; pervade: a pungent smell of garlic filled the air.

- cause (someone) to experience a strong emotion or feeling: his presence filled us with foreboding.

- [no obj.] (of a sail) curve out tautly from its supports as the wind blows into it.

- (of the wind) blow into (a sail), causing it to curve outwards.

2 appoint a person to hold (a vacant post): the board contacted him to say they had already filled the position.

- hold and perform the expected duties of (a post or role): he had filled the post in an acting capacity for some time.

- satisfy or fulfil (a want or need): community land trusts are a way to fill the pressing need for housing.

3 occupy or take up (a period of time): the next few days were filled with meetings.

4 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN be supplied with the items described in (a prescription or order).

5 (in poker) complete (a good hand) by drawing the necessary cards.

■ n. 1 (one's fill) an amount of something which is as much as one wants or can bear: we have eaten our fill | I've had my fill of surprises for one day.

2 an amount of something which will occupy all the space in a container: a fill of tobacco.

- [mass noun] material, typically loose or compacted, which fills a space, especially in building or engineering work: loose polystyrene fill.

- [mass noun] the action of filling something, especially of shading in a region of a computer graphics display.

- (in popular music) a short interjected phrase on a particular instrument.

<PHRASES>

□ fill the bill see bill^1.

□ fill one's boots INFORMAL have as much of something as one wants; do something to the full: fill your boots with spicy Szechuan food for under five bucks a plate.

□ fill someone's shoes (or boots) INFORMAL take over someone's function or duties and fulfil them satisfactorily.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ fill in act as a substitute for someone when they are unable to do their job: my producer will have to have someone standing by to fill in for me.

□ fill someone in 1 inform someone more fully of a matter: they filled me in on all the latest news from Cambridge.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED hit or punch someone: I filled in a chap and took his money.

□ fill something in 1 chiefly BRITISH add information to complete a form or other official document: simply fill in the application form and return in to your local branch.

2 complete a drawing by adding colour or shade to the spaces within an outline: incised letters, filled in with gold.

3 occupy one's spare time, typically while waiting for something else to happen: with all the shops to keep you occupied, you'll have no problem filling in a couple of hours.

□ fill out (of a person) put on weight to a noticeable extent.

□ fill something out chiefly NORTH AMERICAN add information to complete an official form or document.

- give more details about something: further research will fill out these early findings.

<ORIGIN> Old English fyllan (verb), fyllu (noun) of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vullen and German füllen (verbs), Fülle (noun), also to full^1.

fille de joie /fi də wα/ n. (pl. filles de joie) EUPHEMISTIC a prostitute.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘girl of pleasure’.

filler^1 /flə/ n. 1 [usually in combination] a thing put in a space or container to fill it: these plants are attractive gap-fillers or ground cover.

- [mass noun] a substance used for filling cracks or holes in a surface, especially before painting it: wood filler.

- [mass noun] material used to fill a cavity or increase bulk: foam filler.

- an item serving only to fill space or time in a newspaper, broadcast, or recording.

- a word or sound filling a pause in an utterance or conversation (e.g. er, well, you know).

- a linguistic unit that fills a particular slot in syntactic structure.

2 [in combination] a person or thing that fills a space or container: supermarket shelf-fillers.

3 [mass noun] US the tobacco blend used in a cigar.

filler^2 /flə/ n. (pl. same) a monetary unit of Hungary, equal to one hundredth of a forint.

<ORIGIN> from Hungarian fillér.

filler cap n. a cap closing the pipe leading to the petrol tank of a motor vehicle.

fillet n. 1 a fleshy boneless piece of meat from near the loins or the ribs of an animal: a chicken breast fillet | [mass noun] roast fillet of lamb.

- (also fillet steak) a beef steak cut from the lower part of a sirloin.

- a boned side of a fish.

2 a band or ribbon worn round the head, especially for binding the hair.

- [ARCHITECTURE] a narrow flat band separating two mouldings.

- [ARCHITECTURE] a small band between the flutes of a column.

3 a roughly triangular strip of material which rounds off an interior angle between two surfaces.

4 (in bookbinding) a plain line impressed on the cover of a book.

- a roller used to impress a fillet on the cover of a book.

■ v. (fillets, filleting, filleted) [with obj.] remove the bones from (a fish).

- cut (fish or meat) into boneless strips.

<DERIVATIVES> filleter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a band worn round the head): from Old French filet ‘thread’, based on Latin filum ‘thread’.

filling n. a quantity of soft material that fills or is used to fill something: duvets with synthetic fillings.

- a piece of metal or other material used to fill a cavity in a tooth: a gold filling.

- an edible substance placed between the layers of a sandwich, cake, or other foodstuff: a Swiss roll with a chocolate filling.

- North American another term for weft^1.

■ adj. (of food) leaving one with a pleasantly satiated feeling: the full English breakfast was delicious and also very filling.

filling station n. a petrol station.

fillip /flp/ n. 1 something which acts as a stimulus or boost to an activity: the halving of car tax would provide a fillip to sales.

2 ARCHAIC a movement made by bending the last joint of the finger against the thumb and suddenly releasing it; a flick of the finger.

- a slight smart stroke or tap inflicted with a flick of the finger.

■ v. (fillips, filliping, filliped) [with obj.] ARCHAIC propel (a small object) with a flick of the fingers.

- strike slightly and smartly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘make a fillip with the fingers’): symbolic; compare with FLICK, flip^1.

fillis /fls/ n. [mass noun] BRITISH loosely twisted string, used especially for tying up plants.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French filasse ‘tow’.

fillister /flstə/ n. a rebate for holding a sash window.

- (also fillister plane) a rebate plane.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from French feuilleret.

fill light n. a supplementary light used in photography or filming that does not change the character of the main light and is used chiefly to lighten shadows.

Fillmore Millard (1800–74), American Whig statesman, 13th President of the US 1850–3. He was an advocate of compromise on the slavery issue, but his unpopular enforcement of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act hastened the end of the Whig Party.

fill-up n. 1 an instance of filling something, especially the fuel tank of a car.

2 a piece of music used to extend the playing time of a cassette or CD to an acceptable length.

filly n. (pl. fillies) a young female horse, especially one less than four years old.

- HUMOROUS a lively girl or young woman.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Norse fylja, of Germanic origin; related to FOAL.

film n. 1 [mass noun] a thin flexible strip of plastic or other material coated with light-sensitive emulsion for exposure in a camera, used to produce photographs or motion pictures: he had already shot a whole roll of film | [count noun] a new range of films and cameras.

- material in the form of a very thin flexible sheet: clear plastic film between the layers of glass.

- [count noun] a thin layer covering a surface: she quickly wiped away the light film of sweat.

- ARCHAIC a fine thread or filament: films of silk.

2 a story or event recorded by a camera as a set of moving images and shown in a cinema or on television: a horror film | [as modifier] a film director.

- [mass noun] cinema considered as an art or industry: a critical overview of feminist writing on film.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] capture on film as part of a series of moving images; make a film of (a story, event, or book): she glowered at the television crew who were filming them.

2 [no obj.] become or appear to become covered with a thin layer of something: his eyes had filmed over.

<ORIGIN> Old English filmen ‘membrane’, of West Germanic origin; related to fell^5.

film badge n. a device containing photographic film which registers the wearer's exposure to radiation.

filmgoer n. a person who goes to the cinema, especially regularly.

<DERIVATIVES> film-going n. & adj.

filmi /flmi/ adj. INDIAN related to or characteristic of the Mumbai (Bombay) film industry: a filmi magazine.

filmic adj. relating to films or cinematography: he has reconceived the stage production in filmic terms.

film-maker n. a person who directs or produces films for the cinema or television.

<DERIVATIVES> film-making n.

film noir /flm nwα/ French /film nwaR/ n. [mass noun] a style or genre of cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace. The term was originally applied (by a group of French critics) to American thriller or detective films made in the period 1944–54 and to the work of directors such as Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, and Billy Wilder.

- [count noun] a film of this genre.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘black film’.

filmography n. (pl. filmographies) a list of films by one director or actor, or on one subject.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from FILM + -GRAPHY, on the pattern of bibliography.

filmsetting n. [mass noun] [PRINTING] the setting of material to be printed by projecting it on to photographic film from which the printing surface is prepared.

<DERIVATIVES> filmset v. filmsetter n.

filmstrip n. a series of transparencies in a strip for projection, used especially as a teaching aid.

filmy adj. (filmier, filmiest) 1 (especially of fabric) thin and translucent: filmy white voile.

2 covered with or as with a thin layer of something: her eyes were dull and filmy.

<DERIVATIVES> filmily adv. filminess n.

filmy fern n. a small fern of damp shady places, with wiry creeping stems and delicate forked fronds which are only one cell thick. They occur chiefly in tropical and subtropical regions.

<INFO> Family Hymenophyllaceae: Hymenophyllum and other genera.

filo /filə/ (also phyllo) n. [mass noun] a kind of dough that can be stretched into very thin sheets, used in layers to make both sweet and savoury pastries, especially in eastern Mediterranean cookery: [as modifier] filo pastry.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from modern Greek phullo ‘leaf’.

Filofax /flə()faks/ n. TRADEMARK a loose-leaf notebook for recording appointments, addresses, and notes.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: representing a colloquial pronunciation of file of facts.

filopodium /flə()pədəm/ n. (pl. filopodia) [BIOLOGY] a long, slender, tapering pseudopodium, as found in some protozoans and in embryonic cells.

<DERIVATIVES> filopodial adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin filium ‘thread’ + PODIUM.

filoselle /flə()sεl/ n. [mass noun] floss silk, or silk thread resembling this, used in embroidery.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Italian filosello, of uncertain ultimate origin.

filovirus /filəvrəs/ n. a filamentous RNA virus of a genus which causes severe haemorrhagic fevers in humans and primates, and which includes the Ebola and Marburg viruses.

fils^1 /fls/ n. (pl. same) a monetary unit of Iraq, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, and Yemen, equal to one hundredth of a riyal in Yemen and one thousandth of a dinar elsewhere.

<ORIGIN> from a colloquial pronunciation of Arabic fals, denoting a small copper coin.

fils^2 /fis/ French /fis/ n. used after a surname to distinguish a son from a father of the same name: Alexandre Dumas fils. Compare with père.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘son’.

filter n. 1 a porous device for removing impurities or solid particles from a liquid or gas passed through it: an oil filter.

- a filter tip: [as modifier] a cheap filter cigarette.

- a screen, plate, or layer of a substance which absorbs light or other radiation or selectively absorbs some of its components: filters can be used in photography to reduce haze.

- a device for suppressing electrical or sound waves of frequencies not required.

- [COMPUTING] a piece of software that processes data before passing it to another application, for example to reformat characters or to remove unwanted types of material.

2 BRITISH an arrangement whereby vehicles may turn left (or right) while other traffic waiting to go straight ahead or turn right (or left) is stopped by a red light: [as modifier] a filter lane.

- a traffic light signalling a filter arrangement.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] pass (a liquid, gas, light, or sound) through a device to remove unwanted material: the eye filters out ultraviolet radiation | FIGURATIVE you'll be put through to a secretary whose job it is to filter calls.

- [COMPUTING] process or treat with a filter.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move slowly in a specified direction: the players filtered out on to the pitch.

- (of light or sound) enter a place slowly or in small quantities: sunlight filtered in through the thin curtains.

- (of information) gradually become known: the news began to filter in from the hospital.

- BRITISH (of traffic) be allowed to pass to the left or right at a junction while traffic going straight ahead is halted.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a piece of felt): from French filtre, from medieval Latin filtrum ‘felt used as a filter’, of West Germanic origin and related to felt^1.

filterable (also filtrable) adj. 1 capable of passing through a filter.

2 capable of being separated out by a filter: filterable solids.

filter bed n. a tank or pond containing a layer of sand or gravel, used for filtering large quantities of liquid.

filter cake n. a deposit of insoluble material left on a filter.

filter-feeding adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of an aquatic animal) feeding by filtering out plankton or nutrients suspended in the water.

<DERIVATIVES> filter-feeder n.

filter paper n. a piece of porous paper for filtering liquids, used especially in chemical processes and coffee-making.

filter press n. a device consisting of a series of cloth filters fixed to frames, used for the large-scale filtration of liquid under pressure.

filter tip n. a filter attached to a cigarette for removing impurities from the inhaled smoke.

- a cigarette with a filter tip.

<DERIVATIVES> filter-tipped adj.

filth n. [mass noun] disgusting dirt: stagnant pools of filth.

- obscene and offensive language or printed material: some calls were vitriolic, accusing us of publishing pornography and filth.

- corrupt behaviour; decadence.

- used as a term of abuse for a person or people one greatly despises: you and all the others like you are filth.

- (as plural n. the filth) BRITISH INFORMAL, DEROGATORY the police.

<ORIGIN> Old English fȳlth ‘rotting matter, rottenness’, also ‘corruption, obscenity’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vuilte, also to FOUL.

filthy adj. (filthier, filthiest) disgustingly dirty: a filthy hospital with no sanitation.

- obscene and offensive: filthy language.

- British INFORMAL (of weather) very unpleasant: it looked like being a filthy night.

- INFORMAL angry and bad-tempered: he arrived at the meeting half an hour late and in a filthy temper.

- INFORMAL contemptible (used for emphasis): you filthy liar.

■ adv. [as submodifier] INFORMAL to an extreme extent: he has become filthy rich.

<DERIVATIVES> filthily adv. filthiness n.

filtrate /fltret/ n. a liquid which has passed through a filter.

■ v. [with obj.] RARE filter.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from modern Latin filtrat- ‘filtered’, from the verb filtrare, from medieval Latin filtrum (see FILTER).

filtration n. [mass noun] the action or process of filtering something: small particles are difficult to remove without filtration.

fimbria /fmbrə/ n. (pl. fimbriae /-i/) chiefly [ANATOMY] a series of threads or other projections resembling a fringe.

- (usually fimbriae) an individual thread in such a structure, especially a finger-like projection at the end of the Fallopian tube near the ovary.

<DERIVATIVES> fimbrial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from late Latin, ‘border, fringe’.

fimbriated /fmbretd/ (also fimbriate) adj. 1 [BIOLOGY] having a fringe or border of hair-like or finger-like projections.

2 [HERALDRY] having a narrow border, typically of a specified tincture.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2): from Latin fimbriatus (from fimbria ‘fringe’) + -ED^1.

fin n. a flattened appendage on various parts of the body of many aquatic vertebrates, including fish and cetaceans, and some invertebrates, used for propelling, steering, and balancing.

- an underwater swimmer's flipper.

- a small flattened projecting surface or attachment on an aircraft, rocket, or car, for providing aerodynamic stability.

- a flattened projection on a device, used for increasing heat transfer.

■ v. (fins, finning, finned) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] swim under water by means of flippers: we finned along the side of the wreck.

<DERIVATIVES> finless adj. finned adj. [in combination] long-finned pike

<ORIGIN> Old English finn, fin, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vin and probably ultimately to Latin pinna ‘feather, wing’.

finagle /fne(ə)l/ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly US obtain by dishonest or devious means: Ted attended all the football games he could finagle tickets for.

- [no obj.] act in a dishonest or devious manner: they wrangled and finagled over the fine points.

<DERIVATIVES> finagler n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): from dialect fainaigue ‘cheat’; perhaps from Old French fornier ‘deny’.

final adj. coming at the end of a series: the final version of the report was presented.

- reached or designed to be reached as the outcome of a process or a series of actions and events: the final cost will easily run into six figures.

- allowing no further doubt or dispute: the decision of the judging panel is final.

■ n. 1 the last game in a sports tournament or other competition, which will decide the winner of the tournament.

- (finals) a series of games constituting the final stage of a competition: the World Cup finals.

2 (finals) BRITISH a series of examinations at the end of a degree course: she was doing her history finals.

- (final) NORTH AMERICAN an examination at the end of a term, school year, or particular class.

3 [MUSIC] the principal note in a mode.

4 (finals) the final approach of an aircraft to the runway it will be landing on.

<PHRASES>

□ the final straw see STRAW.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the adjectival sense ‘conclusive’): from Old French, or from Latin finalis, from finis ‘end’. Compare with FINISH.

final cause n. [PHILOSOPHY] the purpose or aim of an action or the end towards which a thing naturally develops.

final clause n. [GRAMMAR] a clause expressing purpose or intention (e.g. one introduced by in order that or lest).

final demand n. a creditor's last request for payment of money owed, before taking punitive measures.

final drive n. the last part of the transmission system in a motor vehicle.

finale /fnαli -le/ n. the last part of a piece of music, an entertainment, or a public event, especially when particularly dramatic or exciting: the festival ends with a grand finale.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian, from Latin finalis (see FINAL).

finalism n. [mass noun] the doctrine that natural processes, for example evolution, are directed towards some goal.

<DERIVATIVES> finalistic adj.

finalist n. 1 a competitor or team in the final or finals of a competition.

2 a student taking finals.

finality /fnalti/ n. (pl. finalities) [mass noun] the fact or impression of being final and irreversible: the abrupt finality of death.

- a tone or manner which indicates that no further comment or argument is possible: ‘No,’ she said with finality.

- [count noun] an action or event that ends something irreversibly: death is the ultimate finality.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French finalité, from late Latin finalitas, from Latin finalis (see FINAL).

finalize (also finalise) v. [with obj.] complete or agree on a finished and definitive version of: efforts intensified to finalize plans for post-war reconstruction.

<DERIVATIVES> finalization n.

finally adv. after a long time, typically when there has been difficulty or delay: he finally arrived to join us.

- as the last in a series of related events or items: a referendum followed by local, legislative and, finally, presidential elections.

- [sentence adv.] used to introduce a final point or reason: finally, it is common knowledge that travel broadens the horizons.

- in such a way as to put an end to doubt and dispute: the need to dispel finally the belief that auditors were clients of the company.

final solution n. the Nazi policy of exterminating European Jews. Introduced by Heinrich Himmler and administered by Adolf Eichmann, the policy resulted in the murder of 6 million Jews in concentration camps between 1941 and 1945.

<ORIGIN> translation of German Endlösung.

finance /fnans f- fnans/ n. [mass noun] the management of large amounts of money, especially by governments or large companies: [as modifier] the firm's finance department.

- monetary support for an enterprise: the clearing banks are important sources of finance.

- (finances) the monetary resources and affairs of a state, organization, or person: the club's finances are stretched to the limit.

■ v. [with obj.] provide funding for (a person or enterprise): the health service is financed almost entirely by the taxpayer.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from finer ‘make an end, settle a debt’, from fin ‘end’ (see fine^2). The original sense was ‘payment of a debt, compensation, or ransom’; later ‘taxation, revenue’. Current senses date from the 18th century, and reflect sense development in French.

finance company (also British finance house) n. a company concerned primarily with providing money, e.g. for hire-purchase transactions.

financial /fnan(ə)l f-/ adj. relating to finance: an independent financial adviser.

- Australian/NZ INFORMAL possessing money.

- W. INDIAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ (of a member of a club or society) paid-up.

■ n. (financials) the finances or financial situation of an organization or individual: he needs to pay serious attention to his financials, particularly cash flow.

- shares in financial companies.

<DERIVATIVES> financially adv. [as submodifier] she was financially dependent on her husband

financial intermediary n. an institution, such as a bank, building society, or unit-trust company, that holds funds from lenders in order to make loans to borrowers.

Financial Times index another term for FTSE INDEX.

financial year n. BRITISH a year as reckoned for taxing or accounting purposes, for example the British tax year, reckoned from 6 April.

financier /fnansə f-/ n. a person concerned in the management of large amounts of money on behalf of governments or other large organizations.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, from Finance (see FINANCE).

finback (also finback whale) n. another term for FIN WHALE.

finca /fkə/ n. (in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries) a country estate; a ranch.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Spanish, from fincar ‘cultivate’, perhaps from Latin figere ‘fix, fasten, plant’.

finch n. a seed-eating songbird that typically has a stout bill and colourful plumage.

<INFO> The true finches belong to the family Fringillidae (the finch family), which includes chaffinches, canaries, linnets, crossbills, etc. Many other finches belong to the bunting, waxbill, or sparrow families.

<ORIGIN> Old English finc, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vink and German Fink.

find v. (past and past participle found) [with obj.] 1 discover or perceive by chance or unexpectedly: Lindsey looked up to find Niall watching her | the remains of a headless body had been found.

- discover after a deliberate search: I can't find my keys | the sailor and his crew were found safe and well last night.

- (find oneself) discover oneself to be in a particular situation: phobia sufferers often find themselves virtual prisoners in their own home.

- succeed in obtaining (something): he's still struggling to find the money for the trip.

- summon up (a quality, especially courage) with an effort: I found the courage to speak.

- [no obj.] (of hunters or hounds) discover game, especially a fox.

2 identify (something) as being present: vitamin B12 is found in dairy products | a rare species found only in the Italian Alps.

- discover or experience to be the case: [with obj. and infinitive] the majority of staff find the magazine to be informative and useful | [with clause] she found that none of the local nursery schools had an available slot.

- ascertain by study, calculation, or inquiry: the class are encouraged to find their own solutions to problems.

- (find oneself) discover the fundamental truths about one's own character and identity.

- [with obj. and complement] experience or regard (something) in a specified way: both men found it difficult to put ideas into words.

- [LAW] (of a court) officially declare to be the case: [with obj. and complement] he was found guilty of speeding | [with clause] the court found that a police lab expert had fabricated evidence.

3 reach or arrive at by a natural or normal process: water finds its own level.

- (find one's way) reach one's destination, typically without first knowing how to get there: she'll never find her way to the house on her own.

- (of a letter) reach (someone).

■ n. a discovery of something valuable, typically something of archaeological interest: he made his most spectacular finds in the Valley of the Kings.

- a person who is discovered to be useful or interesting in some way: Ted had turned out to be a real find.

- [HUNTING] the finding of a fox.

<PHRASES>

□ all found BRITISH DATED (of an employee's wages) with board and lodging provided free.

□ find fault see FAULT.

□ find favour be liked or prove acceptable: the ballets did not find favour with the public.

□ find one's feet stand up and become able to walk.

- establish oneself in a particular field: he never really found his feet in the House of Lords.

□ find God experience a religious conversion or awakening.

□ find in favour of see find for below.

□ find it in one's heart to do something allow or force oneself to do something: Seb could not find it in his heart to dislike Plunkett.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ find against [LAW] (of a court) make a decision against or judge to be guilty.

□ FIND FOR (or find in favour of) [LAW] (of a court) make a decision in favour of, or judge to be innocent: the Court of Exchequer found for the plaintiffs.

□ find someone out detect a person's immoral or offensive actions: she would always find him out if he tried to lie.

□ find something out (or find out about something) discover a fact: he hadn't time to find out what was bothering her.

<DERIVATIVES> findable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English findan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vinden and German finden.

finder n. a person that finds someone or something.

- a small telescope attached to a large one to locate an object for observation.

- the viewfinder of a camera.

<PHRASES>

□ finders keepers (losers weepers) INFORMAL used to assert that whoever finds something by chance is entitled to keep it.

fin de siècle /fa də sjεkl(ə)/ adj. relating to or characteristic of the end of a century, especially the 19th century: fin-de-siècle art.

- decadent: there was a fin-de-siècle air in London's clubland last night.

■ n. the end of a century, especially the 19th century.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘end of century’.

finding n. 1 [mass noun] the action of finding someone or something: a local doctor reported the finding of numerous dead rats.

2 (often findings) information discovered as the result of an inquiry or investigation: the researchers' findings were published in Nature.

- [LAW] a verdict or decision made by a judge or jury.

3 (findings) NORTH AMERICAN small articles or tools used in making garments, shoes, or jewellery.

find-spot n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] the place where an object is found.

fine^1 /fn/ adj. 1 of very high quality; very good of its kind: this was a fine piece of film-making | fine wines.

- worthy of or eliciting admiration: what a fine human being he is | a fine musician.

- good; satisfactory: relations in the group were fine.

- used to express one's agreement with or acquiescence to something: anything you want is fine by me, Linda | he said such a solution would be fine.

- in good health and feeling well: ‘I'm fine, just fine. And you?’.

- (of the weather) bright and clear: it was another fine winter day.

- imposing or impressive in appearance: Donleavy was a fine figure of a man.

- (of speech or writing) sounding impressive and grand but ultimately insincere: fine words seemed to produce few practical benefits.

- denoting or displaying a state of good, though not excellent, preservation in stamps, books, coins, etc.

- (of gold or silver) containing a specified high proportion of pure metal: the coin is struck in .986 fine gold.

2 very thin or narrow: a fine nylon thread | fine flyaway hair.

- (of a point) sharp.

- made or consisting of small particles: the soils were all fine silt.

- of delicate or intricate workmanship or structure: fine bone china.

- (of something abstract) subtle and therefore perceived only with difficulty and care: there is a fine distinction between misrepresenting the truth and lying.

- (of a physical faculty) sensitive and discriminating: he has a fine eye for the detail and texture of social scenery.

3 [CRICKET] directed or stationed behind the wicket and close to the line of flight of the ball when it is bowled.

■ n. (fines) very small particles found in mining, milling, etc.

■ adv. 1 INFORMAL in a satisfactory or pleasing manner; very well: ‘And how's the job-hunting going?’ ‘Oh, fine’ | mother and baby are both doing fine.

2 [CRICKET] behind the wicket and close to the line of flight of the ball when it is bowled.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] clarify (beer or wine) by causing the precipitation of sediment during production.

- [no obj.] (of liquid) become clear.

2 make or become thinner: [no obj.] she'd certainly fined down—her face was thinner.

3 [no obj.] (fine up) N. ENGLISH & AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL (of the weather) become bright and clear.

<PHRASES>

□ cut it (or things) fine allow a very small margin of something, especially time: boys who have cut it rather fine are scuttling into chapel.

□ do someone fine suit or be enough for someone.

□ fine feathers make fine birds PROVERB beautiful or expensive clothes may make the wearer seem more impressive than is really the case.

□ the finer points of the more complex or detailed aspects of: he went on to discuss the finer points of his work.

□ ——'s finest NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL the police of a particular city: Moscow's finest.

□ one's finer feelings one's feelings of honour, loyalty, or duty; one's conscience or sense of morality.

□ one's finest hour the time of one's greatest success.

□ fine words butter no parsnips PROVERB nothing is achieved by empty promises or flattery.

□ not to put too fine a point on it to speak bluntly: not to put too fine a point on it, your Emily is a liar. [<ORIGIN> figuratively, with reference to the sharpening of a weapon, tool, etc.]

□ one fine day at some unspecified or unknown time: one fine day he decided to take an apartment in Rome.

<DERIVATIVES> finely adv. fineness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fin, based on Latin finire ‘to finish’ (see FINISH).

fine^2 /fn/ n. a sum of money exacted as a penalty by a court of law or other authority: a parking fine.

■ v. [with obj.] punish (someone) for an illegal or illicit act by making them pay a sum of money: she was fined £1500 for driving offences.

<DERIVATIVES> fineable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fin ‘end, payment’, from Latin finis ‘end’ (in medieval Latin denoting a sum paid on settling a lawsuit). The original sense was ‘conclusion’ (surviving in the phrase IN FINE); also used in the medieval Latin sense, the word came to denote a penalty of any kind, later specifically a monetary penalty.

fine^3 /fin/ n. [mass noun] French brandy of high quality made from distilled wine rather than from pomace.

■ short for FINE CHAMPAGNE.

fine^4 /fine/ n. (in musical directions) the place where a piece of music finishes (when this is not at the end of the score but at the end of an earlier section which is repeated at the end of the piece).

<ORIGIN> Italian, from Latin finis ‘end’.

fine art n. 1 [mass noun] (also fine arts) creative art, especially visual art whose products are to be appreciated primarily or solely for their imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content: the convergence of popular culture and fine art.

2 an activity requiring great skill or accomplishment: the fine art of drinking tequila.

<PHRASES>

□ have (or get) something down to a fine art achieve a high level of skill or accomplishment in a particular activity through experience: Mike had got the breakfast routine down to a fine art.

fine champagne /fin pαnj(ə)/ n. [mass noun] brandy from the Champagne district of the Cognac region of which half or more of the content comes from the central Grande Champagne.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘fine (brandy from) Champagne’.

fine chemicals plural n. chemical substances prepared to a very high degree of purity for use in research and industry.

fine-draw v. [with obj.] sew together (two pieces of cloth or edges of a tear) so that the join is imperceptible: a table cover composed of cloth fine-drawn together.

Fine Gael /finə el/ Irish /finə el/ one of the two major political parties of the Republic of Ireland (the other being Fianna Fáil). Founded in 1923 as Cumann na nGaedheal, it changed its name in 1933. It has advocated the concept of a united Ireland achieved by peaceful means.

<ORIGIN> Irish, literally ‘tribe of Gaels’.

fine-grained adj. 1 (chiefly of wood) having a fine or delicate arrangement of fibres.

- (chiefly of rock) consisting of small particles.

2 involving great attention to detail: fine-grained analysis.

fine leg n. [CRICKET] a fielding position behind the batsman on the leg side, between long leg and square leg.

- a fielder at fine leg.

fine print n. another term for SMALL PRINT.

finery^1 /fn(ə)ri/ n. [mass noun] expensive or ostentatious clothes or decoration: officers in their blue, gold, and scarlet finery.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from FINE^1, on the pattern of bravery.

finery^2 /fnəri/ n. (pl. fineries) HISTORICAL a hearth where pig iron was converted into wrought iron.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French finerie, from Old French finer ‘refine’.

fines herbes /finz εb/ plural n. mixed herbs used in cooking, especially fresh herbs chopped as a flavouring for omelettes.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘fine herbs’.

fine-spun adj. (especially of fabric) fine or delicate in texture.

finesse n. 1 [mass noun] impressive delicacy and skill: orchestral playing of great finesse.

- great subtlety and tact in handling or manipulating people or difficult situations: clients want advice and action that calls for considerable finesse.

2 (in bridge and whist) an attempt to win a trick with a card that is not a certain winner, typically by playing it as the third card in a trick in the hope that any card that could beat it is in the hand of the opponent who has already played.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 bring about or deal with (something) by using great delicacy and skill: Karen spent ten months finessing the financing for the property.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN slyly attempt to avoid blame or censure when dealing with (a situation or problem): despite the administration's attempts to finesse its mishaps, the public remained wary.

2 (in bridge and whist) play (a card) in the hope of winning a trick with it because any card that could beat it is in the hand of the opponent who has already played.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘purity, delicacy’): from French, related to fine^1.

fine structure n. [mass noun] the composition of an object, substance, or energy phenomenon as viewed on a small scale and in considerable detail.

- [PHYSICS] the presence of groups of closely spaced lines in spectra corresponding to slightly different energy levels.

fine-structure constant n. [PHYSICS] a fundamental and dimensionless physical constant, equal to approximately 1/137, which occurs in expressions describing the fine structure of atomic spectra.

fine-tooth comb (also fine-toothed comb) n. a comb with narrow teeth that are close together.

- [in sing.] used with reference to a very thorough search or analysis of something: they went through the house with a fine-tooth comb. See also TOOTHCOMB.

fine-tune v. [with obj.] make small adjustments to (something) in order to achieve the best or a desired performance: they can fine-tune the computer programs to focus on a small region of space.

finfoot n. (pl. finfoots) a grebe-like waterbird with a long bill, neck, and tail, and lobed feet.

<INFO> Family Heliornithidae: three genera and species, one each in Africa, Asia, and America. See also SUNGREBE.

Fingal /f(ə)l/ a character in an epic poem by the Scottish poet James Macpherson (1736–96), based on the legendary Irish hero Finn MacCool but fictionally transformed and depicted as fighting both the Norse invaders and the Romans from an invented kingdom in NW Scotland.

Fingal's Cave a cave on the island of Staffa in the Inner Hebrides, noted for the clustered basaltic pillars that form its cliffs. It is said to have been the inspiration of Mendelssohn's overture The Hebrides (also known as Fingal's Cave).

finger n. each of the four slender jointed parts attached to either hand (or five, if the thumb is included).

- a part of a glove intended to cover a finger.

- a measure of liquor in a glass, based on the breadth of a finger: two fingers of brandy.

- an object that has roughly the long, narrow shape of a finger: a shortbread finger.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 touch or feel with the fingers: the thin man fingered his moustache.

- play (a musical instrument) with the fingers, especially in a tentative or casual manner: a woman fingered a lute.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN inform on (someone) to the police: he was fingered by a supergrass and charged with murder.

- identify or select: the additive had been fingered as a possible human health risk.

3 [MUSIC] play (a passage) with a particular sequence of positions of the fingers. See also fingering^1.

- mark (music) with signs showing which fingers are to be used.

<PHRASES>

□ be all fingers and thumbs BRITISH INFORMAL be clumsy or awkward in one's actions.

□ get (or pull) one's finger out BRITISH INFORMAL cease prevaricating and start to act.

□ get one's fingers burned/burnt (or burn one's fingers) (especially in a financial context) suffer unpleasant consequences as a result of one's actions, discouraging one from trying a similar action again.

□ give someone the finger NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL make a gesture with the middle finger raised as an obscene sign of contempt.

□ have a finger in every pie be involved in a large and varied number of activities or enterprises.

□ have a finger in the pie be involved in a matter, especially in an annoyingly interfering way.

□ have (or keep) one's finger on the pulse be aware of all the latest news or developments: he keeps his finger on the pulse of world music.

□ lay a finger on someone touch someone, especially with the intention of harming them.

□ put the finger on INFORMAL inform against (someone) to the authorities.

□ put something on the long finger IRISH postpone consideration of something; put something off: don't put retirement planning on the long finger.

□ put one's finger on something identify something exactly: he cannot put his finger on what has gone wrong.

□ snap (or click) one's fingers make a sharp clicking sound by bending the last joint of the middle finger against the thumb and suddenly releasing it, typically in order to attract attention in a peremptory way or to accompany the beat of music.

□ twist (or wind or wrap) someone around one's LITTLE FINGER see little finger.

□ work one's fingers to the BONE see BONE.

<DERIVATIVES> fingered adj. [in combination] a two-fingered whistle fingerless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vinger and German Finger.

finger alphabet n. a form of sign language using the fingers to spell out words.

fingerboard n. a flat or roughly flat strip on the neck of a stringed instrument, against which the strings are pressed to shorten the vibrating length and produce notes of higher pitches.

finger bowl n. a small bowl containing water for rinsing the fingers during or after a meal.

finger chip n. Indian term for chip (sense 2 of the noun).

finger-dry v. [with obj.] dry and style (hair) by repeatedly running one's fingers through it.

fingerfish n. (pl. same or fingerfishes) a small silvery fish with a deep laterally compressed body, occurring in warm inshore and estuarine waters and popular in aquaria. Also called MOONFISH.

<INFO> Family Monodactylidae and genus Monodactylus: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the genus name monodactylus, literally ‘single finger’.

finger food n. [mass noun] food served in such a form and style that it can conveniently be eaten with the fingers.

fingering^1 n. [mass noun] a manner or technique of using the fingers, especially to play a musical instrument.

- [count noun] an indication of fingering in a musical score.

fingering^2 n. [mass noun] DATED fine wool for hand knitting.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as fingram): perhaps from French fin grain ‘fine grain’. Compare with GROGRAM and GROSGRAIN.

finger jam (also finger lock) n. [MOUNTAINEERING] a handhold formed by wedging a finger in a crack in the rock.

finger language n. [mass noun] language expressed by means of the finger alphabet.

finger-licking adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN tasty; delicious: [as submodifier] finger-licking good.

fingerling n. a salmon parr.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from FINGER (with reference to its transverse dusky bars) + -LING.

fingermark n. a mark left on a surface by a dirty or greasy finger.

fingernail n. the flattish horny part on the upper surface of the tip of each finger.

finger-paint n. [mass noun] thick paint designed to be applied with the fingers, used especially by young children.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. finger-painting) (especially of children) apply paint with the fingers.

fingerpick v. [with obj.] play (a guitar or banjo) using the fingernails or small plectrums worn on the fingertips to pluck the strings: he was fingerpicking an acoustic guitar | (as n. fingerpicking) fingerpicking accentuates the tone of guitars.

- play (a tune) on a guitar or banjo by using the fingernails or small plectrums on the fingertips to pluck the strings.

■ n. a plectrum worn on a fingertip.

<DERIVATIVES> fingerpicker n.

fingerplate n. a piece of metal or porcelain fixed to a door above the handle to prevent fingermarks on the surface of the door itself.

fingerpost n. a post at a road junction from which signs project in the direction of the place or route indicated.

fingerprint n. an impression or mark made on a surface by a person's fingertip, able to be used for identifying individuals from the unique pattern of whorls and lines on the fingertips.

- FIGURATIVE a distinctive identifying characteristic: the faint chemical fingerprint of plastic explosives.

■ v. [with obj.] record the fingerprints of: I was booked, fingerprinted, and locked up for the night.

fingerstall n. a cover to protect a finger, used in some handicrafts or when a finger is injured.

fingertip n. the tip of a finger.

- [as modifier] using or operated by the fingers: police made a fingertip search of the area.

<PHRASES>

□ at one's fingertips (especially of information) readily available; accessible: until we have more facts at our fingertips, there is no use in speculating.

□ by one's fingertips only with difficulty: the prime minister clung on to power by his fingertips.

□ to one's fingertips BRITISH completely: he is a professional to his fingertips.

finger wave n. a wave set in wet hair using the fingers.

fingle v. [with obj.] W. INDIAN handle or finger (something); touch all over.

<ORIGIN> blend of obsolete fangle ‘to trifle’ and the verb FINGER.

finial /fnəl fn-/ n. a distinctive section or ornament at the apex of a roof, canopy, etc. on a building.

- an ornament at the top, end, or corner of an object: ornate curtain poles with decorative finials.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fin or Latin finis ‘end’.

finical /fnk(ə)l/ adj. another term for FINICKY.

<DERIVATIVES> finicality n. finically adv. finicalness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (probably originally university slang): probably from FINE^1 + -ICAL, perhaps suggested by Middle Dutch fijnkens ‘accurately, neatly, prettily’.

finicking adj. another term for FINICKY.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from FINICAL + -ING^2.

finicky adj. (of a person) fussy about their needs or requirements: a finicky eater.

- showing or requiring great attention to detail: his finicky copperplate hand.

fining n. (usually finings) a substance used for clarifying liquid, especially beer or wine.

- [mass noun] the process of clarifying wine or beer.

finis /fins fns fns/ n. the end (printed at the end of a book or shown at the end of a film).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin.

finish v. [with obj.] 1 bring (a task or activity) to an end; complete: they were straining to finish the job | [with present participle] we finished eating our meal.

- consume or get through the final amount or portion of (something, especially food or drink): Seagram finished off a margarita as he waited.

- [no obj.] (of a period or activity) come to an end: the war has finished but nothing has changed.

- [no obj.] end a period of time or course of action by doing something or being in a particular position: he finished up as one of Britain's greatest architects.

- [no obj.] reach the end of a race or other competition: the first four horses to finish | [with complement] Falkirk finished fifth in the Scottish Premier League.

- [no obj.] BRITISH (in soccer) score a goal or goals: Dean finished well to put his team ahead.

- kill, destroy, or comprehensively defeat: the English men-at-arms finished them off in hand-to-hand combat.

- reduce to utter exhaustion or helplessness.

2 [no obj.] (finish with) BRITISH have no more need for or nothing more to do with: they give me the newspaper when they've finished with it.

- INFORMAL end an emotional relationship with: ‘I've finished with Tom,’ Gloria said.

3 complete the manufacture or decoration of (an article) by giving it an attractive surface appearance: the interior was finished with American oak.

- complete the fattening of (livestock) before slaughter.

4 DATED prepare (a girl) for entry into fashionable society.

■ n. 1 [usually in sing.] an end or final part or stage of something: a bowl of raspberries was the perfect finish to the meal | I really enjoyed the film from start to finish.

- a point or place at which a race or competition ends: he surged into a winning lead 200 metres from the finish.

2 [mass noun] the manner in which the manufacture of an article is completed in detail: the car's popularity is helped by its high-quality finish and strong diesel engine.

- [count noun] the surface appearance of a manufactured material or object, or the material used to produce this: lightweight nylon with a shiny finish.

- the final taste impression of a wine or beer: the wine has a lemony tang on the finish.

<PHRASES>

□ to the finish until the complete defeat of one of the parties involved: Linfield clinched their first championship in a thrilling fight to the finish.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French feniss-, lengthened stem of fenir, from Latin finire, from finis ‘end’.

finished adj. 1 (of a task or activity) brought to an end; completed: a preparatory drawing for the finished painting.

- (of a person) no longer useful or valued; ruined: he was told he was finished at the club.

2 (of a person's work) expert or accomplished: his highly finished craftsmanship | she gave a fine finished performance.

finisher n. 1 a person or thing that finishes something, in particular:

- a person who reaches the end of a race or other competition.

- BRITISH (in soccer) a goalscorer: he is one of the best finishers at the club.

- a worker or machine performing the last operation in a manufacturing process.

2 an animal that has been fattened ready for slaughter: [as modifier] finisher pigs.

finishing line (chiefly NORTH AMERICAN also finish line) n. a line marking the end of a race.

finishing school n. a private college where girls are prepared for entry into fashionable society.

finishing touch (also finishing stroke) n. (usually finishing touches) a final detail or action completing and enhancing a piece of work: now they're putting the finishing touches to a new album.

Finisterre, Cape /fnstε/ a promontory of NW Spain, forming the westernmost point of the mainland. The shipping forecast area formerly known as Finisterre was renamed FITZROY in 2002.

finite /fnt/ adj. 1 limited in size or extent: every computer has a finite amount of memory.

2 [GRAMMAR] (of a verb form) having a specific tense, number, and person.

<DERIVATIVES> finitely adv. finiteness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin finitus ‘finished’, past participle of finire (see FINISH).

finite state grammar n. [mass noun] [LINGUISTICS] a deliberately oversimplified form of generative grammar, which generates sentences by working through word by word in a strictly linear fashion. It was used by Chomsky to illustrate the need for more complex features, such as transformations, to account adequately for real language.

finitism /fntz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] & [MATHEMATICS] rejection of the belief that anything can actually be infinite.

<DERIVATIVES> finitist n. & adj.

finito /fnitə/ adj. [predic.] INFORMAL finished: it's all done—finito.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

finitude /fntjud/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL the state of having limits or bounds: one quickly senses the finitude of his patience.

fink NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. an unpleasant or contemptible person.

- a person who informs on people to the authorities: he was assumed by some to be the management's fink.

- DATED a strike-breaker.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (fink on) inform on (someone) to the authorities: there was no shortage of people willing to fink on their neighbours.

2 (fink out) fail to do something promised or expected.

- cease to function: your immune system begins finking out and you get sick.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin; perhaps from German, literally ‘finch’, but also a pejorative term. Students started to refer to non-members of fraternities as finks, probably by association with the freedom of wild birds as opposed to caged ones. The term was later generalized to denote those not belonging to organizations such as trade unions.

fin keel n. a boat's keel shaped like an inverted dorsal fin.

Finland /fnlənd/ a country on the Baltic Sea, between Sweden and Russia; pop. 5,183,545 (est. 2002); official languages, Finnish and Swedish; capital, Helsinki. Finnish name SUOMI.

The northern third of the country lies within the Arctic Circle. Long an area of Swedish–Russian rivalry, Finland was ceded to Russia in 1809, becoming an independent republic after the Russian Revolution. Wars with the Soviet Union were fought in 1939–40. Finland joined the European Union in 1995.

Finland, Gulf of an arm of the Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia, extending eastwards to St Petersburg in Russia.

Finlandization /fnləndze(ə)n/ (also Finlandisation) n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL the process or result of being obliged for economic reasons to favour, or at least not oppose, the interests of the former Soviet Union despite not being politically allied to it.

<DERIVATIVES> Finlandize (also Finlandise) v.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: translation of German Finnlandisierung, referring to the case of Finland after 1944.

Finn n. a native or national of Finland or a person of Finnish descent.

<ORIGIN> Old English Finnas (plural), originally applied more widely to denote a people of Scandinavia and NE Europe speaking a Finno-Ugric language.

finnan /fnən/ (also finnan haddock) n. [mass noun] haddock cured with the smoke of green wood, turf, or peat.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: alteration of Findon, the name of a fishing village near Aberdeen in Scotland, but sometimes confused with the Scottish river and village of Findhorn.

finnesko /fnəskə/ n. (pl. same) a boot of tanned reindeer skin with the hair on the outside.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Norwegian finnsko, from Finn (see FINN) + sko (see SHOE).

Finney /fni/ Sir Tom (b.1929), English footballer; full name Thomas Finney. He played for Preston North End as a winger and won 76 caps for England between 1946 and 1958.

Finnic adj. 1 relating to or denoting a group of Finno-Ugric languages including Finnish and Estonian.

2 relating to or denoting the group of peoples which includes the Finns.

Finnish adj. relating to the Finns or their language.

■ n. [mass noun] the language of the Finns, spoken by about 4.6 million people in Finland, and also in parts of Russia and Sweden. It is a Finno-Ugric language related to Estonian, and more distantly to Hungarian, and is noted for its morphological complexity.

Finn MacCool /fn məkul/ (also Finn Mac Cumhaill) [IRISH MYTHOLOGY] the warrior hero of a cycle of legends about a band of warriors defending Ireland. Father of the legendary Irish warrior and bard Ossian, he is supposed to have lived in the 3rd century AD. See also FINGAL.

Finno-Ugric /fnəurk -jurk/ (also Finno-Ugrian /-urən -jurən/) adj. relating to the major group of Uralic languages, which includes Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian (Magyar), and several north central Asian languages.

■ n. [mass noun] the Finno-Ugric group of languages.

finny adj. LITERARY relating to or resembling a fish: members of the finny tribe.

fino /finə/ n. (pl. finos) [mass noun] a light-coloured dry sherry.

- sherry on which a covering of flor (yeast) is developed during production, used to make commercial fino and manzanilla sherries. Compare with OLOROSO.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘fine’, based on Latin finire ‘to finish’ (see FINISH).

finocchio /fnkə/ n. another term for FLORENCE FENNEL (see FENNEL).

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Italian, from a popular Latin variant of Latin faeniculum (see FENNEL).

fin whale n. a large rorqual with a small dorsal fin, a dark grey back, and white underparts. Also called FINBACK, COMMON RORQUAL.

<INFO> Balaenoptera physalus, family Balaenopteridae.

fioritura /frt(j)ərə/ n. (pl. fioriture /frt(j)əri -re/) [MUSIC] an embellishment of a melody, especially as improvised by an operatic singer.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘flowering’, from fiorire ‘to flower’.

fipple /fp(ə)l/ n. the mouthpiece of a recorder or similar wind instrument which is blown endwise, in which a thin channel cut through a block directs a stream of air against a sharp edge. The term has been applied to various parts of this, including the block and the channel.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps related to Icelandic flipi ‘horse's lip’.

fipple flute n. a flute, such as a recorder, played by blowing endwise.

fiqh /fik/ n. [mass noun] the theory or philosophy of Islamic law, based on the teachings of the Koran and the traditions of the Prophet.

<ORIGIN> Arabic, literally ‘understanding’.

fir n. (also fir tree) an evergreen coniferous tree with upright cones and flat needle-shaped leaves, typically arranged in two rows. Firs are an important source of timber and resins. Compare with pine^1 (sense 1).

<INFO> Genus Abies, family Pinaceae: many species.

<DERIVATIVES> firry adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from Old Norse fyri- (recorded in fyriskógr ‘fir wood’).

fir cone n. BRITISH the dry fruit of a fir tree or other conifer.

fire n. [mass noun] 1 a process in which substances combine chemically with oxygen from the air and typically give out bright light, heat, and smoke; combustion or burning: his house was destroyed by fire.

- [count noun] a destructive burning of something: a fire at a hotel.

- [count noun] a collection of fuel, especially coal or wood, burnt in a controlled way to provide heat or a means for cooking: we had a bath in a tin tub by the fire.

- [count noun] chiefly BRITISH (also electric fire or gas fire) a domestic heating appliance that uses electricity or gas as fuel.

- one of the four elements in ancient and medieval philosophy and in astrology (considered essential to the nature of the signs Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius): [as modifier] a fire sign.

2 a burning sensation: [count noun] the whisky lit a fire in the back of his throat.

- fervent or passionate emotion or enthusiasm: the fire of their religious conviction.

- LITERARY a glowing or luminous quality: their soft smiles light the air like a star's fire.

3 the shooting of projectiles from weapons, especially bullets from guns: a burst of machine-gun fire.

- strong criticism or antagonism: he directed his fire against policies promoting American capital flight.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 discharge a gun or other weapon in order to propel (a bullet or projectile): he fired a shot at the retreating prisoners | they fired off a few rounds.

- discharge (a gun or other weapon): another gang fired a pistol through the window of a hostel | [no obj.] troops fired on crowds.

- [no obj.] (of a gun) be discharged.

- direct (questions or statements, especially unwelcome ones) towards someone in rapid succession: they fired questions at me for what seemed like ages.

- (fire something off) send a message aggressively: he fired off a letter informing her that he regarded the matter with the utmost seriousness.

2 INFORMAL dismiss (an employee) from a job: I had to fire men who've been with me for years | you're fired!

3 supply (a furnace, engine, etc.) with fuel.

- [no obj.] (of an internal-combustion engine) undergo ignition of its fuel when started: the engine fired and she pushed her foot down on the accelerator.

- ARCHAIC set fire to: I fired the straw.

4 stimulate or excite (the imagination or an emotion): India fired my imagination.

- fill (someone) with enthusiasm: he was fired up for last season's FA Cup final.

- [no obj.] (fire up) ARCHAIC show sudden anger: If I were to hear anyone speak slightingly of you, I should fire up in a moment.

5 bake or dry (pottery, bricks, etc.) in a kiln.

<PHRASES>

□ breathe fire be extremely angry: I don't want an indignant boyfriend on my doorstep breathing fire.

□ catch fire begin to burn.

- FIGURATIVE become interesting or exciting: the show never caught fire.

□ fire and brimstone the supposed torments of hell: his father was preaching fire and brimstone sermons.

□ fire away INFORMAL used to give someone permission to begin speaking, typically to ask questions: ‘I want to clear up some questions which have been puzzling me.’ ‘Fire away.’.

□ fire in the (or one's) belly a powerful sense of ambition or determination.

□ firing on all cylinders working or functioning at a peak level.

□ go on fire SCOTTISH & IRISH begin to burn; catch fire.

□ go through fire (and water) face any peril.

□ light a fire under NORTH AMERICAN stimulate (someone) to work or act more quickly or enthusiastically.

□ on fire in flames; burning.

- in a state of excitement: Wright is now on fire with confidence.

□ set fire to (or set something on fire) cause to burn; ignite.

□ set the world on fire do something remarkable or sensational: the film hasn't exactly set the world on fire.

□ take fire start to burn.

□ under fire being shot at: observers sent to look for the men came under heavy fire.

- being rigorously criticized: the president was under fire from all sides.

□ where's the fire? INFORMAL used to ask someone why they are in such a hurry or state of excitement.

<DERIVATIVES> fireless adj. firer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fȳr (noun), fȳrian ‘supply with material for a fire’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vuur and German Feuer.

fire alarm n. a device making a loud noise that gives warning of a fire.

fire-and-forget adj. [attr.] (of a missile) able to guide itself to its target once fired.

fire ant n. a tropical American ant that has a painful and sometimes dangerous sting.

<INFO> Genus Solenopsis, family Formicidae: several species, in particular the South American S. invicta, which has become a serious pest in the south-eastern US.

firearm n. a rifle, pistol, or other portable gun.

fireback n. 1 the back wall of a fireplace.

- a metal plate covering the back wall of a fireplace.

2 (also fireback pheasant) a SE Asian pheasant, the male of which has mainly grey or blue plumage with a reddish rump.

<INFO> Genus Lophura, family Phasianidae: three species.

fireball n. a ball of flame or fire: a crashed petrol tanker exploded in a fireball.

- a large bright meteor.

- HISTORICAL a ball filled with combustibles or explosives, fired at an enemy or enemy fortifications.

- FIGURATIVE a person with a fiery temper or a great deal of energy.

fireballer n. [BASEBALL] a pitcher who throws a very good fastball.

<DERIVATIVES> fireballing adj.

fire balloon n. a balloon made buoyant by the heat of a fire burning at its mouth.

fire-bellied toad n. a warty European aquatic toad, the underside of which is vividly marked in red, orange, yellow, black, and white.

<INFO> Genus Bombina, family Discoglossidae: in particular B. bombina.

fire blanket n. a sheet of flexible material, typically woven fibreglass, used to smother a fire in an emergency.

fireblight n. [mass noun] a serious bacterial disease of plants of the rose family, especially fruit trees, giving the leaves a scorched appearance.

<INFO> The bacterium is the Gram-nagative Erwinia amylovora.

firebomb n. a bomb designed to cause a fire.

■ v. [with obj.] attack or destroy with a firebomb: two bookshops and a newspaper office have been firebombed.

firebox n. the chamber of a steam engine or boiler in which the fuel is burnt.

firebrand n. 1 a piece of burning wood.

2 a person who is very passionate about a particular cause: a political firebrand.

firebrat n. a fast-moving brownish bristletail (wingless insect) that frequents warm places indoors.

<INFO> Thermobia domestica, family Lepismatidae, order Thysanura.

firebreak n. an obstacle to the spread of fire, such as a strip of open space in a forest.

firebrick n. a brick capable of withstanding intense heat, used especially to line furnaces and fireplaces.

fire brigade n. BRITISH an organized body of people trained and employed to extinguish fires.

firebug n. INFORMAL an arsonist.

fire certificate n. a certificate confirming that statutory fire regulations have been complied with in a building.

fireclay n. [mass noun] clay capable of withstanding high temperatures, chiefly used for making firebricks.

fire company n. North American term for FIRE BRIGADE.

fire control n. [mass noun] 1 the process of aiming and firing heavy weapons.

2 the prevention and monitoring of accidental fires.

fire coral n. a colonial coral-like hydrozoan, the heavy external skeleton of which forms reefs. The polyps bear nematocysts which can inflict painful stings.

<INFO> Genus Millepora, order Hydroida (or Milleporina), class Hydrozoa.

firecracker n. a loud, explosive firework; a banger.

- FIGURATIVE an outstanding, exciting, or attractive person or thing: the book was solidly excellent but hardly a literary firecracker.

firecrest n. a very small warbler related to the goldcrest, having a red and orange crest and occurring mainly in Europe.

<INFO> Regulus ignicapillus, family Sylviidae.

firedamp n. [mass noun] methane, especially as forming an explosive mixture with air in coal mines.

fire department n. NORTH AMERICAN the department of a local or municipal authority in charge of preventing and fighting fires.

firedog n. one of a pair of decorative metal supports for wood burning in a fireplace.

fire door n. a fire-resistant door to prevent the spread of fire.

- a door to the outside of a building used only as an emergency exit.

firedrake n. [MYTHOLOGY] a dragon.

<ORIGIN> Old English fȳr-draca, from fȳr (see FIRE) + draca ‘dragon’, from Latin draco.

fire drill n. 1 a practice of the emergency procedures to be used in case of fire.

2 a primitive device for kindling fire, consisting of a pointed stick which is twirled in a hole in a flat piece of soft wood.

fire-eater n. 1 an entertainer who appears to eat fire.

2 DATED a person prone to quarrelling or fighting.

fire engine n. a vehicle carrying firefighters and equipment for fighting large fires.

fire escape n. a staircase or other apparatus used for escaping from a building on fire.

fire extinguisher n. a portable device that discharges a jet of water, foam, gas, or other material to extinguish a fire.

firefight n. [MILITARY] a battle using guns rather than bombs or other weapons.

firefighter n. a person whose job is to extinguish fires.

firefighting n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of extinguishing fires, as a person's job.

2 (in business) the practice of dealing with problems as they arise rather than planning strategically to avoid them.

firefinch n. a small African songbird of the waxbill family, the male of which has mainly pink or reddish plumage.

<INFO> Genus Lagonosticta, family Estrildidae: several species.

firefish n. (pl. same or firefishes) 1 a scorpionfish with venomous spines.

<INFO> Genera Pterois and Dendrochirus, family Scorpaenidae.

2 a pink- or red-coloured fish related to the wormfishes.

<INFO> Subfamily Ptereleotrinae, family Microdesmidae.

firefly n. (pl. fireflies) a soft-bodied beetle related to the glow-worm, the winged male and flightless female of which both have luminescent organs. The light is chiefly produced in flashes and typically functions as a signal between the sexes.

<INFO> Family Lampyridae: many species, especially in the tropics, and including the European Luciola lusitanica.

fireguard n. 1 a protective screen or grid placed in front of an open fire.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a firebreak in a forest.

fire hose n. a broad hosepipe used in extinguishing fires.

firehouse (also firehall) n. NORTH AMERICAN a fire station.

fire irons plural n. implements for tending a domestic fire, typically tongs, a poker, and a shovel.

fireless cooker n. HISTORICAL an insulated container capable of maintaining a temperature at which food can be cooked.

firelight n. [mass noun] light from a fire in a fireplace.

<DERIVATIVES> firelit adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English fȳr-lēoht (see FIRE, light^1).

firelighter n. BRITISH a piece of flammable material used to help start a fire.

fire line n. NORTH AMERICAN a firebreak in a forest.

firelock n. HISTORICAL a musket in which the priming is ignited by sparks.

fireman n. (pl. firemen) 1 a male firefighter.

2 a person who tends a furnace or the fire of a steam engine or steamship.

firemaster n. SCOTTISH the chief officer of a fire brigade.

Firenze /firεntse/ Italian name for FLORENCE.

Fire of London the huge and devastating fire which destroyed some 13,000 houses over 400 acres of London between 2 and 6 September 1666, having started in a bakery in Pudding Lane. Also called GREAT FIRE.

fire opal n. another term for girasol (sense 1).

fireplace n. a place for a domestic fire, especially a grate or hearth at the base of a chimney.

- a structure surrounding a fireplace.

fireplug n. US a hydrant for a fire hose.

- North American INFORMAL a short, stocky person, especially an athlete.

firepower n. [mass noun] the destructive capacity of guns, missiles, or a military force (used with reference to the number and size of guns available): the enormous disparity in firepower between the two sides | FIGURATIVE I left three strikers up front to add more firepower.

fire practice n. BRITISH a fire drill.

fireproof adj. able to withstand fire or great heat: a fireproof dish.

■ v. [with obj.] make (something) fireproof: nearby museum buildings will be fireproofed.

fire-raiser n. BRITISH an arsonist.

<DERIVATIVES> fire-raising n.

fire salamander n. a robust short-tailed nocturnal salamander that has black skin with bright red, orange, and yellow markings, native to upland forests of Europe, NW Africa, and SW Asia.

<INFO> Salamandra salamandra, family Salamandridae.

fire sale n. a sale of goods remaining after the destruction of commercial premises by fire.

- a sale of goods or assets at a very low price, typically when the seller is facing bankruptcy.

fire screen n. a protective screen placed in front of an open fire.

fire service n. BRITISH an organization in charge of preventing and fighting fires.

fireship n. HISTORICAL a ship loaded with burning material and explosives and set adrift to ignite and blow up an enemy's ships.

fireside n. the area round a fireplace (used especially with reference to a person's home or family life).

fireside chat n. an informal conversation.

fire starter n. North American term for FIRELIGHTER.

fire station n. the headquarters of a fire brigade, where fire engines and other equipment are housed.

fire step n. a step or ledge on which soldiers in a trench stand to fire.

fire stone n. [mass noun] stone that can withstand fire and great heat, used especially for lining furnaces and ovens.

firestorm n. a very intense and destructive fire (typically one caused by bombing) in which strong currents of air are drawn into the blaze from the surrounding area making it burn more fiercely: firestorms after a nuclear exchange | FIGURATIVE the incident ignited a firestorm of controversy.

firethorn n. another term for PYRACANTHA.

fire tongs plural n. tongs for handling pieces of coal and wood when tending a fire.

fire trail n. NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN a track through forest or bush for use in fighting fires.

fire trap n. a building which would be extremely dangerous if a fire should start due to a lack of precautions such as fire exits.

fire truck n. US term for FIRE ENGINE.

fire-walking n. [mass noun] the practice of walking barefoot over a substance such as hot stones or wood ashes, often as part of a traditional ceremony.

<DERIVATIVES> fire-walker n.

firewall n. a wall or partition designed to inhibit or prevent the spread of fire.

- [COMPUTING] a part of a computer system or network which is designed to block unauthorized access while permitting outward communication.

■ another term for CHINESE WALL.

■ v. [with obj.] [COMPUTING] protect (a network or system) from unauthorized access with a firewall.

fire warden n. NORTH AMERICAN a person employed to prevent or extinguish fires, especially in a town, camp, or forest.

fire-watcher n. a person keeping watch for fires, especially forest fires or those caused by bombs.

<DERIVATIVES> fire-watching n.

firewater n. [mass noun] INFORMAL strong alcoholic liquor.

fireweed n. [mass noun] a plant that springs up on burnt land, especially the rosebay willowherb.

FireWire n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a standard high-performance serial bus for connecting digital devices together or to a personal computer.

firewood n. [mass noun] wood that is burnt as fuel.

firework n. a device containing gunpowder and other combustible chemicals which causes spectacular effects and explosions when ignited, used for display or in celebrations: [as modifier] a firework display.

- (fireworks) FIGURATIVE an outburst of anger, or a display of great skill or energy: when you put these men together you're bound to get fireworks.

firing n. [mass noun] 1 the action of setting fire to something: the deliberate firing of 600 oil wells.

2 the discharging of a gun or other weapon: the prolonged firing caused heavy losses | [count noun] no missile firings were planned.

3 the baking or drying of pottery or bricks in a kiln.

4 the dismissal of an employee from a job: the recent firing of the head of the department | [count noun] a series of firings and resignations.

<PHRASES>

□ the firing line 1 the front line of troops in a battle.

2 a situation where one is subject to criticism or blame because of one's responsibilities or position: the referee in the firing line is an experienced official.

firing party n. 1 a group of soldiers detailed to fire the salute at a military funeral.

2 another term for FIRING SQUAD.

firing squad n. a group of soldiers detailed to shoot a condemned person.

firing step n. another term for FIRE STEP.

firkin /fəkn/ n. a small cask formerly used for liquids, butter, or fish.

- a unit of liquid volume equal to half a kilderkin (usually 9 imperial gallons or about 41 litres).

<ORIGIN> Middle English ferdekyn, probably from the Middle Dutch diminutive of vierde ‘fourth’ (a firkin originally contained a quarter of a barrel).

firm^1 adj. 1 having a solid, almost unyielding surface or structure: the bed should be reasonably firm, but not too hard.

- solidly in place and stable: no building can stand without firm foundations | FIGURATIVE he was unable to establish the shop on a firm financial footing.

- having steady but not excessive power or strength: you need a firm grip on the steering.

- showing resolute determination and strength of character: parents should be firm with children and not give in to their demands.

2 strongly felt and unlikely to change: he retains a firm belief in the efficacy of prayer.

- steadfast and constant: we became firm friends.

- decided upon and fixed or definite: she had no firm plans for the next day.

- (of a currency, shares, etc.) having a steady value or price which is more likely to rise than fall: the pound was firm against the dollar.

■ v. [with obj.] make more solid or resilient: how can I firm up a sagging bustline?

- fix (a plant) securely in the soil.

- make (an agreement or plan) explicit and definite: the agreements still have to be firmed up.

- [no obj.] (of a price) rise slightly to reach a level considered secure: he believed house prices would firm by the end of the year | [with complement] the shares firmed 15p to 620p.

■ adv. in a resolute and determined manner: the Chancellor has held firm to tough economic policies | she will stand firm against the government's proposal.

<PHRASES>

□ be on firm ground be sure of one's facts or secure in one's position.

□ a firm hand strict discipline or control.

<DERIVATIVES> firmly adv. firmness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ferme, from Latin firmus.

firm^2 n. a business concern, especially one involving a partnership of two or more people: state support for small firms | a law firm.

- a group of hospital doctors working as a team, headed by a consultant.

- British INFORMAL an organized group of football supporters known for their aggressive attitudes towards rival fans.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish and Italian firma, from medieval Latin, from Latin firmare ‘fix, settle’ (in late Latin ‘confirm by signature’), from firmus ‘firm’; compare with FARM. The word originally denoted one's autograph or signature; later (mid 18th century) the name under which the business of a firm was transacted, hence the firm itself (late 18th century).

firmament /fəməm(ə)nt/ n. LITERARY the heavens or sky: thunder shakes the firmament | FIGURATIVE one of the great stars in the American golfing firmament.

<DERIVATIVES> firmamental adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin firmamentum, from firmare ‘fix, settle’.

firman /fəmən fəmαn/ (also farman) n. (pl. firmans or farmans) 1 an oriental sovereign's edict.

2 a grant or permit.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Persian firmān, Sanskrit pramāa ‘right measure, standard, authority’.

firmware n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] permanent software programmed into a read-only memory.

firn /fən/ n. [mass noun] crystalline or granular snow, especially on the upper part of a glacier, where it has not yet been compressed into ice.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, from Old High German firni ‘old’; related to Swedish forn ‘former’.

firni /fəni/ n. [mass noun] a sweet Indian dish of thickened milk, dried fruit, and ground rice.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi firnī, from Persian.

first ordinal number 1 coming before all others in time or order; earliest; 1st: his first wife | the first of five daughters | many valuable drugs have been recognized first as poisons.

- never previously done or occurring: her first day at school.

- coming or encountered next after a specified or implied time, event, etc.: the first house I came to.

- before doing something else specified or implied: Do you mind if I take a shower first?

- for the first time: she first picked up a guitar out of sheer boredom.

- INFORMAL the first occurrence of something notable: we travelled by air, a first for both of us.

- the first in a sequence of a vehicle's gears: he stuck the car in first and revved.

- [BASEBALL] first base: he made it all the way home from first.

- chiefly BRITISH the first form of a school or college.

2 foremost in position, rank, or importance: the doctor's first duty is to respect this right | a first prize of £250 | career women who put work first | football must come first.

- firstly; in the first place (used to introduce a main point or reason): first, it is wrong that the victims should have no remedy.

- in preference; rather (used when strongly rejecting a suggestion or possibility): she longed to go abroad, but not at this man's expense—she'd die first!

- the first finisher or position in a race or competition.

- [in titles] having precedence over all others of a similar kind: First Lord of the Admiralty.

- BRITISH a place in the top grade in an examination, especially that for a degree: chaps with firsts from Oxbridge.

- BRITISH a person who has received the top grade in an examination for a degree.

- (the firsts) the best or main team of a sports club.

- (firsts) goods of the best quality: factory firsts, seconds, and discontinued styles.

3 with a specified part or person in a leading position: the car plunged nose first into the river.

4 [often with infinitive] the most pressing, likely, or suitable: his first problem is where to live | he is the first to admit he was not the best of patients.

5 [MUSIC] performing the highest or chief of two or more parts for the same instrument or voice: the first violins.

<PHRASES>

□ at first at the beginning; in the initial stage or stages: at first Hugo tried to be patient.

□ at first glance see glance^1.

□ at first hand see FIRST-HAND.

□ at first INSTANCE see INSTANCE.

□ at first SIGHT see SIGHT.

□ (the) first among EQUALs see EQUAL.

□ first BLOOD see BLOOD.

□ first come, first served used to indicate that people will be dealt with strictly in the order in which they arrive or apply: tickets are available on a first come, first served basis.

□ first and foremost most importantly; more than anything else: he considered himself first and foremost a writer.

□ first and last fundamentally; on the whole: museums are first and last about curatorship.

□ first of all before doing anything else: first of all, let me ask you something.

- most importantly: German unity depends first of all on the German people.

□ first off INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN as a first point; firstly: first off, I owe you a heck of an apology.

□ first past the post (of a contestant, especially a horse) winning a race by being the first to reach the finishing line.

- [attr.] BRITISH denoting an electoral system in which a candidate or party is selected by achievement of a simple majority: our first-past-the-post electoral system.

□ first thing early in the morning; before anything else: I have to meet Josh first thing tomorrow.

□ first things first important matters should be dealt with before other things.

□ first up BRITISH first of all.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ at the first attempt.

□ from the (very) first from the beginning: he should have realized it from the first.

□ from first to last from beginning to end; throughout: it's a fine performance that commands attention from first to last.

□ get to first base see base^1.

□ in the first place as the first consideration or point: political reality was not quite that simple—in the first place, divisions existed within the parties.

- at the beginning; to begin with: I should have told you in the first place.

□ of the first order (or magnitude) excellent or considerable of its kind: it is a media event of the first order.

□ of the first WATER see WATER.

<ORIGIN> Old English fyr(e)st; of Germanic origin, related to Old Norse fyrstr and German Fürst ‘prince’, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit prathama, Latin primus, and Greek prōtos.

first aid n. [mass noun] help given to a sick or injured person until full medical treatment is available: [as modifier] a first-aid kit.

<DERIVATIVES> first-aider n.

First Boer War see BOER WARS.

firstborn adj. denoting the first child born to a particular person: the firstborn child of the queen.

■ n. a person's first child: their firstborn arrived.

First Cause n. [PHILOSOPHY] a supposed ultimate cause of all events, which does not itself have a cause, identified with God.

first class n. [in sing.] a set of people or things grouped together as the best: the first class of the orders of chivalry.

- [mass noun] the best accommodation in a train, ship, or aircraft: a seat in first class.

■ adj. & adv. of the best quality or in the highest division: [as adj.] the hotel offers first-class accommodation.

- relating to the best accommodation in a train, ship, or aircraft: [as adj.] a first-class carriage | [as adv.] you can travel first class on any train.

- relating to a class of mail given priority: [as adj.] first-class mail | [as adv.] send it first class.

- BRITISH relating to the the highest division in the results of a university examination: a first-class honours degree.

- [as adj.] (of cricket) played between sides of recognized stature and with matches of two innings per side.

First Consul the title held by Napoleon Bonaparte from 1799 to 1804, when he became Emperor of France.

first cost n. another term for PRIME COST.

first-day cover n. an envelope bearing a stamp or set of stamps postmarked on their day of issue.

first-degree adj. [attr.] 1 MEDICINE denoting burns that affect only the surface of the skin and cause reddening.

2 [LAW], chiefly NORTH AMERICAN denoting the most serious category of a crime, especially murder.

<PHRASES>

□ first-degree relative a person's parent, sibling, or child.

first down n. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] the score achieved by a team who have kept possession of the ball by advancing at least ten yards in a series of four downs.

First Empire the period of the reign of Napoleon I as emperor of the French (1804–15).

first finger n. the finger next to the thumb; the forefinger; the index finger.

first floor n. BRITISH the floor of a building above the ground floor.

- NORTH AMERICAN the ground floor of a building.

first-foot v. [with obj.] be the first person to cross the threshold of the house of (someone) in the New Year, in accordance with a Scottish custom.

■ n. the first person to cross a householder's threshold in the New Year.

<DERIVATIVES> first-footer n.

first fruits plural n. the first agricultural produce of a season, especially when given as an offering to God.

- the initial results of an enterprise or endeavour: the first fruits of the companies' collaboration.

first-hand adj. & adv. (of information or experience) from the original source or personal experience; direct: [as adj.] first-hand accounts of activities behind the enemy lines | [as adv.] data which is obtained first-hand from customers.

<PHRASES>

□ at first hand directly or from personal experience: scientists observed the process at first hand.

first intention n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the healing of a wound by natural contact of the parts involved: healing by first intention.

First International see international (sense 2 of the noun).

First Lady n. the wife of the President of the US or other head of state.

- (usually first lady) the leading woman in a particular activity or profession: the first lady of rock.

first language n. a person's native language.

first lieutenant n. a naval officer with executive responsibility for a ship or other command.

- a rank of officer in the US army or air force, above second lieutenant and below captain.

first light n. the time when light first appears in the morning; dawn: you are to set off at first light.

firstling n. (usually firstlings) ARCHAIC the first agricultural produce or animal offspring of a season.

firstly adv. used to introduce a first point or reason: firstly it is wrong and secondly it is extremely difficult to implement.

first mate n. the officer second in command to the master of a merchant ship.

first minister n. the leader of the ruling political party in some regions or countries.

first name n. a personal name given to someone at birth or baptism and used before a family name.

<PHRASES>

□ on first-name terms having a friendly and informal relationship: staff and pupils were on first-name terms.

First Nation n. (in Canada) an indigenous American Indian community officially recognized as an administrative unit by the federal government or functioning as such without official status.

first night n. the first public performance of a play or show: [as modifier] first-night nerves.

first-nighter n. a person who attends a first night.

first offender n. a person who is convicted of a criminal offence for the first time.

first officer n. the first mate on a merchant ship.

- the second in command to the captain on an aircraft.

first-order adj. relating to the simplest or most fundamental level of organization, experience, or analysis; primary or immediate: for a teacher, of course, drama must be a first-order experience.

- TECHNICAL having an order of one, especially denoting mathematical equations involving only the first power of the independent variable or only the first derivative of a function.

first person n. see person (sense 2).

- (the first person) a type of narrative in which the protagonist relates their story using the first person, i.e. using the pronoun ‘I’.

first position n. 1 [BALLET] a posture in which the feet are placed turned outwards with the heels touching.

- a position of the arms in which both are held curved in front of the body at waist level, with the palms facing the body.

2 [MUSIC] the position of the hand on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument furthest from the bridge.

first post n. (in the British armed forces) the first of two bugle calls giving notice of the hour of retiring at night.

first principles plural n. the fundamental concepts or assumptions on which a theory, system, or method is based: I think we have to start again and go right back to first principles.

first-rate adj. of the best class or quality; excellent: first-rate musicians.

- in good health or condition; very well: I think you look first-rate.

first reading n. the first presentation of a bill to a legislative assembly, to permit its introduction.

first refusal n. [mass noun] the privilege of deciding whether to accept or reject something before it is offered to others: group employees have first refusal on the tickets.

First Republic the republican regime in France from the abolition of the monarchy in 1792 until Napoleon's accession as emperor in 1804.

first responder n. NORTH AMERICAN a person whose job entails being the first on the scene of an emergency, such as a firefighter or police officer.

first school n. BRITISH a school for children from five to nine years old.

first sergeant n. (in the US army) the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer in a company or equivalent unit.

First State informal name for Delaware^1.

first strike n. an attack with nuclear weapons designed to destroy the enemy's nuclear weapons before use.

First World n. the industrialized capitalist countries of western Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Compare with SECOND WORLD and THIRD WORLD.

First World War a war (1914–18) in which the Central Powers (Germany and Austria–Hungary, joined later by Turkey and Bulgaria) were defeated by an alliance of Britain and its dominions, France, Russia, and others, joined later by Italy and the US.

Political tensions over the rise of the German Empire were the war's principal cause, although it was set off by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Bosnian Serb nationalist in Sarajevo, an event used as a pretext by Austria for declaring war on Serbia. Most of the fighting took place on land in Europe and was generally characterized by long periods of bloody stalemate; the balance eventually shifted in the Allies' favour in 1917 when the US joined the war. Total casualties of the war are estimated at 10 million killed. One of the consequences of the war was the collapse of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman empires.

Firth J. R. (1890–1960), English linguist; full name John Rupert Firth. Firth was noted for his contributions to linguistic semantics and prosodic phonology and for his insistence on studying both speech sounds and words in context. He was a major influence on the development of systemic grammar.

firth n. a narrow inlet of the sea; an estuary: [in place names] the Moray Firth.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally Scots), from Old Norse fjrthr (see FJORD).

fisc /fsk/ n. [ROMAN HISTORY] the public treasury of Rome or the emperor's privy purse.

- ARCHAIC & NORTH AMERICAN a public treasury or exchequer.

- (also fisk) SCOTTISH ARCHAIC the public treasury to which estates lapse by escheat.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from Latin fiscus ‘rush basket, purse, treasury’.

fiscal /fsk(ə)l/ adj. relating to government revenue, especially taxes: monetary and fiscal policy.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN relating to financial matters: the domestic fiscal crisis.

- NORTH AMERICAN denoting a financial year: the budget deficit for fiscal 1996.

■ n. 1 ARCHAIC a legal or treasury official in some countries.

- Scottish ARCHAIC short for PROCURATOR FISCAL.

2 (also fiscal shrike) an African shrike (songbird) with black-and-white plumage.

<INFO> Genus Lanius, family Laniidae: several species.

<DERIVATIVES> fiscally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, or from Latin fiscalis, from fiscus ‘purse, treasury’ (see FISC).

fiscal drag n. [mass noun] [ECONOMICS] the deflationary effect of a progressive taxation system on a country's economy. As wages rise, a higher proportion of income is paid in tax.

fiscality n. fiscal policy or considerations.

fiscal year n. North American term for FINANCIAL YEAR.

Fischer^1 /fə/ Bobby (1943–2008), American chess player; full name Robert James Fischer. He defeated Boris Spassky in 1972 to take the world championship, which he held until 1975.

Fischer^2 /fə/ Emil Hermann (1852–1919), German organic chemist. He studied the structure of sugars, other carbohydrates, and purines, and synthesized many of them. He also confirmed that peptides and proteins consist of chains of amino acids. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1902).

Fischer^3 /fə/ German /f/ Hans (1881–1945), German organic chemist. He determined the structure of the porphyrin group of many natural pigments, including the red oxygen-carrying part of haemoglobin, the green chlorophyll pigments found in plants, and the orange bile pigment bilirubin. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1930).

Fischer-Dieskau /fədiska/ Dietrich (b.1925), German baritone. He is noted for his interpretations of German lieder, in particular Schubert's song cycles.

fish^1 n. (pl. same or fishes) 1 a limbless cold-blooded vertebrate animal with gills and fins living wholly in water: the huge lakes are now devoid of fish.

- [mass noun] the flesh of fish as food.

- (the Fish or Fishes) the zodiacal sign or constellation Pisces.

- used in names of invertebrate animals living wholly in water, e.g. cuttlefish, shellfish, jellyfish.

- INFORMAL a torpedo.

2 [with adj.] BRITISH INFORMAL a person who is strange in a specified way: he is generally thought to be a bit of a cold fish.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 catch or try to catch fish, typically by using a net or hook and line: he was fishing for pike | I've told the girls we've gone fishing.

- [with obj.] catch or try to catch fish in (a particular body of water): many of the lochs we used to fish are now affected by forestry.

2 search by groping or feeling for something concealed: he fished for his registration certificate and held it up to the policeman's torch.

- try subtly or deviously to elicit a response or some information from someone: I was not fishing for compliments.

- [with obj.] (fish something out) pull or take something out of water or a receptacle: the body of a woman had been fished out of the river.

<PHRASES>

□ all's fish that comes to the net PROVERB you can or should take advantage of anything that comes your way.

□ a big fish an important or influential person: he became a big fish in the world of politics.

□ a big fish in a small pond a person who is important only within the limited scope of a small field or group.

□ drink like a fish drink excessive amounts of alcohol.

□ a fish out of water a person in a completely unsuitable environment or situation.

□ have other (or bigger) fish to fry have other (or more important) matters to attend to.

□ like shooting fish in a barrel very easy: picking cultivated berries is like shooting fish in a barrel.

□ neither fish nor fowl (nor good red herring) of indefinite character and difficult to identify or classify.

□ there are plenty more fish in the sea used to console someone whose romantic relationship has ended by pointing out that there are many other people with whom they may have a successful relationship in the future.

<DERIVATIVES> fishable adj. fishlike adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English fisc (as a noun denoting any animal living exclusively in water), fiscian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vis, vissen and German Fisch, fischen.

<USAGE> The normal plural of fish is fish (a shoal of fish; he caught two huge fish). The older form fishes is still used, when referring to different kinds of fish (freshwater fishes of the British Isles).

fish^2 n. a flat plate that is fixed on a beam or across a joint in order to give additional strength.

- a long, slightly curved piece of wood that is lashed to a ship's damaged mast or spar as a temporary repair.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 mend or strengthen with a fish.

2 join (rails in a railway track) with a fishplate.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: probably from French fiche, from ficher ‘to fix’, based on Latin figere.

fishbowl n. a round glass bowl for keeping pet fish in.

fishcake n. a patty of shredded fish and mashed potato, typically coated in batter or breadcrumbs and fried.

fish eagle n. an eagle that catches and feeds on fish.

<INFO> Genus Haliaetus, family Accipitridae: two or three species, in particular the white-headed African fish eagle (H. vocifer).

Fisher^1 a shipping forecast area in the North Sea off northern Jutland and the mouth of the Skagerrak.

Fisher^2 Sir Ronald Aylmer (1890–1962), English statistician and geneticist. Fisher made major contributions to the development of statistics, publishing influential books on statistical theory, the design of experiments, statistical methods for research workers, and the relationship between Mendelian genetics and evolutionary theory.

fisher n. 1 a large brown marten valued for its fur, found in North American woodland where it frequently preys on porcupines.

<INFO> Martes pennanti, family Mustelidae.

2 ARCHAIC a fisherman.

<ORIGIN> Old English fiscere ‘fisherman’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch visser and German Fischer, also to fish^1.

Fisher, St John (1469–1535), English churchman. In 1504 he became bishop of Rochester and earned the disfavour of Henry VIII by opposing his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. When he refused to accept the king as supreme head of the Church, he was condemned to death. Feast day, 22 June.

fisherfolk plural n. people who catch fish for a living.

fisherman n. (pl. fishermen) a person who catches fish for a living or for sport.

fisherman bat n. another term for BULLDOG BAT.

fisherman's bend n. a knot tied by making a full turn round something (typically the ring of an anchor), a half hitch through the turn, and a half hitch round the standing part of the rope.

fisherman's knot n. a knot used to join two small ropes by tying an overhand knot in the end of each around the opposite standing part.

fisherman's rib (also fisherman knit) n. [mass noun] a type of thick ribbed knitting.

fisherwoman n. (pl. fisherwomen) a woman who catches fish, especially for a living.

fishery n. (pl. fisheries) a place where fish are reared for commercial purposes.

- a fishing ground or area where fish are caught.

- [mass noun] the occupation or industry of catching or rearing fish.

fisheye n. 1 (also fisheye lens) a very wide-angle lens with a field of vision covering up to 180°, the scale being reduced towards the edges.

2 US INFORMAL a suspicious or unfriendly look: Wally gave him the fisheye.

3 a defect in metal causing a spot to stand out brightly against its surroundings.

fish finger (North American fish stick) n. BRITISH a small oblong piece of flaked or minced fish coated in batter or breadcrumbs and fried or grilled.

fish hawk n. another term for OSPREY.

fishing n. [mass noun] the activity of catching fish, either for food or as a sport.

<PHRASES>

□ fishing expedition a search or investigation undertaken with the hope, though not the stated purpose, of discovering information: they worried about an FBI fishing expedition.

fishing cat n. a small wild cat found in wetland habitats in India and SE Asia, having a light brown coat with dark spots, a ringed tail, and slightly webbed paws.

<INFO> Felis viverrina, family Felidae.

fishing fly n. a natural or artificial flying insect used as bait in fishing.

fishing line n. a long thread of silk or nylon attached to a baited hook, with a sinker or float, and used for catching fish.

fishing pole n. NORTH AMERICAN a fishing rod, especially a simple one with no reel.

fishing rod n. a long, tapering rod to which a fishing line is attached, typically on a reel.

fish kettle n. an oval pan for cooking a whole fish.

fish knife n. a blunt knife with a broad blade for eating or serving fish.

fish ladder n. a series of pools built like steps to enable fish to ascend a dam or waterfall.

fish louse n. an aquatic crustacean which is a parasite of fish, typically attached to the skin or gills:

<INFO>

- a free-swimming crustacean with a shield-like carapace and a pair of suckers (class Branchiura: several genera, in particular Argulus).

- an elongated crustacean that becomes permanently attached to the host and typically highly modified (class Copepoda: several orders and numerous species).

fishmeal n. [mass noun] ground dried fish used as fertilizer or animal feed.

fishmonger n. a person or shop that sells fish for food.

fishnet n. [mass noun] a fabric with an open mesh resembling a fishing net: [as modifier] black fishnet stockings.

fishplate n. a flat piece of metal used to connect adjacent rails in a railway track.

- a flat piece of metal with ends like a fish's tail, used to position masonry.

fish slice n. BRITISH a kitchen utensil with a broad flat blade for lifting fish and fried foods.

fishtail n. 1 [usually as modifier] an object which is forked like a fish's tail: fishtail battlements.

2 an uncontrolled sideways movement of the back of a motor vehicle: he hit the brake, sending the car into a fishtail that carried him across the street.

■ v. [no obj.] [usually with adverbial of direction] (of a vehicle) make an uncontrolled sideways movement: the vehicle fishtailed from one side of the road to the other.

fishway n. another term for FISH LADDER.

fishwife n. (pl. fishwives) 1 a coarse-mannered woman who is prone to shouting.

2 ARCHAIC a woman who sells fish.

fishy adj. (fishier, fishiest) 1 relating to or resembling fish or a fish: a fishy smell.

2 INFORMAL arousing feelings of doubt or suspicion: I'm convinced there is something fishy going on.

<DERIVATIVES> fishily adv. fishiness n.

fissile /fsl/ adj. 1 (of an atom or element) able to undergo nuclear fission: a fissile isotope.

2 (chiefly of rock) easily split.

<DERIVATIVES> fissility /-slti/ n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘easily split’): from Latin fissilis, from fiss- ‘split, cracked’, from the verb findere.

fission /f(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] division or splitting into two or more parts: the party dissolved into fission and acrimony.

- [BIOLOGY] reproduction by means of a cell or organism dividing into two or more new cells or organisms: bacteria divide by transverse binary fission.

■ short for NUCLEAR FISSION.

■ v. [no obj.] (chiefly of atoms) undergo fission: these heavy nuclei can also fission.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin fissio(n-), from findere ‘to split’.

fissionable adj. another term for FISSILE.

fission bomb n. another term for ATOM BOMB.

fission-track dating n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a technique for establishing the age of a mineral sample from its uranium content. It involves microscopically counting tracks produced by uranium fission fragments and then establishing the existing concentration of uranium by counting again after irradiating the sample with neutrons.

fissiparous /fsp(ə)rəs/ adj. inclined to cause or undergo division into separate parts or groups.

- [BIOLOGY] (of an organism) reproducing by fission: small fissiparous worms.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin fissus, past participle of findere ‘split’, on the pattern of viviparous.

fissure /fə/ n. 1 a long, narrow opening or line of breakage made by cracking or splitting, especially in rock or earth.

- [ANATOMY] a long, narrow opening, e.g. any of the spaces separating convolutions of the brain.

2 a state of incompatibility or disagreement: a fissure between philosophy and reality.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. fissured) split or crack (something) to form a long, narrow opening: low cliffs of fissured Silurian rock.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin fissura, from findere ‘to split’.

fissure of Sylvius /slvəs/ n. another term for SYLVIAN FISSURE.

fist n. a person's hand when the fingers are bent in towards the palm and held there tightly, typically in order to strike a blow or grasp something.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] strike with the fist: he fisted a goal-bound shot over the bar.

2 [with obj.] clench (the hand or fingers) into a fist: she fisted her hands on her hips.

3 (also fist-fuck) [with obj.] VULGAR SLANG penetrate (a person's anus or vagina) with one's fist.

<PHRASES>

□ make a —— fist of INFORMAL do something to the specified degree of success: they're all solid citizens, all capable of making a good fist of being an MP.

<DERIVATIVES> fisted adj. [in combination] a bare-fisted combat fistful n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fȳst, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vuist and German Faust.

fist fight n. a fight with the fists.

<DERIVATIVES> fist fighting n.

fistic /fstk/ adj. HUMOROUS relating to boxing.

fisticuffs plural n. fighting with the fists.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: probably from obsolete fisty ‘relating to the fists or to fist fighting’ + CUFF^2.

fistula /fstjlə/ n. (pl. fistulas or fistulae /-li/) MEDICINE an abnormal or surgically made passage between a hollow or tubular organ and the body surface, or between two hollow or tubular organs.

<DERIVATIVES> fistular adj. fistulous adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘pipe, flute, fistula’. Compare with FESTER.

fit^1 adj. (fitter, fittest) 1 [predic.] of a suitable quality, standard, or type to meet the required purpose: the house was not fit for human habitation | [with infinitive] is the water clean and fit to drink?

- having the requisite qualities or skills to undertake something competently: [with infinitive] the party was fit to govern.

- suitable and correct according to accepted social standards: a fit subject on which to correspond.

- [with infinitive] INFORMAL having reached such an extreme condition as to be on the point of doing the thing specified: he baited even his close companions until they were fit to kill him.

- INFORMAL ready: well, are you fit?

2 in good health, especially because of regular physical exercise: my family keep fit by walking and cycling | FIGURATIVE the measures would ensure a leaner, fitter company.

- British INFORMAL sexually attractive; good-looking.

■ v. (fits, fitting, fitted or US also fit) [with obj.] 1 be of the right shape and size for: those jeans still fit me | [no obj.] the shoes fitted better after being stretched.

- (usually be fitted for) try clothing on (someone) in order to make or alter it to the correct size: she was about to be fitted for her costume.

- [no obj., with adverbial of place] be of the right size, shape, or number to occupy a particular place: Fiona says we can all fit in her car.

2 install or fix (something) into place: they fitted smoke alarms to their home.

- (often be fitted with) provide (something) with a particular component or article: most tools can be fitted with a new handle.

- join or cause to join together to form a whole: [no obj.] their bodies fitted together perfectly | [with obj.] many physicists tried to fit together the various pieces of the puzzle.

3 be compatible or in agreement with; match: the landlord had not seen anyone fitting that description.

- be suitable or appropriate for: the punishment should fit the crime.

- (of an attribute, qualification, or skill) make (someone) suitable to fulfil a particular role or undertake a particular task: an MSc fits the student for a professional career.

■ n. the particular way in which something, especially a garment or component, fits: the dress was a perfect fit.

- the particular way in which things match: a close fit between teachers' qualifications and their teaching responsibilities.

- [STATISTICS] the correspondence between observed data and the values expected by theory.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) fit as a fiddle see FIDDLE.

□ fit for purpose (of an institution, facility, etc.) well equipped or well suited for its designated role or purpose.

□ fit like a GLOVE see GLOVE.

□ fit the bill see bill^1.

□ fit to be tied INFORMAL very angry.

□ fit to bust INFORMAL with great energy: they laughed fit to bust.

□ see (or think) fit consider it correct or acceptable to do something: why did the company see fit to give you the job?

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ fit in be socially compatible with other members of a group: he feels he should become tough to fit in with his friends.

- be in harmony with other elements in a situation: her project fitted in with the organization's general aims.

- (also fit into) constitute part of a situation or larger structure: I don't think I fit into his plans for next season.

□ fit someone/thing in (or into) find room or have sufficient space for someone or something: can you fit any more water into the jug?

- succeed in finding time in a busy schedule to see someone or do something: I could fit you in at 3.45 this afternoon.

□ fit someone/thing out (or up) provide someone or something with the necessary equipment, clothes, or other items for a particular situation: the cabin had been fitted out to a high standard.

□ fit someone up BRITISH INFORMAL incriminate someone by falsifying evidence against them.

<DERIVATIVES> fitly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

fit^2 n. 1 a sudden attack of convulsions and/or loss of consciousness, typical of epilepsy and some other medical conditions: the child had frequent fits.

2 a sudden short period of uncontrollable coughing, laughter, etc.

- a sudden burst of intense emotion: he had killed her in a fit of jealous rage.

■ v. [no obj.] have an epileptic fit: he started fitting uncontrollably.

<PHRASES>

□ give someone a fit INFORMAL greatly shock or anger someone.

□ have (or throw) a fit INFORMAL be very shocked or angry.

□ in fits (of laughter) INFORMAL highly amused: he had us all in fits.

□ in (or by) fits and starts with irregular bursts of activity: the economy was recovering in fits and starts.

<ORIGIN> Old English fitt ‘conflict’, in Middle English ‘position of danger or excitement’, also ‘short period’; the sense ‘sudden attack of illness’ dates from the mid 16th cent.

fit^3 (also fytte) n. ARCHAIC a section of a poem.

<ORIGIN> Old English fitt, perhaps the same word as fit^2, or related to German Fitze ‘skein of yarn’, in the obsolete sense ‘thread with which weavers mark off a day's work’.

fitch n.

■ old-fashioned term for POLECAT.

- [mass noun] the fur of a polecat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the fur of a polecat): from Middle Dutch visse ‘polecat’. Compare with FITCHEW.

fitché /fte/ (also fitchy or fitched) adj. [HERALDRY] (of a cross) having the foot extended into a point.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French fiché, past participle of ficher ‘to fix’.

fitchew /ftu/ n. archaic term for POLECAT.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ficheau, fissel, diminutive related to Middle Dutch visse. Compare with FITCH.

fitful adj. active or occurring spasmodically or intermittently; not regular or steady: a few hours' fitful sleep | business was fitful.

<DERIVATIVES> fitfulness n.

fitfully adv. not regularly or continuously; intermittently: he slept fitfully.

fitment n. (usually fitments) BRITISH a fixed item of furniture or piece of equipment, especially in a house.

fitna /ftnə/ (also fitnah) n. [mass noun] [ISLAM] unrest or rebellion, especially against a rightful ruler.

<ORIGIN> Arabic fitnah ‘rebellion, strife’.

fitness n. [mass noun] 1 the condition of being physically fit and healthy: disease and lack of fitness are closely related | [as modifier] a fitness test.

- [BIOLOGY] an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.

2 (fitness for/to do) the quality of being suitable to fulfil a particular role or task: the medical board assessed his fitness for active service.

fit-out n. an act of providing the necessary equipment for a house or flat, especially the final decoration and fitments.

fitted adj. 1 made or shaped to fill a space or to cover something closely or exactly: the blouse has a fitted bodice | navy-blue fitted sheets.

- BRITISH (of a carpet) cut and laid to cover a floor completely.

- chiefly BRITISH (of furniture) built to be fixed into a particular space: a fitted wardrobe.

- chiefly BRITISH (of a room) equipped with matching units of fitted furniture: a fitted kitchen.

2 attached to or provided with a particular component or article: a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.

3 (fitted for/to do) having the appropriate qualities or skills to do something: I don't think he was fitted for the job.

fitter n. 1 a person who puts together or installs machinery, engine parts, or other equipment: a qualified gas fitter | kitchen fitters.

2 a person who supervises the cutting, fitting, or alteration of garments or shoes.

fitting n. 1 (often fittings) a small part on or attached to a piece of furniture or equipment: the wooden fittings were made of walnut.

- (fittings) chiefly BRITISH items, such as a cooker or shelves, which are fixed in a building but can be removed when the owner moves: little remains of the house's Victorian fittings. Compare with fixture (sense 1).

2 [mass noun] the action of fitting something: the fitting of new engines by the shipyard.

- [count noun] an occasion when one tries on a garment that is being made or altered for one: she's coming tomorrow for a fitting.

■ adj. 1 suitable or appropriate under the circumstances; right or proper: a fitting reward | [with clause] it was fitting that his last innings for Middlesex should bring him his highest first-class score.

2 [in combination] fitted around or to something or someone in a specified way: loose-fitting trousers.

<DERIVATIVES> fittingly adv. fittingness n.

fitting room n. a room in a shop in which one can try on clothes before deciding whether to purchase them.

fitting shop n. a part of a factory where machine parts are put together.

Fittipaldi /ftpaldi/ Emerson (b.1946), Brazilian motor-racing driver. He was the Formula One world champion in 1972 and 1974, and won the Indianapolis 500 in 1989.

fit-up n. BRITISH INFORMAL 1 an instance of incriminating someone by falsifying evidence against them.

2 DATED a temporary stage or other piece of theatrical equipment.

Fitzgerald^1 /ftsdεr(ə)ld/ Edward (1809–83), English scholar and poet. Notable works: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (translation, 1859).

Fitzgerald^2 /ftsdεr(ə)ld/ Ella (1917–96), American jazz singer, known for her distinctive style of scat singing.

Fitzgerald^3 /ftsdεr(ə)ld/ F. Scott (1896–1940), American novelist; full name Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. His novels, in particular The Great Gatsby (1925), provide a vivid portrait of the US during the jazz era of the 1920s.

FitzGerald contraction (also FitzGerald–Lorentz contraction) n. [PHYSICS] the shortening of a moving body in the direction of its motion, especially at speeds close to that of light.

<ORIGIN> named after George. F. FitzGerald (1851–1901), Irish physicist, and H. A.

■ Lorentz, who independently postulated the theory in 1892.

Fitzroy /ftsr/ a shipping forecast area covering part of the Atlantic off NW Spain, west of the Bay of Biscay. Formerly (until 2002) called FINISTERRE (see FINISTERRE, CAPE).

Fiume /fjume/ Italian name for RIJEKA.

five cardinal number equivalent to the sum of two and three; one more than four, or half of ten; 5: five minutes later she came back | five of Sweden's top financial experts. (Roman numeral: v, V)

- a group or unit of five people or things: the bulbs are planted in threes or fives.

- five years old: Vic moved to Darlington when he was five.

- five o'clock: we left at half past five.

- a size of garment or other merchandise denoted by five.

- a playing card or domino with five pips.

<ORIGIN> Old English fīf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vijf and German fünf, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin quinque and Greek pente.

five-alarm adj. [attr.] US INFORMAL (of a fire) very large or fierce.

- (of food, such as chillies) extremely pungent or hot.

five-and-dime (also five-and-dime store or five-and-ten) n. NORTH AMERICAN a shop selling a wide variety of inexpensive household and personal goods.

- HISTORICAL a shop where all the articles were priced at five or ten cents.

five-a-side n. [mass noun] BRITISH a form of soccer with five players in each team, typically played on an indoor pitch: [as modifier] a five-a-side tournament.

five-corner (also five-corners) n. an Australian shrub that has stiff pointed leaves, tubular flowers, and five-cornered fruit.

<INFO> Genus Styphelia, family Epacridaceae: several species.

- the pentagonal fruit of the five-corner shrub.

five-eighth n. [RUGBY], chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ a player positioned between the scrum half and the three-quarters.

five finger (also five fingers) n. any of a number of plants with leaves that are divided into five leaflets or with flowers that have five petals, such as cinquefoil.

five-finger discount n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an act of shoplifting.

five-finger exercise n. an exercise on the piano for all the fingers on both hands.

- an easy task.

fivefold adj. five times as great or as numerous: a fivefold increase in funding.

- having five parts or elements: fivefold rotational symmetry.

■ adv. by five times; to five times the number or amount: the unemployment rate rose almost fivefold.

five hundred n. [mass noun] a form of euchre (card game) in which making 500 points wins a game.

five Ks plural n. (the five Ks)

■ see KHALSA.

Five Nations plural n. 1 [treated as sing.]

■ former name for Six Nations (sense 1).

2 the Iroquois confederacy as originally formed, including the Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, Onondaga, and Cayuga peoples. Compare with Six Nations (sense 2).

five o'clock shadow n. a dark appearance on a man's chin and face caused by the slight growth of beard that has occurred since he shaved in the morning.

Five Pillars of Islam the five duties expected of every Muslim: profession of the faith in a prescribed form, observance of ritual prayer, giving alms to the poor, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and performing a pilgrimage to Mecca.

fiver n. BRITISH INFORMAL a five-pound note.

- NORTH AMERICAN a five-dollar bill.

fives plural n. [treated as sing.] a game, played especially in the UK, in which a ball is hit with a gloved hand or a bat against the walls of a court with three walls (Eton fives) or four walls (Rugby fives).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: plural of FIVE used as a singular noun; the significance is unknown.

five senses plural n. the faculties of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.

five-spice (also five-spice powder) n. [mass noun] a blend of five powdered spices, typically fennel seeds, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and peppercorns, used in Chinese cuisine.

five-star adj. having five stars in a grading system in which this denotes the highest standard: a five-star restaurant. [<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from a system used to grade hotels, the highest grade being indicated by five asterisks or stars.]

- having or denoting the highest military rank, distinguished in the US armed forces by five stars on the uniform: a five-star general.

fivestones n. BRITISH a game of jacks played with five pieces of metal or stone and usually no ball.

five-year plan n. (especially in the former Soviet Union) a government plan for economic development over five years. The first such plan in the Soviet Union was inaugurated in 1928.

fix v. [with obj.] 1 [with obj. and adverbial of place] fasten (something) securely in a particular place or position: they had candles fixed to their helmets | FIGURATIVE her words have remained fixed in my memory.

- (fix something on/upon) direct one's eyes, mind, or attention steadily or unwaveringly towards: Ben nodded, his eyes fixed on the ground.

- [no obj.] (fix on/upon) (of a person's eyes, attention, or mind) be directed steadily or unwaveringly towards: her gaze fixed on Jess.

- (fix someone with) look at someone unwaveringly: Cowley fixed him with a cold stare.

2 decide or settle on (a specific price, date, course of action, etc.): no date has yet been fixed for a hearing.

- arrange (something) on a permanent basis: the rate of interest is fixed for the life of the loan.

- establish the exact location of (something) by using radar or visual bearings or astronomical observation: having made landfall, he fixed his position.

- settle the form of (a language).

- assign or determine (a person's liability or responsibility) for legal purposes: there are no facts which fix the defendant with liability.

3 mend or repair: you've forgotten to fix that shelf.

- (fix something up) do the necessary work to improve or adapt something: we were trying to fix up the house so that it became vaguely comfortable.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN tidy or neaten (something, especially one's hair, clothes, or make-up).

4 make arrangements for (something); organize: Harry's fixed up a meeting | [no obj.] I've fixed for you to see him on Thursday.

- (fix someone up) INFORMAL arrange for someone to have something; provide someone with something: I'll fix you up with a room.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN prepare or arrange for the provision of (food or drink): [with two objs] Ruth fixed herself a cold drink.

- (be fixing to do something) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be intending or planning to do something: I'm fixing to call the state patrol.

5 make (a dye, photographic image, or drawing) permanent.

- [BIOLOGY] preserve or stabilize (a specimen) with a chemical substance prior to microscopy or other examination: specimens were fixed in buffered formalin.

- (of a plant or micro-organism) assimilate (nitrogen or carbon dioxide) by forming a non-gaseous compound: lupins fix gaseous nitrogen in their root nodules.

6 INFORMAL influence the outcome of (something, especially a race, match, or election) by illegal or underhand means: the club attempted to fix last Thursday's league match.

- take revenge on or punish (someone): that little swine–I'll fix him next time.

7 [no obj.] INFORMAL take an injection of a narcotic drug.

8 NORTH AMERICAN castrate or spay (an animal).

■ n. 1 [in sing.] INFORMAL a difficult or awkward situation from which it is hard to extricate oneself; a predicament: how on earth did you get into such a fix?

2 INFORMAL a dose of a narcotic drug to which one is addicted: he hadn't had his fix.

- an experience of something from which one derives great pleasure or stimulation: get your coffee fix at home with this state-of-the-art espresso-maker.

3 INFORMAL a solution to a problem, especially one that is hastily devised or makeshift: there is going to be no quick fix to the recession.

4 a position determined by visual or radio bearings or astronomical observations.

5 [in sing.] INFORMAL a dishonest or underhand arrangement: obviously, his appointment was a fix.

<PHRASES>

□ get a fix on determine the position of (something) by visual or radio bearings or astronomical observation.

- INFORMAL assess or determine the nature or facts of: it is hard to get a fix on their ages.

<DERIVATIVES> fixable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: partly from Old French fix ‘fixed’, partly from medieval Latin fixare ‘to fix’, both from Latin fixus, past participle of figere ‘fix, fasten’. The noun dates from the early 19th cent.

fixate /fkset/ v. [with obj.] 1 (often be fixated on/upon) cause (someone) to develop an obsessive attachment to someone or something: he became fixated on the idea of a Third World War.

- [no obj.] (fixate on/upon) develop a fixation with: erotomaniacs are convinced that the person they have fixated on loves them in return.

- (in Freudian theory) arrest (a person or their libidinal energy) at an immature stage, causing an obsessive attachment.

2 TECHNICAL direct one's eyes towards: subjects fixated a central point.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin fixus, past participle of figere (see FIX) + -ATE^3.

fixation n. [mass noun] 1 an obsessive interest in or feeling about someone or something: our fixation with diet and fitness.

- [PSYCHOANALYSIS] (in Freudian theory) the arresting of part of the libido at an immature stage, causing an obsessive attachment: fixation at the oral phase might result in dependence on others.

2 the action or process of fixing or being fixed: sand-dune fixation.

- the process by which some plants and micro-organisms assimilate nitrogen or carbon dioxide.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as an alchemical term denoting the process of reducing a volatile spirit or essence to a permanent bodily form): from medieval Latin fixatio(n-), from fixare (see FIX).

fixative /fksətv/ n. 1 a chemical substance used to preserve or stabilize biological material prior to microscopy or other examination.

- a substance used to stabilize the volatile components of perfume.

- a liquid sprayed on to a pastel or charcoal drawing to fix colours or prevent smudging.

2 a substance used to keep things in position or stick them together: the swift glues these thin twigs to a wall using its own saliva as a fixative.

■ adj. (of a substance) used to fix or stabilize something.

fixed adj. 1 fastened securely in position: a fixed iron ladder down the port side.

- (of a person's expression) held for a long time without changing, especially to conceal other feelings: a fixed smile.

2 (especially of a price, rate, or time) predetermined and not able to be changed: loans are provided for a fixed period.

- (of a view or idea) firm or inflexible: the fixed assumptions of the Cold War.

3 (fixed for) INFORMAL situated with regard to: how's the club fixed for money now?

<DERIVATIVES> fixedly adv. fixedness n.

fixed assets plural n. assets which are purchased for long-term use and are not likely to be converted quickly into cash, such as land, buildings, and equipment. Compare with CURRENT ASSETS.

fixed capital n. [mass noun] capital invested in fixed assets.

fixed charge n. a liability to a creditor which relates to specific assets of a company. Compare with FLOATING CHARGE.

fixed costs plural n. business costs, such as rent, that are constant whatever the amount of goods produced.

fixed-doh (also fixed-do) adj. denoting a system of solmization in which C is called ‘doh’, D is called ‘ray’, etc., irrespective of the key in which they occur. Compare with MOVABLE-DOH.

fixed focus n. a camera focus that cannot be adjusted, typically used with a small-aperture lens having a large depth of field.

fixed idea n. another term for idée fixe.

fixed income n. an income from a pension or investment that is set at a particular figure and does not vary like a dividend or rise with the rate of inflation.

fixed odds plural n. odds in betting (especially on soccer results) that are predetermined, as opposed to a pool system or a starting price.

fixed oil n. a non-volatile oil of animal or plant origin.

fixed point n. 1 [PHYSICS] a well-defined reproducible temperature which can be used as a reference point, e.g. one defined by a change of phase.

2 [as modifier] [COMPUTING] denoting a mode of representing a number by a single sequence of digits whose values depend on their location relative to a predetermined radix point. Often contrasted with FLOATING-POINT.

fixed-wing adj. denoting aircraft of the conventional type as opposed to those with rotating wings, such as helicopters.

fixer n. 1 a person who makes arrangements for other people, especially of an illicit or devious kind.

2 [mass noun] a substance used for fixing a photographic image.

fixer-upper n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a house in need of repairs (used chiefly in connection with the purchase of such a house).

fixing n. 1 [mass noun] the action of fixing something: artificial price fixing.

2 (fixings) BRITISH screws, bolts, or other items used to fix or assemble building material, furniture, or equipment: masonry fixings.

3 NORTH AMERICAN the ingredients necessary to make a dish or meal: have all the fixings ready before starting.

- apparatus or equipment for a particular purpose: picnic fixings.

fixit n. [usually as modifier] INFORMAL an act of repairing or putting something right: a fixit shop.

- a person known for repairing things or putting things in order: he pictured himself as a Mr Fixit.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Little Miss Fixit, the title of a musical show.

fixity n. [mass noun] the state of being unchanging or permanent: the fixity of his stare.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting the property of a substance of not evaporating or losing weight when heated): partly from obsolete fix ‘fixed’, partly from French fixité.

fixture /fkstə -tjə/ n. 1 a piece of equipment or furniture which is fixed in position in a building or vehicle: plumbing fixtures.

- (fixtures) articles attached to a house or land and considered legally part of it so that they normally remain in place when an owner moves: the hotel retains many original fixtures and fittings. Compare with fitting (sense 1 of the noun).

- INFORMAL a person or thing that is well established in a particular place or situation: the midfielder is set to become a permanent fixture in the England line-up.

2 BRITISH a sporting event arranged to take place on a particular date: the team's last away fixture of the season.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘fixing, becoming fixed’): alteration (first found in Shakespeare) of obsolete fixure (from late Latin fixura, from Latin figere ‘to fix’), with t inserted on the pattern of mixture.

fizgig /fz/ n. 1 ARCHAIC a silly or flirtatious young woman.

2 ARCHAIC a kind of small firework.

3 AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a police informer.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: probably from FIZZ + obsolete gig ‘flighty girl’. Compare with gig^1 and WHIRLIGIG.

fizz v. [no obj.] (of a liquid) produce bubbles of gas and make a hissing sound: his lemonade was still fizzing at the top of the glass.

- make a buzzing or crackling sound: carbide lamps fizzed in the darkness.

- [with adverbial] FIGURATIVE move with or display excitement, exuberance, or liveliness: anticipation began to fizz through his veins.

■ n. [mass noun] the quality of being fizzy; effervescence: the champagne had lost its fizz.

- INFORMAL an effervescent drink, especially sparkling wine: a glass of your favourite fizz.

- FIGURATIVE exuberance or liveliness: she saw I had lost some of my fizz.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: imitative.

fizzer n. INFORMAL 1 BRITISH an outstandingly lively, energetic, or excellent thing: that fizzer of a letter.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a failure or fiasco: the greatest fizzer in the history of Australian politics.

fizzle v. [no obj.] make a feeble hissing or spluttering sound: the strobe lights fizzled and flickered.

- end or fail in a weak or disappointing way: their threatened revolt fizzled out at yesterday's meeting.

■ n. a feeble hissing or spluttering sound.

- a failure.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘break wind quietly’): probably imitative (compare with FIZZ), but perhaps related to Middle English fist (see FEISTY). Current senses date from the 19th cent.

fizzy adj. (fizzier, fizziest) (of a drink) containing bubbles of gas; effervescent: fizzy mineral water.

- FIGURATIVE full of energy or exuberance; lively: fizzy new wave pop.

<DERIVATIVES> fizzily adv. fizziness n.

fjord /fjd fird/ (also fiord) n. a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs, as in Norway, typically formed by submergence of a glaciated valley.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: Norwegian, from Old Norse fjrthr. Compare with FIRTH.

FL abbr.

- Florida (in official postal use).

- Liechtenstein (international vehicle registration). [<ORIGIN> from German Fürstentum Liechtenstein ‘Principality of Liechtenstein’.]

fl. abbr.

- floor.

- floruit.

- fluid.

Fla abbr. Florida.

flab n. [mass noun] INFORMAL soft loose flesh on a person's body; fat.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: back-formation from FLABBY.

flabbergast /flabəαst/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. flabbergasted) INFORMAL surprise (someone) greatly; astonish: this news has left me totally flabbergasted.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

flabby adj. (flabbier, flabbiest) (of a part of a person's body) soft, loose, and fleshy: this exercise helps to flatten a flabby stomach.

- having soft, loose flesh; overweight.

- FIGURATIVE lacking strength, vitality, or effectiveness: flabby, colourless prose.

<DERIVATIVES> flabbily adv. flabbiness n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: alteration of earlier flappy.

flaccid /flasd flaksd/ adj. (of part of the body) soft and hanging loosely or limply, especially so as to look or feel unpleasant: she took his flaccid hand in hers.

- (of plant tissue) drooping or inelastic through lack of water.

- FIGURATIVE lacking vigour or effectiveness: the flaccid leadership campaign was causing concern.

<DERIVATIVES> flaccidity /fləksdti fləsd-/ n. flaccidly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French flaccide or Latin flaccidus, from flaccus ‘flabby’.

flack^1 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. a publicity agent.

■ v. [with obj.] publicize or promote: each author is flacking his ‘exclusive’ account of the whole mess.

<DERIVATIVES> flackery n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: of unknown origin.

flacon /flak flak(ə)n/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) a small stoppered bottle, especially one for perfume.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, ‘flask’.

flag^1 n. 1 a piece of cloth or similar material, typically oblong or square, attachable by one edge to a pole or rope and used as the symbol or emblem of a country or institution or as a decoration during public festivities: the American flag.

- used in reference to one's home country or its system of beliefs and values: he pledged allegiance to the flag.

- the ensign carried by a flagship as an emblem of an admiral's rank: Hawke first hoisted his flag at Spithead.

2 a small piece of cloth attached at one edge to a pole and used as a marker or signal in various sports: the flag's up.

- a drawing or symbol resembling a flag, used as a marker: golf courses are indicated by a numbered flag on the map.

- a small paper badge given to people who donate to a charity appeal in the street.

- a mechanism that can be raised to indicate that a taxi is for hire.

3 [COMPUTING] a variable used to indicate a particular property of the data in a record.

■ v. (flags, flagging, flagged) [with obj.] 1 mark (an item) for attention or treatment in a specified way: the spellcheck program flags any words that are not in its dictionary.

- draw attention to: cancer was flagged up as a priority area for research.

2 (flag someone/thing down) signal to a vehicle or driver to stop, especially by waving one's arm: she flagged down a police patrol car.

- (flag someone/thing off) wave a flag at someone or something as a starting signal: the vintage car fiesta will be flagged off by the minister for tourism.

- [no obj.] (of an official) raise a flag to draw the referee's attention to a breach of the rules in soccer, rugby, and other sports: the goalkeeper brought down Hendrie and a linesman immediately flagged.

3 provide or decorate with a flag or flags.

- register (a vessel) in a particular country, under whose flag it then sails.

<PHRASES>

□ fly the flag (of a ship) be registered in a particular country and sail under its flag.

- (also show or carry or wave the flag) represent or demonstrate support for one's country, political party, or organization, especially when one is abroad: he will be flying the flag for British fashion on the Paris catwalks.

□ put the flags (or flag) out celebrate: temperatures are increasing again—that's why we're putting out the flags.

□ show the flag (of a naval vessel) make an official visit to a foreign port, especially as a show of strength.

□ wrap oneself in the flag chiefly NORTH AMERICAN make an excessive show of one's patriotism, especially for political ends.

<DERIVATIVES> flagger n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps from obsolete flag ‘drooping’, of unknown ultimate origin.

flag^2 n. a flat stone slab, typically rectangular or square, used for paving.

<DERIVATIVES> flagged adj. [often in combination] stone-flagged steps

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘turf, sod’): probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Icelandic flag ‘spot from which a sod has been cut’ and Old Norse flaga ‘slab of stone’.

flag^3 n. a plant with sword-shaped leaves that grow from a rhizome:

<INFO>

- a plant of the iris family (genus Iris, family Iridaceae). See yellow flag (sense 2)

- see SWEET FLAG

- the long slender leaf of a flag.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: related to Middle Dutch flag and Danish flæg; of unknown ultimate origin.

flag^4 v. (flags, flagging, flagged) [no obj.] become tired or less enthusiastic or dynamic: if you begin to flag, there is an excellent cafe to revive you | (as adj. flagging) an attempt to resurrect his flagging career.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘flap about loosely, hang down’): related to obsolete flag ‘hanging down’.

flag boat n. a boat serving as a mark in sailing matches.

flag captain n. the captain of a flagship.

flag day n. 1 BRITISH a day on which money is collected for a charity in the street and donors are given small paper badges to show they have contributed.

2 (Flag Day) (in the US) 14 June, the anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes in 1777.

flagellant /flad(ə)l(ə)nt flədεl(ə)nt/ n. a person who subjects themselves or others to flogging, either as a religious discipline or for sexual gratification.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin flagellant- ‘whipping’, from the verb flagellare, from flagellum ‘whip’ (see FLAGELLUM).

flagellate^1 /flad(ə)let/ v. [with obj.] flog (someone), either as a religious discipline or for sexual gratification: he flagellated himself with branches.

<DERIVATIVES> flagellator n. flagellatory /-lət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin flagellat- ‘whipped’, from flagellare.

flagellate^2 /flad(ə)lət -et/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a protozoan that has one or more flagella used for swimming.

<INFO> Several phyla in the kingdom Protista (formerly subphylum Mastigophora, phylum Protozoa), including forms such as euglena that are sometimes regarded as algae.

■ adj. (of a cell or single-celled organism) bearing one or more flagella.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from FLAGELLUM + -ATE^2.

flagellation /fladəle(ə)n/ n. flogging or beating, either as a religious discipline or for sexual gratification: pursuing the path of penance and flagellation.

flagellum /flədεləm/ n. (pl. flagella) [BIOLOGY] a slender thread-like structure, especially a microscopic whip-like appendage which enables many protozoa, bacteria, spermatozoa, etc. to swim.

<DERIVATIVES> flagellar adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting a whip or scourge): from Latin, diminutive of flagrum ‘scourge’.

flageolet^1 /fladəlεt fladəlt fla(d)əle/ n. (also French flageolet) a very small flute-like instrument resembling a recorder but with four finger holes on top and two thumb holes below.

■ another term for TIN WHISTLE.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, diminutive of Old French flageol, from Provençal flaujol, of unknown origin.

flageolet^2 /fla(d)əle fladəlεt/ n. a French kidney bean of a small variety used in cooking.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, based on Latin phaseolus ‘bean’.

flagfish n. (pl. same or flagfishes) any of a number of small fish with prominent or boldly marked fins, in particular:

<INFO>

- a colourful freshwater fish with spots and iridescent scales, native to Florida (Jordanella floridae, family Cyprinodontidae).

- a marine fish with a dark-barred tail, of shallow Indo-Pacific waters (Kuhlia taeniurus, family Kuhliidae).

flagitious /flədəs/ adj. FORMAL (of a person or their actions) criminal; villainous.

<DERIVATIVES> flagitiously adv. flagitiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin flagitiosus, from flagitium ‘importunity, shameful crime’, from flagitare ‘demand earnestly’.

flag lieutenant n. a lieutenant acting as an admiral's aide-de-camp.

flagman n. (pl. flagmen) a person who gives signals with a flag, especially at horse races or on railway lines.

flag of convenience n. a flag of a country under which a ship is registered in order to avoid financial charges or restrictive regulations in the owner's country.

flag officer n. an admiral, vice admiral, or rear admiral, or the commodore of a yacht club.

flag of truce n. a white flag indicating a desire for a truce.

flagon /fla(ə)n/ n. a large container in which drink is served, typically with a handle and spout: a silver flagon.

- the amount of liquid held in a flagon: a flagon of beer.

- a container similar to a flagon used to hold the wine for the Eucharist.

- a large bottle in which wine or cider is sold, typically holding 1.13 litres (about 2 pints).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French flacon, based on late Latin flasco, flascon-, of unknown origin. Compare with FLASK.

flagpole n. a pole used for flying a flag.

<PHRASES>

□ run something up the flagpole (to see who salutes) test the popularity of a new idea or proposal: the idea was first run up the flagpole in 1997.

flag rank n. [mass noun] the rank attained by flag officers.

flagrant /fler(ə)nt/ adj. (of an action considered wrong or immoral) conspicuously or obviously offensive: a flagrant violation of the law.

<DERIVATIVES> flagrancy n. flagrantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘blazing, resplendent’): from French, or from Latin flagrant- ‘blazing’, from the verb flagrare.

flagship n. the ship in a fleet which carries the commanding admiral.

- the best or most important thing owned or produced by a particular organization: this bill is the flagship of the government's legislative programme.

flagstaff /flastαf/ n. another term for FLAGPOLE.

flagstone n. a flat stone slab, typically rectangular or square, used for paving.

<DERIVATIVES> flagstoned adj.

flag-waving n. [mass noun] the expression of patriotism in a populist and emotional way: [as modifier] flag-waving conservatism.

<DERIVATIVES> flag-waver n.

flail /flel/ n. a threshing tool consisting of a wooden staff with a short heavy stick swinging from it.

- a similar device used as a weapon or for flogging.

■ v. 1 wave or cause to wave wildly: [no obj.] his arms flailed as he sought to maintain his balance.

- [no obj.] flounder; struggle uselessly: I was flailing about in the water.

2 [with obj.] beat or flog: he escorted them, flailing their shoulders with his cane.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of West Germanic origin, based on Latin flagellum ‘whip’ (see FLAGELLUM); probably influenced in Middle English by Old French flaiel or Dutch vlegel.

flair n. 1 [in sing.] a special or instinctive aptitude or ability for doing something well: she had a flair for languages | [mass noun] none of us had much artistic flair.

2 [mass noun] stylishness and originality: she dressed with flair.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from flairer ‘to smell’, based on Latin fragrare ‘smell sweet’. Compare with FRAGRANT.

flak (also flack) n. [mass noun] anti-aircraft fire.

- strong criticism: you must be strong enough to take the flak if things go wrong.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from German, abbreviation of Fliegerabwehrkanone, literally ‘aviator-defence gun’.

flake^1 n. 1 a small, flat, very thin piece of something, typically one which has broken away or been peeled off from a larger piece: he licked the flakes of croissant off his finger.

- a snowflake.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] a piece of hard stone chipped off for use as a tool by prehistoric humans.

- [mass noun] thin pieces of crushed, dried food or bait for fish.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a crazy or eccentric person.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] come or fall away from a surface in flakes: the paint had been flaking off for years.

- lose small fragments from the surface: my nails have started to flake at the ends.

2 [with obj.] separate (food) into flakes or thin pieces: (as adj. flaked) flaked almonds.

- [no obj.] (of food) come apart in flakes or thin pieces: cook until the fish flakes easily.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: the immediate source is unknown, the senses perhaps deriving from different words; probably of Germanic origin and related to flag^2 and flaw^1.

flake^2 n. a rack or shelf for storing or drying food such as fish.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a wicker hurdle): perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to Old Norse flaki, fleki ‘wicker shield’ and Danish flage ‘hurdle’.

flake^3 v. [no obj.] (flake out) INFORMAL fall asleep; drop from exhaustion.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the senses ‘become languid’ and (of a garment) ‘fall in folds’): variant of obsolete flack and the verb flag^4. The current sense dates from the 1940s.

flake^4 (also fake) [NAUTICAL] n. a single turn of a coiled rope or hawser.

■ v. [with obj.] lay (a rope) in loose coils in order to prevent it tangling: a cable had to be flaked out.

- lay (a sail) down in folds either side of the boom.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun): of unknown origin; compare with German Flechte in the same sense.

flake white n. [mass noun] a pure white pigment made from flakes of white lead.

flak jacket n. a sleeveless jacket made of heavy fabric reinforced with metal, worn as protection against bullets and shrapnel.

flaky adj. (flakier, flakiest) 1 breaking or separating easily into flakes: she ate flaky rolls spread with cherry jam.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN unconventional or eccentric: a game-show host with a penchant for flaky blondes.

- (of a device or software) prone to break down; unreliable.

<DERIVATIVES> flakiness n. flakily adv.

flaky pastry n. [mass noun] pastry consisting of thin light layers when baked.

flam n. [MUSIC] one of the basic patterns (rudiments) of drumming, consisting of a stroke preceded by a grace note.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: probably imitative.

flambé /flmbe/ adj. 1 [postpositive] (of food) covered with spirits and set alight briefly: crêpes flambé.

2 denoting or characterized by a lustrous red copper-based porcelain glaze with purple streaks.

■ v. (flambés, flambéed, flambéing) [with obj.] cover (food) with spirits and set it alight briefly.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘singed’, past participle of flamber, from flambe ‘a flame’.

flambeau /flambə/ n. (pl. flambeaus or flambeaux /-əz/) HISTORICAL a flaming torch, especially one made of several thick wicks dipped in wax.

- a large candlestick with several branches.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from flambe ‘a flame’.

Flamborough Head /flamb(ə)rə/ a rocky promontory on the east coast of England, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

flamboyant^1 /flambənt/ adj. 1 (of a person or their behaviour) tending to attract attention because of their exuberance, confidence, and stylishness: the band's flamboyant lead singer.

- bright, colourful, and very noticeable: a flamboyant bow tie.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] of or denoting a style of French Gothic architecture marked by wavy flame-like tracery and ornate decoration. Compare with RAYONNANT.

<DERIVATIVES> flamboyance n. flamboyancy n. flamboyantly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, literally ‘flaming, blazing’, present participle of flamboyer, from flambe ‘a flame’.

flamboyant^2 /flambənt/ n. a Madagascan tree with bright red flowers and leaves composed of numerous leaflets, planted as a street tree in the tropics.

<INFO> Delonix regia, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably a noun use of the French adjective flamboyant ‘blazing’ (see flamboyant^1).

flame n. 1 a hot glowing body of ignited gas that is generated by something on fire: the car was engulfed in flames | [mass noun] a sheet of flame blocked my escape.

- a thing compared to a flame's ability to burn fiercely or be extinguished: the flame of hope flickered and died | there's nothing like a holiday to rekindle the flames of passion.

- [mass noun] a brilliant orange-red colour like that of flames: [in combination] a flame-red Alfa Romeo.

2 [COMPUTING], INFORMAL a vitriolic or abusive email or newsgroup posting, typically one sent in quick response to another message.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] burn and give off flames: a great fire flamed in an open fireplace | FIGURATIVE hope flamed in her.

- [with obj.] set (something) alight: warm the whisky slightly, pour over the lobster, and flame it.

- shine or glow like a flame: her thick hair flamed against the light.

- (of a person's face) suddenly become red with intense emotion, especially anger or embarrassment: Jess's cheeks flamed.

2 [with obj.] [COMPUTING], INFORMAL send (someone) abusive or vitriolic emails, typically in a quick exchange.

3 [no obj.] (flame out) (of a jet engine) lose power through the extinction of the flame in the combustion chamber.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN fail badly or conspicuously: he and the rest of the team flamed out in the last three minutes.

<PHRASES>

□ burst into flame (or flames) suddenly begin to burn fiercely: the car crashed into a tree and burst into flames.

□ go up in flames be destroyed by fire: last night two factories went up in flames.

□ old flame INFORMAL a former lover.

<DERIVATIVES> flameless adj. flame-like adj. flamer n. ([COMPUTING]) flamy (also flamey) adj. (flamier, flamiest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French flame (noun), flamer (verb), from Latin flamma ‘a flame’.

flame gun n. a device for producing a jet of flame, used especially for destroying weeds.

flamen /flemεn flα-/ n. (pl. flamens or flamines) [ROMAN HISTORY] a priest serving a particular deity.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

flamenco /fləmεkə/ n. [mass noun] a style of Spanish music, played especially on the guitar and accompanied by singing and dancing.

- a style of spirited, rhythmical dance performed to flamenco music, often with castanets.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Spanish, ‘like a Gypsy’, literally ‘Fleming’, from Middle Dutch Vlaminc.

flame of the forest n. a tropical tree which bears showy bright red flowers, in particular:

<INFO>

- an Asian tree of the pea family (Butea monosperma, family Leguminosae).

- another term for flamboyant^2

flameout n. an instance of the flame in the combustion chamber of a jet engine being extinguished, with a resultant loss of power.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a complete or conspicuous failure: his first-round flameout at the US Open.

flameproof adj. (especially of a fabric) treated so as to be non-flammable.

- (of cookware) able to be used either in an oven or on a hob: a flameproof casserole.

■ v. [with obj.] make (something) flameproof.

flame-thrower n. a weapon that sprays out burning fuel.

flame tree n. any of a number of trees with brilliant red flowers, in particular:

<INFO>

- an Australian bottle tree (Brachychiton acerifolius, family Sterculiaceae).

- another term for flamboyant^2

flaming adj. [attr.] 1 burning fiercely and emitting flames: they dragged her away from the flaming car.

- very hot: flaming June.

- of a bright orange or red colour: her flaming hair.

- (especially of an argument) violent: a flaming row.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL used for emphasis to express annoyance: where's that flaming taxi?

flamingo /fləmə/ n. (pl. flamingos or flamingoes) a tall wading bird with mainly pink or scarlet plumage and long legs and neck. It has a heavy bent bill that is held upside down in the water in order to filter-feed on small organisms.

<INFO> Family Phoenicopteridae: three genera and four species, in particular the greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Spanish flamengo, earlier form of flamenco (see FLAMENCO); associated, because of its colour, with Latin flamma ‘a flame’.

flammable /flaməb(ə)l/ adj. easily set on fire: the use of highly flammable materials.

<DERIVATIVES> flammability n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin flammare, from flamma ‘a flame’.

<USAGE> The words flammable and inflammable actually mean the same thing: see usage at inflammable.

flammulated owl /flamjletd/ n. a small reddish-grey migratory American owl which sometimes occurs in loose colonies.

<INFO> Otus flammeolus, family Strigidae.

Flamsteed /flamstid/ John (1646–1719), English astronomer. He was the first Astronomer Royal at the Royal Greenwich Observatory and produced the first star catalogue (for use in navigation).

flan n. 1 a baked dish consisting of an open-topped pastry case with a savoury or sweet filling.

2 a disc of metal such as one from which a coin is made.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French (originally denoting a round cake) from Old French flaon, from medieval Latin flado, fladon-, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlade ‘custard’.

Flanders /flαndəz/ a region in the south-western part of the Low Countries, now divided between Belgium (where it forms the provinces of East and West Flanders), France, and the Netherlands. It was a powerful medieval principality and the scene of prolonged fighting during the First World War.

Flanders poppy n. a red poppy used as an emblem of the Allied soldiers who fell in the First World War.

Flandrian /flαndrən/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the current (Holocene or Recent) stage in northern Europe, especially when treated as an interglacial period.

- (as n. the Flandrian) the Flandrian interglacial or the system of deposits laid down during it.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from FLANDERS + -IAN.

flânerie /flanri/ French /flanRi/ n. [mass noun] aimless idle behaviour.

<ORIGIN> French, from flâner ‘saunter, lounge’.

flâneur /flanə/ French /flanœR/ n. (pl. flâneurs pronunc. same) a man about town who saunters around observing society.

<ORIGIN> French, from flâner ‘saunter, lounge’.

flange /flan(d)/ n. a projecting flat rim, collar, or rib on an object, serving for strengthening or attachment or (on a wheel) for maintaining position on a rail.

<DERIVATIVES> flanged adj. flangeless adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps based on Old French flanchir ‘to bend’.

flanger /flan(d)ə/ n. an electronic device which alters a sound signal by introducing a cyclically varying phase shift into one of two identical copies of the signal and recombining them, used especially in popular music to alter the sound of an instrument.

flanging /fland/ n. [mass noun] 1 the provision of a flange or flanges on an object.

2 the alteration of sound using a flanger.

flank n. 1 the side of a person's or animal's body between the ribs and the hip: leaning against his horse's flanks.

- a cut of meat from the flank of an animal: a thick flank of beef.

- the side of a large object or structure: the northern flank of the Rockies.

2 the right or left side of a body of people such as an army, a naval force, or a soccer team: the left flank of the Russian Third Army.

- the right or left side of a gaming area such as a chessboard.

- (also flank forward) [RUGBY] another term for WING FORWARD.

■ v. [with obj.] be on each or on one side of: the three defendants stood in the dock, flanked by police officers | cherry-red sofas flanked the enormous fireplace.

- (usually as adj. flanking) guard or strengthen (a military force or position) from the side: massive walls, defended by four flanking towers.

- (usually as adj. flanking) attack down or from the sides, or rake with gunfire from the sides: a flanking attack from the north-east.

<PHRASES>

□ in flank [MILITARY] at the side: they were to hit the tail of the column in flank.

<ORIGIN> late Old English, from Old French flanc, of Germanic origin.

flanker n. 1 a person or thing situated on the flank of something, in particular:

- [RUGBY] another term for WING FORWARD.

- [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] an offensive back who is positioned to the outside of an end.

- [MILITARY] a fortification guarding or menacing the side of a force or position.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a trick or swindle: he's certainly pulled a flanker on the army.

flannel n. 1 [mass noun] a kind of soft woven fabric, typically made of wool or cotton and slightly milled and raised: [as modifier] a check flannel shirt.

- (flannels) men's trousers made of flannel.

■ short for FLANNELETTE.

2 BRITISH a small piece of towelling used for washing oneself.

3 [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL bland fluent talk indulged in to avoid addressing a difficult subject or situation directly: a simple admittance of ignorance was much to be preferred to any amount of flannel.

■ v. (flannels, flannelling, flannelled) [no obj.] (often as n. flannelling) BRITISH INFORMAL use bland fluent talk to avoid addressing a difficult subject or situation directly.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Welsh gwlanen ‘woollen article’, from gwlân ‘wool’.

flannelboard n. a board covered with flannel to which paper or cloth cut-outs will stick, used as a toy or a teaching aid.

flannelette /flanəlεt/ n. [mass noun] a napped cotton fabric resembling flannel: [as modifier] a flannelette nightdress.

flannelgraph n. another term for FLANNELBOARD.

flannelled (US also flanneled) adj. [usually in combination] wearing flannel trousers: a rather stout boy, grey-flannelled, pulling off a school cap.

flannelmouth n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person who talks too much, especially in a boastful or deceitful way.

flap v. (flaps, flapping, flapped) 1 [with obj.] (of a bird) move (its wings) up and down when flying or preparing to fly: a pheasant flapped its wings | [no obj.] gulls flapped around uttering their strange cries.

- [no obj.] (of something loosely fastened) flutter or wave around: lines of washing flapped in the wind.

- move (something) up and down or to and fro: he flapped the envelope in front of my face.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] strike at (something) loosely, especially to drive it away: she flapped my hands away as she sat up.

2 [no obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL be agitated or panicky: it's all right, Mother, don't flap.

■ n. 1 a thin, flat piece of cloth, paper, metal, etc. that is hinged or attached on one side only and covers an opening or hangs down from something: the flap of the envelope | he pushed through the tent flap.

- a hinged or sliding section of an aircraft wing used to control lift: flaps are normally moved by the hydraulics.

2 an act of flapping something, typically a wing or arm, up and down or from side to side: the surviving bird made a few final despairing flaps.

3 [in sing.] INFORMAL a state of agitation; a panic: your Gran was in a flap, worrying she'd put her foot in it.

4 a large broad mushroom.

5 [PHONETICS] a type of consonant produced by allowing the tip of the tongue to strike the palate very briefly.

<PHRASES>

□ someone's ears are flapping BRITISH INFORMAL someone is trying to a listen to a conversation between other people.

<DERIVATIVES> flappy adj. (flappier, flappiest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably imitative.

flapdoodle n. INFORMAL, chiefly US 1 [mass noun] nonsense: four hundred pages of mystical flapdoodle.

2 a foolish person.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: an arbitrary formation.

flapjack n. 1 BRITISH a sweet dense cake made from oats, golden syrup, and melted butter, served in rectangles.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a pancake.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): from FLAP (in the dialect sense ‘toss a pancake’) + JACK^1; sense 1 dates from the 1930s and is probably a regional coinage.

flapper n. INFORMAL (in the 1920s) a fashionable young woman intent on enjoying herself and flouting conventional standards of behaviour.

flapshell (also flap-shelled turtle) n. a soft-shelled turtle, native to India and Africa, with flaps of skin on the lower shell that fold to protect the hindlimbs and tail, and flexible margins to the upper shell that protect the head and limbs.

<INFO> Genera Lissemys and other genera, family Trionychidae: several species, in particular the Indian flapshell (L. punctata).

flap valve (also flapper valve) n. a valve opened and closed by a plate hinged at one side.

flare n. 1 a sudden brief burst of bright flame or light: the flare of the match lit up his face.

- a device producing a very bright flame, used especially as a signal or marker: a distress flare | [as modifier] a flare gun.

- [in sing.] a sudden burst of intense emotion: she felt a flare of anger within her.

- a sudden recurrence of an inflammation or other medical condition: corticosteroid treatment for colitis flares.

- [ASTRONOMY] a sudden explosion in the chromosphere and corona of the sun or another star, resulting in an intense burst of radiation. See also SOLAR FLARE.

- [mass noun] [PHOTOGRAPHY] extraneous illumination on film caused by internal reflection in the camera.

2 a gradual widening in shape, especially towards the hem of a garment.

- (flares) trousers whose legs get progressively wider from the knees down.

- [mass noun] an upward and outward curve of a ship's bows, designed to throw the water outwards when in motion.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 burn or shine with a sudden intensity: the bonfire crackled and flared up | behind him, lightning flared.

- (of a situation or emotion) suddenly become intense or violent: tempers flared as supporters scuffled with other passengers | the controversy flared up again in 2003.

- (flare up) (of a person) suddenly become angry: she flared up, shouting at Geoffrey.

2 (often as adj. flared) gradually become wider at one end: a flared skirt | the dress flared out into a huge train.

- (of a person's nostrils) dilate.

- [with obj.] (of a person) cause (the nostrils) to dilate.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘spread out one's hair’): of unknown origin. Current senses date from the 17th cent.

flarepath n. an area illuminated to enable an aircraft to land or take off.

flare star n. [ASTRONOMY] a dwarf star which displays spasmodic outbursts of radiation, believed to be due to extremely intense flares.

flare-up n. a sudden outburst of something, especially violence or hostility: a flare-up between the two countries.

flash^1 v. 1 [no obj.] shine in a bright but brief, sudden, or intermittent way: lightning flashed overhead | an irritating neon sign flashed on and off | (as adj. flashing) a police car with a flashing light.

- [with obj.] cause to shine briefly or suddenly: the oncoming car flashed its lights.

- [with obj.] shine or show a light to send (a signal): red lights started to flash a warning.

- [with obj.] give (a swift look): Carrie flashed a glance in his direction | [with two objs] she flashed him a withering look.

- (of a person's eyes) indicate sudden emotion, especially anger: she glared at him, her eyes flashing.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move or pass very quickly: a look of terror flashed across Kirov's face | FIGURATIVE a sudden thought flashed through his mind.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] send (news or information) swiftly by means of telegraphy or telecommunications: the story was flashed around the world.

3 [with obj.] display (information or an image) suddenly on a television or computer screen or electronic sign, typically briefly or repeatedly: the screen flashed up a menu.

- [no obj.] (of information or an image) be displayed briefly or repeatedly on a screen: the election results flashed on the screen.

- INFORMAL hold up or show (something, often proof of one's identity) quickly before replacing it: she opened her purse and flashed her ID card.

- INFORMAL make a conspicuous display of (something) so as to impress or attract attention: they flashed huge wads of money about.

- [no obj.] INFORMAL (of a man) show one's genitals briefly in public.

4 [no obj.] (flash over) make an electric circuit by sparking across a gap.

- (of a fire) spread instantly across a gap because of intense heat.

■ n. 1 a sudden brief burst of bright light: a flash of lightning.

- a patch or sudden display of a bright colour: the woodpecker swooped from tree to tree with a flash of yellow, green, and red.

- BRITISH a coloured patch of cloth on a uniform used as the distinguishing emblem of a regiment, formation, or country.

- a coloured band on the packaging of a product used to catch the consumer's eye: on-pack flashes offer a free ‘Taste of the Caribbean’.

- a pre-drawn design for a tattoo.

2 a sudden or brief manifestation or occurrence of something: she had a flash of inspiration.

- a newsflash.

3 a camera attachment that produces a brief very bright light, used for taking photographs in poor light: an electronic flash | [mass noun] if in any doubt use flash.

4 (Flash) [mass noun] [COMPUTING] (TRADEMARK in the US) an application used to produce animation sequences that can be viewed by a browser.

5 [mass noun] INFORMAL ostentatious stylishness or display of wealth: workwear represents a move away from Eighties designer flash.

6 [mass noun] excess plastic or metal forced between facing surfaces as two halves of a mould close up, forming a thin projection on the finished object.

7 a rush of water, especially down a weir to take a boat over shallows.

■ adj. INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH 1 ostentatiously stylish or expensive: a flash new car.

- ostentatiously displaying one's wealth: he's a bit flash and refers to his gold card a few times too many.

2 ARCHAIC relating to the language used by criminals or prostitutes.

<PHRASES>

□ flash in the pan a thing or person whose sudden but brief success is not repeated or repeatable: our start to the season was just a flash in the pan. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to priming of a firearm, the flash arising from an explosion of gunpowder within the lock.]

□ in (or like) a flash very quickly; immediately: she was out of the back door in a flash.

□ (as) quick as a flash (especially of a person's response or reaction) very quickly: quick as a flash he was at her side.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘SPLASH water about’): probably imitative; compare with flush^1 and splash.

flash^2 n. BRITISH a water-filled hollow formed by subsidence, especially any of those due to rock salt extraction in or near Cheshire.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘a marshy place’): from Old French flache, variant of Picard and Norman dialect flaque, from Middle Dutch vlacke. The current sense dates from the late 19th cent.

flashback n. 1 a scene in a film, novel, etc. set in a time earlier than the main story: in a series of flashbacks, we follow the pair through their teenage years | [mass noun] the movie tells the story in flashback.

- a disturbing sudden vivid memory of an event in the past, typically as the result of psychological trauma or taking LSD.

2 a flame moving rapidly back through a combustible vapour: cooling the area prevented a flashback.

flashboard n. a board used for sending more water from a mill dam into a mill race.

flashbulb n. a bulb for a flashgun, of a type that is used only once.

flash burn n. a burn caused by sudden intense heat, e.g. from a nuclear explosion.

flash card n. a card containing a small amount of information, held up for pupils to see, as an aid to learning.

flashcube n. chiefly HISTORICAL a set of four flashbulbs arranged in a cube and operated in turn.

flasher n. 1 an automatic device causing a light to flash on and off rapidly.

- a signal using a flashing device, for example a car's indicator.

2 INFORMAL a man who exposes his genitals in public.

flash flood n. a sudden local flood, typically due to heavy rain.

flash-freeze v. [with obj.] freeze (food or other material) very rapidly so as to prevent the formation of ice crystals.

<DERIVATIVES> flash-freezer n.

flash-fry v. [with obj.] fry (food) briefly and at a very high temperature.

flashgun n. a device which gives a brief flash of intense light, used for taking photographs indoors or in poor light.

flashing n. a strip of metal used to stop water penetrating the junction of a roof with another surface: flashings around chimneys | [mass noun] the lead flashing on the roof.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the earlier synonym flash (of unknown origin) + -ING^1.

flash lamp n. a portable flashing electric lamp such as a flashgun.

flashlight n. 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an electric torch.

2 a flashing light used for signals and in lighthouses.

3 another term for FLASHGUN.

flash memory n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] memory that retains data in the absence of a power supply.

flash mob n. a public gathering of complete strangers, organized via the Internet or mobile phone, who perform a pointless act and then disperse again.

<DERIVATIVES> flash mobber n. flash mobbing n.

flashover n. 1 a high-voltage electric short circuit made through the air between exposed conductors.

2 an instance of a fire spreading very rapidly through the air because of intense heat.

flash photolysis n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the use of a very intense flash of light to bring about decomposition or dissociation in a heated gas, usually as a means of generating and studying short-lived molecules.

flashpoint n. 1 a place, event, or time at which violence or hostility flares up: the conflict reached a flashpoint last year.

2 [CHEMISTRY] the temperature at which a particular organic compound gives off sufficient vapour to ignite in air.

flash tube n. a gas-discharge tube used, especially in photography, to provide an electronic flash when a current is suddenly passed through it.

flashy adj. (flashier, flashiest) ostentatiously attractive or impressive: he always had a flashy car.

<DERIVATIVES> flashily adv. flashiness n.

flask n. 1 a container for liquids, in particular:

- a narrow-necked glass container, typically conical or spherical, used in a laboratory to hold reagents or samples.

- a narrow-necked bulbous glass container, typically with a covering of wickerwork, for storing wine or oil.

- BRITISH a vacuum flask.

- a hip flask.

- the contents of a flask: a flask of coffee.

2 an extremely strong lead-lined container for transporting or storing radioactive nuclear waste.

3 HISTORICAL short for POWDER FLASK.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘cask’): from medieval Latin flasca. From the mid 16th century the word denoted a case of horn, leather, or metal for carrying gunpowder. The sense ‘glass container’ (late 17th century) was influenced by Italian fiasco, from medieval Latin flasco. Compare with FLAGON.

flat^1 adj. (flatter, flattest) 1 having a level surface; without raised areas or indentations: he sat down on a flat rock | trim the surface of the cake to make it completely flat.

- (of land) without hills: thirty-five acres of flat countryside.

- (of an expanse of water) calm and without waves.

- not sloping: the flat roof of a garage.

- having a broad level surface but little height or depth; shallow: a flat rectangular box | a flat cap.

- (of shoes) without heels or with very low heels.

2 lacking emotion; dull and lifeless: ‘I'm sorry,’ he said, in a flat voice.

- (of a person) without energy or enthusiasm: his sense of intoxication wore off until he felt flat and weary.

- (of trade, prices, etc.) not showing much activity; sluggish: the UK housing market was flat.

- (of a colour) uniform: a flat shade of grey.

- (of a photograph or negative) lacking contrast.

3 (of a sparkling drink) having lost its effervescence.

- (of something kept inflated, especially a tyre) having lost some or all of its air, typically because of a puncture.

- BRITISH (of a battery) having exhausted its charge.

4 [attr.] (of a fee, wage, or price) the same in all cases, not varying with changed conditions or in particular cases: a flat fare of £2.50. See also FLAT RATE.

- (of a denial, contradiction, or refusal) completely definite and firm; absolute: the request was met with a flat refusal.

5 (of musical sound) below true or normal pitch.

- [postpositive] (of a key) having a flat or flats in the signature.

- [postpositive] (of a note) a semitone lower than a specified note: E flat.

6 (Flat) relating to flat racing: the Flat season.

■ adv. 1 in or to a horizontal position: he was lying flat on his back | she had been knocked flat by the blast.

- lying in close juxtaposition, especially against another surface: his black curly hair was blown flat across his skull.

- so as to become smooth and even: I hammered the metal flat.

2 INFORMAL completely; absolutely: I thought you'd turn me down flat | [as submodifier] Myers was flat broke.

- used with an expression of time to emphasize how quickly something can be done or has been done: you can prepare a healthy meal in ten minutes flat.

3 below the true or normal pitch of musical sound.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] the flat part of something: she placed the flat of her hand over her glass.

- (usually flats) an area of low level ground, especially near water: the shingle flats of the lake.

- NORTH AMERICAN a shallow container in which seedlings are grown and sold.

- (often flats) chiefly US a shoe with a very low heel or no heel.

- a railway wagon with a flat floor and no sides or roof; a flatcar.

2 (often flats) an upright section of stage scenery mounted on a movable frame.

3 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a flat tyre.

4 (the Flat) BRITISH flat racing.

5 a musical note lowered a semitone below natural pitch.

- the sign () indicating this.

■ v. (flats, flatting, flatted) [with obj.] 1 (usually as adj. flatted) [MUSIC], NORTH AMERICAN lower (a note) by a semitone: ‘blue’ harmony emphasizing the flatted third and seventh.

2 ARCHAIC make flat; flatten: flat the loaves down.

<PHRASES>

□ fall flat fail completely to produce the intended or expected effect: his jokes fell flat.

□ fall flat on one's face fail in an embarrassingly obvious way: we might fall flat on our faces and end up bankrupt.

□ (as) flat as a PANCAKE see PANCAKE.

□ flat out 1 as fast or as hard as possible: the whole team is working flat out to satisfy demand.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN without hesitation or reservation: she flat out said she didn't trust her fellow board members | (as adj. flat-out) flat-out perjury.

3 lying stretched out, especially asleep or in a state of exhaustion.

□ on the flat BRITISH on level ground as opposed to uphill: the car wouldn't go uphill or overtake on the flat.

- (on the Flat) (of a horse race) on an open course as opposed to one with jumps.

□ that's flat INFORMAL used to indicate that one has reached a decision and will not be persuaded to change one's mind: he won't leave and that's flat.

<DERIVATIVES> flatness n. flattish adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse flatr.

flat^2 n. chiefly BRITISH a set of rooms forming an individual residence, typically on one floor and within a larger building containing a number of such residences: a block of flats.

■ v. (flats, flatting, flatted) [no obj., with adverbial of place] AUSTRALIAN/NZ live in or share a flat: Zoë flats in Auckland.

<PHRASES>

□ go flatting AUSTRALIAN/NZ leave one's family home to live in a flat: in my third year I left home and went flatting with David.

<DERIVATIVES> flatlet n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting a floor or storey): alteration of obsolete flet ‘floor, dwelling’, of Germanic origin and related to flat^1.

flatbed n. a long flat area or structure: the flatbed of a truck.

- a vehicle with a flat load-carrying area: [as modifier] a flatbed truck.

- [as modifier] denoting a letterpress printing machine in which the forme is carried on a horizontal surface: a flatbed press.

- [COMPUTING] a scanner, plotter, or other device which keeps paper flat during use.

flatbill n. a tropical American bird of the tyrant flycatcher family, with a wide flat bill and mainly olive-green plumage.

<INFO> Genera Ramphotrigon and Rhynchocyclus, family Tyrannidae: several species.

flatbill flycatcher n. another term for boatbill (sense 2).

flatboat n. a boat with a flat bottom for transport in shallow water.

flatbread n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN flat, thin bread that is often unleavened.

flatbug n. a broad very flat bug that typically lives on or under loose bark.

<INFO> Family Aradidae, suborder Heteroptera: several species.

flatcar n. NORTH AMERICAN a railway freight wagon without a roof or sides.

flat-chested adj. (of a woman) having small breasts.

flat file n. [COMPUTING] a file having no internal hierarchy.

flatfish n. (pl. same or flatfishes) a flattened marine fish that swims on its side with both eyes on the upper side. They live typically on the seabed and are coloured to resemble it.

<INFO> Order Pleuronectiformes: several families, in particular Bothidae (left-eye flounders), Pleuronectidae (right-eye flounders), and Soleidae (soles).

flatfoot n. (pl. flatfoots or flatfeet) INFORMAL, DATED a police officer.

flat foot n. a foot with an arch that is lower than usual. Also called PES PLANUS.

flat-footed adj. having flat feet: a flat-footed, overweight colonel.

- INFORMAL unprepared: many local companies were caught flat-footed by international competition.

- INFORMAL inelegant, awkward, or uninspired: a flat-footed prose style.

<DERIVATIVES> flat-footedly adv. flat-footedness n.

flat-four adj. (of an engine) having four horizontal cylinders, two on each side of the crankshaft.

■ n. a flat-four engine.

flathead n. 1 an edible tropical marine fish that has a pointed flattened head with the eyes positioned on the top, typically burrowing in the seabed with just the eyes showing.

<INFO> Family Platycephalidae: several genera and species.

2 (Flathead) a member of certain North American Indian peoples such as the Chinook, Choctaw, and Salish, named from their supposed practice of flattening their children's heads artificially.

3 [as modifier] US (of an engine) having the valves and spark plugs in the cylinder block rather than the cylinder head, which is essentially a flat plate.

- (of a vehicle) having a flathead engine.

4 [as modifier] US (of a screw) countersunk.

flat iron n. HISTORICAL an iron used for pressing clothes which was heated on a hotplate or fire.

flatland n. [mass noun] (also flatlands) land with no hills, valleys, or mountains.

flat-leaved parsley (also flat or flat-leaf parsley) n. [mass noun] parsley of a variety with large flat leaves, popular in southern Europe. Also called ITALIAN PARSLEY.

flatline v. [no obj.] 1 INFORMAL (of a person) die.

2 fail to increase; remain static: their share of the vote has flatlined at about 3%.

<DERIVATIVES> flatliner n.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from FLAT^1 + LINE^1 (with reference to the continuous straight line displayed on a heart monitor, indicating death).

flatly adv. 1 showing little interest or emotion: ‘You'd better go’ she said flatly.

2 in a firm and unequivocal manner; absolutely: they flatly refused to play.

3 in a smooth and even way: I applied the paint flatly.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] without marked contrast of light and dark: the photographs were lit very flatly.

flatmate n. BRITISH a person who shares a flat with others: my flatmate moved out a month ago.

flat-pack n. 1 [often as modifier] BRITISH a piece of furniture or other equipment that is sold in pieces packed flat in a box for easy transport and is assembled by the buyer: a flat-pack bookcase.

2 [ELECTRONICS] a package for an integrated circuit consisting of a rectangular sealed unit with a number of horizontal metal pins protruding from its sides.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. flat-packed) pack (a self-assembly item) flat in a box: this workstation is provided flat-packed.

flat parsley n. another term for FLAT-LEAVED PARSLEY.

flat race n. a horse race over a course with no jumps, as opposed to a steeplechase or hurdles.

<DERIVATIVES> flat racing n.

flat rate n. a charge or level of payment that is the same in all cases: clients are charged a flat rate of £250 annually | [as modifier] the flat-rate state pension.

- a rate of taxation that is not progressive, but remains at the same proportion on all amounts.

flat sheet n. an ordinary sheet for a bed as distinct from a fitted one.

flat spin n. [AERONAUTICS] a spin in which an aircraft descends in tight circles while remaining almost horizontal.

- [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL a state of agitation or panic: a scandal has put the university into a flat spin.

flatten v. 1 make or become flat or flatter: [with obj.] her hair had been flattened by the storm | [no obj.] after Kendal, the countryside begins to flatten out.

- [with obj. and adverbial of place] press (oneself or one's body) against a surface: Guy flattened himself against the wall.

- [no obj.] (flatten out) make an aircraft fly horizontally after a dive or climb: he flattened out and made a fine three-point landing.

- [no obj.] (flatten out) (of an increasing quantity or rate) show a less marked rise; slow down.

2 [with obj.] raze (a building or settlement) to the ground: the entire town centre was flattened by the 500 lb bomb.

- INFORMAL strike (someone) so as to make them fall down: Flynn flattened him with a single punch.

- INFORMAL defeat heavily in a contest: they flattened Bridgend by forty-two points to fifteen.

- INFORMAL humiliate or depress (someone): the controversy has flattened everybody here.

3 [with obj.] [MUSIC] lower (a note) in pitch by a semitone.

<DERIVATIVES> flattener n.

flatter v. [with obj.] lavish praise and compliments on (someone), often insincerely and with the aim of furthering one's own interests: she was flattering him in order to avoid doing what he wanted.

- cause (someone) to feel honoured and pleased: [with obj. and infinitive] I was very flattered to be given the commission | [with obj. and clause] she felt flattered that he was confiding in her.

- (flatter oneself) choose to believe something favourable about oneself, typically when this belief is unfounded: ‘Don't flatter yourself! I wasn't doing it for your benefit!’.

- give an unrealistically favourable impression of: the final scoreline flattered England.

- (of a colour or a style of clothing) cause (someone) to appear to the best advantage: the fuchsia shade flattered her pale skin.

- ARCHAIC please (the ear or eye): the beauty of the stone flattered the clergyman's eyes.

<PHRASES>

□ flatter to deceive appear promising but ultimately disappoint.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps a back-formation from FLATTERY.

flatterer n. a person who lavishes praise, often insincerely; a sycophant: he is not allowing flatterers to deceive him.

flattering adj. full of praise and compliments: the article began with some flattering words about us.

- pleasing or gratifying: [with infinitive] it was flattering to have a pretty girl like Fiona so obviously fond of him.

- enhancing someone's appearance: I don't think anything sleeveless is very flattering.

<DERIVATIVES> flatteringly adv.

flattery n. (pl. flatteries) [mass noun] excessive and insincere praise, given especially to further one's own interests: she allowed no hint of flattery to enter her voice.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French flaterie, from flater ‘stroke, flatter’, probably of Germanic origin and related to flat^1.

flattie (also flatty) n. (pl. flatties) INFORMAL 1 a flat-heeled shoe.

2 a flatfish.

3 a flatboat.

4 DATED a police officer. [<ORIGIN> late 19th century: informal abbreviation of FLATFOOT.]

flat-top n. 1 a man's hairstyle in which the hair is cropped short so that it bristles up into a flat surface.

2 an acoustic guitar that has a flat rather than a curved front.

3 US INFORMAL an aircraft carrier.

flatulence /flatjl(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] the accumulation of gas in the alimentary canal: foods that may cause flatulence.

- inflated or pretentious speech or writing; pomposity: the flatulence characterizing his writings.

<DERIVATIVES> flatulency n.

flatulent /flatjl(ə)nt/ adj. suffering from or marked by an accumulation of gas in the alimentary canal.

- related to or causing an accumulation of gas in the alimentary canal: the flatulent effect of beans.

- FIGURATIVE inflated or pretentious in speech or writing: his flatulent oratory.

<DERIVATIVES> flatulently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via French from modern Latin flatulentus, from Latin flatus ‘blowing’ (see FLATUS).

flatus /fletəs/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL gas in or from the stomach or intestines, produced by swallowing air or by bacterial fermentation.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘blowing’, from flare ‘to blow’.

flatware n. [mass noun] relatively flat items of crockery such as plates and saucers.

- NORTH AMERICAN domestic cutlery.

flatworm n. a worm of a phylum which includes the planarians together with the parasitic flukes and tapeworms. They are distinguished by having a simple flattened body which lacks blood vessels, and a digestive tract which, if present, has a single opening.

<INFO> Phylum Platyhelminthes: several classes.

flat-woven adj. (of a carpet or rug) woven so as not to form a projecting pile.

<DERIVATIVES> flat-weave n.

Flaubert /fləbε/ French /fləbεR/ Gustave (1821–80), French novelist and short-story writer. A dominant figure in the French realist school, he achieved fame with his first published novel, Madame Bovary (1857). Its portrayal of the adulteries and suicide of a provincial doctor's wife caused Flaubert to be tried for immorality (and acquitted).

flaunching /flnt/ n. [mass noun] the sloping fillet of cement or mortar embedding the base of a chimney pot.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from flaunch meaning ‘flange’, (as verb) ‘slope towards the top’: perhaps based on Old French flanchir ‘to bend’, from flanc(he) ‘flank’.

flaunt v. [with obj.] display (something) ostentatiously, especially in order to provoke envy or admiration or to show defiance: newly rich consumers eager to flaunt their prosperity.

- (flaunt oneself) dress or behave in a sexually provocative way.

<DERIVATIVES> flaunter n. flaunty adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

<USAGE> Flaunt and flout may sound similar but they have different meanings. Flaunt means ‘display ostentatiously’, as in visitors who liked to flaunt their wealth, while flout means ‘openly disregard (a rule or convention)’, as in new recruits growing their hair and flouting convention. It is a common error, recorded since around the 1940s, to use flaunt when flout is intended, as in the young woman had been flaunting the rules and regulations. Around 20 per cent of the uses of flaunt in the Oxford English Corpus are incorrect in this respect.

flautist /fltst/ n. a flute player.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (superseding 17th-cent. flutist in British English use): from Italian flautista, from flauto ‘flute’.

flavescent /fləvεs(ə)nt/ adj. FORMAL yellowish or turning yellow.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin flavescent- ‘turning yellow’, from the verb flavescere, from flavus ‘yellow’.

Flavian /flevən/ adj. relating to a dynasty (AD 69–96) of Roman emperors including Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian.

■ n. a member of the Flavian dynasty.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Flavianus, from Flavius, a given name used by this dynasty.

flavin /flevn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of naturally occurring pigments including riboflavin. They have a tricyclic aromatic molecular structure.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin flavus ‘yellow’ + -IN^1.

flavone /flevən/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless crystalline compound which is the basis of a number of white or yellow plant pigments.

<INFO> A tricyclic aromatic compound; chem. formula: C_15H_10O_2.

- [count noun] any of these pigments.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin flavus ‘yellow’ + -ONE.

flavonoid /flevənd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a large class of plant pigments having a structure based on or similar to that of flavone.

flavoprotein /flevə()prətin/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a class of conjugated proteins that contain flavins and are involved in oxidation reactions in cells.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of FLAVIN and PROTEIN.

flavorous adj. DATED having a pleasant or pungent flavour.

flavour (US flavor) n. 1 the distinctive taste of a food or drink: the yoghurt comes in eight fruit flavours | [mass noun] adding sun-dried tomatoes gives the sauce extra flavour.

- chiefly US a substance used to alter or enhance the taste of food or drink; a flavouring.

2 [in sing.] an indication of the essential character of something: the extracts give a flavour of the content and tone of the conversation.

- [in sing.] a distinctive quality or atmosphere: whitewashed walls and red pantiles gave the resort a Mediterranean flavour.

3 a kind, variety, or sort: various flavours of firewall are evolving.

4 [PHYSICS] a quantized property of quarks which differentiates them into at least six varieties (up, down, charmed, strange, top, bottom). Compare with COLOUR.

■ v. [with obj.] alter or enhance the taste of (food or drink) by adding a particular ingredient: chunks of chicken flavoured with herbs.

<PHRASES>

□ flavour of the month a person or thing that enjoys a short period of great popularity: American sitcoms are currently flavour of the month.

<DERIVATIVES> flavourful adj. flavourless adj. flavoursome adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘fragrance, aroma’): from Old French flaor, perhaps based on a blend of Latin flatus ‘blowing’ and foetor ‘stench’; the -v- appears to have been introduced in Middle English by association with SAVOUR.

■ Sense 1 of the noun dates from the late 17th cent.

flavoured (US flavored) adj. (of food or drink) having a particular flavour: [in combination] the peanut oil is light but fairly full-flavoured.

- (of food or drink) having been given a particular taste by the addition of a flavouring: [in combination] chicken breasts poached in lemon-flavoured stock.

- [in combination] having a particular distinctive quality: the band knocked out some fine rock 'n' roll-flavoured singles.

flavouring (US flavoring) n. [mass noun] a substance used to give a different, stronger, or more agreeable taste to food or drink: vanilla flavouring | [count noun] only natural flavourings are allowed.

flaw^1 n. a mark, blemish, or other imperfection which mars a substance or object: a flaw in the glass.

- a fault or weakness in a person's character: he had his flaws, but he was still a great teacher.

- a mistake or shortcoming in a plan, theory, etc. which causes it to fail or reduces its effectiveness: there were fundamental flaws in the case for reforming local government.

■ v. [with obj.] mar, weaken, or invalidate (something): the computer game was flawed by poor programming.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old Norse flaga ‘slab’. The original sense was ‘a flake of snow’, later, ‘a fragment or splinter’, hence ‘a defect or imperfection’ (late 15th century).

flaw^2 n. LITERARY a squall of wind; a short storm.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: probably from Middle Dutch vlāghe, Middle Low German vlāge.

flawed adj. having or characterized by a fundamental weakness or imperfection: a fatally flawed strategy | a flawed hero.

flawless adj. without any imperfections or defects; perfect: her smooth flawless skin | a British accent that was almost flawless.

<DERIVATIVES> flawlessly adv. flawlessness n.

flax n. [mass noun] a blue-flowered herbaceous plant that is cultivated for its seed (linseed) and for textile fibre made from its stalks.

<INFO> Linum usitatissimum, family Linaceae.

- textile fibre obtained from the flax plant: a mill for the preparation and spinning of flax.

- used in names of other plants of the flax family (e.g. purging flax) or plants that yield similar fibre (e.g. false flax).

■ another term for NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

<ORIGIN> Old English flæx, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlas and German Flachs, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin plectere and Greek plekein ‘to plait, twist’.

flaxen adj. made of flax.

- LITERARY (especially of hair) of the pale yellow colour of dressed flax.

flax-lily n. a New Zealand plant that yields valuable fibre and is also grown as an ornamental. Also called NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

<INFO> Phormium tenax, family Agavaceae.

Flaxman /flaksmən/ John (1755–1826), English sculptor and draughtsman, noted for his church monuments and his engraved illustrations to Homer (1793).

flaxseed n. another term for LINSEED.

flay v. [with obj.] strip the skin off (a corpse or carcass): the captured general was flayed alive.

- strip (the skin) off a corpse or carcass: she flayed the white skin from the flesh.

- whip or beat (someone) so harshly as to remove their skin: he flayed them viciously with a branch.

- criticize severely and brutally: he flayed the government for not moving fast enough on economic reform.

<DERIVATIVES> flayer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English flēan, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Dutch vlaen.

F-layer n. the highest and most strongly ionized region of the ionosphere.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: arbitrary use of F + LAYER.

flea n. a small wingless jumping insect which feeds on the blood of mammals and birds. It sometimes transmits diseases through its bite, including plague and myxomatosis.

<INFO> Order Siphonaptera: several families and many species, including the human flea (Pulex irritans).

<PHRASES>

□ (as) fit as a flea in very good health.

□ a flea in one's ear a sharp reproof: she expected to be sent away with a flea in her ear.

<ORIGIN> Old English flēa, flēah, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlo and German Floh.

fleabag n. INFORMAL a dirty or shabby person or animal, typically one infested with fleas.

- NORTH AMERICAN a seedy or dilapidated hotel.

fleabane n. a herbaceous plant of the daisy family, reputed to drive away fleas.

<INFO> Pulicaria, Erigeron, and other genera, family Compositae: in particular the yellow-flowered common fleabane (P. dysenterica).

flea beetle n. a small jumping leaf beetle that can be a pest of plants such as crucifers.

<INFO> Phyllotreta and other genera, family Chrysomelidae.

flea bite n. a small red mark caused by the bite of a flea.

- an insignificant inconvenience or cost: the proposed energy tax amounted to little more than a flea bite.

flea-bitten adj. bitten by or infested with fleas.

- shabby, dilapidated, or disreputable: a flea-bitten Miami Beach hotel.

flea circus n. a novelty show of performing fleas.

flea collar n. a collar for a cat or dog that is impregnated with insecticide to kill or deter fleas.

fleadh /flα/ n. a festival of Irish or Celtic music, dancing, and culture.

<ORIGIN> from Irish fleadh ceoil ‘music festival’.

flea market n. a street market selling second-hand goods.

fleapit n. BRITISH INFORMAL a dingy, dirty place, especially a run-down cinema.

fleawort n. a Eurasian plant related to ragwort, reputed to drive away fleas.

<INFO> Genus Senecio, family Compositae: several species, in particular S. integrifolius.

flèche /fle flε/ n. a slender spire, typically over the intersection of the nave and the transept of a church.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, literally ‘arrow’.

flechette /fleεt flε-/ n. a type of ammunition resembling a small dart, shot from a gun.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French fléchette, diminutive of flèche ‘arrow’.

fleck n. a very small patch of colour or light: his blue eyes had grey flecks in them | flecks of sunshine.

- a small particle or speck of something: brushing a few flecks of dandruff from his suit.

■ v. [with obj.] mark or dot with small patches of colour or particles of something: the minarets are flecked with gold leaf.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb): perhaps from Old Norse flekkr (noun), flekka (verb), or from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch vlecke.

Flecker James (Herman) Elroy (1884–1915), English poet. Notable works: The Golden Journey to Samarkand (collection, 1913) and Hassan (play, 1922).

fled past and past participle of FLEE.

fledge /flεd/ v. [no obj.] (of a young bird) develop wing feathers that are large enough for flight.

- [with obj.] bring up (a young bird) until its wing feathers are developed enough for flight.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from the obsolete adjective fledge ‘ready to fly’, from Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlug ‘quick, agile’, also to fly^1.

fledged adj. (of a young bird) having wing feathers that are large enough for flight; able to fly.

- [in combination] (of a person or thing) having just taken on the role specified: a newly fledged Detective Inspector.

- chiefly LITERARY (of an arrow) fitted with feathers.

fledgling (also fledgeling) n. a young bird that has just fledged.

- [usually as modifier] a person or organization that is immature, inexperienced, or underdeveloped: the country's fledgling democracy.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the obsolete adjective fledge (see FLEDGE), on the pattern of nestling.

flee v. (flees, fleeing; past and past participle fled) [no obj.] run away from a place or situation of danger: to escape the fighting, his family fled from their village.

- [with obj.] run away from (someone or something): he was forced to flee the country.

<ORIGIN> Old English flēon, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlieden and German fliehen.

fleece n. 1 the woolly covering of a sheep or goat.

- the wool shorn from a sheep in a single piece at one time.

- [HERALDRY] a representation of a fleece suspended from a ring.

2 [mass noun] a soft warm fabric with a texture similar to sheep's wool, used as a lining material.

- a jacket or other garment made from a fleece fabric.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 INFORMAL obtain a great deal of money from (someone), typically by overcharging or swindling them: the city's cab drivers are notorious for fixing fares and fleecing tourists.

2 LITERARY cover as if with a fleece: the sky was half blue, half fleeced with white clouds.

<DERIVATIVES> fleeced adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English flēos, flēs, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlies and German Vlies.

fleecy adj. (fleecier, fleeciest) 1 made of or lined with a soft, warm fabric: a fleecy sweatshirt.

2 white and fluffy-looking: little fleecy clouds.

<DERIVATIVES> fleecily adv. fleeciness n.

fleer /flə/ v. [no obj.] LITERARY laugh impudently or jeeringly.

■ n. ARCHAIC an impudent or jeering look or speech.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Norwegian and Swedish dialect flira ‘to grin’.

fleet^1 n. a group of ships sailing together, engaged in the same activity, or under the same ownership: the small port supports a fishing fleet | a fleet of battleships.

- (the fleet) a country's navy: the US fleet.

- a number of vehicles or aircraft operating together or under the same ownership: a fleet of ambulances took the injured to hospital.

<ORIGIN> Old English flēot ‘ship, shipping’, from flēotan ‘float, swim’ (see fleet^5).

fleet^2 adj. chiefly LITERARY fast and nimble in movement: a man of advancing years, but fleet of foot.

<DERIVATIVES> fleetly adv. fleetness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: probably from Old Norse fljótr, of Germanic origin and related to fleet^5.

fleet^3 n. 1 DIALECT a marshland creek, channel, or ditch.

2 (the Fleet) a stream, now wholly underground, running into the Thames east of Fleet Street.

- HISTORICAL a prison that stood near this stream.

<ORIGIN> Old English flēot, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vliet, also to fleet^5.

fleet^4 DIALECT adj. (of water) shallow.

■ adv. at or to a small depth.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps based on an Old English cognate of Dutch vloot ‘shallow’ and related to fleet^5.

fleet^5 v. [no obj.] LITERARY move or pass quickly: a variety of expressions fleeted across his face.

- [with obj.] pass (time) rapidly.

- fade away; be transitory: the cares of boyhood fleet away.

<ORIGIN> Old English flēotan ‘float, swim’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlieten and German fliessen, also to FLIT and FLOAT.

Fleet Admiral n. the highest rank of admiral in the US navy.

Fleet Air Arm HISTORICAL the aviation service of the Royal Navy.

fleet-footed adj. nimble and fast on one's feet: the fleet-footed sprinter ran full out.

fleeting adj. lasting for a very short time: for a fleeting moment I saw the face of a boy.

<DERIVATIVES> fleetingly adv.

Fleet Street a street in central London in which the offices of national newspapers were located until the mid 1980s (often used to refer to the British Press): the hottest story in Fleet Street.

flehmen /flemən/ n. [mass noun] a behavioural response found in many male mammals when they detect particular smells from females, characterized by a curling of the upper lip and a raising of the head.

<ORIGIN> German (verb), ‘(of a horse) curl the lip in sexual excitement’.

Fleming^1 /flεm/ Sir Alexander (1881–1955), Scottish bacteriologist. In 1928, Fleming discovered the effect of penicillin on bacteria. Twelve years later Howard Florey and Ernst Chain established its therapeutic use as an antibiotic. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1945, shared with Florey and Chain).

Fleming^2 /flεm/ Ian (Lancaster) (1908–64), English novelist. He is known for his spy novels whose hero is the secret agent James Bond.

Fleming^3 /flεm/ Sir John Ambrose (1849–1945), English electrical engineer, chiefly remembered for his invention of the thermionic valve (1900).

Fleming^4 /flεm/ n. 1 a native of Flanders.

2 a member of the Flemish-speaking people inhabiting northern and western Belgium. Compare with WALLOON.

<ORIGIN> late Old English Flæmingi, from Old Norse, reinforced by Middle Dutch Vlāming, related to Vlaanderen ‘Flanders’.

Fleming's left-hand rule n. [PHYSICS] a mnemonic concerning the behaviour of a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field, according to which the directions of the magnetic field, the current, and the force exerted on the conductor are indicated respectively by the first finger, second finger, and thumb of the left hand when these are held out perpendicular to each other.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: proposed by J. A. Fleming (see Fleming^3).

Fleming's right-hand rule n. [PHYSICS] a mnemonic concerning the behaviour of a conductor moving in a magnetic field, according to which the directions of the magnetic field, the induced current, and the motion of the conductor are indicated respectively by the first finger, second finger, and thumb of the right hand when these are held out perpendicular to each other.

Flemish /flεm/ adj. relating to Flanders, its people, or their language.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the Dutch language as spoken in Flanders. It is one of the two official languages of Belgium.

2 (the Flemish) [as plural n.] the people of Flanders.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Dutch Vlāmisch, related to Vlaanderen ‘Flanders’.

Flemish bond n. [BUILDING] a pattern of bricks in a wall in which each course consists of alternate headers and stretchers.

flense /flεns/ (also flench /flεn(t)/) v. [with obj.] slice the skin or fat from (a carcass, especially that of a whale).

- strip (skin or fat) from a carcass: the skin had been flensed off.

<DERIVATIVES> flenser n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Danish flensa.

flesh n. [mass noun] the soft substance consisting of muscle and fat that is found between the skin and bones of a human or an animal: she grabbed Anna's arm, her fingers sinking into the flesh.

- the flesh of an animal or fish, regarded as food: the food an animal eats will affect the taste and texture of its flesh.

- the edible pulpy part of a fruit or vegetable: halve the avocados and scrape out the flesh.

- the skin or surface of the human body with reference to its appearance or sensory properties: she gasped as the cold water hit her flesh.

- (the flesh) the human body and its physical needs and desires, especially as contrasted with the mind or the soul: I have never been one to deny the pleasures of the flesh.

- flesh colour.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (flesh out) put weight on: he had fleshed out to a solid 220 pounds.

- [with obj.] (flesh something out) add more details to something which only exists in a draft or outline form: the arguments were fleshed out by the minister.

2 [with obj.] stimulate (a hound or hawk) to hunt by feeding it a piece of flesh from a recently killed animal.

- LITERARY accustom to bloodshed or warfare: he fleshed his troops with enterprises against the enemy's posts.

3 [with obj.] (often as n. fleshing) remove the flesh adhering to (a skin or hide).

<PHRASES>

□ all flesh all human and animal life.

□ go the way of all flesh die or come to an end.

□ flesh and blood used to refer to a person's physical body and their needs and frailties, often as opposed to their mind or soul: the strain on his self-control had been more than flesh and blood could endure.

- (one's flesh and blood) a near relative or one's close family: he felt as much for that girl as if she had been his own flesh and blood.

□ in the flesh in person or (of a thing) in its actual state: they decided that they should meet Alexander in the flesh.

□ lose flesh ARCHAIC become thinner.

□ make someone's flesh creep (or crawl) cause someone to feel fear, horror, or disgust.

□ one flesh used to refer to the spiritual and physical union of two people in a relationship, especially marriage: my body is his, his is mine: one flesh. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Gen. 2:24.]

□ put flesh on (the bones of) something add more details to something: he has yet to put flesh on his ‘big idea’.

□ put on flesh put on weight.

□ sins of the flesh ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS sins related to physical indulgence, especially sexual gratification.

<DERIVATIVES> fleshed adj. [usually in combination] a white-fleshed fish fleshless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English flsc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlees and German Fleisch.

flesh colour n. [mass noun] a light brownish pink.

<DERIVATIVES> flesh-coloured adj.

flesher n. 1 chiefly SCOTTISH a butcher.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a knife for fleshing hides.

flesh fly n. a fly that breeds in carrion, typically producing live young which are deposited on a carcass.

<INFO> Family Sarcophagidae: Sarcophaga and other genera.

fleshings plural n. flesh-coloured tights worn by actors.

fleshly adj. (fleshlier, fleshliest) 1 relating to human desire or bodily appetites; sensual: fleshly pleasures.

2 having an actual physical presence.

<ORIGIN> Old English flsclic (see FLESH, -ly^1).

fleshpots plural n. places providing luxurious or hedonistic living: he had lived the life of a roué in the fleshpots of London and Paris.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: with biblical allusion to the fleshpots of Egypt (Exod. 16:3).

flesh side n. the side of a hide that adjoined the flesh.

flesh wound n. a wound that breaks the skin but does not damage bones or vital organs.

fleshy adj. (fleshier, fleshiest) 1 (of a person or part of the body) having a substantial amount of flesh; plump: her fleshy arms.

- (of plant or fruit tissue) soft and thick: fleshy, greeny-grey leaves.

2 resembling flesh in appearance or texture: normally, the tissue is fleshy pink.

<DERIVATIVES> fleshiness n.

fletch /flεt/ v. [with obj.] provide (an arrow) with feathers for flight.

■ n. each of the feathered vanes of an arrow: [in combination] a four-fletch arrow.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: alteration of FLEDGE, probably influenced by fletcher.

Fletcher John (1579–1625), English dramatist. A writer of Jacobean tragicomedies, he wrote some fifteen plays with Francis Beaumont, including The Maid's Tragedy (1610–11).

fletcher n. chiefly HISTORICAL a person who makes and sells arrows.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French flechier, from fleche ‘arrow’.

fletching n. [mass noun] the feathers of an arrow.

fleur-de-lis /flədəli/ (also fleur-de-lys) n. (pl. fleurs-de-lis pronunc. same) 1 [ART] & [HERALDRY] a stylized lily composed of three petals bound together near their bases. It is especially known from the former royal arms of France, in which it appears in gold on a blue field.

2 a European iris.

<INFO> Genus Iris, family Iridaceae, in particular I. × germanica ‘Florentina’ (with bluish-white flowers) or I. pseudacorus (the yellow flag).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French flour de lys ‘flower of the lily’.

fleuron /flərn flə-/ n. 1 a flower-shaped ornament or motif, used especially on buildings, coins, and books.

2 a small piece of puff pastry used for garnishing.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French floron, from flour ‘flower’.

Flevoland /flevəland/ a province of the Netherlands, created in 1986 and reclaimed from the Zuider Zee during the 1950s and 1960s.

flew past of fly^1.

flews /fluz/ plural n. the thick hanging lips of a bloodhound or similar dog.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

flex^1 v. 1 (with reference to a limb or joint) bend or become bent: [with obj.] she saw him flex his ankle and wince | [no obj.] it's important to prevent the damaged wrist from flexing.

- [with obj.] cause (a muscle) to stand out by contracting or tensing it: a group of bodybuilders flexed their muscles.

- [no obj.] (of a muscle) contract or be tensed: a muscle flexed in his jaw.

- [no obj.] (of a material) be capable of warping or bending and then reverting to shape: set windows in rubber so they flex during an earthquake.

2 (as adj. flexed) [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a practice of burying a corpse with the legs drawn up under the chin.

<PHRASES>

□ flex one's muscles see MUSCLE.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin flex- ‘bent’, from the verb flectere.

flex^2 n. BRITISH a flexible insulated cable used for carrying electric current to an appliance.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of FLEXIBLE.

flexibility n. [mass noun] the quality of bending easily without breaking: players gained improved flexibility in their ankles.

- the ability to be easily modified: I enjoyed the flexibility of the schedule.

- willingness to change or compromise: the government has shown flexibility in applying its policy.

flexible adj. capable of bending easily without breaking: flexible rubber seals.

- able to be easily modified to respond to altered circumstances: small businesses which are dependent on flexible working hours.

- (of a person) ready and able to change so as to adapt to different circumstances: you can save money if you're flexible about where your room is located.

<DERIVATIVES> flexibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin flexibilis, from flectere ‘to bend’.

flexile /flεksl/ adj. ARCHAIC pliant and flexible: the serpent's flexile body.

<DERIVATIVES> flexility n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin flexilis, from flectere ‘to bend’.

flexion /flεk(ə)n/ (also flection) n. [mass noun] the action of bending or the condition of being bent, especially the bending of a limb or joint: flexion of the fingers.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin flexio(n-), from flectere ‘to bend’.

flexitime (NORTH AMERICAN also flextime) n. [mass noun] a system of working a set number of hours with the starting and finishing TIMEs chosen within agreed limits by the employee: a 35-hour week with flexitime.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of FLEXIBLE and time.

flexo n. short for FLEXOGRAPHY.

■ adj. short for FLEXOGRAPHIC (see FLEXOGRAPHY).

flexography /flεksrəfi/ n. [mass noun] a rotary relief printing method using rubber or plastic plates and fluid inks or dyes for printing on fabrics and impervious materials such as plastics, as well as on paper.

<DERIVATIVES> flexographic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Latin flexus ‘a bending’ (from the verb flectere) + -GRAPHY.

flexor /flεksə/ (also flexor muscle) n. [ANATOMY] a muscle whose contraction bends a limb or other part of the body. Often contrasted with EXTENSOR.

- any of a number of specific muscles in the arm, hand, leg, or foot.

flexuous /flεksjəs/ adj. chiefly LITERARY full of bends and curves: he put an arm around her flexuous waist.

<DERIVATIVES> flexuosity n. flexuously adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin flexuosus, from flexus ‘a bending’, from the verb flectere.

flexure /flεkə/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL, chiefly [ANATOMY] & [GEOLOGY] the action of bending or curving, or the condition of being bent or curved.

- [count noun] a bent or curved part: these lesser hills were flexures of the San Andreas system.

<DERIVATIVES> flexural adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin flexura, from flectere ‘to bend’.

flexwing n. a collapsible fabric delta wing, as used in hang-gliders: [as modifier] a flexwing microlight.

flibbertigibbet /flbətdbt/ n. a frivolous, flighty, or excessively talkative person.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably imitative of idle chatter.

flic^1 n. [COMPUTING] a data file containing computer animations.

<ORIGIN> usage of the cinematographic sense of FLICK.

flic^2 n. INFORMAL a French policeman.

<ORIGIN> French.

flick v. [with obj.] strike or propel (something) with a sudden quick movement of the fingers: Max flicked his bow tie | Ursula flicked some ash off her sleeve.

- make or cause to make a sudden quick movement: [with obj.] the horse flicked its tail | [no obj.] the tip of his tongue flicked out.

- turn (an electrical device) on or off: he flicked on the air conditioning | Urquart flicked the switch and she blinked in the harsh light.

- [with obj.] move (an object) rapidly up and down so as to strike something or someone: the driver flicked his whip and the cab moved off.

- [no obj.] (flick through) look quickly through a book, magazine, etc.: she was flicking through a copy of Vogue.

■ n. 1 a sudden quick movement: the flick of a switch | a flick of the wrist.

- the sudden release of a bent finger or thumb, especially to propel a small object: he sent his cigarette spinning away with a flick of his fingers.

- a light, sharp, quickly retracted blow, especially with a whip.

- (a flick through) a quick look through (a book, magazine, etc.): a quick flick through the family album.

2 INFORMAL a cinema film: a Hollywood action flick.

- (the flicks) BRITISH the cinema: fancy a night at the flicks?

<PHRASES>

□ give someone the flick (or get the flick) INFORMAL, chiefly AUSTRALIAN reject someone (or be rejected) in a casual or offhand way.

<DERIVATIVES> flicky adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: symbolic, fl- frequently beginning words denoting sudden movement.

flicker^1 v. [no obj.] 1 (of light or a source of light) shine unsteadily; vary rapidly in brightness: the interior lights flickered, and came on.

- (of a flame) burn fitfully, alternately flaring up and dying down: the candle flickered again | (as adj. flickering) the flickering flames cast long shadows.

- (of an emotion) be felt or shown briefly or faintly: amusement flickered briefly in his eyes.

2 make small, quick movements: her eyelids flickered | [with complement] Forster's eyes flickered open.

■ n. 1 an unsteady movement of a flame or light causing rapid variations in brightness: the flicker of a candle flame caught our eyes.

- [mass noun] fluctuations in the brightness of a film or television image such as occur when the number of frames per second is too small for persistence of vision.

2 a tiny movement: the flicker of an eyelid.

- a brief feeling or indication of emotion: a flicker of a smile passed across her face.

<ORIGIN> Old English flicorian, flycerian ‘to flutter’, probably of Germanic origin and related to Low German flickern and Dutch flikkeren.

flicker^2 n. an American woodpecker that often feeds on ants on the ground.

<INFO> Genus Colaptes, family Picidae: several species, in particular the common (or northern) flicker (C. auratus).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: imitative of its call.

flick knife n. BRITISH a knife with a blade that springs out from the handle when a button is pressed.

flick roll n. another term for SNAP ROLL.

flight n. 1 [mass noun] the action or process of flying through the air: an eagle in flight | the history of space flight.

- [count noun] an act of flying; a journey made through the air or in space, especially a timetabled journey made by an airline: a return flight from Gatwick to Berlin.

- the movement or trajectory of a projectile or ball through the air.

- [as modifier] relating to or denoting archery in which the main concern is shooting long distances: short, light flight arrows.

2 a flock or large body of birds or insects in the air, especially when migrating: flights of whooper swans.

- a group of aircraft operating together, especially an RAF or USAF unit of about six aircraft: he dispatched the Hurricanes in three flights.

3 [mass noun] the action of fleeing: the enemy were now in flight | [in sing.] a headlong flight from reality.

- the selling of currency or shares by many investors: an anti-inflationary move aimed at stemming the flight of capital.

- LITERARY the swift passage of time: the never-ending flight of future days.

4 a series of steps between floors or levels: I climbed the three flights of stairs which led to his office.

- a series of hurdles across a racetrack.

- a sequence of locks by which a canal ascends an incline.

5 an extravagant or far-fetched idea or thought process: his research assistant was prone to flights of fancy.

6 the tail of a dart.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 BRITISH (in soccer, cricket, etc.) deliver (a ball) with well-judged trajectory and pace: he flighted a free kick into the box.

2 provide (an arrow or dart) with feathers or vanes: shafts of wood flighted with a handful of feathers.

3 shoot (wildfowl) in flight.

<PHRASES>

□ in full flight escaping as fast as possible.

- having gained momentum in a run or activity: Yorke was brought down in full flight.

□ put someone/thing to flight cause someone or something to flee.

□ take flight 1 take off and fly.

2 (also take to flight) flee: many Huguenots took flight from France.

<ORIGIN> Old English flyht ‘action or manner of flying’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlucht and fly^1. This was probably merged in Middle English with an unrecorded Old English word related to German Flucht and to FLEE, which is represented by sense 3 of the noun.

flight attendant n. a steward or stewardess on an aircraft.

flight bag n. a small zipped shoulder bag carried by air travellers.

flight capital n. [mass noun] money transferred abroad to avoid taxes or inflation or provide for possible emigration.

flight case n. a sturdy case used for transporting equipment.

flight control n. [mass noun] the activity of directing the movement of aircraft.

- [count noun] a flap or other control surface on an aircraft.

flight crew n. [treated as sing. or plural] the personnel who are responsible for the operation of an aircraft during flight.

flight deck n. 1 the cockpit of a large aircraft.

2 the deck of an aircraft carrier, used for take-off and landing.

flight engineer n. a member of a flight crew responsible for the aircraft's engines and other systems during flight.

flight envelope n. the range of combinations of speed, altitude, angle of attack, etc., within which a flying object is aerodynamically stable.

flight feather n. any of the large primary or secondary feathers in a bird's wing, supporting it in flight. Also called REMEX.

flightless adj. (of a bird or an insect) naturally unable to fly.

<DERIVATIVES> flightlessness n.

flight lieutenant n. a rank of officer in the RAF, above flying officer and below squadron leader.

flightline n. 1 the part of an airport around the hangars where aircraft can be parked and serviced.

2 a line of flight: the birds move in well-defined flightlines to the feeding grounds.

flight path n. the actual or planned course of an aircraft or spacecraft.

flight plan n. [AERONAUTICS] a written account of the details of a particular proposed flight.

flight recorder n. a device in an aircraft that records technical details during a flight, used in the event of an accident to discover its cause.

flightseeing n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the activity of viewing places of interest from an aircraft.

flight sergeant n. a rank of non-commissioned officer in the RAF, above sergeant and below warrant officer.

flight simulator n. a machine designed to resemble an aircraft's cockpit, with computer-generated images that mimic the pilot's view and the aircraft's motion, used for training pilots.

flight test n. a flight of an aircraft, rocket, or equipment to see how well it functions.

■ v. (flight-test) [with obj.] test (an aircraft or rocket) by flying it.

flighty adj. (flightier, flightiest) fickle and irresponsible: her mother was a flighty Southern belle.

<DERIVATIVES> flightily adv. flightiness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from FLIGHT + -Y^1.

flimflam INFORMAL n. 1 [mass noun] nonsensical or insincere talk: pseudo-intellectual flimflam.

2 a confidence trick: flimflams perpetrated against us by our elected officials.

■ v. (flimflams, flimflamming, flimflammed) [with obj.] swindle (someone) with a confidence trick: the tribe was flimflammed out of its land.

<DERIVATIVES> flimflammer n. flimflammery n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: symbolic reduplication.

flimsy adj. (flimsier, flimsiest) insubstantial and easily damaged: a flimsy barrier.

- (of clothing) very light and thin: the flimsy garment fell from her.

- (of a pretext or account) weak and unconvincing: a pretty flimsy excuse.

■ n. (pl. flimsies) BRITISH a document, especially a copy, made on very thin paper: credit-card flimsies.

- [mass noun] very thin paper: sheets of yellow flimsy.

<DERIVATIVES> flimsily adv. flimsiness n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: probably from FLIMFLAM.

flinch v. [no obj.] make a quick, nervous movement of the face or body as an instinctive reaction to fear or pain: she flinched at the acidity in his voice | he had faced death without flinching.

- (flinch from) avoid doing or becoming involved in (something) through fear or anxiety: I rarely flinch from a fight when I'm sure of myself.

■ n. [in sing.] an act of flinching.

<DERIVATIVES> flincher n. flinching adj. flinchingly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘slink or sneak off’): from Old French flenchir ‘turn aside’, of West Germanic origin and related to German lenken ‘to guide, steer’.

Flinders Matthew (1774–1814), English explorer. He explored the coast of New South Wales (1795–1800) and circumnavigated Australia (1801–3) for the Royal Navy, charting much of the west coast of the continent for the first time.

flinders plural n. small fragments or splinters: the panel has been smashed to flinders.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Norwegian flindra ‘chip, splinter’.

Flinders bar n. a bar of soft iron placed vertically in or near the housing of a ship's compass to correct deviation caused by the local magnetic field of the ship.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: name after Captain Matthew FLINDERS.

Flinders Island the largest island in the Furneaux group, situated in the Bass Strait between Tasmania and mainland Australia.

fling v. (past and past participle flung) [with obj. and adverbial of direction] throw or hurl forcefully: he picked up the debris and flung it away | she flung herself down on his bed | FIGURATIVE I was flung into jail.

- move or push (something) suddenly or violently: he flung back the bedclothes | [with obj. and complement] Jennifer flung open a door.

- (fling oneself into) start or engage in (an activity or enterprise) with great energy and enthusiasm: he flung himself into his athletics.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] go quickly and angrily: Lisa had flung out of the house without so much as a glance at him.

■ n. 1 a short period of enjoyment or wild behaviour: one final fling before a tranquil retirement.

- a short, spontaneous sexual relationship: I had a fling with someone when I was at college.

2 short for HIGHLAND FLING.

<DERIVATIVES> flinger n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘go violently’): perhaps related to Old Norse flengja ‘flog’. The main verb sense is based on an earlier sense ‘reckless movement of the body’ and dates from the early 19th cent.

flint n. [mass noun] a hard grey rock consisting of nearly pure silica (chert), occurring chiefly as nodules in chalk.

- [count noun] a piece of flint, especially as flaked or ground in ancient times to form a tool or weapon.

- [count noun] a piece of flint used with steel to produce an igniting spark, e.g. in a flintlock gun, or (in modern use) a piece of an alloy used similarly, especially in a cigarette lighter.

<ORIGIN> Old English; related to Middle Dutch vlint and Old High German flins.

flint corn n. [mass noun] maize of a variety that has hard slightly translucent grains.

flint glass n. [mass noun] a pure lustrous kind of glass originally made with flint.

flintlock n. an old-fashioned type of gun fired by a spark from a flint.

- the lock on such a gun.

Flintshire /flntə -ə/ a county of NE Wales; administrative centre, Mold. It was part of Clwyd from 1974 to 1996.

flinty adj. (flintier, flintiest) of, containing, or reminiscent of flint: flinty soil | a flinty wine.

- (of a person or their expression) very hard and unyielding: a flinty stare.

<DERIVATIVES> flintily adv. flintiness n.

flip^1 v. (flips, flipping, flipped) 1 turn over or cause to turn over with a sudden quick movement: [no obj.] the plane flipped over and then exploded | [with obj.] the six-foot wave wave flipped the dinghy over.

2 [with obj. and adverbial] move, push, or throw (something) with a sudden quick movement: she flipped off her dark glasses | she flipped a few coins on to the bar.

- [with obj.] turn (an electrical appliance or switch) on or off: he flipped a switch and the front door opened.

- [with obj.] toss (a coin) to decide an issue: given those odds one might as well flip a coin.

- [no obj.] (flip through) look quickly through (a book, magazine, etc.): McLeish flipped through his notes.

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL suddenly lose control or become very angry: he had clearly flipped under the pressure.

- suddenly become very enthusiastic: I walked into a store, saw the guitar on the wall, and just flipped.

4 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN resell (shares or property) quickly to make a profit.

■ n. 1 a sudden quick movement: the fish made little leaps and flips.

- (a flip through) a quick look through a book, magazine, etc.: a quick flip through my cookery books.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a quick tour or pleasure trip: I did a flip round the post-show party. [<ORIGIN> derived from an earlier sense ‘short flight in an aircraft’.]

■ adj. glib or flippant: he couldn't get away with flip, funny conversation.

■ exclam. INFORMAL used to express mild annoyance.

<PHRASES>

□ flip burgers NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL work as a cook in a fast-food restaurant.

□ flip one's lid (or chiefly NORTH AMERICAN one's wig) INFORMAL suddenly lose control or become very angry.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a verb in the sense ‘make a flick with the finger and thumb’): probably a contraction of FILLIP.

flip^2 n. [mass noun] a drink of heated, sweetened beer and spirit.

■ another term for EGGNOG.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps from FLIP^1 in the sense ‘whip up’.

flip chart n. a large pad of paper bound so that each page can be turned over at the top to reveal the next, used on a stand at presentations.

flip chip n. [COMPUTING] a chip on one side of which all the connections are in the form of contacts which can be made simultaneously by pressing the chip against the matching substrate and applying heat or pressure.

flip-flop n. 1 a light sandal, typically of plastic or rubber, with a thong between the big and second toe.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a backward handspring.

- INFORMAL an abrupt reversal of policy: his flip-flop on taxes.

3 [ELECTRONICS] a switching circuit which works by changing from one stable state to another, or through an unstable state back to its stable state, in response to a triggering pulse.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial of direction] move with a flapping sound or motion: she flip-flopped off the porch in battered trainers.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL make an abrupt reversal of policy: the candidate flip-flopped on a number of issues.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the general sense ‘something that flaps or flops’): imitative reduplication of FLOP.

flippancy n. [mass noun] lack of respect or seriousness; frivolousness: she was infuriated by his careless flippancy.

flippant adj. not showing a serious or respectful attitude: a flippant remark.

<DERIVATIVES> flippantly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from FLIP^1 + -ANT, perhaps on the pattern of heraldic terms such as couchant and rampant. Early senses included ‘nimble’ and ‘talkative’, hence ‘playful’, giving rise to the current use ‘lacking seriousness’.

flipper n. a broad flat limb without fingers, used for swimming by various sea animals such as seals, whales, and turtles.

- a flat rubber attachment worn on the foot for underwater swimming.

- a pivoted arm in a pinball machine, controlled by the player and used for sending the ball back up the table.

flipping adj. [attr.] BRITISH INFORMAL used for emphasis or to express mild annoyance: are you out of your flipping mind? | [as submodifier] it's flipping cold today.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from FLIP^1 + -ING^2.

flippy adj. (of a skirt) flared and relatively short, so as to flick up as the wearer walks.

flip side n. INFORMAL the less important side of a pop single; the B-side.

- another aspect or version of something, especially its reverse or its unwanted concomitant: our recent pessimism is the flip side of an exaggerated optimism.

flip-top adj. having or denoting a lid or cover that can be easily flipped open.

■ n. a flip-top lid or cover.

flirt v. 1 [no obj.] behave as though sexually attracted to someone, but playfully rather than with serious intentions: she began to tease him, flirting with other men in front of him.

- (flirt with) experiment with or show a superficial interest in (an idea, activity, or movement) without committing oneself to it seriously: a painter who had flirted briefly with Cubism.

- (flirt with) deliberately expose oneself to (danger or difficulty): the need of some individuals to flirt with death.

2 [with obj.] (of a bird) wave or open and shut (its wings or tail) with a quick flicking motion.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move quickly to and fro with a fluttering motion: the lark was flirting around the site.

■ n. a person who habitually flirts: Jim was an outrageous flirt.

<DERIVATIVES> flirty adj. (flirtier, flirtiest)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: apparently symbolic, the elements fl- and -irt both suggesting sudden movement; compare with FLICK and SPURT. The original verb senses were ‘give someone a sharp blow’ and ‘sneer at’; the earliest noun senses were ‘joke, jibe’ and ‘flighty girl’ (defined by Dr Johnson as ‘a pert young hussey’), with a notion originally of cheeky behaviour, later of playfully amorous behaviour.

flirtation n. [mass noun] behaviour that demonstrates a playful sexual attraction to someone: Fabia was in no mood for his light-hearted flirtation.

- [count noun] a short or casual relationship: she had had plenty of flirtations—now she had fallen in love.

- a short period of casual experimentation with or interest in a particular idea or activity: his brief flirtation with the avant-garde in the 1920s.

flirtatious adj. behaving in a such a way as to suggest a playful sexual attraction to someone: she was beautiful and very flirtatious.

- expressing a casual sexual attraction: a flirtatious smile.

<DERIVATIVES> flirtatiously adv. flirtatiousness n.

flit v. (flits, flitting, flitted) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move swiftly and lightly: small birds flitted about in the branches | FIGURATIVE the idea had flitted through his mind.

- [no obj.] chiefly SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH move house or leave one's home, typically secretly so as to escape creditors or obligations.

■ n. BRITISH INFORMAL an act of moving house or leaving one's home, typically secretly so as to escape creditors or obligations: moonlight flits from one insalubrious dwelling to another.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the Scots and northern English sense): from Old Norse flytja; related to fleet^5.

flitch /flt/ n. 1 a slab of timber cut from a tree trunk, usually from the outside.

2 (also flitch plate) the strengthening plate in a flitch beam.

3 chiefly DIALECT a side of bacon.

<ORIGIN> Old English flicce, originally denoting the salted and cured side of any meat, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Low German vlicke.

flitch beam n. a compound beam made of an iron plate between two slabs of wood.

flitter v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move quickly in an apparently random or purposeless manner: her fingers flittered over the sheets.

■ n. a fluttering movement: the flash and flitter of coloured wings.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: frequentative of FLIT.

flittermouse n. (pl. flittermice)

■ old-fashioned term for bat^2 (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: on the pattern of Dutch vledermuis or German Fledermaus.

flivver /flvə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a cheap car or aircraft, especially one in bad condition.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

flixweed /flkswid/ n. [mass noun] a Eurasian plant with small yellow flowers and finely divided leaves, which was formerly thought to cure dysentery.

<INFO> Descurainia sophia, family Cruciferae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete flix (variant of FLUX) + WEED.

FLN abbr. Front de Libération Nationale.

float v. [no obj.] 1 rest or move on or near the surface of a liquid without sinking: she relaxed, floating gently in the water.

- [with obj. and adverbial] cause (a buoyant object) to rest or move on or near the surface of a liquid: trees were felled and floated downstream.

- be suspended freely in a liquid or gas: fragments of chipped cartilage floated in the joint.

2 [with adverbial of direction] move or hover slowly and lightly in a liquid or the air; drift: clouds floated across a brilliant blue sky | FIGURATIVE the notion was floating around Capitol Hill.

- move in a casual or leisurely way: Araminta floated down the stairs.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] (in sport) make (the ball) travel lightly and effortlessly through the air: he floated the kick into the net.

3 [with obj.] put forward (an idea) as a suggestion or test of reactions.

- offer the shares of (a company) for sale on the stock market for the first time.

4 (of a currency) fluctuate freely in value in accordance with supply and demand in the financial markets: a policy of letting the pound float.

- [with obj.] allow (a currency) to fluctuate in such a way.

■ n. 1 a thing that is buoyant in water, in particular:

- a small object attached to a fishing line to indicate by moving when a fish bites.

- a cork or buoy supporting the edge of a fishing net.

- a light object held for support by a person learning to swim.

- a hollow or inflated organ enabling an organism (such as the Portuguese man-of-war) to float in the water.

- a hollow structure fixed underneath an aircraft enabling it to take off and land on water.

- a floating device on the surface of a liquid which forms part of a valve apparatus controlling flow in and out of the enclosing container, e.g. in a water cistern or a carburettor.

2 BRITISH a small vehicle or cart, especially one powered by electricity.

- a platform mounted on a truck and carrying a display in a procession: a carnival float.

3 BRITISH a sum of money used for change at the beginning of a period of trading in a shop or stall etc., or for minor expenditures.

4 a hand tool with a rectangular blade used for smoothing plaster.

5 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a soft drink with a scoop of ice cream floating in it: ice-cream floats.

6 (in critical path analysis) the period of time by which the duration of an activity may be extended without affecting the overall time for the process.

<PHRASES>

□ float someone's boat INFORMAL appeal to or excite someone, especially sexually.

<ORIGIN> Old English flotian (verb), of Germanic origin and related to fleet^5, reinforced in Middle English by Old French floter, also from Germanic.

floatable adj. capable of floating.

- chiefly US (of water) able to support floating objects; deep enough to float in.

float arm n. the hinged arm attached to the ball float in the ballcock of a water cistern.

float chamber n. the cavity in a carburettor containing a device which floats on the surface of the fuel and seals off the flow as the level rises.

floatel /flətεl/ (also flotel) n. a floating hotel, especially a boat used as a hotel.

- an accommodation vessel for workers on an offshore oil rig.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of FLOAT and HOTEL; compare with BOATEL.

floater n. 1 a person or thing that floats.

- a loose particle within the eyeball which is apparent in one's field of vision.

2 a floating voter.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person who frequently changes occupation or residence.

- NORTH AMERICAN a worker who is required to do a variety of tasks as the need for each arises.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a mistake; a gaffe.

4 US an insurance policy covering loss of articles without specifying a location.

float glass n. [mass noun] plate glass made by allowing it to solidify on a layer of molten metal.

floating adj. 1 buoyant or suspended in water or air: a floating platform.

2 not settled permanently; fluctuating or variable: floating exchange rates.

floating charge n. a liability to a creditor which relates to the company's assets as a whole and may become fixed in particular circumstances (such as liquidation). Compare with FIXED CHARGE.

floating cloche n. a lightweight material (such as polypropylene film) placed over growing plants to protect them, unsupported except by the plants themselves.

floating debt n. a debt which is repayable in the short term. Compare with FUNDED DEBT.

floating dock n. a floating structure used as a dry dock.

floating kidney n. [mass noun] a condition in which the kidneys are abnormally movable.

floating-point n. [as modifier] [COMPUTING] denoting a mode of representing numbers as two sequences of bits, one representing the digits in the number and the other an exponent which determines the position of the radix point. Often contrasted with fixed point (sense 2).

floating rib n. any of the lower ribs which are not attached directly to the breastbone. Also called FALSE RIB.

floating voter n. BRITISH a person who has not decided which way to vote in an election, or one who does not consistently vote for the same political party.

floatplane n. an aircraft equipped with floats for landing on water; a seaplane.

float valve n. a ball valve.

floaty adj. (floatier, floatiest) (especially of a woman's garment or a fabric) light and flimsy: elegant floaty dresses.

floc /flk/ n. TECHNICAL a loosely clumped mass of fine particles.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: abbreviation of FLOCCULUS.

floccinaucinihilipilification /flksnsnhlplfke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] RARE the action or habit of estimating something as worthless.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin flocci, nauci, nihili, pili (words meaning ‘at little value’) + -FICATION. The Latin elements were listed in a well-known rule of the Eton Latin Grammar.

<USAGE> Floccinaucinihilipilification is one of a number of very long words that occur very rarely in genuine use. For more details see usage at antidisestablishmentarianism.

floccose /flkəs/ adj. chiefly [BOTANY] covered with or consisting of woolly tufts.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from late Latin floccosus, from Latin floccus ‘flock’.

flocculant /flkjl(ə)nt/ n. a substance which promotes the clumping of particles, especially one used in treating waste water.

flocculate /flkjlet/ v. TECHNICAL form or cause to form into small clumps or masses: [no obj.] it tends to flocculate in high salinities | [with obj.] both units contain magnets that are claimed to flocculate algae.

<DERIVATIVES> flocculation n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin flocculus ‘floccule’ + -ATE^3.

floccule /flkjul/ n. a small clump of material that resembles a tuft of wool.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin flocculus, diminutive of floccus ‘flock’.

flocculent /flkjl(ə)nt/ adj. having or resembling tufts of wool: the first snows of winter lay thick and flocculent.

- having a loosely clumped texture: a brown flocculent precipitate.

<DERIVATIVES> flocculence n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin floccus ‘tuft of wool’ + -ULENT.

flocculus /flkjləs/ n. (pl. flocculi /-l -li/) 1 [ANATOMY] a small egg-shaped lobe on the undersurface of the cerebellum.

2 [ASTRONOMY] a small cloudy wisp on the surface of the sun.

3 a floccule.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: modern Latin, diminutive of Latin floccus (see FLOCCUS).

floccus /flkəs/ n. (pl. flocci /flks/) a tuft of wool or similar clump of fibres or filaments.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, ‘lock or tuft of wool’. Compare with flock^2.

flock^1 n. a number of birds of one kind feeding, resting, or travelling together: a flock of gulls.

- a number of domestic animals, especially sheep, goats, or geese, that are kept together: a flock of sheep.

- a large number or crowd of people: a flock of paparazzi tailed them all over London.

- a group of children or pupils in someone's charge.

- a Christian congregation or body of believers, especially one under the charge of a particular minister: Thomas addressed his flock. [<ORIGIN> alluding to the metaphor of Christ or a Christian pastor as a shepherd.]

■ v. [no obj.] (of birds) congregate in a flock: sandgrouse are liable to flock with other species.

- [with adverbial] move or go together in a crowd: tourists flock to Oxford in their thousands.

<ORIGIN> Old English flocc, of unknown origin. The original sense was ‘a band or body of people’: this became obsolete, but has been reintroduced as a transferred use of the sense ‘a number of animals kept together’.

flock^2 n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] a soft material for stuffing cushions, quilts, and other soft furnishings, made of wool refuse or torn-up cloth: flock mattresses.

- powdered wool or cloth, used in making flock wallpaper.

- [count noun] a lock or tuft of wool or cotton.

<DERIVATIVES> flocky adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French floc, from Latin floccus (see FLOCCUS).

flockmaster n. a sheep farmer.

flock wallpaper n. [mass noun] wallpaper sized and sprinkled with powdered wool to make a raised pattern.

Flodden, Battle of /fld(ə)n/ (also Flodden Field) a decisive battle of the Anglo-Scottish war of 1513, at Flodden, a hill near the Northumbrian village of Branxton. A Scottish army under James IV was defeated by a smaller but better-led English force and suffered heavy losses, including the king and most of his nobles.

floe /flə/ (also ice floe) n. a sheet of floating ice.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (superseding flake^1 in this sense): probably from Norwegian flo, from Old Norse fló ‘layer’.

flog v. (flogs, flogging, flogged) [with obj.] 1 beat (someone) with a whip or stick as a punishment: the men had been flogged and branded on the forehead | (as n. flogging) public floggings.

- INFORMAL promote or talk about (something) repetitively or at excessive length: the issue has been flogged to death already.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL sell or offer for sale: he made a fortune flogging beads to hippies.

3 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] BRITISH INFORMAL make one's way with strenuous effort: by 10 pm we had flogged up the slopes to Grey Crag.

■ n. [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL an arduous climb or struggle: a long flog up the mountainside.

<PHRASES>

□ flog a dead horse BRITISH waste energy on a lost cause or unalterable situation.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally slang): perhaps imitative, or from Latin flagellare ‘to whip’, from flagellum ‘whip’.

flogger (also flogging brush) n. a brush used in interior decorating to give a marbled or woodgrain effect.

flokati /flkαti/ (also flokati rug) n. (pl. flokatis) a Greek woven woollen rug with a thick loose pile.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from modern Greek phlokatē ‘peasant's blanket’.

flood n. 1 an overflow of a large amount of water beyond its normal limits, especially over what is normally dry land: the villagers had been cut off by floods and landslides | [as modifier] a flood barrier.

- (the Flood) the biblical flood brought by God upon the earth because of the wickedness of the human race (Gen. 6 ff.).

- the inflow of the tide.

- LITERARY a river, stream, or sea.

2 an outpouring of tears: she burst into floods of tears.

- an overwhelming quantity of things or people happening or appearing at the same time: his column provoked a flood of complaints | floods of tourists come each year to marvel at the sights.

3 short for FLOODLIGHT.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 cover or submerge (an area) with water in a flood: the dam burst, flooding a small town | (as n. flooding) a serious risk of flooding.

- [no obj.] become covered or submerged by a flood: part of the vessel flooded | FIGURATIVE Sarah's eyes flooded with tears.

- (usually be flooded out) (of a flood) force (someone) to leave their home.

- (of a river) become swollen and overflow (its banks).

2 fill or suffuse completely: she flooded the room with light | [no obj., with adverbial of direction] sunlight flooded in at the windows.

- overfill the carburettor of (an engine) with petrol, causing the engine to fail to start.

3 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] arrive in overwhelming amounts or quantities: congratulatory messages flooded in | FIGURATIVE his old fears came flooding back.

- [with obj.] overwhelm with large amounts or quantities: our switchboard was flooded with calls.

4 [no obj.] (of a woman) experience a uterine haemorrhage.

<PHRASES>

□ be in (full) flood (of a river) be overflowing its banks.

- (be in full flood) be progressing vigorously: discussion was already in full flood and refused to be dammed.

<ORIGIN> Old English flōd, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vloed and German Flut, also to FLOW.

floodgate n. a gate that can be opened or closed to admit or exclude water, especially the lower gate of a lock.

- (the floodgates) a last restraint holding back an outpouring of something powerful or substantial: his lawsuit could open the floodgates for thousands of similar claims.

floodlight n. a large, powerful light, typically one of several used to illuminate a sports ground, a stage, or the exterior of a building.

- [mass noun] the illumination provided by a floodlight: a tennis court where you can play by floodlight.

■ v. (past and past participle floodlit) [with obj.] (usually as adj. floodlit) illuminate (a building or outdoor area) with floodlights: floodlit football pitches.

floodplain n. an area of low-lying ground adjacent to a river, formed mainly of river sediments and subject to flooding.

flood tide n. an incoming tide.

- an overwhelming quantity or amount of people or things: the trickle of tourists has become a flood tide.

floodwater (also floodwaters) n. [mass noun] water left by flooding.

floor n. 1 the lower surface of a room, on which one may walk: a wooden floor.

- the bottom surface of a vehicle: she retrieved the groceries from the floor of the car.

- the bottom of the sea, a cave, or an area of land: the ocean floor | the forest floor.

- FIGURATIVE a minimum level of prices or wages: share prices have gone through the floor.

2 all the rooms or areas on the same level of a building; a storey: [as modifier, in combination] a third-floor flat.

3 (the floor) (in a legislative assembly) the part of the house in which members sit and from which they speak.

- the right or opportunity to speak next in debate: other speakers have the floor.

- (in the Stock Exchange) the large central hall where trading takes place: [as modifier] a floor trader.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 provide (a room or area) with a floor: a room floored in yellow wood | (as adj., in combination -floored) a stone-floored building.

2 INFORMAL knock (someone) to the ground, especially with a punch.

- baffle (someone) completely: that question floored him.

<PHRASES>

□ from the floor (of a speech or question) delivered by an individual member at a meeting, not by a representative on the platform: questions from the floor will be invited.

□ take the floor 1 begin to dance on a dance floor.

2 speak in a debate or assembly.

<ORIGIN> Old English flōr, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vloer and German Flur.

floorboard n. a long plank making up part of a wooden floor in a building.

- NORTH AMERICAN the floor of a motor vehicle.

floorcloth n. 1 BRITISH a cloth used for washing a floor.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a thin canvas rug or similar light floor covering.

floor exercise n. (usually floor exercises) a routine of gymnastic exercises performed without the use of apparatus.

flooring n. [mass noun] the boards or other material of which a floor is made.

floor lamp n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a standard lamp.

floor leader n. US the leader of a party in a legislative assembly.

floor manager n. 1 the stage manager of a television production.

2 a member of staff in a large store who supervises other shop assistants.

floorpan n. the lower part of the body of a motor vehicle, forming the floor of the passenger compartment.

floor plan n. a scale diagram of the arrangement of rooms in one storey of a building.

floor show n. an entertainment presented on the floor (as opposed to the stage) of a nightclub, restaurant, or similar venue.

floorwalker n. NORTH AMERICAN a shopwalker.

floozy (also floosie, floozie) n. (pl. floozies) INFORMAL a girl or a woman who has many casual sexual partners.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: perhaps related to FLOSSY or to dialect floosy ‘fluffy’.

flop v. (flops, flopping, flopped) [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial] fall, move, or hang in a loose and ungainly way: his blond hair flopped over his eyes.

- sit or lie down heavily and suddenly, especially when very tired: Liz flopped down into the armchair.

- INFORMAL rest or sleep in a specified place: I'm going to flop here for the night.

2 INFORMAL (of a performer or show) be completely unsuccessful; fail totally: the show flopped in London.

■ n. 1 a heavy, loose, and ungainly movement, or a sound made by it: they hit the ground with a flop.

2 INFORMAL a total failure: the play had been a flop.

3 INFORMAL, chiefly US a cheap place to sleep.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: variant of FLAP.

-flop combining form [COMPUTING] floating-point operations per second (used as a measure of computing power): a gigaflop computer.

<ORIGIN> acronym; originally spelled -flops (s = second) but shortened to avoid misinterpretation as plural.

flophouse n. INFORMAL, chiefly US a dosshouse.

flopperoo n. INFORMAL a complete failure, especially with theatre, cinema, or TV audiences or critics.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from the verb FLOP + -eroo, suffix in the sense ‘large, unexpected’.

floppy adj. (floppier, floppiest) tending to flop or hang loosely: his dark floppy hair.

■ n. (pl. floppies) (also floppy disk) [COMPUTING] a flexible removable magnetic disk (typically encased in a hard plastic shell) used for storing data.

<DERIVATIVES> floppily adv. floppiness n.

flor n. [mass noun] yeast allowed to develop in a whitish film on the surface of dry (fino) sherries and similar wines during fermentation.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Spanish, literally ‘flower’.

flor. abbr. floruit.

Flora [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the goddess of flowering plants.

flora n. (pl. floras) [mass noun] the plants of a particular region, habitat, or geological period: Britain's native flora. Compare with FAUNA.

- [count noun] a treatise on or list of such plant life.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin flos, flor- ‘flower’.

floral /flr(ə)l fl-/ adj. of flowers: floral tributes.

- decorated with or depicting flowers: a floral pattern.

- [BOTANY] of flora or floras: faunal and floral evolution.

■ n. a fabric with a floral design.

<DERIVATIVES> florally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin flos, flor- ‘flower’ + -AL.

floral kingdom n. another term for PHYTOGEOGRAPHICAL KINGDOM.

Floréal /flrəl/ French /flReal/ n. the eighth month of the French Republican calendar (1793–1805), originally running from 20 April to 19 May.

<ORIGIN> French, from Latin floreus ‘flowery’, from flos, flor- ‘flower’.

floreat /flrat/ exclam. used before a name to express one's desire that the specified institution or person will flourish.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘let flourish …’, originally used in floreat Etona, the motto of Eton College.

Florence a city in west central Italy, the capital of Tuscany, on the River Arno; pop. 352,227 (2001). Florence was a leading centre of the Italian Renaissance from the 14th to the 16th century, especially under the rule of the Medici family during the 15th century. Italian name FIRENZE.

Florentine /flr(ə)ntn/ adj. 1 relating to Florence.

2 (florentine /-tin/) [postpositive] (of a dish) served on a bed of spinach: eggs florentine.

■ n. 1 a native or citizen of Florence.

2 a biscuit consisting mainly of nuts and preserved fruit, coated on one side with chocolate.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun): from French Florentin(e) or Latin Florentinus, from Florentia ‘Florence’.

flore pleno /flre plenə flri/ adj. (of a plant variety) double-flowered.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘with a full flower’.

Flores /flrεs/ the largest of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia.

florescence /flrεs(ə)ns flə-/ n. [mass noun] the process of flowering: the Hieracia are erect throughout the process of florescence | [count noun] FIGURATIVE a spectacular cultural florescence.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin florescentia, from Latin florescere ‘begin to flower’, based on flos, flor- ‘flower’.

floret /flrt fl-/ n. [BOTANY] 1 one of the small flowers making up a composite flower head.

- a small flower.

2 one of the flowering stems making up a head of cauliflower or broccoli.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin flos, flor- ‘flower’ + -ET^1.

Florey /flri/ Howard Walter, Baron (1898–1968), Australian pathologist. With Ernst Chain he isolated and purified penicillin; in 1945 they shared a Nobel Prize with Alexander Fleming.

Florianópolis /flrənpəls/ a city in southern Brazil, on the Atlantic coast, capital of the state of Santa Catarina; pop. 321,778 (2000).

floriated /flretd/ adj. decorated with floral designs.

floribunda /flrbndə fl-/ n. a plant, especially a rose, which bears dense clusters of flowers.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, feminine (used as a noun) of floribundus ‘freely flowering’, from Latin flos, flor- ‘flower’, influenced by Latin abundus ‘copious’.

florican /flrkan/ n. a small South Asian bustard (bird), the male of which has mainly black plumage with white wings.

<INFO> Family Otidae: the Bengal florican (Houbaropsis begalensis) and the lesser florican (Sypheotides indica).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

floriculture /flrkltə fl-/ n. [mass noun] the cultivation of flowers.

<DERIVATIVES> floricultural adj. floriculturist n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin flos, flor- ‘flower’ + CULTURE, on the pattern of [HORTICULTURE].

florid /flrd/ adj. 1 having a red or flushed complexion: a stout man with a florid face.

2 excessively intricate or elaborate: a florid, baroque building.

- (of language) using unusual words or complicated rhetorical devices: his florid and exciting prose.

3 MEDICINE (of a disease or its manifestations) occurring in a fully developed form: florid symptoms of psychiatric disorder.

<DERIVATIVES> floridity n. floridly adv. floridness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin floridus, from flos, flor- ‘flower’.

Florida /flrdə/ a state forming a peninsula of the south-eastern US; pop. 15,982,378 (2000); capital, Tallahassee. Explored by Ponce de León in 1513, it was purchased from Spain by the US in 1819; it became the 27th state of the Union in 1845.

<DERIVATIVES> Floridian adj. & n.

Florida Keys a chain of small islands off the tip of the Florida peninsula. Linked to each other and to the mainland by a series of causeways and bridges forming the Overseas Highway, the islands extend south-westwards over a distance of 160 km (100 miles).

Florida room n. NORTH AMERICAN a room built at the back of a house and partly or wholly glazed, typically with a brick or tile floor and a drinks bar.

floriferous /flrf(ə)rəs fl-/ adj. (of a plant) producing many flowers.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin florifer (from flos, flor- ‘flower’, + -fer ‘producing’) + -OUS.

florilegium /flrlidəm fl-/ n. (pl. florilegia /-lidə/ or florilegiums) a collection of literary extracts; an anthology.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: modern Latin, literally ‘bouquet’ (from Latin flos, flor- ‘flower’ + legere ‘gather’), translation of Greek anthologion (see ANTHOLOGY).

florin /flrn/ n. 1 a former British coin and monetary unit worth two shillings.

- an English gold coin of the 14th c., worth six shillings and eight old pence.

2 a foreign coin of gold or silver, especially a Dutch guilder.

3 the basic monetary unit of Aruba, equal to 100 cents.

<ORIGIN> via Old French from Italian fiorino, diminutive of fiore ‘flower’, from Latin flos, flor-. The word originally denoted a gold coin issued in Florence, bearing a fleur-de-lis (the city's emblem) on the reverse.

Florio /flrə/ John (c.1553–1625), English lexicographer, of Italian descent. He produced an Italian–English dictionary entitled A Worlde of Wordes (1598) and translated Montaigne's essays into English (1603).

florist n. a person who sells and arranges cut flowers.

<DERIVATIVES> floristry n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin flos, flor- ‘flower’, on the pattern of French fleuriste or Italian florista.

floristic /flərstk/ adj. [BOTANY] relating to the study of the distribution of plants.

<DERIVATIVES> floristically adv.

floristics plural n. [treated as sing.] [BOTANY] the branch of phytogeography concerned with the study of plant species present in an area.

floruit /flrt fl-/ (abbr.: fl. or flor.) v. used in conjunction with a specified period or set of dates to indicate when a particular historical figure lived, worked, or was most active.

■ n. the period during which a historical figure lived or worked.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘he or she flourished’, from florere ‘to flourish’.

flory /flri/ (also fleury) adj. [predic. or postpositive] [HERALDRY] decorated with fleurs-de-lis.

- (of a cross) having the end of each limb splayed out into three pointed lobes.

<PHRASES>

□ flory counter-flory decorated with fleurs-de-lis set in alternating directions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French floure, from flour ‘flower’.

floss n. [mass noun] 1 the rough silk enveloping a silkworm's cocoon.

- (also floss silk) untwisted silk fibres used in embroidery.

- the silky down in maize and other plants.

2 short for DENTAL FLOSS.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] clean between (one's teeth) with dental floss.

2 [no obj.] BLACK SLANG behave in a flamboyant manner; show off.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French (soie) floche ‘floss (silk)’, from Old French flosche ‘down, nap of velvet’, of unknown origin.

flossy adj. (flossier, flossiest) 1 of or like floss: short flossy curls.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL excessively showy: she cultivated flossy friends.

flotation /fləte(ə)n/ (also floatation) n. [mass noun] 1 the action of floating in a liquid or gas: the body form is modified to assist in flotation.

- the separation of small particles of a solid by their different capacities to float.

- the capacity to float; buoyancy.

2 the process of offering a company's shares for sale on the stock market for the first time.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: alteration of floatation (from FLOAT) on the pattern of French flottaison. The spelling flot- was influenced by FLOTILLA.

flotation tank n. a lightproof, soundproof tank of salt water in which a person floats as a form of deep relaxation.

flotilla /flətlə/ n. a small fleet of ships or boats: a flotilla of cargo boats.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Spanish, diminutive of flota ‘fleet’.

flotsam /flts(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on or washed up by the sea. Compare with JETSAM.

- people or things that have been rejected or discarded as worthless: the room was cleared of boxes and other flotsam.

<PHRASES>

□ flotsam and jetsam useless or discarded objects.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Anglo-Norman French floteson, from floter ‘to float’.

flounce^1 v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] go or move in an exaggeratedly impatient or angry manner: he stood up in a fury and flounced out.

■ n. [in sing.] an exaggerated action intended to express annoyance or impatience: she left the room with a flounce.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to Norwegian flunsa ‘hurry’, or perhaps symbolic, like bounce or pounce.

flounce^2 n. a wide ornamental strip of material gathered and sewn to a skirt or dress; a frill.

■ v. (as adj. flounced) trimmed with a flounce or flounces: a flounced skirt.

<DERIVATIVES> flouncy adj. (flouncier, flounciest)

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from an alteration of obsolete frounce ‘a fold or pleat’, from Old French fronce, of Germanic origin; related to ruck^2.

flounder^1 v. [no obj.] struggle or stagger clumsily in mud or water: he was floundering about in the shallow offshore waters.

- struggle mentally; show or feel great confusion: she floundered, not knowing quite what to say.

- be in serious difficulty: many firms are floundering.

<DERIVATIVES> flounderer n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps a blend of founder^3 and BLUNDER, or perhaps symbolic, fl- frequently beginning words connected with swift or sudden movement.

flounder^2 n. a small flatfish that typically occurs in shallow coastal water.

<INFO> Families Pleuronectidae and Bothidae: several species, in particular the edible Platichthys flesus of European waters.

- (flounders) a collective term for flatfishes other than soles. See FLATFISH.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French flondre, probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Danish flynder.

flour n. [mass noun] a powder obtained by grinding grain, typically wheat, and used to make bread, cakes, and pastry.

- fine, soft powder obtained by grinding the seeds or roots of starchy vegetables: manioc flour.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 sprinkle (something, especially a work surface or cooking utensil) with a thin layer of flour.

2 US grind (grain) into flour.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: a specific use of FLOWER in the sense ‘the best part’, used originally to mean ‘the finest quality of ground wheat’. The spelling flower remained in use alongside flour until the early 19th cent.

flour beetle n. a small brown darkling beetle that is a widespread pest of flour and other cereal products.

<INFO> Genera Tribolium, Gnathocerus, and others, family Tenebrionidae: several species.

flourish v. 1 [no obj.] (of a living organism) grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly congenial environment: wild plants flourish on the banks of the lake.

- develop rapidly and successfully: the organization has continued to flourish.

- [with adverbial] be working or at the height of one's career during a specified period: the caricaturist and wit who flourished in the early years of this century.

2 [with obj.] wave (something) about to attract attention: ‘Happy New Year!’ he yelled, flourishing a bottle of whisky.

■ n. 1 a bold or extravagant gesture or action, made especially to attract attention: with a flourish, she ushered them inside.

- an elaborate rhetorical or literary expression.

- an ornamental flowing curve in handwriting or scrollwork: letters with an emphatic flourish beneath them.

2 an impressive and successful act or period: United produced a late second-half flourish.

3 [MUSIC] a fanfare played by brass instruments: a flourish of trumpets.

- an ornate musical passage.

- an extemporized addition played especially at the beginning or end of a composition.

<DERIVATIVES> flourisher n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French floriss-, lengthened stem of florir, based on Latin florere, from flos, flor- ‘a flower’. The noun senses ‘ornamental curve’ and ‘florid expression’ come from an obsolete sense of the verb, ‘adorn’ (originally with flowers).

flourishing adj. developing rapidly and successfully; thriving: a flourishing career.

floury adj. (flourier, flouriest) 1 of, resembling, or covered with flour: Maggie wiped her floury hands on her apron.

2 (of a potato) having a soft, fluffy texture when cooked.

<DERIVATIVES> flouriness n.

flout /flat/ v. 1 [with obj.] openly disregard (a rule, law, or convention): the advertising code is being flouted.

2 [no obj.] ARCHAIC mock; scoff: the women pointed and flouted at her.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps from Dutch fluiten ‘whistle, play the flute, hiss (in derision)’; German dialect pfeifen auf, literally ‘pipe at’, has a similar extended meaning.

<USAGE> Flout and flaunt do not have the same meaning: see usage at flaunt.

flow v. [no obj.] 1 (of a liquid, gas, or electricity) move steadily and continuously in a current or stream: from here the river flows north | ventilation channels keep the air flowing.

- (of the sea or a tidal river) move towards the land; rise. Compare with EBB.

2 [with adverbial of direction] go from one place to another in a steady stream, typically in large numbers: people flowed into the huge courtyard.

- proceed or be produced continuously and effortlessly: talk flowed freely around the table.

- be available in copious quantities: their talk and laughter grew louder as the excellent brandy flowed.

3 [with adverbial of direction] (of clothing or hair) hang loosely in an easy and graceful manner: her red hair flowed over her shoulders.

4 (flow from) be caused by: there are certain advantages that may flow from that decision.

5 (of a solid) undergo a permanent change of shape under stress, without melting.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] the action or fact of moving along in a steady, continuous stream: the flow of water into the pond.

- the rate or speed at which something flows: under the ford the river backs up, giving a deep sluggish flow.

- the rise of a tide or a river. Compare with ebb.

2 a steady, continuous stream or supply of something: a constant flow of people | the flow of words was interrupted by painful sobs.

3 SCOTTISH a watery swamp; a morass.

4 the gradual permanent deformation of a solid under stress, without melting.

<PHRASES>

□ go with the flow INFORMAL be relaxed and accept a situation, rather than trying to alter or control it.

□ in full flow talking fluently and showing no sign of stopping.

- performing vigorously and enthusiastically.

<ORIGIN> Old English flōwan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vloeien, also to FLOOD.

flow chart (also flow diagram) n. a diagram of the sequence of movements or actions of people or things involved in a complex system or activity.

- a graphical representation of a computer program in relation to its sequence of functions (as distinct from the data it processes).

flower n. the seed-bearing part of a plant, consisting of reproductive organs (stamens and carpels) that are typically surrounded by a brightly coloured corolla (petals) and a green calyx (sepals).

- a flower together with its stalk, picked for use as a decoration: a bunch of flowers.

- [mass noun] the state or period in which a plant's flowers have developed and opened: the roses were just coming into flower.

- (the flower of) FIGURATIVE the finest individuals out of a number of people or things: he wasted the flower of French youth on his dreams of empire.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (of a plant) produce flowers; bloom: Michaelmas daisies can flower as late as October.

- FIGURATIVE be in or reach an optimum stage of development; develop fully and richly: she flowered into as striking a beauty as her mother | (as n. flowering) the flowering of Viennese intellectual life.

2 [with obj.] induce (a plant) to produce flowers.

<DERIVATIVES> flowerless adj. flower-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English flour, from Old French flour, flor, from Latin flos, flor-. The original spelling was no longer in use by the late 17th century except in its specialized sense ‘ground grain’ (see FLOUR).

flower bed n. a garden plot in which flowers are grown.

flower beetle n. any of a number of beetles that frequent flowers, in particular:

<INFO>

- an elongated beetle with soft wing cases (chiefly of the family Melyridae).

- a day-flying chafer (family Scarabaeidae).

- a small dark beetle that frequently occurs in large numbers (family Nitidulidae).

flower children plural n. HISTORICAL hippies who wore flowers as symbols of peace and love.

flowered adj. 1 having a floral design: flowered curtains.

2 [in combination] (of a plant) bearing flowers of a specified kind or number: yellow-flowered japonica.

flowerer n. a plant that flowers at a specified time or in a specified manner: bedding plants and other summer flowerers.

floweret /flaərt/ n. a floret, especially of cauliflower or broccoli.

flower girl n. 1 BRITISH DATED a woman or girl who sells flowers, especially in the street.

2 a young girl who carries flowers or scatters them in front of the bride at a wedding.

flower head n. a compact mass of flowers at the top of a stem, especially a capitulum.

flowering adj. (of a plant) in bloom: a windowbox of flowering geraniums.

- capable of producing flowers, especially in contrast to a similar plant with the flowers inconspicuous or absent: flowering dogwood.

- [in combination] producing flowers at a specified time or of a specified type: winter-flowering heathers.

flowering cherry n. an ornamental tree grown for its spring blossom, the fruit not being considered edible.

<INFO> Genus Prunus, family Rosaceae: several species, in particular P. serrulata and its hybrids.

flowering currant n. an ornamental shrub grown for its clusters of small pinkish-red flowers.

<INFO> Genus Ribes, family Grossulariaceae: several species, in particular R. sanguineum.

flowering plant n. a plant that produces flowers; an angiosperm.

flowering rush n. a tall rush-like plant with long, narrow leaves and pinkish flowers, living in shallow slow-moving water and native to Eurasia.

<INFO> Butomus umbellatus, the only member of the family Butomaceae.

flowerpecker n. a very small songbird with a short bill and tail, feeding chiefly on insects in flowers and found in Australasia and SE Asia.

<INFO> Family Dicaeidae (the flowerpecker family): two genera, especially Dicaeum. The flowerpecker family also includes the pardalotes and the mistletoe bird.

flowerpot n. a small container, typically with sloping sides and made from plastic or earthenware, used for growing a plant in.

flower power n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL the ideas of the flower children, especially the promotion of peace and love as means of changing the world.

flowers of sulphur plural n. [treated as sing.] [CHEMISTRY] a fine yellow powdered form of sulphur produced by sublimation.

flowers of zinc plural n. [treated as sing.] finely powdered zinc oxide.

flowery adj. covered with flowers or having a floral design: a flowery meadow | flowery wallpaper.

- smelling of flowers: her flowery perfume.

- (of speech or writing) full of elaborate or literary words and phrases.

<DERIVATIVES> floweriness n.

flowing adj. (especially of long hair or clothing) hanging or draping loosely and gracefully: a long flowing gown of lavender silk.

- (of a line or contour) smoothly continuous: the flowing curves of the lawn.

- graceful and fluent: a flowing prose style.

<DERIVATIVES> flowingly adv.

flowing sheet n. [NAUTICAL] a sheet (rope) that has been eased to allow free movement in the wind.

flow line n. a route followed by a product through successive stages of manufacture or treatment.

flowmeter n. an instrument for measuring the rate of flow of water, gas, or fuel, especially through a pipe.

flown past participle of fly^1.

flow-on n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a wage adjustment or an improvement in working conditions made as a consequence of one already made in a similar or related occupation.

flowsheet n. another term for FLOW CHART.

flowstone n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] rock deposited as a thin sheet by precipitation from flowing water.

FLQ abbr. (in Canada) Front de Libération du Québec, a Quebec separatist terrorist organization, especially active in the 1960s and early 1970s.

<ORIGIN> French.

Flt Lt abbr. Flight Lieutenant.

Flt Sgt abbr. Flight Sergeant.

flu n. [mass noun] influenza: she was in bed with flu.

<DERIVATIVES> flu-like adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation.

flub NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL v. (flubs, flubbing, flubbed) [with obj.] botch or bungle (something): she glanced at her notes and flubbed her lines.

■ n. a thing badly or clumsily done; a blunder.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: of unknown origin.

fluctuant adj. LITERARY or TECHNICAL fluctuating; unstable.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French ‘undulating’, from Latin fluctuare ‘undulate’.

fluctuate /flktet -tj-/ v. [no obj.] rise and fall irregularly in number or amount: trade with other countries tends to fluctuate from year to year | (as adj. fluctuating) a fluctuating level of demand.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (earlier (late Middle English) as fluctuation): from Latin fluctuat- ‘undulated’, from the verb fluctuare, from fluctus ‘flow, current, wave’, from fluere ‘to flow’.

fluctuation /flkte(ə)n -tj-/ n. an irregular rising and falling in number or amount; a variation: fluctuations in the yearly values could be caused by a variety of factors. | the current fluctuation in energy prices.

flue /flu/ n. a duct for smoke and waste gases produced by a fire, a gas heater, a power station, or other fuel-burning installation.

- a channel for conveying heat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the mouthpiece of a hunting horn): of unknown origin. Current senses date from the late 16th cent.

flue-cure v. [with obj.] (often as adj. flue-cured) cure (tobacco) using heat from pipes or flues connected to a furnace.

fluellen /flεln/ n. a small creeping Eurasian plant with yellow and purple flowers, widely occurring in cornfields.

<INFO> Genus Kickxia, family Scrophulariaceae: two species.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: alteration of Welsh llysiau Llywelyn ‘Llewelyn's herbs’; compare with Fluellen, used by Shakespeare to represent the Welsh name Llywelyn.

fluence^1 /fluəns/ n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL mysterious, magical, or hypnotic power: you've put the fluence on me, haven't you?

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: shortening of INFLUENCE.

fluence^2 /fluəns/ n. [PHYSICS] a stream of particles crossing a unit area, usually expressed as the number of particles per second.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘a flowing, a stream’): from French, from Latin fluentia, from fluere ‘to flow’.

fluency n. [mass noun] the quality or condition of being fluent, in particular:

- the ability to speak or write a particular foreign language easily and accurately: fluency in Spanish is essential.

- the ability to express oneself easily and articulately.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin fluentia, from fluere ‘to flow’.

fluent /fluənt/ adj. 1 able to express oneself easily and articulately: a fluent speaker and writer on technical subjects.

- able to speak or write a particular foreign language easily and accurately: she became fluent in French and German.

- (of a foreign language) spoken accurately and with facility: he spoke fluent Spanish.

2 smoothly graceful and effortless: his style of play was fast and fluent.

3 able to flow freely; fluid: a fluent discharge from the nose.

<DERIVATIVES> fluently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin fluent- ‘flowing’, from the verb fluere.

flue pipe n. 1 a pipe acting as a flue.

2 an organ pipe into which the air enters directly without striking a reed.

fluff n. 1 [mass noun] soft fibres from fabrics such as wool or cotton which accumulate in small light clumps: he brushed his sleeve to remove the fluff.

- any soft downy substance, especially the fur or feathers of a young mammal or bird.

2 entertainment or writing perceived as trivial or superficial: the film is a piece of typical Hollywood fluff.

3 INFORMAL a mistake made in speaking or playing music, or by an actor in delivering their lines.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (something) appear fuller and softer by shaking or brushing it: I fluffed up the pillows.

2 INFORMAL fail to perform or accomplish (something) successfully or well: the extra fluffed his only line.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: probably a dialect alteration of 16th-cent. flue ‘down, nap, fluff’, apparently from Flemish vluwe.

fluffy adj. (fluffier, fluffiest) 1 of, like, or covered with fluff: a fluffy kitten | fluffy white clouds.

2 (of food) light in texture and containing air: cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

3 INFORMAL frivolous or silly; lacking depth or seriousness: a fluffy blonde in leopard-skin pedal-pushers.

<DERIVATIVES> fluffily adv. fluffiness n.

flugelhorn /flu(ə)lhn/ n. a valved brass musical instrument like a cornet but with a fuller tone.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Flügelhorn, from Flügel ‘wing’ + Horn ‘horn’.

fluid n. a substance that has no fixed shape and yields easily to external pressure; a gas or (especially) a liquid: body fluids | [mass noun] a bottle of cleaning fluid.

■ adj. 1 (of a substance) able to flow easily: the paint is more fluid than tube watercolours.

- smoothly elegant or graceful: her movements were fluid and beautiful to watch.

- not settled or stable; likely or able to change: our plans are still fluid | the fluid political situation of the 1930s.

2 (of a clutch or coupling) using a liquid to transmit power.

<DERIVATIVES> fluidity n. fluidly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from French fluide or Latin fluidus, from fluere ‘to flow’.

fluidics /fludks/ plural n. [often treated as sing.] the study and technique of using small interacting flows and fluid jets for functions usually performed by electronic devices.

<DERIVATIVES> fluidic adj.

fluidize /fludz/ (also fluidise) v. [with obj.] TECHNICAL give (a finely divided solid) the characteristics of a fluid by passing a gas upwards through it.

<DERIVATIVES> fluidization n.

fluidized bed n. a layer of a fluidized solid, used in chemical processes and in the efficient burning of coal for power generation.

fluid mechanics plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of forces and flow within fluids.

fluid ounce n. 1 BRITISH a unit of capacity equal to one twentieth of a pint (approximately 0.028 litre).

2 (also fluidounce) US a unit of capacity equal to one sixteenth of a US pint (approximately 0.03 litre).

fluidram /fludram/ n. US a fluid drachm. See DRACHM.

fluke^1 n. an unlikely chance occurrence, especially a surprising piece of luck: their victory was a bit of a fluke.

■ v. [with obj.] achieve (something) by luck rather than skill.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally a term in games such as billiards denoting a lucky stroke): perhaps a dialect word.

fluke^2 n. 1 a parasitic flatworm which typically has suckers and hooks for attachment to the host. Some species are of veterinary or medical importance.

<INFO> Classes Trematoda and Monogenea, phylum Platyhelminthes. See DIGENEAN and MONOGENEAN.

2 chiefly DIALECT or NORTH AMERICAN a flatfish, especially a flounder.

<ORIGIN> Old English flōc (in sense 2), of Germanic origin; related to German flach ‘flat’.

fluke^3 n. 1 a broad triangular plate on the arm of an anchor.

2 either of the lobes of a whale's tail.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps from FLUKE^2 (because of the shape).

fluky (also flukey) adj. (flukier, flukiest) obtained or achieved more by chance than skill: a fluky goal.

<DERIVATIVES> flukily adv. flukiness n.

flume /flum/ n. an artificial channel conveying water, typically used for transporting logs or timber.

- a winding tubular water slide or chute at a swimming pool or amusement park.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a river or stream): from Old French flum, from Latin flumen ‘river’, from fluere ‘to flow’. The sense ‘artificial channel’ dates from the mid 18th century; ‘water chute for amusement’ is a late 20th-cent. usage.

flummery /flm(ə)ri/ n. (pl. flummeries) [mass noun] 1 meaningless or insincere flattery or conventions: she hated the flummery of public relations.

2 a sweet dish made with beaten eggs, sugar, and flavourings.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a dish made with oatmeal or wheatmeal boiled to a jelly): from Welsh llymru; perhaps related to llymrig ‘soft, slippery’.

flummox /flməks/ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL perplex (someone) greatly; bewilder: I was completely flummoxed by the whole thing.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably of dialect origin; flummock ‘to make untidy, confuse’ is recorded in western counties and the north Midlands.

flummoxed adj. bewildered or perplexed: he became flummoxed and speechless.

flump v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] fall or sit down heavily: I flumped back into bed.

■ n. [in sing.] the action or sound of a heavy fall.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: imitative.

flung past and past participle of FLING.

flunk v. [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN fail to reach the required standard in (an examination, test, or course of study): I flunked biology in the tenth grade.

- judge (an examination candidate) to have failed to reach the required standard.

- [no obj.] (flunk out) (of a student) leave or be dismissed from school or college as a result of failing to reach the required standard: Tip flunked out of Caltech and moved back home.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the general sense ‘back down, fail utterly’; originally US): perhaps related to funk^1 or to US flink ‘be a coward’, perhaps a variant of FLINCH.

flunkey (also flunky) n. (pl. flunkeys or flunkies) chiefly DEROGATORY a liveried manservant or footman.

- a person who performs relatively menial tasks for someone else, especially obsequiously.

<DERIVATIVES> flunkeyism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally Scots): perhaps from FLANK in the sense ‘a person who stands at one's flank’.

fluoresce /flərεs fl-/ v. [no obj.] shine or glow brightly due to fluorescence: the molecules fluoresce when excited by ultraviolet radiation.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from FLUORESCENCE.

fluorescein /flərəsin -sn fl-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an orange dye with a yellowish-green fluorescence, used as an indicator and tracer.

<INFO> A derivative of resorcinol and phthalic anhydride; chem. formula: C_20H_12O_5.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from FLUORESCENCE + -IN^1.

fluorescence /flərεs(ə)ns fl-/ n. [mass noun] the visible or invisible radiation produced from certain substances as a result of incident radiation of a shorter wavelength such as X-rays or ultraviolet light.

- the property of absorbing light of short wavelength and emitting light of longer wavelength.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from FLUORSPAR (which fluoresces), on the pattern of opalescence.

fluorescent adj. 1 (of a substance) having or showing fluorescence: a fluorescent dye.

- containing a fluorescent tube: fluorescent lighting.

2 vividly colourful: a fluorescent T-shirt.

■ n. a fluorescent tube or lamp.

fluorescent screen n. a transparent screen coated with fluorescent material to show images from X-rays.

fluorescent tube (also fluorescent bulb) n. a glass tube which radiates light when phosphor on its inside surface is made to fluoresce by ultraviolet radiation from mercury vapour.

fluoridate /flərdet fl-/ v. [with obj.] add traces of fluorides to (something): (as adj. fluoridated) fluoridated toothpaste.

<DERIVATIVES> fluoridation n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: back-formation from earlier fluoridation.

fluoride /flərd fl-/ n. 1 [CHEMISTRY] a compound of fluorine with another element or group, especially salt of the anion F− or an organic compound with fluorine bonded to an alkyl group.

2 [mass noun] sodium fluoride or another fluorine-containing salt added to water supplies or toothpaste in order to reduce tooth decay.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from FLUORINE + -IDE.

fluorinate /flərnet fl-/ v. [with obj.] 1 [CHEMISTRY] introduce fluorine into (a compound).

2 another term for FLUORIDATE.

<DERIVATIVES> fluorination n.

fluorine /flərin fl-/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 9, a poisonous pale yellow gas of the halogen series. It is the most reactive of all the elements, causing very severe burns on contact with skin. (Symbol: F)

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from fluor (see FLUORSPAR) + -INE^4.

fluorite /flərt fl-/ n. [mass noun] a mineral consisting of calcium fluoride which typically occurs as cubic crystals, colourless when pure but often coloured by impurities.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from fluor (see FLUORSPAR) + -ITE^1.

fluoro- /flərə fl-/ combining form 1 representing FLUORINE.

2 representing FLUORESCENCE.

fluorocarbon n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound formed by replacing one or more of the hydrogen atoms in a hydrocarbon with fluorine atoms.

fluorochrome n. a chemical that fluoresces, especially one used as a label in biological research.

fluorography /flərrəfi fl-/ n. [mass noun] photography in which the image is formed by fluorescence, used chiefly in biomedical research.

<DERIVATIVES> fluorograph n.

fluorometer /flərmtə fl-/ (also fluorimeter) n. an instrument for measuring the intensity of fluorescence, used chiefly in biochemical analysis.

<DERIVATIVES> fluorometric adj. fluorometrically adv. fluorometry n.

fluoropolymer /flərəplmə fl-/ n. an organic polymer containing fluorine atoms, such as PTFE.

fluoroquinolone /flərəkwnələn fl-/ n. [mass noun] an antibiotic used especially in the treatment of systemic infections.

fluoroscope n. an instrument with a fluorescent screen used for viewing X-ray images without taking and developing X-ray photographs.

<DERIVATIVES> fluoroscopic adj. fluoroscopy n.

fluorosis /flərəss fl-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a chronic condition caused by excessive intake of fluorine compounds, marked by mottling of the teeth and, if severe, calcification of the ligaments.

fluorspar /fləspα fl-/ n. another term for FLUORITE.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from fluor ‘a flow, a mineral used as a flux, fluorspar’ (from Latin fluor, from fluere ‘to flow’) + SPAR^3.

fluoxetine /fluksətin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic compound which inhibits the uptake of serotonin in the brain and is taken to treat depression. Also called PROZAC (TRADEMARK).

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from fluo(rine) + ox(y) + -etine (perhaps from e + a blend of TOLUENE and AMINE).

flurried adj. agitated, nervous, or anxious: Jack was never flurried.

flurry n. (pl. flurries) a small swirling mass of something, especially snow or leaves, moved by sudden gusts of wind: a flurry of snow.

- a sudden short period of activity or excitement: there was a brief flurry of activity in the hall.

- a number of things arriving or happening suddenly and during the same period: a flurry of editorials hostile to the government.

■ v. (flurries, flurrying, flurried) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (especially of snow or leaves) be moved in small swirling masses by sudden gusts of wind: gusts of snow flurried through the door.

- (of a person) move quickly in a busy or agitated way: the waiter flurried between them.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from obsolete flurr ‘fly up, flutter, whirr’ (imitative), probably influenced by HURRY.

flush^1 v. 1 [no obj.] (of a person's skin, face, etc.) become red and hot, typically as the result of illness or strong emotion: Rachel flushed angrily.

- [with obj.] make red and hot: a wave of colour flushed his cheeks.

- glow or cause to glow with warm colour or light: [with obj.] the sky was flushed with the gold of dawn.

2 [with obj.] cleanse (something, especially a toilet) by causing large quantities of water to pass through it: she flushed the loo | the nurse flushed out the catheter.

- [no obj.] (of a toilet) be cleansed by flushing.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] remove or dispose of (an object or substance) by flushing: I flushed the pills down the lavatory | the kidneys require more water to flush out waste products.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] cause (a liquid) to flow through something: 0.3 ml of saline is gently flushed through the tube.

3 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] drive (a bird, especially a game bird, or an animal) from its cover: the grouse were flushed from the woods.

- cause to be revealed; force into the open: they're trying to flush him out of hiding.

4 [no obj.] (of a plant) send out fresh shoots: the plant had started to flush by late March.

■ n. 1 a reddening of the face, skin, etc., typically caused by illness or strong emotion: a flush of embarrassment rose to her cheeks.

- an area of warm colour or light: the bird has a pinkish flush on the breast.

2 [in sing.] a sudden rush of intense emotion: I was carried away in a flush of enthusiasm.

- a period when something is new or particularly fresh and vigorous: he is no longer in the first flush of youth.

- a sudden abundance or spate of something: the frogs feast on the great flush of insects.

- a fresh growth of leaves, flowers, or fruit.

3 an act of cleansing something, especially a toilet, with a sudden flow of water.

- the device used for flushing a toilet.

- [as modifier] denoting a type of toilet that has a flushing device.

- a sudden flow: the melting snow provides a flush of water.

4 the action of driving an animal or game bird from its cover: labradors retrieve the birds after the flush.

<DERIVATIVES> flushable adj. flusher n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘move rapidly, spring up’, especially of a bird ‘fly up suddenly’): symbolic, fl- frequently beginning words connected with sudden movement; perhaps influenced by flash^1 and BLUSH.

flush^2 adj. 1 completely level or even with another surface: the gates are flush with the adjoining fencing.

- (of printed text) not indented or protruding: each line is flush with the left-hand margin.

- (of a door) having a smooth surface, without indented or protruding panels or mouldings.

2 [predic.] INFORMAL having plenty of something, especially money: the banks are flush with funds.

- (of money) plentiful: the years when cash was flush.

■ adv. 1 so as to be level or even: the screw must fit flush with the surface.

2 so as to be directly centred; squarely: Hodson caught him flush on the jaw with a straight right.

■ v. [with obj.] fill in (a joint) level with a surface.

<DERIVATIVES> flushness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘perfect, lacking nothing’): probably related to flush^1.

flush^3 n. (in poker or brag) a hand of cards all of the same suit.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French flux (formerly flus), from Latin fluxus ‘a flow’ (see FLUX: the use in cards can be compared with English run).

flush^4 n. [ECOLOGY] a piece of wet ground over which water flows without being confined to a definite channel.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘marshy place’): variant of flash^2.

flushed adj. 1 (of a person's skin) red and hot, typically as the result of illness or strong emotion: her flushed cheeks.

2 (of a person) excited or elated by something: flushed with success, I was getting into my stride.

Flushing /fl/ a port in the SW Netherlands; pop. 44,776 (est. 2002). Dutch name VLISSINGEN.

fluster v. [with obj.] (often as adj. flustered) make (someone) agitated or confused: Rosamund seemed rather flustered this morning.

■ n. [in sing.] an agitated or confused state: the main thing is not to get all in a fluster.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘make slightly drunk’): perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to Icelandic flaustra ‘hurry, bustle’.

flute n. 1 a wind instrument made from a tube with holes along it that are stopped by the fingers or keys, held vertically or horizontally (transverse flute) so that the player's breath strikes a narrow edge.

- a modern orchestral instrument of this type, typically of metal, held horizontally, with the mouthpiece near one end, which is closed.

- an organ stop with wooden or metal flue pipes producing a tone similar to that of a flute.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] an ornamental vertical groove in a column.

- a trumpet-shaped frill on a dress or other garment.

3 a tall, narrow wine glass: a flute of champagne.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] LITERARY play a flute or pipe.

- speak in a melodious way: ‘What do you do?’ she fluted.

2 [with obj.] make flutes or grooves in.

<DERIVATIVES> flute-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French flahute, probably from Provençal flaüt, perhaps a blend of flaujol ‘flageolet’ + laüt ‘lute’.

fluted adj. having flutes or grooves; ridged: fluted pillars.

fluting n. 1 [mass noun] sound reminiscent of that of a flute: the silvery fluting of a blackbird.

2 a groove or set of grooves forming a surface decoration: a hollow stem with vertical flutings.

■ adj. reminiscent of the sound of a flute: the golden, fluting voice filled the room.

flutist n. US term for FLAUTIST.

flutter v. [no obj.] (of a bird or other winged creature) fly unsteadily or hover by flapping the wings quickly and lightly: a couple of butterflies fluttered around the garden.

- [with obj.] (of a bird or other winged creature) flap (its wings) quickly and lightly.

- move with a light irregular or trembling motion: flags of different countries fluttered in the breeze | (as adj. fluttering) a fluttering banner.

- [with adverbial of direction] (of a person) move restlessly or uncertainly: Mavis fluttered about nervously.

- (of a pulse or heartbeat) beat feebly or irregularly.

■ n. 1 an act of fluttering: there was a flutter of wings at the window.

- a state or sensation of tremulous excitement: her insides were in a flutter.

- [mass noun] MEDICINE disturbance of the rhythm of the heart that is less severe than fibrillation.

- [mass noun] [AERONAUTICS] undesired oscillation in a part of an aircraft under stress.

- [mass noun] [ELECTRONICS] rapid variation in the pitch or amplitude of a signal, especially of recorded sound. Compare with wow^2.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a small bet: a flutter on the horses.

<PHRASES>

□ flutter the dovecotes INFORMAL cause alarm among normally imperturbable people.

□ flutter one's eyelashes open and close one's eyes rapidly in a coy, flirtatious manner.

<DERIVATIVES> flutterer n. flutteringly adv. fluttery adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English floterian, flotorian, a frequentative form related to fleet^5.

flutter-tonguing n. [mass noun] the action of vibrating the tongue (as if rolling an r) in playing a wind instrument to produce a whirring effect.

fluty (also flutey) adj. (flutier, flutiest) reminiscent of the sound of a flute: a drawn-out fluty whistle.

fluvial /fluvəl/ adj. chiefly [GEOLOGY] of or found in a river.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin fluvialis, from fluvius ‘river’, from fluere ‘to flow’.

fluviatile /fluvətl/ adj. TECHNICAL of, found in, or produced by a river: fluviatile sediments.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from Latin fluviatilis, from fluviatus ‘moistened’, from fluvius ‘river’.

fluvio- /fluvə/ combining form river; relating to rivers: fluvioglacial.

<ORIGIN> from Latin fluvius ‘river’.

fluvioglacial adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting erosion or deposition caused by flowing meltwater from glaciers or ice sheets.

fluviolacustrine /fluvə()ləkstrn -trn/ adj. [GEOLOGY] (of sediments) produced by both rivers and lakes.

fluviometer /fluvmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring the rise and fall of rivers.

fluvoxamine /fluvxəmin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic antidepressant drug which acts by prolonging the effect of the neurotransmitter serotonin on the brain.

flux /flks/ n. 1 [mass noun] the action or process of flowing or flowing out: the flux of ions across the membrane.

- [PHYSICS] the rate of flow of a fluid, radiant energy, or particles across a given area.

- the amount of radiation or particles incident on an area in a given time.

- the total electric or magnetic field passing through a surface.

2 MEDICINE an abnormal discharge of blood or other matter from or within the body.

- (usually the flux) ARCHAIC diarrhoea or dysentery.

3 [mass noun] continuous change: the whole political system is in a state of flux.

4 a substance mixed with a solid to lower its melting point, used especially in soldering and brazing metals or to promote vitrification in glass or ceramics.

- a substance added to a furnace during metal-smelting or glass-making which combines with impurities to form slag.

■ v. [with obj.] treat (a metal object) with a flux to promote melting.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fluxus, from fluere ‘to flow’.

flux density n. the amount of magnetic, electric, or other flux passing through a unit area.

fluxgate n. [PHYSICS] a device consisting of one or more soft iron cores each surrounded by primary and secondary windings, used for determining the characteristics of an external magnetic field from the signals produced in the secondary windings.

fluxion /flk(ə)n/ n. [MATHEMATICS], DATED a function corresponding to the rate of change of a variable quantity; a derivative.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, or from Latin flux- ‘flowed’, from the verb fluere.

fluxional adj. 1 subject to flux.

2 [MATHEMATICS], DATED relating to fluxions.

fly^1 v. (flies, flying; past flew; past participle flown) [no obj.] 1 (of a bird, bat, or insect) move through the air using wings: close the door or the moths will fly in | the bird can fly enormous distances.

- (of an aircraft or its occupants) travel through the air: I fly back to London this evening.

- [with obj.] control the flight of (an aircraft): he flew Hurricanes in the war.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] transport in an aircraft: helicopters flew the injured to hospital.

- [with obj.] accomplish (a purpose) in an aircraft: pilots trained to fly combat missions.

- [with obj.] release (a bird) to fly, especially a hawk for hunting or a pigeon for racing.

2 [usually with adverbial of direction] move or be hurled quickly through the air: balls kept flying over her hedge | he was sent flying by the tackle.

- [BASEBALL] hit a ball high into the air: he flied out to the left field.

3 [with adverbial] wave or flutter in the wind: she ran after him, her hair flying behind her.

- (with reference to a flag) display or be displayed on a flagpole: [with obj.] vessels which flew the Spanish flag | [no obj.] flags were flying at half mast.

4 [usually with adverbial of direction] go or move quickly: she flew along the path | his fingertips flew across the keyboard.

- INFORMAL depart hastily: I must fly!

- (of time) pass swiftly: the evening had just flown by.

- (of accusations or insults) be exchanged swiftly and heatedly: the accusations flew thick and fast.

- (of a report) be circulated swiftly and widely: rumours were flying around Manchester.

- ARCHAIC run away.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC escape from in haste: you must fly the country for a while.

5 (fly at) attack verbally or physically: Robbie flew at him, fists clenched.

- (of a hawk) pursue and attack, or habitually pursue (prey).

6 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be successful: that idea didn't fly with most other council members.

■ n. (pl. flies) 1 (British often flies) an opening at the crotch of a pair of trousers, closed with a zip or buttons and typically covered with a flap.

- a flap of material covering the opening or fastening of a garment or of a tent.

2 (the flies) the space over the stage in a theatre.

3 [BASEBALL] short for FLY BALL.

4 (pl. usually flys) BRITISH HISTORICAL a one-horse hackney carriage.

5 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an attempt: we decided to give it a fly.

<PHRASES>

□ fly the coop INFORMAL make one's escape.

□ fly the flag see flag^1.

□ fly high be very successful; prosper.

□ fly in the face of be openly at variance with (what is usual or expected): a need to fly in the face of convention.

□ fly into a rage (or temper) become suddenly or violently angry.

□ fly a kite INFORMAL try something out to test public opinion.

□ fly the nest (of a young bird) leave its nest on becoming able to fly.

- INFORMAL (of a young person) leave their parents' home to set up home elsewhere.

□ fly off the handle INFORMAL lose one's temper suddenly and unexpectedly. [<ORIGIN> figuratively, with reference to the loose head of an axe.]

□ go fly a kite [in imperative] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL go away.

□ on the fly while in motion or progress: producers were able to schedule the day's Olympic coverage on the fly.

- [COMPUTING] during the running of a computer program without interrupting the run.

<DERIVATIVES> flyable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English flēogan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vliegen and German fliegen, also to fly^2.

fly^2 n. (pl. flies) a flying insect of a large order characterized by a single pair of transparent wings and sucking (and often also piercing) mouthparts. Flies are of great importance as vectors of disease. See also DIPTERA.

<INFO> Order Diptera: numerous families.

- [usually in combination] used in names of flying insects of other orders, e.g. butterfly, dragonfly, firefly.

- [mass noun] an infestation of flying insects on a plant or animal: cattle to be treated for warble fly.

- a natural or artificial flying insect used as bait in fishing, especially a mayfly.

<PHRASES>

□ die (or drop) like flies die or collapse in large numbers.

□ drink with the flies AUSTRALIAN/NZ drink alone.

□ a fly in the ointment a minor irritation that spoils the success or enjoyment of something.

□ fly on the wall an unnoticed observer of a particular situation.

- [as modifier] denoting a film-making technique whereby events are recorded realistically with minimum interference rather than acted out under direction: a fly-on-the-wall documentary.

□ like a blue-arsed fly BRITISH VULGAR SLANG in an extremely hectic or frantic way.

□ (there are) no flies on —— used to emphasize a person's cleverness and astuteness: no flies on Phyllis—she paid six months in advance.

□ wouldn't hurt (or harm) a fly used to emphasize how inoffensive and harmless a person or animal is.

<ORIGIN> Old English flȳge, flēoge, denoting any winged insect, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlieg and German Fliege, also to fly^1.

fly^3 adj. (flyer, flyest) INFORMAL 1 BRITISH knowing and clever: she's fly enough not to get tricked out of it.

2 NORTH AMERICAN fashionably attractive and impressive: a fly dude.

<DERIVATIVES> flyness n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

fly agaric n. a poisonous toadstool which has a red cap with fluffy white spots, growing particularly among birch trees. It contains hallucinogenic alkaloids and has long been used by the native peoples of NE Siberia.

<INFO> Amanita muscaria, family Amanitaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

fly ash n. [mass noun] ash produced in small dark flecks by the burning of powdered coal or other materials and carried into the air.

flyaway adj. (of a person's hair) fine and difficult to control.

flyback n. [mass noun] the return of the scanning spot in a cathode ray tube to the starting point.

fly ball n. [BASEBALL] a ball batted high into the air.

flyblow n. [mass noun] flies' eggs contaminating food, especially meat.

flyblown adj. contaminated through contact with flies and their eggs and larvae: flyblown meat.

- infested with flies; dirty and unpleasant: the flyblown pool halls of his youth.

fly boy n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a pilot, especially one in the air force.

flybridge n. an open deck above the main bridge of a vessel such as a yacht or cabin cruiser, typically equipped with duplicate controls.

fly-by n. (pl. fly-bys) a flight past a point, especially the close approach of a spacecraft to a planet or moon for observation.

■ another term for FLY-PAST.

fly-by-night adj. [attr.] unreliable or untrustworthy, especially in business or financial matters: cheap suits made by fly-by-night operators.

■ n. (also fly-by-nighter) an unreliable or untrustworthy person.

fly-by-wire n. [often as modifier] a semi-automatic and typically computer-regulated system for controlling the flight of an aircraft or spacecraft: sophisticated fly-by-wire technology.

flycatcher n. a perching bird that catches flying insects, especially in short flights from a perch.

<INFO> Typical Old World flycatchers belong to the family Muscicapidae. Many others belong to the Old World family Monarchidae (monarch and paradise flycatchers) and the New World family Tyrannidae (tyrant flycatchers), while some belong to families Eopsaltridae (Australasia), Platysteiridae (Africa), and Bombycillidae (America).

fly-drive adj. denoting a package holiday which includes a flight and car rental at the destination.

■ n. a fly-drive holiday.

flyer (also flier) n. 1 a person or thing that flies, especially in a particular way: frequent flyers.

- a person who flies something, especially an aircraft.

- INFORMAL a fast-moving person or thing: his free kick was a real flyer.

2 a small handbill advertising an event or product.

3 short for FLYING START.

4 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a speculative investment.

<PHRASES>

□ take a flyer chiefly NORTH AMERICAN take a chance.

fly fishing n. [mass noun] the sport of fishing using a rod and an artificial fly as bait.

<DERIVATIVES> fly-fish v.

fly half n. [RUGBY] another term for STAND-OFF HALF.

fly-in n. a meeting or other event attended by people who arrive by air: a helicopter fly-in.

- an act of transporting people or goods by air: one or two fly-ins to remote lakes.

flying adj. moving or able to move through the air with wings: a flying ant.

- moving rapidly, especially through the air: one passenger was cut by flying glass.

- done while launching oneself at someone: he took a flying kick at a policeman.

- hasty; brief: a flying visit.

- used in names of animals that can glide by using wing-like membranes or other structures, e.g. flying squirrel.

■ n. [mass noun] flight, especially in an aircraft: she hates flying.

<PHRASES>

□ go flying INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH fall or be knocked over: Rob tripped over a branch and went flying.

□ with flying colours with distinction: Sylvia had passed her exams with flying colours.

flying boat n. a large seaplane that lands with its fuselage in the water.

flying bomb n. a small pilotless aircraft with an explosive warhead, especially a V-1.

flying bridge n. another term for FLYBRIDGE.

flying buttress n. [ARCHITECTURE] a buttress slanting from a separate column, typically forming an arch with the wall it supports.

flying change n. a movement in riding in which the leading leg in the canter position is changed without loss of speed while the horse is in the air.

flying doctor n. (in Australia) a doctor who uses radio communication and travels by aircraft to visit patients in remote areas of the country.

flying dragon n. another term for FLYING LIZARD.

Flying Dutchman a legendary ghostly ship supposedly seen in the region of the Cape of Good Hope and presaging disaster.

- the captain of this ship.

flying fish n. a fish of warm seas which leaps out of the water and uses its wing-like pectoral fins to glide over the surface for some distance.

<INFO> Family Exocoetidae: several genera and species, in particular Exocoetus volitans.

flying fox n. 1 a large fruit bat with a foxlike face, found in Madagascar, SE Asia, and northern Australia.

<INFO> Pteropus and two other genera, family Pteropodidae: numerous species.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ an overhead cable and apparatus for transporting materials over difficult terrain.

flying frog n. a nocturnal arboreal Asian frog which is able to glide between trees using the large webs between its extended toes.

<INFO> Polypedates leucomystax, family Rhacophoridae.

flying gurnard n. a bottom-dwelling marine fish that has bony armour on the skull and large brightly coloured pectoral fins. It moves through the water with a gliding or flying motion.

<INFO> Family Dactylopteridae: two genera and several species.

flying jacket n. a short jacket similar to a bomber jacket, typically of leather and with a warm lining or collar and several pockets.

flying lemur n. a nocturnal tree-dwelling SE Asian mammal resembling a lemur, with a membrane between the fore- and hindlimbs for gliding from tree to tree. Also called COLUGO.

<INFO> Family Cynocephalidae and genus Cynocephalus, order Dermoptera: two species.

flying lizard n. an arboreal SE Asian lizard which has expanding membranes along the sides of the body, used for gliding between trees. Also called DRAGON, FLYING DRAGON.

<INFO> Genus Draco, family Agamidae: several species.

flying machine n. an aircraft, especially an early or unconventional one.

flying mouse n. another term for FEATHERTAIL GLIDER.

flying officer n. a rank of commissioned officer in the RAF, above pilot officer and below flight lieutenant.

flying phalanger n. a small Australasian marsupial with a membrane between the fore- and hindlimbs for gliding. Also called GLIDER.

<INFO> Genera Petaurus and Petauroides, family Petauridae: five species.

flying picket n. BRITISH a person who, with others, travels to picket any workplace where there is an industrial dispute.

flying saucer n. a disc-shaped flying craft supposedly piloted by aliens; a UFO.

flying snake n. a greenish semi-arboreal SE Asian snake which can glide down from a tree in a stiff horizontal position, with the belly hollowed to slow its descent.

<INFO> Chrysopelea ornata, family Colubridae.

flying squad n. BRITISH a division of a police force or other organization which is capable of reaching an incident quickly.

flying squirrel n. a small squirrel that has skin joining the fore- and hindlimbs for gliding from tree to tree.

<INFO> Subfamily Pteromyinae, family Sciuridae (many species in SE Asia, northern Eurasia, and North America), and family Anomaluridae (several species in Africa; see also SCALY-TAILED SQUIRREL).

flying start n. a start of a race or time trial in which the starting point is passed at speed.

- a good beginning, especially one giving an advantage over competitors: the team got off to a flying start in last year's rally.

flying suit n. a one-piece garment worn by the pilot and crew of a military or light aircraft.

flying trapeze n. another term for trapeze (sense 1).

flying wing n. an aircraft with little or no fuselage and no tailplane.

flyleaf n. (pl. flyleaves) a blank page at the beginning or end of a book.

flyman n. (pl. flymen) [THEATRE] a person positioned in the flies to raise and lower scenery.

Flynn^1 Errol (1909–59), Australian-born American actor; born Leslie Thomas Flynn. He was best known for his roles as the swashbuckling hero of romantic costume dramas in films such as Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

Flynn^2 n. (in phrase be in like Flynn) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN act quickly and impetuously; seize an opportunity.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: probably from Errol Flynn (see Flynn^1), known for his wild behaviour.

fly orchid n. a European woodland orchid with flowers that resemble flies.

<INFO> Ophrys insectifera, family Orchidaceae.

flyover n. 1 chiefly BRITISH a bridge carrying one railway line or road over another.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a low flight by one or more aircraft over a specific location.

■ another term for FLY-PAST.

flypaper n. [mass noun] sticky, poison-treated strips of paper that are hung indoors to catch and kill flies.

fly-past n. BRITISH a ceremonial flight of aircraft past a person or a place.

fly-pitcher n. BRITISH INFORMAL a street trader.

<DERIVATIVES> fly-pitching n.

fly-post v. [with obj.] BRITISH put up (advertising posters) in unauthorized places.

fly-poster n. British 1 an advertising poster put up in an unauthorized place.

2 a person who fly-posts.

flysch /fl/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a sedimentary deposit consisting of thin beds of shale or marl alternating with coarser strata such as sandstone or conglomerate.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Swiss German dialect.

flysheet n. 1 BRITISH a fabric cover pitched outside and over a tent to give extra protection against bad weather.

2 a tract or circular of two or four pages.

flyspeck n. a tiny stain made by the excrement of an insect.

- a thing which is contemptibly small or insignificant: a sleepy flyspeck of a town.

<DERIVATIVES> flyspecked adj.

fly spray n. a substance sprayed from an aerosol that kills flying insects.

fly strike n. [mass noun] infestation of an animal with blowfly maggots.

fly swatter (also fly swat) n. an implement used for swatting insects.

fly-tip v. [no obj.] BRITISH illegally dump waste.

<DERIVATIVES> fly-tipper n.

flyway n. [BIRD] a route regularly used by large numbers of migrating birds.

flyweight n. [mass noun] a weight in boxing and other sports intermediate between light flyweight and bantamweight. In the amateur boxing scale it ranges from 48 to 51 kg.

- [count noun] a flyweight boxer or other competitor.

flywheel n. a heavy revolving wheel in a machine which is used to increase the machine's momentum and thereby provide greater stability or a reserve of available power.

FM abbr.

- Field Marshal.

- frequency modulation: [as modifier] an FM radio station.

Fm symbol the chemical element fermium.

fm abbr. fathom(s).

FMCG abbr. fast-moving consumer goods: [as modifier] the FMCG sector.

FMV abbr. full-motion video.

f-number n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] the ratio of the focal length of a camera lens to the diameter of the aperture being used for a particular shot (e.g. f8, indicating that the focal length is eight times the diameter).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from f (denoting the focal length) and NUMBER.

FO abbr.

- Flying Officer.

- Foreign Office.

Fo /fə/ Dario (b.1926), Italian dramatist. Notable works: Accidental Death of an Anarchist (political satire, 1970) and Open Couple (farce, 1983). Nobel Prize for Literature (1997).

fo. abbr. folio.

FOAF (also FOF) abbr. friend of a friend, denoting a story or rumour which has no definite source and cannot be authenticated: investigations never do succeed in finding the FOAF who started any of these yarns.

foal n. a young horse or related animal.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a mare) give birth to a foal.

- (be foaled) (of a foal) be born.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or with) foal (of a mare) pregnant.

<ORIGIN> Old English fola, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch veulen and German Fohlen, also to FILLY.

foam n. [mass noun] a mass of small bubbles formed on or in liquid, typically by agitation or fermentation: a beer with a thick head of foam.

- a mass of small bubbles formed from saliva or sweat.

- a liquid preparation containing many small bubbles: shaving foam.

- a lightweight form of rubber or plastic made by solidifying such a liquid: [as modifier] foam rubber.

- (the foam) LITERARY the sea: Venus rising from the foam.

■ v. [no obj.] form or produce a mass of small bubbles; froth: the sea foamed beneath them | (as adj. foaming) pints of foaming bitter.

<PHRASES>

□ foam at the mouth INFORMAL be very angry.

<DERIVATIVES> foamless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English fām (noun), fman (verb), of West Germanic origin; related to Old High German feim (noun), feimen (verb).

foam board n. [mass noun] a type of thin, pliable polystyrene board used for insulation and in arts and crafts.

foamy adj. (foamier, foamiest) producing or consisting of foam; frothy: a beach with foamy waves | a mug of foamy beer.

fob^1 n. (also fob chain) a chain attached to a watch for carrying in a waistcoat or waistband pocket.

- a small ornament attached to a watch chain.

- (also fob pocket) a small pocket for carrying a watch.

- a tab on a key ring.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a fob pocket in a waistband): origin uncertain; probably related to German dialect Fuppe ‘pocket’.

fob^2 v. (fobs, fobbing, fobbed) [with obj.] (fob someone off) deceitfully attempt to satisfy someone by making excuses or giving them something inferior: I was fobbed off with bland reassurances.

- (fob something off on) give (someone) something inferior to or different from what they want: the second-rate products fobbed off on many beer-drinkers.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘cheat out of’): origin uncertain; perhaps related to German foppen ‘deceive, cheat, banter’, or to FOP.

f.o.b. abbr. free on board. See FREE.

fob watch n. a pocket watch.

focaccia /fəkatə/ n. [mass noun] a type of flat Italian bread made with yeast and olive oil and flavoured with herbs.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

focal /fək(ə)l/ adj. 1 relating to the centre or most important part: the focal symbol of sovereignty is the crown.

2 [OPTICS] relating to the focus of a lens.

3 (of a disease or medical condition) occurring in one particular site in the body.

<DERIVATIVES> focally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from modern Latin focalis, from Latin focus, or directly from FOCUS.

focalize (also focalise) v. [with obj.] TECHNICAL focus (something), in particular:

- (in literary theory) provide an internal focus for (a text).

- MEDICINE confine (a disease or infection) to a particular site in the body.

<DERIVATIVES> focalization n.

focal length n. the distance between the centre of a lens or curved mirror and its focus.

- the equivalent distance in a compound lens or telescope.

focal plane n. the plane through the focus perpendicular to the axis of a mirror or lens.

focal point n. the point at which rays or waves meet after reflection or refraction, or the point from which diverging rays or waves appear to proceed.

- the centre of interest or activity: the community shop is the focal point of the village.

Foch /f/ Ferdinand (1851–1929), French general. He supported the use of offensive warfare which resulted in many of his 20th Corps being killed in August 1914. He was later the senior French representative at the Armistice negotiations.

focus n. (pl. focuses or foci /fəs/) 1 the centre of interest or activity: this generation has made the environment a focus of attention.

- an act of concentrating interest or activity on something: our focus on the customer's requirements.

- [GEOLOGY] the point of origin of an earthquake. Compare with EPICENTRE.

- MEDICINE the principal site of an infection or other disease.

2 [mass noun] the state or quality of having or producing clear visual definition: his face is rather out of focus | FIGURATIVE the incident brought her feelings for Alexander sharply into focus. another term for FOCAL POINT.

- [count noun] the point at which an object must be situated with respect to a lens or mirror for an image of it to be well defined.

- [count noun] a device on a lens which can be adjusted to produce a clear image.

3 [GEOMETRY] one of the fixed points from which the distances to any point of a given curve, such as an ellipse or parabola, are connected by a linear relation.

4 [LINGUISTICS] an element of a sentence that is given prominence by intonational or other means.

■ v. (focuses, focusing, focused or focusses, focussing, focussed) [no obj.] 1 adapt to the prevailing level of light and become able to see clearly: try to focus on a stationary object.

- [with obj.] cause (one's eyes) to do this: she focused her eyes on his face.

- [with obj.] adjust the focus of (a telescope, camera, or other instrument): they were focusing a telescope on a star.

- (of rays or waves) meet at a single point.

- [with obj.] (of a lens) make (rays or waves) meet at a single point.

- [no obj.] (of light, radio waves, or other energy) become concentrated into a sharp beam.

- [with obj.] (of a lens) concentrate (light, radio waves, or energy) into a sharp beam.

2 (focus on) pay particular attention to: the study will focus on a number of areas in Wales.

- [with obj.] concentrate: an opportunity to focus research on the health needs of the population.

- [with obj.] [LINGUISTICS] place the focus on (an element of a sentence).

<DERIVATIVES> focuser n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a term in geometry and physics): from Latin, literally ‘domestic hearth’.

focus group n. a group of people assembled to participate in a discussion about a product before it is launched, or to provide feedback on a political campaign, television series, etc.

focus puller n. an assistant to a film or television cameraman, who is responsible for keeping the lens focused during filming.

fodder n. [mass noun] food, especially dried hay or straw, for cattle and other livestock.

- a person or thing regarded only as material for a specific use: young people ending up as factory fodder.

■ v. [with obj.] give fodder to (cattle or other livestock).

<ORIGIN> Old English fōdor, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch voeder and German Futter, also to FOOD.

fody /fədi/ n. (pl. fodies) a songbird of the weaver family occurring in Madagascar and islands in the Indian Ocean, the male of which typically has mainly red plumage.

<INFO> Genus Foudia, family Ploceidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> a local word.

FoE abbr. Friends of the Earth.

foe n. LITERARY or FORMAL an enemy or opponent: his work was praised by friends and foes alike.

<ORIGIN> Old English fāh ‘hostile’ and gefā ‘enemy’, of West Germanic origin; related to FEUD.

foefie slide /ffi/ n. S. AFRICAN a rope or cable with a suspended handle or pulley by means of which one may slide between two points.

<ORIGIN> from Afrikaans foefie ‘stunt, trick’ + SLIDE.

foetor n. variant spelling of FETOR.

foetus n. variant spelling of FETUS (chiefly in British non-technical use).

<DERIVATIVES> foetal adj. foeticide n.

FOF abbr. variant of FOAF.

fog^1 n. 1 [mass noun] a thick cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth's surface which obscures or restricts visibility (to a greater extent than mist; strictly, reducing visibility to below 1 km): the collision occurred in thick fog.

- [in sing.] an opaque mass of particles in the air: a whirling fog of dust.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] cloudiness which obscures the image on a developed negative or print.

2 [in sing.] a state or cause of perplexity or confusion: the coffee helped clear the fog in my brain.

■ v. (fogs, fogging, fogged) [with obj.] 1 (with reference to a glass surface) cover or become covered with steam: [with obj.] hot steam drifted about her, fogging up the window | [no obj.] the windscreen was starting to fog up.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] make (a film, negative, or print) obscure or cloudy.

2 bewilder or puzzle: she stared at him, confusion fogging her brain.

- make (an idea or situation) difficult to understand: the government has been fogging the issue.

3 spray with an insecticide.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps a back-formation from FOGGY.

fog^2 n. [mass noun] the grass which grows in a field after a crop of hay has been taken.

- long grass left standing in a pasture and used as winter grazing.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: origin uncertain; perhaps related to Norwegian fogg.

fog bank n. a dense mass of fog, especially at sea.

fogbound adj. unable to travel normally because of thick fog: day after day we sat fogbound in East Anglia.

- enveloped or obscured by fog: a fogbound motorway.

fogbow n. a phenomenon similar to a rainbow, produced by sunlight shining on fog.

fogey /fəi/ (also fogy) n. (pl. fogeys or fogies) a very old-fashioned or conservative person: a bunch of old fogeys.

<DERIVATIVES> fogeydom n. fogeyish adj. fogeyism n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: related to earlier slang fogram, of unknown origin.

Foggia /fdə/ a town in SE Italy, in Apulia; pop. 146,072 (2001).

foggy adj. (foggier, foggiest) 1 full of or characterized by fog: a dark and foggy night.

2 unable to think clearly; confused: she was foggy with sleep.

- indistinctly expressed or remembered; obscure: my memories of the event are foggy.

<PHRASES>

□ not HAVE the foggiest (idea or notion) INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH have no idea at all.

<DERIVATIVES> foggily adv. fogginess n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: perhaps from FOG^2.

foghorn n. a device making a loud, deep sound as a warning to ships in fog.

fog lamp (also fog light) n. a bright light on a motor vehicle, used in foggy conditions to improve road visibility or warn other drivers of one's presence.

fogou /fəu -ə/ n. (pl. fogous) [ARCHAEOLOGY] a form of artificial underground passage or chamber found in Cornwall.

<ORIGIN> from Cornish fogo, fougo.

fog signal n. a small explosive charge which can be placed on a railway line in fog to be set off by the train as a signal to the driver.

föhn /fən/ (also foehn) n. (often the föhn) a hot southerly wind on the northern slopes of the Alps.

- (also föhn wind) [METEOROLOGY] a warm dry wind of this type developing in the lee of any mountain range.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, based on Latin (ventus) Favonius ‘mild west wind’, Favonius being the Roman personification of the west or west wind.

foible /fb(ə)l/ n. 1 a minor weakness or eccentricity in someone's character: they have to tolerate each other's little foibles.

2 [FENCING] the part of a sword blade from the middle to the point. Compare with forte^1.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘feeble’): from obsolete French, in Old French fieble (see FEEBLE). Both noun senses also formerly occurred as senses of the word feeble and all date from the 17th cent.

foie gras /fwα rα/ n. short for pâté de foie gras.

foil^1 v. [with obj.] prevent (something considered wrong or undesirable) from succeeding: a brave policewoman foiled the armed robbery.

- frustrate the efforts or plans of: their rivals were foiled by the weather.

- [HUNTING] (of a hunted animal) run over or cross (ground or a scent or track) in such a way as to confuse the hounds.

■ n. 1 [HUNTING] the track or scent of a hunted animal.

2 ARCHAIC a setback in an enterprise; a defeat.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘trample down’): perhaps from Old French fouler ‘to full cloth, trample’, based on Latin fullo ‘fuller’. Compare with full^2.

foil^2 n. 1 [mass noun] metal hammered or rolled into a thin flexible sheet, used chiefly for covering or wrapping food: aluminium foil.

2 a person or thing that contrasts with and so emphasizes and enhances the qualities of another: his white cravat was a perfect foil for his bronzed features.

- a thin leaf of metal placed under a precious stone to increase its brilliance.

3 [ARCHITECTURE] a leaf-shaped curve formed by the cusping of an arch or circle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin folium ‘leaf’.

foil^3 n. a light, blunt-edged fencing sword with a button on its point.

<DERIVATIVES> foilist n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

foil^4 n. each of the structures fitted to a hydrofoil's hull to lift it clear of the water at speed.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of HYDROFOIL.

foist /fst/ v. [with obj.] (foist someone/thing on) impose an unwelcome or unnecessary person or thing on: she had no desire to have an elderly relative foisted on her.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘palm a false die, so as to produce it at the right moment’): from Dutch dialect vuisten ‘take in the hand’, from vuist (see FIST).

Fokine /fəkin/ Michel (1880–1942), Russian-born American dancer and choreographer; born Mikhail Mikhailovich Fokin. He was a reformer of modern ballet: as Diaghilev's chief choreographer he staged the premières of Chopin's Les Sylphides (1909) and Stravinsky's The Firebird (1910).

Fokker /fkə/ Anthony Herman Gerard (1890–1939), Dutch-born American aircraft designer and pilot. Having built his first aircraft in 1908, he designed fighters used by the Germans in the First World War and founded the Fokker company.

fol. abbr. folio.

folacin /fələsn/ n. another term for FOLIC ACID.

folate /fəlet/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of folic acid.

fold^1 v. [with obj.] 1 bend (something flexible and relatively flat) over on itself so that one part of it covers another: Sam folded up the map.

- (fold something in/into) mix an ingredient gently with (another ingredient), especially by lifting a mixture with a spoon so as to enclose it without stirring or beating: fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

- [no obj.] (of a piece of furniture or equipment) be able to be bent or rearranged into a flatter or more compact shape, typically in order to make it easier to store or carry: [with complement] the deckchair folds flat | (as adj. folding) a folding chair.

- bend or rearrange (a piece of furniture or equipment) into a flatter or more compact shape: the small card table was folded up and put away.

- [no obj.] (fold out) be able to be opened out; unfold: the sofa folds out.

- [GEOLOGY] cause (rock strata) to undergo bending or curvature.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] (of a polypeptide or polynucleotide chain) adopt a specific three-dimensional structure.

2 [with adverbial] cover or wrap something in (a soft or flexible material): a bag was folded around the book.

- hold or clasp (someone) in one's arms affectionately or passionately: Bob folded her in his arms.

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL (of an enterprise or organization) cease trading or operating as a result of financial problems: the club folded earlier this year.

- (especially of a sports player or team) suddenly stop performing well or effectively.

- (in poker and other card games) drop out of a hand.

■ n. 1 (usually folds) a form or shape produced by the gentle draping of a loose, full garment or piece of cloth: the fabric fell in soft folds.

- an area of skin that sags or hangs loosely.

2 chiefly BRITISH a slight hill or hollow in the ground: the house lay in a fold of the hills.

- [GEOLOGY] a bend or curvature of strata.

3 a line or crease produced in paper or cloth as the result of folding it.

- a piece of paper or cloth that has been folded: a fold of paper slipped out of the diary.

<PHRASES>

□ fold one's arms bring one's arms together and cross them over one's chest.

□ fold one's hands bring or hold one's hands together.

<DERIVATIVES> foldable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English falden, fealden, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vouwen and German falten.

fold^2 n. a pen or enclosure in a field where livestock, especially sheep, can be kept.

- (the fold) a group or community, especially when perceived as having shared aims and values: government whips tried to persuade the waverers back into the fold.

■ v. [with obj.] shut (livestock) in a fold.

<ORIGIN> Old English fald, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vaalt.

-fold suffix forming adjectives and adverbs from cardinal numbers: 1 in an amount multiplied by: threefold.

2 consisting of so many parts or facets: twofold.

<ORIGIN> Old English -fald, -feald; related to fold^1.

foldaway adj. [attr.] adapted or designed to be folded up for ease of storage or transport: a foldaway table.

folder n. 1 a folding cover or holder, typically made of stiff paper or card, for storing loose papers.

- [COMPUTING] a directory containing related files or documents.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a folded leaflet or a booklet made of folded sheets of paper.

folderol /fldərl/ (also falderal) n. [mass noun] 1 trivial or nonsensical fuss: all the folderol of the athletic contests and the cheerleaders.

2 DATED a showy but useless item.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: first used as a meaningless refrain in popular songs.

folding door n. a door with vertical jointed sections that can be folded together to one side to allow access to a room or building.

folding money n. [mass noun] INFORMAL money in the form of notes.

fold-out adj. [attr.] (of a page in a book or magazine or a piece of furniture) designed to be opened out for use and folded away for convenient storage: a fold-out map.

■ n. a fold-out page or piece of furniture.

foley /fəli/ n. [as modifier] chiefly US relating to or concerned with the addition of recorded sound effects after the shooting of a film: a foley artist.

<ORIGIN> named after the US film technician Jack Foley (1891–1967), the inventor of the process.

folia plural form of FOLIUM.

foliaceous /fəleəs/ adj. 1 of or resembling a leaf or leaves.

2 chiefly [GEOLOGY] consisting of thin sheets or laminae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin foliaceus ‘leafy’ (from folium ‘leaf’) + -OUS.

foliage /fəld/ n. [mass noun] plant leaves collectively: healthy green foliage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English foilage (in the sense ‘design resembling leaves’): from Old French feuillage, from feuille ‘leaf’, from Latin folium. The change in the first syllable was due to association with Latin folium.

foliage leaf n. [BOTANY] a normal leaf, as opposed to petals and other modified leaves.

foliar /fələ/ adj. [attr.] TECHNICAL relating to leaves: foliar colour and shape.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin foliaris, from Latin folium ‘leaf’.

foliar feed n. [mass noun] nutrients supplied to the leaves of a plant.

<DERIVATIVES> foliar feeding n.

foliate adj. /fələt -et/ decorated with leaves or leaf-like motifs: foliate scrolls.

■ v. /fəlet/ [with obj.] 1 decorate with leaves or leaf-like motifs.

2 number the leaves of (a book) rather than the pages.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin foliatus ‘leaved’, from folium ‘leaf’.

foliated adj. 1 decorated with leaves or leaf-like motifs.

- [ARCHITECTURE] decorated with foils.

2 chiefly [GEOLOGY] consisting of thin sheets or laminae.

foliation /fəle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] chiefly [GEOLOGY] the process of splitting into thin sheets or laminae.

folic acid /fəlk fl-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a vitamin of the B complex found especially in leafy green vegetables, liver, and kidney. Also called PTEROYLGLUTAMIC ACID, VITAMIN M.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: folic from Latin folium ‘leaf’ + -IC.

folie à deux /fl a də/ n. (pl. folies à deux) [mass noun] delusion or mental illness shared by two people in close association.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘shared madness’.

folie de grandeur /fl də rdə/ n. [mass noun] delusions of grandeur.

<ORIGIN> French.

Folies-Bergère /flbεε/ French /fli bεRzεR/ a variety theatre in Paris, opened in 1869, known for its lavish productions featuring nude and semi-nude female performers.

folio /fələ/ n. (pl. folios) 1 an individual leaf of paper or parchment, either loose as one of a series or forming part of a bound volume, which is numbered on the recto or front side only.

- the page number in a printed book.

2 a sheet of paper folded once to form two leaves (four pages) of a book.

- a size of book made up of such sheets.

- a book or manuscript made up of sheets of paper folded in such a way; a volume of the largest standard size.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ablative of folium ‘leaf’, in medieval Latin used in references to mean ‘on leaf so-and-so’. The original sense of in folio (from Italian in foglio) was ‘in the form of a full-sized sheet or leaf folded once’ (designating the largest size of book).

foliose /fələs -z/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a lichen) having a lobed, leaf-like shape.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin foliosus, from folium ‘leaf’.

folium /fələm/ n. (pl. folia) TECHNICAL a thin leaf-like structure, e.g. in some rocks or in the cerebellum of the brain.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘leaf’.

folivore /fəlv/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an animal that feeds on leaves.

<DERIVATIVES> folivorous adj.

folk /fək/ plural n. 1 (also folks) INFORMAL people in general: her parents were country folk | an old folks' home.

- (folks) used as a friendly form of address to a group of people: meanwhile folks, why not relax and enjoy the atmosphere?

- (one's folks) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the members of one's family, especially one's parents: his folks still live here.

2 [mass noun] folk music: a mixture of folk and reggae | [as modifier] a folk singer.

■ adj. [attr.] relating to the traditional art or culture of a community or nation: a folk museum.

- relating to or originating from the beliefs and opinions of ordinary people: a folk hero | folk wisdom.

<ORIGIN> Old English folc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch volk and German Volk.

folk dance n. a popular dance considered as part of the tradition of a particular people or area.

<DERIVATIVES> folk dancer n. folk dancing n.

folk devil n. a person or thing held to be a bad influence on society: the strikers had been identified and pilloried as the new folk devils.

Folkestone /fəkstən/ a seaport and resort in Kent, on the SE coast of England; pop. 47,020 (est. 2002).

folk etymology n. a popular but mistaken account of the origin of a word or phrase.

- [mass noun] the process by which the form of an unfamiliar or foreign word is adapted to a more familiar form through popular usage.

folkie n. INFORMAL a singer, player, or fan of folk music.

folkish adj. 1 characteristic of ordinary people or traditional culture: folkish humour.

2 relating to or resembling folk music: the most conventionally folkish number on the album.

folklife n. [mass noun] the way of life of a rural or traditional community.

folklore n. [mass noun] the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.

- a body of popular myths or beliefs relating to a particular place, activity, or group of people: Hollywood folklore.

<DERIVATIVES> folkloric adj. folklorist n. folkloristic adj.

folk memory n. a recollection or body of recollections of the past that persists among a particular group of people.

folk music n. [mass noun] music that originates in traditional popular culture or that is written in such a style. Folk music is typically of unknown authorship and is transmitted orally from generation to generation.

folk rock n. [mass noun] popular music resembling or derived from folk music but incorporating the stronger beat of rock music and using electric instruments.

folk song n. a song that originates in traditional popular culture or that is written in such a style.

<DERIVATIVES> folk singer n.

folksy adj. (folksier, folksiest) 1 having the characteristics of traditional culture and customs, especially in a contrived or artificial way: the shop's folksy, small-town image.

2 informal and unpretentious: his folksy, direct style.

<DERIVATIVES> folksiness n.

folk tale n. a story originating in popular culture, typically passed on by word of mouth.

folkways plural n. the traditional behaviour or way of life of a particular community or group of people: a study of Cherokee folklore and folkways.

folkweave n. [mass noun] BRITISH a rough, loosely woven fabric.

folky adj. (folkier, folkiest)

■ another term for FOLKSY or FOLKISH.

<DERIVATIVES> folkiness n.

follicle /flk(ə)l/ n. 1 [ANATOMY] a small secretory cavity, sac, or gland, in particular:

- (also hair follicle) the sheath of cells and connective tissue which surrounds the root of a hair.

■ short for GRAAFIAN FOLLICLE.

2 [BOTANY] a dry fruit that is derived from a single carpel and opens on one side only to release its seeds.

<DERIVATIVES> follicular /flkjlə/ adj. follicularly adv. folliculate /-lət/ adj. folliculated adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin folliculus ‘little bag’, diminutive of follis ‘bellows’.

follicle mite n. a parasitic mite which burrows into the hair follicles, causing demodectic mange.

<INFO> Genus Demodex, family Demodicidae.

follicle-stimulating hormone (abbr.: FSH) n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland which promotes the formation of ova or sperm.

folliculitis /fəlkjlts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the hair follicles.

follis /fls/ n. (pl. folles) a bronze or copper coin of a type introduced by the Roman emperor Diocletian in AD 296 and also used later in Byzantine currency.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

follow v. [with obj.] 1 go or come after (a person or thing proceeding ahead); move or travel behind: she went back into the house, and Ben followed her | [no obj.] the men followed in another car.

- go after (someone) in order to observe or monitor them: the KGB man followed her everywhere.

- ARCHAIC strive after; aim at: I follow fame.

- go along (a route or path).

- (of a route or path) go in the same direction as or parallel to (another): the road follows the track of the railway line.

- trace the movement or direction of: she followed his gaze, peering into the gloom.

2 come after in time or order: the six years that followed his restoration | [no obj.] the rates are as follows.

- happen after (something else) as a consequence: raucous laughter followed the ribald remark | the announcement followed on from the collapse of the merchant bank | [no obj.] retribution soon followed.

- [no obj.] be a logical consequence of something: it thus follows from this equation that the value must be negative.

- [with obj. and adverbial] (of a person) do something after (something else): they follow their March show with four UK dates next month.

- have (a dish or course) after another or others during a meal: turkey was followed by dessert.

3 act according to (an instruction or precept): he has difficulty in following written instructions.

- conform to: the film faithfully follows Shakespeare's plot.

- act according to the lead or example of (someone): he follows Aristotle in believing this.

- treat as a teacher or guide: those who seek to follow Jesus Christ.

4 pay close attention to: I've been following this discussion closely.

- take an active interest in or be a supporter of: supporters who have followed the club through thick and thin.

- (of a book, film, programme, etc.) be concerned with the development of: the book follows the life and career of Henry Clay.

- understand the meaning or tendency of (a speaker or argument): I still don't follow you.

5 practise (a trade or profession).

- undertake or carry out (a course of action or study): she followed a strict diet.

<PHRASES>

□ follow in someone's footsteps see FOOTSTEP.

□ follow one's nose 1 trust to one's instincts.

2 move along guided by one's sense of smell.

3 go straight ahead.

□ follow suit (in bridge, whist, and other card games) play a card of the suit led.

- conform to another's actions: Spain cut its rates by half a per cent but no other country has followed suit.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ follow on (of a cricket team) be required to bat again immediately after failing in their first innings to reach a score within a set number of runs of the score made by their opponents.

□ follow through (in golf, cricket, and other sports) continue the movement of a stroke after the ball has been struck.

□ follow something through continue an action or task to its conclusion.

□ follow something up pursue or investigate something further: I decided to follow up the letters with phone calls.

<ORIGIN> Old English folgian, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch volgen and German folgen.

follower n. 1 a person who supports and admires a particular person or set of ideas: followers of Nietsche.

- a person who takes an active interest in a particular activity: he is a keen follower of football.

2 a person who moves or travels behind someone or something.

<DERIVATIVES> followership n.

following prep. coming after or as a result of: police are hunting for two men following a spate of robberies in the area.

■ n. 1 a body of supporters or admirers: he attracted a worldwide following.

2 (the following) [treated as sing. or plural] what follows or comes next: the following are both grammatically correct sentences.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 next in time: the following day there was a ceremony in St Peter's Square.

- about to be mentioned: you are required to provide us with the following information.

2 (of a wind) blowing in the same direction as the course of a vessel etc.

follow-on n. a thing which follows on from another: it will act as the follow-on to the current version of the software.

- [CRICKET] a second innings played immediately after their first by a team that failed to reach a score within a set number of runs of that made by their opponents.

follow-the-leader (also follow-my-leader) n. a children's game in which the participants must copy the actions and words of a person who has been chosen as leader.

follow-through n. [mass noun] continuation of the movement of a bat, racket, or club after striking a ball.

- the continuing of an action or task to its conclusion: the firm assures follow-through on all aspects of the contract.

follow-up n. a continuation or repetition of something that has already been started or done: [as modifier] a follow-up study of the same interviewees after retirement.

- a further examination or observation of a patient in order to monitor the success of earlier treatment.

- a piece of work that builds on or exploits the success of earlier work: she is writing a follow-up to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

folly n. (pl. follies) 1 [mass noun] lack of good sense; foolishness: an act of sheer folly.

- [count noun] a foolish act, idea, or practice: the follies of youth.

2 a costly ornamental building with no practical purpose, especially a tower or mock-Gothic ruin built in a large garden or park.

3 (Follies) a theatrical revue with glamorous female performers: [in names] the Ziegfeld Follies.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French folie ‘madness’, in modern French also ‘delight, favourite dwelling’ (compare with sense 2), from fol ‘fool, foolish’.

Folsom /fəlsəm/ n. [usually as modifier] [ARCHAEOLOGY] a Palaeo-Indian culture of Central and North America, dated to about 10,500–8,000 years ago. The culture is distinguished by fluted stone projectile points or spearheads (Folsom points). Compare with Clovis^2.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Folsom, NE New Mexico, the area where remains were first found.

Fomalhaut /fəm(ə)lht -mələt/ [ASTRONOMY] the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus.

<ORIGIN> Arabic, ‘mouth of the fish’.

foment /fə()mεnt/ v. [with obj.] 1 instigate or stir up (an undesirable or violent sentiment or course of action): they accused him of fomenting political unrest.

2 ARCHAIC bathe (a part of the body) with warm or medicated lotions.

<DERIVATIVES> fomenter n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from French fomenter, from late Latin fomentare, from Latin fomentum ‘poultice, lotion’, from fovere ‘to heat, cherish’.

fomentation /fəmεnte(ə)n/ n. 1 [mass noun] the action of instigating or stirring up undesirable sentiment or actions: the fomentation of discontent.

2 ARCHAIC a poultice.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin fomentatio(n-), from the verb fomentare (see FOMENT).

fomites /fəmtiz/ plural n. MEDICINE objects or materials which are likely to carry infection, such as clothes, utensils, and furniture.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, plural of fomes, literally ‘touchwood, tinder’.

Fon /fn/ n. (pl. same or Fons) 1 a member of a people inhabiting the southern part of Benin.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Fon, belonging to the Kwa group, with about 1 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Fon or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Fon.

fond adj. 1 (fond of) having an affection or liking for: I'm very fond of Mel | he was not too fond of dancing.

- [attr.] affectionate; loving: I have very fond memories of Oxford | a fond farewell.

2 [attr.] (of a hope or belief) foolishly optimistic; naive.

<DERIVATIVES> fondly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘infatuated, foolish’): from obsolete fon ‘a fool, be foolish’, of unknown origin. Compare with FUN.

Fonda /fndə/ a family of American actors. Henry Fonda (1905–82) was noted for his roles in such films as The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and Twelve Angry Men (1957). He won his only Oscar for his role in his final film, On Golden Pond (1981). His daughter Jane (b.1937) is known for films including Klute (1971), for which she won an Oscar, and The China Syndrome (1979); she also acted alongside her father in On Golden Pond.

fondant /fnd(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] a thick paste made of sugar and water and often flavoured or coloured, used in the making of sweets and the icing and decoration of cakes.

- [count noun] a sweet made of fondant.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, literally ‘melting’, present participle of fondre.

fondle v. [with obj.] stroke or caress lovingly or erotically: he kissed and fondled her.

■ n. an act of fondling.

<DERIVATIVES> fondler n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘pamper’): back-formation from obsolete fondling ‘much-loved or petted person’, from FOND + -LING.

fondness n. [mass noun] affection or liking for someone or something: I remember him with great fondness | I have a fondness for spicy food.

fondu /fd(j)u/ adj. [postpositive] [BALLET] (of a position) involving a lowering of the body by bending the knee of the supporting leg: an arabesque fondu.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘melted’.

fondue /fnd(j)u/ n. a dish in which small pieces of food are dipped into a hot sauce or a hot cooking medium such as oil or broth.

<ORIGIN> French, feminine past participle of fondre ‘to melt’.

fons et origo /fnz εt rə rə/ n. the source and origin of something: they recognized the sixties as the fons et origo of music as they knew it.

<ORIGIN> Latin, originally as fons et origo mali ‘the source and origin of evil’.

font^1 n. 1 a receptacle in a church for the water used in baptism, typically a free-standing stone structure.

2 a reservoir for oil in an oil lamp.

<DERIVATIVES> fontal adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English: from Latin fons, font- ‘spring, fountain’, occurring in the ecclesiastical Latin phrase fons or fontes baptismi ‘baptismal water(s)’.

font^2 (BRITISH also fount) n. [PRINTING] a set of type of one particular face and size.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting the action or process of casting or founding): from French fonte, from fondre ‘to melt’.

fontanelle /fntənεl/ (US fontanel) n. a space between the bones of the skull in an infant or fetus, where ossification is not complete and the sutures not fully formed. The main one is between the frontal and parietal bones.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a hollow of the skin between muscles): from French, from modern Latin fontanella, from an Old French diminutive of fontaine (see FOUNTAIN). The current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.

Fonteyn /fnten/ Dame Margot (1919–91), English ballet dancer; born Margaret Hookham. In 1962 she began a celebrated partnership with Rudolf Nureyev, dancing with him in Giselle and Romeo and Juliet. In 1979 she was named prima ballerina assoluta, a title given only three times in the history of ballet.

fontina /fntinə/ n. [mass noun] a kind of pale yellow Italian cheese.

<ORIGIN> from Italian.

Foochow /futa/ variant of FUZHOU.

food n. [mass noun] any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink or that plants absorb in order to maintain life and growth: tins of cat food | [count noun] baby foods.

<PHRASES>

□ food for thought something that warrants serious consideration.

<ORIGIN> late Old English fōda, of Germanic origin; related to FODDER.

Food and Agriculture Organization (abbr.: FAO) an agency of the United Nations established in 1945 to secure improvements in the production and distribution of all food and agricultural products and to raise levels of nutrition. Its headquarters are in Rome.

food bank n. NORTH AMERICAN a place supplying food to poor or destitute people.

food body n. [BOTANY] a small nutrient-rich structure developed on the leaves, flowers, or petioles of some tropical plants to attract ants.

food chain n. a series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.

food court n. NORTH AMERICAN an area in a shopping mall where fast-food outlets are located.

food fish n. a species of fish which is used as food by humans, or forms a major part of the diet of a particular predator.

foodgrain n. any of a variety of grains that are grown for human consumption, such as wheat, oats, etc.

food hall n. BRITISH a large section of a department store, where food is sold.

foodie (also foody) n. (pl. foodies) INFORMAL a person with a particular interest in food; a gourmet.

food mile n. BRITISH a mile over which a food item is transported during the journey from producer to consumer, as a unit of measurement of the fuel used to transport it.

food poisoning n. [mass noun] illness caused by bacteria or other toxins in food, typically with vomiting and diarrhoea.

food processor n. an electric kitchen appliance used for chopping, mixing, or puréeing foods.

food stamp n. (in the US) a voucher issued cheaply by the state to those on low income and exchangeable for food.

foodstuff n. a substance suitable for consumption as food.

food value n. [mass noun] the nutritional value of a foodstuff.

food web n. [ECOLOGY] a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

foo fighter n. an unidentified flying object, originally one of a kind reported by US pilots during the Second World War, usually described as a bright light or ball of fire.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from ‘Where there's foo there's fire’, a nonsense catchphrase from the US Smoky Stover cartoon strip.

fool^1 n. 1 a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person: I felt a bit of a fool.

- ARCHAIC a person who is duped or imposed on: he is the fool of circumstances.

2 HISTORICAL a jester or clown, especially one retained in a royal or noble household.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] trick or deceive (someone); dupe: don't be fooled into paying out any more of your hard-earned cash | she tried to fool herself that she had stopped loving him.

2 [no obj.] act in a joking, frivolous, or teasing way: some lads in the pool were fooling around.

- [no obj.] (fool around) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN engage in casual or extramarital sexual activity.

■ adj. [attr.] INFORMAL foolish; silly: that damn fool waiter.

<PHRASES>

□ be no (or nobody's) fool be a shrewd or prudent person.

□ a fool and his money are soon parted PROVERB a foolish person spends money carelessly and will soon be penniless.

□ fools rush in where angels fear to tread PROVERB people without good sense or judgement will have no hesitation in tackling a situation that even the wisest would avoid.

□ make a fool of trick or deceive (someone) so that they look foolish.

- (make a fool of oneself) behave in an incompetent or inappropriate way that makes one appear foolish.

□ more fool —— used to convey that a specified person is behaving unwisely: if suckers will actually pay to do the work, more fool them.

□ play (or act) the fool behave in a playful or silly way.

□ there's no fool like an old fool PROVERB the foolish behaviour of an older person seems especially foolish as they are expected to think and act more sensibly than a younger one.

□ you could have fooled me! used to express cynicism or doubt about an assertion: ‘Fun, was it? Well, you could have fooled me!’.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fol ‘fool, foolish’, from Latin follis ‘bellows, windbag’, by extension ‘empty-headed person’.

fool^2 n. [mass noun] [usually with modifier] chiefly BRITISH a cold dessert made of puréed fruit mixed or served with cream or custard: raspberry fool with cream.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps from FOOL^1.

foolery n. [mass noun] silly or foolish behaviour.

foolhardy adj. (foolhardier, foolhardiest) recklessly bold or rash: it would be foolhardy to go into the scheme without support.

<DERIVATIVES> foolhardily adv. foolhardiness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French folhardi, from fol ‘foolish’ + hardi ‘bold’ (see HARDY).

foolish adj. lacking good sense or judgement; unwise: he was foolish enough to confide in her | a foolish decision.

foolishly adv. in an unwise manner; stupidly: they were condemned for acting foolishly | I foolishly wasted my money | foolishly, I decided to give it a go.

foolishness n. [mass noun] lack of good sense or judgement; stupidity: she was realizing the foolishness of her actions.

foolproof adj. incapable of going wrong or being misused: a foolproof security system.

foolscap /fulzkap fuls-/ n. [mass noun] British a size of paper, about 330 × 200 (or 400) mm.

- paper of this size: several sheets of foolscap.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: said to be named from a former watermark representing a fool's cap.

fool's errand n. a task or activity that has no hope of success.

fool's gold n. [mass noun] a brassy yellow mineral that can be mistaken for gold, especially pyrites.

fool's paradise n. a state of happiness based on a person's not knowing about or denying the existence of potential trouble: they were living in a fool's paradise, refusing to accept that they were in debt.

fool's parsley n. a poisonous white-flowered plant of the parsley family, with fern-like leaves and an unpleasant smell, native to Eurasia and North Africa.

<INFO> Aethusa cynapium, family Umbelliferae.

fooster /fustə/ v. [no obj.] IRISH busy oneself in a restless or agitated way: he was foostering around his caravan.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Irish fústar ‘bustle, fussy behaviour’.

foot n. (pl. feet /fit/) 1 the lower extremity of the leg below the ankle, on which a person stands or walks.

- a corresponding part of the leg in vertebrate animals.

- the part of a sock, stocking, etc. that covers the foot.

- W. INDIAN a person's body below the torso, including the entire leg and the foot.

- [mass noun] LITERARY a person's manner or speed of walking or running: fleet of foot.

- [treated as plural] BRITISH HISTORICAL or FORMAL infantry; foot soldiers: a captain of foot.

2 something resembling a foot in form or function, in particular:

- a projecting part on which a piece of furniture or each of its legs stands.

- a device on a sewing machine for holding the material steady as it is sewn.

- [ZOOLOGY] a locomotory or adhesive organ of an invertebrate.

- [BOTANY] the part by which a petal is attached.

3 the lower or lowest part of something; the base or bottom: the foot of the stairs | complete the form at the foot of the page.

- the end of a table that is furthest from where the host sits.

- the end of a bed, couch, or grave where the occupant's feet normally rest.

- the lower edge of a sail.

4 a unit of linear measure equal to 12 inches (30.48 cm): shallow water no more than a foot deep | he's about six feet tall.

- [usually as modifier] [MUSIC] a unit used in describing a set of organ pipes according to its pitch, the designation being the length of one particular pipe: an 8-foot reed stop.

- [usually as modifier] [MUSIC] a unit used in describing a set of harpsichord strings playing at the same pitch as a set of organ pipes of the same designation: the 16-foot register.

5 [PROSODY] a group of syllables constituting a metrical unit. In English poetry it consists of stressed and unstressed syllables, while in ancient classical poetry it consists of long and short syllables.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL 1 (foot it) cover a distance, especially a long one, on foot: the rider was left to foot it ten or twelve miles back to camp.

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC dance.

2 pay (the bill) for something, typically when the amount is considered large or unreasonable.

<PHRASES>

□ at someone's feet as someone's disciple or subject.

□ be rushed (or run) off one's feet be very busy.

□ feet first with the feet in front.

- dead, as in a coffin: they hoped to be carried feet first out of the house they lived in for twenty-five years.

□ feet of clay a fundamental flaw or weakness in a person otherwise revered. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion (Dan. 2:33) to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, in which a magnificent idol has feet ‘part of iron and part of clay’; Daniel interprets this to signify a future kingdom that will be ‘partly strong, and partly broken’, and will eventually fall.]

□ get one's feet under the table chiefly BRITISH establish oneself securely in a new situation.

□ get one's feet wet begin to participate in an activity.

□ get (or start) off on the right (or wrong) foot make a good (or bad) start at something.

□ have something at one's feet have something in one's power or command: a perfect couple with the world at their feet.

□ have (or keep) one's (or both) feet on the ground be (or remain) practical and sensible.

□ have a foot in both camps have an interest or stake concurrently in two parties or sides: I can have a foot in both the creative and business camps.

□ have (or get) a foot in the door have (or gain) a first introduction to a profession or organization.

□ have one foot in the grave INFORMAL, often HUMOROUS be near death through old age or illness.

□ my foot! INFORMAL said to express strong contradiction: ‘He's clever at his business,’ Matilda said. ‘Clever my foot!’.

□ off one's feet so as to be no longer standing: she was blown off her feet by the shock wave from the explosion.

□ on one's feet standing: she's in the shop on her feet all day.

- well enough after an illness or injury to walk about: we'll have you back on your feet in no time.

□ on (or by) foot walking rather than travelling by car or using other transport.

□ on foot of IRISH because of; by reason of: the decision was taken on foot of advice from the Attorney General.

□ put one's best foot forward embark on an undertaking with as much effort and determination as possible.

□ put one's feet up INFORMAL take a rest, especially when reclining with one's feet raised and supported.

□ put foot S. African INFORMAL hurry up; make a prompt start. [<ORIGIN> originally in the sense ‘press on the accelerator of a car’.]

□ put one's foot down INFORMAL 1 adopt a firm policy when faced with opposition or disobedience.

2 BRITISH accelerate a motor vehicle by pressing the accelerator pedal.

□ put one's foot in it (or put one's foot in one's mouth) INFORMAL say or do something tactless or embarrassing.

□ put a foot wrong [usually with negative] make a mistake in performing an action: he hardly put a foot wrong in the first round.

□ set foot on (or in) [often with negative] enter; go into: he hasn't set foot in the place since the war.

□ set something on foot ARCHAIC set an action or process in motion.

□ sweep someone off their feet quickly and overpoweringly charm someone.

□ think on one's feet react to events decisively, effectively, and without prior thought.

□ to one's feet to a standing position: he leaped to his feet.

□ under one's feet in one's way: when you're at home you just get under my feet.

□ under foot on the ground: it is very wet under foot in places.

<DERIVATIVES> footless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English fōt, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch voet and German Fuss, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit pad, pāda, Greek pous, pod-, and Latin pes, ped- ‘foot’.

footage n. [mass noun] 1 part of a cinema or television film recording a particular event: film footage of the riot.

2 size or length measured in feet: the square footage of the room.

foot-and-mouth disease n. [mass noun] a contagious viral disease of cattle and sheep, causing ulceration of the hoofs and around the mouth.

football n. 1 [mass noun] any of various forms of team game involving kicking (and in some cases also handling) a ball, in particular (in the UK) soccer or (in the US) American football.

- the playing of such a game, especially in a stylish and entertaining way: his team played some impressive football.

2 a ball used in football, either round (as in soccer) or oval (as in rugby and American football) and typically made of leather or plastic and filled with compressed air.

- FIGURATIVE a topical issue that is the subject of continued argument or controversy: the use of education as a political football.

<DERIVATIVES> footballer n. footballing adj.

football pool n. (usually the football pools) a form of gambling on the results of football matches, the winners receiving large sums accumulated from entry money.

footbath n. an act of washing one's feet.

- a small shallow bowl used for washing one's feet.

footbed n. an insole in a boot or shoe, used for cushioning or to provide a better fit.

footboard n. 1 an upright panel forming the foot of a bed.

2 a board serving as a step up to a vehicle such as a carriage or train.

footbrake n. a brake lever in a motor vehicle, which the driver operates by pressing down with their foot.

footbridge n. a bridge designed to be used by pedestrians.

foot-candle n. a unit of illumination (now little used) equal to that given by a source of one candela at a distance of one foot (equivalent to one lumen per square foot or 10.764 lux).

foot-dragging n. [mass noun] reluctance or deliberate delay concerning a decision or action: bureaucratic foot-dragging has continued to delay the project.

<DERIVATIVES> foot-dragger n.

footed adj. 1 having a foot or feet: a footed bowl.

2 [in combination] having a foot or feet of a specified type or number: a quick-footed American chappie.

footer^1 /ftə/ n. 1 [in combination] a person or thing of a specified number of feet in length or height: a tall, sturdy six-footer.

- a kick of a football performed with a specified foot: he hammered a low left-footer past the keeper.

2 variant of FOOTY.

3 a line or block of text appearing at the foot of each page of a book or document. Compare with header (sense 5).

footer^2 /futə/ v. [no obj.] SCOTTISH fiddle about: he nodded and started to footer with his watch.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: variant of obsolete foutre ‘valueless thing, contemptible person’, from Old French.

footfall n. 1 the sound of a footstep or footsteps: you will recognize his footfall on the stairs.

2 [mass noun] the number of people entering a shop or shopping area in a given time.

foot fault n. (in tennis, squash, and similar games) an infringement of the rules made by overstepping the baseline when serving.

■ v. (foot-fault) [no obj.] (of a player) make a foot fault.

- [with obj.] award a foot fault against (a player).

footgear n. another term for FOOTWEAR.

foot guards n. infantrymen with a specific guarding role.

- (Foot Guards) (in the British army) the regiments of the Brigade of Guards: the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish, and Welsh Guards.

foothill n. (usually foothills) a low hill at the base of a mountain or mountain range: the camp lies in the foothills of the Andes.

foothold n. a place where a person's foot can be lodged to support them securely, especially while climbing.

- [usually in sing.] a secure position from which further progress may be made: the company is attempting to gain a foothold in the Russian market.

footing n. 1 (one's footing) a secure grip with one's feet: he suddenly lost his footing.

2 [in sing.] the basis on which something is established or operates: attempts to establish the shop on a firm financial footing.

- the position or status of a person in relation to others: the suppliers are on an equal footing with the buyers.

3 (usually footings) the foundations of a wall, usually with a course of brickwork wider than the base of the wall.

footle /fut(ə)l/ v. [no obj.] chiefly BRITISH engage in fruitless activity; mess about: where's that pesky creature that was footling about outside?

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from dialect footer ‘idle, potter about’, from 16th-cent. foutre ‘worthless thing’, from Old French, literally ‘have sexual intercourse with’.

footlights plural n. (usually the footlights) a row of spotlights along the front of a stage at the level of the actors' feet.

footling /futl/ adj. trivial and irritating: year after year you come with the same footling complaint.

footlocker n. NORTH AMERICAN a small trunk or storage chest.

foot log n. NORTH AMERICAN a log used as a simple footbridge.

footloose adj. able to travel freely and do as one pleases due to a lack of responsibilities or commitments: I am footloose and fancy-free—I can follow my job wherever it takes me.

- (of a commercial, industrial, or financial operation) unrestricted in its location or field of operations and able to respond to fluctuations in the market.

footman n. (pl. footmen) 1 a liveried servant whose duties include admitting visitors and waiting at table.

2 HISTORICAL a soldier in the infantry.

3 ARCHAIC a trivet to hang on the bars of a grate.

4 a slender moth that is typically of a subdued colour, the caterpillar feeding almost exclusively on lichens.

<INFO> Several genera in the family Arctiidae: many species, including the common European Eilem lurideola.

footmark n. a footprint.

footnote n. an additional piece of information printed at the bottom of a page.

- a thing that is additional or less important: this incident seemed destined to become a mere footnote in history.

■ v. [with obj.] add a footnote or footnotes to (a piece of writing).

foot pace n. 1 [mass noun] walking speed.

2 a raised piece of flooring.

footpad n. HISTORICAL a highwayman operating on foot rather than riding a horse.

foot passenger n. a person travelling on foot rather than by car, especially one taking a ferry.

footpath n. a path for people to walk along, especially a right of way in the countryside.

- BRITISH a path for pedestrians in a built-up area; a pavement.

footplate n. chiefly BRITISH the platform for the crew in the cab of a locomotive.

- [as modifier] denoting railway staff responsible for operating trains, as opposed to other employees.

foot-pound n. 1 a unit of energy equal to the amount required to raise 1 lb a distance of 1 foot.

2 a unit of torque equal to the force of 1 lb acting perpendicularly to an axis of rotation at a distance of 1 foot.

foot-pound-second system n. a system of measurement with the foot, pound, and second as basic units.

footprint n. 1 the impression left by a foot or shoe on the ground or a surface.

- the impact on the environment of human activity in terms of pollution, damage to ecosystems, and the depletion of natural resources: these countries are so populous that they can have a very big footprint.

2 the area covered by something, in particular:

- the area beneath an aircraft or a land vehicle which is affected by its noise or weight.

- the area in which a broadcast signal from a particular source can be received.

- the space taken up on a surface by a piece of computer hardware.

footrest n. a support for the feet or a foot, used when sitting.

foot rope n. [NAUTICAL] 1 a rope to which the lower edge of a sail is sewn.

2 a rope below a yard on which a sailor can stand while furling or reefing a sail.

foot rot n. [mass noun] a bacterial disease of the feet in hoofed animals, especially sheep.

<INFO> The bacteria belong to the Gram-negative genera Bacteroides and Fusobacterium.

- any of a number of fungal diseases of plants in which the base of the stem rots.

foot rule n. HISTORICAL a foot-long measuring instrument.

Footsie /ftsi/ n. BRITISH TRADEMARK informal term for FTSE INDEX.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: fanciful elaboration of FTSE, influenced by footsie.

footsie /ftsi/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL the action of touching someone's feet lightly with one's own feet, especially under a table, as a playful expression of romantic interest: he was playing footsie under the table with Mara.

<PHRASES>

□ play footsie work with someone in a close but covert way: the minister was rebuked for playing footsie with the nationalists.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: humorous diminutive of FOOT.

footslog v. (footslogs, footslogging, footslogged) [no obj.] (especially of a soldier) walk or march for a long distance, typically wearily or with effort.

■ n. a long and exhausting walk or march.

<DERIVATIVES> footslogger n.

foot soldier n. a soldier who fights on foot.

- a person who carries out important work but does not have a role of authority in an organization or field: programmers are the foot soldiers of the computer revolution.

footsore adj. (of a person or animal) having raw and painful feet from much walking.

footstalk n. the short supporting stalk of a leaf or flower.

footstep n. a step taken by a person in walking, especially as heard by another person.

<PHRASES>

□ follow (or tread) in someone's footsteps do as another person did before, especially in making a journey or following a particular career.

footstool n. a low stool for resting the feet on when sitting.

footsure adj. another term for SURE-FOOTED.

foot-tapping adj. having or creating a strong rhythmical musical beat: foot-tapping gospel hymns.

foot valve n. a one-way valve at the inlet of a pipe or the base of a suction pump.

footwall n. [GEOLOGY] the block of rock which lies on the underside of an inclined fault or of a vein of mineral.

footway n. BRITISH a path or track for pedestrians.

footwear n. [mass noun] outer coverings for the feet, such as shoes, boots, and sandals.

footwell n. a space for the feet in front of a seat in a vehicle or aircraft.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from FOOT + WELL^2 (in the sense ‘a depression in the floor’).

footwork n. [mass noun] the manner in which one moves one's feet in various sports, especially in dancing, boxing, and football: a deft piece of footwork.

- adroit response to sudden danger or new opportunities: the company had to do a lot of nimble footwork to stay alive.

footy (also footie or footer) n. British informal term for football (sense 1).

- Australian/NZ informal term for RUGBY or AUSTRALIAN RULES.

foo yong /fu j/ n. [mass noun] a Chinese dish or sauce made with egg as a main ingredient.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese (Cantonese dialect) foō yung, literally ‘hibiscus’.

foozle /fuz(ə)l/ INFORMAL n. a clumsy or botched attempt at something, especially a shot in golf.

■ v. [with obj.] botch; bungle.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German dialect fuseln ‘work badly’; compare with FUSEL OIL.

fop n. a man who is concerned with his clothes and appearance in an affected and excessive way.

<DERIVATIVES> foppery n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘fool’): perhaps related to fob^2.

foppish adj. (of a man) concerned with one's clothes and appearance in an affected and excessive way: he is foppish and vain | a foppish dandy.

<DERIVATIVES> foppishly adv. foppishness n.

for prep. 1 in support of or in favour of (a person or policy): troops who had fought for Napoleon | they voted for independence in a referendum.

2 affecting, with regard to, or in respect of: she is responsible for the efficient running of their department | the demand for money.

3 on behalf of or to the benefit of: I got a present for you | these parents aren't speaking for everyone.

- employed by: she is a tutor for the Open University.

4 having (the thing mentioned) as a purpose or function: networks for the exchange of information | the necessary tools for making a picture frame.

5 having (the thing mentioned) as a reason or cause: Aileen is proud of her family for their support | I could dance and sing for joy.

6 having (the place mentioned) as a destination: they are leaving for London tomorrow.

7 representing (the thing mentioned): the ‘F’ is for Fascinating.

8 in place of or in exchange for: will you swap these two bottles for that one?

- charged as (a price): copies are available for £1.20.

9 in relation to the expected norm of: she was tall for her age | it's quite warm for this time of year.

10 indicating the length of (a period of time): he was jailed for 12 years | I haven't seen him for some time.

11 indicating the extent of (a distance): he crawled for 300 yards.

12 indicating an occasion in a series: the camcorder failed for the third time.

■ conj. LITERARY because; since: he felt guilty, for he knew that he bore a share of responsibility for Fanny's death.

<PHRASES>

□ be for it BRITISH INFORMAL be in imminent danger of punishment or other trouble.

□ do something for one's country (or England etc.) BRITISH INFORMAL used to indicate that someone does or can do the specified activity with great enthusiasm or tirelessness: you eating for England, Barry?

□ for Africa S. African INFORMAL in huge numbers or quantities; galore: I've got homework for Africa.

□ for all —— see ALL.

□ for ever see FOREVER.

□ for why INFORMAL for what reason: you're going to and I'll tell you for why.

□ oh for —— I long for ——: oh for a strong black coffee!

□ there's (or that's) —— for you used ironically to indicate a particularly poor example of (a quality mentioned): there's gratitude for you.

<ORIGIN> Old English, probably a reduction of a Germanic preposition meaning ‘before’ (in place or time); related to German für, also to FORE.

for- prefix 1 denoting prohibition: forbid.

2 denoting abstention, neglect, or renunciation: forgive | forget | forgo.

3 used as an intensifier: forlorn.

<ORIGIN> Old English.

f.o.r. abbr. free on rail. See FREE.

fora plural form of forum (sense 3).

forage /frd/ v. [no obj.] (of a person or animal) search widely for food or provisions: the birds forage for aquatic invertebrates, insects, and seeds.

- [with obj.] obtain (food or provisions) by searching: a girl foraging grass for oxen.

- [with obj.] search (a place) so as to obtain food.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC supply with food.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] food such as grass or hay for horses and cattle; fodder.

2 [in sing.] a wide search over an area in order to obtain something, especially food or provisions.

<DERIVATIVES> forager n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fourrage (noun), fourrager (verb), from fuerre ‘straw’, of Germanic origin and related to FODDER.

forage cap n. a peaked cap forming part of a soldier's uniform.

forage fish n. a species of fish which is the prey of more valuable game fish.

forage harvester n. a large agricultural machine for harvesting forage crops.

foramen /fəremεn/ n. (pl. foramina /-ramnə/) [ANATOMY] an opening, hole, or passage, especially in a bone.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, from forare ‘bore a hole’.

foramen magnum /manəm/ n. [ANATOMY] the hole in the base of the skull through which the spinal cord passes.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘large opening’.

foraminifer /frəmnfə/ n. (pl. foraminifers or foraminifera /frəmnf(ə)rə/) [ZOOLOGY] a single-celled planktonic animal with a perforated chalky shell through which slender protrusions of protoplasm extend. Most kinds are marine, and when they die thick ocean-floor sediments are formed from their shells. See also GLOBIGERINA.

<INFO> Order Foraminiferida, phylum Rhizopoda, kingdom Protista.

<DERIVATIVES> foraminiferal /frəmnf(ə)rəl/ adj. foraminiferan n. & adj. foraminiferous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin foramen, foramin- (see FORAMEN) + -fer ‘bearing’ (from ferre ‘to bear’).

for'ard /frəd/ adj. & adv. non-standard spelling of FORWARD, used to represent a nautical pronunciation.

forasmuch as conj. ARCHAIC because; since.

<ORIGIN> Middle English for as much, translating Old French por tant que ‘for so much as’.

forastero /frəstεrə/ (also forastero tree) n. (pl. forasteros) a widely grown cacao tree of a variety which provides the bulk of the world's cocoa beans.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish, literally ‘foreign’, because the tree was a ‘foreign’ import to Venezuela from the West Indies, as distinct from the CRIOLLO or native variety.

foray /fre/ n. a sudden attack or incursion into enemy territory, especially to obtain something; a raid: the garrison made a foray against Richard's camp.

- a brief but spirited attempt to become involved in a new activity or sphere: my first foray into journalism.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] make or go on a foray.

<DERIVATIVES> forayer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: back-formation from forayer ‘a person who forays’, from Old French forrier ‘forager’, from fuerre ‘straw’ (see FORAGE).

forb /fb/ n. [BOTANY] a herbaceous flowering plant other than a grass.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Greek phorbē ‘fodder’, from phorbein ‘to feed’.

forbade (also forbad) past of FORBID.

forbear^1 /fbε/ v. (past forbore; past participle forborne) [no obj.] politely or patiently restrain an impulse to do something; refrain: [with infinitive] he modestly forbears to include his own work.

<ORIGIN> Old English forberan (see FOR-, bear^1). The original senses were ‘endure, bear with’, hence ‘endure the absence of, do without’, also ‘control oneself’, hence ‘refrain from’ (Middle English).

forbearance n. [mass noun] patient self-control; restraint and tolerance: his unfailing courtesy and forbearance under great provocation.

- [LAW] the action of refraining from exercising a legal right, especially enforcing the payment of a debt.

forbearing adj. patient and restrained: he proved to be remarkably forbearing whenever I was impatient or angry.

forbid v. (forbids, forbidding; past forbade /-bad -bed/ or forbad; past participle forbidden) [with obj.] refuse to allow (something): mixed marriages were forbidden.

- order (someone) not to do something: I was forbidden from seeing him again | [with obj. and infinitive] my doctor has forbidden me to eat sugar.

- refuse entry to a place or area: all vehicles are forbidden.

- (of a circumstance or quality) make (something) impossible; prevent: the cliffs forbid any easy turning movement.

<PHRASES>

□ God (or Heaven) forbid used to express a fervent wish that something does not happen: if, God forbid, a close family member of yours were killed.

<ORIGIN> Old English forbēodan (see FOR-, bid^2).

forbidden adj. 1 not allowed; banned: a list of forbidden books.

2 [PHYSICS] denoting or involving a transition between two quantum-mechanical states that does not conform to some selection rule, especially for electric dipole radiation.

<PHRASES>

□ the forbidden degrees the number of steps of descent from the same ancestor that bar two related people from marrying.

□ forbidden fruit a thing that is desired all the more because it is not allowed. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Gen. 2:17.]

Forbidden City 1 an area of Beijing containing the former imperial palaces, to which entry was forbidden to all except the members of the imperial family and their servants.

2 a name given to Lhasa in Tibet.

forbidding adj. unfriendly or threatening in appearance: a grim and forbidding building.

<DERIVATIVES> forbiddingly adv.

forbore past of forbear^1.

forborne past participle of forbear^1.

forbye /fəb f-/ (also forby) adv. & preposition ARCHAIC or SCOTTISH in addition; besides: [as prep.] no doubt he had many a sin on his soul, forbye murder.

force^1 n. [mass noun] 1 strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement: he was thrown backwards by the force of the explosion.

- [PHYSICS] an influence tending to change the motion of a body or produce motion or stress in a stationary body. The magnitude of such an influence is often calculated by multiplying the mass of the body and its acceleration.

- [in combination] used with a number as a measure of wind strength on the Beaufort scale: a force-nine gale.

2 coercion or compulsion, especially with the use or threat of violence: they ruled by law and not by force.

3 mental or moral strength or power: the force of popular opinion.

- [count noun] a person or thing regarded as exerting power or influence: he might still be a force for peace and unity.

- the powerful effect of something: the Committee accepted the force of this argument.

4 [count noun] an organized body of military personnel or police: a British peacekeeping force.

- (forces) troops and weaponry: left-wing guerrilla forces | FIGURATIVE a battle between the forces of good and evil.

- (the forces) BRITISH INFORMAL the army, navy, and air force of a country.

- (the force) BRITISH INFORMAL the police.

- a group of people brought together and organized for a particular activity: a sales force.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make a way through or into by physical strength; break open by force: the back door of the bank was forced.

- [with obj. and adverbial] drive or push into a specified position or state using physical strength or against resistance: thieves tried to force open the cash register | Mark forced her arms back above her head.

- (force oneself on/upon) rape (a woman).

- achieve or bring about (something) by effort: Sabine forced a smile | they forced a way through the crowd.

- artificially hasten the development or maturity of (a plant).

2 make (someone) do something against their will: she was forced into early retirement | [with obj. and infinitive] the universities were forced to cut staff.

- (force something on/upon) impose or press something on: economic cutbacks were forced on the government.

- (force something down) manage to swallow food or drink when one does not want to.

- [BASEBALL] put out (a runner) by necessitating an advance to the next base when it is not possible to do so safely.

<PHRASES>

□ by force of by means of: disputes were sometimes settled by force of arms.

□ force the bidding (at an auction) make bids to raise the price rapidly.

□ force someone's hand make someone do something.

□ force the issue compel the making of an immediate decision.

□ force the pace adopt a fast pace in a race in order to tire out one's opponents quickly.

□ in force in great strength or numbers: birdwatchers were out in force.

□ in (or into) force in or into effect: the law came into force in January.

<DERIVATIVES> forceable adj. forcer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French force (noun), forcer (verb), based on Latin fortis ‘strong’.

force^2 n. N. ENGLISH a waterfall.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Norse fors.

forced adj. 1 obtained or imposed by coercion or physical power: there was no sign of a forced entry.

- (of a plant) having its development or maturity artificially hastened.

2 (of a gesture or expression) produced or maintained with effort; affected or unnatural: a forced smile.

<PHRASES>

□ forced march a fast march by soldiers, typically over a long distance.

forced landing n. an act of abruptly bringing an aircraft to the ground or the surface of water in an emergency.

<DERIVATIVES> force-land v.

force-feed v. [with obj.] force (a person or animal) to eat food.

- impose or force (information or ideology) on someone: [with two objs] those teaching our kids should not be force-feeding them political ideas.

force feedback n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] the simulating of physical attributes such as weight in virtual reality, allowing the user to interact directly with virtual objects using touch.

force field n. (chiefly in science fiction) an invisible barrier of force.

forceful adj. strong and assertive; vigorous and powerful: she was a forceful personality.

<DERIVATIVES> forcefully adv. forcefulness n.

force majeure /fs maə/ n. [mass noun] 1 [LAW] unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract.

2 irresistible compulsion or superior strength.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘superior strength’.

forcemeat n. [mass noun] a mixture of meat or vegetables chopped and seasoned for use as a stuffing or garnish.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from obsolete force ‘to stuff’, alteration (influenced by the force^1 (verb)) of farce, from French farcir (see FARCE).

forceout n. [BASEBALL] a putting out of a base runner who is forced to advance to a base at which a fielder is holding the ball.

forceps /fsεps -sps/ (also a pair of forceps) plural n. a pair of pincers or tweezers used in surgery or in a laboratory.

- a large instrument of such a type with broad blades, used to encircle a baby's head and assist in birth: [as modifier] a forceps delivery.

- [ZOOLOGY] an organ or structure resembling forceps, especially the cerci of an earwig.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin, ‘tongs, pincers’.

force pump n. a pump used to move water or other liquid under greater than ambient pressure.

force-ripe adj. W. INDIAN (of a person) old or mature in certain respects without having developed fully in others.

<ORIGIN> by association with a fruit that has ripened by forcing.

forcible adj. done by force: signs of forcible entry.

- vigorous and strong; forceful: they could only be deterred by forcible appeals.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from force (see force^1).

forcibly adv. using force or violence: no one will be forcibly evicted.

- in a forceful way; convincingly: they argued forcibly against the proposal.

forcing adj. [BRIDGE] (of a bid) requiring by convention a response from one's partner, no matter how weak their hand may be.

forcing house n. a place in which the growth or development of something (especially plants) is artificially hastened.

Ford^1 Ford Madox (1873–1939), English novelist and editor; born Ford Hermann Hueffer. He is chiefly remembered as the author of the novel The Good Soldier (1915).

Ford^2 Gerald (Rudolph) (1913–2006), American Republican statesman, 38th President of the US 1974–7. He became President on the resignation of Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate affair.

Ford^3 Harrison (b.1942), American actor. He became internationally famous with his leading roles in the science-fiction film Star Wars (1977) and its two sequels.

Ford^4 Henry (1863–1947), American motor manufacturer. A pioneer of large-scale mass production, he founded the Ford Motor Company, which in 1909 produced his famous Model T. Control of the company passed to his grandson, Henry Ford II (1917–1987) in 1945.

Ford^5 John (1586–c.1639), English dramatist. His plays, which include 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1633) and The Broken Heart (1633), explore human delusion, melancholy, and horror.

Ford^6 John (1895–1973), American film director; born Sean Aloysius O'Feeney. He is chiefly known for his westerns of which many, including Stagecoach (1939) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), starred John Wayne.

ford n. a shallow place in a river or stream allowing one to walk or drive across.

■ v. [with obj.] (of a person or vehicle) cross (a river or stream) at a shallow place.

<DERIVATIVES> fordable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch voorde, also to FARE.

Fordism n. [mass noun] the use in manufacturing industry of the methods pioneered by Henry Ford, typified by large-scale mechanized mass production.

<DERIVATIVES> Fordist n. & adj.

fordo /fdu/ (also foredo) v. (fordoes, fordoing, fordid; past participle fordone) [with obj.] ARCHAIC kill; destroy: by the sword's edge his life shall be foredone.

<ORIGIN> Old English fordōn; related to Dutch verdoen and German vertun, and ultimately to FOR and do^1.

fore adj. [attr.] situated or placed in front: the fore and hind pairs of wings.

■ n. the front part of something, especially a ship.

■ exclam. called out as a warning to people in the path of a golf ball.

■ prep. (also 'fore)

■ non-standard form of BEFORE: 'fore you know it, you're in trouble.

<PHRASES>

□ to the fore in or to a conspicuous or leading position: the succession issue came to the fore.

<ORIGIN> Old English (as a preposition, also in the sense ‘before in time, previously’): of Germanic origin; related to Dutch voor and German vor. The adjective and noun represent the prefix FORE- used independently (late 15th century).

fore- combining form 1 (added to verbs) in front: foreshorten.

- beforehand; in advance: forebode | foreshadow.

2 (added to nouns) situated in front of: forecourt.

- the front part of: forebrain.

- of or near the bow of a ship: forecastle.

- preceding; going before: forefather.

<ORIGIN> Old English (see FORE).

fore and aft adv. at the front and rear (often used with reference to a ship or plane): we're moored fore and aft.

- backwards and forwards: a sperm whale cannot see directly fore and aft.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 backwards and forwards: the fore-and-aft motion of the handles.

2 (of a sail or rigging) set lengthwise, not on the yards.

3 NORTH AMERICAN (of a road) constructed of logs laid end to end.

4 HISTORICAL (of a man's hat) having three corners and a peak at the front and back.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps translating a phrase of Low German origin; compare with Dutch van voren en van achteren.

forearm^1 /frαm/ n. the part of a person's arm extending from the elbow to the wrist or the fingertips.

forearm^2 /frαm/ v. [with obj.] prepare (someone) in advance for danger, attack, or another undesirable future event: within ourselves, we are forearmed against unpleasant possibilities.

forebear (also forbear) n. (usually one's forebears) an ancestor.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from FORE + bear, variant of obsolete beer ‘someone who exists’ (from BE + -ER^1).

forebode v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC (of a situation or occurrence) act as an advance warning of (something bad): this lull foreboded some new assault upon him.

- have a presentiment of (something bad): I foreboded mischief the moment I heard.

foreboding n. [mass noun] a feeling that something bad will happen; fearful apprehension: with a sense of foreboding she read the note.

■ adj. implying that something bad is going to happen: when the Doctor spoke, his voice was dark and foreboding.

<DERIVATIVES> forebodingly adv.

forebrain n. [ANATOMY] the anterior part of the brain, including the cerebral hemispheres, the thalamus, and the hypothalamus. Also called PROSENCEPHALON.

forecabin n. a cabin in the forward part of a vessel.

forecaddie n. (pl. forecaddies) a caddie who goes ahead of golfers to see where the balls fall.

forecast v. (past and past participle forecast or forecasted) [with obj.] predict or estimate (a future event or trend): rain is forecast for Scotland | [with obj. and infinitive] coal consumption in Europe is forecast to increase.

■ n. a calculation or estimate of future events, especially coming weather or a financial trend.

<DERIVATIVES> forecaster n.

forecastle /fəks(ə)l/ (also fo'c'sle) n. the forward part of a ship below the deck, traditionally used as the crew's living quarters.

- HISTORICAL a raised deck at the front of a ship.

forecheck v. [no obj.] [HOCKEY] play an aggressive style of defence, checking opponents before they can organize an attack.

<DERIVATIVES> forechecker n.

foreclose v. 1 [no obj.] take possession of a mortgaged property when the mortgagor fails to keep up their mortgage payments: the bank was threatening to foreclose on his mortgage.

- [with obj.] take away someone's power to redeem (a mortgage) and take possession of the mortgaged property.

2 [with obj.] rule out or prevent (a course of action): the decision effectively foreclosed any possibility of his early rehabilitation.

<DERIVATIVES> foreclosure n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French forclos, past participle of forclore, from for- ‘out’ (from Latin foras ‘outside’) + clore ‘to close’. The original sense was ‘bar from escaping’, in late Middle English ‘shut out’, and ‘bar from doing something’ (sense 2), hence specifically ‘bar someone from redeeming a mortgage’ (sense 1, early 18th century).

forecourt n. 1 an open area in front of a large building or petrol station.

2 [TENNIS] the part of the court between the service line and the net.

foredawn n. LITERARY the time before dawn.

foredeck n. the deck at the forward part of a ship.

foredoom v. [with obj.] condemn beforehand to certain failure or destruction: the policy is foredoomed to failure.

foredune n. [ECOLOGY] a part of a system of sand dunes on the side nearest to the sea.

fore-edge n. TECHNICAL the outer vertical edge of the pages of a book.

forefather n. (usually one's forefathers) a member of the past generations of one's family or people; an ancestor.

- a precursor of a particular movement: the forefathers of modern British socialism.

forefinger n. the finger next to the thumb; the first or index finger.

forefoot n. (pl. forefeet) 1 each of the front feet of a four-footed animal.

2 the foremost section of a ship's keel.

- the foremost section of a shoe.

forefront n. (the forefront) the leading or most important position or place: the issue has moved to the forefront of the political agenda.

foregather (also forgather) v. [no obj.] FORMAL assemble or gather together.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (originally Scots as forgadder): from Dutch vergaderen.

forego^2 v. (foregoes, foregoing, forewent; past participle foregone) [with obj.] ARCHAIC precede in place or time.

<DERIVATIVES> foregoer n.

foregoing FORMAL adj. [attr.] just mentioned or stated; preceding: the foregoing analysis of the economic class structure.

■ n. (the foregoing) [treated as sing. or plural] the things just mentioned or stated.

foregone past participle of forego^2

■ adj. [often postpositive] ARCHAIC past: poets dream of lives foregone in worlds fantastical.

<PHRASES>

□ a foregone conclusion a result that can be predicted with certainty.

foreground n. (the foreground) the part of a view that is nearest to the observer, especially in a picture or photograph: the intricate garden depicted in the foreground.

- the most prominent or important position or situation: issues which have occupied the political foreground in recent years.

■ v. [with obj.] make (something) the most prominent or important feature: sexual relationships are foregrounded and idealized.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from FORE- + GROUND^1, on the pattern of Dutch voorgrond.

foregut n. [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] the anterior part of the gut, towards the mouth.

forehand n. 1 (in tennis and other racket sports) a stroke played with the palm of the hand facing in the direction of the stroke: [as modifier] a good forehand drive.

2 the part of a horse in front of the saddle.

forehanded adv. (in tennis and other racket sports) with a forehand stroke.

■ adj. US looking to the future; prudent or thrifty: his faculty for forehanded thought about problems to be resolved in the future.

forehead /fhεd frd/ n. the part of the face above the eyebrows.

<ORIGIN> Old English forhēafod (see FORE-, head).

forehock /fhk/ n. BRITISH a foreleg cut of pork or bacon.

foreign /frn/ adj. 1 of, from, in, or characteristic of a country or language other than one's own: foreign currency | a man with a foreign accent.

- dealing with or relating to other countries: foreign policy.

- of or belonging to another district or area: a visit to a foreign clan.

- coming or introduced from outside: the quotation is a foreign element imported into the work.

2 strange and unfamiliar: I suppose this all feels pretty foreign to you.

- (foreign to) not belonging to or characteristic of: crime and brutality are foreign to our nature.

<DERIVATIVES> foreignness /fr(ə)nns/ n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English foren, forein, from Old French forein, forain, based on Latin foras, foris ‘outside’, from fores ‘door’. The current spelling arose in the 16th century, by association with SOVEREIGN.

foreign aid n. [mass noun] money, food, or other resources given or lent by one country to another.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office the British government department dealing with foreign affairs.

foreign body n. an object or piece of extraneous matter that has entered the body by accident or design.

foreigner n. 1 a person born in or coming from a country other than one's own.

- INFORMAL a person not belonging to a particular place or group; a stranger or outsider.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a piece of work done for private gain without an employer's permission or without declaration to the relevant authorities.

foreign exchange n. an institution or system for dealing in the currencies of other countries.

- [mass noun] the currencies of other countries.

Foreign Legion a military formation of the French army founded in the 1830s to fight France's colonial wars. Composed, except for the higher ranks, of non-Frenchmen, the Legion was famed for its audacity and endurance. Its most famous campaigns were in French North Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

foreign minister n. a government minister in charge of their country's relations with other countries.

Foreign Office short for FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE.

foreign-returned adj. INDIAN (of a person) educated or trained abroad and now living again in India.

Foreign Secretary n. (in the UK) the government minister who heads the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

foreign service n. another term for DIPLOMATIC SERVICE.

foreknow v. (past foreknew; past participle foreknown) [with obj.] LITERARY be aware of (an event) before it happens: he foreknows his death like a saint.

foreknowledge n. [mass noun] awareness of something before it happens or exists.

forelady n. (pl. foreladies) NORTH AMERICAN DATED a forewoman.

foreland n. 1 an area of land bordering on another or lying in front of a particular feature.

2 a cape or promontory.

3 [GEOLOGY] a stable unyielding block of the earth's crust, against which compression produces a folded mountain range.

foreleg n. either of the front legs of a four-footed animal.

forelimb n. either of the front limbs of an animal; a foreleg, wing, flipper, etc.

forelock n. a lock of hair growing just above the forehead.

- the part of the mane of a horse or similar animal, which grows from the poll and hangs down over the forehead.

<PHRASES>

□ take time by the forelock LITERARY seize an opportunity.

□ touch (or tug) one's forelock BRITISH raise a hand to one's forehead in deference when meeting a person of higher social rank.

Foreman George (b.1948), American boxer. He won the world heavyweight title in 1973–4, regaining it in 1994–5 to become the oldest world heavyweight champion.

foreman n. (pl. foremen) 1 a male worker who supervises and directs other workers.

2 (in a law court) a person who presides over a jury and speaks on its behalf.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps suggested by Dutch voorman (compare with German Vormann).

foremast n. the mast of a ship nearest the bow.

foremost adj. most prominent in rank, importance, or position: one of the foremost art collectors of his day.

■ adv. before anything else in rank, importance, or position; in the first place.

<ORIGIN> Old English formest, fyrmest, from forma ‘first’ (ultimately a superlative formed from the Germanic base of FORE) + -EST^1. Compare with FIRST and former^1. The current spelling arose by association with FORE and MOST.

foremother n. (usually one's foremothers) a female ancestor or precursor of something.

forename n. another term for FIRST NAME.

forenoon n. North American or [NAUTICAL] the morning.

forensic /fərεnsk/ adj. 1 relating to or denoting the application of scientific methods and techniques to the investigation of crime: forensic evidence.

2 relating to courts of law.

■ n. (forensics) scientific tests or techniques used in connection with the detection of crime.

- (also forensic) [treated as sing. or plural] INFORMAL a laboratory or department responsible for forensic tests.

<DERIVATIVES> forensically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin forensis ‘in open court, public’, from forum (see FORUM).

forensic medicine n. [mass noun] the application of medical knowledge to the investigation of crime, particularly in establishing the causes of injury or death.

foreordain /frden/ v. [with obj.] (of God or fate) appoint or decree (something) beforehand: progress is not foreordained.

<DERIVATIVES> foreordination n.

forepart n. the part situated at the front of something; the foremost part: the forepart of the brain.

forepaw n. either of the front paws of a four-footed animal.

forepeak n. the front end of the hold in the angle of the bows of a ship.

foreperson n. a foreman or forewoman (used as a neutral alternative).

foreplay n. [mass noun] sexual activity that precedes intercourse.

forequarters plural n. the front legs and adjoining parts of a quadruped.

forerib n. a cut of beef for roasting, containing the rib from just in front of the sirloin.

forerun v. (foreruns, forerunning, foreran ; past participle forerun) [with obj.] LITERARY go before or indicate the coming of: the vast inquietude that foreruns the storm.

forerunner n. 1 a person or thing that precedes the coming or development of someone or something else: the ice safe was a forerunner of today's refrigerator.

2 a sign or warning of something to come: overcast mornings are the sure forerunners of steady rain.

- ARCHAIC an advance messenger.

foresail /fsel -s(ə)l/ n. the principal sail on a foremast.

foresee v. (foresees, foreseeing, foresaw; past participle foreseen) [with obj.] be aware of beforehand; predict: we did not foresee any difficulties | [with clause] it is impossible to foresee how life will work out.

<DERIVATIVES> foreseer /-siə/ n.

<ORIGIN> Old English foresēon (see FORE-, see^1).

foreseeable adj. able to be foreseen or predicted: the situation is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

<DERIVATIVES> foreseeability n. foreseeably adv.

foreshadow v. [with obj.] be a warning or indication of (a future event): other new measures are foreshadowed in the White Paper.

foresheet n. 1 a rope by which the lee corner of a foresail is kept in place.

2 (foresheets) the inner part of the bows of a boat.

foreshock n. a mild tremor preceding the violent shaking movement of an earthquake.

foreshore n. the part of a shore between high- and low-water marks, or between the water and cultivated or developed land.

foreshorten v. [with obj.] portray or show (an object or view) as closer than it really is or as having less depth or distance, as an effect of perspective or the angle of vision: seen from the road, the mountain is greatly foreshortened.

- (often as adj. foreshortened) prematurely or dramatically shorten or reduce (something) in time or scale: Leicestershire won by 133 runs in a foreshortened contest.

foreshow v. (past participle foreshown) [with obj.] ARCHAIC give warning or promise of; foretell.

foresight n. 1 [mass noun] the ability to predict what will happen or be needed in the future: he had the foresight to check that his escape route was clear.

2 the front sight of a gun.

3 [SURVEYING] a sight taken forwards.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from FORE- + SIGHT, probably suggested by Old Norse forsjá, forsjó.

foresighted adj. having or using foresight: he had the backing of the more foresighted part of the council.

<DERIVATIVES> foresightedly adv. foresightedness n.

foreskin n. the retractable roll of skin covering the end of the penis. Also called PREPUCE.

forest n. 1 a large area covered chiefly with trees and undergrowth: a pine forest | [mass noun] a large tract of forest.

- HISTORICAL an area, typically owned by the sovereign and partly wooded, kept for hunting and having its own laws.

- [in place names] denoting an area that was formerly a royal forest: Waltham Forest.

2 a large number or dense mass of vertical or tangled objects: a forest of high-rise apartments.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. forested) cover (land) with forest; plant with trees: a forested hillside.

<DERIVATIVES> forestation n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘wooded area kept for hunting’, also denoting any uncultivated land): via Old French from late Latin forestis (silva), literally ‘(wood) outside’, from Latin foris ‘outside’ (see FOREIGN).

forestall /fstl/ v. [with obj.] prevent or obstruct (an anticipated event or action) by taking advance action: they will present their resignations to forestall a vote of no confidence.

- act in advance of (someone) in order to prevent them from doing something: he would have spoken but David forestalled him.

- HISTORICAL buy up (goods) in order to profit by an enhanced price.

<DERIVATIVES> forestaller n. forestalment n.

<ORIGIN> Old English foresteall ‘an ambush’ (see FORE- and STALL). As a verb the earliest sense (Middle English) was ‘intercept and buy up goods before they reach the market, so as to raise the price’ (formerly an offence).

forestay /fste/ n. a rope to support a ship's foremast, running from its top to the deck at the bow.

Forester C. S. (1899–1966), English novelist; pseudonym of Cecil Lewis Troughton Smith. He is remembered for his seafaring novels set during the Napoleonic Wars, featuring Captain Horatio Hornblower.

forester n. 1 a person in charge of a forest or skilled in planting, managing, or caring for trees.

2 chiefly ARCHAIC a person or animal living in a forest.

3 a small day-flying moth with metallic green forewings and a greenish-bronze body.

<INFO> Genus Adscita, family Zygaenidae: several species.

4 AUSTRALIAN the eastern grey kangaroo. See GREY KANGAROO.

5 (Forester) BRITISH a member of the Ancient Order of Foresters, a friendly society.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French forestier, from forest (see FOREST).

forest fly n. a bloodsucking European louse fly of wooded areas, attacking horses and other animals.

<INFO> Hippobosca equina, family Hippoboscidae.

forestry n. [mass noun] the science or practice of planting, managing, and caring for forests.

- country covered by forests.

Forestry Commission the government department responsible for forestry policy in the UK, established in 1919.

forest tree n. a large tree growing in or typical of those growing in a forest.

foretaste n. [in sing.] a sample or suggestion of something that lies ahead: his behemoth task force is just a foretaste of what is to come.

foretell v. (past and past participle foretold) [with obj.] predict (the future or a future event): [with clause] a seer had foretold that the earl would assume the throne.

<DERIVATIVES> foreteller n.

forethought n. [mass noun] careful consideration of what will be necessary or may happen in the future: Jim had the forethought to book in advance.

foretoken /ftək(ə)n/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY be a sign of (a future event): a shiver in the night air foretokening December.

<ORIGIN> Old English foretācn (noun: see FORE-, token).

foretold past and past participle of FORETELL.

foretop /ftp -təp/ n. a platform around the head of the lower section of a sailing ship's foremast.

fore-topgallant-mast n. the third section of a sailing ship's foremast, above the foretopmast.

fore-topgallant-sail n. the sail above a sailing ship's foretopsail.

foretopmast /ftpmαst -məst/ n. the second section of a sailing ship's foremast.

foretopsail /ftps(ə)l -sel/ n. the sail above a sailing ship's foresail.

foretriangle n. the triangular space between the deck, foremast, and forestay of a sailing vessel.

- the area of sail within the foretriangle.

forever adv. 1 (also for ever) for all future time; for always: she would love him forever.

- a very long time (used hyperbolically): it took forever to get a passport.

- used in slogans of support after the name of something or someone: Scotland Forever!

2 continually: they are forever on the move.

for evermore (also forever more and North American forevermore) adv. BRITISH forever (used for rhetorical effect): time has been and shall be for evermore.

forewarn v. [with obj.] inform (someone) of a possible future danger or problem: he had been forewarned of a coup plot.

<PHRASES>

□ forewarned is forearmed PROVERB prior knowledge of possible dangers or problems gives one a tactical advantage.

<DERIVATIVES> forewarner n.

forewarning n. an advance warning: officials had no forewarning of the attacks.

forewent past of forego^1, forego^2.

forewing n. either of the two front wings of a four-winged insect.

forewoman n. (pl. forewomen) a female worker who supervises and directs other workers.

- NORTH AMERICAN (in a law court) a woman who presides over a jury and speaks on its behalf.

foreword n. a short introduction to a book, typically by a person other than the author.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from FORE- + WORD, on the pattern of German Vorwort.

forex abbr. foreign exchange.

foreyard n. the lowest yard on a sailing ship's foremast.

Forfar /ffə/ a town in eastern Scotland, administrative centre of Angus region. It is noted for its castle, the meeting place in 1057 of an early Scottish Parliament and the home of several Scottish kings.

Forfarshire former name (from the 16th century until 1928) for Angus^1.

forfeit /fft/ v. (forfeits, forfeiting, forfeited) [with obj.] lose or be deprived of (property or a right or privilege) as a penalty for wrongdoing: those unable to meet their taxes were liable to forfeit their estates.

- lose or give up (something) as a necessary consequence of something else: she didn't mind forfeiting an hour in bed to muck out the horses.

■ n. a fine or penalty for wrongdoing.

- [LAW] an item of property or a right or privilege lost as a legal penalty.

- (forfeits) a game in which trivial penalties are exacted for minor misdemeanours.

- [mass noun] the action of forfeiting something.

■ adj. [predic.] lost or surrendered as a penalty for wrongdoing: his possessions were declared forfeit.

<DERIVATIVES> forfeitable adj. forfeiter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting a crime or transgression, hence a fine): from Old French forfet, forfait, past participle of forfaire ‘transgress’, from for- ‘out’ (from Latin foris ‘outside’) + faire ‘do’ (from Latin facere).

forfeiture n. [mass noun] the loss or giving up of something as a penalty for wrongdoing: magistrates ordered the forfeiture of his computer.

forfend /ffεnd/ v. [with obj.] 1 ARCHAIC avert or prevent (something evil or unpleasant).

2 (also forefend) US protect (something) by precautionary measures.

<PHRASES>

□ Heaven (or God) forfend ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS used to express dismay or horror at the thought of something happening: Heaven forfend I should wound her susceptibilities.

forgave past of FORGIVE.

forge^1 /fd/ v. [with obj.] 1 make or shape (a metal object) by heating it in a fire or furnace and hammering it.

2 create (something) strong, enduring, or successful: the two women forged a close bond | the country is forging a bright new future.

3 produce a fraudulent copy or imitation of (a document, signature, banknote, or work of art).

■ n. a blacksmith's workshop; a smithy.

- a furnace for melting or refining metal.

- a workshop or factory containing a furnace for melting metal.

<DERIVATIVES> forgeable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the general sense ‘make, construct’): from Old French forger, from Latin fabricare ‘fabricate’, from fabrica ‘manufactured object, workshop’. The noun is via Old French from Latin fabrica.

forge^2 /fd/ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move forward gradually or steadily: he forged through the crowded streets.

- (forge ahead) take the lead or make good progress.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps an aberrant pronunciation of force^1.

forged adj. copied fraudulently; fake: they have illegally entered the UK using forged travel documents.

forger n. a person who produces fraudulent copies or imitations: one of Europe's most notorious art forgers.

forgery n. (pl. forgeries) [mass noun] the action of forging a copy or imitation of a document, signature, banknote, or work of art.

- [count noun] a forged document, signature, banknote, or work of art.

forget v. (forgets, forgetting, forgot ; past participle forgotten or chiefly US forgot) [with obj.] fail to remember: he had forgotten his lines | [with clause] she had completely forgotten how hungry she was.

- inadvertently neglect to do or mention something: [with infinitive] she forgot to lock her door.

- deliberately cease to think of: forget all this romantic stuff | [no obj.] for years she had struggled to forget about him.

- (forget it) INFORMAL said when insisting to someone that there is no need for apology or thanks.

- (forget oneself) neglect to behave in an appropriate way.

<PHRASES>

□ not forgetting —— (at the end of a list) and also ——: there are wild goats and deer, not forGETting the famous Lundy ponies.

<DERIVATIVES> forgetter n.

<ORIGIN> Old English forgietan, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vergeten and German vergessen, and ultimately to FOR- and get.

forgetful adj. apt or likely not to remember: I'm a bit forgetful these days | she was soon forgetful of the time.

<DERIVATIVES> forgetfully adv.

forgetfulness n. [mass noun] lapse of memory: she teased him for his forgetfulness.

forget-me-not n. a low-growing plant of the borage family, which typically has blue flowers and is a popular ornamental.

<INFO> Myosotis and other genera, family Boraginaceae: several species, in particular the common European M. scorpioides, whose bright blue flowers have a yellow centre.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: translating the Old French name ne m'oubliez mye; said to have the virtue of ensuring that the wearer of the flower would never be forgotten by a lover.

forgettable adj. easily forgotten, especially through being uninteresting or mediocre: eminently forgettable horror movies.

forgivable adj. able to be forgiven or tolerated; excusable: the flaws are forgivable.

<DERIVATIVES> forgivably adv.

forgive v. (past forgave; past participle forgiven) [with obj.] stop feeling angry or resentful towards (someone) for an offence, flaw, or mistake: I'll never forgive David for the way he treated her.

- no longer feel angry about or wish to punish (an offence, flaw, or mistake): I was willing to forgive all her faults for the sake of our friendship | [no obj.] he had never found it easy to forgive and FORGET.

- used in polite expressions as a request to excuse one's foibles, ignorance, or impoliteness: you will have to forGIVE my suspicious mind.

<PHRASES>

□ one could (or may) be forgiven for doing something it would be understandable if one mistakenly did a particular thing: with the plaster palm trees, you could be forgiven for thinking you were on Hollywood Boulevard.

<DERIVATIVES> forgiver n.

<ORIGIN> Old English forgiefan, of Germanic origin, related to Dutch vergeven and German vergeben, and ultimately to FOR- and give.

forgiveness n. [mass noun] the action or process of forgiving or being forgiven: she is quick to ask forgiveness when she has overstepped the line.

<ORIGIN> Old English forgiefenes, from forgiefen (past participle of forgiefan ‘forgive’) + the noun suffix -nes.

forgiving adj. ready and willing to forgive: Taylor was in a forgiving mood.

<DERIVATIVES> forgivingly adv.

forgo (also forego) v. (forgoes, forgoing, forwent; past participle forgone) [with obj.] go without (something desirable): she wanted to forgo the tea and leave while they could.

- refrain from: we forgo any comparison between the two men.

<ORIGIN> Old English forgān (see FOR-, go^1).

forgone past participle of FORGO.

forgot past of FORGET.

forgotten past participle of FORGET.

forint /frnt/ n. the basic monetary unit of Hungary, equal to 100 filler.

<ORIGIN> Hungarian, from Italian fiorino (see FLORIN).

fork n. 1 an implement with two or more prongs used for lifting food to the mouth or holding it when cutting.

- a farm or garden tool with three or four prongs, used for digging or lifting.

- [as modifier] denoting a light meal or buffet that may be eaten solely with a fork, while standing: a fork supper.

2 the point where something, especially a road or (North American) river, divides into two parts: turn right at the next fork.

- either of two forked parts.

3 (usually forks) each of a pair of supports in which a bicycle or motorcycle wheel revolves.

4 a flash of forked lightning.

5 [CHESS] a simultaneous attack on two or more pieces by one.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (especially of a route) divide into two parts: the place where the road forks.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] take or constitute one route or the other at the point where a route divides: we forked north-west for Rannoch.

2 [with obj.] dig or move (something) with a fork: fork in some compost.

3 [with obj.] (fork something out/up) INFORMAL pay money for something, especially reluctantly: my car had been towed away and I had to fork out 70 quid.

4 [with obj.] [CHESS] attack (two pieces) simultaneously with one.

<DERIVATIVES> forkful n. (pl. forkfuls)

<ORIGIN> Old English forca, force (denoting a farm implement), based on Latin furca ‘pitchfork, forked stick’; reinforced in Middle English by Anglo-Norman French furke (also from Latin furca).

forkball n. [BASEBALL] a pitch released from between the widely spread index finger and middle finger.

forked adj. having a divided or pronged end or branches; bifurcated: a deeply forked tail.

<PHRASES>

□ with forked tongue HUMOROUS untruthfully; deceitfully.

forked lightning n. [mass noun] lightning that is visible in the form of a zigzag or branching line across the sky.

forklift n. (also forklift truck) a vehicle with a pronged device in front for lifting and carrying heavy loads.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial of place] lift and carry (a load) with a forklift truck.

forktail n. an Asian songbird of the thrush family, with a long forked tail and typically with black-and-white plumage.

<INFO> Genus Enicurus, family Turdidae: several species.

forlorn /fəln/ adj. 1 pitifully sad and abandoned or lonely: forlorn figures at bus stops.

2 (of an aim or endeavour) unlikely to succeed or be fulfilled: a forlorn attempt to escape.

<PHRASES>

□ forlorn hope a persistent or desperate hope that is unlikely to be fulfilled. [<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Dutch verloren hoop ‘lost troop’, from verloren (past participle of verliezen ‘LOSE’) and hoop ‘company’. The phrase originally denoted a band of soldiers picked to begin an attack, many of whom would not survive; the current sense (mid 17th century), derives from a misunderstanding of the etymology.]

<DERIVATIVES> forlornly adv. forlornness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English forloren ‘depraved, morally abandoned’, past participle of forlēosan ‘lose’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch verliezen and German verlieren, and ultimately to FOR- and lose.

■ Sense 1 dates from the 16th cent.

form n. 1 the visible shape or configuration of something: the form, colour, and texture of the tree | [mass noun] the flowers of this shrub are remarkable both in form and colour.

- the body or shape of a person or animal: his eyes scanned her slender form.

- [mass noun] style, design, and arrangement in an artistic work as distinct from its content: these videos are a triumph of form over content.

2 a particular way in which a thing exists or appears: essays in book form | energy in the form of light.

- any of the ways in which a word may be spelled, pronounced, or inflected: an adjectival form.

- [PHILOSOPHY] the essential nature of a species or thing, especially (in Plato's thought) regarded as an abstract ideal which real things imitate or participate in.

3 a type or variety of something: sponsorship is a form of advertising.

- an artistic or literary genre.

- [BOTANY] a taxonomic category that ranks below variety, which contains organisms differing from the typical kind in some trivial, frequently impermanent, character, e.g. a colour variant. Also called FORMA.

4 [mass noun] the customary or correct method or procedure: an excessive concern for legal form and precedent.

- [count noun] a ritual or convention: the outward forms of religion.

- [count noun] a set order of words; a formula.

5 a printed document with blank spaces for information to be inserted: an application form.

6 chiefly BRITISH a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number: the fifth form.

7 [mass noun] the state of a sports player or team with regard to their current standard of play: they are one of the best teams around on current form.

- details of previous performances by a racehorse or greyhound: an interested bystander studying the form.

- a person's mood and state of health: she seemed to be on good form.

- British INFORMAL a criminal record: they both had form.

8 BRITISH a long bench without a back.

9 [PRINTING], chiefly US variant spelling of FORME.

10 BRITISH a hare's lair.

11 another term for SHUTTERING.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 bring together parts or combine to create (something): the company was formed in 1982 | peasants and miners were formed into a militia.

- go to make up or constitute: the precepts which form the basis of the book.

- [no obj.] gradually appear or develop: a thick mist was forming all around.

- conceive (an idea) in one's mind.

- establish (a relationship): the women would form supportive friendships.

- articulate (a word or other linguistic unit).

- construct (a new word) by derivation or inflection.

2 make or be made into a specific shape or form: [with obj.] form the dough into balls | [no obj.] his features formed into a smile of pleasure.

- (be formed) have a specified shape: her body was slight and flawlessly formed.

- (form people/things up or form up) chiefly [MILITARY] bring or be brought into a certain formation: Mortimer formed up his troops for the march.

- influence (something abstract): the role of the news media in forming public opinion.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or chiefly BRITISH on) form (of a sports player or team) playing or performing well.

□ off (or out of) form (of a sports player or team) not playing or performing well.

<DERIVATIVES> formability n. formable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French forme (noun), fo(u)rmer (verb, from Latin formare ‘to form’), both based on Latin forma ‘a mould or form’.

-form (usually as -iform) combining form 1 having the form of: cruciform.

2 having a particular number of: multiform.

<ORIGIN> from French -forme, from Latin -formis, from forma ‘form’.

forma /fmə/ n. (pl. formas or formae /-mi/) [BOTANY] another term for form (sense 3 of the noun).

formal adj. 1 done in accordance with convention or etiquette; suitable for or constituting an official or important occasion: a formal dinner party.

- (of a person or their manner) strictly conventional.

- having a conventionally recognized form, structure, or set of rules: he had little formal education.

- of or denoting a style of writing or public speaking characterized by more elaborate grammatical structures and more conservative and technical vocabulary.

2 officially sanctioned or recognized: a formal complaint.

3 of or concerned with outward form or appearance as distinct from content: I don't know enough about art to appreciate the purely formal qualities.

- having the form or appearance without the spirit: the committee stage would be purely formal.

- relating to linguistic or logical form as opposed to function or meaning.

■ n. NORTH AMERICAN an evening dress.

- an occasion on which evening dress is worn.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin formalis, from forma ‘shape, mould’ (see FORM).

formal cause n. [PHILOSOPHY] (in Aristotelian thought) the pattern which determines the form taken by something.

formaldehyde /fmaldhd/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless pungent gas in solution made by oxidizing methanol.

<INFO> Alternative name: methanal; chem. formula: CH_2O.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of FORMIC ACID and ALDEHYDE.

formalin /fm(ə)ln/ n. [mass noun] a colourless solution of formaldehyde in water, used chiefly as a preservative for biological specimens.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from FORMALDEHYDE + -IN^1.

formalism n. 1 [mass noun] excessive adherence to prescribed forms: academic dryness and formalism.

- the basing of ethics on the form of the moral law without regard to intention or consequences.

- concern or excessive concern with form and technique rather than content in artistic creation.

- (in the theatre) a symbolic and stylized manner of production.

- the treatment of mathematics as a manipulation of meaningless symbols.

2 a description of something in formal mathematical or logical terms.

<DERIVATIVES> formalist n. formalistic adj.

formality n. (pl. formalities) [mass noun] the rigid observance of convention or etiquette: the formality of life in an English public school.

- strictly conventional behaviour: with disconcerting formality the brothers shook hands.

- [count noun] (usually formalities) a thing that is done simply to comply with convention, regulations, or custom: legal formalities.

- (a formality) something done or happening as a matter of course and without question: promotion looks a formality.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘accordance with legal rules or conventions’): from French formalité or medieval Latin formalitas, from formalis (see FORMAL).

formalize (also formalise) v. [with obj.] 1 give (something) legal or formal status: a year has elapsed since the marriage was formalized.

2 give a definite structure or shape to: we became able to formalize our thoughts.

<DERIVATIVES> formalization n.

formally adv. 1 in accordance with convention or etiquette: he was formally attired.

2 officially: the Mayor will formally open the new Railway Centre.

3 [sentence adv.] in outward form or appearance: formally, ministers are responsible to the monarch.

- in terms of form or structure: formally complex types of text.

Forman /fmən/ Milos (b.1932), Czech-born American film director. He made One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), which won five Oscars, and Amadeus (1983), which won eight Oscars, including that for best director.

formant /fm(ə)nt/ n. [PHONETICS] any of the three characteristic pitch constituents of a vowel. In a high front vowel such as /i/ the formants are bunched closely together, whereas in a low back vowel such as /a/ they are further apart.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: coined in German from Latin formant- ‘forming’, from the verb formare.

format n. the way in which something is arranged or set out: the conventional format of TV situation comedies.

- the shape, size, and presentation of a book or periodical.

- the medium in which a sound recording is made available: he has just re-issued the collection in CD format.

- [COMPUTING] a defined structure for the processing, storage, or display of data: a data file in binary format.

■ v. (formats, formatting, formatted) [with obj.] (especially in computing) arrange or put into a format.

- prepare (a storage medium) to receive data.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via French and German from Latin formatus (liber) ‘shaped (book)’, past participle of formare ‘to form’.

formate n. a salt or ester of formic acid.

formation n. 1 [mass noun] the action of forming or process of being formed: the formation of the Great Rift Valley.

2 a thing that has been formed: strange black rock formations.

- a group of people or things in a particular arrangement or pattern: they sat in orderly ranks in a circular formation | [mass noun] the jets took off in formation.

<DERIVATIVES> formational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin formatio(n-), from formare ‘to form’ (see FORM).

formation dancing n. [mass noun] a variety of competitive ballroom dancing in which a team of couples dance a prepared routine.

formative adj. serving to form something, especially having a profound influence on a person's development: his formative years.

- relating to a person's development: a formative assessment.

- [LINGUISTICS] denoting or relating to any of the smallest meaningful units that are used to form words in a language, typically combining forms and inflections.

■ n. [LINGUISTICS] a formative element.

<DERIVATIVES> formatively adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French formatif, -ive or medieval Latin formativus, from Latin formare ‘to form’ (see FORM).

Formby /fmbi/ George (1904–61), English comedian; born George Booth. He became famous for his numerous musical films in the 1930s in which he played a Lancashire working lad and accompanied his songs on the ukulele.

form class n. [LINGUISTICS] a class of linguistic forms with grammatical or syntactic features in common; a part of speech or subset of a part of speech.

form criticism n. [mass noun] analysis of the Bible by tracing the history of its content of parables, psalms, and other literary forms.

form drag n. [mass noun] [AERONAUTICS] that part of the drag on an aerofoil which arises from its shape. It varies according to the angle of attack and can be decreased by streamlining.

forme /fm/ (also form) n. [PRINTING] a body of type secured in a chase for printing.

- a quantity of film arranged for making a plate.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: variant of FORM.

Formentera /fməntεrə/ a small island in the Mediterranean, south of Ibiza. It is the southernmost of the Balearic Islands.

former^1 adj. [attr.] 1 having previously been a particular thing: her former boyfriend.

- of or occurring in the past: the seafarers of former times.

2 (the former) denoting the first or first mentioned of two people or things: I take the former view | [as n.] the powers of the former are more comprehensive than those of the latter.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old English forma (see FOREMOST) + -ER^2.

<USAGE> Traditionally, former and latter are used in relation to pairs of items: either the first of two items (former) or the second of two items (latter). The reason for this is that former and latter were formed as comparatives, and comparatives are correctly used with reference to just two things, while a superlative is used where there are more than two things. So, for example, strictly speaking one should say the longest of the three books but the longer of the two books. In practice, former and latter are now sometimes used just as synonyms for first and last and are routinely used to refer to a contrast involving more than two items. Such uses, however, are not acceptable in good English style.

former^2 n. 1 a person or thing that forms something: [in combination] an opinion-former.

- a tool, mould, or other device used to form articles or shape materials: an arch former.

- a transverse strengthening part in an aircraft wing or fuselage.

- a frame or core around which an electrical coil can be wound.

2 [in combination] BRITISH a person in a particular school year: fifth-formers.

formerly adv. in the past; in earlier times: Mumbai, formerly Bombay | the building formerly housed the National Assembly.

form factor n. 1 a mathematical factor which compensates for irregularity in the shape of an object, usually the ratio between its volume and that of a regular object of the same breadth and height.

2 the physical size and shape of a piece of computer hardware.

form genus n. [PALAEONTOLOGY] a classificatory category used for fossils which are similar in appearance but cannot be reliably assigned to an established animal or plant genus, such as fossil parts of organisms and trace fossils.

Formica /fmkə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a hard durable plastic laminate used for worktops, cupboard doors, and other surfaces.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): of unknown origin.

formic acid /fmk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless irritant volatile acid made catalytically from carbon monoxide and steam. It is present in the fluid emitted by some ants.

<INFO> Alternative name: methanoic acid; chem. formula: HCOOH.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: formic from Latin formica ‘ant’.

formicarium /fmkεrəm/ n. (pl. formicaria) an ant's nest, especially one in an artificial container for purposes of study.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from medieval Latin, from Latin formica ‘ant’.

formication /fmke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a sensation like insects crawling over the skin.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin formicatio(n-), from formicare ‘crawl like an ant’ (said of the pulse or skin), from formica ‘ant’.

formidable /fmdəb(ə)l fmd-/ adj. inspiring fear or respect through being impressively large, powerful, intense, or capable: a formidable opponent.

<DERIVATIVES> formidableness n. formidably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from Latin formidabilis, from formidare ‘to fear’.

<USAGE> There are two possible pronunciations of formidable: one with the stress on the for- and the other with the stress on the -mid-. The second pronunciation is now common in British English, but the traditional pronunciation places the stress on the first syllable. Both pronunciations are acceptable in modern standard English.

formless adj. without a clear or definite shape or structure: a dark and formless idea.

<DERIVATIVES> formlessly adv. formlessness n.

form letter n. a standardized letter to deal with frequently occurring matters.

formol /fml/ n. another term for FORMALIN.

Formosa /fməsə/ former name for TAIWAN.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese, literally ‘beautiful’.

formula /fmjlə/ n. 1 (pl. formulae /-li/) a mathematical relationship or rule expressed in symbols.

- (also chemical formula) a set of chemical symbols showing the elements present in a compound and their relative proportions.

2 (pl. formulas) a method or procedure for achieving something: the forlorn hope of finding a peace formula.

- a list of ingredients with which something is made: a blend of fifteen whiskies compiled to a secret formula.

- a formulation: an original coal tar formula that helps prevent dandruff.

- [mass noun] (also formula milk) a baby's liquid food based on cow's milk or soya protein, given as a substitute for breast milk.

3 (pl. formulas) a set form of words, especially one used in particular contexts or as a conventional usage: polite formulas and stock phrases | a legal formula.

- a rule or style followed mechanically: [as modifier] one of those formula tunes.

- a stock epithet, phrase, or line repeated for various effects, especially in epic poetry.

4 (usually followed by a numeral) a classification of racing car, especially by the engine capacity.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘fixed form of words’): from Latin, diminutive of forma ‘shape, mould’.

formulable adj. capable of being formulated: easily formulable propositions.

formulaic /fmjlek/ adj. constituting or containing a set form of words: formulaic expressions such as ‘Once upon a time’.

- produced in accordance with a mechanically followed rule or style: formulaic, disposable pop.

<DERIVATIVES> formulaically adv.

Formula One n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an international form of motor racing, whose races are called Grands Prix.

formularize (also formularise) v. [with obj.] make formulaic or predictable: their stage shows have become a little formularized.

formulary /fmjləri/ n. (pl. formularies) 1 a collection of set forms, especially for use in religious ceremonies.

2 an official list giving details of prescribable medicines.

■ adj. relating to or using officially prescribed formulas.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: the noun from French formulaire or medieval Latin formularius (liber) ‘(book) of formulae’, from Latin formula (see FORMULA); the adjective (early 18th century) is directly from FORMULA.

formulate /fmjlet/ v. [with obj.] create or prepare methodically: the government has formulated a policy on waste management | use special-effects paints that are formulated for the task.

- express (an idea) in a concise or systematic way: the argument is sufficiently clear that it can be formulated mathematically.

<DERIVATIVES> formulator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from FORMULA + -ATE^3, on the pattern of French formuler, from medieval Latin formulare.

formulation n. 1 [mass noun] the action of creating or preparing something: the formulation of foreign policy.

- [count noun] a particular expression of an idea, thought, or theory.

2 a material or mixture prepared according to a formula.

formwork n. another term for SHUTTERING.

formyl /fml -ml/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the acyl radical –CHO, derived from formic acid: N-formyl methionine.

Fornax /fnaks/ [ASTRONOMY] an inconspicuous southern constellation (the Furnace), near Eridanus.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

fornent /fnεnt fə-/ (also fornenst) prep. DIALECT, chiefly SCOTTISH alongside, opposite, or close by.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: blend of the adverb FORE and ANENT.

fornicate v. [no obj.] FORMAL or HUMOROUS have sexual intercourse with someone one is not married to.

<DERIVATIVES> fornicator n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as fornication): from ecclesiastical Latin fornicat- ‘arched’, from fornicari, from Latin fornix, fornic- ‘vaulted chamber’, later ‘brothel’.

fornication n. [mass noun] FORMAL or HUMOROUS sexual intercourse between people not married to each other: laws forbidding adultery and fornication.

fornix /fnks/ n. (pl. fornices /fnsiz/) [ANATOMY] a vaulted or arched structure in the body, in particular:

- (also fornix cerebri /sεrbr/) a triangular area of white matter in the mammalian brain between the hippocampus and the hypothalamus.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘arch, vaulted chamber’.

for-profit adj. denoting an organization operated to make a profit.

forrader /frədə/ adj. & adv.

■ non-standard spelling of forwarder^2, used humorously or to represent dialect pronunciation: [as adv.] well, that didn't get me much forrader, but it was something.

forrard /frəd/ adj. & adv.

■ non-standard spelling of FORWARD, used to represent a nautical or dialect pronunciation.

Forrest John, 1st Baron (1847–1918), Australian explorer and statesman, first Premier of Western Australia 1890–1901.

forsake v. (past forsook ; past participle forsaken) [with obj.] chiefly LITERARY abandon or leave: he would never forsake Tara.

- renounce or give up (something valued or pleasant): I won't forsake my vegetarian principles.

<DERIVATIVES> forsaker n.

<ORIGIN> Old English forsacan ‘renounce, refuse’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch verzaken, and ultimately to FOR- and sake^1.

forsaken adj. abandoned or deserted: a journey into forgotten and forsaken places.

<DERIVATIVES> forsakenness n.

forsooth /fəsuθ/ adv. [sentence adv.] ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS indeed (often used ironically): it's a kind of wine bar for royals, forsooth.

<ORIGIN> Old English forsōth (see FOR, sooth).

Forster /fstə/ E. M. (1879–1970), English novelist and literary critic; full name Edward Morgan Forster. His novels, several of which have been made into films, include A Room with a View (1908) and A Passage to India (1924).

forsterite /fstərt/ n. [mass noun] a magnesium-rich variety of olivine, occurring as white, yellow, or green crystals.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from the name of J. R. Forster (1729–98), German naturalist, + -ITE^1.

forswear v. (past forswore; past participle forsworn) [with obj.] 1 FORMAL agree to give up or do without: the country has not forsworn nuclear weapons.

2 (forswear oneself/be forsworn) ARCHAIC commit perjury; swear falsely.

<ORIGIN> Old English forswerian (see FOR-, swear).

Forsyth /fsθ/ Frederick (b.1938), English novelist, known for political thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal (1971), The Odessa File (1972), and The Fourth Protocol (1984).

forsythia /fsθə fə-/ n. an ornamental Eurasian shrub whose bright yellow flowers appear in early spring before the leaves.

<INFO> Genus Forsythia, family Oleaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after William Forsyth (1737–1804), Scottish botanist and horticulturalist, said to have introduced the shrub into Britain from China.

fort n. a fortified building or strategic position.

- HISTORICAL a trading station. [<ORIGIN> so named because such stations were originally fortified.]

<DERIVATIVES> fortlet n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fort or Italian forte, from Latin fortis ‘strong’.

Fortaleza /ftəlezə/ a port in NE Brazil, on the Atlantic coast, capital of the state of Ceará; pop. 2,138,234 (2000).

fortalice /ftəls/ n. a small fort, fortified house, or outwork of fortification.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin fortalitia, -itium, from Latin fortis ‘strong’.

Fort-de-France /fdəfrαns/ French /fR də fRαs/ the capital of Martinique; pop. 95,800 (est. 2002).

forte^1 /fte fti ft/ n. 1 (one's forte) a thing at which someone excels: small talk was not his forte.

2 [FENCING] the part of a sword blade from the hilt to the middle. Compare with FOIBLE.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 2; originally as fort): from French fort (masculine), forte (feminine) ‘strong’, from Latin fortis.

forte^2 /fte/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) loud or loudly.

■ n. a passage performed or marked to be performed loudly.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘strong, loud’, from Latin fortis.

Fortean /ftən/ adj. relating to or denoting paranormal phenomena.

<DERIVATIVES> Forteana plural n.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from the name of Charles H. Fort (1874–1932), American student of paranormal phenomena.

fortepiano /ftepjαnə -pjanə/ n. (pl. fortepianos) [MUSIC] a piano, especially of the kind made in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from FORTE^2 + PIANO^2.

forte piano /fte pjαnə/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) loud and then immediately soft.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

Forth a river of central Scotland, rising on Ben Lomond and flowing eastwards through Stirling into the North Sea.

- a shipping forecast area covering Scottish coastal waters roughly from Berwick in the south to Aberdeen in the north, including the Firth of Forth.

forth adv. FORMAL or LITERARY 1 out and away from a starting point: we rose at dawn and sallied forth.

- so as to be known or revealed; out: a paper setting forth their grievances.

2 onwards in time: from that day forth he gave me endless friendship.

<PHRASES>

□ and so forth and so on: particular services like education, housing, and so forth.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch voort and German fort, from an Indo-European root shared by FORE-.

Forth, Firth of the estuary of the River Forth, spanned by a cantilever railway bridge (opened 1890) and a road suspension bridge (1964).

<PHRASES>

□ paint the Forth Bridge used to indicate that a task is never-ending: it's all over for another year except that we must immediately set about seeking next year's sponsor—it's a bit like painting the Forth Bridge. [<ORIGIN> with reference to the fact that the railway bridge is so long that once its painters had reached one end, they would have to begin again at the other.]

forthcoming adj. 1 about to happen or appear: the forthcoming cricket season.

2 [predic.] [often with negative] ready or made available when wanted or needed: financial support was not forthcoming.

- willing to divulge information: she had never been forthcoming about her time in the States.

<DERIVATIVES> forthcomingness n.

forthright adj. 1 (of a person or their manner or speech) direct and outspoken: his most forthright attack yet on the reforms.

2 ARCHAIC proceeding directly forwards.

■ adv. ARCHAIC directly forwards.

- immediately.

<DERIVATIVES> forthrightly adv. forthrightness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English forthriht ‘straight forward, directly’ (see FORTH, right).

forthwith /fθwθ -/ adv. (especially in official use) immediately; without delay: we undertake to pay forthwith the money required.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘along with, at the same time’): partly from earlier forthwithal, partly representing forth with used alone without a following noun.

fortification /ftfke(ə)n/ n. a defensive wall or other reinforcement built to strengthen a place against attack.

- [mass noun] the action of fortifying or process of being fortified: the fortification of the frontiers.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from late Latin fortificatio(n-), from fortificare (see FORTIFY).

fortify /ftf/ v. (fortifies, fortifying, fortified) [with obj.] 1 provide (a place) with defensive works as protection against attack: the whole town was heavily fortified | (as adj. fortified) a fortified manor house.

- strengthen (someone) mentally or physically: the girl was fortified by her religious faith.

2 (often as adj. fortified) add spirits to (wine) to make port, sherry, etc.: fortified wine.

- increase the nutritive value of (food) by adding vitamins.

<DERIVATIVES> fortifiable adj. fortifier n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French fortifier, from late Latin fortificare, from Latin fortis ‘strong’.

fortis /fts/ adj. [PHONETICS] (of a consonant, in particular a voiceless consonant) strongly articulated, especially more so than another consonant articulated in the same place. The opposite of LENIS.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin, literally ‘strong’.

fortissimo /ftsmə/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) very loud or loudly.

■ n. (pl. fortissimos or fortissimi /-mi/) a passage performed or marked to be performed very loudly.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from Latin fortissimus ‘very strong’.

fortitude /fttjud/ n. [mass noun] courage in pain or adversity: she endured her illness with great fortitude.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via French from Latin fortitudo, from fortis ‘strong’.

Fort Knox /ft nks/ a US military reservation in Kentucky, famous as the site of the depository (built in 1936) which holds the bulk of the nation's gold bullion in its vaults.

Fort Lamy /lαmi/ former name (until 1973) for N'DJAMENA.

fortnight n. BRITISH a period of two weeks.

- INFORMAL (preceded by a specified day) used to indicate that something will take place two weeks after that day.

<ORIGIN> Old English fēowertīene niht ‘fourteen nights’.

fortnightly British adj. happening or produced every two weeks: a fortnightly bulletin.

■ adv. every two weeks: evening classes will run fortnightly.

■ n. (pl. fortnightlies) a magazine or other periodical issued every two weeks.

Fortran /ftran/ n. [mass noun] a high-level computer programming language used especially for scientific calculations.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: contraction of formula translation.

fortress n. a military stronghold, especially a strongly fortified town.

- FIGURATIVE a person or thing not susceptible to outside influence or disturbance: he had proved himself to be a fortress of moral rectitude.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French forteresse ‘strong place’, based on Latin fortis ‘strong’.

fortuitous /ftjutəs/ adj. happening by chance rather than intention: the similarity between the paintings may not be simply fortuitous.

- INFORMAL happening by a lucky chance; fortunate: the ball went into the goal by a fortuitous ricochet.

<DERIVATIVES> fortuitously adv. fortuitousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin fortuitus, from forte ‘by chance’, from fors ‘chance, luck’.

<USAGE> The traditional, etymological meaning of fortuitous is ‘happening by chance’: a fortuitous meeting is a chance meeting, which might turn out to be either a good thing or a bad thing. Today, however, fortuitous tends to be often used to refer only to fortunate outcomes and the word has become more or less a synonym for ‘lucky’ or ‘fortunate’ (the ball went into the goal by a fortuitous ricochet). Although this usage is now widespread, it is still regarded by some people as being rather informal and not etymologically correct.

fortuity /ftjuti/ n. (pl. fortuities) a chance occurrence.

- [mass noun] the state of being controlled by chance.

fortunate adj. favoured by or involving good luck; lucky: [with infinitive] she'd been fortunate to escape serious injury | it was fortunate that the weather was good.

- auspicious or favourable: a most fortunate match for our daughter.

- materially well off; prosperous: a federal programme aimed at helping less fortunate families.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fortunatus, from fortuna (see FORTUNE).

fortunately adv. [sentence adv.] it is fortunate that: fortunately, no shots were fired and no one was hurt.

fortune n. 1 [mass noun] chance or luck as an arbitrary force affecting human affairs: some malicious act of fortune keeps them separate.

- luck, especially good luck: only good fortune has prevented British casualties.

- (fortunes) the success or failure of a person or enterprise over a period of time: he is credited with turning round the company's fortunes.

2 a large amount of money or assets: he inherited a substantial fortune.

- (a fortune) INFORMAL a surprisingly high price or amount of money: I spent a fortune on drink.

<PHRASES>

□ fortune favours the brave PROVERB a successful person is often one who is willing to take risks.

□ the fortunes of war the unpredictable events of war.

□ make a (or one's) fortune acquire great wealth by one's own efforts.

□ a small fortune INFORMAL a large amount of money.

□ tell someone's fortune make predictions about a person's future by palmistry, using a crystal ball, or similar methods.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin Fortuna, the name of a goddess personifying luck or chance.

Fortune 500 n. (TRADEMARK in the US) an annual list of the five hundred largest US industrial corporations, as measured by gross income.

fortune cookie n. NORTH AMERICAN a small biscuit containing a slip of paper with a prediction or motto written on it, served in Chinese restaurants.

fortune-hunter n. a person who seeks to become rich through marrying someone wealthy.

<DERIVATIVES> fortune-hunting n.

fortune-teller n. a person who tells people's fortunes.

<DERIVATIVES> fortune-telling n.

Fort William a town in western Scotland, on Loch Linnhe near Ben Nevis; pop 12,000 (est. 2002).

Fort Worth a city in northern Texas; pop. 534,694 (2000).

forty cardinal number (pl. forties) 1 the number equivalent to the product of four and ten; ten less than fifty; 40: York was only forty miles away | forty were arrested | there were about thirty or forty of them. (Roman numeral: xl or XL)

- (forties) the numbers from forty to forty-nine, especially the years of a century or of a person's life: Terry was in his early forties.

- forty years old: a tall woman of about forty.

- forty miles an hour: they were doing about forty.

- a size of garment or other merchandise denoted by forty.

2 (the Forties) the central North Sea between Scotland and southern Norway, so called from its prevailing depth of forty fathoms or more. See also THE ROARING FORTIES at roaring.

- (Forties) a shipping forecast area covering the central North Sea east of Scotland.

<PHRASES>

□ forty winks INFORMAL a short sleep, especially during the day.

<DERIVATIVES> fortieth ordinal number fortyfold adj. & adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English fēowertig (see FOUR, -ty^2).

forty-five n. a gramophone record played at 45 rpm; a single.

<PHRASES>

□ the Forty-five an informal name for the Jacobite rebellion of 1745.

forty-niner n. a seeker for gold in the California gold rush of 1849.

forty-ninth parallel the parallel of latitude 49° north of the equator, especially as forming the boundary between Canada and the US west of the Lake of the Woods.

forum /frəm/ n. (pl. forums) 1 a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged: we hope these pages act as a forum for debate.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a court or tribunal.

3 (pl. fora) (in an ancient Roman city) a public square or marketplace used for judicial and other business.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3): from Latin, literally ‘what is out of doors’, originally denoting an enclosure surrounding a house; related to fores ‘(outside) door’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 18th cent.

forward adv. (also forwards) 1 in the direction that one is facing or travelling; towards the front: he started up the engine and the car moved forward | Rory leaned forward over the table.

- in or towards the bow or nose of a ship or aircraft.

- in the normal order or sequence: the number was the same backwards as forwards.

2 onward so as to make progress: the signing of the treaty is a big step forward.

3 towards the future: looking forward, earnings are expected to hit £7.2 billion.

- to an earlier time: the special issue has been moved forward to November.

■ adj. 1 directed or facing towards the front or the direction that one is facing or travelling: forward flight | the pilot's forward view.

- positioned near the enemy lines: troops moved to the forward areas.

- situated in or towards the bow or nose of a ship or aircraft.

- [ELECTRONICS] (of a voltage applied to a semiconductor junction) in the direction which allows significant current to flow.

2 [attr.] relating to the future: forward planning.

3 progressing towards a successful conclusion: the decision is a forward step.

- further advanced than expected or required: an alarmingly forward yet painfully vulnerable child.

4 (of a person) bold or overfamiliar in manner.

■ n. 1 an attacking player in football, hockey, or other sports.

2 (forwards) agreements to trade specified assets, typically currency, at a specified price at a certain future date. Compare with future (sense 2 of the noun).

■ v. [with obj.] 1 send (a letter or email) on to a further destination: my e-mails were forwarded to a friend | I recently received an email forwarded from a friend |(as adj. forwarding) a forwarding address.

- dispatch or send (a document or goods): apply by forwarding a CV.

2 help to advance (something); promote: the scientists are forwarding the development of biotechnology.

<DERIVATIVES> forwardly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English forweard (in the sense ‘towards the future’, as in from this day forward), variant of forthweard (see FORTH, -ward).

forwarder^1 /fwədə/ n. a person or organization that dispatches or delivers goods.

forwarder^2 /frədə/ adj. & adv. INFORMAL further forward; more advanced: time was drawing on and we were no forwarder.

forward-looking (also forward-thinking) adj. favouring innovation and development; progressive: a forward-looking company.

forwardness n. [mass noun] boldness or overfamiliarity in manner: he was taken aback by the girl's forwardness.

forward scattering n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the scattering of radiation involving a change of direction of less than 90 degrees, in particular the propagation of high-frequency radio waves beyond the horizon by scattering or reflection from the ionosphere.

forwent past of FORGO.

Fosbury /fzb(ə)ri/ Richard (b.1947), American high jumper. He originated the now standard style of jumping known as the ‘Fosbury flop’, in which the jumper clears the bar head first and backwards. In 1968 he won the Olympic gold medal using this technique.

fossa^1 /fsə/ n. (pl. fossae /-si/) [ANATOMY] a shallow depression or hollow.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘ditch’, feminine past participle of fodere ‘to dig’.

fossa^2 /fsə/ n. a large nocturnal reddish-brown catlike mammal of the civet family, found in the rainforests of Madagascar.

<INFO> Cryptoprocta ferox, family Viverridae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Malagasy fosa.

fosse /fs/ n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a long, narrow trench or excavation, especially in a fortification.

<ORIGIN> late Old English, via Old French from Latin fossa (see fossa^1).

Fosse Way an ancient road in Britain. It ran from Axminster to Lincoln, via Bath and Leicester (about 300 km, 200 miles), and marked the limit of the first stage of the Roman occupation (mid 1st century AD).

fossick /fsk/ v. [no obj.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL rummage; search: he spent years fossicking through documents.

- search for gold in abandoned workings.

<DERIVATIVES> fossicker n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (referring to mining): probably from the English dialect sense ‘obtain by asking’ (i.e. ‘ferret out’).

fossil /fs(ə)l -sl/ n. the remains or impression of a prehistoric plant or animal embedded in rock and preserved in petrified form.

- DEROGATORY or HUMOROUS a person or thing that is outdated or resistant to change: he can be a cantankerous old fossil at times.

- a word or phrase that has become obsolete except in set phrases or forms, e.g. hue in hue and cry.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a fossilized fish found, and believed to have lived, underground): from French fossile, from Latin fossilis ‘dug up’, from fodere ‘dig’.

fossil fuel n. a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms.

fossiliferous /fslf(ə)rəs/ adj. [GEOLOGY] (of a rock or stratum) containing fossils or organic remains.

fossil ivory n. [mass noun] ivory from the tusks of a mammoth.

fossilize (also fossilise) v. [with obj.] preserve (an animal or plant) so that it becomes a fossil: the hard parts of the body are readily fossilized | FIGURATIVE we want to see a working countryside—we don't want to see it fossilized.

- [no obj.] become a fossil.

<DERIVATIVES> fossilization n.

fossilized (also fossilised) adj. preserved to become a fossil: a fossilized bone | fossilized human remains.

- archaic and incapable of change: a faltering economy and a fossilized political system.

fossil record n. the record of the occurrence and evolution of living organisms through geological time as inferred from fossils.

fossorial /fsrəl/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of an animal) burrowing.

- (of limbs) adapted for use in burrowing.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from medieval Latin fossorius (from Latin fossor ‘digger’, from fodere ‘to dig’) + -AL.

Foster^1 Jodie (b.1962), American film actress; born Alicia Christian Foster. She has won Oscars for her performances in The Accused (1988) and Silence of the Lambs (1991).

Foster^2 Sir Norman (Robert), Baron Foster of Thames Bank (b.1935), English architect. His work is notable for its sophisticated engineering approach and technological style. Examples include the Terminal Zone at Stansted Airport (1991) and the German Reichstag building in Berlin (1998).

Foster^3 Stephen (Collins) (1826–64), American composer. He wrote more than 200 songs and, though a Northerner, was best known for songs which captured the Southern plantation spirit, such as ‘Oh! Susannah’ (1848) and ‘Camptown Races’ (1850).

foster v. [with obj.] 1 encourage the development of (something, especially something desirable): the teacher's task is to foster learning.

- develop (a feeling or idea) in oneself: appropriate praise helps a child foster a sense of self-worth.

2 bring up (a child that is not one's own by birth).

- BRITISH (of a parent or authority) assign (a child) to be brought up by someone other than its parents: when fostering out a child, placement workers will be looking for a home similar to their own.

<DERIVATIVES> fosterage n. fosterer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fōstrian ‘feed, nourish’, from fōster ‘food, nourishment’, of Germanic origin; related to FOOD. The sense ‘bring up another's (originally also one's own) child’ dates from Middle English. See also FOSTER-.

foster- combining form denoting someone that has a specified family connection through fostering: foster-parent | foster-child.

- involving or concerned with fostering a child: foster care.

<ORIGIN> foster-father, foster-mother, foster-child, and foster-brother all date from Old English. Foster-mother has also been used to mean a wet nurse, her husband being foster-father to the child she fed, and a foster-brother or -sister one reared at the same breast.

fosterling n. chiefly ARCHAIC a child who is fostered or adopted.

<ORIGIN> Old English fōstorling (see FOSTER, -ling).

fou /fu/ adj. SCOTTISH inebriated; drunk.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: variant of full^1.

Foucault^1 /fukə/ French /fukə/ Jean Bernard Léon (1819–68), French physicist. He is chiefly remembered for the huge pendulum which he hung from the roof of the Panthéon in Paris in 1851 to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. He also invented the gyroscope and was the first to determine the velocity of light reasonably accurately.

Foucault^2 /fukə/ French /fukə/ Michel (Paul) (1926–84), French philosopher. A student of Louis Althusser, he was mainly concerned with exploring how society defines categories of abnormality such as insanity, sexuality, and criminality, and the manipulation of social attitudes towards such things by those in power.

<DERIVATIVES> Foucauldian /fukədən/ adj. Foucaultian /-kəən/ adj.

fouetté /fwεte/ n. [BALLET] a pirouette performed with a circular whipping movement of the raised leg to the side.

- a quick shift of direction of the upper body, performed with one leg extended.

<ORIGIN> French, past participle of fouetter ‘to whip’.

fought past and past participle of FIGHT.

foul adj. 1 offensive to the senses, especially through having a disgusting smell or taste or being dirty: a foul odour | his foul breath.

- INFORMAL very disagreeable or unpleasant: the news had put Michelle in a foul mood.

2 wicked or immoral: murder most foul.

- (of language) obscene.

- done contrary to the rules of a sport: a foul tackle.

3 containing or full of noxious matter; polluted: foul, swampy water.

- (foul with) clogged or choked with: the land was foul with weeds.

- [NAUTICAL] (of a rope or anchor) entangled.

- (of a ship's bottom) overgrown with weed, barnacles, or similar matter.

4 (of the weather) wet and stormy.

- [SAILING] (of wind or tide) opposed to one's desired course.

■ n. (in sport) an unfair or invalid stroke or piece of play, especially one involving interference with an opponent.

- a collision or entanglement in riding, rowing, or running.

■ adv. contrary to the rules; unfairly.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make foul or dirty; pollute: factories which fouled the atmosphere.

- (of an animal) make (something) dirty with excrement: make sure that your pet never fouls paths.

- (foul oneself) (of a person) defecate involuntarily.

2 (in sport) commit a foul against (an opponent).

3 (foul something up or foul up) make a mistake with or spoil something: leaders should admit when they foul things up.

4 (of a ship) collide with or interfere with the passage of (another).

- cause (a cable, anchor, or other object) to become entangled or jammed: watch out for driftwood which might foul up the engine.

<PHRASES>

□ foul one's (own) nest do something damaging or harmful to oneself or one's own interests.

<DERIVATIVES> foully adv. foulness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fūl, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse fúll ‘foul’, Dutch vuil ‘dirty’, and German faul ‘rotten, lazy’, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin pus, Greek puos ‘pus’, and Latin putere ‘to stink’.

foulard /fulα(d)/ n. [mass noun] a thin, soft material of silk or silk and cotton, typically having a printed pattern.

- [count noun] a tie or handkerchief made of foulard.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, of unknown origin.

foul ball n. [BASEBALL] a ball struck so that it falls outside the lines drawn from home plate down to the first and third bases.

foul brood n. [mass noun] a fatal bacterial disease of larval honeybees.

<INFO> This disease is caused by the bacteria Bacillus larvae or Melissococcus pluton.

foul line n. [BASEBALL] either of the straight lines extending from home plate down to the first and third bases and marking the limit of the playing area, within which a hit is deemed to be fair.

foul mouth n. a tendency to use bad language: he had a foul mouth and an even fouler disposition.

foul-mouthed adj. using or characterized by a great deal of bad language: a foul-mouthed cop.

foul play n. [mass noun] 1 unfair play in a game or sport.

2 criminal or violent behaviour, in particular when resulting in another's death.

foul-up n. a problem caused by a stupid mistake.

foumart /fumət -mαt/ n. old-fashioned term for POLECAT.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from FOUL + Old English mearth ‘marten’; of Germanic origin and related to MARTEN.

found^1 past and past participle of FIND

■ adj. 1 having been discovered by chance or unexpectedly.

- (of an object or sound) collected in its natural state and presented in a new context as part of a work of art or piece of music: collages of found photos.

- (of art) comprising or making use of found objects.

2 [with submodifier] (of a ship) equipped: the ship was well found and seaworthy.

found^2 v. [with obj.] 1 establish or originate (an institution or organization): the monastery was founded in 1665 | (as adj. founding) the three founding partners.

- plan and begin the building of (a settlement).

2 (usually be founded on/upon) base (something) on a particular principle, idea, or feeling: a society founded on the highest principles of religion and education.

- serve as a basis for: the company's fortunes are founded on its minerals business.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fonder, from Latin fundare, from fundus ‘bottom, base’.

found^3 v. [with obj.] melt and mould (metal).

- fuse (materials) to make glass.

- make (an article) by melting and moulding metal.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French fondre, from Latin fundere ‘melt, pour’.

foundation n. 1 (often foundations) the lowest load-bearing part of a building, typically below ground level.

- FIGURATIVE something serving as a base or background for overlying elements: he starts playing melody lines on the bass instead of laying the foundation down.

- a cream or powder used as a base to even out facial skin tone before applying other cosmetics.

2 an underlying basis or principle: this study provides a foundation for for further research.

- [mass noun] [often with negative] justification or reason: misleading accusations with no foundation.

3 [mass noun] the action of establishing an institution or organization.

- [count noun] an institution established with an endowment, for example a research body or charity.

<DERIVATIVES> foundational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fondation, from Latin fundatio(n-), from fundare ‘to lay a base for’ (see found^2).

foundation course n. BRITISH a course taken at some colleges and universities, either in a wide range of subjects or in one subject at a basic level, preparing students for more advanced study.

foundation garment n. a woman's supportive undergarment, such as a corset.

foundation stone n. a stone laid with ceremony to celebrate the founding of a building.

- a basic or essential element of something: family life is one of the foundation stones of a good society.

foundation subjects plural n. BRITISH the subjects which form the basis of the National Curriculum, including (or loosely, those other than) the compulsory core subjects.

founder^1 n. a person who establishes an institution or settlement.

- [ZOOLOGY] an animal, especially a fertilized female insect, that founds a new colony.

founder^2 n. a person who manufactures articles of cast metal; the owner or operator of a foundry: an iron founder.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Old French fondeur, from fondre (see found^3).

founder^3 v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial] (of a ship) fill with water and sink: six drowned when the yacht foundered off the Cornish coast.

- (of a plan or undertaking) fail or break down as a result of a particular problem: the talks foundered on the issue of reform.

2 [no obj.] (of a horse or its rider) stumble or fall from exhaustion, lameness, etc.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (of a hoofed animal, especially a horse or pony) succumb to laminitis.

■ n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN laminitis in horses, ponies, or other hoofed animals.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘knock to the ground’): from Old French fondrer, esfondrer ‘submerge, collapse’, based on Latin fundus ‘bottom, base’.

<USAGE> It is easy to confuse the words founder and flounder, not only because they sound similar but also because the contexts in which they are used tend to overlap. Founder means, in its general and extended use, ‘fail or come to nothing’, as in the scheme foundered because of lack of organizational backing. Flounder, on the other hand, means ‘struggle; be in a state of confusion’, as in new recruits floundering about in their first week.

founder effect n. [BIOLOGY] the reduced genetic diversity which results when a population is descended from a small number of colonizing ancestors.

founding father n. a person who starts or helps to start a movement or institution.

- (Founding Father) a member of the convention that drew up the constitution of the US in 1787.

foundling n. an infant that has been abandoned by its parents and is discovered and cared for by others.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from FOUND^1

■ (past participle) + -LING, perhaps on the pattern of Dutch vondeling.

foundress n. a female founder, especially a fertile female animal that founds a colony.

foundry n. (pl. foundries) a workshop or factory for casting metal.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (earlier as foundery): from FOUND^3 + -RY, perhaps suggested by French fonderie.

fount^1 n. a source of a desirable quality or commodity: our courier was a fount of knowledge.

- LITERARY a spring or fountain.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: back-formation from FOUNTAIN, on the pattern of the pair mountain, mount.

fountain n. 1 an ornamental structure in a pool or lake from which one or more jets of water are pumped into the air.

- FIGURATIVE a thing that spurts or cascades into the air: little fountains of dust.

2 LITERARY or S. AFRICAN a natural spring of water.

- FIGURATIVE a source of a desirable quality: the government always quote this report as the fountain of truth.

3 [HERALDRY] a roundel barry wavy argent and azure (i.e. a circle with wavy horizontal stripes of blue and white).

■ v. [no obj.] spurt or cascade like a fountain: a river of cold air fountained into the hold.

<DERIVATIVES> fountained adj. (LITERARY)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2 of the noun): from Old French fontaine, from late Latin fontana, feminine of Latin fontanus, adjective from fons, font- ‘a spring’.

fountainhead n. an original source of something: he was the sole fountainhead of advice.

fountain pen n. a pen with a reservoir or cartridge from which ink flows continuously to the nib.

four cardinal number equivalent to the product of two and two; one more than three, or six less than ten; 4: Francesca's got four brothers | it took four of them to lift it | a four-bedroom house. (Roman numeral: iv or IV, archaic iiii or IIII)

- a group or unit of four people or things: the girls walked in pairs or fours.

- four years old: I began to read at four.

- four o'clock: it's half past four.

- [CRICKET] a hit that reaches the boundary after first striking the ground, scoring four runs.

- a size of garment or other merchandise denoted by four.

- a playing card or domino with four pips.

- a four-oared rowing boat or its crew: the British women's coxed four.

<PHRASES>

□ the four freedoms the four essential human freedoms as proclaimed in a speech to Congress by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

□ four noble truths the four central beliefs containing the essence of Buddhist teaching. See BUDDHISM.

<ORIGIN> Old English fēower, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German vier, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin quattuor and Greek tessares.

four-by-four (also 4 × 4) n. a vehicle with four-wheel drive.

Four Cantons, Lake of the another name for Lake Lucerne (see LUCERNE, LAKE).

fourchette /fəεt/ n. [ANATOMY] a thin fold of skin at the back of the vulva.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, diminutive of fourche ‘fork’.

four-dimensional adj. having four dimensions, typically the three dimensions of space (length, breadth, and depth) plus time.

four-eyed fish n. a small live-bearing freshwater fish of tropical America. Each eye is divided into two, allowing the fish to see both above and below the water while swimming at the surface.

<INFO> Family Anablepidae and genus Anableps: several species.

four-eyes n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a person who wears glasses.

<DERIVATIVES> four-eyed adj.

four-flush North American n. a poker hand of little value, having four cards of the same suit and one of another.

■ v. [no obj.] INFORMAL keep up a pretence; bluff: your mother will get wise that you're four-flushing.

<DERIVATIVES> four-flusher n.

fourfold adj. four times as great or as numerous: a fourfold increase in break-ins.

- having four parts or elements: fourfold symmetry.

■ adv. by four times; to four times the number or amount: the price of electricity rose fourfold.

four hundred n. US the social elite of a community.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Ward McAllister's remark ‘There are only 400 people in New York that one really knows’, later popularized in society reports by the New York Sun. The notion ‘elite’ is said to be from the selection of high-society guests by the socialite, Mrs William B. Astor Jr, whose ballroom could hold 400.

Fourier /fəre/ French /fuRje/ Jean Baptiste Joseph (1768–1830), French mathematician. His studies involved him in the solution of partial differential equations by the method of separation of variables and superposition; this led him to analyse the series and integrals that are now known by his name.

Fourier analysis /frə -re/ n. [MATHEMATICS] the analysis of a complex waveform expressed as a series of sinusoidal functions, the frequencies of which form a harmonic series.

Fourierism /frərz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a system for the reorganization of society into self-sufficient cooperatives, in accordance with the principles of the French socialist Charles Fourier (1772–1837).

<DERIVATIVES> Fourierist n. & adj.

Fourier series n. [MATHEMATICS] an infinite series of trigonometric functions which represents an expansion or approximation of a periodic function, used in Fourier analysis.

Fourier transform n. [MATHEMATICS] a function derived from a given function and representing it by a series of sinusoidal functions.

four-in-hand n. 1 a vehicle with four horses driven by one person.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a necktie tied in a loose knot with two hanging ends, popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [<ORIGIN> said to be by association with the sport of driving four-in-hand carriages.]

four-leaf clover (also four-leaved clover) n. a clover leaf with four lobes, thought to bring good luck.

four-letter word n. any of several short words referring to sexual or excretory functions, regarded as coarse or offensive.

four o'clock plant n. another term for MARVEL OF PERU.

fourpenny adj. [attr.] BRITISH costing or worth four pence, especially before decimalization (1971).

fourpenny one n. BRITISH INFORMAL a blow: I hit her such a fourpenny one that I sent her flying.

four-ply adj. (of a material) having four strands or layers: four-ply yarn.

■ n. [mass noun] knitting wool made of four strands.

four-poster (also four-poster bed) n. a bed with a post at each corner supporting a canopy.

fours plural n. 1 a race for four-oared rowing boats.

2 a competition for teams of four players, especially in bowls.

fourscore cardinal number ARCHAIC eighty.

foursome n. a group of four people.

- a golf match between two pairs of players, with partners playing the same ball.

four-square adj. (of a building or structure) having a square shape and solid appearance.

- (of a person or quality) firm and resolute: a four-square and formidable hero.

■ adv. squarely and solidly: a castle standing four-square on a peninsula.

- firmly and resolutely in support of someone or something: they stand four-square behind integration.

four-star adj. (especially of accommodation) given four stars in a grading system, typically one in which this denotes the highest standard or the next standard to the highest.

- having or denoting the second-highest military rank, distinguished in the US armed forces by four stars on the uniform.

■ n. [mass noun] leaded petrol with a grading of four stars, indicating a relatively high octane number.

four-stroke adj. denoting an internal-combustion engine having a cycle of four strokes (intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust).

- denoting a vehicle having a four-stroke engine.

■ n. a four-stroke engine or vehicle.

fourteen cardinal number equivalent to the product of seven and two; one more than thirteen, or six less than twenty; 14: they had spent fourteen days in solitary confinement | all fourteen of us were seated. (Roman numeral: xiv or XIV)

- a size of garment or other merchandise denoted by fourteen.

- fourteen years old: he left school at fourteen.

<DERIVATIVES> fourteenth ordinal number

<ORIGIN> Old English fēowertīene (see FOUR, -teen).

fourth ordinal number 1 constituting number four in a sequence; 4th: the fourth and fifth centuries | there were three bedrooms, with potential for a fourth.

- the fourth finisher or position in a race or competition: he could do no better than finish fourth.

- the fourth (and often highest) in a sequence of a vehicle's gears: he took the corner in fourth.

- chiefly BRITISH the fourth form of a school or college.

- fourthly (used to introduce a fourth point): third, visit popular attractions during lunch; fourth, stay late.

- [MUSIC] an interval spanning four consecutive notes in a diatonic scale, in particular (also perfect fourth) an interval of two tones and a semitone (e.g. C to F).

- [MUSIC] the note which is higher by a fourth than the tonic of a diatonic scale or root of a chord.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a quarter: nearly three fourths of that money is now gone.

<PHRASES>

□ the fourth estate the press; the profession of journalism. [<ORIGIN> originally used humorously in various contexts; its first usage with reference to the press has been attributed to Edmund Burke but this remains unconfirmed.]

fourth dimension n. 1 a postulated spatial dimension additional to those determining length, area, and volume.

2 time regarded as analogous to linear dimensions.

Fourth International see international (sense 2 of the noun).

fourthly adv. in the fourth place (used to introduce a fourth point): fourthly, and last, there are variations in context that influence the process.

Fourth of July n. (in the US) a national holiday celebrating the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Also called INDEPENDENCE DAY.

fourth position n. 1 [BALLET] a posture in which the feet are placed turned outwards one in front of the other, separated by the distance of one step.

- a position of the arms in which one is held curved over the head and the other curved in front of the body at waist level.

2 [MUSIC] a position of the left hand on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument nearer to the bridge than the third position, enabling a higher set of notes to be played.

Fourth Republic the republican regime in France between the end of the Second World War (1945) and the introduction of a new constitution by Charles de Gaulle in 1958.

Fourth World n. those countries and communities considered to be the poorest and most underdeveloped of the Third World.

four-wheel drive n. [mass noun] a transmission system which provides power directly to all four wheels of a vehicle.

- a vehicle with four-wheel drive, typically designed for off-road driving.

fovea /fəvə/ (also fovea centralis) n. (pl. foveae /-vi/) [ANATOMY] a small depression in the retina of the eye where visual acuity is highest. The centre of the field of vision is focused in this region, where retinal cones are particularly concentrated.

<DERIVATIVES> foveal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘small pit’.

fowl n. (pl. same or fowls) (also domestic fowl) a gallinaceous bird kept for its eggs and flesh; a domestic cock or hen.

<INFO> The domestic fowl is derived from the wild red junglefowl of SE Asia (see JUNGLEFOWL).

- any other domesticated bird kept for its eggs or flesh, e.g. a turkey or goose.

- [mass noun] the flesh of domesticated birds as food; poultry.

- used in names of birds that resemble the domestic fowl: spurfowl.

- birds collectively, especially as the quarry of hunters.

- ARCHAIC a bird.

<ORIGIN> Old English fugol ‘bird’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vogel and German Vogel, also to fly^1.

Fowler H. W. (1858–1933), English lexicographer and grammarian; full name Henry Watson Fowler. He compiled the first Concise Oxford Dictionary (1911) with his brother F. G. Fowler, and wrote the moderately prescriptive guide to style and idiom, Modern English Usage, first published in 1926.

Fowles /falz/ John (Robert) (1926–2005), English novelist. His works include the psychological thriller The Collector (1963), the magic realist novel The Magus (1966), and the semi-historical novel The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969).

fowling n. [mass noun] the hunting, shooting, or trapping of wildfowl.

<DERIVATIVES> fowler n.

fowl pest n. Newcastle disease or fowl plague.

fowl plague n. [mass noun] an acute and often fatal infectious disease of birds, especially poultry, caused by certain strains of influenza virus.

Fox^1 Charles James (1749–1806), British statesman. He became a Whig MP in 1768, supporting American independence and the French Revolution, and collaborated with Lord North to form a coalition government (1783–4).

Fox^2 George (1624–91), English preacher and founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers).

Fox^3 n. (pl. same) 1 a member of an American Indian people formerly living in southern Wisconsin, and now mainly in Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas.

2 [mass noun] the Algonquian language of the Fox, now almost extinct.

■ adj. relating to the Fox or their language.

fox n. 1 a carnivorous mammal of the dog family with a pointed muzzle and bushy tail, proverbial for its cunning.

<INFO> Vulpes and three other genera, family Canidae: several species, including the red fox and the arctic fox.

- [mass noun] the fur of a fox.

2 a cunning or sly person: a wily old fox.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a sexually attractive woman.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL baffle or deceive (someone): the abbreviation foxed me completely.

- [no obj.] DATED behave in a cunning or sly way.

<DERIVATIVES> foxlike adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vos and German Fuchs.

Foxe John (1516–87), English religious writer. He is famous for his Actes and Monuments popularly known as The Book of Martyrs, which appeared in England in 1563. This passionate account of the persecution of English Protestants fuelled hostility to Catholicism for generations.

foxed adj. 1 (of the paper of old books or prints) discoloured with brown spots.

2 ARCHAIC, INFORMAL drunk.

<DERIVATIVES> foxing n.

■ foxed (sense 1)

foxfire n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the phosphorescent light emitted by certain fungi on decaying timber.

foxglove n. a tall Eurasian plant with erect spikes of pinkish-purple (or white) flowers shaped like the fingers of gloves. It is a source of the drug digitalis.

<INFO> Genus Digitalis, family Scrophulariaceae: many species, in particular D. purpurea.

foxhole n. a hole in the ground used by troops as a shelter against enemy fire or as a firing point.

- a place of refuge or concealment.

foxhound n. a dog of a smooth-haired breed with drooping ears, often trained to hunt foxes in packs over long distances.

fox-hunting n. [mass noun] the sport of hunting a fox across country with a pack of hounds by a group of people on foot and horseback, a traditional sport of the English landed gentry.

<DERIVATIVES> fox-hunter n.

foxie n. (pl. foxies) AUSTRALIAN/NZ a fox terrier.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

fox moth n. a reddish-brown moth with a velvety black and orange caterpillar.

<INFO> Macrothylacia rubi, family Lasiocampidae.

foxtail n. a common meadow grass that has soft brush-like flowering spikes.

<INFO> Genus Alopecurus, family Gramineae: several species, in particular A. pratensis.

fox terrier n. a terrier of a short-haired or wire-haired breed originally used for unearthing foxes.

foxtrot n. 1 a ballroom dance having an uneven rhythm with alternation of slow and quick steps.

- a piece of music written for a foxtrot.

2 a code word representing the letter F, used in radio communication.

■ v. (foxtrots, foxtrotting, foxtrotted) [no obj.] perform a foxtrot.

foxy adj. (foxier, foxiest) 1 resembling or likened to a fox: a terrier with prick ears and a foxy expression.

- cunning or sly: a foxy method to miss conscription.

- reddish brown in colour.

2 INFORMAL (of a woman) sexually attractive.

3 (of wine) having a musky flavour.

<DERIVATIVES> foxily adv. foxiness n.

foyer /fe/ n. an entrance hall or other open area in a building used by the public, especially a hotel or theatre.

- NORTH AMERICAN an entrance hall in a house or flat.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (denoting the centre of attention or activity): from French, ‘hearth, home’, based on Latin focus ‘domestic hearth’.

FP abbr. former pupils (especially in the name of some rugby teams).

fp abbr.

- forte piano.

- (f.p.) freezing point.

FPA abbr. (in the UK) Family Planning Association.

FPS abbr. Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.

fps (also f.p.s.) abbr.

- feet per second.

- foot-pound-second.

- frames per second.

FPU abbr. [COMPUTING] floating-point unit, a processor that performs arithmetic operations.

Fr abbr.

- Father (as a courtesy title of priests): Fr Buckley. [<ORIGIN> from French frère, literally ‘brother’.]

■ symbol the chemical element francium.

fr. abbr. franc(s).

Fra /frα/ n. a prefixed title given to an Italian monk or friar: Fra Angelico.

<ORIGIN> Italian, abbreviation of frate ‘brother’, from Latin frater.

frabjous /frabdəs/ adj. HUMOROUS delightful; joyous: ‘Oh frabjous day!’ she giggled.

<DERIVATIVES> frabjously adv.

<ORIGIN> 1871: coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass, apparently to suggest fair and joyous.

fracas /frakα/ n. (pl. same /-kαz/ or US fracases) a noisy disturbance or quarrel.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: French, from fracasser, from Italian fracassare ‘make an uproar’.

fractal /frakt(ə)l/ [MATHEMATICS] n. a curve or geometrical figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. They are useful in modelling structures (such as snowflakes) in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing partly random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth and galaxy formation.

■ adj. relating to or of the nature of a fractal or fractals: fractal geometry.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from French, from Latin fract- ‘broken’, from the verb frangere.

fraction /frak(ə)n/ n. 1 a numerical quantity that is not a whole number (e.g. 1/2, 0.5).

2 a small or tiny part, amount, or proportion of something: he hesitated for a fraction of a second | her eyes widened a fraction.

- a dissenting group within a larger one.

3 [CHEMISTRY] each of the portions into which a mixture may be separated according to a physical property such as boiling point or solubility.

4 [mass noun] (usually the Fraction) (in the Christian Church) the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin fractio(n-) ‘breaking (bread)’, from Latin frangere ‘to break’.

fractional adj. 1 relating to or expressed as a fraction, especially a fraction less than one.

2 small or tiny in amount: there was a fractional hesitation before he said yes.

3 [CHEMISTRY] relating to or denoting the separation of a mixture into fractions: fractional crystallization.

<DERIVATIVES> fractionally adv.

fractional distillation n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] separation of a liquid mixture into fractions differing in boiling point (and hence chemical composition) by means of distillation, typically using a fractionating column.

fractionalize (also fractionalise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. fractionalized) divide (someone or something) into separate groups or parts: fractionalized consumer markets.

<DERIVATIVES> fractionalization n.

fractionate /frak(ə)net/ v. [with obj.] chiefly [CHEMISTRY] divide into fractions or components.

- separate (a mixture) by fractional distillation.

<DERIVATIVES> fractionation n.

fractionating column n. [CHEMISTRY] a tall, horizontally subdivided container for fractional distillation in which vapour passes upwards and condensing liquid flows downwards. The vapour becomes progressively enriched in more volatile components as it ascends, and the less volatile components become concentrated in the descending liquid, which can be drawn off.

fractious /frakəs/ adj. easily irritated; bad-tempered: they fight and squabble like fractious children.

- (of an organization) difficult to control; unruly: King Malcolm struggled to unite his fractious kingdom.

<DERIVATIVES> fractiously adv. fractiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from FRACTION, probably on the pattern of the pair faction, factious.

fracture n. [mass noun] 1 the cracking or breaking of a hard object or material: ground movements could cause fracture of the pipe.

- [count noun] a crack or break in a hard object or material, typically a bone or a rock stratum: a fracture of the left leg.

- the physical appearance of a freshly broken rock or mineral, especially as regards the shape of the surface formed.

2 [PHONETICS] the replacement of a simple vowel by a diphthong owing to the influence of a following sound, typically a consonant.

- [count noun] a diphthong substituted by fracture.

■ v. break or cause to break: [no obj.] the stone has fractured | [with obj.] ancient magmas fractured by the forces of wind and ice.

- [with obj.] sustain a fracture of (a bone): (as adj. fractured) a fractured skull.

- (with reference to a group or organization) split or fragment and become unable to function or exist: [no obj.] the movement had fractured without his leadership.

- (as adj. fractured) (of speech or a language) faltering and full of mistakes; broken.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from Latin fractura, from frangere ‘to break’.

frae /fre/ prep. SCOTTISH from: you better collect the tab frae the office.

frag NORTH AMERICAN MILITARY SLANG n. a hand grenade.

■ v. (frags, fragging, fragged) [with obj.] deliberately kill (an unpopular senior officer) with a hand grenade.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from FRAGMENTATION GRENADE.

fragile /fradl/ adj. (of an object) easily broken or damaged: fragile items such as glass and china.

- easily destroyed or threatened: you have a fragile grip on reality.

- (of a person) not strong or sturdy; delicate and vulnerable.

<DERIVATIVES> fragilely adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘morally weak’): from Latin fragilis, from frangere ‘to break’. The sense ‘liable to break’ dates from the mid 16th cent.

fragile X syndrome n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an inherited condition characterized by an X chromosome that is abnormally susceptible to damage, especially by folic acid deficiency. Affected individuals tend to have limited intellectual functions.

fragility /frədlti/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being easily broken or damaged: osteoporosis is characterized by bone fragility.

- the quality of being delicate or vulnerable: a film about the fragility of relationships | his emotional fragility.

fragment n. /fram(ə)nt/ a small part broken off or separated from something: small fragments of pottery.

- an isolated or incomplete part of something: Nathan remembered fragments of the conversation.

■ v. /framεnt/ break or cause to break into fragments: [no obj.] Lough Erne fragmented into a series of lakes | [with obj.] management has tighter control through fragmenting the tasks.

<DERIVATIVES> fragmental adj. (chiefly [GEOLOGY])

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from Latin fragmentum, from frangere ‘to break’.

fragmentary adj. consisting of small disconnected or incomplete parts: excavations have revealed fragmentary remains of masonry.

<DERIVATIVES> fragmentarily adv.

fragmentation n. [mass noun] the process or state of breaking or being broken into fragments: the fragmentation of society into a collection of interest groups.

- [COMPUTING] the storing of a file in several separate areas of memory scattered throughout a hard disk.

fragmentation grenade (also fragmentation bomb) n. a grenade (or bomb) designed to break into small fragments as it explodes.

Fragonard /fraənα/ French /fRanaR/ Jean-Honoré (1732–1806), French painter in the rococo style. He is famous for landscapes and for erotic canvases such as The Progress of Love (1771).

fragrance /frer(ə)ns/ n. a pleasant, sweet smell: the fragrance of fresh-ground coffee | [mass noun] the bushes fill the air with fragrance.

- a perfume or aftershave.

<DERIVATIVES> fragranced adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, or from Latin fragrantia, from fragrare ‘smell sweet’.

fragrancy n. (pl. fragrancies) DATED fragrance.

fragrant adj. having a pleasant or sweet smell: she gathered the fragrant blooms.

<DERIVATIVES> fragrantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from Latin fragrant- ‘smelling sweet’, from the verb fragrare.

'fraid v. INFORMAL non-standard contraction of ‘afraid’ or ‘I'm afraid’, expressing regret: 'fraid not, doll.

frail adj. (of a person) weak and delicate: his small, frail body | she looked frail and vulnerable.

- easily damaged or broken; weak: the balcony is frail | the country's frail economy.

- ARCHAIC weak in character or morals.

■ n. US INFORMAL, DATED a woman.

<DERIVATIVES> frailly adv. frailness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis (see FRAGILE).

frailty n. (pl. frailties) [mass noun] the condition of being weak and delicate: the increasing frailty of old age.

- weakness in character or morals: all drama begins with human frailty | [count noun] you're too self-righteous to see your own frailties.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘weakness in morals’): from Old French frailete, from Latin fragilitas, from fragilis (see FRAGILE).

fraise /frεz frez/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) (in cookery) a strawberry.

- [mass noun] a white brandy distilled from strawberries.

<ORIGIN> French.

Fraktur /fraktə/ German /fraktu/ n. [mass noun] a German style of black-letter type.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: German, from Latin fractura ‘fracture’ (because of its angularity).

framboesia /frambizə/ (US frambesia) n. another term for YAWS.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, from French framboise ‘raspberry’, so named because of the red swellings caused by the disease, likened to raspberries.

framboise /frmbwαz/ n. (in cookery) a raspberry.

- [mass noun] a white brandy distilled from raspberries.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘raspberry’, from a conflation of Latin fraga ambrosia ‘ambrosial strawberry’.

Frame Janet (Paterson) (1924–2004), New Zealand novelist. Her novels draw on her experiences of psychiatric hospitals after she suffered a severe mental breakdown. Her three-volume autobiography (1982–5) was made into the film An Angel at my Table (1990).

frame n. 1 a rigid structure that surrounds something such as a picture, door, or windowpane.

- (frames) a metal or plastic structure holding the lenses of a pair of glasses.

- the rigid supporting structure of an object such as a vehicle, building, or piece of furniture.

- a box-like structure of glass or plastic in which seeds or young plants are grown.

- an apparatus with a surrounding structure, especially one used in weaving, knitting, or embroidery.

- [in sing.] ARCHAIC the universe, or part of it, regarded as an embracing structure.

2 a person's body with reference to its size or build: a shiver shook her slim frame.

3 [usually in sing.] a basic structure that underlies or supports a system, concept, or text: the establishment of conditions provides a frame for interpretation.

- TECHNICAL short for FRAME OF REFERENCE below.

- [in sing.] ARCHAIC the structure, constitution, or nature of someone or something: we have in our inward frame various affections.

4 [LINGUISTICS] a structural environment within which a class of words or other linguistic units can be correctly used. For example I —— him is a frame for a large class of transitive verbs.

- a feature which marks a transition from one section of discourse to another: frames are realized by linguistic items such as ‘well’, ‘right’, and ‘OK’.

- a section of a discourse separated by a frame.

- (in semantics) an underlying conceptual structure into which the meanings of a number of related words fit: the frame of verbs of perception.

- a social context determining the interpretation of an utterance: an utterance may mean the opposite of what it says if used within a frame of teasing.

5 a single complete picture in a series forming a cinema, television, or video film.

- a single picture in a comic strip.

- [COMPUTING] a graphic panel in a display window, especially in an Internet browser, which encloses a self-contained section of data and permits multiple independent document viewing.

6 the triangular structure for positioning the red balls in snooker.

- a single game of snooker.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 place (a picture or photograph) in a frame.

- surround so as to create a striking or attractive image: a short style cut to frame the face.

2 formulate (a concept, plan, or system): staff have proved invaluable in framing the proposals.

- form or articulate (words): he walked out before she could frame a reply.

- ARCHAIC make or construct (something) by fitting parts together or in accordance with a plan: what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?

3 INFORMAL produce false evidence against (an innocent person) so that they appear guilty: he claims he was framed.

<PHRASES>

□ be in (or out of) the frame be (or not be) eligible.

- be wanted (or not wanted) by the police: he was always in the frame for the killing.

□ frame of mind a particular mood that influences one's attitude or behaviour.

□ frame of reference a set of criteria in relation to which judgements can be made: the observer interprets what he sees in terms of his own cultural frame of reference.

- a system of geometrical axes in relation to which size, position, or motion can be defined.

<DERIVATIVES> frameable adj. frameless adj. framer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English framian ‘be useful’, of Germanic origin and related to FROM. The general sense in Middle English, ‘make ready for use’, probably led to sense 2 of the verb; it also gave rise to the specific meaning ‘prepare timber for use in building’, later ‘make the wooden parts (framework) of a building’, hence the noun sense ‘structure’ (late Middle English).

framed adj. 1 (of a picture, photograph, etc.) held in a frame: a framed photograph of her father.

2 [in combination] (of a building) having a frame of a specified material: a traditional oak-framed house.

frame house n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a house constructed from a wooden skeleton, typically covered with timber boards.

frame saw n. a saw with a thin blade kept rigid by being stretched in a frame.

frameset n. the frame and front fork of a bicycle.

frameshift mutation n. [GENETICS] a mutation caused by the addition or deletion of a base pair or base pairs in the DNA of a gene resulting in the translation of the genetic code in an unnatural reading frame from the position of the mutation to the end of the gene.

frame tent n. chiefly BRITISH a tent supported by a tall frame, giving it nearly perpendicular sides and standing headroom throughout.

frame-up n. [in sing.] INFORMAL a conspiracy to incriminate someone falsely.

framework n. an essential supporting structure of a building, vehicle, or object: a conservatory in a delicate framework of iron.

- a basic structure underlying a system, concept, or text: the theoretical framework of political sociology.

framing n. [mass noun] the action of framing something.

- frames collectively.

franc /frak/ n. the basic monetary unit of France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and several other countries, equal to 100 centimes (replaced in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg by the euro in 2002).

<ORIGIN> from Old French, from Latin Francorum Rex ‘king of the Franks’, the legend on gold coins struck in the 14th century in the reign of Jean le Bon.

France^1 /frαns/ a country in western Europe; pop. 59,765,983 (est. 2002); official language, French; capital, Paris.

France became a major power under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties in the 16th–18th centuries, and, after the overthrow of the monarchy in the French Revolution (1789), briefly dominated Europe under Napoleon. Defeated in the Franco-Prussian war (1870–1), the country suffered much destruction and loss of life in the First World War and during the Second World War was occupied by the Germans. France was a founder member of the EEC in 1957.

France^2 /frαns/ French /fRαs/ Anatole (1844–1924), French writer; pseudonym of Jacques-Anatole-François Thibault. Works include the novel Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard (1881) and his ironic version of the Dreyfus case, L'Ile des pingouins (1908). Nobel Prize for Literature (1921).

Franche-Comté /frkte/ French /fRαkte/ a region of eastern France, in the northern foothills of the Jura mountains.

franchise /fran(t)z/ n. 1 an authorization granted by a government or company to an individual or group enabling them to carry out specified commercial activities, for example acting as an agent for a company's products.

- a business or service given a franchise to operate.

- NORTH AMERICAN an authorization given by a league to own a sports team.

- North American INFORMAL a professional sports team.

- (also franchise player) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a star player in a team.

2 [mass noun] (usually the franchise) the right to vote in public elections.

- the rights of citizenship.

■ v. [with obj.] grant a franchise to (an individual or group).

- grant a franchise for the sale of (goods) or the operation of (a service): all the catering was franchised out.

<DERIVATIVES> franchisee n. franchiser (also franchisor) n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a grant of legal immunity): from Old French, based on franc, franche ‘free’ (see frank^1).

■ Sense 2 of the noun dates from the late 18th century and sense 1 of the noun from the 20th cent.

Francis Dick (1920–2010), English jockey and writer; full name Richard Stanley Francis. He was champion jockey 1953–4. After his retirement in 1957 he began writing thrillers, mostly set in the world of horse racing.

Francis I (1494–1547), king of France 1515–47. Much of his reign (1521–44) was spent at war with Charles V of Spain. He supported the arts and commissioned new buildings, including the Louvre.

Franciscan /franssk(ə)n/ n. a friar, sister, or lay member of a Christian religious order founded in 1209 by St Francis of Assisi or based on its rule, and noted for its preachers and missionaries.

Divergences of practice led to the separation of the Friars Minor of the Observance (the Observants) and the Friars Minor Conventual (the Conventuals) in 1517, and to the foundation of the stricter Friars Minor Capuchin (the Capuchins) in 1529. The order of Franciscan nuns was founded by St Clare (c.1212) under the direction of St Francis; they are known as ‘Poor Clares’.

■ adj. relating to or denoting St Francis or the Franciscans.

<ORIGIN> from French franciscain, from modern Latin Franciscanus, from Franciscus ‘Francis’.

Francis of Assisi, St (c.1181–1226), Italian monk, founder of the Franciscan order; born Giovanni di Bernardone. He founded the Franciscan order in 1209 and drew up its original rule (based on complete poverty). He is revered for his generosity, simple faith, humility, and love of nature. Feast day, 4 October.

Francis of Sales, St /sαl/ (1567–1622), French bishop. One of the leaders of the Counter-Reformation, he was bishop of Geneva 1602–22. The Salesian order (founded in 1859) is named after him. Feast day, 24 January.

Francis Xavier, St see Xavier, St Francis.

francium /fransəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 87, a radioactive member of the alkali metal group. Francium occurs naturally as a decay product in uranium and thorium ores. (Symbol: Fr)

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from France^1

■ (the discoverer's native country) + -IUM.

francize /fransz/ (also francise) v. [with obj.] CANADIAN (in Quebec) cause (a person or business) to adopt French as an official or working language.

<DERIVATIVES> francization n.

Franck^1 /frak/ French /fRαk/ César (Auguste) (1822–90), Belgian-born French composer and organist. His reputation as a composer rests on the Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra (1885), the D minor Symphony (1886–8), and the String Quartet (1889).

Franck^2 /frak/ James (1882–1964), German-born American physicist. He worked on the bombardment of atoms by electrons and became involved in the US atom bomb project; he advocated the explosion of the bomb in an uninhabited area to demonstrate its power to Japan.

Franco Francisco (1892–1975), Spanish general and statesman, head of state 1939–75. Leader of the Nationalists in the Civil War, in 1937 Franco became head of the Falange Party and proclaimed himself Caudillo (‘leader’) of Spain. With the defeat of the republic in 1939, he took control of the government and established a dictatorship that ruled Spain until his death.

<DERIVATIVES> Francoism n. Francoist n. & adj.

Franco- (also franco-) combining form French; French and …: francophone | Franco-German.

- relating to France: Francophile.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin Francus ‘Frank’.

francolin /frakə()ln/ n. a large game bird resembling a partridge, with bare skin on the head or neck, found in Africa and South Asia.

<INFO> Genus Francolinus, family Phasianidae: many species.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Italian francolino, of unknown origin.

Franconia /frakənə/ a medieval duchy of southern Germany, inhabited by the Franks.

Franconian n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Franconia.

2 [mass noun] a group of medieval West Germanic dialects, combining features of Low and High German.

- the group of modern German dialects of Franconia.

■ adj. relating to Franconia or its inhabitants.

Francophile n. a person who is fond of or greatly admires France or the French.

francophone /frakə()fən/ adj. French-speaking: a summit of francophone countries.

■ n. a person who speaks French.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from FRANCO- ‘French’ + Greek phōnē ‘voice’.

Franco-Prussian War the war of 1870–1 between France (under Napoleon III) and Prussia, in which Prussian troops advanced into France and decisively defeated the French at Sedan. The defeat marked the end of the French Second Empire. For Prussia, the proclamation of the new German Empire at Versailles was the climax of Bismarck's ambitions to unite Germany.

frangible /fran(d)b(ə)l/ adj. fragile; brittle: she had kept his frangible mind together through many troubled years.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from medieval Latin frangibilis, from Latin frangere ‘to break’.

frangipane /fran(d)pen/ n. [mass noun] an almond-flavoured cream or paste.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, named after the Marquis Muzio Frangipani (see FRANGIPANI). The term originally denoted the frangipani shrub or tree, the perfume of which is said to have been used to flavour the almond cream.

frangipani /fran(d)pαni/ n. (pl. frangipanis) a tropical American tree or shrub with clusters of fragrant white, pink, or yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Plumeria, family Apocynaceae: several species, in particular P. rubra.

- [mass noun] perfume obtained from the frangipani plant.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after the Marquis Muzio Frangipani, a 16th-cent. Italian nobleman who invented a perfume for scenting gloves.

franglais /frle/ n. [mass noun] a blend of French and English, either French speech that makes excessive use of English expressions, or unidiomatic French spoken by an English person.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: coined in French, from a blend of français ‘French’ and anglais ‘English’.

Frank^1 Anne (1929–45), German Jewish girl known for her diary, which records the experiences of her family living for two years in hiding from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam. They were eventually betrayed and sent to concentration camps; Anne died in Belsen.

Frank^2 n. a member of a Germanic people that conquered Gaul in the 6th century and controlled much of western Europe for several centuries afterwards.

- DATED (in the eastern Mediterranean region) a person of western European nationality or descent.

<ORIGIN> Old English Franca, of Germanic origin; perhaps from the name of a weapon and related to Old English franca ‘javelin’ (compare with SAXON); reinforced in Middle English by medieval Latin Francus and Old French Franc, of the same origin and related to FRENCH.

frank^1 adj. open, honest, and direct in speech or writing, especially when dealing with unpalatable matters: a long and frank discussion | to be perfectly frank, I don't know.

- open, sincere, or undisguised: Kate looked at Sam with frank admiration.

- MEDICINE unmistakable; obvious: frank ulceration.

<DERIVATIVES> frankness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘free’): from Old French franc, from medieval Latin francus ‘free’, from Francus (see Frank^2: only Franks had full freedom in Frankish Gaul). Another Middle English sense was ‘generous’, which led to the current sense.

frank^2 v. [with obj.] 1 stamp an official mark on (a letter or parcel) to indicate that postage has been paid or does not need to be paid.

- HISTORICAL sign (a letter or parcel) to ensure delivery free of charge.

- ARCHAIC facilitate or pay the passage of (someone): English will frank the traveller through most of North America.

2 (as adj. franked) BRITISH denoting dividends and other payments carrying a tax credit which can be offset against advance corporation tax by the company which receives them.

■ n. an official mark or signature on a letter or parcel, indicating that postage has been paid or does not need to be paid. [<ORIGIN> formerly as a superscribed signature of an eminent person entitled to send letters free of charge.]

<DERIVATIVES> franker n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from FRANK^1, an early sense being ‘free of obligation’.

frank^3 n. North American short for FRANKFURTER.

franked investment income n. [mass noun] (in the UK) income in the form of dividends paid to a company from earnings on which corporation tax has already been paid by the originating company.

Frankenfood /frak(ə)nfud/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, DEROGATORY genetically modified food.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from FRANKENSTEIN + FOOD.

Frankenstein /frak(ə)nstn/ a character in the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818) by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein is a scientist who creates and brings to life a manlike monster which eventually turns on him and destroys him; Frankenstein is not the name of the monster itself, as is often assumed.

- (also Frankenstein's monster) [as n.] a thing that becomes terrifying or destructive to its maker.

Frankfort /frakfət/ the state capital of Kentucky; pop. 27,741 (2000).

Frankfurt /frakfət/ German /frakfrt/ a commercial city in western Germany, in Hesse; pop. 645,500 (est. 2002). The headquarters of the Bundesbank are located there. Full name Frankfurt am Main /am mn/.

frankfurter n. a seasoned smoked sausage made of beef and pork.

<ORIGIN> from German Frankfurter Wurst ‘Frankfurt sausage’.

Frankfurt School a school of philosophy of the 1920s whose adherents were involved in a reappraisal of Marxism, particularly in terms of the cultural and aesthetic dimension of modern industrial society. Principal figures include Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse.

frankincense /fraknsεns/ n. [mass noun] an aromatic gum resin obtained from an African tree and burnt as incense. Also called OLIBANUM, GUM OLIBANUM.

<INFO> This resin is obtained from the tree Boswellia sacra, family Burseraceae, native to Somalia.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French franc encens, literally ‘high-quality incense’, from franc (see frank^1) in an obsolete sense ‘superior, of high quality’ (which also existed in English) + encens ‘incense’.

franking n. [mass noun] the action of franking a letter or parcel: [as modifier] a franking machine.

- [count noun] an official mark or signature on a letter or parcel to indicate that postage has been paid or does not need to be paid.

Frankish adj. relating to the ancient Franks or their language.

■ n. [mass noun] the Germanic language of the ancient Franks.

Franklin^1 Aretha (b.1942), American soul and gospel singer. Her best-known songs include ‘I Say a Little Prayer’ (1967).

Franklin^2 Benjamin (1706–90), American statesman, inventor, and scientist. He was one of the signatories to the peace between the US and Great Britain after the War of American Independence. His main scientific achievements were the formulation of a theory of electricity, which introduced positive and negative electricity, and a demonstration of the electrical nature of lightning, which led to the invention of the lightning conductor.

Franklin^3 (Stella Maria Sarah) Miles (1879–1954), Australian novelist. She wrote the first true Australian novel, My Brilliant Career (1901). She also produced a series of chronicle novels under her pseudonym ‘Brent of Bin Bin’ (1928–56).

Franklin^4 Rosalind Elsie (1920–58), English physical chemist and molecular biologist. Together with Maurice Wilkins she investigated the structure of DNA by means of X-ray crystallography, and contributed to the discovery of its helical structure.

franklin n. a landowner of free but not noble birth in the 14th and 15th centuries in England.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Latin francalanus, from francalis ‘held without dues’, from francus ‘free’ (see frank^1).

Franklin stove n. NORTH AMERICAN a large cast-iron stove for heating a room, resembling an open fireplace in shape.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: named after B. Franklin (see Franklin^2).

frankly adv. in an open, honest, and direct manner: she talks very frankly about herself.

- [sentence adv.] used to emphasize the truth of a statement, however unpalatable this may be: frankly, I was pleased to leave.

frantic adj. distraught with fear, anxiety, or other emotion: she was frantic with worry.

- conducted in a hurried, excited, and disorganized way: frantic attempts to resuscitate the girl.

<DERIVATIVES> frantically adv. franticness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English frentik, ‘insane, violently mad’, from Old French frenetique (see FRENETIC).

Franz Josef /frants jəzεf/ (1830–1916), emperor of Austria 1848–1916 and king of Hungary 1867–1916. He gave Hungary equal status with Austria in 1867. His annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1908) contributed to European political tensions, and the assassination in Sarajevo of his heir apparent, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, precipitated the First World War.

Franz Josef Land a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean, discovered in 1873 by an Austrian expedition and annexed by the USSR in 1928.

frap v. (fraps, frapping, frapped) [with obj.] [NAUTICAL] bind (something) tightly.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘strike, beat’, now only dialect): from Old French fraper ‘to bind, strike’, of unknown origin. The current sense dates from the mid 16th cent.

frappé^1 /frape/ adj. [postpositive] (of a drink) iced or chilled: a crème de menthe frappé.

■ n. a drink served with ice or frozen to a slushy consistency.

<ORIGIN> French.

frappé^2 /frape/ adj. [postpositive] [BALLET] (of a position) involving a beating action of the toe of one foot against the ankle of the supporting leg: a battement frappé.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘struck’.

Frascati /fraskαti/ n. [mass noun] a wine, typically white, produced in the region of Frascati, Italy.

Fraser^1 /frezə/ a river of British Columbia. It rises in the Rocky Mountains and flows in a wide curve 1,360 km (850 miles) into the Strait of Georgia, just south of Vancouver.

Fraser^2 /frezə/ Dawn (b.1937), Australian swimmer. She won the Olympic gold medal for the 100-metres freestyle in 1956, 1960, and 1964, the first competitor to win the same title at three successive Olympics.

Fraser^3 /frezə/ (John) Malcolm (b.1930), Australian Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1975–83. He was the youngest-ever Australian MP when elected in 1955.

frass /fras/ n. [mass noun] 1 fine powdery refuse or fragile perforated wood produced by the activity of boring insects.

2 the excrement of insect larvae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Frass, from fressen ‘devour’.

frat n. [usually as modifier] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a students' fraternity: a frat party.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

frat boy n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a young man who behaves in a boisterous or foolish manner considered typical of members of some college fraternities.

frater /fretə/ n. HISTORICAL the dining room or refectory of a monastery.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fraitur, shortening of refreitor, from late Latin refectorium ‘refectory’.

fraternal /frətən(ə)l/ adj. 1 of or like a brother or brothers: his lack of fraternal feeling shocked me.

- of or denoting an organization for people, especially men, that have common interests or beliefs.

2 (of twins) developed from separate ova and therefore genetically distinct and not necessarily of the same sex or more similar than other siblings. Compare with identical (sense 1).

<DERIVATIVES> fraternalism n. fraternally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin fraternalis, from Latin fraternus, from frater ‘brother’.

fraternity /frətənti/ n. (pl. fraternities) 1 [treated as sing. or plural] a group of people sharing a common profession or interests: members of the hunting fraternity.

- NORTH AMERICAN a male students' society in a university or college.

- a religious or Masonic society or guild.

2 [mass noun] friendship and mutual support within a group: the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fraternite, from Latin fraternitas, from fraternus (see FRATERNAL).

fraternize /fratənz/ (also fraternise) v. [no obj.] associate or form a friendship with someone, especially when one is not supposed to: she ignored Elisabeth's warning glare against fraternizing with the enemy.

<DERIVATIVES> fraternization n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French fraterniser, from medieval Latin fraternizare, from Latin fraternus ‘brotherly’ (see FRATERNAL).

fratricidal /fratrsd(ə)l/ adj. relating to or denoting conflict within a single family or organization: the fratricidal strife within the Party.

fratricide /fratrsd/ n. [mass noun] the killing of one's brother or sister.

- [count noun] a person who kills their brother or sister.

- the accidental killing of one's own forces in war.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting a person who kills their brother or sister, derived from Latin fratricida): the primary current sense comes via French from late Latin fratricidium, from frater ‘brother’ + -cidium (see -CIDE).

Frau /fra/ n. (pl. Frauen /fraən/) a title or form of address for a married or widowed German-speaking woman: Frau Nordern.

<ORIGIN> German.

fraud /frd/ n. [mass noun] wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain: he was convicted of fraud | [count noun] prosecutions for social security frauds.

- [count noun] a person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities: mediums exposed as tricksters and frauds.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fraude, from Latin fraus, fraud- ‘deceit, injury’.

fraud squad n. [treated as sing. or plural] BRITISH a division of a police force appointed to investigate fraud.

fraudster n. BRITISH a person who commits fraud, especially in business dealings.

fraudulent /frdjl(ə)nt/ adj. obtained, done by, or involving deception, especially criminal deception: fraudulent share dealing.

- unjustifiably claiming or being credited with particular accomplishments or qualities: fraudulent psychics.

<DERIVATIVES> fraudulence n. fraudulently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin fraudulentus, from fraus, fraud- ‘deceit, injury’.

fraught /frt/ adj. 1 (fraught with) (of a situation or course of action) filled with (something undesirable): marketing any new product is fraught with danger.

2 causing or affected by anxiety or stress: there was a fraught silence | she sounded a bit fraught.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English, ‘laden, equipped’, past participle of obsolete fraught ‘load with cargo’, from Middle Dutch vrachten, from vracht ‘ship's cargo’. Compare with FREIGHT.

Fräulein /frln/ German /frYlan/ n. a title or form of address for an unmarried German-speaking woman, especially a young woman: Fräulein Winkelmann.

<ORIGIN> German, diminutive of FRAU.

Fraunhofer /franhəfə/ German /franhəf/ Joseph von (1787–1826), German optician and pioneer in spectroscopy. He observed and mapped the dark lines in the solar spectrum (Fraunhofer lines) which result from the absorption of particular frequencies of light by elements present in the outer layers; these are now used to determine the chemical composition of the sun and stars.

fraxinella /fraksnεlə/ n. another term for GAS PLANT.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: modern Latin (former specific epithet), diminutive of Latin fraxinus ‘ash tree’ (because of its leaves, thought to resemble those of the ash).

fray^1 v. 1 [no obj.] (of a fabric, rope, or cord) unravel or become worn at the edge, typically through constant rubbing: cheap fabric soon frays.

- FIGURATIVE (of a person's nerves or temper) show the effects of strain: as the temperature rose, tempers frayed.

2 [with obj.] (of a male deer) rub (a bush or small tree) with the head in order to remove the velvet from newly formed antlers, or to mark territory during the rut.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French freiier, from Latin fricare ‘to rub’.

fray^2 n. (the fray) a situation of intense competitive activity: ten companies intend to bid for the contract, with three more expected to enter the fray.

- a battle or fight.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from archaic fray ‘to quarrel’, from affray ‘startle’, from Anglo-Norman French afrayer (see AFFRAY).

Fray Bentos /fre bεnts/ a port and meat-packing centre in western Uruguay; pop. 25,100 (est. 2002).

frayed adj. (of a fabric, rope, or cord) unravelled or worn at the edge: the frayed collar of her old coat.

- FIGURATIVE (of a person's nerves or temper) showing the effects of strain: an effort to soothe frayed nerves.

Frazer Sir James George (1854–1941), Scottish anthropologist. In The Golden Bough (1890–1915) he proposed an evolutionary theory of the development of human thought, from the magical and religious to the scientific.

Frazier /frezə/ Joe (b.1944), American boxer; full name Joseph Frazier. He first won the world title in 1968, lost it to George Foreman in 1973, and subsequently lost to Muhammad Ali twice before retiring in 1976.

frazil /frez(ə)l/ (also frazil ice) n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN soft or amorphous ice formed by the accumulation of ice crystals in water that is too turbulent to freeze solid.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Canadian French frasil ‘snow floating in the water’, from French fraisil ‘cinders’.

frazzle INFORMAL v. [with obj.] 1 (as adj. frazzled) completely exhausted: a frazzled parent.

2 cause to shrivel up with burning: we frazzle our hair with heated appliances.

■ n. (a frazzle) 1 the state of being completely exhausted: I'm tired, worn to a frazzle.

2 the state of being completely burnt: the grass was regrowing within days of being burnt to a frazzle.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps a blend of fray^1 and obsolete fazle ‘ravel out’, of Germanic origin. The word was originally East Anglian dialect; it came into standard British English via the US.

freak n. 1 a very unusual and unexpected event or situation: the teacher says the accident was a total freak | [as modifier] a freak storm.

2 (also freak of nature) a person, animal, or plant with an unusual physical abnormality.

- INFORMAL a person regarded as strange because of their unusual appearance or behaviour.

3 [with modifier] INFORMAL a person who is obsessed with a particular activity or interest: a fitness freak.

- [usually with modifier] a person addicted to a particular drug: the twins were cocaine freaks.

4 ARCHAIC a sudden arbitrary change of mind; a whim: follow this way or that, as the freak takes you.

■ v. 1 INFORMAL behave or cause to behave in a wild and irrational way, typically because of the effects of extreme emotion or drugs: [no obj.] he freaked out and smashed the place up | [with obj.] what he'd said had really freaked her out.

2 [with obj.] ARCHAIC fleck or streak randomly: the white pink and the pansy freaked with jet.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 4 of the noun): probably from a dialect word.

freaking adj. US INFORMAL used as a euphemism for ‘fucking’: I'm going out of my freaking mind!

freakish adj. very unusual, strange, or unexpected: freakish weather.

<DERIVATIVES> freakishly adv. freakishness n.

freak-out n. INFORMAL a wildly irrational reaction or spell of behaviour.

freak show n. a sideshow at a fair, featuring abnormally developed people or animals.

- an unusual or grotesque event viewed for pleasure, especially when in bad taste.

freaky adj. (freakier, freakiest) INFORMAL very odd, strange, or eccentric: a freaky coincidence.

<DERIVATIVES> freakily adv. freakiness n.

freckle n. a small patch of light brown colour on the skin, often becoming more pronounced through exposure to the sun.

■ v. cover or become covered with freckles: [no obj.] skin which freckles easily | (as adj. freckled) a freckled face.

<DERIVATIVES> freckly adj. (frecklier, freckliest)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: alteration of dialect frecken, from Old Norse freknur (plural).

Freddie Mac INFORMAL the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, a US corporation that trades in mortgages.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: loosely from the initial letters of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, on the model of FANNIE MAE.

Frederick I (c.1123–90), king of Germany and Holy Roman emperor 1152–90; known as Frederick Barbarossa (‘Redbeard’). He made a sustained attempt to subdue Italy and the papacy, but was eventually defeated at the battle of Legnano in 1176.

Frederick II (1712–86), king of Prussia 1740–86; known as Frederick the Great. His campaigns in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–8) and the Seven Years War (1756–63) succeeded in considerably strengthening Prussia's position; by the end of his reign he had doubled the area of his country.

Frederick William (1620–88), Elector of Brandenburg 1640–88; known as the Great Elector. His programme of reconstruction and reorganization following the Thirty Years War brought stability to his country and laid the basis for the expansion of Prussian power in the 18th century.

Fredericton /frεdrktən/ the capital of New Brunswick, Canada; pop. 47,560 (2001).

<ORIGIN> named after Frederick Augustus, second son of George III.

free adj. (freer, freest) 1 able to act or be done as one wishes; not under the control of another: I have no ambitions other than to have a happy life and be free | a free choice.

- [with infinitive] able or permitted to take a specified action: you are free to leave.

- (of a state or its citizens or institutions) subject neither to foreign domination nor to despotic government: a free press.

- HISTORICAL not a slave.

- [in names] denoting an ethnic or political group actively opposing an occupying or invading force, in particular the groups that continued resisting the Germans in the Second World War after the fall of their countries. See also FREE FRENCH.

2 [often as complement] not or no longer confined or imprisoned: the researchers set the birds free.

- not physically obstructed or fixed: he tried to kick his legs free.

- [PHYSICS] (of power or energy) disengaged or available. See also FREE ENERGY.

- [PHYSICS] & [CHEMISTRY] not bound in an atom, a molecule, or a compound: the atmosphere of that time contained virtually no free oxygen. See also FREE RADICAL.

- [LINGUISTICS] denoting a linguistic form that can be used in isolation.

3 not subject to engagements or obligations: she spent her free time shopping.

- (of a facility or piece of equipment) not occupied or in use: the bathroom was free.

4 (free of/from) not subject to or affected by (something undesirable): our salsas are free of preservatives.

5 given or available without charge: free health care.

6 using or expending something without restraint; lavish: she was always free with her money.

- frank or unrestrained in speech, expression, or action: he was free in his talk of revolution.

- ARCHAIC overfamiliar or forward.

7 (of literature or music) not observing the normal conventions of style or form.

- (of a translation) conveying only the broad sense; not literal.

8 [SAILING] (of the wind) blowing from a favourable direction to the side or aft of a vessel.

■ adv. 1 without cost or payment: ladies were admitted free.

2 [SAILING] with the sheets eased.

■ v. (frees, freeing, freed) [with obj.] 1 release from confinement or slavery: they were freed from jail.

- release from physical obstruction or restraint: I had to tug hard and at last freed him | she struggled to free herself from the tenacious mud.

2 remove something undesirable or restrictive from: his inheritance freed him from financial constraints | free your body of excess tension.

3 make available for a particular purpose: we are freeing management time for alternative work.

<PHRASES>

□ for free INFORMAL without cost or payment.

□ free and easy informal and relaxed: enjoy the free and easy lifestyle.

□ free, gratis, and for nothing HUMOROUS without charge.

□ a free hand freedom to act completely at one's own discretion.

□ free on board (or rail) (abbr.: f.o.b. or f.o.r.) including or assuming delivery without charge to a ship (or railway wagon).

□ (a) free REIN see REIN.

□ a free ride used in reference to a situation in which someone benefits without having to make a fair contribution: it is time for the scientific community to stop giving alternative medicine a free ride.

□ the free world the non-communist countries of the world, as formerly opposed to the Soviet bloc.

□ it's a free country said when justifying a course of action.

□ make free with treat without proper respect: he'll have something to say about your making free with his belongings.

<DERIVATIVES> freeness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English frēo (adjective), frēon (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vrij and German frei, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘to love’, shared by FRIEND.

-free combining form free of or from: smoke-free | tax-free.

free agent n. a person who does not have any commitments that restrict their actions.

free association n. [mass noun] 1 [PSYCHOLOGY] the mental process by which one word or image may spontaneously suggest another without any necessary logical connection.

- a psychoanalytic technique for investigation of the unconscious mind, in which a relaxed subject reports all passing thoughts without reservation.

2 the forming of a group, political alliance, or other organization without any external restriction.

<DERIVATIVES> free-associate v.

■ free association (sense 1)

free ball n. [BILLIARDS] the option to nominate any ball as the object ball when snookered as a result of a foul stroke.

freebase n. (also freebase cocaine) [mass noun] cocaine that has been purified by heating with ether, taken by inhaling the fumes or smoking the residue.

■ v. [with obj.] take (freebase cocaine).

freebie n. INFORMAL a thing that is provided or given free of charge: a freebie to the Himalayas.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally US): an arbitrary formation from FREE.

freeboard n. the height of a ship's side between the waterline and the deck.

freebooter n. a pirate or lawless adventurer.

<DERIVATIVES> freeboot v.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Dutch vrijbuiter, from vrij ‘free’ + buit ‘booty’, + the noun suffix -er. Compare with FILIBUSTER.

freeborn adj. not born in slavery: an encroachment on the rights of the freeborn Englishman.

Free Church n. a Christian Church which has dissented or seceded from an established Church.

Free Church of Scotland a strict Presbyterian Church organized by dissenting members of the established Church of Scotland in 1843. In 1900 its majority amalgamated with the United Presbyterian Church to form the United Free Church; its name was retained by the minority group, nicknamed the Wee Free Kirk (see WEE FREE).

free climbing n. [mass noun] rock climbing without the assistance of devices such as pegs placed in the rock, but occasionally using ropes and belays. Compare with AID CLIMBING.

freedman n. (pl. freedmen) HISTORICAL an emancipated slave.

freedom n. [mass noun] 1 the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants: we do have some freedom of choice | [count noun] he talked of revoking some of the freedoms.

- absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government: he was a champion of Irish freedom.

- the power of self-determination attributed to the will; the quality of being independent of fate or necessity.

2 the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved: the shark thrashed its way to freedom.

- the state of being unrestricted and able to move easily: the shorts have a side split for freedom of movement.

- unrestricted use of something: the dog has the freedom of the house when we are out.

3 (freedom from) the state of not being subject to or affected by (something undesirable): government policies to achieve freedom from want.

4 (the freedom of ——) BRITISH a special privilege or right of access, especially that of full citizenship of a city granted to a public figure as an honour: he accepted the freedom of the City of Glasgow.

5 ARCHAIC familiarity or openness in speech or behaviour.

<ORIGIN> Old English frēodōm (see FREE, -dom).

freedom fighter n. a person who takes part in a revolutionary struggle to achieve a political goal, especially in order to overthrow their government.

freedom of conscience n. [mass noun] the right to follow one's own beliefs in matters of religion and morality.

freedom of religion n. [mass noun] the right to practise whatever religion one chooses.

freedom rider n. US a person who challenged racial laws in the American South during in the 1960s, originally by refusing to abide by the laws governing the segregation of seating in buses.

free energy n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a system to do work. See also GIBBS FREE ENERGY.

free enterprise n. [mass noun] an economic system in which private business operates in competition and largely free of state control.

free fall n. [mass noun] downward movement under the force of gravity only: the path of a body in free fall.

- a rapid decline that cannot be stopped: her career seemed about to go into free fall.

- the movement of a spacecraft in space without thrust from the engines.

■ v. (free-fall) [no obj.] move under the force of gravity only; fall rapidly.

free flight n. [mass noun] the flight of a spacecraft, rocket, or missile when the engine is not producing thrust.

free-floating adj. 1 not attached to anything and able to move freely: free-floating aquatic plants.

- not assigned to a particular category or level: free-floating exchange rates.

2 [PSYCHIATRY] (of anxiety) chronic and generalized, without an obvious cause.

<DERIVATIVES> free-float v. free-floater n.

free-for-all n. a disorganized or unrestricted situation or event in which everyone may take part, especially a fight, discussion, or trading market.

free-form adj. not conforming to a regular or formal structure or shape: a free-form jazz improvisation.

Free French an organization of French troops and volunteers in exile formed under General de Gaulle in 1940. Based in London, the movement organized forces that opposed the Axis powers in French Equatorial Africa, Lebanon, and elsewhere, and cooperated with the French Resistance.

freehand adj. & adv. (especially with reference to drawing) done manually without the aid of instruments such as rulers: [as adj.] a freehand sketch | [as adv.] the pictures should be drawn freehand.

free-handed adj. generous, especially with money.

<DERIVATIVES> free-handedly adv. free-handedness n.

freehold chiefly BRITISH n. [mass noun] permanent and absolute tenure of land or property with freedom to dispose of it at will. Often contrasted with LEASEHOLD.

- [count noun] a piece of land or property held by freehold.

■ adj. held by or having the status of freehold.

<DERIVATIVES> freeholder n.

free house n. BRITISH a pub not controlled by a brewery and therefore not restricted to selling particular brands of beer or liquor.

free jazz n. [mass noun] an improvised style of jazz characterized by the absence of set chord patterns or time patterns.

free kick n. (in soccer and rugby) an unimpeded kick of the stationary ball awarded to one side as a penalty for a foul or infringement by the other side.

freelance /frilαns/ adj. self-employed and hired to work for different companies on particular assignments: a freelance journalist.

■ adv. earning one's living as a freelance: I work freelance from home.

■ n. 1 a freelance worker.

2 HISTORICAL a medieval mercenary.

■ v. [no obj.] earn one's living as a freelance.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting a mercenary): originally as two words.

freelancer n. a person who works freelance.

free-living adj. [BIOLOGY] living freely and independently, not as a parasite or attached to a substrate.

freeloader n. INFORMAL a person who takes advantage of others' generosity without giving anything in return.

<DERIVATIVES> freeload v.

free love n. [mass noun] the idea or practice of having sexual relations according to choice, without being restricted by marriage or long-term relationships.

freely adv. 1 not under the control of another; as one wishes: I roamed freely.

- without restriction or interference: air can freely circulate.

- openly and honestly: you may speak freely.

- willingly and readily: I freely confess to this failing.

2 in copious or generous amounts: she drank freely to keep up her courage.

Freeman Cathy (b.1973), Australian athlete. She became the first Aboriginal to represent Australia at the Olympic Games in 1992, and won the Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres in 2000.

freeman n. (pl. freemen) 1 BRITISH a person who has been given the freedom of a city or borough.

2 HISTORICAL a person who is not a slave or serf.

free market n. an economic system in which prices are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses.

<DERIVATIVES> free marketeer n. free marketeering n.

freemartin /frimαtn/ n. a hermaphrodite or imperfect sterile female calf which is the twin of a male calf whose hormones affected its development.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

Freemason n. a member of an international order established for mutual help and fellowship, which holds elaborate secret ceremonies.

The original free masons were itinerant skilled stonemasons of the 14th century, who are said to have recognized fellow craftsmen by secret signs. Modern freemasonry is usually traced to the formation of the Grand Lodge in London in 1717; members are typically professionals and businessmen.

Freemasonry n. [mass noun] 1 the system and institutions of the Freemasons.

2 (freemasonry) instinctive sympathy or fellow feeling between people with something in common: the unshakeable freemasonry of actors in a crisis.

free pardon n. BRITISH an unconditional remission of the legal consequences of an offence or conviction.

Freephone (also TRADEMARK Freefone) n. a telephone service whereby a subscribing organization can pay for incoming calls made by its clients or customers.

free port n. a port open to all traders.

- a port area where goods in transit are exempt from customs duty.

Freepost n. [mass noun] BRITISH (chiefly as an element of an address) a postal service whereby the cost of postage is paid by the business that receives the letter.

free radical n. [CHEMISTRY] an uncharged molecule (typically highly reactive and short-lived) having an unpaired valency electron.

free-range adj. (of livestock, especially poultry) kept in natural conditions, with freedom of movement.

- (of eggs) produced by free-range poultry.

freeride n. (also freeride board) a type of snowboard designed for all-round use on and off piste.

■ v. [no obj.] ride on a freeride snowboard.

free safety n. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a defensive back who is usually free from an assignment to cover a particular player on the opposing team.

free school n. HISTORICAL a school for which no fees are charged, typically run at public expense.

free sheet n. a free newspaper.

freesia /frizə/ n. a small southern African plant with fragrant, colourful, tubular flowers, many varieties of which are cultivated for the cut-flower trade.

<INFO> Genus Freesia, family Iridaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Friedrich H. T. Freese (died 1876), German physician.

free skating n. [mass noun] the sport of performing variable skating figures to music.

free space n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] space unoccupied by matter or, more particularly, containing no electromagnetic or gravitational field and used as a reference.

free speech n. [mass noun] the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint.

free spirit n. an independent or uninhibited person.

free-spoken adj. ARCHAIC speaking candidly and openly.

free-standing adj. not attached to or supported by another structure: a free-standing cooker.

- not relying on or linked to anything else; independent: most nursing homes and free-standing therapeutic facilities are investor-owned.

free state n. 1 HISTORICAL a state of the US in which slavery did not exist.

- (the Free State)

■ informal name for MARYLAND.

2 (Free State) a province in central South Africa, situated to the north of the Orange River; capital, Bloemfontein. Formerly called (until 1995) ORANGE FREE STATE.

Free Stater n. HISTORICAL a member of the Irish Free State army.

freestone n. 1 [mass noun] a fine-grained stone which can be cut easily in any direction, in particular a type of sandstone or limestone.

2 a stone fruit in which the stone is easily separated from the flesh when the fruit is ripe: [as modifier] freestone peaches. Contrasted with CLINGSTONE.

freestyle adj. denoting a contest, race, or version of a sport in which there are few restrictions on the moves or techniques that competitors employ: freestyle wrestling.

■ n. a freestyle contest, in particular a swimming race in which competitors may use any stroke.

■ v. [no obj.] dance, perform, or compete in an improvised or unrestricted fashion: he just came in and freestyled over the music.

<DERIVATIVES> freestyler n.

free-swimming adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of an aquatic animal) not attached to an object or substrate and able to swim freely.

free-tailed bat n. a streamlined fast-flying insectivorous bat with a projecting tail, found in tropical and subtropical countries.

<INFO> Family Molossidae: several genera and numerous species, including the mastiff bats and hairless bats.

freethinker n. a person who rejects accepted opinions, especially those concerning religious belief.

<DERIVATIVES> freethinking n. & adj.

free throw n. [BASKETBALL] an unimpeded attempt at a goal awarded to a player following a foul or other infringement.

free-to-air adj. denoting or relating to television programmes broadcast on standard public or commercial networks, as opposed to satellite, cable, or digital programmes available only to fee-paying viewers.

Freetown the capital and chief port of Sierra Leone; pop. 1,032,100 (est. 2002).

free trade n. [mass noun] international trade left to its natural course without tariffs, quotas, or other restrictions.

free vector n. [MATHEMATICS] a vector of which only the magnitude and direction are specified, not the position or line of action.

free verse n. [mass noun] poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular rhythm. Also called VERS LIBRE.

free vote n. chiefly BRITISH a parliamentary division in which members vote according to their own beliefs rather than following a party policy.

freeware n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] software that is available free of charge.

freeway n. NORTH AMERICAN a dual-carriageway main road, especially one with controlled access.

- a toll-free highway.

freewheel v. [no obj.] 1 ride a bicycle with the pedals at rest, especially downhill: the postman came freewheeling down the track.

2 (as adj. freewheeling) not concerned with rules, conventions, or the consequences of one's actions: the freewheeling drug scene of the sixties.

■ n. (free wheel) a bicycle wheel which is able to revolve freely when no power is being applied to the pedals.

free will n. [mass noun] the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion.

■ adj. [attr.] (especially of a donation) voluntary: free-will offerings.

freeze v. (past froze; past participle frozen) 1 (with reference to a liquid) turn or be turned into ice or another solid as a result of extreme cold: [no obj.] in the winter the milk froze | [with obj.] frost freezes water that has seeped into joints.

- become or cause to become blocked, covered, or rigid with ice: [no obj.] the pipes had frozen | [with complement] the ground was frozen hard.

- be so cold that one feels near death (often used hyperbolically): you'll freeze to death standing there.

- [with obj.] deprive (a part of the body) of feeling, especially by the application of a chilled anaesthetic substance.

2 [with obj.] store (something) at a very low temperature in order to preserve it: the cake can be frozen.

- [no obj., with complement] (of food) be able to be preserved at a very low temperature: this soup freezes well.

3 [no obj.] become suddenly motionless or paralysed with fear or shock: she froze in horror.

- stop moving when ordered.

4 [with obj.] hold (something) at a fixed level or in a fixed state for a period of time: new spending on defence was to be frozen.

- prevent (assets) from being used for a period of time: the charity's bank account has been frozen.

- stop (a moving image) at a particular frame when filming or viewing: the camera will set fast shutter speeds to freeze the action.

- [no obj.] (of a computer screen) become temporarily locked because of system problems.

5 [with obj.] stare coldly at (someone); treat coldly: she would freeze him with a look when he tried to talk to her.

- (freeze someone out) INFORMAL behave in a hostile or obstructive way so as to exclude someone.

■ n. 1 an act of holding or being held at a fixed level or in a fixed state: workers faced a pay freeze.

■ short for FREEZE-FRAME.

2 a period of frost or very cold weather: the big freeze surprised the weathermen.

<PHRASES>

□ freeze one's blood (or one's blood FREEZEs) fill (or be filled) with a sudden feeling of great fear or horror.

<DERIVATIVES> freezable adj. frozenly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English frēosan (in the phrase hit frēoseth ‘it is freezing’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vriezen and German frieren, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin pruina ‘hoar FROST’ and frost.

freeze-dry v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. freeze-dried) preserve (something) by rapidly freezing it and then subjecting it to a high vacuum which removes ice by sublimation: freeze-dried beef stew.

freeze-frame n. a single frame forming a motionless image from a film or videotape.

- [mass noun] the facility or process of stopping a film or videotape to obtain a freeze-frame.

■ v. [with obj.] use a freeze-frame facility on (an image or a recording).

freeze-out n. INFORMAL an exclusion of a person or organization from something, by boycotting or ignoring them.

freezer n. a refrigerated cabinet or room for preserving food at very low temperatures.

freeze-up n. a period of extreme cold.

freezing adj. below 0°C: strong winds and freezing temperatures.

- very cold: he was freezing and miserable | [as submodifier] it was freezing cold outside.

- (of fog or rain) consisting of droplets which freeze rapidly on contact with a surface to form ice crystals.

■ n. the freezing point of water (0°C): the temperature was well above freezing.

freezing mixture n. a mixture of two or more substances (e.g. ice water and salt, or dry ice and alcohol) which can be used to produce temperatures below the freezing point of water.

freezing point n. the temperature at which a liquid turns into a solid when cooled.

freezing works plural n. [treated as sing.] AUSTRALIAN/NZ a place where animals are slaughtered and carcasses frozen, usually for export.

Frege /freə/ Gottlob (1848–1925), German philosopher and mathematician, founder of modern logic. He developed a logical system for the expression of mathematics. He also worked on general questions of philosophical logic and semantics and devised his influential theory of meaning, based on his use of a distinction between what a linguistic term refers to and what it expresses.

Freiburg /frbə/ German /frabrk/ a city in SW Germany, in Baden-Württemberg, on the edge of the Black Forest; pop. 203,000 (est. 2002). Full name Freiburg im Breisgau /m brsa/ German /m brasa/.

freight /fret/ n. [mass noun] goods transported in bulk by truck, train, ship, or aircraft.

- the transport of bulk goods by truck, train, ship, or aircraft.

- a charge for transport by freight.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 transport (goods) in bulk by truck, train, ship, or aircraft: the metals had been freighted from the city.

2 (be freighted with) be laden or burdened with: each word was freighted with anger.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘hire of a ship for transporting goods’): from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German vrecht, variant of vracht ‘ship's cargo’. Compare with FRAUGHT.

freightage n. [mass noun] the carrying of goods in bulk.

- goods carried in bulk; freight.

freighter n. a large ship or aircraft designed to carry goods in bulk.

- a person who loads, receives, or forwards goods for transport.

freighting n. [mass noun] the action of transporting goods in bulk by truck, train, ship, or aircraft.

Freightliner n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a train carrying freight in containers.

Frelimo /frεlimə/ the nationalist liberation party of Mozambique, founded in 1962. After independence in 1975, Frelimo governed Mozambique as a one-party state until 1990, when a multiparty system was introduced.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese, contraction of Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, the name of the party.

Fremantle /frimant(ə)l/ the principal port of Western Australia, part of the Perth metropolitan area; pop. 25,199 (2001).

Frémont /frimnt/ John Charles (1813–90), American explorer and politician. He was responsible for exploring several viable routes to the Pacific across the Rockies in the 1840s.

French adj. relating to France or its people or language.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the language of France, also used in parts of Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada, in several countries of northern and western Africa and the Caribbean, and elsewhere.

2 (as plural n. the French) the people of France collectively.

3 short for FRENCH VERMOUTH.

French is the first or official language of over 200 million people and is widely used as a second language. It is a Romance language which developed from the Latin spoken in Gaul; it had a very great influence on English as the language of the Norman ruling class.

<PHRASES>

□ (if you'll) excuse (or pardon) my French INFORMAL used to apologize for swearing.

<DERIVATIVES> Frenchness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English Frencisc, of Germanic origin, from the base of Frank^2.

French bean n. BRITISH a tropical American bean plant of which many varieties are commercially cultivated.

<INFO> Phaseolus vulgaris, family Leguminosae: many varieties, including the haricot bean and the kidney bean.

- the seed of the French bean plant used as food.

French bread n. [mass noun] white bread in a long, crisp loaf.

French Canadian n. 1 a Canadian whose principal language is French.

2 [mass noun] the form of French spoken in Canada.

■ adj. relating to French-speaking Canadians or their language.

French chalk n. [mass noun] a kind of steatite used for marking cloth and removing grease and, in powder form, as a dry lubricant.

French Congo former name (until 1910) for FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA.

French cricket n. [mass noun] an informal game resembling cricket but played with a soft ball which is bowled at the batter's legs.

French cuff n. a shirt cuff that is folded back before fastening, creating a double-layered cuff.

French curve n. a template used for drawing curved lines.

French door n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a French window.

French dressing n. [mass noun] a salad dressing of vinegar, oil, and seasonings.

- North American a sweet, creamy salad dressing commercially prepared from oil, tomato purée, and spices.

French Equatorial Africa a former federation of French territories in west central Africa (1910–58). Previously called French Congo, its constituent territories were Chad, Ubanghi Shari (now the Central African Republic), Gabon, and Middle Congo (now Congo).

French fries plural n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN potatoes deep-fried in thin strips; chips.

French Guiana an overseas department of France, in northern South America; pop. 182,333 (est. 2002); capital, Cayenne.

French horn n. a brass instrument with a coiled tube, valves, and a wide bell, developed from the simple hunting horn in the 17th century. It is played with the right hand in the bell to soften the tone and increase the range of available harmonics.

Frenchify v. (Frenchifies, Frenchifying, Frenchified) [with obj.] (usually as adj. Frenchified) often DEROGATORY make French in form, character, or manners: Frenchified academicians.

French kiss n. a kiss with contact between tongues.

<DERIVATIVES> French kissing n.

French knickers plural n. loose-fitting, wide-legged knickers, typically of silk or satin.

French knot n. (in embroidery) a stitch in which the thread is wound around the needle, which is then passed back through the fabric at almost the same point to form a small dot.

French leave n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, DATED absence from work or duty without permission.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: said to derive from the French custom of leaving a dinner or ball without saying goodbye to the host or hostess. The phrase was first recorded shortly after the Seven Years War; the equivalent French expression is filer à l'Anglaise, literally ‘to escape in the style of the English’.

French letter n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a condom.

French loaf n. a loaf of French bread.

Frenchman n. (pl. Frenchmen) 1 a man who is French by birth or descent.

2 a knife with a right-angled bend in its blade, used in bricklaying.

French manicure n. a style of manicure in which the fingernails are painted pale pink with a white band at the tip.

French mustard n. [mass noun] BRITISH mild mustard mixed with vinegar.

French plait n. BRITISH a woman's hairstyle in which all the hair is gathered tightly and pulled back from the forehead into one large plait down the back of the head.

French pleat n. 1 a French roll.

2 a pleat at the top of a curtain consisting of three smaller pleats.

French polish British n. [mass noun] shellac polish that produces a high gloss on wood.

■ v. (french-polish) [with obj.] treat (wood) with French polish.

French Polynesia an overseas territory of France in the South Pacific; pop. 257,847 (est. 2002); capital, Papeete (on Tahiti). French Polynesia comprises the Society Islands, the Gambier Islands, the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Tubuai Islands, and the Marquesas. It became an overseas territory of France in 1946, and was granted partial autonomy in 1977.

French Republican calendar n. a reformed calendar officially introduced by the French Republican government on 5 October 1793, having twelve months of thirty days each, with five days of festivals at the year's end (six in leap years). It was abandoned under the Napoleonic regime and the Gregorian calendar was formally reinstated on 1 January 1806.

French Revolution the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy in France (1789–99).

The Revolution began with the meeting of the legislative assembly (the States General) in May 1789, when the French government was already in crisis; the Bastille was stormed in July of the same year. The Revolution became steadily more radical and ruthless with power increasingly in the hands of the Jacobins and Robespierre; Louis XVI's execution in January 1793 was followed by Robespierre's Reign of Terror. The Revolution failed to produce a stable form of republican government and after several different forms of administration the last, the Directory, was overthrown by Napoleon in 1799.

French roll n. a hairstyle in which the hair is tucked into a vertical roll down the back of the head.

French roof n. a mansard roof.

French seam n. a seam with the raw edges enclosed.

French Somaliland /səmαlland/ former name (until 1967) for DJIBOUTI.

French Southern and Antarctic Territories an overseas territory of France, comprising Adélie Land in Antarctica, and the Kerguelen and Crozet archipelagos and the islands of Amsterdam and St Paul in the southern Indian Ocean.

French stick n. a French loaf.

French Sudan former name for MALI.

French tickler n. INFORMAL a ribbed condom.

French toast n. [mass noun] bread coated in egg and milk and fried.

- BRITISH bread buttered on one side and toasted on the other.

French twist n. NORTH AMERICAN a French roll.

French vermouth n. [mass noun] BRITISH dry vermouth.

French Wars of Religion a series of religious and political conflicts in France (1562–98) involving the Protestant Huguenots on one side and Catholic groups on the other. The wars were complicated by interventions from Spain, Rome, England, the Netherlands, and elsewhere, and were not brought to an end until the settlement of the Edict of Nantes.

French West Africa a former federation of French territories in NW Africa (1895–1959). Its constituent territories were Senegal, Mauritania, French Sudan (now Mali), Upper Volta (now Burkina), Niger, French Guinea (now Guinea), Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), and Dahomey (now Benin).

French window n. (usually French windows) each of a pair of glazed doors in an outside wall, serving as a window and door, typically opening on to a garden or balcony.

Frenchwoman n. (pl. Frenchwomen) a female native or national of France, or a woman of French descent.

Frenchy (also Frenchie) adj. (Frenchier, Frenchiest) INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY typically French in character: progressive Frenchy art.

■ n. (pl. Frenchies) 1 INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY a French person.

- CANADIAN a French Canadian.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED short for FRENCH LETTER.

frenetic /frənεtk/ adj. fast and energetic in a rather wild and uncontrolled way: a frenetic pace of activity.

<DERIVATIVES> frenetically adv. freneticism n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘insane’): from Old French frenetique, via Latin from Greek phrenitikos, from phrenitis ‘delirium’, from phrēn ‘mind’. Compare with FRANTIC.

frenulum /frinjləm/ (also fraenulum) n. 1 [ANATOMY] a small fold or ridge of tissue which supports or checks the motion of the part to which it is attached, in particular a fold of skin beneath the tongue, or between the lip and the gum.

2 [ENTOMOLOGY] (in some moths and butterflies) a bristle or row of bristles on the edge of the hindwing which keeps it in contact with the forewing.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, diminutive of Latin frenum ‘bridle’.

frenum /frinəm/ (also fraenum) n. another term for FRENULUM.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘bridle’.

frenzied adj. wildly excited or uncontrolled: a frenzied attack.

<DERIVATIVES> frenziedly adv.

frenzy n. (pl. frenzies) [usually in sing.] a state or period of uncontrolled excitement or wild behaviour: Doreen worked herself into a frenzy of rage.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French frenesie, from medieval Latin phrenesia, from Latin phrenesis, from Greek phrēn ‘mind’.

freon /frin/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an aerosol propellant, refrigerant, or organic solvent consisting of one or more of a group of chlorofluorocarbons and related compounds.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

frequency n. (pl. frequencies) 1 [mass noun] the rate at which something occurs over a particular period of time or in a given sample: an increase in the frequency of accidents due to increased overtime.

- the fact or state of being frequent or happening often.

2 the rate per second of a vibration constituting a wave, either in a material (as in sound waves), or in an electromagnetic field (as in radio waves and light): different thicknesses of glass will absorb different frequencies of sound. (Symbol: f or ν)

- the particular waveband at which radio signals are broadcast or transmitted.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (gradually superseding late Middle English frequence; originally denoting a gathering of people): from Latin frequentia, from frequens, frequent- ‘crowded, frequent’.

frequency distribution n. [STATISTICS] a mathematical function showing the number of instances in which a variable takes each of its possible values.

frequency division multiplex n. [mass noun] [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] a technique for sending two or more signals over the same telephone line, radio channel, or other medium. Each signal is transmitted as a unique range of frequencies within the bandwidth of the channel as a whole, enabling several signals to be transmitted simultaneously. Compare with TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEX.

frequency modulation (abbr.: FM) n. [mass noun] the modulation of a radio or other wave by variation of its frequency, especially to carry an audio signal. Often contrasted with AMPLITUDE MODULATION.

frequency response n. [mass noun] [ELECTRONICS] the dependence on signal frequency of the output–input ratio of an amplifier or other device.

frequent adj. /frikw(ə)nt/ occurring or done many times at short intervals: frequent changes in policy | the showers will become heavier and more frequent.

- [attr.] (of a person) doing something often; habitual: a frequent visitor to Scotland.

- ARCHAIC found at short distances apart: walls flanked by frequent square towers.

■ v. /frkwεnt/ [with obj.] visit (a place) often: pubs frequented by soldiers | (as adj., with submodifier frequented) one of the most frequented sites.

<DERIVATIVES> frequentation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘profuse, ample’): from French, or from Latin frequens, frequent- ‘crowded, frequent’, of unknown ultimate origin.

frequentative /frkwεntətv/ [GRAMMAR] adj. (of a verb or verbal form) expressing frequent repetition or intensity of action.

■ n. a frequentative verb or verbal form (for example chatter in English).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French fréquentatif, -ive or Latin frequentativus, from frequens, frequent- ‘crowded, frequent’.

frequenter n. a person who visits a place often: he is an avid frequenter of discount supermarkets.

frequently adv. regularly or habitually; often: they go abroad frequently.

fresco /frεskə/ n. (pl. frescoes or frescos) a painting done rapidly in watercolour on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling, so that the colours penetrate the plaster and become fixed as it dries.

- [mass noun] this method of painting, used in Roman times and by the great masters of the Italian Renaissance including Giotto, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

<DERIVATIVES> frescoed adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Italian, literally ‘cool, fresh’. The word was first recorded in English in the phrase in fresco, representing Italian affresco, al fresco ‘on the fresh (plaster)’.

fresh adj. 1 not previously known or used; new or different: the court had heard fresh evidence.

- recently created or experienced and not faded or impaired: the memory was still fresh in their minds.

- (of a person) attractively youthful and unspoilt.

2 (of food) recently made or obtained; not tinned, frozen, or otherwise preserved: fresh fruit.

3 [predic.] (of a person) full of energy and vigour: they are feeling fresh after a good night's sleep.

- (of a colour or a person's complexion) bright or healthy in appearance.

4 (of water) not salty.

5 (of the wind) cool and fairly strong.

- British INFORMAL (of the weather) rather cold and windy.

- pleasantly clean and cool: a bit of fresh air does her good.

6 (fresh from/out of) (of a person) having just had (a particular experience) or come from (a particular place): we were fresh out of art school.

7 INFORMAL presumptuous towards someone, especially in a sexual way: some of the men tried to get fresh with the girls.

8 W. INDIAN having an unpleasant, slightly rotten smell: this place was covered in water and smelled fresh like hell.

■ adv. [usually in combination] newly; recently: fresh-baked bread | fresh-cut grass.

<PHRASES>

□ be fresh out of INFORMAL have just sold or run out of a supply of (something).

□ be (as) fresh as a daisy see DAISY.

□ fresh BLOOD see BLOOD.

<DERIVATIVES> freshness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English fersc ‘not salt, fit for drinking’, superseded in Middle English by forms from Old French freis, fresche; both ultimately of Germanic origin and related to Dutch vers and German frisch.

fresh breeze n. a wind of force 5 on the Beaufort scale (17–21 knots or 31–9 kph).

freshen v. 1 [with obj.] make (something) newer, cleaner, or more attractive: it didn't take long to freshen her make-up.

- (freshen up) refresh oneself by washing or changing into clean clothes.

2 [no obj.] (of wind) become stronger and colder.

3 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN add more liquid to (a drink); top up.

4 [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN (of a cow) give birth and come into milk.

<DERIVATIVES> freshener n. [usually in combination] an air-freshener

fresher n. British informal term for FRESHMAN.

freshet /frεt/ n. the flood of a river from heavy rain or melted snow.

- a rush of fresh water flowing into the sea.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from Old French freschete, diminutive of freis ‘fresh’.

fresh-faced adj. having a clear and young-looking complexion: he looked like a fresh-faced schoolboy.

freshie (also freshy) n. AUSTRALIAN a freshwater crocodile native to northern Australia.

<INFO> Crocodylus johnstoni, family Crocodylidae.

freshly adv. [usually as submodifier] newly; recently: freshly ground black pepper.

freshman n. (pl. freshmen) a first-year student at university.

- NORTH AMERICAN a first-year student at high school.

fresh-run adj. (of a migratory fish, especially a salmon) newly arrived in fresh water from the sea in order to spawn.

freshwater adj. 1 of or found in fresh water; not of the sea: freshwater and marine fish.

2 US INFORMAL (especially of a school or college) situated in a remote or obscure area; provincial.

freshwater flea n. another term for DAPHNIA.

freshwoman n. (pl. freshwomen) a female first-year student.

Fresnel /fren(ə)l/ French /fRεnεl/ Augustin Jean (1788–1827), French physicist and civil engineer. He correctly postulated that light has a wave-like motion transverse to the direction of propagation, contrary to the longitudinal direction suggested by Christiaan Huygens and Thomas Young.

fresnel /frenεl/ (also fresnel lens) n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a flat lens made of a number of concentric rings, to reduce spherical aberration.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after A. J.

■ Fresnel.

Fresno /frεznə/ a city in central California, in the San Joaquin valley; pop. 427,652 (2000).

fret^1 v. (frets, fretting, fretted) 1 [no obj.] be constantly or visibly anxious: she fretted about the cost of groceries.

- [with obj.] cause anxiety to: his absence during her times awake began to fret her.

2 [with obj.] gradually wear away (something) by rubbing or gnawing: the bay's black waves fret the seafront.

- form (a channel or passage) by rubbing or wearing away.

3 [no obj.] flow or move in small waves: squelchy clay that fretted between his toes.

■ n. [in sing.] chiefly BRITISH a state of anxiety.

<ORIGIN> Old English fretan ‘devour, consume’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vreten and German fressen, and ultimately to FOR- and EAT.

fret^2 n. 1 [ART] & [ARCHITECTURE] a repeating ornamental design of vertical and horizontal lines, such as the Greek key pattern.

2 [HERALDRY] a device of narrow diagonal bands interlaced through a diamond.

■ v. (frets, fretting, fretted) [with obj.] (usually as adj. fretted) decorate with fretwork: intricately carved and fretted balustrades.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French frete ‘trelliswork’ and freter (verb), of unknown origin.

fret^3 n. each of a sequence of ridges on the fingerboard of some stringed musical instruments (such as the guitar), used for fixing the positions of the fingers to produce the desired notes.

■ v. (frets, fretting, fretted) [with obj.] (often as adj. fretted) 1 provide (a stringed instrument) with frets.

2 play (a note) while pressing the string down against a fret: fretted notes.

<DERIVATIVES> fretless adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: of unknown origin.

fret^4 (also sea fret) n. N. ENGLISH a mist coming in off the sea; a sea fog.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

fretboard n. a fretted fingerboard on a guitar or other musical instrument.

fretful adj. feeling or expressing distress or irritation: the baby was crying with a fretful whimper.

<DERIVATIVES> fretfully adv. fretfulness n.

fretsaw n. a saw with a narrow blade stretched vertically on a frame, for cutting thin wood in patterns.

fretwork n. [mass noun] ornamental design in wood, typically openwork, done with a fretsaw.

Freud^1 /frd/ Anna (1895–1982), Austrian-born British psychoanalyst, the youngest child of Sigmund Freud. She introduced important innovations in method and theory to her father's work, notably with regard to disturbed children, and set up a child therapy course and clinic in London.

Freud^2 /frd/ Lucian (b.1922), German-born British painter, grandson of Sigmund Freud. His subjects, typically portraits and nudes, are painted in a powerful naturalistic style.

Freud^3 /frd/ Sigmund (1856–1939), Austrian neurologist and psychotherapist.

He was the first to emphasize the significance of unconscious processes in normal and neurotic behaviour, and was the founder of psychoanalysis as both a theory of personality and a therapeutic practice. He proposed the existence of an unconscious element in the mind which influences consciousness, and of conflicts in it between various sets of forces. Freud also stated the importance of a child's semi-consciousness of sex as a factor in mental development; his theory of the sexual origin of neuroses aroused great controversy.

Freudian [PSYCHOLOGY] adj. relating to or influenced by Sigmund Freud and his methods of psychoanalysis, especially with reference to the importance of sexuality in human behaviour.

- susceptible to analysis in terms of unconscious desires: he wasn't sure whether his passion for water power had some deep Freudian significance.

■ n. a follower of Freud or his methods.

<DERIVATIVES> Freudianism n.

Freudian slip n. an unintentional error regarded as revealing subconscious feelings.

Frey /fre/ (also Freyr /freə/) [SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY] the god of fertility and dispenser of rain and sunshine.

Freya /freə/ [SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY] the goddess of love and of the night, sister of Frey. She is often identified with Frigga.

Fri. abbr. Friday.

friable /frəb(ə)l/ adj. easily crumbled: the soil was friable between her fingers.

<DERIVATIVES> friability n. friableness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, or from Latin friabilis, from friare ‘to crumble’.

friar n. a member of any of certain religious orders of men, especially the four mendicant orders (Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, and Franciscans).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French frere, from Latin frater ‘brother’.

friarbird n. a large Australasian honeyeater with a dark, partly naked head and a long curved bill.

<INFO> Genus Philemon, family Meliphagidae: many species.

Friar Minor n. a Franciscan friar.

<ORIGIN> so named because the Franciscans regarded themselves of humbler rank than members of other orders.

friar's balsam n. [mass noun] a solution containing benzoin in alcohol, used chiefly as an inhalant.

friary n. (pl. friaries) a building or community occupied by or consisting of friars.

fribble n. INFORMAL a frivolous or foolish person.

- a thing of no great importance.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: symbolic, from the earlier (now obsolete) verb meaning ‘stammer’, also ‘act aimlessly or frivolously’.

fricandeau /frkandə/ n. (pl. fricandeaux /-dəz/) a slice of meat, especially veal, cut from the leg.

- a dish consisting of a veal fillet stewed or fried and served with a sauce.

<ORIGIN> French, probably related to fricassée ‘stew’, from the verb fricasser (see FRICASSEE).

fricassee /frkəsi frkəsi/ n. a dish of stewed or fried pieces of meat served in a thick white sauce.

■ v. (fricassees, fricasseed, fricasseeing) [with obj.] make a fricassee of (meat).

<ORIGIN> French fricassée, feminine past participle of fricasser ‘cut up and cook in sauce’ (probably a blend of frire ‘to fry’ and casser ‘to break’).

fricative /frkətv/ [PHONETICS] adj. denoting a type of consonant made by the friction of breath in a narrow opening, producing a turbulent air flow.

■ n. a consonant made in this way, e.g. f and th.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin fricativus, from Latin fricare ‘to rub’.

friction n. [mass noun] the resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another: a lubrication system which reduces friction.

- the action of one surface or object rubbing against another: the friction of braking.

- conflict or animosity caused by a clash of wills, temperaments, or opinions: a considerable amount of friction between father and son.

<DERIVATIVES> frictionless adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting chafing or rubbing of the body or limbs, formerly much used in medical treatment): via French from Latin frictio(n-), from fricare ‘to rub’.

frictional adj. of or produced by the action of one surface or object rubbing against or moving over another: frictional drag.

frictional unemployment n. [mass noun] [ECONOMICS] the unemployment which exists in any economy due to people being in the process of moving from one job to another.

friction tape n. another term for INSULATING TAPE.

friction welding n. [mass noun] welding in which the heat is produced by rotating one component against the other under compression.

Friday n. the day of the week before Saturday and following Thursday: he was arrested on Friday | the cleaning woman came on Fridays | [as modifier] Friday evening.

■ adv. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN on Friday: we'll try again Friday.

- (Fridays) on Fridays; each Friday: he goes there Fridays.

<ORIGIN> Old English Frīgedæg, named after the Germanic goddess FRIGGA; translation of late Latin Veneris dies ‘day of the planet Venus’; compare with Dutch vrijdag and German Freitag.

fridge n. a refrigerator: she put the carton of milk back in the fridge.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: abbreviation, probably influenced by the proprietary name Frigidaire.

fridge-freezer n. an upright unit comprising a refrigerator and a freezer, each self-contained.

fried past and past participle of fry^1

■ adj. 1 (of food) cooked in hot fat or oil: a breakfast of fried eggs and bacon.

2 [predic.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL exhausted or worn out: I had just come from doing a shoot and I was really fried.

- under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Friedan /frid(ə)n/ Betty (1921–2006), American feminist and writer, known for The Feminine Mystique (1963), which presented femininity as an artificial construct and traced the ways in which American women are socialized to become mothers and housewives.

Friedman /fridmən/ Milton (1912–2006), American economist. A principal exponent of monetarism, he acted as a policy adviser to President Reagan from 1981 to 1989. Nobel Prize for Economics (1976).

Friedrich /fridrx/ German /fridrç/ Caspar David (1774–1840), German painter, noted for his romantic landscapes. He caused controversy with his altarpiece The Cross in the Mountains (1808), which lacked a specifically religious subject.

friend n. 1 a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations.

- (used as a polite form of address or in ironic reference) an acquaintance or a stranger one comes across: my friends, let me introduce myself.

- (one's friends) ARCHAIC one's close relatives.

- a person who supports a cause, organization, or country by giving financial or other help: the Friends of the Welsh National Opera.

- a person who is not an enemy or opponent; an ally: she was unsure whether he was friend or foe.

- a familiar or helpful thing: he settled for that old friend the compensation grant.

- a contact associated with a social networking website: all of a sudden you've got 50 friends online who need to stay connected.

2 (Friend) a member of the Religious Society of Friends; a Quaker.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC befriend (someone).

- [no obj.] (friend with) BLACK ENGLISH have a sexual relationship with: the woman got married and you still used to friend with she?

- add (someone) to a list of contacts associated with a social networking website: I am friended by 29 people who I have not friended back.

<PHRASES>

□ be (or make) friends with be (or become) on good or affectionate terms with.

□ be no friend of (or to) show no support or sympathy for.

□ a friend at court a person in a position to use their influence on one's behalf.

□ a friend in need is a friend indeed PROVERB a person who helps at a difficult time is a person who you can really rely on.

□ friends in high places people in senior positions who are able and willing to use their influence on one's behalf.

□ my honourable friend BRITISH used to address or refer to another member of one's own party in the House of Commons.

□ my learned friend used by a barrister or solicitor in court to address or refer to another barrister or solicitor.

□ my noble friend BRITISH used to address or refer to another member of one's own party in the House of Lords.

□ my Right Honourable friend BRITISH used to address or refer to another member of one's own party in the House of Commons who is also a privy counsellor.

<ORIGIN> Old English frēond, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vriend and German Freund, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘to love’, shared by FREE.

friendless adj. having no friends; alone: they have been left virtually friendless.

friendliness n. [mass noun] the quality of being friendly; affability: overwhelmed by the friendliness of the people here.

friendly adj. (friendlier, friendliest) 1 kind and pleasant: they were friendly to me | she gave me a friendly smile.

- [predic.] (of a person) on good or affectionate terms: I was friendly with one of the local farmers.

- (of relations) not in conflict: we want friendly relations with all countries.

- not seriously competitive or divisive: friendly rivalry between the two schools.

- BRITISH (of a game or match) not forming part of a serious competition.

2 [in combination] denoting something that is adapted for or is not harmful to a specified thing: an environment-friendly agronomic practice | child-friendly policies.

3 favourable or serviceable: no one noticed her as she slipped out—it was a friendly night.

4 [MILITARY] (of troops or equipment) of, belonging to, or allied with one's own forces.

■ n. (pl. friendlies) BRITISH a game or match that does not form part of a serious competition.

<DERIVATIVES> friendlily adv.

friendly fire n. [mass noun] [MILITARY] weapon fire coming from one's own side that causes accidental injury or death to one's own forces.

Friendly Islands another name for Tonga^1.

friendly society n. (in the UK) a mutual association providing sickness benefits, life assurance, and pensions.

<ORIGIN> originally the name of a particular fire-insurance company operating c.1700.

friend of Dorothy n. INFORMAL a homosexual man.

<ORIGIN> from the name of Dorothy, a character played by the actress Judy Garland (a gay icon) in the film The Wizard of Oz (1939).

friendship n. [mass noun] the emotions or conduct of friends; the state of being friends.

- [count noun] a relationship between friends: she formed close friendships with women.

- a state of mutual trust and support between allied nations.

<ORIGIN> Old English frēondscipe (see FRIEND, -ship).

Friends of the Earth (abbr.: FoE) an international pressure group established in 1971 to campaign for a better awareness of and response to environmental problems.

Friesian /fri(ə)n/ n. BRITISH an animal of a black-and-white breed of chiefly dairy cattle originally from Friesland.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: alteration of FRISIAN.

Friesland^1 /frizlənd/ the western part of the ancient region of Frisia.

- a northern province of the Netherlands, bounded to the west and north by the IJsselmeer and the North Sea; capital, Leeuwarden.

Friesland^2 /frizlənd/ n. South African term for FRIESIAN.

frieze^1 /friz/ n. a broad horizontal band of sculpted or painted decoration, especially on a wall near the ceiling.

- a horizontal paper strip mounted on a wall to give an effect similar to that of a sculpted or painted frieze.

- [ARCHITECTURE] the part of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French frise, from medieval Latin frisium, variant of frigium, from Latin Phrygium (opus) ‘(work) of Phrygia’.

frieze^2 /friz/ n. [mass noun] heavy, coarse woollen cloth with a nap, usually on one side only.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French frise, from medieval Latin frisia, ‘Frisian wool’.

frig^1 VULGAR SLANG v. (frigs, frigging, frigged) 1 [with obj.] have sexual intercourse with.

- masturbate.

2 [no obj.] (frig about or around) spend time doing unimportant or trivial things.

■ n. an act of sexual intercourse or masturbation.

■ exclam. expressing anger, annoyance, or contempt.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin. The original sense was ‘move restlessly, wriggle’, later ‘rub, chafe’, hence ‘masturbate’ (late 17th century).

frig^2 n. INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH old-fashioned spelling of FRIDGE.

frigate /frət/ n. a warship with a mixed armament, generally lighter than a destroyer (in the US navy, heavier) and of a kind originally introduced for convoy escort work.

- HISTORICAL a sailing warship of a size and armament just below that of a ship of the line.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a light, fast boat which was rowed or sailed): from French frégate, from Italian fregata, of unknown origin.

frigate bird n. a predatory tropical seabird with dark plumage, long narrow wings, a deeply forked tail, and a long hooked bill. Also called MAN-OF-WAR BIRD.

<INFO> Family Fregatidae and genus Fregata: five species.

Frigga /frə/ [SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY] the wife of Odin and goddess of married love and of the hearth, often identified with Freya. Friday is named after her.

frigging adj. & adv. VULGAR SLANG used for emphasis, especially to express anger, annoyance, contempt, or surprise.

fright n. [mass noun] a sudden intense feeling of fear: I jumped up in fright.

- [count noun] an experience that causes one to feel sudden intense fear: she's had a nasty fright.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC frighten.

<PHRASES>

□ look a fright INFORMAL have a dishevelled or ridiculous appearance.

□ take fright suddenly become frightened or panicked.

<ORIGIN> Old English fryhto, fyrhto (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch furcht and German furcht.

frighten v. [with obj.] make (someone) afraid or anxious: the savagery of his thoughts frightened him | farmers are being frightened into scaling down their breeding plans.

- (frighten someone/thing off) deter someone or something from involvement or action by making them afraid.

frightened adj. afraid or anxious: a frightened child | I'm not frightened of him.

frightener n. a person or thing that frightens someone.

- British INFORMAL a member of a criminal gang who intimidates its victims.

<PHRASES>

□ put the frighteners on BRITISH INFORMAL threaten or intimidate (someone).

frightening adj. making someone afraid or anxious; terrifying: a frightening experience.

<DERIVATIVES> frighteningly adv. [as submodifier] the standard air fare proved to be frighteningly expensive

frightful adj. chiefly BRITISH very unpleasant, serious, or shocking: there's been a most frightful accident.

- INFORMAL used for emphasis, especially of something bad: her hair was a frightful mess.

<DERIVATIVES> frightfulness n.

frightfully adv. [as submodifier] DATED very (used for emphasis): it was frightfully hot | I'm frightfully sorry.

fright wig n. a wig with the hair arranged standing up or sticking out, as worn by a clown or similar performer.

frigid /frdd/ adj. very cold in temperature: frigid water.

- (of a woman) unable to be sexually aroused and responsive.

- stiff or formal in behaviour or style: the frigid elegance of the new Opera Bastille.

<DERIVATIVES> frigidity n. frigidly adv. frigidness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin frigidus, from frigere ‘be cold’, from frigus (noun) ‘cold’.

frigidarium /frddεrəm/ n. (pl. frigidaria /-rə/) HISTORICAL a cold room in an ancient Roman bath.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

frigid zone n. each of the two areas of the earth respectively north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle.

frijoles /frhəlεs/ plural n. (in Mexican cookery) beans.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, plural of frijol ‘bean’.

frikkadel /frkədεl/ n. (pl. frikkadels or frikkadelle) S. AFRICAN a fried or baked meatball; a rissole.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from French fricadelle.

frill n. 1 a strip of gathered or pleated material sewn on to a garment or larger piece of material as a decorative edging or ornament.

- a thing resembling a frill in appearance or function: tiny frills of foam glistened white on the sea.

- a natural fringe of feathers or hair on a bird or other animal.

- [PALAEONTOLOGY] an upward-curving bony plate extending behind the skull of many ceratopsian dinosaurs.

2 (usually frills) an unnecessary extra feature or embellishment: it was just a comfortable flat with no frills.

<DERIVATIVES> frilled adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from or related to Flemish frul.

frilled lizard (also frill-necked lizard) n. a large north Australian lizard with a membrane round the neck which can be erected to form a ruff for defensive display. When disturbed it runs away on its hind legs.

<INFO> Chlamydosaurus kingii, family Agamidae.

frilling n. [mass noun] material for frills; frills collectively.

frilly adj. (frillier, frilliest) decorated with frills: a frilly apron.

- over-elaborate or showy in character or style: seafood dishes that avoid being too frilly or rich.

■ plural n. (frillies) INFORMAL women's underwear.

<DERIVATIVES> frilliness n.

Frimaire /frmε/ French /fRimεR/ n. the third month of the French Republican calendar (1793–1805), originally running from 21 November to 20 December.

<ORIGIN> French, from frimas ‘hoar frost’.

fringe n. 1 an ornamental border of threads left loose or formed into tassels or twists, used to edge clothing or material.

2 chiefly BRITISH the front part of someone's hair, cut so as to hang over the forehead.

- a natural border of hair or fibres in an animal or plant.

3 (often the fringes) the outer, marginal, or extreme part of an area, group, or sphere of activity: his uncles were on the fringes of crooked activity.

- (the Fringe) a secondary festival on the periphery of the Edinburgh Festival.

4 a band of contrasting brightness or darkness produced by diffraction or interference of light.

- a strip of false colour in an optical image.

5 North American short for FRINGE BENEFIT.

■ v. [with obj.] decorate (clothing or material) with a fringe: a rich robe of gold, fringed with black velvet.

- form a border around (something): the sea is fringed by palm trees.

- (as adj. fringed) (of a plant or animal) having a border of hair or fibre.

<DERIVATIVES> fringeless adj. fringy adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French frenge, based on late Latin fimbria, earlier a plural noun meaning ‘fibres, shreds’.

fringe benefit n. an extra benefit supplementing an employee's money wage or salary, for example a company car, private health care, etc.

fringe medicine n. another term for ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE.

fringing n. [mass noun] material used to make a fringe.

fringing reef n. a coral reef that lies close to the shore.

Frink /frk/ Dame Elisabeth (1930–93), English sculptor and graphic artist. She made her name with angular bronzes, often of birds. During the 1960s her figures became smoother, although she retained a feeling for the bizarre.

frippery /frp(ə)ri/ n. (pl. fripperies) [mass noun] showy or unnecessary ornament in architecture, dress, or language.

- [count noun] a tawdry or frivolous thing.

■ adj. ARCHAIC frivolous and tawdry.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting old or second-hand clothes): from French friperie, from Old French freperie, from frepe ‘rag’, of unknown ultimate origin.

frippet /frpt/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a frivolous or showy young woman.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

frisbee /frzbi/ n. TRADEMARK a concave plastic disc designed for skimming through the air as an outdoor game or amusement.

- [mass noun] the activity of skimming such a disc.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: said to be named after the Frisbie bakery (Bridgeport, Connecticut), whose pie tins could be used similarly.

Frisch^1 /fr/ Karl von (1886–1982), Austrian zoologist. He worked mainly on honeybees and showed that they perform an elaborate dance in the hive to indicate the direction and distance of food.

Frisch^2 /fr/ Otto Robert (1904–79), Austrian-born British physicist. With his aunt, Lise Meitner, he recognized that Otto Hahn's experiments with uranium had produced a new type of nuclear reaction. Frisch named it nuclear fission, and indicated the explosive potential of its chain reaction.

Frisch^3 /fr/ Ragnar (Anton Kittil) (1895–1973), Norwegian economist. A pioneer of econometrics, he shared the first Nobel Prize for Economics with Jan Tinbergen (1969).

frisée /frize/ n. [mass noun] the curly endive (see ENDIVE (SENSE 1)).

<ORIGIN> French, from chicorée frisée ‘curly endive’.

Frisia /frzə friə/ an ancient region of NW Europe. It consisted of the Frisian Islands and parts of the mainland corresponding to the modern provinces of Friesland and Groningen in the Netherlands and the regions of Ostfriesland and Nordfriesland in NW Germany.

Frisian /frizən fri(ə)n fr-/ adj. relating to Frisia or Friesland, its people, or language.

■ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Frisia or Friesland.

2 [mass noun] the Germanic language of Frisia or Friesland, most closely related to English and Dutch, now with fewer than 400,000 speakers.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin Frisii ‘Frisians’ (from Old Frisian Frīsa, Frēsa) + -IAN.

Frisian Islands a chain of islands lying off the coast of NW Europe, extending from the IJsselmeer in the Netherlands to Jutland. The islands consist of three groups: the West Frisian Islands form part of the Netherlands, the East Frisian Islands form part of Germany, and the North Frisian Islands are divided between Germany and Denmark.

frisk v. 1 [with obj.] (of a police officer or other official) pass the hands over (someone) in a search for hidden weapons, drugs, or other items.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] skip or leap playfully; frolic: spaniels frisked around me.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] an act of frisking someone.

2 a playful skip or leap.

<DERIVATIVES> frisker n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in sense 2 of the noun): from obsolete frisk ‘lively, frisky’, from Old French frisque ‘alert, lively, merry’, perhaps of Germanic origin.

■ Sense 1 of the noun, originally a slang term, dates from the late 18th cent.

frisket /frskt/ n. [PRINTING] a thin metal frame keeping the paper in position during printing on a hand press.

- [mass noun] US fluid or adhesive paper used in painting or crafts to cover areas of a surface on which paint is not wanted.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French frisquette, from Provençal frisqueto, from Spanish frasqueta.

frisky adj. (friskier, friskiest) playful and full of energy: he bounds about like a frisky pup.

<DERIVATIVES> friskily adv. friskiness n.

frisson /fris frsn/ n. a sudden strong feeling of excitement or fear; a thrill: a frisson of excitement.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, ‘a shiver or thrill’.

frit^1 n. [mass noun] the mixture of silica and fluxes which is fused at high temperature to make glass.

- a similar calcined and pulverized mixture used to make soft-paste porcelain or ceramic glazes.

■ v. (frits, fritting, fritted) [with obj.] make into frit.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian fritta, feminine past participle of friggere ‘to fry’.

frit^2 adj. [predic.] DIALECT frightened.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: dialect past participle of FRIGHT.

frites /frit(s)/ plural n. short for POMMES FRITES.

frit fly n. a very small black fly whose larvae are a serious pest of cereal crops and maize.

<INFO> Oscinella frit, family Chloropidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin frit ‘particle on an ear of corn’.

Frith William Powell (1819–1909), English painter. He is remembered for his panoramic paintings of Victorian life, including Derby Day (1858) and The Railway Station (1862).

frith n. archaic spelling of FIRTH.

fritillary /frtləri/ n. (pl. fritillaries) 1 a Eurasian plant of the lily family, with hanging bell-like flowers.

<INFO> Genus Fritillaria, family Liliaceae: numerous species, in particular the snake's head.

2 a butterfly with orange-brown wings that are chequered with black.

<INFO> Subfamilies Argynninae and Melitaeinae, family Nymphalidae: Argynnis and other genera, and numerous species.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin fritillaria, from Latin fritillus ‘dice box’ (probably with reference to the chequered corolla of the snake's head fritillary).

frittata /frtαtə/ n. an Italian dish made with fried beaten eggs, resembling a Spanish omelette.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from fritto, past participle of friggere ‘to fry’. Compare with fritter^2.

fritter^1 v. [with obj.] 1 (fritter something away) waste time, money, or energy on trifling matters: I wish we hadn't frittered the money away so easily.

2 ARCHAIC divide (something) into small pieces.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: based on obsolete fitter ‘break into fragments, shred’; perhaps related to German Fetzen ‘rag, scrap’.

fritter^2 n. a piece of fruit, vegetable, or meat that is coated in batter and deep-fried.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French friture, based on Latin frigere (see fry^1). Compare with FRITTATA.

fritto misto /frtə mstə/ n. [mass noun] a dish of various foods, typically seafood, deep-fried in batter.

<ORIGIN> Italian, ‘mixed fry’.

Fritz n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a German, especially a soldier in the First World War (often used as a nickname).

- [in sing.] the Germans collectively.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of the German given name Friedrich.

fritz n. (in phrase go or be on the fritz) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (of a machine) stop working properly.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: said to be a use of FRITZ, with allusion to cheap German imports into the US before the First World War.

Friuli /friuli/ a historic region of SE Europe now divided between Slovenia and the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. A Rhaeto-Romance dialect is spoken locally in the region.

<DERIVATIVES> Friulian adj. & n.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia /frulvεnεtsə dulə/ a region in NE Italy, on the border with Slovenia and Austria; capital, Trieste.

frivol /frv(ə)l/ v. (frivols, frivolling, frivolled; US frivols, frivoling, frivoled) [no obj.] behave in a frivolous way.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: back-formation from FRIVOLOUS.

frivolity n. [mass noun] lack of seriousness; light-heartedness: a night of fun and frivolity.

frivolous adj. not having any serious purpose or value: frivolous ribbons and lacy frills | rules to stop frivolous lawsuits.

- (of a person) carefree and superficial: the frivolous, fun-loving flappers of the twenties.

<DERIVATIVES> frivolously adv. frivolousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin frivolus ‘silly, trifling’ + -OUS.

frizz /frz/ v. [with obj.] 1 form (hair) into a mass of small, tight curls: her hair was crimped and frizzed into a leonine mane.

- [no obj.] (of hair) form itself into a mass of small, tight curls: his hair had frizzed out symmetrically.

2 dress (chamois or a similar leather) with pumice or a scraping knife.

■ n. [mass noun] the state of being formed into a mass of small, tight curls: a perm system designed to add curl without frizz.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the verb): from French friser.

■ Sense 1 of the verb dates from the late 16th cent.

frizzante /frtzante -ti/ adj. (of wine) semi-sparkling.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

frizzle^1 v. [no obj.] fry or grill with a sizzling noise: Elsie had the fat frizzling in the chip pan.

- [with obj.] fry until crisp, shrivelled, or burnt: (as adj. frizzled) add diced frizzled salt pork to taste.

■ n. [in sing.] the sound or act of frying: the frizzle of the pan.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from FRY^1, probably influenced by SIZZLE.

frizzle^2 v. [with obj.] form (hair) into tight curls.

■ n. a tight curl in hair.

<DERIVATIVES> frizzly adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from FRIZZ + -LE^4.

frizzy adj. (frizzier, frizziest) formed of a mass of small, tight curls: frizzy red hair.

<DERIVATIVES> frizziness n.

Frl. abbr. Fräulein.

fro adv. see TO AND FRO.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse frá (see FROM).

'fro /frə/ n. (pl. 'fros) an Afro hairstyle or a frizzy or bushy hairstyle resembling one.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: abbreviation of AFRO.

Frobisher /frəbə/ Sir Martin (c.1535–94), English explorer. In 1576 he led an unsuccessful expedition in search of the North-West Passage. Frobisher served in Sir Francis Drake's Caribbean expedition of 1585–6 and played a prominent part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

frock n. chiefly BRITISH 1 a woman's or girl's dress.

2 a loose outer garment, in particular:

- a long gown with flowing sleeves worn by monks, priests, or clergy.

- HISTORICAL an agricultural worker's smock; a smock-frock. short for FROCK COAT.

- ARCHAIC a woollen jersey worn by sailors.

3 ARCHAIC the work and position of a priest: such words as these cost the preacher his frock.

<DERIVATIVES> frocked adj. [in combination] a black-frocked Englishman

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French froc, of Germanic origin. The sense ‘priest's or monk's gown’ is preserved in defrock.

frock coat n. a man's double-breasted, long-skirted coat, now worn chiefly on formal occasions.

froe /frə/ n. a cleaving tool with a handle at right angles to the blade.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: abbreviation of obsolete frower, from FROWARD in the sense ‘turned away’.

Froebel /frəb(ə)l frəb-/ German /frøbl/ Friedrich (Wilhelm August) (1782–1852), German educationist and founder of the kindergarten system. Believing that play materials, practical occupations, and songs are needed to develop a child's real nature, he opened a school for young children in 1837.

<DERIVATIVES> Froebelian /frəbilən frəbi-/ adj. Froebelism n.

frog^1 n. 1 a tailless amphibian with a short squat body, moist smooth skin, and very long hind legs for leaping.

<INFO> Frogs are found in most families of the order Anura, but the ‘true frogs’ are confined to the large family Ranidae, which includes the European common frog (Rana temporaria).

2 (Frog) INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a French person.

<PHRASES>

□ have a frog in one's throat INFORMAL lose one's voice or find it hard to speak because of hoarseness.

<ORIGIN> Old English frogga, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vors and German Frosch. Used as a general term of abuse in Middle English, the term was applied specifically to the Dutch in the 17th century; its application to the French (late 18th century) is partly alliterative, partly from the reputation of the French for eating frogs' legs.

frog^2 n. a thing used to hold or fasten something, in particular:

- an ornamental coat fastener or braid consisting of a spindle-shaped button and a loop through which it passes.

- an attachment to a belt for holding a sword, bayonet, or similar weapon.

- a perforated or spiked device for holding the stems of flowers in an arrangement.

- the piece into which the hair is fitted at the lower end of the bow of a stringed instrument.

- a grooved metal plate for guiding the wheels of a railway vehicle at an intersection.

<DERIVATIVES> frogging n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps a use of frog^1, influenced by synonymous Italian forchetta or French fourchette ‘small fork’, because of the shape.

frog^3 n. an elastic horny pad growing in the sole of a horse's hoof, helping to absorb the shock when the hoof hits the ground.

- a raised or swollen area on a surface.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps from FROG^1; perhaps also influenced by Italian forchetta or French fourchette (see frog^2).

frogbit n. a floating freshwater plant with creeping stems which bear clusters of small rounded leaves.

<INFO> Two species in the family Hydrocharitaceae: Eurasian frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) and American frogbit (Hydromystria laevigatum).

frogfish n. (pl. same or frogfishes) an anglerfish that typically lives on the seabed, where its warty skin and colour provide camouflage.

<INFO> Families Antennariidae (numerous species, including Antennaria hispidus of the Indo-Pacific), and Brachionichthyidae (four Australian species).

frogged adj. (of a coat) having an ornamental braid or fastening consisting of a spindle-shaped button and a loop.

froggy adj. 1 of or like a frog or frogs.

2 INFORMAL, DEROGATORY French.

■ n. (Froggy) (plural Froggies) INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a French person.

froghopper n. a jumping, plant-sucking bug, the larva of which produces cuckoo spit. Also called SPITTLEBUG.

<INFO> Family Cercopidae, suborder Homoptera: several genera.

frog kick n. a movement used in swimming, especially in breaststroke, in which the legs are brought towards the body with the knees bent and the feet together and then kicked outwards before being brought together again, all in one continuous movement.

froglet n. 1 a small kind of frog.

<INFO> Several genera, including Crinia of Australia (family Myobatrachidae), and Philautus of Malaysia (family Rhacophoridae).

2 a tiny frog that has recently developed from a tadpole.

frogman n. (pl. frogmen) a person who swims under water wearing a rubber suit, flippers, and an oxygen supply.

frogmarch v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] force (someone) to walk forward by holding and pinning their arms from behind: the cop frogmarched him down the steep stairs.

frogmouth n. a nocturnal bird resembling a nightjar, occurring in SE Asia and Australasia.

<INFO> Family Podargidae: two genera and several species.

frogspawn n. [mass noun] the eggs of a frog, which are surrounded by transparent jelly.

froideur /frwdə/ French /fRwadœR/ n. [mass noun] coolness or reserve between people.

<ORIGIN> French, from froid ‘cold’.

frolic v. (frolics, frolicking, frolicked) [no obj., usually with adverbial] play or move about in a cheerful and lively way: Edward frolicked on the sand.

■ n. (often frolics) a playful and lively movement or activity: film of her poolside frolics.

■ adj. ARCHAIC cheerful, merry, or playful.

<DERIVATIVES> frolicker n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as an adjective): from Dutch vrolijk ‘merry, cheerful’.

frolicsome adj. lively and playful.

<DERIVATIVES> frolicsomely adv. frolicsomeness n.

from prep. 1 indicating the point in space at which a journey, motion, or action starts: she began to walk away from him | I leapt from my bed | FIGURATIVE he was turning the Chamberlain government away from appeasement.

- indicating the distance between a particular place and another place used as a point of reference: the ambush occurred 50 metres from a checkpoint.

2 indicating the point in time at which a particular process, event, or activity starts: the show will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

3 indicating the source or provenance of someone or something: I'm from Hackney | she rang him from the hotel | she demanded the keys from her husband.

- indicating the date at which something was created: a document dating from the thirteenth century.

4 indicating the starting point of a specified range on a scale: men who ranged in age from seventeen to eighty-four.

- indicating one extreme in a range of conceptual variations: anything from geography to literature.

5 indicating the point at which an observer is placed: you can see the island from here | FIGURATIVE the ability to see things from another's point of view.

6 indicating the raw material out of which something is manufactured: a paint made from a natural resin.

7 indicating separation or removal: the party was ousted from power after sixteen years.

8 indicating prevention: the story of how he was saved from death.

9 indicating a cause: a child suffering from asthma.

10 indicating a source of knowledge or the basis for one's judgement: information obtained from papers, books, and presentations.

11 indicating a distinction: these fees are quite distinct from expenses.

<PHRASES>

□ as from see as^1.

□ from day to day (or hour to hour etc.) daily (or hourly etc.); as the days (or hours etc.) pass.

□ from now (or then etc.) on now (or then etc.) and in the future: they were friends from that day on.

□ from time to time occasionally.

<ORIGIN> Old English fram, from, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse frá (see FRO).

fromage blanc /frmα bl/ n. [mass noun] a type of soft French cheese made from cow's milk and having a creamy sour taste.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘white cheese’.

fromage frais /fre/ n. [mass noun] a type of smooth soft fresh cheese, with the consistency of thick yogurt.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘fresh cheese’.

Fromm /frm/ Erich (1900–80), German-born American psychoanalyst and social philosopher. His works, which include Escape from Freedom (1941), Man for Himself (1947), and The Sane Society (1955), emphasize the role of culture in neurosis and strongly criticize materialist values.

frond n. the leaf or leaf-like part of a palm, fern, or similar plant: fronds of bracken.

<DERIVATIVES> fronded adj. frondose adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin frons, frond- ‘leaf’.

Fronde /frnd/ French /fRd/ a series of civil wars in France 1648–53, in which the nobles rose in rebellion against Mazarin and the court during the minority of Louis XIV. Although some concessions were obtained, the nobles were not successful in curbing the power of the monarchy.

<ORIGIN> French, from the name for a type of sling used in a children's game played in the streets of Paris at this time.

frondeur /frndə/ French /fRndœR/ n. RARE a political rebel.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘slinger’, used to denote a rebel taking part in the FRONDE.

frons /frnz/ n. (pl. frontes) [ZOOLOGY] the forehead or equivalent part of an animal, especially the middle part of an insect's face between the eyes and above the clypeus.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, ‘front, forehead’.

front n. 1 the side or part of an object that presents itself to view or that is normally seen or used first; the most forward part of something: a page at the front of the book had been torn out | he sealed the envelope and wrote on the front.

- [in sing.] the position directly ahead of someone or something; the most forward position or place: she quickly turned her head to face the front.

- the forward-facing part of a person's body, on the opposite side to their back: she rolled over on to her front.

- the part of a garment covering a person's front: porridge slopped from the tray on to his shirt front.

- INFORMAL a woman's bust or cleavage.

- any face of a building, especially that of the main entrance: the west front of the Cathedral.

- chiefly BRITISH short for SEAFRONT or WATERFRONT.

2 the foremost line or part of an armed force; the furthest position that an army has reached and where the enemy is or may be engaged: his regiment was immediately sent to the front.

- the direction towards which a line of troops faces when formed.

- a particular formation of troops for battle.

- a particular situation or sphere of operation: there was some good news on the jobs front.

- [often in names] an organized political group: the National Progressive Patriotic Front.

- [METEOROLOGY] the forward edge of an advancing mass of air. See COLD FRONT, WARM FRONT.

3 [in sing.] an appearance or form of behaviour assumed by a person to conceal their genuine feelings: she put on a brave front.

- a person or organization serving as a cover for subversive or illegal activities: the CIA identified the company as a front for a terrorist group.

4 [mass noun] boldness and confidence of manner: he's got a bit of talent and a lot of front.

5 ARCHAIC a person's face or forehead.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 of or at the front: the front cover of the magazine | she was in the front garden.

2 [PHONETICS] (of a vowel sound) formed by raising the tongue, excluding the blade and tip, towards the hard palate.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (of a building or piece of land) have the front facing or directed towards: the flats which fronted Crow Road | [no obj.] both properties fronted on to the beach.

- be or stand in front of: they reached the hedge fronting the garden.

- ARCHAIC stand face to face with; confront.

2 provide (something) with a front or facing of a particular type or material: a metal box fronted by an alloy panel | (as adj., in combination -fronted) a glass-fronted bookcase.

3 lead or be the most prominent member in (an organization, group, or activity): the group is fronted by two girl singers.

- present or host (a television or radio programme).

4 [no obj.] act as a front or cover for illegal or secret activity: he fronted for them in illegal property deals.

5 [no obj.] (often front up) AUSTRALIAN/NZ make an appearance; turn up: parents get a bit worried if you don't front up now and then.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC or AUSTRALIAN/NZ stand face to face with; confront.

6 [PHONETICS] articulate (a vowel sound) with the tongue further forward.

7 [LINGUISTICS] place (a sentence element) at the beginning of a sentence instead of in its usual position, typically for emphasis or as a feature of some dialects, as in horrible it was.

<PHRASES>

□ front of house BRITISH the parts of a theatre in front of the proscenium arch.

- the business of a theatre that concerns the audience, such as ticket sales.

□ in front 1 in a position just ahead of or further forward than someone or something else: the car in front stopped suddenly.

- in the lead in a game or contest: United went back in front thanks to a penalty.

2 on the part or side that normally first presents itself to view: a house with a wide porch in front.

□ in front of 1 in a position just ahead or at the front part of someone or something else: the lawn in front of the house.

- in a position facing someone or something: she sat in front of the mirror.

2 in the presence of: the teacher didn't want his authority challenged in front of the class.

□ out front chiefly NORTH AMERICAN at or to the front; in front: two station wagons stopped out front.

- in the auditorium of a theatre.

<DERIVATIVES> frontless adj. frontmost adj. frontward adj. & adv. frontwards adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting the forehead): from Old French front (noun), fronter (verb), from Latin frons, front- ‘forehead, front’.

frontage n. the facade of a building.

- a strip or extent of land abutting on a street or water: the houses have a narrow frontage to the street | [mass noun] the house is set in parkland with river frontage.

frontager /frntdə/ n. an owner of land or property adjoining a street or water.

frontage road n. NORTH AMERICAN a service road.

frontal^1 adj. of, at, or directed at the front: a frontal assault on the Maginot line | the frontal view misses the octagonal tower.

- relating to the forehead or front part of the skull: the frontal sinuses.

<DERIVATIVES> frontally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘relating to the forehead’): from modern Latin frontalis, from Latin frons, front- ‘front, forehead’.

frontal^2 n. a decorative cloth for covering the front of an altar.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a band or ornament worn on the forehead): from Old French frontel, from Latin frontale, from frons, front- ‘front, forehead’.

frontal bone n. the bone which forms the front part of the skull and the upper part of the eye sockets.

- either of the pair of bones from which this is formed by fusion in infancy.

frontal lobe n. each of the paired lobes of the brain lying immediately behind the forehead, including areas concerned with behaviour, learning, personality, and voluntary movement.

front bench n. (in the UK) the foremost seats in the House of Commons, occupied by the members of the cabinet and shadow cabinet.

<DERIVATIVES> frontbencher n.

front bottom n. BRITISH INFORMAL a child's term for the female genitals.

Front de Libération Nationale /fr də lbərasj nasjənαl/ French /fR də libeRasj nasjnal/ (abbr.: FLN) a revolutionary political party in Algeria that supported the war of independence against France 1954–62.

<ORIGIN> French, ‘National Liberation Front’.

front desk n. the registration and reception desk in a hotel or large organization.

front-end adj. 1 [attr.] INFORMAL (of money) paid or charged at the beginning of a transaction: a front-end fee.

2 [COMPUTING] (of a device or program) directly accessed by the user and allowing access to further devices or programs.

■ n. [COMPUTING] a part of a computer or program that allows access to other parts.

front-end loader n. NORTH AMERICAN a machine with a scoop or bucket on an articulated arm at the front for digging and loading earth.

- a hydraulic bucket or scoop that fits on to the front of a tractor.

front-fanged adj. (of a snake such as a cobra or viper) having the front pair of teeth modified as fangs, with grooves or canals to conduct the venom. Compare with BACK-FANGED.

frontier /frntə frntə/ n. a line or border separating two countries.

- the extreme limit of settled land beyond which lies wilderness, especially in reference to the western US before Pacific settlement: his novel of the American frontier.

- the extreme limit of understanding or achievement in a particular area: the success of science in extending the frontiers of knowledge.

<DERIVATIVES> frontierless adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French frontiere, based on Latin frons, front- ‘front’.

frontiersman (or frontierswoman) n. (pl. frontiersmen or frontierswomen) a person living in the region of a frontier, especially that between settled and unsettled country.

frontispiece /frntspis/ n. 1 an illustration facing the title page of a book.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] the principal face of a building.

- a decorated entrance.

- a pediment over a door or window.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from French frontispice or late Latin frontispicium ‘facade’, from Latin frons, front- ‘front’ + specere ‘to look’. The change in the ending (early in the word's history) was by association with PIECE.

frontlet n. 1 an ornamental piece of cloth hanging over the upper part of an altar frontal.

2 DATED a decorative band or ornament worn on the forehead.

■ another term for PHYLACTERY.

- a piece of armour or harness for an animal's forehead.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2): from Old French frontelet, diminutive of frontel (see frontal^2).

front line n. (usually the front line) the military line or part of an army that is closest to the enemy: [as modifier] the front-line troops.

- the most important or influential position in a debate or movement: it is doctors who are on the front line of the euthanasia debate.

front-line states plural n. those countries bordering on an area troubled by a war or other crisis.

front-load v. [with obj.] distribute or allocate (costs, effort, etc.) unevenly, with the greater proportion at the beginning of the enterprise or process.

frontman n. (pl. frontmen) 1 the lead singer of a pop or rock group.

2 a person who represents an illegal or disreputable organization to give it an air of legitimacy.

front office n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the main administrative office of a business or other organization.

fronton /frnt(ə)n/ n. 1 a building where pelota or jai alai is played.

2 another term for PEDIMENT.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from Italian frontone, from fronte ‘forehead’, from Latin frons, front- ‘front, forehead’.

front row n. [RUGBY] the forwards who make up the first row in a scrum.

front runner n. the contestant that is leading in a race or other competition.

- an athlete or horse that runs best when in the front of the field.

front-running adj. ahead in a race or other competition.

- (of an athlete or horse) running best when in front of the field.

■ n. [mass noun] 1 [STOCK EXCHANGE] the practice by market-makers of dealing on advance information provided by their brokers and investment analysts, before their clients have been given the information.

2 US the practice of giving one's support to a competitor because they are in front.

frontside adj. denoting a manoeuvre in surfing and other board sports which is done anticlockwise for a regular rider and clockwise for a goofy rider.

front-wheel drive n. [mass noun] a transmission system that provides power to the front wheels of a motor vehicle.

frore /fr/ adj. LITERARY frozen; frosty.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: archaic past participle of FREEZE.

frosh /fr/ n. (pl. same) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a college freshman: [as modifier] frosh week.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: alteration of FRESHMAN, perhaps influenced by German Frosch ‘frog’ (in dialect use ‘grammar-school student’).

Frost Robert (Lee) (1874–1963), American poet, noted for his ironic tone and simple language. Much of his poetry reflects his affinity with New England, including the collections North of Boston (1914) and New Hampshire (1923). He won the Pulitzer Prize on three occasions (1924; 1931; 1937).

frost n. [mass noun] a deposit of small white ice crystals formed on the ground or other surfaces when the temperature falls below freezing.

- [count noun] a period of cold weather when deposits of frost form: there have been several sharp frosts recently.

- [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a failure.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 cover (something) with or as if with frost; freeze: shop windows were still frosted over.

- [no obj.] become covered with small ice crystals: no one has managed to stop outdoor heat exchangers frosting up during winter.

- damage or otherwise affect as a result of frost.

2 NORTH AMERICAN decorate (a cake or biscuit) with icing.

<PHRASES>

□ degrees of frost BRITISH degrees below freezing point.

<DERIVATIVES> frostless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English frost, forst, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vorst and German Frost, also to FREEZE.

frostbite n. [mass noun] injury to body tissues caused by exposure to extreme cold, typically affecting the nose, fingers, or toes and often resulting in gangrene.

<DERIVATIVES> frostbitten adj.

frosted adj. 1 covered with or as if with frost: I stood looking out on the frosted garden.

- (of glass or a window) having a translucent textured surface so that it is difficult to see through.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (of food) decorated or dusted with icing or sugar.

frost heave n. [mass noun] the uplift of soil or other surface deposits due to expansion of groundwater on freezing.

- [count noun] a mound formed in this way.

<DERIVATIVES> frost heaving n.

frost hollow n. a valley bottom or other hollow which is prone to frost.

frosting n. [mass noun] 1 NORTH AMERICAN icing.

2 a roughened matt finish on otherwise shiny material such as glass or steel.

frost line n. NORTH AMERICAN the maximum depth of ground below which the soil does not freeze in winter.

frost stat n. a thermostat used to turn on a heating system automatically when the ambient temperature drops below a set threshold.

frosty adj. (frostier, frostiest) 1 (of the weather) very cold, with frost forming on surfaces: a cold and frosty morning.

- covered with or as if with frost: the dog crouched in the frosty grass.

2 cold and unfriendly in manner: Sebastian gave her a frosty look.

<DERIVATIVES> frostily adv. frostiness n.

froth n. [mass noun] 1 a mass of small bubbles in liquid caused by agitation, fermentation, or salivating: leave the yeast until there is a good head of froth.

- impure matter that rises to the surface of liquid: skim off any surface froth.

- FIGURATIVE a thing that rises in a soft, light mass: her skirt swirled in a froth of black lace.

2 worthless or insubstantial talk, ideas, or activities: the froth of party politics.

■ v. [no obj.] form or contain a rising or overflowing mass of small bubbles: the red blood frothed at his lips.

- FIGURATIVE rise in a soft, light mass: she wore an ivory silk blouse, frothing at neck and cuffs.

- [with obj.] agitate (a liquid) so as to produce a mass of small bubbles.

- behave or talk angrily: the cinema lobby frothed with indignation.

<PHRASES>

□ froth at the mouth INFORMAL be very angry.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Norse frotha, frauth.

frothy adj. (frothier, frothiest) 1 full of or covered with a mass of small bubbles: steaming mugs of frothy coffee.

2 light and entertaining but of little substance: lots of frothy interviews.

<DERIVATIVES> frothily adv. frothiness n.

frottage /frtα/ n. [mass noun] 1 [ART] the technique or process of taking a rubbing from an uneven surface to form the basis of a work of art.

- [count noun] a work of art produced by taking a rubbing from an uneven surface.

2 the practice of touching or rubbing against the clothed body of another person in a crowd as a means of obtaining sexual gratification.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: French, ‘rubbing, friction’, from frotter ‘to rub’, of unknown origin.

frotteur /frtə/ n. a person who obtains sexual gratification by touching or rubbing against the clothed body of another person in a crowd.

<DERIVATIVES> frotteurism n.

frottola /frtələ/ n. (pl. frottole /-le/) [MUSIC] a form of Italian comic or amorous song, especially from the 15th and 16th centuries.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘fib, tall story’.

Froude number /frad/ n. a dimensionless number used in hydrodynamics to indicate how well a particular model works in relation to a real system.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after William Froude (1810–79), English civil engineer.

frou-frou /frufru/ n. [mass noun] frills or other ornamentation, particularly of women's clothes: [as modifier] a little frou-frou skirt.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, imitative of the sound of a woman walking in a dress.

frounce /frans/ n. [mass noun] [FALCONRY] a form of trichomoniasis affecting hawks, resulting in a sore with a cheesy secretion in the mouth or throat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

frow /fra/ n. ARCHAIC a Dutchwoman.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Dutch vrouw ‘woman’.

froward /frəəd/ adj. ARCHAIC (of a person) difficult to deal with; contrary.

<DERIVATIVES> frowardly adv. frowardness n.

<ORIGIN> late Old English frāward ‘leading away from, away’, based on Old Norse frá (see FRO, from).

frown v. [no obj.] furrow one's brows in an expression indicating disapproval, displeasure, or concentration: he frowned as he reread the letter.

- (frown on/upon) disapprove of: promiscuity was frowned upon.

■ n. a facial expression or look characterized by a furrowing of one's brows: a frown of disapproval.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French froignier, from froigne ‘surly look’, of Celtic origin.

frowst /frast/ BRITISH INFORMAL n. [in sing.] a warm, stuffy atmosphere in a room.

■ v. [no obj.] lounge about in a warm, stuffy atmosphere: don't frowst by the fire all day.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from FROWSTY.

frowsty adj. (frowstier, frowstiest) BRITISH having a stale, warm, and stuffy atmosphere: a small, frowsty office.

<DERIVATIVES> frowstiness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally dialect): variant of FROWZY.

frowzy /frazi/ (also frowsy) adj. (frowzier, frowziest; frowsier, frowsiest) scruffy and neglected in appearance.

- dingy and stuffy: a frowzy drinking-club.

<DERIVATIVES> frowziness n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally dialect): of unknown origin.

froze past of FREEZE.

frozen past participle of FREEZE.

frozen shoulder n. [mass noun] MEDICINE chronic painful stiffness of the shoulder joint.

FRS abbr.

- (in the UK) Fellow of the Royal Society.

- (in the UK) Financial Reporting Standard.

FRSE abbr. Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Fructidor /frktd/ French /fRYktidR/ n. the twelfth month of the French Republican calendar (1793–1805), originally running from 18 August to 16 September.

<ORIGIN> French, from Latin fructus ‘fruit’ + Greek dōron ‘gift’.

fructification /frktfke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the process of fructifying.

- [count noun] [BOTANY] a spore-bearing or fruiting structure, especially in a fungus.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from late Latin fructificatio(n-), from Latin fructificare ‘fructify’, from fructus ‘fruit’.

fructify /frktf/ v. (fructifies, fructifying, fructified) [with obj.] FORMAL make (something) fruitful or productive: they were sacrificed in order that their blood might fructify the crops.

- [no obj.] bear fruit or become productive.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fructifier, from Latin fructificare, from fructus ‘fruit’.

fructose /frktəz -s/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a sugar of the hexose class found especially in honey and fruit.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin fructus ‘fruit’ + -OSE^2.

fructuous /frktjəs/ adj. FORMAL full of or producing a great deal of fruit.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fructuosus, from fructus ‘fruit’.

frug n. a vigorous dance to pop music, popular in the mid 1960s.

■ v. (frugs, frugging, frugged) [no obj.] perform the frug.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: of unknown origin.

frugal /fru(ə)l/ adj. sparing or economical as regards money or food: I'm a bit too frugal to splash out on designer clothes.

- simple and plain and costing little: a frugal meal.

<DERIVATIVES> frugally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin frugalis, from frugi ‘economical, thrifty’, from frux, frug- ‘fruit’.

frugality n. [mass noun] the quality of being economical with money or food; thriftiness: he scorned the finer things in life and valued frugality and simplicity.

frugivore /frudv/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an animal that feeds on fruit.

<DERIVATIVES> frugivorous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from Latin frux, frug- ‘fruit’ + -vore (see -VOROUS).

fruit n. 1 the sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food: tropical fruits such as mangoes and papaya | [mass noun] eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.

- [BOTANY] the seed-bearing structure of a plant, e.g. an acorn.

- ARCHAIC or LITERARY natural produce that can be used for food: we give thanks for the fruits of the earth.

- (the fruits or the fruit) the result or reward of work or activity: the pupils began to appreciate the fruits of their labours.

- ARCHAIC offspring.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a male homosexual.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a tree or other plant) produce fruit: the trees fruit very early | (as n. fruiting) cover strawberries with cloches to encourage early fruiting.

<PHRASES>

□ the fruit of the vine LITERARY grapes.

□ in fruit (of a tree or plant) at the stage of producing fruit.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin fructus ‘enjoyment of produce, harvest’, from frui ‘enjoy’, related to fruges ‘fruits of the earth’, plural (and most common form) of frux, frug- ‘fruit’.

fruit acid n. another term for ALPHA-HYDROXY ACID.

fruitage n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC or LITERARY fruit collectively.

fruitarian n. a person who eats only fruit.

<DERIVATIVES> fruitarianism n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from FRUIT, on the pattern of vegetarian.

fruit bat n. a bat with a long snout and large eyes, feeding chiefly on fruit or nectar and found mainly in the Old World tropics.

<INFO> Family Pteropodidae: many genera and numerous species. See also FLYING FOX.

fruit body n. another term for FRUITING BODY.

fruit cake n. 1 a cake containing dried fruit and nuts.

2 (fruitcake) INFORMAL an eccentric or mad person. [<ORIGIN> compare with nutty as a fruitcake (see NUTTY).]

fruit cocktail n. [mass noun] a finely chopped fruit salad, often commercially produced in tins.

fruitcrow n. a large tropical American cotinga with mainly black or red and black plumage.

<INFO> Family Cotingidae: four genera and species.

fruit cup n. 1 BRITISH a drink consisting of a mixture of fruit juices, typically with pieces of fruit in it.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a fruit salad.

fruit dove n. a tropical fruit-eating dove that typically has brightly coloured plumage, usually with a green back, and occurs mainly in Indonesia and Australasia. Compare with FRUIT PIGEON.

<INFO> Genus Ptilonopus (and Phapitreron), family Columbidae: many species.

fruit drop n. [mass noun] the shedding of unripe fruit from a tree.

fruited adj. [usually in combination] (of a tree or plant) producing fruit, especially of a specified kind: heavy-fruited plants like tomatoes.

fruiter n. a tree producing fruit at a specified time or in a specified manner: a prolific fruiter.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘fruit grower’): from Old French fruitier, from fruit ‘fruit’; in later use from FRUIT + -ER^1. The current sense dates from the 19th cent.

fruiterer n. chiefly BRITISH a retailer of fruit.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from FRUITER + -ER^1; the reason for the addition of the suffix is unclear.

fruit fly n. a small fly which feeds on fruit in both its adult and larval stages.

<INFO> Families Drosophilidae and Tephritidae: many genera. See also DROSOPHILA.

fruitful adj. (of a tree, plant, or land) producing much fruit; fertile.

- producing good or helpful results; productive: memoirs can be a fruitful source of information.

- (of a person) producing many offspring.

<DERIVATIVES> fruitfully adv. fruitfulness n.

fruit gum n. a firm, jelly-like, fruit-flavoured sweet made with gelatin or gum arabic.

fruiting body n. [BOTANY] the spore-producing organ of a fungus, often seen as a toadstool.

fruition /fr(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the realization or fulfilment of a plan or project: the plans have come to fruition rather sooner than expected.

2 LITERARY the state or action of producing fruit.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘enjoyment’): via Old French from late Latin fruitio(n-), from frui ‘enjoy’ (see FRUIT); the current senses (dating from the late 19th century) arose by association with FRUIT.

fruitless adj. 1 failing to achieve the desired results; unproductive or useless: his fruitless attempts to publish poetry.

2 (of a tree or plant) not producing fruit.

<DERIVATIVES> fruitlessly adv. fruitlessness n.

fruitlet n. an immature or small fruit.

- [BOTANY] another term for DRUPEL.

fruit machine n. BRITISH a coin-operated gaming machine that generates random combinations of symbols (typically representing fruit) on a dial, certain combinations winning varying amounts of money for the player.

fruit pigeon n. a fruit-eating pigeon occurring in the Old World tropics. Compare with FRUIT DOVE.

<INFO>

- a relative of the imperial pigeons occurring in New Guinea (genus Ducula, family Columbidae).

- a green pigeon occurring in Africa (genus Treron, family Columbidae).

fruit salad n. [mass noun] a mixture of different types of chopped fruit served in syrup or juice.

fruit sugar n. [mass noun] 1 another term for FRUCTOSE.

2 CANADIAN a very fine type of granulated sugar suitable for sprinkling on fruit.

fruit tree n. a tree grown for its edible fruit.

fruitwood n. [mass noun] [often with negative] the wood of a fruit tree, especially when used in furniture: a fruitwood dressing table.

fruity adj. (fruitier, fruitiest) 1 (of food or drink) containing fruit: fruity jams.

- resembling the flavour of fruit: a light and fruity Beaujolais.

2 (of a voice or sound) mellow, deep, and rich: Jeffery had a wonderfully fruity voice.

- British INFORMAL sexually suggestive in content or style.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DEROGATORY relating to or associated with homosexuals.

4 INFORMAL, chiefly US eccentric or crazy: a kind of fruity professor.

<DERIVATIVES> fruitily adv. fruitiness n.

frumenty /frum(ə)nti/ (also furmety) n. [mass noun] BRITISH an old-fashioned dish consisting of hulled wheat boiled in milk and seasoned with cinnamon and sugar.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French frumentee, from frument, from Latin frumentum ‘corn’.

frump n. an unattractive woman who wears dowdy old-fashioned clothes.

<DERIVATIVES> frumpish adj. frumpishly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably a contraction of late Middle English frumple ‘wrinkle’, from Middle Dutch verrompelen. The word originally denoted a mocking speech or action; later (in the plural) ill humour, the sulks; hence a bad-tempered, (later) dowdy woman (early 19th century).

frumpy adj. (frumpier, frumpiest) (of a woman or her clothes) dowdy and old-fashioned: a frumpy housewife | her frumpy, shapeless dresses.

<DERIVATIVES> frumpily adv. frumpiness n.

Frunze /frunzi/ former name (1926–91) for Bishkek.

frusemide /frusəmd/ (chiefly US also furosemide) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic compound with a strong diuretic action, used especially in the treatment of oedema.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_12H_11ClN_2O_5S.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from fru- (alteration of fur(yl), denoting a radical derived from furan) + sem- (of unknown origin) + -IDE.

frustrate v. [with obj.] 1 prevent (a plan or attempted action) from progressing, succeeding, or being fulfilled: the rescue attempt was frustrated by bad weather.

- prevent (someone) from doing or achieving something: in numerous policy areas, central government has been frustrated by local authorities.

2 cause (someone) to feel upset or annoyed as a result of being unable to change or achieve something: (as adj. frustrating) it can be very frustrating to find that the size you want isn't there.

■ adj. ARCHAIC frustrated.

<DERIVATIVES> frustratingly adv. [as submodifier] progress turned out to be frustratingly slow

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin frustrat- ‘disappointed’, from the verb frustrare, from frustra ‘in vain’.

frustrated adj. 1 feeling or expressing distress and annoyance resulting from an inability to change or achieve something: young people get frustrated with the system.

- unfulfilled sexually: jealousies and frustrated passions.

2 [attr.] (of a person) unable to follow or be successful in a particular career: a frustrated actor.

- prevented from progressing, succeeding, or being fulfilled: years of frustrated attempts to regain control of the site.

<DERIVATIVES> frustratedly adv.

frustration n. [mass noun] 1 the feeling of being upset or annoyed as a result of being unable to change or achieve something: tears of frustration rolled down her cheeks.

- [count noun] an event or circumstance that causes one to feel frustrated: the inherent frustrations of assembly line work.

2 the prevention of the progress, success, or fulfilment of something: the frustration of their wishes.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin frustratio(n-), from frustrare ‘disappoint’ (see FRUSTRATE).

frustule /frstjul/ n. [BOTANY] the silicified cell wall of a diatom, consisting of two valves or overlapping halves.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin frustulum, diminutive of frustum (see FRUSTUM).

frustum /frstəm/ n. (pl. frusta /-tə/ or frustums) [GEOMETRY] the portion of a cone or pyramid which remains after its upper part has been cut off by a plane parallel to its base, or which is intercepted between two such planes.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘piece cut off’.

fruticose /frutkəz -s/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a lichen) having upright or pendulous branches.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin fruticosus, from frutex, frutic- ‘bush, shrub’.

Fry^1 Christopher (Harris) (1907–2005), English dramatist. He was known chiefly for his comic verse dramas, especially The Lady's not for Burning (1948) and Venus Observed (1950).

Fry^2 Elizabeth (1780–1845), English Quaker prison reformer, a leading figure in the early 19th-century campaign for penal reform.

Fry^3 Roger (Eliot) (1866–1934), English art critic and painter. He argued for an aesthetics of pure form, regarding content as incidental.

fry^1 v. (fries, frying, fried) [with obj.] 1 cook (food) in hot fat or oil, typically in a shallow pan.

- [no obj.] (of food) be cooked in hot fat or oil: put half a dozen steaks to fry in a pan.

- [no obj.] INFORMAL (of a person) burn or overheat: with the sea and sun and wind you'll fry if you don't take care.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL destroy: drugs fry the brain.

- execute or be executed by electrocution.

■ n. (pl. fries) 1 (fries) French fries; chips.

2 [in sing.] a fried dish or meal.

- [mass noun] BRITISH any of various types of offal, usually eaten fried.

- NORTH AMERICAN a social gathering where fried food is served: you'll explore islands and stop for a fish fry.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French frire, from Latin frigere.

fry^2 plural n. young fish, especially when newly hatched.

- the young of other animals produced in large numbers, such as frogs.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse frjó.

Frye (Herman) Northrop (1912–91), Canadian literary critic. His work explores the use of myth and symbolism. Notable works: Fearful Symmetry (1947) and The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (1982).

fryer n. 1 a large, deep container for frying food.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a small young chicken suitable for frying.

frying pan (NORTH AMERICAN also frypan) n. a shallow pan with a long handle, used for cooking food in hot fat or oil.

<PHRASES>

□ out of the frying pan into the fire from a bad situation to one that is worse.

fry-up n. BRITISH INFORMAL a dish of various types of fried food.

FS abbr. (in the UK) Flight Sergeant.

FSA abbr. 1 (in the UK) Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

2 Financial Services Act (or Authority).

FSH abbr. follicle-stimulating hormone.

FST abbr. flat screen television.

f-stop n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a camera setting corresponding to a particular f-number.

FT abbr. (in the UK) Financial Times.

Ft abbr. Fort: Ft Lauderdale.

ft abbr. foot; feet.

FTA abbr. NORTH AMERICAN Free Trade Agreement, used to refer to that signed in 1988 between the US and Canada.

FTC abbr. (in the US) Federal Trade Commission.

FT index another term for FTSE INDEX.

FTP [COMPUTING] abbr.

- file transfer protocol, a standard for the exchange of program and data files across a network.

■ v. (FTPs, FTPing or FTP'ing, FTPed or FTP'ed) [with obj.] INFORMAL transfer (a file) from one computer or system to another, especially on the Internet.

FTSE index a figure (published by the Financial Times) indicating the relative prices of shares on the London Stock Exchange, especially (also FTSE 100 index) one calculated on the basis of Britain's one hundred largest public companies.

<ORIGIN> FTSE, abbreviation of Financial Times Stock Exchange.

Fuad /fuad/ the name of two kings of Egypt:

- Fuad I (1868–1936), reigned 1922–36. Formerly sultan of Egypt (1917–1922), he became Egypt's first king after independence.

- Fuad II (b.1952), grandson of Fuad I, reigned 1952–3. Named king as an infant on the forced abdication of his father, Farouk, he was deposed when Egypt became a republic.

fubsy /fbzi/ adj. (fubsier, fubsiest) BRITISH INFORMAL fat and squat.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from dialect fubs ‘small fat person’, perhaps a blend of FAT and CHUB.

Fuchs^1 /fks/ (Emil) Klaus (Julius) (1911–88), German-born British physicist. He was a communist who fled Nazi persecution. During the 1940s he passed to the USSR secret information acquired while working on the development of the atom bomb in the US, and while engaged in research in Britain.

Fuchs^2 /fks/ Sir Vivian (Ernest) (1908–99), English geologist and explorer. He led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1955–8), making the first overland crossing of the Antarctic.

fuchsia /fjuə/ n. a shrub with pendulous tubular flowers that are typically of two contrasting colours. They are native to America and New Zealand and are commonly grown as ornamentals.

<INFO> Genus Fuchsia, family Onagraceae: many cultivars.

- AUSTRALIAN used in names of plants of other families with flowers similar to the fuchsia, e.g. native fuchsia.

- [mass noun] a vivid purplish-red colour like that of the sepals of a typical fuchsia flower.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named in honour of Leonhard Fuchs (1501–66), German botanist.

fuchsin /fuksin/ (also fuchsine) n. [mass noun] a deep red synthetic dye used as a biological stain and disinfectant.

<INFO> A chloride of rosaniline; chem. formula: C_20H_20N_3Cl.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Fuchs ‘fox’, translating French Renard (the name of the chemical company which first produced fuchsin commercially) + -IN^1.

fuck VULGAR SLANG v. [with obj.] 1 have sexual intercourse with (someone).

- [no obj.] (of two people) have sexual intercourse.

2 damage or ruin (something).

■ n. an act of sexual intercourse.

- [with adj.] a sexual partner of a specified ability.

■ exclam. used alone or as a noun or verb in various phrases to express annoyance, contempt, or impatience.

<PHRASES>

□ fuck all BRITISH absolutely nothing.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ fuck about (or around) spend time doing unimportant or trivial things.

□ fuck someone around (or about) waste someone's time.

□ fuck off 1 [usually in imperative] (of a person) go away.

2 chiefly US another way of saying fuck about.

□ fuck someone off make someone angry.

□ fuck someone over US treat someone in an unfair or humiliating way.

□ fuck someone up damage or confuse someone emotionally.

□ fuck something up (or fuck up) do something badly or ineptly.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: of Germanic origin (compare Swedish dialect focka and Dutch dialect fokkelen); possibly from an Indo-European root meaning ‘strike’, shared by Latin pugnus ‘fist’.

<USAGE> Despite the wideness and proliferation of its use in many sections of society, the word fuck remains (and has been for centuries) one of the most taboo words in English. Until relatively recently it rarely appeared in print; even today, there are a number of euphemistic ways of referring to it in speech and writing, e.g. the F-word, f***, or f—k.

fucker n. VULGAR SLANG a contemptible or stupid person (often used as a general term of abuse).

fuckhead n. VULGAR SLANG a stupid or contemptible person (often used as a general term of abuse).

fucking adj. [attr.] & adv. [as submodifier] VULGAR SLANG used for emphasis or to express anger, annoyance, contempt, or surprise.

fuck-me adj. VULGAR SLANG (of footwear or clothing) inviting sexual interest.

fuck-up n. VULGAR SLANG a mess or muddle.

fuckwit n. VULGAR SLANG a stupid or contemptible person (often used as a general term of abuse).

fucoid /fjukd/ [BOTANY] n. a brown seaweed or fossil plant of a group to which bladderwrack belongs.

<INFO> Order Fucales, class Phaeophyceae, including genus Fucus.

■ adj. relating to or resembling a brown seaweed, especially a fucoid.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from FUCUS + -OID.

fucoxanthin /fjukəzanθn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a brown carotenoid pigment occurring in and generally characteristic of the brown algae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from FUCUS + xanthin, variant of XANTHINE.

fucus /fjukəs/ n. (pl. fuci /fjus/) a seaweed of a large genus of brown algae having flat leathery fronds.

<INFO> Genus Fucus, class Phaeophyceae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a cosmetic): from Latin, ‘rock lichen, red dye, rouge’, from Greek phukos ‘seaweed’, of Semitic origin.

fuddle /fd(ə)l/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. fuddled) confuse or stupefy (someone), especially with alcohol.

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC go on a drinking bout.

■ n. [in sing.] a state of confusion or intoxication: through the fuddle of wine he heard some of the conversation.

- ARCHAIC a drinking bout.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘go on a drinking bout’): of unknown origin.

fuddled adj. confused or stupefied, especially as a result of drinking alcohol: [in combination] Benjamin was trying to clear his drink-fuddled brain.

fuddy-duddy n. (pl. fuddy-duddies) INFORMAL a person who is very old-fashioned and pompous: he probably thinks I'm an old fuddy-duddy.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally dialect): of unknown origin.

fudge n. 1 [mass noun] a soft crumbly or chewy sweet made from sugar, butter, and milk or cream.

- [as modifier] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN rich chocolate, used as a sauce or a filling for cakes.

2 an attempt to fudge an issue: the new settlement is a fudge rushed out to win cheers at the conference.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC nonsense.

3 a piece of late news inserted in a newspaper page.

■ v. [with obj.] present or deal with (something) in a vague or inadequate way, especially so as to conceal the truth or mislead: the authorities have fudged the issue.

- adjust or manipulate (facts or figures) so as to present a desired picture.

■ exclam. DATED nonsense! (expressing disbelief or annoyance).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: probably an alteration of obsolete fadge ‘to fit’. Early usage was as a verb in the sense ‘turn out as expected’, also ‘merge together’: this probably gave rise to its use in confectionery. In the late 17th century the verb came to mean ‘fit together in a clumsy or underhand manner’, which included facts or figures being cobbled together in a superficially convincing way: this led to the exclamation ‘fudge!’ and to noun sense 3 of the noun.

fudge factor n. INFORMAL a figure included in a calculation to account for some unquantified but significant phenomenon or to ensure a desired result.

fuel n. [mass noun] material such as coal, gas, or oil that is burned to produce heat or power.

■ short for NUCLEAR FUEL.

- food, drink, or drugs as a source of energy: any protein intake can also be used as fuel.

- a thing that sustains or inflames passion, argument, or other intense emotion: the remuneration packages will add fuel to the debate about top-level rewards.

■ v. (fuels, fuelling, fuelled; US fuels, fueling, fueled) [with obj.] 1 supply or power (an industrial plant, vehicle, or machine) with fuel: power stations fuelled by low-grade coal.

2 cause (a fire) to burn more intensely.

- sustain or inflame (an intense feeling): his resignation fuelled speculation of an imminent cabinet reshuffle.

<PHRASES>

□ add fuel to the fire (or flames) cause a situation or conflict to become more intense.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fouaille, based on Latin focus ‘hearth’ (in late Latin ‘fire’).

fuel cell n. a cell producing an electric current direct from a chemical reaction.

fuel element n. an element consisting of nuclear fuel and other materials for use in a reactor.

fuel injection n. [mass noun] the direct introduction of fuel under pressure into the combustion units of an internal-combustion engine.

<DERIVATIVES> fuel-injected adj.

fuel oil n. [mass noun] oil used as fuel in an engine or furnace.

fuel rod n. a rod-shaped fuel element in a nuclear reactor.

fuelwood n. [mass noun] wood used as fuel.

Fuentes /fwεntεz/ Carlos (b.1928), Mexican novelist and writer. Notable works: Where the Air is Clear (1958), Terra nostra (1975), and The Old Gringo (1984).

fufu /fufu/ (also foo-foo) n. [mass noun] dough made from boiled and ground plantain or cassava, used as a staple food in parts of West and central Africa.

<ORIGIN> from Akan fufuu.

fug n. [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL a warm, stuffy or smoky atmosphere in a room: the cosy fug of the music halls.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally dialect and schoolchildren's slang): of unknown origin.

fugacious /fjeəs/ adj. LITERARY tending to disappear; fleeting: she was acutely conscious of her fugacious youth.

<DERIVATIVES> fugaciously adv. fugaciousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin fugax, fugac- (from fugere ‘flee’) + -IOUS.

fugacity /fjasti/ n. [mass noun] 1 LITERARY the quality of being fleeting or evanescent.

2 [CHEMISTRY] a thermodynamic property of a real gas which if substituted for the pressure or partial pressure in the equations for an ideal gas gives equations applicable to the real gas.

fugal /fju(ə)l/ adj. of the nature of a fugue: the virtuosity of the fugal finale.

<DERIVATIVES> fugally adv.

Fugard /fuαd/ Athol (b.1932), South African dramatist. His plays, including Blood Knot (1963) and The Road to Mecca (1985), deal mostly with social deprivation and other aspects of life under apartheid.

fugato /fjuαtə fu-/ [MUSIC] adj. & adv. in the style of a fugue, but not in strict or complete fugal form.

■ n. (pl. fugatos) a passage in fugato style.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

-fuge combining form expelling or dispelling either a specified thing or in a specified way: vermifuge | centrifuge.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin -fugus, from Latin fugare ‘cause to flee’.

Fuggle n. (usually Fuggles) hops of a variety used in beer-making.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

fuggy adj. (fuggier, fuggiest) (of a room or atmosphere) warm, stuffy, or smoky: it was fuggy in the cabin | a fuggy pub.

fugitive n. a person who has escaped from captivity or is in hiding: fugitives from justice.

■ adj. quick to disappear; fleeting: the fugitive effects of light | a fugitive dye.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fugitif, -ive, from Latin fugitivus, from fugere ‘flee’.

fugleman /fju(ə)lmən/ n. (pl. fuglemen) HISTORICAL a soldier who stands in front of a regiment or company to demonstrate and maintain time in drilling exercises.

- FIGURATIVE a leader, organizer, or spokesman: fuglemen of the ideological right.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from German Flügelmann ‘leader of the file’, from Flügel ‘wing’ + Mann ‘man’.

fugu /fuu/ n. [mass noun] a pufferfish that is eaten as a Japanese delicacy, after some highly poisonous parts have been removed.

<ORIGIN> from Japanese.

fugue /fju/ n. 1 [MUSIC] a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts.

2 [PSYCHIATRY] a loss of awareness of one's identity, often coupled with flight from one's usual environment, associated with certain forms of hysteria and epilepsy.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from Italian fuga, from Latin fuga ‘flight’, related to fugere ‘flee’.

führer /fjərə/ (also fuehrer) n. a tyrannical leader.

<ORIGIN> from German Führer ‘leader’, part of the title Führer und Reichskanzler ‘Leader and Chancellor of the Empire’ assumed in 1934 by Adolf HITLER.

Fujairah /fudərə/ (also al-Fujayrah) one of the seven member states of the United Arab Emirates; pop. 99,400 (est. 2002).

Fuji /fudi/ n. a Japanese dessert apple of a variety with crisp sweet flesh and an orange flush to the skin.

Fuji, Mount /fudi/ a dormant volcano in the Chubu region of Japan. Rising to 3,776 m (12,385 ft), it is Japan's highest mountain and is regarded by the Japanese as sacred. Also called FUJIYAMA /fudjαmə/.

Fujian /fudan/ (also Fukien /fukjεn/) a province of SE China, on the China Sea; capital, Fuzhou.

Fukuoka /fukuəkə/ an industrial city and port in southern Japan, capital of Kyushu island; pop. 1,361,400 (est. 2002).

-ful suffix 1 (forming adjectives from nouns) full of: sorrowful.

- having the qualities of: masterful.

2 forming adjectives from adjectives or from Latin stems with little change of sense: grateful.

3 (forming adjectives from verbs) apt to; able to; accustomed to: forgetful | watchful.

4 (pl. -fuls) forming nouns denoting the amount needed to fill the specified container, holder, etc.: bucketful | handful.

<ORIGIN> from FULL^1.

Fula /fulə/ (also Foulah, Ful) n. [mass noun] the language of the Fulani people, spoken as a first language by about 10 million people and widely used in West Africa as a lingua franca. It belongs to the Benue-Congo language family. Also called FULANI, FULFULDE.

Fulani /fulαni/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people living in a region of West Africa from Senegal to northern Nigeria and Cameroon. They are traditionally nomadic cattle herders of Muslim faith.

2 another term for FULA.

<ORIGIN> the name in Hausa.

Fulbe /flbe/ plural n. (the Fulbe)

■ another term for the FULANI people.

Fulbright (James) William (1905–95), American senator. His name designates grants awarded under the Fulbright Act of 1946, which authorized funds from the sale of surplus war materials overseas to be used to finance exchange programmes of students and teachers between the US and other countries. The scheme was later supported by grants from the US government.

fulcrum /flkrəm fl-/ n. (pl. fulcrums or fulcra /-rə/) the point against which a lever is placed to get a purchase, or on which it turns or is supported.

- a thing that plays a central or essential role in an activity, event, or situation: research is the fulcrum of the academic community.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally in the general sense ‘a prop or support’): from Latin, literally ‘post of a couch’, from fulcire ‘to prop up’.

fulfil (US fulfill) v. (fulfils, fulfilling, fulfilled) 1 achieve or realize (something desired, promised, or predicted): he wouldn't be able to fulfil his ambition to visit Naples.

- (fulfil oneself) gain happiness or satisfaction by achieving one's potential.

- ARCHAIC complete (a period of time or piece of work).

2 carry out (a duty or role) as required, promised, or expected.

- satisfy or meet (a requirement, condition, or need): goods must fulfil three basic conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> fulfillable adj. fulfiller n.

<ORIGIN> late Old English fullfyllan ‘fill up, make full’ (see full^1, fill).

fulfilled adj. satisfied or happy because of fully developing one's abilities or character.

fulfilling adj. making someone satisfied or happy through allowing their character or abilities to develop fully: a fulfilling and rewarding career.

fulfilment (US fulfillment) n. [mass noun] 1 the achievement of something desired, promised, or predicted: winning the championship was the fulfilment of a childhood dream.

- satisfaction or happiness as a result of fully developing one's potential: she did not believe that marriage was the key to happiness and fulfilment.

2 the meeting of a requirement, condition, or need: the fulfilment of statutory requirements.

- the performance of a duty or role as required, pledged, or expected.

Fulfulde /flflde/ n. another term for FULA.

fulgent /fld(ə)nt/ adj. LITERARY shining brightly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fulgent- ‘shining’, from the verb fulgere.

fulguration /fljre(ə)n/ n. 1 [mass noun] MEDICINE the destruction of small growths or areas of tissue using diathermy.

2 LITERARY a flash like that of lightning.

<DERIVATIVES> fulgurate v.

■ fulguration (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (usually plural in the sense ‘flashes of lightning’): from Latin fulguratio(n-) ‘sheet lightning’, from fulgur ‘lightning’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 20th cent.

fulgurite /fljrt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] vitreous material formed of sand or other sediment fused by lightning.

- [count noun] a piece of fulgurite.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin fulgur ‘lightning’ + -ITE^1.

fuliginous /fjuldnəs/ adj. LITERARY sooty; dusky.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally describing a vapour as ‘thick and noxious’): from late Latin fuliginosus, from fuligo, fuligin- ‘soot’.

full^1 adj. 1 containing or holding as much or as many as possible; having no empty space: waste bins full of rubbish | she could only nod, for her mouth was full | the hotel is full up.

- having eaten to one's limits or satisfaction: she just ate till she was full up.

- (full of) containing or holding much or many; having a large number of: his diary is full of entries about her.

- (full of) having a lot of (a particular quality): she was full of confidence.

- (full of) unable to stop talking or thinking about: they had their photographs taken and he was full of it.

- (full of) filled with intense emotion: his heart was full of hate.

- involving many activities: he lived a full life.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ & SCOTTISH INFORMAL drunk.

2 [attr.] not lacking or omitting anything; complete: a full range of sports facilities.

- (often used for emphasis) reaching the utmost limit; maximum: he reached for the engine control and turned it up to full power | John made full use of all the tuition provided.

- having all the privileges and status attached to a particular position: the country applied for full membership of the European Community.

- (of a report or account) containing as much detail or information as possible.

- used to emphasize an amount or quantity: he kept his fast pace going for the full 14-mile distance.

- (of a covering material in bookbinding) used for the entire cover: bound in full cloth.

3 (of a person's figure or part of the body) plump or rounded: she had full lips | the fuller figure.

- (of the hair) having body.

- (of a garment) cut generously with gathers or folds or so as to fit loosely: the dress has a square neck and a full skirt.

- (of a sound) strong and resonant.

- (of a flavour or colour) rich or intense.

■ adv. 1 straight; directly: she turned her head and looked full into his face.

2 very: he knew full well she was too polite to barge in.

- ARCHAIC entirely (used to emphasize an amount or quantity): they talked for full half an hour.

■ n. (the full) ARCHAIC the period, point, or state of the greatest fullness or strength.

- the state or time of full moon.

- ARCHAIC or IRISH the whole.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] BLACK ENGLISH make (something) full; fill up: he full up the house with bawling.

2 [with obj.] gather or pleat (fabric) so as to make a garment full.

3 [no obj.] DIALECT or US (of the moon or tide) become full.

<PHRASES>

□ full and by [SAILING] close-hauled but with sails filling.

□ full colour the full range of colours: lively illustrations in full colour.

□ full of beans see BEAN.

□ full of oneself very self-satisfied and with an exaggerated sense of self-worth.

□ full of years ARCHAIC having lived to a considerable age.

□ full on 1 running at or providing maximum power or capacity: he had the heater full on.

2 so as to make a direct or significant impact: the recession has hit us full on.

- (full-on) INFORMAL not diluted in nature or effect: this is full-on ballroom boogie.

□ full out 1 as much or as far as possible; with maximum effort or power: he held his foot to the floor until the car raced full out.

2 [PRINTING] flush with the margin.

□ full steam (or speed) ahead with as much speed or energy as possible.

□ full to the BRIM see BRIM.

□ in full with nothing omitted: I shall expect your life story in full.

- to the full amount due: their relocation costs would be paid in full.

- to the utmost; completely: the textbooks have failed to exploit in full the opportunities offered.

□ to the full to the greatest possible extent: enjoy your free trip to Europe to the full.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vol and German voll.

full^2 v. [with obj.] (often as n. fulling) clean, shrink, and felt (cloth) by heat, pressure, and moisture.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably a back-formation from FULLER^1, influenced by Old French fouler ‘press hard upon’ or medieval Latin fullare, based on Latin fullo ‘fuller’.

full age n. [mass noun] BRITISH adult status (especially with reference to legal rights and duties).

full back (US fullback) n. (in certain team games) a player in a defensive position, playing at the side of the field in soccer and hockey and behind the other backs in rugby.

full beam n. [mass noun] BRITISH the brightest setting of a vehicle's headlights.

full-blooded adj. 1 of unmixed race: a full-blooded Cherokee.

2 vigorous, enthusiastic, and without compromise: a full-blooded performance.

<DERIVATIVES> full-blood n.

■ full-blooded (sense 1)

□ full-bloodedly adv.

□ full-bloodedness n.

full-blown adj. 1 fully developed: the onset of full-blown Aids in persons infected with HIV.

2 (of a flower) in full bloom.

full board n. 1 [mass noun] BRITISH provision of accommodation and all meals at a hotel or guest house.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a full complement of shearers. [<ORIGIN> board, denoting part of the floor of a shearing shed (see BOARD).]

full-bodied adj. rich and satisfying in flavour or sound: a spicy, full-bodied white wine.

full bore n. full speed or maximum capacity: the real excitement comes from driving it at full bore | [as adv.] the boat came full bore towards us.

■ adj. [attr.] denoting firearms of relatively large calibre: full-bore hand guns.

- FIGURATIVE complete; thoroughgoing: a full-bore leftist.

full-bottomed adj. (of a wig) long at the back (as worn formerly and still by some judges).

full brother n. a brother born of the same mother and father.

full-court press n. [BASKETBALL] an aggressive tactic in which members of a team cover their opponents throughout the court and not just in the region near their own basket.

full-cream adj. BRITISH (of milk) unskimmed.

full dress n. [mass noun] clothes worn on ceremonial or very formal occasions.

- [as modifier] treated with complete seriousness or possessing all the characteristics of a genuine example of the type: the lender will usually want a full-dress environmental audit.

full dress uniform n. [mass noun] military uniform worn on ceremonial occasions.

Fuller^1 R. Buckminster (1895–1983), American designer and architect; full name Richard Buckminster Fuller. He is best known for his invention of the geodesic dome and for his ideals of using the world's resources with maximum purpose and least waste.

Fuller^2 Thomas (1608–61), English cleric and historian. He is chiefly remembered for The History of the Worthies of England (1662), a description of the counties with short biographies of local personages.

fuller^1 n. a person whose occupation is fulling cloth.

<ORIGIN> Old English fullere, from Latin fullo, of unknown origin.

fuller^2 n. a grooved or rounded tool on which iron is shaped.

- a groove made by a fuller, especially in a horseshoe.

■ v. [with obj.] stamp (iron) with a fuller.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (as a verb): of unknown origin.

fullerene /flərin/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a form of carbon having a large spheroidal molecule consisting of a hollow cage of sixty or more atoms, of which buckminsterfullerene was the first known example. Fullerenes are produced chiefly by the action of an arc discharge between carbon electrodes in an inert atmosphere.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: contraction of BUCKMINSTERFULLERENE.

fuller's earth n. [mass noun] a type of clay used in fulling cloth and as an adsorbent.

fuller's teasel n. a teasel with stiff bracts which curve backwards from the prickly flower head.

<INFO> Dipsacus sativus, family Dipsacaceae.

<ORIGIN> so named because it was formerly dried and used for raising the nap on woven cloth.

full face adv. (also in full face) with all the face visible; facing directly at someone or something: she looked full face at the mirror.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 showing all of the face: a full-face mugshot.

2 covering all of the face: a full-face motorcycle helmet.

full-fledged adj. North American term for FULLY FLEDGED.

full flood n. [mass noun] the tide at its highest.

<PHRASES>

□ in full flood speaking enthusiastically and volubly: she was in full flood about the glories of bicycling.

full forward n. [AUSTRALIAN RULES] the centrally positioned player in front of the goal on the forward line of the attacking team.

full-frontal adj. (of nudity or a nude figure) with full exposure of the front of the body.

- with nothing concealed or held back: they put a full-frontal guitar assault to clever lyrics.

full-grown adj. having reached maturity.

full growth n. [mass noun] the greatest size that a plant or animal naturally attains; maturity.

full-hearted adj. with great enthusiasm and commitment; full of sincere feeling: a full-hearted commitment to proportional representation.

<DERIVATIVES> full-heartedly adv. full-heartedness n.

full house n. 1 an audience that fills the venue for an event to capacity: he seemed a trifle unnerved playing to a full house.

2 a poker hand with three of a kind and a pair, which beats a flush and loses to four of a kind.

- a winning card at bingo in which all the numbers have been successfully marked off.

full-length adj. of the standard length: a full-length Disney cartoon.

- (of a garment or curtain) extending to, or almost to, the ground.

- (of a mirror or portrait) showing the whole human figure.

■ adv. (usually full length) (of a person) with the body lying stretched out and flat: Lucy flung herself full length on the floor.

full marks plural n. chiefly BRITISH the maximum award in an examination or assessment.

- used to show praise for someone's intelligence, hard work, or other quality: she had to give him full marks for originality.

full measure n. [mass noun] the total amount or extent: the full measure of their worth.

- [count noun] an amount not less than that professed: only one out of 208 pints served came up to a full measure.

full moon n. the phase of the moon in which its whole disc is illuminated.

- the time when this occurs: it was several days after full moon.

full-motion video n. [mass noun] digital video data that is transmitted or stored on video discs for real-time reproduction on a computer (or other multimedia system) at a rate of not less than 25 frames per second.

full-mouthed adj. 1 (of cattle, sheep, etc.) having a full set of adult teeth.

2 spoken loudly or vigorously.

fullness (also fulness) n. [mass noun] 1 the state of being filled to capacity: scores of tins in different states of fullness.

- the state of having eaten enough or more than enough and feeling full up.

- the state of being complete or whole: the honesty and fullness of the information they provide.

2 the state of being filled out so as to produce a rounded shape: the childish fullness of his cheeks.

- the condition of having been cut or designed to give a full shape: hair was cut with a high crown and fullness.

- richness or intensity of flavour, sound, or colour: the champagne is a fine example of mature fullness and ripeness.

<PHRASES>

□ the fullness of one's (or the) heart LITERARY overwhelming emotion.

□ in the fullness of time after a due length of time has elapsed; eventually: he'll tell us in the fullness of time.

full point n. another term for FULL STOP (as a punctuation mark).

full professor n. NORTH AMERICAN a professor of the highest grade in a university.

<DERIVATIVES> full professorship n.

full-rigged adj. (of a sailing ship) having three or more masts that all carry square sails.

full-scale adj. of the same size as the thing represented: a full-scale model of the Golden Hind.

- unrestricted in size, extent, or intensity; complete and thorough: a full-scale invasion of the mainland.

full score n. a score of a musical composition giving the parts for all performers on separate staves.

full sister n. a sister born of the same mother and father.

full stop n. BRITISH a punctuation mark (.) used at the end of a sentence or an abbreviation.

- [as exclamation] used to suggest that there is nothing more to say on a topic: women are just generally better people full stop.

- a complete cessation: her life had simply come to a full stop.

full term n. 1 see term (sense 2 of the noun).

2 (at Oxford and Cambridge) the main part of the university term, during which lectures are given.

full tilt adv. see TILT.

full-time adj. occupying or using the whole of someone's available working time: a full-time job.

■ adv. on a full-time basis: both parents were employed full-time.

■ n. (full time) BRITISH the end of a game, especially a football match.

full-timer n. a person who does a full-time job.

full toss [CRICKET] n. a ball pitched right up to the batsman.

■ adv. without the ball having touched the ground.

fully adv. 1 completely or entirely; to the fullest extent: I fully understand the fears of the workers.

2 no less or fewer than (used to emphasize an amount): fully 65 per cent of all funerals are by cremation.

<ORIGIN> Old English fullīce (see full^1, -ly^2).

-fully suffix forming adverbs corresponding to adjectives ending in -ful (such as sorrowfully corresponding to sorrowful).

fully fashioned (also full-fashioned) adj. (of women's clothing, especially hosiery) shaped and seamed to fit the body.

- (of a knitted garment) shaped by increasing or decreasing the number of loops made along the fabric length without alteration of the stitch.

fully fledged adj. British 1 completely developed or established; of full status: David had become a fully fledged pilot.

2 (of a bird) having developed all its feathers and able to fly.

fulmar /flmə/ n. a gull-sized grey and white seabird of the petrel family, with a stocky body and tubular nostrils.

<INFO> Genus Fulmarus, family Procellariidae: two species, in particular the northern fulmar (F. glacialis) of the arctic area and British Isles.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Hebridean Norn dialect, from Old Norse fúll ‘stinking, foul’ (because of its habit of regurgitating its stomach contents when disturbed) + már ‘gull’.

fulminant /flmnənt fl-/ adj. MEDICINE (of a disease or symptom) severe and sudden in onset.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, or from Latin fulminant- ‘striking with lightning’, from the verb fulminare (see FULMINATE).

fulminate /flmnet fl-/ v. [no obj.] 1 express vehement protest: all fulminated against the new curriculum.

2 LITERARY explode violently or flash like lightning: thunder fulminated around the house.

3 (usually as adj. fulminating) MEDICINE (of a disease or symptom) develop suddenly and severely: fulminating appendicitis.

■ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of fulminic acid.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fulminat- ‘struck by lightning’, from fulmen, fulmin- ‘lightning’. The earliest sense (derived from medieval Latin fulminare) was ‘denounce formally’, later ‘issue formal censures’ (originally said of the Pope). A sense ‘emit thunder and lightning’, based on the original Latin meaning, arose in the early 17th century, and hence ‘explode violently’ (late 17th century).

fulmination n. 1 an expression of vehement protest: the fulminations of media moralists.

2 a violent explosion or a flash like lightning.

fulminic acid /flmnk fl-/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a very unstable acid isomeric with cyanic acid.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HONC.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: fulminic from Latin fulmen, fulmin- ‘lightning’ + -IC.

fulsome adj. 1 complimentary or flattering to an excessive degree: the press are embarrassingly fulsome in their appreciation.

2 of large size or quantity; generous or abundant: the fulsome details of the later legend.

<DERIVATIVES> fulsomely adv. fulsomeness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘abundant’): from FULL^1 + -SOME^1.

<USAGE> Although the earliest use of fulsome (first recorded in the 13th century) was ‘abundant’, this meaning in modern use is held by some people to be incorrect. Although the correct meaning today is ‘excessively complimentary or flattering’, the word is still often used to mean simply ‘abundant’, especially in uses such as the critics have been fulsome in their praise of Ribeiro's wearable style, where the speaker often merely means that the praise is abundant rather than excessively flattering.

Fulton Robert (1765–1815), American pioneer of the steamship. He constructed a steam-propelled ‘diving-boat’ in 1800, which submerged to a depth of 7.6 m (25 ft), and in 1806 he built the first successful paddle steamer, the Clermont.

fulvous /flvəs fl-/ adj. reddish yellow; tawny.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin fulvus + -OUS.

fumarate /fjməret/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of fumaric acid.

fumaric acid /fjumark/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline acid, isomeric with maleic acid, present in fumitory and many other plants.

<INFO> Alternative name: trans-butenedioic acid; chem. formula: HOOCCH=CHCOOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: fumaric from modern Latin Fumaria ‘fumitory’ + -IC.

fumarole /fjumərəl/ n. an opening in or near a volcano, through which hot sulphurous gases emerge.

<DERIVATIVES> fumarolic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from obsolete Italian fumaruolo, from late Latin fumariolum ‘vent, hole for smoke’, a diminutive based on Latin fumus ‘smoke’.

fumble v. [no obj., with adverbial] do or handle something clumsily: she fumbled with the lock.

- (fumble about/around) move clumsily in various directions using the hands to find one's way: he fumbled about in the dark but could not find her.

- [with obj. and adverbial] use the hands clumsily to move (something) as specified: she fumbled a cigarette from her bag.

- [with obj.] (in ball games) fail to catch or field (the ball) cleanly.

- express oneself or deal with something clumsily or nervously: Michael had fumbled for words.

■ n. [usually in sing.] an act of doing or handling something clumsily: just one fumble during a tyre change could separate the winners from the losers.

- INFORMAL an act of fondling someone for sexual pleasure.

- (in ball games) an act of failing to catch or field the ball cleanly.

- an act of managing or dealing with something clumsily: we are not talking about subtle errors of judgement, but major fumbles.

<DERIVATIVES> fumbler n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Low German fommeln or Dutch fommelen.

fumbling n. [mass noun] the action of fumbling.

- (also fumblings) INFORMAL the action of fondling someone for sexual pleasure: a few furtive fumblings and unfulfilled flirtations.

■ adj. doing or handling something clumsily: she bolted the door with fumbling fingers.

<DERIVATIVES> fumblingly adv.

fume n. (usually fumes) an amount of gas or vapour that smells strongly or is dangerous to inhale: clouds of exhaust fumes spewed by cars.

- a pungent odour of a particular thing: he breathed fumes of wine into her face.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 emit gas or vapour: fragments of lava hit the ground, fuming and sizzling.

- [with obj.] (usually as adj. fumed) expose (especially wood) to ammonia fumes in order to produce dark tints.

2 feel, show, or express great anger: he is fuming over the interference in his work.

<DERIVATIVES> fumy adj. (fumier, fumiest)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fumer (verb), from Latin fumare ‘to smoke’.

fume cupboard n. BRITISH a ventilated enclosure in a chemistry laboratory, in which harmful volatile chemicals can be used or kept.

fume hood n. US a fume cupboard.

fumet^1 /fjumεt/ n. [mass noun] a concentrated stock, especially of game or fish, used as flavouring.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the senses ‘smell of game’ and ‘game flavour’): from French, from fumer ‘to smoke’. The current sense dates from the early 20th cent.

fumet^2 /fjumεt/ n. (usually fumets) ARCHAIC the excrement of a deer.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French fumees ‘droppings’.

fumigate v. [with obj.] disinfect or purify (an area) with the fumes of certain chemicals.

<DERIVATIVES> fumigant n. fumigation n. fumigator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (earlier (late Middle English) as fumigation, in the sense ‘the action of perfuming’): from Latin fumigat- ‘fumigated’, from the verb fumigare, from fumus ‘smoke’.

fumitory /fjumt(ə)ri/ n. an Old World plant with spikes of small tubular pink or white flowers and finely divided greyish leaves, often considered a weed.

<INFO> Genus Fumaria, family Fumariaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fumeterre, from medieval Latin fumus terrae ‘smoke of the earth’ (because of its greyish leaves).

fun n. [mass noun] enjoyment, amusement, or light-hearted pleasure: the children were having fun in the play area.

- a source of fun: people-watching is great fun.

- playfulness or good humour: she's full of fun.

- behaviour or an activity that is intended purely for amusement and should not be interpreted as having any serious or malicious purpose: the column's just a bit of fun.

■ adj. (funner, funnest) INFORMAL amusing, entertaining, or enjoyable: it was a fun evening.

■ v. (funs, funning, funned) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL joke or tease: [no obj.] no need to get sore—I was only funning | [with obj.] they are just funning you.

<PHRASES>

□ for fun (or for the fun of it) in order to amuse oneself and not for any more serious purpose.

□ fun and games amusing and enjoyable activities: teaching isn't all fun and games.

□ in fun not intended seriously; as a joke: remember when you meet the press to say that your speech was all in fun.

□ make fun of tease, laugh at, or joke about (someone) in a mocking or unkind way.

□ not much (or a lot of) fun used to indicate that something strikes one as extremely unpleasant and depressing: it can't be much fun living next door to him.

□ not one's idea of fun used to emphasize one's dislike for an activity or to mock someone else's liking for it: being stuck behind a desk all day isn't my idea of fun.

□ what fun! used to convey that an activity or situation sounds amusing or enjoyable.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting a trick or hoax): from obsolete fun ‘to cheat or hoax’, dialect variant of late Middle English fon ‘make a fool of, be a fool’, related to fon ‘a fool’, of unknown origin. Compare with FOND.

Funafuti /funəfuti/ the capital of Tuvalu, situated on an island of the same name; pop. 5,100 (est. 2002).

funambulist /fjunambjlst/ n. a tightrope walker.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French funambule or Latin funambulus (from funis ‘rope’ + ambulare ‘to walk’) + -IST.

funboard n. a type of windsurfing board that is less stable but faster than a standard board.

Funchal /fnαl/ the capital and chief port of Madeira, on the south coast of the island; pop. 102,521 (2001).

function n. 1 an activity that is natural to or the purpose of a person or thing: bridges perform the function of providing access across water | bodily functions.

- [mass noun] practical use or purpose in design: building designs that prioritize style over function.

- a computer operation corresponding to a single instruction from the user.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a relation or expression involving one or more variables: the function (bx + c).

- a variable quantity regarded in relation to one or more other variables in terms of which it may be expressed or on which its value depends.

- [CHEMISTRY] a functional group.

3 a thing dependent on another factor or factors: class shame is a function of social power.

4 a large or formal social event or ceremony.

■ v. [no obj.] work or operate in a proper or particular way: her liver is functioning normally.

- (function as) fulfil the purpose or task of (a specified thing): the museum intends to function as an educational and study centre.

<DERIVATIVES> functionless adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French fonction, from Latin functio(n-), from fungi ‘perform’.

functional adj. 1 of or having a special activity, purpose, or task: a functional role.

- relating to the way in which something works or operates: there are important functional differences between left and right brain.

- (of a disease) affecting the operation, rather than the structure, of an organ.

- (of a mental illness) having no discernible organic cause: functional psychosis.

2 designed to be practical and useful, rather than attractive: a small, functional bathroom.

3 in operation; working: the museum will be fully functional from the opening of the festival.

4 [MATHEMATICS] relating to a variable quantity whose value depends upon one or more other variables.

<DERIVATIVES> functionally adv. [sentence adv.] functionally, the role of the library service is clearly educational

functional food n. a food containing health-giving additives.

functional grammar n. [mass noun] a theory of grammar concerned with the social and pragmatic functions of language, relating these to both formal syntactic properties and prosodic properties.

functional group n. [CHEMISTRY] a group of atoms responsible for the characteristic reactions of a particular compound.

functionalism n. [mass noun] 1 the theory that the design of an object should be determined by its function rather than by aesthetic considerations, and that anything practically designed will be inherently beautiful.

2 the theory that all aspects of a society serve a function and are necessary for the survival of that society.

3 (in the philosophy of mind) the theory that mental states can be sufficiently defined by their cause, their effect on other mental states, and their effect on behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> functionalist n. & adj.

functionality n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being suited to serve a purpose well; practicality: I like the feel and functionality of this bakeware.

- the purpose that something is designed or expected to fulfil: manufacturing processes may be affected by the functionality of the product.

2 the range of operations that can be run on a computer or other electronic system: new software with additional functionality.

functionary /fn(k)(ə)n(ə)ri/ n. (pl. functionaries) a person who has to perform official functions or duties; an official.

function key n. [COMPUTING] a button on a computer keyboard, distinct from the main alphanumeric keys, to which software can assign a particular function.

function word n. [LINGUISTICS] a word whose purpose is to contribute to the syntax rather than the meaning of a sentence, for example do in we do not live here.

functor /fktə/ n. 1 [LOGIC] & [MATHEMATICS] a function; an operator.

2 [LINGUISTICS] another term for FUNCTION WORD.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from FUNCTION, on the pattern of words such as factor.

fund n. a sum of money saved or made available for a particular purpose: he had set up a fund to coordinate economic investment.

- (funds) financial resources: a concert to raise funds for the church.

- a large stock or supply of something: a vast fund of information.

■ v. [with obj.] provide with money for a particular purpose: the World Bank refused to fund the project.

<PHRASES>

□ in funds BRITISH having money to spend.

<DERIVATIVES> funder n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin fundus ‘bottom, piece of landed property’. The earliest sense was ‘the bottom or lowest part’, later ‘foundation or basis’; the association with money has perhaps arisen from the idea of landed property being a source of wealth.

fundal /fnd(ə)l/ adj. MEDICINE relating to the fundus of an organ, especially of the stomach, uterus, or eyeball.

fundament /fndəm(ə)nt/ n. 1 the foundation or basis of something.

2 FORMAL or HUMOROUS a person's buttocks or anus.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also denoting the base of a building, or the founding of a building or institution): from Old French fondement, from Latin fundamentum, from fundare ‘to found’.

fundamental /fndəmεnt(ə)l/ adj. forming a necessary base or core; of central importance: the protection of fundamental human rights | interpretation of evidence is fundamental to the historian's craft.

- affecting or relating to the essential nature of something or the crucial point about an issue: the fundamental problem remains that of the housing shortage.

- so basic as to be hard to alter, resolve, or overcome: the theories are based on a fundamental error.

■ n. 1 (usually fundamentals) a central or primary rule or principle on which something is based: two courses cover the fundamentals of microbiology.

2 [MUSIC] a fundamental note, tone, or frequency.

<DERIVATIVES> fundamentality n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French fondamental, or late Latin fundamentalis, from Latin fundamentum, from fundare ‘to found’.

fundamental frequency n. [PHYSICS] the lowest frequency which is produced by the oscillation of the whole of an object, as distinct from the harmonics of higher frequency.

fundamentalism n. [mass noun] a form of Protestant Christianity which upholds belief in the strict and literal interpretation of the Bible.

- strict maintenance of the doctrines of any religion, notably Islam, according to a strict, literal interpretation of scripture.

Modern Christian fundamentalism arose from American millenarian sects of the 19th century, and has become associated with reaction against social and political liberalism and rejection of the theory of evolution. Islamic fundamentalism appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries as a reaction to the disintegration of Islamic political and economic power, asserting that Islam is central to both state and society and advocating strict adherence to the Koran (Qur'an) and to Islamic law (sharia).

<DERIVATIVES> fundamentalist n. & adj.

fundamentally adv. [often as submodifier] in central or primary respects: two fundamentally different concepts of democracy.

- [sentence adv.] used to make an emphatic statement about the basic truth of something: fundamentally, this is a matter for doctors.

fundamental note n. [MUSIC] the lowest note of a chord in its original form.

fundamental particle n. another term for ELEMENTARY PARTICLE.

fundamental tone n. [MUSIC] the tone which represents the fundamental frequency of a vibrating object such as a string or bell.

fundamental unit n. each of a set of unrelated units of measurement, which are arbitrarily defined and from which other units are derived. For example, in the SI system the fundamental units are the metre, kilogram, and second.

funded debt n. a debt in the form of securities with long-term or indefinite redemption. Compare with FLOATING DEBT.

fundholding n. [mass noun] (in the UK) a former system of state funding for general practitioners, in which a GP was allocated a budget with which they could buy a limited range of hospital services.

<DERIVATIVES> fundholder n.

fundi^1 plural form of FUNDUS.

fundi^3 /fndi/ n. (pl. fundis) S. African INFORMAL an expert in a particular area: a turtle fundi.

- an enthusiast for a subject or activity: she provides classes for the fitness fundis.

<ORIGIN> perhaps originally Rhodesian (Zimbabwean) English, from Nguni umfundi ‘learner’.

fundie /fndi/ n. (pl. fundies) INFORMAL a fundamentalist, especially a Christian fundamentalist.

- (also fundi) (plural also fundis) a member of the radical, as opposed to the pragmatic, wing of the Green movement. Often contrasted with REALO.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from German, abbreviation of Fundamentalist ‘fundamentalist’.

funding n. [mass noun] money provided, especially by an organization or government, for a particular purpose.

- the action or practice of providing funding.

fund manager n. an employee of a large institution (such as a pension fund or an insurance company) who manages the investment of money on its behalf.

fund-raiser n. a person whose job or task is to seek financial support for a charity, cause, or other enterprise.

- an event held to generate financial support for such an enterprise.

<DERIVATIVES> fund-raising n.

fundus /fndəs/ n. (pl. fundi /-d/) [ANATOMY] the part of a hollow organ (such as the uterus or the gall bladder) that is furthest from the opening.

- the upper part of the stomach, which forms a bulge above the level of the opening of the oesophagus (furthest from the pylorus).

- the part of the eyeball opposite the pupil.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘bottom’.

Fundy, Bay of /fndi/ an arm of the Atlantic Ocean extending between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is subject to fast-running tides, the highest in the world, which reach 12–15 m (40–8 ft) and are used to generate electricity.

funeral n. a ceremony or service held shortly after a person's death, usually including the person's burial or cremation.

- US RARE a sermon delivered at a funeral.

- ARCHAIC or LITERARY a procession of mourners at a burial.

<PHRASES>

□ it's your funeral INFORMAL used to warn someone that an unwise act or decision is their responsibility: ‘I won't discuss it.’ ‘Don't then—it's your funeral.’.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French funeraille, from medieval Latin funeralia, neuter plural of late Latin funeralis, from Latin funus, funer- ‘funeral, death, corpse’.

funeral director n. an undertaker.

funeral parlour (also funeral home, funeral chapel) n. an establishment where the dead are prepared for burial or cremation.

funeral pyre (also funeral pile) n. a pile of wood on which a corpse is burnt as part of a funeral ceremony.

funeral urn n. an urn holding the ashes of a cremated body.

funerary /fjun(ə)(rə)ri/ adj. relating to a funeral or the commemoration of the dead: funerary ceremonies.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from late Latin funerarius, from funus, funer- ‘funeral’.

funereal /fjunərəl/ adj. having the mournful, sombre character appropriate to a funeral: Erika was moving at a funereal pace.

<DERIVATIVES> funereally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin funereus (from funus, funer- ‘funeral’) + -AL.

funfair n. chiefly BRITISH a fair consisting of rides, sideshows, and other amusements.

fun fur n. [mass noun] an artificial fabric with a texture resembling fur, typically in bright colours.

fungal /f(ə)l/ adj. of or caused by a fungus or fungi: fungal diseases such as mildew.

fungi plural form of FUNGUS.

fungible /fn(d)b(ə)l/ adj. [LAW] (of goods contracted for without an individual specimen being specified) replaceable by another identical item; mutually interchangeable.

<DERIVATIVES> fungibility n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin fungibilis, from fungi ‘perform, enjoy’, with the same sense as fungi vice ‘serve in place of’.

fungicide /fn(d)sd f-/ n. a chemical that destroys fungus.

<DERIVATIVES> fungicidal adj.

fungiform /f(d)fm/ adj. having the shape of or resembling a fungus or mushroom.

fungistatic /fn(d)statk/ adj. inhibiting the growth of fungi.

<DERIVATIVES> fungistatically adv.

fungivorous /fdv(ə)rəs/ adj. feeding on fungi or mushrooms.

fungo /fə/ n. (pl. fungoes or fungos) (also fungo fly) [BASEBALL] a fly ball hit for practice.

- (also fungo bat or stick) a long lightweight bat for hitting practice balls to fielders.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

fungoid /fd/ adj. of or caused by a fungus or fungi: she suffered from a fungoid disease of her feet.

- resembling a fungus in shape, texture, or speed of growth.

■ n. a fungus or a growth resembling a fungus.

fungous /fəs/ adj. resembling, caused by, or having the nature of a fungus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin fungosus, from fungus (see FUNGUS).

fungus /fəs/ n. (pl. fungi /- -(d)/ or funguses) any of a group of unicellular, multicellular, or syncytial spore-producing organisms feeding on organic matter, including moulds, yeast, mushrooms, and toadstools.

- [mass noun] fungal infection (especially on fish).

- [in sing.] used to describe something that has appeared or grown rapidly and is considered unpleasant or unattractive: there was a fungus of outbuildings behind the house.

Fungi lack chlorophyll and are therefore incapable of photosynthesis. Many play an ecologically vital role in breaking down dead organic matter, some are an important source of antibiotics or are used in fermentation, and others cause disease. The familiar mushrooms and toadstools are merely the fruiting bodies of organisms that exist mainly as a thread-like mycelium in the soil. Some fungi form associations with other plants, growing with algae to form lichens, or in the roots of higher plants to form mycorrhizas. Fungi are now often classified as a separate kingdom distinct from the green plants.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, perhaps from Greek spongos (see SPONGE).

fungus garden n. [ZOOLOGY] a growth of fungus cultivated by certain ants or termites as a source of food.

fungus gnat n. a small, delicate fly whose larvae feed chiefly on fungi.

<INFO> Family Mycetophilidae: numerous species.

funhouse n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (in an amusement park) a building equipped with trick mirrors, shifting floors, and other devices designed to scare or amuse people as they walk through.

funicle /fjunk(ə)l/ n. [BOTANY] a filamentous stalk attaching a seed or ovule to the placenta. Also called FUNICULUS.

- [ZOOLOGY] a filamentous section of an insect's antenna, supporting the club.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: anglicized form of Latin funiculus (see FUNICULUS).

funicular /fjnkjlə fənk-/ adj. 1 (of a railway, especially one on a mountainside) operating by cable with ascending and descending cars counterbalanced.

2 relating to a rope or its tension.

■ n. a funicular railway.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘of or like a cord or thread’): from Latin funiculus (diminutive of funis ‘rope’) + -AR^1.

funiculus /fjnkjləs/ n. (pl. funiculi /-l -li/) [ANATOMY] a bundle of nerve fibres enclosed in a sheath of connective tissue, or forming one of the main tracts of white matter in the spinal cord.

■ another term for FUNICLE.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, diminutive of funis ‘rope’.

Funk /fk/ Casimir (1884–1967), Polish-born American biochemist. He showed that a number of diseases, including scurvy, rickets, beriberi, and pellagra, were each caused by the deficiency of a particular dietary component, and coined the term vitamins for the chemicals concerned.

funk^1 INFORMAL n. 1 (also blue funk) chiefly BRITISH a state of great fear or panic: are you in a blue funk about running out of things to say?

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a state of depression: I sat absorbed in my own blue funk.

2 DATED, chiefly BRITISH a coward.

■ v. [with obj.] chiefly BRITISH avoid (something) out of fear: I could have seen him this morning but I funked it.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (first recorded as Oxford University slang): perhaps from FUNK^2 in the slang sense ‘tobacco smoke’, or from obsolete Flemish fonck ‘disturbance, agitation’.

funk^2 n. 1 [mass noun] a style of popular dance music of US black origin, based on elements of blues and soul and having a strong rhythm that typically accentuates the first beat in the bar.

2 [in sing.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DATED a strong musty smell of sweat or tobacco.

■ v. [with obj.] (funk something up) give music elements of funk.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘musty smell’): perhaps from French dialect funkier ‘blow smoke on’, based on Latin fumus ‘smoke’.

funkia /fkə/ n. another term for HOSTA.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin (former genus name), named after Heinrich Christian Funck (1771–1839), Prussian botanist.

funkster n. INFORMAL a performer or fan of funky music.

funky^1 adj. (funkier, funkiest) INFORMAL 1 (of music) having or using a strong dance rhythm, in particular that of funk: some excellent funky beats.

- modern and stylish in an unconventional or striking way: she likes wearing funky clothes.

2 NORTH AMERICAN strongly musty: cooked greens make the kitchen smell really funky.

<DERIVATIVES> funkily adv. funkiness n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘smelling strong or bad’): from FUNK^2.

funky^2 adj. (funkier, funkiest) BRITISH DATED, INFORMAL frightened, panicky, or cowardly.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from FUNK^1.

funnel n. 1 a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening.

2 a metal chimney on a ship or steam engine.

■ v. (funnels, funnelling, funnelled; US funnels, funneling, funneled) [with obj. and adverbial of direction] guide or channel (something) through or as if through a funnel: some $12.8 billion was funnelled through the Marshall Plan.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move or be guided through or as if through a funnel: the wind funnelled down through the valley.

- [no obj.] assume the shape of a funnel by widening or narrowing at the end: the crevice funnelled out.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: apparently via Old French from Provençal fonilh, from late Latin fundibulum, from Latin infundibulum, from infundere, from in- ‘into’ + fundere ‘pour’.

funnel cake n. US a cake made of batter that is poured through a funnel into hot fat or oil, deep-fried until crisp, and served sprinkled with sugar.

funnel cap n. a common edible European mushroom with a funnel-shaped cap, growing in open grassy places and woodland clearings.

<INFO> Clitocybe infundibuliformis, family Tricholomataceae, class Hymenomycetes.

funnel cloud n. a rotating funnel-shaped cloud forming the core of a tornado or waterspout.

funnel neck n. a high, wide neck on a garment such as a sweater.

funnel-web spider n. any of a number of spiders that build a funnel-shaped web, in particular:

<INFO>

- a large and dangerously venomous Australian spider (genera Atrax and Hadronyche, family Dipluridae, suborder Mygalomorphae). Also called TRAPDOOR SPIDER in Australia

- US a spider of the family Agelenidae.

funnily adv. in a strange or amusing way: you do talk funnily.

- [sentence adv.] (funnily enough) used to admit that a situation or fact is surprising or curious: funnily enough, I was starting to like the idea.

funniosity /fnsti/ n. (pl. funniosities) BRITISH HUMOROUS a comical person, object, act, or remark: Grandma looked a bit of a funniosity.

funny adj. (funnier, funniest) 1 causing laughter or amusement; humorous: a funny story | the play is hilariously funny.

- [predic.] [with negative] INFORMAL used to emphasize that something is unpleasant or wrong and should be regarded seriously or avoided: stealing other people's work isn't funny.

2 difficult to explain or understand; strange or curious: I had a funny feeling you'd be around.

- unusual, especially in such a way as to arouse suspicion: there was something funny going on.

- INFORMAL (of a person or part of the body) not in wholly good health or order; slightly ill: my eyes go all funny after a bit.

- British INFORMAL slightly deranged or eccentric: I heard she'd gone a bit funny.

■ n. (funnies) INFORMAL amusing jokes.

- NORTH AMERICAN the comic strips in newspapers.

<PHRASES>

□ funny ha-ha (or funny peculiar) INFORMAL amusing (or strange): used to distinguish the two main senses of ‘funny’. [<ORIGIN> coined by Ian Hay in his novel Housemaster (1936).]

□ I'm not being funny, but —— INFORMAL used before a statement or suggestion to point out that it is serious, however facetious or strange it may seem: I'm not being funny but I haven't got all day.

□ see the funny side (of something) appreciate the humorous aspect of a situation or experience.

□ (oh) very funny! INFORMAL used ironically to indicate that a speaker does not share another's joke or amusement.

<DERIVATIVES> funniness n.

funny bone n. INFORMAL the part of the elbow over which passes the ulnar nerve, which may cause numbness and pain along the forearm and hand if knocked.

funny business n. [mass noun] deceptive, disobedient, or lecherous behaviour: they sent a big strong farmer's lad to make sure there was no funny business.

funny-face n. INFORMAL an affectionate form of address.

funny farm n. (often the funny farm) INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE a psychiatric hospital.

funny man n. a professional clown or comedian.

funny money n. [mass noun] INFORMAL currency that is forged or otherwise worthless.

funny papers plural n. NORTH AMERICAN a section of a newspaper containing cartoons and humorous matter.

fun run n. INFORMAL an uncompetitive run, especially for sponsored runners in support of a charity.

funster n. INFORMAL a person who makes fun; a joker.

Fur /fə fə/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a Muslim people of the mountainous and desert regions of SW Sudan.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Fur, an isolated member of the Nilo-Saharan family, with about 500,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Fur or their language.

fur n. 1 [mass noun] the short, fine, soft hair of certain animals: a long, lean, muscular cat with sleek fur.

- [count noun] the skin of an animal with fur on it: the trapper can sell his furs to the highest bidder.

- animal skin with fur on it, or fabric resembling this, used in making or trimming garments: a Parka with nylon fur round the hood | [as modifier] a fur coat.

- [count noun] a coat, cape, or similar garment made of fur: I'd just seen her sitting in her furs.

- [HERALDRY] any of several heraldic tinctures representing animal skins in stylized form (e.g. ermine, vair).

2 BRITISH a coating formed by hard water on the inside surface of a pipe, kettle, or other container.

- a coating formed on the tongue, typically as a symptom of sickness.

■ v. (furs, furring, furred) [with obj.] 1 BRITISH coat or clog with a deposit: the stuff that furs up coronary arteries.

2 (as adj., often in combination furred) covered with or made from a particular type of fur: the black-furred rabbit.

3 level (floor or wall timbers) by inserting strips of wood.

<PHRASES>

□ be all fur coat and no knickers BRITISH INFORMAL have an impressive or sophisticated appearance which belies the fact that there is nothing to substantiate it.

□ fur and feather game mammals and birds.

□ the fur will fly INFORMAL there will be serious or violent trouble.

<DERIVATIVES> furless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): from Old French forrer ‘to line, sheathe’, from forre ‘sheath’, of Germanic origin.

fur. abbr. furlong(s).

furan /fjəran/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless volatile liquid with a planar unsaturated five-membered ring in its molecule.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_4H_4O.

- [count noun] any substituted derivative of this.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from synonymous furfuran.

furball n. 1 another term for HAIRBALL.

2 INFORMAL a furry pet animal.

furbelow /fəblə/ n. a gathered strip or pleated border of a skirt or petticoat.

- (furbelows) showy ornaments or trimmings: frills and furbelows just made her look stupid.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. furbelowed) LITERARY adorn with trimmings.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French falbala ‘trimming, flounce’, of unknown ultimate origin.

furbish /fəb/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. furbished) give a fresh look to (something old or shabby); renovate: the newly furbished church.

- ARCHAIC brighten up (a weapon) by polishing it.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French forbiss-, lengthened stem of forbir, of Germanic origin.

fur brigade n. CANADIAN HISTORICAL a convoy that transported furs to and from trading posts by land and river.

furca /fəkə/ n. (pl. furcae /-si -ki/) [ZOOLOGY] 1 an ingrowth of the thorax of many insects.

2 the furcula of a springtail.

<DERIVATIVES> furcal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘fork’.

furcate TECHNICAL v. /fəket fəket/ [no obj.] divide into two or more branches; fork: lines of descent furcating from a common source.

■ adj. /fəket -kət/ divided into two or more branches; forked.

<DERIVATIVES> furcation n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from late Latin furcatus ‘cloven’, from Latin furca ‘fork’.

furcula /fəkjlə/ n. (pl. furculae /-li/) [ZOOLOGY] 1 the wishbone of a bird.

2 the forked appendage at the end of the abdomen in a springtail, by which the insect jumps.

<DERIVATIVES> furcular adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, diminutive of furca ‘fork’.

furfuraceous /fəf(j)əreəs/ adj. [BOTANY] & MEDICINE covered with or characterized by bran-like scales.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin furfuraceus (from Latin furfur ‘bran’) + -OUS.

furfural /fəf(j)əral/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid used in synthetic resin manufacture, originally obtained by distilling bran.

<INFO> An aldehyde derived from furan; chem. formula: C_4H_3OCHO.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from obsolete furfurol (in the same sense) + -AL.

furfuraldehyde /fəf(j)əraldhd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] another term for FURFURAL.

furioso /fjərəzə -sə/ adv. & adj. [MUSIC] (especially as a direction) furiously and wildly.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

furious adj. 1 extremely angry: he was furious when he learned about it.

2 full of anger or energy; violent or intense: he drove at a furious speed.

<DERIVATIVES> furiously adv. furiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French furieus, from Latin furiosus, from furia ‘fury’.

furl v. [with obj.] roll or fold up (something) neatly and securely: the flag was tightly furled | (as adj. furled) the plant sends up cones of furled leaves.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French ferler, from Old French fer, ferm ‘firm’ + lier ‘bind’ (from Latin ligare).

furling n. [mass noun] equipment for rolling up sails securely and neatly around their yards or booms.

furlong n. an eighth of a mile, 220 yards.

<ORIGIN> Old English furlang, from furh ‘furrow’ + lang ‘long’. The word originally denoted the length of a furrow in a common field (formally regarded as a square of ten acres). It was also used as the equivalent of the Roman stadium, one eighth of a Roman mile, whence the current sense. Compare with STADIUM.

furlough /fələ/ n. [mass noun] leave of absence, especially that granted to a member of the services or a missionary: a civil servant home on furlough | [count noun] a six-week furlough in Australia.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. furloughed) US grant leave of absence to: furloughed workers.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Dutch verlof, modelled on German Verlaub, of West Germanic origin and related to leave^2.

furnace n. an enclosed structure in which material can be heated to very high temperatures, e.g. for smelting metals.

- NORTH AMERICAN an appliance fired by gas or oil in which air or water is heated to be circulated throughout a building in a heating system.

- a very hot place: her car was a furnace.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fornais(e), from Latin fornax, fornac-, from fornus ‘oven’.

Furneaux Islands /fənə/ a group of islands off the coast of NE Tasmania, in the Bass Strait. The largest island is Flinders Island.

furnish v. [with obj.] 1 provide (a house or room) with furniture and fittings: the proprietor has furnished the bedrooms in a variety of styles.

2 be a source of; provide: fish furnish an important source of protein.

- (furnish someone with) supply someone with (something); give (something) to someone: she was able to furnish me with details of the incident.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘provide or equip with what is necessary or desirable’): from Old French furniss-, lengthened stem of furnir, ultimately of West Germanic origin.

furnished adj. (of accommodation) available to be rented with furniture.

furnisher n. a person who supplies furniture.

furnishing n. (usually furnishings) furniture, fittings, and other decorative accessories such as curtains and carpets, for a house or room.

- [as modifier] denoting fabrics used for curtains or upholstery.

furniture n. [mass noun] 1 the movable articles that are used to make a room or building suitable for living or working in, such as tables, chairs, or desks.

2 [usually with adj. or noun modifier] the small accessories or fittings that are required for a particular task or function.

- the mountings of a rifle.

- [PRINTING] pieces of wood or metal placed round or between metal type to make blank spaces and fasten the type in the chase.

<PHRASES>

□ part of the furniture INFORMAL a person or thing that has been somewhere so long as to seem a permanent, unquestioned, or invisible feature of the landscape.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting the action of furnishing): from French fourniture, from fournir, from Old French furnir ‘to furnish’.

furniture beetle n. a small brown beetle, the larva of which (the woodworm) bores holes in dead wood and causes considerable damage to old furniture and building timbers.

<INFO> Anobium punctatum, family Anobiidae.

furore /fj(ə)rri fj(ə)r/ (US furor /fjər/) n. [in sing.] an outbreak of public anger or excitement: the verdict raised a furore over the role of courtroom psychiatry.

- ARCHAIC a wave of enthusiastic admiration; a craze.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Italian, from Latin furor, from furere ‘be mad, rage’.

furphy /fəfi/ n. (pl. furphies) AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a rumour or story, especially one that is untrue or absurd.

<ORIGIN> First World War: from the name painted on water and sanitary carts manufactured by the Furphy family of Shepparton, Victoria.

furrier /frə/ n. a person who prepares or deals in furs.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French forreor, from forrer ‘to line, sheathe’ (see FUR). The change in the ending in the 16th century was due to association with -IER.

furriery /frəri/ n. [mass noun] the art or trade of dressing and preparing furs.

furring strip n. a length of wood tapering to nothing, used in roofing and other construction work.

furrow n. 1 a long, narrow trench made in the ground by a plough, especially for planting seeds or irrigation.

- a rut, groove, or trail in the ground or another surface: lorry wheels had dug furrows in the sand.

2 a line or wrinkle on a person's face: there were deep furrows in his brow.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] make a rut, groove, or trail in (the ground or the surface of something): gorges furrowing the deep-sea floor | John's face was furrowed with tears.

- (usually as adj. furrowed) use a plough to make a long, narrow trench in (land or earth): furrowed fields.

2 (with reference to the forehead or face) mark or be marked with lines or wrinkles caused by frowning, anxiety, or concentration: [with obj.] a look of concern furrowed his brow | [no obj.] his brows furrowed in concentration | (as adj. furrowed) he stroked his furrowed brow.

<ORIGIN> Old English furh, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch voor and German Furche, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin porca ‘ridge between furrows’.

furrow slice n. a slice of earth turned up by the mouldboard of a plough.

furry adj. (furrier, furriest) covered with fur: furry creatures in fields.

- having a soft surface like fur: a layer of furry soot.

<DERIVATIVES> furriness n.

fur seal n. a gregarious eared seal that frequents the coasts of the Pacific and southern oceans, the male of which is substantially larger than the female. The thick fur on the underside is used commercially as sealskin.

<INFO> Two genera in the family Otariidae: the northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) and the southern fur seal (genus Arctocephalus).

further used as comparative of FAR

■ adv. (also farther) 1 at, to, or by a greater distance (used to indicate the extent to which one thing or person is or becomes distant from another): for some time I had wanted to move further from London | FIGURATIVE the EU seems to have moved further away from the original aims.

- [with negative] used to emphasize the difference between a supposed or suggested fact or state of mind and the truth: as for her being a liar, nothing could be further from the truth | nothing could be further from his mind than marrying.

2 over a greater expanse of space or time; for a longer way: we had walked further than I realized | FIGURATIVE wages have been driven down even further.

- beyond the point already reached or the distance already covered: Amelie decided to drive further up the coast | before going any further we need to define our terms.

- beyond or in addition to what has already been done: this theme will be developed further in Chapter 6.

- [sentence adv.] used to introduce a new point relating to or reinforcing a previous statement: On the Internet, the size and scope of the market is several orders of magnitude higher. Further, it is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

- at or to a more advanced, successful, or desirable stage: determination could not get her any further | at the end of three years they were no further on.

■ adj. 1 (also farther) more distant in space than another item of the same kind: two men were standing at the further end of the clearing.

- more remote from a central point: the museum is in the further reaches of the town.

2 additional to what already exists or has already taken place, been done, or been accounted for: cook for a further ten minutes.

■ v. [with obj.] help the progress or development of (something); promote: he had depended on using them to further his own career.

<PHRASES>

□ further to your (or our) —— FORMAL used at the beginning of a letter or in speech as a way of raising a matter discussed in an earlier letter, article, or conversation: further to our letter of 12th October, we confirm that our client will give full vacant possession on completion.

□ not go any further (of a secret) not be told to anyone else.

□ until further notice used to indicate that a situation will not change until another announcement is made: the museum is closed to the public until further notice.

□ until further orders used to indicate that a situation is only to change when another command is received: they were to be kept in prison until further orders.

<DERIVATIVES> furtherer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English furthor (adverb), furthra (adjective), fyrthrian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to FORTH.

<USAGE> Is there any difference between further and farther in she moved further down the train and she moved farther down the train? Both words share the same roots: in the sentences given above, where the sense is ‘at, to, or by a greater distance’, there is no difference in meaning, and both are equally correct. Further is a much commoner word, though, and is in addition used in various abstract and metaphorical contexts, for example referring to time, in which it would be unusual to substitute farther, e.g. without further delay; have you anything further to say?; we intend to stay a further two weeks. The same distinction is made between farthest and furthest: the farthest point from the sun versus this first team has gone furthest in its analysis.

furtherance n. [mass noun] the advancement of a scheme or interest: the court held that the union's acts were not in furtherance of a trade dispute.

further education n. [mass noun] BRITISH education below degree level for people above school age.

furthermore adv. [sentence adv.] in addition; besides (used to introduce a fresh consideration in an argument): It was also a highly desirable political end. Furthermore, it gave the English a door into France.

furthermost (also farthermost) adj. (of an edge or extreme) at the greatest distance from a central point or implicit standpoint: the furthermost end of the street.

furthest (also farthest) used as superlative of FAR

■ adj. [attr.] situated at the greatest distance from a specified or understood point: the furthest door led to a kitchen | FIGURATIVE it was the furthest thing from my mind.

- covering the greatest area or distance: the aim is to travel the furthest distance.

- extremely remote: the furthest ends of the earth.

■ adv. 1 at or by the greatest distance (used to indicate how far one thing or person is or becomes distant from another): the bed furthest from the window | FIGURATIVE the people who are furthest removed from the political process.

2 over the greatest distance or area: his group probably had furthest to ride.

- used to indicate the most distant point reached in a specified direction: it was the furthest north I had ever travelled.

- to the most extreme or advanced point: countries where industrialization had gone furthest.

<PHRASES>

□ at the furthest at the greatest distance; at most: the Allied line had been pushed forward, at the furthest, about 1.6 km.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: formed as a superlative of FURTHER.

<USAGE> For a discussion of the differences between farther and further, farthest and furthest see usage at further.

furtive /fətv/ adj. attempting to avoid notice or attention, typically because of guilt or a belief that discovery would lead to trouble; secretive: they spent a furtive day together | he stole a furtive glance at her.

- suggestive of guilty nervousness: the look in his eyes became furtive.

<DERIVATIVES> furtively adv. furtiveness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French furtif, -ive or Latin furtivus, from furtum ‘theft’.

Furtwängler /fətvεlə/ German /frtvεl/ Wilhelm (1886–1954), German conductor, chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra from 1922. He is noted particularly for his interpretations of Beethoven and Wagner.

furuncle /fjərk(ə)l/ n. technical term for boil^2.

<DERIVATIVES> furuncular adj. furunculous adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin furunculus, literally ‘petty thief’, also ‘knob on a vine’ (regarded as stealing the sap), from fur ‘thief’.

furunculosis /fjrkjləss/ n. [mass noun] 1 MEDICINE the simultaneous or repeated occurrence of boils on the skin.

2 a bacterial disease of salmon and trout.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from FURUNCLE + -OSIS.

fury n. (pl. furies) 1 [mass noun] wild or violent anger: tears of fury and frustration | Rachel shouted, beside herself with fury.

- (a fury) a surge of violent anger or other strong feeling: in a fury, he lashed the horse on.

2 extreme strength or violence in an action or a natural phenomenon: the fury of a gathering storm | she was paddling with a new fury.

3 (Fury) [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a spirit of punishment, often represented as one of three goddesses who pronounced curses on the guilty and inflicted famines and pestilences. The Furies were identified at an early date with the Eumenides.

<PHRASES>

□ like fury INFORMAL with great energy or effort: she fought like fury in his arms.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French furie, from Latin furia, from furiosus ‘furious’, from furere ‘be mad, rage’.

furze /fəz/ n. another term for GORSE.

<DERIVATIVES> furzy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English fyrs, of unknown origin.

fusain /fjuzen/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a lustreless, crumbly, porous type of coal resembling wood charcoal.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, literally ‘spindle tree’, also ‘fine charcoal’ (made from the spindle tree).

fusarium /fjzεrəm/ n. (pl. fusaria or fusariums) a mould of a large genus which includes a number that cause plant diseases, especially wilting.

<INFO> Genus Fusarium, subdivision Deuteromycotina.

- [mass noun] infestation with any of the fusaria or related moulds.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: modern Latin, from Latin fusus ‘spindle’.

fuscous /fskəs/ adj. TECHNICAL or LITERARY dark and sombre in colour.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin fuscus ‘dusky’ + -OUS.

fuse^1 v. 1 [with obj.] join or blend to form a single entity: intermarriage had fused the families into a large unit.

- [no obj.] (of groups of atoms or cellular structures) join or coalesce.

- melt (a material or object) with intense heat so as to join it with something else: powdered glass was fused to a metal base | [no obj.] when fired in a special kiln, the metals fused on to the pot.

2 [no obj.] BRITISH (of an electrical appliance) stop working when a fuse melts: the crew were left in darkness after the lights fused.

- [with obj.] cause (an electrical appliance) to stop working when a fuse melts.

3 [with obj.] provide (a circuit or electrical appliance) with a fuse: (as adj. fused) a fused plug.

■ n. a safety device consisting of a strip of wire that melts and breaks an electric circuit if the current exceeds a safe level.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin fus- ‘poured, melted’, from the verb fundere.

fuse^2 (NORTH AMERICAN also fuze) n. a length of material along which a small flame moves to explode a bomb or firework, meanwhile allowing time for those who light it to move to a safe distance.

- a device in a bomb that controls the timing of the explosion.

■ v. [with obj.] fit a fuse to (a bomb, shell, or mine): the bomb was fused to go off during a charity performance.

<PHRASES>

□ light the (or a) fuse do something that creates a tense or exciting situation: his goal midway through the first half lit the fuse.

□ have (or be on) a short fuse have a tendency to lose one's temper quickly.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian fuso, from Latin fusus ‘spindle’.

fuse box (also fuse board) n. a box housing the fuses for circuits in a building.

fusee /fjuzi/ (US fuzee) n. 1 a conical pulley or wheel, especially in a watch or clock.

2 a large-headed match capable of staying alight in strong wind.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a railway signal flare.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a spindle-shaped figure): from French fusée ‘spindle-ful’, based on Latin fusus ‘spindle’.

fuselage /fjuzəlα -ld/ n. the main body of an aircraft.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, from fuseler ‘shape into a spindle’, from fuseau ‘spindle’.

Fuseli /fjuz(ə)li fjuzεli/ Henry (1741–1825), Swiss-born British painter and art critic; born Johann Heinrich Füssli. A prominent figure of the romantic movement, he tended towards the horrifying and the fantastic, as in The Nightmare (1781).

fusel oil /fjuz(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] a mixture of several alcohols (chiefly amyl alcohol) produced as a by-product of alcoholic fermentation.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Fusel ‘bad liquor’, probably related to fuseln ‘to bungle’.

fuseway n. a fused connection point in a fuse box.

fuse wire n. [mass noun] thin wire used in an electric fuse.

Fushun /fun/ a coal-mining city in NE China, in the province of Liaoning; pop. 1,383,900 (est. 2002).

fusible /fjuzb(ə)l/ adj. able to be fused or melted easily.

<DERIVATIVES> fusibility n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from medieval Latin fusibilis, from fundere ‘pour, melt’.

fusiform /fjuzfm/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] tapering at both ends; spindle-shaped.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin fusus ‘spindle’ + -IFORM.

fusil^1 /fjuzl/ n. HISTORICAL a light musket.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a flint in a tinderbox): from French, based on Latin focus ‘hearth, fire’.

fusil^2 /fjuzl/ n. [HERALDRY] an elongated lozenge.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French fusel, from a diminutive of Latin fusus ‘spindle’.

fusilier /fjuzlə/ (NORTH AMERICAN also fusileer) n. (usually Fusiliers) a member of any of several British regiments formerly armed with fusils: the Royal Scots Fusiliers.

- HISTORICAL a soldier armed with a fusil.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from fusil (see fusil^1).

fusillade /fjuzled -lαd/ n. a series of shots fired or missiles thrown all at the same time or in quick succession: marchers had to dodge a fusillade of missiles.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC fire a fusillade at (a place or person).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from fusiller ‘to shoot’, from fusil (see fusil^1).

fusilli /f(j)zili/ plural n. pasta pieces in the form of short spirals.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘little spindles’, diminutive of fuso.

fusimotor /fjuzmətə/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to or denoting the motor neurons with slender fibres which innervate muscle spindles.

fusion n. [mass noun] the process or result of joining two or more things together to form a single entity: the election results produced pressure for fusion of the parties | [in sing.] the film showed a perfect fusion of image and sound.

- [PHYSICS] short for NUCLEAR FUSION.

- the process of causing a material or object to melt with intense heat so as to join with another: the fusion of resin and glass fibre in the moulding process.

- music that is a mixture of different styles, especially jazz and rock: jazz fusion.

- [as modifier] referring to food or cooking which incorporates elements of both Eastern and Western cuisine: fusion cuisine.

<DERIVATIVES> fusional adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin fusio(n-), from fundere ‘pour, melt’.

fusion bomb n. a bomb deriving its energy from nuclear fusion, especially a hydrogen bomb.

fusionist n. 1 a person who strives for coalition between political parties or factions.

2 a player or fan of music that is mixture of two modern styles.

<DERIVATIVES> fusionism n.

fuss n. [mass noun] a display of unnecessary or excessive excitement, activity, or interest: I don't know what all the fuss is about.

- [in sing.] a protest or dispute of a specified degree or kind: he didn't put up too much of a fuss.

- elaborate or complex procedures; trouble or difficulty: they settled in with very little fuss.

■ v. [no obj.] show unnecessary or excessive concern about something: she's always fussing about her food.

- busy oneself restlessly: beside him Kegan was fussing with sheets of paper.

- [with obj.] BRITISH disturb or bother (someone): when she cries in her sleep, try not to fuss her.

- [with obj.] treat (someone) with excessive attention or affection: she flattered and fussed her.

<PHRASES>

□ make a fuss become angry and complain.

□ make a fuss over (or British of) treat (a person or animal) with excessive attention or affection.

<DERIVATIVES> fusser n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps Anglo-Irish.

fussed adj. [predic.] BRITISH INFORMAL (of a person) feeling concern, distress, or annoyance; having strong feelings about something: it'd be great to be there but I'm not that fussed.

fusspot n. INFORMAL a fussy person.

fussy adj. (fussier, fussiest) fastidious about one's needs or requirements; hard to please: he is very fussy about what he eats.

- showing excessive or anxious concern about detail: Eleanor patted her hair with quick, fussy movements.

- full of unnecessary detail or decoration: I hate fussy clothes.

<PHRASES>

□ not BE fussy INFORMAL not be very concerned about something, especially a decision that is to be made: he's quite welcome to do that because the rest of us are not fussy.

<DERIVATIVES> fussily adv. fussiness n.

fustanella /fstənεlə/ n. a stiff white kilt, worn by men in Albania and Greece.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian, from modern Greek phoustani, phoustanela, probably from Italian fustagno, from medieval Latin fustaneum (see FUSTIAN).

fustian /fstən/ n. [mass noun] 1 thick, hard-wearing twilled cloth with a short nap, usually dyed in dark colours.

2 pompous or pretentious speech or writing: a smokescreen of fustian and fantasy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French fustaigne, from medieval Latin fustaneum, from (pannus) fustaneus ‘cloth from Fostat’, a suburb of Cairo;

■ sense 2 perhaps from the fact that fustian was sometimes used to cover pillows and cushions, implying that the language was ‘padded’; compare with BOMBAST.

fustic /fstk/ n. 1 [mass noun] ARCHAIC a yellow dye obtained from either of two kinds of timber, especially that of old fustic.

2 (also old fustic) a tropical American tree with heartwood that yields dyes and other products. See also YOUNG FUSTIC.

<INFO> Maclura (or Chlorophora) tinctoria, family Moraceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from Spanish fustoc, from Arabic fustuq, from Greek pistakē ‘pistachio tree’.

fusty adj. (fustier, fustiest) smelling stale, damp, or stuffy: the fusty odour of decay.

- old-fashioned in attitude or style: grammar in the classroom became a fusty notion.

<DERIVATIVES> fustily adv. fustiness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French fuste ‘smelling of the cask’, from fust ‘cask, tree trunk’, from Latin fustis ‘cudgel’.

futhark /fuθαk/ (also futhorc /fuθk/, futhork) n. the runic alphabet.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from its first six letters: f, u, th, a (or o), r, k.

futile adj. incapable of producing any useful result; pointless: a futile attempt to keep fans from mounting the stage | it is futile to allocate blame for this.

<DERIVATIVES> futilely adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin futilis ‘leaky, futile’, apparently from fundere ‘pour’.

futilitarian /fjutltεrən/ adj. devoted to futile pursuits.

■ n. a person devoted to futile pursuits.

futility n. [mass noun] pointlessness or uselessness: the horror and futility of war.

futon /futn/ n. a padded unsprung mattress originating in Japan, that can be rolled up or folded in two.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Japanese.

futtock /ftək/ n. each of the middle timbers of a ship's frame, between the floor and the top timbers.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Middle Low German, or from FOOT + HOOK.

future n. 1 (usually the future) a period of time following the moment of speaking or writing; time regarded as still to come: we plan on getting married in the near future | work on the building will be shelved for the foreseeable future.

- events that will or are likely to happen in time to come: nobody can predict the future.

- the likely prospects for or fate of someone or something in time to come: MPs will debate the future of the railways.

- a prospect of success or happiness: he'd decided that there was no future in the gang | I began to believe I might have a future as an artist.

- [GRAMMAR] a tense of verbs expressing events that have not yet happened.

2 (futures) contracts for assets (especially commodities or shares) bought at agreed prices but delivered and paid for later. Compare with forward (sense 2 of the noun).

■ adj. [attr.] at a later time; going or likely to happen or exist: the needs of future generations.

- (of a person) planned or destined to hold a specified position: his future wife.

- existing after death: heaven and the future life with Christ.

- [GRAMMAR] (of a tense) expressing an event yet to happen.

<PHRASES>

□ for future reference see REFERENCE.

□ in future from now onwards: she would be more careful in future.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin futurus, future participle of esse ‘be’ (from the stem fu-, ultimately from a base meaning ‘grow, become’).

future history n. (in science fiction) a narration of imagined future events.

future perfect n. [GRAMMAR] a tense of verbs expressing expected completion in the future, in English exemplified by will have done.

future-proof adj. (of a product or system) unlikely to become obsolete.

■ v. [with obj.] make (a product or system) future-proof: this approach allows you to future-proof your applications.

future shock n. [mass noun] a state of distress or disorientation due to rapid social or technological change.

futurism n. [mass noun] concern with events and trends of the future, or which anticipate the future.

- (Futurism) an artistic movement begun in Italy in 1909, which strongly rejected traditional forms and embraced the energy and dynamism of modern technology. Launched by Filippo Marinetti, it had effectively ended by 1918 but was widely influential, particularly in Russia on figures such as Malevich and Mayakovsky.

<ORIGIN> from FUTURE + -ISM, translating Italian futurismo, French futurisme.

futurist n. 1 (Futurist) an adherent of Futurism.

2 a person who studies the future and makes predictions about it based on current trends.

3 [THEOLOGY] a person who believes that eschatological prophecies are still to be fulfilled.

■ adj. 1 (Futurist) relating to Futurism or the Futurists.

2 relating to a vision of the future.

futuristic adj. 1 having or involving very modern technology or design: a swimming pool and futuristic dome.

- (of a film or book) set in the future, typically in a world of advanced or menacing technology.

2 (Futuristic) DATED of or characteristic of Futurism.

<DERIVATIVES> futuristically adv.

futurity /fjutjərti -t-/ n. (pl. futurities) 1 [mass noun] the future time: the tremendous shadows which futurity casts upon the present.

- [count noun] a future event.

- renewed or continuing existence: the snowdrops were a promise of futurity.

2 US short for FUTURITY RACE.

futurity race (also futurity stakes) n. US a horse race for young horses for which entries are made long in advance, sometimes before the horses are born.

futurology /fjutərlədi/ n. [mass noun] systematic forecasting of the future, especially from present trends in society.

<DERIVATIVES> futurological adj. futurologist n.

futz /fts/ v. [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL waste time; idle or busy oneself aimlessly: mother futzed around in the kitchen.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: perhaps an alteration of Yiddish arumfartzen ‘fart about’.

FUW abbr. Farmers' Union of Wales.

Fuxin /fun/ (also Fou-hsin) an industrial city in NE China, in Liaoning province; pop. 964,800 (est. 2002).

Fuzhou /fudə/ (also Foochow) a port in SE China, capital of Fujian province; pop. 1,527,300 (est. 2002).

fuzz^1 n. 1 a frizzy mass of hair or fibre: a fuzz of black hair | [mass noun] his face was covered with white fuzz.

- a blurred image: she saw Jess surrounded by a fuzz of sunlight.

2 a buzzing or distorted sound, especially one deliberately produced as an effect on an electric guitar.

■ v. 1 make or become blurred or indistinct: [with obj.] snow fuzzes the outlines of the signs | [no obj.] her head fuzzed and the classroom swam.

2 [no obj.] (of hair) become frizzy: her hair fuzzed out uncontrollably in the heat.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably of Low German or Dutch origin; compare with Dutch voos, Low German fussig ‘spongy’.

fuzz^2 n. (the fuzz) INFORMAL the police.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): of unknown origin.

fuzzbox n. a device which adds a distorted buzzing quality to the sound of an electric guitar or other instrument.

fuzzed adj. (of popular music or electric instruments) having or producing a distorted buzzing tone: fuzzed guitars.

fuzzy adj. (fuzzier, fuzziest) 1 having a frizzy texture or appearance: a girl with fuzzy dark hair.

2 difficult to perceive; indistinct or vague: the picture is very fuzzy | that fuzzy line between right and wrong.

- (of a person or the mind) unable to think clearly; confused: my mind felt fuzzy.

3 another term for FUZZED.

4 [COMPUTING] & [LOGIC] relating to a form of set theory and logic in which predicates may have degrees of applicability, rather than simply being true or false. It has important uses in artificial intelligence and the design of control systems.

<DERIVATIVES> fuzzily adv. fuzziness n.

fuzzy-wuzzy n. (pl. fuzzy-wuzzies) BRITISH INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE a black person, especially one with tightly curled hair.

- HISTORICAL a Sudanese soldier.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: reduplication of FUZZY.

fwd abbr. forward.

f.w.d. abbr.

- four-wheel drive.

- front-wheel drive.

F-word n. INFORMAL used instead of or in reference to the word ‘fuck’ because of its taboo nature.

FX abbr. (visual or sound) effects: films which require actors rather than special FX.

<ORIGIN> from the pronunciation of the two letters forming the two syllables of effects.

FY abbr.

- British financial year.

- NORTH AMERICAN fiscal year.

-fy suffix 1 (added to nouns) forming verbs denoting making or producing: speechify.

- denoting transformation or the process of making into: deify | petrify.

2 forming verbs denoting the making of a state defined by an adjective: amplify | falsify.

3 forming verbs expressing a causative sense: horrify.

<ORIGIN> from French -fier, from Latin -ficare, -facere, from facere ‘do, make’.

FYI abbr. for your information.

fyke /fk/ (also fyke net) n. chiefly US a bag net for catching fish.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Dutch fuik ‘fish trap’.

fylfot /flft/ n. a swastika.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: perhaps from fill-foot ‘pattern filling the foot of a painted window’.

fynbos /fenbs/ n. [mass noun] a distinctive type of vegetation found only on the southern tip of Africa. It includes a very wide range of plant species, particularly small heather-like trees and shrubs.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, literally ‘fine bush’.

fyrd /fəd fəd/ n. the English militia before 1066.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to German Fahrt, also to FARE.

FYROM abbr. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

G^1 (also g) n. (pl. Gs or G's) 1 the seventh letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the next after F in a set of items, categories, etc.

- (g) [CHESS] denoting the seventh file from the left, as viewed from White's side of the board.

2 [MUSIC] the fifth note in the diatonic scale of C major.

- a key based on a scale with G as its keynote.

G^2 abbr.

- [PHYSICS] gauss.

- [in combination] (in units of measurement) giga- (10^9).

- North American INFORMAL grand (a thousand dollars).

- a unit of acceleration equal to that produced by the earth's gravitational field.

■ symbol

- NORTH AMERICAN general audiences, a rating for a film that is suitable for all ages.

- [CHEMISTRY] Gibbs free energy.

- [PHYSICS] the gravitational constant, equal to 6.67 × 10−11 N m^2 kg−2.

g abbr.

- [CHEMISTRY] gas.

- gelding.

- gram(s).

- [PHYSICS] denoting quantum states or wave functions which do not change sign on inversion through the origin. The opposite of U. [<ORIGIN> from German gerade ‘even’.]

■ symbol [PHYSICS] the acceleration due to gravity, equal to 9.81 m s−2.

G20 abbr. Group of Twenty.

G7 abbr. Group of Seven.

G8 abbr. Group of Eight.

GA abbr.

- general aviation.

- Georgia (in official postal use).

Ga symbol the chemical element gallium.

Ga. abbr. Georgia (US).

GAA abbr. Gaelic Athletic Association.

gab INFORMAL v. (gabs, gabbing, gabbed) [no obj.] talk at length: Celeste was gabbing about the country before the war.

■ n. [mass noun] talk; chatter.

<PHRASES>

□ the gift of the gab (North American gift of gab) the ability to speak with eloquence and fluency.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: variant of gob^1.

GABA abbr. gamma-aminobutyric acid.

gabble v. [no obj.] talk rapidly and unintelligibly: he gabbled on in a panicky way until he was dismissed.

■ n. [mass noun] rapid unintelligible talk.

<DERIVATIVES> gabbler n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Dutch gabbelen, of imitative origin.

gabbro /abrə/ n. (pl. gabbros) [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a dark, coarse-grained plutonic rock of crystalline texture, consisting mainly of pyroxene, plagioclase feldspar, and often olivine.

<DERIVATIVES> gabbroic adj. gabbroid adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian, from Latin glaber, glabr- ‘smooth’.

gabby adj. (gabbier, gabbiest) INFORMAL excessively or annoyingly talkative.

gaberdine /abədin abədin/ (also chiefly NORTH AMERICAN gabardine) n. 1 [mass noun] a smooth, durable twill-woven worsted or cotton cloth.

- [count noun] BRITISH a raincoat made of gaberdine.

2 HISTORICAL a long, loose upper garment, worn particularly by Jews.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old French gauvardine, earlier gallevardine, perhaps from Middle High German wallevart ‘pilgrimage’ and originally ‘a garment worn by a pilgrim’. The textile sense is first recorded in the early 20th cent.

Gabès /αbs/ (also Qabis) an industrial seaport in eastern Tunisia; pop. 106,600 (2000).

gabfest n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a prolonged conference or other gathering with much talking.

gabion /ebən/ n. a cylindrical basket or container filled with earth, stones, or other material and used in civil engineering works or (formerly) fortifications.

<DERIVATIVES> gabionage n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via French from Italian gabbione, from gabbia ‘cage’, from Latin cavea.

Gable (William) Clark (1901–60), American actor, famous for films such as It Happened One Night (1934), for which he won an Oscar, and Gone with the Wind (1939).

gable n. the triangular upper part of a wall at the end of a ridged roof.

- (also gable end) a wall topped with a gable.

- a gable-shaped canopy over a window or door.

<DERIVATIVES> gabled adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Old Norse gafl, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gaffel and German Gabel ‘fork’ (the point of the gable originally being the fork of two crossed timbers supporting the end of the roof-tree).

gablet /eblt/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] a small ornamental gable over a buttress or similar feature.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from GABLE + -ET^1.

Gabo /αbə/ Naum (1890–1977), Russian-born American sculptor, brother of Antoine Pevsner; born Naum Neemia Pevsner. A founder of Russian constructivism, Gabo experimented with kinetic art and transparent materials.

Gabon /əbn/ an equatorial country in West Africa, on the Atlantic coast; pop. 1,233,353 (est. 2002); languages, French (official), West African languages; capital, Libreville. Gabon became a French territory in 1888. Part of French Equatorial Africa from 1910 to 1958, it became an independent republic in 1960.

<DERIVATIVES> Gabonese /abəniz/ adj. & n.

gaboon /əbun/ (also gaboon mahogany) n. a tropical West African hardwood tree which is valued for its timber.

<INFO> Aucoumea klaineana, family Burseraceae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Gaboon (now GABON).

Gaboon viper /əbun/ n. a large, thick-bodied venomous African snake with a pair of horn-like scales on the snout, having a body richly patterned with brown, purple, and cream.

<INFO> Bitis gabonica, family Viperidae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Gaboon (now GABON).

Gabor /αb əb/ Dennis (1900–79), Hungarian-born British electrical engineer, who conceived the idea of holography. Nobel Prize for Physics (1971).

Gaborone /abərəni/ the capital of Botswana, in the south of the country near the border with South Africa; pop. 223,000 (est. 2002).

Gabriel /ebrəl/ (in the Bible) the archangel who foretold the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26–38), and who also appeared to Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, and to Daniel; (in Islam) the archangel who revealed the Koran to the Prophet Muhammad.

Gabrieli /abrεli -eli/ Giovanni (c.1556–1612), Italian composer and organist. He was a leading Venetian musician who wrote a large number of motets with instrumental accompaniments for St Mark's Cathedral.

Gad /ad/ (in the Bible) a Hebrew patriarch, son of Jacob and Zilpah.

- the tribe of Israel traditionally descended from him.

gad^1 v. (gads, gadding, gadded) [no obj.] INFORMAL go from place to place in the pursuit of pleasure: he had heard that I was gadding about with an airline stewardess.

<PHRASES>

□ on (or upon) the gad ARCHAIC on the move.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: back-formation from obsolete gadling ‘wanderer, vagabond’, (earlier) ‘companion’, of Germanic origin.

gad^2 exclam. ARCHAIC an expression of surprise or emphatic assertion: By gad! You look young for a doctor!

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: euphemistic alteration of GOD.

gadabout n. INFORMAL a habitual pleasure-seeker: Walter was a restless charmer and a gadabout.

Gadarene /adərin/ adj. involving or engaged in a headlong or potentially disastrous rush to do something.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from New Testament Greek Gadarēnos ‘inhabitant of Gadara’, with reference to the story of the swine that rushed down a steep cliff into the sea (Matt. 8:28–32).

Gaddafi /ədαfi/ (also Qaddafi) Mu'ammer Muhammad al- (b.1942), Libyan colonel, head of state since 1970. After leading the coup which overthrew King Idris in 1969, he established the Libyan Arab Republic. He pursues an anti-colonial policy and has been accused of supporting international terrorism.

gadfly n. (pl. gadflies) a fly that bites livestock, especially a horsefly, warble fly, or botfly.

- FIGURATIVE a person who annoys or criticizes others in order to provoke them into action.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from GAD^1, or obsolete gad ‘goad, spike’, from Old Norse gaddr, of Germanic origin; related to yard^1.

gadget n. a small mechanical device or tool, especially an ingenious or novel one.

<DERIVATIVES> gadgeteer n. gadgetry n. gadgety adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally in nautical use): probably from French gâchette ‘lock mechanism’ or from the French dialect word gagée ‘tool’.

gadid /edd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a fish of the cod family (Gadidae).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Gadidae (plural), from gadus ‘cod’.

gadoid /edd a-/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a bony fish of an order (Gadiformes) that comprises the cods, hakes, and their relatives.

■ adj. relating to or denoting fish of this group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin gadus (from Greek gados ‘cod’) + -OID.

gadolinite /ad(ə)lnt ədəlnt/ n. [mass noun] a rare dark brown or black mineral, consisting of a silicate of iron, beryllium, and rare earths.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Johan Gadolin (1760–1852), the Finnish mineralogist who first identified it.

gadolinium /adəlnəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 64, a soft silvery-white metal of the lanthanide series. (Symbol: Gd)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from GADOLINITE.

gadroon /ədrun/ n. a decorative edging on metal or wood formed by parallel rounded strips (reeding) like inverted fluting.

<DERIVATIVES> gadrooned adj. gadrooning n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French godron, probably related to goder ‘to pucker’, also to GODET.

gadwall /adwl/ n. (pl. same or gadwalls) a brownish-grey freshwater duck found across Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Anas strepera, family Anatidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: of unknown origin.

gadzooks /adzuks/ exclam. ARCHAIC an exclamation of surprise or annoyance.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: alteration of God's hooks, i.e. the nails by which Christ was fastened to the cross; see gad^2.

Gael /el/ n. a Gaelic-speaking person.

<DERIVATIVES> Gaeldom n.

<ORIGIN> from Scottish Gaelic Gaidheal.

Gaelic /elk alk/ adj. relating to the Goidelic group of Celtic languages, particularly Scottish Gaelic, and the speakers of these languages and their culture.

■ n. (also Scottish Gaelic) [mass noun] a Celtic language spoken in the highlands and islands of western Scotland. It was brought from Ireland in the 5th and 6th centuries AD and is now spoken by about 40,000 people.

- (also Irish Gaelic)

■ another term for IRISH (the language).

Gaelic coffee n. [mass noun] coffee served with cream and whisky.

Gaelic football n. [mass noun] a type of football played mainly in Ireland between teams of fifteen players, with a goal resembling that used in rugby but having a net attached. The object is to kick or punch the round ball into the net (scoring three points) or over the crossbar (one point).

Gaelic League a movement founded in 1893 to revive Irish language and culture.

Gaeltacht /eltəxt/ Irish /eltəxt/ (the Gaeltacht) a region of Ireland in which the vernacular language is Irish.

<ORIGIN> Irish, earlier Gaedhealtacht, from Gaedheal ‘Gael’ + tacht ‘talk, speech’.

gaff^1 n. 1 a stick with a hook or barbed spear, for landing large fish.

2 [SAILING] a spar to which the head of a fore-and-aft sail is bent.

■ v. [with obj.] seize or impale with a gaff.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Provençal gaf ‘hook’; related to GAFFE.

gaff^2 n. (in phrase blow the gaff) BRITISH INFORMAL reveal a plot or secret.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

gaff^3 n. BRITISH INFORMAL a house, flat, or other building, especially as being a person's home: Gav's new gaff is in McDonald Road.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

gaffe /af/ n. an unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator; a blunder.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, literally ‘boathook’ (from Provençal gaf: see gaff^1), used colloquially to mean ‘blunder’.

gaffer n. 1 BRITISH INFORMAL a person in charge of others; a boss.

2 the chief electrician in a film or television production unit.

3 INFORMAL an old man.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 3): probably a contraction of GODFATHER; compare with GAMMER.

gaffer tape n. [mass noun] strong cloth-backed waterproof adhesive tape.

gag^1 n. 1 a piece of cloth put in or over a person's mouth to prevent them from speaking.

- FIGURATIVE a restriction on dissemination of information: every contract contains a self-signed gag.

2 a device for keeping the patient's mouth open during a dental or surgical operation.

■ v. (gags, gagging, gagged) 1 [with obj.] put a gag on (someone).

- FIGURATIVE prevent (someone) from speaking freely or disseminating information: the government is trying to gag its critics | (as adj. gagging) a gagging order.

2 [no obj.] choke or retch: he gagged on the wine.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps related to Old Norse gagháls ‘with the neck thrown back’, or imitative of a person choking.

gag^2 n. a joke or an amusing story, especially one forming part of a comedian's act or in a film.

■ v. [no obj.] tell jokes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally theatrical slang): of unknown origin.

gaga /αα aə/ adj. INFORMAL slightly mad, typically as a result of old age, infatuation, or excessive enthusiasm.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, ‘senile, a senile person’, reduplication based on gâteux, variant of gâteur, hospital slang in the sense ‘bed-wetter’.

Gagarin /əαrn/ Yuri (Alekseevich) (1934–68), Russian cosmonaut. In 1961 he made the first manned space flight, completing a single orbit of the earth in 108 minutes.

Gagauz /əaz/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people living mainly in southern Moldova and speaking a Turkic language.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Gagauz, closely related to Turkish and having about 150,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Gagauz or their language.

<ORIGIN> probably from Persian Kaykaus, perhaps from the name of Sultan Izzedin Kaykaus (reigned 1242–57).

gage^1 /ed/ ARCHAIC n. a valued object deposited as a guarantee of good faith.

- a pledge, especially a glove, thrown down as a symbol of a challenge to fight.

■ v. [with obj.] offer (an object or one's life) as a guarantee of good faith.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gage (noun), gager (verb), of Germanic origin; related to WAGE and WED.

gage^3 /ed/ n. another term for GREENGAGE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of Sir William Gage (1657–1727), the English botanist who introduced it to England.

gaggle n. 1 a flock of geese.

2 INFORMAL a disorderly group of people: the gaggle of photographers that dogged his every step.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): imitative of the noise that a goose makes; compare with Dutch gaggelen and German gackern.

gagster n. a writer or performer of gags.

Gaia /ə/ 1 (also Gaea, Ge) [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the Earth personified as a goddess, daughter of Chaos. She was the mother and wife of Uranus (Heaven); their offspring included the Titans and the Cyclops.

2 the earth viewed as a vast self-regulating organism (see GAIA HYPOTHESIS).

<DERIVATIVES> Gaian n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> Greek, ‘Earth’.

■ Sense 2 was coined by James Lovelock, at the suggestion of the writer William Golding.

Gaia hypothesis n. the theory, put forward by James Lovelock, that living matter on the earth collectively defines and regulates the material conditions necessary for the continuance of life. The planet, or rather the biosphere, is thus likened to a vast self-regulating organism.

gaiety (US also gayety) n. (pl. gaieties) [mass noun] the state or quality of being light-hearted or cheerful: the sudden gaiety of children's laughter.

- lively celebration or festivities: he seemed to be a part of the gaiety, having a wonderful time.

- (gaieties) DATED entertainments or amusements.

<PHRASES>

□ the gaiety of nations British, often IRONIC general cheerfulness or amusement: editors added to the gaiety of nations by suing each other.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French gaieté, from gai (see GAY).

gaijin /dn/ n. (pl. same) (in Japan) a foreigner.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, contraction of gaikoku-jin, from gaikoku ‘foreign country’ + jin ‘person’.

gaillardia /elαdə/ n. an American plant of the daisy family, which is cultivated for its bright red and yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Gaillardia, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Gaillard de Marentonneau, 18th-cent. French amateur botanist.

gaily adv. 1 in a cheerful or light-hearted way.

- without thinking of the consequences: she plunged gaily into speculation on the stock market.

2 [as submodifier] with a bright or attractive appearance: gaily coloured sailing boats.

gain v. [with obj.] 1 obtain or secure (something wanted or desirable): we gained entry to the car in five seconds | [with two objs] their blend of acoustic pop gained them several chart hits.

- [no obj.] benefit: managers would gain from greater openness.

- ARCHAIC win over to one's interest or views: to gratify the queen, and gain the court.

2 reach or arrive at (a destination): we gained the ridge.

- [no obj.] (gain on) come closer to (a person or thing pursued): a huge bear was gaining on him with every stride.

3 increase the amount or rate of (something, typically weight or speed): she had gained weight since her wedding.

- [no obj.] increase in value: shares gained for the third day in a row.

- [no obj.] (gain in) improve or advance in (some respect): canoeing is gaining in popularity.

- (of a clock or watch) become fast by (a specific amount of time): this atomic clock will neither gain nor lose a second in the next 1 million years.

■ n. [mass noun] 1 an increase in wealth or resources: the pursuit of personal gain | [count noun] shares showed gains of up to 21 per cent.

- a thing that is achieved or acquired: the potential gain from rail privatization would be a more commercial railway.

2 the factor by which power or voltage is increased in an amplifier or other electronic device, usually expressed as a logarithm.

<PHRASES>

□ gain time obtain extra time to achieve something by deliberate delaying tactics: the government was using the negotiations to gain time.

<DERIVATIVES> gainable adj. gainer n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a noun, originally in the sense ‘booty’): from Old French gaigne (noun), gaignier (verb), of Germanic origin.

gainful adj. [attr.] serving to increase wealth or resources: he soon found gainful employment.

<DERIVATIVES> gainfully adv. gainfulness n.

gainsay /ense/ v. (past and past part. gainsaid) [with obj.] [with negative] FORMAL deny or contradict (a fact or statement): the impact of the railways cannot be gainsaid.

- speak against or oppose (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> gainsayer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from obsolete gain- ‘against’ + SAY.

Gainsborough /enzbərə/ Thomas (1727–88), English painter. He was famous for his society portraits, including Mr and Mrs Andrews (1748) and The Blue Boy (c.1770), and for landscapes such as The Watering Place (1777).

'gainst prep. LITERARY short for AGAINST.

gain-up n. a control on a video camera used to increase the gain when filming in dark conditions.

gait /et/ n. a person's manner of walking: the easy gait of an athlete.

- the pattern of steps of a horse or dog at a particular speed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally Scots): variant of gate^2.

gaita /tə/ n. a kind of bagpipe played in northern Spain and Portugal.

<ORIGIN> Spanish and Portuguese.

gaiter n. (usually gaiters) a protective covering of cloth or leather for the ankle and lower leg.

- chiefly US a shoe or overshoe extending to the ankle or above.

- a flexible covering for the base of a gear lever or other mechanical part.

<DERIVATIVES> gaitered adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French guêtre, probably of Germanic origin and related to WRIST.

Gaitskell /etskl/ Hugh (Todd Naylor) (1906–63), British Labour statesman, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1950–1 and leader of the Labour Party 1955–63. He opposed the government over the Suez crisis and resisted calls within his own party for unilateral disarmament.

gal^1 n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a girl or young woman.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: representing a pronunciation.

gal^2 n. [PHYSICS] a unit of gravitational acceleration equal to one centimetre per second per second.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after GALILEO GALILEI.

Gal. abbr. Epistle to the Galatians (in biblical references).

gal. abbr. gallon(s).

gala /αlə elə/ n. a social occasion with special entertainments or performances: [as modifier] a gala performance by the Royal Ballet.

- BRITISH a special sports meeting, especially a swimming competition.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘showy dress’): via Italian and Spanish from Old French gale ‘rejoicing’.

galactagogue /əlaktə/ n. MEDICINE a food or drug that promotes or increases the flow of a mother's milk.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek gala, galakt- ‘milk’ + agōgos ‘leading’.

galactic /əlaktk/ adj. relating to a galaxy or galaxies, especially the galaxy containing the solar system.

- [ASTRONOMY] measured relative to the galactic equator.

<DERIVATIVES> galactically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek galaktias (variant of galaxias ‘galaxy’) + -IC.

galactic equator n. [ASTRONOMY] the great circle of the celestial sphere passing as closely as possible through the densest parts of the Milky Way.

galactico /əlaktkə/ n. (pl. galacticos) INFORMAL an exceptionally skilled and celebrated soccer player.

<ORIGIN> early 21st century: Spanish galáctico, literally ‘galactic person’ (i.e. bigger than a ‘star’).

galactorrhoea /əlaktəriə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE excessive or inappropriate production of milk.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek gala, galakt- ‘milk’ + rhoia ‘flux, flow’.

galactosamine /alaktəsəmin/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a crystalline amino sugar, of which chondroitin is a derivative.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_13NO_5.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from GALACTOSE + AMINE.

galactose /əlaktəz -s/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a sugar of the hexose class which is a constituent of lactose and many polysaccharides.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek gala, galaktos ‘milk’ + -OSE^2.

galago /əleə/ n. (pl. galagos)

■ another term for BUSHBABY.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (genus name).

galah /əlα/ n. 1 a small Australian cockatoo with a grey back and rosy pink head and underparts.

<INFO> Eulophus roseicapillus, family Cacatuidae (or Psittacidae).

2 AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a stupid person.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Yuwaalaraay (an Aboriginal language of New South Wales).

Galahad /aləhad/ (also Sir Galahad) the noblest of King Arthur's knights, renowned for immaculate purity and destined to find the Holy Grail.

- (as n. a (Sir) Galahad) a person characterized by nobility, integrity, or courtesy.

galangal /al(ə)al/ (also galingale) n. [mass noun] an Asian plant of the ginger family, the aromatic rhizome of which is widely used in cookery and herbal medicine.

<INFO> Genera Alpinia and Kaempferia, family Zingiberaceae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English galingale, via Old French from Arabic alanjān, perhaps from Chinese gāoliángjiāng, from gāoliáng (the name of a district in Guangdong Province, China) + jiāng ‘ginger’.

galant /alant al/ adj. relating to or denoting a light and elegant style of 18th-century music.

<ORIGIN> French and German (see GALLANT).

galantine /al(ə)ntin/ n. [mass noun] a dish of white meat or fish boned, cooked, pressed, and served cold in aspic.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘sauce for fish’): from Old French, alteration of galatine, from medieval Latin galatina; the current sense dates from the early 18th cent.

Galapagos finches plural n. another term for DARWIN'S FINCHES.

Galapagos Islands /əlapəəs/ a Pacific archipelago on the equator, about 1,045 km (650 miles) west of Ecuador, to which it belongs; pop. 15,700 (est. 2002). Spanish name Archipiélago de Colón.

The islands are noted for their abundant wildlife, including giant tortoises and many other endemic species. They were the site of Charles Darwin's observations of 1835, which helped him to form his theory of natural selection.

Galatea /alətə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] 1 a sea nymph courted by the Cyclops Polyphemus, who in jealousy killed his rival Acis.

2 the name given to the statue fashioned by Pygmalion and brought to life.

Galaţi /alats/ an industrial city in eastern Romania, a river port on the lower Danube; pop. 342,400 (est. 2002).

Galatia /əleə/ an ancient region in central Asia Minor, settled by invading Gauls (the Galatians) in the 3rd century BC. It later became a province of the Roman Empire.

<DERIVATIVES> Galatian adj. & n.

Galatians, Epistle to the /əle(ə)nz/ a book of the New Testament, an epistle of St Paul to the Church in Galatia.

galaxy n. (pl. galaxies) a system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held together by gravitational attraction.

- (the Galaxy) the galaxy of which the solar system is a part; the Milky Way.

- FIGURATIVE a large or impressive group of people or things: a galaxy of boundless young talent.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally referring to the Milky Way): via Old French from medieval Latin galaxia, from Greek galaxias (kuklos) ‘milky (vault)’, from gala, galakt- ‘milk’.

Galba /albə/ (c.3 BC–AD 69), Roman emperor AD 68–9; full name Servius Sulpicius Galba. The successor to Nero, he aroused hostility by his severity and parsimony and was murdered in a conspiracy organized by Otho.

galbanum /albənəm/ n. [mass noun] a bitter aromatic resin produced from kinds of ferula.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Latin from Greek khalbanē, probably of Semitic origin.

Galbraith /albreθ/ John Kenneth (1908–2006), Canadian-born American economist. He was well known for his criticism of consumerism and of the power of large multinational corporations.

gale n. 1 a very strong wind: [as modifier] gale-force winds.

- (also fresh gale) (on the Beaufort scale) a wind of force 8 (34–40 knots or 63–74 kph).

- a storm at sea.

2 (a gale of/gales of) an outburst of laughter: she collapsed into gales of laughter.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps related to Old Norse galinn ‘mad, frantic’.

galea /elə/ n. (pl. galeae /-li/ or galeas) [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] a structure shaped like a helmet.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘helmet’.

Galen /elən/ (129–99), Greek physician; full name Claudios Galenos; Latin name Claudius Galenus. He attempted to systematize the whole of medicine, making important discoveries in anatomy and physiology. His works became influential in Europe when retranslated from Arabic in the 12th century.

galena /əlinə/ n. [mass noun] a bluish, grey, or black mineral of metallic appearance, consisting of lead sulphide. It is the chief ore of lead.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, ‘lead ore’ (in a partly purified state).

galenic /əlεnk/ adj. 1 (Galenic) MEDICINE relating to Galen or his methods.

2 (of a medicine) galenical.

galenical MEDICINE adj. 1 (of a medicine) made of natural rather than synthetic components.

2 (Galenical) relating to Galen.

■ n. a medicine made of natural rather than synthetic components.

galère /alε/ French /alεR/ n. an undesirable group or coterie: the repulsive galère of Lolita's admirers.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘galley’. The term was used in Molière's play Scapin meaning ‘coterie’.

galette /əlεt/ n. a savoury pancake made from grated potatoes or a buckwheat batter.

<ORIGIN> French.

galia melon /αlə/ n. a small rounded melon of a variety with rough skin and fragrant orange flesh.

<ORIGIN> from the Hebrew given name Galia.

Galibi /əlibi/ n. another term for Carib (sense 2 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> Carib, literally ‘strong man’.

Galicia /əlsə -lə/ Spanish /aliθja -sja/ 1 an autonomous region and former kingdom of NW Spain; capital, Santiago de Compostela.

2 a region of east central Europe, north of the Carpathian Mountains. A former province of Austria, it now forms part of SE Poland and western Ukraine.

Galician adj. 1 relating to Galicia in NW Spain, its people, or their language.

2 relating to Galicia in east central Europe.

■ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Galicia in NW Spain.

- [mass noun] the language of Galicia in NW Spain, a Romance language closely related to Portuguese. It is spoken by about 3 million people, most of whom also speak Spanish.

2 a native or inhabitant of Galicia in east central Europe.

Galilean^1 /alleən/ adj. relating to Galileo or his methods.

Galilean^2 /alliən/ adj. relating to Galilee.

- ARCHAIC, DEROGATORY Christian.

■ n. a native or inhabitant of Galilee.

- ARCHAIC, DEROGATORY a Christian.

Galilean moons [ASTRONOMY] the four largest satellites of Jupiter (Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, and Io), discovered by Galileo in 1610 and independently by the German astronomer Simon Marius (1573–1624).

Galilean telescope n. an astronomical telescope of the earliest type, with a biconvex objective and biconcave eyepiece.

Galilee /alli/ a northern region of ancient Palestine, west of the River Jordan, associated with the ministry of Jesus. It is now part of Israel.

galilee /alli/ n. a chapel or porch at the entrance of a church.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin galilea ‘Galilee’. Compare with GALLERY.

Galilee, Sea of a lake in northern Israel. The River Jordan flows through it from north to south. Also called TIBERIAS, LAKE, KINNERET, LAKE.

Galileo /alleə/ an American space probe to Jupiter, launched in 1989. It reached the vicinity of Jupiter in 1995 and released a probe which descended into Jupiter's atmosphere.

Galileo Galilei /alleə allei/ (1564–1642), Italian astronomer and physicist. He discovered the constancy of a pendulum's swing, formulated the law of uniform acceleration of falling bodies, and described the parabolic trajectory of projectiles. He applied the telescope to astronomy and observed craters on the moon, sunspots, Jupiter's moons, and the phases of Venus.

galingale /alel/ n. 1 (also English galingale or sweet galingale) a Eurasian sedge with an aromatic rhizome, formerly used in perfumes.

<INFO> Cyperus longus, family Cyperaceae.

2 variant spelling of GALANGAL.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: variant of GALANGAL.

galipot /alpt/ n. [mass noun] hardened resin deposits formed on the stem of the maritime pine.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, of unknown origin.

galjoen /xaljn/ n. (pl. same) a deep-bodied marine fish with a spiny dorsal fin, occurring in shallow waters around South Africa. Also called BLACKFISH.

<INFO> Coracinus capensis, family Coracinidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Afrikaans and Dutch, literally ‘galleon’.

gall^1 /l/ n. [mass noun] 1 bold and impudent behaviour: the bank had the gall to demand a fee.

2 the contents of the gall bladder; bile (proverbial for its bitterness).

- [count noun] an animal's gall bladder.

- FIGURATIVE used to refer to something bitter or cruel: accept life's gall without blaming somebody else.

<ORIGIN> Old English gealla (denoting bile), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gal, German Galle ‘gall’, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek kholē and Latin fel ‘bile’.

gall^2 /l/ n. 1 [mass noun] annoyance or resentment: he imagined Linda's gall as she found herself still married and not rich.

2 a sore on the skin made by chafing.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (someone) feel annoyed or resentful: it galled him to have to sit impotently in silence.

2 make sore by rubbing.

<ORIGIN> Old English gealle ‘sore on a horse’, perhaps related to gall^1; superseded in Middle English by forms from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch.

gall^3 /l/ n. an abnormal growth formed in response to the presence of insect larvae, mites, or fungi on plants and trees, especially oaks.

- [as modifier] denoting insects or mites that produce galls: gall flies.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin galla.

gall. abbr. gallon(s).

Galla /alə/ n. & adj. another term for OROMO.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

gallant adj. 1 /al(ə)nt/ (of a person or their behaviour) brave; heroic: she had made gallant efforts to pull herself together.

- ARCHAIC grand or impressive: they made a gallant array as they marched off.

2 /al(ə)nt əlant/ (of a man) charmingly attentive and chivalrous to women.

■ n. /al(ə)nt əlant/ ARCHAIC a man who is charmingly attentive to women.

- a dashing and fashionable gentleman.

■ v. /əlant al(ə)nt/ [with obj.] ARCHAIC (of a man) flirt with (a woman).

<DERIVATIVES> gallantly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘finely dressed’): from Old French galant, from galer ‘have fun, make a show’, from gale ‘pleasure, rejoicing’.

gallantry n. (pl. gallantries) [mass noun] 1 courageous behaviour, especially in battle: a medal awarded for outstanding gallantry during the raid.

2 polite attention or respect given by men to women.

- [count noun] (gallantries) gallant actions or words.

- ARCHAIC sexual intrigue.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘splendour, ornamentation’): from French galanterie, from galant (see GALLANT).

gallate /alet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of gallic acid.

gallberry /lb(ə)ri -bεri/ n. (pl. gallberries)

■ another term for INKBERRY.

gall bladder n. the small sac-shaped organ beneath the liver, in which bile is stored after secretion by the liver and before release into the intestine.

Galle /αlə/ a seaport on the SW coast of Sri Lanka; pop. 90,900 (2001).

galleon n. a sailing ship in use (especially by Spain) from the 15th to the 18th centuries, originally as a warship, later for trade. Galleons were typically square-rigged and had three or more decks and masts.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: either via Middle Dutch from French galion, from galie ‘galley’, or from Spanish galeón.

galleria /aləriə/ n. a collection of small shops under a single roof; an arcade.

<ORIGIN> Italian (see GALLERY).

gallery n. (pl. galleries) 1 a room or building for the display or sale of works of art.

- a collection of pictures.

2 a balcony or upper floor projecting from an interior back or side wall of a hall or church, providing space for an audience or musicians.

- (the gallery) the highest balcony in a theatre, containing the cheapest seats.

- a group of spectators, especially those at a golf tournament.

3 a long room or passage, typically one that is partly open at the side to form a portico or colonnade.

- a horizontal underground passage, especially in a mine.

<PHRASES>

□ play to the gallery act in an exaggerated way in order to appeal to popular taste.

<DERIVATIVES> galleried adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3): via Old French from Italian galleria ‘gallery’, formerly also ‘church porch’, from medieval Latin galeria, perhaps an alteration of galilea (see GALILEE).

gallery forest n. a forest restricted to the banks of a river or stream.

gallery grave n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] an underground megalithic burial chamber which may be divided into sections but has no separate entrance passage.

gallet /alt/ n. a chip or splinter of stone inserted into wet mortar.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French galet ‘rounded beach pebble’, from Old French gal ‘pebble, stone’.

galley n. (pl. galleys) 1 HISTORICAL a low, flat ship with one or more sails and up to three banks of oars, chiefly used for warfare or piracy and often manned by slaves or criminals.

- a large open rowing boat kept on a warship for use by the captain.

2 the kitchen in a ship or aircraft.

3 (also galley proof) a printer's proof in the form of long single-column strips, not in sheets or pages. [<ORIGIN> galley from French galée denoting an oblong tray for holding set-up type.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin galea, from medieval Greek galaia, of unknown origin.

galliambic /alambk/ [PROSODY] adj. relating to or written in a metre consisting of two catalectic iambic dimeters.

■ n. (usually galliambics) galliambic verse.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin galliambus, a song of the Galli (name given to priests of Cybele) + -IC.

Gallia Narbonensis /alə nαbənεnss/ the southern province of Transalpine Gaul.

Galliano /alαnə/ n. [mass noun] a golden-yellow Italian liqueur flavoured with herbs.

<ORIGIN> named after Major Giuseppe Galliáno, noted for halting Ethiopian forces in the war of 1895–6.

galliard /alαd -əd/ n. HISTORICAL a lively dance in triple time for two people, including complicated turns and steps.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective meaning ‘valiant, sturdy’ and ‘lively, brisk’): from Old French gaillard ‘valiant’, of Celtic origin. The current sense dates from the mid 16th cent.

galliass /aləs/ n. a large type of galley, chiefly used during the 16th and 17th centuries.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French galleasse, from Italian galeaza ‘large galley’, from galea (see GALLEY).

Gallic /alk/ adj. 1 of or characteristic of France or the French: a Gallic shrug.

2 relating to the Gauls.

<DERIVATIVES> Gallicize (also Gallicise) v.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin Gallicus, from Gallus ‘a Gaul’.

gallic acid n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an acid extracted from oak galls and other vegetable products, formerly used in making ink.

<INFO> Alternative name: 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid; chem. formula: C_6H_2(OH)3COOH.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: gallic from Latin galla ‘oak gall’ (see gall^3) + -IC.

Gallican /alk(ə)n/ adj. 1 relating to the ancient Church of Gaul or France.

2 of or holding a doctrine (reaching its peak in the 17th century) which asserted the freedom of the Roman Catholic Church in France and elsewhere from the ecclesiastical authority of the papacy. Compare with ULTRAMONTANE.

■ n. an adherent of the Gallican doctrine.

<DERIVATIVES> Gallicanism n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French gallican, or from Latin Gallicanus, from Gallicus (see GALLIC).

gallice /alsi/ adv. ARCHAIC in French.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘in Gaulish’.

Gallicism /alsz(ə)m/ n. a French idiom, especially one adopted by speakers of another language.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French gallicisme, from Latin Gallicus (see GALLIC).

Gallic Wars Julius Caesar's campaigns 58–51 BC, which established Roman control over Gaul north of the Alps and west of the River Rhine (Transalpine Gaul). During this period Caesar twice invaded Britain (55 and 54 BC).

galligaskins /alasknz/ plural n. BRITISH HISTORICAL breeches, trousers, or gaiters.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps an alteration (influenced by galley and Gascon) of obsolete French gargesque, from Italian grechesca, feminine of grechesco ‘Greek’.

gallimaufry /almfri/ n. [in sing.] a confused jumble or medley of things.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from archaic French galimafrée ‘unappetizing dish’, perhaps from Old French galer ‘have fun’ + Picard mafrer ‘eat copious quantities’.

gallimimus /almməs/ n. an ostrich dinosaur of the late Cretaceous period.

<INFO> Genus Gallimimus, infraorder Ornithomimosauria, suborder Theropoda.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin galli ‘of a cockerel’ (genitive of gallus) + mimus ‘mime, pretence’.

gallinaceous /alneəs/ adj. DATED relating to birds of an order (Galliformes) which includes domestic poultry and game birds.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin gallinaceus (from gallina ‘hen’, from gallus ‘cock’) + -OUS.

galling /l/ adj. causing annoyance or resentment; annoying: it would be galling to lose your job because of a dispute with a customer.

<DERIVATIVES> gallingly adv.

gallinule /alnjul/ n. a marshbird of the rail family, with mainly black, purplish-blue, or dark green plumage and a red bill.

<INFO> Genera Porphyrio and Porphyrula (or Gallinula), family Rallidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin Gallinula (genus term), diminutive of Latin gallina ‘hen’, from gallus ‘cock’.

galliot /alət/ (also galiot) n. HISTORICAL a single-masted Dutch cargo boat or fishing vessel.

- a small, fast galley used in the Mediterranean.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French galiote or Dutch galjoot, from a diminutive of medieval Latin galea ‘galley’.

Gallipoli /əlpəli/ a major campaign of the First World War which took place on the Gallipoli peninsula, on the European side of the Dardanelles, in 1915–16. The Allies (with heavy involvement of troops from Australia and New Zealand) hoped to gain control of the strait, but the campaign reached stalemate after each side suffered heavy casualties.

gallipot /alpt/ n. HISTORICAL a small pot made from glazed earthenware or metal, used by pharmacists to hold medicines or ointments.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from GALLEY + POT^1 (because gallipots were brought from the Mediterranean in galleys).

gallium /aləm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 31, a soft, silvery-white metal which melts at about 30°C, just above room temperature. (Symbol: Ga)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin Gallia ‘France’ or gallus ‘cock’; named (either patriotically or as a translation of his own name) by Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran (1838–1912), the French chemist who discovered it in 1875.

gallivant /alvant alvant/ v. [no obj., with adverbial] INFORMAL go around from one place to another in the pursuit of pleasure or entertainment: she quit her job to go gallivanting around the globe.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps an alteration of GALLANT.

galliwasp /alwsp/ n. a marsh lizard found in Central America and the Caribbean.

<INFO> Genus Diploglossus, family Anguidae: many species, in particular D. monotropis of the West Indies.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

gall midge n. a small, delicate fly which induces gall formation in plants or may cause other damage to crops.

<INFO> Family Cecidomyiidae: numerous genera and species, including the saddle gall midge (Haplodiplosis marginata), which is a pest of cereals.

gall mite n. a minute mite which is parasitic on plants, typically living inside buds and causing them to form hard galls.

<INFO> Family Eriophyidae, order Prostigmata: numerous species, in particular Cecidophyopsis ribis, which affects blackcurrant bushes, causing big bud and transmitting the reversion virus.

Gallo- /alə/ combining form French; French and …: Gallo-German.

- relating to France.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Gallus ‘a Gaul’.

galloglass /alə()lαs/ (also gallowglass) n. HISTORICAL (in Ireland) a mercenary or member of a special class of soldiers in the service of a chieftain.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Irish gallóglach, from gall ‘foreigner’ and óglach ‘youth, servant, warrior’.

gallon /alən/ n. 1 a unit of volume for liquid measure equal to eight pints, in particular:

- (also imperial gallon) BRITISH (also used for dry measure) a unit of volume equivalent to 4.55 litres.

- US a unit of volume equivalent to 3.79 litres.

2 (gallons of) INFORMAL a large volume of something: gallons of fake blood.

<DERIVATIVES> gallonage n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French galon, from the base of medieval Latin galleta, galletum ‘pail, liquid measure’, perhaps of Celtic origin.

galloon /əlun/ n. a narrow ornamental strip of fabric, typically a silk braid or piece of lace, used to trim clothing or finish upholstery.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French galon, from galonner ‘to trim with braid’, of unknown ultimate origin.

gallop n. [in sing.] the fastest pace of a horse or other quadruped, with all the feet off the ground together in each stride: the horse broke into a furious gallop | [mass noun] a mounted police charge at full gallop.

- a ride on a horse at a gallop: Wilfred went for a gallop on the sands.

- a very fast pace of running by a person.

- BRITISH a track or ground where horses are exercised at a gallop.

■ v. (gallops, galloping, galloped) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] 1 (of a horse) go at the pace of a gallop.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] make (a horse) gallop.

- (of a person) run fast.

2 proceed at great speed: don't gallop through your speech.

- (of a process or event) progress in a rapid and seemingly uncontrollable manner: his life gallops headlong towards disaster | (as adj. galloping) galloping inflation.

<DERIVATIVES> galloper n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old French galop (noun), galoper, variants of Old Northern French walop, waloper (see WALLOP).

Galloway /aləwe/ an area of SW Scotland consisting of the two former counties of Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire, and now part of Dumfries and Galloway region.

galloway /aləwe/ n. an animal of a black hornless breed of beef cattle which originated in Galloway.

- (also belted galloway) a variety of galloway cattle marked with a broad white band.

gallows plural n. [usually treated as sing.] a structure, typically of two uprights and a crosspiece, for the hanging of criminals.

- (the gallows) execution by hanging: he was saved from the gallows by a last-minute reprieve.

<ORIGIN> Old English galga, gealga, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch galg and German Galgen; reinforced in Middle English by Old Norse gálgi.

gallows humour n. [mass noun] grim and ironical humour in a desperate or hopeless situation.

gallows tree n. another term for GALLOWS.

gallstone /lstən/ n. a small, hard crystalline mass formed abnormally in the gall bladder or bile ducts from bile pigments, cholesterol, and calcium salts. Gallstones can cause severe pain and blockage of the bile duct.

Gallup poll /aləp/ n. TRADEMARK an assessment of public opinion by the questioning of a representative sample, typically as a basis for forecasting votes in an election.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after George H. Gallup (1901–84), the American statistician who devised the method.

gallus /aləs/ (also gallous) adj. chiefly SCOTTISH bold, cheeky, or flashy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘fit to be hanged’): variant of GALLOWS used attributively.

galluses /aləsz/ plural n. chiefly SCOTTISH & NORTH AMERICAN braces for a person's trousers.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: plural of gallus, variant of GALLOWS.

gall wasp n. a small winged insect of ant-like appearance. The female lays its egg in the food plant and when the larva hatches the surrounding plant tissue swells up around it to form a gall.

<INFO> Superfamily Cynipoidea, order Hymenoptera: several genera.

Galois /alw/ French /alwα/ Évariste (1811–32), French mathematician. His memoir on the conditions for solubility of polynomial equations was highly innovative but was not published until 1846, after his death.

Galois theory n. [MATHEMATICS] a method of applying group theory to the solution of algebraic equations.

galoot /əlut/ n. NORTH AMERICAN & SCOTTISH INFORMAL a clumsy or stupid person (often as a term of abuse).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally in nautical use meaning ‘an inexperienced marine’): of unknown origin.

galop /aləp əlp/ n. a lively ballroom dance in duple time, popular in the late 18th century.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘gallop’.

galore adj. [postpositive] in abundance: there were prizes galore for everything.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Irish go leor, literally ‘to sufficiency’.

galosh /əl/ n. (usually galoshes) a waterproof overshoe, typically made of rubber.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a type of clog): via Old French from late Latin gallicula, diminutive of Latin gallica (solea) ‘Gallic (shoe)’. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

Galsworthy /lzwəi/ John (1867–1933), English novelist and dramatist. He is remembered chiefly for The Forsyte Saga (1906–28), a series of novels which was adapted for television in 1967. Nobel Prize for Literature (1932).

Galtieri /altεri/ Leopoldo Fortunato (1926–2003), Argentinian general and statesman, President 1981–2. Galtieri's military junta ordered the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982, precipitating the Falklands War.

Galton /lt(ə)n/ Sir Francis (1822–1911), English scientist. He founded eugenics and introduced methods of measuring human mental and physical abilities. He also pioneered the use of fingerprints as a means of identification.

galumph /əlmf/ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] INFORMAL move in a clumsy, ponderous, or noisy manner: she galumphed along beside him | (as adj. galumphing) a galumphing giant.

<ORIGIN> 1871 (in the sense ‘prance in triumph’): coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass; perhaps a blend of GALLOP and TRIUMPH.

Galvani /alvαni/ Luigi (1737–98), Italian anatomist. He studied the structure of organs and the physiology of tissues, but he is best known for his discovery of the twitching of frogs' legs in an electric field.

galvanic /alvank/ adj. 1 relating to or involving electric currents produced by chemical action.

2 sudden and dramatic: a searing, galvanic experience.

<DERIVATIVES> galvanically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French galvanique, from GALVANI.

galvanic skin response (also galvanic skin reflex) n. a change in the electrical resistance of the skin caused by emotional stress, measurable with a sensitive galvanometer, e.g. in lie-detector tests.

galvanism n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL 1 electricity produced by chemical action.

2 the therapeutic use of electric currents.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French galvanisme, from GALVANI.

galvanize /alvənz/ (also galvanise) v. [with obj.] 1 shock or excite (someone) into taking action: the urgency of his voice galvanized them into action.

2 (often as adj. galvanized) coat (iron or steel) with a protective layer of zinc: an old galvanized bucket.

■ n. [mass noun] W. Indian or DIALECT galvanized tin sheeting, typically as used for roofing or fencing.

<DERIVATIVES> galvanization n. galvanizer n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the sense ‘stimulate by electricity’): from French galvaniser (see GALVANI).

galvanometer /alvənmtə/ n. an instrument for detecting and measuring small electric currents.

<DERIVATIVES> galvanometric adj.

galvanoscope /alv(ə)nəskəp/ n. a galvanometer that works by measuring the deflection of a needle in the magnetic field induced by the electric current.

<DERIVATIVES> galvanoscopic adj.

Galveston /alvst(ə)n/ a port in Texas, south-east of Houston; pop. 57,247 (2000). It is situated on Galveston Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico.

galvo /alvə/ n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL galvanized iron.

Galway /lwe/ a county of the Republic of Ireland, on the west coast in the province of Connacht.

- its county town, a seaport at the head of Galway Bay; pop. 59,800 (est. 2002).

Galway Bay an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Ireland.

gam n. INFORMAL a leg, especially a woman's.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: probably a variant of the heraldic term gamb, which denotes a charge representing an animal's leg, from Old Northern French gambe ‘leg’.

gamadoelas plural n. variant of GRAMADOELAS.

Gama, Vasco da see DA GAMA.

Gamay /ame/ n. [mass noun] a variety of black wine grape native to the Beaujolais district of France.

- a fruity red wine made from the Gamay grape.

<ORIGIN> from the name of a hamlet in Burgundy, eastern France.

gamba /ambə/ n. short for VIOLA DA GAMBA.

gambado^1 /ambedə -bαdə/ (also gambade /-bed -bαd/) n. (pl. gambados or gambadoes) a leap or bound, especially an exaggerated one.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Spanish gambada, from gamba ‘leg’.

gambado^2 /ambedə/ n. (pl. gambados or gambadoes) a gaiter, typically one attached to a saddle to protect a rider's leg from the weather.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian gamba ‘leg’ + -ADO.

Gambia /ambə/ 1 (also the Gambia) a country on the coast of West Africa; pop. 1,455,842 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), Malinke and other indigenous languages, Creole; capital, Banjul.

Gambia consists of a narrow strip of territory on either side of the Gambia River that forms an enclave in Senegal. It was created a British colony in 1843, becoming an independent member of the Commonwealth in 1965 and a republic in 1970.

2 a river of West Africa, which rises near Labé in Guinea and flows 800 km (500 miles) through Senegal and Gambia to meet the Atlantic at Banjul.

<DERIVATIVES> Gambian adj. & n.

gambier /ambə/ n. [mass noun] an astringent extract of a tropical Asiatic plant, used in tanning. Also called CATECHU.

<INFO> The chief source of gambier is the climber Uncaria gambier, family Rubiaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Malay gambir, the name of the plant.

Gambier Islands /ambə/ a group of coral islands in the South Pacific, forming part of French Polynesia; pop. 1,200 (est. 2002).

gambit n. 1 an act or remark that is calculated to gain an advantage, especially at the outset of a situation: his resignation was a tactical gambit.

2 (in chess) an opening move in which a player makes a sacrifice, typically of a pawn, for the sake of a compensating advantage.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: originally gambett, from Italian gambetto, literally ‘tripping up’, from gamba ‘leg’.

gamble v. [no obj.] 1 play games of chance for money; bet: he gambles on football.

- [with obj.] bet (a sum of money): they gambled their money on cards.

2 take risky action in the hope of a desired result: he was gambling on the success of his satellite TV channel.

■ n. [usually in sing.] 1 an act of gambling.

2 a risky action undertaken with the hope of success: we decided to take a gamble and offer him a place on our staff.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from obsolete gamel ‘play games’, or from the verb game^1.

gambler n. a person who gambles: a compulsive gambler.

gamboge /ambə -bu/ n. [mass noun] a gum resin produced by various East Asian trees, used as a yellow pigment and in medicine as a purgative.

<INFO> The trees belong to the genus Garcinia (family Guttiferae), in particular G. xanthochymus.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (earlier in the Latin form): from modern Latin gambaugium, from CAMBODIA.

gambol v. (gambols, gambolling, gambolled; US gambols, gamboling, gamboled) [no obj., usually with adverbial] run or jump about playfully: the mare gambolled towards Constance.

■ n. an act of running or jumping about playfully.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: alteration of gambade (see gambado^1), via French from Italian gambata ‘trip up’, from gamba ‘leg’.

gambrel /ambr(ə)l/ (also gambrel roof) n. a roof with two sides, each of which has a shallower slope above a steeper one.

- BRITISH a hipped roof with a small gable forming the upper part of each end.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘bent piece of wood or iron to hang carcasses on’): from Old Northern French gamberel, from gambier ‘forked stick’, from gambe ‘leg’. The sense ‘hipped roof’ (mid 19th century) is based on an earlier meaning ‘joint in the upper part of a horse's hind leg’, the shape of which the roof resembles.

gambusia /amb(j)usə/ n. a small live-bearing fish found in mangrove creeks and brackish waters of the southern US and northern Mexico.

<INFO> Genus Gambusia, family Poecilidae: several species, in particular G. affinis, widely introduced for mosquito control (also called MOSQUITO FISH).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, alteration of American Spanish gambusino.

game^1 n. 1 a form of competitive activity or sport played according to rules.

- (games) a meeting for sporting contests: the Olympic Games.

- (games) BRITISH athletics or sports as a lesson or activity at school.

- a person's performance in a game; a person's standard of play: Rooks attempted to raise his game to another level.

2 an activity that one engages in for amusement: a computer game.

- the equipment for a game, especially a board game or a computer game.

3 a complete episode or period of play, ending in a final result: a baseball game.

- a single portion of play forming a scoring unit in a match, especially in tennis.

- [BRIDGE] a score of 100 points for tricks bid and made (the best of three games constituting a rubber).

4 INFORMAL a type of activity or business regarded as a game: he was in the restaurant game for the glamour.

- a secret and clever plan or trick: I was on to his little game.

5 [mass noun] wild mammals or birds hunted for sport or food.

- the flesh of wild mammals or birds, used as food: [as modifier] a game pie.

■ adj. eager or willing to do something new or challenging: they were game for anything.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as noun modifier gaming) play at games of chance for money: a gaming machine.

- play video or computer games.

<PHRASES>

□ ahead of (or behind) the game ahead of (or lagging behind) one's competitors or peers in the same sphere of activity.

□ beat someone at their own game use someone's own methods to outdo them in their chosen activity.

□ the game is up the deception or crime is revealed or foiled.

□ game on a signal for play to begin in a game or match.

- British INFORMAL said when one feels that a situation is about to develop in one's favour: She soon invited me back to her place. Game on!

□ game over INFORMAL said when a situation is regarded as hopeless or irreversible. [<ORIGIN> probably from the use of the phrase at the conclusion of a computer game.]

□ the Great Game 1 spying.

2 the rivalry between Britain and Russia in central Asia during the 19th century. [<ORIGIN> first used by Rudyard Kipling in Kim (1901).]

□ make (a) game of ARCHAIC mock; taunt.

□ off (or on) one's game playing badly (or well).

□ on the game BRITISH INFORMAL working as a prostitute.

□ the only game in town INFORMAL the only thing worth concerning oneself with.

□ play someone's game advance another's plans, whether intentionally or not: to what extent are they playing the government's game?

□ play the game behave in a fair or honourable way; abide by the rules.

□ play games deal with someone or something in a way that lacks due seriousness or respect.

□ what's your (or the) game? BRITISH INFORMAL what's going on?

<DERIVATIVES> gamely adv. gameness n. gamester n.

<ORIGIN> Old English gamen ‘amusement, fun’, gamenian ‘play, amuse oneself’, of Germanic origin.

game^2 adj. DATED (of a person's leg) permanently injured; lame.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: originally dialect, of unknown origin.

game bird n. 1 a bird shot for sport or food.

2 a bird of a large group that includes pheasants, grouse, quails, guineafowl, etc.

<INFO> Order Galliformes: several families.

gamecock (also gamefowl) n. a cock bred and trained for cockfighting.

game engine n. the basic software of a computer game or video game.

game face n. NORTH AMERICAN a sports player's neutral or serious facial expression, displaying determination and concentration.

game farm n. a farm where a variety of wild animals are kept or bred, often with facilities for visitors to observe or hunt the animals.

game fish n. (pl. same) a fish caught by anglers for sport, especially (in fresh water) salmon and trout and (in the sea) billfishes, sharks, bass, and many members of the mackerel family. Compare with COARSE FISH.

gamekeeper n. a person employed to breed and protect game, typically for a large estate.

<DERIVATIVES> gamekeeping n.

gamelan /aməlan/ n. a traditional instrumental ensemble in Java and Bali, including many bronze percussion instruments.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Javanese.

game misconduct n. [HOCKEY] a punitive suspension of a player for the remainder of a game, with a substitution permitted.

gamepad n. a hand-held controller for video games.

game plan n. a strategy worked out in advance, especially in sport, politics, or business.

gameplay n. [mass noun] the features of a computer game, such as its plot and the way it is played, as distinct from the graphics and sound effects.

game point n. (in tennis and other sports) a point which if won by one of the players or sides will also win them a game.

gamer n. a person who plays a game or games, typically a participant in a computer or role-playing game.

- NORTH AMERICAN a person known for consistently making a strong effort, especially in sport.

game show n. a television programme in which people compete to win prizes.

gamesmanship n. [mass noun] the art of winning games by using various ploys and tactics to gain a psychological advantage.

<DERIVATIVES> gamesman n. (pl. gamesmen)

gamesome adj. playful and merry.

<DERIVATIVES> gamesomely adv. gamesomeness n.

gametangium /amtan(d)əm/ n. (pl. gametangia) [BOTANY] a specialized organ or cell in which gametes are formed in algae, ferns, and some other plants.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin gameta (see GAMETE) + Greek angeion ‘vessel’ + -IUM.

gamete /amit/ n. [BIOLOGY] a mature haploid male or female germ cell which is able to unite with another of the opposite sex in sexual reproduction to form a zygote.

<DERIVATIVES> gametic /əmεtk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin gameta, from Greek gametē ‘wife’, gametēs ‘husband’, from gamos ‘marriage’.

game theory (also games theory) n. [mass noun] the branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of strategies for dealing with competitive situations where the outcome of a participant's choice of action depends critically on the actions of other participants. Game theory has been applied to contexts in war, business, and biology. Compare with DECISION THEORY.

gameto- /əmitə/ combining form [BIOLOGY] representing GAMETE.

gametocyte /əmitə()st/ n. [BIOLOGY] a cell that divides (by meiosis) to form gametes.

gametogenesis /əmitə()dεnss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the process in which cells undergo meiosis to form gametes.

<DERIVATIVES> gametogenic adj. gametogeny n.

gametophyte /əmitə()ft/ n. [BOTANY] (in the life cycle of plants with alternating generations) the gamete-producing and usually haploid phase, producing the zygote from which the sporophyte arises. It is the dominant form in bryophytes.

<DERIVATIVES> gametophytic adj.

game warden n. a person who is employed to supervise game and hunting in a particular area.

gamgee /amdi/ n. [mass noun] surgical dressing consisting of a thickness of cotton wool between two layers of gauze.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Joseph S. Gamgee (1828–86), English surgeon.

gamin /amn -ma/ n. DATED a street urchin.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, originally an eastern dialect word, of unknown origin.

gamine /amin/ n. 1 a girl with a mischievous, boyish charm.

2 DATED a female street urchin.

■ adj. (of a girl) attractively boyish.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, feminine of gamin (see GAMIN).

gamma /amə/ n. 1 the third letter of the Greek alphabet (Γ, γ), transliterated as ‘g’.

<INFO> The combinations γγ, γκ, and γχ are usually transliterated as ‘ng’, ‘nk’, and ‘nkh’ or ‘nch’.

- [as modifier] denoting the third in a series of items, categories, etc.

- BRITISH a third-class mark given for an essay or other piece of work.

- (Gamma) [followed by Latin genitive] [ASTRONOMY] the third (usually third-brightest) star in a constellation: Gamma Orionis.

2 [as modifier] relating to gamma rays: gamma detector.

3 [PHYSICS] (plural same) a unit of magnetic field strength equal to 10−5 oersted.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek.

gamma-aminobutyric acid /aməəminəbjutrk -əmnə- -amnə-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an amino acid which acts to inhibit the transmission of nerve impulses in the central nervous system.

<INFO> Chem. formula: H_2NCH_2CH_2CH_2COOH.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: gamma indicating the relative position of amino on the third carbon away from the acid group.

gamma globulin n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a mixture of blood plasma proteins, mainly immunoglobulins, which have relatively low electrophoretic mobility.

gamma-HCH n. another term for LINDANE.

<ORIGIN> HCH from hexachlorocyclohexane.

gamma radiation n. [mass noun] gamma rays.

gamma rays plural n. penetrating electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength than X-rays.

gammer n. ARCHAIC an old countrywoman.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably a contraction of GODMOTHER; see also GAFFER.

gammon^1 n. [mass noun] BRITISH ham which has been cured or smoked like bacon.

- [count noun] the bottom piece of a side of bacon, including a hind leg.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting the haunch of a pig): from Old Northern French gambon, from gambe ‘leg’.

gammon^2 n. a victory in backgammon (carrying a double score) in which the winner removes all their pieces before the loser has removed any.

■ v. [with obj.] defeat (an opponent) with a gammon.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: apparently from Old English gamen or gamenian (see game^1), with survival of the -n ending.

gammon^3 INFORMAL, DATED n. nonsense; rubbish.

■ v. [with obj.] hoax or deceive (someone).

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: origin uncertain; the term was first used as criminals' slang in give gammon to ‘give cover to a pickpocket’ and keep in gammon ‘distract a victim for a pickpocket’.

gammy adj. (gammier, gammiest) BRITISH INFORMAL (especially of a leg) unable to function normally because of injury or chronic pain.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in the sense ‘bad, false’): dialect form of game^2.

Gamow /emə/ George (1904–68), Russian-born American physicist. He was a proponent of the Big Bang theory and also suggested the triplet code of bases in DNA, which governs the synthesis of amino acids.

gamp n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED an umbrella, especially a large unwieldy one.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Mrs Gamp in Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, who carried such an umbrella.

gamut /amət/ n. (the gamut) 1 the complete range or scope of something: the whole gamut of human emotion.

2 [MUSIC] a complete scale of musical notes; the range of a voice or instrument.

- HISTORICAL a scale consisting of seven overlapping hexachords, containing all the recognized notes used in medieval music, covering almost three octaves from bass G to treble E.

- HISTORICAL the lowest note in this scale.

<PHRASES>

□ run the gamut experience, display, or perform the complete range of something: Owen runs the gamut of emotions in the space of the film.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin gamma ut, originally the name of the lowest note in the medieval scale (bass G an octave and a half below middle C), then applied to the whole range of notes used in medieval music. The Greek letter Γ (gamma) was used for bass G, with ut indicating that it was the first note in the lowest of the hexachords or six-note scales (see SOLMIZATION).

gamy (also gamey) adj. (gamier, gamiest) 1 (of meat) having the strong flavour or smell of game, especially when it is high.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN racy or disreputable: gamy language.

<DERIVATIVES> gamily adv. gaminess n.

Gan /an/ n. [mass noun] a dialect of Chinese spoken by about 20 million people, mainly in Jiangxi province.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese Gàn, another name for JIANGXI.

ganache /əna/ n. [mass noun] a whipped filling of chocolate and cream, used in confectioneries such as cakes and truffles.

<ORIGIN> French.

Ganapati /nəpti/ another name for GANESH.

Gäncä /əndə/ an industrial city in Azerbaijan; pop. 294,700 (est. 2002). The city was formerly called Yelizavetpol (1804–1918) and Kirovabad (1935–89). Russian name GYANDZHE.

Gance /s/ Abel (1889–1981), French film director. He was an early pioneer of technical experimentation in film. Notable films: La Roue (1921) and Napoléon (1926).

Gand /α/ French name for GHENT.

Ganda n. & adj. see LUGANDA.

Gander /andə/ a town on the island of Newfoundland, on Lake Gander; pop. 9,561 (2001). Its airport served the first regular transatlantic flights during the Second World War.

gander /andə/ n. 1 a male goose.

2 [in sing.] INFORMAL a look or glance: take a gander at the luggage, will ya? [<ORIGIN> from criminals' slang.]

■ v. [with obj.] US INFORMAL look or glance at.

<ORIGIN> Old English gandra, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gander, also to GANNET.

Gandhi^1 /andi αndi/ Mrs Indira (1917–84), Indian stateswoman, Prime Minister 1966–77 and 1980–4. The daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, she sought to establish a secular state and to lead India out of poverty. She was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards following prolonged religious disturbance.

Gandhi^2 /andi αndi/ Mahatma (1869–1948), Indian nationalist and spiritual leader; full name Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He became prominent in the opposition to British rule in India, pursuing a policy of non-violent civil disobedience. He never held government office, but was regarded as the country's supreme political and spiritual leader; he was assassinated by a Hindu following his agreement to the creation of the state of Pakistan.

Gandhi^3 /andi αndi/ Rajiv (1944–91), Indian statesman, Prime Minister 1984–9. The eldest son of Indira Gandhi, he became Prime Minister after his mother's assassination. His premiership was marked by continuing unrest and he was assassinated during an election campaign.

Gandhinagar /andnə/ a city in western India, capital of the state of Gujarat; pop. 195,900 (2001).

G and T (also G & T) n. a drink of gin and tonic.

gandy dancer n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a track maintenance worker on a railway.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

ganef /anεf/ n. US INFORMAL a dishonest or unscrupulous person.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: Yiddish, from Hebrew, literally ‘thief’.

Ganesh /əne/ (also Ganesha /əneə/) [HINDUISM] an elephant-headed deity, son of Shiva and Parvati. He is usually depicted coloured red, with a pot belly and one broken tusk, riding a rat. Also called GANAPATI.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit Gaeśa ‘lord of the ganas’ (Shiva's attendants).

gang^1 n. 1 an organized group of criminals.

- a group of young people involved in petty crime or violence.

- INFORMAL a group of people, especially young people, who regularly associate together.

- an organized group of people doing manual work: a government road gang.

2 a set of switches, sockets, or other electrical or mechanical devices grouped together.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (gang together) (of a number of people) form a group or gang: three banks ganged together to form a ‘virtual bank’.

- (gang up) join together in order to intimidate or oppose someone: they ganged up on me and nicked my pocket money.

2 [with obj.] arrange (electrical devices or machines) together to work in coordination.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Old Norse gangr, ganga ‘gait, course, going’, of Germanic origin; related to gang^2. The original meaning was ‘going, a journey’, later in Middle English ‘a way’, also ‘set of things or people which go together’.

gang^2 v. [no obj.] SCOTTISH go; proceed: gang to your bed, lass.

<PHRASES>

□ gang agley (of a plan) go wrong. [<ORIGIN> 1786: from Robert Burns's ‘The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley’ (Poems and Songs).]

<ORIGIN> Old English gangan, of Germanic origin; related to go^1.

Ganga /ə/ Hindi name for GANGES.

gang bang n. INFORMAL 1 the successive rape of one person by a group of people.

- a sexual orgy involving changes of partner.

2 NORTH AMERICAN an instance of violence involving members of a criminal gang.

■ v. (gang-bang) 1 [with obj.] (of a group of people) rape (someone).

2 (as n. gang-banging) NORTH AMERICAN the violent activities of a criminal gang.

<DERIVATIVES> gang-banger n.

gangboard n. another term for GANGPLANK.

gangbuster n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL 1 an officer of a law-enforcement agency who takes part in breaking up criminal gangs.

2 [as modifier] very successful: the restaurant did gangbuster business.

<PHRASES>

□ go (or like) gangbusters NORTH AMERICAN used to refer to great vigour, speed, or success: the real estate market was going gangbusters.

ganger n. BRITISH the foreman of a gang of labourers.

Ganges /andiz/ a river of northern India and Bangladesh, which rises in the Himalayas and flows some 2,700 km (1,678 miles) south-east to the Bay of Bengal, where it forms the world's largest delta. The river is regarded by Hindus as sacred. Hindi name GANGA.

<DERIVATIVES> Gangetic adj.

gangland n. [mass noun] the world of criminal gangs: [as modifier] he was the victim of a gangland killing.

gangling adj. (of a person) tall, thin, and awkward in movements or bearing.

<DERIVATIVES> gangle v.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from the verb gang^2 + -LE^4 + -ING^2.

ganglion /alən/ n. (pl. ganglia or ganglions) 1 [ANATOMY] a structure containing a number of nerve cell bodies, typically linked by synapses, and often forming a swelling on a nerve fibre.

- a network of cells forming a nerve centre in the nervous system of an invertebrate.

- a well-defined mass of grey matter within the central nervous system. See also BASAL GANGLIA.

2 MEDICINE an abnormal benign swelling on a tendon sheath.

<DERIVATIVES> ganglionic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek ganglion ‘tumour on or near sinews or tendons’, used by Galen to denote the complex nerve centres.

ganglioside /alə()sd/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of complex lipids which are present in the grey matter of the human brain.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from GANGLION + -oside (see -ose^2, -ide).

gangly adj. (ganglier, gangliest)

■ another term for GANGLING.

gangmaster n. BRITISH a person who organizes and oversees the work of casual manual labourers.

Gang of Four (in China) a group of four associates, including Mao Zedong's wife, involved in implementing the Cultural Revolution. They were among the groups competing for power on Mao's death in 1976, but were arrested and imprisoned.

gangplank n. a movable plank, typically with cleats nailed on it, used by passengers to board or disembark from a ship or boat.

gang rape n. the rape of one person by a group of other people.

<DERIVATIVES> gang-rape v.

gangrene /arin/ n. [mass noun] localized death and decomposition of body tissue, resulting from obstructed circulation or bacterial infection.

■ v. [no obj.] become affected with gangrene.

<DERIVATIVES> gangrenous /arnəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via French from Latin gangraena, from Greek gangraina.

gang show n. BRITISH a locally produced variety show performed annually by members of the Scout and Guide Association.

gangsta n. 1 BLACK SLANG a gang member.

2 (also gangsta rap) [mass noun] a type of rap music featuring aggressive macho lyrics, often with reference to gang violence.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: alteration of GANGSTER.

gangster n. a member of a gang of violent criminals.

<DERIVATIVES> gangsterism n.

Gangtok /atk/ a city in northern India, in the foothills of the Kanchenjunga mountain range, capital of the state of Sikkim; pop. 29,200 (2001).

gangue /a/ n. [mass noun] the commercially valueless material in which ore is found.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from German Gang ‘course, lode’; related to gang^1.

gangway n. 1 a raised platform or walkway providing a passage.

- a movable bridge linking a ship to the shore.

- an opening in the bulwarks by which a ship is entered or left.

2 BRITISH a passage between rows of seats, especially in a theatre or aircraft.

■ exclam. make way!

ganister /anstə/ n. [mass noun] a close-grained, hard siliceous rock found in the coal measures of northern England, and used for furnace linings.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

ganja /an(d)ə α-/ n. [mass noun] cannabis.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Hindi gāṁā.

gannet /ant/ n. 1 a large seabird with mainly white plumage, which catches fish by plunging into the water.

<INFO> Genus Morus (or Sula), family Sulidae: three species, in particular the northern gannet (M. bassanus) of the North Atlantic (also called SOLAN GOOSE).

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a greedy person.

<ORIGIN> Old English ganot, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gent ‘gander’, also to GANDER.

gannetry n. (pl. gannetries) a breeding colony of gannets, usually on an isolated rock.

ganoid /and/ [ZOOLOGY] adj. (of fish scales) hard and bony with a shiny enamelled surface. Compare with CTENOID and PLACOID.

- (of a fish) having ganoid scales.

■ n. a primitive fish that has ganoid scales, e.g. a sturgeon or freshwater garfish.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French ganoïde, from Greek ganos ‘brightness’.

gansey /anzi/ n. DIALECT & W. INDIAN a sweater or T-shirt.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: representing a pronunciation of Guernsey^2.

Gansu /ansu/ (also Kansu) a province of NW central China; capital, Lanzhou. This narrow, mountainous province forms a corridor through which the Silk Road passed.

gantline /antln/ n. [NAUTICAL] a line passed through a block near the masthead and used to hoist sails or rigging.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally girtline): of unknown origin.

gantry n. (pl. gantries) 1 a bridge-like overhead structure with a platform supporting equipment such as a crane, signals, or cameras.

- a tall framework supporting a space rocket prior to launching.

2 (in a bar) a structure containing inverted bottles and fitted with optics for serving measures.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a wooden stand for barrels): probably from dialect gawn (contraction of GALLON) + TREE.

Gantt chart /ant/ n. a chart in which a series of horizontal lines shows the amount of work done or production completed in certain periods of time in relation to the amount planned for those periods.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Henry L. Gantt (1861–1919), American management consultant.

Ganymede /anmid/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a Trojan youth who was so beautiful that he was carried off to be Zeus' cup-bearer.

2 [ASTRONOMY] one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, the seventh-closest satellite to the planet and the largest satellite in the solar system (diameter 5,262 km).

ganzfeld /anzfεld/ n. [often as modifier] a technique of controlled sensory input used with the aim of improving results in tests of telepathy and other paranormal phenomena: ganzfeld tests.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from German, literally ‘whole field’.

GAO abbr. General Accounting Office, a body that undertakes investigations for the US Congress.

gap n. 1 a break or hole in an object or between two objects: he peeped through the gap in the curtains.

- a pass or way through a range of hills.

2 a space or interval; a break in continuity: there are many gaps in our understanding of what happened.

- a difference, especially an undesirable one, between two views or situations: the media were bridging the gap between government and people.

<DERIVATIVES> gapped adj. gappy adj. (gappier, gappiest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse, ‘chasm’; related to GAPE.

gape v. [no obj.] be or become wide open: [with complement] a carpet bag gaped open by her feet.

- stare with one's mouth open wide in amazement or wonder: he gaped at Sharp in silence.

■ n. a wide opening: a wide gape of the jaws.

- an open-mouthed stare: she climbed into her sports car to the gapes of passers-by.

- a widely open mouth or beak: juvenile birds with yellow gapes.

- (the gapes) a disease of birds with gaping of the mouth as a symptom, caused by infestation with gapeworm.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse gapa; related to GAP.

gaper n. 1 a burrowing bivalve mollusc, the shell valves of which have an opening at one or both ends.

<INFO> Genus Mya, family Myidae.

2 another term for comber^2.

3 a deep-sea anglerfish that is able to inflate itself with water.

<INFO> Family Chaunacidae and genus Chaunax.

4 a person who stares in amazement or wonder.

gapeworm n. a parasitic nematode worm that infests the trachea and bronchi of birds, causing the gapes.

<INFO> Syngamus trachea, class Phasmida.

gaping adj. (of a hole, wound, etc.) wide open: there was a gaping hole in the wall.

<DERIVATIVES> gapingly adv.

gapper n. a student who is on a gap year.

gapping n. [mass noun] [GRAMMAR] the omission of a verb in the second of two coordinated clauses, as in I went by bus and Mary by car.

gap-toothed adj. having or showing gaps between the teeth.

gap year n. a period, typically an academic year, taken by a student as a break between school and university or college education.

gar n. the freshwater garfish of North America.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: abbreviation.

garage /arα(d) -d ərα/ n. 1 a building for housing a motor vehicle or vehicles.

- an establishment which sells fuel or which repairs and sells motor vehicles.

2 (also garage rock) [mass noun] a style of unpolished, energetic rock music associated with suburban amateur bands. [<ORIGIN> from the idea of amateur bands practising in garages.]

3 (also UK garage) [mass noun] a form of dance music incorporating elements of drum and bass, house music, and soul, characterized by a rhythm in which the second and fourth beats of the bar are omitted. [<ORIGIN> from Paradise Garage, the name of a Manhattan dance club.]

■ v. [with obj.] put or keep (a motor vehicle) in a garage.

<DERIVATIVES> garaging n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French, from garer ‘to shelter’.

garage sale n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a sale of unwanted household goods held in the garage or front garden of someone's house.

garam masala /rəm məsαlə/ n. [mass noun] a spice mixture used in Indian cookery.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu garam maāla, from garam ‘hot, pungent’ + maāla ‘spice’.

garb^1 n. [mass noun] clothing, especially of a distinctive or special kind: kids in combat garb.

■ v. [with obj.] dress in distinctive clothes: she was garbed in Indian shawls.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via French from Italian garbo ‘elegance’, of Germanic origin; related to GEAR.

garb^2 n. [HERALDRY] a sheaf of wheat.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old Northern French garbe; compare with French gerbe.

garba /αbə/ n. a traditional Gujarati folk dance and song, orginally performed as a fertility ritual.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit Garbadeep, literally ‘lamp inside a pot’.

garbage n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN rubbish or waste, especially domestic refuse.

- worthless or meaningless material or ideas; rubbish: a store full of overpriced garbage.

<PHRASES>

□ garbage in, garbage out used to express the idea that in computing and other fields, incorrect or poor-quality input will produce faulty output.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘offal’): from Anglo-Norman French, of unknown ultimate origin.

garbage can (also garbage bin) n. NORTH AMERICAN a dustbin.

garbage collector n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a dustman.

2 [COMPUTING] a program that automatically removes unwanted data held temporarily in memory during processing.

garbanzo /αbanzə/ (also garbanzo bean) n. (pl. garbanzos) NORTH AMERICAN a chickpea.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Spanish.

garble v. [with obj.] reproduce (a message, sound, or transmission) in a confused and distorted way: (as adj. garbled) garbled directions.

■ n. a garbled account or transmission.

<DERIVATIVES> garbler n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘sift out, cleanse’): from Anglo-Latin and Italian garbellare, from Arabic ġarbala ‘sift’, perhaps from late Latin cribellare ‘to sieve’, from Latin cribrum ‘sieve’.

Garbo Greta (1905–90), Swedish-born American actress; born Greta Gustafsson. She is remembered for films such as Anna Christie (1930), Mata Hari (1931), and Anna Karenina (1935). After her retirement in 1941 she lived as a recluse.

garbo n. (pl. garbos) AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a garbage collector.

garboard /αbd/ (also garboard strake) n. the first range of planks or plates laid on a ship's bottom next to the keel.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Dutch gaarboord, perhaps from garen ‘gather’ + boord ‘board’.

garbology /αblədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of a community or culture by analysing its waste.

<DERIVATIVES> garbologist n.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from GARBAGE + -LOGY.

García Lorca see LORCA.

García Márquez /αsə mαkεz mαkεz/ Spanish /arθia markeθ -sia -kes/ Gabriel (b.1927), Colombian novelist. His works include One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), a classic example of magic realism, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981). Nobel Prize for Literature (1982).

garçon /αsn αs/ French /aRs/ n. a waiter in a French restaurant or hotel.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘boy’.

garçonnière /αsnjε/ n. a bachelor's flat or set of rooms.

<ORIGIN> French, from garçon ‘boy’.

Garda /αdə/ Irish /ardə/ n. [treated as sing. or plural] the state police force of the Republic of Ireland.

- (plural Gardai /-di/ Irish /ardi/) a member of the Irish police force.

<ORIGIN> from Irish Garda Síochána ‘Civic Guard’.

Garda, Lake /αdə/ Italian /arda/ a lake in NE Italy, lying between Lombardy and Venetia.

garden n. 1 chiefly BRITISH a piece of ground adjoining a house, used for growing flowers, fruit, or vegetables.

- (gardens) ornamental grounds laid out for public enjoyment and recreation: botanical gardens.

- [in names] BRITISH a street or square: Burlington Gardens.

2 [in names] NORTH AMERICAN a large public hall: Madison Square Garden.

■ v. [no obj.] cultivate or work in a garden.

<PHRASES>

□ everything in the garden is rosy BRITISH everything is satisfactory.

□ the garden of England a very fertile region of England, in particular Kent or the Vale of Evesham.

<DERIVATIVES> gardener n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Northern French gardin, variant of Old French jardin, of Germanic origin; related to yard^2.

garden centre n. BRITISH an establishment where plants and gardening equipment are sold.

garden chafer n. a small brown and metallic-green chafer which sometimes swarms in sunshine and may damage pasture and fruit crops. Also called JUNE BUG.

<INFO> Phyllopertha horticola, family Scarabaeidae.

garden city n. BRITISH a new town designed as a whole with much open space and greenery.

garden cress n. [mass noun] a type of cress that is usually grown as a sprouting vegetable, often mixed with sprouting mustard, and used in salads.

<INFO> Lepidium sativum, family Cruciferae.

gardener bowerbird n. a drab New Guinea bowerbird that builds its bower over a mat of moss decorated with colourful flowers and fruits.

<INFO> Genus Amblyornis, family Ptilonorhynchidae: four species.

garden flat n. a basement or ground floor flat which opens on to a garden.

gardenia /αdinə/ n. a tree or shrub of warm climates, with large, fragrant white or yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Gardenia, family Rubiaceae: several species, in particular the Cape jasmine.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named in honour of Dr Alexander Garden (1730–91), Scottish naturalist.

gardening n. [mass noun] the activity of tending and cultivating a garden, especially as a pastime.

gardening leave n. [mass noun] BRITISH an employee's suspension from work on full pay for the duration of a notice period, typically to prevent them from having any further influence on the organization or from accessing confidential information.

garden party n. a social event held on a lawn in a garden.

garden pea n. a variety of pea grown for food.

- a pea canned or frozen when freshly picked.

garden snail n. a large European snail with a brownish shell, often abundant in gardens.

<INFO> Helix aspersa, family Helicidae.

garden spider n. a common European orb-web spider with pale markings on the large rounded abdomen.

<INFO> Araneus diadematus, family Araneidae.

Garden State informal name for NEW JERSEY.

garden suburb n. BRITISH a suburb set in rural surroundings or incorporating much landscaping.

garden tiger n. a large European tiger moth with boldly marked, chiefly brown and white forewings and orange and black hindwings.

<INFO> Arctia caja, family Arctiidae.

garden-variety adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN of the usual or ordinary type; commonplace.

garden warbler n. a migratory Eurasian songbird with drab plumage, frequenting woodland.

<INFO> Sylvia borin, family Sylviidae.

garderobe /αdrəb/ n. a toilet in a medieval building.

- a wardrobe or small storeroom in a medieval building.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: French, from garder ‘to keep’ + robe ‘robe, dress’; compare with WARDROBE.

Gardner^1 Ava (Lavinia) (1922–90), American actress. Notable films: The Killers (1946), Bhowani Junction (1956), and The Night of the Iguana (1964).

Gardner^2 Erle Stanley (1899–1970), American novelist and short-story writer. He practised as a defence lawyer before writing his novels featuring the lawyer-detective Perry Mason.

Garfield James Abram (1831–81), American Republican statesman, 20th President of the US March–September 1881. He was assassinated within months of becoming President.

garfish n. (pl. same or garfishes) any of a number of long, slender fish with elongated beak-like jaws containing sharply pointed teeth:

<INFO>

- a marine fish (family Belonidae, in particular the common European Belone belone). Also called GARPIKE or (North American) NEEDLEFISH

- North American a freshwater fish (family Lepisosteidae and genus Lepisosteus). Also called GAR or GARPIKE

- Australian and New Zealand term for HALFBEAK

<ORIGIN> Middle English: apparently from Old English gār ‘spear’ + FISH^1.

garganey /α(ə)ni/ n. (pl. same or garganeys) a small Eurasian duck, the male of which has a dark brown head with a white stripe from the eye to the neck.

<INFO> Anas querquedula, family Anatidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian dialect garganei, of imitative origin.

gargantuan /αantjən/ adj. enormous: a gargantuan appetite.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Gargantua, the name of a voracious giant in Rabelais' book of the same name (1534), + -AN.

garget /αt/ n. [mass noun] inflammation of a cow's or ewe's udder.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps a special use of Old French gargate ‘throat’; related to GARGOYLE. The term was used earlier to denote inflammation of the throat in cattle.

gargle v. [no obj.] wash one's mouth and throat with a liquid that is kept in motion by breathing through it with a gurgling sound: he gargled with alcohol for toothache.

■ n. an act or the sound of gargling: a swig and gargle of mouthwash.

- [usually in sing.] a liquid used for gargling.

- British INFORMAL an alcoholic drink.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French gargouiller ‘gurgle, bubble’, from gargouille ‘throat’ (see GARGOYLE).

gargoyle /αl/ n. a grotesque carved human or animal face or figure projecting from the gutter of a building, typically acting as a spout to carry water clear of a wall.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gargouille ‘throat’, also ‘gargoyle’ (because of the water passing through the throat and mouth of the figure); related to Greek gargarizein ‘to gargle’ (imitating the sounds made in the throat).

gargoylism n. another term for HURLER'S SYNDROME.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from GARGOYLE (because the deformities which characterize the syndrome were thought to resemble Gothic gargoyles) + -ISM.

Garibaldi /arbldi/ Italian /aribaldi/ Giuseppe (1807–82), Italian patriot and military leader of the Risorgimento. With his volunteer force of ‘Red Shirts’ he captured Sicily and southern Italy from the Bourbons in 1860–1, thereby playing a key role in the establishment of a united kingdom of Italy.

garibaldi /arbldi -baldi/ n. (pl. garibaldis) 1 BRITISH a biscuit containing a layer of compressed currants.

2 a small bright orange marine fish found off California.

<INFO> Hypsypops rubicundus, family Pomacentridae.

3 HISTORICAL a woman's or child's loose blouse, originally bright red in imitation of the shirts worn by Garibaldi and his followers.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after G.

■ Garibaldi.

garimpeiro /arimperu/ n. (pl. garimpeiros) (in Brazil) an independent prospector for minerals.

<ORIGIN> Portuguese.

garish /εr/ adj. obtrusively bright and showy; lurid: garish shirts in all sorts of colours.

<DERIVATIVES> garishly adv. garishness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

Garland Judy (1922–69), American singer and actress; born Frances Gumm. Her most famous early film role was in The Wizard of Oz (1939), in which she played Dorothy and sang ‘Over the Rainbow’. Other notable films include Meet Me in St Louis (1944) and A Star is Born (1954).

garland n. 1 a wreath of flowers and leaves, worn on the head or hung as a decoration.

2 DATED a prize or distinction.

3 ARCHAIC a literary anthology or miscellany.

■ v. [with obj.] decorate with a garland: they were garlanded with flowers.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French garlande, of unknown origin.

garlic n. [mass noun] 1 a strong-smelling pungent-tasting bulb, used as a flavouring in cookery and in herbal medicine.

2 the central Asian plant, closely related to the onion, which produces garlic.

<INFO> Allium sativum, family Liliaceae (or Alliaceae).

- used in names of plants with a similar smell or flavour, e.g. wild garlic.

<DERIVATIVES> garlicky adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English gārlēac, from gār ‘spear’ (because the shape of a clove resembles the head of a spear) + lēac ‘leek’.

garlic bread n. [mass noun] bread spread with butter and crushed garlic and heated in the oven, often served as a side dish.

garment n. an item of clothing: a windproof outer garment | fashion garments.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French garnement ‘equipment’, from garnir ‘equip’ (see GARNISH).

Garmo, Mount /αmə/ former name (until 1933) for ISMAIL SAMANI PEAK.

garms plural n. INFORMAL clothes; garments.

Garnacha /αnatə/ n. [mass noun] a variety of wine grape grown in Spain.

- a red or rosé wine made from Garnacha grapes.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Italian vernaccia (see VERNACCIA). The grape is known in France and elsewhere as GRENACHE.

garner v. [with obj.] gather or collect (something, especially information or approval): the police struggled to garner sufficient evidence.

- ARCHAIC store; deposit: the crop was ready to be reaped and garnered.

■ n. ARCHAIC a granary.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally as a noun): from Old French gernier, from Latin granarium ‘granary’, from granum ‘grain’.

garnet /αnt/ n. a precious stone consisting of a deep red vitreous silicate mineral.

- [mass noun] [MINERALOGY] any of a class of silicate minerals including this, which belong to the cubic system and have the general chemical formula A_3B_2(SiO_4)3 (A and B being respectively divalent and trivalent metals).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably via Middle Dutch from Old French grenat, from medieval Latin granatus, perhaps from granatum (see POMEGRANATE), because the garnet is similar in colour to the pulp of the fruit.

garnierite /αnərt αnərt/ n. [mass noun] a bright green amorphous mineral consisting of a hydrated silicate of nickel and magnesium.

<ORIGIN> 1875: named after Jules Garnier (1839–1904), French geologist.

garnish v. [with obj.] 1 decorate or embellish (something, especially food): garnish each serving with a dollop of sour cream.

2 [LAW] serve notice on (a third party) for the purpose of legally seizing money belonging to a debtor or defendant.

- seize (money, especially part of a person's salary) to settle a debt or claim: the IRS garnished his earnings.

■ n. a small amount of food used to decorate other food.

<DERIVATIVES> garnishment n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘equip, arm’): from Old French garnir, probably of Germanic origin and related to WARN.

■ Sense 1 of the verb dates from the late 17th cent.

garnishee /αni/ [LAW] n. a third party who is instructed by way of legal notice to surrender money to settle a debt or claim.

■ v. (garnishees, garnisheeing, garnisheed)

■ another term for garnish (sense 2 of the verb).

garniture /αntə/ n. a set of decorative vases.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French, from garnir ‘to garnish’.

Garonne /arn/ French /aRn/ a river of SW France, which rises in the Pyrenees and flows 645 km (400 miles) north-west through Toulouse and Bordeaux to join the Dordogne at the Gironde estuary.

Garoua /aruə/ a river port in northern Cameroon, on the River Bénoué; pop. 185,800 (est. 2002).

garpike n. another term for GARFISH.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from GAR + PIKE^1.

garret n. a top-floor or attic room, especially a small dismal one.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘watchtower’): from Old French garite, from garir (see GARRISON).

Garrick David (1717–79), English actor and dramatist. He was a notably versatile actor and the manager of the Drury Lane Theatre.

garrick n. South African term for LEERVIS.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

garrison n. a group of troops stationed in a fortress or town to defend it.

- the building occupied by a garrison.

■ v. [with obj.] provide (a place) with a group of troops: air reconnaissance showed the Germans had not garrisoned the island.

- [with obj. and adverbial of place] station (troops) in a particular place: French troops were garrisoned at Phillipsburg.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘safety, means of protection’): from Old French garison, from garir ‘defend, provide’, of Germanic origin.

garrison cap n. US a peakless cap, especially one worn as part of a military uniform.

garrison town n. a town that has troops permanently stationed in it.

garron /arən/ n. another term for HIGHLAND PONY.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Scottish Gaelic gearran, Irish gearrán.

garrotte /ərt/ (also garotte; US garrote) v. [with obj.] kill (someone) by strangulation, especially with a length of wire or cord.

■ n. a wire, cord, or other implement used for garrotting.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via French from Spanish garrote ‘a cudgel, a garrotte’, perhaps of Celtic origin.

garrulity /arulti/ n. [mass noun] excessive talkativeness, especially on trivial matters: the character's comic garrulity.

garrulous /ar(j)ləs/ adj. excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters: a garrulous cab driver.

<DERIVATIVES> garrulously adv. garrulousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin garrulus (from garrire ‘to chatter, prattle’) + -OUS.

garryowen /arən/ n. [RUGBY] an up-and-under.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after a rugby club in Limerick, Republic of Ireland.

garter n. 1 a band worn around the leg to keep a stocking or sock up.

- a band worn on the arm to keep a shirtsleeve up.

- NORTH AMERICAN a suspender for a sock or stocking.

2 (the Garter)

■ short for ORDER OF THE GARTER.

- membership of the Order of the Garter.

<PHRASES>

□ have someone's guts for garters see GUT.

<DERIVATIVES> gartered adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gartier, from garet ‘bend of the knee, calf of the leg’, probably of Celtic origin.

garter belt n. NORTH AMERICAN a suspender belt.

Garter King of Arms n. [HERALDRY] (in the UK) the principal King of Arms of the English College of Arms.

garter snake n. 1 a common, harmless North American snake that typically has well-defined longitudinal stripes and favours damp habitats.

<INFO> Genus Thamnophis, family Colubridae: several species, in particular T. sirtalis.

2 a venomous burrowing African snake that is typically dark with lighter bands.

<INFO> Genus Elapsoidea, family Elapidae: several species.

garter stitch n. [mass noun] knitting in which all of the rows are knitted in plain stitch, rather than alternating with purl rows.

garth n. BRITISH an open space surrounded by cloisters.

- ARCHAIC a yard or garden.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also, in early use, denoting a hollow): from Old Norse garthr; related to yard^2.

Garuda /ardə/ [HINDUISM] an eagle-like being that serves as the mount of Vishnu.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit garua.

Garvey /αvi/ Marcus (Mosiah) (1887–1940), Jamaican political activist and black nationalist leader. He advocated the establishment of an African homeland for black Americans and his thinking was later an important influence on Rastafarianism.

Gary /ari/ an industrial city in NW Indiana, on Lake Michigan south-east of Chicago; pop. 102,746 (2000).

gas n. (pl. gases or chiefly US gasses) [mass noun] 1 an air-like fluid substance which expands freely to fill any space available, irrespective of its quantity: hot balls of gas that become stars | [count noun] poisonous gases.

- [PHYSICS] a gaseous substance that cannot be liquefied by the application of pressure alone. Compare with VAPOUR.

- a flammable gas used as a fuel.

- a gaseous anaesthetic such as nitrous oxide, used in dentistry.

- gas or vapour used as a poisonous agent in warfare.

- NORTH AMERICAN gas generated in the alimentary canal; flatulence.

- [MINING] an explosive mixture of firedamp with air.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL short for GASOLINE.

3 (a gas) INFORMAL an entertaining or amusing person or situation: the party would be a gas.

- [mass noun] IRISH enjoyment, amusement, or fun: it was great gas in the club last night.

■ v. (gases, gassing, gassed) [with obj.] 1 kill or harm by exposure to gas: my son was gassed at Verdun.

- [no obj.] (of a storage battery or dry cell) give off gas.

2 [no obj.] INFORMAL talk excessively about trivial matters: I thought you'd never stop gassing.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL fill the tank of (a motor vehicle) with petrol: after gassing up the car, he went into the restaurant.

■ adj. IRISH INFORMAL very amusing or entertaining: Ruthie, that's gas—you're a gem.

<PHRASES>

□ run out of gas NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL run out of energy; lose momentum.

□ step on the gas NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL press on the accelerator to make a car go faster.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: invented by J. B. van Helmont (1577–1644), Belgian chemist, to denote an occult principle which he believed to exist in all matter; suggested by Greek khaos ‘chaos’, with Dutch g representing Greek kh.

gasbag n. 1 INFORMAL a person who talks excessively about trivial things.

2 the container holding the gas in a balloon or airship.

gas chamber n. an airtight room that can be filled with poisonous gas to kill people or animals.

gas chromatography n. [mass noun] chromatography employing a gas as the moving carrier medium. Compare with gas–liquid chromatography.

Gascogne /ask/ French name for GASCONY.

Gascon /ask(ə)n/ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Gascony.

2 (gascon) ARCHAIC a boastful person. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to the perceived character of natives of Gascony.]

■ adj. relating to Gascony or its people.

<ORIGIN> via Old French from Latin Vasco, Vascon-; related to BASQUE.

gasconade /askəned/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY extravagant boasting.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French gasconnade, from gasconner ‘talk like a Gascon, brag’.

gas constant (Symbol: R) n. [CHEMISTRY] the constant of proportionality in the gas equation. It is equal to 8.314 joule kelvin−1 mole−1.

Gascony /askəni/ a region and former province of SW France, in the northern foothills of the Pyrenees. It was held by England between 1154 and 1453. French name GASCOGNE.

gaseous /asəs esəs/ adj. relating to or having the characteristics of a gas: gaseous emissions from motor vehicles | gaseous oxygen.

<DERIVATIVES> gaseousness n.

gas equation n. [CHEMISTRY] the equation of state of an ideal gas, PV = nRT, where P = pressure, V = volume, T = absolute temperature, R = the gas constant, and n = the number of moles of gas.

gas fire n. a domestic heating appliance which uses gas as its fuel.

gas-fired adj. using gas as its fuel: gas-fired central heating.

gas gangrene n. [mass noun] rapidly spreading gangrene affecting injured tissue infected by a soil bacterium and accompanied by the evolution of foul-smelling gas.

<INFO> This disease is usually caused by anaerobic bacteria of the genus Clostridium.

gas giant n. [ASTRONOMY] a large planet of relatively low density consisting predominantly of hydrogen and helium, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune.

gas guzzler n. INFORMAL a large car with a high fuel consumption.

<DERIVATIVES> gas-guzzling adj.

gash^1 n. 1 a long, deep cut or wound: a bad gash in one leg became infected.

- a cleft made as if by a slashing cut: the blast ripped a 25-foot gash in the hull.

2 VULGAR SLANG a woman's vulva.

- [mass noun] OFFENSIVE women collectively regarded in sexual terms.

■ v. [with obj.] make a long, deep cut in: the jagged edges gashed their fingers.

<ORIGIN> Middle English garse, from Old French garcer ‘to chap, crack’, perhaps based on Greek kharassein ‘sharpen, scratch, engrave’. The current spelling is recorded from the mid 16th cent.

gash^2 n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL rubbish or waste: [as modifier] the gash bucket.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally in nautical use): of unknown origin.

gasholder n. another term for GASOMETER.

gasify /asf/ v. (gasifies, gasifying, gasified) [with obj.] convert (a solid or liquid, especially coal) into gas.

- [no obj.] become a gas: if PVC is overheated it will gasify.

<DERIVATIVES> gasification n.

Gaskell /ask(ə)l/ Mrs Elizabeth (Cleghorn) (1810–65), English novelist. Notable works: Mary Barton (1848), Cranford (1853), and North and South (1855). She also wrote a biography (1857) of her friend Charlotte Brontë.

gasket /askt/ n. 1 a shaped sheet or ring of rubber or other material sealing the junction between two surfaces in an engine or other device.

2 ARCHAIC a cord securing a furled sail to the yard of a sailing ship.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): perhaps from French garcette ‘thin rope’ (originally ‘little girl’), diminutive of garce, feminine of gars ‘boy’.

gaskin /askn/ n. the muscular part of the hind leg of a horse between the stifle and the hock.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps from GALLIGASKINS (the original sense).

gas laws plural n. [CHEMISTRY] the physical laws that describe the properties of gases, including Boyle's and Charles's laws.

gaslight n. a type of lamp in which an incandescent mantle is heated by a jet of burning gas.

- [mass noun] the light produced by a gaslight: in the gaslight she looked paler than ever.

<DERIVATIVES> gaslit adj.

gas–liquid chromatography n. [mass noun] chromatography employing a gas as the moving carrier medium and a liquid as the stationary medium.

gasman n. (pl. gasmen) a man who installs or services gas appliances or reads gas meters.

gas mask n. a protective mask used to cover a person's face as a defence against poison gas.

gasohol /asəhl/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a mixture of petrol and ethanol used as fuel in internal-combustion engines.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of GAS and ALCOHOL.

gas oil n. [mass noun] a type of fuel oil distilled from petroleum and heavier than paraffin oil.

gasoline (also gasolene) n. North American term for PETROL.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from GAS + -OL + -INE^4

■ (or -ENE).

gasometer n. a large metal tank, typically cylindrical, in which gas for use as fuel is stored before being distributed through pipes to consumers.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘container for holding or measuring a gas’): from French gazomètre, from gaz ‘gas’ + -mètre ‘(instrument) measuring’.

gasp v. [no obj.] catch one's breath with an open mouth, owing to pain or astonishment: a woman gasped in horror at the sight of him.

- [with obj.] say (something) while catching one's breath: Jeremy gasped out an apology | [with direct speech] ‘It's beautiful!’ she gasped, much impressed.

- (gasp for) strain to obtain (air) by gasping: she surfaced and gasped for air.

- (be gasping for) BRITISH INFORMAL be desperate to obtain or consume; crave: I'm gasping for a drink!

■ n. a convulsive catching of breath: his breath was coming in gasps.

<PHRASES>

□ one's (or the) last gasp the point of exhaustion, death, or completion: the last gasp of the Cold War.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Norse geispa ‘to yawn’.

gasper n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a cigarette.

gas-permeable adj. (of a contact lens) allowing the diffusion of gases into and out of the cornea.

gas plant n. an aromatic Eurasian plant of the rue family, with showy white flowers and fragrant leaves that emit a flammable vapour. This can sometimes be ignited without harming the plant. Also called BURNING BUSH, DITTANY, FRAXINELLA.

<INFO> Dictamnus (formerly Fraxinella) albus, family Rutaceae.

Gassendi /asεndi/ French /asαdi/ Pierre (1592–1655), French astronomer and philosopher. He is best known for his atomic theory of matter, which was based on his interpretation of the works of Epicurus.

Gasser Herbert Spencer (1888–1963), American physiologist. Collaborating with Joseph Erlanger, he used an oscilloscope to show that the velocity of a nerve impulse is proportional to the diameter of the fibre. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1944, shared with Erlanger).

gasser n. INFORMAL 1 a chatterer.

2 US a very attractive or impressive person or thing.

gas station n. NORTH AMERICAN a petrol station.

gassy adj. (gassier, gassiest) 1 resembling or full of gas: the beer was served too gassy and too cold.

- NORTH AMERICAN (of a person) flatulent.

2 INFORMAL (of a person or language) inclined to be verbose: a long and gassy book.

<DERIVATIVES> gassiness n.

Gastarbeiter /astαbtə/ German /astarbat/ n. (pl. same or Gastarbeiters) a person with temporary permission to work in another country, especially in Germany.

<ORIGIN> German, from Gast ‘guest’ + Arbeiter ‘worker’.

gasteropod n. old-fashioned spelling of GASTROPOD.

Gasthaus /asthas/ n. (pl. Gasthäuser /-hzə/) a small inn or hotel in a German-speaking country.

<ORIGIN> from German, from Gast ‘guest’ + Haus ‘house’.

Gasthof /asthf/ German /asthəf/ n. (pl. Gasthöfe or Gasthofs /-həfə/ German /-høfə/) a hotel in a German-speaking country, typically larger than a Gasthaus.

<ORIGIN> from German, from Gast ‘guest’ + Hof ‘hotel, large house’.

Gastornis /astns/ n. a very large flightless bird of the Eocene epoch.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from the name of the French scientist Gaston Planté (1834–89), who found the first specimen, + Greek ornis ‘bird’.

gastr- combining form variant spelling of GASTRO- shortened before a vowel (as in gastrectomy).

gastrectomy /astrεktəmi/ n. (pl. gastrectomies) [mass noun] surgical removal of a part or the whole of the stomach.

gastric adj. of the stomach.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin gastricus, from Greek gastēr, gastr- ‘stomach’.

gastric flu n. [mass noun] a short-lived stomach disorder of unknown cause, popularly attributed to a virus.

gastric juice n. [mass noun] a thin, clear, virtually colourless acid fluid secreted by the stomach glands and active in promoting digestion.

gastrin n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hormone which stimulates secretion of gastric juice and is secreted into the bloodstream by the stomach wall in response to the presence of food.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from GASTRIC + -IN^1.

gastritis /astrts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the lining of the stomach.

gastro- /astrə/ (also gastr- before a vowel) combining form relating to the stomach: gastrectomy | gastroenteritis.

<ORIGIN> from Greek gastēr, gastr- ‘stomach’.

gastrocnemius /astrə()kniməs/ (also gastrocnemius muscle) n. (pl. gastrocnemii /-m/) [ANATOMY] the chief muscle of the calf of the leg, which flexes the knee and foot. It runs to the Achilles tendon from two heads attached to the femur.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek gastroknēmia ‘calf of the leg’, from gaster, gastr- ‘stomach’ + knēmē ‘leg’ (from the bulging shape of the calf).

gastrocolic /astrə()klk/ adj. relating to the stomach and the colon.

gastroenteric adj. MEDICINE & [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to the stomach and intestines.

gastroenteritis n. [mass noun] inflammation of the stomach and intestines, typically resulting from bacterial toxins or viral infection and causing vomiting and diarrhoea.

gastroenterology /astrəεntərlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of medicine which deals with disorders of the stomach and intestines.

<DERIVATIVES> gastroenterological adj. gastroenterologist n.

gastrointestinal /astrəntεstn(ə)l -ntεstn(ə)l/ adj. relating to the stomach and the intestines.

gastrolith /astrə()lθ/ n. 1 [ZOOLOGY] a small stone swallowed by a bird, reptile, or fish to aid digestion in the gizzard.

2 MEDICINE a hard concretion in the stomach.

gastronome /astrənəm/ n. a gourmet.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from gastronomie (see GASTRONOMY).

gastronomy /astrnəmi/ n. [mass noun] the practice or art of choosing, cooking, and eating good food.

- the cookery of a particular area: traditional American gastronomy.

<DERIVATIVES> gastronomic adj. gastronomical adj. gastronomically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French gastronomie, from Greek gastronomia, alteration of gastrologia (see GASTRO-, -logy).

gastropod n. [ZOOLOGY] a mollusc of the large class Gastropoda, such as a snail, slug, or whelk.

Gastropoda /astrəpədə astrpədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large class of molluscs which includes snails, slugs, whelks, and all terrestrial kinds. They have a large muscular foot for movement and (in many kinds) a single asymmetrical spiral shell.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek gastēr, gastr- ‘stomach’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’.

gastropub n. BRITISH a pub that specializes in serving high-quality food.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from gastro- in GASTRONOMY + PUB.

gastroscope n. an optical instrument used for inspecting the interior of the stomach.

<DERIVATIVES> gastroscopic adj. gastroscopy n.

gastrostomy /astrstəmi/ n. (pl. gastrostomies) an opening into the stomach from the abdominal wall, made surgically for the introduction of food.

- a surgical operation for making a gastrostomy.

Gastrotricha /astrətrkə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small phylum of minute aquatic worm-like animals which bear bristles and cilia. They are thought to be related to the nematode worms and rotifers.

<DERIVATIVES> gastrotrich /astrətrk/ n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek gastēr, gastr- ‘stomach’ + thrix, trikh- ‘hair’.

gastrula /astrlə/ n. (pl. gastrulae /-li/) [ANATOMY] an embryo at the stage following the blastula, when it is a hollow cup-shaped structure having three layers of cells.

<DERIVATIVES> gastrulation n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek gastēr, gastr- ‘stomach’ + the Latin diminutive ending -ula.

gas turbine n. a turbine driven by expanding hot gases produced by burning fuel, as in a jet engine.

gasworks plural n. [treated as sing.] a place where gas is manufactured and processed.

gat^1 n. INFORMAL a revolver or pistol.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of GATLING GUN.

gat^2 archaic past of GET.

gate^1 n. 1 a hinged barrier used to close an opening in a wall, fence, or hedge.

- a gateway: she went out through the gate.

- an exit from an airport building to an aircraft: a departure gate.

- [in names] a mountain pass or other natural passage: the Golden Gate.

2 the number of people who pay to enter a sports ground for an event: an average home gate of more than 12,000.

- the money taken for admission.

3 a device resembling a gate in structure or function, in particular:

- a hinged or sliding barrier for controlling the flow of water: a sluice gate.

- an arrangement of slots into which the gear lever of a motor vehicle moves to engage each gear.

- a device for holding each frame of a film in position behind the lens of a camera or projector.

4 an electric circuit with an output which depends on the combination of several inputs: a logic gate.

- the part of a field-effect transistor to which a signal is applied to control the resistance of the conductive channel of the device.

■ v. [with obj.] BRITISH confine (a pupil or student) to school or college: he was gated for the rest of term.

<PHRASES>

□ get (or be given) the gate NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be dismissed from a job.

<ORIGIN> Old English gæt, geat, plural gatu, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gat ‘gap, hole, breach’.

gate^2 n. BRITISH (in place names) a street: Kirkgate.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also meaning ‘way’ in general): from Old Norse gata; related to German Gasse ‘street, lane’.

-gate combining form in nouns denoting an actual or alleged scandal, especially one involving a cover-up: Irangate.

<ORIGIN> early 1970s: suggested by the Watergate scandal in the US, 1972.

gate array n. [COMPUTING] a regular arrangement of logic gates.

- an electronic chip consisting of a regular arrangement of logic gates.

gateau /atə/ n. (pl. gateaus or gateaux /-əz/) chiefly BRITISH a rich cake, typically one containing layers of cream or fruit.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French gâteau ‘cake’.

gatecrash v. [with obj.] enter (a party or other gathering) without an invitation or ticket.

<DERIVATIVES> gatecrasher n.

gated adj. 1 having gates to control the movement of traffic, people, or animals: a gated road.

- denoting a residential development in which access is allowed only through a secured gate, often protected by additional security measures: a gated community.

2 TECHNICAL denoting a channel or pathway through a system that can be opened and closed depending on set conditions.

gatefold n. an oversized page in a book or magazine folded to the same size as the other pages but intended to be opened out for reading.

gatehouse n. 1 a house standing by a gateway, especially on a country estate.

2 HISTORICAL a room over a city or palace gate, often used as a prison.

gatekeeper n. 1 (also gateman) an attendant employed to control who goes through a gate.

- FIGURATIVE a person or thing that controls access to something: GPs can act as gatekeepers, filtering demands made on hospital services.

2 an orange and brown European butterfly with small eyespots on the wings, frequenting hedgerows and woods. Also called HEDGE BROWN.

<INFO> Pyronia tithonus, subfamily Satyrinae, family Nymphalidae.

<DERIVATIVES> gatekeeping n.

gateleg table n. a table with hinged legs that are swung out from the centre to support folding leaves and make the table larger.

<DERIVATIVES> gatelegged adj.

gatepost n. a post on which a gate is hinged, or against which it shuts.

<PHRASES>

□ between you and me and the gatepost see BEDPOST.

Gates Bill (b.1955), American computer entrepreneur; full name William Henry Gates. He co-founded the computer software company Microsoft and became the youngest multi-billionaire in American history.

Gateshead an industrial town in NE England, on the south bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle; pop. 81,000 (est. 2002).

gate valve n. a valve with a sliding part that controls the extent of the aperture.

gateway n. 1 an opening that can be closed by a gate: we turned into a gateway leading to a cottage.

- a frame or arch built around or over a gate: a big house with a wrought-iron gateway.

- a place regarded as giving access to another place: Mombasa, the gateway to East Africa.

- a means of achieving a state or condition: to me a home in the country was a gateway to happiness.

2 [COMPUTING] a device used to connect two different networks, especially a connection to the Internet.

gateway drug n. a drug which supposedly leads the user on to more addictive or dangerous drugs.

Gatha /αθα/ n. any of seventeen poems attributed to Zoroaster which are the most ancient texts of the Avesta.

<ORIGIN> from Avestan gāthā.

gather v. 1 [no obj.] come together; assemble or accumulate: as soon as a crowd gathered, the police came.

2 [with obj.] bring together and take in from scattered places or sources: information that we have gathered about people.

- (gather something up) pick something up: I gathered up the prescription and went to the door.

- (gather something in) harvest grain or other crops.

- [no obj.] collect plants, fruits, etc., for food: the Bushmen live by hunting and gathering.

3 [with obj.] increase in (speed, force, etc.): the destroyer gathered speed.

4 [with obj.] infer; understand: [with clause] I gathered that they were old friends.

5 [with obj.] summon up (a mental or physical attribute) for a purpose: she lay gathering her thoughts together | he gathered himself for a tremendous leap.

- gain or recover (one's breath).

6 [with obj.] pull (someone) into one's arms: she gathered the child in her arms.

- pull (clothing) more tightly around one's body.

7 [with obj.] draw and hold together (fabric or a part of a garment) by running thread through it: the front is gathered at the waist.

■ n. (gathers) a part of a garment that is gathered.

<PHRASES>

□ gather way (of a ship) begin to move.

<DERIVATIVES> gatherer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English gaderian, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch gaderen, also to TOGETHER.

gathering n. 1 an assembly or meeting, especially one held for a specific purpose: a family gathering.

2 a group of leaves taken together, one inside another, in binding a book.

Gatling gun (also Gatling) n. a rapid-fire, crank-driven gun with clustered barrels. The first practical machine gun, it was officially adopted by the US army in 1866.

<ORIGIN> named after Richard J. Gatling (1818–1903), its American inventor.

gator n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an alligator.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: shortened form.

Gatso /atsə/ (also Gatso camera) n. (pl. Gatsos) a camera which automatically takes a photograph of road vehicles travelling over a certain speed (as measured by radar).

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from the name of Maurice Gatsonides, Dutch racing driver (1911–98).

GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, an international treaty (1948–94) to promote trade and economic development by reducing tariffs and other restrictions. It was superseded by the establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995.

Gatwick an international airport in SE England, to the south of London.

gauche /ə/ adj. unsophisticated and socially awkward: a shy and gauche teenager.

<DERIVATIVES> gauchely adv. gaucheness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, literally ‘left’.

gaucherie /ə(ə)ri/ n. [mass noun] awkward or unsophisticated ways: I was ridiculed for my sartorial gaucherie | [count noun] she had long since got over gaucheries such as blushing.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, from gauche (see GAUCHE).

Gaucher's disease /əez əez/ n. [mass noun] a hereditary disease in which the metabolism and storage of fats is abnormal. It results in bone fragility, neurological disturbance, anaemia, and enlargement of the liver and spleen.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: named after Phillippe C. E. Gaucher (1854–1918), French physician.

gaucho /atə -/ n. (pl. gauchos) a cowboy from the South American pampas.

<ORIGIN> Latin American Spanish, probably from Araucanian kauču ‘friend’.

gaud /d/ n. ARCHAIC a showy and purely ornamental thing: displays of overpriced gauds.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a trick or pretence): perhaps via Anglo-Norman French from Old French gaudir ‘rejoice’, from Latin gaudere; perhaps influenced by obsolete gaud ‘ornamental bead in a rosary’.

Gaudí /adi/ Antonio (1853–1926), Spanish architect; full name Antonio Gaudí y Cornet. He was a leading but idiosyncratic exponent of art nouveau, known mainly for his ornate and extravagant church of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (begun 1884).

Gaudier-Brzeska /ədebεskə/ Henri (1891–1915), French sculptor, a leading member of the Vorticist movement. Notable works: the faceted bust of Horace Brodzky (1912) and Bird Swallowing a Fish (1913).

gaudy^1 adj. (gaudier, gaudiest) extravagantly bright or showy, typically so as to be tasteless: silver bows and gaudy ribbons.

<DERIVATIVES> gaudily adv. gaudiness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: probably from GAUD + -Y^1.

gaudy^2 n. (pl. gaudies) BRITISH a celebratory dinner or entertainment held by a college for old members.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘rejoicing, a celebration’): from Latin gaudium ‘joy’, or from gaude ‘rejoice!’, imperative of gaudere.

gauge /ed/ (chiefly US also gage) n. 1 an instrument that measures and gives a visual display of the amount, level, or contents of something: a fuel gauge.

- a tool for checking the conformity of something to a desired dimension.

- FIGURATIVE a means of estimating something: emigration is perhaps the best gauge of public unease.

2 the thickness, size, or capacity of something, especially as a standard measure, in particular:

- the diameter of a wire, fibre, tube, etc.: [as modifier] a fine 0.018-inch gauge wire.

- [in combination] a measure of the diameter of a gun barrel, or of its ammunition, expressed as the number of spherical pieces of shot of the same diameter as the barrel that can be made from 1 lb (454 g) of lead: [as modifier] a 12-gauge shotgun.

- [in combination] the thickness of sheet metal or plastic: [as modifier] 500-gauge polythene.

- the distance between the rails of a line of railway track: the line was laid to a gauge of 2 ft 9 ins.

3 [NAUTICAL], HISTORICAL the position of a sailing ship to windward (the weather gage) or leeward (the lee gage) of another.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 estimate or determine the amount, level, or volume of: astronomers can gauge the star's intrinsic brightness.

- judge or assess (a situation, mood, etc.): she was unable to gauge his mood.

2 measure the dimensions of (an object) with a gauge: when dry the assemblies can be gauged exactly.

- (as adj. gauged) made in standard dimensions: gauged sets of strings.

<DERIVATIVES> gaugeable adj. gauger n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a standard measure): from Old French gauge (noun), gauger (verb), variant of Old Northern French jauge (noun), jauger (verb), of unknown origin.

gauge pressure n. [ENGINEERING] the amount by which the pressure measured in a fluid exceeds that of the atmosphere.

gauge theory n. [PHYSICS] a quantum theory using mathematical functions to describe subatomic interactions in terms of particles that are not directly detectable.

Gauguin /əa/ French /əε/ (Eugène Henri) Paul (1848–1903), French painter. From 1891 he lived mainly in Tahiti, painting in a post-Impressionist style that was influenced by primitive art. Notable works: The Vision after the Sermon (1888) and Faa Iheihe (1898).

Gauhati /ahαti/ an industrial city in NE India, in Assam, a river port on the Brahmaputra; pop. 808,000 (2001).

Gaul^1 /l/ an ancient region of Europe, corresponding to modern France, Belgium, the south Netherlands, SW Germany, and northern Italy. The area south of the Alps was conquered in 222 BC by the Romans, who called it Cisalpine Gaul. The area north of the Alps, known as Transalpine Gaul, was taken by Julius Caesar between 58 and 51 BC.

Gaul^2 /l/ n. a native or inhabitant of ancient Gaul.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Gallus, probably of Celtic origin.

Gauleiter /altə/ German /alat/ n. 1 HISTORICAL a political official governing a district under Nazi rule.

2 an overbearing official.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: German, from Gau ‘administrative district’ + Leiter ‘leader’.

Gaulish adj. relating to or denoting the ancient Gauls.

■ n. [mass noun] the Celtic language of the ancient Gauls.

Gaullism /əlz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the principles and policies of Charles de Gaulle, characterized by conservatism, nationalism, and advocacy of centralized government.

<DERIVATIVES> Gaullist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from French Gaullisme.

gault /lt/ n. [mass noun] (also gault clay) a thick, heavy clay.

- (Gault) [GEOLOGY] a series of Cretaceous clays and marls forming strata in southern England.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: possibly related to Old Swedish galt, neuter of galder ‘barren’.

Gaunt^1 former name for GHENT.

gaunt adj. (of a person) lean and haggard, especially because of suffering, hunger, or age.

- (of a building or place) grim or desolate in appearance.

<DERIVATIVES> gauntly adv. gauntness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

gauntlet^1 n. a strong glove with a long, loose wrist.

- HISTORICAL an armoured glove.

- the part of a glove covering the wrist.

<PHRASES>

□ take up (or throw down) the gauntlet accept (or issue) a challenge. [<ORIGIN> from the medieval custom of issuing a challenge by throwing one's gauntlet to the ground; whoever picked it up was deemed to have accepted the challenge.]

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French gantelet, diminutive of gant ‘glove’, of Germanic origin.

gauntlet^2 (US also gantlet) n. (in phrase run the gauntlet) 1 go through an intimidating or dangerous crowd or experience in order to reach a goal: she had to run the gauntlet of male autograph seekers.

2 HISTORICAL undergo the military punishment of receiving blows while running between two rows of men with sticks.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: alteration of gantlope (from Swedish gatlopp, from gata ‘lane’ + lopp ‘course’) by association with gauntlet^1.

gaur /aə/ n. a wild ox having a large head, a dark brown or black coat with white stockings, and a hump, native to India and Malaysia. Also called INDIAN BISON, SELADANG.

<INFO> Bos gaurus, family Bovidae; it is the ancestor of the domestic gayal.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Sanskrit gaura; related to cow^1.

Gauss /as/ Karl Friedrich (1777–1855), German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. Gauss laid the foundations of number theory, and applied rigorous mathematical analysis to geometry, geodesy, electrostatics, and electromagnetism.

gauss /as/ (abbr.: G) n. (pl. same or gausses) a unit of magnetic induction, equal to one ten-thousandth of a tesla.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Karl GAUSS.

Gaussian distribution /asən/ n. [STATISTICS] another term for NORMAL DISTRIBUTION.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Karl GAUSS, who described it.

Gautama /atəmə/ Siddhartha, see BUDDHA.

Gauteng /xatε xaətε/ a province of north-eastern South Africa, formerly part of Transvaal; capital, Johannesburg. Former name (until 1995) PRETORIA-WITWATERSRAND-VEREENIGING.

gauze /z/ n. [mass noun] 1 a thin transparent fabric of silk, linen, or cotton.

- MEDICINE thin, loosely woven cloth used for dressings and swabs.

- [in sing.] FIGURATIVE a transparent haze or film: they saw the grasslands through a gauze of golden dust.

2 (also wire gauze) a very fine wire mesh.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French gaze, perhaps from Gaza, the name of a town in Palestine.

gauzy adj. (gauzier, gauziest) resembling gauze; thin and translucent: a gauzy dress.

<DERIVATIVES> gauzily adv. gauziness n.

gavage /avα/ n. [mass noun] the administration of food or drugs by force, especially to an animal, typically through a tube leading down the throat to the stomach.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, from gaver ‘force-feed’, from a base meaning ‘throat’.

Gavaskar /avəskə -kα/ Sunil Manohar (b.1949), Indian cricketer. He made his Test debut in the West Indies in 1970, later captained India, and in 1987 became the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.

gave past of GIVE.

gavel /av(ə)l/ n. a small hammer with which an auctioneer, a judge, or the chair of a meeting hits a surface to call for attention or order.

■ v. (gavels, gavelling, gavelled; US gavels, gaveling, gaveled) [with obj. and adverbial] bring (a hearing or person) to order by use of a gavel: he gavelled the convention to order.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally US in the sense ‘stonemason's mallet’): of unknown origin.

gavelkind /av(ə)lknd/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a system of inheritance in which a deceased person's land is divided equally among all male heirs.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from obsolete gavel ‘payment, rent’ + KIND^1.

gavial /evəl/ n. variant spelling of GHARIAL.

<ORIGIN> from French, the -v- probably being substituted for -r- by scribal error.

gavotte /əvt/ n. a medium-paced French dance, popular in the 18th century.

- a piece of music accompanying or in the rhythm of a gavotte, composed in common time beginning on the third beat of the bar.

<ORIGIN> French, from Provençal gavoto ‘dance of the mountain people’, from Gavot ‘native of the Alps’.

Gawain /αwen əwen/ (in Arthurian legend) one of the knights of the Round Table who quested after the Holy Grail. He is the hero of the medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Gawd exclam. INFORMAL God (used for emphasis or to express surprise, anger, etc.): Oh Gawd! I'd completely forgotten about it.

gawk v. [no obj.] stare openly and stupidly: they were gawking at some pin-up.

■ n. an awkward or shy person.

<DERIVATIVES> gawker n. gawkish adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as a noun): perhaps related to obsolete gaw ‘to gaze’, from Old Norse gá ‘heed’.

gawky adj. (gawkier, gawkiest) nervously awkward and ungainly: a gawky teenager.

<DERIVATIVES> gawkily adv. gawkiness n.

gawp v. [no obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL stare openly in a stupid or rude manner: what are you gawping at?

<DERIVATIVES> gawper n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps an alteration of GAPE.

Gay John (1685–1732), English poet and dramatist. He is chiefly known for The Beggar's Opera (1728), a low-life ballad opera combining burlesque and political satire.

gay adj. (gayer, gayest) 1 (of a person, especially a man) homosexual.

- relating to or used by homosexuals: a gay bar.

2 DATED light-hearted and carefree: Nan had a gay disposition and a very pretty face.

3 DATED brightly coloured; showy: a gay profusion of purple and pink sweet peas.

■ n. a homosexual, especially a man.

<DERIVATIVES> gayness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective): from Old French gai, of unknown origin.

<USAGE> Gay meaning ‘homosexual’ became established in the 1960s as the term preferred by homosexual men to describe themselves. It is now the standard accepted term throughout the English-speaking world. As a result, the centuries-old other senses of gay meaning either ‘carefree’ or ‘bright and showy’ have more or less dropped out of natural use. The word gay cannot be readily used unselfconsciously today in these older senses without arousing a sense of double entendre, despite concerted attempts by some to keep them alive.
Gay in its modern sense typically refers to men (lesbian being the standard term for homosexual women) but in some contexts it can be used of both men and women.

Gaya /αjə/ a city in NE India, in the state of Bihar south of Patna; pop. 383,200 (2001). It is a place of Hindu pilgrimage.

gayal /jαl -jal/ n. a domesticated ox used in the Indian subcontinent.

<INFO> Bos frontalis, family Bovidae, descended from the wild gaur.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Bengali.

gaydar /edα/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL the supposed ability of homosexuals to recognize one another by means of very slight indications.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of GAY and RADAR.

Gaye Marvin (1939–84), American soul singer, composer, and musician. Best known for ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’ (1968), he later recorded the albums Let's Get It On (1973) and Midnight Love (1982). He was shot dead by his father in a quarrel.

gayelle /ajεl ajal/ n. W. INDIAN an arena or ring for cockfighting or stick-fighting.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish gallera ‘cockpit’.

gay liberation n. [mass noun] the freeing of homosexuals from social and legal discrimination.

Gay-Lussac's law /elusaks/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a law stating that the volumes of gases undergoing a reaction at constant pressure and temperature are in a simple ratio to each other and to that of the product.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Joseph L. Gay-Lussac (1778–1850), French chemist and physicist.

gay pride n. [mass noun] a sense of strong self-esteem associated with a person's public acknowledgement of their homosexuality.

gazania /əzenə/ n. a tropical herbaceous plant of the daisy family, with showy flowers that are typically orange or yellow.

<INFO> Genus Gazania, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Theodore of Gaza (1398–1478), Greek scholar.

Gazankulu /azəkulu/ a former homeland established in South Africa for the Tsonga people, now part of the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

gazar /əzα/ n. [mass noun] a stiff gauzy kind of silk fabric.

<ORIGIN> from French, from gaze (see GAUZE).

Gaza Strip /αzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast, including the town of Gaza; pop. 1,178,119 (2001). Administered by Egypt from 1949, and occupied by Israel from 1967, it became a self-governing enclave under the PLO–Israeli accord of 1994 and elected its own legislative council in 1996.

gaze v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] look steadily and intently, especially in admiration, surprise, or thought: he could only gaze at her in astonishment.

■ n. a steady intent look: he turned, following her gaze | offices screened from the public gaze.

- (in literary theory) a particular perspective considered as embodying certain aspects of the relationship between observer and observed: the male gaze.

<DERIVATIVES> gazer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps related to obsolete gaw (see GAWK).

gazebo /əzibə/ n. (pl. gazebos) a small building, especially one in the garden of a house, that gives a wide view of the surrounding area.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps humorously from GAZE, in imitation of Latin future tenses ending in -ebo: compare with LAVABO.

gazelle n. a small, slender antelope that typically has curved horns and a fawn-coloured coat with white underparts, found in open country in Africa and Asia.

<INFO> Gazella and other genera, family Bovidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, probably via Spanish from Arabic ghazāl.

gazette n. a journal or newspaper, especially the official one of an organization or institution.

- HISTORICAL a news-sheet.

■ v. [with obj.] BRITISH announce or publish (something) in an official gazette.

- [with obj. and adverbial] publish the appointment of (someone) to a military or other official post: he was gazetted to the Somerset Light Infantry.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via French from Italian gazzetta, originally Venetian gazeta de la novità ‘a halfpennyworth of news’ (because the news-sheet sold for a gazeta, a Venetian coin of small value).

gazetteer /azətə/ n. a geographical index or dictionary.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘journalist’): via French from Italian gazzettiere, from gazzetta (see GAZETTE). The current sense comes from a late 17th-cent. gazetteer called The Gazetteer's: or, Newsman's Interpreter: Being a Geographical Index.

Gaziantep /azəntεp/ a city in southern Turkey, near the border with Syria; pop. 795,300 (est. 2002). Former name (until 1921) AINTAB.

gazillion /əzljən/ (also kazillion) cardinal number NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a very large number or quantity (used for emphasis): gazillions of books.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: fanciful formation on the pattern of billion and million.

gazpacho /əspatə/ n. (pl. gazpachos) [mass noun] a cold Spanish soup made from tomatoes, peppers, and other salad vegetables.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

gazump /əzmp/ v. [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL 1 make a higher offer for a house than (someone whose offer has already been accepted by the seller) and thus succeed in acquiring the property.

2 DATED swindle (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> gazumper n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (in sense 2): from Yiddish gezumph ‘overcharge’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the 1970s.

gazunder /əzndə/ v. [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL lower the amount of an offer that one has made to (the seller of a property), typically just before the exchange of contracts.

<ORIGIN> late 1980s: humorous blend of GAZUMP and UNDER.

GB abbr.

- (also Gb) [COMPUTING] gigabit(s) or gigabyte(s).

- Great Britain.

GBA abbr. Alderney (international vehicle registration).

GBE abbr. (in the UK) Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.

GBG abbr. Guernsey (international vehicle registration).

GBH abbr. BRITISH grievous bodily harm.

GBJ abbr. Jersey (international vehicle registration).

GBM abbr. Isle of Man (international vehicle registration).

Gbyte abbr. gigabyte(s).

GBZ abbr. Gibraltar (international vehicle registration).

GC abbr. (in the UK and Commonwealth countries) George Cross.

GCA abbr. Guatemala (international vehicle registration).

GCB abbr. (in the UK) Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.

GCE abbr. (in the UK) General Certificate of Education.

GCHQ abbr. (in the UK) Government Communications Headquarters.

GCMG abbr. (in the UK) Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George.

GCSE abbr. General Certificate of Secondary Education: grade A in GCSE English.

GCVO abbr. (in the UK) Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

Gd symbol the chemical element gadolinium.

Gdańsk /(ə)dansk/ an industrial port and shipbuilding centre in northern Poland, on an inlet of the Baltic Sea; pop. 456,574 (est. 2000). Disputed between Prussia and Poland during the 19th century, it was a free city under a League of Nations mandate from 1919 until 1939, when it was annexed by Nazi Germany, precipitating hostilities with Poland and the outbreak of the Second World War. German name DANZIG.

g'day exclam. AUSTRALIAN/NZ good day.

gdn abbr. garden.

Gdns abbr. BRITISH Gardens: Milbrook Gdns.

GDP abbr. gross domestic product.

GDR abbr. HISTORICAL German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

Gdynia /dnjə/ a port and naval base in northern Poland, on the Baltic Sea north-west of Gdańsk; pop. 255,549 (est. 2000).

Ge^1 symbol the chemical element germanium.

Ge^2 /e/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] another name for GAIA.

gean /in/ n. the wild or sweet cherry, which is native to both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Prunus avium, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French guine, of unknown origin.

geanticline /diantkln/ n. [GEOLOGY] a large-scale upwardly flexed structure in the earth's crust.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek gē ‘earth’ + ANTICLINE.

gear n. 1 (often gears) a toothed wheel that works with others to alter the relation between the speed of a driving mechanism (such as the engine of a vehicle) and the speed of the driven parts (the wheels).

- a particular setting of engaged gears: he was belting along in fifth gear.

2 [mass noun] [usually with modifier] equipment or apparatus that is used for a particular purpose: camping gear.

- British INFORMAL illegal drugs.

3 [mass noun] INFORMAL personal possessions and clothes.

- clothing, especially of a specified kind: designer gear.

■ v. [with obj.] design or adjust the gears in a machine to give a specified speed or power output: the vehicle's geared too high for serious off-road use.

<PHRASES>

□ in gear with a gear engaged: he revved the engines and put them in gear | FIGURATIVE I've got to get my act in gear.

□ move up a gear change to a higher gear.

- FIGURATIVE put more effort into an activity: now the champions moved up a gear.

□ out of gear with no gear engaged: she took the engine out of gear | FIGURATIVE sometimes his brain seems to slip out of gear.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ gear down change to a lower gear.

□ gear someone/thing for make ready; prepare: a nation geared for war.

□ gear something for/to/towards adapt something to make it suitable for (someone or something).

□ gear up 1 equip or prepare oneself: the region geared up for the tourist season.

2 change to a higher gear.

- (of a company) increase its borrowings.

□ gear someone/thing up adapt or equip someone or something for a purpose: a city not geared up to an outdoor lifestyle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of Scandinavian origin; compare with Old Norse gervi. Early senses expressed the general meaning ‘equipment or apparatus’, later ‘mechanism’: hence sense 1 of the noun (early 19th century).

gearbox n. a set of gears with its casing, especially in a motor vehicle; the transmission.

gear change n. a mechanism which changes gear on a motor vehicle.

geared adj. 1 fitted with gears.

2 [with adv.] (of a company) having a specified ratio of loan capital (debt) to the value of its ordinary shares (equity): highly geared companies.

gearhead n. INFORMAL 1 a person who is very enthusiastic about new gadgets.

2 a person who is very interested in cars.

gearing n. 1 the set or arrangement of gears in a machine.

2 BRITISH the ratio of a company's loan capital (debt) to the value of its ordinary shares (equity).

gear lever (also gearstick) n. BRITISH a lever used to engage or change gear in a motor vehicle.

gear shift n. NORTH AMERICAN a gear lever.

gear train n. a system of gears which transmits motion from one shaft to another.

gearwheel n. a toothed wheel in a set of gears.

- (on a bicycle) a cogwheel driven directly by the chain.

geas /as/ n. (pl. geasa) (in Irish folklore) an obligation or prohibition magically imposed on a person.

<ORIGIN> Irish.

Geber /dibə/ (c.721–c.815), Arab chemist; Latinized name of Jabir ibn Hayyan. Many works are attributed to him, but his name was used by later writers. He was familiar with many chemicals and laboratory techniques, including distillation and sublimation.

gecko /εkə/ n. (pl. geckos or geckoes) a nocturnal and often highly vocal lizard which has adhesive pads on the feet to assist in climbing on smooth surfaces. It is widespread in warm regions.

<INFO> Gekkonidae and related families: numerous genera and species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Malay dialect geko, gekok, imitative of its cry.

GED abbr. NORTH AMERICAN General Educational Development, a certificate attesting that the holder has passed examinations considered as equivalent to completion of high school.

gee^1 (also gee whiz) exclam. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a mild expression, typically of surprise, enthusiasm, or sympathy: Gee, Linda looks great at fifty!

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps an abbreviation of JESUS.

gee^2 exclam. (gee up) a command to a horse to go faster.

■ v. (gees, geeing, geed) [with obj.] (gee someone/thing up) BRITISH command (a horse) to go faster.

- encourage (someone) to put more effort into an activity: I was running around geeing people up.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin.

gee^3 n. US INFORMAL a thousand dollars.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: representing the initial letter of GRAND.

geebung /dib/ n. an Australian shrub or small tree which bears creamy-yellow flowers and small green fruit.

<INFO> Genus Persoonia, family Proteaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Dharuk.

Geechee /iti/ n. 1 [mass noun] an English creole spoken by blacks in parts of South Carolina and Georgia. Compare with GULLAH.

2 a speaker of Geechee.

<ORIGIN> from the name of the Ogeechee River, in Georgia, US.

geegaw /di/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN variant spelling of GEWGAW.

gee-gee n. BRITISH INFORMAL (in children's use or in racehorse betting) a horse.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally a child's word): reduplication of gee^2.

geek^1 /ik/ n. INFORMAL an unfashionable or socially inept person.

- [usually with modifier] a knowledgeable and obsessive enthusiast: a computer geek.

<DERIVATIVES> geekdom n. geeky adj. (geekier, geekiest)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the related English dialect word geck ‘fool’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gek ‘mad, silly’.

geek^2 /ik/ n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a look: there was a lot I wanted to have a geek at.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Scots and northern English dialect geck ‘toss the head scornfully’.

Geelong /dil/ a port and oil-refining centre on the south coast of Australia, in the state of Victoria; pop. 156,700 (est. 2002).

geese plural form of GOOSE.

gee whiz INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN exclam. term for gee^1.

■ adj. (gee-whiz) [attr.] characterized by or causing naive astonishment or wonder: this era of gee-whiz gadgetry.

Ge'ez /iεz/ n. [mass noun] an ancient Semitic language of Ethiopia, which survives as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It is the ancestor of the modern Ethiopian languages such as Amharic. Also called ETHIOPIC.

<ORIGIN> of Ethiopic origin.

geezer /izə/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL a man: he strikes me as a decent geezer.

- North American INFORMAL, DEROGATORY an old man.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: representing a dialect pronunciation of earlier guiser ‘mummer’.

GEF abbr. Global Environment Facility.

gefilte fish /əfltə/ n. [mass noun] a dish of stewed or baked stuffed fish, or of fish cakes boiled in a fish or vegetable broth.

<ORIGIN> Yiddish, ‘stuffed fish’, from filn ‘to fill’ + FISH^1.

gegenschein /eənn/ n. [mass noun] [ASTRONOMY] a patch of very faint nebulous light sometimes seen in the night sky opposite the position of the sun. It is thought to be the image of the sun reflected from gas and dust outside the atmosphere.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: German Gegenschein, from gegen ‘opposite’ + Schein ‘glow, shine’.

Gehenna /əhεnə/ (in Judaism and the New Testament) hell.

<ORIGIN> via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek geenna, from Hebrew gē' hinnōm ‘hell’, literally ‘valley of Hinnom’, a place near Jerusalem where children were sacrificed to Baal (Jer. 19:5,6).

Gehrig /εr/ Lou (1903–41), American baseball player; full name Henry Louis Gehrig; known as the Iron Horse. He played a record 2,130 major-league games for the New York Yankees from 1925 to 1939. He died from a form of motor neuron disease now often called Lou Gehrig's disease.

Gehry /εri/ Frank (Owen) (b.1929), Canadian-born American architect. His buildings include the titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (1997).

Geiger /ə/ Hans (Johann) Wilhelm (1882–1945), German nuclear physicist. In 1908 he developed his prototype radiation counter for detecting alpha particles, later improved in collaboration with Walther Müller.

Geiger counter (also Geiger-Müller counter) n. a device for measuring radioactivity by detecting and counting ionizing particles.

Geikie /iki/ Sir Archibald (1835–1924), Scottish geologist. He specialized in Pleistocene geology, especially the geomorphological effects of glaciations and the resulting deposits.

geisha /eə/ (also geisha girl) n. (pl. same or geishas) a Japanese hostess trained to entertain men with conversation, dance, and song.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, ‘entertainer’, from gei ‘performing arts’ + sha ‘person’.

Geissler tube /slə/ n. a sealed tube of glass or quartz with a central constriction, filled with vapour for the production of a luminous electrical discharge.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Heinrich Geissler (1814–79), the German mechanic and glass-blower who invented it.

Geist /st/ n. the spirit of an individual or group.

<ORIGIN> German; related to GHOST.

geitonogamy /tənəmi/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the fertilization of a flower by pollen from another flower on the same (or a genetically identical) plant. Compare with XENOGAMY.

<DERIVATIVES> geitonogamous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek geitōn, geitono- ‘neighbour’ + -gamos ‘marrying’.

Gejiu /εdu/ (also Geju) a tin-mining city in southern China, near the border with Vietnam; pop. 163,600 (est. 2002).

gel^1 /dεl/ n. 1 [mass noun] a jelly-like substance, especially one used in cosmetic or medicinal products: hair gel.

- [CHEMISTRY] a semi-solid colloidal suspension of a solid dispersed in a liquid.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] a semi-rigid slab or cylinder of an organic polymer used as a medium for the separation of macromolecules.

■ v. (gels, gelling, gelled) 1 [no obj.] [CHEMISTRY] form into a gel: the mixture gelled at 7 degrees Celsius.

2 [with obj.] apply gel to (the hair).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of GELATIN.

gel^2 /dεl/ (also jell) v. (gels, gelling, gelled) [no obj.] chiefly BRITISH (of a liquid) set or become more solid: the stew is gelling.

- (of a project or idea) take a definite form or begin to work well: everything seemed to gel for the magazine.

- (of people) work well together: during the tour they continued to gel as a band.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: gel from GEL^1; the variant jell is a back-formation from JELLY.

gel^3 /εl/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL an upper-class or well-bred girl or young woman: fastidiously reared Home Counties gels.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: representing a pronunciation.

gelada /dəlαdə/ (also gelada baboon) n. (pl. same or geladas) a brownish baboon with a long mane and naked red rump, native to Ethiopia.

<INFO> Theropithecus gelada, family Cercopithecidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Amharic č'ällada.

gelati plural form of GELATO.

gelatin /dεlətn/ (also gelatine /-tin/) n. [mass noun] 1 a virtually colourless and tasteless water-soluble protein prepared from collagen and used in food preparation, in photographic processes, and in glue.

2 (usually blasting gelatin) a high explosive consisting chiefly of a gel of nitroglycerine with added cellulose nitrate.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French gélatine, from Italian gelatina, from gelata, from Latin (see JELLY).

gelatinize /dlatnz/ (also gelatinise) v. make or become gelatinous or jelly-like.

- [with obj.] (usually as adj. gelatinized) coat with gelatin: gelatinized glass microscope slides.

<DERIVATIVES> gelatinization n.

gelatinous adj. having a jelly-like consistency: a sweet, gelatinous drink.

- of or like the protein gelatin.

<DERIVATIVES> gelatinously adv.

gelatin paper n. [mass noun] BRITISH paper coated with sensitized gelatin for photographic use.

gelation^1 n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL solidification by freezing.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin gelatio(n-), from gelare ‘freeze’.

gelation^2 n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the process of forming a gel.

gelato /dəlαtə/ n. (pl. gelati /dəlαti/) an Italian or Italian-style ice cream.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

gelcoat /dεlkət/ n. the smooth, hard polyester resin surface coating of a fibreglass structure.

geld v. [with obj.] castrate (a male animal).

- FIGURATIVE deprive of vitality or vigour: the English version of the book has been gelded.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse gelda, from geldr ‘barren’.

Gelderland /εldəland/ a province of the Netherlands, on the border with Germany; capital, Arnhem. Formerly a duchy, the province was variously occupied by the Spanish, the French, and the Prussians until 1815.

gelding n. a castrated animal, especially a male horse.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Norse geldingr, from geldr ‘barren’.

gelid /dεld/ adj. icy; extremely cold: the gelid pond | she gave a gelid reply.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin gelidus, from gelu ‘frost, intense cold’.

gelignite /dεlnt/ n. [mass noun] a high explosive made from a gel of nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose in a base of wood pulp and sodium or potassium nitrate, used particularly for rock-blasting.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably from GELATIN + Latin (l)ignis ‘wood’ + -ITE^1.

Gell-Mann /εlman/ Murray (b.1929), American theoretical physicist. He coined the word quark and proposed the concept of strangeness in quarks. Nobel Prize for Physics (1969).

gelly n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL gelignite.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: abbreviation.

gelsemium /dεlsiməm/ n. 1 [mass noun] a preparation of the rhizome of yellow jasmine, used in homeopathy to treat flu-like symptoms.

2 a plant of a genus that includes the yellow jasmine.

<INFO> Genus Gelsemium, family Loganiaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Italian gelsomino ‘jasmine’.

Gelsenkirchen /εlz(ə)nkəx(ə)n/ German /εlznkrçn/ an industrial city in western Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia north-east of Essen; pop. 278,000 (est. 2002).

gelt /εlt/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL money.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally often used to refer to the pay of a German army): from German Geld ‘money’.

gem n. 1 a precious or semi-precious stone, especially when cut and polished or engraved.

- used in names of some brilliantly coloured hummingbirds, e.g. mountain gem.

2 an outstanding person or thing: this architectural gem of a palace.

■ v. (gems, gemming, gemmed) [with obj.] (usually as adj. gemmed) LITERARY decorate with or as with gems.

<DERIVATIVES> gem-like adj. gemmy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English gim, from Latin gemma ‘bud, jewel’; influenced in Middle English by Old French gemme.

Gemara /əmαrə/ n. (the Gemara) a rabbinical commentary on the Mishnah, forming the second part of the Talmud.

<ORIGIN> from Aramaic gĕmārā ‘completion’.

gematria /metrə/ n. [mass noun] a Kabbalistic method of interpreting the Hebrew scriptures by computing the numerical value of words, based on the values of their constituent letters.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Aramaic gīmarĕyā, from Greek gēometria (see GEOMETRY).

Gemayel /dəməl/ Pierre (1905–84), Lebanese political leader. A Maronite Christian, he founded the right-wing Phalange Party in 1936 and served as a Member of Parliament 1960–84. His youngest son, Bashir (1947–82), was assassinated while President-elect; his eldest son, Amin (b.1942), served as President 1982–8.

Gemeinschaft /əmnaft/ n. [mass noun] social relations between individuals, based on close personal and family ties; community. Contrasted with GESELLSCHAFT.

<ORIGIN> German, from gemein ‘common’ + -schaft (see -SHIP).

geminal /dεmn(ə)l/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] denoting substituent atoms or groups, especially protons, attached to the same atom in a molecule.

<DERIVATIVES> geminally adv.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Latin geminus ‘twin’ + -AL.

geminate [PHONETICS] adj. /dεmnet -nət/ consisting of identical adjacent speech sounds; doubled.

■ v. /dεmnet/ [with obj.] double or repeat (a speech sound).

<DERIVATIVES> gemination n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin geminatus, past participle of geminare ‘double, pair with’, from geminus ‘twin’.

Gemini 1 [ASTRONOMY] a northern constellation (the Twins), said to represent the twins Castor and Pollux, whose names are given to its two brightest stars. See DIOSCURI.

2 [ASTROLOGY] the third sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about 21 May.

- (a Gemini) (plural Geminis) a person born when the sun is in this sign.

3 a series of twelve manned American orbiting spacecraft, launched in the 1960s in preparation for the Apollo programme.

<DERIVATIVES> Geminian /dεmniən/ n. & adj.

■ Gemini (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> Latin, plural of geminus ‘twin’.

Geminids [ASTRONOMY] an annual meteor shower with a radiant in the constellation Gemini, reaching a peak about 13 December.

gemma /dεmə/ n. (pl. gemmae /-mi/) [BIOLOGY] a small cellular body or bud that can separate to form a new organism.

■ another term for CHLAMYDOSPORE.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (denoting a leaf bud): from Latin, literally ‘bud, jewel’.

gemmation /dεme(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] asexual reproduction by the production of gemmae; budding.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from gemmer ‘to bud’, from gemme ‘bud’, from Latin gemma.

gemmiparous /dεmp(ə)rəs/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of a plant or animal) reproducing by gemmation.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin gemmiparus, from Latin gemma ‘bud, jewel’ + parere ‘produce, give birth to’.

gemmology (also gemology) n. [mass noun] the study of precious stones.

<DERIVATIVES> gemmological adj. gemmologist n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin gemma ‘bud, jewel’ + -LOGY.

gemmule /dεmjul/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a tough-coated dormant cluster of embryonic cells produced by a freshwater sponge for development in more favourable conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> gemmulation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Latin gemmula, diminutive of gemma ‘bud, jewel’.

gemsbok /xεmzbk xεms-/ n. a large antelope that has a grey coat, distinctive black-and-white head markings, and long straight horns, native to SW and East Africa.

<INFO> Oryx gazella, family Bovidae. See also BEISA.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via Afrikaans from Dutch, literally ‘chamois’, from gems ‘chamois’ + bok ‘buck’.

Gem State informal name for IDAHO.

gemstone n. a precious or semi-precious stone, especially one cut, polished, and used in a piece of jewellery.

gemütlich /əmutlx/ German /əmYtlç/ adj. pleasant and cheerful.

<ORIGIN> German.

Gemütlichkeit /əmutlxkt/ German /əmYtlçkat/ n. [mass noun] geniality; friendliness.

<ORIGIN> German.

gen /dεn/ BRITISH INFORMAL n. [mass noun] information: you've got more gen on him than we have.

■ v. (gens, genning, genned) [with obj.] (gen someone up) provide (someone) with information.

- [no obj.] (gen up on) find out about: I gen up on any developments with my manageress.

<ORIGIN> Second World War (originally used in the armed services): perhaps from the first syllable of general information.

Gen. abbr.

- General: Gen. Eisenhower.

- Genesis (in biblical references).

-gen combining form 1 [CHEMISTRY] denoting a substance that produces something: oxygen | allergen.

2 [BOTANY] denoting a substance or plant that is produced: cultigen.

<ORIGIN> via French -gène from Greek genēs ‘-born, of a specified kind’, from gen- (root of gignomai ‘be born, become’, genos ‘a kind’).

gena /dinə/ n. (pl. genae /dini/) [ZOOLOGY] the lateral part of the head of an insect or other arthropod below the level of the eyes.

<DERIVATIVES> genal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: Latin, literally ‘cheek’.

gendarme /ndαm/ French /αdaRm/ n. 1 a paramilitary police officer in France and other French-speaking countries.

2 a rock pinnacle on a mountain, occupying and blocking an arête.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting a mounted officer in the French army): French, from gens d'armes ‘men of arms’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the late 18th cent.

gendarmerie /ndαməri/ French /αdaRm(ə)Ri/ n. a force of gendarmes.

- the headquarters of such a force.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: French (see GENDARME).

gender n. 1 [GRAMMAR] (in languages such as Latin, French, and German) each of the classes (typically masculine, feminine, common, neuter) of nouns and pronouns distinguished by the different inflections which they have and which they require in words syntactically associated with them. Grammatical gender is only very loosely associated with natural distinctions of sex.

- [mass noun] the property (in nouns and related words) of belonging to such a class: determiners and adjectives usually agree with the noun in gender and number.

2 [mass noun] the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones): traditional concepts of gender.

- [count noun] the members of one or other sex: differences between the genders are encouraged from an early age.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French gendre (modern genre), based on Latin genus ‘birth, family, nation’. The earliest meanings were ‘kind, sort, genus’ and ‘type or class of noun, etc.’ (which was also a sense of Latin genus).

<USAGE> The word gender has been used since the 14th century primarily as a grammatical term, referring to the classes of noun in Latin, Greek, German, and other languages designated as masculine, feminine, or neuter. It has also been used since the 14th century in the sense ‘the state of being male or female’, but this did not become a common standard use until the mid 20th century. Although the words gender and sex both have the sense ‘the state of being male or female’, they are typically used in slightly different ways: sex tends to refer to biological differences, while gender tends to refer to cultural or social ones.

gender bender n. INFORMAL a person who dresses and behaves in a way characteristic of the opposite sex.

<DERIVATIVES> gender-bending adj.

gender changer n. an electrical adaptor which allows two male or two female connectors to be connected to each other.

gender dysphoria n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the condition of feeling one's emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one's biological sex.

<DERIVATIVES> gender dysphoric adj. & n.

gendered adj. of, specific to, or biased towards the male or female sex: gendered occupations.

gene /din/ n. [BIOLOGY] (in informal use) a unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring: playing tennis is in my genes.

- (in technical use) a distinct sequence of nucleotides forming part of a chromosome, the order of which determines the order of monomers in a polypeptide or nucleic acid molecule which a cell (or virus) may synthesize.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German Gen, from Pangen, a supposed ultimate unit of heredity (from Greek pan- ‘all’ + genos ‘race, kind, offspring’).

genealogical /dinəldk(ə)l dεn-/ adj. relating to the study or tracing of lines of family descent: genealogical research.

<DERIVATIVES> genealogically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French généalogique, via medieval Latin from Greek genealogikos, from genealogia (see GENEALOGY).

genealogical tree n. a chart like an inverted branching tree showing the lines of descent of a family or of an animal species.

genealogy /dinalədi dεn-/ n. (pl. genealogies) a line of descent traced continuously from an ancestor.

- [mass noun] the study and tracing of lines of descent.

- a plant's or animal's line of evolutionary development from earlier forms.

<DERIVATIVES> genealogist n. genealogize (also genealogise) v.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French and late Latin from Greek genealogia, from genea ‘race, generation’ + -logia (see -LOGY).

gene conversion n. [mass noun] the process whereby, during meiosis, one allele in a heterozygote is converted to the other by a process of mismatch repair.

gene pool n. the stock of different genes in an interbreeding population.

genera plural form of GENUS.

general adj. 1 affecting or concerning all or most people or things; widespread: books of general interest | the general opinion was that prices would fall.

- not specialized or limited in range of subject, application, activity, etc.: brush up on your general knowledge.

- (of a rule, principle, etc.) true for all or most cases.

- normal or usual: it is not general practice to confirm or deny such reports.

2 considering or including only the main features or elements of something; not exact or detailed: the arrangements were outlined in very general terms | a general introduction to the subject.

3 [often in titles] chief or principal: the Director General of the BBC | the general manager.

■ n. 1 a commander of an army, or an army officer of very high rank.

- a high rank of officer in the army and in the US air force, above lieutenant general and below field marshal, general of the army, or general of the air force.

- INFORMAL short for LIEUTENANT GENERAL or MAJOR GENERAL.

- the head of a religious order organized on quasi-military lines, e.g. the Jesuits, the Dominicans, or the Salvation Army.

2 (the general) ARCHAIC the general public.

<PHRASES>

□ as a general rule in most cases.

□ in general 1 usually; mainly: in general, Alexander was a peaceful, loving man.

2 as a whole: our understanding of culture in general and of literature in particular.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin generalis, from genus, gener- ‘class, race, kind’. The noun primarily denotes a person having overall authority: the sense ‘army commander’ is an abbreviation of captain general, from French capitaine général ‘commander-in-chief’.

General American n. [mass noun] (in non-technical use) the variety of English spoken in the greater part of the US, particularly with reference to the lack of regional characteristics.

general anaesthetic n. [mass noun] an anaesthetic that affects the whole body and usually causes a loss of consciousness: he had the operation under general anaesthetic. Compare with LOCAL ANAESTHETIC.

general average n. [mass noun] (in maritime law) the apportionment of financial liability for the loss arising from the jettisoning of cargo by dividing the costs among all those whose property (ship or cargo) was preserved by the action.

general aviation n. [mass noun] civil aviation other than large-scale passenger or freight operations.

General Certificate of Education (abbr.: GCE) n. an examination set especially for secondary-school pupils in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland at Advanced level (at about age 18) and, formerly, at Ordinary level (at about age 16).

General Certificate of Secondary Education (abbr.: GCSE) n. an examination set especially for secondary-school pupils of about age 16 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

general counsel n. (in the US) the main lawyer who gives legal advice to a company.

general dealer n. (in South Africa) the keeper of a rural or township store.

general delivery n. North American term for POSTE RESTANTE.

general election n. the election of representatives to a legislature (in the UK, to the House of Commons) from constituencies throughout the country.

general headquarters n. [treated as sing. or plural] the headquarters of a military commander.

generalissimo /dεn(ə)rəlsmə/ n. (pl. generalissimos) the commander of a combined military force consisting of army, navy, and air force units.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Italian, ‘having greatest authority’, superlative of generale (see GENERAL).

generalist n. a person competent in several different fields or activities.

<DERIVATIVES> generalism n.

generality n. (pl. generalities) 1 a statement or principle having general rather than specific validity or force: he confined his remarks to generalities.

- [mass noun] the quality or state of being general: policy should be formulated at an appropriate level of generality.

2 (the generality) the majority: his service was better than that offered by the generality of doctors.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French generalite, from late Latin generalitas, from generalis (see GENERAL).

generalization (also generalisation) n. a general statement or concept obtained by inference from specific cases: he was making sweeping generalizations.

- [mass noun] the action of generalizing: such anecdotes cannot be a basis for generalization.

generalize (also generalise) v. 1 [no obj.] make a general or broad statement by inferring from specific cases: it is not easy to generalize about the poor.

2 [with obj.] make (something) more widespread or widely applicable: attempts to generalize an elite education.

- (as adj. generalized) MEDICINE (of a disease) affecting much or all of the body: generalized myalgia.

<DERIVATIVES> generalizability n. generalizable adj. generalizer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘reduce to a general statement’): from GENERAL + -IZE.

generally adv. 1 [sentence adv.] in most cases; usually: the term of a lease is generally 99 years.

2 in general terms; without regard to particulars or exceptions: a decade when France was moving generally to the left | [as sentence adv.] generally speaking, things have been getting better.

3 by or to most people; widely: the best scheme is generally reckoned to be the Canadian one.

general meeting n. a meeting open to all members of an organization.

general of the air force n. the highest rank of officer in the US air force, above general.

general of the army n. the highest rank of officer in the US army, above general.

general practitioner (abbr.: GP) n. a doctor based in the community who treats patients with minor or chronic illnesses and refers those with serious conditions to a hospital.

<DERIVATIVES> general practice n. (British)

general-purpose adj. having a range of potential uses or functions; not specialized in design: a general-purpose detergent.

generalship n. [mass noun] the skill or practice of exercising military command.

general staff n. [treated as sing. or plural] the staff assisting a military commander in planning and executing operations.

general strike n. a strike of workers in all or most industries.

- (the General Strike) the strike of May 1926 in the UK, called by the Trades Union Congress in support of the mineworkers.

General Synod n. the highest governing body of the Church of England, an elected assembly of three houses (bishops, clergy, and laity).

General Thanksgiving n. a form of thanksgiving in the Book of Common Prayer or the Alternative Service Book.

generate v. [with obj.] produce or create: changes which are likely to generate controversy | the income generated by the sale of council houses.

- produce (energy, especially electricity).

- [MATHEMATICS] & [LINGUISTICS] produce (a set or sequence of items) by performing specified mathematical or logical operations on an initial set.

- [LINGUISTICS] produce (a sentence or other unit, especially a well-formed one) by the application of a finite set of rules to lexical or other linguistic input.

- [MATHEMATICS] form (a line, surface, or solid) by notionally moving a point, line, or surface.

<DERIVATIVES> generable adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘beget, procreate’): from Latin generat- ‘created’, from the verb generare, from genus, gener- ‘stock, race’.

generation n. 1 all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively: one of his generation's finest songwriters.

- the average period, generally considered to be about thirty years, in which children grow up, become adults, and have children of their own: the same families have lived here for generations.

- a set of members of a family regarded as a single step or stage in descent: [as modifier, in combination] a third-generation Canadian.

- a group of people of similar age involved in a particular activity: a new generation of actors and directors.

- a single stage in the development of a type of product: a new generation of rear-engined sports cars.

2 [mass noun] the production or creation of something: methods of electricity generation | the generation of wealth.

- the propagation of living organisms; procreation.

<DERIVATIVES> generational adj. generationally adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin generatio(n-), from the verb generare (see GENERATE).

generation gap n. (usually the generation gap) a difference of attitudes between people of different generations, leading to a lack of understanding.

Generation X n. the generation born after that of the baby boomers (roughly from the early 1960s to mid 1970s), typically perceived to be disaffected and directionless.

<DERIVATIVES> Generation Xer n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: in recent use popularized by Douglas Coupland in his novel Generation X (1991).

generative /dεn(ə)rətv/ adj. 1 relating to or capable of production or reproduction.

2 denoting an approach to any field of linguistics that involves applying a finite set of rules to linguistic input in order to produce all and only the well-formed items of a language: generative phonology.

<DERIVATIVES> generativity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin generativus, from generare ‘beget’ (see GENERATE).

generative grammar n. [mass noun] a type of grammar which describes a language in terms of a set of logical rules formulated so as to be capable of generating the infinite number of possible sentences of that language and providing them with the correct structural description.

generator n. 1 a person or thing that generates something.

- [with modifier] [COMPUTING] a routine that constructs other routines or subroutines using given parameters, for specific applications.

- [MATHEMATICS] a point, line, or surface regarded as moving and so notionally forming a line, surface, or solid.

2 a dynamo or similar machine for converting mechanical energy into electricity.

- an apparatus for producing gas, steam, or another substance.

generatrix /dεnəretrks/ n. (pl. generatrices /-trsiz/) [MATHEMATICS] another term for GENERATOR.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin (feminine).

generic /dnεrk/ adj. 1 characteristic of or relating to a class or group of things; not specific: chèvre is a generic term for all goats' milk cheese.

- (of goods, especially medicinal drugs) having no brand name; not protected by a registered trademark.

2 [BIOLOGY] relating to a genus.

<DERIVATIVES> generically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French générique, from Latin genus, gener- ‘stock, race’.

generosity n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being kind and generous: I was overwhelmed by the generosity of friends and neighbours.

2 the quality or fact of being plentiful or large: diners certainly cannot complain about the generosity of portions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting nobility of birth): from Latin generositas, from generosus ‘magnanimous’ (see GENEROUS). Current senses date from the 17th cent.

generous adj. 1 showing a readiness to give more of something, especially money, than is strictly necessary or expected: a generous benefactor to the University.

- showing kindness towards others: a generous assessment of his work.

2 (of a thing) larger or more plentiful than is usual or necessary: a generous helping of pasta.

<DERIVATIVES> generously adv. generousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Old French from Latin generosus ‘noble, magnanimous’, from genus, gener- ‘stock, race’. The original sense was ‘of noble birth’, hence ‘characteristic of noble birth, courageous, magnanimous, not mean’.

gene silencing n. [mass noun] the switching off of the expression of a gene, for example by the introduction of an antisense RNA that blocks translation of the messenger RNA.

Genesis /dεnss/ the first book of the Bible, which includes the stories of the creation of the world, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, and the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

<ORIGIN> late Old English, via Latin from Greek, ‘generation, creation, nativity, horoscope’, from the base of gignesthai ‘be born or produced’. The name was given to the first book of the Old Testament in the Greek translation (the Septuagint), hence in the Latin translation (the Vulgate).

genesis /dεnss/ n. [in sing.] the origin or mode of formation of something: this tale had its genesis in fireside stories.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek (see GENESIS).

Genet /əne/ French /əne/ Jean (1910–86), French novelist, poet, and dramatist. Much of his work portrayed life in the criminal and homosexual underworlds, of which he was a part. Notable works: Our Lady of the Flowers (novel, 1944), The Thief's Journal (autobiography, 1949), and The Maids (play, 1947).

genet /dεnt/ n. a catlike nocturnal mammal of the civet family with short legs, spotted fur, and a long bushy ringed tail, found in Africa, SW Europe, and Arabia.

<INFO> Genus Genetta, family Viverridae: several species, in particular the common (or small-spotted) genet (G. genetta).

- [mass noun] the fur of the genet.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (used in the plural meaning ‘genet skins’): from Old French genete, probably via Catalan, Portuguese, or Spanish from Arabic jarnai.

gene therapy n. [mass noun] the introduction of normal genes into cells in place of missing or defective ones in order to correct genetic disorders.

genetic /dnεtk/ adj. 1 relating to genes or heredity: genetic abnormalities.

- relating to genetics: there are fears that genetic techniques could be abused.

2 relating to origin, or arising from a common origin: the genetic relations between languages.

<DERIVATIVES> genetical adj. genetically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): from GENESIS, on the pattern of pairs such as antithesis, antithetic.

genetically modified adj. (of an organism) containing genetic material that has been artificially altered so as to produce a desired characteristic.

genetic code n. [mass noun] the means by which DNA and RNA molecules carry genetic information in living cells. See TRIPLET CODE.

genetic counselling n. [mass noun] the giving of advice to prospective parents concerning the risks of genetic disorders in a future child.

genetic drift n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] variation in the relative frequency of different genotypes in a small population, owing to the chance disappearance of particular genes as individuals die or do not reproduce.

genetic engineering n. [mass noun] the deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material.

genetic fingerprinting (also genetic profiling) n. [mass noun] the analysis of DNA from samples of body tissues or fluids in order to identify individuals.

genetic imprinting n. [mass noun] the differential expression of genetic traits depending on the parent from which they were inherited.

genetic information n. [mass noun] the genetic potential of an organism carried in the base sequence of its DNA (or, in some viruses, RNA) according to the genetic code.

genetic load n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the presence of unfavourable genetic material in the genes of a population.

genetic pollution n. [mass noun] the spread of altered genes from genetically engineered organisms to other, non-engineered organisms, especially by cross-pollination.

genetics plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics.

- [treated as sing. or plural] the genetic properties or features of an organism, characteristic, etc.: the effects of family genetics on the choice of career.

<DERIVATIVES> geneticist n.

genetic screening n. [mass noun] the study of a person's DNA in order to identify susceptibility to particular diseases or abnormalities.

Geneva /dnivə/ a city in SW Switzerland, on Lake Geneva; pop. 176,200 (est. 2002). It is the headquarters of international bodies such as the Red Cross, various organizations of the United Nations, and the World Health Organization. French name Genève.

Geneva, Lake a lake in SW central Europe, between the Jura mountains and the Alps. Its southern shore forms part of the border between France and Switzerland. French name Lac Léman.

Geneva bands plural n. two white cloth strips attached to the collar of some Protestants' clerical dress.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the place name GENEVA, where they were originally worn by Calvinists.

Geneva Bible n. an English translation of the Bible published in 1560 by Protestant scholars working in Europe.

Geneva Convention an international agreement first made at Geneva in 1864 and later revised, governing the status and treatment of captured and wounded military personnel and civilians in wartime.

Geneva Protocol any of various protocols drawn up in Geneva, especially that of 1925 limiting chemical and bacteriological warfare.

Genève /ənεv/ French name for GENEVA.

genever /dnivə/ (also LITERARY geneva) n. [mass noun] Dutch gin.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Dutch, from Old French genevre, from an alteration of Latin juniperus (gin being flavoured with juniper berries). The variant spelling is due to association with GENEVA.

Genghis Khan /εs kαn dε-/ (1162–1227), founder of the Mongol empire; born Temujin. He took the name Genghis Khan (‘ruler of all’) in 1206 after uniting the nomadic Mongol tribes, and by the time of his death his empire extended from China to the Black Sea.

genial^1 /dinəl/ adj. friendly and cheerful: our genial host.

- LITERARY (especially of air or climate) pleasantly mild and warm.

<DERIVATIVES> genially adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin genialis ‘nuptial, productive’, from genius (see GENIUS). The Latin sense was adopted into English; hence the senses ‘mild and conducive to growth’ (mid 17th century), later ‘cheerful, kindly’ (mid 18th century).

genial^2 /dniəl/ adj. [ANATOMY], RARE relating to the chin.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek geneion ‘chin’ (from genus ‘jaw’) + -AL.

geniality n. [mass noun] the quality of having a friendly and cheerful manner; affability: he was endowed with geniality and good humour.

genic /dink dεn-/ adj. [BIOLOGY] relating to genes: a genic mutation.

-genic combining form 1 producing: carcinogenic.

- produced by: iatrogenic.

2 well suited to: mediagenic. [<ORIGIN> on the pattern of words such as (photo)genic.]

<DERIVATIVES> -genically suffix forming corresponding adverbs.

<ORIGIN> from -GEN + -IC.

geniculate /dnkjlət/ adj. [ANATOMY] bent at a sharp angle.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin geniculatus, from geniculum ‘small knee, joint (of a plant)’.

geniculate body (also geniculate nucleus) n. [ANATOMY] each of two protuberances on the inferior surface of the thalamus which relay auditory and visual impulses respectively to the cerebral cortex.

genie n. (pl. genies or genii /din/) a spirit of Arabian folklore, as depicted traditionally imprisoned within a bottle or oil lamp, and capable of granting wishes when summoned. Compare with JINN.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a guardian or protective spirit): from French génie, from Latin genius (see GENIUS). Génie was adopted in the current sense by the 18th-cent. French translators of The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, because of its resemblance in form and sense to Arabic jinnī ‘jinnee’.

genii plural form of GENIE, GENIUS.

genip /εnp/ n. 1 the edible fruit of a tropical American tree.

2 (also genipap tree) either of two tropical American trees which yield this fruit:

<INFO>

- (also guinep) a large spreading tree (Melicoccus bijugatus, family Sapindaceae).

- another term for GENIPAPO

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from American Spanish quenepo ‘guinep tree’, quenepa, denoting the fruit.

genipapo /dεnpapə/ (also genipap /dεnpap/) n. (pl. genipapos) a tropical American tree whose fruit has a jelly-like pulp which is used for flavouring drinks and to make a black dye. Also called GENIP.

<INFO> Genipa americana, family Rubiaceae.

- [mass noun] a drink, flavouring, or dye made from the fruit of the genipapo.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Portuguese jenipapo, from Tupi.

genista /dnstə dε-/ n. an almost leafless Eurasian shrub of the pea family, which bears a profusion of yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Genista, family Leguminosae: many species, including dyer's greenweed and several kinds of broom.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin, ‘broom plant’.

genital adj. relating to the human or animal reproductive organs: the genital area.

- [PSYCHOANALYSIS] (in Freudian theory) relating to or denoting the final stage of psychosexual development reached in adulthood.

■ n. (genitals) a person's or animal's external organs of reproduction.

<DERIVATIVES> genitally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin genitalis, from genitus, past participle of gignere ‘beget’.

genitalia /dεntelə/ plural n. FORMAL or TECHNICAL the genitals.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, neuter plural of genitalis (see GENITAL).

genitive /dεntv/ [GRAMMAR] adj. relating to or denoting a case of nouns and pronouns (and words in grammatical agreement with them) indicating possession or close association.

■ n. a word in the genitive case.

- (the genitive) the genitive case.

<DERIVATIVES> genitival /-tv(ə)l/ adj. genitivally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French genitif, -ive or Latin genitivus (casus) ‘(case) of production or origin’, from gignere ‘beget’.

genito- /dεntə/ combining form representing GENITAL.

genitor /dεntə/ n. [ANTHROPOLOGY] a person's biological father. Often contrasted with PATER.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘father’): from Old French geniteur or Latin genitor, from the root of gignere ‘beget’. The current sense dates from the mid 20th cent.

genito-urinary /dεntəjərn(ə)ri/ adj. chiefly MEDICINE relating to the genital and urinary organs.

geniture /dεntə/ n. ARCHAIC a person's birth or parentage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French geniture or Latin genitura, from the root of gignere ‘beget’.

genius n. (pl. geniuses) 1 [mass noun] exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability: she was a teacher of genius | [in sing.] that woman has a genius for organization.

2 an exceptionally intelligent person or one with exceptional skill in a particular area of activity: a mathematical genius.

3 (pl. genii /-n/) (in some mythologies) a spirit associated with a particular person, place, or institution.

- a person regarded as exerting a powerful influence over another for good or evil: he sees Adams as the man's evil genius.

4 the prevailing character or spirit of something: Boucher's paintings did not suit the austere genius of neoclassicism.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘attendant spirit present from one's birth, innate ability or inclination’, from the root of gignere ‘beget’. The original sense ‘spirit attendant on a person’ gave rise to a sense ‘a person's characteristic disposition’ (late 16th century), which led to a sense ‘a person's natural ability’, and finally ‘exceptional natural ability’ (mid 17th century).

genius loci /ləs lki/ n. the prevailing character or atmosphere of a place.

- the presiding god or spirit of a place.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘spirit of the place’.

genizah /εnizə/ n. a room attached to a synagogue and housing damaged, discarded, or heretical texts and sacred relics.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew gĕnīzāh, literally ‘hiding place’, from gānaz ‘hide, set aside’.

genlock /dεnlk/ n. a device for maintaining synchronization between two different video signals, or between a video signal and a computer or audio signal, enabling video images and computer graphics to be mixed.

■ v. [no obj.] maintain synchronization between two signals using the genlock technique.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from GENERATOR + the verb lock^1.

Genoa /dεnəə/ a seaport on the NW coast of Italy, capital of Liguria region; pop. 603,560 (2001). It was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. Italian name GENOVA.

<DERIVATIVES> Genoese /dεnəiz/ adj. & n.

genoa /dεnəə dεnəə/ n. 1 (also genoa jib) [SAILING] a large jib or foresail whose foot extends aft of the mast, used especially on racing yachts.

2 (also Genoa cake) a rich fruit cake with almonds on top.

genocide /dεnəsd/ n. [mass noun] the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group.

<DERIVATIVES> genocidal adj.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek genos ‘race’ + -CIDE.

genome /dinəm/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the haploid set of chromosomes in a gamete or micro-organism, or in each cell of a multicellular organism.

- the complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism.

<DERIVATIVES> genomic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of GENE and CHROMOSOME.

genomics /dnəmks dnmks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of molecular biology concerned with the structure, function, evolution, and mapping of genomes.

genotype /dεnətp din-/ [BIOLOGY] n. the genetic constitution of an individual organism. Often contrasted with PHENOTYPE.

■ v. [with obj.] investigate the genotype of.

<DERIVATIVES> genotypic /-tpk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German Genotypus, from Greek genos ‘race, offspring’ + -tupos ‘type’.

-genous combining form 1 producing; inducing: erogenous.

2 originating in: endogenous.

<ORIGIN> from -GEN + -OUS.

Genova /dεnəva/ Italian name for GENOA.

genre /rə (d)nrə/ n. 1 a style or category of art, music, or literature: the spy thriller is a very masculine genre | the science fiction genre.

2 [as modifier] denoting or relating to a style of painting depicting scenes from ordinary life, typically domestic situations, associated particularly with 17th-century Dutch and Flemish artists: genre scenes.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, literally ‘a kind’ (see GENDER).

gens /dεnz/ n. (pl. gentes /-tiz -tez/) 1 a group of families in ancient Rome who shared a name and claimed a common origin.

2 [ANTHROPOLOGY] a group of people who are related through their male ancestors.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from the root of gignere ‘beget’.

Gent /xεnt/ Flemish name for GHENT.

gent n. INFORMAL a gentleman.

- (gents) BRITISH (in shop titles) men's: a gents hairdressing shop.

- (the Gents) BRITISH a men's public toilet.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: originally a standard written abbreviation; a colloquial usage since the early 19th cent.

gentamicin /dεntəmsn/ n. [mass noun] a broad-spectrum antibiotic used chiefly for severe systemic infections.

<INFO> This antibiotic is derived from bacteria of the genus Micromonospora.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from genta- (of unknown origin) + -micin (alteration of -MYCIN).

genteel adj. characterized by exaggerated or affected politeness, refinement, or respectability: her genteel upbringing.

<DERIVATIVES> genteelly adv. genteelness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘fashionable, stylish’): from French gentil ‘well-born’. From the 17th century to the 19th century the word was used in such senses as ‘of good social position’, ‘having the manners of a well-born person’, ‘well bred’. The ironic or derogatory implication dates from the 19th cent.

genteelism n. a word or expression used because it is thought to be socially more acceptable than the everyday word.

gentes plural form of GENS.

gentian /dεn(ə)n/ n. a plant of temperate and mountainous regions, which typically has violet or vivid blue trumpet-shaped flowers. Many kinds are cultivated as ornamentals, especially as arctic alpines, and some are of medicinal use.

<INFO> Family Gentianaceae: genera Gentiana and Gentianella.

- [mass noun] a tonic liquid substance formerly extracted from the root of the gentian.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin gentiana, according to Pliny named after Gentius, king of Illyria, who is said to have discovered the medicinal properties of a common species.

gentian violet n. [mass noun] a synthetic violet dye derived from rosaniline, used as an antiseptic.

gentile /dεntl/ adj. 1 (Gentile) not Jewish: a predominantly Gentile audience.

- (of a person) not belonging to one's own religious community.

- HISTORICAL non-Mormon.

2 chiefly [ANTHROPOLOGY] relating to or indicating a nation or clan, especially a gens.

■ n. (Gentile) a person who is not Jewish.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin gentilis ‘of a family or nation, of the same clan’ (used in the Vulgate to refer to non-Jews), from gens, gent- ‘family, race’, from the root of gignere ‘beget’.

Gentile da Fabriano /dεntile da fabrαnə/ (c.1370–1427), Italian painter. His major surviving work is the altarpiece The Adoration of the Magi (1423), most others having been destroyed.

gentility /dεntlti/ n. [mass noun] social superiority as demonstrated by polite and respectable manners, behaviour, or appearances: her grandmother's pretensions to gentility.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘honourable birth’): from Old French gentilite, from gentil (see gentle^1).

gentle^1 adj. (gentler, gentlest) 1 having or showing a mild, kind, or tender temperament or character: a gentle, sensitive man | her gentle voice.

2 moderate in action, effect, or degree; not strong or violent: take some gentle exercise | a gentle breeze.

- (of a slope) gradual: a gentle embankment.

3 ARCHAIC (of a person) noble or having the qualities attributed to noble birth; courteous and chivalrous.

■ v. make or become gentle: [no obj.] Cobb's tone gentled a little.

- [with obj.] touch (a person or animal) gently, typically in order to make them calmer or more docile.

<DERIVATIVES> gentleness n. gently adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gentil ‘high-born, noble’, from Latin gentilis ‘of the same clan’ (see GENTILE). The original sense was ‘nobly born’, hence ‘courteous, chivalrous’, later ‘mild, moderate in action or disposition’ (mid 16th century).

gentle^2 n. [ANGLING] a maggot, especially the larva of a blowfly, used as bait.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from an obsolete sense of the adjective, ‘soft, pliant’.

gentle breeze n. a light wind of force 3 on the Beaufort scale (7–10 knots or 13–19 kph).

gentlefolk plural n. ARCHAIC people of noble birth or good social position.

gentleman n. (pl. gentlemen) 1 a chivalrous, courteous, or honourable man: he behaved throughout like a perfect gentleman.

- a man of good social position, especially one of wealth and leisure.

- a man of noble birth attached to a royal household: a Gentleman of the Bedchamber.

2 a polite or formal way of referring to a man: opposite her an old gentleman sat reading | can I help you, gentlemen?

- used as a courteous title for a male fellow member of the House of Commons or the House of Representatives: the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘man of noble birth’): from GENTLE^1 + MAN, translating Old French gentilz hom. In later use the term denoted a man of a good family (especially one entitled to a coat of arms) but not of the nobility.

gentleman-at-arms n. one of the bodyguards of the British monarch on ceremonial occasions.

gentleman farmer n. (pl. gentlemen farmers) a country gentleman who has a farm as part of his estate.

gentlemanly adj. chivalrous, courteous, or honourable: his gentlemanly behaviour.

- befitting a gentleman: a gentlemanly profession.

<DERIVATIVES> gentlemanliness n.

gentleman's agreement (also gentlemen's agreement) n. an arrangement or understanding which is based upon the trust of both or all parties, rather than being legally binding.

gentleman's gentleman n. a valet.

Gentleman's Relish n. [mass noun] BRITISH TRADEMARK a highly seasoned anchovy paste.

gentlewoman n. (pl. gentlewomen) ARCHAIC a woman of noble birth or good social standing.

gentoo /dεntu/ (also gentoo penguin) n. a tall penguin with a white triangular patch above the eye, breeding on subantarctic islands.

<INFO> Pygoscelis papua, family Spheniscidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from Anglo-Indian Gentoo ‘a Hindu’, from Portuguese gentio ‘gentile’.

gentrify v. (gentrifies, gentrifying, gentrified) [with obj.] renovate and improve (a house or district) so that it conforms to middle-class taste.

- (usually as adj. gentrified) make (someone or their way of life) more genteel: a gentrified Irish American.

<DERIVATIVES> gentrification n. gentrifier n.

gentry /dεntri/ n. [mass noun] (often the gentry) people of good social position, specifically the class of people next below the nobility in position and birth: a member of the landed gentry.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘superiority of birth or rank’): from Anglo-Norman French genterie, based on gentil (see gentle^1).

genu /dεnju/ n. (pl. genua) [ANATOMY] the knee.

- [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] a part of certain structures resembling a knee, in particular a bend in the corpus callosum of mammals.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin.

genuflect /dεnjflεkt/ v. [no obj.] lower one's body briefly by bending one knee to the ground, typically in worship or as a sign of respect.

- FIGURATIVE show deference or servility: politicians had to genuflect to the far left to advance their careers.

<DERIVATIVES> genuflection (also genuflexion) n. genuflector n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘bend (the knee)’): from ecclesiastical Latin genuflectere, from Latin genu ‘knee’ + flectere ‘to bend’.

genuine adj. truly what something is said to be; authentic: genuine 24-carat gold.

- (of a person, emotion, or action) sincere: a genuine attempt to put things right | there was genuine affection in his voice.

<DERIVATIVES> genuinely adv. genuineness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘natural or proper’): from Latin genuinus, from genu ‘knee’ (with reference to the Roman custom of a father acknowledging paternity of a newborn child by placing it on his knee); later associated with genus ‘birth, race, stock’.

genus /dinəs dεnəs/ n. (pl. genera /dεn(ə)rə/) [BIOLOGY] a principal taxonomic category that ranks above species and below family, and is denoted by a capitalized Latin name, e.g. Leo.

- (in philosophical and general use) a class of things which have common characteristics and which can be divided into subordinate kinds.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, ‘birth, race, stock’.

-geny combining form denoting the mode by which something develops or is produced: orogeny | organogeny.

<ORIGIN> related to French -génie; both forms derive from Greek -geneia, from gen- (root of gignomai ‘be born, become’ and genos ‘a kind’).

geo /jə diə/ n. (pl. geos) a long, narrow, steep-sided cleft formed by erosion in coastal cliffs.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally Orkney and Shetland dialect): from Old Norse gjá.

Geo. abbr. DATED George.

geo- /diə/ combining form relating to the earth: geocentric | geochemistry.

<ORIGIN> from Greek gē ‘earth’.

geobotany n. another term for PHYTOGEOGRAPHY.

<DERIVATIVES> geobotanical adj. geobotanist n.

geocaching /diə()ka/ n. [mass noun] a form of treasure hunt using GPS, in which an item is hidden somewhere in the world and its coordinates posted on the Internet, so that GPS users can locate it.

<DERIVATIVES> geocacher n.

<ORIGIN> early 21st century: from GEO- + CACHE.

geocentric adj. 1 having or representing the earth as the centre, as in former astronomical systems. Compare with HELIOCENTRIC.

2 [ASTRONOMY] measured from or considered in relation to the centre of the earth.

<DERIVATIVES> geocentrically adv. geocentrism n.

geocentric latitude n. the latitude at which a planet would appear if viewed from the centre of the earth.

geochemistry n. [mass noun] the study of the chemical composition of the earth and its rocks and minerals.

<DERIVATIVES> geochemical adj. geochemist n.

geochronology n. [mass noun] the branch of geology concerned with the dating of rock formations and geological events.

<DERIVATIVES> geochronological adj. geochronologist n.

geochronometric /diə()krnəmεtrk/ adj. relating to geochronological measurement.

<DERIVATIVES> geochronometry n.

geode /diəd/ n. a small cavity in rock lined with crystals or other mineral matter.

- a rock containing such a cavity.

<DERIVATIVES> geodic /didk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via Latin from Greek geōdēs ‘earthy’, from gē ‘earth’.

geodesic /diə()dεsk -disk/ adj. 1 relating to or denoting the shortest possible line between two points on a sphere or other curved surface.

- (of a dome or other structure) constructed from struts which follow geodesic lines and typically form an open framework of triangles and polygons.

2 another term for GEODETIC.

■ n. a geodesic line or structure.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from GEODESY + -IC.

geodesy /ddsi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of mathematics dealing with the shape and area of the earth or large portions of it.

<DERIVATIVES> geodesist n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from modern Latin geodaesia, from Greek geōdaisia, from gē ‘earth’ + daiein ‘divide’.

geodetic /diə()dεtk/ adj. relating to geodesy, especially as applied to land surveying.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek geōdaitēs ‘land surveyor’, from geōdaisia (see GEODESY).

geoduck /diədk/ n. a giant mud-burrowing bivalve mollusc occurring on the west coast of North America, where it is collected for food. Its shell valves are not large enough to enclose its body and very long siphon.

<INFO> Panopea generosa, family Hyatellidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Chinook Jargon.

Geoffrey of Monmouth (c.1100–c.1154), Welsh chronicler. His Historia Regum Britanniae (c.1139; first printed in 1508), an account of the kings of Britain, was a major source for English literature but is now thought to contain little historical fact.

geographical adj. relating to geography.

<DERIVATIVES> geographic adj. geographically adv.

geographical latitude n. the angle made with the plane of the equator by a perpendicular to the earth's surface at any point.

geographical mile n. a distance equal to one minute of longitude or latitude at the equator (about 1,850 metres).

geography n. [mass noun] the study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources and political and economic activities.

- [usually in sing.] the nature and relative arrangement of places and physical features: the geography of post-war London.

- (plural geographies) (especially in business) a geographical area; a region.

<DERIVATIVES> geographer n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French géographie or Latin geographia, from Greek geōgraphia, from gē ‘earth’ + -graphia ‘writing’.

geoid /did/ n. (the geoid) a hypothetical solid figure whose surface corresponds to mean sea level and its imagined extension under (or over) land areas.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek geoeidēs, from gē ‘earth’ + -oeidēs (see -OID).

geology n. [mass noun] the science which deals with the physical structure and substance of the earth, their history, and the processes which act on them.

- the geological features of a district: the geology of the Outer Hebrides.

- the geological features of a planetary body: an article on the Moon's geology.

<DERIVATIVES> geologic adj. geological adj. geologically adv. geologist n. geologize (also geologise) v.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin geologia, from Greek gē ‘earth’ + -logia (see -LOGY).

geomagnetism n. [mass noun] the branch of geology concerned with the magnetic properties of the earth.

<DERIVATIVES> geomagnetic adj. geomagnetically adv.

geomancy /diə()mansi/ n. [mass noun] 1 the art of placing or arranging buildings or other sites auspiciously.

2 divination from the configuration of a handful of earth or random dots.

<DERIVATIVES> geomancer n. geomantic adj.

geomatics /diə()matks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the application of computerization to information in geography and related fields.

<DERIVATIVES> geomatic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from GEOGRAPHY and INFORMATICS.

geometer /dmtə/ n. 1 a person skilled in geometry.

2 (also geometer moth) [ENTOMOLOGY] a geometrid moth or its caterpillar.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin geometra, based on Greek geōmetrēs, from gē ‘earth’ + metrēs ‘measurer’.

geometric /dəmεtrk/ adj. 1 relating to geometry, or according to its methods.

2 characterized by or decorated with regular lines and shapes: a geometric pattern.

- (Geometric) [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a period of Greek culture (around 900–700 BC) characterized by geometrically decorated pottery.

- (Geometric or Geometrical) [ARCHITECTURE] relating to or denoting a style of Early English tracery based on the geometry of circles.

■ n. a geometric pattern.

<DERIVATIVES> geometrical adj. geometrically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via French from Latin geometricus, from Greek geōmetrikos, from geōmetrēs (see GEOMETER).

geometrical isomer (also geometric isomer) n. [CHEMISTRY] each of two or more compounds which differ from each other in the arrangement of groups with respect to a double bond, ring, or other rigid structure.

<DERIVATIVES> geometrical isomerism n.

geometrical series n. a series of numbers or quantities in geometric progression.

geometric mean n. the central number in a geometric progression (e.g. 9 in 3, 9, 27), also calculable as the nth root of a product of n numbers.

geometric progression n. a progression of numbers with a constant ratio between each number and the one before (e.g. 1, 3, 9, 27, 81).

geometrid /dmtrd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a moth of a large family (Geometridae), distinguished by having twig-like caterpillars (loopers) that move by looping and straightening the body. Also called GEOMETER.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Geometridae (plural), from the genus name Geometra, from Greek geōmetrēs (see GEOMETER).

geometry /dmtri/ n. (pl. geometries) [mass noun] the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties and relations of points, lines, surfaces, solids, and higher dimensional analogues.

- [count noun] a particular mathematical system describing such properties: non-Euclidean geometries.

- [in sing.] the shape and relative arrangement of the parts of something: the geometry of spiders' webs.

<DERIVATIVES> geometrician /diəmtr(ə)n/ n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin geometria, from Greek, from gē ‘earth’ + metria (see -METRY).

geomorphic /diə()mfk/ adj. relating to the form of the landscape and other natural features of the earth's surface; geomorphological.

geomorphology /diə()mflədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of the physical features of the surface of the earth and their relation to its geological structures.

<DERIVATIVES> geomorphological adj. geomorphologist n.

geophagy /dfədi/ n. [mass noun] the practice in some tribal societies of eating earth.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from GEO- ‘earth’ + Greek phagia ‘eating, feeding’ (from phagein ‘eat’).

geophysics plural n. [treated as sing.] the physics of the earth.

<DERIVATIVES> geophysical adj. geophysicist n.

geopolitical adj. relating to politics, especially international relations, as influenced by geographical factors.

<DERIVATIVES> geopolitically adv. geopolitician n. geopolitics n. [treated as sing. or plural]

Geordie BRITISH INFORMAL n. a person from Tyneside.

- [mass noun] the English dialect or accent typical of people from Tyneside.

■ adj. relating to Tyneside, its people, or their accent or dialect: Geordie humour.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: diminutive of the given name George.

George the name of four kings of Great Britain and Ireland, one of Great Britain and Ireland (from 1920 of the United Kingdom), and one of the United Kingdom:

- George I (1660–1727), great-grandson of James I, reigned 1714–27, Elector of Hanover 1698–1727. He succeeded to the British throne as a result of the Act of Settlement (1701). Unpopular in England as a foreigner who never learned English, he left administration to his ministers.

- George II (1683–1760), son of George I, reigned 1727–60, Elector of Hanover 1727–60. He depended heavily on his ministers, although he took an active part in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–8). His later withdrawal from active politics allowed the development of constitutional monarchy.

- George III (1738–1820), grandson of George II, reigned 1760–1820, Elector of Hanover 1760–1815 and king of Hanover 1815–20. He exercised considerable political influence, but it declined from 1788 after bouts of mental illness, as a result of which his son was made regent in 1811.

- George IV (1762–1830), son of George III, reigned 1820–30. Known as a patron of the arts and bon viveur, he gained a bad reputation which was further damaged by his attempt to divorce his estranged wife, Caroline of Brunswick, just after coming to the throne.

- George V (1865–1936), son of Edward VII, reigned 1910–36. He exercised restrained but important influence over British politics, playing an especially significant role in the formation of the government in 1931.

- George VI (1895–1952), son of George V, reigned 1936–52. He came to the throne on the abdication of his elder brother Edward VIII. Despite a retiring disposition he became a popular monarch, gaining respect for the staunch example he and his family set during the London Blitz.

George, St patron saint of England. He is reputed in legend to have slain a dragon, and may have been martyred near Lydda in Palestine some time before the reign of Constantine. His cult did not become popular until the 6th century, and he probably became patron saint of England in the 14th century. Feast day, 23 April.

George Cross (abbr.: GC) n. (in the UK and Commonwealth countries) a decoration for bravery awarded especially to civilians, instituted in 1940 by King George VI and taking precedence over all other medals and decorations except the Victoria Cross.

George Medal (abbr.: GM) n. (in the UK and Commonwealth countries) a medal for bravery awarded especially to civilians, instituted with the George Cross in 1940.

Georgetown the capital of Guyana, a port at the mouth of the Demerara River; pop. 225,800 (est. 2002).

George Town 1 the capital of the Cayman Islands, on the island of Grand Cayman; pop. 27,800 (est. 2002).

2 the chief port of Malaysia and capital of the state of Penang, on Penang island; pop. 180,573 (2000). It was founded in 1786 by the British East India Company. Also called PENANG.

georgette /ddεt/ n. [mass noun] a thin silk or crêpe dress material.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Georgette de la Plante (c.1900), French dressmaker.

Georgia 1 a country in the Caucasus of SW Asia, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea; pop. 4,960,951 (est. 2002); languages, Georgian (official), Russian, and Armenian; capital, Tbilisi.

An independent kingdom in medieval times, Georgia became part of the Russian empire in the 19th century and then was absorbed into the Soviet Union. On the break-up of the USSR in 1991, Georgia became an independent republic outside the Commonwealth of Independent States.

2 a state of the south-eastern US, on the Atlantic coast; pop. 8,186,453 (2000); capital, Atlanta. Founded as an English colony in 1732 and named after George II, it became one of the original thirteen states of the Union (1788).

Georgian^1 adj. 1 of or characteristic of the reigns of the British Kings George I–IV (1714–1830).

- relating to British architecture of this period, characterized by restrained elegance and the use of neoclassical styles.

2 of or characteristic of the reigns of the British Kings George V and VI (1910–52).

- relating to British literature of 1910–20, in particular pastoral poetry of a type strongly attacked by the early modernists.

Georgian^2 adj. relating to the country of Georgia, its people, or their language.

■ n. 1 a native or national of Georgia, or a person of Georgian descent.

2 [mass noun] the official language of Georgia, spoken by around 4 million people. It is the main member of the small South Caucasian (or Kartvelian) language family, and has its own alphabet.

Georgian^3 adj. relating to the state of Georgia in the US.

■ n. a native or inhabitant of Georgia.

georgic /ddk/ n. a poem or book dealing with agriculture or rural topics.

- (Georgics) the title of a poetic treatise by Virgil.

■ adj. LITERARY rustic; pastoral.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: via Latin from Greek geōrgikos, from geōrgos ‘farmer’.

geoscience n. [mass noun] (also geosciences) earth sciences, especially geology.

<DERIVATIVES> geoscientist n.

geospatial /diəspei(ə)l/ adj. [GEOGRAPHY] relating to or denoting data that is associated with a particular location.

geosphere /diə()sfə/ n. any of the almost spherical concentric regions of the earth and its atmosphere, especially the lithosphere.

geostationary adj. (of an artificial satellite of the earth) moving in a circular geosynchronous orbit in the plane of the equator, so that it appears to be stationary in the sky above a fixed point on the surface.

geostrategic adj. relating to the strategy required in dealing with geopolitical problems.

<DERIVATIVES> geostrategy n.

geostrophic /diə()strfk -strəf-/ adj. [METEOROLOGY] & [OCEANOGRAPHY] relating to or denoting the component of a wind or current that arises from a balance between pressure gradients and coriolis forces.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from GEO- ‘of the earth’ + Greek strophē ‘a turning’ (from strephein ‘to turn’).

geosynchronous /diə()skrənəs/ adj.

■ another term for synchronous (sense 2). Compare with GEOSTATIONARY.

geosyncline /diəskln/ n. [GEOLOGY] a large-scale depression in the earth's crust containing very thick deposits.

geotagging /diə()ta/ n. [mass noun] the practice of adding geographical information to digital photographs, typically the latitude and longitude of the location.

geotaxis /diə()takss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the motion of a motile organism or cell in response to the force of gravity.

<DERIVATIVES> geotactic adj.

geotechnics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of civil engineering concerned with the study and modification of soil and rocks.

<DERIVATIVES> geotechnic adj. geotechnical adj.

geothermal adj. relating to or produced by the internal heat of the earth: some 70 per cent of Iceland's energy needs are met from geothermal sources.

<DERIVATIVES> geothermally adv.

geotropism /diə()trəpz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the growth of the parts of plants in response to the force of gravity. The upward growth of plant shoots is an instance of negative geotropism; the downward growth of roots is positive geotropism.

<DERIVATIVES> geotropic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from GEO- ‘earth’ + Greek tropē ‘turning’ + -ISM.

Gera /εrə/ an industrial city in east central Germany, in Thuringia; pop. 109,800 (est. 2002).

Geraldton /dεrəldt(ə)n/ a seaport and resort on the west coast of Australia; pop. 19,275 (2001).

geranial /drenəl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a fragrant oil present in lemon grass oil and used in perfumery.

<INFO> An isomer of citral; chem. formula: C_10H_16O.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, contraction of Geraniumaldehyde.

geraniol /drenl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a fragrant liquid present in some floral oils and used in perfumery.

<INFO> A terpenoid alcohol; chem. formula: C_10H_18O.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, from GERANIUM + -OL.

geranium /drenəm/ n. a herbaceous plant or small shrub of a genus that comprises the cranesbills and their relatives. Geraniums bear a long, narrow fruit that is said to be shaped like the bill of a crane.

<INFO> Genus Geranium, family Geraniaceae.

- (in general or informal use) a cultivated pelargonium.

- [mass noun] the scarlet colour of many cultivated pelargoniums.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek geranion, from geranos ‘crane’.

Gerard /dεrαd/ John (1545–1612), English herbalist. He was curator of the physic garden of the College of Surgeons and published his Herball, containing over 1,800 woodcuts, in 1597.

gerbera /dəb(ə)rə ə-/ n. a tropical Old World plant of the daisy family, with large brightly coloured flowers, cultivated under glass in cooler regions.

<INFO> Genus Gerbera, family Compositae: many species, in particular the Transvaal daisy.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Traugott Gerber (died 1743), German naturalist.

gerbil /dəbl/ n. a burrowing mouse-like rodent that is specially adapted to living in arid conditions, found in Africa and Asia.

<INFO> Subfamily Gerbillinae, family Muridae: several genera, in particular Gerbillus; the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) is popular as a pet.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French gerbille, from modern Latin gerbillus, diminutive of gerboa (see JERBOA).

gerenuk /εrənk/ n. a slender East African antelope with a long neck, often browsing on tall bushes by standing on its hind legs.

<INFO> Litocranius walleri, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Somali.

geriatric /dεratrk/ adj. relating to old people, especially with regard to their health care: a geriatric hospital.

- INFORMAL decrepit; very old or outdated: replacements for a geriatric locomotive fleet.

■ n. an old person, especially one receiving special care: a rest home for geriatrics.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Greek gēras ‘old age’ + iatros ‘doctor’, on the pattern of paediatric.

<USAGE> Geriatric is the normal, semi-official term used in Britain and the US when referring to the health care of old people (a geriatric ward; geriatric patients). When used outside such contexts, it typically carries overtones of being worn out and decrepit and can therefore be offensive if used with reference to people.

geriatrics plural n. [treated as sing. or plural] the branch of medicine or social science dealing with the health and care of old people.

<DERIVATIVES> geriatrician n.

Géricault /εrkə/ French /eRikə/ (Jean Louis André) Théodore (1791–1824), French painter, criticized for his rejection of classicism in favour of a more realistic style. His most famous work, The Raft of the Medusa (1819), depicts the survivors of a famous shipwreck of 1816.

germ n. 1 a micro-organism, especially one which causes disease.

2 a portion of an organism capable of developing into a new one or part of one.

- the embryo in a cereal grain or other plant seed.

- an initial stage from which something may develop: the germ of a brilliant idea.

<DERIVATIVES> germy adj. (germier, germiest) INFORMAL, germ (sense 1))

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): via Old French from Latin germen ‘seed, sprout’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the late 19th cent.

German n. 1 a native or national of Germany, or a person of German descent.

2 [mass noun] a West Germanic language used in Germany, Austria, and parts of Switzerland, and by communities in the US and elsewhere. It is spoken by some 100 million people. See also HIGH GERMAN, LOW GERMAN.

■ adj. relating to Germany, its people, or their language.

<DERIVATIVES> Germanist n.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Germanus, used to designate related peoples of central and northern Europe, a name perhaps given by Celts to their neighbours; compare with Old Irish gair ‘neighbour’.

german adj. ARCHAIC germane. See also BROTHER-GERMAN, COUSIN-GERMAN, SISTER-GERMAN.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French germain, from Latin germanus ‘genuine, of the same parents’.

German Bight a shipping forecast area covering the eastern North Sea off the northern Netherlands, Germany, and southern Denmark.

German Democratic Republic (abbr.: GDR, DDR) official name for the former state of East Germany.

germander /dəmandə/ n. a widely distributed plant of the mint family. Some kinds are cultivated as ornamentals and some are used in herbal medicine.

<INFO> Genus Teucrium, family Labiatae: many species, including the European wall germander (T. chamaedrys).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin germandra, based on Greek khamaidrus, literally ‘ground oak’, from khamai ‘on the ground’ + drus ‘oak’ (because the leaves of some species were thought to resemble those of the oak).

germander speedwell n. a speedwell with bright blue flowers and leaves resembling those of the germander, native to Eurasia.

<INFO> Veronica chamaedrys, family Scrophulariaceae.

germane /dəmen/ adj. relevant to a subject under consideration: that is not germane to our theme.

<DERIVATIVES> germanely adv. germaneness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: variant of GERMAN, with which it was synonymous from Middle English. The current sense has arisen from a usage in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

German East Africa a former German protectorate in East Africa (1891–1918), corresponding to present-day Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.

German Empire an empire in German-speaking central Europe, created by Bismarck in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War by the union of twenty-five German states under the Hohenzollern king of Prussia. Also called SECOND REICH.

Forming an alliance with Austria–Hungary, the German Empire became the greatest industrial power in Europe and engaged in colonial expansion in Africa, China, and the Far East. Tensions arising with other colonial powers led to the First World War, after which the German Empire collapsed and the Weimar Republic was created.

Germanic adj. 1 relating to or denoting the branch of the Indo-European language family that includes English, German, Dutch, Frisian, and the Scandinavian languages.

- relating to or denoting the peoples of ancient northern and western Europe speaking such languages.

2 having characteristics of or attributed to Germans or Germany: she had an almost Germanic regard for order.

■ n. [mass noun] the Germanic languages collectively. See also EAST GERMANIC, NORTH GERMANIC, WEST GERMANIC.

- the unrecorded ancient language from which these developed, thought to have been spoken on the shores of the Baltic Sea in the 3rd millennium BC. Also called PROTO-GERMANIC.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin Germanicus, from Germanus (see GERMAN).

germanium /dəmenəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 32, a shiny grey semimetal. Germanium was important in the making of transistors and other semiconductor devices, but has been largely replaced by silicon. (Symbol: Ge)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin Germanus (see GERMAN).

Germanize (also Germanise) v. [with obj.] make German; cause to adopt German language and customs: the Poles had Germanized their family names.

<DERIVATIVES> Germanization n. Germanizer n.

German measles plural n. [usually treated as sing.] a contagious viral disease, with symptoms like mild measles. It can cause fetal malformation if caught in early pregnancy. Also called RUBELLA.

Germano- /dəmanə dəmənə/ combining form German; German and …: Germanophile.

- relating to Germany: Germanocentric.

German shepherd n. an Alsatian.

German silver n. [mass noun] a white alloy of nickel, zinc, and copper.

German South West Africa a former German protectorate in SW Africa (1884–1918), corresponding to present-day Namibia.

Germany a country in central Europe; pop. 83,251,851 (est. 2002); official language, German; capital, Berlin. German name DEUTSCHLAND.

The multiplicity of small German states achieved real unity only with the rise of Prussia and the formation of the German Empire in the mid 19th century. After being defeated in the First World War, Germany was taken over in the 1930s by the Nazi dictatorship, which led to a policy of expansionism and eventually to complete defeat in the Second World War. Germany was occupied for a time by the victorious Allies and was partitioned. The western part (including West Berlin), which was occupied by the US, Britain, and France, became the Federal Republic of Germany or West Germany, with its capital at Bonn. The eastern part, occupied by the Soviet Union, became the German Democratic Republic or East Germany, with its capital in East Berlin. West Germany emerged as a major European industrial power and was a founder member of the EEC while the East remained under Soviet domination. After the general collapse of communism in eastern Europe, East and West Germany reunited on 3 October 1990.

germ cell n. [BIOLOGY] a cell containing half the number of chromosomes of a somatic cell and able to unite with one from the opposite sex to form a new individual; a gamete.

- an embryonic cell with the potential of developing into a gamete.

germicide n. a substance or other agent which destroys harmful micro-organisms.

<DERIVATIVES> germicidal adj.

Germinal /dəmn(ə)l/ French /εRminal/ n. the seventh month of the French Republican calendar (1793–1805), originally running from 21 March to 19 April.

germinal adj. [attr.] relating to or of the nature of a germ cell or embryo.

- in the earliest stage of development: a germinal idea.

- providing material for future development: de Beauvoir's germinal book The Second Sex.

<DERIVATIVES> germinally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin germen, germin- ‘sprout, seed’ + -AL.

germinate /dəmnet/ v. [no obj.] (of a seed or spore) begin to grow and put out shoots after a period of dormancy.

- [with obj.] cause (a seed or spore) to sprout in such a way.

- FIGURATIVE come into existence and develop: the idea germinated and slowly grew into an obsession.

<DERIVATIVES> germination n. germinative adj. germinator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin germinat- ‘sprouted forth, budded’, from the verb germinare, from germen, germin- ‘sprout, seed’.

Germiston /dəmst(ə)n/ a city in South Africa, in the province of Gauteng, south-east of Johannesburg; pop. 166,142 (1998). It is the site of a large gold refinery, which serves the Witwatersrand gold-mining region.

germ layer n. [ANATOMY] each of the three layers of cells (ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm) that are formed in the early embryo.

germ line n. [BIOLOGY] a series of germ cells each descended or developed from earlier cells in the series, regarded as continuing through successive generations of an organism.

germ plasm n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] germ cells collectively.

- the genetic material of such cells.

germ warfare n. [mass noun] the use of disease-spreading micro-organisms as a military weapon.

Geronimo^1 /dərnmə/ (c.1829–1909), Apache chief. He led his people in raids on settlers and US troops before surrendering in 1886.

Geronimo^2 /dərnmə/ exclam. used to express exhilaration, especially when leaping from a great height or moving at speed.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: by association with Geronimo^1, adopted as a slogan by American paratroopers.

gerontic /dεrntk/ adj. relating to old age, elderly people, or senescent animals or plants.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek gerōn, geront- ‘old man’ + -IC.

gerontocracy /dεrəntkrəsi/ n. a state, society, or group governed by old people.

- [mass noun] government based on rule by old people.

<DERIVATIVES> gerontocrat n. gerontocratic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek gerōn, geront- ‘old man’ + -CRACY.

gerontology /dεrəntlədi/ n. [mass noun] the scientific study of old age, the process of ageing, and the particular problems of old people.

<DERIVATIVES> gerontological adj. gerontologist n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek gerōn, geront- ‘old man’ + -LOGY.

-gerous combining form bearing (a specified thing): armigerous.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -ger ‘bearing’ (from the root of gerere ‘to bear, carry’) + -OUS.

gerrymander /dεrmandə/ (BRITISH also jerrymander) v. [with obj.] (often as n. gerrymandering) manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favour one party or class.

- achieve (a result) by such manipulation: an attempt to gerrymander the election result.

■ n. an instance of gerrymandering.

<DERIVATIVES> gerrymanderer n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from the name of Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts + SALAMANDER, from the supposed similarity between a salamander and the shape of a new voting district on a map drawn when he was in office (1812), the creation of which was felt to favour his party; the map (with claws, wings, and fangs added) was published in the Boston Weekly Messenger, with the title The Gerry-Mander.

Gershwin George (1898–1937), American composer and pianist, of Russian-Jewish descent; born Jacob Gershovitz. He composed many successful songs and musicals, the orchestral work Rhapsody in Blue (1924), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935). The lyrics for many of these were written by his brother Ira Gershwin (1896–1983).

Gerson therapy /εs(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] (in complementary medicine) a detoxifying and nutritional programme designed to stimulate the immune system.

<ORIGIN> named after Max Gerson, the German physician who developed the therapy in the 1920s.

gerund /dεrnd/ n. [GRAMMAR] a verb form which functions as a noun, in Latin ending in -ndum (declinable), in English ending in -ing (e.g. asking in do you mind my asking you?).

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin gerundium, from gerundum, variant of gerendum, the gerund of Latin gerere ‘do’.

gerundive /dərndv/ n. [GRAMMAR] a form of a Latin verb, ending in -ndus (declinable) and functioning as an adjective meaning ‘that should or must be done’.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘gerund’): from late Latin gerundivus (modus) ‘gerundive (mood)’, from gerundium (see GERUND).

Gesellschaft /əzεlaft/ n. [mass noun] social relations based on impersonal ties, such as duty to a society or organization. Contrasted with GEMEINSCHAFT.

<ORIGIN> German, from Gesell(e) ‘companion’ + -schaft (see -SHIP).

gesneriad /εsnərad dεs-/ n. a tropical plant of a family that includes African violets, gloxinias, and their relatives.

<INFO> Family Gesneriaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Gesneria (genus name), from the name of Conrad von Gesner (1516–65), Swiss naturalist, + -AD^1.

gesso /dεsə/ n. (pl. gessoes) [mass noun] a hard compound of plaster of Paris or whiting in glue, used in sculpture or as a base for gilding or painting on wood.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Italian, from Latin gypsum (see GYPSUM).

gestalt /ətαlt -talt/ n. [PSYCHOLOGY] an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.

<DERIVATIVES> gestaltism n. gestaltist n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from German Gestalt, literally ‘form, shape’.

gestalt psychology n. [mass noun] a movement in psychology founded in Germany in 1912, seeking to explain perceptions in terms of gestalts rather than by analysing their constituents.

gestalt therapy n. [mass noun] a psychotherapeutic approach developed by Fritz Perls (1893–1970). It focuses on insight into gestalts in patients and their relations to the world, and often uses role playing to aid the resolution of past conflicts.

Gestapo /əstαpə/ the German secret police under Nazi rule. It ruthlessly suppressed opposition to the Nazis in Germany and occupied Europe, and sent Jews and others to concentration camps. From 1936 it was headed by Heinrich Himmler.

<ORIGIN> German, from Geheime Staatspolizei ‘secret state police’.

gestate /dεstet/ v. [no obj.] carry a fetus in the womb from conception to birth: rabbits gestate for approximately twenty-eight days.

- (of a fetus) undergo gestation.

- FIGURATIVE develop over a long period: a series that has been gestating for three years.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin gestat- ‘carried in the womb’, from the verb gestare.

gestation n. [mass noun] the process or period of developing inside the womb between conception and birth.

- FIGURATIVE the development of something over a period of time: a thorough and painstaking work which was a long time in gestation.

<DERIVATIVES> gestational adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting an excursion on horseback, in a carriage, etc., considered as exercise): from Latin gestatio(n-), from gestare ‘carry, carry in the womb’, frequentative of gerere ‘carry’.

gesticulate /dεstkjlet/ v. [no obj.] use gestures, especially dramatic ones, instead of speaking or to emphasize one's words: they were shouting and gesticulating frantically at drivers who did not slow down.

<DERIVATIVES> gesticulative adj. gesticulator n. gesticulatory adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin gesticulat- ‘gesticulated’, from the verb gesticulari, from gesticulus, diminutive of gestus ‘action’.

gesticulation n. a gesture, especially a dramatic one, used instead of speaking or to emphasize one's words: he punctuated his speech with wild gesticulations | [mass noun] there was a lot of gesticulation.

gesture n. a movement of part of the body, especially a hand or the head, to express an idea or meaning: Alex made a gesture of apology | [mass noun] so much is conveyed by gesture.

- an action performed to convey a feeling or intention: Maggie was touched by the kind gesture | a gesture of goodwill.

- an action performed for show in the knowledge that it will have no effect: I hope the amendment will not be just a gesture.

■ v. [no obj.] make a gesture: she gestured meaningfully with the pistol.

- [with obj. and adverbial or infinitive] direct (someone) somewhere by means of a gesture: he gestured her towards a chair.

<DERIVATIVES> gestural adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin gestura, from Latin gerere ‘bear, wield, perform’. The original sense was ‘bearing, deportment’, hence ‘the use of posture and bodily movements for effect in oratory’.

gesundheit /εzndht/ German /εznthat/ exclam. used to wish good health to a person who has just sneezed.

<ORIGIN> from German Gesundheit ‘health’.

get v. (gets, getting; past got; past part. got, North American or ARCHAIC gotten) 1 [with obj.] come to have (something); receive: I got a letter from him the other day | what kind of reception did you get?

- experience, suffer, or be afflicted with (something bad): I got a sudden pain in my left eye.

- receive as a punishment or penalty: I'll get the sack if things go wrong.

- contract (a disease or ailment): I might be getting the flu.

2 [with obj.] succeed in attaining, achieving, or experiencing; obtain: I need all the sleep I can get | he got a teaching job in California.

- move in order to pick up or bring (something); fetch: get another chair | [with two objs] I'll get you a drink.

- prepare (a meal): Celia went to the kitchen to start getting their dinner.

- [with obj. and adverbial] tend to meet with or find in a specified place or situation: for someone used to the tiny creatures we get in England it was something of a shock.

- travel by or catch (a bus, train, or other form of transport): I got a taxi across to Baker Street.

- obtain (a figure or answer) as a result of calculation.

- make contact with, especially by telephone: you can get me at home if you need me.

- respond to a ring of (a telephone or doorbell): I'll get the door!

- [in imperative] INFORMAL used to draw attention to someone whom one regards as pretentious or vain: get her!

3 reach or cause to reach a specified state or condition: [no obj., with complement] he'd got thinner | it's getting late | [with past part.] you'll get used to it | [with obj. and complement] I need to get my hair cut.

- [as auxiliary v.] used with past participle to form the passive mood: the cat got drowned.

- [with obj. and past part.] cause to be treated in a specified way: get the form signed by a doctor.

- [with obj. and infinitive] induce or prevail upon (someone) to do something: they got her to sign the consent form.

- [no obj., with infinitive] have the opportunity to do: he got to try out a few of these nice new cars.

- [no obj., with present participle or infinitive] begin to be or do something, especially gradually or by chance: we got talking one evening.

4 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] come, go, or make progress eventually or with some difficulty: Nigel got home very late | he hadn't got very far with the book yet.

- [no obj., with adverbial] move or come into a specified position, situation, or state: she got into the car | Henry got to his feet | you don't want to get into debt.

- [with obj. and adverbial] succeed in making (someone or something) come, go, or move somewhere: she had to get them away from the rocks | let's get you home.

- [no obj., with clause] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN reach a specified point or stage: it's getting so I can't even think.

5 (have got)

■ see HAVE.

6 [with obj.] catch or apprehend (someone): the police have got him.

- strike or wound (someone) with a blow or missile: you got me in the eye!

- INFORMAL punish, injure, or kill (someone), especially as retribution: I'll get you for this!

- (get it) INFORMAL be punished, injured, or killed: wait until dad comes home, then you'll get it!

- (get mine, his, etc.) INFORMAL be appropriately punished or rewarded: I'll get mine, you'll get yours, we'll all get wealthy.

- INFORMAL annoy (someone) greatly: cleaning the same things all the time, that's what gets me.

- baffle (someone): she had got me there: I could not answer.

7 [with obj.] INFORMAL understand (an argument or the person making it): What do you mean? I don't get it.

8 [with obj.] ARCHAIC acquire (knowledge) by study; learn: that knowledge which is gotten at school.

■ n. 1 DATED an animal's offspring.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL or DIALECT a person whom the speaker dislikes or despises.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) —— as all get out NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL to a great or extreme extent: he was stubborn as all get out.

□ get in there INFORMAL take positive action to achieve one's aim (often said as an exhortation).

□ get it on NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL embark on an activity; get going.

- INFORMAL have sexual intercourse.

□ get it up VULGAR SLANG (of a man) achieve an erection.

□ get one's own back INFORMAL have one's revenge; retaliate.

□ get over oneself INFORMAL stop being conceited or pretentious.

□ get-rich-quick DEROGATORY designed or concerned to make a lot of money fast.

□ getting on for chiefly BRITISH approaching (a specified time, age, or amount); almost: there are getting on for 700 staff.

□ get-up-and-go INFORMAL energy, enthusiasm, and initiative.

□ get someone with child ARCHAIC make a woman pregnant.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ get something across manage to communicate an idea clearly.

□ get ahead become successful in one's life or career.

□ get along 1 another way of saying get on (sense 2).

2 manage to live or survive: don't worry, we'll get along without you.

- [in imperative] BRITISH INFORMAL used to express scepticism or disbelief or to tell someone to go away: oh, get along with you!

□ get around see get round.

□ get at 1 reach or gain access to (something): it's difficult to get at the screws.

- bribe or unfairly influence (someone): he had been got at by government officials.

2 INFORMAL imply (something): I can see what you're getting at.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL criticize (someone) subtly and repeatedly: I hope you didn't think I was getting at you.

□ get away 1 escape: the robbers got away with £6,000.

2 [in imperative] INFORMAL said to express disbelief or scepticism.

□ get away with escape blame, punishment, or undesirable consequences for (an act that is wrong or mistaken): if he thinks he can get away with cheating me, he's very much mistaken.

□ get back at take revenge on (someone).

□ get back to contact (someone) later to give a reply or return a message.

□ get by manage with difficulty to live or accomplish something: he had just enough money to get by.

□ get down NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL dance energetically: get down and party!

□ get someone down depress or demoralize someone.

□ get something down 1 write something down.

2 swallow food or drink, especially with difficulty.

□ get down to begin to do or give serious attention to: let's get down to business.

□ get in 1 (of a train, aircraft, or other transport) arrive at its destination.

2 (of a political party or candidate) be elected.

□ get in on become involved in (a profitable or exciting activity).

□ get in with become friendly with (someone), especially in order to gain an advantage: I hope he doesn't get in with the wrong crowd.

□ get off 1 INFORMAL escape a punishment; be acquitted: you'll get off with a caution.

2 BRITISH go to sleep, especially after some difficulty.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL have a sexual encounter: Linda got off with the ski instructor.

4 NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG have an orgasm.

□ get off on INFORMAL be excited or aroused by (something): he was obviously getting off on the adrenalin of performing before the crowd.

□ get on 1 perform or make progress in a specified way: how are you getting on?

- continue doing something, especially after an interruption: I've got to get on with this job.

- chiefly BRITISH be successful in one's life or career.

2 chiefly BRITISH have a harmonious or friendly relationship: they seem to get on pretty well.

3 (be getting on) INFORMAL be old or comparatively old.

□ get on to chiefly BRITISH make contact with (someone) about a particular topic.

□ get out 1 (of something previously secret) become known: news got out that we were coming.

2 (also get out of here) [in imperative] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN used to express disbelief: get out, you're a liar.

□ get something out 1 succeed in uttering, publishing, or releasing something: we're keen to get a record out.

2 BRITISH succeed in solving or finishing a puzzle or mathematical problem.

□ get out of contrive to avoid or escape (a duty or responsibility): they wanted to get out of paying.

□ get something out of achieve benefit from (an undertaking or exercise): everyone who took part in the course got a lot out of it.

□ get outside (of) BRITISH INFORMAL eat or drink (something) heartily: we'll get outside of some bacon and eggs.

□ get over 1 recover from (an ailment or an upsetting or startling experience): the trip will help him get over Sal's death.

2 overcome (a difficulty).

□ get something over 1 manage to communicate an idea or theory.

2 complete an unpleasant or tedious but necessary task promptly: come on, let's get it over with.

□ GET ROUND (or North American around) 1 coax or persuade (someone) to do or allow something that they initially do not want to.

2 deal successfully with (a problem).

- evade (a regulation or restriction) without contravening it: the company changed its name to get round the law.

□ get round to (or North American around to) deal with (a task) in due course: I might get round to organizing another trip in the spring.

□ get through 1 (also get someone through) pass or assist someone in passing (a difficult or testing experience or period): I need these lessons to get me through my exam.

- (also get something through) (with reference to a piece of legislation) make or become law.

2 chiefly BRITISH finish or use up (a large amount or number of something), especially within a short time: we got through four whole jars of mustard.

3 make contact by telephone.

- succeed in communicating with someone in a meaningful way: I just don't think anyone can get through to these kids.

□ get to INFORMAL annoy or upset (someone) by persistent action: he started crying—we were getting to him.

□ get together gather or assemble socially or to cooperate.

□ get up 1 (also get someone up) rise or cause to rise from bed after sleeping.

2 (of wind or the sea) become strong or agitated.

□ get someone up dress someone in a specified smart, elaborate, or unusual way: he was got up in striped trousers and a dinner jacket.

□ get something up 1 prepare or organize a project or piece of work: we used to get up little plays.

2 enhance or refine one's knowledge of a subject.

□ get up to BRITISH INFORMAL be involved in (typically something illicit or surprising): what did you get up to last weekend?

<DERIVATIVES> gettable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse geta ‘obtain, beget, guess’; related to Old English gietan (in begietan ‘beget’, forgietan ‘forget’), from an Indo-European root shared by Latin praeda ‘booty, prey’, praehendere ‘get hold of, seize’, and Greek khandanein ‘hold, contain, be able’.

<USAGE> The verb get is in the top five of the most common verbs in the English language, with nearly 125,000 citations (out of 100 million) in the Oxford English Corpus. Nevertheless, despite the high frequency, there is still a feeling that almost any use containing get is somewhat informal. No general informal label has been applied to this dictionary entry, but in formal writing it is worth bearing this reservation in mind.

get-at-able adj. INFORMAL accessible.

getaway n. 1 an escape or quick departure, especially after committing a crime: the thugs made their getaway | [as modifier] a getaway car.

2 INFORMAL a short holiday: a weekend getaway.

- a holiday destination: the island getaway of Penang.

get-go n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the very beginning: the quintet experienced difficulties from the get-go.

Gethsemane, Garden of /εθsεməni/ a garden between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, where Jesus went with his disciples after the Last Supper and was betrayed (Matt. 26:36–46).

get-out n. BRITISH a means of avoiding something; an excuse: [as modifier] a get-out clause.

<PHRASES>

□ as —— as all get-out NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL as —— as is possible; to the highest degree: the rituals of the racing world are as macho as all get-out.

getter n. 1 [in combination] a person or thing that gets a specified desirable thing: an attention-getter | a vote-getter.

2 [ELECTRONICS] & [PHYSICS] a substance used to remove residual gas from a vacuum tube, or impurities or defects from a semiconductor crystal.

gettering n. [mass noun] [ELECTRONICS] & [PHYSICS] the removal of impurities or defects with a getter.

get-together n. an informal gathering.

Getty /εti/ Jean Paul (1892–1976), American industrialist. He made a large fortune in the oil industry and was also a noted art collector. He founded the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Gettysburg, Battle of /εtzbə/ a decisive battle of the American Civil War, fought near the town of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania in July 1863. A Union army under General Meade repulsed the Confederate army of General Lee and forced him to abandon his invasion of the north.

Gettysburg Address a speech delivered on 18 November 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the national cemetery on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg.

get-up n. INFORMAL a style or arrangement of dress, especially an elaborate or unusual one: her ridiculous Cossack's get-up.

Getz Stan (1927–91), American jazz saxophonist; born Stanley Gayetsky. He was a leader of the ‘cool’ school of jazz; his recordings include ‘Early Autumn’ (1948) and ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ (1963).

geum /diəm/ n. a plant of a genus which comprises the avens.

<INFO> Genus Geum, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, variant of Latin gaeum.

GeV abbr. gigaelectronvolt, equivalent to 10^9 electronvolts.

gewgaw /ju/ (also chiefly NORTH AMERICAN geegaw) n. (usually gewgaws) a showy thing, especially one that is useless or worthless.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

Gewürztraminer /əvətstrəminə/ German /əvYrtstramin/ n. [mass noun] a variety of white grape grown mainly in the Alsace, Austria, and the Rhine valley.

- a wine made from this grape.

<ORIGIN> German, from Gewürz ‘spice’ + TRAMINER.

gey // adv. SCOTTISH very; considerably: he was gey fond of you.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: variant of GAY.

geyser /izə -/ n. 1 a hot spring in which water intermittently boils, sending a tall column of water and steam into the air.

- a jet or stream of liquid: the pipe sent up a geyser of sewer water into the street.

2 /izə/ BRITISH a gas-fired water heater through which water flows as it is rapidly heated.

- S. AFRICAN a hot-water storage tank with an electric heating element.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (especially of water or steam) gush or burst out with great force: a fissure opened and yellow smoke geysered upward.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Icelandic Geysir, the name of a particular spring in Iceland; related to geysa ‘to gush’.

geyserite n. [mass noun] a hard opaline siliceous deposit occurring around geysers and hot springs.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from GEYSER + -ITE^1.

GG abbr. BRITISH Governor General.

GH abbr. Ghana (international vehicle registration).

ghaghra /arə αrα/ (also ghagra) n. (in South Asia) a long full skirt, often decorated with embroidery, mirrors, or bells.

<ORIGIN> Hindi ghāghrā, from Sanskrit gharghara ‘gurgle, rattle’.

Ghana /αnə/ a country of West Africa, with its southern coastline bordering on the Atlantic Ocean; pop. 20,244,154 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), West African languages; capital, Accra. Former name (until 1957) GOLD COAST.

Formerly a centre of the slave trade, the area became the British colony of Gold Coast in 1874. In 1957 it was the first British colony to gain independence as a member of the Commonwealth, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah.

<DERIVATIVES> Ghanaian /αneən/ adj. & n.

gharana /rαnə/ n. (in the Indian subcontinent) any of the various specialist schools or methods of classical music or dance.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi gharānā ‘family’.

gharara /rαrə/ n. a pair of loose trousers with pleats below the knee, worn by women from the Indian subcontinent, typically with a kameez.

<ORIGIN> from Persian garāra ‘trousers, large sack’.

gharial /arαl rαl εrəl/ (also gavial) n. a large fish-eating crocodile with a long, narrow snout that widens at the nostrils, native to the Indian subcontinent.

<INFO> Gavialis gangeticus, the only member of the family Gavialidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Hindi ghaiyāl. The spelling gavial (from French) is an alteration probably due to scribal error.

gharry /αri/ n. (pl. gharries) (in the Indian subcontinent) a horse-drawn carriage available for hire.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi gāī.

ghastly adj. (ghastlier, ghastliest) 1 causing great horror or fear: one of the most ghastly crimes ever committed.

2 extremely unwell: she had sobered up but she felt ghastly.

- deathly white: a ghastly pallor.

3 INFORMAL very objectionable, bad, or unpleasant: the weather was ghastly.

<DERIVATIVES> ghastliness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from obsolete gast ‘terrify’, from Old English gstan, of Germanic origin; related to GHOST. The gh spelling is by association with GHOST. The sense ‘objectionable’ dates from the mid 19th cent.

ghat /αt/ n. 1 (in the Indian subcontinent) a flight of steps leading down to a river.

- (also burning ghat) a level place on the edge of a river where Hindus cremate their dead.

2 (in the Indian subcontinent) a mountain pass.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi ghā.

ghatam /αtm/ n. a circular pot beaten with the hands as a percussion instrument in south Indian music.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit via Tamil or Telugu.

Ghats /αts/ two mountain ranges in central and southern India. Known as the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats, they run parallel to the coast on either side of the Deccan plateau.

ghazal /l/ n. (in Middle Eastern and Indian literature and music) a lyric poem with a fixed number of verses and a repeated rhyme, typically on the theme of love, and normally set to music.

<ORIGIN> via Persian from Arabic ġazal.

ghazi /αzi/ n. (pl. ghazis) (often as an honorific title) a Muslim fighter against non-Muslims.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic al-ġāzī, participle of ġazā ‘invade, raid’.

Ghaziabad /αzəbad/ a city in northern India, in Uttar Pradesh east of Delhi; pop. 968,500 (2001).

Ghaznavid /aznαvd/ n. a member of a Turkish Muslim dynasty founded in Ghazna, Afghanistan, in AD 977. The dynasty extended its power into Persia and the Punjab and lasted until 1186.

GHB abbr.

- (sodium) gamma-hydroxybutyrate, a designer drug with anaesthetic properties.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_2OH(CH_2)2COONa.

ghee /i/ n. [mass noun] clarified butter made from the milk of a buffalo or cow, used in Indian cooking.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi ghī, from Sanskrit ghtá ‘sprinkled’.

Gheg /ε/ n. (pl. same or Ghegs) 1 a member of one of the two main ethnic groups of Albania, living mainly in the north of the country.

2 [mass noun] the dialect of Albanian spoken by this people, with about 2 million speakers. Compare with TOSK.

■ adj. relating to the Gheg or their dialect.

<ORIGIN> from Albanian Geg.

Ghent /εnt/ a city in Belgium, capital of the province of East Flanders; pop. 222,400 (est. 2002). Founded in the 10th century, it became the capital of the medieval principality of Flanders. It was formerly known in English as Gaunt (surviving in names, e.g. John of Gaunt). French name GAND, Flemish name GENT.

gherao /εra/ n. (pl. gheraos) INDIAN a protest in which workers prevent employers leaving a place of work until certain demands are met.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi gherāo ‘surround, besiege’.

gherkin /əkn/ n. a small variety of cucumber, or a young green cucumber used for pickling.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Dutch augurkje, gurkje, diminutive of augurk, gurk, from Slavic, based on medieval Greek angourion ‘cucumber’.

ghetto /εtə/ n. (pl. ghettos or ghettoes) a part of a city, especially a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups.

- HISTORICAL the Jewish quarter in a city: the Warsaw Ghetto.

- an isolated or segregated group or area: the relative security of the gay ghetto.

■ v. (ghettoes, ghettoing, ghettoed) [with obj.] put in or restrict to an isolated or segregated area or group.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps from Italian getto ‘foundry’ (because the first ghetto was established in 1516 on the site of a foundry in Venice), or from Italian borghetto, diminutive of borgo ‘borough’.

ghetto blaster n. INFORMAL a large portable radio and cassette or CD player.

ghettoize (also ghettoise) v. [with obj.] put in or restrict to an isolated or segregated place, group, or situation: they called for a policy that seeks to integrate foreign labourers rather than ghettoize them.

<DERIVATIVES> ghettoization n.

Ghibelline /bln/ n. a member of one of the two great political factions in Italian medieval politics, traditionally supporting the Holy Roman emperor against the Pope and his supporters, the Guelphs.

<ORIGIN> from Italian Ghibellino, perhaps from German Waiblingen, an estate belonging to Hohenstaufen emperors.

Ghiberti /bεti/ Italian /ibεrti/ Lorenzo (1378–1455), Italian sculptor and goldsmith. His career was dominated by his work on two successive pairs of bronze doors for the baptistery in Florence.

ghibli /bli/ n. [mass noun] a hot, dry southerly wind of North Africa.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Arabic qiblī ‘southern’.

Ghirlandaio /əlandə/ Italian /irlandajə/ (c.1448–94), Italian painter; born Domenico di Tommaso Bigordi. He is noted for his religious frescoes, particularly Christ Calling Peter and Andrew (1482–4) in the Sistine Chapel, Rome.

ghost n. an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image: the building is haunted by the ghost of a monk | [as modifier] a ghost ship.

- a slight trace or vestige of something: she gave the ghost of a smile.

- a faint secondary image produced by a fault in an optical system or on a cathode ray screen, e.g. by faulty television reception or internal reflection in a mirror or camera.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] act as ghostwriter of (a work): his memoirs were smoothly ghosted by a journalist.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] glide smoothly and effortlessly: they ghosted up the river.

<PHRASES>

□ the ghost in the machine [PHILOSOPHY] the mind viewed as distinct from the body (usually used in a derogatory fashion by critics of dualism). [<ORIGIN> coined by the philosopher Gilbert Ryle (1949).]

□ give up the ghost die.

- (of a machine) stop working.

□ look as if one has seen a ghost look very pale and shocked.

□ not STAND the ghost of a chance have no chance at all.

<DERIVATIVES> ghostlike adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English gāst (in the sense ‘spirit, soul’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch geest and German Geist. The gh- spelling occurs first in Caxton, probably influenced by Flemish gheest.

ghost bat n. any of a number of bats with mainly white or grey fur, in particular:

- North American see WHITE BAT.

- Australian another term for FALSE VAMPIRE.

ghostbuster n. INFORMAL 1 a person who claims to be able to banish ghosts and poltergeists.

2 an official whose job is to investigate tax fraud.

ghost crab n. a pale yellowish crab that lives in a burrow in the sand above the high-water mark and goes down to the sea at night to feed.

<INFO> Genus Ocypode, family Ocypodidae.

Ghost Dance n. an American Indian religious cult of the second half of the 19th century, based on the performance of a ritual dance, which, it was believed, would drive away white people and restore the traditional lands and way of life.

ghosting n. [mass noun] the appearance of a ghost or secondary image on a television or other display screen.

ghostly adj. (ghostlier, ghostliest) of or like a ghost in appearance or sound; eerie and unnatural: a frightening, ghostly figure with a hood.

<DERIVATIVES> ghostliness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English gāstlic, from gāst ‘ghost’.

ghost moth (also ghost swift) n. a large European swift moth, the male of which has white wings.

<INFO> Hepialus humuli, family Hepialidae. See swift (sense 2 of the noun).

ghost story n. a story about ghosts, intended to be frightening.

ghost town n. a deserted town with few or no remaining inhabitants.

ghost train n. BRITISH a miniature train at a funfair designed to scare its passengers with eerie sights and sounds.

ghost word n. a word recorded in a dictionary or other reference work which is not actually used.

ghostwriter n. a person whose job it is to write material for someone else who is the named author.

<DERIVATIVES> ghostwrite v.

ghoul /ul/ n. 1 an evil spirit or phantom, especially one supposed to rob graves and feed on dead bodies.

2 a person morbidly interested in death or disaster.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Arabic ġūl, a desert demon believed to rob graves and devour corpses.

ghoulish adj. 1 resembling or characteristic of a ghoul: a ghoulish mask.

2 morbidly interested in death or disaster: she told the story with ghoulish relish.

<DERIVATIVES> ghoulishly adv. ghoulishness n.

GHQ abbr. General Headquarters.

Ghulghuleh /llə/ a ruined ancient city near Bamian in central Afghanistan. It was destroyed by Genghis Khan c.1221.

ghusl /us(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] ritual washing of the whole body, as prescribed by Islamic law to be performed in preparation for prayer and worship, and after sexual activity, childbirth, menstruation, etc. Compare with WUDU.

<ORIGIN> Arabic ġusl ‘washing’, from ġasala ‘to wash’.

GHz (also gHz) abbr. gigahertz.

GI^1 n. (pl. GIs) a private soldier in the US army.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (originally denoting equipment supplied to US forces): abbreviation of government (or general) issue.

GI^2 abbr. glycaemic index.

gi /i/ n. the loose white jacket worn in judo.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

Giacometti /dakəmεti/ Alberto (1901–66), Swiss sculptor and painter. His most typical works are emaciated and extremely elongated human forms, such as Pointing Man (1947).

giant n. 1 an imaginary or mythical being of human form but superhuman size.

- an abnormally or extremely tall or large person, animal, or plant.

- a very large company or organization.

- a person of exceptional talent or qualities: a giant among sportsmen.

2 [ASTRONOMY] a star of relatively great size and luminosity compared to ordinary stars of the main sequence, and 10–100 times the diameter of the sun.

■ adj. [attr.] of very great size or force; gigantic: giant multinational corporations | a giant meteorite.

- used in names of very large animals and plants, e.g. giant hogweed, giant tortoise.

<DERIVATIVES> giantlike adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English geant (with the first syllable later influenced by Latin gigant-), from Old French, via Latin from Greek gigas, gigant-.

giant anteater n. a large insectivorous mammal with long, coarse fur, large claws, an elongated snout, and a long tongue for catching ants. It is native to Central and South America.

<INFO> Myrmecophaga tridactyla, family Myrmecophagidae, order Xenartha (or Edentata).

giant clam n. a very large bivalve mollusc that occurs in the tropical Indo-Pacific.

<INFO> Family Tridacnidae: several species, including Tridacna gigas, which is the largest living shelled mollusc.

giant deer n. another term for IRISH ELK.

giantess n. a female giant.

giant gourami n. a large edible freshwater fish that is native to Asia. It is widely farmed there and has been introduced elsewhere.

<INFO> Family Osphronemidae and genus Osphronemus, in particular O. goramy.

giantism n. [mass noun] a tendency towards abnormally large size; gigantism.

giant-killer n. a person or team that defeats a seemingly much more powerful opponent.

<DERIVATIVES> giant-killing n.

giant petrel n. the largest petrel, which is found around southern oceans, has a massive bill, and scavenges from carcasses.

<INFO> Genus Macronectes, family Procellariidae: two species.

giant puffball n. a European fungus which produces a spherical white fruiting body with a diameter of up to 80 cm, edible when young.

<INFO> Langermannia gigantea, family Lycoperdaceae, class Gasteromycetes.

giant salamander n. a very large salamander that is native to North America and east Asia, in particular:

<INFO>

- a permanently aquatic salamander (three species in the family Cryptobranchidae), e.g. the American hellbender.

- a terrestrial salamander (three species in the family Dicamptodontidae), of western North America.

Giant's Causeway a geological formation of basalt columns, dating from the Tertiary period, on the north coast of Northern Ireland. It was once believed to be the end of a road made by a legendary giant to Staffa in the Inner Hebrides, where there is a similar formation.

giant sequoia n. the giant redwood. See REDWOOD.

giant slalom n. [SKIING] a long-distance slalom with fast, wide turns.

giant squid n. a deep-sea squid which is the largest known invertebrate, reaching a length of 18 m (59 ft) or more.

<INFO> Genus Architeuthis, order Teuthoidea.

giant toad n. another term for CANE TOAD.

giant tortoise n. a very large tortoise with a long lifespan, occurring on several tropical oceanic islands.

<INFO> Genus Geochelone, family Testudinidae: G. nigra (Galapagos Islands) and G. gigantea (Aldabra and the Seychelles).

giant zonure n. another term for SUNGAZER.

giaour /daə/ n. ARCHAIC, DEROGATORY a non-Muslim, especially a Christian.

<ORIGIN> from Turkish gâvur, from Persian gaur, probably from Arabic kāfir (see KAFFIR).

giardiasis /dαdəss/ n. [mass noun] infection of the intestine with a flagellate protozoan, which causes diarrhoea and other symptoms.

<INFO> The protozoan is Giardia lamblia, phylum Metamonada, kingdom Protista.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from modern Latin Giardia (from the name of Alfred M. Giard (1846–1908), French biologist) + -ASIS.

Gib n. British short for GIBRALTAR.

gibber^1 /dbə bə/ v. [no obj.] speak rapidly and unintelligibly, typically through fear or shock: they shrieked and gibbered as flames surrounded them | (as adj. gibbering) a gibbering idiot.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: imitative.

gibber^2 /bə/ (also gibber stone) n. AUSTRALIAN a stone or boulder forming part of a boulder plain.

- any small stone.

<ORIGIN> from Dharuk giba ‘stone’.

gibberbird /bəbəd/ n. AUSTRALIAN the desert chat, a bird inhabiting the plains of central Australia.

<INFO> Ashbyia lovensis, family Ephthianuridae.

<ORIGIN> gibber from GIBBER^2.

gibberellic acid /dbərεlk/ n. [mass noun] a gibberellin which is used commercially, notably in germinating barley for malt.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: gibberellic from modern Latin Gibberella (see GIBBERELLIN) + -IC.

gibberellin /dbərεln/ n. [mass noun] any of a group of plant hormones that stimulate stem elongation, germination, and flowering.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from modern Latin Gibberella (from Gibberella fujikuroi, the fungus from which one of the gibberellins was first extracted), diminutive of the genus name Gibbera, from Latin gibber ‘hump’, + -IN^1.

gibberish /db(ə)r b-/ n. [mass noun] unintelligible or meaningless speech or writing; nonsense: he talks gibberish.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: perhaps from GIBBER^1 (but recorded earlier) + the suffix -ish^1 (denoting a language as in Spanish, Swedish, etc.).

gibbet HISTORICAL n. a gallows.

- an upright post with an arm on which the bodies of executed criminals were left hanging as a warning or deterrent to others.

- (the gibbet) execution by hanging: the four ringleaders were sentenced to the gibbet.

■ v. (gibbets, gibbeting, gibbeted) [with obj.] hang up (a body) on a gibbet.

- execute (someone) by hanging.

- ARCHAIC subject to ridicule and derision: poor Melbourne is gibbeted in The Times.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gibet ‘staff, cudgel, gallows’, diminutive of gibe ‘club, staff’, probably of Germanic origin.

Gibbon^1 Edward (1737–94), English historian. He is best known for his multi-volume work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88), chapters of which aroused controversy for their critical account of the spread of Christianity.

Gibbon^2 Lewis Grassic (1901–35), Scottish writer; pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell. His short stories were regularly published in the Cornhill Magazine, and his novels include the trilogy A Scots Quair (1932–4).

gibbon n. a small, slender tree-dwelling ape with long powerful arms and loud hooting calls, native to the forests of SE Asia.

<INFO> Family Hylobatidae and genus Hylobates: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from an Indian dialect word.

Gibbons^1 Grinling (1648–1721), Dutch-born English sculptor. He is famous for his decorative carvings, chiefly in wood, as in the choir stalls of St Paul's Cathedral, London.

Gibbons^2 Orlando (1583–1625), English composer and musician. He was the organist of Westminster Abbey from 1623 and composed mainly sacred music, although he is also known for madrigals such as The Silver Swan (1612).

gibbous /bəs/ adj. (of the moon) having the illuminated part greater than a semicircle and less than a circle.

- convex or protuberant: his gibbous eyes.

<DERIVATIVES> gibbosity /-bsti/ n. gibbously adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin gibbosus, from Latin gibbus ‘hump’.

Gibbs^1 James (1682–1754), Scottish architect. He developed Wren's ideas for London's city churches, notably at St Martin's-in-the-Fields (1722–6); his best-known secular building is the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford (completed 1737–48), which he developed from earlier designs by Hawksmoor.

Gibbs^2 Josiah Willard (1839–1903), American physical chemist. He pioneered chemical thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, though his theoretical work was not generally appreciated until after his death.

Gibbs free energy n. [CHEMISTRY] a thermodynamic quantity equal to the enthalpy (of a system or process) minus the product of the entropy and the absolute temperature. (Symbol: G)

<ORIGIN> named after J. W. Gibbs (see Gibbs^2).

gibbsite /bzt/ n. [mass noun] a colourless mineral consisting of hydrated aluminium hydroxide, occurring chiefly as a constituent of bauxite or in encrustations.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after George Gibbs (1776–1833), American mineralogist, + -ITE^1.

giblets /dblts/ plural n. the liver, heart, gizzard, and neck of a chicken or other fowl, usually removed before the bird is cooked, and often used to make gravy, stuffing, or soup.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘an inessential appendage’, later ‘garbage, offal’): from Old French gibelet ‘game bird stew’, probably from gibier ‘birds or mammals hunted for sport’.

Gibraltar /dbrltə/ a British dependency near the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula, at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar; pop. 27,714 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), Spanish.

Occupying a site of great strategic importance, Gibraltar consists of a fortified town and military base at the foot of a rocky headland, the Rock of Gibraltar. Britain captured it during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704 and is responsible for its defence, external affairs, and internal security.

<DERIVATIVES> Gibraltarian /dbrltεrən/ adj. & n.

Gibraltar, Strait of a channel between the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula and North Africa, forming the only outlet of the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic. It is some 60 km (38 miles) long and varies in width from 24 km (15 miles) to 40 km (25 miles) at its western extremity.

Gibran /dbrαn/ (also Jubran) Khalil (1883–1931), Lebanese-born American writer and artist. His writings in both Arabic and English are deeply romantic, displaying his religious and mystical nature.

Gibson^1 Althea (1927–2003), American tennis player. She was the first black player to succeed at the highest level of tennis, winning all the major world women's singles titles in the late 1950s.

Gibson^2 Mel (b.1956), Australian actor and director, born in the US. Notable film appearances: Mad Max (1979), the Lethal Weapon series (1987, 1989, 1992, 1998), and Braveheart (1995), which he also directed and which won five Oscars.

Gibson Desert a desert region in Western Australia, to the south-east of the Great Sandy Desert. The first European to cross it (1876) was Ernest Giles, who named it after his companion Alfred Gibson, who went missing on an earlier expedition.

Gibson girl n. a girl typifying the fashionable ideal of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

<ORIGIN> represented in the work of Charles D. Gibson (1867–1944), American artist and illustrator.

gibus /dbəs/ (also gibus hat) n. a kind of collapsible top hat.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Gibus, the French inventor of this type of hat.

gid /d/ n. [mass noun] (often the gid) a fatal disease of sheep and goats, marked by loss of balance. It is caused by larvae of the dog tapeworm encysted in the brain.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: back-formation from GIDDY.

giddap /dap dap/ exclam. North American another term for GIDDY-UP.

giddiness n. [mass noun] 1 a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall or stagger; dizziness: symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and giddiness.

2 a state of excitable frivolity. the fans can be forgiven their giddiness.

giddy adj. (giddier, giddiest) having a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall or stagger; dizzy: Luke felt almost giddy with relief.

- disorientating and alarming, but exciting: her giddy rise to power.

- excitable and frivolous: Isobel's giddy young sister-in-law.

■ v. (giddies, giddying, giddied) [with obj.] make (someone) feel excited to the point of disorientation.

<PHRASES>

□ my giddy aunt! DATED used to express astonishment.

□ play the giddy goat DATED behave in an irresponsible, silly, or playful way.

<DERIVATIVES> giddily adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English gidig ‘insane’, literally ‘possessed by a god’, from the base of GOD. Current senses date from late Middle English.

giddy-up exclam. said to make a horse start moving or go faster.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US as giddap): reproducing a pronunciation of get up.

Gide /id/ André (Paul Guillaume) (1869–1951), French novelist, essayist, and critic, regarded as the father of modern French literature. Notable works: The Immoralist (1902), La Porte étroite (1909, Strait is the Gate), The Counterfeiters (1927), and his Journal (1939–50). Nobel Prize for Literature (1947).

Gideon /dən/ 1 (in the Bible) an Israelite leader, described in Judges 6:11 ff.

2 a member of Gideons International.

Gideon Bible n. a bible placed in a hotel room or hospital ward by Gideons International with the aim of spreading the Christian faith.

Gideons International an international Christian organization of business and professional people, founded in 1899 in the US.

gidgee /di/ n. AUSTRALIAN any of a number of acacia trees of inland Australia.

<INFO> Genus Acacia, family Labiatae: several species, in particular A. cambagei, whose foliage emits an unpleasant odour at times.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Wiradhuri gijir.

gie /i/ v. Scottish form of GIVE.

Gielgud /ild/ Sir (Arthur) John (1904–2000), English actor and director. A notable Shakespearean actor, particularly remembered for his interpretation of the role of Hamlet, he also appeared in contemporary plays and films and won an Oscar for his role as a butler in Arthur (1980).

GIF n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] a popular format for image files, with built-in data compression.

- (also gif) [count noun] a file in this format.

<ORIGIN> acronym from graphic interchange format.

GIFT n. [mass noun] MEDICINE gamete intrafallopian transfer, a technique for assisting conception by introducing mixed ova and sperm into a Fallopian tube.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: acronym.

gift n. 1 a thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present: wedding gifts.

- an act of giving something as a present: his mother's gift of a pen.

- INFORMAL a very easy task or unmissable opportunity: that goal was an absolute gift.

2 a natural ability or talent: he has a gift for comedy.

■ v. [with obj.] give (something) as a gift, especially formally or as a donation or bequest: the company gifted 2,999 shares to a charity.

- present (someone) with a gift or gifts: the queen gifted him with a heart-shaped brooch.

- (gift someone with) endow with (something): man is gifted with a moral sense.

- INFORMAL inadvertently allow (an opponent) to have something: [with two objs] the goalkeeper gifted Liverpool their last-minute winner.

<PHRASES>

□ the gift of the gab see GAB.

□ the gift of TONGUEs see TONGUE.

□ in the gift of (of a Church living or official appointment) in the power of (someone) to award: nine seats in parliament were now in his gift.

□ don't look a gift horse in the mouth PROVERB don't find fault with something that you have discovered or been given. [<ORIGIN> prospective purchasers would often inspect the condition of a horse's teeth.]

<DERIVATIVES> giftable adj. (US)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse gipt; related to GIVE.

gift certificate n. NORTH AMERICAN a gift token.

gifted adj. having exceptional talent or natural ability: a gifted amateur musician.

<DERIVATIVES> giftedness n.

gift token (also gift voucher) n. BRITISH a voucher given as a present which is exchangeable for goods.

giftware n. [mass noun] goods sold as being suitable as gifts.

gift wrap n. [mass noun] decorative paper for wrapping presents.

■ v. (gift-wrap) [with obj.] (usually as adj. gift-wrapped) wrap (a present) in decorative paper.

- INFORMAL inadvertently allow someone to have (something): the first England goal came gift-wrapped.

Gifu /ifu/ a city in central Japan, on the island of Honshu; pop. 419,600 (est. 2002).

gig^1 // n. 1 chiefly HISTORICAL a light two-wheeled carriage pulled by one horse.

2 a light, fast, narrow boat adapted for rowing or sailing.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: apparently a transferred sense of obsolete gig ‘a flighty girl’, which was also applied to various objects or devices that whirled.

gig^2 // INFORMAL n. a live performance by a musician or group playing popular or jazz music.

- a task or assignment: working on the sea and spotting whales seemed like a great gig.

■ v. (gigs, gigging, gigged) [no obj.] perform a gig or gigs.

- [with obj.] use (a piece of musical equipment) at a gig.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: of unknown origin.

gig^3 // n. a harpoon-like weapon used for catching fish.

■ v. (gigs, gigging, gigged) [no obj.] fish using a gig.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: shortening of earlier (rarely used) fizgig, probably from Spanish fisga ‘harpoon’.

gig^4 / d/ n. [COMPUTING], INFORMAL short for GIGABYTE.

giga- /ə də/ combining form used in units of measurement: 1 denoting a factor of 10^9: gigahertz.

2 [COMPUTING] denoting a factor of 2^30.

<ORIGIN> from Greek gigas ‘giant’.

gigabit /əbt d-/ (abbr.: Gb or GB) n. [COMPUTING] a unit of information equal to one thousand million (10^9) or (strictly) 2^30 bits.

gigabyte /əbt d-/ (abbr.: Gb or GB) n. [COMPUTING] a unit of information equal to one thousand million (10^9) or, strictly, 2^30 bytes.

gigaflop /əflp d-/ n. [COMPUTING] a unit of computing speed equal to one thousand million floating-point operations per second.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: back-formation from gigaflops (see GIGA-, -flop).

gigahertz (abbr.: GHz or gHz) n. a measure of frequency equivalent to one thousand million (10^9) cycles per second.

giganotosaurus /dənətəsrəs/ n. an enormous carnivorous dinosaur of the late Cretaceous period, resembling the tyrannosaurs.

<INFO> Genus Giganotosaurus, suborder Theropoda, order Saurischia.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek gigas ‘giant’ + nōton ‘back’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

gigantic adj. of very great size or extent; huge or enormous: a gigantic concrete tower.

<DERIVATIVES> gigantically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘like or suited to a giant’): from Latin gigas, gigant- (see GIANT) + -IC.

gigantism /dantz(ə)m dantz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] chiefly [BIOLOGY] unusual or abnormal largeness.

- MEDICINE excessive growth due to hormonal imbalance.

- [BOTANY] excessive size in plants due to polyploidy.

gigantomachy /dantməki/ n. (in Greek mythology) the struggle between the gods and the giants.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek gigantomakhia, from gigas, gigant- (see GIANT) + -makhia ‘fighting’.

Gigantopithecus /dantəpθkəs/ n. a very large fossil Asian ape of the Upper Miocene to Lower Pleistocene epochs.

<INFO> Genus Gigantopithecus, family Pongidae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek gigas, gigant- (see GIANT) + pithēkos ‘ape’.

gigawatt (abbr.: Gw) n. a unit of power equal to one thousand million (10^9) watts.

giggle v. [no obj.] laugh lightly in a nervous, affected, or silly manner: they giggled at some private joke | (as adj. giggling) three young, giggling girls.

■ n. a laugh of such a kind.

- (the giggles) continuous uncontrollable giggling: I got a fit of the giggles.

- British INFORMAL an amusing person or thing; a joke: it should be a right giggle.

<DERIVATIVES> giggler n. giggly adj. (gigglier, giggliest)

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: imitative.

Gigli /dili/ Italian /diFFi/ Beniamino (1890–1957), Italian operatic tenor. He made his Milan debut with the conductor Toscanini in 1918, and retained his singing talents to a considerable age.

GIGO /ə/ abbr. chiefly [COMPUTING] garbage in, garbage out.

gigolo /(d)ələ/ n. (pl. gigolos) a young man paid or financially supported by a woman, typically an older woman, to be her escort or lover.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (in the sense ‘dancing partner’): from French, formed as the masculine of gigole ‘dance hall woman’, from colloquial gigue ‘leg’.

gigot /dət/ n. a leg of mutton or lamb.

<ORIGIN> French, diminutive of colloquial gigue ‘leg’, from giguer ‘to hop, jump’, of unknown origin.

gigot sleeve n. a leg-of-mutton sleeve.

gigue /i/ n. [MUSIC] a lively piece of music in the style of a dance, typically of the Renaissance or baroque period, and usually in compound time.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: French, literally ‘jig’.

Gijón /hn/ Spanish /xixən/ a port and industrial city in northern Spain, on the Bay of Biscay; pop. 269,270 (est. 2001).

Gila monster /hilə/ n. a venomous beaded lizard native to the south-western US and Mexico.

<INFO> Heloderma suspectum, family Helodermatidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Gila, a river in New Mexico and Arizona.

Gilbert^1 Sir Humphrey (c.1539–83), English explorer. He claimed Newfoundland for Elizabeth I in 1583, but was lost when his ship foundered in a storm on the way home.

Gilbert^2 William (1544–1603), English physician and physicist. He discovered how to make magnets, and coined the term magnetic pole. His book De Magnete (1600) is an important early work on physics.

Gilbert^3 Sir W. S. (1836–1911), English dramatist; full name William Schwenck Gilbert. He is best known as a librettist who collaborated on light operas with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan. Notable works: HMS Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), and The Mikado (1885).

<DERIVATIVES> Gilbertian adj.

Gilbert and Ellice Islands a former British colony (1915–75) in the central Pacific, consisting of two groups of islands: the Gilbert Islands, now a part of Kiribati, and the Ellice Islands, now Tuvalu.

Gilbertese n. 1 a native or inhabitant of the Gilbert Islands.

2 [mass noun] the Micronesian language spoken in the Gilbert Islands (see KIRIBATI).

■ adj. relating to the Gilbert Islands.

Gilbert Islands a group of islands in the central Pacific, forming part of Kiribati. The islands straddle the equator and lie immediately west of the International Date Line. They were formerly part of the British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.

<ORIGIN> named by the British after Thomas Gilbert, an English adventurer who arrived there in 1788.

gild^1 v. [with obj.] (often as adj. gilded) cover thinly with gold: Camelot's gilded towers | FIGURATIVE the first rays of the sun were gilding the grassy hillside.

- (as adj. gilded) wealthy and privileged: the gilded fools who surrounded the Prince.

<PHRASES>

□ gild the lily try to improve what is already beautiful or excellent. [<ORIGIN> misquotation, from ‘To gild refined gold, to paint the lily; to throw perfume on the violet, … is wasteful, and ridiculous excess’ (Shakespeare's King John VI. ii. 11.).]

<DERIVATIVES> gilder n.

<ORIGIN> Old English gyldan, of Germanic origin; related to GOLD.

gild^2 n. archaic spelling of GUILD.

gilded cage n. a luxurious but restrictive environment.

gilded youth n. [treated as sing. or plural] young people of wealth, fashion, and flair.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: translating jeunesse dorée.

gilding n. [mass noun] the material used in or the surface produced by gilding.

gilet /le ile/ n. (pl. gilets pronunc. same) a light sleeveless padded jacket.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, ‘waistcoat’, from Spanish jileco, from Turkish yelek.

gilgai /l/ (also gilgai hole) n. AUSTRALIAN a hollow where rainwater collects; a waterhole.

<ORIGIN> from Wiradhuri and Kamilaroi gilgaay.

Gilgamesh /ləmε/ a legendary king of the Sumerian city state of Uruk who is supposed to have ruled sometime during the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. He is the hero of the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, which recounts his exploits in an ultimately unsuccessful quest for immortality.

Gill /l/ (Arthur) Eric (Rowton) (1882–1940), English sculptor, engraver, and typographer. His best-known sculptures are the relief carvings Stations of the Cross (1914–18) at Westminster Cathedral and Prospero and Ariel (1931) on Broadcasting House in London. He designed the popular sans serif typeface, Gill Sans.

gill^1 /l/ n. (often gills) 1 the paired respiratory organ of fish and some amphibians, by which oxygen is extracted from water flowing over surfaces within or attached to the walls of the pharynx.

- an organ of similar function in an invertebrate animal.

2 the vertical plates arranged radially on the underside of mushrooms and many toadstools.

3 the wattles or dewlap of a domestic fowl.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 gut or clean (a fish).

2 catch (a fish) in a gill net.

<PHRASES>

□ green about (or around or at) the gills (of a person) looking or feeling ill or nauseous.

□ to the gills until completely full.

<DERIVATIVES> gilled adj. [in combination] a six-gilled shark

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse.

gill^2 /dl/ n. a unit of liquid measure, equal to a quarter of a pint.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gille ‘measure or container for wine’, from late Latin gillo ‘water pot’.

gill^3 /l/ (also ghyll) n. chiefly N. ENGLISH 1 a deep ravine, especially a wooded one.

2 a narrow mountain stream.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse gil ‘deep glen’. The spelling ghyll was introduced by Wordsworth.

gill^4 /dl/ (also jill) n. 1 a female ferret. Compare with hob^2 (sense 1).

2 DEROGATORY a young woman.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: abbreviation of the given name Gillian.

gill cover n. a flap of skin protecting a fish's gills, typically stiffened by bony plates. Also called OPERCULUM.

Gillespie /lεspi/ Dizzy (1917–93), American jazz trumpet player and bandleader; born John Birks Gillespie. He was a virtuoso trumpet player and a leading exponent of the bebop style.

gillie /li/ (also ghillie) n. 1 (in Scotland) a man or boy who attends someone on a hunting or fishing expedition.

- HISTORICAL a Highland chief's attendant.

2 (usually ghillie) a type of shoe with laces along the instep and no tongue, used especially for Scottish country dancing.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Scottish Gaelic gille ‘lad, servant’. The word was also found in the term gilliewetfoot, denoting a servant who carried the chief over a stream, used as a contemptuous name by Lowlanders for the follower of a Highland chief.

■ Sense 2 dates from the 1930s.

Gillingham /dləm/ a town on the Medway estuary south-east of London; pop. 96,100 (est. 2002).

gill net n. a fishing net which is hung vertically so that fish get trapped in it by their gills.

<DERIVATIVES> gill-netter n.

gillyflower /dlflaə/ (also gilliflower) n. any of a number of fragrant flowers, such as the wallflower or white stock.

- (also clove gillyflower) ARCHAIC a clove-scented pink or carnation. See clove^1 (sense 3).

<ORIGIN> Middle English gilofre (in the sense ‘clove’), from Old French gilofre, girofle, via medieval Latin from Greek karuophullon (from karuon ‘nut’ + phullon ‘leaf’). The ending was altered by association with FLOWER, but gilliver survived in dialect.

Gilsonite /lsənt/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a very pure, shiny, brittle black form of asphalt, used in making inks, paints, and varnishes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Samuel H. Gilson, 19th-cent. American mineralogist, + -ITE^1.

gilt^1 adj. covered thinly with gold leaf or gold paint.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] gold leaf or gold paint applied in a thin layer to a surface.

2 (gilts) fixed-interest loan securities issued by the UK government.

<PHRASES>

□ take the gilt off the gingerbread see GINGERBREAD.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: archaic past participle of gild^1.

gilt^2 n. a young sow.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse gyltr.

gilt-edged adj. (especially of paper or a book) having a gilded edge or edges.

- relating to or denoting stocks or securities (such as gilts) that are regarded as extremely reliable investments.

giltwood adj. [attr.] made of wood and gilded: an 18th-century carved giltwood chair.

gimbal /dmb(ə)l/ (also gimbals) n. a device for keeping an instrument such as a compass or chronometer horizontal in a moving vessel or aircraft, typically consisting of rings pivoted at right angles.

<DERIVATIVES> gimballed adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (used in the plural denoting connecting parts in machinery): variant of earlier gimmal, itself a variant of late Middle English gemel ‘twin, hinge, finger ring which can be divided into two rings’, from Old French gemel ‘twin’, from Latin gemellus, diminutive of geminus.

gimcrack /dmkrak/ adj. showy but cheap or badly made.

■ n. a cheap and showy ornament; a knick-knack.

<DERIVATIVES> gimcrackery n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English gibecrake, of unknown origin. Originally a noun, the term denoted some kind of inlaid work in wood, later a fanciful notion or mechanical contrivance, hence a knick-knack.

gimlet /mlt/ n. 1 a small T-shaped tool with a screw tip for boring holes.

2 a cocktail of gin (or sometimes vodka) and lime juice.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French guimbelet, diminutive of guimble ‘drill’, ultimately of Germanic origin.

gimlet eye n. an eye with a piercing stare.

<DERIVATIVES> gimlet-eyed adj.

gimme INFORMAL contraction give me (not acceptable in standard use): just gimme the damn thing.

■ n. NORTH AMERICAN a thing that is very easy to perform or obtain, especially in a game or sport: the kick would hardly be a gimme in that wind.

gimme cap (also gimme hat) n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a baseball cap bearing a company name or slogan which is given away for publicity purposes.

gimmer /mə/ n. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a ewe between its first and second shearing.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Norse gymbr, of unknown ultimate origin.

gimmick n. a trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or trade.

<DERIVATIVES> gimmicky adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): of unknown origin but possibly an approximate anagram of magic, the original sense being ‘a piece of magicians' apparatus’.

gimmickry n. [mass noun] gimmicks collectively; the use of gimmicks: it does what it says it does, with no design gimmickry.

gimp^1 /mp/ (also guimp or gymp) n. 1 [mass noun] twisted silk, worsted, or cotton with cord or wire running through it, used chiefly as upholstery trimming.

- (in lacemaking) coarser thread which forms the outline of the design in some techniques.

2 fishing line made of silk bound with wire.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Dutch, of unknown ultimate origin.

gimp^2 /mp/ NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DEROGATORY n. 1 a physically disabled or lame person.

- a limp.

2 a feeble or contemptible person.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] limp; hobble: I gimped over to the door.

<DERIVATIVES> gimpy adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: of unknown origin.

gin^1 n. 1 [mass noun] a clear alcoholic spirit distilled from grain or malt and flavoured with juniper berries.

2 (also gin rummy) a form of the card game rummy in which a player holding cards totalling ten or less may terminate play.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: abbreviation of GENEVER.

gin^2 n. 1 a machine for separating cotton from its seeds.

2 a machine for raising and moving heavy weights.

3 (also gin trap) a trap for catching birds or small mammals.

■ v. (gins, ginning, ginned) [with obj.] treat (cotton) in a gin.

<DERIVATIVES> ginner n. ginnery n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘a tool or device, a trick’): from Old French engin (see ENGINE).

gin^3 n. AUSTRALIAN OFFENSIVE an Aboriginal woman.

<ORIGIN> from Dharuk diyin ‘woman, wife’.

ginger n. [mass noun] 1 a hot, fragrant spice made from the rhizome of a plant, which may be chopped or powdered for cooking, preserved in syrup, or candied.

■ short for GINGER ALE.

2 a SE Asian plant, which resembles bamboo in appearance, from which ginger is taken.

<INFO> Zingiber officinale, family Zingiberaceae.

3 a light reddish-yellow colour.

4 a quality of energy or spiritedness: the ginger had gone out of the men.

■ adj. (chiefly of hair or fur) of a light reddish-yellow colour.

- (of a person or animal) having ginger hair or fur.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (usually as adj. gingered) flavour with ginger: gingered sweet-potato salad.

2 (ginger someone/thing up) make someone or something more lively: she slapped his hand lightly to ginger him up.

<DERIVATIVES> gingery adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English gingifer, conflated in Middle English with Old French gingimbre, from medieval Latin gingiber, from Greek zingiberis, from Pali sigivera, of Dravidian origin.

ginger ale n. [mass noun] a clear effervescent non-alcoholic drink flavoured with ginger extract.

ginger beer n. [mass noun] a cloudy effervescent drink made by fermenting a mixture of root or ground ginger and syrup.

gingerbread n. [mass noun] 1 cake made with treacle or syrup and flavoured with ginger.

2 [often as modifier] elaborate or ornate decoration, especially on the eaves or porch of a building.

<PHRASES>

□ take the gilt off the gingerbread BRITISH make something no longer attractive or desirable.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting preserved ginger), from Old French gingembrat, from medieval Latin gingibratum, from gingiber (see GINGER). The change in the ending in the 15th century was due to association with BREAD.

gingerbread man n. a flat ginger biscuit shaped like a person.

ginger group n. BRITISH a highly active faction within a party or movement that presses for stronger action on a particular issue.

ginger jar n. a small ceramic jar with a high rim over which a lid fits.

gingerly adv. in a careful or cautious manner: Jackson sat down very gingerly.

■ adj. showing great care or caution: a gingerly pace.

<DERIVATIVES> gingerliness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘daintily, mincingly’): perhaps from Old French gensor ‘delicate’, comparative of gent ‘graceful’, from Latin genitus ‘(well-) born’.

ginger nut (also ginger snap) n. BRITISH a hard ginger-flavoured biscuit.

ginger wine n. [mass noun] an alcoholic drink made from fermented sugar, water, and bruised ginger.

gingham /əm/ n. [mass noun] lightweight plain-woven cotton cloth, typically checked in white and a bold colour: [as modifier] gingham curtains.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Dutch gingang, from Malay genggang (originally an adjective meaning ‘striped’).

gingival /dndv(ə)l/ adj. MEDICINE concerned with the gums: the gingival tissues.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin gingiva ‘gum’ + -AL.

gingivitis /dndvts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the gums.

ginglymus /lməs/ n. (pl. ginglymi /-m/) [ANATOMY] a hinge-like joint such as the elbow or knee, which allows movement in only one plane.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: modern Latin, from Greek ginglumos ‘hinge’.

gink /k/ n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a foolish or contemptible person.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): of unknown origin.

ginkgo /kə kə/ (also gingko) n. (pl. ginkgos or ginkgoes) a deciduous Chinese tree related to the conifers, with fan-shaped leaves and yellow flowers. It has a number of primitive features and is similar to some Jurassic fossils. Also called MAIDENHAIR TREE.

<INFO> Ginkgo biloba, the only living member of the family Ginkgoaceae and order Ginkgoales, class Coniferopsida.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Japanese ginkyō, from Chinese yinxing.

gin mill n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a run-down or seedy nightclub or bar.

ginnel /n(ə)l/ n. N. ENGLISH a narrow passage between buildings; an alley.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps from French chenel ‘channel’.

ginormous adj. BRITISH INFORMAL extremely large: ginormous piles of rubbish.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally military slang): blend of GIANT and ENORMOUS.

Ginsberg /nzbə/ Allen (1926–97), American poet. A leading poet of the beat generation, and later influential in the hippy movement of the 1960s, he is notable for Howl and Other Poems (1956), in which he attacked American society for its materialism and complacency.

ginseng /dnsε/ n. 1 [mass noun] a plant tuber credited with various tonic and medicinal properties.

2 the plant from which this tuber is obtained, native to east Asia and North America.

<INFO> Genus Panax, family Araliaceae: several species, in particular the Asian P. pseudoginseng and the North American P. quinquefolius.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Chinese rénshēn, from rén ‘man’ + shēn, a kind of herb (because of the supposed resemblance of the forked root to a person).

gin sling n. a drink of gin and water, sweetened and flavoured with lemon or lime juice.

ginzo /nzə/ US INFORMAL, DEROGATORY n. (pl. ginzos) an Italian person.

■ adj. Italian.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: perhaps from US slang Guinea, denoting an Italian or Spanish immigrant.

Giorgione /ddəne -ni/ Italian /dərdəne/ (c.1478–1510), Italian painter; also called Giorgio Barbarelli or Giorgio da Castelfranco. An influential figure in Renaissance art, he introduced the small easel picture in oils intended for private collectors. Notable works: The Tempest (c.1505) and Sleeping Venus (c.1510).

Giotto^1 /dtə/ (c.1267–1337), Italian painter; full name Giotto di Bondone. He introduced a naturalistic style showing human expression. Notable works include the frescoes in the Arena Chapel, Padua (1305–8), and the church of Santa Croce in Florence (c.1320).

Giotto^2 /dtə/ a European space probe which photographed the nucleus of Halley's Comet in March 1986.

Giovanni de' Medici the name of Pope Leo X (see Leo^1).

gippy tummy /dpi/ (also gyppy tummy) n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL diarrhoea affecting visitors to hot countries.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: gippy, abbreviation of EGYPTIAN.

giraffe n. (pl. same or giraffes) a large African mammal with a very long neck and forelegs, having a coat patterned with brown patches separated by lighter lines. It is the tallest living animal.

<INFO> Giraffa camelopardalis, family Giraffidae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French girafe, Italian giraffa, or Spanish and Portuguese girafa, based on Arabic zarāfa. The animal was known in Europe in the medieval period, and isolated instances of names for it based on the Arabic are recorded in Middle English, when it was commonly called the CAMELOPARD.

girandole /dr(ə)ndəl/ n. a branched support for candles or other lights, which either stands on a surface or projects from a wall.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a revolving cluster of fireworks): from French, from Italian girandola, from girare ‘gyrate, turn’, from Latin gyrare (see GYRATE).

girasol /drəsl -səl/ (also girasole /-səl/) n. 1 a kind of opal reflecting a reddish glow.

2 North American term for JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘sunflower’): from French, or from Italian girasole, from girare ‘to turn’ + sole ‘sun’ (because the sunflower turns to follow the path of the sun).

gird^1 v. (past and past part. girded or girt) [with obj.] LITERARY encircle (a person or part of the body) with a belt or band: a young man was to be girded with the belt of knighthood.

- secure (a garment or sword) on the body with a belt or band: a white robe girded with a magenta sash.

- surround; encircle: the ruins are girded by two deep gorges.

<PHRASES>

□ gird (up) one's loins (or gird oneself for something) prepare and strengthen oneself for future actions, typically ones that may be dangerous or difficult.

<ORIGIN> Old English gyrdan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gorden and German gürten, also to girdle^1 and GIRTH.

gird^2 ARCHAIC v. [no obj.] make cutting or critical remarks: the clubmen girded at the Committee.

■ n. a cutting or critical remark.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘strike, stab’): of unknown origin.

girder n. a large iron or steel beam or compound structure used for building bridges and the framework of large buildings.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from GIRD^1 in the archaic sense ‘brace, strengthen’.

girdle^1 n. 1 a belt or cord worn round the waist.

- a thing that encircles something like a girdle: a communications girdle around the world.

- [ANATOMY] either of two sets of bones encircling the body, to which the limbs are attached. See PECTORAL GIRDLE, PELVIC GIRDLE.

2 a woman's elasticated corset extending from waist to thigh.

3 the part of a cut gem dividing the crown from the base and embraced by the setting.

4 a ring made around a tree by removing bark.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 encircle (the body) with a girdle: the Friar loosened the rope that girdled his waist.

- surround; encircle: the chain of volcanoes which girdles the Pacific.

2 cut through the bark all the way round (a tree or branch), typically in order to kill it.

<ORIGIN> Old English gyrdel, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gordel and German Gürtel, also to gird^1 and GIRTH.

girdle^2 n. Scottish and northern English term for griddle (sense 1 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of GRIDDLE.

girdled lizard (also girdle-tailed lizard) n. an African lizard with rough or spiny scales which give a banded appearance to the body and tail. Also called ZONURE.

<INFO> Genus Cordylus, family Cordylidae: several species, in particular the common (or Cape) girdled lizard (C. cordylus).

girdler n. 1 ARCHAIC a maker of girdles.

2 an insect which removes rings of bark from trees.

girl n. 1 a female child.

- a person's daughter: he was devoted to his little girl.

2 a young or relatively young woman.

- [with modifier] a young woman of a specified kind or having a specified job: a career girl.

- (girls) INFORMAL women who mix socially: I look forward to having a night with the girls.

- a person's girlfriend: his girl eloped with an accountant.

- DATED a female servant.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a child or young person of either sex): perhaps related to Low German gör ‘child’.

girl Friday n. a female assistant, especially a junior office worker.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: on the pattern of man Friday.

girlfriend n. a person's regular female companion with whom they have a romantic or sexual relationship.

- a woman's female friend.

Girl Guide n. BRITISH a member of the Guides Association.

Girl Guides Association former name for GUIDES ASSOCIATION.

girlhood n. [mass noun] the state or time of being a girl: they had been friends since girlhood.

girlie (also girly) adj. 1 often DEROGATORY characteristic of or appropriate to a girl: girlie pink paper.

2 [attr.] depicting or featuring nude or partially nude young women in erotic poses: girlie magazines.

■ n. (pl. girlies) INFORMAL a girl or young woman (often used as a term of address).

girlish adj. of or characteristic of a girl: girlish giggles.

<DERIVATIVES> girlishly adv. girlishness n.

Girl Scout n. a girl belonging to the Scout Association.

giro /drə/ n. (pl. giros) [mass noun] a system of electronic credit transfer used in Europe and Japan, involving banks, post offices, and public utilities.

- [count noun] BRITISH a cheque or payment by giro, especially a social security payment: any chance of a pound till the giro comes?

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via German from Italian, ‘circulation (of money)’.

Gironde /rnd/ French /iRd/ a river estuary in SW France, formed at the junction of the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers, north of Bordeaux, and flowing north-west for 72 km (45 miles) into the Bay of Biscay.

- a department in Aquitaine, SW France.

Girondist /drndst/ (also Girondin /drndn/ French /iRdε/) n. a member of the French moderate republican Party in power during the Revolution 1791–3, so called because the party leaders were the deputies from the department of the Gironde.

<ORIGIN> from archaic French Girondiste (now Girondin).

girt^1 past participle of gird^1.

girt^2 n. old-fashioned term for GIRTH.

girth n. 1 [mass noun] the measurement around the middle of something, especially a person's waist.

- a person's waist or stomach, especially when large.

2 a band attached to a saddle and fastened around a horse's belly to keep the saddle in place.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC surround; encircle: the four seas that girth Britain.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2 of the noun): from Old Norse gjrth.

GIS abbr. geographic information system, a system for storing and manipulating geographical information on computer.

Gisborne /zbən/ a port and resort on the east coast of the North Island, New Zealand; pop. 32,800 (est. 2002).

Giscard d'Estaing /iskα dεsta/ French /iskaR dεstε/ Valéry (b.1926), French statesman, President 1974–81. He was a member of the European Parliament (1989–93) and has been leader of the centre-right Union pour la démocratie française since 1988.

Gish // Lillian (1896–1993), American actress. She and her sister Dorothy (1898–1968) appeared in a number of D. W. Griffith's films, including Hearts of the World (1918) and Orphans of the Storm (1922).

Gissing /s/ George (Robert) (1857–1903), English novelist. Notable works: New Grub Street (1891), Born in Exile (1892), and The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903).

gist /dst/ n. [in sing.] 1 the substance or general meaning of a speech or text: it was hard to get the gist of Pedro's talk.

2 [LAW] the real point of an action.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Old French, third person singular present tense of gesir ‘to lie’, from Latin jacere. The Anglo-French legal phrase cest action gist ‘this action lies’ denoted that there were sufficient grounds to proceed; gist was adopted into English denoting the grounds themselves (sense 2).

git n. BRITISH INFORMAL an unpleasant or contemptible person.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: variant of get (sense 2 of the noun).

Gita /itə/ n. short for BHAGAVADGITA.

gîte /it/ French /it/ n. a furnished holiday house in France, typically in a rural district.

<ORIGIN> French, from Old French giste; related to gésir ‘to lie’.

gittern /tən/ n. HISTORICAL a lute-like medieval stringed instrument, forerunner of the guitar.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French guiterne; perhaps related to CITTERN and GUITAR.

give v. (past gave; past part. given) 1 [with two objs] freely transfer the possession of (something) to (someone): she gave him presents and clothes | the cheque given to the jeweller proved worthless | [with obj.] he gave the papers back.

- [with obj.] hand over (an amount) in payment; pay: how much did you give for that?

- [with obj.] used hyperbolically to express how greatly one wants to have or do something: I'd give anything for a cup of tea.

- [with obj.] commit or entrust: a baby given into their care by the accident of her birth.

- [with obj.] freely set aside or devote for a purpose: all who have given thought to the matter agree | [no obj.] committees who give so generously of their time and effort.

- [with obj.] DATED (of a man) sanction the marriage of (his daughter) to someone: he gave her in marriage to a noble.

- (give oneself to) DATED (of a woman) consent to have sexual intercourse with (a man).

2 [with two objs] cause or allow (someone or something) to have or experience (something); provide with: you gave me such a fright | [with obj.] this leaflet gives our opening times.

- provide (love or other emotional support) to: his parents gave him the encouragement he needed | (as adj. giving) he was very giving and supportive.

- pass on (an illness or infection) to (someone): I hope I don't give you my cold.

- pass (a message) to (someone): give my love to all the girls.

- [usually in imperative] make a connection to allow (someone) to speak to (someone else) on the telephone: give me the police.

3 [with obj.] carry out or perform (a specified action): I gave a bow | [with two objs] he gave the counter a polish.

- produce (a sound): he gave a gasp.

- present (an appearance or impression): he gave no sign of life.

- provide (a party or social meal) as host or hostess: a dinner given in honour of an American diplomat | [with two objs] Kate gave him a leaving party.

4 [with obj.] yield as a product or result: milk is sometimes added to give a richer cheese.

- (give something off/out/forth) emit odour, vapour, or similar substances: some solvents give off toxic fumes.

5 [with obj.] concede (something) as valid or deserved in respect of (someone): give him his due.

- allot (a score) to: I gave it five out of ten.

- (give something for) place a specified value on (something): he never gave anything for French painting.

- sentence (someone) to (a specified penalty): for the first offence I was given a fine.

- [with obj. and complement] (of an umpire or referee) declare whether or not (a player) is out or offside: Gooch was given out, caught behind.

- adjudicate that (a goal) has been legitimately scored.

6 [with obj.] state or put forward (information or argument): he did not give his name.

- pledge or offer as a guarantee: [with two objs] I give you my word.

- [with two objs, usually with negative] say to (someone) as an excuse or inappropriate answer: don't give me any of your backchat.

- deliver (a judgement) authoritatively: I gave my verdict.

- INFORMAL predict that (an activity or relationship) will last no longer than (a specified time): this is a place that will not improve with time—I give it three weeks.

- [no obj.] INFORMAL tell what one knows: okay, give—what's that all about?

7 [no obj.] alter in shape under pressure rather than resist or break: that chair doesn't give.

- yield or give way to pressure: the heavy door didn't give until the fifth push | FIGURATIVE when two people who don't get on are thrust together, something's got to give.

- [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL concede defeat; surrender: I give!

■ n. [mass noun] capacity to bend or alter in shape under pressure: plastic pots that have enough give to accommodate the vigorous roots.

- FIGURATIVE ability to adapt; flexibility: there is no give at all in the British position.

<PHRASES>

□ give oneself airs act pretentiously or snobbishly.

□ give and take mutual concessions and compromises.

□ give as good as one gets respond with equal force when attacked.

□ give the game (or show) away inadvertently reveal something secret.

□ give it to someone INFORMAL scold or punish someone.

□ give me —— I prefer or admire ——: give me the mainland any day!

□ give me a break INFORMAL used to express exasperation, protest, or disbelief.

□ give someone one BRITISH VULGAR SLANG (of a man) have sexual intercourse with a woman.

□ give or take —— INFORMAL to within a specified amount: three hundred and fifty years ago, give or take a few.

- apart from: it's a process that runs fairly smoothly, give or take the occasional glitch.

□ give rise to cause to happen: decisions which give rise to arguments.

□ give someone to understand (or believe or know) inform someone in a rather indirect way: I was given to understand that I had been invited.

□ give up the ghost see GHOST.

□ give someone what for INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH punish or scold someone severely.

□ I give you —— used to present a speaker or entertainer or when making a toast: for your entertainment this evening I give you … Mister Albert DeNero!

□ not give a damn (or hoot etc.) INFORMAL not care at all: people who don't give a damn about the environment.

□ what gives? INFORMAL what's the news?; what's happening? (often used as a friendly greeting).

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ give someone away 1 reveal the true identity of someone: his strangely shaped feet gave him away.

- reveal information which incriminates someone.

2 hand over a bride ceremonially to her bridegroom as part of a wedding ceremony.

□ give something away 1 reveal something secret.

2 (in sport) concede a goal or advantage to the opposition, especially through careless play.

3 AUSTRALIAN/NZ stop doing something: he'd given away some of the things he got up to.

□ give in cease fighting or arguing; admit defeat: he reluctantly gave in to the pressure.

□ give something in BRITISH hand in a completed document to an official or a piece of work to a supervisor.

□ give on to (or into) BRITISH (of a window, door, corridor, etc.) overlook or lead into: a plate glass window gave on to the roof.

□ give out 1 be completely used up: their allowances soon gave out.

- stop functioning: he curses and swears till his voice gives out.

2 IRISH speak in an angry way: the woman began giving out to poor Paddy.

□ give something out distribute or broadcast something: I've been giving out leaflets.

□ give over [often in imperative] BRITISH INFORMAL stop doing something.

- used to express vehement disagreement: I suggested her salary might be £100,000. ‘Give over!’.

□ give up cease making an effort; admit defeat.

□ give it up [usually in imperative] US INFORMAL applaud a performer or entertainer.

□ give oneself up (or over) to allow oneself to be taken over by (an emotion or addiction): he gave himself up to pleasure.

□ give someone up 1 deliver a wanted person to authority: a voice told him to come out and give himself up.

2 stop hoping that someone is still going to arrive.

□ give something up part with something that one would prefer to keep: she would have given up everything for love.

- stop doing or consuming something: I've decided to give up drinking.

□ give up on stop having faith or belief in: they weren't about to give up on their heroes so easily.

<ORIGIN> Old English giefan, gefan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch geven and German geben.

giveaway INFORMAL n. 1 a thing that is given free, often for promotional purposes: every issue is packed with competitions and great giveaways.

2 a thing that makes an inadvertent revelation: the shape of the parcel was a dead giveaway.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 free of charge: giveaway CDs.

- (of prices) very low.

2 inadvertently revealing something: small giveaway mannerisms.

giveback n. NORTH AMERICAN an agreement by workers to surrender benefits and conditions previously agreed in return for new concessions or awards.

given past participle of GIVE

■ adj. 1 specified or stated: they gathered at a given time.

2 (given to) inclined or disposed to: she was not often given to anger.

3 [LAW], ARCHAIC (of a document) signed and dated.

■ prep. taking into account: given the complexity of the task, they did a good job.

■ n. a known or established fact or situation: at a couture house, attentive service is a given.

given name n. another term for FIRST NAME.

giver n. a person who gives something: a giver of advice | [in combination] care-givers.

Giza /izə/ a city south-west of Cairo in northern Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile, site of the Pyramids and the Sphinx; pop. 2,541,000 (est. 2002). Also called EL-GIZA; Arabic name AL-JIZAH.

gizmo /zmə/ (also gismo) n. (pl. gizmos) INFORMAL a gadget, especially one whose name the speaker does not know or cannot recall: the latest multimedia gizmo.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally US): of unknown origin.

gizzard /zəd/ n. a muscular, thick-walled part of a bird's stomach for grinding food, typically with grit.

- a muscular stomach of some fish, insects, molluscs, and other invertebrates.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English giser: from Old French, based on Latin gigeria ‘cooked entrails of fowl’. The final -d was added in the 16th cent.

Gjetost /jεtst/ n. [mass noun] a very sweet, firm golden-brown Norwegian cheese, traditionally made with goat's milk.

<ORIGIN> Norwegian, from gjet, geit ‘goat’ + ost ‘cheese’.

GLA abbr.

- (in the UK) Greater London Authority, established in 2000.

- gamma linolenic acid.

glabella /ləbεlə/ n. (pl. glabellae /-li/) [ANATOMY] the smooth part of the forehead above and between the eyebrows.

<DERIVATIVES> glabellar adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin glabellus (adjective), diminutive of glaber ‘smooth’.

glabrous /lebrəs/ adj. TECHNICAL (chiefly of the skin or a leaf) free from hair or down; smooth.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin glaber, glabr- ‘hairless, smooth’ + -OUS.

glacé /lase/ adj. 1 (of fruit) preserved in sugar: a glacé cherry.

2 (of cloth or leather) smooth and highly polished.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, literally ‘iced’, past participle of glacer, from glace ‘ice’.

glacé icing n. [mass noun] icing made with icing sugar and water.

glacial /lesəl -(ə)l/ adj. 1 relating to or denoting the presence or agency of ice, especially in the form of glaciers: thick glacial deposits | a glacial lake.

- very cold; icy: glacial temperatures | FIGURATIVE glacial blue eyes.

- extremely slow (like the movement of a glacier): an official described progress in the talks as glacial.

2 [CHEMISTRY] denoting pure organic acids (especially acetic acid) which form ice-like crystals on freezing.

■ n. [GEOLOGY] a glacial period.

<DERIVATIVES> glacially adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, or from Latin glacialis ‘icy’, from glacies ‘ice’.

glacial period n. a period in the earth's history when polar and mountain ice sheets were unusually extensive across the earth's surface.

glaciated /lesetd/ adj. covered or having been covered by glaciers or ice sheets: a glaciated valley.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: past participle of obsolete glaciate, from Latin glaciare ‘freeze’, from glacies ‘ice’.

glaciation /lese(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the process or state of being covered by glaciers or ice sheets.

- [count noun] a glacial period.

glacier /lasə lesə/ n. a slowly moving mass or river of ice formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from glace ‘ice’, based on Latin glacies.

Glacier Bay National Park a national park in SE Alaska, on the Pacific coast. Extending over an area of 12,880 sq. km (4,975 sq. miles), it contains the terminus of the Grand Pacific Glacier.

glaciology /leslədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of the internal dynamics and effects of glaciers.

<DERIVATIVES> glaciological adj. glaciologist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin glacies ‘ice’ + -LOGY.

glacis /lass -si/ n. (pl. same /-sz -siz/) 1 a bank sloping down from a fort which exposes attackers to the defenders' missiles.

2 (also glacis plate) a sloping piece of armour plate protecting part of a vehicle.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from Old French glacier ‘to slip’, from glace ‘ice’, based on Latin glacies.

glad adj. (gladder, gladdest) [predic.] feeling pleasure or happiness: [with infinitive] I'm really glad to hear that | [with clause] he was glad that Phyllis was gone.

- [attr.] causing happiness: glad tidings.

- grateful: she was glad of Hank's lively company.

■ v. (glads, gladding, gladded) [with obj.] LITERARY make happy; please: Albion's lessening shore could grieve or glad mine eye.

<PHRASES>

□ give someone the glad eye INFORMAL, DATED look at someone in a flirtatious way.

<DERIVATIVES> gladness n. gladsome adj. (LITERARY)

<ORIGIN> Old English glæd (originally in the sense ‘bright, shining’), of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse glathr ‘bright, joyous’ and German glatt ‘smooth’, also to Latin glaber ‘smooth, hairless’.

gladden v. [with obj.] make glad: the high, childish laugh was a sound that gladdened her heart.

gladdon /lad(ə)n/ n. a purple-flowered iris native to Eurasia and North Africa, which produces an unpleasant odour, especially when bruised. Also called STINKING IRIS.

<INFO> Iris foetidissima, family Iridaceae.

<ORIGIN> Old English glædene, based on Latin gladiolus (see GLADIOLUS).

glade n. an open space in a wood or forest.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin; perhaps related to GLAD or GLEAM, with reference to the comparative brightness of a clearing (obsolete senses of glade include ‘a gleam of light’ and ‘a bright space between clouds’).

glad-hand chiefly NORTH AMERICAN v. [with obj.] (especially of a politician) greet or welcome warmly: they had been taking every free minute to glad-hand loyal supporters.

■ n. (glad hand) [in sing.] a warm and hearty greeting or welcome.

<DERIVATIVES> glad-hander n.

gladiator /ladetə/ n. (in ancient Rome) a man trained to fight with weapons against other men or wild animals in an arena.

<DERIVATIVES> gladiatorial /ladətrəl/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from gladius ‘sword’.

gladiolus /ladələs/ n. (pl. gladioli /-l/) an Old World plant of the iris family, with sword-shaped leaves and spikes of brightly coloured flowers, popular in gardens and as a cut flower.

<INFO> Genus Gladiolus, family Iridaceae: many species.

<ORIGIN> Old English (originally denoting the gladdon), from Latin, diminutive of gladius ‘sword’ (used as a plant name by Pliny).

gladly adv. willingly or eagerly: I would have gladly paid for it.

- with pleasure or gratitude; happily: she offered me a lift and I gladly accepted.

glad rags plural n. INFORMAL clothes for a special occasion; smart or showy clothes.

Gladstone William Ewart (1809–98), British Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1868–74, 1880–5, 1886, and 1892–4. At first a Conservative minister, he later joined the Liberal Party, becoming its leader in 1867. His ministries saw the introduction of elementary education, the passing of the Irish Land Acts and the third Reform Act, and his campaign in favour of Home Rule for Ireland.

<DERIVATIVES> Gladstonian adj.

Gladstone bag n. a bag like a briefcase having two equal compartments joined by a hinge.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after W. E.

■ Gladstone, who was noted for the amount of travelling he undertook when electioneering.

Glagolitic /laəltk/ adj. denoting or relating to an alphabet based on Greek minuscules, formerly used in writing some Slavic languages.

■ n. [mass noun] the Glagolitic alphabet.

The alphabet is of uncertain origin, and was introduced in the 9th century, at about the same time as the Cyrillic alphabet, which has superseded it except in some Orthodox Church liturgies.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin glagoliticus, from glagòljica, the name in Croatian of the Glagolitic alphabet, from Old Church Slavonic glagolǔ ‘word’.

glaikit /lekt/ adj. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH stupid, foolish, or thoughtless.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: related to Scots glaiks ‘tricks, pranks’.

glair /lε/ n. [mass noun] a preparation made from egg white, especially as an adhesive for bookbinding and gilding.

<DERIVATIVES> glairy adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French glaire, based on Latin clara, feminine of clarus ‘clear’.

glaive /lev/ n. LITERARY a sword.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a lance or halberd): from Old French, apparently from Latin gladius ‘sword’.

glam INFORMAL adj. glamorous: a dapper magician and his glam assistant.

- relating to or denoting glam rock.

■ n. [mass noun] glamour: Nigel, for all his glam, was Karen's sort.

- glam rock.

■ v. (glams, glamming, glammed) (glam up or glam someone up) make oneself or someone else look glamorous: [with obj.] the girls get glammed up for a night on the town.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: abbreviation.

Glam. abbr. Glamorgan.

glamazon /laməz(ə)n/ n. INFORMAL a glamorous, powerfully assertive woman.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from GLAM + AMAZON^2.

Glamorgan /ləm(ə)n/ a former county of South Wales. Welsh name MORGANNWG.

glamorize (also glamourize or glamorise) v. [with obj.] make (something) seem glamorous or desirable, especially spuriously so: the lyrics glamorize drugs.

<DERIVATIVES> glamorization n.

glamorous adj. having glamour: one of the world's most glamorous women.

<DERIVATIVES> glamorously adv.

glamour (US also glamor) n. [mass noun] 1 an attractive or exciting quality that makes certain people or things seem appealing: the glamour of Monte Carlo.

- beauty or charm that is sexually attractive: pile hair up for evening glamour.

- [as modifier] denoting or relating to sexually suggestive or mildly pornographic photography or publications: a glamour model.

2 ARCHAIC enchantment; magic: that maiden, made by glamour out of flowers.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (originally Scots in the sense ‘enchantment, magic’): alteration of GRAMMAR. Although [GRAMMAR] itself was not used in this sense, the Latin word grammatica (from which it derives) was often used in the Middle Ages to mean ‘scholarship, learning’, including the occult practices popularly associated with learning.

glamour girl n. a fashionable, attractive young woman, especially a model or film star.

glamour puss n. INFORMAL a glamorous person, typically a woman.

glam rock n. [mass noun] a style of rock music first popular in the early 1970s, characterized by male performers wearing exaggeratedly flamboyant clothes and make-up.

glance^1 v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] 1 take a brief or hurried look: Ginny glanced at her watch.

- (glance at/through) read quickly or cursorily: I glanced through your personnel file last night.

2 hit something at an angle and bounce off obliquely: the stone glanced off a crag and hit Tom on the head.

- (of light) reflect off something with a brief flash: sunlight glanced off the curved body of a dolphin.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] (in ball games) deflect (the ball) slightly with a delicate contact.

- [with obj.] [CRICKET] deflect (the ball) with the bat held slantwise; play such a stroke against (the bowler).

■ n. 1 a brief or hurried look: I stole a glance at John.

2 ARCHAIC a flash or gleam of light.

3 [CRICKET] a stroke with the bat's face turned slantwise to deflect the ball slightly.

<PHRASES>

□ at a glance immediately upon looking: she saw at a glance what had happened.

□ at first glance when seen or considered briefly and for the first time: good news, at first glance, for frequent travellers.

□ glance one's eye ARCHAIC look briefly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘rebound obliquely’): probably a nasalized form of obsolete glace in the same sense, from Old French glacier ‘to slip’, from glace ‘ice’, based on Latin glacies.

glance^2 n. [mass noun] a shiny black or grey sulphide ore of lead, copper, or other metal.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from German Glanz ‘brightness, lustre’; compare with Dutch glanserts ‘glance ore’.

glancing adj. striking someone or something at an angle rather than directly and with full force: he was struck a glancing blow.

<DERIVATIVES> glancingly adv.

gland^1 n. an organ in the human or animal body which secretes particular chemical substances for use in the body or for discharge into the surroundings.

- a structure resembling a gland, especially a lymph node.

- [BOTANY] a secreting cell or group of cells on or within a plant structure.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French glande, alteration of Old French glandre, from Latin glandulae ‘throat glands’.

gland^2 n. a sleeve used to produce a seal round a piston rod or other shaft.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably a variant of Scots glam ‘a vice or clamp’; related to clamp^1.

glanders /landəz/ plural n. [usually treated as sing.] a rare contagious disease that mainly affects horses, characterized by swellings below the jaw and mucous discharge from the nostrils.

<INFO> Glanders is caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas mallei.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French glandre (see gland^1).

glandular /landjlə lan(d)lə/ adj. relating to or affecting a gland or glands.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French glandulaire, from glandule ‘gland’, from Latin glandulae (see gland^1).

glandular fever n. [mass noun] BRITISH an infectious viral disease characterized by swelling of the lymph glands and prolonged lassitude. Also called INFECTIOUS MONONUCLEOSIS.

glans /lanz/ n. (pl. glandes /landiz/) [ANATOMY] the rounded part forming the end of the penis or clitoris.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘acorn’.

glare v. [no obj.] 1 stare in an angry or fierce way: she glared at him, her cheeks flushing.

- [with obj.] express (a feeling) by staring fiercely: he glared defiance at the pistols pointing at him.

2 [with adverbial] (of the sun or an electric light) shine with a strong or dazzling light: the sun glared out of a clear blue sky.

■ n. 1 a fierce or angry stare: she gave Harley a glare of contempt.

2 [mass noun] strong and dazzling light: Murray narrowed his eyes against the glare of the sun.

- FIGURATIVE oppressive public attention: he carried on his life in the full glare of publicity.

3 [mass noun] ARCHAIC dazzling or showy appearance: the pomp and glare of rhetoric.

<DERIVATIVES> glary adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘shine strongly’): from Middle Dutch and Middle Low German glaren ‘to gleam, glare’: perhaps related to GLASS. The sense ‘stare’ occurred first in the adjective glaring (late Middle English).

glare ice n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN smooth, glassy ice.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably from obsolete glare ‘frost’; perhaps related to GLARE.

glareshield n. a screen attached to the cockpit canopy of an aircraft to reduce the effects of glare.

glaring adj. 1 giving out or reflecting a strong or dazzling light.

2 staring fiercely or fixedly: their glaring eyes.

3 highly obvious or conspicuous: there is a glaring omission in the data.

<DERIVATIVES> glaringly adv.

Glasgow a city in Scotland on the River Clyde; pop. 609,400 (est. 2002). Formerly a major shipbuilding centre, it is the largest city in Scotland.

Glashow /laa/ Sheldon Lee (b.1932), American theoretical physicist. He independently developed a unified theory to explain electromagnetic interactions and the weak nuclear force, and extended the quark theory of Murray Gell-Mann. Nobel Prize for Physics (1979, shared with Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg).

glasnost /laznst lαs-/ n. [mass noun] (in the former Soviet Union) the policy or practice of more open consultative government and wider dissemination of information, initiated by leader Mikhail Gorbachev from 1985. See also PERESTROIKA.

<ORIGIN> from Russian glasnost′, literally ‘the fact of being public’, from glasnyy ‘public, open’ + -nost′ ‘-ness’.

Glass Philip (b.1937), American composer, a leading minimalist. Notable works: Einstein on the Beach (opera, 1976), Glass Pieces (ballet, 1982), and Low Symphony (1993).

glass n. 1 [mass noun] a hard, brittle substance, typically transparent or translucent, made by fusing sand with soda and lime and cooling rapidly. It is used to make windows, drinking containers, and other articles.

- a substance similar to glass which has solidified from a molten state without crystallizing.

- glassware.

- greenhouses or cold frames considered collectively: lettuces grown under glass.

2 a drinking container made from glass: a beer glass.

- the contents of a glass: have a glass of wine.

3 a lens, or an optical instrument containing a lens or lenses, in particular a monocle or a magnifying lens.

4 chiefly BRITISH a mirror.

- DATED a weather glass.

- ARCHAIC an hourglass.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 cover or enclose with glass: the inn has a long gallery, now glassed in.

2 (especially in hunting) scan (one's surroundings) with binoculars: the first day was spent glassing the rolling hills.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL hit (someone) in the face with a beer glass.

<PHRASES>

□ people (who live) in glass houses shouldn't throw stones PROVERB you shouldn't criticize others when you have similar faults of your own.

<DERIVATIVES> glassful n. (pl. glassfuls) glassless adj. glass-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English glæs, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch glas and German Glas.

glass-blowing n. [mass noun] the craft of making glassware by blowing semi-molten glass through a long tube.

<DERIVATIVES> glass-blower n.

glass ceiling n. an unacknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities.

glass cloth n. 1 BRITISH a cloth covered with powdered glass or other abrasive, used for smoothing and polishing.

2 [mass noun] woven fabric of fine-spun glass thread.

glass cutter n. a tool which scores a line on a piece of glass, allowing the glass to be snapped along the line.

glassed-in adj. (of a building or part of a building) covered or enclosed with glass.

glass eel n. an elver at the time that it first enters brackish or fresh water, when it is translucent.

glasses plural n. a pair of lenses set in a frame resting on the nose and ears, used to correct or assist defective eyesight.

- a pair of binoculars.

glass eye n. a false eye made from glass.

glass fibre n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH a strong plastic, textile, or other material containing embedded glass filaments for reinforcement.

glassfish n. (pl. same or glassfishes) a small fish with an almost transparent body, in particular:

<INFO>

- a marine or freshwater fish which is popular in aquaria (genus Chanda, family Centropomidae), including the Indian glassfish (C. ranga).

- an elongated marine fish of the West Pacific (Salangichthys microdon, family Salangidae), eaten as a delicacy in Japan.

glass harmonica n. a musical instrument in which the sound is made by a row of rotating, concentric glass bowls, kept moist and pressed with the fingers or with keys. It was invented in 1761 by Benjamin Franklin and was popular until about 1830.

glasshouse n. British 1 a greenhouse.

2 MILITARY SLANG a prison.

glassine /lαsin/ n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] a glossy transparent paper.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from GLASS + -INE^4.

glass lizard n. a legless burrowing lizard of snake-like appearance, with smooth, shiny skin and an easily detached tail, native to Eurasia, Africa, and America. Also called GLASS SNAKE.

<INFO> Genus Ophisaurus, family Anguidae: several species.

glasspaper n. [mass noun] paper covered with powdered glass, used for smoothing and polishing.

glass snake n. another term for GLASS LIZARD.

glass sponge n. a deep-water sponge which has a skeleton of intricately shaped spines of silica that may fuse to form a filmy lattice with a glass-like appearance. See also VENUS'S FLOWER BASKET.

<INFO> Class Hexactinellida.

glassware n. [mass noun] ornaments and articles made from glass.

glass wool n. [mass noun] glass in the form of fine fibres used for packing and insulation.

glasswort n. a widely distributed salt-marsh plant with fleshy scale-like leaves. The ashes of the burnt plant were formerly used in glass-making.

<INFO> Genus Salicornia, family Chenopodiaceae: several species.

glassy adj. (glassier, glassiest) 1 of or resembling glass.

- having the physical properties of glass; vitreous: glassy lavas.

- (of water) having a smooth surface.

- (of sound) resembling the sharp noise made when glass is struck: a glassy clink.

2 (of a person's eyes or expression) showing no interest or animation.

■ n. (also glassie) DIALECT a glass marble.

<DERIVATIVES> glassily adv. glassiness n.

Glastonbury /lastənb(ə)ri/ a town in Somerset; pop. 8,200 (est. 1998). It is the legendary burial place of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere and the site of a ruined abbey held by legend to have been founded by Joseph of Arimathea.

Glaswegian /lazwid(ə)n lαz-/ adj. relating to Glasgow.

■ n. a native of Glasgow.

- [mass noun] the dialect or accent of people from GLASGOW.

<ORIGIN> from Glasgow, on the pattern of words such as Norwegian.

glatt (also glatt kosher) adj. [JUDAISM] (of food) completely kosher; prepared according to a strict interpretation of Jewish dietary law.

<ORIGIN> Yiddish, from German glatt ‘smooth’ + Hebrew kāšēr ‘proper’.

Glatzer Neisse /lats nasə/ German name for Neisse (sense 2).

Glauber's salt /labəz l-/ n. (also Glauber's salts) a crystalline hydrated form of sodium sulphate, used chiefly as a laxative.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: named after Johann R. Glauber (1604–1668), the German chemist who first produced the substance artificially.

glaucoma /lkəmə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition of increased pressure within the eyeball, causing gradual loss of sight.

<DERIVATIVES> glaucomatous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via Latin from Greek glaukōma, based on glaukos ‘bluish-green, bluish-grey’ (because of the grey-green haze in the pupil).

glauconite /lkənt/ n. [mass noun] a greenish clay mineral of the illite group, found chiefly in marine sands.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Glaukonit, from Greek glaukon (neuter of glaukos ‘bluish-green’) + -ITE^1.

glaucophane /lkəfen/ n. [mass noun] a bluish sodium-containing mineral of the amphibole group, found chiefly in schists and other metamorphic rocks.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Glaukophan, from Greek glaukos ‘bluish-green’ + -phanēs ‘shining’.

glaucous /lkəs/ adj. TECHNICAL or LITERARY 1 of a dull greyish-green or blue colour.

2 covered with a powdery bloom like that on grapes.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via Latin from Greek glaukos + -OUS.

glaucous gull n. a large white and pale grey gull breeding on Arctic coasts.

<INFO> Larus hyperboreus, family Laridae.

glaze v. [with obj.] 1 fit panes of glass into (a window or door frame or similar structure): windows can be glazed using laminated glass.

- enclose or cover with glass: the verandas were glazed in.

2 cover with a glaze: new potatoes which had been glazed in mint-flavoured butter.

3 [no obj.] lose brightness and animation: the prospect makes my eyes glaze over with boredom | (as adj. glazed) she had a glazed look in her eyes.

■ n. 1 a vitreous substance fused on to the surface of pottery to form an impervious decorative coating.

- a smooth, shiny surface formed by glazing: the glaze of the white cups.

- [ART] a thin topcoat of transparent paint used to modify the tone of an underlying colour.

2 a liquid such as milk or beaten egg, used to form a smooth, shiny coating on food.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a thin, glassy coating of ice on the ground or water.

<DERIVATIVES> glazer n. glazy adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English glase, from GLASS.

glazed frost n. [mass noun] a glassy coating of ice, typically caused by rain freezing on impact.

glazier /lezə/ n. a person whose trade is fitting glass into windows and doors.

glazing n. 1 [mass noun] the action of installing windows.

- glass windows: sealed protective glazing.

2 a glaze.

glazing bar n. a bar or rigid supporting strip between adjacent panes of glass.

Glazunov /laznf/ Aleksandr (Konstantinovich) (1865–1936), Russian composer, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov. Notable work: The Seasons (ballet, 1901).

GLB (also GLBT) abbr. gay, lesbian, or bisexual (or transgendered).

GLBT abbr. gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.

GLC abbr.

- [CHEMISTRY] gas–liquid chromatography.

- (in the UK) Greater London Council, abolished in 1986.

gleam v. [no obj.] shine brightly, especially with reflected light: light gleamed on the china cats | her eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

- (of a smooth surface or object) reflect light because well polished: Victor buffed the glass until it gleamed | (as adj. gleaming) gleaming black limousines.

- (of an emotion or quality) be expressed through the brightness of a person's eyes: affection gleamed in her large green eyes.

■ n. a faint or brief light, especially one reflected from something: the gleam of a silver tray.

- a brief or faint instance of a quality or emotion: the gleam of hope vanished.

- an expression of an emotion or quality in a person's eyes: she saw a gleam of triumph in his eyes.

<PHRASES>

□ a gleam in someone's eye see EYE.

<DERIVATIVES> gleamingly adv. gleamy adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> Old English glm ‘brilliant light’, of Germanic origin.

glean /lin/ v. [with obj.] 1 obtain (information) from various sources, often with difficulty: the information is gleaned from press cuttings.

- collect gradually: objects gleaned from local markets.

2 HISTORICAL gather (leftover grain) after a harvest.

<DERIVATIVES> gleaner n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French glener, from late Latin glennare, probably of Celtic origin.

gleanings plural n. things, especially facts, that are gathered or collected from various sources rather than acquired as a whole.

glebe /lib/ n. 1 HISTORICAL a piece of land serving as part of a clergyman's benefice and providing income.

2 [mass noun] ARCHAIC land; fields.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin gleba, glaeba ‘clod, land, soil’.

glee n. 1 [mass noun] great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or another's misfortune: his face lit up with impish glee.

2 a song for men's voices in three or more parts, usually unaccompanied, of a type popular especially c.1750–1830.

<ORIGIN> Old English glēo ‘entertainment, music, fun’, of Germanic origin.

glee club n. a society for singing part-songs.

gleeful adj. exuberantly or triumphantly joyful: she gave a gleeful chuckle.

<DERIVATIVES> gleefully adv. gleefulness n.

gleeman n. (pl. gleemen) HISTORICAL a professional entertainer, especially a singer.

gleesome adj. ARCHAIC gleeful.

gleet /lit/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a watery discharge from the urethra caused by gonorrhoeal infection.

<DERIVATIVES> gleety adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting mucus formed in the stomach): from Old French glette ‘slime, secretion’, of unknown origin.

Gleichschaltung /lxalt/ German /laçalt/ n. [mass noun] the standardization of political, economic, and social institutions as carried out in authoritarian states.

<ORIGIN> German, from gleich ‘same’ + schalten ‘force or bring into line’.

glen n. a narrow valley, especially in Scotland or Ireland.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Scottish Gaelic and Irish gleann (earlier glenn).

Glencoe, Massacre of /lεnkə/ a massacre in 1692 of members of the Jacobite MacDonald clan by Campbell soldiers, which took place near Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands.

Glendower /lεndaə/ (also Glyndwr) Owen (c.1354–c.1417), Welsh chief. He proclaimed himself Prince of Wales and led a national uprising against Henry IV.

Gleneagles /lεni(ə)lz/ a valley in eastern Scotland, south-west of Perth, site of a noted hotel and golfing centre.

glengarry n. (pl. glengarries) a brimless boat-shaped hat with a cleft down the centre, typically having two ribbons hanging at the back, worn as part of Highland dress.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Glengarry, the name of a valley in the Highlands of Scotland.

Glen More another name for GREAT GLEN.

glenoid cavity /lind/ (also glenoid fossa) n. [ANATOMY] a shallow depression on a bone into which another bone fits to form a joint, especially that on the scapula into which the head of the humerus fits.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: glenoid from French glénoïde, from Greek glēnoeidēs, from glēnē ‘socket’.

Glenrothes /lεnrθs/ a town in eastern Scotland, administrative centre of Fife region; pop. 42,300 (est. 2002).

gley /le/ n. [GEOLOGY] a sticky waterlogged soil lacking in oxygen, typically grey to blue in colour.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Ukrainian, ‘sticky blue clay’; related to CLAY.

glia /lə liə/ n. [mass noun] [ANATOMY] the connective tissue of the nervous system, consisting of several different types of cell associated with neurons. Also called NEUROGLIA.

<DERIVATIVES> glial adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek, literally ‘glue’.

glib adj. (glibber, glibbest) (of words or a speaker) fluent but insincere and shallow: the glib phrases soon roll off the tongue.

<DERIVATIVES> glibly adv. glibness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (also in the sense ‘smooth, unimpeded’): ultimately of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ‘slippery’ and German glibberig ‘slimy’.

glide v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move with a smooth, quiet continuous motion: a few gondolas glided past.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] move (something) with a smooth continuous motion.

2 [no obj.] make an unpowered flight, either in a glider or in an aircraft with engine failure.

- (of a bird) fly with very little movement of the wings.

■ n. [in sing.] 1 a gliding movement.

- a smooth continuous step in ballroom dancing.

- a flight in a glider or unpowered aircraft.

2 [PHONETICS] a sound produced as the vocal organs move towards or away from articulation of a vowel or consonant, for example /j/ in duke /djuk/.

3 [CRICKET] a glancing stroke which slightly deflects the ball, especially towards the leg side.

<ORIGIN> Old English glīdan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch glijden and German gleiten.

glide path n. an aircraft's line of descent to land, especially as indicated by ground radar.

glider n. 1 a light aircraft that is designed to fly without using an engine.

2 a person or thing that glides.

■ another term for FLYING PHALANGER.

3 US a long swinging seat suspended from a frame in a porch.

glide reflection n. [MATHEMATICS] a transformation consisting of a translation combined with a reflection about a plane parallel to the direction of the translation.

gliding n. [mass noun] the sport of flying in a glider.

glim n. ARCHAIC, INFORMAL a candle or lantern.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting brightness): perhaps an abbreviation of GLIMMER. The current sense dates from the late 17th cent.

glimmer v. [no obj.] shine faintly with a wavering light: the moonlight glimmered on the lawn | (as adj. glimmering) pools of glimmering light.

■ n. 1 a faint or wavering light.

2 a faint sign of a feeling or quality, especially a desirable one: there is one glimmer of hope for Becky.

<DERIVATIVES> glimmeringly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably of Scandinavian origin; related to Swedish glimra and Danish glimre.

glimmering n. a glimmer.

glimpse n. a momentary or partial view: she caught a glimpse of the ocean.

- a brief insight or indication: during the interview he offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse of television.

■ v. [with obj.] see or perceive briefly or partially: he glimpsed a figure standing in the shade.

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC shine or appear faintly or intermittently: glow-worms glimpsing in the dark.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘shine faintly’): probably of Germanic origin; related to Middle High German glimsen, also to GLIMMER.

Glinka /lkə/ Mikhail (Ivanovich) (1804–57), Russian composer. Regarded as the father of the Russian national school of music, he is best known for his operas A Life for the Tsar (1836) and Russlan and Ludmilla (1842).

glint v. [no obj.] give out or reflect small flashes of light: her glasses glinted in the firelight.

- (of a person's eyes) shine with a particular emotion: his eyes glinted angrily.

■ n. a small flash of light, especially a reflected one: the glint of gold in his teeth.

- [in sing.] an expression of an emotion in a person's eyes: she saw the glint of excitement in his eyes.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘move quickly or obliquely’): variant of dialect glent, probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish dialect glänta, glinta ‘to slip, slide, gleam’.

glioblastoma /lə()blastəmə/ n. (pl. glioblastomas or glioblastomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a highly invasive glioma in the brain.

glioma /ləmə/ n. (pl. gliomas or gliomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a malignant tumour of the glial tissue of the nervous system.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek glia ‘glue’ + -OMA.

glissade /lsαd -sed/ n. 1 a way of sliding down a steep slope of snow or ice, typically on the feet with the support of an ice axe.

2 [BALLET] a movement, typically used as a joining step, in which one leg is brushed outwards from the body, which then takes the weight while the second leg is brushed in to meet it.

■ v. [no obj.] slide down a steep slope of snow or ice with the support of an ice axe.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from glisser ‘to slip, slide’.

glissando /lsandə/ n. (pl. glissandi /-di/ or glissandos) [MUSIC] a continuous slide upwards or downwards between two notes.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from French glissant, present participle of glisser ‘to slip, slide’.

glissé /lise/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) [BALLET] a movement in which weight is transferred from one foot, which is slid outward from the body and briefly extended off the ground, to the other, which is then brought to meet it.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘slipped, glided’, past participle of glisser.

glisten v. [no obj.] (of something wet or greasy) shine with a sparkling light: his cheeks glistened with tears | (as adj. glistening) the glistening pavements.

■ n. [in sing.] a sparkling light reflected from something wet.

<ORIGIN> Old English glisnian, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Low German glisen. The noun dates from the mid 19th cent.

glister /lstə/ LITERARY v. [no obj.] sparkle; glitter.

■ n. a sparkle.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from Middle Low German glistern or Middle Dutch glisteren.

glitch INFORMAL n. a sudden, usually temporary malfunction or fault of equipment: a draft version was lost in a computer glitch.

- an unexpected setback: the only glitch in his year is failing to qualify for the Masters.

- [ASTRONOMY] a brief irregularity in the rotation of a pulsar.

■ v. [no obj.] chiefly US suffer a sudden malfunction or fault: the elevators glitched.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally US): of unknown origin. The original sense was ‘a sudden surge of current’, hence ‘malfunction, hitch’ in astronautical slang.

glitchy adj. INFORMAL prone to glitches.

glitter v. [no obj.] shine with a bright, shimmering reflected light: the grass glittered with dew.

- (of eyes) shine with a particular emotion: her eyes glittered with excitement.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] a bright, shimmering reflected light: the blue glitter of the sea.

- an expression of an emotion in a person's eyes: the scathing glitter in his eyes.

2 [mass noun] tiny pieces of sparkling material used for decoration: sneakers trimmed with sequins and glitter.

3 [mass noun] an attractive and exciting but superficial quality: he avoids the glitter of show business.

<PHRASES>

□ all that glitters is not gold PROVERB the attractive external appearance of something is not a reliable indication of its true nature.

<DERIVATIVES> glittery adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old Norse glitra.

glitterati /ltərαti/ plural n. INFORMAL the fashionable set of people engaged in show business or some other glamorous activity.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally US): blend of GLITTER and LITERATI.

glittering adj. shining with a shimmering or sparkling light: glittering chandeliers.

- impressively successful or elaborate: a glittering military career.

<DERIVATIVES> glitteringly adv.

Glittertind /ltətn/ a mountain in Norway, in the Jotunheim range. Rising to 2,470 m (8,104 ft), it is the highest mountain in the country.

glitz INFORMAL n. [mass noun] extravagant but superficial display: the glitz and sophisticated night life of Ibiza.

■ v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN make (something) glamorous or showy.

<ORIGIN> 1970s (originally a North American usage): back-formation from GLITZY.

glitzy adj. (glitzier, glitziest) INFORMAL attractive in a showy and often superficial way: glitzy hotel restaurants.

<DERIVATIVES> glitzily adv. glitziness n.

<ORIGIN> 1960s (originally a North American usage): from GLITTER, suggested by RITZY, and perhaps also by German glitzerig ‘glittering’.

Gliwice /livitsə/ a mining and industrial city in southern Poland, near the border with the Czech Republic; pop. 209,356 (est. 2000).

gloaming n. (the gloaming) LITERARY twilight; dusk.

<ORIGIN> Old English glōmung, from glōm ‘twilight’, of Germanic origin; related to GLOW.

gloat v. [no obj.] dwell on one's own success or another's misfortune with smugness or malignant pleasure: his enemies gloated over his death | (as adj. gloating) gloating accounts of his triumphs.

■ n. [in sing.] INFORMAL an act of gloating.

<DERIVATIVES> gloater n. gloatingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin; perhaps related to Old Norse glotta ‘to grin’ and Middle High German glotzen ‘to stare’. The original sense was ‘give a sideways or furtive look’, hence ‘cast amorous or admiring glances’; the current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.

glob n. INFORMAL a lump of a semi-liquid substance: thick globs of mozzarella cheese.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: perhaps a blend of BLOB and gob^2.

global /ləb(ə)l/ adj. 1 relating to the whole world; worldwide: the downturn in the global economy.

2 relating to or encompassing the whole of something, or of a group of things: give students a global picture of what is involved in the task.

- [COMPUTING] operating or applying through the whole of a file, program, etc.: global searches.

<DERIVATIVES> globally adv.

global distillation n. [mass noun] a process whereby certain volatile substances vaporize in warm climates and condense in cooler areas, causing the accumulation of pollutants.

globalism n. [mass noun] the operation or planning of economic and foreign policy on a global basis.

<DERIVATIVES> globalist n. & adj.

globalization (also globalisation) n. [mass noun] the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale: fears about the increasing globalization of the world economy.

<DERIVATIVES> globalize v. globalizer n.

Global Surveyor (in full Mars Global Surveyor) an unmanned American spacecraft which went into orbit around Mars in 1997 to begin detailed photography and mapping of the surface.

global village n. the world considered as a single community linked by telecommunications.

global warming n. [mass noun] the gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere due to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants.

globe n. 1 (the globe) the earth: goods from all over the globe.

- a spherical representation of the earth or of the constellations with a map on the surface.

2 a spherical or rounded object: orange trees clipped into giant globes.

- a golden orb as an emblem of sovereignty.

3 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a lightbulb.

■ v. [with obj.] LITERARY form (something) into a globe.

<DERIVATIVES> globe-like adj. globoid adj. & n. globose adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘spherical object’): from Old French, or from Latin globus.

globefish n. (pl. same or globefishes) a pufferfish or porcupine fish.

globeflower n. a plant of the buttercup family with globular yellow or orange flowers, native to north temperate regions.

<INFO> Genus Trollius, family Ranunculaceae.

Globe Theatre a theatre in Southwark, London, erected in 1599, where many of Shakespeare's plays were first publicly performed. The theatre's site was rediscovered in 1989 and a reconstruction of the original theatre was opened in 1997.

globe thistle n. an Old World thistle with globe-shaped heads of metallic blue-grey flowers.

<INFO> Genus Echinops, family Compositae.

globetrotter n. INFORMAL a person who travels widely.

<DERIVATIVES> globetrot v. globetrotting n. & adj.

globigerina /ləbdərnə/ n. (pl. globigerinas or globigerinae /-ni/) a planktonic marine protozoan with a calcareous shell. The shells collect as a deposit (globigerina ooze) over much of the ocean floor.

<INFO> Genus Globigerina, order Foraminiferida, kingdom Protista.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin globus ‘spherical object, globe’ (because of the globular chambers in its shell) + -ger ‘carrying’ + -INA.

globular /lbjlə/ adj. 1 globe-shaped; spherical.

2 composed of globules.

■ n. [ASTRONOMY] short for GLOBULAR CLUSTER.

<DERIVATIVES> globularity n.

globular cluster n. [ASTRONOMY] a large compact spherical star cluster, typically of old stars in the outer regions of a galaxy.

globule /lbjul/ n. 1 a small round particle of a substance; a drop: globules of fat.

2 [ASTRONOMY] a small dark cloud of gas and dust seen against a brighter background such as a luminous nebula.

<DERIVATIVES> globulous adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, or from Latin globulus, diminutive of globus ‘spherical object, globe’.

globulin /lbjln/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of simple proteins soluble in salt solutions and forming a large fraction of blood serum protein.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from GLOBULE (in the archaic sense ‘blood corpuscle’) + -IN^1.

globus hystericus /ləbəs hstεrkəs/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the sensation of a lump in the throat, as a symptom of anxiety or hysteria.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin.

globus pallidus /paldəs/ n. [ANATOMY] the median part of the lentiform nucleus in the brain.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin, ‘pale globus’.

glocalization (also glocalisation) n. [mass noun] the practice of conducting business according to both local and global considerations.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of GLOBAL + LOCALIZATION.

glochid /ləkd/ n. [BOTANY] a barbed bristle on the areole of some cacti.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek glōkhis, glōkhid- ‘arrowhead’.

glochidium /ləkdəm/ n. (pl. glochidia) [ZOOLOGY] a parasitic larva of certain freshwater bivalve molluscs, which attaches itself by hooks and suckers to the fins or gills of fish.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, based on Greek glōkhis, glōkhid- ‘arrowhead’.

glockenspiel /lk(ə)nspil -pil/ n. a musical percussion instrument having a set of tuned metal pieces mounted in a frame and struck with small hammers.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting an organ stop imitating the sound of bells): from German Glockenspiel, literally ‘bell play’.

glögg /lə/ (also glugg /l/) n. [mass noun] a type of Scandinavian mulled wine made with brandy, almonds, raisins, and spices.

<ORIGIN> Swedish.

glom /lm/ v. (gloms, glomming, glommed) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL 1 [with obj.] steal: I thought he was about to glom my wallet.

2 [no obj.] (glom on to) become stuck or attached to.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: variant of Scots glaum, of unknown origin.

glomerulonephritis /lmεrjlənfrts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE acute inflammation of the kidney, typically caused by an immune response.

glomerulus /lmεr(j)ləs/ n. (pl. glomeruli /-l -li/) [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] a cluster of nerve endings, spores, or small blood vessels, especially a cluster of capillaries around the end of a kidney tubule.

<DERIVATIVES> glomerular adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, diminutive of Latin glomus, glomer- ‘ball of thread’.

gloom n. [mass noun] 1 partial or total darkness: he strained his eyes peering into the gloom.

- [count noun] LITERARY a dark or shady place.

2 a state of depression or despondency: a year of economic gloom for the car industry | his gloom deepened.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 LITERARY have a dark or sombre appearance: the black gibbet glooms beside the way.

- [with obj.] make dark or dismal.

2 be or look depressed or despondent: Charles was always glooming about money.

<PHRASES>

□ gloom and doom see DOOM.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb): of unknown origin.

gloomy adj. (gloomier, gloomiest) 1 dark or poorly lit, especially so as to appear depressing or frightening: a gloomy corridor badly lit by oil lamps.

2 causing or feeling depression or despondency: gloomy forecasts about the economy.

<DERIVATIVES> gloomily adv. gloominess n.

gloop n. [mass noun] INFORMAL sloppy or sticky semi-fluid matter, typically something unpleasant.

<DERIVATIVES> gloopy adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: the letters gl, o, and p are said to be symbolic of semi-liquid matter (compare with GLOP).

glop INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. [mass noun] sticky and amorphous matter, typically something unpleasant: a cup of vile green glop.

- [count noun] a soft, shapeless lump of something: a glop of creamy dressing.

- FIGURATIVE worthless writing, music, or other material.

■ v. (glops, glopping, glopped) [with obj. and adverbial of direction] transfer (a sloppy or sticky substance) to a container: glop 2 gallons of premixed compound into a bucket.

<DERIVATIVES> gloppy adj. (gloppier, gloppiest)

<ORIGIN> 1940s: symbolic (see GLOOP).

Gloria n. a Christian liturgical hymn or formula beginning (in the Latin text) with Gloria, in particular:

- the hymn beginning Gloria in excelsis Deo (Glory be to God in the highest), forming a set part of the Mass.

- the doxology beginning Gloria Patris (Glory be to the Father), used after psalms and in formal prayer (e.g. in the rosary).

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘glory’.

Gloriana /lrαnə/ the nickname of Queen Elizabeth I.

glorified adj. 1 [attr.] (of something or someone ordinary or unexceptional) represented as or appearing more elevated or special than is the case: the word processor is not merely a glorified typewriter.

2 (in religious contexts) made glorious: the transformed and glorified Jesus.

glorify v. (glorifies, glorifying, glorified) [with obj.] 1 praise and worship (God).

- reveal the glory of (God) by one's actions: God can be glorified through a life of scholarship.

2 describe or represent as admirable, especially unjustifiably: a football video glorifying violence.

<DERIVATIVES> glorification n. glorifier n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French glorifier, from ecclesiastical Latin glorificare, from late Latin glorificus, from Latin gloria ‘glory’.

gloriole /lrəl/ n. LITERARY a halo or aureole.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from Latin gloriola, diminutive of gloria ‘glory’.

glorious adj. 1 having, worthy of, or bringing fame or admiration: the most glorious victory of all time.

2 having a striking beauty or splendour: a glorious autumn day.

- INFORMAL very enjoyable: glorious platters of succulent crabs.

<DERIVATIVES> gloriously adv. gloriousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French glorieus, from Latin gloriosus, from gloria ‘glory’.

Glorious Revolution the events (1688–9) that led to the replacement, in 1689, of James II by his daughter Mary II and her husband William of Orange (who became William III) as joint monarchs. The bloodless ‘revolution’ greatly enhanced the constitutional powers of Parliament, with William and Mary's acceptance of the conditions laid down in the Bill of Rights.

glory n. (pl. glories) [mass noun] 1 high renown or honour won by notable achievements: to fight and die for the glory of one's nation.

2 magnificence or great beauty: the train has been restored to all its former glory.

- [count noun] (often glories) a thing that is beautiful, impressive, or worthy of praise: the glories of Paris.

- the splendour and bliss of heaven: images of Christ in glory.

3 praise, worship, and thanksgiving offered to God.

4 [count noun] a luminous ring or halo, especially as depicted around the head of Christ or a saint.

■ v. [no obj.] (glory in) take great pride or pleasure in: they gloried in their independence.

- exult in unpleasantly or boastfully: readers tended to defend their paper or even to glory in its bias.

<PHRASES>

□ glory be! expressing enthusiastic piety.

- INFORMAL used as an exclamation of surprise or delight.

□ to glory to death or destruction.

□ in one's glory INFORMAL in a state of extreme joy or exaltation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French glorie, from Latin gloria.

glory box n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a box for a woman's clothes and household items, stored in preparation for marriage.

glory days plural n. a time in the past regarded as being better than the present: the glory days of Silicon Valley.

glory hole n. 1 INFORMAL an untidy room or cupboard used for storage.

2 NORTH AMERICAN an open quarry.

3 a small furnace used to keep glass malleable so that it can be worked.

4 US INFORMAL a hole in a wall through which fellatio or masturbation is conducted incognito between male homosexuals.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

glory-of-the-snow n. another term for CHIONODOXA.

glory pea n. another term for CLIANTHUS.

Glos. abbr. Gloucestershire.

gloss^1 n. [mass noun] shine or lustre on a smooth surface: hair with a healthy gloss.

- (also gloss paint) a type of paint which dries to a bright shiny surface.

- [in sing.] FIGURATIVE a superficially attractive appearance or impression: beneath the gloss of success was a tragic private life.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 apply a glossy substance to.

2 (gloss over) try to conceal or disguise (something unfavourable) by treating it briefly or representing it misleadingly: the social costs of this growth are glossed over.

<DERIVATIVES> glosser n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

gloss^2 n. a translation or explanation of a word or phrase.

- an explanation, interpretation, or paraphrase of a text: the chapter acts as a helpful gloss on Pynchon's general method.

■ v. [with obj.] provide an explanation, interpretation, or paraphrase for (a text, word, etc.).

- [no obj.] (gloss on/upon) ARCHAIC make comments, especially unfavourable ones, about (something).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: alteration of the noun gloze, from Old French glose (see GLOZE), suggested by medieval Latin glossa ‘explanation of a difficult word’, from Greek glōssa ‘word needing explanation, language, tongue’.

glossal /ls(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY], RARE of the tongue; lingual.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek glōssa ‘tongue’ + -AL.

glossary n. (pl. glossaries) an alphabetical list of words relating to a specific subject, text, or dialect, with explanations; a brief dictionary.

<DERIVATIVES> glossarial adj. glossarist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin glossarium, from glossa (see gloss^2).

glossator /lsetə/ n. chiefly HISTORICAL a person who writes glosses, especially a scholarly commentator on the texts of classical, civil, or canon law.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin, from glossare, from Latin glossa (see gloss^2).

glossitis /lsts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the tongue.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek glōssa ‘tongue’ + -ITIS.

glossographer /lsrəfə/ n. a writer of glosses or commentaries.

glossolalia /lsəlelə/ n. [mass noun] the phenomenon of (apparently) speaking in an unknown language, especially in religious worship. It is practised especially by Pentecostal and charismatic Christians.

<DERIVATIVES> glossolalic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek glōssa ‘language, tongue’ + lalia ‘speech’.

glossopharyngeal /lsəfərn(d)əl -far(ə)ndiəl/ adj. relating to the tongue and pharynx.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek glōssa ‘tongue’ + pharyngeal (from modern Latin pharynx, pharyng- ‘pharynx’).

glossopharyngeal nerve n. [ANATOMY] each of the ninth pair of cranial nerves, supplying the tongue and pharynx.

glossy adj. (glossier, glossiest) shiny and smooth: thick, glossy, manageable hair.

- (of a magazine or photograph) printed on high-quality smooth shiny paper.

- FIGURATIVE superficially attractive, stylish, and suggesting wealth: a glossy TV miniseries.

■ n. (pl. glossies) INFORMAL a magazine printed on glossy paper with many colour photographs.

- a photograph printed on glossy paper.

<DERIVATIVES> glossily adv. glossiness n.

glossy starling n. an African starling with dark glossy plumage that has metallic blue, green, and purple reflections.

<INFO> Genus Lamprotornis, family Sturnidae: several species.

glost n. the second firing of ceramic ware, in which the glaze is fused: [as modifier] a glost kiln.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: apparently a dialect alteration of gloss^1.

glottal adj. of or produced by the glottis.

glottal stop n. a consonant formed by the audible release of the airstream after complete closure of the glottis. It is widespread in some non-standard English accents and in some other languages, such as Arabic, it is a standard consonant.

glottis /lts/ n. the part of the larynx consisting of the vocal cords and the slit-like opening between them. It affects voice modulation through expansion or contraction.

<DERIVATIVES> glottic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: modern Latin, from Greek glōttis, from glōtta, variant of glōssa ‘tongue’.

glottochronology /ltəkrənlədi/ n. [mass noun] the use of statistical data to date the divergence of languages from their common sources.

<DERIVATIVES> glottochronological adj.

Gloucester /lstə/ a city in SW England, the county town of Gloucestershire; pop. 117,900 (est. 2002). It was founded by the Romans, who called it Glevum, in AD 96.

Gloucester Old Spot n. a pig of a white breed with black spots, now rarely kept commercially.

Gloucestershire a county of SW England; county town, Gloucester.

glove n. a covering for the hand worn for protection against cold or dirt and typically having separate parts for each finger and the thumb.

- a padded protective covering for the hand used in boxing, cricket, baseball, and other sports.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL (of a wicketkeeper, baseball catcher, etc.) catch, deflect, or touch (the ball) with a gloved hand.

<PHRASES>

□ fit someone like a glove (of clothes) fit someone exactly.

□ the gloves are off (or with the gloves off or take the gloves off) used to express the notion that something will be done in an uncompromising or ruthless way: for the banks chasing this growing business, the gloves are now definitely off.

<DERIVATIVES> gloved adj. gloveless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English glōf, of Germanic origin.

glovebox n. 1 a glove compartment in a vehicle.

2 a closed chamber with sealed-in gloves for handling radioactive or other hazardous material.

glove compartment n. a recess with a flap in the dashboard of a motor vehicle, used for storing small items.

glove puppet n. BRITISH a cloth puppet fitted on the hand and worked by the fingers.

glover n. a maker of gloves.

glow v. [no obj.] give out steady light without flame: the tips of their cigarettes glowed in the dark.

- have an intense colour and a slight shine: [with complement] a fluorescent screen glowed a faint green colour.

- (of a person's face) appear pink or red as a result of warmth, health, embarrassment, etc.: he was glowing with health.

- convey deep pleasure through one's expression or bearing: Katy always glowed when he praised her.

■ n. [in sing.] a steady radiance of light or heat: the setting sun cast a deep red glow over the city.

- a feeling of warmth in the face or body: he could feel the brandy filling him with a warm glow.

- a redness of the cheeks.

- a strong feeling of pleasure or well-being: with a glow of pride, Mildred walked away.

<ORIGIN> Old English glōwan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gloeien and German glühen.

glow discharge n. a luminous sparkless electrical discharge from a pointed conductor in a gas at low pressure.

glower /laə/ v. [no obj.] have an angry or sullen look on one's face; scowl: she glowered at him suspiciously | [as adj.] (glowering) his father's glowering face.

■ n. [in sing.] an angry or sullen look.

<DERIVATIVES> gloweringly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: perhaps a Scots variant of synonymous dialect glore, or from obsolete glow ‘to stare’, both possibly of Scandinavian origin.

glowing adj. expressing great praise: he received a glowing report from his teachers.

<DERIVATIVES> glowingly adv.

glow-worm n. a soft-bodied beetle with luminescent organs in the abdomen, especially the larvalike wingless female which emits light to attract the flying male.

<INFO> Families Lampyridae (in particular the European Lampyris noctiluca) and Phengodidae (in particular the American Zarhipis integripennis).

gloxinia /lksnə/ n. a tropical American plant with large, velvety, bell-shaped flowers.

<INFO> Genera Gloxinia and Sinningia, family Gesneriaceae: several species, in particular the florists' gloxinia (S. speciosa), which is a popular house plant.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Benjamin P. Gloxin, the 18th-cent. German botanist who first described it.

gloze /ləz/ v. 1 [with obj.] LITERARY make excuses for: the demeanour of Mathews is rather glozed over.

2 [no obj.] ARCHAIC use ingratiating language.

3 [no obj.] ARCHAIC make a comment or comments.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gloser, from glose ‘a gloss, comment’, based on Latin glossa (see gloss^2).

glucagon /lukə(ə)n -n/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hormone formed in the pancreas which promotes the breakdown of glycogen to glucose in the liver.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Greek glukus ‘sweet’ + agōn ‘leading, bringing’.

glucan /lukan/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a polysaccharide consisting of glucose units.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from GLUCOSE + -AN.

Gluck /lk/ Christoph Willibald von (1714–87), German composer. Gluck is noted for operas in which he sought a balance of music and drama and reduced the emphasis on the star singer. Examples are Orfeo ed Euridice (1762) and Iphigénie en Aulide (1774).

glucocorticoid /lukə()ktkd/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of corticosteroids (e.g. hydrocortisone) which are involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats and have anti-inflammatory activity.

glucosamine /lukəsəmin/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a crystalline compound which occurs widely in connective tissue, especially as a component of chitin.

<INFO> A glucose derivative containing an amino group; chem. formula: C_6H_13NO_5.

glucose /lukəs -z/ n. [mass noun] a simple sugar which is an important energy source in living organisms and is a component of many carbohydrates.

<INFO> A hexose; chem. formula: C_6H_12O_6.

- a syrup containing glucose and other sugars, made by hydrolysis of starch and used in the food industry.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Greek gleukos ‘sweet wine’, related to glukus ‘sweet’.

glucoside /lukəsd/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a glycoside derived from glucose.

<DERIVATIVES> glucosidic adj.

glucuronate /lukjərənet/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of glucuronic acid.

glucuronic acid /lukjrnk/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an acid derived from glucose which occurs naturally as a constituent of hyaluronic acid and other mucopolysaccharides.

<INFO> A uronic acid; chem. formula: HOOC(CHOH)4CHO.

glue n. [mass noun] an adhesive substance used for sticking objects or materials together.

■ v. (glues, gluing or glueing, glued) [with obj. and adverbial] fasten or join with or as if with glue: the wood is cut into pieces which are then glued together.

- (be glued to) INFORMAL be paying very close attention to (something, especially a television): I was glued to the telly when the Olympics were on.

<DERIVATIVES> glue-like adj. gluey adj. glueyness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French glu (noun), gluer (verb), from late Latin glus, glut-, from Latin gluten.

glue ear n. [mass noun] BRITISH blocking of the Eustachian tube by mucus (occurring especially in children).

glue pot n. a pot with an outer container holding water, used to heat glue that sets when it cools.

glue-sniffing n. [mass noun] the practice of inhaling intoxicating fumes from the solvents in adhesives.

<DERIVATIVES> glue-sniffer n.

glug INFORMAL v. (glugs, glugging, glugged) [with obj. and adverbial of direction] pour or drink (liquid) with a hollow gurgling sound: Jeff glugged whisky into glasses.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of liquid) make a hollow gurgling sound when being poured or drunk.

■ n. a hollow gurgling sound or sounds as of liquid being poured from a bottle.

- an amount of liquid poured from a bottle: a couple of good glugs of gin.

<DERIVATIVES> gluggable adj. (INFORMAL)

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: imitative.

glühwein /luvn/ German /lYvan/ n. [mass noun] mulled wine.

<ORIGIN> German, from glühen ‘to mull’ + Wein ‘wine’.

glum adj. (glummer, glummest) looking or feeling dejected; morose: the princess looked glum but later cheered up.

<DERIVATIVES> glumly adv. glumness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: related to dialect glum ‘to frown’, variant of GLOOM.

glume /lum/ n. [BOTANY] each of two membranous bracts surrounding the spikelet of a grass (forming the husk of a cereal grain) or one surrounding the florets of a sedge.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin gluma ‘husk’.

gluon /lun/ n. [PHYSICS] a hypothetical massless subatomic particle believed to transmit the force binding quarks together in a hadron.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from GLUE + -ON.

glut n. an excessively abundant supply of something: there is a glut of cars on the market.

■ v. (gluts, glutting, glutted) [with obj.] supply or fill to excess: the roads are glutted with cars.

- ARCHAIC satisfy fully: he planned a treacherous murder to glut his desire for revenge.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably via Old French from Latin gluttire ‘to swallow’; related to GLUTTON.

glutamate /lutəmet/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of glutamic acid.

- [mass noun] glutamic acid, its salts, or its anion.

■ short for MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE.

glutamic acid /lutamk/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an acidic amino acid which is a constituent of many proteins.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HOOC(CH_2)2(NH_2)COOH.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from GLUTEN + AMINE + -IC.

glutamine /lutəmin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hydrophilic amino acid which is a constituent of most proteins.

<INFO> An amide of glutamic acid; chem. formula: H_2NCOCH_2CH_2(NH_2)COOH.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of GLUTAMIC ACID and AMINE.

glutathione /lutəθən/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound involved as a coenzyme in oxidation–reduction reactions in cells. It is a tripeptide derived from glutamic acid, cysteine, and glycine.

glute n. (usually glutes) INFORMAL a gluteus muscle.

gluteal adj. relating to the gluteus muscles: the gluteal region.

■ n. (usually gluteals) a gluteus muscle.

gluten /lut(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a mixture of two proteins present in cereal grains, especially wheat, which is responsible for the elastic texture of dough.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally denoting protein from animal tissue): via French from Latin, literally ‘glue’.

gluteus /lutəs/ (also gluteus muscle) n. (pl. glutei /-t/) any of three muscles in each buttock which move the thigh, the largest of which is the gluteus maximus.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek gloutos ‘buttock’.

glutinous /lutnəs/ adj. like glue in texture; sticky: glutinous mud.

<DERIVATIVES> glutinously adv. glutinousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French glutineux or Latin glutinosus, from gluten ‘glue’.

glutton n. 1 an excessively greedy eater.

- a person who is excessively fond of something: he's a glutton for adventure.

2 old-fashioned term for WOLVERINE.

<PHRASES>

□ a glutton for punishment a person who is always eager to undertake hard or unpleasant tasks.

<DERIVATIVES> gluttonize (also gluttonise) v.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gluton, from Latin glutto(n-) related to gluttire ‘to swallow’, gluttus ‘greedy’, and gula ‘throat’.

gluttonous adj. excessively greedy: a gluttonous, cigar-smoking capitalist.

<DERIVATIVES> gluttonously adv.

gluttony n. [mass noun] habitual greed or excess in eating.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French glutonie, from gluton ‘glutton’.

glycaemia /lsimə/ (US also glycemia) n. [mass noun] the presence of glucose in the blood.

<DERIVATIVES> glycaemic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from GLYCO- + -AEMIA.

glycaemic index /lsimk/ (US also glycemic index) n. a figure representing the relative ability of a carbohydrate food to increase the level of glucose in the blood.

glyceride /ls(ə)rd/ n. a fatty acid ester of glycerol.

glycerine /ls(ə)rin -n/ (US glycerin) n. another term for GLYCEROL.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French glycerin, from Greek glukeros ‘sweet’.

glycerol /ls(ə)rl/ n. [mass noun] a colourless, sweet, viscous liquid formed as a by-product in soap manufacture. It is used as an emollient and laxative, and for making explosives and antifreeze.

<INFO> A trihydric alcohol; chem. formula: CH_2(OH)CH(OH)CH_2(OH).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from GLYCERINE + -OL.

glyceryl /ls(ə)rl -rl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting a radical derived from glycerol by replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms: glyceryl trinitrate.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from GLYCERINE + -YL.

glycine /lsin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] the simplest naturally occurring amino acid, which is a constituent of most proteins.

<INFO> Chem. formula: H_2NCH_2COOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek glukus ‘sweet’ + -INE^4.

glyco- combining form relating to or producing sugar: glycogenesis | glycoside.

<ORIGIN> from Greek glukus ‘sweet’.

glycogen /lkəd(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance deposited in bodily tissues as a store of carbohydrates. It is a polysaccharide which forms glucose on hydrolysis.

<DERIVATIVES> glycogenic /-dεnk/ adj.

glycogenesis /lkə()dεnss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] the formation of glycogen from sugar.

glycol /lkl/ n.

■ short for ETHYLENE GLYCOL.

- [CHEMISTRY] another term for DIOL.

<DERIVATIVES> glycolic /-klk/ adj. glycollic /-klk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (applied to ethylene glycol): from GLYCERINE + -OL (originally intended to designate a substance intermediate between glycerine and alcohol).

glycolysis /lklss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] the breakdown of glucose by enzymes, releasing energy and pyruvic acid.

<DERIVATIVES> glycolytic adj. /lkəltk/

glycoprotein /lkə()prətin/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a class of proteins which have carbohydrate groups attached to the polypeptide chain.

glycosaminoglycan /lkəsəminə()lkan/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for MUCOPOLYSACCHARIDE.

glycoside /lkə()sd/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound formed from a simple sugar and another compound by replacement of a hydroxyl group in the sugar molecule. Many drugs and poisons derived from plants are glycosides.

<DERIVATIVES> glycosidic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from GLYCO- ‘relating to sugar’, on the pattern of glucoside.

glycosuria /lkə()sjərə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition characterized by an excess of sugar in the urine, typically associated with diabetes or kidney disease.

<DERIVATIVES> glycosuric adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French glycosurie, from glucos ‘glucose’.

Glyndebourne Festival /lndbn/ an annual festival of opera, held at the estate of Glyndebourne near Lewes, East Sussex.

Glyndwr /lndr/ Welsh form of GLENDOWER.

glyph /lf/ n. 1 a hieroglyphic character or symbol.

- a sculptured symbol (e.g. as forming the ancient Mayan writing system).

- [COMPUTING] a small graphic symbol.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] an ornamental carved groove or channel, as on a Greek frieze.

<DERIVATIVES> glyphic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in sense 2): from French glyphe, from Greek gluphē ‘carving’.

glyphosate /lfə()set/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic compound which is a non-selective systemic herbicide, particularly effective against perennial weeds.

<INFO> Alternative name: N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine; chem. formula: C_3H_8NO_5P.

glyptic /lptk/ adj. of or concerning carving or engraving.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French glyptique or Greek gluptikos, from gluptēs ‘carver’, from gluphein ‘carve’.

glyptodont /lptə()dnt/ n. a fossil South American edentate mammal of the Cenozoic era, related to armadillos but much larger. Glyptodonts had fluted teeth and a body covered in a thick bony carapace.

<INFO> Family Glyptodontidae, order Xenarthra (or Edentata): several genera, including Glyptodon.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek gluptos ‘carved’ (from gluphein ‘carve’) + odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

glyptography /lptrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the art or scientific study of gem engraving.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek gluptos ‘carved’ (from gluphein ‘carve’) + -GRAPHY.

GM abbr.

- general manager.

- (in the US) General Motors.

- (in the UK) George Medal.

- [CHESS] grand master.

- (of a school in the UK) grant-maintained.

- genetically modified.

gm abbr. gram(s).

G-man n. 1 US INFORMAL an FBI agent. [<ORIGIN> 1930s: probably an abbreviation of Government man.]

2 IRISH a political detective. [<ORIGIN> early 20th century: perhaps an arbitrary use of G.]

GMS abbr. grant-maintained status (with reference to schools in the UK).

GMT abbr. Greenwich Mean Time.

GMWU abbr. HISTORICAL (in the UK) General and Municipal Workers' Union.

gn abbr. guinea(s).

gnamma /namə/ (also namma) n. AUSTRALIAN a natural hole in a rock in which rainwater collects.

<ORIGIN> from Nyungar.

gnarl /nαl/ n. a rough, knotty protuberance, especially on a tree.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: back-formation from GNARLED.

gnarled adj. knobbly, rough, and twisted, especially with age: the gnarled old oak tree.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: variant of knarled, from KNAR.

gnarly adj. (gnarlier, gnarliest) 1 gnarled.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL difficult, dangerous, or challenging: he'd taken a fall during a particularly gnarly practice session. [<ORIGIN> originally surfers' slang, perhaps from the appearance of rough sea.]

- unpleasant or unattractive: stations can be pretty gnarly places.

- very good; excellent: you're going to make some lucky guy a pretty gnarly wife.

gnash /na/ v. [with obj.] grind (one's teeth) together as a sign of anger (often used hyperbolically): no doubt he is gnashing his teeth in rage.

- [no obj.] (of teeth) strike together; grind.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps related to Old Norse gnastan ‘a gnashing’.

gnashers plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL teeth.

gnat /nat/ n. a small two-winged fly that resembles a mosquito. Gnats include both biting and non-biting forms, and they typically form large swarms.

<INFO> Several families, especially Culicidae (the biting gnats), which includes the common gnat (Culex pipiens).

- a person regarded as tiny or insignificant: she'd be marking O'Brien—a gnat trying to curb an elephant.

<ORIGIN> Old English gnætt, of Germanic origin; related to German Gnitze.

gnatcatcher n. a tiny grey-backed New World songbird, with a long tail that is often cocked.

<INFO> Genus Polioptila, family Polioptilidae (or Sylviidae): several species.

gnathic /naθk ne-/ adj. RARE relating to the jaws.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek gnathos ‘jaw’ + -IC.

Gnathostomulida /neθə()stəmjlidə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a minor phylum of minute marine worms which appear to be intermediate between coelenterates and flatworms.

<DERIVATIVES> gnathostomulid /neθə()stəmjld/ n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek gnathos ‘jaw’ + stoma ‘mouth’.

gnaw /n/ v. [no obj.] bite at or nibble something persistently: picking up the pig's foot, he gnawed at it.

- [with obj. and adverbial] bite at or nibble (something) so as to wear it away: the grubs tunnel into the wood and gnaw it away.

- FIGURATIVE cause persistent distress or anxiety: the doubts continued to gnaw at me.

<ORIGIN> Old English gnagen, of Germanic origin; related to German nagen, ultimately imitative.

gnawing /n(r)/ adj. persistently worrying or distressing: that gnawing pain in her stomach | gnawing doubts.

<DERIVATIVES> gnawingly adv.

gneiss /ns/ n. [mass noun] a metamorphic rock with a banded or foliated structure, typically coarse-grained and consisting mainly of feldspar, quartz, and mica.

<DERIVATIVES> gneissic adj. gneissose adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from German, from Old High German gneisto ‘spark’ (because of the rock's sheen).

gnocchi /n(j)ki/ plural n. (in Italian cooking) small dumplings made from potato, semolina, or flour, usually served with a sauce.

<ORIGIN> Italian, plural of gnocco, alteration of nocchio ‘knot in wood’.

gnome^1 /nəm/ n. a legendary dwarfish creature supposed to guard the earth's treasures underground.

- a small garden ornament in the form of a bearded man with a pointed hat.

- INFORMAL a small ugly person.

- INFORMAL a person regarded as having secret or sinister influence in financial matters: the gnomes of Zurich.

<DERIVATIVES> gnomish adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from modern Latin gnomus, a word used by Paracelsus as a synonym of Pygmaeus, denoting a mythical race of very small people said to inhabit parts of Ethiopia and India (compare with PYGMY).

gnome^2 /nəm nəmi/ n. a short statement encapsulating a general truth; a maxim.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek gnōmē ‘thought, opinion’ (related to gignōskein ‘know’).

gnomic /nəmk/ adj. expressed in or of the nature of short, pithy maxims or aphorisms.

- difficult to understand because enigmatic or ambiguous: I had to have the gnomic response interpreted for me.

<DERIVATIVES> gnomically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek gnōmikos (perhaps via French gnomique), from gnōmē ‘thought, judgement’, (plural) gnōmai ‘sayings, maxims’, related to gignōskein ‘know’.

gnomon /nəmn/ n. 1 the projecting piece on a sundial that shows the time by the position of its shadow.

- [ASTRONOMY] a structure, especially a column, used in observing the sun's meridian altitude.

2 [GEOMETRY] the part of a parallelogram left when a similar parallelogram has been taken from its corner.

<DERIVATIVES> gnomonic /-mnk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek gnōmōn ‘indicator, carpenter's square’ (related to gignōskein ‘know’).

gnosis /nəss/ n. [mass noun] knowledge of spiritual mysteries.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek gnōsis ‘knowledge’ (related to gignōskein ‘know’).

gnostic /nstk/ adj. relating to knowledge, especially esoteric mystical knowledge.

- (Gnostic) relating to Gnosticism.

■ n. (Gnostic) an adherent of Gnosticism.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a noun): via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek gnōstikos, from gnōstos ‘known’ (related to gignōskein ‘know’).

Gnosticism /nstsz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a prominent heretical movement of the 2nd-century Christian Church, partly of pre-Christian origin. Gnostic doctrine taught that the world was created and ruled by a lesser divinity, the demiurge, and that Christ was an emissary of the remote supreme divine being, esoteric knowledge (gnosis) of whom enabled the redemption of the human spirit.

gnotobiotic /nətə()btk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] relating to or denoting an environment for rearing or culturing organisms in which all the micro-organisms are either known or excluded.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek gnōtos ‘known’ + BIOTIC.

GNP abbr. gross national product.

Gnr abbr. Gunner (in the British army).

gns abbr. guineas.

gnu /()nu ()nju/ n. a large dark antelope with a long head, a beard and mane, and a sloping back. Also called WILDEBEEST.

<INFO> Genus Connochaetes, family Bovidae: two species, in particular the abundant brindled gnu or blue wildebeest (C. taurinus).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Khoikhoi and San, perhaps imitative of the sound made by the animal when alarmed.

GNVQ abbr. General National Vocational Qualification, a general qualification offered by schools and colleges in the UK to prepare students for specific training or higher education, set at various levels of which Intermediate and Advanced correspond in standard to GCSE and GCE A level.

go^1 v. (goes, going; past went; past part. gone) 1 [no obj., usually with adverbial of direction] move from one place to another; travel: he went out to the shops | she longs to go back home | we've a long way to go.

- travel a specified distance: you just have to go a few miles to get to the road.

- travel or move in order to engage in a specified activity: let's go and have a pint | [with infinitive] we went to see her | [with present participle] she used to go hunting.

- (go to) attend or visit for a particular purpose: we went to the cinema | he went to Cambridge University.

- (of a thing) lie or extend in a certain direction: the scar went all the way up her leg.

- change in level, amount, or rank: prices went up by 15 per cent.

- [in imperative] begin motion (used in a starter's order to begin a race): ready, steady, go!

- INFORMAL said in various expressions when angrily or contemptuously dismissing someone: go and get stuffed.

2 [no obj.] leave; depart: I really must go.

- (of time) pass or elapse: the hours went by | three years went past.

- pass a specified amount of time in a particular way: they went for two weeks without talking.

- come to an end; cease to exist: a golden age that has now gone for good | 11,500 jobs are due to go by next year.

- cease operating or functioning: the power went in our road last week.

- die (used euphemistically): I'd like to see my grandchildren before I go.

- be lost or stolen: when he returned minutes later his equipment had gone.

- (go to) be sold or awarded to: the top prize went to a twenty-four-year-old sculptor.

- (of money) be spent, especially in a specified way: the rest of his money went on medical expenses.

3 (be going to be/do something) intend or be likely or intended to be or do something (used to express a future tense): I'm going to be late for work | she's going to have a baby.

4 [no obj., with complement] pass into or be in a specified state, especially an undesirable one: the food is going bad | no one went hungry in our house | he's gone crazy.

- (go to/into) enter into a specified state or course of action: she went back to sleep | the car went into a spin.

- make a sound of a specified kind: the engine went bang.

5 [no obj.] proceed or turn out in a specified way: how did the weekend go? | at first all went well.

- be acceptable or permitted: underground events where anything goes.

6 [no obj.] be harmonious, complementary, or matching: rosemary goes with roast lamb | the earrings and the scarf don't really go.

- be found in the same place or situation; be associated: cooking and eating go together.

7 [no obj.] (of a machine or device) function: my car won't go.

- continue in operation or existence: the committee was kept going even when its existence could no longer be justified.

8 [no obj.] (go into/to/towards) contribute to or be put into (a whole): considerable effort went into making the operation successful.

- used to indicate how many people a supply of a resource is sufficient for or how much can be achieved using it: the sale will go a long way towards easing the huge debt burden | a little luck can go a long way.

9 [no obj.] (of an article) be regularly kept or put in a particular place: remember which card goes in which slot.

- fit into a particular place or space: you're trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot, and it just won't go.

10 [no obj.] (of a song or account) have a specified content or wording: if you haven't heard it, the story goes like this.

- (go by/under) be known or called by (a specified name): he now goes under the name Charles Perez.

- [with direct speech] INFORMAL say: the kids go, ‘Yeah, sure.’.

11 [no obj.] INFORMAL use a toilet; urinate or defecate.

12 [no obj.] INFORMAL used to emphasize the speaker's annoyance at someone's action: then he goes and spoils it all | [with present participle] don't go poking your nose where you shouldn't.

■ n. (pl. goes) INFORMAL 1 chiefly BRITISH an attempt or trial at something: have a go at answering the questions yourself.

2 BRITISH a person's turn to use or do something: I had a go on Nigel's racing bike | come on Tony, it's your go.

- used in reference to a single item, action, or spell of activity: he drank a pint in one go.

3 [mass noun] BRITISH spirit, animation, or energy: there's no go in me at all these days.

- vigorous activity: it's all go around here.

4 DATED a state of affairs: this seems a rum sort of go.

- an attack of illness: he's had this nasty go of dysentery.

5 NORTH AMERICAN an enterprise which has been approved: tell them the project is a go.

■ adj. [predic.] INFORMAL functioning properly: all systems go.

<PHRASES>

□ all the go BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED in fashion.

□ as (or so) far as it goes bearing in mind its limitations (said when qualifying praise of something): the book is a useful catalogue as far as it goes.

□ as —— go compared to the average or typical one of the specified kind: as castles go it is small and old.

□ from the word go INFORMAL from the very beginning.

□ get someone going BRITISH INFORMAL make someone angry or sexually aroused: I want a girl who's sexy, but in a subtle way—that's what gets me going.

□ go figure! NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL said to express the belief that something is amazing or incredible.

□ go halves (or shares) share something equally.

□ going!, gone! an auctioneer's announcement that bidding is closing or closed.

□ go off on one BRITISH INFORMAL become very angry or excited.

□ going on —— (BRITISH also going on for ——) approaching a specified time, age, or amount: I was going on fourteen when I went to my first gig.

□ go (to) it BRITISH INFORMAL act in an energetic or dissipated way: Go it, Dad! Give him what for!

□ go to show (or prove) (of an occurrence) serve as evidence or proof of something.

□ go well S. AFRICAN used to express good wishes to someone leaving.

□ have a go at chiefly BRITISH attack or criticize (someone).

□ have —— going for one INFORMAL used to indicate how much someone has in their favour or to their advantage: Why did she do it? She had so much going for her.

□ make a go of INFORMAL be successful in (something): he's determined to make a go of his marriage.

□ on the go INFORMAL very active or busy.

□ to be going on with BRITISH to start with; for the time being: this is not a full critical appraisal but it will do to be going on with.

□ to go NORTH AMERICAN (of food or drink from a restaurant or cafe) to be eaten or drunk off the premises: one large cheese-and-peppers pizza, to go.

□ what goes around comes around PROVERB the consequences of one's actions will have to be dealt with eventually.

□ who goes there? said by a sentry as a challenge.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ go about 1 begin or carry on with (an activity): you are going about this in the wrong way.

2 [SAILING] change to an opposite tack.

□ go against oppose or resist: he refused to go against the unions.

- be contrary to (a feeling or principle): these tactics go against many of our instincts.

- (of a decision or result) be unfavourable for.

□ go ahead proceed or be carried out: the project will go ahead.

□ go along with consent or agree to (a person or proposal).

□ go around see GO ROUND.

□ go around with be regularly in the company of: he goes around with some of the local lads.

□ go at energetically attack or tackle: he went at things with a daunting eagerness.

□ go back 1 (of a clock) be set to an earlier standard time, especially at the end of summertime.

2 (of two people) have known each other for a length of time: Victor and I go back a long way.

□ go back on fail to keep (a promise): he wouldn't go back on his word.

□ go down 1 (of a ship or aircraft) sink or crash.

- be defeated in a contest: they went down 2–1.

2 be recorded or remembered in a particular way: his name will go down in history.

3 be swallowed: solids can sometimes go down much easier than liquids.

4 elicit a specified reaction: my slide shows went down reasonably well.

5 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL happen: you really don't know what's going down?

6 BRITISH INFORMAL leave a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge, after finishing one's studies.

7 BRITISH INFORMAL be sent to prison.

□ go down on VULGAR SLANG perform oral sex on.

□ go down with begin to suffer from (an illness): I went down with an attack of bronchitis.

□ go for 1 decide on; choose: I went for grilled halibut.

- tend to find (a particular type of person) attractive: Dionne went for the outlaw type.

2 attempt to gain or attain: he went for a job as a delivery driver.

- (go for it) strive to the utmost to gain or achieve something (frequently said as an exhortation): sounds like a good idea—go for it!

3 launch oneself at (someone); attack: she went for him with clawed hands.

4 finally have a specified negative result: my good intentions went for nothing.

5 apply to; have relevance for: the same goes for money-grabbing lawyers.

□ go forward (of a clock) be set to a later standard time, especially summertime.

□ go in for 1 BRITISH enter (a competition) or sit (an examination).

2 like or habitually take part in (an activity): I don't go in for the social whirl.

□ go into 1 investigate or enquire into (something): there's no need to go into it now.

2 (of a whole number) be capable of dividing another, typically without a remainder: six into five won't go.

□ go off 1 (of a gun, bomb, or similar device) explode or fire.

- (of an alarm) begin to sound.

2 BRITISH (of food or drink) begin to decompose and become inedible.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL begin to dislike: I went off men after my husband left me.

4 go to sleep.

5 gradually cease to be felt: I had a bad headache but it's going off now.

□ go on 1 [often with present participle] continue or persevere: I can't go on protecting you.

- talk at great length, especially tediously or angrily: the twins were always going on about him.

- continue speaking or doing something after a short pause: [with direct speech] ‘I don't understand,’ she went on.

- INFORMAL said when encouraging someone or expressing disbelief: go on, tell him!

2 happen: we still don't know what went on there.

3 [often with infinitive] proceed to do: she went on to do postgraduate work.

4 [usually with negative] INFORMAL have a specified amount of care or liking for (something): I heard this album last month and didn't go much on it.

□ go out 1 (of a fire or light) be extinguished.

2 (of the tide) ebb.

3 leave one's home to go to a social event: I'm going out for dinner.

4 carry on a regular romantic or sexual relationship: he was going out with her best friend.

5 used to convey someone's deep sympathy or similar feeling: her heart went out to the pitiful figure.

6 [GOLF] play the first nine holes in a round of eighteen holes. Compare with COME HOME (see HOME).

7 (in some card games) be the first to dispose of all the cards in one's hand.

□ go over 1 consider, examine, or check (something): I want to go over these plans with you again.

2 change one's allegiance or religion: he went over to the pro-English party.

3 be received in a specified way: his earnestness would go over well in a courtroom.

□ go round (chiefly US also go around) 1 spin; revolve: the wheels were going round.

2 (especially of food) be sufficient to supply everybody present: there was barely enough food to go round.

□ go through 1 undergo (a difficult period or experience): the country is going through a period of economic instability.

2 search through or examine methodically: she started to go through the bundle of letters.

3 (of a proposal or contract) be officially approved or completed: the sale of the building is set to go through.

4 INFORMAL use up or spend (available money or other resources).

5 (of a book) be successively published in (a specified number of editions).

6 AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL leave hastily to avoid an obligation; abscond.

□ go through with perform (an action) to completion despite difficulty or unwillingness.

□ go to! ARCHAIC said to express disbelief, impatience, or admonition.

□ go under 1 (of a business) become bankrupt.

2 (of a person) die or suffer an emotional collapse.

□ go up 1 (of a building or other structure) be built: housing developments went up.

2 explode or suddenly burst into flames: two factories went up in flames.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL begin one's studies at a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge.

□ go with 1 give one's consent or agreement to (a person or proposal).

2 have a romantic or sexual relationship with.

□ go without suffer lack or deprivation: I like to give my children what they want, even if I have to go without.

<ORIGIN> Old English gān, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gaan and German gehen; the form went was originally the past tense of WEND.

<USAGE> The use of go followed by and, as in I must go and change (rather than I must go to change), is extremely common but is regarded by some grammarians as an oddity. For more details, see usage at and.

go^2 n. [mass noun] a Japanese board game of territorial possession and capture.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Japanese, literally ‘small stone’, also the name of the game.

Goa /əə/ a state on the west coast of India; capital, Panaji. Formerly a Portuguese territory, it was seized by India in 1961. It formed a Union Territory with Daman and Diu until 1987, when it was made a state.

<DERIVATIVES> Goan adj. & n. Goanese /əəniz/ adj. & n.

goad /əd/ v. 1 [with obj.] provoke or annoy (someone) so as to stimulate an action or reaction: he was trying to goad her into a fight.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] drive (an animal) with a spiked stick.

■ n. a spiked stick used for driving cattle.

- FIGURATIVE a thing that stimulates someone into action: for him the visit was a goad to renewed effort.

<ORIGIN> Old English gād, of Germanic origin.

go-ahead INFORMAL n. [in sing.] permission to proceed: the government had given the go-ahead for the power station.

■ adj. 1 willing to consider new ideas; enterprising: a young and go-ahead managing director.

2 [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN denoting the run or score which gives a team the lead in a game.

goal n. 1 (in football, rugby, hockey, and some other games) a pair of posts linked by a crossbar and typically with a net between, forming a space into or over which the ball has to be sent in order to score.

- an instance of sending the ball into or over the goal, especially as a unit of scoring in a game: the decisive opening goal | we won by three goals to two.

- a cage or basket used as a goal in other sports.

2 the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result: he achieved his goal of becoming King of England.

- the destination of a journey: the aircraft bumped towards our goal some 400 miles to the west.

- LITERARY a point marking the end of a race.

<PHRASES>

□ in goal in the position of goalkeeper.

<DERIVATIVES> goalless adj. goalwards adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘limit, boundary’): of unknown origin.

goal area n. [SOCCER] a rectangular area in front of the goal from within which goal kicks must be taken.

goal average n. [mass noun] [SOCCER] the ratio of the numbers of goals scored for and against a team in a series of matches, sometimes used in deciding the team's position in a table.

goalball n. [mass noun] a ball game for blind and visually impaired players, played by teams of three. The object is to roll a large ball containing bells over a line at the end of the court.

goal difference n. [mass noun] [SOCCER] the difference between the number of goals scored for and against a team in a series of matches, sometimes used in deciding the team's position in a table.

goalhanger n. [SOCCER], DEROGATORY a player who spends much of the game near the opposing team's goal in the hope of scoring easy goals.

goalie n. informal term for GOALKEEPER or GOALTENDER.

goalkeeper n. a player in soccer or field hockey whose special role is to stop the ball from entering the goal.

<DERIVATIVES> goalkeeping n.

goal kick n. 1 [SOCCER] a free kick taken by the defending side from within their goal area after attackers send the ball over the byline.

2 [RUGBY] an attempt to kick a goal.

<DERIVATIVES> goal-kicker n. ([RUGBY]) goal-kicking n. ([RUGBY])

goal line n. a line across a football or hockey field at or near its end, on which the goal is placed or which acts as the boundary beyond which a try or touchdown is scored.

goalmouth n. the area just in front of a goal in soccer or hockey.

goalpost n. either of the two upright posts of a goal.

<PHRASES>

□ move the goalposts (US also move the goalpost) unfairly alter the conditions or rules of a procedure during its course.

goalscorer n. a player who scores a goal: Sunderland's prolific goalscorer.

<DERIVATIVES> goalscoring adj. & n.

goaltender n. NORTH AMERICAN a goalkeeper, especially in ice hockey.

<DERIVATIVES> goaltending n.

goanna /əanə/ n. Australian term for monitor (sense 4 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: alteration of IGUANA.

go-around (also go-round) n. 1 a flight path taken by an aircraft after an aborted approach to landing.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a confrontation or argument.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL each of several recurring opportunities.

goat n. 1 a hardy domesticated ruminant mammal that has backward-curving horns and (in the male) a beard. It is kept for its milk and meat, and noted for its lively behaviour.

<INFO> Capra hircus, family Bovidae, descended from the wild bezoar.

- a wild mammal related to the goat, such as the ibex. See also MOUNTAIN GOAT.

- (the Goat) the zodiacal sign Capricorn or the constellation Capricornus.

2 a lecherous man.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL a stupid person; a fool: just for once, stop acting the goat.

4 US a scapegoat.

<PHRASES>

□ get someone's goat INFORMAL irritate someone.

<DERIVATIVES> goatish adj. goaty adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English gāt ‘nanny goat’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch geit and German Geiss, also to Latin haedus ‘kid’.

goat-antelope n. a ruminant mammal of a group that combines the characteristics of both goats and antelopes.

<INFO> Subfamily Caprinae, family Bovidae: tribes Rupicaprini (the chamois, goral, serow, and mountain goat) and Ovibonini (the musk ox and takin).

goatee /əti/ (also goatee beard) n. a small pointed beard like that of a goat.

<DERIVATIVES> goateed adj.

goatfish n. (pl. same or goatfishes)

■ North American term for RED MULLET.

goatherd n. a person who tends goats.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from GOAT + obsolete herd ‘herdsman’.

goat moth n. a large greyish moth, the caterpillar of which bores into wood and has a goat-like smell.

<INFO> Cossus cossus, family Cossidae.

goat's beard n. 1 a Eurasian plant of the daisy family, with slender grass-like leaves, yellow flowers that close at about midday, and downy fruits which resemble those of a dandelion.

<INFO> Tragopogon pratensis, family Compositae.

2 a plant of the rose family, with long plumes of white flowers, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Aruncus dioicus, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: translating Greek tragopōgon or Latin Barba Capri.

goatskin n. the skin of a goat.

- [mass noun] leather made from the skin of a goat.

- a garment or object made out of goatskin.

goat's rue n. a herbaceous plant of the pea family, which was formerly used in medicine, especially as a vermifuge.

<INFO> Two species in the family Leguminosae: a bushy Eurasian plant which is cultivated as an ornamental (Galega officinalis), and a North American plant with pink and yellow flowers and which smells of goats (Tephrosia virginiana).

goatsucker n. another term for NIGHTJAR.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: so named because the bird was thought to suck goats' udders.

goat willow n. a common European willow with broad leaves and soft fluffy catkins. Also called SALLOW^1 or PUSSY WILLOW.

<INFO> Salix caprea, family Salicaceae.

go-away bird n. a crested long-tailed African bird of the turaco family, with mainly grey plumage and a call that resembles the words ‘go away’. Also called LOERIE or LOURIE in South Africa.

<INFO> Family Musophagidae: two genera and three species.

gob^1 n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person's mouth: Jean told him to shut his big gob.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps from Scottish Gaelic gob ‘beak, mouth’.

gob^2 INFORMAL n. 1 a lump of a viscous or slimy substance: a gob of phlegm.

- NORTH AMERICAN a small lump.

2 (gobs of) NORTH AMERICAN a large amount of: they pumped gobs of money into the candidates' election coffers.

■ v. (gobs, gobbing, gobbed) [no obj.] BRITISH spit.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French gobe ‘mouthful, lump’, from gober ‘to swallow, gulp’, perhaps of Celtic origin.

gob^3 n. INFORMAL, DATED an American sailor.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

go-bag n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a bag packed with essential items, kept ready for use in the event of an emergency evacuation of one's home.

gobar /bə(r)/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN cattle dung.

<ORIGIN> Hindi.

gobbet /bt/ n. 1 a piece or lump of flesh, food, or viscous matter.

2 an extract from a text, especially one set for translation or comment in an examination.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gobet, diminutive of gobe (see gob^2).

Gobbi /bi/ Tito (1915–84), Italian operatic baritone. He was famous for his interpretations of Verdi's baritone roles, and for his performances in the title role of Berg's Wozzeck and as Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca.

gobble^1 v. [with obj.] (often gobble something up) eat (something) hurriedly and noisily: he gobbled up the rest of his sandwich.

- use a large amount of (something) very quickly: these old houses just gobble up money.

- (of a large organization) incorporate or take over (a smaller one): this small department was gobbled up by the Ministry of Transport.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: probably from GOB^2.

gobble^2 v. [no obj.] (of a turkeycock) make a characteristic swallowing sound in the throat.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: imitative, perhaps influenced by gobble^1.

gobbledegook /b(ə)lduk -k/ (also gobbledygook) n. [mass noun] INFORMAL language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of technical terms: reams of financial gobbledegook.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally US): probably imitating a turkey's gobble.

gobbler^1 n. a person who eats greedily and noisily.

gobbler^2 n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a turkeycock.

gobdaw /bd/ n. INFORMAL, chiefly IRISH a foolish or pretentious person.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: of unknown origin; compare with Irish gabhdán ‘gullible person’.

Gobelin /b(ə)la əb- -ln/ (also Gobelin tapestry) n. a tapestry made at the Gobelins factory in Paris, or in imitation of one.

Gobelins /b(ə)laz əb- -lnz/ French /blε/ a tapestry and textile factory in Paris, established by the Gobelin family c.1440 and taken over by the French Crown in 1662. It was highly successful in the late 17th and 18th centuries, when designs by leading French painters were used, and tapestry panels became used as alternatives to oil paintings.

go-between n. an intermediary or negotiator.

gobi /əbi/ n. Indian term for CAULIFLOWER or CABBAGE.

<ORIGIN> Punjabi.

Gobi Desert /əbi/ a barren plateau of southern Mongolia and northern China.

Gobineau /bnə/ French /binə/ Joseph Arthur, Comte de (1816–82), French writer and anthropologist. His stated view that the races are innately unequal and that the white Aryan race is superior to all others later influenced the ideology and policies of the Nazis.

goblet n. 1 a drinking glass with a foot and a stem.

- ARCHAIC a metal or glass bowl-shaped drinking cup, sometimes with a foot and a cover.

2 BRITISH a receptacle forming part of a liquidizer.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French gobelet, diminutive of gobel ‘cup’, of unknown origin.

goblet cell n. [ANATOMY] a column-shaped cell found in the respiratory and intestinal tracts, which secretes the main component of mucus.

goblin n. a mischievous, ugly, dwarf-like creature of folklore.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gobelin, possibly related to German Kobold (see KOBOLD) or to Greek kobalos ‘mischievous goblin’. In medieval Latin Gobelinus occurs as the name of a mischievous spirit, said to haunt Évreux in northern France in the 12th cent.

gobo^1 /əbə/ n. (pl. gobos) a dark plate or screen used to shield a lens from light.

- [THEATRE] a partial screen used in front of a spotlight to project a shape.

- a shield used to mask a microphone from extraneous noise.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin, perhaps from go between.

gobo^2 /əbə/ n. [mass noun] a vegetable root used in Japanese and other oriental cookery.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

gobony /bəni/ adj. [HERALDRY] another term for COMPONY.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete gobbon ‘piece, gobbet’ + -Y^3.

gobshite /bt/ n. VULGAR SLANG, chiefly IRISH a stupid, foolish, or incompetent person.

gobsmacked adj. BRITISH INFORMAL utterly astonished; astounded.

<DERIVATIVES> gobsmacking adj.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from GOB^1 + SMACK^1, with reference to being shocked by a blow to the mouth, or to clapping a hand to one's mouth in astonishment.

gobstopper n. chiefly BRITISH a large, hard spherical sweet.

goby /əbi/ n. (pl. gobies) a small, usually marine fish that typically has a sucker on the underside.

<INFO> Family Gobiidae: numerous genera and species.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin gobius, from Greek kōbios, denoting some kind of small fish.

go-by n. INFORMAL (in phrase give someone the go-by) avoid or snub someone.

- end a romantic relationship with someone.

GOC abbr. BRITISH General Officer Commanding.

go-cart n. 1 variant spelling of GO-KART.

2 a handcart.

3 DATED a pushchair.

- ARCHAIC a baby walker.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (denoting a baby walker): from GO^1 (in the obsolete sense ‘walk’) + CART.

God n. 1 (in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.

2 (god) (in certain other religions) a superhuman being or spirit worshipped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity: a moon god | the Hindu god Vishnu.

- an image, animal, or other object worshipped as divine or symbolizing a god.

- used as a conventional personification of fate: he dialled the number and, the gods relenting, got through at once.

3 (god) a greatly admired or influential person: he has little time for the fashion victims for whom he is a god.

- a thing accorded the supreme importance appropriate to a god: don't make money your god.

4 (the gods) INFORMAL the gallery in a theatre.

■ exclam. used for emphasis or to express emotions such as surprise, anger, or distress: God, what did I do to deserve this? | God, how I hate that woman!

<PHRASES>

□ God's acre ARCHAIC a churchyard.

□ for God's sake! see sake^1 (sense 3).

□ God bless an expression of good wishes on parting.

□ God damn (you, him, etc.) used to express anger or annoyance with someone.

□ God the Father (in Christian doctrine) the first person of the Trinity, God as creator and supreme authority.

□ God FORBID see FORBID.

□ God grant used to express a wish that something should happen: God grant he will soon regain his freedom.

□ God help (you, him, etc.) used to express the belief that someone is in a difficult or dangerous situation: God help anyone who tried to jolly me out of my bad mood.

□ God's gift chiefly BRITISH the ideal or best possible person or thing for someone or something (used chiefly ironically or in negative statements): he appeared to think he was God's gift to women.

□ God's truth the absolute truth (often used for emphasis): I loved him, that's God's truth.

□ God the Son (in Christian doctrine) Christ regarded as the second person of the Trinity; God as incarnate and resurrected saviour.

□ God willing used to express a wish or hope: one day, God willing, she and John might have a daughter.

□ in God's name used in questions to emphasize anger or surprise: what in God's name are you doing?

□ in the lap of the gods see lap^1.

□ play God behave as if all-powerful.

□ please God used to emphasize a strong wish or hope: please God the money will help us find a cure.

□ THANK God see THANK.

□ to God used after a verb to emphasize a strong wish or hope: I hope to God you've got something else to put on.

□ with God dead and in heaven.

<DERIVATIVES> godhood n. godship n. godward adj. & adv. godwards adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch god and German Gott.

Godard /dα/ French /daR/ Jean-Luc (b.1930), French film director. He was one of the leading figures of the nouvelle vague. His films include Breathless (1960) and Alphaville (1965).

Godavari /ədαvəri/ a river in central India which rises in the state of Maharashtra and flows about 1,440 km (900 miles) south-east across the Deccan plateau to the Bay of Bengal.

God-awful adj. INFORMAL extremely bad or unpleasant: the most God-awful row.

godchild n. (pl. godchildren) a person in relation to a godparent.

goddam (also goddamn, goddamned) adj. & adv. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN used for emphasis, especially to express anger or frustration.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: abbreviation of God damn (me).

Goddard /dαd/ Robert Hutchings (1882–1945), American physicist. He carried out pioneering work in rocketry, and designed and built the first successful liquid-fuelled rocket. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is named after him.

god-daughter n. a female godchild.

goddess n. a female deity: Athena Nike, goddess of victory.

- a woman who is greatly admired, especially for her beauty: he had an affair with a screen goddess.

Gödel /əd(ə)l/ Kurt (1906–78), Austrian-born American mathematician. He made several important contributions to mathematical logic, especially the incompleteness theorem.

godet /ədεt əde/ n. a triangular piece of material inserted in a dress, shirt, or glove to make it flared or for ornamentation.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French.

godetia /ə()diə/ n. a North American plant with showy lilac to red flowers.

<INFO> Genus Clarkia (or Godetia), family Onagraceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Charles H. Godet (1797–1879), Swiss botanist.

go-devil n. North American, chiefly HISTORICAL 1 a crude sled, used chiefly for dragging logs.

2 a jointed apparatus for cleaning pipelines.

godfather n. 1 a male godparent.

2 a man who is influential or pioneering in a movement or organization: the godfather of alternative comedy.

- a person directing a criminal organization, especially a leader of the American Mafia.

God-fearing adj. earnestly religious: an honest, God-fearing woman.

godforsaken adj. lacking any merit or attraction: what are you doing in this godforsaken place?

God-given adj. received from God.

- possessed by unquestionable right, as if by divine authority: being my stepsister doesn't give you a God-given right to know all my business.

Godhavn /dhαv(ə)n/ a town in western Greenland, on the south coast of the island of Disko.

godhead n. 1 (usually the Godhead) God.

- [mass noun] divine nature.

2 INFORMAL a greatly admired or influential person.

Godiva /ədvə/ Lady (d.1080), English noblewoman, wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. According to a 13th-century legend, she agreed to her husband's proposition that he would reduce unpopular taxes only if she rode naked on horseback through the marketplace of Coventry. According to later versions of the story, all the townspeople refrained from watching, except for peeping Tom, who was struck blind as a punishment.

godless adj. not believing in God: a sceptical, godless society.

- without a god.

- profane; wicked.

<DERIVATIVES> godlessness n.

godlike adj. resembling God or a god in qualities such as power, beauty, or benevolence: our parents are godlike figures to our childish eyes.

- befitting a god: he is a noble figure of godlike magnanimity.

godly adj. (godlier, godliest) devoutly religious; pious: how to live the godly life.

<DERIVATIVES> godliness n.

god-man n. 1 Indian, often DEROGATORY a holy man; a guru.

2 an incarnation of a god in human form.

godmother n. 1 a female godparent.

2 a woman who is influential or pioneering in a movement or organization: the godmother of the regiment.

godown /ədan ədan/ n. (in east Asia, especially India) a warehouse.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Portuguese gudão, from Tamil kiaku, Malayalam kiau, or Kannada gadagu ‘store, warehouse’.

godparent n. a person who presents a child at baptism and promises to take responsibility for their religious education.

God Save the Queen (or King) n. the British national anthem.

<ORIGIN> evidence suggests a 17th-cent. origin for the complete words and tune of the anthem. The ultimate origin is obscure: the phrase ‘God save the King’ occurs in various passages in the Old Testament, while as early as 1545 it was a watchword in the navy, with ‘long to reign over us’ as a countersign.

God's country (also God's own country) n. an area or region supposedly favoured by God, especially the United States regarded in this way.

godsend n. a very helpful or valuable event, person, or article: these information packs are a godsend to schools.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from God's send ‘what God has sent’.

God slot n. INFORMAL a period in a broadcasting schedule regularly reserved for religious programmes.

godson n. a male godchild.

God's own n. Australian and NZ term for GOD'S COUNTRY.

Godspeed exclam. DATED an expression of good wishes to a person starting a journey.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from God speed you ‘may God help you prosper’.

God squad n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY used to refer to evangelical Christians.

Godthåb /dhb/ former name (until 1979) for NUUK.

Godunov /dnf/ Boris (1550–1605), tsar of Russia 1598–1605. A counsellor of Ivan the Terrible, he succeeded Ivan's son as tsar. His reign was marked by famine, doubts over his involvement in the earlier death of Ivan's eldest son, and the appearance of a pretender, the so-called False Dmitri.

Godwin William (1756–1836), English social philosopher and novelist. He advocated a system of anarchism based on a belief in the goodness of human reason and on his doctrine of extreme individualism.

Godwin-Austen, Mount former name for K2.

godwit n. a large, long-legged wader with a long, slightly upturned or straight bill, and typically a reddish-brown head and breast in the breeding male.

<INFO> Genus Limosa, family Scolopacidae: four species.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

Godwottery /dwt(ə)ri/ n. [mass noun] BRITISH HUMOROUS an affected quality of archaism, excessive fussiness, and sentimentality.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from the line ‘A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!’, in T. E. Brown's poem My Garden (1876).

Godzilla /dzlə/ n. INFORMAL a particularly enormous example of something: a Godzilla of a condominium tower.

<ORIGIN> from the name of a huge prehistoric monster featuring in a series of Japanese films from 1954.

Godzone n. New Zealand term for GOD'S COUNTRY.

Goebbels /əb(ə)lz/ (also Göbbels) (Paul) Joseph (1897–1945), German Nazi leader and politician. From 1933 Goebbels was Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, with control of the press, radio, and all aspects of culture. He committed suicide rather than surrender to the Allies.

goer n. 1 [in combination] a person who attends a specified place or event, especially regularly: churchgoers | a filmgoer.

2 [with adj.] INFORMAL a person or thing that goes in a specified way: horse no. 7 is a fast goer.

- a project likely to succeed: if the business is a goer, the entrepreneur moves on.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL a sexually unrestrained woman.

Goering /ər/ Hermann Wilhelm (1893–1946), German Nazi leader and politician. Goering was responsible for the German rearmament programme, founded the Gestapo, and from 1936 until 1943 directed the German economy. Sentenced to death at the Nuremberg war trials, he committed suicide in his cell.

Goes /us/ Hugo van der (fl. c.1467–82), Flemish painter, born in Ghent. His best-known work is the large-scale Portinari Altarpiece (1475), commissioned for a church in Florence.

goes third person singular present of go^1.

goest /əst/ archaic second person singular present of go^1.

goeth /əθ/ archaic third person singular present of go^1.

Goethe /ətə/ Johann Wolfgang von (1749–1832), German poet, dramatist, and scholar. Involved at first with the Sturm und Drang movement, Goethe changed to a more measured and classical style, as in the ‘Wilhelm Meister’ novels (1796–1829). Notable dramas: Götz von Berlichingen (1773), Tasso (1790), and Faust (1808–32).

<DERIVATIVES> Goethean (also Goethian) adj.

goethite /ətt/ n. [mass noun] a dark or yellowish-brown mineral consisting of hydrated iron oxide, occurring typically as masses of fibrous crystals.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from the name of J.W. von GOETHE + -ITE^1.

go-faster stripes plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL striped stickers on the bodywork of a car, intended to make it look more sporty.

gofer /əfə/ (also gopher) n. INFORMAL a person who runs errands, especially on a film set or in an office; a dogsbody.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from go for (i.e. go and fetch).

goffer /fə/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. goffered) crimp or flute (a lace edge or frill) with heated irons: a goffered frill.

- (as adj. goffered) (of the gilt edges of a book) embossed with a repeating design.

■ n. an iron used to crimp or flute lace.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French gaufrer ‘stamp with a patterned tool’, from gaufre ‘honeycomb’, from Middle Low German wāfel (see waffle^2).

Gog and Magog / me/ 1 (in the Bible) the names of enemies of God's people. In Ezek. 38–9, Gog is apparently a ruler from the land of Magog, while in Rev. 20:8, Gog and Magog are nations under the dominion of Satan.

2 (in medieval legend) opponents of Alexander the Great, living north of the Caucasus.

3 two giant statues standing in Guildhall, London, representing either the last two survivors of a race of giants supposed to have inhabited Britain before Roman times, or Gogmagog, chief of the giants, and Corineus, a Roman invader.

go-getter n. INFORMAL an aggressively enterprising person.

<DERIVATIVES> go-getting adj.

gogga /xxə xx/ n. S. African INFORMAL an insect or creepy-crawly.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from Khoikhoi xo-xon, a collective term for slithering and creeping creatures.

goggle v. [no obj.] look with wide open eyes, typically in amazement: I goggled at them in total disbelief.

- (of the eyes) open wide or protrude.

■ adj. [attr.] (of the eyes) protuberant or rolling.

■ n. 1 (goggles) close-fitting glasses with side shields, for protecting the eyes from glare, dust, water, etc.

- INFORMAL glasses.

2 [in sing.] a stare with protruding eyes.

3 (goggles) the staggers (a disease of sheep).

<DERIVATIVES> goggled adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘look to one side, squint’): probably from a base symbolic of oscillating movement.

goggle-box n. (the goggle-box) BRITISH INFORMAL a television set.

goggle-eye n. any of a number of edible fishes with large eyes that occur widely on reefs in tropical and subtropical seas:

<INFO>

- a nocturnal fish related to the bigeye (Priacanthus hamrur, family Priacanthidae).

- (also goggle-eye jack) a fish often found in shoals (Selar crumenophthalmus, family Carangidae).

goggle-eyed adj. having staring or protuberant eyes, especially through astonishment.

go-go adj. [attr.] 1 relating to or denoting an unrestrained and erotic style of dancing to popular music: a go-go bar | go-go dancers.

2 NORTH AMERICAN assertively dynamic: the go-go bravado of the 1980s.

■ n. [mass noun] a style of soul music originating in the black communities of Washington DC and characterized by an incessant funk beat.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: reduplication of go^1, perhaps influenced by A GOGO.

Gogol /əl (ə)l/ Nikolai (Vasilevich) (1809–52), Russian novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer, born in Ukraine. His writings are satirical, often exploring themes of fantasy and the supernatural. Notable works: The Government Inspector (play, 1836), Notes of a Madman (short fiction, 1835), and Dead Souls (novel, 1842).

Goiânia /αnə/ a city in south central Brazil, capital of the state of Goiás; pop. 1,132,600 (est. 2002). Founded as a new city in 1933, it replaced the town of Goiás as state capital in 1942.

Goiás /αs/ a state in south central Brazil; capital, Goiânia.

Goidelic /dεlk/ adj. relating to or denoting the northern group of Celtic languages, including Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Speakers of the Celtic precursor of the Goidelic languages are thought to have invaded Ireland from Europe c.1000 BC, spreading into Scotland and the Isle of Man from the 5th century AD onwards. Compare with BRYTHONIC. Also called Q-CELTIC.

■ n. [mass noun] the Goidelic languages collectively.

going n. 1 an act of leaving a place; a departure: don't lose track of your child's comings and goings.

2 [in sing.] the condition of the ground viewed in terms of suitability for horse racing, riding, or walking: the going was ideal here, with short turf and a level surface.

- progress affected by the condition of the ground: the paths were covered with drifting snow and the going was difficult.

- conditions for, or progress in, an endeavour: an opportunity to get out while the going is good.

■ adj. 1 [predic.] chiefly BRITISH existing or available; to be had: he asked if there were any other jobs going.

2 [attr.] (of a price) accepted or usual at the current time: people willing to work for the going rate.

going concern n. a business that is operating and making a profit.

going-over n. [in sing.] INFORMAL a thorough cleaning or inspection: give the place a going-over with the Hoover.

- a physical or verbal attack.

- a heavy defeat: Pontypool gave them a 35–6 going-over.

goings-on plural n. events or behaviour, especially of an unusual or suspect nature.

goitre /tə/ (US goiter) n. a swelling of the neck resulting from enlargement of the thyroid gland: a woman with a goitre | [mass noun] the belief that amber necklaces were good for curing goitre.

<DERIVATIVES> goitred adj. goitrous adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, a back-formation from goitreux ‘having a goitre’, or from Old French goitron ‘gullet’, both based on Latin guttur ‘throat’.

goji berry /ədi/ n. 1 a bright red edible berry widely cultivated in China, supposed to contain high levels of certain vitamins.

2 either of two shrubs on which goji berries grow, Lycium barbarum and Lycium chinense. See also WOLFBERRY.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese gouqi.

go-kart (also go-cart) n. a small racing car with a lightweight or skeleton body.

<DERIVATIVES> go-karting n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: kart, alteration of CART.

Gokhale /əkəle/ Gopal Krishna (1866–1915), Indian political leader and social reformer, president of the Indian National Congress from 1905. He was a leading advocate of Indian self-government through constitutional or moderate means.

Golan Heights /əlαn ələn/ a range of hills on the border between Syria and Israel, north-east of the Sea of Galilee. Formerly under Syrian control, the area was occupied by Israel in 1967 and annexed in 1981. Negotiations for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the region began in 1992.

Golconda /lkndə/ n. a source of wealth, advantages, or happiness: the posters calling emigrants from Europe to the Golconda of the American West.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of a city near Hyderabad, India, famous for its diamonds.

gold n. [mass noun] 1 a yellow precious metal, the chemical element of atomic number 79, used in jewellery and decoration and to guarantee the value of currencies. (Symbol: Au)

- [with modifier] an alloy of gold: 9-carat gold.

2 a deep lustrous yellow or yellow-brown colour: her eyes were light green and flecked with gold.

3 coins or other articles made of gold: her ankles and wrists were glinting with gold.

- money in large sums; wealth: he proved to be a rabid seeker for gold and power.

- a thing that is precious or beautiful: they scout continents in search of the new green gold.

4 [count noun]

■ short for GOLD MEDAL.

5 [count noun] the bullseye of an archery target.

<PHRASES>

□ go gold (of a recording) achieve sales meriting a gold disc.

□ pot (or crock) of gold a large but distant or imaginary reward. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to the story of a crock of gold supposedly to be found at the end of a rainbow.]

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch goud and German Gold, from an Indo-European root shared by YELLOW.

gold-beater n. a person who beats gold out into gold leaf.

gold-beater's skin n. a membrane used to separate leaves of gold during beating.

gold beetle (also goldbug) n. NORTH AMERICAN a leaf beetle with metallic gold coloration.

<INFO> Several species in the family Chrysomelidae, in particular Metriona bicolor.

gold brick US INFORMAL n. 1 a thing that looks valuable, but is in fact worthless.

- (also goldbricker) a confidence trickster.

2 a lazy person.

■ v. (goldbrick) 1 [no obj.] invent excuses to avoid a task; shirk: he wasn't goldbricking; he was really sick.

2 [with obj.] swindle (someone).

goldbug n. chiefly US 1 INFORMAL an advocate of a single gold standard for currency.

- a person favouring gold as an investment.

2 another term for GOLD BEETLE.

gold card n. a charge card or credit card issued to people with a high credit rating and giving benefits not available with the standard card.

Gold Coast 1 former name (until 1957) for GHANA.

2 a resort region on the east coast of Australia, to the south of Brisbane.

goldcrest n. a very small Eurasian warbler with a black-bordered yellow or orange crest.

<INFO> Regulus regulus, family Sylviidae.

gold-digger n. INFORMAL a woman who forms relationships with men purely to obtain money or gifts from them.

<DERIVATIVES> gold-digging adj.

gold disc n. a framed golden disc awarded to a recording artist or group for sales of a recording exceeding a specified high figure.

gold dust n. [mass noun] 1 fine particles of gold.

- BRITISH a thing that is difficult to find or obtain: council nursery places are like gold dust.

2 a cultivated evergreen alyssum, with grey-green leaves and numerous small yellow flowers.

<INFO> Alyssum saxatile, family Cruciferae.

golden adj. 1 coloured or shining like gold: curls of glossy golden hair | miles of golden sand.

2 made or consisting of gold: a golden crown.

3 (of a period) very happy and prosperous: those golden days before World War I.

- (of an opportunity) very favourable: a golden opportunity to boost foreign trade.

<DERIVATIVES> goldenly adv.

golden age n. an idyllic, often imaginary past time of peace, prosperity, and happiness.

- the period when a specified art or activity is at its peak: the golden age of cinema.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: the Greek and Roman poets' name for the first period of history, when the human race lived in an ideal state.

golden ager n. North American, EUPHEMISTIC an old person.

golden boy n. INFORMAL a very popular or successful man: the golden boy of British golf.

golden calf n. (in the Bible) an image of gold in the shape of a calf, made by Aaron in response to the Israelites' plea for a god while they awaited Moses' return from Mount Sinai, where he was receiving the Ten Commandments (Exod. 32).

- an unworthy or inappropriate object of worship, typically wealth.

golden cat n. a small forest-dwelling cat found in Africa and Asia.

<INFO> Genus Felis, family Felidae: the African F. aurata, with a chestnut to silver-grey coat, and the Asiatic F. temmincki, with a golden-brown coat and striped head.

golden chain n. the common laburnum.

Golden Delicious n. a widely grown dessert apple of a greenish-yellow, soft-fleshed variety.

golden eagle n. a large Eurasian and North American eagle with yellow-tipped head feathers in the mature adult.

<INFO> Aquila chrysaetos, family Accipitridae.

goldeneye n. (pl. same or goldeneyes) a migratory northern diving duck, the male of which has a dark head with a white cheek patch and yellow eyes.

<INFO> Genus Bucephala, family Anatidae: two species, in particular the common goldeneye (B. clangula).

Golden Fleece [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the fleece of a golden ram, guarded by an unsleeping dragon, and sought and won by Jason with the help of Medea.

- a goal that is highly desirable but difficult to achieve.

Golden Gate a deep channel connecting San Francisco Bay with the Pacific Ocean, spanned by the Golden Gate suspension bridge (completed 1937).

golden girl n. INFORMAL a very popular or successful young woman.

golden glow n. NORTH AMERICAN a tall rudbeckia with globular yellow flower heads.

<INFO> Rudbeckia laciniata, family Compositae.

golden goal n. (in some soccer and hockey competitions) the first goal scored during extra time which ends the match and gives victory to the scoring side.

golden goose n. a continuing source of wealth or profit that may be exhausted if it is misused: they were killing the golden goose of tourism. See also KILL THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGGS at egg^1.

golden handcuffs plural n. INFORMAL benefits, typically deferred payments, provided by an employer to discourage an employee from taking employment elsewhere.

golden handshake n. INFORMAL a payment given to someone who is made redundant or retires early.

golden hello n. BRITISH INFORMAL a substantial payment made by an employer to a keenly sought recruit.

Golden Hind the ship in which Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe in 1577–80.

<ORIGIN> named by Drake in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton (1540–91), whose crest was a golden hind.

Golden Horde the Tartar and Mongol army, led by descendants of Genghis Khan, that overran Asia and parts of eastern Europe in the 13th century and maintained an empire until around 1500 (so called from the richness of the leader's camp).

Golden Horn a curved inlet of the Bosporus forming the harbour of Istanbul. Turkish name Haliç.

golden hour n. MEDICINE the first hour after a traumatic injury, when emergency treatment is most likely to be successful.

golden jubilee n. the fiftieth anniversary of a significant event.

golden mean n. 1 the ideal moderate position between two extremes.

2 another term for GOLDEN SECTION.

golden mole n. a blind mole with an iridescent sheen to its coat, native to southern Africa.

<INFO> Family Chrysochloridae: several genera and species.

golden number n. the number showing a year's place in the Metonic lunar cycle, used to fix the date of Easter for that year.

golden oldie n. INFORMAL an old song or film that is still well known and popular.

golden orfe n. an orfe (fish) of an ornamental yellow variety, widely kept in aquaria and ponds.

golden oriole n. a Eurasian oriole with a melodious call, the male being bright yellow and black and the female mainly green.

<INFO> Oriolus oriolus, family Oriolidae.

golden parachute n. INFORMAL a large payment or other financial compensation guaranteed to a company executive if they should be dismissed as a result of a merger or takeover.

golden perch n. another term for CALLOP.

golden plover n. a North Eurasian and North American plover, with a gold-speckled back and black face and underparts in the breeding season.

<INFO> Genus Pluvialis, family Charadriidae: three species, in particular P. apricaria of Europe and P. dominica of Canada.

golden raisin n. NORTH AMERICAN a sultana.

golden retriever n. a retriever of a breed with a thick golden-coloured coat.

golden rice n. [mass noun] a genetically modified variety of rice rich in the orange or red plant pigment beta-carotene, a substance important in the human diet as a precursor of vitamin A.

goldenrod n. a plant of the daisy family, which bears tall spikes of small bright yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Solidago, family Compositae.

golden rule n. a basic principle which should always be followed to ensure success in general or in a particular activity.

- the biblical rule of ‘do as you would be done by’ (Matt. 7:12).

goldenseal n. a North American woodland plant of the buttercup family, with a bright yellow root that is used in herbal medicine.

<INFO> Hydrastis canadensis, family Ranunculaceae.

golden section n. the division of a line so that the whole is to the greater part as that part is to the smaller part (i.e. in a ratio of 1 to 1/2 (√5 + 1)), a proportion which is considered to be particularly pleasing to the eye.

golden share n. BRITISH a share in a company that gives control of at least 51 per cent of the voting rights, especially when held by the government.

Golden State informal name for CALIFORNIA.

golden syrup n. [mass noun] BRITISH a pale treacle.

golden wattle n. an Australian acacia with golden flowers.

<INFO> Genus Acacia, family Leguminosae: A. pycnatha, whose flowers are used as Australia's national emblem, and A. longifolia.

golden wedding n. BRITISH the fiftieth anniversary of a wedding.

goldfield n. a district in which gold is found as a mineral.

goldfinch n. a brightly coloured finch with yellow feathers in the plumage.

<INFO> Genus Carduelis, family Fringillidae: four species, especially the Eurasian goldfinch (C. carduelis) and the American goldfinch (C. tristis).

<ORIGIN> late Old English goldfinc (see GOLD, finch).

goldfish n. (pl. same or goldfishes) a small reddish-golden Eurasian carp, popular in ponds and aquaria. A long history of breeding in China and Japan has resulted in many varieties of form and colour.

<INFO> Carassius auratus, family Cyprinidae.

goldfish bowl n. a spherical glass container for goldfish.

- FIGURATIVE a place or situation lacking privacy: she was tired of the travel and tired of living in a goldfish bowl.

goldilocks n. 1 INFORMAL a person with golden hair.

2 a Eurasian woodland buttercup.

<INFO> Ranunculus auricomus, family Ranunculaceae.

3 a yellow-flowered European plant of the daisy family, resembling the Michaelmas daisy.

<INFO> Aster linosyris, family Compositae.

Golding Sir William (Gerald) (1911–93), English novelist. He achieved literary success with his first novel Lord of the Flies (1954), about boys stranded on a desert island who revert to savagery. Other notable works: Rites of Passage (Booker Prize, 1980). Nobel Prize for Literature (1983).

gold leaf n. [mass noun] gold that has been beaten into a very thin sheet, used in gilding.

■ v. (gold-leaf) [with obj.] apply a layer of gold leaf to.

Goldman Emma (1869–1940), Lithuanian-born American political activist, involved in New York's anarchist movement and an opponent of US conscription. Notable works: Anarchism and Other Essays (1910) and My Disillusionment in Russia (1923).

Goldmark Peter Carl (1906–77), Hungarian-born American inventor and engineer. He made the first colour television broadcast in 1940, invented the long-playing record in 1948, and pioneered video cassette recording.

gold medal n. a medal made of or coloured gold, customarily awarded for first place in a race or competition.

gold mine n. a place where gold is mined.

- a source of wealth, valuable information, or resources: the book is a gold mine of sporting trivia.

<DERIVATIVES> gold miner n. gold-mining n. & adj.

gold of pleasure n. [mass noun] a yellow-flowered Mediterranean plant of the cabbage family, which yields fibre, oilseed, and seed for cage birds.

<INFO> Camelina sativa, family Cruciferae.

gold plate n. [mass noun] a thin layer of gold, electroplated or otherwise applied as a coating to another metal.

- plates, dishes, or other objects made of or plated with gold.

■ v. (gold-plate) [with obj.] cover (something) with a thin layer of gold.

gold-plated adj. covered with a thin layer of gold: a gold-plated tiepin.

- likely to prove profitable; secure: houses are no longer the gold-plated investment they were.

gold record n. North American term for GOLD DISC.

gold reserve n. a quantity of gold held by a central bank to support the issue of currency.

gold rush n. a rapid movement of people to a newly discovered goldfield. The first major gold rush, to California in 1848, was followed by others in the US, Australia (1851–3), South Africa (1884), and Canada (Klondike, 1897–8).

Goldschmidt /əldmt/ German /ltmt/ Victor Moritz (1888–1947), Swiss-born Norwegian chemist. Considered the founder of modern geochemistry, he carried out fundamental work on crystal structure, suggesting a law relating it to chemical composition.

Goldsmith Oliver (1728–74), Irish novelist, poet, essayist, and dramatist. Notable works: The Vicar of Wakefield (novel, 1766), The Deserted Village (poem, 1770), and She Stoops to Conquer (play, 1773).

goldsmith n. a person who makes gold articles.

<ORIGIN> late Old English (see GOLD, smith).

gold standard n. the system, abandoned in the Depression of the 1930s, by which the value of a currency was defined in terms of gold, for which the currency could be exchanged.

- a thing of superior quality which serves as a point of reference against which other things of its type may be compared: breast milk provides the gold standard by which infant feeds are measured.

Gold Stick n. (in the UK) a ceremonial officer in the Sovereign's household, entitled to carry a gilt rod on state occasions.

gold thread n. [mass noun] a plant of the buttercup family, which yields a yellow dye and is used in herbal medicine as a treatment for mouth ulcers. It grows in North America and NE Asia.

<INFO> Coptis trifolia, family Ranunculaceae.

goldwasser /əldvasə l-/ n. [mass noun] a liqueur containing particles of gold leaf, originally made at Gdańsk in Poland.

<ORIGIN> from German, literally ‘gold water’.

goldwork n. [mass noun] gold objects collectively.

<DERIVATIVES> goldworking n.

Goldwyn Samuel (1882–1974), Polish-born American film producer; born Schmuel Gelbfisz; changed to Samuel Goldfish then Goldwyn. With Louis B. Mayer, he founded the film company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1924.

golem /ələm l-/ n. (in Jewish legend) a clay figure brought to life by magic.

- an automaton or robot.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Yiddish goylem, from Hebrew gōlem ‘shapeless mass’.

golf n. 1 [mass noun] a game played on a large open-air course, in which a small hard ball is struck with a club into a series of small holes in the ground, the object being to use the fewest possible strokes to complete the course.

A golf course usually has 18 holes, each set in a smooth lawn (a green) separated from the others by stretches of smooth grass (fairways), rough ground, sand-filled bunkers, and other hazards. Various clubs are used to hit the ball from a tee towards the green, up to 450 m away, and then putt it into the hole.

2 a code word representing the letter G, used in radio communication.

■ v. [no obj.] (often as n. golfing) play golf.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally Scots): perhaps related to Dutch kolf ‘club, bat’, used as a term in several Dutch games; [GOLF], however, is recorded before these games.

golf ball n. a small hard ball used in the game of golf, typically made of dimpled white latex.

- (golfball) a small metal globe used in some electric typewriters to carry the type.

golf cart n. a small motorized vehicle for golfers and their equipment.

golf club n. 1 a club used to hit the ball in golf, with a heavy wooden or metal head on a slender shaft.

2 an organization of members for playing golf.

- the premises used by such an organization.

golf course n. a course on which golf is played.

golfer n. 1 a person who plays golf.

2 BRITISH DATED a cardigan.

golf shirt n. NORTH AMERICAN a light, short-sleeved shirt with a collar, typically of a knitted fabric and with buttons at the neck only.

golgappa /əlpə/ n. another term for PANI PURI.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi golgappā.

Golgi /ldi/ Camillo (1844–1926), Italian histologist and anatomist. He devised a staining technique to investigate nerve tissue, classified types of nerve cell, and described the structure in the cytoplasm of most cells, now named after him. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1906).

Golgi body /ldi -i/ (also Golgi apparatus) n. [BIOLOGY] a complex of vesicles and folded membranes within the cytoplasm of most eukaryotic cells, involved in secretion and intracellular transport.

Golgotha /ləθə/ the site of the crucifixion of Jesus; Calvary.

<ORIGIN> from late Latin, via Greek from an Aramaic form of Hebrew gulgoleth ‘skull’ (see Matt. 27:33).

Goliath /ələθ/ (in the Bible) a Philistine giant, according to one tradition slain by David (1 Sam. 17), but according to another slain by Elhanan (2 Sam. 21:19).

- (as n. also goliath) a person or thing of enormous size or strength: the two unassuming hippies took on a corporate Goliath.

goliath beetle n. a very large, boldly marked tropical beetle related to the chafers, the male of which has a forked horn on the head.

<INFO> Genus Goliathus, family Scarabaeidae: several species, in particular G. giganteus of Africa, which is the largest known beetle.

goliath frog n. a giant frog of West Central Africa.

<INFO> Rana goliath, family Ranidae.

Gollancz /lants/ Sir Victor (1893–1967), British publisher and philanthropist. A committed socialist, he founded the charity War on Want.

golliwog n. a soft doll with bright clothes, a black face, and fuzzy hair.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Golliwogg, the name of a doll character in books by Bertha Upton (died 1912), American writer; perhaps suggested by golly^1 and POLLIWOG.

gollop /ləp/ BRITISH INFORMAL v. (gollops, golloping, golloped) [with obj.] swallow (food) hastily or greedily.

■ n. a hasty gulp.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from GULP, influenced by gobble^1.

golly^1 exclam. INFORMAL used to express surprise or delight: Golly! Is that the time?

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: euphemism for GOD.

golly^2 n. (pl. gollies) BRITISH INFORMAL short for GOLLIWOG.

GOM abbr. BRITISH Grand Old Man, a name originally applied to Gladstone.

gombeen /mbin/ n. [mass noun] [as modifier] IRISH involved in the lending of money at unreasonably high interest rates: a gombeen man.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Irish gaimbín, perhaps from the same Celtic source as medieval Latin cambire ‘to change’.

Gomel /əmil/ Russian name for HOMEL.

gomer /əmə/ n. US 1 MILITARY SLANG an inept or stupid colleague, especially a trainee.

2 INFORMAL (used by doctors) a troublesome patient, especially an elderly one.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: origin uncertain; sense 1 perhaps from Gomer Pyle, a US television character portrayed as an ignorant hillbilly; sense 2 perhaps an acronym from get out of my emergency room.

Gomorrah /əmrə/ a town in ancient Palestine, probably south of the Dead Sea. According to Gen. 19:24, it was destroyed by fire from heaven, along with Sodom, for the wickedness of its inhabitants.

-gon combining form in nouns denoting plane figures with a specified number of angles and sides: hexagon | pentagon.

<ORIGIN> from Greek -gōnos ‘-angled’.

gonad /ənad/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] & [ZOOLOGY] an organ that produces gametes; a testis or ovary.

<DERIVATIVES> gonadal /ə()ned(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin gonades, plural of gonas, from Greek gonē ‘generation, seed’.

gonadotrophic hormone /ənadə()trəfk -trfk/ (also gonadotropic hormone /-trəpk -trpk/) n. another term for GONADOTROPHIN.

gonadotrophin /ənadə()trəfn/ (also gonadotropin /-trəpn -trpn/) n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of hormones secreted by the pituitary which stimulate the activity of the gonads.

Goncharov /ntərf/ Ivan (Aleksandrovich) (1812–91), Russian novelist. His novel Oblomov (1857) is regarded as one of the greatest works of Russian realism.

Goncourt /nkə/ French /kuR/ Edmond de (1822–96) and Jules de (1830–70), French novelists and critics. Working together, the brothers wrote art criticism, realist novels and social history. In his will Edmond provided for the establishment of the Académie Goncourt, which awards the annual Prix Goncourt.

Gond /nd ənd/ (also Gondi /ndi/) n. (pl. same) 1 a member of an indigenous people living in the hill forests of central India.

2 [mass noun] the Dravidian language of the Gond, with several highly differentiated dialects and about 2 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Gond or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit goa.

gondola /ndələ/ n. 1 a light flat-bottomed boat used on Venetian canals, having a high point at each end and worked by one oar at the stern.

2 the seating compartment in a ski lift.

- an enclosed compartment suspended from an airship or balloon.

3 (also gondola car) NORTH AMERICAN an open railway freight wagon.

4 BRITISH a free-standing block of shelves used to display goods in a supermarket.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Venetian Italian, from Rhaeto-Romance gondolà ‘to rock, roll’.

gondolier /ndələ/ n. a person who propels and steers a gondola.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via French from Italian gondoliere, from gondola (see GONDOLA).

Gondwana /ndwαnə/ (also Gondwanaland) a vast continental area believed to have existed in the southern hemisphere and to have resulted from the break-up of Pangaea in Mesozoic times. It comprised present-day Arabia, Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia, and the peninsula of India.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally denoting any of a series of rocks in India, especially fluviatile shales and sandstones): from the name of a region in central northern India, from Sanskrit goavana ‘forest of Gond’.

gone past participle of go^1

■ adj. [predic.] 1 no longer present; departed: you were gone a long time | the bad old days are gone.

- no longer in existence; dead or extinct: an aunt of mine, long since gone.

- no longer available; consumed or used up: the food's all gone, I'm afraid.

- INFORMAL in a trance or stupor, especially through exhaustion, drink, or drugs: she sat, half-gone, on a folding chair.

- [attr.] INFORMAL, chiefly US beyond help; in a hopeless state: spending time and effort on a gone sucker like Galindez.

- US INFORMAL, DATED excellent; inspired: a bunch of real gone cats.

2 INFORMAL having reached a specified time in a pregnancy: she is now four months gone.

■ prep. BRITISH (of time) past: it's gone half past eleven.

- (of age) older than: she was gone sixty by then.

<PHRASES>

□ be gone on INFORMAL be infatuated with: I knew he was awfully gone on you.

□ gone away! a huntsman's cry, indicating that a fox has been started.

gone goose n. INFORMAL, DATED a person or thing that is beyond hope.

goner /nə/ n. INFORMAL a person or thing that is doomed or cannot be saved.

gonfalon /nf(ə)lən/ n. a banner or pennant, especially one with streamers, hung from a crossbar.

<DERIVATIVES> gonfalonier /nfələnə/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian gonfalone, from a Germanic compound whose second element is related to VANE.

gong n. 1 a metal disc with a turned rim, giving a resonant note when struck.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a medal or award.

■ v. [no obj.] sound a gong or make a sound like that of a gong being struck.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Malay gong, gung, of imitative origin.

gongoozler /uzlə/ n. INFORMAL an idle spectator.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally denoting a person who idly watched activity on a canal); rare before 1970: perhaps from Lincolnshire dialect gawn and gooze ‘stare, gape’.

goniatite /ənətt/ n. an ammonoid fossil of an early type found chiefly in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, typically with simple angular suture lines. Compare with AMMONITE and CERATITE.

<INFO> Typified by the genus Goniatites, order Goniatitida.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Goniatites, from Greek gōnia ‘angle’.

gonif /nf/ (also goniff) n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a disreputable or dishonest person (often used as a general term of abuse).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Yiddish ganev, from Hebrew gannā ‘thief’.

goniometer /ənmtə/ n. an instrument for the precise measurement of angles, especially one used to measure the angles between the faces of crystals.

<DERIVATIVES> goniometric adj. goniometrical adj. goniometry n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French goniomètre, from Greek gōnia ‘angle’ + French -mètre ‘(instrument) measuring’.

Gonk n. TRADEMARK a spherical or egg-shaped doll with frizzy hair.

gonna INFORMAL contraction going to: so what you gonna do now?

gonococcus /nəkkəs/ n. (pl. gonococci /-k(s) -k(s)i/) a bacterium which causes gonorrhoea.

<INFO> Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a Gram-negative diplococcus.

<DERIVATIVES> gonococcal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of GONORRHOEA and COCCUS.

gonolek /nəlεk/ n. an African shrike (songbird) with a mainly black back and red underparts.

<INFO> Genus Laniarius, family Laniidae: three species, in particular the common gonolek (L. barbarus).

gonorrhoea /nərə/ (US gonorrhea) n. [mass noun] a venereal disease involving inflammatory discharge from the urethra or vagina.

<DERIVATIVES> gonorrhoeal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: via late Latin from Greek gonorrhoia, from gonos ‘semen’ + rhoia ‘flux’.

gonzo adj. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 relating to or denoting journalism of an exaggerated, subjective, and fictionalized style.

2 bizarre or crazy: the woman was either gonzo or stoned.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: perhaps from Italian gonzo ‘foolish’ or Spanish ganso ‘goose, fool’.

goo n. [mass noun] INFORMAL 1 a sticky or slimy substance.

2 excessive sentimentality.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): perhaps from burgoo, a nautical slang term for porridge, based on Persian bulġūr ‘bruised grain’.

goober /ubə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person from the south-eastern US, especially Georgia or Arkansas.

- DEROGATORY an unsophisticated person.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from an earlier sense ‘peanut’, from Kikongo nguba.

good adj. (better, best) 1 to be desired or approved of: it's good that he's back to his old self | a good quality of life.

- pleasing and welcome: we've had some good news | it's good to see you again.

- showing approval: the play had good reviews.

2 having the required qualities; of a high standard: a good restaurant | his marks are just not good enough.

- skilled at doing or dealing with a specified thing: I'm good at crosswords | he was good with children.

- healthy, strong, or well: she's not feeling too good.

- useful, advantageous, or beneficial in effect: too much sun is not good for you.

- appropriate to a particular purpose: this is a good month for planting seeds.

- (of language) with correct grammar and pronunciation: she speaks good English.

- strictly adhering to or fulfilling all the principles of a particular religion or cause: a good Catholic girl.

3 possessing or displaying moral virtue: her father was a good man.

- showing kindness: it was good of you to come.

- obedient to rules or conventions: accustom the child to being rewarded for good behaviour.

- used to address or refer to people in a courteous, patronizing, or ironic way: a man very like your good self, in fact | the good lady of the house.

- commanding respect: he was concerned with establishing and maintaining his good name.

- belonging or relating to a high social class: he comes from a good family.

4 giving pleasure; enjoyable or satisfying: the streets fill up with people looking for a good time.

- pleasant to look at; attractive: you're looking pretty good.

- (of clothes) smart and suitable for formal wear: he went upstairs to change out of his good suit.

5 [attr.] thorough: now is the time to have a really good clear-up | have a good look around.

- used to emphasize that a number is at least as great as one claims: they're a good twenty years younger.

- used to emphasize a following adjective or adverb: we had a good long hug | it'll be good and dark by then.

- fairly large in number, amount, or size: the match attracted a good crowd | there's a good chance that we may be able to help.

6 (usually good for) valid: the ticket is good for travel from May to September.

- likely to provide: she's always good for a laugh.

- sufficient to pay for: his money was good for a bottle of whisky.

7 used in conjunction with the name of God or a related expression as an exclamation of extreme surprise or anger: good heavens!

■ n. 1 [mass noun] that which is morally right; righteousness: a mysterious balance of good and evil.

2 [mass noun] benefit or advantage to someone or something: he is too clever for his own good.

3 (goods) merchandise or possessions: imports of luxury goods | stolen goods.

- BRITISH things to be transported, as distinct from passengers: a means of transporting passengers as well as goods | [as modifier] a goods train.

- (the goods) INFORMAL the genuine article.

■ adv. INFORMAL well: my mother could never cook this good.

<PHRASES>

□ all to the good to be welcomed without qualification.

□ as good as —— very nearly ——: the editor as good as told him he was lucky to get £50 a week.

- used of a result which will inevitably follow: if we pass on the information, he's as good as dead.

□ be any (or no or much) good have some (or none or a lot of) merit: tell me whether that picture is any good.

- be of some (or none or a lot of) help in dealing with a situation: it's no good arguing with him.

□ be so good as (or be good enough) to do something used to make a polite request: would you be so good as to answer me.

□ be —— to the good have a specified net profit or advantage: I came out £7 to the good.

□ come up with (or deliver) the goods INFORMAL do what is expected or required of one.

□ do good 1 act virtuously, especially by helping others.

2 make a helpful contribution to a situation: could the discussion do any good?

□ do someone good be beneficial to someone, especially to their health: the walk will do you good.

□ for good (and all) forever; definitively: the experience almost frightened me away for good.

□ get (or have) the goods on INFORMAL obtain (or possess) information about (someone) which may be used to their detriment.

□ (as) good as gold (of a child) extremely well behaved.

□ (as) good as new in a very good condition or state; close to the original state again after damage, injury, or illness.

□ the Good Book the Bible.

□ good for (or on) you (or him, her, etc.)! used as an exclamation of praise or approval: ‘I'm having driving lessons and taking my test next month.’ ‘Good for you!’.

□ good money money that could usefully be spent elsewhere; hard-earned money: I paid good money for that computer.

□ the Good Shepherd Jesus. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to John X. 1–16.]

□ good wine needs no bush see wine^1.

□ a good word words in recommendation or defence of a person: I hoped you might put in a good word for me with your friends.

□ in good time 1 with no risk of being late: I arrived in good time.

2 (also all in good time) in due course but without haste: ‘I want to see him.’ ‘You will. All in good time.’.

□ make good be successful: a college friend who made good in Hollywood.

□ make something good 1 compensate for loss, damage, or expense: if I scratched the table I'd make good the damage.

- repair or restore after damage: make good the wall where you have buried the cable.

2 fulfil a promise or claim: I challenged him to make good his boast.

□ take something in good part not be offended by something: he took her abruptness in good part.

□ up to no good doing something wrong.

<ORIGIN> Old English gōd, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch goed and German gut.

good afternoon exclam. expressing good wishes on meeting or parting in the afternoon.

Goodall Jane (b.1934), English zoologist. After working with Louis Leakey in Tanzania from 1957, she made prolonged and intimate studies of chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream Reserve by Lake Tanganyika from 1970.

goodbye (US also goodby) exclam. used to express good wishes when parting or at the end of a conversation.

■ n. (pl. goodbyes; US also goodbys) an instance of saying ‘goodbye’; a parting: we said our goodbyes and set off.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: contraction of God be with you!, with good substituted on the pattern of phrases such as good morning.

good day exclam. expressing good wishes on meeting or parting during the day.

good doer n. BRITISH INFORMAL a thing, especially a cultivated plant or domesticated animal, that thrives or performs well without special attention.

good evening exclam. expressing good wishes on meeting or parting during the evening.

good fairy n. a fairy godmother.

good faith n. [mass noun] honesty or sincerity of intention: the details contained in this brochure have been published in good faith.

goodfella n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a gangster, especially a member of a Mafia family.

good form n. [mass noun] behaviour that complies with current social conventions: it wasn't considered good form to show too much enthusiasm.

good-for-nothing adj. (of a person) lazy and feckless: his good-for-nothing son.

■ n. a lazy, feckless person.

Good Friday n. the Friday before Easter Sunday, on which the Crucifixion of Christ is commemorated in the Christian Church. It is traditionally a day of fasting and penance.

<ORIGIN> from GOOD, in the sense ‘holy, observed as a holy day’.

good-hearted adj. kind and well meaning.

<DERIVATIVES> good-heartedness n.

Good Hope, Cape of a mountainous promontory south of Cape Town, South Africa, near the southern extremity of Africa.

good humour n. [mass noun] a genial disposition or mood: I admire your dignity and good humour.

good-humoured adj. naturally cheerful and friendly; genial: a good-humoured and tolerant man. | there was much good-humoured heckling.

<DERIVATIVES> good-humouredly adv.

goodish adj. fairly good: a goodish performance.

- fairly large: a goodish portion.

Good King Henry n. an edible plant of the goosefoot family, with large dark green leaves and insignificant clusters of flowers, native to Europe.

<INFO> Chenopodium bonus-henricus, family Chenopodiaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

good-looking adj. (of a person) physically attractive: a good-looking woman in her late thirties.

<DERIVATIVES> good-looker n.

goodly adj. (goodlier, goodliest) 1 considerable in size or quantity: a goodly number of our countrymen.

2 ARCHAIC attractive, excellent, or admirable.

<DERIVATIVES> goodliness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English gōdlic (see GOOD, -ly^1).

Goodman Benny (1909–86), American jazz clarinettist and bandleader; full name Benjamin David Goodman; known as the King of Swing. In 1934 he formed his own big band, which was the first to include both black and white musicians.

goodman n. (pl. goodmen) ARCHAIC, chiefly SCOTTISH the male head of a household.

good manners plural n. polite or well-bred social behaviour: it's nice to meet a young man with such good manners.

good morning exclam. expressing good wishes on meeting or parting during the morning.

good nature n. a kind and unselfish disposition: your boy has a good nature.

good-natured adj. kind, unselfish, and patient: everyone was very good-natured about it. | there was plenty of good-natured banter.

<DERIVATIVES> good-naturedly adv.

goodness n. 1 the quality of being good: a belief in the basic goodness of mankind.

2 the beneficial or nourishing element of food.

■ exclam. (as a substitution for ‘God’) expressing surprise, anger, etc.: goodness knows why she didn't go herself | my goodness, you gave me quite a fright!

<PHRASES>

□ for goodness' sake see sake^1.

□ goodness of fit [STATISTICS] the extent to which observed data matches the values expected by theory.

□ have the goodness to do something used in exaggeratedly polite requests: have the goodness to look at me when I'm speaking to you.

<ORIGIN> Old English gōdnes (see GOOD, -ness).

Good News Bible n. a translation of the Bible in simple everyday English, published 1966–76 by the United Bible Societies.

goodnight exclam. expressing good wishes on parting at night or before going to bed.

goodo /də/ adj. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL good.

good-oh /də də/ exclam. DATED used to express pleasure or approval.

goods and chattels plural n. chiefly [LAW] all kinds of personal possessions.

good-tempered adj. not easily irritated or made angry.

<DERIVATIVES> good-temperedly adv.

good-time adj. [attr.] (of a person) having the pursuit of pleasure as one's chief aim: a good-time girl.

- (of music) intended purely to entertain.

<DERIVATIVES> good-timer n.

goodwife n. (pl. goodwives) ARCHAIC, chiefly SCOTTISH the female head of a household.

goodwill n. [mass noun] 1 friendly, helpful, or cooperative feelings or attitude: the scheme is dependent on goodwill between the two sides | [as modifier] a goodwill gesture.

2 the established reputation of a business regarded as a quantifiable asset and calculated as part of its value when it is sold.

Goodwin Sands an area of sandbanks in the Strait of Dover. Often exposed at low tide, the sandbanks are a hazard to shipping.

Goodwood a racecourse in West Sussex, near Chichester. It is the scene of an annual summer race meeting.

good works plural n. charitable acts.

goody^1 n. (also goodie) (plural goodies) INFORMAL 1 BRITISH a good or favoured person, especially a hero in a book, film, etc.

2 (usually goodies) something attractive or desirable, especially something tasty to eat.

■ exclam. expressing childish delight: goody, we can have a party.

goody^2 n. (pl. goodies) ARCHAIC (often as a title prefixed to a surname) an elderly woman of humble station: the tale of Goody Blake and Harry Gill.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: pet form of GOODWIFE; compare with HUSSY.

goody bag n. a bag containing a selection of desirable products, especially one given away as a promotional offer.

Goodyear Charles (1800–60), American inventor. He developed the process of the vulcanization of rubber, after accidentally dropping some rubber mixed with sulphur and white lead on to a hot stove.

goody-goody INFORMAL n. a smug or ostentatiously virtuous person.

■ adj. smug or ostentatiously virtuous.

gooey adj. (gooier, gooiest) INFORMAL 1 soft and sticky: a gooey chocolate dessert.

2 mawkishly sentimental: she gets all gooey over babies.

<DERIVATIVES> gooeyness n.

goof INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. 1 a mistake: one of the most embarrassing goofs of his tenure.

2 a foolish or stupid person.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 behave in a silly way or playful way: they started goofing around in front of the cameras.

- (goof off) be lazy; avoid one's work or duties: too many students are goofing off.

- (goof on) make fun of; ridicule: Lew and I started goofing on Alison's friend.

2 make a mistake: someone at the bank had goofed.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin; compare with goop^1.

goofball n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 a naive or stupid person.

2 a narcotic drug in the form of a pill, especially a barbiturate.

goof-off n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person who is habitually lazy or does less than their fair share of work.

goof-up n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a stupid mistake.

goofus /ufəs/ n. US INFORMAL a foolish or stupid person (often used as a general term of abuse).

<ORIGIN> 1920s: based on GOOF.

goofy adj. (goofier, goofiest) INFORMAL 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN foolish; harmlessly eccentric.

2 having or displaying protruding or crooked front teeth: a goofy grin.

3 (in surfing and other board sports) with the right leg in front of the left on the board.

<DERIVATIVES> goofily adv. goofiness n.

goog n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an egg.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) full as a goog very drunk.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of googie, from Scots dialect goggie, child's word for an egg.

google v. [with obj.] INFORMAL search for information about (someone or something) on the Internet.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from Google, the proprietary name of a popular Internet search engine.

googly n. (pl. googlies) [CRICKET] an off break bowled with an apparent leg-break action.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

googol /ul/ cardinal number equivalent to ten raised to the power of a hundred (10^100).

<ORIGIN> 1940s: said to have been coined by the nine-year-old nephew of E. Kasner (1878–1955), American mathematician, at Kasner's request.

googolplex /u(ə)lplεks/ cardinal number equivalent to ten raised to the power of a googol.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from GOOGOL + -plex as in multiplex.

goo-goo INFORMAL adj. 1 amorously adoring: they made goo-goo eyes at each other.

2 (of speech or vocal sounds) childish or meaningless: soothing goo-goo noises.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: possibly related to GOGGLE.

gook^1 /uk k/ n. OFFENSIVE, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a foreigner, especially a person of SE Asian descent.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

gook^2 /uk k/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL a sloppy wet or viscous substance: all that gook she kept putting on her face.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: variant of GUCK.

goolie /uli/ (also gooly) n. (pl. goolies) 1 (usually goolies) BRITISH VULGAR SLANG a testicle.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a stone or pebble.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (in sense 1): apparently of Indian origin; compare with Hindi golī ‘bullet, ball, pill’.

■ Sense 2 is possibly from an Aboriginal language of New South Wales.

goombah /umbα/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an associate or accomplice, especially a senior member of a criminal gang.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: probably a dialect alteration of Italian compare ‘godfather, friend, accomplice’.

goombay /umbe/ n. W. INDIAN a goatskin drum with a round or squared top, played with the hands.

- [mass noun] the calypso-style music associated with the playing of goombay drums.

- a dance to goombay music.

- (chiefly in the Bahamas) a festival or season of goombay music and dance.

<ORIGIN> perhaps from Kikongo ngoma, denoting a type of drum.

goon n. INFORMAL 1 a silly, foolish, or eccentric person.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a bully or thug, especially a member of an armed or security force.

3 BRITISH a guard in a German prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from dialect gooney ‘booby’; influenced by the subhuman cartoon character ‘Alice the Goon’, created by E. C. Segar (1894–1938), American cartoonist.

goonda /undə/ n. INDIAN a hired thug or bully.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi guā ‘rascal’.

gooney bird (also goony bird) n. chiefly US another term for an albatross of the North Pacific.

<INFO> Genus Diomedea, family Diomedeidae: the Laysan albatross (D. immutabilis) and the black-footed albatross (D. nigripes).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

goop^1 n. INFORMAL a stupid person.

<DERIVATIVES> goopiness n. goopy adj. (goopier, goopiest)

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): of unknown origin; compare with GOOF.

goop^2 n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for GLOOP.

<DERIVATIVES> goopiness n. goopy adj. (goopier, goopiest)

Goorkha n. old-fashioned spelling of GURKHA.

goosander /usandə/ n. (pl. same or goosanders) a large Eurasian and North American merganser (diving duck), the male of which has a dark green head and whitish underside.

<INFO> Mergus merganser, family Anatidae. North American name: common merganser.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: probably from GOOSE + -ander as in dialect bergander ‘shelduck’ (the colouring of the male goosander resembling that of the shelduck).

goose /us/ n. (pl. geese /is/) 1 a large waterbird with a long neck, short legs, webbed feet, and a short broad bill. Generally geese are larger than ducks and have longer necks and shorter bills.

<INFO> Several genera in the family Anatidae; most domesticated geese are descended from the greylag.

- a female goose.

- [mass noun] the flesh of a goose as food.

2 INFORMAL a foolish person.

3 (pl. gooses) a tailor's smoothing iron.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL 1 poke (someone) in the bottom.

2 NORTH AMERICAN give (something) a boost; invigorate: the government's desire to goose the tired housing market.

<ORIGIN> Old English gōs, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gans and German Gans, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin anser and Greek khēn.

goose barnacle n. a stalked barnacle which hangs down from driftwood or other slow-moving floating objects, catching passing prey with its feathery legs.

<INFO> Genus Lepas, class Cirripedia.

gooseberry n. (pl. gooseberries) 1 a round edible yellowish-green or reddish berry with a thin translucent hairy skin.

2 the thorny European shrub which bears gooseberries.

<INFO> Ribes grossularia, family Grossulariaceae.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL a third person in the company of two people, especially lovers, who would prefer to be alone: they didn't want me playing gooseberry on their first date. [<ORIGIN> from gooseberry-picker, referring to an activity used as a pretext for the lovers to be together.]

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: the first element perhaps from GOOSE, or perhaps based on Old French groseille, altered because of an unexplained association with the bird.

goosebumps plural n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for GOOSE PIMPLES.

goose egg n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a zero score in a game.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: with reference to the shape of the zero; compare with duck^3.

goosefish n. (pl. same or goosefishes) NORTH AMERICAN a bottom-dwelling anglerfish.

<INFO> Family Lophiidae: several species, in particular Lophius americanus of North American waters.

gooseflesh n. [mass noun] a pimply state of the skin with the hairs erect, produced by cold or fright.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: so named because the skin resembles that of a plucked goose.

goosefoot n. (pl. goosefoots) a plant of temperate regions with divided leaves which are said to resemble the foot of a goose. Some kinds are edible and many are common weeds.

<INFO> Genus Chenopodium, family Chenopodiaceae.

goosegog /z us/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL a gooseberry.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: humorous alteration, gog being an altered form of gob^2.

goosegrass n. [mass noun] a widely distributed scrambling plant related to bedstraws, with hooked bristles on the stem, leaves, and seeds which cling to fur and clothing. Also called CLEAVERS.

<INFO> Galium aparine, family Rubiaceae.

gooseneck n. 1 a support or pipe curved like a goose's neck.

2 [SAILING] a metal fitting at the end of a boom, connecting it to a pivot or ring at the base of the mast.

goose pimples plural n. the pimples that form gooseflesh.

gooseskin n. another term for GOOSEFLESH.

goose-step n. a military marching step in which the legs are not bent at the knee.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial] march with a goose-step.

goosey (also goosy) adj. 1 having or showing a quality considered to be characteristic of a goose, especially foolishness or nervousness.

2 INFORMAL exhibiting gooseflesh: I've gone all goosey.

Goossens /us(ə)nz/ Sir (Aynsley) Eugene (1893–1962), English conductor, violinist, and composer, of Belgian descent.

GOP abbr. Grand Old Party (the Republican Party in the US).

gopak /əpak/ (also hopak) n. an energetic Ukrainian dance in duple time, traditionally performed by men.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: via Russian, from Ukrainian hopak.

gopher /əfə/ n. 1 (also pocket gopher) a burrowing rodent with fur-lined pouches on the outside of the cheeks, found in North and Central America.

<INFO> Family Geomyidae: several genera and species.

■ North American term for GROUND SQUIRREL.

2 (also gopher tortoise) a tortoise of dry sandy regions that excavates tunnels as shelter from the sun, native to the southern US.

<INFO> Gopherus polyphemus, family Testudinidae.

- [usually as modifier] NORTH AMERICAN any of a number of burrowing reptiles and amphibians.

3 (also Gopher) [COMPUTING] a menu-based system which allows Internet users to search for and retrieve documents on topics of interest. [<ORIGIN> 1990s: named after the gopher mascot of the University of Minnesota, US, where the system was invented.]

4 variant spelling of GOFER.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps from Canadian French gaufre ‘honeycomb’ (because the gopher ‘honeycombs’ the ground with its burrows).

gopher snake n. a large harmless yellowish-cream snake with darker markings, native to western North America.

<INFO> Pituophis catenifer, family Colubridae.

- (also blue gopher snake)

■ another term for INDIGO SNAKE.

Gopher State informal name for MINNESOTA.

gopher wood n. 1 [mass noun] (in biblical use) the timber from which Noah's ark was made, from an unidentified tree (Gen. 6:14).

2 (gopherwood) either of two North American trees:

<INFO>

- stinking cedar.

- yellow-wood.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: gopher from Hebrew gōer.

gopik /əpk/ n. (pl. same or gopiks) a monetary unit of Azerbaijan, equal to one hundredth of a manat.

<ORIGIN> Azerbaijani, ‘kopek’.

gopura /əprə/ (also gopuram /əprəm/) n. (in southern India) a large pyramidal tower over the entrance gate to a temple precinct.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Sanskrit gōpura ‘city gate’, from gō ‘eye’ and pura ‘city’.

gora /rə/ n. (fem. gori plural goras /rəz/ or goray /re/) (in the Indian subcontinent, and among British Asians) a white person.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi gorā ‘fair, white’.

Gorakpur /rəkpə/ an industrial city in NE India, in Uttar Pradesh near the border with Nepal; pop. 624,600 (2001).

goral /r(ə)l/ n. a long-haired goat-antelope with backward curving horns, found in mountainous regions of east Asia.

<INFO> Genus Nemorhaedus, family Bovidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: a local word in the Himalayas.

Gorbachev /bətf bətf/ Mikhail (Sergeevich) (b.1931), Soviet statesman, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR 1985–91 and President 1988–91. His foreign policy brought about an end to the Cold War, while within the USSR he introduced major reforms known as glasnost and perestroika. Opposition to his policies led to an attempted coup in 1991, after which he resigned. Nobel Peace Prize (1990).

Gorbals /b(ə)lz/ a district of Glasgow on the south bank of the River Clyde, formerly noted for its slums and tenement buildings.

gorblimey BRITISH INFORMAL exclam. an expression of surprise or indignation.

■ adj. [attr.] vulgarly lower-class.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: alteration of God blind me; also in use as a noun in the early 20th century to denote various kinds of unusual clothing.

gorcock /kk/ n. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH the male of the red grouse.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from gor- (of unknown origin) + COCK^1.

Gordian knot /dən/ n. an extremely difficult or involved problem.

<PHRASES>

□ cut the Gordian knot solve or remove a problem in a direct or forceful way, rejecting gentler or more indirect methods.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from the legend that Gordius, king of Gordium, tied an intricate knot and prophesied that whoever untied it would become the ruler of Asia. It was cut through with a sword by Alexander the Great.

gordian worm n. another term for HORSEHAIR WORM.

Gordimer /dmə/ Nadine (b.1923), South African novelist and short-story writer. Her experience of the effects of apartheid underlies much of her work. Notable novels: The Conservationist (Booker Prize, 1974). Nobel Prize for Literature (1991).

Gordium /dəm/ an ancient city of Asia Minor (now NW Turkey), the capital of Phrygia in the 8th and 9th centuries BC.

gordo /də/ n. (pl. gordos) AUSTRALIAN a popular variety of grape.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of Spanish gordo blanco, literally ‘fat white’.

Gordon Charles George (1833–85), British general and colonial administrator. He made his name by crushing the Taiping Rebellion (1863–4) in China. In 1884 he fought Mahdist forces in Sudan led by Muhammad Ahmad (see MAHDI), but was trapped at Khartoum and killed.

Gordon Bennett exclam. BRITISH expressing surprise, incredulity, or exasperation.

<ORIGIN> 1890s: probably an alteration of GORBLIMEY, after James Gordon Bennett (1841–1918), American publisher and sports sponsor.

Gordon Riots a series of anti-Catholic riots in London in June 1780 in which about 300 people were killed. The riots were provoked by a petition presented to Parliament by Lord George Gordon (1751–93) against the relaxation of restrictions on the holding of landed property by Roman Catholics.

Gordon setter n. a setter of a black-and-tan breed, used as a gun dog.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after the 4th Duke of Gordon (1743–1827), who promoted the breed.

Gordy /di/ Berry, Jr (b.1929), American record producer. He founded the Motown record company in 1959.

gore^1 n. [mass noun] blood that has been shed, especially as a result of violence: the film omitted the blood and gore in order to avoid controversy.

<ORIGIN> Old English gor ‘dung, dirt’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch goor, Swedish gorr ‘muck, filth’. The current sense dates from the mid 16th cent.

gore^2 v. [with obj.] (of an animal such as a bull) pierce or stab (a person or other animal) with a horn or tusk.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘stab, pierce’): of unknown origin.

gore^3 n. a triangular or tapering piece of material used in making a garment, sail, or umbrella.

■ v. [with obj.] shape with a gore or gores: (as adj. gored) a gored skirt.

<ORIGIN> Old English gāra ‘triangular piece of land’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch geer and German Gehre, also probably to Old English gār ‘spear’ (a spearhead being triangular).

Górecki /ərεtski/ Henryk (Mikołaj) (b.1933), Polish composer. His works, influenced by religious music, include the Third Symphony (1976), known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.

Göreme /ərimi/ a valley in Cappadocia in central Turkey, noted for its cave dwellings hollowed out of the soft tufa rock. In the Byzantine era these contained hermits' cells, monasteries, and more than 400 churches.

Gore-tex /tεks/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a synthetic waterproof fabric permeable to air and water vapour, used in outdoor and sports clothing.

gorge n. 1 a narrow valley between hills or mountains, typically with steep rocky walls and a stream running through it.

2 ARCHAIC the throat.

- [FALCONRY] the crop of a hawk.

3 a narrow rear entrance to a bastion, outwork, or other fortification.

4 a mass of ice obstructing a narrow passage, especially a river.

■ v. [no obj.] eat a large amount greedily; fill oneself with food: they gorged themselves on Cornish cream teas.

<PHRASES>

□ one's gorge rises one is sickened or disgusted: the pork smelt rancid and his gorge rose.

<DERIVATIVES> gorger n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb): from Old French gorger, from gorge ‘throat’, based on Latin gurges ‘whirlpool’. The noun originally meant ‘throat’ and is from Old French gorge;

■ sense 1 of the noun dates from the mid 18th cent.

gorged adj. [postpositive] [HERALDRY] having the neck encircled by a coronet or collar, especially one of a specified tincture.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French gorge ‘throat’ + -ED^1.

gorgeous adj. beautiful; very attractive: gorgeous colours and exquisite decoration.

- INFORMAL very pleasant or enjoyable: the weather was gorgeous.

<DERIVATIVES> gorgeously adv. gorgeousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (describing sumptuous clothing): from Old French gorgias ‘fine, elegant’, of unknown origin.

gorget /dt/ n. 1 HISTORICAL an article of clothing that covered the throat.

- a piece of armour for the throat.

- a wimple.

2 a patch of colour on the throat of a bird or other animal, especially a hummingbird.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a piece of armour protecting the throat): from Old French gorgete, from gorge ‘throat’ (see GORGE).

gorgio /də/ n. (pl. gorgios) the Gypsy name for a non-Gypsy.

<ORIGIN> from Romany gorjo.

gorgon /(ə)n/ n. [MYTHOLOGY] each of three sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, with snakes for hair, who had the power to turn anyone who looked at them to stone. Medusa was killed by Perseus.

- a fierce, frightening, or repulsive woman.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Gorgō, from gorgos ‘terrible’.

gorgoneion /ənən/ n. (pl. gorgoneia /-nə/) a representation of a gorgon's head.

<ORIGIN> Greek, neuter of gorgoneios ‘of or relating to a gorgon’ (see GORGON).

gorgonian /ənən/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a colonial coral of an order distinguished by having a horny tree-like skeleton, including the sea fans and precious red coral.

<INFO> Order Gorgonacea, class Anthozoa.

■ adj. relating to gorgons or gorgonians.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Gorgonia, from Latin Gorgo (see GORGON), with reference to its petrifaction, + -AN.

Gorgonzola /(ə)nzələ/ n. [mass noun] a type of rich, strong-flavoured Italian cheese with bluish-green veins.

<ORIGIN> named after Gorgonzola, a village in northern Italy, where it was originally made.

gorilla n. a powerfully built great ape with a large head and short neck, found in the forests of central Africa. It is the largest living primate.

<INFO> Gorilla gorilla, family Pongidae: three races (two lowland gorillas and the mountain gorilla).

- INFORMAL a heavily built aggressive-looking man.

- [with modifier] a dominant contender within a particular sphere of operation or activity: the 800-lb gorilla of the home mortgage industry.

<ORIGIN> from an alleged African word for a wild or hairy person, found in the Greek account of the voyage of the Carthaginian explorer Hanno in the 5th or 6th century BC; adopted in 1847 as the specific name of the ape.

Gorky^1 /ki/ former name (1932–91) for Nizhni Novgorod.

Gorky^2 /ki/ Arshile (1904–48), Turkish-born American painter. An exponent of abstract expressionism, he is best known for his work of the early 1940s, for example Waterfall (1943).

Gorky^3 /ki/ Maxim (1868–1936), Russian writer and revolutionary; pseudonym of Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov. His best-known works include the play The Lower Depths (1901) and his autobiographical trilogy (1915–23).

Gorlovka /ərləfkə/ Russian name for HORLIVKA.

gormless adj. BRITISH INFORMAL lacking sense or initiative; foolish.

<DERIVATIVES> gormlessly adv. gormlessness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally as gaumless): from dialect gaum ‘understanding’ (from Old Norse gaumr ‘care, heed’) + -LESS.

Gorno-Altai /nəalt/ an autonomous republic in south central Russia, on the border with Mongolia; pop. 294,800 (est. 2002); capital, Gorno-Altaisk.

Gorno-Altaisk /nəaltsk/ a city in south central Russia, capital of the republic of Gorno-Altai; pop. 53,500 (est. 2002). It was known as Ulala until 1932 and as Oirot-Tura from 1932 until 1948.

gorp n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL another term for TRAIL MIX.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: perhaps an acronym from good old raisins and peanuts.

gorse n. [mass noun] a yellow-flowered shrub of the pea family, the leaves of which are modified to form spines, native to western Europe and North Africa.

<INFO> Genus Ulex, family Leguminosae: several species, in particular the common European U. europaeus, which grows widely in heathy places.

<DERIVATIVES> gorsy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English gors, gorst, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘rough, prickly’, shared by German Gerste and Latin hordeum ‘barley’.

Gorsedd /sε/ n. a council of Welsh or other Celtic bards and Druids, especially as meeting before the eisteddfod.

<ORIGIN> Welsh, ‘mound, throne, assembly’.

gory adj. (gorier, goriest) involving or showing violence and bloodshed: a gory horror film.

- covered in blood.

<PHRASES>

□ the gory details HUMOROUS the explicit details of something: she told him the gory details of her past.

<DERIVATIVES> gorily adv. goriness n.

gosh exclam. INFORMAL used to express surprise or give emphasis: gosh, it's freezing!

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN used as a euphemism for ‘God’: a gosh-awful team.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: euphemism for GOD.

goshawk /shk/ n. a large short-winged hawk, resembling a large sparrowhawk.

<INFO> Genus Accipiter, family Accipitridae: several species, in particular the northern goshawk (A. gentilis) of Eurasia and North America.

<ORIGIN> Old English gōshafoc, from gōs ‘goose’ + hafoc ‘hawk’.

gosht /ət/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN red meat (beef, lamb, or mutton): [as modifier] gosht biryani.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu gośt.

gosling /zl/ n. a young goose.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally gesling): from Old Norse gslingr, from gás ‘goose’ + -LING, later altered by association with GOOSE.

go-slow n. chiefly BRITISH a form of industrial action in which work or progress is deliberately delayed or slowed down.

gospel n. 1 [in sing.] the teaching or revelation of Christ: it is the Church's mission to preach the gospel.

- (also gospel truth) [mass noun] a thing that is absolutely true: they say it's sold out, but don't take that as gospel.

- a set of principles or beliefs: the gospel of market economics.

2 (Gospel) the record of Christ's life and teaching in the first four books of the New Testament.

- each of these books.

- a portion from one of these read at a church service.

The four Gospels ascribed to St Matthew, St Mark, St Luke, and St John all give an account of the ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, though the Gospel of John differs greatly from the other three. There are also several apocryphal gospels of later date.

3 (also gospel music) [mass noun] a fervent style of black American evangelical religious singing, developed from spirituals sung in Southern Baptist and Pentecostal Churches.

<DERIVATIVES> gospelize (also gospelise) v.

<ORIGIN> Old English gōdspel, from gōd ‘good’ + spel ‘news, a story’ (see spell^2), translating ecclesiastical Latin bona annuntiatio or bonus nuntius, used to gloss ecclesiastical Latin EVANGELium, from Greek euangelion ‘good news’ (see EVANGEL); after the vowel was shortened in Old English, the first syllable was mistaken for god ‘God’.

gospeller (US gospeler) n. a person who zealously teaches or professes faith in the gospel.

- (in church use) the reader of the Gospel in a Communion service.

Gospel side n. (in a church) the north side of the altar, at which the Gospel is read.

goss n. BRITISH INFORMAL gossip: a bit of background goss.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: abbreviation.

gossamer n. [mass noun] a fine, filmy substance consisting of cobwebs spun by small spiders, seen especially in autumn.

- a light, thin, and insubstantial or delicate material or substance: [as modifier] a fine gossamer fabric that clung to her skin.

<DERIVATIVES> gossamery adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: apparently from GOOSE + SUMMER^1, perhaps from the time of year around St Martin's summer, i.e. early November, when geese were eaten (gossamer being common then).

gossan /z(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] & [MINING] an iron-containing secondary deposit, largely consisting of oxides and typically yellowish or reddish, occurring above a deposit of a metallic ore.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

gossip n. [mass noun] casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details which are not confirmed as true: he became the subject of much local gossip.

- [count noun] a conversation about such matters: she just comes round here for a gossip.

- [count noun] chiefly DEROGATORY a person who likes talking about other people's private lives.

■ v. (gossips, gossiping, gossiped) [no obj.] engage in gossip: they would start gossiping about her as soon as she left.

<DERIVATIVES> gossiper n. gossipy adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English godsibb, ‘godfather, godmother, baptismal sponsor’, literally ‘a person related to one in God’, from god ‘God’ + sibb ‘a relative’ (see SIB). In Middle English the sense was ‘a close friend, a person with whom one gossips’, hence ‘a person who gossips’, later (early 19th century) ‘idle talk’ (from the verb, which dates from the early 17th century).

gossip column n. a section of a newspaper devoted to gossip about well-known people.

<DERIVATIVES> gossip columnist n.

gossoon /sun/ n. IRISH a lad.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French garçon ‘boy’.

gossypol /spl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a toxic crystalline compound present in cotton-seed oil.

<INFO> A polycyclic phenol; chem. formula: C_30H_30O_8.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Gossypium (genus name), from Latin gossypinum, -pion ‘cotton plant’ (of unknown origin) + -OL.

got past and past participle of GET.

gotcha (also gotcher) INFORMAL exclam. I have got you (used to express satisfaction at having captured or defeated someone or uncovered their faults).

■ n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN an instance of catching someone out or exposing them to ridicule.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a sudden unforeseen problem.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: representing a pronunciation.

Göteborg /jœtəbrj/ Swedish name for GOTHENBURG.

Goth /θ/ n. 1 a member of a Germanic people that invaded the Roman Empire from the east between the 3rd and 5th centuries. The eastern division, the Ostrogoths, founded a kingdom in Italy, while the Visigoths went on to found one in Spain.

2 (goth) [mass noun] a style of rock music derived from punk, typically with apocalyptic or mystical lyrics.

- [count noun] a member of a subculture favouring black clothing, white and black make-up, and goth music.

<ORIGIN> Old English Gota, superseded in Middle English by the adoption of late Latin Gothi (plural), from Greek Gothoi, from Gothic Gutthiuda ‘the Gothic people’.

Gotha /ətə əθə/ German /əta/ a city in central Germany, in Thuringia; pop. 49,753 (1998). From 1640 until 1918 it was the residence of the dukes of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Gotham 1 /θəm/ a nickname for New York City, used originally by Washington Irving and now associated with the Batman stories.

2 /ətəm/ a village in Nottinghamshire. It is associated with the folk tale The Wise Men of Gotham, in which the inhabitants of the village demonstrated cunning by feigning stupidity.

Gothenburg /θənbə/ a seaport in SW Sweden, on the Kattegat strait; pop. 466,990 (2000). It is the second-largest city in Sweden. Swedish name Göteborg.

Gothic adj. 1 relating to the Goths or their extinct language, which belongs to the East Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. It provides the earliest manuscript evidence of any Germanic language (4th–6th centuries AD).

2 of or in the style of architecture prevalent in western Europe in the 12th–16th centuries (and revived in the mid 18th to early 20th centuries), characterized by pointed arches, rib vaults, and flying buttresses, together with large windows and elaborate tracery. English Gothic architecture is divided into Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular.

3 (also PSEUDO-ARCHAIC Gothick) belonging to or redolent of the Dark Ages; portentously gloomy or horrifying: 19th-century Gothic horror.

4 (of lettering) of or derived from the angular style of handwriting with broad vertical downstrokes used in western Europe from the 13th century, including Fraktur and black-letter typefaces.

5 (gothic) relating to goths or goth music.

■ n. [mass noun] 1 the extinct language of the Goths.

2 the Gothic style of architecture.

3 Gothic type.

<DERIVATIVES> Gothically adv. Gothicism n. Gothicize /-sz/ (also Gothicise) v.

<ORIGIN> from French gothique or late Latin gothicus, from Gothi (see GOTH). It was used in the 17th and 18th cents to mean ‘not classical’ (i.e. not Greek or Roman), and hence to refer to medieval architecture which did not follow classical models (sense 2 of the adjective) and a typeface based on medieval handwriting (sense 4 of the adjective).

Gothic novel n. an English genre of fiction popular in the 18th to early 19th centuries, characterized by an atmosphere of mystery and horror and having a pseudo-medieval setting.

Gotland /tlənd/ an island and province of Sweden, in the Baltic Sea; pop. 57,313 (2000); capital, Visby.

go-to guy n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person who can be relied upon for help or support.

go-to-meeting adj. (also Sunday-go-to-meeting) DATED (of clothes) suitable for wearing to church.

gotta contraction have got a (not acceptable in standard use): I gotta licence.

- have got to (not acceptable in standard use): you gotta be careful.

gotten North American past participle of GET.

<USAGE> As past participles of get, got and gotten both date back to Middle English. The form gotten is not used in British English but is very common in North American English, though even there it is often regarded as non-standard. In North American English, got and gotten are not identical in use. Gotten usually implies the process of obtaining something, as in he had gotten us tickets for the show, while got implies the state of possession or ownership, as in I haven't got any money.

Götterdämmerung /ətədεmər/ (in Germanic mythology) the downfall of the gods.

<ORIGIN> German, literally ‘twilight of the gods’, popularized by Wagner's use of the word as the title of the last opera of the Ring cycle.

Göttingen /ətən/ German /œtən/ a town in north central Germany, on the River Leine; pop. 129,800 (est. 2002). It is noted for its university.

gouache /uα wα/ n. [mass noun] a method of painting using opaque pigments ground in water and thickened with a glue-like substance.

- paint of this kind; opaque watercolour.

- [count noun] a picture painted in this way.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, from Italian guazzo.

Gouda^1 /adə/ a market town in the Netherlands, just north-east of Rotterdam; pop. 73,200 (est. 2002).

Gouda^2 /adə/ n. [mass noun] a flat round cheese with a yellow rind, originally made in Gouda.

gouge /ad ud/ n. 1 a chisel with a concave blade, used in carpentry, sculpture, and surgery.

2 an indentation or groove made by gouging.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (a groove, hole, or indentation) with or as if with a gouge: the channel had been gouged out by the ebbing water.

- make a rough hole or indentation in (a surface), especially so as to mar or disfigure it: he had wielded the blade inexpertly, gouging the grass in several places.

- (gouge something out) cut or force something out roughly or brutally: one of the young man's eyes had been gouged out.

- [no obj.] AUSTRALIAN dig for minerals, especially opal.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL overcharge or swindle (someone): drugs sold by the same manufacturers who are gouging patients in this country.

- (gouge something out) obtain money by swindling or extortion: he'd gouged wads out of Morty.

<DERIVATIVES> gouger n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin gubia, gulbia, perhaps of Celtic origin; compare with Old Irish gulba ‘beak’ and Welsh gylf ‘beak, pointed instrument’.

Gough Island /f/ an island in the South Atlantic, south of Tristan da Cunha. In 1938 it became a dependency of the British Crown Colony of St Helena.

goujons /u(d)ənz/ plural n. BRITISH deep-fried strips of chicken or fish.

<ORIGIN> from French goujon ‘gudgeon’ (see gudgeon^1).

goulash /ula/ n. 1 [mass noun] a highly seasoned Hungarian soup or stew of meat and vegetables, flavoured with paprika.

2 (in informal bridge) a further deal of the four hands after no player has bid.

<ORIGIN> from Hungarian gulyás-hús, from gulyás ‘herdsman’ + hús ‘meat’;

■ sense 2 (dating from the 1920s) is an extended use.

Gould^1 /uld/ Glenn (Herbert) (1932–82), Canadian pianist and composer. Best known for his performances of works by Bach, he retired from the concert platform in 1964 to concentrate on recording and broadcasting.

Gould^2 /uld/ John (1804–81), English bird artist. He produced many large illustrated volumes, though it is believed that many of the finest plates were actually drawn by Gould's wife and other employed artists.

Gould^3 /uld/ Stephen Jay (1941–2002), American palaeontologist. A noted popularizer of science, he studied modifications of Darwinian evolutionary theory, proposed the concept of punctuated equilibrium, and wrote on the social context of scientific theory.

Gounod /unə/ French /unə/ Charles François (1818–93), French composer, conductor, and organist. He is best known for his opera Faust (1859).

goura /ərə/ n. another term for CROWNED PIGEON.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin genus name, from a local word in New Guinea.

gourami /(ə)rαmi ərəmi/ n. (pl. same or gouramis) a small brightly coloured Asian labyrinth fish, popular in aquaria.

<INFO> Belontiidae and related families: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Malay gurami.

gourd /əd d/ n. 1 a fleshy, typically large fruit with a hard skin, some varieties of which are edible.

- a drinking or water container made from the hollowed and dried skin of a gourd.

2 a climbing or trailing plant which bears gourds.

<INFO> Family Cucurbitaceae (the gourd family): several genera and species, including the coloured ornamental gourds (Cucurbita pepo (var. ovifera)). The gourd family also includes the marrows, squashes, pumpkins, melons, and cucumbers.

<PHRASES>

□ out of one's gourd NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL out of one's mind; crazy.

- under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

<DERIVATIVES> gourdful n. (pl. gourdfuls)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gourde, based on Latin cucurbita.

gourde /əd/ n. the basic monetary unit of Haiti, equal to 100 centimes.

<ORIGIN> the Franco-American name for a dollar.

gourmand /əmənd -/ n. a person who enjoys eating and often eats too much.

- a connoisseur of good food; a gourmet.

<DERIVATIVES> gourmandism n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, of unknown origin.

<USAGE> The words gourmand and gourmet overlap in meaning but are not identical. Both can be used to mean ‘a connoisseur of good food’ but gourmand is more usually used to mean ‘a person who enjoys eating and often eats too much’.

gourmandize /əm(ə)ndiz -/ (also gormandize, gormandise) v. [no obj.] eat good food, especially to excess.

■ n. [mass noun] the appreciation or consumption of good food.

<DERIVATIVES> gourmandizer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): from French gourmandise, from gourmand; the verb dates from the mid 16th cent.

gourmet /əme -/ n. a connoisseur of good food; a person with a discerning palate.

- [as modifier] of a kind or standard suitable for a gourmet: a gourmet meal.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, originally meaning ‘wine taster’, influenced by GOURMAND.

<USAGE> On the distinction between gourmet and gourmand see usage at gourmand.

gout /at/ n. 1 [mass noun] a disease in which defective metabolism of uric acid causes arthritis, especially in the smaller bones of the feet, deposition of chalk-stones, and episodes of acute pain.

2 LITERARY a drop or spot of something: gouts of blood erupted from the wound.

<DERIVATIVES> goutiness n. gouty adj. (goutier, goutiest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French goute, from medieval Latin gutta, literally ‘drop’ (because gout was believed to be caused by the dropping of diseased matter from the blood into the joints).

goutweed n. [mass noun] ground elder, which was formerly used to treat gout. Compare with HERB GERARD.

gov. abbr.

- government.

- governor.

govern /v(ə)n/ v. [with obj.] 1 conduct the policy, actions, and affairs of (a state, organization, or people) with authority: he was incapable of governing the country | (as adj. governing) the governing coalition.

- control, influence, or regulate (a person, action, or course of events): the future of Jamaica will be governed by geography not history.

- (govern oneself) conduct oneself, especially with regard to controlling one's emotions: he does not have the ability to govern himself or others successfully.

- serve to decide (a legal case).

2 [GRAMMAR] (of a word) require that (another word or group of words) be in a particular case.

<DERIVATIVES> governability n. governable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French governer, from Latin gubernare ‘to steer, rule’, from Greek kubernan ‘to steer’.

governance n. [mass noun] the action or manner of governing a state, organization, etc.: a more responsive system of governance will be required.

- ARCHAIC rule; control: what, shall King Henry be a pupil still, under the surly Gloucester's governance?

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from governer (see GOVERN).

governess n. (especially in former times) a woman employed to teach children in a private household.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally governeress, denoting a female ruler): from Old French governeresse, feminine of governeour ‘governor’, from Latin gubernator, from gubernare (see GOVERN).

governessy adj. having or showing characteristics considered to be characteristic of a governess, especially primness or strictness: her governessy tone.

governing body n. a group of people who formulate the policy and direct the affairs of an institution in partnership with the managers, especially on a voluntary or part-time basis: the school's governing body.

government /v(ə)nm(ə)nt vəm(ə)nt/ n. 1 [treated as sing. or plural] the group of people with the authority to govern a country or state; a particular ministry in office: the government's economic record | successive Labour governments.

- [mass noun] the system by which a state or community is governed: a democratic form of government.

- [mass noun] the action or manner of controlling or regulating a state, organization, or people: rules for the government of the infirmary.

2 [GRAMMAR] the relation between a governed and a governing word.

<DERIVATIVES> governmental adj. governmentally adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French governement, from governer (see GOVERN).

Government House n. BRITISH the official residence of a governor, especially in a colony or Commonwealth state that regards the British monarch as head of state.

government issue adj. (of equipment) provided by the government.

government paper n. [mass noun] bonds or other promissory certificates issued by the government.

government securities plural n. another term for GOVERNMENT PAPER.

government surplus n. [mass noun] unused equipment sold by the government.

governor n. 1 an official appointed to govern a town or region.

- the elected executive head of a state of the US.

- the representative of the British Crown in a colony or in a Commonwealth state that regards the monarch as head of state.

2 the head of a public institution: the governor of the Bank of England.

- a member of a governing body.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL the person in authority; one's employer.

4 a device automatically regulating the supply of fuel, steam, or water to a machine, ensuring uniform motion or limiting speed.

<DERIVATIVES> governorate n. governorship n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French governeour, from Latin gubernator, from gubernare (see GOVERN).

Governor General n. (pl. Governors General) the chief representative of the Crown in a Commonwealth country of which the British monarch is head of state.

govt abbr. government: local govt.

gowan /aən/ n. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a wild white or yellow flower, especially a daisy.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably a variant of dialect gollan, denoting various yellow-flowered plants, perhaps related to Old English golde ‘marigold’.

gowk /ak/ n. DIALECT 1 an awkward or foolish person (often used as a general term of abuse).

2 a cuckoo.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old Norse gaukr.

gown n. a long elegant dress worn on formal occasions: a silk ball gown.

- a dressing gown.

- a protective garment worn in hospital, either by a staff member during surgery or by a patient.

- a loose cloak indicating one's profession or status, worn by a lawyer, teacher, academic, or university student.

- [mass noun] the members of a university as distinct from the permanent residents of the university town. Often contrasted with TOWN.

■ v. (be gowned) be dressed in a gown: she was gowned in luminous silk.

- [no obj.] (gown up) put on a surgical gown: the lab is supposed to be sterile, so you have to gown up.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French goune, from late Latin gunna ‘fur garment’; probably related to Byzantine Greek gouna ‘fur, fur-lined garment’.

Gowon /əwən/ Yakubu (b.1934), Nigerian general and statesman, head of state 1966–75. Following the Biafran civil war (1967–70) he maintained a policy of ‘no victor, no vanquished’ which helped to reconcile the warring factions.

goy // n. (pl. goyim /m/ or goys) INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a Jewish name for a non-Jew.

<DERIVATIVES> goyish adj.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew gōy ‘people, nation’.

Goya /ə/ (1746–1828), Spanish painter and etcher; full name Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. He is famous for his works treating the French occupation of Spain (1808–14), including The Shootings of May 3rd 1808 (painting, 1814) and The Disasters of War (etchings, 1810–14), depicting the cruelty and horror of war.

Gozo /əzə/ a Maltese island, to the north-west of the main island of Malta.

GP abbr.

- British general practitioner.

- Grand Prix.

GPA abbr. NORTH AMERICAN grade point average, an indication of a student's academic achievement at a school or college.

Gp Capt abbr. Group Captain.

gph abbr. gallons per hour.

GPI abbr. general paralysis of the insane, a condition associated with the late stages of syphilis which is characterized by a combination of dementia, weakness of the limbs, speech and hearing difficulties, and various other symptoms.

gpm abbr. gallons per minute.

GPMU abbr. (in the UK) Graphical, Paper, and Media Union.

GPO abbr.

- HISTORICAL (in the UK) General Post Office.

- (in the US) Government Printing Office.

GPRS abbr. general packet radio services, a technology for radio transmission of small packets of data, especially between mobile phones and the Internet.

GPS abbr. Global Positioning System, an accurate worldwide navigational and surveying facility based on the reception of signals from an array of orbiting satellites.

GPU a Soviet secret police agency from 1922 to 1923. See also OGPU.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of Russian Gosudarstvennoe politicheskoe upravlenie ‘State Political Directorate’.

GR abbr.

- Greece (international vehicle registration).

- King George. [<ORIGIN> from Latin Georgius Rex.]

gr. abbr.

- grain(s).

- gram(s).

- grey.

- gross.

Graafian follicle /rαfən/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a fluid-filled structure in the mammalian ovary within which an ovum develops prior to ovulation.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after R. de Graaf (1641–73), Dutch anatomist.

grab v. (grabs, grabbing, grabbed) [with obj.] 1 grasp or seize suddenly and roughly: she grabbed him by the shirt collar | she grabbed her keys and rushed out.

- INFORMAL obtain or get (something) quickly or opportunistically: I'll grab another drink while there's still time.

- [no obj.] (of a brake on a vehicle) grip the wheel harshly or jerkily: the brakes grabbed very badly.

2 [usually with negative or in questions] INFORMAL attract the attention of; make an impression on: how does that grab you?

■ n. 1 a quick sudden clutch or attempt to seize: he made a lungeing grab at the pistol.

- [usually with modifier] [COMPUTING] a frame of video or television footage, digitized and stored as a still image in a computer memory for subsequent display, printing, or editing: a screen grab from Wednesday's programme.

2 a mechanical device for clutching, lifting, and moving things, especially materials in bulk.

- [as modifier] denoting a bar or strap for people to hold on to for support or in a moving vehicle: a grab rail.

<PHRASES>

□ up for grabs INFORMAL available: a £1 million jackpot is up for grabs.

<DERIVATIVES> grabber n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch grabben; perhaps related to GRIP, gripe, and GROPE.

grab bag n. NORTH AMERICAN a lucky dip in which wrapped items are chosen by people at random.

- an assortment of items in a sealed bag which one buys or is given without knowing what the contents are.

grabble v. [no obj.] ARCHAIC 1 feel or search with the hands; grope about.

2 sprawl or tumble on all fours.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from Dutch grabbelen ‘scramble for a thing’, from Middle Dutch grabben (see GRAB).

grabby adj. (grabbier, grabbiest) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 having or showing a selfish desire for something; greedy: don't be so grabby—I was here before you.

2 attracting attention; arousing people's interest: a really grabby end to the series.

graben /rαb(ə)n/ n. (pl. same or grabens) [GEOLOGY] an elongated block of the earth's crust lying between two faults and displaced downwards relative to the blocks on either side, as in a rift valley.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Graben ‘a ditch’.

Gracchus /rakəs/ Tiberius Sempronius (c.163–133 BC) and his brother Gaius Sempronius (c.153–121 BC), Roman tribunes; known as the Gracchi. They were responsible for radical social and economic legislation, especially concerning the redistribution of land to the poor.

Grace W. G. (1848–1915), English cricketer; full name William Gilbert Grace. In a first-class career that lasted until 1908, he made 126 centuries, scored 54,896 runs, and took 2,864 wickets. He twice captained England in Test matches against Australia (1880 and 1882).

grace n. [mass noun] 1 smoothness and elegance of movement: she moved through the water with effortless grace.

2 courteous good will: he had the good grace to apologize to her afterwards.

- (graces) an attractively polite manner of behaving: she has all the social graces.

3 (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favour of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

- [count noun] a divinely given talent or blessing.

- the condition or fact of being favoured by someone: he fell from grace with the tabloids after he was sent off for swearing.

4 a period officially allowed for payment of a sum due or for compliance with a law or condition, especially an extended period granted as a special favour: we'll give them 30 days' grace and then we'll be doing checks.

5 a short prayer of thanks said before or after a meal.

6 (His, Her, or Your Grace) used as forms of description or address for a duke, duchess, or archbishop: His Grace, the Duke of Atholl.

7 (the Graces or the Three Graces) (in Greek mythology) three beautiful goddesses (Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne) believed to personify and bestow charm, grace, and beauty.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial] bring honour or credit to (someone or something) by one's attendance or participation: he is one of the best players ever to have graced the game | IRONIC she had deigned to grace the city of New York with her presence.

- [with obj.] (of a person or thing) be an attractive presence in or on; adorn: Ms Pasco has graced the front pages of magazines like Elle and Vogue.

<PHRASES>

□ be in someone's good (or bad) graces be regarded by someone with favour (or disfavour).

□ there but for the grace of God (go I) used to acknowledge one's good fortune in avoiding another's mistake or misfortune.

□ with good (or bad) grace in a willing and happy (or resentful and reluctant) manner.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin gratia, from gratus ‘pleasing, thankful’; related to GRATEFUL.

grace and favour adj. [attr.] BRITISH denoting accommodation occupied free or at a low rent by permission of a sovereign or government.

graceful adj. having or showing grace or elegance: she was a tall girl, slender and graceful.

<DERIVATIVES> gracefully adv. gracefulness n.

graceless adj. lacking grace, elegance, or charm.

<DERIVATIVES> gracelessly adv. gracelessness n.

grace note n. [MUSIC] an extra note added as an embellishment and not essential to the harmony or melody.

Gracias a Dios, Cape /rasas a dis/ a cape forming the easternmost extremity of the Mosquito Coast in Central America, on the border between Nicaragua and Honduras.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘thanks (be) to God’, so named by Columbus, who, becalmed off the coast in 1502, was able to continue his voyage with the arrival of a following wind.

gracile /rasl rasl/ adj. [ANTHROPOLOGY] (of a hominid species) of slender build.

- (of a person) attractively slender or thin.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin gracilis ‘slender’.

gracilis /rasls/ (also gracilis muscle) n. [ANATOMY] a slender superficial muscle of the inner thigh.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘slender’.

gracility /rəslti/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL 1 the state of being gracefully slender.

2 plain simplicity of literary style.

gracious adj. 1 courteous, kind, and pleasant, especially towards someone of lower social status: a gracious hostess | Greig was gracious in defeat.

- showing the elegance and comfort brought by wealth or high social status: gracious living.

2 (in Christian belief) showing divine grace: I am saved by God's gracious intervention on my behalf.

3 BRITISH a polite epithet used of royalty or their acts: the accession of Her present gracious Majesty.

■ exclam. used to express polite surprise: good gracious, that was close!

<DERIVATIVES> graciously adv. graciousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin gratiosus, from gratia ‘esteem, favour’ (see GRACE).

grackle n. 1 a songbird of the American blackbird family, the male of which has shiny black plumage with a blue-green sheen.

<INFO> Several genera and species, family Icteridae, in particular the common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula).

2 another term for an Asian mynah or starling, with mainly black plumage.

<INFO> Gracula and other genera, family Sturnidae; southern grackle is another term for the hill mynah.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin Gracula, from Latin graculus ‘jackdaw’.

grad^1 n. informal term for GRADUATE.

grad^2 abbr. gradient.

gradable adj. [GRAMMAR] denoting an adjective that can be used in the comparative and superlative and take a submodifier. Contrasted with CLASSIFYING.

<DERIVATIVES> gradability n.

gradate v. pass or cause to pass by gradations from one shade of colour to another: [no obj.] the black background gradated towards a dark purple.

- [with obj.] arrange in steps or grades of size, amount, or quality: (as adj. gradated) the Temple compound became a series of concentric circles of gradated purity.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: back-formation from GRADATION.

gradation n. 1 a scale or a series of successive changes, stages, or degrees: the Act fails to provide both a clear and defensible gradation of offences.

- a stage in a such a scale or series: gradations of size.

- a minute variation in shade, tone, or colour: amorphous shapes in subtle gradations of green and blue.

2 (in historical linguistics) another term for ABLAUT.

<DERIVATIVES> gradational adj. gradationally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin gradatio(n-), based on gradus ‘step’.

Grade Lew, Baron Grade of Elstree (1906–98), British television producer and executive, born in Russia; born Louis Winogradsky. A pioneer of British commercial television, he served as president of ATV (Associated Television) from 1977 to 1982.

grade n. 1 a particular level of rank, quality, proficiency, or value: sea salt is usually available in coarse or fine grades | [in combination] high-grade steel.

- a level in a salary or employment structure: clerical and secretarial grades.

- BRITISH a level of importance allocated to a listed building: [as modifier] a Grade I listed building.

- (in historical linguistics) a relative position in a series of forms involving ablaut.

- [ZOOLOGY] a group of animals at a similar evolutionary level.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a mark indicating the quality of a student's work: I got good grades last semester.

- (with specifying ordinal number) those pupils in a school or school system who are grouped by age or ability for teaching at a particular level for a year: she teaches first grade.

- BRITISH an examination, especially in music: I took grade five and got a distinction.

3 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a gradient or slope: just over the crest of a long seven per cent grade.

4 [usually as modifier] a variety of cattle produced by crossing with a superior breed: grade stock.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 arrange in or allocate to grades; classify or sort: the timber is graded according to its thickness.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN give a mark to (a student or a piece of work).

3 [no obj.] pass gradually from one level, especially a shade of colour, into another: the sky graded from blue at the top of the shot to white on the horizon.

4 reduce (a road) to an easy gradient.

5 cross (livestock) with a superior breed.

<PHRASES>

□ at grade NORTH AMERICAN on the same level: the crossing at grade of two streets.

□ make the grade INFORMAL succeed; reach the desired standard.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French, or from Latin gradus ‘step’. Originally used as a unit of measurement of angles (a degree of arc), the term later referred to degrees of merit or quality.

grade crossing n. North American term for LEVEL CROSSING.

gradely adj. N. ENGLISH fine, decent, or respectable: she were a gradely lass.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘excellent, noble’): from Old Norse greithligr, from greithr ‘ready’.

grader n. 1 a person or thing that grades.

2 a wheeled machine for levelling the ground, especially in making roads.

3 [in combination] NORTH AMERICAN a pupil of a specified grade in a school: a first-grader.

grade school n. NORTH AMERICAN an elementary school.

<DERIVATIVES> grade schooler n.

gradience n. [mass noun] [LINGUISTICS] the absence of a clear-cut boundary between one category and another, for example between cup and mug in semantics.

gradient /redənt/ n. 1 an inclined part of a road or railway; a slope: fail-safe brakes for use on steep gradients.

- the degree of such a slope: the path becomes very rough as the gradient increases.

- [MATHEMATICS] the degree of steepness of a graph at any point.

2 [PHYSICS] an increase or decrease in the magnitude of a property (e.g. temperature, pressure, or concentration) observed in passing from one point or moment to another.

- the rate of such a change.

- [MATHEMATICS] the vector formed by the operator Δ acting on a scalar function at a given point in a scalar field.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from GRADE, on the pattern of salient.

gradine /rədin/ (also gradin /redn/) n. ARCHAIC a low step or ledge, especially one at the back of an altar.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian gradino, diminutive of grado ‘step’.

gradiometer /redmtə/ n. a surveying instrument used for setting out or measuring the gradient of a slope.

- [PHYSICS] an instrument for measuring the gradient of an energy field, especially the horizontal gradient of the earth's gravitational or magnetic field.

gradual /radəl/ adj. 1 taking place or progressing slowly or by degrees: the gradual introduction of new methods.

2 (of a slope) not steep or abrupt.

■ n. (Gradual) (in the Western Christian Church) a response sung or recited between the Epistle and Gospel in the Mass.

- a book of plainsong for the Mass.

<DERIVATIVES> gradualness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin gradualis, from Latin gradus ‘step’. The original sense of the adjective was ‘arranged in degrees’; the noun refers to the altar steps in a church, from which the antiphons were sung.

gradualism n. [mass noun] a policy of gradual reform rather than sudden change or revolution.

- [BIOLOGY] the hypothesis that evolution proceeds chiefly by the accumulation of gradual changes (in contrast to the punctuationist model).

<DERIVATIVES> gradualist n. gradualistic adj.

gradually adv. in a gradual way; slowly; by degrees: the situation gradually improved. | gradually, his powers of speech returned.

graduand /radand -dj- -ənd/ n. BRITISH a person who is about to receive an academic degree.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from medieval Latin graduandus, gerundive of graduare ‘take a degree’ (see GRADUATE).

graduate n. /radət -djət/ a person who has successfully completed a course of study or training, especially a person who has been awarded an undergraduate or first academic degree.

- NORTH AMERICAN a person who has received a high-school diploma.

■ v. /radet -djet/ 1 [no obj.] successfully complete an academic degree, course of training, or (North American) high school: he graduated from Glasgow University in 1990.

- [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN confer a degree or other academic qualification on: the school graduated more than one hundred arts majors in its first year.

- (graduate to) move up to (a more advanced level or position): he started with motorbikes but now he's graduated to his first car.

2 [with obj.] arrange in a series or according to a scale: (as adj. graduated) a graduated tax.

- mark out (an instrument or container) in degrees or other proportionate gradations: the stem was graduated with marks for each hour.

3 [with obj.] change (something, typically colour or shade) gradually or step by step: the colour is graduated from the middle of the frame to the top.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin graduat- ‘graduated’, from graduare ‘take a degree’, from Latin gradus ‘degree, step’.

graduated pension n. (in the UK) a state pension paid under a system (in operation 1961–75) in which both contributions and payments were in proportion to wages or salary.

graduate school n. NORTH AMERICAN a department of a university for advanced work by graduates.

graduation n. [mass noun] 1 the receiving or conferring of an academic degree or diploma.

- [count noun] the ceremony at which degrees are conferred.

2 the action of dividing into degrees or other proportionate divisions on a graduated scale.

- [count noun] a mark on a container or instrument indicating a degree of quantity.

gradus /redəs/ n. (pl. graduses) HISTORICAL a manual of classical prosody formerly used in schools to help in writing Greek and Latin verse.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Latin, from Gradus ad Parnassum ‘Step(s) to Parnassus’, the title of one such manual.

Graecism /risz(ə)m r-/ (also Grecism) n. a Greek idiom or grammatical feature, especially as imitated in another language.

- [mass noun] the Greek spirit, style, or mode of expression, especially as imitated in a work of art.

<DERIVATIVES> Graecize (also Graecise) v.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French grécisme or medieval Latin Graecismus, from Graecus (see GREEK).

Graeco- /rikə r-/ (also Greco-) combining form Greek; Greek and …: Graecophile | Graeco-Turkish.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Graecus (see GREEK).

Graeco-Roman (also Greco-Roman) adj. 1 relating to the ancient Greeks and Romans.

2 denoting a style of wrestling in which holds below the waist are prohibited.

Graf /rαf/ Steffi (b.1969), German tennis player; full name Stefanie Maria Graf. She was ranked top women's player at the age of 16 and won her seventh Wimbledon singles title in 1996.

graffiti /rəfiti/ plural n. (sing. graffito /-tə/) [treated as sing. or plural] writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place: the station was covered in graffiti.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. graffitied) write or draw graffiti on (something): the graffitied walls.

- write (words or drawings) as graffiti: graffitied names sprayed on bus shelters.

<DERIVATIVES> graffitist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian (plural), from graffio ‘a scratch’.

<USAGE> In Italian the word graffiti is a plural noun and its singular form is graffito. Traditionally, the same distinction has been maintained in English, so that graffiti, being plural, would require a plural verb: the graffiti were all over the wall. By the same token, the singular would require a singular verb: there was a graffito on the wall. Today, these distinctions survive in some specialist fields such as archaeology but sound odd to most native speakers. The most common modern use is to treat graffiti as if it were a mass noun, similar to a word like writing, and not to use graffito at all. In this case, graffiti takes a singular verb, as in the graffiti was all over the wall. Such uses are now widely accepted as standard, and may be regarded as part of the natural development of the language, rather than as mistakes. A similar process is going on with other words such as agenda, data, and media.

graft^1 n. 1 [HORTICULTURE] a shoot or scion inserted into a slit of stock, from which it receives sap.

- an instance of inserting a shoot or scion in this way.

2 MEDICINE a piece of living tissue that is transplanted surgically.

- a surgical operation in which tissue is transplanted.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial] 1 [HORTICULTURE] insert (a scion) as a graft: it was common to graft different varieties on to a single tree trunk.

- insert a graft on (a stock).

2 MEDICINE transplant (living tissue) as a graft: they can graft a new hand on to the nerve ends.

3 combine or integrate (an idea, system, etc.) with another, typically in a way considered inappropriate: old values have been grafted on to a new economic class.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English graff, from Old French grafe, via Latin from Greek graphion ‘stylus, writing implement’ (with reference to the tapered tip of the scion), from graphein ‘write’. The final -t is typical of phonetic confusion between -f and -ft at the end of words; compare with TUFT.

graft^2 BRITISH INFORMAL n. [mass noun] hard work: success came after years of hard graft.

■ v. [no obj.] work hard: I need people prepared to go out and graft.

<DERIVATIVES> grafter n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps related to the phrase spade's graft ‘the amount of earth that one stroke of a spade will move’, based on Old Norse grftr ‘digging’.

graft^3 n. [mass noun] bribery and other corrupt practices used to secure illicit advantages or gains in politics or business: sweeping measures to curb official graft.

- such advantages or gains.

■ v. [no obj.] make money by shady or dishonest means.

<DERIVATIVES> grafter n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

Grafton /rαftən/ Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of (1735–1811), British Whig statesman, Prime Minister 1768–70.

graft union n. the point on a plant where the graft is joined to the rootstock.

Graham^1 Martha (1893–1991), American dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She evolved a new dance language using more flexible movements intended to express psychological complexities and emotional power.

Graham^2 Thomas (1805–69), Scottish physical chemist. He studied diffusion and osmosis, coining the word osmose (now osmosis) and colloid in its modern chemical sense.

Graham^3 Billy (b.1918), American evangelical preacher; full name William Franklin Graham. He is world famous as a mass evangelist.

graham adj. NORTH AMERICAN denoting unsifted wholewheat flour, or biscuits or bread made from this: a box of graham crackers.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Sylvester Graham (1794–1851), an American advocate of dietary reform.

Grahame Kenneth (1859–1932), Scottish-born writer of children's stories, resident in England from 1864. He is remembered for the children's classic The Wind in the Willows (1908).

Graham Land the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula, the only part of Antarctica lying outside the Antarctic Circle. Discovered in 1831–2 by the English navigator John Biscoe (1794–1843), it now forms part of British Antarctic Territory, but is claimed also by Chile and Argentina.

Graham's law n. [CHEMISTRY] a law stating that the rates of diffusion and effusion of a gas are inversely proportional to the square root of the density of the gas.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after T. Graham (see Graham^2).

grail n. (the Grail or the Holy Grail) (in medieval legend) the cup or platter used by Christ at the Last Supper, and in which Joseph of Arimathea received Christ's blood at the Cross. Quests for it undertaken by medieval knights are described in versions of the Arthurian legends written from the early 13th century onward.

- FIGURATIVE a thing which is eagerly pursued or sought after: the enterprise society where profit at any cost has become the holy grail.

<ORIGIN> from Old French graal, from medieval Latin gradalis ‘dish’.

grain n. 1 [mass noun] wheat or any other cultivated cereal used as food.

- the seeds of such cereals.

2 a single fruit or seed of a cereal: a few grains of corn.

- a small hard particle of a substance such as salt or sand: a grain of salt.

- the smallest possible quantity or amount of a quality: there wasn't a grain of truth in what he said.

- a discrete particle or crystal in a metal, igneous rock, etc., typically visible only when a surface is magnified.

- a piece of solid propellant for use in a rocket engine.

3 (abbr.: gr.) the smallest unit of weight in the troy and avoirdupois systems, equal to 1/5760 of a pound troy and 1/7000 of a pound avoirdupois (approximately 0.0648 gram). [<ORIGIN> because originally the weight was equivalent to that of a grain of corn.]

4 [mass noun] the longitudinal arrangement or pattern of fibres in wood, paper, etc.: he scored along the grain of the table with the knife.

- the texture of wood, stone, etc., as determined by the arrangement and size of constituent particles: the lighter, finer grain of the wood is attractive.

- the rough or wrinkled outer surface of leather, or of a similar artificial material.

- [MINING] lamination or planes of cleavage in materials such as stone and coal.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] a grainy appearance of a photograph or negative, which is in proportion to the size of the emulsion particles composing it.

5 ARCHAIC a person's character or natural tendency.

6 [mass noun] HISTORICAL kermes or cochineal, or dye made from either of these.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 give a rough surface or texture to: her fingers were grained with chalk dust.

- [no obj.] form into grains.

2 (usually as n. graining) paint (especially furniture or interior surfaces) in imitation of the grain of wood or marble.

3 remove hair from (a hide).

4 NORTH AMERICAN feed (a horse) on grain.

<PHRASES>

□ against the grain contrary to the natural inclination or feeling of someone or something: it goes against the grain to tell outright lies. [<ORIGIN> from the fact that wood is easier to cut along the line of the grain.]

<DERIVATIVES> grained adj. [usually in combination] coarse-grained sandstone grainer n. grainless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘seed, grain of corn’): from Old French grain, from Latin granum.

grain beetle n. a small beetle which infests grain stores and warehouses.

<INFO> Cucujidae and other families: several species, in particular the tropical saw-toothed grain beetle (Oryzaephilus surinamensis), now found worldwide.

grain borer n. a beetle that feeds on grain and rice and is a common pest of granaries and flour mills.

<INFO> Family Bostrichidae: several species, including the tropical lesser grain borer (Rhizopertha dominica), now found worldwide.

Grainger /rendə/ (George) Percy (Aldridge) (1882–1961), Australian-born American composer and pianist. From 1901 he lived in London, where he collected, edited, and arranged English folk songs. Notable works: Shepherd's Hey (1911).

grain leather n. [mass noun] leather dressed with the grain side outwards.

grain side n. the side of a hide on which the hair was.

grains of Paradise plural n. the seeds of a West African plant of the ginger family, resembling those of cardamom and used as a spice and in herbal medicine. Also called MALAGUETTA.

<INFO> The plant is Aframomum melegueta, family Zingiberaceae.

grain weevil n. a weevil that is a common pest of stored grain, which is eaten by the larvae.

<INFO> Sitophilus granarius, family Curculionidae.

grain whisky n. [mass noun] whisky made mainly from unmalted wheat or maize.

grainy adj. (grainier, grainiest) 1 granular: soft cheese with a slightly grainy texture.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] showing visible grains of emulsion, as characteristic of old photographs or modern high-speed film.

- (of sound, especially recorded music) having a rough or gravelly quality: the grainy sound of bootleg cassettes.

2 (of wood) having prominent grain.

<DERIVATIVES> graininess n.

gralloch /ralək/ n. [mass noun] the viscera of a dead deer.

■ v. [with obj.] disembowel (a deer that has been shot).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Scottish Gaelic grealach ‘entrails’.

gram^1 (BRITISH also gramme) (abbr.: g) n. a metric unit of mass equal to one thousandth of a kilogram.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French gramme, from late Latin gramma ‘a small weight’, from Greek.

gram^2 n. [mass noun] chickpeas or other pulses used as food.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Portuguese grão, from Latin granum ‘grain’.

gram^3 n. variant of GRAMMA.

-gram^1 combining form in nouns denoting something written or recorded (especially in a certain way): cryptogram | heliogram.

<DERIVATIVES> -grammatic combining form in corresponding adjectives.

<ORIGIN> from Greek gramma ‘thing written, letter of the alphabet’, from graphein ‘write’.

-gram^2 combining form in nouns denoting a person paid to deliver a novelty greeting or message as a humorous surprise for the recipient: kissogram.

<ORIGIN> on the pattern of telegram.

gramadoelas /xramadləz -las/ (also gamadoelas) plural n. [treated as sing.] S. African INFORMAL wild, remote country: they were stuck in the parched gramadoelas, kilometres from anywhere.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, of unknown origin.

gramicidin /ramsdn/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an antibiotic with a wide range of activity, used in many medicinal preparations.

<INFO> This antibiotic is obtained from the bacterium Bacillus brevis.

graminaceous /ramneəs/ adj. [BOTANY] relating to or denoting plants of the grass family (Gramineae).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin gramen, gramin- ‘grass’ + -ACEOUS.

graminivorous /ramnv(ə)rəs/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of an animal) feeding on grass.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin gramen, gramin- ‘grass’ + -VOROUS.

gramma (also gram) n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL one's grandmother.

grammalogue /raməl/ n. (in shorthand) a word represented by a single sign or symbol.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: formed irregularly from Greek gramma ‘letter of the alphabet, thing written’ + logos ‘word’, on the pattern of words such as catalogue.

grammar n. 1 [mass noun] the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics.

- [usually with modifier] a particular analysis of the system and structure of language or of a specific language: Chomskyan grammar.

- [count noun] a book on grammar: my old Latin grammar.

- a set of actual or presumed prescriptive notions about correct use of a language: it was not bad grammar, just dialect.

- the basic elements of an area of knowledge or skill: the grammar of wine.

- [COMPUTING] a set of rules governing what strings are valid or allowable in a language or text.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL a grammar school.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French gramaire, via Latin from Greek grammatikē (tekhnē) ‘(art) of letters’, from gramma, grammat- ‘letter of the alphabet, thing written’.

grammarian /rəmεrən/ n. a person who studies and writes about grammar.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gramarien, from gramaire (see GRAMMAR).

grammar school n. 1 (in the UK) a state secondary school to which pupils are admitted on the basis of ability. Since 1965 most have been absorbed into the comprehensive school system.

- HISTORICAL a school founded in or before the 16th century for teaching Latin, later becoming a secondary school teaching academic subjects.

2 US another term for ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

grammatical /rəmatk(ə)l/ adj. relating to grammar: the grammatical function of a verb.

- well formed; in accordance with the rules of the grammar of a language: a grammatical sentence.

<DERIVATIVES> grammaticality n. grammatically adv. grammaticalness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin grammaticalis, via Latin from Greek grammatikos, from gramma, grammatos ‘letter of the alphabet, thing written’.

grammaticalize (also grammaticalise) v. [with obj.] [LINGUISTICS] change (an element) from being one having lexical meaning into one having a largely grammatical function.

<DERIVATIVES> grammaticalization n.

Grammy n. (pl. Grammys or Grammies) each of a number of annual awards given by the American National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for achievement in the record industry.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of GRAMOPHONE and EMMY.

gramophone n. old-fashioned term for RECORD PLAYER.

<DERIVATIVES> gramophonic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: formed by inversion of elements of phonogram ‘sound recording’.

gramophone record n. fuller form of record (sense 4 of the noun).

gramp (also gramps, grampy) n. DIALECT or INFORMAL one's grandfather.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: contraction of GRANDPAPA.

Grampian /rampən/ a former local government region in NE Scotland, dissolved in 1996.

Grampian Mountains (also the Grampians) 1 a mountain range in north central Scotland. Its southern edge forms a natural boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands.

2 a mountain range in SE Australia, in Victoria. It forms a spur of the Great Dividing Range at its western extremity.

grampus /rampəs/ n. (pl. grampuses) a cetacean of the dolphin family, in particular:

■ another term for RISSO'S DOLPHIN.

■ another term for KILLER WHALE.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: alteration (by association with GRAND ‘big’) of Old French grapois, from medieval Latin craspiscis, from Latin crassus piscis ‘fat fish’.

Gramsci /rami/ Antonio (1891–1937), Italian political theorist and activist, co-founder and leader of the Italian Communist Party. Imprisoned in 1926 when the Fascists banned the Communist Party, he died shortly after his release. Letters from Prison (1947) remains an important work.

Gram stain n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a staining technique for the preliminary identification of bacteria, in which a violet dye is applied, followed by a decolorizing agent and then a red dye. The cell walls of certain bacteria (denoted Gram-positive) retain the first dye and appear violet, while those that lose it (denoted Gram-negative) appear red.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Hans C. J. Gram (1853–1938), the Danish physician who devised the method.

gran n. BRITISH INFORMAL one's grandmother.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation.

grana /rαnə renə/ plural n. (sing. granum) [BOTANY] the stacks of thylakoids embedded in the stroma of a chloroplast.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: plural of Latin granum ‘grain’.

Granada /rənαdə/ Spanish /ranaa/ 1 a city in Andalusia in southern Spain; pop. 243,341 (est. 2001). Founded in the 8th century, it became the capital of the Moorish kingdom of Granada in 1238. It is the site of the Alhambra palace.

2 a city in Nicaragua, on the NW shore of Lake Nicaragua; pop. 91,900 (est. 2002). Founded by the Spanish in 1523, it is the oldest city in the country.

granadilla /ranədlə/ (also grenadilla) n. a passion fruit, or the fruit of a related plant.

<INFO> This fruit comes from plants of the genus Passiflora, family Passifloraceae, including the giant granadilla (P. quadrangularis), which has large pale fruits.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Spanish, diminutive of granada ‘pomegranate’.

granary n. (pl. granaries) 1 a storehouse for threshed grain.

- a region producing large quantities of corn.

2 British short for GRANARY BREAD.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin granarium, from granum ‘grain’.

granary bread n. [mass noun] BRITISH TRADEMARK a type of brown bread containing whole grains of wheat.

Gran Canaria /ran kənεrə/ Spanish /ra kanarja/ a volcanic island off the NW coast of Africa, one of the Canary Islands. Its chief town, Las Palmas, is the capital of the Canary Islands.

Gran Chaco /ran takə/ (also Chaco) a lowland plain in central South America, extending from southern Bolivia through Paraguay to northern Argentina.

grand adj. 1 magnificent and imposing in appearance, size, or style: a grand country house | the dinner party was very grand.

- large, ambitious, or impressive in scope or scale: his grand design for the future of Europe | this was opera on a grand scale.

- (of a person) of high rank and behaving in an appropriately proud or dignified way: she was such a grand lady.

- used in names of places or buildings to suggest size or splendour: the Grand Canyon | the Grand Hotel.

2 [attr.] denoting the largest or most important item of its kind: the grand entrance.

- of the highest rank (used especially in official titles): the Grand Vizier.

- [LAW] (of a crime) serious: grand theft. Compare with petty (sense 2).

3 INFORMAL very good or enjoyable; excellent: we had a grand day.

4 [in combination] (in names of family relationships) denoting one generation removed in ascent or descent: a grand-niece.

■ n. 1 (pl. same) INFORMAL a thousand dollars or pounds: he gets thirty-five grand a year.

2 a grand piano.

<PHRASES>

□ a (or the) grand old man of a man long and highly respected in (a particular field): the grand old man of the Labour Left.

<DERIVATIVES> grandly adv. grandness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French grant, grand, from Latin grandis ‘full-grown, big, great’. The original uses were to denote family relationships (sense 4 of the adjective, following Old French usage) and as a title (the Grand, translating Old French le Grand); hence the senses ‘of the highest rank’, ‘of great importance’.

grandad (also granddad) n. 1 INFORMAL one's grandfather.

- used as a form of address to an elderly man: cheer up, grandad, it may never happen.

2 [as modifier] denoting a style of shirt or shirt neckline with a collar in the form of a narrow upright band fastened with buttons.

grandaddy (also granddaddy) n. (pl. grandaddies) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL one's grandfather.

- the largest or most notable example or instance of a particular thing: that young fellow is going to have the grandaddy of all headaches.

grandam /randam/ (also grandame) n.

■ archaic term for GRANDMOTHER.

- an old woman.

- a female ancestor.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French graund dame (see GRAND, dame). Of the English terms of relationship formed with grand, this is the oldest.

grand apartheid n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL (in South Africa) a form of apartheid, prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s, which involved comprehensive racial segregation and measures such as the removal of black people from white areas and the creation of black homelands.

grand-aunt n. another term for GREAT-AUNT.

Grand Banks a submarine plateau of the continental shelf off the SE coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It is a meeting place of the warm Gulf Stream and the cold Labrador Current; this promotes the growth of plankton, making the waters an important feeding area for fish.

grand battement /r/ n. [BALLET] a movement in which both legs are kept straight and one leg is kicked outwards from the body and in again.

Grand Canal 1 a series of waterways in eastern China, extending from Beijing southwards to Hangzhou, a distance of 1,700 km (1,060 miles). Its original purpose was to transport rice from the river valleys to the cities. Its construction proceeded in stages between 486 BC and AD 1327.

2 the main waterway of Venice in Italy, lined on each side by fine palazzos and spanned by the Rialto Bridge.

Grand Canyon a deep gorge in Arizona, formed by the Colorado River. It is about 440 km (277 miles) long, 8 to 24 km (5 to 15 miles) wide, and, in places, 1,800 m (6,000 ft) deep. The area was designated a national park in 1919.

Grand Canyon State informal name for ARIZONA.

grandchild n. (pl. grandchildren) a child of one's son or daughter.

grand cross n. [ASTROLOGY] an arrangement of four planets in which each is in opposition to one other planet and square to the other two, forming a cross.

grand cru /r kru/ French /Rα kRY/ n. (pl. grands crus pronunc. same) (chiefly in French official classifications) a wine of the most superior grade, or the vineyard which produces it. Compare with PREMIER CRU.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘great growth’.

granddaughter n. a daughter of one's son or daughter.

grand duchess n. 1 the wife or widow of a grand duke.

- a woman holding the rank of grand duke in her own right.

2 HISTORICAL a daughter (or granddaughter) of a Russian tsar.

grand duchy n. a state or territory ruled by a grand duke or duchess.

grand duke n. 1 a prince or nobleman ruling over a territory in certain European countries.

2 HISTORICAL a son (or grandson) of a Russian tsar.

Grande Comore /rd kəm/ the largest of the islands of the Comoros, off the NW coast of Madagascar; pop. 340,000 (est. 2002); chief town (and capital of the Comoros), Moroni.

grande dame /rd dam/ n. a woman holding an influential position within a particular sphere: the grande dame of British sculpture.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘grand lady’.

grandee /randi/ n. a Spanish or Portuguese nobleman of the highest rank.

- a person of high rank or eminence: several City grandees and eminent lawyers.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Spanish and Portuguese grande ‘grand’, used as a noun. The change of ending was due to association with -EE.

grande horizontale /rd riztαl/ n. (pl. grandes horizontales pronunc. same) HUMOROUS a prostitute.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: French, literally ‘great horizontal’.

grandeur /randjə -(d)ə/ n. [mass noun] splendour and impressiveness, especially of appearance or style: the majestic grandeur and simplicity of Roman architecture.

- high rank or social importance: his facade of grandeur.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting tall stature): from French, from grand ‘great, grand’ (see GRAND).

grandfather n. the father of one's father or mother.

- the person who founded or originated something: Freud is often called the grandfather of psychoanalysis.

■ v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL exempt (someone or something) from a new law or regulation: smokers who worked here before the ban have been grandfathered.

<DERIVATIVES> grandfatherly adj.

grandfather clause n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a clause exempting certain pre-existing classes of people or things from the requirements of a piece of legislation.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from a clause in the constitutions of some Southern states, exempting from voting restrictions the descendants of men who voted before the Civil War.

grandfather clock n. a clock in a tall free-standing wooden case, driven by weights.

Grand Fleet HISTORICAL the main British naval fleet, either that based at Spithead in the 18th century or that based at Scapa Flow in the First World War.

Grand Guignol /r injl/ French /Rα il/ n. a dramatic entertainment of a sensational or horrific nature, originally a sequence of short pieces as performed at the Grand Guignol theatre in Paris.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘Great Punch’.

grandiflora /randflrə/ adj. [attr.] (of a cultivated plant) bearing large flowers.

■ n. a grandiflora plant.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: modern Latin (often used in specific names of large-flowered plants), from Latin grandis ‘great’ + flos, flor- ‘flower’.

grandiloquent /randləkwənt/ adj. pompous or extravagant in language, style, or manner, especially in a way that is intended to impress: a grandiloquent celebration of Spanish glory.

<DERIVATIVES> grandiloquence n. grandiloquently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin grandiloquus, literally ‘grand-speaking’, from grandis ‘grand’ + loqui ‘speak’. The ending was altered in English by association with ELOQUENT.

Grand Inquisitor n. HISTORICAL the director of the court of Inquisition, especially in Spain and Portugal.

grandiose /randəs/ adj. extravagantly or pretentiously imposing in appearance or style: the court's grandiose facade.

- conceived on a very grand or ambitious scale: grandiose plans to reform the world.

<DERIVATIVES> grandiosely adv. grandiosity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Italian grandioso, from grande ‘grand’.

grand jeté /r εte əte/ n. [BALLET] a jump in which a dancer springs from one foot to land on the other with one leg forward of their body and the other stretched backwards while in the air.

grand jury n. [LAW] a jury, normally of twenty-three jurors, selected to examine the validity of an accusation prior to trial.

grandkid n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a grandchild.

grand larceny n. [mass noun] [LAW] (in many US states and formerly in Britain) theft of personal property having a value above a legally specified amount.

grandma n. INFORMAL one's grandmother.

grand mal /r mal/ n. [mass noun] a serious form of epilepsy with muscle spasms and prolonged loss of consciousness. Compare with PETIT MAL.

- [count noun] an epileptic fit of this kind.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, literally ‘great sickness’.

grandmama (also grandmamma) n. archaic form of GRANDMA.

grand manner n. (the grand manner) a style considered appropriate for noble and stately matters: formal dining in the grand manner.

- (the Grand Manner) the lofty and rhetorical manner of historical painting exemplified by Raphael and Poussin.

Grand Marnier /r mαne/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an orange-flavoured cognac-based liqueur.

<ORIGIN> from the name of the French manufacturer Marnier -Lapostolle.

grand master n. 1 (usually grandmaster) a chess player of the highest class, especially one who has won an international tournament.

2 (Grand Master) the head of an order of chivalry or of Freemasons.

grandmother n. the mother of one's father or mother.

<PHRASES>

□ teach one's grandmother to suck eggs presume to advise a more experienced person.

<DERIVATIVES> grandmotherly adj.

grandmother clock n. a clock similar to a grandfather clock but about two thirds the size.

grandmother's footsteps plural n. [treated as sing.] BRITISH a children's game in which one player turns round often and without warning with the aim of catching the other players stealthily creeping up to touch him or her on the back.

Grand National an annual horse race established in 1839, a steeplechase run over a course of 4 miles 856 yards (about 7,200 metres) with thirty jumps, at Aintree, Liverpool, in late March or early April.

grand-nephew n. another term for GREAT-NEPHEW.

grand-niece n. another term for GREAT-NIECE.

grand opera n. an opera on a serious theme in which the entire libretto (including dialogue) is sung.

- [mass noun] the genre of grand opera.

grandpa n. INFORMAL one's grandfather.

grandpapa n. old-fashioned term for GRANDFATHER.

grandpappy n. (pl. grandpappies)

■ North American term for GRANDFATHER.

grandparent n. a parent of one's father or mother; a grandmother or grandfather.

<DERIVATIVES> grandparental adj. grandparenthood n.

Grand Penitentiary n. (in the Roman Catholic Church) a cardinal presiding over the penitentiary.

grand piano n. a large, full-toned piano which has the body, strings, and soundboard arranged horizontally and in line with the keys and is supported by three legs.

Grand Prix /r pri/ n. (pl. Grands Prix pronunc. same) any of a series of motor-racing or motorcycling contests forming part of a world championship series, held in various countries under international rules.

- (in full Grand Prix de Paris) an international horse race for three-year-olds, founded in 1863 and run annually in June at Longchamps, Paris.

- an important competitive event in various other sports.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, literally ‘great or chief prize’.

grand seigneur /r senjə/ n. a man whose rank or position allows him to command others.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘great lord’.

grand siècle /r sεkl(ə)/ French /Rα sjεkl/ n. the reign of Louis XIV, seen as France's period of political and cultural pre-eminence.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘great century or age’.

grandsire n. 1 archaic term for GRANDFATHER.

2 [BELL-RINGING] a particular method of change-ringing involving an odd number of bells.

grand slam n. TRADEMARK in the UK the winning of each of a group of major championships or matches in a particular sport in the same year, in particular in tennis, golf, or rugby union.

- [BRIDGE] the bidding and winning of all thirteen tricks.

- [BASEBALL] a home run hit when each of the three bases is occupied by a runner, thus scoring four runs.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (as a term in cards, especially bridge): from SLAM^2.

grandson n. the son of one's son or daughter.

grandstand n. the main stand, usually roofed, commanding the best view for spectators at racecourses or sports grounds.

- [as modifier] (of a view) seen from an advantageous position, as if from a grandstand: a balcony which gave us a grandstand view of Loch Fyne.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. grandstanding) DEROGATORY seek to attract applause or favourable attention from spectators or the media: they accused him of political grandstanding.

grandstand finish n. (in sport) a close or exciting finish to a race or competition.

grand total n. the final amount after everything is added up; the sum of other totals.

grand tour n. HISTORICAL a cultural tour of Europe conventionally undertaken, especially in the 18th century, by a young man of the upper classes as a part of his education.

grand tourer n. DATED a car designed for comfortable long-distance touring.

grand trine n. [ASTROLOGY] an arrangement of three planets in which each planet is in trine with the other two, forming an equilateral triangle.

grand-uncle n. another term for GREAT-UNCLE.

grand unified theory n. [PHYSICS] a theory attempting to give a single explanation of the strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions between subatomic particles.

grange n. [usually in names] BRITISH a country house with farm buildings attached: Biddulph Grange.

- HISTORICAL an outlying farm with tithe barns belonging to a monastery or feudal lord.

- ARCHAIC a barn.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘granary, barn’): from Old French, from medieval Latin granica (villa) ‘grain house or farm’, based on Latin granum ‘grain’.

grangerize /ren(d)ərz/ (also grangerise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. grangerized) illustrate (a book) by later insertion of material, especially prints cut from other works.

<DERIVATIVES> grangerization n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of James Granger (1723–76), English biographer.

graniferous /ranf(ə)rəs/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a plant) producing grain or a grain-like seed.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin granum ‘grain’ + -FEROUS.

granita /ranitə/ n. (pl. granitas or granite /-nite/) an Italian-style water ice with a granular texture.

- a drink made with crushed ice.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

granite /rant/ n. [mass noun] a very hard, granular, crystalline, igneous rock consisting mainly of quartz, mica, and feldspar and often used as a building stone: [as modifier] granite columns | FIGURATIVE a man with granite determination.

<DERIVATIVES> granitic adj. granitoid adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian granito, literally ‘grained’, from grano ‘grain’, from Latin granum.

Granite State informal name for NEW HAMPSHIRE.

graniteware n. [mass noun] 1 a speckled form of earthenware imitating the appearance of granite.

2 a kind of enamelled ironware.

granitize (also granitise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. granitized) [GEOLOGY] give (rock) a granitic character.

<DERIVATIVES> granitization n.

granivorous /ranv(ə)rəs/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of an animal) feeding on grain.

<DERIVATIVES> granivore n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin granum ‘grain’ + -VOROUS.

granny (also grannie) n. (pl. grannies) INFORMAL one's grandmother.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from grannam (representing a colloquial pronunciation of GRANDAM) + -Y^2.

granny bond n. BRITISH INFORMAL a form of index-linked National Savings certificate, originally available only to pensioners.

granny flat n. INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH a part of a house made into self-contained accommodation suitable for an elderly relative.

granny gear n. INFORMAL the lowest gear on a bicycle.

granny glasses plural n. INFORMAL round steel-rimmed or gold-rimmed glasses.

granny knot n. a reef knot with the ends crossed the wrong way and therefore liable to slip.

Granny Smith n. a dessert apple of a bright green variety with crisp sharp-flavoured flesh, originating in Australia.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Maria Ann (Granny) Smith (c.1801–1870), who first produced such apples.

granodiorite /ranə()dərt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a coarse-grained plutonic rock containing quartz and plagioclase, between granite and diorite in composition.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from GRANITE + DIORITE.

granola /ranələ/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a kind of breakfast cereal resembling muesli.

- [as modifier] chiefly DEROGATORY denoting people with liberal or Green political views, typified as eating health foods: Fran wasn't a grow-your-own granola type.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (as a trademark): from gran- (representing GRANULAR or GRAIN) + -ola (suffix chiefly in US usage). The current term dates from the 1970s.

granolithic /ranə()lθk/ adj. (of concrete) containing fine granite chippings or crushed granite, used to render floors and surfaces.

- (of a floor or surface) rendered with granolithic concrete.

■ n. [mass noun] granolithic concrete or rendering.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from grano- (irregular combining form from Latin granum ‘grain’) + Greek lithos ‘stone’ + -IC.

granophyre /ranə()fə/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a granitic rock consisting of intergrown feldspar and quartz crystals in a medium- to fine-grained groundmass.

<DERIVATIVES> granophyric /ranə()frk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Granophyr, from Granit ‘granite’ + Porphyr (see PORPHYRY).

Grant^1 Cary (1904–86), British-born American actor; born Alexander Archibald Leach. He acted in more than seventy films, including Holiday (1938) and The Philadelphia Story (1940).

Grant^2 Duncan (James Corrow) (1885–1978), Scottish painter and designer, a pioneer of abstract art in Britain. He was a cousin of Lytton Strachey and a member of the Bloomsbury Group.

Grant^3 Ulysses S. (1822–85), American general and 18th President of the US 1869–77; born Hiram Ulysses Grant; full name Ulysses Simpson Grant. As supreme commander of the Union armies, he defeated the Confederate army in 1865 with a policy of attrition.

grant v. [usually with two objs] 1 agree to give or allow (something requested) to: they were granted a meeting | her request was granted.

- give (a right, power, property, etc.) formally or legally to: they will grant you asylum.

2 agree or admit to (someone) that (something) is true: he hasn't made much progress, I'll grant you that.

■ n. a sum of money given by a government or other organization for a particular purpose: a research grant.

- [mass noun] FORMAL the action of granting something: we had to recommend the grant or refusal of broadcasting licences.

- [LAW] a legal conveyance or formal conferment: a grant of probate.

<PHRASES>

□ take for granted 1 fail to properly appreciate (someone or something), especially as a result of overfamiliarity: the comforts that people take for granted.

2 (take something for granted) assume that something is true without questioning it: George had taken it for granted that they'd get married.

<DERIVATIVES> grantable adj. granter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French granter ‘consent to support’, variant of creanter ‘to guarantee’, based on Latin credere ‘entrust’.

grant aid British n. [mass noun] financial assistance, especially money that is granted by central government to local government or an institution.

■ v. (grant-aid) [with obj.] give grant aid to.

granted adv. [sentence adv.] admittedly; it is true (used to introduce a factor which is opposed to the main line of argument but is not regarded as so strong as to invalidate it): granted, Marie was two years older than her, but it wasn't a question of age.

■ conj. (granted that) even assuming that: granted that officers were used to making decisions, they still couldn't be expected to understand.

grantee n. chiefly [LAW] a person to whom a grant or conveyance is made.

Granth /rnt/ short for GURU GRANTH SAHIB.

Grantha /rntə/ n. [mass noun] a southern Indian alphabet dating from the 5th century AD, used by Tamil brahmans for the Sanskrit transcriptions of their sacred books.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit grantha (see ADI GRANTH).

Granthi /rnti/ n. a priest who acts as custodian of the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of the Sikhs.

Granth Sahib another term for GURU GRANTH SAHIB.

grant-in-aid n. (pl. grants-in-aid) an amount of money given to local government, an institution, or a particular scholar.

grant-maintained adj. BRITISH (of a school) funded by central rather than local government, and self-governing.

grantor n. chiefly [LAW] a person or institution that makes a grant or conveyance.

gran turismo /ran trzmə/ (abbr.: GT) n. (pl. gran turismos) a high-performance car.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: Italian, literally ‘great touring’.

granular adj. 1 resembling or consisting of small grains or particles.

- having a roughened surface or structure.

2 TECHNICAL characterized by a high level of granularity: a granular database.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from late Latin granulum (see GRANULE) + -AR^1.

granularity n. [mass noun] 1 the quality or condition of being granular.

2 TECHNICAL the scale or level of detail in a set of data.

granulate v. 1 [with obj.] (usually as adj. granulated) form (something) into grains or particles: granulated sugar.

- [no obj.] (of a substance) take the form of grains or particles.

2 [no obj.] (often as adj. granulating) MEDICINE (of a wound or lesion) form multiple small prominences as part of the healing process.

- (as adj. granulated) chiefly [BIOLOGY] having a roughened surface: the skin is densely granulated.

<DERIVATIVES> granulation n. granulator n.

granule /ranjul/ n. a small compact particle of a substance: coffee granules.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin granulum, diminutive of Latin granum ‘grain’.

granulite n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a fine-grained granular metamorphic rock in which the main component minerals are typically feldspars and quartz.

<DERIVATIVES> granulitic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from GRANULE + -ITE^1.

granulocyte /ranjlə()st/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a white blood cell with secretory granules in its cytoplasm, e.g. an eosinophil or a basophil.

<DERIVATIVES> granulocytic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from late Latin granulum ‘granule’ + -CYTE.

granuloma /ranjləmə/ n. (pl. granulomas or granulomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a mass of granulation tissue, typically produced in response to infection, inflammation, or the presence of a foreign substance.

<DERIVATIVES> granulomatous adj.

granulometric /ranjlə()mεtrk/ adj. relating to the distribution or measurement of grain sizes in sand, rock, or other deposits.

granum /rαnəm renəm/ singular form of GRANA.

Granville-Barker Harley (1877–1946), English dramatist, critic, theatre director, and actor. His Prefaces to Shakespeare (1927–46) influenced subsequent interpretation of Shakespeare's work. Notable plays: The Voysey Inheritance (1905).

grape n. 1 a berry (typically green, purple, or black) growing in clusters on a grapevine, eaten as fruit and used in making wine.

- (the grape) INFORMAL wine.

2 short for GRAPESHOT.

<DERIVATIVES> grapey (also grapy) adj. (grapier, grapiest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the Old French sense): from Old French, ‘bunch of grapes’, probably from graper ‘gather grapes’, from grap ‘hook’ (denoting an implement used in harvesting grapes), of Germanic origin.

grapefruit n. (pl. same) 1 a large round yellow citrus fruit with an acid juicy pulp.

2 the tree which bears grapefruit.

<INFO> Citrus paradisi, family Rutaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from GRAPE + FRUIT (probably because the fruits grow in clusters).

grape hyacinth n. a small Eurasian plant of the lily family, with clusters of small globular blue flowers, cultivated as an ornamental or for use in perfume.

<INFO> Genus Muscari, family Liliaceae.

grape ivy n. an evergreen climbing plant of the vine family which is grown as a house plant.

<INFO> Genera Cissus and Rhoicissus, family Vitaceae: several species, in particular C. rhombifolia (or R. rhomboidea).

grapeseed oil n. [mass noun] oil extracted from the residue of grapes which have been juiced.

grapeshot n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL ammunition consisting of a number of small iron balls fired together from a cannon.

grape sugar n. [mass noun] dextrose present in or derived from grapes.

grapevine n. 1 a vine native to both Eurasia and North America, especially one bearing grapes used for eating or winemaking.

<INFO> Genus Vitis, family Vitaceae: many species, in particular V. vinifera and the American V. labrusca.

2 INFORMAL used to refer to the circulation of rumours and unofficial information: I'd heard on the grapevine that the business was nearly settled.

graph^1 /rαf raf/ n. a diagram showing the relation between variable quantities, typically of two variables, each measured along one of a pair of axes at right angles.

- [MATHEMATICS] a collection of points whose coordinates satisfy a given relation.

■ v. [with obj.] plot or trace on a graph.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of graphic formula.

graph^2 /rαf raf/ n. [LINGUISTICS] a visual symbol representing a unit of sound or other feature of speech. Graphs include not only letters of the alphabet but also punctuation marks.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek graphē ‘writing’.

-graph combining form 1 in nouns denoting something written or drawn in a specified way: autograph.

2 in nouns denoting an instrument that records: seismograph.

<ORIGIN> from French -graphe, based on Greek graphos ‘written, writing’.

grapheme /rafim/ n. [LINGUISTICS] the smallest meaningful contrastive unit in a writing system. Compare with PHONEME.

<DERIVATIVES> graphemic adj. graphemically adv. graphemics n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from GRAPH^2 + -EME.

-grapher combining form indicating a person concerned with a subject denoted by a noun ending in -graphy (such as geographer corresponding to [GEOGRAPHY]).

<ORIGIN> from Greek -graphos ‘writer’ + -ER^1.

graphic adj. 1 relating to visual art, especially involving drawing, engraving, or lettering: his mature graphic work.

- [COMPUTING] relating to or denoting a visual image: graphic information such as charts and diagrams.

2 giving clear and vividly explicit details: a graphic account of the riots.

3 of or in the form of a graph.

4 [attr.] [GEOLOGY] of or denoting rocks having a surface texture resembling cuneiform writing.

■ n. [COMPUTING] a graphical item displayed on a screen or stored as data.

<DERIVATIVES> graphically adv. graphicness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via Latin from Greek graphikos, from graphē ‘writing, drawing’.

-graphic combining form in adjectives corresponding to nouns ending in -graphy (such as demographic corresponding to demography).

<DERIVATIVES> -graphically combining form in corresponding adverbs.

<ORIGIN> from or suggested by Greek -GRAPHikos, from graphē ‘writing, drawing’; partly from -GRAPHY or -graph + -IC.

graphicacy /rafkəsi/ n. [mass noun] the ability to understand and use a map or graph.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from GRAPHIC, on the pattern of literacy and numeracy.

graphical adj. 1 relating to or in the form of a graph.

2 relating to visual art or computer graphics.

-graphical combining form equivalent to -GRAPHIC.

graphical user interface (abbr.: GUI) n. [COMPUTING] a visual way of interacting with a computer using items such as windows, icons, and menus, used by most modern operating systems.

graphic arts plural n. the visual arts based on the use of line and tone rather than three-dimensional work or the use of colour.

- [mass noun] (graphic art) the practice of graphic arts, especially as a subject of study.

<DERIVATIVES> graphic artist n.

graphic design n. [mass noun] the art or skill of combining text and pictures in advertisements, magazines, or books.

<DERIVATIVES> graphic designer n.

graphic equalizer n. an electronic device or computer program which allows the separate control of the strength and quality of selected frequency bands.

graphic novel n. a novel in comic-strip format.

graphics plural n. [usually treated as sing.] 1 the products of the graphic arts, especially commercial design or illustration.

2 the use of diagrams in calculation and design.

3 (also computer graphics) [treated as plural] visual images produced by computer processing.

- [treated as sing.] the use of computers linked to display screens to generate and manipulate visual images.

graphics card n. [COMPUTING] a printed circuit board that controls the output to a display screen.

graphics tablet n. [COMPUTING] an input device consisting of a flat, pressure-sensitive pad which the user draws on or points at with a special stylus, to guide a pointer displayed on the screen.

graphite n. [mass noun] a grey crystalline allotropic form of carbon which occurs as a mineral in some rocks and can be made from coke. It is used as a solid lubricant, in pencils, and as a moderator in nuclear reactors.

<DERIVATIVES> graphitic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: coined in German (Graphit), from Greek graphein ‘write’ (because of its use as pencil ‘lead’).

graphitize /raftz/ (also graphitise) v. TECHNICAL convert or be converted into graphite.

<DERIVATIVES> graphitization n.

graphology n. [mass noun] 1 the study of handwriting, for example as used to infer a person's character.

2 [LINGUISTICS] the study of written and printed symbols and of writing systems.

<DERIVATIVES> graphological adj. graphologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek graphē ‘writing’ + -LOGY.

graph paper n. [mass noun] paper printed with a network of small squares to assist the drawing of graphs or other diagrams.

graph theory n. [mass noun] the mathematical theory of the properties and applications of graphs.

-graphy combining form in nouns denoting: 1 a descriptive science: [GEOGRAPHY].

2 a technique of producing images: radiography.

3 a style or method of writing or drawing: calligraphy.

- writing about (a specified subject): hagiography.

- a written or printed list: filmography.

<ORIGIN> from or suggested by Greek -graphia ‘writing’.

grapnel /rapn(ə)l/ n. 1 a grappling hook.

2 a small anchor with several flukes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from an Anglo-Norman French diminutive of Old French grapon, of Germanic origin.

grappa /rapə/ n. [mass noun] a brandy distilled from the fermented residue of grapes after they have been pressed in winemaking.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘grape stalk’, of Germanic origin.

Grappelli /rəpεli/ Stephane (1908–97), French jazz violinist. With Django Reinhardt, he founded the group the Quintette du Hot Club de France in 1934.

grapple v. 1 [no obj.] engage in a close fight or struggle without weapons; wrestle: passers-by grappled with the man after the knife attack.

- [with obj.] seize hold of (someone): he grappled the young man around the throat.

- (grapple with) struggle to deal with or overcome (a difficulty or challenge): other towns are still grappling with the problem.

2 [with obj.] ARCHAIC seize or hold with a grappling hook.

■ n. 1 an act of grappling.

- INFORMAL a wrestling match.

2 an instrument for seizing hold of something; a grappling hook.

<DERIVATIVES> grappler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun denoting a grappling hook): from Old French grapil, from Provençal, diminutive of grapa ‘hook’, of Germanic origin; related to GRAPE. The verb dates from the mid 16th cent.

grappling hook (also grappling iron) n. a device with iron claws, attached to a rope and used for dragging or grasping.

graptolite /raptəlt/ n. a fossil marine invertebrate animal of the Palaeozoic era, forming mainly planktonic colonies and believed to be related to the pterobranchs.

<INFO> Class Graptolithina, phylum Hemichordata.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek graptos ‘marked with letters’ + -LITE: so named because of the impressions left on hard shales, resembling markings with a slate pencil.

Grasmere /rαsmə/ a village in Cumbria, beside a small lake of the same name; pop. 1,500 (est. 1998). William and Dorothy Wordsworth lived there from 1799.

grasp /rαsp/ v. [with obj.] seize and hold firmly: she grasped the bottle | Edward grasped her by the wrist.

- take (an opportunity) eagerly: many companies grasped the opportunity to expand.

- comprehend fully: the press failed to grasp the significance of what had happened.

■ n. [in sing.] a firm hold or grip: the child slipped from her grasp.

- a person's power or capacity to attain something: he knew success was within his grasp.

- a person's understanding: meanings that are beyond my grasp | his grasp of detail.

<PHRASES>

□ grasp at straws see STRAW.

□ grasp the nettle BRITISH tackle a difficulty boldly. [<ORIGIN> because a nettle stings when touched lightly, but not when grasped firmly.]

<DERIVATIVES> graspable adj. grasper n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps related to GROPE.

grasping adj. avaricious; greedy: they were regarded as grasping landlords.

<DERIVATIVES> graspingly adv. graspingness n.

Grass /rαs ras/ Günter (Wilhelm) (b.1927), German novelist, poet, and dramatist. Notable works: The Tin Drum (novel, 1959) and The Flounder (novel, 1977). He was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize for Literature.

grass n. 1 [mass noun] vegetation consisting of typically short plants with long, narrow leaves, growing wild or cultivated on lawns and pasture, and as a fodder crop.

- ground covered with grass.

- pasture land: the farms were mostly given over to grass.

2 a mainly herbaceous plant with jointed stems and spikes of small wind-pollinated flowers, predominant in grass.

Grasses belong to the large family Gramineae (or Poaceae; the grass family), and form the dominant vegetation of many areas of the world. The possession of a GROWing point that is mainly at ground level makes grasses suitable as the food of many grazing animals, and for use in lawns and playing fields.

3 [mass noun] INFORMAL cannabis.

4 BRITISH INFORMAL a police informer. [<ORIGIN> perhaps related to the 19th-cent. rhyming slang grasshopper ‘copper’.]

■ v. [with obj.] 1 cover (an area of ground) with grass: the railway tracks were mostly grassed over.

- US feed (livestock) on grass.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL inform the police of someone's criminal activities or plans: [no obj.] someone had grassed on the thieves | [with obj.] she threatened to grass me up.

3 catch and bring (a fish) to the riverbank.

4 chiefly [RUGBY] & [AUSTRALIAN RULES] knock (someone) down.

<PHRASES>

□ at grass grazing.

□ the grass is always greener on the other side (of the fence) PROVERB other people's lives or situations always seem better than your own.

□ not let the grass grow under one's feet not delay in acting or taking an opportunity.

□ put out to grass put (an animal) out to graze.

- INFORMAL force (someone) to retire.

<DERIVATIVES> grassless adj. grass-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English græs, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gras, German Gras, also ultimately to GREEN and grow.

grassbird n. a brown streaked warbler frequenting long grass and reed beds.

<INFO> Family Sylviidae: genus Megalurus of Australasia and Asia (also called MARSHBIRD), and Sphenoeacus afer of southern Africa.

grassbox n. a rigid receptacle on a lawnmower for collecting the cut grass.

grass carp n. a large Chinese freshwater fish, farmed for food in SE Asia and introduced elsewhere to control the growth of vegetation in waterways.

<INFO> Ctenopharyngodon idella, family Cyprinidae.

grasscloth n. [mass noun] a fine, light cloth resembling linen, woven from the fibres of the inner bark of the ramie plant.

Grasse /rαs/ French /Ras/ a town near Cannes in SE France, centre of the French perfume industry; pop. 43,874 (1999).

grasshopper n. a plant-eating insect with long hind legs which are used for jumping and for producing a chirping sound, frequenting grassy places and low vegetation.

<INFO> Family Acrididae, order Orthoptera: many genera.

grasshopper warbler n. a secretive Eurasian warbler whose song is a high-pitched mechanical-sounding trill.

<INFO> Genus Locustella, family Sylviidae: several species, in particular the widespread L. naevia.

grassland n. [mass noun] (also grasslands) a large open area of country covered with grass, especially one used for grazing: acres of rough grassland.

grass of Parnassus n. a herbaceous plant of north temperate regions, which bears a solitary white flower.

<INFO> Genus Parnassia, family Saxifragaceae: several species, in particular P. palustris.

grass parrot (also grass parakeet) n. AUSTRALIAN a small parrot frequenting grassy country.

<INFO> Family Psittacidae: several genera, in particular Psephotus and Neophema.

grass pea n. a plant of the pea family which is cultivated as food for animals and humans, though excessive consumption can lead to lathyrism. Also called CHICKLING PEA.

<INFO> Lathyrus sativus, family Leguminosae.

grassquit /rαskwt/ n. a small Caribbean and tropical American songbird related to the buntings, the male being partly or mainly black.

<INFO> Family Emberizidae (subfamily Emberizinae): three genera, in particular Tiaris, and several species.

grass roots plural n. the most basic level of an activity or organization: [as modifier] improving the game at grass-roots level.

- ordinary people regarded as the main body of an organization's membership: you have lost touch with the grass roots of the party.

grass sickness n. [mass noun] a disease of horses which affects the workings of the bowel and is usually fatal.

grass ski n. each of a pair of devices resembling caterpillar tracks, worn on the feet for going down grass-covered slopes as if on skis.

<DERIVATIVES> grass skiing n.

grass skirt n. a skirt made of long grass and leaves fastened to a waistband, associated especially with female dancers from some Pacific islands.

grass snake n. a common harmless Eurasian snake that typically has a yellowish band around the neck and is often found in or near water.

<INFO> Natrix natrix, family Colubridae.

■ North American term for GREEN SNAKE.

grass tetany (also grass staggers) n. [mass noun] a disease of livestock caused by magnesium deficiency, occurring especially when there is a change from indoor feeding to outdoor grazing.

grass tree n. another term for BLACKBOY.

grassveld /rαsfεlt/ n. [mass noun] S. AFRICAN uncultivated land on which the dominant vegetation type is indigenous grass.

<ORIGIN> partly translating Afrikaans grasveld ‘prairie’.

grass widow n. a woman whose husband is away often or for a prolonged period.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting an unmarried woman with a child): from GRASS + WIDOW, perhaps from the idea of the couple having lain on the grass instead of in bed. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent; compare with Dutch grasweduwe and German Strohwitwe ‘straw widow’.

grassy adj. (grassier, grassiest) covered with grass: grassy slopes.

- characteristic of or resembling grass: an intense grassy green | try the pleasant, grassy Chablis.

<DERIVATIVES> grassiness n.

grate^1 v. 1 [with obj.] reduce (food) to small shreds by rubbing it on a grater: (as adj. grated) grated cheese.

2 [no obj.] make an unpleasant rasping sound: the hinges of the door grated.

- [with direct speech] say something in a harsh tone: ‘How dare you!’ he grated.

3 [no obj.] have an irritating effect: the buzzing sound grated on her nerves.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French grater, of Germanic origin; related to German kratzen ‘to scratch’.

grate^2 n. 1 the recess of a fireplace or furnace.

- a metal frame for holding fuel in a fireplace or furnace.

2 a grating.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (meaning ‘a grating’): from Old French, based on Latin cratis ‘hurdle’.

grateful adj. feeling or showing an appreciation for something done or received: I'm grateful to you for all your help | she gave him a grateful smile.

- ARCHAIC received or experienced with gratitude; welcome: the grateful shade.

<DERIVATIVES> gratefully adv. gratefulness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from obsolete grate ‘pleasing, thankful’ (from Latin gratus) + -FUL.

grater n. a device having a surface covered with holes edged by slightly raised cutting edges, used for grating cheese and other foods.

graticule /ratkjul/ n. TECHNICAL a network of lines representing meridians and parallels, on which a map or plan can be represented.

- a series of fine lines or fibres in the eyepiece of an optical device, such as a microscope, or on the screen of an oscilloscope, used as a measuring scale or an aid in locating objects.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, from medieval Latin graticula ‘a little grating’, from Latin craticula ‘gridiron’, diminutive of cratis ‘hurdle’.

gratification n. [mass noun] pleasure, especially when gained from the satisfaction of a desire: a thirst for sexual gratification.

- [count noun] a source of pleasure.

gratify v. (gratifies, gratifying, gratified) [with obj.] give (someone) pleasure or satisfaction: she was gratified to see the shock in Jim's eyes | (as adj. gratifying) the results were gratifying.

- indulge or satisfy (a desire): not all the sexual impulses can be gratified.

<DERIVATIVES> gratifier n. gratifyingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘make pleasing’): from French gratifier or Latin gratificari ‘give or do as a favour’, from gratus ‘pleasing, thankful’.

gratin /rata ratan/ n. a dish with a lightly browned crust of breadcrumbs or melted cheese.

<ORIGIN> French, from gratter, earlier grater ‘to grate’.

gratiné /ratne/ (also gratinée) adj. [postpositive]

■ another term for AU GRATIN.

<DERIVATIVES> gratinéed adj.

<ORIGIN> French, past participle of gratiner ‘cook au gratin’.

grating^1 adj. sounding harsh and unpleasant: her high, grating voice.

- irritating: his grating confrontational personality.

<DERIVATIVES> gratingly adv.

grating^2 n. a framework of parallel or crossed bars, typically preventing access through an opening while permitting communication or ventilation.

- (also diffraction grating) [OPTICS] a set of equally spaced parallel wires, or a surface ruled with equally spaced parallel lines, used to produce spectra by diffraction.

gratis /rats rα- re-/ adv. without charge; free: a monthly programme was issued gratis.

■ adj. given or done for nothing; free: gratis books.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, contraction of gratiis ‘as a kindness’, from gratia ‘grace, kindness’.

gratitude n. [mass noun] the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness: she expressed her gratitude to the committee for their support.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from medieval Latin gratitudo, from Latin gratus ‘pleasing, thankful’.

gratuitous /rətjutəs/ adj. 1 done without good reason; uncalled for: gratuitous violence.

2 given or done free of charge.

<DERIVATIVES> gratuitously adv. gratuitousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin gratuitus ‘given freely, spontaneous’ + -OUS.

gratuity /rətjuti/ n. (pl. gratuities) 1 FORMAL a tip given to a waiter, taxi driver, etc.

2 BRITISH a sum of money paid to an employee at the end of a period of employment.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (denoting graciousness or favour): from Old French gratuité or medieval Latin gratuitas ‘gift’, from Latin gratus ‘pleasing, thankful’.

graunch /rn(t)/ INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH v. [no obj.] make a crunching or grinding noise: the wheels graunched against a stone wall.

- [with obj.] NZ damage (something): she sat massaging a shoulder she'd graunched last week.

■ n. a crunching or grinding noise.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally Leicestershire dialect): imitative.

graupel /rap(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] small particles of snow with a fragile crust of ice; soft hail.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: German Graupel, back-formation from graupeln ‘to hail with soft hailstones’, from Graupe ‘cereal grain’.

gravamen /rəvemεn/ n. (pl. gravamina /-mnə/) chiefly [LAW] the essence or most serious part of a complaint or accusation.

- a grievance.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as an ecclesiastical term denoting formal presentation of a grievance): from late Latin, literally ‘physical inconvenience’, from Latin gravare ‘to load’, from gravis ‘heavy’.

grave^1 n. a hole dug in the ground to receive a coffin or corpse, typically marked by a stone or mound.

- (often the grave) used as an allusive term for death: life beyond the grave.

- a place where a broken or discarded object lies: they lifted the aircraft from its watery grave.

<PHRASES>

□ dig one's own grave do something foolish which causes one's downfall.

□ (as) silent (or quiet) as the grave extremely quiet.

□ take the (or one's etc.) secret to the grave die without revealing a secret.

□ turn (NORTH AMERICAN also roll over or turn over) in one's grave used to express the opinion that something would have caused anger or distress in someone who is now dead: if my father saw the weeds he would turn in his grave.

<ORIGIN> Old English græf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch graf and German Grab.

grave^2 adj. 1 giving cause for alarm; serious: a matter of grave concern.

2 serious or solemn in manner or appearance: his face was grave.

■ n. /rαv/

■ another term for GRAVE ACCENT.

<DERIVATIVES> gravely adv. graveness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (originally of a wound in the sense ‘severe, serious’): from Old French grave or Latin gravis ‘heavy, serious’.

grave^3 v. (past part. graven or graved) [with obj.] ARCHAIC engrave (an inscription or image) on a surface.

- LITERARY fix (something) indelibly in the mind: the times are graven on my memory.

<ORIGIN> Old English grafan ‘dig’, of Germanic origin; related to German graben, Dutch graven ‘dig’ and German begraben ‘bury’, also to grave^1 and GROOVE.

grave^4 v. [with obj.] HISTORICAL clean (a ship's bottom) by burning off the accretions and then tarring it.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps from French dialect grave, variant of Old French greve ‘shore’ (because originally the ship would have been run aground).

grave accent /rαv/ n. a mark (`) placed over a vowel in some languages to indicate a feature such as altered sound quality, vowel length, or intonation.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: French grave (see grave^2).

gravedigger n. a person who digs graves.

grave goods plural n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] utilitarian and valuable objects deposited with bodies in prehistoric and ancient graves, probably intended for use in the afterlife.

gravel n. [mass noun] 1 a loose aggregation of small water-worn or pounded stones.

- a mixture of gravel with coarse sand, used for paths and roads and as an aggregate.

- a stratum or deposit of gravel.

2 MEDICINE aggregations of crystals formed in the urinary tract.

■ v. (gravels, gravelling, gravelled; US gravels, graveling, graveled) [with obj.] 1 cover (an area) with gravel.

2 US INFORMAL make (someone) angry or annoyed: the strike was badly organized and it gravelled him to involve himself in it.

- ARCHAIC confuse or puzzle (someone).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, diminutive of grave (see grave^4).

gravel-blind adj. ARCHAIC almost completely blind.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: originally as high-gravel-blind, a humorous usage meaning ‘more than sand-blind (= half-blind)’, with reference to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.

gravelly adj. 1 resembling, containing, or consisting of gravel: a dry gravelly soil.

2 (of a voice) deep and rough-sounding.

graven past participle of grave^3.

graven image n. a carved idol or representation of a god used as an object of worship.

<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Exod. 20:4.

Gravenstein /rαv(ə)nstn/ n. an apple of a large variety having yellow, red-streaked skin. It is widely grown in North America, where it is used for cooking and as a dessert apple.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: the German form of Graasten, a village in Denmark formerly in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

graver n. a burin or other engraving tool.

- ARCHAIC an engraver.

Graves^1 /revz/ Robert (Ranke) (1895–1985), English poet, novelist, and critic, known for his interest in classics and mythology. Notable prose works: Goodbye to All That (autobiography, 1929), I, Claudius (historical fiction, 1934), and The White Goddess (non-fiction, 1948).

Graves^2 /rαv/ French /Rav/ n. [mass noun] a red or white wine from the district of Graves, to the south of Bordeaux in France.

Graves' disease /revz/ n. [mass noun] a swelling of the neck and protrusion of the eyes resulting from an overactive thyroid gland. Also called EXOPHTHALMIC GOITRE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Robert J. Graves (1796–1853), the Irish physician who first identified it.

graveside n. the ground around the edge of a grave.

gravestone n. an inscribed headstone marking a grave.

Gravettian /rəvεtən/ adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting an Upper Palaeolithic culture in Europe following the Aurignacian, dated to about 28,000–19,000 years ago.

- (as n. the Gravettian) the Gravettian culture or period.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from la Gravette, an archaeological site in SW France, where objects from this culture were found.

graveyard n. a burial ground, especially one beside a church.

graveyard shift n. a work shift that runs through the early morning hours, typically covering the period between midnight and 8 a.m.

gravid /ravd/ adj. TECHNICAL carrying eggs or young; pregnant.

- FIGURATIVE full of meaning or a specified quality: the scene is gravid with unease.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin gravidus ‘laden, pregnant’, from gravis ‘heavy’.

gravimeter /rəvmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring the difference in the force of gravity from one place to another.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French gravimètre, from grave ‘heavy’ (from Latin gravis) + -mètre ‘(instrument) measuring’.

gravimetric /ravmεtrk/ adj. 1 relating to the measurement of weight.

2 relating to the measurement of gravity.

<DERIVATIVES> gravimetry /rəvmtri/ n.

graving dock n. another term for DRY DOCK.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: graving from GRAVE^4.

gravitas /ravtas -tαs/ n. [mass noun] dignity, seriousness, or solemnity of manner: a post for which he has the expertise and the gravitas.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from gravis ‘serious’.

gravitate /ravtet/ v. [no obj., with adverbial] 1 move towards or be attracted to a person or thing: young western Europeans will gravitate to Berlin.

2 [PHYSICS] move, or tend to move, towards a centre of gravity or other attractive force.

- ARCHAIC descend or sink by the force of gravity.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin gravitat-, from the verb gravitare, from Latin gravitas ‘weight’.

gravitation n. [mass noun] 1 movement, or a tendency to move, towards a centre of gravity, as in the falling of bodies to the earth.

- [PHYSICS] the force responsible for gravitation; gravity.

2 movement towards or attraction to something: this recent gravitation towards the Continent.

<DERIVATIVES> gravitational adj. gravitationally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin gravitatio(n-), from the verb gravitare (see GRAVITATE).

gravitational constant (abbr.: G) n. [PHYSICS] the constant in Newton's law of gravitation relating gravity to the masses and separation of particles, equal to 6.67 × 10−11 N m^2 kg−2.

gravitational field n. [PHYSICS] the region of space surrounding a body in which another body experiences a force of gravitational attraction.

gravitational lens n. [ASTRONOMY] a region of space containing a massive object whose gravitational field distorts electromagnetic radiation passing through it in a similar way to a lens, sometimes producing a multiple image of a remote object.

graviton /ravtn/ n. [PHYSICS] a hypothetical quantum of gravitational energy, regarded as a particle.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from GRAVITATION + -ON.

gravity n. [mass noun] 1 [PHYSICS] the force that attracts a body towards the centre of the earth, or towards any other physical body having mass.

- the degree of intensity of gravity, measured by acceleration.

2 extreme importance; seriousness: crimes of the utmost gravity.

3 solemnity of manner: has the poet ever spoken with greater eloquence or gravity?

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2): from Old French, or from Latin gravitas ‘weight, seriousness’, from gravis ‘heavy’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the 17th cent.

gravity feed n. [mass noun] a supply system making use of gravity to maintain the flow of material.

<DERIVATIVES> gravity-fed adj.

gravity wave n. [PHYSICS] 1 a hypothetical wave carrying gravitational energy, postulated by Einstein to be emitted when a massive body is accelerated.

2 a wave propagated on a liquid surface or in a fluid through the effects of gravity.

gravlax /ravlaks/ (also gravadlax) n. [mass noun] a Scandinavian dish of dry-cured salmon marinated in herbs.

<ORIGIN> Swedish, from grav ‘trench’ + lax ‘salmon’ (from the former practice of burying the salmon in salt in a hole in the ground).

gravure /rəvjə rəvj/ n. short for PHOTOGRAVURE.

gravy n. (pl. gravies) [mass noun] 1 the fat and juices exuding from meat during cooking.

- a sauce made from these juices together with stock and other ingredients.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN unearned or unexpected money.

<PHRASES>

□ gravy train INFORMAL used to refer to a situation in which someone can make a lot of money for very little effort: come to Hollywood and get on to the gravy train.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a spicy sauce): perhaps from a misreading (as gravé) of Old French grané, probably from grain ‘spice’, from Latin granum ‘grain’.

gravy boat n. a long, narrow jug used for serving gravy.

Gray^1 Asa (1810–88), American botanist, author of many textbooks which greatly popularized botany. He supported Darwin's theories at a time when they were anathema to many.

Gray^2 Thomas (1716–71), English poet, best known for ‘Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard’ (1751).

gray^1 (abbr.: Gy) n. [PHYSICS] the SI unit of the absorbed dose of ionizing radiation, corresponding to one joule per kilogram.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Louis H. Gray (1905–65), English radiobiologist.

Gray code n. a numerical code used in computing in which consecutive integers are represented by binary numbers differing in only one digit.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: named after Frank Gray (1887–1969), American physicist.

grayling n. 1 an edible freshwater fish which is silvery-grey with horizontal violet stripes and has a long high dorsal fin, of both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Genus Thymallus, family Salmonidae: several species.

2 a mainly brown European butterfly which has wings with bright eyespots and greyish undersides.

<INFO> Hipparchia semele, subfamily Satyrinae, family Nymphalidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from gray (variant of GREY) + -LING.

Graz /rαts/ a city in southern Austria, on the River Mur, capital of the state of Styria; pop. 226,400 (2001). It is the second-largest city in Austria.

graze^1 v. [no obj.] (of cattle, sheep, etc.) eat grass in a field: cattle graze on the open meadows.

- [with obj.] (of an animal) feed on (grass or grassland): downland areas grazed by sheep.

- [with obj.] put (cattle, sheep, etc.) to feed on grassland.

- INFORMAL (of a person) eat frequent snacks at irregular intervals: advertisers should not encourage children to graze on snacks or sweets.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN casually sample something: we grazed up and down the TV channels.

<DERIVATIVES> grazer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English grasian, from græs ‘grass’.

graze^2 v. [with obj.] scrape and break the surface of the skin of (a part of the body): she fell down and grazed her knees.

- touch or scrape lightly in passing: his hands just grazed hers.

■ n. a slight injury where the skin is scraped.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps a specific use of graze^1.

grazier /rezə/ n. a person who rears or fattens cattle or sheep for market.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a large-scale sheep or cattle farmer.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from GRASS + -IER.

grazing n. [mass noun] grassland suitable for pasturage: large areas of rough grazing.

grease n. [mass noun] 1 a thick oily substance, especially as used as a lubricant: axle grease.

2 animal fat used or produced in cooking.

■ v. [with obj.] smear or lubricate with grease.

<PHRASES>

□ grease the palm of INFORMAL bribe (someone). [<ORIGIN> grease expressing the sense ‘cause to run smoothly’ and palm, by association with the taking of money.]

□ grease the wheels (or skids) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN help matters run smoothly: he used his budgetary skills to grease the skids for new projects.

□ like greased lightning INFORMAL extremely fast.

<DERIVATIVES> greaseless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French graisse, based on Latin crassus ‘thick, fat’.

greaseball n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE a foreigner, especially one of Mediterranean or Latin American origin.

grease gun n. a device for pumping grease under pressure to a particular point.

grease monkey n. INFORMAL a mechanic.

greasepaint n. [mass noun] a waxy substance used as make-up by actors.

greaseproof adj. BRITISH (especially of paper used in cooking) impermeable to oil or grease.

greaser n. 1 a motor mechanic or unskilled engineer on a ship.

2 INFORMAL a young man with long hair belonging to a motorcycle gang.

3 US INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE a Hispanic American, especially a Mexican.

4 INFORMAL a smooth or gentle aircraft landing.

greasewood n. a resinous dwarf shrub of the goosefoot family, which yields hard yellow wood used chiefly for fuel. It grows in dry areas of the western US and is toxic to stock if eaten in large quantities.

<INFO> Sarcobatus vermiculatus, family Chenopodiaceae.

greasy adj. (greasier, greasiest) 1 covered with, resembling, or produced by grease or oil: he wiped his greasy fingers | a greasy mark.

- producing excessive body oil: greasy skin.

- containing or cooked with too much oil or fat: greasy food.

- slippery: the rain's making the roads greasy.

2 (of a person or their manner) unpleasantly or insincerely polite or ingratiating: the greasy little man from the newspaper.

<DERIVATIVES> greasily adv. greasiness n.

greasy pole n. INFORMAL a pole covered with grease to make it more difficult to climb or walk along, used especially as a form of entertainment.

- used to refer to the difficult route to the top of a profession: he steadily climbed the greasy pole towards the job he coveted most.

greasy spoon n. INFORMAL a cheap, run-down cafe or restaurant serving fried foods.

great adj. 1 of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above average: the article was of great interest | she showed great potential as an actor.

- [attr.] used to reinforce another adjective of size or extent: a great big grin.

- (also greater) [attr.] used in names of animals or plants which are larger than similar kinds, e.g. great tit, greater celandine.

- (Great) [attr.] [in place names] denoting the larger or largest part of a place: Great Malvern.

- (Greater) [attr.] (of a city) including adjacent urban areas: Greater Manchester.

2 of ability, quality, or eminence considerably above average: the great Italian conductor | great art has the power to change lives.

- [attr.] important or most important: the great day arrived | the great thing is the challenge.

- (the Great) used as a title to denote the most important person of the name: Alexander the Great.

- impressive or grand: the great Victorian house.

- INFORMAL very good; excellent: another great goal from Alan | wouldn't it be great to have him back? | [as exclamation] ‘Great!’ said Tom.

- INFORMAL (of a person) very skilled in a particular area: she's great at French.

3 [attr.] used before a noun to emphasize a particular description of someone or something: I was a great fan of Hank's | her great friend Joe.

- used to express surprise, admiration, or contempt, especially in exclamations: you great oaf!

4 [in combination] (in names of family relationships) denoting one degree further removed upwards or downwards: great-aunt | great-great-grandfather.

5 [predic.] IRISH (of two people) on very close or intimate terms: one of the boys was very great with her.

■ n. 1 an important or distinguished person: the Beatles, Bob Dylan, all the greats | (as plural n. the great) the lives of the great, including Churchill and Newton.

2 (Greats)

■ another term for LITERAE HUMANIORES.

■ adv. INFORMAL very well; excellently: we played awful, they played great.

<PHRASES>

□ the great and the good often IRONIC distinguished and worthy people collectively: an impressive gathering of the great and the good.

□ great and small of all sizes, classes, or types: all creatures great and small.

□ a great deal see deal^1.

□ a great MANY see MANY.

□ a great one for a habitual doer of; an enthusiast for: my father was a great one for buying gadgets.

□ Great Scott! DATED expressing surprise or amazement. [<ORIGIN> arbitrary euphemism for Great God!]

□ to a great extent in a substantial way; largely: we are all to a great extent the product of our culture.

<ORIGIN> Old English grēat ‘big’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch groot and German gross.

great ape n. a large ape of a family closely related to humans, including the gorilla, orang-utan, and chimpanzees, but excluding the gibbons; an anthropoid ape.

<INFO> Family Pongidae, order Primates.

Great Attractor [ASTRONOMY] a massive grouping of galaxies in the direction of the constellations Hydra and Centaurus, whose gravitational pull is thought to be responsible for deviations in the velocity of other galaxies.

great auk n. a large extinct flightless auk (seabird) of the North Atlantic, resembling a giant razorbill. The great auk was the original ‘penguin’; many were taken for food, and the last individuals were killed on an islet off Iceland in 1844.

<INFO> Alca (or Pinguinus) impennis, family Alcidae.

great-aunt n. an aunt of one's father or mother.

Great Australian Bight a wide bay on the south coast of Australia, part of the southern Indian Ocean.

Great Barrier Reef a coral reef in the western Pacific, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. It extends for about 2,000 km (1,250 miles), roughly parallel to the coast, and is the largest coral reef in the world.

Great Basin an arid region of the western US between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, including most of Nevada and parts of the adjacent states.

Great Bear [ASTRONOMY] the constellation Ursa Major.

Great Bear Lake a large lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It drains into the Mackenzie River via the Great Bear River.

Great Bible n. the edition of the English Bible which Thomas Cromwell ordered to be set up in every parish church. It was the work of Miles Coverdale, and was first issued in 1539.

Great Britain England, Wales, and Scotland considered as a unit. The name is also often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom.

<USAGE> Great Britain is the name for the island that comprises England, Scotland, and Wales, although the term is also used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is a political unit that includes these countries and Northern Ireland. The British Isles is a geographical term that refers to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and surrounding smaller islands such as the Hebrides and the Channel Islands.

Great Charter another name for MAGNA CARTA.

great circle n. a circle on the surface of a sphere which lies in a plane passing through the sphere's centre. As it represents the shortest distance between any two points on a sphere, a great circle of the earth is the preferred route taken by a ship or aircraft.

greatcoat n. a long heavy overcoat.

great crested grebe n. a large grebe with a crest and ear ruffs in the breeding season, found from Europe to New Zealand.

<INFO> Podiceps cristatus, family Podicipedidae.

great crested newt n. another term for CRESTED NEWT.

Great Dane n. a dog of a very large, powerful, short-haired breed.

Great Dismal Swamp (also Dismal Swamp) an area of swampland in SE Virginia and NE North Carolina.

Great Divide another name for CONTINENTAL DIVIDE or GREAT DIVIDING RANGE.

great divide n. a boundary between two contrasting groups, cultures, etc. that is regarded as very difficult to ignore or overcome: the great divide between workers and management.

- the boundary between life and death: she is still on the human side of the great divide.

Great Dividing Range a mountain system in eastern Australia. Curving roughly parallel to the coast, it extends from eastern Victoria to northern Queensland. Also called GREAT DIVIDE.

Greater Bairam n. another term for EID UL-ADHA (see Eid).

greater celandine n. a yellow-flowered Eurasian plant of the poppy family. Its toxic orange sap has long been used in herbal medicine, especially for disorders of the eyes and skin.

<INFO> Chelidonium majus, family Papaveraceae.

Greater London a metropolitan area comprising central London and the surrounding regions. It is divided administratively into the City of London, thirteen inner London boroughs, and twenty outer London boroughs.

Greater Manchester a former metropolitan county of NW England including the city of Manchester and adjacent areas.

Great Exhibition the first international exhibition of the products of industry, promoted by Prince Albert and held in the Crystal Palace in London in 1851.

Great Fire another name for FIRE OF LONDON.

Great Glen a large fault valley in Scotland, extending from the Moray Firth south-west for 96 km (approx. 60 miles) to Loch Linnhe, and containing Loch Ness. Also called GLEN MORE.

Great Grimsby official name for GRIMSBY.

great-hearted adj. DATED having a noble, generous, and courageous spirit.

<DERIVATIVES> great-heartedness n.

Great Indian Desert another name for THAR DESERT.

Great Lakes a group of five large interconnected lakes in central North America, consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, and constituting the largest area of fresh water in the world. Lake Michigan is wholly within the US, and the others lie on the Canada–US border. Connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the St Lawrence Seaway, the Great Lakes form an important commercial waterway.

Great Lake State informal name for MICHIGAN.

Great Land informal name for ALASKA.

Great Leap Forward an unsuccessful attempt made under Mao Zedong in China 1958–60 to hasten the process of industrialization and improve agricultural production by reorganizing the population into large rural collectives and adopting labour-intensive industrial methods.

greatly adv. by a considerable amount; very much: I admire him greatly | [as submodifier] they now have greatly increased powers.

Great Mother n. another name for MOTHER GODDESS.

Great Nebula [ASTRONOMY] 1 (also Great Nebula in Andromeda) the Andromeda Galaxy.

2 (also Great Nebula in Orion) a bright emission nebula in Orion, visible to the naked eye.

great-nephew n. a son of one's nephew or niece.

greatness n. [mass noun] the quality of being great; eminence or distinction: Elgar's greatness as a composer.

great-niece n. a daughter of one's nephew or niece.

great northern diver n. a diving waterbird with a black streamlined head, breeding in northern North America, Greenland, and Iceland.

<INFO> Gavia immer, family Gaviidae. North American name: common loon.

Great Northern War a conflict 1700–21 in which Russia, Denmark, Poland, and Saxony opposed Sweden. The war resulted in Sweden losing her imperial possessions in central Europe, and Russia under Peter the Great becoming a major power in the Baltic.

great organ n. the chief keyboard in a large organ and its related pipes and mechanism.

Great Ouse another name for Ouse (sense 1).

Great Plague a serious outbreak of bubonic plague in England in 1665–6, in which about one fifth of the population of London died. It was the last major outbreak in Britain.

Great Plains a vast area of plains to the east of the Rocky Mountains in North America, extending from the valleys of the Mackenzie River in Canada to southern Texas.

Great Rebellion the Royalist name for the English Civil War of 1642–51.

Great Red Spot [ASTRONOMY] a weather system on the planet Jupiter which measures over 10,000 km across and has persisted at least since the beginning of telescopic observations.

Great Rift Valley a large system of rift valleys in eastern Africa and the Middle East, forming the most extensive such system in the world and running for some 4,285 km (3,000 miles) from the Jordan valley in Syria into Mozambique. It is marked by a chain of lakes and a series of volcanoes, including Mount Kilimanjaro.

Great Russian adj. & n.

■ former term for RUSSIAN (language and people), as distinguished from other peoples and languages of the old Russian Empire.

Great Salt Lake a salt lake in northern Utah, near Salt Lake City. With an area of some 2,590 sq. km (1,000 sq. miles), it is the largest salt lake in North America.

Great Sand Sea an area of desert in NE Africa, on the border between Libya and Egypt.

Great Sandy Desert 1 a large tract of desert in north central Western Australia.

2 another name for RUB' AL-KHALI.

Great Schism 1 the breach between the Eastern and the Western Churches, traditionally dated to 1054 and becoming final in 1472.

2 the period 1378–1417, when the Western Church was divided by the creation of antipopes.

Great Seal n. a seal used for the authentication of state documents of the highest importance. That of the UK is held by the Lord Chancellor and that of the US by the Secretary of State.

great skua n. a large North Atlantic skua with mainly brown plumage, feeding by robbing other seabirds. Also called BONXIE.

<INFO> Catharacta skua, family Stercorariidae.

Great Slave Lake a large lake in the Northwest Territories in Canada. The deepest lake in North America, it reaches a depth of 615 m (2,015 ft). The Mackenzie River flows out of it.

great tit n. a tit (songbird) with a black head and white cheeks, occurring in many different races from western Europe to east Asia.

<INFO> Parus major, family Paridae.

Great Trek the northward migration 1835–7 of large numbers of Boers discontented with British rule in the Cape, to the areas where they eventually founded the Transvaal Republic and Orange Free State.

great-uncle n. an uncle of one's mother or father.

Great Victoria Desert a desert region of Australia, which straddles the boundary between Western Australia and South Australia.

Great Wall of China a fortified wall in northern China, extending some 2,400 km (1,500 miles) from Gansu province to the Yellow Sea north of Beijing. It was first built c.210 BC, as a protection against nomad invaders. The present wall dates from the Ming dynasty.

Great War another name for FIRST WORLD WAR.

Great Wen an archaic nickname for London.

great white shark n. a large aggressive shark of warm seas, with a brownish or grey back, white underparts, and large triangular teeth. Also called WHITE POINTER, MANEATER.

<INFO> Carcharodon carcharias, family Lamnidae.

Great White Way nickname for BROADWAY.

greave n. HISTORICAL a piece of armour used to protect the shin.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French greve ‘shin, greave’, of unknown origin.

Greaves Jimmy (b.1940), English footballer; full name James Greaves. He played as a striker for Chelsea, AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United and won 57 international caps (from 1959).

grebe /rib/ n. a diving waterbird with a long neck, lobed toes, and almost no tail, typically having bright breeding plumage used in display.

<INFO> Family Podicipedidae: several genera.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French grèbe (term used in the Savoie region), of unknown origin.

grebo /ribə/ n. (pl. grebos) BRITISH INFORMAL a youth favouring heavy metal or punk rock music, and having long hair.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: perhaps from GREASER, on the pattern of words such as dumbo.

Grecian adj. relating to ancient Greece, especially its architecture.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French grecien, from Latin Graecia ‘Greece’.

Grecian nose n. a straight nose that continues the line of the forehead without a dip.

Greco, El see EL GRECO.

Greece a country in SE Europe; pop. 10,645,343 (est. 2002); official language, Greek; capital, Athens.

The age of the classical city states, of which the most prominent were Athens and Sparta, reached its peak in the 5th century BC, after which Greece fell to Macedon and then became part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. It was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1466 and remained under Turkish rule until the war of independence (1821–30), after which it became a kingdom. The monarchy was overthrown in a military coup in 1967; a civilian republic was established in 1974. Greece joined the EC in 1981.

greed n. [mass noun] intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: back-formation from GREEDY.

greedy adj. (greedier, greediest) having an excessive desire or appetite for food: he's scoffed the lot, the greedy pig.

- having or showing an intense and selfish desire for wealth or power: people driven from their land by greedy developers.

<DERIVATIVES> greedily adv. greediness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English grdig, of Germanic origin.

Greek adj. relating to Greece, its people, or their language. Compare with HELLENIC.

■ n. 1 a native or national of modern Greece, or a person of Greek descent.

- a Greek-speaking person in the ancient world, especially a native of one of the city states of Greece and the eastern Mediterranean.

2 [mass noun] the ancient or modern language of Greece, the only representative of the Hellenic branch of the Indo-European family.

The ancient form of Greek was spoken in the southern Balkan peninsula from the 2nd millennium BC. The Greek alphabet, used from the 1st millennium BC onwards, was adapted from the Phoenician alphabet. The dialect of classical Athens formed the basis of the standard dialect (koinē) from the 3rd century BC onwards, and this remained as a literary language during the periods of the Byzantine Empire and Turkish rule (see KATHAREVOUSA). The colloquial language, however, continued to evolve independently (see DEMOTIC).

3 US a member of a fraternity or sorority having a Greek-letter name.

<PHRASES>

□ beware (or fear) the Greeks bearing gifts PROVERB if a rival or enemy shows one generosity or kindness, one should be suspicious of their motives. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to Virgil's Aeneid (ii. 49).]

□ it's (all) Greek to me INFORMAL I can't understand it at all.

<DERIVATIVES> Greekness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English Grēcas ‘the Greeks’, from Latin Graeci, the name given by the Romans to the people who called themselves the Hellenes, from Greek Graikoi, which according to Aristotle was the prehistoric name of the Hellenes.

Greek Church another term for GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH.

Greek coffee n. [mass noun] very strong black coffee served with the fine grounds in it.

Greek cross n. a cross of which all four arms are of equal length.

Greek fire n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a combustible compound emitted by a flame-throwing weapon, used to set light to enemy ships. It was first used by the Greeks besieged in Constantinople (673–8). It ignited on contact with water, and was probably based on naphtha and quicklime.

Greek god n. INFORMAL an extremely handsome man.

Greek key n. a pattern of interlocking right-angled spirals.

Greek Orthodox Church (also Greek Church) the Eastern Orthodox Church which uses the Byzantine rite in Greek, in particular the national Church of Greece. See ORTHODOX CHURCH.

Greek salad n. a salad consisting of tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese.

green adj. 1 of the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds: her flashing green eyes | the leaves are bright green.

- consisting of fresh green vegetables: a green salad.

- denoting a green light or flag used as a signal to proceed.

- (of a ski run) of the lowest level of difficulty, as indicated by green markers on the run.

- [PHYSICS] denoting one of three colours of quark.

2 covered with grass or other vegetation: proposals that would smother green fields with development.

- (usually Green) concerned with or supporting protection of the environment as a political principle: official Green candidates.

- (of a product or service) not harmful to the environment.

3 (of a plant or fruit) young or unripe: green shoots.

- (of wood, food, or leather) in its original or untreated state; not seasoned, tanned, cured, or dried.

- FIGURATIVE still strong or vigorous: clubs devoted to keeping green the memory of Sherlock Holmes.

- ARCHAIC (of a wound) fresh; not healed.

4 (of a person) inexperienced or naive: a green recruit fresh from college.

5 (of a person or their complexion) pale and sickly-looking.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] green colour or pigment: major roads are marked in green.

- green clothes or material: two girls in red and green.

- green foliage or vegetation: that lovely canopy of green over Stratford Road.

- INFORMAL, DATED low-grade cannabis.

2 a green thing, in particular:

- (greens) green vegetables: eat up your greens.

- a green light.

- the green ball in snooker.

- INFORMAL, DATED money: that's a lot of green.

3 a piece of public grassy land, especially in the centre of a village: a house overlooking the green.

- an area of smooth, very short grass immediately surrounding a hole on a golf course.

4 (usually Green) a member or supporter of an environmentalist group or party.

■ v. 1 make or become green in colour: [no obj.] the roof was greening with lichen.

2 [with obj.] make (an urban or desert area) more verdant by planting trees or other vegetation: they will continue greening the many treeless and dusty suburbs.

3 [with obj.] make less harmful to the environment: tips on how to green your home.

<PHRASES>

□ the green-eyed monster INFORMAL, HUMOROUS jealousy personified. [<ORIGIN> from Shakespeare's Othello (III. 3. 166).]

□ green shoots (of recovery) signs of GROWth or renewal, especially of economic recovery.

□ green with envy very envious or jealous.

<DERIVATIVES> greenish adj. greenly adv. greenness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English grēne (adjective), grēnian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch groen, German grün, also to GRASS and grow.

green algae plural n. photosynthetic algae which contain chlorophyll and store starch in discrete chloroplasts. They are eukaryotic and most live in fresh water, ranging from unicellular flagellates to more complex multicellular forms.

<INFO> Treated either as plants (division Chlorophyta) or as protozoans (phylum Chlorophyta, kingdom Protista). The classification of green algae is complex and under review.

green audit n. an assessment of a business in terms of its impact on the environment.

Greenaway Kate (1846–1901), English artist; full name Catherine Greenaway. She is known especially for her illustrations of children's books such as Mother Goose (1881).

greenback n. US INFORMAL a dollar bill; a dollar: he's worth a boatload of greenbacks.

green belt n. 1 chiefly BRITISH an area of open land around a city, on which building is restricted.

2 a green belt marking a level of proficiency in judo, karate, or other martial arts below that of a brown belt.

- a person qualified to wear a green belt.

Green Beret n. INFORMAL a British commando or a member of the US Army Special Forces.

greenbottle n. a metallic green fly which sometimes lays eggs in wounds on sheep or other animals.

<INFO> Genus Lucilia, family Calliphoridae: several species, in particular the common L. caesar.

green box n. a set of farming subsidies in the EU that do not affect production levels or prices.

greenbul /rinbl/ n. an African bulbul (songbird) with an olive-green back.

<INFO> Family Pycnonotidae: several genera, in particular Phyllastrephus and Pycnonotus, and numerous species.

green card n. 1 (in the US) a permit allowing a foreign national to live and work permanently in the US.

2 (in the UK) an international insurance document for motorists.

green channel n. (at a customs area in an airport or port) the passage which should be taken by arriving passengers who have no goods to declare.

Green Cloth (in full Board of Green Cloth) n. (in the UK) the Lord Steward's department of the royal household.

green crop n. BRITISH a crop used in a green or unripe state as fodder.

green dragon n. a North American arum with a large divided leaf, a greenish-cream spathe, and a very long white spadix. Also called DRAGON ARUM.

<INFO> Arisaema dracontium, family Araceae.

green drake n. BRITISH the green subadult of certain mayflies.

<INFO> Genus Ephemera, family Ephemeridae.

- an artificial fishing fly that imitates a green drake.

Greene (Henry) Graham (1904–91), English novelist. The moral paradoxes he saw in his Roman Catholic faith underlie much of his work. Notable works: Brighton Rock (1938), The Power and the Glory (1940), and The Third Man (written as a screenplay, and filmed in 1949; novel 1950).

green earth n. another term for TERRE VERTE.

Greener n. a type of shotgun.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after William Greener (1806–69) or his son William W. Greener, gunsmiths and authors.

greenery n. [mass noun] green foliage, growing plants, or vegetation.

greenery-yallery /rinərjaləri/ adj. INFORMAL green and yellow.

- of or in the style of the 19th-century Aesthetic Movement (used to convey the idea of affectation): a greenery-yallery fin-de-siècle lyricism.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from GREEN + yaller (variant of YELLOW), with reduplication of the suffix -y^1.

greeneye n. a small slender-bodied fish with iridescent pale green eyes, occurring in deep waters of the western Atlantic.

<INFO> Family Chlorophthalmidae: two genera and several species.

green fat n. [mass noun] the green gelatinous part of a turtle, highly regarded by gourmets.

green fee (US also greens fee) n. a charge for playing one round or session on a golf course.

greenfeed n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN/NZ forage grown to be fed fresh to livestock.

greenfield adj. BRITISH denoting or relating to previously undeveloped sites for commercial development or exploitation.

greenfinch n. a Eurasian finch with green and yellow plumage.

<INFO> Genus Carduelis, family Fringillidae: three species, in particular the common C. chloris of Europe and the Middle East.

green fingers plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL natural ability in growing plants.

<DERIVATIVES> green-fingered adj.

greenfly n. (pl. same or greenflies) a green aphid which is a common pest of crops and garden plants.

<INFO> Several species in the family Aphididae.

greengage n. 1 a sweet greenish fruit resembling a small plum. Also called GAGE^3.

2 the tree bearing greengages.

<INFO> Prunus domestica subsp. italica (or P. italica), family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: named after Sir William Gage (1657–1727), the English botanist who introduced it to England.

green goose n. a goose that is killed when under four months old and eaten without stuffing.

greengrocer n. BRITISH a retailer of fruit and vegetables.

<DERIVATIVES> greengrocery n.

greenhead (also greenhead fly) n. chiefly US a biting horsefly with green eyes.

<INFO> Genus Chrysops, family Tabanidae.

greenheart n. a South American evergreen tree of the laurel family, yielding hard greenish timber which is used for marine work because of its resistance to marine borers.

<INFO> Ocotea rodiaei, family Lauraceae.

- [mass noun] the timber of the greenheart, or similar timber from various other tropical trees.

greenhide n. AUSTRALIAN the untanned hide of an animal.

greenhorn n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person who is new to or inexperienced at a particular activity.

greenhouse n. a glass building in which plants that need protection from cold weather are grown.

greenhouse effect n. the trapping of the sun's warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere, due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet's surface.

On earth the increasing quantity of atmospheric carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, together with the release of other gases, is causing an increased greenhouse effect and leading to global warming. A greenhouse effect involving CO_2 is also responsible for the very high surface temperature of Venus. See also GLOBAL WARMING.

greenhouse gas n. a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation. Carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons are examples of greenhouse gases.

greenie n. INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY a person who campaigns for protection of the environment.

greening n. an apple of a variety that is green when ripe.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally denoting a kind of pear): probably from Middle Dutch groeninc, a kind of apple, from groen ‘green’.

green jersey n. (in a cycling race involving stages) a green jersey worn each day by the rider accumulating the highest number of points, and presented at the end of the race to the rider with the highest overall points total.

greenkeeper (NORTH AMERICAN also greenskeeper) n. a person employed to look after a golf course.

<DERIVATIVES> greenkeeping n.

Greenland a large island lying to the north-east of North America and mostly within the Arctic Circle; pop. 56,376 (est. 2002); capital, Nuuk (Godthåb). Danish name Grønland; called in Inuit KALAALLIT NUNAAT.

Only 5 per cent of Greenland is habitable; the population is largely Inuit. Formerly a Norse and a Danish settlement, Greenland became a dependency of Denmark in 1953 with internal autonomy from 1979. It withdrew from the EC in 1985.

<DERIVATIVES> Greenlander n.

Greenland halibut n. an edible halibut with a black or dark brown upper side, which is found in cold deep waters of the north.

<INFO> Reinhardtius hippoglossoides, family Pleuronectidae.

Greenlandic /rinlandk/ n. [mass noun] a dialect of the Inuit (Eskimo) language which is one of the official languages of Greenland (the other being Danish).

Greenland right whale (also Greenland whale) n. another term for BOWHEAD.

Greenland Sea a sea which lies between the east coast of Greenland and the Svalbard archipelago, forming part of the Arctic Ocean.

green leek n. AUSTRALIAN a green-faced or mainly green parrot.

<INFO> Family Psittacidae: several species, e.g. the superb parrot (Polytelis swainsonii).

greenlet /rinlt/ n. a small warbler-like vireo (songbird) with drab plumage, found in Central and South America.

<INFO> Genus Hylophilus, family Vireonidae: several species.

green light n. a green traffic light giving permission to proceed.

- permission to go ahead with a project: the council has given the green light for a housing development.

■ v. (green-light) [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN give permission to go ahead with (a project).

greenling n. a spiny-finned edible fish of the North Pacific.

<INFO> Family Hexagrammidae: two genera and several species, including the lingcod.

green lizard n. a lizard that is typically green with (especially in the male) a blue throat, native to Europe and SW Asia.

<INFO> Lacerta viridis, family Lacertidae.

greenmail n. [mass noun] [STOCK EXCHANGE] the practice of buying enough shares in a company to threaten a takeover, forcing the owners to buy them back at a higher price in order to retain control.

<DERIVATIVES> greenmailer n.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of GREEN and BLACKMAIL.

green man n. 1 (in the UK) a symbol of an illuminated green human figure at a pedestrian crossing, indicating that it is safe to cross the road.

2 HISTORICAL a man dressed up in greenery to represent a wild man of the woods or seasonal fertility.

- a carved image of a green man, often seen in medieval English churches as a human face with branches and foliage growing out of the mouth.

green manure n. [mass noun] a fertilizer consisting of growing plants that are ploughed back into the soil.

green monkey n. a common African guenon with greenish-brown upper parts and a black face. Compare with GRIVET and VERVET.

<INFO> Cercopithecus aethiops, family Cercopithecidae, in particular the race C. a. sabaeus of West Africa, which is often tamed.

Green Mountain State informal name for VERMONT.

Greenock /rinək/ a port in west central Scotland, on the Firth of Clyde; pop. 45,200 (est. 2002).

greenockite /rinəkt/ n. [mass noun] a mineral consisting of cadmium sulphide which typically occurs as a yellow crust on zinc ores.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of Lord Greenock, who later became Earl Cathcart (1783–1859), + -ITE^1.

green onion n. NORTH AMERICAN a spring onion.

Green Paper n. (in the UK) a preliminary report of government proposals that is published in order to provoke discussion.

Green Party n. an environmentalist political party.

Greenpeace an international organization that campaigns actively but non-violently for conservation of the environment and the preservation of endangered species.

green pepper n. the mild-flavoured unripe fruit of a sweet pepper, which may be eaten raw or cooked.

- the plant which yields green peppers. See CAPSICUM.

green pigeon n. a fruit-eating pigeon with mainly green plumage occurring in the Old World tropics.

<INFO> Genus Treron, family Columbidae: many species. See also FRUIT PIGEON.

green plover n. BRITISH the northern lapwing.

green pound n. the exchange rate for the pound applied to payments for agricultural produce in the EU.

green revolution n. 1 a large increase in crop production in developing countries achieved by the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and high-yield crop varieties.

2 a dramatic rise in concern about the environment in industrialized countries.

green room n. a room in a theatre or studio in which performers can relax when they are not performing.

greensand n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a greenish kind of sandstone, often loosely consolidated.

- (usually the Greensand) a stratum largely composed of greensand, deposited during the Cretaceous period and often underlying chalk.

greens fee n. US term for GREEN FEE.

greenshank n. a large sandpiper with long greenish legs and grey plumage, breeding in northern Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Genus Tringa, family Scolopacidae: two species, in particular T. nebularia.

greenskeeper n. North American term for GREENKEEPER.

green snake n. a harmless American snake with a green back and white or yellowish underparts.

<INFO> Genus Opheodrys, family Colubridae: two species.

green space n. an area of grass, trees, or other vegetation set apart for recreational or aesthetic purposes in an otherwise urban environment.

greenstick fracture n. a fracture of the bone, occurring typically in children, in which one side of the bone is broken and the other only bent.

greenstone n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a greenish igneous rock containing feldspar and hornblende.

- chiefly NZ a variety of jade.

greenstuff n. [mass noun] vegetation.

- green vegetables.

greensward /rinswd/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY grass-covered ground.

green tea n. [mass noun] tea made from unfermented leaves that is pale in colour and slightly bitter in flavour, produced mainly in China and Japan. Compare with BLACK TEA.

green thumb n. North American term for GREEN FINGERS.

<DERIVATIVES> green-thumbed adj.

green turtle n. a sea turtle with an olive-brown shell, often living close to the coast and extensively hunted for food.

<INFO> Chelonia mydas, family Cheloniidae.

green vitriol n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC crystalline ferrous sulphate.

greenware n. [mass noun] unfired pottery.

greenwash n. [mass noun] disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image.

<DERIVATIVES> greenwashing n.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from GREEN, on the pattern of whitewash.

greenway n. NORTH AMERICAN a strip of undeveloped land near an urban area, set aside for recreational use or environmental protection.

Greenwich /rεnt rnd/ a London borough on the south bank of the Thames, the original site of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

Greenwich Mean Time (abbr.: GMT) (also Greenwich time) the mean solar time at the Greenwich meridian, adopted as the standard time in a zone that includes the British Isles.

Greenwich meridian n. the prime meridian, which passes through the former Royal Observatory at Greenwich. It was adopted internationally as the zero of longitude in 1884.

Greenwich Village a district of New York City on the lower west side of Manhattan, traditionally associated with writers, artists, and musicians.

greenwood n. ARCHAIC a wood or forest in leaf (regarded as the typical scene of medieval outlaw life).

green woodpecker n. a large green and yellow woodpecker with a red crown and a laughing call, found from Europe to central Asia.

<INFO> Picus viridis, family Picidae.

greeny adj. [often in combination] slightly green: the greeny-brown surface of the stone.

Greer Germaine (b.1939), Australian feminist and writer. She first achieved recognition with The Female Eunuch (1970), an analysis of women's subordination in a male-dominated society.

greet^1 v. [with obj.] give a polite word of recognition or sign of welcome when meeting (someone): some of the customers greeted the barman in Gaelic.

- [with obj. and adverbial] receive or acknowledge (something) in a specified way: everyone greeted this idea warmly.

- (especially of a sight or sound) become apparent to (a person arriving somewhere): Sam threw open the door and was greeted by a cacophony of noise.

<ORIGIN> Old English grētan ‘approach, attack, or salute’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch groeten and German grüssen ‘greet’.

greet^2 v. [no obj.] SCOTTISH weep; cry: he sat down on the armchair and started to greet.

<ORIGIN> Old English, partly from grētan ‘cry out, rage’, partly from grēotan ‘lament’, both of Germanic origin.

greeter n. a person employed to greet customers at a shop, restaurant, or other business.

greeting n. a polite word or sign of welcome or recognition: Mandy shouted a greeting.

- [mass noun] the action of giving a sign of welcome: she raised her hand in greeting.

- (usually greetings) a formal expression of goodwill, said on meeting or in a written message: warm greetings to you all.

greetings card (North American greeting card) n. a decorative card sent to convey good wishes.

gregarine /rεərn/ [ZOOLOGY] adj. relating to a group of microscopic worm-like protozoans that are internal parasites of insects, annelids, and other invertebrates.

- (of movement) slow and gliding, as seen in gregarines.

■ n. a gregarine protozoan.

<INFO> Class Gregarina (or subclass Gregarinidia), phylum Sporozoa, kingdom Protista.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Gregarina, from Latin gregarius (see GREGARIOUS).

gregarious /rεrəs/ adj. (of a person) fond of company; sociable: he was a popular and gregarious man.

- (of animals) living in flocks or loosely organized communities: gregarious species forage in flocks from colonies or roosts.

- (of plants) growing in open clusters or in pure associations.

<DERIVATIVES> gregariously adv. gregariousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin gregarius (from grex, greg- ‘a flock’) + -OUS.

Gregorian calendar /rrən/ n. the calendar introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, as a modification of the Julian calendar.

To bring the calendar back into line with the solar year, 10 days were suppressed, and centenary years were only made leap years if they were divisible by 400. Scotland adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1600, but England and Wales did not follow suit until 1752 (by which time 11 days had to be suppressed). At the same time New Year's Day was changed from 25 March to 1 January, and dates using the new calendar were designated ‘New Style’.

Gregorian chant n. [mass noun] church music sung as a single vocal line in free rhythm and a restricted scale (plainsong), in a style developed for the medieval Latin liturgy.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: named after St Gregory the Great (in Latin Gregorius), who is said to have standardized it.

Gregorian telescope n. an early reflecting telescope in which light reflected from a concave elliptical secondary mirror passes through a hole in the primary mirror. It was rendered obsolete by the introduction of Newtonian and Cassegrain telescopes.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: named after James Gregory (1638–75), the Scottish mathematician who invented it.

Gregory, St (c.540–604), pope (as Gregory I) 590–604 and Doctor of the Church; known as St Gregory the Great. An important reformer, he did much to establish the temporal power of the papacy. He sent St Augustine to England to lead the country's conversion to Christianity, and is also credited with the introduction of Gregorian chant. Feast day, 12 March.

Gregory of Nazianzus, St /nazanzəs/ (329–89), Doctor of the Church, bishop of Constantinople. With St Basil and St Gregory of Nyssa he was an upholder of Orthodoxy against the Arian and Apollinarian heresies, and influential in restoring adherence to the Nicene Creed. Feast day, (in the Eastern Church) 25 and 30 January; (in the Western Church) 2 January (formerly 9 May).

Gregory of Nyssa, St /nsə/ (c.330–c.395), Doctor of the Eastern Church, bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia. The brother of St Basil, he was an Orthodox follower of Origen and joined with St Basil and St Gregory of Nazianzus in opposing Arianism. Feast day, 9 March.

Gregory of Tours, St /tə/ (c.540–94), Frankish bishop and historian. He was elected bishop of Tours in 573; his writings provide the chief authority for the early Merovingian period of French history. Feast day, 17 November.

greige /re/ n. [mass noun] a colour between beige and grey.

<ORIGIN> blend of GREY and BEIGE, perhaps influenced by French grège ‘raw (silk)’.

greisen /rz(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a light-coloured rock containing quartz, mica, and fluorine-rich minerals, resulting from the alteration of granite by hot vapour from magma.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, probably a dialect word, from greis ‘grey with age’.

gremlin n. INFORMAL an imaginary mischievous sprite regarded as responsible for an unexplained mechanical or electronic problem or fault: a gremlin in my computer omitted a line.

- an unexplained problem or fault.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: perhaps suggested by GOBLIN.

Grenache /rəna/ n. [mass noun] a variety of black wine grape native to the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France.

- a red or rosé wine made from the Grenache grape.

<ORIGIN> French. The grape is known in Spain as GARNACHA.

Grenada /rənedə/ a country in the Caribbean, consisting of the island of Grenada (the southernmost of the Windward Islands) and the southern Grenadine Islands; pop. 89,211 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), English Creole; capital, St George's.

The island of Grenada was sighted in 1498 by Columbus. Colonized by the French, it was ceded to Britain in 1763, recaptured by the French, and restored to Britain in 1783. It became an independent Commonwealth state in 1974. Seizure of power by a left-wing military group in 1983 prompted an invasion by the US and some Caribbean countries; they withdrew in 1985.

<DERIVATIVES> Grenadian adj. & n.

grenade /rəned/ n. a small bomb thrown by hand or launched mechanically.

- a glass receptacle containing chemicals which are released when the receptacle is thrown and broken, used for testing drains and extinguishing fires.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘pomegranate’): from French, alteration of Old French (pome) grenate (see POMEGRANATE), on the pattern of Spanish granada. The bomb was so named because it supposedly resembled a pomegranate in shape.

grenadier /rεnədə/ n. 1 HISTORICAL a soldier armed with grenades.

- (Grenadiers or Grenadier Guards) (in the UK) the first regiment of the royal household infantry.

2 a common bottom-dwelling fish with a large head, a long tapering tail, and typically a luminous gland on the belly. Also called RAT-TAIL.

<INFO> Family Macrouridae: numerous genera and species.

3 a reddish-brown African waxbill with a red bill and a bright blue rump.

<INFO> Genus Uraeginthus, family Estrildidae: the common grenadier (U. granatina), with violet cheeks, and the purple grenadier (U. lanthinogaster), with a blue belly.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, from grenade (see GRENADE).

grenadine^1 /rεnədin/ n. [mass noun] a sweet cordial made in France from pomegranates.

<ORIGIN> French, from grenade ‘pomegranate’ (see GRENADE).

grenadine^2 /rεnədin/ n. [mass noun] dress fabric of loosely woven silk or silk and wool.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French (earlier grenade), ‘grained silk’, from grenu ‘grained’, from grain ‘grain’.

Grenadine Islands /rεnədin/ (also the Grenadines) a chain of small islands in the Caribbean, part of the Windward Islands. They are divided administratively between St Vincent and Grenada.

Grendel /rεnd(ə)l/ the water monster killed by Beowulf in the Old English epic poem Beowulf.

Grenfell /rεnf(ə)l/ Joyce (Irene Phipps) (1910–79), English entertainer and writer. She appeared in revues, one-woman shows, and films, in which she specialized in portraying gauche female characters.

Grenoble /rənəb(ə)l/ French /Rənbl/ an industrial city in SE France; pop. 153,317 (1999).

Grenville /rεnvl/ George (1712–70), British Whig statesman, Prime Minister 1763–5.

Gresham /rεəm/ Sir Thomas (c.1519–79), English financier. He founded the Royal Exchange in 1566 and served as the chief financial adviser to the Elizabethan government.

Gresham's law n. [ECONOMICS] the tendency for money of lower intrinsic value to circulate more freely than money of higher intrinsic and equal nominal value (often expressed as ‘Bad money drives out good’).

Gresley /rεzli/ Sir (Herbert) Nigel (1876–1941), British railway engineer. He is most famous for designing express steam locomotives, such as the A4 class exemplified by the Mallard.

Gretna Green a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, just north of the English border near Carlisle, formerly a popular place for runaway couples from England to be married without the parental consent required in England for people under a certain age.

Gretzky /rεtski/ Wayne (b.1961), Canadian ice-hockey player. He was voted Most Valuable Player nine times, before retiring from the sport in 1999.

Greuze /rəz/ French /Røz/ Jean-Baptiste (1725–1805), French painter, noted for his genre paintings and portraits.

grevillea /rvlə/ n. an evergreen tree or shrub which bears conspicuous flowers that lack petals, most kinds of which are native to Australia.

<INFO> Genus Grevillea, family Proteaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Charles F. Greville (1749–1809), Scottish horticulturalist.

grew past of GROW.

Grey^1 Charles, 2nd Earl (1764–1845), British statesman, Prime Minister 1830–4. His government passed the first Reform Act (1832) as well as important factory legislation and the Act abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire.

Grey^2 Lady Jane (1537–54), great-niece of Henry VIII, queen of England 9–19 July 1553. In 1553, to ensure a Protestant succession, John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, forced Jane to marry his son and persuaded the dying Edward VI to name Jane as his successor. She was quickly deposed by forces loyal to Edward's (Catholic) sister Mary, who had popular support, and executed the following year.

Grey^3 Zane (1872–1939), American writer; born Pearl Grey. He wrote fifty-four westerns in a somewhat romanticized and formulaic style, which sold over 13 million copies during his lifetime.

grey (US gray) adj. (greyer, greyest; grayer, grayest) 1 of a colour intermediate between black and white, as of ashes or lead: grey flannel trousers | his hair was grey and wispy.

- (of the weather) cloudy and dull: a cold, grey November day.

- (of a person) having grey hair: [as complement] she's getting on a bit, and going grey.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN relating to old people collectively: grey power.

- (of a person's face) pale, as through tiredness, age, or illness: his face looked grey and drawn.

2 without interest or character; dull and nondescript: grey, faceless men | the grey daily routine.

3 (of financial or trading activity) not accounted for in official statistics: the grey economy.

4 S. African HISTORICAL relating to an ethnically mixed residential area.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] grey colour or pigment: dirty intermediate tones of grey.

- grey clothes or material: the gentleman in grey.

- grey hair: he sighed at the amount of grey at his temple.

2 a grey thing or animal, in particular a grey or white horse.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (especially of hair) become grey with age: he had put on weight and greyed somewhat | (as adj. greying) a man with greying hair.

- (of a person) become older: (as adj. greying) a greying workforce.

2 [with obj.] (grey something out) [COMPUTING] display a menu option in a light font to indicate that it is not available.

<DERIVATIVES> greyish adj. greyly adv. greyness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English grg, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch grauw and German grau.

grey area n. an ill-defined situation or area of activity not readily conforming to a category or set of rules: grey areas in the legislation have still to be clarified.

greybeard (US graybeard) n. 1 HUMOROUS or DEROGATORY an old man.

2 ARCHAIC a large stoneware jug for holding spirits.

grey drake n. BRITISH the greyish gravid female of certain mayflies.

<INFO> Genus Ephemera, family Ephemeridae.

- an artificial fishing fly that imitates the grey drake.

grey eminence n. another term for éMINENCE GRISE.

Grey Friar n. a Franciscan friar.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: so named because of the colour of the order's habit.

grey goods plural n. computing equipment. Compare with BROWN GOODS, WHITE GOODS.

grey goose n. a goose of a group distinguished by having mainly grey plumage.

<INFO> Genus Anser, family Anatidae: several species, e.g. greylag and white-fronted geese.

greyhen n. the female of the black grouse.

greyhound n. a dog of a tall, slender breed having keen sight and capable of high speed, used since ancient times for hunting small game and now chiefly in racing and coursing.

<ORIGIN> Old English grīghund; the first element, related to Old Norse grey ‘bitch’, is of unknown origin.

greyhound racing n. [mass noun] a sport in which greyhounds race around a circular or oval track in pursuit of a moving dummy hare and spectators bet on the outcome.

grey jay n. a fluffy long-tailed jay with dark grey upper parts and a whitish face, found in Canada and the north-western US.

<INFO> Perisoreus canadensis, family Corvidae.

grey kangaroo n. a large forest-dwelling kangaroo native to Australia.

<INFO> Genus Macropus, family Macropodidae: the eastern M. giganteus (also called FORESTER), with silvery-grey fur, and the western M. fuliginosus, with brownish fur.

grey knight n. [STOCK EXCHANGE] a person or company making a possibly hostile counter offer for a company already facing a hostile takeover bid.

<ORIGIN> by association with BLACK KNIGHT and WHITE KNIGHT.

greylag (also greylag goose) n. a large goose with mainly grey plumage, which is native to Eurasia and is the ancestor of the domestic goose.

<INFO> Anser anser, family Anatidae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: probably from GREY + dialect lag ‘goose’, of unknown origin.

grey matter n. [mass noun] the darker tissue of the brain and spinal cord, consisting mainly of nerve cell bodies and branching dendrites. Compare with WHITE MATTER.

- INFORMAL intelligence: I wish I had a little of her grey matter.

grey mullet n. a thick-bodied, blunt-headed fish that typically lives in inshore or estuarine waters and is a valued food fish.

<INFO> Family Mugilidae: several genera and species.

grey parrot (also African grey parrot) n. a parrot of western equatorial Africa, with grey plumage and a red tail, often kept as a pet for its mimicking abilities.

<INFO> Psittacus erithacus, family Psittacidae.

greyscale n. [COMPUTING] a range of grey shades from white to black, as used in a monochrome display or printout: [as modifier] a greyscale scanner.

grey seal n. a large seal with a spotted greyish coat and a convex profile, found commonly in the North Atlantic. Also called ATLANTIC SEAL.

<INFO> Halichoerus grypus, family Phocidae.

grey squirrel n. an American tree squirrel with mainly grey fur.

<INFO> Genus Sciurus, family Sciuridae: four species, in particular S. carolinensis, native to eastern North America and introduced to Britain and elsewhere.

greywacke /rewakə/ (US graywacke) n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a dark coarse-grained sandstone containing more than 15 per cent clay.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as grauwacke): from German Grauwacke, from grau ‘grey’ + WACKE. The anglicized form dates from the early 19th cent.

grey water n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL the relatively clean waste water from baths, sinks, washing machines, and other kitchen appliances. Compare with BLACK WATER.

grey whale n. a mottled grey baleen whale that typically has heavy encrustations of barnacles on the skin, commonly seen in coastal waters of the NE Pacific.

<INFO> Eschrichtius robustus, the only member of the family Eschrichtiidae.

grey wolf n. another term for TIMBER WOLF.

gribble n. a small marine isopod crustacean that bores into submerged wooden structures, often causing damage to pier timbers.

<INFO> Limnoria lignorum, order Isopoda.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps related to the verb GRUB.

gricer /rsə/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL a fanatical railway enthusiast.

<DERIVATIVES> gricing n.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: origin uncertain; perhaps a humorous representation of an upper-class pronunciation of grouser ‘grouse-shooter’.

grid n. 1 a framework of spaced bars that are parallel to or cross each other; a grating.

2 a network of lines that cross each other to form a series of squares or rectangles: a grid of tree-lined streets.

- a grid of regular squares on a map that are marked with numbers or letters to enable a place to be precisely located.

- a pattern of lines marking the starting places on a motor-racing track: the 20-year-old didn't get the best of starts off the grid.

- a field for American football; a gridiron.

3 a network of cables or pipes for distributing power, especially high-voltage transmission lines for electricity: the reactor was connected to the grid in 1985.

- [COMPUTING] a number of computers linked together via the Internet so that their combined power may be harnessed to work on difficult problems.

4 [ELECTRONICS] an electrode placed between the cathode and anode of a thermionic valve or cathode ray tube, serving to control or modulate the flow of electrons.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. gridded) put into or set out as a grid: a core of gridded streets.

<PHRASES>

□ off the grid chiefly US not connected to the basic services, especially electricity.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: back-formation from GRIDIRON.

grid bias n. [ELECTRONICS] a fixed voltage applied between the cathode and the control grid of a thermionic valve which determines its operating conditions.

gridder n. US an American football player.

griddle n. 1 a circular iron plate that is heated and used for cooking food: [as modifier] griddle cakes.

2 HISTORICAL a miner's wire-bottomed sieve.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 cook on a griddle: (as adj. griddled) griddled corn cakes.

2 HISTORICAL screen (ore) with a griddle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a gridiron): from Old French gredil, from Latin craticula, diminutive of cratis ‘hurdle’; related to CRATE, grate^2, and grill^1.

G-ride n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a stolen car.

<ORIGIN> probably related to G-man (sense 1).

gridiron /rdən/ n. 1 a frame of parallel bars or beams, typically in two sets forming a grid, in particular:

- a frame of parallel metal bars used for grilling meat or fish over an open fire.

- a frame of parallel beams for supporting a ship in dock.

- (in the theatre) a framework over a stage supporting scenery and lighting.

2 a field for American football, marked with regularly spaced parallel lines.

- [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the sport of American football: [as modifier] the national gridiron season.

3 a grid pattern, especially of streets.

<ORIGIN> Middle English gredire, alteration of gredile ‘griddle’ by association with IRON.

gridlock n. 1 [mass noun] a situation of very severe traffic congestion: the city reaches gridlock during peak hours.

2

■ another term for deadlock (sense 1 of the noun).

<DERIVATIVES> gridlocked adj.

<ORIGIN> 1980s (originally US): from GRID (in sense 2) + LOCK^1.

grid reference n. a map reference indicating a location in terms of a series of vertical and horizontal grid lines identified by numbers or letters.

grief n. [mass noun] 1 intense sorrow, especially caused by someone's death: she was overcome with grief.

- [count noun] an instance or cause of intense sorrow: time heals griefs and quarrels.

2 INFORMAL trouble or annoyance: the police gave us constant grief at the match.

<PHRASES>

□ come to grief have an accident; meet with disaster: many a ship has come to grief along this shore.

□ good grief! an exclamation of surprise or alarm.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French grief, from grever ‘to burden’ (see grieve^1).

grief-stricken adj. overcome with deep or intense sorrow.

Grieg /ri/ Edvard (1843–1907), Norwegian composer, conductor, and violinist. Famous works include the Piano Concerto in A minor (1869) and the incidental music to Ibsen's play Peer Gynt (1876).

Grierson /rəs(ə)n/ John (1898–1972), Scottish film director and producer, pioneer in British documentary film-making. He directed or produced films such as Drifters (1928) and Night Mail (1936) that broke new ground in showing the lives of working people. He headed the GPO Film Unit (1933–9) and established the National Film Board of Canada (1939).

grievance n. a real or imagined cause for complaint, especially unfair treatment: a website which enabled staff to air their grievances.

- a feeling of resentment over something believed to be wrong or unfair: he was nursing a grievance.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘injury’): from Old French grevance, from grever ‘to burden’ (see grieve^1).

grieve^1 v. [no obj.] feel intense sorrow: she grieved for her father.

- [with obj.] feel intense sorrow about: he is still grieving his mother's death.

- [with obj.] cause great distress to (someone): [with obj. and infinitive] it grieves me to think of you in that house alone.

<DERIVATIVES> griever n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also in the sense ‘harm, oppress’): from Old French grever ‘burden, encumber’, based on Latin gravare, from gravis ‘heavy, grave’ (see grave^2).

grieve^2 n. SCOTTISH an overseer, manager, or bailiff on a farm.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: related to reeve^1.

grievous adj. FORMAL (of something bad) very severe or serious: his death was a grievous blow | the American fleet suffered grievous losses.

<DERIVATIVES> grievously adv. grievousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French greveus, from grever (see grieve^1).

grievous bodily harm (abbr.: GBH) n. [mass noun] [LAW] serious physical injury inflicted on a person by the deliberate action of another. Compare with ACTUAL BODILY HARM.

griff n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, DATED news or reliable information.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of the slang term griffin ‘a betting tip’, of unknown origin.

griffin (also gryphon) n. a mythical creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion, typically depicted with pointed ears and with the eagle's legs taking the place of the forelegs.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French grifoun, based on late Latin gryphus, via Latin from Greek grups, grup-.

Griffith^1 Arthur (1872–1922), Irish nationalist leader and statesman, President of the Irish Free State 1922. In 1905 he founded and became president of Sinn Fein. He became Vice-President of the newly declared Irish Republic in 1919 and negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921).

Griffith^2 D. W. (1875–1948), American film director; full name David Lewelyn Wark Griffith. A pioneer in film, he is responsible for introducing many cinematic techniques, including flashback and fade-out. Notable films: The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916), and Broken Blossoms (1919).

griffon /rf(ə)n/ n. 1 a dog of any of several terrier-like breeds originating in NW Europe.

- (also Brussels griffon) a dog of a toy breed with a flat face and upturned chin.

2 (also griffon vulture) a large Old World vulture with predominantly pale brown plumage.

<INFO> Genus Gyps, family Accipitridae: four species, in particular the Eurasian G. fulvus and the African Ruppell's griffon (G. ruepelli).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): variant of GRIFFIN;

■ sense 1 was adopted from French in the 18th cent.

grift NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL v. [no obj.] engage in petty or small-scale swindling.

■ n. a petty or small-scale swindle.

<DERIVATIVES> grifter n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: alteration of graft^2.

grig n. DIALECT 1 a small eel.

2 a grasshopper or cricket.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) merry (or lively) as a grig full of fun; very lively.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘dwarf’): of unknown origin.

grike /rk/ (also gryke) n. a fissure separating blocks or clints in a limestone pavement.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (originally northern English dialect): of unknown origin.

grill^1 n. BRITISH a device on a cooker that radiates heat downwards for cooking food.

- a gridiron used for cooking food on an open fire.

- a dish of grilled food, especially meat.

- (also grill room) a restaurant serving grilled food.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 cook (food) using a grill: grill the trout for five minutes.

2 INFORMAL subject (someone) to intense questioning or interrogation: my father grilled us about what we had been doing | (as n. grilling) they faced a grilling over the latest results.

<DERIVATIVES> griller n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French gril (noun), griller (verb), from Old French graille ‘grille’.

grillade /rled -jαd riαd/ n. a kind of meat stew usually made with beef steak, typical of French regional and Cajun cookery.

<ORIGIN> French.

grillage /rld/ n. a heavy framework of cross-timbering or metal beams forming a foundation for building on difficult ground.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French (see GRILLE, -age).

grille (also grill) n. a grating or screen of metal bars or wires, placed in front of something as protection or to allow ventilation or discreet observation.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from medieval Latin, craticula, diminutive of cratis ‘hurdle’; related to CRATE, grate^2, and GRIDDLE.

grilse /rls/ n. a salmon that has returned to fresh water after a single winter at sea.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

grim adj. (grimmer, grimmest) 1 very serious or gloomy: his grim expression.

- depressing or worrying to consider: the grim news of the murder.

- (of humour) lacking genuine levity; black.

2 (especially of a place) unattractive or forbidding: rows of grim, dark housing developments.

- unrelentingly harsh: few creatures thrive in this grim and hostile land.

<PHRASES>

□ the Grim Reaper a personification of death in the form of a cloaked skeleton wielding a large scythe.

□ like (or for) grim death BRITISH with great determination: we had to hold on like grim death.

<DERIVATIVES> grimly adv. grimness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch grim and German grimm.

grimace /rməs rmes/ n. an ugly, twisted expression on a person's face, typically expressing disgust, pain, or wry amusement: she gave a grimace of pain.

■ v. [no obj.] make a grimace: I sipped the coffee and grimaced.

<DERIVATIVES> grimacer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Spanish grimazo ‘caricature’, from grima ‘fright’.

Grimaldi^1 /rmaldi/ Francesco Maria (1618–63), Italian physicist and astronomer, who discovered the diffraction of light and verified Galileo's law of the uniform acceleration of falling bodies.

Grimaldi^2 /rmaldi/ Joseph (1779–1837), English circus entertainer, who created the role of the circus clown. He performed at Covent Garden, where he became famous for his acrobatic skills.

grimalkin /rmalkn -ml-/ n. ARCHAIC a cat.

- a spiteful old woman.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from GREY + Malkin (pet form of the given name Matilda).

grime n. [mass noun] 1 dirt ingrained on the surface of something: the windows were thick with grime.

2 a form of dance music influenced by UK garage, characterized by machine-like sounds and hip-hop vocals.

■ v. [with obj.] blacken or make dirty with grime: windows grimed like a coal miner's goggles.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch.

Grimm /rm/ Jacob (Ludwig Carl) (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (Carl) (1786–1859), German philologists and folklorists. In 1852 the brothers jointly inaugurated a dictionary of German on historical principles, which was eventually completed by other scholars in 1960. They also compiled an anthology of German fairy tales, which appeared in three volumes between 1812 and 1822.

Grimm's law n. [LINGUISTICS] the observation that certain Indo-European consonants (mainly stops) undergo regular changes in the Germanic languages which are not seen in others such as Greek or Latin. Examples include p becoming f so that Latin pedem corresponds to English foot and German Fuss. The principle was set out by Jacob Grimm in his German grammar (2nd edition, 1822).

grimoire /rmwα/ n. a book of magic spells and invocations.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, alteration of grammaire ‘grammar’.

Grimond /rmənd/ Jo, Baron (1913–93), British Liberal politician, leader of the Liberal Party 1956–67; full name Joseph Grimond.

Grimsby /rmzbi/ a port on the south shore of the Humber estuary, administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire; pop. 90,600 (est. 2002). Official name GREAT GRIMSBY.

grimy adj. (grimier, grimiest) covered with or characterized by grime: the grimy industrial city.

<DERIVATIVES> grimily adv. griminess n.

grin v. (grins, grinning, grinned) [no obj.] smile broadly: Dennis appeared, grinning cheerfully.

- grimace grotesquely so as to reveal the teeth: (as adj. grinning) a grinning skull.

■ n. a broad smile: a silly grin.

<PHRASES>

□ grin and bear it suffer pain or misfortune in a stoical manner.

<DERIVATIVES> grinner n. grinningly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English grennian ‘bare the teeth in pain or anger’, of Germanic origin; probably related to GROAN.

Grinch /rnt/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a spoilsport or killjoy.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: the name of a character in the children's story How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957) by Dr Seuss.

grind v. (past and past part. ground) 1 [with obj.] reduce (something) to small particles or powder by crushing it: grind some black pepper over the salad | she ground up the rice prior to boiling.

- sharpen, smooth, or produce (something) by crushing or by friction: power from a waterwheel was used to grind cutlery.

- operate (a mill or machine) by turning the handle: she was grinding a coffee mill.

- [no obj.] (of a mill or machine) work with a crushing action.

2 rub or cause to rub together gratingly: [no obj.] tectonic plates that inexorably grind against each other | [with obj.] he keeps me awake at night, grinding his teeth.

- [with obj.] press or rub (something) into a surface: she ground a half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray.

- [no obj., with adverbial] move noisily and laboriously: the truck was grinding slowly up the hill.

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL (of a dancer) gyrate the hips erotically: go-go girls grinding to blaring disco.

- British VULGAR SLANG, DATED have sexual intercourse.

■ n. 1 a crushing or grating sound or motion: the crunch and grind of bulldozers | FIGURATIVE the slow grind of the US legal system.

- the size of ground particles: only the right grind gives you all the fine flavour.

2 hard dull work: relief from the daily grind.

- US INFORMAL an excessively hard-working student.

- IRISH a private tuition class: experienced teacher offers grinds in Maths and Irish, to all levels.

3 INFORMAL a dancer's erotic gyration of the hips.

- British VULGAR SLANG, DATED an act of sexual intercourse.

<PHRASES>

□ grind to a halt (or come to a grinding halt) slow down gradually and then stop completely.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ grind away work or study hard.

□ grind someone down wear someone down with continuous harsh treatment: mundane everyday things which just grind people down.

□ grind on continue for a long time in a wearying or tedious way: the rail talks grind on.

□ grind something out produce something dull or tedious slowly and laboriously: the band was grinding out the inevitable summer songs.

<ORIGIN> Old English grindan, probably of Germanic origin. Although no cognates are known, it may be distantly related to Latin frendere ‘rub away, gnash’.

grinder n. 1 a machine used for grinding something: a coffee grinder.

- a person employed to grind cutlery, tools, or cereals.

2 a molar tooth.

3 US INFORMAL another name for HOAGIE.

grinding adj. [attr.] 1 (of a difficult situation) oppressive and seemingly without end: grinding poverty.

2 (of a sound or movement) harsh and grating.

<DERIVATIVES> grindingly adv.

grinding wheel n. a wheel used for cutting, grinding, or finishing metal or other objects, and typically made of abrasive particles bonded together.

grindstone n. a thick disc of stone or other abrasive material mounted so as to revolve, used for grinding, sharpening, or polishing metal objects.

- RARE another term for MILLSTONE.

<PHRASES>

□ keep one's nose to the grindstone work hard and continuously.

gringo /rə/ n. (pl. gringos) INFORMAL a white person from an English-speaking country (used in Spanish-speaking countries, chiefly Central and South America).

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘foreign, foreigner, or gibberish’.

griot /riə/ n. a member of a class of travelling poets, musicians, and storytellers who maintain a tradition of oral history in parts of West Africa.

<ORIGIN> French, earlier guiriot, perhaps from Portuguese criado.

grip v. (grips, gripping, gripped) [with obj.] 1 take and keep a firm hold of; grasp tightly: his knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel.

- [no obj.] maintain a firm contact, especially by friction: a sole that really grips well on wet rock.

2 (of an emotion or situation) have a strong or adverse effect on: she was gripped by a feeling of excitement | the country was gripped by recession.

- firmly hold the attention or interest of: we were gripped by the drama.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] a firm hold; a tight grasp: his arm was held in a vice-like grip | FIGURATIVE the icy grip of winter.

- a manner of holding something: I've changed my grip and my backswing.

- [mass noun] the ability of something, especially a wheel or shoe, to maintain a firm contact with a surface: these shoes have got no grip.

2 [in sing.] effective control over something: he had to take a grip on his nerves.

- an understanding of something: you've got a good grip on what's going on.

3 a part or attachment by which something is held in the hand: handlebar grips.

- BRITISH a hairgrip.

4 a travelling bag: a grip crammed with new clothes.

5 a stagehand in a theatre.

- a member of a camera crew responsible for moving and setting up equipment.

<PHRASES>

□ come (or get) to grips with engage in combat with.

- begin to deal with or understand: a real tough problem to come to grips with.

□ get a grip [usually in imperative] INFORMAL keep or recover one's self-control: get a grip, guys!

□ in the grip of dominated or affected by something undesirable or adverse: Britain was in the grip of a crime wave.

□ lose one's grip become unable to understand or control one's situation.

<DERIVATIVES> gripper n.

<ORIGIN> Old English grippa (verb), gripe ‘grasp, clutch’ (noun), gripa ‘handful, sheath’; related to GRIPE.

gripe v. 1 [no obj.] INFORMAL complain about something in a persistent, irritating way: it's no use griping about your boss or your pay | [with direct speech] ‘Holidays make no difference to Simon,’ Pat griped.

2 [with obj.] (usually as adj. griping) affect with gastric or intestinal pain: spasmodic griping pains.

3 [with obj.] ARCHAIC grasp tightly; clutch: Hilyard griped his dagger.

4 [with obj.] [NAUTICAL] secure (a boat) with gripes.

5 [no obj.] [SAILING] (of a ship) turn to face the wind despite the efforts of the helmsman.

■ n. 1 INFORMAL a minor complaint: my only gripe is the size of the page numbers.

2 [mass noun] gastric or intestinal pain; colic.

3 ARCHAIC an act of grasping something tightly.

4 (gripes) [NAUTICAL] lashings securing a boat in its place on deck or in davits.

<DERIVATIVES> griper n.

<ORIGIN> Old English grīpan ‘grasp, clutch’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch grijpen, German greifen ‘seize’, also to GRIP and GROPE.

■ Sense 2 of the verb dates from the 17th century;

■ sense 1 of the verb, of US origin, dates from the 1930s.

gripe water n. [mass noun] BRITISH TRADEMARK a solution given to babies for the relief of colic, wind, and indigestion.

grippe /rp/ n. old-fashioned term for INFLUENZA.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, from gripper ‘seize’.

gripping adj. firmly holding the attention or interest; exciting: a gripping TV thriller.

<DERIVATIVES> grippingly adv.

grippy adj. (grippier, grippiest) (of a wheel or shoe) able to grip a surface well: a comfortable boot with a grippy rubber sole.

Griqua /rikwə/ n. (pl. same or Griquas) a member of a people of mixed European and Khoikhoi origin, living mainly in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces of South Africa.

<ORIGIN> the name in Nama.

Gris /ris/ Juan (1887–1927), Spanish painter; born José Victoriano Gonzales. His main contribution was to the development of the later phase of synthetic cubism. His work features the use of collage and paint in simple fragmented shapes.

grisaille /rz(l) -zel/ n. [mass noun] [ART] a method of painting in grey monochrome, typically to imitate sculpture.

- [count noun] a grisaille painting or stained-glass window.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, from gris ‘grey’.

griseofulvin /rzə()flvn/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an antibiotic used against fungal infections of the hair and skin.

<INFO> This antibiotic is obtained from the mould Penicillium griseofulvum.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from the modern Latin binomial, from medieval Latin griseus ‘greyish’ + Latin fulvus ‘reddish yellow’.

grisette /rzεt/ n. 1 a common edible woodland mushroom with a brown or grey cap, a slender stem, and white gills.

<INFO> Amanita vaginata and A. fulva, family Amanitaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

2 ARCHAIC a young working-class Frenchwoman.

<ORIGIN> French, from gris ‘grey’ + the diminutive suffix -ette; in sense 2 the term derives from the grey dress material typically worn by such women;

■ sense 1 is an extended use.

gris-gris /riri/ (also gri-gri, greegree) n. (pl. same) an African or Caribbean charm or amulet.

- [mass noun] the use of such charms, especially in voodoo.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French grisgris, of West African origin.

griskin /rskn/ n. [mass noun] BRITISH the lean part of a loin of pork.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps from archaic grice ‘pig’ + -KIN.

grisly /rzli/ adj. (grislier, grisliest) causing horror or disgust: the town was shaken by a series of grisly crimes.

<DERIVATIVES> grisliness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English grislic ‘terrifying’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch griezelig.

<USAGE> The words grisly and grizzly are quite different in meaning, though often confused. Grisly means ‘causing horror or disgust’, as in grisly crimes, whereas grizzly is chiefly used with reference to a kind of large American bear, and can also mean ‘grey or grey-haired’.

grison /rz(ə)n rs(ə)n/ n. a weasel-like mammal with dark fur and a white stripe across the forehead, found in Central and South America.

<INFO> Genus Galictis, family Mustelidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from gris ‘grey’.

grissini /rsini/ plural n. thin, crisp Italian breadsticks.

<ORIGIN> Italian.

grist n. [mass noun] 1 corn that is ground to make flour.

- malt crushed to make mash for brewing.

2 useful material, especially to support an argument: the research provided the most sensational grist for opponents of tobacco.

<PHRASES>

□ grist to the (or one's) mill useful experience, material, or knowledge: all this free publicity was grist to his mill.

<ORIGIN> Old English ‘grinding’, of Germanic origin; related to GRIND.

gristle /rs(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] cartilage, especially when found as tough inedible tissue in meat.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of unknown origin.

gristly adj. (gristlier, gristliest) consisting of or full of gristle: gristly bits of beef.

gristmill n. a mill for grinding corn.

grit n. [mass noun] 1 small loose particles of stone or sand: she had a bit of grit in her eye.

- [as modifier] (with numeral) indicating the grade of fineness of an abrasive: 400 grit paper.

- (also gritstone) a coarse sandstone.

2 courage and resolve; strength of character: I've known few men who could match Maude's grit.

■ v. (grits, gritting, gritted) 1 [with obj.] spread grit and often salt on (an icy road).

2 [no obj.] grate: fine red dust that gritted between the teeth.

<PHRASES>

□ grit one's teeth clench one's teeth, especially when faced with something unpleasant: grit your teeth and splash yourself with cold water!

- resolve to do something difficult or unpleasant: Parliament must grit its teeth and take action.

<ORIGIN> Old English grēot ‘sand, gravel’, of Germanic origin; related to German Griess, also to GROATS.

grits plural n. [also treated as sing.] US a dish of coarsely ground maize kernels boiled with water or milk.

- coarsely ground maize kernels from which this dish is made.

<ORIGIN> Old English grytt, grytte ‘bran, mill dust’, of Germanic origin: related to Dutch grutten, German Grütze, also to GROATS.

gritter n. BRITISH a vehicle or machine for spreading grit and often salt on roads in icy or potentially icy weather.

gritty adj. (grittier, grittiest) 1 containing or covered with grit.

2 showing courage and resolve: a typically gritty performance by the British player.

- showing something unpleasant as it really is; uncompromising: a gritty look at urban life.

<DERIVATIVES> grittily adv. grittiness n.

Grivas /rivəs/ George (Theodorou) (1898–1974), Greek Cypriot patriot and soldier. A supporter of the union of Cyprus with Greece, he led the guerrilla campaign against British rule which culminated in the country's independence in 1959.

grivet /rvt/ (also grivet monkey) n. a common African guenon with greenish-brown upper parts and a black face. Compare with GREEN MONKEY and VERVET.

<INFO> Cercopithecus aethiops, family Cercopithecidae, in particular the race C. a. aethiops of Ethiopia and Sudan, with long white cheek tufts.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, of unknown origin.

grizzle^1 v. [no obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL (of a child) cry fretfully: sometimes children grizzled, sometimes they wailed | (as n. grizzling) no grizzling, now!

- sulk or grumble.

<DERIVATIVES> grizzler n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in the sense ‘show the teeth, grin’): of unknown origin.

grizzle^2 adj. [often in combination] (of hair or fur) having dark and white hairs mixed: grizzle-haired.

■ n. [mass noun] a mixture of dark and white hairs.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French grisel, from gris ‘grey’.

grizzled adj. having or streaked with grey hair: grizzled hair.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the adjective grizzle^2 + -ED^1.

grizzly^1 n. (also grizzly bear) (plural grizzlies) an animal of a large race of the brown bear native to North America.

<INFO> Ursus arctos horribilis, family Ursidae.

■ adj. (grizzlier, grizzliest) grey or grey-haired: a grizzly beard.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as adjective): from GRIZZLE^2. The noun dates from the early 19th century.

<USAGE> On the confusion of grizzly and grisly see usage at grisly.

grizzly^2 adj. (grizzlier, grizzliest) (of a child) inclined to cry fretfully: a grizzly baby.

groan v. [no obj.] 1 make a deep inarticulate sound conveying pain, despair, pleasure, etc.: Marty groaned and pulled the blanket over his head.

- [with direct speech] say something in a despairing or miserable tone: ‘Oh no!’ I groaned.

- complain; grumble: they were moaning and groaning about management.

2 (of an object) make a low creaking sound when pressure or weight is applied: James slumped back into his chair, making it groan | FIGURATIVE tables groaned with food.

- (groan beneath/under) FIGURATIVE be oppressed by: families groaning under mortgage increases.

■ n. a deep inarticulate sound conveying pain, despair, pleasure, etc.

- a complaint: listen to everyone's moans and groans.

- a low creaking sound made by an object under pressure: the protesting groan of timbers.

<DERIVATIVES> groaner n. groaning adj. groaningly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English grānian, of Germanic origin; related to German greinen ‘grizzle, whine’, grinsen ‘grin’, also probably to GRIN.

groat n. HISTORICAL any of various medieval European coins, in particular an English silver coin worth four old pence, issued between 1351 and 1662.

- [in sing.] [with negative] ARCHAIC a small amount: I do not care a groat.

<ORIGIN> from Middle Dutch groot or Middle Low German grōte ‘great, thick’, hence ‘thick penny’; compare with GROSCHEN.

groats plural n. hulled or crushed grain, especially oats.

<ORIGIN> late Old English grotan (plural): related to GRIT and GRITS.

Gro-bag n. trademark for GROWBAG.

grocer n. a person who sells food and small household goods.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally ‘a person who sold things in the gross’ (i.e. in large quantities)): from Old French grossier, from medieval Latin grossarius, from late Latin grossus ‘gross’.

grocery n. (pl. groceries) a grocer's shop or business.

- (groceries) items of food sold in a grocery or supermarket.

groceteria /rəsətirə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a small grocery.

grockle n. BRITISH INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY a holidaymaker, especially one visiting a resort in Devon or Cornwall.

<ORIGIN> an invented word, originally a fantastic creature in a children's comic, adopted arbitrarily and popularized by the film The System (1962).

Grodno /rədnə/ Russian name for HRODNA.

grog n. [mass noun] 1 spirits (originally rum) mixed with water.

- INFORMAL or AUSTRALIAN/NZ alcoholic drink.

2 crushed unglazed pottery or brick used as an additive in plaster or clay.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: said to be from Old Grog, the reputed nickname (because of his grogram cloak) of Admiral Vernon (1684–1757), who in 1740 first ordered diluted (instead of neat) rum to be served out to sailors.

groggy adj. (groggier, groggiest) dazed, weak, or unsteady, especially from illness, intoxication, sleep, or a blow: the sleeping pills had left her feeling groggy.

<DERIVATIVES> groggily adv. grogginess n.

grogram /rrəm/ n. [mass noun] a coarse fabric made of silk, often combined with mohair or wool and stiffened with gum.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French gros grain ‘coarse grain’ (see also GROSGRAIN).

groin^1 n. 1 the area between the abdomen and the upper thigh on either side of the body.

- INFORMAL the region of the genitals: she kicked him in the groin.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] a curved edge formed by two intersecting vaults.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English grynde, perhaps from Old English grynde ‘depression, abyss’.

groined adj. [ARCHITECTURE] (of a vault) formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults, usually with plain groins without ribs.

grok v. (groks, grokking, grokked) [with obj.] US INFORMAL understand (something) intuitively or by empathy: corporate leaders seemed to grok this concept fairly quickly.

- [no obj.] establish a rapport.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: a word invented by Robert Heinlein (1907–88), American author.

grommet /rmt/ n. 1 an eyelet placed in a hole to protect or insulate a rope or cable passed through it or to reinforce the hole.

2 BRITISH a tube surgically implanted in the eardrum to drain fluid from the middle ear.

3 INFORMAL, chiefly AUSTRALIAN a young or inexperienced surfer or skateboarder.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in nautical use in the sense ‘a circle of rope used as a fastening’): from obsolete French grommette, from gourmer ‘to curb’, of unknown ultimate origin. Current senses date from the mid 20th cent.

gromwell n. a widely distributed plant of the borage family, typically having white or blue flowers which are followed by smooth hard nutlets.

<INFO> Genus Lithospermum, family Boraginaceae: several species, in particular the common Eurasian L. officinale.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gromil, probably from a medieval Latin phrase meaning ‘crane's millet’.

Gromyko /rəmikə/ Andrei (Andreevich) (1909–89), Soviet statesman, Foreign minister 1957–1985, President of the USSR 1985–8. His appointment to the presidency (largely a formal position) by Gorbachev was widely interpreted as a manoeuvre to reduce Gromyko's influence and make possible an ending of the Cold War.

Groningen /rənən rn-/ a city in the northern Netherlands, capital of a province of the same name; pop. 168,500 (est. 2002).

groom v. [with obj.] 1 brush and clean the coat of (a horse, dog, or other animal): the horses were groomed and taken to shows.

- (of an animal) clean the fur or skin of (itself or another animal).

- (often as adj. groomed) give a neat and tidy appearance to (someone): [with submodifier] a beautifully groomed woman | (as n. grooming) she pays great attention to grooming and clothes.

- look after (a lawn, ski slope, or other surface).

2 prepare or train (someone) for a particular purpose or activity: star pupils who are groomed for higher things.

- (of a paedophile) prepare (a child) for a meeting, especially via an Internet chat room, with the intention of committing a sexual offence.

■ n. 1 a person employed to take care of horses.

2 a bridegroom.

3 BRITISH any of various officials of the royal household.

<DERIVATIVES> groomer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘boy’, later ‘man, male servant’): of unknown origin.

groomsman n. (pl. groomsmen) NORTH AMERICAN a male friend officially attending the bridegroom at a wedding.

groove n. 1 a long, narrow cut or depression in a hard material.

- a spiral track cut in a gramophone record, into which the stylus fits.

- [CLIMBING] an indentation where two planes of rock meet at an angle of more than 120°.

2 an established routine or habit: his thoughts were slipping into a familiar groove.

3 INFORMAL a particular rhythm in popular or jazz music: her vocals drift delicately across a soaring soul groove.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] make a groove or grooves in: deep lines grooved her face.

2 [no obj.] INFORMAL dance to or play popular or jazz music: they were grooving to Motown.

- DATED play popular or jazz music in an accomplished manner: the rhythm section grooves in the true Basie manner.

- enjoy oneself: Harley relaxed and began to groove.

3 [with obj.] [BASEBALL], INFORMAL pitch (a ball) in the centre of the strike zone.

- NORTH AMERICAN (in the context of other sports) kick or throw (the ball) successfully; score (a goal) with stylish ease: the San Diego kicker grooved the winning field goal.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or into) the groove INFORMAL performing consistently well or confidently: it might take me a couple of races to get back into the groove.

- enjoying oneself, especially by dancing: get into the groove!

<DERIVATIVES> groover n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a mine or shaft): from Dutch groeve ‘furrow, pit’; related to grave^1.

grooved adj. having a groove or grooves: grooved tyres.

grooved ware n. [mass noun] [ARCHAEOLOGY] prehistoric pottery of the mid to late Neolithic in Britain (c.3300–2100 BC), characterized by a flat base and decorated chiefly with grooves and straight lines.

grooving saw n. a circular saw used for cutting grooves.

groovy adj. (groovier, grooviest) INFORMAL, DATED or HUMOROUS fashionable and exciting: a groovy new haircut.

- excellent: a groovy, smooth-sounding album.

<DERIVATIVES> groovily adv. grooviness n.

grope v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial] search blindly or uncertainly by feeling with the hands: she groped for her spectacles.

- move along uncertainly by feeling objects as one goes: she blew out the candle and groped her way to the door.

- (grope for) search uncertainly for (a word or answer) in one's mind: she was groping for the words which would express what she thought.

2 [with obj.] INFORMAL fondle (someone) for sexual pleasure roughly or clumsily, or without the person's consent: he was accused of groping office girls.

■ n. an act of fondling someone for sexual pleasure: she and Steve sneaked off for a quick grope.

<DERIVATIVES> gropingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English grāpian, of West Germanic origin; related to GRIPE.

groper^1 n. 1 chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ variant spelling of GROUPER.

2 (also blue groper) a large Australian wrasse which is a popular sporting fish.

<INFO> Achoerodus gouldii, family Labridae.

groper^2 n. a person who fondles someone for sexual pleasure, especially without the person's consent.

Gropius /rəpəs/ Walter (1883–1969), German-born American architect. He was the first director of the Bauhaus School of Design (1919–28) and a pioneer of the international style. He settled in the US in 1938, where he was professor of architecture at Harvard University until 1952.

grosbeak /rəsbik/ n. a finch or related songbird with a stout conical bill and typically brightly coloured plumage.

<INFO> Several genera in the family Fringillidae and subfamily Cardinalinae (family Emberizidae); the white-fronted grosbeak or grosbeak weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons) belongs to the family Ploceidae.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French grosbec, from gros ‘big, fat’ + bec ‘beak’.

groschen /rə(ə)n r(ə)n/ n. (pl. same) (until the introduction of the euro in 2002) a monetary unit in Austria, equal to one hundredth of a schilling.

- HISTORICAL a small German silver coin.

- INFORMAL (until the introduction of the euro in 2002) a German ten-pfennig piece.

<ORIGIN> German, from Middle High German grosse, from medieval Latin (denarius) grossus ‘thick (penny)’; compare with GROAT.

grosgrain /rəren/ n. a heavy ribbed fabric, typically of silk or rayon.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, ‘coarse grain’ (see also GROGRAM).

gros point /rə pwa/ n. [mass noun] a type of needlepoint embroidery consisting of stitches crossing two or more threads of the canvas in each direction.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, literally ‘large stitch’, from gros point de Venise, a type of lace originally from Venice, worked in bold relief. The current sense dates from the 1930s.

gross adj. 1 unattractively fat or bloated: I feel fat, gross—even my legs feel flabby.

- INFORMAL very unpleasant; repulsive: ‘Then I threw up,’ said Russ. ‘How gross,’ Ellie muttered.

2 very rude or coarse; vulgar: a gross, slap-and-tickle version of ‘The Taming of the Shrew’.

3 (especially of wrongdoing) very obvious and unacceptable: gross human rights abuses.

4 (of income, profit, or interest) without deduction of tax or other contributions; total: the gross amount of the gift was £1,000. Often contrasted with net^2 (sense 1 of the adjective).

- (of weight) including contents, wrappings, or other variable items; overall: a projected gross take-off weight of 500,000 pounds.

- (of a score in golf) as actually played, without taking handicap into account.

5 general or large-scale; not detailed: at the gross anatomical level.

■ adv. without tax or other contributions having been deducted.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 produce or earn (an amount of money) as gross profit or income: the film went on to gross $8 million.

- (gross something up) add deductions such as tax to a net amount: all commuting costs were grossed up for tax and National Insurance deductions.

2 (gross someone out) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL disgust someone.

■ n. 1 (pl. same) an amount equal to twelve dozen; 144: fifty-five gross of tins of processed milk. [<ORIGIN> from French grosse douzaine, literally ‘large dozen’.]

2 (pl. grosses) a gross profit or income: the box office grosses mounted.

<PHRASES>

□ by the gross in large numbers or amounts: on D-Day men drowned by the gross.

<DERIVATIVES> grossly adv. [as submodifier] Freda was grossly overweight grossness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘thick, massive, bulky’): from Old French gros, grosse ‘large’, from late Latin grossus.

gross domestic product (abbr.: GDP) n. the total value of goods produced and services provided in a country during one year. Compare with GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT.

Grosseteste /rəstεst/ Robert (c.1175–1253), English churchman, philosopher, and scholar. His experimental approach to science, especially in optics and mathematics, inspired his pupil Roger Bacon.

Grossglockner /rəslknə/ the highest mountain in Austria, in the eastern Tyrolean Alps, rising to a height of 3,797 m (12,457 ft).

gross national product (abbr.: GNP) n. the total value of goods produced and services provided by a country during one year, equal to the gross domestic product plus the net income from foreign investments.

gross-out n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN something disgusting or repellent: [as modifier] the movie features several gross-out scenes.

grossular /rsjlə/ (also grossularite) n. [mass noun] a mineral of the garnet group, consisting essentially of calcium aluminium silicate.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from modern Latin grossularia ‘gooseberry’. The yellow-green variety is sometimes known as gooseberry garnet.

Gros Ventre /rə vntrə/ n. (pl. Gros Ventres)

■ another term for HIDATSA.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘big belly’.

Grosz /rəs/ German /rs/ George (1893–1959), German painter and draughtsman. His satirical drawings and paintings characteristically depict a decadent society in which gluttony and depraved sensuality are juxtaposed with poverty and disease.

grosz /r/ n. (pl. groszy or grosze /ri/) a monetary unit in Poland, equal to one hundredth of a zloty.

<ORIGIN> Polish; compare with GROSCHEN.

grot^1 n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL something unpleasant, dirty, or of poor quality.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: back-formation from GROTTY.

grot^2 n. LITERARY a grotto.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French grotte, from Italian grotta, via Latin from Greek kruptē ‘vault, crypt’.

grotesque /rə()tεsk/ adj. comically or repulsively ugly or distorted: a figure wearing a grotesque mask.

- incongruous or inappropriate to a shocking degree: a lifestyle of grotesque luxury.

■ n. 1 a very ugly or comically distorted figure or image: the rods are carved in the form of a series of gargoyle faces and grotesques.

- [mass noun] a style of decorative painting or sculpture consisting of the interweaving of human and animal forms with flowers and foliage.

2 [mass noun] [PRINTING] a family of 19th-century sans serif typefaces.

<DERIVATIVES> grotesquely adv. grotesqueness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as noun): from French crotesque (the earliest form in English), from Italian grottesca, from opera or pittura grottesca ‘work or painting resembling that found in a grotto’; ‘grotto’ here probably denoted the rooms of ancient buildings in Rome which had been revealed by excavations, and which contained murals in the grotesque style.

grotesquerie /rətεskəri/ n. (pl. grotesqueries) [mass noun] grotesque quality or grotesque things collectively: current tastes for horror and grotesquerie.

- [count noun] a grotesque thing or action.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: French (see GROTESQUE).

Grotius /rətəs/ Hugo (1583–1645), Dutch jurist and diplomat; Latinized name of Huig de Groot. His legal treatise De Jure Belli et Pacis (1625) established the basis of modern international law.

grotto n. (pl. grottoes or grottos) a small picturesque cave, especially an artificial one in a park or garden.

- an indoor structure resembling a cave: visits to Father Christmas's grotto.

<DERIVATIVES> grottoed adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Italian grotta, via Latin from Greek kruptē (see CRYPT).

grotty adj. (grottier, grottiest) BRITISH INFORMAL 1 unpleasant and of poor quality: a grotty little hotel.

2 [as complement] unwell: I felt grotty and had to leave early.

<DERIVATIVES> grottiness n.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from GROTESQUE + -Y^1.

grouch /rat/ n. a habitually grumpy person: rock's foremost poet and ill-mannered grouch.

- a trivial complaint.

- a sulky or discontented mood: he's in a thundering grouch.

■ v. [no obj.] voice one's discontent ill-temperedly; grumble: there's not a lot to grouch about.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: variant of obsolete grutch, from Old French grouchier ‘to grumble, murmur’, of unknown origin. Compare with GRUDGE.

grouchy adj. (grouchier, grouchiest) irritable and bad-tempered; grumpy; complaining: the old man grew sulky and grouchy.

<DERIVATIVES> grouchily adv. grouchiness n.

ground^1 n. 1 [in sing.] the solid surface of the earth: he lay on the ground.

- [mass noun] a limited extent of the earth's surface; land: an adjoining area of ground had been purchased.

- [mass noun] land of a specified kind: my feet squelched over marshy ground.

- BRITISH the floor of a room.

2 (also grounds) an area of land or sea used for a specified purpose: shore dumping can pollute fishing grounds.

- (grounds) an area of enclosed land surrounding a large house or other building: the house stands in seven acres of grounds | the university grounds.

- an area of land, often with associated buildings, used for a particular sport: a football ground | Darlington's new ground is nearing completion.

3 [mass noun] an area of knowledge or subject of discussion or thought: third-year courses cover less ground and go into more depth | [count noun] he shifted the argument on to theoretical grounds of his own choosing.

4 (grounds) factors forming a basis for action or the justification for a belief: there are some grounds for optimism | they called for a retrial on the grounds of the new evidence.

5 chiefly [ART] a prepared surface to which paint is applied.

- a substance used to prepare a surface for painting.

- (in embroidery or ceramics) a plain surface to which decoration is applied.

- a piece of wood fixed to a wall as a base for boards, plaster, or joinery.

6 (grounds) solid particles, especially of coffee, which form a residue; sediment.

7 NORTH AMERICAN electrical connection to the earth.

8 [MUSIC] short for GROUND BASS.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 prohibit or prevent (a pilot or an aircraft) from flying: a bitter wind blew from the north-east and the bombers were grounded.

- INFORMAL (of a parent) refuse to allow (a child) to go out socially as a punishment.

2 (with reference to a ship) run or go aground: [with obj.] rather than be blown up, Muller grounded his ship on a coral reef.

3 (usually be grounded in) give (something abstract) a firm theoretical or practical basis: the study of history must be grounded in a thorough knowledge of the past.

- instruct (someone) thoroughly in a subject: Eva's governess grounded her in Latin and Greek.

- (as adj. grounded) well balanced and sensible: for someone so young, Chris is extremely grounded.

4 place (something) on the ground or touch the ground with (something): he was penalized two strokes for grounding his club in a bunker.

5 NORTH AMERICAN connect (an electrical device) with the ground.

6 [no obj.] (ground out) [BASEBALL] (of a batter) be put out because of hitting a ground ball to a fielder who throws it to first base before the batter touches that base: he grounded out to shortstop.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 (of an animal) living on or in the ground.

- (of a fish) bottom-dwelling.

- (of a plant) low-growing.

2 (in aviation) relating to the ground rather than the air (with particular reference to the maintenance and servicing of aircraft: ground crew.

<PHRASES>

□ be thick (or thin) on the ground exist in large (or small) numbers or amounts: good men are thin on the ground.

□ break ground North American 1 do preparatory digging or other work prior to building or planting something.

2 another term for BREAK NEW GROUND below.

□ break new (or fresh) ground do something innovative and beneficial.

□ cut the ground from under someone's feet do something which leaves someone without a reason for their actions or opinions.

□ from the ground up INFORMAL completely or complete: they needed a rethink of their doctrine from the ground up.

□ gain ground become more popular or accepted: new moral attitudes are gaining ground.

□ gain ground on get closer to someone or something that is ahead in a pursuit or competitive situation: the dollar gained ground on all other major currencies.

□ get off the ground (or get something off the ground) start or cause to start happening successfully: there'd have to be a public inquiry before the project got off the ground.

□ give (or lose) ground retreat or lose one's advantage during a conflict or competition: he refused to give ground on this issue.

□ go to ground (of a fox or other animal) enter its earth or burrow.

- FIGURATIVE (of a person) hide or become inaccessible, especially for a long time: he went to ground following the presidential coup.

□ hold (or stand) one's ground not retreat or lose one's advantage during a conflict or competition.

□ make up ground get closer to someone ahead in a race or competition.

□ on the ground in a place where real, practical work is done: the troops on the ground are cynical.

□ on one's own ground in one's own territory or area of knowledge or experience: I feel relaxed if I'm interviewed on my own ground.

□ prepare the ground make it easier for something to occur or be developed: these measures prepared the ground for further reform.

□ run someone/thing to ground see RUN.

□ work (or run) oneself into the ground exhaust oneself by working or running very hard.

<ORIGIN> Old English grund, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch grond and German Grund.

ground^2 past and past participle of GRIND

■ adj. [attr.] reduced to fine particles by crushing or mincing: ground cumin.

- shaped, roughened, or polished by grinding: the thick opaque ground perimeter of the lenses.

<PHRASES>

□ ground down exhausted or worn down.

groundbait n. [mass noun] BRITISH bait thrown into the water while fishing (as distinct from hookbait).

<DERIVATIVES> groundbaiting n.

ground ball n. [BASEBALL] a ball hit along the ground.

ground bass n. [MUSIC] a short theme, usually in the bass, which is constantly repeated as the other parts of the music vary.

ground beetle n. any of a number of beetles that live mainly on or near the ground, in particular:

<INFO>

- a fast-running predatory beetle, typically black in colour (family Carabidae).

- (nocturnal ground beetle) another term for DARKLING BEETLE

groundbreaking adj. innovative; pioneering: groundbreaking research into fertility problems.

<DERIVATIVES> groundbreaker n.

ground cherry n. an American plant of the nightshade family which resembles the Cape gooseberry.

<INFO> Genus Physalis, family Solanaceae: several species, in particular P. pruinosa, which yields edible fruit.

ground control n. [treated as sing. or plural] the personnel and equipment that monitor and direct the flight and landing of aircraft or spacecraft.

<DERIVATIVES> ground controller n.

ground cover n. [mass noun] low-growing, spreading plants that help to stop weeds growing.

ground dove n. a small dove that spends much of its time on the ground, feeding and frequently nesting there.

<INFO> Columbina, Gallicolumba, and related genera, family Columbidae: several species, including the common ground dove (C. passerina) of North and Central America.

ground effect n. the effect of added aerodynamic buoyancy produced by a cushion of air below a vehicle moving close to the ground.

ground elder n. a common weed of the parsley family, with leaves that resemble those of the elder and spreading underground stems, native to Europe.

<INFO> Aegopodium podagraria, family Umbelliferae: a variegated cultivar is sometimes grown as ground cover.

grounder n. [BASEBALL] a ground ball.

ground floor (NORTH AMERICAN also main floor) n. BRITISH the floor of a building at ground level.

<PHRASES>

□ get in on the ground floor INFORMAL join an enterprise in its early stages.

ground frost n. [mass noun] BRITISH frost formed on the surface of the ground or in the top layer of soil.

ground game n. [mass noun] 1 game animals such as rabbits and hares that live in the ground.

2 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] play consisting of running to advance the ball.

ground glass n. [mass noun] 1 glass with a smooth ground surface that renders it non-transparent while retaining its translucency.

2 glass ground into an abrasive powder.

groundhog n. North American term for WOODCHUCK.

Groundhog Day n. (in North America) 2 February, when the groundhog is said to come out of its hole at the end of hibernation. If the animal sees its shadow—i.e. if the weather is sunny—it is said to portend six weeks more of winter weather.

groundhopper n. a small predominantly brown insect that resembles a grasshopper and has well-developed wings.

<INFO> Family Tetrigidae, order Orthoptera: several species, including the European common groundhopper (Tetrix undulata).

grounding n. [in sing.] basic training or instruction in a subject: every child needs a good grounding in science and technology.

ground ivy n. a creeping plant of the mint family, with bluish-purple flowers, native to Europe where it commonly grows on hedge banks and in woodland.

<INFO> Glechoma hederacea, family Labiatae.

groundless adj. not based on any good reason: your fears are quite groundless.

<DERIVATIVES> groundlessly adv. groundlessness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English grundlēas (see ground^1, -less).

ground level n. [mass noun] 1 the level of the ground.

- the ground floor of a building.

2 [PHYSICS] another term for GROUND STATE.

groundling /ran(d)l/ n. 1 an unsophisticated or uncritical spectator or reader (originally a member of the part of a theatre audience that stood in the pit below the stage): Dante is not for groundlings. [<ORIGIN> with reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet III. ii. 11.]

2 a person on the ground as opposed to one in a spacecraft or aircraft.

3 a fish that lives at the bottom of lakes and streams, especially a gudgeon or loach.

4 a creeping or dwarf plant.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a fish): from GROUND^1 + -LING; compare with Dutch grondeling, German Gründling ‘gudgeon’.

ground loop n. 1 a violent, uncontrolled swinging movement of an aircraft while landing, taking off, or taxiing.

2 North American term for EARTH LOOP.

■ v. (ground-loop) [no obj.] (of an aircraft) make a ground loop.

groundmass n. [in sing.] [GEOLOGY] the compact, finer-grained material in which the crystals are embedded in a porphyritic rock.

groundnut n. 1 another term for PEANUT.

2 a North American plant of the pea family, which yields a sweet edible tuber.

<INFO> Genus Apios, family Leguminosae: several species, in particular A. tuberosa.

groundout n. [BASEBALL] a play in which a batter is put out by hitting a ground ball to a fielder who throws it to first base before the batter touches that base.

ground pine n. 1 a small yellow-flowered Eurasian plant of the mint family, which resembles a pine seedling in appearance and smell.

<INFO> Ajuga chamaepitys, family Labiatae.

2 a North American clubmoss with small shiny leaves, resembling a miniature conifer and growing typically in coniferous woodland.

<INFO> Genus Lycopodium, family Lycopodiaceae: several species, in particular L. obscurum and L. tristachyum.

ground plan n. the plan of a building at ground level.

- the general outline or basis of a scheme.

ground rent n. [mass noun] BRITISH rent paid under the terms of a lease by the owner of a building to the owner of the land on which it is built.

ground rule n. 1 (usually ground rules) a basic principle: some ground rules for assessing new machines.

2 [BASEBALL] a rule relating to the limits of play on a particular field.

groundsel /ran(d)s(ə)l/ n. a widely distributed plant of the daisy family, with yellow rayless flowers.

<INFO> Genus Senecio, family Compositae: several species, in particular the common groundsel (S. vulgaris), which is a common weed.

<ORIGIN> Old English gundæswelgiæ (later grundeswylige), probably from gund ‘pus’ + swelgan ‘to swallow’ (with reference to its use in poultices). The later form may be by association with ground^1, and refer to the plant's rapid growth.

groundsheet n. BRITISH a waterproof sheet spread on the ground inside a tent.

groundskeeper n. North American term for GROUNDSMAN.

ground sloth n. an extinct terrestrial edentate mammal of the Cenozoic era in America, typically of very large size.

<INFO> Order Xenarthra (or Edentata). See MEGATHERIUM, MYLODON.

groundsman n. (pl. groundsmen) BRITISH a person who maintains a sports ground, a park, or the grounds of a school or other institution.

ground speed n. an aircraft's speed relative to the ground. Compare with AIRSPEED.

ground squirrel n. a burrowing squirrel that is typically highly social, found chiefly in North America and northern Eurasia, where it usually hibernates in winter. Also called GOPHER in North America.

<INFO> Spermophilus and other genera, family Sciuridae: many species, including the sousliks and chipmunks.

ground state n. [PHYSICS] the lowest energy state of an atom or other particle.

groundstroke n. [TENNIS] a stroke played after the ball has bounced, as opposed to a volley.

groundswell /ran(d)swεl/ n. 1 an increase in a particular opinion among a large section of the population: a groundswell of opposition developed.

2 a large or extensive swell in the sea.

ground tackle n. [mass noun] the equipment used to anchor or moor a boat or ship.

groundwater n. [mass noun] water held underground in the soil or in pores and crevices in rock.

ground wave n. a radio wave which reaches a receiver from a transmitter directly, without reflection from the ionosphere.

groundwork n. [mass noun] preliminary or basic work: the inquiry's findings are expected to lay the groundwork for a complete overhaul of the system.

ground zero n. 1 the point on the earth's surface directly above or below an exploding nuclear bomb.

- (Ground Zero) the site of the World Trade Center in New York, destroyed by terrorists on 11 September 2001.

2 a starting point or base for an activity: if you're starting at ground zero in terms of knowledge, go to the library.

group n. [treated as sing. or plural] 1 a number of people or things that are located, gathered, or classed together: a group of boys approached | the bulbs should be planted in groups.

- a number of people that work together or share certain beliefs: I now belong to my local drama group.

- a commercial organization consisting of several companies under common ownership: the largest newspaper group in the UK.

- a number of musicians who play popular music together.

- [MILITARY] a division of an air force, usually consisting of two or more stations.

2 [CHEMISTRY] a set of elements occupying a column in the periodic table and having broadly similar properties arising from their similar electronic structure.

- a combination of atoms having a recognizable identity in a number of compounds.

3 [MATHEMATICS] a set of elements, together with an associative binary operation, which contains an inverse for each element and an identity element.

4 [LINGUISTICS] (in systemic grammar) a level of structure between clause and word, broadly corresponding to phrase in other grammars.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial] put in a group or groups: three chairs were grouped around a table.

- put into categories; classify: molluscs are grouped into seven different classes.

- [no obj., with adverbial] form a group or groups: growers began to group together to form cooperatives.

<DERIVATIVES> groupage n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French groupe, from Italian gruppo, of Germanic origin; related to CROP.

group captain n. a rank of officer in the RAF, above wing commander and below air commodore.

group dynamics plural n. [also treated as sing.] [PSYCHOLOGY] the study or use of the processes involved when people in a group interact.

grouper (chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ also groper) n. a large or very large heavy-bodied fish of the sea bass family, with a big head and wide mouth, found in warm seas.

<INFO> Family Serranidae: several genera, in particular Epinephelus and Mycteroperca.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Portuguese garoupa, probably from a local term in South America.

group home n. a home where a small number of unrelated people in need of care, support, or supervision can live together.

groupie n. INFORMAL a young woman who regularly follows a pop group or other celebrity, especially in the hope of having a sexual relationship with them.

- [with modifier] often DEROGATORY an enthusiastic or uncritical follower: he's a political groupie and fantasist.

grouping n. a set of associated people acting together, especially within a larger organization: a grouping of left-wing trade union leaders.

- [mass noun] the action of putting people or things in a group or groups: the grouping of pupils by overall aptitude.

Group of Eight (abbr.: G8) the eight leading industrial nations (the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Canada, and Russia), whose heads of government meet regularly.

Group of Seven a group of Canadian landscape painters, officially established in 1920, who formed the first major national movement in Canadian art. Their work exhibited a bold and colourful expressionistic style.

Group of Seventy-Seven the developing countries of the world.

Group of Three the three largest industrialized economies (the US, Germany, and Japan).

group practice n. a medical practice run by several doctors.

groupset n. the brakes and gears for a bicycle.

group therapy n. [mass noun] a form of psychotherapy in which patients meet to describe and discuss their problems.

groupthink n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group, resulting typically in unchallenged, poor-quality decision-making: there's always a danger of groupthink when two leaders are so alike.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: on the pattern of doublethink.

groupuscule /rupəskjul/ n. a political or religious splinter group.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from French, diminutive of groupe ‘group’.

group velocity n. [PHYSICS] the speed at which the energy of a wave travels.

groupware n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] software designed to facilitate collective working by a number of different users.

grouse^1 n. (pl. same) a medium to large game bird with a plump body and feathered legs, the male being larger and more brightly coloured than the female.

<INFO> Family Tetraonidae (or Phasianidae): several genera, especially Lagopus and Tetrao.

- [mass noun] the flesh of the grouse as food.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: perhaps related to medieval Latin gruta or to Old French grue ‘crane’.

grouse^2 v. [no obj.] complain about something trivial; grumble: she heard him grousing about his assistant.

■ n. a complaint or grumble: our biggest grouse was about the noise of construction work.

<DERIVATIVES> grouser n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin; compare with GROUCH.

grouse^3 adj. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL very good (used as a general term of approval): the car was a grouse tomato red which everyone liked.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: of unknown origin.

grouse moor n. an area of managed moorland for the shooting of red grouse.

grout /rat/ n. [mass noun] a mortar or paste for filling crevices, especially the gaps between wall or floor tiles.

■ v. [with obj.] fill in with grout.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: perhaps from GROUTS, or related to French dialect grouter ‘grout a wall’.

grouter^1 n. a tool used for grouting tiles.

grouter^2 n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a lucky but unfair advantage: he has managed to come in on the grouter with a borrowed pound.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

grouting n. [mass noun] grout, especially when hardened.

grouts /rats/ plural n. ARCHAIC sediment, dregs, or grounds: old women told fortunes in grouts of tea.

<ORIGIN> Old English grūt, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gruit ‘dregs’, German Grauss ‘grain, weak beer’, also to GRITS and GROATS. The original meaning was ‘coarse meal, groats’, also denoting the infusion of malt which was fermented to make beer, hence, in Middle English, ‘sediment’.

Grove Sir George (1820–1900), English musicologist. He was the founder and first editor of the multi-volume Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1879–89) and served as the first director of the Royal College of Music (1883–94).

grove n. a small wood or other group of trees: an olive grove | [in place names] Ladbroke Grove.

<PHRASES>

□ the groves of Academe the academic world. [<ORIGIN> translating Horace's silvas Academi.]

<DERIVATIVES> grovy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English grāf, of Germanic origin.

grovel v. (grovels, grovelling, grovelled; US grovels, groveling, groveled) [no obj.] lie or crawl abjectly on the ground with one's face downwards: he grovelled at George's feet.

- act obsequiously in order to obtain forgiveness or favour: they criticized leaders who grovelled to foreign patrons | (as adj. grovelling) his grovelling references to ‘great’ historians.

<DERIVATIVES> groveller n. grovellingly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: back-formation from the obsolete adverb grovelling, from obsolete groof, grufe ‘the face or front’ (in the phrase on grufe, from Old Norse á grúfu ‘face downwards’) + the suffix -ling.

grow /rə/ v. (past grew /ru/; past part. grown /rən/) [no obj.] 1 (of a living thing) undergo natural development by increasing in size and changing physically: he would watch Nick grow to manhood | (as adj. growing) the needs of the growing child | (as adj. grown) grown men don't act so stupidly.

- (of a plant) germinate and develop: morels grow in a variety of places.

- [with obj.] cause (plants) to germinate and develop: more land was needed to grow crops for export.

- [with obj.] allow or cause (a part of the body) to grow or develop: if a newt's leg is amputated, it will grow a new one | [with obj. and complement] she grew her hair long.

2 come into existence and develop: the play grew out of a drama school project | a school of painting grew up in Cuzco.

- [with infinitive] (of a person) come to feel or think something over time: supposing we had grown to know and love nuclear power.

3 become larger or greater over a period of time; increase: turnover grew to more than $100,000 within three years | (as adj. growing) the growing concern over ozone levels.

- [with obj.] develop or expand: entrepreneurs who are struggling to grow their businesses.

- [with complement] become gradually or increasingly: sharing our experiences we grew braver.

<PHRASES>

□ grow on trees [usually with negative] INFORMAL be plentiful or easily obtained: jobs don't grow on trees.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ grow apart (of two or more people) become gradually estranged.

□ grow away from become gradually separated from (one's family, friends, or background): emotionally his family had grown away from him.

□ grow into 1 become as a result of natural development or gradual increase: Rome began as a city and grew into a huge empire.

2 become large enough to wear (a garment) comfortably.

□ grow on become gradually more appealing to (someone): the tune grows on you.

□ grow out disappear because of normal growth: Colette's old perm had almost grown out.

□ grow out of become too large to wear (a garment).

- become too mature to retain (a childish habit): most children grow out of tantrums by the time they're three.

□ grow up become an adult: a young girl who grew up in Texas.

- [often in imperative] begin to behave or think sensibly: grow up, sister, and come into the real world.

<DERIVATIVES> growable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English grōwan (originally referring chiefly to plants), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch groeien, also to GRASS and GREEN.

<USAGE> Although grow is typically used intransitively, as in he would watch Nick grow to manhood, its use as a transitive verb has long been standard in contexts which refer to growing plants and one's hair (more land was needed to grow crops; she grew her hair long). Recently, however, grow has extended its transitive sense and become popular in business jargon: entrepreneurs who are struggling to grow their businesses This is still a relatively new usage, and it is perhaps better to avoid it in formal contexts.

growbag (also TRADEMARK Gro-bag) n. BRITISH a bag containing potting compost for growing plants such as tomatoes in.

grower n. 1 a person who grows a particular type of crop: a fruit grower.

2 [with adj.] a plant that grows in a specified way: a fast grower.

growing bag n. British another term for GROWBAG.

growing pains plural n. neuralgic pains which occur in the limbs of some young children.

- the difficulties experienced in the early stages of an enterprise: the growing pains of a young republic.

growing point n. [BOTANY] the meristem region at the apex of a plant shoot at which continuous cell division and differentiation occur.

growing season n. the part of the year during which rainfall and temperature allow plants to grow.

growl v. [no obj.] (of an animal, especially a dog) make a low guttural sound of hostility in the throat: the dogs yapped and growled at his heels.

- [with direct speech] (of a person) say something in a low harsh voice, typically in a threatening manner: ‘Keep out of this,’ he growled.

- make a low or harsh rumbling sound: thunder growls without warning from a summer sky.

■ n. a growling sound made by a hostile animal.

- a low, harsh sound or utterance: with a growl of fury, he tightened his grip.

<DERIVATIVES> growlingly adv. growly adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: probably imitative.

growler n. 1 a person or thing that growls.

2 a small iceberg.

3 HISTORICAL a four-wheeled hansom cab.

4 US INFORMAL a pail or other container used for carrying drink, especially draught beer.

growmore n. [mass noun] BRITISH a balanced inorganic fertilizer of a standard kind.

grown past participle of GROW.

grown-up adj. adult: Joe has two grown-up children.

- suitable for or characteristic of an adult: it was my first grown-up party.

■ n. (especially in children's use) an adult: I don't like it when grown-ups get all serious.

growth n. 1 [mass noun] the process of increasing in size: the upward growth of plants | the growth of the city affects the local climate.

- the process of developing physically, mentally, or spiritually: keeping a journal can be a vital step in our personal growth.

- the process of increasing in amount, value, or importance: the rates of population growth are lowest in the north.

- increase in economic activity or value: the government aims to get growth back into the economy.

2 something that has grown or is growing: a day's growth of unshaven stubble on his chin.

- MEDICINE & [BIOLOGY] a tumour or other abnormal formation.

3 a vineyard or crop of grapes of a specified classification of quality, or a wine from it.

growth factor n. [BIOLOGY] a substance, such as a vitamin or hormone, which is required for the stimulation of growth in living cells.

growth hormone n. a hormone which stimulates growth in animal or plant cells, especially (in animals) that secreted by the pituitary gland.

growth industry n. an industry that is developing particularly rapidly.

growth ring n. a concentric layer of wood, shell, or bone developed during an annual or other regular period of growth.

growth stock n. a company stock that tends to increase in capital value rather than yield high income.

groyne (US groin) n. a low wall or sturdy timber barrier built out into the sea from a beach to check erosion and drifting.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from dialect groin ‘snout’, from Old French groign, from late Latin grunium ‘pig's snout’, from Latin grunnire ‘to grunt’.

grozing iron /rəz/ n. chiefly HISTORICAL a pair of pliers for clipping the edges of pieces of glass.

- HISTORICAL a tool for smoothing soldered joints in lead pipes.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: grozing from Middle Dutch, from the stem of gruizen ‘crush, trim glass’, from gruis ‘fragments’.

Grozny /rzni/ a city in SW Russia, near the border with Georgia, capital of Chechnya; pop. 123,300 (est. 2002).

GRP abbr. glass-reinforced plastic.

grrrl /rrl/ (also grrl) n. a young woman regarded as independent and strong or aggressive, especially in her attitude to men or in her sexuality.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of grrr, representing the sound of an animal growling (and thus human anger) and GIRL, originally a variant of girl in RIOT GIRL.

grt abbr. gross registered tonnage, a measure of a ship's size found by dividing the volume of the space enclosed by its hull (measured in cubic feet) by one hundred.

grub n. 1 the larva of an insect, especially a beetle.

- a maggot or small caterpillar.

2 [mass noun] INFORMAL food: a popular bar serving excellent pub grub.

■ v. (grubs, grubbing, grubbed) [no obj., with adverbial] 1 dig or poke about in soil: the damage done to pastures by badgers grubbing for worms.

- [with obj.] (grub something up/out) remove something from the earth by digging it up: many miles of hedgerows were grubbed up.

2 search in a clumsy and unmethodical manner: I began grubbing about in the waste-paper basket to find the envelope.

3 work hard, especially at a dull or demeaning task: she has achieved independence without having to grub for it.

- [with obj.] achieve or acquire (something) by doing demeaning work: they were grubbing a living from garbage pails.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps related to Dutch grobbelen, also to grave^1.

grubber n. 1 [usually in combination] a person who is determined to acquire or amass something, especially in an unscrupulous manner: a money-grubber | a vote-grubber.

2 [usually in combination] an implement for digging up plants: a daisy-grubber.

3 [CRICKET] a ball that is bowled along the ground.

- (also grubber kick) [RUGBY] a forward kick of the ball along the ground.

grubby adj. (grubbier, grubbiest) covered with dirt; grimy: the grubby face of a young boy.

- involving dishonest or disreputable activity; sordid: the grubby business of selling arms.

<DERIVATIVES> grubbily adv. grubbiness n.

grub screw n. BRITISH a small headless screw, used typically to attach a handle or cam to a spindle.

grubstake NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. an amount of material, provisions, or money supplied to an enterprise (originally a prospector for ore) in return for a share in the resulting profits.

■ v. [with obj.] provide with a grubstake.

Grub Street n. used in reference to a world or class of impoverished journalists and writers.

<ORIGIN> the name of a street (later Milton Street) in Moorgate, London, inhabited by such authors in the 17th cent.

grudge n. a persistent feeling of ill will or resentment resulting from a past insult or injury: those who have reason to bear you a grudge | Miss Ironside seems to have had some grudge against her.

■ v. [with obj.] be resentfully unwilling to give or allow (something): he grudged the work and time that the meeting involved.

- [with two objs] [usually with negative] feel resentful that (someone) has achieved (something): I don't grudge him his moment of triumph.

<DERIVATIVES> grudger n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of obsolete grutch ‘complain, murmur, grumble’, from Old French grouchier, of unknown origin. Compare with GROUCH.

grudge match n. a contest or other competitive situation based on personal antipathy between the participants.

grudging adj. given or allowed only reluctantly or resentfully: a grudging apology.

<DERIVATIVES> grudgingly adv. grudgingness n.

gruel n. [mass noun] a thin liquid food of oatmeal or other meal boiled in milk or water.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, of Germanic origin.

gruelling (US grueling) adj. extremely tiring and demanding: a gruelling schedule.

<DERIVATIVES> gruellingly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the verb gruel ‘exhaust, punish’, from an old phrase get one's gruel ‘receive one's punishment’.

gruesome adj. causing repulsion or horror; grisly: the most gruesome murder.

- INFORMAL extremely unpleasant: gruesome catering.

<DERIVATIVES> gruesomely adv. gruesomeness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Scots grue ‘to feel horror, shudder’ (of Scandinavian origin) + -SOME^1. Rare before the late 18th century, the word was popularized by Sir Walter Scott.

gruff adj. (of a voice) rough and low in pitch: she spoke with a gruff, masculine voice.

- abrupt or taciturn in manner: Robert's gruff, no-nonsense approach.

<DERIVATIVES> gruffly adv. gruffness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘coarse-grained’): from Flemish and Dutch grof ‘coarse, rude’, of West Germanic origin.

grumble v. 1 [reporting v.] complain about something in a bad-tempered way: [with direct speech] ‘I'm getting old,’ she grumbled | [no obj.] the cashier grumbled about changing Swiss money | [with clause] his father was grumbling that he hadn't heard from him.

2 [no obj.] make a low rumbling sound: thunder was grumbling somewhere in the distance.

3 [no obj.] (usually as adj. grumbling) (of an internal organ) give intermittent discomfort: a grumbling appendix.

■ n. 1 a complaint: the main grumble is that he spends too much time away.

2 a low rumbling sound.

<DERIVATIVES> grumbler n. grumblingly adv. grumbly adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete grumme (probably of Germanic origin and related to Dutch grommen) + -LE^4.

grumbling n. (usually grumblings) a complaint or protest: there were grumblings from the trustees.

grump INFORMAL n. a grumpy person.

- a fit of sulking: the priest was in such a grump about the contributions to a new altar.

■ v. [no obj.] act in a sulky, grumbling manner: he grumped at me when I moved the papers.

<DERIVATIVES> grumpish adj. grumpishly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: imitating inarticulate sounds expressing displeasure.

grumpy adj. (grumpier, grumpiest) bad-tempered and sulky.

<DERIVATIVES> grumpily adv. grumpiness n.

Grünewald /runəvald/ German /rYnəvalt/ Mathias (c.1460–1528), German painter; born Mathis Nithardt; also called Mathis Gothardt. His most famous work is the nine-panel Isenheim Altar (completed 1516).

grunge n. [mass noun] 1 INFORMAL grime; dirt.

2 (also grunge rock) a style of rock music characterized by a raucous guitar sound and lazy vocal delivery.

- the fashion associated with grunge rock, including loose, layered clothing and ripped jeans.

<DERIVATIVES> grunginess n. grungy adj. (grungier, grungiest)

<ORIGIN> 1960s: back-formation from grungy, perhaps suggested by GRUBBY and DINGY.

grunion /rnjən/ n. a small, slender Californian fish that swarms on to beaches at night to spawn. The eggs are buried in the sand and the young fish are swept out to sea on the following spring tide.

<INFO> Leuresthes tenuis, family Atherinidae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: probably from Spanish gruñón ‘grunter’.

grunt v. [no obj.] (of an animal, especially a pig) make a low, short guttural sound.

- (of a person) make a low inarticulate sound, typically to express effort or indicate assent: the men cursed and grunted as they lassoed the steer.

■ n. 1 a low, short guttural sound made by an animal or a person.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a low-ranking soldier or unskilled worker: he went from grunt to senior executive vice-president in five years. [<ORIGIN> alteration of ground, from ground man (with reference to unskilled railway work before progressing to lineman).]

3 [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL mechanical power, especially in a motor vehicle: what the big wagon needs is grunt, and the turbo does the business.

4 an edible shoaling fish of tropical coasts and coral reefs, able to make a loud noise by grinding its teeth and amplifying the sound in the swim bladder.

<INFO> Family Pomadasyidae: numerous genera and species.

<ORIGIN> Old English grunnettan, of Germanic origin and related to German grunzen; probably originally imitative.

grunter n. a fish that makes a grunting noise, especially when caught, in particular:

<INFO>

- a mainly marine fish of warm waters (family Theraponidae: several genera).

- another term for grunt (sense 4 of the noun)

gruntled adj. HUMOROUS pleased, satisfied, and contented.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: back-formation from DISGRUNTLED.

Grus /rs/ [ASTRONOMY] a small southern constellation (the Crane), south of Piscis Austrinus.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Gruyère /rujε/ n. [mass noun] a firm, tangy cheese.

<ORIGIN> named after Gruyère, a district in Switzerland, where it was first made.

grysbok /rsbk xres-/ n. a small mainly nocturnal antelope with small vertical horns and a slightly arched back, found in SW Africa.

<INFO> Genus Raphicerus, family Bovidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Afrikaans, from Dutch grijs ‘grey’ + bok ‘buck’.

Grytviken /rtvik(ə)n/ the chief settlement on the island of South Georgia, in the South Atlantic, a former whaling station.

Grønland /rœnlan/ Danish name for GREENLAND.

gs abbr. HISTORICAL guineas.

GSM abbr. Global System (or Standard) for Mobile, a standardized international system for digital mobile telecommunication.

gsm abbr. grams per square metre, a measure of weight for paper: 100 gsm paper.

GSOH abbr. good sense of humour (used in personal advertisements).

G spot n. a sensitive area of the anterior wall of the vagina believed by some to be highly erogenous and capable of ejaculation.

<ORIGIN> 1944: G from Gräfenberg, because first described by the gynaecologist Ernst Gräfenberg (1881–1957) and R. L. Dickinson in the Western Journal of Surgery.

GSR abbr. galvanic skin response.

GST abbr. (in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada) Goods and Services Tax, a broadly applied value added tax.

Gstaad /ətαt/ German /ktat/ a winter-sports resort in western Switzerland.

G-string (also gee-string) n. a garment consisting of a narrow strip of cloth attached to a waistband that covers only the genital area, worn as underwear or by striptease performers.

G-suit n. a garment with pressurized pouches that are inflatable with air or fluid, worn by fighter pilots and astronauts to enable them to withstand high gravitational forces.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from g (symbol of gravity) + SUIT.

GT adj. denoting a high-performance car.

■ n. a high-performance car.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: abbreviation of Italian GRAN TURISMO.

Gt abbr. Great: Gt Britain.

GTi adj. denoting a high-performance car with a fuel-injected engine.

■ n. a high-performance car with a fuel-injected engine.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from GT + i for injection.

G2B abbr. government-to-business, referring to the conducting of transactions between government bodies and business via the Internet.

guacamole /wαkəməle -li/ n. [mass noun] a dish of mashed avocado mixed with chopped onion, tomatoes, chilli peppers, and seasoning.

<ORIGIN> Latin American Spanish, from Nahuatl ahuacamolli, from ahuacatl ‘avocado’ + molli ‘sauce’.

guacharo /wαtərə/ n. (pl. guacharos)

■ North American term for OILBIRD.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Spanish guáchero, of South American origin.

Guadalajara /wαdələhαrə/ 1 a city in central Spain, to the north-east of Madrid; pop. 67,640 (2001).

2 a city in west central Mexico, capital of the state of Jalisco; pop. 3,847,000 (2000).

Guadalcanal /wαdəlkənal/ an island in the SW Pacific, the largest of the Solomon Islands (the country); pop. 115,400 (2000). During the Second World War it was the scene of the first major US offensive against the Japanese (August 1942).

Guadalquivir /wαdəlkvə/ Spanish /waalkiβir/ a river of Andalusia in southern Spain. It flows for 657 km (410 miles) through Cordoba and Seville to reach the Atlantic north-west of Cadiz.

Guadeloupe /wαdəlup/ French /wadlup/ a group of islands in the Lesser Antilles, forming an overseas department of France; pop. 435,739 (est. 2002); languages, French (official), French Creole; capital, Basse-Terre.

<DERIVATIVES> Guadeloupian adj. & n.

Guadiana /wαdαnə/ a river of Spain and Portugal. Rising in a plateau region south-east of Madrid, it flows south-westwards for some 580 km (360 miles), entering the Atlantic at the Gulf of Cadiz. For the last part of its course it forms the border between Spain and Portugal.

guaiac /wak/ n. [mass noun] brown resin obtained from guaiacum trees, used as a flavouring and in varnishes.

guaiacol /wəkl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an oily yellow liquid with a penetrating odour, obtained by distilling wood tar or guaiac, used as a flavouring and an expectorant.

<INFO> Alternative name: o-methoxyphenol; chem. formula: HOC_6H_4OCH_3.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from GUAIACUM + -OL.

guaiacum /wəkəm/ n. an evergreen tree of the Caribbean and tropical America, formerly important for its hard, heavy, oily timber but now scarce. Also called LIGNUM VITAE.

<INFO> Guaiacum officinale and G. sanctum, family Zygophyllaceae.

■ another term for GUAIAC.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: modern Latin, via Spanish from Taino guayacan.

Guam /wαm/ the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands, administered as an unincorporated territory of the US; pop. 160,796 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), Austronesian languages; capital, Agaña. Guam was ceded to the US by Spain in 1898.

<DERIVATIVES> Guamanian /wαmenən/ adj. & n.

guan /wαn/ n. a large pheasant-like tree-dwelling bird of tropical American rainforests.

<INFO> Family Cracidae (the guan family): several genera, especially Penelope. The guan family also includes curassows and chachalacas.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via American Spanish from Miskito kwamu.

guanaco /wənαkə/ n. (pl. guanacos) a wild Andean mammal similar to the domestic llama, which is probably derived from it. It has a valuable pale brown pelt.

<INFO> Lama guanicoe, family Camelidae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via Spanish from Quechua huanacu.

Guanajuato /wαnəhwαtə/ a state of central Mexico.

- its capital city; pop. 74,900 (2000). The city developed as a silver-mining centre after a rich vein of silver was discovered there in 1558.

Guanche /wαnti/ n. (pl. same or Guanches) a member of an aboriginal people speaking a Berber language who formerly inhabited the Canary Islands.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

Guangdong /wad/ (also Kwangtung) a province of southern China, on the South China Sea; capital, Guangzhou (Canton).

Guangxi Zhuang /wai wa/ (also Kwangsi Chuang) an autonomous region of southern China, on the Gulf of Tonkin; capital, Nanning.

Guangzhou /wadə/ (also Kwangchow) a city in southern China, the capital of Guangdong province; pop. 5,230,700 (est. 2002). It is the leading industrial and commercial centre of southern China. Also called CANTON.

guanidine /wαndin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a strongly basic crystalline compound, used in organic synthesis.

<INFO> An imide derived from urea; chem. formula: HNC(NH_2)2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from GUANO + -IDE + -INE^4.

guanine /wαnin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound that occurs in guano and fish scales, and is one of the four constituent bases of nucleic acids. A pure derivative, it is paired with cytosine in double-stranded DNA.

<INFO> Alternative name: 6-oxy-2-aminopurine; chem. formula: C_5H_5N_5O.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from GUANO + -INE^4.

guano /wαnə/ n. (pl. guanos) [mass noun] the excrement of seabirds, occurring in thick deposits notably on the islands off Peru and Chile, and used as fertilizer.

- an artificial fertilizer resembling natural guano, especially one made from fish.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish, or from Latin American Spanish huano, from Quechua huanu ‘dung’.

guanosine /wαnəsin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound consisting of guanine combined with ribose, present in all living tissue in combined form as nucleotides.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from GUANINE, with the insertion of -ose^2.

Guantánamo Bay /wantanəmə/ a bay on the SE coast of Cuba. It is the site of a US naval base established in 1903, where suspected members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban were held from 2002.

guanxi /wani/ n. [mass noun] (in China) the system of social networks and influential relationships which facilitate business and other dealings.

<ORIGIN> Mandarin, literally ‘connection’.

guar /wα/ n. a drought-resistant plant of the pea family, which is grown as a vegetable and fodder crop and as a source of guar gum, native to dry regions of Africa and Asia. Also called CLUSTER BEAN.

<INFO> Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, family Leguminosae.

- (also guar flour or guar gum) [mass noun] a fine powder obtained by grinding guar seeds, which is used chiefly in the food and paper industries.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Hindi guār.

guarana /wərαnə/ n. 1 [mass noun] a substance prepared from the seeds of a Brazilian shrub, used as a tonic or stimulant.

2 the shrub that yields guarana.

<INFO> Paullinia cupana, family Sapindaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Tupi.

Guarani /wαrəni/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of an American Indian people of Paraguay and adjacent regions.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Guarani, which has over 3 million speakers. It is one of the main divisions of the Tupi-Guarani language family and is a national language of Paraguay.

3 (guarani) (plural guaranis) the basic monetary unit of Paraguay, equal to 100 centimos.

■ adj. relating to the Guarani or their language.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

guarantee n. a formal assurance (typically in writing) that certain conditions will be fulfilled, especially that a product will be repaired or replaced if not of a specified quality: we offer a 10-year guarantee against rusting.

- something that ensures a particular outcome: a degree is no guarantee of a fast-track career.

■ variant spelling of GUARANTY.

■ less common term for GUARANTOR.

■ v. (guarantees, guaranteeing, guaranteed) 1 [no obj.] provide a formal assurance, especially that certain conditions will be fulfilled relating to a product, service, or transaction: [with infinitive] the company guarantees to refund your money.

- [with obj.] provide a guarantee for: the cooker is guaranteed for five years | (as adj. guaranteed) the guaranteed bonus is not very high.

- [with obj.] provide financial security for; underwrite.

2 [with obj.] promise with certainty: no one can guarantee a profit on stocks and shares.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘guarantor’): perhaps from Spanish garante, corresponding to French garant (see WARRANT), later influenced by French garantie ‘guaranty’.

guarantee fund n. a sum of money pledged as a contingent indemnity for loss.

guarantor /ar(ə)nt/ n. a person or thing that gives or acts as a guarantee: the role of the police as guarantors of public order.

- [LAW] a person or organization that provides a guaranty.

guaranty /ar(ə)nti/ (also guarantee) n. (pl. guaranties) an undertaking to answer for the payment or performance of another person's debt or obligation in the event of a default by the person primarily responsible for it.

- a thing serving as security for a guaranty.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Old French garantie, from garantir; related to WARRANT.

guard v. [with obj.] 1 watch over in order to protect or control: two men were left to guard the stockade | the gates were guarded by soldiers.

- watch over (someone) to prevent them from escaping: his task was to help guard Japanese prisoners.

- [BASKETBALL] stay close to (an opponent) in order to prevent them getting or passing the ball.

2 protect against damage or harm: the company fiercely guarded its independence.

- [no obj.] (guard against) take precautions against: farmers must guard against sudden changes in the market.

■ n. 1 a person who keeps watch, especially a soldier or other person assigned to protect a person or to control access to a place: a security guard | [as modifier] soldiers on guard duty.

- [treated as sing. or plural] a body of soldiers serving to protect a place or person: he's the captain of the palace guard.

- (Guards) the household troops of the British army.

- IRISH a member of the Irish police force; a Garda.

- NORTH AMERICAN a prison warder.

2 a device worn or fitted to prevent injury or damage: a retractable blade guard.

3 [in sing.] a defensive posture that is adopted in a boxing or martial arts contest or in a fight: before Seb could raise his guard Boz swung a wild punch.

- a state of vigilance or preparedness against adverse circumstances: he let his guard slip enough to make some unwise comments.

4 BRITISH an official who rides on and is in general charge of a train.

5 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] each of two players either side of the centre.

- [BASKETBALL] each of two players chiefly responsible for marking opposing players.

<PHRASES>

□ guard of honour a group of soldiers detailed to ceremonially welcome an important visitor.

□ keep (or stand) guard act as a guard.

□ off guard unprepared for a surprise or difficulty: the government was caught off guard by the unexpected announcement.

□ on guard on duty to protect or defend something.

- (also on one's guard) prepared for any contingency: wine producers are constantly on guard against cheap imitations.

□ take guard [CRICKET] (of a batsman) stand in position ready to receive the ball, especially having asked the umpire to check the position of one's bat with respect to the stumps.

□ under guard being guarded.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘care, custody’): from Old French garde (noun), garder (verb), of West Germanic origin. Compare with WARD.

guardant /αd(ə)nt/ adj. [usually postpositive] [HERALDRY] (especially of an animal) depicted with the body sideways and the face towards the viewer: three lions passant guardant.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French gardant ‘guarding’, from garder ‘to guard’.

guard cell n. [BOTANY] each of a pair of curved cells that surround a stoma, becoming larger or smaller according to the pressure within the cells.

guarded adj. cautious and having possible reservations: he has given a guarded welcome to the idea.

<DERIVATIVES> guardedly adv. guardedness n.

guardee n. BRITISH INFORMAL a guardsman, especially one seen as representing smartness or elegance.

guard hair n. [mass noun] long, coarse hair forming an animal's outer fur.

guardhouse n. a building used to accommodate a military guard or to detain military prisoners.

Guardi /wαdi/ Italian /wardi/ Francesco (1712–93), Italian painter. A pupil of Canaletto, he produced paintings of Venice notable for their free handling of light and atmosphere.

guardian n. 1 a person who protects or defends something: self-appointed guardians of public morality.

- a person who is legally responsible for the care of someone who is unable to manage their own affairs, especially a child whose parents have died.

2 the superior of a Franciscan convent.

<DERIVATIVES> guardianship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French garden, of Germanic origin; compare with WARD and WARDEN. The ending was altered by association with -IAN.

guardian angel n. a spirit that is thought to watch over and protect a person or place.

guard rail n. a rail at the edge of something such as a cliff or the deck of a boat that prevents people from falling off. North American term for CRASH BARRIER.

guard ring n. a ring-shaped electrode used to limit the extent of an electric field, especially in a capacitor.

guardroom n. a room in a military base used to accommodate a guard or detain prisoners.

guardsman n. (pl. guardsmen) (in the UK) a soldier of a regiment of Guards.

- (in the US) a member of the National Guard.

guard's van n. BRITISH a carriage or wagon occupied by the guard on a train.

Guarneri /wαnεri/ Giuseppe (1687–1744), Italian violin-maker; known as del Gesù. He is the most famous of a family of three generations of violin-makers based in Cremona.

Guatemala /wαtəmαlə/ a country in Central America, bordering on the Pacific Ocean and with a short coastline on the Caribbean Sea; pop. 13,314,079 (est. 2002); official language, Spanish; capital, Guatemala City.

A former centre of Mayan civilization, Guatemala was conquered by the Spanish in 1523–4. After independence it formed the core of the short-lived United Provinces of Central America (1828–38) before becoming an independent republic in its own right.

<DERIVATIVES> Guatemalan adj. & n.

Guatemala City the capital of Guatemala; pop. 2,564,900 (est. 2002). Situated at an altitude of 1,500 m (4,920 ft) in the central highlands, the city was founded in 1776 to replace the former capital, Antigua Guatemala, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1773.

guava /wαvə/ n. 1 an edible, pale orange tropical fruit with pink juicy flesh and a strong sweet aroma.

2 the small tropical American tree which bears guavas.

<INFO> Genus Psidium, family Myrtaceae: several species, in particular P. guajava.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Spanish guayaba, probably from Taino.

guayabera /əbεrə/ n. a lightweight open-necked Cuban or Mexican shirt with two breast pockets and two pockets over the hips, typically having short sleeves and worn untucked.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: Cuban Spanish, apparently originally from the name of the Yayabo river, influenced by Spanish guayaba ‘guava’.

Guayaquil /wαjəkil/ a seaport in Ecuador, the country's principal port and second-largest city; pop. 2,196,800 (est. 2002).

guayule /wuli/ n. a silver-leaved Mexican shrub of the daisy family which yields large amounts of latex.

<INFO> Parthenium argentatum, family Compositae.

- [mass noun] a rubber substitute made from the guayule.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: via Latin American Spanish from Nahuatl cuauhuli.

gub (also gubba or gubber /bə/) n. chiefly DEROGATORY (among Australian Aborigines) a white person.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: of uncertain origin.

gubbins plural n. [treated as sing. or plural] BRITISH INFORMAL miscellaneous items; paraphernalia: all the latest films, books, and electronic gubbins.

- [treated as sing.] a gadget: a little gubbins he had made as a boy.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘fragments’): from obsolete gobbon ‘piece, slice, gob’, from Old French; probably related to GOBBET. Current senses date from the early 20th cent.

gubernatorial /(j)ubənətrəl/ adj. relating to a governor, particularly that of a state in the US: a gubernatorial election.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin gubernator ‘governor’ (from gubernare ‘steer, govern’, from Greek kubernan ‘to steer’) + -IAL.

guck n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a slimy, dirty, or otherwise unpleasant substance: he got mud and cow guck all over his white jersey.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: possibly a blend of GOO and MUCK.

guddle Scottish v. [no obj.] fish with the hands by groping under the stones or banks of a stream.

- [with obj.] catch (a fish) in such a way.

<DERIVATIVES> guddler n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: of unknown origin.

gudgeon^1 /d(ə)n/ n. 1 a small edible European freshwater fish, often used as bait by anglers.

<INFO> Gobio gobio, family Cyprinidae.

2 ARCHAIC a credulous or easily fooled person.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French goujon, from Latin gobio(n-), from gobius ‘goby’.

gudgeon^2 /d(ə)n/ n. a pivot or spindle on which a bell or other object swings or rotates.

- the tubular part of a hinge into which the pin fits to unite the joint.

- a socket at the stern of a boat, into which a rudder is fitted.

- a pin holding two blocks of stone together.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French goujon, diminutive of gouge (see GOUGE).

gudgeon pin n. a pin holding a piston rod and a connecting rod together.

Gudrun /drn/ (in Norse legend) the Norse equivalent of Kriemhild, wife of Sigurd and later of Atli (Attila the Hun).

guelder rose /εldə/ n. a deciduous Eurasian shrub with flattened heads of fragrant creamy-white flowers, followed by clusters of translucent red berries.

<INFO> Viburnum opulus, family Caprifoliaceae. See also SNOWBALL TREE.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Dutch geldersche roos ‘rose of Gelderland’ (see GELDERLAND).

Guelph /wεlf/ n. 1 a member of one of two great factions in Italian medieval politics, traditionally supporting the Pope against the Holy Roman emperor. Compare with GHIBELLINE.

2 a member of a princely family of Swabian origin from which the British royal house is descended through George I.

<DERIVATIVES> Guelphic adj.

<ORIGIN> from Italian Guelfo, from Middle High German Welf, the name of the founder of one of the two great rival dynasties in the Holy Roman Empire.

guenon /ənn/ n. an African monkey found mainly in forests, with a long tail and typically a brightly coloured coat. The male is much larger than the female.

<INFO> Genus Cercopithecus, family Cercopithecidae: several species, including the vervet, mona, and Diana monkeys.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, of unknown origin.

guerdon /əd(ə)n/ chiefly ARCHAIC n. a reward or recompense.

■ v. [with obj.] give a reward to (someone).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin widerdonum, alteration (by association with Latin donum ‘gift’) of a West Germanic compound represented by Old High German widarlōn ‘repayment’.

Guericke /εrkə/ Otto von (1602–86), German engineer and physicist. He was the first to investigate the properties of a vacuum, and he devised the Magdeburg hemispheres to demonstrate atmospheric pressure.

Guernica /ənikə ənkə/ a town in the Basque Provinces of northern Spain, to the east of Bilbao; pop. 15,264 (2001). Formerly the seat of a Basque parliament, it was bombed in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, by German planes in support of Franco, an event depicted in a famous painting by Picasso. Full name Guernica y Luno /i lunə/.

Guernsey^1 /ənzi/ an island in the English Channel, to the north-west of Jersey; pop. 62,650 (2001); capital, St Peter Port. It is the second-largest of the Channel Islands.

Guernsey^2 /ənzi/ n. (pl. Guernseys) 1 an animal of a breed of dairy cattle from Guernsey, noted for producing rich, creamy milk.

2 (guernsey) a thick sweater made with oiled navy-blue wool and originally worn by fishermen.

- AUSTRALIAN a football jumper, especially one of the sleeveless kind worn by Australian Rules players.

<PHRASES>

□ get (or be given) a guernsey AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL be selected for a football team.

- gain recognition or approval.

Guernsey lily n. a nerine with large heads of pink lily-like flowers. Native to South Africa, but widely cultivated, it was first described in Guernsey.

<INFO> Nerine sarniensis, family Liliaceae (or Amaryllidaceae).

Guerrero /εrεrə/ a state of SW central Mexico, on the Pacific coast; capital, Chilpancingo.

guerrilla /ərlə/ (also guerilla) n. a member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces: this town fell to the guerrillas | [as modifier] guerrilla warfare.

- [as modifier] referring to actions or activities performed in an impromptu way, often without authorization: guerrilla gigs.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (introduced during the Peninsular War): from Spanish, diminutive of guerra ‘war’.

guess v. [with obj.] estimate or conclude (something) without sufficient information to be sure of being correct: she guessed the child's age at 14 or 15 | [with clause] he took her aside and I guessed that he was offering her a job | [no obj.] we can only guess at Alan's motives.

- form a correct conclusion about (something) by guessing: [with clause] she's guessed where we're going.

- (I guess) INFORMAL used to indicate that although one thinks or supposes something, it is without any great conviction or strength of feeling: [with clause] I guess I'd better tell you everything.

■ n. an estimate or conclusion formed by guessing: my guess is that within a year we will have a referendum.

<PHRASES>

□ anybody's (or anyone's) guess very difficult or impossible to determine: how well the system will work is anybody's guess.

□ keep someone guessing INFORMAL leave someone uncertain or in doubt as to one's intentions or plans.

<DERIVATIVES> guessable adj. guesser n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: origin uncertain; perhaps from Dutch gissen, and probably related to GET.

guesstimate (also guestimate) INFORMAL n. /εstmət/ an estimate based on a mixture of guesswork and calculation.

■ v. /εstmet/ [with obj.] form such an ESTIMATE of.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of GUESS and estimate.

guesswork n. [mass noun] the process or results of guessing.

guest n. 1 a person who is invited to visit someone's home or attend a particular social occasion: I have two guests coming to dinner tonight | [as modifier] the guest list.

- a person invited to participate in an official event: he was in Warsaw as a guest of the Polish government | [as modifier] a guest speaker.

- a person invited to take part in a radio or television programme or other entertainment: a regular guest on the morning show.

2 a person staying at a hotel or guest house: a reduction for guests staying seven nights or more.

- chiefly US a customer at a restaurant.

3 [ENTOMOLOGY] a small invertebrate that lives unharmed within an ants' nest.

■ v. [no obj.] INFORMAL appear as a temporary or visiting performer or participant in a television or radio programme or other entertainment: he guested on the show two weeks ago.

<PHRASES>

□ be my guest INFORMAL please do: May I choose the restaurant? Be my guest!

□ guest of honour the most important guest at an occasion.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse gestr, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gast and German Gast, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin hostis ‘enemy’ (originally ‘stranger’).

guest beer n. BRITISH (in a tied pub) a beer offered in addition to those produced by the parent brewery.

- (in a free house) a beer available only temporarily.

guestbook n. [COMPUTING] a facility on a website on which visitors to the site may record their comments.

guest house n. a private house offering accommodation to paying guests.

guest rope n. a second rope fastened to a boat in tow to keep it steady.

- a rope slung outside a ship to give a hold for boats coming alongside.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin.

guest worker n. English term for GASTARBEITER.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: translation of the German.

gueuze /əz/ n. [mass noun] a type of sour, strong, sparkling Belgian beer made by blending new and aged Lambic beers before a secondary fermentation.

<ORIGIN> Flemish: origin uncertain.

Guevara /əvαrə/ Spanish /eβara/ Che /te/ (1928–67), Argentinian revolutionary and guerrilla leader; full name Ernesto Guevara de la Serna. He played a significant part in the Cuban revolution (1956–9) and became a government minister under Castro. He was captured and executed by the Bolivian army while training guerrillas for a planned uprising in Bolivia.

guff n. 1 [mass noun] INFORMAL foolish talk or ideas.

2 SCOTTISH an unpleasant smell.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the sense ‘puff, whiff of a bad smell’): imitative.

guffaw /əf/ n. a loud and hearty laugh.

■ v. [no obj.] laugh loudly and heartily: both men guffawed at the remark.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (originally Scots): imitative.

Guggenheim /ənhm/ Meyer (1828–1905), Swiss-born American industrialist. With his seven sons he established companies involved in mining and metal processing. His son Solomon (1861–1949) set up several foundations providing support for the arts, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

GUI abbr. [COMPUTING] graphical user interface.

Guiana /αnə anə/ a region in northern South America, bounded by the Orinoco, Negro, and Amazon Rivers and the Atlantic Ocean. It now comprises Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and the Guiana Highlands.

Guiana Highlands a mountainous plateau region of northern South America, lying between the Orinoco and Amazon River basins, largely in SE Venezuela and northern Brazil. Its highest peak is Roraima (2,774 m; 9,094 ft).

guid /d/ n. Scottish form of GOOD.

guidance n. [mass noun] 1 advice or information aimed at resolving a problem or difficulty, especially as given by someone in authority: he looked to his father for inspiration and guidance.

2 the directing of the motion or position of something, especially an aircraft, spacecraft, or missile: [as modifier] a laser guidance system.

guide n. 1 a person who shows the way to others, especially one employed to show tourists around places of interest: a tour guide.

- a professional mountain climber in charge of a group.

2 a person who advises others, especially in matters of behaviour or belief: his spiritual guide.

- a thing that helps someone to form an opinion or make a decision or calculation: your resting pulse rate is a rough guide to your general physical condition.

- a book, document, or display providing information on a subject or about a place: a comprehensive guide to British hotels and restaurants.

3 a structure or marking which directs the motion or positioning of something: the guides for the bolt needed straightening.

4 (Guide) a member of the Guides Association.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] show or indicate the way to (someone): he guided her to the front row and sat beside her | FIGURATIVE information is available to guide you through the planning and development process.

- [with obj.] direct the motion or positioning of (something): the groove in the needle guides the thread.

2 [with obj.] direct or influence the behaviour or development of: his life was guided by his religious beliefs.

<DERIVATIVES> guidable adj. guider n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French guide (noun), guider (verb), of Germanic origin; related to wit^2.

guidebook n. a book of information about a place, designed for the use of visitors or tourists.

guided adj. 1 conducted by a guide: a guided tour of the castle.

2 directed by remote control or by internal equipment: a guided missile.

guided imagery n. [mass noun] a method of relaxation which concentrates the mind on positive images in an attempt to reduce pain, stress, etc.

guide dog n. a dog that has been trained to lead a blind person.

guideline n. a general rule, principle, or piece of advice: the organization has issued guidelines for people working with prisoners.

guide number n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a measure of the power of a flashgun expressed in metres or feet.

guidepost n. archaic term for SIGNPOST.

Guider (also Guide Guider) n. BRITISH an adult leader in the Guides Association.

guide rope n. a rope used to guide the movement of the load of a crane.

Guides Association (in the UK) an organization for girls, corresponding to the Scout Association. Formerly (until 1992) called GIRL GUIDES ASSOCIATION.

It was established in 1910 by Lord Baden-Powell with his wife and sister. The three sections into which it is divided, originally Brownies, Guides, and Rangers, are now called Brownie Guides (7–11 years), Guides (10–16 years), and Ranger Guides (14–19 years). Similar organizations exist in many countries worldwide under the aegis of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, formed in 1928.

guideway n. a groove or track along which something moves.

guidon /d(ə)n/ n. a pennant that narrows to a point or fork at the free end, especially one used as the standard of a light cavalry regiment.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from Italian guidone, from guida ‘a guide’.

Guignol /injl/ French /il/ the bloodthirsty chief character in a French puppet show of the same name which is similar to Punch and Judy. See also GRAND GUIGNOL.

guild (also gild) n. a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power.

- an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal.

- [ECOLOGY] a group of species that have similar requirements and play a similar role within a community.

<DERIVATIVES> guildsman n. (pl. guildsmen)

<ORIGIN> late Old English: probably from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch gilde, of Germanic origin; related to YIELD.

guilder /ldə/ n. (pl. same or guilders) (until the introduction of the euro in 2002) the basic monetary unit of the Netherlands, equal to 100 cents.

- HISTORICAL a gold or silver coin formerly used in the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria.

<ORIGIN> alteration of Dutch gulden (see GULDEN).

Guildford /lfəd/ a town in Surrey, southern England; pop. 68,300 (est. 2002).

guildhall n. a building used as the meeting place of a guild or corporation.

- BRITISH a town hall.

- (Guildhall) the hall of the Corporation of the City of London, used for ceremonial occasions.

guile /l/ n. [mass noun] sly or cunning intelligence: he used all his guile and guts to free himself from the muddle he was in.

<DERIVATIVES> guileful adj. guilefully adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, probably from Old Norse; compare with WILE.

guileless adj. devoid of guile; innocent and without deception: his face, once so open and guileless.

<DERIVATIVES> guilelessly adv. guilelessness n.

Guilin /weln/ (also Kweilin) a city in southern China, on the Li River, in the autonomous region of Guangxi Zhuang; pop. 749,300 (est. 2002).

Guillain–Barré syndrome /jabare/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an acute disorder of the peripheral nerves, often preceded by a respiratory infection, causing weakness and often paralysis of the limbs.

<ORIGIN> 1916: named after Georges Guillain (1876–1961) and Jean Barré (1880–1967), two of those who first described the syndrome.

guillemet /ime/ French /ijmε/ n. each of a pair of punctuation marks (≪ ≫) used as quotation marks in French and other European languages.

<ORIGIN> French, of uncertain origin; probably derived from the male forename Guillaume or the surname Guillemet.

guillemot /lmt/ n. an auk (seabird) with a narrow pointed bill, typically nesting on cliff ledges.

<INFO> Family Alcidae, genera Uria (white-breasted) and Cepphus (black-breasted): five species. Compare with MURRE.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, diminutive of Guillaume ‘William’.

guilloche /lə -l/ n. [mass noun] ornamentation resembling braided or interlaced ribbons.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French guillochis, denoting the ornamentation, or guilloche, a carving tool.

guillotine /lətin lətin/ n. a machine with a heavy blade sliding vertically in grooves, used for beheading people.

- a device for cutting that incorporates a descending or sliding blade, used typically for cutting paper, card, or sheet metal.

- a surgical instrument with a sliding blade used typically for the removal of the tonsils.

- BRITISH (in parliament) a procedure used to prevent delay in the discussion of a legislative bill by fixing times at which various parts of it must be voted on.

■ v. [with obj.] execute (someone) by guillotine.

- cut (paper, card, etc.) with a guillotine.

- BRITISH (in parliament) end discussion by applying a guillotine to (a bill or debate).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, named after Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738–1814), the French physician who recommended its use for executions in 1789.

guilt n. [mass noun] the fact of having committed a specified or implied offence or crime: it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt.

- a feeling of having committed wrong or failed in an obligation: he remembered with sudden guilt the letter from his mother that he had not yet read.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL short for GUILT-TRIP: Celeste had been guilted into going by her parents.

<PHRASES>

□ guilt by association guilt ascribed to someone not because of any evidence but because of their association with an offender.

<ORIGIN> Old English gylt, of unknown origin.

guilt culture n. [ANTHROPOLOGY] a culture in which conformity of behaviour is maintained through the individual's internalization of a moral code. Compare with SHAME CULTURE.

guiltless adj. having no guilt; innocent.

<DERIVATIVES> guiltlessly adv. guiltlessness n.

guilt trip INFORMAL n. an experience of feeling guilty about something, especially when such guilt is self-indulgent or unjustified.

■ v. (guilt-trip) [with obj.] make (someone) feel guilty, especially in order to induce them to do something: a pay increase will not guilt-trip them into improvements.

guilty adj. (guiltier, guiltiest) culpable of or responsible for a specified wrongdoing: he was found guilty of manslaughter | Williams pleaded guilty to three separate offences.

- justly chargeable with a particular fault or error: she was guilty of a serious error of judgement.

- conscious of, affected by, or revealing a feeling of guilt: he felt guilty about the way he had treated her | a guilty conscience.

- causing a feeling of guilt: a guilty secret.

<PHRASES>

□ not guilty innocent, especially of a formal charge.

<DERIVATIVES> guiltily adv. guiltiness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English gyltig (see GUILT, -y^1).

guimp n. variant spelling of gimp^1 and GUIMPE.

guimpe /mp/ (also guimp) n. HISTORICAL a high-necked blouse or undergarment worn showing beneath a low-necked dress.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French; related to German Wimpel, Dutch wimpel ‘pennant, streamer’, also to WIMPLE and gimp ‘nun's neckerchief’.

Guinea /ni/ a country on the west coast of Africa; pop. 7,775,065 (est. 2002); languages, French (official), Fulani, Susu, Malinke, and others; capital, Conakry.

Part of a feudal Fulani empire from the 16th century, Guinea was colonized by France, becoming part of French West Africa. It became an independent republic in 1958.

<DERIVATIVES> Guinean adj. & n.

guinea /ni/ (abbr.: gn.) n. British the sum of £1.05 (21 shillings in pre-decimal currency), now used mainly for determining professional fees and auction prices.

- HISTORICAL a former British gold coin that was first minted in 1663 from gold imported from West Africa, with a value that was later fixed at 21 shillings. It was replaced by the sovereign from 1817.

<ORIGIN> named after GUINEA in West Africa.

Guinea, Gulf of a large inlet of the Atlantic Ocean bordering on the southern coast of West Africa.

Guinea-Bissau /nbsa/ a country on the west coast of Africa, between Senegal and Guinea; pop. 1,345,479 (est. 2002); languages, Portuguese (official), West African languages, Creoles; capital, Bissau.

The area was explored by the Portuguese in the 15th century and was a centre of the slave trade. Formerly called Portuguese Guinea, it became a colony in 1879, and the independent republic of Guinea-Bissau in 1974.

guineafowl n. (pl. same) a large African game bird with slate-coloured, white-spotted plumage and a loud call. It is sometimes domesticated.

<INFO> Family Numididae (or Phasianidae): several genera and species, e.g. the helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris).

guinea pig n. a domesticated tailless South American cavy, originally raised for food. It no longer occurs in the wild and is now typically kept as a pet or for laboratory research.

<INFO> Cavia porcellus, family Caviidae.

- a person or thing used as a subject for experiment.

Guinea worm n. a very long parasitic nematode worm which lives under the skin of infected humans and other mammals in rural Africa and Asia.

<INFO> Dracunculus medinensis, class Phasmida.

Guinevere /wnvə/ (in Arthurian legend) the wife of King Arthur and mistress of Lancelot.

Guinness /ns/ Sir Alec (1914–2000), English actor. He gave memorable performances in films such as Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Star Wars (1977).

guipure /pjə/ n. [mass noun] a heavy lace consisting of embroidered motifs held together by large connecting stitches.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from guiper ‘cover with silk’, of Germanic origin.

guiro /wərə/ n. (pl. guiros) a musical instrument with a serrated surface which gives a rasping sound when scraped with a stick, originally made from a gourd and used in Latin American music.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, ‘gourd’.

guise /z/ n. an external form, appearance, or manner of presentation, typically concealing the true nature of something: he visited in the guise of an inspector | sums paid under the guise of consultancy fees.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, of Germanic origin; related to wise^2.

guiser /zə/ n. ARCHAIC a mummer in a folk play performed especially at Christmas or Halloween.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from the archaic verb guise ‘dress fantastically’, from the noun GUISE.

guitar n. a stringed musical instrument, with a fretted fingerboard, typically incurved sides, and six or twelve strings, played by plucking or strumming with the fingers or a plectrum. See also ELECTRIC GUITAR.

<DERIVATIVES> guitarist n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish guitarra (partly via French), from Greek kithara, denoting an instrument similar to the lyre.

guitarfish n. (pl. same or guitarfishes) a fish of shallow warm seas, related to the rays and having a guitar-like body shape.

<INFO> Several species in the family Rhinobatidae, including Rhinobatus rhinobatus, common in European waters, and the Chinese guitarfish (Platyrhina sinensis, family Platyrhinidae).

Guiyang /weja/ (also Kweiyang) an industrial city in southern China, capital of Guizhou province; pop. 1,898,600 (est. 2002).

Guizhou /wedə/ (also Kweichow) a province of southern China; capital, Guiyang.

Gujarat /dərαt/ (also Gujerat) a state in western India, with an extensive coastline on the Arabian Sea; capital, Gandhinagar. Formed in 1960 from the northern and western parts of the former state of Bombay, it is one of the most industrialized parts of the country.

Gujarati /udərαti -/ (also Gujerati) n. (pl. Gujaratis) 1 a native or inhabitant of Gujarat.

2 [mass noun] the Indic language of Gujarat, spoken by about 40 million people.

■ adj. relating to Gujarat, its people, or its language.

Gujranwala /drənwαlə/ a city in Pakistan, in Punjab province, north-west of Lahore; pop. 1,217,600 (1998). It was the birthplace of the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh, and was an important centre of Sikh influence in the early 19th century.

Gujrat /drαt/ a city in Pakistan, in Punjab province, north of Lahore; pop. 250,100 (1998).

gulab jamun /lαb jαmn/ n. an Indian sweet consisting of a ball of deep-fried paneer boiled in a sugar syrup.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi gulāb ‘rose water’ and jāmun ‘fruit’.

Gulag /ula/ n. a system of labour camps maintained in the Soviet Union from 1930 to 1955 in which many people died.

- (gulag) a camp in the Gulag system, or any political labour camp.

<ORIGIN> Russian, from G(lavnoe) u(pravlenie ispravitel′no-trudovykh) lag(ereĭ) ‘Chief Administration for Corrective Labour Camps’.

gular /julə/ [ZOOLOGY] adj. relating to or situated on the throat of an animal, especially a reptile, fish, or bird.

■ n. a plate or scale on the throat of a reptile or fish.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin gula ‘throat’ + -AR^1.

Gulbarga /lbαə/ a city in south central India, in the state of Karnataka; pop. 427,900 (2001). Formerly the seat of the Bahmani kings of the Deccan (1347–c.1424), it is now a centre of the cotton trade.

Gulbenkian /lbεkən/ Calouste Sarkis (1869–1955), Turkish-born British oil magnate and philanthropist, of Armenian descent. He founded the Gulbenkian Foundation, to which he left his large fortune and art collection.

gulch /lt/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a narrow and steep-sided ravine marking the course of a fast stream.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from dialect gulch ‘to swallow’.

gulden /ld(ə)n/ n. (pl. same or guldens)

■ another term for GUILDER.

<ORIGIN> Dutch and German, literally ‘golden’.

gules /julz/ n. [mass noun] red, as a heraldic tincture: [postpositive] sword and long cross gules.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French goles (plural of gole ‘throat’, from Latin gula), used to denote pieces of red-dyed fur used as a neck ornament.

gulet /ulεt/ n. a traditional Turkish wooden sailing boat, now often used for holiday cruises.

<ORIGIN> Turkish, via Italian goletta from French goélette.

gulf n. 1 a deep inlet of the sea almost surrounded by land, with a narrow mouth.

- (the Gulf)

■ informal name for PERSIAN GULF.

2 a deep ravine, chasm, or abyss.

3 a large difference or division between two people or groups, or between viewpoints, concepts, or situations: the widening gulf between the rich and the poor.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French golfe, from Italian golfo, based on Greek kolpos ‘bosom, gulf’.

Gulf States 1 the states bordering on the Persian Gulf (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman).

2 the states of the US bordering on the Gulf of Mexico (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas).

Gulf Stream a warm ocean current which flows from the Gulf of Mexico parallel with the American coast towards Newfoundland, continuing across the Atlantic Ocean towards NW Europe as the North Atlantic Drift.

Gulf War 1 another name for Iran–Iraq War.

2 the war of January and February 1991 in which an international coalition of forces assembled in Saudi Arabia under the auspices of the United Nations forced the withdrawal of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces from Kuwait, which they had invaded and occupied in August 1990.

Gulf War syndrome n. [mass noun] a medical condition affecting many veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, characterized by fatigue, chronic headaches, and skin and respiratory disorders. Its origin is uncertain, though it has been attributed to exposure to a combination of pesticides, vaccines, and other chemicals.

gulfweed n. another term for SARGASSUM.

gull^1 n. a long-winged web-footed seabird with a raucous call, typically having white plumage with a grey or black mantle.

<INFO> Family Laridae: several genera, in particular Larus, and numerous species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of Celtic origin; related to Welsh gwylan and Breton gwelan.

gull^2 v. [with obj.] fool or deceive (someone): he had been gulled into believing that the documents were authentic.

■ n. a person who is fooled or deceived.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

Gullah /lə/ n. (pl. same or Gullahs) 1 a member of a black people living on the coast of South Carolina and nearby islands.

2 [mass noun] the Creole language of the Gullah, having an English base with elements from various West African languages. It has about 125,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Gullah or their language.

<ORIGIN> perhaps a shortening of Angola, or from Gola, the name of an agricultural people of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

gullery n. (pl. gulleries) a breeding colony, breeding place, or roost of gulls.

gullet n. the passage by which food passes from the mouth to the stomach; the oesophagus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French goulet, diminutive of goule ‘throat’, from Latin gula.

gullible adj. easily persuaded to believe something; credulous: an attempt to persuade a gullible public to spend their money.

<DERIVATIVES> gullibility n. gullibly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from GULL^2 + -IBLE.

gull wing n. [as modifier] (of a door on a car or aircraft) opening upwards: gull-wing doors.

<DERIVATIVES> gull-winged adj.

gully n. (pl. gullies) 1 (also gulley) a ravine formed by the action of water.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ a river valley.

- a deep artificial channel serving as a gutter or drain.

2 [CRICKET] a fielding position on the off side between point and the slips.

- a fielder at this position.

3 (also gali) INDIAN an alley. [<ORIGIN> from Hindi galī.]

■ v. (also gulley) [with obj.] (usually as adj. gullied) (of water) make gullies or deep channels in (land).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘gullet’): from French goulet (see GULLET).

gulp v. [with obj.] swallow (drink or food) quickly or in large mouthfuls, often audibly: he gulped down the last of his coffee.

- breathe in (air) deeply and quickly.

- [no obj.] breathe or swallow with difficulty, typically in response to strong emotion: she gulped back the tears | Laura gulped nervously.

■ n. an act of gulping food or drink: she finished her drink in one gulp.

- a large mouthful of liquid hastily drunk: I took a gulp of beer.

- a large quantity of air breathed in.

- a swallowing movement of the throat: the chairman gave an audible gulp.

<PHRASES>

□ at a gulp with one gulp: having emptied his glass at a gulp, Roger pulled out a cigar.

<DERIVATIVES> gulpy adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Middle Dutch gulpen, of imitative origin.

gulper (also gulper eel) n. a deep-sea eel with very large jaws that open to give an enormous gape and with eyes near the tip of the snout.

<INFO> Order Saccopharyngiformes: several families.

GUM abbr. genito-urinary medicine.

gum^1 n. 1 [mass noun] a viscous secretion of some trees and shrubs that hardens on drying but is soluble in water, and from which adhesives and other products are made. Compare with RESIN.

- glue that is used for sticking paper or other light materials together.

- a sticky secretion collecting in the corner of the eye.

2 short for CHEWING GUM or BUBBLEGUM.

3 a gum tree, especially a eucalyptus. See also SWEET GUM.

4 North American term for GUMBOOT.

■ v. (gums, gumming, gummed) [with obj.] cover with gum or glue: (as adj. gummed) gummed paper.

- [with obj. and adverbial] fasten with gum or glue: the receipts are gummed into a special book.

- (gum something up) clog up a mechanism and prevent it from working properly: open and close the valves to make sure they don't get gummed up.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gomme, based on Latin gummi, from Greek kommi, from Egyptian kemai.

gum^2 n. the firm area of flesh around the roots of the teeth in the upper or lower jaw.

■ v. (gums, gumming, gummed) [with obj.] chew (something) with toothless gums.

<ORIGIN> Old English gōma ‘inside of the mouth or throat’, of Germanic origin; related to German Gaumen ‘roof of the mouth’.

gum^3 n. (in phrase by gum!) chiefly N. ENGLISH an exclamation used for emphasis.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: euphemistic alteration of God.

gum arabic n. [mass noun] a gum exuded by some kinds of acacia, used in the food industry and in glue and incense.

gumball n. NORTH AMERICAN a ball of chewing gum, typically with a coloured sugar coating.

gum benzoin (also gum benjamin) n. another term for benzoin (sense 1).

gumbo n. (pl. gumbos) [mass noun] 1 NORTH AMERICAN okra, especially the gelatinous pods used in cooking.

- (in Cajun cooking) a spicy chicken or seafood soup thickened typically with okra or rice.

2 (Gumbo) a French-based patois spoken by some blacks and Creoles in Louisiana.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a fine clayey soil that becomes sticky and impervious when wet.

4 a type of Cajun music consisting of a lively blend of styles and sounds.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from the Angolan word kingombo ‘okra’.

gumboil n. a small swelling formed on the gum over an abscess at the root of a tooth.

gumboot n. (usually gumboots) DATED, chiefly BRITISH a long rubber boot; a wellington.

gumboot dance n. (in South Africa) a dance developed and performed by mineworkers, mimicking military marching.

gumdrop n. a firm, jelly-like translucent sweet made with gelatin or gum arabic.

gumma /mə/ n. (pl. gummas or gummata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a small soft swelling which is characteristic of the late stages of syphilis and occurs in the connective tissue of the liver, brain, testes, and heart.

<DERIVATIVES> gummatous adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, from Latin gummi (see gum^1).

gummosis /əməss/ n. [mass noun] the copious production and exudation of gum by a diseased or damaged tree, especially as a symptom of a disease of fruit trees.

gummy^1 adj. (gummier, gummiest) having a viscous or sticky consistency: a gummy discharge.

- covered with or exuding a viscous substance: his gummy eyes.

<DERIVATIVES> gumminess n.

gummy^2 adj. (gummier, gummiest) toothless: a gummy grin.

■ n. (pl. gummies) 1 (also gummy shark) a small edible shark of Australasian coastal waters, with rounded teeth that it uses to crush hard-shelled prey.

<INFO> Mustelus antarcticus, family Triakidae.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a sheep that has lost or is losing its teeth.

<DERIVATIVES> gummily adv.

gum olibanum n. another term for FRANKINCENSE.

gumption /m(p)(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness: the president would hire almost any young man who had the gumption to ask for a job.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (originally Scots): of unknown origin.

gum resin n. [mass noun] a plant secretion consisting of resin mixed with gum.

gumshield n. a pad or plate held in the mouth by a sports player to protect the teeth and gums.

gumshoe n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a detective.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from gumshoes in the sense ‘sneakers’, suggesting stealth.

gum tree n. a tree that exudes gum, especially a eucalyptus.

<PHRASES>

□ up a gum tree BRITISH INFORMAL in or into a predicament: offers of devolution will lead ministers straight up a gum tree.

gun n. a weapon incorporating a metal tube from which bullets, shells, or other missiles are propelled by explosive force, typically making a characteristic loud, sharp noise.

- a device for discharging a particular object or substance in a required direction: a grease gun.

- a starting pistol used in athletics.

- the firing of a piece of artillery as a salute or signal: the boom of the one o'clock gun echoed across the river.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a gunman: a hired gun.

- BRITISH a member of a shooting party.

- (guns) NAUTICAL SLANG, DATED used as a nickname for a ship's gunnery officer.

■ v. (guns, gunning, gunned) [with obj.] 1 (gun someone down) shoot someone with a gun: they were gunned down by masked snipers.

2 INFORMAL cause (an engine) to race: as Neil gunned the engine the boat jumped forward.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] accelerate (a vehicle): he gunned the car away from the kerb.

<PHRASES>

□ be gunning for be seeking an opportunity to blame or attack (someone): the Republican candidate was gunning for his rival over campaign payments.

- be striving for (something) in a determined way: he had been gunning for a place in the squad.

□ big gun INFORMAL an important or powerful person.

□ go great guns INFORMAL proceed forcefully, vigorously, or successfully: the film industry has been going great guns recently.

□ jump the gun INFORMAL act before the proper or appropriate time.

□ stick to one's guns INFORMAL refuse to compromise or change, despite criticism.

□ top gun INFORMAL the most important or powerful person in a particular sphere.

□ under the gun NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL under great pressure: manufacturers are under the gun to offer alternatives.

<DERIVATIVES> gunless adj. gunned adj. [in combination] a heavy-gunned ship

<ORIGIN> Middle English gunne, gonne, perhaps from a pet form of the Scandinavian name Gunnhildr, from gunnr + hildr, both meaning ‘war’.

gunboat n. a small fast ship with guns mounted on it, for use in shallow coastal waters and rivers.

gunboat diplomacy n. [mass noun] foreign policy that is supported by the use or threat of military force.

gun carriage n. a wheeled support for a piece of artillery.

guncotton n. [mass noun] a highly nitrated form of nitrocellulose, used as an explosive.

gun deck n. a deck on a ship on which guns are placed.

- HISTORICAL the lowest such deck on a ship of the line.

gundi /ndi/ n. (pl. gundis) a small gregarious rodent living on rocky outcrops in the deserts of North and East Africa.

<INFO> Family Ctenodactylidae: four genera and several species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from North African Arabic.

gun dog n. a dog trained to retrieve game for a gamekeeper or the members of a shoot.

gunfight n. a fight involving an exchange of fire with guns.

<DERIVATIVES> gunfighter n.

gunfire n. [mass noun] the repeated firing of a gun or guns.

gunge BRITISH INFORMAL n. [mass noun] an unpleasantly sticky or viscous substance.

■ v. (gunges, gungeing, gunged) [with obj.] (gunge something up) clog or obstruct something with gunge.

<DERIVATIVES> gungy adj. (gungier, gungiest)

<ORIGIN> 1960s: perhaps suggested by GOO and GUNK.

gung-ho /hə/ adj. unthinkingly enthusiastic and eager, especially about taking part in fighting or warfare: the gung-ho tabloids have wrapped themselves in the Union Jack.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: from Chinese gōnghé, taken to mean ‘work together’ and adopted as a slogan by US Marines.

gunite /nt/ n. [mass noun] a mixture of cement, sand, and water applied through a pressure hose, producing a dense hard layer of concrete used in building for lining tunnels and structural repairs.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from GUN + -ITE^1.

gunk n. [mass noun] INFORMAL an unpleasantly sticky or messy substance.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (originally US): the proprietary name of a detergent.

gunkhole NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. a shallow inlet or cove that is difficult or dangerous to navigate.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] cruise in and out of gunkholes.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

gunlock n. a mechanism by which the charge of a gun is exploded.

gunmaker n. a manufacturer of guns.

gunman n. (pl. gunmen) a man who uses a gun to commit a crime or terrorist act: a gang of masked gunmen.

gunmetal n. [mass noun] a grey corrosion-resistant form of bronze containing zinc.

- a dull bluish-grey colour.

gun microphone n. a highly directional microphone with an elongated barrel which can be directed from a distance at a localized sound source.

gun moll n. INFORMAL a gangster's mistress or girlfriend.

Gunn Thom (1929–2004), English poet, resident in California from 1954 until his death; full name Thomson William Gunn. His works, written in a predominantly low-key, laconic, and colloquial style, include Fighting Terms (1954), My Sad Captains (1961), and The Passages of Joy (1982).

gunnel^1 /n(ə)l/ n. an elongated laterally compressed fish with a dorsal fin that runs along most of the back and reduced or absent pelvic fins. It occurs in cool inshore waters of the northern hemisphere.

<INFO> Family Pholidae: two genera and several species.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

Gunnell /n(ə)l/ Sally (Jane Janet) (b.1966), English athlete. She won the Olympic gold in the 400-metres hurdles in 1992 and the world championship title the following year.

gunner n. 1 a serviceman who operates or specializes in guns, in particular:

- (in the British army) an artillery soldier (used especially as an official term for a private).

- a member of an aircraft crew who operates a gun, especially (formerly) in a gun turret on a bomber.

- HISTORICAL a naval warrant officer in charge of a ship's guns, gun crews, and ordnance stores.

2 a person who hunts game with a gun.

gunnera /n(ə)rə nərə/ n. a South American plant with extremely large leaves that resemble rhubarb and which is grown as a waterside ornamental.

<INFO> Genus Gunnera, family Gunneraceae: several species, in particular G. manicata and G. tinctoria.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Johann E. Gunnerus (1718–73), Norwegian botanist.

gunnery n. [mass noun] the design, manufacture, or firing of heavy guns: a pioneer of naval gunnery.

gunnery sergeant n. a rank of non-commissioned officer in the US Marines, above staff sergeant and below master sergeant.

gunny /ni/ n. (pl. gunnies) [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN coarse sacking, typically made of jute fibre.

- [count noun] (also gunnysack) a sack made of gunny.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Marathi gōnī, from Sanskrit goī ‘sack’.

gunplay n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the use of guns: movies which are full of gunplay and sex.

gunpoint n. (in phrase at gunpoint) while threatening someone or being threatened with a gun: two robbers held a family at gunpoint while they searched their house.

gunpowder n. [mass noun] 1 an explosive consisting of a powdered mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, now chiefly used for quarry blasting and in fuses and fireworks.

2 a fine green China tea of granular appearance.

Gunpowder Plot a conspiracy by a small group of Catholic extremists to blow up James I and his Parliament on 5 November 1605.

The plot is commemorated by the traditional searching of the vaults before the opening of each session of Parliament, and by bonfires and fireworks, with the burning of an effigy of Guy Fawkes, one of the conspirators, annually on 5 November.

gunroom n. 1 a room used for storing sporting guns in a house.

2 BRITISH DATED a set of quarters for midshipmen or other junior officers in a warship.

gunrunner n. a person engaged in the illegal sale or importing of firearms.

<DERIVATIVES> gunrunning n.

gunsel /ns(ə)l/ n. US INFORMAL a criminal carrying a gun.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (denoting a tramp's young companion): from Yiddish gendzel ‘little goose’, influenced in sense by GUN.

gunship n. a heavily armed helicopter.

gunshot n. a shot fired from a gun.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC the range of a gun: we bore down and came nearly within gunshot.

gun-shy adj. (especially of a hunting dog) alarmed at the firing of a gun.

- FIGURATIVE nervous and apprehensive: she's still gun-shy about new relationships.

gunsight n. a device on a gun that enables it to be aimed accurately.

gunslinger n. INFORMAL (especially in the context of the American Wild West) a man who carries and readily uses a gun.

<DERIVATIVES> gunslinging n. & adj.

gunsmith n. a person who makes, sells, and repairs small firearms.

gunstock n. the wooden stock or support to which the barrel of a gun is attached.

gunter n. [NAUTICAL] 1 a fore-and-aft sail whose spar is nearly vertical, so that the sail is nearly triangular.

2 (also gunter rig) HISTORICAL a type of rig in which the topmast slides up and down the lower mast on rings.

<DERIVATIVES> gunter-rigged adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: named after E. Gunter (see GUNTER'S CHAIN).

Gunter's chain /ntəz/ n. [SURVEYING] a former measuring instrument 66 ft (20.1 m) long, subdivided into 100 links, each of which is a short section of wire connected to the next link by a loop.

- this length as a unit, equal to 1/10 furlong or 1/80 mile. Also called CHAIN.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: named after Edmund Gunter (1581–1626), the English mathematician who devised it.

Gunther /ntə/ (in the Nibelungenlied) the husband of Brunhild and brother of Kriemhild, by whom he was beheaded in revenge for Siegfried's murder.

Guntur /ntə/ a city in eastern India, in Andhra Pradesh; pop. 514,700 (2001).

gunwale /n(ə)l/ (also gunnel) n. (often gunwales) the upper edge or planking of the side of a boat or ship.

<PHRASES>

□ to the gunwales INFORMAL so as to be almost overflowing: the car is stuffed to the gunwales with camera equipment.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from GUN + WALE (because it was formerly used to support guns).

gunyah /njə/ n. AUSTRALIAN an Aboriginal bush hut, typically made of sheets of bark and branches.

<ORIGIN> from Dharuk ganya ‘house, hut’.

Günz /nts/ n. [usually as modifier] [GEOLOGY] a Middle Pleistocene glaciation in the Alps, preceding the Mindel and possibly corresponding to the Menapian of northern Europe.

- the system of deposits laid down at this time.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after a river near the Alps in southern Germany.

guppy /pi/ n. (pl. guppies) a small live-bearing freshwater fish widely kept in aquaria. Native to tropical America, it has been introduced elsewhere to control mosquito larvae.

<INFO> Poecilia reticulata, family Poeciliidae.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: named after R. J. Lechmere Guppy (1836–1916), a Trinidadian who sent the first specimen to the British Museum.

Gupta /ptə/ a Hindu dynasty established in AD 320 by Chandragupta I in Bihar. At one stage it ruled most of the north of the Indian subcontinent, but it began to disintegrate towards the end of the 5th century.

<DERIVATIVES> Guptan adj.

Gur /ə/ n. [mass noun] a branch of the Niger–Congo family of languages, spoken in parts of West Africa. It includes More and Senufo. Also called VOLTAIC.

■ adj. relating to or denoting the Gur group of languages.

gur /ə/ n. [mass noun] (in the Indian subcontinent) a type of unrefined, solid brown sugar made from boiling sugar cane juice until dry.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi gu and Marathi gū, from Sanskrit gua.

Gurdjieff /ədjεf/ George (Ivanovich) (1877–1949), Russian spiritual leader and occultist. He founded the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Paris (1922).

gurdwara /ədwαrə ədwαrə/ n. a Sikh place of worship.

<ORIGIN> from Punjabi gurduārā, from Sanskrit guru ‘teacher’ + dvāra ‘door’.

gurgle v. [no obj.] make a hollow bubbling sound like that made by water running out of a bottle: my stomach gurgled | (as adj. gurgling) a faint gurgling noise.

- [with adverbial of direction] (of a liquid) run or flow with a gurgling sound: the rain gurgled along the gutters.

■ n. a gurgling sound: Catherine gave a gurgle of laughter.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: imitative, or directly from Dutch gorgelen, German gurgeln, or medieval Latin gurgulare, all from Latin gurgulio ‘gullet’.

Gurkha /əkə əkə/ n. a member of any of several peoples of Nepal noted for their military prowess.

- a member of a regiment in the British army established specifically for Nepalese recruits in the mid 19th century.

<ORIGIN> name of a locality, from Sanskrit goraka ‘cowherd’ (from go ‘cow’ + rak- ‘protect’), used as an epithet of their patron deity.

Gurkhali /əkαli/ (also Gorkhali) n. another term for NEPALI (the language).

Gurmukhi /əmki/ n. [mass noun] the script used by Sikhs for writing Punjabi.

- the Punjabi language as written in this script.

<ORIGIN> Punjabi, from Sanskrit guru (see GURU) + mukha ‘mouth’.

gurn /ən/ (also girn) v. [no obj.] 1 BRITISH pull a grotesque face.

2 (usually girn) chiefly SCOTTISH & IRISH complain peevishly.

<DERIVATIVES> gurner n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: dialect variant of GRIN.

gurnard /ənəd/ n. a bottom-dwelling fish of coastal waters, with a heavily boned head and three finger-like pectoral rays which it uses for searching for food and for walking on the seabed.

<INFO> Family Triglidae: several genera and many species, including the common European Eutrigla gurnardus.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gornart, from grondir ‘to grunt’, from Latin grundire, grunnire.

Gurney /əni/ Ivor (Bertie) (1890–1937), English poet and composer. He fought on the Western Front during the First World War, and wrote the verse collections Severn and Somme (1917) and War's Embers (1919).

gurney /əni/ n. (pl. gurneys) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a wheeled stretcher used for transporting hospital patients.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: apparently named after J. T. Gurney of Boston, Massachusetts, patentee of a new cab design in 1883.

gurrier /ərə/ n. IRISH a tough or unruly young man.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: perhaps from French guerrier ‘warrior’, or gur cake, an Irish English term for a mincemeat-filled pastry slice formerly associated with street urchins.

gurry /ri/ n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the entrails of fish or whales.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

guru /ru/ n. 1 a Hindu spiritual teacher.

- each of the ten first leaders of the Sikh religion.

2 an influential teacher or popular expert: a management guru.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi and Punjabi, from Sanskrit guru ‘weighty, grave’ (compare with Latin gravis), hence ‘elder, teacher’.

Guru Granth Sahib the principal sacred scripture of Sikhism. Originally compiled under the direction of Arjan Dev (1563–1606), the fifth Sikh guru, it contains hymns and religious poetry as well as the teachings of the first five gurus. Also called ADI GRANTH, Granth, Granth Sahib.

gush v. [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial of direction] (of a liquid) flow out of something in a rapid and plentiful stream: water gushed out of the washing machine.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] discharge (liquid) in this way: the tanker began to gush oil from its damaged hull.

2 speak or write effusively or with exaggerated enthusiasm: everyone came up to me and gushed about how lucky I was.

■ n. 1 a rapid and plentiful stream or burst of something: a gush of blood.

2 [mass noun] effusiveness or exaggerated enthusiasm.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably imitative.

gusher n. 1 an oil well from which oil flows profusely without being pumped.

2 an effusive person.

gushing adj. (of speech or writing) effusive or exaggeratedly enthusiastic: gushing praise.

<DERIVATIVES> gushingly adv.

gushy adj. (gushier, gushiest) excessively effusive: her gushy manner.

<DERIVATIVES> gushily adv. gushiness n.

gusset /st/ n. 1 a piece of material sewn into a garment to strengthen or enlarge a part of it.

2 a bracket strengthening an angle of a structure.

<DERIVATIVES> gusseted adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French gousset, diminutive of gousse ‘pod, shell’, of unknown origin.

gussy v. (gussies, gussying, gussied) [with obj.] (gussy someone/thing up) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL make someone or something more attractive, especially in a showy or gimmicky way: shopkeepers gussied up their window displays.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: perhaps from Gussie, pet form of the given name Augustus.

gust n. a sudden strong rush of wind.

- a sudden burst of something such as rain, sound, or emotion: gusts of rain and snow flurried through the open door.

■ v. [no obj.] (of the wind) blow in gusts: the wind was gusting through the branches of the tree.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old Norse gustr, related to gjósa ‘to gush’.

gustation n. [mass noun] FORMAL the action or faculty of tasting.

<DERIVATIVES> gustative adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin gustatio(n-), from gustare ‘to taste’, from gustus ‘taste’.

gustatory /stet(ə)ri stət(ə)ri/ adj. FORMAL concerned with tasting or the sense of taste: gustatory delights.

Gustavus Adolphus /stαvəs ədlfəs/ (1594–1632), king of Sweden 1611–32. His repeated victories in battle made Sweden a European power, and in 1630 he intervened on the Protestant side in the Thirty Years War. His domestic reforms laid the foundation of the modern state.

gusto n. [mass noun] 1 enjoyment and enthusiasm in doing something: Hawkins tucked into his breakfast with gusto.

- [in sing.] ARCHAIC a relish or liking: he had a particular gusto for those sort of performances.

2 ARCHAIC the style in which a work of art is executed.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Italian, from Latin gustus ‘taste’.

gusty adj. (gustier, gustiest) 1 characterized by or blowing in gusts: gusty winds.

2 having or showing gusto: gusty female vocals.

<DERIVATIVES> gustily adv. gustiness n.

gut n. 1 (also guts) the stomach or belly: the terrible pain in his gut.

- MEDICINE & [BIOLOGY] the lower alimentary canal or a part of this; the intestine: microbes which naturally live in the human gut.

- (guts) entrails that have been removed or exposed in violence or by a butcher.

- INFORMAL a fat stomach.

- (guts) the inner parts or essence of something: the guts of a modern computer.

- (guts) [with modifier] used to form names attributing negative characteristics to people: what's the matter with you, misery guts? | greedy guts.

2 [as modifier] INFORMAL (of a feeling or reaction) based on a deep-seated emotional response rather than considered thought; instinctive: I had a gut feeling that something was wrong.

3 (guts) INFORMAL personal courage and determination; toughness of character: he didn't have the guts to tell the truth.

4 [mass noun] fibre made from the intestines of animals, used especially for violin or racket strings or for surgical use.

5 a narrow passage or strait.

■ v. (guts, gutting, gutted) [with obj.] remove the intestines and other internal organs from (a fish or other animal) before cooking it.

- remove or destroy completely the internal parts of (a building or other structure): the fire gutted most of the factory.

<PHRASES>

□ bust a gut INFORMAL make a strenuous effort.

□ —— one's guts out INFORMAL used to indicate that the specified action is done or performed as hard as possible: I've worked my guts out to get where I am tody.

□ hate someone's guts INFORMAL feel a strong hatred for someone.

□ have someone's guts for garters BRITISH HUMOROUS punish someone severely: if you breathe a word to anyone, I'll have your guts for garters.

<ORIGIN> Old English guttas (plural), probably related to gēotan ‘pour’.

gutbucket INFORMAL n. 1 BRITISH a glutton.

2 [as modifier] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (of jazz or blues) raw and spirited in style: his gutbucket guitar solos. [<ORIGIN> early 20th century: perhaps from the earlier meaning of a one-stringed plucked instrument, with reference to its construction, or referring to the bucket which caught gutterings (streams of liquid) from beer barrels in low-class saloons where such music was played.]

Gutenberg /ut(ə)nbə/ German /utnbεrk/ Johannes (c.1400–68), German printer. He was the first in the West to print using movable type and was the first to use a press. By c.1455 he had produced what later became known as the Gutenberg Bible.

Gutenberg Bible n. the edition of the Bible (Vulgate version) completed by Johannes Gutenberg in about 1455 in Mainz, Germany. It is the first complete book extant in the West and is also the earliest to be printed from movable type.

gut flora plural n. another term for INTESTINAL FLORA.

Guthrie /θri/ Woody (1912–1967), American folk singer and songwriter; full name Woodrow Wilson Guthrie. His radical politics and the rural hardships of the Depression inspired many of his songs.

Guthrie test n. MEDICINE a routine blood test carried out on babies a few days after birth to detect the condition phenylketonuria.

<ORIGIN> named after Robert Guthrie (1916–95), American microbiologist.

Gutiérrez /tεrəz/ Spanish /utjerres -rreθ/ Gustavo (b.1928), Peruvian theologian. He was an important figure in the emergence of liberation theology in Latin America, outlining its principles in A Theology of Liberation (1971).

gutkha /utkə/ n. [mass noun] a sweetened mixture of chewing tobacco, betel nut, and palm nut, originating in India as a breath freshener.

<ORIGIN> Hindi, ‘a shred, small piece’.

gutless adj. INFORMAL lacking courage or determination.

<DERIVATIVES> gutlessly adv. gutlessness n.

gut-rot n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL 1 another term for ROTGUT.

2 a stomach upset.

gutser /tsə/ (also gutzer) n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a heavy fall or collision.

<PHRASES>

□ come a gutser suffer a failure or defeat.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the noun GUT.

gutsy adj. (gutsier, gutsiest) INFORMAL 1 having or showing courage, determination, and spirit: her gutsy 80-year-old grandmother.

- (of food or drink) strongly flavoured: a smooth Bordeaux that is gutsy enough to accompany steak.

2 greedy.

<DERIVATIVES> gutsily adv. gutsiness n.

gutta-percha /təpətə/ n. [mass noun] a hard tough thermoplastic substance which is the coagulated latex of certain Malaysian trees. It consists chiefly of a hydrocarbon isomeric with rubber and is now used chiefly in dentistry and for electrical insulation.

<INFO> This substance is obtained from trees of the genus Palaquium, family Sapotaceae, in particular P. gutta.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Malay getah perca, from getah ‘gum’ + perca ‘strips of cloth’ (which it resembles), altered by association with obsolete gutta ‘gum’, from Latin gutta ‘a drop’.

guttate /tet/ adj. chiefly [BIOLOGY] resembling drops; having drop-like markings.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin guttatus ‘speckled’, from gutta ‘a drop’.

guttation /te(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the secretion of droplets of water from the pores of plants.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin gutta ‘drop’ + -ATION.

gutted adj. BRITISH INFORMAL bitterly disappointed or upset: I know how gutted the players must feel.

gutter n. 1 a shallow trough fixed beneath the edge of a roof for carrying off rainwater.

- a channel at the side of a street for carrying off rainwater.

- (the gutter) used to refer to a poor or squalid existence or environment: men who had fought their way out of the gutter.

- TECHNICAL a groove or channel for flowing liquid.

2 the blank space between facing pages of a book or between adjacent columns of type or stamps in a sheet.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (of a candle or flame) flicker and burn unsteadily.

2 [with obj.] ARCHAIC make channels or furrows in (something): my cheeks are guttered with tears.

- [no obj.] (gutter down) flow in streams: the raindrops gutter down her visage.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gotiere, from Latin gutta ‘a drop’; the verb dates from late Middle English, originally meaning ‘cut grooves in’ and later (early 18th century) used of a candle which melts rapidly because it has become channelled on one side.

guttered adj. SCOTTISH INFORMAL very drunk.

guttering n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH the gutters of a building.

- material used to make gutters.

gutter press n. (the gutter press) chiefly BRITISH reporters or newspapers engaging in sensational journalism, especially accounts of the private lives of public figures.

guttersnipe n. DEROGATORY a scruffy and badly behaved child who spends most of their time on the street.

guttural /t(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. (of a speech sound) produced in the throat; harsh-sounding.

- (of a manner of speech) characterized by the use of guttural sounds: his parents' guttural central European accent.

■ n. a guttural consonant (e.g. k, g) or other speech sound.

<DERIVATIVES> gutturally adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from medieval Latin gutturalis, from Latin guttur ‘throat’.

gutty^1 n. (pl. gutties) IRISH & SCOTTISH INFORMAL a plimsoll.

<ORIGIN> from GUTTA-PERCHA, because the soles of the shoes are made of rubber.

gutty^2 adj. (guttier, guttiest) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL gutsy.

gut-wrenching adj. INFORMAL extremely unpleasant or upsetting: the film is a gut-wrenching portrait of domestic violence.

guv n. BRITISH INFORMAL (as a form of address) sir: ‘Excuse me, guv,’ he began.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of GUV'NOR.

guv'nor n. BRITISH INFORMAL a man in a position of authority such as one's employer or father (often used as a term of address): I had a lecture from the guv'nor | can I help you, guv'nor?

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: representing a non-standard or colloquial pronunciation.

GUY abbr. Guyana (international vehicle registration).

guy^1 n. 1 INFORMAL a man: he's a nice guy.

- (guys) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN people of either sex: you guys want some coffee?

2 BRITISH a figure representing Guy Fawkes, burnt on a bonfire on Guy Fawkes Night, and often displayed by children begging for money for fireworks.

■ v. [with obj.] make fun of; ridicule: she never stopped guying him about his weight.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in sense 2 of the noun): named after Guy Fawkes (see GUNPOWDER PLOT).

guy^2 n. (also guy rope) a rope or line fixed to the ground to secure a tent or other structure.

■ v. [with obj.] secure with a guy or guys.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably of Low German origin; related to Dutch gei ‘brail’ and German Geitaue ‘brails’.

Guyana /anə/ a country on the NE coast of South America; pop. 698,209 (est. 2002); languages, English (official), English Creole, Hindi; capital, Georgetown. Official name COOPERATIVE REPUBLIC OF GUYANA.

The Spaniards explored the area in 1499, and the Dutch settled there in the 17th century. It was occupied by the British from 1796 and established, with adjacent areas, as the colony of British Guiana in 1831. In 1966 it became an independent Commonwealth state.

<DERIVATIVES> Guyanese /əniz/ adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> from an American Indian word meaning ‘land of waters’.

Guyenne /iεn/ (also Guienne) a region and former province of southern France, stretching from the Bay of Biscay to the SW edge of the Massif Central.

Guy Fawkes Night n. another term for BONFIRE NIGHT.

guyot /iə/ n. [GEOLOGY] an undersea mountain with a flat top.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after Arnold H. Guyot (1807–84), Swiss geographer.

guzzle v. [with obj.] eat or drink (something) greedily: he would guzzle his ale | FIGURATIVE this car guzzles petrol.

<DERIVATIVES> guzzler n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps from Old French gosillier ‘chatter, vomit’, from gosier ‘throat’, from late Latin geusiae ‘cheeks’.

Gvozdena Vrata /vzdεnə vrαtə/ Serbian name for IRON GATE.

GVW abbr. US gross vehicle weight.

Gw abbr. gigawatt(s).

Gwalior /wαl/ a city in a district of the same name in Madhya Pradesh, central India; pop. 826,900 (2001), noted for its 6th-century fortress.

gweilo /welə/ n. (pl. gweilos) SE ASIAN a foreigner, especially a westerner.

<ORIGIN> Cantonese, literally ‘ghost man’.

Gwent /wεnt/ a former county of SE Wales, formed in 1974 from most of Monmouthshire, part of Breconshire, and Newport, and dissolved in 1996.

GWR abbr. HISTORICAL (in the UK) Great Western Railway.

Gwyn Nell (1650–87), English actress; full name Eleanor Gwyn. Originally an orange seller, she became famous as a comedienne at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. She was a mistress of Charles II.

Gwynedd /wnε/ a county of NW Wales, formed in 1974 from Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, part of Denbighshire, and most of Merionethshire and re-formed in 1996 with a smaller area; administrative centre, Caernarfon.

- a former principality of North Wales. Powerful in the mid 13th century under Llewelyn, it was finally subjugated by the English forces of Edward I in 1282, following Llewelyn's death.

gwyniad /wnad/ n. a powan (fish) of a variety occurring only in Bala Lake in North Wales.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Welsh, from gwyn ‘white’.

Gy abbr. [PHYSICS] gray(s).

gyan /jαn/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN knowledge, especially spiritual or religious knowledge.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi jñān.

Gyandzhe /andə/ Russian name for Gäncä.

gybe /db/ (US jibe) [SAILING] v. [no obj.] change course by swinging the sail across a following wind.

- [with obj.] swing (a sail or boom) across the wind in such a way.

- (of a sail or boom) swing or be swung across the wind.

■ n. an act or instance of gybing.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from obsolete Dutch gijben.

gym n. 1 a gymnasium.

- a place, typically a private club, providing a range of facilities designed to improve and maintain physical fitness and health.

2 [mass noun] gymnastics: I can't do gym today.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

gymkhana /dmkαnə/ n. 1 an equestrian day event comprising races and other competitions on horseback, typically for children.

2 INDIAN a public place with facilities for sports.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Urdu gendānah ‘racket court’, from Hindi geṁd ‘ball’ + Persian ānah ‘house’, altered by association with GYMNASTIC.

gymnasium /dmnezəm/ n. (pl. gymnasiums or gymnasia /-zə/) 1 a room or building equipped for gymnastics, games, and other physical exercise.

2 also /mnαzəm/ a school in Germany, Scandinavia, or central Europe that prepares pupils for university entrance.

<DERIVATIVES> gymnasial adj.

■ gymnasium (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek gumnasion, from gumnazein ‘exercise naked’, from gumnos ‘naked’.

gymnast n. a person trained or skilled in gymnastics.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French gymnaste or Greek gumnastēs ‘trainer of athletes’, from gumnazein ‘exercise naked’ (see GYMNASIUM).

gymnastic adj. relating to gymnastics: a gymnastic display.

<DERIVATIVES> gymnastically adv.

gymnastics plural n. [also treated as sing.] exercises developing or displaying physical agility and coordination. The modern sport of gymnastics typically involves exercises on bars, beam, floor, and vaulting horse.

- [with adj.] other physical or mental agility of a specified kind: these vocal gymnastics make the music unforgettable.

gymno- /dmnə/ combining form bare; naked: gymnosophist | gymnosperm.

<ORIGIN> from Greek gumnos ‘naked’.

gymnogene /dmnə()din/ n. a name used in Africa for the harrier hawk.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Gymnogenys (former genus name), literally ‘bare-chinned’.

gymnosophist /dmnsəfst/ n. a member of an ancient Hindu sect who wore very little clothing and were given to asceticism and contemplation.

<DERIVATIVES> gymnosophy n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French gymnosophiste, via Latin from Greek gumnosophistai (plural), from gumnos ‘naked’ + sophistēs ‘teacher of philosophy, sophist’ (see SOPHIST).

gymnosperm /dmnə()spəm/ n. [BOTANY] a plant of a group that comprises those that have seeds unprotected by an ovary or fruit, including the conifers, cycads, and ginkgo. Compare with ANGIOSPERM.

<INFO> Subdivision Gymnospermae, division Spermatophyta.

<DERIVATIVES> gymnospermous /-spəməs/ adj.

gymnure /mnjə/ n. another term for MOONRAT.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Gymnura (former genus name), from Greek gumnos ‘naked’ + oura ‘tail’.

gymslip n. BRITISH a sleeveless belted tunic reaching from the shoulder to the knee, formerly worn by schoolgirls.

gynaeceum /dnisəm -/ n. (pl. gynaecea) a part of a building set apart for women in an ancient Greek or Roman house.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek gunaikeion (see GYNOECIUM).

gynaeco- /nk nikə d-/ (US gyneco-) combining form relating to women; female: gynaecocracy | gynaecophobia.

<ORIGIN> from Greek gunē, gunaik- ‘woman, female’.

gynaecocracy /nkkrəsi d-/ (US gynecocracy) n. another term for GYNARCHY.

gynaecology /nklədi d-/ (US gynecology) n. [mass noun] the branch of physiology and medicine which deals with the functions and diseases specific to women and girls, especially those affecting the reproductive system.

<DERIVATIVES> gynaecologic adj. gynaecological adj. gynaecologically adv. gynaecologist n.

gynaecomastia /nkə()mastə nikə()- d-/ (US gynecomastia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE enlargement of a man's breasts, usually due to hormone imbalance or hormone therapy.

gynaecophobia /nkə()fəbə nikə()- d-/ (US gynecophobia) n. another term for GYNOPHOBIA.

gynandromorph /dnandrəmf -/ n. [ZOOLOGY] & MEDICINE an abnormal individual, especially an insect, having some male and some female characteristics.

<DERIVATIVES> gynandromorphic adj. gynandromorphy n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek gunandros ‘of doubtful sex’ (see GYNANDROUS) + morphē ‘form’.

gynandrous /dnandrəs -/ adj. 1 [BOTANY] (of a flower) having stamens and pistil united in one column, as in orchids.

2 (of a person or animal) hermaphrodite.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek gunandros ‘of doubtful sex’ (from gunē ‘woman’ + anēr, andr- ‘man, male’) + -OUS.

gynarchy /nαki d-/ n. (pl. gynarchies) [mass noun] rule by women or a woman.

gynocentric /nə()sεntrk d-/ adj. centred on or concerned exclusively with women; taking a female (or specifically a feminist) point of view.

gynoecium /nisəm d-/ n. (pl. gynoecia /-sə/) [BOTANY] the female part of a flower, consisting of one or more carpels.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek gunaikeion ‘women's apartments’, from gunē, gunaik- ‘woman, female’ + oikos ‘house’.

gynophobia /nə()fəbə d-/ n. extreme or irrational fear of women.

<DERIVATIVES> gynophobic adj.

-gynous combining form [BOTANY] having female organs or pistils of a specified kind or number: epigynous.

<ORIGIN> based on modern Latin -gynus (from Greek -gunos, from gunē ‘woman’) + -OUS.

gyp^1 /dp/ (also gip) n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL pain or discomfort: one of her Achilles tendons had begun giving her gyp.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from gee-up (see gee^2).

gyp^2 /dp/ n. BRITISH a college servant at the Universities of Cambridge and Durham.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps from obsolete gippo ‘menial kitchen servant’, originally denoting a man's short tunic, from obsolete French jupeau.

gyp^3 /dp/ INFORMAL v. (gyps, gypping, gypped) [with obj.] cheat or swindle (someone): a young inventor gypped by greedy financiers.

■ n. an act of cheating someone; a swindle.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

gyppo /dpə/ (also gippo) n. (pl. gyppos) INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE a Gypsy.

gypsophila /dpsflə/ n. a plant of the genus Gypsophila in the pink family, especially (in gardening) baby's breath.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek gupsos ‘chalk, gypsum’ + philos ‘loving’.

gypsum /dpsəm/ n. [mass noun] a soft white or grey mineral consisting of hydrated calcium sulphate. It occurs chiefly in sedimentary deposits and is used to make plaster of Paris and fertilizers, and in the building industry.

<DERIVATIVES> gypsiferous /-sf(ə)rəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from Greek gupsos.

gypsum board n. North American term for PLASTERBOARD.

gypsy (also gipsy) n. (pl. gypsies) 1 (usually Gypsy) a member of a travelling people with dark skin and hair, traditionally living by itinerant trade and fortune telling. Gypsies speak a language (Romany) that is related to Hindi and are believed to have originated in the Indian subcontinent.

2 INFORMAL a nomadic or free-spirited person: why should she choose to wander the world with a penniless gypsy like me?

<DERIVATIVES> gypsyish adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: originally gipcyan, short for EGYPTIAN (because Gypsies were popularly supposed to have come from Egypt).

gypsy moth n. a tussock moth having a brown male and larger white female, the latter being fully winged but flightless. The caterpillar can be a serious pest of orchards and woodland.

<INFO> Lymantria dispar, family Lymantriidae.

gypsywort (also gipsywort) n. a white-flowered Eurasian plant of the mint family, which grows in damp habitats.

<INFO> Lycopus europaeus, family Labiatae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: so named because it was reputed to have been used by Gypsies to stain the skin brown.

gyral /dr(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY] relating to a gyrus or gyri.

gyrate /drət/ v. move or cause to move rapidly in a circle or spiral: [with obj.] the dog yelped frenetically, wildly gyrating her tail.

- dance in a wild or suggestive manner: strippers gyrated to rock music on a low stage.

<DERIVATIVES> gyrator n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: earlier (early 17th century) as gyration, from Latin gyrat- ‘revolved’, from the verb gyrare, from Greek guros ‘a ring’.

gyration /dre(ə)n/ n. (usually gyrations) a rapid movement in a circle or spiral; a whirling motion: the gyrations of the dancers' arms and legs.

gyratory /dret(ə)ri drət-/ adj. denoting or involving circular or spiral motion.

■ n. (pl. gyratories) a road junction or traffic system requiring the circular movement of traffic, larger or more complex than an ordinary roundabout.

gyre /də ə/ v. [no obj.] LITERARY whirl or gyrate: a swarm of ghosts gyred around him.

■ n. a spiral or vortex.

- [GEOGRAPHY] a circular pattern of currents in an ocean basin: the central North Pacific gyre.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘whirl someone or something round’): from late Latin gyrare, from Latin gyrus ‘a ring’, from Greek guros. The noun is from Latin gyrus.

gyrfalcon /dəf(l)k(ə)n -flk(ə)n/ n. the largest falcon, found in arctic regions and occurring in several colour forms, one of which is mainly white.

<INFO> Falco rusticolus, family Falconidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gerfaucon, of Germanic origin. The first element is probably related to Old High German gēr ‘spear’; the spelling gyr- arose from a mistaken idea that the bird's name came from Latin gyrare ‘revolve’.

gyri plural form of GYRUS.

gyro^1 /drə/ n. (pl. gyros)

■ short for GYROSCOPE or GYROCOMPASS.

gyro^2 /drə/ n. (pl. gyros) NORTH AMERICAN a sandwich made with slices of spiced meat cooked on a spit, served with salad in pitta bread.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from modern Greek guros ‘turning’.

gyro- /drə/ combining form 1 relating to rotation: gyromagnetic.

2 gyroscopic: gyrostabilizer.

<ORIGIN> from Greek guros ‘a ring’.

gyrocompass n. a non-magnetic compass in which the direction of true north is maintained by a continuously driven gyroscope whose axis is parallel to the earth's axis of rotation.

gyrocopter n. a small, light single-seater autogiro.

<ORIGIN> from GYRO- ‘relating to rotation’, on the pattern of helicopter.

gyromagnetic adj. 1 [PHYSICS] relating to the magnetic and mechanical properties of a rotating charged particle.

2 (of a compass) combining a gyroscope and a normal magnetic compass.

gyron /dr(ə)n/ n. [HERALDRY] a triangular ordinary formed by two lines from the edge of the shield meeting at the fess point at 45 degrees.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old French giron ‘gusset’.

gyronny /drni/ adj. [HERALDRY] (of a shield) divided into eight gyrons by straight lines all crossing at the fess point.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French gironné, from giron (see GYRON).

gyropilot n. a gyrocompass used to provide automatic steering for a ship or aircraft.

gyroplane n. an autogiro or similar aircraft.

gyroscope n. a device consisting of a wheel or disc mounted so that it can spin rapidly about an axis which is itself free to alter in direction. The orientation of the axis is not affected by tilting of the mounting, so gyroscopes can be used to provide stability or maintain a reference direction in navigation systems, automatic pilots, and stabilizers.

<DERIVATIVES> gyroscopic adj. gyroscopically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Greek guros ‘a ring’ + modern Latin scopium (see -SCOPE).

gyrostabilizer (also gyrostabiliser) n. a gyroscopic device for maintaining the equilibrium of something such as a ship, aircraft, or platform.

<DERIVATIVES> gyrostabilized adj.

gyrus /drəs/ n. (pl. gyri /-r/) [ANATOMY] a ridge or fold between two clefts on the cerebral surface in the brain.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, from Greek guros ‘a ring’.

Gy Sgt abbr. Gunnery Sergeant.

gyttja /jtə/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] sediment rich in organic matter deposited at the bottom of a eutrophic lake.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Swedish, literally ‘mud, ooze’.

Gyumri /jmri/ an industrial city in NW Armenia, close to the border with Turkey; pop. 125,000 (est. 2002). Founded as a fortress in 1837, the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1926 and again in 1988. It was formerly called Aleksandropol (1840–1924) and Leninakan (1924–91). Russian name KUMAYRI.

gyve /dv v/ n. (usually gyves) ARCHAIC a fetter or shackle.

<DERIVATIVES> gyved adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

H^1 (also h) n. (pl. Hs or H's) 1 the eighth letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the next after G in a set of items, categories, etc.

- (h) [CHESS] denoting the file on the right-hand edge of the board, as viewed from White's side.

2 a shape like that of a capital H.

3 [MUSIC] (in the German system) the note B natural.

H^2 abbr.

- hard (used in describing grades of pencil lead): a 2H pencil.

- height (in giving the dimensions of an object).

- [PHYSICS] henry(s).

- INFORMAL heroin.

- Hungary (international vehicle registration).

- BRITISH (on signs in the street) hydrant.

■ symbol

- [CHEMISTRY] enthalpy.

- the chemical element hydrogen.

- [PHYSICS] magnetic field strength.

h abbr.

- (in measuring the height of horses) hand(s).

- [in combination] (in units of measurement) hecto-: wine production reached 624,000 hl last year.

- BRITISH (with reference to sporting fixtures) home.

- horse.

- (especially with reference to water) hot: nine rooms, all with h & c.

- hour(s): breakfast at 0700 h.

■ symbol

- [PHYSICS] Planck's constant.

- (ħ) [PHYSICS] Planck's constant divided by 2π.

h & c abbr. BRITISH hot and cold (used in describing the water supply to a hotel bedroom or a room in a house): all rooms have h & c.

Ha symbol the chemical element hahnium.

ha^1 (also hah) exclam. used to express surprise, suspicion, triumph, etc.: Ha! That'll teach you!

<PHRASES>

□ hum and ha see hum and haw at hum^1.

<ORIGIN> natural utterance: first recorded in Middle English.

ha^2 abbr. hectare(s).

haaf /hαf haf/ n. (the haaf) (in Orkney and Shetland) the area of sea used for deep-sea fishing.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Old Norse haf ‘high sea, ocean’; related to Danish hav and Swedish haf.

haar /hα/ n. a cold sea fog on the east coast of England or Scotland.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps from Old Norse hárr ‘hoar, hoary’.

Haarlem /hαləm/ a city in the Netherlands, near Amsterdam; pop. 148,000 (est. 2002). It is the capital of the province of North Holland and the commercial centre of the Dutch bulb industry.

HAART abbr. MEDICINE highly active antiretroviral therapy, a form of drug treatment for HIV infection consisting of a course of at least three antiretroviral drugs.

haat /hαt/ n. INDIAN a market, especially one held on a regular basis in a rural area.

<ORIGIN> Hindi.

Hab. abbr. Habakkuk (in biblical references).

Habakkuk /habəkək həbak-/ a Hebrew minor prophet, probably of the 7th century BC.

- a book of the Bible containing his prophecies.

habanera /habənεrə αbə-/ n. a Cuban dance in slow duple time.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Spanish, short for danza habanera ‘dance of Havana’.

Habanero /abənεrə/ n. (pl. Habaneros) North American another term for SCOTCH BONNET.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘of Havana’.

Habdalah /havdαlə/ (also Havdalah) n. a Jewish religious ceremony or formal prayer marking the end of the Sabbath.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew hadālāh ‘separation, division’.

habeas corpus /hebəs kpəs/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person's release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.

- the legal right to apply for such a writ.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: Latin, literally ‘thou shalt have the body (in court)’.

habendum /həbεndəm/ n. [LAW] the part of a deed or conveyance which states the estate or quantity of interest to be granted, e.g. the term of a lease.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘that is to be had’, gerundive of habere ‘have’.

haberdasher /habədaə/ n. 1 BRITISH a dealer in small items used in sewing, such as buttons, zips, and thread.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a dealer in men's clothing.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably based on Anglo-Norman French hapertas, perhaps the name of a fabric, of unknown origin. In early use the term denoted a dealer in a variety of household goods, later also specifically a hatter. Current senses date from the early 17th cent.

haberdashery n. (pl. haberdasheries) [mass noun] 1 BRITISH small items used in sewing, such as buttons, zips, and thread.

2 NORTH AMERICAN men's clothing and other items sold by a haberdasher.

3 a shop or a department within a larger store that sells haberdashery.

habergeon /habəd(ə)n həbəd(ə)n/ n. HISTORICAL a sleeveless coat of mail or scale armour.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French haubergeon, from hauberc (see HAUBERK), originally denoting a garment protecting the neck; compare with Dutch halsberg.

Habermas /hαbəmas/ Jürgen (b.1929), German social philosopher. A leading figure of the Frankfurt School, he developed its cultural reappraisal of Marxism and is especially noted for his work on communication theory.

Haber process /hαbə/ (also Haber–Bosch process) n. [mass noun] an industrial process for producing ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen, using an iron catalyst at high temperature and pressure.

<ORIGIN> named after Fritz Haber (1868–1934) and Carl Bosch (1874–1940), German chemists.

habiliment /həblm(ə)nt/ n. (usually habiliments) ARCHAIC clothing.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘outfit, attire’): from Old French habillement, from habiller ‘fit out’, from Latin habilis (see ABLE).

habilitate /həbltet/ v. [no obj.] qualify for office, especially as a teacher in a German university.

<DERIVATIVES> habilitation n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin habilitat- ‘made able’, from the verb habilitare, from habilitas (see ABILITY).

habit n. 1 a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up: he has an annoying habit of interrupting me | good eating habits | [mass noun] we stayed together out of habit.

- INFORMAL an addictive practice, especially one of taking drugs: a cocaine habit.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] an automatic reaction to a specific situation.

- [mass noun] general shape or mode of growth, especially of a plant or a mineral: a shrub of spreading habit.

2 a long, loose garment worn by a member of a religious order. short for RIDING HABIT.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC clothes.

3 ARCHAIC a person's health or constitution.

■ v. (be habited) ARCHAIC be dressed or clothed: a boy habited as a serving lad.

<PHRASES>

□ break (or INFORMAL kick) the habit stop engaging in a habitual practice.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French abit, habit, from Latin habitus ‘condition, appearance’, from habere ‘have, consist of’. The term originally meant ‘dress, attire’, later coming to denote physical or mental constitution.

habitable adj. suitable or good enough to live in: the house should be habitable by Christmas.

<DERIVATIVES> habitability n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin habitabilis, from habitare ‘possess, inhabit’.

habitant n. 1 /habt(ə)nt/ ARCHAIC an inhabitant.

2 /abit/ [often as modifier] an early French settler in Canada (especially Quebec) or Louisiana: the habitant farmhouses of old Quebec.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 1): from Old French, from habiter, from Latin habitare ‘inhabit’.

habitat n. the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism: wild chimps in their natural habitat.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘it dwells’, from habitare (see HABITABLE).

habitation n. [mass noun] the fact of living in a particular place: signs of human habitation.

- [count noun] FORMAL a house or home.

<DERIVATIVES> habitative adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin habitatio(n-), from habitare ‘inhabit’.

habit-forming adj. (of a drug or activity) addictive.

habitual /həbtəl -tjəl/ adj. done constantly or as a habit: his habitual use of heroin | this pattern of behaviour can become habitual.

- doing something constantly or regularly: a habitual late sleeper.

- regular; usual: his habitual dress.

<DERIVATIVES> habitually adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘part of one's character’): from medieval Latin habitualis, from habitus ‘condition, appearance’ (see HABIT).

habituate v. make or become accustomed or used to something: [with obj.] bears can become habituated to people very easily.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from late Latin habituat- ‘accustomed’, from the verb habituare, from habitus (see HABIT).

habituation n. [mass noun] the action or process of becoming habituated.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] the diminishing of an innate response to a frequently repeated stimulus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘formation of habit’): from French or from Latin habitatio(n)-, from late Latin habituare (see HABITUATE).

habitude n. RARE a habitual tendency or way of behaving.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin habitudo, from habere ‘have’ (compare with HABIT).

habitué /(h)əbtje/ n. a resident of or frequent visitor to a particular place: a habitué of the West End.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, literally ‘accustomed’, past participle of habituer.

habitus /habtəs/ n. [mass noun] chiefly MEDICINE & [PSYCHOLOGY] general constitution, especially physical build.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin.

haboob /həbub/ n. a violent and oppressive wind blowing in summer in Sudan and elsewhere, bringing sand from the desert.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Arabic habūb ‘blowing furiously’.

Habsburg /hapsbə/ (also Hapsburg) one of the principal dynasties of central Europe from medieval to modern times.

The family established a hereditary monarchy in Austria in 1282 and secured the title of Holy Roman emperor from 1452. Austrian and Spanish branches were created when Charles divided the territories between his son Philip II and his brother Ferdinand; the Habsburgs ruled Spain 1504–1700, while Habsburg rule in Austria ended with the collapse of Austria–Hungary in 1918.

háček /hαtεk ha-/ n. a diacritic mark (ˇ) placed over a letter to indicate modification of the sound in Slavic and other languages.

<ORIGIN> Czech, diminutive of hák ‘hook’.

hacendado /asεndαdə/ Spanish /aθendaə asen-/ (also haciendado /asjεn-/ Spanish /aθjen- asjen-/) n. (pl. hacendados) the owner of a hacienda.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

hachures /hajəz/ plural n. parallel lines used in hill-shading on maps, their closeness indicating steepness of gradient.

<DERIVATIVES> hachured adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from hacher (see hatch^3).

hacienda /hasεndə/ Spanish /aθjenda asjenda/ n. (in Spanish-speaking countries or regions) a large estate or plantation with a dwelling house.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Latin facienda ‘things to be done’, from facere ‘make, do’.

hack^1 v. 1 [with obj.] cut with rough or heavy blows: I watched them hack the branches | [no obj.] men hack at the coalface.

- kick wildly or roughly: he had to race from his line to hack the ball into the stand.

2 [no obj.] use a computer to gain unauthorized access to data in a system: they hacked into the bank's computer.

- [with obj.] gain unauthorized access to (data in a computer): hacking private information from computers.

- program quickly and roughly.

3 [usually with negative] (hack it) INFORMAL manage; cope: lots of people leave because they can't hack it.

4 [with obj.] (hack someone off) INFORMAL annoy or infuriate someone.

5 [no obj.] (hack around) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL pass one's time idly or with no definite purpose.

■ n. 1 a rough cut, blow, or stroke: he was sure one of us was going to take a hack at him.

- (in sport) a kick or a stroke with a stick inflicted on another player.

- a notch cut in the ice, or a peg inserted, to steady the foot when delivering a stone in curling.

- a tool for rough striking or cutting, e.g. a mattock or a miner's pick.

- ARCHAIC a gash or wound.

2 INFORMAL an act of computer hacking.

- a piece of computer code which performs some function, especially an unofficial alternative or addition to a commercial program: freeware and shareware hacks.

<ORIGIN> Old English haccian ‘cut in pieces’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch hakken and German hacken.

hack^2 n. 1 a writer or journalist producing dull, unoriginal work.

- a person who does dull routine work.

2 a horse for ordinary riding.

- a good-quality lightweight riding horse, especially one used in the show ring.

- a ride on a horse.

- a horse let out for hire.

- an inferior or worn-out horse.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a taxi.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. hacking) ride a horse for pleasure or exercise.

<DERIVATIVES> hackery n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2 of the noun): abbreviation of HACKNEY.

■ Sense 1 of the noun dates from the late 17th cent.

hack^3 n. 1 [FALCONRY] a board on which a hawk's meat is laid.

2 a wooden frame for drying bricks, cheeses, etc.

- a pile of bricks stacked up to dry before firing.

<PHRASES>

□ at hack (of a young hawk) given partial liberty but not yet allowed to hunt for itself.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the lower half of a divided door): variant of hatch^1.

hackamore /hakəm/ n. a bridle without a bit, operating by exerting pressure on the horse's nose.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from Spanish jaquima, earlier xaquima ‘halter’.

hackberry n. (pl. hackberries) a tree of the elm family which has leaves that resemble those of nettles, found in both tropical and temperate regions. See also NETTLE TREE.

<INFO> Genus Celtis, family Ulmaceae: several species, in particular the North American hackberry (C. occidentalis), which bears purple edible berries.

- the berry of the hackberry tree.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: variant of northern English dialect hagberry, of Scandinavian origin.

hacker n. 1 INFORMAL a person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data.

2 a person or thing that hacks or cuts roughly.

hackette n. BRITISH INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY a female journalist.

hacking cough n. a short, dry, frequent cough.

hacking jacket n. a riding jacket with slits at the side or back.

hackle n. 1 (hackles) erectile hairs along an animal's back, which rise when it is angry or alarmed.

2 a long, narrow feather on the neck or saddle of a domestic cock or other bird.

- [FISHING] a feather wound around a fishing fly so that its filaments are splayed out.

- [mass noun] fly-fishing feathers collectively.

- a bunch of feathers in a military headdress, for example of a regiment of fusiliers or the Black Watch.

3 a steel comb for dressing flax.

■ v. [with obj.] dress or comb (flax) with a hackle.

<PHRASES>

□ make someone's hackles rise make someone angry or indignant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the noun): variant of HATCHEL.

hackmatack /hakmətak/ n. any of a number of North American coniferous trees, in particular the tamarack.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: perhaps from Western Abnaki.

hackney n. (pl. hackneys) chiefly HISTORICAL a horse or pony of a light breed with a high-stepping trot, used in harness.

- [usually as modifier] a horse-drawn vehicle kept for hire: a hackney coach.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Hackney in East London, where horses were pastured. The term originally denoted an ordinary riding horse (as opposed to a war horse or draught horse), especially one available for hire: hence hackney carriage or coach, and the verb hackney meaning ‘use (a horse) for general purposes’, later ‘make commonplace by overuse’ (see HACKNEYED).

hackney carriage n. BRITISH the official term for a taxi.

hackneyed adj. (of a phrase or idea) having been overused; unoriginal and trite: hackneyed old sayings.

hacksaw n. a saw with a narrow fine-toothed blade set in a frame, used especially for cutting metal.

■ v. (past participle hacksawn or hacksawed) [with obj.] cut (something) using a hacksaw.

hacktivist n. a person who uses computer crimes to further social or political ends.

<DERIVATIVES> hacktivism n.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of hack^1 and activist.

had past and past participle of HAVE.

hadada /hαdədα/ (also hadeda, hadada ibis) n. a large grey-brown African ibis with iridescent patches on the wings and a loud, harsh call.

<INFO> Bostrychia (or Hagedashia) hagedash, family Threskiornithidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: imitative of its call.

hadal /hedəl/ adj. relating to the zone of the sea greater than 6000 m in depth (chiefly oceanic trenches).

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from HADES + -AL.

haddock n. (pl. same) a silvery-grey bottom-dwelling fish of North Atlantic coastal waters, related to the cod. It is popular as a food fish and is of great commercial value.

<INFO> Melanogrammus aeglefinus, family Gadidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French hadoc, from Old French hadot, of unknown origin.

hade /hed/ [GEOLOGY] n. the inclination of a mineral vein or fault from the vertical.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a shaft, vein, or fault) incline from the vertical.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps a dialect form of the verb HEAD.

Hades /hediz/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the underworld; the land of the spirits of the dead.

- the god of the underworld, one of the sons of Cronus. Also called PLUTO.

- INFORMAL hell.

<DERIVATIVES> Hadean adj.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Haidēs, of unknown origin.

Hadhramaut /hαdrəmat -mt/ a narrow region on the southern coast of Yemen, separating the Gulf of Aden from the desert land of the southern Arabian peninsula.

Hadith /hadiθ/ n. (pl. same or Hadiths) a collection of traditions containing sayings of the prophet Muhammad which, with accounts of his daily practice (the Sunna), constitute the major source of guidance for Muslims apart from the Koran.

- any of the sayings from the Hadith.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic adī ‘tradition’.

Hadlee /hadli/ Sir Richard (John) (b.1951), New Zealand cricketer. An all-rounder, he took a record of 431 Test wickets during his career.

Hadley cell n. [METEOROLOGY] a large-scale atmospheric convection cell in which air rises at the equator and sinks at medium latitudes, typically about 30° north or south.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: named after George Hadley (1685–1768), English scientific writer.

hadn't contraction had not.

Hadrian /hedrən/ (AD 76–138), Roman emperor 117–138; full name Publius Aelius Hadrianus. The adopted successor of Trajan, he toured the provinces of the Empire and secured the frontiers.

Hadrian's Wall a Roman defensive wall across northern England, stretching from the Solway Firth in the west to the mouth of the River Tyne in the east (about 120 km, 74 miles). It was begun in AD 122, after the emperor Hadrian's visit, to defend the province of Britain against invasions by tribes from the north.

hadron /hadrn/ n. [PHYSICS] a subatomic particle of a type including the baryons and mesons, which can take part in the strong interaction.

<DERIVATIVES> hadronic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Greek hadros ‘bulky’ + -ON.

hadrosaur /hadrəs/ n. a large herbivorous mainly bipedal dinosaur of the late Cretaceous period, with jaws flattened like the bill of a duck. Also called DUCK-BILLED DINOSAUR.

<INFO> Family Hadrosauridae, infraorder Ornithopoda, order Ornithischia.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Hadrosaurus (genus name), from Greek hadros ‘thick, stout’ + sauros ‘lizard’.

hadst archaic second person singular past of HAVE.

haecceity /hεksiti hik-/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] that property or quality of a thing by virtue of which it is unique or describable as ‘this (one)’.

- the property of being a unique and individual thing.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin haecceitas, from Latin haec, feminine of hic ‘this’.

Haeckel /hεk(ə)l/ Ernst Heinrich (1834–1919), German biologist and philosopher. He popularized Darwin's theories and saw evolution as providing a framework for describing the world, with the German Empire representing the highest evolved form of a civilized nation.

haem /him/ (US heme) n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an iron-containing compound of the porphyrin class which forms the non-protein part of haemoglobin and some other biological molecules.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: back-formation from HAEMOGLOBIN.

haem- /him/ (US hem-) combining form variant spelling of HAEMO- shortened before a vowel (as in haemangioma).

haemagglutination /himəlutne(ə)n/ (US hemagglutination) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE & [BIOLOGY] the clumping together of red blood cells.

haemagglutinin /himəlutnn/ (US hemagglutinin) n. MEDICINE & [BIOLOGY] a substance, such as a viral protein, which causes haemagglutination.

haemal /him(ə)l/ (US hemal) adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] of or concerning the blood.

- [ZOOLOGY] situated on the same side of the body as the heart and major blood vessels (i.e. in chordates, ventral).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek haima ‘blood’ + -AL.

haemangioma /himandəmə/ (US hemangioma) n. (pl. haemangiomas or haemangiomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a benign tumour of blood vessels, often forming a red birthmark.

haematemesis /himətεmss/ (US hematemesis) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the vomiting of blood.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from HAEMATO- ‘of blood’ + Greek emesis ‘vomiting’.

haematic /himatk/ (US hematic) adj. MEDICINE, DATED relating to or affecting the blood.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek haimatikos, from haima, haimat- ‘blood’.

haematin /himətn/ (US hematin) n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a bluish-black compound derived from haemoglobin by removal of the protein part and oxidation of the iron atom.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek haima, haimat- ‘blood’ + -IN^1.

haematite /himətt/ (US hematite) n. a reddish-black mineral consisting of ferric oxide. It is an important ore of iron.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek haimatitēs (lithos) ‘blood-like (stone)’, from haima, haimat- ‘blood’.

haemato- (US hemato-) combining form relating to the blood: haematoma.

<ORIGIN> from Greek haima, haimat- ‘blood’.

haematocele /himətə()sil/ (US hematocele) n. MEDICINE a swelling caused by blood collecting in a body cavity.

haematocrit /himətə()krt/ (US hematocrit) n. [PHYSIOLOGY] the ratio of the volume of red blood cells to the total volume of blood.

- an instrument for measuring the ratio of the volume of red blood cells to the total volume of blood, typically by centrifugation.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HAEMATO- ‘of blood’ + Greek kritēs ‘judge’.

haematogenous /himətdnəs/ (US hematogenous) adj. MEDICINE originating in or carried by the blood.

haematology /himətlədi/ (US hematology) n. [mass noun] the branch of medicine involving study and treatment of the blood.

<DERIVATIVES> haematologic adj. haematological adj. haematologist n.

haematoma /himətəmə/ (US hematoma) n. (pl. haematomas or haematomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a solid swelling of clotted blood within the tissues.

haematophagous /himətfəəs/ (US hematophagous) adj. (of an animal, especially an insect or tick) feeding on blood.

haematopoiesis /himatə()piss/ (US hematopoiesis) n. another term for HAEMOPOIESIS.

<DERIVATIVES> haematopoietic adj.

haematoxylin /himətksln/ (US hematoxylin) n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless compound present in logwood, which is easily converted into blue, red, or purple dyes and is used as a biological stain.

<INFO> A phenol; chem. formula: C_16H_14O_6.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Haematoxylum (genus name), from HAEMATO- ‘of blood’ + Greek xulon ‘wood’.

haematuria /himətjərə/ (US hematuria) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the presence of blood in urine.

haemo- (US hemo-) combining form equivalent to HAEMATO-.

<ORIGIN> from Greek haima ‘blood’.

haemochromatosis /himə()krəmətəss/ (US hemochromatosis) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a hereditary disorder in which iron salts are deposited in the tissues, leading to liver damage, diabetes mellitus, and bronze discoloration of the skin.

haemocoel /himəsil/ (US hemocoel) n. [ZOOLOGY] the primary body cavity of most invertebrates, containing circulatory fluid.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HAEMO- ‘of blood’ + Greek koilos ‘hollow, cavity’.

haemocyanin /himə()sənn/ (US hemocyanin) n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein containing copper, responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood plasma of arthropods and molluscs.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HAEMO- ‘of blood’ + CYAN + -IN^1.

haemocytometer /himə()stmtə/ (US hemocytometer) n. an instrument for visual counting of the number of cells in a blood sample or other fluid under a microscope.

haemodialysis /himə()dalss/ (US hemodialysis) n. (pl. haemodialyses /-siz/) MEDICINE kidney dialysis.

haemodynamic (US hemodynamic) adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to the flow of blood within the organs and tissues of the body.

<DERIVATIVES> haemodynamically adv. haemodynamics n.

haemoglobin /himələbn/ (US hemoglobin) n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a red protein responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood of vertebrates. Its molecule comprises four subunits, each containing an iron atom bound to a haem group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: a contracted form of haematoglobulin, in the same sense.

haemoglobinopathy /himələbnpəθi/ (US hemoglobinopathy) n. MEDICINE a hereditary condition involving an abnormality in the structure of haemoglobin.

haemoglobinuria /himələbnjərə/ (US hemoglobinuria) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE excretion of free haemoglobin in the urine.

haemolymph /himə()lmf/ (US hemolymph) n. [mass noun] a fluid equivalent to blood in most invertebrates, occupying the haemocoel.

haemolysis /himlss/ (US hemolysis) n. [mass noun] the rupture or destruction of red blood cells.

haemolytic /himəltk/ (US hemolytic) adj. MEDICINE relating to or involving the rupture or destruction of red blood cells: haemolytic anaemia.

haemolytic disease of the newborn n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a severe form of anaemia caused in a fetus or newborn infant by incompatibility with the mother's blood type, typically when the mother is rhesus negative and produces antibodies which attack rhesus positive fetal blood through the placenta. Also called ERYTHROBLASTOSIS.

haemophilia /himəflə/ (US hemophilia) n. [mass noun] a medical condition in which the ability of the blood to clot is severely reduced, causing the sufferer to bleed severely from even a slight injury. The condition is typically caused by a hereditary lack of a coagulation factor, most often factor VIII.

<DERIVATIVES> haemophiliac n. haemophilic adj.

haemopoiesis /himə()piss/ (US hemopoiesis) n. [mass noun] the production of blood cells and platelets, which occurs in the bone marrow.

<DERIVATIVES> haemopoietic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from HAEMO- ‘of blood’ + Greek poiēsis ‘making’.

haemoptysis /himptss/ (US hemoptysis) n. [mass noun] the coughing up of blood.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin hemoptysis, from HAEMO- ‘of blood’ + Greek ptusis ‘spitting’.

haemorrhage /hεmərd/ (US hemorrhage) n. an escape of blood from a ruptured blood vessel.

- a damaging loss of valuable people or resources: a haemorrhage of highly qualified teachers.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a person) suffer a haemorrhage: he had begun haemorrhaging in the night.

- [with obj.] lose or expend large amounts of (something valuable) in a seemingly uncontrollable way: the business was haemorrhaging cash.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as a noun): alteration of obsolete haemorrhagy, via Latin from Greek haimorrhagia, from haima ‘blood’ + the stem of rhēgnunai ‘burst’.

haemorrhagic /hεməradk/ (US hemorrhagic) adj. accompanied by or produced by haemorrhage: a viral haemorrhagic fever | haemorrhagic colitis.

haemorrhoid /hεmərd/ (US hemorrhoid) n. (usually haemorrhoids) a swollen vein or group of veins in the region of the anus. Also (collectively) called PILES.

<DERIVATIVES> haemorrhoidal adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French and Latin from Greek haimorrhoides (phlebes) ‘bleeding (veins)’, from haima ‘blood’ + an element related to rhein ‘to flow’.

haemostasis /himə()stess/ (US hemostasis) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the stopping of a flow of blood.

<DERIVATIVES> haemostatic adj.

haemostat /himəstat/ (US hemostat) n. MEDICINE an instrument for preventing blood flow by compression of a blood vessel.

<DERIVATIVES> haemostatic adj.

haere mai /hrə m/ exclam. used as a Maori greeting.

<ORIGIN> Maori, literally ‘come hither’.

hafiz /hαfz/ n. a Muslim who knows the Koran by heart.

<ORIGIN> Persian, from Arabic āfi ‘guardian’, from āfia ‘guard, know by heart’.

Haflinger /haflə/ n. a draught pony of a sturdy chestnut breed with a flaxen mane and tail.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: German, from Hafling, the name of a Tyrolean village where the breed originated.

hafnium /hafnəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 72, a hard silver-grey metal of the transition series, resembling and often occurring with zirconium. (Symbol: Hf)

<ORIGIN> 1920s: modern Latin, from Hafnia, Latinized form of Danish Havn, former name of Copenhagen.

haft /hαft/ n. the handle of a knife, axe, or spear.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. hafted) provide (a blade, axe head, or spearhead) with a haft: the motifs included animals and hafted axes.

<ORIGIN> Old English hæft, of Germanic origin: related to Dutch heft, hecht and German Heft, also to HEAVE.

Haftorah /hαftərα/ (also Haphtarah or Haphtorah) n. (pl. Haftoroth /-rət/) [JUDAISM] a short reading from the Prophets which follows the reading from the Law in a Jewish synagogue.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew haārāh ‘dismissal’.

hag^1 n. 1 a witch.

- an ugly old woman: a fat old hag in a dirty apron.

2 short for HAGFISH.

<DERIVATIVES> haggish adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old English hægtesse, hegtes, related to Dutch heks and German Hexe ‘witch’, of unknown ultimate origin.

hag^2 n. Scottish & N. English 1 (also peat hag) an overhang of peat.

2 a soft place on a moor or a firm place in a bog.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a gap in a cliff): from Old Norse hgg ‘gap’, from hggva ‘hack, hew’.

Hag. abbr. Haggai (in biblical references).

Hagar /heα/ (in the Bible and in Islamic tradition) the mother of Ishmael (Ismail), son of Abraham.

Hagen /hα(ə)n/ an industrial city in NW Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia; pop. 205,500 (est. 2002).

hagfish n. (pl. same or hagfishes) a primitive jawless marine vertebrate distantly related to the lampreys, with a slimy eel-like body, a slit-like mouth surrounded by barbels, and a rasping tongue used for feeding on dead or dying fish.

<INFO> Class Myxini and family Myxinidae: several genera, in particular Myxine, and numerous species.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from HAG^1 + FISH^1.

Haggadah /həαdə haadα/ (also Aggadah) n. (pl. Haggadoth or Haggadot /-dət/) [JUDAISM] 1 the text recited at the Seder on the first two nights of the Jewish Passover, including a narrative of the Exodus.

2 a legend, parable, or anecdote used to illustrate a point of the Law in the Talmud.

- [mass noun] the non-legal, narrative element of the Talmud. Compare with HALACHA.

<DERIVATIVES> Haggadic /-adk -αdk/ adj. Haggadist n.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew Haggāāh, ‘tale, parable’, from higgī ‘tell, expound’.

Haggai /hae/ a Hebrew minor prophet of the 6th century BC.

- a book of the Bible containing his prophecies of a glorious future in the Messianic age.

Haggard Sir (Henry) Rider (1856–1925), English novelist. He is famous for adventure novels such as King Solomon's Mines (1885) and She (1889).

haggard adj. 1 looking exhausted and unwell, especially from fatigue, worry, or suffering: she was pale and haggard | Alex's haggard face.

2 (of a hawk) caught for training as a wild adult of more than twelve months. Compare with PASSAGE HAWK.

■ n. a haggard hawk.

<DERIVATIVES> haggardly adv. haggardness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (used in falconry): from French hagard; perhaps related to HEDGE; later influenced by hag^1.

haggis n. (pl. same or haggises) a Scottish dish consisting of a sheep's or calf's offal mixed with suet, oatmeal, and seasoning and boiled in a bag, traditionally one made from the animal's stomach.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from earlier hag ‘hack, hew’, from Old Norse hggva.

haggle v. [no obj.] dispute or bargain persistently, especially over the cost of something: the two sides are haggling over television rights.

■ n. a period of haggling.

<DERIVATIVES> haggler n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘hack, mangle’): from Old Norse hggva ‘hew’.

Hagia Sophia /haə səfiə/ another name for ST SOPHIA.

<ORIGIN> Greek, literally ‘holy wisdom’.

hagio- combining form relating to saints or holiness: hagiographer.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hagios ‘holy’.

Hagiographa /harəfə/ plural n. the books of the Bible comprising the last of the three major divisions of the Hebrew scriptures, other than the Law and the Prophets. The books of the Hagiographa are: Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra–Nehemiah, and Chronicles. Also called THE WRITINGS.

<ORIGIN> via late Latin from Greek.

hagiographer /harəfə/ n. 1 a writer of the lives of the saints.

- a biographer who treats their subject with undue reverence.

2 [THEOLOGY] a writer of any of the Hagiographa.

hagiography /harəfi/ n. [mass noun] the writing of the lives of saints.

- [count noun] a biography that treats its subject with undue reverence.

<DERIVATIVES> hagiographic adj. hagiographical adj.

hagiolatry /halətri/ n. [mass noun] the worship of saints.

- undue veneration of a famous person.

hagiology /halədi/ n. [mass noun] literature dealing with the lives and legends of saints.

<DERIVATIVES> hagiological adj. hagiologist n.

hagioscope /haəskəp/ n. another term for squint (sense 3 of the noun).

hag-ridden adj. afflicted by nightmares or anxieties: he was hag-ridden by his early success.

Hague /he/ (The Hague) the seat of government and administrative centre of the Netherlands, on the North Sea coast, capital of the province of South Holland; pop. 444,400 (est. 2002). The International Court of Justice is based there. Dutch name DEN HAAG; also called 'S-GRAVENHAGE.

ha ha exclam. used to represent laughter.

<ORIGIN> natural utterance: first recorded in Old English (compare with ha^1).

ha-ha n. a ditch with a wall on its inner side below ground level, forming a boundary to a park or garden without interrupting the view.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, said to be from the cry of surprise on suddenly encountering such an obstacle.

haham /hαhəm/ (also chacham) n. a spiritual leader among Sephardic Jews, or, more generally, a person learned in Jewish law.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew āām ‘wise’.

Hahn /hαn/ Otto (1879–1968), German chemist, co-discoverer of nuclear fission. Together with Lise Meitner he discovered the new element protactinium in 1917. The pair discovered nuclear fission in 1938 with Fritz Strassmann (1902–80). Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1944).

hahnium /hαnəm/ n. [mass noun] the name formerly proposed by the American Chemical Society for the chemical element of atomic number 105 (dubnium), and by IUPAC for element 108 (hassium).

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named in honour of Otto HAHN.

hai /ha/ exclam. INDIAN used to express grief, horror, regret, etc.: hai, hai, this boy is nothing but trouble and misfortune.

<ORIGIN> Hindi hāy ‘woe’.

Haida /hdə/ n. (pl. same or Haidas) 1 a member of an American Indian people living on the Pacific coast of Canada.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Haida, now almost extinct.

■ adj. relating to the Haida or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Haida, literally ‘people’.

Haifa /hfə/ the chief port of Israel, in the north-west of the country on the Mediterranean coast; pop. 270,500 (2000).

Haig Douglas, 1st Earl Haig of Bemersyde (1861–1928), British Field Marshal. During the First World War he served as Commander-in-Chief of British forces in France, maintaining a strategy of attrition throughout his command.

haik /hek hαk/ (also haick) n. a large wrap, typically white, worn by people from North Africa.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Arabic ā'ik.

Haikou /hkə/ the capital of Hainan autonomous region, a port on the NE coast of Hainan island; pop. 410,000 (1990).

haiku /hku/ n. (pl. same or haikus) a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world.

- a poem in English written in the form of a haiku.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, contracted form of haikai no ku ‘light verse’.

hail^1 n. [mass noun] pellets of frozen rain which fall in showers from cumulonimbus clouds.

- [in sing.] a large number of things hurled forcefully through the air: a hail of bullets.

■ v. [no obj.] (it hails, it is hailing, etc.) hail falls: it hailed so hard we had to stop.

<ORIGIN> Old English hagol, hægl (noun), hagalian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hagel and German Hagel.

hail^2 v. 1 [with obj.] call out to (someone) to attract attention: I hailed her in English.

- signal (an approaching taxi) to stop.

2 [with obj.] praise (someone or something) enthusiastically: he has been hailed as the new James Dean.

3 [no obj.] (hail from) have one's home or origins in (a place): they hail from Turkey.

■ exclam. ARCHAIC expressing greeting or acclaim: hail, Caesar!

■ n. a shout or call used to attract attention.

<PHRASES>

□ within hail DATED at a distance within which someone may be called to; within earshot.

<DERIVATIVES> hailer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from the obsolete adjective hail ‘healthy’ (occurring in greetings and toasts, such as wæs hæil: see WASSAIL), from Old Norse heill, related to hale^1 and WHOLE.

Haile Selassie /hl səlasi/ (1892–1975), emperor of Ethiopia 1930–74; born Tafari Makonnen. In exile in Britain during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia (1936–41), he was restored to the throne by the Allies and ruled until deposed by a military coup. He is revered by the Rastafarian religious sect.

hail-fellow-well-met adj. showing excessive familiarity or friendliness: Arnold was very cheerful in a hail-fellow-well-met sort of way.

Hail Mary n. (pl. Hail Marys) 1 a prayer to the Virgin Mary used chiefly by Roman Catholics, beginning with part of Luke 1:28. Also called AVE MARIA.

2 [usually as modifier] US (in American football) a long, typically unsuccessful pass made in an attempt to score late in the game.

- a plan or project with little chance of success.

hailstone n. a pellet of hail.

hailstorm n. a storm of heavy hail.

Hailwood Mike (1940–81), English racing motorcyclist; full name Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood. He won the Isle of Man TT a record fourteen times and was world champion nine times in three different classes.

Hainan /hnan/ an island in the South China Sea, forming an autonomous region of China; pop. 8,035,000 (est. 2002); capital, Haikou.

Hainaut /enə (h)enə/ a province of southern Belgium; capital, Mons.

Haiphong /hf/ a port in northern Vietnam, on the delta of the Red River in the Gulf of Tonkin; pop. 572,100 (est. 2002).

hair n. 1 any of the fine thread-like strands growing from the skin of humans, mammals, and some other animals.

- a fine thread-like strand growing from the epidermis of a plant, or forming part of a living cell.

2 [mass noun] hairs collectively, especially those growing on a person's head: her shoulder-length fair hair.

3 (a hair) a very small quantity or extent: his magic takes him a hair above the competition.

<PHRASES>

□ hair of the dog INFORMAL an alcoholic drink taken to cure a hangover. [<ORIGIN> from hair of the dog that bit you, formerly recommended as an efficacious remedy for the bite of a mad dog.]

□ a hair's breadth a very small amount or margin: you escaped death by a hair's breadth.

□ in (or out of) someone's hair INFORMAL annoying (or ceasing to annoy) someone: they sent him to America, just to get him out of their hair.

□ keep your hair on! BRITISH INFORMAL used to urge someone not to panic or lose their temper.

□ let one's hair down INFORMAL behave uninhibitedly.

□ make someone's hair stand on end alarm or horrify someone.

□ not TURN a hair remain apparently unmoved or unaffected.

□ split hairs make small and overfine distinctions.

<DERIVATIVES> haired adj. [in combination] a curly-haired boy hair-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hr, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch haar and German Haar.

hairball n. a ball of hair which collects in the stomach of a cat or similar animal as a result of the animal licking its coat.

hairband n. a band for securing or tying back one's hair.

hairbrush n. a brush for smoothing a person's hair.

haircare n. [mass noun] the care of one's hair: [as modifier] haircare products.

haircloth n. [mass noun] stiff cloth woven with a cotton or linen warp and horsehair weft.

haircut n. the style in which a person's hair is cut.

- an act of cutting a person's hair.

hairdo n. (pl. hairdos) INFORMAL the style of a woman's hair.

hairdresser n. a person who cuts and styles hair as an occupation.

<DERIVATIVES> hairdressing n.

hairdryer (also hairdrier) n. an electrical device for drying a person's hair by blowing warm air over it.

hair grass n. [mass noun] a slender-stemmed grass of temperate and cool regions.

<INFO> Deschampsia, Aira, and other genera, family Gramineae.

hairgrip n. BRITISH a flat hairpin with the ends close together.

hairless adj. lacking hair; bare or bald: his hairless chest.

hairless bat n. an almost hairless black free-tailed bat found in SE Asia.

<INFO> Genus Cheiromeles, family Molossidae: two species, in particular C. torquatus.

hairline n. 1 the edge of a person's hair, especially on the forehead.

2 [as modifier] very thin or fine: a hairline fracture.

hairnet n. a piece of fine mesh worn to keep the hair in place.

hairpiece n. a patch or bunch of false hair used to augment a person's natural hair.

hairpin n. a U-shaped pin for fastening the hair.

hairpin bend n. a sharp U-shaped bend in a road.

hair-raising adj. extremely alarming, astonishing, or frightening: hair-raising adventures.

hair shirt n. a shirt of haircloth, formerly worn by penitents and ascetics.

■ adj. (hair-shirt or hair-shirted) austere and self-sacrificing.

hairslide n. BRITISH a clip for keeping a woman's hair in position.

hair-splitting adj. characterized by or fond of small and overfine distinctions: the legal experts have a particularly hair-splitting mentality.

■ n. [mass noun] the action of making small and overfine distinctions; quibbling.

<DERIVATIVES> hair-splitter n.

hairspray n. [mass noun] a solution sprayed on to a person's hair to keep it in place.

hairspring n. a slender flat coiled spring regulating the movement of the balance wheel in a watch.

hairstreak n. a butterfly with a narrow streak or row of dots on the underside of the hindwing and a small tail-like projection on the hindwing.

<INFO> Many genera in the family Lycaenidae.

hairstyle n. a particular way in which a person's hair is cut or arranged.

hairstylist n. a person who cuts and styles people's hair professionally.

<DERIVATIVES> hairstyling n.

hair trigger n. a trigger of a firearm set for release at the slightest pressure.

- [as modifier] denoting something that is quickly and easily activated or provoked: his hair-trigger temperament.

hair worm n. another term for HORSEHAIR WORM.

hairy adj. (hairier, hairiest) 1 covered with hair: a hairy chest.

- having a rough feel or appearance suggestive of coarse hair: a hairy tweed coat and skirt.

2 INFORMAL alarming and difficult: we drove up yet another hairy mountain road.

<PHRASES>

□ give someone the hairy eyeball see EYEBALL.

<DERIVATIVES> hairily adv. hairiness n.

Haiti /heti/ a country in the Caribbean, occupying the western third of the island of Hispaniola; pop. 7,063,722 (est. 2002); official languages, Haitian Creole, French; capital, Port-au-Prince.

The area was ceded to France by Spain in 1697, and many slaves were imported from West Africa to work on sugar plantations. In 1791 the slaves rose in rebellion under Toussaint L'Ouverture, and in 1804 the colony was proclaimed an independent state under the name of Haiti. It was administered by the US 1915–34 after a succession of corrupt dictatorships. From 1957 to 1986 the country was under the oppressive dictatorship of the Duvalier family. Haiti's first democratically chosen President was elected in 1990 but overthrown by the military the following year; democracy was restored by US and UN intervention in 1994.

Haitian /heən -(ə)n/ adj. relating to Haiti, its inhabitants, or their language.

■ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Haiti.

2 (also Haitian Creole) [mass noun] the French-based Creole language spoken in Haiti.

Haitink /htk/ Bernard (Johann Herman) (b.1929), Dutch conductor, principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra 1967–79 and musical director of Glyndebourne (1977–87) and Covent Garden (from 1987).

haji /hadi/ (also hajji) n. (pl. hajis) a Muslim who has been to Mecca as a pilgrim: [as title] Haji Hadi.

<ORIGIN> from Persian and Turkish hājjī, hājī, from Arabic ajj (see HAJJ).

hajj /had/ (also haj) n. the greater Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, which takes place in the last month of the year and which all Muslims are expected to make at least once during their lifetime if they can afford to do so. Compare with UMRAH.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic (al-) ajj ‘(the Great) Pilgrimage’.

haka /hαkə/ n. a Maori ceremonial war dance involving chanting, an imitation of which is performed by New Zealand rugby teams before a match.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

hakama /hakəmə hα-/ n. [treated as sing. or plural] loose trousers with many pleats in the front, forming part of Japanese formal dress.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Japanese.

hake n. 1 a large-headed elongated fish with long jaws and strong teeth. It is a valuable commercial food fish.

<INFO> Family Merlucciidae and genus Merluccius: several species, including the European hake (M. merluccius).

2 any of a number of fishes related to the true hakes.

<INFO> Species in several families, especially in the NW Atlantic genus Urophycis (family Phycidae).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old English haca ‘hook’.

Hakenkreuz /hαk(ə)nkrts/ German /hαkənkrYts/ n. a swastika, especially in its clockwise form as a Nazi symbol.

<ORIGIN> German, from Haken ‘hook’ + Kreuz ‘cross’.

hakim /hakim/ n. 1 a physician using traditional remedies in India and Muslim countries.

2 (in Muslim countries and formerly in India) a judge, ruler, or governor.

<ORIGIN> Arabic:

■ sense 1 from akīm ‘wise man, physician’;

■ sense 2 from ākim ‘ruler’.

Hakka /hakə/ n. (pl. same or Hakkas) 1 a member of a people of SE China who migrated from the north during the 12th century.

2 [mass noun] the dialect of Chinese spoken by the Hakka, with about 27 million speakers. Also called KEJIA.

■ adj. relating to the Hakka or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese (Cantonese dialect) haàk ka ‘stranger’.

Hakluyt /haklut/ Richard (c.1552–1616), English geographer and historian. He compiled Principal Navigations, Voyages, and Discoveries of the English Nation (1598), a collection of accounts of great voyages of discovery.

Hakodate /hαkədαte/ a port in northern Japan, on the southern tip of the island of Hokkaido; pop. 302,700 (est. 2002).

Halab /hαlαb/ Arabic name for ALEPPO.

Halacha /halαxα həlαkə/ (also Halakha, Halakah) n. [mass noun] Jewish law and jurisprudence, based on the Talmud.

<DERIVATIVES> Halachic adj.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew hălāāh ‘law’.

Halafian /həlαfən/ adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a prehistoric culture extending from Syria to the Mediterranean coast and eastern Turkey (late 6th and early 5th millennium BC). This culture is identified primarily by the use of polychrome pottery (Halaf ware).

- (as n. the Halafian) the Halafian culture or period.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from the place name Tell Halaf (in NE Syria, where the pottery was first discovered) + -IAN.

halal /həlαl/ adj. denoting or relating to meat prepared as prescribed by Muslim law: halal butchers.

- religiously acceptable according to Muslim law: halal banking.

■ n. [mass noun] halal meat.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Arabic alāl ‘according to religious law’.

halala /həlαlə/ n. (pl. same or halalas) a monetary unit of Saudi Arabia, equal to one hundredth of a rial.

<ORIGIN> Arabic.

halation /həle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the spreading of light beyond its proper boundaries to form a fog round the edges of a bright image in a photograph or on a television screen.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: formed irregularly from HALO + -ATION.

halberd /halbəd/ (also halbert) n. HISTORICAL a combined spear and battleaxe.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French hallebarde, from Italian alabarda, from Middle High German helmbarde (from helm ‘handle’ + barde ‘hatchet’).

halberdier /halbədə/ n. HISTORICAL a man armed with a halberd.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French hallebardier, from hallebarde (see HALBERD).

halcyon /halsən -(ə)n/ adj. denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful: the halcyon days of the mid 1980s, when profits were soaring.

■ n. 1 a mythical bird said by ancient writers to breed in a nest floating at sea at the winter solstice, charming the wind and waves into calm.

2 a tropical Asian and African kingfisher with brightly coloured plumage.

<INFO> Genus Halcyon, family Alcedinidae: many species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the mythological sense): via Latin from Greek alkuōn ‘kingfisher’ (also halkuōn, by association with hals ‘sea’ and kuōn ‘conceiving’).

Haldane /hlden/ J. B. S. (1892–1964), Scottish mathematical biologist; full name John Burdon Sanderson Haldane. As well as contributing to the development of population genetics, Haldane became well known as a popularizer of science and as an outspoken Marxist.

haldi /hldi/ n. Indian term for TURMERIC.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit haridrā.

Hale George Ellery (1868–1938), American astronomer. He discovered that sunspots are associated with strong magnetic fields and invented the spectroheliograph. He also initiated the construction of several large telescopes.

hale^1 adj. (of an old person) strong and healthy: he's only just sixty, very hale and hearty.

<ORIGIN> Old English, northern variant of hāl ‘whole’.

hale^2 v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] ARCHAIC drag or draw forcibly: he haled an old man out of the audience.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French haler, from Old Norse hala.

Hale–Bopp a periodic comet which passed close to the sun in the spring of 1997 and was one of the brightest of the 20th century.

<ORIGIN> named after Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, the American astronomers who discovered it (independently of each other).

haler /hαlə/ n. (pl. same or halers) a monetary unit of the Czech Republic, equal to one hundredth of a koruna.

<ORIGIN> from Czech haléř, from Middle High German haller, from Schwäbisch Hall, a town in Germany where coins were minted.

halesome adj. chiefly SCOTTISH wholesome: the friendly pub and halesome fare.

Halesowen /helzən/ an engineering town in the west Midlands; pop. 58,200 (est. 2002).

Haley /heli/ Bill (1925–81), American rock-and-roll singer; full name William John Clifton Haley. His song ‘Rock Around the Clock’ (1954) was the first to popularize rock and roll.

half n. (pl. halves) either of two equal or corresponding parts into which something is or can be divided: two and a half years | the northern half of the island | divide the cake in half | spending was reduced by half.

- either of two equal periods of time into which a sports game or a performance is divided.

- British INFORMAL half a pint of beer or a similar drink: a half of bitter.

- INFORMAL a half-price fare or ticket, especially for a child.

- [GOLF] a score for an individual hole that is the same as one's opponent's.

■ short for HALFBACK.

■ predeterminer, pronoun, & adj. an amount equal to a half: [as predeterminer] half an hour | almost half the children turned up | [as pronoun] half of the lectures are delivered by him | [as adj.] the last half century.

- an amount thought of as roughly a half: [as predeterminer] half the audience were blubbing away | [as pronoun] half of them are gatecrashers.

■ adv. to the extent of half: the glass was half full.

- [often in combination] to a certain extent; partly: the chicken is half-cooked | I am half inclined to believe you.

<PHRASES>

□ a —— and a half INFORMAL used to indicate that one considers a particular person or thing to be an impressive example of their kind: Aunt Edie was a woman and a half.

□ half the battle see BATTLE.

□ half a chance INFORMAL the slightest opportunity: given half a chance he can make anything work.

□ half an EYE see EYE.

□ the half of it [usually with negative] INFORMAL the most important part or aspect of something: you don't know the half of it.

□ half one (or two etc.) informal way of saying half past one.

□ HALF PAST ONE (or two etc.) thirty minutes after one (two, etc.) o'clock.

□ half the TIME see TIME.

□ not do things by halves do things thoroughly or extravagantly.

□ not half 1 not nearly: he is not half such a fool as they thought.

2 INFORMAL not at all: the players are not half bad.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL to an extreme degree; very much so: she didn't half flare up!

□ too —— by half BRITISH used to emphasize something considered bad: the idea seems too superstitious by half.

<ORIGIN> Old English half, healf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch half and German halb (adjectives). The earliest meaning of the Germanic base was ‘side’, also a noun sense in Old English.

half a crown n. another term for HALF-CROWN.

half a dozen n. another term for HALF-DOZEN.

half-and-half adv. & adj. in equal parts: [as adv.] views were split almost exactly half-and-half | [as adj.] a half-and-half mixture.

■ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a mixture of milk and cream.

half-arsed (US half-assed, half-ass) adj. VULGAR SLANG incompetent; inadequate.

halfback n. a player in a ball game such as soccer, rugby, or field hockey whose position is between the forwards and fullbacks.

half-baked adj. not fully thought through; lacking a sound basis: a half-baked conspiracy theory.

- foolish: a half-baked hippie chick.

half-ball n. [BILLIARDS] a stroke in which the centre of the cue ball is aimed at the edge of the object ball: [as modifier] a half-ball shot.

halfbeak n. a slender shoaling fish of coastal areas, with small pectoral fins and the lower jaw lengthened into a beak. It is related to the flying fishes and often skitters along the surface. Also called GARFISH in Australia and New Zealand.

<INFO> Several genera and species in the family Exocoetidae, including the widely distributed Euleptorhamphus viridis.

half binding n. [mass noun] a type of bookbinding in which the spine and corners are bound in one material (typically leather) and the rest of the cover in another.

<DERIVATIVES> half-bound adj.

half blood n. 1 [mass noun] the relationship between people having one parent in common: brothers and sisters of the half blood.

- [count noun] a person related to another through having one parent in common.

2 OFFENSIVE another term for HALF-BREED.

<DERIVATIVES> half-blooded adj.

■ half blood (sense 2)

half-blue n. BRITISH a person who has represented Oxford or Cambridge University in a minor sport or as a second choice in any sport.

- the distinction gained as a half-blue.

half board n. [mass noun] BRITISH provision of bed, breakfast, and one main meal at a hotel or guest house.

half-boot n. a boot that reaches up to the calf.

half-bottle n. a bottle that is half the standard size.

half-breed n. OFFENSIVE a person whose parents are of different races, especially the offspring of an American Indian and a person of white European ancestry.

half-brother n. a brother with whom one has only one parent in common.

half-butt n. a long billiard cue about 2.4 m (8 feet) in length.

half-caste n. OFFENSIVE a person whose parents are of different races.

half-century n. a period of fifty years.

- a score of fifty in a sporting event, especially a batsman's score of fifty in cricket.

half-cock n. the partly raised position of the cock of a gun.

<PHRASES>

□ at half-cock (of a gun) with the cock partly raised.

- FIGURATIVE when only partly ready: the postponement saved the army from setting off another attack at half-cock.

<DERIVATIVES> half-cocked adj.

half-crown (also half a crown) n. a former British coin and monetary unit equal to two shillings and sixpence (12^1/2p).

half-cut adj. BRITISH INFORMAL drunk.

half-deck n. a deck reaching half the length of a ship or boat, fore or aft.

<DERIVATIVES> half-decked adj.

half-dozen (also half a dozen) n. a set or group of six: a half-dozen slices of smoked salmon.

half-duplex adj. (of a communications system or computer circuit) allowing the transmission of signals in both directions but not simultaneously.

half-hardy adj. (of a plant) able to grow outdoors at all times except in severe frost: a half-hardy annual.

half-hearted adj. without enthusiasm or energy: a half-hearted attempt.

<DERIVATIVES> half-heartedly adv. half-heartedness n.

half hitch n. a knot formed by passing the end of a rope round its standing part and then through the loop.

half holiday n. a day of which either the morning or (usually) the afternoon is taken as a holiday.

half-hose n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC socks.

half-hour n. (also half an hour) a period of thirty minutes: buses run every half-hour.

- a point in time thirty minutes after any full hour of the clock: the library clock struck the half-hour.

<DERIVATIVES> half-hourly adj. & adv.

half-hunter n. a pocket watch with a hinged cover in the middle of which a small opening or window allows one to read the approximate time.

half-inch n. a unit of length half as long as an inch.

■ v. [with obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL steal: she had her handbag half-inched. [<ORIGIN> 1920s: rhyming slang for ‘pinch’.]

half-integer n. a number obtained by dividing an odd integer by two (1/2, 1^1/2, 2^1/2, etc.).

<DERIVATIVES> half-integral adj.

half landing n. BRITISH an area of floor where a flight of stairs turns through 180 degrees.

half-lap n. another term for LAP JOINT.

half-length adj. of approximately half the normal length.

- (of a painting or sculpture) showing a person down to their waist.

■ n. a painting or sculpture of a person down to their waist.

half-life n. the time taken for the radioactivity of a specified isotope to fall to half its original value.

- the time required for any specified property (e.g. the concentration of a substance in the body) to decrease by half.

half-light n. [mass noun] dim light such as at dusk or dawn: the trees had a slightly spooky look in the half-light.

half-marathon n. a long-distance running race, strictly one of 13 miles 352 yards (21.243 km).

half mast n. the position of a flag which is being flown some way below the top of its staff as a mark of respect for a person who has died: each club flew its flag at half mast.

- chiefly HUMOROUS a position lower than normal or acceptable, especially for clothes: his tie was at half mast.

half measure n. (usually half measures) an action or policy that is not forceful or decisive enough: there are no half measures with this company.

half-moon n. the moon when only half its illuminated surface is visible from the earth; the first or last quarter.

- the time when this occurs.

- a semicircular or crescent-shaped object: [as modifier] half-moon spectacles.

half-move n. [CHESS] a move made by one player (especially in the context of the analysis of play made by a chess-playing computer program).

half note n. [MUSIC], chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a minim.

halfpenny /hepni/ (also ha'penny) n. (pl. for separate coins halfpennies, for a sum of money halfpence /hep(ə)ns/) a former British coin equal to half an old or new penny. The last halfpenny was withdrawn in 1984.

halfpennyworth /hepəθ hepnwəθ/ (also ha'p'orth) n. BRITISH as much as could be bought for a halfpenny.

- [usually with negative] (ha'p'orth) INFORMAL a negligible amount: he's never been a ha'p'orth of bother.

<PHRASES>

□ don't spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar PROVERB don't risk the failure of a large project by trying to economize on trivial things. [<ORIGIN> referring to the use of tar to keep flies off sores on sheep (from dialect pronunciation of sheep as ship).]

half-pie adj. NZ INFORMAL imperfect; mediocre.

<ORIGIN> pie perhaps from Maori pai ‘good’.

half-pint n. a unit of capacity half as large as a pint.

half-pipe n. a channel made of concrete or cut into the snow with a U-shaped cross section, used by skateboarders, rollerbladers, or snowboarders to perform jumps and other manoeuvres.

half plate n. BRITISH a photographic plate measuring 4^3/4 × 6^1/2 inches (c. 10.8 × 16.5 cm).

half relief n. [mass noun] a method of moulding, carving, or stamping in relief a design in which figures project to half their true proportions.

- [count noun] a sculpture or carving in half relief.

half seas over adj. [predic.] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED fairly drunk.

half-sister n. a sister with whom one has only one parent in common.

half-sovereign n. a former British gold coin worth ten shillings (50p).

half-standard n. a tree or shrub that grows on an erect stem of half height and stands alone without support.

half step n. [MUSIC], NORTH AMERICAN a semitone.

half-term n. BRITISH a short holiday about halfway through a school term.

half-tester n. HISTORICAL a canopy extending over half the length of a bed.

- a bed with a half-tester.

half-timbered adj. having walls with a timber frame and a brick or plaster filling.

<DERIVATIVES> half-timbering n.

half-time n. the time at which half of a game or contest is completed, especially when marked by an interval: Spain led 9-7 at half-time.

half-title n. the title of a book, printed on the right-hand page before the title page.

- the title of a section of a book printed on the right-hand page before it.

- a page on which a title of either of these kinds is printed.

half-tone n. 1 a reproduction of a photograph or other image in which the various tones of grey or colour are produced by variously sized dots of ink: [as modifier] half-tone illustrations.

2 [MUSIC], chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a semitone.

half-track n. a military or other vehicle with wheels at the front and caterpillar tracks at the rear.

half-truth n. a statement that conveys only part of the truth, especially one used deliberately in order to mislead someone.

half-uncial adj. denoting a style of medieval letter showing features of both uncial and cursive script.

■ n. a half-uncial letter.

half-volley n. (chiefly in tennis or soccer) a strike or kick of the ball made immediately after it bounces off the ground.

halfway adv. & adj. at or to a point equidistant between two others: [as adv.] he stopped halfway down the passage | [as adj.] during the night we passed Kingoonya, the halfway mark.

- in the middle of a period of time: [as adv.] halfway through the night.

- [as adv.] to some extent: I'm incapable of doing anything even halfway decent.

halfway house n. 1 the halfway point in a progression.

- BRITISH a compromise between two different or opposing views or courses of action: the formula seems a good halfway house and avoids another row.

2 a centre for rehabilitating former prisoners, psychiatric patients, or others unused to non-institutional life.

3 HISTORICAL an inn midway between two towns.

halfway line n. a line across a sports field midway between the ends.

halfwit n. INFORMAL a foolish or stupid person.

half-witted adj. INFORMAL foolish or stupid: a half-witted proposal.

<DERIVATIVES> half-wittedly adv. half-wittedness n.

half-yearly adj. & adv. at intervals of six months: [as adj.] the loan was to be repaid by 80 half-yearly instalments | [as adv.] the interest will be paid half-yearly in June and December.

- [as adj.] relating to half a financial year: half-yearly sales.

halibut /halbət/ n. (pl. same) a northern marine fish which is the largest of the flatfishes and important as a food fish.

<INFO> Genus Hippoglossus, family Pleuronectidae: H. hippoglossus of the Atlantic and H. stenolepis of the Pacific.

- used in names of large edible flatfishes of families other than the true halibut, e.g. Greenland halibut.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from haly ‘holy’ + obsolete butt ‘flatfish’ (because it was often eaten on holy days).

Haliç /halit/ Turkish name for GOLDEN HORN.

Halicarnassus /halkαnasəs/ an ancient Greek city on the SW coast of Asia Minor, at what is now the Turkish city of Bodrum. It is the site of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

halide /held/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a binary compound of a halogen with another element or group.

halier /haljε/ n. (pl. same or haliers) a monetary unit of Slovakia, equal to one hundredth of a koruna.

<ORIGIN> Slovak; compare with HALER.

halieutic /haljutk/ adj. FORMAL relating to fishing.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via Latin from Greek halieutikos, from halieutēs ‘fisherman’.

Halifax /halfaks/ 1 the capital of Nova Scotia, Canada; pop. 117,100 (est. 2002); metropolitan areas pop. 359,183 (2001). It is Canada's principal ice-free port on the Atlantic coast. [<ORIGIN> named after George Montagu Dunk (1716–71), the second earl of Halifax.]

2 a town in northern England, on the River Calder, formerly in Yorkshire; pop. 94,200 (est. 2002).

halite /halt/ n. [mass noun] sodium chloride as a mineral, typically occurring as colourless cubic crystals; rock salt.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek hals ‘salt’ + -ITE^1.

halitosis /haltəss/ n. technical term for BAD BREATH.

<DERIVATIVES> halitotic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin halitus ‘breath’ + -OSIS.

Hall (Marguerite) Radclyffe (1883–1943), English novelist and poet. She is chiefly remembered for her novel The Well of Loneliness (1928), an exploration of a lesbian relationship, which caused outrage and was banned in Britain for many years.

hall n. 1 the room or space just inside the front entrance of a house or flat.

- NORTH AMERICAN a corridor or area on to which rooms open.

2 a building or large room used for meetings, concerts, or other events: the village hall.

- HISTORICAL the building in which a guild was housed.

3 a large room in a mansion or palace used for receptions and banquets.

- [in names] BRITISH a large country house, especially one with a landed estate: Darlington Hall.

- the principal living room of a medieval house.

4 (also hall of residence) BRITISH a university building containing rooms for students to live in.

- the room used for meals in a college, university, or school: he dined in hall.

<ORIGIN> Old English hall, heall (originally denoting a roofed space, located centrally, for the communal use of a tribal chief and his people); of Germanic origin and related to German Halle, Dutch hall, also to Norwegian and Swedish hall.

Halle /halə/ a city in east central Germany, on the River Saale, in Saxony-Anhalt; pop. 245,300 (est. 2002).

Hallé /hale/ Sir Charles (1819–95), German-born pianist and conductor; born Karl Halle. He left Paris in 1848 and settled in Manchester, where he founded the Hallé Orchestra (1858).

Hall effect n. [PHYSICS] the production of a potential difference across an electrical conductor when a magnetic field is applied in a direction perpendicular to that of the flow of current.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Edwin H. Hall (1855–1938), American physicist.

Hallel /halεl halel/ n. (usually the Hallel) a portion of the service for certain Jewish festivals, consisting of Psalms 113–118.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew hallēl ‘praise’.

hallelujah /hallujə/ (also alleluia) exclam. God be praised (uttered in worship or as an expression of rejoicing).

■ n. an utterance of the word ‘hallelujah’ as an expression of worship or rejoicing.

- (usually Alleluia) a piece of music or church liturgy containing this: the Gospel comes after the Alleluia verse.

<ORIGIN> Old English, via ecclesiastical Latin alleluia from Greek allēlouia (in the Septuagint), or (from the 16th century) directly from Hebrew hallĕlūyāh ‘praise ye the Lord’.

Haller /halə/ Albrecht von (1708–77), Swiss anatomist and physiologist. He pioneered the study of neurology and experimental physiology and wrote the first textbook of physiology.

Halley /hali hli/ Edmond (1656–1742), English astronomer and mathematician. He is best known for identifying a bright comet (later named after him), and for successfully predicting its return.

Halley's Comet a periodical comet with an orbital period of about 76 years, its reappearance in 1758–9 having been predicted by Edmond Halley. It was first recorded in 240 BC and last appeared, rather faintly, in 1985–6.

Halliday /halde/ Michael (Alexander Kirkwood) (b.1925), English linguist. He built on the work of J. R. Firth in pursuit of a psychologically and sociologically realistic overall theory of language and its functions.

hallmark n. a mark stamped on articles of gold, silver, or platinum by the British assay offices, certifying their standard of purity.

- a distinctive feature: the tiny bubbles are the hallmark of fine champagnes.

■ v. [with obj.] stamp with a hallmark.

- mark as distinctive: this attitude hallmarks many a Briton's behaviour abroad.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as a noun): from Goldsmiths' Hall in London, where articles were tested and stamped with such a mark.

Hall of Fame a national memorial in New York City containing busts and memorials honouring the achievements of famous Americans.

- [as n.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the class or category of those who have excelled in a particular activity: the Hockey Hall of Fame.

<DERIVATIVES> Hall of Famer n.

halloo exclam. used to incite dogs to the chase during a hunt.

- used to attract someone's attention.

■ n. a cry of ‘halloo’.

■ v. (halloos, hallooing, hallooed) [no obj.] cry or shout ‘halloo’ to attract attention or to give encouragement to dogs in hunting.

- [with obj.] shout to (someone) to attract their attention.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably from the rare verb hallow ‘pursue or urge on with shouts’, from imitative Old French haloer.

halloumi /həlumi/ n. [mass noun] a mild, firm, white Cypriot cheese made from goats' or ewes' milk, used especially in cooked dishes.

<ORIGIN> from Egyptian Arabic alūm, probably from Arabic aluma ‘to be mild’.

hallow /halə/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL make holy; consecrate: the Ganges is hallowed as a sacred, cleansing river | (as adj. hallowed) hallowed ground.

- (usually as adj. hallowed) greatly revere and honour: the hallowed turf of Wimbledon.

■ n. ARCHAIC a saint or holy person.

<ORIGIN> Old English hālgian (verb), hālga (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German heiligen, also to HOLY.

Halloween (also Hallowe'en) n. the night of 31 October, the eve of All Saints' Day. Halloween is of pre-Christian origin, being associated with the Celtic festival Samhain, when ghosts and spirits were thought to be abroad. Adopted as a Christian festival, it gradually became a secular rather than a Christian observance, involving dressing up and the wearing of masks.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: contraction of All Hallow Even (see HALLOW, even^2).

Hallowes /haləz/ Odette (1912–95), French heroine of the Second World War; born Marie Céline. She worked as a British secret agent in occupied France from 1942 until captured in 1943. Imprisoned for two years, she refused to betray her associates in spite of torture and was awarded the George Cross in 1946.

hall porter n. BRITISH a concierge or a person who carries guests' luggage in a hotel.

hallstand (US hall tree) n. a coat stand in the hall of a house.

Hallstatt /haltat/ n. [usually as modifier] [ARCHAEOLOGY] a cultural phase of the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age in Europe (c.1200–600 BC in temperate continental areas), preceding the La Tène period. It is generally equated with the Urnfield complex and is associated with the early Celts.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: the name of a village in Austria, site of a burial ground of this period.

halluces plural form of HALLUX.

hallucinate /həlusnet/ v. [no obj.] experience a seemingly real perception of something not actually present, typically as a result of a mental disorder or of taking drugs: Ben began hallucinating and having fits.

- [with obj.] experience a hallucination of (something).

<DERIVATIVES> hallucinant adj. & n. hallucinator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘be deceived, have illusions’): from Latin hallucinat- ‘gone astray in thought’, from the verb hallucinari, from Greek alussein ‘be uneasy or distraught’.

hallucination n. an experience involving the apparent perception of something not present: he continued to suffer from horrific hallucinations.

hallucinatory /həlusnət(ə)ri/ adj. of or resembling a hallucination: a hallucinatory fantasy.

- inducing hallucinations: a hallucinatory drug.

hallucinogen /həlusnəd(ə)n/ n. a drug that causes hallucinations, such as LSD.

<DERIVATIVES> hallucinogenic adj.

hallux /haləks/ n. (pl. halluces /-jsiz -ləsiz/) [ANATOMY] a person's big toe.

- [ZOOLOGY] the innermost digit of the hind foot of vertebrates.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin alteration of medieval Latin allex, Latin hallus.

hallway n. another term for hall (sense 1).

halma /halmə/ n. [mass noun] a game played by two or four people using a board of 256 squares, with pieces advancing from one corner to the opposite corner by being moved over other pieces into vacant squares.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek, literally ‘leap’.

Halmahera /halməhərə/ the largest of the Molucca Islands.

halo /helə/ n. (pl. haloes or halos) 1 a circle of light shown around or above the head of a saint or holy person to represent their holiness.

- FIGURATIVE the glory associated with an esteemed person: he has lost his halo for many ordinary Russians.

2 a circle of white or coloured light around the sun, moon, or other luminous body caused by refraction through ice crystals in the atmosphere.

■ v. (haloes, haloing, haloed) [with obj.] surround with or as if with a halo.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a circle of light round the sun etc.): from medieval Latin, from Latin halos, from Greek halōs ‘disc of the sun or moon’.

halo- /helə/ combining form 1 relating to salinity: halophile. [<ORIGIN> from Greek hals, halo- ‘salt’.]

2 representing HALOGEN.

halocarbon n. [CHEMISTRY] a CFC or other compound in which the hydrogen of a hydrocarbon is replaced by halogens.

halo effect n. the tendency for an impression created in one area to influence opinion in another area.

haloform n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound derived from methane by substituting three hydrogen atoms by halogen atoms, e.g. chloroform.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from HALOGEN, on the pattern of chloroform.

halogen /haləd(ə)n hel-/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of the elements fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine, occupying group VIIA (17) of the periodic table. They are reactive non-metallic elements which form strongly acidic compounds with hydrogen from which simple salts can be made.

- [as modifier] denoting lamps and radiant heat sources using a filament surrounded by the vapour of iodine or another halogen: a halogen bulb.

<DERIVATIVES> halogenic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek hals, halo- ‘salt’ + -GEN.

halogenate /həldnet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. halogenated) [CHEMISTRY] introduce one or more halogen atoms into (a compound or molecule), usually in place of hydrogen.

<DERIVATIVES> halogenation n.

halon /heln/ n. any of a number of unreactive gaseous compounds of carbon with bromine and other halogens, used in fire extinguishers, but now known to damage the ozone layer.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from HALOGEN + -ON.

haloperidol /halə()pεrdl helə()-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic antidepressant drug used chiefly in the treatment of psychotic conditions.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of HALOGEN and PIPERIDINE + -OL.

halophile /halə()fl hel-/ n. [ECOLOGY] an organism, especially a micro-organism, that grows in or can tolerate saline conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> halophilic adj.

halophyte /haləft helə-/ n. [BOTANY] a plant adapted to growing in saline conditions, as in a salt marsh.

halothane /halə()θen/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a volatile synthetic organic compound used as a general anaesthetic.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CF_3CHBrCl.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of HALOGEN and ETHANE.

Hals /hals/ Frans (c.1580–1666), Dutch portrait and genre painter. He endowed his portraits with vitality, departing from conventional portraiture with works such as The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company (1616) and The Laughing Cavalier (1624).

Hälsingborg /hεlsbrj/ Swedish name for HELSINGBORG.

halt^1 v. bring or come to an abrupt stop: [with obj.] there is growing pressure to halt the bloodshed | [no obj.] she halted in mid sentence.

- [in imperative] used as a military command to bring marching soldiers to a stop: company, halt!

■ n. a suspension of movement or activity, typically a temporary one: a halt in production | a bus screeched to a halt.

- BRITISH a minor stopping place on a local railway line.

<PHRASES>

□ call a halt demand or order a stop: he decided to call a halt to all further discussion.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: originally in the phrase make halt, from German haltmachen, from halten ‘to hold’.

halt^2 ARCHAIC adj. lame.

■ v. [no obj.] walk with a limp.

<ORIGIN> Old English healtian (verb), halt, healt (adjective), of Germanic origin.

halter n. 1 a strap or rope placed around the head of a horse or other animal, used for leading or tethering it.

- ARCHAIC a rope with a noose for hanging a person.

2 [usually as modifier] a strap around the neck that holds a dress or top in place, leaving the shoulders and back bare: tourists in halter tops and shorts.

■ v. [with obj.] put a halter on (an animal).

- ARCHAIC hang (someone).

<ORIGIN> Old English hælftre, of Germanic origin, meaning ‘something to hold things by’; related to German Halfter, also to HELVE.

halter-break v. [with obj.] accustom (a young horse) to wearing and being handled in a halter.

haltere /haltə/ n. (usually halteres) [ZOOLOGY] the balancing organ of a two-winged fly, seen as either of a pair of knobbed filaments that take the place of the hindwings, vibrating during flight.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally plural, denoting a pair of weights like dumb-bells held in the hands to give impetus when jumping): from Greek haltēres (plural), from hallesthai ‘to leap’.

halter-neck adj. [attr.] (of a woman's garment) held up by a strap around the neck.

■ n. a halter-neck garment.

halting adj. slow and hesitant, especially through lack of confidence; faltering: she speaks halting English with a heavy accent.

<DERIVATIVES> haltingly adv.

halva /halvə -vα/ (also halvah) n. [mass noun] a Middle Eastern sweet made of sesame flour and honey.

<ORIGIN> Yiddish, or from Turkish helva, from Arabic and Persian alwā ‘sweetmeat’.

halve v. [with obj.] 1 divide into two parts of equal or roughly equal size: halve the aubergine lengthways.

- reduce or be reduced by half: [no obj.] pre-tax profits nearly halved to £5 m | [with obj.] his pledge to halve the deficit over the next four years.

- share (something) equally with another person: she insisted on halving the bill.

- [GOLF] use the same number of strokes as one's opponent and thus draw (a hole or match).

2 (usually as n. halving) fit (crossing timbers) together by cutting out half the thickness of each.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from HALF.

halvers /hαvəz/ plural n. (in phrase go halvers) INFORMAL, chiefly SCOTTISH, N. ENGLISH, & NORTH AMERICAN agree to have a half share each.

halves plural form of HALF.

halwa /halwα/ (also halwah) n. [mass noun] a sweet Indian dish consisting of carrots or semolina boiled with milk, almonds, sugar, butter, and cardamom.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic, literally ‘sweetmeat’.

halyard /haljəd/ n. a rope used for raising and lowering a sail, yard, or flag on a sailing ship.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English halier, from HALE^2 + -IER. The change in the ending in the 18th century was due to association with yard^1.

Ham /ham/ (in the Bible) a son of Noah (Gen. 10:1), traditional ancestor of the Hamites.

ham^1 n. 1 [mass noun] salted or smoked meat from the upper part of a pig's leg: thin slices of ham | [count noun] a honey-baked ham.

2 (hams) the back of the thigh or the thighs and buttocks: he squatted down on his hams.

<ORIGIN> Old English ham, hom (originally denoting the back of the knee), from a Germanic base meaning ‘be crooked’. In the late 15th century the term came to denote the back of the thigh, hence the thigh or hock of an animal.

ham^2 n. 1 [usually as modifier] an excessively theatrical actor: ham actors.

- [mass noun] excessively theatrical acting.

2 (also radio ham) INFORMAL an amateur radio operator.

■ v. (hams, hamming, hammed) [no obj.] INFORMAL overact: she hammed it up for the cameras.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US): perhaps from the first syllable of AMATEUR; compare with the US slang term hamfatter ‘inexpert performer’.

■ Sense 2 of the noun dates from the early 20th cent.

Hama /hαmα/ (also Hamah) an industrial city in western Syria, on the River Orontes; pop. 365,300 (est. 2002). It was the centre of an Aramaean kingdom in the 11th century BC. Much of the modern city was destroyed during an unsuccessful uprising against the government in 1982.

hamachi /hamati/ n. [mass noun] the young of the Japanese amberjack or yellowtail, which is fished and bred in Japan as a food fish.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

Hamada /hamədə/ Shoji (1894–1978), Japanese potter. He collaborated with Bernard Leach, working mainly in stoneware to produce utilitarian items of unpretentious simplicity.

hamadryad /hamədrəd -ad/ n. 1 [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] a nymph who lives in a tree and dies when the tree dies.

2 another term for KING COBRA.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Hamadruas, from hama ‘together’ + drus ‘tree’.

hamadryas /hamədrəs -as/ (also hamadryas baboon) n. a large Arabian and NE African baboon, the male of which has a silvery-grey cape of hair and a naked red face and rump. It was held sacred in ancient Egypt.

<INFO> Papio hamadryas, family Cercopithecidae.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: modern Latin (see HAMADRYAD).

Hamamatsu /haməmatsu/ an industrial city on the southern coast of the island of Honshu, Japan; pop. 589,500 (est. 2002).

hamamelis /haməmils/ n. the witch hazel.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: modern Latin (genus name), from Greek hamamēlis ‘medlar’.

ham-and-egger n. US INFORMAL an ordinary man.

hamartia /həmαtə/ n. a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Greek, ‘fault, failure, guilt’; the term was used in Aristotle's Poetics with reference to ancient Greek tragedy.

Hamas /hamas/ a Palestinian Islamic movement founded in 1987 with the aim of establishing a Palestinian state incorporating present-day Israel and the West Bank. In 2006 Hamas defeated the more moderate Fatah in the elections for the Palestinian National Authority.

<ORIGIN> Arabic, acronym from the official name of the organization, arakat al-Muqāwama al-Islāmiyya ‘Islamic Resistance Movement’.

hamate /hemət/ (also hamate bone) n. [ANATOMY] a carpal bone situated on the lower outside edge of the hand. It has a hook-shaped projection on the palmar side to which muscles of the little finger are attached.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin hamatus ‘hooked’, from hamus ‘hook’.

hambone /hambən/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an inferior actor or performer, especially one who uses a spurious black accent.

Hamburg^1 /hambə/ German /hambrk/ a port in northern Germany, on the River Elbe; pop. 1,688,300 (est. 2002). Founded by Charlemagne in the 9th century, it is now the largest port in Germany, with extensive shipyards.

Hamburg^2 /hambə/ n. 1 (also Hamburg steak) North American another term for HAMBURGER.

2 (also Black or Muscat Hamburg) a black variety of grape of German origin, specially adapted to hothouse cultivation.

<ORIGIN> from Hamburg^1.

hamburger n. a patty of minced beef, fried or grilled and typically served in a bread roll.

- NORTH AMERICAN minced beef.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US): from German, from Hamburg^1.

hamel /haməl hαməl/ n. S. AFRICAN a castrated ram.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans.

Hameln /hαm(ə)ln/ (also Hamelin /hamln/) a town in NW Germany, in Lower Saxony, on the River Weser; pop. 59,400 (est. 2002). A medieval market town, it is the setting of the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

hamerkop /hαməkp haməkp/ (also hammerkop /haməkp/) n. a brown African marshbird related to the storks, which has a crest that looks like a backward projection of the head, and constructs an enormous nest.

<INFO> Scopus umbretta, the only member of the family Scopidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Afrikaans, from hamer ‘hammer’ + kop ‘head’.

hames /hemz/ plural n. two curved pieces of iron or wood forming or attached to the collar of a draught horse, to which the traces are attached.

<PHRASES>

□ make a hames of IRISH INFORMAL do (something) very badly or ineptly; make a mess of: Galway made a hames of their chance of a goal.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Dutch.

ham-fisted adj. BRITISH INFORMAL clumsy; bungling: a ham-fisted attempt.

<DERIVATIVES> ham-fistedly adv. ham-fistedness n.

ham-handed adj. North American term for HAM-FISTED.

<DERIVATIVES> ham-handedly adv. ham-handedness n.

Hamhung /hamh/ an industrial city in eastern North Korea; pop. 821,200 (est. 2002). It was the centre of government of NE Korea during the Yi dynasty of 1392–1910.

Hamilcar /hamlkα hamlkα/ (c.270–229 BC), Carthaginian general, father of Hannibal. He fought Rome in the first Punic War and negotiated the terms of peace after Carthaginian defeat.

Hamilton^1 1 a town in South Lanarkshire, southern Scotland, near Glasgow; pop. 48,200 (est. 2002).

2 a port and industrial city in southern Canada, at the western end of Lake Ontario; pop. 490,268 (2001); metropolitan area pop. 662,401.

3 a city in the North Island, New Zealand; pop. 116,223 (2001).

4 the capital of Bermuda; pop. 980 (est. 2002).

Hamilton^2 Alexander (c.1757–1804), American Federalist politician. He established the US central banking system, and advocated strong central government. He was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr.

Hamilton^3 Sir Charles (1900–78), New Zealand inventor and motor-racing driver, best known for his development of the jetboat.

Hamilton^4 Lady Emma (c.1765–1815), English beauty and mistress of Lord Nelson; born Amy Lyon. She met Lord Nelson while married to Sir William Hamilton, the British ambassador to Naples. She had a daughter by Nelson in 1801 and lived with him after her husband's death in 1803.

Hamilton^5 Sir William Rowan (1806–65), Irish mathematician and theoretical physicist. Hamilton made influential contributions to optics and to the foundations of algebra and quantum mechanics.

Hamiltonian /ham(ə)ltənən/ adj. 1 [PHYSICS] & [MATHEMATICS] of or relating to the mathematician Sir William Rowan Hamilton, especially denoting concepts employed in the wave-mechanical description of particles.

2 relating to the American statesman Alexander Hamilton or his doctrines.

■ n. 1 (also hamiltonian) [PHYSICS] & [MATHEMATICS] a Hamiltonian operator or function.

2 a follower or adherent of Alexander Hamilton or his doctrines.

<DERIVATIVES> Hamiltonianism n.

■ Hamiltonian (sense 2 of the adjective)

Hamite /hamt/ n. a member of a group of North African peoples, including the ancient Egyptians and Berbers, supposedly descended from Ham, son of Noah.

Hamitic /həmtk/ adj. HISTORICAL of or denoting a hypothetical language family formerly proposed to comprise Berber, ancient Egyptian, the Cushitic languages, and the Chadic languages. These are now recognized as independent branches of the Afro-Asiatic family.

<ORIGIN> from HAMITE + -IC.

Hamito-Semitic /hamtəsmtk/ adj. former term for AFRO-ASIATIC.

Hamlet a legendary prince of Denmark, hero of a tragedy by Shakespeare.

<PHRASES>

□ Hamlet without the Prince a performance or event taking place without the principal actor or central figure.

hamlet n. a small settlement, generally one smaller than a village, and strictly (in Britain) one without a church.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hamelet, diminutive of hamel ‘little village’; related to HOME (hám in Old English).

Hamm /ham/ an industrial city in NW Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia, on the Lippe River; pop. 178,000 (est. 2002).

hammam /hamam həmαm/ n. a Turkish bath.

<ORIGIN> from Turkish or Arabic ammām ‘bath’, from amma ‘to heat’.

Hammarskjöld /haməld/ Dag (Hjalmar Agne Carl) (1905–61), Swedish diplomat and politician. As Secretary General of the United Nations (1953–61) he was influential in the establishment of the UN emergency force in Sinai and Gaza (1956), and also initiated peace moves in the Middle East (1957–8). He was posthumously awarded the 1961 Nobel Peace Prize.

Hammer (in full Hammer Film Productions) a British film company founded in 1948, known especially for its horror films.

hammer n. 1 a tool with a heavy metal head mounted at right angles at the end of a handle, used for jobs such as breaking things and driving in nails.

- a machine with a metal block for giving a heavy blow to something.

- an auctioneer's gavel, tapped to indicate a sale.

- a part of a mechanism that hits another part to make it work, such as one exploding the charge in a gun or one striking the strings of a piano.

2 a metal ball of about 7 kg attached to a wire for throwing in an athletic contest.

- (the hammer) the sport of throwing such a ball.

3 another term for MALLEUS.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 hit or beat (something) repeatedly with a hammer or similar object: he hammered the tack in.

- [no obj.] strike or knock at or on something violently with one's hand or with a hammer or other object: she hammered on his door | [with obj.] he hammered the ball wildly over the crossbar.

- [no obj.] (hammer away) work hard and persistently: they must hammer away at these twin themes day after day.

- (hammer something in/into) inculcate something forcefully or repeatedly: a commercial image that was hammered into English consciousness.

- (hammer something out) laboriously work out the details of a plan or agreement.

- (hammer something out) play something on a piano loudly and unskilfully.

2 INFORMAL attack or criticize forcefully and relentlessly: he got hammered for an honest mistake.

- utterly defeat in a game or contest: they hammered St Mirren 4–0.

3 [STOCK EXCHANGE], INFORMAL beat down the price of (a stock).

4 [STOCK EXCHANGE] declare (a person or company) a defaulter. [<ORIGIN> from the practice of striking three strokes with a mallet on the side of a rostrum in the Stock Exchange before a formal declaration of default.]

<PHRASES>

□ come (or go) under the hammer be sold at an auction.

□ hammer and tongs INFORMAL energetically, enthusiastically, or with great vehemence: racehorses going at it hammer and tongs.

□ hammer something home see HOME.

<DERIVATIVES> hammerless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hamor, hamer, of Germanic origin: related to Dutch hamer, German Hammer, and Old Norse hamarr ‘rock’. The original sense was probably ‘stone tool’.

hammer and sickle n. the symbols of the industrial worker and the peasant used as the emblem of the former Soviet Union and of international communism.

hammer beam n. a short wooden beam (typically carved) projecting from a wall to support either a principal rafter or one end of an arch.

hammer drill n. a power drill that works by delivering a rapid succession of blows, used chiefly for drilling in masonry or rock.

hammered adj. INFORMAL very drunk.

Hammerfest /haməfεst/ a port in northern Norway, on North Kvaløy island; pop. 9,216 (1998). It is the northernmost town in Europe.

hammerhead n. 1 (also hammerhead shark) a shark of tropical and temperate oceans that has flattened blade-like extensions on either side of the head, with the eyes and nostrils placed at or near the ends.

<INFO> Family Sphyrnidae and genus Sphyrna: several species.

2 another term for HAMERKOP.

hammering n. 1 [mass noun] the action or sound of hammering something.

2 INFORMAL a heavy defeat: a 7–0 hammering by the league leaders.

<PHRASES>

□ take a hammering INFORMAL be subjected to a heavy defeat or harsh treatment.

hammerlock n. an armlock in which a person's arm is bent up behind their back.

hammer price n. the price realized by an item sold at auction.

Hammerstein /haməstn/ Oscar (1895–1960), American librettist; full name Oscar Hammerstein II. He collaborated with various composers, most notably Richard Rodgers, with whom he wrote Oklahoma! (1943), South Pacific (1949), and The Sound of Music (1959).

hammer toe n. a toe that is bent permanently downwards, typically as a result of pressure from footwear.

Hammett /hamt/ (Samuel) Dashiell (1894–1961), American novelist. His hard-boiled style of detective fiction is exemplified in works such as The Maltese Falcon (1930) and The Thin Man (1932).

hammock n. a bed made of canvas or rope mesh suspended from two supports by cords at both ends.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the Spanish form hamaca): via Spanish from Taino hamaka; the ending was altered in the 16th century by association with -OCK.

Hammond Dame Joan (1912–96), Australian operatic soprano, born in New Zealand.

Hammond organ n. TRADEMARK a type of electronic organ.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Laurens Hammond (1895–1973), American mechanical engineer.

Hammurabi /hamrαbi/ (d.1750 BC), the sixth king of the first dynasty of Babylonia, reigned 1792–1750 BC. He extended the Babylonian empire and instituted one of the earliest known collections of laws.

hammy adj. (hammier, hammiest) 1 INFORMAL (of acting or an actor) exaggerated or over-theatrical.

2 (of a hand or thigh) thick and solid.

<DERIVATIVES> hammily adv. hamminess n.

Hamnett /hamnt/ Katharine (b.1952), English fashion designer.

hamper^1 n. a basket with a carrying handle and a hinged lid, used for food, cutlery, and plates on a picnic.

- BRITISH a basket or box containing food for a special occasion: a Christmas food hamper.

- NORTH AMERICAN a large basket with a lid, used for laundry.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting any large case or casket): from Anglo-Norman French hanaper ‘case for a goblet’, from Old French hanap ‘goblet’, of Germanic origin.

hamper^2 v. [with obj.] hinder or impede the movement or progress of: their work is hampered by lack of funds.

■ n. [mass noun] [NAUTICAL] necessary but cumbersome equipment on a ship.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘shackle, entangle, catch’): perhaps related to German hemmen ‘restrain’.

Hampshire^1 a county on the coast of southern England; county town, Winchester.

Hampshire^2 n. a pig of a black breed with a white saddle and erect ears.

Hampstead a residential suburb of NW London.

Hampton a city in SE Virginia, on the harbour of Hampton Roads, on Chesapeake Bay; pop. 146,400 (2000).

Hampton Court a palace on the north bank of the Thames in the borough of Richmond-upon-Thames, London, a favourite royal residence until the reign of George II. Its gardens contain a well-known maze.

Hampton Roads a deep-water estuary 6 km (4 miles) long, formed by the James River where it joins Chesapeake Bay, on the Atlantic coast in SE Virginia.

hamster n. a solitary burrowing rodent with a short tail and large cheek pouches for carrying food, native to Europe and North Asia.

<INFO> Subfamily Cricetinae, family Muridae: several genera and species, in particular the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), often kept as a pet or laboratory animal, and the common hamster (Cricetus cricetus).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from German, from Old High German hamustro ‘corn weevil’.

hamstring n. any of five tendons at the back of a person's knee: he pulled a hamstring.

- the great tendon at the back of a quadruped's hock.

■ v. (past and past participle hamstrung) [with obj.] cripple (a person or animal) by cutting their hamstrings.

- severely restrict the efficiency or effectiveness of: we were hamstrung by a total lack of knowledge.

<ORIGIN> 16th century: from HAM^1 + STRING.

Hamsun /hamsn/ Knut (1859–1952), Norwegian novelist; pseudonym of Knut Pedersen. Notable works: Hunger (1890) and Growth of the Soil (1917). Nobel Prize for Literature (1920).

hamulus /hamjləs/ n. (pl. hamuli /-l -li/) [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] a small hook or hook-like projection, especially one of a number linking the fore- and hindwings of a bee or wasp.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, diminutive of hamus ‘hook’.

hamza /hamzə/ n. (in Arabic script) a symbol representing a glottal stop.

- a glottal stop.

<ORIGIN> Arabic, literally ‘compression’.

Han /han/ 1 the Chinese dynasty that ruled from 206 BC until AD 220 with only a brief interruption. During this period Chinese rule was extended over Mongolia, Confucianism was recognized as the state philosophy, and detailed historical records were kept.

2 the dominant ethnic group in China.

Hancock Tony (1924–68), English comedian; full name Anthony John Hancock. He made his name in 1954 with the radio series Hancock's Half Hour, which was later adapted to television (1956–61).

hand n. 1 the end part of a person's arm beyond the wrist, including the palm, fingers, and thumb: the palm of her hand | he was leading her by the hand.

- a prehensile organ resembling the hand and forming the end part of a limb of various mammals, such as that on all four limbs of a monkey.

- W. INDIAN a person's arm, including the hand.

- [as modifier] operated by or held in the hand: hand luggage.

- [as modifier or in combination] done or made manually rather than by machine: hand signals | a hand-stitched quilt.

- [in sing.] INFORMAL a round of applause: his fans gave him a big hand.

- a person's handwriting: he inscribed the statement in a bold hand.

- DATED a pledge of marriage by a woman: he wrote to request the hand of her daughter in marriage.

2 something resembling a hand in form, in particular:

- a bunch of bananas.

- BRITISH a forehock of pork.

3 a pointer on a clock or watch indicating the passing of units of time: the second hand.

4 (hands) used in reference to the power to direct something: the day-to-day running of the house was in her hands | they are taking the law into their own hands.

- (usually a hand) an active role in achieving or influencing something: he had a big hand in organizing the event.

- (usually a hand) help in doing something: do you need a hand?

5 a person's workmanship, especially in artistic work: his idiosyncratic hand.

- [with adj.] a person who does something to a specified standard: I'm a great hand at inventing.

6 a person who engages in manual labour, especially in a factory, on a farm, or on board a ship: a factory hand | the ship was lost with all hands.

7 the set of cards dealt to a player in a card game.

- a round or short spell of play in a card game: they played a hand of whist.

- [BRIDGE] the cards held by a declarer as opposed to those in the dummy.

8 a unit of measurement of a horse's height, equal to 4 inches (10.16 cm). [<ORIGIN> denoting the breadth of a hand, formerly used as a more general lineal measure and taken to equal three inches.]

■ v. 1 [with two objs] pick (something) up and give it to (someone): he handed each man a glass | I handed the trowel back to him.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] hold the hand of (someone) in order to guide them in a specified direction: he handed them into the carriage.

3 [with obj.] [SAILING] take in or furl (a sail): hand in the main!

<PHRASES>

□ all hands on deck a cry or signal used on board ship, typically in an emergency, to indicate that all crew members are to go on deck.

- used to indicate that the involvement of all members of a team is required: it was all hands on deck getting breakfast ready.

□ at hand close by: a mortar burst close at hand.

- readily accessible when needed.

- close in time; about to happen: a breakthrough in combating the disease may be at hand.

□ at (or by) the hands (or hand) of through the agency of: he will undergo tests at the hands of a senior neurologist.

□ bind (or tie) someone hand and foot tie someone's hands and feet together.

□ by hand by a person and not a machine: the crop has to be harvested by hand.

- (of mail) delivered in person rather than posted.

□ get (or keep) one's hand in become (or remain) practised in something.

□ give (or lend) a hand assist in an action or enterprise.

□ hand in glove in close collusion or association: they were working hand in glove with our enemies.

□ hand in hand (of two people) with hands joined, especially as a mark of affection.

- closely associated or connected: she had the confidence that usually goes hand in hand with experience.

□ hand someone something on a plate INFORMAL make something very easily obtainable for someone: it was a win handed to him on a plate.

□ (from) hand to mouth satisfying only one's immediate needs because of lack of money fo future plans and investments: they were flat broke and living hand to mouth | [as modifier] a hand-to-mouth existence.

□ hands down easily and decisively: Swindon won hands down.

□ hands off used as a warning not to touch or interfere with something: hands off that cake tin!

- (as adj. hands-off) not involving or requiring direct control or intervention: a hands-off management style.

□ hands-on involving or offering active participation rather than theory: hands-on in-service training.

- [COMPUTING] involving or requiring personal operation at a keyboard.

□ a hand's turn [usually with negative] INFORMAL a stroke of work: they sit there without doing a hand's turn.

□ hands up! used as an instruction to raise one's hands in surrender or to signify assent or participation: hands up who saw the programme!

□ have one's hands full have as much work as one can do.

□ have one's hands tied INFORMAL be unable to act freely.

□ have to hand it to someone INFORMAL used to acknowledge the merit or achievement of someone: I've got to hand it to you—you've got the magic touch.

□ in hand 1 receiving or requiring immediate attention: he threw himself into the work in hand.

- in progress: negotiations are now well in hand.

2 ready for use if required; in reserve: he had £1,000 of borrowed cash in hand.

3 under one's control: the police had the situation well in hand.

- (of land) farmed directly by its owner and not let to tenants.

□ in safe hands protected by or in the care of someone trustworthy: the future of the cathedral is in safe hands.

□ make (or lose or spend) money hand over fist INFORMAL make (or lose or spend) money very rapidly.

□ many hands make light work PROVERB a task is soon accomplished if several people help.

□ off someone's hands not having to be dealt with or looked after by the person specified: they just want the problem off their hands.

□ on every hand all around: new technologies were springing up on every hand.

□ on hand 1 present, especially for a specified purpose: her trainer was on hand to give advice.

- readily available.

2 needing to be dealt with: they had many urgent and pressing matters on hand.

□ on someone's hands 1 used to indicate that someone is responsible for dealing with someone or something: he has a difficult job on his hands.

- used to indicate that someone is to blame for something: he has my son's blood on his hands.

2 at someone's disposal: since I retired I've had more time on my hands.

□ on the one (or the other) hand used to present factors which are opposed or which support opposing opinions: a conflict between their rationally held views on the one hand and their emotions and desires on the other.

□ out of hand 1 not under control.

2 without taking time to think: they rejected negotiations out of hand.

□ the right hand doesn't know what the left hand's doing used to convey that there is a state of confusion within a group or organization.

□ a safe pair of hands (in a sporting context) used to refer to someone who is reliable when catching a ball.

- used to denote someone who is capable, reliable, or trustworthy in the management of a situation.

□ set (or put) one's hand to start work on.

□ stay someone's hand restrain someone from acting.

□ take a hand become influential in determining something; intervene: fate was about to take a hand in the outcome of the championship.

□ to hand within easy reach: have a pen and paper to hand.

□ turn one's hand to undertake (an activity different from one's usual occupation).

□ wait on someone hand and foot attend to all someone's needs or requests, especially when this is regarded as unreasonable.

□ with one hand (tied) behind one's back with serious limitations or restrictions: at the moment, the police are tackling record crime rates with one hand tied behind their back.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ hand something down 1 pass something on to a younger person or a successor: songs are handed down from mother to daughter.

2 announce something, especially a judgement or sentence, formally or publicly.

□ hand something in give something to a person in authority for their attention.

□ hand someone off [RUGBY] push away a tackling opponent with one's hand.

□ hand something on pass something to the next person in a series or succession: he had handed on the family farm to his son.

- pass responsibility for something to someone else; delegate.

□ hand something out 1 give a share of something or one of a set of things to each of a number of people; distribute: Ralph handed out cigars.

2 impose or inflict a penalty or misfortune on someone.

□ hand over pass responsibility to someone else: he will soon hand over to a new director.

□ hand someone/thing over give someone or something, or the responsibility for someone or something, to someone else.

□ hand something round (or around) offer something to each of a number of people in turn: a big box of chocolates was handed round.

<DERIVATIVES> handless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hand, hond, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hand and German Hand.

handbag n. 1 BRITISH a small bag used by a woman to carry everyday personal items.

2 (handbags) HUMOROUS a confrontation that does not lead to serious fighting, especially among soccer players. [<ORIGIN> from the idea of women fighting with their handbags.]

■ v. (handbags, handbagging, handbagged) [with obj.] INFORMAL, HUMOROUS (of a woman) verbally attack or crush (a person or idea) ruthlessly and forcefully: I saw her last week and got handbagged for 15 minutes. [<ORIGIN> 1980s: coined by Julian Critchley, Conservative MP, with reference to Margaret Thatcher's ministerial style in cabinet meetings.]

handball n. [mass noun] 1 a game similar to fives, in which the ball is hit with the hand in a walled court.

- a team game similar to soccer in which the ball is thrown or hit with the hands rather than kicked.

2 [SOCCER] touching of the ball with the hand or arm, constituting a foul.

handbasin n. BRITISH a washbasin.

handbell n. a small bell with a handle or strap, especially one of a set tuned to a range of notes and played by a group of people.

handbill n. a small printed advertisement or other notice distributed by hand.

handbook n. a book giving information such as facts on a particular subject or instructions for operating a machine.

handbrake n. chiefly BRITISH a brake operated by hand, used to hold an already stationary vehicle.

handbrake turn n. a skidding turn in a fast-moving car, typically through 180°, effected by a sudden application of the handbrake.

handcar n. NORTH AMERICAN a light railway vehicle propelled by cranks or levers and used by workers for inspecting the track.

handcart n. a small cart pushed or drawn by hand, used for delivering merchandise or luggage.

handclap n. a clap of the hands.

handcraft v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. handcrafted) make skilfully by hand: a handcrafted rocking chair.

■ n. another term for HANDICRAFT.

hand crank n. a crank that is turned by hand.

■ v. (hand-crank) [with obj.] operate (a device) by turning a crank by hand.

hand cream n. a moisturizing cream for the hands.

handcuff n. (handcuffs) a pair of lockable linked metal rings for securing a prisoner's wrists.

■ v. [with obj.] put handcuffs on (someone): he was led into court handcuffed to a policeman.

-handed combining form 1 for or involving a specified number of hands: four-handed piano pieces.

2 chiefly using or designed for use by the hand specified: a right-handed batsman | a left-handed guitar.

3 having hands as specified: he left empty-handed.

<DERIVATIVES> -handedly adv. -handedness n.

handedness n. [mass noun] the tendency to use either the right or the left hand more naturally than the other.

Handel /hand(ə)l/ George Frederick (1685–1759), German-born composer and organist, resident in England from 1712; born Georg Friedrich Händel. A prolific composer, he is chiefly remembered for his choral works, especially the oratorio Messiah (1742), and, for orchestra, his Water Music suite (c.1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749).

handful n. (pl. handfuls) 1 a quantity that fills the hand: a small handful of fresh coriander.

- a small number or amount: only a handful of people were in the pub.

2 INFORMAL a person or group that is very difficult to deal with or control: the kids could be such a handful.

hand gallop n. an easily controlled gallop.

handglass n. 1 a magnifying glass held in the hand.

2 a small mirror with a handle.

hand grenade n. a hand-thrown grenade.

handgrip n. 1 a handle for holding something by.

2 a grasp with the hand, especially considered in terms of its strength, as in a handshake.

3 a soft bag with handles for carrying belongings in on a journey.

handgun n. a gun designed for use by one hand, chiefly either a pistol or a revolver.

hand-held adj. designed to be held in the hand: a hand-held camera.

■ n. a small computer that can be used in the hand.

handhold n. something for a hand to grip on.

handi n. (pl. handis) an earthenware or metal pot used in Indian cooking.

<ORIGIN> Hindi hnī, from Sanskrit bhāa ‘pot’.

handicap n. 1 a condition that markedly restricts a person's ability to function physically, mentally, or socially: he was born with a significant visual handicap.

- a circumstance that makes progress or success difficult: not being able to drive was something of a handicap.

2 a disadvantage imposed on a superior competitor in sports such as golf, horse racing, and competitive sailing in order to make the chances more equal.

- a race or contest in which a handicap is imposed: [in names] the National Hunt Handicap Chase.

- the extra weight allocated to be carried in a race by a racehorse on the basis of its previous form to make its chances of winning the same as those of the other horses.

- the number of strokes by which a golfer normally exceeds par for a course (used as a method of enabling players of unequal ability to compete with each other): he plays off a handicap of 10.

■ v. (handicaps, handicapping, handicapped) [with obj.] act as an impediment to: lack of funding has handicapped the development of research.

- place (someone) at a disadvantage: her lack of formal training handicapped her.

<PHRASES>

□ out of the handicap [HORSE RACING] having a handicap rating that would merit carrying a weight below the minimum specified for a race.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from the phrase hand in cap; originally a pastime in which one person claimed an article belonging to another and offered something in exchange, any difference in value being decided by an umpire. All three deposited forfeit money in a cap; the two opponents showed their agreement or disagreement with the valuation by bringing out their hands either full or empty. If both were the same, the umpire took the forfeit money; if not it went to the person who accepted the valuation. The term handicap race was applied (late 18th century) to a horse race in which an umpire decided the weight to be carried by each horse, the owners showing acceptance or dissent in a similar way: hence in the late 19th century handicap came to mean the extra weight given to the superior horse.

handicapped adj. (of a person) having a condition that markedly restricts their ability to function physically, mentally, or socially.

<USAGE> The word handicapped is first recorded in the early 20th century in the sense referring to a person's mental or physical disabilities. In British English it was the standard term until relatively recently but, like many terms in this sensitive field, its prominence has been short-lived. It has been superseded by more recent terms such as disabled, or, in reference to mental disability, having learning difficulties or learning-disabled. In American English, however, handicapped remains acceptable.

handicapper n. a person appointed to fix or assess a competitor's handicap, especially in golf or horse racing.

- [usually in combination] a person or horse having a specified handicap: a three-handicapper.

handicraft n. [mass noun] (also handicrafts) activity involving the making of decorative domestic or other objects by hand: the traditional handicrafts of this region.

- decorative domestic objects made by hand.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: alteration of HANDCRAFT, on the pattern of handiwork.

handiwork n. [mass noun] 1 (one's handiwork) something that one has made or done: the dressmakers stood back to survey their handiwork.

2 making things by hand, considered as a subject of instruction.

<ORIGIN> Old English handgeweorc, from HAND + geweorc ‘something made’, interpreted in the 16th century as handy + work.

handjob n. VULGAR SLANG an act of male masturbation, especially as performed on a man by someone else.

handkerchief /hakətf/ n. (pl. handkerchiefs or handkerchieves /-tivz/) a square of cotton or other finely woven material intended for wiping one's nose.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from HAND + KERCHIEF.

handkerchief tree n. another term for DOVE TREE.

handle v. [with obj.] 1 feel or manipulate with the hands: heavy paving slabs can be difficult to handle | people who handle food.

- (chiefly in soccer) touch (the ball) with the hand or lower arm in contravention of the rules.

2 manage (a situation or problem): a lawyer's ability to handle a case properly.

- have commercial responsibility for: the advertising company that is handling the account.

- receive or deal in (stolen goods): he admitted handling the stolen chequebook.

- INFORMAL cope or deal with (someone or something): I don't think I could handle it if they turned me down.

- [with adverbial] (handle oneself) conduct oneself in a specified manner: he handled himself with considerable aplomb.

- (handle oneself) INFORMAL defend oneself physically or verbally: I can handle myself in a fight.

3 drive or control (a vehicle): he was going too fast and couldn't handle the car.

- [no obj., with adverbial] (of a vehicle) respond in a specified manner when being driven or controlled: the new model does not handle nearly so well.

■ n. 1 the part by which a thing is held, carried, or controlled: a holdall with two carrying handles.

- (a handle on) a means of understanding, controlling, or approaching (a person or situation): this analogy will help readers to get a handle on the concept.

2 INFORMAL the name of a person or place: that's some handle for a baby.

3 [in sing.] the feel of goods, especially textiles, when handled: fabrics with a softer handle.

4 [in sing.] US INFORMAL the total amount of money bet over a particular time or at a particular event: the monthly handle of a couple of casinos in Las Vegas.

<DERIVATIVES> handleability /-blti/ n. handleable adj. handled adj. [in combination] a side-handled baton handleless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English handle (noun), handlian (verb), from HAND.

handlebar n. (usually handlebars) the steering bar of a bicycle, motorbike, scooter, or other vehicle, with a handgrip at each end.

handlebar moustache n. a wide, thick moustache with the ends curving slightly upwards.

handler n. 1 [usually with modifier] a person who handles or deals with certain articles or commodities: a baggage handler | a food handler.

2 a person who trains or has charge of an animal, in particular a police officer in charge of a dog.

3 a person who trains or manages another person, in particular:

- a person who trains and acts as second to a boxer.

- a publicity agent.

- a person who directs the activities of a spy or other freelance agent.

Handley Page Frederick, see PAGE.

handlist n. a short list of something such as items on display at a sale or exhibition or essential reading for a course of study.

handmade adj. made by hand, not by machine, and typically therefore of superior quality: his expensive handmade leather shoes.

handmaid n. ARCHAIC a female servant.

- a subservient partner or element: this is not to say that the researcher simply becomes the handmaid of the practitioner.

handmaiden n. another term for HANDMAID.

hand-me-down n. (usually hand-me-downs) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a garment or other item that has been passed on from another person.

handoff n. [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] an exchange made by handing the ball to a teammate.

handout n. 1 a quantity of financial or other material aid given to a person or organization: dependence on central government handouts.

2 a piece of printed information provided free of charge, especially to accompany a lecture or advertise something.

handover n. chiefly BRITISH an act or instance of handing something over.

handphone n. SE ASIAN a mobile phone.

hand-pick v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. hand-picked) select carefully with a particular purpose in mind: a small hand-picked group of MPs.

hand plant n. a jump or other manoeuvre in skateboarding and snowboarding involving the use of a hand to push away from a surface.

handprint n. the mark left by the impression of a hand.

handpump n. a pump operated by hand, especially for drawing well water or draught beer.

handrail n. a rail fixed to posts or a wall for people to hold on to for support.

handsaw n. a wood saw worked by one hand.

handset n. the part of a telephone that is held up to speak into and listen to.

- a hand-held controller for a piece of electronic equipment, such as a television or video recorder.

hands-free adj. (especially of a telephone) designed to be operated without using the hands.

handshake n. an act of shaking a person's hand with one's own as a greeting.

- [COMPUTING] an exchange of standardized signals between devices in a computer network regulating the transfer of data.

handshaking n. [mass noun] the action of shaking hands with a person.

- [COMPUTING] the action of exchanging standardized signals between devices in a computer network to regulate the transfer of data.

- [COMPUTING] a system of standardized signals used in handshaking.

handsome adj. (handsomer, handsomest) 1 (of a man) good-looking.

- (of a woman) striking and imposing rather than conventionally pretty.

- (of a thing) well made, imposing, and of obvious quality: handsome cookery books.

2 (of a number, sum of money, or margin) substantial: he was elected by a handsome majority.

<PHRASES>

□ handsome is as handsome does PROVERB character and behaviour are more important than appearance.

<DERIVATIVES> handsomely adv. handsomeness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from HAND + -SOME^1. The original sense was ‘easy to handle or use’, hence ‘suitable’ and ‘apt, clever’ (mid 16th century), giving rise to the current appreciatory senses (late 16th century).

handspike n. HISTORICAL a wooden rod with an iron tip, used as a lever on board ship and by artillery soldiers.

handspring n. a jump through the air on to one's hands followed by another on to one's feet.

handstand n. an act of balancing on one's hands with one's feet in the air or against a wall.

handstroke n. [BELLRINGING] a pull of the sally of the rope so as to swing the bell through a full circle. Compare with BACKSTROKE.

hand-to-hand adj. (of fighting) at close quarters: hand-to-hand combat.

hand tool n. a tool held in the hand and operated without electricity or other power.

handwork n. [mass noun] work done with the hands: the transition from handwork to machine production.

<DERIVATIVES> handworked adj.

handwoven adj. (of fabric) woven by hand or on an unpowered loom.

handwriting n. [mass noun] writing with a pen or pencil.

- a person's particular style of writing: her handwriting was small and neat.

handwritten adj. written with a pen, pencil, or other hand-held implement.

Handy W. C. (1873–1958), American blues musician; full name William Christopher Handy. He set up a music-publishing house in 1914, and his transcriptions of traditional blues helped establish the pattern of the modern twelve-bar blues.

handy adj. (handier, handiest) 1 convenient to handle or use; useful: a handy desktop encyclopedia | the brush is handy for vacuuming stubborn dust and dirt.

2 ready to hand: keep credit cards handy.

- placed or occurring conveniently: a hotel in a handy central location.

3 skilful: he's handy with a needle.

■ n. (pl. handies) (in Europe) a mobile phone.

<PHRASES>

□ come in handy INFORMAL turn out to be useful: the sort of junk that might come in handy one day.

<DERIVATIVES> handily adv. handiness n.

handyman n. (pl. handymen) a person able or employed to do occasional domestic repairs and minor renovations.

hanepoot /hαnəpət/ n. [mass noun] a variety of muscat grape, Muscat d'Alexandrie, grown in South Africa.

- a sweet wine made from the hanepoot grape, unfortified for table use, and fortified as a muscatel dessert wine.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from Dutch haan ‘cock’ + poot ‘foot’.

hang v. (past and past participle hung except in sense 2) 1 suspend or be suspended from above with the lower part dangling free: [with obj.] that's where people are supposed to hang their washing | [no obj.] he stood swaying, his arms hanging limply by his sides.

- attach or be attached to a hook on a wall: [with obj.] we could just hang the pictures on the walls | [no obj.] the room in which the pictures will hang.

- (be hung with) be adorned with (pictures or other decorations): the walls of her hall were hung with examples of her work.

- attach or be attached so as to allow free movement about the point of attachment: [with obj.] a long time was spent hanging a couple of doors | [no obj., with complement] she just sat with her mouth hanging open.

- [with obj.] attach (meat or game) to a hook and leave it until dry, tender, or high.

- [no obj., with adverbial] (of fabric or a garment) fall or drape from a fixed point in a specified way: this blend of silk and wool hangs well and resists creases.

- [with obj.] paste (wallpaper) to a wall.

2 (past and past participle hanged) [with obj.] kill (someone) by tying a rope attached from above around their neck and removing the support from beneath them (often used as a form of capital punishment): he was hanged for murder | she hanged herself in her cell.

- [no obj.] be killed by hanging: both men were sentenced to hang.

- DATED used in expressions as a mild oath: [no obj.] they could all go hang | [with obj.] I'm hanged if I know.

3 [no obj., with adverbial of place] remain static in the air: a black pall of smoke hung over Valletta.

- be present or imminent, especially oppressively or threateningly: a sense of dread hung over him for days.

4 [COMPUTING] come or cause to come unexpectedly to a state in which no further operations can be carried out.

5 [with obj.] [BASEBALL] deliver (a pitch) which does not change direction and is easily hit by a batter.

6 North American informal way of saying hang around (sense 2) or hang out (sense 3).

■ n. [in sing.] a downward droop or bend: the bullish hang of his head.

- the way in which something hangs: the hang of the garments.

- the way in which pictures are displayed in an exhibition.

■ exclam. S. African DATED used to express a range of strong emotions from enthusiasm to anger: hang, but I loved those soldiers!

<PHRASES>

□ get the hang of INFORMAL learn how to operate or do (something): I never got the hang of roller-skating.

□ hang by a thread see THREAD.

□ hang fire delay or be delayed in taking action or progressing.

□ hang one's hat NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be resident.

□ hang heavily (or heavy) (of time) pass slowly.

□ hang in the air remain unresolved: the success of the Green movement has left that rather uncomfortable question hanging in the air.

□ hang a left (or right) INFORMAL, NORTH AMERICAN make a left (or right) turn.

□ hang LOOSE see LOOSE.

□ (a) hang of (a) S. African INFORMAL used to emphasize something very bad or great: we had to walk a hang of a long way. [<ORIGIN> hang, a euphemism for hell, apparently from New Zealand English.]

□ hang someone out to dry INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN leave someone in a difficult or vulnerable situation.

□ hang ten [SURFING] ride a surfboard with all ten toes curled over the board's front edge.

□ hang tough NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be or remain inflexible or firmly resolved.

□ let it all hang out INFORMAL be very relaxed or uninhibited.

□ not CARE (or GIVE) a hang INFORMAL not care at all.

□ you may (or might) as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb PROVERB if the penalty for two offences is the same, you might as well commit the more serious one, especially if it brings more benefit.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ hang around (or round or British about) 1 loiter; wait around: undercover officers spent most of their time hanging around bars.

- INFORMAL wait: [in imperative] hang about, you see what it says here?

2 (hang around with) associate with (someone): I hung around with the thugs.

□ hang back remain behind: Stephen hung back for fear of being seen.

- show reluctance to act or move: I do not believe that our European neighbours will hang back from this.

□ hang in INFORMAL remain persistent and determined in difficult circumstances: in the second half, we just had to hang in there.

□ hang on 1 hold tightly: he hung on to the back of her coat.

- INFORMAL remain firm or persevere, especially in difficult circumstances: United hung on for victory.

- (hang on to) keep; retain: he is determined to hang on to his job.

2 INFORMAL wait for a short time: hang on a minute—do you think I might have left anything out?

- (on the telephone) remain connected until one is able to talk to a particular person.

3 be contingent or dependent on: everything hangs on the forthcoming by-elections.

4 listen closely to: she hung on his every word.

□ hang something on INFORMAL attach the blame for something to (someone).

□ hang out 1 (of washing) hang from a clothes line to dry.

2 protrude and hang loosely downwards: chaps in jeans with their shirts hanging out.

- (hang out of) lean out of: he was found after the collision hanging out of the defendant's car.

3 INFORMAL spend time relaxing or enjoying oneself: musicians hang out with their own kind.

4 AUSTRALIAN/NZ resist or survive in difficult circumstances; hold out.

- (hang out for) desire strongly; crave.

□ hang something out hang something on a line or pole or from a window.

□ hang together 1 make sense; be consistent: it helps the speech to hang together.

2 (of people) remain associated; help or support each other.

□ hang up 1 hang from a hook: your dressing gown's hanging up behind the door.

2 end a telephone conversation by cutting the connection.

- (hang up on) end a telephone conversation with (someone) by abruptly and unexpectedly cutting the connection.

□ hang something up hang something on a hook: Jamie hung up our jackets.

- INFORMAL cease or retire from the activity associated with the garment or object specified: the midfielder has finally decided to hang up his boots.

<ORIGIN> Old English hangian (intransitive verb), of West Germanic origin, related to Dutch and German hangen, reinforced by the Old Norse transitive verb hanga.

<USAGE> In modern English hang has two past tense and past participle forms: hanged and hung. Hung is the normal form in most general uses, e.g. they hung out the washing; she hung around for a few minutes; he had hung the picture over the fireplace, but hanged is the form normally used in reference to execution by hanging: the prisoner was hanged. The reason for this distinction is a complex historical one: hanged, the earlier form, was superseded by hung sometime after the 16th century; it is likely that the retention of hanged for the execution sense may have to do with the tendency of archaic forms to remain in the legal language of the courts.

hangar /haə/ n. a large building with an extensive floor area, typically for housing aircraft.

■ v. [with obj.] house (an aircraft) in a hangar.

<DERIVATIVES> hangarage n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘shelter’): from French; probably from Germanic bases meaning ‘hamlet’ and ‘enclosure’.

Hangchow /hata/ variant of HANGZHOU.

hangdog adj. having a dejected or guilty appearance; shamefaced: the hangdog look of a condemned man.

hanger^1 n. 1 [in combination] a person who hangs something: a wallpaper-hanger.

2 (also coat hanger) a shaped piece of wood, plastic, or metal with a hook at the top, from which clothes may be hung in order to keep them in shape.

hanger^2 n. BRITISH a wood on the side of a steep hill.

<ORIGIN> Old English hangra, from hangian ‘hang’.

hanger-on n. (pl. hangers-on) a person who associates with another person or a group in a sycophantic manner or for the purpose of gaining some personal advantage.

hang-glider n. an unpowered flying apparatus for a single person, consisting of a frame with a fabric aerofoil stretched over it. The operator is suspended from a harness below and controls flight by body movement.

- a person flying a hang-glider.

<DERIVATIVES> hang-glide v. hang-gliding n.

hangi /hai hαi/ n. NZ a pit in which food is cooked on heated stones.

- [mass noun] the food cooked in such a pit.

- a meal or gathering at which such food is cooked and served.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

hanging n. 1 [mass noun] the practice of hanging condemned people as a form of capital punishment.

2 a decorative piece of fabric or curtain hung on the wall of a room or around a bed.

■ adj. [attr.] suspended in the air: hanging palls of smoke.

- situated or designed so as to appear to hang down: hanging gardens.

hanging basket n. a basket or similar container which can be suspended from a building by a small rope or chain and in which decorative flowering plants are grown.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon legendary terraced gardens at Babylon, watered by pumps from the Euphrates, whose construction was ascribed to Nebuchadnezzar (c.600 BC). They were one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

hanging valley n. a valley which is cut across by a deeper valley or a cliff.

hangman n. (pl. hangmen) an executioner who hangs condemned people.

- [mass noun] a game for two in which one player tries to guess the letters of a word, the other player recording failed attempts by drawing a gallows and someone hanging on it, line by line.

hangnail n. a piece of torn skin at the root of a fingernail.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: alteration of agnail ‘painful swelling around a nail’ (from Old English angnægl, denoting a corn on the toe), influenced by HANG.

hang-out n. INFORMAL a place one lives in or frequently visits.

hangover n. 1 a severe headache or other after-effects caused by drinking an excess of alcohol.

2 a custom, habit, feeling, etc. that survives from the past: this feeling of insecurity was in part a hangover from her schooldays.

Hang Seng index /ha sε/ a figure indicating the relative price of shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

<ORIGIN> named after the Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong, where it was devised.

hang-up n. INFORMAL an emotional problem or inhibition: people with hang-ups about their age.

Hangzhou /hadə/ (also Hangchow) the capital of Zhejiang province in eastern China, situated on Hangzhou Bay, an inlet of the Yellow Sea, at the southern end of the Grand Canal; pop. 3,010,000 (est. 2002).

hank n. 1 a coil or skein of wool, hair, or other material: a thick hank of her blonde hair.

2 a measurement of the length per unit mass of cloth or yarn, which varies according to the type being measured. For example it is equal to 840 yards for cotton yarn and 560 yards for worsted.

3 [SAILING] a ring for securing a staysail to the stay.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse hnk; compare with Swedish hank ‘string’ and Danish hank ‘handle’.

hanker v. [no obj.] (hanker after/for/to do something) feel a strong desire for or to do something: he hankered after a lost golden age | she hankered to go back.

<DERIVATIVES> hankerer n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: probably related to HANG; compare with Dutch hunkeren.

hankering n. a strong desire to have or do something: a hankering for family life. [with infinitive] he had a hankering to return to Scotland.

Hanks /haks/ Tom (b.1956), American actor; full name Thomas J. Hanks. He won Oscars for his performances in Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994).

hanky (also hankie) n. (pl. hankies) INFORMAL a handkerchief.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

hanky-panky n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, HUMOROUS behaviour, in particular sexual or legally dubious behaviour, considered improper but not seriously so: suspicions of financial hanky-panky.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps an alteration of HOKEY-POKEY.

Hannibal /hanb(ə)l/ (247–182 BC), Carthaginian general. In the second Punic War he attacked Italy via the Alps, repeatedly defeating the Romans, but failed to take Rome itself.

Hanoi /han/ the capital of Vietnam, situated on the Red River in the north of the country; pop. 1,372,800 (est. 2002). It was the capital of French Indo-China from 1887 to 1946 and of North Vietnam before the reunification of North and South Vietnam.

Hanover /hanə()və/ an industrial city in NW Germany, on the Mittelland Canal; pop. 516,800 (est. 2002). It is the capital of Lower Saxony. German name Hannover /hanəf/.

- a former state and province in northern Germany. In 1714 the Elector of Hanover succeeded to the British throne as George I, and from then until the accession of Victoria (1837) the same monarch ruled both Britain and Hanover.

- the British royal house from 1714 to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.

Hanoverian /hanə()vərən/ adj. relating to the royal house of Hanover.

■ n. 1 (usually the Hanoverians) any of the British sovereigns from George I to Victoria.

2 a medium-built horse of a German breed, developed for use both as a riding horse and in harness.

Hansard /hansαd -səd/ n. the official verbatim record of debates in the British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, or South African parliament.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Thomas C. Hansard (1776–1833), an English printer whose company originally printed it.

Hanse /hansə/ n. a medieval guild of merchants.

- (the Hanse) the Hanseatic League.

- a fee payable to a guild of merchants.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hanse ‘guild, company’, from Old High German hansa ‘company, troop’.

Hanseatic League /hansatk/ a medieval association of north German cities, formed in 1241 and surviving until the 19th century. In the later Middle Ages it included over 100 towns and functioned as an independent political power.

<ORIGIN> Hanseatic from medieval Latin Hanseaticus, from hansa (see HANSE).

hansel /hans(ə)l/ (also handsel) ARCHAIC or US n. a gift given at the beginning of the year or to mark an acquisition or the start of an enterprise, supposedly to bring good luck.

- the first instalment of a payment.

■ v. (hansels, hanselling, hanselled; US hansels, hanseling, hanseled) [with obj.] give a hansel to: the practice of hanselling the master still flourished in Scotland.

- inaugurate (something), especially by being the first to try it: a floodlit fixture to officially hansel the completed stadium.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting luck): apparently related to late Old English handselen ‘giving into a person's hands’, and Old Norse handsal ‘giving of the hand to seal a promise’, from HAND + an element related to SELL; the notion of ‘luck’, however, is not present in these words.

Hansen's disease /hans(ə)nz/ n. another term for LEPROSY.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Gerhard H. A. Hansen (1841–1912), the Norwegian physician who discovered the causative agent of the disease.

hansom /hans(ə)m/ (also hansom cab) n. HISTORICAL a two-wheeled horse-drawn cab accommodating two inside, with the driver seated behind.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Joseph A. Hansom (1803–82), English architect, patentee of such a cab in 1834.

hantavirus /hantəvrəs/ n. a virus of a genus carried by rodents and causing various febrile haemorrhagic diseases, often with kidney damage or failure.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from Hantaan (the name of a river in Korea where the virus was first isolated) + VIRUS.

Hants abbr. Hampshire.

Hanukkah /hankə x-/ (also Chanukkah) n. a lesser Jewish festival, lasting eight days from the 25th day of Kislev (in December) and commemorating the rededication of the Temple in 165 BC by the Maccabees after its desecration by the Syrians. It is marked by the successive kindling of eight lights.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ănukkāh ‘consecration’.

Hanuman /hnmαn/ [HINDUISM] a semi-divine being of monkey-like form, whose exploits are described in the Ramayana.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit hanumant ‘large-jawed’.

hanuman /hnmαn/ (also hanuman langur) n. a pale-coloured langur monkey of the Indian subcontinent, venerated by Hindus.

<INFO> Presbytis entellus, family Cercopithecidae.

hap ARCHAIC n. [mass noun] luck; fortune.

- [count noun] a chance occurrence, especially an event that is considered unlucky.

■ v. (haps, happing, happed) [no obj.] come about by chance.

- [with infinitive] have the fortune or luck to do something: where'er I happ'd to roam.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse happ.

hapax legomenon /hapaks lmnn/ n. (pl. hapax legomena /-mnə/) a term of which only one instance of use is recorded.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: Greek, ‘a thing said once’, from hapax ‘once’ and the passive participle of legein ‘to say’.

haphazard /haphazəd/ adj. lacking any obvious principle of organization: the music business works in a haphazard fashion.

<DERIVATIVES> haphazardly adv. haphazardness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from HAP + HAZARD.

hapkido /hapkidə/ n. [mass noun] a Korean martial art characterized by kicking and circular movements.

<ORIGIN> Korean, literally ‘way of coordinated energy’.

hapless adj. (especially of a person) unfortunate: the hapless victims of the disaster.

<DERIVATIVES> haplessly adv. haplessness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from HAP (in the early sense ‘good fortune’) + -LESS.

haplo- combining form single; simple: haplography | haploid.

<ORIGIN> from Greek haploos ‘single’.

haplochromine /haplə()krəmn/ [ZOOLOGY] adj. relating to or denoting cichlid fishes of a large and diverse group that are particularly abundant in the large lakes of East Africa.

■ n. a haplochromine fish.

<INFO> Haplochromis and related genera, family Cichlidae.

<ORIGIN> from the modern Latin genus name.

haplodiploid /haplə()dpld/ adj. [BIOLOGY] denoting or possessing a genetic system in which females develop from fertilized (diploid) eggs and males from unfertilized (haploid) ones.

haplography /haplrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the inadvertent omission of a repeated letter or letters in writing (e.g. writing philogy for philology).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek haploos ‘single’ + -GRAPHY.

haploid /hapld/ [GENETICS] adj. (of a cell or nucleus) having a single set of unpaired chromosomes. Compare with DIPLOID.

- (of an organism or part) composed of haploid cells.

■ n. a haploid organism or cell.

<DERIVATIVES> haploidy n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek haploos ‘single’ + -OID.

haplology /hapllədi/ n. the omission of one occurrence of a sound or syllable which is repeated within a word (e.g. in February pronounced as /fεbri)/.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek haploos ‘single’ + -LOGY.

haplotype /haplətp/ n. [GENETICS] a set of genetic determinants located on a single chromosome.

happen v. [no obj.] 1 take place; occur: two hours had passed and still nothing had happened | the accident happened at 7.40 a.m.

- ensue as an effect or result of an action or event: this is what happens when the mechanism goes wrong.

- [with infinitive] chance to do something or come about: we just happened to meet Paul | there happens to be a clash of personalities.

- [with clause] come about by chance: it just so happened that she turned up that afternoon.

- (happen on) find or come across by chance: I happened on a street with a few modest restaurants.

- [with infinitive] used as a polite formula in questions: do you happen to know who her doctor is?

2 (happen to) be experienced by (someone); befall: the same thing happened to me.

- become of: I don't care what happens to the money.

■ adv. [sentence adv.] N. ENGLISH perhaps; maybe: happen I'll go back just for a while.

<PHRASES>

□ as it happens actually; as a matter of fact: we've got a room vacant, as it happens.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (superseding the verb hap): from the noun HAP + -EN^1.

happening n. 1 an event or occurrence: altogether it was an eerie happening.

2 a partly improvised or spontaneous piece of theatrical or other artistic performance, typically involving audience participation.

■ adj. INFORMAL fashionable; trendy: a happening neighbourhood.

happenstance /hap(ə)nstans/ n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN coincidence: it was just happenstance that I happened to be there | [count noun] an untoward happenstance for Trudy.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of HAPPEN and CIRCUMSTANCE.

happi /hapi/ (also happi coat) n. (pl. happis) a loose informal Japanese coat.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Japanese.

happily adv. in a happy way.

- [sentence adv.] it is fortunate that: happily, today's situation is very different.

happiness n. [mass noun] the state of being happy: she struggled to find happiness in her life. | Tom's heart swelled with happiness.

happy adj. (happier, happiest) 1 feeling or showing pleasure or contentment: Melissa came in looking happy and excited | [with clause] we're just happy that he's still alive | [with infinitive] they are happy to see me doing well.

- (happy about) having a sense of trust and confidence in (a person, arrangement, or situation): he was not happy about the proposals.

- (happy with) satisfied with the quality or standard of: I'm happy with his performance.

- [with infinitive] willing to do something: we will be happy to advise you.

- [attr.] used in greetings: happy Christmas.

- [attr.] fortunate and convenient: he had the happy knack of making people like him.

2 [in combination] INFORMAL inclined to use a specified thing excessively or at random: they tended to be grenade-happy.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) happy as a sandboy (or British Larry or North American a clam) extremely happy.

□ happy hunting ground a place where success or enjoyment is obtained. [<ORIGIN> originally referring to the optimistic hope of American Indians for good hunting grounds in the afterlife.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘lucky’): from the noun HAP + -Y^1.

happy-clappy BRITISH INFORMAL adj. belonging to or characteristic of a Christian group whose worship is marked by enthusiastic participation.

■ n. (pl. happy-clappies) a member of a Christian group whose worship is marked by enthusiastic participation.

happy families n. [mass noun] British a children's card game played with special cards in sets of four, each depicting members of a ‘family’, the object being to acquire as many sets as possible.

happy-go-lucky adj. cheerfully unconcerned about the future: a happy-go-lucky attitude.

happy hour n. a period of the day when drinks are sold at reduced prices in a bar or other licensed establishment.

happy medium n. a satisfactory compromise: you have to strike a happy medium between looking like royalty and looking like a housewife.

hapten /haptən/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a small molecule which, when combined with a larger carrier such as a protein, can elicit the production of antibodies which bind specifically to it (in the free or combined state).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek haptein ‘fasten’.

haptic /haptk/ adj. TECHNICAL relating to the sense of touch, in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using the senses of touch and proprioception.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek haptikos ‘able to touch or grasp’, from haptein ‘fasten’.

haptoglobin /haptə()ləbn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein present in blood serum which binds to and removes free haemoglobin from the bloodstream.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Greek haptein ‘fasten’ + (haemo)globin.

hapu /hαpu/ n. NZ a division of a Maori people or community.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

hara-kiri /harəkri/ n. [mass noun] ritual suicide by disembowelment with a sword, formerly practised in Japan by samurai as an honourable alternative to disgrace or execution.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: colloquial Japanese, from hara ‘belly’ + kiri ‘cutting’.

haram /hαrαm/ adj. forbidden or proscribed by Islamic law.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic arām ‘forbidden’.

harambee /hərambi/ n. (in East Africa) an event held to raise funds for a charitable purpose: [as modifier] harambee functions.

<ORIGIN> Swahili, literally ‘pulling or working together’ (a slogan of the first independent government of Kenya).

harangue /həra/ n. a lengthy and aggressive speech.

■ v. [with obj.] lecture (someone) at length in an aggressive and critical manner: he harangued the public on their ignorance.

<DERIVATIVES> haranguer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French arenge, from medieval Latin harenga, perhaps of Germanic origin. The spelling was later altered to conform with French harangue (noun), haranguer (verb).

Harappa /hərapə/ an ancient city of the Indus valley civilization (c.2600–1700 BC), in northern Pakistan. The site of the ruins was discovered in 1920.

Harare /hərαri/ the capital of Zimbabwe; pop. 1,864,400 (est. 2002). Former name (until 1982) Salisbury^1.

harass /harəs həras/ v. [with obj.] subject to aggressive pressure or intimidation: if someone is being harassed at work because of their sexuality they should contact the police.

- make repeated small-scale attacks on (an enemy): the squadron's task was to harass the retreating enemy forces.

<DERIVATIVES> harasser n. harassingly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French harasser, from harer ‘set a dog on’, from Germanic hare, a cry urging a dog to attack.

<USAGE> There are two possible pronunciations of the word harass: one with the stress on the har- and the other with the stress on the -rass. The former pronunciation is the older one and is regarded by some people as the only correct one, especially in British English. However, the pronunciation with the stress on the second syllable -rass is very common and is now accepted as a standard alternative.

harassed /harəst hərast/ adj. feeling or looking strained as a result of having too many demands made on one: it is a godsend for harassed parents.

<USAGE> See usage at harass.

harassment /harəsm(ə)nt hərasm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] aggressive pressure or intimidation: they face daily harassment by the police.

<USAGE> See usage at harass.

Harbin /hαbin -bn/ the capital of Heilongjiang province in NE China, on the Songhua River; pop. 4,438,200 (est. 2002).

harbinger /hαbn(d)ə/ n. a person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another: witch hazels are the harbingers of spring.

- a forerunner of something.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French herbergere, from herbergier ‘provide lodging for’, from herberge ‘lodging’, from Old Saxon heriberga ‘shelter for an army, lodging’ (from heri ‘army’ + a Germanic base meaning ‘fortified place’), related to HARBOUR. The term originally denoted a person who provided lodging, later one who went ahead to find lodgings for an army or for a nobleman and his retinue, hence, a herald (mid 16th century).

harbour (US harbor) n. a place on the coast where ships may moor in shelter, especially one protected from rough water by piers, jetties, and other artificial structures.

- FIGURATIVE a place of refuge: a safe harbour for children in distress.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 keep (a thought or feeling, typically a negative one) in one's mind, especially secretly: she started to harbour doubts about the wisdom of their journey.

2 give a home or shelter to: woodlands that once harboured a colony of red deer.

- shelter or hide (a criminal or wanted person): he was suspected of harbouring an escaped prisoner.

- carry the germs of (a disease).

3 [no obj.] ARCHAIC (of a ship or its crew) moor in a harbour: he might have harboured in Falmouth.

<DERIVATIVES> harbourless adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English herebeorg ‘shelter, refuge’, herebeorgian ‘occupy shelter’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch herberge and German Herberge, also to French auberge ‘inn’; see also HARBINGER.

harbourage (US harborage) n. a harbour or other place of shelter.

harbour master (US harbormaster) n. an official in charge of a harbour.

harbour seal n. North American term for common seal^1.

hard adj. 1 solid, firm, and rigid; not easily broken, bent, or pierced: the slate broke on the hard floor | rub the varnish down when it's hard.

- (of a person) not showing any signs of weakness; tough: only a handful are hard enough to join the SAS.

- (of prices of shares, commodities, etc.) high and stable; firm.

2 done with a great deal of force or strength: a hard whack.

3 requiring a great deal of endurance or effort: airship-flying was pretty hard work | it's hard for drummers these days | [with infinitive] she found it hard to believe that he could be involved.

- putting a lot of energy into an activity: he'd been a hard worker all his life | everyone has been hard at work.

- difficult to bear; causing suffering: times were hard at the end of the war | he'd had a hard life.

- difficult to understand or solve: this is a really hard question.

- not showing sympathy or affection; strict: he can be such a hard taskmaster.

- denoting an extreme or dogmatic faction within a political party: the hard left.

- (of a season or the weather) severe: it's been a long, hard winter.

- harsh or unpleasant to the senses: the hard light of morning.

- (of wine) harsh or sharp to the taste, especially because of tannin.

4 (of information) reliable, especially because based on something true or substantiated: hard facts about the underclass are maddeningly elusive.

- (of a subject of study) dealing with precise and verifiable facts: efforts to turn psychology into hard science.

- (of science fiction) scientifically accurate rather than purely fantastic or whimsical: a hard SF novel.

5 very potent, powerful, or intense, in particular:

- strongly alcoholic; denoting a spirit rather than beer or wine.

- (of a drug) potent and addictive.

- (of radiation) highly penetrating.

- (of pornography) highly obscene and explicit.

6 (of water) containing mineral salts that make lathering difficult.

7 (of a consonant) pronounced as a velar plosive (as c in cat, g in go).

■ adv. 1 with a great deal of effort: they work hard at school.

- with a great deal of force; violently: it was raining hard.

2 so as to be solid or firm: the mortar has set hard.

3 to the fullest extent possible: put the wheel hard over to starboard.

■ n. BRITISH a road leading down across a foreshore.

<PHRASES>

□ be hard on 1 treat or criticize (someone) severely: you're being too hard on her.

2 be difficult for or unfair to: it was hard on her, because she had to walk nearly a mile out of her way.

3 be likely to hurt or damage: the monitor flickers, which is hard on the eyes.

□ be hard put (to it) [usually with infinitive] find it very difficult: you'll be hard put to find a better compromise.

□ give someone a hard time INFORMAL deliberately make a situation difficult for someone.

□ go hard with DATED turn out to (someone's) disadvantage: it would go hard with the poor.

□ hard and fast (of a rule or a distinction made) fixed and definitive: there are no hard and fast rules about that.

□ hard as nails see NAIL.

□ hard at it INFORMAL busily working or occupied: they were hard at it with brooms and mops.

□ hard by close to: he lived hard by the cathedral.

□ hard done by BRITISH harshly or unfairly treated: she would be justified in feeling hard done by.

□ hard feelings [usually with negative] feelings of resentment: there are no hard feelings and we wish him well.

□ hard going difficult to understand or enjoy: the studying is at times hard going.

□ hard hit badly affected: Trinidad had been hard hit by falling oil prices.

□ hard luck (or lines) BRITISH INFORMAL used to express sympathy or commiserations: IRONIC if you don't like it then hard luck.

□ a hard nut to crack INFORMAL a person or thing that is difficult to understand or influence.

□ hard of hearing not able to hear well.

□ hard on (or upon) close to; following soon after: hard on the heels of Wimbledon comes the Henley Regatta.

□ hard up INFORMAL short of money: I'm too hard up to buy fancy clothes.

□ the hard way through suffering or learning from the unpleasant consequences of mistakes: you're going to learn the hard way who you're up against.

□ play hard to get INFORMAL deliberately adopt an aloof or uninterested attitude, typically in order to make oneself more attractive or interesting.

□ put the hard word on AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL ask a favour of (someone), especially a sexual or financial one.

- put pressure on (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> hardish adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hard, heard, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hard and German hart.

hardback n. a book bound in stiff covers.

<PHRASES>

□ in hardback in an edition bound in stiff covers: the novel was first published in hardback in 1981.

hardball n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN baseball, especially as contrasted with softball.

- INFORMAL uncompromising and ruthless methods or dealings: the leadership played hardball to win the vote.

hardbitten adj. tough and cynical: a hardbitten war reporter.

hardboard n. [mass noun] stiff board made of compressed and treated wood pulp.

hardbody n. INFORMAL a person with very toned or well-developed muscles.

<DERIVATIVES> hardbodied adj.

hard-boiled adj. 1 (of an egg) boiled until the white and the yolk are solid.

2 (of a person) tough and cynical.

- denoting a tough, realistic style of detective fiction: a hard-boiled thriller.

hard case n. INFORMAL 1 a tough or intractable person.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ an amusing or eccentric person.

hard cash n. [mass noun] negotiable coins and banknotes as opposed to other forms of payment.

hard cheese n. see cheese^1.

hard clam n. another term for QUAHOG.

hard coal n. another term for ANTHRACITE.

hard-code v. [with obj.] [COMPUTING] fix (data or parameters) in a program in such a way that they cannot easily be altered by the user.

hard copy n. a printed version on paper of data held in a computer.

hard core n. 1 the most active, committed, or doctrinaire members of a group or movement: there is always a hard core of trusty stalwarts | [as modifier] a hard-core following.

2 (usually hardcore) [mass noun] popular music that is experimental in nature and typically characterized by high volume and aggressive presentation.

- pornography of a very explicit kind: [as modifier] hard-core porn.

3 [mass noun] BRITISH broken bricks, rubble, or similar solid material used as a filling or foundation in building.

hardcover adj. & n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for HARDBACK.

hard currency n. [mass noun] currency that is not likely to depreciate suddenly or to fluctuate greatly in value.

hard disk n. [COMPUTING] a rigid non-removable magnetic disk with a large data storage capacity.

hard drive n. a disk drive used to read from and write to a hard disk.

hard-earned adj. having taken a great deal of effort to earn or acquire: her hard-earned money.

Hardecanute /hαdkənjut/ (c.1019–1042), Danish king of Denmark 1028–42 and England 1040–42, son of King Canute and Emma, daughter of Richard I, Duke of Normandy. Hardecanute's absence in Denmark allowed Canute's illegitimate son Harold, who had been made Regent on Canute's death in 1035, to take the English throne in 1037. Hardecanute became king on Harold's death in 1040.

harden v. 1 make or become hard or harder: [no obj.] wait for the glue to harden | [with obj.] bricks which seem to have been hardened by firing.

- make or become more severe and less sympathetic: [with obj.] she hardened her heart.

- make or become tougher and more clearly defined: [no obj.] suspicion hardened into certainty | [with obj.] this served only to harden the resolve of the island nations.

- [no obj.] (of prices of shares, commodities, etc.) rise and remain steady at a higher level.

2 [with obj.] (harden something off) inure a plant to cold by gradually increasing its exposure to it.

<PHRASES>

□ hardening of the arteries another term for ARTERIOSCLEROSIS.

<DERIVATIVES> hardener n.

hardened adj. 1 having become or been made hard or harder: hardened steel.

- strengthened or made secure against attack, especially by nuclear weapons: the silos are hardened against air attack.

2 [attr.] very experienced in a particular job or activity and therefore not easily upset by its more unpleasant aspects: hardened police officers | [in combination] a battle-hardened veteran.

- utterly fixed in a habit or way of life seen as bad: hardened criminals | a hardened liar.

hard error n. [COMPUTING] an error or hardware fault causing failure of a program or operating system, especially one that gives no option of recovery.

hard fern n. a European fern of heathy places, which has long, narrow leathery fronds consisting of a row of thin lobes on each side of the stem.

<INFO> Blechnum spicant, family Blechnaceae.

hardgainer n. (in bodybuilding) a person who does not find it easy to gain muscle through exercise.

hard hat n. a rigid protective helmet, as worn by factory and building workers.

- INFORMAL a worker who wears a hard hat.

- North American INFORMAL a reactionary or conservative person.

hard-headed adj. practical and realistic; not sentimental: a hard-headed businessman.

<DERIVATIVES> hard-headedly adv. hard-headedness n.

hardheads (also hardhead) plural n. [treated as sing.] British another term for KNAPWEED.

hard-hearted adj. incapable of being moved to pity or tenderness; unfeeling.

<DERIVATIVES> hard-heartedly adv. hard-heartedness n.

hard-hitting adj. uncompromisingly direct and honest, especially in revealing unpalatable facts: a hard-hitting anti-fox-hunting poster.

Hardie (James) Keir (1856–1915), Scottish Labour politician. A miner before becoming an MP in 1892, he became the first leader of both the Independent Labour Party (1893) and the Labour Party (1906).

hardihood n. [mass noun] DATED boldness; daring.

hardiness n. [mass noun] the ability to endure difficult conditions: I applaud you on your hardiness.

- the ability of a plant to survive outside during winter.

Harding Warren (Gamaliel) (1865–1923), American Republican statesman, 29th President of the US 1921–3.

hard labour n. [mass noun] heavy manual work as a punishment.

hard landing n. 1 an uncontrolled landing in which a spacecraft crashes on to the surface of a planet or moon and is destroyed.

2 the slowing down of economic growth at an unacceptable degree relative to inflation and unemployment.

hard line n. an uncompromising adherence to a firm policy: he is known to take a hard line on sentencing policy for murder.

■ adj. uncompromising; strict: a hard-line party activist.

hardliner n. a member of a group, typically a political group, who adheres uncompromisingly to a set of ideas or policies.

hard-luck story n. an account of one's problems intended to gain someone else's sympathy or help.

hardly adv. 1 scarcely (used to qualify a statement by saying that it is true to an insignificant degree): it is hardly bigger than a credit card.

- only a very short time before: the party had hardly started when the police arrived.

- only with great difficulty: she could hardly sit up.

- no or not (suggesting surprise at or disagreement with a statement): I hardly think so.

2 ARCHAIC harshly: the rule worked hardly.

<PHRASES>

□ hardly any almost no: they sold hardly any books.

- almost none: hardly any had previous convictions.

□ hardly ever very rarely: we hardly ever see them.

<USAGE> Words like hardly, scarcely, and rarely should not be used with negative constructions. Thus, it is correct to say I can hardly wait but incorrect to say I can't hardly wait. This is because adverbs like hardly are treated as if they were negatives, and it is a well-known grammatical rule of standard English that double negatives (i.e. in this case having hardly and not in the same clause) are not acceptable. Words like hardly behave as negatives in other respects as well, as for example in combining with words like any or at all, which normally only occur where a negative is present (thus, standard usage is I've got hardly any money but not I've got any money). See also usage at double negative.

hardness n. [mass noun] the quality or condition of being hard: people complained about the hardness of the chairs | a lack of mental hardness.

hard-nosed adj. INFORMAL realistic and determined; tough-minded: a hard-nosed businessman.

hard nut n. BRITISH INFORMAL a tough, aggressive, or insensitive person.

hard-on n. VULGAR SLANG an erection of the penis.

hard pad n. [mass noun] hardening of the pads of the feet, a symptom of distemper in dogs and other animals.

hard palate n. the bony front part of the palate.

hardpan n. [mass noun] a hardened impervious layer, typically of clay, occurring in or below the soil and impairing drainage and plant growth.

hard-paste adj. denoting true porcelain made of fusible and infusible materials (usually kaolin and china stone) fired at a high temperature. Developed in early medieval China, it was not made in Europe until the early 18th century.

hard power n. [mass noun] a coercive approach to international political relations, especially one that involves the use of military power. Compare with SOFT POWER.

hard-pressed adj. 1 closely pursued: the hard-pressed French infantry.

2 burdened with urgent business: training centres are hard-pressed and insufficient in numbers.

- in difficulties: [with infinitive] the staff were hard-pressed to give even basic care.

hard rock n. [mass noun] highly amplified rock music with a heavy beat.

hard sauce n. [mass noun] a sauce of butter and sugar, typically with brandy, rum, or vanilla added.

hardscape n. [mass noun] chiefly US the man-made features used in landscape architecture, e.g. paths or walls, as contrasted with vegetation.

<DERIVATIVES> hardscaping n.

hardscrabble adj. NORTH AMERICAN involving hard work and struggle: a brutally hardscrabble life.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: originally as a noun in the sense ‘place thought of as the epitome of barrenness’.

hard sell n. (often the hard sell) a policy or technique of aggressive salesmanship or advertising: they invited 1,000 participants and gave them the hard sell.

hard-shell adj. [attr.] 1 having a hard shell or outer casing: a hard-shell suitcase.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN rigid or uncompromising.

hardshell clam n. another term for QUAHOG.

hardship n. [mass noun] severe suffering or privation: intolerable levels of hardship | [count noun] the shared hardships of wartime.

hard shoulder n. BRITISH a hardened strip alongside a motorway for stopping on in an emergency.

hardstanding n. [mass noun] BRITISH ground surfaced with a hard material for parking vehicles on.

hardstone n. [mass noun] precious or semi-precious stone used for intaglio, mosaic work, etc.

hard stuff n. (the hard stuff) INFORMAL strong alcoholic drink.

hard tack n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC hard dry bread or biscuit, especially as rations for sailors or soldiers.

hardtop n. 1 a motor vehicle with a rigid roof which in some cases is detachable.

- a roof of this type.

2 (also hardtop road) CANADIAN a metalled road.

Hardwar /hαdwα/ a city in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, on the River Ganges; pop. 175,000 (2001). It is a place of Hindu pilgrimage.

hardware n. [mass noun] 1 tools, machinery, and other durable equipment: high-tech military hardware.

- tools, implements, and other items used in home life and activities such as gardening.

2 the machines, wiring, and other physical components of a computer or other electronic system. Compare with SOFTWARE.

hard-wearing adj. able to stand much wear: a hard-wearing fabric.

hard wheat n. [mass noun] wheat of a variety having a hard grain rich in gluten.

hard-wired adj. [ELECTRONICS] involving or achieved by permanently connected circuits rather than software.

<DERIVATIVES> hard-wire v. & adj.

hardwood n. [mass noun] 1 the wood from a broadleaved tree (such as oak, ash, or beech) as distinguished from that of conifers.

- [count noun] a broadleaved tree that produces hardwood.

2 (in gardening) mature growth on shrubs and other plants.

hard-working adj. (of a person) tending to work with energy and commitment; diligent.

Hardy^2 Thomas (1840–1928), English novelist and poet. Much of his work deals with the struggle against the indifferent force that inflicts the sufferings and ironies of life. Notable novels: The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1896).

hardy adj. (hardier, hardiest) capable of enduring difficult conditions; robust: a hardy breed of cattle.

- (of a plant) able to survive outside during winter.

<DERIVATIVES> hardily adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘bold, daring’): from Old French hardi, past participle of hardir ‘become bold’, of Germanic origin; related to HARD.

Hare^1 Sir David (b.1947), English dramatist and director. He is noted for political dramas, such as Plenty (1978), centring around intense, self-destructive characters.

Hare^2 William, see Burke^4.

hare n. a fast-running, long-eared mammal that resembles a large rabbit, having very long hind legs and typically found in grassland or open woodland.

<INFO> Lepus and other genera, family Leporidae: several species.

- (also electric hare) a dummy hare propelled around the track in greyhound racing.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] BRITISH run with great speed: he hared off between the trees.

<PHRASES>

□ run with the hare and hunt with the hounds BRITISH try to remain on good terms with both sides in a conflict or dispute.

□ start a hare BRITISH DATED raise a topic of conversation.

<ORIGIN> Old English hara, of Germanic origin: related to Dutch haas and German Hase.

hare and hounds n. [mass noun] a game, especially a paperchase, in which a group of people chase another person or group across the countryside.

harebell n. a widely distributed bellflower with slender stems and pale blue flowers in late summer. Also called BLUEBELL, especially in Scotland.

<INFO> Campanula rotundifolia, family Campanulaceae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably so named because it is found growing in places frequented by hares.

hare-brained adj. rash; ill-judged: a hare-brained scheme.

Haredi /harεdi/ n. (pl. Haredim /-dm/) a member of any of various Orthodox Jewish sects characterized by strict adherence to the traditional form of Jewish law and rejection of modern secular culture, many of whom do not recognize the modern state of Israel as a spiritual authority.

<ORIGIN> Hebrew, literally ‘one who trembles (in awe at the word of God)’.

Hare Krishna /har krnə hαre/ n. a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, a religious sect based mainly in the US and other Western countries. Its devotees typically wear saffron robes, favour celibacy, practise vegetarianism, and chant mantras based on the name of the Hindu god Krishna.

- [mass noun] the sect to which Hare Krishnas belong; the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: Sanskrit, literally ‘O Vishnu Krishna’, the words of a devotional chant.

harelip n. another term for CLEFT LIP.

<DERIVATIVES> harelipped adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from a perceived resemblance to the mouth of a hare.

<USAGE> Use of the word harelip can cause offence and should be avoided; use cleft lip instead.

harem /hαrim hαrim hεrəm/ n. 1 the separate part of a Muslim household reserved for wives, concubines, and female servants.

2 the wives (or concubines) of a polygamous man.

3 a group of female animals sharing a single mate.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 1): from Arabic aram, arīm, literally ‘prohibited, prohibited place’ (hence ‘sanctuary, women's quarters, women’), from arama ‘be prohibited’.

hare's-foot (also hare's-foot clover) n. a slender clover which has soft hairs around the flowers.

<INFO> Trifolium arvense, family Leguminosae.

hare's-tail (also hare's-tail grass) n. a Mediterranean grass with white silky flowering heads and woolly grey-green leaves.

<INFO> Lagurus ovatus, family Gramineae.

hare wallaby n. a small, agile, fast-moving Australian wallaby with orange rings of fur around the eyes.

<INFO> Genera Lagorchestes and Lagostrophus, family Macropodidae: several species.

harewood n. [mass noun] stained sycamore wood used for making furniture.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from German dialect Ehre (from Latin acer ‘maple’) + WOOD.

Hargeisa /hαesə/ (also Hargeysa) a city in NW Somalia; pop. 231,000 (est. 2002).

Hargreaves James (1720–78), English inventor. A pioneer of the Lancashire cotton industry, he invented the spinning jenny (c.1764).

haricot /harkə/ (also haricot bean) n. chiefly BRITISH a French bean of a variety with small white seeds.

- the dried seed of haricot bean plants used as a vegetable.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: French, perhaps from Aztec ayacotli.

Harijan /hrd(ə)n hardan/ n. a member of a hereditary Hindu group of the lowest social and ritual status. See UNTOUCHABLE.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit harijana, literally ‘a person dedicated to Vishnu’, from Hari ‘Vishnu’ + jana ‘person’. The term was adopted and popularized by Gandhi.

harissa /arsə/ n. [mass noun] a hot sauce or paste used in North African cuisine, made from chilli peppers, paprika, and olive oil.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic.

hark v. [no obj.] 1 [usually in imperative] LITERARY listen: Hark! He knocks.

- (hark at) BRITISH INFORMAL used to draw attention to someone who has said or done something considered to be foolish or silly: just hark at you, speaking all lah-de-dah!

2 (hark back to) mention or remember (something from the past): if it was such a rotten holiday, why hark back to it? [<ORIGIN> originally a hunting term, used of hounds retracing their steps to find a lost scent.]

- evoke (an older style or genre): paintings that hark back to Constable and Turner.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of Germanic origin; related to German horchen, also to HEARKEN.

Harlech /hαlεk -ləx/ a village on the west coast of Wales, in Gwynedd; pop. 1,250 (est. 2002). It is noted for the ruins of its 13th-century castle.

Harlem /hαləm/ a district of New York City, situated to the north of 96th Street in NE Manhattan. It has a large black population and in the 1920s and 1930s was noted for its nightclubs and jazz bands.

Harlem Renaissance a movement in US literature in the 1920s which centred on Harlem and was an early manifestation of black consciousness in the US. The movement included writers such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.

harlequin /hαlkwn/ n. 1 (Harlequin) a mute character in traditional pantomime, typically masked and dressed in a diamond-patterned costume.

- HISTORICAL a stock comic character in Italian commedia dell'arte.

2 (also harlequin duck) a small duck of fast-flowing streams around the Arctic and North Pacific, the male having mainly grey-blue plumage with bold white markings.

<INFO> Histrionicus histrionicus, family Anatidae.

■ adj. in varied colours; variegated.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete French, from earlier Herlequin (or Hellequin), the name of the leader of a legendary troop of demon horsemen; perhaps ultimately related to Old English Herla cyning ‘King Herla’, a mythical figure sometimes identified with Woden.

harlequinade /hαlkwned/ n. 1 HISTORICAL the section of a traditional pantomime in which Harlequin played a leading role.

2 DATED a piece of foolish or ridiculous behaviour.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French arlequinade, from (h)arlequin (see HARLEQUIN).

harlequin fish n. a small brightly coloured freshwater fish of SE Asia, popular in aquaria.

<INFO> Rasbora heteromorpha, family Cyprinidae.

Harley Street a street in central London where many eminent physicians and surgeons have consulting rooms.

harlot /hαlət/ n. ARCHAIC a prostitute or promiscuous woman.

<DERIVATIVES> harlotry n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a vagabond or beggar, later a lecherous man or woman): from Old French harlot, herlot ‘young man, knave, vagabond’.

Harlow^1 a town in west Essex, north of London; pop. 73,100 (est. 2002). It was designated as a new town in 1947.

Harlow^2 Jean (1911–37), American film actress; born Harlean Carpenter. Her six films with Clark Gable included Red Dust (1932) and Saratoga (1937).

harm n. [mass noun] physical injury, especially that which is deliberately inflicted: I didn't mean to cause him any harm.

- material damage: it's unlikely to do much harm to the engine.

- actual or potential ill effects or danger: there's no harm in asking her.

■ v. [with obj.] physically injure: the villains didn't harm him.

- damage the health of: smoking when pregnant can harm your baby.

- have an adverse effect on: this could harm his World Cup prospects.

<PHRASES>

□ come to no harm be unhurt or undamaged.

□ do more harm than good inadvertently make a situation worse rather than better.

□ no harm done used to reassure someone that what they have done has caused no real damage or problems.

□ out of harm's way in a safe place.

□ there is no harm in —— the specified course of action may not be guaranteed success but is at least unlikely to have unwelcome repercussions: other stores may be offering similar deals——there's no harm in asking.

<ORIGIN> Old English hearm (noun), hearmian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to German Harm and Old Norse harmr ‘grief, sorrow’.

harmattan /hαmat(ə)n/ n. a very dry, dusty easterly or north-easterly wind on the West African coast, occurring from December to February.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Akan haramata.

harmful adj. causing or likely to cause harm: the ozone layer blocks the harmful rays from the sun | sugars which can be harmful to the teeth.

<DERIVATIVES> harmfully adv. harmfulness n.

harmless adj. not able or likely to cause harm: the venom of most spiders is harmless to humans.

- inoffensive: as an entertainer, he's pretty harmless.

<DERIVATIVES> harmlessly adv. harmlessness n.

harmolodics /haməldks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] a form of free jazz in which musicians improvise simultaneously on a melodic line at various pitches.

<DERIVATIVES> harmolodic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: coined by the American saxophonist Ornette Coleman (born 1930) and said to be a blend of harmony, movement, and melodic.

harmonic /hαmnk/ adj. 1 [MUSIC] relating to or characterized by harmony: a basic four-chord harmonic sequence.

- relating to or denoting a harmonic or harmonics.

2 [MATHEMATICS] relating to a harmonic progression.

- [PHYSICS] relating to component frequencies of a complex oscillation or wave.

3 [ASTROLOGY] using or produced by the application of a harmonic: harmonic charts.

■ n. 1 [MUSIC] an overtone accompanying a fundamental tone at a fixed interval, produced by vibration of a string, column of air, etc. in an exact fraction of its length.

- a note produced on a musical instrument as an overtone, e.g. by lightly touching a string while sounding it.

2 [PHYSICS] a component frequency of an oscillation or wave.

3 [ASTROLOGY] a division of the zodiacal circle by a specified number, used in the interpretation of a birth chart.

<DERIVATIVES> harmonically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘relating to music, musical’): via Latin from Greek harmonikos, from harmonia (see HARMONY).

harmonica /hαmnkə/ n. a small rectangular wind instrument with a row of metal reeds along its length, held against the lips and moved from side to side to produce different notes by blowing or sucking. Also called MOUTH ORGAN.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, feminine singular or neuter plural of harmonicus ‘musical’ (see HARMONIC).

harmonic minor (also harmonic minor scale) n. [MUSIC] a scale containing a minor third, minor sixth, and major seventh, forming the basis of conventional harmony in minor keys.

harmonic motion n. another term for SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION.

harmonic progression n. 1 [MUSIC] a series of chord changes forming the underlying harmony of a piece of music.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a sequence of quantities whose reciprocals are in arithmetical progression (e.g. 1, 1/3, 1/5, 1/7, etc.).

harmonic series n. 1 [MUSIC] a set of frequencies consisting of a fundamental and the harmonics related to it by an exact fraction.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a harmonic progression.

harmonious adj. tuneful; not discordant: harmonious music.

- forming a pleasing or consistent whole: the decor is a harmonious blend of traditional and modern.

- free from disagreement or dissent: harmonious relationships.

<DERIVATIVES> harmoniously adv. harmoniousness n.

harmonist n. a person skilled in musical harmony.

harmonium /hαmənəm/ n. a keyboard instrument in which the notes are produced by air driven through metal reeds by foot-operated bellows.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Latin harmonia (see HARMONY) or Greek harmonios ‘harmonious’.

harmonize (also harmonise) v. [with obj.] 1 add notes to (a melody) to produce harmony.

- [no obj.] sing or play in harmony.

2 [no obj.] produce a pleasing visual combination: steeply pitched roofs which harmonize with the form of the main roof.

3 make consistent: plans to harmonize the railways of Europe.

<DERIVATIVES> harmonization n. harmonizer n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘sing or play in harmony’): from French harmoniser, from harmonie (see HARMONY).

harmony n. (pl. harmonies) 1 [mass noun] the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce a pleasing effect: the piece owes its air of tranquillity largely to the harmony | [count noun] an exciting variety of improvised harmonies.

- the quality of forming a pleasing and consistent whole: delightful cities where old and new blend in harmony.

- the state of being in agreement or concord: man and machine in perfect harmony.

2 an arrangement of the four Gospels, or of any parallel narratives, which presents a single continuous narrative text.

<PHRASES>

□ harmony of the spheres see SPHERE.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin harmonia ‘joining, concord’, from Greek, from harmos ‘joint’.

Harmsworth Alfred Charles William, see NORTHCLIFFE.

harness n. a set of straps and fittings by which a horse or other draught animal is fastened to a cart, plough, etc. and is controlled by its driver.

- an arrangement of straps for fastening something such as a parachute to a person's body or for restraining a young child.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 put a harness on (a horse or other draught animal): how to groom a horse and harness it | the horse was harnessed to two long shafts.

2 control and make use of (natural resources), especially to produce energy: attempts to harness solar energy | FIGURATIVE harnessing the creativity of graduates.

<PHRASES>

□ in harness (of a horse or other animal) used for driving or draught work.

- in the routine of daily work: a man who died in harness far beyond the normal age of retirement.

- so as to achieve something together: local and central government should work in harness.

<DERIVATIVES> harnesser n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French harneis ‘military equipment’, from Old Norse, from herr ‘army’ + nest ‘provisions’.

harness racing n. another term for TROTTING.

Harold the name of two kings of England:

- Harold I (d.1040), reigned 1037–40; known as Harold Harefoot. An illegitimate son of Canute, he acted as regent on his father's death in 1035 owing to the absence in Denmark of Hardecanute (King of Denmark and Canute's legitimate heir) and became king two years later.

- Harold II (c.1019–66), reigned 1066, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. Succeeding Edward the Confessor, he was faced with two invasions within months of his accession. He resisted his half-brother Tostig and the Norse king Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge, but was killed and his army defeated by William of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings.

harp n. 1 a musical instrument consisting of a frame supporting a graduated series of parallel strings, played by plucking with the fingers. The modern orchestral harp has an upright frame, with pedals which enable the strings to be retuned to different keys.

2 (also harp shell or harp snail) a marine mollusc which has a large vertically ribbed shell with a wide aperture, found chiefly in the Indo-Pacific.

<INFO> Family Harpidae, class Gastropoda.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (harp on) talk or write persistently and tediously on (a particular topic): I don't want to harp on about the past.

2 ARCHAIC play on a harp.

<ORIGIN> Old English hearpe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch harp and German Harfe.

Harper Stephen Joseph (b.1959), Canadian Conservative statesman, Prime Minister since 2006.

harper n. a musician, especially a folk musician, who plays a harp.

Harpers Ferry a small town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is famous for a raid in October 1859 in which John Brown and a group of abolitionists captured a Federal arsenal located there.

harpist n. a musician who plays a harp.

Harpocrates /hαpkrətiz/ Greek name for HORUS.

harpoon n. a barbed spear-like missile attached to a long rope and thrown by hand or fired from a gun, used for catching whales and other large sea creatures.

■ v. [with obj.] spear with a harpoon.

<DERIVATIVES> harpooner n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a barbed dart or spear): from French harpon, from harpe ‘dog's claw, clamp’, via Latin from Greek harpē ‘sickle’.

harp seal n. a slender North Atlantic seal that typically has a dark harp-shaped mark on its grey back.

<INFO> Pagophilus groenlandicus, family Phocidae.

harpsichord /hαpskd/ n. a keyboard instrument with horizontal strings which run perpendicular to the keyboard in a long tapering case, and are plucked by points of quill, leather, or plastic operated by depressing the keys. It is used chiefly in European classical music of the 16th to 18th centuries.

<DERIVATIVES> harpsichordist n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from obsolete French harpechorde, from late Latin harpa ‘harp’ + chorda ‘string’ (the insertion of the letter s being unexplained).

harpy n. (pl. harpies) 1 [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] a rapacious monster described as having a woman's head and body and a bird's wings and claws or depicted as a bird of prey with a woman's face.

2 a grasping, unpleasant woman: clearly, he had us down as a couple of gold-digging harpies.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin harpyia, from Greek harpuiai ‘snatchers’.

harpy eagle n. a very large crested eagle of tropical rainforests, often preying on monkeys.

<INFO> Family Accipitridae: Harpia harpyja of South America, the largest eagle, and Harpyopsis novaeguineae of New Guinea.

harridan /hard(ə)n/ n. a strict, bossy, or belligerent old woman: a bullying old harridan.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally slang): perhaps from French haridelle ‘old horse’.

harried adj. feeling strained as a result of having demands persistently made on one; harassed: harried reporters are frequently forced to invent what they cannot find out.

harrier^1 n. a person who engages in persistent attacks on others or incursions into their land.

harrier^2 n. a hound of a breed used for hunting hares.

- (Harriers) used in the names of teams of cross-country runners: Durham City Harriers.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English hayrer, from HARE + -ER^1. The spelling change was due to association with harrier^1.

harrier^3 n. a long-winged, slender-bodied bird of prey with low quartering flight.

<INFO> Genus Circus, family Accipitridae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as harrower): from harrow ‘harry, rob’ (variant of HARRY). The spelling change in the 17th century was due to association with harrier^1.

harrier hawk n. an African bird of prey with a bare yellow face, resembling a goshawk but flying like a harrier.

<INFO> Genus Polyboroides, family Accipitridae: two species, in particular P. typus.

Harrington n. a man's short lightweight jacket with a collar and a zipped front.

<ORIGIN> from the name of Rodney Harrington, a character in the 1960s TV serial Peyton Place, who was associated with the garment.

Harris^1 the southern part of the island of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides.

Harris^2 Sir Arthur Travers (1892–1984), British Marshal of the RAF; known as Bomber Harris. As Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command (1942–5) in the Second World War he organized mass bombing raids against German towns which resulted in large-scale civilian casualties.

Harris^3 Frank (1856–1931), Irish writer; born James Thomas Harris. He gained a reputation as a fearless journalist and edited the periodical Saturday Review (1894–8). His autobiography My Life and Loves (1923–7) was notorious for its unreliability and sexual frankness.

Harrisburg /harsbə/ the state capital of Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River; pop. 49,000 (2000). The nearby nuclear power station at Three Mile Island suffered a serious accident in 1979.

Harris' hawk (also Harris hawk) n. a large chocolate-brown buzzard with chestnut shoulder patches, popular with falconers. It occurs in arid country from the southern US to South America and frequently nests in tall cacti.

<INFO> Parabuteo unicinctus, family Accipitridae.

<ORIGIN> named after the US naturalist Edward Harris (1799–1863).

Harrison^1 Benjamin (1833–1901), American Republican statesman, 23rd President of the US 1889–93.

Harrison^2 George (1943–2001), English rock and pop guitarist, the lead guitarist of the Beatles.

Harrison^3 Sir Rex (1908–90), English actor; full name Reginald Carey Harrison. Notable films: Blithe Spirit (1944), My Fair Lady (1964), and Dr Dolittle (1967).

Harrison^4 William Henry (1773–1841), American Whig statesman, 9th President of the US, 1841. He died of pneumonia a month after his inauguration.

Harris tweed n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK handwoven tweed made in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, especially on the island of Lewis and Harris.

Harrod /harəd/ Charles Henry (1800–85), English grocer and tea merchant. In 1853 he took over a shop in Knightsbridge, London, which, after expansion by his son Charles Digby Harrod (1841–1905), became a prestigious department store.

Harrovian /hərəvən/ n. a past or present member of Harrow School.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from modern Latin Harrovia ‘Harrow’ + -AN.

harrow n. an implement consisting of a heavy frame set with teeth or tines which is dragged over ploughed land to break up clods, remove weeds, and cover seed.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 draw a harrow over (land).

2 cause distress to: Todd could take it, whereas I'm harrowed by it.

<DERIVATIVES> harrower n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse herfi; obscurely related to Dutch hark ‘rake’.

harrowing adj. acutely distressing: a harrowing film about racism and violence. | it was a harrowing experience.

<DERIVATIVES> harrowingly adv.

Harrowing of Hell (in medieval Christian theology) the defeat of the powers of evil and the release of its victims by the descent of Christ into hell after his death.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: harrowing from harrow, by-form of the verb HARRY.

Harrow School a boys' public school in NW London, founded under Queen Elizabeth I in 1571.

harrumph /hərmf/ v. [no obj.] clear the throat noisily.

- grumpily express dissatisfaction or disapproval: sceptics tend to harrumph at case histories like this.

■ n. a noisy clearing of the throat.

- a grumpy expression of dissatisfaction or disapproval.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: imitative.

harry v. (harries, harrying, harried) [with obj.] persistently carry out attacks on (an enemy or an enemy's territory).

- persistently harass: the government is being mercilessly harried by a new lobby.

<ORIGIN> Old English herian, hergian, of Germanic origin, probably influenced by Old French harier, in the same sense.

harsh adj. 1 unpleasantly rough or jarring to the senses: drenched in a harsh white neon light | harsh guttural shouts.

2 cruel or severe: a time of harsh military discipline.

- (of a climate or conditions) difficult to survive in; hostile: the harsh environment of the desert.

- (of reality or a fact) grim and unpalatable: the harsh realities of the world news.

- having an undesirably strong effect: she finds soap too harsh and drying.

<DERIVATIVES> harshen v. harshly adv. harshness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German harsch ‘rough’, literally ‘hairy’, from haer ‘hair’.

hart n. an adult male deer, especially a red deer over five years old.

<ORIGIN> Old English heorot, heort, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hert and German Hirsch.

hartal /hαtαl hətαl/ n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a closure of shops and offices as a protest or a mark of sorrow.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi hatāl, hatāl, literally ‘locking of shops’, from Sanskrit haa ‘market’ + Hindi tāla ‘lock’.

Harte /hαt/ (Francis) Bret (1836–1902), American short-story writer and poet. He is chiefly remembered for his stories about life in a Californian gold-mining settlement.

hartebeest /hαtbist/ n. a large African antelope with a long head and sloping back, related to the gnus.

<INFO> Genera Alcelaphus, Damaliscus, and Sigmoceros, family Bovidae: three or four species, in particular the red hartebeest (A. buselaphus), which typically has a reddish-brown coat.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from South African Dutch, from Dutch hert ‘hart’ + beest ‘beast’.

Hartford the state capital of Connecticut, situated on the Connecticut River; pop. 121,600 (2000).

Hartlepool /hαtlpul/ a port and unitary authority on the North Sea coast of NE England; pop. 88,629 (2001).

Hartley L. P. (1895–1972), English novelist and short-story writer; full name Leslie Poles Hartley. Much of his work deals with memory and the effects of childhood experience on adult life and character. Notable novels: The Shrimp and the Anemone (1944) and The Go-Between (1953).

hartshorn /hαtshn/ (also spirit of hartshorn) n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC aqueous ammonia solution used as smelling salts, formerly prepared from the horns of deer.

<ORIGIN> Old English heortes horn (see HART, horn).

hart's tongue (also hart's tongue fern) n. a common European fern whose long, narrow undivided fronds are said to resemble the tongues of deer.

<INFO> Phyllitis (or Asplenium) scolopendrium, family Aspleniaceae.

harum-scarum /hεrəmskεrəm/ adj. reckless; impetuous: a wild harum-scarum youth.

■ n. a reckless, impetuous person.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as an adverb): reduplication based on HARE and SCARE.

Harun ar-Rashid /harun αraid/ (also Haroun-al-Raschid)

- (763–809), fifth Abbasid caliph of Baghdad 786–809. The most powerful of the Abbasid caliphs, he was made famous by his portrayal in the Arabian Nights.

haruspex /hərspεks/ n. (pl. haruspices /-spsiz/) (in ancient Rome) a religious official who interpreted omens by inspecting the entrails of sacrificial animals.

<DERIVATIVES> haruspicy /hərspsi/ n.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from an unrecorded element meaning ‘entrails’ (related to Sanskrit hirā ‘artery’) + -spex (from specere ‘look at’).

Harvard classification n. [ASTRONOMY] a system of classification of stars based on their spectral types, the chief classes (O, B, A, F, G, K, M) forming a series from very hot bluish-white stars to cool dull red stars.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after the observatory at HARVARD UNIVERSITY, where it was devised.

Harvard University /hαvəd/ the oldest American university, founded in 1636 at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

<ORIGIN> named after John Harvard (1607–38), an English settler who bequeathed his library and half his estate to the university.

harvest n. the process or period of gathering in crops: farmers work longer hours during the harvest.

- the season's yield or crop: a poor harvest.

- a quantity of animals caught or killed for human use: a limited harvest of wild mink.

- FIGURATIVE the product or result of an action: in terms of science, Apollo yielded a meagre harvest.

■ v. [with obj.] gather (a crop) as a harvest: after harvesting, most of the crop is stored in large buildings.

- catch or kill (animals) for human use.

- remove (cells, tissue, or an organ) from a person or animal for experiment or transplant.

<DERIVATIVES> harvestable adj. harvester n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hærfest ‘autumn’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch herfst and German Herbst, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin carpere ‘pluck’ and Greek karpos ‘fruit’.

harvester ant n. an ant that gathers and stores seeds and grain as a communal food source for the colony.

<INFO> Messor and other genera, family Formicidae.

harvest festival n. a celebration of the annual harvest, especially (in Britain) one held in schools and as a service in Christian churches, to which gifts of food are brought for the poor.

harvest home n. the gathering in of the final part of the year's harvest.

- a festival marking the end of the harvest period.

harvestman n. (pl. harvestmen) an arachnid with a globular body and very long thin legs, typically living in leaf litter and on tree trunks.

<INFO> Order Opiliones: three suborders.

harvest mite n. a minute mite whose parasitic larvae live on or under the skin of warm-blooded animals where they cause irritation and dermatitis, and sometimes transmit scrub typhus.

<INFO> Genus Trombicula, family Trombiculidae: many species, including the European T. autumnalis, which is common at harvest time.

harvest moon n. the full moon that is seen nearest to the time of the autumn equinox.

harvest mouse n. 1 a small North Eurasian mouse with a prehensile tail, nesting among the stalks of growing cereals and other vegetation.

<INFO> Micromys minutus, family Muridae.

2 a nocturnal mouse found in North and Central America.

<INFO> Genus Reithrodontomys, family Muridae: several species.

Harvey William (1578–1657), English physician, discoverer of the circulation of the blood. In De Motu Cordis (1628) Harvey described the motion of the heart and concluded that the blood left through the arteries and returned to the heart through the veins after it had passed through the flesh.

Harvey Wallbanger n. a cocktail made from vodka or gin, orange juice, and Galliano.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: of unknown origin.

Harwich /hart/ a port in Essex, on the North Sea coast of SE England; pop. 19,600 (est. 2002).

Haryana /hrαnə/ a state of northern India; capital, Chandigarh. It was formed in 1966, largely from Hindi-speaking parts of the former state of Punjab.

harzburgite /hαtsbət/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a plutonic rock of the peridotite group consisting largely of orthopyroxene and olivine.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Harzburg, the name of a town in Germany, + -ITE^1.

Harz Mountains /hαts/ a range of mountains in central Germany, the highest of which is the Brocken.

has third person singular present of HAVE.

has-been n. INFORMAL a person or thing considered to be outmoded or no longer of any significance: a political has-been.

Hasdrubal^1 /hazdrb(ə)l/ (d.221 BC), Carthaginian general. He accompanied his father-in-law, Hamilcar, to Spain in 237 and advanced the Carthaginian boundary to the Ebro.

Hasdrubal^2 /hazdrb(ə)l/ (d.207 BC), Carthaginian general. The younger brother of Hannibal, he was left in command of Carthaginian forces in Spain after Hannibal departed for Italy in 218.

Hašek /haεk/ Jaroslav (1883–1923), Czech novelist and short-story writer. His unfinished four-volume comic novel satirizing military life and bureaucracy appeared in Britain in a bowdlerized form as The Good Soldier Schweik (1930).

hash^1 n. a dish of cooked meat cut into small pieces and recooked, usually with potatoes.

- NORTH AMERICAN a finely chopped mixture: a hash of raw tomatoes, chillies, and coriander.

- a mixture of jumbled incongruous things; a mess.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make (meat or other food) into a hash.

- NORTH AMERICAN chop (meat or vegetables): (as adj. hashed) hashed potatoes.

2 (hash something out) come to agreement on something after lengthy and vigorous discussion.

<PHRASES>

□ make a hash of INFORMAL make a mess of; bungle.

□ settle someone's hash INFORMAL deal with someone in a forceful and decisive manner.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a verb): from French hacher, from hache (see HATCHET).

hash^2 n. INFORMAL short for HASHISH.

hash^3 (also hash sign) n. BRITISH the symbol #.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: probably from HATCH^3, altered by folk etymology.

hash browns (also hashed browns) plural n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a dish of chopped cooked potatoes, typically with onions added, fried until brown.

Hashemite /hamt/ n. a member of an Arab princely family claiming descent from Hashim, great-grandfather of Muhammad.

■ adj. relating to the Hashemites.

Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan official name for Jordan^1 (sense 1).

hash house n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a cheap eating house.

Hashimoto's disease /hamətəz/ n. [mass noun] an autoimmune disease causing chronic inflammation and consequential failure of the thyroid gland.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Hakaru Hashimoto (1881–1934), Japanese surgeon.

hashish /hai - hai/ n. [mass noun] cannabis.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Arabic ašīš ‘dry herb, powdered hemp leaves’.

Hasid /hasd/ (also Chasid, Chassid, or Hassid) n. (pl. Hasidim) 1 a member of a strictly orthodox Jewish sect in Palestine in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC which opposed Hellenizing influences on their faith and supported the Maccabean revolt.

2 an adherent of Hasidism.

<DERIVATIVES> Hasidic /-sdk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew āsī ‘pious’.

Hasidism /hasdz(ə)m/ (also Chasidism, Chassidism, or Hassidism) n. [mass noun] a mystical Jewish movement founded in Poland in the 18th century in reaction to the rigid academicism of rabbinical Judaism. The movement declined sharply in the 19th century, but fundamentalist communities developed from it, and Hasidism is still influential in Jewish life, particularly in Israel and New York.

haslet /hazlt hezlt/ n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH a cold meat consisting of chopped or minced pork offal compressed into a loaf before being cooked.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting meat for roasting): from Old French hastelet, diminutive of haste ‘roast meat, spit’, probably of Germanic origin and related to Dutch harst ‘sirloin’.

Hasmonean /hazmənən/ adj. relating to or denoting the Jewish dynasty established by the Maccabees.

■ n. a member of the Hasmonean dynasty.

<ORIGIN> from modern Latin Asmonaeus (from Greek Asamonaios, the grandfather of Mattathias, head of the Maccabees in the 2nd century BC) + -AN.

hasn't contraction has not.

hasp /hαsp/ n. a slotted hinged metal plate forming part of a fastening for a door or lid, fitted over a metal loop and secured by a pin or padlock.

- a similar metal plate on a trunk or suitcase with a projecting piece which is secured by the lock.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC lock (a door, window, or lid) by securing the hasp over the loop of the fastening.

<ORIGIN> Old English hæpse, hæsp, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch haspel and German Haspe.

Hasselt /hasεlt/ a city in NE Belgium, on the River Demer, capital of the province of Limburg; pop. 68,085 (est. 2000).

hassium /hasəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 108, a very unstable element made by high-energy atomic collisions. (Symbol: Hs)

■ See also HAHNIUM.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin Hassias ‘Hesse’ (the German state); it was discovered in Darmstadt in 1984.

hassle INFORMAL n. [mass noun] irritating inconvenience: the hassle of child care | [count noun] travelling can be a hassle.

- deliberate harassment: when I told them I would not work on Sundays I got hassle.

- [count noun] NORTH AMERICAN a disagreement or quarrel.

■ v. [with obj.] harass; pester: you want to sit and relax and not get hassled.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally dialect in the sense ‘hack or saw at’): of unknown origin, perhaps a blend of HAGGLE and TUSSLE.

hassock /hasək/ n. 1 a cushion for kneeling on in church, while at prayer.

- NORTH AMERICAN a footstool.

2 a firm clump of grass or matted vegetation in marshy or boggy ground.

<ORIGIN> Old English hassuc (in sense 2), of unknown origin.

hast archaic second person singular present of HAVE.

hastate /hastet/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a leaf) having a narrow triangular shape like that of a spearhead.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin hastatus, from hasta ‘spear’.

haste n. [mass noun] excessive speed or urgency of movement or action; hurry: working with feverish haste | I write in haste.

■ v. archaic term for HASTEN.

<PHRASES>

□ make haste DATED hurry; hasten: I make haste to seal this.

□ more haste, less speed PROVERB you make better progress with a task if you don't try to do it too quickly.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French haste (noun), haster (verb), of Germanic origin.

hasten v. [no obj., with infinitive] be quick to do something: he hastened to refute the assertion.

- [with adverbial of direction] move or travel hurriedly: we hastened back to Paris.

- [with obj.] cause (something, especially something undesirable) to happen sooner than it otherwise would: this tragedy probably hastened his own death from heart disease.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: extended form of HASTE, on the pattern of verbs in -en^1.

hastily adv. with excessive speed or urgency; hurriedly: maybe I acted too hastily | he hastily changed the subject.

Hastings /hestz/ Warren (1732–1818), British colonial administrator. India's first Governor General (1774–1784), he introduced vital administrative reforms. He was later impeached for corruption but acquitted after a seven-year trial.

Hastings, Battle of a decisive battle which took place in 1066 just north of the town of Hastings, East Sussex. William the Conqueror defeated the forces of the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II; Harold died in the battle, leaving the way open for the Norman Conquest of England.

hasty adj. (hastier, hastiest) done or acting with excessive speed or urgency; hurried: a hasty attempt to defuse the situation | hasty decisions.

- ARCHAIC quick-tempered.

<DERIVATIVES> hastiness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hasti, hastif, from haste (see HASTE).

hasty pudding n. [mass noun] a pudding containing wheat flour or (in North America) maize flour stirred to a thick batter in boiling milk or water.

hat n. a shaped covering for the head worn for warmth, as a fashion item, or as part of a uniform.

- used to refer to a particular role or occupation of someone who has more than one: wearing her scientific hat she is director of a pharmacology research group.

<PHRASES>

□ be all hat and no cattle US INFORMAL tend to talk boastfully without acting on one's words.

□ black hat (or white hat) used in reference to the bad (or good) party in a situation (from the colour of hat traditionally worn by the bad (or good) character in Western films): we are the good guys—the black hats lost.

□ hat in hand see cap in hand at cap^1.

□ hats off to —— BRITISH used to express admiration for someone who has done something praiseworthy: hats off to them for agreeing to work for the day to raise money.

□ keep something under one's hat keep something a secret.

□ pass the hat round (or North American pass the hat) collect contributions of money from a number of people for a specific purpose.

□ pick something out of a hat select something, especially the winner of a contest, at random.

□ take one's hat off to BRITISH state one's admiration for (someone who has achieved something).

□ throw one's hat in (or into) the ring express willingness to take up a challenge.

<DERIVATIVES> hatful n. (pl. hatfuls) hatless adj. hatted adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hætt, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse httr ‘hood’, also to hood^1.

hatband n. a decorative ribbon encircling a hat, held in position above the brim.

hatbox n. a large cylindrical box used to protect a hat when being transported or stored.

hatch^1 n. a small opening in a floor, wall, or roof allowing access from one area to another: a cargo hatch | a service hatch.

- a door in an aircraft, spacecraft, or submarine.

- the rear door of a hatchback car.

■ short for HATCHBACK.

<PHRASES>

□ down the hatch INFORMAL used to express friendly feelings towards one's companions before drinking.

□ under (the) hatches below deck in a ship.

<ORIGIN> Old English hæcc (denoting the lower half of a divided door), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hek ‘paling, screen’.

hatch^2 v. 1 [no obj.] (of an egg) open and produce a young animal: eggs need to be put in a warm place to hatch.

- [with obj.] incubate (an egg).

- (of a young bird, fish, or reptile) emerge from its egg: ten little chicks hatched out.

- [with obj.] cause (a young animal) to emerge from its egg: our penguins were hatched and hand-reared here.

2 [with obj.] conspire to devise (a plot or plan): the little plot that you and Sylvia hatched up last night.

■ n. a newly hatched brood: a hatch of mayflies.

<PHRASES>

□ hatches, matches, and dispatches INFORMAL used to refer to the births, marriages, and deaths columns in a newspaper.

<ORIGIN> Middle English hacche; related to Swedish häcka and Danish hække.

hatch^3 v. [with obj.] (in fine art and technical drawing) shade (an area) with closely drawn parallel lines: (as n. hatching) the miniaturist's use of hatching and stippling.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘inlay with strips of metal’): from Old French hacher, from hache (see HATCHET).

hatchback n. a car with a door across the full width at the back end that opens upwards to provide easy access for loading.

hatchel /hat(ə)l/ n. another term for HACKLE (sense 3 of the noun).

■ v. another term for hackle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English hechele, of West Germanic origin, related to HOOK.

hatchery n. (pl. hatcheries) an installation or building in which the hatching of fish or poultry eggs is artificially controlled for commercial purposes.

hatchet n. a small axe with a short handle for use in one hand.

<PHRASES>

□ bury the hatchet end a quarrel or conflict and become friendly. [<ORIGIN> in allusion to an American Indian custom.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hachette, diminutive of hache ‘axe’, from medieval Latin hapia, of Germanic origin.

hatchet-faced adj. INFORMAL having a narrow face or sharp features, and a grim or hostile expression.

hatchetfish n. (pl. same or hatchetfishes) a deep-bodied laterally compressed tropical freshwater fish of the New World. It is able to fly short distances above the surface of the water by beating its broad pectoral fins.

<INFO> Family Gasteropelecidae: three genera, in particular Gasteropelecus, and several species.

hatchet job n. INFORMAL a fierce written attack on someone or their work.

hatchet man n. INFORMAL a person employed to carry out controversial or disagreeable tasks, such as the dismissal of a number of people from employment.

- a person who writes fierce attacks on others or their work.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US): figuratively, from an early use denoting a hired Chinese assassin.

hatchling n. a young animal that has recently emerged from its egg.

hatchment n. a large tablet, typically diamond-shaped, bearing the coat of arms of someone who has died, displayed in their honour.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: probably from obsolete French hachement, from Old French acesmement ‘adornment’.

hatchway n. an opening or hatch, especially in a ship's deck.

hate n. [mass noun] intense dislike: feelings of hate and revenge.

- [as modifier] denoting hostile actions motivated by intense dislike or prejudice: a hate campaign.

- [count noun] INFORMAL an intensely disliked person or thing: Richard's pet hate is filling in his tax returns.

■ v. [with obj.] feel intense dislike for: the boys hate each other | he was particularly hated by the extreme right.

- have a strong aversion to (something): he hates flying | [with infinitive] I'd hate to live there.

- [with infinitive] used politely to express one's regret or embarrassment at doing something: I hate to bother you.

<DERIVATIVES> hatable (also hateable) adj. hater n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hatian (verb), hete (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch haten (verb) and German hassen (verb), Hass ‘hatred’.

hate crime n. a crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence.

hateful adj. arousing, deserving of, or filled with hatred: that hateful arrogant woman.

- INFORMAL very unpleasant: a hateful dress.

<DERIVATIVES> hatefully adv. hatefulness n.

hath archaic third person singular present of HAVE.

Hathaway /haθəwe/ Anne (c.1557–1623), the wife of Shakespeare, whom she married in 1582.

hatha yoga /htə haθə/ n. [mass noun] a system of physical exercises and breathing control used in YOGA.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit haha ‘force’ and yoga.

Hathor /haθ/ [EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY] a sky goddess, the patron of love and joy, represented variously as a cow, with a cow's head or ears, or with a solar disc between a cow's horns.

hatpin n. a long pin, typically with an ornamental head, that holds a woman's hat in position by securing it to her hair.

hatred n. [mass noun] intense dislike; hate: racial hatred | his murderous hatred of his brother.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from HATE + -red (from Old English rden ‘condition’).

Hatshepsut /hatεpst/ (d.1482 BC), Egyptian queen of the 18th dynasty, reigned c.1503–1482 BC. On the death of her husband Tuthmosis II she became regent for her nephew Tuthmosis III. She then named herself Pharaoh and was often portrayed as male.

hatstand n. a tall free-standing post fitted with large hooks for hanging hats on.

hatter n. a person who makes and sells hats.

Hatti plural n. the ancient Anatolian people whose language was Hattic.

<ORIGIN> Assyrian and Hittite.

Hattic /hatk/ n. [mass noun] an ancient language of NW Anatolia, spoken in the 3rd millennium BC, in which a few cuneiform tablets survive, some bilingual with Hittite. It was neither an Indo-European nor a Semitic language, but it had a strong influence on the vocabulary of Hittite, which eventually displaced it.

■ adj. relating to Hattic.

hat-trick n. three successes of the same kind within a limited period, in particular (in soccer) the scoring of three goals in a game by one player or (in cricket) the taking of three wickets by the same bowler with successive balls.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: originally referring to the club presentation of a new hat (or some equivalent) to a bowler taking three wickets successively.

Hattusa /hatsa/ the capital of the ancient Hittite empire, situated in central Turkey about 35 km (22 miles) east of Ankara.

hauberk /hbək/ n. HISTORICAL a piece of armour originally covering only the neck and shoulders but later consisting of a full-length coat of mail or military tunic.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hauberc, hausberc, originally denoting protection for the neck, of Germanic origin.

haugh /h hαx/ n. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a piece of flat alluvial land by the side of a river, forming part of the floor of the river valley.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Old English healh ‘corner, nook’, related to holh ‘hollow’.

haughtiness n. [mass noun] the appearance or quality of being arrogantly superior and disdainful: her air of haughtiness.

haughty adj. (haughtier, haughtiest) arrogantly superior and disdainful: a look of haughty disdain | a haughty British aristocrat.

<DERIVATIVES> haughtily adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: extended form of obsolete haught, earlier haut, from Old French, from Latin altus ‘high’.

Hau-Hauism /haha(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a 19th-century Maori religion promising eternal salvation from the white man.

<ORIGIN> from Maori Hau Hau + -ISM.

haul v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial] (of a person) pull or drag with effort or force: he hauled his bike out of the shed | [no obj., with adverbial] she hauled on the reins.

- (haul oneself) propel or pull oneself with difficulty: he hauled himself along the cliff face.

- INFORMAL force (someone) to appear for reprimand or trial: he is to be hauled before the Press Council.

2 [with obj.] (of a vehicle) pull (an attached trailer or carriage) behind it: the engine hauls the overnight sleeper from London Euston.

- transport in a lorry or cart: he made a living hauling coal.

3 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] [NAUTICAL] (especially of a sailing ship) make an abrupt change of course.

■ n. 1 a quantity of something that has been stolen or is possessed illegally: they escaped with a haul of antiques.

- a number of fish caught.

- the number of points, medals, or titles won by a person or team in a sporting event or over a period.

2 a distance to be covered in a journey: the thirty-mile haul to Boston.

<PHRASES>

□ haul ass see ass^2.

□ haul off NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL leave; depart.

- withdraw a little before doing something: he hauled off and smacked the kid.

□ haul someone over the COALs see COAL.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally in the nautical sense ‘trim sails for sailing closer to the wind’): variant of hale^2.

haulage n. [mass noun] BRITISH the commercial transport of goods: road haulage.

- a charge for the commercial transport of goods.

hauler n.

■ North American term for HAULIER.

- a lorry used for the transport of goods or materials.

haulier /hlə/ n. BRITISH a person or company employed in the transport of goods or materials by road: a major haulier between Europe and Asia.

- a miner who is responsible for transporting coal within a mine.

haulm /hm/ n. a stalk or stem.

- [mass noun] the stalks or stems collectively of peas, beans, or potatoes without the pods or tubers, as used for animal bedding: potato haulm.

<ORIGIN> Old English healm, halm, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch halm and German Halm, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin culmus ‘stalk’ and Greek kalamos ‘reed’.

haunch n. 1 a buttock and thigh considered together, in a human or animal.

- [mass noun] the leg and loin of an animal, especially a deer, as food: haunch of venison.

2 [ARCHITECTURE] the side of an arch, between the crown and the pier.

<PHRASES>

□ on one's haunches with the haunches resting on the backs of the heels.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hanche, of Germanic origin.

haunt v. [with obj.] (of a ghost) manifest itself at (a place) regularly: a grey lady who haunts the chapel.

- (of a person or animal) frequent (a place): he haunts street markets.

- be persistently and disturbingly present in (the mind): the sight haunted me for years.

- (of something unpleasant) continue to affect or cause problems for: cities haunted by the shadow of cholera.

■ n. a place frequented by a specified person: the bar was a favourite haunt of artists of the time.

<DERIVATIVES> haunter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘frequent (a place)’): from Old French hanter, of Germanic origin; distantly related to HOME.

haunted adj. (of a place) frequented by a ghost: a reputedly haunted room in the castle.

- showing signs of mental anguish or torment: the hollow cheeks, the haunted eyes.

haunting adj. poignant; evocative: the sweet haunting sound of pan pipes.

■ n. [mass noun] the action of haunting a place: the haunting of Calgarth Hall.

<DERIVATIVES> hauntingly adv.

Hauptmann /haptman/ Gerhart (1862–1946), German dramatist. An early pioneer of naturalism, he is known for Before Sunrise (1889) and The Ascension of Joan (1893). Nobel Prize for Literature (1912).

haurient /hrənt/ adj. [postpositive] [HERALDRY] (of a fish or marine creature) depicted swimming vertically, typically with the head upwards.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin haurient- ‘drawing in (air, water, etc.)’, from the verb haurire.

Hausa /hasə/ n. (pl. same or Hausas) 1 a member of a people of northern Nigeria and adjacent regions.

2 [mass noun] the Chadic language of the Hausa, spoken by some 30 million people, mainly in Nigeria and Niger, and used as a lingua franca in parts of West Africa.

■ adj. relating to the Hausa or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Hausa.

hausfrau /hasfra/ n. a German housewife.

- INFORMAL a woman regarded as overly domesticated.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from German, from Haus ‘house’ + Frau ‘woman, wife’.

haustellum /hstεləm/ n. (pl. haustella) [ZOOLOGY] the sucking organ or proboscis of an insect or crustacean.

<DERIVATIVES> haustellate /hstələt -let/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin diminutive of haustrum ‘scoop’, from haust- ‘drawn in’, from the verb haurire.

haustorium /hstrəm/ n. (pl. haustoria /-rə/) [BOTANY] a slender projection from the root of a parasitic plant, such as a dodder, or from the hyphae of a parasitic fungus, enabling the parasite to penetrate the tissues of its host and absorb nutrients from it.

<DERIVATIVES> haustorial adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin haustor ‘thing that draws in’, from the verb haurire.

hautboy /(h)əb/ n. archaic form of OBOE.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French hautbois, from haut ‘high’ + bois ‘wood’.

haute bourgeoisie /ət bəwαzi/ n. (the haute bourgeoisie) [treated as sing. or plural] the upper middle class.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘high bourgeoisie’.

haute couture /ət ktjə/ n. [mass noun] the designing and making of high-quality fashionable clothes by leading fashion houses.

- clothes of this kind.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘high dressmaking’.

haute cuisine /ət kwzin/ n. [mass noun] the preparation and cooking of high-quality food following the style of traditional French cuisine.

- food produced in such a way.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘high cookery’.

haute école /ət ekl/ n. [mass noun] the art or practice of advanced classical dressage.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘high school’.

Haute-Normandie /ətnməndi/ French /ətnRmαdi/ a region of northern France, on the coast of the English Channel, including the city of Rouen.

hauteur /ətə/ n. [mass noun] proud haughtiness of manner.

<ORIGIN> French, from haut ‘high’.

haut monde /ə md/ n. (the haut monde) fashionable society.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘high world’.

haut-relief /ərlif/ n. [mass noun] [ART] another term for HIGH RELIEF (see RELIEF (SENSE 4)).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, literally ‘high relief’.

havala /hvelə/ n. Indian another term for HAWALA.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi havālā.

havan /havən/ n. [HINDUISM] a ritual burning of offerings such as grains and ghee, which is held to mark births, marriages, and other special occasions.

<ORIGIN> Hindi.

Havana^1 /həvanə/ the capital of Cuba, situated on the north coast; pop. 2,328,000 (est. 2002). It was founded in 1515 by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar. Spanish name LA HABANA.

Havana^2 /həvanə/ n. a cigar made in Cuba or from Cuban tobacco.

Havant /hav(ə)nt/ a town in SE Hampshire; pop. 116,857 (2001).

havarti /həvαti/ n. [mass noun] a mild, semi-soft Danish cheese with small irregular holes.

<ORIGIN> named after the farm of the Danish cheesemaker Hanne Nielsen.

have v. (has, having, had) [with obj.] 1 (also have got) possess, own, or hold: he had a new car and a boat | have you got a job yet? | I don't have that much money on me.

- possess (a quality, characteristic, or feature): the ham had a sweet, smoky flavour | she's got blue eyes | the house has gas-fired central heating.

- (have oneself) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN provide or indulge oneself with (something): he had himself two highballs.

- be made up of; comprise: in 1989 the party had 10,000 members.

- used to indicate a particular relationship: he's got three children | do you have a client named Peters?

- be able to make use of (something available or at one's disposal): how much time have I got for the presentation?

- possess as an intellectual attainment; know (a language or subject): he knew Latin and Greek; I had only a little French.

2 experience; undergo: I went to a few parties and had a good time | I was having difficulty in keeping awake.

- (also have got) suffer from (an illness, ailment, or disability): I've got a headache.

- (also have got) let (a feeling or thought) come into one's mind; hold in the mind: he had the strong impression that someone was watching him.

- [with past participle] experience or suffer the specified action happening or being done to (something): she had her bag stolen.

- [with obj. and complement] cause to be in a particular state or condition: I want to have everything ready in good time | I had the TV on with the sound turned down.

- [with past participle] cause (something) to be done for one by someone else: it is advisable to have your carpet laid by a professional.

- tell or arrange for (someone) to do something for one: [with obj. and infinitive] he had his bodyguards throw Chris out | she's always having the builders in to do something or other.

- (also have got) INFORMAL have put (someone) at a disadvantage in an argument: you've got me there; I've never given the matter much thought.

- INFORMAL cheat or deceive (someone): I realized I'd been had.

- VULGAR SLANG engage in sexual intercourse with.

3 (have to or have got to do something) be obliged or find it necessary to do the specified thing: you don't have to accept this situation | sorry, we've got to dash.

- be strongly recommended to do something: if you think that place is great, you have to try our summer house.

- be certain or inevitable to happen or be the case: there has to be a catch.

4 perform the action indicated by the noun specified (used especially in spoken English as an alternative to a more specific verb): he had a look round | the colour green has a restful effect.

- organize and bring about: are you going to have a party?

- eat or drink: they had beans on toast.

- give birth to or be due to give birth to: she's going to have a baby.

5 (also have got) show (a personal attribute or quality) by one's actions or attitude: he had little patience with technological gadgetry | [with obj. and infinitive] you never even phoned, and now you've got the cheek to come back.

- [often in imperative] exercise or show (mercy, pity, etc.) towards another person: God have mercy on me!

- [with negative] accept or tolerate: I can't have you insulting Tom like that.

6 (also have got) [with obj. and adverbial of place] place or keep (something) in a particular position: Mary had her back to me | I soon had the trout in a net.

- hold or grasp in a particular way: he had me by the throat.

7 be the recipient of (something sent, given, or done): she had a letter from Mark.

- take or invite into one's home so as to provide care or entertainment: we're having the children for the weekend.

■ auxiliary v. used with a past participle to form the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect tenses, and the conditional mood: I have finished | he had asked her | she will have left by now | I could have helped, had I known | ‘Have you seen him?’ ‘Yes, I have.’.

■ n. 1 (the haves) INFORMAL people with plenty of money and possessions: an increasing gap between the haves and have-nots.

2 [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a swindle.

<PHRASES>

□ have a care (or an eye etc.) see CARE, EYE, etc.

□ have got it bad (or badly) INFORMAL be very powerfully affected emotionally, especially by love.

□ have had it INFORMAL 1 be in a very poor condition; be beyond repair or past its best: the car had had it.

- be extremely tired.

- have lost all chance of survival: when the lorry smashed into me, I thought I'd had it.

2 be unable to tolerate someone or something any longer: I've had it with him—he's humiliated me once too often!

□ have it 1 [with clause] claim; express the view that: rumour had it that although he lived in a derelict house, he was really very wealthy.

2 win a decision, especially after a vote: the ayes have it.

3 have found the answer to something: ‘I have it!’ Rosa exclaimed.

□ have it away (on one's toes) BRITISH INFORMAL leave quickly.

□ have it away (or off) BRITISH VULGAR SLANG have sexual intercourse.

□ have it BOTH ways see BOTH.

□ have (got) it in for INFORMAL feel a particular dislike of (someone) and behave in a hostile manner towards them.

□ have (got) it in one (to do something) INFORMAL have the capacity or potential (to do something): everyone thinks he has it in him to produce a literary classic.

□ have it out INFORMAL attempt to resolve a contentious matter by confronting someone: give her the chance of a night's rest before you have it out with her.

□ have a nice day chiefly US used to express good wishes when parting.

□ have (got) nothing on INFORMAL 1 be not nearly as good as.

2 (have nothing or something on) know nothing (or something) discreditable or incriminating about: I am not worried—they've got nothing on me.

□ have nothing to do with see do^1.

□ have one too MANY see MANY.

□ have (got) something to oneself be able to use, occupy, or enjoy something without having to share it with anyone else.

□ have —— to do with see do^1.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ have at tackle or attack forcefully or aggressively.

□ have someone on INFORMAL try to make someone believe something that is untrue, especially as a joke: that's just too neat—you're having me on.

□ have (got) something on 1 be wearing something: she had a blue dress on.

2 be committed to an arrangement: I've got a lot on at the moment.

□ have something out undergo an operation to extract a part of one's body.

□ have someone up BRITISH INFORMAL bring someone before a court of justice to answer for an alleged offence: you can be had up for blackmail.

<ORIGIN> Old English habban, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hebben and German haben, also probably to HEAVE.

<USAGE> 1 Have and have got: there is a great deal of debate on the difference between these two forms; a traditional view is that have got is chiefly BRITISH, but not correct in formal writing, while have is chiefly American. Actual usage is more complicated: have got is in fact also widely used in US English. In both British and US usage have is more formal than have got and it is more appropriate in writing to use constructions such as don't have rather than haven't got.
2 A common mistake is to write the word of instead of have or 've: I could of told you that instead of I could've told you that. The reason for the mistake is that the pronunciation of have in unstressed contexts is the same as that of of, and the two words are confused when it comes to writing them down. The error was recorded as early as 1837 and, though common, is unacceptable in standard English.
3 Another controversial issue is the insertion of have where it is superfluous, as for example I might have missed it if you hadn't have pointed it out (rather than the standard … if you hadn't pointed it out). This construction has been around since at least the 15th and 16th centuries, but only where a hypothetical situation is presented (e.g. statements starting with if). More recently, there has been speculation among grammarians and linguists that this insertion of have may represent a kind of subjunctive and is actually making a useful distinction in the language. However, it is still regarded as an error in standard English.

Havel /hαv(ə)l/ Václav (b.1936), Czech dramatist and statesman, President of Czechoslovakia 1989–92 and of the Czech Republic 1993–2003. His plays, such as The Garden Party (1963), were critical of totalitarianism and he was twice imprisoned as a dissident. He was elected president following the velvet revolution.

haveli /hvəli/ n. (pl. havelis) INDIAN a mansion.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Arabic havelī.

haven n. a place of safety or refuge: a haven for wildlife.

- an inlet providing shelter for ships or boats; a harbour or small port.

<ORIGIN> late Old English hæfen, from Old Norse hfn; related to Dutch haven, German Hafen ‘harbour’.

have-nots plural n. (usually the have-nots) INFORMAL economically disadvantaged people.

haven't contraction have not.

haver /hevə/ v. [no obj.] 1 SCOTTISH talk foolishly; babble: Tom havered on.

2 BRITISH act in a vacillating or indecisive manner: (as n. havering) she was exasperated by all this havering.

■ n. [mass noun] (also havers) SCOTTISH foolish talk; nonsense.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: of unknown origin.

haversack /havəsak/ n. a small, strong bag carried on the back or over the shoulder, used especially by soldiers and walkers.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French havresac, from obsolete German Habersack, denoting a bag used by soldiers to carry oats as horse feed, from dialect Haber ‘oats’ + Sack ‘sack, bag’.

Haversian canal /həvəsən/ n. [ANATOMY] any of the minute tubes which form a network in bone and contain blood vessels.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Clopton Havers (1650–1702), English anatomist.

haversine /havəsn/ (also haversin) n. [MATHEMATICS] half of a versed sine.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: contraction of half versed sine.

havildar /havldα/ n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a soldier or police officer corresponding to a sergeant.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu hawildār, from Persian awāldār ‘trust-holder’, from awāl (from Arabic awāl ‘charge, assignment’) + -dār ‘holder’.

havoc n. [mass noun] widespread destruction: the hurricane ripped through Florida causing havoc.

- great confusion or disorder: if they weren't at school they'd be wreaking havoc in the streets.

■ v. (havocs, havocking, havocked) [with obj.] ARCHAIC lay waste to; devastate.

<PHRASES>

□ play havoc with completely disrupt: shift work plays havoc with the body clock.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French havok, alteration of Old French havot, of unknown origin. The word was originally used in the phrase cry havoc (Old French crier havot) ‘to give an army the order havoc’, which was the signal for plundering.

haw^1 n. the red fruit of the hawthorn.

<ORIGIN> Old English haga, of Germanic origin; probably related to HEDGE (compare with Dutch haag ‘hedge’).

haw^2 n. the third eyelid or nictitating membrane in certain mammals, especially dogs and cats.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a discharge from the eye): of unknown origin.

haw^3 v. see hum and haw at hum^1.

Hawaii /həwi/ a state of the US comprising a group of over twenty islands in the North Pacific; capital, Honolulu (on Oahu); pop. 1,211,537 (2000). First settled by Polynesians, Hawaii was visited by Captain James Cook in 1778. It was annexed by the US in 1898 and became the 50th state in 1959. Former name SANDWICH ISLANDS.

- the largest island in the state of Hawaii.

Hawaiian n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Hawaii.

2 [mass noun] the Austronesian language of Hawaii, now spoken by fewer than 2,000 people.

■ adj. relating to Hawaii, its people, or their language.

- [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a type of volcanic eruption in which very fluid basaltic lava is produced, as is typical of volcanoes in Hawaii.

Hawaiian goose n. a rare goose native to Hawaii, now breeding chiefly in captivity. Also called NENE.

<INFO> Branta sandvicensis, family Anatidae.

Hawaiian guitar n. a steel-stringed guitar in which a characteristic glissando effect is produced by sliding a metal bar along the strings as they are plucked.

hawala /hawαlə/ n. [mass noun] a traditional system of transferring money used in Arab countries and the Indian subcontinent, whereby the money is paid to an agent who then instructs an associate in the relevant country or area to pay the final recipient.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic awāla, literally ‘assignment, bill of exchange’.

hawfinch n. a large Old World finch with a massive bill for cracking open cherry stones and other hard seeds.

<INFO> Genus Coccothraustes, family Fringillidae: three species, in particular the widespread C. coccothraustes.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from HAW^1 + FINCH.

hawk^1 n. 1 a diurnal bird of prey with broad rounded wings and a long tail, typically taking prey by surprise with a short chase. Compare with FALCON.

<INFO> Family Accipitridae: several genera, especially Accipiter, which includes the sparrowhawk and goshawk.

- NORTH AMERICAN a bird of prey related to the buzzards.

- [FALCONRY] any diurnal bird of prey used in falconry.

2 a person who advocates an aggressive or warlike policy, especially in foreign affairs. Compare with dove^1 (sense 2).

3 used in names of hawkmoths, e.g. eyed hawk.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a person) hunt game with a trained hawk: he spent the afternoon hawking.

2 (of a bird or dragonfly) hunt on the wing for food: swifts hawked low over the water.

<PHRASES>

□ have eyes like a hawk miss nothing of what is going on around one.

□ watch someone like a hawk keep a vigilant eye on someone, especially to check that they do nothing wrong.

<DERIVATIVES> hawklike adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hafoc, heafoc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch havik and German Habicht.

hawk^2 v. [with obj.] carry about and offer (goods) for sale, typically advertising them by shouting: street traders were hawking costume jewellery.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: probably a back-formation from HAWKER^1.

hawk^3 v. [no obj.] clear the throat noisily: he hawked and spat into the flames.

- [with obj.] (hawk something up) bring phlegm up from the throat.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably imitative.

hawk^4 n. a plasterer's square board with a handle underneath for carrying plaster or mortar.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

hawkbit n. a Eurasian plant of the daisy family which resembles a dandelion, with a rosette of leaves and yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Leontodon, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: blend of HAWKWEED and DEVIL'S BIT.

Hawke Bob (b.1929), Australian Labor statesman, Prime Minister 1983–91; full name Robert James Lee Hawke. During his premiership he pursued an economic programme based on free-market policies and tax reform.

hawk eagle n. a small tropical eagle with broad wings and a long tail, and typically a crest.

<INFO> Genera Spizaetus and Spizastur, family Accipitridae: several species.

Hawke Bay a bay on the east coast of the North Island, New Zealand.

hawker^1 n. a person who travels about selling goods, typically advertising them by shouting.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: probably from Low German or Dutch and related to HUCKSTER.

hawker^2 n. 1 a falconer.

2 a slender-bodied dragonfly that remains airborne for long periods, typically patrolling a particular stretch of water.

<INFO> Aeshnidae, Gomphidae, and other families, order Odonata: several genera.

<ORIGIN> Old English hafocere, from hafoc ‘hawk’.

hawker centre n. (in South East Asia) a market at which individual vendors sell ready-to-eat food from small booths.

Hawke's Bay an administrative region on the eastern coast of the North Island, New Zealand.

hawk-eyed adj. having very good eyesight.

- watching carefully; vigilant: a hawk-eyed policeman saved the lives of dozens of shoppers.

Hawkeye State informal name for IOWA.

hawkfish n. (pl. same or hawkfishes) a small tropical marine fish found chiefly in the Indo-Pacific region. It typically lives in shallow water and adopts a distinctive perching or ‘hovering’ position just above coral.

<INFO> Family Cirrhitidae: three genera and several species.

Hawking Stephen (William) (b.1942), English theoretical physicist. His main work has been on space–time, quantum mechanics, and black holes. He is also noted for his best-selling book A Brief History of Time (1988).

Hawking radiation n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] electromagnetic radiation which, according to theory, should be emitted by a black hole. The radiation is due to the black hole capturing one of a particle-antiparticle pair created spontaneously near to the event horizon.

Hawkins^1 Coleman (Randolph) (1904–69), American jazz saxophonist.

Hawkins^2 (also Hawkyns) Sir John (1532–95), English sailor. Involved in the slave trade and privateering, he later helped build up the fleet which defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588.

hawkish adj. 1 resembling a hawk in nature or appearance.

2 advocating an aggressive or warlike policy, especially in foreign affairs: the administration's hawkish stance.

<DERIVATIVES> hawkishly adv. hawkishness n.

hawkmoth n. a large swift-flying moth with a stout body and narrow forewings, typically feeding on nectar while hovering.

<INFO> Family Sphingidae: several genera and many species.

hawk-nosed adj. (of a person) having a nose which is curved like a hawk's beak.

hawk owl n. a hawklike owl with a small head and long tail.

<INFO> Family Strigidae: three genera, including Ninox (several species in Asia and Australasia) and Surnia.

Hawks Howard (Winchester) (1896–1977), American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He directed such films as The Big Sleep (1946), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and Rio Bravo (1959).

hawksbeard n. a plant of the daisy family which resembles a dandelion but has a branched stem with several flowers.

<INFO> Genus Crepis, family Compositae.

hawksbill (also hawksbill turtle) n. a small tropical sea turtle with hooked jaws and overlapping horny plates on the shell, the traditional source of tortoiseshell.

<INFO> Eretmochelys imbricata, family Cheloniidae.

hawkshaw n. INFORMAL, DATED or NORTH AMERICAN a detective.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of a detective in the play The Ticket-of-Leave Man by Tom Taylor (1817–80), English dramatist; also portrayed in the comic strip Hawkshaw the Detective by Augustus Charles (‘Gus’) Mager (1878–1956), American cartoonist.

Hawksmoor Nicholas (1661–1736), English architect. Having become a clerk to Sir Christopher Wren in 1679, in 1690 he went on to work with Vanbrugh at Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace. He later designed six London churches.

hawkweed n. [mass noun] a widely distributed plant of the daisy family, which typically has yellow dandelion-like flower heads and often grows as a weed.

<INFO> Genus Hieracium, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> late Old English, rendering Latin hieracium, based on Greek hierax ‘hawk’: Pliny believed that hawks fed on this plant to strengthen their eyesight.

Haworth /hawəθ/ Sir Walter Norman (1883–1950), English organic chemist. He was a pioneer in carbohydrate chemistry and was the first person to make a vitamin artificially when he synthesized vitamin C. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1937).

hawse /hz/ n. the part of a ship's bows through which the anchor cables pass.

- the space between the head of an anchored vessel and the anchors.

<PHRASES>

□ foul hawse a situation in which an anchored ship's port and starboard cables are crossed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English halse, probably from Old Norse háls ‘neck, ship's bow’.

hawsehole n. a hole in the deck of a ship through which an anchor cable passes.

hawsepipe n. an inclined pipe leading from a hawse hole to the side of a ship, containing the shank of the anchor when the anchor is raised.

hawser /hzə/ n. a thick rope or cable for mooring or towing a ship.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French haucer, from Old French haucier ‘to hoist’, based on Latin altus ‘high’.

hawser-laid adj. another term for CABLE-LAID.

hawthorn n. a thorny shrub or tree of the rose family, with white, pink, or red blossom and small dark red fruits (haws). Native to north temperate regions, it is commonly used for hedging in Britain. Also called MAY^1, QUICKTHORN, WHITETHORN.

<INFO> Genus Crataegus, family Rosaceae: many species, in particular the European common hawthorn (C. monogyna).

<ORIGIN> Old English hagathorn, probably meaning literally ‘hedge thorn’ (see haw^1, thorn); related to Dutch haagdoorn, German Hagedorn.

Hawthorne Nathaniel (1804–64), American novelist and short-story writer. Much of his fiction explores guilt, sin, and morality. Notable works: Twice-Told Tales (short stories, 1837), The Scarlet Letter (1850), and The House of the Seven Gables (1851).

Hawthorne effect n. the alteration of behaviour by the subjects of a study due to their awareness of being observed.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Hawthorne, the name of one of the Western Electric Company's plants in Chicago, where the phenomenon was first observed in the 1920s.

Hay Will (1888–1949), English actor and comedian; full name William Thomson Hay. He is remembered for his screen characterizations of incompetent authority figures. His films include Oh, Mr Porter! (1937) and My Learned Friend (1944).

hay^1 n. [mass noun] grass that has been mown and dried for use as fodder.

<PHRASES>

□ hit the hay INFORMAL go to bed.

□ make hay (while the sun shines) PROVERB make good use of an opportunity while it lasts.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēg, hīeg, hīg, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hooi and German Heu, also to HEW.

hay^2 n. a country dance with interweaving steps similar to a reel.

- a winding figure in such a dance.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from an obsolete sense ‘a kind of dance’ of French haie ‘hedge’, figuratively ‘row of people lining the route of a procession’.

haybox n. HISTORICAL a box stuffed with hay in which heated food was left to continue cooking.

haycock n. a conical heap of hay in a field.

Hay diet n. a diet in which carbohydrates are eaten at separate times from fruit and proteins, in the belief that this aids digestion.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after William Howard Hay (1866–1940), the American physician who devised it.

Haydn /hd(ə)n/ Franz Joseph (1732–1809), Austrian composer. A major exponent of the classical style, he taught both Mozart and Beethoven. His work includes 108 symphonies, 67 string quartets, 12 masses, and the oratorio The Creation (1796–8).

Hayek /hjεk/ Friedrich August von (1899–1992), Austrian-born British economist. Strongly opposed to Keynesian economics, he was a leading advocate of the free market. Nobel Prize for Economics (1974).

Hayes Rutherford (Birchard) (1822–93), American Republican statesman, 19th President of the US 1877–81. His administration brought the Reconstruction era in the South to an end.

hay fever n. [mass noun] an allergy caused by pollen or dust in which the mucous membranes of the eyes and nose are inflamed, causing running at the nose and watery eyes.

hayfield n. a field where grass is grown for making into hay.

haying n. [mass noun] the activity of mowing and drying grass to make hay.

haylage /held/ n. [mass noun] silage made from grass which has been partially dried.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of hay^1 and SILAGE.

hayloft n. a loft over a stable used for storing hay or straw.

haymaker n. 1 a person who is involved in making hay, especially one who tosses and spreads it to dry after mowing.

- an apparatus for shaking and drying hay.

2 INFORMAL a forceful blow.

haymaking n. [mass noun] the activity of making hay from grass grown for fodder.

haymow /hemə/ n. a stack of hay or part of a barn in which hay is stored.

hayrick n. another term for HAYSTACK.

hayride n. NORTH AMERICAN a ride taken for pleasure in a wagon carrying hay.

hayseed n. 1 [mass noun] grass seed obtained from hay.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person from the country, especially a simple, unsophisticated one.

haystack n. a packed pile of hay, typically with a pointed or ridged top.

haywire adj. INFORMAL erratic; out of control: her imagination had gone haywire.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): from HAY^1 + WIRE, from the use of hay-baling wire in makeshift repairs.

Hayworth Rita (1918–87), American actress and dancer; born Margarita Carmen Cansino. She achieved stardom in film musicals such as Cover Girl (1944) before going on to play roles in film noir, notably in Gilda (1946) and The Lady from Shanghai (1948).

hazard /hazəd/ n. 1 a danger or risk: the hazards of childbirth.

- a potential source of danger: a fire hazard | a health hazard.

- a permanent feature of a golf course which presents an obstruction to playing a shot, such as a bunker or stream.

2 [mass noun] LITERARY chance; probability: we can form no calculation concerning the laws of hazard.

3 [mass noun] a gambling game using two dice, in which the chances are complicated by arbitrary rules.

4 (in real tennis) each of the winning openings in the court.

5 [BILLIARDS] a stroke with which a ball is pocketed.

- (losing hazard) the pocketing of the cue ball off another ball.

- (winning hazard) the pocketing of the object ball.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 say (something) in a tentative way: he hazarded a guess.

2 put (something) at risk of being lost: the cargo business is too risky to hazard money on.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 3 of the noun): from Old French hasard, from Spanish azar, from Arabic az-zahr ‘chance, luck’, from Persian zār or Turkish zar ‘dice’.

hazard lights (also hazard warning lights) plural n. yellow flashing indicator lights on a vehicle, switched on simultaneously as a warning that the vehicle is stationary or unexpectedly slowing down or reversing.

hazardous adj. risky; dangerous: we work in hazardous conditions | it is hazardous to personal safety.

<DERIVATIVES> hazardously adv. hazardousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French hasardeux, from hasard ‘chance’ (see HAZARD).

hazard pay n. US term for DANGER MONEY.

Hazchem /hazkεm/ n. [as modifier] denoting a system of labelling hazardous chemicals, especially during transportation.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from hazardous chemical.

haze^1 n. [mass noun] 1 a slight obscuration of the lower atmosphere, typically caused by fine suspended particles.

- a very fine cloud of something such as vapour or smoke in the air: the gathering haze of cigarette smoke.

2 [in sing.] a state of mental confusion: an alcoholic haze.

■ v. [with obj.] obscure with a haze: a clump of islands, very green, but hazed in cloud and mist.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (originally denoting fog or hoar frost): probably a back-formation from HAZY.

haze^2 v. North American 1 [with obj.] force (a new or potential recruit to the military or a university fraternity) to perform strenuous, humiliating, or dangerous tasks: rookies were mercilessly hazed.

2 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] drive (cattle) in a specified direction while on horseback.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally Scots and dialect in the sense ‘frighten, scold, or beat’): perhaps related to obsolete French haser ‘tease or insult’.

hazel n. 1 a temperate shrub or small tree with broad leaves, bearing prominent male catkins in spring and round hard-shelled edible nuts in autumn.

<INFO> Genus Corylus, family Betulaceae: several species, in particular the common Eurasian hazel (C. avellana).

2 [mass noun] a reddish-brown or greenish-brown colour, especially of a person's eyes.

<ORIGIN> Old English hæsel, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hazelaar ‘hazel tree’, hazelnoot ‘hazelnut’, and German Hasel, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin corylus.

hazel grouse n. a small Eurasian woodland grouse with mainly greyish plumage.

<INFO> Bonasa bonasia, family Tetraonidae (or Phasianidae).

hazelnut n. a round brown hard-shelled nut that is the edible fruit of the hazel.

Hazlitt /hazlt hez-/ William (1778–1830), English essayist and critic. His diverse essays, collected in Table Talk (1821), were marked by a clarity and conviction which brought new vigour to English prose writing.

hazmat /hazmat/ (also hazmats) n. [mass noun] dangerous substances; hazardous material: [as modifier] hazmat shipments.

hazy adj. (hazier, haziest) covered by a haze: it was a beautiful day but quite hazy.

- vague or ill-defined: hazy memories | the picture we have of him is extremely hazy.

- confused; uncertain: school-leavers were often hazy about employment.

<DERIVATIVES> hazily adv. haziness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in nautical use in the sense ‘foggy’): of unknown origin.

hazzan /xəzαn hαz(ə)n/ n. (pl. hazzanim)

■ another term for cantor (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Hebrew azzān ‘cantor’, possibly from Assyrian hazannu ‘mayor, headman’.

HB abbr.

- half board.

- (also hb) hardback.

- hard black (used in describing a medium grade of pencil lead).

- the political wing of the Basque separatist organization ETA. [<ORIGIN> abbreviation of Basque Herri Batasuna ‘United People’.]

Hb symbol haemoglobin.

HBM abbr. BRITISH Her or His Britannic Majesty (or Majesty's).

H-bomb n. another term for HYDROGEN BOMB.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from H^2

■ (denoting hydrogen) + BOMB.

HC abbr.

- Holy Communion.

- (in the UK) House of Commons.

- hydrocarbon: increasing fuel efficiency decreases the levels of HC.

h.c. abbr. honoris causa.

HCF abbr. [MATHEMATICS] highest common factor.

HCFC abbr. hydrochlorofluorocarbon.

HDD abbr. [COMPUTING] hard disk drive.

HDL abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] high-density lipoprotein.

HDTV abbr. high-definition television, using more lines per frame to give a sharper image.

HE abbr.

- high explosive.

- His Eminence.

- His or Her Excellency.

He symbol the chemical element helium.

he pron. [third person singular] used to refer to a man, boy, or male animal previously mentioned or easily identified: everyone liked my father—he was the perfect gentleman.

- used to refer to a person or animal of unspecified sex (in modern use, now chiefly replaced by ‘he or she’ or ‘they’): see usage note below): every child needs to know that he is loved.

- any person (in modern use, now chiefly replaced by ‘anyone’ or ‘the person’: see usage note below): he who is silent consents.

- W. INDIAN him or his: don't tell he nothing more.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] a male; a man: is that a he or a she?

- [in combination] male: a he-goat.

2 British (in children's games) the player who has to catch the others; ‘it’.

<ORIGIN> Old English he, hē, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hij.

<USAGE> 1 For a discussion of I am older than he versus I am older than him, see usage at personal pronoun
2 Until recently, he was used uncontroversially to refer to a person of unspecified sex, as in every child needs to know that he is loved. This use has become problematic and is a hallmark of old-fashioned or sexist language. Use of they as an alternative to he in this sense (everyone needs to feel that they matter) has been in use since the 18th century, in contexts where it occurs after an indefinite pronoun such as everyone or someone. It is becoming more and more accepted both in speech and in writing, and is used as the norm in this dictionary. Another alternative is he or she, though this can become tiresomely long-winded when used frequently.

head n. 1 the upper part of the human body, or the front or upper part of the body of an animal, typically separated from the rest of the body by a neck, and containing the brain, mouth, and sense organs.

- the head regarded as the location of intellect, imagination, and memory: whatever comes into my head.

- (head for) an aptitude for or tolerance of: she had a good head for business | a head for heights.

- INFORMAL a headache, especially one resulting from intoxication.

- the height or length of a head as a measure: he was beaten by a head.

- (heads) the side of a coin bearing the image of a head (used when tossing a coin to determine a winner): heads or tails?

- the antlers of a deer.

2 a thing resembling a head either in form or in relation to a whole, in particular:

- the cutting, striking, or operational end of a tool, weapon, or mechanism.

- the flattened or knobbed end of a nail, pin, screw, or match.

- the ornamented top of a pillar or column.

- a compact mass of leaves or flowers at the top of a stem, especially a capitulum: huge heads of fluffy cream flowers.

- the edible leafy part at the top of the stem of such green vegetables as cabbage and lettuce.

3 the front, forward, or upper part or end of something, in particular:

- the upper end of a table or bed: he sat down at the head of the cot.

- the upper horizontal part of a window frame or door frame.

- the flat end of a cask or drum.

- the front of a queue or procession.

- the top of a page.

■ short for HEADLINE.

- the top of a flight of stairs or steps.

- the foam on top of a glass of beer, or the cream on the top of milk.

- the source of a river or stream.

- the end of a lake or inlet at which a river enters.

- [usually in place names] a promontory: Beachy Head.

- the top of a ship's mast.

- the bows of a ship.

■ short for CYLINDER HEAD.

4 a person in charge of something; a director or leader: the head of the Dutch Catholic Church.

- British short for HEADMASTER, HEADMISTRESS, or HEAD TEACHER.

5 a person considered as a numerical unit: they paid fifty pounds a head.

- [treated as plural] a number of cattle or game as specified: seventy head of dairy cattle.

6 a component in an audio, video, or information system by which information is transferred from an electrical signal to the recording medium, or vice versa.

- the part of a record player that holds the playing cartridge and stylus.

■ short for PRINTHEAD.

7 a body of water kept at a particular height in order to provide a supply at sufficient pressure: an 8 m head of water in the shafts.

- the pressure exerted by such water or by a confined body of steam: a good head of steam on the gauge.

8 [NAUTICAL] a toilet on a ship or boat.

9 [GRAMMAR] the word that governs all the other words in a phrase in which it is used, having the same grammatical function as the whole phrase.

10 [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a superficial deposit of rock fragments, formed at the edge of an ice sheet by repeated freezing and thawing and then moved downhill.

■ adj. [attr.] chief; principal: the head waiter.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 be in the leading position on: the St George's Day procession was headed by the mayor.

- be in charge of: an organizational unit headed by a line manager | she headed up the Jubilee Year programme.

2 give a title or caption to: an article headed ‘The Protection of Human Life’.

- (as adj. headed) having a printed heading, typically the name and address of a person or organization: headed notepaper.

3 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (also be headed) move in a specified direction: he was heading for the exit | we were headed in the wrong direction.

- (head for) appear to be moving inevitably towards (something, especially something undesirable): the economy is heading for recession.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] direct or steer in a specified direction: she headed the car towards them.

- (head up) [SAILING] steer towards the wind.

4 (head someone/thing off) intercept and turn aside: he ran up the road to head off approaching cars.

- forestall: they headed off a row by ordering further study of both plans.

5 [SOCCER] shoot or pass (the ball) with the head: a corner kick that Moody headed into the net.

6 lop off the upper part or branches of (a plant or tree).

7 [no obj.] (of a lettuce or cabbage) form a head.

<PHRASES>

□ be banging (or knocking) one's head against a brick wall be doggedly attempting the impossible and suffering in the process.

□ bang (or knock) people's heads together reprimand people severely, especially in an attempt to stop them arguing.

□ be hanging over someone's head (of something unpleasant) threaten to affect someone at any moment.

□ be on someone's (own) head be someone's sole responsibility.

□ bite (or snap) someone's head off reply sharply and brusquely to someone.

□ by the head [NAUTICAL] (of a boat or ship) deeper in the water forward than astern.

□ come to a head reach a crisis: the violence came to a head with the deaths of six youths.

□ do someone's head in BRITISH INFORMAL make someone feel annoyed, confused, or frustrated.

□ from head to toe (or foot) all over one's body: I was shaking from head to toe.

□ get one's head down BRITISH INFORMAL 1 sleep.

2 concentrate on the task in hand.

□ get one's head round (or around) [usually with negative] BRITISH INFORMAL understand or come to terms with: I just can't get my head around this idea.

□ get something into one's (or someone's) head come (or cause someone) to realize or understand something: when will you get it into your head that it's the project that counts not me?

□ give someone their head allow someone complete freedom of action.

□ give someone head VULGAR SLANG perform oral sex on someone.

□ go to someone's head (of alcohol) make someone dizzy or slightly drunk.

- (of success) make someone conceited.

□ hang one's head (in shame) be deeply ashamed.

□ head first with the head in front of the rest of the body: she dived head first into the water | a head-first slide.

- without sufficient forethought.

□ head of hair the hair on a person's head, regarded in terms of its appearance or quantity: he had a fine head of hair.

□ head and shoulders above INFORMAL far superior to.

□ —— one's head off talk, laugh, etc. unrestrainedly: he was drunk as a newt and singing his head off.

□ head over heels 1 turning over completely in forward motion, as in a somersault.

2 (also head over heels in love) madly in love: I immediately fell head over heels for Don.

□ a head start an advantage granted or gained at the beginning of something: our fine traditions give us a head start on the competition.

□ heads I win, tails you lose I win whatever happens.

□ heads will roll people will be dismissed or forced to resign.

□ hold (or put) a gun to someone's head force someone to do something by using threats.

□ hold up one's head (or hold one's head high) be confident or unashamed: under the circumstances I would find it impossible to hold my head up in the town.

□ in one's head by mental process without use of physical aids: the piece he'd already written in his head.

□ keep one's head remain calm.

□ keep one's head above water avoid succumbing to difficulties, typically debt.

□ keep one's head down remain inconspicuous in difficult or dangerous times.

□ lose one's head lose self-control; panic.

□ make head or tail of [usually with negative] understand at all: we couldn't make head nor tail of the answer.

□ off (or out of) one's head BRITISH INFORMAL crazy: my old man's going off his head, you know.

- extremely intoxicated by drink or drugs.

□ off the top of one's head without careful thought or investigation.

□ over someone's head 1 beyond someone's ability to understand: the discussion was over my head.

2 without someone's knowledge or involvement, especially when they have a right to it: the deal was struck over the heads of the regions concerned.

- with disregard for someone else's (stronger) claim: his promotion over the heads of more senior colleagues.

□ put their (or our or your) heads together consult and work together: they forced the major banks to put their heads together to sort it out.

□ put something into someone's head suggest something to someone: who's been putting ideas into your head?

□ standing on one's head with no difficulty at all: I could design this garden standing on my head.

□ stand (or turn) something on its head completely reverse the principles or interpretation of an idea or argument.

□ take it into one's head to do something impetuously decide to do something.

□ turn someone's head make someone conceited.

□ turn heads attract a great deal of attention or interest: she recently turned heads with a nude scene.

<DERIVATIVES> headed adj. [in combination] bald-headed men | woolly-headed thinking headless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēafod, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoofd and German Haupt.

-head^1 suffix equivalent to -HOOD: maidenhead.

<ORIGIN> Middle English -hed, -hede.

-head^2 combining form 1 denoting the front, forward, or upper part or end of a specified thing: spearhead | masthead.

2 forming informal nouns expressing disparagement of a person: airhead | dumbhead.

3 forming informal nouns denoting an addict or habitual user of a specified drug: crackhead.

- forming informal nouns denoting an enthusiast of a particular thing: he's a total soccer-head.

headache n. a continuous pain in the head.

- INFORMAL a thing or person that causes worry or difficulty; a problem: an administrative headache.

<DERIVATIVES> headachy adj.

headage n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] the number of animals held as stock on a farm.

headband n. 1 a band of fabric worn around the head as a decoration or to keep the hair or perspiration off the face.

2 an ornamental strip of coloured silk fastened to the top of the spine of a book.

headbanger n. INFORMAL 1 a fan or performer of heavy metal music.

2 a mad or eccentric person.

headbanging n. [mass noun] 1 violent rhythmic shaking of the head by fans of heavy metal music.

2 violent rocking of the body and shaking or knocking of the head, by children or mentally disordered adults.

headboard n. 1 an upright panel forming or placed behind the head of a bed.

2 a board on the front of a train bearing the name of the route or service for which it is being used.

3 [SAILING] a reinforcement at the top of a triangular sail such as a mainsail.

headbutt British n. an aggressive and forceful thrust with the top of the head into the face or body of another person.

■ v. [with obj.] attack (someone) with a headbutt.

headcase n. BRITISH INFORMAL a mentally ill or unstable person.

headcheese n. North American term for brawn (sense 2).

headcount n. an instance of counting the number of people present.

- a total number of people, especially the number of people employed in a particular organization.

headdress n. an ornamental covering or band for the head, especially one worn on ceremonial occasions.

headend n. a control centre in a cable television system where various signals are brought together and monitored before being introduced into the cable network.

header n. 1 [SOCCER] a shot or pass made with the head.

2 INFORMAL a headlong fall or dive.

3 a brick or stone laid at right angles to the face of a wall. Compare with stretcher (sense 4 of the noun).

4 (also header tank) a raised tank of water maintaining pressure in a plumbing system.

5 a line or block of text appearing at the top of each page of a book or document. Compare with footer^1 (sense 3).

6 IRISH INFORMAL a mad or foolish person.

head gasket n. the gasket which fits between the cylinder head and the cylinders or cylinder block in an internal-combustion engine.

headgear n. [mass noun] hats, helmets, and other items worn on the head: protective headgear.

headhunt v. [with obj.] 1 (as n. headhunting) the practice among some peoples of collecting the heads of dead enemies as trophies.

2 identify and approach (a suitable person employed elsewhere) to fill a business position.

<DERIVATIVES> headhunter n.

heading n. 1 a title at the head of a page or section of a book: chapter headings.

- a division of a subject; a class or category: this topic falls under four main headings.

2 a direction or bearing: he crawled on a heading of 90 degrees until he came to the track.

3 a horizontal passage made in preparation for building a tunnel.

- [MINING] another term for drift (sense 4 of the noun).

4 a strip of cloth at the top of a curtain above the hooks or wire by which it is suspended.

headland n. 1 a narrow piece of land that projects from a coastline into the sea.

2 a strip of land left unploughed at the end of a field.

headlight (also headlamp) n. a powerful light at the front of a motor vehicle or railway engine.

headline n. a heading at the top of an article or page in a newspaper or magazine: a front-page headline.

- (the headlines) the most important items of news in a newspaper or a broadcast news bulletin: issues that are never long out of the headlines | the war at sea began to hit the headlines.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and complement] provide with a headline: a feature that was headlined ‘Invest in your Future’.

2 [with obj.] appear as the star performer at (a concert): Nirvana headlined the 1992 Reading Festival | [no obj.] they are headlining at the Town & Country club.

head line n. (in palmistry) the lower of the two horizontal lines that cross the palm of the hand, linked to the nature and strength of a person's mental faculties.

headliner n. a performer or act that is promoted as the star attraction on a bill.

headlock n. a method of restraining someone by holding an arm firmly around their head, especially as a hold in wrestling.

headlong adv. & adj. 1 [as adv.] with the head foremost: he fell headlong into the tent.

2 in a rush; with reckless haste: [as attr. adj.] a headlong dash through the house | [as adv.] those who rush headlong to join in the latest craze.

<ORIGIN> Middle English headling (from HEAD + the adverbial suffix -ling), altered in late Middle English by association with -LONG.

head louse n. a louse which infests the hair of the human head and is especially common among schoolchildren.

<INFO> Pediculus humanus capitis, family Pediculidae, order Anoplura. See also BODY LOUSE.

headman n. (pl. headmen) the chief or leader of a community or tribe.

headmaster n. chiefly BRITISH a man who is the head teacher in a school.

<DERIVATIVES> headmasterly adj.

headmistress n. chiefly BRITISH a woman who is the head teacher in a school.

<DERIVATIVES> headmistressy adj.

headmost adj. ARCHAIC (chiefly of a ship) holding a position in advance of others; foremost.

headnote n. a note inserted at the head of an article or document, summarizing or commenting on the content.

- [LAW] a summary of a decided case prefixed to the case report, setting out the principles behind the decision and an outline of the facts.

head of state n. the chief public representative of a country, such as a president or monarch, who may also be the head of government.

head-on adj. & adv. 1 with or involving the front of a vehicle: [as attr. adj.] a head-on collision | [as adv.] they hit a bus head-on.

2 with or involving direct confrontation: [as adv.] she's a serious writer who frequently tackles social issues head-on.

headphone n. (usually headphones) a device consisting of a pair of earphones joined by a band placed over the head, for listening to audio signals such as music or speech.

headpiece n. 1 a device worn on the head as an ornament or to serve a function.

2 an illustration or ornamental motif printed at the head of a chapter in a book.

3 the part of a halter or bridle that fits over the top of a horse's head behind the ears.

headquarter v. [with obj. and adverbial of place] have headquarters at a specified location: Unesco is headquartered in Paris.

headquarters n. [treated as sing. or plural] the premises occupied by a military commander and the commander's staff.

- the premises serving as the managerial and administrative centre of an organization.

headrail n. a horizontal rail at the top of something.

headrest n. a padded part extending from or fixed to the back of a seat or chair, designed to support the head.

headroom n. [mass noun] the space between the top of a vehicle or a person's head and the roof, ceiling, or other structure above.

headsail /hεdsel -s(ə)l/ n. a sail on a ship's foremast or bowsprit.

headscarf n. (pl. headscarves) a square of fabric worn by women as a covering for the head, often folded into a triangle and knotted under the chin.

head sea n. a mass of waves coming from directly in front of a ship: we tried out the boat in a steep head sea.

headset n. 1 a set of headphones, typically with a microphone attached, used especially in telephony and radio communication.

2 the bearing assembly which links the front fork of a bicycle to its frame.

headship n. the position of leader or chief.

- chiefly BRITISH the position of head teacher in a school.

headshrinker n. 1 HISTORICAL a headhunter who preserved and shrank the heads of his dead enemies.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a psychiatrist. Compare with SHRINK.

headsman n. (pl. headsmen) HISTORICAL 1 a man who was responsible for beheading condemned prisoners.

2 a person in command of a whaling boat.

headspace n. [mass noun] 1 the air or empty space left above the contents in a sealed container.

2 INFORMAL the notional space occupied by a person's mind: to play, you enter the headspace of a female bounty hunter.

headspring n. 1 a spring that is the main source of a stream.

2 a somersault similar to a handspring, except that the performer lands on the head as well as the hands.

headsquare n. another term for HEADSCARF.

headstall /hεdstl/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 a head collar or halter.

2 another term for headpiece (sense 3).

headstand n. an act of balancing on one's head and hands with one's feet in the air.

headstander n. a small deep-bodied freshwater fish of the Amazon region, popular in aquaria. It swims and feeds at an oblique angle with the head down.

<INFO> Genus Abramites, family Anostomidae: two species.

headstay n. another term for FORESTAY.

headstock n. 1 a set of bearings in a machine, supporting a revolving part.

2 the widened piece at the end of the neck of a guitar, to which the tuning pegs are fixed.

3 the horizontal end member of the underframe of a railway vehicle.

headstone n. a slab of stone set up at the head of a grave, typically inscribed with the name of the dead person.

headstream n. a headwater stream.

headstrong adj. energetically wilful and determined: the headstrong impulsiveness of youth.

heads-up NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. an advance warning of something: the heads-up came just in time to stop the tanks from launching the final assault.

■ adj. [attr.] showing alertness or perceptiveness: they played a very heads-up game.

head teacher n. chiefly BRITISH the teacher in charge of a school.

headtie n. W. INDIAN a strip of colourful fabric worn tied around the head by women.

head-to-head adj. & adv. involving two parties confronting each other: [as adj.] a head-to-head battle with bureaucracy.

■ n. a conversation, confrontation, or contest between two parties.

head-turning adj. extremely noticeable or attractive: her skimpy, head-turning costumes.

<DERIVATIVES> head-turner n.

head-up display (NORTH AMERICAN also heads-up display) n. a display of instrument readings in an aircraft or vehicle that can be seen without lowering the eyes, typically through being projected on to the windscreen or visor.

head voice n. [in sing.] one of the high registers of the voice in speaking or singing, above chest voice.

headward adj. in the region or direction of the head.

- [GEOLOGY] denoting erosion by a stream or river occurring progressively upstream from the original source.

■ adv. (also headwards) towards the head.

headwater n. (usually headwaters) a tributary stream of a river close to or forming part of its source.

headway n. 1 [mass noun] forward movement or progress: the ship was making very little headway against heavy seas | FIGURATIVE they appear to be making headway in bringing the rebels under control.

2 the average interval between trains or buses on a regular service: a six-minute headway.

headwear n. [mass noun] hats and other items worn on the head.

headwind n. a wind blowing from directly in front, opposing forward motion.

headword n. a word which begins a separate entry in a reference work.

headwork n. 1 [mass noun] activities taxing the mind; mental work.

2 (headworks) apparatus for controlling the flow of water in a river or canal.

headwrap n. a strip of decorative material worn around the head by women.

heady adj. (headier, headiest) (of liquor) potent; intoxicating: several bottles of heady local wine.

- having a strong or exhilarating effect: a heady, exotic perfume | the heady days of my youth.

<DERIVATIVES> headily adv. headiness n.

heal v. [with obj.] cause (a wound, injury, or person) to become sound or healthy again: his concern is to heal sick people.

- [no obj.] become sound or healthy again: the bullet wounds had healed.

- alleviate (a person's distress or anguish).

- correct or put right (an undesirable situation): the rift between them was never really healed.

<DERIVATIVES> healable adj. healer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlan (in the sense ‘restore to sound health’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heelen and German heilen, also to WHOLE.

heal-all n. a universal remedy; a panacea.

- INFORMAL any of a number of medicinal plants, especially roseroot and self-heal.

heald /hild/ n. another term for HEDDLE.

<ORIGIN> Old English hefel, hefeld ‘the warp and weft’, of Germanic origin, from a base meaning ‘raise’. The current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.

healing n. [mass noun] the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again: the gift of healing.

■ adj. tending to heal; therapeutic: a healing experience | the healing process.

health n. [mass noun] the state of being free from illness or injury: he was restored to health | [as modifier] a health risk.

- a person's mental or physical condition: bad health forced him to retire | FIGURATIVE a standard for measuring the financial health of a company.

- (your health or your good health) used to express friendly feelings towards one's companions before drinking.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlth, of Germanic origin; related to WHOLE.

health care n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] the organized provision of medical care to individuals or a community: health-care professionals.

health centre n. a building or establishment housing local medical services or the practice of a group of doctors.

health certificate n. a certificate attesting a person's good health, sometimes required when travelling between states or countries.

health club n. a private club with exercise facilities, also offering health and beauty treatments.

health farm n. chiefly BRITISH a residential establishment where people seek improved health by a regimen of dieting, exercise, and treatment.

health food n. [mass noun] natural food that is thought to have health-giving qualities.

healthful adj. having or conducive to good health: healthful methods of cooking vegetables.

<DERIVATIVES> healthfully adv. healthfulness n.

health maintenance organization n. (in the US) an organization which provides health care on the free market in return for a predetermined fixed insurance premium.

health physics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of radiology that deals with the health of people working with radioactive materials.

health service n. a public service providing medical care.

- (the health service) British short for NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE.

health tourism n. [mass noun] the practice of travelling abroad in order to receive medical treatment.

health visitor n. BRITISH a trained nurse who visits people in their homes to assist or advise the chronically ill or parents with very young children.

healthy adj. (healthier, healthiest) in a good physical or mental condition; in good health: feeling fit and healthy | FIGURATIVE the family is the basis of any healthy society.

- (of a part of the body) not diseased: healthy cells.

- indicating or promoting good health: a healthy appetite | a healthy balanced diet.

- normal, natural, and desirable: a healthy contempt for authority | healthy competition.

- of a very satisfactory size or amount: making a healthy profit.

<DERIVATIVES> healthily adv. healthiness n.

Heaney /hini/ Seamus (Justin) (b.1939), Irish poet. Born in Northern Ireland, in 1972 he took Irish citizenship. Notable works: North (1975) and The Haw Lantern (1987). Nobel Prize for Literature (1995).

heap n. 1 an untidy collection of objects placed haphazardly on top of each other: a disordered heap of boxes | her clothes lay in a heap on the floor.

- an amount of a particular loose substance: a heap of gravel.

2 (a heap of/heaps of) INFORMAL a large amount or number of: we have heaps of room.

3 INFORMAL an untidy or dilapidated place or vehicle: they climbed back in the heap and headed home.

■ adv. (heaps) BRITISH INFORMAL a great deal: ‘How do you like Maggie?’ ‘I like you heaps better!’.

■ v. [with obj.] put (objects or a loose substance) in a heap: she heaped logs on the fire | heaped up in one corner was a pile of junk.

- (heap something with) load something copiously with: he heaped his plate with rice.

- (heap something on/upon) bestow praise, abuse, or criticism liberally on: they once heaped praise on her.

- (as adj. heaped) chiefly BRITISH (of a spoon or other container) with the contents piled above the brim or edge.

- [no obj.] form a heap: clouds heaped higher in the west.

<PHRASES>

□ at the top (or bottom) of the heap (of a person) at the highest (or lowest) point of a society or organization.

□ be struck all of a heap INFORMAL be extremely disconcerted.

□ heap coals of fire on someone's head BRITISH go out of one's way to cause someone remorse. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Rom. 12:20.]

□ in a heap with the body completely limp: he landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēap (noun), hēapian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoop and German Haufen.

hear v. (past and past participle heard) 1 [with obj.] perceive with the ear the sound made by (someone or something): behind her she could hear men's voices | [with obj. and infinitive] she had never been heard to complain | [no obj.] he did not hear very well.

- listen or pay attention to: [with clause] she just doesn't hear what I'm telling her.

- (hear someone out) listen to all that someone has to say: Joseph gravely heard them out but never offered advice.

- [LAW] listen to and judge (a case or plaintiff): an all-woman jury heard the case.

- listen to and grant (a prayer): our Heavenly Father has heard our prayers.

2 be told or informed of: have you heard the news? | [with clause] they heard that I had moved | [no obj.] I was shocked to hear of her death.

- [no obj.] (have heard of) be aware of; know of the existence of: nobody had ever heard of my college.

- [no obj.] (hear from) be contacted by (someone), especially by letter or telephone: if you would like to join the committee, we would love to hear from you.

3 [no obj.] (will/would not hear of) will or would not allow or agree to: I won't hear of such idiocy.

<PHRASES>

□ be hearing things see THING.

□ be unable to hear oneself think INFORMAL used to complain about very loud noise or music: I hate bars where you can't hear yourself think.

□ hear! hear! used to express one's wholehearted agreement with something said, especially in a speech.

□ hear say (or tell) of (or that) be informed of or that: I heard tell that he went out west.

<DERIVATIVES> hearable adj. hearer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hīeran, hēran, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hooren and German hören.

Heard and McDonald Islands a group of uninhabited islands in the southern Indian Ocean, administered by Australia since 1947 as an external territory.

hearing n. 1 [mass noun] the faculty of perceiving sounds: people who have very acute hearing.

- the range within which sounds may be heard; earshot: she had moved out of hearing.

2 an opportunity to state one's case: I think I had a fair hearing.

- [LAW] an act of listening to evidence in a court of law or before an official, especially a trial before a judge without a jury.

hearing aid n. a small amplifying device which fits on the ear, worn by a partially deaf person.

hearing dog n. a dog trained to alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing to such sounds as the ringing of an alarm, doorbell, or telephone.

hearken /hαk(ə)n/ (also harken) v. [no obj.] 1 ARCHAIC listen: he refused to hearken to Tom's words of wisdom.

2 (hearken back)

■ another way of saying HARK BACK TO (see HARK).

<ORIGIN> Old English heorcnian; probably related to HARK. The spelling with ea (dating from the 16th century) is due to association with HEAR.

hearsay n. [mass noun] information received from other people which one cannot be substantiated; rumour: according to hearsay, Bez had managed to break his arm.

- [LAW] the report of another person's words by a witness, which is usually disallowed as evidence in a court of law: [as modifier] hearsay evidence.

hearse /həs/ n. a vehicle for conveying the coffin at a funeral.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French herce ‘harrow, frame’, from Latin hirpex ‘a kind of large rake’, from Oscan hirpus ‘wolf’ (with reference to the teeth). The earliest recorded sense in English is ‘latticework canopy placed over the coffin (whilst in church) of a distinguished person’, but this probably arose from the late Middle English sense ‘triangular frame (shaped like the ancient harrow) for carrying candles at certain services’. The current sense dates from the mid 17th cent.

Hearst /həst/ William Randolph (1863–1951), American newspaper publisher and tycoon. His introduction of features such as large headlines and sensational crime reporting revolutionized American journalism. He was the model for the central character of Orson Welles's film Citizen Kane (1941).

heart n. 1 a hollow muscular organ that pumps the blood through the circulatory system by rhythmic contraction and dilation. In vertebrates there may be up to four chambers (as in humans), with two atria and two ventricles.

- the region of the chest above the heart: holding hand on heart for the Pledge of Allegiance.

- the heart regarded as the centre of a person's thoughts and emotions, especially love or compassion: hardening his heart, he ignored her entreaties | he poured out his heart to me | [mass noun] he has no heart.

- [mass noun] one's mood or feeling: they had a change of heart | they found him well and in good heart.

- [mass noun] courage or enthusiasm: they may lose heart as the work mounts up | Mary took heart from the encouragement handed out.

2 the central or innermost part of something: right in the heart of the city.

- the vital part or essence: the heart of the matter.

- the close compact head of a cabbage or lettuce.

3 a conventional representation of a heart with two equal curves meeting at a point at the bottom and a cusp at the top.

- (hearts) one of the four suits in a conventional pack of playing cards, denoted by a red heart-shaped figure.

- a card of the suit of hearts.

- (hearts) a card game similar to whist, in which players attempt to avoid taking tricks containing a card of the suit of hearts.

4 [usually with modifier] the condition of agricultural land as regards fertility.

<PHRASES>

□ after one's own heart sharing one's tastes or views.

□ at heart in one's real nature, in contrast to how one may appear: he's a good lad at heart.

□ break someone's heart overwhelm someone with sadness.

□ by heart from memory.

□ close (or dear) to (or near) one's heart of deep interest and concern to one.

□ from the (bottom of one's) heart with sincere feeling: their warmth and hospitality is right from the heart.

□ give (or lose) one's heart to fall in love with.

□ have a heart [often in imperative] be merciful; show pity.

□ have a heart of gold have a generous nature.

□ have the heart to do something [usually with negative] be insensitive or hard-hearted enough to do something: I don't have the heart to tell her.

□ have (or put) one's heart in be (or become) keenly involved in or committed to (an enterprise): he does not seem to have his heart in the role.

□ have one's heart in one's mouth be greatly alarmed or apprehensive.

□ have one's heart in the right place be sincere or well intentioned.

□ heart of stone a stern or cruel nature.

□ hearts and flowers used in allusion to extreme sentimentality.

□ hearts and minds used in reference to emotional and intellectual support or commitment: a campaign to win the hearts and minds of America's college students.

□ one's heart's desire a person or thing that one greatly wishes for.

□ one's heart sinks used to express a feeling of sudden sadness or dismay: her heart sank as she thought of Craig.

□ one's heartstrings used in reference to one's deepest feelings of love or compassion: the kitten's pitiful little squeak tugged at her heartstrings.

□ in one's heart of hearts in one's inmost feelings.

□ take something to heart take criticism seriously and be affected or upset by it.

□ wear one's heart on one's sleeve make one's feelings apparent.

□ with all one's heart (or one's whole heart) sincerely; completely.

□ heart to heart candidly, intimately.

<DERIVATIVES> hearted adj. [in combination] a generous-hearted woman

<ORIGIN> Old English heorte, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hart and German Herz, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin cor, cord- and Greek kēr, kardia.

heartache n. [mass noun] emotional anguish or grief, typically caused by the loss or absence of someone loved.

heart attack n. a sudden occurrence of coronary thrombosis, typically resulting in the death of part of a heart muscle and sometimes fatal.

heartbeat n. the pulsation of the heart.

- a single pulsation of the heart: her heartbeats steadied.

- FIGURATIVE an animating or vital unifying force: Ontario has long been the commercial heartbeat of Canada.

<PHRASES>

□ a heartbeat (away) from very close to; on the verge of: laughter was only a heartbeat from tears.

heartbreak n. [mass noun] overwhelming distress: an unforgettable tale of joy and heartbreak.

heartbreaker n. 1 a person who is very attractive but who is irresponsible in emotional relationships.

2 a story or event which causes overwhelming distress.

heartbreaking adj. causing overwhelming distress; very upsetting.

<DERIVATIVES> heartbreakingly adv. [as submodifier] the children's expectations were heartbreakingly wrong

heartbroken adj. suffering from overwhelming distress: he was heartbroken at the thought of leaving the house.

heartburn n. [mass noun] a form of indigestion felt as a burning sensation in the chest, caused by acid regurgitation into the oesophagus.

hearten v. [with obj.] make more cheerful or confident: [with obj. and infinitive] she was heartened to observe that the effect was faintly comic | (as adj. heartening) this is the most heartening news of all.

<DERIVATIVES> hearteningly adv.

heart failure n. [mass noun] severe failure of the heart to function properly, especially as a cause of death: her mother had died of heart failure.

heartfelt adj. (of a feeling or its expression) deeply and strongly felt; sincere: our heartfelt thanks.

hearth /hαθ/ n. 1 the floor of a fireplace: a cheerful fire burning in the hearth.

- the area in front of a fireplace: they were sitting around the hearth.

- used as a symbol of one's home: he left hearth and home to train in Denmark.

2 the base or lower part of a furnace, where molten metal collects.

<ORIGIN> Old English heorth, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch haard and German Herd.

hearthrug n. a rug laid in front of a fireplace to protect the carpet or floor.

hearthstone n. a flat stone forming a hearth or part of a hearth.

heartily adv. 1 in a hearty manner: she laughed heartily | they dined heartily.

2 [as submodifier] to a great degree; very (especially with reference to personal feelings): they were heartily sick of the whole subject.

heartland n. (also heartlands) the central or most important part of a country, area, or field of activity.

- the centre of support for a belief or movement: the heartland of the rebel cause.

heartless adj. displaying a complete lack of feeling or consideration: heartless thieves stole the pushchair of a two-year-old boy.

<DERIVATIVES> heartlessly adv. heartlessness n.

heart line n. (in palmistry) the upper of the two horizontal lines that cross the palm of the hand, linked to a person's physical health and ability to form emotional relationships.

heart-lung machine n. a machine that temporarily takes over the functions of the heart and lungs, especially during heart surgery.

Heart of Dixie informal name for ALABAMA.

heart of palm n. the edible bud of a palm tree.

heart-rending adj. causing great sadness or distress: a heart-rending story.

<DERIVATIVES> heart-rendingly adv.

heart's-blood n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the blood, as being necessary for life.

heart-searching n. [mass noun] thorough, typically painful examination of one's feelings and motives: I began to write, but not without much heart-searching.

heartsease /hαtsiz/ (also heart's-ease) n. a wild European pansy which typically has purple and yellow flowers. It has given rise to hybrids from which most garden pansies were developed.

<INFO> Viola tricolor, family Violaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: origin uncertain, the term being applied by herbalists to both the pansy and the wallflower in the 16th cent.

heartsick (also heartsore) adj. LITERARY very despondent, typically from grief or loss of love.

<DERIVATIVES> heartsickness n.

heartsink patient n. BRITISH INFORMAL (among doctors) a patient who makes frequent visits to a surgery, complaining of persistent but unidentifiable ailments.

heart-stopping adj. full of suspense or excitement; thrilling: a five-minute burst of heart-stopping action.

<DERIVATIVES> heart-stopper n. heart-stoppingly adv.

heart-throb n. INFORMAL a man, typically a celebrity, whose good looks excite romantic feelings in women.

heart-to-heart adj. (of a conversation) candid, intimate, and personal: a heart-to-heart chat.

■ n. a candid and intimate conversation.

heart urchin n. a heart-shaped burrowing sea urchin which has a thick covering of fine spines on the shell, giving it a furry appearance.

<INFO> Class Echinoidea, order Spatangoida.

heart-warming adj. emotionally rewarding or uplifting: heart-warming stories about life as a country vet.

heartwood n. [mass noun] the dense inner part of a tree trunk, yielding the hardest timber.

heartworm n. a parasitic nematode worm which infests the hearts of dogs and other animals.

<INFO> Dirofilaria immitis, class Phasmida.

hearty adj. (heartier, heartiest) 1 loudly vigorous and cheerful: a hearty and boisterous character | he sang in a hearty baritone.

- (of a feeling or an opinion) deeply or strongly felt: he expressed his hearty agreement | hearty congratulations.

- (of a person) strong and healthy: a formidably hearty spinster of fifty-five.

2 (of food) wholesome and substantial.

- (of a person's appetite) robust and healthy: Jim goes for a long walk to work up a hearty appetite for dinner.

■ n. (pl. hearties) BRITISH INFORMAL 1 a vigorously cheerful and sporty person.

2 (usually me hearties) a form of address ascribed to sailors.

<DERIVATIVES> heartiness n.

heat n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being hot; high temperature: the fierce heat of the sun.

- [PHYSICS] heat seen as a form of energy arising from the random motion of the molecules of bodies, which may be transferred by conduction, convection, or radiation.

- hot weather conditions: the oppressive heat was making both men sweat.

- a source or level of heat for cooking: remove from the heat and beat in the butter.

- a spicy quality in food that produces a burning sensation in the mouth: chilli peppers add taste and heat to food.

- TECHNICAL the amount of heat that is needed to cause a specific process or is evolved in such a process: the heat of formation.

- [count noun] TECHNICAL a single operation of heating something, especially metal in a furnace.

2 intensity of feeling, especially of anger or excitement: conciliation services are designed to take the heat out of disputes.

- (the heat) INFORMAL intensive and unwelcome pressure or criticism, especially from the authorities: a flurry of legal proceedings turned up the heat in the dispute | the heat is on.

3 [count noun] a preliminary round in a race or contest: winners of the regional heats.

■ v. make or become hot or warm: [with obj.] the room faces north and is difficult to heat | [no obj.] the pipes expand as they heat up.

- [no obj.] (heat up) (of a person) become excited or impassioned.

- [no obj.] (heat up) become more intense and exciting: the action really begins to heat up.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC inflame; excite: this discourse had heated them.

<PHRASES>

□ if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen PROVERB if you can't deal with the pressures and difficulties of a situation, you should leave others to deal with it rather than complaining.

□ in the heat of the moment while temporarily angry, excited, or engrossed, and without stopping for thought.

□ on (or North American in) heat (of a female mammal) in the receptive period of the sexual cycle; in oestrus.

<ORIGIN> Old English htu (noun), htan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hitte (noun) and German heizen (verb), also to HOT.

heat barrier n. the limitation of the speed of an aircraft or other flying object by heat resulting from air friction.

heat capacity n. another term for THERMAL CAPACITY.

heat death n. [PHYSICS] a state of uniform distribution of energy, especially viewed as a possible fate of the universe. It is a corollary of the second law of thermodynamics.

heated adj. 1 made warm or hot: a heated swimming pool.

2 inflamed with passion or conviction: she had a heated argument with an official.

<DERIVATIVES> heatedly adv.

heat engine n. a device for producing motive power from heat.

heater n. 1 a device for warming the air or water: a wall-mounted electric heater | a gas water heater.

- [ELECTRONICS] a conductor used for indirect heating of the cathode of a thermionic valve.

2 [BASEBALL] a fastball.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DATED a gun.

heat-exchanger n. a device for transferring heat from one medium to another.

Heath Sir Edward (Richard George) (1916–2005), British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1970–4. He negotiated Britain's entry into the European Economic Community and faced problems caused by a marked increase in oil prices. Attempts to restrain wage rises led to widespread strikes and he lost a general election after a second national coal strike.

heath n. 1 chiefly BRITISH an area of open uncultivated land, typically on acid sandy soil, with characteristic vegetation of heather, gorse, and coarse grasses.

- [mass noun] [ECOLOGY] vegetation dominated by dwarf shrubs of the heather family: [as modifier] heath vegetation.

2 a dwarf shrub with small leathery leaves and small pink or purple bell-shaped flowers, characteristic of heaths and moorland.

<INFO> Erica and related genera, family Ericaceae: many species.

3 a small light brown and orange European butterfly which typically has eyespots on the wings, the caterpillar feeding on grasses.

<INFO> Genus Coenonympha, subfamily Satyrinae, family Nymphalidae: several species, including the common small heath (C. pamphilus).

4 a yellowish-brown chiefly day-flying European moth of heathland and grassland.

<INFO> Several species in the family Geometridae.

<DERIVATIVES> heathy adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hth, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heide and German Heide.

heat haze n. an obscuration of the atmosphere in hot weather, especially a shimmering in the air near the ground that distorts distant views.

heathen /hi(ə)n/ n. chiefly DEROGATORY a person who does not belong to a widely held religion (especially one who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim) as regarded by those who do.

- a follower of a polytheistic religion; a pagan.

- INFORMAL a person regarded as lacking culture or moral principles.

■ adj. relating to heathens: heathen practices.

<DERIVATIVES> heathendom n. heathenish adj. heathenism n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hthen, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heiden and German Heide; generally regarded as a specifically Christian use of a Germanic adjective meaning ‘inhabiting open country’, from the base of HEATH.

heather n. [mass noun] a purple-flowered Eurasian heath that grows abundantly on moorland and heathland. Many ornamental varieties have been developed. Also called LING^1.

<INFO> Calluna vulgaris, family Ericaceae (the heather family). This family includes the rhododendrons and azaleas as well as the bilberries and many other berry-bearing dwarf shrubs.

- INFORMAL any similar plant of the heather family; a heath.

<DERIVATIVES> heathery adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hadre, hedre (recorded in place names), of unknown origin. The word was chiefly Scots until the 16th century; the change in the first syllable in the 18th century was due to association with HEATH.

heathland n. [mass noun] (also heathlands) an extensive area of heath: 1,000 acres of heathland.

Heath Robinson adj. BRITISH ingeniously or ridiculously over-complicated in design or construction: a vast Heath Robinson mechanism.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after W. Heath Robinson (see Robinson^2).

Heathrow an international airport situated 25 km (15 miles) west of the centre of London.

heating n. [mass noun] equipment or devices used to provide heat, especially to a building: we had no heating in our bedrooms.

heat lamp n. an electrical device with a bulb that emits mainly heat rather than light, used as a heat source.

heatproof adj. able to resist great heat.

heat pump n. a device that transfers heat from a colder area to a hotter area by using mechanical energy, as in a refrigerator.

heat-resistant adj. able to resist great heat; heatproof.

- not easily becoming hot.

heat-seeking adj. (of a missile) able to detect and home in on infrared radiation emitted by a target, such as the exhaust vent of a jet aircraft.

heat shield n. a device or coating for protection from excessive heat.

- an outer covering on a spacecraft, especially on the nose cone and leading edges, to protect it from the heat generated during re-entry into the earth's atmosphere.

heat-shock protein n. [GENETICS] a protein induced in a living cell in response to a rise in temperature above the normal level.

heat sink n. a device or substance for absorbing excessive or unwanted heat.

heatstroke n. [mass noun] a condition marked by fever and often by unconsciousness, caused by failure of the body's temperature-regulating mechanism when exposed to excessively high temperatures.

heat treatment n. [mass noun] the use of heat for therapeutic purposes in medicine or to modify the properties of a material, especially in metallurgy.

<DERIVATIVES> heat-treat v.

heatwave n. a prolonged period of abnormally hot weather.

heave /hiv/ v. (past and past participle heaved or chiefly [NAUTICAL] hove) 1 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] lift or haul (something heavy) with great effort: she heaved the sofa back into place | he heaved himself out of bed.

- INFORMAL throw (something heavy): she heaved half a brick at him.

2 [with obj.] produce (a sigh): he heaved a euphoric sigh of relief.

3 [no obj.] rise and fall rhythmically or spasmodically: his shoulders heaved as he panted.

- make an effort to vomit; retch: my stomach heaved.

4 [with obj.] [NAUTICAL] pull, raise, or move (a boat or ship) by hauling on a rope or ropes.

- [no obj.] (heave to) (of a boat or ship) come to a stop, especially by turning across the wind leaving the headsail backed.

- [no obj.] (heave in sight or into view) come into view: they held out until a British fleet hove in sight.

■ n. 1 an act of heaving.

2 [GEOLOGY] a sideways displacement in a fault.

3 (heaves)

■ another term for COPD in horses.

<DERIVATIVES> heaver n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hebban, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heffen and German heben ‘lift up’.

heave-ho exclam. a cry emitted when doing actions that take physical effort.

■ n. (the heave-ho) INFORMAL dismissal or elimination from a job, institution, or contest: conjecture over who'll get the heave-ho.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from heave! (imperative) + HO^1, originally in nautical use when hauling a rope.

heaven n. 1 (often Heaven) a place regarded in various religions as the abode of God (or the gods) and the angels, and of the good after death, often traditionally depicted as being above the sky.

- God (or the gods): Constantine was persuaded that disunity in the Church was displeasing to heaven.

- [THEOLOGY] a state of being eternally in the presence of God after death.

- used in various exclamations as a substitute for ‘God’: heaven knows! | good heavens!

2 (also the heavens) LITERARY the sky, especially perceived as a vault in which the sun, moon, stars, and planets are situated: Galileo used a telescope to observe the heavens.

3 INFORMAL a place, state, or experience of supreme bliss: lying by the pool with a good book is my idea of heaven.

<PHRASES>

□ the heavens open it suddenly starts to rain very heavily.

□ in seventh heaven very happy; ecstatic.

□ move heaven and earth to do something make extraordinary efforts to do a specified thing: if he had truly loved her he would have moved heaven and earth to get her back.

□ stink (or smell) to high heaven have a very strong and unpleasant odour.

<DERIVATIVES> heavenward adj. & adv. heavenwards adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English heofon, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hemel and German Himmel.

heavenly adj. 1 of heaven; divine: heavenly Father.

2 of the heavens or sky: heavenly constellations.

3 INFORMAL very pleasing; wonderful: their shampoos smell heavenly | it was a heavenly morning for a ride.

<DERIVATIVES> heavenliness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English heofonlic (see HEAVEN, -ly^1).

heavenly body n. a planet, star, or other celestial body.

heaven-sent adj. occurring at a very favourable time; very opportune: she was so afraid of losing this heaven-sent opportunity.

heavier-than-air adj. (of an aircraft) weighing more than the air it displaces.

heavily adv. 1 to a great degree; in large amounts: it was raining heavily | he had been drinking heavily for six months . she is heavily pregnant.

- to a large extent; very or very much: the country is heavily dependent on banana exports. | he was heavily influenced by the Impressionists.

2 with a lot of force or effort; with weight: she fell heavily to the ground | he sat down heavily in the chair.

- in a way that is mentally oppressive or hard to endure: it is a burden that weighs heavily on his shoulders | tension hung heavily in the air.

- slowly and loudly: she was breathing heavily. | the man in the next room was snoring heavily.

- in a slow way that expresses sadness: he sighed heavily.

heavily built adj. (of a person) having a large, broad, and strong body: he was tall and heavily built.

heavily laden (also heavily loaded) adj. full of or loaded with heavy things: the lorry was heavily laden with large boxes and crates. | heavily laden trolleys.

heaving adj. BRITISH INFORMAL (of a place) extremely crowded: the foyer was absolutely heaving with people.

heaving line n. a lightweight line with a weight at the end, made to be thrown between a ship and the shore, or from one ship to another, and used to pull a heavier line across.

Heaviside /hεvsd/ Oliver (1850–1925), English physicist and electrical engineer, important in the development of telephone communication and telegraphy. In 1902 he suggested (independently of A. E. Kennelly) the existence of a layer in the atmosphere responsible for reflecting radio waves back to earth.

Heaviside layer (also Heaviside–Kennelly layer) n. another name for E-LAYER.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after O.

■ Heaviside and A. E.

■ Kennelly.

heavy adj. (heavier, heaviest) 1 of great weight; difficult to lift or move: a heavy and bulky load | the pan was too heavy for me to carry.

- used in questions about weight: how heavy is it?

- [attr.] (of a class of thing) above the average weight; large of its kind: heavy artillery | heavy woollens.

- [predic.] weighed down; full of something: branches heavy with blossoms.

- (of a person's head or eyes) feeling weighed down by weariness: a heavy head.

2 of great density; thick or substantial: heavy grey clouds | heavy horn-rimmed glasses.

- not delicate or graceful; coarse: he had a big moustache and heavy features.

- (of food) hard to digest; too filling.

- (of ground or soil) muddy or full of clay.

- [PHYSICS] of or containing atoms of an isotope of greater than the usual mass. See also HEAVY WATER.

3 of more than the usual size, amount, or intensity: a heavy cold | the traffic was heavy and I was delayed | I fell into a heavy sleep.

- (of a smell) very strong: a heavy scent of oil.

- (heavy on) using a lot of: stories heavy on melodrama.

- doing something more, or more deeply, than usual: a heavy smoker.

4 striking or falling with force: a heavy blow to the head | we had heavy overnight rain.

- (of music, especially rock) having a strong bass component and a forceful rhythm.

5 needing much physical effort: heavy work like repairing pathways.

- moving slowly or with difficulty: steering that is heavy when parking.

6 very important or serious: a heavy discussion.

- (of a literary work) overly serious or difficult.

- mentally oppressive; hard to endure: a heavy burden of responsibility.

- feeling or expressing sadness: I left him with a heavy heart.

- INFORMAL serious or difficult to deal with: things were getting pretty heavy.

- INFORMAL (of a person) strict or harsh: the police were really getting heavy.

- INFORMAL excellent (used as a general term of approval).

■ n. (pl. heavies) 1 INFORMAL a thing, such as a vehicle, that is large or heavy of its kind.

- a large, strong man, especially one hired for protection: I needed money to pay off the heavies.

- (heavies) BRITISH INFORMAL serious newspapers: reporters from the Sunday heavies.

- INFORMAL an important person: music business heavies.

2 [mass noun] chiefly SCOTTISH strong beer, especially bitter: a pint of heavy.

■ adv. [usually in combination] heavily: heavy-laden.

<PHRASES>

□ heavy going difficult or boring to deal with: she found Hilary heavy going.

□ the heavy mob BRITISH INFORMAL a group of strong or violent criminals or bodyguards.

□ make heavy WEATHER of see WEATHER.

<DERIVATIVES> heaviness n. heavyish adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hefig, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hevig, also to HEAVE.

heavy breathing n. [mass noun] breathing that is audible through being deep or laboured, especially in sleep or as a result of exertion.

heavy chemicals plural n. bulk chemicals used in industry and agriculture.

heavy cream n. North American term for DOUBLE CREAM.

heavy-duty adj. (of material or an article) designed to withstand the stresses of demanding use: heavy-duty springs.

- INFORMAL intense, important, or abundant: she did some heavy-duty cleaning.

heavy-footed adj. slow and laborious in movement: the All Blacks make the Lions' pack look heavy-footed.

heavy-handed adj. clumsy, insensitive, or overly forceful: heavy-handed policing.

- using too much of something: beware of being heavy-handed with the flour.

<DERIVATIVES> heavy-handedly adv. heavy-handedness n.

heavy-hearted adj. feeling depressed or melancholy: is it better to be serious and heavy-hearted?

heavy hitter (also big hitter) n. INFORMAL an important or powerful person.

heavy horse n. a large, strong, heavily built horse of a type or breed used for draught work.

heavy hydrogen n. another term for DEUTERIUM.

heavy industry n. [mass noun] the manufacture of large, heavy articles and materials in bulk.

heavy metal n. 1 a metal of relatively high density, or of high relative atomic weight.

2 [mass noun] a type of highly amplified harsh-sounding rock music with a strong beat, characteristically using violent or fantastic imagery.

heavy oil n. any of the relatively dense hydrocarbons (denser than water) derived from petroleum, coal tar, and similar materials.

heavy petting n. [mass noun] erotic contact between two people involving stimulation of the genitals but stopping short of intercourse.

heavyset adj. (of a person) broad and strongly built.

heavy water n. [mass noun] water in which the hydrogen in the molecules is partly or wholly replaced by the isotope deuterium, used especially as a moderator in nuclear reactors.

heavyweight n. 1 [mass noun] a weight in boxing and other sports, typically the heaviest category. In the amateur boxing scale it ranges from 81 to 91 kg.

- [count noun] a heavyweight boxer or other competitor.

2 a person or thing of above-average weight.

- a person of influence or importance in a particular sphere: a political heavyweight with national recognition.

■ adj. of above-average weight.

- serious, important, or influential: heavyweight news coverage.

Heb. abbr.

- Epistle to the Hebrews (in biblical references).

- Hebrew.

hebdomadal /hεbdməd(ə)l/ adj. FORMAL weekly (used especially of organizations which meet weekly): Oxford University's Hebdomadal Council.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘lasting seven days’): from late Latin hebdomadalis, from Greek hebdomas, hebdomad- ‘the number seven, seven days’, from hepta ‘seven’.

Hebe^1 /hibi/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the daughter of Hera and Zeus, and cup-bearer of the gods.

2 [ASTRONOMY] asteroid 6, discovered in 1847 (diameter 192 km).

<ORIGIN> from Greek hēbē ‘youthful beauty’.

Hebe^2 /hib/ n. US INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE a Jewish person.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of HEBREW.

hebe /hibi/ n. an evergreen flowering shrub with spikes of mauve, pink, or white flowers, native to New Zealand and widely grown as an ornamental.

<INFO> Genus Hebe (formerly Veronica), family Scrophulariaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after the goddess Hebe (see Hebe^1).

Hebei /həbe/ (also Hopeh) a province of NE central China; capital, Shijiazhuang.

hebephrenia /hibfrinə/ n. [mass noun] a form of chronic schizophrenia involving disordered thought, inappropriate emotions, hallucinations, and bizarre behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> hebephrenic /-frεnk/ adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally associated with behaviour in puberty): from Hebe^1 + Greek phrēn ‘mind’ + -IA^1.

hebetude /hεbtjud/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY the state of being dull or lethargic.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin hebetudo, from hebes, hebet- ‘blunt’.

Hebraic /hbrek/ adj. of Hebrew or the Hebrews: a student of Hebraic religious literature.

<DERIVATIVES> Hebraically adv.

<ORIGIN> via Christian Latin from late Greek Hebraikos, from Hebraios (see HEBREW).

Hebraism /hibrez(ə)m/ n. 1 a Hebrew idiom or expression.

2 [mass noun] the Jewish religion, culture, or character.

<DERIVATIVES> Hebraistic adj. Hebraize (also Hebraise) v.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French hébraïsme or modern Latin Hebraismus, from late Greek Hebraïsmos, from Hebraios (see HEBREW).

Hebraist /hibrest/ n. a scholar of the Hebrew language.

Hebrew /hibru/ n. 1 a member of an ancient people living in what is now Israel and Palestine and, according to biblical tradition, descended from the patriarch Jacob, grandson of Abraham. After the Exodus (c.1300 BC) they established the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and their scriptures and traditions form the basis of the Jewish religion.

- DATED or OFFENSIVE a Jew.

2 [mass noun] the Semitic language spoken by the Hebrews, in its ancient or modern form.

■ adj. 1 of or in Hebrew.

2 of the Hebrews or the Jews.

Hebrew is written from right to left in a characteristic alphabet of twenty-two consonants, the vowels sometimes being marked by additional signs. From about AD 500 it was almost entirely restricted to Jewish religious use, but it was revived as a spoken language in the 19th century and, with a vocabulary extended by borrowing from contemporary languages, is now the official language of the state of Israel.

<ORIGIN> from Old French Ebreu, via Latin from late Greek Hebraios, from Aramaic ‘iray, based on Hebrew ‘irî understood to mean ‘one from the other side (of the river)’.

Hebrew Bible the sacred writings of Judaism, called by Christians the Old Testament, and comprising the Law (Torah), the Prophets, and the Hagiographa or Writings.

Hebrews, Epistle to the a book of the New Testament, traditionally included among the letters of St Paul but now generally held to be non-Pauline.

Hebrides /hεbrdiz/ a group of about 500 islands off the NW coast of Scotland.

The Inner Hebrides include the islands of Skye, Mull, Jura, Islay, Iona, Coll, Eigg, Rhum, Staffa, and Tiree. The Little Minch separates this group from the Outer Hebrides, which include the islands of Lewis and Harris, North and South Uist, Benbecula, Barra, and the isolated St Kilda group. The shipping forecast area Hebrides covers an area of the Atlantic off the NW coast of Scotland.

<DERIVATIVES> Hebridean n. & adj.

Hebron /hεbrn/ a Palestinian city on the West Bank of the Jordan; pop. 133,900 (est. 2002). As the home of Abraham it is a holy city of both Judaism and Islam.

Hebros /hibrəs/ (also Hebrus) ancient Greek name for MARITSA.

Hecate /hεkəti/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a goddess of dark places, often associated with ghosts and sorcery. She is frequently identified with Artemis and Selene.

hecatomb /hεkətum/ n. (in ancient Greece or Rome) a great public sacrifice, originally of a hundred oxen.

- FIGURATIVE an extensive loss of life for a particular cause.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek hekatombē (from hekaton ‘hundred’ + bous ‘ox’).

heck exclam. expressing surprise, frustration, or dismay: oh heck, I can't for the life of me remember.

- (the heck) used for emphasis in questions and exclamations: what the heck's the matter?

- (a heck of a ——) used for emphasis in various statements or exclamations: it was a heck of a lot of money.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally northern English dialect): euphemistic alteration of HELL.

heckelphone /hεk(ə)lfən/ n. a woodwind instrument resembling a large oboe, with a range about an octave lower.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German Heckelphon, named after Wilhelm Heckel (1856–1909), German instrument-maker, on the pattern of saxophone.

heckle v. [with obj.] 1 interrupt (a public speaker) with derisive or aggressive comments or abuse: he was booed and heckled when he tried to address the demonstrators | [no obj.] women round him started heckling.

2 dress (flax or hemp) to split and straighten the fibres for spinning.

■ n. a heckling comment: heckles of ‘Get stuffed!’.

<DERIVATIVES> heckler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2 of the verb): from heckle ‘flax comb’, a northern and eastern form of HACKLE. The sense ‘interrupt (a public speaker) with aggressive comments’ arose in the mid 17th century; for the development in sense, compare with TEASE.

hectare /hεktε -α/ (abbr.: ha) n. a metric unit of square measure, equal to 100 ares (2.471 acres or 10,000 square metres).

<DERIVATIVES> hectarage n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, formed irregularly from Greek hekaton ‘hundred’ + ARE^2.

hectic adj. 1 full of incessant or frantic activity: a hectic business schedule.

2 MEDICINE, ARCHAIC relating to or affected by a regularly recurrent fever typically accompanying tuberculosis, with flushed cheeks and hot, dry skin.

■ n. MEDICINE, ARCHAIC a hectic fever or flush.

<DERIVATIVES> hectically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English etik, via Old French from late Latin hecticus, from Greek hektikos ‘habitual’, from hexis ‘habit, state of mind or body’. The original association with the symptoms of tuberculosis (hectic fever) gave rise to sense 1 in the early 20th century.

hecto- combining form (used commonly in units of measurement) a hundred: hectometre.

<ORIGIN> from French, formed irregularly by contraction of Greek hekaton ‘hundred’.

hectocotylus /hεktə()ktləs/ n. (pl. hectocotyli /-l -li/) [ZOOLOGY] a modified arm used by male octopuses and some other cephalopods to transfer sperm to the female.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from HECTO- ‘hundred’ + Greek kotulē ‘hollow thing’, a name given by Cuvier to what he mistakenly took to be a genus of parasitic worms.

hectogram (also hectogramme) (abbr.: hg) n. a metric unit of mass equal to one hundred grams.

hectolitre /hεktə()litə/ (US hectoliter) (abbr.: hl) n. a metric unit of capacity equal to one hundred litres, used especially for wine, beer, grain, and other agricultural produce.

hectometre /hεktə()mitə/ (US hectometer) (abbr.: hm) n. a metric unit of length equal to one hundred metres.

Hector /hεktə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a Trojan warrior, son of Priam and Hecuba and husband of Andromache. He was killed by Achilles, who dragged his body behind his chariot three times round the walls of Troy.

hector /hεktə/ v. [with obj.] talk to (someone) in a bullying way: she doesn't hector us about giving up things | (as adj. hectoring) a brusque, hectoring manner.

<DERIVATIVES> hectoringly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the Trojan warrior HECTOR. Originally denoting a hero, the sense later became ‘braggart or bully’ (applied in the late 17th century to a member of a gang of London youths), hence ‘talk to in a bullying way’.

Hecuba /hεkjbə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a Trojan woman, the wife of Priam and mother of children including Hector, Paris, Cassandra, and Troilus.

he'd contraction he had: he'd seen all he wanted.

- he would: he'd like to see you.

heddle /hεd(ə)l/ n. a looped wire or cord with an eye in the centre through which a warp yarn is passed in a loom before going through the reed to control its movement and divide the threads.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: apparently from an alteration of Old English hefeld (see HEALD).

hedge n. 1 a fence or boundary formed by closely growing bushes or shrubs: a privet hedge.

2 a way of protecting oneself against financial loss or other adverse circumstances: index-linked gilts are a useful hedge against inflation.

3 a word or phrase used to avoid over-precise commitment, for example etc., often, or sometimes.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 surround with a hedge: a garden hedged with yew.

- (hedge something in) enclose something.

2 limit or qualify (something) by conditions or exceptions: they hedged their story about with provisos.

- [no obj.] avoid making a definite statement or commitment: he hedged at every new question.

3 protect (one's investment or an investor) against loss by making balancing or compensating contracts or transactions.

<PHRASES>

□ hedge one's bets avoid committing oneself when faced with a difficult choice.

<DERIVATIVES> hedger n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hegg, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heg and German Hecke.

hedge brown n. another term for gatekeeper (sense 2).

hedge fund n. an offshore investment fund, typically formed as a private limited partnership, that engages in speculation using credit or borrowed capital.

hedge garlic n. another term for JACK-BY-THE-HEDGE.

hedgehog n. a nocturnal insectivorous Old World mammal with a spiny coat and short legs, able to roll itself into a ball for defence.

<INFO> Family Erinaceidae: four genera and several species, including the common Erinaceus europaeus of western and northern Europe.

- any other animal covered with spines, especially (North American) a porcupine.

- used in names of plants or fruits resembling a hedgehog in having spines, e.g. hedgehog cactus, hedgehog holly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from HEDGE (from its habitat) + HOG (from its piglike snout).

hedgehog fungus n. an edible mushroom which has a cap with a lobed fleshy margin, the underside of which bears downward-pointing spore-bearing spines, common in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Hydnum repandum, family Hydnaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

hedge-hop v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] fly an aircraft at a very low altitude.

<DERIVATIVES> hedge-hopper n.

hedge-laying n. the process of making or maintaining a hedge by weaving partly cut branches through the upright stems of a row of shrubs.

hedgerow n. a rough or mixed hedge of wild shrubs and occasional trees, typically bordering a road or field.

<ORIGIN> Old English: from HEDGE + obsolete rew ‘hedgerow’, assimilated to row^1.

hedge sparrow n. another term for DUNNOCK.

hedge-trimmer n. an electric tool with a blade like a chainsaw, used for cutting back bushes, shrubs, and hedges.

hedging n. [mass noun] the planting or trimming of hedges: contract work for hedging and ditching.

- bushes and shrubs planted to form hedges.

hedonic /hidnk hε-/ adj. TECHNICAL relating to, characterized by, or considered in terms of pleasant (or unpleasant) sensations.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek hēdonikos, from hēdonē ‘pleasure’.

hedonism /hid(ə)nz(ə)m hε-/ n. [mass noun] the pursuit of pleasure; sensual self-indulgence.

- [PHILOSOPHY] the ethical theory that pleasure (in the sense of the satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and proper aim of human life.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek hēdonē ‘pleasure’ + -ISM.

hedonist n. a person who believes that the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life; a pleasure-seeker: she was living the life of a committed hedonist.

hedonistic adj. engaged in the pursuit of pleasure; sensually self-indulgent: a hedonistic existence of booze, drugs, and parties.

<DERIVATIVES> hedonistically adv.

-hedron combining form (pl. -hedra or -hedrons) in nouns denoting geometrical solids having a specified number of plane faces: decahedron.

- denoting geometrical solids having faces of a specified shape: rhombohedron.

<DERIVATIVES> -hedral combining form in corresponding adjectives.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hedra ‘seat, base’.

heebie-jeebies plural n. (the heebie-jeebies) INFORMAL a state of nervous fear or anxiety: it takes a lot more than a measly poltergeist to give me the heebie-jeebies.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): of unknown origin.

heed v. [with obj.] pay attention to; take notice of: he should have heeded the warnings.

■ n. [mass noun] careful attention: if he heard, he paid no heed | we must take heed of the suggestions.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēdan, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoeden and German hüten.

heedful adj. aware of and attentive to: he is heedful of his own intuitions.

<DERIVATIVES> heedfully adv. heedfulness n.

heedless adj. showing a reckless lack of care or attention: ‘Elaine!’ she shouted, heedless of attracting unwanted attention | his heedless impetuosity.

<DERIVATIVES> heedlessly adv. heedlessness n.

hee-haw n. the loud, harsh cry of a donkey or mule.

- [as modifier] US INFORMAL relating to or denoting unsophisticated rural humour and attitudes.

■ v. [no obj.] make the loud, harsh cry of a donkey or mule.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: imitative.

heel^1 n. 1 the back part of the human foot below the ankle.

- the back part of the foot in vertebrate animals.

- the part of a shoe or boot supporting the heel: shoes with low heels.

- the part of a sock covering the heel.

- (heels) high-heeled shoes.

2 the part of the palm of the hand next to the wrist: he rubbed the heel of his hand against the window.

3 a thing resembling a heel in form or position, in particular:

- the end of a violin bow at which it is held.

- the part of the head of a golf club nearest the shaft.

- a crusty end of a loaf of bread, or the rind of a cheese.

- a piece of the main stem of a plant left attached to the base of a cutting.

4 INFORMAL, DATED an inconsiderate or untrustworthy man: what kind of a heel do you think I am?

■ v. [with obj.] 1 fit or renew a heel on (a shoe or boot).

2 [RUGBY] push or kick (the ball) out of the back of the scrum with one's heel.

3 [GOLF] strike (the ball) with the heel of the club.

4 [no obj.] touch the ground with the heel when dancing.

■ exclam. a command to a dog to walk close behind its owner.

<PHRASES>

□ at (or to) heel (of a dog) close to and slightly behind its owner.

□ at (or on) the heels of following closely after: he headed off with Sammy at his heels.

□ bring someone to heel bring someone under control.

□ cool (or British kick) one's heels be kept waiting.

□ in the heel of the hunt IRISH at the last minute; finally: in the heel of the hunt, the outcome of the match was decided by a penalty.

□ kick up one's heels NORTH AMERICAN have a lively, enjoyable time.

□ set (or rock) someone back on their heels astonish or disconcert someone.

□ take to one's heels run away.

□ turn on one's heel turn sharply round.

□ under the heel of dominated or controlled by: a population under the heel of a military dictatorship.

<DERIVATIVES> heeled adj. [in combination] high-heeled shoes heelless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēla, hla, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hiel, also to HOUGH.

heel^2 v. [no obj.] (of a boat or ship) lean over owing to the pressure of wind or an uneven load. Compare with list^2.

- [with obj.] cause (a boat or ship) to lean over.

■ n. an instance of a ship heeling.

- [mass noun] the degree of incline of a ship's leaning measured from the vertical.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete heeld, hield ‘incline’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hellen.

heel^3 v. [with obj.] (heel something in) set a plant in the ground and cover its roots.

<ORIGIN> Old English helian ‘cover, hide’, of Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin celare ‘hide’.

heelball n. [mass noun] a mixture of hard wax and lampblack used by shoemakers for polishing or in brass rubbing.

heel bar n. a small shop or stall where shoes are repaired, especially while the customer waits.

heel bone n. the calcaneus.

heeltap n. 1 one of the layers of leather or other material of which a shoe heel is made.

2 DATED an amount of liquor left at the bottom of a glass after drinking.

Hefei /hεfe/ (also Hofei) an industrial city in eastern China, capital of Anhui province; pop. 1,334,300 (est. 2002).

heffalump n. a child's term for an elephant.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: coined by A. A. Milne in Winnie-the-Pooh.

heft v. [with obj. and adverbial] lift or carry (something heavy): he lifted crates and hefted boxes.

- lift or hold (something) in order to test its weight: Anne hefted the gun in her hand.

■ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the weight of someone or something.

- FIGURATIVE ability or influence: they lacked the political heft to get the formulation banned.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): probably from HEAVE, on the pattern of words such as cleft and weft.

hefty adj. (heftier, heftiest) 1 large and heavy: a hefty young chap.

- (of a number or amount) impressively large: a hefty £10 million | they could face hefty fines.

2 done with vigour or force: he aimed a hefty kick at the door.

<DERIVATIVES> heftily adv. heftiness n.

Hegel /he(ə)l/ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1770–1831), German philosopher. In his Science of Logic (1812–16) Hegel described the three-stage process of dialectical reasoning, on which Marx based his theory of dialectical materialism. He believed that history, the evolution of ideas, and human consciousness all develop through idealist dialectical processes as part of the Absolute or God coming to know itself.

<DERIVATIVES> Hegelian /heilən h- -el-/ adj. & n. Hegelianism n.

hegemon /hεdmn/ n. a supreme leader.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek hēgemōn.

hegemonic /hεdmnk hε-/ adj. ruling or dominant in a political or social context: the bourgeoisie constituted the hegemonic class.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek hēgemonikos ‘capable of commanding’, from hēgemōn ‘leader’.

hegemony /hdεməni -ε-/ n. [mass noun] leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others: Germany was united under Prussian hegemony after 1871.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Greek hēgemonia, from hēgemōn ‘leader’, from hēgeisthai ‘to lead’.

Hegira /hεdrə/ (also Hejira or Hijra) n. Muhammad's departure from Mecca to Medina in AD 622, marking the consolidation of the first Muslim community.

- the Muslim era reckoned from Muhammad's departure from Mecca: the second century of the Hegira.

- (hegira) an exodus or migration.

<ORIGIN> via medieval Latin from Arabic hijra ‘departure’, from hajara ‘emigrate’.

heiau /heə/ n. (pl. same or heiaus) an ancient Hawaiian temple or sacred site.

<ORIGIN> Hawaiian.

Heidegger /hdεə/ Martin (1889–1976), German philosopher. In Being and Time (1927) he examined the ontology of Being, in particular human existence as involvement with a world of objects (Dasein). His writings on Angst (dread) as a fundamental part of human consciousness due to radical freedom of choice and awareness of death had a strong influence on existentialist philosophers such as Sartre.

Heidelberg /hd(ə)lbə/ German /hadlbεrk/ a city in SW Germany, on the River Neckar in Baden-Württemberg; pop. 138,100 (est. 2002). Its university is the oldest in Germany.

heifer /hεfə/ n. (in farming) a cow that has not borne a calf, or has borne only one calf. Compare with cow^1.

<ORIGIN> Old English heahfore, of unknown origin.

heigh exclam. ARCHAIC expressing encouragement or enquiry.

<ORIGIN> natural utterance: first recorded in Middle English.

heigh-ho /hehə/ exclam. INFORMAL expressing boredom, resignation, or jollity: heigh-ho—then it is footslogging again | how pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!

height n. [mass noun] 1 the measurement of someone or something from head to foot or from base to top: columns rising to 65 feet in height | he was of medium height.

- the quality of being tall or high: her height marked her out from other women.

2 elevation above ground or a recognized level (typically sea level): the glider is gaining height.

- [count noun] a high place or position: he's terrified of heights.

3 [in sing.] the point or period at which something is at its best or strongest: the height of the tourist season | (heights) they took consumerism to new heights.

- an extreme example of something: it would be the height of bad manners not to attend the wedding.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēhthu (in the sense ‘top of something’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoogte, also to HIGH.

heighten v. 1 make or become more intense: [with obj.] the pleasure was heightened by the sense of guilt that accompanied it | (as adj. heightened) the heightened colour of her face | [no obj.] concern over CFCs has heightened.

2 [with obj.] make (something) higher.

heightism /htz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] prejudice or discrimination against someone on the basis of their height.

<DERIVATIVES> heightist adj. & n.

height of land n. NORTH AMERICAN a watershed.

Heilbronn /hlbrn/ German /halbrn/ a city in SW Germany, on the River Neckar in Baden-Württemberg; pop. 117,900 (est. 2002).

Heilong /hel/ Chinese name for AMUR.

Heilongjiang /helda/ (also Heilungkiang /helka/) a province of NE China, on the Russian frontier; capital, Harbin.

Heimlich manoeuvre /hmlx/ (also Heimlich procedure) n. a first-aid procedure for dislodging an obstruction from a person's windpipe in which a sudden strong pressure is applied on their abdomen, between the navel and the ribcage.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Henry J. Heimlich (born 1920), the American doctor who developed the procedure.

Heine /hnə/ (Christian Johann) Heinrich (1797–1856), German poet; born Harry Heine. Much of his early lyric poetry was set to music by Schumann and Schubert. In 1830 Heine emigrated to Paris, where his works became more political.

heinie /hni/ n. US INFORMAL a person's buttocks.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: alteration of hinder^2, variant of hind^1.

heinous /henəs hinəs/ adj. (of a person or wrongful act, especially a crime) utterly odious or wicked: a battery of heinous crimes.

<DERIVATIVES> heinously adv. heinousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French haineus, from hair ‘to hate’, of Germanic origin.

Heinz /hnz/ Henry John (1844–1919), American food manufacturer. In 1869 he established a family firm for the manufacture and sale of processed foods. Heinz devised the marketing slogan ‘57 Varieties’ in 1896.

heir /ε/ n. a person legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that person's death: his eldest son and heir | the heir to the throne.

- a person who inherits and continues the work of a predecessor: they saw themselves as heirs of the Cubists.

<DERIVATIVES> heirdom n. heirless adj. heirship n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin heres.

heir apparent n. (pl. heirs apparent) an heir whose claim cannot be set aside by the birth of another heir. Compare with HEIR PRESUMPTIVE.

- a person who is most likely to succeed to the place of another.

heir-at-law n. (pl. heirs-at-law) an heir by right of blood, especially to the real property of an intestate.

heiress n. a female heir, especially to vast wealth.

heirloom n. a valuable object that has belonged to a family for several generations.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from HEIR + LOOM^1 (which formerly had the senses ‘tool, heirloom’).

heir presumptive n. (pl. heirs presumptive) an heir whose claim may be set aside by the birth of another heir. Compare with HEIR APPARENT.

Heisenberg /hz(ə)nbə/ German /haznbεrk/ Werner Karl (1901–76), German mathematical physicist and philosopher. He developed a system of quantum mechanics based on matrix algebra in which he stated his famous uncertainty principle (1927). For this and his discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen he was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize for Physics.

heist /hst/ INFORMAL n. a robbery: a diamond heist.

■ v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN steal.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): representing a local pronunciation of HOIST.

hei-tiki /hetki/ n. a greenstone neck ornament worn by Maoris.

<ORIGIN> Maori, from hei ‘hang’ + tiki ‘image’.

Hejaz /hdaz/ (also Hijaz) a coastal region of western Saudi Arabia, extending along the Red Sea.

Hekla /hεklə/ an active volcano in SW Iceland, rising to a height of 1,491 m (4,840 ft).

HeLa cells /hilə/ plural n. human epithelial cells of a strain maintained in tissue culture since 1951 and used in research, especially in virology.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from the name of Henrietta Lacks, whose cervical carcinoma provided the original cells.

held past and past participle of hold^1.

Heldentenor /hεld(ə)ntεn/ n. a powerful tenor voice suitable for heroic roles in opera.

- a singer with a Heldentenor voice.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: German, literally ‘hero tenor’.

Helen [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the daughter of Zeus and Leda, born from an egg. In the Homeric poems she was the outstandingly beautiful wife of Menelaus, and her abduction by Paris (to whom she had been promised, as a bribe, by Aphrodite) led to the Trojan War.

Helena /hεlnə/ the state capital of Montana; pop. 25,780 (2000).

Helena, St /hεlnə/ (c.255–c.330 AD), Roman empress and mother of Constantine the Great. In 326 she visited the Holy Land and founded basilicas on the Mount of Olives and at Bethlehem. She is credited with the finding of the cross on which Christ was crucified. Feast day (in the Eastern Church) 21 May; (in the Western Church) 18 August.

helenium /hεlinəm/ n. an American plant of the daisy family, which bears many red to yellow flowers, each having a prominent central disc.

<INFO> Genus Helenium, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek helenion. The term originally denoted the herb elecampane, possibly in commemoration of Helen of Troy (said to have planted elecampane on the island of Pharos); the current designation was adopted by Linnaeus in the 18th cent.

Helgoland /hεləlant/ German name for HELIGOLAND.

heli- combining form relating to helicopters: heli-skiing | helipad.

heliacal /hlək(ə)l/ adj. [ASTRONOMY] relating to or near the sun.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via late Latin from Greek hēliakos (from hēlios ‘sun’) + -AL.

heliacal rising /hlək(ə)l/ n. the rising of a celestial object at the same time as the sun, or its first visible rising after a period of invisibility due to conjunction with the sun. The last setting before such a period is the heliacal setting.

helianthemum /hilanθməm/ n. a low evergreen shrub with saucer-shaped flowers, which is grown as an ornamental. Also called ROCK ROSE.

<INFO> Genus Helianthemum, family Cistaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek hēlios ‘sun’ + anthemon ‘flower’ (because the flowers open in sunlight).

helianthus /hilanθəs/ n. a plant of the genus Helianthus in the daisy family, especially (in gardening) a sunflower.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek hēlios ‘sun’ + anthos ‘flower’.

helical /hεlk(ə)l hi-/ adj. having the shape or form of a helix; spiral: helical molecules.

<DERIVATIVES> helically adv.

helices plural form of HELIX.

helichrysum /hεlkrsəm/ n. an Old World plant of the daisy family. Some kinds are grown as everlastings, retaining their shape and colour when dried.

<INFO> Genus Helichrysum, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek helikhrusos, from helix ‘spiral’ + khrusos ‘gold’. It originally denoted a yellow-flowered plant, possibly Helichrysum stoechas.

helicity /hilsti/ n. [mass noun] 1 chiefly [BIOCHEMISTRY] helical character, especially of DNA.

2 [PHYSICS] a combination of the spin and the linear motion of a subatomic particle.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (in sense 2): from Latin helix, helic- ‘spiral’ + -ITY.

helicoid /hilkd/ n. a helical or spiral object.

- [GEOMETRY] a surface formed by simultaneously moving a straight line along an axis and rotating it around it (like a screw thread).

■ adj. of the form of a helix or helicoid.

<DERIVATIVES> helicoidal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek helikoeidēs ‘of spiral form’, from helix, helik- (see HELIX).

helicon /hεlk(ə)n/ n. a large spiral bass tuba played encircling the player's head and resting on the shoulder.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, associated with HELIX.

heliconia /hεlkənə/ n. a large-leaved tropical American plant which bears spectacular flowers with brightly coloured bracts.

<INFO> Genus Heliconia, family Heliconiaceae (formerly Musaceae): many species, including the lobster claw.

Helicon, Mount /hεlk(ə)n/ a mountain in Boeotia, central Greece, to the north of the Gulf of Corinth, rising to 1,750 m (5741 ft). It was believed by the ancient Greeks to be the home of the Muses.

helicopter n. a type of aircraft which derives both lift and propulsion from one or two sets of horizontally revolving overhead rotors. It is capable of moving vertically and horizontally, the direction of motion being controlled by the pitch of the rotor blades.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] transport by helicopter.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] fly somewhere in a helicopter.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French hélicoptère, from Greek helix ‘spiral’ + pteron ‘wing’.

helicopter view n. INFORMAL (especially in business) a general survey of something; an overview.

helictite /hεlktt/ n. [GEOLOGY] a distorted form of stalactite, typically resembling a twig.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek heliktos ‘twisted’, on the pattern of stalactite.

Heligoland /hεləland/ a small island in the North Sea off the coast of Germany, one of the North Frisian Islands. The island was Danish from 1714 until seized by the British navy in 1807 and later ceded officially to Britain. In 1890 it was returned to Germany. German name HELGOLAND.

helio- /hilə/ combining form relating to the sun: heliogravure | heliostat.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hēlios ‘sun’.

heliocentric adj. having or representing the sun as the centre, as in the accepted astronomical model of the solar system. Compare with GEOCENTRIC.

- [ASTRONOMY] measured from or considered in relation to the centre of the sun: heliocentric distance.

<DERIVATIVES> heliocentrically adv.

Heliogabalus /hiləabələs/ (also Elagabalus)

- (AD 204–22), Roman emperor 218–22; born Varius Avitus Bassianus. He took his name from the Syro-Phoenician sun god Elah-Gabal, of whom he was a hereditary priest. He became notorious for his dissipated lifestyle and neglect of state affairs; he and his mother were both murdered.

heliogram n. a message sent by reflecting sunlight in flashes from a movable mirror.

heliograph n. 1 a signalling device by which sunlight is reflected in flashes from a movable mirror.

- a message sent by heliograph; a heliogram.

2 a telescopic apparatus for photographing the sun.

3 HISTORICAL a type of early photographic engraving made using a sensitized silver plate and an asphalt or bitumen varnish.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 send (a message) by heliograph.

2 HISTORICAL take a heliographic photograph of.

<DERIVATIVES> heliographic adj. heliography n.

heliogravure /hiləravjə hiliərəvj/ n. another term for PHOTOGRAVURE.

heliometer /hilmtə/ n. [ASTRONOMY] a refracting telescope with a split objective lens, used for finding the angular distance between two stars.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from HELIO- ‘of the sun’ + -METER (because it was originally used for measuring the diameter of the sun).

heliopause n. [ASTRONOMY] the boundary of the heliosphere.

Heliopolis /hilpəls/ 1 an ancient Egyptian city situated near the apex of the Nile delta at what is now Cairo. It was the original site of the obelisks known as Cleopatra's Needles.

2 ancient Greek name for BAALBEK.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hēlios ‘sun’ + polis ‘city’.

Helios /hiləs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the sun personified as a god, father of Phaethon. He is generally represented as a charioteer driving daily from east to west across the sky.

<ORIGIN> Greek hēlios ‘sun’.

heliosphere n. [ASTRONOMY] the region of space, encompassing the solar system, in which the solar wind has a significant influence.

<DERIVATIVES> heliospheric adj.

heliostat /hilə()stat/ n. an apparatus containing a movable mirror, used to reflect sunlight in a fixed direction.

heliotherapy n. [mass noun] the therapeutic use of sunlight.

heliotrope /hilətrəp hεl-/ n. a plant of the borage family, cultivated for its fragrant purple or blue flowers which are used in perfume.

<INFO> Genus Heliotropium, family Boraginaceae.

- [mass noun] a light purple colour, similar to that of heliotrope flowers.

<ORIGIN> Old English eliotropus (originally applied to various plants whose flowers turn towards the sun), via Latin from Greek hēliotropion ‘plant turning its flowers to the sun’, from hēlios ‘sun’ + trepein ‘to turn’. The spelling was influenced by French héliotrope.

heliotropism /hilə()trəpz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the directional growth of a plant in response to sunlight. Compare with PHOTOTROPISM.

- [ZOOLOGY] the tendency of an animal to move towards light.

<DERIVATIVES> heliotropic adj.

heliotype n. HISTORICAL a picture obtained from a sensitized gelatin film exposed to light.

Heliozoa /hilə()zəə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a phylum of single-celled aquatic animals that are related to the radiolarians. They have a spherical shell with fine radiating needle-like projections.

<INFO> Class Heliozoa, phylum Actinopoda, kingdom Protista.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek hēlios ‘sun’ + zōion ‘animal’.

heliozoan [ZOOLOGY] n. a single-celled aquatic animal of the phylum Heliozoa.

■ adj. relating to or denoting heliozoans.

helipad n. a landing and take-off area for helicopters.

heliport n. an airport or landing place for helicopters.

heli-skiing n. [mass noun] skiing in which the skier is taken up the mountain by helicopter.

<DERIVATIVES> heli-ski v. heli-skier n.

helium /hiləm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 2, an inert gas which is the lightest member of the noble gas series. (Symbol: He)

Helium occurs in traces in air, and more abundantly in natural gas deposits. It is used as a lifting gas for balloons and airships, and liquid helium (boiling point: 4.2 kelvins, −268.9°C) is used as a coolant. Helium is produced in stars as the main product of the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen, and is the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek hēlios ‘sun’, because its existence was inferred from an emission line in the sun's spectrum.

helix /hilks/ n. (pl. helices /hilsiz hεl-/) 1 an object having a three-dimensional shape like that of a wire wound uniformly in a single layer around a cylinder or cone, as in a corkscrew or spiral staircase.

- [GEOMETRY] a curve on a conical or cylindrical surface which would become a straight line if the surface were unrolled into a plane.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] an extended spiral chain of atoms in a protein, nucleic acid, or other polymeric molecule.

- [ARCHITECTURE] a spiral ornament.

2 [ANATOMY] the rim of the external ear.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the architectural sense ‘spiral ornament’): via Latin from Greek.

hell n. (often Hell) a place regarded in various religions as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, often traditionally depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth where the wicked are punished after death.

- a situation, experience, or place of great suffering: I've been through hell | he made her life hell.

■ exclam. (also the hell) used for emphasis or to express anger, contempt, or surprise: oh, hell—where will this all end? | who the hell are you?

<PHRASES>

□ all hell breaks (or is let) loose INFORMAL suddenly there was pandemonium.

□ (as) —— as hell INFORMAL used for emphasis: he's as guilty as hell.

□ be hell on INFORMAL be very unpleasant or harmful to: the fungus is hell on grasshoppers.

□ come hell or high water whatever difficulties may occur.

□ for the hell of it INFORMAL just for fun: she walked on window ledges for the hell of it.

□ —— from hell INFORMAL an extremely unpleasant or troublesome example of something: neighbours from hell.

□ get hell INFORMAL be severely reprimanded.

□ give someone hell INFORMAL severely reprimand or make things very unpleasant for someone.

□ go to hell INFORMAL used to express angry rejection of someone or something.

□ go to (or through) hell and back endure an extremely unpleasant or difficult experience.

□ go to hell in a handbasket NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL deteriorate rapidly.

□ hell for leather as fast as possible.

□ hell's bells INFORMAL an exclamation of annoyance or anger.

□ hell hath no fury like a woman scorned PROVERB a woman who has been rejected by a man can be ferociously angry and vindictive.

□ a (or one) hell of a —— INFORMAL used to emphasize something very bad or great: the car cost a hell of a lot of money.

□ —— the hell out of INFORMAL used in verbal phrases to emphasize force, speed, etc.: let's get the hell out of here.

□ hell's half acre NORTH AMERICAN a great distance.

□ like hell INFORMAL 1 very fast, much, hard, etc. (used for emphasis): my head hurts like hell.

2 used in ironic expressions of scorn or disagreement: like hell, he thought.

□ not a hope in hell INFORMAL no chance at all.

□ play hell (or merry hell) BRITISH INFORMAL create havoc.

- cause damage: the rough road played hell with the tyres.

□ the road to hell is paved with good intentions PROVERB promises and plans must be put into action, otherwise they are useless.

□ there will be hell to pay INFORMAL serious trouble will occur as a result of a previous or proposed action.

□ to hell used for emphasis: damn it to hell.

□ to hell with INFORMAL expressing one's scorn or lack of concern for (someone or something).

□ until (or till) hell freezes over forever.

□ what the hell INFORMAL it doesn't matter.

<DERIVATIVES> hellward adv. & adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hel, hell, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hel and German Hölle, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘to cover or hide’.

he'll contraction he shall; he will.

hellacious /hεleəs/ adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL very great, bad, or overwhelming: there was this hellacious hailstorm.

<DERIVATIVES> hellaciously adv.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from HELL + -ACIOUS, perhaps suggested by bodacious.

Helladic /hεladk/ adj. [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the Bronze Age cultures of mainland Greece (c.3000–1050 BC), of which the latest period is equivalent to the Mycenaean age.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek Helladikos, from Hellas, Hellad- ‘Greece’.

Hellas /hεlas/ Greek name for GREECE.

hellbender n. an aquatic giant salamander with greyish skin and a flattened head, native to North America.

<INFO> Cryptobranchus alleganiensis, family Cryptobranchidae.

hell-bent adj. [predic.] determined to achieve something at all costs: she's hell-bent on leaving.

hellcat n. a spiteful, violent woman.

hellebore /hεlb/ n. a poisonous winter-flowering Eurasian plant of the buttercup family, typically having coarse divided leaves and large white, green, or purplish flowers.

<INFO> Genus Helleborus, family Ranunculaceae: several species, including the Christmas rose.

- a false helleborine.

<ORIGIN> Old English (denoting various plants supposed to cure madness), from Old French ellebre, elebore or medieval Latin eleborus, via Latin from Greek helleboros.

helleborine /hεlbərin -rn/ n. a mainly woodland orchid occurring chiefly in north temperate regions. See also FALSE HELLEBORINE.

<INFO> Two genera in the family Orchidaceae: Epipactis (with greenish or reddish flowers that are sometimes self-fertilized) and Cephalanthera (with larger white or pink flowers).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: French or Latin, from Greek helleborinē, a plant like hellebore, from helleboros ‘hellebore’.

Hellen /hεln/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the son or brother of Deucalion and ancestor of all the Hellenes or Greeks.

Hellene /hεlin/ n. an ancient Greek.

- a native of modern Greece (chiefly in the title of the exiled royal family): the King of the Hellenes.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Hellēn ‘a Greek’. Compare with HELLEN.

Hellenic /hεlεnk -link/ adj. Greek.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] relating to or denoting Iron Age and Classical Greek culture (between Helladic and Hellenistic).

■ n. [mass noun] the branch of the Indo-European language family comprising classical and modern Greek.

- the Greek language.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Hellēnikos, from Hellēn (see HELLENE).

Hellenism /hεlnz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the national character or culture of Greece, especially ancient Greece.

- the study or imitation of ancient Greek culture.

<DERIVATIVES> Hellenist n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a Greek phrase or idiom): from Greek Hellēnismos, from Hellēnizein ‘speak Greek, make Greek’, from Hellēn ‘a Greek’.

Hellenistic adj. relating to Greek history, language, and culture from the death of Alexander the Great to the defeat of Cleopatra and Mark Antony by Octavian in 31 BC. During this period Greek culture flourished, spreading through the Mediterranean and into the Near East and Asia and centring on Alexandria in Egypt and Pergamum in Turkey.

Hellenize /hεlnz/ (also Hellenise) v. [with obj.] (often as adj. Hellenized) make Greek or Hellenistic in form or character.

<DERIVATIVES> Hellenization n. Hellenizer n.

Heller Joseph (1923–99), American novelist. His experiences in the US air force during the Second World War inspired his best-known novel Catch-22 (1961), an absurdist black comedy satirizing war and the source of the expression ‘catch-22’.

heller /hεlə/ n. (pl. same or hellers) a former German or Austrian coin of low value.

■ another term for HALER or HALIER.

<ORIGIN> from German Heller, earlier haller (see HALER).

Hellerwork /hεləwək/ n. [mass noun] (TRADEMARK in the US) a system involving deep tissue massage and exercise, designed to help correct posture, improve mobility, relieve pain, etc.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: named after Joseph Heller (b. 1940), the US educator who developed it.

Hellespont /hεlspnt/ the ancient name for the Dardanelles, named after the legendary Helle, who fell into the strait and was drowned while escaping with her brother Phrixus from their stepmother, Ino, on a golden-fleeced ram.

hellfire n. [mass noun] the fire or fires regarded as existing in hell: threats of hellfire and damnation.

hellgrammite /hεlrəmt/ n. NORTH AMERICAN the aquatic larva of a dobsonfly, often used as fishing bait.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

hellhole n. a very unpleasant place.

hellhound n. a demon in the form of a dog.

hellion /hεljən/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a rowdy or mischievous person, especially a child.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from dialect hallion ‘a worthless fellow’, changed by association with HELL.

hellish adj. of or like hell: an unearthly, hellish landscape.

- INFORMAL extremely difficult or unpleasant: it had been a hellish week.

■ adv. [as submodifier] BRITISH INFORMAL extremely (used for emphasis): it was hellish expensive.

<DERIVATIVES> hellishly adv. hellishness n.

Hellman /hεlmən/ Lillian (Florence) (1907–84), American dramatist. Her plays, such as The Children's Hour (1934) and The Little Foxes (1939), often reflected her socialist and feminist concerns. She lived with the detective-story writer Dashiell Hammett, and both were blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

hello (also hallo or hullo) exclam. used as a greeting or to begin a telephone conversation: hello there, Katie!

- BRITISH used to express surprise: hello, what's all this then?

- used as a cry to attract someone's attention: ‘Hello below!’ he cried.

- used informally to express sarcasm or anger: Hello! Did you even get what the play was about?

■ n. (pl. hellos) an utterance of ‘hello’; a greeting.

■ v. (helloes, helloing, helloed) [no obj.] say or shout ‘hello’.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: variant of earlier hollo; related to HOLLA.

hellraiser n. a person who causes trouble by drinking, being violent, or otherwise behaving outrageously.

<DERIVATIVES> hellraising adj. & n.

Hell's Angel n. a member of any of a number of gangs (‘chapters’) of male motorcycle enthusiasts, first formed in California in the 1950s and originally notorious for lawless behaviour.

Hell's Canyon a chasm in Idaho, cut by the Snake River and forming the deepest gorge in the US. Flanked by the Seven Devils Mountains, the canyon drops to a depth of 2,433 m (7,900 ft).

helluva contraction a hell of a (representing a non-standard pronunciation): I'm in a helluva mess.

helm^1 n. (the helm) a tiller or wheel for steering a ship or boat.

- a position of leadership: the chairman is to step down after four years at the helm.

- [NAUTICAL] a helmsman.

■ v. [with obj.] steer (a boat or ship).

- manage (an organization): the magazine he helmed in the late eighties.

- NORTH AMERICAN direct (a film).

<DERIVATIVES> helmer n. (North American)

<ORIGIN> Old English helma; probably related to HELVE.

helm^2 n. ARCHAIC a helmet.

<DERIVATIVES> helmed adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch helm and German Helm, also to HELMET, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘to cover or hide’.

Helmand /hεlmənd/ the longest river in Afghanistan. Rising in the Hindu Kush, it flows 1,125 km (700 miles), generally south-west, before emptying into marshland near the Iran–Afghanistan frontier.

helmet n. 1 a hard or padded protective hat, various types of which are worn by soldiers, police officers, motorcyclists, sports players, and others.

2 [BOTANY] the arched upper part (galea) of the corolla in some flowers, especially those of the mint and orchid families.

3 (also helmet shell) a predatory mollusc with a squat heavy shell, which lives in tropical and temperate seas.

<INFO> Family Cassidae, class Gastropoda.

<DERIVATIVES> helmeted adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, diminutive of helme, of Germanic origin; related to helm^2.

Helmholtz /hεlmhlts/ Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von (1821–94), German physiologist and physicist. He formulated the principle of the conservation of energy in 1847. Other achievements include his studies in sense perception, hydrodynamics, and non-Euclidean geometry.

helminth /hεlmnθ/ n. a parasitic worm; a fluke, tapeworm, or nematode.

<DERIVATIVES> helminthic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek helmins, helminth- ‘intestinal worm’.

helminthiasis /hεlmnθəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE infestation with parasitic worms.

helminthology /hεlmnθlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of parasitic worms.

<DERIVATIVES> helminthological adj. helminthologist n.

Helmont /hεlmnt/ Joannes Baptista van (1577–1644), Belgian chemist and physician. He made early studies on the conservation of matter, was the first to distinguish gases, and coined the word gas.

helmsman n. (pl. helmsmen) a person who steers a ship or boat.

Héloïse /εləiz/ (1098–1164), French abbess. She is known for her tragic love affair with the theologian Abelard, which began after she became his pupil. When the affair came to light, Abelard persuaded her to enter a convent; she later became abbess of the community of Paraclete. See also ABELARD.

helot /hεlət/ n. a member of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta, intermediate in status between slaves and citizens.

- a serf or slave.

<DERIVATIVES> helotage n. helotism n. helotry n.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Heilōtes (plural), traditionally taken as referring to Helos, a Laconian town whose inhabitants were enslaved.

help v. [with obj.] 1 make it easier or possible for (someone) to do something by offering them one's services or material aid: they helped her with domestic chores | [with obj. and infinitive] she helped him find a buyer | [no obj.] the teenager helped out in the corner shop.

- improve (a situation or problem); be of benefit to: upbeat comments about prospects helped confidence | [no obj.] legislation to fit all new cars with catalytic converters will help.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] assist (someone) to move: I helped her up.

- (help someone on/off with) assist someone to put on or take off (a garment).

2 (help someone to) serve someone with (food or drink): may I help you to some more meat? | she helped herself to a biscuit.

- (help oneself) take something without permission: he helped himself to the wages she had brought home.

3 (can/could not help) cannot or could not avoid: he couldn't help laughing | I'm sorry to put you to any inconvenience, but it can't be helped.

- (can/could not help oneself) cannot or could not stop oneself from doing something: she couldn't help herself; she burst into tears.

■ n. [mass noun] the action of helping someone to do something: I asked for help from my neighbours.

- the fact of being useful: the skimpy manual isn't much help for beginners.

- a person or thing that helps: she's been given financial help with travel | [in sing.] he was a great help.

- [count noun] a domestic employee.

- [as modifier] giving assistance to a computer user in the form of displayed instructions: a help menu.

■ exclam. used as an appeal for urgent assistance: Help! I'm drowning!

<PHRASES>

□ a helping hand assistance: she was always ready to lend a helping hand.

□ so help me (God) used to emphasize that one means what one is saying.

□ there is no help for it there is no way of avoiding or remedying a situation.

<ORIGIN> Old English helpan (verb), help (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch helpen and German helfen.

help desk n. a service providing information and support to the users of a computer network.

helper n. a person who helps someone else: there was no shortage of willing helpers. | we rely on volunteer helpers.

helper cell n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a T-lymphocyte that influences or controls the differentiation or activity of other cells of the immune system.

helpful adj. giving or ready to give help: people are friendly and helpful | helpful staff.

- useful: pages of helpful information.

<DERIVATIVES> helpfully adv. helpfulness n.

helping n. a portion of food served to one person at one time: there will be enough for six helpings.

- a quantity of something: it's a powerful balled tinged with a huge helping of gospel vibes.

helpless adj. unable to defend oneself or to act without help: the cubs are born blind and helpless.

- uncontrollable: they burst into helpless laughter.

<DERIVATIVES> helplessly adv. helplessness n.

helpline n. a telephone service providing help with problems.

Helpmann /hεlpmən/ Sir Robert (Murray) (1909–86), Australian ballet dancer, choreographer, director, and actor. He joined the Vic-Wells Ballet shortly after coming to England in 1933, and in 1935 began a long partnership with Margot Fonteyn.

helpmate (also helpmeet) n. a helpful companion or partner, especially one's husband or wife.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as helpmeet): from an erroneous reading of Gen. 2:18, 20, where Adam's future wife is described as ‘an help meet for him’ (i.e. a suitable helper for him). The variant helpmate came into use in the early 18th cent.

Helsingborg /hεlsb/ a port in southern Sweden, situated on the Øresund opposite Elsinore in Denmark; pop. 117,737 (2000). Swedish name Hälsingborg.

Helsingør /hεlsεør/ Danish name for ELSINORE.

Helsinki /hεlski hεlski/ the capital of Finland, a port in the south on the Gulf of Finland; pop. 559,128 (2001). Swedish name Helsingfors /hεlsfrs/.

helter-skelter adj. & adv. in disorderly haste or confusion: [as adj.] the helter-skelter dash to unity | [as adv.] hurtling helter-skelter down the pavement.

■ n. 1 BRITISH a fairground amusement consisting of a tall spiral slide winding around a tower.

2 [in sing.] disorder; confusion: the helter-skelter of a school day.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as an adverb): a rhyming jingle of unknown origin, perhaps symbolic of running feet or from Middle English skelte ‘hasten’.

helve /hεlv/ n. the handle of a weapon or tool.

<ORIGIN> Old English helfe, of Germanic origin; related to HALTER.

Helvetia /hεlviə/ Latin name for SWITZERLAND.

Helvetian /hεlvi(ə)n/ chiefly HISTORICAL adj. Swiss.

■ n. a native of Switzerland.

Helvetic /hεlvεtk/ adj. & n.

■ another term for HELVETIAN.

hem^1 n. the edge of a piece of cloth or clothing which has been turned under and sewn.

■ v. (hems, hemming, hemmed) [with obj.] 1 turn under and sew the edge of (a piece of cloth).

2 (hem someone/thing in) surround and restrict the space or movement of someone or something: he was hemmed in by the tables.

<ORIGIN> Old English ‘border of a piece of cloth’, of West Germanic origin. The verb senses date from the mid 16th cent.

hem^2 exclam. used in writing to indicate a sound made when coughing or clearing the throat to attract attention or to express hesitation.

■ v. (hems, hemming, hemmed) [no obj.] ARCHAIC make a sound in the throat when hesitating or as a signal.

<PHRASES>

□ hem and haw North American term for hum and haw (see hum^1).

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: imitative.

he-man n. INFORMAL a well-built, muscular man.

Hemel Hempstead /hεm(ə)l hεmpstd/ a town in SE England, in Hertfordshire; pop. 79,600 (est. 2002). It was designated as a new town in 1947.

hemerocallis /hεm(ə)rə()kals/ n. (pl. same) a plant of a genus that comprises the day lilies.

<INFO> Genus Hemerocallis, family Liliaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek hēmerokallis ‘a lily that flowers for a day’, from hēmera ‘day’ + kallos ‘beauty’.

hemi- prefix half: hemicylindrical | hemiplegia.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hēmi-; related to Latin semi-.

hemianopia /hεmənəpə/ (also hemianopsia /-npsə/) n. [mass noun] blindness over half the field of vision.

hemicellulose n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a class of substances which occur as constituents of the cell walls of plants and are polysaccharides of simpler structure than cellulose.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from HEMI- + CELLULOSE.

Hemichordata /hεmkdetə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small phylum of marine invertebrates that comprises the acorn worms.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (see HEMI-, Chordata).

hemichordate [ZOOLOGY] n. a marine invertebrate of the phylum Hemichordata; an acorn worm.

■ adj. relating to or denoting hemichordates.

hemicycle n. a semicircular shape or structure.

hemicylindrical adj. having the shape of half a cylinder (divided lengthways).

hemidemisemiquaver /hεmdεmsεmkwevə/ n. [MUSIC], chiefly BRITISH a note with the time value of half a demisemiquaver, represented by a large dot with a four-hooked stem. Also called SIXTY-FOURTH NOTE.

hemihydrate /hεmhdret/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline hydrate containing one molecule of water for every two molecules of the compound in question.

hemimetabolous /hεmmεtabələs/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of an insect) having no pupal stage in the transition from larva to adult.

<DERIVATIVES> hemimetabolic adj.

hemimorphite /hεmmft/ n. [mass noun] a mineral consisting of hydrated zinc silicate, typically occurring as flat white prisms.

Hemingway Ernest (Miller) (1899–1961), American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. He achieved success with The Sun Also Rises (1926), which reflected the disillusionment of the post-war ‘lost generation’. Other notable works: A Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952, Pulitzer Prize 1953). Nobel Prize for Literature (1954).

hemiola /hεmələ/ n. [MUSIC] a musical figure in which, typically, two groups of three beats are replaced by three groups of two beats, giving the effect of a shift between triple and duple metre.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via medieval Latin from Greek hēmiolia ‘in the ratio of one and a half to one’ (from hēmi- ‘half’ + holos ‘whole’).

hemiparasite n. [BOTANY] a plant which obtains or may obtain part of its food by parasitism, e.g. mistletoe, which also photosynthesizes.

hemiparesis /hεmpəriss/ n. another term for HEMIPLEGIA.

hemipenis /hεmpins/ n. (pl. hemipenes) [ZOOLOGY] each of the paired male reproductive organs in snakes and lizards.

hemiplegia /hεmplidə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE paralysis of one side of the body.

<DERIVATIVES> hemiplegic n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek hēmiplēgia, from hemi- ‘half’ + plēgē ‘stroke’.

hemipode /hεmpəd/ n. another term for BUTTON-QUAIL.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Hemipodius (former genus name), from Greek hēmi- ‘half’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’.

Hemiptera /hεmpt(ə)rə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large order of insects that comprises the true bugs, which include aphids, cicadas, leafhoppers, and many others. They have piercing and sucking mouthparts and incomplete metamorphosis. See also HETEROPTERA, HOMOPTERA.

- (hemiptera) insects of this order; true bugs.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek hēmi- ‘half’ + pteron ‘wing’ (because of the forewing structure, partly hardened at the base and partly membranous).

hemipteran [ENTOMOLOGY] n. an insect of the order Hemiptera or bugs, such as an aphid, cicada, or leafhopper.

■ adj. relating to or denoting hemipterans.

<DERIVATIVES> hemipterous adj.

hemisphere n. a half of a sphere.

- a half of the earth, usually as divided into northern and southern halves by the equator, or into western and eastern halves by an imaginary line passing through the poles.

- a half of the celestial sphere.

- (also cerebral hemisphere) each of the two parts of the cerebrum (left and right) in the brain of a vertebrate.

<DERIVATIVES> hemispheric adj. hemispherical adj. hemispherically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘half the celestial sphere, the sky’): from Old French emisphere, via Latin from Greek hēmisphairion, from hēmi- ‘half’ + sphaira ‘sphere’.

hemistich /hεmstk/ n. (chiefly in Old English verse) a half of a line of verse.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek hēmistikhion, from hēmi- ‘half’ + stikhos ‘row, line of verse’.

Hemkund, Lake /hεmknd/ a lake in northern India, in the Himalayan foothills of Uttar Pradesh. It is regarded as holy by the Sikhs.

hemline n. the level of the lower edge of a garment such as a skirt, dress, or coat.

hemlock n. 1 a highly poisonous European plant of the parsley family, with a purple-spotted stem, fern-like leaves, small white flowers, and an unpleasant smell.

<INFO> Conium maculatum, family Umbelliferae.

- [mass noun] a sedative or poisonous potion obtained from the hemlock.

2 (also hemlock fir or spruce) a coniferous North American tree with dark green foliage which is said to smell like hemlock when crushed, grown chiefly for timber.

<INFO> Genus Tsuga, family Pinaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> Old English hymlice, hemlic, of unknown origin.

hemp n. (also Indian hemp) [mass noun] the cannabis plant, especially when grown for fibre.

- the fibre of the cannabis plant, extracted from the stem and used to make rope, strong fabrics, fibreboard, and paper.

- used in names of other plants that yield fibre, e.g. Manila hemp.

- the drug cannabis.

<DERIVATIVES> hempen adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> Old English henep, hænep, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hennep and German Hanf, also to Greek kannabis.

hemp agrimony n. an erect Eurasian plant of the daisy family, resembling a valerian, with clusters of pale purple flowers and hairy stems.

<INFO> Eupatorium cannabinum, family Compositae.

hemp-nettle n. a nettle-like Eurasian plant of the mint family.

<INFO> Genus Galeopsis, family Labiatae.

hempseed /hεmpsid/ n. [mass noun] the seed of hemp, particularly as used for fishing bait.

hemstitch n. a decorative stitch used especially alongside a hem, in which several adjacent threads are pulled out and the crossing threads are tied into bunches, making a row of small openings.

■ v. [with obj.] incorporate a hemstitch in the hem of (a piece of cloth or clothing).

hen n. 1 a female bird, especially of a domestic fowl.

- (hens) domestic fowls of either sex.

- used in names of birds, especially waterbirds of the rail family, e.g. moorhen, native hen.

- SCOTTISH used as an affectionate term of address to a girl or woman.

2 a female lobster, crab, or salmon.

<PHRASES>

□ as rare (or scarce) as hen's teeth extremely rare.

<ORIGIN> Old English henn, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hen and German Henne.

Henan /hənan/ (also Honan) a province of NE central China; capital, Zhengzhou.

hen and chickens n. any of a number of plants producing additional small flower heads or offshoots.

<INFO> Several species, especially the houseleek Jovibarba sobilifera (family Crassulaceae).

henbane /hεnben/ n. a poisonous Eurasian plant of the nightshade family, with sticky hairy leaves and an unpleasant smell.

<INFO> Hyoscyamus niger, family Solanaceae.

- [mass noun] a narcotic drink prepared from henbane.

henbit /hεnbt/ n. a dead-nettle with purple flowers and partly prostrate stems, native to Eurasia.

<INFO> Genus Lamium, family Labiatae: several species, in particular L. amplexicaule.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: apparently a translation of Low German or Dutch hoenderbeet.

hence adv. 1 as a consequence; for this reason: many vehicle journeys (and hence a lot of pollution) would be saved.

2 from now (used after a period of time): two years hence they might say something different.

3 (also from hence) ARCHAIC from here: hence, be gone.

<ORIGIN> Middle English hennes (in sense 3): from earlier henne (from Old English heonan, of Germanic origin, related to HE) + -S^3 (later respelled -ce to denote the unvoiced sound).

henceforth (also henceforward) adv. from this or that time on: henceforth, parties which fail to get 5% of the vote will not be represented in parliament.

henchman n. (pl. henchmen) chiefly DEROGATORY a faithful follower or political supporter, especially one prepared to engage in crime or violence by way of service.

- HISTORICAL a squire or page of honour to a person of rank.

- (in Scotland) the principal attendant of a Highland chief.

<ORIGIN> Middle English, from Old English hengest ‘male horse’ + MAN, the original sense being probably ‘groom’. In the mid 19th century the sense ‘principal attendant of a Highland chief’ was popularized by Sir Walter Scott, whence the current (originally US) usage.

hendeca- /hεndεkə hεndεkə/ combining form eleven; having eleven: hendecasyllable.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hendeka ‘eleven’.

hendecagon /hεndεkə(ə)n/ n. a plane figure with eleven straight sides and angles.

<DERIVATIVES> hendecagonal /hεndka(ə)n(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from HENDECA- ‘eleven’ + -GON, on the pattern of words such as polygon.

hendecasyllable /hεndεkəsləbəl/ n. [PROSODY] a line of verse containing eleven syllables.

<DERIVATIVES> hendecasyllabic adj.

hendiadys /hεndəds/ n. [mass noun] the expression of a single idea by two words connected with ‘and’, e.g. nice and warm, when one could be used to modify the other, as in nicely warm.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via medieval Latin from Greek hen dia duoin ‘one thing by two’.

Hendrix Jimi (1942–70), American rock guitarist and singer; full name James Marshall Hendrix. Remembered for the flamboyance and originality of his improvisations, he greatly widened the scope of the electric guitar. Notable songs: ‘Purple Haze’ (1967), ‘All Along the Watchtower’ (1968).

Hendry Stephen (Gordon) (b.1969), Scottish snooker player. He became the youngest world snooker champion in 1990. He regained the title in 1992 and in 1996 won it for the sixth time.

henequen /hεnkεn/ n. [mass noun] 1 a fibre resembling sisal, which is chiefly used for binder twine and paper pulp.

2 a Central American agave from which henequen is obtained.

<INFO> Agave fourcroydes, family Agavaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Spanish jeniquen, from a local word.

henge /hεn(d)/ n. a prehistoric monument consisting of a circle of stone or wooden uprights.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: back-formation from STONEHENGE.

Hengist and Horsa /hεst hsə/ (d.488 & d.455), semi-mythological Jutish leaders. According to Bede the brothers were invited to Britain by the British king Vortigern in 449 to assist in defeating the Picts and later established an independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Kent.

hen harrier n. a widespread harrier of open country, the male of which is mainly pale grey and the female brown.

<INFO> Circus cyaneus, family Accipitridae. North American name: marsh hawk, northern harrier.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: so named because it was believed to prey on poultry.

henhouse n. a small shed for keeping poultry in.

Henle's loop n. another term for LOOP OF HENLE.

Henley Royal Regatta the oldest rowing regatta in Europe, inaugurated in 1839 at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, and held annually in the first week in July.

henna n. [mass noun] 1 a reddish-brown dye made from the powdered leaves of a tropical shrub, used to colour the hair and decorate the body.

2 the Old World shrub which produces henna, with small pink, red, or white flowers.

<INFO> Lawsonia inermis, family Lythraceae.

■ v. (hennas, hennaing, hennaed) [with obj.] dye (hair) with henna.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Arabic innā'.

hen night n. BRITISH INFORMAL a celebration held for a woman who is about to get married, attended only by women.

henotheism /hεnəθiz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] adherence to one particular god out of several, especially by a family, tribe, or other group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek heis, henos ‘one’ + theos ‘god’ + -ISM.

hen party n. INFORMAL a social gathering of women, especially a hen night.

henpeck v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. henpecked) (of a woman) continually criticize and order about (her husband or other male partner): henpecked husbands.

Henri /hεnri/ Robert (1865–1929), American painter. An advocate of realism, he believed that the artist must be a social force. The Ashcan School of painters was formed largely as a result of his influence.

Henrician /hεnrən/ adj. relating to the reign and policies of Henry VIII of England.

Henrietta Maria (1609–69), daughter of Henry IV of France, queen consort of Charles I of England 1625–49. Her Roman Catholicism heightened public anxieties about the court's religious sympathies and was a contributory cause of the English Civil War.

Henry^1 the name of eight kings of England:

- Henry I (1068–1135), youngest son of William I, reigned 1100–35. His only son drowned in 1120, and although Henry extracted an oath of loyalty to his daughter Matilda from the barons in 1127, his death was followed almost immediately by the outbreak of civil war.

- Henry II (1133–89), son of Matilda, reigned 1154–89. The first Plantagenet king, he restored order after the reigns of Stephen and Matilda. Opposition to his policies on reducing the power of the Church was led by Thomas à Becket, who was eventually murdered by four of Henry's knights.

- Henry III (1207–72), son of John, reigned 1216–72. His ineffectual government caused widespread discontent, ending in Simon de Montfort's defeat and capture of Henry in 1264. Although he was restored a year later, real power resided with his son, who eventually succeeded him as Edward I.

- Henry IV (1367–1413), son of John of Gaunt, reigned 1399–1413; known as Henry Bolingbroke. He overthrew Richard II, establishing the Lancastrian dynasty. His reign was marked by rebellion in Wales and the north, where the Percy family raised several uprisings.

- Henry V (1387–1422), son of Henry IV, reigned 1413–22. He renewed the Hundred Years War soon after coming to the throne and defeated the French at Agincourt in 1415.

- Henry VI (1421–71), son of Henry V, reigned 1422–61 and 1470–1. He was unfit to rule effectively on his own due to a recurrent mental illness. Government by the monarchy became increasingly unpopular and after intermittent civil war with the House of York (the Wars of the Roses), Henry was deposed in 1461 by Edward IV. He briefly regained his throne following a Lancastrian uprising.

- Henry VII (1457–1509), the first Tudor king, son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, reigned 1485–1509; known as Henry Tudor. Although the grandson of Owen Tudor, he inherited the Lancastrian claim to the throne through his mother, a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt. He defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field and eventually established an unchallenged Tudor dynasty.

- Henry VIII (1491–1547), son of Henry VII, reigned 1509–47. Henry had six wives (Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, Katherine Parr); he executed two and divorced two. His first divorce, from Catherine of Aragon, was opposed by the Pope, leading to England's break with the Roman Catholic Church.

Henry^2 (1394–1460), Portuguese prince; known as Henry the Navigator. The third son of John I of Portugal, he organized many voyages of discovery, most notably south along the African coast, thus laying the foundation for Portuguese imperial expansion round Africa to the Far East.

Henry^3 the name of seven kings of the Germans, six of whom were also Holy Roman emperors:

- Henry I (c.876–936), reigned 919–36; known as Henry the Fowler. He waged war successfully against the Slavs in Brandenburg, the Magyars, and the Danes.

- Henry II (973–1024), reigned 1002–24, Holy Roman Emperor 1014–24; also known as Saint Henry.

- Henry III (1017–56), reigned 1039–56, Holy Roman emperor 1046–56. He brought stability and prosperity to the empire, defeating the Czechs and fixing the frontier between Austria and Hungary.

- Henry IV (1050–1106), son of Henry III, reigned 1056–1105, Holy Roman emperor 1084–1105. Increasing conflict with Pope Gregory VII led Henry to call a council in 1076 to depose the Pope, who excommunicated Henry. Henry obtained absolution by doing penance before Gregory in 1077 but managed to depose him in 1084.

- Henry V (1086–1125), reigned 1099–1125, Holy Roman Emperor 1111–25.

- Henry VI (1165–97), reigned 1169–97, Holy Roman Emperor 1191–7.

- Henry VII (c.1269/74–1313), reigned 1308–13, Holy Roman Emperor 1312–3.

Henry^4 O (1862–1910), American short-story writer; pseudonym of William Sydney Porter. Jailed for embezzlement in 1898, he started writing short stories in prison. Collections include Cabbages and Kings (1904) and The Voice of the City (1908).

henry (abbr.: H) n. (pl. henries or henrys) [PHYSICS] the SI unit of inductance, equal to an electromotive force of one volt in a closed circuit with a uniform rate of change of current of one ampere per second.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Joseph Henry (1797–1878), the American physicist who discovered the phenomenon.

Henry Bolingbroke Henry IV of England (see Henry^1).

Henry IV (1553–1610), king of France 1589–1610; known as Henry of Navarre. Although leader of Huguenot forces in the latter stages of the French Wars of Religion, on succeeding the Catholic Henry III he became Catholic himself in order to guarantee peace. He established religious freedom with the Edict of Nantes (1598) and restored order after the prolonged civil war.

Henry's law n. [CHEMISTRY] a law stating that the mass of a dissolved gas in a given volume of solvent at equilibrium is proportional to the partial pressure of the gas.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after William Henry (1774–1836), English chemist.

Henry the Fowler Henry I, king of the Germans (see Henry^3).

Henry Tudor Henry VII of England (see Henry^1).

Henze /hεntsə/ Hans Werner (b.1926), German composer and conductor. His diverse works are influenced by serialism, classical composers, and Italian opera, and sometimes reflect his left-wing ideals, as in The Raft of the Medusa (1968) (a requiem for Che Guevara).

hep^1 adj. old-fashioned term for hip^3.

hep^2 n. archaic or dialect term for hip^2.

heparin /hεpərn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound occurring in the liver and other tissues which inhibits blood coagulation. A sulphur-containing polysaccharide, it is used as an anticoagulant in the treatment of thrombosis.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: via late Latin from Greek hēpar ‘liver’ + -IN^1.

heparinize (also heparinise) v. [with obj.] add heparin to (blood or a container about to be filled with blood) to prevent it from coagulating.

<DERIVATIVES> heparinization n.

hepatic /hpatk/ adj. relating to the liver: right and left hepatic ducts.

■ n. [BOTANY] less common term for LIVERWORT.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek hēpatikos, from hēpar, hēpat- ‘liver’.

hepatica /hpatkə/ n. a plant of the buttercup family, with anemone-like flowers, native to north temperate regions.

<INFO> Genus Hepatica, family Ranunculaceae.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin hepatica (herba) ‘plant having liver-shaped parts, or one used to treat liver diseases’, feminine of hepaticus (see HEPATIC).

Hepaticae /hεpatki/ plural n. [BOTANY] a class of lower plants that comprises the liverworts.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek hēpar, hēpat- ‘liver’.

hepatitis /hεpətts/ n. [mass noun] a disease characterized by inflammation of the liver.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: modern Latin, from Greek hēpar, hēpat- ‘liver’ + -ITIS.

hepatitis A n. [mass noun] a form of viral hepatitis transmitted in food, causing fever and jaundice.

hepatitis B n. [mass noun] a severe form of viral hepatitis transmitted in infected blood, causing fever, debility, and jaundice.

hepatitis C n. [mass noun] a form of viral hepatitis transmitted in infected blood, causing chronic liver disease.

hepato- /hεpətə hεpatə()-/ combining form relating to the liver.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hēpar, hēpat- ‘liver’.

hepatocyte /hεpətəst hεpatə()-/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a liver cell.

hepatoma /hεpətəmə/ n. (pl. hepatomas or hepatomata /-mətə/) MEDICINE a cancer of the cells of the liver.

hepatomegaly /hεpətəmεəli hεpatə-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal enlargement of the liver.

hepatopancreas /hεpətəpakrəs hεpatə-/ n. technical term for DIGESTIVE GLAND.

hepatotoxic /hεpətətksk hεpatə-/ adj. damaging or destructive to liver cells.

<DERIVATIVES> hepatotoxicity n. hepatotoxin n.

Hepburn^1 /hεpbən/ Audrey (1929–93), British actress, born in Belgium. After pursuing a career as a stage and film actress in England, she moved to Hollywood, where she starred in such films as Roman Holiday (1953), for which she won an Oscar, and My Fair Lady (1964).

Hepburn^2 /hεpbən/ Katharine (1909–2003), American actress. She starred in a wide range of films, often opposite Spencer Tracy; films include Woman of the Year (1942), The African Queen (1951), and On Golden Pond (1981), for which she won her fourth Oscar.

hepcat n. INFORMAL, DATED a stylish or fashionable person, especially in the sphere of jazz or popular music.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from HEP^1 + CAT^1.

Hephaestus /hfistəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the god of fire and of craftsmen, son of Zeus and Hera. He was a divine metalworker who was lame as the result of having interfered in a quarrel between his parents. Roman equivalent VULCAN.

Hepplewhite /hεp(ə)lwt/ George (d.1786), English cabinetmaker and furniture designer. His designs, which were published posthumously in The Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer's Guide (1788), were characterized by light and elegant lines and encapsulate neoclassical taste.

hepta- combining form seven; having seven: heptagon | heptathlon.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hepta ‘seven’.

heptachlor /hεptəkl/ n. [mass noun] a chlorinated hydrocarbon used as an insecticide.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_10H_5Cl_7.

heptad /hεptad/ n. TECHNICAL a group or set of seven.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek heptas, heptad-, from hepta ‘seven’.

heptagon /hεptə(ə)n/ n. a plane figure with seven straight sides and angles.

<DERIVATIVES> heptagonal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek heptagonon, neuter (used as a noun) of heptagonos ‘seven-angled’.

heptahedron /hεptəhidrən -hεd-/ n. (pl. heptahedra or heptahedrons) a solid figure with seven plane faces.

<DERIVATIVES> heptahedral adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from HEPTA- ‘seven’ + -HEDRON, on the pattern of words such as polyhedron.

heptamerous /hεptamərəs/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] having parts arranged in groups of seven.

- consisting of seven joints or parts.

heptameter /hεptamtə/ n. [PROSODY] a line of verse consisting of seven metrical feet.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via late Latin from Greek heptametron, from hepta- ‘seven’ + metron ‘measure’.

heptane /hεpten/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid hydrocarbon of the alkane series, present in petroleum spirit.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_7H_16; several isomers, especially the straight-chain isomer (n-heptane).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HEPTA- ‘seven’ (denoting seven carbon atoms) + -ANE^2.

heptarchy /hεptαki/ n. (pl. heptarchies) a state or region consisting of seven autonomous regions.

- [mass noun] government by seven rulers.

<DERIVATIVES> heptarchic /-tαkk/ adj. heptarchical /-tαkk(ə)l/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from HEPTA- ‘seven’ + Greek arkhia ‘rule’, on the pattern of tetrarchy.

Heptateuch /hεptətjuk/ n. the first seven books of the Bible (Genesis to Judges) collectively.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via late Latin from Greek heptateukhos, from hepta ‘seven’ + teukhos ‘book, volume’.

heptathlon /hεptaθln -lən/ n. an athletic event, in particular one for women, in which each competitor takes part in the same prescribed seven events (100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot-put, 200 metres, long jump, javelin, and 800 metres).

<DERIVATIVES> heptathlete n.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from HEPTA- ‘seven’ + Greek athlon ‘contest’, on the pattern of words such as decathlon.

heptavalent /hεptəvel(ə)nt/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] having a valency of seven.

heptyl /hεptl -tl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting an alkyl radical –Co_7H_15, derived from heptane.

Hepworth Dame (Jocelyn) Barbara (1903–75), English sculptor. A pioneer of abstraction in British sculpture, she worked in wood, stone, and bronze and is noted for her simple monumental works in landscape and architectural settings, including The Family of Man (nine-piece group, 1972).

her pron. [third person singular] 1 used as the object of a verb or preposition to refer to a female person or animal previously mentioned or easily identified: she knew I hated her | I told Hannah I would wait for her.

- referring to a ship, country, or other inanimate thing regarded as female: the crew tried to sail her through a narrow gap.

- used after the verb ‘to be’ and after ‘than’ or ‘as’: it must be her | he was younger than her. See usage at her below.

- W. INDIAN she: she will get all her wants.

2 ARCHAIC or NORTH AMERICAN DIALECT herself: peevishly she flung her on her face.

■ possessive determiner 1 belonging to or associated with a female person or animal previously mentioned or easily identified: Patricia loved her job.

- belonging to or associated with a ship, country, or other inanimate thing regarded as female.

2 (Her) used in titles: Her Majesty.

<PHRASES>

□ her indoors BRITISH INFORMAL, HUMOROUS one's wife.

<ORIGIN> Old English hire, genitive and dative of hīo, hēo ‘she’.

<USAGE> Is it incorrect to say I am older than her (rather than I am older than she) or it's her all right (rather than it's she all right) and, if so, why? For a discussion of this issue, see usage at personal pronoun.

Hera /hərə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a powerful goddess, the wife and sister of Zeus and the daughter of Cronus and Rhea. She was worshipped as the queen of heaven and as a marriage goddess. Roman equivalent JUNO.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Hēra ‘lady’, feminine of hērōs ‘hero’, perhaps used as a title.

Heracles /hεrəkliz/ Greek form of HERCULES.

Heraclitus /hεrəkltəs/ (c.500 BC), Greek philosopher. He believed that fire is the origin of all things and that permanence is an illusion, everything being in a (harmonious) process of constant change.

Heraklion /hraklən/ the capital of Crete, a port on the north coast of the island; pop. 135,300 (est. 2002). Greek name Iráklion.

herald n. 1 an official employed to oversee state ceremonial, precedence, and the use of armorial bearings, and (historically) to make proclamations, carry official messages, and oversee tournaments.

- (in the UK) an official of the College of Arms or the Lyon Court ranking above a pursuivant.

2 a person or thing viewed as a sign that something is about to happen: they considered the first primroses as the herald of spring.

3 a brown moth with dull orange markings, often hibernating in houses and old buildings.

<INFO> Scoliopteryx libatrix, family Noctuidae.

■ v. [with obj.] be a sign that (something) is about to happen: the speech heralded a change in policy.

- acclaim: the band have been heralded as the great hope for the nineties.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French herault (noun), herauder (verb), of Germanic origin.

heraldic /hεraldk/ adj. relating to heraldry: heraldic devices.

<DERIVATIVES> heraldically adv.

heraldist n. an expert in heraldry.

heraldry n. [mass noun] the system by which coats of arms and other armorial bearings are devised, described, and regulated.

- armorial bearings or other heraldic symbols.

Heralds' College informal name for COLLEGE OF ARMS.

Herat /hərat/ a city in western Afghanistan; pop. 116,600 (est. 2002).

herb n. 1 any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavouring, food, medicine, or perfume: bundles of dried herbs | [as modifier] a herb garden.

2 [BOTANY] any seed-bearing plant which does not have a woody stem and dies down to the ground after flowering.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin herba ‘grass, green crops, herb’. Although herb has always been spelled with an h, pronunciation without it was usual until the 19th century and is still standard in the US.

herbaceous /həbeəs/ adj. denoting or relating to herbs (in the botanical sense).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin herbaceus ‘grassy’ (from herba ‘grass, herb’) + -OUS.

herbaceous border n. a garden border containing herbaceous, typically perennial, flowering plants.

herbaceous perennial n. a plant whose growth dies down annually but whose roots or other underground parts survive.

herbage n. [mass noun] herbaceous vegetation.

- the succulent part of herbaceous vegetation, used as pasture.

- HISTORICAL the right of pasture on another person's land.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French erbage, based on Latin herba ‘herb, grass, crops’.

herbal adj. relating to or made from herbs, especially those used in cooking and medicine: herbal remedies.

■ n. a book that describes herbs and their culinary and medicinal properties.

<DERIVATIVES> herbally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as a noun): from medieval Latin herbalis (adjective), from Latin herba ‘grass, herb’.

herbalism n. [mass noun] the study or practice of the medicinal and therapeutic use of plants, now especially as a form of alternative medicine.

herbalist n. a practitioner of herbalism.

- a dealer in medicinal herbs.

- ARCHAIC a botanical writer.

herbarium /həbεrəm/ n. (pl. herbaria /-rə/) a systematically arranged collection of dried plants.

- a room or building housing a herbarium.

- a box or other receptacle in which dried plants are kept.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from late Latin, from Latin herba ‘grass, herb’.

herbary n. (pl. herbaries) ARCHAIC a herb garden.

herb bennet n. another term for WOOD AVENS.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French herbe beneite, from medieval Latin herba benedicta ‘blessed herb’ (apparently first applied to a plant thought to ward off the Devil).

herb Christopher n. the common Eurasian baneberry.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: translation of medieval Latin herba Christophori ‘herb of St Christopher’ (see CHRISTOPHER, ST).

herbed adj. (of food) cooked, flavoured, or seasoned with herbs: herbed rack or lamb.

Herbert^1 Sir A. P. (1890–1970), English writer and politician; full name Alan Patrick Herbert. He wrote novels, items for the magazine Punch, and libretti for comic operas. As an MP, he was best known for introducing legislation to reform the divorce laws.

Herbert^2 George (1593–1633), English metaphysical poet. He was vicar of Bemerton, near Salisbury; his poems are pervaded by simple piety and reflect the spiritual conflicts he experienced before submitting his will to God.

herbert /hεbət/ n. BRITISH INFORMAL an undistinguished or foolish man or youth: a bunch of spotty herberts.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: the male given name Herbert.

herb Gerard /dεrαd/ n. ground elder, which was formerly used to treat gout. Compare with GOUTWEED.

<ORIGIN> named after St Gerard of Toul (c.935–94), invoked against gout.

herbicide /həbsd/ n. a substance that is toxic to plants, used to destroy unwanted vegetation.

herbivore /həbv/ n. an animal that feeds on plants.

<DERIVATIVES> herbivorous /-bv(ə)rəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin herba ‘herb’ + -vore (see -VOROUS).

herb Paris n. a European woodland plant of the lily family, which has a single unbranched stem bearing a green and purple flower above four leaves.

<INFO> Paris quadrifolia, family Liliaceae (or Trilliaceae).

<ORIGIN> translating medieval Latin herba paris, probably literally ‘herb of a pair’, referring to the resemblance of the four leaves to a true-love knot.

herb Robert n. a common cranesbill with pungent-smelling red-stemmed leaves and pink flowers, native to north temperate regions.

<INFO> Geranium robertianum, family Geraniaceae.

<ORIGIN> translating medieval Latin herba Roberti, variously supposed to refer to Robert Duke of Normandy, St Robert, or St Rupert.

herb tea n. an infusion of herbs as a refreshing or medicinal drink.

herby adj. (herbier, herbiest) (of food or drink) containing or tasting or smelling of herbs: plump, herby pork sausages.

Herculaneum /həkjlenəm/ an ancient Roman town, near Naples, on the lower slopes of Vesuvius. The volcano's eruption in AD 79 buried it deeply under volcanic ash, along with Pompeii, and thus largely preserved it until its accidental rediscovery by a well-digger in 1709.

Herculean /həkjliən həkjulən/ adj. requiring great strength or effort: a Herculean task.

- (of a person) muscular and strong.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘relating to Hercules’): from Latin Herculeus ‘Hercules’ + -AN.

Hercules /həkjliz/ 1 [GREEK] & [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] a hero of superhuman strength and courage who performed twelve immense tasks or ‘labours’ imposed on him and who after death was ranked among the gods.

- (as n. a Hercules) a man of exceptional strength or size.

2 [ASTRONOMY] a large northern constellation, said to represent the kneeling figure of Hercules. It contains the brightest globular cluster in the northern hemisphere, but no bright stars.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek Hēraklēs.

Hercules beetle n. a very large tropical American rhinoceros beetle, the male of which has two long curved horns extending from the head and one from the thorax.

<INFO> Dynastes hercules, family Scarabaeidae.

Hercules' club n. either of two tall prickly shrubs or small trees of the US:

<INFO>

- the southern prickly ash (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, family Rutaceae).

- another term for DEVIL'S WALKING STICK

Hercynian /həsnən/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a prolonged mountain-forming period (orogeny) in western Europe, eastern North America, and the Andes in the Upper Palaeozoic era, especially the Carboniferous and Permian periods.

- (as n. the Hercynian) the Hercynian orogeny.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin Hercynia silva; the ancient name of an area of forested mountains in central Germany; later (from the late 19th century) applied in geology to the Harz Mountains formed in the Hercynian period.

herd n. a large group of animals, especially hoofed mammals, that live together or are kept together as livestock: a herd of elephants | farms with big dairy herds.

- DEROGATORY a large group of people with a shared characteristic: I dodged herds of joggers | he is not of the common herd.

■ v. 1 [with adverbial of direction] move in a group: [with obj.] they were herded into a bus | [no obj.] we all herded into a storage room.

2 [with obj.] keep or look after (livestock).

<ORIGIN> Old English heord, of Germanic origin; related to German Herde.

herd book n. BRITISH a book recording the pedigrees of cattle, goats, or other livestock.

herdboy n. a boy who looks after a herd of livestock.

herder n. a person who looks after a herd of livestock or makes a living from keeping livestock, especially in open country.

herd instinct n. an inclination in people or animals to behave or think like the majority.

herdsman n. (pl. herdsmen) the owner or keeper of a herd of domesticated animals.

- (the Herdsman) the constellation Boötes.

Herdwick /hədwk/ n. a sheep of a hardy mountain breed from the north of England.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from (now obsolete) herdwick ‘pasture ground’ (see HERD, wick^2), perhaps because this breed originated in the pasture grounds of Furness Abbey.

here adv. 1 in, at, or to this place or position: they have lived here most of their lives | we leave here today | [after prep.] I'm getting out of here.

- used when gesturing to indicate the place intended: sign here.

- used to draw attention to someone or something that has just arrived: here's my brother.

- [with infinitive] used to indicate one's role in a particular situation: I'm here to help you.

- used to refer to existence in the world in general: what are we all doing here?

2 (usually here is/are) used when introducing something or someone: here's a dish that is quick to make.

- used when giving something to someone: here's the money I promised you.

3 used when indicating a time, point, or situation that has arrived or is happening: here is your opportunity | here we encounter the main problem.

■ exclam. 1 used to attract someone's attention: here, let me hold it.

2 indicating one's presence in a roll-call.

<PHRASES>

□ here and now at the present time: we're going to settle this here and now | [as n.] our obsession with the here and now.

□ here and there in various places: small bushes scattered here and there.

□ here goes said to indicate that one is about to start something difficult or exciting.

□ here's to someone/thing used to wish health or success before drinking: here's to us!

□ here today, gone tomorrow soon over or forgotten; short-lived.

□ here we are said on arrival at one's destination.

□ here we go again said to indicate that the same events, typically undesirable ones, are recurring.

□ neither here nor there of no importance or relevance.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēr, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German hier, also to HE.

hereabouts (also hereabout) adv. near this place: there is little natural water hereabouts.

hereafter adv. FORMAL from now on: he'd promised that Rachel would be the idol of his heart hereafter.

- at some time in the future: this court is in no way prejudging any such defence which may hereafter be raised.

- after death: the hope of life hereafter.

■ n. (the hereafter) life after death: suffering is part of our preparation for the hereafter.

hereat adv. ARCHAIC as a result of this: greatly distressed hereat, they declared themselves to deserve a fine.

hereby adv. FORMAL as a result of this document or utterance: all such warranties are hereby excluded.

hereditable /hrεdtəb(ə)l/ adj. less common term for HERITABLE.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from medieval Latin hereditabilis, from ecclesiastical Latin hereditare ‘inherit’, from Latin heres, hered- ‘heir’.

hereditament /hεrdtəm(ə)nt hrεdt-/ n. [LAW], DATED any item of property, either a corporeal hereditament (land or a building) or an incorporeal hereditament (such as a rent), that can be inherited.

- an item of inheritance.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin hereditamentum, from ecclesiastical Latin hereditare ‘inherit’, from Latin heres, hered- ‘heir’.

hereditarian /hrεdtεrən/ adj. relating to the theory that heredity is the primary influence on human behaviour, intelligence, or other characteristics.

■ n. an advocate of a hereditarian view.

<DERIVATIVES> hereditarianism n.

hereditary /hrεdt(ə)ri/ adj. 1 (of a title, office, or right) conferred by or based on inheritance: the Queen's hereditary right to the throne.

- [attr.] (of a person) holding a position by inheritance: a hereditary peer.

- (of a characteristic or disease) determined by genetic factors and therefore able to be passed on from parents to their offspring or descendants.

- relating to inheritance.

2 [MATHEMATICS] (of a set) defined such that every element which has a given relation to a member of the set is also a member of the set.

<DERIVATIVES> hereditarily adv. hereditariness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin hereditarius, from hereditas (see HEREDITY).

heredity /hrεdti/ n. [mass noun] 1 the passing on of physical or mental characteristics genetically from one generation to another.

- a person's ancestry: he wears a Cossack tunic to emphasize his Russian heredity.

2 the inheritance of a title, office, or right: a second chamber whose membership is largely based on heredity.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French hérédité, from Latin hereditas ‘heirship’, from heres, hered- ‘heir’.

Hereford^1 /hεrfəd/ a city in west central England, administrative centre of the county of Herefordshire, on the River Wye; pop. 57,200 (est. 2002).

Hereford^2 /hεrfəd/ n. an animal of a breed of red and white beef cattle.

Hereford and Worcester a former county of west central England, formed in 1974 from the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, which were reinstated in 1998.

Herefordshire a county of west central England, between 1974 and 1998 part of the county of Hereford and Worcester.

herein adv. FORMAL in this document or book.

- used to introduce something that depends on or arises from what has just been mentioned: the statues are sensual to the point of erotic and herein lies their interest.

hereinafter adv. FORMAL further on in this document: grievous bodily harm (hereinafter GBH).

hereinbefore adv. FORMAL before this point in this document.

hereof adv. FORMAL of this document: in accordance with section 17 hereof.

Herero /hərεrə -rərə/ n. (pl. same or Hereros) 1 a member of a people living in Namibia, Angola, and Botswana.

2 [mass noun] the Bantu language of the Herero, with about 75,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Herero or their language.

<ORIGIN> a local name, from Otshi-Herero, the Herero word for the language.

heresiarch /hεrizαk/ n. the founder of a heresy or the leader of a heretical sect.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via ecclesiastical Latin from ecclesiastical Greek hairesiarkhēs ‘leader of a sect’, from hairesis ‘heretical sect, heresy’ + arkhēs ‘ruler’.

heresy /hεrsi/ n. (pl. heresies) [mass noun] belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (especially Christian) doctrine: Huss was burned for heresy | [count noun] the doctrine was denounced as a heresy by the pope.

- opinion profoundly at odds with what is generally accepted: the heresy of being uncommitted to the right political dogma.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French heresie, based on Latin haeresis, from Greek hairesis ‘choice’ (in ecclesiastical Greek ‘heretical sect’), from haireomai ‘choose’.

heretic /hεrtk/ n. a person believing in or practising religious heresy.

- a person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French heretique, via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek hairetikos ‘able to choose’ (in ecclesiastical Greek, ‘heretical’), from haireomai ‘choose’.

heretical /hrεtk(ə)l/ adj. believing in or practising religious heresy: heretical beliefs. | a heretical theologian.

- holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted: I feel a bit heretical saying this, but I think the film has too much action.

<DERIVATIVES> heretically adv.

hereto adv. FORMAL to this matter or document: the written consent of each of the parties hereto | hereto is appended an estimate of the cost.

heretofore adv. FORMAL before now: diseases that heretofore were usually confined to rural areas.

hereunder adv. FORMAL as provided for under the terms of this document: all expenses incurred hereunder by the bank shall be recoverable.

- further on in a document.

hereunto adv. ARCHAIC or FORMAL to this document: signed in the presence of us both who have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.

hereupon adv. ARCHAIC after or as a result of this.

Hereward the Wake /hεrwəd/ (11th century), semi-legendary Anglo-Saxon rebel leader. A leader of Anglo-Saxon resistance to William I's new Norman regime, he is thought to have been responsible for an uprising centred on the Isle of Ely in 1070.

<ORIGIN> the Wake apparently in the sense ‘the watchful one’.

herewith adv. FORMAL with this letter: I enclose herewith a copy of this discussion document.

heriot /hεrət/ n. HISTORICAL a tribute paid to a lord out of the belongings of a tenant who died, often consisting of a live animal or, originally, military equipment that he borrowed.

<ORIGIN> Old English heregeatwa, from here ‘army’ + geatwa ‘trappings’.

heritable adj. 1 [BIOLOGY] (of a characteristic) transmissible from parent to offspring.

2 [LAW] (of property) capable of being inherited by heirs-at-law. Compare with movable (sense 2 of the adjective).

<DERIVATIVES> heritability n. heritably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French heriter ‘inherit’, from ecclesiastical Latin hereditare, from Latin heres, hered- ‘heir’.

heritage n. [in sing.] 1 property that is or may be inherited; an inheritance.

- valued objects and qualities such as historic buildings and cultural traditions that have been passed down from previous generations: Europe's varied cultural heritage | [mass noun] the estuary has a sense of history and heritage.

- [as modifier] denoting or relating to things of special architectural, historical, or natural value that are preserved for the nation: a heritage centre.

- [as modifier] NORTH AMERICAN (of a plant variety) not hybridized with another; old-fashioned: heritage roses.

2 ARCHAIC a special or individual possession; an allotted portion: God's love remains your heritage.

3 ARCHAIC God's chosen people (the people of Israel, or the Christian Church).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French heritage, from heriter ‘inherit’ (see HERITABLE).

heritor /hεrtə/ n. [LAW] a proprietor of a heritable object.

- an heir.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French heriter, based on Latin hereditarius (see HEREDITARY). The spelling change in the 16th century was by association with words ending in -or^1.

herky-jerky /həkdəki/ adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL characterized by or moving in sudden stops and starts: herky-jerky black and white newsreels.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: reduplication of jerky^1.

herl /həl/ n. a barb or filament of a feather used in dressing a fishing fly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: apparently of Germanic origin and related to Middle Low German harle.

herm /həm/ n. a squared stone pillar with a carved head on top (typically of Hermes), used in ancient Greece as a boundary marker or a signpost.

<ORIGIN> from the Greek name HERMES.

hermaphrodite /həmafrədt/ n. a person or animal having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics, either abnormally or (in the case of some organisms) as the natural condition.

- [BOTANY] a plant having stamens and pistils in the same flower.

- ARCHAIC a person or thing combining opposite qualities or characteristics.

■ adj. of or denoting a person, animal, or plant having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics.

<DERIVATIVES> hermaphroditic adj. hermaphroditical adj. hermaphroditism n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek hermaphroditos (see HERMAPHRODITUS).

hermaphrodite brig n. a two-masted sailing ship with a square-rigged foremast and, on the mainmast, a square topsail above a fore-and-aft gaff mainsail.

Hermaphroditus /həmafrədtəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a son of Hermes and Aphrodite, with whom the nymph Salmacis fell in love and prayed to be forever united. As a result Hermaphroditus and Salmacis became joined in a single body which retained characteristics of both sexes.

hermeneutic /həmnjutk/ adj. concerning interpretation, especially of the Bible or literary texts.

■ n. a method or theory of interpretation.

<DERIVATIVES> hermeneutical adj. hermeneutically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Greek hermēneutikos, from hermēneuein ‘interpret’.

hermeneutics plural n. [usually treated as sing.] the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the Bible or literary texts.

Hermes /həmiz/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the son of Zeus and Maia, the messenger of the gods, and god of merchants, thieves, and oratory. He was portrayed as a herald equipped for travelling, with broad-brimmed hat, winged shoes, and a winged rod. Roman equivalent MERCURY.

<ORIGIN> probably from Greek herma ‘heap of stones’: from early times he was represented by a carved stock or stone and was identified with THOTH.

Hermes Trismegistus /trsmədstəs/ a legendary figure regarded by Neoplatonists and others as the author of certain works on astrology, magic, and alchemy.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘thrice-greatest Hermes’, in reference to THOTH, identified with HERMES.

hermetic /həmεtk/ adj. 1 (of a seal or closure) complete and airtight.

- insulated or protected from outside influences: a hermetic society.

2 (also Hermetic) relating to an ancient occult tradition encompassing alchemy, astrology, and theosophy.

- difficult to understand because intended for a small number of people with specialized knowledge: obscure and hermetic poems.

<DERIVATIVES> hermetically adv. hermeticism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 2): from modern Latin hermeticus, from HERMES, identified with THOTH, regarded as the founder of alchemy and astrology.

hermit n. 1 a person living in solitude as a religious discipline.

- a reclusive or solitary person.

2 a hummingbird found in the shady lower layers of tropical forests, foraging along a regular route.

<INFO> Phaethornis and other genera, family Trochilidae: several species.

<DERIVATIVES> hermitic adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hermite, from late Latin eremita, from Greek erēmitēs, from erēmos ‘solitary’.

hermitage n. 1 the dwelling of a hermit, especially when small and remote.

2 (the Hermitage) a major art museum in St Petersburg, Russia, containing among its collections those begun by Catherine the Great. [<ORIGIN> named with reference to the ‘retreat’ in which the empress displayed her treasures to her friends.]

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from hermite (see HERMIT).

hermit crab n. a crab with a soft asymmetrical abdomen, which lives in a cast-off mollusc shell for protection. In several kinds the shell becomes covered with sponges, sea anemones, or bryozoans.

<INFO> Superfamily Paguroidea.

Hermitian /həmtən/ adj. [MATHEMATICS] denoting or relating to a matrix in which those pairs of elements which are symmetrically placed with respect to the principal diagonal are complex conjugates.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of Charles Hermite (1822–1905), French mathematician, + -IAN.

hermit thrush n. a small migratory North American thrush, noted for its melodious song.

<INFO> Catharus guttatus, family Turdidae.

Hermosillo /εməsijə -siljə/ a city in NW Mexico, capital of the state of Sonora; pop. 545,900 (2000).

hernia /hənə/ n. (pl. hernias or herniae /-ni/) a condition in which part of an organ is displaced and protrudes through the wall of the cavity containing it (often involving the intestine at a weak point in the abdominal wall).

<DERIVATIVES> hernial adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin.

herniate /hənet/ v. [no obj.] (usually as adj. herniated) (of an organ) suffer a hernia: a herniated disc.

<DERIVATIVES> herniation n.

Herning /hən/ a city in central Jutland, Denmark; pop. 29,200 (2000).

Hero^1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a priestess of Aphrodite at Sestos on the European shore of the Hellespont, whose lover Leander, a youth of Abydos on the opposite shore, swam the strait nightly to visit her. One stormy night he was drowned and Hero in grief threw herself into the sea.

Hero^2 (1st century), Greek mathematician and inventor; known as Hero of Alexandria. His surviving works are important as a source for ancient practical mathematics and mechanics. He described a number of hydraulic, pneumatic, and other mechanical devices, including elementary applications of the power of steam.

hero n. (pl. heroes) 1 a person, typically a man, who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities: a war hero.

- the chief male character in a book, play, or film, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.

- (in mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semi-divine origin, in particular one whose exploits were the subject of ancient Greek myths.

2 (also hero sandwich) North American another term for HOAGIE.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (with mythological reference): via Latin from Greek hērōs.

Herod /hεrəd/ the name of four rulers of ancient Palestine:

- Herod the Great (c.74–4 BC), ruled 37–4 BC. According to the New Testament, Jesus was born during his reign, and he ordered the massacre of the innocents (Matt. 2:16).

- Herod Antipas (22 BC–c.40 AD), son of Herod the Great, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea 4 BC–AD 40. He married Herodias (his brother's wife) and was responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist. According to the New Testament (Luke 23:7), Pilate sent Jesus to be questioned by him before the Crucifixion.

- Herod Agrippa I (10 BC–AD 44), grandson of Herod the Great, king of Judaea AD 41–4. He imprisoned St Peter and put St James the Great to death.

- Herod Agrippa II (AD 27–c.93), son of Herod Agrippa I, king of various territories in northern Palestine 50–c.93. He presided over the trial of St Paul (Acts 25:13 ff.).

<DERIVATIVES> Herodian /hεrədən/ adj. & n.

Herodotus /hrdətəs/ (5th century BC), Greek historian. He was the first historian to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent, and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative. His History tells of the Persian Wars of the early 5th century BC.

heroic adj. 1 having the characteristics of a hero or heroine; admirably brave or determined: heroic deeds | heroic bomb disposal experts.

- of or representing heroes or heroines: early medieval heroic poetry.

2 (of language or a work of art) grand or grandiose in scale or intention: one passes under pyramids and obelisks, all on a heroic scale.

- [SCULPTURE] (of a statue) larger than life size but less than colossal.

■ n. (heroics) 1 behaviour or talk that is bold or dramatic: the England star is getting special treatment because of his World Cup heroics.

2 short for HEROIC VERSE.

<DERIVATIVES> heroically adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French heroique or Latin heroicus, from Greek hērōikos ‘relating to heroes’, from hērōs ‘hero’.

heroic age n. the period in Greek history and legend before the Trojan War and its aftermath, in which the legends of the heroes were set.

heroic couplet n. (in verse) a pair of rhyming iambic pentameters, much used by Chaucer and the poets of the 17th and 18th centuries such as Alexander Pope.

heroic verse n. [mass noun] a type of verse used for epic or heroic subjects, such as the hexameter, iambic pentameter, or alexandrine.

heroin n. [mass noun] a highly addictive analgesic drug derived from morphine, often used illicitly as a narcotic producing euphoria.

<INFO> Alternative name: diacetylmorphine; chem. formula: C_17H_17NO(C_2H_3O_2)2.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Heroin, from Latin heros ‘hero’ (because of its effects on the user's self-esteem).

heroine n. a woman admired for her courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities: she was a true feminist heroine.

- the chief female character in a book, play, or film, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.

- (in mythology and folklore) a woman of superhuman qualities and often semi-divine origin, in particular one whose deeds were the subject of ancient Greek myths.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘demigoddess, venerated woman’): from French héroïne or Latin heroina, from Greek hērōinē, feminine of hērōs ‘hero’.

heroism n. [mass noun] great bravery: they fought with exemplary heroism.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French héroïsme, from héros, from Latin heros (see HERO).

heroize /hərəz hεr-/ (also heroise) v. [with obj.] treat or represent as a hero: the father is heroized for his long forbearance.

heron n. a large fish-eating wading bird with long legs, a long S-shaped neck, and a long pointed bill.

<INFO> Family Ardeidae (the heron family): several genera and numerous species, e.g. the Old World grey heron (Ardea cinerea). The heron family also includes the bitterns and egrets.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, of Germanic origin.

heronry n. (pl. heronries) a breeding colony of herons, typically in a group of trees.

Herophilus /hərfləs/ (4th–3rd centuries BC), Greek anatomist. He is regarded as the father of human anatomy for his fundamental discoveries concerning the anatomy of the brain, eye, and reproductive organs. Herophilus also studied the physiology of nerves, arteries, and veins.

hero's welcome n. an enthusiastic welcome for someone who has done something brave or praiseworthy.

hero worship n. [mass noun] excessive admiration for someone.

■ v. (hero-worship) [with obj.] admire (someone) excessively.

<DERIVATIVES> hero-worshipper n.

herp n. short for HERPTILE.

herpes /həpiz/ n. [mass noun] any of a group of virus diseases caused by herpesviruses, affecting the skin (often with blisters) or the nervous system.

<DERIVATIVES> herpetic adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally used also of other skin conditions): via Latin from Greek herpēs ‘shingles’, literally ‘creeping’, from herpein ‘to creep’.

herpes simplex n. [mass noun] a viral infection caused by a group of herpesviruses, which may produce cold sores, genital inflammation, or conjunctivitis.

herpesvirus /həpizvrəs/ n. MEDICINE any of a group of DNA viruses causing herpes and other diseases.

herpes zoster /zstə/ n. [mass noun]

■ medical name for SHINGLES.

- a herpesvirus that causes shingles and chickenpox.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from HERPES and Latin zoster, from Greek zōstēr ‘girdle, shingles’.

herpetofauna /həptə()fnə/ n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] the reptiles and amphibians of a particular region, habitat, or geological period.

<DERIVATIVES> herpetofaunal adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek herpeton ‘creeping thing, reptile’ + FAUNA.

herpetology /həptlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of zoology concerned with reptiles and amphibians.

<DERIVATIVES> herpetological adj. herpetologist n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek herpeton ‘reptile’ (from herpein ‘to creep’) + -LOGY.

herptile /həptl/ n. a reptile or amphibian.

<ORIGIN> blend of HERPETOLOGY and REPTILE.

Herr /hε/ German /hεr/ n. (pl. Herren /hεr(ə)n/) a title or form of address used of or to a German-speaking man, corresponding to Mr and also used before a rank or occupation.

- a German man.

<ORIGIN> German, from Old High German hērro, comparative of hēr ‘exalted’.

Herrenvolk /hεr(ə)nflk -fək/ n. the German nation as considered by the Nazis to be innately superior to others.

<ORIGIN> German, ‘master race’, from Herr ‘master’ + Volk ‘people, folk’.

Herrick /hεrk/ Robert (1591–1674), English poet. He is best known for his collection Hesperides (1648), containing both secular and religious poems.

herring n. a fairly small silvery fish which is most abundant in coastal waters and is of widespread commercial importance.

<INFO> Clupea and other genera, family Clupeidae (the herring family): several species, in particular (C. harengus), of the North Atlantic. The herring family also includes the sprats, shads, and pilchards.

<ORIGIN> Old English hring, hēring, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch haring and German Hering.

herringbone n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] 1 a pattern consisting of columns of short parallel lines, with all the lines in one column sloping one way and all the lines in the next column sloping the other way so as to resemble the bones in a fish, for example as used in the weave of cloth: a grey herringbone tweed jacket.

- (also herringbone stitch) a cross stitch with a pattern resembling herringbone, used in embroidery or for securing an edge.

2 [SKIING] a method of ascending a slope by walking facing up it with the skis pointing outwards.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] mark with a herringbone pattern.

- work with a herringbone stitch.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] [SKIING] ascend a slope using the herringbone technique.

herring gull n. a gull with grey black-tipped wings, abundant and widespread in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Larus argentatus, family Laridae.

Herriot /hεrət/ James (1916–1995), English short-story writer and veterinary surgeon; pseudonym of James Alfred Wight. His experiences as a vet in North Yorkshire inspired a series of stories including All Creatures Great and Small (1972).

Herrnhuter /hεnhutə hεr(ə)n-/ n. a member of a Moravian Church.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: German, from Herrnhut (literally ‘the Lord's keeping’), the name of the first German settlement of the Moravian Church.

hers possessive pronoun used to refer to a thing or things belonging to or associated with a female person or animal previously mentioned: his eyes met hers | the choice was hers | friends of hers warned her.

<USAGE> There is no need for an apostrophe: the spelling should be hers not her's.

Herschel^1 /hə(ə)l/ Sir (Frederick) William (1738–1822), German-born British astronomer. His cataloguing of the skies resulted in the discovery of the planet Uranus. He was the first to appreciate the great remoteness of stars and developed the idea that the sun belongs to the star system of the Milky Way.

Herschel^2 /hə(ə)l/ Sir John (Frederick William) (1792–1871), English astronomer and physicist, son of William. He extended the sky survey to the southern hemisphere, carried out pioneering work in photography, and made contributions to meteorology and geophysics.

herself pron. [third person singular] 1 [reflexive] used as the object of a verb or preposition to refer to a female person or animal previously mentioned as the subject of the clause: she had to defend herself | Jo made herself a cup of tea.

2 [emphatic] she or her personally: she told me herself.

<ORIGIN> Old English (see HER, self).

herstory /həst(ə)ri/ n. (pl. herstories) [mass noun] history viewed from a female or specifically feminist perspective.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from HER + STORY^1, analogous formation based on the form history.

Hertford /hαtfəd/ the county town of Hertfordshire; pop. 21,800 (est. 2002).

Hertfordshire a county of SE England, one of the Home Counties; county town, Hertford.

Herts. /hαts/ abbr. Hertfordshire.

Hertz /həts/ German /hεrts/ Heinrich Rudolf (1857–94), German physicist and pioneer of radio communication. He continued the work of Maxwell on electromagnetic waves and was the first to broadcast and receive radio waves. Hertz also showed that light and radiant heat were electromagnetic in nature.

hertz /həts/ (abbr.: Hz) n. (pl. same) the SI unit of frequency, equal to one cycle per second.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after H. R.

■ Hertz.

Hertzian wave /hətsən/ n. former term for RADIO WAVE.

Hertzsprung–Russell diagram /hətsspr/ n. [ASTRONOMY] a two-dimensional graph, devised independently by Ejnar Hertzsprung (1873–1967) and Henry Norris Russell (1877–1957), in which the absolute magnitudes of stars are plotted against their spectral types. Stars are found to occupy only certain regions of such a diagram.

Herut /hεrut/ a right-wing Israeli political party founded by Menachem Begin in 1948, from the remains of the Irgun group. Herut was one of the parties that combined to form the Likud coalition in 1973.

<ORIGIN> Hebrew, ‘freedom’.

Herzegovina /hεtsəvnə -əvinə/ (also Hercegovina) a region in the Balkans forming the southern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina and separated from the Adriatic by part of Croatia. Its chief town is Mostar.

<DERIVATIVES> Herzegovinian adj. & n.

Herzl /həts(ə)l/ Theodor (1860–1904), Hungarian-born journalist, dramatist, and Zionist leader. The founder of the Zionist movement (1897), he chiefly worked as a writer and journalist in Vienna, advocating the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.

Herzog /həts/ German /hεrtsək/ Werner (b.1942), German film director; born Werner Stipetic. Themes of remoteness in time and space are dominant elements throughout his films, which include Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972) and Fitzcarraldo (1982).

he's contraction he is: he's going to speak.

- he has: he's given up his job.

Hesiod /hisəd/ (c.700 BC), Greek poet. One of the earliest known Greek poets, he wrote the Theogony, a hexametric poem on the genealogies of the gods, and Works and Days, which gave moral and practical advice and was the chief model for later ancient didactic poetry.

hesitancy n. [mass noun] the quality or state of being hesitant: Jackson took advantage of some hesitancy in the defence to rifle in a shot.

<DERIVATIVES> hesitance n.

hesitant adj. tentative, unsure, or slow in acting or speaking: clients are hesitant about buying | her slow, hesitant way of speaking.

<DERIVATIVES> hesitantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin haesitant- ‘being undecided’, from the verb haesitare (see HESITATE).

hesitate v. [no obj.] pause in indecision before saying or doing something: she hesitated, unsure of what to say | one hesitates over publicizing these things.

- [with infinitive] be reluctant to do something: he hesitated to spoil the mood by being inquisitive.

<PHRASES>

□ he who hesitates is lost PROVERB delay or vacillation may have unfortunate or disastrous consequences.

<DERIVATIVES> hesitater n. hesitating adj. hesitatingly adv. hesitative adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin haesitat- ‘stuck fast, left undecided’, from the verb haesitare, from haerere ‘stick, stay’.

hesitation n. [mass noun] the action of pausing before saying or doing something: she answered without hesitation.

- [usually with negative] doubt or reluctance: I have no hesitation in recommending him.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin haesitatio(n)-, from haesitare (see HESITATE).

Hesperian /hεspərən/ adj. [MYTHOLOGY] of or concerning the Hesperides.

- LITERARY western.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin hesperius (from Greek hesperios, from Hesperia ‘land of the west’, from hesperos ‘western’ (see HESPERUS)) + -AN.

Hesperides /hεspεrdiz/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a group of nymphs who were guardians, with the aid of a watchful dragon, of a tree of golden apples in a garden located beyond the Atlas Mountains at the western border of Oceanus, the river encircling the world. One of the labours of Hercules was to fetch the golden apples.

hesperidium /hεspərdəm/ n. (pl. hesperidia /-də/) [BOTANY] a fruit with sectioned pulp inside a separable rind, e.g. an orange or grapefruit.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: based on Hesperideae, former name of an order of plants containing citrus fruits, named after the golden apples of the Hesperides (see HESPERIDES) + -IUM.

Hesperus /hεspərəs/ n. LITERARY the planet Venus.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek hesperos ‘western’, (as a noun) ‘the evening star’.

Hess^1 /hεs/ Dame Myra (1890–1965), English pianist. She was noted for her performances of the music of Schumann, Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach.

Hess^2 /hεs/ Victor Francis (1883–1964), Austrian-born American physicist; born Victor Franz Hess. He showed that some ionizing radiation (later termed cosmic rays) was extraterrestrial in origin but did not come from the sun. Nobel Prize for Physics (1936, shared with Carl David Anderson).

Hess^3 /hεs/ (Walther Richard) Rudolf (1894–1987), German Nazi politician, deputy leader of the Nazi Party 1934–41. In 1941, secretly and on his own initiative, he parachuted into Scotland to negotiate peace with Britain. He was imprisoned for the duration of the war and, at the Nuremberg war trials, sentenced to life imprisonment in Spandau prison, Berlin, where he died.

Hesse^1 /hεs/ a state of western Germany; capital, Wiesbaden. German name Hessen /hεsn/.

<DERIVATIVES> Hessian adj. & n.

Hesse^2 /hεs hεsə/ Hermann (1877–1962), German-born Swiss novelist and poet. His work reflects his interest in spiritual values as expressed in Eastern religion and his involvement in Jungian analysis. Notable works: Siddhartha (1922), Der Steppenwolf (1927), and The Glass Bead Game (1943). Nobel Prize for Literature (1946).

hessian n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH a strong, coarse fabric made from hemp or jute, used for sacks and upholstery.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Hesse (see Hesse^1) + -IAN.

Hessian boot n. a high tasselled leather boot, originally worn by Hessian troops.

Hessian fly n. a gall midge whose larvae are a pest of cereal crops, occurring in all wheat-growing areas.

<INFO> Mayetiola destructor, family Cecidomyiidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: so named because it was supposed (erroneously) to have been carried to America by Hessian troops during the War of Independence.

hest n. archaic form of BEHEST.

<ORIGIN> Old English hs, of Germanic origin; related to HIGHT. The spelling change in Middle English was by association with abstract nouns ending in -t.

Hesvan /hεsv(ə)n/ (also Chesvan, Heshvan) n. (in the Jewish calendar) the second month of the civil and eighth of the religious year, usually coinciding with parts of October and November.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ešwān.

Hesychast /hεskast/ n. HISTORICAL a member of a movement dedicated to interior prayer, originating among the Orthodox monks of Mount Athos in the 14th century.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from late Greek hēsukhastēs ‘hermit’, from hēsukhazein ‘be still’, from hēsukhos ‘still’.

hetaera /htərə/ (also hetaira /-trə/) n. (pl. hetaeras or hetaerae /-təri/ or hetairas or hetairai /-tr/) a courtesan or mistress, especially an educated one in ancient Greece.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hetaira, feminine of hetairos ‘companion’.

hetero /hεt(ə)rə/ adj. & n. (pl. heteros) INFORMAL short for HETEROSEXUAL.

hetero- combining form other; different: heteropolar | heterosexual. Often contrasted with HOMO-.

<ORIGIN> from Greek heteros ‘other’.

heteroaromatic /hεtərəarəmatk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] denoting an organic compound with a ring structure which is both heterocyclic and aromatic.

heterocercal /hεtərəsəkəl/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of a fish's tail) having unequal upper and lower lobes, usually with the vertebral column passing into the upper. Contrasted with DIPHYCERCAL, HOMOCERCAL.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HETERO- ‘other’ + Greek kerkos ‘tail’.

heterochromatic /hεt(ə)rəkrəmatk/ adj. 1 of several different colours or (in physics) wavelengths.

2 [BIOCHEMISTRY] relating to heterochromatin.

heterochromatin /hεtərəkrəmətn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] chromosome material of different density from normal (usually greater), in which the activity of the genes is modified or suppressed. Compare with EUCHROMATIN.

heteroclite /hεt(ə)rə()klt/ FORMAL adj. abnormal or irregular.

■ n. an abnormal thing or person.

- an irregularly declined word, especially a Greek or Latin noun.

<DERIVATIVES> heteroclitic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: via late Latin from Greek heteroklitos, from heteros ‘other’ + -klitos ‘inflected’ (from klinein ‘to lean, inflect’).

heterocyclic /hεt(ə)rə()sklk -sklk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] denoting a compound whose molecule contains a ring of atoms of at least two elements (one of which is generally carbon).

heterodox /hεt(ə)rə()dks/ adj. not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs: heterodox views.

<DERIVATIVES> heterodoxy n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally as a noun denoting an unorthodox opinion): via late Latin from Greek heterodoxos, from heteros ‘other’ + doxa ‘opinion’.

heterodyne /hεt(ə)rə()dn/ [ELECTRONICS] adj. relating to the production of a lower frequency from the combination of two almost equal high frequencies, as used in radio transmission.

■ v. [with obj.] combine (a high-frequency signal) with another to produce a lower frequency in this way.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from HETERO- ‘other’ + -dyne, suffix formed irregularly from Greek dunamis ‘power’.

heterogametic /hεt(ə)rə()əmεtk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] denoting the sex which has sex chromosomes that differ in morphology, resulting in two different kinds of gamete, e.g. (in mammals) the male and (in birds) the female. The opposite of HOMOGAMETIC.

heterogamy /hεtərəmi/ n. [mass noun] 1 chiefly [ZOOLOGY] the alternation of generations, especially between sexual and parthenogenetic generations.

2 [BOTANY] a state in which the flowers of a plant are of two or more types. Compare with homogamy (sense 2).

■ another term for ANISOGAMY.

3 marriage between people from different sociological or educational backgrounds. Compare with homogamy (sense 1).

<DERIVATIVES> heterogamous adj.

heterogeneous /hεt(ə)rə()dinəs -dεn-/ adj. diverse in character or content: a large and heterogeneous collection.

- [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting a process involving substances in different phases (solid, liquid, or gaseous): heterogeneous catalysis.

- [MATHEMATICS] incommensurable through being of different kinds, degrees, or dimensions.

<DERIVATIVES> heterogeneity /-dniti -neti/ n. heterogeneously adv. heterogeneousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin heterogeneus, from Greek heterogenēs, from heteros ‘other’ + genos ‘a kind’.

<USAGE> The correct spelling is heterogeneous, but a fairly common misspelling is heterogenous. The reason for the error probably relates to the pronunciation, which, in rapid speech, often misses out the extra e. Heterogenous is actually a different word, which is used in specialized medical and biological senses and means ‘originating outside the organism’.

heteroglossia /hεtərəlsə/ n. [mass noun] the presence of two or more expressed viewpoints in a text or other artistic work.

<DERIVATIVES> heteroglossic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from HETERO- + Greek glōssa ‘tongue, language’ + -IA^1.

heterograft n. another term for XENOGRAFT.

heterologous /hεtərləəs/ adj. chiefly MEDICINE & [BIOLOGY] not homologous: heterologous antiserum.

<DERIVATIVES> heterology n.

heteromerous /hεtərm(ə)rəs/ adj. [BIOLOGY] having or composed of parts that differ in number or position.

heteromorphic /hεt(ə)rə()mfk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] occurring in two or more different forms, especially at different stages in the life cycle.

<DERIVATIVES> heteromorph n. heteromorphy n.

heteromorphism /hεt(ə)rə()mfz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the quality or condition of existing in various forms: chromosomal heteromorphism.

heteronomous /hεtərnəməs/ adj. subject to a law or standard external to itself.

- (in Kantian moral philosophy) acting in accordance with one's desires rather than reason or moral duty. Compare with AUTONOMOUS.

- [BIOLOGY] subject to different laws of growth and development.

<DERIVATIVES> heteronomy n.

heteronym /hεtərə()nm/ n. [LINGUISTICS] 1 each of two or more words which are spelled identically but have different sounds and meanings, such as tear meaning ‘rip’ and tear meaning ‘liquid from the eye’.

2 each of two or more words which are used to refer to the identical thing in different geographical areas of a speech community, such as nappy and diaper.

3 each of two words having the same meaning but derived from unrelated sources, for example preface and foreword. Contrasted with PARONYM.

<DERIVATIVES> heteronymic adj. heteronymous adj.

heteropolar /hεtərəpələ/ adj. chiefly [PHYSICS] characterized by opposite or alternating polarity.

- (especially of an electric motor) with an armature passing north and south magnetic poles alternately.

Heteroptera /hεtərpt(ə)rə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a group of true bugs comprising those in which the forewings are non-uniform, having a thickened base and membranous tip. The predatory and water bugs belong to this group, as well as many plant bugs. Compare with HOMOPTERA.

<INFO> Suborder Heteroptera, order Hemiptera.

- (heteroptera) bugs of this group.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek heteros ‘other’ + pteron ‘wing’.

heteropteran [ENTOMOLOGY] n. a bug of the group Heteroptera.

■ adj. relating to or denoting heteropterans.

<DERIVATIVES> heteropterous adj.

heterosexism n. [mass noun] discrimination or prejudice against homosexuals on the assumption that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation.

<DERIVATIVES> heterosexist adj.

heterosexual adj. (of a person) sexually attracted to people of the opposite sex.

- involving or characterized by sexual attraction between people of the opposite sex: heterosexual relationships.

■ n. a heterosexual person.

<DERIVATIVES> heterosexuality n. heterosexually adv.

heterosis /hεtərəss/ n. technical term for HYBRID VIGOUR.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek heterōsis ‘alteration’, from heteros ‘other’.

heterostyly /hεtərə()stli/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the condition (e.g. in primroses) of having styles of different lengths relative to the stamens in the flowers of different individual plants, to reduce self-fertilization.

<DERIVATIVES> heterostylous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HETERO- ‘different’ + Greek stulos ‘column’ + -Y^3.

heterotic /hεtərtk/ adj. 1 [BIOLOGY] relating to hybrid vigour (heterosis).

2 [PHYSICS] relating to a theory of cosmic strings combining elements of two earlier models.

heterotransplant n. another term for XENOGRAFT.

heterotroph /hεt(ə)rə()trəf -trf/ n. [BIOLOGY] an organism deriving its nutritional requirements from complex organic substances. Compare with AUTOTROPH.

<DERIVATIVES> heterotrophic adj. heterotrophy n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from HETERO- ‘other’ + Greek trophos ‘feeder’.

heterozygote /hεt(ə)rə()zət/ n. [GENETICS] an individual having two different alleles of a particular gene or genes, and so giving rise to varying offspring. Compare with HOMOZYGOTE.

<DERIVATIVES> heterozygosity n. heterozygous adj.

hetman /hεtmən/ n. (pl. hetmen) a Polish or Cossack military commander.

<ORIGIN> Polish, probably from German Hauptmann ‘captain’.

het up adj. [predic.] INFORMAL angry and agitated: her husband is all het up about something.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from dialect het ‘heated, hot’, surviving in Scots and northern English dialect.

heuchera /hkərə hjuk-/ n. a North American plant with dark green round or heart-shaped leaves and slender stems of tiny flowers.

<INFO> Genus Heuchera, family Saxifragaceae: many species, in particular H. sanguinea, with many ornamental cultivars.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Johann H. von Heucher (1677–1747), German botanist.

heuriger /hrə/ (also heurige) n. (pl. heurigen /-(ə)n/) [mass noun] (in Austria) wine from the latest harvest.

- [count noun] an Austrian establishment where wine from the latest harvest is served.

<ORIGIN> Austrian German, literally ‘this year's (wine)’.

heuristic /hj(ə)rstk/ adj. enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves.

- [COMPUTING] proceeding to a solution by trial and error or by rules that are only loosely defined.

■ n. a heuristic process or method.

- (heuristics) [usually treated as sing.] the study and use of heuristic techniques.

<DERIVATIVES> heuristically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: formed irregularly from Greek heuriskein ‘find’.

hevea /hivə/ n. a South American tree of a genus which comprises the rubber trees.

<INFO> Genus Hevea, family Euphorbiaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Quechua hyeve.

Hevesy /hεvəi/ George Charles de (1885–1966), Hungarian-born radiochemist. He studied radioisotopes and invented the technique of labelling with isotopic tracers. Hevesy was also co-discoverer of the element hafnium (1923). Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1943).

HEW abbr. (the US Department of) Health, Education, and Welfare.

hew /hju/ v. (past participle hewn or hewed) 1 [with obj.] chop or cut (something, especially wood or coal) with an axe, pick, or other tool.

- make or shape by cutting a hard material such as wood: a seat hewn out of a fallen tree trunk.

2 [no obj.] (hew to) NORTH AMERICAN conform or adhere to: his administration would hew to high ethical standards.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēawan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch houwen and German hauen.

hewer n. DATED a person who cuts wood, stone, or other materials.

- a miner who cuts coal from a seam.

<PHRASES>

□ hewers of wood and drawers of water menial drudges; labourers. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Josh. 9:21.]

hex^1 North American v. [with obj.] cast a spell on; bewitch: he hexed her with his fingers.

■ n. a magic spell; a curse: a death hex.

- a witch.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (as a verb): from Pennsylvanian German hexe (verb), Hex (noun), from German hexen (verb), Hexe (noun).

hex^2 adj. & n.

■ short for HEXADECIMAL.

hexa- (also hex- before a vowel) combining form six; having six.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hex ‘six’.

hexachord /hεksəkd/ n. a musical scale of six notes with a semitone between the third and fourth. An overlapping series of seven such scales starting on G, C, and F formed the basis of medieval music theory.

hexad /hεksad/ n. TECHNICAL a group or set of six.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a series of six numbers): from Greek hexas, hexad-, from hex ‘six’.

hexadecimal /hεksədεsm(ə)l/ adj. [COMPUTING] relating to or using a system of numerical notation that has 16 rather than 10 as its base.

<DERIVATIVES> hexadecimally adv.

hexagon /hεksə(ə)n/ n. a plane figure with six straight sides and angles.

<DERIVATIVES> hexagonal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek hexagōnon, neuter (used as a noun) of hexagōnos ‘six-angled’.

hexagram n. a figure formed of six straight lines, in particular:

- a star-shaped figure formed by two intersecting equilateral triangles.

- any of a set of sixty-four figures made up of six parallel whole or broken lines, occurring in the ancient Chinese I Ching.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HEXA- ‘six’ + Greek gramma ‘line’.

hexahedron /hεksəhidrən -hεd-/ n. (pl. hexahedra or hexahedrons) a solid figure with six plane faces.

<DERIVATIVES> hexahedral adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Greek hexaedron, neuter (used as a noun) of hexaedros ‘six-faced’.

hexamerous /hεksam(ə)rəs/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] having parts arranged in groups of six.

- consisting of six joints or parts.

hexameter /hεksamtə/ n. [PROSODY] a line of verse consisting of six metrical feet.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from Greek hexametros ‘of six measures’ (from hex ‘six’ + metron ‘measure’).

hexane /hεksen/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid hydrocarbon of the alkane series, present in petroleum spirit.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_14; five isomers, especially the straight-chain isomer (n-hexane).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HEXA- ‘six’ (denoting six carbon atoms) + -ANE^2.

hexapla /hεksəplə/ n. a sixfold text in parallel columns, especially of the Old Testament.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally referring to Origen's edition of the Old Testament): from Greek, neuter plural of hexaploos ‘sixfold’, from hex ‘six’ + ploos ‘-fold’.

hexaploid /hεksəpld/ [GENETICS] adj. (of a cell or nucleus) containing six homologous sets of chromosomes.

- (of an organism or species) composed of hexaploid cells.

■ n. a hexaploid organism, variety, or species.

<DERIVATIVES> hexaploidy n.

Hexapoda /hεksəpədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of six-legged arthropods that comprises the insects. The name is used as another term for Insecta, especially when the primitive apterygotes are not considered to be true insects.

<DERIVATIVES> hexapod n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek hexapous, hexapod-, from hex ‘six’ + pous ‘foot’.

hexastyle /hεksəstl/ [ARCHITECTURE] n. a six-columned portico.

■ adj. (of a portico) having six columns.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek hexastulos, from hex ‘six’ + stulos ‘column’.

Hexateuch /hεksətjuk/ n. the first six books of the Bible (Genesis to Joshua) collectively.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HEXA- ‘six’ + Greek teukhos ‘book’.

hexavalent /hεksəvel(ə)nt/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] having a valency of six.

hexose /hεksəz -s/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of the class of simple sugars whose molecules contain six carbon atoms, such as glucose and fructose. They generally have the chemical formula C_6H_12O_6.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HEXA- ‘six’ + -OSE^2.

hexyl /hεksl -sl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting an alkyl radical –Co_6H_13, derived from hexane.

hey exclam. used to attract attention, to express surprise, interest, or annoyance, or to elicit agreement: hey, what's going on here?

<PHRASES>

□ hey up N. English INFORMAL used as a greeting or as a way of drawing attention to something: Hey up, Margaret! | Hey up! Here's the cops!

□ what the hey NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used as a euphemism for ‘what the hell’.

<ORIGIN> natural exclamation: first recorded in Middle English.

heyday n. (usually one's heyday) the period of a person's or thing's greatest success, popularity, activity, or vigour: the paper has lost millions of readers since its heyday in 1964.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting good spirits or passion): from archaic heyday!, an exclamation of joy, surprise, etc.

Heyer /heə/ Georgette (1902–74), English novelist. She is noted for her historical novels, especially for romances set in the Regency period.

Heyerdahl /heədαl/ Thor (1914–2002), Norwegian anthropologist. He is noted for his ocean voyages in primitive craft to demonstrate his theories of cultural diffusion, the best known of which was that of the balsa raft Kon-Tiki from Peru to the islands east of Tahiti in 1947.

hey presto exclam. BRITISH a phrase announcing the successful completion of a trick, or to suggest that something has been done so easily that it seems to be magic: press the start button and, hey presto, a copy comes out the other end.

Hezbollah /hεzbəlα hεzblə/ (also Hizbullah) an extremist Shiite Muslim group which has close links with Iran, created after the Iranian revolution of 1979 and active especially in Lebanon.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic izbullāh ‘Party of God’, from ezb ‘party’ + 'allāh (see ALLAH).

HF abbr. [PHYSICS] high frequency.

Hf symbol the chemical element hafnium.

hf abbr. half.

HFC abbr. hydrofluorocarbon.

HG abbr.

- British Her or His Grace.

- HISTORICAL Home Guard.

Hg symbol the chemical element mercury.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of modern Latin hydrargyrum.

hg abbr. hectogram(s).

HGH abbr. human growth hormone.

HGV abbr. BRITISH heavy goods vehicle.

HH abbr.

- British Her or His Highness.

- His Holiness.

- (used in describing grades of pencil lead) extra hard.

hh. abbr. hands (as a unit of measurement of a horse's height).

hhd abbr. hogshead(s).

H-hour n. the time of day at which an attack, landing, or other military operation is scheduled to begin.

<ORIGIN> First World War: from H (for hour) + HOUR.

HI abbr. Hawaii (in official postal use).

hi exclam. INFORMAL used as a friendly greeting or to attract attention: ‘Hi there. How was the flight?’.

<ORIGIN> natural exclamation: first recorded in late Middle English.

hiatus /hetəs/ n. (pl. hiatuses) [usually in sing.] a pause or break in continuity in a sequence or activity: there was a brief hiatus in the war with France.

- [PROSODY] & [GRAMMAR] a break between two vowels coming together but not in the same syllable, as in the ear and cooperate.

<DERIVATIVES> hiatal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting a physical gap): from Latin, literally ‘gaping’, from hiare ‘gape’.

hiatus hernia (also hiatal hernia) n. MEDICINE the protrusion of an organ, typically the stomach, through the oesophageal opening in the diaphragm.

Hiawatha /həwθə/ a legendary 16th-century North American Indian teacher and chieftain, hero of a narrative poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called The Song of Hiawatha (1855).

Hib n. a bacterium that causes infant meningitis.

<INFO> Haemophilus influenzae type B.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: acronym.

hiba /hibə/ n. a Japanese conifer with evergreen scale-like leaves which form flattened sprays of foliage, widely planted as an ornamental and yielding durable timber.

<INFO> Thujopsis dolabrata, family Cupressaceae.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

hibachi /hbati hbəti/ n. (pl. hibachis) a portable cooking apparatus similar to a small barbecue.

- (in Japan) a large earthenware pan or brazier in which charcoal is burnt to provide indoor heating.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Japanese hibachi, hi-hachi, from hi ‘fire’ + hachi ‘bowl, pot’.

hibakusha /hbəkuə/ n. (pl. same) (in Japan) a survivor of either of the atomic explosions at Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: Japanese, from hi ‘suffer’ + baku ‘explosion’ + sha ‘person’.

hibernate v. [no obj.] (of an animal or plant) spend the winter in a dormant state.

- (of a person) remain inactive or indoors for an extended period.

<DERIVATIVES> hibernation n. hibernator n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (earlier (mid 17th century) as hibernation): from Latin hibernare, from hiberna ‘winter quarters’, from hibernus ‘wintry’.

Hibernian /hbənən/ adj. of or concerning Ireland (now chiefly used in names): the Royal Hibernian Academy.

■ n. a native of Ireland (now chiefly used in names).

<ORIGIN> from Latin Hibernia (alteration of Iverna, from Greek I(w)ernē, of Celtic origin; related to Irish Éire, Éirinn ‘Ireland’: see EIRE, Erin) + -AN.

Hibernianism (also Hibernicism) n. an Irish idiom or expression.

Hiberno- /hbənə/ combining form Irish; Irish and …: Hiberno-English.

- relating to Ireland.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin Hibernus ‘Irish’; see also HIBERNIAN.

hibiscus /hbskəs/ n. a plant of the mallow family, grown in warm climates for its large brightly coloured flowers or for products such as fibre or timber.

<INFO> Genus Hibiscus, family Malvaceae: many species, including the rose mallow.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek hibiskos, which Dioscorides identified with the marsh mallow.

hic exclam. used in writing to express the sound of a hiccup, especially a drunken one.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: imitative.

hiccup (also hiccough pronounced same) n. 1 an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm and respiratory organs, with a sudden closure of the glottis and a characteristic gulping sound: then she got hiccups.

2 a temporary or minor problem or setback: just a little hiccup in our usual wonderful service.

■ v. (hiccups, hiccuping, hiccuped) [no obj.] have an attack of hiccups or a single hiccup.

<DERIVATIVES> hiccupy adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: imitative; the form hiccough arose by association with COUGH.

hic jacet /hk desεt jakεt/ n. LITERARY an epitaph.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘here lies’, the first two words of a Latin epitaph.

hick n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person who lives in the country, regarded as being unintelligent or parochial: [as modifier] she puts on a hick accent.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: pet form of the given name Richard.

hickey n. (pl. hickeys) 1 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a gadget.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a love bite or pimple.

3 a blemish in printing, especially an uninked area in a solid, caused by a piece of dirt.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

Hickok James Butler (1837–76), American frontiersman and marshal; known as Wild Bill Hickok. The legend of his invincibility in his encounters with frontier desperadoes became something of a challenge to gunmen, and he was eventually murdered at Deadwood, South Dakota.

hickory n. 1 a chiefly NORTH AMERICAN tree of the walnut family, which yields tough, heavy timber and typically bears edible nuts (pecans).

<INFO> Genus Carya, family Juglandaceae: several species.

- a stick made of hickory wood.

2 (also hickory wattle) AUSTRALIAN an acacia tree that yields tough, close-grained timber.

<INFO> Genus Acacia, family Leguminosae: several species, in particular A. implexa.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: abbreviation of pohickery, the local Virginian name, from Algonquian pawcohiccora.

Hicks Sir John Richard (1904–89), English economist. He did pioneering work on general economic equilibrium (the theory that economic forces tend to balance one another rather than simply reflect cyclical trends), for which he shared a Nobel Prize with K. J. Arrow in 1972.

hid past of hide^1.

Hidalgo /hdalə/ a state of southern Mexico; capital, Pachuca de Soto.

hidalgo /hdalə/ n. (pl. hidalgos) a gentleman in a Spanish-speaking country.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Spanish, from hijo de algo, literally ‘son of something’ (i.e. of an important person).

Hidatsa /hdatsə/ n. (pl. same or Hidatsas) 1 a member of an American Indian people living on the upper Missouri River.

2 [mass noun] the Siouan language of the Hidatsa, now almost extinct.

■ adj. relating to the Hidatsa or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Hidatsa hiratsa ‘willow wood lodge’.

hidden past participle of hide^1

■ adj. kept out of sight; concealed: hidden dangers | her hidden feelings.

<DERIVATIVES> hiddenness n.

hidden agenda n. a secret or ulterior motive for something.

hiddenite /hd(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] a rare green gem variety of spodumene (an aluminosilicate mineral).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after William E. Hidden (1832–1918), American mineralogist.

hidden reserves plural n. a company's funds that are not declared on its balance sheet.

- mental or physical capabilities kept in reserve and available in exceptional circumstances: hidden reserves of power.

hide^1 v. (past hid; past participle hidden) [with obj.] put or keep out of sight: he hid the money in the house | they swept up the pieces and hid them away.

- prevent (someone or something) from being seen: clouds rolled up and hid the moon.

- prevent (an emotion or fact) from being apparent or known; keep secret: Herbert could hardly hide his dislike.

- [no obj.] conceal oneself: Juliet's first instinct was to hide under the blankets | he used to hide out in a cave.

- [no obj.] (hide behind) use (someone or something) to protect oneself from criticism or punishment, especially in a way considered cowardly: companies with poor security can hide behind the law.

■ n. BRITISH a camouflaged shelter used to observe wildlife at close quarters.

<PHRASES>

□ hide one's head cover up one's face or keep out of sight, especially from shame.

□ hide one's light under a bushel keep quiet about one's talents or accomplishments. [<ORIGIN> with biblical allusion to Matt. 5:15.]

<DERIVATIVES> hider n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hȳdan, of West Germanic origin.

hide^2 n. the skin of an animal, especially when tanned or dressed.

- used to refer to a person's ability to withstand criticisms or insults: she had never managed to develop a hide quite tough enough for his barbs to bounce off.

<PHRASES>

□ hide or hair of [with negative] the slightest trace of: I could find neither hide nor hair of him.

□ save one's hide escape from danger or difficulty.

□ tan (or whip) someone's hide beat or flog someone.

- punish someone severely.

<DERIVATIVES> hided adj. [in combination] thick-hided

<ORIGIN> Old English hȳd, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch huid and German Haut.

hide^3 n. a former measure of land used in England, typically equal to between 60 and 120 acres, being the amount that would support a family and its dependants.

<ORIGIN> Old English hīd, hīgid, from the base of hīgan, hīwan ‘household members’, of Germanic origin.

hide-and-seek n. [mass noun] a children's game in which one or more players hide and the other or others have to look for them.

hideaway n. a place used for hiding in, especially as a retreat from other people.

hide beetle n. a dull brown scavenging beetle that feeds on stored hides and dried meat and may be a serious pest of warehouses.

<INFO> Dermestes maculatus, family Dermestidae.

hidebound adj. unwilling or unable to change because of tradition or convention: they are working to change hidebound corporate cultures.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a noun denoting a malnourished condition of cattle): from HIDE^2 + BOUND^4. The earliest sense of the adjective (referring to cattle) was extended to emaciated human beings, and then applied figuratively in the sense ‘narrow in outlook’.

hideosity n. (pl. hideosities) 1 a very ugly object.

2 the quality of being hideous.

hideous adj. extremely ugly: hideous lizard-like creatures.

- extremely unpleasant: the whole hideous story.

<DERIVATIVES> hideously adv. [as submodifier] a hideously expensive camera hideousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hidos, hideus, from hide, hisde ‘fear’, of unknown origin.

hideout n. a hiding place, especially one used by someone who has broken the law.

hidey-hole (also hidy-hole) n. INFORMAL a place for hiding something or oneself in, especially as a retreat from other people.

hiding^1 n. INFORMAL a physical beating: they caught him and gave him a hiding.

- a severe defeat: if they'd played badly they might have expected a hiding.

<PHRASES>

□ be on a hiding to nothing BRITISH be unlikely to succeed, or be unlikely to gain much advantage if one does.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from HIDE^2 + -ING^1.

hiding^2 n. [mass noun] the action of concealing someone or something.

- the state of being hidden: the shipowner had gone into hiding.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from HIDE^1 + -ING^1.

hiding place n. a place for concealing someone or something.

hidrosis /hdrəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the action of sweating.

<DERIVATIVES> hidrotic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek hidrōsis, from hidrōs ‘sweat’.

hie /h/ v. (hies, hieing or hying, hied) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] ARCHAIC go quickly: I hied down to New Orleans | I hied me to a winehouse.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old English hīgian ‘strive, pant’, of unknown origin.

hielaman /hiləmən/ n. an Australian Aboriginal shield made of bark or wood.

<ORIGIN> from Dharuk yilimang.

hierarch /hərαk/ n. a chief priest, archbishop, or other leader.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via medieval Latin from Greek hierarkhēs, from hieros ‘sacred’ + arkhēs ‘ruler’.

hierarchical adj. of the nature of a hierarchy; arranged in order of rank: the hierarchical bureaucracy of a local authority.

<DERIVATIVES> hierarchically adv.

hierarchy /hərαki/ n. (pl. hierarchies) a system in which members of an organization or society are ranked according to relative status or authority.

- (the hierarchy) the clergy of the Catholic Church or of an episcopal Church.

- (the hierarchy) the upper echelons of a hierarchical system: the magazine was read quite widely even by some of the hierarchy.

- an arrangement or classification of things according to relative importance or inclusiveness: a taxonomic hierarchy of phyla, classes, orders, families, genera, and species.

- [THEOLOGY] the traditional system of orders of angels and other heavenly beings.

<DERIVATIVES> hierarchic adj. hierarchization n. hierarchize (also hierarchise) v.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French and medieval Latin from Greek hierarkhia, from hierarkhēs ‘sacred ruler’ (see HIERARCH). The earliest sense was ‘system of orders of angels and heavenly beings’; the other senses date from the 17th cent.

hieratic /həratk/ adj. of or concerning priests: he raised both his arms in a hieratic gesture.

- of or in the ancient Egyptian writing of abridged hieroglyphics used by priests. Compare with DEMOTIC.

- of or concerning Egyptian or Greek styles of art adhering to early methods as laid down by religious tradition.

<DERIVATIVES> hieratical adj. hieratically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (earlier as hieratical): via Latin from Greek hieratikos, from hierasthai ‘be a priest’, from hiereus ‘priest’, hieros ‘sacred’.

hiero- /h(ə)rə/ combining form sacred; holy.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hieros ‘sacred’.

hierocracy /h(ə)rkrəsi/ n. (pl. hierocracies) [mass noun] rule by priests.

- [count noun] a ruling body composed of priests.

<DERIVATIVES> hierocratic adj.

hieroglyph /h(ə)rəlf/ n. a stylized picture of an object representing a word, syllable, or sound, as found in ancient Egyptian and certain other writing systems.

- a secret or incomprehensible symbol.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: back-formation from HIEROGLYPHIC.

hieroglyphic n. (hieroglyphics) writing consisting of hieroglyphs.

- enigmatic or incomprehensible symbols or writing: notebooks filled with illegible hieroglyphics.

■ adj. of or written in hieroglyphs.

- of the nature of a hieroglyph; symbolic or enigmatic.

<DERIVATIVES> hieroglyphical adj. hieroglyphically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French hiéroglyphique, from Greek hierogluphikos, from hieros ‘sacred’ + gluphē ‘carving’.

hierogram /h(ə)rə()ram/ n. a sacred inscription or symbol.

hierolatry /hərlətri/ n. [mass noun] the worship of saints or sacred things.

hierology /hərlədi/ n. [mass noun] sacred literature or lore.

hierophant /h(ə)rə()fant/ n. a person, especially a priest, who interprets sacred mysteries or esoteric principles.

<DERIVATIVES> hierophantic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via late Latin from Greek hierophantēs, from hieros ‘sacred’ + phainein ‘show, reveal’.

hi-fi adj. of or relating to the reproduction of music or other sound with high fidelity.

■ n. (pl. hi-fis) a set of equipment for playing CDs or records in high-fidelity sound.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: abbreviation of HIGH FIDELITY.

higgle v. archaic spelling of HAGGLE.

higgledy-piggledy adv. & adj. in confusion or disorder: [as adv.] bits of paper hanging higgledy-piggledy on the walls | [as adj.] a higgledy-piggledy mountain of newspapers.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: rhyming jingle, probably with reference to the irregular herding together of pigs.

higgler n. W. INDIAN a person who travels around selling small items; a pedlar.

Higgs (also Higgs boson or Higgs particle) n. [PHYSICS] a subatomic particle whose existence is predicted by the theory which unified the weak and electromagnetic interactions.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Peter W. Higgs (born 1929), English physicist.

high adj. 1 of great vertical extent: the top of a high mountain.

- (after a measurement and in questions) measuring a specified distance from top to bottom: a tree forty feet high.

- far above ground, sea level, or another point of reference: a palace high up on a hill.

- extending above the normal level: a round face with a high forehead.

- [attr.] (of an area) inland and well above sea level: high prairies.

- [attr.] performed at, to, or from a considerable height: high diving.

- (of latitude) close to 90°; near the North or South Pole.

2 great, or greater than normal, in quantity, size, or intensity: a high temperature | sweets are very high in calories.

- of large numerical or monetary value: they had been playing for high stakes.

- very favourable: she had no very high opinion of men.

- extreme in religious or political views: a man of high Tory opinions.

- (of a period or movement) at its peak: high summer.

3 great in rank, status, or importance: both held high office under Lloyd George | financial security is high on your list of priorities.

- ranking above others of the same kind: the last High King of Ireland.

- morally or culturally superior: blurring the distinctions between high art and popular art.

4 (of a sound or note) having a frequency at the upper end of the auditory range: a high, squeaky voice.

- (of a singer or instrument) producing notes of relatively high pitch.

5 [predic.] INFORMAL feeling euphoric, especially from the effects of drugs or alcohol: she wasn't tipsy, just a little high | some of them were high on Ecstasy.

6 [predic.] (especially of food) unpleasantly strong-smelling because beginning to go bad.

- (of game) slightly decomposed and so ready to cook.

7 [PHONETICS] (of a vowel) produced with the tongue relatively near the palate.

■ n. 1 a high point, level, or figure: commodity prices were at a rare high.

- a high-frequency sound or musical note.

- a high power setting: the vent blower was on high.

- an area of high barometric pressure; an anticyclone.

2 a notably happy or successful moment: the highs and lows of life.

- [usually in sing.] INFORMAL a state of high spirits or euphoria: if the stable is doing well then everybody's on a high.

3 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN high school: I go to junior high.

4 top gear in a motor vehicle.

■ adv. 1 at or to a considerable or specified height: the sculpture stood about five feet high | a dish piled high with baked beans.

2 highly: he ranked high among the pioneers of chemical technology.

- at a high price: buying shares low and selling them high.

3 (of a sound) at or to a high pitch.

<PHRASES>

□ ace (or king or queen etc.) high (in card games) having the ace (or another specified card) as the highest-ranking.

□ from on high from remote high authority or heaven: central government programmes coming down from on high.

□ high and dry out of the water, especially stranded by the sea as it retreats.

- without resources or help: your family would be left high and dry by the death of the breadwinner.

□ high and low in many different places: I searched high and low for a new teacher.

□ high and mighty INFORMAL behaving as though one is more important than others.

□ the high ground a position of superiority (originally in military conflict): he wants the EC to take the moral high ground by agreeing to an environmental tax.

□ a high old —— [attr.] INFORMAL used for emphasis: a high old time of it we all had.

□ high, wide, and handsome INFORMAL expansive and impressive. [<ORIGIN> from Arizona Nights by Stewart E. White (1873–1946), American author.]

□ it is high time that —— it is past the time when something should have happened or been done: it was high time that she faced facts.

□ on high in or to heaven or a high place: a spotter plane circling on high.

□ on one's high horse INFORMAL behaving in an arrogant or pompous manner.

□ run high (of a river) be close to overflowing, with a strong current.

- (of feelings) be intense: passions run high when marriages break up.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēah, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoog and German hoch.

high altar n. the chief altar of a church, typically in the chancel.

highball North American n. 1 a drink consisting of a spirit, especially whisky, and a mixer such as soda, served with ice in a tall glass.

2 INFORMAL a railway signal to proceed.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] INFORMAL travel fast: they highballed north.

high-band adj. relating to or denoting a video system using a relatively high carrier frequency, which allows more bandwidth for the signal.

high beam n. North American term for FULL BEAM.

highbinder /hbndə/ n. US INFORMAL an unscrupulous person, especially a corrupt politician.

- an assassin, especially one belonging to a Chinese-American criminal organization.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: first recorded as Highbinders, the name of a New York gang.

high-born adj. having noble parents: a high-born Portuguese family.

highboy n. NORTH AMERICAN a tall chest of drawers on legs.

highbrow often DEROGATORY adj. intellectual or rarefied in taste: innovatory art had a small, mostly highbrow following.

■ n. a highbrow person.

high chair n. a chair with long legs for a baby or small child, fitted with a tray that is used like a table at mealtimes.

High Church n. [treated as sing. or plural] a tradition within the Anglican Church emphasizing ritual, priestly authority, sacraments, and historical continuity with Catholic Christianity.

<DERIVATIVES> High Churchman n.

high-class adj. of a high standard, quality, or social class: a high-class hotel.

high colour (also high colouring) n. a flushed complexion: he had a high colour to his cheeks.

high command n. the commander-in-chief and associated senior staff of an army, navy, or air force.

high commission n. an embassy of one Commonwealth country in another.

<DERIVATIVES> high commissioner n.

high-concept adj. (especially of a film or television plot) having a striking and easily communicable idea.

high court n. a supreme court of justice.

- (in full High Court of Justice) (in England and Wales) the court of unlimited civil jurisdiction forming part of the Supreme Court and comprising three divisions: Queen's Bench, Chancery, and the Family Division.

- (in full High Court of Justiciary) the supreme criminal court of Scotland.

High Court of Parliament n. (in the UK) formal term for PARLIAMENT.

high day n. BRITISH the day of a religious festival.

<PHRASES>

□ high days and holidays INFORMAL special occasions: the drawing room is used only on high days and holidays.

high-density lipoprotein n. [mass noun] a kind of lipoprotein in blood plasma that promotes the transfer of cholesterol to the liver for excretion or reuse.

high-dependency adj. [attr.] BRITISH relating to hospital patients requiring a high level of medical treatment and supervision.

high-end adj. [attr.] denoting the most expensive of a range of products: high-end computers.

high enema n. an enema delivered into the colon.

Higher n. (in Scotland) the more advanced of the two main levels of the Scottish Certificate of Education. Compare with ORDINARY GRADE.

higher animals plural n. animals of relatively advanced or developed characteristics, such as mammals and other vertebrates.

higher court n. [LAW] a court that can overrule the decision of another.

higher criticism n. [mass noun] the study of the literary methods and sources discernible in a text, especially as applied to biblical writings.

higher education n. [mass noun] education at universities or similar educational establishments, especially to degree level.

higher mathematics plural n. [usually treated as sing.] advanced mathematics, such as number theory and topology, as taught at university level.

higher plants plural n. plants of relatively complex or advanced characteristics, especially vascular plants (including flowering plants).

higher-up n. INFORMAL a senior person in an organization.

highest common factor (abbr.: HCF) n. [MATHEMATICS] the highest number that can be divided exactly into each of two or more numbers.

high explosive n. a chemical explosive of the kind used in shells and bombs, which is more rapid and destructive in its effects than gunpowder.

highfalutin /hfəlutn/ (also highfaluting /-t/) adj. INFORMAL (especially of speech, writing, or ideas) pompous or pretentious: you don't want any highfalutin jargon.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): perhaps from HIGH + fluting (present participle of FLUTE).

high fashion n. another term for HAUTE COUTURE.

high fidelity n. [mass noun] the reproduction of sound with little distortion, giving a result very similar to the original.

high finance n. [mass noun] financial transactions involving large sums.

high five INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. a gesture of celebration or greeting in which two people slap each other's palms with their arms raised.

■ v. (high-five) [with obj.] greet with such a gesture.

high-flown adj. (especially of language or ideas) extravagant and grand-sounding.

high-flyer (also high-flier) n. a person who is or has the potential to be very successful, especially academically or in business.

<DERIVATIVES> high-flying adj.

high forest n. [mass noun] forest consisting of tall trees.

- [FORESTRY] forest raised wholly or mainly from seed, especially as opposed to pollarded or coppiced forest.

high frequency n. (in radio) a frequency of 3–30 megahertz.

high gear n. a gear that causes a wheeled vehicle to move fast, due to a high ratio between the speed of the wheels and that of the mechanism driving them.

High German n. [mass noun] the standard literary and spoken form of German, originally used in the highlands in the south of Germany. The establishment of this form as a standard language owes much to the biblical translations of Martin Luther in the 16th century. See also MIDDLE HIGH GERMAN, OLD HIGH GERMAN.

high-handed adj. using power or authority without considering the feelings of others: a fairly high-handed decision.

<DERIVATIVES> high-handedly adv. high-handedness n.

high hat n. 1 a tall hat, especially a top hat.

- North American INFORMAL a snobbish or supercilious person.

2 (high-hat)

■ variant form of HI-HAT.

3 a silvery marine fish with longitudinal brown stripes and a long upright dorsal fin, found in shallow rocky waters of the Caribbean.

<INFO> Equetus acuminatus, family Sciaenidae.

■ adj. (high-hat) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL snobbish.

■ v. (high-hat) (high-hats, high-hatting, high-hatted) [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL act in a snobbish or supercilious manner towards (someone).

high heels plural n. women's shoes with tall, thin heels.

<DERIVATIVES> high-heeled adj.

High Holidays (also High Holy Days) plural n. the Jewish festivals of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana. Also called DAYS OF AWE.

high hurdles plural n. [treated as sing.] a race in which runners jump over hurdles 107 cm (42 inches) high.

<DERIVATIVES> high hurdler n.

high-impact adj. 1 (of plastic or a similar substance) able to withstand great impact without breaking.

2 denoting exercises, typically aerobics, that place a great deal of stress on the body.

high jinks plural n. boisterous fun: high jinks behind the wheel of a car.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: see JINK.

high jump n. (the high jump) an athletic event in which competitors jump high over a bar which is raised until only one competitor can jump it without dislodging it.

<PHRASES>

□ be for the high jump BRITISH INFORMAL be about to be severely reprimanded or punished.

<DERIVATIVES> high jumper n.

high-key (also high-keyed) adj. [ART] & [PHOTOGRAPHY] having a predominance of light or bright tones.

high kick n. a kick with the foot high in the air, for example in dancing or martial arts.

<DERIVATIVES> high-kicking adj.

highland n. 1 [mass noun] (also highlands) an area of high or mountainous land: the highlands of Madagascar | [as modifier] a highland region of Vietnam.

2 (the Highlands) the mountainous part of Scotland, to the north of Glasgow and Stirling, often associated with Gaelic culture: [as modifier] a Highland regiment.

- (Highland) a council area of northern Scotland; administrative centre, Inverness.

<DERIVATIVES> highlander n. highlandman n. (pl. highlandmen)

<ORIGIN> Old English hēahlond ‘a high promontory’ (see HIGH, land).

Highland cattle plural n. animals of a shaggy-haired breed of cattle with long, curved widely spaced horns.

Highland clearances the forced removal of crofters from their land in the Highlands of Scotland in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The clearances, carried out by landlords wanting to install sheep and deer on their estates, led to extreme hardship as well as to widespread emigration to North America and elsewhere.

Highland dress n. [mass noun] clothing in the traditional style of the Scottish Highlands, now chiefly worn on formal occasions and including the kilt.

Highland fling n. a vigorous Scottish dance consisting of a series of complex steps performed solo, originally to celebrate victory.

Highland Games plural n. a meeting for athletic events, playing of the bagpipes, and dancing, held in the Scottish Highlands or by Scots elsewhere.

highland moccasin n. the North American copperhead snake.

Highland pony n. a large sturdy pony of a breed with a long mane and tail, originally from Scotland.

high-level adj. at or of a level above that which is normal or average: a high-level cistern.

- relating to or involving people of high administrative rank or great authority: high-level negotiations.

- [COMPUTING] denoting a programming language (e.g. BASIC or Pascal) that is relatively accessible to the user, having instructions that resemble an existing language such as English.

- (of nuclear waste) highly radioactive and requiring long-term storage in isolation.

high life n. [mass noun] 1 (also high living) an extravagant social life as enjoyed by the wealthy.

2 (usually highlife) a style of dance music of West African origin, influenced by rock and jazz.

highlight n. 1 an outstanding part of an event or period of time: he views that season as the highlight of his career.

- (highlights) the best parts of a sporting or other event edited for broadcasting or recording: Gary Lineker presents the highlights of today's semi-final.

2 a bright or reflective area in a painting, picture, or design.

- (usually highlights) a bright tint in the hair, especially one created artificially by bleaching or dyeing.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 draw special attention to: the issues highlighted by the report.

- make visually prominent: a vast backdrop with the colourful logo highlighted with lasers.

- mark with a highlighter: a photocopy with sections highlighted in green.

2 create highlights in (hair).

highlighter n. 1 a broad marker pen used to overlay transparent fluorescent colour on text or a part of an illustration.

2 a cosmetic used to emphasize features such as the eyes or cheekbones.

high-low n. HISTORICAL a lace-up boot with a low heel, reaching to the ankle, worn by the military in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

highly adv. at or to a high degree or level: [as submodifier] a highly dangerous substance | highly paid people.

- favourably: his colleagues think very highly of him.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēalīce (see HIGH, -ly^1).

highly strung adj. BRITISH very nervous and easily upset: highly strung horses.

high-maintenance adj. needing a lot of work to keep in good condition.

- INFORMAL (of a person) demanding a lot of attention: if Martin could keep a high-maintenance girl like Tania happy, he must be doing something right.

High Mass n. a Roman Catholic or Anglo-Catholic mass with full ceremonial, including music and incense and typically having the assistance of a deacon and subdeacon.

high-minded adj. having strong moral principles: rich high-minded Victorians.

<DERIVATIVES> high-mindedly adv. high-mindedness n.

high muck-a-muck (also high muckety-muck) n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person in a position of authority, especially one who is overbearing or conceited.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from Chinook hiyu ‘plenty’ + muckamuck ‘food’, from Nootka ayo ‘ten’ + ma.ho.maq- ‘choice wheatmeal’, with high substituted for hiyu.

highness n. 1 (His/Your etc. Highness) a title given to a person of royal rank, or used in addressing them: I am most grateful, Your Highness.

2 [mass noun] the quality of being high: the highness of her cheekbones.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēanes (see HIGH, -ness).

high noon n. 1 midday.

2 an event or confrontation which is likely to decide the final outcome of a situation: the high noon of the peace process. [<ORIGIN> popularized by the film High Noon (1952).]

high note n. a successful point in an event or period of time: he wants to end his managerial career on a high note.

high-octane adj. denoting petrol having a high octane number and thus good anti-knock properties.

- powerful or dynamic: a high-octane forty-year-old.

high-pass adj. [ELECTRONICS] (of a filter) transmitting all frequencies above a certain value.

high-pitched adj. 1 (of a sound) high: a high-pitched wail.

2 (of a roof) steep.

high places plural n. positions of power or authority: people in high places were taking note.

high point n. the most enjoyable or significant part of an experience or period of time: the English lesson was the high point of the morning.

high polymer n. a polymer having a high molecular weight, such as those used in plastics and resins.

high-powered (also high-power) adj. (of a machine or device) having greater than normal strength or capabilities: a high-powered sports car.

- having a great deal of power, influence, or dynamism: high-powered senior executives.

- involving a great deal of responsibility: a very high-powered job.

high priest n. the chief priest of the historic Jewish religion.

- the head of a religious cult or similar group.

- the chief advocate or proponent of a particular belief or practice: the high priest of surrealism.

high priestess n. a female high priest.

high profile n. [in sing.] a position attracting much attention or publicity: people who have a high profile in the community.

■ adj. attracting much attention or publicity: a high-profile military presence.

High Renaissance see RENAISSANCE.

high-rise adj. (of a building) having many storeys: a high-rise block of flats.

- taller or set higher than normal: high-rise handlebars.

■ n. a building with many storeys: a twelve-floor high-rise.

high road n. a main road: [in place names] Kilburn High Road.

- a direct or certain route or course.

- NORTH AMERICAN a morally superior approach towards something: the company took the high road, announcing it would extend the benefits to all its workers.

high roller n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person who gambles or spends large sums of money.

<DERIVATIVES> high-rolling adj.

<ORIGIN> with reference to rolling dice.

high school n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a secondary school.

2 (in the UK except Scotland) used chiefly in names of grammar schools or independent fee-paying secondary schools, or for the lower years of a secondary school: Wycombe High School.

<DERIVATIVES> high schooler n.

high seas plural n. (the high seas) the open ocean, especially that not within any country's jurisdiction.

high season n. chiefly BRITISH the most popular time of year at a resort, hotel, or tourist attraction, when prices are highest.

high-security adj. extremely secure: a high-security jail.

high sign n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a surreptitious gesture, often prearranged, giving warning or indicating that all is well: I'm getting the high sign from my secretary—gotta go.

Highsmith Patricia (1921–95), American writer of detective fiction; born Patricia Plangman. Her novels are noted for their black humour, particularly those featuring Tom Ripley, an amoral anti-hero resident in France. Strangers on a Train (1949) was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.

high-sounding adj. (of language or ideas) extravagant and grand: high-sounding moralism.

high-speed adj. moving, operating, or happening very quickly: high-speed travel.

- (of photographic film) needing little light or only short exposure.

- (of steel) suitable for drill bits and other tools that cut so fast that they become red-hot.

high spirits plural n. lively and cheerful behaviour or mood: the team returned in high spirits.

<DERIVATIVES> high-spirited adj. high-spiritedness n.

high spot n. the most enjoyable or significant part of an experience or period of time: the high spot of the tour was to be an audience with the Pope.

<PHRASES>

□ hit the high spots INFORMAL visit the most exciting places in a town.

high-stick v. [with obj.] (often as n. high-sticking) [HOCKEY] strike (an opponent) on or above the shoulders with one's stick, for which a penalty may be assessed.

high street n. BRITISH the main street of a town, especially as the traditional site for most shops, banks, and other businesses: the approaching festive season boosted the high street | [in place names] Kensington High Street.

- [as modifier] (of retail goods) catering to the needs of the ordinary public: high-street fashion.

high-strung adj. North American another term for HIGHLY STRUNG.

hight /ht/ adj. [predic.] ARCHAIC or LITERARY named: a little pest, hight Tommy Moore.

<ORIGIN> Middle English, from Old English heht, past tense of hātan ‘command, call, or name’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heten and German heissen.

high table n. BRITISH a table in a dining hall, typically on a platform, for the most important people, such as the fellows of a college.

hightail v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN move or travel fast: they hightailed it to India.

high tea n. BRITISH a meal eaten in the late afternoon or early evening, typically consisting of a cooked dish, bread and butter, and tea.

high-tech (also hi-tech) adj. using, requiring, or involved in high technology: a high-tech security system.

- (chiefly in architecture and interior design) using styles and materials, such as steel, glass, and plastic, that are associated with industrial use.

■ n. (high tech)

■ short for HIGH TECHNOLOGY.

high technology n. [mass noun] advanced technological development, especially in electronics: [as modifier] high-technology weapons.

high-tensile adj. (of metal) very strong under tension: high-tensile steel.

high tension n. another term for HIGH VOLTAGE.

high-test adj. US (of petrol) high-octane.

- meeting very high standards: the firm's high-test offices.

high-ticket adj. another term for BIG-TICKET.

high tide n. the state of the tide when at its highest level: at high tide you have to go inland.

- the highest point of something: the high tide of nationalism.

high-toned adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN stylish or superior: an oasis of classily high-toned culture.

high-top adj. denoting a soft-soled sports shoe with a laced upper that extends some distance above the wearer's ankle.

■ n. (high-tops) a pair of high-top shoes.

high-up n. INFORMAL a senior person in an organization.

highveld /hvεlt/ n. [mass noun] a region of veld situated at a high altitude, especially the region in the north-east of South Africa, between 1200 and 1800 metres (4000 and 6000 feet) above sea level.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: partial translation of Afrikaans hoëveld.

high voltage n. an electrical potential large enough to cause injury or damage.

high water n. another term for HIGH TIDE.

high-water mark n. the level reached by the sea at high tide, or by a lake or river in time of flood.

- a maximum recorded level or value: unemployment and crime both stand at a high-water mark.

highway n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a main road, especially one connecting major towns or cities: a six-lane highway | FIGURATIVE the highway to success.

- (chiefly in official use) a public road: the Highways Department.

- [COMPUTING] a pathway connecting parts of one computer system or between different systems.

Highway Code (in the UK) the official set of rules and guidance for road users.

highwayman n. (pl. highwaymen) HISTORICAL a man, typically on horseback, who held up travellers at gunpoint in order to rob them.

high wire n. a high tightrope.

- [as modifier] denoting an activity requiring great skill or judgement: the high-wire act performed daily by many mental health workers.

high words plural n. ARCHAIC angry words: high words passed between them.

high yellow US OFFENSIVE adj. denoting a light-skinned person with one black and one white parent.

■ n. a person of this kind.

HIH abbr. BRITISH Her or His Imperial Highness.

hi-hat (also high-hat) n. a pair of foot-operated cymbals forming part of a drum kit.

hijab /hdαb/ n. a head covering worn in public by some Muslim women.

- the religious code which governs the wearing of such clothing.

<ORIGIN> from Persian, from Arabic ajaba ‘to veil’.

hijack v. [with obj.] illegally seize (an aircraft, ship, or vehicle) while in transit and force it to go to a different destination or use it for one's own purposes: a man armed with grenades hijacked the jet yesterday.

- steal (goods) by seizing them in transit.

- take over (something) and use it for a different purpose: he argues that pressure groups have hijacked the environmental debate.

■ n. an incident or act of hijacking: [as modifier] an unsuccessful hijack attempt.

<DERIVATIVES> hijacker n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): of unknown origin.

hijacking n. an act of illegally seizing an aircraft, vehicle, or ship while in transit; a hijack.

hijra /hdrə/ n. INDIAN a transvestite or eunuch.

<ORIGIN> Hindi.

hike n. 1 a long walk or walking tour: a five-mile hike across rough terrain.

- INFORMAL a long distance: it's such a hike from Adelaide to Perth.

2 a sharp increase, especially in price or cost: fears of a hike in interest rates.

■ v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] walk for a long distance, especially across country: they hiked across the moors | (as n. hiking) she enjoys hiking and climbing in her spare time.

2 [with obj.] pull or lift up (something, especially clothing): Roy hiked up his trousers to reveal his socks.

- increase (something, especially a price) sharply: the government hiked up the price of milk by 40 per cent.

<PHRASES>

□ take a hike [usually in imperative] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN go away (used as an expression of irritation or annoyance).

<DERIVATIVES> hiker n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally dialect, as a verb): of unknown origin.

hila plural form of HILUM.

hilar /hlə/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [BOTANY] relating to a hilus or hilum.

hilarious /hlεrəs/ adj. extremely amusing: her hilarious novel.

- ARCHAIC boisterously merry: the meal was noisy and hilarious.

<DERIVATIVES> hilariously adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin hilaris (from Greek hilaros ‘cheerful’) + -OUS. The sense ‘exceedingly amusing’ dates from the 1920s.

hilarity /hlarti/ n. [mass noun] extreme amusement, especially when expressed by laughter: his incredulous expression was the cause of much hilarity.

- ARCHAIC boisterous merriment: by midnight the hilarity had increased.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘cheerfulness’): from French hilarité, from Latin hilaritas ‘cheerfulness, merriment’, from hilaris (see HILARIOUS).

Hilary, St (c.315–c.367), French bishop. In c.350 he was appointed bishop of Poitiers, in which position he became a leading opponent of Arianism. Feast day, 13 January.

Hilary term n. BRITISH (in some universities) the university term beginning in January.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: named after Hilarius (see HILARY, ST).

Hilbert space n. [MATHEMATICS] an infinite-dimensional analogue of Euclidean space.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after David Hilbert (1862–1943), German mathematician.

Hilda, St (614–80), English abbess. Related to the Anglo-Saxon kings of Northumbria, she founded a monastery for both men and women at Whitby around 658, and was one of the leaders of the Celtic Church delegation at the Synod of Whitby. Feast day, 17 November.

Hildegard of Bingen, St /hldəαd bən/ (1098–1179), German abbess, scholar, composer, and mystic. A nun of the Benedictine order, she wrote scientific works, poetry, and music, and described her mystical experiences in Scivias.

Hildesheim /hldəshm/ an industrial city in Lower Saxony, NW Germany; pop. 103,600 (est. 2002).

Hiligaynon /hlenən/ n. (pl. same or Hiligaynons) 1 a member of a people inhabiting Panay, Negros, and other islands in the central Philippines.

2 [mass noun] the Austronesian language of the Hiligaynon, with about 5 million speakers. Also called ILONGGO.

■ adj. relating to the Hiligaynon or their language.

Hill^1 Benny (1925–92), English comedian; born Alfred Hawthorne. His risqué humour, as seen in the series The Benny Hill Show, had an international appeal.

Hill^2 Damon (b.1960), English motor-racing driver. Son of Graham Hill, he won the Formula One world championship in 1996.

Hill^3 (Norman) Graham (1929–75), English motor-racing driver. He became Formula One world champion in 1962 and 1975.

Hill^4 Octavia (1838–1912), English housing reformer and co-founder of the National Trust (1895).

Hill^5 Sir Rowland (1795–1879), English educationist, administrator, and inventor. He is chiefly remembered for his introduction of the penny postage-stamp system in 1840.

hill n. a naturally raised area of land, not as high or craggy as a mountain.

- a sloping stretch of road: they were climbing a steep hill in low gear.

- a heap or mound of something: a hill of sliding shingle.

■ v. [with obj.] form (something) into a heap.

- bank up (a plant) with soil.

<PHRASES>

□ a hill of beans [with negative] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a thing of little value: the problems of one old actor don't amount to a hill of beans.

□ over the hill INFORMAL old and past one's best.

<ORIGIN> Old English hyll, of Germanic origin; from an Indo-European root shared by Latin collis and Greek kolōnos ‘hill’.

Hillary Sir Edmund (Percival) (1919–2008), New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. In 1953 Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, as members of a British expedition.

hillbilly n. (pl. hillbillies) North American 1 INFORMAL, usually DEROGATORY an unsophisticated country person, as associated originally with the remote regions of the Appalachians.

2 old-fashioned term for COUNTRY MUSIC.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from HILL + Billy (pet form of the given name William).

hill climb n. a race for vehicles up a steep hill.

<DERIVATIVES> hill-climber n. hill-climbing n.

hill figure n. an outline of a horse, human, or other design cut into the turf of a hill, especially in the chalk downs of southern England. The oldest of these (the White Horse at Uffington, Oxfordshire) is prehistoric.

hill fort n. a fort built on a hill, in particular an area on a hilltop enclosed by a system of defensive banks and ditches, as used by Iron Age peoples in NW Europe.

hillman n. (pl. hillmen) an inhabitant of hilly country.

hillock n. a small hill or mound.

<DERIVATIVES> hillocky adj.

hillside n. the sloping side of a hill.

hillstar n. a hummingbird that typically lives at high altitude, especially in the Andes, and is adapted to the harsher climate there.

<INFO> Family Trochilidae: two genera, in particular Oreotrochilus, and five species.

hill station n. a town in the low mountains of the Indian subcontinent, popular as a holiday resort during the hot season.

hilltop n. the summit of a hill.

hillwalking n. [mass noun] the pastime of walking in hilly country.

<DERIVATIVES> hillwalker n.

hilly adj. (hillier, hilliest) having many hills: a remote hilly district.

<DERIVATIVES> hilliness n.

hilt n. the handle of a weapon or tool, especially a sword, dagger, or knife.

<PHRASES>

□ (up) to the hilt completely: the estate was mortgaged up to the hilt.

<DERIVATIVES> hilted adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hilt, hilte, of Germanic origin.

hilum /hləm/ n. (pl. hila /-lə/) [BOTANY] the scar on a seed marking the point of attachment to its seed vessel.

- a point in a starch granule around which the layers of starch are deposited.

- [ANATOMY] another term for HILUS.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the Latin sense): from Latin, literally ‘little thing, trifle’, once thought to mean ‘that which sticks to a bean’, hence the current sense (mid 18th century).

hilus /hləs/ n. (pl. hili /hl/) [ANATOMY] an indentation in the surface of a kidney, spleen, or other organ, where blood vessels, ducts, nerve fibres, etc. enter or leave it.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, alteration of HILUM.

Hilversum /hlvəsəm/ a town in the Netherlands, in North Holland province, near Amsterdam; pop. 81,300 (est. 2002). It is the centre of the Dutch radio and television network.

HIM abbr. BRITISH Her or His Imperial Majesty.

him pron. [third person singular] 1 used as the object of a verb or preposition to refer to a male person or animal previously mentioned or easily identified: his wife survived him | he took the children with him. Compare with HE.

- referring to a person or animal of unspecified sex: withdrawing your child from school to educate him at home may seem drastic.

- used after the verb ‘to be’ and after ‘than’ or ‘as’: that's him all right | I could never be as good as him.

- W. INDIAN he: him was a tall, bowlegged man.

2 ARCHAIC or NORTH AMERICAN DIALECT himself: in the depths of him, he too didn't want to go.

<ORIGIN> Old English, dative singular form of he, hē ‘he’ and hit ‘it’.

<USAGE> Why do people tell us that it is wrong to say I could never be as good as him (rather than I could never be as good as he)? If they are right, why does he in this context sound so odd? For a discussion of this issue, see usage at personal pronoun.

Himachal Pradesh /hmαtəl prədε/ a mountainous state in northern India; capital, Simla.

Himalayan adj. relating to the Himalayas: the Himalayan foothills.

■ n. North American term for COLOURPOINT.

Himalayas /hməleəz hmαljəz/ a vast mountain system in southern Asia, extending 2,400 km (1,500 miles) from Kashmir eastwards to Assam.

The Himalayas consist of a series of parallel ranges rising up from the Ganges basin to the Tibetan plateau, at over 3,000 m above sea level. The backbone is the Great Himalayan Range, the highest mountain range in the world, with several peaks rising to over 7,700 m (25,000 ft), the highest being Mount Everest.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit Himālaya, from hima ‘snow’ + ālaya ‘abode’.

himation /hmatn/ n. an outer garment worn by the ancient Greeks over the left shoulder and under the right.

<ORIGIN> Greek.

Himmler /hmlə/ Heinrich (1900–45), German Nazi leader, chief of the SS (1929–45) and of the Gestapo (1936–45). He established and oversaw the systematic genocide of over 6 million Jews and other disfavoured groups between 1941 and 1945. Captured by British forces in 1945, he committed suicide.

Hims /hms hmz/ variant form of HOMS.

himself pron. [third person singular] 1 [reflexive] used as the object of a verb or preposition to refer to a male person or animal previously mentioned as the subject of the clause: the steward introduced himself as Pete | he ought to be ashamed of himself.

2 [emphatic] he or him personally (used to emphasize a particular male person or animal mentioned): Ben told me himself.

- chiefly IRISH a third party of some importance, especially the master of the house: I'll mention it to himself.

<ORIGIN> Old English (see HIM, self).

Himyarite /hmjərt/ n. a member of an ancient people of the SW part of the Arabian peninsula, who ruled much of southern Arabia before the 6th century AD.

■ adj. relating to the Himyarites.

<ORIGIN> from the name Himyar (the name of a traditional king of Yemen) + -ITE^1.

hin n. a Hebrew unit of liquid capacity equal to approximately 5 litres (about one gallon).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from biblical Hebrew hīn.

Hinault /inə/ French /inə/ Bernard (b.1954), French racing cyclist. He won the Tour de France five times between 1978 and 1985 and won the Tour of Italy three times between 1980 and 1985.

Hinayana /hinəjαnə/ (also Hinayana Buddhism) n. [mass noun] a name given by the followers of Mahayana Buddhism to the more orthodox schools of early Buddhism. The tradition died out in India, but it survived in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) as the Theravada school and was taken from there to other regions of SE Asia. See THERAVADA.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit hīna ‘lesser’ + yāna ‘vehicle’.

hind^1 adj. [attr.] (especially of a bodily part) situated at the back; posterior: a hind leg.

<PHRASES>

□ on one's hind legs see LEG.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps shortened from Old English behindan (see BEHIND).

hind^2 n. a female deer, especially a red deer or sika in and after the third year.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hinde and German Hinde, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘hornless’, shared by Greek kemas ‘young deer’.

hind^3 n. ARCHAIC, chiefly SCOTTISH a skilled farm worker, typically married and with a tied cottage.

- a farm steward or bailiff.

- a peasant or rustic.

<ORIGIN> late Old English hīne ‘household servants’, apparently from hīgna, hīna, genitive plural of hīgan, hīwan ‘family members’.

hind- combining form (added to nouns) at the back; posterior: hindquarters | hindwing.

hindbrain n. the lower part of the brainstem, comprising the cerebellum, pons, and medulla oblongata. Also called RHOMBENCEPHALON.

Hindemith /hndəmt/ Paul (1895–1963), German composer. A leading figure in the neoclassical trend which began in the 1920s and an exponent of Gebrauchsmusik (‘utility music’), he believed that music should have a social purpose. Notable works: Mathis der Maler (opera, 1938).

Hindenburg^1 /hndnbrk/ former German name (1915–45) for Zabrze.

Hindenburg^2 /hndənbə/ German /hndnbrk/ Paul Ludwig von Beneckendorff und von (1847–1934), German Field Marshal and statesman, President of the Weimar Republic 1925–34. Elected President in 1925 and re-elected in 1932, he reluctantly appointed Hitler as Chancellor in 1933.

Hindenburg Line (in the First World War) a German fortified line of defence on the Western Front to which Paul von Hindenburg directed retreat and which was not breached until near the end of the war. Also called SIEGFRIED LINE.

hinder^1 /hndə/ v. [with obj.] make it difficult for (someone) to do something or for (something) to happen: language barriers hindered communication between scientists.

<ORIGIN> Old English hindrian ‘injure or damage’, of Germanic origin; related to German hindern, also to BEHIND.

hinder^2 /hndə/ adj. [attr.] (especially of a bodily part) rear; hind: the hinder end of its body.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps from Old English hinderweard ‘backward’, related to BEHIND.

Hindi /hndi/ n. [mass noun] the most widely spoken language of northern India, with over 200 million speakers; one of the official languages of India. It is an Indic language derived from Sanskrit and is written in the Devanagari script.

■ adj. relating to Hindi.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu hindī, from Hind ‘India’.

hindlimb n. either of the two back limbs of an animal.

hindmost adj. furthest back: the hindmost attendant.

Hindoo n. & adj.

■ archaic spelling of HINDU.

hindquarters plural n. the hind legs and adjoining parts of a quadruped.

hindrance /hndr(ə)ns/ n. a thing that provides resistance, delay, or obstruction to something or someone: a hindrance to the development process | [mass noun] the visitor can wander around without hindrance.

hindsight n. [mass noun] understanding of a situation or event only after it has happened or developed: with hindsight, I should never have gone.

Hindu /hndu hndu/ n. (pl. Hindus) a follower of Hinduism.

■ adj. relating to Hindus or Hinduism.

<ORIGIN> Urdu, from Persian hindū, from Hind ‘India’.

Hinduism n. [mass noun] a major religious and cultural tradition of the Indian subcontinent, which developed from Vedic religion.

Hinduism is practised primarily in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is a diverse family of devotional and ascetic cults and philosophical schools, all sharing a belief in reincarnation and involving the worship of one or more of a large pantheon of gods and goddesses, including Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu (incarnate as Rama and Krishna), Kali, Durga, Parvati, and Ganesh. Hindu society was traditionally based on a caste system.

<DERIVATIVES> Hinduize (also Hinduise) v.

Hindu Kush /hndu ku k/ a range of high mountains in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan, forming a westward continuation of the Himalayas. Several peaks exceed 6,150 m (20,000 ft), the highest being Tirich Mir.

Hindustan /hndstαn -stan/ HISTORICAL the Indian subcontinent in general, more specifically that part of India north of the Deccan, especially the plains of the Ganges and Jumna Rivers.

Hindustani /hndstαni/ n. [mass noun] a group of mutually intelligible languages and dialects spoken in NW India, principally Hindi and Urdu.

- the Delhi dialect of Hindi, widely used throughout India as a lingua franca.

■ adj. relating to the culture of NW India: Hindustani classical music.

<USAGE> Hindustani was the usual term in the 18th and 19th centuries for the native language of NW India. The usual modern term is Hindi (or Urdu in Muslim contexts), although Hindustani is still used to refer to the dialect of Hindi spoken around Delhi.

Hindutva /hndtvə/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN an ideology seeking to establish the hegemony of Hindus and the Hindu way of life.

<ORIGIN> Hindi.

hindwing n. either of the two back wings of a four-winged insect.

hinge n. a movable joint or mechanism on which a door, gate, or lid swings as it opens and closes or which connects linked objects.

- [BIOLOGY] a natural joint that performs a similar function, for example that of a bivalve shell.

- a central or pivotal point or principle on which everything depends: this period can be called the hinge of history.

■ v. (hinges, hingeing or hinging, hinged) [with obj.] attach or join with or as if with a hinge: the ironing board was set into the wall and hinged at the bottom | (as adj. hinged) a pocket watch with a hinged lid.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a door or part of a structure) hang and turn on a hinge: the skull's jaw hinged down.

- [no obj.] (hinge on) depend entirely on: the future of the industry could hinge on the outcome of next month's election.

<DERIVATIVES> hingeless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English henge; related to HANG.

Hinglish /hli/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL a blend of Hindi and English, in particular a variety of English used by speakers of Hindi, characterized by frequent use of Hindi vocabulary or constructions.

hinky adj. (hinkier, hinkiest) US INFORMAL (of a person) dishonest or suspect: he knew the guy was hinky.

- (of an object) unreliable: my brakes are a little hinky.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: of obscure origin.

hinny^1 n. (pl. hinnies) the offspring of a female donkey and a male horse.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via Latin from Greek hinnos.

hinny^2 (also hinnie) n. (pl. hinnies) SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH used as a term of endearment.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: variant of HONEY.

hinoki /hnəki/ n. (also hinoki cypress) a tall slow-growing tree native to Japan, which has bright green leaves and yields a valuable timber.

<INFO> Chamaecyparis obtusa, family Cupressaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Japanese.

hint n. 1 a slight or indirect indication or suggestion: he has given no hint of his views.

- a very small trace of something: Randall smiled with a hint of mockery.

2 a small piece of practical information or advice: handy hints on saving energy in your home.

■ v. [no obj.] suggest or indicate something indirectly or covertly: the Minister hinted at a possible change of heart | [with clause] he hinted that the sale might be delayed.

- (hint at) be a slight or possible indication of: the restrained fronts of the terraced houses only hinted at the wealth within.

<PHRASES>

□ take a (or the) hint understand and act on what someone is implying or suggesting: she tried to put him off but he didn't take the hint.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘occasion, opportunity’): apparently from obsolete hent ‘grasp, get hold of’, from Old English hentan, of Germanic origin; related to HUNT. The basic notion is ‘something that may be taken advantage of’.

hinterland /hntəland/ n. [usually in sing.] the remote areas of a country away from the coast or the banks of major rivers: the hinterland of southern Italy.

- the area around or beyond a major town or port: a market town serving its rich agricultural hinterland.

- FIGURATIVE an area lying beyond what is visible or known: the strange hinterland where life begins and ends.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, from hinter ‘behind’ + Land ‘land’.

HIP abbr. (in the UK) home information pack, a set of information about a house or flat that a seller must provide to a potential buyer.

hip^1 n. 1 a projection of the pelvis and upper thigh bone on each side of the body in human beings and quadrupeds.

- (hips) the circumference of the body at the buttocks: a dark girl with big hips.

- a person's hip joint: she dislocated her hip.

2 the sharp edge of a roof from the ridge to the eaves where the two sides meet.

<PHRASES>

□ be joined at the hip INFORMAL (of two people) be inseparable.

□ on the hip ARCHAIC at a disadvantage.

<ORIGIN> Old English hype, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heup and German Hüfte, also to hop^1.

hip^2 (also rose hip) n. the fruit of a rose, especially a wild kind.

<ORIGIN> Old English hēope, hīope, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch joop and German Hiefe.

hip^3 adj. (hipper, hippest) INFORMAL 1 very fashionable: it's hip to be environmentally conscious.

2 aware of or informed about: he's trying to show how hip he is to Americana.

<DERIVATIVES> hipness n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

hip^4 exclam. introducing a communal cheer: hip hip hooray!

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: of unknown origin.

hip bath n. a portable bath large enough to sit rather than lie down in.

hip bone n. a large bone forming the main part of the pelvis on each side of the body and consisting of the fused ilium, ischium, and pubis. Also called INNOMINATE BONE.

hip flask n. a small flask for spirits, of a kind intended to be carried in a hip pocket.

hip hop n. [mass noun] a style of popular music of US black and Hispanic origin, featuring rap with an electronic backing.

<DERIVATIVES> hip-hopper n.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: reduplication probably based on hip^3.

hip-huggers plural n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN hipsters.

<DERIVATIVES> hip-hugging adj.

hip joint n. the ball-and-socket joint connecting a leg to the trunk of the body, in which the head of the thigh bone fits into the socket of the hip bone.

Hipparchus /hpαkəs/ (c.170–after 126 BC), Greek astronomer and geographer. He is best known for his discovery of the precession of the equinoxes and is credited with the invention of trigonometry.

hippeastrum /hpastrəm/ n. see AMARYLLIS.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek hippeus ‘horseman’ (the leaves appearing to ride on one another) + astron ‘star’ (from the flower-shape).

hipped^1 adj. [in combination] having hips of a specified kind: a thin-hipped girl.

hipped^2 adj. (hipped on) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN obsessed or infatuated with: they're hipped on discipline.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from HIP^3, or as the past participle of hip ‘make someone hip (i.e. aware)’.

hipped roof (also hip roof) n. a roof with a sharp edge or edges from the ridge to the eaves where the two sides meet.

hippo n. (pl. same or hippos)

■ informal term for HIPPOPOTAMUS.

hippocampus /hpə()kampəs/ n. (pl. hippocampi /-pi -p/) [ANATOMY] the elongated ridges on the floor of each lateral ventricle of the brain, thought to be the centre of emotion, memory, and the autonomic nervous system.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek hippokampos, from hippos ‘horse’ + kampos ‘sea monster’.

hip pocket n. a pocket in the back of a pair of trousers.

<PHRASES>

□ in someone's hip pocket NORTH AMERICAN completely under someone's control.

hippocras /hpəkras/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL wine flavoured with spices.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French ipocras ‘Hippocrates’ (see HIPPOCRATES), translating medieval Latin vinum Hippocraticum ‘Hippocratic wine’ (because it was strained through a filter called a Hippocrates' sleeve).

Hippocrates /hpkrətiz/ (c.460–377 BC), Greek physician, traditionally regarded as the father of medicine. His name is associated with the medical profession's Hippocratic oath from his attachment to a body of ancient Greek medical writings, probably none of which was written by him.

Hippocratic oath /hpəkratk/ n. an oath stating the obligations and proper conduct of doctors, formerly taken by those beginning medical practice. Parts of the oath are still used in some medical schools.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Hippocratic from medieval Latin Hippocraticus ‘relating to Hippocrates’ (see HIPPOCRATES).

Hippocrene /hpəkrin/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY used to refer to poetic or literary inspiration.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via Latin from Greek Hippokrēnē, Hippou krēnē, literally ‘fountain of the horse’ (from hippos ‘horse’ + krēnē ‘fountain’), the name of a fountain on Mount Helicon sacred to the Muses, which according to legend was produced by a stroke of Pegasus' hoof.

hippodrome /hpədrəm/ n. 1 [as name] a theatre or concert hall: the Birmingham Hippodrome.

2 (in ancient Greece or Rome) a stadium for chariot or horse races.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from French, via Latin from Greek hippodromos, from hippos ‘horse’ + dromos ‘race, course’. The early sense led to the term's use as a grandiose name for a modern circus, later applied to other places of popular entertainment.

hippogriff /hpə()rf/ (also hippogryph) n. a mythical creature with the body of a horse and the wings and head of an eagle, born of the union of a male griffin and a filly.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French hippogriffe, from Italian ippogrifo, from Greek hippos ‘horse’ + Italian grifo ‘griffin’.

Hippolytus /hpltəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the son of Theseus, banished and cursed by his father after being accused by Phaedra of rape. He was killed when a sea monster, sent by Poseidon in response to the curse, frightened his horses as he drove his chariot along a seashore.

hippopotamus /hpəptəməs/ n. (pl. hippopotamuses or hippopotami /-m/) a large thick-skinned semiaquatic African mammal, with massive jaws and large tusks.

<INFO> Family Hippopotamidae: the very large Hippopotamus amphibius, frequenting rivers and lakes, and the smaller pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis), frequenting forests near fresh water in West Africa.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Latin from Greek hippopotamos, earlier hippos ho potamios ‘river horse’ (from hippos ‘horse’, potamos ‘river’).

Hippo Regius /hpə ridəs/ see ANNABA.

hippurate /hpj(ə)rət/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of hippuric acid.

hippuric acid /hpjərk/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound formed in metabolism and present in the urine of herbivores and other mammals.

<INFO> A benzoyl derivative of glycine; chem. formula: C_6H_5CONHCH_2COOH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: hippuric from Greek hippos ‘horse’ + ouron ‘urine’ + -IC.

hippus /hpəs/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE spasmodic or rhythmic contraction of the pupil of the eye, a symptom of some neurological conditions.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek hippos ‘tremor of the eyes’.

hippy^1 (also hippie) n. (pl. hippies) (especially in the 1960s) a person of unconventional appearance, typically having long hair and wearing beads, associated with a subculture involving a rejection of conventional values and the taking of hallucinogenic drugs.

■ adj. relating to hippies or the subculture associated with them: hippy philosophy.

<DERIVATIVES> hippiedom n. hippiness n. hippyish adj.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from HIP^3 + -Y^1.

hippy^2 adj. (of a woman) having large hips.

hippy-dippy adj. (hippy-dippier, hippy-dippiest) INFORMAL rejecting conventional practices or behaviour in a way perceived to be vague and unconsidered or foolishly idealistic.

hip roof n. another term form HIPPED ROOF.

hipshot adj. & adv. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN having a dislocated hip.

- [as adv.] standing with one hip lower than the other.

hipster^1 British adj. (of a garment) cut to fit and fasten at the hips rather than the waist.

■ n. (hipsters) trousers cut to fit and fasten at the hips.

hipster^2 n. INFORMAL a person who follows the latest trends and fashions.

<DERIVATIVES> hipsterism n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (used originally as an equivalent term to HEPCAT): from HIP^3 + -STER.

hiragana /hrəαnə hərə-/ n. [mass noun] the more cursive form of kana (syllabic writing) used in Japanese, primarily used for function words and inflections. Compare with KATAKANA.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, ‘plain kana’.

hircine /həsn/ adj. LITERARY of or resembling a goat.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin hircinus, from hircus ‘he-goat’.

hire v. [with obj.] 1 chiefly BRITISH obtain the temporary use of (something) for an agreed payment: we flew to San Diego, hired a car, and headed for Las Vegas.

- (hire something out) grant the temporary use of something for an agreed payment: most train stations hire out cycles.

2 employ (someone) for wages: management hired and fired labour in line with demand.

- employ for a short time to do a particular job: Wilmot hired a private detective to follow him | (as adj. hired) a hired assassin.

- (hire oneself out) make oneself available for temporary employment.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the action of hiring someone or something: car hire is recommended | [as modifier] a hire charge.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a recently recruited employee: new hires go through six months of training.

<PHRASES>

□ for (or on) hire available to be hired.

<DERIVATIVES> hireable (US also hirable) adj. hirer n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hȳrian ‘employ someone for wages’, hȳr ‘payment under contract for the use of something’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch huren (verb), huur (noun).

hire car n. BRITISH a car hired, or available for hire.

hired girl n. NORTH AMERICAN a female domestic servant.

hired gun n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL 1 a hired bodyguard, mercenary, or assassin.

2 an expert brought in to resolve complex legal or financial problems or to lobby for a cause.

hired hand n. a person hired to do short-term manual work.

hired man n. NORTH AMERICAN a male domestic servant.

hireling n. chiefly DEROGATORY a person employed to undertake menial work, especially on a casual basis.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from HIRE + -LING, on the pattern of Dutch huurling.

hire purchase n. [mass noun] BRITISH a system by which one pays for a thing in regular instalments while having the use of it.

hi-res (also high-res) adj. INFORMAL (of a display or a photographic or video image) showing a large amount of detail.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from high-resolution.

Hirohito /hrəhitə/ (1901–89), emperor of Japan 1926–89; full name Michinomiya Hirohito. Regarded as the 124th direct descendant of Jimmu, he refrained from involvement in politics, though he was instrumental in obtaining Japan's agreement to the unconditional surrender which ended the Second World War. In 1946 the new constitution imposed by America obliged him to renounce his divinity and become a constitutional monarch.

hirola /hrələ/ n. a rare yellowish-brown antelope native to Kenya and Somalia.

<INFO> Damaliscus hunteri, family Bovidae. Alternative name: Hunter's hartebeest.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Oromo.

Hiroshima /hrmə hrəimə/ a city on the south coast of the island of Honshu, western Japan, capital of Chugoku region; pop. 1,132,900 (est. 2002). It was the target of the first atom bomb, which was dropped by the United States on 6 August 1945 and resulted in the deaths of about one third of the city's population of 300,000. Together with a second attack, on Nagasaki three days later, this led to Japan's surrender and the end of the Second World War.

hirple /həp(ə)l/ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] chiefly SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH walk with a limp; hobble.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: of unknown origin.

Hirschsprung's disease /hə(s)prz/ n. [mass noun] a congenital condition in which the rectum and part of the colon fail to develop a normal system of nerves, leading to an accumulation of faeces in the colon following birth.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Harald Hirschsprung (1830–1916), Danish paediatrician.

Hirst Damien (b.1965), English painter and sculptor. He is chiefly known for using the bodies of dead animals in his work; perhaps his most famous piece is The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), which consists of a shark in a tank of preserving fluid.

hirsute /həsjut/ adj. LITERARY or HUMOROUS hairy: their hirsute chests.

<DERIVATIVES> hirsuteness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin hirsutus.

hirsutism /həsjutz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal growth of hair on a woman's face and body.

hirundine /hrndn hrndn/ n. [BIRD] a songbird of the swallow family (Hirundinidae).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin hirundo ‘swallow’ + -INE^1.

his possessive determiner 1 belonging to or associated with a male person or animal previously mentioned or easily identified: James sold his business.

- belonging to or associated with a person or animal of unspecified sex (in modern use chiefly replaced by ‘his or her’ or ‘their’): any child with delayed speech should have his hearing checked. See usage at he.

2 (His) used in titles: His Excellency | His Lordship.

■ possessive pronoun used to refer to a thing or things belonging to or associated with a male person or animal previously mentioned: he took my hand in his | some friends of his.

<PHRASES>

□ his and hers (of matching items) for husband and wife, or men and women: his and hers towels.

<ORIGIN> Old English, genitive singular form of he, hē ‘he’ and hit ‘it’.

Hispanic /hspank/ adj. relating to Spain or to Spanish-speaking countries, especially those of Central and South America.

- relating to Spanish-speaking people or their culture, especially in the US.

■ n. a Spanish-speaking person, especially one of Latin American descent, living in the US.

<DERIVATIVES> Hispanicize (also Hispanicise) v.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Hispanicus, from Hispania ‘Spain’.

<USAGE> In the US, Hispanic is the standard accepted term when referring to Spanish-speaking people living in the US. Other, more specific, terms such as Latino and Chicano are also used where occasion demands.

Hispanic American n. a US citizen or resident of Hispanic descent.

■ adj. relating to Hispanic Americans.

Hispaniola /hspanjələ/ an island of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean, divided into the states of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. After its European discovery by Columbus in 1492, Hispaniola was colonized by the Spaniards, who ceded the western part (now Haiti) to France in 1697.

Hispanist /hspənst/ (also Hispanicist /hspansst/) n. an expert in or student of the language and culture of Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of South America.

Hispano- /hspanə/ combining form Spanish; Spanish and …: Hispano-Argentine.

- relating to Spain.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Hispanus ‘Spanish’.

hispid /hspd/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] covered with stiff hair or bristles.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin hispidus.

hiss v. [no obj.] make a sharp sibilant sound as of the letter s: the escaping gas was hissing.

- (of a person) make a sibilant sound as a sign of disapproval or derision: the audience hissed loudly at the mention of his name.

- [with obj.] express disapproval of (someone) by hissing: he was hissed off the stage.

- [reporting v.] whisper something in an urgent or angry way: [with direct speech] ‘Get back!’ he hissed.

■ n. a sharp sibilant sound: the spit and hiss of a cornered cat.

- a sibilant sound used to convey disapproval or derision: the audience greeted this comment with boos and hisses.

- [mass noun] electrical interference at audio frequencies: tape hiss.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb): imitative.

hissy fit n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an angry outburst; a temper tantrum: I screamed and kicked the furniture and threw a hissy fit.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (as hissy): perhaps from hysterics (see HYSTERIC).

hist exclam. ARCHAIC used to attract attention or call for silence.

<ORIGIN> natural exclamation: first recorded in English in the late 16th century.

hist- combining form variant spelling of HISTO- shortened before a vowel (as in histidine).

histamine /hstəmin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound which is released by cells in response to injury and in allergic and inflammatory reactions, causing contraction of smooth muscle and dilation of capillaries.

<INFO> A heterocyclic AMINE; chem. formula: C_5H_9N_3.

<DERIVATIVES> histaminic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: blend of HISTIDINE and amine.

histidine /hstdin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a basic amino acid which is a constituent of most proteins. It is an essential nutrient in the diet of vertebrates, and is the source from which histamine is derived in the body.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_6H_9N_3O_2.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek histos ‘web, tissue’ + -IDE + -INE^4.

histiocyte /hstə()st/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a stationary phagocytic cell present in connective tissue.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek histion (diminutive of histos ‘tissue, web’) + -CYTE.

histo- /hstə/ (also hist- before a vowel) combining form [BIOLOGY] relating to organic tissue: histochemistry | histocompatibility.

<ORIGIN> from Greek histos ‘web, tissue’.

histochemistry n. [mass noun] the branch of science concerned with the identification and distribution of the chemical constituents of tissues by means of stains, indicators, and microscopy.

<DERIVATIVES> histochemical adj.

histocompatibility n. [mass noun] MEDICINE compatibility between the tissues of different individuals, so that one accepts a graft from the other without giving an immune reaction.

histogenesis /hstə()dεnss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the differentiation of cells into specialized tissues and organs during growth.

<DERIVATIVES> histogenetic adj.

histogeny /hstdni/ n. another term for HISTOGENESIS.

<DERIVATIVES> histogenic adj.

histogram n. [STATISTICS] a diagram consisting of rectangles whose area is proportional to the frequency of a variable and whose width is equal to the class interval.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek histos ‘mast, web’ + -GRAM^1.

histology /hstlədi/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the study of the microscopic structure of tissues.

<DERIVATIVES> histologic adj. histological adj. histologist n.

histolysis /hstlss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the breaking down of tissues (e.g. during animal metamorphosis).

<DERIVATIVES> histolytic adj.

histone /hstən/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of basic proteins found in chromatin.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German, perhaps from Greek histanai ‘arrest’ or from histos ‘web, tissue’.

histopathology n. [mass noun] the study of changes in tissues caused by disease.

<DERIVATIVES> histopathological adj. histopathologically adv. histopathologist n.

histoplasmosis /hstəplazməss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE infection by a fungus found in the droppings of birds and bats in humid areas. It is not serious if confined to the lungs but can be fatal if spread throughout the body.

<INFO> The fungus is Histoplasma capsulatum.

historian n. an expert in or student of history, especially that of a particular period, geographical region, or social phenomenon: a military historian.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French historien, from Latin historia (see HISTORY).

historiated /hstretd/ adj. (of an initial letter in an illuminated manuscript) decorated with designs representing scenes from the text.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French historié, past participle of historier in an obsolete sense ‘illustrate’, from medieval Latin historiare, from historia (see HISTORY).

historic adj. 1 famous or important in history, or potentially so: the area's numerous historic sites | a historic occasion.

- ARCHAIC of or concerning history; of the past: eruptions in historic times.

2 [GRAMMAR] (of a tense) used in the narration of past events, especially Latin and Greek imperfect and pluperfect.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘relating to or in accordance with history’): via Latin from Greek historikos, from historia ‘narrative, knowing by enquiry’ (see HISTORY).

<USAGE> 1 On the use of an historic moment or a historic moment, see usage at an
2 Historic and historical are used in slightly different ways. Historic means ‘famous or important in history’, as in a historic occasion, whereas historical means ‘concerning history or historical events’, as in historical evidence: thus a historic event is one that was very important, whereas a historical event is something that happened in the past.

historical adj. of or concerning history or past events: historical evidence.

- belonging to the past: famous historical figures.

- (especially of a novel or film) set in the past.

- (of the study of a subject) based on an analysis of its development over a period: for the Darwinians, biogeography became a historical science.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek historikos (see HISTORIC).

<USAGE> On the use of an historical event or a historical event, see usage at an.

historical linguistics plural n. [treated as sing.] the study of the history and development of languages.

historically adv. with reference to past events: a historically accurate picture of the time.

- [sentence adv.] in the past: historically, government policy has favoured urban dwellers.

historical materialism n. another term for DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM.

historicism n. [mass noun] 1 the theory that social and cultural phenomena are determined by history.

- the belief that historical events are governed by natural laws.

2 the tendency to regard historical development as the most basic aspect of human existence.

3 (in artistic and architectural contexts) excessive regard for past styles.

<DERIVATIVES> historicist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HISTORIC, translating German Historismus.

historicity /hstərsti/ n. [mass noun] historical authenticity: the historicity of bible narrative.

historicize (also historicise) v. [with obj.] treat or represent as historical.

<DERIVATIVES> historicization n.

historic present n. [mass noun] [GRAMMAR] the present tense used instead of the past in vivid narrative, especially in titles, such as ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, and informally in speech, e.g. ‘so I say to him’.

historiography /hstrrəfi -str-/ n. [mass noun] the study of the writing of history and of written histories.

- the writing of history.

<DERIVATIVES> historiographer n. historiographic adj. historiographical adj. historiographically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via medieval Latin from Greek historiographia, from historia ‘narrative, history’ + -graphia ‘writing’.

history n. (pl. histories) 1 [mass noun] the study of past events, particularly in human affairs: medieval European history.

- the past considered as a whole: letters that have changed the course of history.

2 the whole series of past events connected with a particular person or thing: the history of the Empire | a patient with a complicated medical history.

- an eventful past: the group has quite a history.

- a past characterized by a particular thing: his family had a history of insanity.

3 a continuous, typically chronological, record of important or public events or of a particular trend or institution: a history of the labour movement.

- a historical play: Shakespeare's comedies, histories, and tragedies.

<PHRASES>

□ be history be perceived as no longer relevant to the present: the mainframe will soon be history.

- INFORMAL used to indicate imminent departure, dismissal, or death: an inch either way and you'd be history.

□ go down in history be remembered or recorded in history: the 1981 Grand National has gone down in history as one of the most emotional races ever run.

□ make history do something that is remembered in or influences the course of history.

□ the rest is history used to indicate that the events succeeding those already related are so well known that they need not be recounted again: they teamed up, discovered that they could make music, and the rest is history.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also as a verb): via Latin from Greek historia ‘finding out, narrative, history’, from histōr ‘learned, wise man’, from an Indo-European root shared by wit^2.

history-sheeter n. INDIAN a person with a criminal record.

histosol /hstəsl/ n. [GEOLOGY] a soil of an order comprising peaty soils, with a deep surface layer of purely organic material.

histrionic /hstrnk/ adj. excessively theatrical or dramatic in character or style: a histrionic outburst.

- FORMAL of or concerning actors or acting: histrionic talents.

- [PSYCHIATRY] denoting a personality disorder marked by shallow volatile emotions and attention-seeking behaviour.

■ n. 1 (histrionics) melodramatic behaviour designed to attract attention: by now, Anna was accustomed to her mother's histrionics.

- ARCHAIC dramatic performances; the theatre.

2 ARCHAIC an actor.

<DERIVATIVES> histrionically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘dramatically exaggerated, hypocritical’): from late Latin histrionicus, from Latin histrio(n-) ‘actor’.

hit v. (hits, hitting, hit) [with obj.] 1 bring one's hand or a tool or weapon into contact with (someone or something) quickly and forcefully: Marius hit him in the mouth | [no obj.] police hit out with truncheons.

- accidentally strike (part of one's body) against something, often causing injury: she fainted and hit her head on the metal bedstead.

- (of a moving object or body) come into contact with (someone or something stationary) quickly and forcefully: a car hit the barrier.

- INFORMAL touch or press (part of a machine or other device) in order to work it: he picked up the phone and hit several buttons.

2 cause harm or distress to: the area has been badly hit by pit closures | it hit him very hard when Rosie left.

- (of a disaster) occur in and cause damage to (an area) suddenly: the country was hit by a major earthquake.

- [no obj.] make a strongly worded criticism or attack: he hit out at the club's decision to place him on the transfer list.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN attack and rob or kill: if they're cops, maybe it's not a good idea to have them hit.

3 (of a missile or a person aiming one) strike (a target): the sniper fired and hit a third man.

- be suddenly and vividly realized by: [with obj. and clause] it hit her that I wanted to settle down here.

- [no obj.] (hit on/upon) discover or think of, especially by chance: she hit on a novel idea for fund-raising.

4 INFORMAL reach (a particular level, point, or figure): capital spending this year is likely to hit $1,800 million | his career hit rock bottom.

- be affected by (an unfortunate and unexpected circumstance or event): the opening of the town centre hit a snag.

- arrive at or go to (a place): it was still night when we hit the outskirts of London.

- (of a product) become available and make an impact on: the latest board game to hit the market.

- [no obj.] take effect: we sat waiting for the caffeine to hit.

- give (someone) a dose of a drug or an alcoholic drink.

- used to convey that someone is engaging in a particular pursuit or activity with enthusiasm: we went to Val D'Isere to hit the shops.

- [no obj.] (hit on) NORTH AMERICAN make sexual advances towards.

- (hit someone for or hit on) chiefly US ask someone for: she was waiting for the right moment to hit her mother for some cash.

5 propel (a ball) with a bat, racket, stick, etc. to score runs or points in a game.

- score (a run or point) in this way: he had hit 25 home runs.

■ n. 1 an instance of striking or being struck: few structures can withstand a hit from a speeding car.

- a verbal attack: I think people will try to take a hit at my credibility.

- INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a murder, typically one planned and carried out by a criminal organization.

- [BASEBALL] short for BASE HIT.

2 an instance of striking the target aimed at: one of the bombers had scored a direct hit.

- [COMPUTING] an instance of identifying an item of data which matches the requirements of a search.

- [COMPUTING] an instance of a particular website being accessed by a user: the site gets an average 350,000 hits a day.

3 a successful venture, especially a film, pop record, or song: he was the director of many big hits | [as modifier] a hit single.

- INFORMAL a successful and popular person or thing: he's proving to be a big hit with the fans.

4 INFORMAL a dose of a narcotic drug.

<PHRASES>

□ hit-and-miss done or occurring at random: picking a remedy can be a bit hit-and-miss.

□ hit-and-run denoting a person who causes accidental or wilful damage and escapes before being discovered, or damage caused in this way: he was struck by a hit-and-run driver.

□ hit someone below the belt [BOXING] give one's opponent an illegal low blow.

- behave unfairly to someone, especially so as to gain an unfair advantage.

□ hit the bottle see BOTTLE.

□ hit someone for SIX see SIX.

□ hit the ground running INFORMAL start something and proceed at a fast pace with great enthusiasm.

□ hit the hay see hay^1.

□ hit HOME see HOME.

□ hit it off INFORMAL be naturally friendly or well suited.

□ hit the JACKPOT see JACKPOT.

□ hit the mark be successful in an attempt or accurate in a guess.

□ hit the nail on the head find exactly the right answer.

□ hit-or-miss as likely to be unsuccessful as successful: most drugs on the market have been found by hit-or-miss methods.

□ hit the right NOTE see NOTE.

□ hit the road (or North American trail) INFORMAL set out on a journey.

□ hit the ROOF see ROOF.

□ hit the sack see sack^1.

□ hit the SPOT see SPOT.

□ hit wicket [CRICKET] the action of a batsman stepping on or knocking over their own wicket, resulting in their dismissal.

□ make a hit be successful or popular: you made a big hit with their daughter.

<DERIVATIVES> hitter n.

<ORIGIN> late Old English hittan (in the sense ‘come upon, find’), from Old Norse hitta ‘come upon, meet with’, of unknown origin.

hitch v. 1 [with obj., and adverbial of direction] move (something) into a different position with a jerk: she hitched up her skirt and ran.

2 [no obj.] INFORMAL travel by hitch-hiking: they hitched to Birmingham.

- [with obj.] obtain (a lift) by hitch-hiking.

3 [with obj.] fasten or tether: he returned to where he had hitched his horse.

- harness (a draught animal or team): Thomas hitched the pony to his cart.

■ n. 1 a temporary difficulty or problem: everything went without a hitch.

2 a knot of a particular kind, typically one used for fastening a rope to something else.

- NORTH AMERICAN a device for attaching one thing to another, especially the tow bar of a motor vehicle.

3 INFORMAL an act of hitch-hiking.

4 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a period of service: his 12-year hitch in the navy.

<PHRASES>

□ get hitched INFORMAL marry.

□ hitch one's wagon to a star try to succeed by forming a relationship with someone who is already successful.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 1 of the verb): of unknown origin.

Hitchcock Sir Alfred (Joseph) (1899–1980), English film director. Acclaimed in Britain for films such as The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935), he moved to Hollywood in 1939. Among his later works, notable for their suspense and their technical ingenuity, are the thrillers Strangers on a Train (1951), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963).

<DERIVATIVES> Hitchcockian adj.

Hitchens /htnz/ Ivon (1893–1979), English painter. He is known chiefly for landscapes represented in an almost abstract style using areas of vibrant colour.

hitcher n. a hitch-hiker.

hitch-hike v. [no obj.] travel by getting free lifts in passing vehicles: we hitch-hiked up to Scotland.

■ n. a journey made by hitch-hiking.

<DERIVATIVES> hitch-hiker n.

Hite Shere (b.1942), American feminist. She published her research into sex, gender definition, and private life in the groundbreaking work The Hite Report on Female Sexuality (1976), based on the responses of thousands of people to anonymous questionnaires.

hither adv. ARCHAIC or LITERARY to or towards this place: I little knew then that such calamity would summon me hither!

■ adj. ARCHAIC situated on this side: the hither side of Severn.

<PHRASES>

□ hither and thither (also hither and yon) in various directions, especially in a disorganized way: the entire household ran hither and thither.

<ORIGIN> Old English hider, of Germanic origin; related to HE and HERE.

hitherto adv. until now or until the point in time under discussion: hitherto part of French West Africa, Benin achieved independence in 1960.

hitherward adv. ARCHAIC to or towards this place.

Hitler Adolf (1889–1945), Austrian-born Nazi leader, Chancellor of Germany 1933–45.

- (as n. a Hitler) a person with authoritarian or tyrannical characteristics: little Hitlers of the Trade Union movement.

Hitler co-founded the National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party in 1919, and came to prominence through his powers of oratory. While imprisoned for an unsuccessful putsch (coup) in Munich (1923–4) he wrote Mein Kampf (1925), an exposition of his political ideas. Becoming Chancellor in 1933, he established the totalitarian Third Reich. His expansionist foreign policy precipitated the Second World War, while his fanatical anti-Semitism led to the Holocaust.

<DERIVATIVES> Hitlerian adj. Hitlerism n. Hitlerite n. & adj.

Hitler moustache n. a small square moustache like that worn by Adolf Hitler.

Hitler salute n. another term for NAZI SALUTE.

hit list n. a list of people to be killed for criminal or political reasons: a terrorist hit list.

hit man n. INFORMAL a person who is paid to kill someone, especially for a criminal or political organization.

hit-out n. 1 [AUSTRALIAN RULES] an instance of hitting the ball towards a teammate after it has been bounced by the umpire or at a boundary throw-in.

2 AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a brisk run.

hit parade n. DATED a weekly listing of the current best-selling pop records.

hit squad n. a team of assassins.

Hittite /htt/ n. 1 a member of an ancient people who established an empire in Asia Minor and Syria that flourished from c.1700 to c.1200 BC.

- a subject of the Hittite empire or one of their descendants, including a Canaanite or Syrian people mentioned in the Bible (11th to 8th century BC).

2 [mass noun] the language of the Hittites, the oldest attested Indo-European language. Written in both hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts, it was deciphered in the early 20th century.

■ adj. relating to the Hittites, their empire, or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ittīm, ultimately from Hittite atti.

HIV abbr. human immunodeficiency virus, a retrovirus which causes Aids.

hive n. a beehive.

- the bees in a hive.

- a thing that has the domed shape of a beehive.

- FIGURATIVE a place in which people are busily occupied: the kitchen became a hive of activity.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 place (bees) in a hive.

- [no obj.] (of bees) enter a hive.

2 (hive something off) chiefly BRITISH separate something from a larger group or organization: the printing department was hived off in a management buyout.

<ORIGIN> Old English hȳf, of Germanic origin.

hives plural n. [treated as sing. or plural]

■ another term for URTICARIA.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally Scots, denoting various conditions causing a rash, especially in children): of unknown origin.

HIV-positive adj. having had a positive result in a blood test for the Aids virus HIV.

hiya exclam. an informal greeting.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: alteration of how are you?

HK abbr. Hong Kong.

HKJ abbr. Jordan (international vehicle registration).

<ORIGIN> from Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

HL abbr. (in the UK) House of Lords.

hl abbr. hectolitre(s).

HM abbr.

- headmaster or headmistress.

- BRITISH heavy metal (music).

- (in the UK) Her or His Majesty('s): HM Forces.

hm abbr. hectometre(s).

h'm (also hmm) exclam. & n.

■ variant spelling of hem^2, hum^2.

HMG abbr. (in the UK) Her or His Majesty's Government.

HMI abbr. HISTORICAL (in the UK) Her or His Majesty's Inspector (of Schools).

HMO abbr. health maintenance organization.

Hmong /hm/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people living in isolated mountain villages throughout SE Asia.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Hmong, occurring in a large number of highly distinct dialects.

■ adj. relating to or denoting the Hmong or their language.

<USAGE> The term Hmong is now usually preferred, as being the name the people use with reference to themselves, though the Chinese name Miao (or, in SE Asia, Meo) was until recently more common in English contexts.

HMS abbr. Her or His Majesty's Ship, used in the names of ships in the British navy: HMS Ark Royal.

HMSO abbr. (in the UK) Her or His Majesty's Stationery Office, which publishes official government documents and legislation.

HNC abbr. (in the UK) Higher National Certificate.

HND abbr. (in the UK) Higher National Diploma.

Ho symbol the chemical element holmium.

ho^1 exclam. 1 an expression of surprise, admiration, triumph, or derision: Ho! I'll show you.

- [in combination] used as the second element of various exclamations: what ho! | heave ho.

2 used to call for attention: ho there!

- [in combination] chiefly [NAUTICAL] used to draw attention to something seen: land ho!

<ORIGIN> natural exclamation: first recorded in Middle English.

ho^2 (also hoe) n. (pl. hos or hoes) BLACK SLANG a prostitute.

- DEROGATORY a woman.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: representing a dialect pronunciation of WHORE.

ho. abbr. house.

hoagie /həi/ n. (pl. hoagies) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a sandwich made of a long roll filled with meat, cheese, and salad.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

hoar /h/ ARCHAIC or LITERARY adj. greyish white; grey or grey-haired with age.

■ n. [mass noun] hoar frost.

<ORIGIN> Old English hār, of Germanic origin; related to German hehr ‘majestic, noble’.

hoard n. a stock or store of money or valued objects, typically one that is secret or carefully guarded: he came back to rescue his little hoard of gold.

- an ancient store of coins or other valuable artefacts: a hoard of Romano-British bronzes.

- an amassed store of useful information, retained for future use: a hoard of secret information about his work.

■ v. [with obj.] accumulate (money or valued objects) and hide or store away: thousands of antiques hoarded by a compulsive collector.

- keep in one's mind for future use: (as adj. hoarded) a year's worth of hoarded resentments and grudges.

<ORIGIN> Old English hord (noun), hordian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to German Hort (noun), horten (verb).

<USAGE> The words hoard and horde have some similarities in meaning and are pronounced the same, so they are therefore sometimes confused. A hoard is ‘a secret stock or store of something’, as in a hoard of treasure, while a horde is a disparaging word for ‘a large group of people’, as in hordes of fans descended on the stage. Instances of hoard being used instead of horde are not uncommon: around 10 per cent of citations for hoard in the Oxford English Corpus are for the incorrect use.

hoarder n. a person who hoards things: I'm a bit of a hoarder.

hoarding n. BRITISH a large board in a public place, used to display advertisements.

- a temporary board fence erected round a building site.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from obsolete hoard in the same sense (probably based on Old French hourd; related to HURDLE) + -ING^1.

hoar frost n. [mass noun] a greyish-white crystalline deposit of frozen water vapour formed in clear still weather on vegetation, fences, etc.

hoarse adj. (of a person's voice) sounding rough and harsh, typically as the result of a sore throat or of shouting: a hoarse whisper.

<DERIVATIVES> hoarsely adv. hoarsen v. hoarseness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hās, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hees. The spelling with r was influenced in Middle English by an Old Norse cognate.

hoarstone n. BRITISH (now only in place names) an ancient boundary stone.

hoary adj. (hoarier, hoariest) 1 greyish white: hoary cobwebs.

- (of a person) old and having grey or white hair: young lasses imprisoned by hoary old husbands.

- [attr.] used in names of animals and plants covered with whitish fur or short hairs, e.g. hoary bat, hoary cress.

2 overused and unoriginal; trite: the hoary old adage often used by Fleet Street editors.

<DERIVATIVES> hoarily adv. hoariness n.

hoary marmot n. a large stocky greyish-brown marmot with a whistling call, found in the mountains of north-western North America.

<INFO> Marmota caligata, family Sciuridae.

hoatzin /həatsn/ n. a large tree-dwelling tropical American bird with weak flight. Young hoatzins have hooked claws on their wings, enabling them to climb about among the branches.

<INFO> Opisthocomus hoazin, the only member of the family Opisthocomidae (order Galliformes or Cuculiformes).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from American Spanish, from Nahuatl uatzin, probably imitative of its call.

hoax n. a humorous or malicious deception: the evidence had been planted as part of an elaborate hoax | [as modifier] a hoax 999 call.

■ v. [with obj.] trick or deceive (someone).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (as a verb): probably a contraction of HOCUS.

hoaxer n. a person who tricks or deceives someone by means of a hoax: the hoaxer claimed her mother was trapped in a burning flat.

hob^1 n. 1 BRITISH a cooking appliance, or the flat top part of a cooker, with hotplates or burners.

- a flat metal shelf at the side of a fireplace, having its surface level with the top of the grate and used especially for heating pans.

2 a machine tool used for cutting gears or screw threads.

3 a peg or pin used as a mark in throwing games.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 3): alteration of HUB.

■ Sense 1, ‘metal shelf by a fireplace’, dates from the late 17th cent.

hob^2 n. 1 a male ferret. Compare with gill^4 (sense 1).

2 ARCHAIC or DIALECT a sprite or hobgoblin.

<PHRASES>

□ play (or raise) hob NORTH AMERICAN cause mischief.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘country fellow’): pet form of Rob, short for Robin or Robert, often referring specifically to ROBIN GOODFELLOW.

Hobart /həbαt/ the capital and chief port of Tasmania; pop. 197,800 (2001).

<ORIGIN> named after Lord Hobart (1760–1816), Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Hobbema /hbəmə/ Meindert (1638–1709), Dutch landscape painter. His painting focuses on a limited range of subject matter and reflects the influence of his teacher, Jacob van Ruisdael.

Hobbes /hbz/ Thomas (1588–1679), English philosopher. Hobbes was a materialist, claiming that there was no more to the mind than the physical motions discovered by science, and he believed that human action was motivated entirely by selfish concerns, notably fear of death. In Leviathan (1651) he argued that absolute monarchy was the most rational, hence desirable, form of government.

<DERIVATIVES> Hobbesian adj.

hobbit n. a member of an imaginary race similar to humans, of small size and with hairy feet, in stories by J. R. R. Tolkien.

<ORIGIN> 1937: invented by Tolkien in his book The Hobbit, and said by him to mean ‘hole-dweller’.

hobble v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] walk in an awkward way, typically because of pain from an injury: he was hobbling around on crutches.

- [with obj.] cause (a person or animal) to limp: Johnson was still hobbled slightly by an ankle injury.

2 [with obj.] tie or strap together (the legs of a horse or other animal) to prevent it from straying. [<ORIGIN> variant of HOPPLE.]

- restrict the activity or development of: the economy was hobbled by rising oil prices.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] an awkward way of walking, typically due to pain from an injury: he finished the match almost reduced to a hobble.

2 a rope or strap used for hobbling a horse or other animal.

<DERIVATIVES> hobbler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably of Dutch or Low German origin and related to Dutch hobbelen ‘rock from side to side’.

hobblebush n. a North American viburnum which bears clusters of white or pink flowers and purple-black berries.

<INFO> Viburnum alnifolium, family Caprifoliaceae.

hobbledehoy /hb(ə)ldh/ INFORMAL, DATED n. a clumsy or awkward youth.

■ adj. awkward or clumsy: his hobbledehoy hands.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

hobble skirt n. a style of skirt so narrow at the hem as to impede walking, popular in the 1910s.

Hobbs Sir Jack (1882–1963), English cricketer; full name John Berry Hobbs. During his career (1905–34) he scored 61,237 runs and 197 centuries, and made 61 test appearances for England.

hobby^1 n. (pl. hobbies) 1 an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure: her hobbies are reading and gardening.

2 ARCHAIC a small horse or pony.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English hobyn, hoby, from pet forms of the given name Robin. Originally in sense 2

■ (compare with DOBBIN), it later came to denote a toy horse or hobby horse, hence ‘an activity done for pleasure’.

hobby^2 n. (pl. hobbies) a migratory Old World falcon with long, narrow wings, catching dragonflies and birds on the wing.

<INFO> Genus Falco, family Falconidae: four species, e.g. the (northern) hobby (F. subbuteo) of Eurasia.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French hobet, diminutive of hobe ‘falcon’.

hobby farm n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a small farm operated primarily for pleasure rather than profit.

<DERIVATIVES> hobby farmer n.

hobby horse n. 1 a child's toy consisting of a stick with a model of a horse's head at one end.

- a rocking horse.

- a model of a horse or a horse's head, typically of wicker, used in morris dancing or pantomime.

2 a preoccupation or favourite topic: Brennan admits that the greenhouse effect is a hobby horse of his.

hobbyist n. a person who pursues a particular hobby: a computer hobbyist.

hobday v. [with obj.] BRITISH operate on (a horse) to improve its breathing by pinning back the vocal fold in the larynx.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Sir Frederick T. G. Hobday (1869–1939), the British veterinary surgeon who introduced the technique.

hobgoblin n. (in mythology and fairy stories) a mischievous imp or sprite.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from HOB^2 + GOBLIN.

hobnail n. a short heavy-headed nail used to reinforce the soles of boots.

- a blunt projection, especially in cut or moulded glassware.

- [mass noun] glass decorated with blunt projections.

<DERIVATIVES> hobnailed adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from HOB^1 + NAIL.

hobnail liver (also hobnailed liver) n. a liver having many small knobbly projections due to cirrhosis.

hobnob v. (hobnobs, hobnobbing, hobnobbed) [no obj.] INFORMAL mix socially, especially with those of perceived higher social status: he was hobnobbing with the great and good.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (in the sense ‘drink together’): from archaic hob or nob, hob and nob, probably meaning ‘give and take’, used by two people drinking to each other's health, from dialect hab nab ‘have or not have’.

hobo n. (pl. hoboes or hobos) NORTH AMERICAN a homeless person or migrant worker; a tramp.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

Hobson's choice n. a choice of taking what is available or nothing at all.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: named after Thomas Hobson (1554–1631), a Cambridge carrier who hired out horses, giving the customer the ‘choice’ of the one nearest the door or none at all.

Ho Chi Minh /hə ti mn/ Vietnamese communist statesman (1890–1969), President of North Vietnam 1954–69; born Nguyen That Thanh. He led the Vietminh against the Japanese during the Second World War, fought the French until they were defeated in 1954 and Vietnam was divided into North and South Vietnam, and deployed his forces in the guerrilla struggle that became the Vietnam War.

Ho Chi Minh City official name (since 1975) for SAIGON.

hock^1 n. 1 the joint in a quadruped's hind leg between the knee and the fetlock, the angle of which points backwards.

2 a knuckle of meat, especially of pork or ham.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of HOUGH.

hock^2 n. [mass noun] BRITISH a dry white wine from the German Rhineland.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of obsolete hockamore, alteration of German Hochheimer (Wein) ‘(wine) from Hochheim’.

hock^3 v. [with obj.] INFORMAL deposit (an object) with a pawnbroker as security for money lent.

<PHRASES>

□ in hock having been pawned.

- in debt: the women were in hock to extortionate moneylenders.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in the phrase in hock): from Dutch hok ‘hutch, prison, debt’.

hocket n. [MUSIC] a spasmodic or interrupted effect in medieval and contemporary music, produced by dividing a melody between two parts, notes in one part coinciding with rests in the other.

<DERIVATIVES> hocketing n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French hoquet ‘hiccup’; in Old French the sense was ‘hitch, sudden interruption’ which also existed in Middle English.

hockey^1 /hki/ n. [mass noun] a team game played between two teams of eleven players each, using hooked sticks with which the players try to drive a small hard ball towards goals at opposite ends of a field. In North America it is called field hockey to distinguish it from ice hockey.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: of unknown origin.

Hockney David (b.1937), English painter and draughtsman. He is best known for his association with pop art and for his Californian work of the mid 1960s, which depicts flat, almost shadowless architecture, lawns, and swimming pools.

Hocktide n. (in England) a religious festival formerly kept on the second Monday and Tuesday after Easter, during which, in pre-Reformation times, money was raised for Church and parish purposes.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

hocus /həkəs/ v. (hocusses, hocussing, hocussed or hocuses, hocusing, hocused) [with obj.] ARCHAIC 1 deceive (someone).

2 stupefy (someone) with drugs, typically for a criminal purpose.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from an obsolete noun hocus ‘trickery’, from HOCUS-POCUS.

hocus-pocus n. [mass noun] meaningless talk or activity, typically designed to trick someone or conceal the truth of a situation: some people still view psychology as a lot of hocus-pocus.

- a form of words often used by a person performing conjuring tricks.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from hax pax max Deus adimax, a pseudo-Latin phrase used as a magic formula by conjurors.

hod n. a builder's V-shaped open trough on a pole, used for carrying bricks and other building materials.

- a coal scuttle.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: variant of northern English dialect hot ‘a basket for carrying earth’, from Old French hotte ‘pannier’, probably of Germanic origin.

hodden /hd(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] chiefly SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a coarse woollen cloth.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

Hodeida /hədedə/ the chief port of Yemen, on the Red Sea; pop. 382,400 (est. 2002). Arabic name AL-HUDAYDA.

Hodge n. ARCHAIC used as a name for a typical English agricultural labourer.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: pet form of the given name Roger.

hodgepodge n. North American variant of HOTCHPOTCH.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: changed by association with HODGE.

Hodgkin^1 Sir Alan Lloyd (1914–98), English physiologist. With Andrew Huxley he demonstrated the role of sodium and potassium ions in the transmission of nerve impulses between cells. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1963).

Hodgkin^2 Dorothy (Crowfoot) (1910–94), British chemist, born in Egypt. She developed Sir Lawrence Bragg's X-ray diffraction technique for investigating the structure of crystals and applied it to complex organic compounds. Using this method she determined the structures of penicillin, vitamin B_12, and insulin. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1964).

Hodgkin's disease n. [mass noun] a malignant though often curable disease of lymphatic tissues typically causing painless enlargement of the lymph nodes, liver, and spleen.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Thomas Hodgkin (1798–1866), the English physician who first described it.

hodiernal /hdən(ə)l həd-/ adj. RARE relating to the present day.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin hodiernus (from hodie ‘today’) + -AL.

hodman n. (pl. hodmen) BRITISH a labourer who carries a hod.

hodograph /hdərαf/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a curve the radius vector of which represents in magnitude and direction the velocity of a moving object.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek hodos ‘way’ + -GRAPH.

hodoscope /hdəskəp/ n. [PHYSICS] an instrument for observing the paths of subatomic particles, especially those arising from cosmic rays.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (denoting a microscope for examination of light paths in crystals): from Greek hodos ‘way’ + -SCOPE.

Hoe Richard March (1812–86), American inventor and industrialist. In 1846 he became the first printer to develop a successful rotary press, which greatly increased the speed of printing.

hoe^1 n. a long-handled gardening tool with a thin metal blade, used mainly for weeding.

■ v. (hoes, hoeing, hoed) 1 [with obj.] use a hoe to dig (earth) or thin out or dig up (plants).

2 [no obj.] (hoe in) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL eat eagerly.

- (hoe into) attack or criticize.

<DERIVATIVES> hoer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French houe, of Germanic origin; related to German Haue, also to HEW.

hoecake n. US a coarse cake of maize flour, originally baked on the blade of a hoe.

hoedown n. NORTH AMERICAN a social gathering at which lively folk dancing takes place.

- a lively folk dance.

Hoek van Holland /huk vαn hlαnt/ Dutch name for HOOK OF HOLLAND.

Hofei /həfe/ variant of HEFEI.

Hoffa /hfə/ Jimmy (1913–c.75), American trade union leader; full name James Riddle Hoffa. President of the Teamsters union from 1957, he was imprisoned in 1967–71 for attempted bribery of a federal court judge, fraud, and looting pension funds. He disappeared in 1975, and is thought to have been murdered.

Hoffman /hfmən/ Dustin (Lee) (b.1937), American actor. A versatile method actor, he won Oscars for Kramer vs Kramer (1979) and Rain Man (1989). Other notable films: The Graduate (1967) and Tootsie (1983).

Hoffmann /hfmən/ E. T. A. (1776–1822), German novelist, short-story writer, and music critic; full name Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. His extravagantly fantastic stories provided the inspiration for Offenbach's opera Tales of Hoffmann (1881).

Hofmannsthal /hfmənztαl/ German /həfmanstal/ Hugo von (1874–1929), Austrian poet and dramatist. He wrote the libretti for many of the operas of Richard Strauss, including Elektra (1909). With Strauss and Max Reinhardt he helped found the Salzburg Festival.

hog n. 1 a domesticated pig, especially a castrated male reared for slaughter.

- a feral pig.

- a wild animal of the pig family, for example a warthog.

- INFORMAL a greedy person.

2 INFORMAL a large motorcycle.

3 (also hogg) DIALECT a young sheep before the first shearing.

■ v. (hogs, hogging, hogged) [with obj.] 1 INFORMAL take or use most or all of (something) in an unfair or selfish way: he never hogged the limelight.

2 cause (a ship or its keel) to curve up in the centre and sag at the ends as a result of strain.

<PHRASES>

□ go the whole hog INFORMAL do something completely or thoroughly. [<ORIGIN> of several origins suggested, one interprets hog as the American slang term for a ten cent piece; another refers to one of Cowper's poems (1779), which discusses Muslim uncertainty about which parts of the pig are acceptable as food, leading to the ‘whole hog’ being eaten.]

□ live high on (or off) the hog NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL have a luxurious lifestyle.

<DERIVATIVES> hogger n. hoggery n. hoggish adj. hoggishly adv. hog-like adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English hogg, hocg, perhaps of Celtic origin and related to Welsh hwch and Cornish hoch ‘pig, sow’.

Hogan Ben (1912–97), American golfer; full name William Benjamin Hogan. His many victories include winning the US Open, the US Masters, and the British Open in 1953, together with three other victories in the US Open, and one in the US Masters.

hogan /hə(ə)n/ n. a traditional Navajo Indian hut of logs and earth.

<ORIGIN> Navajo.

Hogarth /həαθ/ William (1697–1764), English painter and engraver. Notable works include his series of engravings on ‘modern moral subjects’, such as A Rake's Progress (1735), which satirized the vices of both high and low life in 18th-century England.

<DERIVATIVES> Hogarthian adj.

hogback (also hog's back) n. a long hill or mountain ridge with steep sides.

hog badger n. a badger with a long mobile snout and dark facial stripes, found in the forests of east Asia.

<INFO> Arctonyx collaris, family Mustelidae.

hog deer n. a short-legged heavily built deer having a yellow-brown coat with darker underparts, found in grasslands and paddy fields in SE Asia.

<INFO> Cervus porcinus, family Cervidae.

hogfish n. (pl. same or hogfishes) a colourful wrasse (fish) that occurs chiefly in the warm waters of the western Atlantic, often acting as a cleaner fish for other species.

<INFO> Several genera and species in the family Labridae, in particular the large edible Lachnolaimus maximus.

Hogg James (1770–1835), Scottish poet. A shepherd in the Ettrick Forest whose talent was discovered by Sir Walter Scott, he is best known today for his prose work The Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824).

Hoggar Mountains /hə/ a mountain range in the Saharan desert of southern Algeria, rising to a height of 2,918 m (9,573 ft) at Tahat. Also called AHAGGAR MOUNTAINS.

hogget /ht/ n. BRITISH a yearling sheep.

- NZ a lamb between weaning and first shearing.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (applied also to a young boar): from HOG + -ET^1.

hoggin n. [mass noun] a mixture of sand and gravel, used especially as hard core in road-building.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

hog heaven n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a place or condition of foolish or idle bliss: with all the chocolate I've gotten, I'll be in hog heaven for weeks.

hog line n. (in the game of curling) a line marked across either end of a curling rink at one sixth of the rink's length from the tee. No sweeping is allowed until a stone has crossed the first line.

Hogmanay /hməne hməne/ n. (in Scotland) New Year's Eve, and the celebrations that take place at this time.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: perhaps from hoguinané, Norman French form of Old French aguillanneuf ‘last day of the year, new year's gift’.

hog-nosed bat n. a tiny insectivorous bat with a piglike nose and no tail, native to Thailand. It is the smallest known bat.

<INFO> Craseonycteris thonglongyai, the only member of the family Craseonycteridae.

hognose snake (also hog-nosed snake) n. a harmless burrowing American snake with an upturned snout. When threatened it inflates itself with air and hisses, and may feign death. Also called PUFF ADDER in North America.

<INFO> Genus Heterodon, family Colubridae: several species.

hognut n. another term for earthnut (sense 1).

hog plum n. a tropical tree which bears edible plum-like fruit, in particular:

<INFO>

- a Caribbean tree with yellow fruit (Spondias mombin, family Anacardiaceae).

- (American hog plum) an American tree with bitter fruit and timber that is used as a sandalwood substitute (Ximenia americana, family Olacaceae).

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: so named because the fruit is common food for hogs in the West Indies and Brazil.

hogshead (abbr.: hhd) n. a large cask.

- a measure of capacity for wine, equal to 52.5 imperial gallons or 63 US gallons (238.7 litres).

- a measure of capacity for beer, equal to 54 imperial gallons or 64 US gallons (245.5 litres).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from HOG + HEAD; the reason for the term is unknown.

hog-tie v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN secure (a person or animal) by fastening the hands and feet or all four feet together.

- impede or hinder greatly: the flood of regulations that are hog-tying our businesses.

hogwash n. [mass noun] INFORMAL nonsense.

<ORIGIN> mid 15th century: from HOG + WASH; the original sense was ‘kitchen swill for pigs’.

hogweed n. [mass noun] a large white-flowered weed of the parsley family, native to north temperate regions and formerly used as forage for pigs.

<INFO> Genus Heracleum, family Umbelliferae: several species, in particular the common European H. sphondylium and the introduced giant hogweed (H. mantegazzianum).

hog-wild adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL out of control: Congress will go hog-wild in its spending.

Hohenstaufen /həəntaf(ə)n/ German /həəntafn/ a German dynastic family, some of whom ruled as Holy Roman emperors between 1138 and 1254, among them Frederick I (Barbarossa).

Hohenzollern /həənzlən/ German /həntsln/ a German dynastic family from which came the kings of Prussia from 1701 to 1918 and German emperors from 1871 to 1918.

Hohhot /həht/ (also Huhehot) the capital of Inner Mongolia autonomous region, NE China; pop. 1,036,700 (est. 2002). Former name (until 1954) KWESUI.

ho ho exclam. representing deep laughter.

- used to express triumph, especially at a discovery: Ho ho! A stranger in our midst!

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: reduplication of ho^1.

ho-hum exclam. used to express boredom or resignation.

■ adj. boring: a ho-hum script.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: imitative of a yawn.

hoick BRITISH INFORMAL v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] lift or pull abruptly or with effort: she hoicked her bag on to the desk.

■ n. an abrupt pull.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps a variant of HIKE.

hoicks /hks/ exclam. variant of YOICKS.

hoi polloi /h pl/ plural n. (usually the hoi polloi) DEROGATORY the masses; the common people: avoid mixing with the hoi polloi.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: Greek, literally ‘the many’.

<USAGE> 1 To those in the know, hoi is the Greek word for the definite article the (nominative masculine plural); the phrase hoi polloi thus translates as ‘the many’. This knowledge has led some traditionalists to insist that hoi polloi should not be used in English with the, since that would be to state the word the twice. Such arguments miss the point: once established in English, expressions such as hoi polloi are treated as a fixed unit and are subject to the rules and conventions of English. Evidence shows that use with the has now become an accepted part of standard English usage.
2 Hoi polloi is sometimes used incorrectly to mean ‘upper class’, i.e. the exact opposite of its normal meaning. It seems likely that the confusion arose by association with the similar-sounding but otherwise unrelated word hoity-toity.

hoisin /hzn/ (also hoisin sauce) n. [mass noun] a sweet, spicy dark red sauce made from soya beans, vinegar, sugar, garlic, and various spices, widely used in southern Chinese cooking.

hoist v. [with obj.] raise (something) by means of ropes and pulleys: a white flag was hoisted.

- [with obj. and adverbial] raise or haul up: she hoisted her backpack on to her shoulder.

■ n. 1 an act of raising or lifting something.

- an apparatus for lifting or raising something.

- an act of increasing something: an interest rate hoist.

2 the part of a flag nearest the staff.

3 a group of flags raised as a signal.

<PHRASES>

□ hoist one's flag (of an admiral) take up command.

□ hoist the flag stake one's claim to discovered territory by displaying a flag.

□ hoist with one's own petard see PETARD.

<DERIVATIVES> hoister n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: alteration of dialect hoise, probably from Dutch hijsen or Low German hiesen, but recorded earlier.

hoity-toity adj. haughty or snobbish: a hoity-toity little madam.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as noun in the sense ‘boisterous or silly behaviour’, then as adjective meaning ‘lively and playful’): from obsolete hoit ‘indulge in riotous mirth’, of unknown origin.

hok /hk hk/ (also hokkie) n. S. AFRICAN an enclosure for domestic animals.

- a small hut.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans.

Hokan /həkan/ adj. relating to or denoting a group of American Indian languages of California and western Mexico, considered as a possible language family. They include Yuman, Mojave, and several other languages now extinct or almost so.

■ n. [mass noun] the hypothetical Hokan language family.

<ORIGIN> from Hokan hok ‘about two’ + -AN.

hoke /hək/ v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (of an actor) act (a part) in an insincere, sentimental, or melodramatic manner: just try it straight—don't hoke it up.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: back-formation from HOKUM.

hokey adj. (hokier, hokiest) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL mawkishly sentimental: a hokey tear-jerker.

- noticeably contrived: a hokey country-western accent.

<DERIVATIVES> hokeyness (also hokiness) n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from HOKUM + -Y^1.

hokey-cokey n. a communal dance performed in a circle with synchronized shaking of the limbs in turn, accompanied by a simple song.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: perhaps from HOCUS-POCUS.

hokey-pokey n. INFORMAL 1 [mass noun] DATED ice cream sold on the street, especially by Italian street vendors.

- NZ a kind of brittle toffee or a type of toffee-flavoured ice cream.

2 (the hokey-pokey)

■ US term for HOKEY-COKEY.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

hoki /həki/ n. an edible marine fish related to the hakes, found off the southern coasts of New Zealand.

<INFO> Macruronus novaezeelandiae, family Macruronidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Maori.

Hokkaido /hkdə/ the most northerly of the four main islands of Japan, constituting an administrative region; pop. 5,720,000 (est. 1999); capital, Sapporo.

Hokkien /həkin/ n. 1 [mass noun] a dialect of southern Min Chinese that is also spoken in Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

2 (pl. same or Hokkiens) a member of a people traditionally inhabiting south-eastern China.

■ adj. relating to the Hokkien or their dialect.

<ORIGIN> Hokkien hok kian.

hokku /hku/ n. (pl. same)

■ another term for HAIKU.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, literally ‘opening verse’ (of a linked sequence of comic verses).

hokonui /hkəni/ n. [mass noun] NZ illicitly distilled spirits, especially whisky.

<ORIGIN> from a Maori place name.

hokum /həkəm/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL nonsense: they dismissed such corporate homilies as boardroom hokum.

- trite, sentimental, or unrealistic situations and dialogue in a film or other work: classic B-movie hokum.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

Hokusai /həks həks/ Katsushika (1760–1849), Japanese painter and wood engraver. A leading artist of the ukiyo-e school, he depicted aspects of Japanese everyday life in his woodcuts and strongly influenced European Impressionist artists.

Holarctic /hə()lαktk/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] relating to or denoting a zoogeographical region comprising the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions combined. The two continents have been linked intermittently by the Bering land bridge, and the faunas are closely related.

- (as n. the Holarctic) the Holarctic region.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HOLO- ‘whole’ + ARCTIC.

Holbein /hlbn/ Hans (1497–1543), German painter and engraver; known as Holbein the Younger. He became a well-known court portraitist in England and was commissioned by Henry VIII to supply portraits of the king's prospective brides. Notable works: Dance of Death (series of woodcuts, c.1523–6); Anne of Cleves (miniature, 1539).

hold^1 v. (past and past participle held ) 1 [with obj.] grasp, carry, or support with one's arms or hands: she was holding a brown leather suitcase | [no obj.] he held on to the back of a chair.

- [with obj. and adverbial] keep or sustain in a specified position: I held the door open for him | FIGURATIVE the people are held down by a repressive military regime.

- embrace (someone): Mark pulled her into his arms and held her close.

- (hold something up) support and prevent something from falling: concrete pillars hold up the elevated section of the railway.

- be able to bear (the weight of a person or thing): I reached up to the nearest branch which seemed likely to hold my weight.

- (of a vehicle) maintain close contact with (the road), especially when driven at speed: the car holds the corners very well.

- (of a ship or an aircraft) continue to follow (a particular course): the ship is holding a south-easterly course.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] ARCHAIC keep going in a particular direction: he held on his way, close behind his friend.

2 [with obj.] keep or detain (someone): the police were holding him on a murder charge | [with obj. and complement] she was held prisoner for two days.

- keep possession of (something), typically in the face of a challenge or attack: the rebels held the town for many weeks | [no obj.] White managed to hold on to his lead.

- keep (someone's interest or attention).

- (of a singer or musician) sustain (a note).

- stay or cause to stay at a certain value or level: [no obj.] MCI shares held at 77p | [with obj.] they are trying to hold public spending to £244.5 billion.

- (in sport) manage to achieve a draw against (opponents thought likely to win): AC Milan were held to a 1–1 draw by Udinese.

3 [no obj.] remain secure, intact, or in position without breaking or giving way: the boat's anchor would not hold.

- (of a favourable condition or situation) continue without changing: let's hope her luck holds.

- be or remain valid or available: I'll have that coffee now, if the offer still holds.

- (of an argument or theory) be logical, consistent, or convincing: their views still seem to hold up extremely well.

- (hold to) refuse to abandon or change (a principle or opinion): those who held to the view that Britain should not be part of the Common Market.

- [with obj.] (hold someone to) cause someone to adhere to (a commitment): the role of the media ought to be to hold politicians to their promises.

4 [with obj.] contain or be capable of containing (a specified amount): the tank held twenty-four gallons.

- be able to drink (a reasonable amount of alcohol) without becoming drunk or suffering any ill effects: I can hold my drink as well as anyone.

- have or be characterized by: I don't know what the future holds.

5 [with obj.] have in one's possession: the managing director still holds fifty shares in the company.

- [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be in possession of illegal drugs: he was holding, and the police hauled him off to jail.

- have or occupy (a job or position): she held office from 1985–90.

- [with obj.] have (a belief or opinion): I feel nothing but pity for someone who holds such chauvinistic views | [with clause] they hold that all literature is empty of meaning.

- [with obj. and complement] consider (someone) to be responsible or liable for a particular situation: you can't hold yourself responsible for what happened.

- (hold someone/thing in) regard someone or something with (a specified feeling): the speed limit is held in contempt by many drivers.

- [with clause] (of a judge or court) rule; decide: the Court of Appeal held that there was no evidence to support the judge's assessment.

6 [with obj.] keep or reserve for someone: a booking can be held for twenty-four hours.

- maintain (a telephone connection) until the person one has telephoned is free to speak: please hold the line, and I'll see if he's available | [no obj.] will you hold?

7 [with obj.] prevent from going aHEAD or occurring: hold your fire!

- North American INFORMAL refrain from adding or using (something, typically an item of food or drink): a strawberry margarita, but hold the tequila.

- (hold it) INFORMAL wait or stop doing something: hold it right there, mate!

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC restrain oneself.

8 [with obj.] arrange and take part in (a meeting or conversation): a meeting was held at the church.

■ n. 1 an act or manner of grasping something; a grip: he caught hold of her arm | he lost his hold and fell.

- a particular way of grasping or restraining someone, especially an opponent in wrestling or judo.

- a place where one can grip with one's hands or feet while climbing: he felt carefully with his feet for a hold and swung himself up.

2 [in sing.] power or control: Tom had some kind of hold over his father.

3 ARCHAIC a fortress.

<PHRASES>

□ be left holding the baby (or North American bag) INFORMAL be left with an unwelcome responsibility, typically without warning.

□ get hold of grasp physically.

- INFORMAL obtain: if you can't get hold of ripe tomatoes, add some tomato purée.

- INFORMAL find or manage to contact (someone): I'll try and get hold of Mark.

□ hold someone/thing at bay see bay^5.

□ hold one's BREATH see BREATH.

□ hold someone/thing cheap ARCHAIC have a low opinion of someone or something.

□ hold court be the centre of attention amidst a crowd of one's admirers.

□ hold someone/thing dear care for or value someone or something greatly: fidelity is something most of us hold dear.

□ hold fast remain tightly secured: the door held fast, obviously locked.

- continue to believe in or adhere to an idea or principle: it is important that we hold fast to the policies.

□ hold the FIELD see FIELD.

□ hold the fort take responsibility for a situation while another person is temporarily absent.

□ hold good (or true) remain true or valid: his views still hold true today.

□ hold one's ground see ground^1.

□ hold someone's hand give a person comfort, guidance, or moral support in a difficult situation.

□ hold hands (of two or more people) clasp each other by the hand, typically as a sign of affection.

□ hold hard [as imperative] BRITISH stop or wait.

□ hold someone/thing harmless [LAW] indemnify someone or something.

□ hold one's horses [usually as imperative] INFORMAL wait a moment.

□ hold the line not yield to the pressure of a difficult situation.

□ hold one's nose squeeze one's nostrils with one's fingers in order to avoid inhaling an unpleasant smell.

□ hold one's OWN see OWN.

□ hold one's PEACE see PEACE.

□ hold (one's) serve (or service) (in tennis and other racket sports) win a game in which one is serving.

□ hold the STAGE see STAGE.

□ hold SWAY see SWAY.

□ hold thumbs S. AFRICAN fold one's fingers over one's thumb to bring good luck.

□ hold someone to bail [LAW] bind someone by bail.

□ hold one's tongue [often in imperative] INFORMAL remain silent.

□ hold someone/thing to RANSOM see RANSOM.

□ hold one's head up (or hold one's head high) see HEAD.

□ hold water [often with negative] (of a statement, theory, or line of reasoning) appear to be valid, sound, or reasonable: this argument just does not hold water.

□ no holds barred (in wrestling) with no restrictions on the kinds of holds that are used.

- used to convey that no rules or restrictions apply in a conflict or dispute: no-holds-barred military action.

□ on hold waiting to be connected while making a telephone call.

- temporarily not being dealt with or pursued: he has had to put his career on hold.

□ take hold start to have an effect: the reforms of the late nineteenth century had taken hold.

□ there is no holding someone used to convey that someone is particularly determined or cannot be prevented from doing something: once Eva had found her vocation there was no holding her.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ hold something against someone allow past actions or circumstances to have a negative influence on one's present attitude towards someone: if he failed her, she would hold it against him forever.

□ hold back hesitate to act or speak.

□ hold someone/thing back prevent or restrict the progress or development of someone or something: my lack of experience held me back a bit.

- (hold something back) refuse or be unwilling to make something known: you're not holding anything back from me, are you?

□ hold something down INFORMAL succeed in keeping a job or position for a period of time.

□ hold forth talk lengthily, assertively, or tediously about a subject: he was holding forth on the merits of the band's debut LP.

□ hold someone/thing off resist an attacker or challenge: he held off a late challenge by Vose to win by thirteen seconds.

□ hold off (of bad weather) fail to occur.

- delay or postpone an action or decision.

□ hold on 1 [often in imperative] wait; stop: hold on a minute, I'll be right back!

2 endure in difficult circumstances.

□ hold on to keep: the industry is trying to hold on to experienced staff.

□ hold out resist or survive in difficult circumstances: British troops held out against constant attacks.

- continue to be sufficient: we can stay here for as long as our supplies hold out.

□ hold out for continue to demand (a particular thing), refusing to accept what has been offered: he is holding out for a guaranteed 7 per cent raise.

□ hold out on INFORMAL refuse to give something, typically information, to (someone).

□ hold something out offer a chance or hope: a new drug may hold out hope for patients with lung cancer.

□ hold something over 1 postpone something.

2 use a piece of information to threaten or intimidate (someone).

□ hold together (or hold something together) remain or cause to remain united: if your party holds together, you will probably win.

□ hold up remain strong or vigorous: the Labour vote held up well.

□ hold someone/thing up 1 delay or block the movement or progress of someone or something: our return flight was held up for seven hours.

2 rob someone or something using threats or violence: a masked raider held up the post office.

3 present or expose someone or something as an example or for particular treatment: they were held up to public ridicule.

4 [BRIDGE] refrain from playing a winning card for tactical reasons.

□ hold with [with negative] INFORMAL approve of: I don't hold with fighting or violence.

<DERIVATIVES> holdable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English haldan, healdan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch houden and German halten; the noun is partly from Old Norse hald ‘hold, support, custody’.

hold^2 n. a large compartment or space in the lower part of a ship or aircraft in which cargo is stowed.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from obsolete holl, from Old English hol (see HOLE). The addition of -d was due to association with hold^1.

holdall n. BRITISH a large rectangular bag with handles and a shoulder strap, used for carrying clothes and other personal belongings.

holdback n. 1 a thing serving to hold something else in place: a curtain holdback.

2 a sum of money withheld under certain conditions.

holder n. 1 a device or implement for holding something: [in combination] a cigarette-holder.

2 a person that holds something: a British passport holder | holders of two American hostages.

- the possessor of a trophy, championship, or record: the FA Cup holders.

3 a smallholder.

Hölderlin /həldəln/ German /hœldlin/ (Johann Christian) Friedrich (1770–1843), German poet. Most of his poems express a romantic yearning for harmony with nature and beauty. While working as a tutor he fell in love with his employer's wife, who is portrayed in his novel Hyperion (1797–9).

holdfast n. a firm grip.

- a staple or clamp securing an object to a wall or other surface.

- [BIOLOGY] a stalked organ by which an alga or other simple aquatic plant or animal is attached to a substrate.

holding n. 1 an area of land held by lease.

- the tenure of land held by lease.

2 (holdings) stocks, property, and other financial assets in someone's possession: commercial property holdings.

holding company n. a company created to buy and own the shares of other companies, which it then controls.

holding ground n. [NAUTICAL] an area of seabed where an anchor will hold.

holding operation n. a course of action designed to maintain the status quo under difficult circumstances.

holding pattern n. the flight path maintained by an aircraft awaiting permission to land.

holding tank n. a large container in which liquids are temporarily held.

holdout n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an act of resisting something or refusing to accept what is offered: a defiant holdout against a commercial culture.

- a person who resists something or refuses to accept an offer.

holdover n. NORTH AMERICAN a person or thing surviving from an earlier time, especially someone surviving in office: Young is the only holdover from the 1988 team.

hold-up n. 1 a situation that causes delay: the road closure will cause lengthy hold-ups.

2 a robbery conducted with the use of threats or violence: the shocked victims of an armed hold-up.

3 (usually hold-ups) a stocking held up by an elasticated top rather than by suspenders.

hole n. 1 a hollow place in a solid body or surface: the dog had dug a hole in the ground.

- an animal's burrow.

- an aperture passing through something: he had a hole in his sock.

- a cavity or receptacle on a golf course, typically one of eighteen or nine, into which the ball must be hit.

- a cavity of this type as representing a division of a golf course or of play in golf: Stephen lost the first three holes to Eric.

- [in place names] a valley: Seaton Hole.

- [PHYSICS] a position from which an electron is absent, especially one regarded as a mobile carrier of positive charge in a semiconductor.

2 a shortcoming, weakness, or flaw in a plan or argument: intriguing as it sounds, the theory is full of holes.

3 INFORMAL an unpleasant place: she had wasted a whole lifetime in this hole of a town.

- an awkward situation: the team are in a bit of a hole and it's a case of seeing if they can dig themselves out.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 make a hole or holes in: a fuel tank was holed by the attack and a fire started.

2 [GOLF] hit (the ball) into a hole: George holed a six-iron shot from the fairway | [no obj.] he holed out for a birdie.

- [no obj.] (hole out) [CRICKET] (of a batsman) hit the ball to a fielder and be caught.

3 (hole up) INFORMAL hide oneself: I holed up for two days in a tiny cottage in Snowdonia.

<PHRASES>

□ blow a hole in ruin the effectiveness of: the amendment could blow a hole in the legislation.

□ in the hole NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL in debt: we're still three thousand dollars in the hole.

□ in holes worn so much that holes have formed: my clothes are in holes.

□ make a hole in use a large amount of: holidays can make a big hole in your savings.

□ need something like a hole in the head INFORMAL used to emphasize that someone has absolutely no need or desire for something.

<DERIVATIVES> holey adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hol (noun), holian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hol (noun) ‘cave’, (adjective) ‘hollow’, and German hohl ‘hollow’, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘cover, conceal’.

hole-and-corner adj. attempting to avoid public notice; secret: a hole-and-corner wedding.

hole card n. (in stud poker) a card which has been dealt face down.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a thing that is kept secret until it can be used to one's own advantage.

hole-in-one n. (pl. holes-in-one) [GOLF] a shot that enters the hole from the tee with no intervening shots.

hole in the heart n. MEDICINE a congenital defect in the heart septum, resulting in inadequate circulation of oxygenated blood (a cause of blue baby syndrome).

hole in the wall n. INFORMAL 1 BRITISH an automatic cash dispenser installed in the outside wall of a bank.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a small dingy bar, shop, or restaurant.

hole saw n. a tool for making circular holes, consisting of a metal cylinder with a toothed edge.

Holi /həli/ n. a Hindu spring festival celebrated in February or March in honour of Krishna.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit holī.

Holiday /hlde/ Billie (1915–59), American jazz singer; born Eleanora Fagan. She began her recording career with Benny Goodman's band in 1933, going on to perform with many small jazz groups.

holiday chiefly BRITISH n. 1 (often holidays) an extended period of leisure and recreation, especially one spent away from home or in travelling: I spent my summer holidays on a farm | Fred was on holiday in Spain.

- a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done: 25 December is an official public holiday.

- [as modifier] characteristic of a holiday; festive: a holiday atmosphere.

2 [with modifier] a short period during which the payment of instalments, tax, etc. may be suspended: a pension holiday.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of place] spend a holiday in a specified place: he is holidaying in Italy.

<ORIGIN> Old English hāligdæg ‘holy day’.

holiday camp n. BRITISH a site for holidaymakers with accommodation, entertainment, and leisure facilities.

holidaymaker n. BRITISH a person on holiday away from home.

holiday season n. (in the US) the period of time from Thanksgiving until New Year, including such festivals as Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.

holiday village n. BRITISH a large, modern holiday camp.

holier-than-thou adj. characterized by an attitude of moral superiority: they had quite a critical, holier-than-thou approach.

holiness n. [mass noun] the state of being holy: a life of holiness and total devotion to God.

- (His/Your Holiness) a title or form of address given to the Pope, Orthodox patriarchs, and the Dalai Lama.

- [as modifier] denoting a Christian renewal movement originating in the mid 19th century among Methodists in the US, emphasizing the Wesleyan doctrine of the sanctification of believers.

<ORIGIN> Old English hālignes (see HOLY, -ness).

Holinshed /hlnεd/ Raphael (died c.1580), English chronicler. Although the named compiler of The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1577), Holinshed wrote only the Historie of England and had help with the remainder. The revised (1587) edition was used by Shakespeare.

holism /həlz(ə)m hl-/ n. [mass noun] chiefly [PHILOSOPHY] the theory that parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they cannot exist independently of the whole, or cannot be understood without reference to the whole, which is thus regarded as greater than the sum of its parts. Holism is often applied to mental states, language, and ecology. The opposite of ATOMISM.

- MEDICINE the treating of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the symptoms of a disease.

<DERIVATIVES> holist adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from HOLO- ‘whole’ + -ISM; coined by J. C. Smuts to designate the tendency in nature to produce organized ‘wholes’ (bodies or organisms) from the ordered grouping of units.

holistic /həlstk h-/ adj. chiefly [PHILOSOPHY] characterized by the belief that the parts of something are intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.

- MEDICINE characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the symptoms of a disease.

<DERIVATIVES> holistically adv.

holla /hlə/ exclam. ARCHAIC used to call attention to something: ‘Holla! what storm is this?’.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as an order to stop or cease): from French holà, from ho ‘ho!’ + là ‘there’.

Holland another name for the NETHERLANDS.

- a former province of the Netherlands, comprising the coastal parts of the country. It is now divided into North Holland and South Holland.

holland n. [mass noun] a kind of smooth, hard-wearing linen fabric, used chiefly for window blinds and furniture covering.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from HOLLAND, the name of a former province of the Netherlands where the cloth was made, from Dutch, earlier Holtlant (from holt ‘wood’ + -lant ‘land’).

hollandaise sauce /hləndez hləndez/ n. [mass noun] a creamy sauce of melted butter, egg yolks, and vinegar, served especially with fish.

<ORIGIN> French hollandaise, feminine of hollandais ‘Dutch’, from Hollande ‘Holland’.

Hollander n. DATED a native of the Netherlands.

Hollands n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC Dutch gin.

<ORIGIN> from archaic Dutch hollandsch genever (earlier form of hollands jenever) ‘Dutch gin’.

holler INFORMAL v. [no obj.] give a loud shout or cry: [with direct speech] ‘I can't get down,’ she hollered.

■ n. a loud cry or shout: the audience responded with whoops and hollers.

- (also field holler) chiefly US a melodic cry with abrupt or swooping changes of pitch, used originally by black slaves at work in the fields and later contributing to the development of the blues.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as a verb): variant of the rare verb hollo; related to HALLOO.

Hollerith /hlərθ/ Herman (1860–1929), American engineer. He invented a tabulating machine using punched cards for computation, an important precursor of the electronic computer, and founded a company that later expanded to become the IBM Corporation.

hollow adj. 1 having a hole or empty space inside: a hollow metal tube.

- having a concave or sunken appearance: her cheeks were hollow and she had dark circles under her eyes.

- (of a sound) echoing, as though made in or on an empty container: a hollow groan.

2 without real significance or value: the result was a hollow victory.

- insincere: a hollow promise.

■ n. a hole or depression in something: a hollow at the base of a large tree.

- an enclosed space within something: he held them in the hollow of his hand.

- a small valley: the village nestles in a hollow on the edge of the New Forest.

■ v. [with obj.] form by making a hole: a tunnel was hollowed out in a mountain range.

- make a hollow in: Flora's laugh hollowed her cheeks.

<PHRASES>

□ beat someone hollow defeat someone thoroughly.

<DERIVATIVES> hollowly adv. hollowness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English holh ‘cave’; obscurely related to HOLE.

hollow-eyed adj. (of a person) having deeply sunk eyes, typically as a result of illness or tiredness.

hollow-hearted adj. ARCHAIC insincere; false.

hollow square n. HISTORICAL a body of infantry drawn up in a square with a space in the middle.

hollowware n. [mass noun] hollow articles of cookware or crockery, such as pots, kettles, and jugs.

Holly Buddy (1936–59), American rock-and-roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter; born Charles Hardin Holley. He recorded such hits as ‘That'll be the Day’ with his band, The Crickets, before going solo in 1958. He was killed in an aircraft crash.

holly n. a widely distributed evergreen shrub, typically having prickly dark green leaves, small white flowers, and red berries.

<INFO> Genus Ilex, family Aquifoliaceae: many species, in particular I. aquifolium.

<ORIGIN> Middle English holi, shortened form of Old English holegn, holen, of Germanic origin; related to German Hulst.

holly fern n. a small shield fern which has narrow glossy fronds with a double row of stiff bristle-edged lobes, found chiefly in mountainous areas of both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Several species in the genus Polystichum, family Dryopteridaceae, in particular the widespread P. lonchitis.

hollyhock n. a tall Eurasian plant of the mallow family, with large showy flowers.

<INFO> Alcea rosea, family Malvaceae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from HOLY + obsolete hock ‘mallow’, of unknown origin. It originally denoted the marsh mallow which has medicinal uses (hence, perhaps, the use of ‘holy’); the current sense dates from the mid 16th cent.

holly oak n. the holm oak or the kermes oak, both of which have tough evergreen leaves that are reminiscent of those of holly.

Hollywood a district of Los Angeles, the principal centre of the American film industry.

- the American film industry and the lifestyles of the people associated with it: he was never seduced by the glitz and money of Hollywood.

holm /həm/ (also holme) n. British 1 an islet, especially in a river or near a mainland.

2 a piece of flat ground by a river which is submerged in times of flood.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Old Norse holmr; more frequently used in Scotland and northern England, but found in place names throughout Britain.

Holmes^1 /həmz/ Arthur (1890–1965), English geologist and geophysicist. He pioneered the isotopic dating of rocks and was one of the first supporters of the theory of continental drift. His Principles of Physical Geology (1944) became a standard text.

Holmes^2 /həmz/ Dame Kelly (b.1970), English middle-distance runner. She won the Olympic gold medal for both the 800 metres and the 1,500 metres in 2004.

Holmes^3 /həmz/ Oliver Wendell (1809–94), American physician, poet, and essayist. His best-known literary works are the humorous essays known as ‘table talks’, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1857–8).

Holmes^4 /həmz/ Sherlock, an extremely perceptive private detective in stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

<DERIVATIVES> Holmesian adj.

holmium /həlməm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 67, a soft silvery-white metal of the lanthanide series. (Symbol: Ho)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Holmia, Latinized form of STOCKHOLM (because many minerals of the yttrium group, to which holmium belongs, are found in that area); discovered by P.T. Cleve, Swedish chemist (1840–1905).

holm oak n. an evergreen southern European oak, which has dark green glossy leaves. Also called EVERGREEN OAK or ILEX.

<INFO> Quercus ilex, family Fagaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: holm, alteration of dialect hollin, from Old English holen ‘holly’.

holo /hlə/ n. (pl. holos) INFORMAL a hologram.

holo- combining form whole; complete: holocaust | holophytic.

<ORIGIN> from Greek holos ‘whole’.

holocaust /hləkst/ n. 1 destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war: a nuclear holocaust.

- (the Holocaust) the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime during the period 1941–5. More than 6 million European Jews, as well as members of other persecuted groups, were murdered at concentration camps such as Auschwitz.

2 HISTORICAL a Jewish sacrificial offering which was burnt completely on an altar.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French holocauste, via late Latin from Greek holokauston, from holos ‘whole’ + kaustos ‘burnt’ (from kaiein ‘burn’).

Holocaust denial n. [mass noun] the belief or assertion that the Holocaust did not happen or was greatly exaggerated.

Holocene /hləsin/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the present epoch, which is the second epoch in the Quaternary period and followed the Pleistocene. Also called RECENT.

- (as n. the Holocene) the Holocene epoch or the system of deposits laid down during this time.

The Holocene epoch has lasted from about 10,000 years ago to the present day. It covers the period since the ice retreated after the last glaciation and it is sometimes regarded as just another interglacial period.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in French from HOLO- ‘whole’ + Greek kainos ‘new’.

holoenzyme /hləεnzm/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a biochemically active compound formed by the combination of an enzyme with a coenzyme.

Holofernes /hləfəniz həlfəniz/ (in the Apocrypha) the Assyrian general of Nebuchadnezzar's forces, who was killed by Judith (Judith 4:1 ff.).

hologram /hləram/ n. a three-dimensional image formed by the interference of light beams from a laser or other coherent light source.

- a photograph of an interference pattern which, when suitably illuminated, produces a three-dimensional image.

holograph /hlərαf/ n. a manuscript handwritten by the person named as its author.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French holographe, or via late Latin from Greek holographos, from holos ‘whole’ + -graphos ‘written, writing’.

holography /hlrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the study or production of holograms.

<DERIVATIVES> holographic adj. holographically adv.

holophrasis /hlə()fress/ n. [mass noun] the expression of a whole phrase in a single word, for example howdy for how do you do.

- the learning of linguistic elements as whole chunks by very young children acquiring their first language, for example it's all gone learned as allgone.

<DERIVATIVES> holophrase n. holophrastic adj.

holophytic /hlə()ftk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of a plant or protozoan) able to synthesize complex organic compounds by photosynthesis.

holothurian /hlə()θjərən/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a sea cucumber.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the modern Latin genus name Holothuria (from Greek holothourion, denoting a kind of zoophyte) + -AN.

Holothuroidea /hlə()θjərdə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of echinoderms that comprises the sea cucumbers.

<DERIVATIVES> holothuroid /hlə()θjərd/ n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), based on Greek holothourion (see HOLOTHURIAN).

holotype /hlətp/ n. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] a single type specimen upon which the description and name of a new species is based. Compare with SYNTYPE.

hols plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL holidays.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

Holst /həlst/ Gustav (Theodore) (1874–1934), English composer, of Swedish and Russian descent. He made his reputation with the orchestral suite The Planets (1914–16). Other notable works: Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda (1908–12).

Holstein^1 /hlstn -tn/ a former duchy of the German kingdom of Saxony, situated in the southern part of the Jutland peninsula. A duchy of Denmark from 1474, it was taken by Prussia in 1866 and incorporated with the neighbouring duchy of Schleswig as the province of Schleswig-Holstein.

Holstein^2 /hlstn -in/ n. an animal of a black-and-white breed of large dairy cattle, originally raised in Friesland.

Holsteinian /hlstnən/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting an interglacial period of the Pleistocene in northern Europe, following the Elster glaciation and corresponding to the Hoxnian in Britain.

- (as n. the Holsteinian) the Holsteinian interglacial or the system of deposits laid down during it.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Holstein^1 + -IAN.

holster /həlstə hl-/ n. a holder for carrying a handgun or other firearm, typically made of leather and worn on a belt or under the arm.

■ v. [with obj.] put (a gun) into its holster.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: corresponding to and contemporary with Dutch holster, of unknown origin.

holt^1 /həlt/ n. 1 the den of an otter.

2 DIALECT, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a grip or hold.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): variant of hold^1.

holt^2 /həlt/ n. ARCHAIC or DIALECT a wood or wooded hill.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Dutch hout and German Holz, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek klados ‘twig’.

holus-bolus /hələsbələs/ adv. North American or ARCHAIC all at once: swallowing every proposal that is made holus-bolus.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally dialect): perhaps pseudo-Latin for ‘whole bolus, whole lump’.

holy adj. (holier, holiest) 1 dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred: the Holy Bible | the holy month of Ramadan.

- (of a person) devoted to the service of God: saints and holy men.

- morally and spiritually excellent: I do not lead a holy life.

2 DATED or HUMOROUS used in exclamations of surprise or dismay: holy smoke!

<ORIGIN> Old English hālig, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German heilig, also to WHOLE.

Holy Alliance a loose alliance of European powers pledged to uphold the principles of the Christian religion. It was proclaimed at the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) by the emperors of Austria and Russia and the king of Prussia and was joined by most other European monarchs.

holy city n. a city held sacred by the adherents of a religion.

- (the Holy City) Jerusalem.

- (the Holy City) (in Christian tradition) Heaven.

Holy Cross Day n. the day on which the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross is held, 14 September.

holy day n. a day on which a religious observance is held.

Holy Family Christ as a child with Mary and Joseph (and often also others such as John the Baptist or St Anne), especially as a subject for a painting.

Holy Father n. the Pope.

holy fool n. a person who does not conform to social norms of behaviour because of mental disability or as a deliberate choice, regarded as having a compensating divine blessing or inspiration.

<ORIGIN> translating Russian yurodivy, a term first used by Pushkin in the blank verse drama Boris Gudonov (1831).

Holy Ghost n. another term for HOLY SPIRIT.

Holyhead /hlhεd/ a port on Holy Island in Wales, off Anglesey; pop. 11,500 (est. 2002). It is the chief port for ferries between the British mainland and Ireland.

Holy Island 1 another name for LINDISFARNE.

2 a small island off the western coast of Anglesey in North Wales. It contains the ferry port of Holyhead. Welsh name CAERGYBI.

Holy Joe n. INFORMAL a clergyman.

- (also Holy Mary) a sanctimonious or pious person.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: originally nautical slang.

Holy Land a region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, in what is now Israel and Palestine, revered by Christians as the place in which Christ lived and taught, by Jews as the land given to the people of Israel, and by Muslims.

- another region revered as holy, for example, Arabia in Islam.

Holy League any of various European alliances sponsored by the papacy during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. They include the League of 1511–13, formed by Pope Julius II to expel Louis XII of France from Italy, and the French Holy League (also called the Catholic League) of 1576 and 1584, a Catholic extremist league formed during the French Wars of Religion.

Holy Name n. (especially in the Catholic Church) the name of Jesus as an object of formal devotion.

Holyoake /hələk/ Sir Keith (Jacka) (1904–83), New Zealand statesman, Prime Minister 1957 and 1960–72, Governor General 1977–80.

Holy Office the ecclesiastical court of the Roman Catholic Church established as the final court of appeal in trials of heresy. Formed in 1542 as part of the Inquisition, it was renamed the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1965.

holy of holies n. the inner chamber of the sanctuary in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, separated by a veil from the outer chamber. It was reserved for the presence of God and could be entered only by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement.

- a place regarded as most sacred or special: I knocked at the door and was admitted by Ms Brown to the holy of holies.

holy orders plural n. the sacrament or rite of ordination as a member of the clergy, especially in the grades of bishop, priest, or deacon.

<PHRASES>

□ in holy orders having the status of an ordained member of the clergy.

□ take holy orders become an ordained member of the clergy.

holy place n. a place revered as holy, typically one to which religious pilgrimage is made.

- HISTORICAL the outer chamber of the sanctuary in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

holy roller n. INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a member of an evangelical Christian group which expresses religious fervour by frenzied excitement or trances.

Holy Roman Empire the empire set up in western Europe following the coronation of Charlemagne as emperor in the year 800. It was created by the medieval papacy in an attempt to unite Christendom under one rule. At times the territory of the empire was extensive and included Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and parts of Italy and the Netherlands.

Holy Rood Day n. 1 the day on which the feast of the Invention of the Cross is held, 3 May.

2 another term for HOLY CROSS DAY.

Holy Saturday n. the Saturday preceding Easter Sunday. Also called EASTER EVE or EASTER SATURDAY.

Holy Scripture n. [mass noun] the sacred writings of Christianity contained in the Bible.

Holy See the papacy or the papal court; those associated with the Pope in the government of the Roman Catholic Church at the Vatican. Also called SEE OF ROME.

Holy Sepulchre the place in which the body of Jesus was laid after being taken down from the Cross.

- the church in Jerusalem erected over the traditional site of this tomb.

Holy Spirit n. (in Christianity) the third person of the Trinity; God as spiritually active in the world.

Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity another name for UNIFICATION CHURCH.

holystone /həlstən/ chiefly HISTORICAL n. a piece of soft sandstone used for scouring the decks of ships.

■ v. [with obj.] scour (a deck) with a holystone.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably from HOLY + STONE. Sailors called the stones ‘bibles’ or ‘prayer books’, perhaps because they scrubbed the decks on their knees.

Holy Thursday n. 1 (chiefly in the Roman Catholic Church) Maundy Thursday.

2 DATED (in the Anglican Church) Ascension Day.

holy war n. a war declared or waged in support of a religious cause.

holy water n. [mass noun] water blessed by a priest and used in religious ceremonies.

Holy Week n. the week before Easter, starting on Palm Sunday.

Holy Writ n. [mass noun] the Bible.

- writings or sayings of unchallenged authority.

Holy Year n. (in the Roman Catholic Church) a period of remission from the penal consequences of sin, granted under certain conditions for a year usually at intervals of twenty-five years.

hom /həm/ (also homa /həmə/) n. the soma plant.

- [mass noun] the juice of the soma plant as a sacred drink of the Parsees.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Persian hūm or Avestan haoma.

homage /hmd/ n. [mass noun] special honour or respect shown publicly: many villagers come here to pay homage to the Virgin | [count noun] Daniel's films were a homage to her.

- HISTORICAL formal public acknowledgement of feudal allegiance: a man doing homage to his personal lord.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: Old French, from medieval Latin hominaticum, from Latin homo, homin- ‘man’ (the original use of the word denoted the ceremony by which a vassal declared himself to be his lord's ‘man’).

hombre /mbre/ n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a man, especially one of a particular type: the Raiders quarterback is one tough hombre.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally denoting a man of Spanish descent): Spanish, ‘man’, from Latin homo, homin-.

homburg /hmbə/ n. a man's felt hat having a narrow curled brim and a tapered crown with a lengthwise indentation.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Homburg, a town in western Germany, where such hats were first worn.

home n. 1 the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household: the floods forced many people to flee their homes | I was nineteen when I left home and went to college.

- the family or social unit occupying a permanent residence: he came from a good home.

- a house or flat considered as a commercial property: low-cost homes for first-time buyers | [as modifier] the growth in home ownership.

- the district or country where one was born or has settled on a long-term basis: they have made Provence their home.

- a place where something flourishes, is most typically found, or from which it originates: Montana is home to a surprising number of rare mammals.

- INFORMAL a place where an object is kept.

2 an institution for people needing professional care or supervision: an old people's home.

3 the finishing point in a race: he was four fences from home.

- (in games) the place where a player is free from attack.

- (in lacrosse) each of the three players stationed nearest their opponents' goal.

- [BASEBALL] short for HOME PLATE.

- a match played or won by a team on their own ground.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 relating to the place where one lives: I don't have your home address.

- made, done, or intended for use in the home: traditional home cooking | a home computer.

- relating to one's own country: we need to stimulate demand within the UK home market.

2 (of a sports team or player) belonging to the country or locality in which a sporting event takes place: the home side.

- played on or connected with a team's own ground: their first home match of the season.

3 NORTH AMERICAN denoting the administrative centre of an organization: the company has moved its home office.

■ adv. to or at the place where one lives: what time did he get home last night?

- to the end or conclusion of a race or something difficult: the favourite romped home six lengths clear.

- to the intended or correct position: he slid the bolt home noisily.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of an animal) return by instinct to its territory after leaving it: a dozen geese homing to their summer nesting grounds.

- (of a pigeon bred for long-distance racing) fly back to or arrive at its loft after being released at a distant point.

2 (home in on) move or be aimed towards (a target or destination) with great accuracy: more than 100 missiles were launched, homing in on radar emissions.

- focus attention on: a teaching style which homes in on what is of central importance for each pupil.

3 [with obj.] provide (an animal) with a home as a pet.

<PHRASES>

□ at home in one's own house.

- ready to receive and welcome visitors: she took to her room and was not at home to friends.

- in one's own neighbourhood, town, or country: he has been consistently successful both at home and abroad.

- (with reference to sports fixtures) at a team's own ground: Spurs drew 1–1 at home to Leeds.

- comfortable and at ease in a place or situation: sit down and make yourself at home.

- confident or relaxed about doing or using something: he was quite at home talking about Eisenstein or Brecht.

□ bring something home to make (someone) realize the full significance of something: her first-hand account brought home to me the pain of the experience.

□ close (or near) to home (of a remark or topic of discussion) relevant or accurate to the point that one feels uncomfortable or embarrassed.

□ come home [GOLF] play the second nine holes in a round of eighteen holes. Compare with GO OUT (see go^1).

□ come home to someone (of the significance of something) become fully realized by someone: the full enormity of what was happening came home to Sara.

□ drive (or hammer or press or ram) something home make something clearly understood by the use of repeated or forcefully direct arguments: we must drive home the message that crime doesn't pay.

□ hit (or strike) home (of a blow or a missile) reach an intended target.

- (of words) have the intended, especially unsettling or painful, effect on their audience: she could see that her remark had hit home.

- (of the significance or true nature of a situation) become fully realized by someone: the full impact of life as a celebrity began to hit home.

□ home and dry (North American home free, Australian/NZ home and hosed) BRITISH having successfully achieved or being within sight of achieving one's objective: at 3–0 up they should have been home and dry.

□ (a) home from (North American away from) home BRITISH a place where one is as happy, relaxed, or comfortable as in one's own home.

□ home is where the heart is PROVERB your home will always be the place for which you feel the deepest affection, no matter where you are.

□ home, James (and don't spare the horses)! DATED used as a humorous way of exhorting the driver of a vehicle to drive home quickly.

□ home sweet home used as an expression of one's pleasure or relief at being in or returning to one's own home.

□ set up home BRITISH start living somewhere on a permanent basis: the couple set up home in Chelsea eight years ago.

□ when ——'s at home BRITISH used to add humorous emphasis to a question about someone's identity: who's Peter when he's at home?

<DERIVATIVES> homelike adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hām, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heem and German Heim.

home banking n. [mass noun] a system of banking whereby transactions are performed directly by telephone or via a computer and modem.

home bird n. BRITISH INFORMAL another term for HOMEBODY.

homebody n. (pl. homebodies) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person who likes to stay at home, especially one who is perceived as unadventurous.

homeboy (or homegirl) n. US & S. African INFORMAL an acquaintance from one's own town or neighbourhood, or from the same social background.

- (especially among urban black people) a member of a peer group or gang.

home brew n. [mass noun] beer or other alcoholic drink brewed at home.

- [as modifier] INFORMAL, chiefly US made at home, rather than in a shop or factory: a home-brew radio transmitter.

<DERIVATIVES> home-brewed adj.

homebuyer n. a person who buys a house or flat.

home cinema n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH television and video equipment designed to reproduce at home the experience of being in a cinema, typically including stereo speakers and a widescreen set.

homecoming n. an instance of returning home: she spent most of the day preparing for her husband's homecoming.

- NORTH AMERICAN a reunion of former students of a university, college, or high school.

Home Counties the English counties surrounding London, into which London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire.

home economics plural n. [often treated as sing.] cookery and other aspects of household management, especially as taught at school.

home farm n. chiefly BRITISH & S. AFRICAN a farm on an estate that is set aside to provide produce for the owner of the estate.

home fries (also home-fried potatoes) plural n. NORTH AMERICAN fried sliced potatoes.

home-grown adj. grown or produced in one's own garden or country.

- belonging to one's own particular locality or country: home-grown talent.

Home Guard the British citizen army organized in 1940 to defend the UK against invasion, finally disbanded in 1957.

home help n. BRITISH a person employed, especially by a local authority, to help in another's home.

home key n. 1 [MUSIC] the basic key in which a work is written.

2 a key on a computer or typewriter keyboard which acts as the base position for one's fingers in touch-typing.

Homel /hml/ an industrial city in SE Belarus; pop. 502,600 (est. 2002). Russian name GOMEL.

homeland n. a person's or a people's native land: he left his homeland to settle in London.

- an autonomous or semi-autonomous state occupied by a particular people: they have been fighting for an independent homeland for nearly 30 years.

- HISTORICAL any of ten partially self-governing areas in South Africa designated for particular indigenous African peoples under the former policy of apartheid.

homeless adj. (of a person) without a home, and therefore typically living on the streets: the plight of young homeless people | (as plural n. the homeless) charities for the homeless.

<DERIVATIVES> homelessness n.

home loan n. a loan advanced to a person to assist in buying a house or flat.

homely adj. (homelier, homeliest) 1 BRITISH (of a place or surroundings) simple but cosy and comfortable, as in one's own home: a modern hotel with a homely atmosphere.

- simple and unpretentious: homely pleasures.

2 NORTH AMERICAN (of a person) unattractive in appearance.

<DERIVATIVES> homeliness n.

home-made adj. made at home, rather than in a shop or factory: home-made bread.

homemaker n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a person, especially a woman, who manages a home rather than going out to work.

<DERIVATIVES> homemaking n.

home movie n. a film made at home or without professional equipment or expertise.

homeobox /hmə()bks həm-/ (also homoeobox) n. [GENETICS] any of a class of closely similar sequences which occur in various genes and are involved in regulating embryonic development in a wide range of species.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from homeotic (see HOMEOSIS) + the noun box^1; first discovered in homeotic genes of Drosophila fruit flies.

Home Office the British government department dealing with domestic affairs, including law and order, immigration, and broadcasting, in England and Wales.

Home of the Hirsel of Coldstream /həs(ə)l/ Baron, see Douglas-Home.

homeomorphism /hmə()mfz(ə)m həm-/ n. [MATHEMATICS] an instance of topological equivalence.

<DERIVATIVES> homeomorphic adj.

<ORIGIN> from Greek homoios ‘like’ + morphē ‘form’ + -ISM.

homeopath /həməpaθ hm-/ (also homoeopath) n. a practitioner of homeopathy.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Homöopath (see HOMEOPATHY).

homeopathy /həmpəθi hm-/ (also homoeopathy) n. a system of complementary medicine in which ailments are treated by minute doses of natural substances that in larger amounts would produce symptoms of the ailment. Often contrasted with ALLOPATHY.

<DERIVATIVES> homeopathic adj. homeopathically adv. homeopathist n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coined in German from Greek homoios ‘like’ + patheia (see -PATHY).

homeosis /hməss/ (also homoeosis) n. (pl. homeoses /-siz/) [BIOLOGY] the replacement of part of one segment of an insect or other segmented animal by a structure characteristic of a different segment, especially through mutation.

<DERIVATIVES> homeotic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek homoiōsis ‘becoming like’, from homoios ‘like’.

homeostasis /hmə()stess həm-/ (also homoeostasis) n. (pl. homeostases /-siz/) the tendency towards a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes.

<DERIVATIVES> homeostatic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: modern Latin, from Greek homoios ‘like’ + -STASIS.

homeotherm /hmə()θəm/ (also homoiotherm) n. [ZOOLOGY] an organism that maintains its body temperature at a constant level, usually above that of the environment, by its metabolic activity. Often contrasted with POIKILOTHERM; compare with WARM-BLOODED.

<DERIVATIVES> homeothermal adj. homeothermic adj. homeothermy n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek homoios ‘like’ + thermē ‘heat’.

homeowner n. a person who owns their own home.

home page n. [COMPUTING] an individual's or organization's introductory document on the World Wide Web.

home plate n. [BASEBALL] the five-sided white rubber plate-like base next to which the batter stands and which must be touched in scoring a run.

home port n. the port from which a ship originates.

Homer^1 /həmə/ (8th century BC), Greek epic poet. He is traditionally held to be the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, though modern scholarship has revealed the place of the Homeric poems in a preliterate oral tradition. In later antiquity Homer was regarded as the greatest poet, and his poems were constantly used as a model and source by others.

<PHRASES>

□ Homer sometimes nods PROVERB even the most gifted person occasionally makes mistakes.

Homer^2 /həmə/ Winslow (1836–1910), American painter. He is best known for his seascapes which are painted in a vigorous naturalistic style considered to express the American pioneering spirit.

homer n. 1 [BASEBALL] a home run.

2 a homing pigeon.

3 INFORMAL a referee or official who is thought to favour the team playing at home.

home range n. [ZOOLOGY] an area over which an animal or group of animals regularly travels in search of food or mates, and which may overlap with those of neighbouring animals or groups of the same species.

Homeric /həmεrk/ adj. of or in the style of Homer or the epic poems ascribed to him.

- of Bronze Age Greece as described in these poems: the mists of the Homeric age.

- epic and large-scale: some of us exert a Homeric effort.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Homērikos, from Homēros (see Homer^1).

homeroom n. NORTH AMERICAN a classroom in which a group of students assembles daily with the same teacher before dispersing to other classes.

home rule n. [mass noun] the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens, in particular as advocated for Ireland 1870–1914.

The campaign for Irish home rule was one of the dominant forces in British politics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in that Irish nationalists frequently held the balance of power in the House of Commons. A Home Rule Act was finally passed in 1914 but was suspended until after the First World War; after the Easter Rising of 1916 and Sinn Fein's successes in the general election of 1918, southern Ireland became the Irish Free State in 1921.

home run n. [BASEBALL] a hit that allows the batter to make a complete circuit of the bases and score a run.

homeschool v. [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN educate (one's child) at home instead of sending them to a school.

<DERIVATIVES> homeschooler n. homeschooling n.

Home Secretary n. (in the UK) the Secretary of State in charge of the Home Office.

Home Service one of the original programme services of the BBC (renamed Radio 4).

home shopping n. [mass noun] shopping carried out from one's own home by ordering goods advertised in a catalogue or on a television channel, or by using various electronic media.

<DERIVATIVES> home shopper n.

homesick adj. experiencing a longing for one's home during a period of absence from it: he was homesick for America after five weeks in Europe.

<DERIVATIVES> homesickness n.

home signal n. BRITISH a railway signal controlling entry to the immediate section of the line.

homesite n. NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN a building plot.

homespun adj. 1 simple and unsophisticated: homespun philosophy.

2 (of cloth or yarn) made or spun at home.

- denoting a coarse handwoven fabric similar to tweed.

■ n. [mass noun] homespun cloth: clad in homespun.

homestead n. 1 a house, especially a farmhouse, and outbuildings.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ the owner's residence on a sheep or cattle station.

2 NORTH AMERICAN HISTORICAL an area of land (usually 160 acres) granted to a settler in the West as a home.

<DERIVATIVES> homesteader n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hāmstede ‘a settlement’ (see HOME, stead).

homesteading n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN life as a settler on a homestead.

home straight (NORTH AMERICAN also home stretch) n. BRITISH the concluding stretch of a racecourse.

- the last part of an activity or campaign: heading down the home stretch to Tuesday's final.

homestyle adj. NORTH AMERICAN (especially of food) such as would be made or provided at home; simple and unpretentious.

home theater n. North American term for HOME CINEMA.

hometown n. the town of one's birth or early life or present fixed residence.

home truth n. (usually home truths) an unpleasant fact about oneself, especially as pointed out by another person: what he needed was someone to tell him a few home truths.

home unit n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a flat, especially one occupied by the owner, that is one of several in a large building.

homeward adv. (also homewards) towards home: they set off homeward.

■ adj. going or leading towards home: their homeward journey.

<ORIGIN> Old English hāmweard (see HOME, -ward).

homeward-bound adj. on the way home: the next day we were homeward-bound.

homework n. [mass noun] 1 schoolwork that a pupil is required to do at home.

- work or study done in preparation for an event or situation: he had evidently done his homework and read his predecessor's reports.

2 paid work carried out in one's own home, especially low-paid piecework.

homeworker n. a person who works from home, especially doing low-paid piecework.

homey (also homy) adj. (homier, homiest) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (of a place or surroundings) comfortable and cosy: a homey atmosphere.

- unsophisticated: an idealized vision of traditional peasant life as simple and homey.

■ n. (pl. homeys) US INFORMAL variant spelling of HOMIE.

<DERIVATIVES> homeyness (also hominess) n.

homicidal adj. capable of or tending towards murder; murderous: he had homicidal tendencies.

<DERIVATIVES> homicidally adv.

homicide n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN the killing of one person by another: he was charged with homicide | [count noun] knives account for a third of all homicides.

- (Homicide) the police department that deals with the crime of murder: a man from Homicide.

- [count noun] DATED a murderer.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin homicidium, from homo, homin- ‘man’.

homie (also homey) n. (pl. homies) INFORMAL, chiefly US a homeboy or homegirl.

homiletic /hmlεtk/ adj. of the nature of or characteristic of a homily: homiletic literature.

■ n. (homiletics) the art of preaching or writing sermons: the teaching of homiletics.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via late Latin from Greek homilētikos, from homilein ‘converse with, consort’, from homilia (see HOMILY).

homiliary /hmləri/ n. (pl. homiliaries) HISTORICAL a book of homilies.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from medieval Latin homiliarius, from ecclesiastical Latin homilia (see HOMILY).

homily /hmli/ n. (pl. homilies) a religious discourse which is intended primarily for spiritual edification rather than doctrinal instruction.

- a tedious moralizing lecture: she delivered her homily about the need for patience.

<DERIVATIVES> homilist n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin homilia, from Greek, ‘discourse, conversation’ (in ecclesiastical use, ‘sermon’), from homilos ‘crowd’.

homing adj. relating to an animal's ability to return to its territory after travelling away from it: a strong homing instinct.

- (of a pigeon) trained to fly home from a great distance and bred for long-distance racing.

- (of a weapon or piece of equipment) fitted with an electronic device that enables it to find and hit a target.

hominid /hmnd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a primate of a family (Hominidae) which includes humans and their fossil ancestors.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Hominidae (plural), from Latin homo, homin- ‘man’.

hominoid /hmnd/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a primate of a group that includes humans, their fossil ancestors, and the great apes.

<INFO> Superfamily Hominoidea: families Hominidae and Pongidae.

■ adj. relating to hominoid primates; hominid or pongid.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin homo, homin- ‘human being’ + -OID.

hominy /hmni/ n. [mass noun] US coarsely ground corn (maize) used to make grits: [as modifier] hominy grits.

<ORIGIN> shortened from Virginia Algonquian uskatahomen.

Homo /həmə hmə/ n. the genus of primates of which modern humans (Homo sapiens) are the present-day representatives.

- [with Latin or pseudo-Latin modifier] denoting kinds of modern human, often humorously: a textbook example of Homo neuroticus.

The genus Homo is believed to have existed for at least two million years, and modern humans (H. sapiens sapiens) first appeared in the Upper Palaeolithic. Among several extinct species are H. habilis, H. erectus, and H. neanderthalensis.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘man’.

homo /həmə/ INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY n. (pl. homos) a homosexual man.

■ adj. homosexual.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: abbreviation.

homo- combining form 1 same: homogametic.

2 relating to homosexual love: homoerotic. Often contrasted with HETERO-.

<ORIGIN> from Greek homos ‘same’.

homocentric^1 adj. having the same centre.

homocentric^2 adj. another term for ANTHROPOCENTRIC.

homocercal /hmə()sək(ə)l həm-/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of a fish's tail) appearing outwardly symmetrical but with the backbone passing into the upper lobe, as in all higher fish. Contrasted with DIPHYCERCAL, HETEROCERCAL.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HOMO- ‘same’ + Greek kerkos ‘tail’ + -AL.

homocysteine /hmə()sstin həm- -tn -ten -tin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an amino acid which occurs in the body as an intermediate in the metabolism of methionine and cysteine.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HSCH_2CH_2CH(NH_2)COOH.

homoerotic adj. concerning or arousing sexual desire centred on a person of the same sex: homoerotic images.

<DERIVATIVES> homoeroticism n.

homogametic /hmə()əmεtk -mitk həm-/ adj. [BIOLOGY] denoting the sex which has sex chromosomes that do not differ in morphology, resulting in only one kind of gamete, e.g. (in mammals) the female and (in birds) the male. The opposite of HETEROGAMETIC.

homogamy /hməmi/ n. [mass noun] 1 [BIOLOGY] inbreeding, especially as a result of isolation.

- marriage between people from similar sociological or educational backgrounds. Compare with heterogamy (sense 3).

2 [BOTANY] a state in which the flowers of a plant are all of one type (either hermaphrodite or of the same sex). Compare with heterogamy (sense 2).

3 [BOTANY] the simultaneous ripening of the stamens and pistils of a flower, ensuring self-pollination. Compare with DICHOGAMY.

<DERIVATIVES> homogamous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HOMO- ‘same’ + Greek gamos ‘marriage’.

homogenate /həmdnet/ n. [BIOLOGY] a suspension of cell fragments and cell constituents obtained when tissue is homogenized.

homogeneity /hmə()dneti -dniti həm-/ n. [mass noun] the quality or state of being homogeneous: the cultural homogeneity of our society.

homogeneous /hmə()dinəs -dεn- həm-/ adj. 1 of the same kind; alike: if all jobs and workers were homogeneous.

- consisting of parts all of the same kind: a homogeneous society.

- [MATHEMATICS] containing terms all of the same degree.

2 [CHEMISTRY] denoting a process involving substances in the same phase (solid, liquid, or gaseous): homogeneous catalysis.

<DERIVATIVES> homogeneously adv. homogeneousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as HOMOGENEITY): from medieval Latin homogeneus, from Greek homogenēs, from homos ‘same’ + genos ‘race, kind’.

<USAGE> The correct spelling is homogeneous but a common misspelling is homogenous. The reason for the error probably relates to the pronunciation, in which the e is often missed out, but it may also have arisen through confusion with other words such as homogenize. Homogenous is a different word, a rather dated term used in biology.

homogenize (also homogenise) v. [with obj.] 1 subject (milk) to a process in which the fat droplets are emulsified and the cream does not separate: (as adj. homogenized) homogenized milk.

- [BIOLOGY] prepare a suspension of cell constituents from (tissue) by physical treatment in a liquid.

2 (often as adj. homogenized) make uniform or similar: a homogenized society.

<DERIVATIVES> homogenization /-ze(ə)n/ n. homogenizer n.

homogenous /həmdnəs/ adj. [BIOLOGY] old-fashioned term for HOMOLOGOUS.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HOMO- ‘same’ + Greek genos ‘race, kind’ + -OUS.

homogeny /həmdəni/ n. [mass noun] 1 another term for HOMOGENEITY (see HOMOGENEOUS).

2 [BIOLOGY], DATED similarity due to common descent.

homograft /hmərαft həm-/ n. a tissue graft from a donor of the same species as the recipient. Compare with ALLOGRAFT.

homograph n. each of two or more words spelled the same but not necessarily pronounced the same and having different meanings and origins (e.g. bow^1 and bow^2).

<DERIVATIVES> homographic adj.

homoiousian /hmusən -a- -z-/ n. HISTORICAL a person who held that God the Father and God the Son are of like but not identical substance. Compare with HOMOOUSIAN.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘of similar but not identical substance’): via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek homoiousios, from homoios ‘like’ + ousia ‘essence, substance’. The noun dates from the mid 18th cent.

homologate /həmləet/ v. [with obj.] 1 approve (a car, engine, etc.) for sale in a particular market or use in a particular class of racing.

2 FORMAL express agreement with or approval of.

<DERIVATIVES> homologation n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin homologat- ‘agreed’, from the verb homologare, from Greek homologein ‘confess’.

homologize /hmlədz/ (also homologise) v. [with obj.] FORMAL make or show to have the same relation, relative position, or structure.

homologous /hmləəs/ adj. having the same relation, relative position, or structure.

- [BIOLOGY] (of organs) similar in position, structure, and evolutionary origin but not necessarily in function: a seal's flipper is homologous with the human arm. Often contrasted with ANALOGOUS.

- [BIOLOGY] (of chromosomes) pairing at meiosis and having the same structural features and pattern of genes.

- [CHEMISTRY] (of a series of chemical compounds) having the same functional group but differing in composition by a fixed group of atoms.

<DERIVATIVES> homology n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via medieval Latin from Greek homologos ‘agreeing, consistent’, from homos ‘same’ + logos ‘ratio, proportion’.

homologue /hməl/ (US homolog) n. TECHNICAL a homologous thing.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from Greek homologos (see HOMOLOGOUS).

homomorphic adj. TECHNICAL of the same or similar form.

- [MATHEMATICS] relating to or of the nature of a homomorphism.

<DERIVATIVES> homomorphically adv.

homomorphism n. [MATHEMATICS] a transformation of one set into another that preserves in the second set the relations between elements of the first.

homonym /hmənm/ n. each of two or more words having the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings and origins (e.g. pole^1 and pole^2).

- [BIOLOGY] a Latin name which is identical to that of a different organism, the newer of the two names being invalid.

<DERIVATIVES> homonymic adj. homonymous adj. homonymy n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via Latin from Greek homōnumon, neuter of homōnumos ‘having the same name’, from homos ‘same’ + onoma ‘name’.

homoousian /hməusən -a- -z- həmə-/ (also homousian) n. HISTORICAL a person who held that God the Father and God the Son are of the same substance. Compare with HOMOIOUSIAN.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from ecclesiastical Latin homousianus, from homousius, from Greek homoousios, from homos ‘same’ + ousia ‘essence, substance’.

homophobia /hməfəbə həmə-/ n. [mass noun] an extreme and irrational aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people.

<DERIVATIVES> homophobe n. homophobic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from HOMOSEXUAL + -PHOBIA.

homophone /hməfən həm-/ n. each of two or more words having the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling (e.g. NEW and KNEW).

- each of a set of symbols denoting the same sound or group of sounds.

homophonic adj. 1 [MUSIC] characterized by the movement of accompanying parts in the same rhythm as the melody. Often contrasted with POLYPHONIC.

2 another term for homophonous (sense 2).

<DERIVATIVES> homophonically adv.

homophonous /həmf(ə)nəs/ adj. 1 (of music) homophonic.

2 (of a word or words) having the same pronunciation as another or others but different meaning, origin, or spelling.

<DERIVATIVES> homophony n.

homopolar adj. having equal or constant electrical polarity.

- (of an electric generator) producing direct current without the use of commutators.

Homoptera /hmpt(ə)rə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a group of true bugs comprising those in which the forewings are uniform in texture. Plant bugs such as aphids, whitefly, scale insects, and cicadas belong to this group. Compare with HETEROPTERA.

<INFO> Suborder Homoptera, order Hemiptera.

- (homoptera) bugs of this group.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from HOMO- ‘equal’ + Greek pteron ‘wing’.

homopteran [ENTOMOLOGY] n. a bug of the group Homoptera.

■ adj. relating to or denoting homopterans.

<DERIVATIVES> homopterous adj.

homorganic /hmank/ adj. denoting sets of speech sounds that are produced using the same vocal organs, e.g. p, b, and m.

Homo sapiens /həmə sapεnz hmə/ n. the primate species to which modern humans belong; humans regarded as a species. See also HOMO.

- a member of this species.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘wise man’.

homosexual /hmə()sεksjəl həm- -əl/ adj. sexually attracted to people of one's own sex.

- involving or characterized by sexual attraction between people of the same sex: homosexual desire.

■ n. a person who is sexually attracted to people of their own sex.

<DERIVATIVES> homosexuality n. homosexually adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HOMO- ‘same’ + SEXUAL.

homosocial adj. relating to social interaction between members of the same sex, typically men.

homotransplant n. another term for ALLOGRAFT.

homozygote /hmə()zət həm-/ n. [GENETICS] an individual having two identical alleles of a particular gene or genes and so breeding true for the corresponding characteristic. Compare with HETEROZYGOTE.

<DERIVATIVES> homozygosity n. homozygous adj.

Homs /hms hmz/ (also Hims) an industrial city in western Syria, on the River Orontes; pop. 724,700 (est. 2002). It was named in 636 by the Muslims and occupies the site of ancient Emesa.

homunculus /hmkjləs/ (also homuncule /-kjul/) n. (pl. homunculi /-l/ or homuncules) a very small human or humanoid creature.

- HISTORICAL a microscopic but fully formed human being from which a fetus was formerly believed to develop.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, diminutive of homo, homin- ‘man’.

Hon abbr.

- British (in official job titles) Honorary: the Hon Secretary.

- (in titles of the British nobility, members of parliament and some other politicians, and (in the US) judges) Honourable: the Hon Charles Rothschild.

hon n. INFORMAL short for HONEY (as a form of address): it wouldn't interest you, hon.

Honan /hənan/ 1 variant of HENAN.

2 former name for LUOYANG.

honcho /hn(t)ə/ NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. (pl. honchos) a leader or manager; the person in charge: the company's head honcho in the US.

■ v. (honchoes, honchoing, honchoed) [with obj.] be in charge of (a project or situation).

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Japanese hanchō ‘group leader’, a term brought back to the US by servicemen stationed in Japan during the occupation following the Second World War.

Honda /hndə/ Soichiro (1906–92), Japanese motor manufacturer. Opening his first factory in 1934, he began motorcycle manufacture in 1948 and expanded into car production during the 1960s.

Honduras /hndjərəs/ a country of Central America, bordering on the Caribbean Sea and with a short coastline on the Pacific Ocean; pop. 6,560,608 (est. 2002); official language, Spanish; capital, Tegucigalpa. See also BRITISH HONDURAS.

Honduras was at the southern limit of the Mayan empire. It was encountered by Columbus in 1502, and became a Spanish colony. In 1821 Honduras became an independent republic, and was part of the United Provinces of Central America between 1823 and 1838.

<DERIVATIVES> Honduran adj. & n.

hone v. [with obj.] sharpen with a whetstone.

- make sharper or more focused or efficient: their appetites were honed by fresh air and exercise.

■ n. a whetstone, especially one used to sharpen razors.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old English hān ‘stone’, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse hein.

Honecker /hnkə/ German /hənεk/ Erich (1912–94), East German communist statesman, head of state 1976–89. His repressive regime was marked by a close allegiance to the Soviet Union. He was ousted in 1989 as communism collapsed throughout eastern Europe.

Honegger /hnə/ French /nεεR/ Arthur (1892–1955), French composer, of Swiss descent. He lived and worked chiefly in Paris, where he became a member of the anti-romantic group Les Six. His first major success was the orchestral work Pacific 231 (1924).

honest adj. free of deceit; truthful and sincere: I haven't been totally honest with you.

- morally correct or virtuous: I did the only right and honest thing.

- [attr.] fairly earned, especially through hard work: he's struggling to make an honest living.

- (of an action) done with good intentions even if unsuccessful or misguided: he'd made an honest mistake.

- [attr.] simple, unpretentious, and unsophisticated: good honest food with no gimmicks.

■ adv. INFORMAL used to persuade someone of the truth of something: you'll like it when you get there, honest.

<PHRASES>

□ earn (or turn) an honest penny earn money fairly.

□ make an honest woman of DATED or HUMOROUS marry a woman, especially to avoid scandal if she is pregnant. [<ORIGIN> honest here originally meant ‘respectable’, but was probably associated with the archaic sense ‘chaste’.]

□ to be honest speaking frankly: to be honest, I expected to play worse.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘held in or deserving of honour’): via Old French from Latin honestus, from honos (see HONOUR).

honest broker n. an impartial mediator in international, industrial, or other disputes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: translating German ehrlicher Makler with reference to Bismarck^2, under whom Germany was united.

honestly adv. 1 in a truthful, fair, or honourable way: he'd come by the money honestly.

2 used to emphasize the sincerity of an opinion or feeling: she honestly believed that she was making life easier for Jack.

- [sentence adv.] used to emphasize the truthfulness of a statement: honestly, darling, I'm not upset.

- [sentence adv.] used to indicate the speaker's annoyance or impatience: honestly, that man is the absolute limit!

honest-to-God INFORMAL adj. [attr.] genuine; real: an honest-to-God celebrity.

■ exclam. genuinely; really: ‘You mean you didn't know?’ ‘Honest to God!’.

honest-to-goodness adj. [attr.] plain, genuine, and straightforward: an honest-to-goodness family holiday in the sun.

honesty n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being honest: they spoke with convincing honesty about their fears | it was not, in all honesty, an auspicious debut.

2 a European plant with purple or white flowers and round, flat, translucent seed pods which are used for indoor flower arrangements.

<INFO> Genus Lunaria, family Cruciferae.

<PHRASES>

□ honesty is the best policy PROVERB there are often practical as well as moral reasons for being honest.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French honeste, from Latin honestas, from honestus (see HONEST). The original sense was ‘honour, respectability’, later ‘decorum, virtue, chastity’. The plant is so named from its seed pods, translucency symbolizing lack of deceit.

honewort /hənwət/ n. a wild plant of the parsley family.

<INFO> Two species in the family Umbelliferae: Cryptotaenia canadensis, a native of North America and east Asia which is cultivated for food in Japan, and Trinia glauca, a small European plant.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from obsolete hone ‘swelling’ (for which the plant was believed to be a remedy) + WORT.

honey n. (pl. honeys) 1 [mass noun] a sweet, sticky yellowish-brown fluid made by bees and other insects from nectar collected from flowers.

- a yellowish-brown or golden colour: [as modifier] her honey skin.

- any sweet substance similar to bees' honey.

2 INFORMAL an excellent example of something: it's one honey of an adaptation.

- an attractive girl: she's a little honey.

- darling; sweetheart (usually as a form of address): hi, honey!

<ORIGIN> Old English hunig, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch honig and German Honig.

honey ant n. another term for HONEYPOT ANT.

honey badger n. another term for RATEL.

honeybird n. a small, drab African bird of the honeyguide family.

<INFO> Genus Prodotiscus, family Indicatoridae: three species.

honey bucket n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a toilet which does not use water and has to be emptied manually.

honeybun (also honeybunch) n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL darling (used as a form of address).

honey buzzard n. a large Eurasian bird of prey resembling a buzzard, having a small head and long tail, feeding on bees and wasps and their nests.

<INFO> Genus Pernis, family Accipitridae: three species, in particular P. apivorus.

honeycomb n. 1 a structure of hexagonal cells of wax, made by bees to store honey and eggs.

2 a structure of adjoining cavities or cells: a honeycomb of caves.

- a mass of cavities produced by corrosion or dissolution: [as modifier] honeycomb weathering.

- a raised hexagonal or cellular pattern on a fabric.

3 [mass noun] tripe from the second stomach of a ruminant.

■ v. [with obj.] fill with cavities or tunnels: whole hillsides were honeycombed with mines.

- infiltrate and undermine: their men honeycombed the army.

<ORIGIN> Old English hunigcamb (see HONEY, comb).

honeycreeper n. 1 a tropical American tanager (songbird) with a long curved bill, feeding on nectar and insects.

<INFO> Genera Cyanerpes and Chlorophanes, family Emberizidae (subfamily Thraupinae): five species.

2 (also Hawaiian honeycreeper) a Hawaiian songbird of variable appearance and with a specialized bill, several kinds of which are now endangered.

<INFO> Family Drepanididae (or Fringillidae): several genera and species, often with Hawaiian names such as the iiwi and ou.

honeydew n. 1 [mass noun] a sweet, sticky substance excreted by aphids and often deposited on leaves and stems.

- LITERARY an ideally sweet substance.

2 (also honeydew melon) a melon of a variety with smooth pale skin and sweet green flesh.

honeyeater n. an Australasian songbird with a long brush-like tongue for feeding on nectar.

<INFO> Family Meliphagidae: numerous species and genera.

honeyed (also honied) adj. (of food) containing or coated with honey.

- rich and sweet in taste or smell: as the wine matures it becomes more honeyed.

- having a golden or warm yellow colour.

- FIGURATIVE (of a person's words or tone of voice) soothing, soft, and intended to please: he wooed her with honeyed words.

honey fungus (also honey mushroom) n. a widespread parasitic fungus that produces clumps of honey-coloured toadstools at the base of trees. The black string-like hyphae invade a tree, causing decay or death and spreading out to other trees.

<INFO> Armillaria mellea, family Tricholomataceae, class Hymenomycetes.

honeyguide n. 1 a small bird of the Old World tropics which feeds chiefly on beeswax and bee grubs. Two African kinds attract humans and other mammals, especially honey badgers, to bee nests.

<INFO> Family Indicatoridae: four genera, especially Indicator.

2 [BOTANY] a marking on the petal of a flower thought to guide pollinating insects to nectar.

honey locust n. a spiny tree of the pea family, grown as an ornamental for its fern-like foliage.

<INFO> Genus Gleditsia, family Leguminosae: several species.

honeymoon n. a holiday spent together by a newly married couple: they flew to the West Indies on honeymoon.

- [often as modifier] FIGURATIVE an initial period of enthusiasm or goodwill, typically at the start of a new job: the new President's honeymoon period.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of place] spend a honeymoon: they are honeymooning in the south of France.

<DERIVATIVES> honeymooner n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting the period of time following a wedding): from HONEY + MOON. The original reference was to affection waning like the moon, but later the sense became ‘the first month after marriage’.

honey parrot n. Australian term for LORIKEET.

honey possum n. a tiny shrew-like marsupial with a long pointed snout and a prehensile tail, found only in SW Australia, where it feeds exclusively upon nectar and pollen.

<INFO> Tarsipes rostratus, the only member of the family Tarsipedidae.

honeypot n. 1 a container for honey.

- FIGURATIVE a place to which many people are attracted: the tourist honeypot of St Ives.

2 VULGAR SLANG a woman's genitals.

honeypot ant n. an ant that stores large amounts of honeydew and nectar in its elastic abdomen, which becomes greatly distended. This is then fed to nest mates by regurgitation.

<INFO> Myrmecocystus and other genera, family Formicidae.

honeysucker n. any of a number of long-billed birds which feed on nectar, especially (in South Africa) a sunbird.

honeysuckle n. a widely distributed climbing shrub with tubular flowers that are typically fragrant and of two colours or shades, opening in the evening for pollination by moths.

<INFO> Genus Lonicera, family Caprifoliaceae (the honeysuckle family): many species, including the Eurasian common honeysuckle (L. periclymenum) and many cultivars. The honeysuckle family also includes such berry-bearing shrubs as guelder rose, elder, and snowberry.

<ORIGIN> Middle English honysoukil, extension of honysouke, from Old English hunigsūce (see HONEY, suck). It originally denoted tubular flowers, such as the red clover, which are sucked for their nectar.

honeytrap n. a stratagem in which an attractive person entices another person into revealing information or doing something unwise.

honeywort n. a Mediterranean plant of the borage family, with greyish-green leaves and tubular yellow or purple flowers that are a favoured source of nectar for bees.

<INFO> Genus Cerinthe, family Boraginaceae: several species, in particular the yellow-flowered C. major.

hongi /hi/ n. NZ a traditional Maori greeting in which people press their noses together.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

Hong Kong a special administrative region on the SE coast of China, a former British dependency until 1997; pop. 6,708,389 (2001); official languages, English and Cantonese; capital, Victoria.

The area comprises Hong Kong Island, ceded by China in 1841, the Kowloon peninsula, ceded in 1860, and the New Territories, additional areas of the mainland which were leased for 99 years in 1898. All were returned to China in 1997. Hong Kong has become one of the world's major financial and manufacturing centres, with the third-largest container port in the world.

Honiara /hənαrə/ a port and the capital of the Solomon Islands, situated on the NW coast of the island of Guadalcanal; pop. 52,900 (est. 2002).

honi soit qui mal y pense /n swα ki mal i ps/ exclam. shame on him who thinks evil of it (the motto of the Order of the Garter).

<ORIGIN> French.

Honiton lace /hnt(ə)n hn-/ n. [mass noun] lace consisting of floral sprigs hand sewn on to fine net or joined by lacework.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Honiton, the name of a town in Devon.

honk n. the cry of a wild goose.

- the harsh sound of a car horn.

■ v. 1 make or cause to make a honk: [no obj.] geese circled around and honked | [with obj.] fans honked their horns.

2 [no obj.] BRITISH INFORMAL vomit.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: imitative.

honker n. a person or thing that honks.

- North American INFORMAL a wild goose.

honky n. (pl. honkies) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a derogatory term used by black people for a white person or for white people collectively.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: of unknown origin.

honky-tonk n. INFORMAL 1 NORTH AMERICAN a cheap or disreputable bar, club, or dance hall.

- [as modifier] squalid and disreputable: a honky-tonk beach resort.

2 [mass noun] [often as modifier] ragtime piano music.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

honnête homme /nεt m/ n. a decent, cultivated man of the world; a gentleman.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘honest man’.

Honolulu /hnəlulu/ the state capital and principal port of Hawaii, situated on the SE coast of the island of Oahu; pop. 371,657 (2000).

honorand /nərand/ n. a person to be publicly honoured, especially with an honorary degree.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Latin honorandus ‘to be honoured’, gerundive of honorare ‘to honour’, from honor ‘honour’.

honorarium /nərεrəm/ n. (pl. honorariums or honoraria /-rə/) a payment given for professional services that are rendered nominally without charge.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, denoting a gift made on being admitted to public office, from honorarius (see HONORARY).

honorary adj. 1 conferred as an honour, without the usual requirements or functions: an honorary doctorate.

- (of a person) holding an honorary title or position: an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

2 BRITISH (of an office or its holder) unpaid: Honorary Secretary of the Association.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin honorarius, from honor ‘honour’.

honoree /nəri/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a person who is honoured, especially by receiving an award at a public ceremony.

honorific adj. given as a mark of respect but having few or no duties: he was elevated to the honorific status of ‘Dom’.

- (of a form of address) showing respect: an honorific title for addressing women.

■ n. a title or word implying or expressing respect.

<DERIVATIVES> honorifically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin honorificus, from honor ‘honour’.

honoris causa /nrs kazə/ adv. (especially of a degree awarded without examination) as a mark of esteem.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘for the sake of honour’.

honour (US honor) n. 1 [mass noun] high respect; great esteem: his portrait hangs in the place of honour.

- [in sing.] a person or thing that brings esteem: you are an honour to our profession.

- (His, Your, etc. Honour) a title of respect or form of address given to a circuit judge, a US mayor, and (in Irish or rustic speech) any person of rank.

2 the quality of knowing and doing what is morally right: I must as a matter of honour avoid any taint of dishonesty.

- DATED a woman's chastity or her reputation for being chaste: she died defending her honour.

3 something regarded as a rare opportunity and bringing pride and pleasure; a privilege: Mrs Young had the honour of being received by the Queen.

- a thing conferred as a distinction, especially an official award for bravery or achievement: the highest military honours.

- (honours) a special distinction for proficiency in an examination: she passed with honours.

- (honours) a course of degree studies more specialized than for an ordinary pass: [as modifier] an honours degree in mathematics.

- [GOLF] the right of driving off first, having won the previous hole.

4 [BRIDGE] an ace, king, queen, jack, or ten.

- (honours) possession in one's hand of at least four of the ace, king, queen, jack, and ten of trumps, or of all four aces in no trumps, for which a bonus is scored.

- (in whist) an ace, king, queen, or jack of trumps.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 regard with great respect: Joyce has now learned to honour her father's memory | (as adj. honoured) an honoured guest.

- pay public respect to: talented writers were honoured at a special ceremony.

2 fulfil (an obligation) or keep (an agreement): make sure the franchisees honour the terms of the contract.

- accept (a bill) or pay (a cheque) when due: the bank informed him that the cheque would not be honoured.

<PHRASES>

□ do the honours INFORMAL perform a social duty for others, especially the serving of food or drink to a guest.

□ honour bright BRITISH DATED on my honour: I'll never do it again, honour bright, I won't. [<ORIGIN> from Thomas Moore's Tom Cribb's Memorial to Congress (1819).]

□ honours are even BRITISH there is equality in the contest: they are meeting in the final for the fifth time with honours even.

□ in honour bound another way of saying ON ONE'S HONOUR below.

□ in honour of as a celebration of or expression of respect for.

□ on one's honour under a moral obligation: they are on their honour as gentlemen not to cheat.

- (on (or upon) my honour) used as an expression of sincerity: I promise on my honour.

□ there's honour among thieves PROVERB dishonest people may have certain standards of behaviour which they will respect.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French onor (noun), onorer (verb), from Latin honos, honor.

honourable (US honorable) adj. 1 bringing or deserving honour: this is the only honourable course | a decent and honourable man.

- FORMAL or HUMOROUS (of the intentions of a man courting a woman) directed towards marriage.

2 (Honourable) used as a title for certain high officials, the children of certain ranks of the nobility, and MPs: the Honourable Alan Simpson, US Senator.

<DERIVATIVES> honourableness n. honourably adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin honorabilis, from honor ‘honour’.

honourable mention n. a commendation given to a candidate in an examination or competition who is not awarded a prize.

honour killing n. the killing of a relative, especially a girl or woman, who is perceived to have brought dishonour on the family.

honour point n. [HERALDRY] the point halfway between the top of a shield and the fess point.

honours list n. a publicly issued list of people and the distinctions they are to be awarded.

honours of war plural n. privileges granted to a capitulating force, for example that of marching out with colours flying.

honour system n. a system of payment or examinations which relies solely on the honesty of those concerned.

Hon. Sec. abbr. honorary secretary.

Honshu /hnu/ the largest of the four main islands of Japan; pop 102,318,000 (2000).

hooch^1 (also hootch) n. [mass noun] INFORMAL alcoholic liquor, especially inferior or illicit whisky.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation of Hoochinoo, the name of an Alaskan Indian people who made liquor.

hooch^2 n. US INFORMAL a shelter or improvised dwelling.

<ORIGIN> 1950s (originally military slang): perhaps from Japanese uchi ‘dwelling’.

Hood Thomas (1799–1845), English poet and humorist. He wrote much humorous verse but is chiefly remembered for serious poems such as ‘The Song of the Shirt’.

hood^1 n. 1 a covering for the head and neck with an opening for the face, typically forming part of a coat or cloak.

- a separate garment similar to this worn over a university gown or a surplice to indicate the wearer's degree.

- [FALCONRY] a leather covering for a hawk's head.

2 a thing resembling a hood in shape or use, in particular:

- BRITISH a folding waterproof cover of a car, pram, etc.

- NORTH AMERICAN the bonnet of a motor vehicle.

- a canopy to protect users of machinery or to remove fumes from it.

- a hood-like structure or marking on the head or neck of an animal.

- the upper part of the flower of a plant such as a dead-nettle.

■ v. [with obj.] put a hood on or over.

<DERIVATIVES> hoodless adj. hood-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hōd, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoed, German Hut ‘hat’, also to HAT.

hood^2 n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a gangster or similar violent criminal.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: abbreviation of HOODLUM.

hood^3 (also 'hood) n. INFORMAL, chiefly US a neighbourhood, especially one in an urban area: I've lived in the hood for 15 years.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: shortening of NEIGHBOURHOOD.

-hood suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting a condition or quality: falsehood | womanhood.

2 denoting a collection or group: brotherhood.

<ORIGIN> Old English -hād, originally an independent noun meaning ‘person, condition, quality’.

hooded adj. (of a garment) having a hood: a hooded cloak.

- (of a person) wearing a hood: a hooded figure.

- (of eyes) having thick, drooping upper eyelids resembling hoods: a dark man with hooded eyes.

hooded crow n. a bird of the North and East European race of the carrion crow, having a grey body with a black head, wings, and tail.

<INFO> Corvus corone cornix, family Corvidae.

hooded seal n. a seal with a grey and white blotched coat, found in the Arctic waters of the North Atlantic. The male has a nasal sac that is inflated into a hood during display.

<INFO> Cystophora cristata, family Phocidae.

hoodia /hdə/ n. 1 a cactus-like succulent plant native to southern Africa.

<INFO> Genus Hoodia, family Asclepiadaceae: several species, in particular H. gordonii.

2 [mass noun] a compound derived from hoodia which acts as an appetite suppressant.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: modern Latin (genus name), from Hood, the surname of an English plant grower.

hoodlum /hudləm/ n. a person who engages in crime and violence; a hooligan or gangster.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

hood mould (also hood moulding) n. [ARCHITECTURE] another term for dripstone (sense 1).

hoodoo n. 1 [mass noun] voodoo or witchcraft.

- [count noun] a run of bad luck associated with a person or activity: when is this hoodoo going to end?

- [count noun] a person or thing that brings or causes bad luck.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a column or pinnacle of weathered rock: a towering sandstone hoodoo.

■ v. (hoodoos, hoodooing, hoodooed) [with obj.] bewitch: she's hoodooed you.

- bring bad luck to: a fine player, but repeatedly hoodooed.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (originally US): apparently an alteration of VOODOO. It originally denoted a person who practised voodoo, hence a hidden cause of bad luck (sense 1 of the noun).

■ Sense 2 of the noun is apparently due to the resemblance of the rock column to a strange human form, often topped by an overhanging ‘hat’ of harder rock.

hoodwink v. [with obj.] deceive or trick: staff were hoodwinked into thinking the cucumber was a sawn-off shotgun.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally in the sense ‘to blindfold’): from the noun hood^1 + an obsolete sense of WINK ‘close the eyes’.

hoody (also hoodie) n. (pl. hoodies) a hooded sweatshirt, jacket, or other top.

- INFORMAL a person, especially a youth, wearing a hooded top.

hooey n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN nonsense: the emphasis on family is pretentious hooey.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): of unknown origin.

hoof n. (pl. hoofs or hooves) the horny part of the foot of an ungulate animal, especially a horse: there was a clatter of hoofs as a rider came up to them.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL 1 kick (a ball) powerfully.

2 (hoof it) go on foot.

- dance: we hoof it reasonably fancily, and no one guffaws.

<PHRASES>

□ on the hoof 1 (of livestock) not yet slaughtered.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL without proper thought or preparation: policy was made on the hoof.

<DERIVATIVES> hoofed adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hōf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoef and German Huf.

hoofer n. INFORMAL a professional dancer.

hoof fungus n. another term for TINDER FUNGUS.

Hooghly /huli/ (also Hugli) the most westerly of the rivers of the Ganges delta, in West Bengal, India. It flows for 192 km (120 miles) into the Bay of Bengal and is navigable to Kolkata (Calcutta).

hoo-ha n. [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL a commotion; a fuss: the book was causing such a hoo-ha.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

hook n. 1 a piece of metal or other hard material curved or bent back at an angle, for catching hold of or hanging things on: a picture hook.

- (also fish hook) a bent piece of metal, typically barbed and baited, for catching fish.

- FIGURATIVE a thing designed to catch people's attention: companies are looking for a sales hook.

- a catchy chorus or repeated instrumental passage in a piece of popular music.

2 a curved cutting instrument, especially as used for reaping or shearing.

3 a short swinging punch made with the elbow bent and rigid, especially in boxing: a perfectly timed right hook to the chin.

- [CRICKET] a stroke made to the on side with a horizontal or slightly upward swing of the bat at shoulder height.

- [GOLF] a stroke which makes the ball deviate in flight in the direction of the follow-through (from right to left for a right-handed player), typically inadvertently.

4 a curved stroke in handwriting.

- [MUSIC] an added stroke transverse to the stem in the symbol for a quaver or other note.

5 [usually in place names] a curved promontory or sand spit.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial] attach or fasten with a hook or hooks: the truck had a red lamp hooked to its tailgate | she tried to hook up her bra | [no obj.] a ladder that hooks over the roof ridge.

- bend into the shape of a hook so as to fasten around or to an object: [with obj.] he hooked his thumbs in his belt | she hooked a thread around her crochet hook | [no obj.] her legs hooked around mine.

- [with obj.] [RUGBY] secure (the ball) and pass it backwards with the foot in the scrum.

2 [with obj.] catch with a hook: he hooked a 24 lb pike.

- INFORMAL attract and hold the attention of; captivate: I was hooked by John's radical zeal.

- ARCHAIC, INFORMAL steal.

3 (hook someone/thing up or hook up) link or be linked to electronic equipment: [with obj.] Ali was hooked up to an electrocardiograph.

- [no obj.] (hook up) INFORMAL (of two people) meet or form a relationship: he hooked up with a friend in Budapest.

4 [with obj.] [CRICKET] hit (the ball) round to the on side with a horizontal or slightly upward swing of the bat at shoulder height; hit a ball delivered by (the bowler) with such a stroke.

- [GOLF] strike (the ball) so that it deviates in the direction of the follow-through, typically inadvertently.

- [no obj.] [BOXING] punch one's opponent with the elbow bent and rigid.

5 (often in imperative hook it) BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED run away.

<PHRASES>

□ by hook or by crook by any possible means: the government intends, by hook or by crook, to hold on to the land.

□ get one's hooks into INFORMAL get hold of: they were going to move out rather than let Mel get his hooks into them.

□ get (or give someone) the hook NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be dismissed (or dismiss someone) from a job.

□ hook, line, and sinker used to emphasize that someone has been completely deceived or tricked: he fell hook, line, and sinker for this year's April Fool joke. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to the taking of bait by a fish.]

□ off the hook 1 INFORMAL no longer in difficulty or trouble: I lied to get him off the hook.

2 (of a telephone receiver) not on its rest, and so preventing incoming calls.

□ on the hook for NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL (in a financial context) responsible for: he's on the hook for about $9.5 million.

□ on one's own hook NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DATED by oneself.

□ sling one's hook [usually in imperative] BRITISH INFORMAL leave; go away.

<DERIVATIVES> hookless adj. hooklet n. hook-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hōc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoek ‘corner, angle, projecting piece of land’, also to German Haken ‘hook’.

hookah /hkə/ n. an oriental tobacco pipe with a long, flexible tube which draws the smoke through water contained in a bowl.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Urdu, from Arabic uqqa ‘casket, jar’.

hook and eye n. a small metal hook and loop used together as a fastener on a garment.

hookbait n. BRITISH bait attached to a hook for fishing (as distinct from groundbait).

Hooke Robert (1635–1703), English scientist. He formulated the law of elasticity (Hooke's law), proposed an undulating theory of light, introduced the term cell to biology, postulated elliptical orbits for the earth and moon, and proposed the inverse square law of gravitational attraction. He also invented or improved many scientific instruments and mechanical devices, and designed a number of buildings in London after the Great Fire.

hooked adj. 1 curved like a hook: a golden eagle with hooked beak.

- having a hook or hooks: a hooked gold earring.

2 INFORMAL addicted: a girl who got hooked on cocaine.

- devoted to or absorbed in something: cricket fans are currently hooked on a series of college matches.

3 (of a rug or mat) made by pulling woollen yarn through canvas with a hook.

Hooker^1 John Lee (1917–2001), American blues singer and guitarist. A major influence on British groups such as the Rolling Stones in the 1960s, he came to the attention of a new generation of fans in the 1980s.

Hooker^2 Sir Joseph Dalton (1817–1911), English botanist and pioneer in plant geography. Hooker applied Darwin's theories to plants and, with George Bentham (1800–84), he produced a work on classification, Genera Plantarum (1862–83).

hooker^1 n. 1 [RUGBY] the player in the middle of the front row of the scrum, who tries to hook the ball.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a prostitute.

hooker^2 n. a one-masted sailing boat of a kind used especially in Ireland for fishing.

- [NAUTICAL], INFORMAL an old boat.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Dutch hoeker, from hoek ‘hook’ (used earlier in hoekboot, denoting a two-masted Dutch fishing vessel).

hooker^3 n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a glass or drink of undiluted brandy, whisky, or other alcoholic spirit.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

Hooke's law n. [PHYSICS] a law stating that the strain in a solid is proportional to the applied stress within the elastic limit of that solid.

hookey (also hooky) n. (in phrase play hookey) INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN play truant.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

hook nose n. a prominent aquiline nose.

<DERIVATIVES> hook-nosed adj.

Hook of Holland a cape and port of the Netherlands, near The Hague, linked by ferry to Harwich, Hull, and Dublin. Dutch name HOEK VAN HOLLAND.

hook shot n. [BASKETBALL] a twisting shot started with the player's back to the basket, and completed as they pivot round towards the basket.

hooktip n. a slender moth which has hooked tips to the forewings.

<INFO> Family Drepanidae: Drepana and other genera.

hook-up n. a connection or link, especially to mains electricity or for communications or broadcasting equipment.

hookworm n. a parasitic nematode worm which inhabits the intestines of humans and other animals. It has hook-like mouthparts with which it attaches itself to the wall of the gut, puncturing the blood vessels and feeding on the blood.

<INFO> Ancylostoma, Uncinaria, Necator, and other genera, class Phasmida, including N. americanus, which infects millions of people in the tropics.

- [mass noun] a disease caused by an infestation of hookworms, often resulting in severe anaemia.

hooky^1 adj. (hookier, hookiest) (of a tune) having immediate appeal and easy to remember; catchy: a hooky bass line.

hooley n. (pl. hooleys) INFORMAL, chiefly IRISH a wild or noisy party.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

hooligan n. a violent young troublemaker, typically one of a gang: a football hooligan.

<DERIVATIVES> hooliganism n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from Hooligan, the surname of a fictional rowdy Irish family in a music-hall song of the 1890s, also of a cartoon character.

hoolock /hulək/ (also hoolock gibbon) n. a gibbon with white eyebrows, the male of which has black fur and the female golden, found from NE India to Burma.

<INFO> Hylobates hoolock, family Hylobatidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from Bengali and imitative of its cry.

hoon AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL n. a lout or hooligan, especially a young man who drives recklessly.

■ v. [no obj.] behave in a loutish way, especially by driving recklessly.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: of unknown origin.

hoop n. 1 a circular band of metal, wood, or similar material, especially one used for binding the staves of barrels or forming part of a framework.

- a large ring formerly bowled along as a toy.

- a large ring for circus performers to jump through.

- HISTORICAL a circle of flexible material used for expanding a woman's petticoat or skirt.

- chiefly BRITISH a metal arch through which balls are hit in croquet.

2 a horizontal band of a contrasting colour on a sports shirt or jockey's cap.

- Australian INFORMAL a jockey.

■ v. [with obj.] bind or encircle with or as with hoops.

<PHRASES>

□ put someone (or go) through the hoops make someone undergo (or be made to undergo) a difficult and gruelling test or series of tests.

<DERIVATIVES> hooped adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English hōp, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoep.

hooper n. old-fashioned term for COOPER.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from HOOP.

hoop iron n. [mass noun] flattened iron in long thin strips used for binding together the staves of casks or tubs.

hoopla /huplα/ n. 1 BRITISH a game in which rings are thrown from behind a line in an attempt to encircle one of several prizes.

2 [mass noun] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN unnecessary fuss surrounding something.

hoopoe /hupu -pə/ n. a salmon-pink Eurasian bird with a long downcurved bill, a large erectile crest, and black-and-white wings and tail.

<INFO> Upupa epops, the only member of the family Upupidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: alteration of obsolete hoop, from Old French huppe, from Latin upupa, imitative of the bird's call.

hooptie /hupti/ n. US INFORMAL a car, especially an old or dilapidated one.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: of unknown origin.

hoor /h hə/ n. IRISH & SCOTTISH INFORMAL a prostitute.

- a person (male or female) whose behaviour one disapproves of.

<ORIGIN> representing a regional pronunciation of WHORE.

hooray exclam. 1 another word for HURRAH.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ goodbye.

Hooray Henry n. (pl. Hooray Henrys or Hooray Henries) BRITISH INFORMAL a lively but ineffectual young upper-class man.

hooroo /hru/ (also hurroo) exclam. & n.

■ Australian word for HOORAY.

hoosegow /husa/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a prison.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: via Latin American Spanish from Spanish juzgado ‘tribunal’, from Latin judicatum ‘something judged’, neuter past participle of judicare.

Hoosier /huə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a native or inhabitant of the state of Indiana, US.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

Hoosier State informal name for INDIANA.

hoot n. a low, wavering musical sound which is the typical call of many kinds of owl.

- a raucous sound made by a horn, siren, or steam whistle.

- a shout expressing scorn or disapproval: there were hoots of derision.

- a short outburst of laughter: the audience broke into hoots of laughter.

- (a hoot) INFORMAL an amusing situation or person: your mum's a real hoot.

■ v. [no obj.] (of an owl) utter a hoot.

- (with reference to a car horn, siren, etc.) make or cause to make a hoot: a car horn hooted, frightening her | [with obj.] Sam hooted his horn.

- shout loudly in scorn, disapproval, or merriment: she began to hoot with laughter.

- (hoot something down) express loud scornful disapproval of something: his questions were hooted down or answered obscenely.

<PHRASES>

□ not CARE (or GIVE) a hoot (or two hoots) INFORMAL not care at all.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘make sounds of derision’): perhaps imitative.

hootenanny /hut(ə)nani/ n. (pl. hootenannies) INFORMAL, chiefly US an informal gathering with folk music.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US, denoting a gadget or ‘thingummy’): of unknown origin.

hooter n. 1 chiefly BRITISH a siren or steam whistle, especially one used as a signal for work to begin or finish.

- the horn of a motor vehicle.

2 INFORMAL a person's nose.

3 (hooters) NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG a woman's breasts.

hoots exclam. Scottish & N. English ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS expressing dissatisfaction or impatience: ‘Och, noo, hoots, Hamish! Wull yee no sing us a song?’.

<ORIGIN> natural exclamation: first recorded in English in the mid 16th century as hoot; the form hoots dates from the early 19th century.

Hoover^1 Herbert (Clark) (1874–1964), American Republican statesman, 31st President of the US 1929–33. As President he was faced with the long-term problems of the Depression.

Hoover^2 J. Edgar (1895–1972), American lawyer and director of the FBI 1924–72; full name John Edgar Hoover. He reorganized the FBI into an efficient, scientific law-enforcement agency, but came under criticism for the organization's role during the McCarthy era.

Hoover^3 William (Henry) (1849–1932), American industrialist. In 1908 he bought the patent of a lightweight electric cleaning machine and formed a company to manufacture it with great success. In 1910 the company was renamed Hoover.

Hoover^4 British n. TRADEMARK a vacuum cleaner, properly one made by the Hoover company.

■ v. (hoover) [with obj.] clean (something) with a vacuum cleaner: he was hoovering the stairs.

- (hoover something up) suck something up with or as if with a vacuum cleaner: hoover up all the dust.

- (hoover something up) INFORMAL consume something quickly and eagerly: he hoovered up three slices of cake.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: named after W. H.

■ Hoover^3.

Hooverville n. (in the US) a shanty town built by unemployed and destitute people during the Depression of the early 1930s.

<ORIGIN> named after H.C.

■ Hoover^1, during whose presidency such accommodation was built (see also -VILLE).

hooves plural form of HOOF.

hop^1 v. (hops, hopping, hopped) 1 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of a person) move by jumping on one foot: he hopped along beside her.

- (of a bird or other animal) move by jumping with two or all feet at once: a blackbird was hopping around in the sun.

- spring or leap a short distance with one jump: he hopped down from the rock.

- (hop in (or out)) INFORMAL get into (or out of) a vehicle: hop in then and we'll be off.

- [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL jump on to (a moving vehicle): ex-soldiers looking for work hopped freights heading west.

- [with obj.] jump over (something): the cow hopped the fence.

2 INFORMAL pass quickly from one place to another: she hopped over the Atlantic for a bit of shopping | [as n., in combination] island-hopping.

- (hop it) BRITISH INFORMAL go away quickly.

- make a quick change of position or activity: over the years he hopped from one department to another.

■ n. 1 a hopping movement.

- a short journey or distance: a short hop by cab from Soho.

2 an informal dance.

<PHRASES>

□ hop, skip (or step), and jump 1 old-fashioned term for TRIPLE JUMP.

2 INFORMAL a short distance: it's just a hop, skip, and jump from my home town.

□ hop the twig (or stick) BRITISH INFORMAL depart suddenly or die.

□ on the hop BRITISH INFORMAL 1 unprepared: he was caught on the hop.

2 bustling about; busy: we were always kept on the hop.

<ORIGIN> Old English hoppian, of Germanic origin; related to German dialect hopfen and German hopsen.

hop^2 n. a twining climbing plant native to north temperate regions, cultivated for the flowers borne by the female plant, which are used in brewing beer.

<INFO> Humulus lupulus, family Cannabaceae (or Cannabidaceae).

- (hops) the dried cone-like flowers of the hop, used in brewing to give a bitter flavour and as a mild sterilant.

- (hops) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL beer.

- [mass noun] US INFORMAL, DATED a narcotic drug, especially opium.

■ v. (hops, hopping, hopped) 1 [with obj.] flavour with hops: a strong dark beer, heavily hopped.

2 (be hopped up) INFORMAL be stimulated or intoxicated by or as if by a narcotic drug.

<DERIVATIVES> hoppy adj. (hoppier, hoppiest)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English hoppe (in the sense ‘ripened hop cones for flavouring malt liquor’), from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch.

hop back n. a container with a perforated bottom for straining off the hops in the manufacture of beer.

hop bine (also hop bind) n. the climbing stem of the hop.

Hope Bob (1903–2003), British-born American comedian; born Leslie Townes Hope. He often adopted the character of a cowardly incompetent, cheerfully failing to become a romantic hero, as in the series of Road films (1940–62).

hope n. [mass noun] 1 a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen: he looked through her belongings in the hope of coming across some information | [count noun] I had high hopes of making the Olympic team.

- [count noun] a person or thing that may help or save someone: their only hope is surgery.

- grounds for believing that something good may happen: he does see some hope for the future.

2 ARCHAIC a feeling of trust.

■ v. [no obj.] want something to happen or be the case: he's hoping for an offer of compensation | [with clause] I hope that the kids are OK.

- [with infinitive] intend if possible to do something: we're hoping to address all these issues.

<PHRASES>

□ hope against hope cling to a mere possibility: they were hoping against hope that he would find a way out.

□ hope for the best hope for a favourable outcome: I'll just wait at home and hope for the best.

□ hope springs eternal (in the human breast) PROVERB it is human nature always to find fresh cause for optimism.

□ not a (or British some) hope INFORMAL no chance at all.

<DERIVATIVES> hoper n.

<ORIGIN> late Old English hopa (noun), hopian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoop (noun), hopen (verb), and German hoffen (verb).

hope chest n. NORTH AMERICAN a chest containing household linen and clothing stored by a woman in preparation for her marriage.

hopeful adj. feeling or inspiring optimism about a future event: a hopeful sign | [with clause] he remained hopeful that something could be worked out.

■ n. a person likely or hoping to succeed: promotion hopefuls Huddersfield.

<DERIVATIVES> hopefulness n.

hopefully adv. 1 in a hopeful manner: he rode on hopefully.

2 [sentence adv.] it is to be hoped that: hopefully the road should be finished by next year.

<USAGE> The traditional sense of hopefully, ‘in a hopeful manner’, has been used since the 17th century. In the second half of the 20th century a new use as a sentence adverb arose, meaning ‘it is to be hoped that’, as in hopefully, we'll see you tomorrow. This second use is now very much commoner than the first use, but it is still widely believed to be incorrect. Why should this be? People do not criticize other sentence adverbs, e.g. sadly (as in sadly, her father died last year) or fortunately (as in fortunately, he recovered). Part of the reason is that hopefully is a rather odd sentence adverb: while many others, such as sadly, regrettably, and clearly, may be paraphrased as ‘it is sad/regrettable/clear that …’, this is not possible with hopefully. Nevertheless, it is clear that use of hopefully has become a shibboleth of ‘correctness’ in the language—even if the arguments on which this is based are not particularly strong—and it is wise to be aware of this in formal or written contexts.

Hopeh /həpe/ variant of HEBEI.

hopeless adj. 1 feeling or causing despair: Jess looked at him in mute hopeless appeal.

2 chiefly BRITISH very bad or incompetent: I'm hopeless at names.

<DERIVATIVES> hopelessness n.

hopelessly adv. 1 in a way that shows or causes despair: she sighed hopelessly.

2 [as submodifier] used to emphasize that a situation is beyond hope of improvement; irredeemably: before long, he was hopelessly lost. | she is hopelessly in love with him.

hophead n. INFORMAL 1 NORTH AMERICAN a drug addict.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a heavy drinker.

Hopi /həpi/ n. (pl. same or Hopis) 1 a member of a Pueblo Indian people living chiefly in NE Arizona.

2 [mass noun] the Uto-Aztecan language of the Hopi, with around 2,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Hopi or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Hopi.

Hopkins^1 Sir Anthony (Philip) (b.1937), Welsh actor, a US citizen from 2000. He won an Oscar for his performance in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Other notable films: The Elephant Man (1980) and The Remains of the Day (1993).

Hopkins^2 Sir Frederick Gowland (1861–1947), English biochemist. He carried out pioneering work on ‘accessory food factors’ essential to the diet, later called vitamins. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1929).

Hopkins^3 Gerard Manley (1844–89), English poet. Becoming a Jesuit in 1868, he wrote little poetry until 1876, when a shipwreck inspired him to write ‘The Wreck of the Deutschland’. Like his poems ‘Windhover’ and ‘Pied Beauty’ (both 1877), it makes use of Hopkins's ‘sprung rhythm’ technique.

hoplite /hplt/ n. a heavily armed foot soldier of ancient Greece.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hoplitēs, from hoplon ‘weapon’.

Hopper Edward (1882–1967), American realist painter. He is best known for his mature works, such as Early Sunday Morning (1930), often depicting isolated figures in bleak scenes from everyday urban life.

hopper^1 n. 1 a container for a loose bulk material such as grain, rock, or rubbish, typically one that tapers downward and is able to discharge its contents at the bottom.

- chiefly HISTORICAL a tapering container, working with a hopping motion, through which grain passed into a mill.

- a railway wagon able to discharge coal or other bulk material through its floor.

- a barge for carrying away mud or sediment from a dredging machine and discharging it.

- (also hopper head) a container at the top of a vertical pipe which receives water from a gutter or waste pipe.

2 a person or thing that hops: [in combination] island-hoppers.

- a hopping insect, especially a young locust.

hopper^2 n. a person who picks hops.

hopping adj. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN very active or lively: the delis do a hopping lunch business.

<PHRASES>

□ hopping mad INFORMAL extremely angry.

hopping john n. [mass noun] (in the southern US and Caribbean) a stew of rice with black-eyed beans or peas, often also containing bacon and red peppers.

hopping mouse n. an Australian mouse with elongated hindlimbs and feet for jumping.

<INFO> Genus Notomys, family Muridae: several species.

hopple v. & n. [RIDING] another term for hobble (sense 2 of the verb, sense 2 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably of Low German origin and related to early Flemish hoppelen and Middle Dutch hobelen ‘jump, dance’; compare with HOBBLE.

hopsack n. [mass noun] a coarse clothing fabric of a loose plain weave.

- [count noun] a coarse hemp sack used for hops.

hopscotch n. [mass noun] a children's game in which each child by turn hops into and over squares marked on the ground to retrieve a marker thrown into one of these squares.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] NORTH AMERICAN travel from place to place: they hopscotched around eight Western states.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from HOP^1 + SCOTCH^1.

hop tree n. a North American shrub or small tree with bitter fruit that was formerly used in brewing as a substitute for hops.

<INFO> Ptelea trifoliata, family Rutaceae.

hora /hrə/ (also horah) n. a Romanian or Israeli dance in which the performers form a ring.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Romanian horă, Hebrew hōrāh.

Horace /hrs/ (65–8 BC), Roman poet of the Augustan period; full name Quintus Horatius Flaccus. A notable satirist and literary critic, he is best known for his Odes, much imitated by later ages, especially by the poets of 17th-century England. His other works include Satires and Ars Poetica.

horal /hr(ə)l/ adj. relating to an hour or hours; hourly.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from late Latin horalis, from Latin hora ‘hour’.

horary /hrəri/ adj. ARCHAIC relating to hours as measurements of time.

- occurring every hour: I took horary observations of the barometer.

- [ASTROLOGY] relating to or denoting a branch of astrology in which answers are given to questions using a chart drawn up for the time a question is posed.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin horarius, from Latin hora ‘hour’.

Horatian /həre(ə)n -ən/ adj. relating to the Roman poet Horace or his work.

- (of an ode) of several stanzas each of the same metrical pattern.

horchata /tαtə/ n. [mass noun] (in Spain and Latin American countries) a milky drink made from tiger nuts.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

horde n. 1 chiefly DEROGATORY a large group of people: a horde of beery rugby fans.

- an army or tribe of nomadic warriors: Tartar hordes.

2 [ANTHROPOLOGY] a small loosely knit social group typically consisting of about five families.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting a tribe or troop of Tartar or other nomads): from Polish horda, from Turkish ordu ‘(royal) camp’.

<USAGE> The words hoard and horde are quite distinct; see usage at hoard.

Hordern /hd(ə)n/ Sir Michael (Murray) (1911–95), English actor. He built a strong reputation in the classical theatre, playing the title role in King Lear (1960). He also acted in modern plays and made many film and television appearances.

horehound /hhand/ (also hoarhound) n. a strong-smelling hairy plant of the mint family, with a tradition of use in medicine.

<INFO> Two species in the family Labiatae: white horehound (Marrubium vulgare) and black horehound (Ballota nigra), a Eurasian plant which was formerly said to cure the bite of a mad dog.

- [mass noun] the bitter aromatic juice of white horehound, used especially in the treatment of coughs and colds.

<ORIGIN> Old English hāre hūne, from hār (see HOAR) + hūne, the name of the white horehound, also applied to related plants.

horizon n. 1 the line at which the earth's surface and the sky appear to meet: the sun rose above the horizon.

- (also apparent horizon) the circular boundary of the part of the earth's surface visible from a particular point, ignoring irregularities and obstructions.

- (also true horizon) [ASTRONOMY] a great circle of the celestial sphere, the plane of which passes through the centre of the earth and is parallel to that of the apparent horizon of a place.

2 (often horizons) the limit of a person's knowledge, experience, or interest: she wanted to leave home and broaden her horizons.

3 [GEOLOGY] a layer of soil or rock, or a set of strata, with particular characteristics.

- [ARCHAEOLOGY] a level of an excavated site representing a particular period.

<PHRASES>

□ on the horizon imminent or just becoming apparent: trouble could be on the horizon.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin horizon, from Greek horizōn (kuklos) ‘limiting (circle)’.

horizontal adj. 1 parallel to the plane of the horizon; at right angles to the vertical: a horizontal line.

- (of machinery) having its parts working in a horizontal direction: a horizontal steam engine.

2 being at or involving the same level of a hierarchy: horizontal class loyalties.

- uniform; based on uniformity: horizontal expansion of the international community.

- combining firms engaged in the same stage or type of production: a horizontal merger.

3 of or at the horizon: the horizontal moon.

■ n. a horizontal line, plane, etc.

<DERIVATIVES> horizontality n. horizontally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 3 of the adjective): from French, or from modern Latin horizontalis, from late Latin horizon, horizont- (see HORIZON).

horizontal gene transfer n. [mass noun] the acquisition by an organism of genetic information by transfer, for example via the agency of a virus, from an organism that is not its parent and is typically a member of a different species.

Horkheimer /hkhmə/ German /hrkham/ Max (1895–1973), German philosopher and sociologist. A leading figure of the Frankfurt School, he wrote Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947), with his colleague Theodor Adorno, and Critical Theory (1968).

Horlicks n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a drink made from malted milk powder.

<PHRASES>

□ make a Horlicks of BRITISH INFORMAL make a mess of.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after James and William Horlick, British-born brothers whose company first manufactured the drink in the US.

Horlivka /hljukə/ an industrial city in SE Ukraine, in the Donets Basin; pop. 292,000 (est. 2001). Russian name GORLOVKA.

hormonal adj. relating to or containing a hormone or hormones: a hormonal imbalance.

- INFORMAL affected by one's sex hormones, especially so as to feel moody or easily aroused: giggly, hormonal fourth formers.

<DERIVATIVES> hormonally adv.

hormone n. a regulatory substance produced in an organism and transported in tissue fluids such as blood or sap to stimulate specific cells or tissues into action.

- a synthetic substance with a similar effect to that of an animal or plant hormone.

- (hormones) a person's sex hormones as held to influence behaviour or mood.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek hormōn, present participle of horman ‘impel, set in motion’.

hormone replacement therapy (abbr.: HRT) n. [mass noun] treatment with oestrogens with the aim of alleviating menopausal symptoms or osteoporosis.

Hormuz /hmz hmuz/ (also Ormuz) an Iranian island at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, in the Strait of Hormuz. It is the site of an ancient city, which was an important centre of commerce in the Middle Ages.

Hormuz, Strait of a strait linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, which leads to the Arabian Sea, and separating Iran from the Arabian peninsula. It is of strategic and economic importance as a waterway through which sea traffic to and from the oil-rich states of the Gulf must pass.

horn n. 1 a hard permanent outgrowth, often curved and pointed, found in pairs on the heads of cattle, sheep, goats, giraffes, etc. and consisting of a core of bone encased in keratinized skin.

- a woolly keratinized outgrowth, occurring singly or one behind another, on the snout of a rhinoceros.

- a deer's antler.

- a horn-like projection on the head of another animal, e.g. a snail's tentacle or the tuft of a horned owl.

- (horns) ARCHAIC a pair of horns as an emblem of a cuckold.

- [mass noun] W. INDIAN marital infidelity: she took endless horn and pressure, but now she wants a divorce.

2 [mass noun] the substance of which horns are composed: powdered rhino horn.

- [count noun] a receptacle made of horn, such as a drinking container or powder flask.

3 a horn-shaped projection or object.

- a sharp promontory or mountain peak.

- (the Horn) Cape Horn.

- an arm or branch of a river or bay.

- each of the extremities of a crescent moon.

- British VULGAR SLANG an erect penis.

4 a wind instrument, conical in shape or wound into a spiral, originally made from an animal horn (now typically brass) and played by lip vibration. short for FRENCH HORN.

- INFORMAL (in jazz and popular music) any wind instrument.

5 a device sounding a warning or other signal: a car horn.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (of an animal) butt or gore with the horns.

2 [no obj.] (horn in) INFORMAL intrude or interfere.

3 W. INDIAN be unfaithful to (one's husband or wife).

<PHRASES>

□ blow (or toot) one's own horn NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL talk boastfully about oneself or one's achievements.

□ draw (or pull) in one's horns become less assertive or ambitious.

□ on the horn NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL on the telephone: she got on the horn to complain.

□ on the horns of a dilemma faced with a decision involving equally unfavourable alternatives.

<DERIVATIVES> hornist n.

■ horn (sense 4 of the noun)

□ hornless adj.

□ horn-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoorn and German Horn, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin cornu and Greek keras.

Horn, Cape the southernmost point of South America, on a Chilean island south of Tierra del Fuego. The region is notorious for its storms, and until the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 constituted the only sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Also called THE HORN.

<ORIGIN> named after Hoorn, the birthplace of the Dutch navigator William C. Schouten who discovered it in 1616.

hornbeam n. a deciduous tree of north temperate regions, with oval serrated leaves, inconspicuous drooping flowers, and tough winged nuts. It yields hard pale timber.

<INFO> Genus Carpinus, family Betulaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: so named because of the tree's hard, close-grained wood.

hornbill n. a medium to large tropical Old World bird, having a very large curved bill that typically has a large horny or bony casque. The male often seals up the female inside the nest hole.

<INFO> Family Bucerotidae: several genera and numerous species, e.g.the great Indian hornbill (Buceros bicornis).

hornblende /hnblεnd/ n. [mass noun] a dark brown, black, or green mineral consisting of a silicate of calcium, magnesium, and iron, occurring in many igneous and metamorphic rocks.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from German, from Horn ‘horn’ + blende (see BLENDE).

hornbook n. HISTORICAL a teaching aid consisting of a leaf of paper showing the alphabet, and often the ten digits and the Lord's Prayer, mounted on a wooden tablet and protected by a thin plate of horn.

- North American [LAW] a one-volume treatise summarizing the law in a specific field.

horned adj. 1 having a horn or horns: horned cattle | [in combination] a long-horned bison.

2 LITERARY crescent-shaped: the horned moon.

horned grebe n. North American term for SLAVONIAN GREBE.

horned lark n. North American term for SHORELARK.

horned lizard n. another term for horned toad (sense 1).

horned owl (also great horned owl) n. a large owl found throughout North and South America, with horn-like ear tufts.

<INFO> Bubo virginianus, family Strigidae.

horned poppy n. a Eurasian poppy with greyish-green lobed leaves, large flowers, and a long curved seed capsule.

<INFO> Genus Glaucium, family Papaveraceae: several species, in particular the yellow horned poppy (G. flavum).

horned toad n. 1 an American lizard that somewhat resembles a toad, with spiny skin and large spines on the head, typically occurring in dry open country. Also called HORNED LIZARD.

<INFO> Genus Phrynosoma, family Iguanidae: several species.

2 a large toad with horn-shaped projections of skin over the eyes, in particular:

<INFO>

- a SE Asian toad (Megophrys and other genera, family Peltobatidae).

- a South American toad (Ceratophrys and other genera, family Leptodactylidae).

horned viper n. a venomous nocturnal snake with an upright projection over each eye, native to the sandy deserts of North Africa and Arabia. It moves in the same way as the sidewinder.

<INFO> Cerastes cerastes, family Viperidae.

hornero /hnεrə/ n. (pl. horneros) a tropical American bird of the ovenbird family, often building its oven-like mud nest on the top of a fence post. Also called OVENBIRD.

<INFO> Genus Furnarius, family Furnariidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Spanish, literally ‘baker’.

Horner's syndrome n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition marked by a contracted pupil, drooping upper eyelid, and local inability to sweat on one side of the face, caused by damage to sympathetic nerves on that side of the neck.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Johann F. Horner (1831–86), Swiss ophthalmologist.

hornet n. a large, fairly docile wasp which is typically red and yellow or red and black and usually nests in hollow trees.

<INFO> Vespa and other genera, family Vespidae: several species, including the European V. crabro.

<PHRASES>

□ a hornets' nest a situation fraught with difficulties or complications: the move has stirred up a hornet's nest of academic fear and loathing.

<ORIGIN> Old English hyrnet, of Germanic origin; related to German Hornisse. The form of the word was probably influenced by Middle Dutch and Middle Low German hornte.

hornet moth n. a clearwing moth which resembles a hornet, with larvae that burrow under tree bark.

<INFO> Several species in the family Sesiidae.

hornfels /hnfεlz/ n. [mass noun] a dark, fine-grained metamorphic rock consisting largely of quartz, mica, and particular feldspars.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, literally ‘horn rock’.

Horn of Africa a peninsula of NE Africa, comprising Somalia and parts of Ethiopia. It lies between the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Also called SOMALI PENINSULA.

horn of plenty n. 1 a cornucopia.

2 an edible woodland mushroom with a funnel-shaped cap that bears spores on its greyish outer surface, found in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Craterellus cornucopioides, family Cantharellaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

hornpipe n. a lively dance associated with sailors, typically performed by one person.

- a piece of music for a hornpipe.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a wind instrument made of horn, played to accompany dancing): from HORN + PIPE.

horn-rimmed adj. (of glasses) having rims made of horn or a similar substance.

horn shell n. a mollusc with a long tapering shell, occurring in brackish and marine waters.

<INFO> Families Potamididae and Cerithidae, class Gastropoda.

hornswoggle /hnsw(ə)l/ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN get the better of (someone) by cheating or deception.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally US): of unknown origin.

horntail n. a large wasp-like sawfly which deposits its eggs inside trees and timber. It has a long egg-laying tube but no sting. Also called WOODWASP.

<INFO> Family Siricidae, suborder Symphyta, order Hymenoptera: several species.

Hornung /hnə/ Ernest William (1866–1921), English novelist. He was the creator of the gentleman burglar Raffles, who first featured in The Amateur Cracksman (1899).

hornworm n. North American the caterpillar of a hawkmoth, which has a spike or ‘horn’ on its tail.

<INFO> Family Sphingidae: several genera and many species, in particular pests like the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) and the tomato hornworm (M. quinquemaculata).

hornwort n. a submerged aquatic plant with narrow forked leaves that become translucent and horny as they age, occurring worldwide.

<INFO> Family Ceratophyllaceae and genus Ceratophyllum: two or more species, in particular C. demersum.

horny adj. (hornier, horniest) 1 of or resembling horn: a horny beak.

- hard and rough: horny hands | horny, dry skin.

2 INFORMAL feeling or arousing sexual excitement.

<DERIVATIVES> hornily adv. horniness n.

horologe /hrəld/ n. ARCHAIC a timepiece.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, via Latin from Greek hōrologion, from hōra ‘time’ + -logos ‘-telling’.

Horologium /hrələdəm -ld-/ [ASTRONOMY] a faint southern constellation (the Clock), between Hydrus and Eridanus.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

horology /hrlədi/ n. [mass noun] 1 the study and measurement of time.

2 the art of making clocks and watches.

<DERIVATIVES> horologer n. horological adj. horologist n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek hōra ‘time’ + -LOGY.

horopter /hrptə/ n. [OPTICS] a line or surface containing all those points in space of which images fall on corresponding points of the retinas of the two eyes.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek horos ‘limit’ + optēr ‘person who looks’.

horoscope n. [ASTROLOGY] a forecast of a person's future, typically including a delineation of character and circumstances, based on the relative positions of the stars and planets at the time of that person's birth.

- a short forecast for people born under a particular sign, especially as published in a newspaper or magazine.

- a birth chart (see CHART).

<DERIVATIVES> horoscopic /-skpk/ adj. horoscopy /hrskəpi/ n.

<ORIGIN> Old English: via Latin from Greek hōroskopos, from hōra ‘time’ + skopos ‘observer’.

Horowitz /hrəvts/ Vladimir (1904–89), Russian-born American pianist. He first toured the US in 1928, and settled there soon afterwards. A leading international virtuoso, he was best known for his performances of Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, and Prokofiev.

horrendous /hrεndəs/ adj. extremely unpleasant, horrifying, or terrible: she suffered horrendous injuries.

<DERIVATIVES> horrendously adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin horrendus (gerundive of horrere ‘(of hair) stand on end’) + -OUS.

horrent /hr(ə)nt/ adj. ARCHAIC 1 (of a person's hair) standing on end.

2 feeling or expressing horror: a horrent cry.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin horrent- ‘(of hair) standing on end’, from the verb horrere.

horrible adj. causing or likely to cause horror; shocking: a horrible massacre.

- INFORMAL very unpleasant: the tea tasted horrible.

<DERIVATIVES> horribleness n. horribly adv. [as submodifier] the plan had gone horribly wrong

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin horribilis, from horrere ‘tremble, shudder’ (see HORRID).

horrid adj. 1 causing horror: a horrid nightmare.

- INFORMAL very unpleasant: the teachers at school were horrid | a horrid brown colour.

2 ARCHAIC rough; bristling.

<DERIVATIVES> horridly adv. horridness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘rough, bristling’): from Latin horridus, from horrere ‘tremble, shudder, (of hair) stand on end’.

horrific adj. causing horror: horrific injuries.

<DERIVATIVES> horrifically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin horrificus, from horrere ‘tremble, shudder’ (see HORRID).

horrify v. (horrifies, horrifying, horrified) [with obj.] fill with horror; shock greatly: they were horrified by the very idea | (as adj. horrified) the horrified spectators | (as adj. horrifying) a horrifying incident.

<DERIVATIVES> horrification n. horrifiedly adv. horrifyingly adv. [as submodifier] horrifyingly flimsy boats

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin horrificare, from horrificus (see HORRIFIC).

horripilation /hrple(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] LITERARY the erection of hairs on the skin due to cold, fear, or excitement.

<DERIVATIVES> horripilate v.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin horripilatio(n-), from Latin horrere ‘stand on end’ (see HORRID) + pilus ‘hair’.

horror n. 1 [mass noun] an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust: children screamed in horror.

- a thing causing a feeling of horror: photographs showed the horror of the tragedy | [count noun] the horrors of civil war.

- a literary or film genre concerned with arousing feelings of horror: [as modifier] a horror film.

- intense dismay: to her horror she found that a thief had stolen the machine.

- [as exclamation] (horrors) chiefly HUMOROUS used to express dismay: horrors, two buttons were missing!

- [in sing.] intense dislike: many have a horror of consulting a dictionary.

- (the horrors) an attack of extreme nervousness or anxiety: the mere thought of it gives me the horrors.

2 INFORMAL a bad or mischievous person, especially a child: that little horror Zach was around.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin horror, from horrere ‘tremble, shudder’ (see HORRID).

horror-struck (also horror-stricken) adj. briefly paralysed with horror or shock.

horror vacui /hrə vakju/ n. [in sing.] a fear or dislike of leaving empty spaces, especially in an artistic composition.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, ‘horror of a vacuum’.

hors concours / kkə/ adj. 1 engaged in a contest but not competing for a prize.

2 LITERARY unrivalled; unequalled.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘out of the competition’.

hors de combat / də kbα/ adj. out of action due to injury or damage: their pilots had been rendered temporarily hors de combat.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘out of the fight’.

hors d'oeuvre / dəv dəvr(ə)/ n. (pl. same or hors d'oeuvres pronunc. same or /dəvz/) a small savoury dish, typically one served as an appetizer.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘outside the work’.

horse n. 1 a solid-hoofed plant-eating domesticated mammal with a flowing mane and tail, used for riding, racing, and to carry and pull loads.

<INFO> Equus caballus, family Equidae (the horse family), descended from the wild Przewalski's horse. The horse family also includes the asses and zebras.

- an adult male horse; a stallion or gelding.

- a wild mammal of the horse family.

- [treated as sing. or plural] cavalry: forty horse and sixty foot.

2 a frame or structure on which something is mounted or supported, especially a sawhorse.

- [NAUTICAL] a horizontal bar, rail, or rope in the rigging of a sailing ship.

■ short for VAULTING HORSE.

3 INFORMAL a unit of horsepower: a 63-horse engine.

4 [mass noun] INFORMAL heroin.

5 [MINING] an obstruction in a vein.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] provide (a person or vehicle) with a horse or horses.

2 [no obj.] (horse around (or about)) INFORMAL fool about.

<PHRASES>

□ don't change horses in midstream PROVERB choose a sensible moment to change your mind.

□ from the horse's mouth (of information) from the person directly concerned or another authoritative source.

□ horses for courses BRITISH PROVERB different people are suited to different things.

□ you can lead (or take) a horse to water but you can't make him drink PROVERB you can give someone an opportunity, but you can't force them to take it.

<DERIVATIVES> horse-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hors, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ros and German Ross.

horse-and-buggy adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL old-fashioned: horse-and-buggy technology.

horseback adj. & adv. mounted on a horse: [as adj.] a horseback parade | [as adv.] they rode horseback along the trail.

<PHRASES>

□ on horseback mounted on a horse.

horsebean n. a field bean of a variety with relatively large seeds, used for feeding stock.

horse-block n. ARCHAIC a mounting block.

horsebox n. BRITISH a vehicle or trailer equipped with a compartment or container for transporting one or more horses.

horse chestnut n. a deciduous tree with large leaves of five leaflets, conspicuous sticky winter buds, and upright conical clusters of white, pink, or red flowers. It bears nuts (conkers) enclosed in a fleshy case.

<INFO> Genus Aesculus, family Hippocastanaceae: several species, in particular A. hippocastanum, native east of the Balkans and widely planted.

■ another term for CONKER.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: translating (now obsolete) botanical Latin Castanea equina; its fruit is said to have been an Eastern remedy for chest diseases in horses.

horse-coper n. another term for coper^1.

horse-drawn adj. (of a vehicle) pulled by a horse or horses: a horse-drawn carriage.

horseflesh n. [mass noun] horses considered collectively.

horse float n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a vehicle for transporting one or more horses.

horsefly n. (pl. horseflies) a stoutly built fly, the female of which is a bloodsucker and inflicts painful bites on horses, humans and other large mammals.

<INFO> Family Tabanidae: numerous species, in particular the common European Haematopota pluvialis.

Horse Guards plural n. (in the UK) the mounted squadrons provided from the Household Cavalry for ceremonial duties.

horsehair n. [mass noun] hair from the mane or tail of a horse, typically used in furniture for padding.

horsehair worm n. a long slender worm related to the nematodes, the larvae being parasites of arthropods and the adults living in water or damp soil.

<INFO> Phylum Nematomorpha: two classes.

Horsehead Nebula [ASTRONOMY] a dust nebula in the shape of a horse's head, forming a dark silhouette against a bright emission nebula in Orion.

horse latitudes plural n. a belt of calm air and sea occurring in both the northern and southern hemispheres between the trade winds and the westerlies.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: origin uncertain; perhaps from the fact that becalmed sailing ships on long journeys were said to have thrown horses overboard to conserve water for the crew.

horse laugh n. a loud, coarse laugh.

horseleech n. a large predatory leech of freshwater and terrestrial habitats which feeds on carrion and small invertebrates.

<INFO> Genus Haemopis, family Hirudidae.

horseless adj. [attr.] (of a vehicle) not drawn by a horse or horses: a horseless cabriolet.

horseless carriage n. ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS a car.

horse mackerel n. a shoaling edible fish of the eastern Atlantic, which is commercially fished in southern African waters. Also called SCAD.

<INFO> Trachurus trachurus, family Carangidae.

horseman n. (pl. horsemen) a rider on horseback, especially a skilled one.

horsemanship n. [mass noun] the art or practice of riding on horseback.

horsemint n. a tall coarse kind of mint.

<INFO> Genera Mentha and Monarda, family Labiatae: several species and hybrids.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from HORSE (often used in the names of plants to denote a coarse variety) + MINT^1.

horse mushroom n. a large edible mushroom with a creamy-white cap and pinkish-grey gills, found in grassland in Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Agaricus arvensis, family Agaricaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

horse mussel n. a large marine mussel which may occur in very large populations in food-rich waters.

<INFO> Genus Modiolus, family Mytilidae.

Horsens /hs(ə)nz/ a port on the east coast of Denmark, situated at the head of Horsens Fjord; pop. 48,410 (1998).

horse opera n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a western film.

horse pistol n. HISTORICAL a large pistol carried at the pommel of the saddle by a rider.

horseplay n. [mass noun] rough, boisterous play: this ridiculous horseplay has gone far enough.

horseplayer n. NORTH AMERICAN a person who regularly bets on horse races.

horsepower (abbr.: h.p.) n. (pl. same) an imperial unit of power equal to 550 foot-pounds per second (about 750 watts).

- the power of an engine measured in terms of this: a strong 140-horsepower engine. See also BRAKE HORSEPOWER.

horse racing n. [mass noun] the sport in which horses and their riders take part in races, either on a flat course or over hurdles or fences, typically with substantial betting on the outcome.

horseradish n. a European plant of the cabbage family, with long dock-like leaves, grown for its pungent edible root.

<INFO> Armoracia rusticana, family Cruciferae.

- [mass noun] horseradish root, scraped or grated as a condiment and often made into a sauce.

horse sense n. [mass noun] INFORMAL common sense.

horseshit n. [mass noun] VULGAR SLANG, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN nonsense.

horseshoe n. a shoe for a horse formed of a narrow band of iron in the form of an extended circular arc and secured to the hoof with nails.

- a shoe of this kind or a representation of one, regarded as bringing good luck.

- something resembling a horseshoe in shape: [as modifier] a horseshoe bend.

- (horseshoes) [treated as sing.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a game resembling quoits in which horseshoes are thrown at a peg.

horseshoe bat n. an insectivorous Old World bat with a horseshoe-shaped ridge on the nose.

<INFO> Family Rhinolophidae and genus Rhinolophus: numerous species.

horseshoe crab n. a large marine arthropod with a domed horseshoe-shaped shell, a long tail spine, and ten legs, little changed since the Devonian.

<INFO> Class Merostomata, subphylum Chelicerata: four species, in particular the North American Limulus polyphemus.

horseshoe worm n. a worm-like tube-dwelling marine animal with a horseshoe-shaped ring of ciliated tentacles (lophophore) around the mouth, extended for filter-feeding.

<INFO> Phylum Phoronida.

horse's neck n. INFORMAL a drink consisting of ginger ale, a twist of lemon peel, and spirits, typically brandy.

horsetail n. a plant with a hollow jointed stem which bears whorls of narrow leaves, producing spores in cones at the tips of the shoots.

<INFO> Genus Equisetum, the only surviving genus of the family Equisetaceae and class Sphenopsida, division Pteridophyta.

horse-trading n. [mass noun] the buying and selling of horses.

- hard and shrewd bargaining, especially in politics.

<DERIVATIVES> horse-trade v. horse-trader n.

horse walker n. a mechanically rotating arm or cage to which horses are tied in order to exercise.

horsewhip n. a long whip used for driving and controlling horses.

■ v. (horsewhips, horsewhipping, horsewhipped) [with obj.] beat (a person or animal) with a horsewhip.

horsewoman n. (pl. horsewomen) a woman who rides on horseback, especially a skilled one.

horsey (also horsy) adj. (horsier, horsiest) 1 of or resembling a horse: she had a long horsey face.

2 concerned with or devoted to horses or horse racing: the horsey fraternity.

<DERIVATIVES> horsily adv. horsiness n.

horst /hst/ n. [GEOLOGY] a raised elongated block of the earth's crust lying between two faults.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Horst ‘heap’.

Horst Wessel Song /hst vεs(ə)l/ German /hrst vεsl/ the official song of the Nazi Party in Germany. The words were written by Horst Wessel (1907–30), a member of Hitler's Storm Troops killed by political enemies and regarded as a Nazi martyr.

Horta /tə/ French /Rta/ Victor (1861–1947), Belgian architect. He was a leading figure in art nouveau architecture and his work was notable for its innovative use of iron and glass.

hortatory /htət(ə)ri/ adj. tending or aiming to exhort: a series of hortatory epistles.

<DERIVATIVES> hortation n. hortative adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin hortatorius, from hortari ‘exhort’.

hortensia /htεnsə/ n. a hydrangea of a group of varieties that have large rounded flower heads composed chiefly of sterile florets. Compare with LACECAP.

<INFO> Hydrangea macrophylla vars., family Hydrangeaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: modern Latin, named after Hortense, wife of J.-A. Lepaute (1720–c.1787), French clockmaker.

horticulture /htkltə/ n. [mass noun] the art or practice of garden cultivation and management.

<DERIVATIVES> horticultural adj. horticulturalist n. horticulturist n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin hortus ‘garden’, on the pattern of agriculture.

hortus siccus /htəs skəs/ n. (pl. horti sicci /ht sk -ti -ki/) an arranged collection of dried plants; a herbarium.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘dry garden’.

Horus /hrəs/ [EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY] a god regarded as the protector of the monarchy, and typically represented as a falcon-headed man. He assumed various aspects: in the myth of Isis and Osiris he was the posthumous son of the latter, whose murder he avenged.

Hos. abbr. Hosea (in biblical references).

hosanna (also hosannah) exclam. (especially in biblical, Judaic, and Christian use) used to express adoration, praise, or joy.

■ n. an expression of adoration, praise, or joy.

<ORIGIN> Old English, via late Latin from Greek hōsanna, from Rabbinical Hebrew hōša‘nā, abbreviation of biblical hōšī‘ā-nnā ‘save, we pray’ (Ps. 118:25).

Hosay /həze/ n. an annual festival held by the Shiite Muslim community in the West Indies, commemorating the death of Husayn, grandson of Muhammad.

<ORIGIN> representing a pronunciation of Husayn.

hose n. 1 a flexible tube conveying water, used chiefly for watering plants and in firefighting.

2 [treated as plural] stockings, socks, and tights (especially in commercial use): her hose had been laddered.

- HISTORICAL breeches: Elizabethan doublet and hose.

■ v. [with obj.] water or spray with a hose: he was hosing down the driveway.

<ORIGIN> Old English hosa, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoos ‘stocking, water hose’ and German Hosen ‘trousers’. Originally singular, the term denoted a covering for the leg, sometimes including the foot but sometimes reaching only to the ankle.

Hosea /həzə/ a Hebrew minor prophet of the 8th century BC.

- a book of the Bible containing Hosea's prophecies.

hose-in-hose adj. (especially of a polyanthus or other primula) having petal-like sepals, and so appearing to have one corolla within another.

hosel /həz(ə)l/ n. the socket of a golf club head which the shaft fits into.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: diminutive of HOSE, in the dialect sense ‘sheathing’.

hosepipe n. British term for hose (sense 1 of the noun).

hoser n. CANADIAN INFORMAL a foolish or uncultivated person.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: of uncertain origin; popularized by characters on the Canadian television show SCTV (1980–2).

hosier /həzə/ n. a manufacturer or seller of hosiery.

hosiery n. [mass noun] stockings, socks, and tights collectively.

hospice n. a home providing care for the sick or terminally ill.

- ARCHAIC a lodging for travellers, especially one run by a religious order.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, from Latin hospitium, from hospes, hospit- (see host^1).

hospitable /hsptəb(ə)l hspt-/ adj. friendly and welcoming to visitors or guests: two friendly, hospitable brothers run the hotel.

- (of an environment) pleasant and favourable for living in: one of the least hospitable places in North America.

<DERIVATIVES> hospitably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from obsolete hospiter ‘receive a guest’, from medieval Latin hospitare ‘entertain’, from hospes, hospit- (see host^1).

hospital n. 1 an institution providing medical and surgical treatment and nursing care for sick or injured people.

2 HISTORICAL a hospice, especially one run by the Knights Hospitaller.

3 [in names] BRITISH a charitable institution for the education of the young: Christ's Hospital.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): via Old French from medieval Latin hospitale, neuter of Latin hospitalis ‘hospitable’, from hospes, hospit- (see host^1).

hospital ball n. another term for HOSPITAL PASS.

hospital corners plural n. overlapping folds used to tuck sheets neatly and securely under the mattress at the corners, in a manner typically used by nurses.

hospital fever n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL louse-borne typhus acquired in overcrowded, insanitary conditions in an old-fashioned hospital.

hospitalism n. [mass noun] the adverse effects of a prolonged stay in hospital, such as developmental retardation in children.

hospitality n. [mass noun] the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

- [as modifier] relating to or denoting the business of entertaining clients, conference delegates, or other official visitors: the BBC's hospitality suite.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French hospitalite, from Latin hospitalitas, from hospitalis ‘hospitable’ (see HOSPITAL).

hospitalize (also hospitalise) v. [with obj.] admit or cause (someone) to be admitted to hospital for treatment: Casey was hospitalized for chest pains.

<DERIVATIVES> hospitalization n.

hospitaller /hspt(ə)lə/ (US hospitaler) n. a member of a charitable religious order, originally the Knights Hospitaller.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hospitalier, from medieval Latin hospitalarius, from hospitale (see HOSPITAL).

hospital pass (also hospital ball) n. (in football) a pass to a player likely to be tackled heavily as soon as the ball is received.

hospital ship n. a ship which functions as a hospital, especially to receive or take home sick or wounded military personnel.

hospital trust n. (in the UK) a National Health Service hospital which has opted to withdraw from local authority control and be managed by a trust instead.

hospodar /hspədα/ n. HISTORICAL a governor of Wallachia and Moldavia under the Ottoman Porte.

<ORIGIN> from Romanian, from Ukrainian hospodar; related to Russian gospodar′, from gospod′ ‘lord’.

host^1 n. 1 a person who receives or entertains other people as guests.

- a person, place, or organization that holds an event to which others are invited: Innsbruck once played host to the Winter Olympics.

- the presenter of a television or radio programme.

2 [BIOLOGY] an animal or plant on or in which a parasite or commensal organism lives.

- (also host cell) a living cell in which a virus multiplies.

3 a person or animal that has received transplanted tissue or a transplanted organ.

4 (also host computer) a computer which mediates multiple access to databases mounted on it or provides other services to a network.

5 an area in which particular plants or animals are found: Australia is host to some of the world's most dangerous animals.

■ v. [with obj.] act as host at (an event) or for (a television or radio programme).

<PHRASES>

□ mine host HUMOROUS the landlord or landlady of a pub.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hoste, from Latin hospes, hospit- ‘host, guest’.

host^2 n. 1 (a host/hosts of) a large number of people or things: a host of memories rushed into her mind.

2 ARCHAIC an army.

3 (the host or the heavenly host) (in biblical use) the angels regarded collectively. See also LORD OF HOSTS at lord.

- the sun, moon, and stars: the starry host of heaven.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ost, hoost, from Latin hostis ‘stranger, enemy’ (in medieval Latin ‘army’).

host^3 n. (the Host) the bread consecrated in the Eucharist: the elevation of the Host.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French hoiste, from Latin hostia ‘victim’.

hosta /hstə/ n. an East Asian plant cultivated in the West for its shade-tolerant foliage and loose clusters of tubular mauve or white flowers.

<INFO> Genus Hosta (formerly Funkia), family Liliaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Nicolaus T. Host (1761–1834), Austrian physician.

hostage n. a person seized or held as security for the fulfilment of a condition: they were held hostage by armed rebels.

<PHRASES>

□ hostage to fortune an undertaking or remark seen as unwise because it invites trouble or could prove difficult to live up to.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, based on late Latin obsidatus ‘the state of being a hostage’ (the earliest sense in English), from Latin obses, obsid- ‘hostage’.

hostel n. an establishment which provides inexpensive food and lodging for a specific group of people, such as students, workers, or travellers.

■ short for YOUTH HOSTEL.

- ARCHAIC an inn providing accommodation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general sense ‘lodging, place to stay’) : from Old French, from medieval Latin hospitale (see HOSPITAL).

hostelling (US hosteling) n. [mass noun] the practice of staying in youth hostels when travelling.

<DERIVATIVES> hosteller n.

hostelry n. (pl. hostelries) ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS an inn or pub.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French hostelerie from hostelier ‘innkeeper’, from hostel (see HOSTEL).

hostess n. a woman who receives or entertains guests.

- a woman employed to welcome and entertain customers at a nightclub or bar.

- a stewardess on an aircraft, train, etc.

- a woman who presents a television or radio programme: a game-show hostess.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French (h)ostesse, feminine of (h)oste (see host^1).

hostess trolley n. a trolley for holding food to be served at table.

hostile adj. showing or feeling opposition or dislike; unfriendly: a hostile audience | he wrote a ferociously hostile attack.

- of or belonging to a military enemy: hostile aircraft.

- [predic.] opposed: people are very hostile to the idea.

- (of a takeover bid) opposed by the company to be bought.

<DERIVATIVES> hostilely adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from Latin hostilis, from hostis ‘stranger, enemy’.

hostile witness n. [LAW] a witness who is antagonistic to the party calling them and, being unwilling to tell the truth, may have to be asked leading questions.

hostility n. (pl. hostilities) [mass noun] hostile behaviour; unfriendliness or opposition: their hostility to all outsiders.

- (hostilities) acts of warfare: he called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French hostilité or late Latin hostilitas, from Latin hostilis (see HOSTILE).

hot adj. (hotter, hottest) 1 having a high degree of heat or a high temperature: it was hot inside the hall | a hot day.

- feeling or producing an uncomfortable sensation of heat: she felt hot and her throat was parched.

- (of food or drink) prepared by heating and served without cooling.

- INFORMAL (of an electric circuit) live or at a high voltage.

- INFORMAL radioactive.

2 (of food) containing or consisting of pungent spices or peppers which produce a burning sensation when tasted: a very hot dish cooked with green chilli.

3 filled with passionate excitement, anger, or other strong emotion: the idea had been nurtured in his hot imagination | her reply came boiling out of her, hot with rage.

- lustful or erotic: steamy bed scenes which may be too hot for young fans.

- (of popular music) strongly rhythmical and excitingly played: hot salsa and lambada dancing.

4 INFORMAL involving much activity, debate, or interest: the environment has become a very hot issue.

- (of news) fresh and of great interest: have I got some hot gossip for you!

- currently popular, fashionable, or in demand: they know the hottest dance moves.

- [HUNTING] (of the scent) fresh and strong, indicating that the quarry has passed recently.

- [predic.] (in children's games) very close to finding or guessing something.

5 INFORMAL very knowledgeable or skilful: Tony is very hot on local history.

- [predic.] [usually with negative] good: this is not so hot for business.

- (hot on) regarding (something) as very important; strict about: local customs officers are hot on confiscations.

6 INFORMAL difficult to deal with: he found my story simply too hot to handle.

- (of goods) stolen and difficult to dispose of because easily identifiable.

- (of a person) wanted by the police.

■ v. (hots, hotting, hotted) (hot something up or hot up) BRITISH INFORMAL make or become hot: [with obj.] he hotted up the flask.

- become or make more lively or exciting: [no obj.] the championship contest hotted up.

<PHRASES>

□ go hot and cold experience a sudden feeling of fear or shock.

□ have the hots for INFORMAL be sexually attracted to.

□ hot and bothered see BOTHER.

□ hot and heavy NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL intense; with intensity.

□ hot on the heels of following closely: the gardener burst in with Mrs Cartwright hot on his heels.

□ hot to trot INFORMAL ready and eager to engage in an activity.

□ hot under the collar INFORMAL angry, resentful, or embarrassed.

□ in hot pursuit following closely and eagerly.

□ in hot water INFORMAL in trouble or disgrace: he landed in hot water for an alleged V-sign to the fans.

□ make it (or things) hot for INFORMAL stir up trouble for.

<DERIVATIVES> hotness n. hottish adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hāt, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heet and German heiss.

hot air n. [mass noun] INFORMAL empty talk that is intended to impress: they dismissed the theory as a load of hot air.

hot-air balloon n. see balloon (sense 2 of the noun).

hotbed n. 1 an environment promoting the growth of something, especially something unwelcome: the country was a hotbed of revolt and dissension.

2 a bed of earth heated by fermenting manure, for raising or forcing plants.

hot-blooded adj. lustful; passionate: hot-blooded Latin lovers.

hot button n. [often as modifier] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a topic or issue that is highly charged emotionally or politically: the hot-button issue of nuclear waste disposal.

hot cathode n. a cathode designed to be heated in order to emit electrons.

hotchpot n. [mass noun] [LAW] the reunion and blending together of properties for the purpose of securing equal division, especially of the property of an intestate parent.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (meaning ‘hotchpotch’): from Anglo-Norman French and Old French hochepot, from hocher ‘to shake’ (probably of Low German origin) + pot ‘pot’.

hotchpotch (North American hodgepodge) n. 1 [in sing.] a confused mixture: a hotchpotch of uncoordinated services.

2 a mutton stew with mixed vegetables.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of HOTCHPOT.

hot cross bun n. a bun marked with a cross and containing dried fruit, traditionally eaten on Good Friday.

hot-desking n. [mass noun] the practice in an office of allocating desks to workers when they are required or on a rota system, rather than giving each worker their own desk.

hot dog n. 1 a hot sausage served in a long, soft roll.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person, especially a skier or surfer, who performs stunts or tricks.

■ exclam. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used to express delight or enthusiastic approval.

■ v. (hotdog) (hotdogs, hotdogging, hotdogged) [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL perform stunts or tricks: he chastised the dancers who'd been hotdogging.

<DERIVATIVES> hotdogger n.

hotel n. 1 an establishment providing accommodation, meals, and other services for travellers and tourists, by the night.

- chiefly AUSTRALIAN/NZ a pub.

2 a code word representing the letter H, used in radio communication.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French hôtel, from Old French hostel (see HOSTEL).

<USAGE> The normal pronunciation of hotel sounds the h-, which means that the preceding indefinite article is a. However, the older pronunciation without the h- is still sometimes heard, and gives rise to the preceding indefinite article being an. For a discussion of this, see usage at an.

hotelier n. a person who owns or manages a hotel.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French hôtelier, from Old French hostelier ‘innkeeper’ (see HOSTELRY).

hotelling n. [mass noun] the short-term provision of office space to a temporary worker, or the short-term letting of surplus office space to employees from other companies.

hot favourite n. a competitor who is strongly fancied to win a race or other contest.

hot flush (NORTH AMERICAN also hot flash) n. BRITISH a sudden feeling of feverish heat, typically as a symptom of the menopause.

hotfoot adv. in eager haste: he rushed hotfoot to the planning office to object.

■ v. (hotfoot it) [with adverbial of direction] walk or run quickly and eagerly: we hotfooted it after him.

hot gospel n. [mass noun] INFORMAL the fervent propounding of religious beliefs; zealous evangelism.

<DERIVATIVES> hot gospeller n.

hothead n. a person who is impetuous or easily becomes angry and violent.

hot-headed adj. having an impetuous or quick-tempered nature: a hot-headed youth.

<DERIVATIVES> hot-headedly adv. hot-headedness n.

hothouse n. a heated greenhouse in which plants that need protection from cold weather are grown.

- an environment that encourages rapid growth or development, especially in a stifling or intense way: [as modifier] the hothouse atmosphere of the college.

■ v. [with obj.] educate or teach (a child) to a high level at an earlier age than is usual.

hot key n. [COMPUTING] a key or a combination of keys providing quick access to a particular function within a program.

hotline n. a direct telephone line set up for a specific purpose, especially for use in emergencies or for communication between heads of government.

hot link [COMPUTING] n. a connection between documents or applications which enables material from one source to be incorporated into another, in particular a facility which automatically updates material in a document when an alteration is made to the document from which it originated.

- a hypertext link.

■ v. (hot-link) [with obj.] connect (two documents) by means of a hot link.

hotlist n. a personal list of favourite or most frequently accessed websites compiled by an Internet user.

hotly adv. in a passionate, intense, or angry way: the rumours were hotly denied | hotly debated issues.

hot metal n. a typesetting technique in which type is newly made each time from molten metal, cast by a composing machine.

hot money n. [mass noun] capital which is frequently transferred between financial institutions in an attempt to maximize interest or capital gain.

hot pants plural n. very tight, brief women's shorts, worn as a fashion garment.

hotplate n. a flat heated surface (or a set of these), typically metal or ceramic, used for cooking food or keeping it hot.

hotpot n. BRITISH a casserole of meat and vegetables, typically with a topping of sliced potato.

hot potato n. INFORMAL a controversial issue or situation which is awkward to deal with: dog registration has become a political hot potato.

hot press n. 1 a device in which paper or cloth is pressed between glazed boards and hot metal plates in order to produce a smooth or glossy surface.

- a similar apparatus used in making plywood.

2 IRISH a cupboard used for airing clothes, linen, etc.

■ v. (hot-press) [with obj.] press (paper, cloth, etc.) with a hot press.

hot rod n. a motor vehicle that has been specially modified to give it extra power and speed.

■ v. (hot-rod) (hot-rods, hot-rodding, hot-rodded) 1 [with obj.] modify (a vehicle or other device) to make it faster or more powerful.

2 [no obj.] drive a hot rod.

<DERIVATIVES> hot-rodder n.

hot seat n. (the hot seat) INFORMAL 1 the position of carrying full responsibility for something important: it's been a bad week for the men in the hot seat.

2 NORTH AMERICAN the electric chair.

hot shoe n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a socket on a camera with direct electrical contacts for an attached flashgun or other accessory.

hot-short adj. (of a metal) brittle when hot.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from HOT + short suggested by the earlier red-short, from Swedish rōdskōr (from rōd ‘red’ + skōr ‘brittle’).

hotshot n. INFORMAL an important or exceptionally able person.

hot spot n. 1 a small area with a relatively high temperature in comparison to its surroundings.

- [GEOLOGY] an area of volcanic activity.

- FIGURATIVE a place of significant activity or danger.

2 an area on a computer screen which can be clicked to activate a function, especially an image or piece of text acting as a hyperlink.

3 a place in a public building that is equipped with a device enabling computer users to make a wireless connection to the Internet.

hot spring n. a spring of naturally hot water, typically heated by subterranean volcanic activity.

Hotspur /htspə/ the nickname of Sir Henry Percy (see PERCY).

hotspur /htspə -spə/ n. ARCHAIC a rash, impetuous person.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: literally ‘a person whose spur is hot from rash or constant riding’.

hot-stove adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN denoting a discussion about a favourite sport carried on during the off season: hot-stove speculation.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: by association with discussions conducted around a heater in the winter.

hot stuff n. [mass noun] INFORMAL a person or thing of outstanding quality or skill: he's hot stuff at arithmetic.

- a sexually exciting person, film, book, etc.: Jill was reputed to be hot stuff.

hot-swap v. [with obj.] INFORMAL fit or replace (a computer part) with the power still connected.

<DERIVATIVES> hot-swappable adj.

hotsy-totsy adj. US INFORMAL 1 very pleasing or good: hotsy-totsy rhythms thrill the air.

2 US term for HOITY-TOITY.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: reduplication of HOT, a fanciful formation by Billie de Beck (died 1942), American cartoonist.

hot-tempered adj. easily angered; quick-tempered.

Hottentot /ht(ə)ntt/ n. & adj. OFFENSIVE used to refer to Khoikhoi peoples.

<ORIGIN> Dutch, perhaps a repetitive formula in a Nama dancing song, transferred by Dutch sailors to the people themselves, or from German hotteren-totteren ‘stutter’ (with reference to their language, in which clicking sounds are used).

<USAGE> The word Hottentot is first recorded in the late 17th century and was a name applied by white Europeans to the Khoikhoi. It is now regarded as offensive with reference to people and should always be avoided in favour of Khoikhoi or the names of the particular peoples. The only standard use for Hottentot in modern use is in the names of animals and plants.

Hottentot fig n. a succulent mat-forming plant with bright yellow or lilac daisy-like flowers and edible fruit. It is native to South Africa and frequently naturalized on coastal cliffs in Europe.

<INFO> Carpobrotus (formerly Mesembryanthemum) edulis, family Aizoaceae.

hot ticket n. INFORMAL a person or thing that is much in demand: he's the current hot ticket on the hard-core hip-hop block | [as modifier] a hot-ticket invitation.

hottie (also hotty) n. (pl. hotties) INFORMAL 1 BRITISH a hot-water bottle.

2 a sexually attractive person, especially a young woman.

hotting n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL joyriding in stolen high-performance cars, especially for elaborate and dangerous display.

<DERIVATIVES> hotter n.

hot tub n. a large tub filled with hot aerated water used for recreation or physical therapy.

hot war n. a war with active military hostilities.

hot-water bottle (US also hot-water bag) n. a flat, oblong container, typically made of rubber, that is filled with hot water and used for warmth, especially for warming a bed.

hot-wire v. [with obj.] INFORMAL start the engine of (a vehicle) by bypassing the ignition system, typically in order to steal it.

houbara /hubαrə/ (also houbara bustard) n. a bustard of arid open country and semi-desert, found from the Canary Islands to central Asia and threatened by hunting.

<INFO> Chlamydotis undulata, family Otidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, from Arabic ubārā.

Houdini /hudini/ Harry (1874–1926), Hungarian-born American magician and escape artist; born Erik Weisz. In the early 1900s he became famous for his ability to escape from all kinds of bonds and containers, from prison cells to aerially suspended straitjackets.

- [as n.] a person skilled at escaping: you're a regular Houdini.

- an ingenious escape: he will have to do a Houdini to escape from me.

hough /hk/ British n.

■ variant spelling of hock^1 (sense 1).

- a joint of meat consisting of the part extending from the hock some way up the leg.

■ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC disable (a person or animal) by cutting the hamstrings.

<ORIGIN> Old English hōh ‘heel’, of Germanic origin; related to heel^1.

houmous n. variant spelling of HUMMUS.

hound n. 1 a dog of a breed used for hunting, especially one able to track by scent.

- [with modifier] a person eagerly seeking something: he has a reputation as a publicity hound.

- INFORMAL, DATED a despicable or contemptible man.

2 used in names of dogfishes, e.g. nurse hound, smooth hound.

■ v. [with obj.] harass, persecute, or pursue relentlessly: she was hounded by the Italian press | his opponents used the allegations to hound him out of office.

<ORIGIN> Old English hund (in the general sense ‘dog’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hond and German Hund, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek kuōn, kun- ‘dog’.

houndfish n. (pl. same or houndfishes) a large garfish of warm inshore waters, which leaps from the water and skitters over the surface when disturbed.

<INFO> Genus Tylosaurus, family Belonidae: several species.

hound's tongue n. a tall plant of the borage family, which bears long silky hairs, small purplish flowers, and tongue-shaped leaves, and has a mousy smell.

<INFO> Cynoglossum officinale, family Boraginaceae.

houndstooth n. a large check pattern with notched corners suggestive of a canine tooth, typically used in cloth for jackets and suits.

houngan /hu(ə)n/ n. a voodoo priest.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Fon, from hun, a deity represented by a fetish, + ga ‘chief’.

hour n. 1 a period of time equal to a twenty-fourth part of a day and night and divided into 60 minutes: an extra hour of daylight in the winter evenings | rates of pay were low, starting at £3.20 an hour | [as modifier, usually with preceding numeral] a two-hour operation.

- a more indefinite period of time: during the early hours of the morning.

2 a time of day specified as an exact number of hours from midnight or midday: the clock in the sitting room struck the hour.

- (hours) [with preceding numeral] a time so specified on the twenty-four-hour clock: the first bomb fell at 0051 hours.

- the time as formerly reckoned from sunrise: it was about the ninth hour.

3 a fixed period of time for an activity, such as work, use of a building, etc.: the dinner hour | licensing hours | opening hours.

- a particular point in time: I wondered if my last hour had come | you can't turn him away at this hour.

4 (hours) (in the Western (Latin) Church) a short service of psalms and prayers to be said at a particular time of day, especially in religious communities.

5 [ASTRONOMY] 15° of longitude or right ascension (one twenty-fourth part of a circle).

<PHRASES>

□ all hours most of the time, especially outside the time considered usual: teenagers expect to be allowed to stay out to all hours.

□ keep late (or regular) hours get up and go to bed late (or at the same time) every day.

□ on the hour at an exact hour, or at the beginning of each hour, of the day or night: news bulletins all day on the hour.

□ within the hour after less than an hour: his response came within the hour.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French ure, via Latin from Greek hōra ‘season, hour’.

hourglass n. a timing device with two connected glass bulbs containing sand that takes an hour to pass from the upper to the lower bulb.

- [as modifier] shaped like an hourglass: her hourglass figure.

hour hand n. the hand on a clock or watch which indicates the hour.

houri /həri/ n. (pl. houris) a beautiful young woman, especially one of the virgin companions of the faithful in the Muslim Paradise.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from Persian ūrī, from Arabic ūr, plural of 'awar ‘having eyes with a marked contrast of black and white’.

hourly adj. 1 done or occurring every hour: there is an hourly bus service.

- (with numeral or fraction) occurring at intervals measured in hours: he received six hourly doses of morphine | trains run at half-hourly intervals.

2 reckoned by the hour: hourly rates.

■ adv. 1 every hour: sunscreens should be applied hourly | a train runs hourly from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

- (with numeral or fraction) at intervals measured in hours: temperature should be recorded four-hourly.

2 by the hour: hourly paid workers.

3 very frequently or continually: her curiosity was mounting hourly.

house n. /has/ 1 a building for human habitation, especially one that consists of a ground floor and one or more upper storeys.

- the people living in a house; a household: make yourself scarce before you wake the whole house.

- a noble, royal, or wealthy family or lineage; a dynasty: the power and prestige of the House of Stewart.

- chiefly SCOTTISH a dwelling that is one of several in a building.

- [with modifier] a building in which animals live or in which things are kept: a hen house.

2 a building in which people meet for a particular activity: a house of prayer.

- a firm or institution: a fashion house.

- (the House) BRITISH INFORMAL the Stock Exchange.

- a restaurant or inn: help yourself to a drink, compliments of the house! | [as modifier] a carafe of house wine.

- DATED a brothel.

- a theatre: a hundred musicians performed in front of a full house.

- BRITISH a performance in a theatre or cinema: tickets for the first house.

3 a religious community that occupies a particular building: the Cistercian house at Clairvaux.

- a residential building for pupils at a boarding school.

- BRITISH each of a number of groups into which pupils at a day school are divided for games or competition.

- British FORMAL a college of a university.

4 a legislative or deliberative assembly: the sixty-member National Council, the country's upper house.

- (the House) (in the UK) the House of Commons or Lords; (in the US) the House of Representatives.

- used in formal debates that mimic the procedures of a legislative assembly: a debate on the motion ‘This house would legalize cannabis’.

5 (also house music) [mass noun] a style of electronic dance music typically having sparse, repetitive vocals and a fast beat.

6 [ASTROLOGY] a twelfth division of the celestial sphere, based on the positions of the ascendant and midheaven at a given time and place, and determined by any of a number of methods.

- such a division represented as a sector on an astrological chart, used in allocating elements of character and circumstance to different spheres of human life.

7 [mass noun] British old-fashioned term for BINGO.

- [as exclamation] used by a bingo player to announce that they have won.

■ adj. [attr.] 1 (of an animal or plant) kept in, frequenting, or infesting buildings.

2 relating to a firm, institution, or society: a house journal.

- (of a band or group) resident or regularly performing in a club or other venue.

■ v. /haz/ [with obj.] 1 provide with shelter or accommodation: they converted a disused cinema to house twelve employees.

2 provide space for; contain or accommodate: the museum houses a collection of Roman sculpture.

- fix (something) in a socket or mortise.

<PHRASES>

□ as safe as houses BRITISH completely safe.

□ get on (or along) like a house on fire INFORMAL have a very good and friendly relationship.

□ go (all) round the houses BRITISH take a circuitous route to one's destination.

- take an unnecessarily long time to get to the point.

□ house and home a person's home (used for emphasis): some people sell house and home to sit in a boat writing books.

□ a house divided cannot stand PROVERB a group or organization weakened by internal dissensions will be unable to withstand external pressures.

□ house of cards a structure built out of playing cards precariously balanced together.

- used to refer to an insubstantial or insecure situation or scheme: the special constitutional arrangement collapsed like a house of cards.

□ keep (or make) a House BRITISH secure the presence of enough members for a quorum in the House of Commons.

□ keep house do the cooking, cleaning, and other tasks involved in the running of a household.

□ on the house (of a drink or meal in a bar or restaurant) at the management's expense; free.

□ play house (of a child) play at being a family in its home.

□ put (or set) one's house in order make necessary reforms: the Americans need to put their own economic house in order.

□ set up house make one's home in a specified place.

<DERIVATIVES> houseful n. (pl. housefuls) houseless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hūs (noun), hūsian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch huis, German Haus (nouns), and Dutch huizen, German hausen (verbs).

house agent n. BRITISH an estate agent.

house arrest n. [mass noun] the state of being kept as a prisoner in one's own house, rather than in a prison: she was placed under house arrest.

houseboat n. a boat which is or can be moored for use as a dwelling.

housebound adj. unable to leave one's house, typically due to illness or old age.

houseboy n. a boy or man employed to undertake domestic duties.

housebreak v. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN another term for HOUSE-TRAIN.

housebreaking n. [mass noun] the action of breaking into a building, especially in daytime, to commit a crime. In 1968 it was replaced as a statutory crime (in England and Wales only) by burglary.

<DERIVATIVES> housebreaker n.

housecarl /haskαl/ (also housecarle) n. (before the Norman Conquest) a member of the bodyguard of a Danish or English king or noble.

<ORIGIN> late Old English hūscarl, from Old Norse húskarl ‘manservant’, (plural) ‘retinue, bodyguard’, from hús ‘house’ + karl ‘man’.

house church n. a charismatic Church independent of traditional denominations (originally meeting in a private house).

housecoat n. a woman's long, loose, lightweight robe for informal wear around the house.

house cricket n. a chiefly nocturnal cricket with a bird-like warble, native to North Africa and SW Asia. It has become established in warm buildings throughout Europe.

<INFO> Acheta domesticus, family Gryllidae.

housefather n. a man in charge of and living in a boarding school house or children's home.

house finch n. a red-breasted brown finch, now common from Canada to Mexico and sometimes regarded as a pest.

<INFO> Carpodacus mexicanus, family Fringillidae.

house flag n. a flag indicating the company that a ship belongs to.

housefly n. (pl. houseflies) a common small fly occurring worldwide in and around human habitation. Its eggs are laid in decaying material, and the fly can be a health hazard due to its contamination of food.

<INFO> Musca domestica, family Muscidae.

house gecko n. a large-eyed nocturnal gecko of the Old World tropics, occupying a range of habitats including houses.

<INFO> Hemidactylus, Gehyra, and other genera, family Gekkonidae: several species.

household n. a house and its occupants regarded as a unit: the whole household was asleep | [as modifier] household bills.

- (the Household) [usually in titles] the establishment and affairs of a royal household: Controller of the Household.

Household Cavalry (in the British army) the two cavalry regiments with responsibility for guarding the monarch and royal palaces (and otherwise acting as part of the Royal Armoured Corps).

householder n. a person who owns or rents a house; the head of a household.

household gods plural n. gods presiding over a household, especially (in Roman history) the lares and penates.

household name (also household word) n. a person or thing that is well known by the public.

household troops plural n. (in the UK) troops nominally employed to guard the sovereign.

house-hunt v. [no obj.] seek a house to buy or rent and live in.

<DERIVATIVES> house-hunter n.

house husband n. a man who lives with a partner and carries out household duties traditionally done by a housewife rather than going out to work.

housekeeper n. a person, typically a woman, employed to manage a household.

<DERIVATIVES> housekeep v. (DATED)

housekeeping n. [mass noun] 1 the management of household affairs.

- money set aside or given for running a household: writing barely pays my part of the housekeeping.

2 operations such as maintenance or record-keeping which facilitate productive work in an organization.

- [BIOLOGY] the regulation of metabolic functions that are common to all cells: [as modifier] housekeeping genes.

houseleek /haslik/ n. a succulent European plant with rosettes of fleshy leaves and small pink flowers. Houseleeks grow on walls and roofs, and are popular cultivated plants.

<INFO> Sempervivum and related genera, family Crassulaceae: several species, in particular S. tectorum.

house lights plural n. the lights in the auditorium of a theatre.

housemaid n. a female domestic employee, especially one who cleans reception rooms and bedrooms.

housemaid's knee n. [mass noun] inflammation of the fluid-filled cavity covering the kneecap (bursitis), often due to excessive kneeling.

houseman n. (pl. housemen) 1 British another term for HOUSE OFFICER.

2 North American another term for HOUSEBOY.

house martin n. a black-and-white Eurasian songbird of the swallow family, often building its mud nest on the walls of buildings.

<INFO> Genus Delichon, family Hirundinidae: three species, in particular the widespread D. urbica.

housemaster (also housemistress) n. chiefly BRITISH a teacher in charge of a house at a boarding school.

housemate n. a person who shares a house with others.

housemother n. a woman in charge of and living in a boarding school house or children's home.

house mouse n. a greyish-brown mouse found abundantly as a scavenger in human dwellings. It is widely kept as a pet or experimental animal, and has been bred in many varieties.

<INFO> Mus musculus, family Muridae.

House of Commons (in the UK) the elected chamber of Parliament.

house of correction n. HISTORICAL an institution where vagrants and minor offenders were confined and set to work.

house officer n. BRITISH a recent medical graduate receiving supervised training in a hospital and acting as an assistant physician or surgeon. Also called HOUSEMAN or (North American) INTERN.

house of God n. a place of religious worship, especially a church.

house of ill fame (also house of ill repute) n. ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS a brothel.

House of Keys (in the Isle of Man) the elected chamber of Tynwald.

House of Lords (in the UK) the higher chamber of Parliament, composed of peers and bishops.

- a committee of specially qualified members of the House of Lords, appointed as the ultimate judicial appeal court of England and Wales.

House of Representatives the lower house of the US Congress and other legislatures.

houseparent n. a housemother or housefather.

house party n. a party at which the guests stay at a house overnight or for a few days.

house plant n. a plant which is grown indoors.

house-proud adj. attentive to, or preoccupied with, the care and appearance of one's home.

house rat n. another term for BLACK RAT, especially in South Asia.

houseroom n. [mass noun] space or accommodation in one's house.

<PHRASES>

□ not GIVE something houseroom BRITISH be unwilling to have or consider something.

house-sit v. [no obj.] live in and look after a house while its owner is away.

<DERIVATIVES> house-sitter n.

Houses of Parliament (in the UK) the Houses of Lords and Commons regarded together, or the building where they meet (the Palace of Westminster).

house sparrow n. a common brown and grey sparrow that nests in the eaves and roofs of houses, common from Europe to southern Asia and introduced elsewhere.

<INFO> Passer domesticus, family Passeridae (or Ploceidae).

house spider n. a large spider which frequently lives in houses, where it builds a sheet-like web:

<INFO>

- a common European spider which builds a large web with a tubular retreat in one corner (genus Tegenaria, family Ageleridae).

- a common North American spider (Achaearanea tepidariorum, family Theridiidae).

house style n. a company's preferred manner of presentation and layout of written material.

house-to-house adj. & adv. performed at or taken to each house in turn: [as adj.] house-to-house inquiries.

housetop n. the ridge or roof of a house.

<PHRASES>

□ shout something from the housetops old-fashioned way of saying SHOUT SOMETHING FROM THE ROOFTOPS (see SHOUT).

house-train v. [with obj.] BRITISH train (a pet) to excrete outside the house or only in a special place.

- (often as adj. house-trained) INFORMAL, HUMOROUS teach (someone) good manners or tidiness.

House Un-American Activities Committee (abbr.: HUAC) a committee of the US House of Representatives established in 1938 to investigate subversives. It became notorious for its zealous investigations of alleged communists, particularly in the late 1940s, although it was originally intended to pursue Fascists also.

housewares plural n. kitchen utensils and similar household items.

house-warming n. [usually as modifier] a party celebrating a move to a new home: a house-warming party.

housewife n. (pl. housewives) 1 a married woman whose main occupation is caring for her family, managing household affairs, and doing housework.

2 /hzf/ a small case for needles, thread, and other small sewing items.

<DERIVATIVES> housewifely adj. housewifery n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English husewif (see HOUSE, wife).

housework n. [mass noun] regular work done in housekeeping, especially cleaning and tidying.

housey adj. BRITISH INFORMAL in the style of house music.

housey-housey (also housie-housie) n. British old-fashioned term for BINGO.

housing^1 n. 1 [mass noun] houses and flats considered collectively: [as modifier] a housing development.

- the provision of accommodation: [as modifier] a housing association.

2 a rigid casing that encloses and protects a piece of moving or delicate equipment.

3 a recess or groove cut in one piece of wood to allow another piece to be attached to it.

housing^2 n. ARCHAIC a cloth covering put on a horse for protection or ornament.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘covering’): from Old French houce, from medieval Latin hultia, of Germanic origin.

housing estate n. BRITISH a residential area in which the houses have all been planned and built at the same time.

Housman /hasmən/ A. E. (1859–1936), English poet and classical scholar; full name Alfred Edward Housman. He is now chiefly remembered for the poems collected in A Shropshire Lad (1896), a series of nostalgic verses largely based on ballad forms.

Houston /h(j)ust(ə)n/ an inland port of Texas, linked to the Gulf of Mexico by the Houston Ship Canal; pop. 1,953,631 (2000). Since 1961 it has been a centre for space research and manned space flight; it is the site of the NASA Space Centre.

<ORIGIN> named after Samuel Houston (1793–1863), an American politician and military leader who led the struggle to win control of Texas and make it part of the US.

houting /hat/ n. a migratory whitefish with a pointed snout. Now rare, it is found mainly in the Baltic and adjacent rivers.

<INFO> Coregonus oxyrhinchus, family Salmonidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Dutch, from Middle Dutch houtic, of unknown origin.

Hove a resort on the southern coast of England, a city (with Brighton) from 2000; pop. 68,900 (est. 2002).

hove chiefly [NAUTICAL] past of HEAVE.

hovel n. 1 a small squalid or simply constructed dwelling.

- ARCHAIC an open shed or outhouse, used for sheltering cattle or storing grain or tools.

2 HISTORICAL a conical building enclosing a kiln.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

hover v. [no obj., with adverbial] remain in one place in the air: Army helicopters hovered overhead.

- remain poised uncertainly in one place or between two states: her hand hovered over the console | his expression hovered between cynicism and puzzlement.

- linger close at hand in an uncertain manner: she hovered anxiously in the background.

- remain at or near a particular level: inflation will hover around the 4 per cent mark.

■ n. [in sing.] an act of hovering.

<DERIVATIVES> hoverer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from archaic hove ‘hover, linger’, of unknown origin.

hovercraft n. (pl. same) a vehicle or craft that travels over land or water on a cushion of air provided by a downward blast. A design was first patented by Christopher Cockerell in 1955.

hoverfly n. (pl. hoverflies) a fly which frequently hovers motionless in the air and feeds on the nectar of flowers. Most hoverflies are black and yellow, patterned to mimic various bees and wasps.

<INFO> Family Syrphidae: numerous genera and species.

hoverport n. a terminal for hovercraft.

hovertrain n. a train that travels on a cushion of air.

how^1 adv. [usually interrogative adv.] 1 in what way or manner; by what means: how does it work? | he did not know how he ought to behave | [with infinitive] he showed me how to adjust the focus.

2 used to ask about the condition or quality of something: how was your holiday? | how did they play?

- used to ask about someone's physical or mental state: how are the children? | I asked how he was doing.

3 [with adj. or adv.] used to ask about the extent or degree of something: how old are you? | how long will it take? | I wasn't sure how fast to go.

- used to express a strong feeling such as surprise about the extent of something: how kind it was of him | how I wish I had been there!

4 [relative adv.] the way in which; that: she told us how she had lived out of a suitcase for a week.

- in any way in which; however: I'll do business how I like.

<PHRASES>

□ and how! INFORMAL very much so (used to express strong agreement): ‘Did you miss me?’ ‘And how!’.

□ how about 1 used to make a suggestion or offer: how about a drink?

2 used when asking for information or an opinion on something: how about your company?

□ the how and why the methods and reasons for doing something: tonight's edition demystifies the how and why of television ratings.

□ how come? see COME.

□ how do you do? a formal greeting.

□ how many WHAT number: how many books did you sell?

□ how much what amount or price: how much did I win?

□ how now? ARCHAIC what is the meaning of this?

□ how so? how can you show that that is so?

□ how's that? 1 what is your opinion of that?

2 [CRICKET] is the batsman out or not? (said to an umpire).

<ORIGIN> Old English hū, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoe, also to WHO and what.

how^2 exclam. a greeting attributed to North American Indians (used in humorous imitation).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from Sioux háo or Omaha hou.

Howard^1 Catherine (c.1521–42), fifth wife of Henry VIII. She married Henry soon after his divorce from Anne of Cleves in 1540. Accused of infidelity, she confessed and was beheaded.

Howard^2 John (1726–90), English philanthropist and prison reformer. His tour of British prisons in 1773 culminated in two Acts of Parliament setting down sanitary standards; his work The State of Prisons in England and Wales (1777) gave further impetus to the movement for improvements in prisons.

Howard^3 John (Winston) (b.1939), Australian Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1996–2007 with a Liberal–National Party coalition.

Howard^4 Leslie (1893–1943), English actor; born Leslie Howard Stainer. He was best known for his roles as the archetypal English gentleman in films such as The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935) and Pygmalion (1938).

Howard^5 Trevor (Wallace) (1916–88), English actor. He starred in Brief Encounter (1945) and The Third Man (1949) and later played character roles in films such as Gandhi (1982).

howbeit adv. ARCHAIC nevertheless; however: howbeit, I've no proof of the thing.

howdah /hadə/ n. (in the Indian subcontinent) a seat for riding on the back of an elephant or camel, typically with a canopy and accommodating two or more people.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu haudah, from Arabic hawdaj ‘litter’.

how-do-you-do (also how-de-do or how-d'ye-do) n. [in sing.] INFORMAL an awkward, messy, or annoying situation: a fine how-do-you-do that would be!

howdy exclam. NORTH AMERICAN an informal friendly greeting, particularly associated with the western US states: howdy, stranger.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: alteration of how d'ye.

Howe Elias (1819–67), American inventor. In 1846 he patented the first sewing machine. Its principles were adapted by Isaac Merrit Singer and others in violation of Howe's patent rights, and it took a seven-year litigation battle to secure the royalties.

howe^1 n. N. ENGLISH a tumulus or barrow.

- [in place names] a hill.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse haugr ‘mound’, from a Germanic base meaning ‘high’.

howe^2 n. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a hollow place; a depression.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: variant of Old English hol (see HOLE).

howe'er /həε/ LITERARY contraction however.

however adv. 1 used to introduce a statement that contrasts with or seems to contradict something that has been said previously: People tend to put on weight in middle age. However, gaining weight is not inevitable.

2 [relative adv.] in whatever way; regardless of how: however you look at it, you can't criticize that.

- [with adj. or adv.] to whatever extent: he was hesitant to take the risk, however small.

<USAGE> When ever is used for emphasis after how or why, it should be written as a separate word. Thus it is correct to write how ever did you manage? rather than however did you manage? (as distinct from other uses of the adverb however, which is always written as one word). However, with other words such as what, where, and who, the situation is not clear-cut: both two-word and one-word forms (both what ever and whatever, and so on) are well represented, and neither is regarded as particularly more correct than the other.

howff /haf/ n. SCOTTISH a favourite meeting place or haunt, especially a pub.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as the name of the main burial ground in Dundee): of unknown origin.

howitzer /hatsə/ n. a short gun for firing shells on high trajectories at low velocities.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Dutch houwitser, from German Haubitze, from Czech houfnice ‘catapult’.

howk /hak/ v. [with obj., and adverbial] chiefly SCOTTISH dig out or up: deep in their trenches the men stood, howking out the brown earth.

- [no obj., with adverbial] search about by digging or rummaging: Frankie howked among the beer cans.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English holk: related to Middle Low German holken ‘to hollow’, and HOLE.

howl n. a long, doleful cry uttered by an animal such as a dog or wolf.

- a loud cry of pain, fear, anger, or amusement: he let out a howl of anguish | FIGURATIVE I got howls of protest from readers.

- a prolonged wailing noise such as that made by a strong wind: they listened to the howl of the gale.

- [ELECTRONICS] a wailing noise in a loudspeaker due to feedback.

■ v. [no obj.] make a howling sound: he howled in agony | the wind howled around the house.

- weep and cry out loudly: a baby started to howl.

- [with obj.] (howl someone down) shout in disapproval in order to prevent a speaker from being heard: they howled me down and called me a chauvinist.

<ORIGIN> Middle English houle (verb), probably imitative.

howler n. 1 INFORMAL a very stupid or glaring mistake, especially an amusing one.

2 (also howler monkey) a fruit-eating monkey with a prehensile tail and a loud howling call, native to the forests of tropical America.

<INFO> Genus Alouatta, family Cebidae: several species.

howlet n. chiefly SCOTTISH an owl or owlet.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: diminutive of OWL, assimilated to the verb HOWL.

howling adj. [attr.] 1 producing a long, doleful cry or wailing sound.

2 INFORMAL extreme or great: the meal was a howling success.

<DERIVATIVES> howlingly adv.

Howrah /harə/ (also Haora) a city in eastern India; pop. 1,008,700 (2001). It is situated on the Hooghly River opposite Kolkata (Calcutta).

howsoe'er /hasəε/ LITERARY contraction howsoever.

howsoever FORMAL or ARCHAIC adv. [with adj. or adv.] to whatever extent: any quantity howsoever small.

■ conj. in whatever way; regardless of how: howsoever it came into being, it is good to look at.

how-to INFORMAL adj. [attr.] providing detailed and practical advice: read a how-to book.

■ n. (pl. how-tos) a book or other guide that provides such advice.

howtowdie /hatadi/ n. [mass noun] a Scottish dish of boiled chicken served with spinach and poached eggs.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably from Old French estaudeau, denoting a young chicken for the stew pot.

howzat exclam. [CRICKET] shortened form of how's that? (sense 2). (see how^1).

howzit exclam. S. African INFORMAL used as a greeting, equivalent to ‘hello’ or ‘how are you?’.

<ORIGIN> contraction of how is it?

Hoxha /hdə/ Enver (1908–85), Albanian statesman, founder of the Albanian Communist Party 1941, Prime Minister 1944–54, and First Secretary of the Albanian Communist Party 1954–85. He rigorously isolated Albania from Western influences and implemented a Stalinist programme of nationalization and collectivization.

Hoxnian /hksnən/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting an interglacial period of the Pleistocene in Britain, following the Anglian glaciation and identified with the Holsteinian of northern Europe.

- (as n. the Hoxnian) the Hoxnian interglacial or the system of deposits laid down during it.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Hoxne, the name of a village in Suffolk, + -IAN.

hoy^1 exclam. used to attract someone's attention: ‘Hoy! Look!’.

■ n. [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN a game resembling bingo, using playing cards.

<ORIGIN> natural exclamation: first recorded in late Middle English.

hoy^2 n. HISTORICAL a small coastal sailing vessel, typically single-masted.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Dutch hoei, of unknown origin.

hoy^3 v. [with obj.] Australian & N. English, INFORMAL throw.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

hoya /hə/ n. a climbing or sprawling evergreen shrub with ornamental foliage and waxy flowers, native to SE Asia and the Pacific and grown as a greenhouse or indoor plant.

<INFO> Genus Hoya, family Asclepiadaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Thomas Hoy (c.1750–c.1821), English gardener.

hoyden /hd(ə)n/ n. DATED a boisterous girl.

<DERIVATIVES> hoydenish adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a rude or ignorant man): probably from Middle Dutch heiden (see HEATHEN).

Hoyle^1 Sir Fred (1915–2001), English astrophysicist and writer. He was one of the proponents of the steady state theory of cosmology, and, mainly with the American physicist William A. Fowler (1911–95), described the processes of nucleosynthesis inside stars. His later work included the controversial suggestions that life on the earth has an extraterrestrial origin, and that some viruses arrive from space.

Hoyle^2 n. (in phrase according to Hoyle) according to plan or the rules.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of Edmond Hoyle (1672–1769), English writer on card games.

h.p. (also HP) abbr.

- high pressure.

- BRITISH hire purchase.

- horsepower.

HPV abbr. human papillomavirus.

HQ abbr. headquarters.

HR abbr.

- North American House of Representatives.

- Human Resources (the personnel department of an organization).

hr abbr. hour.

Hradec Králové /hrαdεts krαlve/ a town in the northern Czech Republic, capital of East Bohemia region on the River Elbe; pop. 98,163 (2001). German name Königgrätz.

HRH abbr. BRITISH Her or His Royal Highness (as a title): HRH Prince Philip.

Hrodna /hrdnə/ a city in western Belarus, on the Neman River near the borders with Poland and Lithuania; pop. 312,900 (est. 2002). Russian name GRODNO.

hrs abbr. hours.

HRT abbr. hormone replacement therapy.

Hrvatska /h(ə)rvatska/ Croatian name for CROATIA.

hryvna /hrvnjə/ (also hryvnia) n. the basic monetary unit of Ukraine, equal to 100 kopiykas.

Hs symbol the chemical element hassium.

HSE abbr. (in the UK) Health and Safety Executive.

HSH abbr. Her or His Serene Highness (as a title): HSH Prince Rainer.

Hsia-men variant of XIAMEN.

Hsian variant of XIAN.

Hsiang variant of XIANG.

Hsining variant of XINING.

HST abbr.

- (in the UK) high-speed train, a design of express passenger train with integral diesel engines at either end.

- Hubble Space Telescope.

Hsu-chou /uta/ variant of XUZHOU.

HT abbr. (electrical) high tension.

HTML n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] Hypertext Markup Language, a standardized system for tagging text files to achieve font, colour, graphic, and hyperlink effects on World Wide Web pages.

HTTP abbr. [COMPUTING] Hypertext Transport (or Transfer) Protocol, the data transfer protocol used on the World Wide Web.

HUAC abbr. House Un-American Activities Committee.

Huainan /hwnan/ a city in the province of Anhui, in east central China; pop. 1,427,500 (est. 2002).

Huallaga /hwαjαə/ a river in central Peru, one of the headwaters of the Amazon. Rising in the central Andes, it flows generally north-eastwards for 1,100 km (700 miles) and emerges into the Amazon Basin at Lagunas.

Huambo /hwambə/ a city in the mountains in western Angola; pop. 168,300 (est. 2002). Founded in 1912, it was known by its Portuguese name of Nova Lisboa until 1978.

Huang Hai /hwa h/ Chinese name for YELLOW SEA.

Huang Ho /hwa hə/ (also Huang He /hi/) Chinese name for YELLOW RIVER.

huarache /warαti/ (also guarache) n. a leather-thonged sandal, originally worn by Mexican Indians.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Mexican Spanish.

Huascarán /hwaskərαn/ an extinct volcano in the Peruvian Andes, west central Peru, rising to 6,768 m (22,205 ft). It is the highest peak in Peru.

hub n. 1 the central part of a wheel, rotating on or with the axle, and from which the spokes radiate.

2 the effective centre of an activity, region, or network: the kitchen was the hub of family life.

<PHRASES>

□ hub-and-spoke denoting a system of air transportation in which local airports offer flights to a central airport where international or long-distance flights are available.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (denoting a shelf at the side of a fireplace used for heating pans): of unknown origin (compare with hob^1).

hubba hubba exclam. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used to express approval, excitement, or enthusiasm, especially with regard to a person's appearance.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: of unknown origin.

Hubbard squash /hbəd/ n. a winter squash with a green or yellow rind and yellow flesh.

Hubble Edwin Powell (1889–1953), American astronomer. He studied galaxies and devised a classification scheme for them. In 1929 he proposed what is now known as Hubble's law with its constant of proportionality (Hubble's constant).

hubble-bubble n. a hookah.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: imitative repetition of BUBBLE.

Hubble classification [ASTRONOMY] a simple method of describing the shapes of galaxies, using subdivisions of each of four basic types (elliptical, spiral, barred spiral, and irregular). Hubble's suggestion that they form an evolutionary sequence is no longer accepted.

Hubble's constant n. [ASTRONOMY] the ratio of the speed of recession of a galaxy (due to the expansion of the universe) to its distance from the observer. The reciprocal of the constant is called Hubble time and represents the length of time for which the universe has been expanding, and hence the age of the universe.

Hubble's law n. [ASTRONOMY] a law stating that the red shifts in the spectra of distant galaxies (and hence their speeds of recession) are proportional to their distance.

Hubble Space Telescope an orbiting astronomical observatory launched in 1990. The telescope's fine high-resolution images are far better than can be obtained from the earth's surface.

hubbub n. [in sing.] a chaotic din caused by a crowd of people: a hubbub of laughter and shouting.

- a busy, noisy situation: she fought through the hubbub.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps of Irish origin; compare with the Irish exclamations ababú, abú, used in battle cries.

hubby n. (pl. hubbies) INFORMAL a husband.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: familiar abbreviation.

hubcap n. a metal or plastic cover for the hub of a motor vehicle's wheel.

Hubei /hube/ (also Hupeh) a province of eastern China; capital, Wuhan.

Hubli /hubli/ (also Hubli-Dharwad /dαwαd/, Hubli-Dharwar /-wα/) a city in SW India; pop. 786,000 (2001). It was united with the adjacent city of Dharwad in 1961.

hubris /hjubrs/ n. [mass noun] excessive pride or self-confidence.

- (in Greek tragedy) excessive pride towards or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis.

<DERIVATIVES> hubristic adj.

<ORIGIN> Greek.

huchen /huk(ə)n/ n. (pl. same) a large, slender non-migratory fish of the salmon family, which lives only in the Danube River system.

<INFO> Hucho hucho, family Salmonidae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German.

huckaback n. [mass noun] a strong linen or cotton fabric with a rough surface, used for towelling and glass cloths.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: of unknown origin.

huckleberry n. (pl. huckleberries) 1 a soft edible blue-black fruit resembling a currant.

2 the low-growing North American plant of the heather family which bears the huckleberry.

<INFO> Genus Gaylussacia, family Ericaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably originally a dialect name for the bilberry, from dialect huckle ‘hip, haunch’ (because of the plant's jointed stems).

huckster n. 1 a person who sells small items door-to-door or from a stall.

- a person who sells in an aggressive or ruthless way.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a publicity agent or advertising copywriter.

■ v. [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN bargain; haggle.

- [with obj.] promote or sell (something, typically a product of questionable value).

<DERIVATIVES> hucksterism n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘retailer at a stall, hawker’): probably of Low German origin.

HUD abbr. head-up display.

Huddersfield a town in northern England, formerly in Yorkshire; pop. 143,500 (est. 2002).

huddle v. 1 [no obj., with adverbial] crowd together; nestle closely: they huddled together for warmth.

- curl one's body into a small space: she huddled up close to him.

2 [with obj. and adverbial] BRITISH heap together in a disorderly manner: a man with his clothes all huddled on anyhow.

3 [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN have a private discussion; confer: the colonel huddled with A.J. at the dining-room table.

■ n. a close grouping of people or things: a huddle of huts.

- a number of people gathered together to speak about private or secret matters.

- a brief gathering of players during a game to receive instructions, especially in American Football.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC confusion; bustle.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘conceal’): perhaps of Low German origin.

Hudson^1 Henry (c.1565–1611), English explorer. He visited the North American bay, river, and strait which bear his name. In 1610 he attempted to winter in Hudson Bay, but his crew mutinied and set Hudson and a few companions adrift, never to be seen again.

Hudson^2 William Henry (1841–1922), British naturalist and writer, born in Argentina. A prolific author, he was an astute observer and lover of nature. Notable works: The Naturalist in La Plata (1892) and Nature in Downland (1900).

Hudson Bay a large inland sea in NE Canada. It is the largest inland sea in the world and is connected to the North Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson Strait.

<ORIGIN> named after the explorer Henry Hudson (see Hudson^1), who visited it in 1610.

Hudsonian /hdsənən/ adj. relating to Hudson Bay and the surrounding land.

- [BIOLOGY] denoting a biogeographical zone represented by the territory around the bay (north of the treeline from Labrador to Alaska).

Hudson River a river of eastern North America, which rises in the Adirondack Mountains and flows southwards for 560 km (350 miles) into the Atlantic at New York.

<ORIGIN> named after Henry Hudson (see Hudson^1), who in 1609 sailed 240 km (150 miles) up the river as far as Albany.

Hudson's Bay blanket n. CANADIAN a durable woollen blanket, typically with a coloured border.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: originally sold by the Hudson's Bay Company and frequently used as material for coats.

Hudson's Bay Company a British colonial trading company set up in 1670 and granted all lands draining into Hudson Bay for purposes of commercial exploitation, principally trade in fur. The company handed over control to the new Canadian government in 1870 and is now a Canadian retail and wholesale operation.

hue n. a colour or shade: the water is the deepest hue of aquamarine | [mass noun] verdigris is greenish-yellow in hue.

- the attribute of a colour by virtue of which it is discernible as red, green, etc., and which is dependent on its dominant wavelength and independent of intensity or lightness.

- character or aspect: men of all political hues submerged their feuds.

<DERIVATIVES> hued adj. [in combination] rainbow-hued hueless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English hīw, hēow (also ‘form, appearance’, obsolete except in Scots), of Germanic origin; related to Swedish hy ‘skin, complexion’. The sense ‘colour, shade’ dates from the mid 19th cent.

Hué /hwe/ a city in central Vietnam; pop. 266,800 (est. 2002).

hue and cry n. a loud clamour or public outcry.

- HISTORICAL a loud cry calling for the pursuit and capture of a criminal. In former English law, the cry had to be raised by the inhabitants of a hundred in which a robbery had been committed, if they were not to become liable for the damages suffered by the victim.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from the Anglo-Norman French legal phrase hu e cri, literally ‘outcry and cry’, from Old French hu ‘outcry’ (from huer ‘to shout’).

huevos rancheros /(h)wεvs rantεrs/ plural n. a dish of fried or poached eggs served on a tortilla with a spicy tomato sauce, originating in Mexico.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, ‘rancheros' eggs’.

huff v. 1 [no obj.] blow out air loudly on account of exertion: he was huffing under a heavy load | I was huffing and PUFFing to keep up with him.

2 express one's feeling of petty annoyance: [with direct speech] ‘Huh!’ Nanny huffed.

3 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL sniff fumes from (petrol or solvents) for a euphoric effect.

4 [with obj.] (in draughts) remove (an opponent's piece that could have made a capture) from the board as a forfeit. [<ORIGIN> from the former practice of blowing on the piece.]

■ n. [usually in sing.] a fit of petty annoyance: she walked off in a huff.

<DERIVATIVES> huffer n. huffish adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: imitative of the sound of blowing.

huffy adj. (huffier, huffiest) annoyed or irritated and quick to take offence at petty things.

<DERIVATIVES> huffily adv. huffiness n.

hug v. (hugs, hugging, hugged) [with obj.] squeeze (someone) tightly in one's arms, typically to express affection: he hugged her close to him | people kissed and hugged each other.

- hold (something) tightly around or against part of one's body: he hugged his knees to his chest.

- fit tightly round: a pair of jeans that hugged the contours of his body.

- keep close to: I headed north, hugging the coastline all the way.

- (hug oneself) congratulate or be pleased with oneself: she hugged herself with secret joy.

- cherish or cling to (something such as a belief): a boy hugging a secret.

■ n. an act of hugging someone.

- a squeezing grip in wrestling.

<DERIVATIVES> huggable adj. hugger n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Norwegian hugga ‘comfort, console’.

huge adj. (huger, hugest) extremely large; enormous: a huge area | he made a huge difference to the team.

<DERIVATIVES> hugeness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: shortening of Old French ahuge, of unknown origin.

hugely adv. [often as submodifier] very much; to a very great extent: a hugely expensive house.

hugger-mugger adj. 1 confused; disorderly: a spirit of careless frivolity where all was hugger-mugger.

2 secret; clandestine.

■ n. [mass noun] 1 disorder or confusion.

2 secrecy or secretive behaviour.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in sense 2 of the noun): probably related to HUDDLE and to dialect mucker ‘hoard money, conceal’. This is one of a number of similar formations from late Middle English to the 16th century, including hucker-mucker and hudder-mudder, with the basic sense ‘secrecy, concealment’.

Huggins Sir William (1824–1910), British astronomer. He pioneered spectroscopic analysis in astronomy, showing that nebulae are composed of luminous gas. He discovered the red shift in stellar spectra, attributing it to the Doppler effect and using it to measure recessional velocities.

Hughes^1 Ted (1930–98), English poet; full name Edward James Hughes. His vision of the natural world as a place of violence, terror, and beauty pervades his work. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1984. Hughes was married to Sylvia Plath.

Hughes^2 Howard (Robard) (1905–76), American industrialist, film producer, and aviator. He made his fortune through the Hughes Tool Company, made his debut as a film director in 1926, and from 1935 to 1938 broke many world aviation records. For the last twenty-five years of his life he lived as a recluse.

Hughes^3 (James Mercer) Langston (1902–67), American writer. He began a prolific literary career with The Weary Blues (1926), a series of poems on black themes using blues and jazz rhythms. Other poetry collections include The Negro Mother (1931).

Hughie n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an imaginary being held to be responsible for the weather.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: diminutive of the given name Hugh.

Hugo /hjuə/ French /Yə/ Victor (1802–85), French poet, novelist, and dramatist; full name Victor-Marie Hugo. A leading figure of French romanticism, he brought a new freedom to French poetry, and his belief that theatre should express both the grotesque and the sublime in human existence overturned existing conventions. His political and social concern is shown in his novels. Notable works: Hernani (drama, 1830) and Les Misérables (novel, 1862).

Huguenot /hjuənə -nt/ n. a French Protestant of the 16th and 17th centuries. Largely Calvinist, the Huguenots suffered severe persecution at the hands of the Catholic majority, and many thousands emigrated from France.

<ORIGIN> French, alteration (by association with the name of a Geneva burgomaster, Besançon Hugues) of eiguenot, from Dutch eedgenot, from Swiss German Eidgenoss ‘confederate’, from Eid ‘oath’ + Genoss ‘associate’.

huh exclam. used to express scorn, anger, or surprise: ‘Huh,’ she snorted, ‘Over my dead body!’.

- used in questions to invite agreement or further comment: pretty devastating, huh?

<ORIGIN> natural utterance: first recorded in English in the early 17th century.

Huhehot /huheht/ variant of HOHHOT.

hui /hui/ n. (pl. huis) (in New Zealand) a large social or ceremonial gathering.

- (in Hawaii) a formal club or association.

<ORIGIN> Maori and Hawaiian.

huia /huə/ n. an extinct New Zealand wattlebird with glossy black plumage, the female having a much longer and more curved bill than the male. The tail feathers were formerly prized by Maoris, and the last huia was seen in 1907.

<INFO> Heteralocha acutirostris, family Callaeidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori, imitative of its cry.

hula /hulə/ (also hula-hula) n. a dance performed by Hawaiian women, characterized by six basic steps, undulating hips, and gestures symbolizing or imitating natural phenomena or historical or mythological subjects.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: Hawaiian.

hula hoop (also US TRADEMARK Hula-Hoop) n. a large hoop spun round the body by gyrating the hips, for play or exercise.

hula skirt n. a long grass skirt as worn by a hula dancer.

hulk n. 1 an old ship stripped of fittings and permanently moored, especially for use as storage or (formerly) as a prison.

- a large disused structure: hulks of abandoned machinery.

2 a large or unwieldy boat or other object.

- a large, clumsy-looking person: a six-foot hulk of a man.

<ORIGIN> Old English hulc ‘fast ship’, probably reinforced in Middle English by Middle Low German and Middle Dutch hulk; probably of Mediterranean origin and related to Greek holkas ‘cargo ship’.

hulking adj. INFORMAL (of a person or object) very large, heavy, or clumsy: a hulking young man.

Hull a city and port in NE England, situated at the junction of the Hull and Humber Rivers; pop. 309,100 (est. 2002). Official name KINGSTON UPON HULL.

hull^1 n. the main body of a ship or other vessel, including the bottom, sides, and deck but not the masts, superstructure, rigging, engines, and other fittings.

■ v. [with obj.] hit and pierce the hull of (a ship) with a missile.

<DERIVATIVES> hulled adj. [in combination] a wooden-hulled narrowboat

<ORIGIN> Middle English: perhaps the same word as hull^2, or related to hold^2.

hull^2 n. the outer covering of a fruit or seed, especially the pod of peas and beans, or the husk of grain.

- the green calyx of a strawberry or raspberry.

■ v. [with obj.] remove the hulls from (fruit, seeds, or grain).

<ORIGIN> Old English hulu, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch huls, German Hülse ‘husk, pod’, and German Hülle ‘covering’, also to heel^3.

hullabaloo n. [in sing.] INFORMAL a commotion; a fuss: remember all the hullabaloo over the golf ball?

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: reduplication of hallo, hullo, etc.

hullo exclam. variant spelling of HELLO.

<ORIGIN> first recorded, in this form, in T. Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857).

hum^1 v. (hums, humming, hummed) [no obj.] 1 make a low, steady continuous sound like that of a bee: the computers hummed.

- sing with closed lips: he hummed softly to himself | [with obj.] she was humming a cheerful tune.

- (of a place) be filled with a low, steady continuous sound: the room hummed with an expectant murmur.

2 INFORMAL be in a state of great activity: the house was humming with preparations for the dance.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL smell unpleasant: when the wind drops this stuff really hums.

■ n. [in sing.] a low, steady continuous sound: the hum of insects | a low hum of conversation.

- an unwanted low-frequency noise in an amplifier caused by variation of electric current, especially the alternating frequency of the mains.

<PHRASES>

□ hum and haw (or chiefly NORTH AMERICAN hem and haw) BRITISH be indecisive.

<DERIVATIVES> hummable adj. hummer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: imitative.

hum^2 exclam. used to express hesitation or dissent.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: imitative; related to the verb hum^1.

human adj. relating to or characteristic of humankind: the human body | the survival of the human race.

- of or characteristic of people as opposed to God or animals or machines, especially in being susceptible to weaknesses: they are only human and therefore mistakes do occur | the risk of human error.

- showing the better qualities of humankind, such as kindness: the human side of politics is getting stronger.

- [ZOOLOGY] of or belonging to the genus Homo.

■ n. a human being.

<DERIVATIVES> humanness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English humaine, from Old French humain(e), from Latin humanus, from homo ‘man, human being’. The present spelling became usual in the 18th century; compare with HUMANE.

human being n. a man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, power of articulate speech, and upright stance.

human capital n. [mass noun] the skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by an individual or population, viewed in terms of their value or cost to an organization or country.

human chain n. a line of people formed for passing things quickly from one site to another.

humane /hjmen/ adj. 1 having or showing compassion or benevolence: regulations ensuring the humane treatment of animals.

- inflicting the minimum of pain: humane methods of killing.

2 FORMAL (of a branch of learning) intended to have a civilizing effect on people.

<DERIVATIVES> humanely adv. humaneness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: the earlier form of HUMAN, restricted to the senses above in the 18th cent.

humane killer n. BRITISH an instrument for the painless slaughter of animals.

human engineering n. [mass noun] the management of industrial labour, especially as regards relationships between people and machines.

Human Genome Project an international project to chart the entire genetic material of a human being, the first draft of which was completed in 2000.

human geography n. [mass noun] the branch of geography dealing with how human activity affects or is influenced by the earth's surface.

human interest n. [mass noun] the aspect of a story in the media that interests people because it describes the experiences or emotions of individuals to which others can relate.

humanism n. [mass noun] a rationalist outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters.

- (often Humanism) a Renaissance cultural movement which turned away from medieval scholasticism and revived interest in ancient Greek and Roman thought.

- (among some contemporary writers) a system of thought criticized as being centred on the notion of the rational, autonomous self and ignoring the unintegrated and conditioned nature of the individual.

<DERIVATIVES> humanist n. & adj. humanistic adj. humanistically adv.

humanitarian /hjmantεrən/ adj. concerned with or seeking to promote human welfare: groups sending humanitarian aid.

■ n. a person who seeks to promote human welfare.

<DERIVATIVES> humanitarianism n.

<USAGE> Sentences such as this is the worst humanitarian disaster this country has seen are a loose use of the adjective humanitarian to mean ‘human’. This use is quite common, especially in journalism, but is not generally considered good style.

humanity n. (pl. humanities) [mass noun] 1 human beings collectively: appalling crimes against humanity.

- the state of being human: our differences matter but our common humanity matters more.

2 the quality of being humane; benevolence: he praised them for their standards of humanity and care.

3 (humanities) learning concerned with human culture, especially literature, history, art, music, and philosophy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French humanite, from Latin humanitas, from humanus (see HUMAN).

humanize (also humanise) v. [with obj.] 1 make (something) more humane or civilized: his purpose was to humanize prison conditions.

2 give (something) a human character: dogs are wonderful friends but why do we try to humanize them?

<DERIVATIVES> humanization n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French humaniser, from Latin humanus (see HUMAN).

humankind n. [mass noun] human beings considered collectively (used as a neutral alternative to ‘mankind’): the origin of humankind.

humanly adv. 1 from a human point of view; in a human manner: they can grow both humanly and spiritually.

- [as submodifier] within human ability: we did all that was humanly possible.

2 ARCHAIC with human feeling or kindness.

human nature n. [mass noun] the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioural traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans: he had a poor opinion of human nature.

humanoid /hjumənd/ adj. having an appearance or character resembling that of a human.

■ n. (especially in science fiction) a being resembling a human in its shape.

human papillomavirus n. a virus with subtypes that cause diseases in humans ranging from common warts to cervical cancer.

human relations plural n. relations with or between people, particularly the treatment of people in a professional context.

human resources plural n. the personnel of a business or organization, regarded as a significant asset in terms of skills and abilities.

human right n. (usually human rights) a right which is believed to belong to every person: a flagrant disregard for basic human rights.

human shield n. a person or group of people held near a potential target to deter attack.

Humber /hmbə/ an estuary in NE England. It is formed at the junction of the Rivers Ouse and Trent, near Goole, and flows 60 km (38 miles) eastwards to enter the North Sea at Spurn Head. It has the major port of Hull on its north bank and is spanned by the world's second-largest suspension bridge, opened in 1981 and having a span of 1,410 m (4,626 ft).

- a shipping forecast area covering an area of the North Sea off eastern England, extending roughly from north Norfolk to Flamborough Head.

Humberside a former county of NE England, formed in 1974 from parts of the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire and the northern part of Lincolnshire. It was dissolved in 1996.

humble adj. (humbler, humblest) 1 having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's importance: I felt very humble when meeting her.

- (of an action or thought) offered with or affected by a modest estimate of one's importance: my humble apologies.

2 of low social, administrative, or political rank: she came from a humble, unprivileged background.

3 (of a thing) of modest pretensions or dimensions: he built the business empire from humble beginnings.

■ v. [with obj.] cause (someone) to feel less important or proud: he was humbled by his many ordeals.

- decisively defeat (a sporting opponent previously thought to be superior).

<PHRASES>

□ eat humble pie make a humble apology and accept humiliation. [<ORIGIN> humble pie is from a pun based on UMBLES ‘offal’, considered inferior food.]

□ one's humble abode used to refer to one's home with an ironic or humorous show of modesty.

□ your humble servant ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS used at the end of a letter or as a form of ironic courtesy: your most humble servant, George Porter.

<DERIVATIVES> humbleness n. humbly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin humilis ‘low, lowly’, from humus ‘ground’.

humble-bee n. another term for BUMBLEBEE.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from Middle Low German hummelbē, from hummel ‘to buzz’ + bē ‘bee’.

Humboldt /hmblt/ Friedrich Heinrich Alexander, Baron von (1769–1859), German explorer and scientist. He travelled in Central and South America (1799–1804) and wrote on natural history, meteorology, and physical geography.

Humboldt Current another name for PERUVIAN CURRENT.

humbug n. 1 [mass noun] deceptive or false talk or behaviour: his comments are sheer humbug.

- [count noun] a hypocrite.

2 BRITISH a boiled sweet, especially one flavoured with peppermint.

■ v. (humbugs, humbugging, humbugged) [with obj.] deceive; trick: poor Dave is easily humbugged.

- [no obj.] DATED act like a fraud.

<DERIVATIVES> humbuggery n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in the senses ‘hoax, trick’ and ‘deceiver’): of unknown origin.

humdinger /hmdə/ n. INFORMAL a remarkable or outstanding person or thing of its kind: a humdinger of a funny story.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): of unknown origin.

humdrum adj. lacking excitement or variety; boringly monotonous: humdrum routine work.

■ n. [mass noun] monotonous routine: an escape from the humdrum of his life.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: probably a reduplication of hum^1.

Hume /hjum/ David (1711–76), Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian. He rejected the possibility of certainty in knowledge and claimed that all the data of reason stem from experience. Notable works: A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40) and History of England (1754–62).

<DERIVATIVES> Humean /hjumən/ adj. & n.

humectant /hjmεkt(ə)nt/ adj. retaining or preserving moisture.

■ n. a substance, especially a skin lotion or a food additive, used to reduce the loss of moisture.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting a moistening agent): from Latin humectant- ‘moistening’, from the verb humectare, from humectus ‘moist, wet’, from humere ‘be moist’.

humeral /hjum(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. [attr.] 1 relating to the humerus: a humeral fracture.

2 (in Catholic use) denoting a plain vestment worn around the shoulders when administering the sacrament.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from late Latin humeralis, from Latin humerus (see HUMERUS).

humerus /hjum(ə)rəs/ n. (pl. humeri /-r/) [ANATOMY] the bone of the upper arm or forelimb, forming joints at the shoulder and the elbow.

- [ZOOLOGY] the structure forming the front basal corner of an insect's wing or wing case.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘shoulder’.

humic /hjumk/ adj. [attr.] relating to or consisting of humus: humic acids.

humid /hjumd/ adj. marked by a relatively high level of water vapour in the atmosphere: a hot and humid day.

<DERIVATIVES> humidly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French humide or Latin humidus, from humere ‘be moist’.

humidifier n. a device for keeping the atmosphere in a room moist.

humidify v. (humidifies, humidifying, humidified) [with obj.] increase the level of moisture in (air).

<DERIVATIVES> humidification n.

humidistat /hjmdstat/ n. a machine or device which automatically regulates the humidity of the air in a room or building.

humidity n. (pl. humidities) [mass noun] the state or quality of being humid.

- a quantity representing the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere or in a gas: the temperature is seventy-seven, the humidity in the low thirties.

- atmospheric moisture.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French humidite or Latin humiditas, from humidus (see HUMID).

humidor /hjumd/ n. an airtight container for keeping cigars or tobacco moist.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from HUMID, on the pattern of cuspidor.

humify /hjumf/ v. (humifies, humifying, humified) [with obj.] convert (plant remains) into humus.

<DERIVATIVES> humification n.

humiliate v. [with obj.] make (someone) feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and pride: you'll humiliate me in front of the whole school!

<DERIVATIVES> humiliator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (earlier (late Middle English) as humiliation): from late Latin humiliat- ‘made humble’, from the verb humiliare, from humilis (see HUMBLE). The original meaning was ‘bring low’; the current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.

humiliating adj. making someone feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and pride: a humiliating defeat.

<DERIVATIVES> humiliatingly adv.

humiliation n. [mass noun] the action of humiliating someone or the state of being humiliated: they suffered the humiliation of losing in the opening round | he fought back tears of humiliation | [count noun] the conference decision was a humiliation for the union's executive.

humility n. [mass noun] the quality of having a modest or low view of one's importance.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French humilite, from Latin humilitas, from humilis (see HUMBLE).

Humint /h(j)umnt/ n. [mass noun] covert intelligence-gathering by agents or others.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from human intelligence.

hummel /hm(ə)l/ Scottish & N. English adj. (of a cow or stag) lacking horns or antlers.

■ n. a stag which has failed to grow antlers, typically as a result of malnutrition when young.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (describing grain in the sense ‘without an awn’): related to Low German hummel, hommel ‘hornless animal’.

Hummer n. North American informal term for HUMVEE.

hummingbird n. a small nectar-feeding tropical American bird that is able to hover and fly backwards, and typically has colourful iridescent plumage.

<INFO> Family Trochilidae: many genera and numerous species.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: so named because of the humming sound produced by the rapid vibration of the bird's wings.

hummingbird hawkmoth n. a migratory day-flying hawkmoth that makes an audible hum while hovering in front of flowers to feed on nectar.

<INFO> Macroglossum stellatarum, family Sphingidae.

hummock n. a hillock or knoll.

- a hump or ridge in an ice field.

- NORTH AMERICAN a piece of forested ground rising above a marsh.

<DERIVATIVES> hummocky adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally in nautical use denoting a small hillock on the coast): of unknown origin.

hummus /hməs/ (also houmous) n. [mass noun] a thick paste or spread made from ground chickpeas and sesame seeds, olive oil, lemon, and garlic, made originally in the Middle East.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic ummu.

humongous /hjuməs/ (also humungous) adj. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN huge; enormous: a humongous steak.

<ORIGIN> 1970s (originally US): possibly based on HUGE and MONSTROUS, influenced by the stress pattern of stupendous.

humoral /hjum(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. MEDICINE relating to the body fluids, especially with regard to immune responses involving antibodies in body fluids as distinct from cells (see CELL-MEDIATED).

- HISTORICAL relating to the four bodily HUMOURs.

- HISTORICAL (of diseases) caused by or attributed to a disordered state of body fluids or (formerly) the bodily humours.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘relating to bodily fluids’): from Old French, or from medieval Latin humoralis, from Latin humor ‘moisture’ (see HUMOUR).

humoresque /hjumərεsk/ n. a short, lively piece of music.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Humoreske, from Humor ‘humour’.

humorist n. a humorous writer, performer, or artist.

humorous adj. causing laughter and amusement; comic: a humorous and entertaining talk.

- having or showing a sense of humour: his humorous grey eyes.

<DERIVATIVES> humorously adv. humorousness n.

humour (US humor) n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech: his tales are full of humour.

- the ability to express humour or amuse other people: their inimitable brand of humour.

2 a mood or state of mind: her good humour vanished | the clash hadn't improved his humour.

- [count noun] ARCHAIC an inclination or whim.

3 (also cardinal humour) [count noun] HISTORICAL each of the four chief fluids of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile (choler), and black bile (melancholy)) that were thought to determine a person's physical and mental qualities by the relative proportions in which they were present.

■ v. [with obj.] comply with the wishes of (someone) in order to keep them content, however unreasonable such wishes might be: she was always humouring him to prevent trouble.

- ARCHAIC adapt or accommodate oneself to (something).

<PHRASES>

□ out of humour in a bad mood.

□ sense of humour a person's ability to appreciate humour: in all the ups and downs of his life he never lost his sense of humour.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin humor ‘moisture’, from humere (see HUMID). The original sense was ‘bodily fluid’ (surviving in aqueous humour and vitreous humour); it was used specifically for any of the cardinal humours (sense 3 of the noun), whence ‘mental disposition’ (thought to be caused by the relative proportions of the humours). This led, in the 16th century, to the senses ‘mood’ (sense 2 of the noun) and ‘whim’, hence to humour someone ‘to indulge a person's whim’.

■ Sense 1 of the noun dates from the late 16th cent.

humourless (US humorless) adj. lacking humour; not able to appreciate or express humour: they are such a humourless bunch. | a rather humourless performance.

<DERIVATIVES> humourlessly adv. humourlessness n.

hump n. 1 a rounded raised mass of earth or land.

- a mound over which railway vehicles are pushed so as to run by gravity over points to the required place in a marshalling yard.

2 a rounded protuberance found on the back of a camel or other animal or as an abnormality on the back of a person.

■ v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] chiefly BRITISH INFORMAL carry (a heavy object) with difficulty: he continued to hump cases up and down the hotel corridor.

2 [with obj.] make hump-shaped.

3 [with obj.] VULGAR SLANG have sexual intercourse with.

4 (usually in imperative hump off) IRISH INFORMAL go away.

<PHRASES>

□ get (or have) the hump BRITISH INFORMAL become (or be) annoyed or moody.

□ over the hump past the most difficult part of something.

<DERIVATIVES> humpless adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: probably related to Low German humpe ‘hump’, also to Dutch homp, Low German humpe ‘lump, hunk (of bread)’.

humpback n. 1 (also humpback whale) a baleen whale which has a hump (instead of a dorsal fin) and long white flippers.

<INFO> Megaptera novaeangliae, family Balaenopteridae.

2 (also humpback salmon) a small salmon with dark spots on the back, native to the North Pacific and introduced into the NW Atlantic. Also called PINK SALMON.

<INFO> Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, family Salmonidae.

3 another term for HUNCHBACK.

<DERIVATIVES> humpbacked adj.

humpback bridge n. BRITISH a small road bridge with a steep ascent and descent.

humped adj. having a hump or humps; hump-shaped: a breed of humped cattle | a humped bridge.

Humperdinck /hmpədk hm-/ Engelbert (1854–1921), German composer. Influenced by Wagner, he is remembered as the composer of the opera Hänsel und Gretel (1893).

humph exclam. used to express slightly scornful doubt or dissatisfaction: Humph! I suppose I'd better take him.

<ORIGIN> natural utterance: first recorded in English in the mid 16th century.

humpty-dumpty n. (pl. humpty-dumpties) INFORMAL 1 a short fat person.

2 a person or thing that once overthrown cannot be restored.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the egg-like nursery-rhyme character Humpty-Dumpty, who fell off a wall and broke, and could not be put together again.

humpy^1 adj. (humpier, humpiest) humped in form; having a hump.

humpy^2 n. (pl. humpies) AUSTRALIAN a makeshift hut.

<ORIGIN> from Yagara (an extinct Aboriginal language), influenced by HUMP.

humus /hjuməs/ n. [mass noun] the organic component of soil, formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil micro-organisms.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin, ‘soil’.

Humvee /hmvi/ n. TRADEMARK, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a modern military jeep.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: alteration, from the initials of high-mobility multi-purpose vehicle.

Hun n. 1 a member of a warlike Asiatic nomadic people who invaded and ravaged Europe in the 4th–5th centuries.

2 INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a German (especially during the First and Second World Wars).

- (the Hun) Germans collectively.

<DERIVATIVES> Hunnish adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English Hūne, Hūnas (plural), from late Latin Hunni, from Greek Hounnoi, of Middle Iranian origin.

Hunan /hunan/ a province of east central China; capital, Changsha.

hunch v. [with obj.] raise (one's shoulders) and bend the top of one's body forward: Eliot hunched his shoulders against a gust of snow.

- [no obj.] sit or stand with one's shoulders raised and the top of one's body bent forward: he hunched over his glass.

■ n. 1 a feeling or guess based on intuition rather than fact: I have a hunch that someone is telling lies.

2 a humped position or thing: the hunch of his back.

3 DIALECT a thick piece; a hunk: a hunch of bread.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: of unknown origin. The original meaning was ‘push, shove’ (noun and verb), a sense retained now in Scots as a noun, and in US dialect as a verb. Sense 1 of the noun derives probably from a US sense of the verb ‘nudge someone in order to draw attention to something’.

hunchback n. a back deformed by a sharp forward angle, forming a hump, typically caused by collapse of a vertebra.

- often OFFENSIVE a person with a hunchback.

<DERIVATIVES> hunchbacked adj.

hundred cardinal number (pl. hundreds or (with numeral or quantifying word) hundred) (a/one hundred) the number equivalent to the product of ten and ten; ten more than ninety; 100: a hundred yards away | there are just a hundred of us here. (Roman numeral: c or C)

- (hundreds) the numbers from one hundred to 999: an unknown number, probably in the hundreds, had already been lost.

- (hundreds) several hundred things or people: her coat cost hundreds of pounds.

- (usually hundreds) INFORMAL an unspecified large number: hundreds of letters poured in.

- (the —— hundreds) the years of a specified century: the early nineteen hundreds.

- one hundred years old: you must be over a hundred!

- one hundred miles per hour.

- [CRICKET] a batsman's score of a hundred runs or more.

- (chiefly in spoken English) used to express whole hours in the twenty-four-hour system: twelve hundred hours.

■ n. BRITISH HISTORICAL a subdivision of a county or shire, having its own court: Wantage Hundred.

<PHRASES>

□ a (or one) hundred per cent entirely; completely: I'm not a hundred per cent sure.

- [usually with negative] INFORMAL completely fit and healthy: she did not feel one hundred per cent.

- INFORMAL maximum effort and commitment: he always gave one hundred per cent for United.

<DERIVATIVES> hundredfold adj. & adv. hundredth ordinal number

<ORIGIN> late Old English, from hund ‘hundred’ (from an Indo-European root shared with Latin centum and Greek hekaton) + a second element meaning ‘number’; of Germanic origin and related to Dutch honderd and German hundert. The noun sense ‘subdivision of a county’ is of uncertain origin: it may originally have been equivalent to a hundred hides of land (see hide^3).

Hundred Flowers a period of debate in China 1956–7, when, under the slogan ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend’, citizens were invited to voice their opinions of the communist regime. It was forcibly ended after social unrest and fierce criticism of the government, with those who had voiced their opinions being prosecuted.

hundreds and thousands plural n. BRITISH tiny sugar beads of varying colours used for decorating cakes and desserts.

hundredweight (abbr.: cwt) n. (pl. same or hundredweights) 1 (also long hundredweight) BRITISH a unit of weight equal to 112 lb avoirdupois (about 50.8 kg).

2 (also short hundredweight) US a unit of weight equal to 100 lb (about 45.4 kg).

3 (also metric hundredweight) a unit of weight equal to 50 kg.

Hundred Years War a war between France and England, conventionally dated 1337–1453.

The war consisted of a series of conflicts in which successive English kings attempted to dominate France and included an early string of English military successes, most notably Crécy and Poitiers. In 1415 England, under Henry V, delivered a crushing victory at Agincourt and occupied much of northern France, but, with the exception of Calais, all English conquests had been lost by 1453.

hung past and past participle of HANG

■ adj. 1 (of an elected body in the UK and Canada) having no political party with an overall majority: a hung parliament.

- (of a jury) unable to agree on a verdict.

2 (hung up) INFORMAL emotionally confused or disturbed: people are hung up in all sorts of ways.

- (hung up about/on) obsessed with or worried about: guys are so hung up about the way they look.

3 [predic.] INFORMAL used in similes to refer to the size of a man's genitals.

Hungarian /hεrən/ adj. relating to Hungary, its people, or their language.

■ n. 1 a native or national of Hungary, or a person of Hungarian descent.

2 [mass noun] the official language of Hungary, spoken also by some 2.5 million people in Romania. Hungarian is a Finno-Ugric language and is the only major language of the Ugric branch. Also called MAGYAR.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin Hungarī (a name given to the Hungarians, who called themselves the Magyar) + -AN.

Hungary a country in central Europe; pop. 10,075,034 (est. 2002); official language, Hungarian; capital, Budapest. Hungarian name Magyarország.

Hungary was conquered by the Habsburgs in the 17th century, becoming an equal partner in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867. Following the collapse of the empire in 1918, Hungary became an independent kingdom. After participation in the Second World War on the Axis side, Hungary was occupied by the Soviet Union, and became a communist state. A liberal reform movement was crushed by Soviet troops in 1956, but the communist system was abandoned in 1989, and the first multiparty elections were held in 1990. Hungary joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin Hungaria (see also HUNGARIAN).

hunger n. [mass noun] a feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food, coupled with the desire to eat: she was faint with hunger.

- a severe lack of food: they died from cold and hunger.

- a strong desire or craving: her hunger for knowledge.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (hunger after/for) have a strong desire or craving for: he hungered for a sense of self-worth.

2 ARCHAIC feel or suffer hunger.

<ORIGIN> Old English hungor (noun), hyngran (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch honger and German Hunger.

hunger march n. a march undertaken by a group of people in protest against unemployment or poverty, especially any of those by unemployed workers in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s.

<DERIVATIVES> hunger marcher n.

hunger strike n. a prolonged refusal to eat, carried out as a protest by a prisoner.

<DERIVATIVES> hunger striker n.

hung-over adj. suffering from a hangover after drinking alcohol.

hungry adj. (hungrier, hungriest) feeling or showing the need for food: I was feeling ravenously hungry.

- [attr.] causing hunger: I always find art galleries hungry work.

- having a strong desire or craving: a party hungry for power | [in combination] grasping, power-hungry individuals.

<DERIVATIVES> hungrily adv. hungriness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hungrig, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch hongerig, German hungrig, also to HUNGER.

hunk n. 1 a large piece of something, especially food, cut or broken off a larger piece: a hunk of bread.

2 INFORMAL a large, strong, sexually attractive man.

<DERIVATIVES> hunky adj. (hunkier, hunkiest)

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: probably of Dutch or Low German origin.

hunker v. 1 [no obj.] squat or crouch down low: he hunkered down beside her.

- bend the top of one's body forward; hunch.

2 (hunker down) apply oneself seriously to a task: students hunkered down to prepare for the examinations.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: probably related to Dutch huiken and German hocken.

hunkers plural n. INFORMAL haunches: he was sitting on his hunkers.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (originally Scots): from HUNKER.

hunky-dory adj. INFORMAL fine; going well: everything is hunky-dory.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US): hunky from Dutch honk ‘home, base’ (in games); the origin of dory is unknown.

Hunt (William) Holman (1827–1910), English painter, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He painted biblical scenes with extensive use of symbolism. Notable works: The Light of the World (1854) and The Scapegoat (1855).

hunt v. 1 [with obj.] pursue and kill (a wild animal) for sport or food: in the autumn they hunted deer.

- BRITISH pursue (a wild animal, especially a fox or deer) on horseback using hounds.

- BRITISH use (a hound or a horse) for hunting.

- (of an animal) chase and kill (its prey): mice are hunted by weasels and foxes | [no obj.] lionesses hunt in groups.

2 [no obj.] search determinedly for someone or something: he desperately hunted for a new job.

- [with obj.] (of the police) search for (a criminal): the gang is being hunted by police | [no obj.] police are hunting for her attacker.

- [with obj.] (hunt someone down) search for and capture someone.

3 [no obj.] (of a device or system) oscillate about a desired speed, position, or state.

- (of an aircraft or rocket) oscillate about a mean flight path.

4 [no obj.] (hunt down/up) (in change-ringing) move the place of a bell in a simple progression.

■ n. 1 an act of hunting wild animals or game.

- an association of people who meet regularly to hunt, especially with hounds.

- an area where hunting takes place.

2 a search: police launched a hunt for the killer.

3 an oscillating motion about a desired speed, position, or state.

<ORIGIN> Old English huntian, of Germanic origin. Sense 4 dates from the late 17th century, and is probably based on the idea of the bells pursuing one another; it gave rise to the sense ‘oscillate about a desired speed’ (late 19th century).

hunt-and-peck adj. denoting or using an inexpert form of typing in which only one or two fingers are used: hunt-and-peck computer users.

huntaway n. NZ a dog trained to drive sheep forward.

hunted adj. being pursued or searched for.

- appearing worn or harassed as if one is being pursued: his eyes had a hunted look.

Hunter John (1728–93), Scottish anatomist, regarded as a founder of scientific surgery. He also made valuable investigations in pathology, physiology, dentistry, and biology.

hunter n. 1 a person or animal that hunts: a deer hunter.

- a person searching for something: a bargain hunter.

- a horse of a breed developed for stamina in fox-hunting and ability to jump obstacles.

- (the Hunter) the constellation Orion.

2 a watch with a hinged cover protecting the glass.

hunter-gatherer n. a member of a nomadic people who live chiefly by hunting and fishing, and harvesting wild food.

hunter-killer adj. (of a naval vessel, especially a submarine) equipped to locate and destroy enemy vessels, especially other submarines.

hunter's moon n. the first full moon after a harvest moon.

hunting n. [mass noun] 1 the activity of hunting wild animals or game.

2 [in combination] the activity of searching for something: house-hunting.

3 (also plain hunting) [BELL-RINGING] a simple system of changes in which bells move through the order in a regular progression.

hunting crop (also hunting whip) n. a short rigid riding whip with a handle at right angles to the stock and a long leather thong, used chiefly in hunting.

hunting dog n. (also Cape hunting dog) an African wild dog that has a dark coat with pale markings and a white-tipped tail, living and hunting in packs.

<INFO> Lycaon pictus, family Canidae.

Huntingdon^1 a town in Cambridgeshire, on the River Ouse; pop. 20,100 (est. 1998).

Huntingdon^2 Selina Hastings, Countess of (1707–91), English religious leader; born Selina Shirley. She was instrumental in introducing Methodism to the upper classes and established many chapels and a training college for ministers.

Huntingdonshire a former county of SE England. It became part of Cambridgeshire in 1974.

hunting ground n. a place used or suitable for hunting.

- a place likely to be a fruitful source of something desired or sought: the circuit is a favourite hunting ground for talent scouts.

hunting horn n. a straight horn blown to give signals during hunting.

Huntington a city in West Virginia, on the Ohio River; pop. 51,475 (2000).

Huntington Beach a city on the Pacific coast, to the south of Long Beach, in southern California; pop. 189,600 (2000). It is noted as a surfing locality.

Huntington's disease n. [mass noun] a hereditary disease marked by degeneration of the brain cells and causing chorea and progressive dementia.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after George Huntington (1851–1916), the American neurologist who first described it.

hunting whip n. another term for HUNTING CROP.

huntress n. a woman who hunts.

hunt saboteur n. a person who attempts to disrupt a hunt.

huntsman n. (pl. huntsmen) a person who hunts.

- a hunt official in charge of hounds.

Huntsville a city in northern Alabama; pop. 342,376 (2000).

hunyak /hnjak/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a person of Hungarian or central European origin, especially an immigrant.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: alteration of HUNGARIAN, on the pattern of Polack.

Huon pine /hjun/ n. a tall Tasmanian conifer which has yew-like berries and fragrant red timber.

<INFO> Dacrydium franklinii, family Podocarpaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Huon, the name of a river in the south of Tasmania.

Hupeh /hupe/ variant of HUBEI.

hurdle n. 1 one of a series of upright frames over which athletes in a race must jump.

- (hurdles) a hurdle race: the 100 m hurdles.

2 a problem or difficulty that must be overcome: many would like to emigrate to the United States, but face formidable hurdles.

3 a portable rectangular frame strengthened with withies or wooden bars, used as a temporary fence.

- a horse race over a series of hurdles: a handicap hurdle.

4 BRITISH HISTORICAL a frame on which traitors were dragged to execution.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] take part in a hurdle race.

- [with obj.] jump over (a hurdle or other obstacle) while running.

2 [with obj.] enclose or fence off with hurdles.

<DERIVATIVES> hurdler n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hyrdel ‘temporary fence’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch horde and German Hürde.

hurdy-gurdy /hədədi/ n. (pl. hurdy-gurdies) a musical instrument with a droning sound played by turning a handle, which is typically attached to a rosined wheel sounding a series of drone strings, with keys worked by the left hand.

- INFORMAL a barrel organ.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: probably imitative of the sound of the instrument.

hurl v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] throw or impel (someone or something) with great force: rioters hurled a brick through the windscreen | FIGURATIVE he hurled himself into the job with enthusiasm.

- utter (abuse) vehemently: the demonstrators hurled abuse at councillors.

- [no obj.] INFORMAL vomit: you make me want to hurl.

■ n. SCOTTISH INFORMAL a ride in a vehicle; a lift.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably imitative, but corresponding in form and partly in sense with Low German hurreln.

hurler n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a baseball pitcher.

2 a player of hurling.

Hurler's syndrome /hələz/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a defect in metabolism arising from congenital absence of an enzyme, causing accumulation of lipids and mucopolysaccharides, and resulting in mental retardation, a protruding abdomen, and bone deformities including an abnormally large head. Also called GARGOYLISM.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Gertrud Hurler (1889–1965), the Austrian paediatrician who first described it.

hurley n. a stick used in the game of hurling.

- [mass noun]

■ another term for HURLING.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from HURL.

hurling n. [mass noun] an Irish game resembling hockey, played with a shorter stick with a broader oval blade. It is the national game of Ireland and may date back to the 2nd millennium BC.

hurly-burly n. [mass noun] busy, boisterous activity: the hurly-burly of school life.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: reduplication based on HURL.

Huron /hjərn/ n. (pl. same or Hurons) 1 a member of a confederation of native North American peoples formerly living in the region east of Lake Huron and now settled mainly in Oklahoma and Quebec.

2 [mass noun] the extinct Iroquoian language of the Huron.

■ adj. relating to the Huron or their language.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘having hair standing in bristles on the head’, from Old French hure ‘head of a wild boar’, of unknown ultimate origin.

Huron, Lake the second-largest of the five Great Lakes of North America, on the border between Canada and the US.

hurrah (also hooray, hurray) exclam. used to express joy or approval: Hurrah! She's here at last!

■ n. an utterance of the word ‘hurrah’.

■ v. [no obj.] shout ‘hurrah’.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: alteration of HUZZA; perhaps originally a sailors' cry when hauling.

Hurri /hri/ plural n. the Hurrian people collectively.

<ORIGIN> the name in Hittite and Akkadian.

Hurrian /hrən/ n. 1 a member of an ancient people, originally from Armenia, who settled in Syria and northern Mesopotamia during the 3rd–2nd millennia BC and were later absorbed by the Hittites and Assyrians.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Hurrians, written in cuneiform and of unknown affinity.

■ adj. of or relating to the Hurrians or their language.

hurricane /hrk(ə)n -ken/ n. a storm with a violent wind, in particular a tropical cyclone in the Caribbean.

- a wind of force 12 on the Beaufort scale (equal to or exceeding 64 knots or 118 kph).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Spanish huracán, probably from Taino hurakán ‘god of the storm’.

hurricane deck n. a covered deck at or near the top of a ship's superstructure.

hurricane lamp n. an oil lamp with a glass chimney, designed to protect the flame even in high winds.

hurricane tape n. [mass noun] US a strong type of adhesive tape used on windows to keep the glass in place if it is broken by strong winds.

hurried adj. done in a hurry; rushed: I ate a hurried breakfast.

<DERIVATIVES> hurriedly adv. hurriedness n.

hurry v. (hurries, hurrying, hurried) [no obj.] move or act with great haste: we'd better hurry | servants hurried around.

- (often in imperative hurry up) do something more quickly: hurry up and finish your meal.

- [with obj.] cause to move with haste: she hurried him across the landing.

- [with obj.] do or finish (something) quickly or too quickly: formalities were hurried over.

■ n. [mass noun] great haste: in my hurry to leave I knocked over a pile of books.

- [with negative and in questions] a need for haste; urgency: there's no hurry to get back.

<PHRASES>

□ in a hurry rushed; in a rushed manner.

- eager to get a thing done quickly: no one seemed in a hurry for the results.

- [usually with negative] INFORMAL easily; readily: an experience you won't forget in a hurry.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a verb): imitative.

hurry-scurry ARCHAIC n. [mass noun] disorderly haste.

■ adj. & adv. with hurry and confusion.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: reduplication of HURRY.

hurry-up adj. [attr.] US INFORMAL showing, involving, or requiring haste or urgency.

hurst n. (ARCHAIC except in place names) 1 a hillock.

- a wood or wooded rise: Cumnor Hurst.

2 a sandbank.

<ORIGIN> Old English hyrst, of Germanic origin; related to German Horst.

Hurston /həst(ə)n/ Zora Neale (1901–60), American novelist. Her novels reflect her interest in folklore, especially that of the Deep South. Notable works: Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934) and Seraph on the Suwanee (1948).

hurt v. (past and past participle hurt) [with obj.] 1 cause pain or injury to: Ow! You're hurting me! | [no obj.] does acupuncture hurt?

- [no obj.] (of a part of the body) suffer pain: my back hurts.

- cause distress to: she didn't want to hurt his feelings.

- [no obj.] (of a person) feel distress: he was hurting badly, but he smiled through his tears.

2 be detrimental to: high interest rates are hurting the local economy.

3 [no obj.] (hurt for) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL have a pressing need for: Frank wasn't hurting for money.

■ n. [mass noun] physical injury; harm.

- mental pain or distress: her eyes reflected her unhappiness and hurt | [count noun] it's time to forgive past hurts and open your heart.

<DERIVATIVES> hurty adj. (hurtier, hurtiest) (INFORMAL)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the senses ‘to strike’ and ‘a blow’): from Old French hurter (verb), hurt (noun), perhaps ultimately of Germanic origin.

hurtful adj. causing distress to someone's feelings: his hurtful remarks.

<DERIVATIVES> hurtfully adv. hurtfulness n.

hurtle v. move or cause to move at high speed, typically in an uncontrolled manner: [no obj., with adverbial of direction] a runaway car hurtled towards them | [with obj. and adverbial of direction] the trucks hurtled them through the grassland to the construction sites.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘strike against, collide with’): frequentative of HURT.

Husák /husak/ Gustáv (1913–91), Czechoslovak statesman, leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia 1969–87 and President 1975–89. He succeeded Alexander Dubček following the Prague Spring of 1968 and purged the party of its reformist elements.

husband n. a married man considered in relation to his wife: she and her husband are both retired.

■ v. [with obj.] use (resources) economically: she husbanded their financial resources through difficult times.

<DERIVATIVES> husbander n. (RARE) husbandhood n. husbandless adj. husbandly adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English (in the senses ‘male head of a household’ and ‘manager, steward’, from Old Norse húsbóndi ‘master of a house’, from hús ‘house’ + bóndi ‘occupier and tiller of the soil’. The original sense of the verb was ‘till, cultivate’.

husbandman n. (pl. husbandmen) ARCHAIC a person who cultivates the land; a farmer.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in northern English use denoting the holder of a husbandland, i.e. manorial tenancy): from HUSBAND in the obsolete sense ‘farmer’ + MAN.

husbandry n. [mass noun] 1 the care, cultivation, and breeding of crops and animals.

2 management and conservation of resources.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from HUSBAND in the obsolete sense ‘farmer’ + -RY; compare with HUSBANDMAN.

hush v. [with obj.] make (someone) be quiet or stop talking: he placed a finger before pursed lips to hush her.

- [no obj., often in imperative] be quiet: Hush! Someone will hear you.

- (hush something up) suppress public mention of something: management took steps to hush up the dangers.

■ n. [in sing.] a silence: a hush descended over the crowd.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: back-formation from obsolete husht ‘silent’ (taken to be a past participle), from an interjection husht ‘quiet!’.

hushaby (also hushabye) exclam. ARCHAIC used to lull a child.

hushed adj. (of a place) very quiet and still: he addressed the hushed courtroom.

- (of a voice or conversation) quiet and serious.

hush-hush adj. INFORMAL (especially of an official plan or project) highly secret or confidential: a hush-hush research unit.

hush money n. [mass noun] INFORMAL money paid to someone to prevent them from disclosing embarrassing or discreditable information.

hush puppy n. [mass noun] US maize bread which has been quickly deep-fried.

husk^1 n. the dry outer covering of some fruits or seeds.

- a dry or rough outer layer, especially when it is empty of its contents: the husks of dead bugs.

■ v. [with obj.] remove the husk or husks from.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from Low German hūske ‘sheath’, literally ‘little house’.

husk^2 n. [mass noun] 1 bronchitis in cattle, sheep, or swine caused by parasitic infestation, typically marked by a husky cough.

2 huskiness: the husk in her voice.

■ v. [with direct speech] say something in a husky voice: ‘What big blue eyes you have,’ husked Lorenzo.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: partly from HUSKY^1, partly from the earlier verb husk ‘(of a farm animal) cough’.

husky^1 adj. (huskier, huskiest) 1 (of a voice or utterance) sounding low-pitched and slightly hoarse.

2 (of a person) big and strong: Paddy looked a husky, strong guy.

3 like or consisting of a husk or husks.

<DERIVATIVES> huskily adv. huskiness n.

husky^2 n. (pl. huskies) a powerful dog of a breed with a thick double coat which is typically grey, used in the Arctic for pulling sledges.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally denoting the Eskimo language or an Eskimo): abbreviation of obsolete Ehuskemay or Newfoundland dialect Huskemaw ‘Eskimo’, probably from Montagnais (see ESKIMO). The term replaced the 18th-cent. term Eskimo dog.

Huss /hs/ John (c.1372–1415), Bohemian religious reformer; Czech name Jan Hus. A rector of Prague University, he supported the views of Wyclif, attacked ecclesiastical abuses, and was excommunicated in 1411. He was later tried and burnt at the stake. See also HUSSITE.

huss /hs/ n. BRITISH a dogfish, especially the nurse hound (also called BULL HUSS).

<INFO> Genus Scyliorhinus, family Scyliorhinidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English husk, of unknown origin.

hussar /hzα/ n. HISTORICAL a soldier in a light cavalry regiment which had adopted a dress uniform modelled on that of the Hungarian hussars (now only in titles): the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars.

- (in the 15th century) a Hungarian light horseman.

<ORIGIN> from Hungarian huszár, from Old Serbian husar, from Italian corsaro (see CORSAIR).

Hussein^2 /hsen/ (also Husain) ibn Talal (1935–99), king of Jordan 1953–99. Throughout his reign Hussein sought to maintain good relations both with the West and with other Arab nations. During the Gulf War he supported Iraq, but in 1994 he signed a treaty normalizing relations with Israel.

Hussein^3 /hsen/ (also Husain) Saddam (1937–2006), Iraqi President, Prime Minister, and head of the armed forces 1979–2003; full name Saddam bin Hussein at-Takriti. During his presidency Iraq fought a war with Iran (1980–8) and invaded Kuwait (1990), from which Iraqi forces were expelled in the Gulf War of 1991. He also ordered punitive attacks on Kurdish rebels in the north of Iraq and on the Marsh Arabs in the south. He was overthrown in 2003 following the invasion and occupation of Iraq by US-led forces. He was later tried for crimes against humanity and executed.

Husserl /hsəl/ German /hsl/ Edmund (Gustav Albrecht) (1859–1938), German philosopher. His work forms the basis of the school of phenomenology; he rejected metaphysical assumptions about what actually exists, and explanations of why it exists, in favour of pure subjective consciousness as the condition for all experience, with the world as the object of this consciousness.

Hussite /hst/ n. a member or follower of the religious movement begun by John Huss. After Huss's execution the Hussites took up arms against the Holy Roman Empire and demanded a set of reforms that anticipated the Reformation. Most of the demands were granted (1436), and a Church was established that remained independent of the Roman Catholic Church until 1620.

■ adj. relating to the Hussites.

<DERIVATIVES> Hussitism n.

hussy n. (pl. hussies) an impudent or immoral girl or woman: that brazen little hussy!

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: contraction of HOUSEWIFE (the original sense); the current sense dates from the mid 17th cent.

hustings n. (pl. same) a meeting at which candidates in an election address potential voters.

- (the hustings) the campaigning associated with an election: I was out on the hustings, talking to people.

<ORIGIN> late Old English husting ‘deliberative assembly, council’, from Old Norse hústhing ‘household assembly held by a leader’, from hús ‘house’ + thing ‘assembly, parliament’; hustings was applied in Middle English to the highest court of the City of London, presided over by the Recorder of London. Subsequently it denoted the platform in Guildhall where the Lord Mayor and aldermen presided, and (early 18th century) a temporary platform on which parliamentary candidates were nominated; hence the sense ‘electoral proceedings’.

hustle v. 1 [with obj.] push roughly; jostle: they were hissed and hustled as they went in.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] force (someone) to move hurriedly or unceremoniously: I was hustled away to a cold cell.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] push one's way; bustle.

2 [with obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN obtain illicitly or by forceful action: Linda hustled money from men she met.

- (hustle someone into) pressure someone into doing something.

- sell aggressively: he hustled his company's oil around the country.

3 [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL engage in prostitution.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] a state of great activity: the hustle and bustle of the big cities.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a fraud or swindle.

<PHRASES>

□ hustle one's butt (or VULGAR SLANG ass) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL move or act quickly.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally in the sense ‘shake, toss’): from Middle Dutch hutselen.

■ Sense 3 of the verb dates from the early 20th cent.

hustler n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 a person adept at aggressive selling or illicit dealing.

2 a prostitute.

Huston /hjust(ə)n/ John (1906–87), American-born film director, an Irish citizen from 1964. He made his debut as a film director in 1941 with The Maltese Falcon. Other notable films: The African Queen (1951) and Prizzi's Honor (1985).

hut n. a small, simple, single-storey house or shelter.

■ v. (huts, hutting, hutted) [with obj.] provide with huts: (as adj. hutted) a hutted encampment.

<DERIVATIVES> hut-like adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘temporary wooden shelter for troops’): from French hutte, from Middle High German hütte.

hutch n. 1 a box or cage, typically with a wire mesh front, for keeping rabbits or other small domesticated animals: a rabbit hutch.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a storage chest.

- a cupboard or dresser.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French huche, from medieval Latin hutica, of unknown origin. The original sense was ‘storage chest’, surviving in North American usage (sense 2).

hutia /htiə/ n. a rodent resembling a cavy, with short legs and tail, found only in the Caribbean.

<INFO> Family Capromyidae: two genera, in particular Capromys, and several species, some of which are now extinct.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Spanish, from Taino huti, cuti.

hutment n. [MILITARY] an encampment of huts.

Hutterite /htərt/ n. a member of an Anabaptist Christian sect established in Moravia in the early 16th century.

- a member of a North American community holding beliefs similar to the Moravian Hutterites and leading a very old-fashioned communal way of life.

■ adj. relating to Hutterites or their beliefs.

<ORIGIN> from the name of Jacob Hutter (died 1536), a Moravian Anabaptist, + -ITE^1.

Hutton^1 James (1726–97), Scottish geologist. Although controversial at the time, his uniformitarian description of the processes that have shaped the surface of the earth is now accepted as showing that the earth is very much older than had previously been believed.

Hutton^2 Sir Leonard (1916–90), English cricketer. He played for Yorkshire (1934–55) and for England (1937–55), scoring a record 364 in the 1938 test against Australia.

Hutu /hutu/ n. (pl. same or Hutus or Bahutu /bəhutu/) a member of a Bantu-speaking people forming the majority population in Rwanda and Burundi. They are traditionally a farming people, and were historically dominated by the Tutsi people; the antagonism between the peoples led in 1994 to large-scale ethnic violence, especially in Rwanda.

■ adj. relating to the Hutu.

<ORIGIN> a local name.

Huxley^1 /hksli/ Aldous (Leonard) (1894–1963), English novelist and essayist. After writing Antic Hay (1923) and Brave New World (1932), in 1937 he moved to California, where in 1953 he experimented with psychedelic drugs, writing of his experiences in The Doors of Perception (1954).

Huxley^2 /hksli/ Andrew Fielding (b.1917), English physiologist, the grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley. He worked with Sir Alan Hodgkin on the physiology of nerve transmission.

Huxley^3 /hksli/ Sir Julian (1887–1975), English biologist, the grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley. He studied animal behaviour and was a notable interpreter of science to the public.

Huxley^4 /hksli/ Thomas Henry (1825–95), English biologist. A surgeon and leading supporter of Darwinism, he coined the word agnostic to describe his own beliefs. Notable works: Man's Place in Nature (1863).

Huygens^1 /hənz/ Christiaan (1629–95), Dutch physicist, mathematician, and astronomer. His wave theory of light enabled him to explain reflection and refraction. He also patented a pendulum clock, introduced the convergent eyepiece for telescopes, discovered a satellite of Saturn, and recognized the nature of Saturn's rings, which had eluded Galileo.

Huygens^2 a European space probe that is part of the Cassini spacecraft, which detached from the orbiter and landed on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005.

Huygens eyepiece n. [OPTICS] a simple eyepiece consisting of two separate planoconvex lenses, used chiefly in refracting telescopes of long focal length.

huzza /hzα/ (also huzzah) ARCHAIC exclam. used to express approval or delight.

■ v. (huzzas, huzzaed, huzzaing) [no obj.] cry ‘huzza’.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps used originally as a sailor's cry when hauling.

Hwange /hwai/ a town in western Zimbabwe; pop. 55,700 (est. 2002). Nearby is the Hwange National Park, established as a game reserve in 1928. Former name (until 1982) WANKIE.

HWM abbr. high-water mark.

hwyl /hul/ n. [mass noun] (in Welsh use) a stirring feeling of emotional motivation and energy.

<ORIGIN> Welsh.

hyacinth /həsnθ/ n. 1 a bulbous plant of the lily family, with strap-like leaves and a compact spike of bell-shaped fragrant flowers. Native to western Asia, hyacinths are cultivated outdoors and as house plants.

<INFO> Genus Hyacinthus, family Liliaceae: several species, in particular H. orientalis, from which the large-flowered cultivars are derived.

- [mass noun] a light purplish-blue colour typical of some hyacinth flowers.

2 another term for JACINTH.

<DERIVATIVES> hyacinthine /-snθin -θn/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a gem): from French hyacinthe, via Latin from Greek huakinthos, denoting a plant identified with the flower in the myth of HYACINTHUS, and a gem (perhaps the sapphire). The current sense dates from the late 16th cent.

Hyacinthus /həsnθəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a beautiful boy whom the god Apollo loved but killed accidentally with a discus. From his blood Apollo caused the hyacinth to spring up.

Hyades /hədiz/ [ASTRONOMY] an open star cluster in the constellation Taurus, appearing to surround the bright star Aldebaran.

<ORIGIN> from the Hyades (Greek Huades), the five sisters of the Pleiades in Greek mythology, brothers of Hyas, who were changed into stars by Zeus.

hyaenodon /hinədn/ n. a large, heavily built carnivorous mammal of the Oligocene epoch.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin hyaena ‘hyena’ + Greek odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

hyalin /həln/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] a clear substance produced especially by the degeneration of epithelial or connective tissues.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via Latin from Greek hualinos, from hualos ‘glass’.

hyaline /həln -in -n/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] (chiefly of cartilage) glassy and translucent in appearance.

- relating to or consisting of hyalin.

■ n. 1 (the hyaline) LITERARY a smooth sea or a clear sky.

2 another term for HYALIN.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin hyalinus (see HYALIN).

hyaline cartilage n. [mass noun] a translucent bluish-white type of cartilage present in the joints, the respiratory tract, and the immature skeleton.

hyaline membrane disease n. [mass noun] a condition in newborn babies in which the lungs are deficient in surfactant, which prevents their proper expansion and causes the formation of hyaline material in the lung spaces. Also called RESPIRATORY DISTRESS SYNDROME.

hyalite /həlt/ n. [mass noun] a translucent, colourless variety of opal.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek hualos ‘glass’ + -ITE^1.

hyaloid /həld/ adj. [ANATOMY] glassy; transparent.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French hyaloïde, or via late Latin from Greek hualoeidēs ‘like glass’, from hualos ‘glass’.

hyaloid membrane n. a thin transparent membrane enveloping the vitreous humour of the eye.

hyaluronate /həljərənet/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of hyaluronic acid.

hyaluronic acid /həljərnk/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a viscous fluid carbohydrate present in connective tissue, synovial fluid, and the aqueous and vitreous humours of the eye.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: hyaluronic from a blend of HYALOID and URONIC ACID.

hybrid /hbrd/ n. 1 [BIOLOGY] the offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties, such as a mule.

2 a thing made by combining two different elements: jungle is a hybrid of reggae and house music.

- a word formed from elements taken from different languages, for example television (tele- from Greek, vision from Latin).

■ adj. of mixed character; composed of different elements: hybrid diesel-electric buses.

- bred as a hybrid from different species or varieties.

<DERIVATIVES> hybridism n. hybridity n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun): from Latin hybrida ‘offspring of a tame sow and wild boar, child of a freeman and slave, etc.’.

hybridize (also hybridise) v. [with obj.] cross-breed (individuals of two different species or varieties).

- [no obj.] (of an animal or plant) breed with an individual of another species or variety.

<DERIVATIVES> hybridizable adj. hybridization n. hybridizer n.

hybrid vigour n. [mass noun] [GENETICS] the tendency of a cross-bred individual to show qualities superior to those of both parents. Also called HETEROSIS.

hydantoin /hdantən/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline compound present in sugar beet and used in the manufacture of some anticonvulsant drugs.

<INFO> A cyclic derivative of urea; chem. formula: C_3H_4N_2O_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek hudōr ‘water’ + allantoic (see ALLANTOIS) + -IN^1.

hydathode /hdəθəd/ n. [BOTANY] a modified pore, especially on a leaf, which exudes drops of water.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek hudōr, hudat- ‘water’ + hodos ‘way’.

hydatid /hdətd/ n. MEDICINE a cyst containing watery fluid, in particular one formed by and containing a tapeworm larva.

- a tapeworm larva.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from modern Latin hydatis, from Greek hudatis, hudatid- ‘watery vesicle’, from hudōr, hudat- ‘water’.

hydatidiform mole /hdətdfm/ n. MEDICINE a cluster of fluid-filled sacs formed in the womb by the degeneration of chorionic tissue around an aborting embryo.

Hyde^2 Mr, see Jekyll^1.

Hyde Park the largest British royal park, in west central London. It contains the Serpentine, Marble Arch, the Albert Memorial, and Speakers' Corner.

Hyderabad /hdərəbad/ 1 a city in central India, capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh; pop. 3,449,900 (2001).

2 a former large princely state of south central India, divided in 1956 between Maharashtra, Mysore, and Andhra Pradesh.

3 a city in SE Pakistan, in the province of Sind, on the River Indus; pop. 1,151,300 (1998).

hydr- combining form variant spelling of HYDRO- shortened before a vowel (as in hydraulic).

Hydra /hdrə/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a many-headed snake whose heads grew again as they were cut off, eventually killed by Hercules.

- (as n. hydra) a thing which is hard to overcome or resist because of its pervasive or enduring quality or its many aspects.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the largest constellation (the Water Snake or Sea Monster), said to represent the beast slain by Hercules. Its few bright stars are close to the celestial equator. Compare with HYDRUS.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek hudra.

hydra n. a minute freshwater coelenterate with a stalk-like tubular body and a ring of tentacles around the mouth.

<INFO> Genus Hydra, class Hydrozoa.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek hudra ‘water snake’ (see HYDRA), named by Linnaeus because, if cut into pieces, each section can grow into a whole animal.

hydramnios /hdramns/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which excess amniotic fluid accumulates during pregnancy.

hydrangea /hdren(d)ə/ n. a shrub or climbing plant with rounded or flattened flowering heads of small florets, native to Asia and America.

<INFO> Genus Hydrangea, family Hydrangeaceae: many species, in particular the common hydrangea (H. macrophylla), with flowers that are typically blue, but often pink on alkaline soils.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek hudro- ‘water’ + angeion ‘vessel’ (from the cup shape of its seed capsule).

hydrant /hdr(ə)nt/ n. a water pipe, especially one in a street, with a nozzle to which a fire hose can be attached.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally US): formed irregularly from HYDRO- ‘relating to water’ + -ANT.

hydrate n. /hdret/ [CHEMISTRY] a compound, typically a crystalline one, in which water molecules are chemically bound to another compound or an element.

■ v. /hdret/ [with obj.] cause to absorb water.

- [CHEMISTRY] combine chemically with water molecules.

<DERIVATIVES> hydratable adj. hydration n. hydrator n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coined in French from Greek hudōr ‘water’.

hydraulic /hdrlk hdrlk/ adj. 1 denoting or relating to a liquid moving in a confined space under pressure: hydraulic fluid.

2 relating to the science of hydraulics.

3 (of cement) hardening under water.

<DERIVATIVES> hydraulically adv. hydraulicity /-lsti/ n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via Latin from Greek hudraulikos, from hudro- ‘water’ + aulos ‘pipe’.

hydraulic fracturing n. [mass noun] the forcing open of fissures in subterranean rocks by introducing liquid at high pressure, especially to extract oil or gas.

hydraulic ram n. an automatic pump in which a large volume of water flows through a valve which it periodically forces shut, the sudden pressure change being used to raise a smaller volume of water to a higher level.

hydraulics plural n. 1 [usually treated as sing.] the branch of science and technology concerned with the conveyance of liquids through pipes and channels, especially as a source of mechanical force or control.

2 hydraulic systems or forces.

hydrazine /hdrəzin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless volatile alkaline liquid with powerful reducing properties, used in chemical synthesis and in some kinds of rocket fuels.

<INFO> Chem. formula: N_2H_4.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYDROGEN + AZO- + -INE^4.

hydria /hdrə/ n. (pl. hydriae or hydriai) [ARCHAEOLOGY] an ancient Greek pitcher with three handles.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek hudria.

hydric /hdrk/ adj. [ECOLOGY] (of an environment or habitat) containing plenty of moisture; very wet. Compare with mesic^1 and XERIC.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from HYDRO- + -IC.

hydride /hdrd/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a binary compound of hydrogen with a metal.

hydriodic acid /hdrdk -dk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a strongly acidic solution of the gas hydrogen iodide in water.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HI.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: hydriodic from a blend of HYDROGEN and IODINE.

hydro n. (pl. hydros) 1 BRITISH a hotel or clinic originally providing hydropathic treatment.

2 a hydroelectric power plant.

- [mass noun] hydroelectricity.

- [mass noun] CANADIAN electricity.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

hydro- (also hydr-) combining form 1 water; relating to water: hydraulic | hydrocolloid.

- MEDICINE affected with an accumulation of serous fluid: hydrocephalus.

2 [CHEMISTRY] combined with hydrogen: hydrocarbon.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hudōr ‘water’.

hydrobromic acid /hdrə()brəmk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a strongly acidic solution of the gas hydrogen bromide in water.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HBr.

hydrocarbon n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound of hydrogen and carbon, such as any of those which are the chief components of petroleum and natural gas.

hydrocele /hdrə()sil/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the accumulation of serous fluid in a body sac.

hydrocephalus /hdrəsεf(ə)ləs -kεf-/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition in which fluid accumulates in the brain, typically in young children, enlarging the head and sometimes causing brain damage.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrocephalic adj. hydrocephaly n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek hudrokephalon, from hudro- ‘water’ + kephalē ‘head’.

hydrochloric acid n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a strongly acidic solution of the gas hydrogen chloride in water.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HCl.

hydrochloride n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound of a particular organic base with hydrochloric acid: [with modifier] cocaine hydrochloride.

hydrochlorofluorocarbon /hdrəklrə()flərə()kαbən -flrə()-/ (abbr.: HCFC) n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a class of inert compounds of carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, and fluorine, used in place of CFCs as being somewhat less destructive to the ozone layer.

hydrocolloid /hdrə()kld/ n. a substance which forms a gel in the presence of water, examples of which are used in surgical dressings and in various industrial applications.

hydrocortisone n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal cortex and used medicinally to treat inflammation resulting from eczema and rheumatism.

hydroculture n. another term for HYDROPONICS.

hydrocyanic acid /hdrə()sank/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a highly poisonous acidic solution of hydrogen cyanide in water.

hydrodynamics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of science concerned with forces acting on or exerted by fluids (especially liquids).

<DERIVATIVES> hydrodynamic adj. hydrodynamical adj. hydrodynamicist n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin hydrodynamica, from Greek hudro- ‘water’ + dunamikos (see DYNAMIC).

hydroelectric adj. relating to or denoting the generation of electricity using flowing water (typically from a reservoir held behind a dam or barrage) to drive a turbine which powers a generator.

<DERIVATIVES> hydroelectricity n.

hydrofluoric acid /hdrə()flərk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an acidic, extremely corrosive, solution of the liquid hydrogen fluoride in water.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HF.

hydrofluorocarbon /hdrə()flərə()kαb(ə)n -fl-/ (abbr.: HFC) n. [CHEMISTRY] any of a class of partly chlorinated and fluorinated hydrocarbons, used as an alternative to CFCs in foam production, refrigeration, and other processes.

hydrofoil n. a boat whose hull is fitted underneath with shaped vanes (foils) which lift the hull clear of the water at speed.

- each of the foils of a hydrofoil.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from HYDRO- ‘relating to water’, on the pattern of aerofoil.

hydrofracturing n. another term for HYDRAULIC FRACTURING.

hydrogel n. a gel in which the liquid component is water.

hydrogen /hdrəd(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a colourless, odourless, highly flammable gas, the chemical element of atomic number 1. (Symbol: H)

Hydrogen is the lightest of the chemical elements and has the simplest atomic structure, a single electron orbiting a nucleus consisting of a single proton. It is by far the commonest element in the universe, although not on the earth, where it occurs chiefly combined with oxygen as water.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrogenous /-drdnəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: coined in French from Greek hudro- ‘water’ + -genēs (see -GEN).

hydrogenase /hdrdənez/ n. [usually with modifier] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which catalyses the reduction of a particular substance by hydrogen.

hydrogenate /hdrdənet hdrədənet/ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. hydrogenated) charge with or cause to combine with hydrogen.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrogenation n.

hydrogen bomb n. an immensely powerful bomb whose destructive power comes from the rapid release of energy during the nuclear fusion of isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium), using an atom bomb as a trigger.

hydrogen bond n. [CHEMISTRY] a weak bond between two molecules resulting from an electrostatic attraction between a proton in one molecule and an electronegative atom in the other.

hydrogen cyanide n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a highly poisonous gas or volatile liquid with an odour of bitter almonds, made by the action of acids on cyanides.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HCN.

hydrogen peroxide n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless viscous unstable liquid with strong oxidizing properties, used in some disinfectants and bleaches.

<INFO> Chem. formula: H_2O_2.

hydrogen sulphide n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless poisonous gas with a smell of bad eggs, made by the action of acids on sulphides.

<INFO> Chem. formula: H_2S.

hydrogeology n. [mass noun] the branch of geology concerned with water occurring underground or on the surface of the earth.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrogeological adj. hydrogeologist n.

hydrography /hdrrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the science of surveying and charting bodies of water, such as seas, lakes, and rivers.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrographer n. hydrographic adj. hydrographical adj. hydrographically adv.

hydroid /hdrd/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a coelenterate of an order which includes the hydras. They are distinguished by the dominance of the polyp phase.

<INFO> Order Hydroida, class Hydrozoa.

■ adj. relating to coelenterates of the hydroid group.

■ another term for polypoid (sense 1).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HYDRA + -OID.

hydrolase /hdrəlez/ n. [usually with modifier] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of a particular substrate.

hydrology n. [mass noun] the branch of science concerned with the properties of the earth's water, and especially its movement in relation to land.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrologic adj. hydrological adj. hydrologically adv. hydrologist n.

hydrolysate /hdrlset/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a substance produced by hydrolysis.

hydrolyse /hdrəlz/ (US hydrolyze) v. [with obj.] [CHEMISTRY] break down (a compound) by chemical reaction with water.

- [no obj.] undergo hydrolysis.

hydrolysis /hdrlss/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the chemical breakdown of a compound due to reaction with water.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrolytic /hdrəltk/ adj.

hydromagnetics plural n. another term for MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS.

<DERIVATIVES> hydromagnetic adj.

hydromassage n. [mass noun] massage using jets of water, as a health or beauty treatment.

hydromechanics plural n. [treated as sing.] the mechanics of liquids; hydrodynamics, especially in relation to mechanical applications.

<DERIVATIVES> hydromechanical adj.

hydromedusa /hdrəmdjzə/ n. (pl. hydromedusae) [ZOOLOGY] the medusoid phase of a hydroid coelenterate.

hydromel /hdrəmεl/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a drink similar to mead, made with fermented honey and water.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from Greek hudromeli, from hudro- ‘water’ + meli ‘honey’.

hydrometeor n. [METEOROLOGY] an atmospheric phenomenon or entity involving water or water vapour, such as rain or a cloud.

hydrometer /hdrmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring the density of liquids.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrometric adj. hydrometry n.

hydronic /hdrnk/ adj. denoting a cooling or heating system in which heat is transported using circulating water.

hydronium ion /hdrənəm/ n. [CHEMISTRY] another term for HYDROXONIUM ION.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: hydronium, from German (a contraction).

hydropathy /hdrpəθi/ n. [mass noun] the treatment of illness through the use of water, either internally or through external means such as steam baths (not now a part of orthodox medicine). Compare with HYDROTHERAPY.

<DERIVATIVES> hydropathic adj. hydropathist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HYDRO- ‘of water’, on the pattern of allopathy and homeopathy.

hydrophilic /hdrə()flk/ adj. having a tendency to mix with, dissolve in, or be wetted by water. The opposite of HYDROPHOBIC.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrophilicity n.

hydrophilous /hdrfl(ə)s/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a plant) water-pollinated.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrophily n.

hydrophobia /hdrə()fəbə/ n. [mass noun] extreme or irrational fear of water, especially as a symptom of rabies in humans.

- rabies, especially in humans.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek hudrophobia, from hudro- ‘water’ + phobos ‘fear’.

hydrophobic adj. 1 tending to repel or fail to mix with water. The opposite of HYDROPHILIC.

2 of or suffering from hydrophobia.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrophobicity n.

hydrophone n. a microphone which detects sound waves under water.

hydrophyte n. [BOTANY] a plant which grows only in or on water.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrophytic adj.

hydroplane n. 1 a light, fast motor boat designed to skim over the surface of water.

2 a fin-like attachment which enables a moving submarine to rise or fall in the water.

3 US a seaplane.

■ v. North American another term for AQUAPLANE.

hydroponics /hdrə()pnks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] the process of growing plants in sand, gravel, or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil.

<DERIVATIVES> hydroponic adj. hydroponically adv.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from HYDRO- ‘of water’ + Greek ponos ‘labour’ + -ICS.

hydropower n. [mass noun] hydroelectric power.

hydroquinone /hdrəkwnən/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline compound made by the reduction of benzoquinone.

<INFO> Alternative name: benzene-1,4-diol; chem. formula: C_6H_4(OH)2.

hydrospeed (also hydrospeeding) n. [mass noun] a sport or leisure activity that involves jumping into fast-flowing white water and being carried along at high speed while buoyed up by a float.

hydrosphere n. (usually the hydrosphere) all the waters on the earth's surface, such as lakes and seas, and sometimes including water over the earth's surface, such as clouds.

hydrostatic adj. relating to or denoting the equilibrium of liquids and the pressure exerted by liquid at rest.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrostatical adj. hydrostatically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: probably from Greek hudrostatēs ‘hydrostatic balance’, from hudro- ‘water’ + statikos (see STATIC).

hydrostatics plural n. [treated as sing.] the branch of mechanics concerned with the hydrostatic properties of liquids.

hydrosulphite /hdrə()slft/ n. another term for DITHIONITE.

hydrotherapy n. 1 [mass noun] the use of exercises in a pool as part of treatment for conditions such as arthritis.

2 another term for HYDROPATHY.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrotherapist n.

hydrothermal adj. relating to or denoting the action of heated water in the earth's crust.

<DERIVATIVES> hydrothermally adv.

hydrothermal vent n. an opening in the sea floor out of which heated mineral-rich water flows.

hydrothorax n. [mass noun] the condition of having fluid in the pleural cavity.

hydrotropism /hdrtrəpz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [BOTANY] the growth or turning of plant roots towards or away from moisture.

hydrous adj. chiefly [CHEMISTRY] & [GEOLOGY] containing water as a constituent: a hydrous lava flow.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek hudro- ‘water’ + -OUS.

hydroxide n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound of a metal with the hydroxide ion OH− (as in many alkalis) or the group –OH.

hydroxonium ion /hdrksənəm/ n. [CHEMISTRY] the ion H_3O+, consisting of a protonated water molecule and present in all aqueous acids.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: hydroxonium from HYDRO-

■ (relating to hydrogen) + OXY-2 + the suffix -onium (from AMMONIUM).

hydroxy- combining form [CHEMISTRY] representing HYDROXYL or HYDROXIDE: hydroxyapatite.

hydroxyapatite /hdrksapətt/ n. [mass noun] a mineral related to apatite which is the main inorganic constituent of tooth enamel and bone, although it is rare in rocks.

hydroxyl /hdrksl -sl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the radical –OH, present in alcohols and many other organic compounds: a hydroxyl group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from a blend of HYDROGEN and OXYGEN, + -YL.

hydroxylate /hdrkslet/ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. hydroxylated) [CHEMISTRY] introduce a hydroxyl group into (a molecule or compound).

<DERIVATIVES> hydroxylation n.

Hydrozoa /hdrə()zəə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of coelenterates which includes hydras and Portuguese men-of-war. Many of them are colonial and some kinds have both polypoid and medusoid phases.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from HYDRO- ‘water’ + Greek zōion ‘animal’.

hydrozoan [ZOOLOGY] n. a coelenterate of the class Hydrozoa, such as a hydra or Portuguese man-of-war.

■ adj. relating to or denoting hydrozoans.

Hydrus /hdrəs/ [ASTRONOMY] an inconspicuous southern constellation (the Water Snake), between the star Achernar and the south celestial pole. Compare with Hydra (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek hudros.

hyena (also hyaena) n. a doglike African mammal with forelimbs that are longer than the hindlimbs and an erect mane. Hyenas are noted as scavengers but most are also effective hunters.

<INFO> Family Hyaenidae: two genera, in particular Hyaena, and three species.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Latin from Greek huaina, feminine of hus ‘pig’ (the transference of the term probably being because the animal's mane was thought to resemble a hog's bristles).

hygiene n. [mass noun] conditions or practices conducive to maintaining health and preventing disease, especially through cleanliness: poor standards of food hygiene | personal hygiene.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via French from modern Latin hygieina, from Greek hugieinē (tekhnē) ‘(art) of health’, from hugiēs ‘healthy’.

hygienic adj. conducive to maintaining health and preventing disease, especially by being clean; sanitary: hygienic conditions.

<DERIVATIVES> hygienically adv.

hygienist n. a specialist in the promotion of clean conditions for the preservation of health.

hygro- combining form relating to moisture: hygrometer.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hugros ‘wet’.

hygrometer /hrmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring the humidity of the air or a gas.

<DERIVATIVES> hygrometric adj. hygrometry n.

hygrophilous /hrfləs/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a plant) growing in damp conditions.

hygrophyte /hrəft/ n. [BOTANY] a plant which grows in wet conditions.

hygroscope /hrə()skəp/ n. an instrument which gives an indication of the humidity of the air.

hygroscopic adj. (of a substance) tending to absorb moisture from the air.

- relating to humidity or its measurement.

<DERIVATIVES> hygroscopically adv.

hying present participle of HIE.

Hyksos /hkss/ plural n. a people of mixed Semitic and Asian descent who invaded Egypt and settled in the Nile delta c.1640 BC. They formed the 15th and 16th dynasties of Egypt and ruled a large part of the country until driven out c.1532 BC.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Huksōs (interpreted by Manetho as ‘shepherd kings’ or ‘captive shepherds’), from Egyptian heqa khoswe ‘foreign rulers’.

hyla /hlə/ n. a tree frog of a widespread genus, typically bright green in colour.

<INFO> Genus Hyla, family Hylidae: many species.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek hulē ‘timber’.

hylo- combining form relating to matter: hylozoism.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hulē ‘matter’.

hylomorphism /hlə()mfz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the doctrine that physical objects result from the combination of matter and form.

<DERIVATIVES> hylomorphic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYLO- ‘matter’ + Greek morphē ‘form’.

hylozoism /hlə()zəz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the doctrine that all matter has life.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from HYLO- ‘matter’ + Greek zōē ‘life’.

hymen /hmən/ n. a membrane which partially closes the opening of the vagina and whose presence is traditionally taken to be a mark of virginity.

<DERIVATIVES> hymenal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via late Latin from Greek humēn ‘membrane’.

hymeneal /hmniəl/ adj. LITERARY of or concerning marriage.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin hymenaeus, from Hymen (from Greek Humēn), the name of the god of marriage, + -AL.

hymenium /hminəm/ n. (pl. hymenia /-nə/) [BOTANY] (in higher fungi) a surface consisting mainly of spore-bearing structures (asci or basidia).

<DERIVATIVES> hymenial adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek humenion, diminutive of humēn ‘membrane’.

Hymenoptera /hmənpt(ə)rə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a large order of insects that includes the bees, wasps, ants, and sawflies. They have four transparent wings and the females typically have a sting.

- (hymenoptera) insects of the Hymenoptera order.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek humenopteros ‘membrane-winged’, from humēn ‘membrane’ + pteron ‘wing’.

hymenopteran [ENTOMOLOGY] n. an insect of the order Hymenoptera, such as a bee, wasp, or ant.

■ adj. relating to or denoting hymenopterans.

<DERIVATIVES> hymenopterous adj.

Hymie /hmi/ n. US INFORMAL an offensive term for a Jewish person.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: colloquial abbreviation of the Jewish male given name Hyman.

hymn n. a religious song or poem of praise to God or a god: a Hellenistic hymn to Apollo.

- a formal song sung during Christian worship, typically by the whole congregation.

- a book, film, or other composition praising someone or something: the film is a hymn to blue-collar mateyness.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] praise (something): the joys of domesticity were being hymned in magazines.

2 [no obj.] RARE sing hymns.

<DERIVATIVES> hymnic /hmnk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, via Latin from Greek humnos ‘ode or song in praise of a god or hero’, used in the Septuagint to translate various Hebrew words, and hence in the New Testament and other Christian writings.

hymnal /hmn(ə)l/ n. a book of hymns.

■ adj. relating to hymns: hymnal music.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from medieval Latin hymnale, from Latin hymnus (see HYMN).

hymnary /hmnəri/ n. (pl. hymnaries)

■ another term for HYMNAL.

hymnody /hmnədi/ n. [mass noun] the singing or composition of hymns.

<DERIVATIVES> hymnodist n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: via medieval Latin from Greek humnōidia, from humnos ‘hymn’.

hymnographer /hmnrəfə/ n. a writer of hymns.

<DERIVATIVES> hymnography n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek humnographos, from humnos ‘hymn’ + graphos ‘writer’.

hymnology /hmnlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study or composition of hymns.

<DERIVATIVES> hymnological adj. hymnologist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: originally from Greek humnologia ‘hymn-singing’, the early sense until the mid 19th cent.

hyoid /hd/ [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] n. (also hyoid bone) a U-shaped bone in the neck which supports the tongue.

■ adj. relating to the hyoid or structures associated with it.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: via French from modern Latin hyoïdes, from Greek huoeidēs ‘shaped like the letter upsilon (υ)’.

hyoscine /həsin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a poisonous plant alkaloid used as an anti-emetic in motion sickness and as a preoperative medication for examination of the eye.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_17H_21NO_4. It is obtained chiefly from plants of the genus Scopolia, family Solanaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin hyoscyamus (see HYOSCYAMINE) + -INE^4.

hyoscyamine /hə()səmin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a poisonous compound present in henbane, with similar properties to hyoscine.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_17H_23NO_3.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin hyoscyamus (from Greek huoskuamos ‘henbane’, from hus, huos ‘pig’ + kuamos ‘bean’) + -INE^4.

hyp- combining form variant spelling of HYPO- shortened before a vowel or h (as in hypaesthesia).

hypaesthesia /hpisθizə -pεs-/ (US hypesthesia) n. [mass noun] a diminished capacity for physical sensation, especially of the skin.

<DERIVATIVES> hypaesthetic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYPO- ‘below’ + Greek aisthēsis ‘sensation’.

hypaethral /hpiθr(ə)l h-/ (also hypethral) adj. (of a classical building) having no roof: the hypaethral temple.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via Latin from Greek hupaithros (from hupo ‘under’ + aithēr ‘air’) + -AL.

hypallage /hpalədi h-/ n. [RHETORIC] a transposition of the natural relations of two elements in a proposition, for example in the sentence ‘Melissa shook her doubtful curls’.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek hupallagē, from hupo ‘under’ + allassein ‘to exchange’.

hypanthium /hpanθəm h-/ n. (pl. hypanthia) [BOTANY] a cup-like or tubular enlargement of the receptacle of a flower, loosely surrounding the gynoecium or united with it.

Hypatia /hpeə/ (c.370–415), Greek philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician. Head of the Neoplatonist school at Alexandria, she wrote several learned treatises as well as devising inventions such as an astrolabe.

hype^1 INFORMAL n. [mass noun] extravagant or intensive publicity or promotion: his first album hit the stores amid a storm of hype.

- [count noun] a deception carried out for the sake of publicity.

■ v. [with obj.] promote or publicize (a product or idea) intensively, often exaggerating its benefits.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US in the sense ‘short-change, cheat’, or ‘person who cheats etc.’): of unknown origin.

hype^2 INFORMAL n. a hypodermic needle or injection.

- a drug addict.

■ v. [with obj.] stimulate or excite (someone): I was hyped up because I wanted to do well.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): abbreviation of HYPODERMIC.

hyper adj. INFORMAL hyperactive or unusually energetic: eating sugar makes you hyper.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: abbreviation of HYPERACTIVE.

hyper- prefix 1 over; beyond; above: hypersonic.

- excessively; above normal: hyperthyroidism.

2 relating to hypertext: hyperlink.

<ORIGIN> from Greek huper ‘over, beyond’.

hyperactive adj. abnormally or extremely active: a hyperactive pituitary gland.

- (of a child) showing constantly active and sometimes disruptive behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperactively adv. hyperactivity n.

hyperaemia /hpərimə/ (US hyperemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an excess of blood in the vessels supplying an organ or other part of the body.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperaemic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HYPER- ‘above normal’ + -AEMIA.

hyperaesthesia /hpərisθizə -εsθi-/ (US hyperesthesia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE excessive physical sensitivity, especially of the skin.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperaesthetic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HYPER- ‘above normal’ + Greek aisthēsis ‘sensation’.

hyperalgesia /hpəraldizə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormally heightened sensitivity to pain.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperalgesic adj.

hyperalimentation n. [mass noun] MEDICINE artificial supply of nutrients, typically intravenously.

hyperbaric /hpəbark/ adj. of or involving a gas at a pressure greater than normal.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from HYPER- ‘above normal’ + Greek barus ‘heavy’.

hyperbaton /hpəbətn/ n. [RHETORIC] an inversion of the normal order of words, especially for the sake of emphasis, as in the sentence ‘this I must see’.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek huperbaton ‘overstepping’ (from huper ‘over, above’ + bainein ‘go, walk’).

hyperbola /hpəbələ/ n. (pl. hyperbolas or hyperbolae /-li/) a symmetrical open curve formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane at a smaller angle with its axis than the side of the cone.

- [MATHEMATICS] the pair of hyperbolas formed by the intersection of a plane with two equal cones on opposite sides of the same vertex.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek huperbolē ‘excess’ (from huper ‘above’ + ballein ‘to throw’).

hyperbole /hpəbəli/ n. [mass noun] exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperbolical /hpəblk(ə)l/ adj. hyperbolically adv. hyperbolism n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek huperbolē (see HYPERBOLA).

hyperbolic /hpəblk/ adj. 1 relating to a hyperbola.

- [MATHEMATICS] denoting trigonometrical functions defined with reference to a hyperbola rather than a circle.

2 (of language) deliberately exaggerated.

hyperboloid /hpəbəld/ n. a solid or surface having plane sections that are hyperbolas, ellipses, or circles.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperboloidal adj.

hyperborean /hpəbriən -brən/ LITERARY n. an inhabitant of the extreme north.

- (Hyperborean) [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a member of a people worshipping Apollo and living in a land of sunshine and plenty beyond the north wind.

■ adj. relating to the extreme north.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin hyperboreanus, from Greek huperboreos, from huper ‘beyond’ + boreas ‘north wind’.

hypercholesterolaemia /hpəkəlεstərlimə/ (US hypercholesterolemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an excess of cholesterol in the bloodstream.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYPER- ‘above normal’ + CHOLESTEROL + -AEMIA.

hypercorrection n. [mass noun] the use of an erroneous word form or pronunciation based on a false analogy with a correct or prestigious form, such as the use of I instead of me as a grammatical object (as in he invited my husband and I to lunch).

<DERIVATIVES> hypercorrect adj.

hypercritical adj. excessively and unreasonably critical, especially of small faults.

<DERIVATIVES> hypercritically adv.

hypercube n. a geometrical figure in four or more dimensions which is analogous to a cube in three dimensions.

hyperdrive n. (in science fiction) a supposed propulsion system for travel in hyperspace.

- [mass noun] frantic activity; overdrive: the proliferation of house music sub-genres has gone into hyperdrive.

hyperextend v. [with obj.] forcefully extend a limb or joint beyond its normal limits, either in exercise or therapy or so as to cause injury.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperextension n.

hyperfocal distance n. the distance between a camera lens and the closest object which is in focus when the lens is focused at infinity.

hypergamy /hpəəmi/ n. [mass noun] the action of marrying a person of a superior caste or class.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYPER- ‘above’ + Greek gamos ‘marriage’.

hyperglycaemia /hpəlsimə/ (US hyperglycemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an excess of glucose in the bloodstream, often associated with diabetes mellitus.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperglycaemic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYPER- ‘above normal’ + GLYCO- + -AEMIA.

hypergolic /hpəlk/ adj. (of a rocket propellant) igniting spontaneously on mixing with another substance.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from German Hypergol, probably from HYPER- ‘beyond’ + Greek ergon ‘work’ + -OL.

hypericin /hpεrsn/ n. [mass noun] a substance found in St John's wort, credited with chemical and pharmacological properties similar to those of antidepressants.

<INFO> A polycyclic quinone; chem. formula: C_30H_14O_8.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from HYPERICUM + -IN^1.

hypericum /hpεrkəm/ n. a yellow-flowered plant of a genus that includes the St John's worts, tutsan, and rose of Sharon.

<INFO> Genus Hypericum, family Guttiferae.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Greek hupereikon, from huper ‘over, above’ + ereikē ‘heath’.

hyperimmune adj. MEDICINE having a high concentration of antibodies produced in reaction to repeated injections of an antigen.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperimmunized adj.

hyperinflation n. [mass noun] monetary inflation occurring at a very high rate.

hyperinstrument n. a musical instrument designed or adapted to be used with electronic sensors whose output controls the computerized generation or transformation of the sound.

Hyperion /hpərən/ [ASTRONOMY] a satellite of Saturn, the sixteenth closest to the planet, discovered in 1848 and having an irregular shape.

<ORIGIN> named after a Titan of Greek mythology.

hyperkeratosis /hpəkεrətəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormal thickening of the outer layer of the skin.

hyperkinesis /hpəkniss -k-/ (also hyperkinesia) n. [mass noun] 1 MEDICINE muscle spasm.

2 [PSYCHIATRY] a disorder of children marked by hyperactivity and inability to concentrate.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HYPER- ‘above normal’ + Greek kinēsis ‘motion’.

hyperkinetic /hpəknεtk -k-/ adj. 1 of or affected with hyperkinesis.

2 chiefly US characterized by frenetic energy or activity; hyperactive: Hong Kong's hyperkinetic movie industry.

hyperlink [COMPUTING] n. a link from a hypertext document to another location, activated by clicking on a highlighted word or image.

■ v. [with obj.] create a hyperlink between (documents or parts of a document).

hyperlipaemia /hpəlpimə/ (US hyperlipemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an abnormally high concentration of fats or lipids in the blood.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperlipaemic adj.

hyperlipidaemia /hpəlpdimə/ (US hyperlipidemia) n. another term for HYPERLIPAEMIA.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperlipidaemic adj.

hypermarket n. BRITISH a very large self-service store with a wide range of goods and a large car park, typically situated outside a town.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: translation of French hypermarché, from HYPER- ‘beyond, exceeding’ + marché ‘market’.

hypermedia n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] an extension to hypertext providing multimedia facilities, such as those handling sound and video.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from HYPER- ‘above, beyond’ + MEDIA^1.

hypermetropia /hpəmtrəpə/ n. [mass noun] long-sightedness.

<DERIVATIVES> hypermetropic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek hupermetros ‘beyond measure’ (from huper ‘over, above’ + metron ‘measure’) + ōps ‘eye’.

hypermnesia /hpəmnizə/ n. [mass noun] unusual power or enhancement of memory, typically under abnormal conditions such as trauma, hypnosis, or narcosis.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HYPER- + Greek mnēsia ‘memory’.

hypermutable adj. [GENETICS] of or in a state in which mutation is abnormally frequent.

<DERIVATIVES> hypermutation n.

hypernym /hpənm/ n. a word with a broad meaning constituting a category into which words with more specific meanings fall; a superordinate. For example, colour is a hypernym of red. Contrasted with HYPONYM.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from HYPER- ‘beyond’ + -ONYM.

hyperon /hp(ə)rn/ n. [PHYSICS] an unstable subatomic particle classified as a baryon, heavier than the neutron and proton.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from HYPER- ‘beyond, over’ + -ON.

hyperopia /hpərəpə/ n. another term for HYPERMETROPIA.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperopic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYPER- ‘beyond’ + Greek ōps ‘eye’.

hyperparasite n. [BIOLOGY] a parasite whose host is itself a parasite.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperparasitic adj. hyperparasitism n.

hyperparathyroidism /hpəparəθrdz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an abnormally high concentration of parathyroid hormone in the blood, resulting in weakening of the bones through loss of calcium.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperparathyroid adj.

hyperpigmentation n. [mass noun] excessive pigmentation of the skin.

hyperplasia /hpəplezə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE & [BIOLOGY] the enlargement of an organ or tissue caused by an increase in the reproduction rate of its cells, often as an initial stage in the development of cancer.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HYPER- ‘beyond’ + Greek plasis ‘formation’.

hyperreal adj. 1 exaggerated in comparison to reality: his characters are hyperreal rather than naturalistic.

2 (of artistic representation) extremely realistic in detail.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperrealism n. hyperrealist adj. hyperrealistic adj. hyperreality n.

hypersensitive adj. 1 having extreme physical sensitivity to particular substances or conditions.

2 easily hurt, worried, or offended: proximity to death makes people hypersensitive and aware.

<DERIVATIVES> hypersensitiveness n. hypersensitivity n.

hypersonic adj. 1 relating to speeds of more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5).

2 relating to sound frequencies above about a thousand million hertz.

<DERIVATIVES> hypersonically adv.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (in sense 2): from HYPER- ‘beyond, exceeding’, on the pattern of supersonic and ultrasonic.

hyperspace n. [mass noun] space of more than three dimensions.

- (in science fiction) a notional space–time continuum in which it is possible to travel faster than light.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperspatial adj.

hypersthene /hpəsθin/ n. [mass noun] a greenish rock-forming mineral of the orthopyroxene class, consisting of a magnesium iron silicate.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coined in French, from HYPER- ‘exceeding’ + Greek sthenos ‘strength’ (because it is harder than hornblende).

hypertension n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormally high blood pressure.

- a state of great psychological stress.

hypertensive adj. exhibiting hypertension.

■ n. MEDICINE a person with high blood pressure.

hypertext n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] a software system allowing extensive cross-referencing between related sections of text and associated graphic material.

hyperthermia /hpəθəmə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the condition of having a body temperature greatly above normal.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperthermic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYPER- ‘beyond’ + Greek thermē ‘heat’.

hyperthyroidism /hpəθrdz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE overactivity of the thyroid gland, resulting in a rapid heartbeat and an increased rate of metabolism. Also called THYROTOXICOSIS.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperthyroid adj. hyperthyroidic adj.

hypertonic /hpətnk/ adj. 1 [BIOLOGY] having a higher osmotic pressure than a particular fluid, typically a body fluid or intracellular fluid.

2 [PHYSIOLOGY] of or in a state of abnormally high muscle tone.

<DERIVATIVES> hypertonia n.

■ hypertonic (sense 2)

□ hypertonicity n.

hypertrophy /hpətrəfi/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the enlargement of an organ or tissue from the increase in size of its cells.

<DERIVATIVES> hypertrophic adj. hypertrophied adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HYPER- ‘beyond, exceeding’ + Greek -trophia ‘nourishment’.

hyperventilate v. 1 breathe or cause to breathe at an abnormally rapid rate, so increasing the rate of loss of carbon dioxide.

2 [no obj.] be or become overexcited: the President was hyperventilating about a minor newspaper story.

<DERIVATIVES> hyperventilation n.

hypha /hfə/ n. (pl. hyphae /-fi/) [BOTANY] each of the branching filaments that make up the mycelium of a fungus.

<DERIVATIVES> hyphal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek huphē ‘web’.

Hyphasis /hfəss/ ancient Greek name for BEAS.

hyphen /hf(ə)n/ n. the sign (-) used to join words to indicate that they have a combined meaning or that they are linked in the grammar of a sentence (as in a pick-me-up, rock-forming minerals), to indicate the division of a word at the end of a line, or to indicate a missing element (as in short- and long-term).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: via late Latin from Greek huphen ‘together’, from hupo ‘under’ + hen ‘one’.

<USAGE> In modern English the use of hyphens is in general decreasing, especially in compound nouns: website is preferred to web-site, and air raid to air-raid. Hyphens are still often employed where a compound expression precedes a noun, as in first-rate musicians or twenty-odd people (twenty odd people means something quite different!), but even in this context there is a growing trend to omit them. When a phrasal verb such as build up is made into a noun it is usually hyphenated (a build-up of pressure). Note, however, that a normal phrasal verb should not be hyphenated: write food to take away not food to take-away, and continue to build up your pension not continue to build-up your pension.

hyphenate v. [with obj.] write or separate with a hyphen.

■ n. INFORMAL a person who is active in more than one sphere or occupation: producer-director-businessmen hyphenates such as Spielberg.

<DERIVATIVES> hyphenation n.

hyphenated American n. US INFORMAL an American citizen who can trace their ancestry to another part of the world, such as an African American (so called because terms such as African American are often written with a hyphen).

hypnagogic /hpnədk/ (also hypnogogic) adj. [PSYCHOLOGY] relating to the state immediately before falling asleep.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French hypnagogique, from Greek hupnos ‘sleep’ + agōgos ‘leading’ (from agein ‘to lead’).

hypno- combining form relating to sleep: hypnopaedia.

- relating to hypnosis: hypnotherapy.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hupnos ‘sleep’.

hypnopaedia /hpnəpidə/ (US hypnopedia) n. [mass noun] learning by hearing while asleep or under hypnosis.

hypnopompic /hpnə()pmpk/ adj. [PSYCHOLOGY] relating to the state immediately preceding waking up.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek hupnos ‘sleep’ + pompē ‘sending away’ + -IC.

Hypnos /hpns/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the god of sleep, son of Nyx (Night).

<ORIGIN> from Greek hupnos ‘sleep’.

hypnosis n. [mass noun] the induction of a state of consciousness in which a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction. Its use in therapy, typically to recover suppressed memories or to allow modification of behaviour, has been revived but is still controversial.

- a hypnotic state.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek hupnos ‘sleep’ + -OSIS.

hypnotherapy n. [mass noun] the use of hypnosis as a therapeutic technique.

<DERIVATIVES> hypnotherapist n.

hypnotic adj. 1 relating to or producing hypnosis: a hypnotic state.

- exerting a compelling or soporific effect: her voice had a hypnotic quality.

2 MEDICINE (of a drug) sleep-inducing.

■ n. 1 MEDICINE a sleep-inducing drug.

2 a person under or open to hypnosis.

<DERIVATIVES> hypnotically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French hypnotique, via late Latin from Greek hupnōtikos ‘causing sleep’, from hupnoun ‘put to sleep’, from hupnos ‘sleep’.

hypnotism n. [mass noun] the study or practice of hypnosis.

<DERIVATIVES> hypnotist n.

hypnotize (also hypnotise) v. [with obj.] produce a state of hypnosis in (someone).

- capture the whole attention of (someone); fascinate: she gazed down, hypnotized by the swirling tide.

<DERIVATIVES> hypnotizable adj.

hypo^1 n. [mass noun] [PHOTOGRAPHY] the chemical sodium thiosulphate (formerly called hyposulphite) used as a photographic fixer.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation of hyposulphite.

hypo^2 n. (pl. hypos)

■ informal term for HYPODERMIC.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

hypo^3 n. (pl. hypos) INFORMAL an attack of hypoglycaemia.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: abbreviation.

hypo- (also hyp-) prefix under: hypodermic.

- below normal: hypoglycaemia.

- slightly: hypomanic.

- [CHEMISTRY] containing an element with an unusually low valency: hypochlorous.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hupo ‘under’.

hypoallergenic /hpəalədεnk/ adj. (especially of cosmetics and textiles) relatively unlikely to cause an allergic reaction.

hypoblast /hpə()blast/ n. [BIOLOGY] former term for ENDODERM.

hypocalcaemia /hpəkalsimə/ (US hypocalcemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE deficiency of calcium in the bloodstream.

hypocaust /hpə()kst/ n. an ancient Roman heating system, comprising a hollow space under the floor of a building, into which hot air was directed.

<ORIGIN> from Latin hypocaustum, from Greek hupokauston ‘place heated from below’, from hupo ‘under’ + kau- (base of kaiein ‘to burn’).

hypocentre n. 1 the point within the earth where an earthquake originates.

2 the point on the earth's surface directly above or below an exploding nuclear bomb.

hypochlorous acid /hpə()klrəs/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a weak acid with oxidizing properties formed when chlorine dissolves in cold water and used in bleaching and water treatment.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HOCl.

<DERIVATIVES> hypochlorite n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: hypochlorous from HYPO-

■ (denoting an element in a low valency) + CHLORINE + -OUS.

hypochondria /hpəkndrə/ n. [mass noun] abnormal chronic anxiety about one's health.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek hupokhondria, denoting the soft body area below the ribs, from hupo ‘under’ + khondros ‘sternal cartilage’. Melancholy was originally thought to arise from the liver, gall bladder, spleen, etc.

hypochondriac n. a person who is abnormally anxious about their health.

■ adj. another term for HYPOCHONDRIACAL.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: coined in French from Greek hupokhondriakos, from hupokhondria (see HYPOCHONDRIA).

hypochondriacal /hpə()kndrək(ə)l/ adj. of or affected by hypochondria.

hypochondriasis /hpə()kndrəss/ n. technical term for HYPOCHONDRIA.

hypocoristic /hpə()kərstk/ adj. denoting or of the nature of a pet name or diminutive form of a name.

■ n. a hypocoristic name or form.

<DERIVATIVES> hypocorism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek hupokorisma, from hupokorizesthai ‘play the child’, from hupo ‘under’ + korē ‘child’.

hypocotyl /hpə()ktl/ n. [BOTANY] the part of the stem of an embryo plant beneath the stalks of the seed leaves or cotyledons and directly above the root.

hypocrisy n. (pl. hypocrisies) [mass noun] the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ypocrisie, via ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek hupokrisis ‘acting of a theatrical part’, from hupokrinesthai ‘play a part, pretend’, from hupo ‘under’ + krinein ‘decide, judge’.

hypocrite n. a hypocritical person.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ypocrite, via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek hupokritēs ‘actor’, from hupokrinesthai (see HYPOCRISY).

hypocritical adj. behaving in a way that suggests one has higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case: we don't go to church and we thought it would be hypocritical to have him christened. | it would be entirely hypocritical of me to say I regret it because I don't.

<DERIVATIVES> hypocritically adv.

hypocycloid /hpə()skld/ n. [MATHEMATICS] the curve traced by a point on the circumference of a circle which is rolling on the interior of another circle.

<DERIVATIVES> hypocycloidal adj.

hypodermic adj. [attr.] MEDICINE relating to the region immediately beneath the skin.

- (of a needle or syringe) used to inject a drug or other substance beneath the skin.

- (of a drug or other substance) injected beneath the skin.

■ n. a hypodermic syringe or injection.

<DERIVATIVES> hypodermically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HYPO- ‘under’ + Greek derma ‘skin’ + -IC.

hypogastrium /hpə()astrəm/ n. (pl. hypogastria /-rə/) [ANATOMY] the part of the central abdomen which is situated below the region of the stomach.

<DERIVATIVES> hypogastric adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek hupogastrion, from hupo ‘under’ + gastēr ‘belly’.

hypogeal /hpə()diəl/ (also hypogean) adj. [BOTANY] underground; subterranean. Compare with EPIGEAL.

- (of seed germination) with the seed leaves remaining below the ground.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: via late Latin from Greek hupogeios (from hupo ‘under’ + gē ‘earth’) + -AL.

hypogene /hpə()din/ adj. [GEOLOGY] producing or occurring under the surface of the earth.

<DERIVATIVES> hypogenic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from HYPO- ‘under’ + Greek genēs ‘-born, of a certain kind’.

hypogeum /hpə()diəm/ n. (pl. hypogea) an underground chamber.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, from Greek hupogeion, neuter of hupogeios ‘underground’.

hypoglossal nerve /hpə()ls(ə)l/ n. [ANATOMY] each of the twelfth pair of cranial nerves, supplying the muscles of the tongue.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: hypoglossal from HYPO- ‘under’ + Greek glōssa ‘tongue’ + -AL.

hypoglycaemia /hpəlsimə/ (US hypoglycemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE deficiency of glucose in the bloodstream.

<DERIVATIVES> hypoglycaemic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYPO- ‘below’ + GLYCO- + -AEMIA.

hypogonadism /hpə()ənadz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE reduction or absence of hormone secretion or other physiological activity of the gonads (testes or ovaries).

<DERIVATIVES> hypogonadal adj. hypogonadic n. & adj.

hypogynous /hpdnəs/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a plant or flower) having the stamens and other floral parts situated below the carpels (or gynoecium). Compare with EPIGYNOUS, PERIGYNOUS.

<DERIVATIVES> hypogyny n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from modern Latin hypogynus, from HYPO- ‘below’ + gunē ‘woman’ (used to represent ‘pistil’) + -OUS.

hypoid /hpd/ (also hypoid gear) n. a bevel wheel with teeth engaging with a spiral pinion mounted at right angles to the wheel's axis, used to connect non-intersecting shafts in vehicle transmissions and other mechanisms.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: perhaps a contraction of HYPERBOLOID.

hypokalaemia /hpəkəlimə/ (US hypokalemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE deficiency of potassium in the bloodstream.

<DERIVATIVES> hypokalaemic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from HYPO- ‘below’ + modern Latin kalium ‘potassium’.

hypolimnion /hpə()lmnən/ n. (pl. hypolimnia /-nə/) the lower layer of water in a stratified lake, typically cooler than the water above and relatively stagnant.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from HYPO- ‘below’ + Greek limnion (diminutive of limnē ‘lake’).

hypomagnesaemia /hpə()manzimə/ (US hypomagnesemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE & [VETERINARY] deficiency of magnesium in the blood, important in cattle as the cause of grass tetany.

<DERIVATIVES> hypomagnesaemic adj.

hypomania n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] a mild form of mania, marked by elation and hyperactivity.

<DERIVATIVES> hypomanic adj.

hyponym /hpə()nm/ n. a word of more specific meaning than a general or superordinate term applicable to it. For example, spoon is a hyponym of cutlery. Contrasted with HYPERNYM.

<DERIVATIVES> hyponymy n.

hypoparathyroidism /hpəparəθrdz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE diminished concentration of parathyroid hormone in the blood, which causes deficiencies of calcium and phosphorus compounds in the blood and results in muscular spasms.

<DERIVATIVES> hypoparathyroid adj.

hypophysis /hpfss/ n. (pl. hypophyses /-siz/) [ANATOMY] technical term for PITUITARY.

<DERIVATIVES> hypophyseal /hpə()fzəl/ (also hypophysial) adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek hupophusis ‘offshoot’, from hupo ‘under’ + phusis ‘growth’.

hypopigmentation n. [mass noun] inadequate pigmentation of the skin.

hypopituitarism /hpəptjut(ə)rz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE diminished hormone secretion by the pituitary gland, causing dwarfism in children and premature ageing in adults.

<DERIVATIVES> hypopituitary adj.

hypospadias /hpəspedəs/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a congenital condition in males in which the opening of the urethra is on the underside of the penis.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek hupospadias ‘person having hypospadias’, apparently from HYPO- + span ‘to draw’.

hypospray n. (chiefly in science fiction) a device used to introduce a drug or other substance into the body through the skin without puncturing it.

hypostasis /hpstəss/ n. (pl. hypostases /-siz/) 1 [mass noun] MEDICINE the accumulation of fluid or blood in the lower parts of the body or organs under the influence of gravity, as occurs in cases of poor circulation or after death.

2 [PHILOSOPHY] an underlying reality or substance, as opposed to attributes or to that which lacks substance.

3 [THEOLOGY] (in Trinitarian doctrine) each of the three persons of the Trinity, as contrasted with the unity of the Godhead.

- [in sing.] [THEOLOGY] the single person of Christ, as contrasted with his dual human and divine nature.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in theological use): via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek hupostasis ‘sediment’, later ‘essence, substance’, from hupo ‘under’ + stasis ‘standing’.

hypostasize (also hypostasise) v. [with obj.] FORMAL treat or represent (something abstract) as a concrete reality.

hypostatic /hpə()statk/ adj. [THEOLOGY] relating to the persons of the Trinity.

<DERIVATIVES> hypostatical adj.

hypostatic union n. [THEOLOGY] the combination of divine and human natures in the single person of Christ.

hypostatize v. North American term for HYPOSTASIZE.

hypostyle /hpə()stl/ adj. [ARCHITECTURE] (of a building) having a roof supported by pillars, typically in several rows.

■ n. a building having a hypostyle roof.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek hupostulos, from hupo ‘under’ + stulos ‘column’.

hypotaxis /hpə()takss/ n. [mass noun] [GRAMMAR] the subordination of one clause to another. Contrasted with PARATAXIS.

<DERIVATIVES> hypotactic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek hupotaxis, from hupo ‘under’ + taxis ‘arrangement’.

hypotension n. [mass noun] abnormally low blood pressure.

hypotensive adj. lowering the blood pressure: hypotensive drugs.

- relating to or suffering from abnormally low blood pressure.

hypotenuse /hptənjuz -s/ n. the longest side of a right-angled triangle, opposite the right angle.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin hypotenusa from Greek hupoteinousa (grammē) ‘subtending (line)’, from the verb hupoteinein (from hupo ‘under’ + teinein ‘stretch’).

hypothalamus /hpə()θaləməs/ n. (pl. hypothalami /-m/) [ANATOMY] a region of the forebrain below the thalamus which coordinates both the autonomic nervous system and the activity of the pituitary, controlling body temperature, thirst, hunger, and other homeostatic systems, and involved in sleep and emotional activity.

<DERIVATIVES> hypothalamic adj.

hypothec /hpθk h-/ n. (in Roman and Scots law) a right established by law over a debtor's property that remains in the debtor's possession.

<DERIVATIVES> hypothecary /hpθk(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French hypothèque, via late Latin from Greek hupothēkē ‘deposit’ (from hupo ‘under’ + tithenai ‘to place’).

hypothecate /hpθket/ v. [with obj.] pledge (money) by law to a specific purpose.

<DERIVATIVES> hypothecation n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin hypothecat- ‘given as a pledge’, from the verb hypothecare, based on Greek hupothēkē (see HYPOTHEC).

hypothermia /hpə()θəmə/ n. [mass noun] the condition of having an abnormally (typically dangerously) low body temperature.

<DERIVATIVES> hypothermic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYPO- ‘below’ + Greek thermē ‘heat’.

hypothesis /hpθss/ n. (pl. hypotheses /-siz/) a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation: his ‘steady state’ hypothesis of the origin of the universe.

- [PHILOSOPHY] a proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth.

<DERIVATIVES> hypothesist /-sst/ n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek hupothesis ‘foundation’, from hupo ‘under’ + thesis ‘placing’.

hypothesize (also hypothesise) v. [with obj.] put (something) forward as a hypothesis.

<DERIVATIVES> hypothesizer n.

hypothetical /hpəθεtk(ə)l/ adj. based on or serving as a hypothesis: let us take a hypothetical case.

- supposed but not necessarily real or true: the hypothetical tenth planet.

- [LOGIC] denoting or containing a proposition of the logical form if p then q.

■ n. (usually hypotheticals) a hypothetical proposition or statement.

<DERIVATIVES> hypothetically adv. [sentence adv.] hypothetically, varying interpretations of the term are possible

hypothetical imperative n. [PHILOSOPHY] a moral obligation that applies only if one desires the implicated goal.

hypothetico-deductive adj. [PHILOSOPHY] relating to the testing of the consequences of hypotheses, to determine whether the hypotheses themselves are false or acceptable.

hypothyroidism /hpəθrdz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE abnormally low activity of the thyroid gland, resulting in retardation of growth and mental development in children and adults.

<DERIVATIVES> hypothyroid n. & adj.

hypotonic /hpə()tnk/ adj. 1 [BIOLOGY] having a lower osmotic pressure than a particular fluid, typically a body fluid or intracellular fluid.

2 [PHYSIOLOGY] of or in a state of abnormally low muscle tone.

<DERIVATIVES> hypotonia n. hypotonicity n.

hypoventilation n. [mass noun] MEDICINE breathing at an abnormally slow rate, resulting in an increased amount of carbon dioxide in the blood.

hypovolaemia /hpə()vəlimə/ (US hypovolemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a decreased volume of circulating blood in the body.

<DERIVATIVES> hypovolaemic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from HYPO- ‘under’ + VOLUME + Greek haima ‘blood’.

hypoxaemia /hpksimə/ (US hypoxemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an abnormally low concentration of oxygen in the blood.

- [ECOLOGY] oxygen deficiency in a biotic environment.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from HYPO-

■ (denoting an element in a low valency) + OXYGEN + -AEMIA.

hypoxanthine /hpəzanθin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound which is an intermediate in the metabolism of purines in animals and occurs in plant tissues.

<INFO> Alternative name: 6-hydroxypurine; chem. formula: C_5H_4N_4O.

hypoxia /hpksə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching the tissues.

<DERIVATIVES> hypoxic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from HYPO-

■ (denoting an element in a low valency) + OXYGEN + -IA^1.

hypsilophodont /hpslfədnt/ (also hypsilophodontid /hpsəlfədntd/) n. a small bipedal herbivorous dinosaur of the late Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, adapted for swift running.

<INFO> Family Hypsilophodontidae, infraorder Ornithopoda, order Ornithischia.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Hypsilophodontidae, from Greek hupsilophos ‘high-crested’ + odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

hypso- combining form relating to height or elevation: hypsometer.

<ORIGIN> from Greek hupsos ‘height’.

hypsography /hpsrəfi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of geography concerned with the determination and mapping of the relative elevation of areas of land.

<DERIVATIVES> hypsographic adj. hypsographical adj.

hypsometer /hpsmtə/ n. a device for calibrating thermometers at the boiling point of water at a known height above sea level or for estimating height above sea level by finding the temperature at which water boils.

hypsometric /hpsə()mεtrk/ adj. relating to the use of the hypsometer; hypsographic.

Hyracoidea /hrəkdə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small order of mammals that comprises the hyraxes.

<DERIVATIVES> hyracoid n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), based on Greek hurax, hurak- (see HYRAX).

hyracotherium /hrəkə()θərəm/ n. the earliest fossil ancestor of the horse, which was a small forest animal of the Eocene epoch, with four toes on the front feet and three on the back.

<INFO> Genus Hyracotherium, family Equidae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin: from hyraco- (combining form from HYRAX) + Greek thērion ‘wild animal’.

hyrax /hraks/ n. a small herbivorous mammal with a compact body and a very short tail, found in arid country in Africa and Arabia. The nearest relatives to hyraxes are the elephants and other subungulates.

<INFO> Family Procaviidae and order Hyracoidea: three genera and several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek hurax ‘shrew-mouse’.

hyson /hs(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a type of green China tea.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Chinese xīchūn, literally ‘bright spring’.

hyssop /hsəp/ n. 1 a small bushy aromatic plant of the mint family, the bitter minty leaves of which are used in cookery and herbal medicine.

<INFO> Hyssopus officinalis, family Labiatae.

2 (in biblical use) a wild shrub of uncertain identity whose twigs were used for sprinkling in ancient Jewish rites of purification.

<ORIGIN> Old English hysope (reinforced in Middle English by Old French ysope), via Latin from Greek hyssōpos, of Semitic origin.

hysterectomize (also hysterectomise) v. [with obj.] perform a hysterectomy on (a woman).

hysterectomy /hstərεktəmi/ n. (pl. hysterectomies) a surgical operation to remove all or part of the womb.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek hustera ‘womb’ + -ECTOMY.

hysteresis /hstəriss/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the phenomenon in which the value of a physical property lags behind changes in the effect causing it, as for instance when magnetic induction lags behind the magnetizing force.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek husterēsis ‘shortcoming, deficiency’, from husterein ‘be behind’, from husteros ‘late’.

hysteria n. [mass noun] 1 exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement: the anti-Semitic hysteria of the 1890s.

2 an old-fashioned term for a psychological disorder characterized by conversion of psychological stress into physical symptoms (somatization) or a change in self-awareness (such as a fugue state or selective amnesia).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin hystericus (see HYSTERIC).

hysteric n. 1 (hysterics) INFORMAL a wildly emotional and exaggerated reaction: the widow had hysterics and the inquest was wrapped up quickly.

- uncontrollable laughter: they began to giggle and fled upstairs in hysterics.

2 a person suffering from hysteria.

■ adj. another term for hysterical (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as an adjective): via Latin from Greek husterikos ‘of the womb’, from hustera ‘womb’ (hysteria being thought to be specific to women and associated with the womb).

hysterical adj. 1 affected by or deriving from wildly uncontrolled emotion: Janet became hysterical and began screaming | the band were mobbed by hysterical fans.

- INFORMAL extremely funny: her attempts to teach them to dance were hysterical.

2 relating to or suffering from hysteria.

<DERIVATIVES> hysterically adv. [as submodifier] isn't it hysterically funny?

hysteron proteron /hstərn prtərn/ n. [RHETORIC] a figure of speech in which what naturally would come last is put first, for example ‘I die! I faint! I fail!’.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: late Latin, from Greek husteron proteron ‘the latter (put in place of) the former’.

Hystricomorpha /hstrkə()mfə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a major division of the rodents which includes the guinea pigs, coypu, porcupines and their relatives. They occur chiefly in South America.

<INFO> Suborder Hystricomorpha, order Rodentia.

<DERIVATIVES> hystricomorph n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Latin hystrix, hystric- ‘porcupine’ (from Greek hustrix) + morphē ‘form’.

Hytrel /htrεl/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a strong, flexible synthetic resin used in shoes, sports equipment, and other manufactured articles.

Hz abbr. hertz.

I^1 (also i) n. (pl. Is or I's) 1 the ninth letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the next after H in a set of items, categories, etc.

2 the Roman numeral for one.

<PHRASES>

□ dot the i's and cross the t's see dot^1.

I^2 pron. [first person singular] used by a speaker to refer to himself or herself: accept me for what I am.

- W. INDIAN me: Junior tell I is the army him a'work for.

- (also I and I, I man) W. INDIAN (especially among Rastafarians) used in reference to oneself or to people in general: I and I must submit to and follow Jah.

■ n. (the I) [PHILOSOPHY] (in metaphysics) the subject or object of self-consciousness; the ego.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ik and German ich, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin ego and Greek egō.

<USAGE> Why is it incorrect to say between you and I (rather than between you and me)? Why is it also incorrect to say John and me went to the shops (instead of John and I went to the shops)? Is it correct or incorrect to say she's much better than me or should it be she's much better than I? For a discussion of such questions, see usage at between and PERSONAL PRONOUN.

I^3 abbr.

- (I.) Island(s) or Isle(s) (chiefly on maps).

- Italy (international vehicle registration).

■ symbol

- electric current: V = I/R.

- the chemical element iodine.

i symbol (i) [MATHEMATICS] the imaginary quantity equal to the square root of minus one. Compare with J.

-i^1 suffix forming the plural: 1 of nouns adopted from Latin ending in -us: foci | timpani.

2 of nouns adopted from Italian ending in -e or -o: dilettanti.

<USAGE> Many nouns derived from a foreign language retain their foreign plural, at least when they first enter English and particularly if they belong to a specialist field. Over time, it is quite normal for a word in general use to acquire a regular English plural, however. This may coexist with the foreign plural (e.g. cactus, plural cacti or cactuses) or it may actually oust a foreign plural (octopus, plural octopuses rather than octopodes).

-i^2 suffix forming adjectives from names of countries or regions in the Near or Middle East: Azerbaijani | Pakistani.

<ORIGIN> from Semitic and Indo-Iranian adjectival endings.

-i- suffix a connecting vowel chiefly forming words ending in -ana, -ferous, -fic, -form, -fy, -gerous, -vorous. Compare with -O-.

IA abbr. Iowa (in official postal use).

-ia^1 suffix 1 forming nouns adopted unchanged from Latin or Greek (such as mania, militia), and modern Latin terms (such as utopia).

2 forming names of:

- MEDICINE states and disorders: anaemia | diphtheria.

- [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] genera and higher groups: dahlia | Latimeria.

3 forming names of countries: India.

<ORIGIN> representing Latin or Greek endings.

-ia^2 suffix forming noun plurals: 1 from Greek neuter nouns ending in -ion or from those in Latin ending in -ium or -e: paraphernalia | regalia.

2 [ZOOLOGY] in the names of classes: Reptilia.

IAA abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] indoleacetic acid.

IAAF abbr. International Association of Athletics Federations.

IAEA abbr. International Atomic Energy Agency.

-ial suffix forming adjectives such as celestial, primordial.

<ORIGIN> from French -iel or Latin -ialis.

iamb /am(b)/ n. [PROSODY] another term for IAMBUS.

iambic /ambk/ adj. [PROSODY] of or using iambuses: iambic pentameters.

■ n. iambic verse as a genre.

- (iambics) verse of this kind.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French iambique, via late Latin from Greek iambikos, from iambos (see IAMBUS).

iambus /ambəs/ n. (pl. iambuses or iambi /-b/) [PROSODY] a metrical foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Latin, from Greek iambos ‘iambus, lampoon’, from iaptein ‘attack verbally’ (because the iambic trimeter was first used by Greek satirists).

-ian suffix forming adjectives and nouns such as antediluvian and Bostonian. Compare with -AN.

<ORIGIN> from French -ien or Latin -ianus.

Iapetus /aptəs/ [ASTRONOMY] a satellite of Saturn, the seventeenth closest to the planet, having one bright icy side and one very dark side, discovered by Cassini in 1671 (diameter 1,440 km).

<ORIGIN> named after a Titan of Greek mythology, son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth).

Iaşi /jai/ a city in eastern Romania; pop. 354,800 (est. 2002). From 1565 to 1859 it was the capital of the principality of Moldavia. German name JASSY.

-iasis suffix a common form of -ASIS.

IATA /αtə/ abbr. International Air Transport Association.

iatro- /atrə/ combining form relating to a physician or to medical treatment: iatrogenic.

<ORIGIN> from Greek iatros ‘physician’, from iasthai ‘heal’.

iatrochemistry n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a school of thought of the 16th and 17th centuries which sought to understand medicine and physiology in terms of chemistry.

<DERIVATIVES> iatrochemical adj. iatrochemist n.

iatrogenic /atrə()dεnk/ adj. relating to illness caused by medical examination or treatment.

<DERIVATIVES> iatrogenesis n.

IB abbr. International Baccalaureate.

ib. adv. short for IBID.

IBA abbr. (in the UK) Independent Broadcasting Authority.

Ibadan /bad(ə)n/ the second-largest city of Nigeria, situated 160 km (100 miles) north-east of Lagos; pop. 3,078,400 (est. 2002).

IBAN /ban/ abbr. International Bank Account Number.

Iban /iban/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of an indigenous people of Kalimantan and Sarawak. Also called SEA DAYAK.

2 [mass noun] the Austronesian language of the Iban, spoken by around 380,000 people.

■ adj. relating to the Iban or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Iban.

Ibárruri Gómez /bαrr əmεz/ Spanish /ibarruri əmeθ -mes/ Dolores (1895–1989), Spanish communist politician and leader of the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War; known as La Pasionaria.

I-beam n. a girder which has the shape of an I when viewed in section.

Iberia /bərə/ the ancient name for the Iberian peninsula.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘the country of the Iberi or Iberes’, from Greek Ibēres ‘Spaniards’.

Iberian adj. relating to or denoting Iberia, or the countries of Spain and Portugal.

■ n. 1 a native of Iberia, especially in ancient times.

2 [mass noun] the extinct Romance language spoken in the Iberian peninsula in late classical times. It forms an intermediate stage between Latin and modern Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese. Also called IBERO-ROMANCE.

3 [mass noun] the extinct Celtic language spoken in the Iberian peninsula in ancient times, known only from a few inscriptions, place names, and references by Latin authors. Also called CELTIBERIAN.

Iberian peninsula the extreme SW peninsula of Europe, containing present-day Spain and Portugal. It was colonized by Carthage until the third Punic War (149–146 BC), after which it came increasingly under Roman influence. It was invaded by the Visigoths in the 4th–5th centuries AD and by the Moors in the 8th century.

iberis /bərs/ n. (pl. same) a plant of a genus that comprises the candytufts.

<INFO> Genus Iberis, family Cruciferae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, probably from Greek ibēris, denoting a kind of pepperwort.

Ibero- /bərə/ combining form Iberian; Iberian and …: Ibero-Roman.

- relating to Iberia.

Ibero-Romance n. another term for Iberian (sense 2 of the noun).

ibex /bεks/ n. (pl. ibexes) a wild mountain goat with long, thick ridged horns and a beard, found in parts of central Asia and in Ethiopia.

<INFO> Genus Capra, family Bovidae: the widespread C. ibex, and the Spanish ibex (C. pyrenaica) of the Pyrenees.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin.

IBF abbr. International Boxing Federation.

Ibibio /bbiə/ n. (pl. same or Ibibios) 1 a member of a people of southern Nigeria.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Ibibio, belonging to the Benue-Congo group and closely related to Efik. It has around 2 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Ibibio or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Ibibio.

ibid. /bd/ (also ib.) adv. in the same source (used to save space in textual references to a quoted work which has been mentioned in a previous reference).

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of Latin ibidem ‘in the same place’.

-ibility suffix forming nouns corresponding to adjectives ending in -ible (such as accessibility corresponding to accessible).

<ORIGIN> from French -ibilité or Latin -ibilitas.

I.Biol. abbr. (in the UK) Institute of Biology.

ibis /bs/ n. (pl. ibises) a large wading bird with a long downcurved bill, long neck, and long legs.

<INFO> Family Threskiornithidae: several genera and species, including the sacred ibis.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Latin from Greek.

ibisbill n. an upland wading bird of central Asia, with a long downcurved bill and black, white, and blue-grey plumage on the head and breast.

<INFO> Ibidorhyncha struthersii, the only member of the family Ibidorhynchidae.

Ibiza /biθə/ Spanish /iβiθa -sa/ the westernmost of the Balearic Islands.

- the capital city and port of Ibiza; pop. 34,826 (2001).

<DERIVATIVES> Ibizan adj. & n.

Ibizan hound n. a dog of a breed of hound from Ibiza, characterized by large, pointed, pricked ears and white, fawn, or reddish-brown colouring.

-ible suffix forming adjectives: 1 able to be: audible | defensible.

2 suitable for being: reversible | edible.

3 causing: terrible | horrible.

4 having the quality to: descendible | passible.

<ORIGIN> from French -ible or Latin -ibilis.

-ibly suffix forming adverbs corresponding to adjectives ending in -ible (such as audibly corresponding to audible).

IBM abbr. International Business Machines, a leading American computer manufacturer.

Ibn Batuta /b(ə)n bαtutα/ (c.1304–68), Arab explorer. From 1325 to 1354 he journeyed through North and West Africa, India, and China, and wrote a vivid account of his travels in the Rihlah.

Ibo /ibə/ n. & adj.

■ variant form of IGBO.

ibogaine /bəəin/ n. [mass noun] a hallucinogenic compound derived from the roots of a West African shrub, sometimes used as a treatment for heroin or cocaine addiction.

<INFO> The shrub is Tabernanthe iboga, family Apocynaceae.

<ORIGIN> from a blend of iboga (local name for the compound) and COCAINE.

IBRD abbr. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

IBS abbr. irritable bowel syndrome.

Ibsen /bs(ə)n/ Henrik (1828–1906), Norwegian dramatist. He is credited with being the first major dramatist to write tragedy about ordinary people in prose. Ibsen's later works, such as The Master Builder (1892), deal increasingly with the forces of the unconscious and were admired by Sigmund Freud. Other notable works: Peer Gynt (1867), A Doll's House (1879), Ghosts (1881).

ibuprofen /bjuprəf(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic compound used widely as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug.

<INFO> Alternative name: 2-(4-isobutylphenyl) propionic acid; chem. formula: C_13H_18O_2.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from elements of the chemical name.

IC abbr.

- integrated circuit.

- internal-combustion: the IC engine.

i/c abbr.

- (especially in military contexts) in charge of.

- in command.

-ic suffix 1 forming adjectives such as Islamic, terrific.

2 forming nouns such as lyric, mechanic.

3 denoting a particular form or instance of a noun ending in -ics: aesthetic | dietetic | tactic.

4 [CHEMISTRY] denoting an element in a higher valency: ferric | sulphuric. Compare with -OUS.

<ORIGIN> from French -ique, Latin -icus, or Greek -ikos.

-ical suffix forming adjectives: 1 corresponding to nouns or adjectives usually ending in -ic (such as comical corresponding to comic).

2 corresponding to nouns ending in -y (such as pathological corresponding to pathology).

-ically suffix forming adverbs corresponding to adjectives ending in -ic or -ical (such as tactically corresponding to tactical).

ICAO abbr. International Civil Aviation Organization.

Icarus /kərəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the son of Daedalus, who escaped from Crete using wings made by his father but was killed when he flew too near the sun and the wax attaching his wings melted.

<DERIVATIVES> Icarian adj.

ICBM abbr. intercontinental ballistic missile.

ICC abbr.

- International Chamber of Commerce.

- International Cricket Council.

- (in the US) Interstate Commerce Commission.

- International Criminal Court.

ICE abbr.

- (in the UK) Institution of Civil Engineers.

- internal-combustion engine.

ice n. 1 [mass noun] frozen water, a brittle transparent crystalline solid: she scraped the ice off the windscreen | her hands were as cold as ice.

- a sheet or layer of ice on the surface of water: the ice beneath him gave way.

- complete absence of friendliness or warmth in manner or expression: the ice in his voice was only to hide the pain.

2 chiefly BRITISH an ice cream, ice lolly, or portion of water ice.

- NORTH AMERICAN a frozen mixture of fruit juice or of flavoured water and sugar.

3 INFORMAL diamonds.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 decorate (a cake or biscuit) with icing.

2 (ice over/up) become covered or blocked with ice: the wings iced over, forcing the pilot to dive.

3 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL clinch (something such as a victory or deal).

4 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL kill: another man had been iced by the police.

<PHRASES>

□ break the ice do or say something to relieve tension or get conversation going in a strained situation or when strangers meet.

□ ice the puck [ICE HOCKEY] shoot the puck from one's own half of the rink to the other end without it hitting the goal or being touched by a teammate, for which a face-off is awarded in one's own end.

□ on ice 1 (of wine or food) kept chilled by being surrounded by ice.

- FIGURATIVE (especially of a plan or proposal) held in reserve for future consideration: the recommendation was put on ice.

2 (of an entertainment) performed by skaters: Dick Whittington on Ice.

□ on thin ice in a precarious or risky situation: you're skating on thin ice.

<ORIGIN> Old English īs, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ijs and German Eis.

-ice suffix forming nouns such as service, police, and abstract nouns such as avarice, justice.

<ORIGIN> from Old French -ice, from Latin -itia, -itius, -itium, or from other sources by assimilation.

ice age n. a glacial episode during a past geological period. See GLACIAL PERIOD.

- (the Ice Age) the series of glacial episodes during the Pleistocene period.

ice axe n. an axe used by climbers for cutting footholds in ice, having a head with one pointed and one flattened end, and a spike at the foot.

ice bag n. a bag filled with ice and applied to the body to reduce swelling or lower temperature.

ice beer n. [mass noun] a type of strong lager brewed at sub-zero temperatures so that ice crystals form. These are then strained off to remove impurities and excess water.

iceberg n. a large floating mass of ice detached from a glacier or ice sheet and carried out to sea.

<PHRASES>

□ the tip of an (or the) iceberg the small perceptible part of a much larger situation or problem that remains hidden: detected fraud is only the tip of the iceberg.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Dutch ijsberg, from ijs ‘ice’ + berg ‘hill’.

iceberg lettuce n. a lettuce of a variety having a dense round head of crisp pale leaves.

iceblink n. a bright appearance of the sky caused by reflection from a distant ice sheet.

iceblock n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a block of flavoured ice on a stick.

ice blue n. [mass noun] a very pale blue colour.

iceboat n. 1 a light, wind-driven vehicle with sails and runners, used for travelling on ice.

2 a boat used for breaking ice on a waterway.

ice-bound adj. completely surrounded or covered by ice: the lake was ice-bound.

icebox n. a chilled box or cupboard for keeping something cold, especially food.

- BRITISH a compartment in a refrigerator for making and storing ice.

- US DATED a refrigerator.

ice-breaker n. a ship designed for breaking a channel through ice.

- a thing that serves to relieve inhibitions or tension between people.

ice bucket n. a cylindrical container holding chunks of ice, the ice being used either directly in drinks or for chilling a bottle of wine.

ice cap n. a covering of ice over a large area, especially on the polar region of a planet.

ice chest n. a chilled box for keeping something cold, especially food.

ice climbing n. [mass noun] the sport or activity of climbing glaciers.

<DERIVATIVES> ice climber n.

ice-cold adj. very cold; as cold as ice: ice-cold beer.

ice cream n. [mass noun] a semi-soft frozen dessert made with sweetened and flavoured milk fat.

- [count noun] a serving of ice cream.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: alteration of iced cream.

ice cube n. a small block of ice made in a freezer, especially for adding to drinks.

iced adj. [attr.] 1 (of a drink or other liquid) cooled in or containing pieces of ice: jugs of iced water.

- (of a surface or object) covered or coated with ice: Campari and soda in a tall, iced glass.

2 (of a cake or biscuit) decorated with icing.

ice dancing n. [mass noun] a form of ice skating incorporating choreographed dance moves, typically performed by skaters in pairs.

<DERIVATIVES> ice dance n. ice dancer n.

iced tea (NORTH AMERICAN also ice tea) n. [mass noun] a chilled drink of sweetened tea without milk, typically flavoured with lemon.

icefall n. 1 a steep part of a glacier like a frozen waterfall.

2 an avalanche or fall of loose pieces of ice.

ice field n. an expanse of ice, especially in polar regions.

icefish n. (pl. same or icefishes) 1 another term for CAPELIN.

2 a scaleless Antarctic fish of pallid appearance with spiny gill covers and a snout shaped like a duck's bill.

<INFO> Chaenocephalus aceratus, family Chaenichthyidae.

■ v. (ice-fish) [no obj.] (usually as n. ice-fishing) fish through holes in the ice on a lake or river.

ice fog n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN fog formed of minute ice crystals.

ice front n. the lower edge of a glacier.

ice hockey n. [mass noun] a fast contact sport played on an ice rink between two teams of six skaters, who attempt to drive a small rubber disc or puck into the opposing goal with hooked or angled sticks. It developed from field hockey in Canada in the second half of the 19th century.

ice house n. a building for storing ice, typically one situated partly or wholly underground.

Iceland an island country in the North Atlantic; pop. 279,384 (est. 2002); official language, Icelandic; capital, Reykjavik. Icelandic name ISLAND.

Iceland lies just south of the Arctic Circle, and only about 20 per cent of the land area is habitable. Situated at the north end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it is volcanically active. First settled by Norse colonists in the 9th century, Iceland was under Norwegian rule from 1262 to 1380, when it passed to Denmark. Granted internal self-government in 1874, it became a fully fledged independent republic in 1944.

<DERIVATIVES> Icelander n.

Icelandic /slandk/ adj. relating to Iceland or its language.

■ n. [mass noun] the language of Iceland. A Scandinavian language, it has remained closely similar to Old Norse, due partly to the geographical isolation of Iceland and partly to a policy of avoiding loanwords.

Iceland moss (also Iceland lichen) n. a brown branching lichen with stiff spines along the margins of the fronds, growing in mountain and moorland habitats. It can be boiled to produce an edible jelly.

<INFO> Cetraria islandica, order Parmeliales.

Iceland poppy n. a tall poppy which is widely cultivated for its colourful flowers and suitability for cutting, native to arctic and north temperate regions.

<INFO> Papaver nudicaule, family Papaveraceae.

Iceland spar n. [mass noun] a transparent variety of calcite, showing strong double refraction.

ice lolly (also iced lolly) n. BRITISH a piece of flavoured ice or ice cream on a stick.

iceman n. (pl. icemen) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a man who sells or delivers ice.

ice milk n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a frozen dessert similar to ice cream but containing less butterfat.

Iceni /sini -n/ plural n. a tribe of ancient Britons inhabiting an area of SE England in present-day Norfolk and Suffolk. Their queen, Boudicca, led an unsuccessful rebellion against the Romans in AD 60.

ice pick n. 1 a small pick used by climbers to traverse ice-covered slopes.

2 a sharp, straight, pointed implement with a handle, used to break ice into small pieces for chilling food and drinks.

ice plant n. 1 either of two succulent plants which are widely cultivated for their flowers:

<INFO>

- a South African plant which has leaves covered with glistening fluid-filled hairs that resemble ice crystals (genera Mesembryanthemum and Dorotheanthus, family Aizoaceae, in particular M. crystallinum).

- an Asian stonecrop which bears domed heads of tiny pink flowers (Sedum spectabile, family Crassulaceae).

2 a machine or installation for making ice artificially.

ice sheet n. a layer of ice covering an extensive tract of land for a long period of time.

ice shelf n. a floating sheet of ice permanently attached to a land mass.

ice show n. an entertainment performed by ice skaters.

ice skate n. a boot with a blade attached to the sole, used for skating on ice.

■ v. (ice-skate) [no obj.] skate on ice as a sport or pastime.

<DERIVATIVES> ice skater n.

ice skating n. [mass noun] skating on ice as a sport or pastime. Ice skating became a recognized sport in 1876. Skaters are marked for technical and artistic excellence in performing a series of prescribed patterns (figure skating) or a choreographed series of dance moves (ice dancing).

ice storm n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a storm of freezing rain that leaves a coating of ice.

ice tea n. North American term for ICED TEA.

ice water n. 1 water produced by the melting of ice.

2 [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN drinking water with ice cubes added.

ice yacht n. another term for iceboat (sense 1).

ICFTU abbr. International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

I.Chem.E. abbr. (in the UK) Institution of Chemical Engineers.

I Ching /i t/ n. an ancient Chinese manual of divination based on eight symbolic trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams, interpreted in terms of the principles of yin and yang. It was included as one of the ‘five classics’ of Confucianism. English name BOOK OF CHANGES.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese yijing ‘book of changes’.

ichneumon /knjumən/ n. 1 (also ichneumon wasp or ichneumon fly) a slender parasitic wasp with long antennae, which deposits its eggs in, on, or near the larvae of other insects.

<INFO> Family Ichneumonidae, order Hymenoptera: numerous genera and species.

2

■ another term for EGYPTIAN MONGOOSE.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in sense 2): via Latin from Greek ikhneumōn ‘tracker’, from ikhneuein ‘to track’, from ikhnos ‘track, footstep’.

ichnography /knrəfi/ n. (pl. ichnographies) a ground plan of a building or map of a region.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French ichnographie, or via Latin from Greek ikhnographia, from ikhnos ‘track’ + -graphia (see -GRAPHY).

ichor /k/ n. [mass noun] 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the fluid which flows like blood in the veins of the gods.

2 ARCHAIC a watery discharge from a wound.

<DERIVATIVES> ichorous /k(ə)rəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Greek ikhōr.

ichthus /kθəs/ n. an image of a fish used as a symbol of Christianity.

<ORIGIN> from Greek ikhthus ‘fish’, an early symbol of Christianity: the initial letters of the word are sometimes taken as short for Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter (Jesus Christ, son of God, saviour).

ichthyic /kθk/ adj. ARCHAIC fishlike.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek ikhthuïkos ‘fishy’, from ikhthus ‘fish’.

ichthyo- /kθə/ combining form relating to fish; fishlike: ichthyosaur.

<ORIGIN> from Greek ikhthus ‘fish’.

ichthyoid /kθd/ adj. resembling a fish; fishlike.

■ n. any fishlike vertebrate.

ichthyolite /kθəlt/ n. [PALAEONTOLOGY] a fossil fish.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from ICHTHYO- ‘fish’ + Latin oleum ‘oil’ + lithos ‘stone’.

ichthyology /kθlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of zoology that deals with fishes.

<DERIVATIVES> ichthyological adj. ichthyologist n.

ichthyophagous /kθfəəs/ adj. FORMAL fish-eating: Americans are more ichthyophagous than ever.

<DERIVATIVES> ichthyophagy /kθfədi/ n.

ichthyornis /kθns/ n. a fossil gull-like fish-eating bird of the Upper Cretaceous period, with large toothed jaws.

<INFO> Genus Ichthyornis, order Ichthyornithiformes.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from ICHTHYO- + Greek ornis ‘bird’.

ichthyosaur /kθəs/ (also ichthyosaurus /kθəsrəs/) n. a fossil marine reptile of the Mesozoic era, resembling a dolphin with a long pointed head, four flippers, and a vertical tail.

<INFO> Order Ichthyosauria, subclass Diapsida: numerous genera, including Ichthyosaurus.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ICHTHYO- ‘fish’ + Greek sauros ‘lizard’.

ichthyosis /kθəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a congenital skin condition which causes the epidermis to become dry and horny like fish scales.

<DERIVATIVES> ichthyotic adj.

I-chun /itn/ variant of YICHUN.

ICI abbr. Imperial Chemical Industries (Limited).

-ician suffix (forming nouns) denoting a person skilled in or concerned with a field or subject (often corresponding to a noun ending in -ic or -ics): politician | statistician.

<ORIGIN> from French -icien.

icicle n. a hanging, tapering piece of ice formed by the freezing of dripping water.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from ICE + dialect ickle ‘icicle’ (from Old English gicel).

icing n. [mass noun] 1 a mixture of sugar with water, egg white, or butter, used as a coating for cakes or biscuits.

2 the formation of ice on an aircraft, ship, or other vehicle, or in an engine.

<PHRASES>

□ the icing (NORTH AMERICAN also frosting) on the cake an attractive but inessential addition or enhancement: more goals would have been the icing on the cake.

icing sugar n. [mass noun] BRITISH finely powdered sugar used to make icing.

-icist suffix equivalent to -ICIAN.

<ORIGIN> based on forms ending in -IC, + -IST.

-icity suffix forming abstract nouns especially from adjectives ending in -ic (such as authenticity from authentic).

<ORIGIN> based on forms ending in -IC, + -ITY.

ick n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a sticky or congealed substance, typically regarded with disgust: she scrubbed the ick off the back of the stove | [as exclamation] oatmeal—ick!

<ORIGIN> 1940s: probably imitative.

-ick suffix ARCHAIC variant spelling of -IC.

Icknield Way /knild/ an ancient pre-Roman track which crosses England in a wide curve from Wiltshire to Norfolk.

icky adj. (ickier, ickiest) INFORMAL unpleasantly sticky.

- nasty or unpleasant: the kids were eating something icky.

- distastefully sentimental: a romantic subplot that is just plain icky.

<DERIVATIVES> ickiness n.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: perhaps related to sick^1 or to the child's word ickle ‘little’.

-icle suffix forming nouns which were originally diminutives: article | particle.

<ORIGIN> see -CULE.

icon /kn -k(ə)n/ n. 1 (also ikon) a devotional painting of Christ or another holy figure, typically executed on wood and used ceremonially in the Byzantine and other Eastern Churches.

- a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration: this iron-jawed icon of American manhood.

2 [COMPUTING] a symbol or graphic representation on a VDU screen of a program, option, or window.

3 [LINGUISTICS] a sign which has a characteristic in common with the thing it signifies, for example the word snarl pronounced in a snarling way.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘simile’): via Latin from Greek eikōn ‘likeness, image’. Current senses date from the mid 19th century onwards.

iconic adj. 1 relating to or of the nature of an icon: he became an iconic figure for directors around the world.

2 (of a classical Greek statue) depicting a victorious athlete in a conventional style.

<DERIVATIVES> iconically adv. iconicity n. (especially in linguistics)

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin iconicus, from Greek eikonikos, from eikōn ‘likeness, image’.

iconify v. (iconifies, iconifying, iconified) [with obj.] [COMPUTING] reduce (a window on a VDU screen) to a small symbol or graphic representation of itself so as to make room on the screen for other windows.

iconize /kənz/ (also iconise) v. [with obj.] 1 [COMPUTING] another term for ICONIFY.

2 treat as an icon: they have been iconized as symbols of strength, courage, and self-sacrifice.

icono- combining form 1 of an image or likeness: iconology.

2 relating to icons: iconodule.

<ORIGIN> from Greek eikōn ‘likeness’.

iconoclasm /knəklaz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] 1 the action of attacking or assertively rejecting cherished beliefs and institutions or established values and practices.

2 the rejection or destruction of religious images as heretical; the doctrine of iconoclasts.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from ICONOCLAST, on the pattern of pairs such as enthusiast, enthusiasm.

iconoclast /knəklast/ n. 1 a person who attacks or criticizes cherished beliefs or institutions.

2 a destroyer of images used in religious worship, in particular:

- HISTORICAL a supporter of the 8th- and 9th-century movement in the Byzantine Church which sought to abolish the veneration of icons and other religious images.

- HISTORICAL a Puritan of the 16th or 17th century.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in sense 2): via medieval Latin from ecclesiastical Greek eikonoklastēs, from eikōn ‘likeness’ + klan ‘to break’.

iconoclastic /knəklastk/ adj. criticizing or attacking cherished beliefs or institutions: an iconoclastic filmmaker who has pushed the boundaries with every film he's made.

<DERIVATIVES> iconoclastically adv.

iconodule /kənə()djul/ n. a person who favours the veneration of religious icons (especially as contrasted historically with an iconoclast).

<DERIVATIVES> iconodulist n.

iconography /kənrəfi/ n. (pl. iconographies) 1 [mass noun] the visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the study or interpretation of these.

- the visual images, symbols, or modes of representation collectively associated with a person, cult, or movement: the iconography of pop culture.

2 a collection of illustrations or portraits.

<DERIVATIVES> iconographer n. iconographic adj. iconographical adj. iconographically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a drawing or plan): from Greek eikonographia ‘sketch, description’, from eikōn ‘likeness’ + -graphia ‘writing’.

iconolatry /kənlətri/ n. [mass noun] chiefly DEROGATORY the worship of icons.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from ecclesiastical Greek eikonolatreia, from eikōn ‘likeness’ + -latria ‘worship’.

iconology /kənlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of visual imagery and its symbolism and interpretation, especially in social or political terms.

- symbolism: the iconology of a work of art.

<DERIVATIVES> iconological adj.

iconostasis /kənstəss/ n. (pl. iconostases /-siz/) a screen bearing icons, separating the sanctuary of many Eastern churches from the nave.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Greek eikonostasis, from eikōn ‘likeness’ + stasis ‘standing, stopping’.

icosahedron /ksəhidrən -hεd-/ n. (pl. icosahedra or icosahedrons) a solid figure with twenty plane faces, especially equilateral triangular ones.

<DERIVATIVES> icosahedral adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek eikosaedron, neuter (used as a noun) of eikosaedros ‘twenty-faced’.

ICRC abbr. International Committee of the Red Cross.

-ics suffix (forming nouns) denoting arts or sciences, branches of study or action: classics | politics.

<ORIGIN> from French -iques, Latin -ica, or Greek -ika, plural forms.

<USAGE> A noun ending in -ics meaning ‘a subject of study or branch of knowledge’ will usually take a singular rather than a plural verb, e.g. politics is a blood sport; classics is hardly studied at all these days. However, the same word may take a plural verb in cases where the sense is plural: many of the classics were formerly regarded with disdain.

ICT abbr. information and communication technology.

ictal /ktəl/ adj. MEDICINE relating to a seizure.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ICTUS + -AL.

icterine warbler /kt(ə)rn/ n. a Eurasian warbler with bright yellow underparts.

<INFO> Hippolais icterina, family Sylviidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: icterine from ICTERUS + -INE^1.

icterus /kt(ə)rəs/ n. MEDICINE technical term for JAUNDICE.

<DERIVATIVES> icteric /ktεrk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: via Latin from Greek ikteros. The Latin term denoted jaundice, also a yellowish-green bird (the sight of which was thought to cure jaundice).

Ictinus /ktnəs/ (5th century BC), Greek architect. He is said to have designed the Parthenon in Athens with the architect Callicrates and the sculptor Phidias between 448 and 437 BC.

ictus /ktəs/ n. (pl. same or ictuses) 1 [PROSODY] a rhythmical or metrical stress.

2 MEDICINE a stroke or seizure; a fit.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (denoting the beat of the pulse): from Latin, literally ‘blow’, from icere ‘to strike’.

ICU abbr. intensive-care unit.

icy adj. (icier, iciest) covered with or consisting of ice: there were icy patches on the roads.

- very cold: an icy wind.

- FIGURATIVE very unfriendly; hostile: her voice was icy.

<DERIVATIVES> icily adv. iciness n.

ID abbr.

- Idaho (in official postal use).

- identification or identity: they weren't carrying any ID | [as modifier] an ID card.

id /d/ n. [PSYCHIATRY] the part of the mind in which innate instinctive impulses and primary processes are manifest. Compare with EGO and SUPEREGO.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Latin, literally ‘that’, translating German es. The term was first used in this sense by Freud, following use in a similar sense by his contemporary, Georg Groddeck.

id. abbr. idem.

I'd contraction I had: I'd agreed to go.

- I should or I would: I'd like a bath.

-id^1 suffix forming adjectives such as putrid, torrid.

<ORIGIN> from French -ide from Latin -idus.

-id^2 suffix 1 forming nouns such as chrysalid, pyramid.

2 [BIOLOGY] forming names of structural constituents: plastid.

3 [BOTANY] forming names of plants belonging to a family with a name ending in -idaceae: orchid.

<ORIGIN> from or suggested by French -ide, via Latin -idis from Greek -is, -id-.

-id^3 suffix forming nouns: 1 [ZOOLOGY] denoting an animal belonging to a family with a name ending in -idae or to a class with a name ending in -ida: carabid | arachnid.

2 denoting a member of a specified dynasty or family.

3 [ASTRONOMY] denoting a meteor in a shower radiating from a specified constellation: Geminids.

- denoting a star of a class like one in a specified constellation: cepheid.

<ORIGIN> from or suggested by Latin -ides (plural -idae, -ida), from Greek.

IDA abbr. International Development Association.

Ida /də/ 1 a mountain in central Crete, associated in classical times with the god Zeus. Rising to 2,456 m (8,058 ft), it is the highest peak in the island.

2 [ASTRONOMY] asteroid 243, which is 52 km long and has a tiny moon (Dactyl), which is about 1.5 km across.

Idaho /dəhə/ a state of the north-western US, bordering on British Columbia to the north and containing part of the Rocky Mountains; pop. 1,293,953 (2000); capital, Boise. It became the 43rd state of the US in 1890.

<DERIVATIVES> Idahoan n. & adj.

IDB abbr. S. AFRICAN illicit diamond buying (or buyer), illegal trading (or an illegal trader) in uncut diamonds.

iddingsite /dzt/ n. [mass noun] a brownish mineral deposit consisting of a mixture of silicates, formed by alteration of olivine.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of Joseph P. Iddings (1857–1920), American geologist, + -ITE^1.

IDE abbr. [COMPUTING] Integrated Drive Electronics, a standard for interfacing computers and their peripherals.

ide /d/ n. another term for ORFE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin idus, from Swedish id.

-ide suffix [CHEMISTRY] forming nouns:

- denoting binary compounds of a non-metallic or more electronegative element or group: cyanide | sodium chloride.

- denoting various other compounds: peptide | saccharide.

- denoting elements of a series in the periodic table: lanthanide.

<ORIGIN> originally used in oxide.

idea n. 1 a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action: recently, the idea of linking pay to performance has caught on | it's a good idea to do some research before you go.

- [in sing.] a mental impression: our menu list will give you some idea of how interesting a low-fat diet can be.

- an opinion or belief: nineteenth-century ideas about drinking.

2 (the idea) the aim or purpose: I took a job with the idea of getting some money together.

3 [PHILOSOPHY] (in Platonic thought) an eternally existing pattern of which individual things in any class are imperfect copies.

- (in Kantian thought) a concept of pure reason, not empirically based in experience.

<PHRASES>

□ get (or give someone) ideas INFORMAL become (or make someone) ambitious, conceited, or tempted to do something: I don't want you getting any ideas about me just because we're thrown together like this.

□ have (got) no idea INFORMAL not know at all: she had no idea where she was going.

□ not someone's idea of INFORMAL not what someone regards as typical of: it's not my idea of a happy ending.

□ put ideas into someone's head suggest aspirations that a person would not otherwise have had.

□ that's an idea INFORMAL that suggestion or proposal is worth considering.

□ that's the idea INFORMAL used to confirm that someone has understood something or they are doing something correctly: ‘A sort of bodyguard?’ ‘That's the idea.’.

□ the very idea! INFORMAL an exclamation of disapproval or disagreement.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3): via Latin from Greek idea ‘form, pattern’, from the base of idein ‘to see’.

ideal adj. 1 satisfying one's conception of what is perfect; most suitable: the swimming pool is ideal for a quick dip | this is an ideal opportunity to save money.

2 [attr.] existing only in the imagination; desirable or perfect but not likely to become a reality: in an ideal world, we might have made a different decision.

- representing an abstract or hypothetical optimum: mathematical modelling can determine theoretically ideal conditions.

■ n. a person or thing regarded as perfect: you're my ideal of how a man should be.

- a standard or principle to be aimed at: tolerance and freedom, the liberal ideals.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a term in Platonic philosophy, in the sense ‘existing as an archetype’): from late Latin idealis, from Latin idea (see IDEA).

ideal gas n. [CHEMISTRY] a hypothetical gas whose molecules occupy negligible space and have no interactions, and which consequently obeys the gas laws exactly.

idealism n. [mass noun] 1 the unrealistic belief in or pursuit of perfection: the idealism of youth. Compare with REALISM.

- (in art or literature) the representation of things in ideal or idealized form. Often contrasted with realism (sense 2).

2 [PHILOSOPHY] any of various systems of thought in which the objects of knowledge are held to be in some way dependent on the activity of mind. Often contrasted with realism (sense 3).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in sense 2): from French idéalisme or German Idealismus, from late Latin idealis (see IDEAL).

idealist n. 1 a person who is guided more by ideals than by practical considerations: he came to power with the reputation of a left-wing idealist.

2 [PHILOSOPHY] a person who believes in the theory of idealism. Hegel described himself as an absolute idealist.

idealistic adj. characterized by idealism; unrealistically aiming for perfection: idealistic young doctors who went to work for the rebels.

<DERIVATIVES> idealistically adv.

ideality /dalti/ n. (pl. idealities) [mass noun] FORMAL the state or quality of being ideal: the ideality of the island of Aran.

- the quality of expressing or being characterized by ideals: the loftiness and ideality of the Gettysburg Address.

- [count noun] an ideal or idealized thing: they commenced their married life with idealities about love.

idealize (also idealise) v. [with obj.] (often as adj. idealized) regard or represent as perfect or better than in reality: Helen's idealized accounts of their life together.

<DERIVATIVES> idealization n. idealizer n.

ideally adv. 1 [as sentence adv.] preferably; in an ideal world: ideally, you should exercise for 30 minutes every day.

2 [as submodifier] in the best possible way; perfectly: her experience makes her ideally suited to the job.

ideate /det/ v. [with obj.] chiefly [PSYCHOLOGY] form an idea of; imagine or conceive.

- [no obj.] form ideas; think.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin ideat- ‘formed as an idea’, from the verb ideare, from Latin idea (see IDEA).

ideation n. [mass noun] the formation of ideas or concepts.

<DERIVATIVES> ideational adj. ideationally adv.

idée fixe /ide fiks/ n. (pl. idées fixes pronunc. same) an idea or desire that dominates the mind; an obsession.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘fixed idea’.

idée reçue /ide rəs(j)u/ n. (pl. idées reçues pronunc. same) a generally accepted concept or idea.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘received idea’.

idem /dεm dεm/ adv. used in citations to indicate an author or word that has just been mentioned.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘the same’.

idempotent /dεmpət(ə)nt dεmpət(ə)nt/ [MATHEMATICS] adj. denoting an element of a set which is unchanged in value when multiplied or otherwise operated on by itself.

■ n. an idempotent element.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin idem ‘same’ + POTENT^1.

ident /dεnt dεnt/ n.

■ short for IDENTIFICATION, especially in informal or technical use.

- a short sequence shown on television between programmes to identify the channel.

identical adj. 1 similar in every detail; exactly alike: four girls in identical green outfits | the passage on the second floor was identical to the one below.

- (of twins) developed from a single fertilized ovum, and therefore of the same sex and usually very similar in appearance. Compare with fraternal (sense 2).

- [attr.] (of something encountered on separate occasions) the same: she stole a suitcase from the identical station at which she had been arrested before.

2 [LOGIC] & [MATHEMATICS] expressing an identity: an identical proposition.

<DERIVATIVES> identically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from medieval Latin identicus, from late Latin identitas (see IDENTITY).

identifiable adj. able to be recognized; distinguishable: there are no easily identifiable features on the shoreline.

<DERIVATIVES> identifiably adv.

identification n. 1 [mass noun] the action or process of identifying someone or something or the fact of being identified: each child was tagged with a number for identification | [count noun] it may be impossible for relatives to make positive identifications.

- a means of proving a person's identity, especially in the form of official papers: do you have any identification?

2 a person's sense of identity with someone or something: children's identification with story characters.

3 the association or linking of one thing with another: the growing identification of anti-slavery with political liberalism.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: originally from medieval Latin identificat- ‘identified’, from the verb identificare; later from IDENTIFY.

identification parade n. British another term for IDENTITY PARADE.

identifier n. 1 a person or thing that identifies someone or something: the new NHS number is to be known as the ‘unique patient identifier’.

- [COMPUTING] a sequence of characters used to identify or refer to a program or an element, such as a variable or a set of data, within it.

2 a person who identifies with something or someone: Labour identifiers and left-wingers.

identify v. (identifies, identifying, identified) [with obj.] 1 establish or indicate who or what (someone or something) is: the judge ordered that the girl should not be identified | the men identified themselves as federal police.

- recognize or distinguish (especially something considered worthy of attention): a system that ensures that the pupil's real needs are identified.

2 (identify someone/thing with) associate someone or something closely with; regard as having strong links with: he was equivocal about being identified too closely with the peace movement.

- equate (someone or something) with: because of my country accent, people identified me with a homely farmer's wife.

- [no obj.] (identify with) regard oneself as sharing the same characteristics or thinking as someone else: I liked Fromm and identified with him.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘treat as being identical with’): from medieval Latin identificare, from late Latin identitas (see IDENTITY) + Latin -ficare (from facere ‘make’).

identikit /dεntkt/ n. TRADEMARK a picture of a person, especially one sought by the police, reconstructed from typical facial features according to witnesses' descriptions: [as modifier] an identikit photograph.

■ adj. [attr.] often DEROGATORY having typical features and few unique ones; formulaic or standardized: the pub was transformed by identikit ‘Victoriana’.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of IDENTITY and kit^1.

identity n. (pl. identities) 1 the fact of being who or what a person or thing is: he knows the identity of the bombers | [mass noun] she believes she is the victim of mistaken identity.

- the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is: he wanted to develop a more distinctive Scottish Tory identity.

- [as modifier] (of an object) serving to establish who the holder, owner, or wearer is by bearing their name and often other details such as a signature or photograph: an identity card.

2 a close similarity or affinity: an identity between the company's own interests and those of the local community.

3 [MATHEMATICS] (also identity operation) a transformation that leaves an object unchanged.

- (also identity element) an element of a set which, if combined with another element by a specified binary operation, leaves that element unchanged.

4 [MATHEMATICS] the equality of two expressions for all values of the quantities expressed by letters, or an equation expressing this, e.g. (x + 1)2 = x^2 + 2x + 1.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘quality of being identical’): from late Latin identitas, from Latin idem ‘same’.

identity crisis n. [PSYCHIATRY] a period of uncertainty and confusion in which a person's sense of identity becomes insecure, typically due to a change in their expected aims or role in society.

identity matrix n. [MATHEMATICS] a square matrix in which all the elements of the principal diagonal are ones and all other elements are zeros. The effect of multiplying a given matrix by an identity matrix is to leave the given matrix unchanged.

identity parade n. BRITISH a group of people including a suspect for a crime assembled for the purpose of having an eyewitness identify the suspect from among them.

identity politics plural n. [treated as sing.] a tendency for people of a particular religion, race, social background, etc., to form exclusive political alliances, moving away from traditional broad-based party politics.

identity theft n. [mass noun] the fraudulent practice of using another person's name and personal information in order to obtain credit, loans, etc.

ideogram /də()ram d-/ n. a character symbolizing the idea of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it. Examples include numerals and Chinese characters.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek idea ‘form’ + -GRAM^1.

ideograph /də()rαf d-/ n. another term for IDEOGRAM.

<DERIVATIVES> ideographic adj. ideography n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek idea ‘form’ + -GRAPH.

ideologue /dəl d-/ n. an adherent of an ideology, especially one who is uncompromising and dogmatic: a right-wing ideologue.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French idéologue; see also IDEOLOGY.

ideology /dlədi d-/ n. 1 (pl. ideologies) a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy: the ideology of republicanism.

- the set of beliefs characteristic of a social group or individual: a critique of bourgeois ideology.

2 [mass noun] ARCHAIC the science of ideas; the study of their origin and nature.

- ARCHAIC visionary speculation, especially of an unrealistic or idealistic nature.

<DERIVATIVES> ideological adj. ideologically adv. ideologist n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in sense 2): from French idéologie, from Greek idea ‘form, pattern’ + -logos (denoting discourse or compilation).

ides /dz/ plural n. (in the ancient Roman calendar) a day falling roughly in the middle of each month (the 15th day of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th of other months) from which other dates were calculated. Compare with NONES, CALENDS.

<ORIGIN> late Old English: from Old French, from Latin idus (plural), of unknown origin.

idigbo /dbə/ n. (pl. idigbos) a West African tree which has a distinctive pagoda-like shape and yields weather-resistant timber.

<INFO> Terminalia ivorensis, family Combretaceae.

<ORIGIN> a local name.

idio- /də/ combining form personal; own: idiotype.

<ORIGIN> from Greek idios ‘own, distinct’.

idiocy n. (pl. idiocies) [mass noun] extremely stupid behaviour: the idiocy of decimating yew forests | [count noun] every aspect of public administration throws up its own idiocies.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally denoting low intelligence): from IDIOT, probably on the pattern of pairs such as lunatic, lunacy.

idiographic adj. relating to the study or discovery of particular scientific facts and processes, as distinct from general laws. Often contrasted with NOMOTHETIC.

idiolect /dəlεkt/ n. the speech habits peculiar to a particular person.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from IDIO- ‘own, personal’ + -lect as in DIALECT.

idiom n. 1 a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g. over the moon, see the light).

- [mass noun] a form of expression natural to a language, person, or group of people: he had a feeling for phrase and idiom.

- the dialect of a people or part of a country.

2 a characteristic mode of expression in music or art: they were both working in a neo-Impressionist idiom.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French idiome, or via late Latin from Greek idiōma ‘private property, peculiar phraseology’, from idiousthai ‘make one's own’, from idios ‘own, private’.

idiomatic adj. 1 using, containing, or denoting expressions that are natural to a native speaker: he spoke fluent, idiomatic English.

2 appropriate to the style of art or music associated with a particular period, individual, or group: a short Bach piece containing lots of idiomatic motifs.

<DERIVATIVES> idiomatically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Greek idiōmatikos ‘peculiar, characteristic’, from idiōma (see IDIOM).

idiopathic /də()paθk/ adj. MEDICINE relating to or denoting any disease or condition which arises spontaneously or for which the cause is unknown.

idiopathy /dpəθi/ n. (pl. idiopathies) MEDICINE a disease or condition which arises spontaneously or for which the cause is unknown.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from modern Latin idiopathia, from Greek idiopatheia, from idios ‘own, private’ + -patheia ‘suffering’.

idiophone /də()fən/ n. [MUSIC] an instrument the whole of which vibrates to produce a sound when struck, shaken, or scraped, such as a bell, gong, or rattle. Compare with MEMBRANOPHONE.

idiosyncrasy /də()skrəsi/ n. (pl. idiosyncrasies) 1 a mode of behaviour or way of thought peculiar to an individual: one of his little idiosyncrasies was always preferring to be in the car first.

- a distinctive or peculiar feature or characteristic of a place or thing: the idiosyncrasies of the prison system.

2 MEDICINE an abnormal physical reaction by an individual to a food or drug.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally in the sense ‘physical constitution peculiar to an individual’): from Greek idiosunkrasia, from idios ‘own, private’ + sun ‘with’ + krasis ‘mixture’.

idiosyncratic /də()skratk/ adj. relating to idiosyncrasy; peculiar or individual: she emerged as one of the great, idiosyncratic talents of the Nineties.

<DERIVATIVES> idiosyncratically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from IDIOSYNCRASY, on the pattern of Greek sunkratikos ‘mixed together’.

idiot n. INFORMAL a stupid person.

- ARCHAIC a person of low intelligence.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a person of low intelligence): via Old French from Latin idiota ‘ignorant person’, from Greek idiōtēs ‘private person, layman, ignorant person’, from idios ‘own, private’.

idiot board (also idiot card) n. INFORMAL a board displaying a television script to a speaker as an aid to memory.

idiot box n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a television set.

idiotic /dtk/ adj. INFORMAL very stupid: I was able to hum its idiotic theme tune.

<DERIVATIVES> idiotically adv.

idiot light n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a warning light that goes on when a fault occurs in a device.

idiot savant /idjə sav də/ n. (pl. idiot savants or idiots savants pronunc. same) a person who has a mental disability or learning difficulties but is extremely gifted in a particular way, such as the performing of feats of memory or calculation.

- a person who is extremely unworldly but displays natural wisdom and insight.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘knowledgeable idiot’.

idiotype /də()tp/ n. [BIOLOGY] the set of genetic determinants of an individual.

- [IMMUNOLOGY] a set of antigen-binding sites which characterizes the antibodies produced by a particular clone of antibody-producing cells.

idle adj. (idler, idlest) 1 (of a person) avoiding work; lazy: idle students.

- (of a person) not working; unemployed.

- (especially of a machine or factory) not active or in use: the mill has been standing idle for eight years.

- [attr.] (of time) characterized by inaction or absence of significant activity: at no time in the day must there be an idle moment.

2 without purpose or effect; pointless: he did not want to waste valuable time in idle chatter.

- (especially of a threat or boast) without foundation: I knew Ellen did not make idle threats.

3 (of money) held in cash or in accounts paying no interest.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] spend time doing nothing: four men were idling outside the shop | [with obj.] we idled the afternoon away.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move aimlessly or lazily: Robert idled along the pavement.

- [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN take out of use or employment: he will close the newspaper, idling 2,200 workers.

2 (of an engine) run slowly while disconnected from a load or out of gear: Nadine kept the engine idling.

- [with obj.] cause (an engine) to idle.

<ORIGIN> Old English īdel ‘empty, useless’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch ijdel ‘vain, frivolous, useless’ and German eitel ‘bare, worthless’.

idleness n. [mass noun] laziness; indolence: he was punished for his idleness at school.

- a state of inaction; inactivity: we suffered a period of enforced idleness.

idler n. 1 a person who avoids work or spends time in an aimless or lazy way.

2 a pulley that transmits no power but guides or stretches a belt or rope.

- an idle wheel.

idle wheel n. an intermediate wheel between two geared wheels, especially when its purpose is to allow them to rotate in the same direction.

idli /dli/ n. (pl. same or idlis) a south Indian steamed cake of rice, usually served with sambhar.

<ORIGIN> from Malayalam and Kannada iali.

idly adv. with no particular purpose, reason, or foundation: ‘How was the race?’ Kate asked idly.

- in an aimless or lazy way: I can no longer stand idly by and let him take the blame.

Ido /idə/ n. [mass noun] an artificial universal language developed from Esperanto.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: Ido, literally ‘offspring’.

idocrase /də()krez -s/ n. [mass noun] a mineral consisting of a silicate of calcium, magnesium, and aluminium, occurring typically as dark-green to brown prisms in metamorphosed limestone.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek eidos ‘form’ + krasis ‘mixture’.

idol n. an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship.

- a person or thing that is greatly admired, loved, or revered: a soccer idol.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French idole, from Latin idolum ‘image, form’ (used in ecclesiastical Latin in the sense ‘idol’), from Greek eidōlon, from eidos ‘form, shape’.

idolater /dlətə/ n. a person who worships an idol or idols.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French idolatre, based on Greek eidōlolatrēs, from eidōlon (see IDOL) + -latrēs ‘worshipper’.

idolatrous adj. relating to or practising idolatry; idol-worshipping: idolatrous religions.

- showing extreme admiration or reverence for something: America's idolatrous worship of the auto.

idolatry n. [mass noun] the worship of idols.

- extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone: we must not allow our idolatry of art to obscure issues of political significance.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French idolatrie, based on Greek eidōlolatreia, from eidōlon (see IDOL) + -latreia ‘worship’.

idolize (also idolise) v. [with obj.] admire, revere, or love greatly or excessively: he idolized his mother.

<DERIVATIVES> idolization n. idolizer n.

Idomeneus /dmniəs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] king of Crete, son of Deucalion and descendant of Minos. He was forced to kill his son after vowing to sacrifice the first living thing that he met on his return from the Trojan war.

IDP abbr. internally displaced person, a person who has been forced to move within their own country as a result of conflict or environmental disaster.

Id ul-Adha see EID.

Id ul-Fitr see EID.

idyll /dl/ n. an extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque period or situation, typically an idealized or unsustainable one: the rural idyll remains strongly evocative in most industrialized societies.

- a short description in verse or prose of a picturesque scene or incident, especially in rustic life.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the Latin form): from Latin idyllium, from Greek eidullion, diminutive of eidos ‘form, picture’.

idyllic adj. like an idyll; extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque: an attractive hotel in an idyllic setting.

<DERIVATIVES> idyllically adv.

i.e. abbr. that is to say (used to add explanatory information or to state something in different words): a walking boot which is synthetic, i.e. not leather.

<ORIGIN> from Latin id est ‘that is’.

-ie suffix 1 variant spelling of -y^2 (as in auntie).

2 ARCHAIC variant spelling of -y^1, -y^3.

<ORIGIN> earlier form of -y.

IEA abbr. International Energy Agency.

iechyd da /jεxid dα/ exclam. WELSH used to express good wishes before drinking.

<ORIGIN> Welsh, literally ‘good health’.

IED abbr. improvised explosive device.

IEE abbr. (in the UK) Institution of Electrical Engineers.

IEEE abbr. (in the US) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Ieper /ipər/ Flemish name for YPRES.

-ier suffix forming personal nouns denoting an occupation or interest: 1 pronounced with stress on the preceding element: grazier. [<ORIGIN> Middle English: variant of -er^1.]

2 pronounced with stress on the final element: brigadier | cashier. [<ORIGIN> from French -ier, from Latin -arius.]

IF abbr. intermediate frequency.

if conj. 1 introducing a conditional clause:

- on the condition or supposition that; in the event that: if you have a complaint, write to the director | if you like I'll put in a word for you.

- (with past tense) introducing a hypothetical situation: if you had stayed, this would never have happened.

- whenever; every time: if I go out she gets nasty.

2 despite the possibility that; no matter whether: if it takes me seven years, I shall do it.

3 (often used in indirect questions) whether: he asked if we would like some coffee | I wonder if she noticed.

4 [with modal] expressing a polite request: if I could just use the phone, I'll get a taxi | if you wouldn't mind giving him a message?

5 expressing an opinion: that's a jolly long walk, if you don't mind my saying so | if you ask me, he's in love.

6 expressing surprise or regret: well, if it isn't Frank!

7 with implied reservation:

- and perhaps not: the new leaders have little if any control.

- used to admit something as being possible but relatively insignificant: if there was any weakness, it was naivety | ‘We both saw him.’ ‘So what if you did?’.

- despite being (used before an adjective or adverb to introduce a contrast): she was honest, if a little brutal.

■ n. a condition or supposition: there are so many ifs and buts in the policy.

<PHRASES>

□ if and only if used to introduce a condition which is necessary as well as sufficient: Alice will come if and only if Charles and Edward are both going to be there.

□ if and when at a future time (should it arise): most of these plans can be altered if and when the situation changes.

□ if anything used to suggest tentatively that something may be the case (often the opposite of something previously implied): I haven't made much of this—if anything, I've played it down.

□ if I were you used to accompany a piece of advice: I would go to see him if I were you.

□ if not perhaps even (used to introduce a more extreme term than one first mentioned): hundreds if not thousands of germs.

□ if only 1 even if for no other reason than: Willy would have to tell George more, if only to stop him pestering.

2 used to express a wish, especially regretfully: if only I had listened to you.

□ if so if that is the case.

<ORIGIN> Old English gif, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch of and German ob.

<USAGE> If and whether are more or less interchangeable in sentences like I'll see if he left an address and I'll see whether he left an address, although whether is generally regarded as more formal and suitable for written use.

IFAD abbr. International Fund for Agricultural Development.

IFC abbr. International Finance Corporation.

Ife /ife/ an industrial city in SW Nigeria; pop. 313,400 (est. 2002). It was a major centre of the Yoruba kingdom from the 14th to the 17th centuries.

-iferous combining form common form of -FEROUS.

iff conj. [LOGIC] & [MATHEMATICS] if and only if.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: arbitrary extension of if.

iffy adj. (iffier, iffiest) INFORMAL full of uncertainty; doubtful: the prospect for classes resuming next Wednesday seems iffy.

- of doubtful quality or legality: a good wine merchant will change the iffy bottles for sound ones.

-ific suffix common form of -FIC.

-ification suffix common form of -FICATION.

Ifni /fni/ a former overseas province of Spain, on the SW coast of Morocco, ceded to Morocco in 1969.

-iform combining form common form of -FORM.

IFP abbr. Inkatha Freedom Party. See INKATHA.

IFR abbr. instrument flight rules, used to regulate the flying and navigating of an aircraft using instruments alone.

iftar /ftα/ n. the meal eaten by Muslims after sunset during Ramadan.

<ORIGIN> Ottoman Turkish ifār, from Arabic ifar ‘break a fast’.

Ig abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] immunoglobulin.

Igbo /ibə/ (also Ibo) n. (pl. same or Igbos) 1 a member of a people of SE Nigeria.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Igbo, belonging to the Kwa group and having some 12 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Igbo or their language.

<ORIGIN> a local name.

Iglesias /lezəs/ Julio (b.1943), Spanish singer, famous for love songs and ballads.

igloo n. a dome-shaped Eskimo house, typically built from blocks of solid snow.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Inuit iglu ‘house’.

Ignatius Loyola, St /neəs lələ lələ/ (1491–1556), Spanish theologian and founder of the Society of Jesus. His Spiritual Exercises (1548), an ordered scheme of meditations, is still used in the training of Jesuits. Feast day, 31 July.

igneous /nəs/ adj. [GEOLOGY] (of rock) having solidified from lava or magma.

- relating to or involving volcanic or plutonic processes: igneous activity.

- RARE of fire; fiery.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin igneus (from ignis ‘fire’) + -OUS.

ignimbrite /nmbrt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a volcanic rock consisting essentially of pumice fragments, formed by the consolidation of material deposited by pyroclastic flows.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Latin ignis ‘fire’ + imber, imbr- ‘shower of rain, storm cloud’ + -ITE^1.

ignis fatuus /ns fatjəs/ n. (pl. ignes fatui /niz fatj nez fatji/) a will-o'-the-wisp.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: modern Latin, literally ‘foolish fire’ (because of its erratic movement).

ignite /nt/ v. catch fire or cause to catch fire: [no obj.] furniture can give off lethal fumes when it ignites | [with obj.] he lit a cigarette which ignited the petrol fumes.

- [with obj.] arouse or inflame (an emotion or situation): the words ignited new fury in him.

<DERIVATIVES> ignitability n. ignitable adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘make intensely hot’): from Latin ignire ‘set on fire’, from ignis ‘fire’.

igniter n. 1 a device for igniting a fuel mixture in an engine.

2 a device for causing an electric arc.

ignition n. [mass noun] the action of setting something on fire or starting to burn: three minutes after ignition, the flames were still growing.

- the process of starting the combustion of fuel in the cylinders of an internal-combustion engine.

- [count noun] (usually the ignition) the mechanism for bringing this about, typically activated by a key or switch: she turned off the ignition.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting the heating of a substance to the point of combustion or chemical change): from medieval Latin ignitio(n-), from the verb ignire ‘set on fire’ (see IGNITE).

ignitron /ntrn/ n. a kind of rectifier with a mercury cathode, able to carry large electric currents.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from IGNITE or IGNITION + -TRON.

ignoble adj. (ignobler, ignoblest) 1 not honourable in character or purpose: ignoble feelings of intense jealousy.

2 of humble origin or social status.

<DERIVATIVES> ignobility n. ignobly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from French, or from Latin ignobilis, from in- ‘not’ + gnobilis, older form of nobilis ‘noble’.

ignominious /nəmnəs/ adj. deserving or causing public disgrace or shame: no other party risked ignominious defeat.

<DERIVATIVES> ignominiously adv. ignominiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French ignominieux, or Latin ignominiosus, from ignominia (see IGNOMINY).

ignominy /nəmni/ n. [mass noun] public shame or disgrace: the ignominy of being imprisoned.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French ignominie or Latin ignominia, from in- ‘not’ + a variant of nomen ‘name’.

ignoramus /nəreməs/ n. (pl. ignoramuses) an ignorant or stupid person.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as the endorsement made by a grand jury on an indictment considered backed by insufficient evidence to bring before a petty jury): Latin, literally ‘we do not know’ (in legal use ‘we take no notice of it’), from ignorare (see IGNORE). The modern sense may derive from the name of a character in George Ruggle's Ignoramus (1615), a satirical comedy exposing lawyers' ignorance.

ignorance n. [mass noun] lack of knowledge or information: he acted in ignorance of basic procedures.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin ignorantia, from ignorant- ‘not knowing’ (see IGNORANT).

ignorant adj. 1 lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated: he was told constantly that he was ignorant and stupid.

- [predic.] lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about something in particular: I was largely ignorant of the effects of radiotherapy.

2 INFORMAL discourteous or rude: this ignorant, pin-brained receptionist.

3 BLACK ENGLISH easily angered: I is an ignorant man—even police don't meddle with me.

<DERIVATIVES> ignorantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin ignorant- ‘not knowing’, from the verb ignorare (see IGNORE).

ignoratio elenchi /nəreə lεk/ n. (pl. ignorationes elenchi /-əniz/) [PHILOSOPHY] a logical fallacy which consists in apparently refuting an opponent while actually disproving something not asserted.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘ignorance of the elenchus’.

ignore v. [with obj.] refuse to take notice of or acknowledge; disregard intentionally: he ignored her outraged question.

- fail to consider (something significant): the rules ignore one important principle of cricket.

<DERIVATIVES> ignorable adj. ignorer n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘be ignorant of’): from French ignorer or Latin ignorare ‘not know, ignore’, from in- ‘not’ + gno-, a base meaning ‘know’. Current senses date from the early 19th cent.

ignotum per ignotius /nətəm pər nətəs/ n. [mass noun] the action of offering an explanation which is harder to understand than the thing it is meant to explain.

<ORIGIN> late Latin, literally ‘the unknown through something more unknown’.

Iguaçu /wəsu/ a river of southern Brazil. It rises in the Serra do Mar in SE Brazil and flows westwards for 1,300 km (800 miles) to the Paraná River, which it joins shortly below the Iguaçu Falls, a spectacular series of waterfalls. Spanish name Iguazú /iwasu/.

iguana /wαnə/ n. a large arboreal tropical American lizard with a spiny crest along the back and greenish coloration.

<INFO> Genus Iguana, family Iguanidae: two species, in particular the common green iguana (I. iguana).

- any iguanid lizard.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Spanish, from Arawak iwana.

iguanid /wαnd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a lizard of the iguana family (Iguanidae). Iguanids are found mainly in the New World but also occur in Madagascar and on some Pacific islands.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Iguanidae (plural), from the genus name Iguana (see IGUANA).

iguanodon /wαnədn/ n. a large partly bipedal herbivorous dinosaur of the early to mid Cretaceous period, with a broad stiff tail and the thumb developed into a spike.

<INFO> Genus Iguanodon, infraorder Ornithopoda, order Ornithischia.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from IGUANA + Greek odous, odont- ‘tooth’ (because its teeth resemble those of the iguana).

i.h.p. abbr. indicated horsepower.

IHS abbr. Jesus.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from late Latin, representing Greek IΓΣ as an abbreviation of Iēsous ‘Jesus’ used in manuscripts and also as a symbolic or ornamental monogram, but later often taken as an abbreviation of various Latin phrases, notably Iesus Hominum Salvator ‘Jesus Saviour of Men’, In Hoc Signo (vinces) ‘in this sign (thou shalt conquer)’, and In Hac Salus ‘in this (cross) is salvation’.

IHT abbr. (in the UK) inheritance tax.

iimbongi plural form of IMBONGI.

iiwi /iwi/ n. (pl. same or iiwis) a Hawaiian honeycreeper with a long downcurved bill and mainly bright red plumage.

<INFO> Vestiaria coccinea, family Drepanididae (or Fringillidae).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Hawaiian.

Ijo /idə/ (also Ijaw) n. (pl. same or Ijos) 1 a member of a people inhabiting the Niger delta in southern Nigeria.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Ijo, an isolated member of the Niger–Congo family with several highly distinct dialects.

■ adj. relating to the Ijo or their language.

IJssel /s(ə)l/ a river in the Netherlands. In part it is a distributary of the Rhine, which it leaves at Arnhem, joining the Oude IJssel (‘Old IJssel’) a few kilometres downstream, and flowing 115 km (72 miles) northwards through the eastern Netherlands to the IJsselmeer.

IJsselmeer /s(ə)lmε -mə/ a shallow lake in the NW Netherlands, created in 1932 by the building of a dam across the entrance to the old Zuider Zee. Large areas have since been reclaimed as polders.

ikat /ikat kat/ n. [mass noun] fabric made using an Indonesian decorative technique in which warp or weft threads, or both, are tie-dyed before weaving.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: Malay, literally ‘fasten, tie’.

ikebana /kbαnə/ n. [mass noun] the art of Japanese flower arrangement, with formal display according to strict rules.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, literally ‘living flowers’, from ikeru ‘keep alive’ + hana ‘flower’.

Ikhnaton /knαt(ə)n/ variant form of AKHENATEN.

IL abbr.

- Illinois (in official postal use).

- Israel (international vehicle registration).

il- prefix variant spelling of in-1, in-2. assimilated before l (as in illustrate, illuminate).

-il suffix forming adjectives and nouns such as civil and fossil.

<ORIGIN> from Old French, from Latin -ilis.

-ile suffix forming adjectives and nouns such as agile and juvenile.

- [STATISTICS] forming nouns denoting a value of a variate which divides a population into the indicated number of equal-sized groups, or one of the groups itself: decile | percentile.

<ORIGIN> variant of -IL especially in adoptions from French.

ilea plural form of ILEUM.

Île-de-France /ildəfrαns/ French /ildəfRαs/ a region of north central France, incorporating the city of Paris.

ileitis /lts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the ileum.

ileostomy /lstəmi/ n. (pl. ileostomies) a surgical operation in which a damaged part is removed from the ileum and the cut end diverted to an artificial opening in the abdominal wall.

- an opening formed by an ileostomy.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ILEUM + Greek stoma ‘mouth’.

Ilesha /leə/ a city in SW Nigeria; pop. 561,200 (est. 2002).

ileum /ləm/ n. (pl. ilea) [ANATOMY] the third portion of the small intestine, between the jejunum and the caecum.

<DERIVATIVES> ileac adj. ileal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin, variant of ILIUM.

ileus /ləs/ n. [mass noun or in sing.] MEDICINE a painful obstruction of the ileum or other part of the intestine.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, from Greek eileos, ilios ‘colic’, apparently from eilein ‘to roll’.

ilex /lεks/ n. 1 the holm oak.

2 a tree or shrub of a genus that includes holly and its relatives.

<INFO> Genus Ilex, family Aquifoliaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, ‘holm oak’.

ilia plural form of ILIUM.

iliac /lak/ adj. relating to the ilium or the nearby regions of the lower body: the iliac artery.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin iliacus, from ilia ‘entrails’.

iliacus /ləkəs/ (also iliacus muscle) n. [ANATOMY] a triangular muscle which passes from the pelvis through the groin on either side and, together with the psoas, flexes the hip.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin.

Iliad /ləd/ a Greek hexameter epic poem in twenty-four books, traditionally ascribed to Homer, telling how Achilles killed Hector at the climax of the Trojan War.

Ilium /ləm/ alternative name for TROY, especially the 7th-century BC Greek city.

ilium /ləm/ n. (pl. ilia) the large broad bone forming the upper part of each half of the pelvis.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the Greek form ilion, and denoting the ileum): from Latin, singular of ilia ‘flanks, entrails’. Current senses date from the late 16th cent.

ilk n. [in sing.] a type of person or thing similar to one already referred to: the veiled suggestions that reporters of his ilk seem to be so good at | there was music by Parry and Elgar and others of that ilk.

- (of that ilk) Scottish, chiefly ARCHAIC of the place or estate of the same name: Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk.

<ORIGIN> Old English ilca ‘same’, of Germanic origin; related to ALIKE.

<USAGE> In modern use, ilk is used in phrases such as of his ilk, of that ilk, to mean ‘type’ or ‘sort’. The use arose out of a misunderstanding of the earlier, Scottish use in the phrase of that ilk, where it means ‘of the same name or place’. For this reason, some traditionalists regard the modern use as incorrect. It is, however, the only common current use and is now part of standard English.

ill adj. 1 suffering from an illness or disease or feeling unwell: he was taken ill with food poisoning | [with submodifier] a terminally ill patient | (as plural n. the ill) a day centre for the mentally ill.

2 [attr.] poor in quality: ill judgement dogs the unsuccessful.

- bad or harmful: she had a cup of the same wine and suffered no ill effects.

- not favourable or auspicious: I have had a run of ill luck | a bird of ill omen.

■ adv. 1 [usually in combination] badly, wrongly, or imperfectly: the street is dominated by ill-lit shops | it ill becomes one so beautiful to be gloomy.

- unfavourably or inauspiciously: a look on her face which boded ill for anyone who crossed her path.

2 only with difficulty; hardly: she could ill afford the cost of new curtains.

■ n. (usually ills) a problem or misfortune: a lengthy work on the ills of society.

- [mass noun] evil or harm: how could I wish him ill?

<PHRASES>

□ ill at ease uncomfortable or embarrassed.

□ speak (or think) ill of say (or think) something critical about (someone).

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘wicked’, ‘malevolent’, ‘harmful’, and ‘difficult’): from Old Norse illr ‘evil, difficult’, of unknown origin.

Ill. abbr. Illinois.

I'll contraction I shall; I will: I'll arrange it.

ill-advised adj. not sensible, wise, or prudent: you would be ill-advised to go on your own.

<DERIVATIVES> ill-advisedly adv.

ill-affected adj. ARCHAIC not inclined to be friendly or sympathetic.

ill-assorted adj. not well matched: ill-assorted furniture.

illation /le(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the action of inferring or drawing a conclusion.

- [count noun] an inference.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin illatio(n-), from illat- ‘brought in’, from the verb inferre (see INFER).

illative /letv/ adj. 1 of the nature of or stating an inference.

- proceeding by inference.

2 [GRAMMAR] relating to or denoting a case of nouns in some languages used to express motion into something.

■ n. the illative case, or a word in this case.

<DERIVATIVES> illatively adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin illativus, from illat- ‘brought in’ (see ILLATION).

Illawarra /ləwrə/ n. (also Illawarra shorthorn) an animal of an Australian breed of red or roan dairy cattle.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of a coastal district south of Sydney, where the breed was developed.

ill-bred adj. badly brought up or rude.

<DERIVATIVES> ill breeding n.

ill-conceived adj. not carefully planned or considered: ill-conceived schemes.

ill-considered adj. badly thought out: an ill-considered remark.

ill-defined adj. not having a clear description or limits; vague: ill-defined concepts.

ill-disposed adj. unfriendly or unsympathetic: this fact was ignored by ill-disposed critics.

illegal adj. contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law: illegal drugs.

■ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an illegal immigrant.

<DERIVATIVES> illegality n. (pl. illegalities) illegally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French illégal or medieval Latin illegalis, from Latin in- ‘not’ + legalis ‘according to the law’.

<USAGE> Illegal and unlawful have slightly different meanings, although they are often used interchangeably. Something that is illegal is against the law, whereas an unlawful act merely contravenes the rules that apply in a particular context. Thus handball in soccer is unlawful, but it is not illegal. A third word with a similar meaning is illicit: this tends to encompass things that are forbidden or disapproved of by custom or society, as in an illicit love affair.

illegible /lεdb(ə)l/ adj. not clear enough to be read: his handwriting is totally illegible.

<DERIVATIVES> illegibility n. illegibly adv.

illegitimate /ldtmət/ adj. 1 not authorized by the law; not in accordance with accepted standards or rules: defending workers against illegitimate managerial practices.

2 (of a child) born of parents not lawfully married to each other.

■ n. a person who is illegitimate by birth.

<DERIVATIVES> illegitimacy n. illegitimately adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin illegitimus (from in- ‘not’ + legitimus ‘lawful’), suggested by LEGITIMATE.

ill-equipped adj. not having the necessary resources or qualities for a particular role or task: they feel ill-equipped to cope with emotional issues.

ill fame n. [mass noun] DATED disrepute.

ill-fated adj. destined to fail or have bad luck: an ill-fated expedition.

ill-favoured (US ill-favored) adj. unattractive: a crotchety, ill-favoured human being.

ill feeling n. [mass noun] animosity or resentment.

ill-founded adj. (especially of an idea or belief) not based on fact or reliable evidence: ill-founded criticism | her fear may be ill-founded.

ill-gotten adj. acquired by illegal or unfair means: the mafiosi launder their ill-gotten gains.

ill health n. [mass noun] poor physical or mental condition: the president was absent due to ill health.

ill humour n. [mass noun] irritability or bad temper.

ill-humoured adj. bad-tempered; irritable: a querulous and ill-humoured little man.

illiberal adj. 1 opposed to liberal principles; restricting freedom of thought or behaviour: illiberal and anti-democratic policies.

2 ARCHAIC uncultured or unrefined.

3 ARCHAIC not generous; mean.

<DERIVATIVES> illiberality n. illiberally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘vulgar, ill-bred’): from French illibéral, from Latin illiberalis ‘mean, sordid’, from in- ‘not’ + liberalis (see LIBERAL).

Illich /lt/ Ivan (1926–2002), Austrian-born American educationist and writer. He advocated the deinstitutionalization of education, religion, and medicine. Notable works: Deschooling Society (1971) and Limits to Medicine (1978).

illicit adj. forbidden by law, rules, or custom: illicit drugs | illicit sex.

<DERIVATIVES> illicitly adv. illicitness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French, or from Latin illicitus, from in- ‘not’ + licitus (see LICIT).

<USAGE> On the distinctions between illicit, illegal, and unlawful see usage at illegal.

illimitable adj. without limits or an end: the illimitable human capacity for evil.

<DERIVATIVES> illimitability n. illimitably adv.

ill-informed adj. having or showing an inadequate awareness of the facts: ill-informed opinions.

Illinoian /ln(j)ən/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting a Pleistocene glaciation in North America, preceding the Wisconsin and approximating to the Saale of northern Europe.

- (as n. the Illinoian) the Illinoian glaciation or the system of deposits laid down during it.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ILLINOIS + -AN.

Illinois /ln/ a state in the Middle West of the US; pop. 12,419,293 (2000); capital, Springfield. It was colonized by the French but was ceded to Britain in 1763. It was acquired by the US in 1783 and became the 21st state in 1818.

<DERIVATIVES> Illinoisan n. & adj.

illiquid /lkwd/ adj. (of assets) not easily converted into cash: illiquid investments.

- (of a market) with few participants and a low volume of activity.

<DERIVATIVES> illiquidity n.

illite /lt/ n. [mass noun] a clay mineral of a group resembling micas, with a lattice structure which does not expand on absorption of water.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from ILLINOIS + -ITE^1.

illiteracy /lt(ə)rəsi/ n. [mass noun] the inability to read or write: the ineffective educational system meant that illiteracy was widespread.

- lack of knowledge in a particular subject; ignorance: his economic illiteracy.

illiterate /lt(ə)rət/ adj. unable to read or write: his parents were illiterate.

- [with submodifier] ignorant in a particular subject or activity: the extent to which voters are politically illiterate.

- (of a piece of writing) showing a lack of education; badly written.

■ n. a person who is unable to read or write.

<PHRASES>

□ functionally illiterate lacking the literacy necessary for coping with most jobs and many everyday situations.

<DERIVATIVES> illiterately adv. illiterateness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin illitteratus, from in- ‘not’ + litteratus (see LITERATE).

ill-judged adj. lacking careful consideration; unwise: an ill-judged decision.

ill nature n. the quality of being bad-tempered or mean-spirited.

ill-natured adj. bad-tempered or mean-spirited.

<DERIVATIVES> ill-naturedly adv.

illness n. a disease or period of sickness affecting the body or mind: he died after a long illness | [mass noun] I've never missed a day's work through illness.

illocution /ləkju(ə)n/ n. [LINGUISTICS] an action performed by saying or writing something, e.g. ordering, warning, or promising.

<DERIVATIVES> illocutionary adj.

illogic n. [mass noun] reasoning or thought which is not logical.

illogical adj. lacking sense or clear, sound reasoning: an illogical fear of the supernatural.

<DERIVATIVES> illogicality n. (pl. illogicalities) illogically adv.

ill-omened adj. attended by bad omens: ill-omened birds of prey.

ill-starred adj. destined to fail or have many difficulties; unlucky: an ill-starred expedition.

ill temper n. [mass noun] irritability; anger.

ill-tempered adj. irritable or morose.

<DERIVATIVES> ill-temperedly adv.

ill-treat v. [with obj.] act cruelly towards (a person or animal).

ill-treatment n. [mass noun] cruel or inhumane treatment; abuse: he died from medical neglect and ill-treatment.

illude /l(j)ud/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY trick; delude: he had allowed his imagination to illude him.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin illudere ‘to mock’.

illume /l(j)um/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY light up; illuminate: sparks from candles illume our faces.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: abbreviation of ILLUMINE.

illuminance /l(j)umnəns/ n. [PHYSICS] the amount of luminous flux per unit area.

illuminant n. TECHNICAL a means of lighting or source of light: until 1880, oil was the only illuminant in use.

■ adj. giving off light.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin illuminant- ‘illuminating’, from the verb illuminare (see ILLUMINATE).

illuminate /l(j)umnet/ v. 1 [with obj.] light up: a flash of lightning illuminated the house | FIGURATIVE his face was illuminated by a smile.

- decorate (a building or structure) with lights for a special occasion.

2 (often as adj. illuminated) decorate (a page or initial letter in a manuscript) with gold, silver, or coloured designs.

3 (usually as adj. illuminating) help to clarify or explain: a most illuminating discussion.

<DERIVATIVES> illuminatingly adv. illuminative adj. illuminator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin illuminat- ‘illuminated’, from the verb illuminare, from in- ‘upon’ + lumen, lumin- ‘light’.

illuminati /l(j)umnαti/ plural n. people claiming to possess special enlightenment or knowledge of something: some mysterious standard known only to the illuminati of the organization.

- (Illuminati) a sect of 16th-century Spanish heretics who claimed special religious enlightenment.

- (Illuminati) a Bavarian secret society founded in 1776, organized like the Freemasons.

<DERIVATIVES> illuminism n. illuminist n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: plural of Italian illuminato or Latin illuminatus ‘enlightened’, past participle of illuminare (see ILLUMINATE).

illumination n. 1 [mass noun] lighting or light: higher levels of illumination are needed for reading.

- (illuminations) lights used in decorating a building or other structure.

2 the art of illuminating a manuscript.

- [count noun] an illuminated design in a manuscript.

3 clarification: these books form the most sustained analysis and illumination of the subject.

- spiritual or intellectual enlightenment.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from late Latin illuminatio(n-), from the verb illuminare (see ILLUMINATE).

illumine v. 1 [with obj.] LITERARY light up; brighten: he moved her lamp so that her face was illumined.

2 enlighten (someone) spiritually or intellectually.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French illuminer, from Latin illuminare (see ILLUMINATE).

ill-use v. [with obj.] ill-treat (someone): she felt ill-used by her former boss.

■ n. (ill use) [mass noun] ill-treatment.

illusion /l(j)u(ə)n/ n. a false idea or belief: he had no illusions about the trouble she was in.

- a deceptive appearance or impression: the illusion of family togetherness.

- an instance of a wrong or misinterpreted perception of a sensory experience: virtual reality creates audio and visual illusions of movement.

<PHRASES>

□ be under the illusion that believe mistakenly that: the world is under the illusion that the original painting still hangs in the Winter Palace.

□ be under no illusion (or illusions) be fully aware of the true state of affairs.

<DERIVATIVES> illusional adj. illusionary adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘deceiving, deception’): via Old French from Latin illusio(n-), from illudere ‘to mock’, from in- ‘against’ + ludere ‘play’.

illusionism n. [mass noun] the principle or technique by which artistic representations are made to resemble real objects or to give an appearance of space by the use of perspective.

<DERIVATIVES> illusionistic adj.

illusionist n. a person who performs tricks that deceive the eye; a magician.

illusive /l(j)usv/ adj. chiefly LITERARY deceptive; illusory: an illusive haven.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin illusivus, from Latin illus- ‘mocked’, from the verb illudere (see ILLUSION).

illusory /l(j)us(ə)ri/ adj. based on illusion; not real: she knew the safety of her room was illusory.

<DERIVATIVES> illusorily adv. illusoriness n.

illustrate v. 1 [with obj.] provide (a book, newspaper, etc.) with pictures: the guide is illustrated with full-colour photographs.

- explain or make (something) clear by using examples, charts, pictures, etc.: the results are illustrated in Figure 7.

2 serve as an example of: the World Cup illustrated what high standards our players must achieve.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘illuminate, shed light on’): from Latin illustrat- ‘lit up’, from the verb illustrare, from in- ‘upon’ + lustrare ‘illuminate’.

illustrated adj. (of a book, newspaper, etc.) containing pictures or other graphical material: an illustrated weekly magazine.

illustration n. 1 a picture illustrating a book, newspaper, etc.: an illustration of a yacht.

2 [mass noun] the action or fact of illustrating something: by way of illustration, I refer to the following case.

- an illustrative example: this accident is a graphic illustration of the disaster that's waiting to happen.

<DERIVATIVES> illustrational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘illumination; spiritual or intellectual enlightenment’): via Old French from Latin illustratio(n-), from the verb illustrare (see ILLUSTRATE).

illustrative adj. 1 serving as an example or explanation: this timetable is provided for illustrative purposes only.

2 relating to pictorial illustration: the illustrative arts.

<DERIVATIVES> illustratively adv.

illustrator n. a person who draws or creates pictures for magazines, books, advertising, etc.

illustrious /lstrəs/ adj. well known, respected, and admired for past achievements: his illustrious predecessor | an illustrious career.

<DERIVATIVES> illustriously adv. illustriousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin illustris ‘clear, bright’ + -OUS.

illuviation /l(j)uve(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the introduction of salts or colloids into one soil horizon from another by percolating water.

<DERIVATIVES> illuvial adj. illuviated adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from IL- ‘in’ + -luvial (on the pattern of alluvial) + -ATION.

ill will n. [mass noun] animosity or bitterness: he didn't bear his estranged wife any ill will.

Illyria /lrə/ an ancient region along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, including Dalmatia and what is now Montenegro and northern Albania.

Illyrian adj. 1 relating to the ancient region of Illyria: Illyrian tribes.

2 of or denoting the branch of Indo-European languages represented by modern Albanian.

■ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of ancient Illyria.

2 [mass noun] the branch of the Indo-European family of languages represented by modern Albanian.

illywhacker /lwakə/ n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL, DATED a small-time confidence trickster.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: of unknown origin.

ilmenite /lmənt/ n. [mass noun] a black mineral consisting of oxides of iron and titanium, of which it is the main ore.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after the Ilmen mountains in the Urals + -ITE^1.

ILO abbr. International Labour Organization.

Ilocano /ləkαnə/ n. (pl. same or Ilocanos) 1 a member of a people inhabiting NW Luzon in the Philippines.

2 [mass noun] the Austronesian language of the Ilocano, with over 5 million speakers. Also called ILOKO.

■ adj. relating to the Ilocano or their language.

<ORIGIN> Philippine Spanish, from Ilocos, the name of two provinces in the Philippines.

Iloilo /iləilə/ a port on the south coast of the island of Panay in the Philippines; pop. 378,200 (est. 2002).

Ilonggo /lə/ n. another term for HILIGAYNON.

<ORIGIN> a local name.

Ilorin /lrn/ a city in western Nigeria; pop. 756,400 (est. 2002). In the 18th century it was the capital of a Yoruba kingdom that was eventually absorbed into a Fulani state in the early 19th century.

ILP abbr. Independent Labour Party.

ILR abbr. Independent Local Radio.

ILS abbr. instrument landing system, a system in which an aircraft's instruments interact with ground-based electronics to enable the pilot to land the aircraft safely in poor visibility.

ilvaite /lvət/ n. [mass noun] a mineral consisting of a basic silicate of calcium and iron, typically occurring as black prisms.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin Ilva ‘Elba’ + -ITE^1.

-ily suffix forming adverbs corresponding to adjectives ending in -y (such as happily corresponding to happy).

<ORIGIN> see -y^1, -ly^2.

I'm contraction I am: I'm a busy woman.

im- prefix variant spelling of in-1, in-2 assimilated before b, m, p (as in imbibe, immure, impart).

image n. 1 a representation of the external form of a person or thing in sculpture, painting, etc.

- a visible impression obtained by a camera, telescope, microscope, or other device, or displayed on a video screen.

- an optical appearance or counterpart produced by light from an object reflected in a mirror or refracted through a lens.

- [MATHEMATICS] a point or set formed by mapping from another point or set.

- a mental representation or idea: I had a sudden image of Sal bringing me breakfast in bed.

- [in sing.] a person or thing that closely resembles another: he's the image of his father.

- [in sing.] semblance or likeness: made in the image of God.

- (in biblical use) an idol.

2 the general impression that a person, organization, or product presents to the public: she strives to project an image of youth.

3 a simile or metaphor: he uses the image of a hole to describe emotional emptiness.

■ v. [with obj.] make a representation of the external form of: artworks which imaged women's bodies.

- make a visual representation of (something) by scanning it with a detector or electromagnetic beam: (as n. imaging) medical imaging.

- form a mental picture or idea of: it is possible for us to image a society in which no one committed crime.

<DERIVATIVES> imageless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin imago; related to IMITATE.

image intensifier n. a device used to make a brighter version of an image on a photoelectric screen.

image-maker n. a person employed to identify and create a favourable public image for a person, organization, or product.

image processing n. [mass noun] the analysis and manipulation of a digitized image, especially in order to improve its quality.

<DERIVATIVES> image processor n.

imager n. an electronic or other device which records images of something: a thermal imager.

imagery n. 1 [mass noun] visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work: Tennyson uses imagery to create a lyrical emotion.

- visual symbolism: the film's religious imagery.

2 visual images collectively: the impact of computer-generated imagery on contemporary art.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘statuary, carved images collectively’): from Old French imagerie, from imager ‘make an image’, from image (see IMAGE).

imagesetter n. [COMPUTING] a very high-quality type of colour printer used to print glossy magazines, newsletters, or other documents.

imaginable adj. possible to be thought of or believed: the most spectacular views imaginable.

<DERIVATIVES> imaginably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin imaginabilis, from Latin imaginare ‘form an image of, represent’, from imago, imagin- ‘image’.

imaginal /madn(ə)l/ adj. 1 relating to an image.

2 [ENTOMOLOGY] relating to an adult insect or imago.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin imago, imagin- ‘image’ + -AL.

imaginal disc n. [ZOOLOGY] a thickening of the epidermis of an insect larva which, on pupation, develops into a particular organ of the adult insect.

imaginary adj. 1 existing only in the imagination: Chris had imaginary conversations with her.

2 [MATHEMATICS] (of a number or quantity) expressed in terms of the square root of a negative number (usually the square root of −1, represented by i or j). See also COMPLEX.

<DERIVATIVES> imaginarily adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin imaginarius, from imago, imagin- ‘image’.

imagination n. the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses: she'd never been blessed with a vivid imagination | her story captured the public's imagination.

- [mass noun] the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful: she was set in her ways and lacked imagination.

- the part of the mind that imagines things: a girl who existed only in my imagination.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin imaginatio(n-), from the verb imaginari ‘picture to oneself’, from imago, imagin- ‘image’.

imaginative adj. having or showing creativity or inventiveness: making imaginative use of computer software | he was imaginative beyond all other architects.

<DERIVATIVES> imaginatively adv. imaginativeness n.

imagine v. [with obj.] 1 form a mental image or concept of: she imagined him at his desk, his head in his hands | [with clause] I couldn't imagine what she expected to tell them.

- believe (something unreal or untrue) to exist or be so: she was overtired and imagining things | (as adj. imagined) they suffered from ill health, real or imagined, throughout their lives.

2 [with clause] suppose or assume: after Ned died, everyone imagined that Mabel would move away.

<DERIVATIVES> imaginer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French imaginer, from Latin imaginare ‘form an image of, represent’ and imaginari ‘picture to oneself’, both from imago, imagin- ‘image’.

imagineer /madnə/ n. a person who devises and implements a new or highly imaginative concept or technology, in particular one who devises the attractions in Walt Disney theme parks.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as n. imagineering) devise and implement (a new or highly imaginative concept or technology): theme parks are benefiting from a new era of imagineering.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from IMAGINE, on the pattern of engineer.

imagines plural form of IMAGO.

imaginings plural n. thoughts or fantasies: this was quite beyond his worst imaginings.

imagism /mdz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a movement in early 20th-century English and American poetry which sought clarity of expression through the use of precise images. The movement derived in part from the aesthetic philosophy of T. E. Hulme and involved Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Amy Lowell, and others.

<DERIVATIVES> imagist n. imagistic adj.

imago /meə/ n. (pl. imagos or imagines /medniz/) 1 [ENTOMOLOGY] the final and fully developed adult stage of an insect, typically winged.

2 [PSYCHOANALYSIS] an unconscious idealized mental image of someone, especially a parent, which influences a person's behaviour.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in sense 1): modern Latin use of Latin imago ‘image’.

■ Sense 2 dates from the early 20th cent.

imam /mαm/ n. the person who leads prayers in a mosque.

- (Imam) a title of various Muslim leaders, especially of one succeeding Muhammad as leader of Shiite Islam: Imam Khomeini.

<DERIVATIVES> imamate n.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic 'imām ‘leader’, from 'amma ‘lead the way’.

Imam Bayildi /mαm bαjldi/ n. [mass noun] a Turkish dish consisting of aubergines stuffed with a garlic-flavoured onion and tomato mixture and baked.

<ORIGIN> Turkish, literally ‘the imam fainted’ (from enjoyment or the cost of the dish).

IMAP abbr. [COMPUTING] Internet Mail Access Protocol.

Imari /mαri/ n. [usually as modifier] a type of richly decorated Japanese porcelain: an Imari vase.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of a port in NW Kyushu, Japan, from which it was shipped.

IMAX /maks/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a technique of widescreen cinematography which produces an image approximately ten times larger than that from standard 35 mm film: [as modifier] IMAX cinemas.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from i- (probably representing a pronunciation of EYE) + max (short for MAXIMUM).

imbalance n. [mass noun] lack of proportion or relation between corresponding things: tension is generated by the imbalance of power | [count noun] the condition is caused by a hormonal imbalance.

imbecile /mbsil/ n. INFORMAL a stupid person.

■ adj. [attr.] stupid; idiotic: try not to make imbecile remarks.

<DERIVATIVES> imbecilic adj. imbecility n. (pl. imbecilities)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘physically weak’): via French from Latin imbecillus, literally ‘without a supporting staff’, from in- (expressing negation) + baculum ‘stick, staff’. The current sense dates from the early 19th cent.

imbibe /mbb/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL, often HUMOROUS drink (alcohol): they were imbibing far too many pitchers of beer.

- absorb or assimilate (ideas or knowledge): if one does not imbibe the culture one cannot succeed.

- chiefly [BOTANY] (especially of seeds) absorb (water) into ultramicroscopic spaces or pores.

- [BOTANY] place (seeds) in water in order for them to absorb it.

<DERIVATIVES> imbiber n. imbibition /mbb(ə)n/ n. (chiefly [BOTANY])

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘absorb or cause to absorb moisture’ and ‘take into solution’): from Latin imbibere, from in- ‘in’ + bibere ‘to drink’.

imbizo /mbizə/ n. (pl. imbizos) S. AFRICAN a gathering, usually called by a traditional leader.

<ORIGIN> from Zulu biza ‘summon, call’.

Imbolc /mblk/ n. an ancient Celtic festival celebrated on the second day of February.

<ORIGIN> a Celtic word, literally ‘in the belly or womb’, the festival being dedicated to women and fertility.

imbongi /mbi/ n. (pl. izimbongi or iimbongi or imbongis) S. AFRICAN (in traditional African society) a composer and orator of poems praising a chief or other figurehead.

<ORIGIN> from Xhosa (plural iim-) and Zulu (plural izim-).

imbricate chiefly [ZOOLOGY] & [BOTANY] v. /mbrket/ [with obj.] (usually as adj. imbricated) arrange (scales, sepals, plates, etc.) so that they overlap like roof tiles: these moulds have spherical bodies composed of imbricated triangular plates.

- [no obj.] (usually as adj. imbricating) overlap: a coating of imbricating scales.

■ adj. /mbrkət/ (of scales, sepals, plates, etc.) having adjacent edges overlapping. Compare with VALVATE.

<DERIVATIVES> imbrication n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘shaped like a pantile’): from Latin imbricat-, ‘covered with roof tiles’, from the verb imbricare, from imbrex, imbric- ‘roof tile’ (from imber ‘shower of rain’).

imbroglio /mbrələ/ n. (pl. imbroglios) an extremely confused, complicated, or embarrassing situation: the Abdication imbroglio of 1936.

- ARCHAIC a confused heap.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Italian, from imbrogliare ‘confuse’; related to EMBROIL.

Imbros /mbrs/ a Turkish island in the NE Aegean Sea, near the entrance to the Dardanelles. Turkish name IMROZ.

imbrue /mbru/ v. (imbrues, imbruing, imbrued) [with obj.] ARCHAIC or LITERARY stain (something, especially one's hands or sword): they were unwilling to imbrue their hands in his blood.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French embruer ‘bedaub, bedabble’, ultimately of Germanic origin and related to BROTH.

imbue /mbju/ v. (imbues, imbuing, imbued) [with obj.] (often be imbued with) inspire or permeate with (a feeling or quality): his works are invariably imbued with a sense of calm and serenity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘saturate’): from French imbu ‘moistened’, from Latin imbutus, past participle of imbuere ‘moisten’.

I.Mech.E. abbr. (in the UK) Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

IMEI abbr. international mobile equipment identity.

IMF abbr. International Monetary Fund.

IMHO abbr. in my humble opinion.

Imhotep /mhətεp/ (fl. 27th century BC), Egyptian architect and scholar, later deified. He probably designed the step pyramid built at Saqqara for the 3rd-dynasty pharaoh Djoser.

imidazole /mdezəl mdəzəl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless crystalline compound with mildly basic properties, present as a substituent in the amino acid histidine.

<INFO> a heterocyclic compound; chem. formula: C_3H_4N_2.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from IMIDE + AZO- + -OLE.

imide /md/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing the group –CONHCO–, related to ammonia by replacement of two hydrogen atoms by acyl groups.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, arbitrary alteration of AMIDE.

imine /min/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing the group –C=NH or –C=NR where R is an alkyl or other group.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from AMINE, on the pattern of the pair amide, imide.

I.Min.E. abbr. (in the UK) Institution of Mining Engineers.

imipramine /mprəmin/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic compound used to treat depression.

<INFO> A tricyclic amine; chem. formula: C_19H_24N_2.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from imi(ne) + pr(opyl) + AMINE.

imitate v. [with obj.] take or follow as a model: his style was imitated by many other writers.

- copy (a person's speech or mannerisms), especially for comic effect: she imitated my Scots accent.

- copy or simulate: synthetic fabrics can now imitate everything from silk to rubber.

<DERIVATIVES> imitable adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin imitat- ‘copied’, from the verb imitari; related to imago ‘image’.

imitation n. 1 [mass noun] the action of using someone or something as a model: a child learns to speak by imitation.

- an act of imitating a person's speech or mannerisms, especially for comic effect: he attempted an atrocious imitation of my English accent.

- [mass noun] [MUSIC] the repetition of a phrase or melody in another part or voice, usually at a different pitch.

2 a thing intended to simulate or copy something else: [as modifier] an imitation sub-machine gun.

<PHRASES>

□ imitation is the sincerest form of flattery PROVERB copying someone or something is an implicit way of paying them a compliment.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin imitatio(n-), from the verb imitari (see IMITATE).

imitative /mtətv/ adj. 1 copying or following a model or example: the derring-do of our film heroes inspired us to imitative feats.

- following a model or example without any attempt at originality: I found the film pretentious and imitative.

2 (of a word) reproducing a natural sound (e.g. fizz) or pronounced in a way that is thought to correspond to the appearance or character of the object or action described (e.g. blob).

<DERIVATIVES> imitatively adv. imitativeness n.

imitator n. someone who copies the behaviour or actions of another: the show's success has sparked off many imitators.

imli /mli/ n. Indian term for TAMARIND.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit amlikā.

immaculate adj. 1 perfectly clean, neat, or tidy: an immaculate white suit.

- free from flaws or mistakes; perfect: an immaculate safety record.

- [THEOLOGY] (in the Roman Catholic Church) free from sin.

2 [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] uniformly coloured without spots or other marks.

<DERIVATIVES> immaculacy n. immaculately adv. immaculateness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘free from moral stain’): from Latin immaculatus, from in- ‘not’ + maculatus ‘stained’ (from macula ‘spot’).

Immaculate Conception n. the doctrine that God preserved the Virgin Mary from the taint of original sin from the moment she was conceived; it was defined as a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church in 1854.

- the feast commemorating the Immaculate Conception on December 8th.

immanent /mənənt/ adj. existing or operating within; inherent: the protection of liberties is immanent in constitutional arrangements.

- (of God) permanently pervading and sustaining the universe. Often contrasted with TRANSCENDENT.

<DERIVATIVES> immanence n. immanency n. immanentism n. immanentist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin immanent- ‘remaining within’, from in- ‘in’ + manere ‘remain’.

immaterial adj. 1 unimportant under the circumstances; irrelevant: the difference in our ages is immaterial.

2 [PHILOSOPHY] spiritual, rather than physical: we have immaterial souls.

<DERIVATIVES> immateriality n. immaterially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from late Latin immaterialis, from in- ‘not’ + materialis ‘relating to matter’.

immaterialism n. [mass noun] the belief that matter has no objective existence.

<DERIVATIVES> immaterialist n.

immature adj. not fully developed: many of the fish caught are immature.

- having or showing an emotional or intellectual development appropriate to someone younger: his immature sense of humour.

<DERIVATIVES> immaturely adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘premature’, referring to death): from Latin immaturus ‘untimely, unripe’, from in- ‘not’ + maturus ‘ripe’ (see MATURE).

immaturity n. [mass noun] the state of being immature or not fully grown: the immaturity of the immune system in very young children makes them especially vulnerable.

- behaviour that is appropriate to someone younger: they were shocked by such immaturity in a grown man.

immeasurable adj. too large, extensive, or extreme to measure: immeasurable suffering.

<DERIVATIVES> immeasurability n. immeasurably adv.

immediacy /midəsi/ n. [mass noun] the quality of bringing one into direct and instant involvement with something, giving rise to a sense of urgency or excitement: email works because it has the immediacy of a scribbled memo.

immediate adj. 1 occurring or done at once; instant: the authorities took no immediate action | the book's success was immediate.

- relating to or existing at the present time: the immediate concern was how to avoid taxes.

2 nearest in time, relationship, or rank: no changes are envisaged in the immediate future | his immediate superior in the department.

- nearest or next to in space: roads in the immediate vicinity of the port.

- (of a relation or action) without an intervening medium or agency; direct: coronary thrombosis was the immediate cause of death.

3 [PHILOSOPHY] (of knowledge or reaction) gained or shown without reasoning; intuitive.

<DERIVATIVES> immediateness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘nearest in space or order’): from Old French immediat, or from late Latin immediatus, from in- ‘not’ + mediatus ‘intervening’, past participle of mediare (see MEDIATE).

immediate constituent n. [LINGUISTICS] each of the constituents of a syntactic unit at the next level down in the hierarchy.

immediately adv. 1 at once; instantly: I rang immediately for an ambulance.

2 without any intervening time or space: she was sitting immediately behind me.

- in direct or very close relation: they would be the states most immediately affected by any such action.

■ conj. chiefly BRITISH as soon as: let me know immediately she arrives.

immedicable /mεdkəb(ə)l/ adj. ARCHAIC unable to be healed or treated; incurable.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin immedicabilis, from in- ‘not’ + medicabilis (see MEDICABLE).

Immelmann /m(ə)lmən/ (also Immelmann turn) n. an aerobatic manoeuvre consisting of a half loop followed by a half roll, resulting in reversal of direction and increased height.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Max Immelmann (1890–1916), German fighter pilot.

immemorial adj. originating in the distant past; very old: an immemorial custom.

<DERIVATIVES> immemorially adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin immemorialis, from in- ‘not’ + memorialis ‘relating to the memory’.

immense adj. extremely large or great, especially in scale or degree: the cost of restoration has been immense | a factor of immense importance.

<DERIVATIVES> immensity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from Latin immensus ‘immeasurable’, from in- ‘not’ + mensus ‘measured’ (past participle of metiri).

immensely adv. to a great extent; extremely: [as submodifier] the president was immensely popular.

immerse v. 1 [with obj.] dip or submerge in a liquid: immerse the paper in water for twenty minutes.

- baptize (someone) by immersion in water.

2 (immerse oneself or be immersed) involve oneself deeply in a particular activity: she immersed herself in her work | she was still immersed in her thoughts.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin immers- ‘dipped into’, from the verb immergere, from in- ‘in’ + mergere ‘to dip’.

immersion n. [mass noun] 1 the action of immersing someone or something in a liquid: his back was still raw from immersion in the icy Atlantic sea.

- baptism by immersing a person bodily (but not necessarily completely) in water.

2 deep mental involvement: her total immersion in work meant that she had few real friends.

- a method of teaching a foreign language by the exclusive use of that language.

3 [ASTRONOMY] the disappearance of a celestial body in the shadow of or behind another.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from late Latin immersio(n-), from immergere ‘dip into’ (see IMMERSE).

immersion heater n. BRITISH an electric heating element that is positioned in the liquid to be heated, typically in a domestic hot-water tank.

immersive adj. (of a computer display or system) generating a three-dimensional image which appears to surround the user.

immigrant n. a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin immigrant- ‘immigrating’, from the verb immigrare, on the pattern of emigrant.

immigrate v. [no obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN come to live permanently in a foreign country: an Australian who immigrated to Britain in 1982.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin immigrat- ‘immigrated’, from the verb immigrare, from in- ‘into’ + migrare ‘migrate’.

immigration n. [mass noun] the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country: a barrier to control illegal immigration from Mexico.

- the place at an airport or country's border where government officials check the documents of people entering that country.

imminent adj. 1 about to happen: they were in imminent danger of being swept away.

2 ARCHAIC overhanging.

<DERIVATIVES> imminence n. imminently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin imminent- ‘overhanging, impending’, from the verb imminere, from in- ‘upon, towards’ + minere ‘to project’.

immiscible /msb(ə)l/ adj. (of liquids) not forming a homogeneous mixture when mixed: benzene is immiscible with water.

<DERIVATIVES> immiscibility n. immiscibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from late Latin immiscibilis, from in- ‘not’ + miscibilis (see MISCIBLE).

immiseration /mzəre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] economic impoverishment.

<DERIVATIVES> immiserate v.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: translating German Verelendung.

immiserization /mzərze(ə)n/ (also immiserisation) n. another term for IMMISERATION.

<DERIVATIVES> immiserize v.

immitigable /mtəb(ə)l/ adj. ARCHAIC unable to be made less severe or serious: the pain was immitigable.

<DERIVATIVES> immitigably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin immitigabilis, from in- ‘not’ + mitigabilis ‘able to be mitigated’.

immittance /mt(ə)ns/ n. [PHYSICS] admittance and impedance (as a combined concept).

<ORIGIN> 1950s: blend of IMPEDANCE and ADMITTANCE.

immixture n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the process of mixing or being involved with something.

immobile adj. not moving; motionless: she sat immobile for a long time.

- incapable of moving or being moved: an immobile workforce.

<DERIVATIVES> immobility n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin immobilis, from in- ‘not’ + mobilis (see MOBILE).

immobilism n. [mass noun] deep-seated resistance to political change.

immobilize (also immobilise) v. [with obj.] prevent (something or someone) from moving or operating as normal: the car had been immobilized by a wheel clamp | fear immobilized her.

- restrict the movements of (a limb) to allow healing.

<DERIVATIVES> immobilization n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French immobiliser, from immobile (see IMMOBILE).

immobilizer (also immobiliser) n. a device for immobilizing a motor vehicle in order to prevent theft.

immoderate adj. not sensible or restrained; excessive: immoderate drinking.

<DERIVATIVES> immoderately adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin immoderatus, from in- ‘not’ + moderatus ‘reduced, controlled’ (past participle of moderare).

immoderation n. [mass noun] the quality of being excessive and lacking in restraint; overindulgence: he paid a high price for his immoderation.

immodest adj. lacking humility or decorousness: his immodest personality.

<DERIVATIVES> immodestly adv. immodesty n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French immodeste or Latin immodestus, from in- ‘not’ + modestus (see MODEST).

immolate /məlet/ v. [with obj.] kill or offer as a sacrifice, especially by burning.

<DERIVATIVES> immolation n. immolator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (earlier (late Middle English) as immolation): from Latin immolat- ‘sprinkled with sacrificial meal’, from the verb immolare, from in- ‘upon’ + mola ‘meal’.

immoral adj. not conforming to accepted standards of morality: unseemly and immoral behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> immorally adv.

<USAGE> The words immoral and amoral are different in meaning: see usage at amoral.

immoral earnings plural n. earnings from prostitution.

immoralism n. [mass noun] a system of thought or behaviour that does not accept moral principles.

<DERIVATIVES> immoralist n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: suggested by German Immoralismus.

immorality n. (pl. immoralities) [mass noun] the state or quality of being immoral; wickedness: he believed his father had been punished by God for his immorality | [count noun] her alleged immoralities aroused a public outcry.

immortal /mt(ə)l/ adj. living forever; never dying or decaying: our mortal bodies are inhabited by immortal souls.

- deserving to be remembered forever: the immortal children's classic, ‘The Wind in the Willows’.

■ n. 1 an immortal being, especially a god of ancient Greece or Rome.

- a person of enduring fame: he will always be one of the immortals of soccer.

2 (Immortal) a member of the French Academy.

3 (Immortals) HISTORICAL the royal bodyguard of ancient Persia.

<DERIVATIVES> immortally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin immortalis, from in- ‘not’ + mortalis (see MORTAL).

immortality /mtalti/ n. [mass noun] the ability to live forever; eternal life: eating the fruit gave the gods immortality.

- the quality of deserving to be remembered for a long time; timelessness: occasionally a guide book has achieved immortality.

immortalize (also immortalise) v. [with obj.] (usually be immortalized in) confer enduring fame upon: he will be forever immortalized in the history books.

<DERIVATIVES> immortalization n.

immortelle /mtεl/ n. 1 another term for everlasting (sense 2 of the noun).

2 W. INDIAN a Caribbean tree of the pea family, with a spiny trunk and clusters of red, orange, or pinkish flowers.

<INFO> Genus Erythrina, family Leguminosae: two species.

<ORIGIN> French (feminine adjective), literally ‘everlasting’.

immotile /mətl/ adj. [BIOLOGY] not motile.

immovable (also immoveable) adj. 1 not able to be moved: all immovable objects have graffiti sprayed on them.

- [LAW] (of property) consisting of land, buildings, or other permanent items.

2 (of a person) not yielding to argument or pressure.

- (especially of a principle) fixed or unchangeable: an immovable article of faith.

■ n. (immovables) [LAW] immovable property.

<DERIVATIVES> immovability n. immovably adv.

immune adj. 1 resistant to a particular infection or toxin owing to the presence of specific antibodies or sensitized white blood cells: they were naturally immune to hepatitis B.

- [attr.] [BIOLOGY] relating to immune resistance.

2 protected or exempt, especially from an obligation or the effects of something: they are immune from legal action.

- [predic.] not affected or influenced by something: no one is immune to his immense charm.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘free from (a liability)’): from Latin immunis ‘exempt from public service or charge’, from in- ‘not’ + munis ‘ready for service’. Senses relating to physiological resistance date from the late 19th cent.

immune deficiency n. [mass noun] failure of the immune system to protect the body adequately from infection, due to the absence or insufficiency of some component process or substance.

immune response n. the reaction of the cells and fluids of the body to the presence of a substance which is not recognized as a constituent of the body itself.

immune system n. the organs and processes of the body that provide resistance to infection and toxins. Organs include the thymus, bone marrow, and lymph nodes.

immunity n. (pl. immunities) 1 [mass noun] the ability of an organism to resist a particular infection or toxin by the action of specific antibodies or sensitized white blood cells: immunity to typhoid seems to have increased spontaneously.

2 protection or exemption from something, especially an obligation or penalty: the rebels were given immunity from prosecution.

- [LAW] officially granted exemption from legal proceedings or liability.

- lack of susceptibility, especially to something unwelcome or harmful: products must have an adequate level of immunity to interference.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: in the sense ‘exemption (from a liability)’: from Latin immunitas, from immunis (see IMMUNE).

immunize (also immunise) v. [with obj.] make (a person or animal) immune to infection, typically by inoculation: the vaccine is used to immunize children against measles.

<DERIVATIVES> immunization n. immunizer n.

immuno- /mjnə mjunə/ combining form MEDICINE representing IMMUNE, IMMUNITY, or IMMUNOLOGY.

immunoassay /mjnəase mjunə-/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a procedure for detecting or measuring specific proteins or other substances through their properties as antigens or antibodies.

immunoblotting /mjnəblt mjunəblt/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a technique for analysing or identifying proteins in a mixture, involving separation by electrophoresis followed by staining with antibodies.

immunochemistry n. [mass noun] the branch of biochemistry concerned with immune responses and systems.

immunocompetent /mjnəkmptənt mjunə-/ adj. MEDICINE having a normal immune response.

<DERIVATIVES> immunocompetence n.

immunocompromised adj. MEDICINE having an impaired immune system.

immunocytochemistry /mjnəstəkεmstri mjunə-/ n. [mass noun] the range of microscopical techniques used in the study of the immune system.

<DERIVATIVES> immunocytochemical adj.

immunodeficiency n. another term for IMMUNE DEFICIENCY.

immunodiffusion n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a technique for detecting or measuring antibodies and antigens by their precipitation when diffused together through a gel or other medium.

immunoelectrophoresis /mjnəlεktrə()fəriss mjunə-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a technique for the identification of proteins in serum or other fluid by electrophoresis and subsequent immunodiffusion.

immunofluorescence /mjnəflərεs(ə)ns mjunə- -fl-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a technique for determining the location of an antigen (or antibody) in tissues by reaction with an antibody (or antigen) labelled with a fluorescent dye.

<DERIVATIVES> immunofluorescent adj.

immunogenic /mjnədεnk mjunə-/ adj. relating to or denoting substances able to produce an immune response.

<DERIVATIVES> immunogenicity n.

immunoglobulin /mjnəlbjln mjunə-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a class of proteins present in the serum and cells of the immune system, which function as antibodies.

immunology n. [mass noun] the branch of medicine and biology concerned with immunity.

<DERIVATIVES> immunologic adj. immunological adj. immunologically adv. immunologist n.

immunosorbent adj. [BIOCHEMISTRY] relating to or denoting techniques making use of the absorption of antibodies by insoluble preparations of antigens.

immunosuppression n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the partial or complete suppression of the immune response of an individual. It is induced to help the survival of an organ after a transplant operation.

<DERIVATIVES> immunosuppressant n. immunosuppressed adj.

immunosuppressive adj. MEDICINE (chiefly of drugs) partially or completely suppressing the immune response of an individual.

■ n. an immunosuppressive drug.

immunotherapy n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the prevention or treatment of disease with substances that stimulate the immune response.

immure /mjə mj/ v. [with obj.] enclose or confine (someone) against their will: her brother was immured in a lunatic asylum.

<DERIVATIVES> immurement n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French emmurer or medieval Latin immurare, from in- ‘in’ + murus ‘wall’.

immutable /mjutəb(ə)l/ adj. unchanging over time or unable to be changed: an immutable fact.

<DERIVATIVES> immutability n. immutably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin immutabilis, from in- ‘not’ + mutabilis (see MUTABLE).

IMO abbr. International Maritime Organization.

i-mode n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a technology that allows data to be transferred to and from Internet sites via mobile phones.

<ORIGIN> early 21st century: from I^2

■ (referring to the user's ability to interact directly with the Internet) + MODE.

IMP abbr. [BRIDGE] International Match Point.

imp n. a small, mischievous devil or sprite.

- a mischievous child: a cheeky young imp.

■ v. [with obj.] repair a damaged feather in (the wing or tail of a trained hawk) by attaching part of a new feather.

<ORIGIN> Old English impa, impe ‘young shoot, scion’, impian ‘to graft’, based on Greek emphuein ‘to implant’. In late Middle English, the noun denoted a descendant, especially of a noble family, and later a child of the devil or a person regarded as such; hence a ‘little devil’ or mischievous child (early 17th century).

impact n. /mpakt/ 1 the action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another: there was the sound of a third impact | [mass noun] bullets which expand and cause devastating injury on impact.

2 a marked effect or influence: our regional measures have had a significant impact on unemployment.

■ v. /mpakt/ 1 [no obj.] come into forcible contact with another object: the shell impacted twenty yards away.

- [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN come into forcible contact with: an asteroid impacted the earth some 60 million years ago.

2 have a strong effect: high interest rates have impacted on retail spending.

3 [with obj.] press (something) firmly: the animals' feet do not impact and damage the soil as cows' hooves do.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a verb in the sense ‘press closely, fix firmly’): from Latin impact- ‘driven in’, from the verb impingere (see IMPINGE).

<USAGE> The phrasal verb impact on, as in when produce is lost, it always impacts on the bottom line, has been in the language since the 1960s. Many people disapprove of it, despite its relative frequency, saying that make an impact on or other equivalent wordings should be used instead. This may be partly because, in general, new formations of verbs from nouns (as in the case of impact) are regarded as somehow inferior; in addition, since the use of impact is associated with business and commercial writing, it has the unenviable status of ‘jargon’, which makes it doubly disliked.

impact crater n. a crater on a planet or satellite caused by the impact of a meteorite or other object.

impacted adj. 1 chiefly MEDICINE pressed firmly together, in particular:

- (of a tooth) wedged between another tooth and the jaw.

- (of a fractured bone) having the parts crushed together.

- (of faeces) lodged in the intestine.

2 strongly affected by something: the planners' lamentable failure to consult with the impacted population.

impactful /mpaktf()l/ adj. having a major impact or effect: an eye-catching and impactful design.

impaction n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the condition of being or process of becoming impacted, especially of faeces in the intestine.

impactive adj. having a strong effect or influence; making an impression: impactive colour radiates from the sculptures.

impactor n. chiefly [ASTRONOMY] an object (such as a meteorite) which collides with another body.

impair v. [with obj.] weaken or damage (something, especially a faculty or function): a noisy job could permanently impair their hearing.

<ORIGIN> Middle English enpeire, from Old French empeirier, based on late Latin pejorare (from Latin pejor ‘worse’). The current spelling is due to association with words derived from Latin beginning with im-.

impaired adj. having a disability of a specified kind: [in combination] hearing-impaired children.

impairment n. [mass noun] the state or fact of being impaired, especially in a specified faculty: a degree of physical or mental impairment | [count noun] a speech impairment.

impala /mpαlə -palə/ n. (pl. same) a graceful antelope often seen in large herds in open woodland in southern and East Africa.

<INFO> Aepyceros melampus, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Zulu impala.

impale v. [with obj.] 1 transfix or pierce with a sharp instrument: his head was impaled on a pike and exhibited for all to see.

2 [HERALDRY] display (a coat of arms) side by side with another on the same shield, separated by a vertical line.

- (of a coat of arms) adjoin (another coat of arms) on the same shield.

<DERIVATIVES> impalement n. impaler n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘enclose with stakes or pales’): from French empaler or medieval Latin impalare, from Latin in- ‘in’ + palus ‘a stake’.

impalpable adj. unable to be felt by touch: an impalpable ghost.

- not easily comprehended.

<DERIVATIVES> impalpability n. impalpably adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French, or from late Latin impalpabilis, from in- ‘not’ + palpabilis (see PALPABLE).

impanation /mpəne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [THEOLOGY] the medieval and Reformation doctrine that the body of Christ is present within the Eucharistic bread and does not replace it. Compare with CONSUBSTANTIATION.

<DERIVATIVES> impanate /mpenət/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin impanatio(n-), from impanare ‘embody in bread’, from in- ‘in’ + panis ‘bread’.

impanel (also empanel) v. (impanels, impanelling, impanelled US impaneled, impaneling) [with obj.] enlist or enrol (a jury).

- enrol (someone) on to a jury.

<DERIVATIVES> impanelment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as empanel): from Anglo-Norman French empaneller, from em- ‘in’ + Old French panel ‘panel’.

impark v. [with obj.] HISTORICAL enclose (animals) in a park.

- enclose (land) to make it into a park.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French emparquer, from em- ‘within’ + parc ‘park’.

impart v. [with obj.] make (information) known: the teachers imparted a great deal of knowledge to their pupils.

- bestow (a quality): shiitake mushrooms impart a wonderfully woody flavour to the salad.

<DERIVATIVES> impartation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘give a share of’): from Old French impartir, from Latin impartire, from in- ‘in’ + pars, part- ‘part’.

impartial adj. treating all rivals or disputants equally: the minister cannot be impartial in the way that a judge would be.

<DERIVATIVES> impartiality n. impartially adv.

impassable adj. impossible to travel along or over: the narrow channels are impassable to ocean-going ships.

<DERIVATIVES> impassability n. impassableness n. impassably adv.

impasse /ampαs ampαs/ n. a situation in which no progress is possible, especially because of disagreement; a deadlock: the current political impasse.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from im- (expressing negation) + the stem of passer ‘to pass’.

impassible /mpasb(ə)l/ adj. chiefly [THEOLOGY] incapable of suffering or feeling pain: belief in an impassible God.

- ARCHAIC incapable of feeling or emotion.

<DERIVATIVES> impassibility n. impassibly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin impassibilis, from Latin in- ‘not’ + passibilis (see PASSIBLE).

impassion v. [with obj.] make passionate: her body had once pleased and impassioned him.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian impassionnare, from im- (expressing intensive force) + passione ‘passion’, from Christian Latin passio (see PASSION).

impassioned adj. filled with or showing great emotion: she made an impassioned plea for help.

impassive adj. not feeling or showing emotion: his cold, impassive face.

<DERIVATIVES> impassively adv. impassiveness n. impassivity n.

impasto /mpastə/ n. [mass noun] [ART] the process or technique of laying on paint or pigment thickly so that it stands out from a surface.

- paint applied thickly.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Italian, from impastare, from im- ‘upon’ + pasta ‘a paste’, from late Latin.

impatience n. [mass noun] the tendency to be impatient; irritability or restlessness: she crumpled up the pages in a burst of impatience. | he was shifting in his seat with impatience.

impatiens /mpatεnz/ n. a plant of a genus that includes busy Lizzie and its many hybrids.

<INFO> Genus Impatiens, family Balsaminaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin, literally ‘impatient’ (because the capsules of the plant readily burst open when touched).

impatient adj. 1 having or showing a tendency to be quickly irritated or provoked: an impatient motorist blaring his horn | she can be impatient with people who don't see things her way.

- (impatient of) intolerant of: a man impatient of bureaucracy.

2 restlessly eager: they are impatient for change | [with infinitive] he was impatient to be on his way.

<DERIVATIVES> impatiently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘lacking patience’ and ‘unbearable’): via Old French from Latin impatient- ‘not bearing, impatient’, from in- ‘not’ + pati ‘suffer, bear’.

impeach v. [with obj.] call into question the integrity or validity of (a practice): there is no desire to impeach the privileges of the House of Commons.

- BRITISH charge (someone) with treason or another crime against the state.

- chiefly US charge (the holder of a public office) with misconduct.

<DERIVATIVES> impeachable adj. impeachment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘hinder, prevent’; earlier as empeche): from Old French empecher ‘impede’, from late Latin impedicare ‘catch, entangle’ (based on pedica ‘a fetter’, from pes, ped- ‘foot’). Compare with IMPEDE.

impeccable /mpεkəb(ə)l/ adj. in accordance with the highest standards; faultless: he had impeccable manners.

- [THEOLOGY], RARE not liable to sin.

<DERIVATIVES> impeccability n. impeccably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the theological sense): from Latin impeccabilis, from in- ‘not’ + peccare ‘to sin’.

impecunious /mpkjunəs/ adj. having little or no money: a titled but impecunious family.

<DERIVATIVES> impecuniosity n. impecuniousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from IN-1 ‘not’ + obsolete pecunious ‘having money, wealthy’ (from Latin pecuniosus, from pecunia ‘money’).

impedance /mpid(ə)ns/ n. the effective resistance of an electric circuit or component to alternating current, arising from the combined effects of ohmic resistance and reactance. See also ACOUSTIC IMPEDANCE.

<INFO> Impedance is usually expressed as a complex quantity Z = R + jX, where R is resistance, X is reactance, and j is the imaginary square root of −1.

impede /mpid/ v. [with obj.] delay or prevent (someone or something) by obstructing them; hinder: the sap causes swelling which can impede breathing.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin impedire ‘shackle the feet of’, based on pes, ped- ‘foot’. Compare with IMPEACH.

impediment /mpεdm(ə)nt/ n. 1 a hindrance or obstruction in doing something: a serious impediment to scientific progress.

2 (also speech impediment) a defect in a person's speech, such as a lisp or stammer.

<DERIVATIVES> impedimental adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin impedimentum, from impedire (see IMPEDE).

impedimenta /mpεdmεntə/ plural n. equipment for an activity or expedition, especially when considered as bulky or an encumbrance.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, plural of impedimentum ‘impediment’, from impedire (see IMPEDE).

impel /mpεl/ v. (impels, impelling, impelled) [with obj.] drive, force, or urge (someone) to do something: financial difficulties impelled him to desperate measures | [with obj. and infinitive] a lack of equality impelled the oppressed to fight.

- drive forward; propel: vital energies impel him in unforeseen directions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘propel’): from Latin impellere, from in- ‘towards’ + pellere ‘to drive’.

impeller (also impellor) n. the rotating part of a centrifugal pump, compressor, or other machine designed to move a fluid by rotation.

- a device turned by the flow of water past a ship's hull, used to measure speed or distance travelled.

impend /mpεnd/ v. [no obj.] (usually as adj. impending) be about to happen: my impending departure.

- ARCHAIC (of something bad) be looming: the melancholy fate which impended over his nephew.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin impendere, from in- ‘towards, upon’ + pendere ‘hang’.

impenetrable /mpεntrəb(ə)l/ adj. impossible to pass through or enter: a dark, impenetrable forest.

- impossible to understand: her expression was impenetrable | impenetrable jargon.

- [PHYSICS] (of matter) incapable of occupying the same space as other matter at the same time.

<DERIVATIVES> impenetrability n. impenetrably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from Latin impenetrabilis, from in- ‘not’ + penetrabilis ‘able to be pierced’, from the verb penetrare (see PENETRATE).

impenitent adj. not feeling shame or regret about one's actions or attitudes.

<DERIVATIVES> impenitence n. impenitency n. impenitently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin impaenitent- ‘not repenting’, from Latin in- ‘not’ + paenitere ‘repent’.

imperative adj. 1 of vital importance; crucial: immediate action was imperative | [with clause] it is imperative that standards are maintained.

2 giving an authoritative command; peremptory: the bell pealed again, a final imperative call.

- [GRAMMAR] denoting the mood of a verb that expresses a command or exhortation, as in come here!

■ n. 1 an essential or urgent thing: free movement of labour was an economic imperative.

- a factor or influence making something necessary: the biological imperatives which guide male and female behaviour.

2 [GRAMMAR] a verb or phrase in the imperative mood.

- (the imperative) the imperative mood.

<DERIVATIVES> imperatival /mpεrətv(ə)l/ adj. imperatively adv. imperativeness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a grammatical term): from late Latin imperativus (literally ‘specially ordered’, translating Greek prostatikē enklisis ‘imperative mood’), from imperare ‘to command’, from in- ‘towards’ + parare ‘make ready’.

imperator /mpərαt/ n. [ROMAN HISTORY] commander (a title conferred under the Republic on a victorious general and under the Empire on the emperor).

<DERIVATIVES> imperatorial /mpεrətrəl mpεrə-/ adj.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from imperare ‘to order, command’.

imperceptible adj. so slight, gradual, or subtle as not to be perceived: his head moved in an almost imperceptible nod.

<DERIVATIVES> imperceptibility /-blti/ n. imperceptibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from medieval Latin imperceptibilis, from in- ‘not’ + perceptibilis, from the verb percipere (see PERCEIVE).

imperceptive adj. lacking in perception or insight.

impercipient adj. failing to perceive something.

<DERIVATIVES> impercipience n.

imperfect adj. 1 not perfect; faulty or incomplete: an imperfect grasp of English.

2 [GRAMMAR] (of a tense) denoting a past action in progress but not completed at the time in question.

3 [MUSIC] (of a cadence) ending on the dominant chord.

4 [LAW] (of a gift, title, etc.) transferred without all the necessary conditions or requirements being met.

■ n. (the imperfect) [GRAMMAR] the imperfect tense.

<DERIVATIVES> imperfectly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English imparfit, imperfet, from Old French imparfait, from Latin imperfectus, from in- ‘not’ + perfectus (see PERFECT). The spelling change in the 16th century was due to association with the Latin form.

imperfect competition n. [mass noun] the situation prevailing in a market in which elements of monopoly allow individual producers or consumers to exercise some control over market prices.

imperfection n. a fault, blemish, or undesirable feature: the imperfections and injustices in our political system.

- [mass noun] the state of being faulty or incomplete: he accepted me without question, in all my imperfection.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin imperfectio(n-), from imperfectus (see IMPERFECT).

imperfective [GRAMMAR] adj. relating to or denoting an aspect of verbs in Slavic languages that expresses action without reference to its completion. The opposite of PERFECTIVE.

■ n. (the imperfective) the imperfective aspect.

imperfect rhyme n. a rhyme that only partly satisfies the usual criteria (e.g. love and move).

imperforate /mpəf(ə)rət/ adj. not perforated, in particular:

- [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] lacking the normal opening: unicellular spores of these parasites have an imperforate wall.

- (of a postage stamp or a block or sheet of stamps) lacking perforations, especially as an error.

imperial adj. 1 relating to an empire: Britain's imperial past.

- relating to an emperor: the imperial family.

- majestic or magnificent: the bedroom is huge and very imperial.

- imperious or domineering: the party and its autocratic—many would say imperial—ways.

2 relating to or denoting the system of non-metric weights and measures (the ounce, pound, stone, inch, foot, yard, mile, acre, pint, gallon, etc.) formerly used for all measures in the UK, and still used for some.

3 chiefly HISTORICAL (of a size of paper, in the UK) measuring 762 × 559 mm (30 × 22 inches).

■ n. a small pointed beard growing below the lower lip (associated with Napoleon III of France).

<DERIVATIVES> imperially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin imperialis, from imperium ‘command, authority, empire’; related to imperare ‘to command’. Compare with EMPEROR, empire, also with IMPERIOUS.

imperialism n. [mass noun] a policy of extending a country's power and influence through colonization, use of military force, or other means: the struggle against imperialism | FIGURATIVE French ministers protested at US cultural imperialism.

- chiefly HISTORICAL rule by an emperor.

<DERIVATIVES> imperialistic adj. imperialistically adv.

imperialist adj. relating to, supporting, or practising imperialism: an imperialist regime.

■ n. a person who supports or practises imperialism.

imperialize (also imperialise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. imperialized) subject to imperial rule or influence: people of an imperialized culture.

imperial pigeon n. a tropical fruit-eating pigeon that typically has a pale greyish head and breast and a dark back, occurring in Australasia, Indonesia, and South Asia.

<INFO> Genus Ducula, family Columbidae.

imperial preference n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a system of tariff concessions granted by members of the British Empire or Commonwealth to one another.

imperil v. (imperils, imperilling, imperilled; US imperiling, imperiled) [with obj.] put at risk of being harmed, injured, or destroyed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from PERIL, probably on the pattern of endanger.

imperious /mpərəs/ adj. arrogant and domineering: his imperious demands.

<DERIVATIVES> imperiously adv. imperiousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin imperiosus, from imperium ‘command, authority, empire’; related to imperare ‘to command’. Compare with IMPERIAL.

imperishable adj. enduring forever: imperishable truths.

<DERIVATIVES> imperishability /-blti/ n. imperishableness n. imperishably adv.

imperium /mpərəm/ n. [mass noun] absolute power.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘command, authority, empire’; related to imperare ‘to command’.

impermanent adj. not permanent.

<DERIVATIVES> impermanence n. impermanency n. impermanently adv.

impermeable /mpəməb(ə)l/ adj. not allowing fluid to pass through: an impermeable membrane.

<DERIVATIVES> impermeability n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French imperméable, or from late Latin impermeabilis, from in- ‘not’ + permeabilis (see PERMEABLE).

impermissible adj. not permitted or allowed: forcing a woman to continue a pregnancy that will almost certainly kill her is impermissible.

<DERIVATIVES> impermissibility n.

impersonal adj. 1 not influenced by, showing, or involving personal feelings: the impersonal power of a government.

- (of a place or organization) featureless and anonymous: an impersonal tower block.

2 not existing as a person: he gradually came to believe in an impersonal God.

3 [GRAMMAR] (of a verb) used only with a formal subject (in English usually it) and expressing an action not attributable to a definite subject (as in it is snowing).

<DERIVATIVES> impersonality n. impersonally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3): from late Latin impersonalis, from Latin in- ‘not’ + personalis (see PERSONAL).

impersonal pronoun n. the pronoun it when used without definite reference or antecedent, as in it was snowing and it seems hard to believe.

impersonate v. [with obj.] pretend to be (another person) for entertainment or fraud: it's a very serious offence to impersonate a police officer.

<DERIVATIVES> impersonator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘personify’): from IN-2 ‘into’ + Latin persona ‘person’, on the pattern of incorporate.

impersonation n. an act of pretending to be another person for the purpose of entertainment or fraud: he did an impersonation of Fred Astaire | [mass noun] he was tried on charges of impersonation and forgery.

impertinence n. [mass noun] lack of respect; rudeness: they gasped at the impertinence of the suggestion.

impertinent adj. 1 not showing proper respect; rude: an impertinent question.

2 FORMAL not pertinent to a particular matter; irrelevant: talk of ‘rhetoric’ and ‘strategy’ is impertinent to this process.

<DERIVATIVES> impertinently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French, or from late Latin impertinent- ‘not having reference to’, from Latin in- ‘not’ + pertinere ‘pertain’.

imperturbable /mpətəbəb(ə)l/ adj. unable to be upset or excited; calm: an imperturbable tranquillity.

<DERIVATIVES> imperturbability n. imperturbably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin imperturbabilis, from in- ‘not’ + perturbare (see PERTURB).

impervious /mpəvəs/ adj. 1 not allowing fluid to pass through: an impervious layer of basaltic clay.

2 (impervious to) unable to be affected by: he worked, apparently impervious to the heat.

<DERIVATIVES> imperviously adv. imperviousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin impervius (from in- ‘not’ + pervius ‘pervious’) + -OUS.

impetigo /mptə/ n. [mass noun] a contagious bacterial skin infection forming pustules and yellow crusty sores.

<INFO> This disease is caused by the bacteria Streptococcus pyogenes or S. aureus.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from impetere ‘to assail, attack’.

impetrate /mpətret/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC beseech or beg for: a slight testimonial which I thought fit to impetrate from that worthy nobleman.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin impetrat- ‘brought to pass’, from the verb impetrare (based on patrare ‘bring to pass’).

impetuous adj. acting or done quickly and without thought or care: she might live to rue this impetuous decision.

- moving forcefully or rapidly: an impetuous but controlled flow of water.

<DERIVATIVES> impetuosity n. impetuously adv. impetuousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French impetueux, from late Latin impetuosus, from impetere ‘to attack’.

impetus n. [mass noun] the force or energy with which a body moves: hit the booster coil before the flywheel loses all its impetus.

- something that makes a process or activity happen or happen more quickly: the ending of the Cold War gave new impetus to idealism.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘assault, force’, from impetere ‘assail’, from in- ‘towards’ + petere ‘seek’.

Imphal /mfəl mfαl/ the capital of the state of Manipur in the far north-east of India, lying close to the border with Burma (Myanmar); pop. 217,300 (2001). It was the scene of an important victory in 1944 by Anglo-Indian forces over the Japanese.

impi /mpi/ n. (pl. impis) a body of Zulu warriors.

- an armed band of Zulus involved in urban or rural conflict.

<ORIGIN> Zulu, ‘regiment, armed band’.

impiety /mpti/ n. (pl. impieties) [mass noun] lack of piety or reverence: he blamed the fall of the city on the impiety of the people.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French impiete or Latin impietas, from impius ‘impious’.

impinge v. (impinges, impinging, impinged) [no obj.] have an effect, especially a negative one: several factors impinge on market efficiency.

- advance over an area belonging to someone or something else; encroach: the proposed fencing would impinge on a public bridleway.

- (impinge on/upon) [PHYSICS] strike: the gases impinge on the surface of the liquid.

<DERIVATIVES> impingement n. impinger n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin impingere ‘drive something in or at’, from in- ‘into’ + pangere ‘fix, drive’. The word originally meant ‘thrust at forcibly’, then ‘come into forcible contact’; hence ‘encroach’ (mid 18th century).

impious /mpəs mpəs/ adj. showing a lack of respect for God or religion: the emperor's impious attacks on the Church.

- (of a person or act) wicked: impious villains.

<DERIVATIVES> impiously adv. impiousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin impius (from in- ‘not’ + pius: see PIOUS) + -OUS.

impish adj. inclined to do slightly naughty things for fun; mischievous: he had an impish look about him.

<DERIVATIVES> impishly adv. impishness n.

implacable adj. unable to be appeased or placated: he was an implacable enemy of Ted's.

- unable to be stopped; relentless: the implacable advance of the enemy.

<DERIVATIVES> implacability n. implacably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin implacabilis, from in- ‘not’ + placabilis (see PLACABLE).

implant v. /mplαnt/ [usually with obj.] insert or fix (tissue or an artificial object) in a person's body, especially by surgery: electrodes had been implanted in his brain.

- (implant someone/thing with) provide someone or something with (something) by implantation.

- [no obj.] (of a fertilized egg) become attached to the wall of the uterus.

- FIGURATIVE establish (an idea) in a person's mind.

■ n. /mplαnt/ a thing implanted in something else, especially a piece of tissue, prosthetic device, or other object implanted in the body: a silicone breast implant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin implantare ‘engraft’, from Latin in- ‘into’ + plantare ‘to plant’.

implantation n. [mass noun] the action of implanting or state of being implanted.

- [ZOOLOGY] & MEDICINE (in a mammal) the attachment of the fertilized egg or blastocyst to the wall of the womb at the start of pregnancy. Also called NIDATION.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from implanter ‘to implant’.

implausible adj. (of an argument or statement) not seeming reasonable or probable; failing to convince: this is a blatantly implausible claim.

<DERIVATIVES> implausibility n. implausibly adv.

implead v. [with obj.] [LAW] prosecute or take proceedings against.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English emplede, from Old French empleidier, based on plaid (see PLEA).

implement n. /mplm(ə)nt/ 1 a tool, utensil, or other piece of equipment that is used for a particular purpose: garden implements.

2 [mass noun] [SCOTS LAW] performance of an obligation.

■ v. /mplmεnt/ [with obj.] put (a decision, plan, agreement, etc.) into effect: the scheme to implement student loans.

<DERIVATIVES> implementer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘article of furniture, equipment, or dress’): partly from medieval Latin implementa (plural), partly from late Latin implementum ‘filling up, fulfilment’, both from Latin implere ‘fill up’ (later ‘employ’), from in- ‘in’ + Latin plere ‘fill’. The verb dates from the early 18th cent.

implementation /mplmεnte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the process of putting a decision or plan into effect; execution: she was responsible for the implementation of the plan.

implicate v. /mplket/ [with obj.] 1 show (someone) to be involved in a crime: he implicated his government in the murders of three judges.

- (be implicated in) bear some of the responsibility for (an action or process, especially a criminal or harmful one): viruses are known to be implicated in the development of certain cancers.

2 [with clause] convey (a meaning) indirectly through what one says, rather than stating it explicitly: by saying that coffee would keep her awake, Mary implicated that she didn't want any.

■ n. /mplkət/ [LOGIC] a thing implied.

<DERIVATIVES> implicative /mplkətv/ adj. implicatively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin implicatus ‘folded in’, past participle of implicare (see IMPLY). The original sense was ‘entwine’; compare with EMPLOY and IMPLY. The earliest modern (sense 2 of the verb), dates from the early 17th cent.

implication n. 1 the conclusion that can be drawn from something although it is not explicitly stated: the implication is that no one person at the bank is responsible.

- a likely consequence of something.

2 [mass noun] the action or state of being involved in something: our implication in the problems.

<PHRASES>

□ by implication by what is implied rather than by explicit expression: he criticized her and, by implication, her country.

<DERIVATIVES> implicational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘entwining, being entwined’): from Latin implicatio(n-), from the verb implicare (see IMPLICATE).

implicature /mplkətə -ketə/ n. [mass noun] the action of implying a meaning beyond the literal sense of what is explicitly stated, for example saying the frame is nice and implying I don't like the picture in it.

- [count noun] an implied meaning.

implicit /mplst/ adj. 1 suggested though not directly expressed: comments seen as implicit criticism of the policies.

2 (implicit in) always to be found in; essentially connected with: the values implicit in the school ethos.

3 with no qualification or question; absolute: an implicit faith in God.

4 [MATHEMATICS] (of a function) not expressed directly in terms of independent variables.

<DERIVATIVES> implicitness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French implicite or Latin implicitus, later form of implicatus ‘entwined’, past participle of implicare (see IMPLY).

implicitly /mplstli/ adv. 1 in a way that is not directly expressed; tacitly: she implicitly suggested that he was responsible for the error.

2 without qualification: absolutely: he trusted Sarah implicitly.

implied adj. suggested but not directly expressed; implicit: she was aware of his implied criticism.

<DERIVATIVES> impliedly adv.

implode /mpləd/ v. collapse or cause to collapse violently inwards: [no obj.] both the windows had imploded | [with obj.] the plasma implodes the fuel.

<DERIVATIVES> implosion n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from IN-2 ‘within’ + Latin plodere, plaudere ‘to clap’, on the pattern of explode.

implore v. [reporting v.] beg someone earnestly or desperately to do something: [with obj. and infinitive] he implored her to change her mind | [with direct speech] ‘Hold me’ Ellen implored | (as adj. imploring) an imploring look.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC beg earnestly for: I implore mercy.

<DERIVATIVES> imploringly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French implorer or Latin implorare ‘invoke with tears’.

implosive adj. 1 formed by implosion; tending to implode.

2 [PHONETICS] denoting a type of consonant produced in the glottis with an ingressive air flow.

impluvium /mpluvəm/ n. (pl. impluvia /-və/) the square basin in the centre of the atrium of an ancient Roman house, which received rainwater from an opening in the roof.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from impluere ‘rain into’.

imply v. (implies, implying, implied) [with obj.] indicate the truth or existence of (something) by suggestion rather than explicit reference: salesmen who use jargon to imply superior knowledge | [with clause] the report implies that two million jobs might be lost.

- (of a fact or occurrence) suggest (something) as a logical consequence: the forecasted traffic increase implied more roads and more air pollution.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French emplier, from Latin implicare, from in- ‘in’ + plicare ‘to fold’. The original sense was ‘entwine’; in the 16th and 17th cents the word also meant ‘employ’. Compare with EMPLOY and IMPLICATE.

<USAGE> Imply and infer do not mean the same thing and should not be used interchangeably: see usage at infer.

impolder (also empolder) v. [with obj.] make (an area of the seabed) into a polder by reclaiming it from the sea.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Dutch impolderen.

impolite adj. not having or showing good manners; rude: it would have been impolite to refuse.

<DERIVATIVES> impolitely adv. impoliteness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘unpolished’): from Latin impolitus, from in- ‘not’ + politus (see POLITE).

impolitic /mpltk/ adj. failing to possess or display prudence; unwise: it was impolitic to pay the slightest tribute to the enemy.

<DERIVATIVES> impoliticly adv.

imponderable n. a factor that is difficult or impossible to estimate or assess: there are too many imponderables for an overall prediction.

■ adj. 1 difficult or impossible to estimate or assess: imponderable longer-term prospects.

2 ARCHAIC very light.

<DERIVATIVES> imponderability /-blti/ n. imponderably adv.

import v. /mpt m-/ [with obj.] 1 bring (goods or services) into a country from abroad for sale: supermarkets may no longer import cheap jeans from Bulgaria | (as adj. imported) imported cigarettes.

2 introduce (an idea) from a different place or context: new beliefs were often imported by sailors.

- [COMPUTING] transfer (data) into a file or document.

3 ARCHAIC indicate or signify: having thus seen, what is imported in a Man's trusting his Heart.

- express or make known.

■ n. /mpt/ 1 (usually imports) a commodity, article, or service brought in from abroad for sale: cheap imports from eastern Europe.

- (imports) sales of imported goods or services, or the revenue from such sales: this surplus pushes up the yen, which ought to boost imports.

- [mass noun] the action or process of importing goods or services: the import of live cattle from Canada.

2 [in sing.] the implicit meaning or significance of something: the import of her message is clear.

- [mass noun] great significance; importance: pronouncements of world-shaking import.

<DERIVATIVES> importable adj. importation n. importer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘signify’): from Latin importare ‘bring in’ (in medieval Latin ‘imply, mean, be of consequence’), from in- ‘in’ + portare ‘carry’.

importance n. [mass noun] the state or fact of being of great significance or value: the importance of a good education | an issue of great importance.

<PHRASES>

□ full of one's own importance having a very high opinion of oneself; self-important.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French, from medieval Latin importantia, from important- ‘being of consequence’, from the verb importare (see IMPORT).

important adj. of great significance or value: important habitats for wildlife | it is important to avoid monosyllabic answers | [sentence adv.] the speech had passion and, more important, compassion.

- (of a person) having high rank or status.

- (of an artist or artistic work) significantly original and influential.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin important- ‘being of consequence’, from the verb importare (see IMPORT).

importantly adv. 1 [sentence adv.] used to emphasize a significant point: a non-drinking, non-smoking, and, importantly, non-political sportsman.

2 in a manner designed to draw attention to one's importance: Kruger strutted forward importantly.

importunate /mptjnət/ adj. persistent, especially to the point of annoyance: importunate creditors.

<DERIVATIVES> importunately adv. importunity /mptjunti/ n. (pl. importunities)

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin importunus ‘inconvenient, unseasonable’, based on Portunus, the name of the god who protected harbours (from portus ‘harbour’); compare with OPPORTUNE.

importune /mptjun/ v. [with obj.] harass (someone) persistently for or to do something: she importuned a waiter for profiteroles.

- (usually as n. importuning) approach (someone) to offer one's services as a prostitute.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French importuner or medieval Latin importunari, from Latin importunus ‘inconvenient, unseasonable’ (see IMPORTUNATE).

impose v. 1 [with obj.] force (an unwelcome decision or ruling) on someone: the decision was theirs and was not imposed on them by others.

- put (a restriction) in place: sanctions imposed on South Africa.

- require (a duty, charge, or penalty) to be undertaken or paid.

- (impose oneself on) exert firm control over: the director was unable to impose himself on the production.

2 [no obj.] take advantage of someone by demanding their attention or commitment: she realized that she had imposed on Mark's kindness.

3 [with obj.] [PRINTING] arrange (pages of type) so as to be in the correct order after printing and folding.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘impute’): from French imposer, from Latin imponere ‘inflict, deceive’ (from in- ‘in, upon’ + ponere ‘put’), but influenced by impositus ‘inflicted’ and Old French poser ‘to place’.

imposing adj. grand and impressive in appearance: an imposing 17th-century manor house.

<DERIVATIVES> imposingly adv.

imposition n. 1 [mass noun] the action or process of imposing something or of being imposed: the imposition of martial law.

2 a thing that is imposed, in particular:

- an unwelcome demand or burden: I'd like to see you, if that wouldn't be too much of an imposition.

- a tax or duty.

3 [mass noun] [PRINTING] the imposing of pages of type.

- [count noun] a particular arrangement of imposed pages: samples of 16-page impositions.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin impositio(n-), from the verb imponere (see IMPOSE).

impossibilism n. [mass noun] belief in ideas or policy, especially on social reform, that are held to be unrealizable or impractical.

<DERIVATIVES> impossibilist n.

impossibility n. (pl. impossibilities) [mass noun] the state or fact of being impossible: the impossibility of finding reliable staff.

- [count noun] an impossible thing: they believe that a world at peace is an impossibility.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French impossibilite or Latin impossibilitas, from impossibilis, from in- ‘not’ + possibilis (see POSSIBLE).

impossible adj. not able to occur, exist, or be done: a seemingly impossible task | [with infinitive] it was almost impossible to keep up with him.

- very difficult to deal with: she was in an impossible situation.

- INFORMAL (of a person) very unreasonable: ‘Impossible woman!’ the doctor complained.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin impossibilis, from in- ‘not’ + possibilis (see POSSIBLE).

impossibly adv. 1 [as submodifier] so as to be impossible: every task seemed impossibly difficult.

- [sentence adv.] used to describe an event or action that is so difficult or unlikely one would not expect it to be possible: he held her and, impossibly, she fell asleep.

2 [as submodifier] possessing the specified quality to an unbelievably high degree: her impossibly blonde hair.

impost^1 /mpəst/ n. 1 a tax or similar compulsory payment.

2 [HORSE RACING] the weight carried by a horse as a handicap.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French (earlier form of impôt), from medieval Latin impostus, from Latin impositus, past participle of imponere (see IMPOSE).

impost^2 /mpəst/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] the top course of a pillar that supports an arch.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Italian imposta, feminine past participle of imporre, from Latin imponere (see IMPOSE).

impostor (also imposter) n. a person who pretends to be someone else in order to deceive others, especially for fraudulent gain.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in early use spelled imposture, and sometimes confused with IMPOSTURE in meaning): from French imposteur, from late Latin impostor, contraction of impositor, from Latin imponere (see IMPOSE).

imposture n. an instance of pretending to be someone else in order to deceive others.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via French from late Latin impostura, from Latin imposit- ‘imposed upon’, from the verb imponere (see IMPOSE).

impotent /mpət(ə)nt/ adj. 1 unable to take effective action; helpless or powerless: he was seized with an impotent anger.

2 (of a man) abnormally unable to achieve an erection or orgasm.

- (of a male animal) unable to copulate.

<DERIVATIVES> impotence n. impotency n. impotently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin impotent- ‘powerless’, from in- ‘not’ + potent- (see potent^1).

impound v. [with obj.] 1 seize and take legal custody of (something, especially a vehicle, goods, or documents) because of an infringement of a law: vehicles parked where they cause an obstruction will be impounded.

2 shut up (domestic animals) in a pound or enclosure.

- lock up (someone).

3 (of a dam) hold back (water).

<DERIVATIVES> impoundable adj. impounder n. impoundment n.

impoverish v. [with obj.] make (a person or area) poor: the wars had impoverished him | (as adj. impoverished) impoverished villages.

- exhaust the strength or vitality of: the soil was impoverished by annual burning | (as adj. impoverished) an impoverished and debased language.

<DERIVATIVES> impoverishment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as empoverish): from Old French empoveriss-, lengthened stem of empoverir, based on povre ‘poor’.

impracticable adj. (of a course of action) impossible in practice to do or carry out: it was impracticable to widen the road here.

<DERIVATIVES> impracticability n. impracticably adv.

<USAGE> Although there is considerable overlap, impracticable and impractical are not used in exactly the same way. Impracticable means ‘impossible to carry out’ and is normally used of a specific procedure or course of action, as in poor visibility made the task difficult, even impracticable. Impractical, on the other hand, tends to be used in more general senses, often to mean simply ‘unrealistic’ or ‘not sensible’, as in in windy weather an umbrella is impractical.

impractical adj. 1 not adapted for use or action; not sensible or realistic: impractical high heels | his impractical romanticism.

- (of a person) not skilled or interested in doing practical work.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN impossible to do; impracticable.

<DERIVATIVES> impracticality n. impractically adv.

imprecate /mprket/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC utter (a curse) or invoke (evil) against someone or something.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin imprecat- ‘invoked’, from the verb imprecari.

imprecation n. FORMAL a spoken curse: I pushed my way through, screaming imprecations.

<DERIVATIVES> imprecatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin imprecatio(n-), from imprecari ‘invoke (evil)’, from in- ‘towards’ + precari ‘pray’.

imprecise adj. lacking exactness and accuracy of expression or detail: the witness could give only vague and imprecise descriptions.

<DERIVATIVES> imprecisely adv. impreciseness n. imprecision n.

impregnable adj. (of a fortified position) unable to be captured or broken into: a massive and impregnable fortress | FIGURATIVE the seat I was offered appeared to be an impregnable Tory stronghold.

- unable to be defeated or overcome: Liverpool used their good fortune to forge an impregnable lead.

<DERIVATIVES> impregnability n. impregnably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French imprenable, from in- ‘not’ + prendre ‘take’ (from Latin prehendere). The current spelling arose in the 16th century, perhaps influenced by Old French variants.

impregnate /mprεnet/ v. [with obj.] 1 soak or saturate (something) with a substance: wood which had been impregnated with preservative.

- fill with a feeling or quality: an atmosphere impregnated with tension.

2 make (a woman or female animal) pregnant.

- [BIOLOGY] fertilize (an ovum).

<DERIVATIVES> impregnation n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘fill’; earlier (Middle English) as impregnation): from late Latin impregnat- ‘made pregnant’, from the verb impregnare.

impresario /mprsαrə/ n. (pl. impresarios) a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas.

- chiefly HISTORICAL the manager of a musical, theatrical, or operatic company.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian, from impresa ‘undertaking’.

imprescriptible /mprskrptb(ə)l/ adj. [LAW] (of rights) not subject to being taken away by prescription or by lapse of time.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin imprescriptibilis, from in- ‘not’ + Latin praescript- (from praescribere ‘prescribe’).

impress^1 v. /mprεs/ [with obj.] 1 make (someone) feel admiration and respect: their performance impressed the judges | [no obj.] he has to put on an act to impress.

2 make a mark or design on (an object) using a stamp or seal: the company should impress the cards with a stamp.

- apply (a mark) to something with pressure: Andean cultures used seals to impress designs on pottery.

3 (impress something on) fix an idea in the mind of (someone): nobody impressed on me the need to save.

4 apply (an electric current or potential) from an external source.

■ n. /mprεs/ [in sing.] an act of making an impression or mark: bluish marks made by the impress of his fingers.

- a mark made by a seal or stamp.

- a person's characteristic quality: his desire to put his own impress on the films he made.

<DERIVATIVES> impressible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘apply with pressure’): from Old French empresser, from em- ‘in’ + presser ‘to press’, influenced by Latin imprimere (see IMPRINT).

■ Sense 1 of the verb dates from the mid 18th cent.

impress^2 v. [with obj.] HISTORICAL force (someone) to serve in an army or navy: a number of Poles, impressed into the German army.

- commandeer (goods or equipment) for public service.

<DERIVATIVES> impressment n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from IN-2 ‘into’ + PRESS^2.

impression n. 1 an idea, feeling, or opinion about something or someone, especially one formed without conscious thought or on the basis of little evidence: his first impressions of Manchester were very positive | I got the impression that he was sorely disappointed.

- an effect produced on someone: her courtesy had made a good impression.

- [mass noun] a difference made by the action or presence of someone or something: the floor was too dirty for the mop to make much impression.

2 an imitation of a person or thing, done to entertain: he did an impression of Shirley Bassey.

3 a mark impressed on a surface: the impression of his body on the leaves.

- [DENTISTRY] a negative copy of the teeth or mouth made by pressing them into a soft substance.

4 a graphic or pictorial representation of someone or something: police issued an artist's impression of the attacker.

5 the printing of a number of copies of a book, periodical, or picture for issue at one time.

- [usually with modifier] chiefly BRITISH a particular printed version of a book, especially one reprinted from existing type, plates, or film with no or only minor alteration.

- a print taken from an engraving.

<PHRASES>

□ under the impression that believing, mistakenly or on the basis of little evidence, that something is the case: he was under the impression that they had become friends.

<DERIVATIVES> impressional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin impressio(n-), from impress- ‘pressed in’, from the verb imprimere (see IMPRINT).

impressionable adj. easily influenced: a girl of eighteen is highly impressionable.

<DERIVATIVES> impressionability n. impressionably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, from impressionner, from Latin impressio(n-), from the verb imprimere ‘press into’ (see IMPRINT).

Impressionism n. [mass noun] a style or movement in painting originating in France in the 1860s, characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting effect of light and colour.

- a literary or artistic style that seeks to capture a feeling or experience rather than to achieve accurate depiction.

- [MUSIC] a style of composition (associated especially with Debussy) in which clarity of structure and theme is subordinate to harmonic effects, characteristically using the whole-tone scale.

The Impressionist painters repudiated both the precise academic style and the emotional concerns of romanticism, and their interest in objective representation, especially of landscape, was influenced by early photography. Impressionism met at first with scorn, but soon became highly influential. Its chief exponents included Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Cézanne, and Degas.

<ORIGIN> from French impressionnisme, from impressionniste, originally applied unfavourably with reference to Monet's painting Impression: soleil levant (1872).

Impressionist n. a painter, writer, or composer who is an exponent of Impressionism.

■ adj. relating to Impressionism or its exponents.

impressionist n. an entertainer who impersonates famous people.

impressionistic adj. 1 based on subjective reactions presented unsystematically: a personal and impressionistic view of the war.

2 (Impressionistic) in the style of Impressionism.

<DERIVATIVES> impressionistically adv.

impressive adj. evoking admiration through size, quality, or skill; grand, imposing, or awesome: an impressive view of the mountains | impressive achievements in science.

<DERIVATIVES> impressively adv. impressiveness n.

imprest n. a fund used by a business for small items of expenditure and restored to a fixed amount periodically.

- a sum of money advanced to a person for a particular purpose.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from the earlier phrase in prest ‘as a loan’, influenced by Italian or medieval Latin imprestare ‘lend’.

imprimatur /mprmetə -mαtə -mαtə/ n. an official licence issued by the Roman Catholic Church to print an ecclesiastical or religious book.

- a person's authoritative approval: the original LP enjoyed the imprimatur of the composer.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘let it be printed’, from the verb imprimere (see IMPRINT).

imprint v. 1 [with obj.] impress or stamp (a mark or outline) on a surface: tyre marks were imprinted in the snow.

- make an impression or mark on: clothes imprinted with the logos of sports teams.

- fix (an idea) firmly in someone's mind: he'd always have this ghastly image imprinted on his mind.

2 [no obj.] (imprint on) [ZOOLOGY] (of a young animal) come to recognize (another animal, person, or thing) as a parent or other object of habitual trust.

■ n. 1 a mark or outline made by pressing something on to a softer substance: he made imprints of the keys in bars of soap.

- a lasting effect: years in the colonies had left their imprint.

2 a printer's or publisher's name, address, and other details in a book or other publication.

- a brand name under which books are published, typically the name of a former publishing house that is now part of a larger group.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as emprint): from Old French empreinter, based on Latin imprimere, from in- ‘into’ + premere ‘to press’.

imprison v. [with obj.] put or keep in prison or a place like a prison: he was imprisoned three times for his activities.

<ORIGIN> Middle English emprison, from Old French emprisoner, from em- ‘in’ + prison.

imprisoned adj. kept in prison: captive: an imprisoned dissident.

imprisonment n. [mass noun] the state of being imprisoned; captivity: he was sentenced to two months' imprisonment.

impro n. (pl. impros) [mass noun] INFORMAL improvisation, especially as a theatrical technique.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: abbreviation.

improbability n. (pl. improbabilities) [mass noun] the quality of being improbable; unlikelihood: his belief in the improbability of war in Europe.

- an improbable event: [count noun] the film is full of improbabilities.

improbable adj. not likely to be true or to happen: this account of events was seen by the jury as most improbable.

- unexpected and apparently inauthentic: the characters have improbable names.

<DERIVATIVES> improbably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from Latin improbabilis ‘hard to prove’, from in- ‘not’ + probabilis (see PROBABLE).

improbity /mprəbti -prb-/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL lack of honesty and moral integrity.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin improbitas, from improbus ‘wicked’, from in- ‘not’ + probus ‘good’. Compare with PROBITY.

impromptu /mprm(p)tju/ adj. & adv. done without being planned or rehearsed: [as adj.] an impromptu press conference | [as adv.] he spoke impromptu.

■ n. (pl. impromptus) a short piece of instrumental music, especially a solo, that is reminiscent of an improvisation.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as an adverb): from French, from Latin in promptu ‘in readiness’, from promptus (see PROMPT).

improper adj. not in accordance with accepted standards, especially of morality or honesty: the improper use of public funds | it was considered improper to leave one's house on Christmas Day.

- lacking in modesty or decency: an improper suggestion.

<DERIVATIVES> improperly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French impropre or Latin improprius, from in- ‘not’ + proprius ‘one's own, proper’.

improper fraction n. a fraction in which the numerator is greater than the denominator, such as 5/4.

impropriate /mprəpret/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. impropriated) grant (an ecclesiastical benefice) to a corporation or person as their property.

- place (tithes or ecclesiastical property) in lay hands.

<DERIVATIVES> impropriation n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Anglo-Latin impropriat- ‘appropriated’, from the verb impropriare, based on Latin proprius ‘one's own, proper’.

impropriator n. a person to whom a benefice is granted as their property.

impropriety /mprəprəti/ n. (pl. improprieties) [mass noun] failure to observe standards of honesty or modesty; improper behaviour or character: she was scandalized at the impropriety of the question | [count noun] there are no demonstrable legal improprieties.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (also in the sense ‘inaccuracy’): from French impropriété or Latin improprietas, from improprius (see IMPROPER).

improv n. another term for IMPRO.

improve v. make or become better: [with obj.] efforts to improve relations between the countries | (as adj. improved) an improved design | [no obj.] communications improved during the 18th century.

- [with obj.] develop or increase in mental capacity by education or experience: I subscribed to two magazines to improve my mind.

- [no obj.] (improve on/upon) achieve or produce something better than: they are trying to improve on the tired old style.

<DERIVATIVES> improvability n. improvable adj. improver n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as emprowe or improwe): from Anglo-Norman French emprower (based on Old French prou ‘profit’, ultimately from Latin prodest ‘is of advantage’); -owe was changed to -ove under the influence of PROVE. The original sense was ‘make a profit, increase the value of’; subsequently ‘make greater in amount or degree’.

improvement n. an example of improving or being improved: an improvement in East–West relations.

- [mass noun] the action of improving or being improved: there's still room for improvement.

- a thing that makes something better or is better than something else: home improvements | it's an improvement on the last cake I made.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English emprowement (in the sense ‘profitable management or use; profit’), from Anglo-Norman French, from emprower (see IMPROVE).

improvident adj. not having or showing foresight; spendthrift or thoughtless: improvident and undisciplined behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> improvidence n. improvidently adv.

improving adj. giving moral or intellectual benefit: a large, improving picture hung opposite.

improvisation n. [mass noun] the action of improvising.

- [count noun] something that is improvised, in particular a piece of music, drama, etc. created spontaneously or without preparation: free-form jazz improvisations.

<DERIVATIVES> improvisational adj.

improvise v. [with obj.] create and perform (music, drama, or verse) spontaneously or without preparation: he invited actors to improvise dialogue | [no obj.] he was improvising to a backing of guitar chords.

- produce or make (something) from whatever is available: I improvised a costume for myself out of an old blue dress.

<DERIVATIVES> improvisatory adj. improviser n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (earlier (late 18th century) as improvisation): from French improviser or its source, Italian improvvisare, from improvviso ‘extempore’, from Latin improvisus ‘unforeseen’, based on provisus, past participle of providere ‘make preparation for’.

improvise adj. created and performed spontaneously or without preparation; impromptu: an improvised short speech.

- done or made using whatever is available; makeshift: we slept on improvised beds.

imprudent adj. not showing care for the consequences of an action; rash: it would be imprudent to leave her winter coat behind.

<DERIVATIVES> imprudence n. imprudently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin imprudent- ‘not foreseeing’, from in- ‘not’ + prudent- (see PRUDENT).

impudence /mpjd(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being impudent; impertinence: his arrogance and impudence had offended many.

impudent /mpjd(ə)nt/ adj. not showing due respect for another person; impertinent: he could have strangled this impudent upstart.

<DERIVATIVES> impudently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘immodest, indelicate’): from Latin impudent-, from in- ‘not’ + pudent- ‘ashamed, modest’ (from pudere ‘be ashamed’).

impudicity /mpjdsti/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL lack of modesty.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French impudicité, from Latin impudicitia, from impudicus ‘shameless’, from in- ‘not’ + pudere ‘be ashamed’.

impugn /mpjun/ v. [with obj.] dispute the truth, validity, or honesty of (a statement or motive); call into question: the father does not impugn her capacity as a good mother.

<DERIVATIVES> impugnable adj. impugnment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘assault, attack physically’): from Latin impugnare ‘assail’, from in- ‘towards’ + pugnare ‘fight’.

impuissant /mpjus(ə)nt -pwi- -pws-/ adj. LITERARY unable to take effective action; powerless.

<DERIVATIVES> impuissance n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: French, from im- ‘not’ + puissant ‘powerful’.

impulse n. 1 a sudden strong and unreflective urge or desire to act: I had an almost irresistible impulse to giggle.

- [mass noun] the tendency to act impulsively: he was a man of impulse, not premeditation.

2 something that causes something to happen or happen more quickly; an impetus: an added impulse to this process of renewal.

3 a pulse of electrical energy; a brief current: nerve impulses | electrical impulses.

4 [PHYSICS] a force acting briefly on a body and producing a finite change of momentum.

- a change of momentum produced by an impulse, equivalent to the average value of the force multiplied by the time during which it acts.

<PHRASES>

□ on impulse (or on an impulse) suddenly and without forethought; impulsively.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a verb in the sense ‘give an impulse to’): the verb from Latin impuls- ‘driven on’, the noun from impulsus ‘impulsion’, both from the verb impellere (see IMPEL).

impulsion n. a strong urge to do something: the impulsion of the singers to govern the pace.

- [mass noun] the motive or influence behind an action or process: attitudes changed under the impulsion of humanitarian considerations.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘the action or an instance of impelling’): via Old French from Latin impulsio(n-), from the verb impellere (see IMPEL).

impulsive adj. 1 acting or done without forethought: they'd married as impulsive teenagers | he regretted his impulsive offer.

2 [PHYSICS] acting as an impulse.

<DERIVATIVES> impulsively adv. impulsiveness n. impulsivity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘tending to impel’): from French impulsif, -ive or late Latin impulsivus, from Latin impuls- ‘driven onwards’ (see IMPULSE).

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 18th cent.

impunity /mpjunti/ n. [mass noun] exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action: the impunity enjoyed by military officers implicated in civilian killings | protestors burned flags on the streets with impunity.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin impunitas, from impunis ‘unpunished’, from in- ‘not’ + poena ‘penalty’ or punire ‘punish’.

impure adj. 1 mixed with foreign matter; adulterated: an impure form of heroin.

- dirty.

- (of a colour) mixed with another colour.

2 morally wrong, especially in sexual matters: citizens suspected of harbouring impure thoughts.

- defiled or contaminated according to ritual prescriptions: the perception of woman as impure.

<DERIVATIVES> impurely adv. impureness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘dirty, containing offensive matter’): from Latin impurus, from in- ‘not’ + purus ‘pure’.

impurity n. (pl. impurities) [mass noun] the state or quality of being impure.

- [count noun] a constituent which impairs the purity of something: aluminium and lead are impurities frequently found in tap water.

- [count noun] [ELECTRONICS] a trace element deliberately added to a semiconductor; a dopant.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French impurite or Latin impuritas, from impurus (see IMPURE).

impute /mpjut/ v. [with obj.] 1 represent (something, especially something undesirable) as being done or possessed by someone; attribute: the crimes imputed to Richard.

- [THEOLOGY] ascribe (righteousness, guilt, etc.) to someone by virtue of a similar quality in another: Christ's righteousness has been imputed to us.

2 [FINANCE] assign (a value) to something by inference from the value of the products or processes to which it contributes: (as adj. imputed) recovering the initial outlay plus imputed interest.

<DERIVATIVES> imputable adj. imputation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French imputer, from Latin imputare ‘enter in the account’, from in- ‘in, towards’ + putare ‘reckon’.

Imroz /imrz/ Turkish name for IMBROS.

imshi /mi/ exclam. MILITARY SLANG, chiefly AUSTRALIAN go away; be off.

<ORIGIN> from colloquial Arabic 'mšī ‘go!’, imperative of miši.

I.Mun.E. abbr. (in the UK) Institution of Municipal Engineers.

IN abbr. Indiana (in official postal use).

In symbol the chemical element indium.

in prep. 1 expressing the situation of something that is or appears to be enclosed or surrounded by something else: I'm living in London | dressed in their Sunday best | she saw the bus in the rear-view mirror.

- expressing motion with the result that something ends up within or surrounded by something else: don't put coal in the bath | he got in his car and drove off.

2 expressing a period of time during which an event happens or a situation remains the case: they met in 1885 | at one o'clock in the morning | I hadn't seen him in years.

3 expressing the length of time before a future event is expected to happen: I'll see you in fifteen minutes.

4 (often followed by a noun without a determiner) expressing a state or condition: to be in love | I've got to put my affairs in order | a woman in her thirties.

- indicating the quality or aspect with respect to which a judgement is made: no discernible difference in quality.

5 expressing inclusion or involvement: I read it in a book | acting in a film.

6 indicating someone's occupation or profession: she works in publishing.

7 indicating the language or medium used: say it in French | put it in writing.

- indicating the key in which a piece of music is written: Mozart's Piano Concerto in E flat.

8 [with verbal noun] as an integral part of (an activity): in planning public expenditure it is better to be prudent.

9 expressing a value as a proportion of (a whole): a local income tax running at six pence in the pound.

■ adv. 1 expressing movement with the result that someone or something becomes enclosed or surrounded by something else: come in | presently the admiral breezed in.

2 expressing the situation of being enclosed or surrounded by something: we were locked in.

3 expressing arrival: the train got in very late.

4 (of the tide) rising or at its highest level.

■ adj. 1 [predic.] present at one's home or office: we knocked at the door but there was no one in.

2 INFORMAL fashionable: pastels and light colours are in this year | the in thing to do.

3 [predic.] (of the bALL in tennis and similar games) landing within the designated playing area.

4 [predic.] [CRICKET] batting: which side is in?

<PHRASES>

□ be in for have good reason to expect (something, typically something unpleasant): she's in for a shock.

- (be in for it) have good reason to expect trouble or retribution.

□ have it in for someone INFORMAL have hostile feelings towards someone.

□ in all see ALL.

□ in and out of being a frequent visitor to (a house) or frequent inmate of (an institution).

□ in on privy to (a secret).

□ in so FAR as see FAR.

□ in that for the reason that: I was fortunate in that I had friends.

□ in with INFORMAL on friendly terms with: the Krays were in with a couple of MPs.

□ the ins and outs INFORMAL all the details.

<ORIGIN> Old English in (preposition), inn, inne (adverb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German in (preposition), German ein (adverb), from an Indo-European root shared by Latin in and Greek en.

in. abbr. inch(es).

in-1 prefix 1 (added to adjectives) not: infertile | inapt.

2 (added to nouns) without; a lack of: inappreciation.

<ORIGIN> from Latin.

<USAGE> In- is also found assimilated in the following forms: il- before l; im- before b, m, p; ir- before r.

in-2 prefix in; into; towards; within: induce | influx | inborn.

<ORIGIN> representing IN or the Latin preposition in.

<USAGE> In- is also found assimilated in the following forms: il- before l; im- before b, m, p; ir- before r.

-in^1 suffix [CHEMISTRY] forming names of organic compounds, pharmaceutical products, proteins, etc.: insulin | penicillin | dioxin.

<ORIGIN> alteration of -ine^4.

-in^2 combining form denoting a gathering of people having a common purpose, typically as a form of protest: sit-in | sleep-in | love-in.

-ina suffix 1 denoting feminine names and titles: tsarina.

2 denoting names of musical instruments: concertina.

3 denoting names of plant and animal groups: globigerina.

<ORIGIN> from Italian, Spanish, or Latin.

inability n. [with infinitive] the state of being unable to do something: his inability to accept new ideas.

in absentia /n absεntə/ adv. while not present at the event being referred to: two foreign suspects will be tried in absentia.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘in absence’.

inaccessible adj. 1 unable to be reached: a remote and inaccessible cave | the city centre is inaccessible to traffic in most places.

- unable to be used: such costs would make litigation inaccessible to private individuals.

2 (of language or an artistic work) difficult to understand or appreciate.

3 (of a person) not open to advances or influence; unapproachable.

<DERIVATIVES> inaccessibility n. inaccessibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from late Latin inaccessibilis, from in- ‘not’ + accessibilis (see ACCESSIBLE).

inaccuracy n. (pl. inaccuracies) [mass noun] the quality or state of not being accurate: a weapon of notorious inaccuracy.

- [count noun] an aspect of something that is not accurate: reference works full of inaccuracies.

inaccurate adj. not accurate: false or inaccurate descriptions of goods | a forecast that proved wildly inaccurate.

<DERIVATIVES> inaccurately adv.

inaction n. [mass noun] lack of action where some is expected or appropriate.

inactivate v. [with obj.] make inactive or inoperative: household bleach does not inactivate the virus | (as adj. inactivated) inactivated polio vaccine.

<DERIVATIVES> inactivation n. inactivator n.

inactive adj. not engaging in or involving any or much physical activity: an inactive lifestyle.

- not working; inoperative: the device remains inactive while the computer is started up.

- not engaging in political or other activity: an inactive Russian spy.

- having no chemical or biological effect: the inactive X chromosome.

- (of a disease) not exhibiting symptoms.

<DERIVATIVES> inactively adv.

inactivity n. [mass noun] the state of being inactive; idleness: don't suddenly take up violent exercise after years of inactivity.

- reluctance to take action; apathy: people are frustrated with government inactivity.

inadequacy n. (pl. inadequacies) [mass noun] the state or quality of being inadequate; lack of the quantity or quality required: the inadequacy of available resources | [count noun] the inadequacies of the present system.

- inability to deal with a situation or with life: her feelings of personal inadequacy.

inadequate adj. lacking the quality or quantity required; insufficient for a purpose: these labels prove to be wholly inadequate | inadequate funding.

- (of a person) unable to deal with a situation or with life: a sad, solitary, inadequate man | I felt like a fraud, inadequate to the task.

<DERIVATIVES> inadequately adv.

inadmissible adj. 1 (especially of evidence in court) not accepted as valid.

2 not to be allowed or tolerated: an inadmissible interference in the affairs of the Church.

<DERIVATIVES> inadmissibility n. inadmissibly adv.

inadvertent adj. not resulting from or achieved through deliberate planning: he was pardoned for inadvertent manslaughter.

<DERIVATIVES> inadvertence n. inadvertency n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (earlier (late Middle English) as inadvertence): from IN-1 ‘not’ + Latin advertent- ‘turning the mind to’ (from the verb advertere).

inadvertently adv. without intention; accidentally: his name had been inadvertently omitted from the list.

inadvisable adj. likely to have unfortunate consequences; unwise: [with infinitive] it would be inadvisable to involve more than one architect.

<DERIVATIVES> inadvisability n.

inalienable adj. not subject to being taken away from or given away by the possessor: the shareholders have the inalienable right to dismiss directors.

<DERIVATIVES> inalienability n. inalienably adv.

inalterable adj. unable to be changed.

<DERIVATIVES> inalterability n. inalterably adv.

inamorata /namərαtə/ n. a person's female lover.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: Italian, literally ‘enamoured’, feminine of inamorato (see INAMORATO).

inamorato /namərαtə/ n. (pl. inamoratos) a person's male lover.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Italian, literally ‘enamoured’, past participle of the verb inamorare (now innamorare), based on Latin amor ‘love’.

in-and-out adj. INFORMAL 1 involving rapid inward and outward movement: smuggling drugs was a quick in-and-out operation.

2 inconsistent and unreliable: this horse is a notoriously in-and-out performer.

inane adj. lacking sense or meaning; silly: don't badger people with inane questions.

<DERIVATIVES> inanely adv. inaneness n. inanity n. (pl. inanities)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin inanis ‘empty, vain’.

inanga /inaə/ n. NZ a small edible Australasian fish which spends its first year in the sea, thereafter living mainly in fresh water. The young are caught as whitebait. Also called JOLLYTAIL.

<INFO> Galaxias maculatus, family Galaxiidae.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

inanimate adj. not alive: inanimate objects like stones.

- showing no sign of life; lifeless.

<DERIVATIVES> inanimately adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin inanimatus ‘lifeless’, from in- ‘not’ + animatus (see ANIMATE).

inanition /nən(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL exhaustion caused by lack of nourishment.

- lack of mental or spiritual vigour and enthusiasm: she was thinking that old age bred inanition.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin inanitio(n-), from Latin inanire ‘make empty’, from inanis ‘empty, vain’.

inapparent adj. MEDICINE causing no noticeable signs or symptoms: many worm infections are clinically inapparent.

inappetence n. [mass noun] chiefly [VETERINARY] lack of appetite.

<DERIVATIVES> inappetent adj.

inapplicable adj. not relevant or appropriate: the details are likely to be inapplicable to other designs.

<DERIVATIVES> inapplicability n. inapplicably adv.

inapposite /napəzt/ adj. out of place; inappropriate: the Shakespearean allusions are inapposite.

<DERIVATIVES> inappositely adv. inappositeness n.

inappreciable adj. 1 too small or insignificant to be valued or perceived: they are few in number and those numbers are inappreciable.

2 ARCHAIC too valuable to be properly estimated.

<DERIVATIVES> inappreciably adv.

inappreciative adj. another term for UNAPPRECIATIVE.

<DERIVATIVES> inappreciation n.

inappropriate adj. not suitable or proper in the circumstances: there are penalties for inappropriate behaviour | it would be inappropriate for me to comment.

<DERIVATIVES> inappropriately adv. inappropriateness n.

inapt adj. not suitable or appropriate in the circumstances: a more inapt name I cannot imagine.

<DERIVATIVES> inaptitude n. inaptly adv.

inarch v. [with obj.] [HORTICULTURE] graft (a plant) by connecting a growing branch without separating it from its parent stock.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (formerly also as enarch): from EN-1, in-2 ‘into’ + the verb arch^1.

inarguable adj. another term for UNARGUABLE.

<DERIVATIVES> inarguably adv.

inarticulate /nαtkjlət/ adj. 1 unable to express one's ideas or feelings clearly or easily: an inarticulate man of action.

- not clearly expressed or pronounced: Fay gave a faint, inarticulate cry.

- not expressed in words: mention of her mother filled her with inarticulate irritation.

2 without joints or articulations.

- [ZOOLOGY] denoting a brachiopod in which the valves of the shell have no hinge and are held together by muscles.

<DERIVATIVES> inarticulacy n. inarticulately adv. inarticulateness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from IN-1 ‘not’ + the adjective ARTICULATE; the sense ‘not clearly pronounced’ corresponds to that of late Latin inarticulatus.

inartistic adj. having or showing a lack of skill or talent in art.

<DERIVATIVES> inartistically adv.

inasmuch adv. (in phrase inasmuch as) to the extent that; in so far as: these provisions apply only inasmuch as trade between Member States is affected.

- considering that; since: a most unusual astronomer inasmuch as he was deaf mute.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: originally as in as much, translating Old French en tant (que) ‘in so much (as)’.

inattention n. [mass noun] lack of attention; distraction: a moment of inattention which could have cost lives.

- failure to attend to one's responsibilities; negligence: his inattention to duty.

inattentive adj. not paying attention to something: a particularly dull and inattentive pupil.

- failing to attend to the comfort or wishes of others: I was disappointed by the food and the inattentive service.

<DERIVATIVES> inattentively adv. inattentiveness n.

inaudible adj. unable to be heard: inaudible pulses of high-frequency sound.

<DERIVATIVES> inaudibility n. inaudibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin inaudibilis, from in- ‘not’ + audibilis (see AUDIBLE).

inaugural /njr(ə)l/ adj. [attr.] marking the beginning of an institution, activity, or period of office: his inaugural concert as Music Director.

■ n. an inaugural speech, especially one made by an incoming US president.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French (from inaugurer ‘inaugurate’, from Latin inaugurare) + -AL.

inaugurate /njret/ v. [with obj.] begin or introduce (a system, policy, or period): he inaugurated a new policy of trade and exploration.

- admit (someone) formally to office.

- mark the beginning or first public use of (an organization or project) with a special event or ceremony: the museum was inaugurated on September 12.

<DERIVATIVES> inaugurator n. inauguratory adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin inaugurat- ‘interpreted as omens (from the flight of birds)’, based on augurare ‘to augur’.

inauguration /njre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the beginning or introduction of a system, policy, or period: the inauguration of an independent prosecution service.

- the formal admission of someone to office: the President's inauguration.

- [count noun] a ceremony to mark the beginning or introduction of something: the inauguration of the Modern Art Museum.

inauspicious adj. not conducive to success; unpromising: following this inauspicious start the British, outnumbered, withdrew.

- unlucky.

<DERIVATIVES> inauspiciously adv. inauspiciousness n.

inauthentic adj. not in fact what it is said to be: the Holy Shroud of Turin is thought to have been proved inauthentic by radiocarbon dating.

- not genuinely belonging to a style or period: baroque harpsichord pieces played on the decidedly inauthentic modern Steinway.

- lacking sincerity: people close to death could not waste time being inauthentic.

<DERIVATIVES> inauthentically adv. inauthenticity n.

in-between INFORMAL adj. situated somewhere between two extremes or categories; intermediate: I am not unconscious, but in some in-between state.

■ n. an intermediate thing.

<DERIVATIVES> in-betweener n.

inboard adv. & adj. within a ship, aircraft, or vehicle: [as adv.] the spray was coming inboard now | [as adj.] the uncovered inboard engine.

- towards the centre of a ship, aircraft, or vehicle: [as adv.] move the clew inboard along the boom.

■ n. a boat's engine housed inside its hull.

- a boat with an inboard engine.

inborn adj. existing from birth: an inborn defect in the formation of collagen.

- natural to a person or animal: people think doctors have inborn compassion.

inbound adj. & adv. travelling towards a particular place, especially when returning to the original point of departure: [as adj.] inbound traffic | [as adv.] we have three enemy planes inbound on bearing two ninety.

■ v. [with obj.] [BASKETBALL] throw (the ball) from out of bounds, putting it into play.

inbounds adj. [BASKETBALL] denoting or relating to a throw which puts the ball into play from out of bounds: an inbounds pass.

in-box n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN an in tray.

2 [COMPUTING] the window in which an individual user's received email messages and similar electronic communications are displayed.

inbreathe v. [with obj.] LITERARY breathe in or absorb: he felt himself inbreathing power from on high.

inbred adj. 1 produced by inbreeding: inbred dogs will be more likely to have some genetic maladies.

2 existing from birth.

inbreed v. (past and past participle inbred) [no obj.] (often as n. inbreeding) breed from closely related people or animals, especially over many generations.

inbuilt adj. existing as an original or essential part of something or someone: the body's inbuilt ability to heal itself.

in-bye (also in-by) adj. SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH (of farmland or farming) situated or carried out near to the farm buildings.

Inc. abbr. NORTH AMERICAN Incorporated: Northeast Airlines Inc.

Inca n. 1 a member of a South American Indian people living in the central Andes before the Spanish conquest.

The Incas arrived in the Cuzco valley in Peru c.1200 AD. When the Spanish invaded in the early 1530s, the Inca empire covered most of modern Ecuador and Peru, much of Bolivia, and parts of Argentina and Chile. Inca technology and architecture were highly developed despite a lack of wheeled vehicles and of writing. Their descendants, speaking Quechua, still make up about half of Peru's population.

2 the supreme ruler of the Incas.

<DERIVATIVES> Incaic /kek/ adj. Incan adj.

<ORIGIN> the name in Quechua, literally ‘lord, royal person’.

inca n. a South American hummingbird having mainly blackish or bronze-coloured plumage with one or two white breast patches.

<INFO> Genus Coeligena, family Trochilidae: four species.

incalculable adj. 1 too great to be calculated or estimated: an archive of incalculable value.

2 not able to be calculated or estimated: the odds against such an event are incalculable.

- (of a person or their character) unpredictable.

<DERIVATIVES> incalculability n. incalculably adv.

in camera adv. see camera^2.

incandesce /nkandεs/ v. [no obj.] glow with heat: the lights of the town lay incandescing across the prairie.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from INCANDESCENT.

incandescent adj. 1 emitting light as a result of being heated: plumes of incandescent liquid rock.

- (of an electric light) containing a filament which glows white-hot when heated by a current passed through it.

2 full of strong emotion; passionate: she felt an incandescent love for life.

- extremely angry: I am incandescent at the way I've been treated.

<DERIVATIVES> incandescence n. incandescently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Latin incandescent- ‘glowing’, from the verb incandescere, from in- (expressing intensive force) + candescere ‘become white’ (from candidus ‘white’).

incant /nkant/ v. [with obj.] chant or intone: priests were incanting psalms round her body.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘use enchantment on’): from Latin incantare ‘to chant, charm’, from in- (expressing intensive force) + cantare ‘sing’. The current sense dates from the mid 20th cent.

incantation n. a series of words said as a magic spell or charm: an incantation to raise the dead.

- [mass noun] the use of words as a magic spell: there was no magic in such incantation.

<DERIVATIVES> incantatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin incantatio(n-), from incantare ‘chant, bewitch’ (see INCANT).

incapable adj. 1 (incapable of) unable to do or achieve (something): Wilson blushed and was incapable of speech.

- not allowing the possibility of (a particular action): with the battery removed the car was incapable of being driven.

- (of a person) too caring or moral to do (something): a man incapable of any kind of prejudice.

2 unable to behave rationally or manage one's affairs: the pilot may become incapable from the lack of oxygen.

<DERIVATIVES> incapability n. incapably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from late Latin incapabilis, from in- ‘not’ + capabilis (see CAPABLE).

incapacitant n. a substance capable of temporarily incapacitating a person without wounding or killing them.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from INCAPACITATE + -ANT.

incapacitate /nkəpastet/ v. [with obj.] prevent from functioning in a normal way: he was incapacitated by a heart attack.

- [LAW] deprive (someone) of their legal capacity.

<DERIVATIVES> incapacitation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from INCAPACITY + -ATE^3.

incapacitated /nkəpastetd/ adj. deprived of strength or power; debilitated: Richard was temporarily incapacitated.

incapacity n. (pl. incapacities) [mass noun] 1 physical or mental inability to do something or to manage one's affairs: they can be sacked only for incapacity or misbehaviour.

2 legal disqualification.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French incapacité or late Latin incapacitas, from in- (expressing negation) + capacitas (see CAPACITY).

incapacity benefit n. [mass noun] (in the UK) a state benefit paid to people who are unable to work due to illness or disability for a period of more than twenty-eight consecutive weeks.

in-car adj. [attr.] occurring, situated, or carried in a car: an in-car navigation system.

incarcerate /nkαsəret/ v. [with obj.] imprison or confine: many are incarcerated for property offences.

<DERIVATIVES> incarcerator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (earlier (late Middle English) as incarceration): from medieval Latin incarcerat- ‘imprisoned’, from the verb incarcerare, from in- ‘into’ + Latin carcer ‘prison’.

incarceration /nkαsəre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the state of being confined in prison; imprisonment: the public would not be served by her incarceration.

incarnadine /nkαnədn/ LITERARY n. [mass noun] a bright crimson or pinkish-red colour.

■ v. [with obj.] colour (something) a bright crimson or pinkish-red.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French incarnadin(e), from Italian incarnadino, variant of incarnatino ‘flesh colour’, based on Latin incarnare (see INCARNATE).

incarnate adj. /nkαnət/ [often postpositive] (especially of a deity or spirit) embodied in human form: God incarnate.

- [postpositive] represented in the most fundamental or extreme form: here is capitalism incarnate.

■ v. /nkαnet -kαnet/ [with obj.] embody or represent (a deity or spirit) in human form: the idea that God incarnates himself in man.

- put (a concept or quality) into concrete form: a desire to make things which will incarnate their personality.

- (of a person) be the living embodiment of (a quality): the man who incarnates the pain of the entire community.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin incarnat- ‘made flesh’, from the verb incarnare, from in- ‘into’ + caro, carn- ‘flesh’.

incarnation n. 1 a person who embodies in the flesh a deity, spirit, or quality: Rama was Vishnu's incarnation on earth | Beethoven was an incarnation of artistic genius.

- (the Incarnation) (in Christian theology) the embodiment of God the Son in human flesh as Jesus Christ.

2 (with reference to reincarnation) each of a series of earthly lifetimes: in my next incarnation, I'd like to be the Minister of Fun.

- the form taken by a person or thing during an incarnation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a term in Christian theology): via Old French from ecclesiastical Latin incarnatio(n-), from the verb incarnare (see INCARNATE).

incautious adj. (of a person or an action) heedless of potential problems or risks: he blames incautious borrowing during the boom.

<DERIVATIVES> incaution n. incautiously adv. incautiousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: on the pattern of Latin incautus.

incendiary /nsεndəri/ adj. 1 (of a device or attack) designed to cause fires: incendiary bombs.

2 tending to stir up conflict: incendiary rhetoric.

- very exciting: an incendiary live performer.

■ n. (pl. incendiaries) 1 an incendiary bomb or device.

2 a person who starts fires.

- a person who stirs up conflict.

<DERIVATIVES> incendiarism n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incendiarius, from incendium ‘conflagration’, from incendere ‘set fire to’.

incense^1 /nsεns/ n. [mass noun] a gum, spice, or other substance that is burned for the sweet smell it produces.

- the smoke or perfume of incense.

■ v. [with obj.] perfume with incense or a similar fragrance: the aroma of cannabis incensed the air.

<DERIVATIVES> incensation n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally as encense): from Old French encens (noun), encenser (verb), from ecclesiastical Latin incensum ‘something burnt, incense’, neuter past participle of incendere ‘set fire to’, from in- ‘in’ + the base of candere ‘to glow’.

incense^2 /nsεns/ v. [with obj.] make very angry: locals are incensed at the suggestion.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘inflame or excite someone with a strong feeling’): from Old French incenser, from Latin incendere ‘set fire to’.

incense cedar n. a columnar North American cedar with scale-like leaves that smell of turpentine when crushed, grown as an ornamental in Europe.

<INFO> Calocedrus decurrens, family Cupressaceae.

incensed /nsεnst/ adj. very angry; enraged: Leonora glared back at him, incensed.

incensory /nsεns(ə)ri/ n. (pl. incensories)

■ another term for CENSER.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a burnt offering, or an altar for it): from medieval Latin incensorium, from incensum (see incense^1).

incentive n. a thing that motivates or encourages someone to do something: give farmers an incentive to improve their land.

- a payment or concession to stimulate greater output or investment: tax incentives for investing in depressed areas.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incentivum ‘something that sets the tune or incites’, from incantare ‘to chant or charm’.

incentivize (also incentivise) v. [with obj.] provide (someone) with an incentive for doing something: this is likely to incentivize management to find savings.

incentre (US incenter) n. [GEOMETRY] the centre of the incircle of a triangle or other figure.

incept /nsεpt/ v. [no obj.] BRITISH HISTORICAL graduate from a university with an academic degree.

<DERIVATIVES> inceptor n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘undertake, begin’): from Latin incept- ‘begun’, from the verb incipere. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

inception n. [in sing.] the establishment or starting point of an institution or activity: she has been on the board since its inception two years ago.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inceptio(n-), from incipere ‘begin’.

inceptisol /nsεptsl/ n. [GEOLOGY] a soil of an order comprising freely draining soils in which the formation of distinct horizons is not far advanced, such as brown earth.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Latin inceptum ‘beginning’ (from the verb incipere) + -SOL.

inceptive adj. relating to or marking the beginning of something; initial: the inceptive period of the program.

- [GRAMMAR] (of a verb) expressing the beginning of an action.

■ n. [GRAMMAR] an inceptive verb.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun): from late Latin inceptivus, from incept- ‘begun’, from the verb incipere.

incertitude n. [mass noun] a state of uncertainty or hesitation: some schools broke down under the stresses of policy incertitude.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin incertitudo, from in- (expressing negation) + certitudo (see CERTITUDE).

incessant adj. (of something regarded as unpleasant) continuing without pause or interruption: the incessant beat of the music.

<DERIVATIVES> incessancy n. incessantness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin incessant-, from in- ‘not’ + Latin cessant- ‘ceasing’ (from the verb cessare).

incessantly adv. without interruption; constantly: she talked about him incessantly.

incest n. [mass noun] sexual relations between people classed as being too closely related to marry each other.

- the crime of having sexual intercourse with a parent, child, sibling, or grandchild.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin incestus, incestum ‘unchastity, incest’, from in- ‘not’ + castus ‘chaste’.

incestuous /nsεstjəs/ adj. 1 involving or guilty of incest: the child of an incestuous relationship.

2 (of human relations) excessively close and resistant to outside influence: the incestuous nature of literary journalism.

<DERIVATIVES> incestuously adv. incestuousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin incestuosus, from Latin incestus (see INCEST).

inch^1 n. 1 a unit of linear measure equal to one twelfth of a foot (2.54 cm): the toy train is four inches long | eighteen inches of thread.

- (inches) INFORMAL a person's height or waist measurement: my only reservation is the goalkeeper's lack of inches.

- [often with negative] a very small amount or distance: I had no intention of budging an inch.

2 a unit used to express other quantities, in particular:

- (as a unit of rainfall) a quantity that would cover a horizontal surface to a depth of one inch, equivalent to 253.7 cubic metres per hectare.

- (also inch of mercury) (as a unit of atmospheric pressure) an amount that would support a column of mercury one-inch high in a barometer (equal to 33.86 millibars, 29.5 inches being equal to one bar).

- (as a unit of map scale) so many inches representing one mile on the ground: [in combination] one-inch maps of the east Midland counties.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move along slowly and carefully: he inched away as I approached | FIGURATIVE Spain's conservatives are inching ahead.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] cause (something) to move slowly and carefully: he inched the car forward.

<PHRASES>

□ by inches only just: the shot missed her by inches.

□ every inch 1 the whole surface, distance, or area: between them they know every inch of the country.

2 entirely; very much so: he's every inch the gentleman.

□ give someone an inch and he (or she) will take a mile PROVERB once concessions have been made to someone they will demand a great deal.

□ inch by inch gradually.

□ within an inch of very close to: her mouth was within an inch of his chin.

□ (to) within an inch of one's life almost to the point of death: he was beaten within an inch of his life.

<ORIGIN> late Old English ynce, from Latin uncia ‘twelfth part’, from unus ‘one’ (probably denoting a unit). Compare with ounce^1.

inch^2 n. [in place names] chiefly SCOTTISH a small island or a small area of high land: Inchkeith.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Scottish Gaelic innis.

-in-chief combining form supreme: commander-in-chief.

inchmeal adv. by inches; little by little.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from INCH^1 + -meal from Old English mlum, in the sense ‘measure, quantity taken at one time’.

inchoate /nkəet nk- -ət/ adj. 1 just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary: a still inchoate democracy.

- confused or incoherent: inchoate proletarian protest.

2 [LAW] (of an offence, such as incitement or conspiracy) anticipating or preparatory to a further criminal act.

<DERIVATIVES> inchoately adv. inchoateness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin inchoatus, past participle of inchoare, variant of incohare ‘begin’.

inchoative /nkəətv/ adj. [GRAMMAR] denoting an aspect of a verb expressing the beginning of an action, typically one occurring of its own accord. Compare with ERGATIVE.

■ n. an inchoative verb.

Inchon /ntn/ a port on the west coast of South Korea, on the Yellow Sea near Seoul; pop. 2,433,000 (est. 2002).

inchworm n. North American term for LOOPER.

incidence n. 1 the occurrence, rate, or frequency of a disease, crime, or other undesirable thing: an increased incidence of cancer.

- the way in which the burden of a tax falls upon the population: the entire incidence falls on the workers.

2 [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the intersection of a line, or something moving in a straight line, such as a beam of light, with a surface.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a casual or subordinate event): from Old French, or from medieval Latin incidentia, from Latin incidere ‘fall upon, happen to’ (see INCIDENT).

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 19th cent.

incident n. 1 an instance of something happening; an event or occurrence: several amusing incidents | there was not one incident of teasing from the 90 pupils.

- a violent event, such as a fracas or assault: one person was stabbed in the incident.

- a hostile clash between forces of rival countries.

- [mass noun] the occurrence of dangerous or exciting things: my period in Egypt wasn't without incident.

2 [LAW] a privilege, burden, or right attaching to an office, estate, or other holding.

■ adj. 1 (incident to) liable to happen because of; resulting from: the changes incident to economic development.

- [LAW] attaching to.

2 (especially of light or other radiation) falling on or striking something: when an ion beam is incident on a surface.

- [PHYSICS] relating to incidence: the incident angle.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin incident- ‘falling upon, happening to’, from the verb incidere, from in- ‘upon’ + cadere ‘to fall’.

incidental adj. 1 happening as a minor accompaniment to something else: for the fieldworker who deals with real problems, paperwork is incidental | incidental expenses.

- occurring by chance in connection with something else: the incidental catch of dolphins in the pursuit of tuna.

2 (incidental to) happening as a result of (an activity): the ordinary risks incidental to a fireman's job.

■ n. (usually incidentals) an incidental expense, event, etc.: an allowance to cover meals, taxis, and other incidentals.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: originally from medieval Latin incidentalis, from Latin incident- ‘falling upon, happening to’ (from the verb incidere).

incidentally adv. 1 [sentence adv.] used to add a further comment or a remark unconnected to the current subject; by the way: incidentally, it was many months before the whole truth was discovered.

2 in an incidental manner; as a chance occurrence: the infection was discovered only incidentally at post-mortem examination.

incidental music n. [mass noun] music used in a film or play as a background to create or enhance a particular atmosphere.

incident room n. a centre set up by the police to coordinate operations connected with a particular crime, accident, or other incident.

incinerate /nsnəret/ v. [with obj.] destroy (something, especially waste material) by burning: waste packaging is to be incinerated rather than buried in landfills.

<DERIVATIVES> incineration n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from medieval Latin incinerat- ‘burnt to ashes’, from the verb incinerare, from in- ‘into, towards’ + cinis, ciner- ‘ashes’.

incinerator n. an apparatus for burning waste material, especially industrial waste, at high temperatures until it is reduced to ash.

incipient /nspənt/ adj. beginning to happen or develop: he could feel incipient anger building up | an incipient black eye.

- (of a person) developing into a specified type or role: we seemed more like friends than incipient lovers.

<DERIVATIVES> incipience n. incipiency n. incipiently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a noun denoting a beginner): from Latin incipient- ‘undertaking, beginning’, from the verb incipere, from in- ‘into, towards’ + capere ‘take’.

incipit /nspt/ n. the opening of a manuscript, early printed book, or chanted liturgical text. Compare with EXPLICIT.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘(here) begins’.

incircle n. [GEOMETRY] a circle inscribed in a triangle or other figure so as to touch (but not cross) each side.

incise v. [with obj.] mark or decorate (an object or surface) with a cut or cuts: a button incised with a skull.

- cut (a mark or decoration) into a surface: figures incised on upright stones.

- cut (skin or flesh) with a surgical instrument.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French inciser, from Latin incis- ‘cut into, engraved’, from the verb incidere, from in- ‘into’ + caedere ‘to cut’.

incised meander n. [GEOLOGY] a river meander which has been cut abnormally deeply into the landscape because uplift of the land has led to renewed downward erosion by the river.

incision n. a surgical cut made in skin or flesh: an abdominal incision.

- a mark or decoration cut into a surface: a block of marble delicately decorated with incisions.

- [mass noun] the action or process of cutting into something: the method is associated with less blood loss during incision.

<DERIVATIVES> incisional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin incisio(n-), from Latin incidere ‘cut into’ (see INCISE).

incisive adj. 1 (of a person or mental process) intelligently analytical and clear-thinking: she was an incisive critic.

- (of an account) accurate and sharply focused: the songs offer incisive pictures of American ways.

2 (of an action) quick and direct: the most incisive move of a tight match.

<DERIVATIVES> incisively adv. incisiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘cutting, penetrating’): from medieval Latin incisivus, from Latin incidere ‘cut into’ (see INCISE).

incisor (also incisor tooth) n. a narrow-edged tooth at the front of the mouth, adapted for cutting. In humans there are four incisors in each jaw.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin, literally ‘cutter’, from Latin incis- (see INCISE).

incisure /nsə/ (also incisura /nsərə/) n. (pl. incisures or incisurae /-ri/) [ANATOMY] a deep indentation or notch in an edge or surface.

incite v. [with obj.] encourage or stir up (violent or unlawful behaviour): they conspired to incite riots.

- urge or persuade (someone) to act in a violent or unlawful way: he incited loyal subjects to rebellion.

<DERIVATIVES> inciter n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (earlier (late Middle English) as incitation): from French inciter, from Latin incitare, from in- ‘towards’ + citare ‘rouse’.

inciteful adj. (of words, actions, etc.) offering incitement.

incitement n. [mass noun] [often with infinitive] the action of provoking unlawful behaviour or urging someone to behave unlawfully: this amounted to an incitement to commit murder.

incivility n. (pl. incivilities) [mass noun] rude or unsociable speech or behaviour: absenteeism and incivility were not tolerated.

- [count noun] (often incivilities) an impolite or offensive comment.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French incivilité or late Latin incivilitas, from Latin incivilis, from in- ‘not’ + civilis ‘of a citizen’ (see CIVIL).

incl. (also inc.) abbr. including.

inclement /nklεm(ə)nt/ adj. (of the weather) unpleasantly cold or wet.

<DERIVATIVES> inclemency n. (pl. inclemencies)

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French inclément or Latin inclement-, from in- ‘not’ + clement- ‘clement’.

inclination n. [mass noun] 1 a person's natural tendency or urge to act or feel in a particular way; a disposition: John was a scientist by training and inclination | Fanny showed little inclination to talk about anything serious | [count noun] he was free to follow his inclinations.

- (inclination for/to/towards) an interest in or liking for (something): my inborn inclination for things with moving parts.

2 the fact or degree of sloping: changes in inclination of the line on the graph.

- the angle at which a straight line or plane is inclined to another.

- the dip of a magnetic needle.

- [ASTRONOMY] the angle between the orbital plane of a planet, comet, etc. and the ecliptic, or between the orbital plane of a satellite and the equatorial plane of its primary.

3 an act of inclining the body or head: the questioner's inclination of his head.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inclinatio(n-), from inclinare ‘bend towards’ (see INCLINE).

incline v. 1 (usually be inclined to/towards/to do something) be favourably disposed towards or willing to do something: he was inclined to accept the offer | Lucy was inclined to a belief in original sin.

- [with infinitive] (especially as a polite formula) tend to have a specified opinion: I'm inclined to agree with you.

- [with obj.] make (someone) disposed to do something: his prejudice inclines him to overlook obvious facts.

- [no obj.] feel favourably disposed towards someone or something: I incline to the view that this conclusion is untenable.

2 (usually be inclined to/to do something) have a tendency to do something: she's inclined to gossip with complete strangers.

- [with adverbial] have a specified disposition or talent: some people are very mathematically inclined.

3 [no obj., usually with adverbial of direction] lean or turn away from a given plane or direction, especially the vertical or horizontal: the bunker doors incline outwards | (as adj. inclined) an inclined ramp.

- [with obj.] bend (one's head) forwards and downwards.

■ n. an inclined surface or plane; a slope, especially on a road or railway: the road climbs a long incline through a forest.

<DERIVATIVES> inclinable adj. incliner n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘bend (the head or body) towards something’; formerly also as encline): from Old French encliner, from Latin inclinare, from in- ‘towards’ + clinare ‘to bend’.

inclined plane n. a plane inclined at an angle to the horizontal.

- a sloping ramp up which heavy loads can be raised by ropes or chains.

inclinometer /nklnmtə/ n. a device for measuring the angle of inclination of something, especially from the horizontal.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin inclinare ‘to incline’ + -METER.

include v. [with obj.] 1 comprise or contain as part of a whole: the price includes dinner, bed, and breakfast | other changes included the abolition of the death penalty.

2 make part of a whole or set: we have included some hints for beginners in this section.

- allow (someone) to share in an activity or privilege: there were doubts as to whether she was included in the invitation.

- (include someone out) INFORMAL specifically exclude someone from a group or activity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘shut in’): from Latin includere, from in- ‘into’ + claudere ‘to shut’.

<USAGE> Include has a broader meaning than comprise. In the sentence the accommodation comprises 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and living room, the word comprise implies that there is no accommodation other than that listed. Include can be used in this way too, but it is also used in a non-restrictive way, implying that there may be other things not specifically mentioned that are part of the same category, as in the price includes a special welcome pack.

included adj. [postpositive] contained as part of a whole being considered: all of Europe (Britain included) | service tax included.

including prep. containing as part of the whole being considered: languages including Welsh and Gaelic | weapons were recovered from the house, including a shotgun.

inclusion n. 1 [mass noun] the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure: they have been selected for inclusion in the scheme.

- [count noun] a person or thing that is included within a whole: the exhibition features such inclusions as the study of the little girl.

2 chiefly [GEOLOGY] a body or particle of distinct composition embedded in a rock or other material.

<DERIVATIVES> inclusionary adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin inclusio(n-), from includere ‘shut in’.

inclusive adj. including all the services or items normally expected or required: menus stating fully inclusive prices.

- (inclusive of) containing (a specified element) as part of a whole: all prices are inclusive of VAT.

- [postpositive] including the limits specified: between the ages of 55 and 59 inclusive.

- not excluding any section of society or any party involved in something: only an inclusive peace process will end the conflict.

- (of language) deliberately non-sexist, especially avoiding the use of masculine pronouns to cover both men and women.

<DERIVATIVES> inclusively adv. inclusiveness n. inclusivity n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin inclusivus, from Latin includere (see INCLUDE).

inclusive fitness n. [mass noun] [GENETICS] the ability of an individual organism to pass on its genes to the next generation, taking into account the shared genes passed on by the organism's close relatives.

inclusivism n. [mass noun] the practice of trying to incorporate diverse or unreconciled elements into a single system.

<DERIVATIVES> inclusivist n. & adj.

incog adj., adv., & n. INFORMAL, DATED short for INCOGNITO.

incognito /nknitə nkntə/ adj. & adv. (of a person) having one's true identity concealed: [as adj.] in order to observe you have to be incognito | [as adv.] he is now operating incognito.

■ n. (pl. incognitos) an assumed or false identity.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Italian, literally ‘unknown’, from Latin incognitus, from in- ‘not’ + cognitus (past participle of cognoscere ‘know’).

incognizant (also incognisant) adj. FORMAL lacking knowledge or awareness: the government appears incognizant of the growing threat to our agricultural industry.

<DERIVATIVES> incognizance n.

incoherent adj. 1 (of spoken or written language) expressed in an incomprehensible or confusing way; unclear: he screamed some incoherent threat.

- (of a person) unable to speak intelligibly: he was incoherent with sentiment.

2 not logical or internally consistent: the film is ideologically incoherent.

3 [PHYSICS] (of waves) having no definite or stable phase relationship.

<DERIVATIVES> incoherence n. incoherency n. (pl. incoherencies) incoherently adv.

incohesion n. [mass noun] lack of social cohesion: anxiety about national decline and incohesion.

incombustible adj. (especially of a building material or component) consisting or made of material that does not burn if exposed to fire.

<DERIVATIVES> incombustibility n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from medieval Latin incombustibilis, from in- ‘not’ + combustibilis (see COMBUSTIBLE).

income n. money received, especially on a regular basis, for work or through investments: he has a nice home and an adequate income | [mass noun] figures showed an overall increase in income this year.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘entrance, arrival’, now only Scots): in early use from Old Norse innkoma, later from IN + COME. The current sense dates from the late 16th cent.

income group n. a section of the population classified according to their level of income.

incomer n. BRITISH a person who has come to live in an area in which they have not grown up, especially in a close-knit rural community.

-incomer /nkmə/ combining form BRITISH denoting a person with a specified level of income: middle-incomer.

income support n. [mass noun] (in the UK and Canada) payment made by the state in particular circumstances to people who are on a low income.

income tax n. [mass noun] tax levied directly on personal income.

incoming adj. in the process of coming in: incoming passengers.

- (of a communication) being received rather than sent: an incoming call.

- (of an official or administration) having just been elected or appointed to succeed another: the incoming Labour government.

- BRITISH coming to settle in a country; immigrant.

■ n. (incomings) revenue; income: keep an account of your incomings and outgoings.

incommensurable /nkəmεn(ə)rəb(ə)l -sjə-/ adj. 1 not able to be judged by the same standards; having no common standard of measurement: the two types of science are incommensurable and thus cannot be integrated.

2 [MATHEMATICS] (of numbers) in a ratio that cannot be expressed as a ratio of integers.

- irrational.

■ n. (usually incommensurables) an incommensurable quantity.

<DERIVATIVES> incommensurability n. incommensurably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the mathematical sense): from late Latin incommensurabilis, from in- ‘not’ + commensurabilis (see COMMENSURABLE).

incommensurate /nkəmεn(ə)rət -sjə-/ adj. 1 (incommensurate with) out of keeping or proportion with: man's influence on the earth's surface seems incommensurate with his scale.

2 another term for incommensurable (sense 1 of the adjective).

<DERIVATIVES> incommensurately adv. incommensurateness n.

incommode v. [with obj.] FORMAL inconvenience (someone): they are incommoded by the traffic.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French incommoder or Latin incommodare, from in- ‘not’ + commodus ‘convenient’.

incommodious adj. FORMAL or DATED causing inconvenience or discomfort.

<DERIVATIVES> incommodiously adv. incommodiousness n.

incommunicable adj. not able to be communicated to others: the pain of separation took the form of an incommunicable depression.

<DERIVATIVES> incommunicability n. incommunicableness n. incommunicably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘incommunicative’): from late Latin incommunicabilis ‘not to be imparted’, from in- ‘not’ + communicabilis (see COMMUNICABLE).

incommunicado /nkəmjunkαdə/ adj. not able, wanting, or allowed to communicate with other people: they were separated and detained incommunicado.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish incomunicado, past participle of incomunicar ‘deprive of communication’.

incommunicative adj. another term for UNCOMMUNICATIVE.

<DERIVATIVES> incommunicatively adv. incommunicativeness n.

incommutable adj. not capable of being changed or exchanged.

<DERIVATIVES> incommutably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incommutabilis, from in- ‘not’ + commutabilis (see COMMUTABLE).

in-company adj. occurring or existing within a company: in-company training programmes.

incomparable /nkmp(ə)rəb(ə)l/ adj. 1 without an equal in quality or extent; matchless: the incomparable beauty of Venice.

2 unable to be compared; totally different: censorship still exists, but now it's incomparable with what it was.

<DERIVATIVES> incomparability n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin incomparabilis, from in- ‘not’ + comparabilis (see COMPARABLE).

incomparably /nkəmparəbli nkmp(ə)rəbli/ adv. [as submodifier] immeasurably; by far: this beach is incomparably superior to the others on the island.

incompatible adj. (of two things) so different in nature as to be incapable of coexisting: cleverness and femininity were seen as incompatible.

- (of two people) unable to live together harmoniously.

- (incompatible with) (of one thing or person) not consistent or able to coexist with (another): long hours are simply incompatible with family life.

- (of equipment, computer programs, etc.) not capable of being used in combination.

<DERIVATIVES> incompatibility n. incompatibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin incompatibilis, from in- ‘not’ + compatibilis (see COMPATIBLE).

incompetence n. [mass noun] inability to do something successfully; ineptitude: allegations of professional incompetence.

<DERIVATIVES> incompetency n.

incompetent adj. [mass noun] not having or showing the necessary skills to do something successfully: a forgetful and utterly incompetent assistant.

- [LAW] not qualified to act in a particular capacity: the patient is deemed legally incompetent.

- MEDICINE (especially of a valve or sphincter) not able to perform its function.

■ n. an incompetent person.

<DERIVATIVES> incompetently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘not legally competent’): from French, or from late Latin incompetent-, from in- ‘not’ + Latin competent- ‘being fit or proper’ (see COMPETENT).

incompletable adj. RARE unable to be completed.

<DERIVATIVES> incompletability n.

incomplete adj. not having all the necessary or appropriate parts: incomplete carvings of cattle.

- not full or finished: the analysis remains incomplete.

<DERIVATIVES> incompletely adv. incompleteness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin incompletus, from Latin in- ‘not’ + completus ‘filled, finished’ (see COMPLETE).

incompleteness theorem (also Gödel's incompleteness theorem) n. [LOGIC] the theorem that in any sufficiently powerful, logically consistent formulation of logic or mathematics there must be true formulas which are neither provable nor disprovable. The theorem entails the corollary that the consistency of a logical system cannot be proved within that system.

incompletion n. 1 [mass noun] the state of lacking something or of having failed to complete something.

2 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a forward pass which is not caught.

incomprehensible adj. not able to be understood; not intelligible: a language which is incomprehensible to anyone outside the office.

<DERIVATIVES> incomprehensibility n. incomprehensibleness n. incomprehensibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (earlier than comprehensible): from Latin incomprehensibilis, from in- ‘not’ + comprehensibilis (see COMPREHENSIBLE).

incomprehension n. [mass noun] failure to understand something: they gave him a look of complete incomprehension.

incompressible adj. not able to be compressed.

<DERIVATIVES> incompressibility n.

incomputable adj. RARE unable to be calculated or estimated: incomputable riches.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from IN-1 ‘not’ + Latin computabilis ‘able to be counted’ (see COMPUTE).

inconceivable adj. not capable of being imagined or grasped mentally; unbelievable: [with clause] it seemed inconceivable that the president had been unaware of what was going on | they behaved with inconceivable cruelty.

<DERIVATIVES> inconceivability n. inconceivableness n. inconceivably adv. [as submodifier] a crisis of inconceivably devastating proportions

inconclusive adj. not leading to a firm conclusion or result; not ending doubt or dispute: three years of inconclusive negotiations | the medical evidence is inconclusive.

<DERIVATIVES> inconclusively adv. inconclusiveness n.

Inconel /nkənεl/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an alloy of nickel containing chromium and iron, resistant to corrosion at high temperatures.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: apparently from I(nternational) N(ickel) Co(mpany), on the pattern of nickel.

incongruent /nkrənt/ adj. incongruous; incompatible.

- [CHEMISTRY] (of melting, dissolution, or other process) affecting the components of an alloy or other substance differently.

<DERIVATIVES> incongruence n. incongruently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incongruent-, from in- ‘not’ + congruent- ‘meeting together’ (see CONGRUENT).

incongruity /nkruti/ n. (pl. incongruities) [mass noun] the state of being incongruous; incompatibility: the incongruity of his fleshy face and skinny body disturbed her. [count noun] the movie presents numerous incongruities and reversals.

incongruous /nkrəs/ adj. not in harmony or keeping with the surroundings or other aspects of something: the duffel coat looked incongruous with the black dress she wore underneath.

<DERIVATIVES> incongruously adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin incongruus (from in- ‘not’ + congruus ‘agreeing, suitable’, from the verb congruere) + -OUS.

inconnu /aknu akn(j)u/ n. 1 an unknown person or thing.

2 (pl. same) an edible predatory freshwater whitefish related to the salmon, native to Eurasian and North American lakes close to the Arctic Circle.

<INFO> Stenodus leucichthys, family Salmonidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: French, literally ‘unknown’.

inconsecutive adj. not in order or following continuously.

<DERIVATIVES> inconsecutively adv.

inconsequent adj. not connected or following logically; irrelevant: people say the most stupid, inconsequent things when surprised.

■ another term for INCONSEQUENTIAL.

<DERIVATIVES> inconsequence n. inconsequently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin inconsequent-, from in- ‘not’ + consequent- ‘overtaking, following closely’ (see CONSEQUENT).

inconsequential adj. not important or significant: they talked about inconsequential things.

<DERIVATIVES> inconsequentiality n. (pl. inconsequentialities) inconsequentially adv. inconsequentialness n.

inconsiderable adj. [with negative] of small size, amount, or extent: a not inconsiderable amount of money.

- unimportant or insignificant: a not inconsiderable artist.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘impossible to imagine’): from French, or from late Latin inconsiderabilis, from in- ‘not’ + considerabilis ‘worthy of consideration’ (see CONSIDERABLE).

inconsiderate adj. thoughtlessly causing hurt or inconvenience to others: it's inconsiderate of her to go away without telling us.

<DERIVATIVES> inconsiderately adv. inconsiderateness n. inconsideration n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘not properly considered’): from Latin inconsideratus, from in- ‘not’ + consideratus ‘examined, considered’ (see CONSIDERATE).

inconsistency n. (pl. inconsistencies) [mass noun] the fact or state of being inconsistent: the inconsistency between his expressed attitudes and his actual behaviour.

- [count noun] an inconsistent aspect or element: a book riddled with inconsistencies and contradictions.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from INCONSISTENT, on the pattern of consistency.

inconsistent adj. 1 not staying the same throughout: police interpretation of the law was often inconsistent.

- acting at variance with one's own principles or former behaviour: parents can become inconsistent and lacking in control over their children.

2 (inconsistent with) not compatible or in keeping with: he had done nothing inconsistent with his morality.

<DERIVATIVES> inconsistently adv.

inconsolable adj. (of a person or their grief) not able to be comforted or alleviated: his widow, Jane, was inconsolable.

<DERIVATIVES> inconsolability n. inconsolably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from Latin inconsolabilis, from in- ‘not’ + consolabilis ‘able to be consoled’, from the verb consolari (see console^1).

inconsonant adj. RARE not in agreement or harmony; not compatible.

<DERIVATIVES> inconsonance n. inconsonantly adv.

inconspicuous adj. not clearly visible or attracting attention: an inconspicuous red-brick building.

<DERIVATIVES> inconspicuously adv. inconspicuousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘invisible, indiscernible’): from Latin inconspicuus (from in- ‘not’ + conspicuus ‘clearly visible’) + -OUS.

inconstant adj. frequently changing; variable or irregular: the exact dimensions aren't easily measured since they are inconstant.

- (of a person or their behaviour) not faithful and dependable.

<DERIVATIVES> inconstancy n. (pl. inconstancies) inconstantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin inconstant-, from in- ‘not’ + constant- ‘standing firm’ (see CONSTANT).

incontestable adj. not able to be disputed.

<DERIVATIVES> incontestability n. incontestably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, or from medieval Latin incontestabilis, from in- ‘not’ + contestabilis ‘able to be called upon in witness’, from the verb contestari (see CONTEST).

incontinent adj. 1 having no or insufficient voluntary control over urination or defecation.

2 lacking self-restraint; uncontrolled: the incontinent hysteria of the massed pop fans.

<DERIVATIVES> incontinence n. incontinently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French, or from Latin incontinent-, from in- ‘not’ + continent- ‘holding together’ (see continent^2).

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 19th cent.

incontrovertible adj. not able to be denied or disputed: incontrovertible proof.

<DERIVATIVES> incontrovertibility n. incontrovertibly adv.

inconvenience n. [mass noun] the state or fact of being troublesome or difficult with regard to one's personal requirements or comfort: the inconvenience of having to change trains.

- [count noun] a cause of trouble or difficulty: the inconveniences of life in a remote city.

■ v. [with obj.] cause trouble or difficulty to: noise and fumes from traffic would inconvenience residents.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘incongruity’, also ‘unsuitability’): via Old French from late Latin inconvenientia ‘incongruity, inconsistency’, from in- ‘not’ + Latin convenient- ‘agreeing, fitting’ (see CONVENIENT).

inconvenient adj. causing trouble, difficulties, or discomfort: she telephoned frequently, usually at inconvenient times.

<DERIVATIVES> inconveniently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘incongruous’ or ‘unsuitable’): via Old French from Latin inconvenient-, from in- ‘not’ + convenient- ‘agreeing, fitting’ (see CONVENIENT). Current senses date from the mid 17th cent.

inconvertible adj. not able to be changed in form, function, or character.

- (of currency) not able to be converted into another form on demand.

<DERIVATIVES> inconvertibility n. inconvertibly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, or from late Latin inconvertibilis, from in- ‘not’ + convertibilis (see CONVERTIBLE).

incoordination n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL lack of coordination, especially the inability to use different parts of the body together smoothly and efficiently.

incorporate v. [with obj.] 1 take in or contain (something) as part of a whole; include: he has incorporated in his proposals a number of measures | some schemes incorporated all these variations.

- combine (ingredients) into one substance: add the cheeses and butter and process briefly to incorporate them.

2 constitute (a company, city, or other organization) as a legal corporation.

■ adj. 1 another term for INCORPORATED.

2 LITERARY having a bodily form; embodied.

<DERIVATIVES> incorporation n. incorporator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin incorporat- ‘embodied’, from the verb incorporare, from in- ‘into’ + Latin corporare ‘form into a body’ (from corpus, corpor- ‘body’).

incorporated adj. (of a company or other organization) formed into a legal corporation: the Incorporated Society of Musicians | [postpositive] Adobe Systems Incorporated.

incorporative adj. tending to incorporate or include things.

incorporeal /nkprəl/ adj. not composed of matter; having no material existence: a supreme but incorporeal being called God.

- [LAW] having no physical existence.

<DERIVATIVES> incorporeality n. incorporeally adv. incorporeity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incorporeus, from in- ‘not’ + corporeus (from corpus, corpor- ‘body’) + -AL.

incorrect adj. 1 not in accordance with fact; wrong: the doctor gave you incorrect advice.

2 not in accordance with particular standards or rules: strictly speaking, the form of address was incorrect.

<DERIVATIVES> incorrectly adv. incorrectness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incorrectus, from in- ‘not’ + correctus ‘made straight, amended’ (see CORRECT). Originally in the general sense ‘uncorrected’, the word was later applied specifically to a book containing many errors because it had not been corrected for the press; hence sense 2 (late 17th century).

incorrigible adj. (of a person or their behaviour) not able to be changed or reformed: she's an incorrigible flirt.

■ n. an incorrigible person.

<DERIVATIVES> incorrigibility n. incorrigibly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin incorrigibilis, from in- ‘not’ + corrigibilis (see CORRIGIBLE).

incorrupt adj. RARE (especially of a human body) not having undergone decomposition.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incorruptus, from in- ‘not’ + corruptus ‘destroyed, marred’ (see CORRUPT).

incorruptible adj. 1 not susceptible to corruption, especially by bribery.

2 not subject to death or decay; everlasting.

<DERIVATIVES> incorruptibility /blti/ n. incorruptibly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, or from ecclesiastical Latin incorruptibilis, from in- ‘not’ + corruptibilis ‘corruptible’.

in-country adj. & adv. in a country rather than operating from outside but in relation to it: [as adv.] selection for the posts takes place in London, or occasionally in-country.

incrassate /nkraset/ adj. RARE thickened in form or consistency.

<DERIVATIVES> incrassated /nkrasetd/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from late Latin incrassatus ‘made thick’, past participle of incrassare.

increase v. /nkris/ become or make greater in size, amount, or degree: [no obj.] car use is increasing at an alarming rate | [with obj.] we are aiming to increase awareness of social issues | (as adj. increasing) the increasing numbers of students.

■ n. /kris/ a rise in the size, amount, or degree of something: an increase of 28.3 per cent | [mass noun] some increase in inflation is expected.

<PHRASES>

□ on the increase becoming greater, more common, or more frequent.

<DERIVATIVES> increasable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (formerly also as encrease): from Old French encreistre, from Latin increscere, from in- ‘into’ + crescere ‘grow’.

increasingly /nkrisli/ adv. to an increasing extent; more and more: [sentence adv.] increasingly, attention is paid to health | [as submodifier] an increasingly difficult situation.

increate /nkriet/ adj. LITERARY not yet created.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin increatus, from Latin in- ‘not’ + creatus (past participle of creare ‘create’).

incredible adj. 1 impossible to believe: an almost incredible tale of triumph and tragedy.

2 difficult to believe; extraordinary: the noise from the crowd was incredible.

- INFORMAL very good; wonderful: I was mesmerized: she looked so incredible.

<DERIVATIVES> incredibility n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incredibilis, from in- ‘not’ + credibilis (see CREDIBLE).

incredibly adv. 1 [as submodifier] to a great degree; extremely: Michele was incredibly brave.

2 [sentence adv.] used to introduce a statement that is hard to believe; strangely: incredibly, he was still alive.

incredulity n. [mass noun] the state of being unwilling or unable to believe something: he stared down the street in incredulity.

incredulous adj. (of a person or their manner) unwilling or unable to believe something: an incredulous gasp.

<DERIVATIVES> incredulously adv. incredulousness n.

<ORIGIN> 16th century: from Latin incredulus (from in- ‘not’ + credulus ‘believing, trusting’, from credere ‘believe’) + -OUS.

increment /krm(ə)nt/ n. an increase or addition, especially one of a series on a fixed scale: all sizes from 4–30 mm in 1 mm increments.

- a regular increase in salary on an incremental scale: your first increment will be payable six months from your date of commencement.

- [MATHEMATICS] a small positive or negative change in a variable quantity or function.

■ v. [with obj.] chiefly [COMPUTING] cause a discrete increase in (a numerical quantity).

<DERIVATIVES> incremental adj. incrementally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incrementum, from the stem of increscere ‘grow’ (see INCREASE).

incremental backup n. [COMPUTING] a security copy which contains only those files which have been altered since the last full backup.

incrementalism n. [mass noun] belief in or advocacy of change by degrees; gradualism.

<DERIVATIVES> incrementalist n. & adj.

incriminate /nkrmnet/ v. [with obj.] make (someone) appear guilty of a crime or wrongdoing: he refused to answer questions in order not to incriminate himself | (as adj. incriminating) incriminating evidence.

<DERIVATIVES> incrimination n. incriminatory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (earlier (mid 17th century) as incrimination): from late Latin incriminat- ‘accused’, from the verb incriminare, from in- ‘into, towards’ + Latin crimen ‘crime’.

in-crowd n. (the in-crowd) INFORMAL a small group of people perceived by others to be particularly fashionable, informed, or popular.

incubate /kjbet/ v. 1 [with obj.] (of a bird) sit on (eggs) in order to keep them warm and bring them to hatching.

- (in a laboratory or other controlled situation) keep (eggs, bacteria, embryos, etc.) at a suitable temperature so that they develop.

- NORTH AMERICAN give support and aid the development of (a new small business).

2 (be incubating something) be developing an infectious disease before symptoms appear: the possibility that she was incubating early syphilis.

- [no obj.] develop slowly without outward or perceptible signs: the BSE bug incubates for around three years.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin incubat- ‘lain on’, from the verb incubare, from in- ‘upon’ + cubare ‘to lie’.

incubation n. [mass noun] the process of incubating eggs, cells, bacteria, a disease, etc.: the chick hatches after a month's incubation.

<DERIVATIVES> incubative adj. incubatory /kjbet(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin incubatio(n-) ‘brooding’, from the verb incubare (see INCUBATE).

incubation period n. the period over which eggs, cells, etc. are incubated.

- the period between exposure to an infection and the appearance of the first symptoms.

incubator n. 1 an enclosed apparatus in which premature or unusually small babies are placed and which provides a controlled and protective environment for their care.

- an apparatus used to hatch eggs or grow micro-organisms under controlled conditions.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a place, especially with support staff and equipment, made available at low rent to new small businesses.

incubous /kjbəs/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a liverwort) having leaves which point forward so that their upper edges overlap the lower edges of the leaves above. Often contrasted with SUCCUBOUS.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin incubare ‘lie on’ + -OUS.

incubus /kjbəs/ n. (pl. incubi /-b/) a male demon believed to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women.

- a cause of difficulty or anxiety: debt is a big incubus in developing countries.

- ARCHAIC a nightmare.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: late Latin form of Latin incubo ‘nightmare’, from incubare ‘lie on’ (see INCUBATE).

incudes plural form of INCUS.

inculcate /nklket/ v. [with obj.] instil (an idea, attitude, or habit) by persistent instruction: I tried to inculcate in my pupils an attitude of enquiry.

- teach (someone) an attitude, idea, or habit by persistent instruction: they will try to inculcate you with a respect for culture.

<DERIVATIVES> inculcation n. inculcator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin inculcat- ‘pressed in’, from the verb inculcare, from in- ‘into’ + calcare ‘to tread’ (from calx, calc- ‘heel’).

inculpate /nklpet/ v. [with obj.] accuse or blame.

- incriminate: someone placed the pistol in your room in order to inculpate you.

<DERIVATIVES> inculpation n. inculpatory adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from late Latin inculpat- ‘made culpable’, from the verb inculpare, from in- ‘upon, towards’ + culpare ‘to blame’ (from culpa ‘fault’).

inculturation /nkltəre(ə)n/ (also enculturation) n. [mass noun] the gradual acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group by a person, another culture, etc.

- the adaptation of Christian liturgy to a non-Christian cultural background.

incumbency n. (pl. incumbencies) the holding of an office or the period during which one is held.

incumbent /nkmb(ə)nt/ adj. 1 (incumbent on/upon) necessary for (someone) as a duty or responsibility: the government realized that it was incumbent on them to act.

2 [attr.] (of an official or regime) currently holding office: the incumbent President was defeated.

3 [attr.] (of a company) having a sizeable share of a market: powerful incumbent airlines.

■ n. the holder of an office or post.

- [CHRISTIAN CHURCH] the holder of an ecclesiastical benefice.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun): from Anglo-Latin incumbens, incumbent-, from Latin incumbere ‘lie or lean on’, from in- ‘upon’ + a verb related to cubare ‘lie’.

incunabulum /nkjnabjləm/ (also incunable /nkjunəb(ə)l/) n. (pl. incunabula) an early printed book, especially one printed before 1501.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin incunabula (neuter plural) ‘swaddling clothes, cradle’, from in- ‘into’ + cunae ‘cradle’.

incur v. (incurs, incurring, incurred) [with obj.] become subject to (something unwelcome or unpleasant) as a result of one's own behaviour or actions: I will pay any expenses incurred.

<DERIVATIVES> incurrence n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incurrere, from in- ‘towards’ + currere ‘run’.

incurable adj. (of a sick person or a disease) not able to be cured.

- (of a person or behaviour) unable to be changed: an incurable optimist.

■ n. a person who cannot be cured.

<DERIVATIVES> incurability n. incurably adv. [as submodifier] incurably ill patients

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin incurabilis, from in- ‘not’ + curabilis (see CURABLE).

incurious adj. not eager to know something; lacking curiosity.

<DERIVATIVES> incuriosity n. incuriously adv. incuriousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘careless’): partly from Latin incuriosus ‘careless, indifferent’, from in- ‘not’ + Latin curiosus ‘careful’ (see CURIOUS); partly from IN-1 ‘not’ + CURIOUS.

incurrent adj. chiefly [ZOOLOGY] (of a vessel or opening) conveying fluid inwards. The opposite of EXCURRENT.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘falling within (a period)’): from Latin incurrent- ‘running in’, from the verb incurrere (see INCUR).

incursion /nkə(ə)n/ n. an invasion or attack, especially a sudden or brief one.

<DERIVATIVES> incursive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as encursion): from Latin incursio(n-), from the verb incurrere (see INCUR).

incurvate v. /nkəvet/ [no obj.] curve inwards.

■ adj. /nkəvət/ curved inwards.

<DERIVATIVES> incurvation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Latin incurvat- ‘bent into a curve’, from the verb incurvare.

incurve v. [no obj.] (usually as adj. incurved) curve inwards: incurved horns.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin incurvare, from in- ‘in, towards’ + curvare ‘to curve’.

incus /kəs/ n. (pl. incudes /kjdiz nkjudiz/) [ANATOMY] a small anvil-shaped bone in the middle ear, transmitting vibrations between the malleus and stapes.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, literally ‘anvil’.

incuse /nkjuz/ n. an impression hammered or stamped on a coin.

■ v. [with obj.] mark (a coin) with a figure by impressing it with a stamp.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin incusus ‘forged with a hammer’, past participle of incudere, from in- ‘into’ + cudere ‘to forge’.

IND abbr. India (international vehicle registration).

Ind. abbr.

- Independent.

- India.

- Indian.

- Indiana.

indaba /ndαbə/ n. S. African 1 a discussion or conference.

2 INFORMAL one's own problem or concern: this country is our indaba and no one else's.

<ORIGIN> Xhosa and Zulu, ‘discussion’.

indebted adj. owing money: heavily indebted countries.

- owing gratitude for a service or favour: I am indebted to her for her help in indexing my book.

<DERIVATIVES> indebtedness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English endetted, from Old French endette ‘involved in debt’, past participle of endetter. The spelling change in the 16th century was due to association with medieval Latin indebitare (based on Latin debitum ‘debt’).

indecency n. (pl. indecencies) [mass noun] indecent behaviour.

- [count noun] an indecent act or expression.

indecent adj. 1 not conforming with generally accepted standards of behaviour, especially in relation to sexual matters: indecent acts.

2 not appropriate or fitting: they leaped on the suggestion with indecent haste.

<DERIVATIVES> indecently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French indécent or Latin indecent-, from in- ‘not’ + decent- ‘being fitting’ (see DECENT).

indecent assault n. [mass noun] sexual assault that does not involve rape.

indecent exposure n. [mass noun] the crime of intentionally showing one's sexual organs in public.

- the act of outraging public decency by being naked in a public place.

indecipherable /ndsf(ə)rəb(ə)l/ adj. not able to be read or understood.

<DERIVATIVES> indecipherability n. indecipherably adv.

indecision n. [mass noun] the inability to make a decision quickly.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French indécision, from in- (expressing negation) + décision, from Latin decisio(n-), from the verb decidere (see DECIDE).

indecisive adj. 1 not providing a clear and definite result: an indecisive battle.

2 (of a person) not able to make decisions quickly and effectively.

<DERIVATIVES> indecisively adv. indecisiveness n.

indeclinable /ndklnəb(ə)l/ adj. [GRAMMAR] (of a noun, pronoun, or adjective in a highly inflected language) having no inflections.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from Latin indeclinabilis, from in- ‘not’ + declinabilis ‘able to be inflected’ (see DECLINE).

indecomposable /ndikəmpəzəb(ə)l/ adj. [MATHEMATICS] unable to be expressed as a product of factors or otherwise decomposed into simpler elements.

indecorous adj. not in keeping with good taste and propriety; improper.

<DERIVATIVES> indecorously adv. indecorousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin indecorus (from in- ‘not’ + decorus ‘seemly’) + -OUS.

indecorum /ndkrəm/ n. [mass noun] failure to conform to good taste, propriety, or etiquette.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting an indecorous act): from Latin, neuter of indecorus (see INDECOROUS).

indeed adv. 1 used to emphasize a statement or response confirming something already suggested: it was not expected to last long, and indeed it took less than three weeks | ‘She should have no trouble hearing him.’ ‘No indeed.’.

- used to emphasize a description: it was a very good buy indeed.

2 used to introduce a further and stronger or more surprising point: the idea is attractive to many men and indeed to many women.

3 used in a response to express interest, surprise, or contempt: ‘A ghost indeed! I've never heard anything so silly.’.

- expressing interest of an ironical kind with repetition of a question just asked: ‘Who'd believe it?’ ‘Who indeed?’.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: originally as in deed.

indeedy adv. North American informal term for indeed (sense 1): Yes, indeedy! That was a good question.

indefatigable /ndfatəb(ə)l/ adj. (of a person or their efforts) persisting tirelessly: an indefatigable defender of human rights.

<DERIVATIVES> indefatigability n. indefatigably adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, or from Latin indefatigabilis, from in- ‘not’ + de- ‘away, completely’ + fatigare ‘wear out’.

indefeasible /ndfizb(ə)l/ adj. chiefly [LAW] & [PHILOSOPHY] not subject to being lost, annulled, or overturned: an indefeasible right.

<DERIVATIVES> indefeasibility n. indefeasibly adv.

indefectible /ndfεktb(ə)l/ adj. FORMAL 1 not liable to fail, end, or decay.

2 having no defects; perfect.

indefensible adj. 1 not justifiable by argument: this behaviour is morally indefensible.

2 not able to be protected against attack: the towns were tactically indefensible.

<DERIVATIVES> indefensibility n. indefensibly adv.

indefinable adj. not able to be defined or described exactly: she reminds me, in some indefinable way, of my grandmother.

<DERIVATIVES> indefinably adv.

indefinite adj. 1 lasting for an unknown or unstated length of time: they may face indefinite detention.

2 not clearly expressed or defined; vague: an indefinite number of generations.

- [GRAMMAR] (of a word, inflection, or phrase) not determining the person, thing, time, etc., referred to.

<DERIVATIVES> indefiniteness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin indefinitus, from in- ‘not’ + definitus ‘defined, set within limits’ (see DEFINITE).

indefinite article n. [GRAMMAR] a determiner (a and an in English) that introduces a noun phrase and implies that the thing referred to is non-specific (as in she bought me a book; government is an art; he went to a public school). Typically, the indefinite article is used to introduce new concepts into a discourse. Compare with DEFINITE ARTICLE.

indefinite integral n. [MATHEMATICS] an integral expressed without limits, and so containing an arbitrary constant.

indefinitely adv. for an unlimited or unspecified period of time: talks cannot go on indefinitely.

- [as submodifier] to an unlimited or unspecified degree or extent: an indefinitely large number of channels.

indefinite pronoun n. [GRAMMAR] a pronoun that does not refer to any person, amount, or thing in particular, e.g. anything, something, anyone, everyone.

indehiscent /ndhs(ə)nt/ adj. [BOTANY] (of a pod or fruit) not splitting open to release the seeds when ripe.

<DERIVATIVES> indehiscence n.

indelible /ndεlb(ə)l/ adj. (of ink or a pen) making marks that cannot be removed.

- not able to be forgotten: the story made an indelible impression on me.

<DERIVATIVES> indelibility n. indelibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as indeleble): from French, or from Latin indelebilis, from in- ‘not’ + delebilis (from delere ‘efface, delete’). The ending was altered under the influence of -IBLE.

indelicacy n. (pl. indelicacies) [mass noun] 1 a lack of sensitive understanding or tact: the magazine printed the photographs with manifest indelicacy for commercial ends. [count noun] diplomatic indelicacies.

2 the quality of being slightly indecent: the play's cynicism and sexual indelicacy | [count noun] such crude indelicacies.

indelicate adj. 1 having or showing a lack of sensitive understanding or tact: forgive me asking an indelicate question, but how are you off for money?

2 slightly indecent: an earthy, often indelicate sense of humour.

<DERIVATIVES> indelicately adv.

indemnify /ndεmnf/ v. (indemnifies, indemnifying, indemnified) [with obj.] compensate (someone) for harm or loss: each of the parties shall indemnify me for all reasonable costs of defending such actions and proceedings.

- secure (someone) against legal responsibility for their actions: the company has taken out insurance to indemnify its directors against liability when acting for the group.

<DERIVATIVES> indemnification n. indemnifier n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin indemnis ‘unhurt, free from loss or damage’, from in- (expressing negation) + damnum ‘loss, damage’.

indemnity /ndεmnti/ n. (pl. indemnities) [mass noun] security or protection against a loss or other financial burden: no indemnity will be given for loss of cash.

- security against or exemption from legal responsibility for one's actions: a deed of indemnity | [count noun] even warranties and indemnities do not provide complete protection.

- [count noun] a sum of money paid as compensation, especially one paid by a country defeated in war as a condition of peace.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French indemnite, from late Latin indemnitas, from indemnis ‘unhurt, free from loss’.

indemonstrable /ndmnstrəb(ə)l ndεmən-/ adj. not able to be proved or demonstrated.

- [PHILOSOPHY] (of a truth) axiomatic and hence unprovable.

indene /ndin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a colourless liquid hydrocarbon, obtained from coal tar and used in making synthetic resins.

<INFO> A bicyclic aromatic compound; chem. formula: C_9H_8.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from INDOLE + -ENE.

indent^1 v. /ndεnt/ [with obj.] 1 start (a line of text) or position (a block of text) further from the margin than the main part of the text.

2 form deep recesses or notches in (a line or surface): a coastline indented by many fjords.

3 [no obj.] BRITISH make a requisition or written order for something.

4 HISTORICAL divide (a document drawn up in duplicate) into its two copies with a zigzag line, thus ensuring identification and preventing forgery.

- draw up (a legal document) in exact duplicate.

■ n. /ndεnt/ 1 BRITISH an official order or requisition for goods.

2 a space left by indenting text.

3 an indentation: every indent in the coastline.

4 an indenture.

<DERIVATIVES> indentor n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘give a zigzag outline to, divide by a zigzag line’): from Anglo-Norman French endenter or medieval Latin indentare, from en-, in- ‘into’ + Latin dens, dent- ‘tooth’.

indent^2 /ndεnt/ v. [with obj.] make a dent or impression in (something).

indentation n. 1 [mass noun] the action of indenting or the state of being indented: paragraphs are marked off by indentation | [count noun] an indentation for each change of speaker.

2 a deep recess or notch on the edge or surface of something: coastal indentations.

indented adj. [HERALDRY] divided or edged with a zigzag line.

indenter n. a small hard object used for producing an indentation in a solid in an indentation test.

indention n. archaic term for INDENTATION.

indenture /ndεntə/ n. a legal agreement, contract, or document, in particular:

- HISTORICAL a deed or contract of which copies were made for the contracting parties with the edges indented for identification and to prevent forgery.

- a formal list, certificate, or inventory.

- an agreement binding an apprentice to a master.

- [mass noun] the state of being bound to service by an indenture: the bracelet on his wrist represented his indenture to his master.

- HISTORICAL a contract by which a person agreed to work for a set period for a landowner in a British colony in exchange for passage to the colony.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually be indentured to) chiefly HISTORICAL bind (someone) by an indenture as an apprentice or labourer.

<DERIVATIVES> indentureship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English endenture, via Anglo-Norman French from medieval Latin indentura, from indentatus, past participle of indentare (see indent^1).

independence n. [mass noun] the fact or state of being independent: Argentina gained independence from Spain in 1816 | I've always valued my independence.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from INDEPENDENT, partly on the pattern of French indépendance.

Independence Day n. a day celebrating the anniversary of national independence.

■ another term for FOURTH OF JULY.

Independence Hall a building in Philadelphia where the US Declaration of Independence was proclaimed and outside which the Liberty Bell is kept.

independency n. (pl. independencies) 1 RARE an independent state.

2 archaic term for INDEPENDENCE.

independent adj. 1 free from outside control; not subject to another's authority: an independent nuclear deterrent | the study is totally independent of central government.

- (of a country) self-governing: India became independent in 1947.

- not belonging to or supported by a political party: the independent candidate.

- (of broadcasting, a school, etc.) not supported by public funds.

- (Independent) HISTORICAL Congregational.

2 not depending on another for livelihood or subsistence: I wanted to remain independent in old age.

- (of income or resources) making it unnecessary to earn one's living: a woman of independent means.

3 capable of thinking or acting for oneself: advice for independent travellers.

- not influenced by others; impartial: a thorough and independent investigation of the case.

4 not connected with another or with each other; separate: treating each factory as an independent unit of production | the legislature and the judicature are independent of one another.

- not depending on something else for strength or effectiveness; free-standing: an independent electric shower.

- [MATHEMATICS] (of one of a set of axioms, equations, or quantities) incapable of being expressed in terms of, or derived or deduced from, the others.

■ n. an independent person or body.

- an independent political candidate.

- (Independent) HISTORICAL a Congregationalist.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as an adjective): partly on the pattern of French indépendant.

Independent Broadcasting Authority (abbr.: IBA)

- (in the UK) the body responsible for regulating commercial television and radio, until its replacement in 1991 by the Independent Television Commission and the Radio Authority.

Independent Labour Party (abbr.: ILP) a British socialist political party formed in 1893 under the leadership of Keir Hardie. It was instrumental in the formation of the Labour Party in 1906, but tension between the two parties grew in the 1930s over the questions of pacifism and support for communism, and by the early 1950s the Independent Labour Party had lost all its parliamentary representation.

independently adv. 1 in a way that is free from outside control or influence: the government must prove its ability to govern independently. | the independently run museum receives no public funding. | the figures have been independently audited.

2 without outside help; unaided: disabled people living independently in their own homes. | information for those who are travelling independently.

3 in a way that is not connected with another; individually: decisions are made independently of consumers. | why should each of us independently spend time creating the same course?

independent suspension n. [mass noun] a form of vehicle suspension in which each wheel is supported independently of the others.

Independent Television Commission (abbr.: ITC)

- (in the UK) an organization responsible for licensing and regulating commercial television. It replaced the Independent Broadcasting Authority in 1991.

independent variable n. [MATHEMATICS] a variable (often denoted by x) whose variation does not depend on that of another.

in-depth adj. comprehensive and thorough: in-depth analysis of the figures.

indescribable adj. too unusual, extreme, or indefinite to be adequately described: most prisoners suffered indescribable hardship.

<DERIVATIVES> indescribability n. indescribably adv.

indestructible adj. not able to be destroyed: indestructible plastic containers.

<DERIVATIVES> indestructibility n. indestructibly adv.

indeterminable adj. not able to be definitely ascertained, calculated, or identified: a woman of indeterminable age.

- (of a dispute or difficulty) not able to be resolved.

<DERIVATIVES> indeterminably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘unable to be limited’): from late Latin indeterminabilis, from in- ‘not’ + determinabilis (see DETERMINABLE).

indeterminacy principle n. another term for UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE.

indeterminate /ndtəmnət/ adj. 1 not exactly known, established, or defined: the carpet is an indeterminate dull shade | the date of manufacture is indeterminate.

- (of a judicial sentence) not of a fixed length but dependent on the convicted person's conduct.

- [MATHEMATICS] (of a quantity) having no definite or definable value.

- MEDICINE (of a condition) from which a diagnosis of the underlying cause cannot be made: indeterminate colitis.

2 [BOTANY] (of a shoot) not having all the axes terminating in a flower bud and so potentially of indefinite length.

<DERIVATIVES> indeterminacy n. indeterminately adv. indeterminateness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin indeterminatus, from in- ‘not’ + Latin determinatus ‘limited, determined’ (see DETERMINATE).

indeterminate vowel n. [PHONETICS] the vowel /ə/ heard in ‘a moment ago’; a schwa.

indetermination n. [mass noun] the state of being uncertain or undecided.

indeterminism n. [mass noun] 1 [PHILOSOPHY] the doctrine that not all events are wholly determined by antecedent causes.

2 the state of being uncertain or undecided.

<DERIVATIVES> indeterminist n. indeterministic adj.

index /ndεks/ n. (pl. indexes or especially in technical use indices /ndsiz/) 1 (in a book or set of books) an alphabetical list of names, subjects, etc. with reference to the pages on which they are mentioned.

- an alphabetical list by title, author, or other category of a collection of books or documents, for example in a library.

- [COMPUTING] a set of items each of which specifies one of the records of a file and contains information about its address.

2 a sign or measure of something: exam results may serve as an index of the teacher's effectiveness.

- a figure in a system or scale representing the average value of specified prices, shares, or other items as compared with some reference figure: the hundred-shares index closed down 9.3.

- [with modifier] a number giving the magnitude of a physical property or other measured phenomenon in terms of a standard: the oral hygiene index was calculated as the sum of the debris and calculus indices.

3 [MATHEMATICS] an exponent or other superscript or subscript number appended to a quantity.

4 a pointer on an instrument, showing a quantity, a position on a scale, etc.

- [PRINTING] a symbol shaped like a pointing hand, used to draw attention to a note.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 record (names, subjects, etc.) in an index: the list indexes theses under regional headings.

- provide an index to.

2 link the value of (prices, wages, or other payments) automatically to the value of a price index.

3 [no obj.] (often as n. indexing) (of a machine or part of one) move from one predetermined position to another in order to carry out a sequence of operations.

<DERIVATIVES> indexable adj. indexation n. indexer n. indexible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin index, indic- ‘forefinger, informer, sign’, from in- ‘towards’ + a second element related to dicere ‘say’ or dicare ‘make known’; compare with INDICATE. The original sense ‘index finger’ (with which one points), came to mean ‘pointer’ (late 16th century), and figuratively something that serves to point to a fact or conclusion; hence a list of topics in a book (‘pointing’ to their location).

index case n. MEDICINE the first identified case in a group of related cases of a particular communicable or heritable disease.

index finger n. the finger next to the thumb; the forefinger.

index fossil n. [GEOLOGY] a fossil that is useful for dating and correlating the strata in which it is found.

index futures plural n. contracts to buy a range of shares at an agreed price but delivered and paid for later.

indexical /ndεksk(ə)l/ adj. & n. [LINGUISTICS] another term for DEICTIC.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: coined in this sense by the American philosopher C. S. Peirce.

Index Librorum Prohibitorum /ndεks lbrrm prəhbtrm/ an official list of books which Roman Catholics were forbidden to read or which were to be read only in expurgated editions, as contrary to Catholic faith or morals. The first Index was issued in 1557; it was revised at intervals until abolished in 1966.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘index of forbidden books’.

index-linked adj. BRITISH adjusted according to the value of a retail price index: an index-linked pension.

<DERIVATIVES> index-linking n.

India a country in southern Asia occupying the greater part of the Indian subcontinent; pop. 1,045,845,226 (est. 2002); official languages, Hindi and English (fourteen other languages are recognized as official in certain regions; of these, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu have most first-language speakers); capital, New Delhi. Hindi name BHARAT.

Much of India was united under a Muslim sultanate based around Delhi from the 12th century until incorporated in the Mogul empire in the 16th century. Colonial intervention began in the late 17th century, particularly by the British; in 1765 the East India Company acquired the right to administer Bengal. In 1858, after the Indian Mutiny, the Crown took over the Company's authority, and in 1876 Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. Independence was won in 1947, at which time India was partitioned, Pakistan being created from mainly Muslim territories in the north-east (now Bangladesh) and the north-west. A member of the Commonwealth, India is the second most populous country in the world.

- a code word representing the letter I, used in radio communication.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek India, from Indos, the name of the River Indus, from Persian Hind, from Sanskrit sindhu ‘river’, specifically ‘the Indus’, also ‘the region around the Indus’ (compare with SINDHI). Both the Greeks and the Persians extended the name to include all the country east of the Indus. Compare with HINDI and HINDU.

India ink n. North American term for INDIAN INK.

Indiaman n. (pl. Indiamen) HISTORICAL a ship engaged in trade with India or the East or West Indies, especially an East Indiaman.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from INDIA + -man from MAN-OF-WAR.

Indian adj. 1 relating to India or to the subcontinent comprising India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

2 relating to the indigenous peoples of America.

■ n. 1 a native or national of India, or a person of Indian descent.

2 an American Indian.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL an Indian meal or restaurant.

<DERIVATIVES> Indianization (also Indianisation) n. Indianize (also Indianise) v. Indianness n.

<USAGE> The native peoples of America came to be described as Indian as a result of Christopher Columbus and other voyagers in the 15th–16th centuries believing that, when they reached the east coast of America, they had reached part of India by a new route. The terms Indian and Red Indian are today regarded as old-fashioned and inappropriate, recalling, as they do, the stereotypical portraits of the Wild West. American Indian, however, is well established, although the preference where possible is to make reference to specific peoples, as Apache, Delaware, and so on. See also usage at American Indian and NATIVE AMERICAN.

Indiana /ndanə/ a state in the Middle West of the US; pop. 6,080,485 (2000); capital, Indianapolis. It was colonized by the French in the 18th century and ceded to Britain in 1763. It passed to the US in 1783 and became the 19th state in 1816.

<DERIVATIVES> Indianan n. & adj.

Indianapolis /ndənapəls/ the state capital of Indiana; pop. 791,926 (2000). The city hosts an annual 500-mile (804.5-km) motor race, known as the Indy 500.

Indian bean tree n. a North American catalpa which is widely planted in urban parks in Europe.

<INFO> Catalpa bignonioides, family Bignoniaceae.

Indian bison n. another term for GAUR.

Indian club n. each of a pair of bottle-shaped clubs swung to exercise the arms in gymnastics.

Indian cobra n. another term for SPECTACLED COBRA.

Indian corn n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a type of maize with large brown and yellow grains, not usually eaten but used to make decorations at festivals such as Thanksgiving.

Indian defence n. [usually with modifier] [CHESS] a defence in which Black responds to White's advance of the queen's pawn by moving the king's knight to square f6, usually following with a fianchetto.

Indian elephant n. the elephant of southern Asia, which is smaller than the African elephant, with smaller ears and only one lip to the trunk. It is often tamed as a beast of burden in India. Also called ASIAN ELEPHANT.

<INFO> Elephas maximus, family Elephantidae.

Indian file n. another term for SINGLE FILE.

Indian ink (NORTH AMERICAN also India ink) n. [mass noun] deep black ink containing dispersed carbon particles, used especially in drawing and technical graphics.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: originally applied to Chinese and Japanese pigments prepared in solid blocks and imported to Europe via India.

Indianism n. 1 [mass noun] devotion to or adoption of the customs and culture of North American Indians.

2 a word or idiom characteristic of Indian English or North American Indians.

Indian meal n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN meal ground from maize.

Indian Mutiny a revolt of Indians against British rule, 1857–8. Also called SEPOY MUTINY.

Discontent with British administration resulted in widespread mutinies in British garrison towns, with accompanying massacres of white soldiers and inhabitants. After a series of sieges (most notably that of Lucknow) and battles, the revolt was put down; it was followed by the institution of direct rule by the British Crown in place of the East India Company administration.

Indian National Congress a broad-based political party in India. Founded in 1885, it dominated the independence movement in the 1930s under Mahatma Gandhi, and has been the principal party in government since 1947. Following splits in the party the Indian National Congress (I), formed by Indira Gandhi as a breakaway group (the I standing for Indira), was confirmed in 1981 as the official Congress party.

Indian Ocean the ocean to the south of India, extending from the east coast of Africa to the East Indies and Australia.

Indian pipe n. a plant with a yellowish stem and a single drooping flower, native to North America and NE Asia. It lacks chlorophyll and obtains nourishment via symbiotic fungi in its roots.

<INFO> Monotropa uniflora, family Monotropaceae.

Indian red n. [mass noun] a red ferric oxide pigment made typically by roasting ferrous salts.

Indian rhinoceros n. a large one-horned rhinoceros with prominent skin folds and a prehensile upper lip, found in NE India and Nepal.

<INFO> Rhinoceros unicornis, family Rhinocerotidae.

Indian rope-trick n. the feat supposed to have been performed in India in the 19th century of climbing a length of unattached rope hanging vertically in the air.

Indian runner n. a duck of a slender upright breed, typically with white or fawn plumage, kept for egg laying.

Indian shot n. see CANNA.

Indian sign n. DATED a magic spell or curse.

Indian subcontinent the part of Asia south of the Himalayas which forms a peninsula extending into the Indian Ocean, between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Historically forming the whole territory of greater India, the region is now divided between India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Indian summer n. a period of unusually dry, warm weather occurring in late autumn.

- a period of happiness or success occurring late in life.

Indian yellow n. [mass noun] an orange-yellow pigment originally obtained from the urine of cows fed on mango leaves.

India paper n. [mass noun] soft, absorbent paper, originally imported from China and used for proofs of engravings.

- very thin, tough, opaque printing paper, used especially for Bibles.

India rubber n. [mass noun] natural rubber.

India rubber tree n. another term for rubber plant (sense 2).

Indic /ndk/ adj. relating to or denoting the group of Indo-European languages comprising Sanskrit and the modern Indian languages which are its descendants.

■ n. [mass noun] the Indic language group.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Indikos, from India (see INDIA).

indican /ndkan/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a potassium salt present in urine, in which it occurs as a product of the metabolism of indole.

<INFO> Alternative name: potassium indoxylsulphate; chem. formula C_8H_6NOSO_2OH.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin indicum ‘indigo’ (because of its early use denoting an indoxyl glucoside occurring in the leaves of indigo plants) + -AN.

indicant n. a thing which indicates something.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin indicant- ‘pointing out’, from the verb indicare (see INDICATE).

indicate v. [with obj.] 1 point out; show: dotted lines indicate the text's margins.

- be a sign of; strongly suggest: sales indicate a growing market for such art | [with clause] his tone indicated that he didn't hold out much hope.

- mention indirectly or briefly: the president indicated his willingness to use force against the rebels.

- direct attention to (someone or something) by means of a gesture: he indicated Cindy with a brief nod of the head.

- (of a gauge or meter) register a reading of (a quantity, dimension, etc.).

2 suggest as a desirable or necessary course of action: treatment for shock may be indicated.

3 [no obj.] BRITISH (of a driver or motor vehicle) signal an intention to change lanes or turn using an indicator.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin indicat- ‘pointed out’, from the verb indicare, from in- ‘towards’ + dicare ‘make known’.

indicated horsepower n. [mass noun] the power produced in a reciprocating engine by the working of the cylinders.

indication n. 1 a sign or piece of information that indicates something: the visit was an indication of the improvement in relations between the countries.

- a reading given by a gauge or meter.

2 a symptom that suggests certain medical treatment is necessary: heavy bleeding is a common indication for hysterectomy.

indicative /ndkətv/ adj. 1 serving as a sign or indication of something: having recurrent dreams is not necessarily indicative of any psychological problem.

2 [GRAMMAR] denoting a mood of verbs expressing simple statement of a fact. Compare with SUBJUNCTIVE.

■ n. [GRAMMAR] a verb in the indicative mood.

- (the indicative) the indicative mood.

<DERIVATIVES> indicatively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French indicatif, -ive, from late Latin indicativus, from the verb indicare (see INDICATE).

indicator n. 1 a thing that indicates the state or level of something: car ownership is frequently used as an indicator of affluence.

2 a device providing specific information on the state or condition of something, in particular:

- [usually with modifier] a gauge or meter of a specified kind: a speed indicator.

- BRITISH a board or screen in a railway station, airport, etc. giving current information.

3 BRITISH a flashing light or (formerly) other device on a vehicle to show that it is about to change lanes or turn.

4 [CHEMISTRY] a compound which changes colour at a specific pH value or in the presence of a particular substance, and can be used to monitor acidity, alkalinity, or the progress of a reaction.

5 (also indicator species) an animal or plant species which can be used to infer conditions in a particular habitat.

indicator diagram n. a diagram of the variation of pressure and volume within a cylinder of a reciprocating engine.

indicatory /ndkət(ə)ri ndket(ə)ri/ adj. rare term for INDICATIVE.

indicatrix /ndketrks ndkətrks/ (also optical indicatrix) n. (pl. indicatrices /-trsiz/) [CRYSTALLOGRAPHY] an imaginary ellipsoidal surface whose axes represent the refractive indices of a crystal for light following different directions with respect to the crystal axes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, feminine of Latin indicator ‘something that points out’.

indices plural form of INDEX.

indicia /ndə -sə/ plural n. FORMAL signs, indications, or distinguishing marks: the indicia of predictive child abuse.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: plural of Latin indicium, from index, indic- ‘informer, sign’.

indicolite /ndkəlt/ n. [mass noun] an indigo-blue gem variety of tourmaline.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin indicum ‘indigo’ + -LITE.

indict /ndt/ v. [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN formally accuse of or charge with a crime: his former manager was indicted for fraud.

<DERIVATIVES> indictee n. indicter n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English endite, indite, from Anglo-Norman French enditer, based on Latin indicere ‘proclaim, appoint’, from in- ‘towards’ + dicere ‘pronounce, utter’.

indictable adj. (of an offence) rendering the person who commits it liable to be charged with a serious crime that warrants a trial by jury.

indiction /ndk(ə)n/ n. HISTORICAL a fiscal period of fifteen years used as a means of dating events and transactions in the Roman Empire and in the papal and some royal courts. The system was instituted by the Emperor Constantine in AD 313 and was used in some places until the 16th century.

- [with numeral] a particular year in an indiction period.

<ORIGIN> from Latin indictio(n-), from the verb indicere (see INDICT).

indictment /ndtm(ə)nt/ n. 1 [LAW], chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a formal charge or accusation of a serious crime: an indictment for conspiracy.

- [mass noun] the action of indicting or being indicted: the indictment of twelve people who had imported cocaine.

2 a thing that serves to illustrate that a system or situation is bad and deserves to be condemned: these rapidly escalating crime figures are an indictment of our society.

<ORIGIN> Middle English enditement, inditement, from Anglo-Norman French enditement, from enditer (see INDICT).

indie INFORMAL adj. (of a pop group or record label) not belonging or affiliated to a major record company.

- characteristic of the deliberately unpolished or uncommercialized style of small independent pop groups or record labels.

■ n. a small independent pop group, record label, or film company.

- [mass noun] indie music regarded as a genre.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (first used with reference to film production): abbreviation of INDEPENDENT.

Indies ARCHAIC another term for East Indies (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> plural of Indy, an obsolete variant of INDIA.

indifference n. [mass noun] 1 lack of interest, concern, or sympathy: she shrugged, feigning indifference.

- unimportance: it cannot be regarded as a matter of indifference.

2 mediocrity: the indifference of Chelsea's midfield.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘being neither good nor bad’): from Latin indifferentia, from in- ‘not’ + different- ‘differing, deferring’ (from the verb differre).

indifference curve n. [ECONOMICS] a curve on a graph (the axes of which represent quantities of two commodities) linking those combinations of quantities which the consumer regards as of equal value.

indifferent adj. 1 having no particular interest or sympathy; unconcerned: he gave an indifferent shrug | most workers were indifferent to foreign affairs.

2 neither good nor bad; mediocre: a pair of indifferent watercolours.

- not good; fairly bad: in spite of very indifferent weather.

<DERIVATIVES> indifferently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘having no partiality for or against’): via Old French from Latin indifferent- ‘not making any difference’, from in- ‘not’ + different- ‘differing’ (see DIFFERENT).

indifferentism n. [mass noun] the belief that differences of religious belief are of no importance.

<DERIVATIVES> indifferentist n.

indigence /ndd(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] a state of extreme poverty; destitution: he did valuable work towards the relief of indigence.

indigene /nddin/ n. an indigenous person.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French indigène, from Latin indigena, from indi- (strengthened form of in- ‘into’) + an element related to gignere ‘beget’.

indigenize /nddnz/ (also indigenise) v. [with obj.] bring (something) under the control, dominance, or influence of native people: English has been indigenized in different parts of the world.

<DERIVATIVES> indigenization n.

indigenous adj. originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native: the indigenous peoples of Siberia | coriander is indigenous to southern Europe.

<DERIVATIVES> indigenously adv. indigenousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin indigena ‘a native’ (see INDIGENE) + -OUS.

indigent /ndd(ə)nt/ adj. poor; needy.

■ n. a needy person.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin indigent- ‘lacking’, from the verb indigere, from indi- (strengthened form of in- ‘into’) + egere ‘to need’.

indigested adj. archaic term for UNDIGESTED.

indigestible adj. 1 (of food) difficult or impossible to digest.

2 too complex or awkward to read or understand easily: a turgid and indigestible book.

<DERIVATIVES> indigestibility n. indigestibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: via French from late Latin indigestibilis, from in- ‘not’ + digestibilis (see DIGESTIBLE).

indigestion n. [mass noun] pain or discomfort in the stomach associated with difficulty in digesting food.

<DERIVATIVES> indigestive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin indigestio(n-), from in- (expressing negation) + digestio (see DIGESTION).

Indigirka /ndəkə/ a river of far eastern Siberia, which flows northwards for 1,779 km (1,112 miles) to the Arctic Ocean, where it forms a wide delta.

indignant adj. feeling or showing anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unfair treatment: he was indignant at being the object of suspicion.

<DERIVATIVES> indignantly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin indignant- ‘regarding as unworthy’, from the verb indignari, from in- ‘not’ + dignus ‘worthy’.

indignation n. [mass noun] anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment: the letter filled Lucy with indignation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘disdain, contempt’): from Latin indignatio(n-), from indignari ‘regard as unworthy’.

indignity n. (pl. indignities) [mass noun] treatment or circumstances that cause one to feel shame or to lose one's dignity: the indignity of needing financial help | [count noun] he was subjected to all manner of indignities.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French indignité or Latin indignitas, from indignari ‘regard as unworthy’.

indigo /ndə/ n. (pl. indigos or indigoes) 1 a tropical plant of the pea family, which was formerly widely cultivated as a source of dark blue dye.

<INFO> Genus Indigofera, family Leguminosae: several species, in particular I. tinctoria.

2 [mass noun] the dark blue dye obtained from the indigo plant.

- a colour between blue and violet in the spectrum: the deepest indigo of the horizon.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Portuguese índigo, via Latin from Greek indikon, from indikos ‘Indian (dye)’ (see INDIC).

indigobird (also indigo finch) n. an African weaver related to the whydahs, the male having black plumage with blue or purple iridescence.

<INFO> Genus Vidua, family Ploceidae: four species.

indigoid /ndd/ adj. (of a dye) related to indigotin in molecular structure.

indigo snake n. a large harmless American snake that typically has bluish-black skin which may be patterned. Also called CRIBO.

<INFO> Drymarchon corais, family Colubridae. Alternative name: blue gopher snake.

indigotin /ndətn ndətn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a dark blue crystalline compound which is the main constituent of the dye indigo.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (C_8H_6N0)2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from INDIGO + -t- (for ease of pronunciation) + -IN^1.

Indio /ndə/ n. (pl. Indios) a member of any of the indigenous peoples of America or east Asia in areas formerly subject to Spain or Portugal.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish and Portuguese, literally ‘Indian’.

Indira Gandhi Canal /ndərə ndərə/ a massive canal in NW India, bringing water to the Thar Desert of Rajasthan from the Harike Barrage on the Sutlej River. The canal, which is 650 km (406 miles) long, was completed in 1986. Former name RAJASTHAN CANAL.

indirect adj. 1 not directly caused by or resulting from something: full employment would have an indirect effect on wage levels.

- not done directly; conducted through intermediaries: local government under the indirect control of the British.

- (of costs) deriving from overhead charges or subsidiary work.

2 (of a route) not straight; not following the shortest way.

- (of lighting) from a concealed source and diffusely reflected.

3 avoiding direct mention or exposition of a subject: an indirect attack on the Archbishop.

4 [SOCCER] denoting a free kick from which a goal may not be scored directly.

<DERIVATIVES> indirectness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘not in full grammatical concord’): from medieval Latin indirectus, from in- ‘not’ + directus (see DIRECT).

indirection n. [mass noun] indirectness or lack of straightforwardness in action, speech, or progression: his love of intrigue and sly indirection.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from INDIRECT, on the pattern of direction.

indirectly adv. 1 in a way that is not directly caused by something; incidentally: the losses indirectly affect us all.

2 without having had direct experience; at second hand: I heard of the damage indirectly.

3 through implication; obliquely: both writers refer, if only indirectly, to a wealth of other art.

indirect object n. [GRAMMAR] a noun phrase referring to someone or something that is affected by the action of a transitive verb (typically as a recipient), but is not the primary object (e.g. him in give him the book). Compare with DIRECT OBJECT.

indirect question n. [GRAMMAR] a question in reported speech (e.g. they asked who I was).

indirect rule n. [mass noun] a system of government of one nation by another in which the governed people retain certain administrative, legal, and other powers.

indirect speech n. another term for REPORTED SPEECH.

indirect tax n. a tax levied on goods and services rather than on income or profits.

indiscernible /ndsənb(ə)l/ adj. impossible to see or clearly distinguish.

<DERIVATIVES> indiscernibility n. indiscernibly adv.

indiscipline n. [mass noun] lack of discipline.

indiscreet adj. having, showing, or proceeding from too great a readiness to reveal things that should remain private or secret.

<DERIVATIVES> indiscreetly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as indiscrete in the sense ‘lacking discernment or judgement’): from late Latin indiscretus ‘not separate or distinguishable’ (in medieval Latin ‘careless, indiscreet’), from in- ‘not’ + discretus ‘separate’ (see DISCREET). Compare with INDISCRETE.

indiscrete adj. RARE not divided into distinct parts.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘not separate or distinguishable’; originally as indiscreet): from Latin indiscretus, from in- ‘not’ + discretus ‘separate’ (see DISCREET). Compare with INDISCREET.

indiscretion n. [mass noun] behaviour or speech that is indiscreet or displays a lack of good judgement: he knew himself all too prone to indiscretion | [count noun] sexual indiscretions.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from late Latin indiscretio(n-), from in- (expressing negation) + discretio ‘separation’ (in late Latin ‘discernment’), from discernere ‘separate out, discern’.

indiscriminate /ndskrmnət/ adj. done at random or without careful judgement: the indiscriminate use of antibiotics can cause problems.

- (of a person) not using or exercising discrimination: she was indiscriminate with her affections.

<DERIVATIVES> indiscriminateness n. indiscrimination n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘haphazard, not selective’): from IN-1 ‘not’ + Latin discriminatus, past participle of discriminare (see DISCRIMINATE).

indiscriminately /ndskrmnətli/ adv. in a random manner; unsystematically: his armies slaughtered men, women, and children indiscriminately.

- in a way that does not show care or judgement: people who are sedentary and who eat indiscriminately.

indiscriminating adj. making no distinctions; indiscriminate.

indispensable adj. absolutely necessary: he made himself indispensable to the parish priest.

<DERIVATIVES> indispensability n. indispensableness n. indispensably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘not to be allowed or provided for by ecclesiastical dispensation’): from medieval Latin indispensabilis, from in- ‘not’ + dispensabilis (see DISPENSABLE).

indispose v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC 1 make (someone) unfit for or unable to do something.

2 make (someone) averse to something.

indisposed adj. 1 slightly unwell: my mother is indisposed.

2 averse; unwilling: [with infinitive] the potential audience seemed indisposed to attend.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from IN-1 ‘not’ + DISPOSED, or past participle of indispose ‘make unwell or unwilling’.

indisposition n. [mass noun] 1 mild illness: she was chiefly confined by indisposition to her bedroom. [count noun] due to an indisposition, Herr Gesner will not be able to continue his performance.

2 lack of enthusiasm or inclination; reluctance: indisposition to motion, exertion or change | [count noun] an utter indisposition to do anything whatever.

indisputable adj. unable to be challenged or denied: a far from indisputable fact.

<DERIVATIVES> indisputability n. indisputably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin indisputabilis, from in- ‘not’ + disputabilis (see DISPUTABLE).

indissociable adj. unable to be dissociated.

indissoluble /ndsljb(ə)l/ adj. unable to be destroyed; lasting: an indissoluble friendship.

<DERIVATIVES> indissolubility n. indissolubly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin indissolubilis, from in- ‘not’ + dissolubilis (see DISSOLUBLE).

indistinct adj. not clear or sharply defined: his speech was slurred and indistinct.

<DERIVATIVES> indistinctly adv. indistinctness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin indistinctus, from in- ‘not’ + distinctus ‘separated, distinguished’ (see DISTINCT).

indistinctive adj. not having a distinctive character or features.

<DERIVATIVES> indistinctively adv. indistinctiveness n.

indistinguishable adj. not able to be identified as different or distinct: the counterfeit bills were virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.

<DERIVATIVES> indistinguishably adv.

indite /ndt/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC write; compose: he indites the wondrous tale of Our Lord.

<ORIGIN> Middle English endite, from Old French enditier, based on Latin indicere (see INDICT).

indium /ndəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 49, a soft, silvery-white metal occurring naturally in association with zinc and some other metals. (Symbol: In)

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from INDIGO (because there are two characteristic indigo lines in its spectrum) + -IUM.

individual adj. 1 [attr.] single; separate: individual tiny flowers.

2 of or for a particular person: the individual needs of the children.

- designed for use by one person: a casserole served in individual portions.

- characteristic of a particular person or thing: she was surprised at how individual the others' bodies were.

- having a striking or unusual character; original: she creates her own, highly individual, landscapes.

■ n. a single human being as distinct from a group: boat trips for parties and individuals.

- a single member of a class: they live in a group or as individuals, depending on the species.

- [with adj.] INFORMAL a person of a specified kind: the most selfish, egotistical individual I have ever met.

- a distinctive or original person.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘indivisible’): from medieval Latin individualis, from Latin individuus, from in- ‘not’ + dividuus ‘divisible’ (from dividere ‘to divide’).

individualism n. [mass noun] 1 the habit or principle of being independent and self-reliant.

- self-centred feeling or conduct; egoism.

2 a social theory favouring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control.

<DERIVATIVES> individualist n. & adj.

individualistic adj. 1 more interested in individual people than in society as a whole: individualistic cultures where individuals strive for self-realization.

2 marked by or expressing individuality; unconventional: her work is quirky and genuinely individualistic.

<DERIVATIVES> individualistically adv.

individuality n. [mass noun] 1 the quality or character of a particular person or thing that distinguishes them from others of the same kind, especially when strongly marked: clothes with real style and individuality.

- (individualities) individual characteristics.

2 separate existence.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: in early use from medieval Latin individualitas.

individualize (also individualise) v. [with obj.] give an individual character to: have your shirt individualized with your own club name.

- (usually as adj. individualized) tailor (something) to suit the individual: an individualized learning programme.

<DERIVATIVES> individualization n.

individually adv. 1 one by one; singly; separately: individually wrapped cheeses.

- in a distinctive manner: Dublin people dress more individually than people in London.

2 personally; in an individual capacity: partnerships and individually owned firms.

individuate v. [with obj.] distinguish from others of the same kind; single out: it is easy to individuate and enumerate the significant elements.

<DERIVATIVES> individuation n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin individuat- ‘singled out’, from the verb individuare, from Latin individuus, from in- ‘into’ + dividuus ‘divisible’ (from dividere ‘to divide’).

indivisible adj. unable to be divided or separated: privilege was indivisible from responsibility.

- (of a number) unable to be divided by another number exactly without leaving a remainder.

<DERIVATIVES> indivisibility n. indivisibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin indivisibilis, from in- ‘not’ + divisibilis (see DIVISIBLE).

Indo- /ndə/ combining form (used commonly in linguistic and ethnological terms) Indian; Indian and …: Indo-Iranian.

- relating to India.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Indus, from Greek Indos ‘Indian’.

Indo-Aryan adj. 1 relating to or denoting an Indo-European people who invaded NW India in the 2nd millennium BC. See ARYAN.

2 another term for INDIC.

Indo-China the peninsula of SE Asia containing Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Malaya, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam; especially, the part of this area consisting of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, which was a French dependency (French Indo-China) from 1862 to 1954.

<DERIVATIVES> Indo-Chinese adj. & n.

indochinite /ndətnt/ n. [GEOLOGY] a tektite from the strewn field in Indo-China.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from INDO-CHINA + -ITE^1.

indocile adj. difficult to teach or discipline; not submissive.

<DERIVATIVES> indocility n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, or from Latin indocilis, from in- ‘not’ + docilis (see DOCILE).

indoctrinate /ndktrnet/ v. [with obj.] teach (a person or group) to accept a set of beliefs uncritically: broadcasting was a vehicle for indoctrinating the masses.

- ARCHAIC teach or instruct (someone): he indoctrinated them in systematic theology.

<DERIVATIVES> indoctrination n. indoctrinator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: formerly also as endoctrinate): from EN-1, in-2 ‘into’ + DOCTRINE + -ATE^3, or from obsolete indoctrine (verb), from French endoctriner, based on doctrine ‘doctrine’.

Indo-European adj. relating to the family of languages spoken over the greater part of Europe and Asia as far as northern India.

■ another term for PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN.

The Indo-European languages have a history of over 3,000 years. Their unattested, reconstructed ancestor, Proto-Indo-European, is believed to have been spoken well before 4000 BC in a region somewhere to the north or south of the Black Sea. The family comprises twelve branches: Indic (including Sanskrit and its descendants), Iranian, Anatolian (including Hittite and other extinct languages), Armenian, Hellenic (Greek), Albanian (or Illyrian), Italic (including Latin and the Romance languages), Celtic, Tocharian (an extinct group from central Asia), Germanic (including English, German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages), Baltic, and Slavic (including Russian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Croatian).

■ n. 1 [mass noun] the ancestral Proto-Indo-European language.

- the Indo-European family of languages.

2 a speaker of an Indo-European language, especially Proto-Indo-European.

Indo-Germanic adj. & n.

■ former term for INDO-EUROPEAN.

Indo-Iranian adj. relating to a subfamily of Indo-European languages spoken in northern India and Iran.

■ n. [mass noun] the Indo-Iranian subfamily of languages, divided into the Indic group and the Iranian group. Also called ARYAN.

indole /ndəl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline organic compound with an unpleasant odour, present in coal tar and in faeces.

<INFO> A heteroaromatic compound with fused benzene and pyrrole rings; chem. formula: C_8H_7N.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: blend of INDIGO (because obtained artificially from indigo blue) and Latin oleum ‘oil’.

indoleacetic acid /ndələsitk -sεtk/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound which is an acetic acid derivative of indole, especially one found as a natural growth hormone (auxin) in plants.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_8H_6(CH_3COOH)N; seven isomers; auxin is indole-3-acetic acid.

indolence /nd(ə)l(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] avoidance of activity or exertion; laziness: my failure is probably due to my own indolence.

indolent /nd(ə)l(ə)nt/ adj. 1 wanting to avoid activity or exertion; lazy.

2 MEDICINE (of a disease or condition) causing little or no pain.

- (especially of an ulcer) slow to develop, progress, or heal; persistent.

<DERIVATIVES> indolently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin indolent-, from in- ‘not’ + dolere ‘suffer or give pain’. The sense ‘idle’ arose in the early 18th cent.

Indology /ndlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study of Indian history, literature, philosophy, and culture.

<DERIVATIVES> Indologist n.

Indo-Malaysian (also Indo-Malayan) adj. relating to both India and Malaya, in particular:

- denoting an ethnological region comprising Sri Lanka, the Malay peninsula, and the Malaysian islands.

- (also Indo-Malesian) [BIOLOGY] denoting a major biogeographical region comprising the Indian subcontinent, Malesia, and East and SE Asia.

indomethacin /ndəmεθəsn/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a compound with anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, and analgesic properties, used chiefly to treat rheumatoid arthritis and gout.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_19H_16NO_4Cl.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from indo(le) + meth(yl) + ac(etic) + -IN^1.

indomitable /ndmtəb(ə)l/ adj. impossible to subdue or defeat: a woman of indomitable spirit.

<DERIVATIVES> indomitability n. indomitableness n. indomitably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘untameable’): from late Latin indomitabilis, from in- ‘not’ + Latin domitare ‘to tame’.

Indonesia /ndəniə -nizə/ a SE Asian country consisting of many islands in the Malay Archipelago; pop. 231,328,092 (est. 2002); languages, Indonesian (official), Malay, Balinese, Chinese, Javanese, and others; capital, Jakarta (on Java). Former name (until 1949) DUTCH EAST INDIES.

Indonesia consists of the territories of the former Dutch East Indies, of which the largest are Java, Sumatra, southern Borneo, western New Guinea, the Moluccas, and Sulawesi. The Dutch established control over the area in the 17th century. Independence was won in 1949, although Irian Jaya was not handed over until 1963. An attempted communist coup was crushed by the army in 1965 and East Timor was annexed in 1976. The end of the 20th century saw the introduction of democratic elections and the gaining of full independence by East Timor. In 2004 more than 200,000 people were killed when an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra led to a tsunami that caused devastation in many countries around the Indian Ocean.

<ORIGIN> from INDO- + Greek nēsos ‘island’.

Indonesian adj. relating to Indonesia, Indonesians, or their languages.

■ n. 1 a native or national of Indonesia.

2 [mass noun] the group of Austronesian languages, closely related to Malay, which are spoken in Indonesia and neighbouring islands.

■ another term for BAHASA INDONESIA.

indoor adj. [attr.] situated, conducted, or used within a building or under cover: indoor sports.

- relating to sports played indoors: the national indoor champion.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (superseding earlier within-door): from IN (as a preposition) + DOOR.

indoors adv. into or within a building: they went indoors and explored the house.

■ n. the area or space inside a building.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (superseding earlier within doors): from INDOOR.

Indo-Pacific adj. relating to the Indian Ocean and the adjacent parts of the Pacific.

■ another term for AUSTRONESIAN.

■ n. [mass noun] the Indo-Pacific seas or ocean.

Indore /nd/ a manufacturing city of Madhya Pradesh in central India; pop. 1,597,400 (2001).

indoxyl /ndksl -sl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the radical –ONC_8H_6, derived from a hydroxy derivative of indole and present in indigotin.

Indra /ndrə/ [HINDUISM] the warrior king of the heavens, god of war and storm, to whom many of the prayers in the Rig Veda are addressed.

indraught /ndrαft/ (US indraft) n. [mass noun] the drawing in of something.

- [count noun] an inward flow, especially of air.

indrawn adj. 1 [attr.] (of breath) taken in.

2 (of a person) shy and introspective.

indri /ndri/ n. (pl. indris) a large, short-tailed Madagascan lemur which jumps from tree to tree in an upright position and rarely comes to the ground.

<INFO> Indri indri, family Indriidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Malagasy indry! ‘behold!’ or indry izy! ‘there he is!’, mistaken for its name. The Malagasy name is babakoto.

indubitable /ndjubtəb(ə)l/ adj. impossible to doubt; unquestionable: an indubitable truth.

<DERIVATIVES> indubitably adv. [sentence adv.] indubitably, liberalism parades under many guises

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin indubitabilis, from in- ‘not’ + dubitabilis (see DUBITABLE).

induce /ndjus/ v. [with obj.] 1 [with obj. and infinitive] succeed in persuading or leading (someone) to do something: the pickets induced many workers to stay away.

2 bring about or give rise to: none of these measures induced a change of policy.

- produce (an electric charge or current or a magnetic state) by induction.

- (usually as adj. induced) [PHYSICS] cause (radioactivity) by bombardment with radiation.

3 MEDICINE bring on (the birth of a baby) artificially, typically by the use of drugs.

- bring on childbirth in (a pregnant woman) artificially, typically by the use of drugs.

4 [LOGIC] derive by inductive reasoning.

<DERIVATIVES> inducer n. inducible adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as enduce): from Latin inducere ‘lead in’, from in- ‘into’ + ducere ‘to lead’, or from French enduire. Compare with ENDUE.

induced drag n. [mass noun] [AERONAUTICS] that part of the drag on an aerofoil which arises from the development of lift.

inducement n. a thing that persuades or leads someone to do something: companies were prepared to build only in return for massive inducements | [mass noun] [with infinitive] there is no inducement to wait for payment.

- a bribe.

induct /ndkt/ v. [with obj.] 1 admit (someone) formally to a post or organization: arrangements for inducting new members to an organization.

- formally introduce (a member of the clergy) into possession of a benefice.

- US enlist (someone) for military service.

- (induct someone in/into) introduce someone to (a difficult or obscure subject): my master inducted me into the skills of magic.

2 ARCHAIC install in a seat or room.

<DERIVATIVES> inductee n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin induct- ‘led into’, from the verb inducere (see INDUCE).

inductance n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the property of an electric conductor or circuit that causes an electromotive force to be generated by a change in the current flowing.

- [count noun] a component with the property of inductance.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from INDUCTION + -ANCE.

induction n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of inducting someone to a post or organization: induction into membership of a masonic brotherhood.

- [usually as modifier] a formal introduction to a new job or position: an induction course.

- US enlistment into military service.

2 the process or action of bringing about or giving rise to something: the induction of malformations by radiation.

- MEDICINE the process of bringing on the birth of a baby by artificial means, typically by the use of drugs.

3 [LOGIC] the inference of a general law from particular instances. Often contrasted with DEDUCTION.

- the production of facts to prove a general statement.

- (also mathematical induction) [MATHEMATICS] a means of proving a theorem by showing that if it is true of any particular case it is true of the next case in a series, and then showing that it is indeed true in one particular case.

4 the production of an electric or magnetic state by the proximity (without contact) of an electrified or magnetized body. See also MAGNETIC INDUCTION.

- the production of an electric current in a conductor by varying the magnetic field applied to the conductor.

5 the stage of the working cycle of an internal-combustion engine in which the fuel mixture is drawn into the cylinders.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inductio(n-), from the verb inducere ‘lead into’ (see INDUCE).

induction coil n. a coil for generating intermittent high voltage from a direct current.

induction hardening n. [mass noun] [METALLURGY] a process for hardening steel surfaces by induction heating followed by quenching.

induction heating n. [mass noun] heating of a material by inducing an electric current within it.

induction loop n. a sound system in which a loop of wire around an area in a building, such as a cinema or theatre, produces an electromagnetic signal received directly by hearing aids used by the partially deaf.

inductive adj. 1 characterized by the inference of general laws from particular instances: instinct rather than inductive reasoning marked her approach to life.

2 relating to or caused by electric or magnetic induction.

- possessing inductance.

<DERIVATIVES> inductively adv. inductiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘leading to’): from Old French inductif, -ive or late Latin inductivus ‘hypothetical’ (later ‘inducing, leading to’), from Latin inducere (see INDUCE).

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 18th cent.

inductivism n. [mass noun] the use of or preference for inductive methods of reasoning, especially in science.

<DERIVATIVES> inductivist n. & adj.

inductor n. 1 a component in an electric or electronic circuit which possesses inductance.

2 a substance that promotes an equilibrium reaction by reacting with one of the substances produced.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘a person who inducts or initiates’): from late Latin, from Latin inducere (see INDUCE), or from INDUCT + -OR^1. Current senses date from the early 20th cent.

indulge v. 1 [no obj.] (indulge in) allow oneself to enjoy the pleasure of: we indulged in a cream tea.

- (indulge in) become involved in (an activity, typically one that is undesirable or disapproved of): I don't indulge in idle gossip.

- INFORMAL allow oneself to enjoy a particular pleasure, especially that of alcohol: I only indulge on special occasions.

- [with obj.] satisfy or yield freely to (a desire or interest): she was able to indulge a growing passion for literature.

2 [with obj.] allow (someone) to enjoy something desired: a luxury service used to indulge the chief executive.

<DERIVATIVES> indulger n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘treat with excessive kindness’): from Latin indulgere ‘give free rein to’.

indulgence n. 1 [mass noun] the action or fact of indulging: indulgence in self-pity.

- the state or attitude of being indulgent or tolerant: she regarded his affairs with a casual, slightly amused indulgence.

- [count noun] a thing that is indulged in; a luxury: Claire collects shoes—it is her indulgence.

2 chiefly HISTORICAL (in the Roman Catholic Church) a grant by the Pope of remission of the temporal punishment in purgatory still due for sins after absolution. The unrestricted sale of indulgences by pardoners was a widespread abuse during the later Middle Ages.

3 an extension of the time in which a bill or debt has to be paid.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin indulgentia, from the verb indulgere (see INDULGE).

indulgent adj. having or indicating a readiness or over-readiness to be generous to or lenient with someone: indulgent parents.

- self-indulgent: sheer indulgent nostalgia.

<DERIVATIVES> indulgently adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French, or from Latin indulgent- ‘giving free rein to’, from the verb indulgere.

induline /ndjlin/ n. any of a group of insoluble blue azine dyes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from indo- (denoting indigo) + -ULE + -INE^4.

indult /ndlt/ n. (in the Roman Catholic Church) a licence granted by the Pope authorizing an act that the common law of the Church does not sanction.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French, from late Latin indultum ‘grant, concession’, neuter past participle of Latin indulgere ‘indulge’.

indumentum /ndjmεntəm/ n. (pl. indumenta) [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] a covering of hairs (or feathers) on an animal or plant.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘garment’, from induere ‘put on, don’.

induna /ndunə/ n. S. AFRICAN a tribal councillor or headman.

- an African foreman.

- a person in authority.

<ORIGIN> Xhosa and Zulu, from the nominal prefix in- + duna ‘captain, councillor’.

Indurain /ndjran/ Miguel (b.1964), Spanish cyclist, the first person to win the Tour de France five consecutive times, from 1991 onwards. He won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics.

indurate /ndjret/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. indurated) harden: a bed of indurated clay.

<DERIVATIVES> induration n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (earlier Middle English) as induration: from Latin indurat- ‘made hard’, from the verb indurare (based on durus ‘hard’).

Indus^1 /ndəs/ a river of southern Asia, about 2,900 km (1,800 miles) in length, flowing from Tibet through Kashmir and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. Along its valley an early civilization flourished from c.2600 to 1760 BC, whose economic wealth was derived from well-attested sea and land trade with the rest of the Indian subcontinent.

Indus^2 /ndəs/ [ASTRONOMY] an inconspicuous southern constellation (the Indian), between Capricornus and Pavo.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

indusium /ndjuzəm/ n. (pl. indusia) chiefly [BOTANY] a thin membranous covering, especially a shield covering a sorus on a fern frond.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘tunic’, from induere ‘put on, don’.

industrial adj. 1 relating to or characterized by industry: industrial waste | a small industrial town.

- having highly developed industries: the major industrial nations.

- designed or suitable for use in industry: industrial heating oil.

- (of a disease or injury) contracted or sustained in the course of employment, especially in a factory.

2 relating to or denoting a type of harsh, uncompromising rock music incorporating sounds resembling those produced by industrial machinery.

■ n. (industrials) shares in industrial companies.

<DERIVATIVES> industrially adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from INDUSTRY + -AL; in later use influenced by French industriel.

industrial action n. [mass noun] BRITISH action taken by employees of a company as a protest, especially striking or working to rule.

industrial archaeology n. [mass noun] the study of equipment and buildings formerly used in industry.

industrial democracy n. [mass noun] the involvement of employees in the running of an industry, factory, company, etc.

industrial diamond n. a small diamond, not of gem quality, used in abrasives and in cutting and drilling tools.

industrial dispute n. a dispute between employers and employees.

industrial espionage n. [mass noun] spying directed towards discovering the secrets of a rival manufacturer or other industrial company.

industrial estate n. BRITISH an area of land developed as a site for factories and other industrial businesses.

industrialism n. [mass noun] a social or economic system in which manufacturing industries are prevalent.

industrialist n. a person involved in the ownership and management of industry.

industrialize (also industrialise) v. [with obj.] (often as adj. industrialized) develop industries in (a country or region) on a wide scale: the industrialized nations.

- [no obj.] (of a country or region) build up a system of industries.

<DERIVATIVES> industrialization n.

industrial language n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL bad language; swearing.

industrial melanism n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] the prevalence of dark-coloured varieties of animals (especially moths) in industrial areas where they are better camouflaged than paler forms.

industrial park n. North American term for INDUSTRIAL ESTATE.

industrial relations plural n. the relations between management and workers in industry.

Industrial Revolution the rapid development of industry that occurred in Britain in the late 18th and 19th centuries, brought about by the introduction of machinery. It was characterized by the use of steam power, the growth of factories, and the mass production of manufactured goods.

industrial-strength adj. very strong or powerful: an industrial-strength cleaner.

Industrial Workers of the World (abbr.: IWW) a radical US labour movement, founded in 1905 and, as part of the syndicalist movement, dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism. Also called the WOBBLIES.

industrious adj. diligent and hard-working.

<DERIVATIVES> industriously adv. industriousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘skilful, clever, ingenious’): from French industrieux or late Latin industriosus, from Latin industria ‘diligence’.

industry n. (pl. industries) 1 [mass noun] economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in factories: new investment incentives for British industry.

- [count noun] [with adj. or noun modifier] a particular form or branch of economic or commercial activity: the car industry.

- [count noun] [with adj. or noun modifier] INFORMAL an activity or domain in which a great deal of effort is expended: the Shakespeare industry.

2 [mass noun] hard work: the kitchen became a hive of industry.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from French industrie or Latin industria ‘diligence’.

indwell v. (past and past participle indwelt) 1 [with obj.] be permanently present in (someone's soul or mind); possess spiritually.

2 (as adj. indwelling) MEDICINE (of a catheter, needle, etc.) fixed in a person's body for a sustained period of time.

<DERIVATIVES> indweller n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: originally translating Latin inhabitare.

Indy n. [mass noun] a form of motor racing in which cars are driven round a banked, regular oval circuit which allows for racing at exceptionally high speeds. It takes place chiefly in the US.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: named after INDIANAPOLIS, where the principal Indy race is held.

Indycar n. a type of car used in Indy racing: [as modifier] the Indycar championship.

-ine^1 /n n in/ suffix 1 (forming adjectives) belonging to; resembling in nature: Alpine | asinine | canine.

2 forming adjectives from the names of genera (such as bovine from the genus Bos) or from the names of subfamilies (such as colubrine from the subfamily Colubrinae).

<ORIGIN> from French -in, -ine, or from Latin -inus.

-ine^2 /n/ suffix forming adjectives from the names of minerals, plants, etc.: crystalline | hyacinthine.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -inus, from Greek -inos.

-ine^3 /n in/ suffix forming feminine nouns such as heroine, margravine.

<ORIGIN> from French, via Latin -ina from Greek -inē, or from German -in.

-ine^4 /in n/ suffix 1 forming chiefly abstract nouns and diminutives such as doctrine, MEDICINE, figurine.

2 [CHEMISTRY] forming names of alkaloids, halogens, amines, amino acids, and other substances: cocaine | chlorine | thymine.

<ORIGIN> from French, from the Latin feminine form -ina.

inebriate FORMAL or HUMOROUS v. /nibret/ [with obj.] (often as adj. inebriated) make (someone) drunk; intoxicate: I got mildly inebriated.

■ n. /nibrət/ a drunkard.

■ adj. /nibrət/ drunk; intoxicated.

<DERIVATIVES> inebriety n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Latin inebriatus, past participle of inebriare ‘intoxicate’ (based on ebrius ‘drunk’).

inebriation /nibre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL or HUMOROUS drunkenness; intoxication: they were in an advanced state of inebriation.

inedible adj. not fit or suitable for eating: an inedible variety of mushroom.

<DERIVATIVES> inedibility n.

ineducable /nεdjkəb(ə)l/ adj. considered incapable of being educated, especially (formerly) as a result of mental disability.

<DERIVATIVES> ineducability n.

ineffable /nεfəb(ə)l/ adj. too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words: the ineffable mysteries of the soul.

- not to be uttered: the ineffable Hebrew name that gentiles write as Jehovah.

<DERIVATIVES> ineffability n. ineffably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin ineffabilis, from in- ‘not’ + effabilis (see EFFABLE).

ineffaceable /nfesəb(ə)l/ adj. unable to be erased or forgotten.

<DERIVATIVES> ineffaceability n. ineffaceably adv.

ineffective adj. not producing any significant or desired effect: the legal sanctions against oil spills are virtually ineffective | a weak and ineffective president.

<DERIVATIVES> ineffectively adv. ineffectiveness n.

ineffectual adj. not producing any significant or desired effect: an ineffectual campaign.

- (of a person) lacking the ability or qualities to fulfil a role or handle a situation: she was neglectful and ineffectual as a parent.

<DERIVATIVES> ineffectuality n. ineffectually adv. ineffectualness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin ineffectualis, from in- ‘not’ + effectualis, from Latin effectus (see EFFECT); in later use from IN-1 ‘not’ + EFFECTUAL.

inefficacious /nεfkeəs/ adj. not producing the desired effect.

<DERIVATIVES> inefficacy n.

inefficient adj. not achieving maximum productivity; wasting or failing to make the best use of time or resources: inefficient transport systems | the government was both inefficient and corrupt.

<DERIVATIVES> inefficiency n. inefficiently adv.

inegalitarian /naltεrən/ adj. characterized by or promoting inequality between people.

inelastic adj. 1 (of a substance or material) not elastic.

2 [ECONOMICS] (of demand or supply) insensitive to changes in price or income.

3 [PHYSICS] (of a collision) involving an overall loss of translational kinetic energy.

<DERIVATIVES> inelastically adv. inelasticity n.

inelegant adj. having or showing a lack of physical grace, elegance, or refinement: he came skidding to an inelegant halt | an inelegant bellow of laughter.

- (of language) unpolished: an inelegant title.

<DERIVATIVES> inelegance n. inelegantly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French inélégant, from Latin inelegant-, from in- ‘not’ + Latin elegant- ‘fastidious, refined’ (see ELEGANT).

ineligible adj. legally or officially unable to be considered for a position or benefit: they were ineligible for jury service.

- DATED not suitable or desirable, especially as a marriage partner: as a son-in-law he was quite ineligible.

<DERIVATIVES> ineligibility n. ineligibly adv.

ineluctable /nlktəb(ə)l/ adj. unable to be resisted or avoided; inescapable: the ineluctable facts of history.

<DERIVATIVES> ineluctability /-blti/ n. ineluctably adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin ineluctabilis, from in- ‘not’ + eluctari ‘struggle out’.

ineludible /nl(j)udb(ə)l/ adj. RARE unavoidable; inescapable.

inept adj. having or showing no skill; clumsy: the referee's inept handling of the match.

<DERIVATIVES> ineptitude n. ineptly adv. ineptness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘not apt, unsuitable’): from Latin ineptus, from in- ‘not’ + aptus (see APT).

inequable adj. not equal or evenly distributed: the inequable temperature of rivers and lakes.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin inaequabilis ‘uneven’, from in- ‘not’ + aequabilis (see EQUABLE).

inequality n. (pl. inequalities) [mass noun] difference in size, degree, circumstances, etc.; lack of equality: social inequality | [count noun] the widening inequalities in income.

- [MATHEMATICS] the relation between two expressions that are not equal, employing a sign such as ≠ ‘not equal to’, > ‘greater than’, or < ‘less than’.

- [count noun] [MATHEMATICS] a symbolic expression of the fact that two quantities are not equal.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French inequalite, or from Latin inaequalitas, from in- ‘not’ + aequalis (see EQUAL).

inequitable adj. unfair; unjust: the present taxes are inequitable.

<DERIVATIVES> inequitably adv.

inequity n. (pl. inequities) [mass noun] lack of fairness or justice: policies aimed at redressing racial inequity | [count noun] inequities in school financing.

inequivalve /nikwvalv/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of a bivalve shell) having the valves of different sizes.

ineradicable /nradkəb(ə)l/ adj. unable to be destroyed or removed: ineradicable hostility.

<DERIVATIVES> ineradicably adv.

inerrant adj. incapable of being wrong.

<DERIVATIVES> inerrancy n. inerrantist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin inerrant- ‘fixed’, from in- ‘not’ + errant- ‘erring’ (see ERRANT).

inert adj. 1 lacking the ability or strength to move: she lay inert in her bed.

- lacking vigour: an inert political system.

2 chemically inactive.

<DERIVATIVES> inertly adv. inertness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin iners, inert- ‘unskilled, inactive’, from in- (expressing negation) + ars, art- ‘skill, art’.

inert gas n. another term for NOBLE GAS.

inertia /nəə/ n. [mass noun] 1 a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged: the bureaucratic inertia of the various tiers of government.

2 [PHYSICS] a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force. See also MOMENT OF INERTIA.

- [with modifier] resistance to change in some other physical property: the thermal inertia of the oceans will delay the full rise in temperature for a few decades.

<DERIVATIVES> inertialess adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in sense 2): from Latin, from iners, inert- (see INERT).

inertial adj. chiefly [PHYSICS] relating to or arising from inertia.

- (of navigation or guidance) depending on internal instruments which measure a craft's acceleration and compare the calculated position with stored data.

- (of a frame of reference) in which bodies continue at rest or in uniform straight motion unless acted on by a force.

inertia reel n. a reel device which allows a vehicle seat belt to unwind freely but which locks under force of impact or rapid deceleration.

inertia selling n. [mass noun] BRITISH the sending of unsolicited goods to potential customers in the hope of making a sale.

inescapable adj. unable to be avoided or denied.

<DERIVATIVES> inescapability n. inescapably adv.

inescutcheon /nskt(ə)n nε-/ n. [HERALDRY] a small shield placed within a larger one.

-iness suffix forming nouns corresponding to adjectives ending in -y (such as clumsiness corresponding to clumsy).

<ORIGIN> see -y^1, -ness.

in esse /n εsi εse/ adv. in actual existence.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

inessential adj. not absolutely necessary.

■ n. (usually inessentials) a thing that is not absolutely necessary.

inestimable adj. too great to calculate: a treasure of inestimable value.

<DERIVATIVES> inestimably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin inaestimabilis, from in- ‘not’ + aestimabilis (see ESTIMABLE).

inevitable adj. certain to happen; unavoidable: war was inevitable.

- INFORMAL so frequently experienced or seen that it is completely predictable: the inevitable letter from the bank.

■ n. (the inevitable) a situation that is unavoidable.

<DERIVATIVES> inevitability n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inevitabilis, from in- ‘not’ + evitabilis ‘avoidable’ (from evitare ‘avoid’).

inevitably adv. [often as sentence adv.] as is certain to happen; unavoidably: inevitably some details are already out of date | war inevitably has casualties.

- INFORMAL as one would expect; predictably: inevitably, the phone started to ring just as we sat down.

inexact adj. not quite accurate or correct: an inexact description.

<DERIVATIVES> inexactitude n. inexactly adv. inexactness n.

inexcusable adj. too bad to be justified or tolerated: Matt's behaviour was inexcusable.

<DERIVATIVES> inexcusably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inexcusabilis, from in- ‘not’ + excusabilis ‘able to be excused’ (see EXCUSE).

inexhaustible adj. (of an amount or supply of something) unable to be used up because existing in abundance: his inexhaustible energy.

<DERIVATIVES> inexhaustibility n. inexhaustibly adv.

inexistent adj. RARE non-existent.

inexorable /nεks(ə)rəb(ə)l/ adj. impossible to stop or prevent: the seemingly inexorable march of new technology.

- (of a person) impossible to persuade; unrelenting: the doctors were inexorable, and there was nothing to be done.

<DERIVATIVES> inexorability n. inexorably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, or from Latin inexorabilis, from in- ‘not’ + exorabilis (from exorare ‘entreat’).

inexpedient adj. not practical, suitable, or advisable.

<DERIVATIVES> inexpediency n.

inexpensive adj. not costing a great deal; cheap: a simple and inexpensive solution.

<DERIVATIVES> inexpensively adv. inexpensiveness n.

inexperience n. [mass noun] lack of experience.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French inexpérience, from late Latin inexperientia, from in- (expressing negation) + experientia ‘experience’.

inexperienced adj. having little knowledge or experience of a particular thing: an inexperienced driver. | he is still relatively young and inexperienced.

inexpert adj. having or showing a lack of skill or knowledge: an inexpert transcription from the real music.

<DERIVATIVES> inexpertly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘inexperienced’): via Old French from Latin inexpertus, from in- ‘not’ + expertus (see EXPERT).

inexpiable /nεkspəb(ə)l/ adj. (of an offence or feeling) so bad as to be impossible to expiate.

<DERIVATIVES> inexpiably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inexpiabilis, from in- ‘not’ + expiabilis ‘able to be appeased’ (from expiare ‘expiate’).

inexplicable /nksplkəb(ə)l nεk- nεkspl-/ adj. unable to be explained or accounted for: for some inexplicable reason her mind went completely blank.

<DERIVATIVES> inexplicability n. inexplicably adv. [sentence adv.] inexplicably, the pumps started to malfunction

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from Latin inexplicabilis ‘that cannot be unfolded’, from in- ‘not’ + explicabilis (see EXPLICABLE).

inexplicit adj. not definitely or clearly expressed or explained.

inexpressible adj. (of a feeling) too strong to be described or conveyed in words: a mood of inexpressible longing.

<DERIVATIVES> inexpressibly adv.

inexpressive adj. showing no expression: an inexpressive face.

<DERIVATIVES> inexpressively adv. inexpressiveness n.

inexpugnable /nkspnəb(ə)l nεk-/ adj. ARCHAIC impregnable.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin inexpugnabilis, from in- ‘not’ + expugnabilis ‘able to be taken by assault’.

inextensible /nkstεnsb(ə)l nεk-/ adj. unable to be stretched or drawn out in length.

in extenso /n εkstεnsə/ adv. in full; at length: the paper covered their speeches in extenso.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from in ‘in’ + extensus, past participle of extendere ‘stretch out’.

inextinguishable adj. unable to be extinguished or quenched: a small inextinguishable candle.

in extremis /n εkstrims/ adv. in an extremely difficult situation.

- at the point of death.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from in ‘in’ + extremis, ablative plural of extremus ‘outermost’.

inextricable /nεkstrkəb(ə)l nkstrk- nεk-/ adj. impossible to disentangle or separate: the past and the present are inextricable.

- impossible to escape from: an inextricable situation.

<DERIVATIVES> inextricability n. inextricably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin inextricabilis, from in- ‘not’ + extricare ‘unravel’ (see EXTRICATE).

INF abbr. intermediate-range nuclear force(s).

infall n. [mass noun] [ASTRONOMY] the falling of small objects or other matter on to or into a larger body.

infallibility n. [mass noun] the quality of being infallible; the inability to be wrong: his judgement became impaired by faith in his own infallibility.

- (also papal infallibility) (in the Roman Catholic Church) the doctrine that in specified circumstances the Pope is incapable of error in pronouncing dogma.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from obsolete French infallibilité or medieval Latin infallibilitas (based on Latin fallere ‘deceive’).

infallible /nfalb(ə)l/ adj. incapable of making mistakes or being wrong: doctors are not infallible.

- never failing; always effective: infallible cures.

- (in the Roman Catholic Church) credited with papal infallibility.

<DERIVATIVES> infallibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French infaillible or late Latin infallibilis, from in- ‘not’ + Latin fallere ‘deceive’.

infamous /nfəməs/ adj. well known for some bad quality or deed: an infamous war criminal.

- wicked; abominable: the medical council disqualified him for infamous misconduct.

- [LAW], HISTORICAL (of a person) deprived of all or some citizens' rights as a consequence of conviction for a serious crime.

<DERIVATIVES> infamously adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin infamosus, from Latin infamis (based on fama ‘fame’).

infamy /nfəmi/ n. (pl. infamies) [mass noun] the state of being well known for some bad quality or deed: a day that will live in infamy. | he thrived on the infamy and vilification.

- [count noun] an evil or wicked act: one of history's greatest infamies. [mass noun] an act of infamy.

infancy n. [mass noun] the state or period of babyhood or early childhood: a son who died in infancy.

- the early stage in the development or growth of something: opinion polls were in their infancy.

- [LAW] the condition of being a minor.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin infantia ‘childhood, inability to speak’, from infans, infant- (see INFANT).

infant n. a very young child or baby.

- BRITISH a schoolchild between the ages of about four and eight: [as modifier] their first year at infant school.

- [as modifier] denoting something in an early stage of its development: the infant Labour Party.

- [LAW] a person who has not attained legal majority.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French enfant, from Latin infant- ‘unable to speak’, from in- ‘not’ + fant- ‘speaking’ (from the verb fari).

infanta /nfantə/ n. HISTORICAL a daughter of the ruling monarch of Spain or Portugal, especially the eldest daughter who was not heir to the throne.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Spanish and Portuguese, feminine of INFANTE.

infante /nfante/ n. HISTORICAL a son of the ruling monarch of Spain or Portugal other than the heir to the throne, specifically the second son.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: Spanish and Portuguese, from Latin infans, infant- (see INFANT).

infanticide /nfantsd/ n. 1 [mass noun] the crime of a mother killing her child within a year of birth.

- the practice in some societies of killing unwanted children soon after birth.

2 a person who kills an infant, especially their own child.

<DERIVATIVES> infanticidal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via French from late Latin infanticidium, from Latin infant- (see INFANT) + -cidium (see -CIDE).

infantile /nf(ə)ntl/ adj. of or occurring among babies or very young children: infantile colic.

- DEROGATORY childish: infantile jokes.

<DERIVATIVES> infantility n. (pl. infantilities)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from Latin infantilis, from infans, infant- (see INFANT).

infantile paralysis n. [mass noun] DATED poliomyelitis.

infantilism /nfantlz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] childish behaviour.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] the persistence of infantile characteristics or behaviour in adult life.

infantilize /nfantlz/ (also infantilise) v. [with obj.] treat (someone) as a child or in a way which denies their maturity in age or experience.

<DERIVATIVES> infantilization n.

infantine /nf(ə)ntn/ adj. archaic term for INFANTILE.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from obsolete French infantin, variant of Old French enfantin, from Latin infans, infant- (see INFANT).

infant mortality n. [mass noun] the death of children under the age of one year.

infantry n. [mass noun] soldiers marching or fighting on foot; foot soldiers collectively.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French infanterie, from Italian infanteria, from infante ‘youth, infantryman’, from Latin infant- (see INFANT).

infantryman n. (pl. infantrymen) a soldier belonging to an infantry regiment.

infarct /nfαkt nfαkt/ n. MEDICINE a small localized area of dead tissue resulting from failure of blood supply.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin infarctus, from infarcire ‘stuff into or with’, from in- ‘into’ + Latin farcire ‘to stuff’.

infarction /nfαk(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] obstruction of the blood supply to an organ or region of tissue, typically by a thrombus or embolus, causing local death of the tissue.

infatuate /nfatet -tj-/ v. (be infatuated with) be inspired with an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for: she is infatuated with a handsome police chief | (as adj. infatuated) an infatuated teenager.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin infatuat- ‘made foolish’, from the verb infatuare, from in- ‘into’ + fatuus ‘foolish’.

infatuation /nfate(ə)n -tj-/ n. an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone or something: he had developed an infatuation with the girl. | I hope this is merely a passing infatuation. [mass noun] the thrill of infatuation.

infauna /nfnə/ n. [mass noun] [ECOLOGY] the animals living in the sediments of the ocean floor or river or lake beds. Compare with EPIFAUNA.

<DERIVATIVES> infaunal adj.

infeasible adj. not possible to do easily or conveniently; impracticable.

<DERIVATIVES> infeasibility n.

infect v. [with obj.] affect (a person, organism, etc.) with a disease-causing organism: the chance that a child may have been infected with HIV.

- contaminate (air, water, etc.) with harmful organisms: (as adj. infected) the bacteria can get into a crop from an infected water supply.

- [COMPUTING] affect with a virus.

- (of a negative feeling or idea) take hold of or be communicated to (someone): the panic in his voice infected her.

<DERIVATIVES> infector n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin infect- ‘tainted’, from the verb inficere, from in- ‘into’ + facere ‘put, do’.

infection n. [mass noun] the process of infecting or the state of being infected: strict hygiene will limit the risk of infection | a reddening of the skin at the site of infection.

- [count noun] an infectious disease: a chest infection.

- [COMPUTING] the presence of a virus in, or its introduction into, a computer system.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin infectio(n-), from Latin inficere ‘dip in, taint’ (see INFECT).

infectious adj. (of a disease or disease-causing organism) liable to be transmitted to people, organisms, etc. through the environment.

- liable to spread infection: the dogs may still be infectious.

- likely to spread or influence others in a rapid manner: her enthusiasm is infectious.

<DERIVATIVES> infectiously adv. infectiousness n.

<USAGE> On the differences in meaning between infectious and contagious see usage at contagious.

infective adj. capable of causing infection.

- DATED infectious: infective hepatitis.

<DERIVATIVES> infectivity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin infectivus, from inficere ‘to taint’ (see INFECT).

infecund adj. MEDICINE & [ZOOLOGY] (of a woman or female animal) having low or zero fecundity; unable to bear children or young.

<DERIVATIVES> infecundity n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin infecundus, from in- ‘not’ + fecundus ‘fecund’.

infeed n. [mass noun] the action or process of supplying material to a machine.

- [count noun] a mechanism which supplies material to a machine.

infelicitous adj. unfortunate; inappropriate: his illustration is singularly infelicitous.

<DERIVATIVES> infelicitously adv.

infelicity n. (pl. infelicities) 1 a thing that is inappropriate, especially a remark or expression: she winced at their infelicities and at the clumsy way they talked.

2 [mass noun] ARCHAIC unhappiness; misfortune.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘unhappiness’): from Latin infelicitas, from infelix, infelic- ‘unhappy’, from in- ‘not’ + felix ‘happy’.

infer v. (infers, inferring, inferred) [with obj.] deduce or conclude (something) from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements: [with clause] from these facts we can infer that crime has been increasing.

<DERIVATIVES> inferable (also inferrable) adj.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘bring about, inflict’): from Latin inferre ‘bring in, bring about’ (in medieval Latin ‘deduce’), from in- ‘into’ + ferre ‘bring’.

<USAGE> There is a distinction in meaning between infer and imply. In the sentence the speaker implied that the General had been a traitor, implied means that something in the speaker's words suggested that this man was a traitor (though nothing so explicit was actually stated). However, in we inferred from his words that the General had been a traitor, inferred means that something in the speaker's words enabled the listeners to deduce that the man was a traitor. The two words infer and imply can describe the same event, but from different angles. Mistakes occur when infer is used to mean imply, as in are you inferring that I'm a liar? (instead of are you implying that I'm a liar?). The error is common enough for some dictionaries to record it as a more or less standard use: over 20 per cent of citations for infer in the British National Corpus are erroneous for imply.

inference /nf(ə)r(ə)ns/ n. a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning.

- [mass noun] the process of inferring something: his emphasis on order and health, and by inference cleanliness.

<DERIVATIVES> inferential adj. inferentially adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin inferentia, from inferent- ‘bringing in’, from the verb inferre (see INFER).

inferior adj. 1 lower in rank, status, or quality: schooling in inner-city areas was inferior to that in the rest of the country.

- of low standard or quality: inferior goods.

- [LAW] (of a court or tribunal) susceptible to having its decisions overturned by a higher court.

- [ECONOMICS] denoting goods or services which are in greater demand during a recession than in a boom, for example second-hand clothes.

2 chiefly [ANATOMY] low or lower in position.

- [BOTANY] (of the ovary of a flower) situated below the sepals and enclosed in the receptacle.

3 (of a letter, figure, or symbol) written or printed below the line.

■ n. 1 a person lower than another in rank, status, or ability: her social and intellectual inferiors.

2 [PRINTING] an inferior letter, figure, or symbol.

<DERIVATIVES> inferiorly adv.

■ inferior (sense 2 of the adjective)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective): from Latin, comparative of inferus ‘low’.

inferior conjunction n. [ASTRONOMY] a conjunction of Mercury or Venus with the sun, in which the planet and the earth are on the same side of the sun.

inferiority n. [mass noun] the condition of being lower in status or quality than another or others.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: probably from medieval Latin inferioritas, from Latin inferior ‘lower’.

inferiority complex n. an unrealistic feeling of general inadequacy caused by actual or supposed inferiority in one sphere, sometimes marked by aggressive behaviour in compensation.

inferior planet n. [ASTRONOMY] either of the two planets Mercury and Venus, whose orbits are closer to the sun than the earth's.

infernal adj. 1 relating to or characteristic of hell or the underworld: the infernal regions | the infernal heat of the forge.

2 [attr.] INFORMAL irritating and tiresome (used for emphasis): you're an infernal nuisance.

<DERIVATIVES> infernally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Christian Latin infernalis, from Latin infernus ‘below, underground’, used by Christians to mean ‘hell’, on the pattern of inferni (masculine plural) ‘the shades’ and inferna (neuter plural) ‘the lower regions’.

inferno n. (pl. infernos) 1 a large fire that is dangerously out of control.

2 (usually Inferno) hell (with reference to Dante's Divine Comedy).

- a place or situation that is too hot, chaotic, or noisy: the inferno of the Friday evening rush hour.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Italian, from Christian Latin infernus (see INFERNAL).

infertile adj. (of a person, animal, or plant) unable to reproduce itself; unable to have young.

- (of land) unable to sustain crops or vegetation.

<DERIVATIVES> infertility n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from late Latin infertilis, from in- ‘not’ + fertilis (see FERTILE).

infest v. [with obj.] (of insects or animals) be present (in a place or site) in large numbers, typically so as to cause damage or disease: the house is infested with cockroaches | (as adj., in combination -infested) shark-infested waters.

<DERIVATIVES> infestation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘torment, harass’): from French infester or Latin infestare ‘assail’, from infestus ‘hostile’. The current sense dates from the mid 16th cent.

infibulate /nfbjlet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. infibulated) perform infibulation on (a girl or woman).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin infibulat- ‘fastened with a clasp’, from the verb infibulare, from in- ‘into’ + fibula ‘brooch’.

infibulation n. [mass noun] the practice of excising the clitoris and labia of a girl or woman and stitching together the edges of the vulva to prevent sexual intercourse. It is traditional in some NE African cultures but is highly controversial.

infidel /nfd(ə)l/ chiefly ARCHAIC n. a person who has no religion or whose religion is not that of the majority: a crusade against infidels and heretics.

■ adj. adhering to a religion other than that of the majority: the infidel foe.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French infidèle or Latin infidelis, from in- ‘not’ + fidelis ‘faithful’ (from fides ‘faith’, related to fidere ‘to trust’). The word originally denoted a person of a religion other than one's own, specifically a Muslim (to a Christian), a Christian (to a Muslim), or a Gentile (to a Jew).

infidelity n. (pl. infidelities) [mass noun] 1 the action or state of being unfaithful to a spouse or other sexual partner: her infidelity continued after her marriage | [count noun] I ought not to have tolerated his infidelities.

2 disbelief in a particular religion, especially Christianity.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘lack of faith’ and ‘disloyalty’): from Old French infidelite or Latin infidelitas, from infidelis ‘not faithful’ (see INFIDEL).

infield n. 1 the inner part of the field of play in various sports, in particular:

- [CRICKET] the part of the field closer to the wicket.

- [BASEBALL] the area within and near the four bases.

- the players stationed in the infield, collectively.

2 the land around or near a farmstead, especially arable land.

■ adv. into or towards the inner part of the field of play.

<DERIVATIVES> infielder n.

■ infield (sense 1 of the noun)

infighting n. [mass noun] hidden conflict or competitiveness within an organization.

- boxing closer to an opponent than at arm's length.

<DERIVATIVES> infighter n.

infill n. (also infilling) [mass noun] material that fills or is used to fill a space or hole.

- buildings constructed to occupy the space between existing structures.

■ v. [with obj.] fill or block up (a space or hole).

- construct new buildings between (existing structures).

infiltrate /nfltret/ v. [with obj.] 1 enter or gain access to (an organization, place, etc.) surreptitiously and gradually, especially in order to acquire secret information: the organization has been infiltrated by informers.

- introduce (someone) into an organization, place, etc. surreptitiously, in order for them to acquire secret information.

- MEDICINE (of a tumour, cells, etc.) spread into or invade (a tissue or organ).

2 (of a liquid) permeate (something) by filtration: virtually no water infiltrates deserts such as the Sahara.

- cause (a liquid) to permeate something by filtration: lignocaine was infiltrated into the wound.

3 gradually permeate or become a part of: computing has infiltrated most professions now.

■ n. MEDICINE an infiltrating substance or a number of infiltrating cells.

<DERIVATIVES> infiltration n. infiltrator n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as infiltration): from IN-2 + FILTRATE.

infimum /nfməm/ n. [MATHEMATICS] the largest quantity that is less than or equal to each of a given set or subset of quantities. The opposite of SUPREMUM.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Latin, literally ‘lowest part’, neuter (used as a noun) of infimus ‘lowest’.

in fine /n fni fine/ adv. finally; in short; to sum up.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

infinite /nfnt/ adj. 1 limitless or endless in space, extent, or size; impossible to measure or calculate: the infinite mercy of God | the infinite number of stars in the universe.

- very great in amount or degree: he bathed the wound with infinite care.

- [MATHEMATICS] greater than any assignable quantity or countable number.

- [MATHEMATICS] (of a series) able to be continued indefinitely.

2 [GRAMMAR] another term for NON-FINITE.

■ n. (the infinite) a space or quantity that is infinite.

- (the Infinite) God.

<DERIVATIVES> infinitely adv. [as submodifier] the pay is infinitely better infiniteness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin infinitus, from in- ‘not’ + finitus ‘finished, finite’ (see FINITE).

infinite regress n. chiefly [LOGIC] a sequence of reasoning or justification which can never come to an end.

infinitesimal /nfntεsm(ə)l/ adj. extremely small: an infinitesimal pause.

■ n. [MATHEMATICS] an indefinitely small quantity; a value approaching zero.

<DERIVATIVES> infinitesimally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin infinitesimus, from Latin infinitus (see INFINITE), on the pattern of centesimal.

infinitive /nfntv/ n. the basic form of a verb, without an inflection binding it to a particular subject or tense (e.g. see in we came to see, let him see).

■ adj. having or involving the basic form of a verb.

<DERIVATIVES> infinitival /-tv(ə)l/ adj. infinitivally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Latin infinitivus, from infinitus (see INFINITE). The noun dates from the mid 16th cent.

infinitude /nfntjud/ n. [mass noun] the state or quality of being infinite or having no limit: the infinitude of the universe.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin infinitus (see INFINITE), on the pattern of magnitude.

infinity n. (pl. infinities) 1 [mass noun] the state or quality of being infinite: the infinity of space.

- [count noun] an infinite or very great number or amount: an infinity of combinations.

- a point in space or time that is or seems infinitely distant: the lawns stretched into infinity.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a number greater than any assignable quantity or countable number (symbol ∞).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French infinite or Latin infinitas, from infinitus (see INFINITE).

infinity pool n. a swimming pool whose positioning gives the impression that it merges into the surrounding landscape, especially the sea.

infirm adj. not physically or mentally strong, especially through age or illness.

- ARCHAIC (of a person or their judgement) weak; irresolute: he was infirm of purpose.

<DERIVATIVES> infirmly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘weak, frail’): from Latin infirmus, from in- ‘not’ + firmus ‘firm’.

infirmarer /nfəm(ə)rə/ n. HISTORICAL a person in charge of the infirmary in a medieval monastery.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French enfermerier, from enfermerie ‘infirmary’, based on Latin infirmus (see INFIRM).

infirmary n. (pl. infirmaries) a hospital.

- a place in a large institution for the care of those who are ill: the prison infirmary.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin infirmaria, from Latin infirmus (see INFIRM).

infirmity n. (pl. infirmities) [mass noun] physical or mental weakness: old age and infirmity come to men and women alike | [count noun] the infirmities of old age.

infix v. /nfks/ [with obj.] 1 implant or insert firmly in something.

2 [GRAMMAR] insert (a formative element) into the body of a word.

■ n. /nfks/ [GRAMMAR] a formative element inserted in a word.

<DERIVATIVES> infixation n. ([GRAMMAR])

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin infix- ‘fixed in’, from the verb infigere, from in- ‘into’ + figere ‘fasten’, reinforced by in-2 ‘into’ + FIX. The noun is on the pattern of prefix and suffix.

in flagrante delicto /n flərante dlktə fləranti/ (also INFORMAL in flagrante) adv. in the very act of wrongdoing, especially in an act of sexual misconduct: he had been caught in flagrante with the wife of the Association's Treasurer.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘in the heat of the crime’ (literally ‘in blazing crime’).

inflame v. [with obj.] 1 provoke or intensify (strong feelings, especially anger) in someone: high fines further inflamed public feelings.

- provoke (someone) to strong feelings: her sister was inflamed with jealousy.

- make (a situation) worse: comments that inflame what is already a sensitive situation.

2 cause inflammation in (a part of the body): the finger joints were inflamed with rheumatoid arthritis | (as adj. inflamed) inflamed eyes and lips.

3 LITERARY light up with or as if with flames.

<ORIGIN> Middle English enflaume, inflaume, from Old French enflammer, from Latin inflammare, from in- ‘into’ + flamma ‘flame’.

inflammable adj. easily set on fire: inflammable materials.

■ n. (usually inflammables) a substance which is easily set on fire.

<DERIVATIVES> inflammability n. inflammableness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, or from Latin inflammare (see INFLAME).

<USAGE> The words inflammable and flammable both have the same meaning ‘easily set on fire’. This might seem surprising, given that the prefix in- normally has the function of negation, as in words like indirect and insufficient. It might be expected, therefore, that inflammable would mean the opposite of flammable, i.e. ‘not easily set on fire’. In fact, inflammable is formed using a different Latin prefix in-, which has the meaning ‘into’ and here has the effect of intensifying the meaning of the word in English. The opposite of inflammable and flammable is either non-inflammable or non-flammable.

inflammation n. [mass noun] a localized physical condition in which part of the body becomes reddened, swollen, hot, and often painful, especially as a reaction to injury or infection.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inflammatio(n-), from the verb inflammare (see INFLAME).

inflammatory adj. 1 relating to or causing inflammation of a part of the body.

2 (especially of speech or writing) arousing or intended to arouse angry or violent feelings: inflammatory remarks.

inflatable adj. capable of being filled with air: an inflatable mattress.

■ n. a plastic or rubber object that must be filled with air before use.

inflate v. [usually with obj.] 1 fill (a balloon, tyre, or other expandable structure) with air or gas so that it becomes distended.

- [no obj.] become distended with air or gas.

2 increase (something) by a large or excessive amount: objectives should be clearly set out so as not to duplicate work and inflate costs.

- exaggerate: numbers have been grossly inflated by the local press.

3 bring about inflation of (a currency) or in (an economy).

<DERIVATIVES> inflater (also inflator) n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inflat- ‘blown into’, from the verb inflare, from in- ‘into’ + flare ‘to blow’.

inflated adj. 1 distended through being filled with air or gas: a partially inflated balloon.

2 excessively or unreasonably high: inflated salaries.

- exaggerated: you have a very inflated opinion of your worth.

inflation n. [mass noun] 1 the action of inflating something or the condition of being inflated: the inflation of a balloon | the gross inflation of salaries.

- [ASTRONOMY] (in some theories of cosmology) a very brief exponential expansion of the universe postulated to have interrupted the standard linear expansion shortly after the Big Bang.

2 [ECONOMICS] a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.

<DERIVATIVES> inflationism n. inflationist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘the condition of being inflated with a gas’): from Latin inflatio(n-), from inflare ‘blow in to’ (see INFLATE).

■ Sense 2 dates from the mid 19th cent.

inflationary adj. 1 characterized by or tending to cause monetary inflation.

2 [ASTRONOMY] relating to or involving inflation.

inflect v. [with obj.] 1 [GRAMMAR] change the form of (a word) to express a particular grammatical function or attribute, typically tense, mood, person, number, and gender.

- [no obj.] (of a word or language) undergo inflection.

2 vary the intonation or pitch of (the voice), especially to express mood or feeling.

- vary the pitch of (a musical note).

- influence or colour (music or writing) in tone or style.

3 TECHNICAL bend or deflect (something), especially inwards.

<DERIVATIVES> inflective adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 3): from Latin inflectere, from in- ‘into’ + flectere ‘to bend’.

inflection (chiefly BRITISH also inflexion) n. 1 [GRAMMAR] a change in the form of a word (typically the ending) to express a grammatical function or attribute such as tense, mood, person, number, case, and gender.

- [mass noun] the process or practice of inflecting words.

2 [mass noun] the modulation of intonation or pitch in the voice: she spoke slowly and without inflection | [count noun] the variety of his vocal inflections.

- the variation of the pitch of a musical note.

3 chiefly [MATHEMATICS] a change of curvature from convex to concave at a particular point on a curve.

<DERIVATIVES> inflectional adj. inflectionally adv. inflectionless adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘the action of bending inwards’): from Latin inflexio(n-), from the verb inflectere ‘bend in, curve’ (see INFLECT).

inflection point n. 1 (also point of inflection) [MATHEMATICS] a point of a curve at which a change in the direction of curvature occurs.

2 chiefly US (in business) a time of significant change in a situation; a turning point.

inflexed adj. TECHNICAL bent or curved inwards.

inflexible adj. 1 unwilling to change or compromise: once she had made up her mind, she was inflexible.

- not able to be changed or adapted to particular circumstances: inflexible rules.

2 not able to be bent; stiff: heavy inflexible armour.

<DERIVATIVES> inflexibility n. inflexibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inflexibilis, from in- ‘not’ + flexibilis ‘flexible’.

inflict v. [with obj.] cause (something unpleasant or painful) to be suffered by someone or something: they inflicted serious injuries on three other men.

- (inflict something on) impose something unwelcome on: she is wrong to inflict her beliefs on everyone else.

<DERIVATIVES> inflicter (also inflictor) n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘afflict, trouble’): from Latin inflict- ‘struck against’, from the verb infligere, from in- ‘into’ + fligere ‘to strike’.

infliction n. [mass noun] the action of inflicting something unpleasant or painful on someone or something: the repeated infliction of pain.

- [count noun] INFORMAL, DATED a nuisance: what an infliction he must be!

in-flight adj. occurring or provided during an aircraft flight: in-flight catering.

inflorescence /nflrεs(ə)ns -flə-/ n. [BOTANY] the complete flower head of a plant including stems, stalks, bracts, and flowers.

- the arrangement of the flowers on a plant.

- [mass noun] the process of flowering.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting the arrangement of a plant's flowers): from modern Latin inflorescentia, from late Latin inflorescere ‘come into flower’, from Latin in- ‘into’ + florescere ‘begin to flower’.

inflow n. the movement of liquid or air into a place: an inflow of less salty water.

- the movement of a large number of people or things or a large amount of money into a place: enormous inflows of foreign investment | [mass noun] the inflow of migrant workers.

<DERIVATIVES> inflowing n. & adj.

influence n. 1 [mass noun] the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself: the influence of television violence | I was still under the influence of my parents | [count noun] their friends are having a bad influence on them.

- the power to shape policy or ensure favourable treatment from someone, especially through status, contacts, or wealth: the institute has considerable influence with teachers.

- [count noun] a person or thing with the capacity to have an influence on someone or something: Fiona was a good influence on her.

2 [PHYSICS], ARCHAIC electrical or magnetic induction.

■ v. [with obj.] have an influence on: feminist ideas have influenced the law-makers.

<PHRASES>

□ under the influence INFORMAL affected by alcoholic drink or drugs: he was charged with driving under the influence.

<DERIVATIVES> influenceable adj. influencer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from medieval Latin influentia ‘inflow’, from Latin influere, from in- ‘into’ + fluere ‘to flow’. The word originally had the general sense ‘an influx, flowing matter’, also specifically (in astrology) ‘the flowing in of ethereal fluid (affecting human destiny)’. The sense ‘imperceptible or indirect action exerted to cause changes’ was established in Scholastic Latin by the 13th century, but not recorded in English until the late 16th cent.

influence peddling n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN the use of position or political influence on someone's behalf in exchange for money or favours.

<DERIVATIVES> influence peddler n.

influent /nflənt/ adj. flowing in.

■ n. a stream, especially a tributary, which flows into another stream or lake.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Latin influent- ‘flowing in’, from influere (see INFLUENCE). The noun is recorded from the mid 19th cent.

influential adj. having great influence on someone or something: her work is influential in feminist psychology.

■ n. (usually influentials) an influential person.

<DERIVATIVES> influentially adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (referring to astral influence): from medieval Latin influentia (see INFLUENCE).

influenza n. [mass noun] a highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory passages causing fever, severe aching, and catarrh, and often occurring in epidemics.

<DERIVATIVES> influenzal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian, literally ‘influence’, from medieval Latin influentia (see INFLUENCE). The Italian word also has the sense ‘an outbreak of an epidemic’, hence ‘epidemic’. It was applied specifically to an influenza epidemic which began in Italy in 1743, later adopted in English as the name of the disease.

influx /nflks/ n. 1 an arrival or entry of large numbers of people or things: a massive influx of tourists.

2 an inflow of water into a river, lake, or the sea.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting an inflow of liquid, gas, or light): from late Latin influxus, from influere ‘flow in’ (see INFLUENCE).

influx control n. [mass noun] (in South Africa during the apartheid era) the rigid limitation and control imposed upon the movement of black people into urban areas.

info n. [mass noun] INFORMAL information.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

infobahn /nfəbαn/ n. INFORMAL a high speed computer network, especially the Internet.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of INFORMATION and AUTOBAHN.

infolded adj. TECHNICAL turned or folded inwards.

infolding n. TECHNICAL a turning or folding inwards; an inward fold.

infomediary /nfə()midəri/ n. an Internet company that gathers and links information on particular subjects on behalf of commercial organizations and their potential customers.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: after INTERMEDIARY.

infomercial /nfə()mə(ə)l/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an advertising film which promotes a product in an informative and supposedly objective style.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of INFORMATION and COMMERCIAL.

infonaut /nfənt/ n. INFORMAL another term for INTERNAUT.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from INFORMATION, on the pattern of astronaut.

inform v. 1 [reporting v.] give (someone) facts or information; tell: [with obj.] he wrote to her, informing her of the situation | [with obj. and direct speech] ‘That's nothing new,’ she informed him | [with obj. and clause] they were informed that no risk was involved.

- [no obj.] give incriminating information about someone to the police or other authority: he had been recruited by the KGB to inform on his fellow students.

2 [with obj.] give an essential or formative principle or quality to: religion informs every aspect of their lives.

<ORIGIN> Middle English enforme, informe ‘give form or shape to’, also ‘form the mind of, teach’, from Old French enfourmer, from Latin informare ‘shape, fashion, describe’, from in- ‘into’ + forma ‘a form’.

informal adj. 1 having a relaxed, friendly, or unofficial style, manner, or nature: an informal atmosphere | an informal agreement between the two companies.

- (of dress) casual; suitable for everyday wear.

2 denoting the grammatical structures, vocabulary, and idiom suitable to everyday language and conversation rather than to official or formal contexts.

3 (of economic activity) carried on by self-employed or independent people on a small scale, especially unofficially or illegally: Peru's huge and dense informal sector of street vendors and cottage industries.

<DERIVATIVES> informally adv.

informality n. [mass noun] relaxed, friendly, or unofficial style or nature; absence of formality: he enjoyed the informality of the occasion. | there is a laid-back informality to the food.

informal settlement n. another term for SHACKLAND.

informal vote n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ an invalid vote or voting paper.

informant n. a person who gives information to another.

■ another term for INFORMER.

- a person from whom a linguist or anthropologist obtains information about language, dialect, or culture.

informatics /nfəmatks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] [COMPUTING] the science of processing data for storage and retrieval; information science.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from INFORMATION + -ICS, translating Russian informatika.

information n. [mass noun] 1 facts provided or learned about something or someone: a vital piece of information.

- [count noun] [LAW] a charge lodged with a magistrates' court: the tenant may lay an information against his landlord.

2 what is conveyed or represented by a particular arrangement or sequence of things: genetically transmitted information.

- (in information theory) a mathematical quantity expressing the probability of occurrence of a particular sequence of symbols, impulses, etc., as against that of alternative sequences.

<DERIVATIVES> informational adj. informationally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘formation of the mind, teaching’), via Old French from Latin informatio(n-), from the verb informare (see INFORM).

information retrieval n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] the tracing and recovery of specific information from stored data.

information revolution n. the proliferation of the availability of information and the accompanying changes in its storage and dissemination owing to the use of computers.

information science n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] the study of processes for storing and retrieving information.

information technology n. [mass noun] the study or use of systems (especially computers and telecommunications) for storing, retrieving, and sending information.

information theory n. [mass noun] the mathematical study of the coding of information in the form of sequences of symbols, impulses, etc. and of how rapidly such information can be transmitted, for example through computer circuits or telecommunications channels.

informative adj. providing useful or interesting information: a thought-provoking, informative article.

<DERIVATIVES> informatively adv. informativeness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘formative, giving life or shape’): from medieval Latin informativus, from Latin informare ‘give form to, instruct’ (see INFORM).

informatory /nfmət(ə)ri/ adj. giving information; informative.

- [BRIDGE] (of a double) intended to convey information to one's partner rather than to score a penalty.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (but rare before the late 19th century): from Latin informat- ‘shaped, described’ (from the verb informare) + -ORY^2.

informed adj. having or showing knowledge of a subject or situation: an informed readership.

- (of a decision or judgement) based on an understanding of the facts of the situation.

<DERIVATIVES> informedly /nfmdli/ adv. informedness /nfmdns/ n.

informer n. a person who informs on another person to the police or other authority.

infotainment n. [mass noun] broadcast material which is intended both to entertain and to inform.

<ORIGIN> 1980s (originally US): blend of INFORMATION and ENTERTAINMENT.

infotech n. short for INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.

infowar n. another term for CYBERWAR.

infra adv. (in a written document) below; further on: see note, infra.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘below’.

infra- /nfrə/ prefix below: infraorder | infrasonic.

- [ANATOMY] below or under a part of the body: infrarenal.

<ORIGIN> from Latin infra ‘below’.

infraclass n. [BIOLOGY] a taxonomic category that ranks below a subclass.

infraction n. chiefly [LAW] a violation or infringement of a law or agreement.

<DERIVATIVES> infractor n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin infractio(n-), from the verb infringere (see INFRINGE).

infradian /nfredən/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] (of a rhythm or cycle) having a period of recurrence longer than a day; occurring less than once a day. Compare with ULTRADIAN.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: from INFRA- ‘below’ (i.e. expressing a lower frequency), on the pattern of circadian.

infra dig /nfrə d/ adj. [predic.] INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH beneath one; demeaning: she regarded playing for the Pony Club as deeply infra dig.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: abbreviation of Latin infra dignitatem ‘beneath (one's) dignity’.

infralapsarian /nfrəlapsεrən/ [THEOLOGY] n. a Calvinist holding the view that God's election of only some to everlasting life was not originally part of the divine plan, but a consequence of the Fall of Man.

■ adj. relating to the infralapsarians or their doctrine.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from INFRA- ‘below’ + Latin lapsus ‘fall’ + -ARIAN.

infrangible /nfran(d)b(ə)l/ adj. FORMAL unbreakable; inviolable.

<DERIVATIVES> infrangibility n. infrangibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from medieval Latin infrangibilis, from in- ‘not’ + frangibilis (see FRANGIBLE).

infraorder n. [BIOLOGY] a taxonomic category that ranks below a suborder.

infrared adj. (of electromagnetic radiation) having a wavelength just greater than that of the red end of the visible light spectrum but less than that of microwaves. Infrared radiation has a wavelength from about 800 nm to 1 mm, and is emitted particularly by heated objects.

- (of equipment or techniques) using or concerned with infrared radiation: infrared cameras.

■ n. [mass noun] the infrared region of the spectrum; infrared radiation.

infrarenal adj. [ANATOMY] below the kidney.

infrasonic adj. relating to or denoting sound waves with a frequency below the lower limit of human audibility.

infrasound n. [mass noun] sound waves with frequencies below the lower limit of human audibility.

infraspecific adj. [BIOLOGY] at a taxonomic level below that of species, e.g. subspecies, variety, cultivar, or form. In botany, Latin names at this level usually require the addition of a term denoting the rank.

- occurring within a species: infraspecific variation.

infrastructure n. the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.

<DERIVATIVES> infrastructural adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French (see INFRA-, structure).

infrequent adj. not occurring often; rare: her visits were so infrequent.

<DERIVATIVES> infrequency n. infrequently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘little used, seldom done, uncommon’): from Latin infrequent- from in- ‘not’ + frequent- ‘frequent’.

infringe /nfrn(d)/ v. 1 [with obj.] actively break the terms of (a law, agreement, etc.): making an unauthorized copy would infringe copyright.

2 act so as to limit or undermine (something); encroach on: such widespread surveillance could infringe personal liberties.

<DERIVATIVES> infringer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin infringere, from in- ‘into’ + frangere ‘to break’.

infringement /nfrn(d)m(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] 1 the action of breaking the terms of a law, agreement, etc.; violation: copyright infringement | [count noun] an infringement of the rules.

2 the action of limiting or undermining something: the infringement of the right to privacy |[count noun] this bill is an infringement of our civil liberties.

infructescence /nfrktεs(ə)ns/ n. [BOTANY] an aggregate fruit.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from IN-2 ‘in’ + Latin fructus ‘fruit’, on the pattern of inflorescence.

infula /nfjlə/ n. (pl. infulae /-li/) (in the Christian Church) either of the two ribbons on a bishop's mitre.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, denoting a woollen fillet worn by a priest or placed on the head of a sacrificial victim.

infundibulum /nfndbjləm/ n. (pl. infundibula /-dbjlə/) [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] a funnel-shaped cavity or structure.

- the hollow stalk which connects the hypothalamus and the posterior pituitary gland.

<DERIVATIVES> infundibular adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, ‘funnel’, from infundere ‘pour in’.

infuriate v. /nfjəret/ [with obj.] make (someone) extremely angry and impatient: I was infuriated by your article.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin infuriat- ‘made angry’, from the verb infuriare, from in- ‘into’ + Latin furia ‘fury’.

infuriating adj. making one extremely angry and impatient: that infuriating half-smile on his face.

<DERIVATIVES> infuriatingly adv. [as submodifier] the truth is infuriatingly hard to pin down

infuse v. [with obj.] 1 fill; pervade: her work is infused with an anger born of pain and oppression.

- instil (a quality) in someone or something: he did his best to infuse good humour into his voice.

2 soak (tea, herbs, etc.) in liquid to extract the flavour or healing properties.

- [no obj.] (of tea, herbs, etc.) release flavour or healing properties while being soaked.

3 MEDICINE allow (a liquid) to flow into a vein or tissue: saline was infused into the aorta.

<DERIVATIVES> infuser n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin infus- ‘poured in’, from the verb infundere, from in- ‘into’ + fundere ‘pour’.

infusible adj. (of a substance) not able to be melted or fused.

<DERIVATIVES> infusibility n.

infusion n. 1 a drink, remedy, or extract prepared by soaking tea leaves or herbs in liquid.

- [mass noun] the process of preparing an infusion.

2 [mass noun] the introduction of a new element or quality into something: the infusion of $6.3 million for improvements | [count noun] an infusion of youthful talent.

3 MEDICINE the slow injection of a substance into a vein or tissue.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the pouring in of a liquid): from Latin infusio(n-), from the verb infundere (see INFUSE).

infusoria /nfjzrə -srə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY], DATED single-celled organisms of the former group Infusoria, which consisted mainly of ciliate protozoans.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin infundere (see INFUSE); so named because they were originally found in infusions of decaying organic matter.

-ing^1 suffix 1 denoting a verbal action, an instance of this, or its result: fighting | outing | [BUILDING].

- denoting a verbal action relating to an occupation, skill, etc.: banking | ice skating | welding.

2 denoting material used for or associated with a process etc.: cladding | piping.

- denoting something involved in an action or process but with no corresponding verb: sacking.

3 forming the gerund of verbs (such as painting as in I love painting).

<ORIGIN> Old English -ung, -ing, of Germanic origin.

-ing^2 suffix 1 forming the present participle of verbs: doing | calling.

- forming present participles used as adjectives: charming.

2 forming adjectives from nouns: hulking.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: alteration of earlier -ende, later -inde.

-ing^3 suffix (used especially in names of coins and fractional parts) a thing belonging to or having the quality of: farthing | [RIDING].

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin.

ingather v. [with obj.] FORMAL gather (something) in or together: it may not be possible to ingather that information within the time.

ingeminate /ndεmnet/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC repeat or reiterate (a word or statement), typically for emphasis.

<PHRASES>

□ ingeminate peace call repeatedly for peace.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally as engeminate): from Latin ingeminat- ‘redoubled’, from the verb ingeminare, from in- (expressing intensive force) + geminare (see GEMINATE).

Ingenhousz /ənhus/ Jan (1730–99), Dutch scientist. He is best known for his work on photosynthesis, in which he discovered that sunlit green plants take in carbon dioxide, fix the carbon, and ‘restore’ the air (oxygen).

ingenious /ndinəs/ adj. (of a person) clever, original, and inventive: he was ingenious enough to overcome the limited budget.

- (of a machine or idea) cleverly and originally devised and well suited to its purpose.

<DERIVATIVES> ingeniously adv. ingeniousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French ingénieux or Latin ingeniosus, from ingenium ‘mind, intellect’; compare with ENGINE.

ingénue /aən(j)u/ n. an innocent or unsophisticated young woman.

<ORIGIN> French, feminine of ingénu ‘ingenuous’, from Latin ingenuus (see INGENUOUS).

ingenuity /ndnjuti/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being clever, original, and inventive.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (also in the senses ‘nobility’ and ‘ingenuousness’): from Latin ingenuitas ‘ingenuousness’, from ingenuus ‘inborn’. The current meaning arose by confusion of INGENUOUS with INGENIOUS.

ingenuous /ndεnjəs/ adj. (of a person or action) innocent and unsuspecting.

<DERIVATIVES> ingenuously adv. ingenuousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin ingenuus literally ‘native, inborn’, from in- ‘into’ + an element related to gignere ‘beget’. The original sense was ‘noble, generous’, giving rise to ‘honourably straightforward, frank’, hence ‘innocently frank’ (late 17th century).

ingest v. [with obj.] take (food, drink, or another substance) into the body by swallowing or absorbing it.

- absorb (information).

<DERIVATIVES> ingestion n. ingestive adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin ingest- ‘brought in’, from the verb ingerere, from in- ‘into’ + gerere ‘carry’.

ingesta /ndεstə/ plural n. MEDICINE & [ZOOLOGY] substances taken into the body as nourishment; food and drink.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, ‘things brought in’, neuter plural of ingestus, past participle of ingerere.

ingle n. chiefly DIALECT a domestic fire or fireplace.

- an inglenook.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally Scots): perhaps from Scottish Gaelic aingeal ‘light, fire’, Irish aingeal ‘live ember’.

inglenook n. a space on either side of a large fireplace.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Scots ingle + NOOK.

inglorious adj. 1 (of an action or situation) causing shame or a loss of honour: an inglorious episode in British imperial history.

2 not famous or renowned.

<DERIVATIVES> ingloriously adv. ingloriousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin inglorius (from in- (expressing negation) + gloria ‘glory’) + -OUS.

-ingly suffix forming adverbs denoting manner, nature, or condition: startlingly | unwittingly.

in-goal area n. [RUGBY] the area between the goal line and the dead-ball line.

ingoing adj. [attr.] going into or towards a particular place: the paths of ingoing and outgoing rays.

ingot /ət/ n. a block of steel, gold, silver, or other metal, typically oblong in shape.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a mould in which metal is cast): perhaps from IN + Old English goten, past participle of geotan ‘pour, cast’.

ingrain v. (also engrain) [with obj.] firmly fix or establish (a habit, belief, or attitude) in a person.

■ adj. (of a textile) composed of fibres which have been dyed different colours before being woven.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as engrain in the sense ‘dye with cochineal or in fast colours’): from EN-1, in-2 (as an intensifier) + the verb GRAIN. The adjective is from in grain ‘fast-dyed’, from the old use of grain meaning ‘kermes, cochineal’.

ingrain carpet n. a reversible carpet in which the pattern appears on both sides.

ingrained adj. (also engrained) 1 (of a habit, belief, or attitude) firmly fixed or established; difficult to change: his deeply ingrained Catholic convictions.

2 (of dirt or a stain) deeply embedded and thus difficult to remove: the ingrained dirt on the flaking paintwork.

ingrate /nret nret/ FORMAL or LITERARY n. an ungrateful person.

■ adj. ungrateful.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Latin ingratus, from in- ‘not’ + gratus ‘grateful’.

ingratiate /nreet/ v. (ingratiate oneself) bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please them: a sycophantic attempt to ingratiate herself with the local aristocracy.

<DERIVATIVES> ingratiation n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin in gratiam ‘into favour’, on the pattern of obsolete Italian ingratiare, earlier form of ingraziare.

ingratiating adj. intended to gain approval or favour; sycophantic: an ingratiating manner.

<DERIVATIVES> ingratiatingly adv.

ingratitude n. [mass noun] a discreditable lack of gratitude: he returned his daughter's care with ingratitude and unkindness.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin ingratitudo, from Latin ingratus ‘ungrateful’ (see INGRATE).

ingravescent /nrəvεs(ə)nt/ adj. MEDICINE (of a condition or symptom) gradually increasing in severity.

<DERIVATIVES> ingravescence n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin ingravescent- ‘growing heavy or worse’, from the verb ingravescere (based on gravis ‘heavy’).

ingredient n. any of the foods or substances that are combined to make a particular dish.

- a component part or element of something: the affair contains all the ingredients of an insoluble mystery.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin ingredient- ‘entering’, from the verb ingredi, from in- ‘into’ + gradi ‘walk’.

Ingres /arə/ French /εR/ Jean Auguste Dominique (1780–1867), French painter. A pupil of Jacques-Louis David, he vigorously upheld neoclassicism in opposition to Delacroix's romanticism. Notable works: Ambassadors of Agamemnon (1801) and The Bather (1808).

ingress /nrεs/ n. 1 [mass noun] the action or fact of going in or entering; the capacity or right of entrance.

- a place or means of access; an entrance.

- [mass noun] the unwanted introduction of water, foreign bodies, contaminants, etc.

2 [ASTRONOMY] & [ASTROLOGY] the arrival of the sun, moon, or a planet in a specified constellation or part of the sky.

- the beginning of a transit.

<DERIVATIVES> ingression n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘an entrance or beginning’): from Latin ingressus, from the verb ingredi ‘enter’.

ingressive adj. 1 relating to ingress; having the quality or character of entering.

2 [PHONETICS] (of a speech sound) made with an intake of air rather than an exhalation.

- (of an airflow) inward.

■ n. an ingressive sound, e.g. a click.

in-group n. an exclusive, typically small, group of people with a shared interest or identity.

ingrowing adj. growing inwards or within something, especially (of a toenail) growing abnormally so as to press into the flesh.

ingrown adj. 1 growing or having grown within; innate: as ingrown habit would have dictated.

- (of a toenail) having grown into the flesh.

- inward-looking: a clubby, ingrown world in which everybody knows everybody.

2 [GEOLOGY] (of an incised meander) asymmetric in cross section due to lateral erosion.

ingrowth n. a thing which has grown inwards or within something.

- [mass noun] the action of growing inwards.

inguinal /wn(ə)l/ adj. [attr.] [ANATOMY] of the groin: inguinal lymph nodes.

<DERIVATIVES> inguinally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inguinalis, from inguen, inguin- ‘groin’.

ingulf v. archaic spelling of ENGULF.

ingurgitate /nədtet/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY swallow (something) greedily.

<DERIVATIVES> ingurgitation n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin ingurgitat- ‘poured in, drenched’, from the verb ingurgitare, from in- ‘into’ + gurges, gurgit- ‘whirlpool, gulf’.

Ingush // n. (pl. same or Ingushes) 1 a member of a people living mainly in the Ingush Republic in the central Caucasus, between Chechnya and North Ossetia.

2 [mass noun] the North Caucasian language of the Ingush.

■ adj. relating to the Ingush or their language.

<ORIGIN> Russian.

inhabit v. (inhabits, inhabiting, inhabited) [with obj.] (of a person, animal, or group) live in or occupy (a place or environment): a bird that inhabits North America | the region was inhabited by Indians.

<DERIVATIVES> inhabitation n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English inhabite, enhabite, from Old French enhabiter or Latin inhabitare, from in- ‘in’ + habitare ‘dwell’ (from habere ‘have’).

inhabitable adj. suitable to live in; habitable: soon we will run out of inhabitable space on the planet.

<DERIVATIVES> inhabitability n.

inhabitancy (also inhabitance) n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC living in a certain place as an inhabitant, especially during a specified period so as to acquire certain rights.

inhabitant n. a person or animal that lives in or occupies a place.

- US a person who fulfils the residential or legal requirements for being a member of a state or parish.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin inhabitare ‘inhabit’.

inhalant n. a medicinal preparation for inhaling.

- a solvent or other material producing vapour that is inhaled by drug abusers.

■ adj. [attr.] chiefly [ZOOLOGY] serving for inhalation: an inhalant siphon.

inhalation n. the action of inhaling or breathing in: [mass noun] the inhalation of airborne particles | [count noun] with every inhalation air passes over the vocal cords.

- MEDICINE the inhaling of medicines or anaesthetics in the form of a gas or vapour.

- [count noun] MEDICINE a preparation to be inhaled in the form of a vapour or spray.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin inhalatio(n-), from inhalare ‘inhale’.

inhalator /nhəletə/ n. a device for inhaling something; a respirator or inhaler.

inhale /nhel/ v. breathe in (air, gas, smoke, etc.): [with obj.] they were taken to hospital after inhaling fumes | [no obj.] she took the cigarette and inhaled deeply.

- [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL eat (food) greedily or rapidly.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin inhalare ‘breathe in’, from in- ‘in’ + halare ‘breathe’.

inhaler n. a portable device for administering a drug which is to be breathed in, used for relieving asthma and other bronchial or nasal congestion.

inharmonic adj. chiefly [MUSIC] not harmonic.

<DERIVATIVES> inharmonicity n.

inharmonious adj. not forming or contributing to a pleasing whole; discordant: an inharmonious, negative state of mind.

<DERIVATIVES> inharmoniously adv.

inhaul n. [NAUTICAL] a rope used to haul in the clew of a sail.

inhere /nhə/ v. [no obj.] (inhere in/within) FORMAL exist essentially or permanently in: the potential for change that inheres within the adult education world.

- [LAW] (of rights, powers, etc.) be vested in a person or group or attached to the ownership of a property.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘stick, cling to’): from Latin inhaerere ‘stick to’.

inherent /nhər(ə)nt -hεr(ə)nt/ adj. existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute: any form of mountaineering has its inherent dangers.

- [LAW] vested in (someone) as a right or privilege.

- [LINGUISTICS] (of an adjective) having the same meaning in both attributive and predicative uses.

<DERIVATIVES> inherence n. inherently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin inhaerent- ‘sticking to’, from the verb inhaerere, from in- ‘in, towards’ + haerere ‘to stick’.

inherit v. (inherits, inheriting, inherited) 1 [with obj.] receive (money, property, or a title) as an heir at the death of the previous holder: she inherited a fortune from her father.

2 derive (a quality, characteristic, or predisposition) genetically from one's parents or ancestors: (as adj. inherited) inherited diseases.

3 receive or be left with (a situation, object, etc.) from a predecessor or former owner: spending commitments inherited from previous governments.

- NORTH AMERICAN come into possession of (belongings) from someone else: she inherits all her clothes from her older sisters.

- ARCHAIC come into possession of (something) as a right (especially in biblical translations and allusions).

<ORIGIN> Middle English enherite ‘receive as a right’, from Old French enheriter, from late Latin inhereditare ‘appoint as heir’, from Latin in- ‘in’ + heres, hered- ‘heir’.

inheritable adj. capable of being inherited: these characteristics are inheritable | inheritable property.

<DERIVATIVES> inheritability n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as enheritable): from Anglo-Norman French enheritable ‘able to be made heir’, from Old French enheriter (see INHERIT).

inheritance n. a thing that is inherited.

- [mass noun] the action of inheriting: the inheritance of traits.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (formerly also as enheritance): from Anglo-Norman French enheritaunce ‘being admitted as heir’, from Old French enheriter (see INHERIT).

inheritance tax n. [mass noun] (in the UK) tax levied on property and money acquired by gift or inheritance (introduced in 1986 to replace capital transfer tax).

inheritor n. a person who inherits something; an heir: we are the inheritors of these cultural traditions.

inhesion /nhi(ə)n/ n. FORMAL the action or state of inhering in something.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin inhaesio(n-), from Latin inhaerere ‘stick to’.

inhibin /nhbn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a gonadal hormone which inhibits the secretion of follicle-stimulating hormone, under consideration as a potential male contraceptive.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Latin inhibere ‘hinder’ + -IN^1.

inhibit v. (inhibits, inhibiting, inhibited) 1 [with obj.] hinder, restrain, or prevent (an action or process): cold inhibits plant growth.

- chiefly [PHYSIOLOGY] & [BIOCHEMISTRY] (of a substance) slow down or prevent (a process, reaction, or function) or reduce the activity of (an enzyme or other agent).

2 make (someone) self-conscious and unable to act in a relaxed and natural way: they felt inhibited by the presence of healthcare professionals.

3 (in ecclesiastical law) forbid (a member of the clergy) to exercise clerical functions.

<DERIVATIVES> inhibitive adj. inhibitory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘forbid (a person) to do something’): from Latin inhibere ‘hinder’, from in- ‘in’ + habere ‘hold’.

inhibited adj. unable to act in a relaxed and natural way because of self-consciousness or mental restraint: I could never appear nude, I'm far too inhibited.

inhibition n. 1 a feeling that makes one self-conscious and unable to act in a relaxed and natural way: the children, at first shy, soon lost their inhibitions | [mass noun] she showed an enthusiasm for sex and a lack of inhibition which was entirely alien to him.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] a restraint on the direct expression of an instinct.

- [mass noun] the slowing or prevention of a process, reaction, or function by a particular substance.

2 [mass noun] the action of inhibiting a process.

3 [LAW], BRITISH an order or writ of prohibition, especially against dealing with a specified piece of land or property.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘forbidding, a prohibition’): from Latin inhibitio(n-), from the verb inhibere (see INHIBIT).

inhibitor n. a thing which inhibits someone or something.

- a substance which slows down or prevents a particular chemical reaction or other process or which reduces the activity of a particular reactant, catalyst, or enzyme.

- [SCOTS LAW] a person who takes out an inhibition.

in-home adj. [attr.] (of a service or activity) provided or taking place within a person's home: in-home haircuts for children.

inhomogeneous /nhmə()dinəs -dεn- nhəm-/ adj. not uniform in character or content; diverse.

- [MATHEMATICS] consisting of terms that are not all of the same degree or dimensions.

<DERIVATIVES> inhomogeneity n.

inhospitable /nhsptəb(ə)l nhspt-/ adj. 1 (of an environment) harsh and difficult to live in: the inhospitable landscape.

2 (of a person) unfriendly and unwelcoming towards people.

<DERIVATIVES> inhospitableness n. inhospitably adv. inhospitality n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: French, from in- ‘not’ + hospitable (see HOSPITABLE).

in-house adj. /nhaus/ [attr.] done or existing within an organization: in-house publications.

■ adv. /nhaus/ without assistance from outside an organization; internally: services previously provided in-house are being contracted out.

inhuman adj. 1 lacking human qualities of compassion and mercy; cruel and barbaric: the inhuman treatment meted out to political prisoners.

2 not human in nature or character: the inhuman scale of the dinosaurs.

<DERIVATIVES> inhumanly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as inhumane): from Latin inhumanus, from in- ‘not’ + humanus (see HUMAN).

inhumane adj. without compassion for misery or suffering; cruel: confining wild horses is inhumane.

<DERIVATIVES> inhumanely adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘inhuman, brutal’): originally a variant of INHUMAN (rare after 1700); in modern use from IN-1 ‘not’ + HUMANE (the current sense dating from the early 19th century).

inhumanity n. (pl. inhumanities) [mass noun] extremely cruel and brutal behaviour: man's inhumanity to man | [count noun] an elaborate review of man's inhumanities.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French inhumanite or Latin inhumanitas, from inhumanus ‘inhuman’.

inhumation /nhjme(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] chiefly [ARCHAEOLOGY] the action or practice of burying the dead; the fact of being buried.

- [count noun] a burial or buried corpse: more than thirty human inhumations from various sites.

inhume /nhjum/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY bury: no hand his bones shall gather or inhume.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin inhumare, from in- ‘into’ + humus ‘ground’.

inimical /nmk(ə)l/ adj. tending to obstruct or harm: the policy was inimical to Britain's real interests.

- unfriendly; hostile: an inimical alien power.

<DERIVATIVES> inimically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin inimicalis, from Latin inimicus (see ENEMY).

inimitable /nmtəb(ə)l/ adj. so good or unusual as to be impossible to copy; unique: they took the charts by storm with their inimitable style.

<DERIVATIVES> inimitability n. inimitably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French, or from Latin inimitabilis, from in- ‘not’ + imitabilis (from imitari ‘imitate’).

inion /nn/ n. [ANATOMY] the projecting part of the occipital bone at the base of the skull.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek, literally ‘nape of the neck’.

iniquitous adj. grossly unfair and morally wrong: an iniquitous tax. | these awards remain an iniquitous system.

<DERIVATIVES> iniquitously adv. iniquitousness n.

iniquity /nkwti/ n. (pl. iniquities) [mass noun] immoral or grossly unfair behaviour: a den of iniquity | [count noun] the iniquities of British taxation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French iniquite, from Latin iniquitas, from iniquus, from in- ‘not’ + aequus ‘equal, just’.

initial adj. [attr.] existing or occurring at the beginning: our initial impression was favourable.

- (of a letter) at the beginning of a word.

■ n. (usually initials) the first letter of a name or word, typically a person's given name or a word forming part of a phrase: they carved their initials into the desktops.

■ v. (initials, initialling, initialled; US initialing, initialed) [with obj.] mark or sign (a document) with one's initials in order to authorize or validate it.

- agree to or ratify (a treaty or contract) by signing it.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin initialis, from initium ‘beginning’, from inire ‘go in’, from in- ‘into’ + ire ‘go’.

initialism n. an abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately (e.g. BBC).

initialize (also initialise) v. [with obj.] [COMPUTING] 1 (often be initialized to) set to the value or put in the condition appropriate to the start of an operation: the counter is initialized to one.

2 format (a computer disk).

<DERIVATIVES> initialization n.

initially adv. [usually sentence adv.] at first: initially, he thought the new concept was nonsense.

initial public offering n. chiefly US the act of offering the stock of a company on a public stock exchange for the first time.

initial teaching alphabet n. a 44-letter phonetic alphabet used to help those beginning to read and write English. It was used in many British primary schools in the 1960s but is now rarely seen.

initiate v. /net/ [with obj.] 1 cause (a process or action) to begin: he proposes to initiate discussions on planning procedures.

2 admit (someone) into a secret or obscure society or group, typically with a ritual: she had been formally initiated into the movement.

- (as plural n. the initiated) a small group of people who share obscure knowledge: it's a secret sign to the initiated.

- (initiate someone in/into) introduce someone to (a particular activity or skill, especially a difficult or obscure one): they were initiated into the mysteries of mathematics.

■ n. /nət/ a person who has been initiated into an organization or activity: an initiate of the cult.

<DERIVATIVES> initiatory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2 of the verb): from Latin initiat- ‘begun’, from the verb initiare, from initium ‘beginning’.

initiation n. [mass noun] 1 the action of admitting someone into a secret or obscure society or group, typically with a ritual: rituals of initiation | [as modifier] an initiation ceremony.

- the introduction of someone to a particular activity or skill: his initiation into the world of martial arts.

2 the action of beginning something: the initiation of criminal proceedings.

initiative n. 1 [mass noun] the ability to assess and initiate things independently: use your initiative, imagination, and common sense.

2 [in sing.] the power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do: anti-hunting groups have seized the initiative in the dispute.

3 an act or strategy intended to resolve a difficulty or improve a situation; a fresh approach to something: a new initiative against car crime.

- a proposal made by one nation to another in an attempt to improve relations: a Middle East peace initiative.

4 (the initiative) (especially in Switzerland and some US states) the right of citizens outside the legislature to originate legislation.

<PHRASES>

□ on one's own initiative without being prompted by others.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from Latin initiare, from initium ‘beginning’.

initiator n. a person or thing that initiates someone or something.

- [CHEMISTRY] a substance which starts a chain reaction.

- an explosive or device used to detonate a larger one.

inject v. [with obj.] 1 introduce (a liquid, especially a drug or vaccine) into the body with a syringe: the doctor injected a painkilling drug.

- administer a drug or medicine by syringe to (a person or animal): he was forcibly injected with a sedative.

- [no obj.] inject oneself with a narcotic drug, especially habitually: people who want to stop injecting.

2 introduce (something) under pressure into a passage, cavity, or solid material: inject the foam and allow it to expand.

- [PHYSICS] introduce or feed (a current, beam of particles, etc.) into a substance or device.

3 introduce (a new or different element) into something: she tried to inject scorn into her tone.

4 place (a spacecraft or other object) into an orbit or trajectory.

<DERIVATIVES> injectable adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘throw or cast on something’): from Latin inject- ‘thrown in’, from the verb inicere, from in- ‘into’ + jacere ‘throw’.

injection n. 1 an instance of injecting or being injected: painkilling injections | an injection of capital was needed.

- a thing that is injected: a morphine injection.

- [mass noun] the action of injecting: the walls have been damp-proofed by injection.

■ short for FUEL INJECTION.

2 [mass noun] the entry or placing of a spacecraft or other object into an orbit or trajectory.

3 [MATHEMATICS] a one-to-one mapping.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin injectio(n-), from the verb inicere (see INJECT).

injection moulding n. [mass noun] the shaping of rubber or plastic articles by injecting heated material into a mould.

<DERIVATIVES> injection-moulded adj.

injective adj. [MATHEMATICS] of the nature of or relating to an injection or one-to-one mapping.

injector n. a person or thing that injects something.

- (also fuel injector) (in an internal-combustion engine) the nozzle and valve through which fuel is sprayed into a combustion chamber.

- (in a steam engine) a system of nozzles that uses steam to inject water into a pressurized boiler.

injera /ndirə/ n. [mass noun] a white leavened Ethiopian bread made from teff flour, similar to a crêpe.

<ORIGIN> Amharic.

in-joke n. a joke that is shared exclusively by a small group of people.

injudicious adj. showing very poor judgement; unwise: I took a few injudicious swigs of potent cider.

<DERIVATIVES> injudiciously adv. injudiciousness n.

Injun /nd(ə)n/ n. US INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE an American Indian.

<PHRASES>

□ honest Injun DATED honestly; really: I won't run away, honest Injun.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: alteration of INDIAN.

injunct /nd(k)t/ v. [with obj.] issue a legal injunction against.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin injunct- ‘imposed’, from the verb injungere (see ENJOIN).

injunction n. an authoritative warning or order.

- [LAW] a judicial order restraining a person from beginning or continuing an action threatening or invading the legal right of another, or compelling a person to carry out a certain act, e.g. to make restitution to an injured party.

<DERIVATIVES> injunctive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin injunctio(n-), from Latin injungere ‘enjoin, impose’.

injure v. 1 [with obj.] do physical harm or damage to (someone): the explosion injured several people.

- suffer physical harm or damage to (a part of one's body).

2 harm or impair (something): a libel calculated to injure the company's reputation.

- ARCHAIC do injustice or wrong to (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> injurer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: back-formation from INJURY.

injured adj. 1 harmed, damaged, or impaired: a road accident left him severely injured.

2 offended: his injured pride.

injurious /ndərəs/ adj. causing or likely to cause damage or harm: food which is injurious to health.

- (of language) maliciously insulting; libellous.

<DERIVATIVES> injuriously adv. injuriousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French injurieux or Latin injuriosus, from injuria ‘a wrong’ (see INJURY).

injury n. (pl. injuries) 1 an instance of being injured: she suffered an injury to her back.

- [mass noun] the fact of being injured; harm or damage: all escaped without serious injury.

2 damage to a person's feelings.

<PHRASES>

□ do oneself an injury INFORMAL suffer physical harm or damage.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French injurie, from Latin injuria ‘a wrong’, from in- (expressing negation) + jus, jur- ‘right’.

injury time n. [mass noun] BRITISH (in soccer and other sports) extra playing time allowed by a referee to compensate for time lost in dealing with injuries.

injustice n. [mass noun] lack of fairness or justice: she was taken aback by the injustice of Nora's remark.

- [count noun] an unjust act or occurrence: brooding over life's injustices.

<PHRASES>

□ do someone an injustice judge a person unfairly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin injustitia, from in- ‘not’ + justus ‘just, right’.

ink n. [mass noun] a coloured fluid or paste used for writing, drawing, printing, or duplicating: the names are written in ink | [count noun] a picture executed in coloured inks.

- [ZOOLOGY] a black liquid ejected by a cuttlefish, octopus, or squid to confuse a predator.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] mark (words or a design) with ink: the cork has the name of the château inked on to the side.

- cover (type or a stamp) with ink before printing: a raised image is inked to produce an impression.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL sign (a contract): she's just inked a deal to host her own talk show.

- secure the services of (someone) with a contract.

<DERIVATIVES> inker n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English enke, inke, from Old French enque, via late Latin from Greek enkauston, denoting the purple ink used by Roman emperors for signatures, from enkaiein ‘burn in’.

Inkatha /nkαtə/ (in full Inkatha Freedom Party) a mainly Zulu political party and organization in South Africa, founded in 1928 and revived in 1975 by Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi. It was active in the struggle for racial equality and universal franchise during the apartheid years, although in this it clashed with members of the rival ANC.

<ORIGIN> from Zulu inkatha ‘crown of woven grass’, a tribal emblem symbolizing the force unifying the Zulu nation.

inkberry n. (pl. inkberries) a low-growing North American holly with black berries and nearly spineless leaves.

<INFO> Ilex glabra, family Aquifoliaceae.

ink-blot test n. another term for RORSCHACH TEST.

ink cap n. a widely distributed mushroom with a tall, narrow cap and slender white stem, turning into a black liquid after the spores are shed.

<INFO> Genus Coprinus, family Coprinaceae, class Hymenomycetes: several species, including the common ink cap (C. atramentarius). See also SHAGGY INK CAP.

inkhorn n. HISTORICAL a small portable container for ink.

- [as modifier] denoting words or expressions used only in academic writing: I will avoid many of the inkhorn terms coined by the narratologists.

inkjet printer n. a printer in which the characters are formed by minute jets of ink.

inkle /k(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] a kind of linen tape formerly used to make laces, or the linen yarn from which this is manufactured.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

inkling n. a slight knowledge or suspicion; a hint: the records give us an inkling of how people saw the world.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘a mention in an undertone, a hint’): from the rare verb inkle ‘utter in an undertone’, of unknown origin.

ink-pad n. an ink-soaked pad in a shallow box, used for inking a rubber stamp or taking fingerprints.

inkstand n. a stand for one or more ink bottles, typically incorporating a pen tray.

inkwell n. a pot for ink housed in a hole in a desk.

inky adj. (inkier, inkiest) 1 as dark as ink: the cold inky blackness of a Mexican cave.

2 stained with ink: bureaucrats with inky fingers.

<DERIVATIVES> inkiness n.

INLA abbr. Irish National Liberation Army.

inlaid past and past participle of INLAY.

inland /nlənd -land/ adj. situated in the interior of a country rather than on the coast: the inland port of Gloucester.

- [attr.] chiefly BRITISH carried on within the limits of a country; domestic: a network of waterways that allowed inland trade.

■ adv. also /nland/ in or towards the interior of a country: the path turned inland and met the road.

■ n. (the inland) the parts of a country remote from the sea or frontiers; the interior.

<DERIVATIVES> inlander n.

inland navigation n. [mass noun] transportation by canals and rivers.

inland revenue n. [mass noun] BRITISH public revenue consisting of income tax and some other direct taxes.

- (Inland Revenue) (in the UK) the government department responsible for assessing and collecting inland revenue.

Inland Sea an almost landlocked arm of the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by the Japanese islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Its chief port is Hiroshima.

inland sea n. an entirely landlocked large body of salt or fresh water.

in-law n. a relative by marriage.

inlay v. /nle/ (past and past participle inlaid) [with obj.] ornament (an object) by embedding pieces of a different material in it, flush with its surface: mahogany panelling inlaid with rosewood.

- embed (material or a design) flush with the surface of an object: a small silver crown was inlaid in the wood.

■ n. /nle/ 1 a design, pattern, or piece of material inlaid in something: ivory inlays that decorated wooden furnishings.

- a material or substance that is used as an inlay.

- [mass noun] inlaid work: the cathedral was decorated with mosaic and inlay.

- [mass noun] the technique of inlaying material.

2 a filling shaped to fit a tooth cavity.

3 a printed card or paper insert supplied with a CD, video, etc.

<DERIVATIVES> inlayer n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘lay something in a place in order to hide or preserve it’): from IN-2 ‘into’ + LAY^1.

inlet n. 1 a small arm of the sea, a lake, or a river.

2 a place or means of entry: an air inlet.

3 (chiefly in tailoring and dressmaking) a piece of material inserted into a garment.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting admission): from IN + the verb let^1.

inlier /nlə/ n. [GEOLOGY] an older rock formation isolated among newer rocks.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from IN, on the pattern of outlier.

in-line adj. 1 having parts arranged in a line.

2 constituting an integral part of a continuous sequence of operations or machines.

- constituting an integral part of a computer program: the parameters can be set up as in-line code.

in-liner n. an in-line skater.

- an in-line skate.

in-line skates plural n. a pair of roller skates in which the wheels on each boot are fixed in a single line along its sole.

<DERIVATIVES> in-line skater n. in-line skating n.

in loco parentis /n ləkə pərεnts/ adv. (of a teacher or other adult responsible for children) in the place of a parent: he was used to acting in loco parentis.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

inly /nli/ adv. LITERARY inwardly: inly stung with anger and disdain.

<ORIGIN> Old English innlīce (see IN, -ly^2).

inlying /nl/ adj. [attr.] situated within or near a centre.

Inmarsat /nmαsat/ an international organization founded in 1978 that provides telecommunication services, as well as distress and safety communication services, to the world's shipping, aviation, and offshore industries.

<ORIGIN> from initials of International Maritime Satellite Organization.

inmate n. a person living in an institution such as a prison or hospital.

- ARCHAIC one of several occupants of a house.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a person who shared a house, specifically a lodger or subtenant): probably originally from INN + MATE^1, later associated with IN.

in medias res /n midas rez/ adv. into the middle of a narrative; without preamble: having begun his story in medias res.

- into the midst of things.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

in memoriam /n mmram/ n. [often as modifier] an article written in memory of a dead person; an obituary: in memoriam notices in the paper.

■ prep. in memory of (a dead person): an openly revolutionary work in memoriam Che Guevara.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

inmost adj. LITERARY innermost.

<ORIGIN> Old English innemest (see IN, -most).

inn n. [usually in names] a pub, typically one in the country, in some cases providing accommodation: the Swan Inn.

- HISTORICAL a house providing accommodation, food, and drink, especially for travellers.

<ORIGIN> Old English (in the sense ‘dwelling place, lodging’): of Germanic origin; related to IN. In Middle English the word was used to translate Latin hospitium (see HOSPICE), denoting a house of residence for students: this sense is preserved in the names of some buildings formerly used for this purpose, notably Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn, two of the INNS OF COURT. The current sense dates from late Middle English.

innards plural n. INFORMAL entrails.

- the internal workings of a device or machine.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: representing a dialect pronunciation of INWARDS, used as a noun.

innate /net net/ adj. inborn; natural: her innate capacity for organization.

- [PHILOSOPHY] originating in the mind.

<DERIVATIVES> innately adv. innateness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin innatus, past participle of innasci, from in- ‘into’ + nasci ‘be born’.

inner adj. [attr.] 1 situated inside or further in; internal: an inner courtyard | the inner thigh.

- close to the centre: inner London.

- close to the centre of power: the inner cabinet.

2 mental or spiritual: a test of inner strength.

- (of thoughts or feelings) private and not expressed or discernible.

■ n. the inner part of something: using his rock shoes as inners for his double boots.

- (in archery and shooting) a division of the target next to the bullseye.

- a shot that strikes the inner.

<DERIVATIVES> innerly adv. (LITERARY) innerness n. (LITERARY)

<ORIGIN> Old English innerra, innra, comparative of IN.

inner bar n. (in the UK) Queen's or King's Counsel collectively.

inner child n. a person's supposed original or true self, especially when regarded as concealed in adulthood.

inner circle n. an exclusive group close to the centre of power of an organization or movement, regarded as elitist and secretive.

inner city n. [usually as modifier] the area near the centre of a city, especially when associated with social and economic problems: inner-city areas.

inner ear n. the semicircular canals and cochlea, which form the organs of balance and hearing and are embedded in the temporal bone.

Inner House (in full the Inner House of the Court of Session)

- (in Scotland) either of two law courts that correspond to the Court of Appeal in England and Wales, each presided over by three judges.

inner light n. [in sing.] personal spiritual revelation; a source of enlightenment within oneself.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: originally in Quaker doctrine.

Inner Mongolia an autonomous region of northern China, on the border with Mongolia; capital, Hohhot.

innermost adj. [attr.] 1 (of thoughts or feelings) most private and deeply felt: innermost beliefs and convictions.

2 furthest in; closest to the centre: the innermost layer.

inner planet n. a planet whose orbit lies within the asteroid belt, i.e. Mercury, Venus, Earth, or Mars.

inner sanctum n. the most sacred place in a temple or church.

- a private or secret place to which few other people are admitted: he walked into the inner sanctum of the editor's office.

inner space n. 1 the region between the earth and outer space, or below the surface of the sea.

2 the part of the mind not normally accessible to consciousness.

inner-spring adj. North American term for INTERIOR-SPRUNG.

Inner Temple one of the two Inns of Court on the site of the Temple in London. Compare with MIDDLE TEMPLE.

inner tube n. a separate inflatable tube inside a pneumatic tyre.

innervate /nəvet nəvet/ v. [with obj.] [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] supply (an organ or other body part) with nerves.

<DERIVATIVES> innervation n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from IN-2 ‘into’ + NERVE + -ATE^3.

inning n. [BASEBALL] each division of a game during which both sides have a turn at batting.

<ORIGIN> Old English innung ‘a putting or getting in’, related to IN. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

innings n. (pl. same or INFORMAL inningses) 1 [CRICKET] each of two or four divisions of a game during which one side has a turn at batting: the highlight of the Surrey innings.

- a player's turn at batting: he had played his greatest innings.

- the score achieved during a player's turn at batting: a solid innings of 78 by Marsh.

2 a period during which a person or group is active or effective.

<PHRASES>

□ have had a good innings BRITISH INFORMAL have had a long and fulfilling life or career.

innit BRITISH INFORMAL contraction isn't it (often used in conversation when seeking confirmation or as a general filler): it's the easiest way, innit? | we all want to get highly paid jobs, innit?

<USAGE> The word innit arose as an informal way of saying ‘isn't it’, especially in questions in spoken English where the speaker is seeking confirmation of a statement, as in weird that, innit? More recently, however, innit has developed into a general-purpose ‘filler’, being used in questions in speech or very informal writing both to seek confirmation or merely for emphasis, as in the following examples: I play it quite often, innit? (meaning ‘don't I?’) and you'd better hurry on over, innit? (meaning ‘hadn't you?’). This extended use is especially common among young people.

innkeeper n. chiefly ARCHAIC a person who runs an inn.

innocence n. [mass noun] the state, quality, or fact of being innocent of a crime or offence: they must prove their innocence.

- lack of guile or corruption; purity: the healthy bloom in her cheeks gave her an aura of innocence.

- EUPHEMISTIC a person's virginity: all the boys lost their innocence with her.

<PHRASES>

□ in all innocence without knowledge of something's significance or possible consequences: she knew the gift had been chosen in all innocence.

<DERIVATIVES> innocency n. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin innocentia, from innocent- ‘not harming’ (based on nocere ‘injure’).

innocent adj. 1 not guilty of a crime or offence: the prisoners were later found innocent | he is innocent of Sir Thomas's death.

- (innocent of) without experience or knowledge of: a man innocent of war's cruelties.

- (innocent of) without; lacking: a street quite innocent of bookshops.

2 [attr.] not responsible for or directly involved in an event yet suffering its consequences: an innocent bystander.

3 free from moral wrong; not corrupted: an innocent child.

- simple; naive: she is a poor, innocent young creature.

4 not involving or intended to cause harm or offence; harmless: an innocent mistake.

■ n. 1 a pure, guileless, or naive person: a young innocent abroad.

2 a person involved by chance in a situation, especially a victim of crime or war: they are prepared to kill or maim innocents in pursuit of a cause.

- (the Innocents) the young children killed by Herod after the birth of Jesus (Matt. 2:16).

<DERIVATIVES> innocently adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin innocent- ‘not harming’, from in- ‘not’ + nocere ‘to hurt’.

Innocents' Day (also Holy Innocents' Day) n. a Christian festival commemorating the massacre of the Innocents, 28 December.

innocuous /nkjəs/ adj. not harmful or offensive: it was an innocuous question.

<DERIVATIVES> innocuously adv. innocuousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin innocuus, from in- ‘not’ + nocuus ‘injurious’ (see NOCUOUS).

Inn of Court n. (in the UK) each of the four legal societies having the exclusive right of admitting people to the English bar.

- any of the sets of buildings in London occupied by the Inns of Court.

innominate /nmnət/ adj. not named or classified.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from late Latin innominatus, from in- ‘not’ + nominatus ‘named’ (past participle of nominare).

innominate artery n. [ANATOMY] a large artery which branches from the aortic arch and divides into the right common carotid and right subclavian arteries.

innominate bone n. [ANATOMY] the bone formed from the fusion of the ilium, ischium, and pubis; the hip bone.

innominate vein n. [ANATOMY] either of two large veins of the neck formed by the junction of the external jugular and subclavian veins.

innovate /nəvet/ v. [no obj.] make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products: the company's failure to diversify and innovate competitively.

- [with obj.] introduce (something new, especially a product).

<DERIVATIVES> innovatory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin innovat- ‘renewed, altered’, from the verb innovare, from in- ‘into’ + novare ‘make new’ (from novus ‘new’).

innovation n. [mass noun] the action or process of innovating.

- [count noun] a new method, idea, product, etc.: technological innovations designed to save energy.

<DERIVATIVES> innovational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin innovatio(n-), from the verb innovare (see INNOVATE).

innovative /nəvətv/ adj. (of a product, idea, etc.) featuring new methods; advanced and original: innovative designs | innovative ways to help unemployed people.

- (of a person) introducing new ideas; original and creative in thinking: writers who are now viewed as innovative.

<DERIVATIVES> innovatively adv. innovativeness n.

innovator n. a person who introduces new methods, ideas, or products: he was one of the great innovators in jazz.

Innsbruck /nzbrk ns-/ a city in western Austria, capital of Tyrol; pop. 113,800 (2001).

Inns of Chancery plural n. HISTORICAL (in the UK) the buildings in London formerly used as hostels for law students.

innuendo /njεndə/ n. (pl. innuendoes or innuendos) an allusive or oblique remark or hint, typically a suggestive or disparaging one: she's always making sly innuendoes | [mass noun] a constant torrent of innuendo, gossip, lies, and half-truths.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as an adverb in the sense ‘that is to say, to wit’, used in legal documents to introduce an explanation): Latin, ‘by nodding at, by pointing to’, ablative gerund of innuere, from in- ‘towards’ + nuere ‘to nod’. The noun dates from the late 17th cent.

innumerable adj. too many to be counted (often used hyperbolically): innumerable flags of all colours.

<DERIVATIVES> innumerability n. innumerably adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin innumerabilis, from in- ‘not’ + numerabilis (see NUMERABLE).

innumerate adj. without a basic knowledge of mathematics and arithmetic.

■ n. an innumerate person.

<DERIVATIVES> innumeracy n.

innutrition n. [mass noun] RARE lack of nourishment.

innutritious adj. (of food) lacking in nutrients; not nourishing.

inobservance n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC failure to observe or notice; inattention.

- failure to observe a law, custom, etc.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French, or from Latin inobservantia, from in- (expressing negation) + observantia ‘observance’ (from observare ‘observe’).

inoculant n. a substance suitable for inoculating.

inoculate /nkjlet/ v. [with obj.] treat with a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease; vaccinate: he inoculated his tenants against smallpox.

- introduce (an infective agent) into an organism.

- introduce (cells or organisms) into a culture medium.

<DERIVATIVES> inoculable adj. inoculative /-lətv/ adj. inoculator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘graft a bud or shoot into a different plant’): from Latin inoculat- ‘engrafted’, from the verb inoculare, from in- ‘into’ + oculus ‘eye, bud’. The sense ‘vaccinate’ dates from the early 18th cent.

inoculation n. [mass noun] the action of inoculating or of being inoculated; vaccination: inoculation against flu was readily available | [count noun] a course of inoculations.

inoculum /nkjləm/ n. (pl. inocula) MEDICINE a substance used for inoculation.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: modern Latin, from Latin inoculare (see INOCULATE), on the pattern of the pair coagulate, coagulum.

inodorous adj. having no smell; odourless.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin inodorus, from in- ‘not’ + odorus ‘odorous’, or from IN-1 ‘not’ + ODOROUS.

in-off n. [BILLIARDS] the pocketing of the cue ball (a scoring stroke in billiards, a foul in snooker) by bouncing it off another ball: he attempted a very difficult in-off | [as adv.] going in-off on the penultimate red.

inoffensive adj. not objectionable or harmful: a shy, inoffensive, and sensitive girl.

<DERIVATIVES> inoffensively adv. inoffensiveness n.

inoperable adj. 1 MEDICINE not able to be suitably operated on: inoperable cancer.

2 not able to be used: the airfield was bombed and made inoperable.

3 not able to be implemented; impractical: the procedures were inoperable.

<DERIVATIVES> inoperability n. inoperably adv.

inoperative adj. not working or taking effect: the Act may be rendered inoperative.

inopportune adj. occurring at an inconvenient or inappropriate time: a storm blew up at an inopportune moment.

<DERIVATIVES> inopportunely adv. inopportuneness n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin inopportunus, from in- ‘not’ + opportunus (see OPPORTUNE).

inordinate /ndnət/ adj. 1 unusually or disproportionately large; excessive: the case had taken up an inordinate amount of time.

2 ARCHAIC (of a person) unrestrained in feelings or behaviour.

<DERIVATIVES> inordinately adv. [as submodifier] an inordinately expensive business

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inordinatus, from in- ‘not’ + ordinatus ‘arranged, set in order’ (past participle of ordinare).

inorganic adj. 1 not consisting of or deriving from living matter.

2 [CHEMISTRY] relating to or denoting compounds which are not organic (broadly, compounds not containing carbon). Compare with ORGANIC.

3 without organized physical structure.

<DERIVATIVES> inorganically adv.

inosculate /nskjlet/ v. [no obj.] FORMAL join by intertwining or fitting closely together.

<DERIVATIVES> inosculation n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from IN-2 ‘into’ + Latin osculare ‘provide with a mouth or outlet’ (from osculum, diminutive of os ‘mouth’), on the pattern of Greek anastomoun, in the same sense.

inosine /nə()sin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a compound which is an intermediate in the metabolism of purine and is used in kidney transplantation to provide a temporary source of sugar. It is a nucleoside consisting of hypoxanthine linked to ribose.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek is, in- ‘fibre, muscle’ + -OSE^2 + -INE^4.

inositol /nəstl/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a simple carbohydrate which occurs in animal and plant tissue and is a vitamin of the B group.

<INFO> Alternative name: hexahydroxycyclohexane; chem. formula: C_6H_12O_6.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the earlier name inosite + -OL.

inotropic /nə()trəpk -trpk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] modifying the force or speed of contraction of muscles.

inpatient n. a patient who lives in hospital while under treatment.

in personam /n pəsənam/ adj. & adv. [LAW] made or availing against or affecting a specific person only; imposing a personal liability: [as postpositive adjective] rights and duties in personam | [as adv.] the view that trusts operate in personam. Compare with IN REM.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘against a person’.

in potentia /n pətεnə/ adv. as a possibility; potentially.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘in potentiality’.

inpouring n. [mass noun] the action of pouring something in: vast inpouring of public money.

in propria persona /n prəprə pəsənə/ adv. in his or her own person.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

input n. 1 [mass noun] what is put in, taken in, or operated on by any process or system: there is little input from other members of the team | data input.

- a contribution of work or information: her input on issues was appreciated.

- energy supplied to a device or system; an electrical signal.

- the action of putting something in: the input of data to the system.

- the information put into a computer.

2 [ELECTRONICS] a place where, or a device through which, energy or information enters a system: the signal being fed through the main input.

■ v. (inputs, inputting; past and past participle input or inputted) [with obj.] put (data) into a computer.

<DERIVATIVES> inputter n.

input-output adj. [ELECTRONICS] relating to or for both input and output.

inquest n. 1 [LAW] a judicial inquiry to ascertain the facts relating to an incident.

- BRITISH an inquiry by a coroner's court into the cause of a death.

- BRITISH a coroner's jury.

2 INFORMAL a discussion or investigation into something that has happened, especially something undesirable.

<ORIGIN> Middle English from Old French enqueste, based on Latin inquirere (see ENQUIRE).

inquietude /nkwətjud/ n. [mass noun] physical or mental restlessness or disturbance.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘disturbance of one's quietness or rest’): from Old French, or from late Latin inquietudo, from Latin inquietus, from in- ‘not’ + quietus ‘quiet’.

inquilab /klαb/ n. INDIAN a revolution or uprising (often used as a political slogan).

<ORIGIN> Urdu inqalāb, inqilāb ‘change, turn, revolution’.

inquiline /nkwln/ n. [ZOOLOGY] an animal exploiting the living space of another, e.g. an insect that lays its eggs in a gall produced by another.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin inquilinus ‘temporary resident’, from in- ‘into’ + colere ‘dwell’.

inquire v. another term for ENQUIRE.

<DERIVATIVES> inquirer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English enquere (later inquere), from Old French enquerre, from a variant of Latin inquirere, based on quaerere ‘seek’. The spelling with in-, influenced by Latin, dates from the 15th cent.

<USAGE> On the difference between inquire and enquire see usage at enquire.

inquiring adj. another term for ENQUIRING.

inquiry n. (pl. inquiries)

■ another term for ENQUIRY.

inquisition n. 1 a period of prolonged and intensive questioning: she relented in her determined inquisition and offered help.

- HISTORICAL a judicial or official inquiry.

2 (the Inquisition) an ecclesiastical tribunal established by Pope Gregory IX c.1232 for the suppression of heresy. It was active chiefly in northern Italy and southern France, becoming notorious for the use of torture. In 1542 the papal Inquisition was revived to combat Protestantism, eventually becoming an organ of papal government. See also SPANISH INQUISITION.

<DERIVATIVES> inquisitional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a searching examination): via Old French from Latin inquisitio(n-) ‘examination’, from the verb inquirere (see ENQUIRE).

inquisitive adj. having or showing an interest in learning things; curious: his poems reveal an intensely inquisitive mind.

- unduly curious about the affairs of others; prying.

<DERIVATIVES> inquisitively adv. inquisitiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French inquisitif, -ive, from late Latin inquisitivus, from the verb inquirere (see ENQUIRE).

inquisitor /nkwztə/ n. a person making an inquiry, especially one seen to be excessively harsh or searching: the professional inquisitors of the press.

- HISTORICAL an officer of the Inquisition.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French inquisiteur, from Latin inquisitor, from the verb inquirere (see ENQUIRE).

Inquisitor General n. the head of the Spanish Inquisition.

inquisitorial adj. of or like an inquisitor, especially in questioning someone in a harsh or intensive manner.

- [LAW] (of a trial or legal procedure) characterized by the judge performing an examining role. Compare with ACCUSATORIAL, ADVERSARIAL.

<DERIVATIVES> inquisitorially adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from medieval Latin inquisitorius (from Latin inquisitor, from inquirere ‘inquire’) + -AL.

inquorate /nkwrət -et/ adj. BRITISH (of an assembly) unable to proceed effectively because not enough members are present to make up a quorum: they had boycotted the debate, leaving the house inquorate.

in re /n ri re/ prep. in the legal case of; with regard to: the decision of the Court of Appeal in re Midland Railway Co's Agreement.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘in the matter of’.

in rem /n rεm/ adj. [often postpositive] [LAW] made or availing against or affecting a thing, and therefore other people generally; imposing a general liability: it confers a right in rem. Compare with IN PERSONAM.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘against a thing’.

INRI abbr. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (a traditional representation in art of the inscription over Christ's head at the Crucifixion).

<ORIGIN> from the initials of Latin Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum.

inro /nrə/ n. (pl. same or inros) an ornamental box with compartments for items such as seals and medicines, worn suspended from a girdle as part of traditional Japanese dress.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Japanese inrō, from in ‘seal’ + rō ‘basket’.

inroad n. 1 (usually make inroads in/into/on) an instance of something being encroached on or reduced by something else: the firm is beginning to make inroads into the UK market | serious inroads had now been made into my pitiful cash reserves.

2 a hostile attack; a raid.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from IN + ROAD (from an early use in the sense ‘riding’).

inrush n. [in sing.] the sudden arrival or entry of something: a great inrush of water occurred.

<DERIVATIVES> inrushing adj. & n.

INS abbr. Immigration and Naturalization Service, a US government agency.

insalubrious /nsəlubrəs/ adj. (of a place) seedy and run-down; unwholesome: a poor area full of insalubrious hotels.

<DERIVATIVES> insalubrity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin insalubris (from in- ‘not’ + salubris ‘salubrious’) + -OUS.

insane adj. in a state of mind which prevents normal perception, behaviour, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill: he had gone insane.

- (of an action or quality) characterized or caused by madness: his eyes were glowing with insane fury.

- extremely annoyed: a fly whose buzzing had been driving me insane.

- extremely foolish; irrational: she had an insane desire to giggle.

<DERIVATIVES> insanely adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin insanus, from in- ‘not’ + sanus ‘healthy’.

insanitary adj. so dirty or germ-ridden as to be a danger to health: insanitary conditions.

insanity n. [mass noun] the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness: he suffered from bouts of insanity.

- extreme foolishness or irrationality: it might be pure insanity to take this loan | [count noun] the insanities of our time.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin insanitas, from insanus (see INSANE).

insatiable /nseəb(ə)l/ adj. (of an appetite or desire) impossible to satisfy: an insatiable hunger for success.

- (of a person) having an insatiable appetite or desire for something, especially sex.

<DERIVATIVES> insatiability n. insatiably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French insaciable or Latin insatiabilis, from in- ‘not’ + satiare ‘fill, satisfy’ (see SATIATE).

insatiate /nseət/ adj. LITERARY never satisfied: your strong desire is insatiate.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin insatiatus, from in- ‘not’ + satiatus ‘filled, satisfied’, past participle of satiare (see SATIATE).

inscape n. LITERARY the unique inner nature of a person or object as shown in a work of art, especially a poem.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally in the poetic theory of Gerard Manley Hopkins): perhaps from IN-2 ‘within’ + -SCAPE.

inscribe v. [with obj.] 1 write or carve (words or symbols) on something, especially as a formal or permanent record: his name was inscribed on the new silver trophy.

- mark (a surface or object) with characters: the memorial is inscribed with ten names | (as adj. inscribed) an inscribed watch.

- write a dedication to someone in (a book).

- ARCHAIC enter the name of (someone) on a list or in a book.

2 [GEOMETRY] draw (a figure) within another so that their boundaries touch but do not intersect: a regular polygon inscribed in a circle. Compare with CIRCUMSCRIBE.

3 (usually as adj. inscribed) BRITISH issue (loan stock) in the form of shares whose holders are listed in a register rather than issued with certificates.

<DERIVATIVES> inscribable adj. inscriber n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inscribere, from in- ‘into’ + scribere ‘write’.

inscription n. a thing inscribed, as on a monument or in a book: the inscription on her headstone.

- [mass noun] the action of inscribing something: the inscription of memorable utterances on durable materials.

<DERIVATIVES> inscriptional adj. inscriptive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a short descriptive or dedicatory passage at the beginning of a book): from Latin inscriptio(n-), from the verb inscribere (see INSCRIBE).

inscrutable /nskrutəb(ə)l/ adj. impossible to understand or interpret: Guy looked blankly inscrutable.

<DERIVATIVES> inscrutability n. inscrutably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin inscrutabilis, from in- ‘not’ + scrutari ‘to search’ (see SCRUTINY).

inseam n. North American another term for INSIDE LEG.

insect n. a small arthropod animal that has six legs and generally one or two pairs of wings.

- INFORMAL any small invertebrate animal such as a spider or tick.

Insects are usually placed in the class Insecta (see also HEXAPODA). The body of a typical adult insect is divided into head, thorax (bearing the legs and wings), and abdomen. The class includes many familiar forms, such as flies, bees, wasps, moths, beetles, grasshoppers, and cockroaches. Insects are the most numerous animals in both numbers of individuals and of different kinds, with more than a million species in all habitats except the sea, and they are of enormous economic importance as pests and carriers of disease, and also as pollinators.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally denoting any small cold-blooded creature with a segmented body): from Latin (animal) insectum ‘segmented (animal)’ (translating Greek zōion entomon), from insecare ‘cut up or into’, from in- ‘into’ + secare ‘to cut’.

insectan adj. [ZOOLOGY] relating to insects: the insectan orders.

insectarium /nsεktεrəm/ (also insectary /nsεktəri/) n. (pl. insectariums or insectaries) a place where insects are kept, exhibited, and studied.

insecticide n. a substance used for killing insects.

<DERIVATIVES> insecticidal adj.

insectile adj. resembling or reminiscent of an insect or insects: his insectile hands.

Insectivora /nsεktvərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of small mammals that comprises the shrews, moles, hedgehogs, tenrecs, moonrats, and solenodons. They are distinguished by mainly terrestrial habits and an insectivorous diet.

insectivore /nsεktv/ n. an animal that feeds on insects, worms, and other invertebrates.

- [ZOOLOGY] a mammal of the order Insectivora.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin insectivorus, from insectum (see INSECT) + -vorus ‘devouring’, on the pattern of Latin carnivorus ‘carnivorous’.

insectivorous /nsεktv(ə)rəs/ adj. (of an animal) feeding on insects, worms, and other invertebrates.

- (of a plant such as the sundew) able to capture and digest insects.

insecure adj. 1 uncertain or anxious about oneself; not confident: a rather gauche, insecure young man | a top model who is notoriously insecure about her looks.

2 (of a thing) not firm or fixed; liable to give way or break: an insecure footbridge.

- not sufficiently protected; easily broken into: an insecure computer system.

3 (of a job or situation) liable to change for the worse; not permanent or settled.

<DERIVATIVES> insecurely adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin insecurus ‘unsafe’, from in- ‘not’ + Latin securus ‘free from care’, or from IN-1 ‘not’ + SECURE.

insecurity n. (pl. insecurities) [mass noun] 1 uncertainty or anxiety about oneself; lack of confidence: she had a deep sense of insecurity | [count noun] he's plagued with insecurities.

2 the state of being open to danger or threat; lack of protection: growing job insecurity |the insecurity of wireless networks.

inselberg /ns(ə)lbə -z-/ n. [GEOLOGY] an isolated hill or mountain rising abruptly from a plain.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German, from Insel ‘island’ + Berg ‘mountain’.

inseminate /nsεmnet/ v. [with obj.] introduce semen into (a woman or a female animal) by natural or artificial means.

<DERIVATIVES> insemination n. inseminator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin inseminat- ‘sown’, from the verb inseminare, from in- ‘into’ + seminare ‘plant, sow’ (from semen, semin- ‘seed, semen’).

insensate adj. 1 lacking physical sensation: a patient who was permanently unconscious and insensate.

- lacking sympathy or compassion; unfeeling: a positively insensate hatred.

2 completely lacking sense or reason: insensate jabbering.

<DERIVATIVES> insensately adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from ecclesiastical Latin insensatus, from in- ‘not’ + sensatus ‘having senses’ (see SENSATE).

insensibility n. 1 [mass noun] unconsciousness: I flogged him into insensibility.

- inability to be moved emotionally.

2 lack of awareness or concern; indifference: your insensibility to the extreme importance of the mission we are on.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: partly from Old French insensibilite or late Latin insensibilitas (from in- ‘not’ + Latin sensibilis ‘sensible’, from sensus ‘sense’), partly from IN-1 ‘without’ + SENSIBILITY.

insensible adj. 1 [usually as complement] without one's mental faculties, typically as a result of injury or intoxication; unconscious: they knocked each other insensible with their fists.

- (of a person or bodily extremity) without feeling; numb: the horny and insensible tip of the beak.

2 (insensible of/to) unaware of or indifferent to: they slept on, insensible to the headlight beams.

3 too small or gradual to be perceived; inappreciable: varying by insensible degrees.

<DERIVATIVES> insensibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the senses ‘unable to be perceived’ and ‘incapable of physical sensation’): partly from Old French insensible (from Latin insensibilis, from in- ‘not’ + sensibilis, from sensus ‘sense’), partly from IN-1 ‘not’ + SENSIBLE.

insensitive adj. 1 showing or feeling no concern for others' feelings: an insensitive remark.

2 not sensitive to a physical sensation: she was remarkably insensitive to pain.

- not aware of or able to respond to something: both were in many ways insensitive to painting.

<DERIVATIVES> insensitively adv. insensitiveness n. insensitivity n.

insentient adj. incapable of feeling or understanding things; inanimate: it's arrogant to presume animals to be insentient.

<DERIVATIVES> insentience n.

inseparable adj. 1 unable to be separated or treated separately: research and higher education seem inseparable.

- (of people) unwilling to be separated; very close: they met 18 months ago and have been inseparable ever since.

2 [GRAMMAR] (of a prefix) not used as a separate word or (in German) not separated from the base verb when inflected.

- (of a German verb) consisting of a prefix and a base verb which are not separated when inflected, for example wiederholen.

■ n. a person or thing inseparable from another.

<DERIVATIVES> inseparability n. inseparably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inseparabilis, from in- ‘not’ + separabilis (see SEPARABLE).

insert v. /nsət/ [with obj.] 1 place, fit, or push (something) into something else: Claudia inserted her key in the lock.

- include (text) in a piece of writing: he immediately inserted a clause into later contracts.

- [BIOLOGY] incorporate (a piece of genetic material) into a chromosome.

2 (be inserted) [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] (of a muscle or other organ) be attached to a part, especially that which is moved: the muscle that raises the wing is inserted on the dorsal surface of the humerus.

■ n. /nsət/ a thing that has been inserted, in particular:

- a loose page or section in a magazine or other publication, typically one carrying an advertisement.

- an ornamental section of cloth or needlework inserted into a garment.

- a shot inserted in a film or video.

<DERIVATIVES> insertable adj. inserter n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘include (text) in a piece of writing’): from Latin insert- ‘put in’, from the verb inserere, from in- ‘into’ + serere ‘to join’.

insertion n. 1 [mass noun] the action of inserting something: he didn't notice the insertion of the envelope into his pocket.

2 a thing that is inserted, in particular:

- an amendment or addition inserted in a text.

- each appearance of an advertisement in a newspaper or periodical.

- an ornamental section of cloth or needlework inserted into a garment.

3 [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] the place or manner of attachment of an organ.

- the place or manner of attachment of a muscle to the part which it moves: the names of the muscles and their insertions on the eyeball.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from late Latin insertio(n-), from Latin inserere (see INSERT).

in-service adj. (of training) intended for those actively engaged in the profession or activity concerned: in-service training of library staff.

INSET /nsεt/ n. [mass noun] training during term time for teachers in British and South African state schools.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: acronym from in-service education and training.

inset n. /nsεt/ a thing that is put in or inserted: a pair of doors with their original stained-glass insets.

- a small picture or map inserted within the border of a larger one.

- a section of cloth or needlework inserted into a garment: elastic insets in the waistband.

- an insert in a magazine or other publication.

■ v. /nsεt/ (insets, insetting; past and past participle inset or insetted) put in (something) as an inset: washbasins are usually inset into a toilet table to form a vanity unit.

- decorate with an inset: tables inset with ceramic tiles.

<DERIVATIVES> insetter n.

inshallah /nalə/ exclam. if Allah wills it.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic in šā' Allāh.

inshore adj. at sea but close to the shore: inshore waters around Shetland.

- used at sea but close to the shore: an inshore lifeboat.

■ adv. towards or closer to the shore: birds heading inshore to their breeding sites.

<PHRASES>

□ inshore of nearer to shore than.

inside n. /nsd/ 1 [usually in sing.] the inner side or surface of something: wipe the inside of the windscreen.

- the part of a road furthest from the centre: overtaking on the inside.

- the part of a path nearer to a wall or further from a road.

- the side of a bend where the edge or surface is shorter: the inside of the bend.

2 the inner part; the interior: the inside of the car was like an oven.

- (insides) INFORMAL a person's stomach and bowels: my insides are out of order.

■ adj. /nsd/ [attr.] 1 situated on or in the inside: an inside pocket.

- (in hockey, soccer, and other sports) denoting positions nearer to the centre of the field: an inside forward.

2 known or done by someone within a group or organization: they were accused of selling shares while in possession of inside information.

■ prep. & adv. /nsd/ 1 situated within the confines of (something): [as prep.] a radio was playing inside the flat | [as adv.] Mr Jackson is waiting for you inside.

- moving so as to end up within (something): [as prep.] Anatoly reached inside his shirt and brought out a map | [as adv.] we walked inside.

- within (a person's body or mind), typically with reference to sensations of self-awareness: [as prep.] she felt a stirring of life inside her | I just roll the phrases round inside my head | [as adv.] I was screaming inside.

- INFORMAL in prison: she was sentenced to three years inside.

- (in soccer, rugby, and other sports) closer to the centre of the field than (another player): [as prep.] he went inside Graves and scored near the post.

2 [prep.] in less than (the period of time specified): the oven will have paid for itself inside 18 months.

<PHRASES>

□ inside of INFORMAL within: something inside of me wanted to believe him.

- in less than (the period of time specified): preparing a ship for a voyage inside of a week.

□ on the inside INFORMAL in a position affording private information: will you be my spy on the inside?

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting the interior of the body): from IN + SIDE.

inside job n. INFORMAL a crime committed by or with the assistance of a person living or working on the premises where it occurred.

inside leg n. the length of a person's leg from crotch to ankle, or of the equivalent part of a pair of trousers.

inside money n. [mass noun] [ECONOMICS] money held in a form such as bank deposits which is an asset to the holder but also represents a liability for someone else.

inside out adv. with the inner surface turned outwards: she put her dress on inside out.

■ adj. having the inner surface turned outwards: inside-out clothes.

<PHRASES>

□ know something inside out know something very thoroughly.

□ turn something inside out turn the inner surface of something outwards.

- change something utterly: it is not so easy to turn your whole life inside out.

insider n. a person within a group or organization, especially someone privy to information unavailable to others: political insiders.

insider dealing (also insider trading) n. [mass noun] the illegal practice of trading on the stock exchange to one's own advantage through having access to confidential information.

inside track n. the inner, shorter side of a racecourse.

- FIGURATIVE a position of advantage: he always had the inside track for the starring role.

insidious /nsdəs/ adj. proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with very harmful effects: sexual harassment is a serious and insidious problem.

<DERIVATIVES> insidiously adv. insidiousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin insidiosus ‘cunning’, from insidiae ‘an ambush or trick’, from insidere ‘lie in wait for’, from in- ‘on’ + sedere ‘sit’.

insight n. [mass noun] the capacity to gain an accurate and deep understanding of someone or something: his mind soared to previously unattainable heights of insight.

- [count noun] an accurate and deep understanding: his work provides important insights into language use | [mass noun] the town offers some insight into Finnish rural life.

- [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] awareness by a mentally ill person that their mental experiences are not based in external reality.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘inner sight, wisdom’): probably of Scandinavian and Low German origin and related to Swedish insikt, Danish indsigt, Dutch inzicht, and German Einsicht.

insightful adj. having or showing an accurate and deep understanding; perceptive: thank you for all the insightful comments. | I don't have anything insightful to say about that.

<DERIVATIVES> insightfully adv.

insignia /nsnə/ n. (pl. same or insignias) a distinguishing badge or emblem of military rank, office, or membership of an organization: a khaki uniform with colonel's insignia on the collar | the royal insignia of Scotland.

- FIGURATIVE a sign or token of something: the ruins are devoid of moss and ivy, the romantic insignia of age and decay.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, plural of insigne ‘sign, badge of office’, neuter of insignis ‘distinguished (as if by a mark)’, from in- ‘towards’ + signum ‘sign’.

insignificant adj. 1 too small or unimportant to be worth consideration: the sum required was insignificant compared with military spending.

- (of a person) without power or influence.

2 meaningless: insignificant yet enchanting phrases.

<DERIVATIVES> insignificance n. insignificancy n. insignificantly adv.

insincere adj. not expressing genuine feelings: she flashed him an insincere smile.

<DERIVATIVES> insincerely adv. insincerity n. (pl. insincerities)

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin insincerus, from in- ‘not’ + sincerus ‘sincere’.

insinuate /nsnjet/ v. [with obj.] 1 suggest or hint (something bad) in an indirect and unpleasant way: [with clause] he was insinuating that she slept her way to the top | (as adj. insinuating) dirty, insinuating laughter.

2 (insinuate oneself into) manoeuvre oneself into (a favourable position) by subtle manipulation: he insinuated himself into the king's confidence.

3 [with obj. and adverbial of direction] slide (oneself or a thing) slowly and smoothly into a particular place: I insinuated my shoulder in the gap.

<DERIVATIVES> insinuatingly adv. insinuator n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘enter (a document) on the official register’): from Latin insinuat- ‘introduced tortuously’, from the verb insinuare, from in- ‘in’ + sinuare ‘to curve’.

insinuation n. an unpleasant hint or suggestion of something bad: I've done nothing to deserve all your vicious insinuations | [mass noun] a piece of filthy insinuation.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin insinuatio(n-), from insinuare (see INSINUATE).

insinuendo /nsnjεndə/ n. (pl. insinuendos) chiefly HUMOROUS informal term for INSINUATION.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of INSINUATION and INNUENDO.

insipid /nspd/ adj. lacking flavour; weak or tasteless: mugs of insipid coffee.

- lacking vigour or interest: many artists continued to churn out insipid, shallow works.

<DERIVATIVES> insipidity n. insipidly adv. insipidness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from French insipide or late Latin insipidus, from in- ‘not’ + sapidus (see SAPID).

insist v. [no obj.] demand something forcefully, not accepting refusal: she insisted on carrying her own bag | [with clause] he insisted that she came.

- (insist on) demand forcefully to have (something): he insisted on answers to his allegations.

- (insist on) persist in (doing something): the heavy studded boots she insisted on wearing.

- [reporting v.] state positively and assertively: [with clause] the chairman insisted that all was not doom and gloom | [with direct speech] ‘I really am all right now,’ Isabel insisted.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘persist, persevere’): from Latin insistere ‘persist’, from in- ‘upon’ + sistere ‘stand’.

insistence n. [mass noun] the fact or quality of insisting that something is the case or should be done: Alison's insistence on doing the washing-up straight after the meal.

<DERIVATIVES> insistency n.

insistent adj. 1 insisting on or demanding something; not allowing refusal: Tony's soft, insistent questioning | [with clause] she was very insistent that I call her.

2 continuing in a prolonged and demanding way: a telephone started ringing, loud and insistent.

<DERIVATIVES> insistently adv.

in situ /n stju/ adv. & adj. in the original place: [as adv.] frescoes have been left in situ | [as adj.] a collection of in situ pumping engines.

- in the appropriate position: [as adv.] her guests were all in situ.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

insobriety n. [mass noun] drunkenness.

insofar adv. variant spelling of so FAR as (see FAR).

insolation /nsəle(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL exposure to the sun's rays.

- the amount of solar radiation reaching a given area.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin insolatio(n-), from the verb insolare, from in- ‘towards’ + sol ‘sun’.

insole n. a removable sole worn in a shoe for warmth, as a deodorizer, or to improve the fit.

- the fixed inner sole of a boot or shoe.

insolence n. [mass noun] rude and disrespectful behaviour: she was sacked for insolence.

insolent adj. showing a rude and arrogant lack of respect: she hated the insolent tone of his voice.

<DERIVATIVES> insolently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘extravagant, going beyond acceptable limits’): from Latin insolent- ‘immoderate, unaccustomed, arrogant’, from in- ‘not’ + solent- ‘being accustomed’ (from the verb solere).

insoluble adj. 1 impossible to solve: the problem is not insoluble.

2 (of a substance) incapable of being dissolved: once dry, the paints become insoluble in water.

<DERIVATIVES> insolubility n. insolubilize (also insolubilise) v. insolubly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin insolubilis, from in- ‘not’ + solubilis (see SOLUBLE).

insolvable adj. rare term for insoluble (sense 1).

insolvency n. (pl. insolvencies) [mass noun] the state of being insolvent: the club was facing insolvency | [count noun] insolvencies in the media sector rose by 8%.

insolvent adj. unable to pay debts owed: the company became insolvent.

- relating to insolvency: insolvent liquidation.

■ n. an insolvent person.

insomnia n. [mass noun] habitual sleeplessness; inability to sleep.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, from insomnis ‘sleepless’, from in- (expressing negation) + somnus ‘sleep’.

insomniac n. a person who is regularly unable to sleep: I'm a terrible insomniac, I often write from four in the morning to seven.

■ adj. regularly unable to sleep.

insomuch adv. 1 (insomuch that) to the extent that.

2 (insomuch as) inasmuch as; since.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: originally as in so much, translating French en tant (que) ‘in so much (as)’.

insouciance /nsusəns/ n. [mass noun] casual lack of concern; indifference: an impression of boyish insouciance.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: French, from insouciant, from in- ‘not’ + souciant ‘worrying’ (present participle of soucier).

insouciant /nsusənt nsus/ adj. showing a casual lack of concern: an insouciant shrug.

<DERIVATIVES> insouciantly adv.

insourcing n. [mass noun] the reallocation of work previously done by an outside supplier to in-house staff.

<DERIVATIVES> insource v.

inspan /nspan/ v. (inspans, inspanning, inspanned) [with obj.] S. AFRICAN yoke (draught animals, typically oxen) in a team to a vehicle.

- harness an animal or animals to (a vehicle).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Dutch inspannen ‘to stretch’, from in- ‘in’ + spannen ‘to span’.

inspect v. [with obj.] look at (someone or something) closely, typically to assess their condition or to discover any shortcomings: they inspected the paintwork for cracks and flaws.

- examine (someone or something) to ensure that they reach an official standard: customs officers came aboard to inspect our documents.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (earlier (late Middle English) as inspection): from Latin inspect- ‘looked into, examined’, from the verb inspicere (from in- ‘in’ + specere ‘look at’), or from its frequentative, inspectare.

inspection n. [mass noun] careful examination or scrutiny: on closer inspection it looked like a fossil | please have your tickets ready for inspection | [count noun] we carry out regular safety inspections.

inspection chamber n. a manhole sited at a junction or bend in a drain to allow clearance of blockages.

inspector n. 1 an official employed to ensure that official regulations are obeyed, especially in public services: a prison inspector.

- BRITISH an official who examines bus or train tickets to check that they are valid.

2 a police officer ranking below a chief inspector: [as title] Inspector Simmons.

<DERIVATIVES> inspectorial adj. inspectorship n.

inspectorate n. chiefly BRITISH a body that ensures that the official regulations applying to a particular type of institution or activity are obeyed: the factory inspectorate.

inspector general n. the head of an inspectorate.

- [MILITARY] a staff officer responsible for conducting inspections and investigations.

inspector of taxes (also tax inspector) n. (in the UK) an official of the Inland Revenue responsible for assessing and collecting income tax and some other taxes.

inspiration n. 1 [mass noun] the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative: Helen had one of her flashes of inspiration | the Malvern Hills have provided inspiration for many artists.

- the quality of being inspired: a rare moment of inspiration in an otherwise dull display.

- [count noun] a person or thing that inspires: he is an inspiration to everyone.

- divine influence, especially that supposed to have led to the writing of the Bible.

2 a sudden brilliant or timely idea: then I had an inspiration.

3 [mass noun] the drawing in of breath; inhalation.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘divine guidance’): via Old French from late Latin inspiratio(n-), from the verb inspirare (see INSPIRE).

inspirational adj. providing or showing creative or spiritual inspiration: the team's inspirational captain.

<DERIVATIVES> inspirationally adv.

inspiratory /nsprət(ə)ri/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to the act of breathing in.

inspire v. [with obj.] 1 fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative: his philosophy inspired a later generation of environmentalists | [with obj. and infinitive] his passion for literature inspired him to begin writing.

- create (a feeling, especially a positive one) in a person: their past record does not inspire confidence.

- (inspire someone with) animate someone with (a feeling): he inspired his students with a vision of freedom.

- give rise to: the film was successful enough to inspire a sequel.

2 breathe in (air); inhale.

<DERIVATIVES> inspirer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English enspire, from Old French inspirer, from Latin inspirare ‘breathe or blow into’ from in- ‘into’ + spirare ‘breathe’. The word was originally used of a divine or supernatural being, in the sense ‘impart a truth or idea to someone’.

inspired adj. 1 of extraordinary quality, as if arising from some external creative impulse: they had to thank the goalkeeper for some inspired saves.

- (of a person) displaying a creative impulse in the activity specified: she was an inspired gardener.

2 (of air or another substance) that is breathed in.

<DERIVATIVES> inspiredly adv.

inspiring adj. having the effect of inspiring someone: he was an inspiring teacher | the scenery is not very inspiring.

<DERIVATIVES> inspiringly adv.

inspirit v. (inspirits, inspiriting, inspirited) [with obj.] (usually as adj. inspiriting) encourage and enliven (someone): the inspiriting beauty of Gothic architecture.

<DERIVATIVES> inspiritingly adv.

inspissate /nspset/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. inspissated) thicken or congeal: inspissated secretions.

<DERIVATIVES> inspissation n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin inspissat- ‘made thick’, from the verb inspissare (based on Latin spissus ‘thick, dense’).

inspissator /nspsetə/ n. a heating device for thickening or congealing a liquid.

inst. abbr.

- DATED (in business letters) instant: we are pleased to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 14 inst.

- institute; institution.

instability n. (pl. instabilities) [mass noun] the state of being unstable; lack of stability: political and economic instability.

- tendency to unpredictable behaviour or erratic changes of mood.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French instabilité, from Latin instabilitas, from instabilis, from in- ‘not’ + stabilis (see stable^1).

install (also instal) v. (installs or instals, installing, installed) [with obj.] 1 place or fix (equipment or machinery) in position ready for use: we're planning to install a new shower.

2 place (someone) in a new position of authority, especially with ceremony: he was installed as Prime Minister in 1966.

- establish (someone) in a new place or condition: Ashley installed herself behind her table.

<DERIVATIVES> installer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from medieval Latin installare, from in- ‘into’ + stallum ‘place, stall’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 19th cent.

installation n. 1 [mass noun] the action of installing someone or something, or the state of being installed: the installation of a central heating system | [count noun] the use of the system could be followed by installations on other vehicles.

2 a large piece of equipment installed for use: computer installations.

- a military or industrial establishment: nuclear installations.

- an art exhibit constructed within a gallery: a video installation.

instalment (US also installment) n. 1 a sum of money due as one of several equal payments for something, spread over an agreed period of time: the first instalment of a grant for housing | the purchase price is paid in instalments.

2 any of several parts of something which are published, broadcast, or made public in sequence at intervals: filming the final instalment in his Vietnam trilogy.

3 [mass noun] the process of installing something; installation: instalment will begin early next year.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (denoting the arrangement of payment by instalments): alteration of obsolete estalment (probably by association with INSTALLATION), from Anglo-Norman French estalement, from Old French estaler ‘to fix’.

instalment credit n. [mass noun] credit for a fixed sum to be repaid in instalments, e.g. for hire purchase.

instance n. an example or single occurrence of something: a serious instance of corruption | the search finds every instance where the word appears.

- a particular case: in this instance it mattered little.

■ v. [with obj.] cite (a fact, case, etc.) as an example: I instanced Bob as someone whose commitment had certainly got things done.

<PHRASES>

□ at first instance [LAW] at the first court hearing concerning a case. See also COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE.

□ at the instance of FORMAL at the request or instigation of: prosecution at the instance of the police.

□ for instance as an example: take Canada, for instance.

□ in the first (or second etc.) instance in the first (or second etc.) place or stage of a proceeding: the appointment will be for three years in the first instance.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin instantia ‘presence, urgency’, from instare ‘be present, press upon’, from in- ‘upon’ + stare ‘to stand’. The original sense was ‘urgency, urgent entreaty’, surviving in at the instance of. In the late 16th century the word denoted a particular case cited to disprove a general assertion, derived from medieval Latin instantia ‘example to the contrary’ (translating Greek enstasis ‘objection’); hence the meaning ‘single occurrence’.

instance court n.

■ old-fashioned term for COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE.

- (Instance Court) (in the UK) a branch of the former Admiralty Court dealing with private maritime matters.

instancy n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC urgency: he told his servants to press the message with greater instancy.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin instantia (see INSTANCE).

instant adj. 1 happening or coming immediately: the offence justified instant dismissal.

- prepared quickly and with little effort: we can't promise instant solutions.

- (of food) processed to allow very quick preparation: instant coffee.

- (of a person) becoming a specified thing immediately: become an instant millionaire.

2 DATED urgent; pressing.

3 [postpositive] DATED (in business letters) of the current month: your letter of the 6th instant.

4 ARCHAIC of the present moment.

■ n. 1 a precise moment of time: come here this instant! | at that instant the sun came out.

2 a very short time; a moment: for an instant the moon disappeared.

3 [mass noun] INFORMAL instant coffee.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective, sense 3 of the adjective, sense 4 of the adjective): via Old French from Latin instant- ‘being at hand’, from the verb instare, from in- ‘in, at’ + stare ‘to stand’.

instantaneity /nstantəneti/ n. [mass noun] the quality of being instant or immediate.

instantaneous /nst(ə)ntenəs/ adj. 1 occurring or done instantly: modern methods of instantaneous communication | her reaction was almost instantaneous.

2 [PHYSICS] existing or measured at a particular instant: measurement of the instantaneous velocity.

<DERIVATIVES> instantaneously adv. instantaneousness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin instantaneus, from Latin instant- ‘being at hand’ (from the verb instare), on the pattern of ecclesiastical Latin momentaneus.

instant camera n. a camera of a type with internal processing which produces a finished print rapidly after each exposure.

instanter /nstantə/ adv. ARCHAIC or HUMOROUS at once; immediately: we sealed the bargain instanter.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

instantiate /nstanet/ v. [with obj.] represent as or by an instance: a study of two groups who seemed to instantiate productive aspects of this.

- (be instantiated) [PHILOSOPHY] (of a universal or abstract concept) be represented by an actual example.

<DERIVATIVES> instantiation n.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Latin instantia (see INSTANCE) + -ATE^3.

instantly adv. 1 at once; immediately: she fell asleep almost instantly.

2 ARCHAIC urgently or persistently.

instant replay n. NORTH AMERICAN an immediate playback of part of a television broadcast, typically one in slow motion showing an incident in a sporting event.

instar /nstα/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a phase between two periods of moulting in the development of an insect larva or other invertebrate animal.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘form, likeness’.

instate v. [with obj.] set up in position; install or establish.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (formerly also as enstate): from EN-1, in-2 ‘into’ + the noun STATE. Compare with earlier REINSTATE.

in statu pupillari /n statju pjuplαri/ adj. [often postpositive] 1 under guardianship, especially as a pupil.

2 in a junior position at university; not having a master's degree.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

instauration /nstre(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL the action of restoring or renewing something.

<DERIVATIVES> instaurator /nstretə/ n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin instauratio(n-), from instaurare ‘renew’, from in- ‘in, towards’ + staur- (a stem also found in restaurare ‘restore’).

instead adv. as an alternative or substitute: do not use lotions, but put on a clean dressing instead | she never married, preferring instead to remain single.

- (instead of) as a substitute or alternative to; in place of: walk to work instead of going by car.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally as two words): from IN + STEAD.

instep n. the part of a person's foot between the ball and the ankle.

- the part of a shoe which fits over or under the instep.

- a thing shaped like the inner arch of a foot.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin; compare with West Frisian ynstap ‘opening in a shoe for insertion of the foot’.

instigate /nstet/ v. [with obj.] bring about or initiate (an action or event): they instigated a reign of terror | I will be instigating legal proceedings.

- (instigate someone to/to do something) incite someone to do something, especially something bad: instigating men to refuse allegiance to the civil powers.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘urge on’): from Latin instigat- ‘urged, incited’, from the verb instigare, from in- ‘towards’ + stigare ‘prick, incite’.

instigation n. [mass noun] the action or process of instigating an action or event: the Domesday Survey was compiled at the instigation of William I.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘incitement’): from Old French, or from Latin instigatio(n-), from the verb instigare (see INSTIGATE).

instigator n. a person who brings about or initiates something: he was not the instigator of the incident. | any instigators of violence will be punished.

instil /nstl/ (also instill) v. (instils, instilling, instilled) [with obj.] 1 gradually but firmly establish (an idea or attitude) in a person's mind: the standards her parents had instilled into her.

2 put (a substance) into something in the form of liquid drops.

<DERIVATIVES> instillation n. instilment n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Latin instillare, from in- ‘into’ + stillare ‘to drop’ (from stilla ‘a drop’).

instinct n. /nst(k)t/ an innate, typically fixed pattern of behaviour in animals in response to certain stimuli: the homing instinct.

- a natural or intuitive way of acting or thinking: they retain their old authoritarian instincts.

- a natural propensity or skill of a specified kind: his instinct for making the most of his chances.

- [mass noun] the fact or quality of possessing innate behaviour patterns: instinct told her not to ask the question.

■ adj. /nst(k)t/ (instinct with) FORMAL imbued or filled with (a quality, especially a desirable one): these canvases are instinct with passion.

<DERIVATIVES> instinctual adj. instinctually adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘instigation, impulse’): from Latin instinctus ‘impulse’, from the verb instinguere, from in- ‘towards’ + stinguere ‘to prick’.

instinctive adj. relating to or prompted by instinct; done without conscious thought: an instinctive distaste for conflict.

- (of a person) doing or being a specified thing apparently naturally or automatically: he was an instinctive cook.

<DERIVATIVES> instinctively adv.

institute n. [often in names] 1 an organization having a particular purpose, especially one that is involved with science, education, or a specific profession: the Institute of Architects | a research institute.

2 (usually institutes) ARCHAIC a commentary, treatise, or summary of principles, especially concerning law.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 introduce or establish (a scheme, undertaking, or policy): the state instituted a national lottery | the award was instituted in 1900.

- begin (legal proceedings) in a court.

2 appoint (someone) to a position, especially as a cleric: his sons were instituted to the priesthood | [with complement] a testator who has instituted his daughter heir.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2 of the verb): from Latin institut- ‘established’, from the verb instituere, from in- ‘in, towards’ + statuere ‘set up’. The noun is from Latin institutum ‘something designed, precept’, neuter past participle of instituere; sense 1 dates from the early 19th cent.

institution n. 1 an organization founded for a religious, educational, professional, or social purpose.

- an organization providing residential care for people with special needs: about 5 per cent of elderly people live in institutions.

- an established official organization having an important role in a society, such as the Church or parliament: the institutions of democratic government.

- a large company or other organization involved in financial trading: City institutions.

2 an established law or practice: the institution of marriage.

- INFORMAL a well-established and familiar person or custom: he soon became something of a national institution.

3 [mass noun] the action of instituting something: a delay in the institution of proceedings.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2, sense 3): via Old French from Latin institutio(n-), from the verb instituere (see INSTITUTE).

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 18th cent.

institutional adj. 1 of, in, or like an institution or institutions: institutional care | an institutional investor.

- (especially of surroundings) impersonal and unappealing: the rooms are rather drab and institutional.

- expressed through or organized in the form of institutions: institutional religion.

2 (of advertising) intended to create prestige rather than immediate sales.

<DERIVATIVES> institutionalism n. institutionally adv.

institutionalize (also institutionalise) v. [with obj.] 1 establish (something, typically a practice or activity) as a convention or norm in an organization or culture: he institutionalized the practice of collaborative research on a grand scale | (as adj. institutionalized) institutionalized religion.

2 place or keep (someone) in a residential institution.

- (as adj. institutionalized) (of a person) apathetic and dependent after a long period in an institution.

<DERIVATIVES> institutionalization n.

in-store adj. & adv. within a store (shop): [as adj.] an in-store bakery | [as adv.] the goods are promoted in-store.

Inst.P. abbr. (in the UK) Institute of Physics.

INSTRAW International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, a United Nations agency.

instruct v. 1 [reporting v.] tell or order someone to do something, especially in a formal or official way: [with obj. and infinitive] she instructed him to wait | [with direct speech] ‘Look at me,’ he instructed | [with clause] I instructed that she should be given hot, sweet tea.

2 [with obj.] teach (someone) a subject or skill: he instructed them in the use of firearms | [with obj. and clause] instructing electors how to record their votes.

3 [with obj.] [LAW] (of a client) employ or authorize (a solicitor or barrister) to act on one's behalf.

- (of a solicitor) give directions or information to (a barrister) regarding a court case.

4 [with obj.] give information to (someone): [with clause] the bank was instructed that the money from the deposit account was now held by the company.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from Latin instruct- ‘constructed, equipped, taught’, from the verb instruere, from in- ‘upon, towards’ + struere ‘pile up’.

instruction n. 1 (often instructions) a direction or order: he issued instructions to the sheriff | he was acting on my instructions.

- (instructions) [LAW] directions to a solicitor or counsel, or to a jury.

- [COMPUTING] a code in a program which defines and carries out an operation.

2 (instructions) detailed information about how something should be done or operated: always study the instructions supplied.

3 [mass noun] teaching; education: instruction in the Roman Catholic faith.

<DERIVATIVES> instructional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin instructio(n-), from the verb instruere (see INSTRUCT).

instruction set n. [COMPUTING] the complete set of all the instructions in machine code that can be recognized and executed by a central processing unit.

instructive adj. useful and informative: it is instructive to compare the two projects.

<DERIVATIVES> instructively adv. instructiveness n.

instructor n. a person who teaches something: a driving instructor.

- NORTH AMERICAN a university teacher ranking below assistant professor.

<DERIVATIVES> instructorship n.

instructress n. a woman who teaches something: a riding instructress.

instrument n. 1 a tool or implement, especially one for precision work: a surgical instrument | instruments of torture | writing instruments.

2 a measuring device used to gauge the level, position, speed, etc. of something, especially a motor vehicle or aircraft.

3 (also musical instrument) an object or device for producing musical sounds: a percussion instrument.

4 a means of pursuing an aim: the failure of education as an instrument of social reform.

- a person who is exploited or made use of: he was a mere instrument acting under coercion.

5 a formal or legal document: execution involves signature and unconditional delivery of the instrument.

■ v. [with obj.] equip (something) with measuring instruments.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin instrumentum ‘equipment, implement’, from the verb instruere ‘construct, equip’.

instrumental adj. 1 serving as a means of pursuing an aim: the Society was instrumental in bringing about legislation.

- relating to something's function as a means to an end: a very instrumental view of education and how it relates to their needs.

2 (of music) performed on instruments, with no vocals: a largely instrumental piece.

- relating to musical instruments: brilliance of instrumental colour.

3 relating to an implement or measuring device: instrumental error | instrumental delivery of a baby.

4 [GRAMMAR] denoting or relating to a case of nouns and pronouns (and words in grammatical agreement with them) indicating a means or instrument.

■ n. 1 a piece of (usually non-classical) music performed by instruments, with no vocals.

2 (the instrumental) [GRAMMAR] the instrumental case.

- a noun in the instrumental case.

<DERIVATIVES> instrumentally adv.

instrumental conditioning n. [mass noun] [PSYCHOLOGY] a learning process in which behaviour is modified by the reinforcing or inhibiting effect of its consequence.

instrumentalism n. [mass noun] 1 a pragmatic philosophical approach which regards an activity (such as science, law, or education) chiefly as an instrument or tool for some practical purpose, rather than in more absolute or ideal terms:

- [PHILOSOPHY] the pragmatic philosophy of John Dewey which supposes that thought is an instrument for solving practical problems, and that truth is not fixed but changes as the problems change.

- (especially in Marxist theory) the view that the state and social organizations are tools which are exploited by the ruling class or by individuals in their own interests.

2 [MUSIC], RARE instrumental technique.

instrumentalist n. 1 a player of a musical instrument.

2 an adherent of instrumentalism.

■ adj. of or in terms of instrumentalism.

instrumentality n. (pl. instrumentalities) [mass noun] the fact or quality of serving as an instrument or means to an end; agency: a corporate body can act only through the instrumentality of human beings.

- [count noun] a thing which serves as a means to an end.

instrumentation n. [mass noun] 1 the particular instruments used in a piece of music: Telemann's specified instrumentation of flute, violin, and continuo.

- the arrangement or composition of a piece of music for particular instruments: an experiment in instrumentation.

2 measuring instruments regarded collectively: the controls and instrumentation of an aircraft.

- the design, provision, or use of measuring instruments.

instrument panel (also instrument board) n. a surface in front of a driver's or pilot's seat, on which the vehicle's or aircraft's instruments are situated.

insubordinate adj. defiant of authority; disobedient to orders: an insubordinate attitude.

<DERIVATIVES> insubordinately adv.

insubordination n. [mass noun] defiance of authority; refusal to obey orders: he was dismissed for insubordination.

insubstantial adj. lacking strength and solidity: the huts are relatively few and insubstantial | insubstantial evidence.

- not having physical existence: the flickering light made her face seem insubstantial.

<DERIVATIVES> insubstantiality n. insubstantially adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin insubstantialis, from in- ‘not’ + substantialis (see SUBSTANTIAL).

insufferable adj. too extreme to bear; intolerable: the heat would be insufferable by July.

- having or showing unbearable arrogance or conceit: an insufferable bully.

<DERIVATIVES> insufferableness n. insufferably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps via French (now dialect) insouffrable, based on Latin sufferre ‘endure’ (see SUFFER).

insufficiency n. (pl. insufficiencies) [mass noun] the condition of being insufficient: insufficiency of adequate housing | [count noun] there have been demands to redress such insufficiencies.

- MEDICINE the inability of an organ to perform its normal function: renal insufficiency.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘incompetence, inability’): from late Latin insufficientia, from in- ‘not’ + Latin sufficere ‘be sufficient’.

insufficient adj. not enough; inadequate: there was insufficient evidence to convict him.

<DERIVATIVES> insufficiently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘incapable, incompetent’): via Old French from late Latin insufficient- ‘not sufficing’, from in- ‘not’ + Latin sufficere (see SUFFICE).

insufflate /nsəflet/ v. [with obj.] 1 MEDICINE blow or breathe (air, vapour, or a powdered medicine) into or through a body cavity.

- blow or breathe something into or through (a part of the body).

2 [THEOLOGY] breathe on (someone) to symbolize spiritual influence.

<DERIVATIVES> insufflation n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from late Latin insufflat- ‘blown into’, from the verb insufflare, from in- ‘into’ + sufflare ‘blow’ (from sub- ‘from below’ + flare ‘to blow’).

■ Sense 2 dates from the early 20th cent.

insufflator n. 1 a device for blowing powder on to a surface in order to make fingerprints visible.

2 an instrument for medical insufflation.

insula /nsjlə/ n. (pl. insulae /-li/) 1 (in ancient Rome) a tenement in a city.

2 [ANATOMY] a region of the brain deep in the cerebral cortex.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘island’.

insulant n. an insulating material.

insular adj. 1 ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one's own experience: a stubbornly insular farming people.

- lacking contact with other people: people living restricted and sometimes insular existences.

2 relating to or from an island: goods of insular origin.

- relating to a form of Latin handwriting used in Britain and Ireland in the early Middle Ages: insular illumination of the 6th century.

- (of climate) equable because of the influence of the sea.

3 [ANATOMY] relating to the insula of the brain.

<DERIVATIVES> insularly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a noun denoting an islander): from late Latin insularis, from insula ‘island’.

insularity n. [mass noun] 1 ignorance of or lack of interest in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one's own experience: an example of British insularity.

- lack of contact with other people: the stifling insularity of the children's existence.

2 the state or condition of being an island. he proved the insularity of Van Diemen's Land by circumnavigating it in 1798.

insulate v. [with obj.] 1 protect (something) by interposing material that prevents the loss of heat or the intrusion of sound: insulate and draught-proof your home | (as adj. insulated) an insulated loft.

- prevent the passage of electricity to or from (something) by covering it in non-conducting material: the case is carefully insulated to prevent short circuits.

- FIGURATIVE protect (someone or something) from unpleasant influences or experiences: the service is insulated from outside pressures.

2 ARCHAIC make (land) into an island: the village was insulated by every flood of the river.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2): from Latin insula ‘island’ + -ATE^3.

insulating tape n. [mass noun] adhesive tape used chiefly to cover exposed electric wires.

insulation n. [mass noun] the action of insulating something: keep your home warmer through insulation.

- the state of being insulated: his comparative insulation from the world.

- material used to insulate something: fit insulation to all exposed pipes.

insulator n. a substance which does not readily allow the passage of heat or sound: cotton is a poor insulator.

- a substance or device which does not readily conduct electricity.

- a block of glass, ceramic, or other insulating material enclosing a wire carrying an electric current where it crosses a support.

insulin n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hormone produced in the pancreas by the islets of Langerhans, which regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. The lack of insulin causes a form of diabetes.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Latin insula ‘island’ + -IN^1.

insulin shock n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an acute physiological condition resulting from excess insulin in the blood, involving low blood sugar, weakness, convulsions, and potentially coma.

insulitis /nsjlts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE disease of the pancreas caused by the infiltration of lymphocytes.

insult v. /nslt/ [with obj.] speak to or treat with disrespect or scornful abuse: you're insulting the woman I love.

■ n. /nslt/ 1 a disrespectful or scornfully abusive remark or act: he hurled insults at us | he saw the book as a deliberate insult to the Church.

- a thing so worthless or contemptible as to be offensive: the present offer is an absolute insult.

2 MEDICINE an event which causes damage to a tissue or organ: the movement of the bone causes a severe tissue insult.

<PHRASES>

□ add insult to injury act in a way that makes a bad situation worse.

<DERIVATIVES> insulter n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a verb in the sense ‘exult, act arrogantly’): from Latin insultare ‘jump or trample on’, from in- ‘on’ + saltare, from salire ‘to leap’. The noun (in the early 17th century denoting an attack) is from French insulte or ecclesiastical Latin insultus. The main current senses date from the 17th century, the medical use dating from the early 20th cent.

insulting adj. disrespectful or scornfully abusive: insulting remarks | their language is insulting to women.

<DERIVATIVES> insultingly adv. [as submodifier] an insultingly low salary

insuperable /ns(j)up(ə)rəb(ə)l/ adj. (of a difficulty or obstacle) impossible to overcome: insuperable financial problems.

<DERIVATIVES> insuperability n. insuperably adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the general sense ‘invincible’): from Old French, or from Latin insuperabilis, from in- ‘not’ + superabilis (from superare ‘overcome’).

insupportable adj. 1 unable to be supported or justified: he had arrived at a wholly insupportable conclusion.

2 unable to be endured; intolerable: the heat was insupportable.

<DERIVATIVES> insupportably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French, from in- ‘not’ + supportable (from supporter ‘to support’).

insurance n. [mass noun] 1 an arrangement by which a company or the state undertakes to provide a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a specified premium: many new borrowers take out insurance against unemployment or sickness.

- the business of providing insurance: Howard is in insurance.

- money paid for insurance.

- money paid out as compensation under an insurance policy: when will I be able to collect the insurance?

2 a thing providing protection against a possible eventuality: jackets hung on the back of their chairs, insurance against an encounter with air-conditioning | [count noun] a marquee was hired as an insurance against the weather.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as ensurance in the sense ‘ensuring, assurance, a guarantee’): from Old French enseurance, from enseurer (see ENSURE).

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 17th cent.

<USAGE> There is a technical distinction between insurance and assurance in the context of life insurance: see usage at assurance.

insurance broker n. a person or company registered as an adviser on matters of insurance and as an arranger of insurance cover with an insurer on behalf of a client.

insurance carrier n. NORTH AMERICAN an insurer; an insurance company.

insurance policy n. a document detailing the terms and conditions of a contract of insurance.

insurance stamp n. BRITISH a stamp which certifies that a weekly payment has been made towards National Insurance.

insure /n nə/ v. [with obj.] 1 arrange for compensation in the event of damage to or loss of (property), or injury to or the death of (someone), in exchange for regular payments to a company or to the state: the table should be insured for £2,500 | the company had insured itself against a fall of the dollar | [no obj.] businesses can insure against exchange rate fluctuations.

- secure the payment of (an amount in compensation) in this way: your new sum insured is shown on your renewal notice.

- provide insurance cover in respect of: subsidiaries set up to insure the risks of a group of companies.

2 (insure someone against) secure or protect someone against (a possible contingency): by appeasing Celia they might insure themselves against further misfortune | [no obj.] such changes could insure against further unrest.

3 another term for ENSURE.

<DERIVATIVES> insurability n. insurable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘assure someone of something’): alteration of ENSURE.

<USAGE> There is considerable overlap between the meaning and use of insure and ensure. In both British and US English the primary meaning of insure is the commercial sense of providing financial compensation in the event of damage to property; ensure is not used at all in this sense. For the more general senses, ensure is more likely to be used, but insure and ensure are often interchangeable, particularly in US English, e.g. bail is posted to insure that the defendant appears for trial; the system is run to ensure that a good quality of service is maintained.

insured adj. covered by insurance: the insured car.

■ n. (the insured) (plural same) a person or organization covered by insurance.

insurer n. a person or company that underwrites an insurance risk; the party in an insurance contract undertaking to pay compensation.

insurgent /nsəd(ə)nt/ n. a rebel or revolutionary: an attack by armed insurgents.

■ adj. [attr.] rising in active revolt: alleged links with insurgent groups.

- relating to rebels: a series of insurgent attacks.

<DERIVATIVES> insurgence n. insurgency n. (pl. insurgencies)

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: via French from Latin insurgent- ‘arising’, from the verb insurgere, from in- ‘into, towards’ + surgere ‘to rise’.

insurmountable /nsəmantəb(ə)l/ adj. too great to be overcome: an insurmountable problem.

<DERIVATIVES> insurmountably adv.

insurrection /nsərεk(ə)n/ n. a violent uprising against an authority or government: the insurrection was savagely put down | [mass noun] opposition to the new regime led to armed insurrection.

<DERIVATIVES> insurrectionary adj. insurrectionist n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin insurrectio(n-), from insurgere ‘rise up’.

insusceptible adj. not likely to be affected: the larvae are insusceptible to most treatments.

<DERIVATIVES> insusceptibility n.

inswinger n. [CRICKET] a ball bowled with a swing from the off to the leg side.

<DERIVATIVES> inswing n. inswinging adj.

int. abbr.

- interior.

- internal.

- international.

intact adj. [often as complement] not damaged or impaired in any way; complete: the church was almost in ruins but its tower remained intact.

<DERIVATIVES> intactness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin intactus, from in- ‘not’ + tactus (past participle of tangere ‘touch’).

intagliated /ntaletd/ adj. ARCHAIC carved or engraved on the surface.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Italian intagliato ‘engraved’, past participle of intagliare, from in- ‘into’ + tagliare ‘to cut’.

intaglio /ntalə -tαl-/ n. (pl. intaglios) a design incised or engraved into a material.

- a gem with an incised design.

- [mass noun] a printing process in which the type or design is etched or engraved, such as photogravure.

■ v. (intaglioes, intaglioing, intaglioed) [with obj.] (usually as adj. intaglioed) engrave or represent by an engraving: a carved box with little intaglioed pineapples on it.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: Italian, from intagliare ‘engrave’.

intake n. 1 an amount of food, air, or another substance taken into the body: your daily intake of calories | his alcohol intake.

- an act of taking something into the body: she heard his sharp intake of breath | [mass noun] a protective factor is the intake of cereal fibre.

2 [treated as sing. or plural] the people taken into an organization at a particular time: the new intake of MPs.

- an act of taking people into an organization: the first intake of women was in 1915.

3 a place or structure through which something is taken in, e.g. water into a channel or pipe from a river, fuel or air into an engine, etc.: cut rectangular holes for the air intake.

- [mass noun] the action of taking something in: facilities for the intake of grain by road.

4 [mass noun] N. ENGLISH land reclaimed from a moor or common.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally Scots and northern English): from IN + TAKE.

intangible adj. unable to be touched; not having physical presence: the moonlight made things seem intangible.

- difficult or impossible to define or understand; vague and abstract: the rose symbolized something intangible about their relationship.

- (of an asset or benefit) not constituting or represented by a physical object and of a value not precisely measurable: intangible business property like patents.

■ n. (usually intangibles) an intangible thing: intangibles like self-confidence and responsibility.

<DERIVATIVES> intangibility n. intangibly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as an adjective): from French, or from medieval Latin intangibilis, from in- ‘not’ + late Latin tangibilis (see TANGIBLE).

intarsia /ntαsə/ n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] 1 a method of knitting with a number of colours, in which a separate length or ball of yarn is used for each area of colour (as opposed to different yarns being carried at the back of the work): an intarsia design.

2 an elaborate form of marquetry using inlays in wood, especially as practised in 15th-century Italy.

- similar inlaid work in stone, metal, or glass.

<ORIGIN> from Italian intarsio; in sense 2 superseding earlier tarsia (from Italian, ‘marquetry’); the knitting term dates from the mid 19th cent.

integer /ntdə/ n. 1 a number which is not a fraction; a whole number.

2 a thing complete in itself.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as an adjective meaning ‘entire, whole’): from Latin, ‘intact, whole’, from in- (expressing negation) + the root of tangere ‘to touch’. Compare with ENTIRE, also with INTEGRAL, integrate, and INTEGRITY.

integral adj. /ntr(ə)l ntεr(ə)l/ 1 necessary to make a whole complete; essential or fundamental: games are an integral part of the school's curriculum | systematic training should be integral to library management.

- included as part of a whole rather than supplied separately: the unit comes complete with integral pump and heater.

- having all the parts that are necessary to be complete: the first integral recording of the ten Mahler symphonies.

2 [MATHEMATICS] of or denoted by an integer.

- involving only integers, especially as coefficients of a function.

■ n. /ntr(ə)l/ [MATHEMATICS] a function of which a given function is the derivative, i.e. which yields that function when differentiated, and which may express the area under the curve of a graph of the function. See also DEFINITE INTEGRAL, INDEFINITE INTEGRAL.

- a function satisfying a given differential equation.

<DERIVATIVES> integrality n. integrally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin integralis, from integer ‘whole’ (see INTEGER). Compare with INTEGRATE and INTEGRITY.

<USAGE> There are two possible pronunciations for integral as an adjective: one with the stress on the in- and the other with the stress on the -teg-. In British English, the second pronunciation is sometimes frowned on, but both are acceptable as standard.

integral calculus n. [mass noun] a branch of mathematics concerned with the determination, properties, and application of integrals. Compare with DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS.

integrand /ntrand/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a function that is to be integrated.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin integrandus, gerundive of integrare (see INTEGRATE).

integrant /ntr(ə)nt/ adj. (of parts) making up or contributing to a whole; constituent.

■ n. a component.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as an adjective): from French intégrant, from the verb intégrer, from Latin integrare (see INTEGRATE).

integrate /ntret/ v. [with obj.] 1 combine (one thing) with another to form a whole: transport planning should be integrated with energy policy | a fully equipped laboratory is being integrated into the development.

- combine (two things) so that they form a whole: the problem of integrating the two approaches.

- [no obj.] (of a thing) combine with another to form a whole: the stone will blend with the environment and integrate into the landscape.

2 bring into equal participation in or membership of a social group or institution: integrating children with special needs into ordinary schools.

- [no obj.] come into equal participation in or membership of a social group or institution: she was anxious to integrate well into her husband's family.

3 [MATHEMATICS] find the integral of.

<DERIVATIVES> integrability /ntrəblti/ n. integrable /ntrəb(ə)l/ adj. integrative /ntrətv/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin integrat- ‘made whole’, from the verb integrare, from integer ‘whole’ (see INTEGER). Compare with INTEGRAL and INTEGRITY.

integrated adj. 1 (of an institution, body, etc.) desegregated, especially racially: integrated education.

2 with various parts or aspects linked or coordinated: an integrated public transport system.

3 chiefly [PHYSICS] indicating the mean value or total sum of a variable quantity of property: integrated electron density along the line of sight.

integrated circuit n. an electronic circuit formed on a small piece of semiconducting material, which performs the same function as a larger circuit made from discrete components.

integrated services digital network (abbr.: ISDN) n. a telecommunications network through which sound, images, and data can be transmitted as digitized signals.

integrating adj. (of an instrument) indicating the mean value or total sum of a measured quantity.

integration n. [mass noun] 1 the action or process of integrating: economic and political integration | integration of individual countries into trading blocs.

- the intermixing of people who were previously segregated: integration is the best hope for both black and white Americans.

2 [MATHEMATICS] the finding of an integral or integrals.

3 [PSYCHOLOGY] the coordination of processes in the nervous system, including diverse sensory information and motor impulses: visuomotor integration.

- [PSYCHOANALYSIS] the process by which a well-balanced psyche becomes whole as the developing ego organizes the id, and the state which results or which treatment seeks to create by countering the fragmenting effect of defence mechanisms.

<DERIVATIVES> integrationist n.

integrator n. a person or thing that integrates, in particular:

- (also system integrator or systems integrator) [COMPUTING] a company which markets commercial integrated software and hardware systems.

- [ELECTRONICS] a computer chip or circuit which performs mathematical integration.

- an instrument for indicating or registering the total amount or mean value of a physical quality such as area or temperature.

integrin /ntərn ntεrn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a class of animal transmembrane proteins involved in the adhesion of cells to each other and to their substrate.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from integr- in INTEGRAL + -IN^1.

integrity /ntεrti/ n. [mass noun] 1 the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles: a gentleman of complete integrity.

2 the state of being whole and undivided: upholding territorial integrity and national sovereignty.

- the condition of being unified or sound in construction: the structural integrity of the novel.

- internal consistency or lack of corruption in electronic data: [as modifier] integrity checking.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2): from French intégrité or Latin integritas, from integer ‘intact’ (see INTEGER). Compare with ENTIRETY, integral, and INTEGRATE.

integument /ntεjm(ə)nt/ n. a tough outer protective layer, especially that of an animal or plant.

<DERIVATIVES> integumental adj. integumentary adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting a covering or coating): from Latin integumentum, from the verb integere, from in- ‘in’ + tegere ‘to cover’.

intein /ntin/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an internal segment of amino acids that is excised from a protein precursor to generate a new protein.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from INTERNAL + PROTEIN.

intel /ntεl/ n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] [MILITARY], INFORMAL military intelligence; information.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: abbreviation.

intellect n. [mass noun] the faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively, especially with regard to abstract matters: he was a man of action rather than of intellect.

- [count noun] a person's mental powers: her keen intellect.

- [count noun] a clever person: sapping our country of some of its brightest intellects.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin intellectus ‘understanding’, from intellegere ‘understand’ (see INTELLIGENT).

intellection n. [mass noun] the action or process of understanding, as opposed to imagination.

<DERIVATIVES> intellective adj.

intellectual /ntəlεktəl -tjəl/ adj. relating to the intellect: children need intellectual stimulation.

- appealing to or requiring use of the intellect: the film wasn't very intellectual, but it caught the mood of the times.

- possessing a highly developed intellect: you are an intellectual girl, like your mother.

■ n. a person possessing a highly developed intellect.

<DERIVATIVES> intellectuality n. intellectually adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin intellectualis, from intellectus ‘understanding’, from intellegere ‘understand’ (see INTELLIGENT).

intellectualism n. [mass noun] the exercise of the intellect at the expense of the emotions.

- [PHILOSOPHY] the theory that knowledge is wholly or mainly derived from pure reason; rationalism.

<DERIVATIVES> intellectualist n.

intellectualize (also intellectualise) v. 1 [with obj.] give an intellectual character to: belief was a gut feeling—it couldn't be intellectualized.

2 [no obj.] talk, write, or think intellectually: people who intellectualize about fashion.

intellectual property n. [mass noun] [LAW] intangible property that is the result of creativity, such as patents, copyrights, etc.

intelligence n. [mass noun] 1 the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills: an eminent man of great intelligence.

- [count noun] a person or being with the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills: extraterrestrial intelligences.

2 the collection of information of military or political value: the chief of military intelligence.

- people employed in the collection of military or political information: British intelligence has secured numerous local informers.

- military or political information: the gathering of intelligence.

- ARCHAIC information in general; news.

<DERIVATIVES> intelligential adj. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin intelligentia, from intelligere ‘understand’ (see INTELLIGENT).

intelligence quotient (abbr.: IQ) n. a number representing a person's reasoning ability (measured using problem-solving tests) as compared to the statistical norm or average for their age, taken as 100.

intelligencer n. ARCHAIC a person who gathers intelligence, especially an informer, spy, or secret agent.

intelligent adj. having or showing intelligence, especially of a high level: Anna is intelligent and hard-working | an intelligent guess.

- (of a device or building) able to vary its state or action in response to varying situations and past experience.

- (of a computer terminal) incorporating a microprocessor and having its own processing capability. Often contrasted with DUMB.

<DERIVATIVES> intelligently adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin intelligent- ‘understanding’, from the verb intelligere, variant of intellegere ‘understand’, from inter ‘between’ + legere ‘choose’.

intelligent design n. [mass noun] the theory that life, or the universe, cannot have arisen by chance and was designed and created by some intelligent entity.

intelligentsia /ntεldεntsə/ n. [treated as sing. or plural] (usually the intelligentsia) intellectuals or highly educated people as a group, especially when regarded as possessing culture and political influence.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Russian intelligentsiya, from Polish inteligencja, from Latin intelligentia (see INTELLIGENCE).

intelligibility n. [mass noun] the state or quality of being intelligible: being able to see a speaker can improve intelligibility.

intelligible /ntεldb(ə)l/ adj. able to be understood; comprehensible: use vocabulary that is intelligible to your audience | a barely intelligible reply.

- [PHILOSOPHY] able to be understood only by the intellect, not by the senses.

<DERIVATIVES> intelligibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘capable of understanding’): from Latin intelligibilis, from intelligere ‘understand’ (see INTELLIGENT).

Intelsat /ntεlsat/ an international organization of more than 100 countries, formed in 1964, which owns and operates the worldwide commercial communications satellite system.

<ORIGIN> from In(ternational) Tel(ecommunications) Sat(ellite Consortium).

intemperance n. [mass noun] lack of moderation or restraint: his occasional intemperance of tone.

- excessive indulgence, especially in alcohol.

intemperate adj. having or showing a lack of self-control; immoderate: intemperate outbursts concerning global conspiracies.

- given to or characterized by excessive indulgence, especially in alcohol: an intemperate social occasion.

<DERIVATIVES> intemperately adv. intemperateness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘inclement’): from Latin intemperatus, from in- ‘not’ + temperatus (see TEMPERATE).

intend v. [with obj.] 1 have (a course of action) as one's purpose or intention; plan: [with infinitive] the company intends to cut 400 jobs | [with clause] it was not intended that colleges should have to revise their current schemes.

- (intend something as/to do something) plan that something should be or do something: a series of questions intended as a checklist.

- plan that speech should have (a particular meaning): no offence was intended, I assure you.

2 (usually be intended for/to do something) design or destine something for a particular purpose: pigs intended for human consumption | a one-roomed cottage intended to accommodate a family.

- (be intended for) be meant or designed for the use of (a particular person or group): this benefit is intended for people incapable of work.

<DERIVATIVES> intender n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English entend (in the sense ‘direct the attention to’), from Old French entendre, from Latin intendere ‘intend, extend, direct’, from in- ‘towards’ + tendere ‘stretch, tend’.

intendant n. 1 the administrator of an opera house or theatre.

2 chiefly HISTORICAL a title given to a high-ranking official or administrator, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, or one of their colonies.

<DERIVATIVES> intendancy n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Latin intendere ‘to direct’ (see INTEND).

intended adj. [attr.] planned or meant: the intended victim escaped.

■ n. (one's intended) INFORMAL the person one intends to marry; one's fiancé or fiancée.

<DERIVATIVES> intendedly adv.

intendment n. [mass noun] [LAW] the sense in which the law understands or interprets something, such as the true intention of an Act.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an intended meaning): from Old French entendement, from entendre ‘intend’.

intense adj. (intenser, intensest) 1 of extreme force, degree, or strength: the job demands intense concentration | the heat was intense | an intense blue.

- (of an action) highly concentrated: a phase of intense activity.

2 having or showing strong feelings or opinions; extremely earnest or serious: an intense young woman, passionate about her art | a burning and intense look.

<DERIVATIVES> intensely adv. intenseness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin intensus ‘stretched tightly, strained’, past participle of intendere (see INTEND).

<USAGE> Intense and intensive are clearly similar in meaning, but they differ in emphasis. Intense tends to relate to subjective responses—emotions and how we feel—while intensive tends to relate to objective descriptions. Thus, an intensive course simply describes the type of course: one that is designed to cover a lot of ground in a short time, e.g. by being full-time rather than part-time. On the other hand, in the course was intense, intense describes how someone felt about the course.

intensification n. [mass noun] the action of making or becoming more intense: the intensification of the conflict. | the intensification of agriculture.

intensifier n. a person or thing that intensifies.

- [PHOTOGRAPHY] a chemical used to intensify a negative.

- [GRAMMAR] an adverb used to give force or emphasis, for example really in my feet are really cold.

intensify v. (intensifies, intensifying, intensified) 1 become or make more intense: [no obj.] the dispute began to intensify | [with obj.] they had intensified their military campaign.

2 [with obj.] [PHOTOGRAPHY] increase the opacity of (a negative) using a chemical.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: coined by Coleridge.

intension n. 1 [LOGIC] the internal content of a concept. Often contrasted with EXTENSION.

2 [mass noun] ARCHAIC resolution or determination.

<DERIVATIVES> intensional adj. intensionally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (also in the sense ‘straining, stretching’): from Latin intensio(n-), from intendere (see INTEND).

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 19th cent.

intensity n. (pl. intensities) [mass noun] 1 the quality of being intense: the pain grew in intensity | [in sing.] there's an intensity in his eyes that's downright scary.

2 the measurable amount of a property, such as force, brightness, or a magnetic field: hydrothermal processes of low intensity | [count noun] different light intensities.

intensive adj. 1 concentrated on a single subject or into a short time; very thorough or vigorous: she undertook an intensive Arabic course | eight days of intensive arms talks.

- (of agriculture) aiming to achieve maximum production within a limited area, especially by using chemical and technological aids: intensive farming. Often contrasted with extensive (sense 2).

- [usually in combination] (typically in business and economics) concentrating on or making much use of a specified thing: computer-intensive methods.

2 [GRAMMAR] (of an adjective, adverb, or particle) giving force or emphasis.

3 chiefly [PHYSICS] denoting a property which is measured in terms of intensity (e.g. concentration) rather than of extent (e.g. volume), and so is not simply increased by addition of one thing to another.

■ n. [GRAMMAR] an intensive adjective, adverb, or particle; an intensifier.

<DERIVATIVES> intensively adv. intensiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘vehement, intense’): from French intensif, -ive or medieval Latin intensivus, from intendere (see INTEND).

<USAGE> On the difference between intensive and intense see usage at intense.

intensive care n. [mass noun] special medical treatment of a dangerously ill patient, with constant monitoring.

intent n. [mass noun] intention or purpose: with alarm she realized his intent | [count noun] a real intent to cut back on social programmes.

■ adj. 1 (intent on/upon) determined to do (something): the government was intent on achieving greater efficiency.

- attentively occupied with: Gill was intent on her gardening magazine.

2 (of a look or expression) showing earnest and eager attention: a curiously intent look on her face.

<PHRASES>

□ to all intents and purposes in all important respects: a man who was to all intents and purposes illiterate.

□ with intent [LAW] with the intention of committing a crime: he denied arson with intent to endanger life.

<DERIVATIVES> intentness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French entent, entente, based on Latin intendere (see INTEND). The adjective is from Latin intentus, past participle of intendere.

intention n. 1 a thing intended; an aim or plan: she was full of good intentions | [with infinitive] he announced his intention to stand for re-election.

- [mass noun] the action or fact of intending: intention is just one of the factors that will be considered.

- (someone's intentions) a person's plans, especially a man's, in respect to marriage: if his intentions aren't honourable, I never want to see him again.

2 MEDICINE the healing process of a wound. See FIRST INTENTION, SECOND INTENTION.

3 (intentions) [LOGIC] conceptions formed by directing the mind towards an object.

<DERIVATIVES> intentioned adj. [in combination] a well-intentioned remark

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French entencion, from Latin intentio(n-) ‘stretching, purpose’, from intendere (see INTEND).

intentional adj. done on purpose; deliberate: intentional wrongdoing and harm.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘existing only in intention’): from French intentionnel or medieval Latin intentionalis, from Latin intentio(n-), from intendere (see INTEND).

intentional fallacy n. (the intentional fallacy) (in literary theory) the fallacy of basing an assessment of a work on the author's intention rather than on one's response to the actual work.

intentionalism n. [mass noun] the theory that a literary work should be judged in terms of the author's intentions.

intentionality n. [mass noun] the fact of being deliberate or purposive.

- [PHILOSOPHY] the quality of mental states (e.g. thoughts, beliefs, desires, hopes) which consists in their being directed towards some object or state of affairs.

intentionally adv. deliberately; on purpose: I didn't do it intentionally. | I wasn't sure if it was intentionally funny or not.

intention tremor n. a trembling of a part of the body when attempting a precise movement, associated especially with disease of the cerebellum.

intently adv. with earnest and eager attention: he gazed at her intently. | everybody was listening intently.

inter /ntə/ v. (inters, interring, interred) [with obj.] place (a corpse) in a grave or tomb, typically with funeral rites.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French enterrer, based on Latin in- ‘into’ + terra ‘earth’.

inter. abbr. intermediate.

inter- prefix 1 between; among: inter-agency | interblend.

2 mutually; reciprocally: interactive.

<ORIGIN> from Old French entre- or Latin inter ‘between, among’.

interact v. [no obj.] act in such a way as to have an effect on each other: all the stages in the process interact.

- communicate or be involved directly: the user interacts directly with the library | people who interact daily.

<DERIVATIVES> interactant adj. & n.

interaction n. [mass noun] reciprocal action or influence: ongoing interaction between the two languages.

- [PHYSICS] a particular way in which matter, fields, and atomic and subatomic particles affect one another, e.g. through gravitation or electromagnetism.

<DERIVATIVES> interactional adj.

interactionism n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the theory that there are two entities, mind and body, each of which can have an effect on the other.

<DERIVATIVES> interactionist n. & adj.

interactive adj. (of two people or things) influencing each other: fully sighted children in interactive play with others with defective vision.

- (of a computer or other electronic device) allowing a two-way flow of information between it and a user; responding to the user's input: interactive video.

<DERIVATIVES> interactively adv. interactivity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from INTERACT, on the pattern of active.

inter-agency adj. occurring between different agencies: inter-agency cooperation.

- constituted from more than one agency: inter-agency groups.

inter alia /ntər elə alə/ adv. among other things: the study includes, inter alia, computers, aircraft, and pharmaceuticals.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

inter alios /ntər eləs aləs/ adv. among other people: tuition to be given to them by, inter alios, a volunteer retired teacher.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

inter-allied adj. relating to two or more states formally cooperating for military purposes.

interarticular /ntərαtkjlə/ adj. [ANATOMY] existing or acting between the adjacent surfaces of a joint.

interatomic adj. [PHYSICS] existing or acting between atoms.

interbank adj. arranged or operating between banks: an interbank transfer.

interbed v. (be interbedded) [GEOLOGY] (of a stratum) be embedded among or between others.

interbreed v. (past and past participle interbred) (with reference to an animal) breed or cause to breed with another of a different race or species: [no obj.] wolves and dogs can interbreed.

- (of an animal) inbreed.

intercalary /ntəkəl(ə)ri ntəkal(ə)ri/ adj. 1 (of a day or a month) inserted in the calendar to harmonize it with the solar year, e.g. 29 February in leap years.

2 (of an academic year or period) additional to the standard course and taken at a different institution.

3 of the nature of an insertion.

4 [BOTANY] (of the meristem of a plant) located between its daughter cells, especially (in a grass) at or near the base of a leaf.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin intercalarius, from intercalare (see INTERCALATE).

intercalate /ntəkəlet ntəkəlet/ v. [with obj.] 1 insert (an intercalary period) in a calendar.

2 insert (something) between layers in a crystal lattice, geological formation, or other structure.

<DERIVATIVES> intercalation n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin intercalat- ‘proclaimed as inserted in the calendar’, from the verb intercalare, from inter- ‘between’ + calare ‘proclaim solemnly’.

intercede /ntəsid/ v. [no obj.] intervene on behalf of another: I prayed that she would intercede for us.

<DERIVATIVES> interceder n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French intercéder or Latin intercedere ‘intervene’, from inter- ‘between’ + cedere ‘go’.

intercellular adj. [BIOLOGY] located or occurring between cells: intercellular spaces.

intercensal /ntəsεns(ə)l/ adj. relating to the interval between two censuses.

intercept v. /ntəsεpt/ [with obj.] obstruct (someone or something) so as to prevent them from continuing to a destination: intelligence agencies intercepted a series of telephone calls | I intercepted Edward on his way to work.

- chiefly [PHYSICS] cut off or deflect (light or other electromagnetic radiation).

- [MATHEMATICS] (of a line or surface) mark or cut off (part of a space, line, or surface).

■ n. /ntəsεpt/ an act or instance of intercepting something: he read the file of radio intercepts.

- [MATHEMATICS] the point at which a given line cuts a coordinate axis; the value of the coordinate at that point.

<DERIVATIVES> interception n. interceptive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘contain between limits’ and ‘halt (an effect)’): from Latin intercept- ‘caught between’, from the verb intercipere, from inter- ‘between’ + capere ‘take’.

interceptor n. a person or thing that intercepts.

- a fast aircraft for stopping or repelling hostile aircraft.

intercession /ntəsε(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action of intervening on behalf of another: he only escaped ruin by the intercession of his peers with the king.

- the action of saying a prayer on behalf of another.

<DERIVATIVES> intercessional adj. intercessory adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin intercessio(n-), from the verb intercedere (see INTERCEDE).

intercessor n. a person who intervenes on behalf of another, especially by prayer. they rejected the notion that an intercessor was needed to appeal to God.

interchange v. /ntəten(d)/ [with obj.] (of two or more people) exchange (things) with each other: superior and subordinates freely interchange information.

- put each of (two things) in the other's place: the terms are often interchanged.

- [no obj.] (of a thing) be able to be exchanged with another: diesel units will interchange with the petrol ones.

■ n. /ntəten(d)/ 1 [mass noun] the action of interchanging people or things: the interchange of ideas | [count noun] we have a significant interchange of staff with the nearby college.

- [count noun] an exchange of words: I listened in shock to this venomous interchange.

2 [mass noun] alternation: the interchange of woods and meadows.

3 a road junction designed on several levels so that traffic streams do not intersect.

4 a station where passengers may change from one railway line, bus service, etc. to another.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French entrechangier, from entre- ‘between’ + changier ‘to change’.

interchangeable /ntəten(d)əbl/ adj. (of two things) able to be interchanged: eyepieces are interchangeable and one can use any eyepiece with any telescope | the V8 engines are all interchangeable with each other.

- apparently identical; very similar: anonymous DJs and interchangeable disco divas.

<DERIVATIVES> interchangeability n. interchangeableness n. interchangeably adv.

intercity adj. existing or travelling between cities.

- (also TRADEMARK InterCity) denoting express passenger rail services in the UK.

inter-class adj. existing or conducted between different social classes.

intercollegiate adj. NORTH AMERICAN existing or conducted between colleges or universities: intercollegiate sports.

intercolonial adj. existing or conducted between colonies: an intercolonial railway.

intercolumniation /ntəkəlmne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [ARCHITECTURE] the distance between adjacent columns of a building.

<DERIVATIVES> intercolumnar adj.

intercom n. an electrical device allowing one-way or two-way communication.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: abbreviation of INTERCOMMUNICATION.

intercommunicate v. [no obj.] 1 engage in two-way communication: Dr Haber gazed at this while intercommunicating with his receptionist.

2 (often as adj. intercommunicating) (of two rooms) have a common connecting door.

<DERIVATIVES> intercommunication n. intercommunicative /-kətv/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Anglo-Latin intercommunicat- ‘mutually communicated’, from the verb intercommunicare.

intercommunion n. [mass noun] participation in Holy Communion or other services by members of different religious denominations.

intercommunity adj. existing or conducted between communities: intercommunity relations.

interconnect v. [no obj.] connect with each other: the way human activities interconnect with the environment | [with obj.] the lakes are interconnected by trails filled with joggers.

■ n. a device used to connect two things together.

<DERIVATIVES> interconnected adj. interconnectedness n. interconnection n.

intercontinental adj. relating to or travelling between continents: an intercontinental flight | intercontinental ballistic missiles.

<DERIVATIVES> intercontinentally adv.

interconvert v. [with obj.] cause (two things) to be converted into each other: oestrogens and androgens are easily interconverted in the laboratory.

<DERIVATIVES> interconversion n. interconvertible adj.

intercooler n. an apparatus for cooling gas between successive compressions, especially in a supercharged vehicle engine.

<DERIVATIVES> intercool v.

intercorrelation /ntəkrəle(ə)n/ n. a mutual relationship or connection between two or more things: analyses showing intercorrelations between sets of variables.

<DERIVATIVES> intercorrelate v.

intercostal /ntəkst(ə)l/ [ANATOMY] adj. situated between the ribs: the fifth left intercostal space.

■ n. a muscle situated between the ribs.

<DERIVATIVES> intercostally adv.

intercourse n. 1 [mass noun] communication or dealings between individuals or groups: everyday social intercourse.

2 short for SEXUAL INTERCOURSE.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French entrecours ‘exchange, commerce’, from Latin intercursus, from intercurrere ‘intervene’, from inter- ‘between’ + currere ‘run’. The specifically sexual use arose in the late 18th cent.

intercrop v. (intercrops, intercropping, intercropped) [with obj.] (often as n. intercropping) grow (a crop) among plants of a different kind: lettuce is particularly good for intercropping among Brussels sprouts.

■ n. a crop grown among plants of a different kind.

intercross v. (with reference to animals or plants of different breeds or varieties) interbreed or cause to interbreed.

■ n. an instance of intercrossing.

- an animal or plant resulting from intercrossing.

intercrural /ntəkrər(ə)l/ adj. between the legs.

intercultural adj. taking place between cultures, or derived from different cultures: intercultural communication.

<DERIVATIVES> interculturalism n.

intercurrent adj. 1 MEDICINE (of a disease) occurring during the progress of another disease: intercurrent infection with other microbes.

2 RARE (of a time or event) intervening.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin intercurrent- ‘intervening’, from the verb intercurrere.

intercut v. (intercuts, intercutting; past and past participle intercut) [with obj.] alternate (scenes or shots) with contrasting scenes or shots to make one composite scene in a film: pieces of archive film are intercut with brief interviews | [no obj.] the action intercuts between the time periods.

interdenominational /ntədnmne(ə)n(ə)l/ adj. relating to more than one religious denomination: an interdenominational service.

<DERIVATIVES> interdenominationally adv.

interdental adj. situated or placed between the teeth.

- [PHONETICS] (of a consonant) pronounced by placing the tip of the tongue between the teeth, such as the ‘th’ sounds in the English words ‘thaw’ and ‘though’.

■ n. [PHONETICS] an interdental consonant.

interdepartmental adj. relating to more than one department.

<DERIVATIVES> interdepartmentally adv.

interdependent adj. (of two or more people or things) dependent on each other: we in Europe are all increasingly interdependent.

<DERIVATIVES> interdepend v. interdependence n. interdependency n.

interdict n. /ntədkt/ an authoritative prohibition, in particular:

- [LAW], chiefly SCOTTISH a court order forbidding an act; a negative injunction.

- (in the Roman Catholic Church) a sentence debarring a person or place from ecclesiastical functions and privileges: a papal interdict.

■ v. /ntədkt/ [with obj.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 prohibit or forbid (something): society will never interdict sex.

- (interdict someone from) prohibit someone from (doing something): I have not been interdicted from consuming alcoholic beverages.

2 intercept and prevent the movement of (a prohibited commodity or person): army efforts to interdict enemy supply shipments.

- [MILITARY] impede (an enemy force), especially by bombing lines of communication or supply.

<DERIVATIVES> interdiction n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English entredite (in the ecclesiastical sense), from Old French entredit, from Latin interdictum, past participle of interdicere ‘interpose, forbid by decree’, from inter- ‘between’ + dicere ‘say’. The spelling change in the 16th century was due to association with the Latin form.

interdictor /ntədktə/ n. [MILITARY] an aircraft designed to interrupt enemy supply operations by aerial bombing.

<DERIVATIVES> interdictory /-dkt(ə)ri/ adj.

interdigital adj. between the fingers or toes.

interdigitate /ntəddtet/ v. [no obj.] (of two or more things) interlock like the fingers of two clasped hands: (as adj. interdigitating) interdigitating metal bars.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from INTER- ‘between’ + DIGIT + -ATE^3.

interdisciplinary adj. relating to more than one branch of knowledge: an interdisciplinary research programme.

interest n. 1 [mass noun] the feeling of wanting to know or learn about something or someone: she looked about her with interest | [in sing.] he developed an interest in art.

- the quality of exciting curiosity or holding the attention: a tale full of interest.

- [count noun] an activity or subject which one enjoys doing or studying: their sole interests are soccer, drink, and cars.

2 [mass noun] money paid regularly at a particular rate for the use of money lent, or for delaying the repayment of a debt: the monthly rate of interest | [as modifier] interest payments.

3 the advantage or benefit of a person or group: the merger is not contrary to the public interest | it is in your interest to keep your insurance details to hand | we are acting in the best interests of our customers.

- ARCHAIC the selfish pursuit of one's own welfare; self-interest.

4 a stake or involvement in an undertaking, especially a financial one: holders of voting rights must disclose their interests | he must have no personal interest in the outcome of the case.

- a legal concern, title, or right in property.

5 (usually interests) a group or organization having a common concern, especially in politics or business: food interests in Scotland must continue to invest.

■ v. [with obj.] excite the curiosity or attention of (someone): I thought the book might interest Eliot.

- (interest someone in) persuade someone to undertake or acquire (something): efforts were made to interest her in a purchase.

<PHRASES>

□ at interest (of money borrowed) on the condition that interest is payable.

□ declare an (or one's) interest make known one's financial interests in an undertaking before it is discussed.

□ in the interests (or interest) of something for the benefit of: in the interests of security we are keeping the information confidential.

□ of interest interesting: his book should be of interest to historians.

□ with interest with interest charged or paid.

- (of an action) reciprocated with more force or vigour than the original one: she returned his look with interest.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as interess): from Anglo-Norman French interesse, from Latin interesse ‘differ, be important’, from inter- ‘between’ + esse ‘be’. The -t was added partly by association with Old French interest ‘damage, loss’, apparently from Latin interest ‘it is important’. The original sense was ‘the possession of a share in or a right to something’; hence sense 4 of the noun.

■ Sense 1 of the noun and the verb arose in the 18th century sense 2 of the noun was influenced by medieval Latin interesse ‘compensation for a debtor's defaulting’.

interested adj. 1 showing curiosity or concern about something or someone; having a feeling of interest: I had always been interested in history.

2 [attr.] having an interest or involvement; not impartial: seeking views from all interested parties.

<DERIVATIVES> interestedly adv. interestedness n.

interest-free adj. & adv. with no interest charged on money that has been borrowed: [as adj.] interest-free credit | [as adv.] he lent the money interest-free.

interesting adj. arousing curiosity or interest; holding or catching the attention: an interesting debate | it will be very interesting to see what they come up with.

<PHRASES>

□ in an interesting condition ARCHAIC, EUPHEMISTIC (of a woman) pregnant.

<DERIVATIVES> interestingly adv. he talked interestingly and learnedly | [sentence adv.] interestingly, the researchers did notice a link interestingness n.

interface n. 1 a point where two systems, subjects, organizations, etc. meet and interact: the interface between accountancy and the law.

- chiefly [PHYSICS] a surface forming a common boundary between two portions of matter or space, for example between two immiscible liquids: the surface tension of a liquid at its air/liquid interface.

2 [COMPUTING] a device or program enabling a user to communicate with a computer.

- a device or program for connecting two items of hardware or software so that they can be operated jointly or communicate with each other.

■ v. [no obj.] (interface with) 1 interact with (another system, person, etc.): you will interface with counterparts from sister companies.

2 [COMPUTING] connect with (another computer or piece of equipment) by an interface.

<USAGE> The word interface is a relatively new word, having been in the language (as a noun) since the 1880s. However, in the 1960s it became widespread in computer use and, by analogy, began to enjoy a vogue as both a noun and a verb in all sorts of other spheres. Traditionalists object to it on the grounds that there are plenty of other words that could be used instead. Nevertheless it is now well established as a part of standard English.

interfacial adj. 1 included between two faces of a crystal or other solid.

2 relating to or forming a common boundary between two portions of matter or space.

interfacing n. [mass noun] an extra layer of material or an adhesive stiffener that is applied to the facing of a garment to add support.

interfaith adj. relating to or involving different religions or members of different religions: action to encourage interfaith dialogue.

interfere v. [no obj.] 1 (interfere with) prevent (a process or activity) from continuing or being carried out properly: a holiday job would interfere with his studies.

- (of a thing) strike against or impede (something) when working: the rotors are widely separated and do not interfere with one another.

- handle or adjust (something) without permission, especially so as to cause damage: he admitted interfering with a van.

2 intervene in a situation without invitation or necessity: she tried not to interfere in her children's lives.

3 (interfere with) British, EUPHEMISTIC sexually molest (someone, especially a child).

4 (interfere with) [LAW] attempt to bribe or intimidate (a witness).

5 [PHYSICS] (of light or other electromagnetic waveforms) interact to produce interference.

- cause interference to a broadcasted radio signal.

6 (of a horse) knock one foot against the fetlock of another leg.

<DERIVATIVES> interferer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French s'entreferir ‘strike each other’, from entre- ‘between’ + ferir (from Latin ferire ‘to strike’).

interference n. [mass noun] 1 the action of interfering or the process of being interfered with: concerns about government interference in church life | [count noun] an unwarranted interference with personal liberty.

- [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] the legal blocking of an opponent to clear a way for the ball carrier.

- (in ice hockey and other sports) the illegal hindering of an opponent not in possession of the puck or ball.

2 [PHYSICS] the combination of two or more electromagnetic waveforms to form a resultant wave in which the displacement is either reinforced or cancelled.

- the fading or disturbance of received radio signals caused by unwanted signals from other sources, such as unshielded electrical equipment, or broadcasts from other channels.

<PHRASES>

□ run interference [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] move in such a way as to cause interference.

- North American INFORMAL intervene on someone's behalf, typically so as to protect them from distraction or annoyance: Elizabeth was quick to run interference and said that the Professor would be very busy.

<DERIVATIVES> interferential adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from INTERFERE, on the pattern of words such as difference.

interference fit n. a fit between two parts in which the external dimension of one part slightly exceeds the internal dimension of the part into which it has to fit.

interfering adj. (of a person) tending to interfere in other people's affairs: interfering busybodies.

<DERIVATIVES> interferingly adv.

interferogram /ntəfərə()ram/ (also interferogramme) n. [PHYSICS] a pattern formed by wave interference, especially one represented in a photograph or diagram.

interferometer /ntəfərmtə/ n. [PHYSICS] an instrument in which wave interference is employed to make precise measurements of length of displacement in terms of the wavelength.

<DERIVATIVES> interferometric adj. interferometrically adv. interferometry n.

interferon /ntəfərn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein released by animal cells, usually in response to the entry of a virus, which has the property of inhibiting virus replication.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from INTERFERE + -ON.

interfile v. [with obj.] file (two or more sequences) together.

- file (one or more items) into an existing sequence: this index is interfiled with the main card catalogue.

interflow v. [no obj.] LITERARY mix or mingle: the thousand varying shades interflowing like a lighted water.

interfluve /ntəfluv/ n. [GEOLOGY] a region between the valleys of adjacent watercourses, especially in a dissected upland.

<DERIVATIVES> interfluvial adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: back-formation from interfluvial.

interfuse v. [with obj.] LITERARY join or mix (two or more things) together: (as adj. interfused) nowhere do art and life seem so interfused.

<DERIVATIVES> interfusion n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin interfus- ‘poured among’, from the verb interfundere, from inter- ‘between’ + fundere ‘pour’.

intergalactic adj. relating to, moving, or situated between two or more galaxies: intergalactic gas.

<DERIVATIVES> intergalactically adv.

intergeneric /ntədnεrk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] existing between or obtained from different genera: intergeneric differences | an intergeneric hybrid.

interglacial [GEOLOGY] adj. relating to a period of milder climate between two glacial periods. Compare with INTERSTADIAL.

■ n. an interglacial period.

intergovernmental /ntəv(ə)nmεnt(ə)l -v(ə)mεnt(ə)l/ adj. relating to or conducted between two or more governments: an intergovernmental conference.

<DERIVATIVES> intergovernmentally adv.

intergrade v. [no obj.] [BIOLOGY] pass into another form by a series of intervening forms.

■ n. a form resulting from intergrading.

<DERIVATIVES> intergradation n.

intergrow v. (past intergrew; past participle intergrown) [no obj.] (usually as adj. intergrown) (chiefly of crystals) grow into each other: finely intergrown siderite.

intergrowth n. a thing produced by intergrowing, especially of mineral crystals in rock.

interim /nt(ə)rm/ n. 1 the intervening time: in the interim I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

2 (usually interims) chiefly BRITISH an interim dividend, profit, etc.

■ adj. 1 in or for the intervening period; provisional: an interim arrangement.

2 relating to less than a full year's business activity: an interim dividend.

■ adv. ARCHAIC meanwhile.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a provisional arrangement, originally for the adjustment of religious differences between the German Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church): from Latin, ‘meanwhile’.

interior adj. 1 situated on or relating to the inside of something; inner: the interior lighting is not adequate.

- (interior to) chiefly TECHNICAL situated further in or within: the layer immediately interior to the epidermis.

- (in filming) indoor: interior scenes.

2 [attr.] remote from the coast or frontier; inland: the interior jungle regions.

3 relating to a country's internal affairs: the interior minister.

4 existing or taking place in the mind or soul; mental: an interior monologue.

■ n. 1 the inner part of something; the inside: the interior has been much restored.

- an artistic representation of the inside of a building or room: a few still lifes, interiors, and landscapes.

2 (the interior) the inland part of a country or region: the plains of the interior.

3 (the interior) the internal affairs of a country: the Minister of the Interior.

<DERIVATIVES> interiorize (also interiorise) v. interiorly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin, ‘inner’, comparative adjective from inter ‘within’.

interior angle n. the angle between adjacent sides of a rectilinear figure.

interior decoration n. [mass noun] the decoration of the interior of a building or room, especially with regard for colour combination and artistic effect.

<DERIVATIVES> interior decorator n.

interior design n. [mass noun] the art or process of designing the interior decoration of a room or building.

<DERIVATIVES> interior designer n.

interiority n. [mass noun] the quality of being interior or inward.

- inner character; subjectivity: the profound interiority of faith.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from medieval Latin interioritas, from Latin interior ‘inner’.

interior monologue n. a piece of writing expressing a character's inner thoughts.

interior-sprung adj. BRITISH (of a mattress) having coiled springs inside.

interject /ntədεkt/ v. [with obj.] say (something) abruptly, especially as an aside or interruption: she interjected the odd question here and there | [no obj.] Christina felt bound to interject before there was open warfare.

<DERIVATIVES> interjectory adj.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin interject- ‘interposed’, from the verb interjicere, from inter- ‘between’ + jacere ‘to throw’.

interjection n. an abrupt remark, especially as an aside or interruption.

- an exclamation, especially as a part of speech (e.g. ah!, dear me!).

<DERIVATIVES> interjectional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin interjectio(n-), from the verb interjicere (see INTERJECT).

interknit v. (interknits, interknitting; past and past participle interknitted or interknit) [with obj.] knit (things) together; intertwine.

interlace v. cross or be crossed intricately together; interweave: [with obj.] Jane interlaced her fingers to form a cup | (as adj. interlacing) closely interlacing branches.

- [with obj.] (interlace something with) mingle or intersperse something with: discussion interlaced with esoteric mathematics.

- [with obj.] [ELECTRONICS] scan (a video image) in such a way that alternate lines form one sequence which is followed by the other lines in a second sequence: (as adj. interlaced) interlaced displays.

<DERIVATIVES> interlacement n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French entrelacier, from entre- ‘between’ + lacier ‘to lace’.

Interlaken /ntəlαk(ə)n/ German /ntlakn/ the chief town of the Bernese Alps in central Switzerland, situated on the River Aare between Lake Brienz and Lake Thun; pop. 5,052 (est. 1998).

interlanguage n. a language or form of language having features of two others, typically a pidgin or a version produced by a foreign learner.

interlap v. (interlaps, interlapping, interlapped) [no obj.] overlap.

interlard v. [with obj.] (interlard something with) intersperse or embellish speech or writing with different material: a compendium of advertisements and reviews, interlarded with gossip.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘mix with alternate layers of fat’): from French entrelarder, from entre- ‘between’ + larder ‘to lard’.

interlay v. (past and past participle interlaid) [with obj.] lay between or among; interpose: strips of granite are interlaid with creamy Sardinian stone.

■ n. [mass noun] an inserted layer: use interlay under foam-backed carpets.

- [count noun] [PRINTING] a sheet of paper placed between a letterpress printing plate and its base to give increased pressure on certain areas.

interlayer n. a layer situated between two others.

interleaf n. (pl. interleaves) an extra page, typically a blank one, between the leaves of a book.

interleave v. [with obj.] 1 insert pages, typically blank ones, between the pages of (a book): books of maps interleaved with tracing paper.

- place something between the layers of (something): pasta interleaved with strips of courgette.

2 [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] mix (digital signals) by alternating between them.

3 [COMPUTING] divide (memory or processing power) between a number of tasks by allocating successive segments of it to each task in turn.

interleukin /ntəlukn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a class of glycoproteins produced by leucocytes for regulating immune responses.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from INTER- ‘occurring between’ + leukocyte (variant of LEUCOCYTE) + -IN^1.

interlibrary adj. between libraries.

interline^1 v. [with obj.] insert words between the lines of (a document or other text).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin interlineare, from inter- ‘between’ + Latin linea ‘line’.

interline^2 v. [with obj.] put an extra lining between the ordinary lining and the fabric of (a garment, curtain, etc.), typically to provide extra strength.

interlinear adj. written or printed between the lines of a text: interlinear glosses.

- (of a book) having the same text in different languages printed on alternate lines.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin interlinearis, from inter- ‘between’ + Latin linearis (from linea ‘line’).

interlineate /ntəlnet/ v. another term for interline^1.

<DERIVATIVES> interlineation n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin interlineat- ‘interlined’, from the verb interlineare.

interlingua /ntəlwə/ n. an artificial language, devised for machine translation, that makes explicit the distinctions necessary for successful translation into a target language, even where they are not present in the source language.

- (Interlingua) [mass noun] an artificial international language formed of elements common to the Romance languages, designed primarily for scientific and technical use.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from INTER- ‘between’ + Latin lingua ‘tongue’.

interlingual adj. between or relating to two languages: interlingual dictionaries.

- relating to an interlingua or artificial interlanguage.

interlining n. [mass noun] material used as an extra lining between the ordinary lining and the fabric of a garment, curtain, etc.

interlink v. [with obj.] join or connect (two or more things) together: the department's postgraduate work is closely interlinked with the MSc programme.

<DERIVATIVES> interlinkage n.

interlobular /ntəlbjlə/ adj. [ANATOMY] situated between lobes (e.g. of the kidney or liver).

interlock v. [no obj.] (of two or more things) engage with each other by overlapping or by the fitting together of projections and recesses: their fingers interlocked | (as adj. interlocking) a design of interlocking leaves.

- [with obj.] lock or join (things) together: the two planes were almost interlocked as they climbed together.

■ n. 1 a device or mechanism for connecting or coordinating the function of different components.

2 (also interlock fabric) [mass noun] a fabric knitted with closely interlocking stitches allowing it to stretch.

<DERIVATIVES> interlocker n.

interlocutor /ntəlkjtə/ n. FORMAL a person who takes part in a dialogue or conversation.

<DERIVATIVES> interlocution n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: modern Latin, from Latin interlocut- ‘interrupted (by speech)’, from the verb interloqui, from inter- ‘between’ + loqui ‘speak’.

interlocutory /ntəlkjt(ə)ri/ adj. 1 [LAW] (of a decree or judgement) given provisionally during the course of a legal action.

2 RARE relating to dialogue.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from medieval Latin interlocutorius, from Latin interloqui ‘interrupt’ (see INTERLOCUTOR).

interloper /ntələpə/ n. a person who becomes involved in a place or situation where they are not wanted or are considered not to belong.

<DERIVATIVES> interlope v.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting an unauthorized trader trespassing on the rights of a trade monopoly): from INTER- ‘amid’ + -loper as in archaic landloper ‘vagabond’ (from Middle Dutch landlooper).

interlude n. 1 an intervening period of time; an interval: enjoying a lunchtime interlude.

- a pause between the acts of a play.

2 a thing occurring or done during an interval.

- something performed during a theatre interval: an orchestral interlude.

- a piece of music played between other pieces or between the verses of a hymn.

- a temporary amusement or diversion that contrasts with what goes before or after: the romantic interlude palled rapidly once he was back in town.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting a light dramatic entertainment): from medieval Latin interludium, from inter- ‘between’ + ludus ‘play’.

intermarriage n. [mass noun] marriage between people of different races, castes, or religions: intermarriage between Scots and English borderers was officially forbidden.

- marriage between close relations.

intermarry v. (intermarries, intermarrying, intermarried) [no obj.] (of people belonging to different races, castes, or religions) become connected by marriage: over the centuries the Greeks intermarried with the natives.

- (of close relations) marry each other.

intermediary /ntəmidəri/ n. (pl. intermediaries) a person who acts as a link between people in order to try and bring about an agreement; a mediator: negotiations took place through an intermediary.

■ adj. intermediate: an intermediary stage.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French intermédiaire, from Italian intermediario, from Latin intermedius (see INTERMEDIATE).

intermediate /ntəmidət/ adj. coming between two things in time, place, character, etc.: an intermediate stage of development | a cooled liquid intermediate between liquid and solid.

- having or suitable for a level of knowledge or skill between basic and advanced: intermediate skiers | an intermediate course.

■ n. 1 a person at an intermediate level of knowledge or skill.

2 a chemical compound formed by one reaction and then taking part in another, especially during synthesis.

■ v. /ntəmidet/ [no obj.] act as intermediary; mediate: groups which intermediated between the individual and the state.

<DERIVATIVES> intermediacy n. intermediately adv. intermediateness n. intermediation n. intermediator n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin intermediatus, from Latin intermedius, from inter- ‘between’ + medius ‘middle’.

intermediate frequency n. the frequency to which a radio signal is converted during heterodyne reception.

intermediate host n. [BIOLOGY] an organism that supports the immature or non-reproductive forms of a parasite. Compare with DEFINITIVE HOST.

intermediate technology n. [mass noun] technology suitable for use in developing countries, typically making use of locally available resources.

intermedium /ntəmidəm/ n. (pl. intermedia /-midə/) [ZOOLOGY] (in tetrapods) a carpal in the centre of the wrist joint, or a tarsal in the centre of the ankle joint.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting an intervening action or performance): from late Latin, neuter (used as a noun) of Latin intermedius ‘intermediate’.

interment /ntəm(ə)nt/ n. [mass noun] the burial of a corpse in a grave or tomb, typically with funeral rites: the day of interment | [count noun] interments took place in the churchyard.

intermesh v. [no obj.] (of two or more things) mesh with one another.

intermezzo /ntəmεtsə/ n. (pl. intermezzi /-mεtsi/ or intermezzos) a short connecting instrumental movement in an opera or other musical work.

- a short piece for a solo instrument.

- a light dramatic, musical, or other performance inserted between the acts of a play.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Italian, from Latin intermedium ‘interval’, neuter of intermedius (see INTERMEDIATE).

interminable adj. endless or apparently endless (often used hyperbolically): we got bogged down in interminable discussions.

<DERIVATIVES> interminableness n. interminably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin interminabilis, from in- ‘not’ + terminare (see TERMINATE).

intermingle v. mix or mingle together: [no obj.] daisies intermingled with huge expanses of gorse and foxgloves | [with obj.] Riesling grapes were always intermingled with other varieties.

intermission n. a pause or break: he was granted an intermission in his studies | [mass noun] the daily work goes on without intermission.

- an interval between parts of a play, film, or concert.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin intermissio(n-), from the verb intermittere (see INTERMIT).

intermit /ntəmt/ v. (intermits, intermitting, intermitted) [with obj.] suspend or discontinue (an action or practice) for a time: he was urged to intermit his application.

- [no obj.] (especially of a fever or pulse) stop for a time.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin intermittere, from inter- ‘between’ + mittere ‘let go’.

intermittent adj. occurring at irregular intervals; not continuous or steady: intermittent rain.

<DERIVATIVES> intermittence n. intermittency n. intermittently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin intermittent- ‘ceasing’, from the verb intermittere (see INTERMIT).

intermix v. mix together: [with obj.] the ore had to be handled so that it was not inadvertently intermixed with other material | [no obj.] along its southern edge low trees intermix with the shrubs.

<DERIVATIVES> intermixable adj. intermixture n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally as the past participle intermixt): from Latin intermixtus, past participle of intermiscere ‘mix together’, from inter- ‘between’ + miscere ‘to mix’.

intermodal adj. involving two or more different modes of transport in conveying goods.

intermolecular adj. existing or taking place between molecules.

intern n. /ntən/ NORTH AMERICAN a recent medical graduate receiving supervised training in a hospital and acting as an assistant physician or surgeon. Compare with HOUSE OFFICER.

- a student or trainee who does a job, sometimes without pay, in order to gain work experience or satisfy requirements for a qualification.

■ v. 1 /ntən/ [with obj.] confine (someone) as a prisoner, especially for political or military reasons.

2 /ntən/ [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN serve as an intern.

<DERIVATIVES> internment n.

■ intern (sense 1 of the verb)

□ internship n.

■ intern (noun)

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘internal’): from French interne (adjective), interner (verb), from Latin internus ‘inward, internal’. Current senses date from the 19th cent.

internal adj. 1 of or situated on the inside: the tube had an internal diameter of 1.1 mm.

- inside the body: internal bleeding.

- existing or occurring within an organization: an internal telephone system.

- relating to affairs and activities within a country rather than with other countries; domestic: internal flights.

- experienced in one's mind; inner rather than expressed: internal feelings.

- of the inner nature of a thing; intrinsic: the party suffered from grave internal weaknesses.

2 BRITISH (of a student) attending a university as well as taking its examinations.

■ n. (internals) inner parts or features: all the weapon's internals are well finished and highly polished.

<DERIVATIVES> internality n. internally adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘intrinsic’): from modern Latin internalis, from Latin internus ‘inward, internal’.

internal clock n. a person's innate sense of time.

■ another term for BIOLOGICAL CLOCK.

internal-combustion engine n. an engine which generates motive power by the burning of petrol, oil, or other fuel with air inside the engine, the hot gases produced being used to drive a piston or do other work as they expand.

internal energy n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the energy in a system arising from the relative positions and interactions of its parts.

internal evidence n. [mass noun] evidence derived from the contents of the thing discussed.

internal exile n. [mass noun] penal banishment from a part of one's own country.

internalize (also internalise) v. [with obj.] 1 [PSYCHOLOGY] make (attitudes or behaviour) part of one's nature by learning or unconscious assimilation.

- acquire knowledge of (the rules of a language).

2 [ECONOMICS] incorporate (costs) as part of a pricing structure, especially social costs resulting from a product's manufacture and use.

<DERIVATIVES> internalization n.

internal market n. 1 another term for SINGLE MARKET.

2 (in the UK) a system of decentralized funding in the National Health Service whereby hospital departments purchase each other's services contractually.

internal rhyme n. a rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of the line or in the middle of the next.

international adj. existing, occurring, or carried on between nations: international trade.

- agreed on by all or many nations: a violation of international law.

- used by people of many nations: large international hotels.

■ n. 1 BRITISH a game or contest between teams representing different countries in a sport.

- a player who has taken part in an international game or contest.

2 (International) any of four associations founded (1864–1936) to promote socialist or communist action.

The First International was formed by Karl Marx in London in 1864 as an international working men's association. The Second International was formed in Paris in 1889 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution and still survives as a loose association of social democrats. The Third International, also known as the Comintern, was formed by the Bolsheviks in 1919 to further the cause of world revolution. It was abolished in 1943. The Fourth International, a body of Trotskyist organizations, was formed in 1938 in opposition to the policies of the Stalin-dominated Third International.

<DERIVATIVES> internationality n. internationally adv.

International Atomic Energy Agency (abbr.: IAEA) an international organization set up in 1957 to promote research into and the development of atomic energy for peaceful purposes.

International Baccalaureate (abbr.: IB) n. TRADEMARK a set of examinations intended to qualify successful candidates for higher education in any of several countries.

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (abbr.: IBRD) an agency of the United Nations which constitutes the main part of the World Bank. It was established in 1945 and its headquarters are in Washington DC.

International Brigade a group of volunteers which was raised internationally by foreign communist parties and which fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.

International Civil Aviation Organization an agency of the United Nations, founded in 1947 to study problems of international civil aviation and establish standards and regulations.

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (abbr.: ICFTU) an association formed in 1949 to promote free trade unionism worldwide. Its headquarters are in Brussels.

International Court of Justice a judicial court of the United Nations which replaced the Cour Permanente de Justice in 1945 and meets at The Hague.

International Development Association (abbr.: IDA) an affiliate of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) established in 1960 to provide assistance primarily in the poorer developing countries.

Internationale /ntənaənαl/ 1 (the Internationale) a revolutionary song composed in France in the late 19th century. It was adopted by French socialists and subsequently by others, and was the official anthem of the USSR until 1944.

2 variant spelling of international (sense 2 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> French, feminine of international ‘international’.

International Energy Agency (abbr.: IEA) an agency founded in 1974, within the framework of the OECD, to coordinate energy supply and demand worldwide. Its headquarters are in Paris.

International Finance Corporation (abbr.: IFC) an affiliate of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) established in 1956 to assist developing member countries by promoting the growth of the private sector of their economies.

International Fund for Agricultural Development (abbr.: IFAD) an agency of the United Nations whose purpose is to mobilize additional funds for agricultural and rural development in developing countries through programmes that directly benefit the poorest rural populations. It began operations in 1977.

internationalism n. [mass noun] 1 the state or process of being international: the internationalism of popular music.

- the advocacy of cooperation and understanding between nations.

2 (Internationalism) the principles of any of the four Internationals.

<DERIVATIVES> internationalist n.

internationalize (also internationalise) v. [with obj.] 1 make (something) international.

2 bring (a place) under the protection or control of two or more nations: (as adj. internationalized) an internationalized city.

<DERIVATIVES> internationalization n.

International Labour Organization (abbr.: ILO) an organization established in 1919 whose aim is to promote lasting peace through social justice, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969.

international law n. [mass noun] a body of rules established by custom or treaty and recognized by nations as binding in their relations with one another.

International Maritime Association an agency of the United Nations established in 1958 for cooperation and exchange of information among governments on matters relating to international shipping. Its headquarters are in London.

International Monetary Fund (abbr.: IMF) an international organization established in 1945 which aims to promote international trade and monetary cooperation and the stabilization of exchange rates.

Member countries contribute in gold and in their own currencies to provide a reserve on which they may draw to meet foreign obligations during periods of deficit in their international balance of payments. Payments are usually made on the basis of the country's acceptance of stipulated measures for economic correction, which often entail cuts in public expenditure and an increased cost of living, and have frequently caused controversy. It is affiliated to the United Nations, with headquarters in Washington DC.

International Organization for Standardization an organization founded in 1946 to standardize measurements for international industrial, commercial, and scientific purposes.

International Phonetic Alphabet (abbr.: IPA) an internationally recognized set of phonetic symbols developed in the late 19th century, based on the principle of strict one-to-one correspondence between sounds and symbols.

International Society for Krishna Consciousness see HARE KRISHNA.

international style n. [mass noun] a functional style of 20th-century architecture, so called because it crossed national and cultural barriers. It is characterized by the use of steel and reinforced concrete, wide windows, uninterrupted interior spaces, simple lines, and strict geometric forms.

international system of units n. a system of physical units (SI units) based on the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, candela, and mole, together with a set of prefixes to indicate multiplication or division by a power of ten.

<ORIGIN> translating French Système International d'Unités.

International Telecommunication Union (abbr.: ITU) an organization whose purpose is to promote international cooperation in the use and improvement of telecommunications of all kinds. Founded in Paris in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, it became an agency of the United Nations in 1947.

international unit n. a unit of activity or potency for vitamins, hormones, or other substances, defined individually for each substance in terms of the activity of a standard quantity or preparation.

internaut /ntənt/ n. INFORMAL a user of the Internet, especially a habitual or skilled one.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: blend of INTERNET and ASTRONAUT.

internecine /ntənisn/ adj. destructive to both sides in a conflict: the region's history of savage internecine warfare.

- relating to conflict within a group.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘deadly, characterized by great slaughter’): from Latin internecinus, based on inter- ‘among’ + necare ‘to kill’.

internee /ntəni/ n. a person who is confined as a prisoner, especially for political or military reasons.

internegative n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] a second negative of an image made from the original negative.

Internet n. (the Internet) a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols.

<ORIGIN> 1970s (denoting a computer network connecting two or more smaller networks): from INTER- ‘reciprocal, mutual’ + NETWORK.

Internet appliance n. a small computer designed especially to provide easy access to the Internet.

interneuron /ntənjərn/ (also interneurone /-rən/) n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a neuron which transmits impulses between other neurons, especially as part of a reflex arc.

<DERIVATIVES> interneuronal adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from INTERNUNCIAL + NEURON.

internist n. NORTH AMERICAN a medical specialist in internal diseases.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from INTERNAL + -IST.

internode /ntənəd/ n. a slender part between two nodes or joints, in particular:

- [BOTANY] a part of a plant stem between two of the nodes from which leaves emerge.

- [ANATOMY] a stretch of a nerve cell axon sheathed in myelin, between two nodes of Ranvier.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin internodium, from inter- ‘between’ + nodus ‘knot’.

internuclear adj. between nuclei (especially of atoms).

internuncial /ntənn(ə)l/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] (of neurons) forming connections between other neurons in the central nervous system.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin internuntius (from inter- ‘between’ + nuntius ‘messenger’) + -AL.

interoceanic adj. between or connecting two oceans.

interoceptive /ntərəsεptv/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to stimuli produced within an organism, especially in the gut and other internal organs. Compare with EXTEROCEPTIVE.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from INTERIOR + RECEPTIVE.

interoceptor /ntərəsεptə/ n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a sensory receptor which receives stimuli from within the body, especially from the gut and other internal organs. Compare with EXTEROCEPTOR.

interoperable adj. (of computer systems or software) able to exchange and make use of information.

<DERIVATIVES> interoperability n. interoperate v.

interosseous /ntərsəs/ adj. situated between bones, in particular:

- [ANATOMY] of or denoting certain muscles of the hand and foot.

- of or denoting certain arteries of the forearm.

interpellate /ntəplet/ v. [with obj.] 1 (in a parliament) interrupt the order of the day by demanding an explanation from (the minister concerned).

2 [PHILOSOPHY] (of an ideology or discourse) bring into being or give identity to (an individual or category).

<DERIVATIVES> interpellation n. interpellator n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘interrupt’): from Latin interpellat- ‘interrupted (by speech)’, from the verb interpellare, from inter- ‘between’ + pellere ‘to drive’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the late 19th century;

■ sense 2 is from the works of Althusser.

interpenetrate v. mix or merge together: [no obj.] the two concepts interpenetrate in interesting ways | [with obj.] fibres of meaning interpenetrate every strand of sound.

<DERIVATIVES> interpenetration n. interpenetrative adj.

interpersonal adj. relating to relationships or communication between people: you will need good interpersonal skills.

<DERIVATIVES> interpersonally adv.

interphase n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the resting phase between successive mitotic divisions of a cell, or between the first and second divisions of meiosis.

interplanetary adj. situated or travelling between planets: interplanetary missions.

interplant v. [with obj.] plant (a crop or plant) together with another crop or plant.

- plant (land) with a mixture of crops or plants.

interplay n. [mass noun] the way in which two or more things have an effect on each other: the interplay between inheritance and learning.

interpleader n. [LAW] a suit pleaded between two parties to determine a matter of claim or right to property held by a third party.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Anglo-Norman French enterpleder, from enter- ‘between’ + pleder ‘to plead’.

Interpol /ntəpl/ an organization based in France that coordinates investigations made by the police forces of member countries into crimes with an international dimension.

<ORIGIN> originally as the telegraphic address of the International Criminal Police Commission, founded in 1923; from Inter(national) pol(ice).

interpolate /ntəpəlet/ v. [with obj.] 1 insert (something of a different nature) into something else: illustrations were interpolated in the text.

- insert (words) in a book or other text, especially in order to give a false impression as to its date.

- alter or enlarge (a text) by insertion of new material.

- [MATHEMATICS] insert (an intermediate value or term) into a series by estimating or calculating it from surrounding known values.

2 interject (a remark) in a conversation: [with direct speech] ‘I dare say,’ interpolated her employer.

<DERIVATIVES> interpolation n. interpolative adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin interpolat- ‘refurbished, altered’, from the verb interpolare, from inter- ‘between’ + -polare (related to polire ‘to polish’).

interpolator n. 1 a person who interpolates something.

2 a device which guides a tool through a smooth curve when provided with a set of points defining the curve.

interpole n. an auxiliary pole of a commutator placed between the main poles to increase its efficiency.

interpose v. 1 [with obj.] place or insert between one thing and another: she interposed herself between the newcomers.

- say (words) as an interruption: if I might interpose a personal remark here.

2 [no obj.] intervene between parties: [with infinitive] the legislature interposed to suppress these amusements.

- [with obj.] exercise or advance (a veto or objection): the memo interposes no objection to issuing a discharge.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French interposer, from Latin interponere ‘put in’ (from inter- ‘between’ + ponere ‘put’), but influenced by interpositus ‘inserted’ and Old French poser ‘to place’.

interposition n. [mass noun] the action of interposing someone or something: the interposition of members between tiers of management.

- interference or intervention.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin interpositio(n-), from the verb interponere (see INTERPOSE).

interpret v. (interprets, interpreting, interpreted) [with obj.] 1 explain the meaning of (information or actions): the evidence is difficult to interpret.

- understand (an action, mood, or way of behaving) as having a particular meaning: he would no longer interpret her silence as indifference.

- perform (a dramatic role or piece of music) in a way that conveys one's understanding of the creator's ideas.

2 [no obj.] translate orally the words of a person speaking a different language: I agreed to interpret for Jean-Claude.

<DERIVATIVES> interpretability n. interpretable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French interpreter or Latin interpretari ‘explain, translate’, from interpres, interpret- ‘agent, translator, interpreter’.

interpretation n. [mass noun] the action of explaining the meaning of something: the interpretation of data.

- [count noun] an explanation or way of explaining: this action is open to a number of interpretations.

- [count noun] a stylistic representation of a creative work or dramatic role: his unique interpretation of the Liszt études.

<DERIVATIVES> interpretational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French interpretation or Latin interpretatio(n-), from the verb interpretari (see INTERPRET).

interpretative (also interpretive) adj. relating to or providing an interpretation: activities designed to reinforce students' interpretative skills.

<DERIVATIVES> interpretatively adv.

interpreter n. 1 a person who interprets, especially one who translates speech orally.

2 [COMPUTING] a program that can analyse and execute a program line by line.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French interpreteur, from late Latin interpretator, from Latin interpretari (see INTERPRET).

interprovincial adj. existing or carried on between provinces of the same country.

■ n. (usually interprovincials) a sports tournament between the provinces of a country.

- a competitor in an interprovincial tournament.

interquartile /ntəkwtl/ adj. [STATISTICS] situated between the first and third quartiles of a distribution.

interracial adj. existing between or involving different races: interracial conflict.

<DERIVATIVES> interracially adv.

interregnum /ntərεnəm/ n. (pl. interregnums or interregna /-nə/) a period when normal government is suspended, especially between successive reigns or regimes.

- (the Interregnum) the period in English history from the execution of Charles I in 1649 to the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.

- an interval between the periods of office of two incumbents in a parish.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting temporary rule between reigns or during suspension of normal government): from Latin, from inter- ‘between’ + regnum ‘reign’.

interrelate v. relate or connect to one other: each component interrelates with all the others | [with obj.] shared values and mechanisms that interrelate peoples in all corners of the world.

<DERIVATIVES> interrelatedness n.

interrelationship n. the way in which each of two or more things is related to the other or others: the interrelationship between the comprehension and production of early vocabulary.

<DERIVATIVES> interrelation n.

interrogate v. [with obj.] 1 ask questions of (someone) closely, aggressively, or formally: he was interrogated by MI6.

2 obtain data from (a computer file, database, storage device, or terminal).

- (of an electronic device) transmit a signal to (another device, especially one on a vehicle) to obtain information about identity, condition, etc.

<DERIVATIVES> interrogator n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin interrogat- ‘questioned’, from the verb interrogare, from inter- ‘between’ + rogare ‘ask’.

interrogation n. [mass noun] the action of interrogating or the process of being interrogated: would he keep his mouth shut under interrogation? | [count noun] he had conducted hundreds of criminal interrogations.

<DERIVATIVES> interrogational adj.

interrogation point (also interrogation mark) n. another term for QUESTION MARK.

interrogative /ntərətv/ adj. having the force of a question: a hard, interrogative stare.

- [GRAMMAR] used in questions: an interrogative adverb. Contrasted with AFFIRMATIVE and NEGATIVE.

■ n. a word used in questions, such as how or what.

- a construction that has the force of a question.

<DERIVATIVES> interrogatively adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin interrogativus, from Latin interrogare (see INTERROGATE).

interrogatory /ntərət(ə)ri/ adj. conveying a question; questioning: she abandoned her interrogatory monologue.

■ n. (pl. interrogatories) [LAW] a written question which is formally put to one party in a case by another party and which must be answered.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: the noun from medieval Latin interrogatoria, plural of interrogatorium; the adjective from late Latin interrogatorius, based on Latin interrogare (see INTERROGATE).

interrupt v. [with obj.] 1 stop the continuous progress of (an activity or process): the buzzer interrupted his thoughts.

- stop (someone speaking) by saying or doing something: ‘Of course …’ Shepherd began, but his son interrupted him.

2 break the continuity of (a line or surface): the coastal plain is interrupted by chains of large lagoons.

- obstruct (something, especially a view).

<DERIVATIVES> interruptible adj. interruptive adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin interrupt- ‘broken, interrupted’, from the verb interrumpere, from inter- ‘between’ + rumpere ‘to break’.

interrupted adj. 1 [BOTANY] (of a compound leaf or other plant organ) made discontinuous by smaller interposed leaflets or intervals of bare stem.

2 [MUSIC] (of a cadence) having a penultimate dominant chord that is followed not by the expected chord of the tonic but by another, usually that of the submediant.

interrupter (also interruptor) n. a person or thing that interrupts.

- a device that automatically breaks an electric circuit if a fault develops.

interruption n. [mass noun] the action of interrupting or being interrupted: a chance to study without interruption.

- [count noun] an act, utterance, or period that interrupts someone or something: she ignored the interruption and carried on | students returning to education after an interruption in their career.

inter se /ntə se/ adv. between or among themselves: covenants entered into by all the shareholders inter se.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

intersect v. [with obj.] divide (something) by passing or lying across it: the area is intersected only by minor roads.

- [no obj.] (of two or more things) pass or lie across each other: lines of latitude and longitude intersect at right angles.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin intersect- ‘cut, intersected’, from the verb intersecare, from inter- ‘between’ + secare ‘to cut’.

intersection n. a point or line common to lines or surfaces that intersect: the intersection of a plane and a cone.

- a point at which two or more things intersect, especially a road junction: a red light at the intersection with Brompton Road.

- an act of intersecting.

<DERIVATIVES> intersectional adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin intersectio(n-), from intersecare (see INTERSECT).

intersegmental /ntəsεmεnt(ə)l/ adj. chiefly [ZOOLOGY] situated or occurring between segments.

<DERIVATIVES> intersegmentally adv.

interseptal /ntəsεpt(ə)l/ adj. [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] situated between septa or partitions.

intersession n. 1 US a short period between university terms, sometimes used by students to engage in projects outside the normal academic programme.

2 CANADIAN a short university term in which thirteen weeks of course material is covered in five or six weeks of intensive study.

intersex n. [mass noun] the abnormal condition of being intermediate between male and female; hermaphroditism.

- [count noun] an individual in this condition; a hermaphrodite.

intersexual adj. 1 existing or occurring between the sexes.

2 relating to or having the condition of being intermediate between male and female.

<DERIVATIVES> intersexuality n.

interspace n. a space between things.

■ v. [with obj.] put or occupy a space between (two or more things): the four-storey houses were interspaced with the ramshackle cottages of the workmen.

interspecific /ntəspəsfk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] existing or occurring between different species: interspecific differences.

<DERIVATIVES> interspecifically adv.

intersperse v. [with obj.] scatter among or between other things; place here and there: deep pools interspersed by shallow shingle banks.

- diversify (a thing or things) with other things at intervals: the debate was interspersed with angry exchanges.

<DERIVATIVES> interspersion n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘diversify (something) by introducing other things at intervals’): from Latin interspers- ‘scattered between’, from interspergere, from inter- ‘between’ + spargere ‘scatter’.

interspinal adj. [ANATOMY] situated between the spines or spinose protuberances of the vertebrae.

<DERIVATIVES> interspinous adj.

interstadial /ntəstedəl/ [GEOLOGY] adj. relating to a minor period of less cold climate during a glacial period. Compare with INTERGLACIAL.

■ n. an interstadial period.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from INTER- ‘between’ + stadial from Latin stadialis, from stadium ‘stage’.

interstate adj. existing or carried on between states, especially of the US: interstate travel.

- US in a different state from one referred to or understood: their interstate rivals.

■ n. (also interstate highway) one of a system of motorways running between US states.

■ adv. AUSTRALIAN from one state to another.

interstellar /ntəstεlə/ adj. occurring or situated between stars: interstellar travel.

interstice /ntəsts/ n. (usually interstices) an intervening space, especially a very small one: sunshine filtered through the interstices of the arching trees.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin interstitium, from intersistere ‘stand between’, from inter- ‘between’ + sistere ‘to stand’.

interstitial /ntəst(ə)l/ adj. of, forming, or occupying interstices: the interstitial space.

- [ECOLOGY] (of minute animals) living in the spaces between individual sand grains in the soil or aquatic sediments: interstitial fauna.

■ n. [COMPUTING] an advertisement that appears while a chosen website or page is downloading.

<DERIVATIVES> interstitially adv.

intersubjective adj. [PHILOSOPHY] existing between conscious minds; shared by more than one conscious mind.

<DERIVATIVES> intersubjectively adv. intersubjectivity n.

intertextuality /ntətεkstjalti/ n. [mass noun] the relationship between texts, especially literary ones.

<DERIVATIVES> intertextual adj. intertextually adv.

intertidal adj. [ECOLOGY] of or denoting the area of a seashore which is covered at high tide and uncovered at low tide.

intertrack adj. (of betting, especially on horse races) involving bets placed at racecourses other than the one at which the race betted on is being run.

intertribal adj. existing or occurring between different tribes: intertribal conflict.

- involving members of more than one tribe: an intertribal group.

intertrigo /ntətrə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation caused by the rubbing of one area of skin on another.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, ‘a sore place caused by rubbing’, from interterere ‘rub against each other’.

intertropical convergence zone n. a narrow zone near the equator where northern and southern air masses converge, typically producing low atmospheric pressure.

intertwine v. twist or twine together: [with obj.] a net made of cotton intertwined with other natural fibres | [no obj.] the coils intertwine with one another like strands of spaghetti.

- [with obj.] FIGURATIVE connect or link (two or more things) closely: as with most traditions, fact and fiction have become inextricably intertwined.

<DERIVATIVES> intertwinement n.

intertwist v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. intertwisted) twisted together: intertwisted trees.

interval n. 1 an intervening time: after his departure, there was an interval of many years without any meetings | the day should be dry with sunny intervals.

2 a pause or break in activity: an interval of mourning.

- BRITISH a period of time separating parts of a theatrical or musical performance.

- a break between the parts of a sports match.

3 a space between two things; a gap.

4 the difference in pitch between two sounds.

<PHRASES>

□ at intervals 1 with time between; not continuously: the light flashed at intervals.

2 with spaces between: the path is marked with rocks at intervals.

<DERIVATIVES> intervallic adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French entrevalle, based on Latin intervallum ‘space between ramparts, interval’, from inter- ‘between’ + vallum ‘rampart’.

interval estimate n. [STATISTICS] an interval within which the value of a parameter of a population has a stated probability of occurring. Compare with POINT ESTIMATE.

intervalometer /ntəvəlmtə/ n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] an attachment or facility on a camera that operates the shutter regularly at set intervals over a period. On a cine camera the device is used for time-lapse photography.

interval training n. [mass noun] training in which a runner alternates between running and jogging over set distances.

intervene v. [no obj.] 1 take part in something so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events: he acted outside his authority when he intervened in the dispute | [with infinitive] their forces intervened to halt the attack.

- (of an event or circumstance) occur as a delay or obstacle to something being done: Christmas intervened and the investigation was suspended.

- interrupt verbally: [with direct speech] ‘It's true!’ he intervened.

- [LAW] become involved in a lawsuit as a third party.

2 (usually as adj. intervening) occur in the time between events: to occupy the intervening months she took a job in a hospital.

- be situated between things: they heard the sound of distant gunfire, muffled by the intervening trees.

<DERIVATIVES> intervener n. intervenient adj. intervenor n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘come in as an extraneous factor or thing’): from Latin intervenire, from inter- ‘between’ + venire ‘come’.

intervention n. [mass noun] the action or process of intervening: a high degree of state intervention in the economy | [count noun] repeated interventions by central banks.

- interference by a state in another's affairs: the government was reported to be considering military intervention.

- action taken to improve a medical disorder: two patients were referred for surgical intervention.

<DERIVATIVES> interventional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin interventio(n-), from the verb intervenire (see INTERVENE).

interventionist adj. favouring intervention, especially by a government in its domestic economy or by one state in the affairs of another.

■ n. a person who favours intervention of this kind.

<DERIVATIVES> interventionism n.

intervertebral /ntəvətbr(ə)l/ adj. situated between vertebrae: intervertebral joints.

interview n. a meeting of people face to face, especially for consultation.

- a conversation between a journalist or radio or television presenter and a person of public interest, used as the basis of a broadcast or publication: a half-hour interview with the prime minister.

- an oral examination of an applicant for a job, college place, etc.: I am pleased to advise you that you have been selected for interview.

- a session of formal questioning of a person by the police.

■ v. [with obj.] hold an interview with (someone): she was interviewed by a reporter from the Daily News | police are keen to interview two men seen nearby.

- [no obj., with adverbial] perform (well or badly) at an interview.

<DERIVATIVES> interviewee n. interviewer n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (formerly also as enterview): from French entrevue, from s'entrevoir ‘see each other’, from voir ‘to see’, on the pattern of vue ‘a view’.

inter vivos /ntə vivəs/ adv. & adj. (especially of a gift as opposed to a legacy) between living people.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

intervocalic /ntəvə()kalk/ adj. [PHONETICS] occurring between vowels.

<DERIVATIVES> intervocalically adv.

interwar adj. existing in the period between two wars, especially the two world wars (i.e. between 1918 and 1939).

interweave v. (past interwove; past participle interwoven) weave or become woven together.

- [with obj.] FIGURATIVE blend closely: Wordsworth's political ideas are often interwoven with his philosophical and religious beliefs.

interwind /ntəwnd/ v. (past and past participle interwound) [with obj.] (usually as adj. interwound) wind together: a transformer consists of two interwound coils.

interwork v. [no obj.] [COMPUTING] (of items of hardware or software) be able to connect, communicate, or exchange data.

intestate /ntεstet/ adj. not having made a will before one dies: he died intestate.

■ n. a person who has died without having made a will.

<DERIVATIVES> intestacy /-təsi/ n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin intestatus, from in- ‘not’ + testatus ‘testified, witness’ (see TESTATE).

intestinal /ntεstn(ə)l ntεstn(ə)l/ adj. relating to or affecting the intestine: the intestinal tract.

<DERIVATIVES> intestinally adv.

intestinal flora plural n. [usually treated as sing.] the symbiotic bacteria occurring naturally in the gut.

intestine (also intestines) n. (in vertebrates) the lower part of the alimentary canal from the end of the stomach to the anus. See also LARGE INTESTINE, SMALL INTESTINE.

- (especially in invertebrates) the whole alimentary canal from the mouth downward.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin intestinum, neuter of intestinus, from intus ‘within’.

intichiuma /nttumə/ plural n. sacred ceremonies performed by some Central Australian Aborigines with the purpose of increasing the number of totemic plants or animals and thus ensuring a good food supply.

<ORIGIN> Arrernte.

intifada /ntfαdə/ n. the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The first intifada lasted from 1987 to 1993, and the second began in 2000.

<ORIGIN> Arabic intifāa ‘an uprising’ (literally ‘a jumping up as a reaction to something’), from intifaa ‘be shaken, shake oneself’.

intima /ntmə/ n. (pl. intimae /-mi/) [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] the innermost coating or membrane of a part or organ, especially of a vein or artery.

<DERIVATIVES> intimal adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: shortening of modern Latin tunica intima ‘innermost sheath’.

intimacy n. (pl. intimacies) [mass noun] close familiarity or friendship: the intimacy between a husband and wife.

- a cosy and private or relaxed atmosphere: the room had a peaceful sense of intimacy about it.

- EUPHEMISTIC sexual intercourse.

- [count noun] an intimate remark: here she was sitting swapping intimacies with a stranger.

- [in sing.] closeness of observation or knowledge of a subject: he acquired an intimacy with Swahili literature.

intimate^1 /ntmət/ adj. 1 closely acquainted; familiar: intimate friends | they are on intimate terms.

- (of a place or setting) having a cosy and private or relaxed atmosphere: an intimate little Italian restaurant.

- involving very close connection: their intimate involvement with their community.

- (of knowledge) detailed or thorough: an intimate knowledge of the software.

2 private and personal: going into intimate details of his sexual encounters.

- [predic.] EUPHEMISTIC having a sexual relationship: he was sickened by the thought of others having been intimate with her.

■ n. a very close friend: his circle of intimates.

<DERIVATIVES> intimately adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun): from late Latin intimatus, past participle of Latin intimare ‘impress, make familiar’, from intimus ‘inmost’.

intimate^2 /ntmet/ v. [with obj.] state or make known: Mr Hutchison has intimated his decision to retire.

- [with clause] imply or hint: he had already intimated that he might not be able to continue.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: (earlier (late Middle English) as intimation) from late Latin intimat- ‘made known’, from the verb intimare (see intimate^1).

intimation n. an indication or hint: the first intimations of trouble | no one gave any intimation that there had been any problems.

- [mass noun] the action of making something known, especially in an indirect way. it took ten years from the intimation of a claim to the assessment of damages.

intimidate v. frighten or overawe (someone), especially in order to make them do what one wants: the forts are designed to intimidate the nationalist population | (as adj. intimidating) the intimidating defence barrister.

<DERIVATIVES> intimidatingly adv. intimidator n. intimidatory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin intimidat- ‘made timid’, from the verb intimidare (based on timidus ‘timid’).

intimidation n. [mass noun] the action of intimidating someone, or the state of being intimidated: the intimidation of witnesses and jurors. | allegations of police intimidation.

intimism /ntmz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a style of painting showing intimate views of domestic interiors using Impressionist techniques, used by artists such as Bonnard in the early 20th century.

<DERIVATIVES> intimist adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from French intimisme, from Latin intimus ‘innermost’.

intinction /nt(k)(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the action of dipping the bread in the wine at a Eucharist so that a communicant receives both together.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin intinctio(n-), from Latin intingere, from in- ‘into’ + tingere ‘dip’. The word originally denoted the general action of dipping, especially into something coloured; compare with TINGE. The current sense dates from the late 19th cent.

intitule /nttjul/ v. [with obj.] BRITISH give a specified title to (an Act of Parliament).

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (formerly also as entitule): from Old French entituler, intituler (see ENTITLE).

into prep. 1 expressing movement or action with the result that someone or something becomes enclosed or surrounded by something else: cover the bowl and put it into the fridge | Sara got into her car and shut the door.

2 expressing movement or action with the result that someone or something makes physical contact with something else: he crashed into a parked car.

3 indicating a route by which someone or something may arrive at a particular destination: the narrow road which led down into the village.

4 indicating the direction towards which someone or something is turned when confronting something else: with the wind blowing into your face | sobbing into her skirt.

5 indicating an object of attention or interest: a clearer insight into what is involved | an inquiry into the squad's practices.

6 expressing a change of state: a peaceful protest which turned into a violent confrontation | the fruit can be made into jam.

7 expressing the result of an action: they forced the club into a humiliating special general meeting.

8 expressing division: three into twelve goes four.

9 INFORMAL (of a person) taking a lively and active interest in (something): he's into surfing and jet-skiing.

<ORIGIN> Old English intō (see IN, to).

intolerable adj. unable to be endured: the intolerable pressures of his work.

<DERIVATIVES> intolerably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin intolerabilis, from in- ‘not’ + tolerabilis (see TOLERABLE).

intolerance n. [mass noun] unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behaviour that differ from one's own: a struggle against religious intolerance. | an intolerance of dissent.

- an inability to eat a food or take a drug without adverse effects: young children with lactose intolerance. [count noun] he may have a food intolerance to dairy products.

intolerant adj. not tolerant of views, beliefs, or behaviour that differ from one's own: as a society we are more intolerant of certain types of violence than we were in the past.

- unable to be given (a medicine or other treatment) or to eat (a food) without adverse effects.

- (of a plant or animal) unable to survive exposure to (a particular physical influence).

<DERIVATIVES> intolerantly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin intolerant-, from in- ‘not’ + tolerant- ‘enduring’ (see TOLERANT).

intonation n. [mass noun] 1 the rise and fall of the voice in speaking: she spoke English with a German intonation.

- the action of intoning or reciting in a singing voice.

2 accuracy of pitch in playing or singing: poor woodwind intonation at the opening.

3 the opening phrase of a plainsong melody.

<DERIVATIVES> intonate v. intonational adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 3): from medieval Latin intonatio(n-), from intonare (see INTONE).

intone /ntən/ v. [with obj.] say or recite with little rise and fall of the pitch of the voice: he intoned a short Latin prayer | [with direct speech] ‘All rise,’ intoned the usher.

<DERIVATIVES> intoner n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (originally as entone): from Old French entoner or medieval Latin intonare, from in- ‘into’ + Latin tonus ‘tone’.

in toto /n tətə/ adv. as a whole: such proposals should be subjected to specific criticism rather than rejected in toto.

- in all; overall: there was, in toto, an increase in legal regulation and public surveillance.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

intoxicant n. an intoxicating substance.

intoxicate v. 1 [with obj.] (usually as adj. intoxicated) (of alcoholic drink or a drug) cause (someone) to lose control of their faculties or behaviour.

- excite or exhilarate (someone): he became intoxicated with his own power.

2 ARCHAIC poison (someone).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘poison’): from medieval Latin intoxicare, from in- ‘into’ + toxicare ‘to poison’, from Latin toxicum (see TOXIC).

intoxicating adj. (of alcoholic drink or a drug) liable to cause intoxication.

- exhilarating or exciting: an intoxicating sense of freedom.

<DERIVATIVES> intoxicatingly adv.

intoxication n. [mass noun] the state of being intoxicated, especially by alcohol: signs of intoxication. | the intoxication of fame.

intoximeter /ntksmitə/ n. a non-portable instrument for measuring the alcohol content of a person's breath, especially in cases of suspected drunken driving, usually sited at a police station.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from intoxication (see INTOXICATE) + -METER.

intra- /ntrə/ prefix (added to adjectives) on the inside; within: intramural | intrauterine.

<ORIGIN> from Latin intra ‘inside’.

intracellular adj. [BIOLOGY] located or occurring within a cell or cells: intracellular calcium.

<DERIVATIVES> intracellularly adv.

intracranial adj. within the skull: intracranial haemorrhage.

<DERIVATIVES> intracranially adv.

intractable /ntraktəb(ə)l/ adj. hard to control or deal with: intractable economic problems.

- (of a person) difficult or stubborn.

<DERIVATIVES> intractability n. intractableness n. intractably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin intractabilis, from in- ‘not’ + tractabilis (see TRACTABLE).

intraday adj. [STOCK EXCHANGE], NORTH AMERICAN occurring within one day: the dollar slipped from an intraday high of 104.

intradermal /ntrədəm(ə)l/ adj. situated or applied within the layers of the skin.

<DERIVATIVES> intradermally adv.

intrados /ntreds/ n. [ARCHITECTURE] the lower or inner curve of an arch. Often contrasted with EXTRADOS.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French, from intra- ‘on the inside’ + dos ‘the back’ (from Latin dorsum).

intramolecular adj. existing or taking place within a molecule.

<DERIVATIVES> intramolecularly adv.

intramural /ntrəmjər(ə)l/ adj. 1 situated or done within the walls of a building: both intramural and churchyard graves.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN taking place within a single educational institution: recreational intramural games.

- forming part of normal university or college studies.

- situated or done within a community: an intramural social symbol within the tribe.

3 MEDICINE & [BIOLOGY] situated within the wall of a hollow organ or a cell: an intramural haematoma.

<DERIVATIVES> intramurally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from INTRA- ‘within’ + Latin murus ‘wall’ + -AL.

intramuscular adj. situated or taking place within, or administered into, a muscle: an intramuscular injection.

<DERIVATIVES> intramuscularly adv.

intranet /ntrənεt/ n. [COMPUTING] a local or restricted communications network, especially a private network created using World Wide Web software.

intransigent /ntransd(ə)nt -trα- -nz-/ adj. unwilling or refusing to change one's views or to agree about something.

■ n. an intransigent person.

<DERIVATIVES> intransigence n. intransigency n. intransigently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French intransigeant, from Spanish los intransigentes (a name adopted by the extreme republicans in the Cortes, 1873–4); based on Latin in- ‘not’ + transigere ‘come to an understanding’.

intransitive /ntranstv -trα- -nz-/ adj. (of a verb or a sense or use of a verb) not taking a direct object, e.g. look in look at the sky. The opposite of TRANSITIVE.

<DERIVATIVES> intransitively adv. intransitivity n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin intransitivus ‘not passing over’, from in- ‘not’ + transitivus (see TRANSITIVE).

intrapersonal adj. taking place or existing within the mind.

intrapreneur /ntrəprənə/ n. a manager within a company who promotes innovative product development and marketing.

<ORIGIN> 1970s (originally US): from INTRA- ‘within’ + a shortened form of ENTREPRENEUR.

intraspecific adj. [BIOLOGY] produced, occurring, or existing within a species or between individuals of a single species: intraspecific competition.

intrathecal /ntrəθik(ə)l/ adj. MEDICINE occurring within or administered into the spinal theca: intrathecal injection.

<DERIVATIVES> intrathecally adv.

intrauterine /ntrəjutərn -rn/ adj. within the uterus.

intrauterine device (abbr.: IUD) n. a contraceptive device fitted inside the uterus and physically preventing the implantation of fertilized ova.

intravascular /ntrəvaskjlə/ adj. MEDICINE & [BIOLOGY] situated or occurring within a vessel or vessels of an animal or plant, especially within a blood vessel or blood vascular system.

<DERIVATIVES> intravascularly adv.

intravenous /ntrəvinəs/ (abbr.: IV) adj. existing or taking place within, or administered into, a vein or veins: an intravenous drip.

<DERIVATIVES> intravenously adv.

in tray n. chiefly BRITISH a tray on someone's desk for letters and documents that have to be dealt with.

intrazonal adj. [GEOLOGY] (of a soil) having a well-developed structure different from that expected for its climatic and vegetational zone owing to the overriding influence of relief, parent material, or some other local factor.

intrepid adj. fearless; adventurous (often used for rhetorical or humorous effect): our intrepid reporter.

<DERIVATIVES> intrepidity n. intrepidly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French intrépide or Latin intrepidus, from in- ‘not’ + trepidus ‘alarmed’.

intricacy /ntrkəsi/ n. (pl. intricacies) [mass noun] the quality of being intricate: the intricacy of the procedure.

- (intricacies) details, especially of an involved or perplexing subject: the intricacies of economic policy-making.

intricate adj. very complicated or detailed: an intricate network of canals.

<DERIVATIVES> intricately adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin intricat- ‘entangled’, from the verb intricare, from in- ‘into’ + tricae ‘tricks, perplexities’.

intrigant /ntr(ə)nt/ n. a person who makes secret plans to do something illicit or detrimental to someone else.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: variant of French intriguant, from intriguer ‘to intrigue’.

intrigue v. /ntri/ (intrigues, intriguing, intrigued) 1 [with obj.] arouse the curiosity or interest of; fascinate: I was intrigued by your question.

2 [no obj.] make secret plans to do something illicit or detrimental to someone: Henry and Louis intrigued with the local nobles.

■ n. /ntri n-/ [mass noun] 1 the secret planning of something illicit or detrimental: the cabinet was a nest of intrigue.

- [count noun] a secret love affair.

2 a mysterious or fascinating quality: within the region's borders is a wealth of interest and intrigue.

<DERIVATIVES> intriguer n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘deceive, cheat’): from French intrigue ‘plot’, intriguer ‘to tangle, to plot’, via Italian from Latin intricare (see INTRICATE).

■ Sense 1 of the verb, which was influenced by a later French sense ‘to puzzle, make curious’, arose in the late 19th cent.

intriguing adj. arousing one's curiosity or interest; fascinating: an intriguing story. | it's an intriguing possibility. | the food is an intriguing combination of German and French.

<DERIVATIVES> intriguingly adv. [sentence adv.] intriguingly, he agreed on one condition

intrinsic /ntrnsk/ adj. belonging naturally; essential: access to the arts is intrinsic to a high quality of life.

<DERIVATIVES> intrinsically adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the general sense ‘interior, inner’): from French intrinsèque, from late Latin intrinsecus, from the earlier adverb intrinsecus ‘inwardly, inwards’.

intrinsic factor n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance secreted by the stomach which enables the body to absorb vitamin B_12. It is a glycoprotein.

intro n. (pl. intros) INFORMAL an introduction.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: abbreviation.

intro- prefix into; inwards: introgression | introvert.

<ORIGIN> from Latin intro ‘to the inside’.

introduce v. [with obj.] 1 bring (something, especially a product, measure, or concept) into use or operation for the first time: various new taxes were introduced | [with obj. and infinitive] measures were introduced to help families with children.

- bring (a plant, animal, or disease) to a place for the first time: horses and sheep introduced to the island did not survive.

- (introduce something to) bring a subject to the attention of (someone) for the first time: the programme is a bid to introduce opera to the masses.

- present (a new piece of legislation) for debate in a legislative assembly: bills can be introduced in either House of Parliament.

2 make (someone) known by name to another in person, especially formally: I must introduce you to my wife | he introduced himself as Detective Sergeant Fraser.

3 insert or bring into something: a device which introduces chlorine into the pool automatically.

4 occur at the start of; open: a longer, more lyrical opening which introduces a courting song.

- (of a person) provide an opening explanation or announcement for (a television or radio programme, book, etc.).

<DERIVATIVES> introducer n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘bring (a person) into a place or group’): from Latin introducere, from intro- ‘to the inside’ + ducere ‘to lead’.

introduction n. 1 [mass noun] the action of introducing something: issues arising from the introduction of new technology | the introduction of muskrats into central Europe.

- [count noun] a thing newly brought into use or introduced to a place for the first time: despite the new introductions, many of the older species remain firm favourites.

2 a formal presentation of one person to another, in which each is told the other's name: he returned to his desk, leaving Michael to make the introductions | [mass noun] a letter of introduction.

3 a thing preliminary to something else, especially an explanatory section at the beginning of a book, report, or speech.

- a preliminary section in a piece of music, often thematically different from the main section.

- a book or course of study intended to introduce a subject to a person: a good general introduction to the subject is A Social History of England.

- [in sing.] a person's first experience of a subject or thing: my introduction to drama was through an amateur dramatic society.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin introductio(n-), from the verb introducere (see INTRODUCE).

introductory adj. serving as an introduction to a subject or topic; basic or preliminary: a two-day introductory course.

- intended to persuade someone to purchase something for the first time: we are making a special introductory offer of a reduced subscription.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun denoting an introductory text): from late Latin introductorius, from Latin introducere (see INTRODUCE).

introgression /ntrə()rε(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] the transfer of genetic information from one species to another as a result of hybridization between them and repeated backcrossing.

<DERIVATIVES> introgressive adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin introgredi ‘step in’, from intro- ‘to the inside’ + gradi ‘proceed, walk’, on the pattern of egression, ingression.

introit /ntrt ntrət/ n. a psalm or antiphon sung or said while the priest approaches the altar for the Eucharist.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an entrance or the action of going in): via Old French from Latin introitus, from introire ‘enter’, from intro- ‘to the inside’ + ire ‘go’.

introjection /ntrə()dεk(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] the unconscious adoption of the ideas or attitudes of others.

<DERIVATIVES> introject v.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from INTRO- ‘into’, on the pattern of projection.

intromission n. the action or process of inserting the penis into the vagina in sexual intercourse.

intromittent organ /ntrə()mt(ə)nt/ n. [ZOOLOGY] the male copulatory organ of an animal.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: intromittent from Latin intromittent- ‘introducing’, from the verb intromittere, from intro- ‘to the inside’ + mittere ‘send’.

intron /ntrn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a segment of a DNA or RNA molecule which does not code for proteins and interrupts the sequence of genes. Compare with exon^1.

<DERIVATIVES> intronic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from INTRA- ‘within’ + -ON.

introrse /ntrs/ adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] turned inwards. The opposite of EXTRORSE.

- (of anthers) releasing their pollen towards the centre of the flower.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin introrsus, from introversus ‘turned inwards’.

introspect /ntrə()spεkt/ v. [no obj.] examine one's own thoughts or feelings: what they don't do is introspect much about the reasons for their plight.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin introspect- ‘looked into’, from the verb introspicere, or from introspectare ‘keep looking into’.

introspection n. [mass noun] the examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional processes: quiet introspection can be extremely valuable.

introspective adj. characterized by or given to introspection: he grew withdrawn and introspective.

<DERIVATIVES> introspectively adv. introspectiveness n.

introvert n. a shy, reticent person.

- [PSYCHOLOGY] a person predominantly concerned with their own thoughts and feelings rather than with external things. Compare with EXTROVERT.

■ adj. another term for INTROVERTED.

<DERIVATIVES> introversion n. introversive /-vəsv/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a verb in the general sense ‘turn one's thoughts inwards (in spiritual contemplation)’): from modern Latin introvertere, from intro- ‘to the inside’ + vertere ‘to turn’. Its use as a term in psychology dates from the early 20th cent.

introverted adj. 1 of, denoting, or typical of an introvert.

- (of a community, company, or other group) concerned principally with its own affairs; inward-looking or parochial.

2 [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] (of an organ or other body part) turned or pushed inward on itself.

intrude v. 1 [no obj.] put oneself deliberately into a place or situation where one is unwelcome or uninvited: he had no right to intrude into their lives | she felt awkward at intruding on private grief.

- enter with disruptive or adverse effect: the noise began to intrude into her thoughts.

- [with obj.] introduce (something) into a situation with disruptive or adverse effect: to intrude political criteria into military decisions risks reducing efficiency.

2 [with obj.] [GEOLOGY] (of igneous rock) be forced or thrust into (an existing formation): the granite may have intruded these rock layers.

- force or thrust (igneous rock) into an existing formation.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘usurp an office or right’; originally as entrude): from Latin intrudere, from in- ‘into’ + trudere ‘to thrust’.

intruder n. a person who intrudes, especially into a building with criminal intent.

intrusion n. [mass noun] 1 the action of intruding: he was furious about this intrusion into his private life | [count noun] unacceptable intrusions of privacy.

- [count noun] a thing that intrudes: villagers say the noise is an intrusion on their lives.

2 [GEOLOGY] the action or process of forcing a body of igneous rock between or through existing formations, without reaching the surface.

- [count noun] a body of igneous rock which has intruded the surrounding strata.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘invasion, usurpation’): from medieval Latin intrusio(n-), from Latin intrudere ‘thrust in’ (see INTRUDE).

intrusive adj. 1 causing disruption or annoyance through being unwelcome or uninvited: that was an intrusive question | tourist attractions that are environmentally intrusive.

2 [PHONETICS] (of a sound) pronounced between words or syllables to facilitate pronunciation, such as an r in saw a film.

3 [GEOLOGY] relating to or formed by intrusion.

<DERIVATIVES> intrusively adv. intrusiveness n.

intrust v. archaic spelling of ENTRUST.

intubate /ntjbet/ v. [with obj.] MEDICINE insert a tube into (a person or a body part, especially the trachea for ventilation).

<DERIVATIVES> intubation n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from IN-2 ‘into’ + Latin tuba ‘tube’ + -ATE^3.

intuit /ntjut/ v. [with obj.] understand or work out by instinct: I intuited his real identity.

<DERIVATIVES> intuitable adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the sense ‘instruct, teach’): from Latin intuit- ‘contemplated’, from the verb intueri, from in- ‘upon’ + tueri ‘to look’.

intuition n. [mass noun] the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning: we shall allow our intuition to guide us.

- [count noun] a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning: your insights and intuitions as a native speaker are positively sought.

<DERIVATIVES> intuitional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting spiritual insight or immediate spiritual communication): from late Latin intuitio(n-), from Latin intueri ‘consider’ (see INTUIT).

intuitionism (also intuitionalism) n. [mass noun] [PHILOSOPHY] the theory that primary truths and principles (especially those of ethics and metaphysics) are known directly by intuition.

- the theory that mathematical knowledge is based on intuition and mental construction, rejecting certain modes of reasoning and the notion of independent mathematical objects.

<DERIVATIVES> intuitionist n. & adj.

intuitive adj. using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning; instinctive: his intuitive understanding of the readers' real needs.

- (chiefly of computer software) easy to use and understand.

<DERIVATIVES> intuitively adv. intuitiveness n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (originally used of sight, in the sense ‘accurate, unerring’): from medieval Latin intuitivus, from Latin intueri (see INTUIT).

intumesce /ntjmεs/ v. [no obj.] RARE swell up.

<DERIVATIVES> intumescence n.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin intumescere, from in- ‘into’ + tumescere ‘begin to swell’ (from tumere ‘swell’).

intumescent adj. (of a coating or sealant) swelling up when heated, thus protecting the material underneath or sealing a gap in the event of a fire.

intussusception /ntəsəsεp(ə)n/ n. 1 MEDICINE an instance of the inversion of one portion of the intestine within another.

2 [mass noun] [BOTANY] the growth of a cell wall by the deposition of cellulose.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘absorption’): from modern Latin intussusceptio(n-), from Latin intus ‘within’ + susceptio(n-) (from suscipere ‘take up’).

intwine v. archaic spelling of ENTWINE.

Inuit /njt nt/ n. 1 [as plural n.] the members of an indigenous people of northern Canada and parts of Greenland and Alaska.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Inuit, one of the three branches of the Eskimo-Aleut language family, with about 60,000 speakers. It is also known as Inupiaq or (especially to its speakers) as Inuktitut.

■ adj. relating to the Inuit or their language.

<ORIGIN> Inuit, plural of inuk ‘person’.

<USAGE> The peoples inhabiting the regions from the central Canadian Arctic to western Greenland prefer to be called Inuit rather than Eskimo, and this term now has official status in Canada. By analogy, the term Inuit is also used, usually in an attempt to be politically correct, as a synonym for Eskimo in general. However, this latter use, in including people from Siberia who are not Inupiaq-speakers, is, strictly speaking, not accurate. See also usage at Eskimo.

Inuk /nk/ n. (pl. Inuit) a member of the Inuit people.

<ORIGIN> Inuit, literally ‘person’.

Inuktitut /nkttt/ (also Inuktituk /-tk/) n. [mass noun] the Inuit language.

<ORIGIN> Inuit, literally ‘the Inuk way’, used as the title of a periodical.

inulin /njln/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a complex of sugar present in the roots of various plants and used medically to test kidney function. It is a polysaccharide based on fructose.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin inula (identified by medieval herbalists with elecampane) + -IN^1.

inunction /n(k)(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] chiefly MEDICINE the rubbing of ointment or oil into the skin.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Latin inunctio(n-), from inunguere ‘smear on’.

inundate /nndet/ v. [with obj.] 1 overwhelm (someone) with things or people to be dealt with: we've been inundated with complaints from listeners.

2 flood: the islands may be the first to be inundated as sea levels rise.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: (earlier (late Middle English) as inundation) from Latin inundat- ‘flooded’, from the verb inundare, from in- ‘into, upon’ + undare ‘to flow’ (from unda ‘a wave’).

inundation n. 1 an overwhelming abundance of people or things: an inundation of rugby fans.

2 flooding: the annual inundation of the Nile | [mass noun] areas were at risk of inundation.

Inupiaq /nupak/ (also Inupiat /-pat/, Inupik /-pk/) n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a group of Inuit people inhabiting northern Alaska.

2 [mass noun] the Inuit language.

■ adj. relating to the Inupiaq or their language.

<ORIGIN> Inuit, from inuk ‘person’ + piaq ‘genuine’.

inure /njə nj/ v. [with obj.] 1 (usually be inured to) accustom (someone) to something, especially something unpleasant: these children have been inured to violence.

2 [LAW] variant spelling of enure (sense 1).

<DERIVATIVES> inurement n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English inure, enure, from an Anglo-Norman French phrase meaning ‘in use or practice’, from en ‘in’ + Old French euvre ‘work’ (from Latin opera).

inurn (also enurn) v. [with obj.] place or bury (something, especially ashes after cremation) in an urn.

in utero /n jutərə/ adv. & adj. in a woman's uterus; before birth: [as adv.] this damage may occur in utero | [as adj.] the in utero development of the gastrointestinal tract.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

inutile /njutl/ adj. FORMAL useless; pointless.

<DERIVATIVES> inutility n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin inutilis, from in- ‘not’ + utilis ‘useful’.

in vacuo /n vakjə/ adv. in a vacuum.

- away from or without the normal context or environment: instead of dealing with individual aspects of lifestyle in vacuo, social factors are taken in account.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

invade v. [with obj.] (of an armed force) enter (a country or region) so as to subjugate or occupy it: during the Second World War the island was invaded by the Axis powers.

- enter (a place, situation, or sphere of activity) in large numbers, especially with intrusive effect: demonstrators invaded the Presidential Palace.

- (of a parasite or disease) spread into (an organism or bodily part).

- encroach or intrude on: he felt his privacy was being invaded.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘attack or assault (a person)’): from Latin invadere, from in- ‘into’ + vadere ‘go’.

invader n. a person or group that invades a country, region, or other place: it is a country that has repelled all invaders. | the arrival of Spanish invaders.

invaginate /nvadnet/ v. (be invaginated) chiefly [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] be turned inside out or folded back on itself to form a cavity or pouch.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: back-formation from INVAGINATION.

invagination n. [mass noun] chiefly [ANATOMY] & [BIOLOGY] the action or process of being turned inside out or folded back on itself to form a cavity or pouch.

- [count noun] a cavity or pouch so formed.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from modern Latin invaginatio(n-), based on in-2 ‘into’ + Latin vagina ‘sheath’.

invalid^1 /nvəld/ n. a person made weak or disabled by illness or injury.

■ v. (invalids, invaliding, invalided) [with obj.] remove (someone) from active service in the armed forces because of injury or illness: he was badly wounded and invalided out of the infantry.

- disable (someone) by injury or illness: an officer invalided by a chest wound.

<DERIVATIVES> invalidism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘infirm or disabled’): a special sense of invalid^2, with a change of pronunciation.

invalid^2 /nvald/ adj. not valid, in particular:

- (especially of an official document or procedure) not legally recognized because it contravenes a regulation or law: the vote was declared invalid due to a technicality.

- (especially of an argument, statement, or theory) not true because based on erroneous information or unsound reasoning: a comparison is invalid if we are not comparing like with like.

- (of computer instructions, data, etc.) not conforming to the correct format or specifications.

<DERIVATIVES> invalidly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (earlier than valid): from Latin invalidus, from in- ‘not’ + validus ‘strong’ (see VALID).

invalidate v. [with obj.] 1 make or prove (an argument, statement, or theory) unsound or erroneous.

2 deprive (an official document or procedure) of legal validity because it contravenes a regulation or law: a technical flaw in her papers invalidated her nomination.

<DERIVATIVES> invalidation n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin invalidat- ‘annulled’, from the verb invalidare (based on Latin validus ‘strong’).

invalidity n. [mass noun] 1 BRITISH the condition of being an invalid.

2 the fact of not being valid.

invaluable adj. extremely useful; indispensable: an invaluable source of information.

<DERIVATIVES> invaluably adv.

Invar /nvα/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an alloy of iron and nickel with a negligible coefficient of expansion, used in the making of clocks and scientific instruments.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of INVARIABLE.

invariable adj. never changing: his routine was invariable.

- [GRAMMAR] (of a noun in an inflected language) having the same form in both the singular and the plural, as does relais in French.

- [MATHEMATICS] (of a quantity) constant.

<DERIVATIVES> invariability n. invariableness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from late Latin invariabilis, from in- ‘not’ + variabilis (see VARIABLE).

invariably adv. in every case or on every occasion; always: ranch meals are invariably big and hearty.

invariant adj. never changing: the pattern of cell divisions was found to be invariant.

■ n. [MATHEMATICS] a function, quantity, or property which remains unchanged when a specified transformation is applied.

<DERIVATIVES> invariance n.

invasion n. an instance of invading a country or region with an armed force: Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812 | [mass noun] in 1546 England had to be defended from invasion.

- an incursion by a large number of people or things into a place or sphere of activity: there was a brief pitch invasion when Sunderland scored.

- an unwelcome intrusion into another's domain: random drug testing of employees is an unwarranted invasion of privacy.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin invasio(n-), from the verb invadere (see INVADE).

invasive adj. tending to spread very quickly and undesirably or harmfully: patients suffering from invasive cancer.

- tending to intrude on a person's thoughts or privacy: the sound of the piano was invasive.

- (of medical procedures) involving the introduction of instruments or other objects into the body or body cavities: minimally invasive surgery.

<DERIVATIVES> invasively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from obsolete French invasif, -ive or medieval Latin invasivus, from Latin invadere (see INVADE).

invected adj. [usually postpositive] [HERALDRY] having convex semicircular projections along the edge. Compare with ENGRAILED.

invective n. [mass noun] insulting, abusive, or highly critical language: he let out a stream of invective.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as an adjective meaning ‘reviling, abusive’): from Old French invectif, -ive, from late Latin invectivus ‘attacking’, from invehere (see INVEIGH). The noun is from late Latin invectiva (oratio) ‘abusive or censorious (language)’.

inveigh /nve/ v. [no obj.] (inveigh against) speak or write about (something) with great hostility: he liked to inveigh against all forms of academic training.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘carry in, introduce’; formerly also as enveigh): from Latin invehere ‘carry in’, invehi ‘be carried into, assail’, from in- ‘into’ + vehere ‘carry’.

inveigle /nvi(ə)l nve(ə)l/ v. [with obj. and adverbial] persuade (someone) to do something by means of deception or flattery: he inveigled her back to his room.

- (inveigle oneself or one's way into) gain entrance to (a place) by using such methods: Jones had inveigled himself into her house.

<DERIVATIVES> inveiglement n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘beguile, deceive’; formerly also as enveigle): from Anglo-Norman French envegler, alteration of Old French aveugler ‘to blind’, from aveugle ‘blind’.

invent v. [with obj.] create or design (something that has not existed before); be the originator of: he invented an improved form of the steam engine.

- make up (an idea, name, story, etc.), especially so as to deceive someone: I did not have to invent any tales about my past.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘find out, discover’): from Latin invent- ‘contrived, discovered’, from the verb invenire, from in- ‘into’ + venire ‘come’.

invention n. [mass noun] the action of inventing something, typically a process or device: the invention of printing in the 15th century.

- [count noun] something, typically a process or device, that has been invented: medieval inventions included spectacles for reading and the spinning wheel.

- creative ability: his powers of invention were rather limited.

- [count noun] something fabricated or made up: you know my story is an invention.

- used as a title for a short piece of music: Bach's two-part Inventions.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘finding out, discovery’): from Latin inventio(n-), from invenire ‘discover’ (see INVENT).

Invention of the Cross n. a festival, held on 3 May (Holy Rood Day), commemorating the reputed finding of the Cross of Christ by Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, in AD 326.

inventive adj. having the ability to create or design new things or to think originally: the most inventive composer of his time.

- showing creativity or original thought: a courageous and inventive piece of film-making.

<DERIVATIVES> inventively adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French inventif, -ive or medieval Latin inventivus, from Latin invenire ‘discover’ (see INVENT).

inventiveness n. [mass noun] the quality of being inventive; creativity: the inventiveness of the staging. | his comic inventiveness.

inventor n. a person who invented a particular process or device or who invents things as an occupation.

inventory /nv(ə)nt(ə)ri/ n. (pl. inventories) a complete list of items such as property, goods in stock, or the contents of a building.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a quantity of merchandise or goods held in stock.

- (in accounting) the entire stock of a business, including materials, components, work in progress, and finished product.

■ v. (inventories, inventorying, inventoried) [with obj.] make a complete list of.

- enter in a list: every book was inventoried.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin inventorium, alteration of late Latin inventarium, literally ‘a list of what is found’, from Latin invenire ‘come upon’.

inventress n. RARE a female inventor.

inveracity /nvərasti/ n. (pl. inveracities) FORMAL a lie.

- [mass noun] untruthfulness.

Invercargill /nvəkαl/ a city in New Zealand, in the South Island; pop. 50,118 (2001).

Inverness /nvənεs/ a city in Scotland, administrative centre of Highland council area, situated at the mouth of the River Ness; pop. 43,100 (est. 2002).

inverse /nvəs nvəs/ adj. [attr.] opposite or contrary in position, direction, order, or effect: numerous studies have shown an inverse relationship between exercise and the risk of heart disease.

- chiefly [MATHEMATICS] produced from or related to something else by a process of inversion: inverse logarithms.

■ n. 1 [usually in sing.] something that is the opposite or reverse of something else: power is the inverse of dependence.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a reciprocal quantity, mathematical expression, geometric figure, etc. which is the result of inversion.

- an element which, when combined with a given element in an operation, produces the identity element for that operation.

<DERIVATIVES> inversely adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inversus, past participle of invertere (see invert^1).

inverse proportion (also inverse ratio) n. a relation between two quantities such that one increases in proportion as the other decreases.

inverse square law n. [PHYSICS] a law stating that the intensity of an effect such as illumination or gravitational force changes in inverse proportion to the square of the distance from the source.

inversion n. 1 [mass noun] the action of inverting something or the state of being inverted: the inversion of the normal domestic arrangement | [count noun] an inversion of traditional customer–supplier relationships.

- reversal of the normal order of words, typically for rhetorical effect but also found in the regular formation of questions in English.

- [MUSIC] the process of inverting an interval, chord, or phrase.

- [count noun] [MUSIC] an inverted interval, chord, or phrase.

- [PHYSICS] (also population inversion) a transposition in the relative numbers of atoms, molecules, etc. occupying particular energy levels.

- [CHEMISTRY] a reaction causing a change from one optically active configuration to the opposite configuration, especially the hydrolysis of dextrose to give a laevorotatory solution of fructose and glucose.

2 (also temperature or thermal inversion) a reversal of the normal decrease of air temperature with altitude, or of water temperature with depth.

- (also inversion layer) a layer of the atmosphere in which temperature increases with height.

3 [mass noun] [MATHEMATICS] the process of finding a quantity, function, etc. from a given one such that the product of the two under a particular operation is the identity.

- the interchanging of numerator and denominator of a fraction, or antecedent and consequent of a ratio.

- the process of finding the expression which gives a given expression under a given transformation.

- [count noun] [GEOMETRY] a transformation in which each point of a given figure is replaced by another point on the same straight line from a fixed point, especially in such a way that the product of the distances of the two points from the centre of inversion is constant.

4 (also sexual inversion) [PSYCHOLOGY], DATED homosexuality.

<DERIVATIVES> inversive adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a term in rhetoric, denoting the turning of an argument against the person who put it forward): from Latin inversio(n-), from the verb invertere (see invert^1).

inversion temperature n. [PHYSICS] the temperature at which the Joule–Thomson effect for a given gas changes sign, so that the gas is neither heated nor cooled when allowed to expand without expending energy.

invert^1 v. /nvət/ [with obj.] put upside down or in the opposite position, order, or arrangement: invert the mousse on to a serving plate.

- [MUSIC] modify (a phrase) by reversing the direction of pitch changes.

- [MUSIC] alter (an interval or triad) by changing the relative position of the notes in it.

- chiefly [MATHEMATICS] subject to inversion; transform into its inverse.

■ n. /nvət/ 1 an arch constructed in an upside-down position to provide lateral support, e.g. in a tunnel.

- the concave lower surface of a sewer or drain.

2 [PSYCHOLOGY], DATED a homosexual.

3 [PHILATELY] a postage stamp printed with an error such that all or part of its design is upside down.

<DERIVATIVES> invertibility n. invertible adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘turn back to front’): from Latin invertere, literally ‘turn inside out’, from in- ‘into’ + vertere ‘to turn’.

invert^2 /nvət/ n. INFORMAL short for INVERTEBRATE.

invertase /nvətez nvət-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme produced by yeast which catalyses the hydrolysis of sucrose, forming invert sugar.

invertebrate /nvətbrət/ n. an animal lacking a backbone, such as an arthropod, mollusc, annelid, coelenterate, etc. The invertebrates constitute an artificial division of the animal kingdom, comprising 95 per cent of animal species and about thirty different phyla. Compare with VERTEBRATE.

■ adj. relating to or belonging to this division of animals.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (as a noun): from modern Latin invertebrata (plural) ‘the invertebrates’ (former taxonomic group), from French invertébrés, from in- ‘without’ + Latin vertebra (see VERTEBRA).

inverted comma n. chiefly BRITISH another term for QUOTATION MARK.

inverted snobbery n. [mass noun] DEROGATORY the attitude of seeming to despise anything associated with wealth or social status, while at the same time elevating those things associated with lack of wealth and social position.

<DERIVATIVES> inverted snob n.

inverter n. 1 an apparatus which converts direct current into alternating current.

2 [ELECTRONICS] a device that converts either of the two binary digits or signals into the other.

invert sugar n. [mass noun] a mixture of glucose and fructose obtained by the hydrolysis of sucrose.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: invert from inverted, because of the reversal of optical activity involved in its formation (see the chemical sense of INVERSION).

invest v. [with obj.] 1 put (money) into financial schemes, shares, property, or a commercial venture with the expectation of achieving a profit: the company is to invest £12 m in its manufacturing site at Linlithglow | [no obj.] getting workers to invest in private pension funds.

- devote (one's time, effort, or energy) to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result: we have invested a considerable amount of time in demonstrating the value of the system.

- [no obj.] (invest in) INFORMAL buy (a relatively expensive product) whose usefulness will repay the cost: I invested in an expensive moisturizer and tried to drink more water.

2 (invest someone/thing with) provide or endow someone or something with (a particular quality or attribute): the passage of time has invested the words with an unintended humour.

- formally confer a rank or office on (someone): he was invested as Head of State on 1 October 1936.

- (invest something in) confer a right or power on (someone or something): all executive powers were invested in the Secretary of State.

3 ARCHAIC clothe or cover with a garment: he stands before you invested in the full canonicals of his calling.

4 ARCHAIC surround (a place) in order to besiege or blockade it: Fort Pulaski was invested and captured.

<DERIVATIVES> investable adj. investible adj. investor n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the senses ‘clothe’, ‘clothe with the insignia of a rank’, and ‘endow with authority’): from French investir or Latin investire, from in- ‘into, upon’ + vestire ‘clothe’ (from vestis ‘clothing’).

■ Sense 1 (early 17th century) is influenced by Italian investire.

investigable adj. open to investigation, inquiry, or research.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin investigabilis, from investigare (see INVESTIGATE).

investigate v. [with obj.] carry out a systematic or formal inquiry to discover and examine the facts of (an incident, allegation, etc.) so as to establish the truth: police are investigating a claim that the man was beaten unconscious by a gang.

- carry out research or study into (a subject or problem, typically one in a scientific or academic field): [with clause] future studies will investigate whether long-term use of the drugs could prevent cancer.

- make inquiries as to the character, activities, or background of (someone): everyone with a possible interest in your brother's death must be thoroughly investigated.

- [no obj.] make a check to find out something: when you didn't turn up I thought I'd better come back to investigate.

<DERIVATIVES> investigatory adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin investigat- ‘traced out’, from the verb investigare, from in- ‘into’ + vestigare ‘track, trace out’.

investigation n. [mass noun] the action of investigating something or someone; formal or systematic examination or research: he is under investigation for receiving illicit funds.

- [count noun] a formal inquiry or systematic study: an investigation into fresh allegations of malpractice | a murder investigation.

<DERIVATIVES> investigational adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin investigatio(n-), from the verb investigare (see INVESTIGATE).

investigative /nvεstətv -etv/ adj. of or concerned with investigating something: a special investigative committee to look into the strikers' demands.

- (of journalism or a journalist) inquiring intensively into and seeking to expose malpractice, the miscarriage of justice, or other controversial issues.

investigator n. a person who carries out a formal inquiry or investigation: accident investigators are at the crash site. | investigators found no signs of forced entry.

investiture /nvεsttjə -tə/ n. [mass noun] the action of formally investing a person with honours or rank: the investiture of bishops.

- [count noun] a ceremony at which honours or rank are formally conferred on a particular person.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin investitura, from investire (see INVEST).

investment n. 1 [mass noun] the action or process of investing money for profit: a debate over private investment in road-building | the need to attract foreign investment | [count noun] a total investment of £50,000.

- [count noun] a thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future: freezers really are a good investment for the elderly.

- [count noun] an act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result: the time spent in attending the seminar is an investment in our professional futures.

2 [mass noun] ARCHAIC the surrounding of a place by a hostile force in order to besiege or blockade it.

investment bank n. a bank that purchases large holdings of newly issued shares and resells them to investors.

<DERIVATIVES> investment banker n. investment banking n.

investment bond n. (in the UK) a single-premium life insurance policy linked to a unit trust for long-term investment.

investment casting n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL a technique for making small, accurate castings in refractory alloys using a mould formed around a pattern of wax or similar material which is then removed by melting.

investment grade n. [mass noun] a level of credit rating for stocks regarded as carrying a minimal risk to investors.

investment trust n. a limited company whose business is the investment of shareholders' funds, the shares being traded like those of any other public company.

inveterate /nvεt(ə)rət/ adj. [attr.] having a particular habit, activity, or interest that is long-established and unlikely to change: an inveterate gambler.

- (of a feeling or habit) long-established and unlikely to change.

<DERIVATIVES> inveteracy n. inveterately adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (referring to disease, in the sense ‘of long standing, chronic’): from Latin inveteratus ‘made old’, past participle of inveterare (based on vetus, veter- ‘old’).

inviable adj. not viable.

<DERIVATIVES> inviability n.

invidious /nvdəs/ adj. (of an action or situation) likely to arouse or incur resentment or anger in others: she'd put herself in an invidious position.

- (of a comparison or distinction) unfairly discriminating; unjust: it seems invidious to make special mention of one aspect of his work.

<DERIVATIVES> invidiously adv. invidiousness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin invidiosus, from invidia (see ENVY).

invigilate /nvdlet/ v. [no obj.] BRITISH supervise candidates during an examination.

<DERIVATIVES> invigilation n. invigilator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the general sense ‘watch over, keep watch’): from Latin invigilat- ‘watched over’, from the verb invigilare, from in- ‘upon, towards’ + vigilare ‘watch’ (from vigil ‘watchful’).

invigorate /nvəret/ v. [with obj.] give strength or energy to: the shower had invigorated her.

<DERIVATIVES> invigoration n. invigorator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from medieval Latin invigorat- ‘made strong’, from the verb invigorare, from in- ‘towards’ + Latin vigorare ‘make strong’ (from vigor ‘vigour’).

invigorating adj. making one feel strong, healthy, and full of energy: a brisk, invigorating walk.

<DERIVATIVES> invigoratingly adv.

invincible /nvnsb(ə)l/ adj. too powerful to be defeated or overcome: an invincible warrior.

<DERIVATIVES> invincibility n. invincibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (earlier than vincible): via Old French from Latin invincibilis, from in- ‘not’ + vincibilis (see VINCIBLE).

in vino veritas /n vinə vεrtαs/ exclam. under the influence of alcohol, a person tells the truth.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘truth in wine’.

inviolable /nvələb(ə)l/ adj. never to be broken, infringed, or dishonoured: an inviolable rule of chastity | the Polish–German border was inviolable.

<DERIVATIVES> inviolability n. inviolably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from Latin inviolabilis, from in- ‘not’ + violabilis ‘able to be violated’ (from the verb violare).

inviolate /nvələt/ adj. free or safe from injury or violation: an international memorial which must remain inviolate.

<DERIVATIVES> inviolacy n. inviolately adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin inviolatus, from in- ‘not’ + violare ‘violate’.

inviscid /nvsd/ adj. [PHYSICS] having no or negligible viscosity.

invisible adj. 1 unable to be seen: this invisible gas is present to some extent in every home.

- concealed from sight; hidden: he lounged in a doorway, invisible in the dark.

2 [ECONOMICS] relating to or denoting earnings which a country makes from the sale of services or other items not constituting tangible commodities: invisible exports.

■ n. (invisibles) invisible exports and imports.

<DERIVATIVES> invisibility n. invisibly adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin invisibilis, from in- ‘not’ + visibilis (see VISIBLE).

invisible ink n. [mass noun] a type of ink used to produce writing that cannot be seen until the paper is heated or otherwise treated.

invitation n. a written or verbal request inviting someone to go somewhere or to do something: a wedding invitation.

- [mass noun] the action of inviting someone to go somewhere or to do something: a club with membership by invitation only | a herb garden where guests can only go at the invitation of the chef.

- [in sing.] a situation or action that tempts someone to do something or makes a particular outcome likely: tactics like those of the colonel would have been an invitation to disaster.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from Latin invitatio(n-), from invitare (see INVITE).

invitational North American adj. (especially of a competition) open only to those invited.

■ n. an invitational competition.

invitatory /nvtət(ə)ri/ adj. containing or conveying an invitation.

- (in the Christian Church) denoting a psalm or versicle acting as an invitation to worshippers, especially Psalm 95 (the Venite).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from late Latin invitatorius, from Latin invitare (see INVITE).

invite v. [with obj.] make a polite, formal, or friendly request to (someone) to go somewhere or to do something: we were invited to a dinner at the Embassy | [with obj. and infinitive] she invited Patrick to sit down.

- make a formal or polite request for (something) from someone: applications are invited for the post of Director.

- (of an action or situation) tend to elicit (a particular reaction or response) or to tempt (someone) to do something: his use of the word did little but invite criticism.

■ n. INFORMAL an invitation.

<DERIVATIVES> invitee n. inviter n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French inviter, or from Latin invitare.

inviting adj. offering the promise of an attractive or enjoyable experience: the sea down there looks so inviting.

<DERIVATIVES> invitingly adv.

in vitro /n vitrə/ adj. & adv. [BIOLOGY] (of processes or reactions) taking place in a test tube, culture dish, or elsewhere outside a living organism: [as adj.] in vitro fertilization. The opposite of IN VIVO.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘in glass’.

in vivo /n vivə/ adv. & adj. [BIOLOGY] (of processes) taking place in a living organism. The opposite of IN VITRO.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘in a living thing’.

invocation n. [mass noun] the action of invoking someone or something: his invocation of the ancient powers of Callanish.

- [count noun] an incantation used to invoke a deity or the supernatural.

- [count noun] (in the Christian Church) a form of words such as ‘In the name of the Father’ introducing a prayer, sermon, etc.

<DERIVATIVES> invocatory /nvkət(ə)ri/ adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin invocatio(n-), from the verb invocare (see INVOKE).

invoice n. a list of goods sent or services provided, with a statement of the sum due for these; a bill.

■ v. [with obj.] send an invoice to (someone).

- send an invoice for (goods or services provided).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: originally the plural of obsolete invoy, from obsolete French envoy from envoyer ‘send’ (see ENVOY).

invoke /nvək/ v. [with obj.] 1 call on (a deity or spirit) in prayer, as a witness, or for inspiration.

- summon (a spirit) by charms or incantation.

2 cite or appeal to (someone or something) as an authority for an action or in support of an argument: the antiquated defence of insanity is rarely invoked in England.

- call earnestly for: she invoked his help against this attack.

- give rise to; evoke: how could she explain how the accident happened without invoking his wrath?

3 [COMPUTING] cause (a procedure) to be carried out.

<DERIVATIVES> invoker n.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French invoquer, from Latin invocare, from in- ‘upon’ + vocare ‘to call’.

involatile adj. not volatile; unable to be vaporized.

involucre /nvəl(j)ukə/ n. 1 [ANATOMY] a membranous envelope.

2 [BOTANY] a whorl or rosette of bracts surrounding an inflorescence (especially a capitulum) or at the base of an umbel.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, or from Latin involucrum, from involvere ‘roll in, envelop’ (see INVOLVE).

involuntary adj. 1 done without conscious control: she gave an involuntary shudder.

- (especially of muscles or nerves) concerned in bodily processes that are not under the control of the will.

2 done against someone's will; compulsory: a policy of involuntary repatriation.

<DERIVATIVES> involuntarily adv. involuntariness n.

involute /nvəl(j)ut/ adj. 1 FORMAL involved or intricate: the art novel has grown increasingly involute.

2 TECHNICAL curled spirally.

- [ZOOLOGY] (of a shell) having the whorls wound closely round the axis.

- [BOTANY] (of a leaf or the cap of a fungus) rolled inwards at the edges.

■ n. [GEOMETRY] the locus of a point considered as the end of a taut string being unwound from a given curve in the plane of that curve. Compare with EVOLUTE.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin involutus, past participle of involvere (see INVOLVE).

involuted adj. complicated or abstruse: his involuted prose.

involution n. 1 [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] the shrinkage of an organ in old age or when inactive, e.g. of the womb after childbirth.

2 [MATHEMATICS] a function, transformation, or operator that is equal to its inverse, i.e. which gives the identity when applied to itself.

3 [mass noun] FORMAL the process of complicating something, or the state of being complicated: periods of artistic involution.

<DERIVATIVES> involutional adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘(part) curling inwards’): from Latin involutio(n-), from involvere (see INVOLVE).

involve v. [with obj.] have or include (something) as a necessary or integral part or result: my job involves a lot of travelling | a bill proposing harsher penalties for crimes involving firearms and drugs.

- cause to participate in an activity or situation: an opportunity to involve as many people as possible in all aspects of music-making.

- (be/get involved) be or become occupied or engrossed in something: her husband had been very involved in his work.

- (be involved) be engaged in an emotional or personal relationship: Angela told me she was involved with someone else.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the senses ‘enfold’ and ‘entangle’; formerly also as envolve): from Latin involvere, from in- ‘into’ + volvere ‘to roll’.

involved adj. difficult to understand; complicated: a long, involved conversation.

involvement n. [mass noun] the fact or condition of being involved with or participating in something: US officials produced evidence of his involvement in drug trafficking.

- emotional or personal association with someone: she knew that involvement with Adam would only complicate her life.

invulnerable adj. impossible to harm or damage: no state in the region is now invulnerable to attack by another.

<DERIVATIVES> invulnerability n. invulnerably adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (earlier than vulnerable): from Latin invulnerabilis, from in- ‘not’ + vulnerabilis (see VULNERABLE).

-in-waiting combining form 1 denoting a position as attendant to a royal personage: lady-in-waiting.

2 awaiting a turn, confirmation of a process, etc.: a political administration-in-waiting.

- about to happen: an explosion-in-waiting.

inwale /nwel/ n. a longitudinal structural piece on the inside of a boat; an internal gunwale.

inward adj. [attr.] directed or proceeding towards the inside; coming in from outside: inward mail | a graceful inward movement of her wrist.

- existing within the mind, soul, or spirit, and often not expressed: she felt an inward sense of release.

■ adv. variant of INWARDS.

<ORIGIN> Old English inweard, inneweard, innanweard (see IN, -ward).

inward investment n. [mass noun] investment made within a country from outside.

inward-looking adj. not interested in or taking account of other people or groups.

inwardly adv. within the mind: inwardly seething, he did as he was told.

<ORIGIN> Old English inweardlīce (see INWARD, -ly^2).

inwardness n. [mass noun] preoccupation with one's inner self; concern with spiritual or philosophical matters rather than externalities.

inwards (also inward) adv. towards the inside: the door began to swing inwards.

- into or towards the mind, spirit, or soul: people must look inwards to gain insight into their own stress.

inwrought /nrt nrt/ adj. LITERARY (of a fabric or garment) intricately embroidered with a pattern or decoration: robes inwrought with gold.

inyanga /njaə njαə/ n. (pl. inyangas or izinyanga) S. AFRICAN a traditional healer or diviner, especially one specializing in herbalism.

<ORIGIN> Zulu, ‘doctor, herbalist’.

Io /ə/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a priestess of Hera who was loved by Zeus. Trying to protect her from the jealousy of Hera, Zeus turned Io into a heifer. Hera sent a gadfly to torture the heifer, which then fled across the world and finally reached Egypt, where Zeus turned her back into human form.

2 [ASTRONOMY] one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, the fifth-closest satellite to the planet, being actively volcanic and coloured red and yellow with sulphur compounds (diameter 3,630 km).

I/O abbr. [ELECTRONICS] input-output.

IOC abbr. International Olympic Committee.

iod- combining form variant spelling of IODO- shortened before a vowel (as in iodic).

iodate n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of iodic acid.

iodic acid /dk/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline acid with strong oxidizing properties, made by oxidation of iodine.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HIO_3.

iodide /ədd/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a compound of iodine with another element or group, especially a salt of the anion I−.

iodinate /ədnet dnet/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. iodinated) [CHEMISTRY] introduce iodine into (a compound).

<DERIVATIVES> iodination n.

iodine /ədin -n -n/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 53, a non-metallic element forming black crystals and a violet vapour. (Symbol: I)

- a solution of this in alcohol, used as a mild antiseptic.

A member of the halogen group, iodine occurs chiefly as salts in seawater and brines. As a constituent of thyroid hormones it is required in small amounts in the body, and deficiency can lead to goitre.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French iode (from Greek iōdēs ‘violet-coloured’, from ion ‘violet’ + -eidēs ‘like’) + -INE^4.

iodism /ədz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE iodine poisoning, causing thirst, diarrhoea, weakness, and convulsions.

iodize (also iodise) v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. iodized) treat or impregnate with iodine.

<DERIVATIVES> iodization n.

iodo- (usually iod- before a vowel) combining form [CHEMISTRY] representing IODINE.

iodoform /ədə()fm ədə()- də()-/ n. [mass noun] a volatile pale yellow sweet-smelling crystalline organic compound of iodine, with antiseptic properties.

<INFO> Alternative name: triiodomethane; chem. formula: CHI_3.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from IODINE, on the pattern of chloroform.

iodometry /ədmtri/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] the quantitative analysis of a solution of an oxidizing agent by adding an iodide which reacts to form iodine, which is then titrated.

<DERIVATIVES> iodometric adj.

iodophor /ədə()f əd-/ n. any of a group of disinfectants containing iodine in combination with a surfactant.

IOM abbr. Isle of Man.

io moth /ə/ n. a large, mainly yellow North American moth of the silk moth family, with prominent eyespots on the hindwings.

<INFO> Automeris io, family Saturniidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after the Greek priestess IO.

ion /ən/ n. an atom or molecule with a net electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons. See also CATION, ANION.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek, neuter present participle of ienai ‘go’.

-ion suffix forming nouns denoting verbal action: communion.

- denoting an instance of this: a rebellion.

- denoting a resulting state or product: oblivion | opinion.

<ORIGIN> via French from Latin -ion-.

<USAGE> The suffix -ion is usually found preceded by s (-sion), t (-tion), or x (-xion).

Iona /ənə/ a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Mull. It is the site of a monastery founded by St Columba in about 563.

Ionesco /iənεskə/ Eugène (1912–94), Romanian-born French dramatist, a leading exponent of the Theatre of the Absurd. Notable plays: The Bald Prima Donna (1950), Rhinoceros (1960).

ion exchange n. [mass noun] the exchange of ions of the same charge between an insoluble solid and a solution in contact with it, used in water-softening and other purification and separation processes.

ion exchanger n. a solid used in ion exchange, typically a special cross-linked synthetic resin or a zeolite.

Ionia /ənə/ in classical times, the central part of the west coast of Asia Minor, which had long been inhabited by Hellenic people (the Ionians) and was again colonized by Greeks from the mainland from about the 8th century BC.

Ionian n. 1 a member of an ancient Hellenic people inhabiting Attica, parts of western Asia Minor, and the Aegean islands in pre-classical times. Apparently displaced from some areas by the Dorians in the 11th or 12th century BC, they retained their settlements in Attica, especially Athens, where they were responsible for some of the greatest achievements of classical Greece.

2 a native or inhabitant of the Ionian Islands.

■ adj. relating to the Ionians, Ionia, or the Ionian Islands.

Ionian Islands a chain of about forty Greek islands off the western coast of mainland Greece, in the Ionian Sea, including Corfu, Cephalonia, Ithaca, and Zakinthos.

Ionian mode n. [MUSIC] the mode represented by the natural diatonic scale C–C (the major scale).

Ionian Sea the part of the Mediterranean Sea between western Greece and southern Italy, at the mouth of the Adriatic.

<ORIGIN> named, according to legend, after the priestess IO.

Ionic /nk/ adj. 1 relating to or denoting a classical order of architecture characterized by a column with scroll shapes (volutes) on either side of the capital.

2 another term for IONIAN.

■ n. [mass noun] 1 the Ionic order of architecture.

2 the ancient Greek dialect used in Ionia.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: via Latin from Greek Iōnikos, from Iōnia (see IONIA).

ionic /nk/ adj. relating to or using ions.

- (of a chemical bond) formed by the electrostatic attraction of oppositely charged ions. Often contrasted with COVALENT.

<DERIVATIVES> ionically adv.

ionic strength n. [CHEMISTRY] a quantity representing the strength of the electric field in a solution, equal to the sum of the molalities of each type of ion present multiplied by the square of their charges.

ionization chamber n. an instrument for detecting ionizing radiation.

ionize /ənz/ (also ionise) v. [with obj.] convert (an atom, molecule, or substance) into an ion or ions, typically by removing one or more electrons.

- [no obj.] become converted into an ion or ions in this way.

<DERIVATIVES> ionizable adj. ionization n.

ionizer (also ioniser) n. a device which produces ionization, especially one used to improve the quality of the air in a room.

ionizing radiation n. [mass noun] radiation consisting of particles, X-rays, or gamma rays with sufficient energy to cause ionization in the medium through which it passes.

ionomer /nəmə/ n. any of a class of polymer materials consisting of thermoplastic resins stabilized by ionic cross-linkages, used to make dental cement and sealants.

ionopause /nə()pz/ n. [ASTRONOMY] the upper boundary of the ionosphere of a planet, comet, or other celestial object.

ionophore /nə()f/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] a substance which is able to transport particular ions across a lipid membrane in a cell.

ionosphere /nəsfə/ n. the layer of the earth's atmosphere which contains a high concentration of ions and free electrons and is able to reflect radio waves. It lies above the mesosphere and extends from about 80 to 1,000 km above the earth's surface.

<DERIVATIVES> ionospheric adj.

iontophoresis /ntə()fəriss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a technique of introducing ionic medicinal compounds into the body through the skin by applying a local electric current.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ION, on the pattern of electrophoresis.

-ior suffix forming adjectives of comparison: anterior | senior.

<ORIGIN> from Latin.

iora /rə/ n. a small insectivorous Asian songbird with greenish back and yellow underparts.

<INFO> Genus Aegithina, family Irenidae (or Chloropseidae): four species.

<ORIGIN> of obscure origin.

iota /ətə/ n. 1 the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet (I, ι), transliterated as ‘i’.

- (Iota) [followed by Latin genitive] [ASTRONOMY] the ninth star in a constellation: Iota Piscium.

2 [in sing.] [usually with negative] an extremely small amount: nothing she said seemed to make an iota of difference.

<ORIGIN> from Greek iōta.

■ Sense 2 arose because iota is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet: compare with JOT.

iota subscript n. (in Greek) a small iota written beneath a long vowel, forming the second element of a diphthong but not pronounced and not always represented in transliteration.

IOU n. a signed document acknowledging a debt.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: representing the pronunciation of I owe you.

-ious suffix (forming adjectives) characterized by; full of: cautious | vivacious.

<ORIGIN> from French -ieux, from Latin -iosus.

IOW abbr. Isle of Wight.

Iowa /əwə/ a state in the Middle West of the US, acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803; pop. 2,926,324 (2000); capital, Des Moines. It became the 29th state of the US in 1846.

<DERIVATIVES> Iowan adj. & n.

Iowa City a city in eastern Iowa; pop. 62,200 (2000). Founded in 1838, it was the state capital until replaced by Des Moines in 1858.

IPA abbr.

- India pale ale, a type of light-coloured beer similar to bitter. [<ORIGIN> said to have been brewed originally for the British colonies.]

- International Phonetic Alphabet.

IP address n. [COMPUTING] a unique string of numbers separated by full stops that identifies each computer attached to the Internet.

<ORIGIN> IP, abbreviation of Internet Protocol.

Ipatieff /patεf/ Vladimir Nikolaievich (1867–1952), Russian-born American chemist. He worked mainly on the catalysis of hydrocarbons, developing high octane fuels and techniques important to the petrochemical industry.

ipecac /pkak/ n. short for IPECACUANHA.

ipecacuanha /pkakjanə/ n. [mass noun] 1 the dried rhizome of a South American shrub, or a drug prepared from this, used as an emetic and expectorant.

2 the shrub that produces this rhizome, native to Brazil and cultivated elsewhere.

<INFO> Cephaelis ipecacuanha, family Rubiaceae.

- used in names of other plants with similar uses, e.g. American ipecacuanha.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Portuguese, from Tupi-Guarani ipekaaguéne ‘emetic creeper’, from ipe ‘small’ + kaa ‘leaves’ + guéne ‘vomit’.

Iphigenia /fdnə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the daughter of Agamemnon, who was obliged to offer her as a sacrifice to Artemis when the Greek fleet was becalmed on its way to the Trojan War. However, Artemis saved her life and took her to Tauris in the Crimea, where she became a priestess until rescued by her brother Orestes.

Ipiros /prs/ Greek name for EPIRUS.

IPMS abbr. (in the UK) Institution of Professionals, Managers, and Specialists.

IPO abbr. chiefly US initial public offering.

Ipoh /ipə/ the capital of the state of Perak in western Malaysia; pop. 574,401 (2000). It replaced Taiping as state capital in 1937.

ipomoea /pəmiə/ n. a plant of the genus Ipomoea in the convolvulus family, especially (in gardening) a morning glory.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Greek ips ‘worm’ + homoios ‘like’.

ippon /pn/ n. a full point scored in judo, karate, and other martial sports.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

IPR abbr. intellectual property rights.

iproniazid /prə()nəzd/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic compound used as a drug to treat depression.

<INFO> A derivative of isoniazid; chem. formula: (CH_3)2CHNHNHCOC_5H_4N.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from i(so)pro(pyl) + (iso)niazid.

ipse dixit /pse dkst psi/ n. a dogmatic and unproven statement.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘he himself said it’, translating Greek autos epha, a phrase used of Pythagoras by his followers.

ipsilateral /pslat(ə)r(ə)l/ adj. belonging to or occurring on the same side of the body.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: formed irregularly from Latin ipse ‘self’ + LATERAL.

ipsissima verba /pssmə vəbə/ plural n. the precise words.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

ipso facto /psə faktə/ adv. by that very fact or act: the enemy of one's enemy may be ipso facto a friend.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Ipswich /pswt/ the county town of Suffolk, a port and industrial town on the estuary of the River Orwell; pop. 117,074 (2001).

Ipswichian /pswtən/ adj. relating to or denoting the most recent interglacial period of the Pleistocene in Britain, preceding the Devensian glaciation and identified with the Eemian of northern Europe.

- (as n. the Ipswichian) the Ipswichian interglacial or the system of deposits laid down during it.

IQ abbr. intelligence quotient.

Iqbal /kbal/ Sir Muhammad (1875–1938), Indian poet and philosopher, generally regarded as the father of Pakistan. As president of the Muslim League in 1930, he advocated the creation of a separate Muslim state in NW India; the demands of the League led ultimately to the establishment of Pakistan in 1947.

-ique suffix archaic spelling of -IC.

Iquitos /kits/ a city in NE Peru, a river port on the west bank of the Amazon; pop. 349,300 (est. 2002).

IR abbr.

- infrared.

- Iran (international vehicle registration).

Ir symbol the chemical element iridium.

ir- prefix variant spelling of in-1, in-2. assimilated before r (as in irradiate, irrelative).

IRA abbr.

- (in the US) Individual Retirement Account.

- Irish Republican Army.

irade /rαdi/ n. HISTORICAL a written decree of the sultan of Turkey.

<ORIGIN> Turkish, from Arabic 'irāda ‘will, decree’, from 'arāda ‘intend’.

Iráklion /iraklin/ Greek name for HERAKLION.

Iran /rαn ran/ a country in the Middle East, between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf; pop. 66,622,704 (est. 2002); languages, Farsi (Persian) (official), Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Arabic, and others; capital, Tehran.

Previously known as Persia, the country adopted the name Iran in 1935. Iran was a monarchy until 1979, when the shah was overthrown in a popular uprising, headed by Ayatollah Khomeini, which led soon after to the establishment of an Islamic republic. From 1980 to 1988 Iran was at war with its neighbour Iraq. See also PERSIA.

Irangate /rαnet ran-/ a US political scandal of 1987 involving the covert sale by the US of arms to Iran. The proceeds of the arms sales were used by officials to give arms to the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua, despite Congressional prohibition. Also called IRAN–CONTRA AFFAIR or scandal.

Iranian adj. relating to Iran or its people.

- relating to or denoting the group of Indo-European languages that includes Persian (Farsi), Pashto, Avestan, and Kurdish.

■ n. a native or national of Iran, or a person of Iranian descent.

Iran–Iraq War the war of 1980–8 between Iran and Iraq in the general area of the Persian Gulf. It ended inconclusively after great hardship and loss of life on both sides. Also called GULF WAR.

Iraq /rαk rak/ a country in the Middle East, on the Persian Gulf; pop. 24,001,816 (est. 2002); official language, Arabic; capital, Baghdad.

Iraq is traversed by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, whose valley was the site of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia. It was conquered by Arabia in the 7th century and from 1534 formed part of the Ottoman Empire. After the First World War a kingdom was established, although the country was under British administration until 1932. Saddam Hussein came to power as President in 1979. From 1980 to 1988 the country was at war with its eastern neighbour Iran. In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait; it was expelled by an international coalition of forces in the Gulf War of 1991. In 2003 the country was invaded and occupied by US-led forces in response to its failure to comply fully with a UN resolution that it should disarm.

Iraqi adj. relating to Iraq, its people, or their language.

■ n. (pl. Iraqis) 1 a native or national of Iraq, or a person of Iraqi descent.

2 [mass noun] the form of Arabic spoken in Iraq.

IRAS a satellite launched in 1983 to map the distribution of infrared radiation in the sky.

<ORIGIN> abbreviation of Infrared Astronomical Satellite.

irascible /rasb(ə)l/ adj. having or showing a tendency to be easily angered: an irascible and difficult man.

<DERIVATIVES> irascibility n. irascibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from late Latin irascibilis, from Latin irasci ‘grow angry’, from ira ‘anger’.

irate /ret/ adj. feeling or characterized by great anger: a barrage of irate letters.

<DERIVATIVES> irately adv. irateness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin iratus, from ira ‘anger’.

IRBM abbr. intermediate-range ballistic missile.

IRC abbr. Internet Relay Chat, an area of the network where users can communicate interactively with each other.

ire /ə/ n. [mass noun] anger: the plans provoked the ire of conservationists.

<DERIVATIVES> ireful adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin ira.

Ireland an island of the British Isles, lying west of Great Britain. Approximately four fifths of the area of Ireland forms the Republic of Ireland, with the remaining one fifth forming Northern Ireland.

Ireland was inhabited by Celts from about the 6th century BC. English invasions began in the 12th century under Henry II, although the whole of the island was not conquered until the time of the Tudors. Revolts against English rule led to English and Scottish families being settled on confiscated land; in parts of Ulster the descendants of Protestant settlers form a majority. After an unsuccessful rebellion in 1798, union of Britain and Ireland followed in 1801. Increased prosperity was experienced in Protestant Ulster, but not in the rest of the island, and after the failure of the potato crop in the 1840s thousands died in a famine, and thousands more emigrated. In 1922 Ireland was partitioned by the Anglo-Irish Treaty. For later history see IRELAND, REPUBLIC OF and NORTHERN IRELAND.

Ireland, Republic of a country comprising approximately four fifths of Ireland; pop. 3,883,159 (est. 2002); languages, Irish (official), English; capital, Dublin. Also called IRISH REPUBLIC.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty by which Ireland was partitioned in 1922 gave the southern part of Ireland dominion status as the Irish Free State. The treaty was followed by civil war between the Free State government and republicans, led by Eamon de Valera, who rejected partition. The war ended in victory for the government in 1923. A new constitution as a sovereign state (Eire) was adopted in 1937. Eire remained neutral during the Second World War; in 1949 it left the Commonwealth and became fully independent as the Republic of Ireland. The Republic of Ireland joined the EC in 1973.

Irenaeus, St /ərniəs/ (c.130–c.200 AD), Greek theologian, the author of Against Heresies (c.180), a detailed attack on Gnosticism. Feast day (in the Eastern Church) 23 August; (in the Western Church) 28 June.

irenic /rεnk -ri-/ (also eirenic) adj. FORMAL aiming or aimed at peace.

■ n. (irenics) a part of Christian theology concerned with reconciling different denominations and sects.

<DERIVATIVES> irenical adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek eirēnikos, from eirēnē ‘peace’. Compare with EIRENICON.

irenicon /rinkn/ (also eirenicon) n. FORMAL a proposal made as a means of achieving peace.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as irenicon): from Greek eirēnikon, neuter of eirēnikos ‘promoting peace’, from eirēnē ‘peace’. Compare with IRENIC.

Irgun /ən/ a right-wing Zionist organization founded in 1931. During the period when it was active (1937–48) it carried out violent attacks on Arabs and Britons in its campaign to establish a Jewish state; it was disbanded after the creation of Israel in 1948.

<ORIGIN> from modern Hebrew 'irgūn (ĕā'ī lĕ'ummī) ‘(national military) organization’.

Irian Jaya /rən də/ a province of eastern Indonesia comprising the western half of the island of New Guinea together with the adjacent small islands; capital, Jayapura. Until its incorporation into Indonesia in 1963 it was known as Dutch New Guinea. Also called WEST IRIAN.

iridaceous /rdeəs r-/ adj. [BOTANY] relating to or denoting plants of the iris family (Iridaceae), which grow from bulbs, corms, or rhizomes.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Iridaceae (plural), based on Greek iris, irid- ‘rainbow’, + -OUS.

iridectomy /rdεktəmi r-/ n. (pl. iridectomies) a surgical procedure to remove part of the iris.

iridescent /rdεs(ə)nt/ adj. showing luminous colours that seem to change when seen from different angles.

<DERIVATIVES> iridescence n. iridescently adv.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin iris, irid- ‘rainbow’ + -ESCENT.

iridium /rdəm -/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 77, a hard, dense silvery-white metal. (Symbol: Ir)

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin iris, irid- ‘rainbow’ (so named because it forms compounds of various colours).

iridology /rdlədi r-/ n. [mass noun] (in alternative medicine) diagnosis by examination of the iris of the eye.

<DERIVATIVES> iridologist n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek iris, irid- ‘iris’ + -LOGY.

irie /ri/ BLACK ENGLISH adj. nice, good, or pleasing (used as a general term of approval): the place is jumping with irie vibes | I feeling irie.

■ exclam. used by Rastafarians as a friendly greeting.

<ORIGIN> perhaps representing a pronunciation of all right.

Iris [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the goddess of the rainbow, who acted as a messenger of the gods.

iris n. 1 a flat, coloured, ring-shaped membrane behind the cornea of the eye, with an adjustable circular opening (pupil) in the centre.

- (also iris diaphragm) an adjustable diaphragm of thin overlapping plates for regulating the size of a central hole, especially for the admission of light to a lens.

2 a plant with showy flowers, typically of purple or yellow, and sword-shaped leaves. Irises are native to both Eurasia and North America and widely cultivated as ornamentals.

<INFO> Genus Iris, family Iridaceae (the iris family): many species and numerous hybrids. The iris family also includes the gladioli, crocuses, and freesias.

■ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (of an aperture, typically that of a lens) open or close in the manner of an iris or iris diaphragm.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, via Latin from Greek iris ‘rainbow, iris’.

irised adj. LITERARY coloured like a rainbow; iridescent.

Irish adj. relating to Ireland, its people, or the Celtic language traditionally and historically spoken there.

- OFFENSIVE (of a statement or action) paradoxical; illogical or apparently so.

■ n. [mass noun] 1 (also Irish Gaelic) the Celtic language of Ireland.

2 (as plural n. the Irish) the people of Ireland; Irish people collectively.

Irish is now spoken regularly only in a few isolated areas in the west of Ireland, having elsewhere been displaced by English. It is, however, the first official language of the Republic of Ireland and is taught in all state schools. Scottish Gaelic was descended from it.

<DERIVATIVES> Irishness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old English Īr- (stem of Īras ‘the Irish’ and Īrland ‘Ireland’, obscurely related to HIBERNIAN) + -ISH^1.

Irish coffee n. [mass noun] coffee mixed with a dash of Irish whiskey and served with cream on top.

Irish elk n. an extinct giant European and North African deer of the Pleistocene epoch, with massive antlers up to 3 m (10 ft) across. Also called GIANT DEER.

<INFO> Megaloceros giganteus, family Cervidae.

Irish Free State the name for the independent part of southern Ireland from 1922 until 1937 (see IRELAND, REPUBLIC OF).

Irishman n. (pl. Irishmen) a male native or national of Ireland, or a man of Irish descent.

Irish moss n. another term for CARRAGEEN.

Irish National Liberation Army (abbr.: INLA) a small paramilitary organization seeking union between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It was formed in the early 1970s, probably as an offshoot of the Provisional IRA.

Irish Republic see IRELAND, REPUBLIC OF.

Irish Republican Army (abbr.: IRA) the military arm of Sinn Fein, aiming for union between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The IRA was formed during the struggle for independence from Britain in 1916–21; in 1969 it split into Official and Provisional wings. The Official IRA became virtually inactive, while the Provisional IRA stepped up the level of violence against military and civilian targets in Northern Ireland, Britain, and Europe. The IRA declared a ceasefire in 1994 and another in 1997, and in 2005 announced that it had ended its armed campaign.

Irish Republican Brotherhood see FENIAN.

Irish Sea the sea separating Ireland from England and Wales.

Irish setter n. a dog of a breed of setter with a long, silky dark red coat and a long feathered tail.

Irish stew n. [mass noun] a stew made with mutton, potatoes, and onions.

Irish Sweepstake (also Irish Sweep) a sweepstake on the results of certain major horse races, authorized since 1930 by the government of the Republic of Ireland in order to benefit Irish hospitals. It is the largest international lottery.

Irish terrier n. a terrier of a rough-haired light reddish-brown breed.

Irish wolfhound n. a large, typically greyish hound of a rough-coated breed.

Irishwoman n. (pl. Irishwomen) a female native or national or Ireland, or a woman of Irish descent.

iritis /rts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the iris of the eye.

irk /ək/ v. [with obj.] irritate; annoy: it irks her to think of the runaround she received.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘be annoyed or disgusted’): perhaps from Old Norse yrkja ‘to work’.

irksome adj. irritating; annoying: an irksome journey | petty regulations were becoming very irksome.

<DERIVATIVES> irksomely adv. irksomeness n.

Irkutsk /əktsk/ the chief city of Siberia, situated on the western shore of Lake Baikal in eastern Russia; pop. 594,200 (est. 2002).

IRL abbr. the Republic of Ireland (international vehicle registration).

IRO abbr.

- (in the UK) Inland Revenue Office.

- International Refugee Organization.

iroko /rəkə i-/ n. (pl. irokos) a tropical African tree which yields pale timber that is sometimes used as an oak or teak substitute.

<INFO> Genus Chlorophora, family Moraceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Yoruba.

iron n. 1 [mass noun] a strong, hard magnetic silvery-grey metal, the chemical element of atomic number 26, much used as a material for construction and manufacturing, especially in the form of steel. (Symbol: Fe)

- used figuratively as a symbol or type of firmness, strength, or resistance: her father had a will of iron | [as modifier] the iron grip of religion on minority cultures.

Iron is widely distributed as ores such as haematite, magnetite, and siderite, and the earth's core is believed to consist largely of metallic iron and nickel. Besides steel, other important forms of the metal are cast iron and wrought iron. Chemically a transition element, iron is a constituent of some biological molecules, notably haemoglobin.

2 a tool or implement now or originally made of iron: a caulking iron.

- (irons) fetters or handcuffs.

- (irons) metal supports for a malformed leg.

- (irons) INFORMAL stirrups.

3 a hand-held implement, typically an electrical one, with a heated flat steel base, used to smooth clothes, sheets, etc.

4 a golf club with a metal head (typically with a numeral indicating the degree to which the head is angled in order to loft the ball): [in combination] a four-iron.

- a shot made with such a club.

5 [ASTRONOMY] a meteorite containing a high proportion of iron.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] smooth (clothes, sheets, etc.) with an iron.

2 (iron something out) solve or settle difficulties or problems: they had ironed out their differences.

<PHRASES>

□ have many (or other) irons in the fire have a range of options or courses of action available, or be involved in many activities or commitments at the same time.

□ in irons 1 having the feet or hands fettered.

2 (of a sailing vessel) stalled head to wind and unable to come about or tack either way.

□ iron hand (or fist) used to refer to firmness or ruthlessness of attitude or behaviour: he ruled with an iron hand.

□ an iron hand (or fist) in a velvet glove firmness or ruthlessness cloaked in outward gentleness.

<DERIVATIVES> ironer n. iron-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English īren, īsen, īsern, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ijzer and German Eisen, and probably ultimately from Celtic.

Iron Age a prehistoric period that followed the Bronze Age, when weapons and tools came to be made of iron.

The Iron Age is conventionally taken as beginning in the early 1st millennium BC, but iron-working began with the Hittites in Anatolia in c.1400 BC. Its arrival in Britain was associated with the first Celtic immigrants in about the 6th century BC. In much of Europe it ended at the Roman period, but outside the Roman Empire it continued to the 4th–6th centuries AD.

ironbark n. an Australian eucalyptus tree with thick, solid bark and hard, dense, durable timber.

<INFO> Genus Eucalyptus, family Myrtaceae: several species, including the grey ironbark (E. paniculata).

iron-bound adj. bound with iron: an old iron-bound chest.

- rigorous or inflexible: iron-bound rules.

- ARCHAIC (of a coast) faced or enclosed with rocks.

ironclad adj. covered or protected with iron.

- impossible to contradict, weaken, or change: an ironclad guarantee.

■ n. HISTORICAL a 19th-century warship with armour plating.

Iron Cross n. the highest German military decoration for bravery, instituted in 1813.

Iron Curtain n. (the Iron Curtain) a notional barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the West prior to the decline of communism that followed the political events in eastern Europe in 1989.

Iron Gate a gorge through which a section of the River Danube flows, forming part of the boundary between Romania and Serbia. Navigation was improved by means of a ship canal constructed through it in 1896. Romanian name Porţile de Fier, Serbian name GVOZDENA VRATA.

iron grey n. [mass noun] a dark grey colour.

Iron Guard a fascist Romanian political party that was founded in 1927 and ceased to exist after the Second World War.

iron horse n. LITERARY a steam railway locomotive.

ironic /rnk/ adj. using or characterized by irony: his mouth curved into an ironic smile.

- happening in a way contrary to what is expected, and typically causing wry amusement because of this: [with clause] it was ironic that now everybody had plenty of money for food they couldn't obtain it because everything was rationed.

<DERIVATIVES> ironical adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French ironique or late Latin ironicus, from Greek eirōnikos ‘dissembling, feigning ignorance’, from eirōneia (see irony^1).

ironically adv. in an ironic manner: ‘How very noble,’ Oliver said ironically.

- used in reference to a paradoxical, unexpected, or coincidental situation: [sentence adv.] ironically, the rescue craft which saved her was the boat she was helping to pay for.

ironing n. [mass noun] the activity or task of ironing clothes, sheets, etc.

- clothes, sheets, etc. that need to be or have just been ironed.

ironing board n. a long, narrow board covered with soft material and having folding legs, on which clothes, sheets, etc. are ironed.

ironist /r(ə)nst/ n. a person who uses irony.

ironize /r(ə)nz/ (also ironise) v. [with obj.] use ironically: this novel follows and yet ironizes many of the conventions of the picaresque narrative.

Iron Lady the nickname of Margaret Thatcher while she was British Prime Minister.

iron lung n. a rigid case fitted over a patient's body, used for administering prolonged artificial respiration by means of mechanical pumps.

iron maiden n. (in historical contexts) an instrument of torture consisting of a coffin-shaped box lined with iron spikes.

iron man n. (especially in sporting contexts) an exceptionally strong or robust man.

- [often as modifier] TRADEMARK (Ironman) a multi-event sporting contest demanding stamina, in particular a consecutive triathlon of swimming, cycling, and running.

ironmaster n. a manufacturer of iron, especially (in former times) the proprietor of an ironworks.

ironmonger n. BRITISH a person or shop selling hardware such as tools and household implements.

<DERIVATIVES> ironmongery n. (pl. ironmongeries)

iron mould (US iron mold) n. a spot caused by rust or an ink stain, especially on fabric.

iron-on adj. able to be fixed to the surface of a fabric by ironing.

iron ore n. [mass noun] a rock or mineral from which iron can be profitably extracted.

iron pan n. a hardpan in which iron oxides are the chief cementing agents.

iron rations plural n. a small emergency supply of food.

Ironsides a nickname for Oliver Cromwell.

- [as plural n.] (in the English Civil War) Cromwell's cavalry troopers, so called by their Royalist opponents in allusion to their hardiness in battle.

ironstone n. [mass noun] 1 sedimentary rock containing a substantial proportion of iron compounds.

2 [usually as modifier] a kind of dense, opaque stoneware.

ironware n. [mass noun] articles made of iron, typically domestic implements.

ironwood n. any of a number of trees that produce very hard timber, in particular:

<INFO>

- a southern African tree of the olive family (Olea laurifolia, family Oleaceae).

- a North American tree related to the hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana, family Betulaceae).

ironwork n. [mass noun] things or parts made of iron.

ironworks n. [treated as sing. or plural] a place where iron is smelted or iron goods are made.

irony^1 /rəni/ n. (pl. ironies) [mass noun] the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect: ‘Don't go overboard with the gratitude,’ he rejoined with heavy irony.

- a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result: the irony is that I thought he could help me | [count noun] one of life's little ironies.

- (also dramatic or tragic irony) a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character's words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (also denoting Socratic irony): via Latin from Greek eirōneia ‘simulated ignorance’, from eirōn ‘dissembler’.

irony^2 /əni/ adj. of or like iron: an irony grey colour.

Iroquoian n. [mass noun] a language family of eastern North America, including Cherokee and Mohawk. With the exception of Cherokee, all its members are extinct or nearly so.

■ adj. relating to the Iroquois people or the Iroquoian language family.

Iroquois /rəkw -k/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a former confederacy of six American Indian peoples (Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Tuscarora) who lived mainly in southern Ontario and Quebec and northern New York State.

2 [mass noun] any of the Iroquoian languages of these peoples.

■ adj. relating to the Iroquois or their languages.

<ORIGIN> French, from an Algonquian language.

IRQ abbr. Iraq (international vehicle registration).

irradiance n. [mass noun] 1 [PHYSICS] the flux of radiant energy per unit area (normal to the direction of flow of radiant energy through a medium).

2 LITERARY the fact of shining brightly.

irradiant adj. LITERARY shining brightly.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin irradiant- ‘shining upon’, from the verb irradiare (based on radius ‘ray’).

irradiate v. [with obj.] 1 expose (someone or something) to radiation.

- expose (food) to gamma rays to kill micro-organisms.

2 illuminate (something) by or as if by shining light on it: happiness filled her, irradiating her whole face.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘emit rays, shine upon’): from Latin irradiat- ‘shone upon’, from the verb irradiare, from in- ‘upon’ + radiare ‘to shine’ (from radius ‘ray’).

irradiation n. [mass noun] 1 the process or fact of irradiating or being irradiated.

2 [OPTICS] the apparent extension of the edges of an illuminated object seen against a dark background.

irrational adj. 1 not logical or reasonable: irrational feelings of hostility.

- not endowed with the power of reason.

2 [MATHEMATICS] (of a number, quantity, or expression) not expressible as a ratio of two integers, and having an infinite and non-recurring expansion when expressed as a decimal. Examples of irrational numbers are the number π and the square root of 2.

■ n. [MATHEMATICS] an irrational number or quantity; a surd.

<DERIVATIVES> irrationality n. irrationalize (also irrationalise) v. irrationally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin irrationalis, from in- ‘not’ + rationalis (see RATIONAL).

irrationalism n. [mass noun] a system of belief or action that disregards or contradicts rational principles.

<DERIVATIVES> irrationalist n. & adj.

Irrawaddy /rəwdi/ the principal river of Burma (Myanmar), 2,090 km (1,300 miles) long. It flows in a large delta into the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal.

irrebuttable /rbtəb(ə)l/ adj. unable to be rebutted.

irreclaimable adj. not able to be reclaimed or reformed.

<DERIVATIVES> irreclaimably adv.

irreconcilable adj. (of ideas or statements) so different from each other that they cannot be made compatible: these two views of the economy are irreconcilable.

- incapable of being resolved: irreconcilable differences.

- (of people) implacably hostile to each other: irreconcilable enemies.

■ n. (usually irreconcilables) any of two or more ideas or statements that cannot be made compatible.

<DERIVATIVES> irreconcilability n. irreconcilably adv.

irrecoverable adj. not able to be recovered, regained, or remedied: his liquid assets had to be written off as irrecoverable.

<DERIVATIVES> irrecoverably adv.

irrecusable /rkjuzəb(ə)l/ adj. RARE (of evidence or a statement) not able to be challenged or rejected.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via French from late Latin irrecusabilis, from in- ‘not’ + recusabilis ‘that should be refused’ (from the verb recusare).

irredeemable adj. 1 not able to be saved, improved, or corrected: so many irredeemable mistakes have been made.

2 (of securities) on which no date is given for repayment of the capital sum.

<DERIVATIVES> irredeemability /-blti/ n. irredeemably adv.

irredentist /rdεntst/ n. [usually as modifier] a person advocating the restoration to their country of any territory formerly belonging to it.

- HISTORICAL (in 19th-century Italian politics) an advocate of the return to Italy of all Italian-speaking districts subject to other countries.

<DERIVATIVES> irredentism n.

<ORIGIN> from Italian irredentista, from (Italia) irredenta ‘unredeemed (Italy)’.

irreducible adj. not able to be reduced or simplified: literature is often irreducible to normative ideas.

<DERIVATIVES> irreducibility n. irreducibly adv.

irreflexive /rflεksv/ adj. [LOGIC] denoting a relation which never holds between a term and itself.

irreformable adj. (chiefly of religious dogma) unable to be revised or altered.

irrefragable /rεfrəəb(ə)l/ adj. not able to be refuted or disproved; indisputable.

<DERIVATIVES> irrefragably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin irrefragabilis, from in- ‘not’ + refragari ‘oppose’.

irrefrangible /rfran(d)b(ə)l/ adj. RARE (of a rule) inviolable: an irrefrangible law of country etiquette.

irrefutable /rεfjtəb(ə)l rfju-/ adj. impossible to deny or disprove: irrefutable evidence.

<DERIVATIVES> irrefutability n. irrefutably adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin irrefutabilis, from in- ‘not’ + refutabilis (from refutare ‘repel, rebut’).

irregardless adj. & adv. INFORMAL regardless: the photographer always says, irregardless of how his subjects are feeling, ‘Smile!’.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably a blend of IRRESPECTIVE and REGARDLESS.

<USAGE> Irregardless means the same as regardless, but the negative prefix ir- merely duplicates the suffix -less, and is unnecessary. The word dates back to the 19th century, but is regarded as incorrect in standard English.

irregular adj. 1 not even or balanced in shape or arrangement: his strong, irregular features.

- occurring at uneven or varying rates or intervals: an irregular heartbeat.

- [BOTANY] (of a flower) having the petals differing in size and shape; zygomorphic.

2 contrary to the rules or to that which is normal or established: their involvement in irregular financial dealings.

- (of troops) not belonging to regular or established army units.

3 [GRAMMAR] (of a verb or other word) having inflections that do not conform to the usual rules.

■ n. (usually irregulars) 1 a member of an irregular military force.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an imperfect piece of merchandise sold at a reduced price.

<DERIVATIVES> irregularly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘not conforming to rule (especially that of the Church)’): via Old French from medieval Latin irregularis, from in- ‘not’ + regularis (see REGULAR).

irregularity n. (pl. irregularities) [mass noun] the state or quality of being irregular: there is evidence that fraud and irregularity continue on a large scale | the irregularity of his breathing.

- [count noun] (usually irregularities) a thing that is irregular in form or nature: irregularities of the heartbeat | financial irregularities.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French irregularite, from late Latin irregularitas, from irregularis (see IRREGULAR).

irrelative adj. RARE unconnected or unrelated.

- irrelevant.

<DERIVATIVES> irrelatively adv.

irrelevance n. [mass noun] the quality or state of being irrelevant: the document was withheld on grounds of irrelevance.

- [count noun] a person or thing that is irrelevant: he regarded religion as an irrelevance.

<DERIVATIVES> irrelevancy n. (pl. irrelevancies)

irrelevant adj. not connected with or relevant to something: an irrelevant comment | theory can sometimes be hastily dismissed as irrelevant to the classroom.

<DERIVATIVES> irrelevantly adv.

irreligious adj. indifferent or hostile to religion: an irreligious man.

<DERIVATIVES> irreligion n. irreligiously adv. irreligiousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin irreligiosus, from in- ‘not’ + religiosus (see RELIGIOUS).

irremediable /rmidəb(ə)l/ adj. impossible to cure or put right: irremediable marital breakdowns.

<DERIVATIVES> irremediably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin irremediabilis, from in- ‘not’ + remediabilis ‘curable’ (from remedium ‘remedy’).

irremissible adj. 1 (of a crime) unpardonable.

2 (of an obligation or duty) binding.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from ecclesiastical Latin irremissibilis, from in- ‘not’ + remissibilis (from remittere ‘remit’).

irremovable adj. incapable of being removed: the irremovable taint of corruption.

- (of an official) unable to be displaced from office.

<DERIVATIVES> irremovability n. irremovably adv.

irreparable /rεp(ə)rəb(ə)l/ adj. (of an injury or loss) impossible to rectify or repair: they were doing irreparable damage to my heart and lungs.

<DERIVATIVES> irreparability /-blti/ n. irreparably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin irreparabilis, from in- ‘not’ + reparabilis (see REPARABLE).

irreplaceable adj. impossible to replace if lost or damaged: do not send valuable or irreplaceable photographs | some favourite old books are irreplaceable.

<DERIVATIVES> irreplaceably adv.

irrepressible adj. not able to be controlled or restrained: an irrepressible rogue | a great shout of irrepressible laughter.

<DERIVATIVES> irrepressibility n. irrepressibly adv.

irreproachable adj. beyond criticism; faultless: his private life was irreproachable.

<DERIVATIVES> irreproachability n. irreproachably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French irreprochable, from in- ‘not’ + reprochable (from reprocher ‘to reproach’).

irreproducible adj. not reproducible.

irresistible adj. too attractive and tempting to be resisted: he found the delicious-looking cakes irresistible.

- too powerful or convincing to be resisted: she felt an irresistible urge to object.

<DERIVATIVES> irresistibility n. irresistibly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin irresistibilis, from in- ‘not’ + resistibilis (from resistere ‘resist’).

irresoluble /rzljb(ə)l/ adj. unable to be resolved.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin irresolubilis ‘indissoluble’.

irresolute adj. showing or feeling hesitancy; uncertain: she stood irresolute outside his door.

<DERIVATIVES> irresolutely adv. irresoluteness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin irresolutus ‘not loosened’, or from IN-1 ‘not’ + RESOLUTE.

irresolution n. [mass noun] hesitancy; uncertainty: a moment of irresolution.

irresolvable adj. (of a problem or dilemma) impossible to solve or settle.

irrespective adj. (irrespective of) not taking (something) into account; regardless of: child benefit is paid irrespective of income levels.

<DERIVATIVES> irrespectively adv.

irresponsible adj. (of a person, attitude, or action) not showing a proper sense of responsibility: [with infinitive] it would have been irresponsible just to drive on.

<DERIVATIVES> irresponsibility n. irresponsibly adv.

irresponsive adj. not responsive to someone or something.

<DERIVATIVES> irresponsiveness n.

irretrievable adj. not able to be retrieved or put right: the irretrievable breakdown of their marriage.

<DERIVATIVES> irretrievability n. irretrievably adv.

irreverence n. [mass noun] a lack of respect for people or things that are generally taken seriously: an attitude of irreverence towards politicians.

irreverent /rεv(ə)r(ə)nt/ adj. showing a lack of respect for people or things that are generally taken seriously: she is irreverent about the whole business of politics.

<DERIVATIVES> irreverential adj. irreverently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin irreverent- ‘not revering’, from in- ‘not’ + reverent- ‘revering’ (see REVERENT).

irreversible adj. not able to be undone or altered: she suffered irreversible damage to her health.

<DERIVATIVES> irreversibility n. irreversibly adv.

irreversible binomial n. [GRAMMAR] a noun phrase consisting of two nouns joined by a conjunction, in which the conventional order is fixed. Examples include bread and butter and kith and kin.

irrevocable /rεvəkəb(ə)l/ adj. not able to be changed, reversed, or recovered; final: an irrevocable step.

<DERIVATIVES> irrevocability n. irrevocably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin irrevocabilis, from in- ‘not’ + revocabilis ‘able to be revoked’ (from the verb revocare).

irrigate /ret/ v. [with obj.] 1 supply water to (land or crops) to help growth, typically by means of channels.

- (of a river or stream) supply (land) with water.

2 MEDICINE wash out (an organ or wound) with a continuous flow of water or medication.

<DERIVATIVES> irrigable adj. irrigation n. irrigator n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin irrigat- ‘moistened’, from the verb irrigare, from in- ‘into’ + rigare ‘moisten, wet’.

irritability n. [mass noun] the quality or state of being irritable: symptoms include insomnia and irritability.

irritable adj. 1 having or showing a tendency to be easily annoyed: she was tired and irritable.

2 MEDICINE (of a body part) abnormally sensitive.

- (of a condition) caused by such sensitivity.

- [BIOLOGY] (of a living organism) having the property of responding actively to physical stimuli.

<DERIVATIVES> irritably adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin irritabilis, from the verb irritare (see IRRITATE).

irritable bowel syndrome n. [mass noun] a widespread condition involving recurrent abdominal pain and diarrhoea or constipation, often associated with stress, depression, anxiety, or previous intestinal infection.

irritant n. 1 a substance that causes slight inflammation or other discomfort to the body.

2 a thing that is continually annoying or distracting: in 1966 Vietnam was becoming an irritant to the government.

■ adj. causing slight inflammation or other discomfort to the body.

<DERIVATIVES> irritancy n.

irritate v. [with obj.] 1 make (someone) annoyed or a little angry: his tone irritated her.

2 cause inflammation or other discomfort in (a part of the body).

- [BIOLOGY] stimulate (an organism, cell, or organ) to produce an active response.

<DERIVATIVES> irritative adj. irritator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘excite, provoke’): from Latin irritat- ‘irritated’, from the verb irritare.

irritated adj. showing or feeling slight anger; annoyed: the irritated look on Alec's face.

<DERIVATIVES> irritatedly adv.

irritating adj. 1 causing annoyance, impatience, or mild anger: an irritating child.

2 causing irritation to a body part: the substance may be irritating to eyes and skin.

<DERIVATIVES> irritatingly adv.

irritation n. [mass noun] 1 the state of feeling annoyed, impatient, or slightly angry: much to my irritation, Chris fell asleep.

- [count noun] a cause of this: the minor irritations of life.

2 inflammation or other discomfort in a body part caused by reaction to an irritant substance.

- [BIOLOGY] the stimulation of an organism, cell, or organ to produce an active response.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin irritatio(n-), from the verb irritare (see IRRITATE).

irrotational /rəte(ə)n(ə)l/ adj. [PHYSICS] (especially of fluid motion) not rotational; having no rotation.

irrupt /rpt/ v. [no obj.] enter somewhere forcibly or suddenly.

- (of a bird or other animal) migrate into an area in abnormally large numbers.

<DERIVATIVES> irruption n. irruptive adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: (earlier (mid 16th century) as irruption) from Latin irrupt- ‘broken into’, from the verb irrumpere, from in- ‘into’ + rumpere ‘break’.

IRS abbr. (in the US) Internal Revenue Service.

Irtysh /ət/ a river of central Asia, which rises in the Altai Mountains in northern China and flows westwards into NE Kazakhstan, where it turns north-west into Russia, joining the River Ob near its mouth. Its length is 4,248 km (2,655 miles).

Irving^1 /əv/ Sir Henry (1838–1905), English actor-manager; born John Henry Brodribb. He managed the Lyceum Theatre from 1878 to 1902, during which period he entered into a celebrated acting partnership with Ellen Terry.

Irving^2 /əv/ Washington (1783–1859), American writer. He is best known for The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent (1819–20), which contains such tales as ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’.

Irvingite n. a member of the Catholic Apostolic Church, which followed the teachings of Edward Irving (1792–1834), who was originally a minister of the Church of Scotland.

IS abbr. Iceland (international vehicle registration).

<ORIGIN> from Icelandic Ísland.

is third person singular present of BE.

Is. abbr.

- (also Isa.) Isaiah (in biblical references).

- Island(s).

- Isle(s).

ISA n. (in the UK) an individual savings account, a scheme allowing individuals to hold cash, shares, and unit trusts free of tax on dividends, interest, and capital gains; in 1999 it replaced both personal equity plans (PEPs) and tax-exempt special savings accounts (TESSAs).

■ abbr. [COMPUTING] industry standard architecture, a standard for connecting computers and their peripherals.

Isaac /zək/ (in the Bible) a Hebrew patriarch, son of Abraham and Sarah and father of Jacob and Esau.

Isabella I (1451–1504), queen of Castile 1474–1504 and of Aragon 1479–1504. Her marriage in 1469 to Ferdinand of Aragon helped to join together the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, marking the beginning of the unification of Spain. They instituted the Spanish Inquisition (1478) and supported Columbus's famous expedition of 1492.

Isabella of France (1292–1358), daughter of Philip IV of France and wife of Edward II of England (1308–27). After returning to France in 1325, she organized an invasion of England in 1326 with her lover Roger de Mortimer, murdering Edward and replacing him with her son, Edward III. Edward took control in 1330, executing Mortimer and sending Isabella into retirement.

isagogics /sədks/ plural n. [treated as sing.] introductory study, especially of the literary and external history of the Bible prior to exegesis.

<DERIVATIVES> isagogic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: plural of isagogic, via Latin from Greek eisagōgikos, from eisagōgē ‘introduction’, from eis ‘into’ + agein ‘to lead’.

Isaiah /zə/ a major Hebrew prophet of Judah in the 8th century BC, who taught the supremacy of the God of Israel and emphasized the moral demands on worshippers.

- a book of the Bible containing his prophecies (and, it is generally thought, those of at least one later prophet:

■ see DEUTERO-ISAIAH).

isallobar /salə()bα/ n. [METEOROLOGY] a line on a map connecting points at which the barometric pressure has changed by an equal amount during a specified time.

<DERIVATIVES> isallobaric adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + ALLO- ‘other’ + BAR^2.

isatin /sətn/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a red crystalline compound used in the manufacture of dyes.

<INFO> An indole derivative; chem. formula: C_8H_5NO_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin isatis ‘woad’ (from Greek) + -IN^1.

ISBN abbr. international standard book number, a ten-digit number assigned to every book before publication, recording such details as language, provenance, and publisher.

ischaemia /skimə/ (US ischemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an inadequate blood supply to an organ or part of the body, especially the heart muscles.

<DERIVATIVES> ischaemic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (denoting the staunching of bleeding): modern Latin, from Greek iskhaimos ‘stopping blood’, from iskhein ‘keep back’ + haima ‘blood’.

Ischia /skə/ an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy, about 26 km (16 miles) west of Naples.

ischiorrhogic /skə()rdk/ adj. [PROSODY] (of an iambic line) having a spondee as its second, fourth, or sixth foot.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek iskhiorrhōgikos, literally ‘having broken hips, limping’, from iskhion ‘hip joint’ + rhōx, rhōg- ‘broken’.

ischium /skəm/ n. (pl. ischia /-kə/) the curved bone forming the base of each half of the pelvis.

<DERIVATIVES> ischial adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, from Greek iskhion ‘hip joint’, later ‘ischium’.

ISDN abbr. integrated services digital network.

Ise /ise/ a city in central Honshu island, Japan, on Ise Bay; pop. 106,200 (est. 2002). Former name (until 1956) UJIYAMADA.

-ise^2 suffix forming nouns of quality, state, or function: expertise | franchise | merchandise.

<ORIGIN> from Old French -ise, from Latin -itia, -itium.

isentropic /sεntrpk/ adj. [PHYSICS] having equal entropy.

isethionate /siθənet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of isethionic acid.

isethionic acid /siθnk/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a synthetic crystalline acid with detergent and surfactant properties.

<INFO> Alternative name: 2-hydroxyethanesulphonic acid; chem. formula: HOCH_2CH_2SO_3H.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: isethionic, from ISO- ‘equal’ + eth(er) + Greek theion ‘sulphur’ + -IC.

Iseult /zult sult/ a princess in medieval legend. According to one account, she was the sister or daughter of the king of Ireland, the wife of King Mark of Cornwall, and loved by Tristram. In another account, she was the daughter of the king of Brittany and wife of Tristram. Also called ISOLDE.

Isfahan /sfəhαn/ (also Esfahan, Ispahan) an industrial city in central Iran, the country's third-largest city; pop. 1,266,072 (1996). It was the capital of Persia from 1598 until 1722.

ish adv. INFORMAL to some extent: ‘Are you busy?’ ‘Ish’.

-ish^1 suffix forming adjectives: 1 (from nouns) having the qualities or characteristics of: apish | girlish.

- of the nationality of: Swedish.

2 (from adjectives) somewhat: yellowish.

- INFORMAL denoting an approximate age or time of day: sixish.

<ORIGIN> Old English -isc, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse -iskr, German and Dutch -isch, also to Greek -iskos (suffix forming diminutive nouns).

-ish^2 suffix forming verbs such as abolish, establish.

<ORIGIN> from French -iss- (from stems of verbs ending in -ir), from Latin -isc- (suffix forming inceptive verbs); compare with -ish^1.

Isherwood /əwd/ Christopher (William Bradshaw) (1904–86), British-born American novelist. Notable novels: Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935), Goodbye to Berlin (1939; filmed as Cabaret, 1972).

Ishiguro /ərə/ Kazuo (b.1954), Japanese-born British novelist. Notable novels: The Remains of the Day (1989).

Ishihara test /hαrə/ n. a test for colour blindness in which the subject is asked to distinguish numbers or pathways printed in coloured spots on a background of spots of a different colour or colours.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Shinobu Ishihara (1879–1963), Japanese ophthalmologist.

Ishmael /meəl/ (in the Bible) a son of Abraham and Hagar, his wife Sarah's maid, driven away with his mother after the birth of Isaac (Gen. 16:12). Ishmael (or Ismail) is also important in Islamic belief as the traditional ancestor of Muhammad and of the Arab peoples.

<DERIVATIVES> Ishmaelite /məlt/ n.

Ishtar /tα/ a Babylonian and Assyrian goddess of love and war whose name and functions correspond to those of the Phoenician goddess Astarte.

Isidore of Seville, St /zd/ (c.560–636), Spanish archbishop and Doctor of the Church; also called Isidorus Hispalensis. He is noted for his Etymologies, an encyclopedic work used by many medieval authors. Feast day, 4 April.

isinglass /zlαs/ n. [mass noun] 1 a kind of gelatin obtained from fish, especially sturgeon, and used in making jellies, glue, etc. and for fining real ale.

2 chiefly US mica or a similar material in thin transparent sheets.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: alteration (by association with GLASS) of obsolete Dutch huysenblas ‘sturgeon's bladder’, from huysen ‘sturgeon’ + blas ‘bladder’.

Isis /ss/ [EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY] a goddess of fertility, wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Her worship spread to western Asia, Greece, and Rome, where she was identified with various local goddesses.

Iskenderun /skεndərun/ a port and naval base in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast; pop. 180,400 (est. 2002). Formerly named Alexandretta, it lies on or near the site of Alexandria ad Issum, founded by Alexander the Great in 333 BC.

Islam /zlαm zlαm slαm slαm -lam/ n. [mass noun] the religion of the Muslims, a monotheistic faith regarded as revealed through Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah.

- the Muslim world: the most enormous complex of fortifications in all Islam.

Founded in the Arabian peninsula in the 7th century AD, Islam is now the professed faith of more than a billion people worldwide, particularly in North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. The ritual observances and moral code of Islam were said to have been given to Muhammad as a series of revelations, which were codified in the Koran. Islam is regarded by its adherents as the last of the revealed religions, and Muhammad is seen as the last of the prophets, building on and perfecting the examples and teachings of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. There are two major branches in Islam, Sunni and Shia.

<DERIVATIVES> Islamization n. Islamize v. (also Islamise)

<ORIGIN> from Arabic 'islām ‘submission’, from 'aslama ‘submit (to God)’.

Islamabad /zlαməbad/ the capital of Pakistan, a modern planned city in the north of the country, which replaced Rawalpindi as capital in 1967; pop. 529,200 (1998).

Islamic /zlamk zlαmk s-/ adj. relating to Islam: the Islamic world | Islamic law.

<DERIVATIVES> Islamicization n. Islamicize (also Islamicise) v.

Islamic Jihad (also Jehad) a Muslim fundamentalist group within the Shiite Hezbollah association.

Islamism /zləmz(ə)m s-/ (also Islamicism) n. [mass noun] Islamic militancy or fundamentalism.

<DERIVATIVES> Islamist n. & adj.

Islamophobia /zlaməfəbə/ n. [mass noun] a hatred or fear of Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force.

<DERIVATIVES> Islamophobe n. Islamophobic adj.

Island /island/ Icelandic name for ICELAND.

island n. 1 a piece of land surrounded by water.

2 a thing regarded as resembling an island, especially in being isolated, detached, or surrounded in some way: the university is the last island of democracy in this country.

- a traffic island.

3 [ANATOMY] a detached portion of tissue or group of cells. Compare with ISLET.

<ORIGIN> Old English īegland, from īeg ‘island’ (from a base meaning ‘watery, watered’) + LAND. The change in the spelling of the first syllable in the 16th century was due to association with the unrelated word ISLE.

island arc n. [GEOLOGY] a curved chain of volcanic islands located at a tectonic plate margin, typically with a deep ocean trench on the convex side.

island area n. each of three administrative areas in Scotland (Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles), consisting of groups of islands.

islander n. a native or inhabitant of an island.

island-hop v. [no obj.] (usually as n. island-hopping) travel from one island to another, especially as a tourist in an area of small islands.

Islands of the Blessed (in classical mythology) a land, traditionally located near the place where the sun sets, to which the souls of the good were taken to enjoy a life of eternal bliss.

Islay /lə/ a large island which is the southernmost of the Inner Hebrides, south of Jura.

isle n. chiefly LITERARY an island or peninsula, especially a small one: Crusoe's fabled isle | [in place names] the British Isles.

<ORIGIN> Middle English ile, from Old French, from Latin insula. The spelling with s (also in 15th-cent. French) is influenced by Latin.

Isle of Man an island in the Irish Sea which is a British Crown possession having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system; pop. 76,315 (2001); capital, Douglas. The island was part of the Norse kingdom of the Hebrides in the Middle Ages, passing into Scottish hands in 1266 for a time, until the English gained control in the early 15th century. Its ancient language, Manx, is still occasionally used for ceremonial purposes.

Isle of Wight /wt/ an island off the south coast of England, a county since 1974; pop. 132,719 (2001); administrative centre, Newport. It lies at the entrance to Southampton Water and is separated from the mainland by the Solent and Spithead.

Isle of Wight disease n. [mass noun] a disease of bees that is caused by a parasitic mite.

<INFO> The mite is Acarapis woodi, order (or subclass) Acari.

<ORIGIN> so named because it was first observed in the Isle of Wight in 1904.

islesman n. (pl. islesmen) a male native or inhabitant of a group of islands, especially the Hebrides, the Orkneys, or Shetland.

Isles of Scilly another name for the SCILLY ISLES.

islet /lt/ n. 1 a small island.

2 [ANATOMY] a portion of tissue structurally distinct from surrounding tissues.

- (islets)

■ short for ISLETS OF LANGERHANS.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French, diminutive of isle (see ISLE).

islets of Langerhans /laəhanz/ plural n. groups of pancreatic cells secreting insulin and glucagon.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Paul Langerhans (1847–88), the German anatomist who first described them.

ism /z(ə)m/ n. INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY a distinctive practice, system, or philosophy, typically a political ideology or an artistic movement: he loathed isms and any form of dogma.

<DERIVATIVES> ist n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: independent usage of -ISM.

-ism suffix forming nouns: 1 denoting an action or its result: baptism | exorcism.

- denoting a state or quality: barbarism.

2 denoting a system, principle, or ideological movement: Anglicanism | feminism | hedonism.

- denoting a basis for prejudice or discrimination: racism.

3 denoting a peculiarity in language: colloquialism | Americanism.

4 denoting a pathological condition: alcoholism.

<ORIGIN> from French -isme, via Latin from Greek -ismos, -isma.

Ismail Arabic spelling of ISHMAEL.

Ismaili /smili smα-/ n. (pl. Ismailis) a member of a branch of Shiite Muslims that seceded from the main group in the 8th century because of their belief that Ismail, the son of the sixth Shiite imam, should have become the seventh imam.

Ismail Samani Peak /sml səmαni/ one of the principal peaks in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan, rising to 7,495 m (24,590 ft). It was the highest mountain in the Soviet Union. Former names GARMO, MOUNT, STALIN PEAK, COMMUNISM PEAK.

<ORIGIN> named after the 9th-century founder of the Tajik nation.

isn't contraction is not.

ISO^1 International Organization for Standardization.

<ORIGIN> from Greek isos ‘equal’; the term is often erroneously thought to be an abbreviation.

ISO^2 abbr. HISTORICAL (in the UK) Imperial Service Order, awarded to British and commonwealth civil servants (discontinued in 1993).

iso- combining form equal: isochron | isosceles.

- [CHEMISTRY] (chiefly of hydrocarbons) isomeric: isooctane.

<ORIGIN> from Greek isos ‘equal’.

isoagglutination /səəlutne(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSIOLOGY] agglutination of sperms, erythrocytes, or other cells of an individual caused by a substance from another individual of the same species.

isobar /sə()bα/ n. 1 [METEOROLOGY] a line on a map connecting points having the same atmospheric pressure at a given time or on average over a given period.

- [PHYSICS] a curve or formula representing a physical system at constant pressure.

2 [CHEMISTRY] each of two or more isotopes of different elements, with the same atomic weight.

<DERIVATIVES> isobaric adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek isobaros ‘of equal weight’, from isos ‘equal’ + baros ‘weight’.

isobutane /səbjuten/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a gaseous hydrocarbon isomeric with butane.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_3CH(CH_3)2.

isobutyl /səbjutl -tl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the alkyl radical –CH_2CH(CH_3)2, derived from isobutane.

isobutylene /səbjutlin səbjutlin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] an easily liquefied hydrocarbon gas used in the making of butyl rubber.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (CH_3)2C=CH_2.

isocheim /sə()km/ n. [METEOROLOGY] a line on a map connecting points having the same average temperature in winter.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek kheima ‘winter weather’.

isochromatic /sə()krəmatk/ adj. of a single colour.

isochron /sə()krn/ n. chiefly [GEOLOGY] a line on a diagram or map connecting points relating to the same time or equal times.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘isochronous’): from Greek isokhronos, from isos ‘equal’ + khronos ‘time’.

isochronous /skrənəs/ adj. occurring at the same time.

- occupying equal time.

<DERIVATIVES> isochronously adv.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in the sense ‘equal in duration or in frequency’): from modern Latin isochronus (from Greek isokhronos, from isos ‘equal’ + khronos ‘time’) + -OUS.

isoclinal /sə()kln(ə)l/ adj. [GEOLOGY] denoting a fold in which the two limbs are parallel.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (denoting ‘equal magnetic inclination’): from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek klinein ‘to lean, slope’ + -AL.

isocline /sə()kln/ n. a line on a diagram or map connecting points of equal gradient or inclination.

<DERIVATIVES> isoclinic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (denoting an isoclinal line or fold): from Greek isoklinēs ‘equally balanced’, from klinein ‘to lean, slope’.

isoclinic line n. a line on a map connecting points where the dip of the earth's magnetic field is the same.

Isocrates /skrətiz/ (436–338 BC), Athenian orator whose written speeches are among the earliest political pamphlets.

isocratic /sə()kratk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of a chromatographic method) involving a mobile phase whose composition is kept constant and uniform.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek isokratia ‘equality of power’ (from isos ‘equal’ + kratos ‘strength’) + -IC.

isocyanate /sə()sənet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of isocyanic acid.

isocyanic acid /sə()sank/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a volatile pungent liquid, isomeric with cyanic acid.

<INFO> Chem. formula: HNCO. See also FULMINIC ACID.

isocyanide n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing the group –NC bonded to an alkyl group. Such compounds are typically toxic, malodorous liquids.

isodiametric /sə()dəmεtrk/ adj. chiefly [BOTANY] (of a cell, spore, etc.) roughly spherical or polyhedral.

isodynamic adj. [GEOGRAPHY] indicating or connecting points on the earth's surface at which the intensity of the magnetic force is the same.

isoelectric adj. having or involving no net electric charge or difference in electrical potential.

isoelectric focusing n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a technique of electrophoresis in which the resolution is improved by maintaining a pH gradient between the electrodes.

isoelectronic adj. [CHEMISTRY] having the same numbers of electrons or the same electronic structure.

isoenzyme n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] each of two or more enzymes with identical function but different structure.

isoflavone /sə()flevən/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a crystalline compound whose derivatives occur in many plants (especially pulses), often as glycosides.

<INFO> A tricyclic ketone; chem. formula: C_15H_10O_2.

isogamy /səmi/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] sexual reproduction by the fusion of similar gametes. Compare with ANISOGAMY.

<DERIVATIVES> isogamete n. isogamous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek -gamia (from gamos ‘marriage’).

isogenic /sə()dεnk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] (of organisms) having the same or closely similar genotypes.

isogeotherm /sə()diə()θəm/ n. [GEOGRAPHY] a line or plane on a diagram connecting points representing those in the interior of the earth having the same temperature.

<DERIVATIVES> isogeothermal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + GEO- ‘earth’ + Greek thermē ‘heat’.

isogloss /sə()ls/ n. [LINGUISTICS] a line on a map marking an area having a distinct linguistic feature.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek glōssa ‘tongue, word’.

isogonic /sə()nk/ adj. [GEOGRAPHY] indicating or connecting points of the earth's surface at which the magnetic declination is the same.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek isogōnios ‘equiangular’ + -IC.

isohel /sə()hεl/ n. [METEOROLOGY] a line on a map connecting points having the same duration of sunshine.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek hēlios ‘sun’.

isohyet /sə()ht/ n. [METEOROLOGY] a line on a map connecting points having the same amount of rainfall in a given period.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek huetos ‘rain’.

isokinetic /sə()knεtk/ adj. characterized by or producing a constant speed.

- [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to muscular action with a constant rate of movement.

isolate v. [with obj.] 1 cause (a person or place) to be or remain alone or apart from others: a country which is isolated from the rest of the world.

- place (a person or animal) in quarantine as a precaution against infectious or contagious disease.

2 identify (something) and examine or deal with it separately: his difficulty will be to isolate the factors which are most significant.

- cut off the electrical or other connection to (something, especially a part of a supply network).

- [CHEMISTRY] & [BIOLOGY] obtain or extract (a compound, micro-organism, etc.) in a pure form.

■ n. 1 a person or thing which has been or become isolated: social isolates often become careless of their own welfare.

2 [BIOLOGY] a culture of micro-organisms isolated for study.

<DERIVATIVES> isolable adj. isolatable adj. isolator n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (as a verb): back-formation from ISOLATED.

isolated adj. far away from other places, buildings, or people; remote: isolated farms and villages.

- having minimal contact or little in common with others: he lived a very isolated existence.

- single; exceptional: isolated incidents of student unrest.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French isolé, from Italian isolato, from late Latin insulatus ‘made into an island’, from Latin insula ‘island’.

isolating adj. (of a language) tending to have each element as an independent word without inflections.

isolation n. [mass noun] the process or fact of isolating or being isolated: isolation from family and friends may also contribute to anxiety.

- [as modifier] denoting a hospital or ward for patients with contagious or infectious diseases.

- [count noun] an instance of isolating something, especially a compound or micro-organism.

<PHRASES>

□ in isolation without relation to other people or things; separately: environmental problems must not be seen in isolation from social ones.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ISOLATE, partly on the pattern of French isolation.

isolationism n. [mass noun] a policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups, especially the political affairs of other countries.

<DERIVATIVES> isolationist n.

Isolde /zld zəldə/ another name for ISEULT.

isoleucine /sə()lusin/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a hydrophobic amino acid that is a constituent of most proteins. It is an essential nutrient in the diet of vertebrates.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_3CH_2CH(CH_3)CH(NH_2)COOH.

isoline /sə()ln/ n. another term for ISOPLETH.

isomer /səmə/ n. 1 [CHEMISTRY] each of two or more compounds with the same formula but a different arrangement of atoms in the molecule and different properties.

2 [PHYSICS] each of two or more atomic nuclei that have the same atomic number and the same mass number but different energy states.

<DERIVATIVES> isomeric adj. isomerism n. isomerize (also isomerise) v.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek isomerēs ‘sharing equally’, from isos ‘equal’ + meros ‘a share’.

isomerase /smərez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which catalyses the conversion of a specified compound to an isomer.

isomerous /sm(ə)rəs/ adj. [BIOLOGY] having or composed of parts that are similar in number or position.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek isomerēs (see ISOMER) + -OUS.

isometric adj. 1 of or having equal dimensions.

2 [PHYSIOLOGY] relating to or denoting muscular action in which tension is developed without contraction of the muscle.

3 (in technical or architectural drawing) incorporating a method of showing projection or perspective in which the three principal dimensions are represented by three axes 120° apart.

4 [MATHEMATICS] (of a transformation) without change of shape or size.

<DERIVATIVES> isometrically adv. isometry n.

■ isometric (sense 4)

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek isometria ‘equality of measure’ (from isos ‘equal’ + -metria ‘measuring’) + -IC.

isometrics plural n. a system of physical exercises in which muscles are caused to act against each other or against a fixed object.

isomorph /sə()mf/ n. [BIOLOGY] & [CRYSTALLOGRAPHY] a substance or organism that exactly corresponds in form with another.

isomorphic /sə()mfk/ adj. corresponding or similar in form and relations.

- having the same crystalline form.

<DERIVATIVES> isomorphism n. isomorphous adj.

-ison suffix (forming nouns) equivalent to -ATION (as in comparison, jettison).

<ORIGIN> from Old French -aison, -eison, etc., from Latin -atio(n)-.

isoniazid /sə()nəzd/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic compound used as a bacteriostatic drug, chiefly to treat tuberculosis.

<INFO> A derivative of nicotinic acid and hydrazine; chem. formula: C_5H_5NCONHNH_2.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ISO- ‘equal’ + ni(cotinic) + (hydr)azine + -IDE.

isonitrile /sə()ntrl/ n. [CHEMISTRY] another term for ISOCYANIDE.

isooctane /səkten/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a liquid hydrocarbon present in petroleum. It serves as a standard in the system of octane numbers.

<INFO> Chem. formula: (CH_3)3CCH_2CH(CH_3)CH_3.

isopach /sə()pak/ n. [GEOLOGY] a line on a map or diagram connecting points beneath which a particular stratum or group of strata has the same thickness.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek pakhus ‘thick’.

isophote /sə()fət/ n. a line in a diagram connecting points where the intensity of light is the same.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek phōs, phōt- ‘light’.

isopleth /sə()plεθ/ n. [METEOROLOGY] a line on a map connecting points having equal incidence of a specified meteorological feature.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek isoplēthēs ‘equal in quantity’, from Greek isos ‘equal’ + plēthos ‘multitude, quantity’.

isopod n. [ZOOLOGY] a crustacean of the order Isopoda, such as a woodlouse.

Isopoda /səpədə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of mainly aquatic crustaceans that includes the woodlice and sea slaters. They have a flattened segmented body with seven similar pairs of legs, and many kinds are marine.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek isos ‘equal’ + pous, pod- ‘foot’.

isoprenaline /sə()prεnəlin/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a synthetic derivative of adrenalin, used for the relief of bronchial asthma and pulmonary emphysema.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from elements of the systematic name N-isopropylnoradrenaline.

isoprene /sə()prin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a volatile liquid hydrocarbon obtained from petroleum, whose molecule forms the basic structural unit of natural and synthetic rubbers.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_2=C(CH_3)CH=CH_2.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: apparently from ISO- ‘equal’ + pr(opyl)ene.

isopropanol /sə()prəpənl/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a liquid alcohol, used as a solvent and in the industrial production of acetone.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_3CHOHCH_3.

isopropyl /səprəpl -pl/ n. [as modifier] [CHEMISTRY] of or denoting the alkyl radical –CH(CH_3)2, derived from propane by removal of a hydrogen atom from the middle carbon atom.

isopropyl alcohol n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] another term for ISOPROPANOL.

isoproterenol /sə()prətərinl/ n. another term for ISOPRENALINE.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from elements of the semi-systematic name N-isopropylarterenol.

Isoptera /sptərə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of insects that comprises the termites.

<DERIVATIVES> isopteran n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek isos ‘equal’ + pteron ‘wing’.

isopycnal /sə()pkn(ə)l/ adj. [OCEANOGRAPHY] (especially of an imaginary line or surface on a map or chart) connecting points in the ocean where the water has the same density.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek puknos ‘dense’ + -AL.

isopycnic /sə()pknk/ adj. [BIOCHEMISTRY] of or denoting ultracentrifugal separation techniques making use of differences in density between the components of a mixture.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek puknos ‘dense’ + -IC.

isorhythmic adj. [MUSIC] (of a composition or part) in which the rhythm is often repeated but the pitch of the notes is varied each time.

isosbestic point /sə()sbεstk/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a wavelength at which the absorption of light by a mixed solution remains constant as the equilibrium between the components in the solution changes.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: isosbestic from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek sbestos ‘extinguished’ (from sbennunai ‘quench’) + -IC.

isosceles /ssliz/ adj. (of a triangle) having two sides of equal length.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via late Latin from Greek isoskelēs, from isos ‘equal’ + skelos ‘leg’.

isoseismal /sə()szm(ə)l/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting lines on a map connecting places where an earthquake was experienced with equal strength.

<DERIVATIVES> isoseismic adj.

isosmotic /szmtk/ adj. [BIOLOGY] having the same osmotic pressure.

isospin /sə()spn/ n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] a vector quantity or quantum number assigned to subatomic particles and atomic nuclei and having values such that similar particles differing only in charge-related properties (independent of the strong interaction between particles) can be treated as different states of a single particle.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: contraction of isotopic spin, isobaric spin.

isostasy /sstəsi/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] the equilibrium that exists between parts of the earth's crust, which behaves as if it consists of blocks floating on the underlying mantle, rising if material (such as an ice cap) is removed and sinking if material is deposited.

<DERIVATIVES> isostatic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek stasis ‘station’.

isotactic /sə()taktk/ adj. [CHEMISTRY] denoting a polymer in which all the repeating units have the same stereochemical configuration.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek taktos ‘arranged’ + -IC.

isothere /sə()θə/ n. [METEOROLOGY] a line on a map connecting points having the same average temperature in summer.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French isothère, from Greek isos ‘equal’ + theros ‘summer’.

isotherm /sə()θəm/ n. a line on a map connecting points having the same temperature at a given time or on average over a given period.

- [PHYSICS] a curve on a diagram joining points representing states of equal temperature.

<DERIVATIVES> isothermal adj. & n. isothermally adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French isotherme, from Greek isos ‘equal’ + thermē ‘heat’.

isothiocyanate /sə()θə()sənet/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound containing the group –N=C=S as a substituent or ligand.

isotonic /sə()tnk/ adj. 1 [PHYSIOLOGY] (of muscle action) taking place with normal contraction.

2 [PHYSIOLOGY] denoting or relating to a solution having the same osmotic pressure as some other solution, especially one in a cell or a body fluid.

3 (of a drink) containing essential salts and minerals in the same concentration as in the body and intended to replace those lost as a result of sweating during vigorous exercise.

<DERIVATIVES> isotonically adv. isotonicity n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (as a musical term designating a system of tuning, characterized by equal intervals): from Greek isotonos, from isos ‘equal’ + tonos ‘tone’.

isotope /sətəp/ n. [CHEMISTRY] each of two or more forms of the same element that contain equal numbers of protons but different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei, and hence differ in relative atomic mass but not in chemical properties; in particular, a radioactive form of an element.

<DERIVATIVES> isotopic adj. isotopically adv. isotopy n.

<ORIGIN> 1913: coined by F. Soddy, from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek topos ‘place’ (because the isotopes occupy the same place in the periodic table of elements).

isotropic /sə()trpk/ adj. [PHYSICS] (of an object or substance) having a physical property which has the same value when measured in different directions. Often contrasted with ANISOTROPIC.

- (of a property or phenomenon) not varying in magnitude according to the direction of measurement.

<DERIVATIVES> isotropically adv. isotropy /strəpi/ n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from ISO- ‘equal’ + Greek tropos ‘a turn’ + -IC.

isozyme /sə()zm/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for ISOENZYME.

ISP abbr. Internet service provider.

ispaghula /spəulə/ (also ispaghul /spəul/, isabgul /səbul/) n. [mass noun] the dried seeds of a southern Asian plantain, chiefly used medicinally in the treatment of dysentery.

<INFO> The plantain is Plantago ovata, family Plantaginaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Persian and Urdu ispaġol, from asp ‘horse’ + ġol ‘ear’ (because of the shape of the leaves).

I spy n. [mass noun] a children's game in which one player specifies the first letter of an object they can see, the other players then having to guess the identity of this object.

Israel^1 /zreəl/ 1 (also children of Israel) the Hebrew nation or people. According to tradition they are descended from the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob (also named Israel).

2 the northern kingdom of the Hebrews (c.930–721 BC), formed after the reign of Solomon, whose inhabitants were carried away to captivity in Assyria. See also Judah (sense 2).

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew Yiśrā'ēl ‘he that strives with God’ (see Gen. 32:28).

Israel^2 /zreəl/ a country in the Middle East, on the Mediterranean Sea; pop. 6,029,529 (est. 2002); languages, Hebrew (official), English, Arabic; capital (not recognized as such by the United Nations), Jerusalem.

The modern state of Israel was established as a Jewish homeland in 1948, on land that was at that time part of the British mandated territory of Palestine. Israel was immediately attacked by the surrounding Arab states, which it defeated. The continuing conflict with the neighbouring Arabs, mainly over the rights of the Palestinians displaced from their homes or living under Israeli rule, has caused continual tension and intermittent terrorist and military activity. Further wars occurred in 1956, 1967, and 1973, which resulted in Israeli occupation of eastern Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights. In 1993 Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed an agreement for limited Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but this proved unsuccessful in bringing about an end to conflict. See also PALESTINE.

Israeli /zreli/ adj. relating to the modern country of Israel.

■ n. (pl. Israelis) a native or national of Israel, or a person of Israeli descent.

Israelite /zrəlt/ n. a member of the ancient Hebrew nation, especially in the period from the Exodus to the Babylonian Captivity (c.12th to 6th centuries BC).

- an old-fashioned and sometimes offensive term for a Jew.

■ adj. relating to the Israelites.

<ORIGIN> via late Latin from Greek Israēlitēs.

Israfel /zrəfεl/ (in Muslim tradition) the angel who will sound the trumpet on the Day of Judgement.

Issa /isα/ n. (pl. same or Issas) a member of a Somali people living in the Republic of Djibouti.

■ adj. relating to the Issa.

<ORIGIN> the name in Somali.

Issachar /səkə/ (in the Bible) a Hebrew patriarch, son of Jacob and Leah (Gen. 30:18).

- the tribe of Israel traditionally descended from him.

issei /ise/ n. (pl. same) NORTH AMERICAN a Japanese immigrant to North America. Compare with NISEI and SANSEI.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, literally ‘generation’.

Issigonis /səns/ Sir Alec (Arnold Constantine) (1906–88), Turkish-born British car designer. His most famous designs were the Morris Minor (1948) and the Mini (1959).

ISSN abbr. international standard serial number, an eight-digit number assigned to many serial publications such as newspapers, magazines, annuals, and series of books.

issuant /(j)ənt sj-/ adj. [predic.] [HERALDRY] (of the upper part of an animal) shown rising up or out from another bearing, especially from the bottom of a chief or from behind a fess.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from ISSUE + -ANT (on the pattern of French present participles ending in -ant).

issue /(j)u sju/ n. 1 an important topic or problem for debate or discussion: the issue of racism | raising awareness of environmental issues.

- (issues) INFORMAL personal problems or difficulties: emotions and intimacy issues that were largely dealt with through alcohol.

2 [mass noun] the action of supplying or distributing an item for use, sale, or official purposes: the issue of notes by the Bank of England.

- [count noun] a number or set of items distributed at one time: a share issue has been launched.

3 each of a regular series of publications: the December issue of the magazine.

4 a result or outcome of something: the chance of carrying such a scheme to a successful issue was small.

5 [mass noun] FORMAL or [LAW] children of one's own: the earl died without male issue.

6 the action of flowing or coming out: a point of issue.

■ v. (issues, issuing, issued) 1 [with obj.] supply or distribute (something) for use or sale: licences were issued indiscriminately to any company | Christmas stamps to be issued in November.

- (issue someone with) supply someone with (something): everyone was issued with a gas mask.

- formally send out or make known: the minister issued a statement.

2 [no obj.] (issue from) come, go, or flow out from: exotic smells issued from a nearby building.

- result or be derived from: the struggles of history issue from the divided heart of humanity.

<PHRASES>

□ at issue under discussion; in dispute.

□ make an issue of treat too seriously or as a problem.

□ take issue with disagree with; challenge: she takes issue with the notion of crime as unique to contemporary society.

<DERIVATIVES> issuable adj. issuance n. issueless adj. issuer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘outflowing’): from Old French, based on Latin exitus, past participle of exire ‘go out’.

issue of fact n. [LAW] a dispute in court in which the significance of a fact or facts is denied.

issue of law n. [LAW] a dispute in court in which the application of the law is contested.

-ist suffix forming personal nouns and some related adjectives: 1 denoting an adherent of a system of beliefs, principles, etc. expressed by nouns ending in -ism: hedonist | Calvinist. See -ism (sense 2).

- denoting a person who subscribes to a prejudice or practises discrimination: sexist.

2 denoting a member of a profession or business activity: dentist | dramatist | florist.

- denoting a person who uses a thing: flautist | motorist.

- denoting a person who does something expressed by a verb ending in -ize: plagiarist.

<ORIGIN> from Old French -iste, Latin -ista, from Greek -istēs.

-ista suffix INFORMAL forming nouns denoting a person associated with a particular activity, often with a derogatory force: fashionista.

<ORIGIN> from the Spanish ending -ista, as in SANDINISTA.

Istanbul /stanbl/ a port in Turkey on the Bosporus, lying partly in Europe, partly in Asia; pop. 9,216,400 (est. 2002). Formerly the Roman city of Constantinople (330–1453), it was built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium. It was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 and was the capital of Turkey from that time until 1923.

<ORIGIN> Turkish, from Greek eis tēn polin ‘into the city’.

isthmian /sθmən stm- sm-/ adj. relating to an isthmus.

- (Isthmian) relating to the Isthmus of Corinth in southern Greece.

Isthmian games games held by the ancient Greeks every other year near the Isthmus of Corinth.

isthmus /sθməs stməs sməs/ n. (pl. isthmuses) 1 a narrow strip of land with sea on either side, forming a link between two larger areas of land.

2 (pl. isthmi) [ANATOMY] a narrow organ, passage, or piece of tissue connecting two larger parts.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek isthmos.

ISV abbr. independent software vendor.

IT abbr. information technology.

it^1 pron. [third person singular] 1 used to refer to a thing previously mentioned or easily identified: a room with two beds in it | this approach is refreshing because it breaks down barriers.

- referring to an animal or child of unspecified sex: she was holding the baby, cradling it and smiling into its face.

- referring to a fact or situation previously mentioned, known, or happening: stop it, you're hurting me.

2 used to identify a person: it's me | it's a boy!

3 used in the normal subject position in statements about time, distance, or weather: it's half past five | it was two miles to the island | it's raining.

4 used in the normal subject or object position when a more specific subject or object is given later in the sentence: it is impossible to assess the problem | she found it interesting to learn about their strategy.

5 [with clause] used to emphasize a following part of a sentence: it is the child who is the victim.

6 the situation or circumstances; things in general: no one can stay here—it's too dangerous now | he would like to see you straight away if it's convenient.

7 exactly what is needed or desired: they thought they were it | you've either got it or you haven't.

8 (usually ‘it’) INFORMAL sexual intercourse or sex appeal.

9 (usually ‘it’) (in children's games) the player who has to catch the others.

<PHRASES>

□ at it see at^1.

□ that's it 1 that is the main point or difficulty: ‘Is she going?’ ‘That's just it—she can't make up her mind.’.

2 that is enough or the end: okay, that's it, you've cried long enough.

□ this is it 1 the expected event is about to happen: this is it—the big sale.

2 this is enough or the end: this is it, I'm going.

3 this is the main point or difficulty.

<ORIGIN> Old English hit, neuter of HE, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch het.

it^2 n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED Italian vermouth: he poured a gin and it.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: abbreviation.

ITA abbr. initial teaching alphabet.

Itaipu /itpu/ a dam on the Paraná River in SW Brazil, one of the world's largest hydroelectric installations, formally opened in 1982.

ital /tal/ n. [mass noun] (in Rastafarian culture) organically grown vegetarian food, cooked without salt.

<ORIGIN> from I (used by Rastafarians to signify value) + VITAL or VITTLE.

ital. abbr. italic (used as an instruction for a typesetter).

Italia /italja/ Italian name for ITALY.

Italian adj. relating to Italy, its people, or their language.

■ n. 1 a native or national of Italy, or a person of Italian descent.

2 [mass noun] the Romance language of Italy, descended from Latin and with roughly 60 million speakers worldwide. It is also one of the official languages of Switzerland.

<DERIVATIVES> Italianist n. Italianize (also Italianise) v.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Italian italiano, from Italia ‘Italy’.

Italianate adj. Italian in character or appearance: an Italianate staircase with triple loggia.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Italian italianato, from Italia ‘Italy’.

Italian garden n. a type of garden characterized by clipped trees, box-edged beds of flowers, paved paths, statues, fountains, etc., and often arranged in terraces.

Italianism n. 1 an Italian characteristic, expression, or custom.

2 [mass noun] attachment to Italy or Italian ideas or practices.

Italian parsley n. another term for FLAT-LEAVED PARSLEY.

Italian vermouth n. [mass noun] a type of bitter-sweet vermouth made in Italy.

Italic /talk/ adj. relating to or denoting the branch of Indo-European languages that includes Latin, Oscan, Umbrian, and the Romance languages.

■ n. [mass noun] the Italic group of languages.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via Latin from Greek Italikos, from Italia ‘Italy’.

italic /talk/ adj. of the sloping kind of typeface used especially for emphasis or distinction and in foreign words.

- (of handwriting) modelled on 16th-century Italian handwriting, typically cursive and sloping and with elliptical or pointed letters.

■ n. (also italics) [mass noun] an italic typeface or letter: the key words are in italics.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the general sense ‘Italian’): via Latin from Greek Italikos, from Italia ‘Italy’. Senses relating to writing date from the early 17th cent.

italicize /talsz/ (also italicise) v. [with obj.] print (text) in italics.

<DERIVATIVES> italicization n.

Italiot /talət/ n. an inhabitant of any of the Greek colonies in ancient Italy.

■ adj. relating to these people.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Italiōtēs, from Italia ‘Italy’.

Italo- /tələ talə/ combining form Italian; Italian and …: Italophile | Italo-Grecian.

- relating to Italy.

Italy a country in southern Europe; pop. 57,715,625 (est. 2002); official language, Italian; capital, Rome. Italian name ITALIA.

Italy was united under Rome from the 1st century BC to the collapse of the empire in AD 476. In the Middle Ages it was dominated by several city states and the papacy and was the centre of the Renaissance. Modern Italy was created in the mid 19th century by a movement led by Garibaldi; the Sardinian monarch, Victor Emmanuel II, became king of Italy in 1861. Italy entered the First World War on the Allied side in 1915. In 1922 the country was taken over by the Fascist dictator Mussolini; participation in support of Germany during the Second World War resulted in defeat and Mussolini's downfall. Italy was a founder member of the EEC.

Itanagar /itənə/ a city in the far north-east of India, north of the Brahmaputra River, capital of the state of Arunachal Pradesh; pop. 35,000 (2001).

ITAR-Tass /tα/ the official news agency of Russia, founded in 1925 in Leningrad as Tass, and renamed in 1992.

<ORIGIN> from the initials of Russian Informatsionnoe telegrafnoe agentstvo Rossii ‘Information Telegraph Agency of Russia’, + TASS.

ITC abbr. HISTORICAL Independent Television Commission.

itch n. [usually in sing.] an uncomfortable sensation on the skin that causes a desire to scratch.

- [mass noun] [usually with modifier] a skin disease or condition of which itching is a symptom.

- INFORMAL a restless or strong desire to do something: an itch to write fiction.

■ v. [no obj.] be the site of or cause an itch: the bite itched like crazy.

- (of a person) experience an itch: I itched all over.

- INFORMAL feel a restless or strong desire to do something: [with infinitive] Paul was itching to get outside.

<PHRASES>

□ an itching palm an avaricious nature.

<ORIGIN> Old English gycce (noun), gyccan (verb), of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch jeuk (noun) and Dutch jeuken, German jucken (verb).

itching powder n. [mass noun] a powder used to make someone's skin itch, typically as a practical joke.

itch mite n. a parasitic mite which burrows under the skin, causing scabies in humans and sarcoptic mange in animals.

<INFO> Sarcoptes scabiei, family Sarcoptidae.

itchy adj. (itchier, itchiest) having or causing an itch: dry, itchy skin | an itchy rash.

<PHRASES>

□ get (or have) itchy feet INFORMAL have or develop a strong urge to travel or move from place to place.

<DERIVATIVES> itchiness n.

it'd contraction it had: it'd been there for years.

- it would: it'd be great to see you.

-ite^1 suffix 1 forming names denoting natives of a country: Israelite.

- often DEROGATORY denoting followers of a movement, doctrine, etc.: Luddite | Thatcherite.

2 used in scientific and technical terms:

- forming names of fossil organisms: ammonite.

- forming names of minerals: graphite.

- forming names of constituent parts of a body or organ: somite.

- forming names of explosives and other commercial products: dynamite | vulcanite.

- [CHEMISTRY] forming names of salts or esters of acids ending in -ous: sulphite.

<ORIGIN> from French -ite, via Latin -ita from Greek ītes.

-ite^2 suffix 1 forming adjectives such as composite, erudite.

2 forming nouns such as appetite.

3 forming verbs such as unite.

<ORIGIN> from Latin -itus, past participle of verbs ending in -ere and -ire.

item n. an individual article or unit, especially one that is part of a list, collection, or set: the items on the agenda | an item of clothing.

- a piece of news or information.

- an entry in an account.

■ adv. ARCHAIC used to introduce each item in a list: item two statute books … item two drums.

<PHRASES>

□ be an item INFORMAL (of a couple) be involved in an established romantic or sexual relationship.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adverb): from Latin, ‘in like manner, also’. The noun sense arose (late 16th century) from the use of the adverb to introduce each statement in a list.

itemize (also itemise) v. [with obj.] present as a list of individual items: I have itemized the morning's tasks.

- break down (a whole) into its constituent parts.

- specify (an individual item or items).

<DERIVATIVES> itemization /-ze(ə)n/ n. itemizer n.

iterate /təret/ v. [with obj.] perform or utter repeatedly.

- [no obj.] make repeated use of a mathematical or computational procedure, applying it each time to the result of the previous application; perform iteration.

■ n. [MATHEMATICS] a quantity arrived at by iteration.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin iterat- ‘repeated’, from the verb iterare, from iterum ‘again’.

iteration n. [mass noun] the repetition of a process or utterance.

- repetition of a mathematical or computational procedure applied to the result of a previous application, typically as a means of obtaining successively closer approximations to the solution of a problem.

- [count noun] a new version of a piece of computer hardware or software.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin iteratio(n-), from the verb iterare (see ITERATE).

iterative adj. relating to or involving iteration, especially of a mathematical or computational process.

- [LINGUISTICS] denoting a grammatical rule that can be applied repeatedly.

- [GRAMMAR] another term for FREQUENTATIVE.

<DERIVATIVES> iteratively adv.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from French itératif, -ive, from Latin iterare ‘to repeat’; the grammar term is from late Latin iterativus.

It girl n. INFORMAL a young woman who has achieved celebrity because of her socialite lifestyle.

<ORIGIN> coined by the American screenwriter Elinor Glyn (1864–1943) with reference to the American actress and sex symbol Clara Bow, who made her name in such films as It (1927). The current use dates from the 1960s.

Ithaca /θəkə/ an island off the western coast of Greece in the Ionian Sea, the legendary home of Odysseus.

ithyphallic /θfalk/ adj. (especially of a statue or other representation of a deity) having an erect penis.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (as a noun denoting a sexually explicit poem): via late Latin from Greek ithuphallikos, from ithus ‘straight’ + phallos ‘phallus’.

-itic suffix forming adjectives and nouns corresponding to nouns ending in -ite (such as Semitic corresponding to Semite).

- corresponding to nouns ending in -itis (such as arthritic corresponding to arthritis).

- from other bases: syphilitic.

<ORIGIN> from French -itique, via Latin -iticus from Greek -itikos.

itinerant /tn(ə)r(ə)nt -/ adj. travelling from place to place: itinerant traders.

■ n. a person who travels from place to place.

<DERIVATIVES> itineracy n. itinerancy n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (used to describe a judge travelling on a circuit): from late Latin itinerant- ‘travelling’, from the verb itinerari, from Latin iter, itiner- ‘journey, road’.

itinerary /tn(ə)(rə)ri -/ n. (pl. itineraries) a planned route or journey.

- a travel document recording a route or journey.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin itinerarium, neuter of itinerarius ‘of a journey or roads’, from Latin iter, itiner- ‘journey, road’.

itinerate /tnəret -/ v. [no obj.] (especially of a Church minister or a magistrate) travel from place to place to perform one's professional duty.

<DERIVATIVES> itineration n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin itinerat- ‘travelled’, from the verb itinerari (see ITINERANT).

-ition suffix (forming nouns) equivalent to -ATION (as in audition, rendition).

<ORIGIN> from French, or from Latin -itio(n)-.

-itious^1 suffix forming adjectives corresponding to nouns ending in -ition (such as ambitious corresponding to ambition).

<ORIGIN> from Latin -itiosus.

-itious^2 suffix (forming adjectives) related to; having the nature of: fictitious | suppositious.

<ORIGIN> from late Latin -itius, alteration of Latin -icius.

-itis suffix forming names of inflammatory diseases: cystitis | hepatitis.

- INFORMAL used with reference to a tendency or state of mind that is compared to a disease: creditcarditis.

<ORIGIN> from Greek feminine form of adjectives ending in -itēs (combined with nosos ‘disease’ implied).

-itive suffix (forming adjectives) equivalent to -ATIVE (as in genitive, positive).

<ORIGIN> from French -itif, -itive or Latin -itivus (from past participial stems ending in -it).

it'll contraction it shall; it will.

ITN abbr. (in the UK) Independent Television News.

Ito /itə/ Prince Hirobumi (1841–1909), Japanese statesman, Premier four times between 1884 and 1901. He was prominent in drafting the Japanese constitution (1889) and helped to establish a bicameral national diet (1890). He was assassinated by a member of the Korean independence movement.

-itous suffix forming adjectives corresponding to nouns ending in -ity (such as calamitous corresponding to calamity).

<ORIGIN> from French -iteux, from Latin -itosus.

its possessive determiner belonging to or associated with a thing previously mentioned or easily identified: turn the camera on its side | he chose the area for its atmosphere.

- belonging to or associated with a child or animal of unspecified sex: a baby in its mother's womb.

<USAGE> A common error in writing is to confuse the possessive its (as in turn the camera on its side) with the contraction it's (short for either it is or it has, as in it's my fault; it's been a hot day). The confusion is at least partly understandable since other possessive forms (singular nouns) do take an apostrophe + -S, as in the girl's bike; the President's smile.

it's contraction it is: it's my fault.

- it has: it's been a hot day.

itself pron. [third person singular] 1 [reflexive] used as the object of a verb or preposition to refer to a thing or animal previously mentioned as the subject of the clause: his horse hurt itself | the company has established itself as a leader in the field.

2 [emphatic] used to emphasize a particular thing or animal mentioned: the roots are several inches long, though the plant itself is only a foot tall.

- used after a quality to emphasize what a perfect example of that quality someone or something is: Mrs Vincent was kindness itself.

<PHRASES>

□ by itself see BY ONESELF at by.

□ in itself viewed in its essential qualities; considered separately from other things: some would say bringing up a family was a full-time job in itself.

<ORIGIN> Old English (see it^1, self).

itsy-bitsy (also itty-bitty) adj. INFORMAL very small; tiny.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from a child's form of LITTLE + bitsy (from BIT^1 + -SY).

ITU abbr.

- British intensive therapy unit.

- International Telecommunication Union.

ITV abbr.

- (in the UK) Independent Television.

- (also iTV) interactive television.

-ity suffix forming nouns denoting quality or condition: humility | probity.

- denoting an instance or degree of this: a profanity.

<ORIGIN> from French -ité, from Latin -itas, -itatis.

IU abbr. international unit.

IUCN abbr. International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

IUD abbr.

- intrauterine death (of the fetus before birth).

- intrauterine device.

-ium suffix 1 forming nouns adopted unchanged from Latin (such as alluvium) or based on Latin or Greek words (such as euphonium).

2 (also -um) forming names of metallic elements: cadmium | magnesium.

3 denoting a region of the body: pericardium.

4 denoting a biological structure: mycelium.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin in sense 2, sense 3, sense 4, via Latin from Greek -ion.

IUPAC abbr. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

IV abbr. intravenous or intravenously.

Ivan^1 /v(ə)n/ the name of six rulers of Russia:

- Ivan I (c.1304–41), grand duke of Muscovy 1328–40. He strengthened and enlarged the duchy, making Moscow the ecclesiastical capital in 1326.

- Ivan II (1326–59), grand duke of Muscovy 1353–9; known as Ivan the Red.

- Ivan III (1440–1505), grand duke of Muscovy 1462–1505; known as Ivan the Great. He consolidated and enlarged his territory, defending it against a Tartar invasion in 1480 and adopting the title ‘Ruler of all Russia’ in 1472.

- Ivan IV (1530–84), grand duke of Muscovy 1533–47 and first tsar of Russia 1547–84; known as Ivan the Terrible. He captured Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, but the Tartar siege of Moscow and the Polish victory in the Livonian War (1558–82) left Russia weak and divided. In 1581 he killed his eldest son Ivan in a fit of rage, the succession passing to his mentally disturbed second son Fyodor.

- Ivan V (1666–96), nominal tsar of Russia 1682–96.

- Ivan VI (1740–64), infant tsar of Russia 1740–1.

Ivan^2 /v(ə)n/ n. INFORMAL a Russian man, especially a Russian soldier.

I've contraction I have.

-ive suffix (forming adjectives, also nouns derived from them) tending to; having the nature of: active | corrosive | palliative.

<DERIVATIVES> -ively suffix forming corresponding adverbs. -iveness suffix forming corresponding nouns.

<ORIGIN> from French -if, -ive, from Latin -ivus.

ivermectin /vəmεktn/ n. [mass noun] a compound of the avermectin group, used as an anthelmintic in veterinary medicine and as a treatment for river blindness.

Ives /vz/ Charles (Edward) (1874–1954), American composer, noted for his use of polyrhythms, polytonality, quarter-tones, and aleatoric techniques. Notable works: The Unanswered Question (chamber work, 1906) and Three Places in New England (for orchestra, 1903–14).

IVF abbr. in vitro fertilization.

ivied adj. covered in ivy: the ivied rectory.

- US relating to the academic institutions of the Ivy League.

IVM abbr. in vitro maturation, a fertility treatment in which immature eggs are extracted from a woman's body and matured in a laboratory before being fertilized.

Ivorian adj. relating to Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) or its people.

■ n. a native or inhabitant of Côte d'Ivoire.

ivorine /vərin -n/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK an artificial product resembling ivory in colour or texture.

Ivory James (b.1928), American film director. He has made a number of films in partnership with the producer Ismail Merchant, including Heat and Dust (1983) and Howard's End (1992).

ivory n. (pl. ivories) [mass noun] 1 a hard creamy-white substance composing the main part of the tusks of an elephant, walrus, or narwhal, often (especially formerly) used to make ornaments and other articles.

- [count noun] an object made of ivory.

- (the ivories) INFORMAL the keys of a piano: Derek tinkled the ivories for us.

- (ivories) INFORMAL a person's teeth.

2 the creamy-white colour of ivory: [as modifier] an ivory silk blouse.

<DERIVATIVES> ivoried adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French ivurie, based on Latin ebur.

ivory black n. [mass noun] a black carbon pigment made from charred ivory or (now usually) bone, used in drawing and painting.

Ivory Coast another name for Côte d'Ivoire.

ivory nut n. the seed of a tropical American palm, which, when hardened, is a source of vegetable ivory. Also called TAGUA NUT.

<INFO> The palm is Phytelephas macrocarpa, family Palmae.

ivory tower n. a state of privileged seclusion or separation from the facts and practicalities of the real world: the ivory tower of academia.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: translating French tour d'ivoire, used by the writer Sainte-Beuve.

ivy n. [mass noun] a woody evergreen Eurasian climbing plant, typically having shiny, dark green five-pointed leaves.

<INFO> Genus Hedera, family Araliaceae: several species, in particular the common H. helix, which is often seen climbing on tree trunks and walls.

- used in names of similar climbing plants, e.g. poison ivy, Boston ivy.

<ORIGIN> Old English īfig, of Germanic origin; related to the first elements of Dutch eiloof and German Efeu.

Ivy League n. a group of long-established universities in the eastern US having high academic and social prestige. It includes Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia.

<ORIGIN> with reference to the ivy traditionally growing over the walls of these establishments.

IWC abbr. International Whaling Commission.

iwi /iwi/ n. (pl. same) NZ a Maori community or people.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

Iwo Jima /iwə dimə/ a small volcanic island, the largest of the Volcano Islands in the western Pacific, 1,222 km (760 miles) south of Tokyo. During the Second World War it was the heavily fortified site of a Japanese airbase, and its attack and capture in 1944–5 was one of the severest US campaigns. It was returned to Japan in 1968.

IWW abbr. Industrial Workers of the World.

ixia /ksə/ n. a South African plant of the iris family, which bears showy six-petalled starlike flowers on tall wiry stems and has sword-shaped leaves.

<INFO> Genus Ixia, family Iridaceae: many cultivars.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin, denoting a kind of thistle, from Greek.

Ixion /ksən/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a king punished by Zeus for attempting to seduce Hera by being pinned to a fiery wheel that revolved unceasingly through the underworld.

ixnay /ksne/ US INFORMAL exclam. (ixnay on/to) used in rejecting something specified: ixnay to corporate control!

■ v. [with obj.] cancel or stop: the group has ixnayed the rest of its North American tour.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: pig Latin for nix^1.

ixtle /kstli/ (also istle) n. [mass noun] (in Mexico and Central America) a plant fibre used for cordage, nets, and carpets.

<INFO> This fibre is obtained chiefly from Agave species (family Agavaceae), in particular A. funkiana and A. lecheguilla.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via American Spanish from Nahuatl ixtli.

Iyengar /jεα/ n. [mass noun] a type of hatha yoga focusing on the correct alignment of the body, making use of straps, wooden blocks, and other objects as aids to achieving the correct postures.

<ORIGIN> named after B. K. S. Iyengar (born 1918), the Indian yoga teacher who devised this method.

Iyyar /ijα/ n. (in the Jewish calendar) the eighth month of the civil and second of the religious year, usually coinciding with parts of April and May.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ’iyyār.

izard /zəd/ n. (in the Pyrenees) a chamois.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French isard or Gascon isart, of unknown origin.

-ize (also -ise) suffix forming verbs meaning: 1 make or become: fossilize | privatize.

- cause to resemble: Americanize.

2 treat in a specified way: pasteurize.

- treat or cause to combine with a specified substance: carbonize | oxidize.

3 follow a specified practice: agonize | theorize.

- subject to a practice: hospitalize.

<DERIVATIVES> -ization suffix forming corresponding nouns. -izer suffix forming agent nouns.

<ORIGIN> from French -iser, via late Latin -izare from Greek verbs ending in -izein.

<USAGE> 1 The form -ize has been in use in English since the 16th century; although it is widely used in American English, it is not an Americanism. The alternative spelling -ise (reflecting a French influence) is in common use, especially in British English. It is obligatory in certain cases: first, where it forms part of a larger word element, such as -mise (= sending) in compromise, and -prise (= taking) in surprise; and second, in verbs corresponding to nouns with -s- in the stem, such as advertise and televise.
2 Adding -ize to a noun or adjective has been a standard way of forming new verbs for centuries, and verbs such as characterize, terrorize, and sterilize were all formed in this way hundreds of years ago. For some reason, people object to recent formations of this type: during the 20th century, objections were raised against prioritize, finalize, and hospitalize, among others. There doesn't seem to be any coherent reason for this, except that verbs formed from nouns tend, inexplicably, to be criticized as vulgar formations. Despite objections, it is clear that -ize forms are an accepted part of the standard language.

Izhevsk /εfsk/ an industrial city in central Russia, capital of the republic of Udmurtia; pop. 652,400 (est. 2002). Former name (1984–87) Ustinov^1.

izimbongi plural form of IMBONGI.

izinyanga plural form of INYANGA.

Izmir /zmə/ a seaport and naval base in western Turkey, on an inlet of the Aegean Sea; pop. 2,322,500 (est. 2002). It is the third-largest city in Turkey. Former name SMYRNA.

Izmit /zmt/ a city in NW Turkey, situated on the Gulf of Izmit, an inlet of the Sea of Marmara; pop. 221,100 (est. 2002).

Iznik /znk/ (also Isnik) adj. denoting colourful pottery and ceramic tiles produced during the 16th and 17th centuries in Iznik (ancient Nicaea), a town in NW Turkey.

Izod test /zd/ n. a material strength test in which a notched specimen is broken by a blow from a pendulum, the energy absorbed being determined from the decrease in the swing of the pendulum.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Edwin G. Izod, the British engineer who devised the test.

Izvestia /zvεstə/ (also Izvestiya) a Russian daily newspaper founded in 1917 as the official organ of the Soviet government. It has continued to be published independently since the collapse of communist rule and the break-up of the Soviet Union.

<ORIGIN> from Russian izvestiya ‘news’.

izzat /zt/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN honour, reputation, or prestige.

<ORIGIN> Persian and Urdu, from Arabic ‘izza ‘glory’.

J^1 (also j) n. (pl. Js or J's) 1 the tenth letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the next after I (or H if I is omitted) in a set of items, categories, etc.

2 (J) a shape like that of a capital J (without a crosspiece).

3 ARCHAIC used instead of I as the Roman numeral for one in final position: between ij and iij of the clock.

J^2 abbr.

- jack (used in describing play in card games).

- Japan (international vehicle registration).

- [PHYSICS] joule(s).

- (in titles) Journal (of): J. Biol. Chem.

j symbol (j) (in electrical engineering and electronics) the imaginary quantity equal to the square root of minus one. Compare with I.

ja /jα/ exclam. INFORMAL South African term for YES: ‘Let's go swimming.’ ‘Ja!’ | ja, this is the life!

<PHRASES>

□ ja well used as an expression of embarrassment, apology, or world-weariness.

□ ja well no fine used to express a non-committal, resigned, or ironical attitude.

<ORIGIN> Dutch.

jab v. (jabs, jabbing, jabbed) [with obj. and adverbial] poke roughly or quickly, especially with something sharp or pointed: she jabbed him in his ribs | [no obj.] he jabbed at the air with his finger.

- roughly or quickly thrust (a sharp or pointed object) someone or something: she jabbed the fork into the earth.

■ n. a quick, sharp blow, especially with the fist: a jab in the stomach.

- British INFORMAL a hypodermic injection, especially a vaccination: an anti-tetanus jab.

- a sharp, painful sensation or feeling: a jab of envy.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally Scots): variant of job^2.

Jabalpur /db(ə)lpə/ an industrial city and military post in Madhya Pradesh, central India; pop. 951,500 (2001).

jabber v. [no obj.] talk in a rapid, excited, and often incomprehensible way: he jabbered on about football.

■ n. [mass noun] rapid, excited, and often incomprehensible speech.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: imitative.

jabberwocky /dabəwki/ n. (pl. jabberwockies) [mass noun] invented or meaningless language; nonsense.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the title of a nonsense poem in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (1871).

jabiru /dabru/ n. a large Central and South American stork with a black neck, mainly white plumage, and a large black upturned bill.

<INFO> Jabiru mycteria, family Ciconiidae.

- either of two related storks found in Asia, Australasia, and Africa.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Tupi-Guarani jabirú, from j ‘that which has’ + abirú ‘swollen’ (suggested by the bird's large neck).

jab jab n. W. INDIAN a devil, in particular as represented in a carnival masquerade.

<ORIGIN> French Creole, from French diable diable ‘devil devil’.

jaborandi /dabərandi/ n. 1 [mass noun] a drug made from the dried leaves of certain South American plants, which contain the alkaloid pilocarpine and promote salivation when chewed.

2 any of the plants that yield this drug.

<INFO> Several genera and species, in particular Pilocarpus jaborandi (family Rutaceae).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Tupi-Guarani jaburandi, literally ‘a person who spits’.

jabot /abə/ n. an ornamental frill or ruffle on the front of a shirt or blouse, typically made of lace.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting a frill on a man's shirt): French, originally ‘crop of a bird’.

jacal /həkαl/ n. (pl. jacales /həkαlez/) (in Mexico and the south-western US) a thatched wattle-and-daub hut.

<ORIGIN> Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl xacalli, contraction of xamitl calli ‘adobe house’.

jacamar /dakəmα/ n. an insectivorous bird of tropical American forests, with a long pointed bill, a long tail, and plumage that is typically iridescent green above.

<INFO> Family Galbulidae: several genera and species.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French, apparently from Tupi.

jacana /dakənə/ (also jaçana /dasənα/) n. a small tropical wading bird with greatly elongated toes and claws that enable it to walk on floating vegetation. Also called LILY-TROTTER.

<INFO> Family Jacanidae: several genera and species.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Portuguese jaçanã, from Tupi-Guarani jasanã.

jacaranda /dakərandə/ n. a tropical American tree which has blue trumpet-shaped flowers, fern-like leaves, and fragrant timber.

<INFO> Genus Jacaranda, family Bignoniaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Portuguese, from Tupi-Guarani jakara'nda.

jacinth /dasnθ de-/ n. [mass noun] a reddish-orange gem variety of zircon.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French iacinte or medieval Latin iacintus, alteration of Latin hyacinthus (see HYACINTH).

jack^1 n. 1 a device for lifting heavy objects, especially one for raising the axle of a motor vehicle off the ground so that a wheel can be changed or the underside inspected.

2 a playing card bearing a representation of a soldier, page, or knave, normally ranking next below a queen.

3 (also jack socket) a socket with two or more pairs of terminals designed to receive a jack plug.

4 a small white ball in bowls, at which the players aim.

5 (also jackstone) a small round pebble or star-shaped piece of metal or plastic used in games involving tossing and catching.

- (jacks) a game played by tossing and catching such pebbles or pieces of metal.

6 (Jack) INFORMAL used to typify an ordinary man: he had that world-weary look of the working Jack who'd seen everything.

- chiefly US used as a form of address to a man whose name is not known.

- NORTH AMERICAN a lumberjack.

- a detective or police officer.

- ARCHAIC a steeplejack.

- the figure of a man striking the bell on a clock.

7 a small version of a national flag flown at the bow of a vessel in harbour to indicate its nationality.

8 [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL money.

9 a device for turning a spit.

10 a part of the mechanism in a spinet or harpsichord that connects a key to its corresponding string and causes the string to be plucked when the key is pressed down.

11 a marine fish that is typically laterally compressed with a row of large spiky scales along each side, important in many places as food or game fish. Also called POMPANO, SCAD. [<ORIGIN> originally a West Indian term.]

<INFO> Family Carangidae (the jack family): many genera and numerous species. The jack family also includes the horse mackerel, pilotfish, kingfishes, and trevallies.

12 the male of various animals, especially a merlin or (US) an ass.

13 used in names of animals that are smaller than similar kinds, e.g. jack snipe.

14 US INFORMAL short for JACKSHIT.

<PHRASES>

□ before one can say Jack Robinson INFORMAL very quickly or suddenly.

□ every man jack INFORMAL each and every person (used for emphasis): they're spies, every man jack of them.

□ I'm all right, Jack INFORMAL used to express selfish complacency.

□ jack of all trades (and master of none) a person who can do many different types of work but who is not necessarily very competent at any of them.

□ on one's jack (or Jack Jones) BRITISH RHYMING SLANG on one's own.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ jack someone around NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL cause someone inconvenience or problems, especially by acting unfairly or indecisively.

□ jack in (or into) INFORMAL log into or connect up (a computer or electronic device).

□ jack something in BRITISH INFORMAL give up or stop doing something, especially a job.

□ jack off VULGAR SLANG masturbate.

□ jack up INFORMAL 1 inject oneself with a narcotic drug.

2 AUSTRALIAN give up or refuse to participate in something.

□ jack something up 1 raise something, especially a vehicle, with a jack.

- INFORMAL increase something by a considerable amount: France jacked up its key bank interest rate.

2 NZ INFORMAL arrange or organize something.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Jack, pet form of the given name John. The term was used originally to denote an ordinary man (sense 6), also a youth (mid 16th century), hence the ‘knave’ in cards and ‘male animal’. The word also denoted various devices saving human labour, as though one had a helper (sense 1, sense 3, sense 9, sense 10, and in compounds such as JACKHAMMER and JACKKNIFE); the general sense ‘labourer’ arose in the early 18th century and survives in CHEAPJACK, lumberjack, steeplejack, etc. Since the mid 16th century a notion of ‘smallness’ has arisen, hence sense 4, sense 5, sense 7, sense 13.

jack^2 n. HISTORICAL 1 another term for blackjack (sense 5).

2 a sleeveless padded tunic worn by foot soldiers. [<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French jaque; origin uncertain, perhaps based on Arabic.]

jack^3 adj. [predic.] AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL tired of or bored with someone or something: people are getting jack of strikes.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from jack up ‘give up’.

jack^4 v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL take (something) illicitly; steal: what's wrong is to jack somebody's lyrics and not acknowledge the fact.

- rob (someone).

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from HIJACK.

jackal /dakəl -kl/ n. a slender long-legged wild dog that feeds on carrion, game, and fruit and often hunts cooperatively, found in Africa and southern Asia.

<INFO> Genus Canis, family Canidae: four species.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Turkish çakal, from Persian šagāl. The change in the first syllable was due to association with jack^1.

jackanapes /dakəneps/ n. 1 DATED a cheeky or impertinent person.

2 ARCHAIC a tame monkey.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (originally as Jack Napes): perhaps from a playful name for a tame ape, the initial n- by elision of an ape (compare with NEWT), and the final -s as in surnames such as Hobbes: applied to a person whose behaviour resembled that of an ape.

jack arch n. a small arch only one brick in thickness, especially as used in numbers to support a floor.

jackaroo /dakəru/ (also jackeroo) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL n. a young man working on a sheep or cattle station to gain experience.

■ v. (usually jackeroo) [no obj.] work as a jackaroo.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps a blend of jack^1 and KANGAROO.

jackass n. 1 a stupid person.

2 a male ass or donkey.

3 Australian short for LAUGHING JACKASS.

jack bean n. a tropical American climbing plant of the pea family, which yields an edible bean and pod and is widely grown for fodder in tropical countries.

<INFO> Genus Canavalia, family Leguminosae: in particular C. ensiformis.

jackboot n. a large leather military boot reaching to the knee.

- used as a symbol of cruel or authoritarian behaviour or rule: a country under the jackboot of colonialism.

<DERIVATIVES> jackbooted adj.

Jack-by-the-hedge n. a white-flowered European plant of the cabbage family, which grows typically in hedgerows and has leaves that smell of garlic when crushed. Also called HEDGE GARLIC.

<INFO> Alliaria petiolata, family Cruciferae.

jack chain n. a chain of unwelded links each consisting of a double loop of wire resembling a figure of 8, but with the loops in planes at right angles to each other.

Jack cheese n. North American term for MONTEREY JACK.

jackdaw n. a small grey-headed crow that typically nests in tall buildings and chimneys, noted for its inquisitiveness.

<INFO> Genus Corvus, family Corvidae: two species, in particular the Eurasian C. monedula.

jackeen /dakin/ n. Irish, chiefly DEROGATORY a city-dweller, especially a Dubliner.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: diminutive of the pet name Jack (see jack^1, -een).

jacket n. 1 an outer garment extending either to the waist or the hips, typically having sleeves and a fastening down the front.

2 an outer covering, especially one placed round a tank or pipe to insulate it.

- the dust jacket of a book.

- a record sleeve.

3 BRITISH the skin of a potato: potatoes cooked in their jackets.

- INFORMAL a jacket potato.

4 US a folder or envelope containing an official document or file.

5 a steel frame fixed to the seabed, forming the support structure of an oil production platform.

■ v. (jackets, jacketing, jacketed) [with obj.] cover with a jacket.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French jaquet, diminutive of jaque (see jack^2).

jacket potato n. BRITISH a baked potato served with the skin on.

jackfish n. (pl. same or jackfishes) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a pike or sauger, especially the northern pike.

Jack Frost n. a personification of frost: the seedlings battled with Jack Frost.

jackfruit n. a fast-growing tropical Asian tree related to the breadfruit.

<INFO> Artocarpus heterophyllus, family Moraceae.

- the very large edible fruit of this tree, resembling a breadfruit and important as food in the tropics.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Portuguese jaca (from Malayalam chakka) + FRUIT.

jackhammer chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. a portable pneumatic hammer or drill.

■ v. [with obj.] beat or hammer heavily or loudly and repeatedly.

jackie hangman n. South African term for fiscal (sense 2 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: apparently so named because of the bird's habit of impaling its prey on long sharp thorns.

jack-in-office n. BRITISH a self-important minor official.

jack-in-the-box n. a toy consisting of a box containing a figure on a spring which pops up when the lid is opened.

Jack-in-the-pulpit n. either of two small plants of the arum family:

<INFO>

- another term for CUCKOO PINT

- a North American arum with a green or purple-brown spathe (Arisaema triphyllum, family Araceae).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: so named because the erect spadix overarched by the spathe resembles a person in a pulpit.

jackknife n. (pl. jackknives) 1 a large knife with a folding blade.

2 a dive in which the body is first bent at the waist and then straightened.

3 [STATISTICS] a method of assessing the variability of data by repeating a calculation on the sets of data obtained by removing one value from the complete set.

■ v. (jackknifes, jackknifing, jackknifed) [no obj.] move one's body into a bent or doubled-up position: she jackknifed into a sitting position.

- (of an articulated vehicle) bend into a V-shape in an uncontrolled skidding movement.

- (of a diver) perform a jackknife.

jackknife clam n. North American term for RAZOR SHELL.

jackknife fish n. a strikingly marked fish with a long upright dorsal fin, which lives among rocks and corals in the warm waters of the western Atlantic.

<INFO> Equetus lanceolatus, family Sciaenidae.

jackleg n. US INFORMAL an incompetent, unskilful, or dishonest person.

jack light n. NORTH AMERICAN a portable light, especially one used for fishing at night.

Jacklin Tony (b.1944), English golfer; full name Antony Jacklin. He won the British Open in 1969 and in 1970 became the first British player to win the US Open for fifty years.

jack mackerel n. a game fish of the jack family, occurring in the eastern Pacific.

<INFO> Trachurus symmetricus, family Carangidae.

jack-o'-lantern n. 1 a lantern made from a hollowed-out pumpkin or turnip in which holes are cut to represent facial features, typically made at Halloween.

2 ARCHAIC a will-o'-the-wisp.

jack pine n. a small, hardy North American pine with short needles.

<INFO> Pinus banksiana, family Pinaceae.

jack plane n. a medium-sized plane for use in rough joinery.

jack plug n. a plug consisting of a single shaft used to make a connection which transmits a signal, typically used in sound equipment.

jackpot n. a large cash prize in a game or lottery, especially one that accumulates until it is won.

<PHRASES>

□ hit the jackpot INFORMAL 1 win a jackpot.

2 have great or unexpected success, especially in making a lot of money quickly: the theatre hit the jackpot with its first musical.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from JACK^1 + POT^1. The term was originally used in a form of poker, where the pool or pot accumulated until a player could open the bidding with two jacks or better.

jackrabbit n. a hare found on the prairies and steppes of North America.

<INFO> Genus Lepus, family Leporidae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: abbreviation of jackass-rabbit, because of its long ears.

Jack Russell (also Jack Russell terrier) n. a terrier of a small working breed with short legs.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after the Revd John (Jack) Russell (1795–1883), an English clergyman famed in fox-hunting circles as a breeder of such terriers.

jacks n. IRISH a toilet.

<ORIGIN> variant form of JAKES.

jack screw n. 1 a screw which can be turned to adjust the position of an object into which it fits.

2 another term for SCREW JACK.

jack shaft n. a small auxiliary or intermediate shaft in machinery.

jackshit n. [mass noun] [usually with negative] US VULGAR SLANG anything at all.

jacksie (also jacksy) n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person's bottom.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: diminutive of jack^1.

jack snipe n. a small dark Eurasian snipe.

<INFO> Lymnocryptes minima, family Scolopacidae.

- NORTH AMERICAN any similar wader, e.g. the pectoral sandpiper or the common snipe.

Jackson^1 the state capital of Mississippi; pop. 184,256 (2000).

<ORIGIN> originally known as Le Fleur's Bluff, it was later named after President Andrew Jackson.

Jackson^2 Andrew (1767–1845), American general and Democratic statesman, 7th President of the US 1829–37; known as Old Hickory. As President he replaced an estimated 20 per cent of those in public office with Democrat supporters, a practice that became known as the spoils system.

Jackson^3 Glenda (b.1936), English actress and politician. After a film career in which she won Oscars for her performances in Women in Love (1969) and A Touch of Class (1973), she became Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate in 1992.

Jackson^4 Michael (Joe) (1958–2009), American pop singer and songwriter. Having started singing with his four brothers, as the Jackson Five, he became the most commercially successful American star of the 1980s with the albums Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987).

Jackson^5 Thomas Jonathan (1824–63), American Confederate general; known as Stonewall Jackson. During the American Civil War he made his mark as a commander at the first battle of Bull Run in 1861 and later became the deputy of Robert E. Lee.

Jacksonian /daksənən/ adj. MEDICINE relating to or denoting a form of epilepsy in which seizures begin at one site (typically a digit or the angle of the mouth).

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the name of John H. Jackson (1835–1911), English physician and neurologist, + -IAN.

Jacksonville an industrial city and port in NE Florida; pop. 735,617 (2000).

<ORIGIN> named in honour of President Andrew Jackson.

jackstaff n. a short staff at a ship's bow, on which a jack is hoisted.

jackstay n. [NAUTICAL] a rope, bar, or batten placed along a ship's yard to bend the head of a square sail to.

- a line secured at both ends to serve as a support, e.g. for an awning.

jackstraw n. another term for SPILLIKIN.

Jack tar n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a sailor.

Jack the Lad n. BRITISH INFORMAL a brash, cocky young man.

<ORIGIN> nickname of Jack Sheppard, an 18th-cent. thief.

Jack the Ripper an unidentified 19th-century English murderer. In 1888 at least six prostitutes were brutally killed in the East End of London, the bodies being mutilated in a way that indicated a knowledge of anatomy. The authorities received taunting notes from a person calling himself Jack the Ripper and claiming to be the murderer, but the cases remain unsolved.

jack-up n. 1 (also jack-up rig) an offshore drilling rig the legs of which are lowered to the seabed from the operating platform.

2 NZ INFORMAL a dishonest or underhand way of achieving something.

Jacky (also Jacky Jacky) n. (pl. Jackies) AUSTRALIAN OFFENSIVE an Aborigine.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: diminutive of the pet name Jack (see jack^1).

Jacky lizard n. a brownish SE Australian lizard which becomes paler as the temperature rises. When threatened it puffs itself up and opens its orange mouth.

<INFO> Amphibolus muricatus, family Agamidae.

Jacky Winter n. an Australasian flycatcher which has a grey-brown back and whitish underside and constantly wags its white-edged tail.

<INFO> Microeca leucophaea, family Eopsaltridae (or Muscicapidae). Alternative name: Australian brown flycatcher.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: diminutive form of the pet name Jack (see jack^1) + Winter (imitative of the bird's cry).

Jacob /dekəb/ (in the Bible) a Hebrew patriarch, the younger of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca, who persuaded his brother Esau to sell him his birthright and tricked him out of his father's blessing (Gen. 25, 27). The twelve tribes of ancient Israel were descended from his twelve sons.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew ya‘aqō ‘following after, supplanter’.

Jacobean /dakəbiən/ adj. relating to the reign of James I of England: a Jacobean mansion.

- denoting the architectural style prevalent during the reign of James I, consisting of a blend of Gothic and classical features.

- (of furniture) in the style prevalent during the reign of James I, characterized by the use of dark oak.

■ n. a person who lived in the Jacobean period.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in use earlier with reference to St James): from modern Latin Jacobaeus (from ecclesiastical Latin Jacobus ‘James’, from Greek Iakōbos ‘Jacob’) + -AN.

Jacobethan /dakəbiθ(ə)n/ adj. (especially of architecture) displaying a combination of Elizabethan and Jacobean styles.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of JACOBEAN and ELIZABETHAN.

Jacobi /dakəbi/ Karl Gustav Jacob (1804–51), German mathematician. He worked on the theory of elliptic functions, in competition with Niels Abel.

Jacobian /dəkəbən/ [MATHEMATICS] adj. relating to the work of the mathematician K. G. J. Jacobi.

■ n. a determinant whose constituents are the derivatives of a number of functions (u, v, w, …) with respect to each of the same number of variables (x, y, z, …).

Jacobin /dakəbn/ n. 1 HISTORICAL a member of a democratic club established in Paris in 1789. The Jacobins were the most radical and ruthless of the political groups formed in the wake of the French Revolution, and in association with Robespierre they instituted the Terror of 1793–4.

- an extreme political radical.

2 chiefly HISTORICAL a Dominican friar.

3 (jacobin) a pigeon of a breed with reversed feathers on the back of its neck like a cowl.

4 (jacobin) a mainly green Central and South American hummingbird, with blue feathers on the head.

<INFO> Florisuga mellivora and Melanotrichilus fuscus, family Trochilidae.

<DERIVATIVES> Jacobinic adj. Jacobinical adj. Jacobinism n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French, from medieval Latin Jacobinus, from ecclesiastical Latin Jacobus ‘James’. The term was applied to the Dominicans in Old French on account of their church in Paris, St Jacques, near which they built their first convent; the latter eventually became the headquarters of the French revolutionary group.

Jacobite^1 /dakəbt/ n. a supporter of the deposed James II and his descendants in their claim to the British throne after the Revolution of 1688. Drawing most of their support from Catholic clans of the Scottish Highlands, Jacobites made attempts to regain the throne in 1689–90, 1715, 1719, and 1745–6, finally being defeated at the Battle of Culloden.

<DERIVATIVES> Jacobitical adj. Jacobitism n.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Jacobus ‘James’ (see JACOBEAN) + -ITE^1.

Jacobite^2 /dakəbt/ n. a member of the Syrian Orthodox Church (Monophysite).

<ORIGIN> early 15th century: from medieval Latin Jacobita, from the name of Jacobus Baradaeus, a 6th-cent. Syrian monk.

Jacobs W. W. (1863–1943), English short-story writer; full name William Wymark Jacobs. He is noted for tales of the macabre such as ‘The Monkey's Paw’ (1902).

Jacobsen /jakəbsən/ Arne (1902–1971), Danish architect and furniture designer. His buildings include the SAS tower in Copenhagen and St Catherine's College in Oxford, both of which are expressive of his interest in modernism.

Jacob sheep n. a four-horned sheep of a piebald breed, kept as an ornamental animal or for its wool.

Jacob's ladder n. 1 a herbaceous Eurasian plant with blue or white flowers and slender pointed leaves, rows of which are said to resemble a ladder.

<INFO> Polemonium caeruleum, family Polemoniaceae.

2 a rope ladder with wooden rungs.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: with biblical allusion to Jacob's dream of a ladder reaching to heaven (Gen. 28:12).

Jacobson's organ n. [ZOOLOGY] a scent organ consisting of a pair of sacs or tubes typically in the roof of the mouth. Such organs are present in many vertebrates, notably snakes and lizards.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Ludwig L. Jacobson (1783–1843), Dutch anatomist.

Jacob's staff n. a rod with a sliding cursor formerly used for measuring distances and heights.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a pilgrim's staff): alluding to St James (Jacobus in ecclesiastical Latin), whose symbols are a pilgrim's staff and a scallop shell.

jaconet /dakənt/ n. [mass noun] a lightweight cotton cloth with a smooth and slightly stiff finish.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Hindi Jagannāth(purī) (now Puri) in India, its place of origin; see also JUGGERNAUT.

jacquard /dakαd -kəd/ n. an apparatus with perforated cards, fitted to a loom to facilitate the weaving of figured and brocaded fabrics.

- [mass noun] a fabric made on a loom with such a device, with an intricate variegated pattern.

- (also jacquard loom) a loom fitted with such a device.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Joseph M. Jacquard (1787–1834), French weaver and inventor.

jacquerie /dek(ə)ri/ n. a communal uprising or revolt.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (referring to the 1357 peasants' revolt against the nobles in northern France): from Old French, literally ‘villeins’, from Jacques, a given name used in the sense ‘peasant’.

jactitation^1 /daktte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the restless tossing of the body in illness.

- the twitching of a limb or muscle.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: expressive extension of earlier jactation ‘restless tossing’, from Latin jactare ‘to throw’.

jactitation^2 n. (in phrase jactitation of marriage) ARCHAIC false declaration that one is married to a specified person.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from medieval Latin jactitatio(n-) ‘false declaration’, from Latin jactitare ‘to boast’.

jacuzzi /dəkuzi/ n. (pl. jacuzzis) TRADEMARK a large bath with a system of underwater jets of water to massage the body.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Candido Jacuzzi (c.1903–86), Italian-born American inventor.

jade^1 n. [mass noun] a hard, typically green stone used for ornaments and implements and consisting of the minerals jadeite or nephrite.

- [count noun] an ornament made of jade.

- (also jade green) a light bluish-green.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French le jade (earlier l'ejade), from Spanish piedra de ijada ‘stone of the flank’ (i.e. stone for colic, which it was believed to cure).

jade^2 n. ARCHAIC 1 a bad-tempered or disreputable woman.

2 an old or worn-out horse.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

jaded adj. bored or lacking enthusiasm, typically after having had too much of something: meals to tempt the most jaded appetites.

- Irish INFORMAL physically tired; exhausted.

<DERIVATIVES> jadedly adv. jadedness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘disreputable’): from JADE^2.

jadeite /dedt/ n. [mass noun] a green, blue, or white mineral which is one of the forms of jade. It is a silicate of sodium, aluminium, and iron and belongs to the pyroxene group.

j'adoube /αdub/ exclam. [CHESS] a declaration by a player intending to adjust the placing of a chessman without making a move with it.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘I adjust’.

jaeger /deə/ n. NORTH AMERICAN any of the smaller kinds of Arctic-breeding skuas.

<INFO> Genus Stercorarius, family Stercorariidae: three species, e.g. the parasitic jaeger or Arctic skua (S. parasiticus).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (applied to any predatory seabird): from German Jäger ‘hunter’, from jagen ‘to hunt’.

Jaffa^1 /dafə/ a city and port on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, forming a southern suburb of the Tel Aviv conurbation and since 1949 united with Tel Aviv; pop. (with Tel Aviv) 354,400 (2000). Inhabited since prehistoric times, Jaffa was a Byzantine bishopric until captured by the Arabs in 636; later, it was a stronghold of the Crusaders. Hebrew name YAFO; biblical name JOPPA.

Jaffa^2 /dafə/ (also Jaffa orange) n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a large oval orange of a thick-skinned variety.

Jaffa cake n. BRITISH a sponge biscuit with an orange-flavoured jelly and chocolate topping.

jaffle n. AUSTRALIAN a toasted sandwich.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from the proprietary name for a toaster.

Jaffna /dafnə/ a city and port on the Jaffna peninsula at the northern tip of Sri Lanka; pop. 162,000 (est. 2002).

JAG abbr. Judge Advocate General.

Jag n. INFORMAL a Jaguar car: an E-type Jag.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: abbreviation.

jag^1 n. a sharp projection.

- chiefly SCOTTISH an injection.

■ v. (jags, jagging, jagged) [with obj.] stab, pierce, or prick: she jagged herself in the mouth.

<DERIVATIVES> jagger n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘stab, pierce’): perhaps symbolic of sudden movement or unevenness (compare with jam^1 and rag^1).

jag^2 n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 a bout of unrestrained or excessive indulgence in alcohol or drugs, or in a particular emotion or activity: a thirty-five minute crying jag.

2 DIALECT a bundle: a jag of hay.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): of unknown origin. In the late 18th century the sense was ‘portion, quantity’, later ‘as much alcohol as one can hold’, hence ‘a binge’.

■ Sense 1 dates from the early 20th cent.

Jagannatha /daənαθə/ another name for JUGGERNAUT.

jagged /dad/ adj. with rough, sharp points protruding: the jagged edges gashed their fingers | FIGURATIVE soothing her jagged nerves.

<DERIVATIVES> jaggedly adv. jaggedness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from JAG^1.

Jagger Sir Mick (b.1943), English rock singer and songwriter; full name Michael Philip Jagger. He formed the Rolling Stones c.1962 with guitarist Keith Richards (b.1943), a childhood friend.

jaggery /da(ə)ri/ n. [mass noun] a coarse dark brown sugar made in India by evaporation of the sap of palm trees.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Portuguese xagara, jag(a)ra, from Malayalam cakkarā, from Sanskrit śarkarā ‘sugar’.

jaggy adj. (jaggier, jaggiest) jagged.

- (also jaggie) SCOTTISH prickly.

■ plural n. (jaggies) [COMPUTING], INFORMAL another term for aliasing (sense 3).

jaguar /dajə/ n. a large heavily built cat that has a yellowish-brown coat with black spots, found mainly in the dense forests of Central and South America.

<INFO> Panthera onca, family Felidae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Portuguese, from Tupi-Guarani yaguára.

jaguarundi /dawərndi/ n. (pl. jaguarundis) a small American wild cat with a uniform red or grey coat, slender body, and short legs, found from Arizona to Argentina.

<INFO> Felis yagouaroundi, family Felidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Portuguese, from Tupi-Guarani, from yaguára ‘jaguar’ + undi ‘dark’.

Jah /dα jα/ n. the Rastafarian name of God.

<ORIGIN> representing Hebrew Yāh, abbreviation of YAHWEH. The current use was popularized in the mid 20th cent.

Jai /d/ exclam. INDIAN victory! (used as an expression of praise or support, especially in political slogans).

<ORIGIN> Hindi, literally ‘long live!’.

jai alai /h əl/ n. [mass noun] a game like pelota played with large curved wicker baskets.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Basque jai ‘festival’ + alai ‘merry’.

jail (BRITISH also gaol) n. a place for the confinement of people accused or convicted of a crime: he spent 15 years in jail | [as modifier] a jail sentence.

■ v. [with obj.] put (someone) in jail: the driver was jailed for two years.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: based on Latin cavea (see CAGE). The word came into English in two forms, jaiole from Old French and gayole from Anglo-Norman French gaole (surviving in the spelling gaol), originally pronounced with a hard g, as in goat.

jailbait n. [mass noun treated as sing. or plural] INFORMAL a young woman, or young women collectively, considered in sexual terms but under the age of consent.

jailbird n. INFORMAL a person who is or has been in prison, especially a criminal who has been jailed repeatedly.

jailbreak n. an escape from jail.

jailer (BRITISH also gaoler) n. a person in charge of a jail or of the prisoners in it.

jailhouse n. NORTH AMERICAN a prison.

Jain /den/ n. an adherent of Jainism.

■ adj. relating to Jainism.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit jaina ‘of or concerning a Jina’ (a great Jain teacher or holy man, literally ‘victor’), from ji- ‘conquer’ or jyā- ‘overcome’.

Jainism n. [mass noun] a non-theistic religion founded in India in the 6th century BC by the Jina Vardhamana Mahavira as a reaction against the teachings of orthodox Brahmanism, and still practised there. The Jain religion teaches salvation by perfection through successive lives, and non-injury to living creatures, and is noted for its ascetics. See also SVETAMBARA and DIGAMBARA.

<DERIVATIVES> Jainist n.

Jaipur /dpə/ a city in western India, the capital of Rajasthan; pop. 2,324,300 (2001).

Jakarta /dəkαtə/ (also Djakarta) the capital of Indonesia, situated in NW Java; pop. 10,810,400 (est. 2002). Former name (until 1949) BATAVIA.

jake /dek/ adj. [predic.] NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL all right; satisfactory: everything was jake again.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

jakes /deks/ n. ARCHAIC a toilet, especially an outdoor one.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps from the given name Jacques, or as the genitive of the pet name Jack (see jack^1).

Jakobson /jakəbs(ə)n/ Roman (Osipovich) (1896–1982), Russian-born American linguist. His most influential work described universals in phonology.

Jalalabad /dəlaləbad/ a city in eastern Afghanistan, situated east of Kabul, near the border with Pakistan; pop. 158,800 (est. 2002).

Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi /dəlal addn αrumi/ (1207–73), Persian poet and Sufi mystic, founder of the order of whirling dervishes; also called Mawlana.

jalap /daləp dləp/ n. [mass noun] a purgative drug obtained chiefly from the tuberous roots of a Mexican climbing plant.

<INFO> This drug is obtained from Ipomoea purga, family Convolvulaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French, from Spanish (purga de) Jalapa (see JALAPA).

Jalapa /həlαpə/ Spanish /xalapa/ a city in east central Mexico, capital of the state of Veracruz; pop. 387,700 (est. 2002). Full name Jalapa Enríquez /εnrikεz/ Spanish /enrrikes -keθ/.

jalapeño /haləpenjə -pinə/ (also jalapeño pepper) n. (pl. jalapeños) a very hot green chilli pepper, used especially in Mexican-style cooking.

<ORIGIN> from Mexican Spanish (chile) jalapeño.

jalebi /dəlebi/ n. (pl. jalebis) an Indian sweet made of a coil of batter fried and steeped in syrup.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi jalebī.

jaleo /haleə/ Spanish /xaleə/ n. (pl. jaleos) a lively dance of Andalusian origin, or the music or handclapping which accompanies it.

- a fast instrumental chorus in merengue music.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Spanish, literally ‘halloo’.

jalfrezi /dalfrezi/ n. (pl. jalfrezis) a medium-hot Indian dish consisting of chicken or lamb with fresh chillies, tomatoes, and onions.

<ORIGIN> Bengali, from jhal ‘hot’.

jali /dαli/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN intricate ornamental openwork in wood, metal, stone, etc.: [as modifier] a bamboo jali bedside cabinet.

<ORIGIN> Urdu, from jaal ‘a net’.

Jalisco /həliskə/ a state of west central Mexico, on the Pacific coast; capital, Guadalajara.

jalopy /dəlpi/ n. (pl. jalopies) INFORMAL an old car in a dilapidated condition.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): of unknown origin.

jalousie /alzi/ n. a blind or shutter made of a row of angled slats.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: French, literally ‘jealousy’, from Italian geloso ‘jealous’, also (by extension) ‘screen’, associated with the screening of women from view in the Middle East.

jam^1 v. (jams, jamming, jammed) 1 [with obj. and adverbial] squeeze or pack tightly into a specified space: four of us were jammed in one compartment | people jammed their belongings into cars | [no obj., with adverbial] mum, dad, and I jammed into the pickup truck.

- push (something) roughly and forcibly into position or a space: he jammed his hat on.

- [with obj.] crowd on to (a road or area) so as to block it: the streets were jammed with tourist coaches.

- [with obj.] cause (telephone lines) to be continuously engaged with a large number of calls: listeners jammed a radio station's switchboard with calls.

2 become or make unable to move or work due to a part seizing up or becoming stuck: [no obj.] the photocopier jammed | [with obj.] the doors were jammed open.

- [with obj.] make (a radio transmission) unintelligible by causing interference.

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL improvise with other musicians, especially in jazz or blues.

■ n. 1 an instance of a thing seizing or becoming stuck: paper jams. short for TRAFFIC JAM.

- [CLIMBING] a hold obtained by jamming a part of the body such as a hand or foot into a crack in the rock.

2 INFORMAL an awkward situation or predicament: I'm in a jam.

3 (also jam session) an improvised performance by a group of musicians, especially in jazz or blues.

<PHRASES>

□ jam on the brakes operate the brakes of a vehicle suddenly and forcibly, typically in response to an emergency.

<DERIVATIVES> jammer n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: probably symbolic; compare with jag^1 and CRAM.

jam^2 n. [mass noun] a sweet spread or conserve made from fruit and sugar boiled to a thick consistency.

- BRITISH used in reference to something easy or pleasant: they want it all, both ways and with jam on the top.

■ v. (jam, jamming, jammed) [with obj.] make (fruit) into jam.

<PHRASES>

□ jam tomorrow BRITISH a pleasant thing which is often promised but rarely materializes. [<ORIGIN> phrase from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (1871).]

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps from JAM^1.

Jam. abbr.

- Jamaica.

- James (in biblical references).

jamadar /dmədα/ (also jemadar) n. Indian 1 a minor official or junior officer.

- HISTORICAL an Indian officer in a sepoy regiment.

2 a person who sweeps homes or offices as a job.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu jam(a)‘dār, from Persian, from Arabic jama‘, jamā‘a(t) ‘muster’ + -dār ‘holder’.

Jamaica /dəmekə/ an island country in the Caribbean Sea, south-east of Cuba; pop. 2,680,029 (est. 2002); official language, English; capital, Kingston.

Visited by Columbus in 1494, Jamaica was colonized by the Spanish, who enslaved or killed the native people. Both the Spanish and the British, who took the island by force in 1655, imported slaves, mainly to work on sugar plantations. Self-government was achieved in 1944, and in 1962 Jamaica became an independent Commonwealth state.

<DERIVATIVES> Jamaican adj. & n.

Jamaica pepper n. another term for allspice (sense 1 and sense 2).

jamb /dam/ n. a side post or surface of a doorway, window, or fireplace.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French jambe ‘leg, vertical support’, based on Greek kampē ‘joint’.

jambalaya /dambələ/ n. [mass noun] a Cajun dish of rice with shrimps, chicken, and vegetables.

<ORIGIN> Louisiana French, from Provençal jambalaia.

jambeau /ambə/ n. (pl. jambeaux pronunc. same or jambeaus) HISTORICAL a piece of armour for the leg.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: apparently an Anglo-Norman French derivative of French jambe ‘leg’.

jamboree /dambəri/ n. 1 a large celebration or party, typically a lavish and boisterous one: the film industry's annual jamboree in Cannes.

2 a large rally of Scouts or Guides.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally US slang): of unknown origin.

James^1 the name of seven Stuart kings of Scotland:

- James I (1394–1437), son of Robert III, reigned 1406–37. A captive of the English until 1424, he returned to a country divided by baronial feuds, but managed to restore some measure of royal authority.

- James II (1430–60), son of James I, reigned 1437–60. He considerably strengthened the position of the Crown by crushing the powerful Douglas family (1452–5).

- James III (1451–88), son of James II, reigned 1460–88. His nobles raised an army against him in 1488, using his son, the future James IV, as a figurehead. The king was defeated and killed in battle.

- James IV (1473–1513), son of James III, reigned 1488–1513. He forged a dynastic link with England through his marriage to Margaret Tudor, the daughter of Henry VII, and revitalized the traditional pact with France. When England and France went to war in 1513 he invaded England, but died in defeat at Flodden.

- James V (1512–42), son of James IV, reigned 1513–42. During his reign Scotland was dominated by French interests. Relations with England deteriorated in the later years, culminating in an invasion by Henry VIII's army.

- James VI (1566–1625), James I of England (see James^2).

- James VII (1633–1701), James II of England (see James^2).

James^2 the name of two kings of England, Ireland, and Scotland:

- James I (1566–1625), son of Mary, Queen of Scots, king of Scotland (as James VI) 1567–1625, and of England and Ireland 1603–25. He inherited the throne of England from Elizabeth I, as great-grandson of Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII. His declaration of the divine right of kings and his intended alliance with Spain made him unpopular with Parliament.

- James II (1633–1701), son of Charles I, king of England, Ireland, and (as James VII) Scotland 1685–8. His Catholic beliefs led to the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth in 1685 and to James' later deposition in favour of William of Orange and Mary II. Attempts to regain the throne resulted in James's defeat at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

James^3 C. L. R. (1901–89), Trinidadian historian, journalist, political theorist, and novelist; full name Cyril Lionel Robert James. After working as a cricket columnist he established a reputation as a historian with his study of the Haitian revolution, Black Jacobins (1938).

James^4 Henry (1843–1916), American-born British novelist and critic. His early novels, notably The Portrait of a Lady (1881), deal with the relationship between European civilization and American life, while later works such as What Maisie Knew (1897) depict English life. He was the brother of William James.

<DERIVATIVES> Jamesian adj.

James^5 Jesse (Woodson) (1847–82), American outlaw. He joined with his brother Frank (1843–1915) and others to form a notorious band of outlaws which specialized in bank and train robberies and inspired many westerns.

James^6 M. R. (1862–1936), English scholar and writer of ghost stories; full name Montague Rhodes James. He is noted for eerie tales collected in such volumes as Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904).

James^7 P. D., Baroness James of Holland Park (b.1920), English writer of detective fiction; full name Phyllis Dorothy James. She is noted for her novels featuring the poet-detective Adam Dalgleish, including A Taste for Death (1986).

James^8 William (1842–1910), American philosopher and psychologist. A leading exponent of pragmatism, he sought a functional definition of truth, and in psychology he is credited with introducing the concept of the stream of consciousness. He was the brother of Henry James.

James, St^1 an Apostle, son of Zebedee and brother of John; known as St James the Great. He was put to death by Herod Agrippa I; afterwards, according to a Spanish tradition, his body was taken to Santiago de Compostela. Feast day, 25 July.

James, St^2 an Apostle; known as St James the Less. Feast day (in the Eastern Church) 9 October; (in the Western Church) 1 May.

James, St^3 leader of the early Christian Church at Jerusalem; known as St James the Just or the Lord's brother. He was put to death by the Sanhedrin. Feast day, 1 May.

- the epistle of the New Testament traditionally ascribed to St James.

James Bay a shallow southern arm of Hudson Bay, Canada.

<ORIGIN> named after Captain Thomas James (c.1593–c.1635), who explored the region in 1631.

Jameson Raid /dems(ə)n/ an abortive raid into Boer territory made in 1895–6 by pro-British extremists led by Dr L. S. Jameson (1853–1917) in an attempt to incite an uprising among recent, non-Boer immigrants. The raid contributed to the eventual outbreak of the Second Boer War.

Jamestown 1 a British settlement established in Virginia in 1607, abandoned when the state capital of Virginia was moved to Williamsburg at the end of the 17th century.

2 the capital and chief port of the island of St Helena; pop. 1,500 (est. 2002).

jam jar n. BRITISH RHYMING SLANG a car.

Jammu /dmu/ a town in NW India; pop. 378,400 (2001). It is the winter capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir a mountainous state of NW India at the western end of the Himalayas, formerly part of Kashmir; capitals, Srinagar (in summer) and Jammu (in winter).

jammy adj. (jammier, jammiest) 1 covered with, filled with, or resembling jam: a jammy doughnut.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL lucky: you always were a jammy beggar when it came to women.

Jamnagar /dmnə/ a port and walled city in the state of Gujarat, western India; pop. 446,700 (2001).

jam-packed adj. INFORMAL extremely crowded or full to capacity: trains were jam-packed with holidaymakers.

jamrool /damrul/ n. Indian term for ROSEAPPLE.

Jamshedpur /dmεdpə/ an industrial city in the state of Bihar, NE India; pop. 570,300 (2001).

Jamshid /damid/ a legendary early king of Persia, reputed inventor of the arts of medicine, navigation, and iron-working.

jamun /damn/ (also jamun tree) n. a large evergreen Asian tree of the myrtle family, which yields edible fruit, tanbark, and fuelwood.

<INFO> Syzygium cumini, family Myrtaceae.

- the purplish edible berry of this tree.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Hindi jāmun.

Jan. abbr. January.

Janáček /janətεk/ Leoš (1854–1928), Czech composer. His works, much influenced by Moravian folk songs, include the opera The Cunning Little Vixen (1924) and the Glagolitic Mass (1927).

jandal n. NZ TRADEMARK a light sandal with a thong between the big and second toe; a flip-flop.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: probably from J(apanese) (s)andal.

jane n. INFORMAL, chiefly US a woman.

<PHRASES>

□ plain Jane an unattractive girl or woman.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the given name Jane.

Jane Doe n. US [LAW] an anonymous female party, typically the plaintiff, in a legal action.

- INFORMAL a hypothetical average woman.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: the female equivalent of JOHN DOE.

jangle v. make or cause to make a ringing metallic sound, typically a discordant one: [no obj.] a bell jangled loudly | [with obj.] Ryan stood on the terrace jangling his keys.

- (with reference to a person's nerves) set or be set on edge: [no obj.] now it's over my nerves are jangling.

■ n. [in sing.] a ringing metallic sound: the shrill jangle of the door bell.

<DERIVATIVES> jangly adj. (janglier, jangliest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘talk excessively or noisily, squabble’): from Old French jangler, of unknown origin.

janissary /dans(ə)ri/ (also janizary /-z(ə)ri/) n. (pl. janissaries) HISTORICAL a member of the Turkish infantry forming the Sultan's guard between the 14th and 19th centuries.

- a devoted follower or supporter.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French janissaire, based on Turkish yeniçeri, from yeni ‘new’ + çeri ‘troops’.

janitor /dantə/ n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a caretaker or doorkeeper of a building.

<DERIVATIVES> janitorial adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Latin, from janua ‘door’.

jankers /dakəz/ n. [mass noun] BRITISH MILITARY SLANG punishment for those who have committed a military offence: the sergeant put me on jankers.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

Jan Mayen /jan mən/ a barren and virtually uninhabited island in the Arctic Ocean between Greenland and Norway, annexed by Norway in 1929.

<ORIGIN> named after Jan May, the Dutch sea captain who claimed the island for his company and his country in 1614.

Jansen /dans(ə)n/ Cornelius Otto (1585–1638), Flemish Roman Catholic theologian and founder of Jansenism. A strong opponent of the Jesuits, he proposed a reform of Christianity through a return to St Augustine.

Jansenism n. a Christian movement of the 17th and 18th centuries, based on Jansen's writings and characterized by moral rigour and asceticism.

<DERIVATIVES> Jansenist n.

January /danj(ə)ri/ n. (pl. Januaries) the first month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the second month of winter: Sophie was two in January | last January my grandmother died.

<ORIGIN> Old English, from Latin Januarius (mensis) ‘(month) of Janus’ (see JANUS), the Roman god who presided over doors and beginnings.

Janus /denəs/ [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] an ancient Italian deity, guardian of doorways and gates and protector of the state in time of war. He is usually represented with two faces, so that he looks both forwards and backwards.

Jap n. & adj. INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE short for JAPANESE.

Japan a country in east Asia, occupying a festoon of islands in the Pacific roughly parallel with the east coast of the Asiatic mainland; pop. 126,974,628 (est. 2002); official language, Japanese; capital, Tokyo. Japanese name NIPPON.

From the late 19th century Japan began a modernizing process which eventually made it into a major world power. It fought wars against China (1894–5) and Russia (1904–5), and after the First World War occupied Manchuria (1931) and invaded China (1937). Japan entered the Second World War on the Axis side with a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The country surrendered in 1945 after the dropping of atom bombs by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is now the most highly industrialized country and the leading economic power in the region.

japan n. [mass noun] a hard, dark, enamel-like varnish containing asphalt, used to give a black gloss to metal objects.

- a kind of varnish in which pigments are ground, typically used to imitate lacquer on wood.

- articles made in a Japanese style, especially when decorated with lacquer or enamel-like varnish.

■ v. (japans, japanning, japanned) [with obj.] cover (something) with a hard black varnish: (as adj. japanned) a japanned tin tray.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from JAPAN.

Japan, Sea of the sea between Japan and the mainland of Asia. Referred to in Korea as the EAST SEA.

Japan Current another name for KUROSHIO.

Japanese adj. relating to Japan or its language, culture, or people.

■ n. (pl. same) 1 a native or national of Japan, or a person of Japanese descent.

2 [mass noun] the language of Japan, spoken by almost all of its population.

Probably related to Korean, Japanese has many Chinese loanwords, and is usually written in vertical columns using Chinese characters (kanji) supplemented by two sets of syllabic characters (kana).

Japanese anemone n. an autumn-flowering anemone with large pink or white flowers. It is native to China and naturalized in Japan, and several cultivars have been developed.

<INFO> Anemone hupehensis (var. japonica), family Ranunculaceae.

Japanese cedar n. see CRYPTOMERIA.

Japanese Current another name for KUROSHIO.

Japanese knotweed n. [mass noun] a tall fast-growing Japanese plant of the dock family, with bamboo-like stems and small white flowers. It has been grown as an ornamental but tends to become an aggressive weed.

<INFO> Reynoutria japonica, family Polygonaceae.

Japanese lantern n. another term for Chinese lantern (sense 1).

Japanese paper n. [mass noun] paper of a kind traditionally handmade in Japan, typically from vegetable fibres such as mulberry bark and without being sized, used for art and craft work.

Japanese quince n. another term for JAPONICA.

Japanimation /dəpanme(ə)n/ n. another term for ANIME.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of JAPAN and ANIMATION.

jape n. a practical joke.

■ v. [no obj.] say or do something in jest or mockery.

<DERIVATIVES> japery n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: apparently combining the form of Old French japer ‘to yelp, yap’ with the sense of Old French gaber ‘to mock’.

Japheth /defεθ/ (in the Bible) a son of Noah (Gen. 10:1), traditional ancestor of the peoples living round the Mediterranean.

Japlish /dapl/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL a blend of Japanese and English, either Japanese speech that makes liberal use of English expressions or unidiomatic English spoken by a Japanese person.

japonica /dəpnkə/ n. an Asian shrub of the rose family, with bright red flowers followed by round white, green, or yellow edible fruits. Also called JAPANESE QUINCE.

<INFO> Genus Chaenomeles, family Rosaceae: several species, in particular C. speciosa, which is grown as an ornamental.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, feminine of japonicus ‘Japanese’.

Jaques-Dalcroze /akdalkrəz/ Émile (1865–1950), Austrian-born Swiss music teacher and composer. He evolved the eurhythmics method of teaching music and dance, establishing a school for eurhythmics instruction in 1910.

jar^1 n. a wide-mouthed cylindrical container made of glass or pottery, especially one used for storing food.

- the contents of such a container: a jar of coffee.

- British INFORMAL a glass of beer: let's have a jar.

<DERIVATIVES> jarful n. (pl. jarfuls)

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French jarre, from Arabic jarra.

jar^2 v. (jars, jarring, jarred) 1 [with obj.] send a painful or damaging shock through (something, especially a part of the body): he jarred the knee in training.

- [no obj.] strike against something with an unpleasant vibration or jolt: the stick jarred on the bottom of the pond.

2 [no obj.] have an unpleasant or disturbing effect: a laugh which jarred on the ears | the difference in their background began to jar.

- be incongruous in a striking or shocking way: the play's symbolism jarred with the realism of its setting.

■ n. a physical shock or jolt.

- [mass noun] ARCHAIC discord or disagreement.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a noun in the sense ‘disagreement, dispute’): probably imitative.

jar^3 n. (in phrase on the jar) INFORMAL or DIALECT ajar.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: later form of obsolete char ‘turn’ (see also ajar^1 and CHARWOMAN).

jardinière /αdnjε/ n. 1 an ornamental pot or stand for the display of growing plants.

2 a garnish of mixed vegetables.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, literally ‘female gardener’.

jargon^1 /dα(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand: legal jargon.

- ARCHAIC a form of language regarded as barbarous, debased, or hybrid.

<DERIVATIVES> jargonistic adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘twittering, chattering’, later ‘gibberish’): from Old French jargoun, of unknown origin. The main sense dates from the mid 17th cent.

jargon^2 /dα(ə)n/ (also jargoon /dαun/) n. [mass noun] a translucent, colourless, or smoky gem variety of zircon.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French, from Italian giargone; probably ultimately related to ZIRCON.

Jargonelle /dαənεl/ n. BRITISH a pear of an early-ripening variety.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from French, diminutive of jargon^2 (with reference to the colour).

jargonize (also jargonise) v. [with obj.] use jargon to talk about: (as adj. jargonized) the jargonized world of information superhighways.

jarhead n. US INFORMAL a marine.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US dialect, in the sense ‘mule’): from JAR^1 + HEAD. The word originally referred to members of the US army, on account of the mule mascot of the Army football teams.

jarl /jαl/ n. HISTORICAL a Norse or Danish chief.

<ORIGIN> Old Norse, literally ‘man of noble birth’; related to EARL.

Jarlsberg /jαlzbə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a kind of hard yellow Norwegian cheese with many small holes and a mild, nutty flavour.

<ORIGIN> named after the town of Jarlsberg, Norway.

jarrah /darə/ n. a eucalyptus tree native to western Australia, yielding durable timber.

<INFO> Eucalyptus marginata, family Myrtaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Nyungar djarryl, jerrhyl.

jarring adj. 1 incongruous in a striking or shocking way; clashing: the telephone struck a jarring note in those Renaissance surroundings.

2 causing a physical shock, jolt, or vibration: the van came to a jarring halt.

<DERIVATIVES> jarringly adv.

Jarrow a town in NE England, on the Tyne estuary; pop. 28,200 (est. 2002). From the 7th century until the Viking invasions its monastery was a centre of Northumbrian Christian culture. Its name is associated with a series of hunger marches to London by the unemployed during the Depression of the 1930s.

Jarry /dari/ French /aRi/ Alfred (1873–1907), French dramatist. His satirical farce Ubu Roi (1896) anticipated surrealism and the Theatre of the Absurd.

jarul /dərul/ (also jarool) n. a tropical Asian tree which bears large clusters of purple or white flowers.

<INFO> Lagerstroemia speciosa, family Lythraceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Hindi.

Jaruzelski /jarzεlski/ Wojciech (b.1923), Polish general and statesman, Prime Minister 1981–5, head of state 1985–9, and President 1989–90. He responded to the rise of Solidarity by imposing martial law and banning trade union operation, but following the victory of Solidarity in the 1989 elections he supervised Poland's transition to a democracy.

Jas. abbr. James (in biblical references and generally).

jasmine /dazmn das-/ n. an Old World shrub or climbing plant which is popular as an ornamental and bears fragrant white, pink, or yellow flowers.

<INFO> Genus Jasminum, family Oleaceae: many species, including the winter jasmine.

- used in names of other shrubs or climbers with fragrant flowers, e.g. Cape jasmine, yellow jasmine.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French jasmin and obsolete French jessemin, from Arabic yāsamīn, from Persian yāsamīn.

jasmine tea n. [mass noun] a tea perfumed with dried jasmine blossom.

Jason [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the son of the king of Iolcos in Thessaly, and leader of the Argonauts in the quest for the Golden Fleece.

jaspé /daspe/ adj. randomly mottled or variegated, like jasper.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: French, past participle of jasper ‘to marble’, from jaspe (see JASPER).

jasper n. [mass noun] 1 an opaque reddish-brown semi-precious stone consisting of a variety of chalcedony.

2 (also jasperware) a kind of fine hard porcelain developed by Josiah Wedgwood and used for Wedgwood cameos and other delicate work.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally denoting any bright-coloured chalcedony other than carnelian): from Old French jasp(r)e, from Latin iaspis, from Greek, of oriental origin.

Jassy /jasi/ German name for Iaşi.

Jat /dαt/ n. a member of a people widely scattered throughout the north-west of the Indian subcontinent.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi Jā.

Jataka /dtəkə/ n. any of the various stories of the former lives of the Buddha found in Buddhist literature.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit jātaka ‘born under’.

jatha /dαtə/ n. INDIAN an armed parade, especially of Sikhs.

- a long march, usually aimed at spreading a message.

<ORIGIN> from Punjabi, from Hindi jāthā.

jati /dαti/ n. (pl. same or jatis) INDIAN a caste or subcaste.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit jāti ‘birth’.

jato /detə/ n. (pl. jatos) [mass noun] [AERONAUTICS] jet-assisted take-off.

- [count noun] an auxiliary power unit providing extra thrust at take-off.

<ORIGIN> Second World War (originally US): acronym.

jaundice /dnds/ n. [mass noun] 1 a medical condition with yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes, arising from excess of the pigment bilirubin and typically caused by obstruction of the bile duct, by liver disease, or by excessive breakdown of red blood cells.

2 bitterness, resentment, or cynicism.

<ORIGIN> Middle English jaunes, from Old French jaunice ‘yellowness’, from jaune ‘yellow’.

jaundiced adj. 1 affected by jaundice, in particular unnaturally yellow in complexion.

2 affected by bitterness, resentment, or cynicism: they looked on politicians with a jaundiced eye.

jaunt n. a short excursion or journey made for pleasure: her regular jaunts to Europe.

■ v. [no obj.] make such an excursion or journey.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin. Originally depreciatory, early senses included ‘tire a horse out by riding it up and down’, ‘traipse about’, and (as a noun) ‘troublesome journey’. The current positive sense dates from the mid 17th cent.

jaunting car n. HISTORICAL a light two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle formerly used in Ireland.

jaunty adj. (jauntier, jauntiest) having or expressing a lively, cheerful, and self-confident manner: there was no mistaking that jaunty walk.

<DERIVATIVES> jauntily adv. jauntiness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘well-bred, genteel’): from French gentil (see gentle^1, genteel).

Java^1 /dαvə/ a large island in the Malay Archipelago, forming part of Indonesia; pop. 122,759,800 (2000) (with Madura).

<DERIVATIVES> Javan n. & adj.

Java^2 /dαvə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a general-purpose computer programming language designed to produce programs that will run on any computer system.

java /dαvə/ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL coffee.

Java man n. a fossil hominid of the Middle Pleistocene period, whose remains were found in Java in 1891.

<INFO> An early form of Homo erectus (formerly Pithecanthropus), family Hominidae.

Javanese n. (pl. same) 1 a native or inhabitant of Java, or a person of Javanese descent.

2 [mass noun] the Indonesian language of central Java, spoken by about 70 million people.

■ adj. relating to Java, its people, or their language.

Javan rhinoceros n. a rare one-horned rhinoceros that is now confined to the lowland rainforests of Java.

<INFO> Rhinoceros sondaicus, family Rhinocerotidae.

Java Sea a sea in the Malay Archipelago of SE Asia, surrounded by the islands of Borneo, Java, and Sumatra.

Java sparrow n. a waxbill with a large red bill and black-and-white head, native to Java and Bali but introduced elsewhere and popular as a cage bird.

<INFO> Padda oryzivora, family Estrildidae.

javelin /dav(ə)ln/ n. a light spear thrown in a competitive sport or as a weapon.

- (the javelin) the athletic event or sport of throwing the javelin: his nearest rival in the javelin.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French javeline, of Celtic origin.

javelina /havəlinə/ n. North American term for PECCARY.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Spanish jabalina, from the feminine form of jabalí ‘wild boar’, from Arabic jabali ‘mountaineer’.

jaw n. 1 each of the upper and lower bony structures in vertebrates forming the framework of the mouth and containing the teeth.

- the lower movable bone of the jaw, or the part of the face containing it: she suffered a broken jaw.

- (jaws) the mouth with its bones and teeth.

- (jaws) the grasping, biting, or crushing mouthparts of an invertebrate.

- (usually jaws) the gripping parts of a tool or machine, such as a wrench or vice.

- (jaws) the grasping or destructive power of something: victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat.

- (jaws) an opening likened to a mouth: a passenger stepping from the jaws of a car ferry.

2 [mass noun] INFORMAL talk or gossip, especially when lengthy or tedious: committee work is just endless jaw.

■ v. [no obj.] INFORMAL talk at length; chatter: I was too busy to spend time jawing with the rest of the crew.

<DERIVATIVES> jawed adj. [in combination] square-jawed young men jawless adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French joe ‘cheek, jaw’, of unknown origin.

jawan /dəwαn/ n. INDIAN a male police constable or soldier.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu jawān ‘young man’, from Persian; ultimately related to YOUNG.

jawbone n. a bone of the jaw, especially that of the lower jaw (the mandible), or either half of this.

■ v. [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL use one's position or authority to pressure (someone) to do something: the Treasury could jawbone the banks into lending more to small businesses.

jawbreaker n. 1 INFORMAL a word that is very long or hard to pronounce.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a large gobstopper.

jaw-dropping adj. INFORMAL amazing: a jaw-dropping display of slick trickery.

<DERIVATIVES> jaw-droppingly adv.

jawfish n. (pl. same or jawfishes) a small fish with very large jaws which lives in shallow tropical seas. It often inhabits a burrow in the sand, the walls of which are lined with pieces of shell and stone.

<INFO> Family Opistognathidae: several genera and species.

jaw-jaw INFORMAL n. [mass noun] talking, especially lengthy and pointless discussion.

■ v. talk, especially at length.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: reduplication of JAW.

jawline n. the contour of the lower edge of a person's jaw: he had a dark, unshaven jawline.

Jaws of Life n. NORTH AMERICAN TRADEMARK a hydraulic apparatus used to pry apart the wreckage of crashed vehicles in order to free people trapped inside.

jay n. 1 a bird of the crow family with boldly patterned plumage, typically having blue feathers in the wings or tail.

<INFO> Family Corvidae: several genera and numerous species, in particular the Eurasian Garrulus glandarius, with a crest, mainly pinkish-brown plumage, and a harsh screech.

2 INFORMAL, DATED a person who talks at length in a foolish or impertinent way.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: via Old French from late Latin gaius, gaia, perhaps from the Latin given name Gaius.

Jaycee /desi/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a member of a Junior Chamber of Commerce, a civic organization for business and community leaders.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: representing the initials of Junior Chamber.

jaywalk v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN cross or walk in the street or road unlawfully or without regard for approaching traffic.

<DERIVATIVES> jaywalker n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from JAY in the colloquial sense ‘silly person’ + WALK.

jazz n. [mass noun] a type of music of black American origin which emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, characterized by improvisation, syncopation, and usually a regular or forceful rhythm. Brass and woodwind instruments and piano are particularly associated with jazz, although guitar and occasionally violin are also used; styles include Dixieland, swing, bebop, and free jazz.

- (also jazz ballet or jazz dance) a style of theatrical dance performed to jazz or popular music.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] DATED play or dance to jazz music.

2 [with obj.] (jazz something up) make something more lively or cheerful: jazz up an all-white kitchen with red tiles.

<PHRASES>

□ and all that jazz INFORMAL and such similar things: oh, love, life, and all that jazz.

<DERIVATIVES> jazzer n.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

jazz age n. the 1920s in the US characterized as a period of carefree hedonism, wealth, freedom, and youthful exuberance, reflected in the novels of writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald.

jazzbo n. (pl. jazzbos) INFORMAL 1 a jazz musician or jazz enthusiast.

2 US ARCHAIC a person, especially a black man.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

Jazzercise n. TRADEMARK a type of fitness training combining aerobic exercise and jazz dancing.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of JAZZ and EXERCISE.

jazz funk n. [mass noun] a style of popular dance music incorporating elements of jazz and funk.

jazzman n. (pl. jazzmen) a male jazz musician.

jazzy adj. (jazzier, jazziest) 1 of, resembling, or in the style of jazz: a jazzy piano solo.

2 bright, colourful, and showy: jazzy ties.

<DERIVATIVES> jazzily adv. jazziness n.

JCB n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a type of mechanical excavator with a shovel at the front and a digging arm at the rear.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: the initials of J. C. Bamford, the makers.

JCL abbr. [COMPUTING] job control language.

J-cloth n. (TRADEMARK in the UK) a type of cloth used for household cleaning.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: J from Johnson and Johnson, the original makers.

JCR abbr. BRITISH Junior Common (or Combination) Room.

JCS abbr. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief military advisory body to the President of the United States.

jealous adj. feeling or showing an envious resentment of someone or their achievements, possessions, or perceived advantages: she was always jealous of me.

- feeling or showing a resentful suspicion that one's partner is attracted to or involved with someone else: a jealous husband.

- fiercely protective of one's rights or possessions: the men were proud of their achievements and jealous of their independence.

- (of God) demanding faithfulness and exclusive worship.

<DERIVATIVES> jealously adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gelos, from medieval Latin zelosus (see ZEALOUS).

jealousy n. (pl. jealousies) [mass noun] the state or feeling of being jealous: a sharp pang of jealousy | [count noun] resentments and jealousies festered.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French gelosie, from gelos (see JEALOUS).

jean n. [mass noun] heavy twilled cotton cloth, especially denim: [as modifier] a jean jacket.

- [count noun] (in commercial use) a pair of jeans: a button-fly jean.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as an adjective): from Old French Janne (now Gênes), from medieval Latin Janua ‘Genoa’, the place of original production. The noun sense comes from jean fustian, literally ‘fustian from Genoa’, used in the 16th century to denote a heavy twilled cotton cloth.

Jean Paul /n pl/ (1763–1825), German novelist; pseudonym of Johann Paul Friedrich Richter. He is noted for his romantic novels, including Hesperus (1795), and for comic works such as Titan (1800–3).

Jeans Sir James Hopwood (1877–1946), English physicist and astronomer. Jeans proposed a theory for the formation of the solar system and was the first to propose that matter is continuously created throughout the universe, one of the tenets of the steady state theory.

jeans plural n. hard-wearing casual trousers made of denim or other cotton fabric: he wore a pair of faded jeans and a white T-shirt.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: plural of JEAN.

jebel /dεbεl/ (also djebel) n. (in the Middle East and North Africa) a mountain or hill, or a range of hills.

<ORIGIN> colloquial Arabic form of jabal ‘mountain’.

Jedi /dεd/ (also Jedi knight) n. (pl. same or Jedis) a member of the mystical knightly order in the Star Wars films, trained to guard peace and justice in the Universe.

jeep n. TRADEMARK a small, sturdy motor vehicle with four-wheel drive, especially one used by the military.

<ORIGIN> Second World War (originally US): from the initials GP, standing for general purpose, influenced by ‘Eugene the Jeep’, a creature of great resourcefulness and power represented in the Popeye comic strip.

jeepers (also jeepers creepers) exclam. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN used to express surprise or alarm: Jeepers! Do you think she saw?

<ORIGIN> 1920s: alteration of JESUS.

jeer v. [no obj.] make rude and mocking remarks, typically in a loud voice: some of the younger men jeered at him | (as adj. jeering) the jeering crowds.

- [with obj.] shout such remarks at (someone): councillors were jeered and heckled.

■ n. a rude and mocking remark.

<DERIVATIVES> jeeringly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

jeera /dirə/ (also zeera) n. Indian term for CUMIN.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi jīrā.

jeet kune do /dit kun du/ n. [mass noun] a modern martial art incorporating elements of kung fu, fencing, and boxing, devised by the American actor Bruce Lee.

<ORIGIN> from Cantonese, literally ‘the way of the intercepting fist’.

Jeeves the resourceful and influential valet of Bertie Wooster in the novels of P. G. Wodehouse.

Jeez (also Jeeze or Geez) exclam. INFORMAL a mild expression used to show surprise or annoyance.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: abbreviation of JESUS.

jefe /hεfε/ n. US INFORMAL a boss or leader; a person in charge of something.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Spanish from French chef chief.

Jefferies (John) Richard (1848–87), English writer and naturalist renowned for his observation of English rural life. Notable works: Bevis (novel, 1882) and The Story of my Heart (autobiography, 1883).

Jefferson Thomas (1743–1826), American Democratic Republican statesman, 3rd President of the US 1801–9. He played a key role in the American leadership during the War of Independence and was the principal drafter of the Declaration of Independence (1776).

<DERIVATIVES> Jeffersonian adj. & n.

Jefferson City the state capital of Missouri; pop. 39,636 (2000).

Jeffreys George, 1st Baron (c.1645–89), Welsh judge. Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1683, he took part in the Popish Plot prosecutions and later became infamous for his brutal sentencing at the Bloody Assizes.

Jehoshaphat /dhəfat/ (also Jehosaphat) a king of Judah in the mid 9th century BC.

- [as exclamation] (also jumping Jehoshaphat) a mild expletive: Jehoshaphat! That would be ghastly. [<ORIGIN> probably a euphemism for JESUS.]

Jehovah /dhəvə/ n. a form of the Hebrew name of God used in some translations of the Bible.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin Iehouah, Iehoua, from Hebrew YHWH or JHVH, the consonants of the name of God, with the inclusion of vowels taken from 'ăōnāy ‘my lord’; see also YAHWEH.

Jehovah's Witness n. a member of a Christian movement (the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society) founded in the US by Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916). Jehovah's Witnesses deny many traditional Christian doctrines (including the divinity of Christ) but preach the Second Coming of Christ, and refuse military service and blood transfusion on religious grounds.

Jehovist /dhəvst/ n. another name for YAHWIST.

Jehu /dihju/ (842–815 BC), king of Israel. He was famous for driving his chariot furiously (2 Kings 9).

jejune /ddun/ adj. 1 naive, simplistic, and superficial: their entirely predictable and usually jejune opinions.

2 (of ideas or writings) dry and uninteresting.

<DERIVATIVES> jejunely adv. jejuneness n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin jejunus ‘fasting, barren’. The original sense was ‘without food’, hence ‘not intellectually nourishing’.

jejunoileal /ddunələl/ adj. MEDICINE of or involving the jejunum and the ileum, usually with reference to a bypass operation in which they are connected.

jejunum /ddunəm/ n. [ANATOMY] the part of the small intestine between the duodenum and ileum.

<DERIVATIVES> jejunal adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin, neuter of jejunus ‘fasting’ (because it is usually found to be empty after death).

Jekyll^1 /dεk(ə)l/ Dr, the central character of Robert Louis Stevenson's story The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). He discovers a drug which creates a separate personality (appearing in the character of Mr Hyde) into which Jekyll's evil impulses are channelled.

<PHRASES>

□ a Jekyll and Hyde a person alternately displaying opposing good and evil personalities.

Jekyll^2 /dik(ə)l/ Gertrude (1843–1932), English horticulturalist and garden designer. She created over 300 gardens for buildings designed by Edwin Lutyens, promoting colour design in garden planning and ‘wild’ gardens.

jell v. variant spelling of gel^2.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: back-formation from JELLY.

Jellicoe /dεlkə/ John Rushworth, 1st Earl (1859–1935), British admiral, commander of the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.

jello (also TRADEMARK Jell-O) n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a fruit-flavoured gelatin dessert made up from a commercially prepared powder.

jelly n. (pl. jellies) 1 [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH a fruit-flavoured dessert made by warming and then cooling a liquid containing gelatin or a similar setting agent in a mould or dish so that it sets into a semi-solid, somewhat elastic mass.

- a substance with a similar consistency made with fruit or other ingredients as a condiment: roast pheasant with redcurrant jelly.

- a similar savoury preparation made by boiling meat and bones.

- any substance of a similar consistency: petroleum jelly.

2 a small sweet made with gelatin.

- British INFORMAL a tablet of the drug Temazepam.

3 US term for jam^2.

4 BRITISH INFORMAL gelignite.

5 (jellies) jelly shoes.

■ v. (jellies, jellying, jellied) [with obj.] (usually as adj. jellied) set (food) as or in a jelly: jellied cranberry sauce | jellied eels.

<DERIVATIVES> jellify v. (jellifies, jellifying, jellified) jelly-like adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French gelee ‘frost, jelly’, from Latin gelata ‘frozen’, from gelare ‘freeze’, from gelu ‘frost’.

jelly baby n. BRITISH a jelly-like sweet in the stylized shape of a baby.

jelly bag n. a fine mesh bag used for straining the juice from cooked fruit, especially so that this liquid can be made into jelly.

jelly bean n. a bean-shaped sweet with a jelly-like centre and a firm sugar coating.

jellyfish n. (pl. same or jellyfishes) 1 a free-swimming marine coelenterate with a jelly-like bell- or saucer-shaped body that is typically transparent and has stinging tentacles around the edge.

<INFO> Classes Scyphozoa and Cubozoa.

2 INFORMAL a feeble person.

jelly roll n. NORTH AMERICAN a Swiss roll.

jelly shoe (also jelly sandal) n. a sandal made from brightly coloured or translucent moulded plastic.

jelutong /dεlut/ n. a Malaysian tree with pale lightweight timber.

<INFO> Genus Dyera, family Apocynaceae: several species, in particular D. costulata, from which a latex is obtained.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Malay.

jemmy (also jimmy) n. (pl. jemmies) a short crowbar used by a burglar to force open a window or door.

■ v. (jemmies, jemmying, jemmied) [with obj.] INFORMAL force open (a window or door) with a jemmy.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: pet form of the given name James (compare with jack^1).

Jena /jenə/ German /jena/ a university town in central Germany, in Thuringia; pop. 97,800 (est. 2002). It is noted as a manufacturing centre for optical and precision instruments.

je ne sais quoi /ə nə se kwα/ French /ən sε kwa/ n. a quality that cannot be described or named easily: that je ne sais quoi which makes a professional.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘I do not know what’.

Jenkins Roy (Harris), Baron Jenkins of Hillhead (1920–2003), English Labour and Social Democrat MP and scholar. A Labour MP between 1948 and 1976, he co-founded the Social Democratic Party in 1981 and represented Glasgow Hillhead 1982–7. He then became Chancellor of Oxford University.

Jenkins's Ear, War of a war between England and Spain (1739). It was precipitated by a British sea captain, Robert Jenkins, who appeared before Parliament to produce what he claimed was his ear, cut off by the Spanish while they were carrying out a search of his ship in the Caribbean.

Jenner /dεnə/ Edward (1749–1823), English physician, the pioneer of vaccination. Jenner deliberately infected people with small amounts of cowpox as he believed it would protect them from catching smallpox. The practice was eventually accepted throughout the world, leading to the widespread use of vaccination for other diseases and eventually to the eradication of smallpox in the late 20th century.

jennet /dεnt/ n. a kind of small Spanish horse.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via French from Spanish jinete ‘light horseman’, from Spanish Arabic Zenāta, the name of a Berber people famous for horsemanship.

jenny n. (pl. jennies) 1 a female donkey or ass.

2 short for SPINNING JENNY.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (used to denote a female mammal or bird): pet form of the given name Janet (compare with jack^1).

jenny wren n. BRITISH INFORMAL a wren.

jeon /dn/ n. (pl. same) a monetary unit of South Korea, equal to one hundredth of a won.

<ORIGIN> Korean.

jeopardize /dεpədz/ (also jeopardise) v. [with obj.] put (someone or something) into a situation in which there is a danger of loss, harm, or failure: a devaluation of the dollar would jeopardize New York's position as a financial centre.

jeopardy /dεpədi/ n. [mass noun] danger of loss, harm, or failure: the whole peace process is in jeopardy.

- [LAW] danger arising from being on trial for a criminal offence.

<ORIGIN> Middle English iuparti, from Old French ieu parti ‘(evenly) divided game’. The term was originally used in chess and other games to denote a problem, or a position in which the chances of winning or losing were evenly balanced, hence ‘a dangerous situation’.

Jephthah /dεfθə/ (in the Bible) a judge of Israel who sacrificed his daughter in consequence of a vow that if victorious in battle he would sacrifice the first living thing that met him on his return (Judges 11, 12).

Jer. abbr. Jeremiah (in biblical references).

jerboa /dəbəə dəbəə/ n. a desert-dwelling rodent with very long hind legs that enable it to walk upright and perform long jumps, found from North Africa to central Asia.

<INFO> Family Dipodidae: several genera and species.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: modern Latin, from Arabic yarbū‘.

jeremiad /dεrmad/ n. a long, mournful complaint or lamentation; a list of woes.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French jérémiade, from Jérémie ‘Jeremiah’, from ecclesiastical Latin Jeremias, with reference to the Lamentations of Jeremiah in the Old Testament.

Jeremiah /dεrmə/ (c.650–c.585 BC) a Hebrew major prophet who foresaw the fall of Assyria, the conquest of his country by Egypt and Babylon, and the destruction of Jerusalem. The biblical Lamentations are traditionally ascribed to him.

- a book of the Bible containing his prophecies.

- (as n. a Jeremiah) a person who complains continually or foretells disaster.

jerepigo /dεrpiə/ n. [mass noun] S. AFRICAN a heavy, sweet fortified dessert wine.

<ORIGIN> alteration of geropiga (from Portuguese, jeropiga), a grape juice mixture added during the port-making process.

Jerez /hεrεθ/ Spanish /xereθ -res/ a town in Andalusia, Spain; pop. 186,000 (est. 2002). It is the centre of the sherry-making industry. Full name Jerez de la Frontera /de la frntεrə/ Spanish /de la frəntera/.

Jericho /dεrkə/ a town in Palestine, in the West Bank north of the Dead Sea.

According to the Bible, Jericho was a Canaanite city destroyed by the Israelites after they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land; its walls were flattened by the shout of the army and the blast of the trumpets. Occupied by the Israelis since the Six Day War of 1967, in 1994 Jericho was the first area given partial autonomy under the PLO–Israeli peace accord.

jerk^1 n. 1 a quick, sharp, sudden movement: he gave a sudden jerk of his head.

- a spasmodic muscular twitch.

- [WEIGHTLIFTING] the raising of a barbell above the head from shoulder level by an abrupt straightening of the arms and legs, typically as the second part of a clean and jerk.

2 INFORMAL a contemptibly foolish person.

■ v. 1 [with adverbial of direction] move or cause to move with a jerk: [no obj.] the van jerked forward | [with obj.] she jerked her chin up | FIGURATIVE the thud jerked her back to reality.

- [with obj.] [WEIGHTLIFTING] raise (a weight) from shoulder level to above the head.

2 [with obj.] (jerk someone around) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL deal with someone dishonestly or unfairly.

3 [no obj.] (jerk off) VULGAR SLANG, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN masturbate.

<DERIVATIVES> jerker n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (denoting a stroke with a whip): probably imitative.

jerk^2 v. [with obj.] 1 cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it (originally in the sun).

2 (usually as adj. jerked) prepare (pork or chicken) by marinating it in spices and barbecuing it over a wood fire.

■ n. [mass noun] [often as modifier] jerked meat: jerk chicken.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin American Spanish charquear, from charqui, from Quechua echarqui ‘dried flesh’.

jerkin n. a sleeveless jacket.

- HISTORICAL a man's close-fitting jacket, typically made of leather.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: of unknown origin.

jerkin head n. [ARCHITECTURE] the end of a roof that is hipped for only part of its height, leaving a truncated gable.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: perhaps from an alteration of jerking (from the jerk^1 (verb)) + HEAD; compare also with earlier kirkin-head (apparently arbitrarily formed from KIRK) in the same sense.

jerkwater adj. [attr.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL of or associated with small, remote, and insignificant rural settlements: some jerkwater town.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from JERK^1 + WATER, from the need for early railway engines to be supplied with water in remote areas, by dipping a bucket into a stream and ‘jerking’ it out by rope.

jerky^1 adj. (jerkier, jerkiest) characterized by abrupt stops and starts: the coach drew to a jerky halt.

<DERIVATIVES> jerkily adv. jerkiness n.

jerky^2 n. [mass noun] meat that has been cured by being cut into long, thin strips and dried: beef jerky.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from American Spanish charqui, from Quechua.

jeroboam /dεrəbəəm/ n. a wine bottle with a capacity four times larger than that of an ordinary bottle.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after Jeroboam, a king of Israel, ‘who made Israel to sin’ (1 Kings 11:28, 14:16).

Jerome /dərəm/ Jerome K. (1859–1927), English novelist and dramatist; full name Jerome Klapka Jerome. He is chiefly remembered for his humorous novel Three Men in a Boat (1889).

Jerome, St (c.342–420), Doctor of the Church. He is chiefly known for his compilation of the Vulgate. Feast day, 30 September.

Jerry n. (pl. Jerries) BRITISH INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a German (especially in military contexts).

- [in sing.] the Germans collectively.

<ORIGIN> First World War: probably an alteration of GERMAN.

jerry n. (pl. jerries) BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a chamber pot.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: probably a diminutive of JEROBOAM.

jerry-built adj. badly or hastily built with materials of poor quality.

<DERIVATIVES> jerry-builder n. jerry-building n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: origin unknown; sometimes said to be from the name of a firm of builders in Liverpool, or to allude to the walls of Jericho, which fell down at the sound of Joshua's trumpets (Josh. 6:20).

jerrycan (also jerrican) n. a large flat-sided metal container for storing or transporting liquids, typically petrol or water.

<ORIGIN> Second World War: from JERRY + CAN^2, because such containers were first used in Germany.

Jersey the largest of the Channel Islands; pop. 87,200 (2001); capital, St Helier.

jersey n. (pl. jerseys) 1 a knitted garment with long sleeves, worn over the upper body.

- a distinctive shirt worn by a player or competitor in certain sports.

- [mass noun] a soft, fine knitted fabric.

2 (Jersey) an animal of a breed of light brown dairy cattle from Jersey.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting woollen worsted fabric made in Jersey): from JERSEY.

Jersey City an industrial city in NE New Jersey, on the Hudson River opposite New York City; pop. 240,055 (2000).

Jerusalem /dərusələm/ the holy city of the Jews, sacred also to Christians and Muslims, lying in the Judaean hills about 30 km (20 miles) from the River Jordan; pop. 617,000 (2000).

The city was captured from the Canaanites by King David of the Israelites (c.1000 BC), who made it his capital. As the site of the Temple, built by Solomon (957 BC), it became also the centre of the Jewish religion. Since then it has shared the troubled history of the area—destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and by the Romans in AD 70, and fought over by Saracens and Crusaders in the Middle Ages. From 1947 the city was divided between the states of Israel and Jordan until the Israelis occupied the whole city in June 1967 and proclaimed it the capital of Israel. It is revered by Christians as the place of Christ's death and resurrection, and by Muslims as the site of the Dome of the Rock.

Jerusalem artichoke n. 1 a knobbly edible tuber with white flesh, eaten as a vegetable.

2 the tall North American plant, closely related to the sunflower, which produces this tuber.

<INFO> Helianthus tuberosus, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Jerusalem, alteration of Italian girasole ‘sunflower’.

Jerusalem Bible n. a modern English translation of the Bible by mainly Roman Catholic scholars, published in 1966 and revised (as the New Jerusalem Bible) in 1985.

Jerusalem cross n. a cross with arms of equal length each ending in a bar; a cross potent.

Jerusalem thorn n. a thorny tropical American tree of the pea family, grown as an ornamental.

<INFO> Parkinsonia aculeata, family Leguminosae.

Jervis /dαvs/ John, Earl St Vincent (1735–1823), British admiral. In 1797, as commander of the British fleet, he defeated a Spanish fleet off Cape St Vincent, for which he was created Earl St Vincent.

Jervis Bay Territory a territory on Jervis Bay on the SE coast of Australia. Incorporated in 1915 as a sea outlet for the Australian Capital Territory, it separated from the Capital Territory in 1988.

Jespersen /jεspəs(ə)n/ (Jens) Otto (Harry) (1860–1943), Danish philologist, grammarian, and educationist. He promoted the use of the ‘direct method’ in language teaching with the publication of his theoretical work How to Teach a Foreign Language (1904). Other notable works: Modern English Grammar (1909–49).

jess [FALCONRY] n. (usually jesses) a short leather strap fastened round each leg of a hawk, usually also having a ring or swivel to which a leash may be attached.

■ v. [with obj.] put jesses on (a hawk).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French ges, based on Latin jactus ‘a throw’, from jacere ‘to throw’.

jessamine /dεsəmn/ n. another term for JASMINE.

Jesse /dεsi/ (in the Bible) the father of David (1 Sam. 16), represented as the first in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Jesse tree n. a representation in carving or stained glass of the genealogy of Jesus as a tree with Jesse at the base and intermediate descendants on branching scrolls of foliage.

Jesse window n. a church window showing Jesus's descent from Jesse, typically in the form of a Jesse tree.

jessie (also jessy) n. (pl. jessies) BRITISH INFORMAL, DEROGATORY an effeminate, weak, or oversensitive man.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from the female given name Jessie.

jest n. a thing said or done for amusement; a joke: he laughed uproariously at his own jest | [mass noun] it was said in jest.

- ARCHAIC an object of derision: lowly virtue is the jest of fools.

■ v. [no obj.] speak in a joking way: you jest, surely?

<DERIVATIVES> jesting adj. & n. jestingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from earlier gest, from Old French geste, from Latin gesta ‘actions, exploits’, from gerere ‘do’. The original sense was ‘heroic deed’, hence ‘a narrative of such deeds’; later the term denoted an idle tale, hence a joke.

jester n. HISTORICAL a professional joker or ‘fool’ at a medieval court, typically wearing a cap with bells on it and carrying a mock sceptre.

- a person who habitually plays the fool.

Jesu /dizju/ archaic form of JESUS.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French. Jesus became the usual spelling in the 16th century, but Jesu was often retained in translations of the Bible, reflecting Latin vocative use.

Jesuit /dεz(j)t/ n. a member of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order of priests founded by St Ignatius Loyola, St Francis Xavier, and others in 1534, to do missionary work. The order was zealous in opposing the Reformation. Despite periodic persecution it has retained an important influence in Catholic thought and education.

<ORIGIN> from French jésuite or modern Latin Jesuita, from Christian Latin Iesus (see JESUS).

Jesuitical adj. of or concerning the Jesuits.

- dissembling or equivocating, in the manner once associated with Jesuits.

<DERIVATIVES> Jesuitically adv.

Jesuits' bark n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC cinchona bark.

Jesus (also Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth) the central figure of the Christian religion.

Jesus conducted a mission of preaching and healing (with reported miracles) in Palestine in about AD 28–30, which is described in the Gospels, as are his arrest, death by crucifixion, and Resurrection from the dead. His followers considered him to be the Christ or Messiah and the Son of God, and belief in his Resurrection became a central tenet of Christianity.

- [as exclamation] an oath used to express irritation, dismay, or surprise.

<ORIGIN> from Christian Latin Iesus, from Greek Iēsous, from a late Hebrew or Aramaic analogous formation based on Yĕhōšûă‘ ‘Joshua’.

Jesus freak n. INFORMAL, chiefly DEROGATORY a fervent evangelical Christian, especially one who adopts a lifestyle like that of a hippy.

JET abbr. Joint European Torus, a machine for conducting experiments in nuclear fusion, at Culham in Oxfordshire.

jet^1 n. 1 a rapid stream of liquid or gas forced out of a small opening: a jet of boiling water spurted over his hand.

- a nozzle or narrow opening for sending out such a stream.

2 a jet engine.

- an aircraft powered by one or more jet engines: a private jet.

■ v. (jets, jetting, jetted) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] 1 spurt out in jets: blood jetted from his nostrils.

2 travel by jet aircraft: the newly weds jetted off for a honeymoon in New York.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a verb meaning ‘jut out’): from French jeter ‘to throw’, based on Latin jactare, frequentative of jacere ‘to throw’.

jet^2 n. [mass noun] a hard black semi-precious variety of lignite, capable of being carved and highly polished.

- (also jet black) a glossy black colour: [as modifier] her jet-black hair.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French jaiet, from Latin Gagates, from Greek gagatēs ‘from Gagai’, a town in Asia Minor.

jetboat n. a motor boat of shallow draught propelled by a jet of water pumped forcefully out from below the stern waterline.

jeté /εte əte/ n. [BALLET] a jump in which a dancer springs from one foot to land on the other with one leg extended outwards from the body while in the air. See also grand jeté, petit jeté.

<ORIGIN> French, past participle of jeter ‘to throw’.

jet engine n. an engine using jet propulsion for forward thrust, mainly used for aircraft.

jetfoil n. a type of passenger-carrying hydrofoil.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: blend of jet^1 and HYDROFOIL.

jet lag n. [mass noun] extreme tiredness and other physical effects felt by a person after a long flight across different time zones.

<DERIVATIVES> jet-lagged adj.

jetliner n. a large jet aircraft carrying passengers.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: blend of jet^1 and AIRLINER.

jet-propelled adj. moved by jet propulsion.

jet propulsion n. [mass noun] propulsion by the backward ejection of a high-speed jet of gas or liquid.

jetsam /dεts(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] unwanted material or goods that have been thrown overboard from a ship and washed ashore, especially material that has been discarded to lighten the vessel. Compare with FLOTSAM.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as jetson): from JETTISON.

jet set n. (the jet set) INFORMAL wealthy and fashionable people who travel widely and frequently for pleasure: [as modifier] the jet-set lifestyle.

<DERIVATIVES> jet-setter n. jet-setting adj.

jet ski n. TRADEMARK a small jet-propelled vehicle which skims across the surface of water and is ridden in a similar way to a motorcycle.

■ v. (jet-ski) [no obj.] ride on a jet-ski.

<DERIVATIVES> jet-skier n. jet-skiing n.

jet stream n. 1 a narrow variable band of very strong predominantly westerly air currents encircling the globe several miles above the earth. There are typically two or three jet streams in each of the northern and southern hemispheres.

2 a flow of exhaust gases from a jet engine.

jettison /dεts(ə)n -z(ə)n/ v. [with obj.] throw or drop (something) from an aircraft or ship: six aircraft jettisoned their loads in the sea.

- abandon or discard (someone or something that is no longer wanted): the scheme was jettisoned.

■ n. [mass noun] the action of jettisoning something.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun denoting the throwing of goods overboard to lighten a ship in distress): from Old French getaison, from Latin jactatio(n-), from jactare ‘to throw’ (see jet^1). The verb dates from the mid 19th cent.

jetton /dεt(ə)n/ n. a counter or token used as a gambling chip or to operate slot machines.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French jeton, from jeter ‘throw, add up accounts’ (see jet^1); so named because the term was formerly used in accounting.

jetty n. (pl. jetties) a landing stage or small pier at which boats can dock or be moored.

- a bridge or staircase used by passengers boarding an aircraft.

- a breakwater constructed to protect or defend a harbour, stretch of coast, or riverbank.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French jetee, feminine past participle of jeter ‘to throw’ (see jet^1).

jetway n. (TRADEMARK in the UK)

■ another term for AIR BRIDGE.

jeu d'esprit /ə dεspri/ French /ø dεspRi/ n. (pl. jeux d'esprit pronunc. same) a light-hearted display of wit and cleverness, especially in a work of literature.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘game of the mind’.

jeunesse dorée /ənεs dre/ French /œnεs dRe/ n. French term for GILDED YOUTH.

Jew n. a member of the people and cultural community whose traditional religion is Judaism and who trace their origins to the ancient Hebrew people of Israel.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French juiu, via Latin from Greek Ioudaios, via Aramaic from Hebrew yĕhūī, from yĕhūāh ‘Judah’ (see JUDAH).

jewel n. a precious stone, typically a single crystal or piece of a hard lustrous or translucent mineral cut into shape with flat facets or smoothed and polished for use as an ornament.

- (usually jewels) an ornament or piece of jewellery containing a precious stone or stones.

- a hard precious stone used as a bearing in a watch, compass, or other device.

- a very pleasing or valued person or thing; a very fine example: she was a jewel of a nurse.

<PHRASES>

□ the jewel in the (or one's) crown the most valuable or successful part of something: Galway is the jewel in the crown of the Irish racing industry.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French joel, from jeu ‘game, play’, from Latin jocus ‘jest’.

jewel beetle n. a chiefly tropical beetle that has bold metallic colours and patterns. The larvae are mainly wood-borers and may be serious pests of timber.

<INFO> Family Buprestidae: numerous genera.

jewel box n. 1 a bivalve mollusc which has a robust shell with a rough or spiny surface. It lives in warm seas, attached to rock or coral.

<INFO> Family Chamidae: Chama and other genera.

2 (also jewel case) a storage box for a compact disc.

jewelfish n. (pl. same or jewelfishes) a scarlet and green tropical freshwater cichlid fish.

<INFO> Hemichromis bimaculatus, family Cichlidae.

jewelled (US jeweled) adj. adorned, set with, or made from jewels: a jewelled dagger.

jeweller (US jeweler) n. a person or company that makes or sells jewels or jewellery.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French juelier, from joel (see JEWEL).

jeweller's rouge n. [mass noun] finely ground ferric oxide, used as a polish for metal and optical glass.

jewellery (US also jewelry) n. [mass noun] personal ornaments, such as necklaces, rings, or bracelets, that are typically made from or contain jewels and precious metal.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French juelerie, from juelier ‘jeweller’, from joel (see JEWEL).

Jewess n. often OFFENSIVE a Jewish woman or girl.

jewfish n. (pl. same or jewfishes) a large sporting or food fish of warm coastal waters:

<INFO>

- a fish of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America (Epinephelus itajara, family Serranidae).

- a fish of the Indo-Pacific (family Sciaenidae: several species), in particular the mulloway.

Jewish adj. relating to, associated with, or denoting Jews or Judaism: the Jewish people.

<DERIVATIVES> Jewishly adv. Jewishness n.

Jewish calendar n. a complex ancient calendar in use among Jewish people.

It is a lunar calendar adapted to the solar year, normally consisting of twelve months but having thirteen months in leap years, which occur seven times in every cycle of nineteen years. The years are reckoned from the Creation (which is placed at 3761 BC); the months are Nisan, Iyyar, Sivan, Thammuz, Ab, Elul, Tishri, Hesvan, Kislev, Tebet, Sebat, and Adar, with an intercalary month (First Adar) being added in leap years. The religious year begins with Nisan and ends with Adar, while the civil year begins with Tishri and ends with Elul.

Jewish New Year n. another term for ROSH HASHANA.

Jewison /dus(ə)n/ Norman (b.1926), Canadian film director and producer. He is known particularly for the drama In the Heat of the Night (1967), which won five Oscars, the musical Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and the romantic comedy Moonstruck (1987).

Jewry /dəri/ n. (pl. Jewries) 1 [mass noun] Jews collectively.

2 HISTORICAL a Jewish quarter in a town or city.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French juierie, from juiu (see JEW).

Jew's ear n. a common fungus with a brown rubbery cup-shaped fruiting body, growing on dead or dying trees in both Eurasia and North America.

<INFO> Auricularia auricula-judae, family Auriculariaceae, class Hymenomycetes.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: a mistranslation of medieval Latin auricula Judae ‘Judas's ear’, from its shape, and because it grows on the elder, which was said to be the tree from which Judas Iscariot hanged himself.

Jew's harp n. a small lyre-shaped musical instrument held between the teeth and struck with a finger. It can produce only one note, but harmonics are sounded by the player altering the shape of the mouth cavity.

Jezebel /dεzəbεl/ (fl. 9th century BC), a Phoenician princess, traditionally the great-aunt of Dido and in the Bible the wife of Ahab king of Israel. She was denounced by Elijah for introducing the worship of Baal into Israel (1 Kings 16:31, 21:5–15, 2 Kings 9:30–7). Her use of make-up was especially condemned by Puritan England.

- (as n. a Jezebel) a shameless or immoral woman.

Jhansi /dαnsi/ a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, northern India; pop. 383,200 (2001).

Jharkand /dαkand/ a state in NE India, formed in 2000 from the southern part of Bihar; capital, Ranchi.

Jhelum /diləm/ a river which rises in the Himalayas and flows through the Vale of Kashmir into Punjab, where it meets the Chenab River. It is one of the five rivers that gave Punjab its name. In ancient times it was called the Hydaspes.

Jheri curl n. a black male hairstyle in which the hair is styled into tight ringlets with a glossy finish.

<ORIGIN> from the nickname of Robert William Redding (1907–98), the American developer of the haircare product used to create the style.

jhil /dil/ (also jheel) n. INDIAN a pool or lake.

<ORIGIN> Hindi jhīl.

jhuggi /di/ n. (pl. jhuggis) INDIAN a slum dwelling typically made of mud and corrugated iron.

<ORIGIN> Hindi.

-ji /di/ combining form INDIAN used with names and titles to show respect: Lalitaji | guruji.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit jaya ‘conquering’.

Jiang Jie Shi /dja di i/ variant form of CHIANG KAI-SHEK.

Jiangsu /djasu/ (also Kiangsu) a province of eastern China; capital, Nanjing. It includes much of the Yangtze delta.

Jiangxi /djai/ (also Kiangsi) a province of SE China; capital, Nanchang.

jiao /da/ n. (pl. same) a monetary unit of China, equal to one tenth of a yuan.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese jiǎo.

jib^1 n. 1 [SAILING] a triangular staysail set forward of the mast.

2 the projecting arm of a crane.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: of unknown origin.

jib^2 v. (jibs, jibbing, jibbed) [no obj.] (of an animal, especially a horse) stop and refuse to go on: he jibbed at the final fence.

- (of a person) be unwilling to do or accept something: he jibs at paying large bills.

<DERIVATIVES> jibber n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps related to French regimber (earlier regiber) ‘to buck, rear’; compare with jibe^1.

jibba /dbə/ (also jibbah, djibba, or djibbah) n. a long coat worn by Muslim men.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Egyptian variant of Arabic jubba.

jib boom n. [NAUTICAL] a spar run out forward as an extension of the bowsprit.

jibe^1 (also gibe) n. an insulting or mocking remark; a taunt: a jibe at his old rivals.

■ v. [no obj.] make insulting or mocking remarks; jeer: some cynics in the media might jibe.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (as a verb): perhaps from Old French giber ‘handle roughly’ (in modern dialect ‘kick’); compare with jib^2.

jibe^2 v. & n. US variant of GYBE.

jibe^3 v. [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be in accord; agree: the verdict does not jibe with the medical evidence.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

jib sheet n. [NAUTICAL] a rope by which a jib is trimmed.

jicama /hikəma/ n. [mass noun] the crisp white-fleshed edible tuber of the yam bean, used especially in Mexican cookery.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Mexican Spanish jícama, from Nahuatl xicama.

Jiddah /ddə/ (also Jeddah) a seaport on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, near Mecca; pop. 2,674,000 (est. 2002).

jiffy (also jiff) n. [in sing.] INFORMAL a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

Jiffy bag n. BRITISH TRADEMARK a padded envelope for protecting fragile items in the post.

jig n. 1 a lively dance with leaping movements.

- a piece of music for a jig, typically in compound time.

2 a device that holds a piece of work and guides the tool operating on it.

3 [FISHING] a type of artificial bait that is jerked up and down through the water.

■ v. (jigs, jigging, jigged) 1 [no obj.] dance a jig.

- [with adverbial] move up and down with a quick jerky motion: we were jigging about in our seats.

2 [with obj.] equip (a factory or workshop) with a jig or jigs.

3 [no obj.] fish with a jig: a man jigged for squid.

<PHRASES>

□ in jig time NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL extremely quickly; in a very short time.

□ the jig is up NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL the scheme or deception is revealed or foiled.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

jigaboo /dəbu/ n. NORTH AMERICAN OFFENSIVE a black person.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: related to slang jig (in the same sense); compare with the pair bug, bugaboo.

jigger^1 n. 1 a machine or vehicle with a part that rocks or moves to and fro, e.g. a jigsaw.

2 a person who dances a jig.

3 a small sail set at the stern of a ship.

- a small tackle consisting of a double and single block with a rope.

4 a measure or small glass of spirits or wine.

5 INFORMAL a rest for a billiard cue.

6 [GOLF], DATED a metal golf club with a narrow face.

7 CANADIAN & NZ a small hand- or power-operated railway vehicle used by railway workers.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL rearrange or tamper with.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally a slang word for a door): from the verb JIG.

jiggered adj. BRITISH INFORMAL damaged; broken: the lens is totally jiggered.

- (of a person) exhausted.

<PHRASES>

□ well, I'll be (or I'm) jiggered used to express one's astonishment.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from JIGGER^1; its use to mean ‘exhausted’ is probably euphemistic for buggered.

jiggery-pokery n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH deceitful or dishonest behaviour.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: probably a variant of Scots joukery-pawkery, from JOUK.

jiggle v. [no obj.] move about quickly from side to side or up and down: the car jiggled on its springs.

- [with obj.] shake (something) lightly up and down or from side to side: he was jiggling his car keys in his hand.

■ n. [in sing.] a quick light shake: give that rack a jiggle.

<DERIVATIVES> jiggly adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: partly an alteration of joggle^1, reinforced by JIG.

jiggy /di/ adj. US INFORMAL 1 uninhibited, especially in a sexual manner: the script required her to get jiggy with Leonardo.

2 trembling or nervous, especially as the result of drug withdrawal.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from JIG + -Y^1.

jigsaw n. 1 (also jigsaw puzzle) a puzzle consisting of a picture printed on cardboard or wood and cut into various pieces of different shapes that have to be fitted together.

- FIGURATIVE a puzzle that can only be resolved by assembling various pieces of information: help the police put all the pieces of the jigsaw together.

2 a machine saw with a fine blade enabling it to cut curved lines in a sheet of wood, metal, or plastic.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the verb JIG + the noun saw^1.

jihad /dhαd/ (also jehad) n. (among Muslims) a war or struggle against unbelievers.

- (also greater jihad) [ISLAM] the spiritual struggle within oneself against sin.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic jihād, literally ‘effort’, expressing, in Muslim thought, struggle on behalf of God and Islam.

jihadi /dhαdi/ (also jehadi) n. (pl. jihadis) a person involved in a jihad; an Islamic militant.

<DERIVATIVES> jihadist n.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic jihādi, from jihād (see JIHAD).

jilbab /dlbαb/ n. a full-length outer garment, traditionally covering the head and hands, worn in public by some Muslim women.

<ORIGIN> Persian jilbāb, from Arabic, ‘garment, dress, veil’.

Jilin /diln/ (also Kirin) a province of NE China; capital, Changchun.

- a city in Jilin province; pop. 1,517,000 (est. 2002).

jillaroo /dləru/ n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a female novice on a cattle station or sheep station.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from the given name Jill, on the pattern of jackaroo.

jillion /dljən/ cardinal number INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an extremely large number: they ran jillions of ads.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: fanciful formation on the pattern of billion and million.

jilt v. [with obj.] suddenly reject or abandon (a lover): he was jilted at the altar by his bride-to-be.

■ n. ARCHAIC a person, especially a woman, who capriciously rejects a lover.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: (in the sense ‘deceive, trick’): of unknown origin.

Jim Crow n. US 1 [mass noun] the former practice of segregating black people in the US.

- [count noun] OFFENSIVE a black person.

2 an implement for straightening iron bars or bending rails by screw pressure.

<DERIVATIVES> Jim Crowism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: the name of a black character in a 19th-cent. plantation song.

jim-dandy NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL adj. fine, outstanding, or excellent.

■ n. an excellent or notable person or thing.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from the given name Jim (pet form of James) + DANDY.

Jiménez de Cisneros /hmεnεz de ssnεrs/ Spanish /ximeneθ de θisnerəs ximenes sisnerəs/ (also Ximenes de Cisneros) Francisco (1436–1517), Spanish cardinal and statesman, regent of Spain 1516–17. He was Grand Inquisitor for Castile and Léon from 1507 to 1517, during which time he undertook a massive campaign against heresy, having some 2,500 alleged heretics put to death.

Jiminy /dmni/ exclam. used in phrases as an expression of surprise: by Jiminy, she was right | Jiminy Cricket!

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: alteration of GEMINI used as a mild oath in the mid 17th century, a euphemistic form of Jesus (Christ).

jim-jams^1 plural n. INFORMAL a fit of depression or nervousness: pre-race jim-jams.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (originally denoting a small article or knick-knack): fanciful reduplication. The current sense dates from the late 19th cent.

jim-jams^2 plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL pyjamas.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of pie-jim-jams, alteration of PYJAMAS.

Jimmu /dmu/ the legendary first emperor of Japan (660 BC), descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu and founder of the imperial dynasty.

Jimmy n. BRITISH INFORMAL 1 an act of urination. [<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Jimmy Riddle, rhyming slang for ‘piddle’.]

2 chiefly SCOTTISH used as a term of address to a male stranger.

Jimmy Woodser /wdzə/ n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL a person who drinks alone or a drink taken on one's own.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from a line in the poem Jimmy Wood (1892) by Barcroft Boake: ‘Who drinks alone, drinks toast to Jimmy Wood, sir’.

jimson weed /dms(ə)n/ (also jimpson weed) n. [mass noun]

■ North American term for THORN APPLE.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally as Jamestown weed): named after JAMESTOWN in Virginia.

Jin /dn/ (also Chin) 1 a dynasty that ruled China AD 265–420, commonly divided into Western Jin (265–317) and Eastern Jin (317–420).

2 a dynasty that ruled Manchuria and northern China AD 1115–1234.

Jina /dnə/ n. (in Jainism) a great teacher who has attained liberation from karma.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit (see also JAIN).

Jinan /dinan/ (also Tsinan) a city in eastern China, the capital of Shandong province; pop. 2,433,600 (est. 2002).

jing /d/ exclam. variant of JINGS.

jingbang n. (in phrase the whole jingbang) INFORMAL the whole lot.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

jingle n. 1 a light ringing sound such as that made by metal objects being shaken together.

2 a short slogan, verse, or tune designed to be easily remembered, especially as used in advertising.

3 (also jingle shell) a bivalve mollusc with a fragile, slightly translucent shell.

<INFO> Family Anomidae: Anomia and other genera.

■ v. make or cause to make a light metallic ringing sound: [no obj.] her bracelets were jingling | [with obj.] he jingled the coins in his purse.

- [no obj.] (of writing) be full of alliteration or rhymes.

<DERIVATIVES> jingler n. jingly adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: imitative.

jingo /də/ n. (pl. jingoes) DATED, chiefly DEROGATORY a vociferous supporter of policy favouring war, especially in the name of patriotism.

<PHRASES>

□ by jingo! an exclamation of surprise.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally a conjuror's word): by jingo (and the noun sense) come from a popular song adopted by those supporting the sending of a British fleet into Turkish waters to resist Russia in 1878. The chorus ran: ‘We don't want to fight, yet by Jingo! if we do, We've got the ships, we've got the men, and got the money too’.

jingoism n. [mass noun] chiefly DEROGATORY extreme patriotism, especially in the form of aggressive or warlike foreign policy.

<DERIVATIVES> jingoist n. jingoistic adj.

jings /dz/ (also jing) exclam. (often by jings) chiefly SCOTTISH used to express surprise.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: alteration of JINGO.

jink /dk/ v. [no obj.] change direction suddenly and nimbly, as when dodging a pursuer: she was too quick for him and jinked away every time.

■ n. a sudden quick change of direction.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally Scots as high jinks, denoting antics at drinking parties): probably symbolic of nimble motion. Current senses date from the 18th cent.

jinker /dkə/ Australian/NZ n. a wheeled conveyance for moving heavy logs.

- a light two-wheeled cart.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial of direction] convey in a jinker.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: variant of early 19th-cent. Scots janker, a long pole on wheels for carrying logs.

jinn /dn/ (also djinn) n. (pl. same or jinns) (in Arabian and Muslim mythology) an intelligent spirit of lower rank than the angels, able to appear in human and animal forms and to possess humans. Compare with GENIE.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic jinnī, plural jinn.

Jinnah /dnə dnα/ Muhammad Ali (1876–1948), Indian statesman and founder of Pakistan. He headed the Muslim League in its struggle with the Hindu-oriented Indian National Congress over Indian independence, and in 1947 he became the first Governor General and President of Pakistan.

jinricksha /dnrkə/ (also jinrikisha /dnrkə/) n. another term for RICKSHAW.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from jin ‘man’ + riki ‘strength’ + sha ‘vehicle’.

jinx n. a person or thing that brings bad luck.

■ v. [with obj.] bring bad luck to; cast an evil spell on: the play is jinxed.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): probably a variant of jynx ‘wryneck’ (because the bird was used in witchcraft).

jird /dəd/ n. a long-tailed burrowing rodent related to the gerbils, found in deserts and steppes from North Africa to China.

<INFO> Genus Meriones, family Muridae: several species.

<ORIGIN> from Berber (a)gherda.

jism /dz(ə)m/ (also jissom /dsəm/ or jizz) n. [mass noun] VULGAR SLANG semen.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

JIT abbr. (of manufacturing systems) just-in-time.

jit /dt/ (also jit jive) n. [mass noun] a style of dance music popular in Zimbabwe.

<ORIGIN> Shona, from jit ‘to dance’.

jitney /dtni/ n. (pl. jitneys) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a bus or other vehicle carrying passengers for a low fare.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally denoting a five-cent piece): of unknown origin.

jitter INFORMAL n. 1 (jitters) feelings of extreme nervousness: a bout of the jitters.

2 [mass noun] slight irregular movement, variation, or unsteadiness, especially in an electrical signal or electronic device.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] act nervously: an anxious student who jittered at any provocation.

2 (of a signal or device) suffer from jitter.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: of unknown origin.

jitterbug n. 1 a fast dance popular in the 1940s, performed chiefly to swing music.

- DATED a person fond of dancing the jitterbug.

2 INFORMAL, DATED a nervous person.

■ v. (jitterbugs, jitterbugging, jitterbugged) [no obj.] dance the jitterbug.

<ORIGIN> 1930s (originally US): from the verb JITTER + BUG.

jittery adj. nervous or unable to relax: caffeine makes me jittery.

<DERIVATIVES> jitteriness n.

Jivaro /hivərə/ n. (pl. same or Jivaros) 1 a member of an indigenous people living widely scattered throughout the Amazon jungle.

2 [mass noun] any of the group of languages spoken by the Jivaro.

■ adj. relating to the Jivaro or their language.

<DERIVATIVES> Jivaroan adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> from Spanish jíbaro, probably from the local name Shuara, Shiwora.

jive n. 1 a lively style of dance popular especially in the 1940s and 1950s, performed to swing music or rock and roll.

- [mass noun] swing music.

- [mass noun] a style of dance music popular in South Africa: township jive.

2 (also jive talk) [mass noun] a form of slang associated with black American jazz musicians.

- North American INFORMAL deceptive or worthless talk: a single image says more than any amount of blather and jive.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] perform the jive or a similar dance to popular music: people were jiving in the aisles.

2 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL taunt or sneer at: Willy kept jiving him until Jimmy left.

- [no obj.] talk nonsense: he wasn't jiving about that bartender.

■ adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL deceitful or worthless.

<DERIVATIVES> jiver n. jivey adj.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US denoting meaningless or misleading speech): of unknown origin; the later musical sense ‘jazz’ gave rise to ‘dance performed to jazz’ (1940s).

jizz^1 n. INFORMAL (among birdwatchers and naturalists) the characteristic impression given by a particular species of animal or plant.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: of unknown origin.

jizz^2 n. VULGAR SLANG variant of JISM.

Jn abbr.

- (with preceding numeral) an Epistle of John (in biblical references).

- the Gospel of John.

Jnr abbr. Junior (in names).

jo n. (pl. joes) SCOTTISH ARCHAIC a sweetheart.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: variant of JOY.

Joachim, St /dəəkm/ (in Christian tradition) the husband of St Anne and father of the Virgin Mary. He is first mentioned in an apocryphal work of the 2nd century, and then rarely referred to until much later times.

joanna n. BRITISH RHYMING SLANG a piano.

Joan of Arc, St (c.1412–31), French national heroine; known as the Maid of Orleans. She led the French armies against the English in the Hundred Years War, relieving besieged Orleans (1429) and ensuring that Charles VII could be crowned in previously occupied Reims. Captured by the Burgundians in 1430, she was handed over to the English, convicted of heresy, and burnt at the stake. She was canonized in 1920. Feast day, 30 May.

João Pessoa /wa pεsəə/ a city in NE Brazil, on the Atlantic coast, capital of the state of Paraíba; pop. 614,900 (est. 2002).

Job /dəb/ (in the Bible) a prosperous man whose patience and piety were tried by undeserved misfortunes, and who, in spite of his bitter lamentations, remained confident in the goodness and justice of God.

- a book of the Bible telling of Job.

job^1 n. 1 a paid position of regular employment: the scheme could create 200 jobs | a part-time job.

2 a task or piece of work, especially one that is paid: she wants to be left alone to get on with the job.

- a responsibility or duty: it's our job to find things out.

- [in sing.] INFORMAL a difficult task: we thought you'd have a job getting there.

- [with modifier] INFORMAL a procedure to improve the appearance of something: someone had done a skilful paint job.

- INFORMAL a crime, especially a robbery: a series of daring bank jobs.

- [COMPUTING] an operation or group of operations treated as a single and distinct unit.

3 [with modifier] INFORMAL a thing of a specified nature: the car was a blue malevolent-looking job.

■ v. (jobs, jobbing, jobbed) 1 [no obj.] (usually as adj. jobbing) do casual or occasional work: a jobbing builder.

2 [with obj.] buy and sell (stocks) as a broker-dealer, especially on a small scale.

3 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL cheat; betray.

4 [no obj.] ARCHAIC turn a public office or a position of trust to private advantage.

<PHRASES>

□ big jobs BRITISH INFORMAL a euphemistic way of referring to faeces or defecation.

□ do the job INFORMAL achieve the required result: a piece of board will do the job.

□ give something up as a bad job INFORMAL decide that it is futile to devote further time or energy to something.

□ a good job INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH a fortunate fact or circumstance: it was a good job she hadn't brought the car.

□ jobs for the boys BRITISH DEROGATORY used in reference to the practice of giving paid employment to one's friends, supporters, or relations.

□ just the job BRITISH INFORMAL exactly what is needed.

□ make the best of a bad job see BEST.

□ on the job while working; at work.

- British INFORMAL engaged in sexual intercourse.

□ out of a job unemployed; redundant.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in sense 2 of the noun): of unknown origin.

job^2 ARCHAIC v. (jobs, jobbing, jobbed) [with obj.] prod or stab: he prepared to job the huge brute.

- thrust (something pointed) at or into something.

■ n. an act of prodding, thrusting, or wrenching.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: apparently symbolic of a brief forceful action (compare with JAB).

job analyst n. a person employed to assess the essential factors of particular jobs and the qualifications needed to carry them out.

jobber n. 1 HISTORICAL (in the UK) a principal or wholesaler who dealt only on the Stock Exchange with brokers, not directly with the public.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a wholesaler.

3 a person who does casual or occasional work.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in the sense ‘broker, middleman’, originally not derogatory): from JOB^1.

<USAGE> On the UK Stock Exchange the term jobber was officially replaced by broker-dealer in 1986, broker-dealers being entitled to act as both agents and principals in share dealings.

jobbery n. [mass noun] the practice of using a public office or position of trust for one's own gain or advantage.

jobbie n. INFORMAL 1 [with adj. or noun modifier] an object or product of a specified kind: I just got the hang of these computer jobbies.

2 BRITISH a lump of excrement.

jobcentre n. (in the UK) a government office in a town displaying information and giving advice about available jobs and being involved in the administration of benefits to unemployed people.

job club n. (in the UK) an organization providing support and practical help for the long-term unemployed in seeking work.

job control language n. [COMPUTING] a language enabling the user to define the tasks to be undertaken by the operating system.

job description n. a formal account of an employee's responsibilities.

job-hunt v. [no obj.] (usually as n. job-hunting) INFORMAL seek employment.

<DERIVATIVES> job-hunter n. (also job-seeker)

jobless adj. unemployed.

<DERIVATIVES> joblessness n.

job lot n. a miscellaneous group of articles, especially when sold or bought together: a job lot of stuff I bought from a demolition firm.

job reservation n. [mass noun] (in South Africa during the apartheid era) the setting aside by law of certain skilled grades of employment for certain ethnic groups, particularly whites.

job rotation n. [mass noun] the practice of moving employees between different tasks to promote experience and variety.

Jobs /dbz/ Steven (Paul) (b.1955), American computer entrepreneur. Jobs set up the Apple computer company in 1976 with Steve Wozniak (b.1950), remaining chairman of the company until 1985 and returning in 1997 as CEO.

Job's comforter /dəbz/ n. a person who aggravates distress under the guise of giving comfort.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: alluding to the biblical story (Job 16:2) of the patriarch JOB.

job-share v. [no obj.] (of two part-time employees) share the work and pay of a single full-time job.

■ n. an arrangement in which two people share the work and pay of a single full-time job.

<DERIVATIVES> job-sharer n.

Job's tears /dəbz/ plural n. a SE Asian grass which bears its seeds inside hollow pear-shaped receptacles, which are grey and shiny and sometimes used as beads.

<INFO> Coix lacryma-jobi, family Gramineae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: named after the patriarch JOB.

jobsworth n. BRITISH INFORMAL an official who upholds petty rules even at the expense of humanity or common sense.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from ‘it's more than my job's worth (not) to’.

Joburg /dəbə/ informal name for JOHANNESBURG.

jobwork n. old-fashioned term for PIECEWORK.

Jocasta /dəkastə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a Theban woman, the wife of Laius and mother and later wife of Oedipus.

Jock n. INFORMAL, often OFFENSIVE a Scotsman (often as a form of address).

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: Scots form of the given name Jack, originally as a name for an ordinary man (compare with jack^1). The current sense dates from the late 18th cent.

jock^1 n. INFORMAL 1 a disc jockey.

2 NORTH AMERICAN an enthusiast or participant in a specified activity: a computer jock.

- US a pilot or astronaut.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (denoting a rider in horse races): abbreviation.

jock^2 n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL 1 another term for JOCKSTRAP.

2 an enthusiastic male athlete or sports fan, especially one with few other interests.

<DERIVATIVES> jockish adj.

jockey n. (pl. jockeys) a person who rides in horse races, especially as a profession.

■ v. (jockeys, jockeying, jockeyed) [no obj.] struggle by every available means to gain or achieve something: both men will be jockeying for the two top jobs.

- [with obj. and adverbial] handle or manipulate (someone or something) in a skilful manner: he jockeyed his machine into a dive.

<DERIVATIVES> jockeyship n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: diminutive of JOCK. Originally the name for an ordinary man, lad, or underling, the word came to mean ‘mounted courier’, hence the current sense (late 17th century). Another early use ‘horse-dealer’ (long a byword for dishonesty) probably gave rise to the verb sense ‘manipulate’, whereas the main verb sense probably relates to the behaviour of jockeys manoeuvring for an advantageous position during a race.

jockey cap n. a strengthened cap with a long peak of a kind worn by jockeys.

Jockey Club an organization whose stewards are the central authority for the administration of horse racing in Britain. It was founded in 1750.

jockey shorts plural n. TRADEMARK men's close-fitting underpants with a short leg.

jock itch n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a fungal infection of the groin area.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: jock from JOCKSTRAP.

jocks plural n. INFORMAL jockey shorts.

jockstrap n. a support or protection for the male genitals, worn especially by sportsmen.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from slang jock ‘genitals’ (of unknown origin) + STRAP.

jocose /dəkəs/ adj. FORMAL playful or humorous: a jocose allusion.

<DERIVATIVES> jocosely adv. jocoseness n. jocosity /-ksti/ n. (pl. jocosities)

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin jocosus, from jocus (see JOKE).

jocular /dkjlə/ adj. fond of or characterized by joking; humorous or playful: she sounded in a jocular mood | his voice was jocular.

<DERIVATIVES> jocularity n. jocularly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin jocularis, from joculus, diminutive of jocus (see JOKE).

jocund /dk(ə)nd dək-/ adj. FORMAL cheerful and light-hearted: a jocund wedding party.

<DERIVATIVES> jocundity n. (pl. jocundities) jocundly adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin jocundus, variant (influenced by jocus ‘joke’) of jucundus ‘pleasant, agreeable’, from juvare ‘to delight’.

Jodhpur /ddpə/ 1 a city in western India, in Rajasthan; pop. 846,400 (2001).

2 a former princely state of India, now part of Rajasthan.

jodhpurs /ddpəz/ plural n. full-length trousers worn for horse riding, which are close-fitting below the knee and have reinforced patches on the inside of the leg.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after JODHPUR, where similar garments are worn by Indian men as part of everyday dress.

Jodrell Bank /ddrəl/ the site in Cheshire of one of the world's largest radio telescopes, with a fully steerable dish 76 m (250 ft) in diameter.

joe n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL 1 an ordinary man: the average joe.

2 [mass noun] coffee.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: pet form of the given name Joseph; compare with JOE BLOGGS.

■ Sense 2 arose in the 1940s.

Joe Blake n. RHYMING SLANG 1 AUSTRALIAN a snake.

2 (Joe Blakes) AUSTRALIAN/NZ the shakes; delirium tremens.

Joe Bloggs n. BRITISH INFORMAL a name for a hypothetical average man.

Joe Blow n. North American term for JOE BLOGGS.

joe job n. CANADIAN INFORMAL a menial or monotonous task.

Joel /dəəl/ a Hebrew minor prophet of the 5th or possibly 9th century BC.

- a book of the Bible containing his prophecies.

Joe Public n. BRITISH INFORMAL a name for a hypothetical representative member of the general public, or the general public personified.

joe-pye weed n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a tall perennial plant of the daisy family, which bears clusters of small purple flowers.

<INFO> Eupatorium purpureum and E. maculatum, family Compositae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin.

Joe Sixpack n. INFORMAL, chiefly US a name for a hypothetical ordinary working man.

joey^1 n. (pl. joeys) AUSTRALIAN a young kangaroo, wallaby, or possum.

- INFORMAL a baby or young child.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

joey^2 n. HISTORICAL a silver threepenny bit.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: diminutive of the pet name Joe: the derivation remains unknown. The term (originally London slang) denoted a fourpenny piece in the 19th cent.

Joffre /frə/ French /əfR/ Joseph Jacques Césaire (1852–1931), French Marshal, Commander-in-Chief of the French army on the Western Front during the First World War.

jog v. (jogs, jogging, jogged) 1 [no obj.] run at a steady gentle pace, especially on a regular basis as a form of physical exercise: he began to jog along the road | (as n. jogging) try cycling or gentle jogging.

- (of a horse) move at a slow trot.

- move in an unsteady way: the bus jogged and jolted.

- (jog along/on) continue in a steady, uneventful way: our marriage worked and we jogged along.

2 [with obj.] nudge or knock slightly: a hand jogged his elbow.

■ n. 1 a spell of jogging: his morning jog.

- [in sing.] a gentle running pace: he set off along the bank at a jog.

2 a slight push or nudge.

<PHRASES>

□ jog someone's memory cause someone to remember something suddenly.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘stab, pierce’): variant of jag^1.

jogger n. a person who jogs as a form of physical exercise.

- (joggers) loose trousers made of a stretchy fabric and typically elasticated at the waist and ankles, worn especially for jogging.

joggle^1 v. move or cause to move with repeated small bobs or jerks: [no obj.] helium balloons were joggling above the crowds.

■ n. a bobbing or jerking movement.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: frequentative of JOG.

joggle^2 n. a joint between two pieces of stone, concrete, or timber consisting of a projection in one of the pieces fitting into a notch in the other or a small piece let in between the two.

■ v. [with obj.] join (pieces of stone, concrete, or timber) by means of a joggle.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps related to jag^1.

jog-shuttle n. a facility on some video recorders which allows the speed at which the tape is played to be varied.

jogtrot n. a slow trot.

Johannesburg /dəhansbə/ a city in South Africa, the capital of the province of Gauteng; pop. 1,646,400 (est. 2002).

Johannine /dəhann/ adj. relating to the Apostle St John the Evangelist, or to the Gospel or Epistles of John in the New Testament.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the medieval Latin given name Johannes ‘John’ + -INE^1.

Johannisberg /dəhansbə/ (also Johannisberg Riesling) n. the chief variety of the Riesling wine grape, originating in Germany and widely grown in California and elsewhere.

- [mass noun] a white wine made from this grape.

<ORIGIN> from the name of a castle and village on the Rhine, Germany, where it was originally produced.

Johannisberger /dəhansbəə/ n. variant of JOHANNISBERG.

John^1 (1165–1216), son of Henry II, king of England 1199–1216; known as John Lackland. He lost most of his French possessions, including Normandy, to Phillip II of France. In 1209 he was excommunicated for refusing to accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury. Forced to sign Magna Carta by his barons (1215), he ignored its provisions and civil war broke out.

John^2 the name of six kings of Portugal:

- John I (1357–1433), reigned 1385–1433; known as John the Great. Reinforced by an English army, he defeated the Castilians at Aljubarrota (1385), winning independence for Portugal.

- John II (1455–95), reigned 1481–95.

- John III (1502–57), reigned 1521–57.

- John IV (1604–56), reigned 1640–56; known as John the Fortunate. The founder of the Braganza dynasty, he expelled a Spanish usurper and proclaimed himself king.

- John V (1689–1750), reigned 1706–50.

- John VI (1767–1826), reigned 1816–26.

John^3 Augustus (Edwin) (1878–1961), Welsh painter. Frequent subjects of his work are the Gypsies of Wales; he was also noted for his portraits of the wealthy and famous, particularly prominent writers. He was the brother of Gwen John.

John^4 Barry (b.1945), Welsh rugby union player. During his international career (1966–72) he played at halfback and scored a record ninety points for his country.

John^5 Sir Elton (Hercules) (b.1947), English pop and rock singer, pianist, and songwriter; born Reginald Kenneth Dwight. His many hit songs include ‘Your Song’ (1970) and ‘Nikita’ (1985). His tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, ‘Candle in the Wind’ (1997), became the highest-selling single in history.

John^6 Gwen (1876–1939), Welsh painter. The sister of Augustus John, she settled in France. In 1913 she converted to Catholicism; her paintings, noted for their grey tonality, often depict nuns or girls in interior settings.

john n. INFORMAL 1 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a toilet.

2 a prostitute's client.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (in sense 2): from the given name John, used from late Middle English as a form of address to a man, or to denote various occupations, including that of priest (late Middle English) and policeman (mid 17th century).

John III (1624–96), king of Poland 1674–96; known as John Sobieski. In 1683 he relieved Vienna when it was besieged by the Turks, thereby becoming the hero of the Christian world.

John, St an Apostle, son of Zebedee and brother of James; known as St John the Evangelist or St John the Divine. He has traditionally been credited with the authorship of the fourth Gospel, Revelation, and three epistles of the New Testament. Feast day, 27 December.

- the fourth Gospel (see GOSPEL (SENSE 2)).

- any of the three epistles of the New Testament attributed to St John.

John Barleycorn n. a personification of barley, or of malt liquor.

johnboat n. NORTH AMERICAN a small flat-bottomed boat with square ends, used chiefly on inland waterways.

John Bull n. a personification of England or the typical Englishman, represented as a stout red-faced farmer in a top hat and high boots.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from the name of a character representing the English nation in John Arbuthnot's satire Law is a Bottomless Pit; or, the History of John Bull (1712).

John Chrysostom, St see CHRYSOSTOM, ST JOHN.

John Citizen n. a hypothetical ordinary man.

John Crow n. West Indian term for TURKEY VULTURE.

John Doe n. North American [LAW] an anonymous party, typically the plaintiff, in a legal action.

- INFORMAL a hypothetical average man.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: originally in legal use as a name of a fictitious plaintiff, corresponding to Richard Roe, used to represent the defendant.

John Dory n. (pl. John Dories) an edible dory (fish) of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, with a black oval mark on each side.

<INFO> Zeus faber, family Zeidae.

Johne's disease /jənəz/ n. [mass noun] a form of chronic enteritis in cattle and sheep, caused by a mycobacterium.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Heinrich A. Johne (1839–1910), German veterinary surgeon.

johnny n. (pl. johnnies) INFORMAL 1 BRITISH used as a name for an unknown man, often suggesting that he is unimportant or insignificant: the security johnny insists that you sign the visitors' book.

2 (also rubber johnny) a condom.

3 US a gown fastened at the back, worn by hospital patients.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (in sense 1): pet form of the given name John;

■ sense 2 dates from the 1960s.

johnnycake n. 1 [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN maize flour bread typically baked or fried on a griddle.

2 (johnny cake) AUSTRALIAN/NZ a small, thin unleavened wheat loaf baked in wood ashes.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: also referred to as journey cake, which may be the original form.

johnny-come-lately n. INFORMAL a newcomer to or late starter at a particular place or sphere of activity.

Johnny-on-the-spot n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DATED a person who is at hand whenever needed.

Johnny Reb n. another term for Reb^2.

John of Damascus, St (c.675–c.749), Syrian theologian and Doctor of the Church. A champion of image worship against the iconoclasts, he wrote the influential encyclopedic work on Christian theology The Fount of Wisdom. Feast day, 4 December.

John of Gaunt (1340–99), son of Edward III. John of Gaunt was effective ruler of England during the final years of his father's reign and the minority of Richard II. His son Henry Bolingbroke later became King Henry IV.

John of the Cross, St (1542–91), Spanish mystic and poet; born Juan de Yepis y Alvarez. A Carmelite monk and priest, he joined with St Teresa of Ávila in founding the ‘discalced’ Carmelite order in 1568. Feast day, 14 December.

John o'Groats /ərəts/ a village at the extreme NE point of the Scottish mainland.

<ORIGIN> said to be named after John de Groat and his two brothers, who came from Holland with a royal letter of protection and built a house on the site in the 16th cent.

John Paul II (1920–2005), Polish cleric, pope 1978–2005; born Karol Jozef Wojtyla. The first non-Italian pope since 1522, he upheld the Roman Catholic Church's traditional opposition to artificial means of contraception and abortion, homosexuality, the ordination of women, and the relaxation of the rule of celibacy for priests.

John Q. Public n. North American term for JOE PUBLIC.

Johns Jasper (b.1930), American painter, sculptor, and printmaker. A key figure in the development of pop art, he depicted commonplace and universally recognized images.

Johnson^1 Amy (1903–41), English aviator. In 1930 she became the first woman to fly solo to Australia. She later set records with her solo flights to Tokyo (1931) and to Cape Town (1932).

Johnson^2 Andrew (1808–75), American Democratic statesman, 17th President of the US 1865–9. His lenient policy towards the Southern states after the American Civil War led him to be impeached by the Republican majority in Congress; he was acquitted by a single vote.

Johnson^3 (also Jansens or Janssen van Ceulen) Cornelius (1593–c.1661), English-born Dutch portrait painter. He painted for the court of Charles I; after the outbreak of the English Civil War he emigrated to Holland (1643).

Johnson^4 Earvin (b.1959), American basketball player; known as Magic Johnson. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1979 to 1991. After being diagnosed HIV-positive he won an Olympic gold medal in 1992 and then returned to the Lakers.

Johnson^5 Jack (1878–1946), American boxer. He was the first black world heavyweight champion (1908–15).

Johnson^6 Lyndon Baines (1908–73), American Democratic statesman, 36th President of the US 1963–9; known as LBJ. He continued the programme of reforming initiated by John F. Kennedy, but the increasing involvement of the US in the Vietnam War undermined his popularity.

Johnson^7 Michael (b.1967), American sprinter, winner of five Olympic gold medals between 1992 and 2000.

Johnson^8 Robert (1911–38), American blues singer and guitarist. Despite his mysterious early death, he was very influential on the 1960s blues movement. Notable songs: ‘I Was Standing at the Crossroads’.

Johnson^9 Samuel (1709–84), English lexicographer, writer, critic, and conversationalist; known as Dr Johnson. A leading figure in the literary London of his day, he is noted particularly for his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), edition of Shakespeare (1765), and The Lives of the English Poets (1777). James Boswell's biography of Johnson records details of his life and conversation.

<DERIVATIVES> Johnsonian adj.

johnson n. US VULGAR SLANG a man's penis.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

John the Baptist, St Jewish preacher and prophet, a contemporary of Jesus. In c.27 AD he preached and baptized on the banks of the River Jordan. Among those whom he baptized was Christ. He was beheaded by Herod Antipas after denouncing the latter's marriage to Herodias, the wife of Herod's brother Philip (Matt. 14:1–12). Feast day, 24 June.

John the Evangelist, St (also John the Divine) see JOHN, ST.

John the Fortunate John IV of Portugal (see John^2).

John the Great John I of Portugal (see John^2).

Johor /dəh/ (also Johore) a state of Malaysia, at the southernmost point of mainland Asia, joined to Singapore by a causeway; capital, Johor Baharu.

Johor Baharu /bəhαru/ the capital of the state of Johor in Malaysia; pop. 630,603 (2000).

joie de vivre /wα də vivr(ə)/ French /wad vivR/ n. [mass noun] exuberant enjoyment of life.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘joy of living’.

join v. [with obj.] link; connect: the tap was joined to a pipe | join the paragraphs together.

- become linked or connected to: where the River Drave joins the Danube.

- [no obj., with adverbial] unite to form one entity or group: they joined up with local environmentalists | countries join together to abolish restrictions on trade.

- become a member or employee of: she joined the department last year.

- take part in: I joined the demonstration | [no obj.] I joined in and sang along.

- [no obj.] (join up) become a member of the armed forces: her brothers joined up in 1914.

- come into the company of: after the show we were joined by Jessica's sister.

- support (someone) in an activity: I am sure you will join me in wishing him every success.

■ n. a place or line where two or more things are connected or fastened together.

<PHRASES>

□ join battle FORMAL begin fighting.

□ join the club see club^1.

□ join forces combine efforts.

□ join hands hold each other's hands.

- work together: education has been shy to join hands with business.

<DERIVATIVES> joinable adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French joindre, from Latin jungere ‘to join’.

joinder /dndə/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] the action of bringing parties together; union.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, from Old French joindre ‘to join’.

joined-up adj. (of handwriting) written with the characters joined; cursive.

- (especially of a policy) characterized by coordination and coherence of thought; integrated: a joined-up approach to rural poverty, public services and employment.

joiner n. 1 chiefly BRITISH a person who constructs the wooden components of a building, such as stairs, doors, and door and window frames.

2 INFORMAL a person who readily joins groups or campaigns: a compulsive joiner of revolutionary movements.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French joigneor, from joindre ‘to join’.

joinery n. [mass noun] the wooden components of a building, such as stairs, doors, and door and window frames, viewed collectively.

- the activity or skill of a joiner.

joint n. 1 a point at which parts of an artificial structure are joined.

- a particular arrangement of parts of a structure at the point where they are joined.

- [GEOLOGY] a break or fracture in a mass of rock, with no relative displacement of the parts.

- a piece of flexible material forming the hinge of a book cover.

2 a structure in the human or animal body at which two parts of the skeleton are fitted together.

- each of the distinct sections of a body or limb between the places at which they are connected: the top two joints of his index finger.

- BRITISH a large piece of meat cooked whole or ready for cooking: a joint of ham.

- the part of a stem of a plant from which a leaf or branch grows.

- a section of a plant stem between such parts; an internode.

3 INFORMAL an establishment of a specified kind, especially one where people meet for eating, drinking, or entertainment: a burger joint.

- (the joint) NORTH AMERICAN prison.

4 INFORMAL a cannabis cigarette: he rolled a joint.

5 chiefly BLACK SLANG a piece of creative work, especially a film or piece of music: listen to one of his joints nowadays and you don't even need to see the production credit.

■ adj. [attr.] shared, held, or made by two or more people together: a joint statement.

- sharing in a position, achievement, or activity: a joint winner.

- [LAW] applied or regarded together. Often contrasted with SEVERAL.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 provide or fasten (something) with joints: (as adj. jointed) jointed lever arms.

- fill up the joints of (masonry or brickwork) with mortar; point.

- prepare (a board) for being joined to another by planing its edge.

2 cut (the body of an animal) into joints for cooking.

<PHRASES>

□ out of joint (of a joint of the body) out of position; dislocated: he put his hip out of joint.

- in a state of disorder or disorientation: time was thrown completely out of joint.

<DERIVATIVES> jointless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, past participle of joindre ‘to join’ (see JOIN).

joint account n. a bank account held by more than one person, each individual having the right to deposit and withdraw funds.

joint and several adj. (of a legal obligation) undertaken by two or more people, each individual having liability for the whole.

jointer n. 1 a plane used for preparing a wooden edge for fixing or joining to another.

- a tool used for pointing masonry and brickwork.

2 a worker employed in jointing pipes or wires.

jointing n. [mass noun] 1 the action of providing with, connecting by, or preparing for a joint.

2 an arrangement of joints.

jointly adv. with another person or people; together: a report prepared jointly by Harvard and Yale universities.

jointress n. [LAW], DATED a widow who holds a jointure.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: feminine of obsolete jointer ‘joint owner’.

joint-stock company n. [FINANCE] a company whose stock is owned jointly by the shareholders.

joint tenancy n. the holding of an estate or property jointly by two or more parties, the share of each passing to the other or others on death.

<DERIVATIVES> joint tenant n.

jointure /dntə/ n. [LAW] an estate settled on a wife for the period during which she survives her husband, in lien of a dower.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘junction, joint’): from Old French, from Latin junctura (see JUNCTURE). In late Middle English the term denoted the joint holding of property by a husband and wife for life, whence the current sense.

joint venture n. a commercial enterprise undertaken jointly by two or more parties which otherwise retain their distinct identities.

joist /dst/ n. a length of timber or steel supporting part of the structure of a building, typically arranged in parallel series to support a floor or ceiling.

<DERIVATIVES> joisted adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English giste, from Old French, ‘beam supporting a bridge’, based on Latin jacere ‘lie down’.

jojoba /həhəbə hə-/ n. 1 (also jojoba oil) [mass noun] an oil extracted from the seeds of an American shrub, widely used in cosmetics.

2 the leathery-leaved evergreen shrub or small tree that produces the seeds from which jojoba is obtained, native to south-western North America.

<INFO> Simmondsia chinensis, the only member of the family Simmondsiaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Mexican Spanish.

joke n. a thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline: she was in a mood to tell jokes.

- a trick played on someone for fun.

- [in sing.] INFORMAL a person or thing that is ridiculously inadequate: public transport is a joke.

■ v. [no obj.] make jokes; talk humorously or flippantly: she could laugh and joke with her colleagues | (as adj. joking) a joking manner.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC poke fun at: he was pretending to joke his daughter.

<PHRASES>

□ be no joke INFORMAL be a serious matter or difficult undertaking: trying to shop with three children in tow is no joke.

□ can (or can't) take a joke be able (or unable) to receive humorous remarks or tricks in the spirit in which they are intended.

□ get (or be or go) beyond a joke INFORMAL become (or be) something that is serious or worrying: this rain's getting beyond a joke.

□ make a joke of laugh or be humorous about (something that is not funny in itself).

<DERIVATIVES> jokingly adv.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century (originally slang): perhaps from Latin jocus ‘jest, wordplay’.

joker n. 1 a person who is fond of joking.

- INFORMAL a foolish or inept person: a bunch of jokers.

2 a playing card, typically bearing the figure of a jester, used in some games as a wild card.

3 US a clause unobtrusively inserted in a bill or document and affecting its operation in a way not immediately apparent.

<PHRASES>

□ the joker in the pack a person or factor likely to have an unpredictable effect on events.

jokey (also joky) adj. (jokier, jokiest) not serious; teasing or humorous: a brief exchange of jokey comments.

<DERIVATIVES> jokily adv. jokiness n.

jol /dl/ S. African INFORMAL n. an occasion of celebration and enjoyment; a good time.

■ v. (jols, jolling, jolled) [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial of direction] set off; go: you could jol to the lake on a Sunday.

2 have a good time; celebrate in a lively way: everyone goes to clubs and jols till late.

- engage in a flirtation or a casual love affair.

<DERIVATIVES> joller n.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, literally ‘party’.

jolie laide /l lεd/ n. (pl. jolies laides pronunc. same) a woman whose face is attractive despite having ugly features.

<ORIGIN> French, from jolie ‘pretty’ and laide ‘ugly’, feminine adjectives.

Joliot /lə/ French /ljə/ Jean-Frédéric (1900–58), French nuclear physicist. As Marie Curie's assistant at the Radium Institute he worked with her daughter Irène (1897–1956), whom he married (taking the name Joliot-Curie); together they discovered artificial radioactivity. Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1935, shared with his wife).

joliotium /dlətəm/ n. [mass noun] the name proposed by IUPAC for the chemical element of atomic number 105, now called dubnium.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: modern Latin, from the name of J-F Joliot.

jollification n. [mass noun] lively celebration with others; merrymaking.

jollity n. (pl. jollities) [mass noun] lively and cheerful activity or celebration: a night of riotous jollity.

- the quality of being cheerful: he was full of false jollity.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French jolite, from joli (see jolly^1).

jollof rice /ləf rs/ n. a West African stew made with rice, chilli peppers, and meat or fish.

<ORIGIN> jollof, variant of WOLOF.

jolly^1 adj. (jollier, jolliest) happy and cheerful: he was a jolly man full of jokes.

- INFORMAL lively and entertaining: we had a very jolly time.

■ v. (jollies, jollying, jollied) [with obj. and adverbial] INFORMAL encourage (someone) in a friendly way: he jollied people along | they were trying to jolly her out of her torpor.

- (jolly someone/thing up) make someone or something more lively or cheerful: ideas to jolly up a winter's party.

■ adv. [as submodifier] BRITISH INFORMAL very; extremely: that's a jolly good idea.

■ n. (pl. jollies) BRITISH INFORMAL a party or celebration.

<PHRASES>

□ get one's jollies INFORMAL have fun or find pleasure.

□ jolly well BRITISH INFORMAL used for emphasis, especially when one is angry or irritated: I'm going to keep on eating as much sugar as I jolly well like.

<DERIVATIVES> jollily adv. jolliness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French jolif, an earlier form of joli ‘pretty’, perhaps from Old Norse jól (see YULE).

jolly^2 (also jolly boat) n. (pl. jollies) a clinker-built ship's boat that is smaller than a cutter, typically hoisted at the stern of the ship.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps related to YAWL.

Jolly Roger n. a pirate's flag with a white skull and crossbones on a black background.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

jollytail n. another term for INANGA.

Jolson /dəls(ə)n/ Al (1886–1950), Russian-born American singer, film actor, and comedian; born Asa Yoelson. He made the Gershwin song ‘Swanee’ his trademark, and appeared in the first full-length talking film, The Jazz Singer (1927).

jolt /dəlt dlt/ v. [with obj.] push or shake (someone or something) abruptly and roughly: a surge in the crowd behind him jolted him forwards.

- give a surprise or shock to (someone) in order to make them act or change: she tried to jolt him out of his depression.

- [no obj., with adverbial] move with sudden lurches: the train jolted into motion.

■ n. an abrupt rough or violent movement.

- an unpleasant surprise or shock: that information gave her a severe jolt.

<DERIVATIVES> jolty adj. (joltier, joltiest)

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

Jomon /dəmən/ n. [usually as modifier] [ARCHAEOLOGY] an early Mesolithic-type culture in Japan (c.10,000–300 BC), preceding the Yayoi period. It is characterized by pottery decorated with a distinctive cord pattern.

<ORIGIN> from Japanese jōmon ‘cord pattern’.

Jon. abbr.

- Jonah (in biblical references).

- Jonathan.

Jonagold /dnəəld/ n. a dessert apple of a variety with greenish-gold skin and crisp flesh.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of Jonathan^2 and GOLDEN DELICIOUS.

Jonah /dənə/ (in the Bible) a Hebrew minor prophet. He was called by God to preach in Nineveh, but disobeyed and attempted to escape by sea; in a storm he was thrown overboard as a bringer of bad luck and swallowed by a great fish, only to be saved and finally succeed in his mission.

- a book of the Bible telling of Jonah.

Jonathan^1 (in the Bible) a son of Saul, noted for his friendship with David (1 Sam. 18–20, 2 Sam. 1) and killed at the battle of Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. 31).

Jonathan^2 n. a cooking apple of a red-skinned variety first grown in the US.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Jonathan Hasbrouk (died 1846), American lawyer.

Jones^1 Bobby (1902–71), American golfer; full name Robert Tyre Jones. In a short competitive career (1923–30), and as an amateur, he won thirteen major competitions, including four American and three British open championships.

Jones^2 Daniel (1881–1967), British phonetician. He developed the International Phonetic Alphabet from 1907 and went on to invent the system of cardinal vowels and produce the English Pronouncing Dictionary (1917).

Jones^3 Inigo (1573–1652), English architect and stage designer. He introduced the Palladian style to England; notable buildings include the Queen's House at Greenwich (1616) and the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall (1619).

Jones^4 John Paul (1747–92), Scottish-born American admiral; born John Paul. He became famous for his raids off the northern coasts of Britain during the War of American Independence.

Jones^5 Steve (b.1944), English biologist and geneticist; full name John Stephen Jones. His publications include The Language of the Genes (1993), Almost like a Whale: the Origin of Species Updated (1999), and Y: the Descent of Men (2002).

Jones^6 Tom (b.1940), Welsh pop singer; born Thomas Jones Woodward. Hits include ‘It's Not Unusual’ (1965), ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home’ (1966), and ‘Delilah’ (1968).

jones US, chiefly BLACK SLANG n. a fixation on or compulsive desire for someone or something, typically a drug; an addiction: a two-year amphetamine jones.

■ v. [no obj.] (jones on/for) have a fixation on; be addicted to: Palmer was jonesing for some coke again.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: said to come from Jones Alley, in Manhattan, associated with drug addicts.

Joneses plural n. (usually the Joneses) a person's neighbours or social equals.

<PHRASES>

□ keep up with the Joneses try to emulate or not be outdone by one's neighbours.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Jones, a commonly found British surname.

jong /j/ S. African n. 1 chiefly HISTORICAL a young black male servant.

- OFFENSIVE a black man.

2 INFORMAL used as a form of address to both men and women, expressing affection or exasperation: there are sharks out there, jong.

- a boyfriend or lover.

■ exclam. used to express surprise, pleasure, or anger, or to add emphasis to a statement.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from earlier South African Dutch jongen ‘lad’.

jongleur /dlə/ n. HISTORICAL an itinerant minstrel.

<ORIGIN> French, variant of jougleur ‘juggler’, earlier jogleor ‘pleasant, smiling’, from Latin joculator ‘joker’.

Jönköping /jəntəp/ an industrial city in southern Sweden, at the south end of Lake Vättern; pop. 117,095 (2000).

jonquil /dkwl/ n. a narcissus with clusters of small fragrant yellow flowers and cylindrical leaves, native to southern Europe and NE Africa.

<INFO> Narcissus jonquilla, family Liliaceae (or Amaryllidaceae).

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from modern Latin jonquilla or French jonquille, from Spanish junquillo, diminutive of junco, from Latin juncus ‘rush, reed’.

Jonson Ben (1572–1637), English dramatist and poet; full name Benjamin Jonson. With his play Every Man in his Humour (1598) he established his ‘comedy of humours’, whereby each character is dominated by a particular obsession. He became the first Poet Laureate in the modern sense. Other notable works: Volpone (1606) and Bartholomew Fair (1614).

<DERIVATIVES> Jonsonian adj.

jook v. [with obj.] W. INDIAN pierce, poke, or stab.

<ORIGIN> of uncertain origin: perhaps from a West African language, or related to JOUK.

Joplin^1 /dpln/ Janis (1943–70), American rock singer. She died from a heroin overdose just before her most successful album, Pearl, and her number-one single ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ were released.

Joplin^2 /dpln/ Scott (1868–1917), American pianist and composer. He was the first of the creators of ragtime to write down his compositions. Notable compositions: ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ (1899), ‘The Entertainer’ (1902), and ‘Gladiolus Rag’ (1907).

Joppa /dpə/ biblical name for Jaffa^1.

Jordaens /jdαns/ Jacob (1593–1678), Flemish painter. Influenced by Rubens, he is noted for his boisterous peasant scenes painted in warm colours. Notable works: The King Drinks (1638).

Jordan^1 1 a country in the Middle East east of the River Jordan; pop. 5,307,470 (est. 2002); official language, Arabic; capital, Amman. Official name HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN.

Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, and Turks dominated the area successively until it was made a British protectorate in 1916 and achieved independence in 1946. During the war of 1948–9 that followed the establishment of the state of Israel, Jordan took over the area of the West Bank; this was recovered by Israel in Six Day War of 1967, after which many Palestinian refugees entered the country. A peace treaty with Israel was signed in 1994, ending an official state of war between the two countries.

2 a river flowing southward for 320 km (200 miles) from the Anti-Lebanon Mountains through the Sea of Galilee into the Dead Sea. John the Baptist baptized Christ in the River Jordan. It is regarded as sacred not only by Christians but also by Jews and Muslims.

<DERIVATIVES> Jordanian /ddenən/ adj. & n.

Jordan^2 Michael (Jeffrey) (b.1963), American basketball player. Playing for the Chicago Bulls from 1984, he was the National Basketball Association's Most Valuable Player five times.

jorum /drəm/ n. HISTORICAL a large bowl or jug used for serving drinks such as tea or punch.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: perhaps from Joram (2 Sam. 8:10), who ‘brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold’ to King David.

Jorvik /jvk/ (also Yorvik) Viking name for YORK.

Jos. abbr.

- Joseph.

- Joshua (in biblical references).

Joseph (in the Bible) a Hebrew patriarch, son of Jacob. He was given a coat of many colours by his father, but was then sold by his jealous brothers into captivity in Egypt, where he attained high office (Gen. 30–50).

Joseph, St husband of the Virgin Mary. A carpenter of Nazareth, he was betrothed to Mary at the time of the Annunciation. Feast day, 19 March.

Josephine (1763–1814), Empress of France 1804–9; full name Marie Joséphine Rose Tascher de la Pagerie. She married Napoleon in 1796. Their marriage proved childless and she was divorced by Napoleon in 1809.

Joseph of Arimathea, St /arməθə/ a member of the council at Jerusalem who, after the Crucifixion, asked Pilate for Christ's body, which he buried. He is also known from the medieval story that he came to England with the Holy Grail and built the first church at Glastonbury. Feast day, 17 March.

Josephson junction n. [PHYSICS] an electrical device in which two superconducting metals are separated by a thin layer of insulator, across which an electric current may flow in the absence of a potential difference. The current may be made to oscillate in proportion to an applied potential difference.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Brian D. Josephson (born 1940), British physicist.

Josephus /dəsifəs/ Flavius (c.37–c.100), Jewish historian, general, and Pharisee; born Joseph ben Matthias. His Jewish War gives an eyewitness account of the events leading up to the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 66, in which he was a leader.

josh INFORMAL v. [with obj.] tease (someone) in a playful way: he loved to josh people.

- [no obj.] engage in joking or playful talk with others.

■ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN good-natured banter.

<DERIVATIVES> josher n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (as a verb): of unknown origin.

Josh. abbr. Joshua (in biblical references).

Joshua /də/ (fl. c.13th century BC), the Israelite leader who succeeded Moses and led his people into the Promised Land.

- the sixth book of the Bible, telling of the conquest of Canaan and its division among the twelve tribes of Israel.

Joshua tree n. a yucca which grows as a tree and has clusters of spiky leaves, native to arid regions of south-western North America.

<INFO> Yucca brevifolia, family Agavaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: apparently from JOSHUA (Josh. 8:18), the plant being likened to a man brandishing a spear.

joss^1 n. a Chinese religious statue or idol.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Javanese dejos, from obsolete Portuguese deos, from Latin deus ‘god’.

joss^2 n. INFORMAL, chiefly AUSTRALIAN a person of influence or importance.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from dialect joss ‘foreman’, of unknown origin.

josser n. BRITISH INFORMAL a man, typically an old man or one regarded with some contempt: an old josser.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (in Australian sense ‘a clergyman’): from JOSS^1 + -ER^1.

joss house n. a Chinese temple.

joss stick n. a thin stick consisting of a substance that burns slowly and with a fragrant smell, used as incense.

jostle v. [with obj.] push, elbow, or bump against (someone) roughly, typically in a crowd: he was jostled by passengers rushing for the gates | [no obj.] people jostled against us.

- [no obj.] (jostle for) struggle or compete forcefully for: a jumble of images jostled for attention.

■ n. [mass noun] the action of jostling.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English justle, from just, an earlier form of JOUST. The original sense was ‘have sexual intercourse with’; current senses date from the mid 16th cent.

jot v. (jots, jotting, jotted) [with obj.] write (something) quickly: when you've found the answers, jot them down.

■ n. [usually with negative] a very small amount: you didn't care a jot | I have yet to see one jot of evidence.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (as a noun): via Latin from Greek iōta, the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet (see IOTA).

jota /xətə/ n. a folk dance from northern Spain, danced by couples in fast triple time.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

jotter n. BRITISH a small pad or notebook used for notes or jottings.

jotting n. (usually jottings) a brief note.

Jotun /jətn/ n. [MYTHOLOGY] a member of the race of giants, enemies of the gods.

<ORIGIN> from Old Norse jtunn, related to Old English eoten, of Germanic origin.

Jotunheim /jətnhm/ 1 [SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY] a region of the universe, inhabited by giants.

2 a mountain range in south central Norway.

joual /wal uαl/ n. [mass noun] a non-standard form of popular Canadian French, influenced by English vocabulary and grammar.

<ORIGIN> Canadian French dialect, from French cheval ‘horse’, apparently from the way cheval is pronounced in rural areas of Quebec.

jougs /duz/ plural n. HISTORICAL a hinged iron collar chained to a wall or post, used in medieval Scotland as an instrument of punishment.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French joug or Latin jugum ‘yoke’.

jouissance /wiss/ French /wisαs/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL physical or intellectual pleasure, delight, or ecstasy.

<ORIGIN> French, from jouir ‘enjoy’.

jouk /duk/ v. [no obj., with adverbial of direction] SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH turn or bend quickly, typically to avoid someone or something: I jouked around the corner.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: perhaps related to the verb duck^2.

Joule /dul/ James Prescott (1818–89), English physicist. Joule established that all forms of energy were interchangeable—the first law of thermodynamics. The Joule–Thomson effect, discovered with William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin, in 1852, led to the development of the refrigerator and to the science of cryogenics. Joule also measured and described the heating effects of an electric current passing through a resistance.

joule /dul/ (abbr.: J) n. the SI unit of work or energy, equal to the work done by a force of one newton when its point of application moves one metre in the direction of action of the force, equivalent to one 3600th of a watt-hour.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after J. P.

■ Joule.

Joule effect n. [PHYSICS] the heating that occurs when an electric current flows through a resistance.

Joule's law n. [PHYSICS] a law stating that the heat produced by an electric current i flowing through a resistance R for a time t is proportional to i^2Rt.

Joule–Thomson effect n. [PHYSICS] the change of temperature of a gas when it is allowed to expand without doing any external work. The gas becomes cooler if it was initially below a certain temperature (the inversion temperature), or hotter if initially above it.

jounce /dans/ v. jolt or bounce: [no obj.] the car jounced wildly | [with obj.] the pilot jounced the ship through turbulence.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably symbolic; compare with BOUNCE.

journal /dən(ə)l/ n. 1 a newspaper or magazine that deals with a particular subject or professional activity: medical journals | [in names] the Wall Street Journal.

2 a daily record of news and events of a personal nature; a diary.

- [NAUTICAL] a logbook.

- (the Journals) a record of the daily proceedings in the Houses of Parliament.

- (in bookkeeping) a daily record of business transactions with a statement of the accounts to which each is to be debited and credited.

3 the part of a shaft or axle that rests on bearings.

■ v. (journals, journaling, journaled) [no obj.] write in a journal or diary.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting a book containing the appointed times of daily prayers): from Old French jurnal, from late Latin diurnalis (see DIURNAL).

journalese n. [mass noun] INFORMAL a hackneyed style of writing supposedly characteristic of that in newspapers and magazines.

journalism n. [mass noun] the activity or profession of writing for newspapers or magazines or of broadcasting news on radio or television.

- the product of the activity of journalism: a collection of journalism.

journalist n. a person who writes for newspapers or magazines or prepares news to be broadcast on radio or television.

<DERIVATIVES> journalistic adj. journalistically adv.

journalize (also journalise) v. [with obj.] DATED enter (notes or information) in a journal or account book: I would gladly journalize some of my proceedings.

journey n. (pl. journeys) an act of travelling from one place to another: she went on a long journey | FIGURATIVE your journey through life.

■ v. (journeys, journeying, journeyed) [no obj., with adverbial of direction] travel somewhere: they journeyed south.

<DERIVATIVES> journeyer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French jornee ‘day, a day's travel, a day's work’ (the earliest senses in English), based on Latin diurnum ‘daily portion’, from diurnus (see DIURNAL).

journeyman n. (pl. journeymen) a trained worker who is employed by someone else.

- a worker or sports player who is reliable but not outstanding: [as modifier] a solid journeyman professional.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from JOURNEY (in the obsolete sense ‘day's work’) + MAN; so named because the journeyman was no longer bound by indentures but was paid by the day.

journo n. (pl. journos) INFORMAL a journalist.

joust /dast/ v. [no obj.] (often as n. jousting) HISTORICAL (of a medieval knight) engage in a sporting contest in which two opponents on horseback fight with lances.

- FIGURATIVE compete closely for superiority: the guerrillas jousted for supremacy.

■ n. a medieval sporting contest in which two opponents on horseback fought with lances.

<DERIVATIVES> jouster n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally in the sense ‘join battle, engage’): from Old French jouster ‘bring together’, based on Latin juxta ‘near’.

J'Ouvert /duve/ n. (in the Caribbean) the official start of carnival, at dawn on the Monday preceding Lent.

<ORIGIN> French Creole, from French jour ouvert ‘day opened’.

Jove /dəv/ another name for JUPITER.

<PHRASES>

□ by Jove DATED an exclamation indicating surprise or used for emphasis: by Jove, yes, it's been warm all right.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Jov-, stem of Old Latin Jovis, replaced later by Jupiter. The exclamation by Jove dates from the late 16th cent.

jovial /dəvəl -vj(ə)l/ adj. cheerful and friendly: she was in a jovial mood.

<DERIVATIVES> joviality n. jovially adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French, from late Latin jovialis ‘of Jupiter’ (see JOVE), with reference to the supposed influence of the planet Jupiter on those born under it.

Jovian /dəvən/ adj. 1 [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] of or like the god Jove (or Jupiter).

2 relating to the planet Jupiter or the class of giant planets to which Jupiter belongs.

■ n. a hypothetical or fictional inhabitant of the planet Jupiter.

jowar /daα/ n. another term for DURRA.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi jauār.

jowl n. (often jowls) the lower part of a person's or animal's cheek, especially when it is fleshy or drooping: she had a large nose and heavy jowls.

- NORTH AMERICAN the cheek of a pig used as meat.

- the loose fleshy part of the neck of certain animals, such as the dewlap of cattle or the wattle of birds.

<DERIVATIVES> jowled adj. [in combination] ruddy-jowled jowly adj. (jowlier, jowliest)

<ORIGIN> Old English ceole (related to German Kehle ‘throat, gullet’), partly merged with Old English ceafl ‘jaw’ (related to Dutch kevels ‘cheekbones’).

joy n. [mass noun] a feeling of great pleasure and happiness: tears of joy | the joy of being alive.

- [count noun] a thing that causes joy: the joys of country living.

- [usually with negative] BRITISH INFORMAL success or satisfaction: you'll get no joy out of her.

■ v. [no obj.] LITERARY rejoice: I felt shame that I had ever joyed in his discomfiture or pain.

<PHRASES>

□ be full of the joys of spring be lively and cheerful.

□ wish someone joy British, chiefly IRONIC congratulate someone.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French joie, based on Latin gaudium, from gaudere ‘rejoice’.

Joyce James (Augustine Aloysius) (1882–1941), Irish writer. One of the most important writers of the modernist movement, he made his name with Dubliners (short stories, 1914). His novel Ulysses (1922) revolutionized the structure of the modern novel and developed the stream-of-consciousness technique. Other notable novels: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1914–15) and Finnegans Wake (1939).

<DERIVATIVES> Joycean adj. & n.

joyful adj. feeling, expressing, or causing great pleasure and happiness: joyful music.

<DERIVATIVES> joyfully adv. joyfulness n.

joyless adj. not giving or feeling any pleasure or satisfaction; grim or dismal: she had to face the thought of a joyless future.

<DERIVATIVES> joylessly adv.

joyous adj. chiefly LITERARY full of happiness and joy: scenes of joyous celebration.

<DERIVATIVES> joyously adv. joyousness n.

joypad n. an input device for a computer games console which uses buttons to control the motion of an image on the screen.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: blend of JOYSTICK and KEYPAD.

joyride n. a ride for enjoyment in a vehicle or aircraft.

- INFORMAL a fast and dangerous ride in a stolen vehicle: they went for a joyride.

joyriding n. [mass noun] the action or practice of driving fast and dangerously in a stolen car for enjoyment.

<DERIVATIVES> joyrider n.

joystick n. INFORMAL the control column of an aircraft.

- a lever that can be moved in several directions to control the movement of an image on a computer or similar display screen.

JP abbr. (in the UK) Justice of the Peace.

JPEG /depε/ n. [mass noun] [COMPUTING] a format for compressing images: [as modifier] a JPEG image.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: abbreviation of Joint Photographic Experts Group.

J-pop n. [mass noun] Japanese pop music.

Jr abbr. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN junior (in names): John Smith Jr.

jua kali /də kali/ n. [mass noun] [usually as modifier] (in Kenya) small-scale craft or artisanal work, such as making tools or textiles.

<ORIGIN> Kiswahili, literally ‘hot sun’ (referring to the outdoor nature of the work).

Juan Carlos /hwαn kαls/ (b.1938), grandson of Alfonso XIII, king of Spain since 1975; full name Juan Carlos Victor María de Borbón y Borbón. Franco's chosen successor, he became king after Franco's death. His reign has seen Spain's increasing liberalization and its entry into NATO and the European Community.

Juan Fernandez Islands /hwαn fənandεz/ a group of three almost uninhabited islands in the Pacific Ocean 640 km (400 miles) west of Chile.

Juárez /hwαrεz/ Benito Pablo (1806–72), Mexican statesman, President 1861–4 and 1867–72. Between 1864 and 1867 he was replaced as emperor by Maximilian, who was supported by the French.

Juba /dubə/ the capital of the southern region of Sudan, on the White Nile; pop. 151,000 (est. 2002).

juba /dubə/ n. [mass noun] a dance originating among plantation slaves in the southern US, featuring rhythmic handclapping and slapping of the thighs.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: of unknown origin.

Jubba /dbə dubə/ a river in East Africa, rising in the highlands of central Ethiopia and flowing southwards for about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) through Somalia to the Indian Ocean.

jube n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a jujube lozenge.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: shortened form.

jubilant adj. feeling or expressing great happiness and triumph: a large number of jubilant fans ran on to the pitch.

<DERIVATIVES> jubilance n. jubilantly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (originally in the sense ‘making a joyful noise’): from Latin jubilant- ‘calling, hallooing’, from the verb jubilare (see JUBILATE).

Jubilate /dublαte/ n. Psalm 100, beginning Jubilate deo ‘rejoice in God’, especially as used as a canticle in the Anglican service of matins.

- a musical setting of the Jubilate.

<ORIGIN> Latin, ‘shout for joy!’, imperative of jubilare (see JUBILATE).

jubilate /dublet/ v. [no obj.] ARCHAIC show great happiness; rejoice: sing and jubilate aloud before God.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin jubilat- ‘called out’, from the verb jubilare, used by Christian writers to mean ‘shout for joy’.

jubilation n. [mass noun] a feeling of great happiness and triumph: unbelievable scenes of jubilation.

jubilee n. 1 a special anniversary of an event, especially one celebrating twenty-five or fifty years of a reign or activity.

2 [JUDAISM] a year of emancipation and restoration, kept every fifty years.

3 a period of remission from the penal consequences of sin, granted by the Roman Catholic Church under certain conditions for a year, usually at intervals of twenty-five years.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French jubile, from late Latin jubilaeus (annus) ‘(year) of jubilee’, based on Hebrew yōēl, originally ‘ram's-horn trumpet’, with which the jubilee year was proclaimed.

Jubilee clip n. TRADEMARK a type of adjustable steel band secured with a screw.

Jubran /jbrαn/ variant form of GIBRAN.

Jud. abbr.

- Judges (in biblical references).

- Judith (Apocrypha) (in biblical references).

Judaea /dudiə/ the southern part of ancient Palestine, corresponding to the former kingdom of Judah.

<DERIVATIVES> Judaean adj.

Judaeo- /dudiə/ (US Judeo-) combining form Jewish; Jewish and …: Judaeo-Christian.

- relating to Judaea.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Judaeus ‘Jewish’.

Judah /dudə/ 1 (in the Bible) a Hebrew patriarch, the fourth son of Jacob.

- the tribe of Israel traditionally descended from him, the most powerful of the twelve tribes of Israel.

2 the southern part of ancient Palestine, occupied by the tribe of Judah. After the reign of Solomon (c.930 BC) it formed a separate kingdom from Israel. Later known as JUDAEA.

Judaic /dudek/ adj. relating to Judaism or the ancient Jews: tenets of Judaic law.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin Judaicus, from Greek Ioudaïkos, from Ioudaios (see JEW).

Judaism /dudez(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the monotheistic religion of the Jews.

- the Jews collectively.

For its origins Judaism looks to the biblical covenant made by God with Abraham, and to the laws revealed to Moses and recorded in the Torah (supplemented by the rabbinical Talmud), which established the Jewish people's special relationship with God. Since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70, the rituals of Judaism have centred on the home and the synagogue, the chief day of worship being the Sabbath (sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday), and the annual observances including Yom Kippur and Passover.

<DERIVATIVES> Judaist n.

<ORIGIN> from late Latin Judaismus, from Greek Ioudaïsmos, from Ioudaios (see JEW).

Judaize /dudez/ (also Judaise) v. [with obj.] make Jewish; convert to Judaism.

- [no obj.] follow Jewish customs or religious rites.

<DERIVATIVES> Judaization n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Christian Latin judaizare, from Greek ioudaizein, from Ioudaios (see JEW).

Judas^1 /dudəs/ an Apostle; full name Judas Iscariot. He betrayed Christ to the Jewish authorities in return for thirty pieces of silver; the Gospels leave his motives uncertain. Overcome with remorse, he later committed suicide.

- (as n. usually a Judas) a person who betrays a friend or comrade.

judas (also judas hole) n. a peephole in a door.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Judas Iscariot (see Judas^1), because of his association with betrayal.

Judas kiss n. an act of betrayal, especially one disguised as a gesture of friendship.

<ORIGIN> early 15th century: with biblical allusion (Matt. 26:48) to the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot.

Judas Maccabaeus /makəbiəs/ (died c.161 BC), Jewish leader. Leading a Jewish revolt in Judaea against Antiochus IV Epiphanes from around 167 BC, he recovered Jerusalem and dedicated the Temple anew. He is the hero of the two books of the Maccabees in the Apocrypha.

Judas tree n. a Mediterranean tree of the pea family, with purple flowers that typically appear before the rounded leaves.

<INFO> Cercis siliquastrum, family Leguminosae.

judder v. [no obj.] (especially of something mechanical) shake and vibrate rapidly and with force: the steering wheel juddered in his hand.

■ n. an instance of rapid and forceful shaking and vibration: the car gave a judder.

<DERIVATIVES> juddery adj.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: imitative; compare with SHUDDER.

judder bar n. NZ a speed bump.

Jude, St /dud/ an Apostle, supposed brother of James; also known as Judas. Thaddaeus is traditionally identified with him. According to tradition, he was martyred in Persia with St Simon. Feast day (with St Simon), 28 October.

- the last epistle of the New Testament, ascribed to St Jude.

Judenrat /jud(ə)nrαt/ German /judnrat/ n. (pl. Judenrate) a council representing a Jewish community, especially in German-occupied territory during the Second World War.

<ORIGIN> German, ‘Jewish council’.

judenrein /jud(ə)nrn/ adj. from which Jews are excluded (originally with reference to organizations in Nazi Germany).

<ORIGIN> German, ‘free of Jews’.

Judezmo /dudεzmə/ n. another term for LADINO.

<ORIGIN> Old Spanish, ‘the Jewish manner’.

Judg. abbr. Judges (in biblical references).

judge n. 1 a public officer appointed to decide cases in a law court.

- a person who decides the results of a competition.

- a person able or qualified to give an opinion on something: she was a good judge of character.

2 a leader having temporary authority in ancient Israel in the period between Joshua and the kings. See also JUDGES.

■ v. [with obj.] form an opinion or conclusion about: a production can be judged according to the canons of aesthetic criticism | [with clause] it is hard to judge whether such opposition is justified | [no obj.] judging from his letters home, Monty was in good spirits.

- decide (a case) in a law court: other cases were judged by tribunal.

- [with obj. and complement] give a verdict on (someone) in a law court: she was judged innocent of murder.

- decide the results of (a competition).

<DERIVATIVES> judgeship n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French juge (noun), juger (verb), from Latin judex, judic-, from jus ‘law’ + dicere ‘to say’.

judge advocate n. [LAW] a barrister who advises a court martial on points of law and sums up the case.

Judge Advocate General n. an officer in supreme control of the courts martial in the armed forces, excluding (in the UK) the navy.

judge-made adj. [LAW] constituted by judicial decisions rather than explicit legislation.

judgement (also judgment) n. 1 [mass noun] the ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions: an error of judgement | that is not, in my judgement, the end of the matter.

- [count noun] an opinion or conclusion: they make subjective judgements about children's skills.

- [count noun] a decision of a law court or judge.

2 FORMAL or HUMOROUS a misfortune or calamity viewed as a divine punishment: the events of last week are a judgement on us for our sinful ways.

<PHRASES>

□ against one's better judgement contrary to what one feels to be wise or sensible.

□ pass judgement (of a law court or judge) give a decision concerning a defendant or legal matter: he passed judgement on the accused.

- criticize or condemn someone from a position of assumed moral superiority: we're here to help, not to pass judgement.

□ reserve judgement delay the process of judging or giving one's opinion.

□ sit in judgement assume the right to judge someone, especially in a critical manner.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French jugement, from juger ‘to judge’.

<USAGE> In British English the normal spelling in general contexts is judgement. However, the spelling judgment is conventional in legal contexts, and in North American English.

judgemental (also judgmental) adj. of or concerning the use of judgement: judgemental decisions about the likelihood of company survival.

- having or displaying an overly critical point of view: I don't like to sound judgemental, but it was a big mistake.

<DERIVATIVES> judgementally adv.

Judgement Day n. the time of the Last Judgement; the end of the world.

judgement in default n. [mass noun] [LAW] judgement awarded to the plaintiff on the defendant's failure to plead.

Judgement of Solomon (in the Bible) the arbitration of King Solomon over a baby claimed by two women (1 Kings 3:16–28). He proposed cutting the baby in half, and then gave it to the woman who showed concern for its life.

judgement seat n. chiefly LITERARY a judge's seat; a tribunal.

- the place where the souls of the dead are judged by God: a sin for which he would have to give an account at the Judgement Seat.

Judges the seventh book of the Bible, describing the conquest of Canaan under the leaders called ‘judges’ in an account that is parallel to that of the Book of Joshua and is probably more accurate historically. The book includes the stories of Deborah, Jael, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.

Judges' Rules plural n. [LAW] rules regarding the admissibility of an accused's statements as evidence.

judicature /dudkətə ddk-/ n. [mass noun] the administration of justice.

- (the judicature) judges collectively; the judiciary.

<DERIVATIVES> judicatory adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin judicatura, from Latin judicare ‘to judge’.

judicial /dud(ə)l/ adj. of, by, or appropriate to a law court or judge; relating to the administration of justice: a judicial inquiry into the allegations | a judicial system.

<DERIVATIVES> judicially adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin judicialis, from judicium ‘judgement’, from judex (see JUDGE).

<USAGE> See usage at judicious.

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (in the UK) a court made up of members of the House of Lords and others, which considers appeals made to the Sovereign in Council concerning decisions of some Commonwealth courts outside the UK.

judicial factor n. [LAW] an agent legally appointed to administer a person's estate.

judicial review n. [mass noun] (in the UK) a procedure by which a court can review an administrative action by a public body and (in England) secure a declaration, order, or award.

- (in the US) review by the Supreme Court of the constitutional validity of a legislative act.

judicial separation n. another term for LEGAL SEPARATION.

judiciary /dd(ə)ri/ n. (pl. judiciaries) (usually the judiciary) the judicial authorities of a country; judges collectively.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin judiciarius, from judicium ‘judgement’.

judicious /ddəs/ adj. having, showing, or done with good judgement or sense: the judicious use of public investment.

<DERIVATIVES> judiciously adv. judiciousness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French judicieux, from Latin judicium ‘judgement’ (see JUDICIAL).

<USAGE> Judicious means ‘using good judgement, careful and sensible’, as in the judicious use of public investment or the judicious use of pesticides; it should not be confused with judicial, which means ‘relating to the administration of justice’, as in the judicial system.

Judith (in the Apocrypha) a rich Israelite widow who saved the town of Bethulia from Nebuchadnezzar's army by seducing the besieging general Holofernes and cutting off his head while he slept.

- a book of the Apocrypha recounting the story of Judith.

judo n. [mass noun] a sport of unarmed combat derived from ju-jitsu and intended to train the body and mind. It involves using holds and leverage to unbalance the opponent.

<DERIVATIVES> judoist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Japanese, from jū ‘gentle’ + dō ‘way’.

judoka /dudəkə/ n. a person who practises or is an expert in judo.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from JUDO + -ka ‘person, profession’.

Judy n. (pl. Judies) the wife of Punch in the Punch and Judy show.

- British INFORMAL, DATED a woman.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: pet form of the given name Judith.

jug n. 1 BRITISH a cylindrical container with a handle and a lip, used for holding and pouring liquids.

- NORTH AMERICAN a large container for liquids, with a narrow mouth and typically a stopper or cap.

- the contents of a jug: she gave us a big jug of water.

2 (the jug) INFORMAL prison: three months in the jug.

3 (jugs) VULGAR SLANG a woman's breasts.

4 (also jug handle) [CLIMBING] a secure hold that is cut into rock for climbing.

■ v. (jugs, jugging, jugged) [with obj.] 1 (usually as adj. jugged) stew or boil (a hare or rabbit) in a covered container: jugged hare.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL prosecute and imprison (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> jugful n. (pl. jugfuls)

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps from Jug, pet form of the given names Joan, Joanna, and Jenny.

jugal /duəl/ adj. 1 [ANATOMY] relating to the zygoma (the bony arch of the cheek).

2 [ENTOMOLOGY] relating to the jugum of an insect's forewing.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin jugalis, from jugum ‘yoke’.

jug band n. a group of jazz, blues, or folk musicians using simple or improvised instruments such as jugs and washboards.

Jugendstil /juəndtil/ German /junttil/ n. German term for ART NOUVEAU.

<ORIGIN> German, from Jugend ‘youth’ + Stil ‘style’.

Juggernaut /dənt/ [HINDUISM] the form of Krishna worshipped in Puri, Orissa, where in the annual festival his image is dragged through the streets on a heavy chariot; devotees are said formerly to have thrown themselves under its wheels. Also called JAGANNATHA.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit Jagannātha ‘Lord of the world’.

juggernaut /dənt/ n. BRITISH a large, heavy vehicle, especially an articulated lorry.

- a huge, powerful, and overwhelming force: the juggernaut of public expenditure.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: extension of JUGGERNAUT.

juggins n. BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED a simple-minded or gullible person: you silly juggins.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps from the surname Juggins, from Jug (see JUG); compare with MUGGINS.

juggle v. [with obj.] continuously toss into the air and catch (a number of objects) so as to keep at least one in the air while handling the others: Charles juggled five tangerines, his hands a frantic blur | [no obj.] he can't juggle.

- cope with by adroitly balancing (several activities): she works full time, juggling her career with raising children.

- misrepresent (something) so as to deceive or cheat someone: defence chiefs juggled the figures on bomb tests.

■ n. [in sing.] an act of juggling.

<DERIVATIVES> juggler n. jugglery n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘entertain with jesting, tricks, etc.’): back-formation from juggler, or from Old French jogler, from Latin joculari ‘to jest’, from joculus, diminutive of jocus ‘jest’. Current senses date from the late 19th cent.

jug kettle n. BRITISH a tall, narrow electric kettle like a jug with a lid.

Jugoslav n. & adj.

■ old-fashioned variant spelling of YUGOSLAV.

Jugoslavia old-fashioned variant spelling of YUGOSLAVIA.

jugular /djlə/ adj. 1 of the neck or throat.

2 [ZOOLOGY] (of fish's pelvic fins) located in front of the pectoral fins.

■ n. short for JUGULAR VEIN.

<PHRASES>

□ go for the jugular be aggressive or unrestrained in making an attack.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin jugularis, from Latin jugulum ‘collarbone, throat’, diminutive of jugum ‘yoke’.

jugular vein n. any of several large veins in the neck, carrying blood from the head and face.

jugulate /djlet/ v. [with obj.] ARCHAIC kill (someone) by cutting the throat.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin jugulat- ‘slain by a cut to the throat’, from the verb jugulare, from jugulum ‘throat’ (see JUGULAR).

jugum /duəm/ n. (pl. juga) chiefly [ZOOLOGY] a connecting ridge or projection, especially on a bone.

- [ZOOLOGY] a lobe on the forewing of some moths which interlocks with the hindwing in flight.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘yoke’.

Jugurtha /dəəθə/ (d.104 BC), joint king of Numidia c.118–104. His attacks on his royal partners prompted intervention by Rome and led to the outbreak of the Jugurthine War (112–105). He was eventually captured by the Roman general Marius and executed in Rome.

<DERIVATIVES> Jugurthine /-θn/ adj.

juice n. [mass noun] the liquid obtained from or present in fruit or vegetables: add the juice of a lemon.

- a drink made from fruit or vegetable juice: a carton of orange juice.

- (juices) the liquid that comes from meat or other food when cooked.

- (juices) fluid secreted by the body, especially in the stomach to help digest food.

- (juices) a person's vitality or creative faculties: it saps the creative juices.

- INFORMAL electrical energy: the batteries have run out of juice.

- petrol: he ran out of juice on the last lap.

- North American INFORMAL alcoholic drink.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 extract the juice from (fruit or vegetables): juice one orange at a time.

2 (juice something up) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL liven something up: they juiced it up with some love interest.

3 (as adj. juiced) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL drunk.

<DERIVATIVES> juiceless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin jus ‘broth, vegetable juice’.

juicer n. 1 an appliance for extracting juice from fruit and vegetables.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a person who drinks alcohol excessively.

juicy adj. (juicier, juiciest) (of food) full of juice; succulent: a juicy apple | a juicy steak.

- INFORMAL interestingly scandalous: juicy gossip.

- INFORMAL temptingly appealing: the promise of juicy returns.

<DERIVATIVES> juicily adv. juiciness n.

ju-jitsu /dudtsu/ (also jiu-jitsu or ju-jutsu /-jtsu/) n. [mass noun] a Japanese system of unarmed combat and physical training. Compare with JUDO.

<ORIGIN> Japanese jūjutsu, from jū ‘gentle’ + jutsu ‘skill’.

juju^1 /dudu/ n. a charm or fetish, especially of a type used by some West African peoples.

- [mass noun] supernatural power attributed to a charm or fetish: juju and witchcraft.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of West African origin, perhaps from French joujou ‘toy’.

juju^2 /dudu/ n. [mass noun] a style of music popular among the Yoruba in Nigeria and characterized by the use of guitars and variable-pitch drums.

<ORIGIN> perhaps from Yoruba jo jo ‘dance’.

jujube /dudub/ n. 1 the edible berry-like fruit of a Eurasian plant, formerly taken as a cough cure.

- NORTH AMERICAN a jujube-flavoured lozenge or sweet.

2 (also jujube bush) the shrub or small tree that produces the jujube fruit, native to the warmer regions of Eurasia.

<INFO> Ziziphus jujuba, family Rhamnaceae.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, or from medieval Latin jujuba, based on Greek zizuphos.

juke NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. (also juke joint) a roadhouse, nightclub, or bar, especially one providing food, drinks, and music for dancing.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 dance, especially to the music of a jukebox: a middle-aged couple shook and juked to the music.

2 (in sport) make a sham move to mislead an opponent.

- move in a zigzag fashion: I juked down an alley.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Gullah juke ‘disorderly’.

jukebox n. a machine that automatically plays a selected musical recording when a coin is inserted.

- [COMPUTING] a device which stores several computer disks in such a way that data can be read from any of them.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Gullah juke ‘disorderly’ + BOX^1.

jukskei /jəkske/ n. [mass noun] S. AFRICAN a game in which a peg is thrown at a stake.

<ORIGIN> South African Dutch, from Dutch juk ‘yoke’ + skei ‘pin’; the game was originally played with sticks from an animal's yoke.

juku /dku/ n. (pl. same) (in Japan) a private school or college attended in addition to an ordinary educational institution.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

Jul. abbr. July.

julep /dulεp/ n. a sweet flavoured drink made from a sugar syrup, sometimes containing alcohol or medication.

■ short for MINT JULEP.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin julapium, via Arabic from Persian gulāb, from gul ‘rose’ + āb ‘water’.

julia /dulə/ n. an orange and black American butterfly with long, narrow forewings, found chiefly in tropical regions.

<INFO> Dryas julia, subfamily Heliconiinae, family Nymphalidae.

Julian^1 /dulən/ adj. of or associated with Julius Caesar.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Julianus, from the given name Julius.

Julian^2 /dulən/ (c.331–63 AD), Roman emperor 360–3, nephew of Constantine; full name Flavius Claudius Julianus; known as the Apostate. He restored paganism as the state cult in place of Christianity, but this move was reversed after his death on campaign against the Persians.

Julian Alps an Alpine range in western Slovenia and NE Italy, rising to a height of 2,863 m (9,395 ft) at Triglav.

Julian calendar n. a calendar introduced by the authority of Julius Caesar in 46 BC, in which the year consisted of 365 days, every fourth year having 366 days. It was superseded by the Gregorian calendar, though it is still used by some Orthodox Churches. Dates in the Julian calendar are sometimes designated ‘Old Style’.

Julian of Norwich (c.1342–c.1413), English mystic. She is said to have lived as a recluse outside St Julian's Church, Norwich. She is chiefly associated with the Revelations of Divine Love (c.1393), a description of a series of visions she had in which she depicts the Holy Trinity as Father, Mother, and Lord.

Julia set /dulə/ n. [MATHEMATICS] a set of complex numbers which do not converge to any limit when a given mapping is repeatedly applied to them. In some cases the result is a connected fractal set.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Gaston M. Julia (1893–1978), Algerian-born French mathematician.

julienne /dulεn/ n. a portion of food cut into short, thin strips: a julienne of vegetables.

■ v. [with obj.] cut (food) into short, thin strips.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (originally as an adjective designating soup made of chopped vegetables, especially carrots): French, from the male given names Jules or Julien, of obscure development.

Juliet /dulεt/ n. a code word representing the letter J, used in radio communication.

Juliet cap n. a type of women's small ornamental cap, typically made of lace or net and often worn by brides.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: so named because it forms part of the usual costume of the heroine of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Julius Caesar /duləs/ Gaius (100–44 BC), Roman general and statesman.

He established the First Triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus (60), and became consul in 59. Between 58 and 51 he fought the Gallic Wars, invaded Britain (55–54), and acquired immense power. After civil war with Pompey, which ended in Pompey's defeat at Pharsalus (48), Caesar became dictator of the Roman Empire; he was murdered on the Ides (15th) of March in a conspiracy led by Brutus and Cassius.

Jullundur /dləndə/ (also Jalandhar) a city in Punjab, NW India; pop. 701,200 (2001).

July n. (pl. Julys) the seventh month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the second month of summer: I had a letter from him in July | a festival held every July.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Latin Julius (mensis) ‘(month) of July’, named after Julius Caesar.

jumar /dumə/ [CLIMBING] n. a clamp that is attached to a fixed rope and automatically tightens when weight is applied and relaxes when it is removed.

■ v. (jumars, jumaring, jumared) [no obj.] climb with the aid of a jumar.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: originally in Swiss use, of unknown origin.

jumbie /dmbi/ n. W. INDIAN a spirit of a dead person, typically an evil one.

<ORIGIN> from Kikongo zumbi ‘fetish’.

jumbie bird n. W. INDIAN a bird of ill omen, especially a pygmy owl.

<INFO> Glaucidium brasilianum, family Strigidae. Alternative name: ferruginous pygmy owl.

jumble n. an untidy collection or pile of things: the books were in a chaotic jumble.

- [mass noun] BRITISH articles collected for a jumble sale.

■ v. [with obj.] mix up in a confused or untidy way: a drawer full of letters jumbled together.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: probably symbolic.

jumble sale n. BRITISH a sale of miscellaneous second-hand articles, typically held in order to raise money for a charity or a special event.

jumbo INFORMAL n. (pl. jumbos) a very large person or thing.

- (also jumbo jet) a very large airliner (originally and specifically a Boeing 747).

■ adj. [attr.] very large: a jumbo pad.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally of a person): probably the second element of MUMBO JUMBO. Originally denoting a large and clumsy person, the term was popularized as the name of an elephant at London Zoo, sold in 1882 to the Barnum and Bailey circus.

jumbuck /dmbk/ n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL a sheep.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of unknown origin, possibly Australian pidgin for jump up.

Jumna /dmnə/ a river of northern India, which rises in the Himalayas and flows in a large arc southwards and south-eastwards, through Delhi, joining the Ganges below Allahabad. Its source (Yamunotri) and its confluence with the Ganges are both Hindu holy places. Hindi name YAMUNA.

jump v. 1 [no obj., usually with adverbial of direction] push oneself off a surface and into the air by using the muscles in one's legs and feet: the cat jumped off his lap | he jumped twenty-five feet to the ground.

- [with obj.] pass over (an obstacle or barrier) by jumping: one of the deer tried to jump the ditch.

- [with adverbial] (of an athlete or horse) perform in a competition involving jumping over obstacles: his horse jumped well and won by five lengths.

- (especially of prices or figures) rise suddenly and by a large amount: pre-tax profits jumped from £51,000 to £1.03 million.

- INFORMAL (of a place) be full of lively activity: the bar is jumping on Fridays and Saturdays.

- [with obj.] INFORMAL (of driver or a vehicle) fail to stop at (a red traffic light).

- [with obj.] get on or off (a train or other vehicle) quickly, typically illegally or dangerously.

- [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN take summary possession of (a mining concession or other piece of land) after alleged abandonment or forfeiture by the former occupant.

2 [no obj., usually with adverbial] (of a person) move suddenly and quickly in a specified way: Juliet jumped to her feet | they jumped back into the car and drove off.

- (of a person) make a sudden involuntary movement in reaction to something that causes surprise or shock: an owl hooted nearby, making her jump.

- pass quickly or abruptly from one idea, subject, or state to another: the book jumps constantly from Brooklyn to Harlem.

- [with obj.] omit or skip over (part of something) and pass on to a further point or stage.

- (of a machine or device) move or jerk suddenly and abruptly: the vibration can cause the needle to jump.

- (of a person) make a sudden, impulsive rush to do something: Gordon jumped to my defence.

- [BRIDGE] make a bid that is higher than necessary, in order to signal a strong hand: East jumped to four spades.

- [with obj.] INFORMAL attack (someone) suddenly and unexpectedly.

3 VULGAR SLANG, NORTH AMERICAN have sexual intercourse with (someone).

4 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL start (a vehicle) using jump leads: I jumped his saloon from my car's battery.

■ n. 1 an act of jumping from a surface by pushing upwards with one's legs and feet: in making the short jump across the gully he lost his balance.

- an obstacle to be jumped, especially by a horse and rider in an equestrian competition.

- an act of descending from an aircraft by parachute.

- a sudden dramatic rise in amount, price, or value: a 51 per cent jump in annual profits.

- a large or sudden transition or change: the jump from county to Test cricket.

- [BRIDGE] a bid that is higher than necessary, signalling strength.

2 NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG an act of sexual intercourse.

3 a sudden involuntary movement caused by shock or surprise: I woke up with a jump.

- (the jumps) INFORMAL extreme nervousness or anxiety.

<PHRASES>

□ be jumping up and down INFORMAL be very angry, upset, or excited.

□ get (or have) the jump on someone NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL get (or have) an advantage over someone as a result of one's prompt action.

□ jump bail see bail^1.

□ jump someone's bones NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG have sexual intercourse with someone.

□ jump down someone's throat INFORMAL respond to what someone has said in a sudden and angrily critical way.

□ jump for joy be ecstatically happy.

□ jump the GUN see GUN.

□ jump into bed with INFORMAL engage readily in sexual intercourse with.

□ jump on the BANDWAGON see BANDWAGON.

□ jump out of one's skin INFORMAL be extremely startled.

□ jump the queue (or US jump in line) push into a queue of people in order to be served or dealt with before one's turn.

- FIGURATIVE take unfair precedence over others: the old boy networks were one way of jumping the promotion queue.

□ jump the rails (or track) (of a train) become dislodged from the track.

□ jump the shark US INFORMAL (of a television series or film) reach a point when far-fetched events are included merely for the sake of novelty, indicative of a decline in quality. [<ORIGIN> said to be with allusion to the long-running US television series Happy Days, in which the central character (the Fonz) jumped over a shark when waterskiing.]

□ jump ship (of a sailor) leave the ship on which one is serving without having obtained permission to do so: he jumped ship in Cape Town.

□ jump through hoops go through an elaborate or complicated procedure in order to achieve an objective.

□ jump (or leap) to conclusions (or the conclusion) form an opinion hastily, before one has learned or considered all the facts.

□ jump to it! INFORMAL used to exhort someone to prompt or immediate action.

□ one jump ahead one step or stage ahead of someone else and so having the advantage over them: the Americans were one jump ahead of the British in this.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ jump at accept (an opportunity or offer) with great eagerness: I'd jump at the chance of a career in football.

□ jump on INFORMAL attack or take hold of (someone) suddenly.

- criticize (someone) suddenly and severely.

- seize on (something) eagerly; give sudden (typically critical) attention to: the paper jumped on the inconsistencies of his stories.

□ jump out have a strong visual or mental impact; be very striking: advertising posters that really jump out at you.

<DERIVATIVES> jumpable adj.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘be moved or thrown with a sudden jerk’): probably imitative of the sound of feet coming into contact with the ground.

jump ball n. [BASKETBALL] a ball put in play by the referee, who throws it up between two opposing players.

jump blues n. [mass noun] a style of popular music combining elements of swing and blues.

jumpcut n. (in film or television) an abrupt transition from one scene to another.

■ v. (jump-cut) [no obj.] make a jumpcut.

jumped-up adj. INFORMAL denoting someone who considers themselves to be more important than they really are, or who has suddenly and undeservedly risen in status: she's not really a journalist, more a jumped-up PR woman.

jumper^1 n. 1 BRITISH a knitted garment typically with long sleeves, worn over the upper body.

2 HISTORICAL a loose outer jacket worn by sailors.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a pinafore dress.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): probably from dialect jump ‘short coat’, perhaps from Scots jupe ‘a man's (later also a woman's) loose jacket or tunic’, via Old French from Arabic jubba. Compare with JIBBA.

jumper^2 n. 1 a person or animal that jumps.

2 (also jumper wire) a short wire used to shorten an electric circuit or close it temporarily.

3 [NAUTICAL] a rope made fast to keep a yard or mast from jumping.

4 a heavy chisel-ended iron bar for drilling blast holes.

5 a mushroom-shaped brass part in a tap which supports the washer.

jumper cable n. North American term for JUMP LEAD.

jumping bean n. a plant seed that jumps as a result of the movement of a moth larva which is developing inside it.

<INFO> Affected seeds are found in several plants of the family Euphorbiaceae, in particular the Mexican plant Sebastiana pavoniana, the seeds of which can contain larvae of the moth Cydia saltitans.

jumping gene n. informal term for TRANSPOSON.

jumping jack n. 1 a jump done from a standing position with the arms and legs pointing outwards.

2 BRITISH DATED a small firework producing repeated explosions.

3 a toy figure of a man, with movable limbs.

jumping mouse n. a mouse-like rodent that has long back feet and typically moves in short hops, found in North America and China.

<INFO> Family Zapodidae: three genera, in particular Zapus, and several species.

jumping plant louse n. a minute hopping bug with wings, resembling a miniature cicada. Many kinds are pests of cultivated plants.

<INFO> Family Psyllidae, suborder Homoptera.

jumping spider n. a large-eyed spider which hunts prey by stalking and pouncing on it.

<INFO> Family Salticidae, order Araneae.

jump instruction n. [COMPUTING] an instruction in a computer program that causes processing to move to a different place in the program sequence.

jump jet n. a jet aircraft that can take off and land vertically, without need of a runway.

jump lead n. BRITISH each of a pair of thick electric cables fitted with clips at either end, used for recharging a battery in a motor vehicle by connecting it to the battery in another.

jump-off n. a deciding round in a showjumping competition.

jump ring n. a wire ring made by bringing the two ends together without soldering or welding.

jump rope North American n. a skipping rope.

■ v. [no obj.] play or exercise using a skipping rope.

jump seat n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an extra seat in a car or taxi that folds back when not in use.

jump shift n. [BRIDGE] a bid that is both in a different suit from that bid by oneself or one's partner and at a higher level than necessary, indicating a strong hand.

jump shot n. 1 [BASKETBALL] a shot made while jumping.

2 [BILLIARDS] & [SNOOKER] a shot in which the cue ball is made to jump over another ball.

jump-start v. [with obj.] start (a car with a flat battery) with jump leads or by a sudden release of the clutch while the car is being pushed.

- FIGURATIVE give an added impetus to (something that is proceeding slowly or is at a standstill): she suggests ways to jump-start the sluggish educational system.

■ n. an act of jump-starting a car.

- FIGURATIVE an added impetus.

jumpstation n. a site on the World Wide Web containing a collection of hypertext links, usually to pages on a particular topic.

jumpsuit n. a garment incorporating trousers and a sleeved top in one piece, worn as a fashion item, protective garment, or uniform.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally US): so named because it was first used to denote a parachutist's garment.

jump-up n. 1 a jump in an upward direction.

- an informal Caribbean dance or celebration.

2 AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL an escarpment.

jumpy adj. (jumpier, jumpiest) INFORMAL (of a person) anxious and uneasy: he was tired and jumpy.

- characterized by abrupt stops and starts or an irregular course: a jumpy pulse.

<DERIVATIVES> jumpily adv. jumpiness n.

jun /dn/ n. (pl. same) a monetary unit of North Korea, equal to one hundredth of a won.

<ORIGIN> Korean.

Jun. abbr.

- June.

- junior (in names): John Smith Jun.

junco /dkə/ n. (pl. juncos or juncoes) a North American songbird related to the buntings, with mainly grey and brown plumage.

<INFO> Genus Junco, family Emberizidae (subfamily Emberizinae): three or four species.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (originally ‘reed bunting’): from Spanish, from Latin juncus ‘rush, reed’.

junction n. 1 a point where two or more things are joined: the junction of the two rivers.

- a place where two or more roads or railway lines meet.

2 [ELECTRONICS] a region of transition in a semiconductor between a part where conduction is mainly by electrons and a part where it is mainly by holes.

3 [mass noun] the action or fact of joining or being joined.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in sense 3): from Latin junctio(n-), from jungere ‘to join’.

junction box n. a box containing a junction of electric wires or cables.

juncture /d(k)tə/ n. 1 a particular point in events or time: it is difficult to say at this juncture whether this upturn can be sustained.

2 a place where things join: the plane crashed at the juncture of two mountains.

3 [PHONETICS] the set of features in speech that enable a hearer to detect a word or phrase boundary (e.g. distinguishing I scream from ice cream).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘act of joining’): from Latin junctura, ‘joint’, from jungere ‘to join’.

June n. the sixth month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the first month of summer: the roses flower in June | each June the group meet for an informal reunion.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French juin, from Latin Junius (mensis) ‘(month) of June’, variant of Junonius ‘sacred to Juno’.

Juneau /dunə/ the state capital of Alaska, a seaport on an inlet of the Pacific Ocean in the south of the state; pop. 30,700 (2000).

<ORIGIN> named after Joseph Juneau, who discovered gold there in 1880.

juneberry n. (pl. juneberries) a North American shrub of the rose family, some kinds of which are grown for their showy white flowers and bright autumn colours.

<INFO> Genus Amelanchier, family Rosaceae: many species, including A. laevis, which has naturalized in England.

- the edible berry of this plant.

June bug n. another term for GARDEN CHAFER.

juneteenth /duntinθ/ n. (in the US) a festival held annually on the nineteenth of June by African Americans (especially in the southern states), to commemorate emancipation from slavery in Texas on that day in 1865.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: blend of JUNE and NINETEENTH (see NINETEEN).

June War Arab name for SIX DAY WAR.

Jung /j/ Carl (Gustav) (1875–1961), Swiss psychologist.

Jung originated the concept of introvert and extrovert personality, and of the four psychological functions of sensation, intuition, thinking, and feeling. He collaborated with Sigmund Freud in developing the psychoanalytic theory of personality, but later disassociated himself from Freud's preoccupation with sexuality as the determinant of personality, preferring to emphasize a mystical or religious factor in the unconscious.

<DERIVATIVES> Jungian adj. & n.

Jungfrau /jfra/ a mountain in the Swiss Alps, 4,158 m (13,642 ft) high.

jungle n. 1 an area of land overgrown with dense forest and tangled vegetation, typically in the tropics: we set off into the jungle | [mass noun] the lakes are hidden in dense jungle.

- a wild tangled mass of vegetation or other things: the garden was a jungle of bluebells.

- a situation or place of bewildering complexity or brutal competitiveness: it's a jungle out there.

2 (also jungle music) [mass noun] a style of dance music incorporating elements of ragga, hip hop, and hard core and consisting of very fast electronic drum tracks and slower synthesized bass lines, originating in Britain in the early 1990s.

<PHRASES>

□ the law of the jungle the principle that those who are strong and apply ruthless self-interest will be most successful.

<DERIVATIVES> jungled adj. junglist n. & adj.

■ jungle (sense 2)

□ jungly adj. (junglier, jungliest)

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: via Hindi from Sanskrit jāgala ‘rough and arid (terrain)’.

jungle cat n. a small wild cat that has a yellowish or greyish coat with dark markings on the legs and tail, living in dry forests from Egypt to SE Asia.

<INFO> Felis chaus, family Felidae.

jungle fever n. [mass noun] a severe form of malaria.

junglefowl n. (pl. same) a southern Asian game bird related to the domestic fowl, typically frequenting forested country.

<INFO> Genus Gallus, family Phasianidae: four species, in particular the red junglefowl (G. gallus), which is the ancestor of the domestic fowl.

jungle gym n. NORTH AMERICAN a climbing frame for children.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: formerly a US trademark.

jungle juice n. [mass noun] INFORMAL powerful or roughly prepared alcoholic liquor.

jungle telegraph n. another term for BUSH TELEGRAPH.

jungli /dli/ adj. INDIAN uncultured; wild.

<ORIGIN> from JUNGLE + the suffix -i (as in Hindi); compare with Hindi janglī.

junior adj. 1 for or denoting young or younger people: junior tennis.

- BRITISH for or denoting schoolchildren between the ages of about 7 and 11.

- NORTH AMERICAN of or for students in the third year of a course lasting four years at college or high school: his junior year in college.

- (often Junior) [postpositive] [in names] denoting the younger of two who have the same name in a family, especially a son as distinct from his father: John F. Kennedy Junior.

2 low or lower in rank or status: a junior minister | part of my function is to supervise those junior to me.

■ n. 1 a person who is a specified number of years younger than someone else: he's five years her junior.

- BRITISH a child attending a junior school.

- NORTH AMERICAN a student in the third year at college or high school.

- (in sport) a young competitor, typically under sixteen or eighteen.

- North American INFORMAL used as a nickname or form of address for one's son.

2 a person with low rank or status compared with others: an office junior.

<DERIVATIVES> juniority /-rti/ n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as an adjective following a family name): from Latin, comparative of juvenis ‘young’.

junior barrister n. (in the UK) a barrister who has not taken silk, i.e. is not a Queen's (or King's) Counsel.

junior college n. (in the US) a college offering courses for two years beyond high school, either as a complete training or in preparation for completion at a senior college.

junior combination room n. term used in Cambridge University for JUNIOR COMMON ROOM.

junior common room n. BRITISH a room used for social purposes by the undergraduates of a college.

- [treated as sing. or plural] the undergraduates of a college regarded collectively.

junior high school n. (in the US and Canada) a school intermediate between an elementary school and a high school, generally for children in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades.

junior lightweight n. [mass noun] a weight in professional boxing of 57.1–59 kilograms.

- [count noun] a professional boxer of this weight.

junior middleweight n. [mass noun] a weight in professional boxing of 66.7–69.8 kilograms.

- [count noun] a professional boxer of this weight.

junior school n. a school for young or younger children, in particular (in England and Wales) a school for children aged between 7 and 11.

junior technician n. a rank in the RAF, above senior aircraftman or senior aircraftwoman and below corporal.

junior welterweight n. [mass noun] a weight in professional boxing of 61.2–63.5 kilograms.

- [count noun] a professional boxer of this weight.

juniper /dunpə/ n. an evergreen shrub or small tree which bears berry-like cones, widely distributed throughout Eurasia and North America. Many kinds have aromatic cones or foliage.

<INFO> Genus Juniperus, family Cupressaceae: many species, including the common juniper (J. communis), the berries of which are used for flavouring gin.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin juniperus.

junk^1 n. [mass noun] 1 INFORMAL old or discarded articles that are considered useless or of little value.

- worthless writing, talk, or ideas: I can't write this kind of junk.

2 INFORMAL heroin.

3 the lump of oily fibrous tissue in a sperm whale's head, containing spermaceti.

■ v. [with obj.] INFORMAL discard or abandon unceremoniously: sort out what could be sold off and junk the rest.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting an old or inferior rope): of unknown origin.

■ Sense 1 of the noun dates from the mid 19th cent.

junk^2 n. a flat-bottomed sailing vessel of a kind typical of China and the East Indies, with a prominent stem and lugsails.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from obsolete French juncque or Portuguese junco, from Malay jong, reinforced by Dutch jonk.

Junkanoo /dkanu dnkanu/ n. (chiefly in Jamaica, Belize, and the Bahamas) a masquerade held at Christmas, consisting of a street procession of characters in traditional costumes and dancing to drums, bells, and whistles.

<ORIGIN> probably from Ewe.

junk bond n. a high-yielding high-risk security, typically issued by a company seeking to raise capital quickly in order to finance a takeover.

junk DNA n. [mass noun] [GENETICS] DNA that does not code for a protein, usually occurs in repetitive sequences of nucleotides, and does not seem to serve any useful purpose.

Junker /jkə/ n. HISTORICAL a German nobleman or aristocrat, especially a member of the Prussian aristocracy.

<DERIVATIVES> junkerdom n. junkerism n.

<ORIGIN> German, earlier Junkher, from Middle High German junc ‘young’ + herre ‘lord’.

junket /dkt/ n. 1 [mass noun] a dish of sweetened and flavoured curds of milk.

2 INFORMAL an extravagant trip or celebration, in particular one enjoyed by government officials at public expense.

■ v. (junkets, junketing, junketed) [no obj.] (often as n. junketing) INFORMAL attend or go on a trip or celebration at public expense.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French jonquette ‘rush basket’, from jonc ‘rush’, from Latin juncus. Originally denoting a rush basket, especially one for fish (remaining in dialect use), the term also denoted a cream cheese, formerly made in a rush basket or served on a rush mat. A later extended sense, ‘feast, merrymaking’, gave rise to sense 2 of the noun.

junk food n. [mass noun] pre-prepared or packaged food that has low nutritional value.

junkie (also junky) n. INFORMAL a drug addict.

- [with modifier] a person with a compulsive habit or obsessive dependency on something: power junkies.

<ORIGIN> 1920s (originally US): from JUNK^1.

junk mail n. [mass noun] INFORMAL unsolicited advertising or promotional material received through the post.

junk science n. [mass noun] untested or unproven theories when presented as scientific fact.

junk shop n. INFORMAL a shop selling second-hand goods or inexpensive antiques.

junky INFORMAL adj. NORTH AMERICAN regarded as useless or of little value.

■ n. (pl. junkies)

■ variant spelling of JUNKIE.

junkyard n. NORTH AMERICAN a scrapyard.

Juno /dunə/ 1 [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the most important goddess of the Roman state, wife of Jupiter. Greek equivalent HERA.

2 [ASTRONOMY] asteroid 3, discovered in 1804 (diameter 244 km).

Junoesque /dunəεsk/ adj. (of a woman) imposingly tall and shapely.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from JUNO + -ESQUE.

Junr abbr. Junior (in names).

junta /dntə h-/ n. 1 a military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force: the country's ruling military junta.

2 HISTORICAL a deliberative or administrative council in Spain or Portugal.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): from Spanish and Portuguese, from Latin juncta, feminine past participle of jungere ‘to join’.

junto /dntə/ n. (pl. juntos) HISTORICAL a political grouping or faction, especially in 17th- and 18th-century Britain.

<ORIGIN> alteration of JUNTA, on the pattern of Spanish nouns ending in -o.

Jupiter /duptə/ 1 [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] the chief god of the Roman state religion, originally a sky god associated with thunder and lightning. His wife was Juno. Also called JOVE. Greek equivalent ZEUS.

2 [ASTRONOMY] the largest planet in the solar system, a gas giant which is the fifth in order from the sun and one of the brightest objects in the night sky.

Jupiter orbits between Mars and Saturn at an average distance of 778 million km from the sun. Although it has an equatorial diameter of 142,800 km the planet rotates in less than ten hours. Its upper atmosphere consists mainly of hydrogen with swirling clouds of ammonia and methane, with a circulation system that results in a number of distinct latitudinal bands. There are at least sixteen satellites, four of which (the Galilean moons) are visible through binoculars, and a faint ring system.

<ORIGIN> Latin, from Jovis pater, literally ‘Father Jove’.

Jura^1 /ərə/ French /YRa/ a system of mountain ranges on the border of France and Switzerland.

Jura^2 /dərə/ an island of the Inner Hebrides, north of Islay and south of Mull, separated from the west coast of Scotland by the Sound of Jura.

jural /dər(ə)l/ adj. FORMAL relating to the law.

- [PHILOSOPHY] relating to rights and obligations.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin jus, jur- ‘law, right’ + -AL.

Jurassic /drask/ adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to or denoting the second period of the Mesozoic era, between the Triassic and Cretaceous periods.

- (as n. the Jurassic) the Jurassic period or the system of rocks deposited during it.

The Jurassic lasted from about 208 to 146 million years ago. Large reptiles, including the largest known dinosaurs, were dominant on both land and sea. Ammonites were abundant, and the first birds (including Archaeopteryx) appeared.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French jurassique; named after the Jura Mountains (see Jura^1).

jurat /dərat/ n. [LAW] 1 chiefly HISTORICAL a person who has taken an oath or who performs a duty on oath, e.g. a juror.

- (in the Channel Islands) a magistrate or other public official.

2 a statement on an affidavit of when, where, and before whom it was sworn.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: based on Latin juratus ‘sworn’, past participle of Latin jurare.

juridical /drdk(ə)l/ adj. [LAW] relating to judicial proceedings and the administration of the law.

<DERIVATIVES> juridically adv.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from Latin juridicus (from jus, jur- ‘law’ + dicere ‘say’) + -AL.

jurisconsult /dərskənslt/ n. [LAW], chiefly HISTORICAL an expert on law.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin jurisconsultus, from jus, jur- ‘law’ + consultus ‘skilled’ (from consulere ‘take counsel’).

jurisdiction /dərsdk(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the official power to make legal decisions and judgements: the English court had no jurisdiction over the defendants.

- [count noun] a system of law courts; a judicature.

- [count noun] the territory or sphere of activity over which the legal authority of a court or other institution extends.

<DERIVATIVES> jurisdictional adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French jurediction, from Latin jurisdictio(n-), from jus, jur- ‘law’ + dictio ‘saying’ (from dicere ‘say’).

jurisprudence /dərsprud(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] the theory or philosophy of law.

- a legal system: American jurisprudence.

<DERIVATIVES> jurisprudent adj. & n. jurisprudential adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin jurisprudentia, from Latin jus, jur- ‘law’ + prudentia ‘knowledge’.

jurist /dərst/ n. an expert in or writer on law.

- NORTH AMERICAN a lawyer or a judge.

<DERIVATIVES> juristic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century (in the sense ‘lawyer’): from French juriste, medieval Latin jurista, from jus, jur- ‘law’.

juror n. 1 a member of a jury.

2 HISTORICAL a person taking an oath, especially one of allegiance. Compare with NONJUROR.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French jureor, from Latin jurator, from jurare ‘swear’, from jus, jur- ‘law’.

jury^1 n. (pl. juries) a body of people (typically twelve in number) sworn to give a verdict in a legal case on the basis of evidence submitted to them in court: the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts.

- a body of people selected to judge a competition.

■ v. (juries, jurying, juried) [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN judge (an art or craft exhibition or exhibit).

<PHRASES>

□ the jury is out a decision has not yet been reached on a controversial subject: the jury is still out on whether self-regulation by doctors is adequate.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French juree ‘oath, inquiry’, from Latin jurata, feminine past participle of jurare ‘swear’ (see JUROR).

jury^2 adj. [NAUTICAL] (of a mast or other fitting) improvised or temporary: we need to get that jury rudder fixed.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: independent usage of the first element of early 17th-cent. jury-mast ‘temporary mast’, of uncertain origin (compare with JURY-RIGGED).

jury box n. a segregated area in which the jury sits in a court of law.

juryman (or jurywoman) n. (pl. jurymen or jurywomen) a person serving on a jury.

jury-rigged adj. (of a ship) having temporary makeshift rigging.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN makeshift; improvised: jury-rigged classrooms in gymnasiums.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: jury perhaps based on Old French ajurie ‘aid’.

jus /u/ French /Y/ n. (especially in French cuisine) a thin gravy or sauce made from meat juices: chicken with a rich game jus.

<ORIGIN> French.

jus cogens /ds kədεnz/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] the principles which form the norms of international law that cannot be set aside.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘compelling law’.

jus gentium /ds dεntəm -əm εntəm/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] international law.

<ORIGIN> Latin, literally ‘law of nations’.

Jussieu /usjə/ French /usjœ/ Antoine Laurent de (1748–1836), French botanist. Jussieu grouped plants into families on the basis of common essential properties and, in Genera Plantarum (1789), developed the system on which modern plant classification is based.

jussive /dsv/ adj. [GRAMMAR] (of a form of a verb) expressing a command.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin juss- ‘commanded’ (from the verb jubere) + -IVE.

just adj. based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair: a just and democratic society | fighting for a just cause.

- (of treatment) deserved or appropriate in the circumstances: we all get our just deserts.

- (of an opinion or appraisal) well founded; justifiable: these simplistic approaches have been the subject of just criticism.

■ adv. 1 exactly: that's just what I need | you're a human being, just like everyone else.

- exactly or almost exactly at this or that moment: she's just coming | we were just finishing breakfast.

2 very recently; in the immediate past: I've just seen the local paper.

3 barely; by a little: inflation fell to just over 4 per cent | I only just caught the train.

4 simply; only; no more than: just a bad day in the office | they were just interested in making money.

- really; absolutely (used for emphasis): they're just great.

- used as a polite formula for giving permission or making a request: just help yourselves.

- [with modal] possibly (used to indicate a slight chance of something happening or being true): it might just help.

5 expressing agreement: ‘Simon really messed things up.’ ‘Didn't he just?’.

<PHRASES>

□ just about INFORMAL almost exactly; nearly: he can do just about anything.

□ just as well a good or fortunate thing: it was just as well I didn't know at the time.

□ just in case as a precaution.

□ just a minute (or moment, or second, etc.) used to ask someone to wait or pause for a short time.

- used to interrupt someone, especially in protest or disagreement.

□ just now 1 at this moment: it's pretty hectic just now.

2 a little time ago: she was talking to me just now.

3 S. AFRICAN in a little while; very soon: I'll come just now but I want breakfast first.

□ just on (with reference to time and numbers) exactly: it was just on midnight.

□ just so 1 arranged or done very neatly and carefully: polishing the furniture and making everything just so.

2 FORMAL used to express agreement.

<DERIVATIVES> justness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French from Latin justus, from jus ‘law, right’.

juste milieu /ust mljə/ French /Ystə miljø/ n. the happy medium; judicious moderation.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘correct mean’.

justice n. 1 [mass noun] just behaviour or treatment: a concern for justice, peace, and genuine respect for people.

- the quality of being fair and reasonable: the justice of his case.

- the administration of the law or authority in maintaining this: a tragic miscarriage of justice.

2 a judge or magistrate, in particular a judge of the Supreme Court of a country or state.

<PHRASES>

□ bring someone to justice arrest someone for a crime and ensure that they are tried in court.

□ do oneself justice perform as well as one is able to.

□ do someone/thing justice do, treat, or represent someone or something with due fairness or appreciation: the brief menu does not do justice to the food.

□ in justice to out of fairness to: I say this in justice to both of you.

□ Mr (or Mrs) Justice BRITISH a form of address or reference to a judge of the supreme court (e.g. a High Court judge).

□ rough justice see ROUGH.

<DERIVATIVES> justiceship n.

■ justice (sense 2)

<ORIGIN> late Old English iustise ‘administration of the law’, via Old French from Latin justitia, from justus (see JUST).

Justice of the Peace n. (in the UK) a lay magistrate appointed to hear minor cases, grant licences, etc., in a town, county, or other local district.

justiciable /dstəb(ə)l/ adj. [LAW] (of a state or action) subject to trial in a court of law.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French, from justicier ‘bring to trial’, from medieval Latin justitiare, from Latin justitia ‘equity’, from justus (see JUST).

justiciar /dstə/ n. HISTORICAL an administrator of justice, in particular:

- a regent and deputy presiding over the court of a Norman or early Plantagenet king of England.

- either of two supreme judges in medieval Scotland.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from medieval Latin justitiarius (see JUSTICIARY).

justiciary /dst(ə)ri/ n. (pl. justiciaries) chiefly SCOTTISH an administrator of justice.

- [mass noun] the administration of justice: [as modifier] justiciary cases.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from medieval Latin justitiarius, from Latin justitia, from justus (see JUST).

justifiable adj. able to be shown to be right or reasonable; defensible: it is not financially justifiable | their justifiable fears.

<DERIVATIVES> justifiability n. justifiableness n. justifiably adv. he was justifiably angry

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (in the sense ‘justiciable’): from French, from justifier ‘to justify’.

justifiable homicide n. [mass noun] the killing of a person in circumstances which allow the act to be regarded in law as without criminal guilt.

justification /dstfke(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] 1 the action of showing something to be right or reasonable: the justification of revolutionary action | he made a speech in justification of his career.

- good reason for something that exists or has been done: there is no justification for an increase in charges | [count noun] all these incidents were used again as a justification for my sacking.

2 [THEOLOGY] the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God.

3 [PRINTING] the action or manner of justifying a line of type or piece of text.

justified adj. 1 having, done for, or marked by a good or legitimate reason: the doctors were justified in treating her.

2 [THEOLOGY] declared or made righteous in the sight of God.

3 [PRINTING] having been adjusted so that the print fills a space evenly or forms a straight line at the margin.

justify /dstf/ v. (justifies, justifying, justified) [with obj.] 1 show or prove to be right or reasonable: the person appointed has fully justified our confidence.

- be a good reason for: the situation was grave enough to justify further investigation.

2 [THEOLOGY] declare or make righteous in the sight of God.

3 [PRINTING] adjust (a line of type or piece of text) so that the print fills a space evenly or forms a straight edge at the margin.

<DERIVATIVES> justificatory adj. justifier n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the senses ‘administer justice to’ and ‘inflict a judicial penalty on’): from Old French justifier, from Christian Latin justificare ‘do justice to’, from Latin justus (see JUST).

Justin, St (c.100–165), Christian philosopher; known as St Justin the Martyr. According to tradition he was martyred in Rome together with some of his followers. He is remembered for his Apologia (c.150). Feast day, 1 June.

Justinian /dstnən/ (483–565), Byzantine emperor 527–65; Latin name Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus. Through his general Belisarius he regained North Africa and Spain. He codified Roman law (529) and carried out a building programme throughout the Empire, of which St Sophia at Constantinople (532) was a part.

just-in-time adj. denoting a manufacturing system in which materials or components are delivered immediately before they are required in order to minimize storage costs.

justly adv. according to what is morally right or fair; fairly: we deal justly with complaints.

- in a way that is well founded; justifiably: we can justly be proud of our achievements.

just war n. a war that is deemed to be morally or theologically justifiable.

jut v. (juts, jutting, jutted) [no obj., with adverbial] extend out, over, or beyond the main body or line of something: a rock jutted out from the side of the bank.

- [with obj.] cause (something) to protrude: she put up her head and jutted out her chin with determination.

■ n. a point that sticks out.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: variant of jet^1.

Jute /dut/ n. a member of a Germanic people that (according to Bede) joined the Angles and Saxons in invading Britain in the 5th century, settling in a region including Kent and the Isle of Wight. They may have come from Jutland.

<DERIVATIVES> Jutish adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English Eotas, Iotas, influenced later in spelling by medieval Latin Jutae, Juti.

jute /dut/ n. [mass noun] 1 rough fibre made from the stems of a tropical Old World plant, used for making twine and rope or woven into sacking or matting.

2 the herbaceous plant which is cultivated for this fibre, with edible young shoots.

<INFO> Genus Corchorus, family Tiliaceae: several species.

- used in names of other plants that yield fibre, e.g. Chinese jute.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Bengali jhūo ‘matted hair’, from Prakrit jui.

Jutland /dtlənd/ a peninsula of NW Europe, forming the mainland of Denmark together with the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Danish name JYLLAND.

Jutland, Battle of a major naval battle in the First World War, fought between the British Grand Fleet under Admiral Jellicoe and the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea west of Jutland on 31 May 1916. Although the battle was indecisive the German fleet never again sought a full-scale engagement, and the Allies retained control of the North Sea.

Juvenal /duvn(ə)l/ (c.60–c.140), Roman satirist; Latin name Decimus Junius Juvenalis. His sixteen verse satires present a savage attack on the vice and folly of Roman society, chiefly in the reign of the emperor Domitian.

juvenescence /duvənεs(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL the state or period of being young.

<DERIVATIVES> juvenescent adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin juvenescent- ‘reaching the age of youth’, from the verb juvenescere, from juvenis ‘young’.

juvenile /duvənl/ adj. 1 for or relating to young people: juvenile crime.

- denoting a theatrical or film role representing a young person: the romantic juvenile lead.

- relating to young birds and animals.

2 childish; immature: she's bored with my juvenile conversation.

■ n. a young person.

- [LAW] a person below the age at which ordinary criminal prosecution is possible (18 in most countries).

- an actor playing a juvenile role.

- a young bird or animal.

<DERIVATIVES> juvenility /-nlti/ n.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin juvenilis, from juvenis ‘young, a young person’.

juvenile court n. a court of law responsible for the trial or legal supervision of children under a specified age (18 in most countries). Compare with YOUTH COURT.

juvenile delinquency n. [mass noun] the habitual committing of criminal acts or offences by a young person, especially one below the age at which ordinary criminal prosecution is possible.

<DERIVATIVES> juvenile deliquent n.

juvenile hormone n. [ZOOLOGY] any of a number of hormones regulating larval development in insects and inhibiting metamorphosis.

juvenile offender n. a person below a specific age (18 in most countries) who has committed a crime.

juvenilia /duvənlə/ plural n. works produced by an author or artist while still young.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin, neuter plural of juvenilis (see JUVENILE).

juvenilize /duvənlz/ (also juvenilise) v. [with obj.] make or keep young or youthful; arrest the development of.

- (as adj. juvenilized) [ENTOMOLOGY] (of an insect or part of one) having a juvenile appearance or physiology; showing arrested or reversed development.

juvie /duvi/ n. (pl. juvies) INFORMAL a youth, especially a juvenile delinquent.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: abbreviation of JUVENILE.

juxtaglomerular /dkstəlmεrlə/ adj. [ANATOMY] denoting a group of structures secreting regulatory hormones into the arteriole which leads into a glomerulus in the kidney.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Latin juxta ‘near to’ + glomerular (see GLOMERULUS).

juxtapose /dkstəpəz/ v. [with obj.] place or deal with close together for contrasting effect: black-and-white photos of slums were starkly juxtaposed with colour images.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (earlier (Middle English) as juxtaposition): from French juxtaposer, from Latin juxta ‘next’ + French poser ‘to place’.

juxtaposition /dkstəpəz(ə)n/ n. the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect: the juxtaposition of these two images.

<DERIVATIVES> juxtapositional adj.

Jylland /jYlan/ Danish name for JUTLAND.

Jyväskylä /juvasklə/ a city in central Finland; pop. 80,372 (2001).

K^1 (also k) n. (pl. Ks or K's) the eleventh letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the next after J in a set of items, categories, etc.

K^2 abbr.

- Cambodia (international vehicle registration). [<ORIGIN> from Kampuchea.]

- kelvin(s).

- [COMPUTING] kilobyte(s).

- kilometre(s).

- NORTH AMERICAN kindergarten.

- king (used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess): declarer overruffed with ♦K and led another spade | 18.Ke2.

- knit (as an instruction in knitting patterns): K 42 rows.

- Köchel (catalogue of Mozart's works): the Sinfonia Concertante, K364.

- (also k) INFORMAL thousand (used chiefly in expressing salaries or other sums of money): he earns about £50K a year. [<ORIGIN> from KILO- ‘thousand’.]

■ symbol the chemical element potassium. [<ORIGIN> from modern Latin kalium.]

k abbr.

- [in combination] (in units of measurement) kilo-: a distance of 700 kpc.

■ see K^2 (abbr.).

■ symbol

- a constant in a formula or equation.

- [CHEMISTRY] Boltzmann's constant.

K2 the highest mountain in the Karakoram range, on the border between Pakistan and China. It is the second-highest peak in the world, rising to 8,611 m (28,250 ft). It was discovered in 1856 and named K2 because it was the second peak to be surveyed in the Karakoram range. It was also formerly known as Mount Godwin-Austen after Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen, who first surveyed it. Also called DAPSANG.

ka /kα/ n. (in ancient Egypt) the supposed spiritual part of an individual human being or god, which survived (with the soul) after death and could reside in a statue of the person. See also BA.

Kaaba /kαəbə/ (also Caaba) a square stone building in the centre of the Great Mosque at Mecca, the site most holy to Muslims and towards which they must face when praying. It stands on the site of a pre-Islamic shrine said to have been built by Abraham, and a sacred Black Stone is set in its south-eastern corner.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic (al-)ka‘ba, literally ‘(the) cubic house’.

Kaapenaar /kαpənα/ n. S. AFRICAN an inhabitant of Cape Town or of the Western Cape Province.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from kaap ‘Cape’ + the personal suffix -enaar.

kabaddi /kəbadi kəbadi/ n. [mass noun] a sport of Indian origin played by teams of seven on a circular sand court. The players attempt to tag or capture opponents and must hold their breath while running, repeating the word ‘kabaddi’ to show that they are doing so.

<ORIGIN> of uncertain origin; compare with Kannada kabalisu ‘to gulp’ and Hindi kabaī ‘shout “kabaddi”’.

kabaka /kəbαkə/ n. the traditional ruler of the Baganda people of Uganda.

<ORIGIN> a local title.

Kabalega Falls /kabəleə/ a waterfall on the lower Victoria Nile near Lake Albert, in NW Uganda. Former name MURCHISON FALLS.

Kabardian /kəbαdən/ adj. relating to an indigenous people of the NW Caucasus.

■ n. 1 a member of the Kabardian people.

2 [mass noun] the North Caucasian language of the Kabardian people, with about 350,000 speakers.

<ORIGIN> from Russian Kabarda, a district in SW Russia.

Kabardino-Balkaria /kabədinə balkαrə/ an autonomous republic of SW Russia, on the border with Georgia; pop. 749,400 (est. 2002); capital, Nalchik. Also called KABARDA-BALKAR REPUBLIC /kabədə balkα/.

Kabbalah /kəbαlə kabələ/ (also Kabbala, Cabbala, Cabala, or Qabalah) n. the ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Bible, first transmitted orally and using esoteric methods (including ciphers). It reached the height of its influence in the later Middle Ages and remains significant in Hasidism.

<DERIVATIVES> Kabbalism n. Kabbalist n. Kabbalistic adj.

<ORIGIN> from medieval Latin cabala, cabbala, from Rabbinical Hebrew qabbālāh ‘tradition’, from qibbēl ‘receive, accept’.

kabeljou /kab(ə)ljə/ n. (pl. same) S. AFRICAN a large predatory marine fish of the drum family, found in the Mediterranean, East Atlantic, and SW Indian Ocean. It is an important food fish in southern Africa.

<INFO> Argyrosomus hololepidotus, family Sciaenidae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Afrikaans, from Dutch, ‘cod’.

Kabila /kabilə/ Laurent-Désiré (1939–2001), African statesman, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) 1997–2001. After his forces overthrew President Mobutu in 1997, Kabila took power and changed the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was assassinated by one of his army officers.

Kabinett /kabnεt/ German /kabnεt/ n. a wine of German origin or style of superior or reserve quality, especially one made from a specified quality of grape must, without added sugar.

<ORIGIN> from German Kabinettwein, literally ‘chamber wine’.

kabloona /kəblunə/ n. (pl. kabloonas, kabloonat /-nat/) CANADIAN (among Inuit people) a person who is not a member of the Inuit; a white person.

<ORIGIN> from Inuit kabluna ‘big eyebrow’.

kaboom /kəbum/ exclam. used to represent the sound of a loud explosion.

kabuki /kəbuki/ n. [mass noun] a form of traditional Japanese drama with highly stylized song, mime, and dance, now performed only by male actors, using exaggerated gestures and body movements to express emotions, and including historical plays, domestic dramas, and dance pieces.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, originally as a verb meaning ‘act dissolutely’, later interpreted as if from ka ‘song’ + bu ‘dance’ + ki ‘art’.

Kabul /kαbl/ the capital of Afghanistan; pop. 2,142,300 (est. 2002). It is situated in the north-east of the country, with a strategic position commanding the mountain passes through the Hindu Kush, especially the Khyber Pass. It was capital of the Mogul empire 1504–1738 and in 1773 replaced Kandahar as capital of an independent Afghanistan. It suffered severe damage following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and during the rise and fall of the Taliban regime.

Kabwe /kabwe/ a town in central Zambia, situated to the north of Lusaka; pop. 213,800 (est. 2002). It is the site of a cave which has yielded human fossils associated with the Upper Pleistocene period. Former name (1904–65) Broken Hill.

Kabyle /kəbl/ n. 1 (pl. same) a member of a Berber people inhabiting northern Algeria.

2 [mass noun] the Berber dialect of the Kabyle people.

■ adj. relating to the Kabyle or their language.

<ORIGIN> probably from Arabic qabā'il, plural of qabīla ‘tribe’.

Kachin /katn/ n. 1 (pl. same) a member of an indigenous people living in northern Burma (Myanmar) and adjacent parts of China and India.

2 [mass noun] the Tibeto-Burman language of the Kachin people, with about 500,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Kachin or their language.

kachina /kətinə/ (also katsina) n. (pl. kachinas) a deified ancestral spirit in the mythology of Pueblo Indians.

- (also kachina dancer) a person who represents a kachina in ceremonial dances.

- (also kachina doll) a small carved figure representing a kachina.

<ORIGIN> from Hopi kacina ‘supernatural’, of Keres origin.

ka-ching (also ker-ching) n. used to represent the sound of a cash register, especially with reference to making money: the highlight will be a month-long gig at a casino in the US Virgin Islands—ka-ching!

<ORIGIN> imitative; compare with CHING.

kachori /katəri/ n. (pl. kachoris) (in Indian cookery) a puri stuffed with spiced lentils, potato, or beans.

<ORIGIN> Hindi kacaurī.

kadaitcha /kədtə/ (also kurdaitcha) n. Australian 1 (among Aborigines) a malignant spirit.

2 [mass noun] an Aboriginal mission of vengeance or punishment.

- the ritual accompanying this mission.

- (also kadaitcha man) [count noun] a man empowered to carry out vengeance or punishment.

<ORIGIN> probably from Arrernte.

Kádár /kαdα/ János (1912–89), Hungarian statesman, First Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party 1956–88 and Prime Minister 1956–8 and 1961–5. After crushing the Hungarian uprising of 1956, Kádár consistently supported the Soviet Union. His policy of ‘consumer socialism’ made Hungary the most affluent state in eastern Europe.

Kaddish /kad/ n. an ancient Jewish prayer sequence regularly recited in the synagogue service, including thanksgiving and praise and concluding with a prayer for universal peace.

- a form of the Kaddish recited for the dead.

<ORIGIN> from Aramaic qaddīš ‘holy’.

Kadiköy /kαdikœj/ Turkish name for CHALCEDON.

kaffeeklatsch /kafeklat/ n. another term for KLATCH.

<ORIGIN> German, from Kaffee ‘coffee’ + Klatsch ‘gossip’.

Kaffir /kafə/ n. OFFENSIVE, chiefly S. AFRICAN an insulting and contemptuous term for a black African.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic kāfir ‘infidel’, from kafara ‘not believe’.

<USAGE> The word Kaffir is first recorded in the 16th century (as Caffre) and was originally simply a descriptive term for a particular ethnic group. Now it is always a racially abusive and offensive term when used of people, and in South Africa its use is actionable.

Kaffir lily n. either of two South African plants with strap-like leaves and stems bearing a number of red, pink, or orange flowers:

<INFO>

- a plant with star-shaped flowers (Schizostylis coccinea, family Iridaceae).

- another term for CLIVIA

Kaffir lime n. a SE Asian citrus tree whose fragrant leaves are used in Thai and Indonesian cooking.

<INFO> Citrus hystrix, family Rutaceae.

Kafir /kafə/ n. a member of a people of the Hindu Kush mountains of NE Afghanistan.

<DERIVATIVES> Kafiri adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic kāfir (see KAFFIR).

kafir /kafə/ n. a person who is not a Muslim (used chiefly by Muslims).

<ORIGIN> from Arabic kāfir ‘infidel, unbeliever’. Compare with KAFFIR.

Kafka /kafkə/ Franz (1883–1924), Czech novelist, who wrote in German. His work is characterized by its portrayal of an enigmatic and nightmarish reality where the individual is perceived as lonely, perplexed, and threatened. Notable works: The Metamorphosis (1917) and The Trial (1925).

<DERIVATIVES> Kafkaesque /kafkəεsk/ adj.

kaftan /kaftan/ (also caftan) n. a man's long belted tunic, worn in countries of the Near East.

- a woman's long loose dress.

- a loose shirt or top.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Turkish, from Persian aftān, partly influenced by French cafetan.

Kagoshima /kaəimə/ a city and port in Japan; pop. 553,600 (est. 2002). Situated on the southern coast of Kyushu island, on the Satsuma Peninsula, it is noted for its porcelain (Satsuma ware).

kagu /kαu/ n. a crested, almost flightless bluish-grey bird related to the rails, which is found only on the Pacific island of New Caledonia, and is now endangered.

<INFO> Rhynochetos jubatus, the only member of the family Rhynochetidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Melanesian.

kahawai /kαw/ n. (pl. same)

■ New Zealand term for AUSTRALIAN SALMON (see SALMON (SENSE 2)).

<ORIGIN> Maori.

kahikatea /kkətiə/ n. a tall coniferous New Zealand tree which is used for its timber and resin.

<INFO> Podocarpus (or Dacrycarpus) dacrydioides, family Podocarpaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Maori.

Kahlo /kαlə/ Frida (1907–54), Mexican painter. She is noted for her brightly coloured self-portraits, which were influenced by Mexican primitive art. She was married to Diego Rivera.

Kahlúa /kαlə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a coffee-flavoured liqueur.

kahuna /kəhunə/ n. (in Hawaii) a wise man or shaman.

- North American INFORMAL an important person; the person in charge: one big kahuna runs the whole show.

- North American INFORMAL (in surfing) a very large wave.

<ORIGIN> Hawaiian.

kai /k/ (also kaikai /kk/) n. [mass noun] NZ INFORMAL food.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

Kaifeng /kfε/ a city in Henan province, eastern China, on the Yellow River; pop. 851,900 (est. 2002). Established in the 4th century BC, it is one of the oldest cities in China.

kainga /kαə/ n. NZ a Maori village or settlement.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

kainic acid /knk/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE an organic acid extracted from a red alga, used to kill intestinal worms.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_10H_15NO_4.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: kainic from Japanese kainin (from kainin-sō, name of the alga Digenea simplex from which it is extracted) + -IC.

kainite /knt kent/ n. [mass noun] a white mineral consisting of a double salt of hydrated magnesium sulphate and potassium chloride.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Kainit, from Greek kainos ‘new, recent’, because of the mineral's recent formation.

kairomone /krəmən/ n. [BIOLOGY] a chemical substance emitted by an organism and detected by another of a different species which gains advantage from this, e.g. a parasite seeking a host.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from Greek kairos ‘advantage, opportunity’, on the pattern of pheromone.

kairos /krs/ n. a propitious moment for decision or action.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: Greek, literally ‘opportunity’.

Kairouan /kərαn/ a city in NE Tunisia; pop. 113,100 (2000). It is the site of some of the earliest mosques, and became a centre of Islamic law.

kaiseki /ksεki/ n. [mass noun] a style of traditional Japanese cuisine in which a series of very small, intricate dishes are prepared.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from kai (from kaichu ‘kimono pocket’) + seki ‘stone’.

Kaiser /kzə/ German /kaz/ Georg (1878–1945), German dramatist. He is best known for his expressionist plays The Burghers of Calais (1914), and Gas I (1918) and Gas II (1920); the last two provide a gruesome vision of futuristic science, ending with the extinction of all life by poisonous gas.

kaiser /kzə/ n. 1 HISTORICAL the German Emperor, the Emperor of Austria, or the head of the Holy Roman Empire: [as title] Kaiser Wilhelm.

2 (also kaiser roll) NORTH AMERICAN a crisp bread roll in the shape of a pinwheel, made by folding the corners of a square of dough into the centre before baking.

<DERIVATIVES> kaisership n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English cayser, from Old Norse keisari, based on Latin Caesar (see CAESAR), and later reinforced by Middle Dutch keiser. The modern English form (early 19th century) derives from German Kaiser.

Kaiserslautern /kzəslat(ə)n/ German /kazslatn/ a city in western Germany, in Rhineland-Palatinate; pop. 99,200 (est. 2002).

Kaiser Wilhelm Wilhelm II of Germany (see Wilhelm II).

kaizen /kzεn/ n. [mass noun] a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices, personal efficiency, etc.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, literally ‘improvement’.

kajal /kəl/ n. [mass noun] a black powder used in the Indian subcontinent as a cosmetic, either around the eyes or as a mark on the forehead.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi kājal.

kaka /kαkα/ n. a large New Zealand parrot with olive-brown and dull green upper parts and reddish underparts.

<INFO> Nestor meridionalis, family Psittacidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Maori.

kakapo /kαkəpə/ n. (pl. kakapos) a large flightless New Zealand parrot with greenish plumage, which is nocturnal, ground-dwelling, and now endangered. Also called OWL PARROT.

<INFO> Strigops habroptilus, family Psittacidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori, literally ‘night kaka’.

kakemono /kαkmənə kak-/ n. (pl. kakemonos) a Japanese unframed painting made on paper or silk and displayed as a wall hanging.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Japanese, from kake- ‘hang, suspend’ + mono ‘thing’.

kaki /kαki/ n. the Japanese persimmon.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Japanese.

Kakiemon /kəkiəmn/ adj. [attr.] relating to a style of Japanese porcelain with sparse asymmetrical designs on a white ground, developed in the early 17th century.

<ORIGIN> named after Sakaida Kakiemon (1596–1666), the first Japanese potter to work in this style.

kakuro /kakərə kəkjərə -ərə/ n. [mass noun] a type of number puzzle in which players have to insert numbers into a crossword-like grid, with numbered clues and some blank squares.

<ORIGIN> blend of Japanese kasan ‘addition’ and kurosu, representing a Japanese pronunciation of cross.

kala /kəlα/ n. Indian 1 a skilled craft.

2 a performing art such as singing, dance, or drama.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi.

Kalaallit Nunaat /kəlαlt nənαt/ Inuit name for GREENLAND.

kala-azar /kαləəzα/ n. [mass noun] a form of the disease leishmaniasis marked by emaciation, anaemia, fever, and enlargement of the liver and spleen.

<INFO> This is caused by Leishmania donovani, phylum Kinetoplastida, kingdom Protista.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Assamese, from kālā ‘black’ + āzār ‘disease’ (because of the bronzing of the skin often associated with it).

Kalahari Desert /kaləhαri/ a high, vast, arid plateau in southern Africa north of the Orange River. It comprises most of Botswana with parts in Namibia and South Africa.

kalamkari /kləmkαri/ n. [mass noun] a type of cotton cloth printed by hand, originally made in southern India.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi kalamkārī, literally ‘painting’.

kalanchoe /kalənkəi/ n. a tropical succulent plant with clusters of tubular flowers, sometimes producing miniature plants along the edges of the leaves and grown as an indoor or greenhouse plant.

<INFO> Genus Kalanchoe, family Crassulaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: modern Latin, from French, based on Chinese gāláncài.

Kalashnikov /kəlankf -lα-/ n. a type of rifle or sub-machine gun made in Russia.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Mikhail T. Kalashnikov (born 1919), the Russian designer of the weapons.

kale /kel/ (also kail) n. [mass noun] 1 a hardy cabbage of a variety which produces erect stems with large leaves and no compact head. See also CURLY KALE.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DATED money.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: northern English form of COLE.

kaleidoscope /kəldəskəp/ n. a toy consisting of a tube containing mirrors and pieces of coloured glass or paper, whose reflections produce changing patterns when the tube is rotated.

- FIGURATIVE a constantly changing pattern or sequence of elements: the dancers moved in a kaleidoscope of colour.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Greek kalos ‘beautiful’ + eidos ‘form’ + -SCOPE.

kaleidoscopic /kəldəskpk/ adj. having complex patterns of colours; multicoloured: kaleidoscopic diamond patterns.

- made up of a complex mix of elements; multifaceted: a kaleidoscopic range of topics.

<DERIVATIVES> kaleidoscopically adv.

Kalevala /kαlεvαlə/ a collection of Finnish legends transmitted orally until published in the 19th century, and now regarded as the Finnish national epic.

<ORIGIN> of Karelian origin.

Kaleyard School (also Kailyard School) a group of late 19th-century fiction writers, including J. M. Barrie, who described local town life in Scotland in a romantic vein and with much use of the vernacular.

<ORIGIN> from Scots kaleyard or kailyard, literally ‘kitchen garden’.

Kalgan /kαlαn/ Mongolian name for ZHANGJIAKOU.

Kalgoorlie /kaləli/ a gold-mining town in Western Australia; pop. 29,735 (2001). Gold was discovered there in 1887, leading to a gold rush in the 1890s.

Kali /kαli/ [HINDUISM] the most terrifying goddess, wife of Shiva, often identified with Durga, and in her benevolent aspect with Parvati. She is typically depicted as black, naked, old, and hideous.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit Kālī ‘black’.

kali /kel kali/ n. old-fashioned term for SALTWORT.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from colloquial Arabic qalī ‘calcined ashes of Salsola (and similar plants)’; compare with ALKALI.

Kalidasa /kaldαsə/ (probably fl. 5th century AD), Indian poet and dramatist. He is best known for his drama Sakuntala, the love story of King Dushyanta and the maiden Sakuntala.

Kalimantan /kalmantan/ a region of Indonesia, comprising the southern part of the island of Borneo.

kalimba /kəlmbə/ n. a type of African thumb piano.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: a local word; related to MARIMBA.

Kalinin^1 /kəlinn/ former name (1931–91) for Tver.

Kalinin^2 /kəlinn/ Mikhail (Ivanovich) (1875–1946), Soviet statesman, head of state of the USSR 1919–46. He founded the newspaper Pravda (1912).

Kaliningrad /kəlinnrad/ 1 a port on the Baltic coast of eastern Europe, capital of the Russian region of Kaliningrad; pop. 425,200 (est. 2002). It was known by its German name of Königsberg until 1946, when it was ceded to the Soviet Union under the Potsdam Agreement and renamed in honour of Kalinin. Its port is ice-free all the year round and is a significant naval base for the Russian fleet.

2 a region of Russia, an enclave situated on the Baltic coast of eastern Europe; capital, Kaliningrad. It shares its borders with Lithuania and Poland and is separated from Russia by the intervening countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Belarus.

Kalisz /kαl/ a city in central Poland; pop. 108,097 (est. 2000).

Kalmar /kalmα/ a port in SE Sweden, on the Kalmar Sound opposite Öland; pop. 59,308 (2000).

Kalmar Sound a narrow strait between the mainland of SE Sweden and the island of Öland, in the Baltic Sea.

Kalmar, Union of the treaty which joined together the Crowns of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway in 1397, dissolved in 1523.

kalmia /kalmə/ n. an evergreen leathery-leaved shrub of the heather family, bearing large clusters of pink or red flowers. It is native to North America and Cuba and widely grown as an ornamental.

<INFO> Genus Kalmia, family Ericaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after Pehr Kalm (1716–1779), Swedish botanist.

Kalmyk /kalmk/ (also Kalmuck) n. (pl. same, Kalmyks, or Kalmucks) 1 a member of a Buddhist people of Mongolian origin living chiefly in Kalmykia.

2 [mass noun] the Altaic language of the Kalmyk.

■ adj. relating to the Kalmyk or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Russian kalmyk.

Kalmykia /kalmkə/ an autonomous republic in SW Russia, on the Caspian Sea; pop. 310,500 (est. 2002); capital, Elista. Official name.

kalong /kαl/ n. a flying fox found in SE Asia and Indonesia.

<INFO> Genus Pteropus, family Pteropodidae, in particular the large flying fox (P. vampyrus).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Javanese.

kalpa /kalpə/ n. (in Hindu and Buddhist tradition) an immense period of time, reckoned as 4,320 million human years, and considered to be the length of a single cycle of the cosmos (or ‘day of Brahma’) from creation to dissolution.

<ORIGIN> Sanskrit.

kalsomine /kalsəmn/ (also calcimine) n. [mass noun] a kind of white or pale blue wash for walls and ceilings.

■ v. [with obj.] whitewash (a wall or ceiling) with kalsomine.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

Kaluga /kəluə/ an industrial city and river port in European Russia, on the River Oka south-west of Moscow; pop. 366,800 (est. 2002).

Kalyan /kljαn/ a city on the west coast of India, in the state of Maharashtra, north-east of Mumbai (Bombay); pop. 1,193,300 (2001).

Kama /kαmə/ [HINDUISM] the god of love, typically represented as a youth with a bowl of sugar cane, a bowstring of bees, and arrows of flowers.

kamacite /kaməst/ n. [mass noun] an alloy of iron and nickel occurring in some meteorites.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kamax, kamak- ‘vine pole’ (because of the occurrence of the alloy in bar-shaped masses) + -ITE^1.

kamahi /kαməhi/ n. a tall New Zealand forest tree with small cream-coloured flowers and dark timber.

<INFO> Weinmannia racemosa, family Cunoniaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori.

Kama Sutra /kαmə sutrə/ an ancient Sanskrit treatise on the art of love and sexual technique.

<ORIGIN> Sanskrit, from kāma ‘love’ + sūtra ‘thread’.

Kamba /kambə/ n. (pl. same, Kambas, or Wakamba) 1 a member of a people of central Kenya, ethnically related to the Kikuyu.

2 [mass noun] the Bantu language of the Kamba, with around 2.5 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Kamba or their language.

<ORIGIN> a local name.

Kamchatka /kamtatkə/ a vast mountainous peninsula of the NE coast of Siberian Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the Bering Sea; chief port, Petropavlovsk.

kame /kem/ n. [GEOLOGY] a steep-sided mound of sand and gravel deposited by a melting ice sheet.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Scots form of COMB.

kameez /kəmiz/ n. (pl. same or kameezes) a long tunic worn by many people from the Indian subcontinent, typically with a salwar or churidars.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic qamī, perhaps from late Latin camisia (see CHEMISE).

Kamenskoye /kamjεnskjə/ former name (until 1936) for DNIPRODZERZHINSK.

Kamensk-Uralsky /kαmnskralski/ an industrial city in central Russia, in the eastern foothills of the Urals; pop. 188,800 (est. 2002).

Kamerlingh Onnes /kaməl ns/ Heike (1853–1926), Dutch physicist. During his studies of cryogenic phenomena he achieved a temperature of less than one degree above absolute zero and succeeded in liquefying helium. Onnes discovered the phenomenon of superconductivity in 1911, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1913.

kami /kαmi/ n. (pl. same) a divine being in the Shinto religion.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

kamikaze /kamkαzi/ n. (in the Second World War) a Japanese aircraft loaded with explosives and making a deliberate suicidal crash on an enemy target.

- the pilot of a kamikaze aircraft.

■ adj. [attr.] relating to or denoting a kamikaze attack or pilot.

- reckless or potentially self-destructive: he made a kamikaze run across three lanes of traffic.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from kami ‘divinity’ + kaze ‘wind’, originally referring to the gale that, in Japanese tradition, destroyed the fleet of invading Mongols in 1281.

Kamilaroi /kəmlər/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a group of Australian Aboriginal peoples of north-eastern New South Wales.

2 [mass noun] the extinct language of the Kamilaroi.

■ adj. relating to the Kamilaroi or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Kamilaroi.

Kampala /kampαlə/ the capital of Uganda; pop. 953,400 (est. 2002). It is situated on the northern shores of Lake Victoria and replaced Entebbe as capital when the country became independent in 1963.

kampong /kamp kamp/ (also kampung /kamp kamp/) n. a Malaysian enclosure or village.

<ORIGIN> Malay; compare with compound^2.

Kampuchea /kamptiə/ former name (1976–89) for Cambodia.

<DERIVATIVES> Kampuchean n. & adj.

Kan. abbr. Kansas.

kana /kαnə/ n. [mass noun] the system of syllabic writing used for Japanese, having two forms, hiragana and katakana. Compare with KANJI.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

kanaka /kənakə -nαkə/ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Hawaii.

2 HISTORICAL a Pacific islander employed as an indentured labourer in Australia, especially in the sugar and cotton plantations of Queensland.

<ORIGIN> Hawaiian, literally ‘man’.

kanamycin /kanəmsn/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a broad-spectrum antibiotic obtained from a strain of bacteria.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from modern Latin Streptomyces kanamyceticus, the name of the source bacterium (see also -MYCIN).

Kanarese /kanəriz/ (also Canarese) n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people living mainly in Kanara, a district in SW India.

2 another term for KANNADA.

■ adj. relating to Kanara, its people, or their language.

kanban /kanban/ n. (also kanban system) [mass noun] a Japanese manufacturing system in which the supply of components is regulated through the use of an instruction card sent along the production line.

- [count noun] an instruction card used in a kanban system.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: Japanese, literally ‘billboard, sign’.

Kanchenjunga /kantεndə/ (also Kangchenjunga or Kinchinjunga) a mountain in the Himalayas, on the border between Nepal and Sikkim. Rising to a height of 8,598 m (28,209 ft), it is the world's third-highest mountain.

<ORIGIN> Tibetan, literally ‘the five treasures of the snows’, referring to the five separate peaks of the summit.

Kandahar /kandəhα/ a city in southern Afghanistan; pop. 339,200 (est. 2002). From 1748 it was Afghanistan's first capital after independence, until being replaced by Kabul in 1773.

Kandinsky /kandnski/ Wassily (1866–1944), Russian painter and theorist. A pioneer of abstract art, he urged the expression of inner and essential feelings in art, rather than the representation of surface appearances. In 1911 he co-founded the Munich-based Blaue Reiter group of artists.

Kandy /kandi/ a city in Sri Lanka; pop. 110,000 (2001). It was the capital (1480–1815) of the former independent kingdom of Kandy and contains one of the most sacred Buddhist shrines, the Dalada Maligava (Temple of the Tooth).

<DERIVATIVES> Kandyan adj.

kanga^1 n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL 1 a kangaroo.

2 a prison warder.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: abbreviation;

■ sense 2 from rhyming slang kangaroo ‘screw’.

Kangar /kaα/ the capital of the state of Perlis in northern Malaysia, near the west coast of the Malay Peninsula; pop. 54,400 (est. 2002).

kangaroo n. a large plant-eating marsupial with a long powerful tail and strongly developed hindlimbs that enable it to travel by leaping, found only in Australia and New Guinea.

<INFO> Genus Macropus, family Macropodidae: several species.

<PHRASES>

□ have kangaroos in the (or one's) top paddock AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL be mad or eccentric.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: the name of a specific kind of kangaroo in an extinct Aboriginal language of North Queensland.

kangaroo care n. [mass noun] a method of caring for a premature baby in which the infant is held in skin-to-skin contact with a parent, typically the mother, for as long as possible each day.

kangaroo court n. an unofficial court held by a group of people in order to try someone regarded, especially without good evidence, as guilty of a crime or misdemeanour.

kangaroo grass n. [mass noun] a fodder grass which grows in very tall tussocks.

<INFO> Genus Themeda, family Gramineae: several species, in particular T. australis.

kangaroo mouse n. a small seed-eating hopping rodent with large cheek pouches and long hind legs, found in North America.

<INFO> Genus Microdipodops, family Heteromyidae: two species.

kangaroo paw n. an Australian plant which has long strap-like leaves and tubular flowers with woolly outer surfaces.

<INFO> Genera Anigozanthos and Macropidia, family Haemodoraceae: several species.

kangaroo rat n. a seed-eating hopping rodent with large cheek pouches and long hind legs, found from Canada to Mexico.

<INFO> Genus Dipodomys, family Heteromyidae: several species.

kangaroo vine n. an Australian evergreen climbing plant of the vine family, grown as a house plant.

<INFO> Cissus antarctica, family Vitaceae.

kangha /khə/ n. a comb worn in the hair as one of the five distinguishing signs of the Sikh Khalsa.

<ORIGIN> from Punjabi kanghā.

Kango /kaə/ n. (pl. Kangoes) TRADEMARK a heavy electrically powered hammer.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: of unknown origin.

kangri /kari/ n. INDIAN a small pot filled with lighted charcoal, used to transport fire or (in Kashmir) carried close to the body as a means of keeping warm.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi kāṁgī.

KaNgwane /kαəwαne/ a former homeland established in South Africa for the Swazi people, now part of the province of Mpumalanga.

kanji /kandi kαn-/ n. [mass noun] a system of Japanese writing using Chinese characters, used primarily for content words. Compare with KANA.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from kan ‘Chinese’ + ji ‘character’.

Kannada /kanədə/ n. [mass noun] a Dravidian language related to Telugu and using a similar script, spoken by about 43 million people, mainly in Karnataka in SW India. Also called KANARESE.

■ adj. relating to Kannada and its speakers.

<ORIGIN> the name in Kannada.

Kano /kαnə/ a city in northern Nigeria; pop. 746,538 (1998).

Kanpur /kαnpə/ a city in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, on the River Ganges; pop. 2,532,100 (2001). It was the site of a massacre of British soldiers and European families in July 1857, during the Indian Mutiny. Former name CAWNPORE.

Kans. abbr. Kansas.

Kansas /kanzəs/ a state in the central US; pop. 2,688,418 (2000); capital, Topeka. Acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, it became the 34th state of the US in 1861.

<DERIVATIVES> Kansan adj. & n.

Kansas City each of two adjacent cities in the US, situated at the junction of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers, one in NE Kansas (pop. 146,866 (2000)) and the other in NW Missouri (pop. 441,545 (2000)).

Kansu /kansu/ variant of GANSU.

Kant /kant/ Immanuel (1724–1804), German philosopher. In the Critique of Pure Reason (1781) he countered Hume's sceptical empiricism by arguing that any affirmation or denial regarding the ultimate nature of reality (‘noumenon’) makes no sense. All we can know are the objects of experience (‘phenomena’), interpreted by space and time and ordered according to twelve key concepts. Kant's Critique of Practical Reason (1788) affirms the existence of an absolute moral law—the categorical imperative.

<DERIVATIVES> Kantian adj. & n. Kantianism n.

Kanto /kantə/ a region of Japan, on the island of Honshu.

KANU /kαnu/ abbr. Kenya African National Union.

kanuka /kαnkə/ n. a small evergreen New Zealand tree with white flowers, yielding useful timber and products used in herbal medicine.

<INFO> Leptospermum ericoides, family Myrtaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Maori.

kanzu /kanzu/ n. a long white cotton or linen robe worn by East African men.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Kiswahili.

Kaohsiung /kaj/ the chief port of Taiwan, on the SW coast; pop. 1,506,300 (est. 2002).

kaoliang /keəlja/ n. [mass noun] sorghum of a variety grown in China and used to make dough and alcoholic drinks.

<INFO> Sorghum bicolor (var. nervosum), family Gramineae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Chinese gāoliang, from gāo ‘high’ + liáng ‘fine grain’.

kaolin /keəln/ n. [mass noun] a fine soft white clay, resulting from the natural decomposition of other clays or feldspar. It is used for making porcelain and china, as a filler in paper and textiles, and in medicinal absorbents. Also called CHINA CLAY.

<DERIVATIVES> kaolinize (also kaolinise) v.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from French, from Chinese gāolng, literally ‘high hill’, the name of a mountain in Jiangxi province where the clay is found.

kaolinite /keəlnt/ n. [mass noun] a white or grey clay mineral which is the chief constituent of kaolin.

kaon /ken/ n. [PHYSICS] a meson having a mass several times that of a pion.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from ka representing the letter K (as a symbol for the particle) + -ON.

Kaonde /kande/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a people living mainly in north-western Zambia.

2 [mass noun] the Bantu language of the Kaonde, with around 200,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Kaonde or their language.

Kapachira Falls /kapətərə/ a waterfall on the Shire River in southern Malawi. Former name MURCHISON RAPIDS.

kapai /kαp/ NZ adj. very pleasant; good, fine.

■ adv. in a pleasant way; very well.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori ka pai.

kapellmeister /kəpεlmstə/ n. (in German-speaking countries) the leader or conductor of an orchestra or choir.

- HISTORICAL a leader of a chamber ensemble or orchestra attached to a German court.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: German, from Kapelle ‘court orchestra’ (from medieval Latin capella ‘chapel’) + Meister ‘master’.

Kap Farvel /kab farvεl/ Danish name for Cape Farewell (see Farewell, Cape (sense 1)).

Kapil Dev /kapl dεv/ (b.1959), Indian cricketer; full name Kapil Dev Nikhanj. Originally a medium-pace bowler, he soon developed into an all-rounder. As captain (1983–4) he led India to victory in the 1983 World Cup. In 1994 he set a new record of 432 Test match wickets.

kapok /kepk/ n. [mass noun] a fine, fibrous cotton-like substance which grows around the seeds of the ceiba tree, used as stuffing for cushions, soft toys, etc.

- (also kapok tree)

■ another term for CEIBA.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Malay kapuk.

Kapoor /kap kapə/ Prithviraj (1906–72), Indian actor and film and theatre director. In 1944 he founded the Prithvi Theatre in Bombay (Mumbai ), a company notable for the realism it brought to Hindi drama. Productions, in which Kapoor often played the lead, included Pathan (1946). His son Raj (1924–88) was also an actor and film director; his works include Awaara (1951), in which he and his father starred as on-screen father and son.

Kaposi's sarcoma /kəpəsz/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a form of cancer involving multiple tumours of the lymph nodes or skin, occurring chiefly in people with depressed immune systems, e.g. as a result of Aids.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Moritz K. Kaposi (1837–1902), Hungarian dermatologist.

kappa /kapə/ n. the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet (K, κ), transliterated as ‘k’.

- (Kappa) [followed by Latin genitive] [ASTRONOMY] the tenth star in a constellation: Kappa Orionis.

- [as modifier] [BIOCHEMISTRY] denoting one of the two types of light polypeptide chain present in all immunoglobulin molecules (the other being lambda).

<ORIGIN> Greek.

kapu /kapu/ n. [mass noun] (in Hawaiian traditional culture and religion) a set of rules and prohibitions for everyday life.

<ORIGIN> Hawaiian.

kapur /kapə/ n. a large tropical Old World tree which yields light brown timber, edible fruit, and camphor.

<INFO> Genus Dryobalanops, family Dipterocarpaceae.

<ORIGIN> Malay.

kaput /kəpt/ adj. [predic.] INFORMAL broken and useless; no longer working or effective.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German kaputt, from French (être) capot ‘(be) without tricks in a card game’; compare with CAPOT.

kara /kαrə/ n. a steel bangle worn on the right wrist as one of the five distinguishing signs of the Sikh Khalsa.

<ORIGIN> from Punjabi karā.

karabiner /karəbinə/ (also carabiner) n. a coupling link with a safety closure, used by rock climbers.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: shortened from German Karabiner-haken ‘spring hook’.

Karachai /karət/ (also Karachay) n. 1 a member of an indigenous people living in Karachai-Cherkessia.

2 (also Karachay-Balkar) [mass noun] the Turkic language of the Karachai, with under 200,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Karachai or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Turkic, from kara, qara ‘back’ and chai ‘brook’.

Karachai-Cherkessia /karəttεkεsə/ an autonomous republic in the northern Caucasus, SW Russia; pop. 430,800 (est. 2002); capital, Cherkessk. Official name Karachai-Cherkess Republic.

Karachi /kərαti/ a major city and port in Pakistan, capital of Sind province; pop. 9,269,300 (1998). Situated on the Arabian Sea, it was the capital of Pakistan 1947–59 before being replaced by Rawalpindi.

Karafuto /karəfutə/ the Japanese name for the southern part of the island of Sakhalin.

Karaganda /karəanda/ Russian name for QARAGHANDY.

karahi /kr/ (also kadai or karai) n. (pl. karahis) a bowl-shaped frying pan with two handles used in Indian cookery, chiefly for balti dishes.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi karāhī.

Karaite /kεrət/ n. a member of a Jewish sect founded in the 8th century and located chiefly in the Crimea and nearby areas, and in Israel, which rejects rabbinical interpretation in favour of a literal interpretation of the scriptures.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Hebrew Qārā'īm (from qārā' ‘read’) + -ITE^1.

Karaj /karαd/ a city in northern Iran, to the west of Tehran; pop. 1,075,200 (est. 2002).

Karajan /karəjan/ Herbert von (1908–89), Austrian conductor, chiefly remembered as the principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (1955–89).

karaka /kərakə/ n. a New Zealand tree with orange berries containing seeds which are poisonous unless roasted.

<INFO> Corynocarpus laevigata, family Corynocarpaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori.

Karakalpak /karəkalpak/ n. (pl. same or Karakalpaks) 1 a member of an indigenous people living in the Karakalpak autonomous republic of Russia, south of the Aral Sea.

2 [mass noun] the Turkic language of the Karakalpaks, with about 300,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Karakalpaks or their language.

Karakoram /karəkrəm/ a great mountain system of central Asia, extending over 480 km (300 miles) south-eastwards from NE Afghanistan to Kashmir and forming part of the borders of India and Pakistan with China. One of the highest mountain systems in the world, it consists of a group of parallel ranges, forming a westwards continuation of the Himalayas, with many peaks over 7,900 m (26,000 ft), the highest being K2.

Karakorum /karəkrəm/ an ancient city in central Mongolia, now ruined, which was the capital of the Mongol empire, established by Genghis Khan in 1220. The capital was moved to Khanbaliq (modern Beijing) in 1267, and Karakorum was destroyed by Chinese forces in 1388.

karakul /karəkl/ (also caracul) n. a sheep of an Asian breed with a dark curled fleece when young.

- [mass noun] cloth or fur made from or resembling the fleece of the karakul. Also called PERSIAN LAMB.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Russian, from the name of an oasis in Uzbekistan and of two lakes in Tadjikistan, based on Turkic.

Kara Kum /karə kum/ a desert in central Asia, to the east of the Caspian Sea, covering much of Turkmenistan. Russian name Karakumy /kərakumij/.

karanga /karaə/ n. NZ a Maori ritual chant of welcome.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

karaoke /karəki/ n. [mass noun] a form of entertainment, offered typically by bars and clubs, in which people take turns to sing popular songs into a microphone over pre-recorded backing tracks.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from Japanese, literally ‘empty orchestra’.

Kara Sea /kαrə/ an arm of the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Russia, bounded to the east by the islands of Severnaya Zemlya and to the west by Novaya Zemlya.

karate /kərαti/ n. [mass noun] an oriental system of unarmed combat using the hands and feet to deliver and block blows, widely practised as a sport.

It was formalized in Okinawa in the 17th century, and popularized via Japan after about 1920. Karate is performed barefoot in loose padded clothing, with a coloured belt indicating the level of skill, and involves mental as well as physical training.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from kara ‘empty’ + te ‘hand’.

karate-chop v. [with obj.] strike sharply with the side of the hand.

karateka /kərαtkα/ n. (pl. same or karatekas) a practitioner of karate.

Karbala /kαbələ/ a city in southern Iraq; pop. 549,700 (est. 2002). A holy city for Shiite Muslims, it is the site of the tomb of Husayn, grandson of Muhammad, who was killed there in AD 680.

Karelia /kərelə -rilə/ a region of NE Europe on the border between Russia and Finland. Following Finland's declaration of independence in 1917, part of Karelia became a region of Finland and part an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union. After the Russo-Finnish war of 1939–40 the greater part of Finnish Karelia was ceded to the Soviet Union. The remaining part of Karelia constitutes a province of eastern Finland.

<DERIVATIVES> Karelian adj. & n.

Karen /kərεn/ n. (pl. same or Karens) 1 a member of an indigenous people of eastern Burma (Myanmar) and western Thailand.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Karen, which probably belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family. Its highly distinct dialects have over 5 million speakers altogether.

■ adj. relating to the Karen or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Burmese ka-reng ‘wild unclean man’.

Karen State a state in SE Burma (Myanmar), on the border with Thailand; capital, Pa-an. Inaugurated in 1954 as an autonomous state of Burma, the state was given the traditional Karen name of Kawthoolay in 1964, but reverted to Karen after the 1974 constitution limited its autonomy. The people are engaged in armed conflict with the Burmese government in an attempt to gain independence. Also called KAWTHOOLAY, KAWTHULEI.

karez /kαrεz/ n. (pl. same) (in parts of central southern Asia) a qanat.

<ORIGIN> Pashto, from Persian.

karezza /kərεtsə/ n. [mass noun] sexual intercourse in which ejaculation is avoided.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Italian carezza ‘a caress’.

Kariba, Lake /kəribə/ a large, man-made lake on the Zambia–Zimbabwe border in central Africa. It was created by the damming of the Zambezi River by the Kariba Dam, and it is the chief source of hydroelectric power for Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Kariba Dam a concrete arch dam on the Zambezi River, 385 km (240 miles) downstream from the Victoria Falls. It was built in 1955–9, creating Lake Kariba and providing a bridge over the Zambezi between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Karitane /kartαni/ adj. [attr.] NZ trained or administered according to the principles of child care and nutrition advocated by the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (the Plunket Society): a Karitane hospital.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of a township in the South Island, New Zealand.

kark v. variant form of CARK.

Karl-Marx-Stadt /kαlmαkstat/ German /karlmarkstat/ former name (1953–90) for Chemnitz.

Karloff /kαlf/ Boris (1887–1969), British-born American actor; born William Henry Pratt. His name is chiefly linked with horror films, such as Frankenstein (1931) and The Body Snatcher (1945).

Karlovy Vary /kαləv vαri/ a spa town in the western Czech Republic; pop. 53,570 (2001). It is famous for its alkaline thermal springs. German name Karlsbad /karlsbat/.

Karlsruhe /kαlzruə/ German /karlsruə/ an industrial town and port on the Rhine in western Germany; pop. 277,500 (est. 2002).

karma /kαmə kəmə/ n. [mass noun] (in Hinduism and Buddhism) the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.

- INFORMAL good or bad luck, viewed as resulting from one's actions.

<DERIVATIVES> karmic adj. karmically adv.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit karman ‘action, effect, fate’.

karma yoga n. [mass noun] [HINDUISM] the discipline of selfless action as a way to perfection.

Karnak /kαnak/ a village in Egypt on the Nile, now largely amalgamated with Luxor. It is the site of the northern complex of monuments of ancient Thebes, including the great temple of Amun.

Karnataka /kənαtəkə/ a state in SW India; capital, Bangalore. Former name (until 1973) MYSORE.

Karnaugh map /kαn/ (also Karnaugh diagram) n. [MATHEMATICS] & [ELECTRONICS] a diagram consisting of a rectangular array of squares each representing a different combination of the variables of a Boolean function.

<DERIVATIVES> Karnaugh mapping n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: named after Maurice Karnaugh (born 1924), American physicist.

Kärnten /kεrntn/ German name for CARINTHIA.

karo /karə/ n. (pl. karos) an ornamental evergreen shrub or small tree with leathery leaves and clusters of small dark red flowers, native to New Zealand and naturalized in parts of Europe.

<INFO> Pittosporum crassifolium, family Pittosporaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori.

Karoo /kəru/ (also Karroo) an elevated semi-desert plateau in South Africa.

- [as mass noun] (karoo) S. AFRICAN semi-desert land like that of the Karoo.

<ORIGIN> from Khoikhoi, literally ‘hard, dry’.

karoshi /karəi/ n. [mass noun] (in Japan) death caused by overwork or job-related exhaustion.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from ka ‘excess’ + rō ‘labour’ + shi ‘death’.

kaross /kərs/ n. S. AFRICAN a rug or blanket of sewn animal skins, formerly worn as a garment by African people, now used as a bed or floor covering.

<ORIGIN> South African Dutch, from Khoikhoi karos.

Karpov /kαpf/ Anatoli (Yevgenevich) (b.1951), Russian chess player. He was world champion from 1975 until defeated by Garry Kasparov in 1985.

karree /kəri/ (also karee) n. S. AFRICAN an evergreen African tree related to sumac, with willow-like foliage and useful timber.

<INFO> Genus Rhus, family Anacardiaceae, in particular R. lancea.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Afrikaans, from Nama karib.

karren /karən/ plural n. [GEOLOGY] grooves and fissures, typically separated by sharp ridges, produced in a hard limestone surface by water erosion.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German Karren.

karri /kari/ n. (pl. karris) a tall Australian eucalyptus with hard red wood.

<INFO> Eucalyptus diversicolor, family Myrtaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Nyungar.

karroid /kard/ adj. S. African, chiefly TECHNICAL of or characteristic of the Karoo.

Kars /kαs/ a city and province in NE Turkey; pop. 103,800 (est. 2002).

Karsh /kα/ Yousuf (1908–2002), Armenian-born Canadian photographer; known as Karsh of Ottawa. His photograph of Winston Churchill used in 1941 on the cover of Life magazine is still widely reproduced.

karst /kαst/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] landscape underlain by limestone which has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, sinkholes and other characteristic landforms.

<DERIVATIVES> karstic adj. karstification n. karstify v. (karstifies, karstifying, karstified)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German der Karst, the name of a limestone region in Slovenia.

kart n. a small unsprung motor-racing vehicle typically having four wheels and consisting of a tubular frame with a rear-mounted engine.

<DERIVATIVES> karting n.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: shortening of GO-KART.

Kartvelian /kαtvilən/ adj. & n. another term for SOUTH CAUCASIAN (see Caucasian).

<ORIGIN> from Georgian k'art'velebi ‘Georgians’ + -IAN.

karyo- combining form [BIOLOGY] denoting the nucleus of a cell: karyotype.

<ORIGIN> from Greek karuon ‘kernel’.

karyokinesis /karəkniss -k-/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] division of a cell nucleus during mitosis.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from KARYO- ‘cell nucleus’ + Greek kinēsis ‘movement’ (from kinein ‘to move’).

karyolysis /karlss/ n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] dissolution of a cell nucleus, especially during mitosis.

karyotype /karə()tp/ n. [BIOLOGY] & MEDICINE the number and visual appearance of the chromosomes in the cell nuclei of an organism or species.

<DERIVATIVES> karyotypic adj.

karyotyping n. [mass noun] [BIOLOGY] & MEDICINE the determination of a karyotype, e.g. to detect chromosomal abnormalities.

kasbah /kazbα/ (also casbah) n. the citadel of a North African city.

- (the kasbah) the area surrounding a North African citadel.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from French casbah, from Arabic qaaba ‘citadel’.

Kasha /kaə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a soft napped fabric of wool and hair.

- a kind of cotton flannel used as a lining material.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

kasha /kaə/ n. [mass noun] (in Russia and Poland) porridge made from cooked buckwheat or similar grain.

- uncooked buckwheat groats.

<ORIGIN> Russian.

Kashmir /kamə/ a region on the northern border of India and NE Pakistan. Formerly a state of India, it has been disputed between India and Pakistan since partition in 1947, with sporadic outbreaks of fighting. The north-western part is controlled by Pakistan, most of it forming the state of Azad Kashmir, while the remainder is incorporated into the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Kashmir goat n. a goat of a Himalayan breed yielding fine, soft wool, which is used to make cashmere.

Kashmiri /kaməri/ adj. relating to Kashmir, its people, or their language.

■ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Kashmir.

2 [mass noun] the Indic language of Kashmir, spoken by over 3 million people and written in both Devanagari and Arabic script.

kashrut /karut/ (also kashruth) n. [mass noun] the body of Jewish religious laws concerning the suitability of food, the use of ritual objects, etc.

- the observance of the Kashrut laws.

<ORIGIN> Hebrew, literally ‘legitimacy (in religion)’; see also KOSHER.

Kashubian /kəubən/ n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Kashubia, a region of Poland west and north-west of Gdansk.

2 [mass noun] the Western Slavic vernacular language spoken by about 200,000 people in Kashubia. It is closely related to Polish.

■ adj. relating to Kashubia, its people, or their language.

Kasparov /kaspərf/ Garry (b.1963), Azerbaijani chess player of Armenian-Jewish descent; born Garry Weinstein. At the age of 22 he became the youngest-ever world champion, defeating Anatoli Karpov in 1985; he held the title until 2000. He won a match against the IBM computer Deep Blue in 1996 but in 1997 was beaten by Deeper Blue.

Kassel /kas(ə)l/ a city in central Germany, in Hesse; pop. 194,600 (est. 2002). It was the capital of the kingdom of Westphalia (1807–13) and of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau (1866–1944).

Kasur /kəsə/ a city in Punjab province, NE Pakistan; pop. 241,600 (1998).

kata /kαtα/ n. [mass noun] a system of individual training exercises in karate and other martial arts.

- [count noun] (plural same or katas) an individual training exercise in karate and other martial arts.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

katabatic /katəbatk/ adj. [METEOROLOGY] (of a wind) caused by local downward motion of cool air.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek katabatikos, from katabainein ‘go down’.

katakana /katəkαnə/ n. [mass noun] the more angular form of kana (syllabic writing) used in Japanese, primarily used for words of foreign origin. Compare with HIRAGANA.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: Japanese, literally ‘side kana’.

katana /kətαnə/ n. a long, single-edged sword used by Japanese samurai.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: Japanese.

Katanga /kətaə/ a copper-mining region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire); capital, Lubumbashi. It was known as Shaba 1972–97.

Katangese /kataiz/ n. (pl. same) a native or inhabitant of Katanga.

■ adj. relating to the Katangese.

Kathak /ktək/ n. 1 [mass noun] a type of northern Indian classical dance, with alternating passages of mime and dancing.

2 (pl. same or Kathaks) a member of a northern Indian caste of storytellers and musicians.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit kathaka ‘professional storyteller’, from kathā ‘story’.

Kathakali /kαtəkαli ktəkli/ n. [mass noun] a form of dramatic dance of southern India, based on Hindu literature and characterized by masks, stylized costume and make-up, and frequent use of mime.

<ORIGIN> from Malayalam, from Sanskrit kathā ‘story’ + Malayalam kai ‘play’.

katharevousa /kaθərεvusə/ n. [mass noun] a heavily archaized form of modern Greek used in traditional literary writing, as opposed to the form which is spoken and used in everyday writing (called demotic).

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: modern Greek, literally ‘purified’, feminine of kathareuōn, present participle of Greek kathareuein ‘be pure’, from katharos ‘pure’.

katharometer /kaθərmtə/ n. an instrument for detecting a gas or measuring its concentration in a mixture, by measuring changes in thermal conductivity.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek katharos ‘pure’ + -METER.

Kathiawar /katəwα/ a peninsula on the western coast of India, in the state of Gujarat, separating the Gulf of Kutch from the Gulf of Cambay.

Kathmandu /katmandu/ (also Katmandu) the capital of Nepal; pop. 696,852 (2001). It is situated in the Himalayas at an altitude of 1,370 m (4,450 ft).

kathode n. archaic spelling of CATHODE.

katipo /katpə/ n. (pl. katipos) a highly venomous New Zealand spider which is black with a red spot on the back, closely related to the American black widow.

<INFO> Latrodectus mactans katipo, family Theridiidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori.

Katmandu variant spelling of KATHMANDU.

Katowice /katəvitsə/ a city in SW Poland; pop. 340,539 (est. 2000). It is the industrial centre of the Silesian coal-mining region.

katsina n. (pl. katsinam)

■ variant of KACHINA.

katsuobushi /katswəbi/ n. [mass noun] dried fish prepared in hard blocks from skipjack tuna and used in Japanese cookery.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

katsura /katsərə/ n. 1 an ornamental East Asian tree which has leaves that resemble those of the Judas tree and light, fine-grained timber.

<INFO> Cercidiphyllum japonicum, the only member of the family Cercidiphyllaceae.

2 a type of Japanese wig worn mainly by women.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Japanese.

Kattegat /katat/ a strait, 225 km (140 miles) in length, between Sweden and Denmark. It is linked to the North Sea by the Skagerrak and to the Baltic Sea by the Øresund.

katydid /ketdd/ n. a large, typically green, bush cricket that is native to North America. The male makes a characteristic sound which resembles the name.

<INFO> Microcentrum and other genera, family Tettigoniidae.

katzenjammer /katzəndamə/ n. US INFORMAL, DATED 1 [mass noun] confusion; uproar.

2 a hangover; a severe headache resulting from a hangover.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Katzen (combining form of Katze ‘cat’) + Jammer ‘distress’; popularized by the cartoon Katzenjammer Kids, drawn by Rudolf Dirks in 1897 for the New York Journal, featuring two incorrigible children.

Kauai /kawαi/ an island in the state of Hawaii, separated from Oahu by the Kauai Channel; chief town, Lihue.

Kauffmann /kafman/ (also Kauffman) (Maria Anna Catherina) Angelica (1740–1807), Swiss painter. In London from 1766, she became well known for her neoclassical and allegorical paintings. She was a founder member of the Royal Academy of Arts (1768).

kaumatua /kamαtə/ n. NZ a Maori elder.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

Kaunas /kanəs/ an industrial city and river port in southern Lithuania, at the confluence of the Viliya and Neman Rivers; pop. 414,174 (1999).

Kaunda /kαndə/ Kenneth (David) (b.1924), Zambian statesman, President 1964–91. He led the United National Independence Party to electoral victory in 1964, becoming Prime Minister and the first President of independent Zambia.

kaupapa /kapapa/ n. NZ a principle or policy.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

kauri /kari/ n. (pl. kauris) (also kauri pine) a tall coniferous forest tree with broad leathery leaves, which produces valuable timber and dammar resin. It grows in warm countries from Malaysia to New Zealand.

<INFO> Genus Agathis, family Araucariaceae: several species, in particular A. australis of New Zealand.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Maori.

kauri gum (also kauri resin) n. [mass noun] the resin of the kauri tree, used as a varnish, and often also found in fossilized form where the tree formerly grew.

kava /kαvə/ n. 1 [mass noun] a narcotic sedative drink made in Polynesia from the crushed roots of a plant of the pepper family.

2 the Polynesian shrub from which kava is obtained.

<INFO> Piper methysticum, family Piperaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Tongan.

Kaválla /kəvalə/ a port on the Aegean coast of NE Greece; pop. 64,800 (est. 2002). Originally a Byzantine city and fortress, it was Turkish until 1912, when it was ceded to Greece.

Kawabata /kαwəbαtə/ Yasunari (1899–1972), Japanese novelist. Known as an experimental writer in the 1920s, he reverted to traditional Japanese novel forms in the mid 1930s. He was the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1968).

kawa-kawa /kαwəkαwə/ n. a New Zealand shrub of the pepper family with aromatic leaves, cultivated as an ornamental. Also called PEPPER TREE.

<INFO> Macropiper excelsum, family Piperaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori.

Kawasaki /kαwəsαki/ an industrial city on the SE coast of the island of Honshu, Japan; pop. 1,271,600 (est. 2002).

Kawasaki disease n. [mass noun] a disease in young children with an unknown cause, giving rise to a rash, glandular swelling, and sometimes damage to the heart.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Tomisaku Kawasaki, Japanese physician.

Kawthoolay /kθule/ (also Kawthulei) former name (1964–74) for Karen State.

kayak /kak/ n. a canoe of a type used originally by the Inuit, made of a light frame with a watertight covering having a small opening in the top to sit in.

■ v. (kayaks, kayaking, kayaked) [no obj.] (usually as n. kayaking) travel in or use a kayak.

<DERIVATIVES> kayaker n.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Inuit qayaq.

kayakeet /kəkit kaja-/ n. W. INDIAN the common lantana, a scrambling shrub with prickly stems and flowers that turn from yellow to orange and finally to pinkish-red.

<INFO> Lantana camara, family Verbenaceae.

<ORIGIN> French Creole, from Latin American Spanish cariaquito.

Kaye Danny (1913–87), American actor and comedian; born David Daniel Kominski. He was known for his mimicry, comic songs, and slapstick humour. Notable films: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)and Hans Christian Andersen (1952).

kayo /keə/ [BOXING], INFORMAL n. (pl. kayos) a knockout.

■ v. (kayoes, kayoing, kayoed) [with obj.] knock (someone) out.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: representing the pronunciation of KO.

Kayseri /ksəri/ a city in central Turkey, capital of a province of the same name; pop. 555,900 (est. 2002). Known as Kayseri since the 11th century, it was formerly called Caesarea Mazaca and was the capital of Cappadocia.

kazachok /kazətk/ n. a Slavic dance with a fast and typically quickening tempo, featuring a step in which a squatting dancer kicks out each leg alternately to the front.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: Russian, diminutive of kazak ‘Cossack’.

Kazakh /kəzak kazak/ n. 1 a member of a people living chiefly in Kazakhstan. Traditionally nomadic, Kazakhs are predominantly Sunni Muslims.

2 [mass noun] the Turkic language of the Kazakhs, with over 7 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Kazakhs or their language.

<ORIGIN> Russian, from Turkic; see COSSACK.

Kazakhstan /kazəkstαn -stan/ a republic in central Asia, on the southern border of Russia, extending from the Caspian Sea eastwards to the Altai Mountains and China; population 16,741,519 (est. 2002); languages, Kazakh (official), Russian; capital Astana.

The Turkic tribes of Kazakhstan were overrun by the Mongols in the 13th century, and the region was eventually absorbed into the Russian empire. Kazakhstan formed a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, becoming an independent republic within the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991.

Kazan^1 /kəzan -zαn/ a port situated on the River Volga to the east of Nizhni Novgorod in Russia, capital of the autonomous republic of Tatarstan; pop. 1,109,500 (est. 2002).

Kazan^2 /kəzan/ Elia (1909–2003), Turkish-born American film and theatre director; born Elia Kazanjoglous. In 1947 he co-founded the Actors' Studio in New York City, one of the leading centres of method acting. Kazan directed A Streetcar Named Desire on stage (1947) and then on film (1953). Other notable films: On the Waterfront (1954) and East of Eden (1955).

kazillion /kəzljən/ cardinal number another term for GAZILLION.

kazoo /kəzu/ n. a small, simple musical instrument consisting of a hollow pipe with a hole in it, over which is a thin covering that vibrates and adds a buzzing sound when the player sings or hums into the pipe.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: apparently imitative of the sound produced.

KB abbr.

- (also Kb) kilobit(s) or kilobyte(s).

- (in the UK) King's Bench.

kb abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] kilobase(s).

KBE abbr. (in the UK) Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Kbps abbr. kilobits per second.

kbyte abbr. kilobyte(s).

KC abbr. King's Counsel.

kc abbr. kilocycle(s).

kcal abbr. kilocalorie(s).

KCB abbr. (in the UK) Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

KCMG abbr. (in the UK) Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.

kc/s abbr. kilocycles per second.

KCVO abbr. (in the UK) Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.

KE abbr. kinetic energy.

kea /kiə/ n. a New Zealand mountain parrot with a long, narrow bill and mainly olive-green plumage, sometimes feeding on carrion.

<INFO> Nestor notabilis, family Psittacidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori, imitative of its call.

keaki /keαki keaki/ n. a Japanese tree of the elm family, which is cultivated as an ornamental, for its timber, and as a bonsai tree.

<INFO> Zelkova serrata, family Ulmaceae.

<ORIGIN> Japanese.

Kean Edmund (1787–1833), English actor, renowned for his interpretations of Shakespearean tragic roles, notably those of Macbeth and Iago.

Keating Paul (John) (b.1944), Australian Labor statesman, Prime Minister 1991–6. He resigned from parliament in 1996, having been defeated in the general election by the Liberal-National coalition.

Keaton Buster (1895–1966), American actor and director; born Joseph Francis Keaton. His deadpan face and acrobatic skills made him one of the biggest comedy stars of the silent-film era. He starred in and directed films including The Navigator (1924) and The General (1926).

Keats John (1795–1821), English poet. A principal figure of the romantic movement, he wrote all of his most famous poems, including ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’, ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, and ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’, in 1818 (published in 1820).

<DERIVATIVES> Keatsian adj.

kebab /kbab kəbαb/ (NORTH AMERICAN also kabob) n. a dish of pieces of meat, fish, or vegetables roasted or grilled on a skewer or spit.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Arabic kabāb, partly via Urdu, Persian, and Turkish.

Keble /kib(ə)l/ John (1792–1866), English churchman. His sermon on national apostasy (1833) is generally held to mark the beginning of the Oxford Movement, which he founded with John Henry Newman and Edward Pusey.

Kebnekaise /kεbnəksə/ the highest peak in Sweden, in the north of the country, rising to a height of 2,117 m (6,962 ft).

keck^1 v. [no obj.] INFORMAL feel as if one is about to vomit; retch.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: imitative.

keck^2 n. DIALECT cow parsley or a similar plant.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from earlier dialect kex (perhaps of Celtic origin), interpreted as plural.

kecks plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL trousers, knickers, or underpants.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: phonetic respelling of obsolete kicks ‘trousers’.

ked n. a wingless louse fly, especially one that is a parasite of sheep.

<INFO> Several species in the family Hippoboscidae, in particular the sheep ked (Melophagus ovinus).

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: of unknown origin.

Kedah /kεdə/ a state of NW Malaysia, on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula; capital, Alor Setar.

kedge /kεd/ v. [with obj.] move (a boat) by hauling in a hawser attached at a distance to a small anchor.

- [no obj.] (of a boat) be moved in such a way.

■ n. (also kedge anchor) a small anchor used for kedging.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: perhaps a specific use of dialect cadge ‘bind, tie’.

kedgeree /kεdəri/ n. [mass noun] 1 a European dish consisting chiefly of fish, rice, and hard-boiled eggs.

2 another term for KHICHRI.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi khichī; see KHICHRI.

keech /kix/ n. [mass noun] SCOTTISH INFORMAL excrement.

- rubbish: maybe this keech about ‘microclimate’ was true.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from cach, Scots variant of CACK.

Keegan /ki(ə)n/ (Joseph) Kevin (b.1951), English footballer and manager. He played as an attacker for clubs including Liverpool and Hamburg, and played for England 1972–82. He has managed Newcastle United and Fulham, and was England coach 1999–2000.

keek Scottish v. [no obj.] peep surreptitiously: he keeked through the window.

■ n. a surreptitious glance.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps related to Dutch kijken ‘have a look’.

keel^1 n. 1 the lengthwise timber or steel structure along the base of a ship, supporting the framework of the whole, in some vessels extended downwards as a ridge to increase stability.

- LITERARY a ship.

2 [ZOOLOGY] a ridge along the breastbone of many birds to which the flight muscles are attached; the carina.

3 [BOTANY] a prow-shaped pair of petals present in flowers of the pea family.

■ v. [no obj.] (keel over) (of a boat or ship) turn over on its side; capsize.

- INFORMAL (of a person or thing) fall over; collapse.

<DERIVATIVES> keeled adj. [in combination] a deep-keeled yacht keelless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse kjlr, of Germanic origin.

keel^2 n. BRITISH a flat-bottomed boat of a kind formerly used on the Rivers Tyne and Wear for loading ships carrying coal.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German kēl, Middle Dutch kiel ‘ship, boat’.

keelback n. a harmless Australian snake which lives close to water, where it feeds exclusively on frogs and the cane toad, whose venom it is immune to.

<INFO> Amphiesma mairii, family Colubridae.

<ORIGIN> so named because each scale on the back has a keel.

keelboat n. 1 a yacht built with a permanent keel rather than a centreboard.

2 a large, flat freight boat used on American rivers.

Keeler Christine (b.1942), English model and showgirl. She achieved notoriety through her affair with the Conservative cabinet minister John Profumo in 1963 when she was also mistress of a Soviet attaché. Profumo resigned and Keeler was imprisoned on related charges.

keeler n. [often in combination] a boat having a keel, especially one of a specified type: a long-keeler.

keelhaul v. [with obj.] HISTORICAL punish (someone) by dragging them through the water under the keel of a ship, either across the width or from bow to stern.

- HUMOROUS punish or reprimand severely.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Dutch kielhalen.

keelie^1 /kili/ n. (pl. keelies) SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a disreputable inhabitant of a town or city, especially one from Glasgow.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps related to GILLIE.

keelie^2 /kili/ n. (pl. keelies) SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a small hawk or falcon, such as the sparrowhawk or kestrel.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps imitative of its call.

Keeling Islands /kil/ another name for COCOS ISLANDS.

keelson /kils(ə)n/ (also kelson) n. a structure running the length of a ship and fastening the timbers or plates of the floor to its keel.

<ORIGIN> Middle English kelswayn, related to Low German kielswīn, from kiel ‘keel of a ship’ + swīn ‘swine’ (used as the name of a timber).

keema /kimə/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN minced meat.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi kīmā.

Keemun /kimun/ n. [mass noun] a black tea grown in Keemun, China.

keen^1 adj. 1 chiefly BRITISH having or showing eagerness or enthusiasm: a keen gardener | John was keen to help.

- (keen on) interested in or attracted by (someone or something): Bob makes it obvious he's keen on her.

2 sharp or penetrating, in particular:

- (of a sense) highly developed: I have keen eyesight.

- (of mental faculties) quick to understand: her keen intellect.

- (of the edge or point of a blade) sharp.

- (of the air or wind) extremely cold; biting.

- LITERARY (of a smell, light, or sound) penetrating; clear.

3 (of activity or feeling) intense: there could be keen competition to provide the service.

4 BRITISH (of prices) very low; competitive.

5 [predic.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DATED excellent.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) keen as mustard BRITISH INFORMAL extremely eager or enthusiastic.

<DERIVATIVES> keenly adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English cēne ‘wise, clever’, also ‘brave, daring’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch koen and German kühn ‘bold, brave’. Current senses date from Middle English.

keen^2 v. [no obj.] wail in grief for a dead person.

- (usually as n. keening) make an eerie wailing sound: the keening of the cold night wind.

■ n. an Irish funeral song accompanied by wailing in lamentation for the dead.

<DERIVATIVES> keener n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Irish caoinim ‘I wail’.

Keene Charles Samuel (1823–91), English illustrator and caricaturist. He is remembered for his work in the weekly journal Punch from 1851.

keenness n. [mass noun] the quality of being eager or enthusiastic; eagerness: he has expressed his keenness to retain his job.

keep v. (past and past participle kept /kεpt/) [with obj.] 1 have or retain possession of: my father would keep the best for himself | she had trouble keeping her balance.

- retain or reserve for future use: return one copy to me, keeping the other for your files.

- put or store in a regular place: the stand where her umbrella was kept.

2 continue or cause to continue in a specified condition, position, course, etc.: [no obj., with complement] I kept quiet while Emily talked on | keep left along the wall | [with obj. and complement] she might be kept alive artificially by machinery.

- [no obj., with present participle] continue doing or do repeatedly: he keeps going on about the murder.

- [no obj.] (of a perishable commodity) remain in good condition.

- [with obj.] retain one's place in or on (a seat or saddle, the ground, etc.) in spite of difficulty.

- [no obj., with adverbial] chiefly BRITISH be in a specified state of health: he had not been keeping well.

- [with obj.] cause to be late; delay: I won't keep you, I know you've got a busy evening.

- [with obj. and present participle] make (someone) do something for a period of time: I have kept her waiting too long.

- ARCHAIC continue to follow (a path or course).

3 provide for the sustenance of (someone): he had to keep his large family in the manner he had chosen.

- provide (someone) with a regular supply of a commodity: the money should keep him in cigarettes for a week.

- own and look after (an animal) for pleasure or profit.

- own and manage (a shop or business).

- guard; protect: his only thought is to keep the boy from harm.

- support (someone, especially a woman) financially in return for sexual favours.

4 honour or fulfil (a commitment or undertaking): I'll keep my promise, naturally.

- observe (a religious occasion) in the prescribed manner: today's consumers do not keep the Sabbath.

- pay due regard to (a law or custom).

5 make written entries in (a diary) on a regular basis.

- write down as (a record): keep a note of each item.

■ n. 1 [mass noun] food, clothes, and other essentials for living: the Society are paying for your keep.

- the cost of the essentials for living.

2 [mass noun] ARCHAIC charge; control: if from shepherd's keep a lamb strayed far.

3 the strongest or central tower of a castle, acting as a final refuge.

<PHRASES>

□ you can't keep a good man (or woman) down INFORMAL a competent person will always recover well from setbacks.

□ for keeps INFORMAL permanently; indefinitely.

□ keep one's feet manage not to fall.

□ keep goal chiefly [SOCCER] act as a goalkeeper.

□ keep going make an effort to live normally in spite of difficulty.

□ keep to oneself avoid contact with others.

□ keep something to oneself refuse to disclose or share something.

□ keep up with the Joneses see JONESES.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ keep at (or keep someone at) persist (or force someone to persist) with: it was the best part of a day's work but I kept at it.

□ keep away (or keep someone away) stay away (or make someone stay away): keep away from the edge of the cliff.

□ keep back (or keep someone/thing back) remain (or cause someone or something to remain) at a distance: he had kept back from the river when he could.

□ keep someone back NORTH AMERICAN make a pupil repeat a year at school because of poor marks.

□ keep something back retain or withhold something: he kept back £5 for himself.

- decline to disclose something.

□ keep down stay hidden by crouching or lying down.

□ keep someone down 1 make a pupil repeat a year at school because of poor marks.

2 cause someone to remain in a state of oppression or subjection.

□ keep something down 1 cause something to remain at a low level: the population of aphids is normally kept down by other animals.

2 retain food or drink in one's stomach without vomiting.

□ keep from (or keep someone from) avoid (or cause someone to avoid) doing something: Dinah bit her lips to keep from screaming.

□ keep something from 1 cause something to remain a secret from (someone).

2 cause something to stay out of: she could not keep the dismay from her voice.

□ keep in with remain on good terms with (someone).

□ keep someone in confine someone indoors or in a particular place: he should be kept in overnight for observation.

□ keep something in restrain oneself from expressing a feeling: he wanted to make me mad, but I kept it all in.

□ keep off 1 avoid encroaching on or touching.

- avoid consuming or smoking: the first thing was to keep off alcohol.

- avoid (a subject).

2 (of bad weather) fail to occur.

□ keep someone/thing off prevent someone or something from encroaching on or touching: keep your hands off me.

□ keep someone off prevent someone from attending (school).

□ keep on continue to do something: he kept on moving.

□ keep on about speak about (something) repeatedly.

□ keep on at BRITISH annoy (someone) by making frequent requests: he'd kept on at her, wanting her to go out with him.

□ keep someone/thing on continue to use or employ someone or something.

□ keep out (or keep someone/thing out) remain (or cause someone or something to remain) outside.

□ keep to avoid leaving (a path, road, or place).

- adhere to (a schedule).

- observe (a promise).

- confine or restrict oneself to: nothing is more irritating than people who do not keep to the point.

□ keep someone under cause someone to remain in a state of oppression or subjection: the local people are kept under by the army.

□ keep up (also keep up with) 1 move or progress at the same rate as someone or something else: often they had to pause to allow him to keep up.

2 meet a commitment to pay or do something regularly: if you do not keep up with the payments, the loan company can make you sell your home.

□ keep up with learn about or be aware of (current events or developments).

- continue to be in contact with (someone).

□ keep someone up prevent someone from going to bed or to sleep.

□ keep something up continue a course of action: keep up the good work.

- keep something in an efficient or proper state: the rector could not afford to keep up the grounds.

- make something remain at a high level: he was whistling to keep up his spirits.

<DERIVATIVES> keepable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Old English cēpan ‘seize, take in’, also ‘care for, attend to’, of unknown origin.

keeper n. 1 a person who manages or looks after something or someone.

- a custodian of a museum or gallery collection.

- an animal attendant employed in a zoo.

■ short for GAMEKEEPER.

2 short for GOALKEEPER or WICKETKEEPER.

3 a plain ring worn to preserve a hole in a pierced ear lobe; a sleeper.

- a ring worn to keep a more valuable one on the finger.

- a bar of soft iron placed across the poles of a horseshoe magnet to maintain its strength.

4 [with adj.] a food or drink that remains in a specified condition if stored: hazelnuts are good keepers.

5 INFORMAL a thing worth keeping: they were deciding which measurements are questionable and which are keepers.

- NORTH AMERICAN a fish large enough to be kept when caught.

6 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a play in which the quarterback receives the ball from the centre and runs with it.

<DERIVATIVES> keepership n.

keep-fit n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH regular exercises to improve personal fitness and health.

keeping n. [mass noun] the action or fact of owning, maintaining, or protecting something: the keeping of dogs | [in combination] careful record-keeping is needed.

<PHRASES>

□ in someone's keeping in someone's care or custody.

□ in (or out of) keeping with in (or out of) harmony or conformity with: the cuisine is in keeping with the hotel's Edwardian character.

keepnet n. [ANGLING] a net for keeping fish alive until they are returned to the water.

keepsake n. a small item kept in memory of the person who gave it or originally owned it.

keeshond /keshnd/ n. a dog of a Dutch breed with long thick grey hair, resembling a large Pomeranian.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: Dutch, from Kees (pet form of the given name Cornelius) + hond ‘dog’.

Kefallinía /kεfalinia/ Greek name for CEPHALONIA.

keffiyeh /kəfi(j)ə/ (also kaffiyeh) n. a headdress worn by Arab men, consisting of a square of fabric fastened by a band round the crown of the head.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Arabic keffiyya, kūfiyya.

Keflavik /kεfləvk/ a fishing port in SW Iceland; pop. 7,671 (1999). Iceland's international airport is located nearby.

keftedes /kεftεiz/ plural n. (in Greek cookery) small meatballs made with herbs and onions.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kephtedes, plural of kephtes, via Turkish from Persian koftah (see KOFTA).

keg n. a small barrel, especially one of less than 10 gallons or (in the US) 30 gallons.

- British short for KEG BEER.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: variant of Scots and US dialect cag, from Old Norse kaggi.

keg beer n. [mass noun] BRITISH beer supplied in a keg, to which carbon dioxide has been added.

kegger n. US INFORMAL a party at which beer is served, typically from kegs.

- a keg of beer.

keiretsu /kerεtsu/ n. (pl. same) (in Japan) a conglomeration of businesses linked together by cross-shareholdings to form a robust corporate structure.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from kei ‘systems’ + retsu ‘tier’.

keister /kistə/ (also keester) n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL 1 a person's buttocks.

2 DATED a suitcase, bag, or box for carrying possessions or merchandise.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (in sense 2): of unknown origin.

Kejia /kedjα/ n. another term for HAKKA.

Kekulé /kεkjle/ German /kekule/ Friedrich August (1829–96), German chemist; full name Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz. One of the founders of structural organic chemistry, he is best known for discovering the ring structure of benzene.

Kelantan /kəlantən/ a state of northern Malaysia, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula; capital, Kota Baharu.

Keller /kεlə/ Helen (Adams) (1880–1968), American writer, social reformer, and academic. Blind and deaf from the age of nineteen months, she learned how to read, type, and speak with the help of a tutor . She went on to champion the cause of blind and deaf people throughout the world.

Kellogg /kεl/ Will Keith (1860–1951), American food manufacturer. He collaborated with his brother, a doctor, to develop a breakfast cereal for sanatorium patients, of crisp flakes of rolled and toasted wheat and corn. Its success led to the establishment of the W. K. Kellogg company in 1906.

Kellogg Pact (also Kellogg–Briand Pact) a treaty renouncing war as an instrument of national policy, signed in Paris in 1928 by representatives of fifteen nations. It grew out of a proposal made by the French Premier Aristide Briand (1862–1932) to Frank B. Kellogg (1856–1937), US Secretary of State.

Kells, Book of /kεlz/ an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels, perhaps made by Irish monks in Iona in the 8th or early 9th century, now kept at Trinity College, Dublin.

<ORIGIN> Kells, the name of a town in County Meath, Ireland, where the manuscript was formerly kept.

Kelly^1 Ned (1855–80), Australian outlaw; full name Edward Kelly. Leader of a band of horse and cattle thieves and bank raiders operating in Victoria, he was eventually hanged in Melbourne.

Kelly^2 Gene (1912–96), American dancer and choreographer; full name Eugene Curran Kelly. He performed in and choreographed many film musicals, including An American in Paris (1951) and Singin' in the Rain (1952).

Kelly^3 Grace (Patricia) (1928–82), American film actress; also called (from 1956) Princess Grace of Monaco. She starred in High Noon (1952) and also made three Hitchcock films, including Rear Window (1954), before retiring from films in 1956 on her marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco. She died in a road accident.

Kelly^4 Petra (Karin) (1947–92), German political leader. In 1979 she co-founded the German Green Party, becoming the Party's leading spokesperson and, in 1983, one of seventeen Green Party members of the West German Parliament. The cause of her death remains a subject of controversy.

keloid /kild/ n. MEDICINE an area of irregular fibrous tissue formed at the site of a scar or injury.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via French from Greek khēlē ‘crab's claw’ + -OID.

kelp n. [mass noun] a large brown seaweed that typically has a long, tough stalk with a broad frond divided into strips.

<INFO> Family Laminariaceae, class Phaeophyceae, including the genera Laminaria (used in some areas as manure) and Macrocystis (harvested in the US as a source of algin).

- the calcined ashes of seaweed, used as a source of various salts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

kelpfish n. (pl. same or kelpfishes) any of a number of fish that live among kelp or other marine algae, in particular:

<INFO>

- a small fish with the dorsal fin running the length of the body, of the Pacific coast of North America (Gibbonsia and other genera, family Clinidae).

- an Australian fish which lives among seagrass and algae (family Chironemidae: several genera).

kelpie /kεlpi/ n. 1 a water spirit of Scottish folklore, typically taking the form of a horse and reputed to delight in the drowning of travellers.

2 a sheepdog of an Australian breed with a smooth coat, originally bred from a Scottish collie.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps from Scottish Gaelic cailpeach, colpach ‘bullock, colt’.

■ Sense 2 apparently comes from the name of a particular bitch, King's Kelpie (c.1879).

kelt n. a salmon or sea trout after spawning and before returning to the sea.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

Kelvin William Thomson, 1st Baron (1824–1907), British physicist and natural philosopher. He is best known for introducing the absolute scale of temperature. He also restated the second law of thermodynamics and was involved in the laying of the first Atlantic cable, for which he invented several instruments.

kelvin (abbr.: K) n. (pl. same, kelvins) the SI base unit of thermodynamic temperature, equal in magnitude to the degree Celsius.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Lord KELVIN.

Kelvin scale n. a scale of temperature with absolute zero as zero, and the triple point of water as exactly 273.16 degrees.

Kemble^1 /kεmb(ə)l/ Fanny (1809–93), English actress; full name Frances Anne Kemble. The daughter of Charles Kemble and the niece of Sarah Siddons, she was a success in both Shakespearean comedy and tragedy.

Kemble^2 /kεmb(ə)l/ John Philip (1757–1823), English actor-manager, brother of Sarah Siddons. Noted for his performances in Shakespearean tragedy, he was manager of Drury Lane (1788–1803) and Covent Garden (1803–17) theatres. His younger brother Charles Kemble (1775–1854) was also a successful actor-manager.

Kemerovo /kεmrəvə/ an industrial city in south central Russia, to the east of Novosibirsk; pop. 489,300 (est. 2000).

kemp n. a coarse hair or fibre in wool.

<DERIVATIVES> kempy adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting a coarse human hair): from Old Norse kampr ‘beard, whisker’.

Kempe Margery (c.1373–c.1440), English mystic. From about 1432 to 1436 she dictated one of the first autobiographies in English, The Book of Margery Kempe. It gives an account of her series of pilgrimages, as well as details of her mystic self-transcendent visions.

kempt adj. (of a person or a place) maintained in a neat and clean condition; well cared for: she was looking as thoroughly kempt as ever.

<ORIGIN> Old English cemd-, past participle of cemban ‘to comb’, of Germanic origin; related to COMB. The Middle English form kemb survives in dialect.

ken n. [in sing.] one's range of knowledge or understanding: politics are beyond my ken.

■ v. (kens, kenning; past and past participle kenned or kent) [with obj.] Scottish & N. English KNOW: d'ye ken anyone who can boast of that?

- recognize; identify: that's him—d'ye ken him?

<ORIGIN> Old English cennan ‘tell, make known’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German kennen ‘know, be acquainted with’, from an Indo-European root shared by can^1 and know. Current senses of the verb date from Middle English; the noun from the mid 16th cent.

kenaf /kənaf/ n. [mass noun] a brown plant fibre similar to jute, used to make ropes and coarse cloth.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Persian, variant of kanab ‘hemp’.

Kendal /kεnd(ə)l/ a town in Cumbria, NW England; pop. 27,100 (est. 2002).

Kendal Green n. [mass noun] a kind of rough green woollen cloth.

- the green colour of Kendal Green cloth.

Kendall /kεnd(ə)l/ Edward Calvin (1886–1972), American biochemist. He isolated crystalline thyroxine from the thyroid gland, and from the adrenal cortex he obtained a number of steroid hormones, one of which was later named cortisone. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1950).

Kendal mint cake n. [mass noun] a hard peppermint-flavoured sweet which is sold in flat rectangular blocks and is popular with ramblers and hill climbers.

kendo /kεndə/ n. [mass noun] a Japanese form of fencing with two-handed bamboo swords, originally developed as a safe form of sword training for samurai.

<DERIVATIVES> kendoist n.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, from ken ‘sword’ + dō ‘way’.

Keneally /kənali -nili/ Thomas (Michael) (b.1935), Australian novelist. He first gained recognition for The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972), but is probably best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel Schindler's Ark (1982), filmed by Steven Spielberg in 1993 as Schindler's List.

Kennedy the name of a family of US Democratic politicians:

- John F. (1917–63), 35th President of the US 1961–3; in full John Fitzgerald Kennedy; known as JFK. The youngest man ever to be elected US President (at 43), he was a popular advocate of civil rights. In foreign affairs he recovered from the Bay of Pigs fiasco to demand successfully the withdrawal of Soviet missiles from Cuba (the Cuban Missile Crisis). Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas.

- Robert (1925–68), US Attorney General 1961–4; full name Robert Francis Kennedy. He closely assisted his brother John in domestic policy, and was also a champion of the civil rights movement. He was assassinated during his campaign as a prospective presidential candidate.

- Teddy (1932–2009), brother of John and Robert, US Senator 1962–2009; full name Edward Moore Kennedy. His political career was overshadowed by his involvement in a car accident at Chappaquiddick Island (1969), in which his assistant Mary Jo Kopechne drowned.

Kennedy, Cape former name (1963–73) for Canaveral, Cape.

kennel n. a small shelter for a dog.

- (usually kennels) [treated as sing. or plural] a boarding or breeding establishment for dogs.

■ v. (kennels, kennelling, kennelled; US kennels, kenneling, kenneled) [with obj.] put (a dog) in a kennel or kennels.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from an Old Northern French variant of Old French chenil, from Latin canis ‘dog’.

Kennelly /kεnəli/ Arthur Edwin (1861–1939), American electrical engineer. His principal work was on the theory of alternating currents. Independently of Oliver Heaviside, he also discovered the layer in the atmosphere responsible for reflecting radio waves back to the earth.

Kennelly layer (also Kennelly–Heaviside layer) n. another name for E-LAYER.

kennelmaid n. a woman who works in a kennels.

kennelman n. (pl. kennelmen) a man who works in a kennels, especially for a hunt.

Kenneth I (d.858), king of Scotland c.844–58; known as Kenneth MacAlpin. He is traditionally viewed as the founder of the kingdom of Scotland, which was established following his defeat of the Picts in about 844.

kenning n. a compound expression in Old English and Old Norse poetry with metaphorical meaning, e.g. oar-steed = ship.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Old Norse, from kenna ‘know, perceive’; related to KEN.

keno /kinə/ n. [mass noun] a game of chance similar to bingo, based on the drawing of numbers and covering of corresponding numbers on cards.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from French quine, denoting a set of five winning lottery numbers.

kenosis /knəss/ n. [mass noun] (in Christian theology) the renunciation of the divine nature, at least in part, by Christ in the Incarnation.

<DERIVATIVES> kenotic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kenōsis ‘an emptying’, from kenoein ‘to empty’, from kenos ‘empty’, with biblical allusion (Phil. 2:7) to Greek heauton ekenōse, literally ‘emptied himself’.

Kensington /kεnztən/ a fashionable residential district in central London. Part of the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, it contains Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum, and Science Museum.

kenspeckle /kεnspεk(ə)l/ adj. SCOTTISH easily recognizable; conspicuous.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of Scandinavian origin, probably based on Old Norse kenna ‘know, perceive’ and spak-, spek- ‘wise or wisdom’.

Kent^1 a county on the SE coast of England; county town, Maidstone.

<DERIVATIVES> Kentish adj.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Cantium, of Celtic origin.

Kent^2 William (c.1685–1748), English architect and landscape gardener. Chiefly remembered for his landscape gardens at Stowe House in Buckinghamshire (c.1730), he also promoted the Palladian style of architecture in England.

kent past and past participle of KEN.

kente /kεntə/ n. [mass noun] a brightly coloured cloth consisting of separate strips sewn together, made in Ghana.

- [count noun] a long garment made from kente, worn loosely around the shoulders and waist.

<ORIGIN> from Akan, literally ‘cloth’.

kentia palm /kεntə/ (also kentia) n. an Australasian palm tree which is popular as a house plant while it is young.

<INFO> Howeia (or Howea, formerly Kentia) forsteriana, family Palmae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: modern Latin, named after William Kent (died 1828), botanical collector.

Kentish glory n. a large European moth with orange-brown and white markings, occurring chiefly on moorland and in open woodland.

<INFO> Endromis versicolora, the only member of the family Endromidae.

Kentish plover n. a small white-breasted plover related to the ringed plover, found on most continents.

<INFO> Charadrius alexandrinus, family Charadriidae; American races are sometimes treated as a different species. North American name: snowy plover.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: so named because of its first discovery in Kent, but now extinct in Britain.

Kentish ragstone (also Kentish rag) n. [mass noun] a hard, compact limestone found in Kent, used for paving and building.

Kenton Stan (1912–79), American bandleader, composer, and arranger; born Stanley Newcomb. He formed his own orchestra in 1940 and is particularly associated with the big-band jazz style of the 1950s.

Kentucky /kεntki/ a state in the south-eastern US; pop. 4,041,769 (2000); capital, Frankfort. Ceded by the French to the British in 1763, Kentucky entered the Union as the 15th state in 1792.

<DERIVATIVES> Kentuckian adj.

Kentucky Derby n. an annual horse race for three-year-olds at Louisville, Kentucky. First held in 1875, it is the oldest horse race in the US.

Kenya /kεnjə/ an equatorial country in East Africa, on the Indian Ocean; pop. 31,138,735 (est. 2002); languages, Swahili (official), English (official), Kikuyu; capital, Nairobi.

Populated largely by Bantu-speaking peoples, Kenya became a British Crown Colony in 1920. The demands made on land by European settlers led to the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s. Kenya became an independent state within the Commonwealth in 1963, and a republic was established the following year.

<DERIVATIVES> Kenyan adj. & n.

Kenya, Mount a mountain in central Kenya, just south of the equator, rising to a height of 5,200 m (17,058 ft). The second-highest mountain in Africa, it gave its name to the country Kenya.

Kenya African National Union (abbr.: KANU) a Kenyan political party formed in 1960 and led first by Jomo Kenyatta. KANU won the first Kenyan elections and took the country into independence in 1963; it has since dominated Kenyan politics, ruling as the sole legal party 1982–91.

Kenyatta /kεnjatə/ Jomo (c.1891–1978), Kenyan statesman, Prime Minister of Kenya 1963 and President 1964–78. Imprisoned for alleged complicity in the Mau Mau uprising (1952–61), on his release he was elected president of the Kenya African National Union and led Kenya to independence in 1963, subsequently serving as its first President.

kep /kεp/ v. (keps, kepping, kepped) [with obj.] SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH catch.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally in the sense ‘meet, receive the force of a blow’): differentiated form of the verb KEEP.

kepi /kεpi kepi/ n. (pl. kepis) a French military cap with a horizontal peak.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French képi, from Swiss German Käppi, diminutive of Kappe ‘cap’.

Kepler /kεplə/ German /kεpl/ Johannes (1571–1630), German astronomer. His analysis of Tycho Brahe's planetary observations led him to discover the three laws governing orbital motion.

<DERIVATIVES> Keplerian adj.

Kepler's laws plural n. [ASTRONOMY] three theorems describing orbital motion. The first law states that planets move in elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus. The second states that the radius vector of a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times. The third law relates the distances of the planets from the sun to their orbital periods.

kept past and past participle of KEEP.

Kerala /kεrələ/ a state on the coast of SW India; capital, Trivandrum. It was created in 1956 from the former state of Travancore-Cochin and part of Madras.

<DERIVATIVES> Keralite adj. & n.

kerat- combining form variant spelling of KERATO- shortened before a vowel (as in keratectomy).

keratectomy /kεrətεktəmi/ n. [mass noun] surgical removal of a section or layer of the cornea, usually performed using a laser to correct myopia.

keratin /kεrətn/ n. [mass noun] a fibrous protein forming the main structural constituent of hair, feathers, hoofs, claws, horns, etc.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek keras, kerat- ‘horn’ + -IN^1.

keratinize /kεrətnz kərat-/ (also keratinise) v. [BIOLOGY] change or become changed into a form containing keratin: [with obj.] the products of the epidermal line are ultimately keratinized | [no obj.] the cells keratinize under oestrogenic action.

<DERIVATIVES> keratinization n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek keratinos ‘horny’ + -IZE.

keratinocyte /kεrətnə()st/ n. [BIOLOGY] an epidermal cell which produces keratin.

keratinous /kəratnəs/ adj. [BIOLOGY] containing or made from keratin.

keratitis /kεrətts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the cornea of the eye.

kerato- (also kerat-) combining form 1 relating to keratin or horny tissue.

2 relating to the cornea.

<ORIGIN> from Greek keras, kerat- ‘horn’.

keratomileusis /kεrətəmluss/ n. [mass noun] the surgical reshaping of the cornea, carried out in order to correct a refractive error.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from KERATO- + Greek smileusis ‘carving’.

keratoplasty /kεrətə()plasti/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE surgery carried out on the cornea, especially corneal transplantation.

keratosis /kεrətəss/ n. (pl. keratoses) MEDICINE a horny growth, especially on the skin.

keratotomy /kεrəttəmi/ n. [mass noun] a surgical operation involving cutting into the cornea of the eye. The most common form is radial keratotomy, performed to correct myopia.

kerb (US curb) n. a stone edging to a pavement or raised path.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a raised border or frame): variant of CURB.

kerb-crawling n. [mass noun] BRITISH the action or practice of driving slowly along the edge of the road in search of a prostitute.

<DERIVATIVES> kerb-crawler n.

kerb drill n. BRITISH a set of precautions, especially looking to right and left, taken before crossing the road and typically taught to children.

kerbing n. [mass noun] 1 the stones collectively forming a kerb.

2 the action of hitting a kerb with a car tyre, leading to possible damage to the tyre.

kerb market n. a market for selling shares not dealt with on the normal stock exchange, or for dealing after hours.

kerbside (US curbside) n. the side of a road or pavement that is nearer to the kerb.

kerbstone (US curbstone) n. a long, narrow stone or concrete block, laid end to end with others to form a kerb.

kerb weight n. the weight of a car without occupants or baggage.

Kerch /kət/ a city in southern Ukraine, the chief port and industrial centre of the Crimea, at the eastern end of the Kerch peninsula; pop. 157,000 (est. 2001).

kerchief /kətf/ n. a piece of fabric used to cover the head.

- LITERARY a handkerchief.

<DERIVATIVES> kerchiefed adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English kerchef, from Old French cuevrechief, from couvrir ‘to cover’ + chief ‘head’.

kereru /kεrəru/ n. NZ a New Zealand pigeon which has mainly greenish metallic plumage with white underparts and a purplish-crimson bill and feet.

<INFO> Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae, family Columbidae. Alternative name: New Zealand pigeon.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Maori.

Keres /kεrεs/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a Pueblo Indian people inhabiting parts of New Mexico.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Keres, of unknown affinity, with fewer than 8,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Keres or their language.

<DERIVATIVES> Keresan n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> from American Spanish Queres, from American Indian.

kerf /kəf/ n. 1 a slit made by cutting with a saw.

2 the cut end of a felled tree.

<DERIVATIVES> kerfed adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English cyrf ‘cutting, a cut’, of West Germanic origin; related to CARVE.

kerfuffle /kəff(ə)l/ n. [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views: there was a kerfuffle over the chairmanship.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from Scots curfuffle (probably from Scottish Gaelic car ‘twist, bend’ + imitative Scots fuffle ‘to disorder’), or related to Irish cior thual ‘confusion, disorder’.

Kerguelen Islands /kəln kəelən/ a group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean, comprising the island of Kerguelen and some 300 small islets, forming part of French Southern and Antarctic Territories.

<ORIGIN> named after the Breton navigator Yves-Joseph de Kerguélen -Trémarec, who discovered the islands in 1772.

Kérkira /kεrkra/ modern Greek name for CORFU.

Kerkrade /kəkrαdə/ a mining town in the southern Netherlands, on the German border; pop. 51,066 (2001). An international music competition is held there every four years.

Kermadec Islands /kəmadək/ a group of uninhabited islands in the western South Pacific, north of New Zealand, administered by New Zealand since 1887.

kermes /kəmz/ n. 1 [mass noun] a red dye obtained from the crushed dried bodies of a female scale insect, used for colouring fabrics and manuscripts.

2 (oak kermes) the scale insect from which kermes is obtained, forming berry-like galls on the kermes oak.

<INFO> Kermes illicis, family Eriococcidae, suborder Homoptera.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting the kermes oak): from French kermès, from Arabic qirmiz; related to CRIMSON.

kermes oak n. a very small evergreen Mediterranean oak which sometimes remains as a shrub. It has prickly holly-like leaves and was formerly prized as a host plant for kermes insects.

<INFO> Quercus coccifera, family Fagaceae.

kermis /kəms/ n. a summer fair held in towns and villages in the Netherlands.

- US a fair or carnival, especially one held to raise money for a charity.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: Dutch, originally denoting a mass on the anniversary of the dedication of a church, when a fair was held, from kerk ‘church’ + mis ‘Mass’.

Kern Jerome (David) (1885–1945), American composer. A major influence in the development of the musical, he wrote several musical comedies, including Showboat (1927).

kern^1 [PRINTING] v. [with obj.] 1 (usually as n. kerning) adjust the spacing between (characters) in a piece of text to be printed.

2 provide (metal type or a printed character) with a kern.

■ n. the part of a metal type projecting beyond the body or shank, or a part of a printed character that overlaps its neighbours.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps from French carne ‘corner’, from Latin cardo, cardin- ‘hinge’.

kern^2 (also kerne) n. 1 HISTORICAL a light-armed Irish foot soldier.

2 ARCHAIC a peasant; a rustic.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Irish ceithearn, from Old Irish ceithern ‘band of foot soldiers’.

kernel /kən(ə)l/ n. 1 a softer, usually edible part of a nut, seed, or fruit stone contained within its shell.

- the seed and hard husk of a cereal, especially wheat.

2 the central or most important part of something: this is the kernel of the argument.

- [COMPUTING] the most basic level or core of an operating system, responsible for resource allocation, file management, and security.

- [as modifier] [LINGUISTICS] denoting a basic unmarked linguistic string.

<ORIGIN> Old English cyrnel, diminutive of corn^1.

kernite /kənt/ n. [mass noun] a transparent crystalline mineral which consists of hydrated sodium borate and is a major source of borax.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Kern (the name of the Californian county where it was discovered) + -ITE^1.

Kernow /kənə/ n. Cornish name for CORNWALL.

kerogen /kεrəd(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a complex fossilized organic material, found in oil shale and other sedimentary rock, which is insoluble in common organic solvents and yields petroleum products on distillation.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek kēros ‘wax’ + -GEN.

kerosene /kεrəsin/ (also kerosine) n. [mass noun] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a light fuel oil obtained by distilling petroleum, used especially in jet engines and domestic heating boilers; paraffin oil.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kēros ‘wax’ (because the solid form of paraffin is wax-like) + -ENE.

Kerouac /kεrak/ Jack (1922–69), American novelist and poet, of French-Canadian descent; born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac. A leading figure of the beat generation, he is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel On the Road (1957).

Kerr effect /kə/ n. [PHYSICS] 1 the rotation of the plane of polarization of light when reflected from a magnetized surface.

2 the production of double refraction in a substance by an electric field.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after John Kerr (1824–1907), the Scottish physicist who studied these effects.

kerria /kεrə/ n. an East Asian shrub of the rose family, which is cultivated for its yellow flowers, especially as the double-flowered variety.

<INFO> Kerria japonica, family Rosaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: modern Latin, named after William Ker(r) (died 1814), English botanical collector.

Kerry^1 a county of the Republic of Ireland, on the SW coast in the province of Munster; county town, Tralee.

Kerry^2 n. (pl. Kerries) an animal of a breed of small black dairy cattle.

Kerry blue n. a terrier of a breed with a silky blue-grey coat.

Kerry Hill n. a sheep of a breed having a thick fleece and black markings near the muzzle and feet.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Kerry, the name of a town and neighbouring hill range in Powys, Wales.

kersey /kəzi/ n. [mass noun] a kind of coarse, ribbed cloth with a short nap, woven from short-stapled wool.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from Kersey, a town in Suffolk where woollen cloth was made.

kerseymere /kəzmə/ n. [mass noun] a fine twilled woollen cloth.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: alteration of cassimere, variant of CASHMERE, changed by association with KERSEY.

keruing /kεr/ n. a timber tree related to the gurjun, growing in Malaysia, Sabah, and Indonesia.

<INFO> Genus Dipterocarpus, family Dipterocarpaceae: several species.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Malay.

Kesey /kizi/ Ken (Elton) (1935–2001), American novelist. His best-known novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962), is based on his experiences as a ward attendant in a psychiatric hospital.

kesh /ke/ (also kes) n. [mass noun] the uncut hair and beard worn as one of the five distinguishing signs of the Sikh Khalsa.

<ORIGIN> from Punjabi keś.

keskidee /kεskdi/ n. variant of KISKADEE.

kestrel n. a small falcon that hovers with rapidly beating wings while searching for prey on the ground.

<INFO> Genus Falco, family Falconidae: several species, in particular the common kestrel (F. tinnunculus) of Eurasia and Africa, and the American kestrel (F. sparverius).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English castrel, perhaps from casserelle, dialect variant of Old French crecerelle, perhaps imitative of its call.

Keswick /kεzk/ a market town and tourist centre on the northern shores of Derwent Water in Cumbria, NW England; pop. 5,000 (1998).

ketamine /kitəmin/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic compound used as an anaesthetic and analgesic drug and also (illicitly) as a hallucinogen.

<INFO> Chem. formula: C_13H_16NOCl.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of KETONE and AMINE.

ketch n. a two-masted, fore-and-aft rigged sailing boat with a mizzenmast stepped forward of the rudder and smaller than its foremast.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: later form of obsolete catch, probably from CATCH.

ketchup /kεtəp -p/ (US also catsup) n. [mass noun] a spicy sauce made chiefly from tomatoes and vinegar, used as a relish.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps from Chinese (Cantonese dialect) k'ē chap ‘tomato juice’.

ketene /kitin/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a pungent colourless reactive gas, used as an intermediate in chemical synthesis.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_2=C=O.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from KETONE + -ENE.

keto acid /kitə/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a compound whose molecule contains both a carboxyl group (–COOH) and a ketone group (–CO–).

ketonaemia /kitə()nimə/ (US ketonemia) n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the presence of an abnormally high concentration of ketone bodies in the blood.

ketone /kitən/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing a carbonyl group =C=O bonded to two hydrocarbon groups, made by oxidizing secondary alcohols. The simplest such compound is acetone.

<DERIVATIVES> ketonic /ktnk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Keton, alteration of Aketon ‘acetone’.

ketone bodies plural n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] three related compounds (one of which is acetone) produced during the metabolism of fats.

ketonuria /kitə()njərə/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE the excretion of abnormally large amounts of ketone bodies in the urine, characteristic of diabetes mellitus, starvation, or other medical conditions.

ketosis /ktəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a condition characterized by raised levels of ketone bodies in the body, associated with abnormal fat metabolism and diabetes mellitus.

<DERIVATIVES> ketotic adj.

Kettering Charles Franklin (1876–1958), American automobile engineer. His first significant development was the electric starter (1912). As head of research at General Motors he discovered tetraethyl lead as an anti-knock agent and defined the octane rating of fuels; he also did important work on diesel engines, synchromesh gearboxes, automatic transmissions, and power steering.

kettle n. 1 a metal or plastic container with a lid, spout, and handle, used for boiling water. See also FISH KETTLE.

2 a bowl- or saucer-shaped container in which operations are carried out on metals or other substances with a low melting point.

<PHRASES>

□ a different kettle of fish INFORMAL a completely different type of person or thing from the one previously mentioned: he's certainly a different kettle of fish from old Rowell.

□ the pot calling the kettle black see pot^1.

□ a pretty (or fine) kettle of fish INFORMAL an awkward state of affairs.

<DERIVATIVES> kettleful n. (pl. kettlefuls)

<ORIGIN> Old English cetel, cietel, of Germanic origin, based on Latin catillus, diminutive of catinus ‘deep container for cooking or serving food’. In Middle English the word's form was influenced by Old Norse ketill.

kettledrum n. a large drum shaped like a bowl, with a membrane adjustable for tension (and so pitch) stretched across. Also collectively called TIMPANI.

<DERIVATIVES> kettledrummer n.

kettle hole n. [GEOLOGY] a hollow, typically filled by a lake, resulting from the melting of a mass of ice trapped in glacial deposits.

Keuper /kpə/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a European series of sedimentary rocks of Upper Triassic age, represented in England chiefly by marls and sandstones.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally a miners' term): German.

keurboom /kəbəm/ n. S. AFRICAN a small southern African tree which typically bears drooping clusters of scented mauve flowers.

<INFO> Genus Virgilia, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Afrikaans, from keur ‘choice’ + boom ‘tree’.

keV abbr. kilo-electronvolt(s).

kevel /kεv(ə)l/ n. a large cleat fitted to the gunwale of a ship and used for securing ropes.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

Kevlar /kεvlα/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a synthetic fibre of high tensile strength used especially as a reinforcing agent in the manufacture of tyres and other rubber products.

Kew Gardens the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in Richmond, London. Developed by the mother of George III with the aid of Sir Joseph Banks, the gardens are now an important botanical institution.

kewpie /kjupi/ (also kewpie doll) n. (TRADEMARK in the US) a type of doll characterized by a large head, big eyes, chubby cheeks, and a curl or topknot on top of its head.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): from CUPID + -IE.

Key John (Phillip) (b.1961), New Zealand National Party statesman, Prime Minister of New Zealand since 2008.

key^1 n. (pl. keys) 1 a small piece of shaped metal with incisions cut to fit the wards of a particular lock, which is inserted into a lock and turned to open or close it.

- a shaped metal implement for operating a switch in the form of a lock, especially one operating the ignition of a motor vehicle.

- an instrument for grasping and turning a screw, peg, or nut, especially one for winding a clock or turning a valve.

- a pin, bolt, or wedge inserted into a hole or between parts so as to lock the parts together.

2 each of several buttons on a panel for operating a typewriter, word processor, or computer terminal.

- a lever depressed by the finger in playing an instrument such as the organ, piano, flute, or concertina.

- a lever operating a mechanical device for making or breaking an electric circuit, for example in telegraphy.

3 a thing that provides a means of achieving or understanding something: discipline seems to be the key to her success.

- an explanatory list of symbols used in a map, table, etc.

- a set of answers to exercises or problems.

- a word or system for solving a cipher or code.

- the first move in the solution of a chess problem.

- [COMPUTING] a field in a record which is used to identify that record uniquely.

4 [MUSIC] a group of notes based on a particular note and comprising a scale, regarded as forming the tonal basis of a piece of music: the key of E minor.

- the tone or pitch of someone's voice: his voice had changed to a lower key.

- the prevailing tone of a piece of writing, situation, etc.: it was like the sixties all over again, in a new, more austerely intellectual key.

- the prevailing range of tones in a painting: these mauves, lime greens, and saffron yellows recall the high key of El Greco's palette.

5 the dry winged fruit of an ash, maple, or sycamore, typically growing in bunches; a samara.

6 the part of a first coat of wall plaster that passes between the laths and so secures the rest.

- the roughness of a surface, helping the adhesion of plaster or other material.

7 [BASKETBALL] the keyhole-shaped area marked on the court near each basket.

■ adj. of crucial importance: she became a key figure in the suffragette movement.

■ v. (keys, keying, keyed) [with obj.] 1 enter or operate on (data) by means of a computer keyboard: she keyed in a series of commands | [no obj.] a hacker caused disruption after keying into a vital database.

2 [with obj. and adverbial] fasten (something) in position with a pin, wedge, or bolt: the coils may be keyed into the slots by fibre wedges.

3 (key something to) chiefly NORTH AMERICAN link something to: courses keyed to the needs of health professionals.

- (key someone/thing into/in with) cause someone or something to be in harmony with: to those who are keyed into his lunatic sense of humour, the arrival of any Bergman movie is a major comic event.

4 (be keyed up) be nervous, tense, or excited, especially before an important event.

5 roughen (a surface) to help the adhesion of plaster or other material.

6 word (an advertisement in a periodical), typically by varying the form of the address given, so as to identify the publication generating particular responses.

7 INFORMAL vandalize (a car) by scraping its paint with a key.

8 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be the crucial factor in achieving: Ewing keyed a 73–35 advantage on the boards with twenty rebounds.

<PHRASES>

□ in (or out of) key in (or out of) harmony: this uplifting conclusion is out of key with the body of his book.

<DERIVATIVES> keyed adj. keyer n. keyless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English cg, cge, of unknown origin.

key^2 n. a low-lying island or reef, especially in the Caribbean. Compare with CAY.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Spanish cayo ‘shoal, reef’, influenced by QUAY.

keyboard n. 1 a panel of keys that operate a computer or typewriter.

2 a set of keys on a piano or similar musical instrument.

- an electronic musical instrument with keys arranged as on a piano: she plays keyboards and guitar.

■ v. [with obj.] enter (data) by means of a keyboard.

<DERIVATIVES> keyboarder n.

■ keyboard (sense 1 of the noun)

□ keyboardist n.

■ keyboard (sense 2 of the noun)

key card (also card key) n. a small plastic card, sometimes used instead of a door key in hotels, bearing magnetically encoded data that can be read and processed by an electronic device.

key grip n. the person in a film crew who is in charge of the camera equipment.

keyholder n. a person who is entrusted with keeping a key to commercial or industrial premises.

keyhole n. a hole in a lock into which the key is inserted.

- a circle cut out of a garment as a decorative effect, typically at the front or back neckline.

keyhole limpet n. a limpet which has an aperture at the apex of the shell, sometimes extending to the margin.

<INFO> Family Fissurellidae, class Gastropoda.

keyhole saw n. a saw with a long, narrow blade for cutting small holes such as keyholes.

keyhole surgery n. [mass noun] minimally invasive surgery carried out through a very small incision, with special instruments and techniques including fibre optics.

key industry n. an industry that is essential to the functioning of others, such as the manufacture of machine tools.

Key Largo a resort island off the south coast of Florida, the northernmost and the longest of the Florida Keys.

key light n. the main source of light in a photograph or film.

Key lime n. a small yellowish lime with a sharp flavour.

<ORIGIN> named after the Florida Keys.

keylogger n. a computer program that records every keystroke made by a computer user, especially in order to gain fraudulent access to passwords and other confidential information.

<DERIVATIVES> keylogging n.

key map n. a map drawn in bare outline, to simplify the use of a full map.

key money n. [mass noun] INFORMAL money paid to a landlord as an inducement by a person wishing to rent a property.

- BRITISH a payment required from a new tenant of rented accommodation in exchange for the provision of a key to the premises.

Keynes /kenz/ John Maynard, 1st Baron (1883–1946), English economist. He laid the foundations of modern macroeconomics with The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936), in which he argued that full employment is determined by effective demand and requires government spending on public works to stimulate this.

<DERIVATIVES> Keynesian adj. & n. Keynesianism n.

keynote n. 1 a prevailing tone or central theme: individuality is the keynote of the Nineties.

- [as modifier] (of a speech) setting out the central theme of a conference.

2 [MUSIC] the note on which a key is based.

<DERIVATIVES> keynoter n.

keypad n. a miniature keyboard or set of buttons for operating a portable electronic device, telephone, or other equipment.

keypal n. INFORMAL a person with whom one becomes friendly by exchanging emails; an email penfriend.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from KEY^1 + PAL, by analogy with PEN PAL.

keypunch n. a device for transferring data by means of punched holes or notches on a series of cards or paper tape.

■ v. [with obj.] put (data) into the form of punched cards or paper tape with a keypunch.

<DERIVATIVES> keypuncher n.

key ring n. a metal ring on to which keys may be threaded in order to keep them together.

key signature n. [MUSIC] any of several combinations of sharps or flats after the clef at the beginning of each stave, indicating the key of a composition.

Key Stage n. (in the UK) any of the four fixed stages into which the national curriculum is divided, each having its own prescribed course of study. At the end of each stage, pupils are required to complete standard assessment tasks.

Keystone a US film company formed in 1912, remembered for its silent slapstick comedy films, many featuring the bumbling Keystone Kops police characters.

keystone n. a central stone at the summit of an arch, locking the whole together.

- the central principle or part of a policy, system, etc., on which all else depends: cooperation remains the keystone of the government's security policy.

Keystone State informal name for PENNSYLVANIA.

keystroke n. a single depression of a key on a keyboard, especially as a measure of work.

keyway n. a slot cut in a part of a machine or an electrical connector, to ensure correct orientation with another part which is fitted with a key.

Key West a city in southern Florida, at the southern tip of the Florida Keys; pop. 25,478 (2000). It is the southernmost city in the continental US.

keyword n. 1 a word which acts as the key to a cipher or code.

2 a word or concept of great significance: homes and jobs are the keywords in the campaign.

- a word used in an information retrieval system to indicate the content of a document.

- a significant word mentioned in an index.

key worker n. an employee who provides a vital service, especially in the police, health, or education sectors.

KG abbr. (in the UK) Knight of the Order of the Garter.

kg abbr. kilogram(s).

KGB the state security police (1954–91) of the former Soviet Union with responsibility for external espionage, internal counter-intelligence, and internal ‘crimes against the state’.

<ORIGIN> Russian, abbreviation of Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti ‘Committee of State Security’.

Kgs abbr. Kings (in biblical references).

khabar /kbə/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN the latest information; news.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Urdu and Persian abar, from Arabic.

Khabarovsk /kəbαrfsk/ a krai (administrative territory) on the east coast of Siberian Russia.

- the capital of Khabarovsk, a city on the Amur River, on the Chinese border; pop. 1,483,400 (est. 2002).

Khachaturian /katətərən/ Aram (Ilich) (1903–78), Soviet composer, born in Georgia. His music is richly romantic and reflects his lifelong interest in the folk music of Armenia, Georgia, and Russia. Notable works include Gayane (ballet, 1942), his Second Symphony (1943), and Spartacus (ballet, 1954).

khadi /kadə/ (also khaddar) n. [mass noun] an Indian homespun cotton cloth.

<ORIGIN> from Punjabi, from Hindi khādī.

Khakassia /kαkasə/ an autonomous republic in south central Russia; pop. 573,000 (est. 2002); capital, Abakan.

khaki /kαki/ n. (pl. khakis) [mass noun] 1 a strong cotton or wool fabric of a dull brownish-yellow colour, used especially in military clothing.

- (khakis) trousers or other clothing made of khaki.

2 a dull greenish or brownish-yellow colour: [as modifier] a pair of khaki Bermuda shorts.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Urdu ākī ‘dust-coloured’, from āk ‘dust’, from Persian.

Khaki Campbell n. a duck of a light brown breed, kept for egg laying.

khalasi /kəlasi/ n. (pl. khalasis) (in the Indian subcontinent) a manual worker, especially a docker, porter, or sailor.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu alāī, alāšī.

Khalistan /kalstαn -stan/ the name given by Sikh nationalists to a proposed independent Sikh state.

<ORIGIN> compare with Arabic āla ‘pure, real, proper’.

Khalkha /kαlkə/ n. (pl. same or Khalkhas) 1 a member of a section of the Mongolian people, constituting the bulk of the population of Mongolia.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Khalkha, a demotic form of Mongolian adopted as the official language of Mongolia.

■ adj. relating to the Khalkha or their language.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

Khalkís /xalkis/ Greek name for CHALCIS.

Khalsa /klsə/ n. the body or company of fully initiated Sikhs, to which devout orthodox Sikhs are ritually admitted at puberty. The Khalsa was founded in 1699 by the last Guru (Gobind Singh). Members show their allegiance by five signs (called the five Ks): kangha (comb), kara (steel bangle), kesh (uncut hair, covered by a turban, and beard), kirpan (short sword) and kuccha (short trousers, originally for riding).

<ORIGIN> via Urdu from Persian, from the feminine form of Arabic āli ‘pure, belonging to’.

Khama /kαmə/ Sir Seretse (1921–80), Botswanan statesman, Prime Minister of Bechuanaland 1965 and first President of Botswana 1966–80.

Khambat, Gulf of /kαmbαt/ another name for CAMBAY, GULF OF.

khamsin /kamsn/ n. an oppressive, hot southerly or south-easterly wind blowing in Egypt in spring.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Arabic qamsīn, from qamsūn ‘fifty’ (being the approximate duration in days).

Khan^2 /kαn/ Imran (b.1952), Pakistani cricketer; full name Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi. An all-rounder, he served as Pakistan's captain in four periods between 1982 and 1992. After retiring from cricket in 1992, he entered politics in Pakistan.

Khan^3 /kαn/ Jahangir (b.1963), Pakistani squash player. In 1979 he became world amateur champion at the age of 15; after turning professional he was world squash champion five consecutive times (1981–5), and again in 1988.

khan^1 /kαn kan/ n. a title given to rulers and officials in central Asia, Afghanistan, and certain other Muslim countries.

- any of the successors of Genghis Khan, supreme rulers of the Turkish, Tartar, and Mongol peoples and emperors of China in the Middle Ages.

<DERIVATIVES> khanate n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French chan, medieval Latin canus, caanus, from Turkic ān ‘lord, prince’.

khan^2 /kαn kan/ n. (in the Middle East) an inn for travellers, built around a central courtyard.

<ORIGIN> from Persian ān.

khana /kαnə/ n. [mass noun] INDIAN food.

- [count noun] a meal.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from the Sanskrit root khād- ‘eat’.

khanga /kaə/ (also kanga) n. [mass noun] a light East African cotton fabric printed with coloured designs, used mainly for women's clothing.

<ORIGIN> Kiswahili.

Khaniá /xanja/ Greek name for CHANIA.

khansama /kαnsəmα/ n. INDIAN a male cook, who often also assumes the role of house steward.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu and Persian ānsāmān, from ān ‘master’ + sāmān ‘household goods’.

khapra beetle /kaprə/ n. a small dark brown beetle, the larva of which is a serious pest of stored grain and cereal products.

<INFO> Trogoderma granarium, family Dermestidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Hindi khaprā, from Sanskrit kharpara ‘thief’.

Kharg Island /kα/ a small island at the head of the Persian Gulf, site of Iran's principal deep-water oil terminal.

kharif /karif/ n. [mass noun] (in the Indian subcontinent) the autumn crop sown at the beginning of the summer rains.

<ORIGIN> Persian and Urdu, from Arabic arīf ‘autumn, autumnal rain’.

Kharkiv /hαkv/ an industrial city in NE Ukraine, in the Donets basin; pop. 1,470,000 (est. 2001). Russian name Kharkov /xarkəf/.

Khartoum /kαtum/ the capital of Sudan, situated at the junction of the Blue Nile and the White Nile; pop. 1,244,500 (est. 2002).

In 1885 a British and Egyptian force under the command of General Gordon was besieged in Khartoum for ten months by the Mahdists, who eventually stormed the garrison, killing most of the defenders. It remained under the control of the Mahdists until they were defeated by the British in 1898 and the city was recaptured by General Kitchener.

khat /kαt/ n. 1 [mass noun] the leaves of an Arabian shrub, which are chewed (or drunk as an infusion) as a stimulant.

2 the shrub that produces khat, growing in mountainous regions and often cultivated.

<INFO> Catha edulis, family Celastraceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Arabic qāt.

khayal /kəjαl/ (also khyal) n. a traditional type of song from the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, with instrumental accompaniment and typically having two main stanzas.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi khayāl.

Khayelitsha /kjəltə/ a township 40 km (25 miles) south-east of Cape Town, South Africa; pop. 325,600 (est. 1999). Designed to accommodate 250,000 people, it was built in 1983 for black Africans from the squatter camps of Crossroads, Langa, and KTC.

Khazar /kəzα/ n. a member of a Turkic people who occupied a large part of southern Russia from the 6th to the 11th centuries and who converted to Judaism in the 8th century.

■ adj. relating to the Khazars.

<ORIGIN> of unknown origin.

khazi /kαzi/ (also karzy) n. (pl. khazies) BRITISH INFORMAL a toilet.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Italian casa ‘house’.

kheda /kedə/ (also keddah or kheddah) n. (in the Indian subcontinent) an enclosure used for the capture of wild elephants.

<ORIGIN> from Assamese and Bengali khedā.

Khedive /kdiv/ n. the title of the viceroy of Egypt under Turkish rule 1867–1914.

<DERIVATIVES> Khedival adj. Khedivial adj.

<ORIGIN> via French from Ottoman Turkish ediv, from Persian adiw ‘prince’ (variant of udaiw ‘minor god’, from udā ‘god’).

Kherson /kəsn/ a port on the south coast of Ukraine, on the Dnieper estuary; pop. 328,000 (est. 2001).

khichri /ktri/ n. an Indian dish consisting chiefly of rice and split pulses.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi khichī, from Sanskrit khiccā, a dish of rice and sesame.

Khios /xis/ Greek name for CHIOS.

khir /kə/ n. [mass noun] an Indian dish of sweet rice pudding.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi khīr.

Khitai /kt/ variant of CATHAY.

Khmer /kmε/ n. (pl. same or Khmers) 1 an ancient kingdom in SE Asia which reached the peak of its power in the 11th century, when it ruled over the entire Mekong valley from the capital at Angkor. It was destroyed by Siamese conquests in the 12th and 14th centuries.

2 a native or inhabitant of the ancient Khmer kingdom.

3 a native or inhabitant of Cambodia.

4 [mass noun] the language of the Khmer, belonging to the Mon-Khmer family. It is the official language of Cambodia, spoken by about 7 million people. Also called CAMBODIAN.

■ adj. relating to the Khmer or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Khmer.

Khmer Republic former official name (1970–5) for Cambodia.

Khmer Rouge /ru/ a communist guerrilla organization which opposed the Cambodian government in the 1960s and waged a civil war from 1970, taking power in 1975.

Under Pol Pot the KHMER Rouge undertook a forced reconstruction of Cambodian society, involving mass deportations from the towns to the countryside and mass executions. More than two million died before the regime was overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1979. Khmer Rouge forces have continued a programme of guerrilla warfare from bases in Thailand.

<ORIGIN> from Khmer + French rouge ‘red’.

Khoikhoi /kk/ (also Khoi-khoin /-kn/, Khoi) n. (pl. same) a member of a group of indigenous peoples of South Africa and Namibia, traditionally nomadic herders and hunter-gatherers, including the Nama people and the ancestors of the Griquas.

■ adj. relating to the Khoikhoi or their languages.

<ORIGIN> Nama, literally ‘men of men’.

<USAGE> Khoikhoi should be used in preference to Hottentot, since the latter is likely to cause offence: see usage at Hottentot.

Khoisan /ksαn/ n. 1 [usually treated as plural] a collective term for the Khoikhoi and SAN peoples of southern Africa.

2 [mass noun] a language family of southern Africa, including the languages of the Khoikhoi and San, now having fewer than a million speakers altogether, and notable for the use of clicks (made by suction with the tongue) as additional consonants.

■ adj. relating to the Khoisan or their languages.

<ORIGIN> blend of KHOIKHOI and San.

Khoja /kədə/ n. a member of an Ismaili sect found mainly in western India.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘Muslim scribe or teacher’): from Turkish hoca, from Persian.

kho-kho /kəkə/ n. [mass noun] an Indian game of tag played with two teams of twelve people.

<ORIGIN> from Marathi khō-khō.

Khomeini /xmeni/ Ruhollah (1900–89), Iranian Shiite Muslim leader; known as Ayatollah Khomeini. After sixteen years in exile he returned to Iran in 1979 to lead an Islamic revolution which overthrew the shah. He established Iran as a fundamentalist Islamic republic and relentlessly pursued the Iran–Iraq War 1980–8.

Khonsu /knsu/ [EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY] a moon god worshipped especially at Thebes, a member of a triad as the divine son of Amun and Mut.

Khorramshahr /xrəmα/ an oil port on the Shatt al-Arab waterway in western Iran. It was almost totally destroyed during the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–8. Former name (until 1924) MOHAMMERAH.

khoum /kum/ n. a monetary unit of Mauritania, equal to one fifth of an ouguiya.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic ums ‘one fifth’.

Khrushchev /krtf krstf/ Nikita (Sergeevich) (1894–1971), Soviet statesman, Premier of the USSR 1958–64. He was First Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR 1953–64 after the death of Stalin, whom he denounced in 1956. He came close to war with the US over the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and also clashed with China, which led to his being ousted by Brezhnev and Kosygin.

<DERIVATIVES> Khrushchevian adj.

khula /kulα/ n. [mass noun] (in Islamic law) a form of divorce initiated by the wife, which is effected by the return of her husband's wedding gift. Compare with TALAQ.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic ul ‘retreat, renunciation’.

Khulna /klnα/ an industrial city in southern Bangladesh, on the Ganges delta; pop. 1,190,000 (est. 2002).

Khunjerab Pass /knjərαb/ a high-altitude pass through the Himalayas, on the Karakoram highway at a height of 4,900 m (16,088 ft), linking China and Pakistan.

khus-khus /ksks/ n. another term for VETIVER.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Urdu and Persian asas.

Khyber Pass /kbə/ a mountain pass in the Hindu Kush, on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan at a height of 1,067 m (3,520 ft). In the past the pass was of great commercial and strategic importance and formed the route by which successive invaders entered India; it was garrisoned by the British intermittently between 1839 and 1947.

kHz abbr. kilohertz.

kiaat /kαt/ n. a tree with fragrant yellow flowers and useful timber that resembles teak, native to tropical and southern Africa.

<INFO> Pterocarpus angolensis, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: via Dutch from Malay kayu jati ‘teak wood’.

kiang /ka/ n. an animal of a large race of the Asian wild ass with a thick furry coat, native to the Tibetan plateau.

<INFO> Equus hemionus kiang, family Equidae; sometimes treated as a separate species. Compare with ONAGER, KULAN.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Tibetan kyang.

Kiangsi /kjasi/ variant of JIANGXI.

Kiangsu /kjasu/ variant of JIANGSU.

kia ora /kə rə/ exclam. (in New Zealand) a greeting wishing good health.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

kiasu /kiəsu/ SE Asian n. a grasping, selfish attitude.

■ adj. (of a person) very anxious not to miss an opportunity; grasping.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese, ‘scared to lose’.

kibble^1 /kb(ə)l/ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. kibbled) grind or chop (beans, grain, etc.) coarsely.

■ n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN ground meal shaped into pellets, especially for pet food.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: of unknown origin.

kibble^2 /kb(ə)l/ n. BRITISH an iron hoisting bucket used in mines.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle High German kübel, from medieval Latin cupellus ‘corn measure’, diminutive of cuppa ‘cup’.

kibbutz /kbts/ n. (pl. kibbutzim /-tsim/) a communal settlement in Israel, typically a farm.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from modern Hebrew qibbū ‘gathering’.

kibbutznik /kbtsnk/ n. a member of a kibbutz.

kibe /kb/ n. an ulcerated chilblain, especially one on the heel.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

kibitka /kbtkə/ n. 1 a type of covered Russian sledge.

2 a circular tent, covered with felt, formerly used by Tartars.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Russian, from Tartar and Kyrgyz kibit (from Arabic qubbat ‘dome’) + the Russian suffix -ka.

kibitz /kbts/ v. [no obj.] INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN 1 look on and offer unwelcome advice, especially at a card game.

2 speak informally; chat: she kibitzed with friends.

<DERIVATIVES> kibitzer n.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: Yiddish, from colloquial German, from German Kiebitz ‘interfering onlooker’ (literally ‘lapwing’).

kibosh /kb/ (also kybosh) n. (in phrase put the kibosh on) INFORMAL put an end to; dispose of decisively: he put the kibosh on the deal.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

kick^1 v. 1 [with obj. and adverbial] strike or propel forcibly with the foot: police kicked down the door | [with obj. and complement] he kicked the door open.

- [no obj.] strike out with the foot or feet: she kicked out at him | [with obj.] he kicked his feet free of a vine.

- (chiefly in rugby) score (a goal) by a kick.

2 [with obj.] INFORMAL succeed in giving up (a habit or addiction).

3 [no obj.] (of a gun) recoil when fired.

■ n. 1 a blow or forceful thrust with the foot: a kick in the head.

- (in sport) an instance of striking the ball with the foot: Ball blasted the kick wide.

- BRITISH (chiefly in rugby) a player of specified kicking ability.

2 [in sing.] a sudden forceful jolt: the shuttle accelerated with a kick.

- the recoil of a gun when discharged.

- [BILLIARDS] & [SNOOKER] an irregular movement of the ball caused by dust.

3 INFORMAL the sharp stimulant effect of alcohol or a drug.

- a thrill of pleasurable, often reckless excitement: rich kids turning to crime just for kicks | I get such a kick out of driving a racing car.

- [with modifier] a temporary interest in a particular thing: the jogging kick.

<PHRASES>

□ kick against the pricks see PRICK.

□ kick (some) ass (or butt) NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG act in a forceful or aggressive manner.

□ kick someone's ass (or butt) NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG punish, dominate, or defeat someone.

□ a kick at the can (or cat) CANADIAN INFORMAL an opportunity to achieve something.

□ kick the bucket INFORMAL die.

□ kick one's heels see heel^1.

□ a kick in the pants (or up the backside) INFORMAL an unwelcome surprise that prompts fresh effort: the competition will be healthy—we need a kick in the pants.

□ kick someone in the pants (or up the backside) INFORMAL prompt someone to make fresh effort.

□ a kick in the teeth INFORMAL a grave setback or disappointment.

□ kick someone in the teeth INFORMAL cause someone a grave setback or disappointment.

□ kick something into touch BRITISH INFORMAL reject something firmly. [<ORIGIN> with reference to rugby, the ball in touch being out of play.]

□ kick oneself be annoyed with oneself for doing something foolish or missing an opportunity.

□ kick over the traces see trace^2.

□ kick the SHIT out of VULGAR SLANG see SHIT.

□ kick up a fuss (or a stink) INFORMAL object loudly or publicly to something.

□ kick up one's heels see heel^1.

□ kick someone upstairs INFORMAL remove someone from an influential position by giving them an ostensible promotion.

□ kick someone when they are down cause further misfortune to someone who is already in a difficult situation.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ kick against protest against or resist (something).

□ kick around (or about) (of a thing) lie unwanted or unexploited: the idea has been kicking around for over a year.

- (of a person) drift idly from place to place.

□ kick someone around treat someone roughly or without respect.

□ kick something around (or about) discuss a proposal informally.

□ kick back NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be at leisure; relax.

□ kick down BRITISH change quickly into a lower gear in a car with an automatic transmission by a sudden full depression of the accelerator.

□ kick in come into effect or operation: the hospital's emergency generators kicked in.

□ kick something in NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL contribute something, especially money.

□ kick off 1 (of a football match) be started or resumed by a player kicking the ball from the centre spot.

- (of a team or player) begin or resume a match by kicking the ball from the centre spot.

- (also kick something off) INFORMAL begin or cause something to begin.

2 BRITISH INFORMAL become angry.

□ kick someone out INFORMAL expel or dismiss someone.

□ kick up (of the wind) become stronger.

<DERIVATIVES> kickable adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

kick^2 n. ARCHAIC an indentation in the bottom of a glass bottle, diminishing the internal capacity.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: of unknown origin.

kick-and-rush adj. denoting soccer played vigorously but with little skill.

Kickapoo /kkəpu/ n. (pl. same or Kickapoos) 1 a member of an American Indian people formerly living in Wisconsin, and now in Kansas, Oklahoma, and northern central Mexico.

2 [mass noun] the Algonquian language of the Kickapoo, now nearly extinct.

■ adj. relating to the Kickapoo or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Kickapoo kiikaapoa.

kick-ass adj. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN forceful, vigorous, and aggressive.

kickback n. 1 a sudden forceful recoil.

2 INFORMAL an illicit payment made to someone in return for facilitating a transaction or appointment.

kickball n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN an informal game combining elements of baseball and soccer, in which a soccer ball is thrown to a person who kicks it and proceeds to run the bases.

kick-boxing n. [mass noun] a form of martial art which combines boxing with elements of karate, in particular kicking with bare feet.

<DERIVATIVES> kick-boxer n.

kick-down n. BRITISH a device for changing gear in a motor vehicle with automatic transmission by full depression of the accelerator.

kick drum n. INFORMAL a bass drum played using a pedal.

kicker n. 1 a person or animal that kicks.

- the player in a team who scores or gains positional advantage by kicking.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an unexpected and unwelcome discovery or turn of events: the kicker was you couldn't get a permit.

- an extra clause in a contract.

3 INFORMAL a small outboard motor.

4 (in poker) a high third card retained in the hand with a pair at the draw.

kicking n. an assault in which the victim is kicked repeatedly: they gave him a good kicking.

■ adj. INFORMAL lively and exciting: their seriously kicking debut, ‘Paradise’.

kicking strap n. 1 a strap used to prevent a horse from kicking.

2 [SAILING] a rope lanyard fixed to a boom to prevent it from rising.

kick-off n. the start or resumption of a football match, in which a player kicks the ball from the centre spot.

- INFORMAL the start of an event or activity.

kick plate n. a metal plate at the base of a door or panel to protect it from damage or wear.

kick-pleat n. an inverted pleat in a narrow skirt to allow freedom of movement.

kickshaw n. ARCHAIC a fancy but insubstantial cooked dish, especially one of foreign origin.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN an elegant but insubstantial trinket.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French quelque chose ‘something’. The French spelling was common in the 17th century; the present form results from interpretation of quelque chose as plural.

kicksorter n. INFORMAL a device for analysing electrical pulses according to amplitude.

kickstand n. a metal rod attached to a bicycle or motorcycle, lying horizontally when not in use, that may be kicked into a vertical position to support the vehicle when it is stationary.

kick-start v. [with obj.] start (a motorcycle engine) with a downward thrust of a pedal.

- provide an impetus to start or resume (a process): they need to kick-start the economy.

■ n. a device to start an engine by the downward thrust of a pedal, as in older motorcycles.

- an act of kick-starting an engine.

- an impetus given to start or resume a process: new investment will provide the kick-start needed to escape from recession.

kick-turn n. [SKIING] a turn carried out while stationary by lifting first one and then the other ski through 180°.

- (in skateboarding) a turn performed with the front wheels lifted off the ground.

kicky adj. (kickier, kickiest) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL exciting; fashionable.

kid^1 n. 1 INFORMAL a child or young person.

- used as an informal form of address: we'll be seeing ya, kid!

2 a young goat.

- [mass noun] leather made from a young goat's skin: [as modifier] white kid gloves.

■ v. (kids, kidding, kidded) [no obj.] (of a goat) give birth.

<PHRASES>

□ kids' stuff (North American kid stuff) INFORMAL a thing regarded as very easy or simple to do: all this was kids' stuff compared to the directing.

□ our kid BRITISH INFORMAL one's younger brother or sister (often used as a form of address): come here, our kid.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in sense 2 of the noun): from Old Norse kith, of Germanic origin; related to German Kitze.

kid^2 v. (kids, kidding, kidded) [with obj.] INFORMAL deceive (someone) in a playful way; tease: you're kidding me!

- [with obj. and clause] fool (someone) into believing something: he likes to kid everyone he's the big macho tough guy.

- [no obj.] (kid around) behave in a silly way.

<PHRASES>

□ no kidding used to emphasize the truth of a statement: no kidding, she's gone.

<DERIVATIVES> kidder n. kiddingly adv.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from KID^1, expressing the notion ‘make a child or goat of’.

kid^3 n. ARCHAIC a small wooden tub, especially a sailor's mess tub for grog or rations.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: perhaps a variant of kit^1.

kid brother n. INFORMAL one's younger brother.

Kidd William (1645–1701), Scottish pirate; known as Captain Kidd. Sent to the Indian Ocean in 1695 in command of an anti-pirate expedition, Kidd became a pirate himself. In 1699 he went to Boston in the hope of obtaining a pardon, but was arrested and later hanged in London.

Kidderminster /kdəmnstə/ a town in west central England, in Worcestershire, on the River Stour; pop. 56,800 (est. 2002).

Kidderminster carpet n. a reversible carpet made of two cloths of different colours woven together.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: named after KIDDERMINSTER, a centre of carpet-making.

kiddie (also kiddy) n. (pl. kiddies) INFORMAL a young child.

kiddiewink n. BRITISH HUMOROUS a small child.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: a familiar extension of KIDDIE.

kiddle /kd(ə)l/ n. a dam or other barrier in a river, with an opening fitted with nets to catch fish.

- an arrangement of fishing nets hung on stakes along the seashore to catch fish.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French quidel.

kiddo n. (pl. kiddos or kiddoes) INFORMAL a friendly or slightly condescending form of address.

kiddush /kd/ n. a ceremony of prayer and blessing over wine, performed by the head of a Jewish household at the meal ushering in the Sabbath (on a Friday night) or a holy day, or at the lunch preceding it.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Hebrew qiddūš ‘sanctification’.

kideo n. (pl. kideos) a television programme, video, or video game made specifically for children.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from KID^1, on the pattern of video.

kid gloves plural n. gloves made of fine kid leather.

- (also kid-glove) [as modifier] used in reference to careful and delicate treatment of a person or situation: the star is getting kid-glove treatment.

<PHRASES>

□ handle (or treat) someone or something with kid gloves deal with someone or something very carefully or tactfully.

kidnap v. (kidnaps, kidnapping, kidnapped; US also kidnaps, kidnaping, kidnaped) [with obj.] abduct (someone) and hold them captive, typically to obtain a ransom.

■ n. [mass noun] the action of kidnapping someone: they were arrested for robbery and kidnap.

<DERIVATIVES> kidnapper n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: back-formation from kidnapper, from KID^1 + slang nap ‘nab, seize’.

kidnapping n. an act of abducting someone and holding them captive: the recent kidnapping of a Dutch industrialist.

kidney n. (pl. kidneys) 1 each of a pair of organs in the abdominal cavity of mammals, birds, and reptiles, that excrete urine.

- [mass noun] the kidney of a sheep, ox, or pig as food.

The kidneys' main function is to purify the blood by removing nitrogenous waste products and excreting them in the urine. They also control the fluid and ion levels in the body, by excreting any excesses. In the past the kidneys were thought to control disposition and temperament.

2 [mass noun] nature or temperament: I hoped that he would not prove of similar kidney.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of obscure origin.

kidney bean n. a kidney-shaped bean, especially a dark red one from a dwarf French bean plant.

kidney dialysis n. see DIALYSIS.

kidney dish n. a kidney-shaped dish used as a receptacle in an operating theatre or doctor's surgery.

kidney machine n. an apparatus that performs the functions of the human kidney (outside the body), when one or both organs are damaged; an artificial kidney or dialysis machine.

kidney ore n. [mass noun] haematite occurring in rounded, kidney-shaped masses.

kidney-shaped adj. shaped like a kidney, with one side concave and the other convex and with rounded ends.

kidney stone n. a hard mass formed in the kidneys, typically consisting of insoluble calcium compounds; a renal calculus.

kidney tubule n. [ANATOMY] each of the long, fine, convoluted tubules conveying urine from the glomeruli to the renal pelvis in the vertebrate kidney. Water and salts are reabsorbed into the blood along their length. Also called RENAL TUBULE, URINIFEROUS TUBULE.

kidney vetch n. a yellow- or orange-flowered grassland plant of the pea family. Native to Europe and the Mediterranean, it is sometimes grown as a fodder crop. Also called LADY'S FINGER.

<INFO> Anthyllis vulneraria, family Leguminosae.

kidney worm n. a parasitic nematode worm which infests the kidneys of mammals.

<INFO> Several species in the class Phasmida, in particular Stephanurus dentatus (in pigs) and the large Dioctophyma renale (in humans and other mammals).

kidology /kdlədi/ n. [mass noun] INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH the art or practice of deliberately deceiving or teasing people.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: formed irregularly from the verb kid^2 + -LOGY.

kid sister n. INFORMAL one's younger sister.

kidskin n. another term for kid^1 (sense 2 of the noun).

kidstakes /kdsteks/ plural n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL nonsense; pretence.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: probably a humorous formation based on slang kid ‘humbug’.

kidult n. INFORMAL an adult with childish tastes.

- [mass noun] [often as modifier] a genre of television programmes, films, or games intended to appeal to both children and ADULTs: high-tech kidult entertainment.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: blend of kid^1 and adult.

kidvid n. [mass noun] INFORMAL children's television or video entertainment.

kiekie /kiki/ n. a New Zealand climbing plant with edible bracts, and leaves which are used for basket-making and weaving.

<INFO> Freycinetia banksii, family Pandanaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori.

Kiel /kil/ a naval port in northern Germany, capital of Schleswig-Holstein, on the Baltic Sea coast at the eastern end of the Kiel Canal; pop. 231,700 (est. 2002).

kielbasa /kilbasə/ n. [mass noun] a type of highly seasoned Polish sausage, typically containing garlic.

<ORIGIN> Polish, literally ‘sausage’.

Kiel Canal a man-made waterway, 98 km (61 miles) in length, in NW Germany, running westwards from Kiel to Brunsbüttel at the mouth of the Elbe. It connects the North Sea with the Baltic and was constructed in 1895 to provide the German navy with a shorter route between these two seas.

Kielce /kjεltsə/ an industrial city in southern Poland; pop. 210,956 (est. 2002).

kier /kə/ n. a vat.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old Norse ker ‘container, tub’.

kierie /kri/ n. (pl. kieries) S. AFRICAN a short, thick stick with a knobbed head, traditionally used as a club or missile by the indigenous peoples of South Africa.

<ORIGIN> from Khoikhoi kirri ‘walking stick’.

Kierkegaard /kəkəαd/ Søren (Aabye) (1813–55), Danish philosopher. A founder of existentialism, he affirmed the importance of individual experience and choice and believed one could know God only through a ‘leap of faith’, and not through doctrine. Notable works: Either-Or (1843) and The Sickness unto Death (1849).

<DERIVATIVES> Kierkegaardian adj.

kieselguhr /kiz(ə)lə/ n. [mass noun] a form of diatomaceous earth used in various manufacturing and laboratory processes, chiefly as a filter, filler, or insulator.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, from Kiesel ‘gravel’ + dialect Guhr (literally ‘yeast’) used to denote a loose earthy deposit, found in the cavities of rocks.

kieserite /kizərt/ n. [mass noun] a fine-grained white mineral consisting of hydrated magnesium sulphate, occurring often in salt mines.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the name of Dietrich G. Kieser (1779–1862), German physician, + -ITE^1.

Kieslowski /kslfski/ Krzysztof (1941–96), Polish film director. Noted for their mannered style and their artistic, philosophical nature, his films include the series Dekalog (1988), each film being a visual interpretation of one of the Ten Commandments, and the trilogy Three Colours (1993–4).

Kiev /kiεf/ the capital of Ukraine, an industrial city and port on the River Dnieper; pop. 2,602,000 (est. 2001). Founded in the 8th century, it became capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1934. In 1991 it became capital of independent Ukraine.

kif /kf/ (also kef) n. [mass noun] a substance, especially cannabis, smoked to produce a drowsy state.

■ adj. S. African INFORMAL very good (used as a general term of approval): that T-shirt's kif.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Arabic kayf ‘enjoyment, well-being’.

Kigali /kαli/ the capital of Rwanda; pop. 290,600 (est. 2002).

kike /kk/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an offensive term for a Jewish person.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

Kikládhes /kiklaεs/ Greek name for CYCLADES.

kikoi /kk/ n. (pl. kikois) [mass noun] a distinctive East African striped cloth with an end fringe.

- [count noun] a garment made of kikoi, worn around the waist.

<ORIGIN> Kiswahili.

Kikongo /kkə/ n. [mass noun] either of two similar Bantu languages spoken in Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), and adjacent areas, with around 4.7 million speakers altogether.

■ adj. relating to Kikongo.

<ORIGIN> the name in Kikongo.

Kikuyu /kkuju/ n. (pl. same or Kikuyus) 1 a member of a people forming the largest ethnic group in Kenya.

2 [mass noun] the Bantu language of the Kikuyu, with over 5 million speakers.

3 (kikuyu or kikuyu grass) a creeping perennial grass which is native to Kenya and cultivated elsewhere as a lawn and fodder grass.

<INFO> Pennisetum clandestinum, family Gramineae.

■ adj. relating to the Kikuyu or their language.

<ORIGIN> a local name.

Kilauea /kilaeə/ a volcano with a crater roughly 8 km (5 miles) long by 5 km (3 miles) broad on the island of Hawaii, situated on the eastern flanks of Mauna Loa at an altitude of 1,247 m (4,090 ft).

Kildare /kldε/ a county of the Republic of Ireland, in the east, in the province of Leinster; county town, Naas.

kilderkin /kldəkn/ n. a cask for liquids or other substances, holding 16 or 18 gallons.

- this amount as a unit of measurement.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle Dutch kinderkin, variant of kinerkijn, diminutive of kintal (see QUINTAL).

kilim /klim kilm/ (also kelim) n. a flat-woven carpet or rug made in Turkey, Kurdistan, and neighbouring areas.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: via Turkish from Persian gelīm.

Kilimanjaro, Mount /klməndαrə/ an extinct volcano in northern Tanzania. It has twin peaks, the higher of which, Kibo (5,895 m, 19,340 ft), is the highest mountain in Africa.

Kilkenny /klkεni/ a county of the Republic of Ireland, in the south-east, in the province of Leinster.

- the county town of Kilkenny; pop. 19,500 (est. 2002).

Kilkenny cats two cats which, according to legend, fought until only their tails remained.

kill v. [with obj.] 1 cause the death of (a person, animal, or other living thing): her father was killed in a car crash | [no obj.] a robber armed with a shotgun who kills in cold blood.

- [no obj.] (kill out) (of an animal) yield (a specified amount of meat) when slaughtered.

2 put an end to or cause the failure or defeat of (something): his stunning last-minute goal killed off any hopes of a Chester comeback.

- stop (a computer programme or process).

- INFORMAL switch off (a light or engine).

- INFORMAL delete (a line, paragraph, or file) from a document or computer.

- (in soccer or other ball games) make (the ball) stop: after killing the ball with his chest, he brushed past Reeves.

- [TENNIS] hit (the ball) so that it cannot be returned.

- neutralize or subdue (an effect or quality): the sauce would kill the taste of the herbs.

- INFORMAL consume the entire contents of (a bottle containing an alcoholic drink).

3 INFORMAL overwhelm (someone) with an emotion: the suspense is killing me.

- (kill oneself) overexert oneself: I killed myself carrying those things home.

- cause pain or anguish to: my feet are killing me.

4 pass (time, or a specified amount of it), typically while waiting for a particular event: when he reached the station he found he actually had an hour to kill.

■ n. [usually in sing.] an act of killing, especially of one animal by another: a lion has made a kill.

- an animal or animals killed: the vulture is able to survey the land and locate a fresh kill.

- INFORMAL an act of destroying or disabling an enemy aircraft, submarine, etc.

<PHRASES>

□ be in at the kill be present at or benefit from the successful conclusion of an enterprise.

□ go (or move in or close in) for the kill take ruthless or decisive action to turn a situation to one's advantage.

□ if it kills one INFORMAL whatever the problems or difficulties involved: we are going to smile and be pleasant if it kills us.

□ kill oneself laughing INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH be overcome with laughter.

□ kill or cure BRITISH (of a remedy for a problem) likely to either work well or fail catastrophically, with no possibility of partial success: the spring Budget will be kill or cure.

□ kill two birds with one stone PROVERB achieve two aims at once.

□ kill someone with (or by) kindness spoil someone by overindulging them.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘strike, beat’, also ‘put to death’): probably of Germanic origin and related to QUELL. The noun originally denoted a stroke or blow.

Killarney /klαni/ a town in the south-west of the Republic of Ireland, in County Kerry, famous for the beauty of the nearby lakes and mountains; pop. 12,500 (est. 2002).

Killarney fern n. a rare bristle fern which grows on rocks by streams in a few parts of western Europe.

<INFO> Trichomanes speciosum, family Hymenophyllaceae.

killdeer /kldə/ (also killdeer plover) n. a widespread American plover with a plaintive call that resembles its name.

<INFO> Charadrius vociferus, family Charadriidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: imitative of its call.

killer n. 1 a person, animal, or thing that kills: [as modifier] a killer virus.

2 INFORMAL a formidable, impressive or difficult thing: his new novel is a killer.

- a hilarious joke.

3 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an animal that has been selected for slaughter.

killer app n. INFORMAL a feature, function, or application of a new technology or product which is presented as virtually indispensable or much superior to rival products.

killer bee n. INFORMAL, chiefly US an Africanized honeybee. See Africanize (sense 2).

killer cell n. [PHYSIOLOGY] a white blood cell (a type of lymphocyte) which destroys infected or cancerous cells.

killer instinct n. a ruthless determination to succeed or win.

killer whale n. a large toothed whale with distinctive black-and-white markings and a prominent dorsal fin. It lives in groups that hunt fish, seals, and penguins cooperatively. Also called ORCA.

<INFO> Orcinus orca, family Delphinidae.

kill file [COMPUTING] n. (in a Usenet program) a file into which one may put particular email addresses or keywords, posts from or containing which are then automatically deleted without being displayed.

■ v. (killfile) [with obj.] place (something) in a kill file.

killick /klk/ n. a heavy stone used by small craft as an anchor.

- a small anchor.

- British NAUTICAL SLANG a leading seaman. [<ORIGIN> so named because the leading seaman's badge bore the symbol of an anchor.]

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: of unknown origin.

killifish /klf/ n. (pl. same or killifishes) a small toothcarp of fresh or brackish water, typically brightly coloured. They are mainly native to America and include many popular aquarium fishes.

<INFO> Families Cyprinodontidae (or Fundulidae), which includes numerous genera of egg-laying killifishes, and Poeciliidae, which includes a few live-bearing species.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: apparently from KILL and fish^1.

killing n. an act of causing death, especially deliberately.

■ adj. 1 causing death: a killing disease.

2 INFORMAL exhausting or unbearable: a killing schedule.

- DATED extremely funny.

<PHRASES>

□ make a killing INFORMAL have a great financial success.

<DERIVATIVES> killingly adv.

killing field n. (usually killing fields) a place where a heavy loss of life has occurred, typically as the result of massacre or genocide.

killing zone (also kill zone) n. 1 the area of a military engagement with a high concentration of fatalities.

2 an area of the human body where entry of a projectile would cause death, especially as indicated on a target for shooting practice.

killjoy n. a person who deliberately spoils the enjoyment of others.

kill ratio n. the proportion of casualties on each side in a military action.

Kilmarnock /klmαnək/ a town in west central Scotland, administrative centre of East Ayrshire; pop. 43,900 (est. 2002).

kiln n. a furnace or oven for burning, baking, or drying, especially one for calcining lime or firing pottery.

<ORIGIN> Old English cylene, from Latin culina ‘kitchen, cooking stove’.

kiln-dry v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. kiln-dried) dry (a material such as wood or sand) in a kiln.

Kilner jar /klnə/ n. TRADEMARK a glass preserving jar with a metal lid which forms an airtight seal, used to bottle fruit and vegetables.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from the name of the manufacturing company.

kilo n. (pl. kilos) 1 a kilogram.

2 RARE a kilometre.

3 a code word representing the letter K, used in radio communication.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, abbreviation of kilogramme, kilomètre.

kilo- /klə kilə/ combining form (used commonly in units of measurement) denoting a factor of 1,000: kilojoule | kilolitre.

<ORIGIN> via French from Greek khilioi ‘thousand’.

kilobase (abbr.: kb) n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] (in expressing the lengths of nucleic acid molecules) one thousand bases.

kilobit (abbr.: Kb or KB) n. a unit of computer memory or data equal to 1,024 bits.

kilobyte (abbr.: Kb or KB) n. [COMPUTING] a unit of memory or data equal to 1,024 bytes.

kilocalorie (abbr.: kcal) n. a unit of energy of one thousand calories (equal to one large calorie).

kilocycle (abbr.: kc) n. a former measure of frequency, equivalent to 1 kilohertz.

kilogram (also kilogramme) (abbr.: kg) n. the SI unit of mass, equivalent to the international standard kept at Sèvres near Paris (approximately 2.205 lb).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French kilogramme (see KILO-, gram^1).

kilohertz (abbr.: kHz) n. a measure of frequency equivalent to 1,000 cycles per second.

kilojoule (abbr.: kJ) n. 1,000 joules, especially as a measure of the energy value of foods.

kilolitre (US kiloliter) (abbr.: kl) n. 1,000 litres (equivalent to 220 imperial gallons).

kilometre /kləmitə klmtə/ (US kilometer) (abbr.: km) n. a metric unit of measurement equal to 1,000 metres (approximately 0.62 miles).

<DERIVATIVES> kilometric adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French kilomètre (see KILO-, metre^1).

<USAGE> There are two possible pronunciations for kilometre: one with the stress on the ki- and the other with the stress on the -lo-. The first is traditionally considered correct, with a stress pattern similar to other units of measurement such as centimetre. The second pronunciation, which originated in US English and is now also very common in British English, is still regarded as incorrect by some people, especially in British English.

kiloton (also kilotonne) n. a unit of explosive power equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT.

kilovolt (abbr.: kV) n. 1,000 volts.

kilowatt (abbr.: kW) n. a measure of one thousand watts of electrical power.

kilowatt-hour (abbr.: kWh) n. a measure of electrical energy equivalent to a power consumption of one thousand watts for one hour.

Kilroy a mythical person, popularized by American servicemen in the Second World War, who left such inscriptions as ‘Kilroy was here’ on walls all over the world.

<ORIGIN> of the many unverifiable accounts of the source of the term, one claims that James J. Kilroy of Halifax, Massachusetts, a shipyard employee, wrote ‘Kilroy was here’ on sections of warships after inspection; the phrase is said to have been reproduced by shipyard workers who entered the armed services.

kilt n. a knee-length skirt of pleated tartan cloth, traditionally worn by men as part of Scottish Highland dress and now also worn by women and girls.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 gather (a garment or material) in vertical pleats: (as adj. kilted) kilted skirts.

2 (usually kilt something up) tuck up one's skirts around one's body.

<DERIVATIVES> kilted adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘tuck up around the body’): of Scandinavian origin; compare with Danish kilte (op) ‘tuck (up)’ and Old Norse kilting ‘a skirt’. The noun dates from the mid 18th cent.

kilter n. (in phrase out of kilter) out of harmony or balance: daylight saving throws everybody's body clock out of kilter.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: of unknown origin.

kiltie /klti/ (also kilty) n. INFORMAL a person who wears a kilt (often used as a humorous or slightly derogatory term for a Scot).

Kimberley /kmbəli/ 1 a city in South Africa, the capital of Northern Cape; pop. 192,800 (est. 2002). It has been a diamond-mining centre since the early 1870s. [<ORIGIN> named after the 1st Earl of Kimberley, a British Colonial Secretary.]

2 (also the Kimberleys) a plateau region in the far north of Western Australia. It was the scene of a gold rush in 1885.

kimberlite /kmbəlt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a rare, blue-tinged, coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock sometimes containing diamonds, found in South Africa and Siberia. Also called BLUE GROUND.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from KIMBERLEY + -ITE^1.

kimchi /kmti/ n. [mass noun] a Korean dish of spicy pickled cabbage.

<ORIGIN> Korean.

Kim Il-sung /km ls/ (1912–94), Korean communist statesman, first Premier of North Korea 1948–72 and President 1972–94; born Kim Song-ju. He precipitated the Korean War (1950–3), and remained committed to the reunification of the country. He maintained a one-party state and created a personality cult around himself and his family; on his death he was quickly replaced in power by his son Kim Jong-il (b.1942).

kimono /kmənə/ n. (pl. kimonos) a long, loose traditional Japanese robe with wide sleeves, tied with a sash.

- a similar garment worn elsewhere as a dressing gown.

<DERIVATIVES> kimonoed adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: Japanese, from ki ‘wearing’ + mono ‘thing’.

Ki-moon Ban, see Ban Ki-moon.

kin n. [treated as plural] one's family and relations: many elderly people have no kin to turn to for assistance.

■ adj. [predic.] (of a person) related: he was kin to the brothers.

<DERIVATIVES> kinless adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English cynn, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kunne, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘give birth to’, shared by Greek genos and Latin genus ‘race’.

-kin suffix forming diminutive nouns such as bumpkin, catkin.

<ORIGIN> from Middle Dutch -kijn, -ken, Middle Low German -kīn.

kina^1 /kinə/ n. (pl. same) the basic monetary unit of Papua New Guinea, equal to 100 toea.

<ORIGIN> Papuan.

kina^2 /kinə/ n. (pl. same) an edible sea urchin occurring on New Zealand coasts.

<INFO> Evechinus chloroticus, class Echinoidea.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

Kinabalu, Mount /knəbəlu/ a mountain in the state of Sabah in eastern Malaysia, on the north coast of Borneo. Rising to 4,094 m (13,431 ft), it is the highest peak of Borneo and of SE Asia.

kinaesthesia /knsθizə kn-/ (US kinesthesia) n. [mass noun] awareness of the position and movement of the parts of the body by means of sensory organs (proprioceptors) in the muscles and joints.

<DERIVATIVES> kinaesthetic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kinein ‘to move’ + aisthēsis ‘sensation’.

kinase /knez/ n. [usually with modifier] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme that catalyses the transfer of a phosphate group from ATP to a specified molecule.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek kinein ‘to move’ + -ASE.

Kincardineshire /knkαdnə -ə/ a former county of eastern Scotland. In 1975 it became part of Grampian region and in 1996 part of Aberdeenshire.

Kinchinjunga /kntndə/ variant of KANCHENJUNGA.

kind^1 n. 1 a group of people or things having similar characteristics: all kinds of music | more data of this kind would be valuable.

- [mass noun] character or nature: the trials were different in kind from any that preceded them.

2 each of the elements (bread and wine) of the Eucharist: communion in both kinds.

<PHRASES>

□ in kind 1 in the same way; with something similar: if he responded positively, they would respond in kind.

2 (of payment) in goods or services as opposed to money.

□ one's (own) kind people with whom one has a great deal in common.

□ someone's kind used to express disapproval of a certain type of person: I don't apologize to her kind ever.

□ kind of INFORMAL rather; to some extent: it got kind of cosy.

□ a kind of something resembling: teaching based on a kind of inspired guesswork.

□ nothing of the kind not at all like the thing in question: my son had done nothing of the kind before.

- used to express an emphatic denial: ‘He made you do that?’ ‘He did nothing of the kind.’.

□ of its kind within the limitations of its class: this new building was no doubt excellent of its kind.

□ of a kind used to indicate that something is not as good as it might be expected to be: there is tribute, of a kind, in such popularity.

□ one of a kind unique.

□ something of the kind something like the thing in question: they had always suspected something of the kind.

□ two (or three, four, etc.) of a kind the same or very similar: she and her sister were two of a kind.

- (of cards) having the same face value but of a different suit.

<ORIGIN> Old English cynd(e), gecynd(e), of Germanic origin; related to KIN. The original sense was ‘nature, the natural order’, also ‘innate character, form, or condition’ (compare with kind^2); hence ‘a class or race distinguished by innate characteristics’.

<USAGE> The plural of kind often causes difficulty. With this or that, speaking of one kind, use a singular construction: this kind of question is not relevant; that kind of fabric doesn't need ironing. With these or those, speaking of more than one kind, use a plural construction: we refuse to buy these kinds of books; I've given up those kinds of ideas. The ungrammatical use these kind rather than these kinds (as in these kind of questions are not relevant) has been recorded since the 14th century, and although often encountered today, it should be avoided.

kind^2 adj. having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature: she was a good, kind woman | he was very kind to me.

- [predic.] used in a polite request: would you be kind enough to repeat what you said?

- (kind to) (of a consumer product) gentle on (a part of the body): look for rollers that are kind to hair.

- ARCHAIC affectionate or loving.

<ORIGIN> Old English gecynde ‘natural, native’; in Middle English the earliest sense is ‘well born or well bred’, whence ‘well disposed by nature, courteous, gentle, benevolent’.

kinda INFORMAL contraction kind of: I think it's kinda funny.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century (originally US): alteration.

kinder /kndə/ n. AUSTRALIAN INFORMAL short for KINDERGARTEN.

kindergarten /kndəαt(ə)n/ n. (in Britain and Australia) an establishment where children below the age of compulsory education play and learn; a nursery school.

- (in North America) a class or school that prepares children, usually five- or six-year-olds, for the first year of formal education.

<DERIVATIVES> kindergartener (US also kindergartner) n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, literally ‘children's garden’.

kind-hearted adj. having a kind and sympathetic nature.

<DERIVATIVES> kind-heartedly adv. kind-heartedness n.

kindle^1 /knd(ə)l/ v. [with obj.] set (something) on fire.

- arouse or inspire (an emotion or feeling): a love of art was kindled in me.

- [no obj.] (of an emotion) be aroused: she hesitated, suspicion kindling within her.

<DERIVATIVES> kindler n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: based on Old Norse kynda, influenced by Old Norse kindill ‘candle, torch’.

kindle^2 /knd(ə)l/ v. [no obj.] (of a hare or rabbit) give birth.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: apparently a frequentative of kind^1.

kindliness n. [mass noun] the quality of being kind, warm-hearted, or gentle; kindness.

kindling n. [mass noun] 1 small sticks or twigs used for lighting fires.

2 (in neurology) a process by which a seizure or other brain event is both initiated and its recurrence made more likely.

kindly adv. in a kind manner: ‘Never mind,’ she said kindly.

- please (used in a polite request or demand, often ironically): would you kindly explain what you're talking about?

■ adj. (kindlier, kindliest) kind, warm-hearted, or gentle: he was a quiet, kindly man.

<PHRASES>

□ look kindly on regard (someone or something) sympathetically.

□ not TAKE kindly to not welcome or be pleased by: she does not take kindly to criticism.

□ take something kindly like or be pleased by something.

□ thank someone kindly thank someone very much.

<ORIGIN> Old English: adverb from gecyndelīce ‘naturally, characteristically’ (see kind^2, -ly^2); adjective from gecyndelīc ‘natural’ (see kind^1, -ly^1).

kindness n. [mass noun] the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate: he thanked them for their kindness and support.

- [count noun] a kind act: it would be a kindness on your part to invite her.

kindred /kndrd/ n. [treated as plural] one's family and relations.

- [mass noun] relationship by blood: ties of kindred.

■ adj. [attr.] similar in kind; related: books on kindred subjects.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from KIN + -red (from Old English rden ‘condition’), with insertion of -d- in the modern spelling through phonetic development (as in thunder).

kindred spirit n. a person whose interests or attitudes are similar to one's own.

kindy /kndi/ n. (pl. kindies) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL short for KINDERGARTEN.

kine /kn/ plural n. ARCHAIC cows collectively.

kinematics /knmatks kn-/ plural n. [usually treated as sing.] the branch of mechanics concerned with the motion of objects without reference to the forces which cause the motion. Compare with DYNAMICS.

- [usually treated as plural] the features or properties of motion in an object, regarded in such a way.

<DERIVATIVES> kinematic adj. kinematically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kinēma, kinēmat- ‘motion’ (from kinein ‘to move’) + -ICS.

kinematic viscosity n. [MECHANICS] a quantity representing the dynamic viscosity of a fluid per unit density.

kinescope /knskəp/ n. US DATED a television tube.

- a film recording of a television broadcast.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: originally a proprietary name, from Greek kinēsis ‘movement’ + -SCOPE.

kinesics /knisks k-/ plural n. [usually treated as sing.] the study of the way in which certain body movements and gestures serve as a form of non-verbal communication.

- [usually treated as plural] body movements and gestures regarded as a form of non-verbal communication.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek kinēsis ‘motion’ (from kinein ‘to move’) + -ICS.

kinesiology /knislədi k-/ n. [mass noun] the study of the mechanics of body movements.

<DERIVATIVES> kinesiological adj. kinesiologist n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek kinēsis ‘movement’ (from kinein ‘to move’) + -LOGY.

kinesis /kniss k-/ n. (pl. kineses) [mass noun] movement; motion.

- [count noun] [BIOLOGY] an undirected movement of a cell, organism, or part in response to an external stimulus. Compare with TAXIS.

- [ZOOLOGY] mobility of the bones of the skull, as in some birds and reptiles.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Greek kinēsis ‘movement’, from kinein ‘to move’.

kinetic /knεtk k-/ adj. relating to or resulting from motion.

- (of a work of art) depending on movement for its effect.

<DERIVATIVES> kinetically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kinētikos, from kinein ‘to move’.

kinetic art n. [mass noun] a form of art that depends on movement for its effect. The term was coined by Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner in 1920 and is associated with the work of Alexander Calder.

kinetic energy n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] energy which a body possesses by virtue of being in motion. Compare with POTENTIAL ENERGY.

kinetics /knεtks k-/ plural n. [usually treated as sing.] the branch of chemistry or biochemistry concerned with measuring and studying the rates of reactions.

- [usually treated as plural] the rates of chemical or biochemical reaction.

- [PHYSICS] another term for dynamics (sense 1).

kinetic theory n. [mass noun] the body of theory which explains the physical properties of matter in terms of the motions of its constituent particles.

kinetin /kntn/ n. [mass noun] a synthetic compound similar to kinin, used to stimulate cell division in plants.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek kinetos ‘movable’ (from kinein ‘to move’) + -IN^1.

kineto- combining form relating to movement.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kinētos ‘movable’.

kinetochore /knitək k-/ n. another term for CENTROMERE.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from KINETO- ‘of movement’ + Greek khōros ‘place’.

kinetoplast /knitəplast -plαst k-/ n. [BIOLOGY] a mass of mitochondrial DNA lying close to the nucleus in some flagellate protozoa.

kinetoscope /knitəskəp k-/ n. an early motion-picture device in which the images were viewed through a peephole.

kinfolk plural n. another term for KINSFOLK.

King^1 B. B. (b.1925), American blues singer and guitarist; born Riley B. King. An established blues performer, he came to the notice of a wider audience in the late 1960s, when his style of guitar playing was imitated by rock musicians.

King^2 Billie Jean (b.1943), American tennis player. She won a record twenty Wimbledon titles, including six singles titles (1966–8; 1972–3; 1975), ten doubles titles, and four mixed doubles titles.

King^3 Martin Luther (1929–68), American Baptist minister and civil rights leader. He opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing non-violent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations and was a notable orator. He was assassinated in Memphis. Nobel Peace Prize (1964).

King^4 Stephen (Edwin) (b.1947), American writer. He is best known for his novels of horror and suspense, including The Shining (1977) and Misery (1987), many of which have been made into films.

King^5 William Lyon Mackenzie (1874–1950), Canadian Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1921–6, 1926–30, and 1935–48. The grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie, he played an important role in establishing the status of the self-governing nations of the Commonwealth.

king n. 1 the male ruler of an independent state, especially one who inherits the position by right of birth: [as title] King Henry VIII.

- a person or thing regarded as the finest or most important in their sphere or group: a country where football is king | the king of rock.

- (the King) DATED (in the UK) the national anthem when there is a male sovereign.

- [attr.] used in names of animals and plants that are particularly large, e.g. king cobra.

2 the most important chess piece, of which each player has one, which the opponent has to checkmate in order to win. The king can move in any direction, including diagonally, to any adjacent square that is not attacked by an opponent's piece or pawn.

- a piece in draughts with extra capacity for moving, made by crowning an ordinary piece that has reached the opponent's baseline.

- a playing card bearing a representation of a king, normally ranking next below an ace.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] ARCHAIC make (someone) king.

2 [no obj.] (king it) DATED act in an unpleasantly superior and domineering way: he kings it over the natives on his atoll.

<PHRASES>

□ a king's ransom see RANSOM.

□ live like a king (or queen) live in great comfort and luxury.

<DERIVATIVES> kinghood n. kingless adj. kinglike adj. kingship n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cyning, cyng, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch koning and German König, also to KIN.

King Alfred's cakes plural n. another term for CRAMP BALLS.

kingbird n. a large American tyrant flycatcher, typically with a grey head and back and yellowish or white underparts.

<INFO> Genus Tyrannus, family Tyrannidae: several species.

kingbolt n. a kingpin in a mechanical structure.

King Charles spaniel n. a spaniel of a small breed, typically with a white, black, and tan coat.

king cobra n. a brownish cobra with an orange-cream throat patch, native to the Indian subcontinent. It is the largest of all venomous snakes. Also called HAMADRYAD.

<INFO> Ophiophagus hannah, family Elapidae.

king crab n. 1 another term for HORSESHOE CRAB.

2 NORTH AMERICAN an edible crab of the North Pacific, resembling a spider crab.

<INFO> Genus Paralithodes, family Lithodidae.

kingcraft n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the art of ruling as a king, especially with reference to the use of clever or crafty diplomacy in dealing with subjects.

kingcup n. British term for MARSH MARIGOLD.

kingdom n. 1 a country, state, or territory ruled by a king or queen.

- a realm associated with or regarded as being under the control of a particular person or thing: the kingdom of dreams.

2 the spiritual reign or authority of God.

- the rule of God or Christ in a future age.

- heaven as the abode of God and of the faithful after death.

3 each of the three traditional divisions (animal, vegetable, and mineral) in which natural objects have conventionally been classified.

- [BIOLOGY] the highest category in taxonomic classification.

<PHRASES>

□ come into (or to) one's kingdom achieve recognition or supremacy.

□ till (or until) kingdom come INFORMAL forever.

□ to kingdom come INFORMAL into the next world: the truck was blown to kingdom come.

<ORIGIN> Old English cyningdōm ‘kingship’ (see KING, -dom).

King Edward n. an oval potato of a variety with a white skin mottled with red.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: named after King Edward VII.

king eider n. an Arctic eider duck, the male of which has a red bill and colourful plumage on the head.

<INFO> Somateria spectabilis, family Anatidae.

kingfish n. (pl. same or kingfishes) any of a number of large sporting fish, many of which are edible:

<INFO>

- a fish of the jack family (Carangidae), including the yellowtail kingfish (Seriola grandis) of the South Pacific.

- (northern kingfish) a fish of the drum family (Menticirrhus saxatilis, family Sciaenidae), of the east coast of North America.

- a western Atlantic fish of the mackerel family (Scomberomorus cavalla, family Scombridae).

kingfisher n. an often brightly coloured bird with a large head and long sharp beak, typically diving for fish from a perch. Many of the tropical kinds live in forests and feed on terrestrial prey such as insects and lizards.

<INFO> Family Alcedinidae: many genera and numerous species, e.g. the small river kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), with bright blue and orange plumage, found from Europe to Australasia.

kingfisher blue n. [mass noun] a brilliant blue colour.

king-hit AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL n. a sudden knockout blow.

■ v. [with obj.] punch (someone) suddenly and hard.

King in Council n. (in the UK) in the reign of a king, the term for QUEEN IN COUNCIL.

King James Bible (also King James Version) n. another name for AUTHORIZED VERSION.

kingklip /kklp/ n. a cusk-eel of South African waters, which is an important commercial food fish.

<INFO> Genypterus capensis, family Ophidiidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: abbreviation of kingklipfish, partly translating Afrikaans koningklipvis ‘king rock fish’.

King Kong n. INFORMAL someone or something of outstanding size or strength: a King Kong of a man | [as modifier] a King Kong spider legged it across the floor.

<ORIGIN> from the name of a huge apelike monster featuring in the film King Kong (1933).

kinglet n. 1 chiefly DEROGATORY a minor king.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a very small warbler of a group that includes the goldcrest, having an orange or yellow crown.

<INFO> Genus Regulus, family Sylviidae: several species, e.g. the American golden-crowned kinglet (R. satrapa).

King Log n. a ruler or leader noted for extreme laxity.

<ORIGIN> from a classical fable in which the frogs wanted a king, and Jupiter gave them a log of wood; when they complained, he sent them a stork, which promptly gobbled them up. See also KING STORK.

kingly adj. (kinglier, kingliest) associated with or typical of a king; regal: his kingly duties.

<DERIVATIVES> kingliness n.

kingmaker n. a person who brings leaders to power through the exercise of political influence.

<ORIGIN> used originally with reference to the Earl of Warwick (see Warwick^2).

King of Arms n. [HERALDRY] (in the UK) a chief herald. Those now at the College of Arms are the Garter, Clarenceux, and Norroy and Ulster Kings of Arms; the Lyon King of Arms has jurisdiction in Scotland.

king of beasts n. chiefly LITERARY the lion.

king of birds n. chiefly LITERARY the eagle.

King of Kings n. 1 (in the Christian Church) a name or form of address for God.

2 a title assumed by certain kings who rule over lesser kings.

King of the Castle n. [mass noun] BRITISH a children's game in which the object is to beat one's rivals to an elevated position at the top of a mound or other high place.

king of the herrings n. another term for ALLIS SHAD and OARFISH.

king penguin n. a large penguin native to the Falklands and other Antarctic islands.

<INFO> Aptenodytes patagonica, family Spheniscidae.

kingpin n. 1 a main or large bolt in a central position.

- a vertical bolt used as a pivot.

2 a person or thing that is essential to the success of an organization or operation: the kingpins of the television industry.

king post n. an upright post in the centre of a roof truss, extending from the tie beam to the apex of the truss.

king prawn n. a large edible prawn which is of great commercial value.

<INFO> Genus Penaeus, class Malacostraca.

Kings the name of two books of the Bible, recording the history of Israel from the accession of Solomon to the destruction of the Temple in 586 BC.

King's Bench n. (in the UK) in the reign of a king, the term for QUEEN'S BENCH.

king's bishop n. [CHESS] each player's bishop on the kingside of the board at the start of a game.

King's bounty n. HISTORICAL (in the UK) a sum of money given from royal funds to a mother who had had a multiple birth of three or more.

Kings Canyon National Park a national park in the Sierra Nevada, California, to the north of Sequoia National Park. Established in 1940, it preserves groves of ancient sequoia trees, including some of the largest in the world.

King's Champion n. another term for CHAMPION OF ENGLAND.

King's Counsel (abbr.: KC) n. (in the UK) in the reign of a king, the term for QUEEN'S COUNSEL.

King's English n. in the reign of a king, the term for QUEEN'S ENGLISH.

King's evidence n. in the reign of a king, the term for QUEEN'S EVIDENCE.

king's evil n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC scrofula, formerly held to be curable by the royal touch.

King's highway n. in the reign of a king, the term for QUEEN'S HIGHWAY.

kingside n. [CHESS] the half of the board on which both kings stand at the start of a game (the right-hand side for White, left for Black).

king-sized (also king-size) adj. (especially of a commercial product) of a larger size than the standard; very large: a king-sized bed.

king's knight n. [CHESS] each player's knight on the kingside of the board at the start of a game.

Kingsley /kzli/ Charles (1819–75), English novelist and clergyman. He is remembered for his historical novel Westward Ho! (1855) and for his classic children's story The Water-Babies (1863).

kingsnake n. a large, smooth-scaled North American constrictor which typically has shiny dark brown or black skin with lighter markings.

<INFO> Genus Lampropeltis, family Colubridae: several species, in particular L. getulus. Compare with MILK SNAKE.

king's pawn n. [CHESS] the pawn occupying the square immediately in front of each player's king at the start of a game.

king's rook n. [CHESS] each player's rook on the kingside of the board at the start of a game.

king's shilling n. a shilling formerly given to a recruit when enlisting in the army during the reign of a king.

<PHRASES>

□ take the King's shilling see SHILLING.

King's Speech n. (in the UK) in the reign of a king, the term for QUEEN'S SPEECH.

Kingston 1 the capital and chief port of Jamaica; pop. 538,900 (est. 2002). Founded in 1693, it became capital in 1870.

2 a port in SE Canada, on Lake Ontario, at the head of the St Lawrence River; pop. 114,195 (2001); metropolitan area pop. 146,838 (2001).

3 (also Kingston upon Thames) a town and London borough on the south bank of the Thames, county town of Surrey.

Kingston upon Hull official name for HULL.

King Stork n. a tyrannical ruler or leader noted for extremes of oppression. See KING LOG.

Kingstown the capital and chief port of St Vincent in the Caribbean; pop. 17,400 (est. 2002).

kinin /knn/ n. 1 [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a group of substances formed in body tissue in response to injury. They are polypeptides and cause vasodilation and smooth muscle contraction.

2 [BOTANY] a compound that promotes cell division and inhibits ageing in plants. Also called CYTOKININ.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Greek kinein ‘to move’ + -IN^1.

kink n. 1 a sharp twist or curve in something that is otherwise straight: a kink in the road.

- a flaw or obstacle in a plan, operation, etc.: though the system is making some headway, there are still some kinks to iron out.

- a quirk of character or behaviour.

2 NORTH AMERICAN a crick in the neck.

■ v. form or cause to form a sharp twist or curve: [no obj.] the river kinks violently in a right angle | [with obj.] take care to avoid kinking the wire.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Middle Low German kinke, probably from Dutch kinken ‘to kink’.

kinkajou /kkədu/ n. an arboreal nocturnal fruit-eating mammal with a prehensile tail and a long tongue, found in the tropical forests of Central and South America.

<INFO> Potos flavus, family Procyonidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from French quincajou, alteration of CARCAJOU.

Kinki /kiki/ a region of Japan, on the island of Honshu; capital, Osaka.

kinky adj. (kinkier, kinkiest) 1 INFORMAL involving or given to unusual sexual behaviour.

- (of clothing) sexually provocative in an unusual way: kinky underwear.

2 having kinks or twists: long and kinky hair.

<DERIVATIVES> kinkily adv. kinkiness n.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (in sense 2): from KINK + -Y^1.

Kinneret, Lake /knərεt/ another name for the Sea of Galilee (see GALILEE, SEA OF).

kinnikinnick /knknk/ (also kinnikinnic or kinnikinnik) n. [mass noun] a substance used by North American Indians as a substitute for tobacco or for mixing with it, typically consisting of dried sumac leaves and the inner bark of willow or dogwood.

- [count noun] NORTH AMERICAN the bearberry, which was also sometimes used in kinnikinnick.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from a Delaware (Unami) word meaning ‘admixture’.

kino /kinə/ n. [mass noun] a gum obtained from certain tropical trees by tapping, used locally as an astringent in medicine and in tanning.

<INFO> The trees belong to genera in various families, in particular Pterocarpus and Butea (family Leguminosae).

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: apparently from a West African language.

Kinorhyncha /knə()rkə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a small phylum of minute marine invertebrates that have a spiny body and burrow in sand or mud.

<DERIVATIVES> kinorhynch /knə()rk/ n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek kinein ‘set in motion’ + rhunkos ‘snout’.

Kinross-shire /knrsə -ə/ a former county of east central Scotland.

-kins suffix equivalent to -KIN, often expressing endearment.

kin selection n. [mass noun] [ZOOLOGY] natural selection in which an apparently disadvantageous characteristic (especially altruistic behaviour) increases in the population due to increased survival of individuals genetically related to those possessing the characteristic.

Kinsey /knzi/ Alfred Charles (1894–1956), American zoologist and sex researcher. He carried out pioneering studies into sexual behaviour by interviewing large numbers of people. His best-known work, Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male (1948, also known as the Kinsey Report), was controversial but highly influential.

kinsfolk (also kinfolk) plural n. (in anthropological or formal use) a person's blood relations, regarded collectively.

- a group of people related by blood.

Kinshasa /knαsə -αzə/ the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), a port on the River Congo, in the south-west; pop. 6,301,100 (est. 2002). Founded in 1881 by the explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley, it became the country's capital in 1960. Former name (until 1966) Léopoldville.

kinship n. [mass noun] blood relationship.

- [count noun] a sharing of characteristics or origins: they felt a kinship with architects.

kinship group n. [ANTHROPOLOGY] a family, clan, or other group based on kinship.

kinsman (or kinswoman) n. (pl. kinsmen or kinswomen) (in anthropological or formal use) one of a person's blood relations.

Kintyre /kntə/ a peninsula on the west coast of Scotland, to the west of Arran, extending southwards for 64 km (40 miles) into the North Channel and separating the Firth of Clyde from the Atlantic Ocean. Its southern tip is the Mull of Kintyre.

kiosk /kisk/ n. 1 a small open-fronted hut or cubicle from which newspapers, refreshments, tickets, etc. are sold.

2 (usually telephone kiosk) BRITISH a public telephone booth.

3 ARCHAIC (in Turkey and Iran) a light open pavilion or summer house.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in the sense ‘pavilion’): from French kiosque, from Turkish köşk ‘pavilion’, from Persian kuš.

kip^1 INFORMAL n. 1 BRITISH a sleep or nap: I might have a little kip | [mass noun] he was trying to get some kip.

- chiefly SCOTTISH a bed.

2 IRISH an unpleasant, dirty, or sordid place: he couldn't get a start in this kip of a city.

■ v. (kips, kipping, kipped) [no obj.] BRITISH sleep: he can kip on her sofa.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in the sense ‘brothel’): perhaps related to Danish kippe ‘hovel, tavern’.

kip^2 n. (in leather-making) the hide of a young or small animal.

- a set or bundle of such hides.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: perhaps related to Middle Dutch kip, kijp ‘bundle (of hides)’.

kip^3 n. (pl. same or kips) the basic monetary unit of Laos, equal to 100 ats.

<ORIGIN> Thai.

kip^4 n. (in Australia) a small piece of wood from which coins are spun in the game of two-up.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps related to Irish cipin ‘small stick, dibble’.

Kipling (Joseph) Rudyard (1865–1936), British novelist, short-story writer, and poet. Born in India, he is known for his poems, such as ‘If’ and ‘Gunga Din’ and his children's tales, notably The Jungle Book (1894) and the Just So Stories (1902). Nobel Prize for Literature (1907).

<DERIVATIVES> Kiplingesque adj.

kippa /kpα/ (also kipa, kipah, or kippah) n. a skullcap worn by Orthodox male Jews.

<ORIGIN> from modern Hebrew kippāh.

kipper^1 n. 1 a kippered fish, especially a herring.

2 a male salmon in the spawning season.

■ v. [with obj.] (usually as adj. kippered) cure (a herring or other fish) by splitting it open and salting and drying it in the open air or in smoke.

<ORIGIN> Old English cypera (in sense 2 of the noun), of Germanic origin; related to Old Saxon kupiro, perhaps also to copper^1.

kipper^2 n. AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL an Aboriginal youth who has been initiated into manhood.

<ORIGIN> from Dharuk gibara, from giba ‘a stone’ (because of its use in the ceremonial extraction of teeth).

kipper tie n. a brightly coloured and very wide tie.

Kir /kə/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a drink made from dry white wine and cassis.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Canon Félix Kir (1876–1968), a mayor of Dijon who is said to have invented the recipe.

kirby grip /kəbi/ (also TRADEMARK Kirbigrip) n. BRITISH a type of hairgrip consisting of a thin folded and sprung metal strip or wire.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: named after Kirby, Beard & Co. Ltd, of Birmingham, England, the original manufacturers.

Kirchhoff /kəxhf/ German /krçhf/ Gustav Robert (1824–87), German physicist, a pioneer in spectroscopy. Working with Bunsen, he developed a spectroscope and discovered that solar absorption lines are specific to certain elements. He also developed the concept of black-body radiation and discovered the elements caesium and rubidium.

Kirchhoff's laws plural n. [PHYSICS] two laws concerning electric networks in which steady currents are flowing. The first law states that the algebraic sum of the currents in all the conductors that meet in a point is zero. The second law states that the algebraic sum of the products of current and resistance in each part of any closed path in a network is equal to the algebraic sum of the electromotive forces in the path.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after G. R.

■ Kirchhoff.

Kirchner /kəxnə/ German /krçn/ Ernst Ludwig (1880–1938), German expressionist painter. In 1905 he was a founder of the first group of German expressionists. His paintings are characterized by the use of bright, contrasting colours and angular outlines, and often depict claustrophobic street scenes.

Kirghizia /kəzə/ (also Kyrgyzia) former name for KYRGYZSTAN.

Kiribati /krbαti krbas/ a country in the SW Pacific including the Gilbert Islands, the Line islands, the Phoenix Islands, and Banaba (Ocean Island); pop. 96,335 (est. 2002); official languages, English and I-Kiribati (local Austronesian language); capital, Bairiki (on Tarawa).

Inhabited by Micronesian people, the islands were sighted by the Spaniards in the mid 16th century. Britain declared a protectorate over the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1892, and they became a colony in 1915. British links with the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu) ended in 1975, and in 1979 Kiribati became an independent republic within the Commonwealth.

Kirin /kirn/ variant of JILIN.

Kiritimati /krsməs krtmαti/ an island in the Pacific Ocean, one of the Line Islands of Kiribati; pop. 5,300 (est. 2002). The largest atoll in the world, it was discovered by Captain James Cook on Christmas Eve 1777 and was British until it became part of an independent Kiribati in 1979. Former name (until 1981) CHRISTMAS ISLAND.

kirk /kək/ n. Scottish & N. English 1 a church.

2 (the Kirk or the Kirk of Scotland) the Church of Scotland as distinct from the Church of England or from the Episcopal Church in Scotland.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old Norse kirkja, from Old English cirice (see CHURCH).

Kirkcaldy /kəkdi/ an industrial town and port in Fife, SE Scotland, on the north shore of the Firth of Forth; pop. 45,300 (est. 2002).

Kirkcudbright /kəkubri/ a town in Dumfries and Galloway, SW Scotland, on the River Dee; pop. 4,010 (est. 2001).

Kirkcudbrightshire /kəkubrə -ə/ a former county of SW Scotland. It became part of Dumfries and Galloway in 1975.

kirkman /kəkmən/ n. (pl. kirkmen) SCOTTISH a clergyman or member of the Church of Scotland.

Kirk session n. the lowest court in the Church of Scotland, composed of the minister and elders of the parish.

- HISTORICAL a court of this type in other Presbyterian Churches.

Kirkuk /kəkk/ an industrial city in northern Iraq, centre of the oil industry in that region; pop. 728,800 (est. 2002).

Kirkwall /kəkwl/ a port in the Orkney Islands; pop. 7,500 (est. 2001). Situated on Mainland, it is the chief town of the islands.

kirkyard n. SCOTTISH a churchyard.

Kirlian photography /kələn/ n. [mass noun] a technique for recording photographic images of corona discharges and hence, supposedly, the auras of living creatures.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from the name of Semyon D. and Valentina K. Kirlian, Russian electricians.

Kirman /kəmαn/ n. a carpet of a kind typically having soft, delicate colouring and naturalistic designs.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Kirman, the name of a province and town in SE Iran.

Kirov /kərf/ former name (1934–92) for Vyatka.

Kirovabad /kərəvəbad/ former name (1935–89) for Gäncä.

kirpan /kəpαn/ n. a short sword or knife with a curved blade, worn (sometimes in miniature form) as one of the five distinguishing signs of the Sikh Khalsa.

<ORIGIN> from Punjabi and Hindi kipān, from Sanskrit kpāa ‘sword’.

Kir royale /kə rαl/ n. a cocktail made from champagne or sparkling white wine and cassis.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘royal Kir’.

kirsch /kə/ (also kirschwasser /kəvasə/) n. [mass noun] brandy distilled from the fermented juice of cherries.

<ORIGIN> German, abbreviation of Kirschenwasser, from Kirsche ‘cherry’ + Wasser ‘water’.

kirtan /kətn/ n. [HINDUISM] a devotional song, typically about the life of Krishna, in which a group repeats lines sung by a leader.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit kīrtana.

kirtle /kət(ə)l/ n. ARCHAIC a woman's gown or outer petticoat.

- a man's tunic or coat.

<ORIGIN> Old English cyrtel, of Germanic origin, probably based on Latin curtus ‘short’.

Kiruna /kərnə/ the northernmost town of Sweden, situated in the Lapland iron-mining region; pop. 24,314 (2000).

Kirundi /krndi/ n. [mass noun] an official language of Burundi, belonging to the Bantu language family and spoken by around 5 million people.

kisan /ksαn/ n. INDIAN an agricultural worker; a peasant.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: Hindi kisān, from Sanskrit kāa ‘person who ploughs’.

Kisangani /ksaαni/ a city in the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), on the River Congo; pop. 510,300 (est. 2002). Former name (until 1966) STANLEYVILLE.

kish /k/ n. [mass noun] a scum of impure graphite, formed on molten iron during smelting.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of uncertain origin; compare with French dialect quiasse ‘scum on metal’ (French chiasse ‘insect excrement’).

Kishinyov /kiiəf/ Russian name for Chişinău.

kishke /kkə/ n. a beef intestine stuffed with a savoury filling.

- (usually kishkes) US INFORMAL a person's guts.

<ORIGIN> Yiddish, from Polish kiszka or Ukrainian kishka.

kiskadee /kskədi/ (also keskidee) n. a large tyrant flycatcher with a black-and-white-striped head and bright yellow breast, found mainly in tropical America.

<INFO> The greater kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus) and the lesser kiskadee (Philohydor lictor), family Tyrannidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: imitative of its call.

Kislev /kslεf/ (also Kislew) n. (in the Jewish calendar) the third month of the civil and ninth of the religious year, usually coinciding with parts of November and December.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew kislēw.

kismet /kzmεt -mt -s-/ n. [mass noun] destiny; fate: what chance did I stand against kismet?

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Turkish, from Arabic qisma ‘division, portion, lot’, from qasama ‘to divide’.

kiss v. [with obj.] 1 touch or caress with the lips as a sign of love, sexual desire, or greeting: he kissed her on the lips | [with obj. and complement] she kissed the children goodnight | [no obj.] we started kissing.

- [BILLIARDS] & [SNOOKER] (of a ball) lightly touch (another ball) in passing.

2 (kiss someone/thing off) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL dismiss or reject someone or something abruptly.

3 [no obj.] (kiss up to) NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL behave sycophantically or obsequiously towards (someone) in order to obtain something.

■ n. 1 a touch or caress with the lips: a quick kiss on the cheek.

- used to express affection at the end of a letter (conventionally represented by the letter X): she sent lots of love and a whole line of kisses.

2 [BILLIARDS] & [SNOOKER] a slight touch of a ball against another ball.

3 NORTH AMERICAN a small cake, biscuit, or sweet.

<PHRASES>

□ kiss and make up become reconciled.

□ kiss and tell recount one's sexual exploits, especially to the media concerning a famous person.

□ kiss someone's arse (or North American ass) VULGAR SLANG behave obsequiously towards someone.

□ kiss ass NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG behave in an obsequious or sycophantic way.

□ kiss something better INFORMAL comfort a sick or injured person, especially a child, by kissing the sore or injured part of their body as a gesture of removing pain.

□ kiss something goodbye (or kiss goodbye to something) INFORMAL accept the certain loss of something: I could kiss my career goodbye.

□ kiss of death an action or event that causes certain failure for an enterprise: it would be the kiss of death for the company if it could be proved that the food was unsafe.

□ kiss of life mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

- FIGURATIVE an action or event that revives a failing enterprise: good ratings gave the programme the kiss of life.

□ kiss of peace a ceremonial kiss given or exchanged as a sign of unity, especially the act of kissing the consecrated elements during the Christian Eucharist.

□ kiss the rod accept punishment submissively.

<DERIVATIVES> kissable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English cyssan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kussen and German küssen.

kiss-ass adj. NORTH AMERICAN VULGAR SLANG having or showing an obsequious or sycophantic eagerness to please.

kiss-curl n. a small curl of hair trained to lie flat on the forehead, at the nape of the neck, or in front of the ear.

kissel /ks(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] a Russian dessert made from fruit juice or purée boiled with sugar and water and thickened with potato or cornflour.

<ORIGIN> from Russian kisel′, from a base shared by kislyĭ ‘sour’.

kisser n. 1 a person who kisses someone, especially in a particular way: he's a good kisser. [<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from the verb KISS + -ER^1.]

2 INFORMAL a person's mouth: I belted him one, right on the kisser. [<ORIGIN> originally boxing slang.]

kissing bug n. a bloodsucking North American assassin bug which can inflict a painful bite on humans and often attacks the face.

<INFO> Melanolestes picipes, family Reduviidae, suborder Heteroptera.

kissing cousin n. a relative known well enough to be given a kiss in greeting.

kissing disease n. INFORMAL a disease transmitted by contact with infected saliva, especially mononucleosis.

Kissinger /ksndə/ Henry (Alfred) (b.1923), German-born American statesman and diplomat, Secretary of State 1973–7. In 1973 he helped negotiate the withdrawal of US troops from South Vietnam, for which he shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He later restored US diplomatic relations with Egypt in the wake of the Yom Kippur War and headed the commission investigating the attacks of September 11.

kissing gate n. BRITISH a small gate hung in a U- or V-shaped enclosure, letting one person through at a time.

kissing gourami n. an edible SE Asian freshwater fish which is widely kept in aquaria. Individuals sometimes press their fleshy lips together, probably as a threat display.

<INFO> Helostoma temminickii, family Helostomatidae.

kiss-off n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a rude or abrupt dismissal or rejection.

kissogram n. a novelty greeting or message delivered by a man or woman who accompanies it with a kiss, prearranged as a humorous surprise for the recipient.

kissy adj. INFORMAL characterized by or given to kissing; amorous: Dean and I were just getting kissy.

kissy-face n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a puckering of the lips as if to kiss someone.

<PHRASES>

□ play kissy-face engage in kissing or petting, especially in public.

kist n. 1 variant spelling of cist^1.

2 S. AFRICAN a chest used for storing clothes and linen. [<ORIGIN> South African Dutch, from Dutch.]

Kiswahili /kiswəhili kswα-/ n. another term for Swahili (sense 1 of the noun).

<ORIGIN> from the Bantu prefix ki- (used in names of languages) + SWAHILI.

kit^1 n. 1 a set of articles or equipment needed for a specific purpose: a first-aid kit.

- a set of articles forming part of a soldier's equipment.

- a set of all the parts needed to assemble something: an aircraft kit.

2 BRITISH the clothing used for an activity such as a sport: a football kit.

3 BRITISH a large basket, box, or other container, especially for fish.

■ v. [with obj.] (kit someone/thing out/up) chiefly BRITISH provide someone or something with the appropriate clothing or equipment: we were all kitted out in life jackets.

<PHRASES>

□ get one's kit off BRITISH INFORMAL take off all one's clothes.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Dutch kitte ‘wooden vessel’, of unknown origin. The original sense ‘wooden tub’ was later applied to other containers; the use denoting a soldier's equipment (late 18th century) probably arose from the idea of a set of articles packed in a container.

kit^2 n. the young of certain animals, such as the beaver, ferret, and mink.

- INFORMAL a kitten.

kit^3 n. HISTORICAL a small violin, especially one used by a dancing master.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: perhaps from Latin cithara (see CITTERN).

kitab /ktαb/ n. the Koran.

- (among Muslims) a sacred book of certain other religions, such as the Bible.

- INDIAN any book or text.

<ORIGIN> Arabic kitāb ‘piece of writing, book’.

Kitakyushu /kitəkjuu/ a port in southern Japan, on the north coast of Kyushu island; pop. 1,102,500 (est. 2002).

kitbag n. a long, cylindrical canvas bag, used especially for carrying a soldier's clothes and personal possessions.

kit car n. a car sold as a set of separate components, designed to be assembled by the purchaser.

kit-cat n. a canvas of a standard size (typically 36 × 28 in., 91.5 × 71 cm), especially as used for a life-size portrait (kit-cat portrait) showing the sitter's head, shoulders, and one or both hands.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: named after a series of portraits of the members of the KIT-CAT CLUB.

Kit-Cat Club an association of prominent Whigs and literary figures founded in the early part of the 18th century. According to Alexander Pope its members included Richard Steele, Joseph Addison, William Congreve, and John Vanbrugh.

<ORIGIN> named after Kit (= Christopher) Cat or Catling, who kept the pie house in Shire Lane, by Temple Bar, the original meeting place of the club.

kitchen n. 1 a room or area where food is prepared and cooked.

- a set of fitments and units that are sold together and fixed in place in a kitchen: a fully fitted kitchen at a bargain price.

- [in sing.] the cuisine of a particular country or region: the dried shrimp pastes of the Thai kitchen.

2 INFORMAL the percussion section of an orchestra.

3 [as modifier] (of a language) in an uneducated or domestic form: kitchen Swahili.

<PHRASES>

□ everything but the kitchen sink INFORMAL everything imaginable.

<ORIGIN> Old English cycene, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch keuken and German Küche, based on Latin coquere ‘to cook’.

kitchenalia plural n. cooking utensils and other items associated with the kitchen.

kitchen cabinet n. a group of unofficial advisers to the holder of an elected office who are considered to be unduly influential.

kitchen-diner n. a room used as both a kitchen and a dining room.

Kitchener^1 /ktnə/ a city in Ontario, southern Canada; pop. 192,300 (est. 2002); metropolitan area pop. 414,284 (2001). Settled by German Mennonites in 1806, as Dutch Sand Hills, it was renamed Berlin in 1830 and Kitchener in 1916, in honour of Field Marshal Kitchener.

Kitchener^2 /ktnə/ (Horatio) Herbert, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum (1850–1916), British soldier and statesman. At the outbreak of the First World War he was made Secretary of State for War. He had previously defeated the Mahdist forces at Omdurman in 1898, served as Chief of Staff in the Second Boer War, and been Commander-in-Chief (1902–9) in India.

kitchener n. HISTORICAL a range fitted with various appliances such as ovens, plate-warmers, water heaters, etc.

kitchenette n. a small kitchen or part of a room equipped as a kitchen.

kitchen garden n. a garden or area where vegetables, fruit, or herbs are grown for domestic use.

kitchen midden n. a prehistoric refuse heap which marks an ancient settlement, chiefly containing bones, shells, and stone implements.

kitchen paper n. [mass noun] BRITISH absorbent paper used for drying and cleaning.

kitchen police n. [usually treated as plural] US MILITARY SLANG enlisted men detailed to help the cook by washing dishes, peeling vegetables, and other kitchen duties.

kitchen porter n. a person employed to wash dishes and carry out other menial duties in the kitchen of a restaurant or hotel.

kitchen roll n. [mass noun] BRITISH kitchen paper.

kitchen-sink adj. [attr.] (of art forms) characterized by great realism in the depiction of drab or sordid subjects. The term is most used of post-war British drama, such as John Osborne's Look Back in Anger (1956) and Arnold Wesker's Roots (1959), which uses working-class domestic settings rather than the drawing rooms of conventional middle-class drama, and of a short-lived school of British social realist painters.

kitchen tea n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a party held before a wedding to which female guests bring items of kitchen equipment as presents for the bride-to-be.

kitchenware n. [mass noun] the utensils used in a kitchen.

kite n. 1 a toy consisting of a light frame with thin material stretched over it, flown in the wind at the end of a long string.

- British INFORMAL, DATED an aircraft.

- [SAILING], INFORMAL a spinnaker or other high, light sail.

2 a medium to large long-winged bird of prey which typically has a forked tail and frequently soars on updraughts of air.

<INFO> Milvus and other genera, family Accipitridae: many species, in particular the red kite and black kite.

3 INFORMAL a fraudulent cheque, bill, or receipt.

- an illicit or surreptitious letter or note.

- ARCHAIC a person who exploits or preys on others.

4 [GEOMETRY] a quadrilateral figure having two pairs of equal adjacent sides, symmetrical only about one diagonal.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (usually as n. kiting) fly a kite.

- [with adverbial of direction] fly; move quickly: he kited into England on Concorde.

2 [with obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL write or use (a cheque, bill, or receipt) fraudulently.

<PHRASES>

□ (as) high as a kite INFORMAL intoxicated with drugs or alcohol.

<ORIGIN> Old English cȳta (in sense 2 of the noun); probably of imitative origin and related to German Kauz ‘screech owl’. The toy was so named because it hovers in the air like the bird.

kite-flying n. [mass noun] 1 the action of flying a kite on a string.

- the action of trying something out to test public opinion.

2 INFORMAL the fraudulent writing or using of a cheque, bill, or receipt.

Kitemark n. TRADEMARK (in the UK) an official kite-shaped mark on goods approved by the British Standards Institution.

kitenge /ktεi/ n. [mass noun] an East African cotton fabric printed in various colours and designs with distinctive borders, used especially for women's clothing.

<ORIGIN> from Kiswahili kitengele.

kitesurfing (also kiteboarding) n. [mass noun] the sport or pastime of riding on a modified surfboard while holding on to a specially designed kite, using the wind for propulsion.

<DERIVATIVES> kitesurfer (also kiteboarder) n.

kit fox n. a small nocturnal fox with a yellowish-grey back and large, close-set ears, found in the deserts and steppes of the south-western US.

<INFO> Vulpes macrotis, family Canidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: kit probably from KIT^2 (because of its small size).

kith /kθ/ n. (in phrase kith and kin or kith or kin) one's relations: a widow without kith or kin.

<ORIGIN> Old English cȳthth, of Germanic origin; related to COUTH. The original senses were ‘knowledge’, ‘one's native land’, and ‘friends and neighbours’. The phrase kith and kin originally denoted one's country and relatives; later one's friends and relatives.

kitke /ktkə/ n. South African term for CHALLAH.

<ORIGIN> perhaps from Hebrew kikkār ‘loaf’.

kitsch /kt/ n. [mass noun] art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way: the lava lamp is a bizarre example of sixties kitsch | [as modifier] kitsch knickknacks.

<DERIVATIVES> kitschiness n. kitschy adj. (kitschier, kitschiest)

<ORIGIN> 1920s: German.

kitten n. 1 a young cat.

- the young of several other animals, such as the rabbit and beaver.

2 a stout furry grey and white moth, the caterpillar of which resembles that of the puss moth.

<INFO> Genus Furcula, family Notodontidae.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a cat or certain other animals) give birth.

<PHRASES>

□ have kittens BRITISH INFORMAL be extremely nervous or upset.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English kitoun, ketoun, from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French chitoun, diminutive of chat ‘cat’.

kitten heel n. a type of low stiletto heel.

kittenish adj. playful, lively, or flirtatious: her voice had that kittenish quality.

<DERIVATIVES> kittenishly adv. kittenishness n.

kittiwake /ktwek/ n. a small gull that nests in colonies on sea cliffs, having a loud call that resembles its name.

<INFO> Genus Rissa, family Laridae: two species, in particular the black-legged Rissa tridactyla of the North Atlantic and North Pacific.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (originally Scots): imitative of its call.

kittle /kt(ə)l/ (also kittle-cattle /kt(ə)lkat(ə)l/) adj. ARCHAIC difficult to deal with; prone to erratic behaviour.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from kittle ‘to tickle’ (now Scots and dialect), probably from Old Norse kitla.

kitty^1 n. (pl. kitties) 1 a fund of money for communal use, made up of contributions from a group of people.

- a pool of money in some gambling card games.

2 (in bowls) the jack.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (denoting a jail): of unknown origin.

kitty^2 n. (pl. kitties) a pet name or a child's name for a kitten or cat.

kitty-corner adj. & adv. North American another term for CATER-CORNERED.

Kitty Hawk a town on a narrow sand peninsula on the Atlantic coast of North Carolina from where, in 1903, the Wright brothers made the first powered aeroplane flight.

kitty party n. chiefly INDIAN a regular social gathering of women in which each member contributes money to a central pool and lots are drawn to decide which member will get the entire sum.

Kitwe /ktwe/ a city in the Copperbelt mining region of northern Zambia; pop. 305,000 (est. 2002).

Kitzbühel /ktsbjəl/ German /ktsbYəl/ a town in the Tyrol, western Austria; pop. 8,625 (2000). It is a popular winter sports resort.

kiva /kivə/ n. a chamber, built wholly or partly underground, used by male Pueblo Indians for religious rites.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Hopi kíva.

Kivu, Lake /kivu/ a lake in central Africa, on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire)–Rwanda frontier.

Kiwanis /kwαns/ (in full Kiwanis Club) n. a North American society of business and professional people formed to maintain commercial ethics and as a social and charitable organization.

<DERIVATIVES> Kiwanian n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: of unknown origin.

kiwi n. (pl. kiwis) 1 a flightless New Zealand bird with hair-like feathers, having a long downcurved bill with sensitive nostrils at the tip.

<INFO> Family Apterygidae and genus Apteryx: three species.

2 (Kiwi) INFORMAL a New Zealander.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori.

kiwi fruit n. (pl. same) a fruit with a thin hairy skin, green flesh, and black seeds. Formerly called CHINESE GOOSEBERRY.

<INFO> This fruit is obtained from the East Asian climbing plant Actinidia chinensis (family Actinidiaceae).

kJ abbr. kilojoule(s).

KKK abbr. Ku Klux Klan.

KL abbr. INFORMAL Kuala Lumpur.

kl abbr. kilolitre(s).

Klagenfurt /klαənfət/ German /klanfrt/ a city in southern Austria, capital of Carinthia; pop. 90,300 (2001).

Klaipeda /klpədə/ a city and port in Lithuania, on the Baltic Sea; pop. 202,528 (1999). Former name (1918–23 and 1941–4, when under German control) Memel.

Klamath /klaməθ/ n. (pl. same or Klamaths) 1 a member of an American Indian people of the Oregon–California border.

2 [mass noun] the Penutian language of the Klamath, now extinct or very nearly so.

■ adj. relating to the Klamath or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Chinook.

Klan n. the Ku Klux Klan or a large organization within it.

Klansman (or Klanswoman) n. (pl. Klansmen or Klanswomen) a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Klaproth /klaprət/ Martin Heinrich (1743–1817), German chemist, one of the founders of analytical chemistry. He discovered three new elements (zirconium, uranium, and titanium) in certain minerals, and contributed to the identification of others. A follower of Lavoisier, he helped to introduce the latter's new system of chemistry into Germany.

klatch /klat/ (also klatsch) n. NORTH AMERICAN an informal social gathering at which coffee is served.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from German Klatsch ‘gossip’.

Klausenburg /klaz(ə)nbə/ German /klaznbrk/ German name for Cluj–Napoca.

klaxon /klaks(ə)n/ n. TRADEMARK an electric horn or warning hooter.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of the manufacturing company.

klebsiella /klεbzεlə/ n. [mass noun] a bacterium which causes respiratory, urinary, and wound infections.

<INFO> Genus Klebsiella; non-motile Gram-negative rods.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from the name Klebs (see Klebs–Löffler bacillus).

Klebs–Löffler bacillus /klεbzləflə/ n. (pl. Klebs–Löffler bacilli) a bacterium that causes diphtheria in humans and similar diseases in other animals.

<INFO> Corynebacterium diphtheriae; non-motile Gram-positive rods.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Theodore A. E. Klebs (1834–1913) and Friedrich A. J. Löffler (1852–1915), German bacteriologists.

Klee /kle/ Paul (1879–1940), Swiss painter, resident in Germany 1906–33. He joined Kandinsky's Blaue Reiter group in 1912 and later taught at the Bauhaus (1920–33). His work is characterized by his sense of colour and moves freely between abstraction and figuration.

Kleenex n. (pl. same or Kleenexes) TRADEMARK an absorbent disposable paper tissue.

Klein^1 /kln/ Calvin (Richard) (b.1942), American fashion designer, known for his understated fashions for both men and women.

Klein^2 /kln/ Melanie (1882–1960), Austrian-born psychoanalyst. Klein was the first psychologist to specialize in the psychoanalysis of small children. Her discoveries led to an understanding of the more severe mental disorders found in children.

Klein bottle n. [MATHEMATICS] a closed surface with only one side, formed by passing one end of a tube through the side of the tube and joining it to the other end.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after Felix Klein (1849–1925), the German mathematician who first described it.

Klemperer /klεmpərə/ German /klεmpər/ Otto (1885–1973), German-born conductor and composer. He became an American citizen in 1937 and subsequently became known for his interpretations of Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler.

klepht /klεft/ n. 1 a Greek independence fighter, especially one who fought the Turks in the 15th century or during the war of independence (1821–8).

2 HISTORICAL a Greek brigand or bandit.

<ORIGIN> from modern Greek klephtēs, from Greek kleptēs ‘thief’. The original klephts led an outlaw existence in the mountains; those who maintained this after the war of independence became bandits.

kleptocrat /klεptə()krat/ n. a ruler who uses their power to steal their country's resources.

<DERIVATIVES> kleptocracy n. kleptocratic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Greek kleptēs ‘thief’ + -CRAT.

kleptomania /klεptə()menə/ n. [mass noun] a recurrent urge to steal, typically without regard for need or profit.

<DERIVATIVES> kleptomaniac n. & adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kleptēs ‘thief’ + -MANIA.

kleptoparasite n. [ZOOLOGY] a bird, insect, or other animal which habitually robs animals of other species of food.

<DERIVATIVES> kleptoparasitic adj. kleptoparasitism n.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: from Greek kleptēs ‘thief’ + PARASITE.

Klerksdorp /kləksdp/ a city in South Africa, in North West, south-west of Johannesburg; pop. 152,700 (est. 2002).

kletterschuh /klεtəu/ n. (pl. kletterschuhe) a light boot with a cloth or felt sole, worn especially for rock climbing.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German Kletterschuh ‘climbing shoe’.

klezmer /klεzmə/ n. (pl. klezmorim /-rm/) [mass noun] traditional eastern European Jewish music.

- [count noun] a musician who plays klezmer music.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: Yiddish, contraction of Hebrew kĕlē zemer ‘musical instruments’.

klick (also klik) n. INFORMAL a kilometre.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: of unknown origin; the term was originally used in the Vietnam War.

klieg /kli/ (also klieg light) n. a powerful electric lamp used in filming.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: named after the American brothers, Anton T. Kliegl (1872–1927) and John H. Kliegl (1869–1959), who invented it.

Klimt /klmt/ Gustav (1862–1918), Austrian painter and designer. Co-founder of the Vienna Secession (1897), he is known for his decorative and allegorical paintings and his portraits of women. Notable works: The Kiss (1908).

Klinefelter's syndrome /klnfεltəz/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a syndrome affecting males in which the cells have an extra X chromosome (in addition to the normal XY), characterized by a tall thin physique, small infertile testes, and enlarged breasts.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after Harry F. Klinefelter (born 1912), American physician.

Klingon /kln/ n. 1 a member of a warlike humanoid alien species in the US television series Star Trek and its derivatives and sequels.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Klingons.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: invented name.

klipfish /klpf kləp-/ n. a small bottom-dwelling fish, typically found in shallow water or rock pools.

<INFO> Clinus and other genera, family Clinidae: several species, in particular the brightly coloured C. superciliosus.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: partial translation of Dutch klipvis or Danish klipfisk ‘rock fish’.

klipspringer /klpsprə/ n. a small rock-dwelling antelope with a yellowish-grey coat, an arched back, and a stiff bouncing gait, native to southern Africa.

<INFO> Oreotragus oreotragus, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Afrikaans, from Dutch klip ‘rock’ + springer ‘jumper’.

Klondike /klndk/ 1 a tributary of the Yukon River, in Yukon Territory, NW Canada, which rises in the Ogilvie mountains and flows 160 km (100 miles) westwards to join the Yukon at Dawson. It gave its name to the surrounding region, which became famous when gold was found in nearby Bonanza Creek in 1896. In the ensuing gold rush of 1897–8 thousands settled in the area to mine gold.

- [as n.] a source of valuable material: the surrounding area was still an archaeological Klondike.

2 [as n.] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a form of the card game patience or solitaire.

klong /kl/ n. (in Thailand) a canal.

<ORIGIN> Thai.

kloof /kluf/ S. African n. a steep-sided, wooded ravine or valley.

■ v. [no obj.] (usually as n. kloofing) explore kloofs as a sport.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from Middle Dutch clove ‘cleft’.

Klosters /kləstəz/ German /kləsts/ an Alpine winter-sports resort in eastern Switzerland, near the Austrian border.

kludge /kld klud/ INFORMAL n. an ill-assorted collection of parts assembled to fulfil a particular purpose.

- [COMPUTING] a machine, system, or program that has been badly put together, especially a clumsy but temporarily effective solution to a particular fault or problem.

■ v. [with obj.] improvise or put together from an ill-assorted collection of parts.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: invented word, perhaps influenced by BODGE and FUDGE.

klutz /klts/ n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a clumsy, awkward, or foolish person.

<DERIVATIVES> klutziness n. klutzy adj. (klutzier, klutziest)

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Yiddish klots ‘wooden block’.

Kluxer /klksə/ n. a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

klystron /klstrn/ n. [PHYSICS] an electron tube that generates or amplifies microwaves by velocity modulation.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Greek kluzein, klus- ‘wash over’ + -TRON.

km abbr. kilometre(s).

K-meson n. another term for KAON.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from K (for KAON) + MESON.

km/h abbr. kilometres per hour.

kn. abbr. knot(s).

knack n. [usually in sing.] an acquired or natural skill at doing something: he had a knack for communicating.

- a tendency to do something: John had the enviable knack of falling asleep anywhere.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally denoting a clever or deceitful trick): probably related to obsolete knack ‘sharp blow or sound’, of imitative origin (compare with Dutch knak ‘crack, snap’).

knacker British n. 1 a person whose business is the disposal of dead or unwanted animals, especially those whose flesh is not fit for human consumption.

2 (knackers) VULGAR SLANG testicles.

3 IRISH INFORMAL an uncouth or loutish person.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. knackered) INFORMAL tire (someone) out: you look absolutely knackered.

- damage (something) severely: I knackered my ankle playing on Sunday.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (originally denoting a harness-maker, then a slaughterer of horses): possibly from obsolete knack ‘trinket’. The word also had the sense ‘old worn-out horse’ (late 18th century).

■ Sense 2 of the noun may be from dialect knacker ‘castanet’, from obsolete knack ‘make a sharp abrupt noise’, of imitative origin. It is unclear whether the verb represents a figurative use of ‘slaughter’, from sense 1 of the noun, or of ‘castrate’, from sense 2 of the noun.

knacker's yard n. BRITISH a place where old or injured animals are taken to be slaughtered.

knackwurst /nakwəst/ (also knockwurst) n. [mass noun] a type of short, fat, highly seasoned German sausage.

<ORIGIN> German, from knacken ‘make a cracking noise’ + Wurst ‘sausage’.

knag /na/ n. a short projection from the trunk or branch of a tree, such as a dead branch.

- a knot in wood.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Low German knagge.

knaidel /kned(ə)l/ (also kneidel) n. (pl. knaidlach /knedlax/ or knaidels) a type of dumpling eaten in Jewish households during Passover.

<ORIGIN> from Yiddish kneydel.

knap^1 /nap/ n. ARCHAIC the crest of a hill.

<ORIGIN> Old English cnæpp, cnæp.

knap^2 /nap/ v. (knaps, knapping, knapped) [with obj.] [ARCHITECTURE] & [ARCHAEOLOGY] shape (a piece of stone, typically flint) by striking it, so as to make a tool or weapon or a flat-faced stone for building walls.

- ARCHAIC strike with a hard short sound; knock.

<DERIVATIVES> knapper n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘to knock, rap’): imitative; compare with Dutch and German knappen ‘crack, crackle’.

knapsack n. a soldier's or hiker's bag with shoulder straps, carried on the back, and typically made of canvas or other weatherproof material.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Middle Low German, from Dutch knapzack, probably from German knappen ‘to bite’ + zak ‘sack’.

knapsack sprayer n. a sprayer consisting of a hand-held nozzle supplied from a pressurized reservoir that is carried on the back like a knapsack.

knapweed n. [mass noun] a tough-stemmed Eurasian plant that typically has purple thistle-like flower heads, occurring chiefly in grassland and on roadsides.

<INFO> Genus Centaurea, family Compositae: several species, including the widespread common (or lesser) knapweed (C. nigra) (also called HARDHEADS).

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (originally as knopweed): from KNOP (because of its hard rounded involucre or ‘head’) + WEED.

knar /nα/ n. ARCHAIC a knot or protuberance on a tree trunk or root.

<ORIGIN> Middle English knarre (denoting a rugged rock or stone); related to Middle Low German knarre ‘knobbly protuberance’; compare with KNUR.

knave /nev/ n. 1 ARCHAIC a dishonest or unscrupulous man.

2 (in cards) a jack.

<DERIVATIVES> knavery n. (pl. knaveries)

<ORIGIN> Old English cnafa ‘boy, servant’, of West Germanic origin; related to German Knabe ‘boy’.

knavish /nev/ adj. ARCHAIC dishonest or unscrupulous: his knavish tricks will be frustrated.

<DERIVATIVES> knavishly adv. knavishness n.

knawel /nl/ n. a low-growing inconspicuous plant of the pink family, which grows in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.

<INFO> Genus Scleranthus, family Caryophyllaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from German Knauel, Knäuel ‘knotgrass’.

knead v. [with obj.] work (moistened flour or clay) into dough or paste with the hands.

- make (bread or pottery) by such a process.

- massage or squeeze with the hands: she kneaded his back.

<DERIVATIVES> kneadable adj. kneader n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cnedan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kneden and German kneten.

knee n. 1 the joint between the thigh and the lower leg in humans.

- the corresponding or analogous joint in other animals.

- the upper surface of someone's thigh when they are sitting; a person's lap: they were eating their suppers on their knees.

- the part of a garment covering the knee.

2 an angled piece of wood or metal frame used to connect and support the beams and timbers of a wooden ship.

3 an abrupt obtuse or approximately right-angled bend in a graph between parts where the slope varies smoothly.

■ v. (knees, kneeing, kneed) [with obj.] hit (someone) with one's knee: she kneed him in the groin.

<PHRASES>

□ at one's mother's (or father's) knee at an early age.

□ bend (or bow) the (or one's) knee submit: a country no longer willing to bend its knee to foreign powers.

□ bring someone/thing to their/its knees reduce someone or something to a state of weakness or submission.

□ fall (or drop, or sink, etc.) to one's knees assume a kneeling position.

□ on bended knee(s) kneeling, especially in entreaty or worship: did your guy propose on bended knee?

□ on one's knees in a kneeling position.

- FIGURATIVE on the verge of collapse: when they took over, the newspaper was on its knees.

□ weak at the knees overcome by a strong feeling, typically desire.

<ORIGIN> Old English cnēow, cnēo, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch knie and German Knie, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin genu and Greek gonu.

kneeboard n. a short board for surfing or waterskiing in a kneeling position.

<DERIVATIVES> kneeboarder n. kneeboarding n.

knee breeches plural n. ARCHAIC short trousers worn by men and fastened at or just below the knee.

kneecap n. the convex bone in front of the knee joint; the patella.

■ v. (kneecaps, kneecapping, kneecapped) [with obj.] shoot (someone) in the knee or leg as a form of punishment.

knee-deep adj. & adv. of or at a depth or height to reach the knees: [as adj.] the snow was almost knee-deep | [as adv.] his leg plunged knee-deep into the water.

- [as adj.] having more than one needs or wants of something: we shall soon be knee-deep in conflicting legal views.

knee-high adj. & adv. so high as to reach the knees: [as adj.] knee-high boots | [as adv.] they were wading knee-high in the water.

■ n. (usually knee-highs) a nylon stocking with an elasticated top that reaches to a person's knee.

<PHRASES>

□ knee-high to a grasshopper INFORMAL very small or very young.

kneehole n. a space for the knees, especially one under a desk: [as modifier] a kneehole desk.

knee-jerk n. a sudden involuntary reflex kick caused by a blow on the tendon just below the knee.

■ adj. [attr.] (of a response) automatic and unthinking: a knee-jerk reaction.

- (of a person) responding to situations in an automatic and unthinking way: knee-jerk radicals.

kneel v. (past and past participle knelt or chiefly NORTH AMERICAN also kneeled) [no obj.] (of a person) be in or assume a position in which the body is supported by a knee or the knees, typically as a sign of reverence or submission: they knelt down and prayed.

<ORIGIN> Old English cnēowlian, from cnēow (see KNEE).

kneeler n. a person who kneels, especially in prayer.

- a cushion or bench for kneeling on.

knee-pan n. old-fashioned term for KNEECAP.

knee-slapper n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL an uproariously funny joke.

<DERIVATIVES> knee-slapping adj.

knees-up n. [in sing.] BRITISH INFORMAL a lively party or gathering.

knee-trembler n. INFORMAL an act of sexual intercourse between people in a standing position.

knell /nεl/ LITERARY n. [in sing.] the sound of a bell, especially when rung solemnly for a death or funeral.

- FIGURATIVE an announcement, event, or sound that is regarded as a warning of the end of something: emails and text messages are sounding the knell for the written word.

■ v. [no obj.] (of a bell) ring solemnly, especially for a death or funeral.

- [with obj.] proclaim (something) by or as if by a knell.

<ORIGIN> Old English cnyll (noun), cnyllan (verb), of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch knal (noun), knallen (verb) ‘bang, pop, crack’. The current spelling (dating from the 16th century) is perhaps influenced by bell^1.

knelt past and past participle of KNEEL.

Knesset /knεsεt/ the parliament of modern Israel, established in 1949. It consists of 120 members elected every four years.

<ORIGIN> Hebrew, literally ‘gathering’.

knew past of KNOW.

knickerbocker n. 1 (knickerbockers) loose-fitting breeches gathered at the knee or calf.

2 (Knickerbocker) INFORMAL a New Yorker.

- a descendant of the original Dutch settlers in New York.

<DERIVATIVES> knickerbockered adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally in sense 2): named after Diedrich Knickerbocker, pretended author of W. Irving's History of New York (1809).

■ Sense 1 is said to have arisen from the resemblance of knickerbockers to the knee breeches worn by Dutch men in George Cruikshank's illustrations in Irving's book.

Knickerbocker Glory n. BRITISH a dessert consisting of ice cream served with fruit, cream, and other sweet ingredients in a tall glass.

knickers plural n. 1 BRITISH a woman's or girl's undergarment, covering the body from the waist or hips to the top of the thighs and having two holes for the legs.

- [as exclamation] INFORMAL expressing contempt or annoyance: oh, knickers to the lot of them!

2 NORTH AMERICAN knickerbockers.

<PHRASES>

□ get one's knickers in a twist BRITISH INFORMAL become upset or angry.

<DERIVATIVES> knickerless adj.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century (in the sense ‘short trousers’): abbreviation of knickerbockers (see KNICKERBOCKER).

knick-knack (also nick-nack) n. (usually knick-knacks) small worthless objects, especially household ornaments.

<DERIVATIVES> knick-knackery n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the sense ‘a petty trick’): reduplication of KNACK.

knick point /nk/ (also nick point) n. [GEOLOGY] an abrupt change of gradient in the profile of a stream or river, typically due to a change in the rate of erosion.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: partial translation of German Knickpunkt, from Knick ‘bend’ + Punkt ‘point’.

knicks plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL short for KNICKERS.

knife n. (pl. knives) a cutting instrument composed of a blade and a handle into which it is fixed, either rigidly or with a joint.

- an instrument such as this used as a weapon.

- a cutting blade forming part of a machine.

■ v. [with obj.] stab (someone) with a knife: he was knifed to death during the argument.

- [no obj., with adverbial] cut or move cleanly through something with a knife-like action: a shard of steel knifed through the mainsail.

<PHRASES>

□ before you can say knife INFORMAL very quickly; almost instantaneously.

□ that one could cut with a knife (of an accent) very obvious or strong.

- (of an atmosphere) very tense or oppressive.

□ get (or stick) the knife into (or in) someone INFORMAL be malicious or vindictive towards someone.

□ go (or be) under the knife INFORMAL have surgery.

□ the knives are out (for someone) INFORMAL there is open hostility (towards someone).

□ like a (hot) knife through butter very easily; without any resistance or difficulty.

□ twist (or turn) the knife (in the wound) deliberately make someone's sufferings worse.

<DERIVATIVES> knife-like adj. knifer n.

<ORIGIN> late Old English cnīf, from Old Norse knífr, of Germanic origin.

knife block n. a block of wood or other solid material, containing long hollow grooves in which kitchen knives can be inserted up to the handle.

knife-edge n. 1 the edge of a knife.

- [as modifier] (of creases or pleats in a garment) very narrow or sharp.

2 [in sing.] a very tense or dangerous situation: worried investors could be living on a knife-edge for the next twelve months.

3 a sharp mountain ridge; an arête.

4 a steel wedge on which a pendulum or other device oscillates or is balanced.

knifefish n. (pl. same or knifefishes) a semi-nocturnal freshwater fish with a reduced or absent dorsal fin and a long anal fin which reaches from the belly to the tail:

<INFO>

- a New World fish with a narrow eel-like body (families Rhamphichthyidae and Gymnotidae: several genera).

- another term for FEATHERBACK

knifeman n. (pl. knifemen) a man who uses a knife to commit a crime.

knife pleat n. a sharp, narrow pleat on a skirt, typically one of many folded in the same direction and overlapping each other.

knifepoint n. (in phrase at knifepoint) while threatening someone or being threatened with a knife: she was raped at knifepoint.

knife rest n. a metal or glass support for a carving knife or carving fork at table.

knife-throwing n. [mass noun] a circus act or other entertainment in which knives are thrown at a target.

<DERIVATIVES> knife-thrower n.

knight n. 1 (in the Middle Ages) a man who served his sovereign or lord as a mounted soldier in armour.

- (in the Middle Ages) a man raised by a sovereign to honourable military rank after service as a page and squire.

- (also knight of the shire) HISTORICAL a gentleman representing a shire or county in Parliament.

- LITERARY a man devoted to the service of a woman or a cause: in all your quarrels I will be your knight.

2 (in the UK) a man awarded a non-hereditary title by the sovereign in recognition of merit or service and entitled to use the honorific ‘Sir’ in front of his name.

3 a chess piece, typically with its top shaped like a horse's head, that moves by jumping to the opposite corner of a rectangle two squares by three. Each player starts the game with two knights.

4 (in ancient Rome) a member of the class of equites.

- (in ancient Greece) a citizen of the second class in Athens, called hippeus in Greek.

■ v. [with obj.] invest (someone) with the title of knight: he was knighted for his services to industry.

<PHRASES>

□ knight in shining armour (or knight on a white charger) an idealized or chivalrous man who comes to the rescue of a woman in a difficult situation.

□ knight of the road INFORMAL a man who frequents the roads, for example a travelling sales representative, tramp, or (formerly) a highwayman.

<ORIGIN> Old English cniht ‘boy, youth, servant’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch knecht and German Knecht.

■ Sense 2 of the noun dates from the mid 16th century; the uses relating to Greek and Roman history derive from comparison with medieval knights.

knightage n. RARE a list of knights.

knight bachelor n. (pl. knights bachelor) a knight not belonging to any particular order.

knight commander n. a very high class in some orders of knighthood.

knight errant n. a medieval knight wandering in search of chivalrous adventures.

<DERIVATIVES> knight-errantry n.

knighthood n. the title, rank, or status of a knight: he received a knighthood in the Birthday Honours | [mass noun] the basis of feudal knighthood.

knightly adj. (knightlier, knightliest) associated with or typical of a knight; chivalrous: a knightly quest.

<DERIVATIVES> knightliness n.

knight marshal n. HISTORICAL an officer of the royal household with judicial functions.

Knightsbridge a district in the West End of London, to the south of Hyde Park, noted for its fashionable and expensive shops.

knight service n. [mass noun] (in the Middle Ages) the tenure of land by a knight on condition of performing military service.

Knights Hospitaller a military and religious order founded as the Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in the 11th century.

Originally protectors of pilgrims, they also undertook the care of the sick. During the Middle Ages they became a powerful and wealthy military force, with foundations in various European countries. In England, the order was revived in 1831 and was responsible for the foundation of the St John Ambulance Brigade in 1888 .

Knights Templar a religious and military order for the protection of pilgrims to the Holy Land, founded as the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon in 1118.

The order became powerful and wealthy, but its members' arrogance towards rulers, together with their wealth and their rivalry with the Knights Hospitaller, led to their downfall; the order was suppressed in 1312, many of its possessions being given to the Knights Hospitaller.

kniphofia /nfəfə n- nphəfə/ n. a plant of a genus that comprises the red-hot pokers.

<INFO> Genus Kniphofia, family Liliaceae (or Aloaceae).

<ORIGIN> modern Latin; named after Johann H. Kniphof (1704–1763), German botanist.

knish /kn/ n. a dumpling of flaky dough with a savoury filling that is baked or fried.

<ORIGIN> Yiddish, from Russian knish, knysh, denoting a kind of bun or dumpling.

knit v. (knits, knitting; past and past participle knitted or (especially in sense 2) knit) 1 [with obj.] make (a garment, blanket, etc.) by interlocking loops of wool or other yarn with knitting needles or on a machine.

- make (a stitch or row of stitches) in such a way.

- make (a plain stitch) in knitting: knit one, purl one.

2 unite or cause to unite: [no obj.] disparate regions had begun to knit together under the king | [with obj.] the experience knitted the men together | (as adj., with submodifier knit) a closely knit family.

- [with obj.] (of parts of a broken bone) become joined.

3 [with obj.] tighten (one's eyebrows) in a frown of concentration, disapproval, or anxiety.

■ n. (knits) knitted garments.

<DERIVATIVES> knitter n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cnyttan, of West Germanic origin; related to German dialect knütten, also to knot^1. The original sense was ‘tie in or with a knot’, hence ‘join, unite’ (sense 2 of the verb); an obsolete Middle English sense ‘knot string to make a net’ gave rise to sense 1 of the verb.

knitbone n. another term for COMFREY.

knitting n. [mass noun] the craft or action of knitting.

- material which is in the process of being knitted: I put down my knitting.

<PHRASES>

□ stick to the (or one's) knitting INFORMAL (of an organization) concentrate on a familiar area of activity rather than diversify.

knitting machine n. a machine with a bank of needles on which garments can be knitted.

knitting needle n. a long, thin, pointed rod used as part of a pair for knitting by hand.

knitwear n. [mass noun] knitted garments.

knives plural form of KNIFE.

knob n. 1 a rounded lump or ball, especially at the end or on the surface of something.

- a ball-shaped handle on a door or drawer.

- a round button for adjusting or controlling a machine.

- a small lump of a substance: add a knob of butter.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a prominent round hill.

3 VULGAR SLANG a man's penis.

■ v. (knobs, knobbing, knobbed) [with obj.] BRITISH VULGAR SLANG (of a man) have sexual intercourse with (someone).

<PHRASES>

□ with (brass) knobs on BRITISH INFORMAL and something more: it is the rock 'n' roll statement with knobs on.

- used as a way of returning and intensifying an insult: ‘Lazy tyke!’ ‘Lazy yourself with brass knobs on!’. [<ORIGIN> with allusion to the addition of decorative knobs to an object as an embellishment.]

<DERIVATIVES> knobbed adj. knobby adj. (knobbier, knobbiest) knob-like adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle Low German knobbe ‘knot, knob, bud’.

knobble n. BRITISH a small knob or lump on something.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: diminutive of KNOB.

knobbly adj. (knobblier, knobbliest) having lumps which give a misshapen appearance: knobbly knees | knobbly potatoes.

knobkerrie /nbkεri/ (also knobkierie) n. a short stick with a knob at the top, traditionally used as a weapon by the indigenous peoples of South Africa.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from KNOB + -kerrie (from Nama kieri ‘knobkerrie’), suggested by Afrikaans knopkierie.

knobstick n. 1 another term for KNOBKERRIE.

2 archaic term for blackleg (sense 1 of the noun).

knock v. 1 [no obj.] strike a surface noisily to attract attention, especially when waiting to be let in through a door: he strolled over and knocked on a door marked Enquiries.

- strike or thump together or against something: her heart knocked painfully behind her ribs.

- (of a motor or other engine) make a regular thumping or rattling noise, e.g. through pinking.

2 [with obj.] collide with (someone or something), giving them a hard blow: he deliberately ran against her, knocking her shoulder | [no obj.] he knocked into an elderly man with a walking stick.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] force to move or fall with a deliberate or accidental blow or collision: he'd knocked over a glass of water.

- injure or damage by striking: she knocked her knee painfully on the table | FIGURATIVE you have had a setback that has knocked your self-esteem.

- make (a hole or a dent) in something by striking it forcefully: you'll need to knock a hole in the wall.

- demolish the barriers between (rooms or buildings): two of the downstairs rooms had been knocked into one.

3 [with obj.] INFORMAL talk disparagingly about; criticize.

4 [with obj.] INFORMAL approach (a specified age): he's younger than his brother—knocking seventy.

■ n. 1 a sudden short sound caused by a blow, especially on a door to attract attention or gain entry.

- [mass noun] a continual thumping or rattling sound made by an engine.

2 a blow or collision: the casing is tough enough to withstand knocks.

- a discouraging experience; a setback: the region's industries have taken a severe knock.

- INFORMAL a critical comment.

3 [CRICKET], INFORMAL an innings, especially of an individual batsman: a splendid knock of 117 against Somerset.

<PHRASES>

□ knock someone's block off INFORMAL hit someone very hard.

□ knock the bottom out of see BOTTOM.

□ knock someone dead INFORMAL greatly impress someone.

□ knock someone for SIX see SIX.

□ knock people's heads together see BANG PEOPLE'S HEADS TOGETHER at bang^1.

□ knock something into a COCKED HAT see cocked hat.

□ knock someone into the middle of next week INFORMAL hit someone very hard.

□ knock someone/thing into SHAPE see SHAPE.

□ knock it off INFORMAL stop doing something.

□ knock someone on the head stun or kill someone by a blow to the head.

□ knock something on the head BRITISH INFORMAL dismiss an idea, project, or rumour once and for all.

□ knock on WOOD see TOUCH WOOD at wood.

□ knock someone's SOCKs off see SOCK.

□ knock spots off BRITISH INFORMAL easily outdo.

□ the school of hard knocks painful or difficult experiences that are seen to be useful in teaching someone about life.

□ you could have knocked me (or her, him, etc.) down with a feather INFORMAL used to express great surprise.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ knock about (or around) INFORMAL travel without a specific purpose: for a couple of years she and I knocked around the Mediterranean.

- happen to be present: it gets confusing when there are too many people knocking about.

- chiefly BRITISH spend time with someone: she knocked around with artists.

□ knock someone/thing about (or around) injure or damage by rough treatment.

□ knock someone back BRITISH INFORMAL 1 reject or discourage a person or their request or suggestion.

2 cost someone a specified, typically large, amount of money: buying that house must have knocked them back a bit.

□ knock something back 1 INFORMAL consume a drink quickly.

2 work risen dough by vigorous kneading to expel air before baking.

□ knock something down 1 (at an auction) confirm the sale of an article to a bidder by a knock with a hammer.

- INFORMAL reduce the price of an article.

2 US INFORMAL earn a specified sum as a wage.

3 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL spend a pay cheque freely.

□ knock off INFORMAL stop work.

□ knock someone off 1 INFORMAL kill someone.

2 BRITISH VULGAR SLANG have sexual intercourse with a woman.

□ knock something off 1 INFORMAL produce a piece of work quickly and without much effort.

2 INFORMAL deduct an amount from a total: when the bill came they knocked off £600 because of a little scratch.

3 BRITISH INFORMAL steal something.

- North American INFORMAL rob a shop or similar establishment.

- INFORMAL make an illegal copy of a product.

□ knock on 1 INFORMAL grow old: she's knocking on a bit.

2 (also knock the ball on) [RUGBY] illegally drive the ball with the hand or arm towards the opponents' goal line.

□ knock someone out 1 make a person unconscious, typically with a blow to the head.

- knock down (a boxer) for a count of ten, thereby winning the contest.

- (knock oneself out) INFORMAL work so hard that one is exhausted.

- INFORMAL astonish or greatly impress someone.

2 defeat a competitor in a knockout competition: England had been knocked out of the World Cup.

□ knock something out 1 destroy, damage, or disable a machine or piece of equipment.

2 INFORMAL produce work at a steady fast rate: if you knock out a thousand words a day you'll soon have finished.

3 empty a tobacco pipe by tapping it against a surface.

4 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL earn a specified sum of money.

□ knock something over NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL rob a shop or similar establishment.

□ knock someone sideways INFORMAL astonish someone.

□ knock something together assemble something in a hasty and makeshift way.

□ knock up BRITISH INFORMAL (in a racket game) practise before formal play begins.

□ knock someone up 1 BRITISH wake or attract the attention of someone by knocking at their door.

2 INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN make a woman pregnant.

□ knock something up 1 BRITISH make something in a hurry.

2 [CRICKET] score runs rapidly.

<ORIGIN> Old English cnocian, of imitative origin.

knockabout adj. 1 denoting rough, slapstick comedy.

2 (of clothes) suitable for rough use.

■ n. 1 a rough, slapstick comic performance.

2 US a tramp.

3 AUSTRALIAN/NZ a farm or station handyman.

4 NORTH AMERICAN a small yacht or dinghy.

knock-back n. INFORMAL a refusal, rejection, or setback: don't despair if you have a few knock-backs.

knock-down adj. [attr.] 1 INFORMAL (of a price) very low. [<ORIGIN> used earlier to refer to reserve prices set at an auction.]

2 capable of knocking down or overwhelming someone or something: repeated knock-down blows.

- (of furniture) easily dismantled and reassembled.

■ n. 1 [BOXING] an act of knocking an opponent down.

- [SAILING] an instance of a boat toppling over as a result of the force of the wind.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL an introduction to someone.

knock-down-drag-out n. INFORMAL a free-for-all fight.

knocker n. 1 a metal or wooden object hinged to a door and rapped by visitors to attract attention and gain entry.

- INFORMAL a person who buys or sells from door to door, especially with intent to deceive.

2 INFORMAL a person who continually finds fault.

3 (knockers) INFORMAL a woman's breasts.

<PHRASES>

□ on the knocker INFORMAL 1 BRITISH going from door to door canvassing, buying, or selling.

2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ (of payment) immediately; on demand: he has to pay cash on the knocker.

knocker-up n. (pl. knockers-up) BRITISH HISTORICAL a person employed to rouse workers by knocking at their doors or windows.

knock-for-knock agreement n. BRITISH an agreement between insurance companies by which each pays its own policyholders regardless of liability.

knocking copy n. [mass noun] advertising or publicity that discredits a competitor's product.

knocking shop n. BRITISH INFORMAL a brothel.

knock knees plural n. a condition in which the legs curve inwards so that the feet are apart when the knees are touching.

<DERIVATIVES> knock-kneed adj.

knock-off n. INFORMAL a copy or imitation, especially of an expensive product.

knock-on n. 1 [usually as modifier] chiefly BRITISH a secondary, indirect, or cumulative effect: movements in oil prices have knock-on effects on other fuels.

2 [RUGBY] an act of knocking on, for which a penalty or scrum is awarded to the opposition.

knockout n. 1 an act of knocking someone out, especially in boxing: [as modifier] a knockout blow.

- INFORMAL an extremely attractive or impressive person or thing: he must have been a knockout when he was young.

2 BRITISH a tournament in which the loser in each round is eliminated.

knockout drops plural n. a drug in liquid form added to a drink to cause unconsciousness.

knockout mouse n. [GENETICS] a mouse whose DNA has been genetically engineered so that it does not express particular proteins.

knock-up n. BRITISH (in tennis or other racket sports) a period of practice play, especially before formal play begins.

Knole sofa /nəl/ n. a sofa with adjustable sides which allow it to be converted into a bed.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after Knole Park, Kent, where the prototype of the sofa originated (c.1605–20).

knoll^1 /nəl/ n. a small hill or mound.

<ORIGIN> Old English cnoll ‘hilltop’, of Germanic origin; related to German Knolle ‘clod, lump, tuber’ and Dutch knol ‘tuber, turnip’.

knoll^2 /nəl/ v. & n. archaic form of KNELL.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably an imitative alteration of KNELL.

knop /np/ n. a knob, especially an ornamental one, for example in the stem of a wine glass.

- an ornamental loop or tuft in yarn.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch knoppe.

knopper gall /npə/ n. a hard, irregular umbrella-like gall which forms on an oak acorn in response to the developing larva of a gall wasp.

<INFO> The wasp is Andricus quercuscalicis, family Cynipidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: knopper from German Knopper ‘gall’.

Knossos /knsəs ns-/ the principal city of Minoan Crete, the remains of which are situated on the north coast of Crete. The city site was occupied from Neolithic times until c.1200 BC. Excavations by Sir Arthur Evans from 1899 onwards revealed the remains of a luxurious palace, which he called the Palace of Minos.

knot^1 n. 1 a fastening made by looping a piece of string, rope, or something similar on itself and tightening it: tie a knot at the end of the cord | FIGURATIVE her stomach was in knots as she unlocked the door.

- a particular method of making a knot: you need to master two knots, the clove hitch and the sheet bend.

- an ornamental ribbon.

2 a tangled mass in something such as hair or wool.

3 a knob, protuberance, or node in a stem, branch, or root.

- a hard mass formed in a tree trunk at the intersection with a branch, resulting in a round cross-grained piece in timber when cut through.

- a hard lump of tissue in the body.

4 a small tightly packed group of people: a knot of spectators was gathering.

5 a unit of speed equivalent to one nautical mile per hour, used especially of ships, aircraft, or winds.

- chiefly HISTORICAL a length marked by knots on a log line, as a measure of speed.

■ v. (knots, knotting, knotted) [with obj.] 1 fasten with a knot: the scarves were knotted loosely around their throats | (as adj. knotted) a knotted rope.

- make (a carpet or other decorative item) with knots.

2 make (something, especially hair) tangled: (as adj. knotted) he brushed through his knotted hair.

3 cause (a muscle) to become tense and hard.

- [no obj.] (of the stomach) tighten as a result of nervousness or tension.

<PHRASES>

□ at a rate of knots BRITISH INFORMAL very fast.

□ get knotted BRITISH INFORMAL used to express contemptuous rejection of someone.

□ tie someone (up) in knots INFORMAL make someone completely confused.

□ tie the knot INFORMAL get married.

<DERIVATIVES> knotless adj. knotter n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cnotta, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch knot.

knot^2 n. (pl. same or knots) a small, relatively short-billed sandpiper, with a reddish-brown or blackish breast in the breeding season.

<INFO> Genus Calidris, family Scolopacidae: two species, in particular the red knot (C. canutus), which breeds in the Arctic and winters in the southern hemisphere.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: of unknown origin.

knot garden n. a formal garden laid out in an intricate design.

knotgrass n. [mass noun] a common Eurasian plant of the dock family, with jointed creeping stems and small pink flowers. It is a serious weed in some areas.

<INFO> Genus Polygonum, family Polygonaceae: several species, in particular P. aviculare.

- any of a number of other plants, especially grasses, with jointed stems.

knothole n. a hole in a piece of timber where a knot has fallen out, or in a tree trunk where a branch has decayed.

knotted wrack n. [mass noun] a dark olive-green seaweed with flat branching fronds which bear air bladders, occurring on rocky seashores.

<INFO> Ascophyllum nodosum, class Phaeophyceae.

knotting n. [mass noun] 1 the action or craft of tying knots in yarn to make carpets or other decorative items.

- the knots tied in a carpet or other item.

2 a preparation applied to knots in wooden boards prior to painting to prevent resin from oozing through, typically consisting of shellac dissolved in methylated spirits.

knotty adj. (knottier, knottiest) 1 full of knots: panelling in knotty pine.

2 extremely difficult or complex: a knotty legal problem.

<DERIVATIVES> knottily adv. knottiness n.

knotweed n. [mass noun] a plant of the dock family, which typically has sheaths where the leaves join the stems and is often an invasive weed.

<INFO> Polygonum and other genera, family Polygonaceae: several species, in particular Japanese knotweed.

- knotgrass.

knotwork n. [mass noun] ornamental work consisting of or representing intertwined and knotted cords.

knout /nat/ n. (in imperial Russia) a whip used to inflict punishment, often causing death.

■ v. [with obj.] flog (someone) with such a knout.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via French from Russian knut, from Old Norse knútr; related to knot^1.

know v. (past knew; past participle known) 1 [with clause] be aware of through observation, inquiry, or information: most people know that CFCs can damage the ozone layer | I know what I'm doing.

- [with obj.] have knowledge or information concerning: I would write to him if I knew his address | [no obj.] I know of one local who shot himself.

- be absolutely certain or sure about something: I just knew it was something I wanted to do | [with obj.] I knew it!

2 [with obj.] have developed a relationship with (someone) through meeting and spending time with them; be familiar or friendly with: he knew and respected Laura.

- have a good command of (a subject or language).

- recognize (someone or something): Isabel couldn't hear the words clearly but she knew the voice.

- be familiar or acquainted with (something): a little restaurant she knew near Leicester Square.

- have personal experience of (an emotion or situation): a man who had known better times.

- (usually be known as) regard or perceive as having a specified characteristic: the loch is known as a dangerous area for swimming.

- (usually be known as) give (someone or something) a particular name or title: the doctor was universally known as ‘Hubert’.

- (know someone/thing from) be able to distinguish one person or thing from (another): you are convinced you know your own baby from any other in the world.

3 [with obj.] ARCHAIC have sexual intercourse with (someone). [<ORIGIN> a Hebraism which has passed into modern languages; compare with German erKENnen, French connaître.]

<PHRASES>

□ and one knows it said to emphasize that someone is well aware of a fact although they might pretend otherwise: that's nonsense and you know it.

□ —— as we know it as is familiar or customary in the present: apocalyptic expectations, envisaging the end of the world as we know it.

□ before one knows where one is (or before one knows it) INFORMAL with baffling speed.

□ be in the know be aware of something known only to a few people: he had a tip from a friend in the know: the horse was a cert.

□ be not to KNOW have no way of being aware of: you weren't to know he was about to die.

□ don't I know it! INFORMAL used as an expression of rueful assent or agreement.

□ don't you know INFORMAL, DATED used to emphasize what one has just said or is about to say: I was, don't you know, a great motoring enthusiast in those days.

□ for all someone knows used to express the limited scope or extent of one's information: she could be dead for all I know.

□ God (or goodness or heaven) knows 1 used to emphasize that one does not know something: God knows what else they might find.

2 used to emphasize the truth of a statement: goodness knows, I haven't been perfect.

□ have been known to do something have occasionally in the past done something.

□ I know 1 I agree: ‘It's not the same without Rosie.’ ‘I know.’.

2 (also I know what) I have a new idea or suggestion: I know what, let's do it now.

□ know something backwards see BACKWARDS.

□ know best have better knowledge or more appropriate skills.

□ know better than be wise or polite enough to avoid doing a particular thing: you ought to know better than to ask that.

□ know someone by sight recognize someone by their appearance without knowing their name or being so well acquainted as to talk to them.

□ know different (or otherwise) be aware of information or evidence to the contrary.

□ know something for a fact be aware of something that is irrefutable or beyond doubt: I know for a fact that he can't speak a word of Japanese.

□ know someone in the biblical sense INFORMAL, HUMOROUS have sexual intercourse with someone.

□ know no bounds have no limits: their courage knows no bounds.

□ know one's own mind be decisive and certain.

□ know one's way around be familiar with (an area, procedure, or subject).

□ know the ropes have experience of the appropriate procedures. [<ORIGIN> with reference to ropes used in sailing.]

□ know what one likes have fixed or definite tastes, without necessarily having the knowledge or informed opinion to support them.

□ know what's what INFORMAL be experienced and competent in a particular area.

□ know who's who be aware of the identity and status of each person.

□ let it be (or make something) known ensure that people are informed about something, especially via a third party: [with clause] the Minister let it be known that he was not seeking reappointment.

□ not know from nothing NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL be totally ignorant: she shakes her head while you talk, as if to say you don't know from nothing.

□ not know the first thing about have not the slightest idea about (something).

□ not know that INFORMAL used to express one's doubts about one's ability to do something: I don't know that I can sum up my meaning on paper.

□ not know what hit one be very shocked or surprised by a sudden attack or event.

□ not know what to do with oneself be at a loss as to know what to do, typically through boredom, embarrassment, or anxiety.

□ not know where (or which way) to look feel great embarrassment and not know how to react.

□ not WANT to know INFORMAL refuse to react or take notice: they just didn't want to know when I gave my side of the story.

□ what does —— know? INFORMAL used to indicate that someone knows nothing about the subject in question: what does he know about football, anyway?

□ what do you know (about that)? NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL used as an expression of surprise.

□ wouldn't you like to know? INFORMAL used to express one's intention to keep something secret despite another's curiosity: ‘You're loaded, aren't you, Bella?’ ‘Wouldn't you like to know?’.

□ you know INFORMAL used to indicate that what is being referred to is known to or understood by the listener: when in Rome, you know.

- used as a filler in conversation: oh well, you know, I was wondering if you had any jobs for me.

□ you know something (or what)? INFORMAL used to indicate that one is going to say something interesting or surprising: You know what? I believed her.

□ you never know INFORMAL you can never be certain.

<DERIVATIVES> knowable adj. knower n.

<ORIGIN> Old English cnāwan (earlier gecnāwan) ‘recognize, identify’, of Germanic origin; from an Indo-European root shared by Latin (g)noscere, Greek gignōskein, also by can^1 and ken.

know-all n. BRITISH INFORMAL a person who behaves as if they know everything.

knowbot /nəbt/ n. [COMPUTING] (TRADEMARK in the US) a program designed to search through large numbers of databases in response to requests for information by users of a network.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from knowledgeable robot.

know-how n. [mass noun] practical knowledge or skill; expertise: technical know-how.

knowing adj. 1 showing or suggesting that one has knowledge or awareness that is secret or known to only a few people: a knowing smile.

- chiefly DEROGATORY experienced or shrewd, especially excessively or prematurely so: today's society is too knowing, too corrupt.

2 done in full awareness or consciousness: a knowing breach of the order by the appellants.

■ n. [mass noun] the state of being aware or informed.

<PHRASES>

□ there is no knowing no one can tell: if we go there's no knowing what will happen.

<DERIVATIVES> knowingness n.

knowingly adv. 1 in a way that suggests one has secret knowledge or awareness: Amy looked at me knowingly.

2 in full awareness or consciousness; deliberately: when a journalist knowingly misleads their readers.

know-it-all n. another term for KNOW-ALL.

knowledge n. [mass noun] 1 facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject: a thirst for knowledge | her considerable knowledge of antiques.

- the sum of what is known: the transmission of knowledge.

- information held on a computer system.

- [PHILOSOPHY] true, justified belief; certain understanding, as opposed to opinion.

2 awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation: the programme had been developed without his knowledge | he denied all knowledge of the incidents.

3 ARCHAIC sexual intercourse.

<PHRASES>

□ come to one's knowledge become known to one.

□ to (the best of) one's knowledge as far as one knows; judging from the information one has.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (originally as a verb in the sense ‘acknowledge, recognize’, later as a noun): from an Old English compound based on cnāwan (see KNOW).

knowledgeable (also knowledgable) adj. intelligent and well informed: she is very knowledgeable about livestock and pedigrees.

<DERIVATIVES> knowledgeability n. knowledgeably adv.

knowledge base n. [mass noun] 1 a store of information or data that is available to draw on.

2 the underlying set of facts, assumptions, and rules which a computer system has available to solve a problem.

knowledge economy n. an economy in which growth is dependent on the quantity, quality, and accessibility of the information available, rather than the means of production.

knowledge management n. [mass noun] efficient handling of information and resources within a commercial organization.

knowledge worker n. a person whose job involves handling or using information.

known past participle of KNOW

■ adj. recognized, familiar, or within the scope of knowledge: plants little known to western science | the known world.

- [attr.] publicly acknowledged to be: a known criminal.

- [MATHEMATICS] (of a quantity or variable) having a value that can be stated.

know-nothing n. 1 an ignorant person.

2 (Know-Nothing) NORTH AMERICAN HISTORICAL a member of a political party in the US, prominent from 1853 to 1856, which was antagonistic towards Roman Catholics and recent immigrants, and whose members preserved its secrecy by denying its existence.

<DERIVATIVES> know-nothingism n.

Knox /nks/ John (c.1505–72), Scottish Protestant reformer. Knox played a central part in the establishment of the Church of Scotland within a Scottish Protestant state, and led opposition to the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots when she returned to rule in her own right in 1561.

Knoxville /nksvl/ a port on the Tennessee River, in eastern Tennessee; pop. 173,890 (2000).

Knt abbr. Knight.

knuckle n. a part of a finger at a joint where the bone is near the surface, especially where the finger joins the hand.

- a projection of the carpal or tarsal joint of a quadruped.

- a joint of meat consisting of the knuckle of an animal together with the adjoining parts: a knuckle of pork.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] rub or press (something, especially the eyes) with the knuckles.

2 [no obj.] (knuckle down) apply oneself seriously to a task.

3 [no obj.] (knuckle under) submit to someone else's authority.

<PHRASES>

□ near the knuckle BRITISH INFORMAL verging on the indecent or offensive.

<DERIVATIVES> knuckly adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English knokel (originally denoting the rounded shape when a joint such as the elbow or knee is bent), from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch knökel, diminutive of knoke ‘bone’. In the mid 18th century the verb knuckle (down) expressed setting the knuckles down to shoot the taw in a game of marbles, hence the notion of applying oneself with concentration.

knuckleball n. [BASEBALL] a slow pitch which moves erratically, made by releasing the ball from the knuckles of the first joints of the index and middle finger.

<DERIVATIVES> knuckleballer n.

knuckle bone n. 1 a bone forming or corresponding to a knuckle.

- a knuckle of meat.

2 (knuckle bones) animal knuckle bones used in the game of jacks.

- the game of jacks.

knuckleduster n. a metal guard worn over the knuckles in fighting to increase the effect of blows.

knucklehead n. INFORMAL a stupid person.

<DERIVATIVES> knuckleheaded adj.

knuckle joint n. a joint connecting two parts of a mechanism, in which a projection in one fits into a recess in the other.

knuckle sandwich n. INFORMAL a punch in the mouth.

knur /nə/ n. a small wooden or porcelain ball used in a game (knur and spell) resembling trapball, played in northern England.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English knorre, variant of knarre (see KNAR).

knurl /nəl/ n. a small projecting knob or ridge, especially in a series around the edge of something.

<DERIVATIVES> knurled adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: apparently a derivative of KNUR.

KO^1 abbr. kick-off.

KO^2 [BOXING] n. a knockout in a boxing match. See also KAYO.

■ v. (KO's, KO'ing, KO'd) [with obj.] knock (an opponent) out in a boxing match.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: abbreviation.

koa /kəə/ n. a large Hawaiian forest tree which yields dark red timber.

<INFO> Acacia koa, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Hawaiian.

koala /kəαlə/ n. a bear-like arboreal Australian marsupial that has thick grey fur and feeds on eucalyptus leaves. Also called NATIVE BEAR in Australia.

<INFO> Phascolarctos cinereus, the only member of the family Phascolarctidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Dharuk.

<USAGE> In general use, koala bear (as opposed to koala) is widely used. Zoologists, however, regard this form as incorrect on the grounds that, despite appearances, koalas are completely unrelated to bears.

koan /kəαn kəan/ n. a paradoxical anecdote or riddle without a solution, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and provoke enlightenment.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, literally ‘matter for public thought’, from Chinese gōngàn ‘official business’.

kob^1 n. (pl. same) an antelope with a reddish coat and lyre-shaped horns, found on the savannah of southern Africa.

<INFO> Kobus kob, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Wolof kooba.

kob^2 (also cob) n. (pl. same) S. AFRICAN a fish of the drum family, especially the kabeljou.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation of KABELJOU, with anglicization of the vowel.

Kobe /kəbi/ a port in central Japan, on the island of Honshu; pop. 1,517,700 (est. 2002). The city was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1995.

København /købənhan/ Danish name for COPENHAGEN.

kobo /kəbə/ n. (pl. same) a monetary unit of Nigeria, equal to one hundredth of a naira.

<ORIGIN> corruption of copper^1.

kobold /kəbəld/ n. (in Germanic mythology) a spirit who haunts houses or lives underground in caves or mines.

<ORIGIN> from German Kobold.

Koch /kx/ Robert (1843–1910), German bacteriologist, who identified the organisms causing anthrax, tuberculosis, and cholera. Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1905).

Köchel number /kəx(ə)l/ n. [MUSIC] a number given to each of Mozart's compositions in the complete catalogue of his works compiled by the Austrian scientist L. von Köchel (1800–77) and his successors.

kochia /kəkə ktə/ n. a shrubby Eurasian plant of the goosefoot family, grown for its decorative foliage which turns deep fiery red in the autumn. Also called BURNING BUSH, SUMMER CYPRESS.

<INFO> Bassia (formerly Kochia) scoparia, family Chenopodiaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Wilhelm D. J. Koch (1771–1849), German botanist.

Kodály /kəd/ Zoltán (1882–1967), Hungarian composer. His main source of inspiration was his native land; he was also involved in the collection and publication of Hungarian folk songs. Notable works: Psalmus Hungaricus (choral, 1923) and Háry János (opera, 1925–7).

Kodiak bear /kədak/ n. an animal of a large race of the North American brown bear or grizzly, found on islands to the south of Alaska.

<INFO> Ursus arctos middendorffi, family Ursidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Kodiak Island, Alaska.

koeksister /kksstə/ (also koesister /kusstə/) n. S. AFRICAN a plaited doughnut dipped in syrup.

<ORIGIN> from Afrikaans koe(k)sister, perhaps from koek ‘cake’ + sissen ‘to sizzle’.

koel /kəəl/ n. an Asian and Australasian cuckoo with a call that resembles its name, the male typically having all-black plumage.

<INFO> Genus Eudynamys, family Cuculidae: one or two species, in particular E. scolopacea.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Hindi koël, from Sanskrit kokila in the same sense.

Koestler /kəstlə/ Arthur (1905–83), Hungarian-born British novelist and essayist. His best-known novel Darkness at Noon (1940) exposed the Stalinist purges of the 1930s. He left money in his will to found a university chair in parapsychology.

kofta /kftə kəftə/ n. (pl. same or koftas) (in Middle Eastern and Indian cookery) a savoury ball made with minced meat, paneer, or vegetables.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu and Persian koftah ‘pounded meat’.

koftgari /kəftəri/ n. [mass noun] a kind of damascene work made in the Indian subcontinent, in which a pattern traced on steel is inlaid with gold.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Urdu and Persian kuft-garī ‘beaten work’.

kohanga reo /kəhaə reə/ n. (pl. kohanga reos) NZ a kindergarten where lessons are conducted in Maori.

<ORIGIN> Maori, literally ‘language nest’.

kohen /khεn kn/ (also cohen) n. (pl. kohanim /-nm/ or cohens) [JUDAISM] a member of the priestly caste, having certain rights and duties in the synagogue.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew, literally ‘priest’.

Kohima /kəhimə/ a city in the far north-east of India, capital of the state of Nagaland; pop. 78,600 (2001).

Koh-i-noor /kənə kən/ a famous Indian diamond which has a history going back to the 14th century. It passed into British possession on the annexation of Punjab in 1849, and was set in the queen's state crown for the coronation of George VI (1937).

<ORIGIN> from Persian kōh-i nūr ‘mountain of light’.

Kohl /kəl/ Helmut (b.1930), German statesman, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany 1982–90, and of Germany 1990–8. As Chancellor he showed a strong commitment to NATO and to closer European union within the EU.

kohl /kəl/ n. [mass noun] a black powder, usually antimony sulphide or lead sulphide, used as eye make-up especially in Eastern countries.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Arabic kul.

kohlrabi /kəlrαbi/ n. (pl. kohlrabies) a cabbage of a variety with an edible turnip-like swollen stem.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: via German from Italian cavoli rape, plural of cavola rapa, from medieval Latin caulorapa, from Latin caulis (see COLE) + rapum, rapa ‘turnip’; compare with French chou-rave.

koi /k/ (also koi carp) n. (pl. same) a common carp of a large ornamental variety, originally bred in Japan.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Japanese, ‘carp’.

Koil /kl/ see ALIGARH.

koine /kni/ n. [mass noun] the common language of the Greeks from the close of the classical period to the Byzantine era.

- [count noun] a common language shared by various peoples; a lingua franca.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek koinē (dialektos) ‘common (language)’.

koinonia /knənə/ n. [mass noun] [THEOLOGY] Christian fellowship or communion, with God or, more commonly, with fellow Christians.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek koinōnia ‘fellowship’.

kokako /kkakə/ n. (pl. kokakos) a large New Zealand wattlebird with dark blue-grey plumage, a black downcurved bill, and two blue or orange wattles.

<INFO> Callaeas cinerea, family Callaeidae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Maori.

kokanee /kəkani/ n. (pl. same or kokanees) a sockeye salmon of a dwarf variety which lives in landlocked lakes in western North America.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Shuswap (a Salish language).

kokowai /kkw/ n. [mass noun] NZ red ochre (burnt red clay) used to decorate wood or other materials.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

Kola Peninsula /kələ/ a peninsula on the NW coast of Russia, separating the White Sea from the Barents Sea. The port of Murmansk lies on its northern coast.

Kolhapur /kəlhαpə/ an industrial city in the state of Maharashtra, western India; pop. 485,200 (2001).

kolinsky /kəlnski/ n. (pl. kolinskies) a dark brown weasel with a bushy tail, found from Siberia to Japan.

<INFO> Mustela sibirica, family Mustelidae. Alternative name: Siberian weasel.

- [mass noun] the fur of the kolinsky.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the place name Kola, a port in NW Russia, + the pseudo-Russian ending -insky.

Kolkata /klkαtə/ a port and industrial centre in eastern India, capital of the state of West Bengal and the second-largest city in India; pop. 13,821,600 (est. 2002). It is situated on the Hooghly River near the Bay of Bengal. Former name (until 2000) CALCUTTA.

<DERIVATIVES> Kolkatan n. & adj.

Kolkhis /klxis/ Greek name for COLCHIS.

kolkhoz /klkz klkhz/ n. (pl. same or kolkhozes or kolkhozy) a collective farm in the former Soviet Union.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: Russian, from kol(lektivnoe) khoz(yaĭstvo) ‘collective farm’.

Köln /kœln/ German name for COLOGNE.

Kol Nidre /kl nidre/ n. an Aramaic prayer annulling vows made before God, sung by Jews at the opening of the Day of Atonement service on the eve of Yom Kippur.

<ORIGIN> from Aramaic kol nirē ‘all the vows’ (the opening words of the prayer).

kolo /kələ/ n. (pl. kolos) a Slavic dance performed in a circle.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Croatian, literally ‘wheel’.

Kolozsvár /klvαr/ Hungarian name for Cluj–Napoca.

Kolyma /klmα/ a river of far eastern Siberia, which flows approximately 2,415 km (1,500 miles) northwards to the Arctic Ocean.

komatiite /kəmatt/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a magnesium-rich extrusive rock, typically with a characteristic texture of criss-crossing olivine crystals.

<DERIVATIVES> komatiitic adj.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Komati (the name of a river in southern Africa) + -ITE^1.

komatik /kmətk/ n. a sledge drawn by dogs, used by the people of Labrador.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Inuit qamutik.

kombi /kmbi kmbi/ (also combi) n. (pl. kombis) S. AFRICAN a minibus, especially one used to transport passengers commercially.

<ORIGIN> from Volkswagen's proprietary name, abbreviation of German Kombiwagen ‘combination car’.

kombu /kmbu/ n. [mass noun] a brown seaweed used in Japanese cooking, especially as a base for stock.

<INFO> Genus Laminaria, class Phaeophyceae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Japanese.

Komi^1 /kəmi/ an autonomous republic of NW Russia; pop. 1,085,400 (est. 2002); capital, Syktyvkar.

Komi^2 /kəmi/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of an indigenous people of northern Russia, from an area west of the Urals.

2 [mass noun] the Finno-Ugric language of the Komi, with about 350,000 speakers. Formerly called ZYRIAN.

■ adj. relating to the Komi or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Komi.

Komodo /kəmədə/ a small island in Indonesia, in the Lesser Sunda Islands, situated between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores.

Komodo dragon n. a heavily built monitor lizard which captures large prey such as pigs by ambush. Occurring only on Komodo and neighbouring Indonesian islands, it is the largest extant lizard.

<INFO> Varanus komodoensis, family Varanidae.

Komondor /kmənd/ n. a powerful sheepdog of a white breed with a dense coat.

<ORIGIN> Hungarian.

Komsomol /kmsəml/ HISTORICAL an organization for communist youth in the former Soviet Union.

<ORIGIN> Russian, from Kom(munisticheskiĭ) So(yuz) Mol(odëzhi) ‘Communist League of Youth’.

Komsomolsk /kmsəmlsk/ an industrial city in the far east of Russia, on the Amur River; pop. 286,600 (est. 2002). It was built in 1932 by members of the Komsomol on the site of the village of Permskoe. Also called KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR /-nəmə/.

Kondratiev /kndrαtjεf/ n. [usually as modifier] [ECONOMICS] each of a series of cycles or waves of economic contraction and expansion lasting about fifty years, postulated by Kondratiev in the 1920s.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: named after Nikolai D. Kondratiev (1892–c.1935), Russian economist.

koneke /knεki/ n. NZ a farm or logging wagon, usually with runners at the front and wheels at the back.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

konfyt /knfet/ n. [mass noun] S. AFRICAN a preserve containing whole fruit or pieces of fruit.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Afrikaans, from Dutch konfijt, probably from French confiture.

Kongo /kə/ n. (pl. same or Kongos) 1 a member of an indigenous people inhabiting the region of the River Congo in west central Africa.

2 [mass noun] Kikongo, the Bantu language of the Kongo.

■ adj. relating to the Kongo or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Kikongo.

kongoni /kəni/ n. (pl. same) a hartebeest, in particular one of a pale yellowish-brown race found in Kenya and Tanzania.

<INFO> Alcelaphus buselaphus cokii, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Kiswahili.

Königgrätz /kønçrεts/ German name for Hradec Králové.

Königsberg /kønçsbεrk/ German name for KALININGRAD.

konimeter /kənmtə/ n. an instrument for collecting dust samples which directs a measured volume of air on to a greased slide to which any dust present will stick.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek konis ‘dust’ + -METER.

Konkani /kəkəni/ n. [mass noun] an Indic language that is the main language of Goa and adjacent parts of Maharashtra, with about 5 million speakers. Also called GOANESE (see Goa).

■ adj. relating to Konkani.

<ORIGIN> from Marathi and Hindi kokaī, from Sanskrit kokaa ‘Konkan’ (a coastal region of western India).

Kon-Tiki /kntki/ the raft made of balsa logs in which Thor Heyerdahl sailed from the western coast of Peru to the islands of Polynesia in 1947.

<ORIGIN> named after an Inca god.

Konya /knjə/ a city in SW central Turkey; pop. 695,500 (est. 2002). An ancient Phrygian settlement, it became the capital of the Seljuk sultans towards the end of the 11th century.

kook n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a mad or eccentric person.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: probably from CUCKOO.

kookaburra /kkəbrə/ n. a very large Australasian kingfisher that feeds on terrestrial prey such as reptiles and birds.

<INFO> Genus Dacelo, family Alcedinidae: two species, in particular the laughing kookaburra or laughing jackass (D. novaeguineae), which has a loud cackling call.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Wiradhuri gugubarra.

kooky adj. (kookier, kookiest) INFORMAL strange or eccentric: I like kooky foreign films.

<DERIVATIVES> kookily adv. kookiness n.

Koori /kəri/ n. (pl. Kooris) AUSTRALIAN an Aborigine (used by some Aborigines to refer to themselves).

<ORIGIN> from Awabakal (an Aboriginal language), literally ‘man’.

kop n. 1 (usually the Kop) BRITISH a high bank of terracing at certain soccer grounds where spectators formerly stood, notably at Liverpool Football Club.

2 S. AFRICAN (especially in place names) a hill or peak.

<ORIGIN>

■ Sense 2 from Afrikaans, from Dutch, literally ‘head’ (compare with cop^2).

■ Sense 1 comes from the name of Spioen Kop, site of a Boer War battle in which troops from Lancashire led the assault (Liverpool then being part of Lancashire).

kopek /kəpεk kpεk/ (also copeck or kopeck) n. a monetary unit of Russia and some other countries of the former Soviet Union, equal to one hundredth of a rouble.

<ORIGIN> from Russian kopeĭka, diminutive of kop′ë ‘lance’ (from the figure on the coin (1535) of Tsar Ivan IV, bearing a lance instead of a sword).

kopiyka /kpikə/ n. a monetary unit of Ukraine, equal to one hundredth of a hryvna.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: Ukrainian, from Russian kopeĭka kopek.

koppie /kpi/ (also kopje) n. S. AFRICAN a small hill in a generally flat area.

<ORIGIN> Afrikaans, from Dutch kopje, diminutive of kop ‘head’.

kora /krə/ n. a West African musical instrument shaped like a lute, with 21 strings passing over a high bridge, and played like a harp.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: a local word.

koradji /krədi kəradi/ n. Australian (plural koradjis) an Aborigine who has recognized skills in traditional medicine and an important role in ceremonial life.

<ORIGIN> from Dharuk garraaji ‘doctor’.

Koran /krαn kə-/ (also Quran or Qur'an /k-/) n. the Islamic sacred book, believed to be the word of God as dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel and written down in Arabic. The Koran consists of 114 units of varying lengths, known as suras; the first sura is said as part of the ritual prayer. These touch upon all aspects of human existence, including matters of doctrine, social organization, and legislation.

<DERIVATIVES> Koranic /-rank -rαnk/ adj.

<ORIGIN> from Arabic qur'ān ‘recitation’, from qara'a ‘read, recite’.

Korbut /kbət/ Olga (b.1955), Soviet gymnast, born in Belarus. She won two individual gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games.

Korchnoi /ktn/ Viktor (Lvovich) (b.1931), Russian chess player. He ranked third (c.1967–75) and then second (c.1975–80) in the world.

Korda /kdə/ Sir Alexander (1893–1956), Hungarian-born British film producer and director; born Sándor Kellner. He produced The Third Man (1949) and produced and directed The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933).

Kordofan /kdəfαn/ a region of central Sudan.

kore /kre/ n. (pl. korai) an ancient Greek statue of a young woman, standing and clothed in long loose robes.

<ORIGIN> from Greek korē ‘maiden’.

Korea /kərə/ a region of east Asia forming a peninsula between the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and the Yellow Sea, now divided into the countries of North Korea and South Korea.

Ruled from the 14th century by the Korean Yi dynasty but more recently dominated by the Chinese and Japanese in turn, Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910. Following the Japanese surrender at the end of the Second World War, Korea was partitioned along the 38th parallel in 1948.

Korea, Democratic People's Republic of official name for NORTH KOREA.

Korea, Republic of official name for SOUTH KOREA.

Korean adj. relating to North or South Korea or its people or language.

■ n. 1 a native or national of North or South Korea, or a person of Korean descent.

2 [mass noun] the language of Korea, which has roughly 68 million speakers worldwide. It has its own writing system, and is now generally regarded as distantly related to Japanese.

Korean War the war of 1950–3 between North and South Korea.

UN troops, dominated by US forces, countered the invasion of South Korea by North Korean forces by invading North Korea, while China intervened on the side of the North. Peace negotiations were begun in 1951, and the war ended two years later with the restoration of previous boundaries.

korero /krərə/ n. (pl. koreros) NZ a conversation, discussion, or meeting.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

korfball /kfbl/ n. [mass noun] a game similar to basketball, played by teams each consisting of six men and six women.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Dutch korfbal, from korf ‘basket’ + bal ‘ball’.

korhaan /khαn kərαn/ n. S. AFRICAN a small crested bustard, which is typically boldly marked and has penetrating repetitive calls.

<INFO> Genus Eupodotis, family Otididae: several species.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: Afrikaans, from the imitative base kor-, knor- (compare with Dutch korren ‘coo’) + haan ‘cock’.

kori /kri/ (also kori bustard) n. a very large bustard with a crested head, native to sub-Saharan Africa.

<INFO> Ardeotis kori, family Otididae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Setswana kgori.

Kórinthos /krinθs/ Greek name for CORINTH.

korma /kmə/ n. a mildly spiced Indian curry dish of meat or fish marinaded in yogurt or curds.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu ormā, from Turkish kavurma.

Korsakoff's syndrome /ksəkfs/ (also Korsakoff's psychosis) n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] a serious mental illness, typically the result of chronic alcoholism, characterized by disorientation and a tendency to invent explanations to cover a loss of memory of recent events.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Sergei S. Korsakoff (1854–1900), Russian psychiatrist.

Kortrijk /ktrk/ a city in western Belgium, in West Flanders; pop. 74,790 (est. 2000). French name COURTRAI.

koru /kr/ n. a stylized fern-leaf motif in Maori carving and tattooing.

<ORIGIN> Maori.

koruna /krnə kərunə/ n. the basic monetary unit of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, equal to 100 halers or haliers.

<ORIGIN> Czech, literally ‘crown’.

Korup National Park /krəp/ a national park in western Cameroon, on the border with Nigeria. It was established in 1961 to protect a large area of tropical rainforest.

Koryak /krjak/ n. (pl. same or Koryaks) 1 a member of an indigenous people of the northern Kamchatka peninsula.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Koryak, which has about 5,000 speakers and is related to Chukchi.

■ adj. relating to the Koryaks or their language.

<ORIGIN> from Russian koryaki (plural).

Kos /ks/ (also Cos) a Greek island in the SE Aegean, one of the Dodecanese group.

Kosciusko /ktskə/ Thaddeus (1746–1817), Polish soldier and patriot; full Polish name Tadeusz Andrzej Bonawentura Kościuszko. After fighting for the Americans during the War of American Independence, he led a nationalist uprising against Russia in Poland in 1794.

Kosciusko, Mount /kzskə/ a mountain in SE Australia, in the Great Dividing Range in SE New South Wales. Rising to a height of 2,228 m (7,234 ft), it is the highest mountain in Australia.

<ORIGIN> named by the explorer Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki (1797–1873), in honour of T.

■ Kosciusko.

kosher /kəə/ adj. 1 (of food, or premises in which food is sold, cooked, or eaten) satisfying the requirements of Jewish law: a kosher kitchen.

- (of a person) observing Jewish food laws.

2 INFORMAL genuine and legitimate: she consulted lawyers to make sure everything was kosher.

Restrictions on the foods suitable for Jews are derived from rules in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Animals must be slaughtered and prepared in the prescribed way, in which the blood is drained from the body, while certain creatures, notably pigs and shellfish, are forbidden altogether. Meat and milk must not be cooked or consumed together, and separate utensils must be kept for each. Strict observance of these rules is today confined mainly to Orthodox Jews.

■ v. [with obj.] prepare (food) according to the requirements of Jewish law.

<PHRASES>

□ keep (or eat) kosher observe the Jewish food regulations (kashrut).

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Hebrew kāšēr ‘proper’.

Košice /ktsə/ an industrial city in southern Slovakia; pop. 236,093 (2001).

Kosovo /ksəvə ksəvə/ an autonomous area in the Balkans, formerly a part of Yugoslavia; capital, Priština. It borders on Albania and the majority of the people are of Albanian descent. In 1998 Kosovo was attacked by Serbian forces intent on expelling the Albanian population; the aggression was halted by NATO bombing in 1999, and Kosovo was put under UN administration. In 2008 it declared itself independent.

<DERIVATIVES> Kosovan n. & adj. Kosovar n.

Kossuth /ksuθ kut/ Lajos (1802–94), Hungarian statesman and patriot. He led the 1848 insurrection against the Hapsburgs, but after brief success the uprising was crushed and he began a lifelong period of exile.

Kostroma /kstrəmα/ an industrial city in European Russia, situated on the River Volga to the north-west of Nizhni Novgorod; pop. 288,900 (est. 2002).

Kosygin /ksin/ Aleksei (Nikolaevich) (1904–80), Soviet statesman, Premier of the USSR 1964–80. He devoted most of his attention to internal economic affairs, being gradually eased out of the leadership by Brezhnev.

Kota /kətə/ an industrial city in Rajasthan state, in NW India, on the Chambal River; pop. 695,900 (2001).

Kota Baharu /kətə bəhαru/ a city in Malaysia, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, the capital of the state of Kelantan; pop. 252,714 (2000).

Kota Kinabalu /knəbəlu/ a port in Malaysia, on the north coast of Borneo, capital of the state of Sabah; pop. 305,382 (2000).

Kotka /ktkə/ a port on the south coast of Finland; pop. 54,678 (2001).

koto /kətə/ n. (pl. kotos) a Japanese zither about six feet long, with thirteen strings passed over small movable bridges.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Japanese.

kotwal /ktwl/ n. INDIAN a police officer.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit koapāla.

kotwali /ktwαli/ n. INDIAN a police station.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi kovālī, from kovāl (see KOTWAL).

Kotzebue /ktsb(j)u/ August von (1761–1819), German dramatist. His many plays were popular in both Germany and England. He was a political informant to Tsar Alexander I and was assassinated by the Germans.

koumiss /kums/ (also kumiss or kumis) n. [mass noun] a fermented liquor prepared from mare's milk, used as a drink and medicine by Asian nomads.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: based on Tartar kumiz.

kouprey /kupre/ n. a very rare grey ox found in the forests of SE Asia.

<INFO> Bos sauveli, family Bovidae.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: from Khmer.

kouros /kurs/ n. (pl. kouroi /-r/) an ancient Greek statue of a young man, standing and often naked.

<ORIGIN> Greek, Ionic form of koros ‘boy’.

Kourou /kru/ a town on the north coast of French Guiana; pop. 19,200 (1999). Nearby is a satellite-launching station of the European Space Agency, established in 1967.

kowari /kəwαri/ n. (pl. kowaris) a small carnivorous marsupial with a pointed snout, large eyes, and a black bushy tip to the tail, found in central Australia.

<INFO> Dasycercus byrnei, family Dasyuridae.

<ORIGIN> from Diyari and Ngamini (Aboriginal languages) kariri.

kowhai /kəw kf/ n. a tree of the pea family, which bears hanging clusters of yellow flowers. It is native to New Zealand and Chile and yields useful timber.

<INFO> Sophora tetraptera, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Maori.

Kowloon /kalun/ a densely populated peninsula on the SE coast of China, forming part of Hong Kong. It is separated from Hong Kong Island by Victoria Harbour.

kowtow /kata/ v. [no obj.] 1 act in an excessively subservient manner: she didn't have to kowtow to a boss.

2 HISTORICAL kneel and touch the ground with the forehead in worship or submission as part of Chinese custom.

■ n. HISTORICAL an act of kowtowing as part of Chinese custom.

<DERIVATIVES> kowtower n.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Chinese kētóu, from kē ‘knock’ + tóu ‘head’.

Kozhikode /kəəkəd/ another name for CALICUT.

KP abbr. kitchen police.

kph abbr. kilometres per hour.

Kr symbol the chemical element krypton.

Kra, Isthmus of /krα/ the narrowest part of the Malay Peninsula, forming part of southern Thailand.

kraal /krαl/ S. African n. 1 a traditional African village of huts, typically enclosed by a fence.

2 an enclosure for cattle or sheep.

■ v. [with obj.] drive (cattle or sheep) into an enclosure.

<ORIGIN> Dutch, from Portuguese curral (see CORRAL).

Krafft-Ebing /kraftεb/ Richard von (1840–1902), German physician and psychologist. He established the relationship between syphilis and general paralysis and pioneered the systematic study of aberrant sexual behaviour.

kraft /krαft/ (also kraft paper) n. [mass noun] a kind of strong, smooth brown wrapping paper.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Swedish, literally ‘strength’, used to form the term kraftpapper ‘kraft paper’.

Kragujevac /krajəvats/ a city in central Serbia; pop. 177,500 (est. 2002). It was the capital of Serbia 1818–39.

krai /kr/ (also kray) n. (pl. krais) an administrative territory of Russia. In pre-revolutionary times krais were each made up of a number of provinces, becoming in 1924 large administrative units in the Soviet territorial system.

<ORIGIN> from Russian kraĭ ‘edge, border’.

krait /krt/ n. a highly venomous Asian snake of the cobra family.

<INFO> Genus Bungarus, family Elapidae: several species, including the black and yellow banded krait (B. fasciatus). See also SEA KRAIT.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Hindi karait.

Krakatoa /krakətəə/ a small volcanic island in Indonesia, lying between Java and Sumatra, scene of a great eruption in 1883 which destroyed most of the island. Indonesian name Krakatau.

kraken /krαk(ə)n/ n. an enormous mythical sea monster said to appear off the coast of Norway.

<ORIGIN> Norwegian.

Kraków /krakuf/ Polish name for CRACOW.

krantz /krαns/ (also krans) n. S. AFRICAN a precipitous or overhanging wall of rocks.

<ORIGIN> South African Dutch, from Dutch krans, literally ‘coronet’.

Krasnodar /krasnədα/ a krai (administrative territory) in the northern Caucasus, on the Black Sea in southern Russia.

- the capital of Krasnodar, a port on the lower Kuban River; pop. 643,000 (est. 2002). It was known until 1922 as Yekaterinodar (Ekaterinodar).

Krasnoyarsk /krasnəjαsk/ a krai (administrative territory) in central Siberian Russia.

- the capital of Krasnoyarsk, a port on the Yenisei River; pop. 870,100 (est. 2002).

Kraut /krat/ n. INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE a German.

<ORIGIN> First World War: shortening of SAUERKRAUT.

Krautrock /kratrk/ n. [mass noun] an experimental style of rock music associated with German groups of the 1970s, characterized by improvisation and strong, hypnotic rhythms.

<DERIVATIVES> Krautrocker n.

Krav Maga /krαv mαə/ n. [mass noun] a form of self-defence and physical training, first developed by the Israeli army in the 1940s, based on the use of reflexive responses to threatening situations.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew, ‘contact combat’.

Krebs cycle /krεbz/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] the sequence of reactions by which most living cells generate energy during the process of aerobic respiration. It takes place in the mitochondria, using up oxygen and producing carbon dioxide and water as waste products, and ADP is converted to energy-rich ATP.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: named after Sir Hans A. Krebs (1900–81), German-born British biochemist.

kreef /krif/ n. S. African INFORMAL a spiny lobster of southern Africa.

<INFO> Jasus lalandii, family Palinuridae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Afrikaans, from Dutch kreeft ‘lobster’.

Krefeld /krefεlt/ an industrial town and port on the Rhine in western Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia; pop. 238,200 (est. 2002).

Kreisler /krslə/ German /krasl/ Fritz (1875–1962), Austrian-born American violinist and composer. A noted virtuoso, in 1910 he gave the first performance of Elgar's violin concerto, which was dedicated to him.

Kremenchuk /krεməntuk krmn-/ an industrial city in east central Ukraine, on the River Dnieper; pop. 234,000 (est. 2001). Russian name Kremenchug.

kremlin /krεmln/ n. a citadel within a Russian town.

- (the Kremlin) the citadel in Moscow.

- the Russian or (formerly) USSR government housed within the Kremlin.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: via French from Russian kreml′ ‘citadel’.

Kremlinology /krεmlnlədi/ n. [mass noun] the study and analysis of Soviet or Russian policies.

<DERIVATIVES> Kremlinologist n.

kreplach /krεplαx/ plural n. (in Jewish cookery) triangular noodles filled with chopped meat or cheese and served with soup.

<ORIGIN> from Yiddish kreplekh, plural of krepel, from German dialect Kräppel ‘fritter’.

kriegspiel /krispil/ n. [mass noun] 1 a war game in which blocks representing armies or other military units are moved about on maps.

2 a form of chess in which each player has a separate board and can only infer the position of the opponent's forces from limited information given by an umpire.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from German, from Krieg ‘war’ + Spiel ‘game’.

Kriemhild /krimhlt/ (in the Nibelungenlied) a Burgundian princess, wife of Siegfried and later of Etzel (Attila the Hun), whom she marries in order to be revenged on her brothers for Siegfried's murder.

krill n. (pl. same) a small shrimp-like planktonic crustacean of the open seas. It is eaten by a number of larger animals, notably the baleen whales.

<INFO> Many species in the class Malacostraca, especially Meganyctiphanes norvegica.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Norwegian kril ‘small fish fry’.

krimmer /krmə/ n. [mass noun] tightly curled grey or black fur made from the wool of young Crimean lambs.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, from Krim ‘Crimea’.

Krio /kriə/ n. [mass noun] an English-based creole language of Sierra Leone. It is the first language of about 350,000 people and is used as a lingua franca by over 3 million.

■ adj. relating to Krio.

<ORIGIN> probably an alteration of CREOLE.

kris /kris/ (also ARCHAIC creese) n. a Malay or Indonesian dagger with a wavy-edged blade.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: based on Malay keris.

Krishna /krnə/ [HINDUISM] one of the most popular gods, the eighth and most important avatar or incarnation of Vishnu.

He is worshipped in several forms: as the child god whose miracles and pranks are extolled in the Puranas; as the divine cowherd whose erotic exploits, especially with his favourite, Radha, have produced both romantic and religious literature; and as the divine charioteer who preaches to Arjuna on the battlefield in the Bhagavadgita.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit Ka, literally ‘black’.

Krishnaism /krnəz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] [HINDUISM] the worship of the god Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu.

Krishnamurti /krnəməti/ Jiddu (1895–1986), Indian spiritual leader. His spiritual philosophy is based on a rejection of organized religion and the attainment of self-realization by introspection.

Krishna River a river which rises in the Western Ghats of southern India and flows generally eastwards for 1,288 km (805 miles) to the Bay of Bengal.

Kristallnacht /krst(ə)lnαxt/ German /krstalnaxt/ the occasion of concerted violence by Nazis throughout Germany and Austria against Jews and their property on the night of 9–10 November 1938.

<ORIGIN> German, literally ‘night of crystal’, referring to the broken glass produced by the smashing of shop windows.

Kristiansand /krstənsand/ a ferry port on the south coast of Norway, in the Skagerrak; pop. 60,800 (est. 2002).

Kríti /kriti/ Greek name for CRETE.

Krivoi Rog /krivəj rək/ (also Krivoy Rog) Russian name for KRYVYI RIH.

kromesky /krə()mεski krmεski/ n. (pl. kromeskies) a croquette of minced meat or fish, rolled in bacon and fried.

<ORIGIN> from Polish kromeczka ‘small slice’.

krona /krənə/ n. 1 (pl. kronor pronunc. same) the basic monetary unit of Sweden, equal to 100 öre. [<ORIGIN> Swedish, ‘crown’.]

2 (pl. kronur pronunc. same) the basic monetary unit of Iceland, equal to 100 aurar. [<ORIGIN> from Icelandic króna, ‘crown’.]

krone /krənə/ n. (pl. kroner pronunc. same) the basic monetary unit of Denmark and Norway, equal to 100 øre.

<ORIGIN> Danish and Norwegian, literally ‘crown’.

Kronstadt /krəntat/ German name for Braşov.

kroon /krun/ n. (pl. kroons or krooni) the basic monetary unit of Estonia, equal to 100 sents.

<ORIGIN> Estonian, literally ‘crown’; compare with KRONA, krone.

Kropotkin /krəptkn/ Prince Peter (1842–1921), Russian anarchist. Imprisoned in 1874, he escaped abroad in 1876 and did not return to Russia until after the Revolution. His works include Modern Science and Anarchism (1903).

Kroto /krətə/ Sir Harry (b.1939), English chemist; full name Harold Walter Kroto. He discovered the spherical carbon molecule known as the fullerene, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1996; shared with Robert F. Curl (b.1933) and Richard E. Smalley (b.1943)).

Kru /kru/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a seafaring people of the coast of Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

2 [mass noun] the Niger–Congo language of the Kru, consisting of a large number of highly differentiated dialects.

■ adj. relating to the Kru or their language.

<ORIGIN> from a West African language.

Kru Coast a section of the coast of Liberia to the north-west of Cape Palmas, inhabited by the Kru people.

Kruger /kruə/ Stephanus Johannes Paulus (1825–1904), South African soldier and statesman, President of Transvaal (1883–99). He led the Afrikaners to victory in the First Boer War in 1881. His refusal to allow equal rights to non-Boer immigrants was one of the causes of the Second Boer War.

Kruger National Park a national park in eastern South Africa, on the Mozambique border. It was originally a game reserve established in 1898 by President Kruger.

krugerrand /kruərand/ (also Kruger) n. a South African gold coin with a portrait of President Kruger on the obverse.

<ORIGIN> 1967: from the name of S. J. P.

■ Kruger + RAND^1.

krummholz /krmhlts/ n. [mass noun] stunted wind-blown trees growing near the treeline on mountains.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from German, literally ‘crooked wood’.

krummhorn /krmhn krm-/ (also crumhorn) n. a medieval wind instrument with an enclosed double reed and an upward-curving end, producing an even, nasal sound.

<ORIGIN> from German, from krumm ‘crooked’ + Horn ‘horn’.

Krung Thep /r tep/ Thai name for BANGKOK. Situated to the east across the Chao Phraya river from the old capital of Bangkok, this was the site of the new capital founded by King Rama I in 1782. The modern city encompasses both sites.

Krupp /krp/ Alfred (1812–87), German arms manufacturer. His company played a pre-eminent part in German arms production from the 1840s through to the end of the Second World War.

krypton /krptn/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 36, a member of the noble gas series. It is obtained by distillation of liquid air, and is used in some kinds of electric light. (Symbol: Kr)

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek krupton, neuter of kruptos ‘hidden’.

kryptonite /krptənt/ n. [mass noun] (in science fiction) an alien mineral with the property of depriving Superman of his powers.

krytron /krtrn/ n. [PHYSICS] a high-speed solid-state switching device which is triggered by a pulse of coherent light and is used in the triggers of nuclear devices.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: first element of obscure derivation + -TRON.

Kryvyi Rih /krvi rx/ an industrial city in southern Ukraine, at the centre of an iron-ore mining region; pop. 667,000 (est. 2001). Russian name KRIVOI ROG.

KS abbr.

- Kansas (in official postal use).

- Kaposi's sarcoma.

- (in the UK) King's Scholar.

Kshatriya /katrə/ n. a member of the second of the four great Hindu castes, the military caste. The traditional function of the Kshatriyas is to protect society by fighting in wartime and governing in peacetime.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Sanskrit katriya, from khatra ‘rule, authority’.

KStJ abbr. Knight of the Order of St John, an international organization of Christian people which undertakes charitable work.

KT abbr.

- (in the UK) Knight of the Order of the Thistle.

- Knight Templar.

Kt abbr. Knight.

kt abbr. knot(s): a cruising speed of 240 kt.

K/T boundary short for Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary.

<ORIGIN> late 20th century: K/T, from the symbols for Cretaceous and Tertiary.

Kuala Lumpur /kwαlə lmpə/ the capital of Malaysia, in the south-west of the Malay Peninsula; pop. 1,297,526 (2000).

Kuala Trengganu /trəanu/ (also Kuala Terengganu) the capital of the state of Trengganu in Malaysia, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula at the mouth of the Trengganu River; pop. 255,109 (2000).

Kuantan /kwαntαn/ the capital of the state of Pahang in Malaysia, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula; pop. 289,395 (2000).

Kuan Yin /kwαn jn/ (in Chinese Buddhism) the goddess of compassion.

Ku-band /kεjuband/ n. [mass noun] a microwave frequency band used for satellite communication and broadcasting, using frequencies of about 12 gigahertz for terrestrial reception and 14 gigahertz for transmission.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from Ku (arbitrary serial designation) + BAND^1.

Kublai Khan /kubl kαn/ (1215–94), Mongol emperor of China, grandson of Genghis Khan. With his brother Mangu (then Mongol Khan) he conquered southern China (1252–9). After Mangu's death in 1259 he completed the conquest of China, founded the Yuan dynasty, and established his capital on the site of modern Beijing.

Kubrick /kjubrk/ Stanley (1928–99), American film director, producer, and writer. Notable films: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and A Clockwork Orange (1971).

kuccha /ktt/ (also kachha) plural n. short trousers ending above the knee, worn as one of the five distinguishing signs of the Sikh Khalsa.

<ORIGIN> Punjabi.

kuchen /kux(ə)n/ n. (pl. same) a cake, especially one eaten with coffee.

<ORIGIN> from German Kuchen.

Kuching /kut/ a port in Malaysia, on the Sarawak River near the NW coast of Borneo, capital of the state of Sarawak; pop. 423,873 (2000).

kudos /kjuds/ n. [mass noun] praise and honour received for an achievement.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: Greek.

<USAGE> Kudos comes from Greek and means ‘praise’. Despite appearances, it is not a plural form. This means that there is no singular form kudo and that the use of kudos as a plural, as in the following sentence, is incorrect: he received many kudos for his work (correct use is he received much kudos for his work).

kudu /kudu kd/ n. (pl. same or kudus) an African antelope that has a greyish or brownish coat with white vertical stripes, and a short bushy tail. The male has long spirally curved horns.

<INFO> Genus Tragelaphus, family Bovidae: two species.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Afrikaans koedoe, from Xhosa i-qudu.

kudzu /kdzu/ (also kudzu vine) n. a quick-growing East Asian climbing plant with reddish-purple flowers, used as a fodder crop and for erosion control.

<INFO> Pueraria lobata, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Japanese kuzu.

Kufic /kjufk/ (also Cufic) n. [mass noun] an early angular form of the Arabic alphabet found chiefly in decorative inscriptions.

■ adj. of or in Kufic.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from the name Kufa, a city south of Baghdad, Iraq (because it was attributed to the city's scholars), + -IC.

kugel /ku(ə)l/ n. 1 [mass noun] (in Jewish cookery) a kind of savoury pudding of potatoes or other vegetables.

2 S. African DEROGATORY a spoilt and materialistic young woman, typically Jewish, with a distinctive nasal accent.

<ORIGIN> Yiddish, literally ‘ball’.

Kuibyshev /kubεf/ former name (1935–91) for Samara.

Kuiper belt /kpə bεlt/ n. a region of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune, believed to contain many comets, asteroids, and other small bodies made largely of ice.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: named after Gerard P. Kuiper (1905–73), Dutch-born US astronomer.

Ku Klux Klan /ku klks klan/ (abbr.: KKK) an extremist right-wing secret society in the US.

The Ku Klux Klan was originally founded in the Southern states after the Civil War to oppose social change and black emancipation by violence and terrorism. Although disbanded twice, it re-emerged in the 1950s and 1960s and continues at a local level. Members disguise themselves in white robes and hoods, and often use a burning cross as a symbol of their organization.

<DERIVATIVES> Ku Kluxer n. Ku Klux Klansman n. (pl. Klansmen)

<ORIGIN> perhaps from Greek kuklos ‘circle’ and CLAN.

kukri /kkri/ n. (pl. kukris) a curved knife broadening towards the point, used by Gurkhas.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Nepalese khukuri.

kuku /kuku/ n. NZ another term for KERERU.

kula /kulə/ n. [mass noun] (in some Pacific communities) an inter-island system of ceremonial gift exchange as a prelude to or at the same time as regular trading.

<ORIGIN> Melanesian.

kulak /kulak/ n. HISTORICAL a peasant in Russia wealthy enough to own a farm and hire labour. Emerging after the emancipation of serfs in the 19th century the kulaks resisted Stalin's forced collectivization, but millions were arrested, exiled, or killed.

<ORIGIN> Russian, literally ‘fist, tight-fisted person’, from Turkic ol ‘hand’.

kulan /kulən/ n. an animal of a race of the Asian wild ass, native to the central Asian steppes.

<INFO> Equus hemionus kulan, family Equidae. Compare with ONAGER, KIANG.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Turkic.

kulcha /kltə/ n. a small, round Indian bread made from flour, milk, and butter, typically stuffed with meat or vegetables.

<ORIGIN> from Persian kulīca.

kulfi /klfi/ n. [mass noun] a type of Indian ice cream, typically served in the shape of a cone.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi kulfī.

kultarr /kltα/ n. a nocturnal carnivorous marsupial mouse with long hindlimbs and a plumed tail, found in arid regions of Australia.

<INFO> Antechinomys laniger, family Dasyuridae.

<ORIGIN> probably from Yitha-yitha (an Aboriginal language).

Kultur /kltə/ German /kltu/ n. [mass noun] German civilization and culture (sometimes used in a derogatory sense to suggest elements of racism, authoritarianism, or militarism).

<ORIGIN> German, from Latin cultura or French culture (see CULTURE).

Kulturkampf /kltəkampf/ German /kltukampf/ a conflict from 1872 to 1887 between the German government (headed by Bismarck) and the papacy for the control of schools and Church appointments, in which Bismarck was forced to concede to the Catholic Church.

<ORIGIN> German, from KULTUR + Kampf ‘struggle’.

Kumamoto /kuməmətə/ a city in southern Japan, on the west coast of Kyushu island; pop. 666,000 (est. 2002).

kumara /kumərə/ n. (pl. same) NZ a sweet potato.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Maori.

Kumasi /kumasi/ a city in southern Ghana; pop. 627,600 (est. 2002). It is the capital of the Ashanti region.

Kumayri /kumajri/ Russian name for GYUMRI.

Kumbh Mela /km melα/ n. a Hindu festival and assembly, held once every twelve years at four locations in India, at which pilgrims bathe in the waters of the Ganges and Jumna Rivers.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit, literally ‘pitcher festival’, from kumbh ‘pitcher’ + melā ‘assembly’.

Kumina /kminə/ n. a Jamaican religious ceremony involving music, dancing, and supposed possession by spirits.

<ORIGIN> perhaps from a Kimbundu word meaning ‘possession, to see’.

kumite /kumte/ n. [mass noun] (in martial arts) freestyle fighting.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, literally ‘sparring’.

kumkum /kmkm/ n. [mass noun] a red pigment used by Hindu women to make a round mark on the forehead.

<ORIGIN> from Sanskrit kukuma ‘saffron’.

kümmel /km(ə)l/ n. [mass noun] a sweet liqueur flavoured with caraway and cumin seeds.

<ORIGIN> from German, from Old High German kumil, variant of kumîn (see CUMIN).

kumquat /kmkwt/ (also cumquat) n. 1 an orange-like fruit related to the citruses, with an edible sweet rind and acid pulp.

2 the East Asian shrub or small tree which yields the kumquat.

<INFO> Genus Fortunella, family Rutaceae.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Chinese (Cantonese dialect) kam kwat ‘little orange’.

Kuna /kunə/ (also Cuna) n. (pl. same or Kunas) 1 a member of an American Indian people of the isthmus of Panama.

2 [mass noun] the Chibchan language of the Kuna, with about 35,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Kuna or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Kuna.

kuna /kunə/ n. (pl. kune) the basic monetary unit of Croatia, equal to 100 lipa.

<ORIGIN> Croatian, literally ‘marten’ (the fur of the marten was formerly a medium of exchange).

kund /knd/ n. INDIAN a tank or small reservoir in which rainwater is collected for drinking.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi.

kundalini /kndəlni/ n. [mass noun] (in yoga) latent female energy believed to lie coiled at the base of the spine.

- (also kundalini yoga) a system of meditation directed towards the release of kundalini energy.

<ORIGIN> Sanskrit, literally ‘snake’.

Kundera /kndərə/ Milan (b.1929), Czech novelist. He emigrated to France in 1975 after his books were banned in Czechoslovakia following the Soviet military invasion of 1968. Notable works: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979) and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984).

Kung /k/ n. (pl. same) 1 a member of a San (Bushman) people of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa.

2 [mass noun] the Khoisan language of the Kung, with about 10,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Kung or their language.

<ORIGIN> Khoikhoi !Kung, literally ‘people’.

kung fu /k fu k/ n. [mass noun] a primarily unarmed Chinese martial art resembling karate.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese gongfu, from gong ‘merit’ + fu ‘master’.

Kunlun Shan /knln αn/ a range of mountains in western China, on the northern edge of the Tibetan plateau, extending eastwards for over 1,600 km (1,000 miles) from the Pamir Mountains. Its highest peak is Muztag, which rises to 7,723 m (25,338 ft).

Kunming /knm/ a city in SW China, capital of Yunnan province; pop. 1,938,900 (est. 2002).

kunzite /kntst knzt/ n. [mass noun] a lilac-coloured gem variety of spodumene which fluoresces or changes colour when irradiated.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from the name of George F. Kunz (1856–1932), American gemmologist, + -ITE^1.

Kuomintang /kwəmnta/ (also Guomindang) a nationalist party founded in China under Sun Yat-sen in 1912, and led by Chiang Kai-shek from 1925. It held power from 1928 until the Communist Party took power in October 1949 and subsequently formed the central administration of Taiwan.

<ORIGIN> from Chinese, ‘national people's party’.

Kuopio /kəpə/ a city in southern Finland, capital of a province of the same name; pop. 87,347 (2001).

Kupffer cell /kpfə/ n. [ANATOMY] a phagocytic cell which forms the lining of the sinusoids of the liver and is involved in the breakdown of red blood cells.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer (1829–1902), Bavarian anatomist.

kurbash /kəba/ (also kourbash) n. a whip, typically of hippopotamus hide, formerly used as an instrument of punishment in Turkey and Egypt.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Arabic kurbāj, from Turkish kırbaç ‘whip’.

kurchatovium /kətətəvəm/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL a name proposed in the Soviet Union for the artificial radioactive element of atomic number 104, now called rutherfordium.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: named after Igor V. Kurchatov (1903–60), Russian nuclear physicist.

Kurd /kəd/ n. a member of a mainly Islamic people living in Kurdistan.

<ORIGIN> the name in Kurdish.

Kurdish /kəd/ adj. relating to the Kurds or their language.

■ n. [mass noun] the Iranian language of the Kurds.

Kurdistan /kədstαn -stan/ an extensive region in the Middle East south of the Caucasus, the traditional home of the Kurdish people.

The area includes large parts of eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, western Iran, eastern Syria, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The creation of a separate state of Kurdistan, proposed by the Allies after the First World War, is opposed by Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Following persecution of the Kurds by Iraq in the aftermath of the Gulf War of 1991, certain areas designated safe havens were established for the Kurds in northern Iraq, although these havens are not officially recognized as a state.

Kure /kure/ a city in southern Japan, on the south coast of the island of Honshu, near Hiroshima; pop. 213,700 (est. 2002).

Kurgan /kəαn/ a city in central Russia, commercial centre for an agricultural region; pop. 364,400 (est. 2002).

kurgan /kəαn/ n. [ARCHAEOLOGY] a prehistoric burial mound of a type found in southern Russia and Ukraine.

- (Kurgan) a member of the ancient people who built such burial mounds.

■ adj. relating to the ancient Kurgans.

<ORIGIN> Russian, of Turkic origin; compare with Turkish kurgan ‘castle’.

kuri /kri/ n. (pl. kuris) NZ a dog, especially a mongrel.

- INFORMAL an unpleasant or disliked person.

<ORIGIN> Maori, ‘dog’.

Kurile Islands /kəril/ (also Kuril Islands or the Kurils) a chain of 56 islands between the Sea of Okhotsk and the North Pacific, stretching from the southern tip of the Kamchatka peninsula to the north-eastern corner of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. They are the subject of dispute between Russia and Japan.

Kurosawa /krəsαwə/ Akira (1910–98), Japanese film director. Notable films: Rashomon (1950) and Ran (1985), a Japanese version of Shakespeare's King Lear.

Kuroshio /krəiə/ a warm current flowing in the Pacific Ocean north-eastwards past Japan and towards Alaska. Also called JAPANESE CURRENT, JAPAN CURRENT.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: Japanese, from kuro ‘black’ + shio ‘tide’.

kurrajong /krəd/ (also currajong) n. an Australian plant which produces useful tough fibre.

<INFO> Several species, in particular a small tree with shiny pointed leaves and boat-shaped leathery seed cases (Brachychiton populneus, family Sterculiaceae).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Dharuk garrajung ‘fibre fishing line’.

kursaal /kəsαl -z-/ n. (in Germany) a public building at a spa, in which entertainment is provided.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German, from Kur ‘cure’ + Saal ‘room’.

Kursk /kəsk/ an industrial city in SW Russia; pop. 443,200 (est. 2002). It was the scene of an important Soviet victory in the Second World War.

kurta /kətə/ (also kurtha) n. a loose collarless shirt worn by people from the Indian subcontinent, usually with a salwar, churidars, or pyjama.

<ORIGIN> from Urdu and Persian kurtah.

kurtosis /kətəss/ n. [mass noun] [STATISTICS] the sharpness of the peak of a frequency-distribution curve.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Greek kurtōsis ‘a bulging’, from kurtos ‘bulging, convex’.

kuru /kru/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a fatal disease of the brain occurring in some peoples in New Guinea and thought to be caused by a virus-like agent such as a prion.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: a local word.

kurus /kəru/ n. (pl. same) a monetary unit of Turkey, equal to one hundredth of a Turkish lira.

<ORIGIN> from Turkish kuruş.

Kuşadasi /kədəsi/ a resort town on the Aegean coast of western Turkey; pop. 43,800 (est. 2002).

Kushan /kαn/ n. (pl. same or Kushans) a member of an Iranian dynasty which invaded the Indian subcontinent and established a powerful empire in the north-west between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.

■ adj. relating to the Kushan or their dynasty.

<ORIGIN> from Prakrit kuāa (adjective), from Iranian.

kusti /ksti/ n. (pl. kustis) a cord worn round the waist by Parsees, consisting of seventy-two threads to represent the chapters of one of the portions of the Zend-Avesta.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: Persian and Gujarati.

Kutaisi /ktəisi/ an industrial city in central Georgia; pop. 267,300 (est. 2002). One of the oldest cities in Transcaucasia, it has been the capital of various kingdoms, including Colchis and Abkhazia.

Kutani /ktαni/ n. [mass noun] (also Kutani ware) a kind of richly decorated Japanese porcelain, especially that of the 17th century, or of a 19th-century red and gold style.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Kutani-mura, the name of a Japanese village in the former province of Kaga.

Kutch, Gulf of /kt kt/ an inlet of the Arabian Sea on the west coast of India.

Kutch, Rann of /kt kt ran/ a vast salt marsh in the north-west of the Indian subcontinent, on the shores of the Arabian Sea, extending over the boundary between SE Pakistan and the state of Gujarat in NW India.

Kuwait /kwet/ a country on the NW coast of the Persian Gulf; pop. 2,111,561 (est. 2002); official language, Arabic; capital, Kuwait City.

Kuwait has been an autonomous Arab sheikhdom, under the rule of an amir, from the 18th century, although the British established a protectorate from 1897 until 1961. One of the world's leading oil-producing countries, Kuwait was invaded by Iraq in August 1990, the occupying forces being expelled in the Gulf War of 1991.

<DERIVATIVES> Kuwaiti adj. & n.

Kuwait City a port on the Persian Gulf, the capital of Kuwait; pop. 32,100 (est. 2002).

Kuzbass /kzbas/ another name for KUZNETS BASIN.

Kuznets Basin /kznjεts/ (also Kuznetsk /-njεtsk/) an industrial region of southern Russia, situated in the valley of the Tom River, between Tomsk and Novokuznetsk. The region is rich in iron and coal deposits. Also called KUZBASS.

kV abbr. kilovolt(s).

kvass /kvαs/ n. [mass noun] (especially in Russia) a fermented drink, low in alcohol, made from rye flour or bread with malt.

<ORIGIN> from Russian kvas.

kvell /kvεl/ v. [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL feel happy and proud.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Yiddish kveln, from Middle High German, literally ‘well up’.

kvetch /kvεt/ NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. a person who complains a great deal.

- a complaint.

■ v. [no obj.] complain persistently.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from Yiddish kvetsh (noun), kvetshn (verb), from Middle High German quetschen, literally ‘crush’.

kW abbr. kilowatt(s).

Kwa /kwα/ n. [mass noun] a major branch of the Niger–Congo family of languages, spoken from Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to Nigeria and including Igbo and Yoruba.

■ adj. relating to this group of languages.

<ORIGIN> the name in Kwa.

kwacha /kwαtə/ n. the basic monetary unit of Zambia and Malawi, equal to 100 ngwee in Zambia and 100 tambala in Malawi.

<ORIGIN> previously used as a Zambian nationalist slogan calling for a new ‘dawn’ of freedom, later applied to the currency of the newly independent state.

kwaito /kwtə/ n. [mass noun] S. AFRICAN a style of popular music similar to hip hop, featuring vocals recited over an instrumental backing with strong bass lines.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: named after the Amakwaito, a group of 1950s gangsters in Sophiatown (a former quarter of Johannesburg), or from Afrikaans kwaai ‘angry, vicious’, slang ‘excellent, great’.

Kwakiutl /kwαkjt(ə)l/ n. (pl. same or Kwakiutls) 1 a member of an American Indian people of the NW Pacific coast, living mainly on Vancouver Island.

2 [mass noun] the Wakashan language of the Kwakiutl, now with few speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Kwakiutl or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Kwakiutl.

KwaNdebele /kwα(ə)ndəbili/ a former homeland established in South Africa for the Ndebele people, now part of the province of Mpumalanga.

Kwangchow /kwata/ variant of GUANGZHOU.

Kwangju /kwadu/ a city in SW South Korea; pop. 1,371,000 (est. 2002).

Kwangsi Chuang /kwasi twa/ variant of GUANGXI ZHUANG.

Kwangtung /kwat/ variant of GUANGDONG.

kwanza /kwanzə/ n. (pl. same or kwanzas) the basic monetary unit of Angola, equal to 100 lwei.

<ORIGIN> perhaps from a Kiswahili word meaning ‘first’.

Kwanzaa /kwanzα/ n. NORTH AMERICAN a secular festival observed by many African Americans from 26 December to 1 January as a celebration of their cultural heritage and traditional values.

<ORIGIN> from Kiswahili matunda ya kwanza, literally ‘first fruits (of the harvest)’, from kwanza ‘first’.

kwashiorkor /kwk kwa-/ n. [mass noun] a form of malnutrition caused by protein deficiency in the diet, typically affecting young children in the tropics.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: a local word in Ghana.

KwaZulu /kwαzulu/ a former homeland established in South Africa for the Zulu people, now part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The general area was formerly known as Zululand.

KwaZulu-Natal a province of eastern South Africa, on the Indian Ocean; capital, Pietermaritzburg. Formerly called Natal, it became one of the new provinces of South Africa following the democratic elections of 1994. See also NATAL.

Kweichow /kweta/ variant of GUIZHOU.

Kweilin /kweln/ variant of GUILIN.

Kweiyang /kweja/ variant of GUIYANG.

kwela /kwelə/ n. [mass noun] a style of rhythmical, repetitive popular music of central and southern Africa, resembling jazz, in which the lead part is usually played on the penny whistle.

- [count noun] a type of dance performed to kwela.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: Afrikaans, perhaps from Zulu khwela ‘mount, climb’.

Kwesui /kweswe/ former name (until 1954) for HOHHOT.

kWh abbr. kilowatt-hour(s).

KWIC n. [mass noun] [as modifier] [COMPUTING] denoting a database search in which the keyword is shown highlighted in the middle of the display, with the text forming its context on either side.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: acronym from key word in centre.

KWT abbr. Kuwait (international vehicle registration).

KY abbr. Kentucky (in official postal use).

Ky abbr. Kentucky.

kyanite /kənt/ n. [mass noun] a blue or green crystalline mineral consisting of aluminium silicate, used in heat-resistant ceramics.

<DERIVATIVES> kyanitic adj.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Greek kuanos, kuaneos ‘dark blue’ + -ITE^1.

kyanize /kənz/ (also kyanise) v. [with obj.] treat (wood) with a solution of mercuric chloride to prevent decay.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after John H. Kyan (1774–1850), the Irish inventor who patented the process in 1832.

kyat /kiαt/ n. (pl. same or kyats) the basic monetary unit of Burma (Myanmar), equal to 100 pyas.

<ORIGIN> Burmese.

Kyd Thomas (1558–94), English dramatist. His play The Spanish Tragedy (published anonymously in 1592) was an early example of revenge tragedy and was very popular on the Elizabethan stage.

kyle /kl/ n. SCOTTISH a narrow sea channel.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Scottish Gaelic caol ‘strait’, (as an adjective) ‘narrow’.

kylie /kli/ n. AUSTRALIAN (in Western Australia) a boomerang.

<ORIGIN> from Nyungar (and other Aboriginal languages) garli.

kylin /kiln/ n. a mythical composite animal, often figured on Chinese and Japanese ceramics.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Chinese qilin, from qi ‘male’ + lin ‘female’.

kylix /klks kl-/ n. (pl. kylikes or kylixes) an ancient Greek cup with a shallow bowl and a tall stem.

<ORIGIN> from Greek kulix.

kyloe /klə/ n. Scottish name for HIGHLAND CATTLE.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Scottish Gaelic gaidhealach ‘Gaelic, Highland’.

kymograph /kmə()rαf/ n. an instrument for recording variations in pressure, e.g. in sound waves or in blood within blood vessels, by the trace of a stylus on a rotating cylinder.

<DERIVATIVES> kymographic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kuma ‘wave’ + -GRAPH.

Kyoto /kətə/ an industrial city in central Japan, on the island of Honshu; pop. 1,472,000 (est. 2002). Founded in the 8th century, it was the imperial capital from 794 until 1868.

kype /kp/ n. a hook formed on the lower jaw of adult male salmon and trout during the breeding season.

<ORIGIN> mid 20th century: variant of Scots kip, perhaps influenced by pike^1.

kyphosis /kfəss/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE excessive outward curvature of the spine, causing hunching of the back. Compare with LORDOSIS.

<DERIVATIVES> kyphotic adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek kuphōsis, from kuphos ‘bent, hunchbacked’.

Kyrgyz /kəiz kəz/ (also Kirghiz) n. (pl. same) 1 a member of an indigenous people of central Asia, living chiefly in Kyrgyzstan.

2 [mass noun] the Turkic language of the Kyrgyz, with approximately 2 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Kyrgyz or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Kyrgyz.

Kyrgyz Republic another name for KYRGYZSTAN.

Kyrgyzstan /kəstαn kə- -stan/ a mountainous country in central Asia, on the north-western border of China; population 4,822,166 (est. 2002); official language, Kyrgyz; capital, Bishkek. Also called KYRGYZ REPUBLIC or (formerly) KIRGHIZIA.

The region was annexed by Russia in 1864, and became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. On the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 Kyrgyzstan became an independent republic within the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Kyrie /kre/ (also Kyrie eleison /lezn -sn εle-/) n. a short repeated invocation (in Greek or in translation) used in many Christian liturgies, especially at the beginning of the Eucharist or as a response in a litany.

<ORIGIN> from Greek Kuriē eleēson ‘Lord, have mercy’.

kyte /kt/ n. SCOTTISH a person's belly or stomach.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

kyu /kju/ n. a numbered grade of the less advanced level of proficiency in judo, karate, and other martial arts.

- a person who has achieved a kyu.

<ORIGIN> from Japanese kyū ‘class’.

kyudo /kjudə/ n. [mass noun] the Japanese martial art of longbow archery, incorporating set rhythmic movements and practised in a meditative state.

<ORIGIN> Japanese, literally ‘way of the bow’, from kyū ‘bow’ + dō ‘way, method’.

Kyushu /kuu/ the most southerly of the four main islands of Japan, constituting an administrative region; pop. 13,446,000 (2000); capital, Fukuoka.

Kyzyl /kəzl/ a city in south central Russia, on the Yenisei River, capital of the republic of Tuva; pop. 103,300 (est. 2002).

Kyzyl Kum /kəzl kum/ an arid desert region in central Asia, extending eastwards from the Aral Sea to the Pamir Mountains and covering part of Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan.

L^1 (also l) n. (pl. Ls or L's) 1 the twelfth letter of the alphabet.

- denoting the next after K in a set of items, categories, etc.

2 (L) a shape like that of a capital L: [in combination] an L-shaped building.

- (usually ell) NORTH AMERICAN an extension of a building or room that is at right angles to the main part.

- (usually ell) NORTH AMERICAN a bend or joint for connecting two pipes at right angles.

3 the Roman numeral for 50. [<ORIGIN> originally a symbol identified with the letter L, because of coincidence of form. In ancient Roman notation, L with a stroke above denoted 50,000.]

L^2 abbr.

- (in tables of sports results) games lost.

- [CHEMISTRY] laevorotatory: L-tryptophan.

- (L.) Lake, Loch, or Lough (chiefly on maps): L. Ontario.

- large (as a clothes size).

- BRITISH (on a motor vehicle) learner driver.

- (L.) Linnaeus (as the source of names of animal and plant species): Swallowtail Butterfly Papilio machaon (L., 1758).

- lire.

- Luxembourg (international vehicle registration).

■ symbol

- [CHEMISTRY] Avogadro's constant.

- [PHYSICS] inductance.

l abbr.

- (giving position or direction) left: l to r: Gordon, Anthony, and Mark.

- (chiefly in horse racing) length(s).

- (l.) (in textual references) line: l. 648.

- [CHEMISTRY] liquid.

- litre(s).

- (l.) ARCHAIC pound(s).

■ symbol (in mathematical formulae) length.

LA abbr.

- Library Association.

- Los Angeles.

- Louisiana (in official postal use).

La abbr.

- (La.) Louisiana.

■ symbol the chemical element lanthanum.

laager /lαə/ S. African n. HISTORICAL an encampment formed by a circle of wagons.

- FIGURATIVE an entrenched position or viewpoint that is defended against opponents: an educational laager, isolated from the outside world.

■ v. [with obj.] HISTORICAL form (vehicles) into a laager.

- [no obj.] make camp.

<ORIGIN> South African Dutch, from Dutch leger, lager ‘camp’. Compare with LAGER, lair^1, and leaguer^2.

Lab n. a Labrador dog.

lab n. INFORMAL a laboratory: a science lab.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: abbreviation.

Lab. abbr. BRITISH (following a politician's name) Labour.

Laban /lαb(ə)n/ Rudolf von (1879–1958), Hungarian choreographer and dancer. A pioneer of the central European school of modern dance, in 1920 he published the first of several volumes outlining his system of dance notation.

la Barca, Pedro Calderón de see Calderón de la Barca.

labarum /labərəm/ n. HISTORICAL the imperial standard of Constantine the Great, which bore Christian symbolic imagery fused with the military symbols of the Roman Empire.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from late Latin, of unknown origin.

labefaction /labfak(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC deterioration or downfall.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin labefactio(n-), from labefacere ‘weaken’, from labi ‘to fall’ + facere ‘make’.

label n. 1 a small piece of paper, fabric, plastic, or similar material attached to an object and giving information about it.

- a piece of fabric sewn inside a garment and bearing the brand name, size, or instructions for care.

- the piece of paper in the centre of a gramophone record giving the artist and title.

- a company that produces recorded music: independent labels.

- the name or trademark of a fashion company: she plans to launch her own designer clothes label.

2 a classifying phrase or name applied to a person or thing, especially one that is inaccurate or restrictive: the label ‘salsa’ seems especially meaningless when applied to musicians like Tito Puente.

- (in a dictionary entry) a word or words used to specify the subject area, register, or geographical origin of the word being defined.

- [COMPUTING] a string of characters used to refer to a particular instruction in a program.

- [BIOLOGY] & [CHEMISTRY] a radioactive isotope, fluorescent dye, or enzyme used to make something identifiable for study.

3 [HERALDRY] a narrow horizontal strip, typically with three downward projections, that is superimposed on a coat of arms by an eldest son during the life of his father.

4 [ARCHITECTURE] another term for DRIPSTONE.

■ v. (labels, labelling, labelled; US labels, labeling, labeled) [with obj.] 1 attach a label to (something).

- assign to a category, especially inaccurately or restrictively: many pupils felt that they were labelled as failures | [with obj. and complement] the critics labelled him a loser.

2 [BIOLOGY] & [CHEMISTRY] make (a substance, molecule, or cell) identifiable by replacing an atom with one of a distinctive radioactive isotope, or by attaching a fluorescent dye, enzyme, or other molecule.

<DERIVATIVES> labeller n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a narrow strip): from Old French, ‘ribbon’, probably of Germanic origin and related to lap^1.

La Belle Province /la bεl prvas/ French /la bεl pRvεs/ informal name for QUEBEC.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘the Beautiful Province’.

labellum /ləbεləm/ n. (pl. labella) 1 [ENTOMOLOGY] each of a pair of lobes at the tip of the proboscis in some insects.

2 [BOTANY] a central petal at the base of an orchid flower, typically larger than the other petals and of a different shape.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, diminutive of labrum ‘lip’.

labia /lebə/ plural n. 1 [ANATOMY] the inner and outer folds of the vulva, at either side of the vagina.

2 plural form of LABIUM.

labial /lebəl/ adj. 1 chiefly [ANATOMY] relating to the lips.

- [DENTISTRY] (of the surface of a tooth) adjacent to the lips.

- [ZOOLOGY] resembling or serving as a lip, lip-like part, or labium.

2 [PHONETICS] (of a consonant) requiring partial or complete closure of the lips (e.g. p, b, f, v, m, w), or (of a vowel) requiring rounded lips (e.g. oo in moon).

■ n. [PHONETICS] a labial sound.

<DERIVATIVES> labialize (also labialise) v.

■ labial (sense 2 of the adjective)

□ labially adv.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from medieval Latin labialis, from Latin labium ‘lip’.

labia majora /mədrə/ plural n. [ANATOMY] the larger outer folds of the vulva.

labia minora /mnrə/ plural n. [ANATOMY] the smaller inner folds of the vulva.

labiate /lebət/ n. [BOTANY] a plant of the mint family (Labiatae), with a distinctive two-lobed flower.

■ adj. 1 [BOTANY] relating to or denoting plants of the mint family.

2 [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] resembling or possessing a lip or labium.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘two-lipped’, describing a corolla or calyx): from modern Latin labiatus, from labium ‘lip’.

labile /lebl -l/ adj. TECHNICAL liable to change; easily altered.

- of or characterized by emotions which are easily aroused, freely expressed, and tend to alter quickly and spontaneously.

- [CHEMISTRY] easily broken down or displaced.

<DERIVATIVES> lability /ləblti/ n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘liable to err or sin’): from late Latin labilis, from labi ‘to fall’.

labio- /lebə/ combining form relating to the lips: labiodental.

<ORIGIN> from Latin labium ‘lip’.

labiodental adj. [PHONETICS] (of a sound) made with the lips and teeth, for example f and v.

labiovelar adj. [PHONETICS] (of a sound) made with the lips and soft palate, for example w.

labium /lebəm/ n. (pl. labia /-bə/) 1 [ENTOMOLOGY] a fused mouthpart which forms the floor of the mouth of an insect.

2 [BOTANY] the lower lip of the flower of a plant of the mint family.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in the general sense ‘lip, lip-like structure’): from Latin, ‘lip’; related to LABRUM.

lablab /lablab/ n. [mass noun] an Asian plant of the pea family, which is widely grown in the tropics for its edible seeds and pods and as a fodder crop.

<INFO> Lablab purpureus, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Arabic lablāb.

laboratory /ləbrət(ə)ri lab(ə)rət(ə)ri/ n. (pl. laboratories) a room or building equipped for scientific experiments, research, or teaching, or for the manufacture of drugs or chemicals: [as modifier] laboratory tests.

- [as modifier] (of an animal) bred for or used in experiments in laboratories: laboratory rats.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from medieval Latin laboratorium, from Latin laborare ‘to labour’.

laborious /ləbrəs/ adj. requiring considerable time and effort: years of laborious training | the work is very slow and laborious.

- (of speech or writing style) showing obvious signs of effort and lacking in fluency: she wrote in laborious, dictionary-assisted English.

<DERIVATIVES> laboriously adv. laboriousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also in the sense ‘industrious, assiduous’): from Old French laborieux, from Latin laboriosus, from labor ‘labour’.

Labor Party, Australian see AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY.

labour (US labor) n. [mass noun] 1 work, especially physical work: the price of repairs includes labour, parts, and VAT | manual labour.

- workers, especially manual workers, considered collectively: non-union casual labour.

- workers considered as a social class or political force: [as modifier] the labour movement.

- [as modifier] (Labour) a government department concerned with a nation's workforce: the Labour Secretary.

2 (Labour) [treated as sing. or plural] the Labour Party: [as modifier] the Labour leader.

3 the process of childbirth from the start of uterine contractions to delivery: a woman in labour.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 work hard; make great effort: they laboured from dawn to dusk | she was patiently labouring over her sketchbooks.

- work at an unskilled manual occupation: he was eking out an existence by labouring | (as adj. labouring) the labouring classes.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC till (the ground): the land belonged to him who laboured it.

2 have difficulty in doing something despite working hard: United laboured against confident opponents.

- [with adverbial of direction] move or proceed with difficulty: they laboured up a steep, tortuous track.

- (labour under) carry (a very heavy load) with difficulty.

- (of an engine) work noisily and with difficulty.

- (of a ship) roll or pitch heavily.

3 (labour under) be misled by (a mistaken belief): you've been labouring under a misapprehension.

<PHRASES>

□ a labour of Hercules see HERCULES.

□ a labour of love a task done for pleasure, not reward.

□ labour the point explain or discuss something at excessive length.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French labour (noun), labourer (verb), both from Latin labor ‘toil, trouble’.

labour camp n. a prison camp in which a regime of hard labour is enforced.

Labour Day n. a public holiday or day of festivities held in honour of working people, in many countries on 1 May, in the US and Canada on the first Monday in September.

laboured (US labored) adj. done with great effort and difficulty: his breathing was laboured.

- (especially of humour or a performance) not spontaneous or fluent: one of Alan's laboured jokes.

labourer (US laborer) n. a person doing unskilled manual work for wages: a farm labourer.

labour exchange n. former term for JOBCENTRE.

labour force n. all the members of a particular organization or country who are able to work, viewed collectively.

labour-intensive adj. (of a form of work) needing a large workforce or a large amount of work in relation to output.

labourism (US laborism) n. [mass noun] the principles of a Labour Party or the labour movement.

<DERIVATIVES> labourist n. & adj.

Labourite (US Laborite) n. a member or supporter of a Labour Party.

Labour Party n. a left-of-centre political party formed to represent the interests of ordinary working people, in particular a major British party that since the Second World War has been in power 1945–51, 1964–70, 1974–9, and since 1997. Arising from the trade union movement at the end of the 19th century, it replaced the Liberals as the country's second party after the First World War.

labour-saving adj. (of an appliance) designed to reduce the amount of work needed to do something.

labour theory of value n. [mass noun] the Marxist theory that the value of a commodity should be determined by the amount of human labour used in its production.

labour union n. NORTH AMERICAN a trade union.

labra plural form of LABRUM.

labradoodle n. a dog of a breed developed as a cross between a Labrador retriever and a POODLE.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: blend of Labrador^2 and poodle.

Labrador^1 /labrəd/ a coastal region of eastern Canada, which forms the mainland part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Labrador^2 /labrəd/ (also Labrador dog or retriever) n. a retriever of a breed that most typically has a black or yellow coat, widely used as a gun dog or as a guide for a blind person.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after the LABRADOR PENINSULA, where the breed was developed. The name Labrador dog had been applied in the 19th century to a much larger breed, similar to the Newfoundland.

Labrador Current a cold ocean current which flows southwards from the Arctic Ocean along the NE coast of North America. It meets the warm Gulf Stream in an area off the coast of Newfoundland which is noted for its dense fogs.

labradorescence /labrədrεs(ə)ns/ n. [mass noun] [MINERAL] the brilliant iridescence exhibited by some specimens of labradorite and other feldspars.

<DERIVATIVES> labradorescent adj.

labradorite /labrədrt/ n. [mass noun] a mineral of the plagioclase feldspar group, found in many igneous rocks.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from LABRADOR PENINSULA, where it was found, + -ITE^1.

Labrador Peninsula a broad peninsula of eastern Canada, between Hudson Bay, the Atlantic, and the Gulf of St Lawrence. Consisting of the Ungava Peninsula and Labrador, it contains most of Quebec and the mainland part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Also called LABRADOR-UNGAVA /αvə/.

Labrador tea n. a low-growing northern shrub of the heather family, with fragrant leathery evergreen leaves which are sometimes used locally in Canada as a tea substitute.

<INFO> Genus Ledum, family Ericaceae.

labret /lebrt/ n. an object such as a small piece of shell, bone, or stone inserted into the lip as an ornament in some cultures.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: diminutive of LABRUM.

labrish /labr/ n. [mass noun] W. INDIAN gossip.

<ORIGIN> probably a corruption of the verb BLABBER.

labrum /lebrəm/ n. (pl. labra /-brə/) [ZOOLOGY] a structure corresponding to a lip, especially the upper border of the mouthparts of a crustacean or insect.

<DERIVATIVES> labral adj.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘lip’; related to LABIUM.

Labrusca /ləbrskə/ n. [mass noun] a variety of grape obtained from a wild vine native to the eastern US.

<INFO> Vitis labrusca, family Vitaceae.

- a wine made from the Labrusca grape.

<ORIGIN> from Latin labrusca, denoting a wild vine.

La Bruyère /la brujε/ French /la bRYjεR/ Jean de (1645–96), French writer and moralist. He is known for his Caractères (1688), based on a translation of the Characters of Theophrastus and exposing the vanity and corruption of human behaviour by satirizing Parisian society.

Labuan /ləbuən/ a small Malaysian island off the north coast of Borneo; pop. 74,300 (est. 2002); capital, Victoria.

laburnum /ləbənəm/ n. a small European tree which has hanging clusters of yellow flowers followed by slender pods containing poisonous seeds. The hard timber is sometimes used as an ebony substitute.

<INFO> Genus Laburnum, family Leguminosae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin.

labyrinth /lab(ə)rnθ/ n. 1 a complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze: you lose yourself in a labyrinth of little streets.

- an intricate and confusing arrangement: a labyrinth of conflicting laws and regulations.

2 [ANATOMY] a complex structure in the inner ear which contains the organs of hearing and balance. It consists of bony cavities (the bony labyrinth) filled with fluid and lined with sensitive membranes (the membranous labyrinth).

- [ZOOLOGY] an accessory respiratory organ of certain fish.

<DERIVATIVES> labyrinthian adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (referring to the maze constructed by Daedalus to house the Minotaur): from French labyrinthe or Latin labyrinthus, from Greek laburinthos.

labyrinth fish n. a freshwater fish with poorly developed gills and a labyrinthine accessory breathing organ, native to Africa and Asia.

<INFO> Suborder Anabantoidei: Belontiidae and related families, with many species, including such popular aquarium fishes as the gouramis and the fighting fish.

labyrinthine /labərnθn/ adj. (of a network) like a labyrinth; irregular and twisting: labyrinthine streets and alleys.

- (of a system) intricate and confusing: labyrinthine plots and counterplots.

labyrinthitis /lab(ə)rnθts/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE inflammation of the labyrinth or inner ear.

labyrinthodont /labərnθədnt/ adj. [ZOOLOGY] (of teeth) having the enamel deeply folded to form a labyrinthine structure.

- [PALAEONTOLOGY] relating to a group of large fossil amphibians of the late Devonian to early Triassic periods having labyrinthodont teeth.

■ n. a labyrinthodont amphibian.

<INFO> Former subclass Labyrinthodontia: several families, but no longer considered to be a single group.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Labyrinthodontia, from Greek laburinthos ‘labyrinth’ + odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

LAC abbr. Leading Aircraftman.

lac^1 n. [mass noun] a resinous substance secreted as a protective covering by the lac insect, used to make varnish, shellac, sealing wax, dyes, etc.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from medieval Latin lac, lac(c)a, from Portuguese laca, based on Hindi lākh or Persian lāk.

lac^2 adj. [BIOLOGY] denoting the ability of normal strains of the bacterium E. coli to metabolize lactose, or the genetic factors involved in this ability (which is lost in some mutant strains): the lac operon.

<ORIGIN> 1940s: abbreviation of LACTOSE.

Lacan /lak/ French /lakα/ Jacques (1901–81), French psychoanalyst and writer. A notable post-structuralist, he reinterpreted Freudian psychoanalysis, especially the theory of the unconscious, in the light of structural linguistics and anthropology.

<DERIVATIVES> Lacanian /lakenən/ adj. & n. Lacanianism n.

Laccadive Islands /lakədv/ one of the groups of islands forming the Indian territory of Lakshadweep in the Indian Ocean.

laccase /lakez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a copper-containing enzyme which oxidizes hydroquinones to quinones, involved in the setting of lac.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from medieval Latin lacca (see lac^1) + -ASE.

laccolith /lakəlθ/ n. [GEOLOGY] a mass of igneous rock, typically lens-shaped, that has been intruded between rock strata causing uplift in the shape of a dome.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek lakkos ‘reservoir’ + -LITH.

lace n. 1 [mass noun] a fine open fabric of cotton or silk, made by looping, twisting, or knitting thread in patterns and used especially for trimming garments.

- braid used for trimming, especially on military dress uniforms.

2 (usually laces) a cord or leather strip passed through eyelets or hooks on opposite sides of a shoe or garment and then pulled tight and fastened.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 fasten or tighten (a shoe or garment) by tying the laces: he put the shoes on and laced them up.

- tighten a laced corset around the waist of: Rosina laced her up tight to show off her neat waist.

- (lace someone into) fasten someone into (a garment) by tightening the laces: she couldn't breathe, laced into this frock.

- [no obj.] (of a garment or shoe) be fastened by means of laces: the shoes laced at the front.

2 [with obj. and adverbial] entwine (things, especially fingers) together: she laced her fingers together.

- (lace something through) pass a lace or cord through (a hole).

3 add an ingredient, especially alcohol, to (a drink or dish) to enhance its flavour or strength: coffee laced with brandy | FIGURATIVE his voice was laced with derision.

4 [no obj.] (lace into) INFORMAL assail or tackle (something): Marion laced into the gin and tonic as if it was going out of fashion.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French laz, las (noun), lacier (verb), based on Latin laqueus ‘noose’ (also an early sense in English). Compare with LASSO.

lacebark n. any of a number of trees or shrubs which possess a lacy bark or inner bark, in particular:

<INFO>

- an evergreen Caribbean shrub with a lacy inner bark that is used ornamentally (Lagetta lagetto, family Thymelaeaceae).

- a small ornamental New Zealand tree (genus Hoheria, family Malvaceae).

lace bug n. a small plant-eating bug that has a raised net-like pattern on the wings and upper surface.

<INFO> Family Tingidae, suborder Heteroptera: several genera.

lacecap n. a hydrangea of a group of varieties that have flat flower heads with fertile florets in the centre surrounded by sterile florets. Compare with HORTENSIA.

<INFO> Hydrangea macrophylla vars., family Hydrangeaceae.

laced adj. trimmed or fitted with lace or laces: heavy laced boots.

Lacedaemonian /lasdmənən/ n. a native or inhabitant of Lacedaemon, an area of ancient Greece comprising the city of Sparta and its surroundings.

■ adj. of Lacedaemon or its inhabitants; Spartan.

lace glass n. [mass noun] a type of Venetian glass, having designs resembling lace.

La Ceiba /la sebə/ a seaport on the Caribbean coast of Honduras; pop. 112,700 (est. 2002).

lacemaking n. [mass noun] the activity or occupation of making lace.

<DERIVATIVES> lacemaker n.

lace pillow n. a cushion placed on the lap to provide support in lacemaking.

lacerate /lasəret/ v. [with obj.] tear or deeply cut (something, especially flesh or skin): the point had lacerated his neck | (as adj. lacerated) his badly lacerated hands and knees.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin lacerat- ‘mangled’, from the verb lacerare, from lacer ‘mangled, torn’.

laceration /lasəre(ə)n/ n. a deep cut or tear, especially in skin; a gash: he suffered lacerations to his head and face.

- [mass noun] the action of making such a cut.

Lacerta /ləsətə/ [ASTRONOMY] a small and inconspicuous northern constellation (the Lizard), on the edge of the Milky Way between Cygnus and Andromeda.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

lacertid /ləsətd/ n. [ZOOLOGY] a typical lizard of a large family (Lacertidae) to which most European lizards belong.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Lacertidae (plural), from Latin lacerta ‘lizard’.

Lacertilia /lasətlə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a group of reptiles that comprises the lizards. Also called SAURIA.

<INFO> Suborder Lacertilia (or Sauria), order Squamata.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Latin lacerta ‘lizard’.

lacertilian /lasətlən/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a reptile of the suborder Lacertilia; a lizard.

■ adj. relating to or denoting lacertilians.

lace-up adj. (of a shoe or garment) fastened with laces: flat lace-up shoes.

■ n. chiefly BRITISH a shoe or boot that is fastened with laces: brown leather lace-ups.

lacewing n. a slender delicate insect with large clear membranous wings. Both the adults and larvae are typically predators of aphids.

<INFO> Several families in the order Neuroptera, in particular Chrysopidae (the green lacewings).

lacewood n. [mass noun] the timber of the plane tree.

lacework n. [mass noun] fabric or decorative items made of lace.

- the process of making lace.

laches /latz le-/ n. [mass noun] [LAW] unreasonable delay in asserting a claim, which may result in its dismissal.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘slackness, negligence’): from Old French laschesse, from lasche ‘loose, lax’, based on Latin laxus. The current sense dates from the late 16th cent.

Lachesis /lakss/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] one of the three Fates.

<ORIGIN> Greek, literally ‘getting by lot’.

Lachlan /laklən/ a river of New South Wales, Australia, which rises in the Great Dividing Range and flows some 1,472 km (920 miles) north-west then south-west to join the Murrumbidgee River near the border with Victoria.

<ORIGIN> named after Lachlan Macquarie, the governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821.

lachrymal /lakrm(ə)l/ (also lacrimal or lacrymal) adj. 1 FORMAL or LITERARY connected with weeping or tears.

2 (lacrimal) [PHYSIOLOGY] & [ANATOMY] concerned with the secretion of tears: lacrimal cells.

■ n. 1 (lacrimal or lacrimal bone) [ANATOMY] a small bone forming part of the eye socket.

2 short for LACHRYMAL VASE.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective): from medieval Latin lachrymalis, from Latin lacrima ‘tear’.

lachrymal vase n. HISTORICAL a phial holding the tears of mourners at a funeral.

lachrymation /lakrme(ə)n/ (also lacrimation or lacrymation) n. [mass noun] LITERARY or MEDICINE the flow of tears.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Latin lacrimatio(n-), from lacrimare ‘weep’, from lacrima ‘tear’.

lachrymator /lakrmetə/ (also lacrimator) n. chiefly MEDICINE a substance that irritates the eyes and causes tears to flow.

lachrymatory /lakrmət(ə)ri/ (also lacrimatory) adj. TECHNICAL or LITERARY relating to, causing, or containing tears: a lachrymatory secretion.

■ n. (pl. lachrymatories) a phial of a kind found in ancient Roman tombs and thought to be a lachrymal vase.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (as a noun): from Latin lacrima.

lachrymose /lakrməs -z/ adj. tearful or given to weeping: she was pink-eyed and lachrymose.

- inducing tears; sad: a lachrymose children's classic.

<DERIVATIVES> lachrymosely adv. lachrymosity n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘like tears; liable to exude in drops’): from Latin lacrimosus, from lacrima ‘tear’.

lacing n. 1 [mass noun] the laced fastening of a shoe or garment.

2 lace trimming, especially on a uniform.

3 a dash of spirits added to a drink: black coffee with a generous lacing of rum.

lacing course n. a strengthening course of bricks built into an arch or wall.

laciniate /ləsnət/ (also laciniated /-etd/) adj. [BOTANY] & [ZOOLOGY] divided into deep narrow irregular segments.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin lacinia ‘fringe, hem, flap of a garment’ + -ATE^2.

lac insect n. an Asian scale insect which lives on croton trees and produces secretions that are used in the production of shellac.

<INFO> Laccifer lacca, family Lacciferidae, suborder Homoptera.

lack n. [mass noun] (usually lack of) the state of being without or not having enough of something: there is no lack of entertainment aboard ship | the case was dismissed for lack of evidence | [in sing.] there is a lack of parking space in the town.

■ v. [with obj.] be without or deficient in: the novel lacks imagination | [no obj.] she lacks in patience | Sam did not lack for friends.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: corresponding to, and perhaps partly from, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German lak ‘deficiency’, Middle Dutch laken ‘lack, blame’.

lackadaisical /lakədezk(ə)l/ adj. lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy: a lackadaisical defence left Spurs adrift in the second half.

<DERIVATIVES> lackadaisically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (also in the sense ‘feebly sentimental’): from LACKADAY or its obsolete extended form lackadaisy.

lackaday exclam. ARCHAIC an expression of surprise, regret, or grief.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: shortening of alack-a-day.

lackey n. (pl. lackeys) 1 a servant, especially a liveried footman or manservant.

- DEROGATORY a person who is obsequiously willing to obey or serve another person.

2 (also lackey moth) a brownish European moth of woods and hedgerows, the caterpillars of which live communally in a silken tent on the food tree. [<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the resemblance of the coloured stripes of its caterpillars to a footman's livery.]

<INFO> Malacosoma neustria, family Lasiocampidae.

■ v. (lackeys, lackeying, lackeyed) [with obj.] ARCHAIC behave servilely towards; wait on as a lackey.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French laquais, perhaps from Catalan alacay, from Arabic al-qā'id ‘the chief’.

lacking adj. [predic.] not available or in short supply: adequate resources are sadly lacking.

- (of a quality) absent: there was something lacking in our marriage.

- deficient or inadequate: the students are not lacking in intellectual ability | workers were asked in what way they found their managers lacking.

lacklustre (US lackluster) adj. 1 lacking in vitality, force, or conviction; uninspired or uninspiring: no excuses were made for the team's lacklustre performance.

2 (of the hair or the eyes) not shining; dull.

Lac Léman /lak lemα/ French name for Lake Geneva (see GENEVA, LAKE).

Laclos /laklə/ French /laklə/ Pierre Choderlos de (1741–1803), French novelist; full name Pierre-Ambroise-François Choderlos de Laclos. He is chiefly remembered for his epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782).

Laconia /ləkənə/ (also Lakonia) a modern department and ancient region of Greece, in the SE Peloponnese. Throughout the classical period the region was dominated by its capital, Sparta.

<DERIVATIVES> Laconian adj. & n.

laconic /ləknk/ adj. (of a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words: his laconic reply suggested a lack of interest in the topic.

<DERIVATIVES> laconically adv. laconicism n. laconism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the sense ‘Laconian’): via Latin from Greek Lakōnikos, from Lakōn ‘Laconia, Sparta’, the Spartans being known for their terse speech.

laconicum /ləknkəm/ n. (pl. laconica) a room in an ancient Roman baths used for hot-air or steam baths.

<ORIGIN> Latin, neuter of Laconicus ‘Laconic’, this type of room being first used by the Spartans.

La Coruña /la kərua/ Spanish name for CORUNNA.

lacquer /lakə/ n. [mass noun] 1 a liquid made of shellac dissolved in alcohol, or of synthetic substances, that dries to form a hard protective coating for wood, metal, etc.

2 the sap of the lacquer tree used as a varnish.

- decorative wooden articles coated with lacquer: [as modifier] a lacquer box.

3 (also hair lacquer) a chemical substance sprayed on hair to keep it in place.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. lacquered) 1 coat with lacquer: a small lacquered table.

2 spray (the hair) with lacquer.

<DERIVATIVES> lacquerer n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting lac): from obsolete French lacre ‘sealing wax’, from Portuguese laca (see lac^1).

lacquer tree n. an East Asian tree with white sap that turns dark on exposure to air, producing a hard-wearing varnish traditionally used in lacquerwork.

<INFO> Rhus verniciflua, family Anacardiaceae.

lacquerware (also lacquerwork) n. [mass noun] decorative articles, typically made of wood, that have been coated with lacquer.

lacquey n. & v.

■ archaic spelling of LACKEY.

lacrosse /ləkrs/ n. [mass noun] a team game, originally played by North American Indians, in which the ball is thrown, carried, and caught with a long-handled stick having a curved L-shaped or triangular frame at one end with a piece of shallow netting in the angle.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French (le jeu de) la crosse ‘(the game of) the hooked stick’. Compare with CROSSE.

lactalbumin /laktalbjmn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein or mixture of similar proteins occurring in milk, obtained after the removal of casein and soluble in a salt solution.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from LACTO- ‘of milk’ + ALBUMIN.

lactam /laktam/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing an amide group –NHCO– as part of a ring.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: blend of LACTONE and AMIDE.

lactase /laktez/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] an enzyme which catalyses the hydrolysis of lactose to glucose and galactose.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from LACTOSE + -ASE.

lactate^1 /laktet/ v. [no obj.] (of a female mammal) secrete milk.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: back-formation from LACTATION.

lactate^2 /laktet/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a salt or ester of lactic acid.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from LACTIC + -ATE^1.

lactation n. [mass noun] the secretion of milk by the mammary glands.

- the action of suckling an infant.

<DERIVATIVES> lactational adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin lactatio(n-), from lactare ‘suckle’, from lac, lact- ‘milk’.

lacteal /laktəl/ adj. of milk.

- [ANATOMY] (of a vessel) conveying chyle or other milky fluid.

■ plural n. (lacteals) [ANATOMY] the lymphatic vessels of the small intestine which absorb digested fats.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin lacteus (from lac, lact- ‘milk’) + -AL.

lactescent /laktεs(ə)nt/ adj. milky in appearance.

- [BOTANY] yielding a milky latex.

<DERIVATIVES> lactescence n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin lactescent- ‘being milky’, from the verb lactere, from lac, lact- ‘milk’.

lactic /laktk/ adj. relating to or obtained from milk.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from Latin lac, lact- ‘milk’ + -IC.

lactic acid n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a colourless syrupy organic acid formed in sour milk, and produced in the muscle tissues during strenuous exercise.

<INFO> Chem. formula: CH_3CH(OH)COOH.

lactiferous /laktf(ə)rəs/ adj. chiefly [ANATOMY] forming or conveying milk or milky fluid: lactiferous ducts.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin lac, lact- ‘milk’ + -FEROUS.

lacto- combining form 1 relating to milk: lactoscope.

2 from or relating to lactic acid or lactose: lactobacillus.

<ORIGIN> from Latin lac, lact- ‘milk’.

lactobacillus /laktəbəsləs/ n. (pl. lactobacilli /-l/) [BIOLOGY] a rod-shaped bacterium which produces lactic acid from the fermentation of carbohydrates.

<INFO> Genus Lactobacillus; non-motile Gram-positive bacteria.

lactoferrin /laktəfεrn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein present in milk and other secretions, with bactericidal and iron-binding properties.

lactoflavin /laktəflevn/ n. another term for RIBOFLAVIN.

lactogenic /laktə()dεnk/ adj. [PHYSIOLOGY] (of a hormone or other substance) inducing the secretion of milk.

lactoglobulin /laktə()lbjln/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a protein or mixture of similar proteins occurring in milk, obtained after the removal of casein and precipitated in a salt solution.

lactometer /laktmtə/ n. an instrument for measuring the density of milk.

lactone /laktən/ n. [CHEMISTRY] an organic compound containing an ester group –OCO– as part of a ring.

lacto-ovo-vegetarian n. a person who eats vegetables, eggs, and dairy products but who does not eat meat.

lactoprotein n. [mass noun] the protein component of milk.

lactoscope n. an instrument for measuring the quality of milk from its translucence.

lactose /laktəz -s/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a sugar present in milk. It is a disaccharide containing glucose and galactose units.

lactosuria /laktə()sjərə/ n. [mass noun] the presence of lactose in the urine.

lacto-vegetarian n. a person who abstains from eating meat and eggs.

lactulose /laktjləz/ n. [mass noun] [CHEMISTRY] a synthetic sugar with laxative properties. It is a disaccharide consisting of glucose and fructose units.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from LACTO- ‘of milk’, perhaps on the pattern of cellulose.

lacuna /ləkjunə/ n. (pl. lacunae /-ni/ or lacunas) 1 an unfilled space; a gap: the journal has filled a lacuna in Middle Eastern studies.

- a missing portion in a book or manuscript.

2 [ANATOMY] a cavity or depression, especially in bone.

<DERIVATIVES> lacunal adj. lacunary adj. lacunate adj. lacunose adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, ‘pool’, from lacus ‘lake’.

lacunar^1 /ləkjunə/ adj. relating to a lacuna.

lacunar^2 /ləkjunə/ n. a vault or ceiling consisting of recessed panels.

- a panel in a lacunar.

lacustrine /ləkstrn -trn/ adj. TECHNICAL or LITERARY relating to or associated with lakes.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin lacus ‘lake’ (the stem lacustr- influenced by Latin palustris ‘marshy’) + -INE^1.

LACW abbr. Leading Aircraftwoman.

lacy adj. (lacier, laciest) made of, resembling, or trimmed with lace: a lacy petticoat.

<DERIVATIVES> lacily adv. laciness n.

lad n. 1 INFORMAL a boy or young man (often as a form of address): come in, lad, and shut the door.

- (lads) BRITISH a group of men sharing recreational, working, or other interests: she wouldn't let him go out with the lads any more | a furious row ensued between the referee and our lads.

- BRITISH a boisterously macho or high-spirited young man: Tony was a bit of a lad—always had an eye for the women.

2 BRITISH a stable worker (regardless of age or sex).

<ORIGIN> Middle English: of unknown origin.

Ladakh /lədαk/ a high-altitude region of NW India, Pakistan, and China, containing the Ladakh and Karakoram mountain ranges and the upper Indus valley; chief town, Leh (in India).

Ladakhi /lədαki/ n. (pl. Ladakhis) 1 a native or inhabitant of Ladakh.

2 [mass noun] the language of Ladakh, a dialect of Tibetan.

■ adj. relating to Ladakh, the Ladakhis, or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Ladakhi.

ladanum /lad(ə)nəm/ (also labdanum) n. [mass noun] a gum resin obtained from the twigs of a southern European rock rose, used in perfumery and for fumigation.

<INFO> The rock rose is usually Cistus ladanifer, family Cistaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek ladanon, lēdanon, from lēdon ‘mastic’.

ladder n. 1 a piece of equipment consisting of a series of bars or steps between two upright lengths of wood, metal, or rope, used for climbing up or down something.

- FIGURATIVE a series of ascending stages by which someone or something may progress: employees on their way up the career ladder.

2 BRITISH a vertical strip of unravelled fabric in tights or stockings.

■ v. BRITISH (with reference to tights or stockings) develop or cause to develop a ladder: (as adj. laddered) her tights were always laddered | [no obj.] they laddered the minute I put them on.

<ORIGIN> Old English hld(d)er, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch leer and German Leiter.

ladder-back (also ladder-back chair) n. an upright chair with a back resembling a ladder.

ladder stitch n. [mass noun] a stitch in embroidery consisting of transverse bars.

laddertron /ladətrn/ n. a device used to carry charge to the terminals of some electrostatic accelerators, consisting of a series of metal bars joined at each end by non-conducting links to form a closed loop.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from LADDER + -TRON.

laddie n. INFORMAL, chiefly SCOTTISH a boy or young man (often as a form of address): he's just a wee laddie.

laddish adj. denoting or characteristic of a young man who behaves in a boisterously macho manner.

<DERIVATIVES> laddishness n.

laddu /ldu/ (also laddoo or ladoo) n. (pl. laddus) an Indian sweet made from a mixture of flour, sugar, and shortening, which is shaped into a ball.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi laū.

lade /led/ v. (past participle laden) [with obj.] ARCHAIC put cargo on board (a ship).

- ship (goods) as cargo: the surplus products must be laden on board the vessels.

- [no obj.] (of a ship) take on cargo.

<ORIGIN> Old English hladan, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German laden ‘to load’, also to LADLE and perhaps to LATHE.

laden adj. heavily loaded or weighed down: a tree laden with apples | [in combination] the moisture-laden air.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: past participle of LADE.

ladette n. BRITISH INFORMAL a young woman who behaves in a boisterously assertive or crude manner and engages in heavy drinking sessions.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: from LAD + -ETTE.

la-di-da (also lah-di-dah) adj. INFORMAL pretentious or snobbish in manner or speech: do I really sound like a la-di-da society lawyer?

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: imitative of an affected manner of speech.

ladies plural form of LADY.

ladies' chain n. a figure in a quadrille or other dance.

ladies' fingers plural n. British another term for OKRA.

ladies' man (also lady's man) n. INFORMAL a man who enjoys spending time and flirting with women.

ladies' night n. a function at a men's institution or club to which women are invited.

- an evening on which women are given free or reduced admission to a nightclub.

ladies' room n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a toilet for women in a public or institutional building.

Ladin /lədin/ n. [mass noun] the Rhaeto-Romance dialect spoken in northern Italy and the Engadine region of SE Switzerland.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin Latinus (see LATIN).

lading /led/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the action of loading a ship with cargo.

- [count noun] a cargo.

Ladino /lədinə/ n. (pl. Ladinos) 1 [mass noun] the language of some Sephardic Jews, especially formerly in Mediterranean countries. It is based on medieval Spanish, with some Hebrew, Greek, and Turkish words, and is written in modified Hebrew characters. Also called JUDEZMO.

2 a mestizo or Spanish-speaking white person in Central America.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Latin Latinus (see LATIN).

ladino /lədinə/ n. (pl. ladinos) a white (or Dutch) clover of a large variety native to Italy and cultivated for fodder in North America.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Italian.

Ladislaus I /ladsls/ (c.1040–95), king of Hungary 1077–95; canonized as St Ladislaus. He extended Hungarian power and advanced the spread of Christianity. Feast day, 27 June.

Ladislaus II /ladslas/ (c.1351–1434), king of Poland 1386–1434; Polish name Władysław. As grand duke of Lithuania, he acceded to the Polish throne on his marriage to the Polish monarch, Queen Jadwiga, thus uniting Lithuania and Poland.

ladle n. a large long-handled spoon with a cup-shaped bowl, used for serving soup or sauce.

- a container for transporting molten metal in a foundry.

■ v. [with obj. and adverbial] serve (soup or sauce) with a ladle: she ladled out onion soup.

- FIGURATIVE provide (information, advice, etc.) lavishly or overgenerously: he was ladling out his personal philosophy of life.

<DERIVATIVES> ladleful n. (pl. ladlefuls) ladler n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlædel, from hladan (see LADE).

Ladoga, Lake /lαdəə/ a large lake in NW Russia, north-east of St Petersburg, near the border with Finland. It is the largest lake in Europe, with an area of 17,700 sq. km (6,837 sq. miles).

lad's love n. another term for SOUTHERNWOOD.

lady n. (pl. ladies) 1 a polite or formal way of referring to a woman: I spoke to the lady at the travel agency | [as modifier] a lady doctor.

- used as a courteous designation for a female fellow member of the House of Commons: the Right Honourable Lady promised me her support.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN used as an informal, often brusque, form of address to a woman: I'm sorry, lady, but you have the wrong number.

2 a woman of good social position.

- a courteous, decorous, or genteel woman: his wife was a real lady, with such nice manners.

- (Lady) (in the UK) a title used by peeresses, female relatives of peers, the wives and widows of knights, etc.: Lady Caroline Lamb.

- a woman at the head of a household.

3 (one's lady) DATED a man's wife: welcoming the vice-president and his lady.

- (also lady friend) a female lover or sweetheart.

- HISTORICAL a woman to whom a man, especially a knight, is chivalrously devoted.

4 (the Ladies) BRITISH a women's public toilet.

<PHRASES>

□ find the lady another term for THREE-CARD TRICK.

□ it isn't over till the fat lady sings used to convey that there is still time for a situation to change. [<ORIGIN> by association with the final aria in tragic opera.]

□ ladies who lunch INFORMAL, often DEROGATORY women with both the means and free time to meet socially for lunch in expensive restaurants.

□ Lady Bountiful a woman who engages in ostentatious acts of charity to impress others. [<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from the name of a character in Farquhar's The Beaux' Stratagem (1707).]

□ Lady Luck chance personified as a controlling power in human affairs: it seemed Lady Luck was still smiling on them.

□ Lady Muck BRITISH INFORMAL a haughty or socially pretentious woman.

□ My Lady a polite form of address to female judges and certain noblewomen.

<DERIVATIVES> ladyhood n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlfdīge (denoting a woman to whom homage or obedience is due, such as the wife of a lord, also specifically the Virgin Mary), from hlāf ‘loaf’ + a Germanic base meaning ‘knead’, related to DOUGH; compare with LORD. In LADY DAY and other compounds where it signifies possession, it represents the Old English genitive hlfdīgan ‘(Our) Lady's’.

Lady altar n. the altar in a Lady chapel.

ladybird n. BRITISH a small beetle with a domed back which is typically red or yellow with black spots. Both the adults and larvae are important predators of aphids. Called LADYBUG in North America.

<INFO> Family Coccinellidae: several genera and species, including the common European seven-spot ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata).

ladyboy n. (in Thailand) a transvestite or transsexual.

ladybug n. North American term for LADYBIRD.

Lady chapel n. a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary in a church or cathedral, typically to the east of the high altar in a cathedral and to the south of it in a church.

Lady Day n. 25 March (the feast of the Annunciation), a quarter day in England, Wales, and Ireland.

<ORIGIN> with reference to Our Lady, the Virgin Mary.

lady fern n. a tall, graceful fern of worldwide distribution which favours moist shady habitats.

<INFO> Athyrium and other genera, family Woodsiaceae: several species, in particular A. filix-femina.

ladyfied (also ladified) adj. having the manner of a socially superior woman; pretentiously refined.

ladyfinger n. North American term for lady's finger (sense 2).

ladyfish n. (pl. same or ladyfishes) any of a number of marine fishes of warm coastal waters, several of which are popular with anglers, notably:

- a tenpounder.

- a bonefish.

ladyfy (also ladify) v. (ladyfies, ladyfying, ladyfied) [with obj.] ARCHAIC give (a woman) the title of Lady.

lady-in-waiting n. (pl. ladies-in-waiting) a woman who attends a queen or princess.

ladykiller n. INFORMAL an attractive, charming man who habitually seduces women.

ladylike adj. appropriate for or typical of a well-bred, decorous woman or girl: her antics were considered very undignified by her ladylike peers | it wasn't ladylike to be too interested in men.

<DERIVATIVES> ladylikeness n.

lady-love n. DATED a female lover or sweetheart.

Lady Mayoress n. the title of the wife of a Lord Mayor.

lady of the bedchamber n. (in the UK) a female attendant to the queen or queen mother, ranking in the royal household above woman of the bedchamber.

lady of the night n. EUPHEMISTIC a prostitute.

lady's bedstraw n. a yellow-flowered Eurasian bedstraw which smells of hay when dried and was formerly used to make a mattress for sleeping on.

<INFO> Galium verum, family Rubiaceae.

lady's companion n. BRITISH a small case or bag containing needlework items.

lady's finger n. British 1 another term for KIDNEY VETCH.

2 a finger-shaped sponge cake with a sugar topping.

ladyship n. (Her/Your Ladyship) a respectful form of reference or address to a woman who has a title: the car is outside, Your Ladyship.

- British IRONIC a form of reference or address to a woman thought to be acting in a grand or self-important way: bow everyone, Her Ladyship's actually gracing us with her presence!

lady's maid n. chiefly HISTORICAL a maid who attended to the personal needs of her mistress.

lady's mantle n. a herbaceous European plant of the rose family, with lobed rounded leaves and inconspicuous greenish flowers, and formerly valued in herbal medicine.

<INFO> Alchemilla vulgaris, family Rosaceae.

Ladysmith /ledsmθ/ a town in eastern South Africa, in KwaZulu-Natal. It was subjected to a four-month siege by Boer forces during the Second Boer War.

<ORIGIN> named after the wife of the governor of Natal, Sir Harry Smith (1787–1860).

lady's slipper n. an orchid of north temperate regions, the flower of which has a conspicuous pouch- or slipper-shaped lip. Also called SLIPPER ORCHID.

<INFO> Genus Cypripedium, family Orchidaceae.

lady's smock n. another term for CUCKOOFLOWER.

lady's tresses (US also ladies' tresses) plural n. [usually treated as sing.] a short orchid with small white flowers, growing chiefly in north temperate regions.

<INFO> Genus Spiranthes (and Goodyera), family Orchidaceae.

Lady Superior n. the head of a convent or nunnery in certain orders.

Lae /lαe/ an industrial seaport on the east coast of Papua New Guinea, the country's second-largest city; pop. 105,200 (est. 2002).

Laennec's cirrhosis /laεnεks/ n. [mass noun] MEDICINE a type of cirrhosis of the liver characterized by a nodular appearance of the liver surface, associated with alcoholism.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: named after René T. H. Laënnec (1781–1826), the French physician who described the condition.

Laetrile /letrl/ n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a compound extracted from peach stones, formerly used controversially to treat cancer.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from a blend of LAEVOROTATORY and NITRILE.

laevo- /livə/ (also levo-) combining form on or to the left: laevorotatory.

<ORIGIN> from Latin laevus ‘left’.

laevorotatory /livərətət(ə)ri/ (US levorotatory) adj. [CHEMISTRY] (of a compound) having the property of rotating the plane of a polarized light ray to the left, i.e. anticlockwise facing the oncoming radiation. The opposite of DEXTROROTATORY.

<DERIVATIVES> laevorotation n.

laevulose /livjləz -s/ (US levulose) n. [CHEMISTRY] another term for FRUCTOSE.

Lafayette /laf(j)εt/ (also La Fayette) Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de (1757–1834), French soldier and statesman. He fought alongside the American colonists in the War of Independence and commanded the National Guard (1789–91) in the French Revolution.

Laffer curve /lafə/ n. [ECONOMICS] a supposed relationship between economic activity and the rate of taxation which suggests that there is an optimum tax rate which maximizes tax revenue.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after Arthur Laffer (born 1942), American economist.

La Fontaine /la fntεn -ten/ French /la ftεn/ Jean de (1621–95), French poet. He is chiefly remembered for his Fables (1668–94), drawn from oriental, classical, and contemporary sources.

lag^1 v. (lags, lagging, lagged) [no obj.] 1 fail to keep up with another or others in movement or development: they waited for Tim who was lagging behind.

2 North American another term for string (sense 6 of the verb).

■ n. 1 (also time lag) a period of time between one event and another: a time lag between infection and symptoms.

2 [PHYSICS] a retardation in an electric current or movement.

<DERIVATIVES> lagger n.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century (as a noun in the sense ‘hindmost person in a game, race, etc.’, also ‘dregs’): related to the dialect adjective lag (perhaps from a fanciful distortion of last^1, or of Scandinavian origin: compare with Norwegian dialect lagga ‘go slowly’).

lag^2 v. (lags, lagging, lagged) [with obj.] enclose or cover (a boiler, pipes, etc.) with material that provides heat insulation.

<DERIVATIVES> lagger n.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from earlier lag ‘piece of insulating cover’.

lag^3 BRITISH INFORMAL n. a person who has been frequently convicted and sent to prison: both old lags were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.

■ v. (lags, lagging, lagged) [with obj.] ARCHAIC arrest or send to prison.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (as a verb in the sense ‘carry off, steal’): of unknown origin. Current senses date from the 19th cent.

lagan /la(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC (in legal contexts) goods or wreckage lying on the bed of the sea.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Old French, perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to lay^1.

lagar /laα/ n. (pl. lagares) (in Spain and Portugal) a large, typically stone trough in which grapes are trodden.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, from Latin lacus, denoting a vat for freshly pressed wine.

Lag b'Omer /lα bəmə/ n. a Jewish festival held on the 33rd day of the Omer (the period between Passover and Pentecost), traditionally regarded as celebrating the end of a plague in the 2nd century.

<ORIGIN> from Hebrew lā (pronunciation of the letters L (lamed) and G (gimel) symbolizing 33) + bā ‘in the’ + ‘ōmer (see OMER).

lagena /lədinə/ n. (pl. lagenae /-ni/) [ZOOLOGY] an extension of the saccule of the ear in some vertebrates, corresponding to the cochlear duct in mammals.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘flagon’, from Greek lagunos.

lager n. [mass noun] a kind of effervescent beer which is light in colour and body.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from German Lagerbier ‘beer brewed for keeping’, from Lager ‘storehouse’. Compare with LAAGER, lair^1, and leaguer^2.

Lagerlöf /lαələf/ Selma (Ottiliana Lovisa) (1858–1940), Swedish novelist. She made her name with Gösta Berlings Saga (1891), and was the first woman to be the sole winner of a Nobel Prize (Literature, 1909).

lager lout n. BRITISH INFORMAL a young man who behaves in an unpleasant or violent way as a result of excessive drinking.

laggard /laəd/ n. a person who makes slow progress and falls behind others.

■ adj. slower than desired or expected: a bell to summon laggard children to school.

<DERIVATIVES> laggardly adj. & adv. laggardness n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (as an adjective): from LAG^1.

lagged adj. [ECONOMICS] showing a delayed effect: a lagged measure of unemployment.

lagging n. [mass noun] material providing heat insulation for a water tank, pipes, etc.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from LAG^2.

La Gioconda /la dəkndə/ another name for MONA LISA.

lagniappe /lanjap/ n. NORTH AMERICAN something given as a bonus or gratuity.

<ORIGIN> Louisiana French, from Spanish la ñapa.

lagomorph /laəmf/ [ZOOLOGY] n. a mammal of the order Lagomorpha, which comprises the hares, rabbits, and pikas.

■ adj. relating to or denoting lagomorphs.

Lagomorpha /laəmfə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] an order of mammals that comprises the hares, rabbits, and pikas. They are distinguished by the possession of double incisor teeth, and were formerly placed with the rodents.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from Greek lagōs ‘hare’ + morphē ‘form’.

lagoon n. a stretch of salt water separated from the sea by a low sandbank or coral reef.

- NORTH AMERICAN & AUSTRALIAN/NZ a small freshwater lake near a larger lake or river.

- an artificial pool for the treatment of effluent or to accommodate an overspill from surface drains during heavy rain.

<DERIVATIVES> lagoonal adj.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Italian and Spanish laguna, from Latin lacuna (see LACUNA).

Lagos /les/ the chief city of Nigeria, a port on the Gulf of Guinea; pop. 1,484,000 (1995). Originally a centre of the slave trade, it became capital of the newly independent Nigeria in 1960. It was replaced as capital by Abuja in 1991.

Lagrange /lar/ French /laRα/ Joseph Louis, Comte de (1736–1813), Italian-born French mathematician. He is remembered for his proof that every positive integer can be expressed as a sum of at most four squares, and for his work on mechanics and its application to the description of planetary and lunar motion.

Lagrangian point /lərən/ n. one of five points in the plane of orbit of one body around another (e.g. the moon around the earth) at which a small third body can remain stationary with respect to both.

lah (also la) n. [MUSIC] (in tonic sol-fa) the sixth note of a major scale.

- the note A in the fixed-doh system.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: representing (as an arbitrary name for the note) the first syllable of Latin labii, taken from a Latin hymn (see SOLMIZATION).

La Habana /la aβana/ Spanish name for Havana^1.

lahar /lαhα/ n. [GEOLOGY] a destructive mudflow on the slopes of a volcano.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from Javanese.

Lahnda /lαndə/ n. [mass noun] an Indic language of the western Punjab and adjacent areas of Pakistan, with some 58 million speakers. It is sometimes classified as a dialect of Punjabi.

■ adj. relating to Lahnda.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: from Punjabi lahandā, literally ‘western’.

Lahore /ləh/ the capital of Punjab province and second-largest city of Pakistan, situated near the border with India; pop. 5,063,500 (1998).

<DERIVATIVES> Lahori adj.

Lahu /lαhu/ n. (pl. same or Lahus) 1 a member of an indigenous people of SW China and Laos.

2 [mass noun] the Tibeto-Burman language of the Lahu.

■ adj. relating to the Lahu or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Lahu.

Laibach /labax/ German name for LJUBLJANA.

laic /lek/ FORMAL adj. of the laity; secular.

■ n. a person who is not a member of the clergy; a layperson.

<DERIVATIVES> laical adj. laically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin laicus (see lay^2).

laicity /lesti/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL the status or influence of the laity.

laicize /lesz/ (also laicise) v. [with obj.] FORMAL withdraw clerical character, control, or status from: when his priestly vocation no longer satisfied him he had asked to be laicized.

<DERIVATIVES> laicism n. laicization n.

laid past and past participle of lay^1.

laid-back adj. INFORMAL relaxed and easy-going: he was being very laid-back about it all.

laid paper n. [mass noun] paper that has a finely ribbed appearance. Compare with WOVE PAPER.

lain past participle of lie^1.

Laing /la/ R. D. (1927–89), Scottish psychiatrist; full name Ronald David Laing. He became famous for his controversial views on madness and in particular on schizophrenia, linking what society calls insanity with politics and family structure.

lair^1 n. a place where a wild animal lives.

- a secret or private place in which a person seeks concealment or seclusion.

<ORIGIN> Old English leger ‘resting place, bed’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch leger ‘bed, camp’ and German Lager ‘storehouse’, also to lie^1. Compare with LAAGER, lager, and leaguer^2.

lair^2 AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL n. a flashily dressed man who enjoys showing off.

■ v. [no obj.] dress or behave in a flashy manner: some of us laired up in Assam silk suits.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: back-formation from LAIRY.

lairage /lεrd/ n. a place where cattle or sheep may be rested on the way to market or slaughter.

laird /lεd/ n. (in Scotland) a person who owns a large estate.

<DERIVATIVES> lairdship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: Scots form of LORD.

lairy adj. (lairier, lairiest) BRITISH INFORMAL 1 cunning or conceited.

2 ostentatiously attractive; flashy.

3 aggressive or rowdy: a couple of lairy people pushed me around.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century (originally Cockney slang): alteration of LEERY. Sense 2 was originally Australian slang and dates from the early 20th century.

laissez-aller /lεseale/ French /leseale/ n. [mass noun] absence of restraint; unconstrained freedom.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘allow to go’.

laissez-faire /lεsefε/ French /lεsefεR/ n. [mass noun] the policy of leaving things to take their own course, without interfering.

- [ECONOMICS] abstention by governments from interfering in the workings of the free market: [as modifier] laissez-faire capitalism.

<DERIVATIVES> laissez-faireism n.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘allow to do’.

laissez-passer /lεsepαse/ French /lεsepase/ n. a document allowing the holder to pass; a permit.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘allow to pass’.

laissez vibrer /lεse vibre/ French /lεse vibRe/ v. [in imperative] a musical instruction used to indicate that a note made by striking or plucking should be allowed to fade away without damping.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘allow to vibrate’.

laity /leti/ n. [usually treated as plural] (the laity) 1 lay people, as distinct from the clergy.

2 ordinary people, as distinct from professionals or experts.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from LAY^2 + -ITY.

Laius /ləs/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a king of Thebes, the father of Oedipus and husband of Jocasta.

lake^1 n. a large area of water surrounded by land: boys were swimming in the lake | [in names] Lake Victoria.

- (the Lakes) the Lake District.

- a pool of liquid: the fish was served in a lake of spicy sauce.

- [with modifier] FIGURATIVE a large surplus of a liquid commodity: the EU wine lake.

<DERIVATIVES> lakelet n.

<ORIGIN> late Old English (denoting a pond or pool), from Old French lac, from Latin lacus ‘basin, pool, lake’.

lake^2 n. [often with modifier] an insoluble pigment made by combining a soluble organic dye and an insoluble mordant.

- [mass noun] a purplish-red pigment of this kind, originally one made with lac.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: variant of lac^1.

Lake District a region of lakes and mountains in Cumbria.

lake dwelling n. a prehistoric hut built on piles driven into the bed or shore of a lake.

<DERIVATIVES> lake-dweller n.

lakefront n. the land along the edge of a lake.

Lakeland another term for LAKE DISTRICT.

Lakeland terrier n. a terrier of a small stocky breed originating in the Lake District.

Lake of the Woods a lake on the border between Canada and the US, to the west of the Great Lakes.

Lake Poets (also Lake School) the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, and William Wordsworth, who lived in and were inspired by the Lake District.

laker n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL 1 a lake trout.

2 a ship constructed for sailing on the Great Lakes.

lakeside n. the land adjacent to a lake.

lake trout n. any of a number of fishes of the salmon family, which live in large lakes and are highly prized as a game fish and as food:

<INFO>

- a European brown trout of a large race.

- a North American charr (Salvelinus namaycush, family Salmonidae).

lakh /lak lαk/ (also lac) n. (pl. lakhs, same) INDIAN a hundred thousand: they fixed the price at five lakhs of rupees.

<ORIGIN> via Hindi from Sanskrit laka.

Lakota /ləkətə/ n. (pl. same or Lakotas) 1 a member of an American Indian people of western South Dakota (also called Teton Sioux).

2 [mass noun] the Siouan language of the Lakota, with about 6,000 speakers.

■ adj. relating to the Lakota or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Lakota, related to the word Dakota^1.

laksa /lαksa/ n. [mass noun] a Malaysian dish of Chinese origin, consisting of rice noodles served in a curry sauce or hot soup.

<ORIGIN> Malay.

Lakshadweep /lakadwip lkədwip/ a group of islands off the Malabar Coast of SW India, constituting a Union Territory in India; pop. 60,600 (2000); capital, Kavaratti. The group consists of the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands.

Lakshmi /lkmi/ [HINDUISM] the goddess of prosperity, consort of Vishnu. She assumes different forms (e.g. Radha, Sita) in order to accompany her husband in his various incarnations.

la-la land n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL Los Angeles or Hollywood, especially with regard to the film and television industry.

- a fanciful state or dreamworld.

<ORIGIN> la-la, reduplication of LA (i.e. Los Angeles).

laldy /laldi/ n. [mass noun] SCOTTISH a beating: ‘Give him laldy!’ yelled a voice.

<PHRASES>

□ give it laldy do something with vigour or enthusiasm.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: perhaps imitative, or from Old English læl ‘whip, weal’.

Lalique /lalik/ René (1860–1945), French jeweller, famous for his art nouveau brooches and combs and his decorative glassware.

Lallans /lalənz/ n. [mass noun] a distinctive Scottish literary form of English, based on standard older Scots.

■ adj. relating to or in Lallans.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (also, as an adjective, Lallan): Scots variant of Lowlands, with reference to a central Lowlands dialect.

lallation /lale(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] imperfect speech, especially the repetition of meaningless sounds by babies.

- the pronunciation of r as l.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin lallatio(n-), from lallare ‘sing a lullaby’.

La Louvière /la luvε/ French /la luvjεR/ an industrial city in SW Belgium, in the province of Hainaut west of Charleroi; pop. 76,568 (est. 2000).

lam^1 v. (lams, lamming, lammed) [with obj.] INFORMAL hit hard; strike: I'll lam you in the mouth in a minute | [no obj.] they surged along, lamming into anyone in their path.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to Norwegian and Danish lamme ‘paralyse’.

lam^2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL n. (in phrase on the lam) in flight, especially from the police: he went on the lam and is living under a false name.

■ v. (lams, lamming, lammed) [no obj.] escape; flee.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from LAM^1.

Lam. abbr. Lamentations (in biblical references).

lama /lαmə/ n. 1 an honorific title applied to a spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism, whether a reincarnate lama or one who has earned the title in life.

2 a Tibetan or Mongolian Buddhist monk.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Tibetan bla-ma (the initial b being silent), literally ‘superior one’.

Lamaism /lαməz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] the system of doctrine and observances inculcated and maintained by lamas; Tibetan Buddhism.

<DERIVATIVES> Lamaist n. & adj.

Lamarck /lamαk/ French /lamaRk/ Jean Baptiste de (1744–1829), French naturalist. He was an early proponent of organic evolution, although his theory is not widely accepted today. He suggested that species could have evolved from each other by small changes in their structure, and that the mechanism of such change (not now generally considered possible) was that characteristics acquired in order to survive could be passed on to offspring.

<DERIVATIVES> Lamarckian n. & adj. Lamarckism n.

Lamartine /lamαtin/ French /lamaRtin/ Alphonse Marie Louis de (1790–1869), French poet, statesman, and historian. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the provisional government following the Revolution of 1848. Notable works: Méditations poétiques (1820).

lamasery /lαməs(ə)ri ləmαs(ə)ri/ n. (pl. lamaseries) a monastery of lamas.

Lamaze /ləmαz lamaz/ adj. relating to a method of childbirth involving exercises and breathing control to give pain relief without drugs.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from the name of Fernand Lamaze (1891–1957), French physician.

Lamb Charles (1775–1834), English essayist and critic. Together with his sister Mary he wrote Tales from Shakespeare (1807). Other notable works: Essays of Elia (1823).

lamb n. a young sheep.

- [mass noun] the flesh of a lamb as food.

- used figuratively as a symbol of meekness or innocence: he accepted her decision like a lamb.

- used to describe or address someone regarded with affection or pity, especially a young child: the poor lamb is very upset.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] (of a ewe) give birth to lambs.

- [with obj.] tend (ewes) at lambing time.

2 [with obj.] (lamb someone down) AUSTRALIAN/NZ INFORMAL, DATED encourage someone to squander their money, especially on alcohol: Pitt had been lambed down at the Pig and Whistle.

<PHRASES>

□ in lamb (of a ewe) pregnant.

□ the Lamb of God (also the Lamb) a title of Jesus Christ (see John 1:29).

□ like a lamb to the slaughter as a helpless victim.

<DERIVATIVES> lamber n. lamblike adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch lam and German Lamm.

lambada /lambαdə/ n. a fast erotic Brazilian dance which couples perform in close physical contact.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: Portuguese, literally ‘a beating’, from lambar ‘to beat’.

lambaste /lambest/ (also lambast /-bast/) v. [with obj.] criticize (someone or something) harshly: they lambasted the report as a gross distortion of the truth.

<DERIVATIVES> lambasting n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (in the sense ‘beat, thrash’): from LAM^1 + BASTE^3. The current sense dates from the late 19th cent.

lambda /lamdə/ n. the eleventh letter of the Greek alphabet (Λ, λ), transliterated as ‘l’.

- (Lambda) [followed by Latin genitive] [ASTRONOMY] the eleventh star in a constellation: Lambda Tauri.

- [BIOLOGY] a type of bacteriophage virus used in genetic research: [as modifier] lambda phage.

- [ANATOMY] the point at the back of the skull where the parietal bones and the occipital bone meet.

- [as modifier] [BIOCHEMISTRY] denoting one of the two types of light polypeptide chain present in all immunoglobulin molecules (the other being kappa).

■ symbol

- (λ) wavelength.

- (λ) [ASTRONOMY] celestial longitude.

<ORIGIN> Greek.

lambdoid /lamdd/ adj. resembling the Greek letter lambda in form.

- [ANATOMY] relating to or denoting the suture near the back of the skull, which connects the parietal bones with the occipital.

<DERIVATIVES> lambdoidal adj.

lambent /lamb(ə)nt/ adj. LITERARY (of light or fire) glowing, gleaming, or flickering with a soft radiance.

<DERIVATIVES> lambency n. lambently adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin lambent- ‘licking’, from the verb lambere.

Lambert /lambət/ (Leonard) Constant (1905–51), English composer, conductor, and critic. He wrote the music for the ballet Romeo and Juliet (1926) and the jazz work The Rio Grande (1929), later becoming musical director of Sadler's Wells (1930–47).

lambert /lambət/ n. a former unit of luminance, equal to the emission or reflection of one lumen per square centimetre.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Johann H. Lambert (1728–77), German physicist.

Lambeth Conference n. an assembly of bishops from the Anglican Communion, usually held every ten years (since 1867) at Lambeth Palace and presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Lambeth Palace a palace in the London borough of Lambeth, the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury since 1197.

Lambeth Walk n. a social dance with a walking step, popular in the late 1930s.

<ORIGIN> created for the revue Me and My Girl and named after a street in the London borough of Lambeth.

Lambic /lαbk lambk/ n. [mass noun] a strong, sweet Belgian beer.

<ORIGIN> French.

lambing n. [mass noun] the birth of lambs on a farm: lambing begins in mid January.

lambkin n. a small or young lamb.

- used as a term of endearment for a young child.

lambrequin /lambrkn/ n. 1 NORTH AMERICAN a short piece of decorative drapery hung over the top of a door or window or draped from a shelf or mantelpiece.

2 a cloth covering the back of a medieval knight's helmet, represented in heraldry as the mantling.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century (in sense 2): from French, from the Dutch diminutive of lamper ‘veil’.

Lambrusco /lambrskə/ n. [mass noun] a variety of wine grape grown in the Emilia-Romagna region of North Italy.

- a sparkling red wine made from the Lambrusco grape.

- a red or white wine resembling Lambrusco, produced outside North Italy.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘grape of the wild vine’.

lamb's ears plural n. [usually treated as sing.] a SW Asian plant of the mint family, which has grey-green woolly leaves and is cultivated as an ornamental, particularly for ground cover.

<INFO> Stachys byzantina, family Labiatae.

lamb's fry n. [mass noun] lamb's offal as food, in particular:

- BRITISH lamb's testicles.

- AUSTRALIAN/NZ lamb's liver.

lambskin n. [mass noun] prepared skin from a lamb with the wool on or as leather: [as modifier] lambskin gloves.

lamb's lettuce n. [mass noun] a small blue-flowered herbaceous plant of dry soils, native to Europe and the Mediterranean and sometimes eaten in salads. Also called CORN SALAD.

<INFO> Valerianella locusta, family Valerianaceae.

lamb's quarter (also lamb's quarters) n. North American term for FAT HEN.

lamb's-tails plural n. BRITISH catkins from the hazel tree.

lamb's tongue n. another term for LAMB'S EARS.

lambswool n. [mass noun] fine, soft wool from lambs, used to make knitted garments, blankets, etc.

lame adj. 1 (of a person or animal) unable to walk without difficulty as the result of an injury or illness affecting the leg or foot: his horse went lame.

- (of a leg or foot) affected by injury or illness.

2 (of an explanation or excuse) unconvincingly feeble: the TV licensing teams hear a lot of lame excuses.

- (of something intended to be entertaining) uninspiring and dull.

- North American INFORMAL (of a person) naive or socially inept.

■ v. [with obj.] make (a person or animal) lame.

<DERIVATIVES> lamely adv. lameness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English lama, of Germanic origin, related to Dutch lam and German lahm.

lamé /lαme/ n. [mass noun] fabric with interwoven gold or silver threads.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: French, from Latin lamina (see LAMINA).

lamebrain n. INFORMAL a stupid person.

<DERIVATIVES> lamebrained adj.

lame duck n. an ineffectual or unsuccessful person or thing: most of her boyfriends have been lame ducks.

- chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a politician or administration in the final period of office, after the election of a successor: [as modifier] a lame-duck president.

lamella /ləmεlə/ n. (pl. lamellae /-li/) a thin layer, membrane, or plate of tissue, especially in bone.

- [BOTANY] a membranous fold in a chloroplast.

<DERIVATIVES> lamellar adj. lamellate adj. lamelliform adj. lamellose adj.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, diminutive of lamina ‘thin plate’.

lamellibranch /ləmεlbrak/ n. another term for BIVALVE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Lamellibranchia (former class name), from Latin lamella (diminutive of lamina ‘thin plate’) + Greek brankhia ‘gills’.

lamellicorn /ləmεlkn/ n. former term for SCARABAEOID.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from modern Latin Lamellicornia (former taxonomic name), from Latin lamella ‘thin plate’ + cornu ‘horn’.

lamellipodium /ləmεlpədəm/ n. (pl. lamellipodia) [ZOOLOGY] a flattened extension of a cell, by which it moves over or adheres to a surface.

<DERIVATIVES> lamellipodial adj.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: from LAMELLA, on the pattern of pseudopodium.

lament n. 1 a passionate expression of grief or sorrow: his mother's night-long laments for his father | [mass noun] a song full of lament and sorrow.

- a song, piece of music, or poem expressing grief or sorrow: the piper played a lament.

2 a complaint: there were constant laments about the conditions of employment.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] express passionate grief about: he was lamenting the death of his infant daughter | [no obj.] the women wept and lamented over him.

2 [reporting v.] express regret or disappointment about something: [with obj.] she lamented the lack of shops in the town | [with direct speech] ‘We could have won,’ lamented the England captain.

<DERIVATIVES> lamenter n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a verb): from French lamenter or Latin lamentari, from lamenta (plural) ‘weeping, wailing’.

lamentable /laməntəb(ə)l/ adj. 1 (of circumstances or conditions) very bad; deplorable: the industry is in a lamentable state.

- (of an event, action, or attitude) unfortunate; regrettable: her open prejudice showed lamentable immaturity.

2 ARCHAIC full of or expressing sorrow or grief.

<DERIVATIVES> lamentably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘mournful’, also ‘pitiable, regrettable’): from Old French, or from Latin lamentabilis, from the verb lamentari (see LAMENT).

lamentation /lamənte(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping: scenes of lamentation.

- (Lamentations or Lamentations of Jeremiah) a book of the Bible telling of the desolation of Judah after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

lamented adj. (often the late lamented) a conventional way of describing someone who has died or something that has ceased to exist: the late and much lamented Leonard Bernstein.

lamer n. INFORMAL, chiefly US a stupid, inept, or dull person.

lamia /lemə/ n. (pl. lamias or lamiae /-i/) a mythical monster supposed to have the body of a woman, and to prey on human beings and suck the blood of children.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek, denoting a carnivorous fish or mythical monster.

lamina /lamnə/ n. (pl. laminae /-ni/) TECHNICAL a thin layer, plate, or scale of sedimentary rock, organic tissue, or other material.

<DERIVATIVES> laminose adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin.

laminal /lamn(ə)l/ adj. [PHONETICS] (of a consonant) formed with the blade of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from LAMINA + -AL.

laminar /lamnə/ adj. 1 consisting of laminae.

2 [PHYSICS] (of a flow) taking place along constant streamlines, without turbulence.

laminate v. /lamnet/ [with obj.] (often as adj. laminated) overlay (a flat surface) with a layer of plastic or some other protective material.

- manufacture (something) by bonding layers of material together: windows fitted with laminated glass.

- split into layers or leaves.

- beat or roll (metal) into thin plates.

■ n. /lamnət/ a laminated structure or material.

- a small badge made of laminated plastic bearing the wearer's name.

■ adj. /lamnət/ in the form of a lamina or laminae.

<DERIVATIVES> laminable adj. lamination n. laminator n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from LAMINA + -ATE^2.

laminectomy /lamnεktəmi/ n. (pl. laminectomies) a surgical operation to remove the back of one or more vertebrae, usually to give access to the spinal cord or to relieve pressure on nerves.

lamington /lamtən/ n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a square of sponge cake dipped in melted chocolate and grated coconut.

<ORIGIN> apparently from the name of Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland (1895–1901).

laminin /lamnn/ n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] a fibrous protein present in the basal lamina of the epithelia.

laminitis /lamnts/ n. [mass noun] inflammation of sensitive layers of tissue (laminae) inside the hoof in horses and other animals. It is particularly prevalent in ponies feeding on rich spring grass and can cause extreme lameness.

lamium /leməm/ n. (pl. lamiums) a plant of a genus which comprises the dead-nettles.

<INFO> Genus Lamium, family Labiatae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from Latin, from Greek lamia ‘gaping mouth’ (because of the shape of the flowers).

Lammas /laməs/ (also Lammas Day) n. the first day of August, formerly observed as harvest festival.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlāfmæsse (see loaf^1, Mass), later interpreted as if it were from LAMB + MASS.

lammergeier /laməə/ (also lammergeyer) n. a large Old World vulture of mountainous country, with a wingspan of 3 m (10 ft) and dark beard-like feathers, noted for its habit of dropping bones from a height to break them. Also called BEARDED VULTURE.

<INFO> Gypaetus barbatus, family Accipitridae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from German Lämmergeier, from Lämmer (plural of Lamm ‘lamb’) + Geier ‘vulture’.

lamp^1 n. a device for giving light, either one consisting of an electric bulb together with its holder and shade or cover, or one burning gas or oil and consisting of a wick or mantle and a glass shade: a table lamp.

- an electrical device producing ultraviolet, infrared, or other radiation, used for therapeutic purposes.

- LITERARY a source of spiritual or intellectual inspiration.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] supply with lamps; illuminate: inspectors can lamp the lines between the manholes for routine maintenance observations.

- [no obj.] LITERARY shine: an evil fire out of their eyes came lamping.

2 [no obj.] (often as n. lamping) hunt at night using lamps, especially for rabbits.

<DERIVATIVES> lamper n. lampless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from late Latin lampada, from Latin lampas, lampad- ‘torch’, from Greek.

lamp^2 v. [with obj.] chiefly N. ENGLISH hit or beat (someone).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: of uncertain origin; perhaps related to lam^1.

lampas^1 /lampəs/ n. [mass noun] a condition of horses, in which there is swelling of the fleshy lining of the roof of the mouth behind the front teeth.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from French, probably via French dialect from the Germanic base of the verb lap^3.

lampas^2 /lampəs/ n. [mass noun] a patterned drapery and upholstery fabric similar to brocade, made of silk, cotton, or rayon.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French lampas, lampasse, of unknown origin.

lampblack n. [mass noun] a black pigment made from soot.

lamp chimney n. a glass cylinder positioned over the wick of an oil lamp to encircle and provide a draught for the flame.

Lampedusa /lampduzə/ Giuseppe Tomasi di (1896–1957), Italian novelist. His only novel Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) was originally rejected by publishers but won worldwide acclaim on its posthumous publication in 1958.

lampern /lampən/ n. a lamprey of rivers and coastal waters in NW Europe.

<INFO> Lampetra fluviatilis, family Petromyzonidae.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lampreion, diminutive of lampreie ‘lamprey’.

lamplight n. [mass noun] the light cast from a lamp: he was working in the stables by lamplight.

<DERIVATIVES> lamplit adj.

lamplighter n. HISTORICAL a person employed to light street gaslights by hand.

lampoon /lampun/ v. [with obj.] publicly criticize (someone or something) by using ridicule, irony, or sarcasm: the actor was lampooned by the press.

■ n. a speech or text lampooning someone or something.

<DERIVATIVES> lampooner n. lampoonery n. lampoonist n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from French lampon, said to be from lampons ‘let us drink’ (used as a refrain), from lamper ‘gulp down’, nasalized form of laper ‘to lap (liquid)’.

lamp post n. a tall pole with a light at the top; a street light.

lamprey /lampri/ n. (pl. lampreys) an eel-like aquatic jawless vertebrate that has a sucker mouth with horny teeth and a rasping tongue. The adult is often parasitic, attaching itself to other fish and sucking their blood.

<INFO> Family Petromyzonidae: several genera and species.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lampreie, from medieval Latin lampreda, probably from Latin lambere ‘to lick’ + petra ‘stone’ (because the lamprey attaches itself to stones by its mouth).

lamprophyre /lamprəfə/ n. [mass noun] [GEOLOGY] a porphyritic igneous rock consisting of a fine-grained feldspathic groundmass with phenocrysts chiefly of biotite.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from Greek lampros ‘bright, shining’ + porphureos ‘purple’.

lampshade n. a cover for a lamp, used to soften or direct its light.

lamp shell n. a marine invertebrate which superficially resembles a bivalve mollusc but has two or more arms of ciliated tentacles (lophophores) that are extended for filter-feeding. Lamp shells are common as fossils. Also called BRACHIOPOD.

<INFO> Phylum Brachiopoda: numerous groups in the Palaeozoic era but few surviving to the present day.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from its resemblance to an ancient oil lamp.

lamp standard n. another term for LAMP POST.

LAN abbr. local area network.

lanai /lən/ n. (pl. lanais) a porch or veranda.

<ORIGIN> Hawaiian.

Lanarkshire /lanəkə -ə/ a former county of SW central Scotland, now divided into the council areas of North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire.

Lancashire^1 /lakəə -ə/ a county of NW England, on the Irish Sea; administrative centre, Preston.

Lancashire^2 /lakəə/ n. [mass noun] a mild white cheese with a crumbly texture.

Lancashire hotpot n. a stew of meat, onions, and potatoes, typically covered with a layer of sliced potato.

Lancaster^1 /lakastə/ the county town of Lancashire, a city on the estuary of the River Lune; pop. 48,800 (est. 2002).

Lancaster^2 /lakastə/ Burt (1913–94), American film actor; full name Burton Stephen Lancaster. He starred in films such as From Here to Eternity (1953), Elmer Gantry (1960), for which he won an Oscar, and Field of Dreams (1989).

Lancaster, House of the English royal house descended from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, that ruled England from 1399 (Henry IV) until 1461 (the deposition of Henry VI) and again on Henry's brief restoration in 1470–1. With the red rose as its emblem it fought the Wars of the Roses with the House of York; Lancaster's descendants, the Tudors, eventually prevailed through Henry VII's accession to the throne in 1485.

Lancaster, Duchy of an estate vested in the Crown, consisting of properties in Lancashire and elsewhere in England.

Lancaster House Agreement an agreement which brought about the establishment of the independent state of Zimbabwe, reached in September 1979 at Lancaster House in London.

Lancastrian /lakastrən/ n. 1 a native of Lancashire or Lancaster.

2 HISTORICAL a follower of the House of Lancaster in the Wars of the Roses.

■ adj. relating to Lancashire or Lancaster, or the House of Lancaster.

lance n. 1 a long weapon with a wooden shaft and a pointed steel head, formerly used by a horseman in charging.

- a weapon resembling a lance used in hunting fish or whales.

■ another term for lancer (sense 1).

2 [usually with modifier] a metal pipe supplying a jet of oxygen to a furnace or to make a very hot flame for cutting.

3 a rigid tube at the end of a hose for pumping or spraying liquid.

■ v. [with obj.] MEDICINE prick or cut open (an abscess or boil) with a lancet or other sharp instrument.

- pierce with or as if with a lance: the teenager had been lanced by a wooden splinter | [no obj.] pain lanced through her.

- [no obj., with adverbial of direction] move suddenly and quickly: he lanced through Harlequins' midfield to score Swansea's lone try.

- [with obj.] ARCHAIC throw; hurl: he affirms to have lanced darts at the sun.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lance (noun), lancier (verb), from Latin lancea (noun).

lance bombardier n. a rank of non-commissioned officer in an artillery regiment of the British army, corresponding to that of a lance corporal in the infantry.

lance corporal n. a rank of non-commissioned officer in the British army, above private and below corporal.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: on the analogy of obsolete lancepesade, the lowest grade of non-commissioned officer, based on Italian lancia spezzata ‘broken lance’.

lancejack n. BRITISH MILITARY SLANG a lance corporal or lance bombardier.

lancelet /lαnslt/ n. a small elongated marine invertebrate that resembles a fish but lacks jaws and obvious sense organs. Lancelets possess a notochord and are among the most primitive chordates.

<INFO> Subphylum Cephalochordata, phylum Chordata: several species, including amphioxus.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from the noun LANCE (because of its long narrow form) + -LET.

Lancelot /lαnsələt -lt/ (also Launcelot /ln-/)

- (in Arthurian legend) the most famous of Arthur's knights, lover of Queen Guinevere and father of Galahad.

lanceolate /lαnsələt/ adj. TECHNICAL shaped like a lance head; of a narrow oval shape tapering to a point at each end: lanceolate leaves.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from late Latin lanceolatus, from Latin lanceola, diminutive of lancea ‘a lance’.

lancer n. 1 HISTORICAL a soldier of a cavalry regiment armed with lances.

- (Lancer) a soldier of a regiment originally armed with lances: the Queen's Royal Lancers.

2 (lancers) [treated as sing.] a quadrille for eight or sixteen pairs.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from French lancier, from lance ‘a lance’.

lance sergeant n. a rank in the Foot Guards equivalent to corporal.

lancet /lαnst/ n. 1 a small, broad two-edged surgical knife or blade with a sharp point.

2 a lancet arch or window.

- [as modifier] shaped like a lancet arch: a lancet clock.

<DERIVATIVES> lanceted adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (also denoting a small lance): from Old French lancette, diminutive of lance ‘a lance’.

lancet arch n. a narrow arch with a pointed crown.

lancetfish n. (pl. same or lancetfishes) a long slender predatory fish with a large sail-like dorsal fin, living in the deeper waters of open oceans.

<INFO> Family Alepisauridae and genus Alepisaurus: two or three species.

lancet window n. a slender pointed arched window.

lancewood n. any of a number of hardwood trees with tough elastic timber, in particular:

<INFO>

- a Caribbean tree (Oxandra lanceolata, family Annonaceae).

- a New Zealand tree (Pseudopanax crassifolius, family Araliaceae).

Lanchow /lanta/ variant of LANZHOU.

Lancs. abbr. Lancashire.

Land /land/ German /lant/ n. (pl. Länder /lεndə/ German /lεnd/) a state of Germany or Austria.

<ORIGIN> German, literally ‘land’.

land n. 1 [mass noun] the part of the earth's surface that is not covered by water: the reptiles lay their eggs on land | after four weeks at sea we sighted land.

- [as modifier] living or travelling on land rather than in water or the air: a land force.

- an area of ground, especially in terms of its ownership or use: he bought 360 acres of land | waste land | (lands) measures to reduce logging on federal lands.

- (the land) ground or soil used as a basis for agriculture: my family had worked the land for many years.

- (the land) rural areas and the rural way of life.

- [count noun] S. AFRICAN an area fenced off for cultivation; a field. [<ORIGIN> from Dutch land ‘piece of ground’.]

2 a country or state: the valley is one of the most beautiful in the land | the lands of the Middle East.

- [in combination] a particular sphere of activity or group of people: the blunt, charmless climate of techno-land.

- a conceptual area: you're living in a fantasy land.

3 the space between the rifling grooves in a gun.

■ v. 1 [with obj.] put (someone or something) on land from a boat: he landed his troops at Hastings.

- [no obj.] go ashore; disembark: the marines landed at a small jetty.

- bring (a fish) to land with a net or rod.

- INFORMAL succeed in obtaining or achieving (something desirable), especially in the face of competition: she landed the starring role in a new film.

2 [no obj.] come down through the air and rest on the ground or another surface: we will shortly be landing at Gatwick | a fly landed on Tom's nose.

- [with obj.] bring (an aircraft or spacecraft) to the ground or the surface of water in a controlled way.

- reach the ground after falling or jumping: he leapt over the fence and landed nimbly on his feet.

- [with adverbial of place] (of an object) come to rest after falling or being thrown: the plate landed in her lap.

3 [no obj.] INFORMAL (of something undesirable or unexpected) arrive suddenly: there were more problems than ever landing on her desk.

- (land up) reach a place or situation: the ship landed up on the south coast of Devon | I landed up in prison.

- (land up with) end up with (an unwelcome situation): I landed up with three broken ribs.

4 [with obj.] (land someone in) INFORMAL cause someone to be in (a difficult situation): his exploits always landed him in trouble.

- (land someone with) inflict (an unwelcome task or difficult situation) on someone: the mistake landed the company with a massive bill.

5 [with obj.] INFORMAL inflict (a blow) on someone: I won the fight without landing a single punch.

<PHRASES>

□ how the land lies BRITISH what the situation is: let's keep it to ourselves until we see how the land lies.

□ in the land of the living HUMOROUS alive or awake.

□ the land of the free the United States of America.

□ the land of Nod HUMOROUS a state of sleep. [<ORIGIN> punningly, with biblical allusion to the place name Nod (Gen. 4:16).]

□ land (or fall) on one's feet have good luck or success.

□ live off the land live on whatever food one can obtain by hunting, gathering, or subsistence farming.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch land and German Land.

Land Acts a series of British parliamentary acts concerning land tenure in Ireland, passed in 1870, 1881, 1903, and 1909, intended to give tenants greater security and further rights.

land agent n. British 1 a person employed to manage an estate on behalf of its owners.

2 a person who deals with the sale of land.

<DERIVATIVES> land agency n.

Landau /land/ Lev (Davidovich) (1908–68), Soviet theoretical physicist, born in Russia. Active in many fields, Landau was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1962 for his work on the superfluidity and thermal conductivity of liquid helium.

landau /land -a/ n. a horse-drawn four-wheeled enclosed carriage with a removable front cover and a back cover that can be raised and lowered.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: named after Landau, near Karlsruhe in Germany, where it was first made.

landaulet /landlεt -də-/ n. a small landau.

- chiefly HISTORICAL a car with a folding hood over the rear seats.

land bank n. 1 a large area of land held by a public or private organization for future development or disposal.

2 a bank that provides loans for the purchase of land, especially by farmers.

landbanking /landbak/ n. [mass noun] the practice of buying land as an investment, holding it for future use and making no specific plans for its development.

land breeze n. a breeze blowing towards the sea from the land. Compare with SEA BREEZE.

land bridge n. a connection between two land masses, especially a prehistoric one that allowed humans and animals to colonize new territory before being cut off by the sea, as across the Bering Strait and the English Channel.

land crab n. a crab that lives in burrows inland and migrates in large numbers to the sea to breed.

<INFO> Family Gecarcinidae: Cardisoma and other genera.

land drain n. a drain made of porous or perforated piping and placed in a gravel-filled trench, used for subsoil drainage.

landed adj. [attr.] owning much land, especially through inheritance: the landed aristocracy.

- consisting of or relating to land owned through inheritance: the decline of landed estates.

lander n. a spacecraft designed to land on the surface of a planet or moon: a lunar lander. Compare with ORBITER.

Länder plural form of LAND.

landfall n. 1 an arrival at land on a sea or air journey.

2 a collapse of a mass of land; a landslide.

landfill n. [mass noun] the disposal of waste material by burying it, especially as a method of filling in and reclaiming excavated pits: [as modifier] landfill sites.

- waste material used in landfill sites.

- [count noun] an area filled in by landfill.

landform n. a natural feature of the earth's surface.

land girl n. HISTORICAL (in the UK) a woman doing farm work, especially during the Second World War.

land-grabber n. HISTORICAL a person who took the land of an evicted Irish tenant.

<DERIVATIVES> land-grab n. land-grabbing n.

land grant n. NORTH AMERICAN a grant of public land, especially to an institution or to American Indians.

landgrave /lan(d)rev/ n. HISTORICAL a count having jurisdiction over a territory.

- the title of certain German princes.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Middle Low German, from land ‘land’ + grave ‘count’ (used as a title).

landholder n. a person who owns land, especially one who either makes their living from it or rents it out to others.

landholding n. a piece of land owned or rented.

- [mass noun] possession or rental of land.

landing n. 1 an instance of coming or bringing something to land, either from the air or from water: we made a perfect landing at the airstrip | [mass noun] the landing of men on the moon.

- an act of unloading troops in enemy territory as part of a military operation: the D-Day landings.

- (also landing place) a place where people and goods can be landed from a boat: the ferry landing.

2 a level area at the top of a staircase or between one flight of stairs and another.

landing craft n. a boat specially designed for putting troops and military equipment ashore on a beach.

landing gear n. the undercarriage of an aircraft.

landing light n. (usually landing lights) a bright light on an aircraft that is switched on prior to landing.

- a light of a kind that is arranged in rows along each side of an aircraft runway.

landing net n. a net for landing a large fish which has been hooked.

landing pad n. a small area designed for helicopters to land on and take off from.

landing stage n. chiefly BRITISH a platform, typically a floating one, on to which passengers from a boat disembark or cargo is unloaded.

landing strip n. an airstrip.

landlady n. (pl. landladies) a woman who rents out land, a building, or accommodation.

- a woman who keeps lodgings, a boarding house, or (British) a pub.

land law n. [mass noun] (also land laws) the law governing real property.

Land League an Irish organization formed in 1879 to campaign for tenants' rights. Its techniques included the use of a boycott against anyone taking on a farm from which the tenant had been evicted. The Land Act of 1881 met many of the League's demands.

ländler /lεndlə/ n. an Austrian folk dance in triple time, a precursor of the waltz.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: German, from Landl ‘Upper Austria’.

landless adj. (especially of an agricultural worker) owning no land.

<DERIVATIVES> landlessness n.

landline n. a conventional telecommunications connection by cable laid across land.

landlocked adj. (of a country or region) almost or entirely surrounded by land: I was raised in landlocked Winnipeg.

- (of a lake or harbour) enclosed by land and having no navigable route to the sea.

- (of a fish, especially a North American salmon) cut off from the sea in the past and now confined to fresh water.

landlord n. a man (in legal use also a woman) who rents out land, a building, or accommodation.

- a man who keeps lodgings, a boarding house, or (British) a pub.

landlordism n. [mass noun] the system whereby land (or property) is owned by landlords to whom tenants pay a fixed rent.

landlubber n. INFORMAL a person unfamiliar with the sea or sailing.

landmark n. 1 an object or feature of a landscape or town that is easily seen and recognized from a distance, especially one that enables someone to establish their location: the spire was once a landmark for ships sailing up the river.

- NORTH AMERICAN a building or monument of historical importance.

- HISTORICAL the boundary of an area of land, or an object marking this.

2 an event or discovery marking an important stage or turning point in something: the vaccine is a landmark in the history of preventive medicine.

land mass n. a continent or other large body of land.

landmine n. an explosive mine laid on or just under the surface of the ground.

land mullet n. a large burrowing lizard of the skink family, with shiny fishlike scales, native to the coastal regions of eastern Australia.

<INFO> Egernia major, family Scincidae.

Land of Enchantment informal name for NEW MEXICO.

land office n. NORTH AMERICAN a government office recording dealings in public land.

<PHRASES>

□ do a land-office business INFORMAL do a lot of successful trading.

Land of Opportunity informal name for ARKANSAS.

Landor /land/ Walter Savage (1775–1864), English poet and essayist. His works include the oriental epic poem Gebir (1798), and Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen (prose, 1824–8).

landowner n. a person who owns land, especially a large amount of land.

<DERIVATIVES> landownership n. landowning adj. & n.

landplane n. an aircraft which can only operate from or alight on land.

landrace n. a pig of a white lop-eared breed, originally developed in Denmark.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: from Danish.

landrail n. another term for CORNCRAKE.

land reform n. [mass noun] the statutory division of agricultural land and its reallocation to landless people.

Land Registry British a government department with which titles to or charges upon land must be registered.

Landsat a series of artificial satellites that monitor the earth's resources by photographing the surface at different wavelengths. The resulting images provide information about agriculture, geology, ecological changes, etc.

landscape n. 1 all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal: the soft colours of the Northumbrian landscape | a bleak urban landscape.

- a picture representing an area of countryside.

- [mass noun] the genre of landscape painting.

- FIGURATIVE the distinctive features of a sphere of activity: the event transformed the political landscape.

2 [as modifier] denoting a format of printed matter which is wider than it is high. Compare with portrait (sense 2).

■ v. [with obj.] improve the aesthetic appearance of (an area) by changing its contours, adding ornamental features, or planting trees and shrubs: the site has been tastefully landscaped.

<DERIVATIVES> landscaper n. landscapist n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (denoting a picture of scenery): from Middle Dutch lantscap, from land ‘land’ + scap (equivalent of -SHIP).

landscape architecture n. [mass noun] the art and practice of designing the outdoor environment, especially designing parks or gardens to harmonize with buildings and roads.

<DERIVATIVES> landscape architect n.

landscape gardening n. [mass noun] the art and practice of laying out grounds in a way which is ornamental or which imitates natural scenery.

<DERIVATIVES> landscape gardener n.

landscape history n. [mass noun] the history of the rural landscape, as determined from visible features, ecological and archaeological evidence, and documentary records.

Landseer /landsə/ Sir Edwin Henry (1802–73), English painter and sculptor. He is best known for his animal subjects such as The Monarch of the Glen (1851). As a sculptor he is chiefly remembered for the bronze lions in Trafalgar Square (1867).

Land's End a rocky promontory in SW Cornwall, which forms the westernmost point of England. The approximate distance by road from Land's End to John o'Groats is 1,400 km (876 miles).

landside n. the side of an airport terminal to which the general public has unrestricted access. Contrasted with AIRSIDE.

landsknecht /lan(t)sknεkt/ n. HISTORICAL a member of a class of mercenary soldiers in the German and other continental armies in the 16th and 17th centuries.

<ORIGIN> from German Landsknecht, literally ‘soldier of the land’.

landslide n. 1 a collapse of a mass of earth or rock from a mountain or cliff.

2 an overwhelming majority of votes for one party or candidate in an election: they won by a landslide.

landslip n. chiefly BRITISH another term for landslide (sense 1).

Landsmål /lantsml/ n. another term for NYNORSK.

<ORIGIN> Norwegian, literally ‘language of the land’.

landsman n. (pl. landsmen) a person unfamiliar with the sea or sailing.

Landsteiner /landstnə/ Karl (1868–1943), Austrian-born American physician. In 1930 Landsteiner was awarded a Nobel Prize for devising the ABO system of classifying blood. He was also the first to describe the rhesus factor in blood.

land tax n. [mass noun] tax levied on landed property.

landtie n. a beam or piece of masonry supporting a wall or other vertical structure by connecting it with the ground.

landward adv. (also landwards) towards land: the ship turned landward.

■ adj. facing towards land as opposed to sea: the landward side of the road.

land yacht n. a wind-powered wheeled vehicle with sails, used for recreation and sport.

- North American INFORMAL a very large car.

lane n. 1 a narrow road, especially in a rural area: she drove along the winding lane.

- [in place names] an urban street: Park Lane.

2 a division of a road marked off with painted lines and intended to separate single lines of traffic according to speed or direction: the car moved into the outside lane | a bus lane.

- each of a number of parallel strips of track or water for runners, rowers, or swimmers in a race.

- a route prescribed for or regularly followed by ships or aircraft: the shipping lanes of the South Atlantic.

- (in tenpin bowling) a long, narrow strip of floor down which the ball is bowled.

- [BIOCHEMISTRY] each of a number of notional parallel strips in the gel of an electrophoresis plate, occupied by a single sample.

- [ASTRONOMY] a dark streak or band which shows up against a bright background, especially in a spiral galaxy.

<PHRASES>

□ it's a long lane that has no turning PROVERB nothing goes on forever; change is inevitable.

<DERIVATIVES> laned adj. [in combination] multi-laned motorways

<ORIGIN> Old English, related to Dutch laan; of unknown ultimate origin.

Lang Fritz (1890–1976), Austrian-born film director, resident in the US from 1933. He directed the silent dystopian film Metropolis (1927), making the transition to sound in 1931 with the thriller M. His later work included The Big Heat (1953).

langar /lər/ n. INDIAN (among Sikhs) a communal free kitchen.

- a communal meal.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi.

langer /laə/ n. IRISH VULGAR SLANG 1 a man's penis.

2 a stupid or contemptible person.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: of uncertain origin.

Langland /lalənd/ William (c.1330–c.1400), English poet. He is best known for Piers Plowman (c.1367–70), a long allegorical poem which takes the form of a spiritual pilgrimage.

langlauf /lalaf/ n. [mass noun] cross-country skiing.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from German, literally ‘long run’.

Langley Samuel Pierpoint (1834–1906), American astronomer and aviation pioneer. He invented the bolometer (1879–81) and contributed to the design of early aircraft.

Langmuir /lamjə/ Irving (1881–1957), American chemist and physicist. His principal work was in surface chemistry, especially applied to catalysis. He also worked on high-temperature electrical discharges in gases and studied atomic structure.

Langmuir–Blodgett film /bldt/ n. [CHEMISTRY] a monomolecular layer of an organic material which can be used to build extremely small electronic devices.

<ORIGIN> named after LANGMUIR, and Katherine B. Blodgett (1898–1979), American physicist and chemist.

langosta /lastə/ n. chiefly US another term for LANGOUSTE.

<ORIGIN> Spanish.

langouste /lust/ n. a spiny lobster, especially when prepared and cooked.

<ORIGIN> French, from Old Provençal lagosta, based on Latin locusta ‘locust, crustacean’.

langoustine /lstin/ n. another term for NORWAY LOBSTER, especially when prepared and cooked.

<ORIGIN> French, from langouste (see LANGOUSTE).

langra /lαrə larə/ n. 1 a mango of a variety which has pale green skin when ripe.

2 INDIAN a person who is lame or unable to walk.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi lāngra ‘lame’.

lang syne /la sn/ SCOTTISH ARCHAIC adv. in the distant past: we talked of races run lang syne.

■ n. [mass noun] times gone by.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from lang, Scots variant of long^1 + SYNE.

Langton Stephen (c.1150–1228), English churchman, Archbishop of Canterbury 1207–15 and 1218–28. A champion of the English Church, he was involved in the negotiations leading to the signing of Magna Carta.

Langtry /latri/ Lillie (1853–1929), British actress; born Emilie Charlotte le Breton. She made her stage debut in 1881 and later became the mistress of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII.

language n. 1 [mass noun] the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way: a study of the way children learn language | [as modifier] language development.

- a non-verbal method of expression or communication: body language.

2 a system of communication used by a particular country or community: the book was translated into twenty-five languages.

- [COMPUTING] a system of symbols and rules for writing programs or algorithms.

3 [mass noun] the style of a piece of writing or speech: he explained the procedure in simple, everyday language.

- the phraseology and vocabulary of a particular profession, domain, or group: legal language.

- (usually as bad/foul/strong language) coarse or offensive language.

<PHRASES>

□ speak the same language understand one another as a result of shared opinions or values.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French langage, based on Latin lingua ‘tongue’.

language area n. 1 [PHYSIOLOGY] the area of the cerebral cortex thought to be particularly involved in the processing of language.

2 a region where a particular language is spoken.

language engineering n. [mass noun] any of a variety of computing procedures that use tools such as machine-readable dictionaries and sentence parsers in order to process natural languages for industrial applications such as speech recognition and speech synthesis.

language laboratory n. a room equipped with audio and visual equipment, such as tape and video recorders, for learning a foreign language.

language of flowers n. [mass noun] a set of symbolic meanings attached to different flowers when they are given or arranged.

langue /l/ n. (pl. pronunc. same) [LINGUISTICS] a language viewed as an abstract system used by a speech community, in contrast to the actual linguistic behaviour of individuals. Contrasted with PAROLE.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: French, from Latin lingua ‘language, tongue’.

langued /lad/ adj. [HERALDRY] having the tongue of a specified tincture.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French langué ‘tongued’ + -ED^2.

langue de chat /l() də α/ n. a very thin finger-shaped crisp biscuit or piece of chocolate.

<ORIGIN> French, literally ‘cat's tongue’.

Languedoc /l(ə)dk/ French /lαdk/ a former province of southern France, which extended from the Rhône valley to the northern foothills of the eastern Pyrenees.

langue d'oc /l() dk/ French /lα dk/ n. [mass noun] the form of medieval French spoken south of the Loire, generally characterized by the use of oc to mean ‘yes’, and forming the basis of modern Provençal. Compare with OCCITAN.

<ORIGIN> from Old French langue ‘language’ (from Latin lingua ‘tongue’), d' (from de ‘of’), and oc (from Latin hoc) ‘yes’. Compare with langue d'oïl.

Languedoc-Roussillon /rusj/ French /Rusij/ a region of southern France, on the Mediterranean coast, extending from the Rhône delta to the border with Spain.

langue d'oïl /l() dl/ French /lα djl/ n. [mass noun] the form of medieval French spoken north of the Loire, generally characterized by the use of oïl to mean ‘yes’, and forming the basis of modern French.

<ORIGIN> from Old French langue ‘language’ (from Latin lingua ‘tongue’), d' (from de ‘of’), and oïl (from Latin hoc ille) ‘yes’. Compare with LANGUE D'OC.

languid adj. 1 (of a person, manner, or gesture) having or showing a disinclination for physical exertion or effort: his languid demeanour irritated her.

- (of a period of time) relaxed and peaceful: the terrace was perfect for languid days in the Italian sun.

2 weak or faint from illness or fatigue.

<DERIVATIVES> languidly adv. languidness n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century (in sense 2): from French languide or Latin languidus, from languere (see LANGUISH).

languish v. [no obj.] 1 (of a person, animal, or plant) lose or lack vitality; grow weak: plants may appear to be languishing simply because they are dormant.

- fail to make progress or be successful: Kelso languish near the bottom of the Scottish First Division | (as adj. languishing) the country's languishing stock market.

- ARCHAIC pine with love or grief: she still languished after Richard.

- ARCHAIC assume a sentimentally tender or melancholy expression or tone.

2 be forced to remain in an unpleasant place or situation: he has been languishing in jail since 1974.

<DERIVATIVES> languisher n. languishingly adv. languishment n. (ARCHAIC)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘become faint, feeble, or ill’): from Old French languiss-, lengthened stem of languir ‘languish’, from a variant of Latin languere, related to laxus ‘loose, lax’.

languor /laə/ n. [mass noun] 1 tiredness or inactivity, especially when pleasurable: her whole being was pervaded by a dreamy languor.

2 an oppressive stillness of the air: the afternoon was hot, quiet, and heavy with languor.

<DERIVATIVES> languorous adj. languorously adv.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: via Old French from Latin, from languere (see LANGUISH). The original sense was ‘illness, distress’, later ‘faintness, lassitude’; current senses date from the 18th century, when such lassitude became associated with a romantic yearning.

langur /laə lanə/ n. a long-tailed arboreal Asian monkey with a characteristic loud call.

<INFO> Presbytis and other genera, family Cercopithecidae: several species. Compare with LEAF MONKEY.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: via Hindi from Sanskrit lāgūla.

La Niña /lα ninjə/ n. a cooling of the water in the equatorial Pacific, which occurs at irregular intervals, and is associated with widespread changes in weather patterns complementary to those of El Niño, but less extensive and damaging in their effects.

<ORIGIN> Spanish, literally ‘the girl child’, after El Niño.

lank^1 adj. 1 (of hair) long, limp, and straight.

2 (of a person) lanky.

<DERIVATIVES> lankly adv. lankness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlanc ‘thin’, of Germanic origin; related to High German lenken ‘to bend, turn’, also to FLINCH and link^1.

lank^2 adj. S. African INFORMAL 1 very numerous or plentiful: come and share our braai—we've got lank meat.

2 very good; fantastic: dad's got a lank new car.

<ORIGIN> sense 1 is perhaps from Afrikaans geld lank ‘money galore’; sense 2 may be related to Afrikaans lank nie sleg nie ‘not at all bad’.

lanky adj. (lankier, lankiest) (of a person) ungracefully thin and tall.

<DERIVATIVES> lankily adv. lankiness n.

lanner /lanə/ (also lanner falcon) n. a falcon with a dark brown back and buff cap, found in SE Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

<INFO> Falco biarmicus, family Falconidae.

- [FALCONRY] a female lanner.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French lanier, perhaps a noun use of lanier ‘cowardly’, from a derogatory use of lanier ‘wool merchant’, from Latin lanarius, from lana ‘wool’.

lanneret /lanərt/ n. [FALCONRY] a male lanner, which is smaller than the female.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French laneret, diminutive of lanier (see LANNER).

lanolin n. [mass noun] a fatty substance found naturally on sheep's wool. It is extracted as a yellowish viscous mixture of esters and used as a base for ointments.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: coined in German from Latin lana ‘wool’ + oleum ‘oil’ + -IN^1.

Lansing /lans/ the state capital of Michigan; pop. 119,128 (2000).

lansquenet /lαnskənεt lans-/ n. 1 [mass noun] HISTORICAL a gambling game of German origin involving betting on cards turned up by the dealer.

2

■ archaic variant of LANDSKNECHT.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (in sense 2): via French from German Landsknecht (see LANDSKNECHT).

lantana /lantαnə -tenə/ n. a tropical evergreen shrub of the verbena family, several kinds of which are cultivated as ornamentals.

<INFO> Genus Lantana, family Verbenaceae: many species, in particular the South American scrambler L. camara, grown as an ornamental and sometimes becoming a serious weed.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, from the specific name of the wayfaring tree Viburnum lantana, which it resembles superficially.

Lantau /lanta/ an island of Hong Kong, situated to the west of Hong Kong Island and forming part of the New Territories. Chinese name TAI YUE SHAN.

lantern n. 1 a lamp with a transparent case protecting the flame or electric bulb, and typically having a handle by which it may be carried or hung: a paper lantern.

2 a square, curved, or polygonal structure on the top of a dome or a room, with the sides glazed or open so as to admit light.

- the light chamber at the top of a lighthouse.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lanterne, from Latin lanterna, from Greek lamptēr ‘torch, lamp’, from lampein ‘to shine’.

Lantern Festival n. another name for BON.

lanternfish n. (pl. same or lanternfishes) a deep-sea fish that has light organs on its body, seen chiefly when it rises to the surface at night.

<INFO> Family Myctophidae: several genera and species.

lantern fly n. a chiefly tropical bug which is typically brightly coloured and may have a large bizarrely shaped head. It was formerly thought to be luminescent.

<INFO> Family Fulgoridae, suborder Homoptera.

lantern jaw n. a long, thin jaw and prominent chin.

<DERIVATIVES> lantern-jawed adj.

lantern slide n. HISTORICAL a mounted photographic transparency for projection by a magic lantern.

lantern wheel n. a cylindrical gearwheel.

lanthanide /lanθənd/ n. [CHEMISTRY] any of the series of fifteen metallic elements from lanthanum to lutetium in the periodic table (atomic numbers 57–71). See also RARE EARTH.

<ORIGIN> 1920s: from LANTHANUM + -IDE.

lanthanum /lanθənəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 57, a silvery-white rare earth metal. (Symbol: La)

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek lanthanein ‘escape notice’ (because it was long undetected in cerium oxide) + -UM.

lanthorn n. archaic spelling of LANTERN.

lanugo /lənjuə/ n. [mass noun] fine, soft hair, especially that which covers the body and limbs of a human fetus.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Latin, ‘down’, from lana ‘wool’.

lanyard /lanjəd/ n. a rope used to secure or raise and lower something such as the shrouds and sails of a sailing ship or a flag on a flagpole.

- a cord passed round the neck, shoulder, or wrist for holding a knife, whistle, or similar object.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English lanyer, in the general sense ‘a short length of rope for securing something’, from Old French laniere. The change in the ending in the 17th century was due to association with yard^1.

Lanzarote /lanzərti/ Spanish /lanθarəte lansa-/ one of the Canary Islands, the most easterly island of the group; chief town, Arrecife. A series of volcanic eruptions in about 1730 dramatically altered the island's landscape, creating an area of volcanic cones in the south-west known as the ‘Mountains of Fire’.

Lanzhou /landə/ (also Lanchow) a city in northern China, on the upper Yellow River, capital of Gansu province; pop. 1,880,400 (est. 2002).

LAO abbr. Laos (international vehicle registration).

Lao /la/ n. (pl. same or Laos) 1 a member of an indigenous people of Laos and NE Thailand.

2 [mass noun] the language of the Lao, closely related to Thai, with about 3 million speakers. Also called LAOTIAN.

■ adj. relating to the Lao or their language.

<ORIGIN> the name in Lao.

Laocoon /lekən/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a Trojan priest who, with his two sons, was crushed to death by two great sea serpents as a penalty for warning the Trojans against drawing the wooden horse of the Greeks into Troy.

Laodicean /leə()dsiən/ ARCHAIC adj. half-hearted or indifferent, especially with respect to religion or politics.

■ n. a person with a Laodicean attitude.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Latin Laodicea in Asia Minor, with reference to the early Christians there (Rev. 3:16), + -AN.

laogai /la/ n. (the laogai) (in China) a system of labour camps, many of whose inmates are political dissidents.

<ORIGIN> Chinese, ‘reform through labour’.

Laois /li/ (also Laoighis, Leix) a county of the Republic of Ireland, in the province of Leinster; county town, Portlaoise. Former name QUEEN'S COUNTY.

Laos /las lαs/ a landlocked country in SE Asia; pop. 5,777,180 (est. 2002); official language, Laotian; capital, Vientiane.

Part of French Indo-China, Laos became independent in 1949, but for most of the next twenty-five years was torn by civil strife between the communist Pathet Lao movement and government supporters. In 1975 the Pathet Lao achieved total control and a communist republic was established.

<DERIVATIVES> Laotian /leə(ə)n/ adj. & n.

Lao-tzu /latsu/ (also Laoze /-tse/)

- (fl. 6th century BC), Chinese philosopher traditionally regarded as the founder of Taoism and author of the Tao-te-Ching, its most sacred scripture.

<ORIGIN> Chinese, literally ‘Lao the Master’.

lap^1 n. 1 (usually one's lap) the flat area between the waist and knees of a seated person: come and sit on my lap.

- the part of an item of clothing, especially a skirt or dress, covering the lap.

2 ARCHAIC a hanging flap on a garment or a saddle.

<PHRASES>

□ fall (or drop) into someone's lap (of something desirable) be acquired by or happen to someone without any effort being made on their part: women fall at his feet, power falls into his lap.

□ in someone's lap as someone's responsibility: she dumped the problem in my lap.

□ in the lap of the gods (of the success of a plan or event) depending on factors that one cannot control; open to chance.

□ in the lap of luxury in conditions of great comfort and wealth.

<DERIVATIVES> lapful n. (pl. lapfuls)

<ORIGIN> Old English læppa, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch lap, German Lappen ‘piece of cloth’. The word originally denoted a fold or flap of a garment (compare with LAPEL), later specifically one that could be used as a pocket or pouch, or the front of a skirt when held up to carry something (Middle English), hence the area between the waist and knees as a place where a child could be nursed or an object held.

lap^2 n. 1 one circuit of a track during a race.

- a stage in a swim consisting of two lengths of a pool.

- a part of a journey or other undertaking: we caught a cab for the last lap of our journey.

2 an overlapping or projecting part.

- [mass noun] the amount by which one thing overlaps a part of another.

- [METALLURGY] a defect formed in rolling when a projecting part is accidentally folded over and pressed against the surface of the metal.

3 a single turn of rope, thread, or cable round a drum or reel.

- a layer or sheet of cotton or wool, wound on a roller during manufacture.

4 (in a lapping machine) a rotating disc with a coating of fine abrasive for polishing.

- a polishing tool of a special shape, coated or impregnated with an abrasive.

■ v. (laps, lapping, lapped) [with obj.] 1 overtake (a competitor in a race) to become one or more laps ahead: she lapped all of her rivals in the 3,000 metres.

- [no obj.] (of a competitor in a race) complete a lap, especially in a specified time: Mansell lapped two tenths of a second faster than anyone else.

2 (lap someone/thing in) LITERARY wrap or enfold someone or something in (something soft): he was lapped in blankets.

3 [no obj.] project beyond or overlap something: the blanket of snow lapped over the roofs of the house.

4 polish (metal, glass, or a gem) with a lapping machine.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘coil, fold, or wrap’): from LAP^1. Sense 1 of the noun and verb date from the mid 19th cent.

lap^3 v. (laps, lapping, lapped) [with obj.] 1 (of an animal) take up (liquid) with quick movements of the tongue: the cat was lapping up a saucer of milk.

- (lap something up) accept something eagerly and with obvious pleasure: she's lapping up the attention.

2 (of water) wash against (something) with a gentle rippling sound: the waves lapped the shore | [no obj.] the sound of the river lapping against the banks.

■ n. [in sing.] the action or sound of water washing gently against something: listening to the comfortable lap of the waves against the shore.

<ORIGIN> Old English lapian, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Low German and Middle Dutch lapen.

lapa /lαpə/ n. S. AFRICAN a courtyard or similar enclosure, especially the first of two courtyards in a traditional Sotho homestead.

<ORIGIN> from Sotho lelapa.

La Palma /lα pαlmə pαmə/ one of the Canary Islands, the most north-westerly in the group. It is the site of an astronomical observatory.

laparoscopy /lapərskəpi/ n. (pl. laparoscopies) a surgical procedure in which a fibre-optic instrument is inserted through the abdominal wall to view the organs in the abdomen or permit small-scale surgery.

<DERIVATIVES> laparoscope n. laparoscopic adj. laparoscopically adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek lapara ‘flank’ + -SCOPY.

laparotomy /lapərtəmi/ n. (pl. laparotomies) a surgical incision into the abdominal cavity, for diagnosis or in preparation for major surgery.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek lapara ‘flank’ + -TOMY.

La Paz /la paz lα pαz/ 1 the capital of Bolivia, in the north-west of the country near the border with Peru; pop. 789,585 (2001). (The judicial capital is Sucre.) Situated in the Andes at an altitude of 3,660 m (12,000 ft), La Paz is the highest capital city in the world.

2 a city in Mexico, near the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, capital of the state of Baja California Sur; pop. 163,000 (2000).

lap belt n. a safety belt worn across the lap.

lap dance n. an erotic dance or striptease performed close to, or sitting on the lap of, a paying customer.

<DERIVATIVES> lap dancer n. lap dancing n.

lap dissolve n. a fade-out of a scene in a film that overlaps with a fade-in of a new scene, so that one appears to dissolve into the other.

lapdog n. a small pampered pet dog.

- a person or organization which is influenced or controlled by another: the government and its media lapdogs.

lapel n. the part on each side of a coat or jacket immediately below the collar which is folded back on either side of the front opening.

<DERIVATIVES> lapelled adj. [in combination] a narrow-lapelled suit

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: diminutive of lap^1.

lapidary /lapd(ə)ri/ adj. relating to the engraving, cutting, or polishing of stones and gems.

- (of language) elegant and concise, and therefore suitable for engraving on stone: a lapidary statement.

■ n. (pl. lapidaries) a person who cuts, polishes, or engraves gems.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun): from Latin lapidarius (in late Latin ‘stonecutter’), from lapis, lapid- ‘stone’. The adjective dates from the early 18th cent.

lapilli /ləpl/ plural n. [GEOLOGY] rock fragments ejected from a volcano.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century (in the general sense ‘stones, pebbles’): via Italian from Latin, plural of lapillus, diminutive of lapis ‘stone’.

lapis lazuli /laps lazjl -li/ (also lapis) n. [mass noun] a bright blue metamorphic rock consisting largely of lazurite, used for decoration and in jewellery.

- a bright blue pigment formerly made by crushing lapis lazuli.

- a bright blue colour.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin lapis ‘stone’ and medieval Latin lazuli, genitive of lazulum, from Persian lāžward ‘lapis lazuli’. Compare with AZURE.

Lapita /lapitə/ n. [usually as modifier] [ARCHAEOLOGY] a prehistoric Oceanic culture centred on Melanesia, dated to about c.1500–500 BC. It is characterized by pottery distinctively stamped with a toothed instrument.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: from the name of a site in New Caledonia.

Lapith /lapθ/ n. [MYTHOLOGY] a member of a Thessalian people who fought and defeated the centaurs.

<ORIGIN> via Latin from Greek Lapithai (plural).

lap joint n. a joint made by halving the thickness of each member at the joint and fitting them together.

Laplace /laplαs/ French /laplas/ Pierre Simon, Marquis de (1749–1827), French applied mathematician and theoretical physicist. His treatise Mécanique céleste (1799–1825) is an extensive mathematical analysis of geophysical matters and of planetary and lunar motion.

Lapland /lapland/ a region of northern Europe which extends from the Norwegian Sea to the White Sea and lies mainly within the Arctic Circle. It consists of the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.

<DERIVATIVES> Laplander n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Swedish Lappland, from Lapp (see LAPP) + land ‘land’.

La Plata /lα plαtə/ a port in Argentina, on the River Plate (Río de la Plata) south-east of Buenos Aires; pop. 556,308 (est. 1999).

lap of honour n. a celebratory circuit of a sports field or track by the person or team that has won a contest.

Lapp n. 1 a member of an indigenous people of the extreme north of Scandinavia, traditionally associated with the herding of reindeer.

2 [mass noun] the Finno-Ugric language of the Lapps, with nine distinct dialects spoken by around 25,000 people altogether.

■ adj. relating to the Lapps or their language.

<ORIGIN> Swedish, perhaps originally a term of contempt and related to Middle High German lappe ‘simpleton’.

<USAGE> Although the term Lapp is still widely used and is the most familiar term to many people, the people themselves prefer to be called Sami.

lappet /lapt/ n. 1 a fold or hanging piece of flesh in some animals.

- a loose or overlapping part of a garment.

2 (also lappet moth) a brownish moth, the hairy caterpillars of which have fleshy lappets along each side of the body.

<INFO> Gastropacha quercifolia and other species in the family Lasiocampidae.

<DERIVATIVES> lappeted adj.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a lobe of the ear, liver, etc.): diminutive of lap^1.

lapping machine n. a machine with a rotating abrasive disc for polishing gems, metal, and optical glass.

Lappish adj. relating to the Lapps (Sami) or their language.

■ n. [mass noun] the Lapp language.

lap robe n. NORTH AMERICAN a travelling rug.

lapsang souchong /lapsa/ n. [mass noun] a variety of souchong tea with a smoky flavour.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from an invented first element + SOUCHONG.

lapse n. 1 a brief or temporary failure of concentration, memory, or judgement: a lapse of concentration in the second set cost her the match.

- a decline from previously high standards: tracing his lapse into petty crime.

- [LAW] the termination of a right or privilege through disuse or failure to follow appropriate procedures.

2 an interval or passage of time: there was a considerable lapse of time between the two events.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a right, privilege, or agreement) become invalid because it is not used, claimed, or renewed; expire: he let his membership of CND lapse.

- (of a state or activity) fail to be maintained; come to an end: if your diet has lapsed it's time you revived it.

- cease to follow the rules and practices of a religion or doctrine.

2 (lapse into) pass gradually into (an inferior state or condition): the country has lapsed into chaos.

- revert to (a previous or more familiar style of speaking or behaviour): the girls lapsed into French.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin lapsus, from labi ‘to glide, slip, or fall’; the verb reinforced by Latin lapsare ‘to slip or stumble’.

lapsed adj. no longer valid; expired: a lapsed insurance policy.

- no longer following the rules and practices of a religion or doctrine; non-practising: a lapsed Catholic.

lapse rate n. the rate at which air temperature falls with increasing altitude.

lapstone n. a shoemaker's stone held in the lap and used to beat leather on.

lapstrake chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. a clinker-built boat.

■ adj. (also lapstraked) clinker-built.

lapsus calami /lapsəs kaləm/ n. (pl. same) FORMAL a slip of the pen.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

lapsus linguae /lapsəs lw/ n. (pl. same) FORMAL a slip of the tongue.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Laptev Sea /laptεf/ a part of the Arctic Ocean, which lies to the north of Russia between the Taimyr Peninsula and the New Siberian Islands.

laptop (also laptop computer) n. a microcomputer that is portable and suitable for use while travelling.

lap-weld v. [with obj.] weld (something) with the edges overlapping.

■ n. (lap weld) a weld with overlapping edges.

lapwing n. a large plover, typically having a black-and-white head and underparts and a loud call.

<INFO> Genus Vanellus, family Charadriidae: several species, in particular the (northern) lapWING (V. vanellus) of Eurasia (also called the GREEN PLOVER or PEEWIT), which has a dark green back and a crest.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlēapewince, from hlēapan ‘to leap’ and a base meaning ‘move from side to side’ (whence also WINK); so named because of the way it flies. The spelling was changed in Middle English by association with lap^2 and wing.

L'Aquila /lakwila/ Italian name for Aquila^2.

LAR abbr. Libya (international vehicle registration).

<ORIGIN> from Libyan Arab Republic.

lar (also lar gibbon) n. the common gibbon, which has white hands and feet and is found in Thailand and Malaysia.

<INFO> Hylobates lar, family Hylobatidae.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin, literally ‘household god’.

Lara /lαrə/ Brian (Charles) (b.1969), West Indian cricketer. He scored 375 against England in Antigua (1994), breaking the record Test score, and 501 not out, a world record in first-class cricket, for Warwickshire against Durham (1994).

Laramie /larəmi/ a city in SE Wyoming; pop. 27,200 (2000). It was first settled in 1868, during the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad.

larboard /lαbd -bəd/ n. [NAUTICAL] archaic term for port^3.

<ORIGIN> Middle English ladebord (see LADE, board), referring to the side on which cargo was put aboard. The change to lar- in the 16th century was due to association with STARBOARD.

larceny /lαs(ə)ni/ n. (pl. larcenies) [mass noun] theft of personal property. In English law larceny was replaced as a statutory crime by theft in 1968. See also GRAND LARCENY, PETTY LARCENY.

<DERIVATIVES> larcener n. (ARCHAIC) larcenist n. larcenous adj.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: from Old French larcin, from Latin latrocinium, from latro(n-) ‘robber’, earlier ‘mercenary soldier’, from Greek latreus.

larch n. a coniferous tree with bunches of deciduous bright green needles, found in cool regions of the northern hemisphere. It is grown for its tough timber and its resin (which yields turpentine).

<INFO> Genus Larix, family Pinaceae: several species, including the common (or European) larch (L. decidua).

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Middle High German larche, based on Latin larix.

lard n. [mass noun] fat from the abdomen of a pig that is rendered and clarified for use in cooking.

- INFORMAL excess fat in a person.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 insert strips of fat or bacon in (meat) before cooking.

- smear or cover (a foodstuff) with lard or fat to prevent it drying out during storage.

2 (usually be larded with) embellish (talk or writing) with an excessive number of esoteric or technical expressions: his conversation is larded with quotations from Coleridge.

- cover or fill thickly or excessively: the pages were larded with corrections and crossings-out.

<DERIVATIVES> lardy adj. (lardier, lardiest)

<ORIGIN> Middle English (also denoting fat bacon or pork): from Old French ‘bacon’, from Latin lardum, laridum, related to Greek larinos ‘fat’.

lardass /lαdαs lαdas/ n. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL, DEROGATORY a fat person, especially one with large buttocks.

larder n. a room or large cupboard for storing food.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a store of meat): from Old French lardier, from medieval Latin lardarium, from laridum (see LARD).

larder beetle n. a brownish scavenging beetle which is a pest of stored products, especially meat and hides.

<INFO> Dermestes lardarius, family Dermestidae.

lardon /lαdən/ (also lardoon /-dun/) n. a chunk or cube of bacon used to lard meat.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, from lard ‘bacon’ (see LARD).

lardy cake n. BRITISH a cake made with bread dough, lard, and currants.

lares /lαriz/ plural n. gods of the household worshipped in ancient Rome. See also PENATES.

<PHRASES>

□ lares and penates a person's home and household possessions.

<ORIGIN> Latin.

Largactil /lαaktl/ n. trademark for CHLORPROMAZINE.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: of unknown origin.

large adj. 1 of considerable or relatively great size, extent, or capacity: add a large clove of garlic | the concert attracted large crowds | the jumper comes in small, medium, and large sizes.

- pursuing a commercial activity on a significant scale: many large investors are likely to take a different view.

2 of wide range or scope: we can afford to take a larger view of the situation.

■ v. [no obj.] (large it) BRITISH INFORMAL enjoy oneself in a lively way with drink or drugs and music.

<PHRASES>

□ at large 1 (especially of a criminal or dangerous animal) at liberty; escaped or not yet captured: the fugitive was still at large.

2 as a whole; in general: there has been a loss of community values in society at large.

3 US in a general way; without particularizing: he served as an ambassador at large in the Reagan Administration.

4 DATED at length; in great detail: writing at large on the policies he wished to pursue.

□ have (or give) it large BRITISH INFORMAL go out and enjoy oneself, typically with drink or drugs; go clubbing.

□ in large measure (or part) to a great extent: the success of the conference was due in large part to its organizers.

□ (as) large as life see LIFE.

□ larger than life see LIFE.

<DERIVATIVES> largeness n. largish adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘liberal in giving, lavish, ample in quantity’): via Old French from Latin larga, feminine of largus ‘copious’.

large-hearted adj. sympathetic and generous.

large intestine n. [ANATOMY] the caecum, colon, and rectum collectively.

largely adv. [sentence adv.] to a great extent; on the whole; mostly: he was soon arrested, largely through the efforts of Tom Poole.

large-minded adj. open to and tolerant of other people's ideas; liberal.

largemouth n. NORTH AMERICAN the largemouth bass (see BLACK BASS).

large-scale adj. involving large numbers or a large area; extensive: large-scale commercial farming.

largesse /lα(d)εs/ (also largess) n. [mass noun] generosity in bestowing money or gifts upon others: presumably public money is not dispensed with such largesse to anyone else.

- money or gifts given generously: the distribution of largesse to the local population.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French, from Latin largus ‘copious’.

larghetto /lαεtə/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) in a fairly slow tempo.

■ n. (pl. larghettos) a passage or movement marked to be performed in this way.

<ORIGIN> Italian, diminutive of largo ‘broad’.

largo /lαə/ [MUSIC] adv. & adj. (especially as a direction) in a slow tempo and dignified in style.

■ n. (pl. largos) a passage, movement, or composition marked to be performed in this way.

<ORIGIN> Italian, from Latin largus ‘copious, abundant’.

lari /lαri/ n. (pl. same or laris) 1 the basic monetary unit of Georgia, equal to 100 tetri.

2 a monetary unit of the Maldives, equal to one hundredth of a rufiyaa.

<ORIGIN> from Persian.

Lariam /larəm/ n. trademark for MEFLOQUINE.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: probably from partial rearrangement of MALARIA.

lariat /larət/ n. a rope used as a lasso or for tethering.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Spanish la reata from la ‘the’ and reatar ‘tie again’ (based on Latin aptare ‘adjust’, from aptus ‘apt, fitting’).

La Rioja /lα rhə/ an autonomous region of northern Spain, in the wine-producing valley of the River Ebro; capital, Logroño.

Larissa /lərsə/ a city in Greece, the chief town of Thessaly; pop. 132,900 (est. 2002). Greek name Lárisa /larisa/.

lark^1 n. a small ground-dwelling songbird with elongated hind claws and a song that is delivered on the wing, typically crested and with brown streaky plumage.

<INFO> Family Alaudidae: many genera and numerous species, e.g. the skylark and shorelark.

- used in names of similar birds of other families, e.g. meadowlark.

- INFORMAL a person who habitually gets up early and feels energetic early in the day. Often contrasted with OWL.

<PHRASES>

□ be up with the lark BRITISH get out of bed very early in the morning.

<ORIGIN> Old English lāferce, lwerce; related to Dutch leeuwerik and German Lerche; of unknown ultimate origin.

lark^2 INFORMAL n. something done for fun, especially something mischievous or daring; an amusing adventure or escapade: I only went along for a lark.

- [usually with modifier] BRITISH INFORMAL an activity regarded as foolish or a waste of time: he's serious about this music lark.

■ v. [no obj.] (lark about/around) BRITISH enjoy oneself by behaving in a playful and mischievous way: he's always joking and larking about in the office.

<DERIVATIVES> larky adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: perhaps from dialect lake ‘play’, from Old Norse leika, but compare with SKYLARK in the same sense, which is recorded earlier.

Larkin Philip (Arthur) (1922–85), English poet. His poetry is characterized by an air of melancholy and bitterness, and by stoic wit. Notable works: The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974).

larkspur n. an annual Mediterranean plant of the buttercup family, which bears spikes of spurred flowers. It is closely related to the delphiniums, with which it has been bred to produce a number of cultivated hybrids.

<INFO> Genus Consolida (formerly Delphinium), family Ranunculaceae.

larn v. dialect form of LEARN.

larney /lαni/ (also larnie) S. African INFORMAL adj. suggesting wealth and high status; smart and elegant.

■ n. (pl. larneys or larnies) DEROGATORY a white man.

- an employer or a member of the upper classes.

<ORIGIN> from Isicamtho (a South African urban argot) lani(e) ‘white man’, of unknown ultimate origin; perhaps related to Malay rani ‘rich’.

La Rochefoucauld /la rfukə/ French /la Rfukə/ François de Marsillac, Duc de (1613–80), French writer and moralist. Notable works: Réflexions, ou sentences et maximes morales (1665).

La Rochelle /la rεl/ French /la Rεl/ a port on the Atlantic coast of western France; pop. 76,584 (1999).

Larousse /larus/ French /laRus/ Pierre (1817–75), French lexicographer and encyclopedist. He edited the fifteen-volume Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle (1866–76), which aimed to treat every area of human knowledge. In 1852 he co-founded the publishing house of Larousse.

larrikin /larkn/ n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a boisterous, often badly behaved young man.

- AUSTRALIAN a person with apparent disregard for convention; a maverick: [as modifier] the larrikin trade union leader.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from English dialect, perhaps from the given name Larry (pet form of Lawrence) + -KIN, or from a pronunciation of larking.

larrup /larəp/ v. (larrups, larruping, larruped) [with obj.] INFORMAL thrash or whip (a person or animal).

<ORIGIN> early 19th century (originally dialect): perhaps related to LATHER or LEATHER.

larva /lαvə/ n. (pl. larvae /-vi/) the active immature form of an insect, especially one that differs greatly from the adult and forms the stage between egg and pupa, e.g. a caterpillar or grub. Compare with nymph (sense 2).

- an immature form of other animals that undergo some metamorphosis, e.g. a tadpole.

<DERIVATIVES> larval adj. larvicide n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting a disembodied spirit or ghost): from Latin, literally ‘ghost, mask’.

Larvacea /lαveə/ plural n. [ZOOLOGY] a class of minute transparent planktonic animals related to the sea squirts. They have a tadpole-like body which is typically enclosed in a gelatinous ‘house’ that is regularly shed and replaced.

<DERIVATIVES> larvacean adj. & n.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin (plural), from LARVA.

Larwood Harold (1904–95), English cricketer. A fast bowler for Nottinghamshire, in the 1932–3 MCC tour of Australia he bowled fast short-pitched ‘bodyline’ deliveries, and was involved in controversy when several of the home batsmen were badly injured.

laryngeal /lərn(d)əl/ adj. relating to the larynx: the laryngeal artery.

- [PHONETICS] (of a speech sound) made in the larynx with only the front part of the vocal cords vibrating, giving a very low frequency and producing what is known as ‘creaky voice’: laryngeal consonants.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from modern Latin laryngeus ‘relating to the larynx’ + -AL.

laryngitis /larndts/ n. [mass noun] inflammation of the larynx, typically resulting in huskiness or loss of the voice, harsh breathing, and a painful cough.

<DERIVATIVES> laryngitic /-dtk/ adj.

laryngology /larlədi/ n. [mass noun] the branch of medicine that deals with the larynx and its diseases.

<DERIVATIVES> laryngologist n.

laryngoscope /lərəskəp/ n. an instrument for examining the larynx, or for inserting a tube through it.

<DERIVATIVES> laryngoscopy n.

laryngotomy /lartəmi/ n. [mass noun] surgical incision into the larynx, typically to provide an air passage when breathing is obstructed.

larynx /larks/ n. (pl. larynges /lərn(d)iz/) [ANATOMY] the hollow muscular organ forming an air passage to the lungs and holding the vocal cords in humans and other mammals; the voice box.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: modern Latin, from Greek larunx.

lasagne /ləzanjə -san- -sαn- -zαn-/ n. [mass noun] pasta in the form of sheets or wide strips.

- an Italian dish consisting of lasagne baked with meat or vegetables and a cheese sauce.

<ORIGIN> Italian, plural of lasagna, based on Latin lasanum ‘chamber pot’, perhaps also ‘cooking pot’.

La Salle /la sal/ René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de (1643–87), French explorer. He sailed down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the sea from Canada in 1682, naming the Mississippi basin Louisiana in honour of Louis XIV.

La Scala /la skαlə/ an opera house in Milan built 1776–8 on the site of the church of Santa Maria della Scala.

Lascar /laskə/ n. DATED a sailor from India or SE Asia.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: from Portuguese lascari, from Urdu and Persian laškarī ‘soldier’, from laškar ‘army’.

Lascaux /laskə/ French /laskə/ the site of a cave in the Dordogne, France, which is richly decorated with Palaeolithic wall paintings of animals dated to the Magdalenian period.

lascivious /ləsvəs/ adj. feeling or revealing an overt sexual interest or desire: he gave her a lascivious wink.

<DERIVATIVES> lasciviously adv. lasciviousness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin lasciviosus, from Latin lascivia ‘lustfulness’, from lascivus ‘lustful, wanton’.

lase /lez/ v. [no obj.] (of a substance, especially a gas or crystal) undergo the physical processes employed in a laser; function as or in a laser.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: back-formation from LASER, interpreted as an agent noun.

laser n. a device that generates an intense beam of coherent monochromatic light (or other electromagnetic radiation) by stimulated emission of photons from excited atoms or molecules. Lasers are used in drilling and cutting, alignment and guidance, and in surgery; the optical properties are exploited in holography, reading barcodes, and in recording and playing compact discs.

<ORIGIN> 1960s: acronym from light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, on the pattern of maser.

laserdisc n. a disc which resembles a compact disc and functions in a similar manner, but is the size of a long-playing record. It is used mainly for high-quality video and for interactive multimedia.

laser gun n. 1 a hand-held device incorporating a laser beam, used for reading a barcode or for determining the distance or speed of an object.

2 (in science fiction) a weapon that uses a powerful laser beam.

laser printer n. a printer linked to a computer producing good-quality printed material by using a laser to form a pattern of electrostatically charged dots on a light-sensitive drum, which attract toner (or dry ink powder). The toner is transferred to a piece of paper and fixed by a heating process.

LaserVision n. [mass noun] TRADEMARK a system for the reproduction of video signals recorded on a laserdisc.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from LASER + VISION, on the pattern of television.

lash v. 1 [with obj.] strike or beat with a whip or stick: they lashed him repeatedly about the head.

- beat forcefully against: waves lashed the coast.

- [no obj.] (lash down) (of rain) fall very heavily: torrential rain was lashing down.

- [no obj.] (lash out) hit or kick out at someone or something: the woman had lashed out in fear | FIGURATIVE in his speech, he lashed out at his enemies.

- (lash someone into) drive someone into (a particular state or condition): fear lashed him into a frenzy.

2 [with obj.] (of an animal) move (a part of the body, especially the tail) quickly and violently: the cat was lashing its tail back and forth.

- [no obj.] (of a part of the body) move in this way.

3 [with obj. and adverbial] fasten (something) securely with a cord or rope: the hatch was securely lashed down | he lashed the flag to the mast.

4 [no obj.] (lash out) BRITISH spend money extravagantly: I decided to lash out and treat myself | let's lash out on a taxi.

■ n. 1 a sharp blow or stroke with a whip or rope: he was sentenced to fifty lashes for his crime | FIGURATIVE she felt the lash of my tongue.

- the flexible leather part of a whip, used for administering blows.

- (the lash) punishment in the form of a beating with a whip or rope: they were living under the threat of the lash.

2 (usually lashes) an eyelash: she fluttered her long dark lashes.

<DERIVATIVES> lasher n. lashless adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘make a sudden movement’): probably imitative.

lashed^1 adj. [in combination] having eyelashes of a specified kind: long-lashed eyes.

lashed^2 adj. BRITISH INFORMAL very drunk.

lashing n. 1 a beating with a stick or whip: I threatened to give him a good lashing! | FIGURATIVE he was on the receiving end of a verbal lashing yesterday.

2 (usually lashings) a cord used to fasten something securely.

lashings plural n. BRITISH INFORMAL a copious amount of something, especially food or drink: chocolate cake with lashings of cream.

lash-up n. INFORMAL, chiefly BRITISH a makeshift, improvised structure or arrangement.

LASIK /lezk/ n. [mass noun] corrective eye surgery in which a flap of the corneal surface is raised and a thin layer of underlying tissue is removed using a laser.

<ORIGIN> 1990s: acronym from laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis.

Las Palmas /lαs pαməs pαlməs/ a port and resort on the north coast of the island of Gran Canaria, capital of the Canary Islands; pop. 366,000 (est. 2002). Full name Las Palmas de Gran Canaria /də ran kənεrə/.

La Spezia /la spεtsə/ an industrial port in NW Italy; pop. 91,027 (2001). Since 1861 it has been Italy's chief naval station.

lasque /lαsk/ (also lasque diamond) n. a flat, ill-formed, or veiny diamond.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: perhaps from Persian lašk ‘piece’.

lass n. chiefly SCOTTISH & N. ENGLISH a girl or young woman: he married a lass from Yorkshire | village lasses.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: based on Old Norse laskura (feminine adjective) ‘unmarried’.

Lassa fever /lasə/ n. [mass noun] an acute and often fatal viral disease, with fever, occurring chiefly in West Africa. It is usually acquired from infected rats.

<ORIGIN> 1970s: named after the village of Lassa, in NW Nigeria, where it was first reported.

lassi /lasi/ n. [mass noun] a sweet or savoury Indian drink made from a yogurt or buttermilk base with water.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi lassī.

lassie n. chiefly SCOTTISH & N. English another term for LASS.

lassitude /lastjud/ n. [mass noun] a state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy: she was overcome by lassitude and retired to bed.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from French, from Latin lassitudo, from lassus ‘tired’.

lasso /ləsu lasə/ n. (pl. lassos or lassoes) a rope with a noose at one end, used especially in North America for catching cattle.

■ v. (lassoes, lassoing, lassoed) [with obj.] catch (an animal) with a lasso.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: representing an American Spanish pronunciation of Spanish lazo, based on Latin laqueus ‘noose’. Compare with LACE.

Lassus /lasəs/ Orlande de (c.1532–94), Flemish composer; Italian name Orlando di Lasso. A notable composer of polyphonic music, he wrote over 2,000 secular and sacred works.

last^1 adj. [attr.] 1 coming after all others in time or order; final: they caught the last bus.

- met with or encountered after any others: the last house in the village.

- the lowest in importance or rank: finishing in last place | [as complement] he came last in the race.

- (the last) the least likely or suitable: he's the last person I'd turn to for help | the last thing she needed was a husband.

2 most recent in time; latest: last year | [postpositive] your letter of Sunday last.

- immediately preceding in order; previous in a sequence or enumeration: their last album | this last point is critical.

3 only remaining: it's our last hope.

■ adv. 1 on the last occasion before the present; previously: a woman last heard of in Cornwall.

2 [in combination] after all others in order or sequence: the last-named film.

3 (especially in enumerating points) lastly: and last, I'd like to thank you all for coming.

■ n. (pl. same) the last person or thing; the one occurring, mentioned, or acting after all others: the last of their guests had gone | he was eating as if every mouthful were his last.

- (the last of) the only part of something that remains: they drank the last of the wine.

- [in sing.] the last position or finisher in a race or competition: Lion Cavern came from last in a slowly run race.

- (the last) the end or last moment, especially death: he was dead, having refused morphia to the last.

- (the last) the last mention or sight of someone or something: that was the last we saw of her.

<PHRASES>

□ at last (or at long last) in the end; after much delay: you've come back to me at last!

□ in the (or as a) last resort see RESORT.

□ —— one's last do something for the last time: the dying embers sparked their last.

□ last but not least last in order of mention or occurrence but not of importance.

□ one's (or the) last GASP see GASP.

□ the last minute the latest possible time before an event: the visit was cancelled at the last minute.

□ last orders (NORTH AMERICAN also last call) (in a bar or pub) an expression used to inform customers that closing time is approaching and that any further drinks should be purchased immediately: last orders, gentlemen, please.

□ the last STRAW see STRAW.

□ last thing late in the evening, especially as a final act before going to bed: I think having that cup of tea last thing at night really helps.

□ the last word 1 the final or definitive pronouncement on or decision about a subject: he's always determined to have the last word.

2 the finest or most modern, fashionable, or advanced example of something: the new flat is the last word in luxury.

□ on one's last LEGs see LEG.

<ORIGIN> Old English latost (adverb) ‘after all others in a series’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch laatst, lest and German letzt, also to LATE.

last^2 v. [no obj.] 1 [with adverbial] (of a process, activity, or state) continue for a specified period of time: the guitar solo lasted for twenty minutes | childhood seems to last forever.

2 continue to operate or remain usable for a considerable or specified length of time: the car is built to last | a lip pencil lasts longer than lipstick.

- manage to continue in a state or position; survive or endure: she managed to last out until the end of the programme | his condition is so serious that he won't last the night | how long does he reckon he'll last as manager?

- (of provisions or resources) be adequate or sufficient for a specified length of time: green peppers which had been served with their rice while supplies lasted | [with obj.] he filled the freezer with enough food to last him for three months.

<ORIGIN> Old English lstan, of Germanic origin, related to German leisten ‘afford, yield’, also to last^3.

last^3 n. a shoemaker's model for shaping or repairing a shoe or boot.

<ORIGIN> Old English lste, of Germanic origin, from a base meaning ‘follow’; related to Dutch leest and German Leisten.

last-ditch adj. denoting a final, often desperate attempt to achieve something: a last-ditch effort to break the deadlock.

last-gasp adj. done at the last possible moment, typically in desperation: Wilson levelled with a last-gasp try.

last hurrah n. INFORMAL, chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a final act, performance, or effort, especially in politics: Arthur's last hurrah in Washington.

lasting adj. enduring or able to endure over a long period of time: they left a lasting impression | a lasting, happy marriage.

<DERIVATIVES> lastingly adv. lastingness n.

Last Judgement n. the judgement of humankind expected in some religious traditions to take place at the end of the world.

lastly adv. in the last place (used to introduce the last of a series of points or actions): lastly, I would like to thank my parents.

last-minute adj. done or occurring at the latest possible time before an event: a last-minute change of plan.

last name n. one's surname.

last offices plural n. the preparation of a dead person for burial.

last post n. (in the British armed forces) the second of two bugle calls giving notice of the hour of retiring at night, played also at military funerals and acts of remembrance.

last rites plural n. (in the Christian Church) rites administered to a person who is about to die.

Last Supper the supper eaten by Jesus and his disciples on the night before the Crucifixion, as recorded in the New Testament and commemorated by Christians in the Eucharist.

last trump n. the trumpet blast that in some religious beliefs is thought will wake the dead on Judgement Day.

Las Vegas /las veəs/ a city in southern Nevada; pop. 478,434 (2000). It is noted for its casinos and nightclubs.

lat^1 /lat/ n. (pl. lati /lati/ or lats) the basic monetary unit of Latvia, equal to 100 santims.

<ORIGIN> from the first syllable of Latvija ‘Latvia’.

lat^2 /lat/ n. (usually lats) INFORMAL (in bodybuilding) a latissimus muscle.

<ORIGIN> 1930s: abbreviation.

lat. abbr. latitude: between approximately 40° and 50° S. lat.

Latakia /latəkiə/ a seaport on the coast of western Syria, opposite the north-eastern tip of Cyprus; pop. 404,000 (est. 2002).

latch n. 1 a metal bar with a catch and lever used for fastening a door or gate.

- a spring lock for an outer door, which catches when the door is closed and can only be opened from the outside with a key.

2 [ELECTRONICS] a circuit which retains whatever output state results from a momentary input signal until reset by another signal.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 fasten (a door or gate) with a latch: she latched the door carefully.

2 [no obj.] [ELECTRONICS] (of a device) become fixed in a particular state.

<PHRASES>

□ on the latch BRITISH (of a door or gate) closed but not locked: let yourself in, the door's on the latch.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ latch on (of a breastfeeding baby) get its mouth into the correct position around the nipple.

□ latch on to INFORMAL 1 attach oneself to (someone) as a constant and usually unwelcome companion: he spent the whole evening trying to latch on to my friends.

- take up (an idea or trend) enthusiastically: the newspapers latched on to the idea of healthy eating.

- BRITISH (of a football or rugby player) take advantage of (another player's move) when attacking: Nevin latched on to a miscued header to smash home the winning goal.

- (of one substance) cohere with (another).

2 understand the meaning of (something): [with clause] she'll soon latch on to what is happening.

<ORIGIN> Old English læccan ‘take hold of, grasp (physically or mentally)’, of Germanic origin.

latchet /latt/ n. ARCHAIC a narrow thong or lace for fastening a shoe or sandal.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French lachet, variant of lacet, from laz ‘lace’.

latchkey n. (pl. latchkeys) a key of an outer door of a house.

latchkey child n. a child who is at home without adult supervision for some part of the day, especially after school until a parent returns from work.

late adj. 1 doing something or taking place after the expected, proper, or usual time: his late arrival | she was half an hour late for her lunch appointment.

2 belonging or taking place far on in a particular period: they won the game with a late goal | an elegantly dressed woman in her late fifties.

- denoting or belonging to the advanced stage of a historical period or cultural movement: the late 1960s | late Gothic style.

- far on in the day or night: I'm sorry the call is so late | it's too late for sherry.

- flowering or ripening towards the end of the season: the last late chrysanthemums.

3 (the/one's late) (of a specified person) no longer alive: the late Francis Bacon | her late husband's grave.

- no longer having the specified status; former: a late colleague of mine.

4 (latest) of most recent date: the latest news.

■ adv. 1 after the expected, proper, or usual time: she arrived late.

2 far on in time; towards the end of a period: it happened late in 1994.

- at or until a time far on in the day or night: now I'm old enough to stay up late.

- (later) at a time in the near future; soon or afterwards: I'll see you later | later on it will be easier.

3 (late of) formerly but not now living or working in a specified place or institution: Mrs Halford, late of the County Records Office.

■ n. (the latest) the most recent news or fashion: have you heard the latest?

<PHRASES>

□ at the latest no later than the time specified: all new cars will be required to meet this standard by 1997 at the latest.

□ late in the day (or North American game) at a late stage in proceedings, especially too late to be useful: it's a bit late in the day to go into all this.

□ of late recently: she'd been drinking too much of late.

<ORIGIN> Old English læt (adjective; also in the sense ‘slow, tardy’), late (adverb), of Germanic origin; related to German lass, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin lassus ‘weary’, let^1, and let^2.

latecomer n. a person who arrives late: latecomers were not admitted before the interval.

late cut [CRICKET] n. a cut made with a delayed action so as to send the ball to the off side behind the wicket.

■ v. (late-cut) [with obj.] hit (the ball) with such a stroke; hit a ball delivered by (the bowler) with such a stroke.

lateen /latin/ (also lateen sail) n. a triangular sail on a long yard at an angle of 45° to the mast.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from French (voile) Latine ‘Latin (sail)’, so named because it was common in the Mediterranean.

late-glacial adj. [GEOLOGY] relating to the later stages of the final (Weichsel or Devensian) glaciation, from the beginning of the rise in temperature about 15,000 years ago to the beginning of the Flandrian about 10,000 years ago. Compare with POSTGLACIAL.

late Latin n. [mass noun] Latin of about AD 200–600.

lately adv. recently; not long ago: she hasn't been looking too well lately.

<ORIGIN> Old English lætlīce ‘slowly, tardily’ (see LATE, -ly^2).

late-model adj. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN (especially of a car) recently made or of a recent design.

La Tène /la tεn/ n. [usually as modifier] [ARCHAEOLOGY] the second cultural phase of the European Iron Age, following the Hallstatt period (c.480 BC) and lasting until the coming of the Romans. This culture represents the height of Celtic power, being characterized by hill forts, rich and elaborate burials, and distinctively crafted artefacts.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after a district in Switzerland, where remains of the culture were first identified.

lateness n. [mass noun] 1 the fact or quality of happening or arriving after the expected or usual time; unpunctuality: she wouldn't tolerate lateness in her class.

2 the fact of being far on in the day or night: she noticed the lateness of the hour.

latent adj. (of a quality or state) existing but not yet developed or manifest; hidden or concealed: they have a huge reserve of latent talent.

- [BIOLOGY] lying dormant or hidden until circumstances are suitable for development or manifestation.

- (of a disease) not yet manifesting the usual symptoms.

- [PHYSIOLOGY] (of a micro-organism, especially a virus) present in the body without causing disease, but capable of doing so at a later stage, or when transmitted to another body.

<DERIVATIVES> latency n. latently adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin latent- ‘being hidden’, from the verb latere.

latent heat n. [mass noun] [PHYSICS] the heat required to convert a solid into a liquid or vapour, or a liquid into a vapour, without change of temperature.

latent image n. [PHOTOGRAPHY] an image on an exposed film or print that has not yet been made visible by developing.

latent period n. 1 MEDICINE the period between infection with a virus or other micro-organism and the onset of symptoms, or between exposure to radiation and the appearance of a cancer.

2 [PHYSIOLOGY] the delay between the receipt of a stimulus by a sensory nerve and the response to it.

later (also laters) exclam. INFORMAL, chiefly US goodbye for the present; see you later.

-later combining form denoting a person who worships a specified thing: idolater.

<ORIGIN> from Greek -latrēs ‘worshipper’.

lateral adj. 1 of, at, towards, or from the side or sides: the plant takes up water through its lateral roots.

- [ANATOMY] & [ZOOLOGY] situated on one side or other of the body or of an organ, especially in the region furthest from the median plane. The opposite of MEDIAL.

- MEDICINE (of a disease or condition) affecting the side or sides of the body, or confined to one side of the body.

- [PHYSICS] acting or placed at right angles to the line of motion or of strain.

2 chiefly BRITISH involving lateral thinking: he's very creative in a lateral way.

3 [PHONETICS] (of a consonant, especially the English clear l) pronounced with partial closure of the air passage by the tongue, which is so placed as to allow the breath to flow on one or both sides of the point of contact.

■ n. 1 a side part of something, especially a shoot or branch growing out from the side of a stem.

2 [PHONETICS] a lateral consonant.

3 [AMERICAN FOOTBALL] a pass thrown either sideways or back.

<DERIVATIVES> laterally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin lateralis, from latus, later- ‘side’.

laterality n. [mass noun] dominance of one side of the brain in controlling particular activities or functions, or of one of a pair of organs such as the eyes or hands.

lateralize (also lateralise) v. (be lateralized) (of the brain) show laterality.

- [with adverbial] (of an organ, function, or activity) be largely under the control of one or other side of the brain: this is a function which is usually lateralized on the right.

- [with adverbial] MEDICINE (of a lesion or pathological process) be diagnosed as localized to one or other side of the brain.

<DERIVATIVES> lateralization n.

lateral line n. [ZOOLOGY] a visible line along the side of a fish consisting of a series of sense organs which detect pressure and vibration.

lateral thinking n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH the solving of problems by an indirect and creative approach, typically through viewing the problem in a new and unusual light. Contrasted with VERTICAL THINKING.

<DERIVATIVES> lateral thinker n.

lateral ventricle n. [ANATOMY] each of the first and second ventricles in the centre of each cerebral hemisphere of the brain.

Lateran /latərən/ the site in Rome containing the cathedral church of Rome (a basilica dedicated to St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist) and the Lateran Palace, where the popes resided until the 14th century.

Lateran Council any of five general councils of the Western Church held in the Lateran Palace in 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215, and 1512–17. The council of 1215 condemned the Albigenses as heretical and clarified the Church doctrine on transubstantiation, the Trinity, and the Incarnation.

Lateran Treaty a concordat signed in 1929 in the Lateran Palace between the kingdom of Italy (represented by Mussolini) and the Holy See (represented by Pope Pius XI), which recognized the papal state under the name Vatican City as fully sovereign and independent.

laterite /latərt/ n. [mass noun] a reddish clayey material, hard when dry, forming a topsoil in some tropical or subtropical regions and sometimes used for building.

- [GEOLOGY] a clayey soil horizon rich in iron and aluminium oxides, formed by weathering of igneous rocks in moist warm climates.

<DERIVATIVES> lateritic adj.

<ORIGIN> early 19th century: from Latin later ‘brick’ + -ITE^1.

latex /letεks/ n. (pl. latexes or latices /-tsiz/) [mass noun] a milky fluid found in many plants, such as poppies and spurges, which exudes when the plant is cut and coagulates on exposure to the air. The latex of the rubber tree is the chief source of natural rubber.

- a synthetic product resembling latex used to make paints, coatings, etc.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century (denoting various bodily fluids, especially the watery part of blood): from Latin, literally ‘liquid, fluid’.

lath /lαθ laθ/ n. (pl. laths /lαθs lαz laθs/) a thin flat strip of wood, especially one of a series forming a foundation for the plaster of a wall.

- [mass noun] laths collectively as a building material.

■ v. [with obj.] cover with laths.

<ORIGIN> Old English lætt, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch lat and German Latte, also to LATTICE.

lathe /le/ n. a machine for shaping wood, metal, or other material by means of a rotating drive which turns the piece being worked on against changeable cutting tools.

■ v. [with obj.] shape with a lathe.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Old Danish lad ‘structure, frame’, perhaps from Old Norse hlath ‘pile, heap’, related to hlatha (see LADE).

lather /lαə laə/ n. 1 [mass noun] a frothy white mass of bubbles produced by soap, washing powder, etc. when mixed with water.

- heavy sweat visible on a horse's coat as a white foam.

2 (a lather) INFORMAL a state of agitation or nervous excitement: Dad had got into a right lather by the time I got home.

■ v. 1 form or cause to form a lather: [no obj.] soap will not lather in hard water.

- [with obj.] rub soap on to (the body) until a lather is produced: she was lathering herself languidly beneath the shower.

- (be/become lathered) (of a horse) be or become covered with sweat: his horse was lathered up by the end of the day.

2 [with obj.] spread (a substance) thickly or liberally: we lathered the cream on our scones.

- cover (something) with liberal amounts of a substance: she lathered a slice of toast with butter.

3 [with obj.] INFORMAL thrash (someone).

<DERIVATIVES> lathery adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English læthor (denoting washing soda or its froth), lēthran (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse lauthr (noun), from an Indo-European root shared by Greek loutron ‘bath’.

lathi /lαti/ n. (pl. lathis) (in the Indian subcontinent) a long, heavy iron-bound bamboo stick used as a weapon, especially by police.

<ORIGIN> from Hindi lāhī.

lathyrism /laθrz(ə)m/ n. [mass noun] a tropical disease marked by tremors, muscular weakness, and paraplegia, especially prevalent in the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly attributed to continued consumption of the seeds of the grass pea.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from modern Latin Lathyrus (genus name of various leguminous plants) + -ISM.

latices plural form of LATEX.

laticifer /latsfə/ n. [BOTANY] a cell, tissue, or vessel that contains or conducts latex.

<DERIVATIVES> laticiferous /latsf(ə)rəs/ adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Latin latex, latic- ‘fluid’ + -fer ‘bearing’.

latifundium /lαtfndəm lat-/ n. (pl. latifundia) a large landed estate or ranch in ancient Rome or more recently in Spain or Latin America, typically worked by peasants or slaves.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin, from latus ‘broad’ + fundus ‘landed estate’, partly via Spanish.

Latimer /latmə/ Hugh (c.1485–1555), English Protestant prelate and martyr. One of Henry VIII's chief advisers when the king broke with the papacy, under Mary I he was condemned for heresy and burnt at the stake at Oxford with Nicholas Ridley.

Latin n. 1 [mass noun] the language of ancient Rome and its empire, widely used historically as a language of scholarship and administration.

Latin is a member of the Italic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. After the decline of the Roman Empire it continued to be a medium of communication among educated people throughout the Middle Ages in Europe and elsewhere, and remained the liturgical language of the Roman Catholic Church until the reforms of the second Vatican Council (1962–5); it is still used for scientific names in biology and astronomy. The Romance languages are derived from it.

2 a native or inhabitant of a country whose language developed from Latin, especially a Latin American.

- HISTORICAL an inhabitant of ancient Latium.

3 [mass noun] music of a kind originating in Latin America, characterized by dance rhythms and extensive use of indigenous percussion instruments.

■ adj. 1 relating to Latin: Latin poetry.

- relating to the countries using languages, such as French and Spanish, that developed from Latin.

- relating to the Western or Roman Catholic Church (as historically using Latin for its rites): the Latin patriarch of Antioch.

- HISTORICAL relating to ancient Latium.

2 relating to or characteristic of Latin American music: snapping his fingers to a Latin beat.

<DERIVATIVES> Latinism n. Latinist n.

<ORIGIN> from Latin Latinus ‘of Latium’ (see LATIUM).

Latina /lətinə/ n. & adj.

■ feminine form of LATINO.

Latin America the parts of the American continent where Spanish or Portuguese is the main national language (i.e. Mexico and, in effect, the whole of Central and South America including many of the Caribbean islands).

<DERIVATIVES> Latin American n. & adj.

Latinate /latnet/ adj. (of language) having the character of Latin: Latinate oaths.

Latin Church the Christian Church which originated in the Western Roman Empire, giving allegiance to the Pope of Rome, and historically using Latin for the liturgy; the Roman Catholic Church as distinguished from Orthodox and Uniate Churches.

Latin cross n. a plain cross in which the vertical part below the horizontal is longer than the other three parts.

Latinity n. [mass noun] the use of Latin style or words of Latin origin.

Latinize (also Latinise) v. [with obj.] 1 give a Latin or Latinate form to (a word): his name was Latinized into Confucius.

- ARCHAIC translate into Latin.

- [no obj.] ARCHAIC use Latin forms or idiom.

2 make (a people) conform to the ideas and customs of the ancient Romans, the Latin peoples, or the Latin Church.

<DERIVATIVES> Latinization n. Latinizer n.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from late Latin Latinizare, from Latin Latinus (see LATIN).

Latin lover n. a Mediterranean man popularly characterized as having a romantic, passionate temperament and great sexual prowess.

Latino /lətinə/ chiefly NORTH AMERICAN n. (fem. Latina; plural Latinos or Latinas) a Latin American inhabitant of the United States.

■ adj. relating to Latinos or Latinas.

<ORIGIN> Latin American Spanish, probably a special use of Spanish latino (see LATIN).

Latin square n. an arrangement of letters or symbols that each occur n times, in a square array of n^2 compartments so that no letter appears twice in the same row or column.

latish (also lateish) adj. & adv. fairly late: [as adv.] Margaret came in latish.

latissimus /lαtsməs/ (also latissimus dorsi /ds -si/) n. (pl. latissimi /lαtsm -mi/) [ANATOMY] either of a pair of large, roughly triangular muscles covering the lower part of the back, extending from the sacral, lumbar, and lower thoracic vertebrae to the armpits.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: modern Latin, from musculus latissimus dorsi, literally ‘broadest muscle of the back’.

latitude /lattjud/ n. 1 the angular distance of a place north or south of the earth's equator, or of the equator of a celestial object, usually expressed in degrees and minutes: at a latitude of 51° N | [mass noun] lines of latitude.

- (latitudes) regions, especially with reference to their temperature and distance from the equator: temperate latitudes | northern latitudes.

2 [mass noun] scope for freedom of action or thought: journalists have considerable latitude in criticizing public figures.

3 [PHOTOGRAPHY] the range of exposures for which an emulsion or printing paper will give acceptable contrast.

<DERIVATIVES> latitudinal adj. latitudinally adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin latitudo ‘breadth’, from latus ‘broad’.

latitudinarian /lattjudnεrən/ adj. allowing latitude in religion; showing no preference among varying creeds and forms of worship.

■ n. a person with a latitudinarian attitude.

<DERIVATIVES> latitudinarianism n.

<ORIGIN> mid 17th century: from Latin latitudo ‘breadth’ (see LATITUDE) + -ARIAN. The term was first applied in a derogatory sense to more liberal and tolerant Anglican clerics.

Latium /leəm/ an ancient region of west central Italy, west of the Apennines and south of the River Tiber. Settled during the early part of the 1st millennium BC by a branch of the Indo-European people known as the Latini, it had become dominated by Rome by the end of the 4th century BC; it is now part of the modern region of Lazio.

latke /ltkə/ n. (in Jewish cookery) a pancake, especially one made with grated potato.

<ORIGIN> Yiddish.

Latona /lətənə/ [ROMAN MYTHOLOGY] Roman name for LETO.

La Tour /la tə/ French /la tuR/ Georges de (1593–1652), French painter. He is best known for his nocturnal religious scenes and his subtle portrayal of candlelight. Notable works: St Joseph the Carpenter (1645) and The Denial of St Peter (1650).

latria /lətrə latrə/ n. [mass noun] (in the Roman Catholic Church) supreme worship allowed to God alone. Compare with DULIA.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: from late Latin, from Greek latreia ‘worship’, from latreuein ‘serve’.

latrine /lətrin/ n. a toilet, especially a communal one in a camp or barracks.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (rare before the mid 19th century): via French from Latin latrina, contraction of lavatrina, from lavare ‘to wash’.

-latry combining form denoting worship of a specified thing: idolatry.

<ORIGIN> from Greek -latria ‘worship’.

latte /lαte late/ (also caffè latte) n. a drink made by adding a shot of espresso coffee to a glass or cup of frothy steamed milk.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘milk (coffee)’.

latten /lat(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] HISTORICAL an alloy of copper and zinc resembling brass, hammered into thin sheets and used to make monumental brasses and church ornaments.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French laton, of unknown origin.

latter adj. [attr.] 1 occurring or situated nearer to the end of something than to the beginning: the latter half of 1989 | heart disease dogged his latter years.

- recent: the project has had low cash flows in latter years.

2 (the latter) denoting the second or second mentioned of two people or things: the Russians could advance into either Germany or Austria—they chose the latter option | [as n.] the President appoints the Prime Minister and, on the latter's advice, the rest of the government.

<ORIGIN> Old English lætra ‘slower’, comparative of læt (see LATE).

<USAGE> It is not considered good writing style to use latter to refer to more than two things. For an explanation, see usage at former^1.

latter-day adj. [attr.] modern or contemporary, especially when mirroring some person or thing of the past: the book is built round the story of the Flood and a latter-day Noah.

Latter-Day Saints (abbr.: LDS) plural n. the Mormons' name for themselves.

latterly adv. recently: latterly, his painting has shown a new freedom of expression.

- in the later stages of something, especially of a person's life: he worked on the paper for fifty years, latterly as its political editor.

lattice n. a structure consisting of strips of wood or metal crossed and fastened together with square or diamond-shaped spaces left between, used as a screen or fence or as a support for climbing plants.

- an interlaced structure or pattern resembling a lattice: the lattice of branches above her.

- [PHYSICS] a regular repeated three-dimensional arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules in a metal or other crystalline solid.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lattis, from latte ‘lath’, of Germanic origin.

latticed adj. decorated with or in the form of a lattice: a latticed screen.

lattice energy n. [CHEMISTRY] a measure of the energy contained in the crystal lattice of a compound, equal to the energy that would be released if the component ions were brought together from infinity.

lattice frame (also lattice girder) n. an iron or steel structure consisting of two horizontal beams connected by diagonal struts.

lattice window n. a window with small panes set in diagonally crossing strips of lead.

latticework n. [mass noun] interlacing strips of wood, metal, or other material forming a lattice.

latticinio /lattinjə/ (also latticino /-nə/) n. [mass noun] an opaque white glass used in threads to decorate clear Venetian glass.

<ORIGIN> Italian, literally ‘dairy produce’, from medieval Latin lacticinium.

Latvia /latvə/ a country on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and Lithuania; pop. 2,366,515 (est. 2002); official language, Latvian; capital, Riga.

Latvia was annexed by Russia in the 18th century after periods of Polish and Swedish rule. It was proclaimed an independent republic in 1918, but in 1940 was annexed by the Soviet Union as a constituent republic. In 1991, on the break-up of the Soviet Union, Latvia became an independent republic once again.

Latvian n. 1 a native or inhabitant of Latvia.

2 [mass noun] the official language of Latvia, which belongs to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European family and has about 1.5 million speakers.

■ adj. relating to Latvia or its language.

Laud /ld/ William (1573–1645), English prelate, Archbishop of Canterbury 1633–45. His attempts to restore some pre-Reformation practices in England and Scotland aroused great hostility and were a contributory cause of the English Civil War. He was executed for treason.

laud /ld/ v. [with obj.] FORMAL praise (a person or their achievements) highly: the obituary lauded him as a great statesman and soldier | (as adj., with submodifier lauded) her much-lauded rendering of Lady Macbeth.

■ n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC praise: all glory, laud, and honour to Thee Redeemer King.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: the noun from Old French laude, the verb from Latin laudare, both from Latin laus, laud- ‘praise’ (see also LAUDS).

Lauda /ladə/ Niki (b.1949), Austrian motor-racing driver; full name Nikolaus Andreas Lauda. World champion in 1975, he suffered severe injuries in the 1976 German Grand Prix, but won two more championships (1977 and 1984). He retired in 1985.

laudable adj. (of an action, idea, or aim) deserving praise and commendation: laudable though the aim might be, the results have been criticized.

<DERIVATIVES> laudability n. laudably adv.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin laudabilis, from laus, laud- ‘praise’.

laudanum /ld(ə)nəm l-/ n. [mass noun] an alcoholic solution containing morphine, prepared from opium and formerly used as a narcotic painkiller.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (applied to various preparations containing opium): modern Latin, the name given by Paracelsus to a costly medicament of which opium was believed to be the active ingredient; perhaps a variant of Latin ladanum (see LADANUM).

laudation /lde(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] FORMAL praise; commendation.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin laudatio(n-), from the verb laudare (see LAUD).

laudatory /ldət(ə)ri/ adj. (of speech or writing) expressing praise and commendation.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from late Latin laudatorius, from laudat- ‘praised’, from the verb laudare (see LAUD).

Lauder /ldə/ Sir Harry (1870–1950), Scottish music-hall comedian; born Hugh MacLennan Lauder. He became highly popular singing songs such as ‘Roamin' in the Gloamin'’, and entertained troops at home and abroad in both world wars.

lauds /ldz/ n. a service of morning prayer in the Divine Office of the Western Christian Church, traditionally said or chanted at daybreak, though historically it was often held with matins on the previous night.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from the frequent use, in Psalms 148–150, of the Latin imperative laudate! ‘praise ye!’ (see also LAUD).

laugh v. [no obj.] make the spontaneous sounds and movements of the face and body that are the instinctive expressions of lively amusement and sometimes also of derision: he rarely smiled or laughed | she couldn't help laughing at his jokes.

- (laugh at) treat with ridicule or scorn.

- (laugh something off) dismiss something by treating it in a light-hearted way: he laughed off suggestions that the company was in trouble.

- (be laughing) INFORMAL be in a fortunate or successful position: if next year's model is as successful, Ford will be laughing.

■ n. 1 an act of laughing: she gave a loud, silly laugh.

2 (a laugh) INFORMAL something that causes laughter; a source of fun, amusement, or derision: come along, it'll be a laugh | she decided to play along with him for a laugh | that's a laugh, the idea of you cooking a meal!

- a person who is good fun or amusing company: I like Peter—he's a good laugh.

<PHRASES>

□ be laughing all the way to the bank INFORMAL be making a great deal of money very easily.

□ have the last laugh be finally vindicated, thus confounding earlier scepticism.

□ he who laughs last laughs longest PROVERB don't rejoice too soon, in case your delight at your own good fortune is premature.

□ laugh one's head off laugh heartily or uncontrollably.

□ laugh in someone's face show open contempt for someone by laughing rudely at them in their presence: I remonstrated with him but he just laughed in my face | FIGURATIVE vandals and muggers who laugh in the face of the law.

□ the laugh is on me (or you, him, etc.) the tables are turned and now the other person is the one who appears ridiculous: all the critics had laughed at him—well, the laugh was on them now.

□ laugh like a drain BRITISH INFORMAL laugh raucously.

□ a laugh a minute very funny: it's a laugh a minute when Lois gets together with her dad.

□ laugh on the other side of one's face (or North American out of the other side of one's mouth) be discomfited after feeling satisfaction or confidence about something.

□ laugh someone/thing out of court BRITISH dismiss with contempt as being obviously ridiculous.

□ laugh oneself silly (or sick) laugh uncontrollably or for a long time.

□ laugh something to scorn DATED ridicule something.

□ laugh up one's sleeve be secretly or inwardly amused.

□ no laughing matter something serious that should not be joked about: heavy snoring is no laughing matter.

□ play something for laughs (of a performer) try to arouse laughter in an audience, especially in inappropriate circumstances.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlæhhan, hliehhan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German lachen, also to LAUGHTER.

laughable adj. so ludicrous as to be amusing: if it didn't make me so angry it would be laughable.

<DERIVATIVES> laughably adv. [as submodifier] his antics were laughably pretentious

laugher n. 1 a person who laughs.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a sporting match or competition which is so easily won by one team or competitor that it seems absurd.

laughing gas n. non-technical term for NITROUS OXIDE.

laughing hyena n. another term for SPOTTED HYENA.

laughing jackass n. AUSTRALIAN DATED the laughing kookaburra. See KOOKABURRA.

laughingly adv. in an amused way; with laughter.

- with amused ridicule or ludicrous inappropriateness: we finally reached what we laughingly called civilization.

laughing stock n. a person subjected to general mockery or ridicule.

laughing-thrush n. a gregarious thrush-like babbler of South and SE Asia, typically with dark grey or brown plumage and a boldly marked head, and a cackling call.

<INFO> Genus Garrulax, family Timaliidae: many species.

laughter n. [mass noun] the action or sound of laughing: he roared with laughter.

<ORIGIN> Old English hleahtor, of Germanic origin; related to German Gelächter, also to LAUGH.

Laughton /lt(ə)n/ Charles (1899–1962), British-born American actor. He is remembered for character roles such as Henry VIII (The Private Life of Henry VIII, 1933); he also played Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939).

launce /lαns lans/ n. another term for SAND EEL.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: early variant of LANCE (because of its shape).

Launceston /lns(ə)stən/ a city in northern Tasmania, on the Tamar estuary, the second-largest city of the island; pop. 95,000 (est. 2002).

launch^1 v. [with obj.] 1 set (a boat) in motion by pushing it or allowing it to roll into the water: the town's lifeboat was launched to rescue the fishermen.

- set (a newly built ship or boat) afloat for the first time with an official ceremony: the ship was launched in 1843 by Prince Albert.

- send (a missile, satellite, or spacecraft) on its course: they launched two Scud missiles.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] hurl (something) forcefully: a chair was launched at him.

- [with adverbial of direction] (launch oneself) make a sudden energetic movement: I launched myself out of bed.

- utter (criticism or a threat) vehemently: he launched a biting attack on BBC chiefs.

- [no obj.] (launch into) begin (something) energetically and enthusiastically: he launched into a two-hour sales pitch.

- [no obj.] (launch out) make a start on a new and challenging enterprise: she wasn't brave enough to launch out by herself.

2 start or set in motion (an activity or enterprise): the government is to launch a £1.25 million publicity campaign.

- introduce (a new product or publication) to the public for the first time: two new Ford models are to be launched in the US next year.

■ n. an act or instance of launching something: the launch of a new campaign against drinking and driving.

- an occasion at which a new product or publication is introduced to the public: a book launch.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘hurl a missile, discharge with force’): from Anglo-Norman French launcher, variant of Old French lancier (see LANCE).

launch^2 n. a large motor boat used for short trips.

- HISTORICAL the largest boat carried on an armed sailing ship.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from Spanish lancha ‘pinnace’, perhaps from Malay lancharan, from lanchar ‘swift, nimble’.

launcher n. a structure that holds a rocket or missile during launching.

- a rocket that is used to convey a satellite or spacecraft into orbit.

launch pad (also launching pad) n. the area on which a rocket stands for launching, typically consisting of a platform with a supporting structure.

launch vehicle n. a rocket-powered vehicle used to send artificial satellites or spacecraft into space.

launder v. [with obj.] 1 wash and iron (clothes or linen): he wasn't used to laundering his own bed linen | (as adj., with submodifier laundered) freshly laundered sheets.

2 INFORMAL conceal the origins of (money obtained illegally) by transfers involving foreign banks or legitimate businesses.

- alter (information) to make it appear more acceptable: we began to notice attempts to launder the data retrospectively.

■ n. a trough for holding or conveying water, especially (in mining) one used for washing ore.

- a channel for conveying molten metal from a furnace or container to a ladle or mould.

<DERIVATIVES> launderer n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (as a noun denoting a person who washes linen): contraction of lavender, from Old French lavandier, based on Latin lavanda ‘things to be washed’, from lavare ‘to wash’.

launderette (also laundrette) n. BRITISH an establishment with coin-operated washing machines and dryers for public use.

laundress n. a woman who is employed to launder clothes and linen.

laundromat n. North American (TRADEMARK in the US) a launderette.

<ORIGIN> 1940s (originally US, as the proprietary name of a washing machine): blend of LAUNDER and AUTOMATIC.

laundry n. (pl. laundries) 1 [mass noun] clothes and linen that need to be washed or that have been newly washed: piles of dirty laundry.

- the action or process of washing clothes: cooking and laundry were undertaken by domestic staff.

2 a room in a house, hotel, or institution where clothes and linen can be washed and ironed.

- a company washing and ironing clothes and linen commercially.

<ORIGIN> early 16th century: contraction of Middle English lavendry, from Old French lavanderie, from lavandier ‘person who washes linen’ (see LAUNDER).

laundry list n. a long or exhaustive list of people or things.

laundryman n. (pl. laundrymen) a man who is employed to launder clothes and linen.

Laurasia /lreə -ə/ a vast continental area believed to have existed in the northern hemisphere and to have resulted from the break-up of Pangaea in Mesozoic times. It comprised the present North America, Greenland, Europe, and most of Asia north of the Himalayas.

<DERIVATIVES> Laurasian adj.

laureate /lrət l-/ n. a person who is honoured with an award for outstanding creative or intellectual achievement: a Nobel laureate.

■ short for POET LAUREATE.

■ adj. LITERARY wreathed with laurel as a mark of honour.

- (of a crown or wreath) consisting of laurel.

<DERIVATIVES> laureateship n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as an adjective): from Latin laureatus, from laurea ‘laurel wreath’, from laurus ‘laurel’.

laurel n. 1 any of a number of shrubs and other plants with dark green glossy leaves, in particular:

<INFO>

- short for CHERRY LAUREL

- the bay tree. See bay^2

2 an aromatic evergreen shrub related to the bay tree, several kinds of which form forests in tropical and warm countries.

<INFO> Family Lauraceae: many genera and species.

3 (usually laurels) the foliage of the bay tree woven into a wreath or crown and worn on the head as an emblem of victory or mark of honour in classical times.

- honour or praise for an achievement: she has rightly won laurels for this brilliantly perceptive first novel.

■ v. (laurels, laurelling, laurelled; US laurels, laureling, laureled) [with obj.] honour by adorning with a laurel or presenting with an award.

<PHRASES>

□ look to one's laurels be careful not to lose one's superior position to a rival.

□ rest on one's laurels be so satisfied with what one has already done or achieved that one makes no further effort.

<ORIGIN> Middle English lorer, from Old French lorier, from Provençal laurier, from earlier laur, from Latin laurus.

Laurel and Hardy an American comedy duo consisting of Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson) (1890–1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). British-born Stan Laurel played the scatterbrained and often tearful innocent, Oliver Hardy his pompous, overbearing, and frequently exasperated friend. They brought their distinctive slapstick comedy to many films from 1927 onwards.

Laurence (Jean) Margaret (1926–87), Canadian novelist. Her life in Somalia and Ghana (1950–7) influenced her early work, including This Side Jordan (1960). Other notable works: The Stone Angel (1964).

Laurentian Plateau /lrεn(ə)n/ another name for CANADIAN SHIELD.

<ORIGIN> Laurentian from Latin Laurentius ‘Lawrence’ (from St Lawrence River) + -AN.

Laurier /lre/ Sir Wilfrid (1841–1919), Canadian Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1896–1911. He was Canada's first French-Canadian and Roman Catholic Prime Minister.

laurustinus /lrəstnəs l-/ n. an evergreen winter-flowering viburnum with dense glossy green leaves and white or pink flowers, native to the Mediterranean area.

<INFO> Viburnum tinus, family Caprifoliaceae.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century: modern Latin, from Latin laurus ‘laurel’ + tinus ‘wild laurel’.

Lausanne /ləzan/ a town in SW Switzerland, on the north shore of Lake Geneva; pop. 115,500 (est. 2002).

Lausitzer Neisse /laztsə nsə/ German name for Neisse (sense 1).

lav n. INFORMAL a lavatory.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: abbreviation.

lava n. [mass noun] hot molten or semi-fluid rock erupted from a volcano or fissure, or solid rock resulting from cooling of this.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Italian (Neapolitan dialect), denoting the lava stream from Vesuvius, but originally denoting a stream caused by sudden rain, from lavare ‘to wash’, from Latin.

lavabo /ləvebə ləvα-/ n. (pl. lavabos) 1 (in the Roman Catholic Church) a towel or basin used for the ritual washing of the celebrant's hands at the offertory of the Mass.

- [mass noun] ritual washing of this type.

2 /lavəbə/ a trough for washing in a monastery.

- DATED a washbasin or toilet.

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: from Latin, literally ‘I will wash’, in Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas ‘I will wash my hands in innocence’ (Ps. 26:6), which was recited at the washing of hands in the Roman rite.

lava dome n. a mound of viscous lava which has been extruded from a volcanic vent.

lava flow n. a mass of flowing or solidified lava.

lavage /lavd lavα/ n. MEDICINE washing out of a body cavity, such as the colon or stomach, with water or a medicated solution.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (in the general sense ‘washing, a wash’): from French, from laver ‘to wash’.

lava lamp n. a transparent electric lamp containing a viscous liquid in which a brightly coloured waxy substance is suspended, rising and falling in irregular and constantly changing shapes.

lavatera /lavətεrə/ n. a plant of a genus that includes the tree mallow.

<INFO> Genus Lavatera, family Malvaceae.

<ORIGIN> modern Latin, named after the brothers Lavater, 17th- and 18th-cent. Swiss naturalists.

lavatorial adj. relating to or resembling lavatories: the lavatorial utility that was a feature of subway design.

- chiefly BRITISH (of conversation or humour) characterized by undue reference to toilets and their use: the comic's lavatorial schoolboy humour appealed to many people.

lavatory n. (pl. lavatories) a toilet.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin lavatorium ‘place for washing’, from Latin lavare ‘to wash’. The word originally denoted something in which to wash, such as a bath or piscina, later (mid 17th century) a room with washing facilities; the current sense dates from the 19th cent.

lavatory paper n. BRITISH toilet paper.

lava tube (also lava tunnel) n. a natural tunnel within a solidified lava flow, formerly occupied by flowing molten lava.

lave /lev/ v. [with obj.] LITERARY wash: she ran cold water in the basin, laving her face and hands.

- (of water) wash against or over (something): the sea below laved the shore with small, agitated waves.

<DERIVATIVES> lavation n.

<ORIGIN> Old English lafian, from Latin lavare ‘to wash’; reinforced in Middle English by Old French laver.

lavender n. [mass noun] 1 a small aromatic evergreen shrub of the mint family, with narrow leaves and bluish-purple flowers, used in perfumery and medicine.

<INFO> Genus Lavandula, family Labiatae.

- (also lavender oil) a scented oil distilled from lavender flowers.

- used in names of similar plants, e.g. cotton lavender, sea lavender.

- INFORMAL used in reference to effeminacy or homosexuality: Rick is so hard-boiled that any touch of lavender is wiped away.

- DATED used in reference to refinement or gentility: [as modifier] she had a certain lavender charm.

2 a pale blue colour with a trace of mauve.

■ v. [with obj.] perfume with lavender.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French lavendre, based on medieval Latin lavandula.

lavender cotton n. another term for COTTON LAVENDER.

lavender water n. [mass noun] a perfume made from distilled lavender, alcohol, and ambergris.

Laver /levə/ Rod (b.1938), Australian tennis player; full name Rodney George Laver. In 1962 he became the second man (after Don Budge in 1938) to win the four major singles championships (British, American, French, and Australian) in one year; in 1969 he was the first to repeat this.

laver^1 /lαvə levə/ (also purple laver) n. [mass noun] an edible seaweed with thin sheet-like fronds of a reddish-purple and green colour which becomes black when dry. Laver typically grows on exposed shores, but in Japan it is cultivated in estuaries.

<INFO> Porphyra umbilicaulis, division Rhodophyta.

<ORIGIN> late Old English (as the name of a water plant mentioned by Pliny), from Latin. The current sense dates from the early 17th cent.

laver^2 /levə/ n. ARCHAIC or LITERARY a basin or similar container used for washing oneself.

- (in biblical use) a large brass bowl used by Jewish priests for ritual washing.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French laveoir, from late Latin lavatorium ‘place for washing’ (see LAVATORY).

laver bread n. [mass noun] a Welsh dish of laver which is boiled, dipped in oatmeal, and fried.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: laver from LAVER^1.

lavish adj. sumptuously rich, elaborate, or luxurious: a lavish banquet.

- (of a person) very generous or extravagant: he was lavish with his hospitality.

- spent or given in profusion: lavish praise.

■ v. [with obj.] (lavish something on) bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities on: the media couldn't lavish enough praise on the film.

- (lavish someone with) give someone generous amounts of: he was lavished with gifts.

<DERIVATIVES> lavishly adv. lavishness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (as a noun denoting profusion): from Old French lavasse ‘deluge of rain’, from laver ‘to wash’, from Latin lavare.

Lavoisier /lavwze/ French /lavwazje/ Antoine Laurent (1743–94), French scientist, regarded as the father of modern chemistry. He caused a revolution in chemistry by his description of combustion as the combination of substances with air, or more specifically the gas oxygen.

Law^1 (Andrew) Bonar (1858–1923), Canadian-born British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1922–3. He was leader of the Conservative Party 1911–21. He retired in 1921, but returned in 1922, following Lloyd George's resignation, to become Prime Minister for six months.

Law^2 Denis (b.1940), Scottish footballer. A striker, he made his international debut in 1958 and went on to win forty caps for Scotland. He had his greatest success with Manchester United.

law n. 1 [mass noun] (often the law) the system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties: shooting the birds is against the law | they were taken to court for breaking the law | [as modifier] law enforcement.

- [count noun] an individual rule as part of such a system: a new law was passed to make divorce easier and simpler.

- such systems as a subject of study or as the basis of the legal profession: he was still practising law | [as modifier] a law firm. | law students.

- statute law and the common law. Compare with EQUITY.

- something regarded as having binding force or effect: he had supreme control—what he said was law.

- (the law) INFORMAL the police: he'd never been in trouble with the law in his life.

2 a rule defining correct procedure or behaviour in a sport: the laws of the game.

3 a statement of fact, deduced from observation, to the effect that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present: the second law of thermodynamics.

- a generalization based on a fact or event perceived to be recurrent: the first law of American corporate life is that dead wood floats.

4 [mass noun] the body of divine commandments as expressed in the Bible or other religious texts.

- (the Law) the Pentateuch as distinct from the other parts of the Hebrew Bible (the Prophets and the Writings).

- (also the Law of Moses) the precepts of the Pentateuch.

<PHRASES>

□ at (or in) law according to or concerned with the laws of a country: an agreement enforceable at law | a barrister-at-law.

□ be a law unto oneself behave in a manner that is not conventional or predictable.

□ go to law BRITISH resort to legal action in order to settle a matter.

□ law and order a situation characterized by respect for and obedience to the rules of a society.

□ the law of the jungle see JUNGLE.

□ lay down the law issue instructions to other people in an authoritative or dogmatic way.

□ take the law into one's own hands punish someone for an offence according to one's own ideas of justice, especially in an illegal or violent way.

□ take someone to law initiate legal proceedings against someone.

□ there's no law against it INFORMAL said to assert that one is doing nothing wrong, especially in response to an actual or implied criticism.

<ORIGIN> Old English lagu, from Old Norse lag ‘something laid down or fixed’, of Germanic origin and related to lay^1.

law-abiding adj. obedient to the laws of society: a law-abiding citizen.

<DERIVATIVES> law-abidingness n.

law agent n. (in Scotland) a solicitor.

lawbreaker n. a person who breaks the law.

<DERIVATIVES> lawbreaking n. & adj.

law centre n. (in the UK) an independent publicly funded advisory service on legal matters.

Law Commission (in the UK) a body of legal advisers responsible for systematically reviewing the law of England and Wales, or of Scotland, which recommends changes and the removal of obsolete legislation.

law court n. a court of law.

Lawd (also Lawdy) exclam. non-standard spelling of LORD, used in representing black speech: Good Lawd, Zora!

lawful adj. conforming to, permitted by, or recognized by law or rules: it is an offence to carry a weapon in public without lawful authority.

- DATED (of a child) born within a lawful marriage.

<DERIVATIVES> lawfully adv. lawfulness n.

lawgiver n. a person who draws up and enacts laws.

lawks exclam. DATED (especially among cockneys) expressing surprise, awe, or consternation: Lawks, girl, where've you sprung from?

<ORIGIN> mid 18th century: alteration of LORD.

lawless adj. not governed by or obedient to laws; characterized by a lack of civic order: it was a lawless, anarchic city.

<DERIVATIVES> lawlessly adv. lawlessness n.

law lord n. (in the UK) a member of the House of Lords qualified to perform its legal work.

lawmaker n. a legislator.

<DERIVATIVES> law-making adj. & n.

lawman n. (pl. lawmen) (in the US) a law-enforcement officer, especially a sheriff.

lawn^1 n. an area of short, regularly mown grass in the garden of a house or park.

<DERIVATIVES> lawned adj. lawny adj.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: alteration of dialect laund ‘glade, pasture’, from Old French launde ‘wooded district, heath’, of Celtic origin. The current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.

lawn^2 n. [mass noun] a fine linen or cotton fabric used for making clothes.

<DERIVATIVES> lawny adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: probably from Laon, the name of a city in France important for linen manufacture.

lawn bowling n. North American term for BOWLS.

lawn chair n. NORTH AMERICAN a folding chair for use out of doors.

lawnmower n. a machine for cutting the grass on a lawn.

lawn party n. NORTH AMERICAN a garden party.

lawn tennis n. [mass noun] DATED or FORMAL the usual form of tennis, played with a soft ball on an open court.

law of averages n. the supposed principle that future events are likely to turn out so that they balance any past deviation from a presumed average.

law office n. NORTH AMERICAN a lawyer's office.

Law Officer (in full Law Officer of the Crown) n. (in England and Wales) the Attorney General or the Solicitor General, or (in Scotland) the Lord Advocate or the Solicitor General for Scotland.

law of mass action [CHEMISTRY] n. the principle that the rate of a chemical reaction is proportional to the concentrations of the reacting substances.

law of nations n. [mass noun] [LAW] international law.

law of nature n. 1 another term for natural law (sense 1, sense 2).

2 INFORMAL a regularly occurring or apparently inevitable phenomenon observable in human society.

law of succession n. the law regulating the inheritance of property.

- (Law of Succession) the law regulating the appointment of a new monarch or head of state.

Lawrence^1 D. H. (1885–1930), English novelist, poet, and essayist; full name David Herbert Lawrence. His work is characterized by its condemnation of industrial society and by its frank exploration of sexual relationships, as in Lady Chatterley's Lover, originally published in Italy in 1928, but not available in England in unexpurgated form until 1960. Other notable works: Sons and Lovers (1913) and Women in Love (1921).

<DERIVATIVES> Lawrentian adj.

Lawrence^2 Ernest Orlando (1901–58), American physicist. He developed the first circular particle accelerator, later called a cyclotron, and opened the way for high-energy physics. He also worked on providing fissionable material for the atom bomb. Nobel Prize for Physics (1939).

Lawrence^3 Sir Thomas (1769–1830), English painter. He achieved success with his full-length portrait (1789) of Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III, and by 1810 he was recognized as the leading portrait painter of his time.

Lawrence^4 T. E. (1888–1935), British soldier and writer; full name Thomas Edward Lawrence; known as Lawrence of Arabia. From 1916 onwards he helped to organize the Arab revolt against the Turks in the Middle East, contributing to General Allenby's eventual victory in Palestine in 1918. Lawrence described this period in The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926).

Lawrence, St (d.258), Roman martyr and deacon of Rome; Latin name Laurentius. According to tradition, Lawrence was ordered by the prefect of Rome to deliver up the treasure of the Church; when in response to this order he presented the poor people of Rome to the prefect, he was roasted to death on a gridiron. Feast day, 10 August.

lawrencium /lrεnsəm/ n. [mass noun] the chemical element of atomic number 103, a radioactive metal of the actinide series. Lawrencium does not occur naturally and was first made by bombarding californium with boron nuclei. (Symbol: Lr)

<ORIGIN> 1960s: modern Latin, named after E. O. Lawrence (see Lawrence^2), who founded the laboratory in which it was produced.

Law Society the professional body responsible for regulating solicitors in England and Wales, established in 1825.

Lawson's cypress n. a slender North American conifer with dense foliage and lower branches arising at ground level. It is widely grown for timber and as an ornamental with many cultivars.

<INFO> Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, family Cupressaceae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: named after Peter Lawson (died 1820) and his son Charles (1794–1873), the Scottish nurserymen who first cultivated it.

lawsuit n. a claim or dispute brought to a law court for adjudication.

law term n. BRITISH a period appointed for the sitting of law courts.

lawyer n. a person who practises or studies law, especially (in the UK) a solicitor or a barrister or (in the US) an attorney.

■ v. [no obj.] NORTH AMERICAN practise law; work as a lawyer.

- [with obj.] (of a lawyer) work on the legal aspects of (a contract, lawsuit, etc.).

<DERIVATIVES> lawyerly adj.

lawyer's wig n. another term for SHAGGY INK CAP.

lawyer vine (also lawyer cane) n. an Australian climbing palm which is thickly covered in sharp spines and recurved hooks. It grows in rainforest, where groups may form dense tangled thickets.

<INFO> Genus Calamus, family Palmae.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: probably so named by humorous analogy with ‘tortuous’ legal arguments.

lax adj. 1 not sufficiently strict, severe, or careful: lax security arrangements at the airport | he'd been a bit lax about discipline in school lately.

2 (of the limbs or muscles) relaxed.

- (of the bowels) loose.

- [PHONETICS] (of a speech sound, especially a vowel) pronounced with the vocal muscles relaxed. The opposite of tense^1.

<DERIVATIVES> laxity n. laxly adv. laxness n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘loose’, said of the bowels): from Latin laxus.

laxative adj. (chiefly of a drug or medicine) tending to stimulate or facilitate evacuation of the bowels.

■ n. a medicine which has a laxative effect.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: via Old French laxatif, -ive or late Latin laxativus, from Latin laxare ‘loosen’ (from laxus ‘loose’).

lay^1 v. (past and past participle laid) 1 [with obj. and adverbial of place] put (something) down gently or carefully: she laid the baby in his cot.

- [with obj.] prevent (something) from rising off the ground: there may have been the odd light shower just to lay the dust.

- [with obj.] cause (a ghost) to stop appearing; exorcize: FIGURATIVE his struggle to clear his conscience and to lay the ghosts of his past.

2 [with obj.] put down and set in position for use: it is advisable to have your carpet laid by a professional.

- BRITISH set cutlery, crockery, etc. on (a table) in preparation for a meal: she laid the table for dinner.

- (often be laid with) cover (a surface) with objects or a substance: the floor was laid with mattresses.

- put the material for (a fire) in place and arrange it.

- prepare (a trap) for someone: she wouldn't put it past him to lay a trap for her.

- work out (an idea or suggestion) in detail ready for use or presentation: I'd like more time to lay my plans.

- (lay something before) present information or suggestions to be considered and acted upon by (someone): he laid before Parliament proposals for the establishment of the committee.

- locate (an episode in a play, novel, etc.) in a particular place: no one who knew the area could be in doubt where the scene was laid.

- [with obj.] stake (an amount of money) in a bet: she suspected he was pulling her leg, but she wouldn't have laid money on it.

3 [with obj.] used with an abstract noun so that the phrase formed has the same meaning as the verb related to the noun used, e.g. ‘lay the blame on’ means ‘to blame’: she laid great stress on little courtesies.

- (lay something on) INFORMAL require (someone) to endure or deal with a responsibility or difficulty: this is an absurdly heavy guilt trip to lay on anyone.

4 [with obj.] (of a female bird, insect, reptile, or amphibian) produce (an egg) from inside the body: flamingos lay only one egg | [no obj.] the hens were laying at the same rate as usual.

5 [with obj.] VULGAR SLANG have sexual intercourse with.

6 [with obj.] [NAUTICAL] follow (a specified course).

7 [with obj.] trim (a hedge) back, cutting the branches half through, bending them down, and interweaving them.

■ n. 1 [in sing.] the general appearance of an area of land: the lay of the surrounding countryside.

- the position or direction in which something lies: roll the carpet against the lay of the nap.

- the direction or amount of twist in rope strands.

2 VULGAR SLANG an act of sexual intercourse.

- [with adj.] a person with a particular ability or availability as a sexual partner.

3 [mass noun] the laying of eggs or the period during which they are laid.

<PHRASES>

□ in lay (of a hen) laying eggs regularly.

□ lay something at someone's door see DOOR.

□ lay something bare bring something out of concealment; expose something: the sad tale of failure was laid bare.

□ lay a charge make an accusation: we could lay a charge of gross negligence.

□ lay claim to assert that one has a right to (something): four men laid claim to the leadership.

- assert that one possesses (a skill or quality): she has never laid claim to medical knowledge.

□ lay down the LAW see LAW.

□ lay EYEs on see EYE.

□ lay hands on (also lay or put one's hands on) 1 find and take possession of: they huddled trying to keep warm under anything they could lay hands on.

2 place one's hands on or over, especially in confirmation, ordination, or spiritual healing.

□ lay hold of (or on) catch or gain possession of: he was afraid she might vanish if he did not lay hold of her.

□ lay it on the line see line^1.

□ lay someone low (of an illness) reduce someone to inactivity: he was laid low by a stomach bug.

- bring to an end the high position or good fortune formerly enjoyed by someone: she reflected on how quickly fate can lay a person low.

□ lay something on the TABLE see TABLE.

□ lay something on thick (or with a trowel) INFORMAL grossly exaggerate or overemphasize something.

□ lay someone open to expose someone to the risk of (something): his position could lay him open to accusations of favouritism.

□ lay oneself out to do something chiefly BRITISH make a special effort to do something: she's laying herself out to be pleasant.

□ lay SIEGE to see SIEGE.

□ lay STORE by see STORE.

□ lay someone/thing to rest bury a body in a grave.

- soothe and dispel fear, anxiety, etc.: suspicion will be laid to rest by fact rather than hearsay.

□ lay something (to) WASTE see WASTE.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ lay about BRITISH beat or attack (someone) violently.

- (lay about one) strike out wildly on all sides: the mare laid about her with her front legs and teeth.

□ lay something aside put something to one side: he laid aside his book | FIGURATIVE the situation gave them a good reason to lay aside their differences.

- reserve money for the future or for a particular cause.

□ lay something down 1 formulate and enforce or insist on a rule or principle: stringent criteria have been laid down.

2 begin to construct a ship or railway.

- build up a deposit of a substance: these cells lay down new bone tissue.

3 store wine in a cellar.

4 pay or bet money.

5 INFORMAL record a piece of music: he was invited to the studio to lay down some backing vocals.

□ LAY SOMETHING IN/UP build up a stock of something in case of need.

□ lay into INFORMAL attack violently with words or blows: three youths laid into him.

□ lay off INFORMAL give up or stop doing something: I laid off smoking for seven years.

□ lay someone off discharge a worker temporarily or permanently because of a shortage of work.

□ lay something off 1 chiefly [SOCCER] pass the ball to a teammate.

2 paint the final layer on a wall or other surface.

3 (of a bookmaker) insure against a loss resulting from a large bet by placing a similar bet with another bookmaker.

□ lay something on BRITISH provide a service or amenity: the council provides a grant to lay on a bus.

□ lay someone out 1 prepare someone for burial after death.

2 INFORMAL knock someone unconscious: he was lucky that the punch didn't lay him out.

□ lay something out 1 spread something out to its full extent.

2 construct or arrange buildings or gardens according to a plan.

- arrange and present material for printing and publication: the brochure is beautifully laid out.

- explain something clearly and carefully: we need a paper laying out our priorities.

3 INFORMAL spend a sum of money: look at the money I had to lay out for your uniform.

□ lay over US break one's journey.

□ lay up [GOLF] hit the ball deliberately to a lesser distance than possible, typically in order to avoid a hazard.

□ lay someone up put someone out of action through illness or injury: he was laid up with the flu.

□ lay something up 1 see lay something in/up.

2 take a ship or other vehicle out of service: our boats were laid up during the winter months.

3 assemble plies or layers in the arrangement required for the manufacture of plywood or other laminated material.

<ORIGIN> Old English lecgan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch leggen and German legen, also to lie^1.

<USAGE> The verb lay means, broadly, ‘put something down’, as in they are going to lay the carpet. The past tense and the past participle of this verb is laid, as in they laid the groundwork or she had laid careful plans. The verb lie, on the other hand, means ‘be in a horizontal position to rest’, as in why don't you lie on the floor? The past tense of this verb is lay (he lay on the floor) and the past participle is lain (she had lain on the bed for hours). Thus, in correct use, lay can be either the past tense of lie or the base form of lay. In practice many speakers make the mistake of using lay, laying, and laid as if they meant lie, lying, lay, and lain. Examples of incorrect use: why don't you lay on the bed (correct form is lie); she was laying on the bed (correct form is lying); he had laid on the floor for hours (correct form is lain).

lay^2 adj. [attr.] 1 not ordained into or belonging to the clergy: a lay preacher.

2 not having professional qualifications or expert knowledge, especially in law or medicine: a lay member of the Health Authority.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lai, via late Latin from Greek laïkos, from laos ‘people’. Compare with LAIC.

lay^3 n. a short lyric or narrative poem meant to be sung.

- LITERARY a song: on his lips there died the cheery lay.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lai, corresponding to Provençal lais, of unknown origin.

lay^4 past of lie^1.

layabout n. BRITISH DEROGATORY a person who habitually does little or no work.

Layamon /ləmən/ (late 12th century), English poet and priest. He wrote the verse chronicle known as the Brut, a history of England which introduces for the first time in English the story of King Arthur.

layaway n. 1 [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a system of paying a deposit to secure an article for later purchase: she picked up a coat she had on layaway.

2 [CLIMBING] a handhold that is used to best effect by leaning out to the side of it.

layback n. [mass noun] [MOUNTAINEERING] a method of climbing a crack in rock by leaning back and pulling with the hands on one face, with the feet against the other face.

lay brother (or lay sister) n. a person who has taken the vows of a religious order but is not ordained or obliged to take part in the full cycle of liturgy and is employed in ancillary or manual work.

lay-by n. (pl. lay-bys) 1 BRITISH an area at the side of a road where vehicles may pull off the road and stop.

2 [mass noun] AUSTRALIAN/NZ & S. AFRICAN a system of paying a deposit to secure an article for later purchase.

layer n. 1 a sheet, quantity, or thickness of material, typically one of several, covering a surface or body: arrange a layer of aubergines in a dish.

- a level of seniority in the hierarchy of an organization: a managerial layer.

2 [in combination] a person or thing that lays something: the majority of fish are egg-layers.

3 a shoot fastened down to take root while attached to the parent plant.

■ v. [with obj.] (often as adj. layered) 1 arrange in a layer or layers: the current trend for layered clothes.

- cut (hair) in overlapping layers: her layered, shoulder-length hair.

2 propagate (a plant) as a layer: a layered shoot.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a mason): from LAY^1 + -ER^1. The sense ‘stratum of material covering a surface’ (early 17th century) may represent a respelling of an obsolete agricultural use of lair^1 denoting quality of soil.

layer cake n. chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a cake of two or more layers with jam, cream, or icing between.

layering n. [mass noun] 1 the action of arranging something in layers.

- [GEOLOGY] the presence or formation of layers in sedimentary or igneous rock.

2 a method of propagating a plant in which a shoot is fastened down to form roots while still attached to the parent plant.

layer-out n. (pl. layers-out) DATED a person who prepares a dead body for burial.

layette n. a set of clothing, bedclothes, and sometimes toiletries for a newborn child.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from French, diminutive of Old French laie ‘drawer’, from Middle Dutch laege.

lay figure n. a dummy or jointed manikin of a human body used by artists, especially for arranging drapery on.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from obsolete layman, from Dutch leeman, from obsolete led, earlier form of lid ‘joint’.

layman (also laywoman or layperson) n. (pl. laymen, laywomen, laypersons, or laypeople) 1 a non-ordained member of a Church.

2 a person without professional or specialized knowledge in a particular subject: the book seems well suited to the interested layman.

lay-off n. 1 a temporary or permanent discharge of a worker or workers.

2 a period during which someone is unable to take part in a sport or other activity due to injury or illness.

La'youn /lαjun/ (also Laayoune) the capital of Western Sahara; pop. 190,500 (est. 2002). Arabic name el-Aaiún.

layout n. the way in which the parts of something are arranged or laid out: the road layout.

- the way in which text or pictures are set out on a page: the layout is uncluttered and the illustrations are helpful.

- [mass noun] the process of setting out material on a page: doing layout for newspapers and magazines.

- a thing arranged or set out in a particular way: a model railway layout.

layover n. NORTH AMERICAN a period of rest or waiting before a further stage in a journey.

lay reader n. (in the Anglican Church) a layperson licensed to preach and to conduct some religious services, but not licensed to celebrate the Eucharist.

layshaft n. BRITISH a second or intermediate transmission shaft in a machine.

lay-up n. 1 [mass noun] the state whereby a ship is laid up.

2 [BASKETBALL] a one-handed shot made from near the basket, especially one that rebounds off the backboard.

lazar /lezə lazə/ n. ARCHAIC a poor and diseased person, especially one afflicted by an unpleasant disease such as leprosy.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from medieval Latin lazarus, with biblical allusion to Lazarus, the name of a beggar covered in sores (Luke 16:20).

lazarette /lazərεt/ (also lazaret) n. 1 the rear part of a ship's hold, used for stores.

2 a lazaretto.

<ORIGIN> early 17th century (denoting an isolation hospital): from French lazaret, from Italian lazaretto (see LAZARETTO).

lazaretto /lazərεtə/ n. (pl. lazarettos) HISTORICAL an isolation hospital for people with infectious diseases, especially leprosy or plague.

- a military or prison hospital.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: from Italian, diminutive of lazzaro ‘beggar’, from medieval Latin lazarus (see LAZAR).

Lazarist /lazərst/ n. a member of the Congregation of the Mission, a Catholic organization founded at the priory of St Lazare in Paris by St Vincent de Paul to preach to the rural poor and train candidates for the priesthood. Also called VINCENTIAN.

<ORIGIN> from French Lazariste, from the biblical name Lazarus (see LAZAR).

laze v. [no obj.] spend time in a relaxed, lazy manner: she spent the day at home, reading the papers and generally lazing around.

- [with obj.] (laze something away) pass time in a relaxed, lazy way: laze away a long summer day.

■ n. [in sing.] a spell of lazing around.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: back-formation from LAZY.

laziness n. [mass noun] the quality of being unwilling to work or use energy; idleness: it was sheer laziness on my part.

Lazio /latsə/ an administrative region of west central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, including the ancient region of Latium; capital, Rome.

lazuli /lazjl -li/ n. short for LAPIS LAZULI.

lazurite /lazjrt/ n. [mass noun] a bright blue mineral which is the chief constituent of lapis lazuli and consists chiefly of a silicate and sulphate of sodium and aluminium.

lazy adj. (lazier, laziest) 1 unwilling to work or use energy: he was too lazy to cook.

- characterized by lack of effort or activity: they were enjoying a really lazy holiday.

- showing a lack of care: lazy writing.

- (of a river) slow-moving.

2 NORTH AMERICAN (of a brand on livestock) placed on its side rather than upright.

<DERIVATIVES> lazily adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century: perhaps related to Low German lasich ‘languid, idle’.

lazybones n. (pl. same) INFORMAL a lazy person (often as a form of address).

lazy daisy stitch n. [mass noun] an embroidery stitch in the form of a flower petal.

lazy eye n. an eye with poor vision that is mainly caused by underuse, especially the unused eye in a squint.

lazy jack n. [NAUTICAL] a small rope extending vertically from the topping lift to the boom for holding a fore-and-aft sail when it is being taken down.

lazy locking n. a car safety feature involving the automatic closing of its electric windows when the car is locked.

lazy Susan n. a revolving stand or tray on a table, used especially for holding condiments.

lazy tongs n. a set of extending tongs for grasping objects at a distance, with several connected pairs of levers pivoted like scissors.

LB abbr. Liberia (international vehicle registration).

lb abbr.

- pound(s) (in weight). [<ORIGIN> from Latin libra.]

- [CRICKET] leg bye(s).

LBDR abbr. Lance Bombardier.

LBO abbr. leveraged buyout.

lbw abbr. [CRICKET] leg before wicket.

l.c. abbr.

- in the passage cited. [<ORIGIN> from Latin loco citato.]

- letter of credit.

- lower case.

LCC abbr. HISTORICAL London County Council.

LCD abbr.

- [ELECTRONICS] & [COMPUTING] liquid crystal display.

- [MATHEMATICS] lowest (or least) common denominator.

LCM abbr. [MATHEMATICS] lowest (or least) common multiple.

LCPL abbr. Lance Corporal.

LD abbr.

- North American learning disability (or disabled).

- lethal dose (of a toxic compound, drug, or pathogen). It is usually written with a following numeral indicating the percentage of a group of animals or cultured cells or micro-organisms killed by such a dose, typically standardized at 50 per cent (LD_50).

Ld abbr. Lord: Ld Lothian.

LDC abbr. less-developed country.

Ldg abbr. Leading (in navy ranks).

LDL abbr. [BIOCHEMISTRY] low-density lipoprotein.

l-dopa n. [mass noun] [BIOCHEMISTRY] the laevorotatory form of dopa, used to treat Parkinson's disease. Also called LEVODOPA.

L-driver n. BRITISH a learner driver.

LDS abbr.

- Latter-Day Saints.

- Licentiate in Dental Surgery.

LE abbr. language engineering.

-le^1 suffix 1 forming names of appliances or instruments: bridle | thimble.

2 forming names of animals and plants: beetle.

<ORIGIN> Old English, of Germanic origin.

-le^2 (also -el) suffix forming nouns having or originally having a diminutive sense: mantle | battle | castle.

<ORIGIN> Middle English -el, -elle, partly from Old English and partly from Old French (based on Latin forms).

-le^3 suffix (forming adjectives from an original verb) apt to; liable to: brittle | nimble.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from earlier -el, of Germanic origin.

-le^4 suffix forming verbs, chiefly those expressing repeated action or movement (as in babble, dazzle), or having diminutive sense (as in nestle).

<ORIGIN> Old English -lian, of Germanic origin.

LEA abbr. (in the UK) Local Education Authority.

lea n. LITERARY an open area of grassy or arable land: the lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea.

<ORIGIN> Old English lēa(h), of Germanic origin; related to Old High German loh ‘grove’, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit lokás ‘open space’, Latin lucus ‘grove’, and perhaps also light^1.

Leach Bernard (Howell) (1887–1979), British potter, born in Hong Kong. In 1920 he founded his pottery at St Ives in Cornwall with the Japanese potter Shoji Hamada.

leach v. [with adverbial of direction] (with reference to a soluble chemical or mineral) drain away from soil, ash, or similar material by the action of percolating liquid, especially rainwater: [with obj.] the nutrient is quickly leached away | [no obj.] pesticides and fertilizers that leach into rivers.

- [with obj.] subject (soil, ash, etc.) to this process.

<ORIGIN> Old English leccan ‘to water’, of West Germanic origin. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

leachate n. [mass noun] TECHNICAL water that has percolated through a solid and leached out some of the constituents.

Leacock Stephen (Butler) (1869–1949), Canadian humorist and economist. He is chiefly remembered for his many humorous short stories, parodies, and essays. Notable works: Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912).

lead^1 /lid/ v. (past and past participle led /lεd/) [with obj.] 1 cause (a person or animal) to go with one by holding them by the hand, a halter, a rope, etc. while moving forward: she emerged leading a bay horse.

- [with obj. and adverbial of direction] show (someone or something) the way to a destination by going in front of or beside them: she stood up and led her friend to the door.

- (lead someone on) mislead or deceive someone, especially into believing that one is in love with or attracted to them: she flirted with him and led him on.

2 [no obj., with adverbial of direction] (usually lead to) be a route or means of access to a particular place or in a particular direction: the door led to a better-lit corridor | a farm track led off to the left.

- [with obj.] be a reason or motive for (someone): nothing that I have read about the case leads me to the conclusion that anything untoward happened | [with obj. and infinitive] a fascination for art led him to start a collection of paintings.

- [no obj.] culminate or result in (a particular event or consequence): closing the plant will lead to 300 job losses | fashioning a policy appropriate to the situation entails understanding the forces that led up to it.

- [no obj.] (lead up to) immediately precede: the weeks leading up to the elections.

3 be in charge or command of: a military delegation was led by the Chief of Staff.

- organize and direct: the conference included sessions led by people with personal knowledge of the area.

- be the principal player of (a group of musicians): since the forties he has led his own big bands.

- set (a process) in motion: they are waiting for an expansion of world trade to lead a recovery.

- [no obj.] (lead (off) with) begin a report or text with a particular item: the radio news led with the murder.

- [no obj.] (lead with) [BOXING] make an attack with (a particular punch or fist): Adam led with a left.

- (in card games) play (the first card) in a trick or round of play.

4 [no obj.] have the advantage over competitors in a race or game: [with complement] he followed up with a break of 105 to lead 3-0 | [with obj.] the Wantage jockey was leading the field.

- [with obj.] be superior to (competitors or colleagues): there will be specific areas or skills in which other nations lead the world.

5 have or experience (a particular way of life): she's led a completely sheltered life.

6 [no obj.] (lead off) [BASEBALL] bat first in a game or inning.

- (of a base runner) be in a position to run from a base while standing off the base.

■ n. 1 the initiative in an action; an example for others to follow: Britain is now taking the lead in environmental policies.

- a clue to be followed in the resolution of a problem: detectives investigating the murder are chasing new leads.

- (in card games) an act or right of playing first in a trick or round of play: it's your lead.

- the card played first in a trick or round.

2 (the lead) a position of advantage in a contest; first place: the team burst into life and took the lead | they were beaten 5-3 after twice being in the lead.

- an amount by which a competitor is ahead of the others: the team held a slender one-goal lead.

3 the chief part in a play or film: she had the lead in a new film | [as modifier] the lead role.

- the person playing the chief part: he still looked like a romantic lead.

- [usually as modifier] the chief performer or instrument of a specified type: a lead guitarist.

- [often as modifier] the item of news given the greatest prominence in a newspaper or magazine: the lead story.

4 BRITISH a strap or cord for restraining and guiding a dog or other domestic animal.

5 BRITISH a wire that conveys electric current from a source to an appliance, or that connects two points of a circuit together.

6 the distance advanced by a screw in one turn.

7 an artificial watercourse leading to a mill.

- a channel of water in an ice field.

<PHRASES>

□ lead someone astray cause someone to act or think foolishly or wrongly.

□ lead someone by the nose INFORMAL control someone totally, especially by deceiving them.

□ lead from the front take an active role in what one is urging and directing others to do.

□ lead someone up (or down) the garden path INFORMAL give someone misleading clues or signals.

□ lead with one's chin INFORMAL (of a boxer) leave one's chin unprotected.

- FIGURATIVE behave or speak incautiously.

<ORIGIN> Old English ldan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch leiden and German leiten, also to LOAD and LODE.

lead^2 /lεd/ n. 1 [mass noun] a soft, heavy, ductile bluish-grey metal, the chemical element of atomic number 82. It has been used in roofing, plumbing, ammunition, storage batteries, radiation shields, etc., and its compounds have been used in crystal glass, as an anti-knock agent in petrol, and (formerly) in paints. (Symbol: Pb)

- used figuratively as a symbol of something heavy: Joe's feet felt like lumps of lead.

2 an item or implement made of lead, in particular:

- (leads) BRITISH sheets or strips of lead covering a roof.

- BRITISH a piece of lead-covered roof.

- (leads) lead frames holding the glass of a lattice or stained-glass window.

- [NAUTICAL] a lump of lead suspended on a line to determine the depth of water.

3 [mass noun] graphite used as the part of a pencil that makes a mark.

4 [PRINTING] a blank space between lines of print. [<ORIGIN> originally with reference to the metal strip used to create this space.]

<PHRASES>

□ get the lead out NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL move or work more quickly.

□ go down (or North American over) like a lead balloon INFORMAL (of a speech, proposal, or joke) be poorly received.

□ lead in one's pencil INFORMAL vigour or energy, especially sexual energy in a man.

<ORIGIN> Old English lēad, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch lood ‘lead’ and German Lot ‘plummet, solder’.

lead-acid adj. denoting a secondary cell or battery in which the electrodes are plates or grids of lead (or lead alloy) immersed in dilute sulphuric acid. The anode is coated with lead dioxide and the cathode with spongy lead.

Leadbeater's possum /lεdbεtəz/ n. a small grey and white Australian possum, living only in high-altitude eucalyptus forests in eastern Victoria, where it feeds on gum.

<INFO> Gymnobelidus leadbeateri, family Petauridae.

<ORIGIN> named after John Leadbeater (c.1832–88), Australian taxidermist.

lead crystal n. another term for LEAD GLASS.

leaded adj. 1 (of windowpanes or a roof) framed, covered, or weighted with lead: Georgian-style leaded windows.

2 (of petrol) containing tetraethyl lead.

3 (of type) having the lines separated by leads.

leaded light n. a window consisting of a lattice of small panes held within strips of lead.

leaden adj. 1 dull, heavy, or slow: his eyelids were leaden with sleep.

2 of the colour of lead; dull grey: a leaden sky.

- ARCHAIC made of lead: a leaden coffin.

<ORIGIN> Old English lēaden (see lead^2, -en^2).

leaden seal n. chiefly HISTORICAL a seal made of lead, used especially for papal documents.

leader n. 1 the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country: the leader of a protest group | a natural leader.

- (also Leader of the House) BRITISH a member of the government officially responsible for initiating business in Parliament.

- the person or team that is winning a sporting competition at a particular time: Nora was up among the leaders.

- an organization or company that is the most advanced or successful in a particular area: a leader in the use of video conferencing.

2 the principal player in a music group.

- BRITISH the principal first violinist in an orchestra.

- NORTH AMERICAN a conductor of a small musical group.

3 BRITISH a leading article in a newspaper.

4 a short strip of non-functioning material at each end of a reel of film or recording tape for connection to the spool.

- a length of filament attached to the end of a fishing line to carry the hook or fly.

5 a shoot of a plant at the apex of a stem or main branch.

6 (leaders) [PRINTING] a series of dots or dashes across the page to guide the eye, especially in tabulated material.

<DERIVATIVES> leaderless adj.

leader board n. a scoreboard showing the names and current scores of the leading competitors, especially in a golf match.

leaderene /lidərin/ n. BRITISH HUMOROUS a female leader, especially an autocratic one.

<ORIGIN> 1980s (originally a humorous or ironic name for Margaret Thatcher): from LEADER + -ene, on the pattern of female given names such as Marlene.

leadership n. [mass noun] the action of leading a group of people or an organization, or the ability to do this: different styles of leadership.

- the state or position of being a leader: the party prospered under his leadership.

- [treated as sing. or plural] the leaders of an organization, country, etc.: the leadership was divided into two camps.

lead-footed adj. NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL 1 slow; clumsy: the most lead-footed guy can try aerobic moves.

2 tending to drive too quickly.

lead-free adj. (of petrol) without added tetraethyl lead.

lead glass n. [mass noun] glass containing a substantial proportion of lead oxide, making it more refractive. Also called LEAD CRYSTAL.

lead-in n. 1 an introduction or preamble which allows one to move smoothly on to the next part of something: [as modifier] the lead-in note.

2 a wire leading in from outside, especially from an aerial to a receiver or transmitter.

leading^1 /lid/ adj. [attr.] most important: a number of leading politicians.

■ n. [mass noun] guidance or leadership, especially in a spiritual context.

leading^2 /lεd/ n. [mass noun] the amount of blank space between lines of print.

- the distance from the bottom of one line of type to the bottom of the next.

leading aircraftman (or leading aircraftwoman) n. a rank in the RAF, above aircraftman and below senior aircraftman.

leading article n. BRITISH a newspaper article giving the editorial opinion.

leading counsel n. the senior barrister of the team which represents either party in a legal case.

leading dog n. AUSTRALIAN/NZ a sheepdog trained to run ahead of a flock of sheep to control its speed.

leading edge n. 1 [AERONAUTICS] the foremost edge of an aerofoil, especially a wing or propeller blade. Compare with TRAILING EDGE.

2 the forefront or vanguard, especially of technological development: [as modifier] leading-edge research.

3 [ELECTRONICS] the part of a pulse in which the amplitude increases.

leading lady n. the actress playing the principal female part in a film or play.

leading light n. a person who is prominent or influential in a particular field or organization: Lesley is a leading light in a local netball team.

leading man n. the actor playing the principal male part in a film or play.

leading note n. [MUSIC] another term for SUBTONIC.

leading question n. a question that prompts or encourages the answer wanted.

leading rein n. a rein used to lead a horse along, especially when ridden by an inexperienced rider.

leading seaman n. a rank in the Royal Navy, above able seaman and below petty officer.

leading tone n. [MUSIC] North American term for SUBTONIC.

lead-off adj. beginning a series or a process: the album's lead-off track.

- [BASEBALL] denoting the first batter in a line-up or of an inning.

lead poisoning n. [mass noun] acute or chronic poisoning due to the absorption of lead into the body. Also called PLUMBISM.

lead shot n. another term for shot^1 (sense 3).

lead tetraethyl n. [CHEMISTRY] another term for TETRAETHYL LEAD.

lead time n. the time between the initiation and completion of a production process.

lead-up n. [in sing.] an event, point, or sequence that leads up to something else: the lead-up to the elections.

leadwort /lεdwət/ n. another term for plumbago (sense 2).

leaf n. (pl. leaves) 1 a flattened structure of a higher plant, typically green and blade-like, that is attached to a stem directly or via a stalk. Leaves are the main organs of photosynthesis and transpiration.

- any of a number of similar plant structures, e.g. bracts, sepals, and petals.

- [mass noun] foliage regarded collectively.

- [mass noun] the state of having leaves: the trees are still in leaf.

- [mass noun] the leaves of tobacco or tea: [as modifier] leaf tea.

2 a thing that resembles a leaf in being flat and thin.

- a single thickness of paper, especially in a book with each side forming a page.

- [mass noun] [with modifier] gold, silver, or other specified metal in the form of very thin foil: gold leaf.

- the hinged part or flap of a door, shutter, or table.

- an extra section inserted to extend a table.

- the inner or outer part of a cavity wall or double-glazed window.

■ v. [no obj.] 1 (of a plant, especially a deciduous one in spring) put out new leaves.

2 (leaf through) turn over (the pages of a book or the papers in a pile), reading them quickly or casually: he leafed through the stack of notes.

<PHRASES>

□ shake (or tremble) like a leaf (of a person) tremble greatly, especially from fear.

<DERIVATIVES> leafage n. leafed adj. [in combination] purple-leafed dahlias leafless adj. leaf-like adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English lēaf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch loof and German Laub.

leaf beetle n. a small beetle that feeds chiefly on leaves and typically has bright metallic colouring. Some kinds are serious crop pests.

<INFO> Family Chrysomelidae: numerous species.

leafbird n. a tree-dwelling songbird of South and SE Asia with mainly green plumage and a black bill, the male typically having a black throat.

<INFO> Genus Chloropsis, family Irenidae (or Chloropseidae): several species.

leaf curl n. [mass noun] a plant condition distinguished by the presence of curling leaves, caused by environmental stress or disease.

leafcutter ant n. a tropical ant which cuts pieces from leaves and carries them back to the nest for use as a culture medium for growing food fungi.

<INFO> Genus Atta, family Formicidae.

leafcutter bee n. a solitary bee which cuts pieces from leaves, typically of roses, and uses them to construct cells in its nest.

<INFO> Genus Megachile, family Megachilidae.

leaf-fall n. [mass noun] the shedding of leaves by a plant.

leaf fat n. [mass noun] dense fat occurring in layers around the kidneys of some animals, especially pigs.

leaf fish n. a small deep-bodied predatory freshwater fish, with mottled brownish-green coloration which gives it a leaf-like appearance.

<INFO> Two species in the family Nandidae: Monocirrhus polyacanthus of South America, and Polycentropsis abbreviata of Africa.

leaf green n. [mass noun] a bright, deep green colour.

leafhopper n. a small plant bug which is typically brightly coloured and leaps when disturbed. It can be a serious crop pest in warm regions.

<INFO> Family Cicadellidae, suborder Homoptera: numerous genera.

leaf insect n. a large slow-moving tropical insect related to the stick insects, with a flattened body that is leaf-like in shape and colour.

<INFO> Family Phylliidae, order Phasmida: Phyllium and other genera.

leaflet n. 1 a printed sheet of paper containing information or advertising and usually distributed free.

2 [BOTANY] each of the leaflike structures that together make up a compound leaf, such as in the ash and horse chestnut.

- (in general use) a young leaf.

■ v. (leaflets, leafleting, leafleted) [with obj.] distribute leaflets to (people or an area): tourists visiting the area are being leafleted | [no obj.] they were leafleting in Victoria Square.

leaflove n. an African bulbul (songbird) that frequents dense thickets, with mainly drab brown plumage and a loud bubbling call.

<INFO> The leaflove (Phyllastrephus scandens) and the yellow-throated leaflove (Chlorocichla flavicollis), family Pycnonotidae.

leaf miner n. a small fly, moth, or sawfly whose larvae burrow between the two surfaces of a leaf.

leaf monkey n. a leaf-eating arboreal Asian monkey that is related to the langurs.

<INFO> Genus Presbytis, family Cercopithecidae: several species.

leaf mould n. [mass noun] 1 soil consisting chiefly of decayed leaves.

2 a fungal disease of tomatoes in which mould develops on the leaves.

<INFO> The fungus is Fulvia fulva (formerly Cladosporium fulvum), subdivision Deuteromycotina.

leaf-nosed bat n. a bat with a leaf-like appendage on the snout.

<INFO> Families Hipposideridae (Old World) and Phyllostomatidae (New World): numerous species.

leaf peeper n. US INFORMAL a person who visits particular areas, especially in New England, to view the autumn foliage.

<DERIVATIVES> leaf peeping n.

leaf roll n. [mass noun] a virus disease of potatoes marked by upward curling of the leaves.

leaf roller n. an insect, especially a small moth, whose larvae roll up the leaves of plants which they feed upon.

leaf spot n. [mass noun] [usually with modifier] any of a large number of fungal, bacterial, or viral plant diseases which cause leaves to develop discoloured spots.

leaf spring n. a spring made of a number of strips of metal curved slightly upwards and clamped together one above the other.

leaf-tailed gecko n. a gecko with a wide, flat leaf-shaped tail and skin that serves to camouflage it.

<INFO> Genus Phyllurus (four Australian species), family Pygopodidae, and Uroplatus (several Madagascan species), family Gekkonidae.

leaf trace n. [BOTANY] a strand of conducting vessels extending from the stem to the base of a leaf.

leaf warbler n. a small, slender Old World songbird with a brown or greenish back and whitish or yellowish underparts.

<INFO> Genus Phylloscopus, family Sylviidae: many species, including the chiffchaff and willow warbler.

leafy adj. (leafier, leafiest) having many leaves or much foliage: a leafy glade | leafy bushes | the leafy suburbs.

- (of a plant) producing or grown for its broad-bladed leaves: green leafy vegetables.

- resembling a leaf or leaves: a three-pointed leafy bract.

<DERIVATIVES> leafiness n.

league^1 n. 1 a collection of people, countries, or groups that combine for mutual protection or cooperation: the League of Nations.

- ARCHAIC an agreement or alliance.

2 a group of sports clubs which play each other over a period for a championship.

- the contest for the championship of a league: the year we won the league.

■ short for RUGBY LEAGUE.

3 a class or category of quality or excellence: the two men were not in the same league | Austin's in a league of his own.

■ v. (leagues, leaguing, leagued) [no obj.] join in a league or alliance: Oscar had leagued with other construction firms.

<PHRASES>

□ in league conspiring with another or others: he is in league with the devil.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (denoting a compact for mutual protection or advantage): via French from Italian lega, from legare ‘to bind’, from Latin ligare.

league^2 n. a former measure of distance by land, usually about three miles.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from late Latin leuga, leuca, late Greek leugē, or from Provençal lega (modern French lieue).

League of Arab States an organization of Arab states, founded in 1945 in Cairo, whose purpose is to ensure cooperation among its member states and protect their independence and sovereignty. Also called ARAB LEAGUE.

League of Nations an association of countries established in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles to promote international cooperation and achieve international peace and security. It was powerless to stop Italian, German, and Japanese expansionism leading to the Second World War, and was replaced by the United Nations in 1945.

leaguer^1 n. [with adj. or noun modifier] chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a member of a particular league, especially a sports player: an assembly of minor leaguers in spring training.

leaguer^2 n. & v. variant of LAAGER.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Dutch leger ‘camp’. Compare with LAAGER, lager, and lair^1.

league table n. BRITISH a list of the competitors in a league, showing their ranking according to performance in a particular season.

- a comparison of achievement or merit in a competitive area: a national league table of school results.

leak v. [no obj.] 1 (of a container or covering) accidentally lose or admit contents, especially liquid or gas, through a hole or crack: the roof leaked | (as adj. leaking) a leaking gutter | [with obj.] the drums were leaking an unidentified liquid.

- [with adverbial of direction] (of liquid, gas, etc.) pass in or out through a hole or crack in such a way: water kept leaking in.

2 (of secret information) become known: worrying stories leaked out.

- [with obj.] intentionally disclose (secret information): a report was leaked to the press | (as adj. leaked) a leaked government document.

■ n. 1 a hole in a container or covering through which contents may accidentally pass: I checked all of the pipework for leaks.

- an instance of leaking in such a way: a gas leak | [mass noun] the leak of fluid may occur.

2 an intentional disclosure of secret information: one of the employees was responsible for the leak.

<PHRASES>

□ have (or take) a leak INFORMAL urinate.

<DERIVATIVES> leaker n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably of Low German or Dutch origin and related to LACK.

leakage n. [mass noun] 1 the accidental admission or escape of liquid or gas through a hole or crack: we're saving water by reducing leakage | [count noun] there have been no leakages of radioactive material.

- [PHYSICS] the gradual escape of an electric charge or current, or magnetic flux.

2 deliberate disclosure of confidential information.

Leakey a family of eminent Kenyan archaeologists and anthropologists. Louis (Seymour Bazett) (1903–72) pioneered the investigation of human origins in East Africa. He began excavations at Olduvai Gorge and together with Mary discovered the remains of early hominids and their implements, including Australopithecus (or Zinjanthropus) boisei in 1959. His British-born wife Mary (Douglas) (1913–96) discovered Homo habilis and Homo erectus at Olduvai in 1960. Their son Richard (Erskine) (b.1944) was director of the Kenya Wildlife Service 1989–94.

leakproof adj. closely sealed or fitted so as to prevent leaks.

leaky adj. (leakier, leakiest) 1 having a leak or leaks: a leaky roof.

2 given to disclosing secrets: leaky sources at the company.

<DERIVATIVES> leakiness n.

leal /lil/ adj. SCOTTISH ARCHAIC loyal and honest: his leal duty to the King.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French leel, earlier form of loial (see LOYAL).

Leamington Spa /lεmtən/ a town in central England, in Warwickshire, south-east of Birmingham; pop. 55,400 (est. 2002). Noted for its saline springs, it was granted the status of royal spa after a visit by Queen Victoria in 1838. Official name ROYAL LEAMINGTON SPA.

Lean Sir David (1908–91), English film director. He made many notable films, including Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and A Passage to India (1984).

lean^1 v. (past and past participle leaned or chiefly BRITISH leant) [no obj., with adverbial] 1 be in or move into a sloping position: he leaned back in his chair.

- (lean against/on) incline from the perpendicular and rest for support against (something): a man was leaning against the wall.

- [with obj.] (lean something against/on) cause something to rest against: he leaned his elbows on the table.

2 (lean on) rely on or derive support from: they have learned to lean on each other for support.

- INFORMAL put pressure on (someone) to act in a certain way: a determination not to allow the majority to lean on the minority.

3 (lean to/towards) incline or be partial to (a view or position): I now lean towards sabotage as the cause of the crash.

■ n. a deviation from the perpendicular; an inclination: the vehicle has a definite lean to the left.

<PHRASES>

□ lean over backwards see BACKWARDS.

<ORIGIN> Old English hleonian, hlinian, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch leunen and German lehnen, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin inclinare and Greek klinein.

lean^2 adj. 1 (of a person or animal) thin, especially healthily so; having no superfluous fat: his lean, muscular body.

- (of meat) containing little fat: lean bacon.

- (of an industry or company) efficient and with no wastage: staff were pruned, ostensibly to produce a leaner and fitter organization.

2 offering little reward, substance, or nourishment; meagre: the lean winter months | keep a small reserve to tide you over the lean years.

3 (of a vaporized fuel mixture) having a high proportion of air: lean air-to-fuel ratios.

■ n. [mass noun] the lean part of meat.

<DERIVATIVES> leanly adv. leanness n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlne, of Germanic origin.

lean-burn adj. relating to an internal-combustion engine designed to run on a lean mixture to reduce pollution: lean-burn technology.

Leander /landə/ 1 [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] a young man, the lover of the priestess Hero. He was drowned swimming across the Hellespont to visit her.

2 (also Leander Club) the oldest amateur rowing club in the world, founded early in the 19th century, now based in Henley-on-Thames. Membership is a mark of distinction in the rowing world.

leaning n. (often leanings) a tendency or partiality of a particular kind: his early leanings towards socialism.

lean-to n. (pl. lean-tos) a building sharing one wall with a larger building, and having a roof that leans against that wall: [as modifier] a lean-to garage.

- a temporary shelter, either supported or free-standing.

leap v. (past or past participle leaped or leapt) [no obj., with adverbial] 1 jump or spring a long way, to a great height, or with great force: he leapt on to the parapet | FIGURATIVE Fabia's heart leapt excitedly.

- [with obj.] jump across: Peter leapt the last few stairs.

2 move quickly and suddenly: Polly leapt to her feet.

- make a sudden rush to do something; act eagerly and suddenly: everybody leapt into action.

- (leap at) accept (an opportunity) eagerly: they leapt at the opportunity to combine fun with fund-raising.

- (of a price, amount, etc.) increase dramatically: sales leapt by a third last year.

- (leap out) (especially of writing) be conspicuous; stand out: amid the notes, a couple of items leap out.

■ n. a forceful jump or quick movement: she came downstairs in a series of flying leaps.

- a dramatic increase in price, amount, etc.: a leap of 75 per cent in two years.

- a sudden abrupt change or transition: a leap of faith.

- [in place names] a thing to be leaped over or from: Lover's Leap.

<PHRASES>

□ a leap in the dark a daring step or enterprise whose consequences are unpredictable.

□ by (or in) leaps and bounds with startlingly rapid progress: productivity improved in leaps and bounds.

□ leap to the eye (especially of writing) be immediately apparent.

<DERIVATIVES> leaper n.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlēapan (verb), hlȳp (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch lopen, German laufen (verb), and Dutch loop, German Lauf (noun), all meaning ‘run’, also to LOPE.

leap day n. the intercalary day in a leap year; 29 February.

leapfrog n. [mass noun] a game in which players in turn vault with parted legs over others who are bending down.

■ v. (leapfrogs, leapfrogging, leapfrogged) [no obj.] perform such a vault: they leapfrogged around the courtyard.

- [no obj., with adverbial] surpass or overtake another to move into a leading or dominant position: she leapfrogged into a sales position.

- [with obj.] pass over (a stage or obstacle): attempts to leapfrog the barriers of class.

leap second n. a second which is occasionally inserted into the atomic scale of reckoning time in order to bring it into line with solar time. It is indicated by an additional bleep in the time signal at the end of some years.

leap year n. a year, occurring once every four years, which has 366 days including 29 February as an intercalary day.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from the fact that feast days after February in such a year fell two days later than in the previous year, rather than one day later as in other years, and could be said to have ‘leaped’ a day.

Lear^1 /lə/ a legendary early king of Britain, the central figure in Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear. He is mentioned by the chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Lear^2 /lə/ Edward (1812–88), English humorist and illustrator. He wrote A Book of Nonsense (1845) and Laughable Lyrics (1877). He also published illustrations of birds and of his travels around the Mediterranean.

learn v. (past and past participle learned or chiefly BRITISH learnt) [with obj.] 1 gain or acquire knowledge of or skill in (something) by study, experience, or being taught: they'd started learning French | [with infinitive] she is learning to play the piano | [no obj.] we learn from experience.

- commit to memory: I'd learned too many grim poems in school.

- become aware of (something) by information or from observation: [with clause] I learned that they had eaten already | [no obj.] the trading standards office learned of the illegal network.

2 ARCHAIC or INFORMAL teach (someone): ‘That'll learn you,’ he chuckled | [with obj. and infinitive] we'll have to learn you to milk cows.

<DERIVATIVES> learnability n. learnable adj.

<ORIGIN> Old English leornian ‘learn’ (in Middle English also ‘teach’), of West Germanic origin; related to German lernen, also to lore^1.

<USAGE> In modern standard English, it is wrong to use learn to mean teach, as in that'll learn you (correct use is that'll teach you). This use has been recorded since the 13th century but for a long time was not considered incorrect. Over the centuries it has, for example, been used by writers such as Spenser, Bunyan, and Samuel Johnson, and did not fall into disfavour until the early 19th century. It is now found only in non-standard and dialect use.

learned /lənd/ adj. (of a person) having acquired much knowledge through study.

- showing, requiring, or characterized by learning; scholarly: an article in a learned journal.

- BRITISH used as a courteous description of a lawyer in certain formal contexts: my learned friend.

<DERIVATIVES> learnedly adv. learnedness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from LEARN, in the sense ‘teach’.

learned helplessness n. [mass noun] [PSYCHIATRY] a condition in which a person suffers from a sense of powerlessness, arising from a traumatic event or persistent failure to succeed. It is thought to be one of the underlying causes of depression.

learner n. a person who is learning a subject or skill: a fast learner.

- (also learner driver) a person who is learning to drive a motor vehicle and has not yet passed a driving test.

learner's dictionary n. a dictionary designed for the use of foreign students.

learnfare n. [mass noun] NORTH AMERICAN a welfare system in which attendance at school, college, or a training programme is necessary in order to receive benefits.

<ORIGIN> 1980s: from LEARN, on the pattern of WORKFARE.

learning n. [mass noun] the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught: these children experienced difficulties in learning | [as modifier] an important learning process.

- knowledge acquired in this way: I liked to parade my learning in front of my sisters.

<ORIGIN> Old English leornung (see LEARN, -ing^1).

learning curve n. the rate of a person's progress in gaining experience or new skills: the latest software packages have a steep learning curve.

learning difficulties plural n. BRITISH difficulties in acquiring knowledge and skills to the normal level expected of those of the same age, especially because of mental disability or cognitive disorder.

<USAGE> The phrase learning difficulties became prominent in the 1980s. It is broad in scope, covering general conditions such as Down's syndrome as well as more specific cognitive or neurological conditions such as dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. In emphasizing the difficulty experienced rather than any perceived ‘deficiency’, it is considered less discriminatory and more positive than other terms such as mentally handicapped, and is now the standard accepted term in Britain in official contexts. Learning disability is the standard accepted term in North America.

learning disability n. a condition giving rise to learning difficulties, especially when not associated with physical handicap.

<DERIVATIVES> learning-disabled adj.

Leary Timothy (Francis) (1920–96), American psychologist and drug pioneer. After experimenting with consciousness-altering drugs including LSD, he was dismissed from his teaching post at Harvard University in 1963 and became a figurehead for the hippy drug culture.

lease n. a contract by which one party conveys land, property, services, etc. to another for a specified time, usually in return for a periodic payment.

■ v. [with obj.] grant (property) on lease; let: she leased the site to a local company.

- take (property) on lease; rent: land was leased from the Duchy of Cornwall.

<PHRASES>

□ a new lease of (or North American on) life a substantially improved prospect of life or use after rejuvenation or repair.

<DERIVATIVES> leasable adj. leaser n.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Old French lais, leis, from lesser, laissier ‘let, leave’, from Latin laxare ‘make loose’, from laxus ‘loose, lax’.

leaseback n. [often as modifier] the leasing of a property, especially one recently purchased, back to the seller: leaseback agreements.

leasehold n. [mass noun] chiefly BRITISH the holding of property by lease: a form of leasehold | [as modifier] leasehold premises. Often contrasted with FREEHOLD.

- [count noun] a property held by lease.

<DERIVATIVES> leaseholder n.

<ORIGIN> early 18th century: from LEASE, on the pattern of freehold.

Lease-Lend HISTORICAL another term for LEND-LEASE.

leash n. a dog's lead.

- [FALCONRY] a thong or string attached to the jesses of a hawk, used for tying it to a perch or a creance.

- FIGURATIVE a restraint: her bristling temper was kept on a leash.

■ v. [with obj.] put a leash on (a dog).

- FIGURATIVE restrain: his violence was barely leashed.

<PHRASES>

□ strain at the leash be eager to begin or do something.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lesse, laisse, from laissier in the specific sense ‘let run on a slack lead’ (see LEASE).

least determiner & pronoun (usually the least) smallest in amount, extent, or significance: [as determiner] who has the least money? | he never had the least idea what to do about it | [as pronoun] how others see me is the least of my worries | it's the least I can do.

■ adv. to the smallest extent or degree: my best routine was the one I had practised the least | turning up when he was least expected | only the least expensive lot sold | I never hid the truth, least of all from you.

■ adj. used in names of very small animals and plants, e.g. least shrew.

<PHRASES>

□ at least 1 not less than; at the minimum: clean the windows at least once a week.

2 if nothing else (used to add a positive comment about a generally negative situation): the options aren't complete, but at least they're a start.

3 anyway (used to modify something just stated): they seldom complained—officially at least.

□ at the least (or very least) 1 (used after amounts) not less than; at the minimum: stay ten days at the least.

2 taking the most pessimistic or unfavourable view: a programme which is, at the very least, excellent PR for the hospital.

□ least said, soonest mended PROVERB a difficult situation will be resolved more quickly if there is no more discussion of it.

□ not in the least not in the smallest degree; not at all: he was not in the least taken aback.

□ not least in particular; notably: there is a great deal at stake, not least in relation to the environment.

□ to say the least (of it) used as an understatement (implying the reality is more extreme, usually worse): his performance was disappointing to say the least.

<ORIGIN> Old English lst, lsest, of Germanic origin; related to LESS.

least common denominator n. another term for LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR.

least common multiple n. another term for LOWEST COMMON MULTIPLE.

least significant bit (abbr.: LSB) n. [COMPUTING] the bit in a binary number which is of the lowest numerical value.

least squares n. [mass noun] a method of estimating a quantity or fitting a graph to data so as to minimize the sum of the squares of the differences between the observed values and the estimated values.

leastways (also leastwise) adv. DIALECT or INFORMAL at least: I don't hold with foreigners, leastways not here in King's Magnum Parva.

leat /lit/ n. BRITISH an open watercourse conducting water to a mill.

<ORIGIN> late 16th century: from Old English -gelt (recorded in wætergelt ‘water channel’), related to ltan ‘to let’.

leather n. 1 [mass noun] a material made from the skin of an animal by tanning or a similar process: [as modifier] a leather jacket.

- (leathers) leather clothes, especially those worn by a motorcyclist.

2 a piece of leather as a polishing cloth.

3 short for STIRRUP LEATHER.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (usually as adj. leathered) cover with leather: his leathered foot.

2 INFORMAL beat or thrash (someone): he caught me and leathered me black and blue | (as n. leathering) go, before you get a leathering.

<ORIGIN> Old English lether, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch leer and German Leder, from an Indo-European root shared by Irish leathar and Welsh lledr.

leatherback (also leatherback turtle) n. a very large black turtle with a thick leathery shell, living chiefly in tropical seas.

<INFO> Dermochelys coriacea, the only member of the family Dermochelyidae.

leather carp n. a carp of a variety which lacks scales.

leathercloth n. [mass noun] strong, coated fabric embossed to resemble leather.

leatherette n. [mass noun] imitation leather.

leather-hard adj. (of unfired pottery) dried and hardened enough to be decorated or trimmed with slip but not enough to be fired.

leatherjacket n. 1 BRITISH the tough-skinned larva of a large crane fly. It lives in the soil, where it feeds on plant matter and can seriously damage the roots of grasses and crops.

<INFO> Genus Tipula, family Tipulidae.

2 any of a number of tough-skinned marine fishes, in particular:

<INFO>

- a fish of the jack family (Carangidae), in particular a slender fish of American coastal waters, with a greenish back and a bright yellow tail (Oligoplites saurus).

- a filefish or triggerfish (family Balistidae).

leathern adj. ARCHAIC made of leather.

leatherneck n. US INFORMAL a marine.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: with allusion to the leather lining inside the collar of a marine's uniform.

leatherwear n. [mass noun] articles of clothing made of leather.

leatherwood n. 1 an evergreen American shrub or small tree with tough, flexible bark.

<INFO> Cyrilla racemiflora, family Cyrillaceae.

2 a Tasmanian eucryphia tree which bears fragrant white flowers and yields tough pinkish timber.

<INFO> Eucryphia lucida, family Eucryphiaceae.

leathery adj. having a tough, hard texture like leather: brown, leathery skin.

<DERIVATIVES> leatheriness n.

leathery turtle n. another term for LEATHERBACK.

leave^1 v. (past and past participle left) 1 [with obj.] go away from: she left London on June 6 | [no obj.] we were almost the last to leave | the England team left for Pakistan on Monday.

- depart from permanently: at the age of sixteen he left home.

- cease attending (a school or college) or working for (an organization): she is leaving the BBC after 20 years.

2 [with obj.] allow or cause to remain: the parts he disliked he would alter and the parts he didn't dislike he'd leave.

- (be left) remain to be used or dealt with: we've even got one of the Christmas puddings left over from last year | [with infinitive] a retired person with no mortgage left to pay.

- [with obj. and adverbial of place] go away from a place without taking (someone or something): we had not left any of our belongings behind | FIGURATIVE women had been left behind in the struggle for pay equality.

- abandon (a spouse or partner): her boyfriend left her for another woman.

- have as (a surviving relative) after one's death: he leaves a wife and three children.

- bequeath: he left £500 to the National Asthma Campaign | [with two objs] Cornelius had left her fifty pounds a year for life.

3 [with obj. and adverbial or complement] cause (someone or something) to be in a particular state or position: he'll leave you in no doubt about what he thinks | I'll leave the door open | the children were left with feelings of loss.

- [with obj. and infinitive] let (someone) do or deal with something without offering help or assistance: infected people are often rejected by family and friends, leaving them to face this chronic condition alone.

- [with obj.] cause to remain as a trace or record: dark fruit that would leave purple stains on the table napkins | FIGURATIVE they leave the impression that they can be bullied.

- [with obj.] deposit or entrust to be kept, collected, or attended to: she left a note for me.

- [with obj.] (leave something to) entrust a decision, choice, or action to (someone else, especially someone considered better qualified): the choice of which link to take is generally left up to the reader.

■ n. (in snooker, croquet, and other games) the position in which a player leaves the balls for the next player.

<PHRASES>

□ be left at the post be beaten from the start of a race or competition.

□ be left for dead be abandoned as being almost dead or certain to die.

□ be left to oneself be alone or solitary: left to himself he removed his shirt and tie.

- be allowed to do what one wants: women, left to themselves, would make the world a beautiful place to live in.

□ leave someone/thing alone see ALONE.

□ leave someone be INFORMAL refrain from disturbing or interfering with someone.

□ leave someone cold fail to interest someone: the Romantic poets left him cold.

□ leave go BRITISH INFORMAL remove one's hold or grip: leave go of me!

□ leave hold of cease holding.

□ leave it at that abstain from further comment or action: if you are not sure of the answers, say so, and leave it at that.

□ leave much (or a lot) to be desired be highly unsatisfactory.

<PHRASAL VERB>

□ leave off discontinue (an activity): the dog left off chasing the sheep | he resumed the other story at the point where the previous author had left off.

□ leave someone/thing out fail to include: it seemed unkind to leave Daisy out, so she was invited too | (as adj. left out) Olivia was feeling rather left out.

- (usually in imperative leave it out) BRITISH INFORMAL stop it: ‘Leave it out,’ I said sternly, pushing him off.

<DERIVATIVES> leaver n.

<ORIGIN> Old English lfan ‘bequeath’, also ‘allow to remain, leave in place’ of Germanic origin; related to German bleiben ‘remain’.

leave^2 n. [mass noun] 1 (also leave of absence) time when one has permission to be absent from work or from duty in the armed forces: Joe was home on leave | maternity leave.

2 [often with infinitive] permission: leave from the court to commence an action.

<PHRASES>

□ by (or with) your leave 1 with your permission: with your leave, I will send him your address.

2 INFORMAL an apology for rude or unwelcome behaviour: she came in without so much as a by your leave.

□ take one's leave FORMAL say goodbye: he went to take his leave of his hostess.

□ take leave of one's senses see SENSE.

□ take leave to do something FORMAL venture or presume to do something: whether this amounts to much, one may take leave to doubt.

<ORIGIN> Old English lēaf ‘permission’, of West Germanic origin; related to LIEF and LOVE.

leaved adj. [in combination] having a leaf or leaves of a particular kind: ivy-leaved toadflax.

leaven /lεv(ə)n/ n. [mass noun] a substance, typically yeast, that is added to dough to make it ferment and rise.

- dough that is reserved from an earlier batch in order to start a later one fermenting.

- FIGURATIVE a pervasive influence that modifies something or transforms it for the better: they acted as an intellectual leaven to the warriors who dominated the city.

■ v. [with obj.] 1 (usually as adj. leavened) cause (dough or bread) to ferment and rise by adding leaven: leavened breads are forbidden during Passover.

2 permeate and modify or transform (something) for the better: the proceedings should be leavened by humour | (as n. leavening) companies of Territorial Army volunteers with a leavening of regular soldiers.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French levain, based on Latin levamen ‘relief’ (literally ‘means of raising’), from levare ‘to lift’.

leaves plural form of LEAF.

leave-taking n. an act of saying goodbye: the leave-taking was formal, with none of her earlier displays of emotion.

leavings plural n. things that have been left as worthless: she dropped her lunch leavings into a bin.

Leavis /livs/ F. R. (1895–1978), English literary critic; full name Frank Raymond Leavis. Founder and editor of the quarterly Scrutiny (1932–53), he emphasized the value of critical study of English literature to preserving cultural continuity. Notable works: The Great Tradition (1948).

<DERIVATIVES> Leavisite n. & adj.

Lebanon /lεbənən/ a country in the Middle East with a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea; pop. 3,677,780 (est. 2002); official language, Arabic; capital, Beirut.

Part of the Ottoman Empire from the early 16th century, Lebanon became a French mandate after the First World War and achieved independence in 1943. Until the mid 1970s the country prospered, but conflict between the Christian and Muslim communities, the influx of Palestinian refugees, and repeated Middle Eastern wars chronically destabilized the country. The first general elections for twenty years were held in 1992.

<DERIVATIVES> Lebanese adj. & n.

Lebanon Mountains a range of mountains in Lebanon. Running parallel to the Mediterranean coast, it rises to a height of 3,087 m (10,022 ft) at Qornet es Saouda. It is separated from the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, on the border with Syria, by the Bekaa valley.

Lebensraum /leb(ə)nzram/ German /lebnsram/ n. [mass noun] the territory which a state or nation believes is needed for its natural development.

<ORIGIN> German, literally ‘living space’ (originally with reference to Germany).

Leblanc /ləbl(k)/ French /ləblα/ Nicolas (1742–1806), French surgeon and chemist. He developed a process for making soda ash (sodium carbonate) from common salt, enabling the large-scale manufacture of glass, soap, paper, and other chemicals.

Lebowa /ləbəə/ a former homeland established in South Africa for the North Sotho people, now part of the province of Limpopo.

Lebrun /ləbrən/ French /ləbRœ/ Charles (1619–90), French painter, designer, and decorator. He was prominent in the development and institutionalization of French art and was a leading exponent of French classicism. In 1648 he helped to found the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris.

Le Carré /lə kare/ John (b.1931), English novelist; pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell. He is known for his unromanticized and thoughtful spy novels, which often feature the British agent George Smiley and include The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974).

leccy /lεki/ n. [mass noun] BRITISH INFORMAL electricity.

lech /lεt/ (also letch) INFORMAL, DEROGATORY n. a lecher.

- a lecherous urge or desire: I think he has a kind of lech for you.

■ v. [no obj.] act in a lecherous or lustful manner: businessmen leching after bimbos.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century (denoting a strong desire, particularly sexually): back-formation from LECHER.

Le Chatelier's principle /lə atεljez/ [CHEMISTRY] a principle stating that if a constraint (such as a change in pressure, temperature, or concentration of a reactant) is applied to a system in equilibrium, the equilibrium will shift so as to tend to counteract the effect of the constraint.

<ORIGIN> early 20th century: named after Henri le Chatelier (1850–1936), French chemist.

lecher /lεtə/ n. a lecherous man.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lichiere, lecheor, from lechier ‘live in debauchery or gluttony’, ultimately of West Germanic origin and related to LICK.

lecherous adj. having or showing excessive or offensive sexual desire: she ignored his lecherous gaze.

<DERIVATIVES> lecherously adv. lecherousness n.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lecheros, from lecheor (see LECHER).

lechery n. [mass noun] excessive or offensive sexual desire; lustfulness.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French lecherie, from lecheor (see LECHER).

lechwe /lεtwi/ n. (pl. same) a rough-coated grazing antelope with pointed hoofs and long horns, found in swampy grassland in southern Africa and Sudan.

<INFO> Genus Kobus, family Bovidae: two species, in particular K. leche.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Setswana.

lecithin /lεsθn/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for PHOSPHATIDYLCHOLINE.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Greek lekithos ‘egg yolk’ + -IN^1.

lecithinase /lεsθnez/ n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] another term for PHOSPHOLIPASE.

Leclanché cell /ləkle/ n. a primary electrochemical cell having a zinc cathode in contact with zinc chloride, ammonium chloride (as a solution or a paste) as the electrolyte, and a carbon anode in contact with a mixture of manganese dioxide and carbon powder.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: named after Georges Leclanché (1839–82), French chemist.

Leconte de Lisle /ləknt də lil/ French /ləkt də lil/ Charles Marie René (1818–94), French poet and leader of the Parnassians. His poetry often draws inspiration from mythology, biblical history, and exotic Eastern landscape.

Le Corbusier /lə kbjuze/ French /lə kRbYzje/ (1887–1965), French architect and town planner, born in Switzerland; born Charles Édouard Jeanneret. A pioneer of the international style, he developed theories on functionalism, the use of new materials and industrial techniques, and the Modulor, a modular system of standard-sized units.

lectern /lεkt(ə)n -tən/ n. a tall stand with a sloping top to hold a book or notes, from which someone, typically a preacher or lecturer, can read while standing up.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Old French letrun, from medieval Latin lectrum, from legere ‘to read’.

lectin n. [BIOCHEMISTRY] any of a class of proteins, chiefly of plant origin, which bind specifically to certain sugars and so cause agglutination of particular cell types.

<ORIGIN> 1950s: from Latin lect- ‘chosen’ (from the verb legere) + -IN^1.

lection /lεk(ə)n/ n. ARCHAIC a reading of a text found in a particular copy or edition.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (in the sense ‘election’): from Latin lectio(n-) ‘choosing, reading’, from the verb legere. The current sense dates from the mid 17th cent.

lectionary /lεk(ə)n(ə)ri/ n. (pl. lectionaries) a list or book of portions of the Bible appointed to be read at divine service.

<ORIGIN> late 18th century: from medieval Latin lectionarium, from Latin lect- ‘chosen, read’, from the verb legere.

lector /lεkt/ n. 1 a reader, especially someone who reads lessons in a church service.

2 a lecturer, especially one employed in a foreign university to teach in their native language.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: from Latin, from lect- ‘read, chosen’, from the verb legere.

lectrice /lεktris/ n. a female lector in a university.

<ORIGIN> late 19th century: from French, literally ‘female reader’.

lecture n. 1 an educational talk to an audience, especially one of students in a university.

2 a long serious speech, especially one given as a scolding or reprimand: the usual lecture on table manners.

■ v. 1 [no obj.] deliver an educational lecture or lectures: he was lecturing at the University of Birmingham.

- [with obj.] give a lecture to (a class or other audience): he was lecturing future generations of health-service professionals.

2 [with obj.] talk seriously or reprovingly to (someone): I do not wish to be lectured about smoking.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English (in the sense ‘reading, a text to read’): from Old French, or from medieval Latin lectura, from Latin lect- ‘read, chosen’, from the verb legere.

lecturer n. a person who gives lectures, especially (British) as an occupation at a university or college of higher education.

lectureship n. a post as a lecturer: a three-year lectureship in English Literature.

lecythus /lεsθəs/ n. (pl. lecythi /-θ/) a thin narrow-necked vase or flask from ancient Greece.

<ORIGIN> via late Latin from Greek lēkuthos.

LED abbr. light-emitting diode, a semiconductor diode which glows when a voltage is applied.

led past and past participle of lead^1.

Leda /lidə/ [GREEK MYTHOLOGY] the wife of Tyndareus king of Sparta. She was loved by Zeus, who visited her in the form of a swan; among her children were the Dioscuri, Helen, and Clytemnestra.

lederhosen /ledəhəz(ə)n/ plural n. leather shorts with H-shaped braces, traditionally worn by men in Alpine regions such as Bavaria.

<ORIGIN> from German, from Leder ‘leather’ + Hosen ‘trousers’.

ledge n. 1 a narrow horizontal surface projecting from a wall, cliff, or other surface: he heaved himself up over a ledge.

- a window ledge.

2 an underwater ridge, especially of rocks beneath the sea near the shore: a reef ledge.

3 [MINING] a stratum of metal- or ore-bearing rock; a vein of quartz or other mineral.

<DERIVATIVES> ledged adj. ledgy adj.

<ORIGIN> Middle English (denoting a strip of wood or other material fixed across a door, gate, etc.): perhaps from an early form of lay^1.

■ Sense 1 dates from the mid 16th cent.

ledger n. 1 a book or other collection of financial accounts: the total balance of the purchases ledger.

2 a flat stone slab covering a grave.

3 a horizontal scaffolding pole, parallel to the face of the building.

4 a weight used on a fishing line without a float, to anchor the bait in a particular place: [as modifier] ledger tackle.

■ v. [no obj.] fish using a ledger.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English legger, ligger (denoting a large bible or breviary), probably from variants of lay^1 and lie^1, influenced by Dutch legger and ligger. Current senses date from the 16th century, except the fishing senses, known from the 17th cent.

Led Zeppelin an English rock group featuring vocalist Robert Plant (b.1948) and guitarist Jimmy Page (b.1944). One of the first groups to play heavy rock, they recorded their best-known song, ‘Stairway to Heaven’, in 1971.

Lee^1 Bruce (1941–73), American actor; born Lee Yuen Kam. An expert in kung fu, he starred in a number of martial arts films, such as Enter the Dragon (1973).

Lee^2 Christopher (Frank Carandini) (b.1922), English actor. His reputation is chiefly based on the horror films that he made for the British film company Hammer, which include Dracula (1958).

Lee^3 Gypsy Rose (1914–70), American striptease artist; born Rose Louise Hovick. In the 1930s she became famous on Broadway for her sophisticated striptease act.

Lee^4 (Nelle) Harper (b.1926), American novelist. She won a Pulitzer Prize with her only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), about the sensational trial of a black man falsely charged with raping a white woman.

Lee^5 Laurie (1914–97), English writer. He is best known for his autobiographical novels Cider With Rosie (1959) and As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969), evocative accounts of his childhood in rural Gloucestershire and his travelling experiences in pre-war Europe.

Lee^6 Robert E. (1807–70), American general; full name Robert Edward Lee. He was the commander of the Confederate army of Northern Virginia for most of the American Civil War. His invasion of the North was repulsed at the Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and he surrendered in 1865.

Lee^7 Spike (b.1957), American film director; born Shelton Jackson Lee. Lee's declared intention is to express the richness of black American culture; films such as Do the Right Thing (1989) and Malcolm X (1992) sparked controversy with their treatment of racism.

lee n. [mass noun] (also lee side) the sheltered side of something; the side away from the wind: ducks were taking shelter on the lee of the island. Contrasted with WEATHER.

- shelter from wind or weather given by an object: he went round the front of the cab to be out of the wind and lit a cigarette in its lee.

<ORIGIN> Old English hlēo, hlēow ‘shelter’, of Germanic origin; probably related to luke- in LUKEWARM.

leeboard n. a plank frame fixed to the side of a flat-bottomed boat and let down into the water to reduce drifting to the leeward side.

leech^1 n. 1 an aquatic or terrestrial annelid worm with suckers at both ends. Many species are bloodsucking parasites, especially of vertebrates, and others are predators.

<INFO> Class Hirudinea: many species. See also MEDICINAL LEECH.

2 a person who extorts profit from or sponges on others: they are leeches feeding off the hard-working majority.

■ v. [no obj.] (leech on/off) habitually exploit or rely on: he's leeching off the abilities of others.

<PHRASES>

□ like a leech very closely and persistently: you've been clinging to me like a leech all these months.

<ORIGIN> Old English lce, lȳce; related to Middle Dutch lake, lieke.

leech^2 n. ARCHAIC a doctor or healer.

<ORIGIN> Old English lce, of Germanic origin.

leech^3 n. [NAUTICAL] the after or leeward edge of a fore-and-aft sail, the leeward edge of a spinnaker, or a vertical edge of a square sail.

<ORIGIN> late 15th century: probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish lik, Danish lig, denoting a rope sewn round the edge of a sail to stop the canvas tearing.

leechcraft n. [mass noun] ARCHAIC the art of healing.

<ORIGIN> Old English lcecræft (see leech^2, craft).

Leeds an industrial city in northern England, a metropolitan district formerly in West Yorkshire; pop. 727,400 (est. 1998). It developed as a wool town in the Middle Ages, becoming a centre of the clothing trade in the Industrial Revolution.

Lee–Enfield (also Lee–Enfield rifle) n. a bolt-action rifle of a type formerly used by the British army.

<ORIGIN> from J. P. Lee (1831–1904), US designer of the bolt action + Enfield in north London, where it was made.

lee helm n. [mass noun] [NAUTICAL] the tendency of a ship to turn its bow to the leeward side.

lee ho exclam. [NAUTICAL] a command or warning given by a helmsman to indicate the moment of going about.

leek n. a plant related to the onion, with flat overlapping leaves forming an elongated cylindrical bulb which together with the leaf bases is eaten as a vegetable. It is used as a Welsh national emblem.

<INFO> Allium porrum, family Liliaceae (or Alliaceae).

<ORIGIN> Old English lēac, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch look and German Lauch.

leer^1 v. [no obj.] look or gaze in a lascivious or unpleasant way: bystanders were leering at the nude painting | (as adj. leering) every leering eye in the room was on her.

■ n. a lascivious or unpleasant look.

<DERIVATIVES> leeringly adv.

<ORIGIN> mid 16th century (in the general sense ‘look sideways or askance’): perhaps from obsolete leer ‘cheek’, from Old English hlēor, as though the sense were ‘to glance over one's cheek’.

leervis /lərfəs/ n. (pl. same) S. AFRICAN a large greyish marine fish with small scales which give the skin a leathery appearance. It lives in the Mediterranean and around the western and southern coasts of Africa, where it is a popular game fish.

<INFO> Lichia amia, family Carangidae.

<ORIGIN> mid 19th century: from Afrikaans, from Dutch leer ‘leather’ + vis ‘fish’.

leery adj. (leerier, leeriest) INFORMAL cautious or wary due to realistic suspicions: a city leery of gang violence.

<DERIVATIVES> leeriness n.

<ORIGIN> late 17th century: from obsolete leer ‘looking askance’, from LEER^1 + -Y^1.

lees plural n. the sediment of wine in the barrel; dregs.

- FIGURATIVE the most worthless part or parts of something: the lees of the Venetian underworld.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: plural of obsolete lee in the same sense, from Old French lie, from medieval Latin liae (plural), of Gaulish origin.

lee shore n. a shore lying on the leeward side of a ship (and on to which a ship could be blown in foul weather).

leet^1 (also court leet) n. HISTORICAL a yearly or half-yearly court of record that the lords of certain manors held.

<ORIGIN> Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French lete or Anglo-Latin leta, of unknown origin.

leet^2 n. SCOTTISH a list of candidates selected for a post.

<ORIGIN> late Middle English: probably from Old French lit(t)e, variant of liste ‘list’.

leetspeak n. [mass noun] an informal language or code used in Internet chatrooms, email, etc., in which numerals or special characters are used to represent standard letters.

<ORIGIN> from leet, representing a pronunciation of ELITE, and -SPEAK.

Leeuwenhoek /lev(ə)nhuk/ Antoni van (1632–1723), Dutch naturalist. He developed a lens for scientific purposes and was the first to observe bacteria, protozoa, and yeast. He accurately described red blood cells, capillaries, striated muscle fibres, spermatozoa, and the crystalline lens of the eye.

leeward /liwəd luəd/ adj. & adv. on or towards the side sheltered from the wind; downwind: [as adj.] the leeward side of the house | [as adv.] we pitched our tents leeward of a hill. Contrasted with WINDWARD.

■ n. [mass noun] the side sheltered or away from the wind: the ship was drifting to leeward.

Leeward Islands /liwəd/ a group of islands in the Caribbean, constituting the northern part of the Lesser Antilles. The group includes Guadeloupe, Antigua, St Kitts, and Montserrat.

<ORIGIN> Leeward with reference to the islands' situation further downwind (in terms of the prevailing south-easterly winds) than the Windward Islands.

leewardly /liwədli luədli/ adj. (of a ship) liable to drift to leeward when sailing close to the wind.

lee wave n. a standing wave generated on the sheltered side of a mountain by an air current passing over or around it, and often made visible by the formation of clouds.

leeway n. [mass noun] 1 the amount of freedom to move or act that is available: the government had greater leeway to introduce reforms.

- margin of safety: there is little leeway if anything goes wrong.

2 the sideways drift of a ship to leeward of the desired course: the leeway is only about 2°.

<PHRASES>

□ make up (the) leeway BRITISH struggle out of a bad position, especially by recovering lost time.

Le Fanu /lεfənju lə fαnu/ Joseph Sheridan (1814–73), Irish novelist. He is best known for his stories of mystery, suspense, and the supernatural, such as The House by the Churchyard (1861) and Uncle Silas (1864).

left^1 adj. 1 on, towards, or relating to the side of a human body or of a thing which is to the west when the person or thing is facing north: her left eye | the left side of the road.

2 relating to a person or group favouring radical, reforming, or socialist views. [<ORIGIN> see LEFT WING.]

■ adv. on or to the left side: turn left here | keep left.

■ n. 1 (the left) the left-hand part, side, or direction: turn to the left | (one's left) the general sat to his left.

- (in football or a similar sport) the left-hand half of the field when facing the opponents' goal: a free kick from the left.

- the left wing of an army: a token attack on the Russian left.

- a left turn: take a left here.

- a road, entrance, etc. on the left: my road's the first left.

- a person's left fist, especially a boxer's: a dazzler with the left.

- a blow given with the left fist: a left to the body.

2 (often the Left) [treated as sing. or plural] a group or party favouring radical, reforming, or socialist views: the Left is preparing to fight presidential elections | he is on the left of the party.

<PHRASES>

□ have two left feet be clumsy or awkward.

□ left, right, and centre (also left and right or right and left) on all sides: deals were being done left, right, and centre.

<DERIVATIVES> leftish adj. leftward adj. & adv. leftwards adv.

<ORIGIN> Old English lyft, left ‘weak’ (the left-hand side being regarded as the weaker side of the body), of West Germanic origin.

left^2 past and past participle of leave^1.

left back n. a defender in soccer or field hockey who plays primarily in a position on the left of the field.

Left Bank a district of the city of Paris, situated on the left bank of the River Seine, to the south of the river. It is an area noted for its intellectual and artistic life.

left bank n. the bank of a river on the left as one faces downstream.

left brain n. the left-hand side of the human brain, which is believed to be associated with linear and analytical thought.

left-brained adj. having the left part of the brain as the dominant or more efficient part.

left field n. 1 [BASEBALL] the part of the outfield to the left of the batter when facing the pitcher: a high fly to left field.

2 NORTH AMERICAN INFORMAL a surprising or unconventional position or style: seldom do so many witty touches come out of left field.

- a position of ignorance, error, or confusion: he's way over in left field on these issues.

■ adj. (of artistic work) radical or experimental: left-field guitar-based music.

left-footed adj. (of a person) using the left foot more naturally than the right.

- (of a kick) done with the left foot: he drove a left-footed shot into the net.

left hand n. the hand of a person's left side.

- the region or direction on the left side of a person or thing: there was a vast forest on the left hand.

■ adj. [attr.] on or towards the left side of a person or thing: his left-hand pocket.

- done with or using the left hand: an excellent left-hand catch by Smith.

<PHRASES>

□ marry with the left hand BRITISH marry morganatically. [<ORIGIN> from a German custom by which the bridegroom gave the bride his left hand in such marriages.]

left-hand drive n. [mass noun] a motor-vehicle steering system with the steering wheel and other controls fitted on the left side, designed for use in countries where vehicles drive on the right-hand side of the road.

- [count noun] a vehicle with left-hand drive steering.

left-handed adj. 1 (of a person) using the left hand more naturally than the right: a left-handed batsman.

- (of a tool or item of equipment) made to be used with the left hand: left-handed golf clubs.

- made or done with the left hand: my left-handed scrawl.

2 (of a screw) advanced by turning anticlockwise.

- [BIOLOGY] (of a spiral shell or helix) sinistral.

- (of a racecourse) turning anticlockwise.

3 perverse: we take a left-handed pleasure in our errors.

- (especially of a compliment) ambiguous.

■ adv. with the left hand: a significant number play the game left-handed.

<DERIVATIVES> left-handedly adv. left-handedness n.

left-hander n. 1 a left-handed person.

- a blow struck with a person's left hand.

2 a corner on a road or racing circuit that bends to the left.

leftism n. [mass noun] the political views or policies of the left.

<DERIVATIVES> leftist n. & adj.

left-leaning adj. sympathetic to or tending towards the left in politics: a left-leaning professor.

left luggage n. [mass noun] BRITISH travellers' luggage left in temporary storage at a railway station, bus station, or airport.

- a room where left luggage may be stored temporarily for a small charge: I picked up my parcel from left luggage.

leftmost adj. [attr.] furthest to the left: the leftmost edge of the screen.

leftover n. (usually leftovers) something, especially food, remaining after the rest has been used.

■ adj. [attr.] remaining; surplus: yesterday's leftover bread.

left turn n. a turn that brings a person's front to face the way their left side did before: take a left turn into Cumberland Road.

left wing n. (the left wing) 1 the radical, reforming, or socialist section of a political party or system. [<ORIGIN> with reference to the National Assembly in France (1789–91), where the nobles sat to the president's right and the commons to the left.]

2 the left side of a team on the field in soccer, rugby, and field hockey: his usual position on the left wing.

- the left side of an army: the Allied left wing.

■ adj. radical, reforming, or socialist: left-wing activists.

<DERIVATIVES> left-winger n.

lefty (also leftie) n. (pl. lefties) INFORMAL 1 chiefly BRITISH a person with left-wing political views.

2 chiefly NORTH AMERICAN a left-handed person.

leg n. 1 each of the limbs on which a person or animal walks and stands: Adams broke his leg | he was off as fast as his legs would carry him | [as modifier] a leg injury.

- a leg of an animal or bird as food: a roast leg of lamb.

- a part of a garment covering a leg or part of a leg: his trouser leg.

- (legs) INFORMAL (with reference to a ball, especially in golf) sufficient momentum to reach the desired point.

- (legs) INFORMAL (with reference to a product or idea) sustained popularity or success: some books have legs, others don't.

2 each of the supports of a chair, table, or other structure: table legs | the house was set on legs.

3 a section or stage of a journey or process: the return leg of his journey.

- [SAILING] a run made on a single tack.

- (in soccer and other sports) each of two games constituting a round of a competition.

- a section of a relay or other race done in stages: one leg of its race round the globe.

- a single game in a darts match.

4 a branch of a forked object.

5 (also leg side) [CRICKET] the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball. The opposite of OFF.

6 ARCHAIC a deferential gesture made by drawing back one leg and bending it while keeping the front leg straight.

■ v. (legs, legging, legged) [with obj.] 1 (leg it) BRITISH INFORMAL travel by foot; walk.

- run away: he legged it after someone shouted at him.

2 chiefly HISTORICAL propel (a boat) through a tunnel on a canal by pushing with one's legs against the tunnel roof or sides.

<PHRASES>

□ feel (or find) one's legs become able to stand or walk.

□ get one's leg over BRITISH VULGAR SLANG (of a man) have sexual intercourse.

□ have the legs of BRITISH be able to go faster or further than (a rival).

□ not HAVE a leg to stand on have no facts or sound reasons to support one's argument or justify one's actions.

□ on one's hind legs BRITISH INFORMAL, DATED standing up to make a speech: he wasn't afraid to get up on his hind legs at a social gathering and talk.

□ on one's last legs near the end of life, usefulness, or existence: the foundry busines